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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2034-h.zip b/2034-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9002a76 --- /dev/null +++ b/2034-h.zip diff --git a/2034-h/2034-h.htm b/2034-h/2034-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad886ea --- /dev/null +++ b/2034-h/2034-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,22678 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title> + Waverley Or 'tis Sixty Years Since, by Sir Walter Scott +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {text-align:justify} + P { margin:10%; + text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 95%; } + img {border: 0;} + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 1%;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-size: 90%; margin-left: 20%;} + // --> +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Waverley, 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: Waverley + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: February 25, 2006 [EBook #2034] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAVERLEY *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1> + WAVERLEY <br /><br /> + +or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE +</h1><br /> + +<h2> +by SIR WALTER SCOTT BART. +</h2><br /> +<br /> + +<h4> +Under which King, Bezonian? speak, or die! Henry IV, Part II. +</h4> + + + + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h2>Contents</h2> +<center> +<a href="#2H_INTR"> +INTRODUCTION—(1829) +</a><br /> +<br /> + +<a href="#2H_4_0002"> +<big><b>WAVERLEY or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE</b></big> +</a> +</center> + + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0001"> +CHAPTER I +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0002"> +CHAPTER II +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0003"> +CHAPTER III +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0004"> +CHAPTER IV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0005"> +CHAPTER V +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0006"> +CHAPTER VI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0007"> +CHAPTER VII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0008"> +CHAPTER VIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0009"> +CHAPTER IX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0010"> +CHAPTER X +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0011"> +CHAPTER XI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0012"> +CHAPTER XII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0013"> +CHAPTER XIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0014"> +CHAPTER XIV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0015"> +CHAPTER XV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0016"> +CHAPTER XVI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0017"> +CHAPTER XVII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0018"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</a></p> + +</td><td> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0019"> +CHAPTER XIX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0020"> +CHAPTER XX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0021"> +CHAPTER XXI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0022"> +CHAPTER XXII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0023"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0024"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0025"> +CHAPTER XXV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0026"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0027"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0028"> +CHAPTER XXVIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0029"> +CHAPTER XXIX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0030"> +CHAPTER XXX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0031"> +CHAPTER XXXI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0032"> +CHAPTER XXXII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0033"> +CHAPTER XXXIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0034"> +CHAPTER XXXIV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0035"> +CHAPTER XXXV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0036"> +CHAPTER XXXVI +</a></p> + +</td><td> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0037"> +CHAPTER XXXVII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0038"> +CHAPTER XXXVIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0039"> +CHAPTER XXXIX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0040"> +CHAPTER XL +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0041"> +CHAPTER XLI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0042"> +CHAPTER XLII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0043"> +CHAPTER XLIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0044"> +CHAPTER XLIV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0045"> +CHAPTER XLV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0046"> +CHAPTER XLVI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0047"> +CHAPTER XLVII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0048"> +CHAPTER XLVIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0049"> +CHAPTER XLIX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0050"> +CHAPTER L +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0051"> +CHAPTER LI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0052"> +CHAPTER LII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0053"> +CHAPTER LIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0054"> +CHAPTER LIV +</a></p> + +</td><td> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0055"> +CHAPTER LV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0056"> +CHAPTER LVI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0057"> +CHAPTER LVII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0058"> +CHAPTER LVIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0059"> +CHAPTER LIX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0060"> +CHAPTER LX +</a></p> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0062"> +CHAPTER LXI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0063"> +CHAPTER LXII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0064"> +CHAPTER LXIII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0065"> +CHAPTER LXIV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0066"> +CHAPTER LXV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0067"> +CHAPTER LXVI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0068"> +CHAPTER LXVII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0069"> +CHAPTER LXVIII: +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0070"> +CHAPTER LXIX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0071"> +CHAPTER LXX +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0072"> +CHAPTER LXXI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0073"> +CHAPTER LXXII +</a></p> + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + +<center> +<a href="#2H_NOTE"> +<big><b>NOTES</b></big> +</a><br /> +<br /> + +<a href="#2H_GLOS"> +<big><b>GLOSSARY</b></big> +</a> +</center> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr> + + +<a name="2H_INTR"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h2> + INTRODUCTION—(1829) +</h2> +<p> +The plan of this Edition leads me to insert in this place some account +of the incidents on which the Novel of WAVERLEY is founded. They have +been already given to the public, by my late lamented friend, William +Erskine, Esq. (afterwards Lord Kinneder), when reviewing the 'Tales of +My Landlord' for the QUARTERLY REVIEW, in 1817. The particulars were +derived by the Critic from the Author's information. Afterwards they +were published in the Preface to the CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE. They +are now inserted in their proper place. +</p> +<p> +The mutual protection afforded by Waverley and Talbot to each other, +upon which the whole plot depends, is founded upon one of those +anecdotes which soften the features even of civil war; and as it is +equally honourable to the memory of both parties, we have no hesitation +to give their names at length. When the Highlanders, on the morning of +the battle of Preston, 1745, made their memorable attack on Sir John +Cope's army, a battery of four field-pieces was stormed and carried by +the Camerons and the Stewarts of Appine. The late Alexander Stewart +of Invernahyle was one of the foremost in the charge, and observing an +officer of the King's forces, who, scorning to join the flight of all +around, remained with his sword in his hand, as if determined to the +very last to defend the post assigned to him, the Highland gentleman +commanded him to surrender, and received for reply a thrust, which +he caught in his target. The officer was now defenceless, and the +battle-axe of a gigantic Highlander (the miller of Invernahyle's mill) +was uplifted to dash his brains out, when Mr. Stewart with difficulty +prevailed on him to yield. He took charge of his enemy's property, +protected his person, and finally obtained him liberty on his parole. +The officer proved to be Colonel Whitefoord, an Ayrshire gentleman +of high character and influence, and warmly attached to the House +of Hanover; yet such was the confidence existing between these two +honourable men, though of different political principles, that while +the civil war was raging, and straggling officers from the Highland army +were executed without mercy, Invernahyle hesitated not to pay his +late captive a visit, as he returned to the Highlands to raise fresh +recruits, on which occasion he spent a day or two in Ayrshire among +Colonel Whitefoord's Whig friends, as pleasantly and as good-humouredly +as if all had been at peace around him. +</p> +<p> +After the battle of Culloden had ruined the hopes of Charles Edward, and +dispersed his proscribed adherents, it was Colonel Whitefoord's turn to +strain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stewart's pardon. He went to the Lord +Justice-Clerk, to the Lord-Advocate, and to all the officers of state, +and each application was answered by the production of a list, in which +Invernahyle (as the good old gentleman was wont to express it) appeared +'marked with the sign of the beast!' as a subject unfit for favour or +pardon. +</p> +<p> +At length Colonel Whitefoord applied to the Duke of Cumberland in +person. From him, also, he received a positive refusal. He then limited +his request, for the present, to a protection for Stewart's house, wife, +children, and property. This was also refused by the Duke; on which +Colonel Whitefoord, taking his commission from his bosom, laid it on the +table before his Royal Highness with much emotion, and asked permission +to retire from the service of a sovereign who did not know how to spare +a vanquished enemy. The Duke was struck, and even affected. He bade the +Colonel take up his commission, and granted the protection he required. +If was issued just in time to save the house, corn, and cattle at +Invernahyle, from the troops who were engaged in laying waste what it +was the fashion to call 'the country of the enemy.' A small encampment +of soldiers was formed on Invernahyle's property, which they spared +while plundering the country around, and searching in every direction +for the leaders of the insurrection, and for Stewart in particular. He +was much nearer them than they suspected; for, hidden in a cave (like +the Baron of Bradwardine), he lay for many days so near the English +sentinels, that he could hear their muster-roll called, His food was +brought to him by one of his daughters, a child of eight years old, whom +Mrs. Stewart was under the necessity of entrusting with this commission; +for her own motions, and those of all her elder inmates, were closely +watched. With ingenuity beyond her years, the child used to stray about +among the soldiers, who were rather kind to her, and thus seize the +moment when she was unobserved, and steal into the thicket, when she +deposited whatever small store of provisions she had in charge at some +marked spot, where her father might find it. Invernahyle supported life +for several weeks by means of these precarious supplies; and as he had +been wounded in the battle of Culloden, the hardships which he endured +were aggravated by great bodily pain. After the soldiers had removed +their quarters, he had another remarkable escape. +</p> +<p> +As he now ventured to his own house at night, and left it in the +morning, he was espied during the dawn by a party of the enemy, who +fired at and pursued him. The fugitive being fortunate enough to escape +their search, they returned to the house, and charged the family with +harbouring one of the proscribed traitors. An old woman had presence +of mind enough to maintain that the man they had seen was the shepherd. +'Why did he not stop when we called to him?' said the soldier.—'He +is as deaf, poor man, as a peat-stack,' answered the ready-witted +domestic.—'Let him be sent for, directly.' The real shepherd +accordingly was brought from the hill, and as there was time to tutor +him by the way, he was as deaf when he made his appearance, as was +necessary to sustain his character. Invernahyle was afterwards pardoned +under the Act of Indemnity. +</p> +<p> +The Author knew him well, and has often heard these circumstances +from his own mouth. He was a noble specimen of the old Highlander, far +descended, gallant, courteous, and brave, even to chivalry. He had been +OUT, I believe, in 1715 and 1745; was an active partaker in all the +stirring scenes which passed in the Highlands betwixt these memorable +eras; and, I have heard, was remarkable, among other exploits, for +having fought a duel with the broadsword with the celebrated Rob Roy +MacGregor, at the Clachan of Balquhidder. +</p> +<p> +Invernahyle chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came into the +Frith of Forth, and though then an old man, I saw him in arms, and +heard him exult (to use his own words) in the prospect of 'drawing his +claymore once more before he died.' In fact, on that memorable occasion, +when the capital of Scotland was menaced by three trifling sloops or +brigs, scarce fit to have sacked a fishing village, he was the only +man who seemed to propose a plan of resistance. He offered to the +magistrates, if broadswords and dirks could be obtained, to find as many +Highlanders among the lower classes, as would cut off any boat's-crew +who might be sent into a town full of narrow and winding passages, in +which they were like to disperse in quest of plunder. I know not if +his plan was attended to; I rather think it seemed too hazardous to the +constituted authorities, who might not, even at that time, desire to +see arms in Highland hands. A steady and powerful west wind settled the +matter, by sweeping Paul Jones and his vessels out of the Frith. +</p> +<p> +If there is something degrading in this recollection, it is not +unpleasant to compare it with those of the last war, when Edinburgh, +besides regular forces and militia, furnished a volunteer brigade of +cavalry, infantry, and artillery, to the amount of six thousand men and +upwards, which was in readiness to meet and repel a force of a far more +formidable description than was commanded by the adventurous American. +Time and circumstances change the character of nations and the fate +of cities; and it is some pride to a Scotchman to reflect, that the +independent and manly character of a country willing to entrust its own +protection to the arms of its children, after having been obscured for +half a century, has, during the course of his own lifetime, recovered +its lustre. +</p> +<p> +Other illustrations of Waverley will be found in the Notes at the foot +of the pages to which they belong. [In this etext they are embedded in +the text in square brackets.] Those which appeared too long to be so +placed are given at the end of the volume. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + WAVERLEY or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE +</h2> +<a name="2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER I +</h2> +<h3> + INTRODUCTORY +</h3> +<p> +The title of this work has not been chosen without the grave and solid +deliberation, which matters of importance demand from the prudent. Even +its first, or general denomination, was the result of no common research +or selection, although, according to the example of my predecessors, +I had only to seize upon the most sounding and euphonic surname that +English history or topography affords, and elect it at once as the title +of my work, and the name of my hero. But, alas! what could my readers +have expected from the chivalrous epithets of Howard, Mordaunt, +Mortimer, or Stanley, or from the softer and more sentimental sounds of +Belmour, Belville, Belfield, and Belgrave, but pages of inanity, similar +to those which have been so christened for half a century past? I +must modestly admit I am too diffident of my own merit to place it in +unnecessary opposition to preconceived associations; I have, therefore, +like a maiden knight with his white shield, assumed for my hero, +WAVERLEY, an uncontaminated name, bearing with its sound little of good +or evil, excepting what the reader shall hereafter be pleased to affix +to it. But my second or supplemental title was a matter of much more +difficult election, since that, short as it is, may be held as pledging +the author to some special mode of laying his scene, drawing his +characters, and managing his adventures. Had I, for example, announced +in my frontispiece, 'Waverley, a Tale of other Days,' must not every +novel reader have anticipated a castle scarce less than that of Udolpho, +of which the eastern wing had long been uninhabited, and the keys either +lost, or consigned to the care of some aged butler or housekeeper, whose +trembling steps, about the middle of the second volume, were doomed to +guide the hero, or heroine, to the ruinous precincts? Would not the owl +have shrieked and the cricket cried in my very title-page? and could +it have been possible for me, with a moderate attention to decorum, to +introduce any scene more lively than might be produced by the jocularity +of a clownish but faithful valet, or the garrulous narrative of the +heroine's fille-de-chambre, when rehearsing the stories of blood and +horror which she had heard in the servants' hall? Again, had my title +borne 'Waverley, a Romance from the German,' what head so obtuse as +not to image forth a profligate abbot, an oppressive duke, a secret and +mysterious association of Rosycrucians and Illuminati, with all their +properties of black cowls, caverns, daggers, electrical machines, +trap-doors, and dark-lanterns? Or if I had rather chosen to call my work +a 'Sentimental Tale,' would it not have been a sufficient presage of a +heroine with a profusion of auburn hair, and a harp, the soft solace +of her solitary hours, which she fortunately finds always the means of +transporting from castle to cottage, although she herself be sometimes +obliged to jump out of a two-pair-of-stairs window, and is more than +once bewildered on her journey, alone and on foot, without any guide but +a blowzy peasant girl, whose jargon she hardly can understand? Or again, +if my WAVERLEY had been entitled 'A Tale of the Times,' wouldst thou +not, gentle reader, have demanded from me a dashing sketch of the +fashionable world, a few anecdotes of private scandal thinly veiled, +and if lusciously painted, so much the better? a heroine from Grosvenor +Square, and a hero from the Barouche Club or the Four-in-hand, with a +set of subordinate characters from the elegantes of Queen Anne Street +East, or the dashing heroes of the Bow Street Office? I could proceed in +proving the importance of a title-page, and displaying at the same time +my own intimate knowledge of the particular ingredients necessary to the +composition of romances and novels of various descriptions: but it +is enough, and I scorn to tyrannize longer over the impatience of my +reader, who is doubtless already anxious to know the choice made by an +author so profoundly versed in the different branches of his art. +</p> +<p> +By fixing, then, the date of my story Sixty Years before the present 1st +November, 1805, I would have my readers understand, that they will meet +in the following pages neither a romance of chivalry, nor a tale of +modern manners; that my hero will neither have iron on his shoulders, +as of yore, nor on the heels of his boots, as is the present fashion of +Bond Street; and that my damsels will neither be clothed 'in purple +and in pall,' like the Lady Alice of an old ballad, nor reduced to the +primitive nakedness of a modern fashionable at a rout. From this my +choice of an era the understanding critic may further presage, that the +object of my tale is more a description of men than manners. A tale of +manners, to be interesting, must either refer to antiquity so great as +to have become venerable, or it must bear a vivid reflection of those +scenes which are passing daily before our eyes, and are interesting +from their novelty. Thus the coat-of-mail of our ancestors, and +the triple-furred pelisse of our modern beaux, may, though for very +different reasons, be equally fit for the array of a fictitious +character; but who, meaning the costume of his hero to be impressive, +would willingly attire him in the court dress of George the Second's +reign, with its no collar, large sleeves, and low pocket-holes? The +same may be urged, with equal truth, of the Gothic hall, which, with its +darkened and tinted windows, its elevated and gloomy roof, and massive +oaken table garnished with boar's-head and rosemary, pheasants and +peacocks, cranes and cygnets, has an excellent effect in fictitious +description. Much may also be gained by a lively display of a modern +fete, such as we have daily recorded in that part of a newspaper +entitled the Mirror of Fashion, if we contrast these, or either of them, +with the splendid formality of an entertainment given Sixty Years since; +and thus it will be readily seen how much the painter of antique or +of fashionable manners gains over him who delineates those of the last +generation. +</p> +<p> +Considering the disadvantages inseparable from this part of my subject, +I must be understood to have resolved to avoid them as much as possible, +by throwing the force of my narrative upon the characters and passions +of the actors;—those passions common to men in all stages of society, +and which have alike agitated the human heart, whether it throbbed under +the steel corselet of the fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the +eighteenth, or the blue frock and white dimity waistcoat of the present +day. [Alas! that attire, respectable and gentlemanlike in 1805, or +thereabouts, is now as antiquated as the Author of Waverley has himself +become since that period! The reader of fashion will please to fill up +the costume with an embroidered waistcoat of purple velvet or silk, +and a coat of whatever colour he pleases.] Upon these passions it is +no doubt true that the state of manners and laws casts a necessary +colouring; but the bearings, to use the language of heraldry, remain +the same, though the tincture may be not only different, but opposed in +strong contradistinction. The wrath of our ancestors, for example, was +coloured GULES; it broke forth in acts of open and sanguinary violence +against the objects of its fury. Our malignant feelings, which must +seek gratification through more indirect channels, and undermine the +obstacles which they cannot openly bear down, may be rather said to be +tinctured SABLE. But the deep-ruling impulse is the same in both cases; +and the proud peer who can now only ruin his neighbour according to law, +by protracted suits, is the genuine descendant of the baron who wrapped +the castle of his competitor in flames, and knocked him on the head as +he endeavoured to escape from the conflagration. It is from the great +book of Nature, the same through a thousand editions, whether of +black-letter, or wire-wove and hot-pressed, that I have venturously +essayed to read a chapter to the public. Some favourable opportunities +of contrast have been afforded me, by the state of society in the +northern part of the island at the period of my history, and may serve +at once to vary and to illustrate the moral lessons, which I would +willingly consider as the most important part of my plan; although I +am sensible how short these will fall of their aim, if I shall be found +unable to mix them with amusement,—a task not quite so easy in this +critical generation as it was 'Sixty Years since.' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER II +</h2> +<h3> + WAVERLEY-HONOUR—-A RETROSPECT +</h3> +<p> +It is, then, sixty years since Edward Waverley, the hero of the +following pages, took leave of his family, to join the regiment +of dragoons in which he had lately obtained a commission. It was a +melancholy day at Waverley-Honour when the young officer parted with +Sir Everard, the affectionate old uncle to whose title and estate he was +presumptive heir. +</p> +<p> +A difference in political opinions had early separated the Baronet +from his younger brother, Richard Waverley, the father of our hero. +Sir Everard had inherited from his sires the whole train of Tory or +High-Church predilections and prejudices, which had distinguished the +house of Waverley since the Great Civil War. Richard, on the contrary, +who was ten years younger, beheld himself born to the fortune of a +second brother, and anticipated neither dignity nor entertainment in +sustaining the character of Will Wimble. He saw early, that, to succeed +in the race of life, it was necessary he should carry as little weight +as possible. Painters talk of the difficulty of expressing the existence +of compound passions in the same features at the same moment: it would +be no less difficult for the moralist to analyse the mixed motives which +unite to form the impulse of our actions. Richard Waverley read and +satisfied himself, from history and sound argument, that, in the words +of the old song, +</p> +<pre> + Passive obedience was a jest, + And pshaw! was non-resistance; +</pre> +<p> +yet reason would have probably been unable to combat and remove +hereditary prejudice, could Richard have anticipated that his elder +brother, Sir Everard, taking to heart an early disappointment, would +have remained a batchelor at seventy-two. The prospect of succession, +however remote, might in that case have led him to endure dragging +through the greater part of his life as 'Master Richard at the Hall, +the baronet's brother,' in the hope that ere its conclusion he should be +distinguished as Sir Richard Waverley of Waverley-Honour, successor to +a princely estate, and to extended political connexions as head of the +county interest in the shire where it lay. But this was a consummation +of things not to be expected at Richard's outset, when Sir Everard was +in the prime of life, and certain to be an acceptable suitor in almost +any family, whether wealth or beauty should be the object of his +pursuit, and when, indeed, his speedy marriage was a report which +regularly amused the neighbourhood once a year. His younger brother saw +no practicable road to independence save that of relying upon his own +exertions, and adopting a political creed more consonant both to reason +and his own interest than the hereditary faith of Sir Everard in High +Church and in the house of Stewart. He therefore read his recantation +at the beginning of his career, and entered life as an avowed Whig, and +friend of the Hanover succession. +</p> +<p> +The ministry of George the First's time were prudently anxious to +diminish the phalanx of opposition. The Tory nobility, depending for +their reflected lustre upon the sunshine of a court, had for some +time been gradually reconciling themselves to the new dynasty. But the +wealthy country gentlemen of England, a rank which retained, with +much of ancient manners and primitive integrity, a great proportion of +obstinate and unyielding prejudice, stood aloof in haughty and sullen +opposition, and cast many a look of mingled regret and hope to Bois de +Duc, Avignon, and Italy. [Where the Chevalier Saint George, or, as he +was termed, the Old Pretender, held his exiled court, as his situation +compelled him to shift his place of residence.] The accession of the +near relation of one of those steady and inflexible opponents was +considered as a means of bringing over more converts, and therefore +Richard Waverley met with a share of ministerial favour more than +proportioned to his talents or his political importance. It was however, +discovered that he had respectable talents for public business, and the +first admittance to the minister's levee being negotiated, his success +became rapid. Sir Everard learned from the public NEWS-LETTER,—first, +that Richard Waverley, Esquire, was returned for the ministerial borough +of Barterfaith; next, that Richard Waverley, Esquire, had taken a +distinguished part in the debate upon the Excise bill in the support +of government; and, lastly, that Richard Waverley, Esquire, had been +honoured with a seat at one of those boards, where the pleasure of +serving the country is combined with other important gratifications, +which, to render them the more acceptable, occur regularly once a +quarter. +</p> +<p> +Although these events followed each other so closely that the sagacity +of the editor of a modern newspaper would have presaged the last two +even while he announced the first, yet they came upon Sir Everard +gradually, and drop by drop, as it were, distilled through the cool and +procrastinating alembic of DYER'S WEEKLY LETTER. [Long the oracle of the +country gentlemen of the high Tory party. The ancient NEWS-LETTER was +written in manuscript and copied by clerks, who addressed the copies to +the subscribers. The politician by whom they were compiled picked up +his intelligence at coffee-houses, and often pleaded for an additional +gratuity, in consideration of the extra expense attached to frequenting +such places of fashionable resort.] For it may be observed in passing, +that instead of those mail-coaches, by means of which every mechanic at +his sixpenny club may nightly learn from twenty contradictory channels +the yesterday's news of the capital, a weekly post brought, in those +days, to Waverley-Honour, a WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER, which, after it had +gratified Sir Everard's curiosity, his sister's, and that of his aged +butler, was regularly transferred from the Hall to the Rectory, from +the Rectory to Squire Stubbs' at the Grange, from the Squire to the +Baronet's steward at his neat white house on the heath, from the steward +to the bailiff, and from him through a huge circle of honest dames and +gaffers, by whose hard and horny hands it was generally worn to pieces +in about a month after its arrival. +</p> +<p> +This slow succession of intelligence was of some advantage to Richard +Waverley in the case before us; for, had the sum total of his enormities +reached the ears of Sir Everard at once, there can be no doubt that the +new commissioner would have had little reason to pique himself on the +success of his politics. The Baronet, although the mildest of human +beings, was not without sensitive points in his character; his brother's +conduct had wounded these deeply; the Waverley estate was fettered by +no entail (for it had never entered into the head of any of its former +possessors that one of their progeny could be guilty of the atrocities +laid by DYER'S LETTER to the door of Richard), and if it had, the +marriage of the proprietor might have been fatal to a collateral heir. +These various ideas floated through the brain of Sir Everard, without, +however, producing any determined conclusion. +</p> +<p> +He examined the tree of his genealogy, which, emblazoned with many +an emblematic mark of honour and heroic achievement, hung upon the +well-varnished wainscot of his hall. The nearest descendants of Sir +Hildebrand Waverley, failing those of his eldest son Wilfred, of whom +Sir Everard and his brother were the only representatives, were, as this +honoured register informed him (and, indeed, as he himself well knew), +the Waverleys of Highley Park, com. Hants; with whom the main branch, or +rather stock, of the house had renounced all connexion, since the great +lawsuit in 1670. +</p> +<p> +This degenerate scion had committed a further offence against the +head and source of their gentility, by the intermarriage of their +representative with Judith, heiress of Oliver Bradshawe, of Highley +Park, whose arms, the same with those of Bradshawe the regicide, +they had quartered with the ancient coat of Waverley. These offences, +however, had vanished from Sir Everard's recollection in the heat of his +resentment; and had Lawyer Clippurse, for whom his groom was dispatched +express, arrived but an hour earlier, he might have had the benefit of +drawing a new settlement of the lordship and manor of Waverley-Honour, +with all its dependencies. But an hour of cool reflection is a great +matter, when employed in weighing the comparative evil of two measures, +to neither of which we are internally partial. Lawyer Clippurse found +his patron involved in a deep study, which he was too respectful to +disturb, otherwise than by producing his paper and leathern ink-case, as +prepared to minute his honour's commands. Even this slight manoeuvre +was embarrassing to Sir Everard, who felt it as a reproach to his +indecision. He looked at the attorney with some desire to issue his +fiat, when the sun, emerging from behind a cloud, poured at once its +chequered light through the stained window of the gloomy cabinet in +which they were seated. The Baronet's eye, as he raised it to the +splendour, fell right upon the central scutcheon, impressed with the +same device which his ancestor was said to have borne in the field of +Hastings; three ermines passant, argent, in a field azure, with its +appropriate motto, SANS LACHE. 'May our name rather perish,' exclaimed +Sir Everard, 'than that ancient and loyal symbol should be blended with +the dishonoured insignia of a traitorous Roundhead!' +</p> +<p> +All this was the effect of the glimpse of a sunbeam, just sufficient to +light Lawyer Clippurse to mend his pen. The pen was mended in vain. The +attorney was dismissed, with directions to hold himself in readiness on +the first summons. +</p> +<p> +The apparition of Lawyer Clippurse at the Hall occasioned much +speculation in that portion of the world to which Waverley-Honour formed +the centre: but the more judicious politicians of this microcosm augured +yet worse consequences to Richard Waverley from a movement which shortly +followed his apostasy. This was no less than an excursion of the Baronet +in his coach-and-six, with four attendants in rich liveries, to make a +visit of some duration to a noble peer on the confines of the shire, of +untainted descent, steady Tory principles, and the happy father of six +unmarried and accomplished daughters. +</p> +<p> +Sir Everard's reception in this family was, as it may be easily +conceived, sufficiently favourable; but of the six young ladies, +his taste unfortunately determined him in favour of Lady Emily, the +youngest, who received his attentions with an embarrassment which showed +at once that she durst not decline them, and that they afforded her +anything but pleasure. +</p> +<p> +Sir Everard could not but perceive something uncommon in the restrained +emotions which the young lady testified at the advances he hazarded; +but, assured by the prudent Countess that they were the natural effects +of a retired education, the sacrifice might have been completed, as +doubtless has happened in many similar instances, had it not been for +the courage of an elder sister, who revealed to the wealthy suitor that +Lady Emily's affections were fixed upon a young soldier of fortune, +a near relation of her own. Sir Everard manifested great emotion on +receiving this intelligence, which was confirmed to him, in a private +interview, by the young lady herself, although under the most dreadful +apprehensions of her father's indignation. +</p> +<p> +Honour and generosity were hereditary attributes of the house of +Waverley. With a grace and delicacy worthy the hero of a romance, Sir +Everard withdrew his claim to the hand of Lady Emily. He had even, +before leaving Blandeville Castle, the address to extort from her father +a consent to her union with the object of her choice. What arguments he +used on this point cannot exactly be known, for Sir Everard was never +supposed strong in the powers of persuasion; but the young officer, +immediately after this transaction, rose in the army with a rapidity far +surpassing the usual pace of unpatronized professional merit, although, +to outward appearance, that was all he had to depend upon. +</p> +<p> +The shock which Sir Everard encountered upon this occasion, although +diminished by the consciousness of having acted virtuously and +generously, had its effect upon his future life. His resolution of +marriage had been adopted in a fit of indignation; the labour of +courtship did not quite suit the dignified indolence of his habits; he +had but just escaped the risk of marrying a woman who could never love +him; and his pride could not be greatly flattered by the termination of +his amour, even if his heart had not suffered. The result of the whole +matter was his return to Waverley-Honour without any transfer of his +affections, notwithstanding the sighs and languishments of the fair +tell-tale, who had revealed, in mere sisterly affection, the secret +of Lady Emily's attachment, and in despite of the nods, winks, and +innuendoes of the officious lady mother, and the grave eulogiums which +the Earl pronounced successively on the prudence, and good sense, and +admirable dispositions, of his first, second, third, fourth, and fifth +daughters. The memory of his unsuccessful amour was with Sir Everard, +as with many more of his temper, at once shy, proud, sensitive, and +indolent, a beacon against exposing himself to similar mortification, +pain, and fruitless exertion for the time to come. He continued to +live at Waverley-Honour in the style of an old English gentleman, of an +ancient descent and opulent fortune. His sister, Miss Rachel Waverley, +presided at his table; and they became, by degrees, an old bachelor +and an ancient maiden lady, the gentlest and kindest of the votaries of +celibacy. +</p> +<p> +The vehemence of Sir Everard's resentment against his brother was but +short-lived; yet his dislike to the Whig and the placeman, though unable +to stimulate him to resume any active measures prejudicial to Richard's +interest in the succession to the family estate, continued to maintain +the coldness between them. Richard knew enough of the world, and of his +brother's temper, to believe that by any ill-considered or precipitate +advances on his part, he might turn passive dislike into a more active +principle. It was accident, therefore, which at length occasioned a +renewal of their intercourse. Richard had married a young woman of rank, +by whose family interest and private fortune he hoped to advance his +career. In her right, he became possessor of a manor of some value, at +the distance of a few miles from Waverley-Honour. +</p> +<p> +Little Edward, the hero of our tale, then in his fifth year, was their +only child. It chanced that the infant with his maid had strayed one +morning to a mile's distance from the avenue of Brere-wood Lodge, his +father's seat. Their attention was attracted by a carriage drawn by six +stately long-failed black horses, and with as much carving and gilding +as would have done honour to my lord mayor's. It was waiting for +the owner, who was at a little distance inspecting the progress of a +half-built farm-house. I know not whether the boy's nurse had been +a Welsh or a Scotch woman, or in what manner he associated a shield +emblazoned with three ermines with the idea of personal property, but +he no sooner beheld this family emblem, than he stoutly determined on +vindicating his right to the splendid vehicle on which it was displayed. +The Baronet arrived while the boy's maid was in vain endeavouring to +make him desist from his determination to appropriate the gilded coach +and six. The rencontre was at a happy moment for Edward, as his uncle +had been just eyeing wistfully, with something of a feeling like envy, +the chubby boys of the stout yeoman whose mansion was building by his +direction. In the round-faced rosy cherub before him, bearing his eye +and his name, and vindicating a hereditary title to his family affection +and patronage, by means of a tie which Sir Everard held as sacred as +either Garter or Blue Mantle, Providence seemed to have granted to him +the very object best calculated to fill up the void in his hopes and +affections. Sir Everard returned to Waverley Hall upon a led horse which +was kept in readiness for him, while the child and his attendant were +sent home in the carriage to Brere-wood Lodge, with such a message +as opened to Richard Waverley a door of reconciliation with his elder +brother. +</p> +<p> +Their intercourse, however, though thus renewed, continued to be rather +formal and civil, than partaking of brotherly cordiality; yet it was +sufficient to the wishes of both parties. Sir Everard obtained, in the +frequent society of his little nephew, something on which his hereditary +pride might found the anticipated pleasure of a continuation of his +lineage, and where his kind and gentle affections could at the same +time fully exercise themselves. For Richard Waverley, he beheld in the +growing attachment between the uncle and nephew the means of securing +his son's, if not his own, succession to the hereditary estate, which he +felt would be rather endangered than promoted by any attempt on his own +part towards a closer intimacy with a man of Sir Everard's habits and +opinions. +</p> +<p> +Thus, by a sort of tacit compromise, little Edward was permitted to pass +the greater part of the year at the Hall, and appeared to stand in +the same intimate relation to both families, although their mutual +intercourse was otherwise limited to formal messages, and more formal +visits. The education of the youth was regulated alternately by the +taste and opinions of his uncle and of his father. But more of this in a +subsequent chapter. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER III +</h2> +<h3> + EDUCATION +</h3> +<p> +The education of our hero, Edward Waverley, was of a nature somewhat +desultory. In infancy, his health suffered, or was supposed to suffer +(which is quite the same thing), by the air of London. As soon, +therefore, as official duties, attendance on Parliament, or the +prosecution of any of his plans of interest or ambition, called his +father to town, which was his usual residence for eight months in the +year, Edward was transferred to Waverley-Honour, and experienced a total +change of instructors and of lessons, as well as of residence. +This might have been remedied, had his father placed him under the +superintendence of a permanent tutor. But he considered that one of his +choosing would probably have been unacceptable at Waverley-Honour, and +that such a selection as Sir Everard might have made, were the matter +left to him, would have burdened him with a disagreeable inmate, if not +a political spy, in his family. He therefore prevailed upon his private +secretary, a young man of taste and accomplishments, to bestow an hour +or two on Edward's education while at Brere-wood Lodge, and left his +uncle answerable for his improvement in literature while an inmate at +the Hall. +</p> +<p> +This was in some degree respectably provided for. Sir Everard's +chaplain, an Oxonian, who had lost his fellowship for declining to +take the oaths at the accession of George I, was not only an excellent +classical scholar, but reasonably skilled in science, and master of most +modern languages. He was, however, old and indulgent, and the recurring +interregnum, during which Edward was entirely freed from his discipline, +occasioned such a relaxation of authority, that the youth was permitted, +in a great measure, to learn as he pleased, what he pleased, and when he +pleased. This slackness of rule might have been ruinous to a boy of +slow understanding, who, feeling labour in the acquisition of +knowledge, would have altogether neglected it, save for the command of a +task-master; and it might have proved equally dangerous to a youth whose +animal spirits were more powerful than his imagination or his feelings, +and whom the irresistible influence of Alma would have engaged in field +sports from morning till night. But the character of Edward Waverley +was remote from either of these. His powers of apprehension were so +uncommonly quick, as almost to resemble intuition, and the chief care of +his preceptor was to prevent him, as a sportsman would phrase it, from +overrunning his game, that is, from acquiring his knowledge in a slight, +flimsy, and inadequate manner. And here the instructor had to combat +another propensity too often united with brilliancy of fancy and +vivacity of talent,—that indolence, namely, of disposition, which +can only be stirred by some strong motive of gratification, and which +renounces study as soon as curiosity is gratified, the pleasure of +conquering the first difficulties exhausted, and the novelty of pursuit +at an end. Edward would throw himself with spirit upon any classical +author of which his preceptor proposed the perusal, make himself master +of the style so far as to understand the story, and if that pleased or +interested him, he finished the volume. But it was in vain to attempt +fixing his attention on critical distinctions of philology, upon +the difference of idiom, the beauty of felicitous expression, or the +artificial combinations of syntax. 'I can read and understand a Latin +author,' said young Edward, with the self-confidence and rash reasoning +of fifteen, 'and Scaliger or Bentley could not do much more.' Alas! +while he was thus permitted to read only for the gratification of his +amusement, he foresaw not that he was losing for ever the opportunity of +acquiring habits of firm and assiduous application, of gaining the art +of controlling, directing, and concentrating the powers of his mind +for earnest investigation,—an art far more essential than even that +intimate acquaintance with classical learning, which is the primary +object of study. +</p> +<p> +I am aware I may be here reminded of the necessity of rendering +instruction agreeable to youth, and of Tasso's infusion of honey into +the medicine prepared for a child; but an age in which children are +taught the driest doctrines by the insinuating method of instructive +games, has little reason to dread the consequences of study being +rendered too serious or severe. The history of England is now reduced +to a game at cards,—the problems of mathematics to puzzles and +riddles,—and the doctrines of arithmetic may, we are assured, be +sufficiently acquired, by spending a few hours a week at a new and +complicated edition of the Royal Game of the Goose. There wants but one +step further, and the Creed and Ten Commandments may be taught in the +same manner, without the necessity of the grave face, deliberate tone of +recital, and devout attention, hitherto exacted from the well governed +childhood of this realm. It may, in the meantime, be subject of +serious consideration, whether those who are accustomed only to acquire +instruction through the medium of amusement, may not be brought to +reject that which approaches under the aspect of study; whether those +who learn history by the cards, may not be led to prefer the means to +the end; and whether, were we to teach religion in the way of sport, +our pupils may not thereby be gradually induced to make sport of their +religion. To our young hero, who was permitted to seek his instruction +only according to the bent of his own mind, and who, of consequence, +only sought it so long as it afforded him amusement, the indulgence of +his tutors was attended with evil consequences, which long continued +to influence his character, happiness, and utility. Edward's power of +imagination and love of literature, although the former was vivid, and +the latter ardent, were so far from affording a remedy to this peculiar +evil, that they rather inflamed and increased its violence. The library +at Waverley-Honour, a large Gothic room, with double arches and a +gallery, contained such a miscellaneous and extensive collection of +volumes as had been assembled together, during the course of two hundred +years, by a family which had been always wealthy, and inclined, of +course, as a mark of splendour, to furnish their shelves with the +current literature of the day, without much scrutiny, or nicety of +discrimination. Throughout this ample realm Edward was permitted to +roam at large. His tutor had his own studies; and church politics and +controversial divinity, together with a love of learned ease, though +they did not withdraw his attention at stated times from the progress +of his patron's presumptive heir, induced him readily to grasp at any +apology for not extending a strict and regulated survey towards his +general studies. Sir Everard had never been himself a student, and, +like his sister Miss Rachel Waverley, he held the common doctrine, that +idleness is incompatible with reading of any kind, and that the mere +tracing the alphabetical characters with the eye is in itself a useful +and meritorious task, without scrupulously considering what ideas +or doctrines they may happen to convey. With a desire of amusement, +therefore, which better discipline might soon have converted into a +thirst for knowledge, young Waverley drove through the sea of books, +like a vessel without a pilot or a rudder. Nothing perhaps increases by +indulgence more than a desultory habit of reading, especially under such +opportunities of gratifying it. I believe one reason why such numerous +instances of erudition occur among the lower ranks is, that, with the +same powers of mind, the poor student is limited to a narrow circle +for indulging his passion for books, and must necessarily make himself +master of the few he possesses ere he can acquire more. Edward, on the +contrary, like the epicure who only deigned to take a single morsel from +the sunny side of a peach, read no volume a moment after it ceased to +excite his curiosity or interest; and it necessarily happened, that the +habit of seeking only this sort of gratification rendered it daily more +difficult of attainment, till the passion for reading, like other strong +appetites, produced by indulgence a sort of satiety. +</p> +<p> +Ere he attained this indifference, however, he had read, and stored in +a memory of uncommon tenacity, much curious, though ill-arranged and +miscellaneous information. In English literature he was master of +Shakespeare and Milton, of our earlier dramatic authors; of many +picturesque and interesting passages from our old historical chronicles; +and was particularly well acquainted with Spenser, Drayton, and other +poets who have exercised themselves on romantic fiction, of all themes +the most fascinating to a youthful imagination, before the passions have +roused themselves, and demand poetry of a more sentimental description. +In this respect his acquaintance with Italian opened him yet a wider +range. He had perused the numerous romantic poems, which, from the days +of Pulci, have been a favourite exercise of the wits of Italy; and had +sought gratification in the numerous collections of NOVELLE, which were +brought forth by the genius of that elegant though luxurious nation, in +emulation of the DECAMERON. In classical literature, Waverley had made +the usual progress, and read the usual authors; and the French had +afforded him an almost exhaustless collection of memoirs, scarcely more +faithful than romances, and of romances so well written as hardly to be +distinguished from memoirs. The splendid pages of Froissart, with his +heart-stirring and eye-dazzling descriptions of war and of tournaments, +were among his chief favourites; and from those of Brantome and de +la Noue he learned to compare the wild and loose yet superstitious +character of the nobles of the League, with the stern, rigid, and +sometimes turbulent disposition of the Huguenot party. The Spanish had +contributed to his stock of chivalrous and romantic lore. The earlier +literature of the northern nations did not escape the study of one who +read rather to awaken the imagination than to benefit the understanding. +And yet, knowing much that is known but to few, Edward Waverley might +justly be considered as ignorant, since he knew little of what adds +dignify to man, and qualifies him to support and adorn an elevated +situation in society. +</p> +<p> +The occasional attention of his parents might indeed have been of +service, to prevent the dissipation of mind incidental to such a +desultory course of reading. But his mother died in the seventh year +after the reconciliation between the brothers, and Richard Waverley +himself, who, after this event, resided more constantly in London, was +too much interested in his own plans of wealth and ambition, to notice +more respecting Edward, than that he was of a very bookish turn, and +probably destined to be a bishop. If he could have discovered and +analysed his son's waking dreams, he would have formed a very different +conclusion. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IV +</h2> +<h3> + CASTLE-BUILDING +</h3> +<p> +I have already hinted, that the dainty, squeamish, and fastidious taste +acquired by a surfeit of idle reading, had not only rendered our hero +unfit for serious and sober study, it had even disgusted him in some +degree with that in which he had hitherto indulged. +</p> +<p> +He was in his sixteenth year, when his habits of abstraction and love of +solitude became so much marked, as to excite Sir Everard's affectionate +apprehension. He tried to counterbalance these propensities, by engaging +his nephew in field sports, which had been the chief pleasure of his +own youthful days. But although Edward eagerly carried the gun for one +season, yet when practice had given him some dexterity, the pastime +ceased to afford him amusement. +</p> +<p> +In the succeeding spring, the perusal of old Isaac Walton's fascinating +volume determined Edward to become 'a brother of the angle.' But of +all diversions which ingenuity ever devised for the relief of idleness, +fishing is the worst qualified to amuse a man who is at once indolent +and impatient; and our hero's rod was speedily flung aside. Society and +example, which, more than any other motives, master and sway the +natural bent of our passions, might have had their usual effect upon the +youthful visionary: but the neighbourhood was thinly inhabited, and the +homebred young squires whom it afforded, were not of a class fit to form +Edward's usual companions, far less to excite him to emulation in the +practice of those pastimes which composed the serious business of their +lives. +</p> +<p> +There were a few other youths of better education, and a more liberal +character; but from their society also our hero was in some degree +excluded. Sir Everard had, upon the death of Queen Anne, resigned his +seat in Parliament, and, as his age increased and the number of his +contemporaries diminished, had gradually withdrawn himself from +society; so that when, upon any particular occasion, Edward mingled +with accomplished and well-educated young men of his own rank and +expectations, he felt an inferiority in their company, not so much from +deficiency of information, as from the want of the skill to command and +to arrange that which he possessed. A deep and increasing sensibility +added to this dislike of society. The idea of having committed the +slightest solecism in politeness, whether real or imaginary, was agony +to him; for perhaps even guilt itself does not impose upon some minds +so keen a sense of shame and remorse, as a modest, sensitive, and +inexperienced youth feels from the consciousness of having neglected +etiquette, or excited ridicule. Where we are not at ease, we cannot be +happy; and therefore it is not surprising, that Edward Waverley supposed +that he disliked and was unfitted for society, merely because he had +not yet acquired the habit of living in it with ease and comfort, and of +reciprocally giving and receiving pleasure. +</p> +<p> +The hours he spent with his uncle and aunt were exhausted in listening +to the oft-repeated tale of narrative old age. Yet even there his +imagination, the predominant faculty of his mind, was frequently +excited. Family tradition and genealogical history, upon which much of +Sir Everard's discourse turned, is the very reverse of amber, which, +itself a valuable substance, usually includes flies, straws, and other +trifles; whereas these studies, being themselves very insignificant and +trifling, do nevertheless serve to perpetuate a great deal of what is +rare and valuable in ancient manners, and to record many curious and +minute facts, which could have been preserved and conveyed through no +other medium. If, therefore, Edward Waverley yawned at times over +the dry deduction of his line of ancestors, with their various +intermarriages, and inwardly deprecated the remorseless and protracted +accuracy with which the worthy Sir Everard rehearsed the various degrees +of propinquity between the house of Waverley-Honour and the +doughty barons, knights, and squires, to whom they stood allied; if +(notwithstanding his obligations to the three ermines passant) he +sometimes cursed in his heart the jargon of heraldry, its griffins, +its moldwarps, its wyverns, and its dragons with all the bitterness of +Hotspur himself, there were moments when these communications interested +his fancy and rewarded his attention. +</p> +<p> +The deeds of Wilibert of Waverley in the Holy Land, his long absence and +perilous adventures, his supposed death, and his return in the evening +when the betrothed of his heart had wedded the hero who had protected +her from insult and oppression during his absence; the generosity with +which the Crusader relinquished his claims, and sought in a neighbouring +cloister that peace which passeth not away; <a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a>—to these +and similar tales he would hearken till his heart glowed and his +eye glistened. Nor was he less affected, when his aunt, Mrs. Rachel, +narrated the sufferings and fortitude of Lady Alice Waverley during +the Great Civil War. The benevolent features of the venerable spinster +kindled into more majestic expression, as she told how Charles had, +after the field of Worcester, found a day's refuge at Waverley-Honour; +and how, when a troop of cavalry were approaching to search the mansion, +Lady Alice dismissed her youngest son with a handful of domestics, +charging them to make good with their lives an hour's diversion, that +the king might have that space for escape, 'And, God help her,' would +Mrs. Rachel continue, fixing her eyes upon the heroine's portrait as she +spoke, 'full dearly did she purchase the safety of her prince with the +life of her darling child. They brought him here a prisoner, mortally +wounded; and you may trace the drops of his blood from the great hall +door along the little gallery, and up to the saloon, where they laid +him down to die at his mother's feet. But there was comfort exchanged +between them; for he knew from the glance of his mother's eye, that +the purpose of his desperate defence was attained. Ah! I remember,' she +continued, 'I remember well to have seen one that knew and loved him. +Miss Lucy St. Aubin lived and died a maid for his sake, though one of +the most beautiful and wealthy matches in this country; all the world +ran after her, but she wore widow's mourning all her life for poor +William, for they were betrothed though not married, and died in—I +cannot think of the date; but I remember, in the November of that very +year, when she found herself sinking, she desired to be brought to +Waverley-Honour once more, and visited all the places where she had been +with my grand-uncle, and caused the carpets to be raised that she might +trace the impression of his blood, and if tears could have washed it +out, it had not been there now; for there was not a dry eye in the +house. You would have thought, Edward, that the very trees mourned for +her, for their leaves dropped around her without a gust of wind; and, +indeed, she looked like one that would never see them green again.' +</p> +<p> +From such legends our hero would steal away to indulge the fancies they +excited. In the corner of the large and sombre library, with no other +light than was afforded by the decaying brands on its ponderous and +ample hearth, he would exercise for hours that internal sorcery, by +which past or imaginary events are presented in action, as it were, to +the eye of the muser. Then arose in long and fair array the splendour of +the bridal feast at Waverley Castle; the tall and emaciated form of its +real lord, as he stood in his pilgrim's weeds, an unnoticed spectator of +the festivities of his supposed heir and intended bride; the electrical +shock occasioned by the discovery; the springing of the vassals to arms; +the astonishment of the bridegroom; the terror and confusion of the +bride; the agony with which Wilibert observed that her heart as well as +consent was in these nuptials; the air of dignity, yet of deep feeling, +with which he flung down the half-drawn sword, and turned away for ever +from the house of his ancestors. Then would he change the scene, and +fancy would at his wish represent Aunt Rachel's tragedy. He saw the Lady +Waverley seated in her bower, her ear strained to every sound, her heart +throbbing with double agony, now listening to the decaying echo of the +hoofs of the king's horse, and when that had died away, hearing in +every breeze that shook the trees of the park, the noise of the remote +skirmish. A distant sound is heard like the rushing of a swollen stream; +it comes nearer, and Edward can plainly distinguish the galloping +of horses, the cries and shouts of men, with straggling pistol-shots +between, rolling forwards to the Hall. The lady starts up—a terrified +menial rushes in—but why pursue such a description? +</p> +<p> +As living in this ideal world became daily more delectable to our hero, +interruption was disagreeable in proportion. The extensive domain that +surrounded the Hall, which, far exceeding the dimensions of a park, was +usually termed Waverley-Chase, had originally been forest ground, and +still, though broken by extensive glades, in which the young deer were +sporting, retained its pristine and savage character. It was traversed +by broad avenues, in many places half grown up with brushwood, where the +beauties of former days used to take their stand to see the stag course +with greyhounds, or to gain an aim at him with the crossbow. In one +spot, distinguished by a moss-grown Gothic monument, which retained the +name of Queen's Standing, Elizabeth herself was said to have pierced +seven bucks with her own arrows. This was a very favourite haunt of +Waverley. At other times, with his gun and his spaniel, which served +as an apology to others, and with a book in his pocket, which perhaps +served as an apology to himself, he used to pursue one of these long +avenues, which, after an ascending sweep of four miles, gradually +narrowed into a rude and contracted path through the cliffy and woody +pass called Mirkwood Dingle, and opened suddenly upon a deep, dark, and +small lake, named, from the same cause, Mirkwood Mere. There stood, +in former times, a solitary tower upon a rock almost surrounded by the +water, which had acquired the name of the Strength of Waverley, because, +in perilous times, it had often been the refuge of the family. There, in +the wars of York and Lancaster, the last adherents of the Red Rose +who dared to maintain her cause, carried on a harassing and predatory +warfare, till the stronghold was reduced by the celebrated Richard of +Gloucester. Here, too, a party of cavaliers long maintained themselves +under Nigel Waverley, elder brother of that William whose fate Aunt +Rachel commemorated. Through these scenes it was that Edward loved to +'chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy,' and, like a child among his +toys, culled and arranged, from the splendid yet useless imagery and +emblems with which his imagination was stored, visions as brilliant and +as fading as those of an evening sky. The effect of this indulgence upon +his temper and character will appear in the next chapter. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER V +</h2> +<h3> + CHOICE OF A PROFESSION +</h3> +<p> +From the minuteness with which I have traced Waverley's pursuits, and +the bias which these unavoidably communicated to his imagination, the +reader may perhaps anticipate, in the following tale, an imitation of +the romance of Cervantes. But he will do my prudence injustice in the +supposition. My intention is not to follow the steps of that inimitable +author, in describing such total perversion of intellect as misconstrues +the objects actually presented to the senses, but that more common +aberration from sound judgement, which apprehends occurrences indeed in +their reality, but communicates to them a tincture of its own romantic +tone and colouring. So far was Edward Waverley from expecting general +sympathy with his own feelings, or concluding that the present state of +things was calculated to exhibit the reality of those visions in which +he loved to indulge, that he dreaded nothing more than the detection +of such sentiments as were dictated by his musings, he neither had nor +wished to have a confidant, with whom to communicate his reveries; and +so sensible was he of the ridicule attached to them, that, had he been +to choose between any punishment short of ignominy, and the necessity of +giving a cold and composed account of the ideal world in which he lived +the better part of his days, I think he would not have hesitated to +prefer the former infliction. This secrecy became doubly precious, as he +felt in advancing life the influence of the awakening passions. Female +forms of exquisite grace and beauty began to mingle in his mental +adventures; nor was he long without looking abroad to compare the +creatures of his own imagination with the females of actual life. +</p> +<p> +The list of the beauties who displayed their hebdomadal finery at the +parish church of Waverley was neither numerous nor select. By far the +most passable was Miss Sissly, or, as she rather chose to be called, +Miss Cecilia Stubbs, daughter of Squire Stubbs at the Grange. I know not +whether it was by the 'merest accident in the world,' a phrase which, +from female lips, does not always exclude MALICE PREPENSE, or whether it +was from a conformity of taste, that Miss Cecilia more than once crossed +Edward in his favourite walks through Waverley-Chase. He had not as yet +assumed courage to accost her on these occasions; but the meeting was +not without its effect. A romantic lover is a strange idolater, +who sometimes cares not out of what log he frames the object of his +adoration; at least, if nature has given that object any passable +proportion of personal charms, he can easily play the jeweller and +Dervise in the Oriental tale, [See Hoppner's tale of The Seven Lovers.] +and supply her richly, out of the stores of his own imagination, with +supernatural beauty, and all the properties of intellectual wealth. +</p> +<p> +But ere the charms of Miss Cecilia Stubbs had erected her into a +positive goddess, or elevated her at least to a level with the saint her +namesake, Mrs. Rachel Waverley gained some intimation which determined +her to prevent the approaching apotheosis. Even the most simple and +unsuspicious of the female sex have (God bless them!) an instinctive +sharpness of perception in such matters, which sometimes goes the length +of observing partialities that never existed, but rarely misses to +detect such as pass actually under their observation. Mrs. Rachel +applied herself with great prudence, not to combat, but to elude, the +approaching danger, and suggested to her brother the necessity that +the heir of his house should see something more of the world than was +consistent with constant residence at Waverley-Honour. +</p> +<p> +Sir Everard would not at first listen to a proposal which went to +separate his nephew from him. Edward was a little bookish, he admitted; +but youth, he had always heard, was the season for learning, and, no +doubt, when his rage for letters was abated, and his head fully stocked +with knowledge, his nephew would take to field sports and country +business. He had often, he said, himself regretted that he had not spent +some time in study during his youth: he would neither have shot nor +hunted with less skill, and he might have made the roof of St. Stephen's +echo to longer orations than were comprised in those zealous Noes, with +which, when a member of the House during Godolphin's administration, he +encountered every measure of government. +</p> +<p> +Aunt Rachel's anxiety, however, lent her address to carry her point. +Every representative of their house had visited foreign parts, or served +his country in the army, before he settled for life at Waverley-Honour, +and she appealed for the truth of her assertion to the genealogical +pedigree, an authority which Sir Everard was never known to contradict. +In short, a proposal was made to Mr. Richard Waverley that his son +should travel, under the direction of his present tutor, Mr. Pembroke, +with a suitable allowance from the baronet's liberality. The father +himself saw no objection to this overture; but upon mentioning it +casually at the table of the Minister, the great man looked grave. +The reason was explained in private. The unhappy turn of Sir Everard's +politics, the Minister observed, was such as would render it highly +improper that a young gentleman of such hopeful prospects should travel +on the Continent with a tutor doubtless of his uncle's choosing, +and directing his course by his instructions. What might Mr. Edward +Waverley's society be at Paris, what at Rome, where all manner of snares +were spread by the Pretender and his sons—these were points for Mr. +Waverley to consider. This he could himself say, that he knew his +Majesty had such a just sense of Mr. Richard Waverley's merits, that if +his son adopted the army for a few years, a troop, he believed, might +be reckoned upon in one of the dragoon regiments lately returned from +Flanders. +</p> +<p> +A hint thus conveyed and enforced was not to be neglected with impunity; +and Richard Waverley, though with great dread of shocking his brother's +prejudices, deemed he could not avoid accepting the commission thus +offered him for his son. The truth is, he calculated much, and justly, +upon Sir Everard's fondness for Edward, which made him unlikely to +resent any step that he might take in due submission to parental +authority. Two letters announced this determination to the Baronet and +his nephew. The latter barely communicated the fact, and pointed out the +necessary preparation for joining his regiment. To his brother, Richard +was more diffuse and circuitous. He coincided with him in the most +flattering manner, in the propriety of his son's seeing a little more +of the world, and was even humble in expressions of gratitude for his +proposed assistance; was, however, deeply concerned that it was now, +unfortunately, not in Edward's power exactly to comply with the plan +which had been chalked out by his best friend and benefactor. He himself +had thought with pain on the boy's inactivity, at an age when all his +ancestors had borne arms; even Royalty itself had deigned to inquire +whether young Waverley was not now in Flanders, at an age when his +grandfather was already bleeding for his king in the Great Civil War. +This was accompanied by an offer of a troop of horse. What could he +do? There was no time to consult his brother's inclinations, even if he +could have conceived there might be objections on his part to his +nephew's following the glorious career of his predecessors. And, in +short, that Edward was now (the intermediate steps of cornet and +lieutenant being overleapt with great agility) Captain Waverley, of +Gardiner's regiment of dragoons, which he must join in their quarters +at Dundee in Scotland, in the course of a month. +</p> +<p> +Sir Everard Waverley received this intimation with a mixture of +feelings. At the period of the Hanoverian succession he had withdrawn +from Parliament, and his conduct, in the memorable year 1715, had not +been altogether unsuspected. There were reports of private musters +of tenants and horses in Waverley-Chase by moonlight, and of cases of +carbines and pistols purchased in Holland, and addressed to the Baronet, +but intercepted by the vigilance of a riding officer of the excise, +who was afterwards tossed in a blanket on a moonless night, by an +association of stout yeomen, for his officiousness. Nay, it was even +said, that at the arrest of Sir William Wyndham, the leader of the +Tory party, a letter from Sir Everard was found in the pocket of his +night-gown. But there was no overt act which an attainder could be +founded on; and government, contented with suppressing the insurrection +of 1715, felt it neither prudent nor safe to push their vengeance +further than against those unfortunate gentlemen who actually took up +arms. +</p> +<p> +Nor did Sir Everard's apprehensions of personal consequences seem to +correspond with the reports spread among his Whig neighbours. It was +well known that he had supplied with money several of the distressed +Northumbrians and Scotchmen, who, after being made prisoners at Preston +in Lancashire, were imprisoned in Newgate and the Marshalsea; and it was +his solicitor and ordinary counsel who conducted the defence of some of +these unfortunate gentlemen at their trial. It was generally supposed, +however, that, had ministers possessed any real proof of Sir Everard's +accession to the rebellion, he either would not have ventured thus to +brave the existing government, or at least would not have done so with +impunity. The feelings which then dictated his proceedings, were +those of a young man, and at an agitating period. Since that time Sir +Everard's jacobitism had been gradually decaying, like a fire which +burns out for want of fuel. His Tory and High Church principles were +kept up by some occasional exercise at elections and quarter-sessions: +but those respecting hereditary right were fallen into a sort of +abeyance. Yet it jarred severely upon his feelings, that his nephew +should go into the army under the Brunswick dynasty; and the more +so, as, independent of his high and conscientious ideas of paternal +authority, it was impossible, or at least highly imprudent, to interfere +authoritatively to prevent it. This suppressed vexation gave rise to +many poohs and pshaws, which were placed to the account of an incipient +fit of gout, until, having sent for the Army List, the worthy Baronet +consoled himself with reckoning the descendants of the houses of genuine +loyalty, Mordaunts, Granvilles, and Stanleys, whose names were to be +found in that military record; and, calling up all his feelings of +family grandeur and warlike glory, he concluded, with logic something +like Falstaff's, that when war was at hand, although it were shame to +be on any side but one, it were worse shame to be idle than to be on the +worst side, though blacker than usurpation could make it. As for Aunt +Rachel, her scheme had not exactly terminated according to her wishes, +but she was under the necessity of submitting to circumstances; and her +mortification was diverted by the employment she found in fitting out +her nephew for the campaign, and greatly consoled by the prospect of +beholding him blaze in complete uniform. +</p> +<p> +Edward Waverley himself received with animated and undefined surprise +this most unexpected intelligence. It was, as a fine old poem expresses +it, 'like a fire to heather set,' that covers a solitary hill with +smoke, and illumines it at the same time with dusky fire. His tutor, +or, I should say, Mr. Pembroke, for he scarce assumed the name of tutor, +picked up about Edward's room some fragments of irregular verse, which +he appeared to have composed under the influence of the agitating +feelings occasioned by this sudden page being turned up to him in the +book of life. The doctor, who was a believer in all poetry which was +composed by his friends, and written out in fair straight lines, with +a capital at the beginning of each, communicated this treasure to Aunt +Rachel, who, with her spectacles dimmed with tears, transferred them to +her commonplace book, among choice receipts for cookery and medicine, +favourite texts, and portions from High Church divines, and a few songs, +amatory and jacobitical, which she had carolled in her younger days, +from whence her nephew's poetical TENTAMINA were extracted, when the +volume itself, with other authentic records of the Waverley family, +were exposed to the inspection of the unworthy editor of this memorable +history. If they afford the reader no higher amusement, they will serve, +at least, better than narrative of any kind, to acquaint him with the +wild and irregular spirit of our hero:— +</p> +<pre> + Late when the Autumn evening fell + On Mirkwood-Mere's romantic dell, + The lake returned, in chastened gleam, + The purple cloud, the golden beam: + Reflected in the crystal pool, + Headand and bank lay fair and cool; + The weather-tinted rock and tower, + Each drooping tree, each fairy flower, + So true, so soft, the mirror gave, + As if there lay beneath the wave, + Secure from trouble, toil, and care, + A world than earthly world more fair. + + But distant winds began to wake, + And roused the Genius of the Lake! + He heard the groaning of the oak, + And donned at once his sable cloak, + As warrior, at the battle-cry, + Invests him with his panoply: + Then as the whirlwind nearer pressed, + He 'gan to shake his foamy crest + O'er furrowed brow and blackened cheek, + And bade his surge in thunder speak. + In wild and broken eddies whirled, + Flitted that fond ideal world, + And, to the shore in tumult tost, + The realms of fairy bliss were lost. + + Yet, with a stern delight and strange, + I saw the spirit-stirring change, + As warred the wind with wave and wood. + Upon the ruined tower I stood, + And felt my heart more strongly bound, + Responsive to the lofty sound, + While, joying in the mighty roar, + I mourned that tranquil scene no more. + + So, on the idle dreams of youth, + Breaks the loud trumpet-call of truth, + Bids each fair vision pass away, + Like landscape on the lake that lay, + As fair, as flitting, and as frail, + As that which fled the Autumn gale.— + For ever dead to fancy's eye + Be each gay form that glided by, + While dreams of love and lady's charms + Give place to honour and to arms! +</pre> +<p> +In sober prose, as perhaps these verses intimate less decidedly, the +transient idea of Miss Cecilia Stubbs passed from Captain Waverley's +heart amid the turmoil which his new destinies excited. She appeared, +indeed, in full splendour in her father's pew upon the Sunday when he +attended service for the last time at the old parish church, upon which +occasion, at the request of his uncle and Aunt Rachel, he was induced +(nothing loth, if the truth must be told) to present himself in full +uniform. +</p> +<p> +There is no better antidote against entertaining too high an opinion of +others, than having an excellent one of ourselves at the very same time. +Miss Stubbs had indeed summoned up every assistance which art could +afford to beauty; but, alas! hoop, patches, frizzled locks, and a +new mantua of genuine French silk, were lost upon a young officer of +dragoons, who wore, for the first time, his gold-laced hat, jack-boots, +and broadsword. I know not whether, like the champion of an old ballad, +</p> +<pre> + His heart was all on honour bent, + He could not stoop to love; + No lady in the land had power + His frozen heart to move; +</pre> +<p> +or whether the deep and flaming bars of embroidered gold, which now +fenced his breast, defied the artillery of Cecilia's eyes; but every +arrow was launched at him in vain. +</p> +<pre> + Yet did I mark where Cupid's shaft did light; + It lighted not on little western flower, + But on bold yeoman, flower of all the west, + Hight Jonas Culbertfield, the steward's son. +</pre> +<p> +Craving pardon for my heroics (which I am unable in certain cases to +resist giving way to), it is a melancholy fact, that my history must +here take leave of the fair Cecilia, who, like many a daughter of Eve, +after the departure of Edward, and the dissipation of certain idle +visions which she had adopted, quietly contented herself with a +PIS-ALLER, and gave her hand, at the distance of six months, to the +aforesaid Jonas, son of the Baronet's steward, and heir (no unfertile +prospect) to a steward's fortune; besides the snug probability of +succeeding to his father's office. All these advantages moved Squire +Stubbs, as much as the ruddy brow and manly form of the suitor +influenced his daughter, to abate somewhat in the article of their +gentry; and so the match was concluded. None seemed more gratified +than Aunt Rachel, who had hitherto looked rather askance upon the +presumptuous damsel (as much so, peradventure, as her nature would +permit), but who, on the first appearance of the new-married pair +at church, honoured the bride with a smile and a profound curtsy, +in presence of the rector, the curate, the clerk, and the whole +congregation of the united parishes of Waverley CUM Beverley. +</p> +<p> +I beg pardon, once and for all, of those readers who take up novels +merely for amusement, for plaguing them so long with old-fashioned +politics, and Whig and Tory, and Hanoverians and Jacobites, The truth +is, I cannot promise them that this story shall be intelligible, not +to say probable, without it. My plan requires that I should explain the +motives on which its action proceeded; and these motives necessarily +arose from the feelings, prejudices, and parties of the times. I do not +invite my fair readers, whose sex and impatience give them the greatest +right to complain of these circumstances, into a flying chariot drawn +by hippogriffs, or moved by enchantment. Mine is a humble English +post-chaise, drawn upon four wheels, and keeping his Majesty's highway. +Such as dislike the vehicle may leave it at the next halt, and wait +for the conveyance of Prince Hussein's tapestry, or Malek the Weaver's +flying sentry-box. Those who are contented to remain with me will be +occasionally exposed to the dullness inseparable from heavy roads, steep +hills, sloughs, and other terrestrial retardations; but, with tolerable +horses and a civil driver (as the advertisements have it), I engage to +get as soon as possible into a more picturesque and romantic country, +if my passengers incline to have some patience with me during my first +stages. [These Introductory Chapters have been a good deal censured as +tedious and unnecessary. Yet there are circumstances recorded in them +which the author has not been able to persuade himself to retract or +cancel.] +</p> +<a name="2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VI +</h2> +<h3> + THE ADIEUS OF WAVERLEY +</h3> +<p> +It was upon the evening of this memorable Sunday that Sir Everard +entered the library, where he narrowly missed surprising our young hero +as he went through the guards of the broadsword with the ancient weapon +of old Sir Hildebrand, which, being preserved as an heirloom, usually +hung over the chimney in the library, beneath a picture of the knight +and his horse, where the features were almost entirely hidden by the +knight's profusion of curled hair, and the Bucephalus which he bestrode +concealed by the voluminous robes of the Bath with which he was +decorated. Sir Everard entered, and after a glance at the picture and +another at his nephew, began a little speech, which, however, soon +dropped into the natural simplicity of his common manner, agitated upon +the present occasion by no common feeling. 'Nephew,' he said; and then, +as mending his phrase, 'My dear Edward, it is God's will, and also the +will of your father, whom, under God, it is your duty to obey, that you +should leave us to take up the profession of arms, in which so many of +your ancestors have been distinguished. I have made such arrangements +as will enable you to take the field as their descendant, and as the +probable heir of the house of Waverley; and, sir, in the field of battle +you will remember what name you bear. And, Edward, my dear boy, remember +also that you are the last of that race, and the only hope of its +revival depends upon you; therefore, as far as duty and honour will +permit, avoid danger—I mean unnecessary danger—and keep no company +with rakes, gamblers, and Whigs, of whom, it is to be feared, there are +but too many in the service into which you are going. Your colonel, as +I am informed, is an excellent man—for a Presbyterian; but you will +remember your duty to God, the Church of England, and the—' (this +breach ought to have been supplied, according to the rubric, with +the word KING; but as, unfortunately, that word conveyed a double and +embarrassing sense, one meaning DE FACTO, and the other DE JURE, the +knight filled up the blank otherwise)—'the Church of England, and all +constituted authorities.' Then, not trusting himself with any further +oratory, he carried his nephew to his stables to see the horses destined +for his campaign. Two were black (the regimental colour), superb +chargers both; the other three were stout active hacks, designed for +the road, or for his domestics, of whom two were to attend him from the +Hall: an additional groom, if necessary, might be picked up in Scotland. +</p> +<p> +'You will depart with but a small retinue,' quoth the Baronet, 'compared +to Sir Hildebrand, when he mustered before the gate of the Hall a larger +body of horse than your whole regiment consists of. I could have wished +that these twenty young fellows from my estate, who have enlisted in +your troop, had been to march with you on your journey to Scotland. +It would have been something, at least; but I am told their attendance +would be thought unusual in these days, when every new and foolish +fashion is introduced to break the natural dependence of the people upon +their landlords.' +</p> +<p> +Sir Everard had done his best to correct this unnatural disposition of +the times; for he had brightened the chain of attachment between the +recruits and their young captain, not only by a copious repast of beef +and ale, by way of parting feast, but by such a pecuniary donation to +each individual, as tended rather to improve the conviviality than the +discipline of their march. After inspecting the cavalry, Sir Everard +again conducted his nephew to the library, where he produced a letter, +carefully folded, surrounded by a little stripe of flox-silk, according +to ancient form, and sealed with an accurate impression of the Waverley +coat-of-arms. It was addressed, with great formality, 'To Cosmo +Comyne Bradwardine, Esq. of Bradwardine, at his principal mansion of +Tully-Veolan, in Perthshire, North Britain, These—By the hands +of Captain Edward Waverley, nephew of Sir Everard Waverley, of +Waverley-Honour, Bart.' +</p> +<p> +The gentleman to whom this enormous greeting was addressed, of whom we +shall have more to say in the sequel, had been in arms for the exiled +family of Stuart in the year 1715, and was made prisoner at Preston in +Lancashire. He was of a very ancient family, and somewhat embarrassed +fortune; a scholar, according to the scholarship of Scotchmen, that is, +his learning was more diffuse than accurate, and he was rather a reader +than a grammarian. Of his zeal for the classic authors he is said to +have given an uncommon instance. On the road between Preston and London +he made his escape from his guards; but being afterwards found +loitering near the place where they had lodged the former night, he was +recognized, and again arrested. His companions, and even his escort, +were surprised at his infatuation, and could not help inquiring, why, +being once at liberty, he had not made the best of his way to a place of +safety; to which he replied, that he had intended to do so, but, in good +faith, he had returned to seek his Titus Livius, which he had forgot in +the hurry of his escape. <a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> The simplicity of this anecdote +struck the gentleman, who, as we before observed, had managed the +defence of some of those unfortunate persons, at the expense of Sir +Everard, and perhaps some others of the party. He was, besides, himself +a special admirer of the old Patavinian; and though probably his own +zeal might not have carried him such extravagant lengths, even to +recover the edition of Sweynheim and Pannartz (supposed to be the +princeps), he did not the less estimate the devotion of the North +Briton, and in consequence exerted himself to so much purpose to remove +and soften evidence, detect legal flaws, ET CETERA, that he accomplished +the final discharge and deliverance of Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine from +certain very awkward consequences of a plea before our sovereign lord +the king in Westminster. +</p> +<p> +The Baron of Bradwardine, for he was generally so called in Scotland +(although his intimates, from his place of residence, used to denominate +him. Tully-Veolan, or more familiarly, Tully), no sooner stood RECTUS +IN CURIA, than he posted down to pay his respects and make his +acknowledgements at Waverley-Honour. A congenial passion for field +sports, and a general coincidence in political opinions, cemented his +friendship with Sir Everard, notwithstanding the difference of their +habits and studies in other particulars; and, having spent several weeks +at Waverley-Honour, the Baron departed with many expressions of regard, +warmly pressing the Baronet to return his visit, and partake of the +diversion of grouse-shooting upon his moors in Perthshire next +season. Shortly after, Mr. Bradwardine remitted from Scotland a sum +in reimbursement of expenses incurred in the King's High Court of +Westminster, which, although not quite so formidable when reduced to +the English denomination, had, in its original form of Scotch pounds, +shillings, and pence, such a formidable effect upon the frame of Duncan +Macwheeble, the laird's confidential factor, baron-bailie, and man of +resource, that he had a fit of the colic which lasted for five days, +occasioned, he said, solely and utterly by becoming the unhappy +instrument of conveying such a serious sum of money out of his native +country into the hands of the false English. But patriotism as it is the +fairest, so it is often the most suspicious mask of other feelings; +and many who knew Bailie Macwheeble, concluded that his professions of +regret were not altogether disinterested, and that he would have grudged +the moneys paid to the LOONS at Westminster much less had they not come +from Bradwardine estate, a fund which he considered as more particularly +his own. But the Bailie protested he was absolutely disinterested— +</p> +<pre> + Woe, woe, for Scotland, not a whit for me! +</pre> +<p> +The laird was only rejoiced that his worthy friend, Sir Everard Waverley +of Waverley-Honour, was reimbursed of the expenditure which he had +outlaid on account of the house of Bradwardine. It concerned, he said, +the credit of his own family, and of the kingdom of Scotland at large, +that these disbursements should be repaid forthwith, and, if delayed, if +would be a matter of national reproach. Sir Everard, accustomed to treat +much larger sums with indifference, received the remittance of 294l. +13s. 6d., without being aware that the payment was an international +concern, and, indeed, would probably have forgot the circumstance +altogether, if Bailie Macwheeble had thought of comforting his colic by +intercepting the subsidy. A yearly intercourse took place, of a short +letter, and a hamper or a cask or two, between Waverley-Honour and +Tully-Veolan, the English exports consisting of mighty cheeses and +mightier ale, pheasants and venison, and the Scottish returns being +vested in grouse, white hares, pickled salmon, and usquebaugh. All which +were meant, sent, and received, as pledges of constant friendship and +amity between two important houses. It followed as a matter of course, +that the heir-apparent of Waverley-Honour could not, with propriety, +visit Scotland without being furnished with credentials to the Baron of +Bradwardine. +</p> +<p> +When this matter was explained and settled, Mr. Pembroke expressed his +wish to take a private and particular leave of his dear pupil. The good +man's exhortations to Edward to preserve an unblemished life and morals, +to hold fast the principles of the Christian religion, and to eschew the +profane company of scoffers and latitudinarians, too much abounding +in the army, were not unmingled with his political prejudices. It had +pleased Heaven, he said, to place Scotland (doubtless for the sins of +their ancestors in 1642) in a more deplorable state of darkness than +even this unhappy kingdom of England. Here, at least, although the +candlestick of the Church of England had been in some degree removed +from its place, it yet afforded a glimmering light; there was a +hierarchy, though schismatical, and fallen from the principles +maintained by those great fathers of the church, Sancroft and his +brethren; there was a liturgy, though wofully perverted in some of +the principal petitions. But in Scotland it was utter darkness; and, +excepting a sorrowful, scattered, and persecuted remnant, the pulpits +were abandoned to Presbyterians, and he feared, to sectaries of every +description. It should be his duty to fortify his dear pupil to resist +such unhallowed and pernicious doctrines in church and state, as must +necessarily be forced at times upon his unwilling ears. +</p> +<p> +Here he produced two immense folded packets, which appeared each to +contain a whole ream of closely-written manuscript. They had been the +labour of the worthy man's whole life; and never were labour and zeal +more absurdly wasted. He had at one time gone to London, with the +intention of giving them to the world, by the medium of a bookseller in +Little Britain, well known to deal in such commodities, and to whom he +was instructed to address himself in a particular phrase, and with a +certain sign, which, it seems, passed at that time current among the +initiated Jacobites. The moment Mr. Pembroke had uttered the +shibboleth, with the appropriate gesture, the bibliopolist greeted +him, notwithstanding every disclamation, by the title of Doctor, and +conveying him into his back shop, after inspecting every possible and +impossible place of concealment, he commenced: 'Eh, doctor! Well—all +under the rose—snug—I keep no holes here even for a Hanoverian rat +to hide in. And, what—eh! any good news from our friends over the +water?—and how does the worthy king of France? Or perhaps you are more +lately from Rome?—it must be Rome will do it at last—the church must +light its candle at the old lamp. Eh! what, cautious? I like you the +better; but no fear.' +</p> +<p> +Here Mr. Pembroke, with some difficulty, stopped a torrent of +interrogations, eked out with signs, nods, and winks; and, having at +length convinced the bookseller that he did him too much honour in +supposing him an emissary of exiled royalty, he explained his actual +business. +</p> +<p> +The man of books, with a much more composed air, proceeded to examine +the manuscripts. The title of the first was 'A Dissent from Dissenters, +or the Comprehension confuted; showing the Impossibility of any +Composition between the Church and Puritans, Presbyterians, or Sectaries +of any Description; illustrated from the Scriptures, the fathers of +the Church, and the soundest Controversial Divines.' To this work the +bookseller positively demurred. 'Well meant,' he said, 'and learned, +doubtless; but the time had gone by. Printed on small pica it would +run to eight hundred pages, and could never pay. Begged therefore to be +excused. Loved and honoured the true church from his soul; and, had it +been a sermon on the martyrdom, or any twelve-penny touch—why I would +venture something for the honour of the cloth. But come, let's see +the other. 'Right Hereditary righted!' ah, there's some sense in this! +Hum—hum—hum—pages so many, paper so much, letterpress—Ah! I'll tell +you, though, doctor, you must knock out some of the Latin and Greek; +heavy, doctor, damn'd heavy—(beg your pardon) and if you throw in a +few grains more pepper—I am he that never peached my author—I have +published for Drake, and Charlwood Lawton, and poor Amhurst. <a href="#note-3" name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a>—Ah, +Caleb! Caleb! Well, it was a shame to let poor Caleb starve, +and so many fat rectors and squires among us. I gave him a dinner once +a week; but, Lord love you, what's once a week, when a man does not know +where to go the other six days?—Well, but I must show the manuscript +to little Tom Alibi the solicitor, who manages all my law affairs—must +keep on the windy side—the mob were very uncivil the last time I +mounted in Old Palace Yard—all Whigs and Roundheads every man of them, +Williamites and Hanover rats.' +</p> +<p> +The next day Mr. Pembroke again called on the publisher, but found Tom +Alibi's advice had determined him against undertaking the work. 'Not but +what I would go to—(what was I going to say?) to the Plantations for +the church with pleasure—but, dear doctor, I have a wife and family; +but, to show my zeal, I'll recommend the job to my neighbour Trimmel—he +is a bachelor, and leaving off business, so a voyage in a western barge +would not inconvenience him.' But Mr. Trimmel was also obdurate, and Mr. +Pembroke, fortunately perchance for himself, was compelled to return to +Waverley-Honour with his treatise in vindication of the real fundamental +principles of church and state safely packed in his saddle-bags. +</p> +<p> +As the public were thus likely to be deprived of the benefit arising +from his lucubrations by the selfish cowardice of the trade, Mr. +Pembroke resolved to make two copies of these tremendous manuscripts for +the use of his pupil. He felt that he had been indolent as a tutor, and, +besides, his conscience checked him for complying with the request of +Mr. Richard Waverley, that he would impress no sentiments upon Edward's +mind inconsistent with the present settlement in church and state. But +now, thought he, I may, without breach of my word, since he is no longer +under my tuition, afford the youth the means of judging for himself, and +have only to dread his reproaches for so long concealing the light +which the perusal will flash upon his mind. While he thus indulged the +reveries of an author and a politician, his darling proselyte, seeing +nothing very inviting in the title of the tracts, and appalled by the +bulk and compact lines of the manuscript, quietly consigned them to a +corner of his travelling trunk. +</p> +<p> +Aunt Rachel's farewell was brief and affectionate. She only cautioned +her dear Edward, whom she probably deemed somewhat susceptible, against +the fascination of Scottish beauty. She allowed that the northern part +of the island contained some ancient families, but they were all Whigs +and Presbyterians except the Highlanders; and respecting them she must +needs say, there could be no great delicacy among the ladies, where the +gentlemen's usual attire was, as she had been assured, to say the least, +very singular, and not at all decorous. She concluded her farewell with +a kind and moving benediction, and gave the young officer, as a pledge +of her regard, a valuable diamond ring (often worn by the male sex +at that time), and a purse of broad gold pieces, which also were more +common Sixty Years since than they have been of late. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VII +</h2> +<h3> + A HORSE-QUARTER IN SCOTLAND +</h3> +<p> +The next morning, amid varied feelings, the chief of which was a +predominant, anxious, and even solemn impression, that he was now in +a great measure abandoned to his own guidance and direction, Edward +Waverley departed from the Hall amid the blessings and tears of all the +old domestics and the inhabitants of the village, mingled with some sly +petitions for sergeantcies and corporalships, and so forth, on the part +of those who professed that 'they never thoft to ha' seen Jacob, and +Giles, and Jonathan, go off for soldiers, save to attend his honour, as +in duty bound.' Edward, as in duty bound, extricated himself from the +supplicants with the pledge of fewer promises than might have been +expected from a young man so little accustomed to the world. After a +short visit to London, he proceeded on horseback, then the general mode +of travelling, to Edinburgh, and from thence to Dundee, a seaport on the +eastern coast of Angus-shire, where his regiment was then quartered. +</p> +<p> +He now entered upon a new world, where, for a time, all was beautiful +because all was new. Colonel Gardiner, the commanding officer of the +regiment, was himself a study for a romantic, and at the same time an +inquisitive, youth. In person he was tall, handsome, and active, though +somewhat advanced in life. In his early years, he had been what is +called, by manner of palliative, a very gay young man, and strange +stories were circulated about his sudden conversion from doubt, if not +infidelity, to a serious and even enthusiastic turn of mind. It was +whispered that a supernatural communication, of a nature obvious even to +the exterior senses, had produced this wonderful change; and though some +mentioned the proselyte as an enthusiast, none hinted at his being a +hypocrite. This singular and mystical circumstance gave Colonel Gardiner +a peculiar and solemn interest in the eyes of the young soldier. <a href="#note-4" name="noteref-4"><small>4</small></a> +It may be easily imagined that the officers of a regiment, +commanded by so respectable a person, composed a society more sedate and +orderly than a military mess always exhibits; and that Waverley escaped +some temptations to which he might otherwise have been exposed. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile his military education proceeded. Already a good horseman, he +was now initiated into the arts of the manege, which, when carried to +perfection, almost realize the fable of the Centaur, the guidance of the +horse appearing to proceed from the rider's mere volition, rather than +from the use of any external and apparent signal of motion. He received +also instructions in his field duty; but, I must own, that when +his first ardour was passed, his progress fell short in the latter +particular of what he wished and expected. The duty of an officer, +the most imposing of all others to the inexperienced mind, because +accompanied with so much outward pomp and circumstance, is in +its essence a very dry and abstract task, depending chiefly upon +arithmetical combinations, requiring much attention, and a cool and +reasoning head, to bring them into action. Our hero was liable to fits +of absence, in which his blunders excited some mirth, and called down +some reproof. This circumstance impressed him with a painful sense of +inferiority in those qualities which appeared most to deserve and obtain +regard in his new profession. He asked himself in vain, why his eye +could not judge of distance or space so well as those of his companions; +why his head was not always successful in disentangling the various +partial movements necessary to execute a particular evolution; and +why his memory, so alert upon most occasions, did not correctly retain +technical phrases, and minute points of etiquette or field discipline. +Waverley was naturally modest, and therefore did not fall into the +egregious mistake of supposing such minuter rules of military duty +beneath his notice, or conceiting himself to be born a general, because +he made an indifferent subaltern. The truth was, that the vague and +unsatisfactory course of reading which he had pursued, working upon a +temper naturally retired and abstracted, had given him that wavering +and unsettled habit of mind, which is most averse to study and riveted +attention. Time, in the meanwhile, hung heavy on his hands. The gentry +of the neighbourhood were disaffected, and, showed little hospitality +to the military guests; and the people of the town, chiefly engaged in +mercantile pursuits, were not such as Waverley chose to associate +with. The arrival of summer, and a curiosity to know something more of +Scotland than he could see in a ride from his quarters, determined him +to request leave of absence for a few weeks. He resolved first to +visit his uncle's ancient friend and correspondent, with the purpose +of extending or shortening the time of his residence according to +circumstances. He travelled of course on horseback, and with a single +attendant, and passed his first night at a miserable inn, where the +landlady had neither shoes nor stockings, and the landlord, who called +himself a gentleman, was disposed to be rude to his guest, because he +had not bespoke the pleasure of his society to supper. <a href="#note-5" name="noteref-5"><small>5</small></a> The +next day, traversing an open and unenclosed country, Edward gradually +approached the Highlands of Perthshire, which at first had appeared a +blue outline in the horizon, but now swelled into huge gigantic masses, +which frowned defiance over the more level country that lay beneath +them. Near the bottom of this stupendous barrier, but still in the +Lowland country, dwelt Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine of Bradwardine; and, if +grey-haired eld can be in aught believed, there had dwelt his ancestors, +with all their heritage, since the days of the gracious King Duncan. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII +</h2> +<h3> + A SCOTTISH MANOR-HOUSE SIXTY YEARS SINCE +</h3> +<p> +It was about noon when Captain Waverley entered the straggling village, +or rather hamlet, of Tully-Veolan, close to which was situated the +mansion of the proprietor. The houses seemed miserable in the extreme, +especially to an eye accustomed to the smiling neatness of English +cottages. They stood, without any respect for regularity, on each side +of & straggling kind of unpaved street, where children, almost in a +primitive state of nakedness, lay sprawling, as if to be crushed by +the hoofs of the first passing horse. Occasionally, indeed, when such a +consummation seemed inevitable, a watchful old grandam, with her close +cap, distaff, and spindle, rushed like a sibyl in frenzy out of one of +these miserable cells, dashed into the middle of the path, and snatching +up her own charge from among the sunburnt loiterers, saluted him with +a sound cuff, and transported him back to his dungeon, the little +white-headed varlet screaming all the while, from the very top of his +lungs, a shrilly treble to the growling remonstrances of the enraged +matron. Another part in this concert was sustained by the incessant +yelping of a score of idle useless curs, which followed, snarling, +barking, howling, and snapping at the horses' heels; a nuisance at +that time so common in Scotland, that a French tourist, who, like other +travellers, longed to find a good and rational reason for everything +he saw, has recorded, as one of the memorabilia of Caledonia, that the +state maintained in each village a relay of curs, called COLLIES, whose +duty it was to chase the CHEVAUX DE POSTE (too starved and exhausted +to move without such a stimulus) from one hamlet to another, till their +annoying convoy drove them to the end of their stage. The evil and +remedy (such as it is) still exist: but this is remote from our present +purpose, and is only thrown out for consideration of the collectors +under Mr. Dent's dog bill. +</p> +<p> +As Waverley moved on, here and there an old man, bent as much by toil as +years, his eyes bleared with age and smoke, tottered to the door of his +hut, to gaze on the dress of the stranger, and the form and motions of +the horses, and then assembled with his neighbours, in a little group +at the smithy, to discuss the probabilities of whence the stranger came, +and where he might be going. Three or four village girls, returning from +the well or brook with pitchers and pails upon their heads, formed +more pleasing objects; and, with their thin, short gowns and single +petticoats, bare arms, legs, and feet, uncovered heads, and braided +hair, somewhat resembled Italian forms of landscape. Nor could a lover +of the picturesque have challenged either the elegance of their costume, +or the symmetry of their shape; although, to say the truth, a mere +Englishman, in search of the COMFORTABLE, a word peculiar to his native +tongue, might have wished the clothes less scanty, the feet and legs +somewhat protected from the weather, the head and complexion shrouded +from the sun, or perhaps might even have thought the whole person and +dress considerably improved, by a plentiful application of spring water, +with a QUANTUM SUFFICIT of soap, The whole scene was depressing; for +it argued, at the first glance, at least a stagnation of industry, and +perhaps of intellect. Even curiosity, the busiest passion of the idle, +seemed of a listless cast in the village of Tully-Veolan: the curs +aforesaid alone showed any part of its activity; with the villagers it +was passive. They stood and gazed at the handsome young officer and his +attendant, but without any of those quick motions, and eager looks, that +indicate the earnestness with which those who live in monotonous ease at +home, look out for amusement abroad. Yet the physiognomy of the people, +when more closely examined, was far from exhibiting the indifference of +stupidity; their features were rough, but remarkably intelligent; grave, +but the very reverse of stupid; and from among the young women, an +artist might have chosen more than one model, whose features and form +resembled those of Minerva. The children, also, whose skins were burnt +black, and whose hair was bleached white, by the influence of the sun, +had a look and manner of life and interest. It seemed, upon the whole, +as if poverty, and indolence, its too frequent companion, were combining +to depress the natural genius and acquired information of a hardy, +intelligent, and reflecting peasantry. +</p> +<p> +Some such thoughts crossed Waverley's mind as he paced his horse slowly +through the rugged and flinty street of Tully-Veolan, interrupted +only in his meditations by the occasional caprioles which his charger +exhibited at the reiterated assaults of those canine Cossacks, the +COLLIES before mentioned. The village was more than half a mile long, +the cottages being irregularly divided from each other by gardens, or +yards, as the inhabitants called them, of different sizes, where (for +it is Sixty Years since) the now universal potato was unknown, but which +were stored with gigantic plants of KALE or colewort, encircled with +groves of nettles, and exhibited here and there a huge hemlock, or the +national thistle, overshadowing a quarter of the petty enclosure. The +broken ground on which the village was built had never been levelled; so +that these enclosures presented declivities of every degree, here rising +like terraces, there sinking like tan-pits. The dry-stone walls which +fenced, or seemed to fence (for they were sorely breached), these +hanging gardens of Tully-Veolan, were intersected by a narrow lane +leading to the common field, where the joint labour of the villagers +cultivated alternate ridges and patches of rye, oats, barley, and peas, +each of such minute extent, that at a little distance the unprofitable +variety of the surface resembled a tailor's book of patterns. In a +few favoured instances, there appeared behind the cottages a miserable +wigwam, compiled of earth, loose stones, and turf, where the wealthy +might perhaps shelter a starved cow or sorely galled horse. But almost +every hut was fenced in front by a huge black stack of turf on one side +of the door, while on the other the family dung-hill ascended in noble +emulation. +</p> +<p> +About a bow-shot from the end of the village appeared the enclosures, +proudly denominated the Parks of Tully-Veolan, being certain square +fields, surrounded and divided by stone walls five feet in height. In +the centre of the exterior barrier was the upper gate of the avenue, +opening under an archway, battlemented on the top, and adorned with two +large weather-beaten mutilated masses of upright stone, which, if the +tradition of the hamlet could be trusted, had once represented, at least +had been once designed to represent, two rampant Bears, the supporters +of the family of Bradwardine. This avenue was straight, and of moderate +length, running between a double row of very ancient horse-chestnuts, +planted alternately with sycamores, which rose to such huge height, and +flourished so luxuriantly, that their boughs completely over-arched the +broad road beneath. Beyond these venerable ranks, and running parallel +to them, were two high walls, of apparently the like antiquity, +overgrown with ivy, honeysuckle, and other climbing plants. The avenue +seemed very little trodden, and chiefly by foot-passengers; so that +being very broad, and enjoying a constant shade, it was clothed with +grass of a deep and rich verdure, excepting where a footpath, worn by +occasional passengers, tracked with a natural sweep the way from the +upper to the lower gate. This nether portal, like the former, opened in +front of a wall ornamented with some rude sculpture, with battlements on +the top, over which were seen, half-hidden by the trees of the avenue, +the high steep roofs and narrow gables of the mansion, with lines +indented into steps, and corners decorated with small turrets. One of +the folding leaves of the lower gate was open, and as the sun shone +full into the court behind, a long line of brilliancy was flung upon +the aperture up the dark and gloomy avenue. It was one of those effects +which a painter loves to represent, and mingled well with the struggling +light which found its way between the boughs of the shady arch that +vaulted the broad green alley. +</p> +<p> +The solitude and repose of the whole scene seemed almost romantic; and +Waverley, who had given his horse to his servant on entering the first +gate, walked slowly down the avenue, enjoying the grateful and cooling +shade, and so much pleased with the placid ideas of rest and seclusion +excited by this confined and quiet scene, that he forgot the misery and +dirt of the hamlet he had left behind him. The opening into the paved +courtyard corresponded with the rest of the scene. The house, which +seemed to consist of two or three high, narrow, and steep-roofed +buildings, projecting from each other at right angles, formed one side +of the enclosure. It had been built at a period when castles were no +longer necessary, and when the Scottish architects had not yet acquired +the art of designing a domestic residence. The windows were numberless, +but very small; the roof had some nondescript kind of projections, +called bartizans, and displayed at each frequent angle a small turret, +rather resembling a pepper-box than a Gothic watch-tower. Neither did +the front indicate absolute security from danger. There were loop-holes +for musketry, and iron stanchions on the lower windows, probably to +repel any roving band of gipsies, or resist a predatory visit from +the Caterans of the neighbouring Highlands. Stables and other offices +occupied another side of the square. The former were low vaults, with +narrow slits instead of windows, resembling, as Edward's groom observed, +'rather a prison for murderers and larceners, and such like as are +tried at 'sizes, than a place for any Christian cattle.' Above these +dungeon-looking stables were granaries, called girnels, and other +offices, to which there was access by outside stairs of heavy masonry. +Two battlemented walls, one of which faced the avenue, and the other +divided the court from the garden, completed the enclosure. +</p> +<p> +Nor was the court without its ornaments. In one corner was a tun-bellied +pigeon-house, of great size and rotundity, resembling in figure and +proportion the curious edifice called Arthur's Oven, which would have +turned the brains of all the antiquaries in England, had not the +worthy proprietor pulled it down for the sake of mending a neighbouring +dam-dyke. This dovecot, or COLUMBARIUM, as the owner called it, was no +small resource to a Scottish laird of that period, whose scanty rents +were eked out by the contributions levied upon the farms by these light +foragers, and the conscriptions exacted from the latter for the benefit +of the table. +</p> +<p> +Another corner of the court displayed a fountain, where a huge bear, +carved in stone, predominated over a large stone basin, into which he +disgorged the water. This work of art was the wonder of the country ten +miles round. It must not be forgotten, that all sorts of bears, small +and large, demi or in full proportion, were carved over the windows, +upon the ends of the gables, terminated the spouts, and supported the +turrets, with the ancient family motto 'BEWAR THE BAR,' cut under each +hyperborean form. The court was spacious, well paved, and perfectly +clean, there being probably another entrance behind the stables for +removing the litter. Everything around appeared solitary, and would have +been silent, but for the continued plashing of the fountain; and the +whole scene still maintained the monastic illusion which the fancy of +Waverley had conjured up.—And here we beg permission to close a chapter +of still life. [There is no particular mansion described under the +name of Tully-Veolan; but the peculiarities of the description occur +in various old Scottish seats. The House of Warrender upon Bruntsfield +Links, and that of Old Ravelston, belonging, the former to Sir George +Warrender, the latter to Sir Alexander Keith, have both contributed +several hints to the description in the text. The House of Dean, near +Edinburgh, has also some points of resemblance with Tully-Veolan. +The author has, however, been informed, that the House of Grandtully +resembles that of the Baron of Bradwardine still more than any of the +above.] +</p> +<a name="2HCH0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IX +</h2> +<h3> + MORE OF THE MANOR-HOUSE AND ITS ENVIRONS +</h3> +<p> +After having satisfied his curiosity by gazing around him for a +few minutes, Waverley applied himself to the massive knocker of the +hall-door, the architrave of which bore the date 1594. But no answer was +returned, though the peal resounded through a number of apartments, and +was echoed from the courtyard walls without the house, startling the +pigeons from the venerable rotunda which they occupied, and alarming +anew even the distant village curs, which had retired to sleep upon +their respective dung-hills. Tired of the din which he created, and the +unprofitable responses which it excited, Waverley began to think that he +had reached the castle of Orgoglio, as entered by the victorious Prince +Arthur, +</p> +<pre> + When 'gan he loudly through the house to call, + But no man cared to answer to his cry; + There reigned a solemn silence over all, + Nor voice was heard, nor wight was seen, in bower or hall. +</pre> +<p> +Filled almost with expectation of beholding some 'old, old man, with +beard as white as snow,' whom he might question concerning this deserted +mansion, our hero turned to a little oaken wicket-door, well clenched +with iron nails, which opened in the courtyard wall at its angle +with the house. It was only latched, notwithstanding its fortified +appearance, and, when opened, admitted him into the garden, which +presented a pleasant scene. [At Ravelston may be seen such a garden, +which the taste of the proprietor, the author's friend and kinsman, Sir +Alexander Keith, Knight Mareschal, has judiciously preserved. That, as +well as the house, is, however, of smaller dimensions than the Baron +of Bradwardine's mansion and garden are presumed to have been.] The +southern side of the house, clothed with fruit-trees, and having many +evergreens trained upon its walls, extended its irregular yet venerable +front along a terrace, partly paved, partly gravelled, partly bordered +with flowers and choice shrubs. This elevation descended by three +several flights of steps, placed in its centre and at the extremities, +into what might be called the garden proper, and was fenced along the +top by a stone parapet with a heavy balustrade, ornamented from space to +space with huge grotesque figures of animals seated upon their haunches, +among which the favourite bear was repeatedly introduced. Placed in the +middle of the terrace, between a sashed door opening from the house and +the central flight of steps, a huge animal of the same species supported +on his head and fore-paws a sundial of large circumference, inscribed +with more diagrams than Edward's mathematics enabled him to decipher. +</p> +<p> +The garden, which seemed to be kept with great accuracy, abounded in +fruit-trees, and exhibited a profusion of flowers and evergreens, cut +into grotesque forms. It was laid out in terraces, which descended rank +by rank from the western wall to a large brook, which had a tranquil +and smooth appearance, where it served as a boundary to the garden; but, +near the extremity, leapt in tumult over a strong dam, or weir-head, the +cause of its temporary tranquillity, and there forming a cascade, was +overlooked by an octangular summer-house, with a gilded bear on the top +by way of vane. After this feat, the brook, assuming its natural rapid +and fierce character, escaped from the eye down a deep and wooded dell, +from the copse of which arose a massive, but ruinous tower, the former +habitation of the Barons of Bradwardine, The margin of the brook, +opposite to the garden, displayed a narrow meadow, or haugh, as it was +called, which formed a small washing-green; the bank, which retired +behind it, was covered by ancient trees. +</p> +<p> +The scene, though pleasing, was not quite equal to the gardens of +Alcina; yet wanted not the 'DUE DONZELLETTE GARRULE' of that enchanted +paradise, for upon the green aforesaid two bare-legged damsels, each +standing in a spacious tub, performed with their feet the office of +a patent washing-machine. These did not, however, like the maidens of +Armida, remain to greet with their harmony the approaching guest, but, +alarmed at the appearance of a handsome stranger on the opposite side, +dropped their garments (I should say garment, to be quite-correct) over +their limbs, which their occupation exposed somewhat too freely, and, +with a shrill exclamation of 'Eh, sirs!' uttered with an accent between +modesty and coquetry, sprang off like deer in different directions. +</p> +<p> +Waverley began to despair of gaining entrance into this solitary and +seemingly enchanted mansion, when a man advanced up one of the garden +alleys, where he still retained his station. Trusting this might be a +gardener, or some domestic belonging to the house, Edward descended +the steps in order to meet him; but as the figure approached, and long +before he could descry its features, he was struck with the oddity of +its appearance and gestures.—Sometimes this mister wight held his hands +clasped over his head, like an Indian Jogue in the attitude of penance; +sometimes he swung them perpendicularly, like a pendulum, on each side; +and anon he slapped them swiftly and repeatedly across his breast, +like the substitute used by a hackney-coachman for his usual flogging +exercise, when his cattle are idle upon the stand in a clear frosty day. +His gait was as singular as his gestures, for at times he hopped with +great perseverance on the right foot, then exchanged that supporter to +advance in the same manner on the left, and then putting his feet close +together, he hopped upon both at once. His attire, also, was antiquated +and extravagant. It consisted in a sort of grey jerkin, with scarlet +cuffs and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet lining; the other parts +of the dress corresponded in colour, not forgetting a pair of scarlet +stockings, and a scarlet bonnet, proudly surmounted with a turkey's +feather. Edward, whom he did not seem to observe, now perceived +confirmation in his features of what the mien and gestures had already +announced. It was apparently neither idiocy nor insanity which gave +that wild, unsettled, irregular expression to a face which naturally was +rather handsome, but something that resembled a compound of both, where +the simplicity of the fool was mixed with the extravagance of a crazed +imagination. He sang with great earnestness, and not without some taste, +a fragment of an old Scottish ditty:— +</p> +<pre> + False love, and hast thou played me thus + In summer among the flowers? + I will repay thee back again + In winter among the showers. + Unless again, again, my love, + Unless you turn again; + As you with other maidens rove, + I'll smile on other men. +</pre> +<p> +[This is a genuine ancient fragment, with some alteration in the last +two lines.] +</p> +<p> +Here lifting up his eyes, which had hither&o been fixed in observing how +his feet kept time to the tune, he beheld Waverley, and instantly +doffed his cap, with many grotesque signals of surprise, respect, and +salutation. Edward, though with little hope of receiving an answer to +any constant question, requested to know whether Mr. Bradwardine were at +home, or where he could find any of the domestics. The questioned party +replied,—and, like the witch of Thalaba, 'still his speech was song,'— +</p> +<pre> + The Knight's to the mountain + His bugle to wind; + The Lady's to greenwood + Her garland to bind. + The bower of Burd Ellen + Has moss on the floor, + That the step of Lord William + Be silent and sure. +</pre> +<p> +This conveyed no information, and Edward, repeating his queries, +received a rapid answer, in which, from the haste and peculiarity of +the dialect, the word 'butler' was alone intelligible. Waverley then +requested to see the butler; upon which the fellow, with a knowing look +and nod of intelligence, made a signal to Edward to follow, and began to +dance and caper down the alley up which he had made his approaches.—A +strange guide this, thought Edward, and not much unlike one of +Shakespeare's roynish clowns. I am not over prudent to trust to his +pilotage; but wiser men have been led by fools.—By this time he reached +the bottom of the alley, where, turning short on a little parterre of +flowers, shrouded from the east and north by a close yew hedge, he found +an old man at work without his coat, whose appearance hovered between +that of an upper servant and gardener; his red nose and ruffed shirt +belonging to the former profession; his hale and sunburnt visage, with +his green apron, appearing to indicate +</p> +<pre> + Old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden. +</pre> +<p> +The major domo—for such he was, and indisputably the second officer of +state in the barony (nay, as chief minister of the interior, superior +even to Bailie Macwheeble, in his own department of the kitchen and +cellar)—the major domo laid down his spade, slipped on his coat in +haste, and with a wrathful look at Edward's guide, probably excited by +his having introduced a stranger while he was engaged in this laborious, +and, as he might suppose it, degrading office, requested to know the +gentleman's commands. Being informed that he wished to pay his respects +to his master, that his name was Waverley, and so forth, the old man's +countenance assumed a great deal of respectful importance. 'He could +take it upon his conscience to say, his honour would have exceeding +pleasure in seeing him. Would not Mr. Waverley choose some refreshment +after his journey? His honour was with the folk who were getting doon +the dark hag; the twa gardener lads (an emphasis on the word TWA) had +been ordered to attend him; and he had been just amusing himself in the +meantime with dressing Miss Rose's flower-bed, that he might be near to +receive his honour's orders, if need were: he was very fond of a garden, +but had little time for such divertisements.' +</p> +<p> +'He canna get it wrought in abune twa days in the week at no rate +whatever,' said Edward's fantastic conductor. +</p> +<p> +A grim look from the butler chastised his interference, and he commanded +him, by the name of Davie Gellatley, in a tone which admitted no +discussion, to look for his honour at the dark hag, and tell him there +was a gentleman from the south had arrived at the Ha'. +</p> +<p> +'Can this poor fellow deliver a letter?' asked Edward. +</p> +<p> +'With all fidelity, sir, to any one whom he respects. I would hardly +trust him with a long message by word of mouth—though he is more knave +than fool.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley delivered his credentials to Mr. Gellatley, who seemed to +confirm the butler's last observation, by twisting his features at him, +when he was looking another way, into the resemblance of the grotesque +face on the bowl of a German tobacco-pipe; after which, with an odd +conge to Waverley, he danced off to discharge his errand. +</p> +<p> +'He is an innocent, sir,' said the butler; 'there is one such in almost +every town in the country, but ours is brought far ben. He used to work +a day's turn weel eneugh; but he help'd Miss Rose when she was flemit +with the Laird of Killancureit's new English bull, and since that time +we ca' him Davie Do-little indeed we might ca' him Davie Do-naething, +for since he got that gay clothing, to please his honour and my young +mistress (great folks will have their fancies), he has done naething but +dance up and down about the TOUN, without doing a single turn, unless +trimming the laird's fishing-wand or busking his flies, or maybe +catching a dish of trouts at an orra-time. But here comes Miss Rose, +who, I take burden upon me for her, will be especially glad to see one +of the house of Waverley at her father's mansion at Tully-Veolan.' +</p> +<p> +But Rose Bradwardine deserves better of her unworthy historian, than to +be introduced at the end of a chapter. +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile it may be noticed, that Waverley learned two things +from this colloquy; that in Scotland a single house was called a TOWN, +and a natural fool an INNOCENT. <a href="#note-6" name="noteref-6"><small>6</small></a> +</p> +<a name="2HCH0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER X +</h2> +<h3> + ROSE BRADWARDINE AND HER FATHER +</h3> +<p> +Miss Bradwardine was but seventeen; yet, at the last races of the county +town of—, upon her health being proposed among a round of beauties, +the Laird of Bumperquaigh, permanent feast-master and croupier of the +Bautherwhillery Club, not only said MORE to the pledge in a pint bumper +of Bourdeaux, but, ere pouring forth the libation, denominated the +divinity to whom it was dedicated, 'the Rose of Tully-Veolan;' upon +which festive occasion, three cheers were given by all the sitting +members of that respectable society, whose throats the wine had left +capable of such exertion. Nay, I am well assured, that the sleeping +partners of the company snorted applause, and that although strong +bumpers and weak brains had consigned two or three to the floor, yet +even these, fallen as they were from their high estate, and weltering—I +will carry the parody no further—uttered divers inarticulate sounds, +intimating their assent to the motion. +</p> +<p> +Such unanimous applause could not be extorted but by acknowledged merit; +and Rose Bradwardine not only deserved it, but also the approbation +of much more rational persons than the Bautherwhillery Club could have +mustered, even before discussion of the first MAGNUM. She was indeed a +very pretty girl of the Scotch cast of beauty, that is, with a profusion +of hair of paley gold, and a skin like the snow of her own mountains in +whiteness. Yet she had not a pallid or pensive cast of countenance; +her features, as well as her temper, had a lively expression; her +complexion, though not florid, was so pure as to seem transparent, and +the slightest emotion sent her whole blood at once to her face and neck. +Her form, though under the common size, was remarkably elegant, and her +motions light, easy, and unembarrassed. She came from another part +of the garden to receive Captain Waverley, with a manner that hovered +between bashfulness and courtesy. +</p> +<p> +The first greetings past, Edward learned from her that the dark hag, +which had somewhat puzzled him in the butler's account of his master's +avocations, had nothing to do either with a black cat or a broomstick, +but was simply a portion of oak copse which was to be felled that day. +She offered, with diffident civility, to show the stranger the way to +the spot, which, it seems, was not far distant; but they were prevented +by the appearance of the Baron of Bradwardine in person, who, summoned +by David Gellatley, now appeared, 'on hospitable thoughts intent,' +clearing the ground at a prodigious rate with swift and long strides, +which reminded Waverley of the seven-league boots of the nursery fable. +He was a tall, thin, athletic figure; old indeed, and grey-haired, but +with every muscle rendered as tough as whip-cord by constant exercise. +He was dressed carelessly, and more like a Frenchman than an Englishman +of the period, while, from his hard features and perpendicular rigidity +of stature, he bore some resemblance to a Swiss officer of the guards, +who had resided some time at Paris, and caught the costume, but not the +ease or manner of its inhabitants. The truth was, that his language and +habits were as heterogeneous as his external appearance. +</p> +<p> +Owing to his natural disposition to study, or perhaps to a very general +Scottish fashion of giving young men of rank a legal education, he +had been bred with a view to the Bar. But the politics of his family +precluding the hope of his rising in that profession, Mr. Bradwardine +travelled with high reputation for several years, and made some +campaigns in foreign service. After his DEMELE with the law of high +treason in 1715, he had lived in retirement, conversing almost entirely +with those of his own principles in the vicinage. The pedantry of the +lawyer, superinduced upon the military pride of the soldier, might +remind a modern of the days of the zealous volunteer service, when the +bar-gown of our pleaders was often hung over a blazing uniform. To this +must be added the prejudices of ancient birth and Jacobite politics, +greatly strengthened by habits of solitary and secluded authority, +which, though exercised only within the bounds of his half-cultivated +estate, was there indisputable and undisputed. For, as he used to +observe, 'the lands of Bradwardine, Tully-Veolan, and others, had +been erected into a free barony by a charter from David the First, CUM +LIBERALI POTEST. HABENDI CURIAS ET JUSTICIAS, CUM FOSSA ET FURCA (LIE +pit and gallows) ET SAKA ET SOKA, ET THOL ET THEAM, ET INFANG-THIEF ET +OUTFANG-THIEF, SIVE HAND-HABEND. SIVE BAK-BARAND.' The peculiar meaning +of all these cabalistical words few or none could explain; but they +implied, upon the whole, that the Baron of Bradwardine might, in case +of delinquency, imprison, try, and execute his vassals at his pleasure. +Like James the First, however, the present possessor of this authority +was more pleased in talking about prerogative than in exercising it; +and, excepting that he imprisoned two poachers in the dungeon of the old +tower of Tully-Veolan, where they were sorely frightened by ghosts, +and almost eaten by rats, and that he set an old woman in the JOUGS (or +Scottish pillory) for saying 'there were mair fules in the laird's +ha' house than Davie Gellatley,' I do not learn that he was accused +of abusing his high powers. Still, however, the conscious pride +of possessing them gave additional importance to his language and +deportment. +</p> +<p> +At his first address to Waverley, it would seem that the hearty pleasure +he felt to behold the nephew of his friend had somewhat discomposed the +stiff and upright dignity of the Baron of Bradwardine's demeanour, for +the tears stood in the old gentleman's eyes, when, having first shaken +Edward heartily by the hand in the English fashion, he embraced him A +LA MODE FRANCAISE, and kissed him on both sides of his face; while +the hardness of his grip, and the quantity of Scotch snuff which his +ACCOLADE communicated, called corresponding drops of moisture to the +eyes of his guest. +</p> +<p> +'Upon the honour of a gentleman,' he said, 'but it makes me young again +to see you here, Mr. Waverley!' A worthy scion of the old stock of +Waverley-Honour—SPES ALTERA, as Maro hath it—and you have the look of +the old line, Captain Waverley, not so portly yet as my old friend Sir +Everard—MAIS CELA VIENDRA AVEC LE TEMPS, as my Dutch acquaintance, +Baron Kikkitbroeck, said of the SAGESSE of MADAME SON EPOUSE.—And so ye +have mounted the cockade? Right, right; though I could have wished the +colour different, and so I would ha' deemed might Sir Everard. But no +more of that; I am old, and times are changed.—And how does the worthy +knight baronet, and the fair Mrs. Rachel?—Ah, ye laugh, young man! +In troth she was the fair Mrs. Rachel in the year of grace seventeen +hundred and sixteen; but time passes—ET SINGULA PRAEDANTUR ANNI—that +is most certain. But once again, ye are most heartily welcome to my poor +house of Tully-Veolan!—Hie to the house, Rose, and see that Alexander +Saunderson leaks out the old Chateau Margaux, which I sent from +Bourdeaux to Dundee in the year 1713.' +</p> +<p> +Rose tripped off demurely enough till she turned the first corner, and +then ran with the speed of a fairy, that she might gain leisure, after +discharging her father's commission, to put her own dress in order, and +produce all her little finery, an occupation for which the approaching +dinner hour left but limited time. +</p> +<p> +'We cannot rival the luxuries of your English table, Captain Waverley, +or give you the EPULAE LAUTIORES of Wavery-Honour—I say EPULAE rather +than PRANDIUM, because the latter phrase is popular; EPULAE AD SENATUM, +PRANDIUM VERO AD POPULUM ATTINET, says Suetonius Tranquillus. But I +trust ye will applaud my Bourdeaux; C'EST D'UNE OREILLE, as Captain +Vinsauf used to say—VINUM PRIMAE NOTAE, the Principal of St. Andrews +denominated it. And, once more, Captain Waverley, right glad am I that +ye are here to drink the best my cellar can make forthcoming.' +</p> +<p> +This speech, with the necessary interjectional answers, continued from +the lower alley where they met, up to the door of the house, where +four or five servants in old-fashioned liveries, headed by Alexander +Saunderson, the butler, who now bore no token of the sable stains of the +garden, received them in grand costume, +</p> +<pre> + In an old hall hung round with pikes and with bows, + With old bucklers and corselets that had borne many shrewd blows. +</pre> +<p> +With much ceremony, and still more real kindness, the Baron, without +stopping in any intermediate apartment, conducted his guest through +several into the great dining parlour, wainscoted with black oak, and +hung round with the pictures of his ancestry, where a table was set +forth in form for six persons, and an old-fashioned beaufet displayed +all the ancient and massive plate of the Bradwardine family. A bell was +now heard at the head of the avenue; for an old man, who acted as porter +upon gala days, had caught the alarm given by Waverley's arrival, and, +repairing to his post, announced the arrival of other guests. +</p> +<p> +These, as the Baron assured his young friend, were very estimable +persons. 'There was the young Laird of Balmawhapple, a Falconer by +surname, of the house of Glenfarquhar, given right much to field +sports—GAUDAT EQUIS ET CANIBUS—but a very discreet young gentleman. +Then there was the Laird of Killancureit, who had devoted his leisure +UNTILL tillage and agriculture, and boasted himself to be possessed of a +bull of matchless merit, brought from the county of Devon (the Damnonia, +of the Romans, if we can trust Robert of Cirencester). He is, as ye may +well suppose from such a tendency, but of yeoman extraction—SERVABIT +ODOREM TESTA DIU—and I believe, between ourselves, his grandsire was +from the wrong side of the Border—one Bullsegg, who came hither as a +steward, or bailiff, or ground-officer, or something in that department, +to the last Girnigo of Killancureit, who died of an atrophy. After his +master's death, sir,—ye would hardly believe such a scandal,—but this +Bullsegg, being portly and comely of aspect, intermarried with the lady +dowager, who was young and amorous, and possessed himself of the estate, +which devolved on this unhappy woman by a settlement of her umwhile +husband, in direct contravention of an unrecorded taillie, and to the +prejudice of the disponer's own flesh and blood, in the person of his +natural heir and seventh cousin, Girnigo of Tipperhewit, whose family +was so reduced by the ensuing lawsuit, that his representative is now +serving as a private gentleman-sentinel in the Highland Black Watch. But +this gentleman, Mr. Bullsegg of Killancureit that now is, has good blood +in his veins by the mother and grandmother, who were both of the family +of Pickletillim, and he is well liked and looked upon, and knows his +own place. And God forbid, Captain Waverley, that we of irreproachable +lineage should exult over him, when it may be, that in the eighth, +ninth, or tenth generation, his progeny may rank, in a manner, with the +old gentry of the country. Rank and ancestry, sir, should be the last +words in the mouths of us of unblemished race—VIX EA NOSTRA VOCO, +as Naso saith.—There is, besides, a clergyman of the true (though +suffering) Episcopal church of Scotland. He was a confessor in her cause +after the year 1715, when a Whiggish mob destroyed his meeting-house, +tore his surplice, and plundered his dwelling-house of four silver +spoons, intromitting also with his mart and his meal-ark, and with two +barrels, one of single, and one of double ale, besides three bottles of +brandy. <a href="#note-7" name="noteref-7"><small>7</small></a> My Baron-Bailie and doer, Mr. Duncan Macwheeble, +is the fourth on our list. There is a question, owing to the incertitude +of ancient orthography, whether he belongs to the clan of Wheedle or of +Quibble, but both have produced persons eminent in the law.'— +</p> +<pre> + As such he described them by person and name, + They entered, and dinner was served as they came. +</pre> +<a name="2HCH0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XI +</h2> +<h3> + THE BANQUET +</h3> +<p> +The entertainment was ample, and handsome, according to the Scotch ideas +of the period, and the guests did great honour to it. The Baron ate like +a famished soldier, the Laird of Balmawhapple like a sportsman, Bullsegg +of Killancureit like a farmer, Waverley himself like a traveller, and +Bailie Macwheeble like all four together; though, either out of more +respect, or in order to preserve that proper declination of person which +showed a sense that he was in the presence of his patron, he sat upon +the edge of his chair, placed at three feet distance from the table, and +achieved a communication with his plate by projecting his person towards +it in a line, which obliqued from the bottom of his spine, so that the +person who sat opposite to him could only see the foretop of his riding +periwig. +</p> +<p> +This stooping position might have been inconvenient to another person; +but long habit made it, whether seated or walking, perfectly easy to +the worthy Bailie. In the latter posture, it occasioned, no doubt, an +unseemly projection of the person towards those who happened to walk +behind; but those being at all times his inferiors (for Mr. Macwheeble +was very scrupulous in giving place to all others), he cared very little +what inference of contempt or slight regard they might derive from the +circumstance. Hence, when he waddled across the court to and from his +old grey pony, he somewhat resembled a turnspit walking upon its hind +legs. +</p> +<p> +The nonjuring clergyman was a pensive and interesting old man, with much +the air of a sufferer for conscience' sake. He was one of those, +</p> +<pre> + Who, undeprived, their benefice forsook. +</pre> +<p> +For this whim, when the Baron was out of hearing, the Bailie used +sometimes gently to rally Mr. Rubrick, upbraiding him with the nicety of +his scruples. Indeed it must be owned, that he himself, though at heart +a keen partisan of the exiled family, had kept pretty fair with all +the different turns of state in his time; so that Davie Gellatley once +described him as a particularly good man, who had a very quiet and +peaceful conscience, THAT NEVER DID HIM ANY HARM. +</p> +<p> +When the dinner was removed, the Baron announced the health of the +King, politely leaving to the consciences of his guests to drink to +the sovereign DE FACTO or DE JURE, as their politics inclined. +The conversation now became general; and, shortly afterwards, Miss +Bradwardine, who had done the honours with natural grace and simplicity, +retired, and was soon followed by the clergyman. Among the rest of the +party, the wine, which fully justified the encomiums of the landlord, +flowed freely round, although Waverley, with some difficulty, obtained +the privilege of sometimes neglecting the glass. At length, as the +evening grew more late, the Baron made a private signal to Mr. Saunders +Saunderson, or, as he facetiously denominated him, ALEXANDER AB +ALEXANDRO, who left the room with a nod, and soon after returned, his +grave countenance mantling with a solemn and mysterious smile, and +placed before his master a small oaken casket, mounted with brass +ornaments of curious form. The Baron, drawing out a private key, +unlocked the casket, raised the lid, and produced a golden goblet of +a singular and antique appearance, moulded into the shape of a rampant +bear, which the owner regarded with a look of mingled reverence, pride, +and delight, that irresistibly reminded Waverley of Ben Jonson's Tom +Otter, with his Bull, Horse, and Dog, as that wag wittily denominated +his chief carousing cups. But Mr. Bradwardine, fuming towards him with +complacency, requested him to observe this curious relic of the olden +time. +</p> +<p> +'It represents,' he said, 'the chosen crest of our family, a bear, as ye +observe, and rampant; because a good herald will depict every animal in +its noblest posture; as a horse SALIENT, a greyhound CURRANT, and, as +may be inferred, a ravenous animal IN ACTU FEROCIORI, or in a voracious, +lacerating, and devouring posture. Now, sir, we hold this most +honourable achievement by the wappen-brief, or concession of arms, +of Frederick Redbeard, Emperor of Germany, to my predecessor, Godmund +Bradwardine, it being the crest of a gigantic Dane, whom he slew in +the lists in the Holy Land, on a quarrel touching the chastity of the +Emperor's spouse or daughter, tradition saith not precisely which, and +thus, as Virgilius hath it— +</p> +<pre> + Mutemus clypeos, Danaumque insignia nobis + Aptemus. +</pre> +<p> +Then for the cup, Captain Waverley, it was wrought by the command of St. +Duthac, Abbot of Aberbrothock, for behoof of another baron of the +house of Bradwardine, who had valiantly defended the patrimony of that +monastery against certain encroaching nobles. It is properly termed the +Blessed Bear of Bradwardine (though old Dr. Doubleit used jocosely to +call it Ursa Major), and was supposed, in old and Catholic times, to be +invested with certain properties of a mystical and supernatural quality. +And though I give not in to such ANILIA, it is certain it has always +been esteemed a solemn standard cup and heirloom of our house; nor is it +ever used but upon seasons of high festival, and such I hold to be the +arrival of the heir of Sir Everard under my roof; and I devote +this draught to the health and prosperity of the ancient and +highly-to-be-honoured house of Waverley.' +</p> +<p> +During this long harangue, he carefully decanted a cobwebbed bottle of +claret into the goblet, which held nearly an English pint; and, at the +conclusion, delivering the bottle to the butler, to be held carefully in +the same angle with the horizon, he devoutly quaffed off the contents of +the Blessed Bear of Bradwardine. +</p> +<p> +Edward, with horror and alarm, beheld the animal making his rounds, +and thought with great anxiety upon the appropriate motto, 'Beware the +Bear;' but at the same time plainly foresaw, that as none of the guests +scrupled to do him this extraordinary honour, a refusal on-his part +to pledge their courtesy would be extremely ill received. Resolving, +therefore, to submit to this last piece of tyranny, and then to quit the +table, if possible, and confiding in the strength of his constitution, +he did justice to the company in the contents of the Blessed Bear, and +felt less inconvenience from the draught than he could possibly have +expected. The others, whose time had been more actively employed, began +to show symptoms of innovation,—'the good wine did its good office.' +[Southey's MADOC.] The frost of etiquette, and pride of birth, began to +give way before the genial blessings of this benign constellation, and +the formal appellatives with which the three dignitaries had hitherto +addressed each other, were now familiarly abbreviated into Tully, +Bally, and Killie. When a few rounds had passed, the two latter, after +whispering together, craved permission (a joyful hearing for Edward) to +ask the grace-cup. This, after some delay, was at length produced, and +Waverley concluded that the orgies of Bacchus were terminated for the +evening. He was never more mistaken in his life. +</p> +<p> +As the guests had left their horses at the small inn, or CHANGE-HOUSE, +as it was called, of the village, the Baron could not, in politeness, +avoid walking with them up the avenue, and Waverley, from the same +motive, and to enjoy, after this feverish revel, the cool summer +evening, attended the party. But when they arrived at Luckie Macleary's, +the Lairds of Balmawhapple and Killancureit declared their determination +to acknowledge their sense of the hospitality of Tully-Veolan, by +partaking with their entertainer and his guest Captain Waverley, what +they technically called DEOCH AN DORUIS, a stirrup-cup, to the honour of +the Baron's roof-tree. <a href="#note-8" name="noteref-8"><small>8</small></a> +</p> +<p> +It must be noticed, that the Bailie, knowing by experience that the +day's joviality, which had been hitherto sustained at the expense of his +patron, might terminate partly at his own, had mounted his spavined grey +pony, and, between gaiety of heart, and alarm for being hooked into a +reckoning, spurred him into a hobbling canter (a trot was out of the +question), and had already cleared the village. The others entered the +change-house, leading Edward in unresisting submission; for his landlord +whispered him, that to demur to such an overture would be construed into +a high misdemeanour against the LEGES CONVIVIALES, or regulations of +genial compotation. Widow Macleary seemed to have expected this visit, +as well she might, for it was the usual consummation of merry bouts, not +only at Tully-Veolan, but at most other gentlemen's houses in Scotland, +Sixty Years since. The guests thereby at once acquitted themselves of +their burden of gratitude for their entertainer's kindness, encouraged +the trade of his change-house, did honour to the place which afforded +harbour to their horses, and indemnified themselves for the previous +restraints imposed by private hospitality, by spending, what Falstaff +calls the sweet of the night, in the genial license of a tavern. +</p> +<p> +Accordingly, in full expectation of these distinguished guests, Luckie +Macleary had swept her house for the first time this fortnight, tempered +her turf-fire to such a heat as the season required in her damp hovel +even at Midsummer, set forth her deal table newly washed, propped its +lame foot with a fragment of turf, arranged four or five stools of huge +and clumsy form, upon the sites which best suited the inequalities of +her clay floor; and having, moreover, put on her clean toy, rokelay, and +scarlet plaid, gravely awaited the arrival of the company, in full hope +of custom and profit. When they were seated under the sooty rafters of +Luckie Macleary's only apartment, thickly tapestried with cobwebs, their +hostess, who had already taken her cue from the Laird of Balmawhapple, +appeared with a huge pewter measuring-pot, containing at least three +English quarts, familiarly denominated a TAPPIT HEN, and which, in the +language of the hostess, reamed (i.e. mantled) with excellent claret, +just drawn from the cask. +</p> +<p> +It was soon plain that what crumbs of reason the Bear had not devoured, +were to be picked up by the Hen; but the confusion which appeared to +prevail favoured Edward's resolution to evade the gaily circling glass. +The others began to talk thick and at once, each performing his own part +in the conversation, without the least respect to hist neighbour. The +Baron of Bradwardine sang French CHANSONS-A-BOIRE, and spouted pieces +of Latin; Killancureit talked, in a steady unalterable dull key, +of top-dressing and bottom-dressing, [This has been censured as an +anachronism; and it must be confessed that agriculture of this kind was +unknown to the Scotch Sixty Years since.] and year-olds, and gimmers, +and dinmonts, and stots, and runts, and kyloes, and a proposed +turnpike-act; while Balmawhapple, in notes exalted above both, extolled +his horse, his hawks, and a greyhound called Whistler. In the middle of +this din, the Baron repeatedly implored silence; and when at length the +instinct of polite discipline so far prevailed, that for a moment he +obtained it, he hastened to beseech their attention 'unto a military +ariette, which was a particular favourite of the Marechal Duc de +Berwick;' then, imitating, as well as he could, the manner and tone of a +French mousquetaire, he immediately commenced,— +</p> +<pre> + Mon coeur volage, dit-elle, + N'est pas pour vous, garcon; + Est pour un homme de guerre, + Qui a barbe au menton. + Lon, Lon, Laridon. + + Qui ports chapeau a plume, + Soulier a rouge talon, + Qui joue de la flute, + Aussi du violon. + Lon, Lon, Laridon. +</pre> +<p> +Balmawhapple could hold no longer, but broke in with what he called a +d—d good song, composed by Gibby Gaethroughwi't, the piper of Cupar; +and, without wasting more time, struck up,— +</p> +<pre> + It's up Glenbarchan's braes I gaed, + And o'er the bent of Killiebraid, + And mony a weary cast I made, + To cuittle the muirfowl's tail. +</pre> +<p> +[SUUM CUIQUE. This snatch of a ballad was composed by Andrew MacDonald, +the ingenious and unfortunate author of VIMONDA.] +</p> +<p> +The Baron, whose voice was drowned in the louder and more obstreperous +strains of Balmawhapple, now dropped the competition, but continued to +hum, Lon, Lon, Laridon, and to regard the successful candidate for the +attention of the company, with an eye of disdain, while Balmawhapple +proceeded,— +</p> +<pre> + If up a bonny black-cock should spring, + To whistle him down wi' a slug in his wing, + And strap him on to my lunzie string, + Right seldom would I fail. +</pre> +<p> +After an ineffectual attempt to recover the second verse, he sang the +first over again; and, in prosecution of his triumph, declared there was +'more sense in that than in all the DERRY-DONGS of France, and Fifeshire +to the boot of it.' The Baron only answered with a long pinch of snuff, +and a glance of infinite contempt. But those noble allies, the Bear and +the Hen, had emancipated the young laird from the habitual reverence +in which he held Bradwardine at other times. He pronounced the claret +SHILPIT, and demanded brandy with great vociferation. It was brought; +and now the Demon of Politics envied even the harmony arising from +this Dutch concert, merely because there was not a wrathful note in the +strange compound of sounds which it produced. Inspired by her, the Laird +of Balmawhapple, now superior to the nods and winks with which the Baron +of Bradwardine, in delicacy to Edward, had hitherto checked his entering +upon political discussion, demanded a bumper, with the lungs of a +Stentor, 'to the little gentleman in black velvet who did such service +in 1702, and may the white horse break his neck over a mound of his +making!' +</p> +<p> +Edward was not at that moment clear-headed enough to remember that King +William's fall, which occasioned his death, was said to be owing to his +horse stumbling at a mole-hill; yet felt inclined to take umbrage at a +toast, which seemed, from the glance of Balmawhapple's eye, to have a +peculiar and uncivil reference to the Government which he served. +But, ere he could interfere, the Baron of Bradwardine had taken up the +quarrel. 'Sir,' he said, 'whatever my sentiments, TANQUAM PRIVATUS, may +be in such matters, I shall not tamely endure your saying anything that +may impinge upon the honourable feelings of a gentleman under my roof. +Sir, if you have no respect for the laws of urbanity, do ye not respect +the military oath, the SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, by which every officer is +bound to the standards under which he is enrolled? Look at Titus Livius, +what he says of those Roman soldiers who were so unhappy as EXUERE +SACRAMENTUM,—to renounce their legionary oath; but you are ignorant, +sir, alike of ancient history and modern courtesy.' +</p> +<p> +'Not so ignorant as ye would pronounce me,' roared Balmawhapple. 'I ken +weel that you mean the Solemn League and Covenant; but if a' the Whigs +in hell had taken the—' +</p> +<p> +Here the Baron and Waverley both spoke at once, the former calling out, +'Be silent, sir! ye not only show your ignorance, but disgrace your +native country before a stranger and an Englishman;' and Waverley, at +the same moment, entreating Mr. Bradwardine to permit him to reply to +an affront which seemed levelled at him personally. But the Baron was +exalted by wine, wrath, and scorn, above all sublunary considerations. +</p> +<p> +'I crave you to be hushed, Captain Waverley; you are elsewhere, +peradventure, SUI JURIS,—foris-familiated, that is, and entitled, it +may be, to think and resent for yourself; but in my domain, in this poor +Barony of Bradwardine, and under this roof, which is QUASI mine, being +held by tacit relocation by a tenant at will, I am IN LOCO PARENTIS +to you, and bound to see you scathless.—And for you, Mr. Falconer of +Balmawhapple, I warn ye, let me see no more aberrations from the paths +of good manners.' +</p> +<p> +'And I tell you, Mr. Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, of Bradwardine and +Tully-Veolan,' retorted the sportsman, in huge disdain, 'that I'll make +a moor-cock of the man that refuses my toast, whether it be a crop-eared +English Whig wi' a black ribband at his lug, or ane wha deserts his ain +friends to claw favour wi' the rats of Hanover.' +</p> +<p> +In an instant both rapiers were brandished, and some desperate passes +exchanged. Balmawhapple was young, stout, and active; but the Baron, +infinitely more master of his weapon, would, like Sir Toby Belch, have +tickled his opponent other gates than he did, had he not been under the +influence of Ursa Major. +</p> +<p> +Edward rushed forward to interfere between the combatants, but the +prostrate bulk of the Laird of Killancureit, over which he stumbled, +intercepted his passage. How Killancureit happened to be in this +recumbent posture at so interesting a moment, was never accurately +known. Some thought he was about to ensconce himself under the table; he +himself alleged that he stumbled in the act of lifting a joint-stool, to +prevent mischief, by knocking down Balmawhapple. Be that as it may, +if readier aid than either his or Waverley's had not interposed, there +would certainly have been bloodshed. But the well-known clash of swords, +which was no stranger to her dwelling, aroused Luckie Macleary as she +sat quietly beyond the hallan, or earthen partition of the cottage, with +eyes employed on Boston's CROOK OF THE LOT, while her ideas were engaged +in summing up the reckoning. She boldly rushed in, with the shrill +expostulation, 'Wad their honours slay ane another there, and bring +discredit on an honest widow-woman's house, when there was a' the +lee-land in the country to fight upon?' a remonstrance which she +seconded by flinging her plaid with great dexterity over the weapons of +the combatants. The servants by this time rushed in, and being, by great +chance, tolerably sober, separated the incensed opponents, with the +assistance of Edward and Killancureit. The latter led off Balmawhapple, +cursing, swearing, and vowing revenge against every Whig, Presbyterian, +and fanatic in England and Scotland, from John-o'-Groat's to the Land's +End, and with difficulty got him to horse. Our hero, with the assistance +of Saunders Saunderson, escorted the Baron of Bradwardine to his own +dwelling, but could not prevail upon him to retire to bed until he had +made a long and learned apology for the events of the evening, of which, +however, there was not a word intelligible, except something about the +Centaurs and the Lapithae. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XII +</h2> +<h3> + REPENTANCE AND A RECONCILIATION +</h3> +<p> +Waverley was unaccustomed to the use of wine, excepting with great +temperance. He slept, therefore, soundly till late in the succeeding +morning, and then awakened to a painful recollection of the scene of the +preceding evening. He had received a personal affront,—he, a gentleman, +a soldier, and a Waverley. True, the person who had offered it was not, +at the time it was given, possessed of the moderate share of sense which +nature had allotted him; true also, in resenting this insult, he would +break the laws of Heaven, as well as of his country; true, in doing so, +he might take the life of a young man who perhaps respectably discharged +the social duties, and render his family miserable; or he might lose his +own;—no pleasant alternative even to the bravest, when it is debated +coolly and in private. +</p> +<p> +All this pressed on his mind; yet the original statement recurred with +the same irresistible force. He had received a personal insult; he +was of the house of Waverley; and he bore a commission. There was +no alternative; and he descended to the breakfast parlour with the +intention of taking leave of the family, and writing to one of his +brother officers to meet him at the inn mid-way between Tully-Veolan and +the town where they were quartered, in order that he might convey such +a message to the Laird of Balmawhapple as the circumstances seemed to +demand. He found Miss Bradwardine presiding over the tea and coffee, the +table loaded with warm bread, both of flour, oatmeal, and barley-meal, +in the shape of leaves, cakes, biscuits, and other varieties, together +with eggs, reindeer ham, mutton and beef, ditto, smoked salmon, +marmalade, and all other delicacies which induced even Johnson himself +to extol the luxury of a Scotch breakfast above that of all other +countries. A mess of oatmeal porridge, flanked by a silver jug, which +held an equal mixture of cream and butter-milk, was placed for the +Baron's share of this repast; but Rose observed he had walked out +early in the morning, after giving orders that his guest should not be +disturbed. +</p> +<p> +Waverley sat down almost in silence, and with an air of absence and +abstraction, which could not give Miss Bradwardine a favourable opinion +of his talents for conversation. He answered at random one or two +observations which she ventured to make upon ordinary topics; so that +feeling herself almost repulsed in her efforts at entertaining him, and +secretly wondering that a scarlet coat should cover no better breeding, +she left him to his mental amusement of cursing Dr. Doubleit's favourite +constellation of Ursa Major, as the cause of all the mischief which had +already happened, and was likely to ensue. At once he started, and his +colour heightened, as, looking toward the window, he beheld the Baron +and young Balmawhapple pass arm in arm, apparently in deep conversation; +and he hastily asked, 'Did Mr. Falconer sleep here last night?' Rose, +not much pleased with the abruptness of the first question which the +young stranger had addressed to her, answered drily in the negative, and +the conversation again sank into silence. +</p> +<p> +At this moment Mr. Saunderson appeared, with a message from his master, +requesting to speak with Captain Waverley in another apartment. With +a heart which beat; a little quicker, not indeed from fear, but from +uncertainty and anxiety, Edward obeyed the summons. He found the two +gentlemen standing together, an air of complacent dignity on the brow of +the Baron, while something like sullenness, or shame, or both, blanked +the bold visage of Balmawhapple. The former slipped his arm through that +of the latter, and thus seeming to walk with him, while in reality he +led him, advanced to meet Waverley, and, stopping in the midst of +the apartment, made in great state the following oration: 'Captain +Waverley,—my young and esteemed friend, Mr. Falconer of Balmawhapple, +has craved of my age and experience, as of one not wholly unskilled in +the dependencies and punctilios of the duello or monomachia, to be his +interlocutor in expressing to you the regret with which he calls to +remembrance certain passages of our symposion last night, which could +not but be highly displeasing to you, as serving for the time under this +present existing government. He craves you, sir, to drown in oblivion +the memory of such solecisms against the laws of politeness, as being +what his better reason disavows, and to receive the hand which he offers +you in amity; and I must needs assure you, that nothing less than a +sense of being DANS SON TORT, as a gallant French chevalier, Mons, Le +Bretailleur, once said to me on such an occasion, and an opinion also +of your peculiar merit, could have extorted such concessions; for he and +all his family are, and have been time out of mind, MAVORTIA PECTORA, as +Buchanan saith, a bold and warlike sept, or people.' +</p> +<p> +Edward immediately, and with natural politeness, accepted the hand which +Balmawhapple, or rather the Baron in his character of mediator, extended +towards him. 'It was impossible,' he said, 'for him to remember what +a gentleman expressed his wish he had not uttered; and he willingly +imputed what had passed to the exuberant festivity of the day.' +</p> +<p> +'That is very handsomely said,' answered the Baron; 'for undoubtedly, +if a man be EBRIUS, or intoxicated—an incident which, on solemn and +festive occasions, may and will take place in the life of a man of +honour; and if the same gentleman, being fresh and sober, recants the +contumelies which he hath spoken in his liquor, it must be held VINUM +LOCUTUM EST; the words cease to be his own. Yet would I not find this +exculpation relevant in the case of one who was EBRIOSUS, or an habitual +drunkard; because, if such a person choose to pass the greater part +of his time in the predicament of intoxication, he hath no title to be +exeemed from the obligations of the code of politeness, but should learn +to deport himself peaceably and courteously when under the influence of +the vinous stimulus.—And now let us proceed to breakfast, and think no +more of this daft business.' +</p> +<p> +I must confess, whatever inference may be drawn from the circumstance, +that Edward, after so satisfactory an explanation, did much greater +honour to the delicacies of Miss Bradwardine's breakfast-table than +his commencement had promised. Balmawhapple, on the contrary, seemed +embarrassed and dejected; and Waverley now, for the first time, observed +that his arm was in a sling, which seemed to account for the awkward and +embarrassed manner with which he had presented his hand. To a question +from Miss Bradwardine, he muttered, in answer, something about his horse +having fallen; and, seeming desirous to escape both from the subject and +the company, he arose as soon as breakfast was over, made his bow to the +party, and, declining the Baron's invitation to tarry till after dinner, +mounted his horse and returned to his own home. +</p> +<p> +Waverley now announced his purpose of leaving Tully-Veolan early enough +after dinner to gain the stage at which he meant to sleep; but the +unaffected and deep mortification with which the good-natured and +affectionate old gentleman heard the proposal, quite deprived him of +courage to persist in it. No sooner had he gained Waverley's consent +to lengthen his visit for a few days, than he laboured to remove the +grounds upon which he conceived he had meditated a more early retreat. +'I would not have you opine, Captain Waverley, that I am by practice or +precept an advocate of ebriety, though it may be that, in our festivity +of last night, some of our friends, if not perchance altogether EBRII, +or drunken, were, to say the least, EBRIOLI, by which the ancients +designed those who were fuddled, or, as your English vernacular and +metaphorical phrase goes, half-seas-over. Not that I would so insinuate +respecting you, Captain Waverley, who, like a prudent youth, did rather +abstain from potation; nor can it be truly said of myself, who, having +assisted at the tables of many great generals and marechals at their +solemn carousals, have the art to carry my wine discreetly, and did not, +during the whole evening, as ye must have doubtless observed, exceed the +bounds of a modest hilarity.' +</p> +<p> +There was no refusing assent to a proposition so decidedly laid down by +him who undoubtedly was the best judge; although, had Edward formed his +opinion from his own recollections, he would have pronounced that the +Baron was not only EBRIOLUS, but verging to become EBRIUS; or, in plain +English, was incomparably the most drunk of the party, except perhaps +his antagonist the Laird of Balmawhapple. However, having received the +expected, or rather the required, compliment on his sobriety, the Baron +proceeded,—'No, sir, though I am myself of a strong temperament, I +abhor ebriety, and detest those who swallow wine GULAE CAUSA, for the +oblectation of the gullet; albeit I might deprecate the law of Pittacus +of Mitylene, who punished doubly a crime committed under the influence +of LIBER PATER; nor would I utterly accede to the objurgation of the +younger Plinius, in the fourteenth book of his HISTORIA NATURALIS. No, +sir; I distinguish, I discriminate, and approve of wine so far only as +it maketh glad the face, or, in the language of Flaccus, RECEPTO AMICO.' +</p> +<p> +Thus terminated the apology which the Baron of Bradwardine thought it +necessary to make for the super-abundance of his hospitality; and it may +be easily believed that he was neither interrupted by dissent, nor any +expression of incredulity. +</p> +<p> +He then invited his guest to a morning ride, and ordered that Davie +Gellatley should meet them at the DERN PATH with Ban and Buscar. 'For, +until the shooting season commenced, I would willingly show you some +sport, and we may, God willing, meet with a roe. The roe, Captain +Waverley, may be hunted at all times alike; for never being in what is +called PRIDE OF GREASE, he is also never out of season, though it be a +truth that his venison is not equal to that of either the red or fallow +deer. [The learned in cookery dissent from the Baron of Bradwardine, and +hold the roe-venison dry and indifferent food, unless when dressed in +soup and Scotch collops.] But he will serve to show how my dogs run; and +therefore they shall attend us with Davie Gellatley.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley expressed his surprise that his friend Davie was capable +of such trust; but the Baron gave him to understand that this poor +simpleton was neither fatuous, NEC NATURALITER IDIOTA, as is expressed +in the brieves of furiosity, but simply a crack-brained knave, who could +execute very well any commission which jumped with his own humour, and +made his folly a plea for avoiding every other. 'He has made an interest +with us,' continued the Baron, 'by saving Rose from a great danger with +his own proper peril; and the roguish loon must therefore eat of our +bread and drink of our cup, and do what he can, or what he will; which, +if the suspicions of Saunderson and the Bailie are well founded, may +perchance in his case be commensurate terms.' +</p> +<p> +Miss Bradwardine then gave Waverley to understand, that this poor +simpleton was doatingly fond of music, deeply affected by that which was +melancholy, and transported into extravagant gaiety by light and +lively airs. He had in this respect a prodigious memory, stored with +miscellaneous snatches and fragments of all tunes and songs, which +he sometimes applied, with considerable address, as the vehicles of +remonstrance, explanation, or satire. Davie was much attached to the few +who showed him kindness; and both aware of any slight or ill usage which +he happened to receive, and sufficiently apt, where he saw opportunity, +to revenge it. The common people, who often judge hardly of each +other, as well as of their betters, although they had expressed great +compassion for the poor innocent while suffered to wander in rags about +the village, no sooner beheld him decently clothed, provided for, and +even a sort of favourite, than they called up all the instances of +sharpness and ingenuity, in action and repartee, which his annals +afforded, and charitably bottomed thereupon a hypothesis, that Davie +Gellatley was no further fool than was necessary to avoid hard labour. +This opinion was not better founded than that of the Negroes, who, from +the acute and mischievous pranks of the monkeys, suppose that they +have the gift of speech, and only suppress their powers of elocution +to escape being set to work. But the hypothesis was entirely imaginary: +Davie Gellatley was in good earnest the half-crazed simpleton which he +appeared, and was incapable of any constant and steady exertion. He had +just so much solidity as kept on the windy side of insanity; so much +wild wit as saved him from the imputation of idiocy; some dexterity +in field sports (in which we have known as great fools excel), great +kindness and humanity in the treatment of animals entrusted to him, warm +affections, a prodigious memory, and an ear for music. +</p> +<p> +The stamping of horses was now heard in the court, and Davie's voice +singing to the two large deer greyhounds,— +</p> +<pre> + Hie away, hie away, + Over bank and over brae, + Where the copsewood is the greenest, + Where the fountains glisten sheenest, + Where the lady-fern grows strongest, + Where the morning dew lies longest, + Where the black-cock sweetest sips it, + Where the fairy latest trips it: + Hie to haunts right seldom seen, + Lovely, lonesome, cool, and green, + Over bank and over brae, + Hie away, hie away. +</pre> +<p> +'Do the verses he sings,' asked Waverley, 'belong to old Scottish +poetry, Miss Bradwardine?' +</p> +<p> +'I believe not,' she replied. 'This poor creature had a brother, and +Heaven, as if to compensate to the family Davie's deficiencies, had +given him what the hamlet thought uncommon talents. An uncle contrived +to educate him for the Scottish kirk, but he could not get preferment +because he came from our GROUND. He returned from college hopeless and +broken-hearted, and fell into a decline. My father supported him till +his death, which happened before he was nineteen. He played beautifully +on the flute, and was supposed to have a great turn for poetry. He was +affectionate and compassionate to his brother, who followed him like +his shadow, and we think that from him Davie gathered many fragments of +songs and music unlike those of this country. But if we ask him where +he got such a fragment as he is now singing, he either answers with wild +and long fits of laughter, or else breaks into tears of lamentation; +but was never heard to give any explanation, or to mention his brother's +name since his death.' +</p> +<p> +'Surely,' said Edward, who was readily interested by a tale bordering on +the romantic, 'surely more might be learned by more particular inquiry.' +</p> +<p> +'Perhaps so,' answered Rose, 'but my father will not permit any one to +practise on his feelings on this subject.' +</p> +<p> +By this time the Baron, with the help of Mr. Saunderson, had indued +a pair of jack-boots of large dimensions, and now invited our hero to +follow him as he stalked clattering down the ample staircase, tapping +each huge balustrade as he passed with the butt of his massive +horsewhip, and humming, with the air of a chasseur of Louis Quatorze, +</p> +<pre> + Pour la chasse ordonnee il faut preparer tout, + Hola ho! Vite! vite debout. +</pre> +<a name="2HCH0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XIII +</h2> +<h3> + A MORE RATIONAL DAY THAN THE LAST +</h3> +<p> +The Baron of Bradwardine, mounted on an active and well-managed horse, +and seated on a demi-pique saddle, with deep housings to agree with his +livery, was no bad representative of the old school. His light-coloured +embroidered coat, and superbly barred waistcoat, his brigadier wig, +surmounted by a small gold-laced cocked-hat, completed his personal +costume; but he was attended by two well-mounted servants on horseback, +armed with holster pistols. +</p> +<p> +In this guise he ambled forth over hill and valley, the admiration of +every farmyard which they passed in their progress, till, 'low down in +a grassy vale,' they found Davie Gellatley leading two very tall deer +greyhounds, and presiding over half a dozen curs, and about as many +bare-legged and bare-headed boys, who, to procure the chosen distinction +of attending on the chase, had not failed to tickle his ears with the +dulcet appellation of Maister Gellatley, though probably all and each +had booted him on former occasions in the character of daft Davie. +But this is no uncommon strain of flattery to persons in office, nor +altogether confined to the bare-legged villagers of Tully-Veolan: it +was in fashion Sixty Years since, is now, and will be six hundred years +hence, if this admirable compound of folly and knavery, called the +world, shall be then in existence. +</p> +<p> +These GILLIE-WET-FOOTS, [A bare-footed Highland lad is called a +gillie-wet-foot. Gillie, in general, means servant or attendant.] as +they were called, were destined to beat the bushes, which they performed +with so much success, that, after half an hour's search, a roe was +started, coursed, and killed; the Baron following on his white horse, +like Earl Percy of yore, and magnanimously flaying and embowelling the +slain animal (which, he observed, was called by the French chasseurs +FAIRE LA CUREE) with his own baronial COUTEAU DE CHASSE. After this +ceremony he conducted his guest homeward by a pleasant and circuitous +route, commanding an extensive prospect of different villages and +houses, to each of which Mr. Bradwardine attached some anecdote of +history or genealogy, told in language whimsical from prejudice and +pedantry, but often respectable for the good sense and honourable +feelings which his narrative displayed, and almost always curious, if +not valuable, for the information they contained. +</p> +<p> +The truth is, the ride seemed agreeable to both gentlemen, because they +found amusement in each other's conversation, although their characters +and habits of thinking were in many respects totally opposite. Edward, +we have informed the reader, was warm in his feelings, wild and romantic +in his ideas and in his taste of reading, with a strong disposition +towards poetry. Mr. Bradwardine was the reverse of all this, and piqued +himself upon stalking through life with the same upright, starched, +stoical gravity which distinguished his evening promenade upon the +terrace of Tully-Veolan, where for hours together—the very model old +Hardyknute— +</p> +<pre> + Stately stepped he east the wa', + And stately stepped he west. +</pre> +<p> +As for literature, he read the classic poets, to be sure, and the +EPITHALAMIUM of Georgius Buchanan, and Arthur Johnston's PSALMS, of +a Sunday; and the DELICIAE POETARUM SCOTORUM, and Sir David Lindsay's +WORKS, and Barbour's BRUCE, and Blind Harry's WALLACE, and the GENTLE +SHEPHERD, and the CHERRY AND THE SLAE. But though he thus far sacrificed +his time to the Muses, he would if the truth must be spoken, have been +much better pleased had the pious or sapient apothegms, as well as +the historical narratives, which these various works contained, been +presented to him in the form of simple prose. And he sometimes could not +refrain from expressing contempt of the 'vain and unprofitable art of +poem-making,' in which, he said, 'the only one who had excelled in his +time was Allan Ramsay, the periwig-maker.' +</p> +<p> +[The Baron ought to have remembered that the joyous Allan literally drew +his blood from the house of the noble Earl, whom he terms— +</p> +<pre> + Dalhousie of an old descent, + My stoup, my pride, my ornament.] +</pre> +<p> +But although Edward and he differed TOTO COELO, as the Baron would +have said, upon this subject, yet they met upon history as on a neutral +ground, in which each claimed an interest. The Baron, indeed, only +cumbered his memory with matters of fact; the cold, dry, hard outlines +which history delineates. Edward, on the contrary, loved to fill up and +round the sketch with the colouring of a warm and vivid imagination, +which gives light and life to the actors and speakers in the drama of +past ages. Yet with tastes so opposite, they contributed greatly to +each other's amusement. Mr. Bradwardine's minute narratives and powerful +memory supplied to Waverley fresh subjects of the kind upon which his +fancy loved to labour, and opened to him a new mine of incident and of +character. And he repaid the pleasure thus communicated, by an earnest +attention, valuable to all story-tellers, more especially to the Baron, +who felt his habits of self-respect flattered by it; and sometimes +also by reciprocal communications, which interested Mr. Bradwardine, +as confirming or illustrating his own favourite anecdotes. Besides, Mr. +Bradwardine loved to talk of the scenes of his youth, which had been +spent in camps and foreign lands, and had many interesting particulars +to tell of the generals under whom he had served, and the actions he had +witnessed. +</p> +<p> +Both parties returned to Tully-Veolan in great good humour with each +other; Waverley desirous of studying more attentively what he considered +as a singular and interesting character, gifted with a memory containing +a curious register of ancient and modern anecdotes; and Bradwardine +disposed to regard Edward as PUER (or rather JUVENIS) BONAE SPEI ET +MAGNAE INDOLIS, a youth devoid of that petulant volatility, which is +impatient of, or vilipends, the conversation and advice of his +seniors, from which he predicted great things of his future success and +deportment in life. There was no other guest except Mr. Rubrick, whose +information and discourse, as a clergyman and a scholar, harmonized very +well with that of the Baron and his guest. +</p> +<p> +Shortly after dinner, the Baron, as if to show that his temperance was +not entirely theoretical, proposed a visit to Rose's apartment, or, as +he termed it, her TROISIEME ETAGE. Waverley was accordingly conducted +through one or two of those long awkward passages with which ancient +architects studied to puzzle the inhabitants of the houses which they +planned, at the end of which Mr. Bradwardine began to ascend, by two +steps at once, a very steep, narrow, and winding stair, leaving Mr. +Rubrick and Waverley to follow at more leisure, while he should announce +their approach to his daughter. +</p> +<p> +After having climbed this perpendicular corkscrew until their brains +were almost giddy, they arrived in a little matted lobby, which served +as an ante-room to Rose's SANCTUM SANCTORUM, and through which they +entered her parlour. It was a small but pleasant apartment, opening to +the south, and hung with tapestry; adorned besides with two pictures, +one of her mother, in the dress of a shepherdess, with a bell-hoop; +the other of the Baron, in his tenth year, in a blue coat, embroidered +waistcoat, laced hat, and bag-wig, with a bow in his hand. Edward could +not help smiling at the costume, and at the odd resemblance between +the round, smooth, red-checked, staring visage in the portrait, and +the gaunt, bearded, hollow-eyed, swarthy features, which travelling, +fatigues of war, and advanced age, had bestowed on the original. The +Baron joined in the laugh. 'Truly,' he said, 'that picture was a woman's +fantasy of my good mother's (a daughter of the Laird of Tulliellum, +Captain Waverley; I indicated the house to you when we were on the top +of the Shinnyheuch; it was burnt by the Dutch auxiliaries brought in by +the Government in 1715); I never sat for my pourtraicture but once since +that was painted, and it was at the special and reiterated request of +the Marechal Duke of Berwick.' +</p> +<p> +The good old gentleman did not mention what Mr. Rubrick afterwards told +Edward, that the Duke had done him this honour on account of his being +the first to mount the breach of a fort; in Savoy during the memorable +campaign of 1709, and his having there defended himself with his +half-pike for nearly ten minutes before any support reached him. To do +the Baron justice, although sufficiently prone to dwell upon, and even +to exaggerate, his family dignity and consequence, he was too much a man +of real courage ever to allude to such personal acts of merit as he had +himself manifested. +</p> +<p> +Miss Rose now appeared from the interior room of her apartment, to +welcome her father and his friends. The little labours in which she +had been employed obviously showed a natural taste, which required only +cultivation. Her father had taught her French and Italian, and a few of +the ordinary authors in those languages ornamented her shelves. He had +endeavoured also to be her preceptor in music; but as he began with the +more abstruse doctrines of the science, and was not perhaps master of +them himself, she had made no proficiency further than to be able to +accompany her voice with the harpsichord; but even this was not very +common in Scotland at that period. To make amends, she sang with great +taste and feeling, and with a respect to the sense of what she uttered +that might be proposed in example to ladies of much superior musical +talent. Her natural good sense taught her, that if, as we are assured +by high authority, music be 'married to immortal verse,' they are +very often divorced by the performer in a most shameful manner. It was +perhaps owing to this sensibility to poetry, and power of combining its +expression with those of the musical notes, that her singing gave more +pleasure to all the unlearned in music, and even to many of the learned, +than could have been communicated by a much finer voice and more +brilliant execution, unguided by the same delicacy of feeling. +</p> +<p> +A bartizan, or projecting gallery, before the windows of her parlour, +served to illustrate another of Rose's pursuits; for it was crowded +with flowers of different kinds, which she had taken under her special +protection. A projecting turret gave access to this Gothic balcony, +which commanded a most beautiful prospect. The formal garden, with its +high bounding walls, lay below, contracted, as it seemed, to a mere +parterre; while the view extended beyond them down a wooded glen, where +the small river was sometimes visible, sometimes hidden in copse. The +eye might be delayed by a desire to rest on the rocks, which here and +there rose from the dell with massive or spiry fronts, or it might dwell +on the noble, though ruined tower, which was here beheld in all its +dignity, frowning from a promontory over the river. To the left were +seen two or three cottages, a part of the village; the brow of the hill +concealed the others. The glen, or dell, was terminated by a sheet of +water, called Loch-Veolan, into which the brook discharged itself, and +which now glistened in the western sun. The distant country seemed +open and varied in surface, though not wooded; and there was nothing to +interrupt the view until the scene was bounded by a ridge of distant and +blue hills, which formed the southern boundary of the strath or valley. +To this pleasant station Miss Bradwardine had ordered coffee. +</p> +<p> +The view of the old tower, or fortalice, introduced some family +anecdotes and tales of Scottish chivalry, which the Baron told with +great enthusiasm. The projecting peak of an impending crag which rose +near it, had acquired the name of St. Swithin's Chair. it was the scene +of a peculiar superstition, of which Mr. Rubrick mentioned some curious +particulars, which reminded Waverley of a rhyme quoted By Edgar in KING +LEAR; and Rose was called upon to sing a little legend, in which they +had been interwoven by some village poet, +</p> +<pre> + Who, noteless as the race from which he sprung, + Saved others' names, but left his own unsung. +</pre> +<p> +The sweetness of her voice, and the simple beauty of her music, gave +all the advantage which the minstrel could have desired, and which his +poetry so much wanted. I almost doubt if it can be read with patience, +destitute of these advantages; although I conjecture the following copy +to have been somewhat corrected by Waverley, to suit the taste of those +who might not relish pure antiquity:— +</p> +<pre> + ST. SWITHIN'S CHAIR. + + On Hallow-Mass Eve, ere ye boune ye to rest, + Ever beware that your couch be blessed; + Sign it with cross, and sain it with bead, + Sing the Ave, and say the Creed. + + For on Hallow-Mass Eve the Night-Hag will ride, + And all her nine-fold sweeping on by her side, + Whether the wind sing lowly or loud, + Sailing through moonshine or swathed in the cloud. + + The Lady she sat in St. Swithin's Chair, + The dew of the night has damped her hair: + Her cheek was pale—but resolved and high + Was the word of her lip and the glance of her eye. + + She muttered the spell of Swithin bold, + When his naked foot traced the midnight wold, + When he stopped the Hag as she rode the night, + And bade her descend, and her promise plight. + + He that dare sit on St. Swithin's Chair, + When the Night-Hag wings the troubled air, + Questions three, when he speaks the spell, + He may ask, and she must tell. + + The Baron has been with King Robert his liege, + These three long years in battle and siege; + News are there none of his weal or his woe, + And fain the Lady his fate would know. + + She shudders and stops as the charm she speaks;— + Is it the moody owl that shrieks? + Or is it that sound, betwixt laughter and scream, + The voice of the Demon who haunts the stream? + + The moan of the wind sunk silent and low, + And the roaring torrent ceased to flow; + The calm was more dreadful than raging storm, + Then the cold grey mist brought the ghastly form! + + . . . . . . +</pre> +<p> +'I am sorry to disappoint the company, especially Captain Waverley, who +listens with such laudable gravity; it is but a fragment, although I +think there are other verses, describing the return of the Baron from +the wars, and how the lady was found "clay-cold upon the grounsill +ledge."' +</p> +<p> +'It is one of those figments,' observed Mr. Bradwardine, 'with which +the early history of distinguished families was deformed in the times +of superstition; as that of Rome, and other ancient nations, had their +prodigies, sir, the which you may read in ancient histories, or in the +little work compiled by Julius Obsequens, and inscribed by the learned +Scheffer, the editor, to his patron, Benedictus Skytte, Baron of +Dudershoff.' +</p> +<p> +'My father has a strange defiance of the marvellous, Captain Waverley,' +observed Rose, 'and once stood firm when a whole synod of Presbyterian +divines were put to the rout by a sudden apparition of the foul fiend.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley looked as if desirous to hear more. +</p> +<p> +Must I tell my story as well as sing my song?—Well.—Once upon a time +there lived an old woman, called Janet Gellatley, who was suspected to +be a witch, on the infallible grounds that she was very old, very ugly, +very poor, and had two sons, one of whom was a poet, and the other a +fool, which visitation, all the neighbourhood agreed, had come upon +her for the sin of witchcraft. And she was imprisoned for a week in the +steeple of the parish church, and sparingly supplied with food, and not +permitted to sleep, until she herself became as much persuaded of her +being a witch as her accusers; and in this lucid and happy state of +mind was brought forth to make a clean breast, that is, to make open +confession of her sorceries, before all the Whig gentry and ministers +in the vicinity, who were no conjurers themselves. My father went to see +fair play between the witch and the clergy; for the witch had been +born on his estate. 'And while the witch was confessing that the Enemy +appeared, and made his addresses to her as a handsome black man,—which, +if you could have seen poor old blear-eyed Janet, reflected little +honour on Apollyon's taste,—and while the auditors listened with +astonished ears, and the clerk recorded with a trembling hand, she, all +of a sudden, changed the low mumbling tone with which she spoke into a +shrill yell, and exclaimed, "Look to yourselves! look to yourselves! I +see the Evil One sitting in the midst of ye." The surprise was general, +and terror and flight its immediate consequences. Happy were those who +were next the door; and many were the disasters that befell hats, bands, +cuffs, and wigs, before they could get out of the church, where they +left the obstinate prelatist to settle matters with the witch and her +admirer, at his own peril or pleasure.' +</p> +<p> +'RISU SOLVUNTUR TABULAE,' said the Baron: 'when they recovered their +panic trepidation, they were too much ashamed to bring any wakening of +the process against Janet Gellatley.' [The story last told was said to +have happened in the south of Scotland; but—CEDANT ARMA TOGAE—and +let the gown have its dues. It was an old clergyman, who had wisdom and +firmness enough to resist the panic which seized his brethren, who was +the means of rescuing a poor insane creature from the cruel fate which +would otherwise have overtaken her. The accounts of the trials for +witchcraft form one of the most deplorable chapters in Scottish story.] +</p> +<p> +This anecdote led to a long discussion of +</p> +<pre> + All those idle thoughts and fantasies, + Devices, dreams, opinions unsound, + Shows, visions, soothsays, and prophecies, + And all that feigned is, as leasings, tales, and lies. +</pre> +<p> +With such conversation, and the romantic legends which it produced, +closed our hero's second evening in the house of Tully-Veolan. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0014"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XIV +</h2> +<h3> + A DISCOVERY—WAVERLEY BECOMES DOMESTICATED AT TULLY-VEOLAN +</h3> +<p> +The next day Edward arose betimes, and in a morning walk around the +house and its vicinity, came suddenly upon a small court in front of the +dog-kennel, where his friend Davie was employed about his four-footed +charge. One quick glance of his eye recognized Waverley, when, instantly +turning his back, as if he had not observed him, he began to sing part +of an old ballad:— +</p> +<pre> + Young men will love thee more fair and more fast; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + Old men's love the longest will last, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + + The young man's wrath is like light straw on fire; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + But like red-hot steel is the old man's ire, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + + The young man will brawl at the evening board; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + But the old man will draw at the dawning the sword, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. +</pre> +<p> +Waverley could not avoid observing that Davie laid something like +a satirical emphasis on these lines. He therefore approached, and +endeavoured, by sundry queries, to elicit from him what the innuendo +might mean; but Davie had no mind to explain, and had wit enough to +make his folly cloak his knavery. Edward could collect nothing from +him, excepting that the Laird of Balmawhapple had gone home yesterday +morning, 'wi' his boots fu' o' bluid.' In the garden, however, he met +the old butler, who no longer attempted to conceal, that, having been +bred in the nursery line with Sumack & Co., of Newcastle, he sometimes +wrought a turn in the flower-borders to oblige the Laird and Miss Rose. +By a series of queries, Edward at length discovered, with a painful +feeling of surprise and shame, that Balmawhapple's submission and +apology had been the consequence of a rencontre with the Baron before +his guest had quitted his pillow, in which the younger combatant had +been disarmed and wounded in the sword-arm. +</p> +<p> +Greatly mortified at this information, Edward sought out his friendly +host, and anxiously expostulated with him upon the injustice he had done +him in anticipating his meeting with Mr. Falconer, a circumstance which, +considering his youth and the profession of arms which he had just +adopted, was capable of being represented much to his prejudice. The +Baron justified himself at greater length than I choose to repeat. He +urged that the quarrel was common to them, and that Balmawhapple could +not, by the code of honour, EVITE giving satisfaction to both, which he +had done in his case by an honourable meeting, and in that of Edward by +such a PALINODE as rendered the use of the sword unnecessary, and which, +being made and accepted, must necessarily SOPITE the whole affair. +</p> +<p> +With this excuse or explanation, Waverley was silenced, if not +satisfied; but he could not help testifying some displeasure against +the Blessed Bear, which had given rise to the quarrel, nor refrain from +hinting, that the sanctified epithet was hardly appropriate. The Baron +observed, he could not deny that 'the Bear, though allowed by heralds +as a most honourable ordinary, had, nevertheless, somewhat fierce, +churlish, and morose in his disposition (as might be read in Archibald +Simson, pastor of Dalkeith's HIEROGLYPHICA ANIMALIUM), and had thus +been the type of many quarrels and dissensions which had occurred in the +house of Bradwardine; of which,' he continued, 'I might commemorate mine +own unfortunate dissension with my third cousin by the mother's side, +Sir Hew Halbert, who was so unthinking as to deride my family name, as +if it had been QUASI BEARWARDEN; a most uncivil jest, since it not only +insinuated that the founder of our house occupied such a mean situation +as to be a custodier of wild beasts, a charge which, ye must have +observed, is only entrusted to the very basest plebeians; but, moreover, +seemed to infer that our coat-armour had not been achieved by honourable +actions in war, but bestowed by way of PARONOMASIA, or pun upon our +family appellation,—a sort of bearing which the French call ARMOIRES +PARLANTES; the Latins ARMA CANTANTIA; and your English authorities, +canting heraldry; being indeed a species of emblazoning more befitting +canters, gaberlunzies, and such-like mendicants, whose gibberish is +formed upon playing upon the word, than the noble, honourable, and +useful science of heraldry, which assigns armorial bearings as the +reward of noble and generous actions, and not to tickle the ear with +vain quodlibets, such as are found in jest-books.' <a href="#note-9" name="noteref-9"><small>9</small></a> Of his +quarrel with Sir Hew, he said nothing more, than that it was settled in +a fitting manner. +</p> +<p> +Having been so minute with respect to the diversions of Tully-Veolan, on +the first days of Edward's arrival, for the purpose of introducing its +inmates to the reader's acquaintance, it becomes less necessary to trace +the progress of his intercourse with the same accuracy. It is probable +that a young man, accustomed to more cheerful society, would have tired +of the conversation of so violent an asserter of the 'boast of heraldry' +as the Baron; but Edward found an agreeable variety in that of Miss +Bradwardine, who listened with eagerness to his remarks upon literature, +and showed great justness of taste in her answers. The sweetness of her +disposition had made her submit with complacency, and even pleasure, +to the course of reading prescribed by her father, although it not only +comprehended several heavy folios of history, but certain gigantic tomes +in High Church polemics. In heraldry he was fortunately contented to +give her only such a slight tincture as might be acquired by perusal of +the two folio volumes of Nisbet. Rose was indeed the very apple of her +father's eye. Her constant liveliness, her attention to all those little +observances most gratifying to those who would never think of exacting +them, her beauty, in which he recalled the features of his beloved wife, +her unfeigned piety, and the noble generosity of her disposition, would +have justified the affection of the most doting father. +</p> +<p> +His anxiety on her behalf did not, however, seem to extend itself +in that quarter, where, according to the general opinion, it is most +efficiently displayed; in labouring, namely, to establish her in life, +either by a large dowry or a wealthy marriage. By an old settlement, +almost all the landed estates of the Baron went, after his death, to a +distant relation; and it was supposed that Miss Bradwardine would remain +but slenderly provided for, as the good gentleman's cash matters had +been too long under the exclusive charge of Bailie Macwheeble, to admit +of any great expectations from his personal succession. It is true, the +said Bailie loved his patron and his patron's daughter next (although at +an incomparable distance) to himself. He thought it was possible to +set aside the settlement on the male line, and had actually procured +an opinion to that effect (and, as he boasted, without a fee) from an +eminent Scottish counsel, under whose notice he contrived to bring the +point while consulting him regularly on some other business. But +the Baron would not listen to such a proposal for an instant. On the +contrary, he used to have a perverse pleasure in boasting that the +barony of Bradwardine was a male fief, the first charter having been +given at that early period when women were not deemed capable to hold a +feudal grant; because, according to Les COUSTUSMES DE NORMANDIE, C'EST +L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE; or, as is yet more ungallantly +expressed by other authorities, all of whose barbarous names he +delighted to quote at full length, because a woman could not serve the +superior, or feudal lord, in war, on account of the decorum of her sex, +nor assist him with advice, because of her limited intellect, nor +keep his counsel, owing to the infirmity of her disposition. He would +triumphantly ask, how it would become a female, and that female a +Bradwardine, to be seen employed in, SERVITIO EXUENDI, SEU DETRAHENDI, +CALIGAS REGIS POST BATTALIAM? that is, in pulling off the king's boots +after an engagement, which was the feudal service by which he held the +barony of Bradwardine. 'No,' he said, 'beyond hesitation, PROCUL DUBIO, +many females, as worthy as Rose, had been excluded, in order to make +way for my own succession, and Heaven forbid that I should do aught that +might contravene the destination of my forefathers, or impinge upon the +right of my kinsman, Malcolm Bradwardine of Inchgrabbit, an honourable +though decayed branch of my own family.' +</p> +<p> +The Bailie, as prime minister, having received this decisive +communication from his sovereign, durst not press his own opinion +any further, but contented himself with deploring, on all suitable +occasions, to Saunderson, the minister of the interior, the Laird's +self-willedness, and with laying plans for uniting Rose with the young +laird of Balmawhapple, who had a fine estate, only moderately burdened, +and was a faultless young gentleman, being as sober as a saint—if you +keep brandy from him, and him from brandy—and who, in brief, had +no imperfection but that of keeping light company at a time; such as +Jinker, the horse-couper, and Gibby Gaethroughwi't, the piper o' Cupar; +o' whilk follies, Mr. Saunderson, he'll mend, he'll mend,'—pronounced +the Bailie. +</p> +<p> +'Like sour ale in simmer,' added Davie Gellatley, who happened to be +nearer the conclave than they were aware of. +</p> +<p> +Miss Bradwardine, such as we have described her, with all the simplicity +and curiosity of a recluse, attached herself to the opportunities of +increasing her store of literature which Edward's visit afforded her. +He sent for some of his books from his quarters, and they opened to +her sources of delight of which she had hitherto had no idea. The best +English poets, of every description, and other works on belles lettres, +made a part of this precious cargo. Her music, even her flowers, were +neglected, and Saunders not only mourned over, but began to mutiny +against the labour for which he now scarce received thanks. These +new pleasures became gradually enhanced by sharing them with one of +a kindred taste. Edward's readiness to comment, to recite, to explain +difficult passages, rendered his assistance invaluable; and the wild +romance of his spirit delighted a character too young and inexperienced +to observe its deficiencies. Upon subjects which interested him, and +when quite at ease, he possessed that flow of natural, and somewhat +florid eloquence, which has been supposed as powerful even as figure, +fashion, fame, or fortune, in winning the female heart. There was, +therefore, an increasing danger in this constant intercourse, to poor +Rose's peace of mind, which was the more imminent, as her father was +greatly too much abstracted in his studies, and wrapped up in his own +dignity, to dream of his daughter's incurring it. The daughters of the +house of Bradwardine were, in his opinion, like those of the house of +Bourbon or Austria, placed high above the clouds of passion which +might obfuscate the intellects of meaner females; they moved in another +sphere, were governed by other feelings, and amenable to other rules, +than those of idle and fantastic affection. In short, he shut his eyes +so resolutely to the natural consequences of Edward's intimacy with Miss +Bradwardine, that the whole neighbourhood concluded that he had opened +them to the advantages of a match between his daughter and the wealthy +young Englishman, and pronounced him much less a fool than he had +generally shown himself in cases where his own interest was concerned. +</p> +<p> +If the Baron, however, had really meditated such an alliance, the +indifference of Waverley would have been an insuperable bar to his +project. Our hero, since mixing more freely with the world, had learned +to think with great shame and confusion upon his mental legend of Saint +Cecilia, and the vexation of these reflections was likely, for some +time at least, to counterbalance the natural susceptibility of his +disposition. Besides, Rose Bradwardine, beautiful and amiable as we +have described her, had not precisely the sort of beauty or merit which +captivates a romantic imagination in early youth. She was too frank, too +confiding, too kind; amiable qualities, undoubtedly, but destructive of +the marvellous, with which a youth of imagination delights to address +the empress of his affections. Was it possible to bow, to tremble, +and to adore, before the timid, yet playful little girl, who now asked +Edward to mend her pen, now to construe a stanza in Tasso, and now +how to spell a very—very long word in her version of it? All these +incidents have their fascination on the mind at a certain period of +life, but not when a youth is entering it, and rather looking out +for some object whose affection may dignify him in his own eyes, than +stooping to one who looks up to him for such distinction. Hence, +though there can be no rule in so capricious a passion, early love is +frequently ambitious in choosing its object; or, which comes to the +same, selects her (as in the case of Saint Cecilia aforesaid) from a +situation that gives fair scope for LE BEAU IDEAL, which the reality of +intimate and familiar life rather tends to limit and impair. I knew a +very accomplished and sensible young man cured of a violent passion for +a pretty woman, whose talents were not equal to her face and figure, by +being permitted to bear her company for a whole afternoon. Thus it is +certain, that had Edward enjoyed such an opportunity of conversing with +Miss Stubbs, Aunt Rachel's precaution would have been unnecessary, for +he would as soon have fallen in love with the dairymaid. And although +Miss Bradwardine was a very different character, it seems probable that +the very intimacy of their intercourse prevented his feeling for her +other sentiments than those of a brother for an amiable and accomplished +sister; while the sentiments of poor Rose were gradually, and without +her being conscious, assuming a shade of warmer affection. +</p> +<p> +I ought to have said that Edward, when he sent to Dundee for the books +before mentioned, had applied for, and received permission, extending +his leave of absence. But the letter of his commanding-officer contained +a friendly recommendation to him, not to spend his time exclusively with +persons, who, estimable as they might be in a general sense, could +not be supposed well affected to a government which they declined +to acknowledge by taking the oath of allegiance. The letter further +insinuated, though with great delicacy, that although some family +connexions might be supposed to render it necessary for Captain Waverley +to communicate with gentlemen who were in this unpleasant state of +suspicion, yet his father's situation and wishes ought to prevent +his prolonging those attentions into exclusive intimacy. And it was +intimated, that; while his political principles were endangered by +communicating with laymen of this description, he might also receive +erroneous impressions in religion from the prelatic clergy, who so +perversely laboured to set up the royal prerogative in things sacred. +</p> +<p> +This last insinuation probably induced Waverley to set both down to +the prejudices of his commanding-officer. He was sensible that Mr. +Bradwardine had acted with the most scrupulous delicacy, in never +entering upon any discussion that had the most remote tendency to bias +his mind in political opinions, although he was himself not only a +decided partisan of the exiled family, but had been trusted at different +times with important commissions for their service. Sensible, therefore, +that there was no risk of his being perverted from his allegiance, +Edward felt as if he should do his uncle's old friend injustice in +removing from a house where he gave and received pleasure and amusement, +merely to gratify a prejudiced and ill-judged suspicion, He therefore +wrote a very general answer, assuring his commanding-officer that +his loyalty was not in the most distant danger of contamination, and +continued an honoured guest and inmate of the house of Tully-Veolan. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0015"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XV +</h2> +<p> +A CREAGH, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES [A CREAGH was an incursion for plunder, +termed on the Borders a raid.] +</p> +<p> +When Edward had been a guest at Tully-Veolan nearly six weeks, +he descried one morning, as he took his usual walk before the +breakfast-hour, signs of uncommon perturbation in the family. Four +bare-legged dairymaids, with each an empty milk-pail in her hand, ran +about with frantic gestures, and uttering loud exclamations of surprise, +grief, and resentment. From their appearance, a pagan might have +conceived them a detachment of the celebrated Belides, just come from +their baling penance. As nothing was to be got from this distracted +chorus, excepting 'Lord guide us!' and 'Eh, sirs!' ejaculations which +threw no light upon the cause of their dismay, Waverley repaired to the +forecourt, as it was called, where he beheld Bailie Macwheeble cantering +his white pony down the avenue with all the speed it could muster. He +had arrived, it would seem, upon a hasty summons and was followed by +half a score of peasants from the village, who had no great difficulty +in keeping pace with him. +</p> +<p> +The Bailie, greatly too busy, and too important, to enter into +explanations with Edward, summoned forth Mr. Saunderson, who appeared +with a countenance in which dismay was mingled with solemnity, and they +immediately entered into close conference. Davie Gellatley was also +seen in the group, idle as Diogenes at Sinope, while his countrymen were +preparing for a siege. His spirits always rose with anything, good +or bad, which occasioned tumult, and he continued frisking, hopping, +dancing, and singing the burden of an old ballad, +</p> +<pre> + Our gear's a' gane, +</pre> +<p> +until, happening to pass too near the Bailie, he received an admonitory +hint from his horsewhip, which converted his songs into lamentation. +</p> +<p> +Passing from thence towards the garden, Waverley beheld the Baron in +person, measuring and re-measuring, with swift and tremendous strides, +the length of the terrace; his countenance clouded with offended pride +and indignation, and the whole of his demeanour such as seemed to +indicate, that any inquiry concerning the cause of his discomposure +would give pain at least, if not offence. Waverley therefore glided into +the house, without addressing him, and took his way to the breakfast +parlour, where he found his young friend Rose, who, though she neither +exhibited the resentment of her father, the turbid importance of Bailie +Macwheeble, nor the despair of the hand-maidens, seemed vexed and +thoughtful. A single word explained the mystery. 'Your breakfast will +be a disturbed one, Captain Waverley, A party of Caterans have come down +upon us, last night, and have driven off all our milch cows.' +</p> +<p> +'A party of Caterans?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes; robbers from the neighbouring Highlands. We used to be quite free +from them while we paid blackmail to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr; +but my father thought it unworthy of his rank and birth to pay it any +longer, and so this disaster has happened. It is not the value of the +cattle, Captain Waverley, that vexes me; but my father is so much hurt +at the affront, and is so bold and hot, that I fear he will try to +recover them by the strong hand; and if he is not hurt himself, he will +hurt some of these wild people, and then there will be no peace between +them and us perhaps for our lifetime; and we cannot defend ourselves as +is old times, for the government have taken all our arms; and my dear +father is so rash—Oh, what will become of us!'—Here poor Rose lost +heart altogether, and burst into a flood of tears. +</p> +<p> +The Baron entered at this moment, and rebuked her with more asperity +than Waverley had ever heard him use to any one. 'Was it not a shame,' +he said, 'that she should exhibit herself before any gentleman in such +a light, as if she shed tears for a drove of horned nolt and milch kine, +like the daughter of a Cheshire yeoman! Captain Waverley, I must request +your favourable construction of her grief, which may, or ought to +proceed, solely from seeing her father's estate exposed to spulzie and +depredation from common thieves and sornars, [Sornars may be translated +sturdy beggars, more especially indicating those unwelcome visitors who +exact lodgings and victuals by force, or something approaching to it.] +while we are not allowed to keep half a score of muskets, whether for +defence or rescue.' +</p> +<p> +Bailie Macwheeble entered immediately afterwards, and by his report of +arms and ammunition confirmed this statement, informing the Baron, in +a melancholy voice, that though the people would certainly obey his +honour's orders, yet there was no chance of their following the gear to +ony guid purpose, in respect there were only his honour's body servants +who had swords and pistols, and the depredators were twelve Highlanders, +completely armed after the manner of their country.—Having delivered +this doleful annunciation, he assumed a posture of silent dejection, +shaking his head slowly with the motion of a pendulum when it is ceasing +to vibrate, and then remained stationary, his body stooping at a more +acute angle than usual, and the latter part of his person projecting in +proportion. +</p> +<p> +The Baron, meanwhile, paced the room in silent indignation, and at +length fixing his eye upon an old portrait, whose person was clad in +armour, and whose features glared grimly out of a huge bush of hair, +part of which descended from his head to his shoulders, and part from +his chin and upper-lip to his breastplate,—'That gentleman, Captain +Waverley, my grandsire,' he said, 'with two hundred horse, whom he +levied within his own bounds, discomfited and put to the rout more +than five hundred of these Highland reivers, who have been ever LAPIS +OFFENSIONIS, ET PETRA SCANDALI, a stumbling-block and a rock of offence +to the Lowland vicinage—he discomfited them, I say, when they had the +temerity to descend to harry this country, in the time of the civil +dissensions, in the year of grace sixteen hundred forty and two. And +now, sir, I, his grandson, am thus used at such unworthy hands!' +</p> +<p> +Here there was an awful pause; after which all the company, as is usual +in cases of difficulty, began to give separate and inconsistent counsel. +Alexander ab Alexandro proposed they should send some one to compound +with the Caterans, who would readily, he said, give up their prey for a +dollar a head. The Bailie opined that this transaction would amount to +theft-boot, or composition of felony; and he recommended that some CANNY +HAND should be sent up to the glens to make the best bargain he could, +as it were for himself, so that the laird might not be seen in such a +transaction. Edward proposed to send off to the nearest garrison for a +party of soldiers and a magistrate's warrant; and Rose, as far as she +dared, endeavoured to insinuate the course of paying the arrears of +tribute money to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, who, they all knew, +could easily procure restoration of the cattle, if he were properly +propitiated. +</p> +<p> +None of these proposals met the Baron's approbation. The idea of +composition, direct or implied, was absolutely ignominious; that +of Waverley only showed that he did not understand the state of the +country, and of the political parties which divided it; and, standing +matters as they did with Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, the Baron would +make no concession to him, were it, he said, to procure restitution IN +INTEGRUM of every stirk and stot that the chief, his forefathers, and +his clan, had stolen since the days of Malcolm Canmore.' +</p> +<p> +In fact, his voice was still for war, and he proposed to send expresses +to Balmawhapple, Killancureit, Tulliellum, and other lairds, who were +exposed to similar depredations, inviting them to join in the pursuit; +'and then, sir, shall these NEBULONES NEQUISSIMI, as Leslaeus calls +them, be brought to the fate of their predecessor Cacus, +</p> +<pre> + Elisos oculos, et siccum sanguine guttur.' +</pre> +<p> +The Bailie, who by no means relished these warlike counsels, here pulled +forth an immense watch, of the colour, and nearly of the size, of a +pewter warming-pan, and observed it was now past noon, and that the +Caterans had been seen in the pass of Bally-Brough soon after sunrise; +so that before the allied forces could assemble, they and their prey +would be far beyond the reach of the most active pursuit, and sheltered +in those pathless deserts where it was neither advisable to follow, nor +indeed possible to trace them. +</p> +<p> +This proposition was undeniable. The council therefore broke up +without coming to any conclusion, as has occurred to councils of more +importance; only it was determined that the Bailie should send his own +three milk-cows down to the Mains for the use of the Baron's family, +and brew small ale, as a substitute for milk, in his own. To this +arrangement, which was suggested by Saunderson, the Bailie readily +assented, both from habitual deference to the family, and an internal +consciousness that his courtesy would, in some mode or other, be repaid +tenfold. +</p> +<p> +The Baron having also retired to give some necessary directions, +Waverley seized the opportunity to ask, whether this Fergus, with the +unpronounceable name, was the chief thief-taker of the district. +</p> +<p> +'Thief-taker!' answered Rose, laughing; 'he is a gentleman of great +honour and consequence; the chieftain of an independent branch of a +powerful Highland clan, and is much respected, both for his own power, +and that of his kith, kin, and allies.' +</p> +<p> +'And what has he to do with the thieves, then? is he a magistrate, or in +the commission of the peace?' asked Waverley. +</p> +<p> +The commission of war rather, if there be such a thing,' said Rose; 'for +he is a very unquiet neighbour to his un-friends, and keeps a greater +FOLLOWING on foot than many that have thrice his estates. As to his +connexion with the thieves, that I cannot well explain; but the boldest +of them will never steal a hoof from any one that pays blackmail to Vich +Ian Vohr.' +</p> +<p> +'And what is blackmail?' +</p> +<p> +'A sort of protection-money that Low-country gentlemen and heritors, +lying near the Highlands, pay to some Highland chief, that he may +neither do them harm himself, nor suffer it to be done to them by +others; and then, if your cattle are stolen, you have only to send him +word, and he will recover them; or it may be, he will drive away cows +from some distant place, where he has a quarrel, and give them to you to +make up your loss.' +</p> +<p> +'And is this sort of Highland Jonathan Wild admitted into society, and +called a gentleman?' +</p> +<p> +'So much so,' said Rose, 'that the quarrel between my father and Fergus +Mac-Ivor began at a county meeting, where he wanted to take precedence +of all the Lowland gentlemen then present, only my father would not +suffer it. And then he upbraided my father that he was under his banner, +and paid him tribute; and my father was in a towering passion, for +Bailie Macwheeble, who manages such things his own way, had contrived to +keep this blackmail a secret from him, and passed it in his account for +cess-money. And they would have fought; but Fergus Mac-Ivor said, very +gallantly, he would never raise his hand against a grey head that was +so much respected as my father's. Oh, I wish, I wish they had continued +friends!' +</p> +<p> +'And did you ever see this Mr. Mac-Ivor, if that be his name, Miss +Bradwardine?' +</p> +<p> +'No, that is not his name; and he would consider MASTER as a sort of +affront, only that you are an Englishman, and know no better. But the +Lowlanders call him, like other gentlemen, by the name of his estate, +Glennaquoich; and the Highlanders call him Vich Ian Vohr, that is, the +son of John the Great; and we upon the braes here call him by both names +indifferently.' +</p> +<p> +I am afraid I shall never bring my English tongue to call him by either +one or other.' +</p> +<p> +'But he is a very polite, handsome man,' continued Rose; 'and his sister +Flora is one of the most beautiful and accomplished young ladies in this +country: she was bred in a convent in France, and was a great friend +of mine before this unhappy dispute. Dear Captain Waverley, try your +influence with my father to make matters up. I am sure this is but the +beginning of our troubles; for Tully-Veolan has never been a safe or +quiet residence when we have been at feud with the Highlanders. When +I was a girl about ten, there was a skirmish fought between a party of +twenty of them, and my father and his servants, behind the Mains; and +the bullets broke several panes in the north windows, they were so near. +Three of the Highlanders were killed, and they brought them in, wrapped +in their plaids, and laid them on the stone floor of the hall; and +next morning, their wives and daughters came, clapping their hands, and +crying the coronach, and shrieking, and carried away the dead bodies, +with the pipes playing before them. I could not sleep for six weeks +without starting, and thinking I heard these terrible cries, and saw +the bodies lying on the steps, all stiff and swathed up in their bloody +tartans. But since that time there came a party from the garrison at +Stirling, with a warrant from the Lord Justice-Clerk, or some such +great man, and took away all our arms; and now, how are we to protect +ourselves if they come down in any strength?' +</p> +<p> +Waverley could not help starting at a story which bore so much +resemblance to one of his own day-dreams. Here was a girl scarce +seventeen, the gentlest of her sex, both in temper and appearance, who +had witnessed with her own eyes such a scene as he had used to conjure +up in his imagination, as only occurring in ancient times, and spoke of +it coolly, as one very likely to recur. He felt at once the impulse of +curiosity, and that slight sense of danger which only serves to heighten +its interest. He might have said with Malvolio, '"I do not now fool +myself, to let imagination jade me!" I am actually in the land of +military and romantic adventures, and it only remains to be seen what +will be my own share in them.' +</p> +<p> +The whole circumstances now detailed concerning the state of the +country, seemed equally novel and extraordinary. He had indeed often +heard of Highland thieves, but had no idea of the systematic mode in +which their depredations were conducted; and that the practice was +connived at, and even encouraged, by many of the Highland chieftains, +who not only found the creaghs, or forays, useful for the purpose of +training individuals of their clan to the practice of arms, but also +of maintaining a wholesome terror among their Lowland neighbours, +and levying, as we have seen, a tribute from them, under colour of +protection-money. +</p> +<p> +Bailie Macwheeble, who soon afterwards entered, expatiated still more at +length upon the same topic. This honest gentleman's conversation was so +formed upon his professional practice, that Davie Gellatley once said +his discourse was like 'a charge of horning.' He assured our hero, that +'from the maist ancient times of record, the lawless thieves, limmers, +and broken men of the Highlands, had been in fellowship together by +reason of their surnames, for the committing of divers thefts, reifs, +and herships upon the honest men of the Low Country, when they not only +intromitted with their whole goods and gear, corn, cattle, horse, nolt, +sheep, outsight and insight plenishing, at their wicked pleasure, but +moreover made prisoners, ransomed them, or concussed them into giving +borrows (pledges) to enter into captivity again: all which was directly +prohibited in divers parts of the Statute Book, both by the act one +thousand five hundred and sixty-seven, and various others; the whilk +statutes, with all that had followed and might follow thereupon, were +shamefully broken and vilipended by the said sornars, limmers, and +broken men, associated into fellowships, for the aforesaid purposes of +theft, stouthreef, fire-raising, murther, RAPTUS MULIERUM, or forcible +abduction of women, and such like as aforesaid.' +</p> +<p> +It seemed like a dream to Waverley that these deeds of violence should +be familiar to men's minds, and currently talked of, as falling within +the common order of things, and happening daily in the immediate +vicinity, without his having crossed the seas, and while he was yet in +the otherwise well-ordered island of Great Britain. <a href="#note-10" name="noteref-10"><small>10</small></a> +</p> +<a name="2HCH0016"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XVI +</h2> +<h3> + AN UNEXPECTED ALLY APPEARS +</h3> +<p> +The Baron returned at the dinner-hour, and had in a great measure +recovered his composure and good humour. He not only confirmed the +stories which Edward had heard from Rose and Bailie Macwheeble, but +added many anecdotes from his own experience, concerning the state of +the Highlands and their inhabitants, The chiefs he pronounced to be, +in general, gentlemen of great honour and high pedigree, whose word was +accounted as a law by all those of their own sept, or clan. 'It did not, +indeed,' he said, 'become them, as had occurred in late instances, to +propone their PROSAPIA, a lineage which rested for the most part on the +vain and fond rhymes of their Seannachies or Barahs, as aequiponderate +with the evidence of ancient charters and royal grants of antiquity, +conferred upon distinguished houses in the Low Country by divers +Scottish monarchs; nevertheless, such was their OUTRECUIDANCE and +presumption, as to undervalue those who possessed such evidents, as if +they held their lands in a sheep's skin.' +</p> +<p> +This, by the way, pretty well explained the cause of quarrel between +the Baron and his Highland ally. But he went on to state so many +curious particulars concerning the manners, customs, and habits of this +patriarchal race, that Edward's curiosity became highly interested, and +he inquired whether it was possible to make with safety an excursion +into the neighbouring Highlands, whose dusky barrier of mountains had +already excited his wish to penetrate beyond them. The Baron assured his +guest that nothing would be more easy, providing this quarrel were +first made up, since he could himself give him letters to many of the +distinguished chiefs, who would receive him with the utmost courtesy and +hospitality. +</p> +<p> +While they were on this topic, the door suddenly opened, and, ushered by +Saunders Saunderson, a Highlander, fully armed and equipped, entered the +apartment. Had it not been that Saunders acted the part of master of the +ceremonies to this martial apparition, without appearing to deviate from +his usual composure, and that neither Mr. Bradwardine nor Rose exhibited +any emotion, Edward would certainly have thought the intrusion hostile, +As it was, he started at the sight of what he had not yet happened to +see, a mountaineer in his full national costume. The individual Gael was +a stout, dark, young man, of low stature, the ample folds of whose plaid +added to the appearance of strength which his person exhibited. The +short kilt, or petticoat, showed his sinewy and clean-made limbs; the +goat-skin purse, flanked by the usual defences, a dirk and steel-wrought +pistol, hung before him; his bonnet had a short feather, which indicated +his claim to be treated as a Duinhe-wassel, or sort of gentleman; a +broadsword dangled by his side, a target hung upon his shoulder, and +a long Spanish fowling-piece occupied one of his hands. With the other +hand he pulled off his bonnet, and the Baron, who well knew their +customs, and the proper mode of addressing them, immediately said, with +an air of dignity, but without rising, and much, as Edward thought, +in the manner of a prince receiving an embassy, 'Welcome, Evan Dhu +Maccombich! what news from Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr?' +</p> +<p> +'Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr,' said the ambassador, in good English, +'greets you well, Baron of Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, and is sorry +there has been a thick cloud interposed between you and him, which has +kept you from seeing and considering the friendship and alliances that +have been between your houses and forebears of old; and he prays you +that the cloud may pass away, and that things may be as they have been +heretofore between the clan Ivor and the house of Bradwardine, when +there was an egg between them for a flint, and a knife for a sword. And +he expects you will also say, you are sorry for the cloud, and no man +shall hereafter ask whether it descended from the hill to the valley, +or rose from the valley to the hill; for they never struck with the +scabbard who did not receive with the sword; and woe to him who would +lose his friend for the stormy cloud of a spring morning!' +</p> +<p> +To this the Baron of Bradwardine answered, with suitable dignity, that +he knew the chief of clan Ivor to be a well-wisher to the King, and he +was sorry there should have been a cloud between him and any gentleman +of such sound principles, 'for when folks are banding together, feeble +is he who hath no brother.' +</p> +<p> +This appearing perfectly satisfactory, that the peace between these +august persons might be duly solemnized, the Baron ordered a stoup of +usquebaugh, and, filling a glass, drank to the health and prosperity of +Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich; upon which the Celtic ambassador, to requite +his politeness, turned down a mighty bumper of the same generous liquor, +seasoned with his good wishes to the house of Bradwardine. +</p> +<p> +Having thus ratified the preliminaries of the general treaty of +pacification, the envoy retired to adjust with Mr. Macwheeble some +subordinate articles with which it was not thought necessary to trouble +the Baron. These probably referred to the discontinuance of the subsidy, +and apparently the Bailie found means to satisfy their ally, without +suffering his master to suppose that his dignity was compromised. At +least, it is certain, that after the plenipotentiaries had drunk a +bottle of brandy in single drams, which seemed to have no more effect +upon such seasoned vessels, than if it had been poured upon the two +bears at the top of the avenue, Evan Dhu Maccombich, having possessed +himself of all the information which he could procure respecting the +robbery of the preceding night, declared his intention to set off +immediately in pursuit of the cattle, which he pronounced to be 'not +far off;—they have broken the bone,' he observed, 'but they have had no +time to suck the marrow.' +</p> +<p> +Our hero, who had attended Evan Dhu during his perquisitions, was much +struck with the ingenuity which he displayed in collecting information, +and the precise and pointed conclusions which he drew from it. Evan Dhu, +on his part, was obviously flattered with the attention of Waverley, the +interest he seemed to take in his inquiries, and his curiosity about the +customs and scenery of the Highlands. Without much ceremony he invited +Edward to accompany him on a short walk of ten or fifteen miles into the +mountains, and see the place where the cattle were conveyed to; adding, +'If it be as I suppose, you never saw such a place in your life, nor +ever will, unless you go with me, or the like of me.' +</p> +<p> +Our hero, feeling his curiosity considerably excited by the idea of +visiting the den of a Highland Cacus, took, however, the precaution +to inquire if his guide might be trusted. He was assured, that the +invitation would on no account have been given had there been the least +danger, and that all he had to apprehend was a little fatigue; and +as Evan proposed he should pass a day at his Chieftain's house in +returning, where he would be sure of good accommodation and an excellent +welcome, there seemed nothing very formidable in the task he undertook. +Rose, indeed, turned pale when she heard of it; but her father, who +loved the spirited curiosity of his young friend, did not attempt +to damp it by an alarm of danger which really did not exist; and a +knapsack, with a few necessaries, being bound on the shoulders of a sort +of deputy gamekeeper, our hero set forth with a fowling-piece in his +hand, accompanied by his new friend Evan Dhu, and, followed by the +gamekeeper aforesaid, and by two wild Highlanders, the attendants of +Evan, one of whom had upon his shoulder a hatchet at the end of a pole, +called a Lochaber-axe, [The Town-guard of Edinburgh were, till a late +period, armed with this weapon when on their police duty. There was +a hook at the back of the axe, which the ancient Highlanders used to +assist them to climb over walls, fixing the hook upon it, and raising +themselves by the handle. The axe, which was also much used by the +natives of Ireland, is supposed to have been introduced into both +countries from Scandinavia.] and the other a long ducking-gun. Evan, +upon Edward's inquiry, gave him to understand that this martial escort +was by no means necessary as a guard, but merely, as he said, drawing +up and adjusting his plaid with an air of dignity, that he might appear +decently at Tully-Veolan, and as Vich Ian Vohr's foster-brother ought to +do. 'Ah!' said he, 'if you Saxon Duinhe-wassel (English gentlemen) saw +but the Chief with his tail on!' +</p> +<p> +'With his tail on!' echoed Edward, in some surprise. +</p> +<p> +'Yes—that is, with all his usual followers, when he visits those of the +same rank. There is,' he continued, stopping and drawing himself proudly +up, while he counted upon his fingers the several officers of his +chief's retinue—'there is his HANCH-MAN, or right-hand man; then his +BARDH, or poet; then his BLADIER, or orator, to make harangues to the +great folks whom he visits; then his GILLY-MORE, or armour-bearer, to +carry his sword and target, and his gun; then his GILLY CASFLIUCH, +who carries him on his back through the sikes and brooks; then his +GILLY-COMSTRIAN, to lead his horse by the bridle in steep and difficult +paths; then his GILLY-TRUSHHARNISH, to carry his knapsack; and the piper +and the piper's man, and it may be a dozen young lads besides, that have +no business, but are just boys of the belt, to follow the laird, and do +his honour's bidding.' +</p> +<p> +And does your Chief regularly maintain all these men?' demanded +Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'All these!' replied Evan; 'aye, and many a fair head beside, that would +not ken where to lay itself, but for the mickle barn at Glennaquoich.' +</p> +<p> +With similar tales of the grandeur of the Chief in peace and war, +Evan Dhu beguiled the way till they approached more closely those huge +mountains which Edward had hitherto only seen at a distance. It was +towards evening as they entered one of the tremendous passes which +afford communication between the High and Low Country; the path, which +was extremely steep and rugged, winded up a chasm between two tremendous +rocks, following the passage which a foaming stream, that brawled far +below, appeared to have worn for itself in the course of ages. A few +slanting beams of the sun, which was now setting, reached the water in +its darksome bed, and showed it partially, chafed by a hundred rocks, +and broken by a hundred falls. The descent from the path to the stream +was a mere precipice, with here and there a projecting fragment of +granite, or a scathed tree, which had warped its twisted roots into the +fissures of the rock. On the right hand, the mountain rose above the +path with almost equal inaccessibility; but the hill on the opposite +side displayed a shroud of copsewood, with which some pines were +intermingled. +</p> +<p> +'This,' said Evan, 'is the pass of Bally-Brough, which was kept in +former times by ten of the clan Donnochie against a hundred of the Low +Country carles. The graves of the slain are still to be seen in that +little corri, or bottom, on the opposite side of the burn—if your eyes +are good, you may see the green specks among the heather.—See, there +is an earn, which you Southrons call an eagle—you have no such birds +as that in England—he is going to fetch his supper from the Laird of +Bradwardine's braes, but I'll send a slug after him.' +</p> +<p> +He fired his piece accordingly, but missed the superb monarch of the +feathered tribes, who, without noticing the attempt to annoy him, +continued his majestic flight to the southward. A thousand birds of +prey, hawks, kites, carrion-crows, and ravens, disturbed from the +lodgings which they had just taken up for the evening, rose at the +report of the gun, and mingled their hoarse and discordant notes with +the echoes which replied to it, and with the roar of the mountain +cataracts. Evan, a little disconcerted at having missed his mark, when +he meant to have displayed peculiar dexterity, covered his confusion by +whistling part of a pibroch as he reloaded his piece, and proceeded in +silence up the pass. +</p> +<p> +It issued in a narrow glen, between two mountains, both very lofty, and +covered with heath. The brook continued to be their companion, and they +advanced up its mazes, crossing them now and then, on which occasions +Even Dhu uniformly offered the assistance of his attendants to carry +over Edward; but our hero, who had been always a tolerable pedestrian, +declined the accommodation, and obviously rose in his guide's opinion by +showing that he did not fear wetting his feet. Indeed he was anxious, +so far as he could without affectation, to remove the opinion which +Evan seemed to entertain of the effeminacy of the Lowlanders, and +particularly of the English. +</p> +<p> +Through the gorge of this glen they found access to a black bog, of +tremendous extent, full of large pit-holes, which they traversed +with great difficulty and some danger, by tracks which no one but a +Highlander could have followed. The path itself, or rather the portion +of more solid ground on which the travellers half walked, half waded, +was rough, broken, and in many places quaggy and unsound. Sometimes the +ground was so completely unsafe, that it was necessary to spring from +one hillock to another, the space between being incapable of bearing +the human weight. This was an easy matter to the Highlanders, who +wore thin-soled brogues fit for the purpose, and moved with a peculiar +springing step; but Edward began to find the exercise, to which he was +unaccustomed, more fatiguing than he expected. The lingering twilight +served to show them through this Serbonian bog, but deserted them almost +totally at the bottom of a steep and very stony hill, which it was +the travellers' next toilsome task to ascend. The night, however, +was pleasant, and not dark; and Waverley, calling up mental energy to +support personal fatigue, held on his march gallantly, though envying in +his heart his Highland attendants, who continued, without a symptom +of abated vigour, the rapid and swinging pace, or rather trot, which, +according to his computation, had already brought them fifteen miles +upon their journey. +</p> +<p> +After crossing this mountain, and descending on the other side towards a +thick wood, Evan Dhu held some conference with his Highland attendants, +in consequence of which Edward's baggage was shifted from the shoulders +of the gamekeeper to those of one of the gillies, and the former was +sent off with the other mountaineer in a direction different from +that of the three remaining travellers. On asking the meaning of this +separation, Waverley was told that the Lowlander must go to a hamlet +about three miles off for the night; for unless it was some very +particular friend, Donald Bean Lean, the worthy person whom they +supposed to be possessed of the cattle, did not much approve of +strangers approaching his retreat. This seemed reasonable, and silenced +a qualm of suspicion which came across Edward's mind, when he saw +himself, at such a place and such an hour, deprived of his only Lowland +companion. And Evan immediately afterwards added, 'that indeed he +himself had better get forward, and announce their approach to Donald +Bean Lean, as the arrival of a SIDIER ROY (red soldier) might otherwise +be a disagreeable surprise.' And without waiting for an answer, in +jockey phrase, he trotted out, and putting himself to a very round pace, +was out of sight in an instant. +</p> +<p> +Waverley was now left to his own meditations, for his attendant with the +battle-axe spoke very little English. They were traversing a thick, and, +as it seemed, an endless wood of pines, and consequently the path was +altogether indiscernible in the murky darkness which surrounded them. +The Highlander, however, seemed to trace it by instinct, without the +hesitation of a moment, and Edward followed his footsteps as close as he +could. +</p> +<p> +After journeying a considerable time in silence, he could not help +asking, 'Was it far to the end of their journey?' +</p> +<p> +'Ta cove was tree, four mile; but as Duinhe-wassel was a wee taiglit, +Donald could, tat is, might—would—should send ta curragh.' +</p> +<p> +This conveyed no information. The CURRAGH which was promised might be a +man, a horse, a cart, or chaise; and no more could be got from the man +with the battle-axe, but a repetition of 'Aich ay! ta curragh.' +</p> +<p> +But in a short time Edward began to conceive his meaning, when, issuing +from the wood, he found himself on the banks of a large river or lake, +where his conductor gave him to understand they must sit down for a +little while. The moon, which now began to rise, showed obscurely +the expanse of water which spread before them, and the shapeless and +indistinct forms of mountains with which it seemed to be surrounded. The +cool and yet mild air of the summer night refreshed Waverley after +his rapid and toilsome walk; and the perfume which it wafted from the +birch-trees, bathed in the evening dew, was exquisitely fragrant. [It is +not the weeping birch, the most common species in the Highlands, but the +woolly-leaved Lowland birch, that is distinguished by this fragrance.] +</p> +<p> +He had now time to give himself up to the full romance of his situation. +Here he saw on the banks of an unknown lake, under the guidance of a +wild native, whose language was unknown to him, on a visit to the den of +some renowned outlaw, a second Robin Hood, perhaps, or Adam o' Gordon, +and that at deep midnight, through scenes of difficulty and toil, +separated from his attendant, left by his guide.—What a variety of +incidents for the exercise of a romantic imagination, and all enhanced +by the solemn feeling of uncertainty, at least, if not of danger! The +only circumstance which assorted ill with the rest, was the cause of his +journey—the Baron's milk-cows! This degrading incident he kept in the +background. +</p> +<p> +While wrapped in these dreams of imagination, his companion gently +touched him, and pointing in a direction nearly straight across the +lake, said 'Yon's ta cove.' A small point of light was seen to twinkle +in the direction in which he pointed, and gradually increasing in +size and lustre, seemed to flicker like a meteor upon the verge of the +horizon. While Edward watched this phenomenon, the distant dash of +oars was heard. The measured sound approached near and more near, and +presently a loud whistle was heard in the same direction. His friend +with the battle-axe immediately whistled clear and shrill, in reply to +the signal, and a boat, manned with four or five Highlanders, pushed for +a little inlet, near which Edward was sitting. He advanced to meet +them with his attendant, was immediately assisted into the boat by the +officious attention of two stout mountaineers, and had no sooner seated +himself than they resumed their oars, and began to row across the lake +with great rapidity. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0017"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XVII +</h2> +<h3> + THE HOLD OF A HIGHLAND ROBBER +</h3> +<p> +The party preserved silence, interrupted only by the monotonous and +murmured chant of a Gaelic song, sung in a kind of low recitative by +the steersman, and by the dash of the oars, which the notes seemed to +regulate, as they dipped to them in cadence. The light, which they now +approached more nearly, assumed a broader, redder, and more irregular +splendour. It appeared plainly to be a large fire, but whether kindled +upon an island or the main land, Edward could not determine. As he saw +it, the red glaring orb seemed to rest on the very surface of the lake +itself, and resembled the fiery vehicle in which the Evil Genius of an +Oriental tale traverses land and sea. They approached nearer, and the +light of the fire sufficed to show that it was kindled at the bottom +of a huge dark crag or rock, rising abruptly from the very edge of +the water; its front changed by the reflection to dusky red, formed a +strange and even awful contrast to the banks around, which were from +time to time faintly and partially illuminated by pallid moonlight. +</p> +<p> +The boat now neared the shore, and Edward could discover that this large +fire, amply supplied with branches of pine-wood by two figures, who, in +the red reflection of its light, appeared like demons, was kindled in +the jaws of a lofty cavern, into which an inlet from the lake seemed to +advance; and he conjectured, which was indeed true, that the fire had +been lighted as a beacon to the boatmen on their return. They rowed +right for the mouth of the cave, and then, shipping their oars, +permitted the boat to enter in obedience to the impulse which it had +received. +</p> +<p> +The skiff passed the little point or platform of rock on which the fire +was blazing, and running about two boats' length farther, stopped where +the cavern (for it was already arched overhead) ascended from the water +by five or six broad ledges of rocks, so easy and regular that they +might be termed natural steps. At this moment a quantity of water was +suddenly flung upon the fire, which sank with a hissing noise, and with +it disappeared the light it had hitherto afforded. Four or five active +arms lifted Waverley out of the boat, placed him on his feet, and +almost carried him into the recesses of the cave. He made a few paces in +darkness, guided in this manner; and advancing towards a hum of voices, +which seemed to sound from the centre of the rock, at an acute turn +Donald Bean Lean and his whole establishment were before his eyes. +</p> +<p> +The interior of the cave, which here rose very high, was illuminated by +torches made of pine-tree, which emitted a bright and bickering light, +attended by a strong though not unpleasant odour. Their light was +assisted by the red glare of a large charcoal fire, round which were +seated five or six armed Highlanders, while others were indistinctly +seen couched on their plaids, in the more remote recesses of the cavern. +In one large aperture, which the robber facetiously called his spence +(or pantry), there hung by the heels the carcasses of a sheep, or +ewe, and two cows lately slaughtered. The principal inhabitant of this +singular mansion, attended by Evan Dhu as master of the ceremonies, came +forward to meet his guest, totally different in appearance and manner +from what his imagination had anticipated. The profession which he +followed—the wilderness in which he dwelt—the wild warrior-forms +that surrounded him, were all calculated to inspire terror. From such +accompaniments, Waverley prepared himself to meet a stern, gigantic, +ferocious figure, such as Salvator would have chosen to be the central +object of a group of banditti. <a href="#note-11" name="noteref-11"><small>11</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Donald Bean Lean was the very reverse of all these. He was thin in +person and low in stature, with light sandy-coloured hair, and small +pale features, from which he derived his agnomen of BEAN, or white; and +although his form was light, well-proportioned, and active, he appeared, +on the whole, rather a diminutive and insignificant figure. He had +served in some inferior capacity in the French army, and in order to +receive his English visitor in great form, and probably meaning, in his +way, to pay him a compliment, he had laid aside the Highland dress for +the time, to put on an old blue and red uniform, and a feathered hat, +in which he was far from showing to advantage, and indeed looked so +incongruous, compared with all around him, that Waverley would have been +tempted to laugh, had laughter been either civil or safe. The robber +received Captain Waverley with a profusion of French politeness and +Scottish hospitality, seemed perfectly to know his name and connexions, +and to be particularly acquainted with his uncle's political principles. +On these he bestowed great applause, to which Waverley judged it prudent +to make a very general reply. +</p> +<p> +Being placed at a convenient distance from the charcoal fire, the heat +of which the season rendered oppressive, a strapping Highland damsel +placed before Waverley, Evan, and Donald Bean, three cogues, or wooden +vessels, composed of staves and hoops, containing EANARUICH, [This was +the regale presented by Rob Roy to the Laird of Tullibody.] a sort of +strong soup, made out of a particular part of the inside of the beeves. +After this refreshment, which, though coarse, fatigue and hunger +rendered palatable, steaks, roasted on the coals, were supplied in +liberal abundance, and disappeared before Even Dhu and their host with +a promptitude that seemed like magic, and astonished Waverley, who was +much puzzled to reconcile their voracity with what he had heard of the +abstemiousness of the Highlanders. He was ignorant that this abstinence +was with the lower ranks wholly compulsory, and that, like some animals +of prey, those who practise it were usually gifted with the power of +indemnifying themselves to good purpose, when chance threw plenty in +their way. The whisky came forth in abundance to crown the cheer. The +Highlanders drank it copiously and undiluted; but Edward, having mixed +a little with water, did not find it so palatable as to invite him to +repeat the draught. Their host bewailed himself exceedingly that he +could offer him no wine: 'Had he but known four-and-twenty hours before, +he would have had some, had it been within the circle of forty miles +round him. But no gentleman could do more to show his sense of the +honour of a visit from another, than to offer him the best cheer his +house afforded. Where there are no bushes there can be no nuts, and the +way of those you live with is that you must follow.' +</p> +<p> +He went on regretting to Evan Dhu the death of an aged man, Donnacha an +Amrigh, or Duncan with the Cap, 'a gifted seer,' who foretold, through +the second sight, visitors of every description who haunted their +dwelling, whether as friends or foes. +</p> +<p> +'Is not his son Malcolm TAISHATR?' (a second-sighted person), asked +Evan. +</p> +<p> +'Nothing equal to his father,' replied Donald Bean. He told us the other +day we were to see a great gentleman riding on a horse, and there came +nobody that whole day but Shemus Beg, the blind harper, with his dog. +Another time he advertised us of a wedding, and behold it proved a +funeral; and on the creagh, when he foretold to us we should bring home +a hundred head of horned cattle, we gripped nothing but a fat bailie of +Perth.' +</p> +<p> +From this discourse he passed to the political and military state of the +country; and Waverley was astonished, and even alarmed, to find a person +of this description so accurately acquainted with the strength of the +various garrisons and regiments quartered north of the Tay. He even +mentioned the exact number of recruits who had joined Waverley's troop +from his uncle's estate, and observed they were pretty men, meaning, not +handsome, but stout warlike fellows. He put Waverley in mind of one or +two minute circumstances which had happened at a general review of the +regiment, which satisfied him that the robber had been an eye-witness of +it; and Evan Dhu having by this time retired from the conversation, +and wrapped himself up in his plaid to take some repose, Donald asked +Edward, in a very significant manner, whether he had nothing particular +to say to him. +</p> +<p> +Waverley, surprised and somewhat startled at this question from such a +character, answered he had no motive in visiting him but curiosity to +see his extraordinary place of residence. Donald Bean Lean looked him +steadily in the face for an instant, and then said, with a significant +nod, 'You might as well have confided in me; I am as much worthy of +trust as either the Baron of Bradwardine, or Vich Ian Vohr:—but you are +equally welcome to my house.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley felt an involuntary shudder creep over him at the mysterious +language held by this outlawed and lawless bandit, which, in despite of +his attempts to master it, deprived him of the proper to ask the meaning +of his insinuations. A heath pallet, with the flowers stuck uppermost, +had been prepared for him in a recess of the cave, and here, covered +with such spare plaids as could be mustered, he lay for some time +matching the motions of the other inhabitants of the cavern. Small +parties of two or three entered or left the place without any other +ceremony than a few words in Gaelic to the principal outlaw, and, when +he fell asleep, to a tall Highlander who acted as his lieutenant, and +seemed to keep watch during his repose. Those who entered, seemed to +have returned from some excursion, of which they reported the success, +and went without further ceremony to the larder, where, cutting with +their dirks their rations from the carcasses which were there suspended, +they proceeded to broil and eat them at their own pleasure and leisure. +The liquor was under strict regulation, being served out either +by Donald himself, his lieutenant, or the strapping Highland girl +aforesaid, who was the only female that appeared. The allowance of +whisky, however, would have appeared prodigal to any but Highlanders, +who, living entirely in the open air, and in a very moist climate, can +consume great quantities of ardent spirits without the usual baneful +effects either upon the brain or constitution. +</p> +<p> +At length the fluctuating groups began to swim before the eyes of our +hero as they gradually closed; nor did he re-open them till the morning +sun was high on the lake without, though there was but a faint and +glimmering twilight in the recesses of Uaimh an Ri, or the King's +Cavern, as the abode of Donald Bean Lean was proudly denominated. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0018"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XVIII +</h2> +<h3> + WAVERLEY PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY +</h3> +<p> +Then Edward had collected his scattered recollection, he was surprised +to observe the cavern totally deserted. Having arisen and put his dress +in some order, he looked more accurately round him; but all was still +solitary. If it had not been for the decayed brands of the fire, now +sunk into grey ashes, and the remnants of the festival, consisting +of bones half burnt and half gnawed, and an empty keg or two, there +remained no traces of Donald and his band. When Waverley sallied forth +to the entrance of the cave, he perceived that the point of rock, on +which remained the marks of last night's beacon, was accessible by +a small path, either natural, or roughly hewn in the rock, along the +little inlet of water which ran a few yards up into the cavern, where, +as in a wet-dock, the skiff which brought him there the night before +was still lying moored. When he reached the small projecting platform +on which the beacon had been established, he would have believed his +further progress by land impossible, only that it was scarce probable +but that the inhabitants of the cavern had some mode of issuing from it +otherwise than by the lake. Accordingly, he soon observed three or four +shelving steps, or ledges of rock, at the very extremity of the little +platform; and, making use of them as a staircase, he clambered by their +means around the projecting shoulder of the crag on which the cavern +opened, and, descending with some difficulty on the other side, he +gained the wild and precipitous shores of a Highland loch, about four +miles in length, and a mile and a half across, surrounded by heathy +and savage mountains, on the crests of which the morning mist was still +sleeping. +</p> +<p> +Looking back to the place from which he came, he could not help admiring +the address which had adopted a retreat of such seclusion and +secrecy. The rock, round the shoulder of which he had turned by a few +imperceptible notches, that barely afforded place for the foot, seemed, +in looking back upon it, a huge precipice, which barred all further +passage by the shores of the lake in that direction. There could be +no possibility, the breadth of the lake considered, of descrying the +entrance of the narrow and low-browed cave from the other side; so +that, unless the retreat had been sought for with boats, or disclosed +by treachery, it might be a safe and secret residence to its garrison +as long as they were supplied with provisions. Having satisfied his +curiosity in these particulars, Waverley looked around for Evan Dhu and +his attendants, who, he rightly judged, would be at no great distance, +whatever might have become of Donald Bean Lean and his party, whose +mode of life was, of course, liable to sudden migrations of abode. +Accordingly, at the distance of about half a mile, he beheld a +Highlander (Evan apparently) angling in the lake, with another attending +him, whom, from the weapon which he shouldered, he recognized for his +friend with the battle-axe. +</p> +<p> +Much nearer to the mouth of the cave, he heard the notes of a lively +Gaelic song, guided by which, in a sunny recess, shaded by a glittering +birch-tree, and carpeted with a bank of firm white sand, he found the +damsel of the cavern, whose lay had already reached him, busy, to the +best of her power, in arranging to advantage a morning repast of milk, +eggs, barley-bread, fresh butter, and honeycomb. The poor girl had +already made a circuit of four miles that morning in search of the eggs, +of the meal which baked her cakes, and of the other materials of the +breakfast, being all delicacies which she had to beg or borrow from +distant cottagers. The followers of Donald Bean Lean used little food +except the flesh of the animals which they drove away from the Lowlands; +bread itself was a delicacy seldom thought of, because hard to be +obtained, and all the domestic accommodations of milk, poultry, butter, +&c., were out of the question in this Scythian camp. Yet it must not +be omitted, that, although Alice had occupied a part of the morning in +providing those accommodations for her guest which the cavern did not +afford, she had secured time also to arrange her own person in her best +trim. Her finery was very simple. A short russet-coloured jacket, and +a petticoat, of scanty longitude, was her whole dress; but these were +clean, and neatly arranged. A piece of scarlet embroidered cloth, called +the snood, confined her hair, which fell over it in a profusion of rich +dark curls. The scarlet plaid, which formed part of her dress, was laid +aside, that it might not impede her activity in attending the stranger. +I should forget Alice's proudest ornament, were I to omit mentioning a +pair of gold ear-rings, and a golden rosary, which her father (for +she was the daughter of Donald Bean Lean) had brought from France, the +plunder, probably, of some battle or storm. +</p> +<p> +Her form, though rather large for her years, was very well proportioned, +and her demeanour had a natural and rustic grace, with nothing of the +sheepishness of an ordinary peasant. The smiles, displaying a row of +teeth of exquisite whiteness, and the laughing eyes, with which, in dumb +show, she gave Waverley that morning greeting which she wanted English +words to express, might have been interpreted by a coxcomb, or perhaps +by a young soldier, who, without being such, was conscious of a handsome +person, as meant to convey more than the courtesy of an hostess. Nor do +I take it upon me to say, that the little wild mountaineer would +have welcomed any staid old gentleman advanced in life, the Baron of +Bradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains which she bestowed +upon Edward's accommodation. She seemed eager to place him by the meal +which she had so sedulously arranged, and to which she now added a few +bunches of cranberries, gathered in an adjacent morass. Having had the +satisfaction of seeing him seated at his breakfast, she placed herself +demurely upon a stone at a few yards' distance, and appeared to watch +with great complacency for some opportunity of serving him. +</p> +<p> +Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along the beach, the latter +bearing a large salmon-trout, the produce of the morning's sport, +together with the angling-rod, while Evan strolled forward, with +an easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, towards the spot where +Waverley was so agreeably employed at the breakfast-table. After morning +greetings had passed on both sides, and Evan, looking at Waverley, had +said something in Gaelic to Alice, which made her laugh, yet colour up +to her eyes, through a complexion well embrowned by sun and wind, Evan +intimated his commands that the fish should be prepared for breakfast. +A spark from the lock of his pistol produced a light, and a few withered +fir branches were quickly in flame, and as speedily reduced to hot +embers, on which the trout was broiled in large slices. To crown the +repast, Evan produced from the pocket of his short jerkin, a large +scallop shell, and from under the folds of his plaid, a ram's horn full +of whisky. Of this he took a copious dram, observing he had already +taken his MORNING with Donald Bean Lean, before his departure; he +offered the same cordial to Alice and to Edward, which they both +declined. With the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then proffered the +scallop to Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, without waiting to be +asked a second time, drank it off with great gusto. Evan then prepared +to move towards the boat, inviting Waverley to attend him. Meanwhile, +Alice had made up in a small basket what she thought worth removing, and +hinging her plaid around her, she advanced up to Edward, and, with the +utmost simplicity, taking hold of his hand, offered her cheek to his +salute, dropping, at the same time, her little curtsy. Evan, who was +esteemed a wag among the mountain fair, advanced, as if to secure a +similar favour; but Alice, snatching up her basket, escaped up the +rocky bank as fleetly as a roe, and, turning round and laughing, called +something out to him in Gaelic, which he answered in the same tone and +language; then, waving her hand to Edward, she resumed her road, and +was soon lost among the thickets, though they continued for some time to +hear her lively carol, as she proceeded gaily on her solitary journey. +</p> +<p> +They now again entered the gorge of the cavern, and stepping into the +boat, the Highlander pushed off, and, taking advantage of the morning +breeze, hoisted a clumsy sort of sail, while Evan assumed the helm, +directing their course, as it appeared to Waverley, rather higher up the +lake than towards the place of his embarkation on the preceding night. +As they glided along the silver mirror, Evan opened the conversation +with a panegyric upon Alice, who, he said, was both CANNY and FENDY; +and was, to the boot of all that, the best dancer of a strathspey in +the whole strath. Edward assented to her praises so far as he understood +them, yet could not help regretting that she was condemned to such a +perilous and dismal life. +</p> +<p> +'Oich! for that,' said Evan, 'there is nothing in Perthshire that she +need want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it be too hot or +too heavy. +</p> +<p> +'But to be the daughter of a cattle-stealer—a common thief!' +</p> +<p> +'Common thief!—no such thing: Donald Bean Lean never LIFTED less than a +drove in his life.' +</p> +<p> +'Do you call him an uncommon thief, then?' +</p> +<p> +'No—he that steals a cow from a poor widow, or a stirk from a +cottar, is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach laird, is a +gentleman-drover. And, besides, to take a tree from the forest, a salmon +from the river, a deer from the hill, or a cow from a Lowland strath, is +what no Highlander need ever think shame upon.' +</p> +<p> +'But what can this end in, were he taken in such an appropriation?' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure he would DIE FOR THE LAW, as many a pretty man has done +before him.' +</p> +<p> +'Die for the law!' +</p> +<p> +'Aye; that is, with the law, or by the law; be strapped up on the +KIND gallows of Crieff, <a href="#note-12" name="noteref-12"><small>12</small></a> where his father died, and his +goodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to die himself, if he's not +shot, or slashed, in a creagh.' +</p> +<p> +'You HOPE such a death for your friend, Evan!' +</p> +<p> +'And that do I e'en; would you have me wish him to die on a bundle of +wet straw in yon den of his, like a mangy tyke?' +</p> +<p> +'But what becomes of Alice, then?' +</p> +<p> +'Troth, if such an accident were to happen, as her father would not need +her help ony langer, I ken naught to hinder me to marry her mysell.' +</p> +<p> +'Gallantly resolved!' said Edward;—'but, in the meanwhile, Evan, what +has your father-in-law (that shall be, if he have the good fortune to be +hanged) done with the Baron's cattle?' +</p> +<p> +'Oich,' answered Evan, 'they were all trudging before your lad and Allan +Kennedy before the sun blinked ower Ben-Lawers this morning; and they'll +be in the pass of Bally-Brough by this time, in their way back to the +parks of Tully-Veolan, all but two, that were unhappily slaughtered +before I got last night to Uaimh an Ri.' +</p> +<p> +'And where are we going, Evan, if I may be so bold as to ask?' said +Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Where would you be ganging, but to the laird's ain house of +Glennaquoich? Ye would not think to be in his country, without ganging +to see him? It would be as much as a man's life's worth,' +</p> +<p> +'And are we far from Glennaquoich?' +</p> +<p> +But five bits of miles; and Vich Ian Vohr will meet us.' +</p> +<p> +In about half an hour they reached the upper end of the lake, where, +after landing Waverley, the two Highlanders drew the boat into a little +creek among thick flags and reeds, where it lay perfectly concealed. +The oars they put in another place of concealment, both for the use of +Donald Bean Lean probably, when his occasions should next bring him to +that place. +</p> +<p> +The travellers followed for some time a delightful opening into the +hills, down which a little brook found its way to the lake. When they +had pursued their walk a short distance, Waverley renewed his questions +about their host of the cavern. +</p> +<p> +'Does he always reside in that cave?' +</p> +<p> +'Out, no! it's past the skill of man to tell where he's to be found +at a' times; there's not a dern nook, or cove, or corri, in the whole +country, that he's not acquainted with.' +</p> +<p> +'And do others beside your master shelter him?' +</p> +<p> +'My master?—My master is in heaven,' answered Evan haughtily; and then +immediately assuming his usual civility of manner—'But you mean my +Chief;—no, he does not shelter Donald Bean Lean, nor any that are like +him; he only allows him (with a smile) wood and water.' +</p> +<p> +'No great boon, I should think, Evan, when both seem to be very plenty.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah! but ye dinna see through it. When I say wood and water, I mean the +loch and the land; and I fancy Donald would be put till't if the laird +were to look for him wi' threescore men in the wood of Kailychat yonder; +and if our boats, with a score or twa mair, were to come down the loch +to Uaimh an Ri, headed by mysell, or ony other pretty man.' +</p> +<p> +'But suppose a strong party came against him from the Low Country, would +not your Chief defend him?' +</p> +<p> +'Na, he would not ware the spark of a flint for him—if they came with +the law.' +</p> +<p> +'And what must Donald do, then?' +</p> +<p> +'He behoved to rid this country of himsell, and fall back, it may be, +over the mount upon Letter Scriven.' +</p> +<p> +'And if he were pursued to that place?' +</p> +<p> +'I'se warrant he would go to his cousin's at Rannoch.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, but if they followed him to Rannoch?' +</p> +<p> +'That,' quoth Evan, 'is beyond all belief; and, indeed, to tell you the +truth, there durst not a Lowlander in all Scotland follow the fray a +gun-shot beyond Bally-Brough, unless he had the help of the SIDIER DHU.' +</p> +<p> +'Whom do you call so?' +</p> +<p> +'The SIDIER DHU? the black soldier; that is what they call the +independent companies that were raised to keep peace and law in the +Highlands. Vich Ian Vohr commanded one of them for five years, and I was +sergeant myself, I shall warrant ye. They call them SIDIER DHU, because +they wear the tartans,—as they call your men, King George's men, SIDIER +ROY, or red soldiers.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, but when you were in King George's pay, Evan, you were surely +King George's soldiers?' +</p> +<p> +'Troth, and you must ask Vich Ian Vohr about that; for we are for his +king, and care not much which o' them it is. At any rate, nobody can +say we are King George's men now, when we have not seen his pay this +twelvemonth.' +</p> +<p> +This last argument admitted of no reply, nor did Edward attempt any; +he rather chose to bring back the discourse to Donald Bean Lean. 'Does +Donald confine himself to cattle, or does he LIFT, as you call it, +anything else that comes in his way?' +</p> +<p> +'Troth, he's nae nice body, and he'll just tak ony thing, but most +readily cattle, horse, or live Christians; for sheep are slow of travel, +and inside plenishing is cumbrous to carry, and not easy to put away for +siller in this country.' +</p> +<p> +'But does he carry off men and women?' +</p> +<p> +'Out, aye. Did not ye hear him speak o' the Perth bailie? It cost that +body five hundred merks ere he got to the south of Bally-Brough.—And +ance Donald played a pretty sport. <a href="#note-13" name="noteref-13"><small>13</small></a> There was to be a +blythe bridal between the Lady Cramfeezer, in the howe o' the Mearns +(she was the auld laird's widow, and no sae young as she had been +hersell), and young Gilliewhackit, who had spent his heirship and +movables, like a gentleman, at cock-matches, bull-baitings, horse-races, +and the like. Now, Donald Bean Lean, being aware that the bridegroom +was in request, and wanting to cleik the cunzie (that is, to hook the +siller), he cannily carried off Gilliewhackit ae night when he was +riding DOVERING hame (wi' the malt rather abune the meal), and with the +help of his gillies he gat him into the hills with the speed of light, +and the first place he wakened in was the cove of Uaimh an Ri. So there +was old to do about ransoming the bridegroom; for Donald would not lower +a farthing of a thousand punds'— +</p> +<p> +The devil!' +</p> +<p> +'Punds Scottish, ya shall understand. And the lady had not the siller +if she had pawned her gown; and they applied to the governor o' Stirling +castle, and to the major o' the Black Watch; and the governor said, it +was ower far to the northward, and out of his district; and the major +said, his men were gane hame to the shearing, and he would not call +them out before the victual was got in for all the Cramfeezers in +Christendom, let alane the Mearns, for that it would prejudice the +country. And in the meanwhile ye'll no hinder Gilliewhackit to take the +small-pox. There was not the doctor in Perth or Stirling would look near +the poor lad; and I cannot blame them, for Donald had been misguggled by +ane of these doctors about Paris, and he swore he would fling the first +into the loch that he catched beyond the Pass. However, some cailliachs +(that is, old women) that were about Donald's hand, nursed Gilliewhackit +sae weel, that between the free open air in the cove and the fresh whey, +deil an' he did not recover maybe as weel as if he had been closed in a +glazed chamber and a bed with curtains, and fed with red wine and white +meat. And Donald was sae vexed about it, that when he was stout and +weel, he even sent him free home, and said he would be pleased with +onything they would like to gie him for the plague and trouble which +he had about Gilliewhackit to an unkenn'd degree. And I cannot tell you +precisely how they sorted; but they agreed sae right that Donald was +invited to dance at the wedding in his Highland trews, and they said +that there was never sae meikle siller clinked in his purse either +before or since. And to the boot of all that, Gilliewhackit said, that, +be the evidence what it liked, if he had the luck to be on Donald's +inquest, he would bring him in guilty of nothing whatever, unless it +were wilful arson, or murder under trust.' +</p> +<p> +With such bald and disjointed chat Evan went on, illustrating the +existing state of the Highlands, more perhaps to the amusement of +Waverley than that of our readers. At length, after having marched over +bank and brae, moss and heather, Edward, though not unacquainted with +the Scottish liberality in computing distance, began to think that +Evan's five miles were nearly doubled. His observation on the large +measure which the Scottish allowed of their land, in comparison to the +computation of their money, was readily answered by Evan, with the old +jest, The deil take them wha have the least pint stoup.' ['The Scotch +are liberal in computing their land and liquor; the Scottish pint +corresponds to two English quarts. As for their coin, every one knows +the couplet— +</p> +<pre> + 'How can the rogues pretend to sense? + Their pound is only twenty pence.'] +</pre> +<p> +And now the report of a gun was heard, and a sportsman was seen, with +his dogs and attendant, at the upper end of the glen. 'Shough,' said +Dugald Mahony, 'tat's ta Chief.' +</p> +<p> +'It is not,' said Evan imperiously. 'Do you think he would come to meet +a Sassenach Duinhe-wassel in such a way as that?' +</p> +<p> +But as they approached a little nearer, he said, with an appearance of +mortification, 'And it is even he, sure enough; and he has not his tail +on after all;—there is no living creature with him but Callum Beg.' +</p> +<p> +In fact, Fergus Mac-Ivor, of whom a Frenchman might have said, as truly +as of any man in the Highlands, 'QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES GENS,' had no +idea of raising himself in the eyes of an English young man of fortune, +by appearing with a retinue of idle Highlanders disproportioned to the +occasion. He was well aware that such an unnecessary attendance would +seem to Edward rather ludicrous than respectable; and while few men were +more attached to ideas of chieftainship and feudal power, he was, for +that very reason, cautious of exhibiting external marks of dignity, +unless at the time and in the manner when they were most likely to +produce an imposing effect. Therefore, although, had he been to receive +a brother chieftain, he would probably have been attended by all that +retinue which Evan described with so much unction, he judged it more +respectable to advance to meet Waverley with a single attendant, a very +handsome Highland boy, who carried his master's shooting-pouch and his +broadsword, without which he seldom went abroad. +</p> +<p> +When Fergus and Waverley met, the latter was struck with the peculiar +grace and dignity of the Chieftain's figure, Above the middle size, and +finely proportioned, the Highland dress, which he wore in its simplest +mode, set off his person to great advantage. He wore the trews, or +close trousers, made of tartan, chequed scarlet and white; in other +particulars, his dress strictly resembled Evan's, excepting that he had +no weapon save a dirk, very richly mounted with silver. His page, as we +have said, carried his claymore and the fowling-piece, which he held in +his hand, seemed only designed for sport. He had shot in the course of +his walk some young wild-ducks, as, though CLOSE TIME was then +unknown, the broods of grouse were yet too young for the sportsman. His +countenance was decidedly Scottish, with all the peculiarities of +the northern physiognomy, but yet had so little of ifs harshness +and exaggeration, that it would have been pronounced in any country +extremely handsome. The martial air of the bonnet, with a single eagle's +feather as a distinction, added much to the manly appearance of his +head, which was besides ornamented with a far more natural and graceful +cluster of close black curls than ever were exposed to sale in Bond +Street. +</p> +<p> +An air of openness and affability increased the favourable impression +derived from this handsome and dignified exterior. Yet a skilful +physiognomist would have been less satisfied with the countenance on +the second than on the first view. The eyebrow and upper lip bespoke +something of the habit of peremptory command and decisive superiority. +Even his courtesy, though open, frank, and unconstrained, seemed +to indicate a sense of personal importance; and, upon any check or +accidental excitation, a sudden, though transient lour of the eye, +showed a hasty, haughty, and vindictive temper, not less to be dreaded +because it seemed much under its owner's command. In short, the +countenance of the Chieftain resembled a smiling summer's day, in which, +notwithstanding, we are made sensible by certain, though slight signs, +that it may thunder and lighten before the close of evening. +</p> +<p> +It was not, however, upon their first meeting that Edward had an +opportunity of making these less favourable remarks. The Chief received +him as a friend of the Baron of Bradwardine, with the utmost expression +of kindness and obligation for the visit; upbraided him gently with +choosing so rude an abode as he had done the night before; and entered +into a lively conversation with him about Donald Bean's housekeeping, +but without the least hint as to his predatory habits, or the immediate +occasion of Waverley's visit, a topic which, as the Chief did not +introduce it, our hero also avoided. While they walked merrily on +towards the house of Glennaquoich, Evan, who now fell respectfully into +the rear, followed with Callum Beg and Dugald Mahony. +</p> +<p> +We shall take the opportunity to introduce the reader to some +particulars of Fergus Mac-Ivor's character and history, which were +not completely known to Waverley till after a connexion, which, though +arising from a circumstance so casual, had for a length of time the +deepest influence upon his character, actions, and prospects. But this, +being an important subject, must form the commencement of a new chapter. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0019"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XIX +</h2> +<h3> + THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION +</h3> +<p> +The ingenious licentiate, Francisco de Ubeda, when he commenced his +history of La Picara Justina Diez,—which, by the way, is one of the +most rare books of Spanish literature,—complained of his pen having +caught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with more eloquence than +common sense, an affectionate expostulation with that useful implement, +upbraiding it with being the quill of a goose,—a bird inconstant by +nature, as frequenting the three elements of water, earth, and air, +indifferently, and being, of course, 'to one thing constant never.' Now +I protest to thee, gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Francisco +de Ubeda in this matter, and hold it the most useful quality of my pen, +that it can speedily change from grave to gay, and from description and +dialogue to narrative and character. So that, if my quill display no +other properties of its mother-goose than her mutability, truly I shall +be well pleased; and I conceive that you, my worthy friend, will have +no occasion for discontent. From the jargon, therefore, of the Highland +gillies, I pass to the character of their Chief. It is an important +examination, and therefore, like Dogberry, we must spare no wisdom. +</p> +<p> +The ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three centuries before, had set +up a claim to be recognized as chief of the numerous and powerful clan +to which he belonged, the name of which it is unnecessary to mention. +Being defeated by an opponent who had more justice, or at least more +force, on his side, he moved southwards, with those who adhered to him, +in quest of new settlements, like a second Aeneas. The state of the +Perthshire Highlands favoured his purpose. A great baron in that country +had lately become traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the name of our +adventurer, united himself with those who were commissioned by the king +to chastise him, and did such good service, that he obtained a grant +of the property, upon which he and his posterity afterwards resided. He +followed the king also in war to the fertile regions of England, where +he employed his leisure hours so actively in raising subsidies among the +boors of Northumberland and Durham, that upon his return he was enabled +to erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much admired by his dependants +and neighbours, that he, who had hitherto been called Ian Mac-Ivor, or +John the son of Ivor, was thereafter distinguished, both in song and +genealogy, by the high title of IAN NAN CHAISTEL, or John of the Tower. +The descendants of this worthy were so proud of him, that the reigning +chief always bore the patronymic title of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son of +John the Great; while the clan at large, to distinguish them from that +from which they had seceded, were denominated SLIOCHD NAN IVOR, the race +of Ivor. +</p> +<p> +The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of the +Tower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, and was +forced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year in favour of the +Stuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate than other fugitives, he +obtained employment in the French service, and married a lady of rank in +that kingdom, by whom he had two children, Fergus and his sister Flora. +The Scottish estate had been forfeited and exposed to sale, but was +re-purchased for a small price in the name of the young proprietor, who +in consequence came to reside upon his native domains. <a href="#note-14" name="noteref-14"><small>14</small></a> It +was soon perceived that he possessed a character of uncommon acuteness, +fire, and ambition, which, as he became acquainted with the state of the +country, gradually assumed a mixed and peculiar tone, that could only +have been acquired Sixty Years since. +</p> +<p> +Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he would, in +all probability, have wanted the polished manner and knowledge of the +world which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty Years later, his +ambition and love of rule would have lacked the fuel which his situation +now afforded. He was indeed, within his little circle, as perfect a +politician as Castruccio Castracani himself. He applied himself with +great earnestness to appease all the feuds and dissensions which often +arose among other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he became +a frequent umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal power he +strengthened at every expense which his fortune would permit, and indeed +stretched his means to the uttermost, to maintain the rude and plentiful +hospitality, which was the most valued attribute of a chieftain. For the +same reason, he crowded his estate with a tenantry, hardy indeed, and +fit for the purposes of war, but greatly outnumbering what the soil was +calculated to maintain. These consisted chiefly of his own clan, not one +of whom he suffered to quit his lands if he could possibly prevent it. +But he maintained, besides, many adventurers from the mother sept, who +deserted a less warlike, though more wealthy chief, to do homage to +Fergus Mac-Ivor. Other individuals, too, who had not even that apology, +were nevertheless received into his allegiance, which indeed was refused +to none who were, like Poins, proper men of their hands, and were +willing to assume the name of Mac-Ivor. +</p> +<p> +He was enabled to discipline these forces, from having obtained command +of one of the independent companies raised by Government to preserve the +peace of the Highlands. While in this capacity he acted with vigour and +spirit, and preserved great order in the country under his charge. He +caused his vassals to enter by rotation into his company, and serve for +a certain space of time, which gave them all in turn a general notion +of military discipline. In his campaigns against the banditti, it was +observed that he assumed and exercised to the utmost the discretionary +power, which, while the law had no free course in the Highlands, was +conceived to belong to the military parties who were called in to +support it. He acted, for example, with great and suspicious lenity +to those freebooters who made restitution on his summons, and +offered personal submission to himself, while he rigorously pursued, +apprehended, and sacrificed to justice, all such interlopers as dared to +despise his admonitions or commands. On the other hand, if any officers +of justice, military parties, or others, presumed to pursue thieves or +marauders through his territories, and without applying for his consent +and concurrence, nothing was more certain than that they would meet with +some notable foil or defeat; upon which occasions Fergus Mac-Ivor +was the first to condole with them, and, after gently blaming their +rashness, never failed deeply to lament the lawless state of the +country. These lamentations did not exclude suspicion, and matters were +so represented to Government, that our Chieftain was deprived of his +military command. <a href="#note-15" name="noteref-15"><small>15</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Whatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, he had the art of +entirely suppressing every appearance of discontent; but in a short time +the neighbouring country began to feel bad effects from his disgrace. +Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, whose depredations had +hitherto been confined to other districts, appeared from thenceforward +to have made a settlement on this devoted border; and their ravages were +carried on with little opposition, as the Lowland gentry were chiefly +Jacobites, and disarmed. This forced many of the inhabitants into +contracts of blackmail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which not only +established him their protector, and gave him great weight in all their +consultations, but, moreover, supplied funds for the waste of his feudal +hospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay might have otherwise +essentially diminished. +</p> +<p> +In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a further object than +merely being the great man of his neighbourhood, and ruling despotically +over a small clan. From his infancy upward, he had devoted himself to +the cause of the exiled family, and had persuaded himself, not only +that their restoration to the crown of Britain would be speedy, but that +those who assisted them would be raised to honour and rank. It was +with this view that he laboured to reconcile the Highlanders among +themselves, and augmented his own force to the utmost, to be prepared +for the first favourable opportunity of rising. With this purpose also +he conciliated the favour of such Lowland gentlemen in the vicinity +as were friends to the good cause; and for the same reason, having +incautiously quarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine, who, notwithstanding his +peculiarities, was much respected in the country, he took advantage of +the foray of Donald Bean Lean to solder up the dispute in the manner we +have mentioned. Some, indeed, surmised that he caused the enterprise to +be suggested to Donald, on purpose to pave the way to a reconciliation, +which, supposing that to be the case, cost the Laird of Bradwardine two +good milch-cows. This zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart repaid +with a considerable share of their confidence, an occasional supply of +louis d'or, abundance of fair words, and a parchment, with a huge waxen +seal appended, purporting to be an Earl's patent, granted by no less +a person than James the Third King of England, and Eighth King of +Scotland, to his right leal, trusty, and well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor of +Glennaquoich, in the county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland. +</p> +<p> +With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus plunged +deeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappy period; and, +like all such active agents, easily reconciled his conscience to going +certain lengths in the service of his party, from which honour and pride +would have deterred him, had his sole object been the direct advancement +of his own personal interest. With this insight into a bold, ambitious, +and ardent, yet artful and politic character, we resume the broken +thread of our narrative. +</p> +<p> +The Chief and his guest had by this time reached the house of +Glennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel's mansion, a high +rude-looking square tower, with the addition of a lofted house, that is, +a building of two stories, constructed by Fergus's grandfather when he +returned from that memorable expedition, well remembered by the western +shires under the name of the Highland Host. Upon occasion of this +crusade against the Ayrshire Whigs and Covenanters, the Vich Ian Vohr +of the time had probably been as successful as his predecessor was in +harrying Northumberland, and therefore left to his posterity a rival +edifice, as a monument of his magnificence. +</p> +<p> +Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of a narrow +Highland valley, there appeared none of that attention to convenience, +far less to ornament and decoration, which usually surrounds a +gentleman's habitation. An enclosure or two, divided by dry-stone walls, +were the only part of the domain that was fenced; as to the rest, +the narrow slips of level ground which lay by the side of the brook +exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to constant depredations from +the herds of wild ponies and black cattle that grazed upon the adjacent +hills. These ever and anon made an incursion upon the arable ground, +which was repelled by the loud, uncouth, and dissonant shouts of half +a dozen Highland swains, all running as if they had been mad, and every +one hallooing a half-starved dog to the rescue of the forage. At a +little distance up the glen was a small and stunted wood of birch; the +hills were high and heathy, but without any variety of surface; so that +the whole view was wild and desolate, rather than grand and solitary. +Yet, such as it was, no genuine descendant of Ian nan Chaistel would +have changed the domain for Stowe or Blenheim. +</p> +<p> +There was a sight, however, before the gate, which perhaps would have +afforded the first owner of Blenheim more pleasure than the finest view +in the domain assigned to him by the gratitude of his country. This +consisted of about a hundred Highlanders in complete dress and arms; +at sight of whom the Chieftain apologized to Waverley in a sort of +negligent manner. 'He had forgot,' he said, 'that he had ordered a +few of his clan out, for the purpose of seeing that they were in a fit +condition to protect the country, and prevent such accidents as, he was +sorry to learn, had befallen the Baron of Bradwardine. Before they were +dismissed, perhaps Captain Waverley might choose to see them go through +a part of their exercise.' +</p> +<p> +Edward assented, and the men executed with agility and precision some of +the ordinary military movements. They then practised individually at a +mark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in the management of the +pistol and firelock. They took aim, standing, sitting, leaning, or +lying prostrate, as they were commanded, and always with effect upon the +target. Next, they paired off for the broadsword exercise; and, having +manifested their individual skill and dexterity, united in two bodies, +and exhibited a sort of mock encounter, in which the charge, the rally, +the flight, the pursuit, and all the current of a heady fight, were +exhibited to the sound of the great war-bagpipe. +</p> +<p> +On a signal made by the Chief, the skirmish was ended. Marches were +then made for running, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, and other +sports, in which this feudal militia displayed incredible swiftness, +strength, and agility; and accomplished the purpose which their +Chieftain had at heart, by impressing on Waverley no light sense of +their merit as soldiers, and of the power of him who commanded them by +his nod. <a href="#note-16" name="noteref-16"><small>16</small></a> +</p> +<p> +'And what number of such gallant fellows have the happiness to call you +leader?' asked Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'In a good cause, and under a chieftain whom they loved, the race of +Ivor have seldom taken the field under five hundred claymores. But you +are aware, Captain Waverley, that the Disarming Act, passed about twenty +years ago, prevents their being in the complete state of preparation +as in former times; and I keep no more of my clan under arms than may +defend my own or my friends' property, when the country is troubled +with such men as your last night's landlord; and Government, which +has removed other means of defence, must connive at our protecting +ourselves.' +</p> +<p> +'But, with your force, you might soon destroy, or put down, such gangs +as that of Donald Bean Lean.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, doubtless; and my reward would be a summons to deliver up to +General Blakeney, at Stirling, the few broadswords they have left us: +there were little policy in that, methinks.—But come, Captain, the +sound of the pipes informs me that dinner is prepared. Let me have the +honour to show you into my rude mansion.' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0020"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XX +</h2> +<h3> + A HIGHLAND FEAST +</h3> +<p> +Ere Waverley entered the banqueting hall, he was offered the patriarchal +refreshment of a bath for the feet, which the sultry weather, and the +morasses he had traversed, rendered highly acceptable. He was not, +indeed, so luxuriously attended upon this occasion as the heroic +travellers in the Odyssey; the task of ablution and abstersion being +performed, not by a beautiful damsel, trained +</p> +<pre> + To chafe the limb, and pour the fragrant oil, +</pre> +<p> +but by a smoke-dried skinny old Highland woman, who did not seem to +think herself much honoured by the duty imposed upon her, but muttered +between her teeth, 'Our father's herds did not feed so near together, +that I should do you this service.' A small donation, however, amply +reconciled this ancient handmaiden to the supposed degradation; and, as +Edward proceeded to the hall, she gave him her blessing, in the Gaelic +proverb, 'May the open hand be filled the fullest.' +</p> +<p> +The hall, in which the feast was prepared, occupied all the first storey +of Ian nan Chaistel's original erection, and a huge oaken table extended +through its whole length. The apparatus for dinner was simple, even to +rudeness, and the company numerous, even to crowding. At the head of +the table was the Chief himself, with Edward, and two or three Highland +visitors of neighbouring clans; the elders of his own tribe, wadsetters, +and tacksmen, as they were called, who occupied portions of his estate +as mortgagers or lessees, sat next in rank beneath them, their sons, +and nephews, and foster-brethren; then the officers of the Chief's +household, according to their order; and, lowest of all, the tenants +who actually cultivated the ground. Even beyond this long perspective, +Edward might see upon the green, to which a huge pair of folding doors +opened, a multitude of Highlanders of a yet inferior description, who, +nevertheless, were considered as guests, and had their share both of +the countenance of the entertainer, and of the cheer of the day. In the +distance, and fluctuating round this extreme verge of the banquet, was a +changeful group of women, ragged boys and girls, beggars, young and old, +large greyhounds, and terriers, and pointers, and curs of low degree; +all of whom took some interest, more or less immediate, in the main +action of the piece. +</p> +<p> +This hospitality, apparently unbounded, had yet its line of economy. +Some pains had been bestowed in dressing the dishes of fish, game, &c., +which were at the upper end of the table, and immediately under the +eye of the English stranger. Lower down stood immense clumsy joints +of mutton and beef, which, but for the absence of pork, <a href="#note-17" name="noteref-17"><small>17</small></a> +abhorred in the Highlands, resembled the rude festivity of the banquet +of Penelope's suitors. But the central dish was a yearling lamb, called +'a hog in har'st,' roasted whole. It was set upon its legs, with a bunch +of parsley in its mouth, and was probably exhibited in that form to +gratify the pride of the cook, who piqued himself more on the plenty +than the elegance of his master's table. The sides of this poor animal +were fiercely attacked by the clansmen, some with dirks, others with the +knives which were usually in the same sheath with the dagger, so that it +was soon rendered a mangled and rueful spectacle. Lower down still, the +victuals seemed of yet coarser quality, though sufficiently abundant. +Broth, onions, cheese, and the fragments of the feast, regaled the sons +of Ivor who feasted in the open air. +</p> +<p> +The liquor was supplied in the same proportion, and under similar +regulations. Excellent claret and champagne were liberally distributed +among the Chief's immediate neighbours; whisky, plain or diluted, and +strong beer, refreshed those who sat near the lower end. Nor did this +inequality of distribution appear to give the least offence. Every one +present understood that his taste was to be formed according to the +rank which he held at table; and, consequently, the tacksmen and their +dependants always professed the wine was too cold for their stomachs, +and called, apparently out of choice, for the liquor which was assigned +to them from economy. <a href="#note-18" name="noteref-18"><small>18</small></a> The bagpipers, three in number, +screamed, during the whole time of dinner, a tremendous war-tune; +and the echoing of the vaulted roof, and clang of the Celtic tongue, +produced such a Babel of noises, that Waverley dreaded his ears would +never recover it. Mac-Ivor, indeed, apologized for the confusion +occasioned by so large a party, and pleaded the necessity of his +situation, on which unlimited hospitality was imposed as a paramount +duty. 'These stout idle kinsmen of mine,' he said, 'account my estate +as held in trust for their support; and I must find them beef and +ale, while the rogues will do nothing for themselves but practise the +broadsword, or wander about the hills, shooting, fishing, hunting, +drinking, and making love to the lasses of the strath. But what can I +do, Captain Waverley? everything will keep after its kind, whether it +be a hawk or a Highlander.' Edward made the expected answer, in a +compliment upon his possessing so many bold and attached followers. +</p> +<p> +'Why, yes,' replied the Chief,' were I disposed, like my father, to put +myself in the way of getting one blow on the head, or two on the neck, +I believe the loons would stand by me. But who thinks of that in the +present day, when the maxim is,—"Better an old woman with a purse in +her hand, than three men with belted brands?"' Then, turning to the +company, he proposed the 'Health of Captain Waverley, a worthy friend of +his kind neighbour and ally, the Baron of Bradwardine.' +</p> +<p> +'He is welcome hither,' said one of the elders, 'if he come from Cosmo +Comyne Bradwardine.' +</p> +<p> +'I say nay to that,' said an old man, who apparently did not mean to +pledge the toast: 'I say nay to that;—while there is a green leaf in +the forest, there will be fraud in a Comyne.' +</p> +<p> +'There is nothing but honour in the Baron of Bradwardine,' answered +another ancient; 'and the guest that comes hither from him should be +welcome, though he came with blood on his hand, unless it were blood of +the race of Ivor.' +</p> +<p> +The old man, whose cup remained full, replied, 'There has been blood +enough of the race of Ivor on the hand of Bradwardine.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah! Ballenkeiroch,' replied the first, 'you think rather of the flash +of the carbine at the Mains of Tully-Veolan, than the glance of the +sword that fought for the cause at Preston.' +</p> +<p> +'And well I may,' answered Ballenkeiroch; 'the flash of the gun cost me +a fair-haired son, and the glance of the sword has done but little for +King James.' +</p> +<p> +The Chieftain, in two words of French, explained to Waverley, that the +Baron had shot this old man's son in a fray near Tully-Veolan about +seven years before; and then hastened to remove Ballenkeiroch's +prejudice, by informing him that Waverley was an Englishman, unconnected +by birth or alliance with the family of Bradwardine; upon which the old +gentleman raised the hitherto-untasted cup, and courteously drank to +his health. This ceremony being requited in kind, the Chieftain made +a signal for the pipes to cease, and said aloud, 'Where is the song +hidden, my friends, that Mac-Murrough cannot find it?' +</p> +<p> +Mac-Murrough, the family BHAIRDH, an aged man, immediately took the +hint, and began to chant, with low and rapid utterance, a profusion of +Celtic verses, which were received by the audience with all the applause +of enthusiasm. As he advanced in his declamation, his ardour seemed to +increase. He had at first spoken with his eyes fixed on the ground; +he now cast them around as if beseeching, and anon as if commanding, +attention, and his tones rose into wild and impassioned notes, +accompanied with appropriate gestures. He seemed to Edward, who attended +to him with much interest, to recite many proper names, to lament the +dead, to apostrophize the absent, to exhort, and entreat, and animate +those who were present. Waverley thought he even discerned his own name, +and was convinced his conjecture was right, from the eyes of the company +being at that moment turned towards him simultaneously. The ardour of +the poet appeared to communicate itself to the audience. Their wild and +sunburnt countenances assumed a fiercer and more animated expression; +all bent forward towards the reciter, many sprang up and waved their +arms in ecstasy, and some laid their hands on their swords. When the +song ceased, there was a deep pause, while the aroused feelings of the +poet and of the hearers gradually subsided into their usual channel. +</p> +<p> +The Chieftain, who during this scene had appeared rather to watch +the emotions which were excited, than to partake their high tone of +enthusiasm, filled with claret a small silver cup which stood by him. +'Give this,' he said to an attendant, 'to Mac-Murrough nan Fonn (i.e. of +the songs), and when he has drunk the juice, bid him keep, for the sake +of Vich Ian Vohr, the shell of the gourd which contained it.' The gift +was received by Mac-Murrough with profound gratitude; he drank the wine, +and, kissing the cup, shrouded it with reverence in the plaid which +was folded on his bosom. He then burst forth into what Edward justly +supposed to be an extemporaneous effusion of thanks, and praises of his +Chief. It was received with applause, but did not produce the effect +of his first poem. It was obvious, however, that the clan regarded +the generosity of their Chieftain with high approbation. Many approved +Gaelic toasts were then proposed, of some of which the Chieftain gave +his guest the following versions:—'To him that will not turn his back +on friend or foe.' 'To him that never forsook a comrade.' 'To him that +never bought or sold justice.' 'Hospitality to the exile, and broken +bones to the tyrant.' 'The lads with the kilts.' 'Highlanders, shoulder +to shoulder,'—with many other pithy sentiments of the like nature. +</p> +<p> +Edward was particularly solicitous to know the meaning of that song +which appeared to produce such effect upon the passions of the +company, and hinted his curiosity to his host. 'As I observe,' said +the Chieftain, 'that you have passed the bottle during the last +three rounds, I was about to propose to you to retire to my sister's +tea-table, who can explain these things to you better than I can. +Although I cannot stint my clan in the usual current of their festivity, +yet I neither am addicted myself to exceed in its amount, nor do I,' +added he, smiling, 'keep a Bear to devour the intellects of such as can +make good use of them.' +</p> +<p> +Edward readily assented to this proposal, and the Chieftain, saying a +few words to those around him, left the table, followed by Waverley. As +the door closed behind them, Edward heard Vich Ian Vohr's health invoked +with a wild and animated cheer, that expressed the satisfaction of the +guests, and the depth of their devotion to his service. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0021"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXI +</h2> +<h3> + THE CHIEFTAIN'S SISTER +</h3> +<p> +The drawing-room of Flora Mac-Ivor was furnished in the plainest and +most simple manner; for at Glennaquoich every other sort of expenditure +was retrenched as much as possible, for the purpose of maintaining, in +its full dignity, the hospitality of the Chieftain, and retaining and +multiplying the number of his dependants and adherents. But there was no +appearance of this parsimony in the dress of the lady herself, which +was in texture elegant, and even rich, and arranged in a manner which +partook partly of the Parisian fashion, and partly of the more simple +dress of the Highlands, blended together with great taste. Her hair was +not disfigured by the art of the friseur, but fell in jetty ringlets +on her neck, confined only by a circlet, richly set with diamonds. This +peculiarity she adopted in compliance with the Highland prejudices, +which could not endure that a woman's head should be covered before +wedlock. +</p> +<p> +Flora Mac-Ivor bore a most striking resemblance to her brother Fergus; +so much so, that they might have played Viola and Sebastian with the +same exquisite effect produced by the appearance of Mrs. Henry Siddons +and her brother, Mr. William Murray, in these characters. They had, the +same antique and regular correctness of profile; the same dark eyes, +eyelashes, and eyebrows; the same clearness of complexion, excepting +that Fergus's was embrowned by exercise, and Flora's possessed the +utmost feminine delicacy. But the haughty, and somewhat stern regularity +of Fergus's features was beautifully softened in those of Flora. Their +voices were also similar in tone, though differing in the key. That of +Fergus, especially while issuing orders to his followers during their +military exercise, reminded Edward of a favourite passage in the +description of Emetrius: +</p> +<pre> + —whose voice was heard around, + Loud as a trumpet with a silver sound. +</pre> +<p> +That of Flora, on the contrary, was soft and sweet,—'an excellent thing +in woman;' yet, in urging any favourite topic, which she often pursued +with natural eloquence, it possessed as well the tones which impress awe +and conviction, as those of persuasive insinuation. The eager glance of +the keen black eye, which in the Chieftain seemed impatient even of the +material obstacles it encountered, had, in his sister, acquired a gentle +pensiveness. His looks seemed to seek glory, power, all that could exalt +him above others in the race of humanity; while those of his sister, +as if she were already conscious of mental superiority, seemed to pity, +rather than envy, those who were struggling for any further distinction. +Her sentiments corresponded with the expression of her countenance. +Early education had impressed upon her mind, as well as on that of the +Chieftain, the most devoted attachment to the exiled family of Stuart. +She believed if the duty of her brother, of his clan, of every man in +Britain, at whatever personal hazard, to contribute to that restoration +which the partisans of the Chevalier de St. George had not ceased +to hope for. For this she was prepared to do all, to suffer all, +to sacrifice all. But her loyalty, as it exceeded her brother's in +fanaticism, excelled it also in purity. Accustomed to petty intrigue, +and necessarily involved in a thousand paltry and selfish discussions, +ambitious also by nature, his political faith was tinctured, at least, +if not tainted, by the views of interest and advancement so easily +combined with it; and at the moment he should unsheathe his claymore, +it might be difficult to say whether it would be most with the view of +making James Stuart a king, or Fergus Mac-Ivor an earl. This, indeed, +was a mixture of feeling which he did not avow even to himself, but it +existed, nevertheless, in a powerful degree. +</p> +<p> +In Flora's bosom, on the contrary, the zeal of loyalty burnt pure and +unmixed with any selfish feeling; she would have as soon made religion +the mask of ambitious and interested views, as have shrouded them +under the opinions which she had been taught to think patriotism. Such +instances of devotion were not uncommon among the followers of the +unhappy race of Stuart, of which many memorable proofs will recur to the +mind of most of my readers. But peculiar attention on the part of the +Chevalier de St. George and his princess to the parents of Fergus and +his sister, and to themselves when orphans, had riveted their faith. +Fergus, upon the death of his parents, had been for some time a page of +honour in the train of the Chevalier's lady, and, from his beauty +and sprightly temper, was uniformly treated by her with the utmost +distinction. This was also extended to Flora, who was maintained for +some time at a convent of the first order, at the princess's expense, +and removed from thence into her own family, where she spent nearly two +years. Both brother and sister retained the deepest and most grateful +sense of her kindness. +</p> +<p> +Having thus touched upon the leading principle of Flora's character, I +may dismiss the rest more slightly. She was highly accomplished, and +had acquired those elegant manners to be expected from one who, in early +youth, had been the companion of a princess; yet she had not learned +to substitute the gloss of politeness for the reality of feeling. +When settled in the lonely regions of Glennaquoich, she found that her +resources in French, English, and Italian literature, were likely to +be few and interrupted; and, in order to fill up the vacant time, she +bestowed a part of it upon the music and poetical traditions of the +Highlanders, and began really to feel the pleasure in the pursuit, which +her brother, whose perceptions of literary merit were more blunt, rather +affected for the sake of popularity than actually experienced. Her +resolution was strengthened in these researches by the extreme delight +which her inquiries seemed to afford those to whom she resorted for +information. +</p> +<p> +Her love of her clan, an attachment which was almost hereditary in +her bosom, was, like her loyalty, a more pure passion than that of +her brother. He was too thorough a politician, regarded his patriarchal +influence too much as the means of accomplishing his own aggrandizement, +that we should term him the model of a Highland Chieftain. Flora felt +the same anxiety for cherishing and extending their patriarchal sway, +but it was with the generous desire of vindicating from poverty, or at +least from want and foreign oppression, those whom her brother was by +birth, according to the notions of the time and country, entitled to +govern. The savings of her income, for she had a small pension from the +Princess Sobieski, were dedicated, not to add to the comforts of the +peasantry, for that was a word which they neither knew nor apparently +wished to know, but to relieve their absolute necessities, when in +sickness or extreme old age. At every other period, they rather toiled +to procure something which they might share with the Chief as a proof of +their attachment, than expected other assistance from him save what was +afforded by the rude hospitality of his castle, and the general division +and subdivision of his estate among them. Flora was so much beloved by +them, that when Mac-Murrough composed a song in which he enumerated all +the principal beauties of the district, and intimated her superiority +by concluding; that 'the fairest apple hung on the highest bough,' +he received, in donatives from the individuals of the clan, more +seed-barley than would have sowed his Highland Parnassus, the Bard's +croft as it was called, ten times over. +</p> +<p> +From situation, as well as choice, Miss Mac-Ivor's society was extremely +limited. Her most intimate friend had been Rose Bradwardine, to whom she +was much attached; and when seen together, they would have afforded +an artist two admirable subjects for the gay and the melancholy muse. +Indeed Rose was so tenderly watched by her father, and her circle +of wishes was so limited, that none arose but what he was willing to +gratify, and scarce any which did not come within the compass of +his power. With Flora it was otherwise. While almost a girl, she had +undergone the most complete change of scene, from gaiety and splendour +to absolute solitude and comparative poverty; and the ideas and wishes +which she chiefly fostered, respected great national events, and changes +not to be brought round without both hazard and bloodshed, and therefore +not to be thought of with levity. Her manner, consequently, was grave, +though she readily contributed her talents to the amusement of society, +and stood very high in the opinion of the old Baron, who used to sing +along with her such French duets of Lindor and Cloris, &c., as were in +fashion about the end of the reign of old Louis le Grand. +</p> +<p> +It was generally believed, though no one durst have hinted it to the +Baron of Bradwardine, that Flora's entreaties had no small share in +allaying the wrath of Fergus upon occasion of their quarrel. She took +her brother on the assailable side, by dwelling first upon the Baron's +age, and then representing the injury which the cause might sustain, and +the damage which must arise to his own character in point of prudence, +so necessary to a political agent, if he persisted in carrying it to +extremity. Otherwise it is probable it would have terminated in a duel, +both because the Baron had, on a former occasion, shed blood of the +clan, though the matter had been timely accommodated, and on account +of his high reputation for address at his weapon, which Fergus +almost condescended to envy. For the same reason she had urged their +reconciliation, which the Chieftain the more readily agreed to, as it +favoured some ulterior projects of his own. +</p> +<p> +To this young lady, now presiding at the female empire of the tea-table, +Fergus introduced Captain Waverley, whom she received with the usual +forms of politeness. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0022"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXII +</h2> +<h3> + HIGHLAND MINSTRELSY +</h3> +<p> +When the first salutations had passed, Fergus said to his sister, 'My +dear Flora, before I return to the barbarous ritual of our forefathers, +I must tell you that Captain Waverley is a worshipper of the Celtic +muse, not the less so perhaps that he does not understand a word of her +language. I have told him you are eminent as a translator of Highland +poetry, and that Mac-Murrough admires your version of his songs upon the +same principle that Captain Waverley admires the original,—because he +does not comprehend them. Will you have the goodness to read or recite +to our guest in English, the extraordinary string of names which +Mac-Murrough has tacked together in Gaelic?—My life to a moorfowl's +feather, you are provided with a version; for I know you are in all the +bard's councils, and acquainted with his songs long before he rehearses +them in the hall.' +</p> +<p> +'How can you say so, Fergus? You know how little these verses can +possibly interest an English stranger, even if I could translate them as +you pretend.' +</p> +<p> +'Not less than they interest me, lady fair. To-day your joint +composition, for I insist you had a share in it, has cost me the last +silver cup in the castle, and I suppose will cost me something else next +time I hold COUR PLENIERE, if the muse descends on Mac-Murrough; for +you know our proverb,—When the hand of the chief ceases to bestow, the +breath of the bard is frozen in the utterance.—Well, I would it were +even so: there are three things that are useless to a modern Highlander, +a sword which he must not draw,—a bard to sing of deeds which he dare +not imitate,—and a large goatskin purse without a louis d'or to put +into it.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, brother, since you betray my secrets, you cannot expect me to +keep yours.—I assure you, Captain Waverley, that Fergus is too proud +to exchange his broadsword for a marechal's baton; that he esteems +Mac-Murrough a far greater poet than Homer, and would not give up his +goat skin purse for all the louis d'or which it could contain.' +</p> +<p> +'Well pronounced, Flora; blow for blow, as Conan <a href="#note-19" name="noteref-19"><small>19</small></a> said to +the devil. Now do you two talk of bards and poetry, if not of purses and +claymores, while I return to do the final honours to the senators of the +tribe of Ivor.' So saying, he left the room. +</p> +<p> +The conversation continued between Flora, and Waverley; for two +well-dressed young women, whose character seemed to hover between that +of companions and dependants, took no share in it. They were both +pretty girls, but served only as foils to the grace and beauty of their +patroness. The discourse followed the turn which the Chieftain had given +it, and Waverley was equally amused and surprised with the account which +the lady gave him of Celtic poetry. +</p> +<p> +'The recitation,' she said, 'of poems, recording the feats of heroes, +the complaints of lovers, and the wars of contending tribes, forms the +chief amusement of a winter fireside in the Highlands. Some of these are +said to be very ancient, and if they are ever translated into any of the +languages of civilized Europe, cannot fail to produce a deep and general +sensation. Others are more modern, the composition of those family bards +whom the chieftains of more distinguished name and power retain as the +poets and historians of their tribes. These, of course, possess various +degrees of merit; but much of it must evaporate in translation, or be +lost on those who do not sympathize with the feelings of the poet. +</p> +<p> +'And your bard, whose effusions seemed to produce such effect upon +the company to-day,—is he reckoned among the favourite poets of the +mountain?' +</p> +<p> +'That is a trying question. His reputation is high among his countrymen, +and you must not expect me to depreciate it.' [The Highland poet almost +always was an improvisatore. Captain Burt met one of them at Lovat's +table.] +</p> +<p> +'But the song, Miss Mac-Ivor, seemed to awaken all those warriors, both +young and old.' +</p> +<p> +'The song is little more than a catalogue of names of the 'Highland +clans under their distinctive peculiarities, and an exhortation to them +to remember and to emulate the actions of their forefathers.' +</p> +<p> +'And am I wrong in conjecturing, however extraordinary the guess +appears, that there was some allusion to me in the verses which he +recited?' +</p> +<p> +'You have a quick observation, Captain Waverley, which in this instance +has not deceived you. The Gaelic language, being uncommonly vocalic, +is well adapted for sudden and extemporaneous poetry; and a bard seldom +fails to augment the effects of a premeditated song, by throwing in +any stanzas which may be suggested by the circumstances attending the +recitation.' +</p> +<p> +'I would give my best horse to know what the Highland bard could find to +say of such an unworthy Southron as myself.' +</p> +<p> +'It shall not even cost you a lock of his mane.—Una, MAVOURNEEN! (She +spoke a few words to one of the young girls in attendance, who instantly +curtsied, and tripped out of the room.)—I have sent Una to learn from +the bard the expressions he used, and you shall command my skill as +dragoman.' +</p> +<p> +Una returned in a few minutes, and repeated to her mistress a few +lines in Gaelic. Flora seemed to think for a moment, and then, slightly +colouring, she turned to Waverley—'It is impossible to gratify your +curiosity, Captain Waverley, without exposing my own presumption. If +you will give me a few moments for consideration, I will endeavour to +engraft the meaning of these lines upon a rude English translation, +which I have attempted, of a part of the original. The duties of the +tea-table seem to be concluded, and, as the evening is delightful, Una +will show you the way to one of my favourite haunts, and Cathleen and I +will join you there.' +</p> +<p> +Una, having received instructions in her native language, conducted +Waverley out by a passage different from that through which he had +entered the apartment. At a distance he heard the hall of the chief +still resounding with the clang of bagpipes and the high applause of +his guests. Having gained the open air by a postern door, they walked a +little way up the wild, bleak, and narrow valley in which the house was +situated, following the course of the stream that winded through it. +In a spot, about a quarter of a mile from the castle, two brooks, which +formed the little river, had their junction. The larger of the two came +down the long bare valley, which extended, apparently without any change +or elevation of character, as far as the hills which formed its boundary +permitted the eye to reach. But the other stream, which had its source +among the mountains on the left hand of the strath, seemed to issue from +a very narrow and dark opening betwixt two large rocks. These streams +were different also in character. The larger was placid, and even sullen +in its course, wheeling in deep eddies, or sleeping in dark blue pools; +but the motions of the lesser brook were rapid and furious, issuing from +between precipices, like a maniac from his confinement, all foam and +uproar. +</p> +<p> +It was up the course of this last stream that Waverley, like a knight of +romance, was conducted by the fair Highland damsel, his silent guide. +A small path, which had been rendered easy in many places for Flora's +accommodation, led him through scenery of a very different description +from that which he had just quitted. Around the castle, all was cold, +bare, and desolate, yet tame even in desolation; but this narrow glen, +at so short a distance, seemed to open into the land of romance. The +rocks assumed a thousand peculiar and varied forms. In one place, a +crag of huge size presented its gigantic bulk, as if to forbid the +passenger's farther progress; and it was not until he approached its +very base, that Waverley discerned the sudden and acute turn by which +the pathway wheeled its course around this formidable obstacle. In +another spot, the projecting rocks from the opposite sides of the chasm +had approached so near to each other, that two pine-trees laid across, +and covered with turf, formed a rustic bridge at the height of at least +one hundred and fifty feet. It had no ledges, and was barely three feet +in breadth. +</p> +<p> +While gazing at this pass of peril, which crossed, like a single black +line, the small portion of blue sky not intercepted by the projecting +rocks on either side, it was with a sensation of horror that Waverley +beheld Flora and her attendant appear, like inhabitants of another +region, propped, as it were, in mid air, upon this trembling structure. +She stopped upon observing him below, and, with an air of graceful ease, +which made him shudder, waved her handkerchief to him by way of signal. +He was unable, from the sense of dizziness which her situation conveyed, +to return the salute; and was never more relieved than when the fair +apparition passed on from the precarious eminence which she seemed to +occupy with so much indifference, and disappeared on the other side. +</p> +<p> +Advancing a few yards, and passing under the bridge which he had viewed +with so much terror, the path ascended rapidly from the edge of the +brook, and the glen widened into a sylvan amphitheatre, waving with +birch, young oaks, and hazels, with here and there a scattered yew-tree. +The rocks now receded, but still showed their grey and shaggy crests +rising among the copse-wood. Still higher, rose eminences and peaks, +some bare, some clothed with wood, some round and purple with heath, and +others splintered into rocks and crags. At a short turning, the path, +which had for some furlongs lost sight of the brook, suddenly placed +Waverley in front of a romantic waterfall. It was not so remarkable +either for great height or quantity of water, as for the beautiful +accompaniments which made the spot interesting. After a broken cataract +of about twenty feet, the stream was received in a large natural basin +filled to the brim with water, which, where the bubbles of the fall +subsided, was so exquisitely clear, that, although it was of great +depth, the eye could discern each pebble at the bottom. Eddying round +this reservoir, the brook found its way over a broken part of the ledge, +and formed a second fall, which seemed to seek the very abyss; then, +wheeling out beneath from among the smooth dark rocks, which it had +polished for ages, it wandered murmuring down the glen, forming the +stream up which Waverley had just ascended. <a href="#note-20" name="noteref-20"><small>20</small></a> The borders +of this romantic reservoir corresponded in beauty; but it was beauty +of a stern and commanding cast, as if in the act of expanding into +grandeur. Mossy banks of turf were broken and interrupted by huge +fragments of rock, and decorated with trees and shrubs, some of which +had been planted under the direction of Flora, but so cautiously, that +they added to the grace, without diminishing the romantic wildness of +the scene. +</p> +<p> +Here, like one of those lovely forms which decorate the landscapes +of Poussin, Waverley found Flora, gazing on the waterfall. Two paces +further back stood Cathleen, holding a small Scottish harp, the use of +which had been taught to Flora by Rory Dall, one of the last harpers of +the Western Highlands. The sun, now stooping in the west, gave a rich +and varied tinge to all the objects which surrounded Waverley, and +seemed to add more than human brilliancy to the full expressive darkness +of Flora's eye, exalted the richness and purity of her complexion, and +enhanced the dignity and grace of her beautiful form. Edward thought +he had never, even in his wildest dreams, imagined a figure of such +exquisite and interesting loveliness. The wild beauty of the retreat, +bursting upon him as if by magic, augmented the mingled feeling of +delight and awe with which he approached her, like a fair enchantress of +Boiardo or Ariosto, by whose nod the scenery around seemed to have been +created, an Eden in the wilderness. +</p> +<p> +Flora, like every beautiful woman, was conscious of her own power, +and pleased with its effects, which she could easily discern from the +respectful, yet confused address of the young soldier. But, as she +possessed excellent sense, she gave the romance of the scene, and other +accidental circumstances, full weight in appreciating the feelings with +which Waverley seemed obviously to be impressed; and, unacquainted with +the fanciful and susceptible peculiarities of his character, considered +his homage as the passing tribute which a woman of even inferior charms +might have expected in such a situation. She therefore quietly led the +way to a spot at such a distance from the cascade, that its sound should +rather accompany than interrupt that of her voice and instrument, and, +sitting down upon a mossy fragment of rock, she took the harp from +Cathleen. +</p> +<p> +'I have given you the trouble of walking to this spot, Captain Waverley, +both because I thought the scenery would interest you, and because a +Highland song would suffer still more from my imperfect translation, +were I to introduce it without its own wild and appropriate +accompaniments. To speak in the poetical language of my country, the +seat of the Celtic muse is in the mist of the secret and solitary hill, +and her voice in the murmur of the mountain stream. He who wooes her +must love the barren rock more than the fertile valley, and the solitude +of the desert better than the festivity of the hall.' +</p> +<p> +Few could have heard this lovely woman make this declaration, with a +voice where harmony was exalted by pathos, without exclaiming that +the muse whom she invoked could never find a more appropriate +representative. But Waverley, though the thought rushed on his mind, +found no courage to utter it. Indeed, the wild feeling of romantic +delight with which he heard the first few notes she drew from her +instrument, amounted almost to a sense of pain. He would not for worlds +have quitted his place by her side; yet he almost longed for solitude, +that he might decipher and examine at leisure the complication of +emotions which now agitated his bosom. +</p> +<p> +Flora had exchanged the measured and monotonous recitative of the bard +for a lofty and uncommon Highland air, which had been a battle-song in +former ages. A few irregular strains introduced a prelude of a wild and +peculiar tone, which harmonized well with the distant waterfall, and the +soft sigh of the evening breeze in the rustling leaves of an aspen which +overhung the seat of the fair harpress. The following verses convey but +little idea of the feelings with which, so sung and accompanied, they +were heard by Waverley:— +</p> +<pre> + There is mist on the mountain, and night on the vale, + But more dark is the sleep of the sons of the Gael. + A stranger commanded—it sunk on the land; + It has frozen each heart, and benumbed every hand! + + The dirk and the target lie sordid with dust; + The bloodless claymore is but reddened with rust; + On the hill or the glen if a gun should appear, + It is only to war with the heath-cock or deer. + + The deeds of our sires if our bards should rehearse, + Let a blush or a blow be the meed of their verse! + Be mute every string, and be hushed every tone, + That shall bid us remember the fame that is flown! + + But the dark hours of night and of slumber are past; + The morn on our mountains is dawning at last; + Glenaladale's peaks are illumed with the rays, + And the streams of Glenfinnan leap bright in the blaze. + + [The young and daring adventurer, Charles Edward, landed at + Glenaladale, in Moidart, and displayed his standard in the + valley of Glenfinnan, mustering around it the Mac-Donalds, the + Camerons, and other less numerous clans, whom he had prevailed + on to join him. There is a monument erected on the spot, with + a Latin inscription by the late Dr. Gregory.] +</pre> +<pre> + O high-minded Moray!—the exiled—the dear!— + In the blush of the dawning the STANDARD uprear! + Wide, wide on the winds of the north let it fly, + Like the sun's latest flash when the tempest is nigh! + + [The Marquis of Tullibardine's elder brother, who, long exiled, + returned to Scotland with Charles Edward in 1745] + + Ye sons of the strong, when that dawning shall break, + Need the harp of the aged remind you to wake? + That dawn never beamed on your forefathers' eye, + But it roused each high chieftain to vanquish or die. + + O! sprung from the kings who in Islay kept state, + Proud chiefs of Clan Ranald, Glengarry, and Sleat! + Combine like three streams from one mountain of snow, + And resistless in union rush down on the foe! + + True son of Sir Even, undaunted Lochiel, + Place thy targe on thy shoulder and burnish thy steel! + Rough Keppoch, give breath to thy bugle's bold swell, + Till far Coryarrick resound to the knell! + + Stern son of Lord Kenneth, high chief of Kinntail, + Let the stag in thy standard bound wild in the gale! + May the race of Clan Gillean, the fearless and free, + Remember Glenlivat, Harlaw, and Dundee! + + Let the clan of grey Fingon, whose offspring has given + Such heroes to earth, and such martyrs to heaven, + Unite with the race of renowned Rorri More, + To launch the long galley, and stretch to the oar. + + How Mac-Shimei will joy when their chief shall display + The ewe-crested bonnet o'er tresses of grey! + How the race of wronged Alpine and murdered Glencoe + Shall shout for revenge when they pour on the foe! + + Ye sons of brown Dermid, who slew the wild boar, + Resume the pure faith of the great Callum-More! + Mac-Neil of the Islands, and Moy of the Lake, + For honour, for freedom, for vengeance awake! +</pre> +<p> +Here a large greyhound, bounding up the glen, jumped upon Flora, and +interrupted her music by his importunate caresses. At a distant whistle, +he turned, and shot down the path again with the rapidity of an arrow. +'That is Fergus's faithful attendant, Captain Waverley, and that was his +signal. He likes no poetry but what is humorous, and comes in good time +to interrupt my long catalogue of the tribes, whom one of your saucy +English poets calls +</p> +<pre> + Our bootless host of high-born beggars, + Mac-Leans, Mac-Kenzies, and Mac-Gregors.' +</pre> +<p> +Waverley expressed his regret at the interruption. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, you cannot guess how much you have lost! The bard, as in duty +bound, has addressed three long stanzas to Vich Ian Vohr of the Banners, +enumerating all his great properties, and not forgetting his being a +cheerer of the harper and bard,—"a giver of bounteous gifts." Besides, +you should have heard a practical admonition to the fair-haired son of +the stranger, who lives in the land where the grass is always green—the +rider on the shining pampered steed, whose hue is like the raven, and +whose neigh is like the scream of the eagle for battle. This valiant +horseman is affectionately conjured to remember that his ancestors were +distinguished by their loyalty, as well as by their courage.—All this +you have lost; but, since your curiosity is not satisfied, I judge, from +the distant sound of my brother's whistle, I may have time to sing the +concluding stanzas before he comes to laugh at my translation.' +</p> +<pre> + Awake on your hills, on your islands awake, + Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake! + 'Tis the bugle—but not for the chase is the call; + 'Tis the pibroch's shrill summons—but not to the hall. + + 'Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death, + When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath: + They call to the dirk, the claymore, and the targe, + To the march and the muster, the line and the charge. + + Be the brand of each Chieftain like Fin's in his ire! + May the blood through his veins flow like currents of fire! + Burst the base foreign yoke as your sires did of yore, + Or die like your sires, and endure it no more! +</pre> +<a name="2HCH0023"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIII +</h2> +<h3> + WAVERLEY CONTINUES AT GLENNAQUOICH +</h3> +<p> +As Flora concluded her song, Fergus stood before them. 'I knew I should +find you here, even without the assistance of my friend Bran. A simple +and unsublimed taste now, like my own, would prefer a jet d'eau at +Versailles to this cascade with all its accompaniments of rock and roar; +but this is Flora's Parnassus, Captain Waverley, and that fountain her +Helicon. It would be greatly for the benefit of my cellar if she could +teach her coadjutor, Mac-Murrough, the value of its influence: he has +just drunk a pint of usquebaugh to correct, he said, the coldness of the +claret.—Let me try its virtues.' He sipped a little water in the hollow +of his hand, and immediately commenced, with a theatrical air,— +</p> +<pre> + 'O Lady of the desert, hail! + That lov'st the harping of the Gael, + Through fair and fertile regions borne, + Where never yet grew grass or corn. +</pre> +<p> +But English poetry will never succeed under the influence of a Highland +Helicon.—ALLONS, COURAGE!— +</p> +<pre> + O vous, qui buvez, a tasse pleine, + A cette heureuse fontaine, + Ou on ne voit, sur le rivage, + Que quelques vilains troupeaux, + Suivis de nymphes de village, + Qui les escortent sans sabots'— +</pre> +<p> +'A truce, dear Fergus! spare us those most tedious and insipid persons +of all Arcadia. Do not, for Heaven's sake, bring down Coridon and Lindor +upon us.' +</p> +<p> +'Nay, if you cannot relish LA HOULETTE ET LE CHALUMEAU, have with you in +heroic strains.' +</p> +<p> +'Dear Fergus, you have certainly partaken of the inspiration of +Mac-Murrough's cup, rather than of mine.' +</p> +<p> +'I disclaim it, MA BELLE DEMOISELLE, although I protest it would be the +more congenial of the two. Which of your crackbrained Italian romancers +is it that says, +</p> +<pre> + Io d'Elicona niente + Mi curo, in fe de Dio, che'il bere d'acque + (Bea chi ber ne vuol) sempre me spiacque! + [Good sooth, I reck not of your Helicon; + Drink water whoso will, in faith I will drink none.] +</pre> +<p> +But if you prefer the Gaelic, Captain Waverley, here is little Cathleen +shall sing you Drimmindhu.—Come, Cathleen, ASTORE (i.e. my dear), +begin; no apologies to the CEANKINNE.' +</p> +<p> +Cathleen sang with much liveliness a little Gaelic song, the burlesque +elegy of a countryman on the loss of his cow, the comic tones of which, +though he did not understand the language, made Waverley laugh more +than once. [This ancient Gaelic ditty is still well known, both in the +Highlands and in Ireland. It was translated into English, and published, +if I mistake not, under the auspices of the facetious Tom D'Urfey, by +the title of 'Colley, my Cow.'] +</p> +<p> +'Admirable, Cathleen!' cried the Chieftain; 'I must find you a handsome +husband among the clansmen one of these days.' +</p> +<p> +Cathleen laughed, blushed, and sheltered herself behind her companion. +</p> +<p> +In the progress of their return to the castle, the Chieftain warmly +pressed Waverley to remain for a week or two, in order to see a grand +hunting party, in which he and some other Highland gentlemen proposed +to join. The charms of melody and beauty were too strongly impressed in +Edward's breast to permit his declining an invitation so pleasing. +It was agreed, therefore, that he should write a note to the Baron +of Bradwardine, expressing his intention to stay a fortnight at +Glennaquoich, and requesting him to forward by the bearer (a GILLY of +the Chieftain's) any letters which might have arrived for him. +</p> +<p> +This turned the discourse upon the Baron, whom Fergus highly extolled +as a gentleman and soldier. His character was touched with yet more +discrimination by Flora, who observed that he was the very model of the +old Scottish cavalier, with all his excellences and peculiarities. 'It +is a character, Captain Waverley, which is fast disappearing; for its +best point was a self-respect, which was never lost sight of till now. +But, in the present time, the gentlemen whose principles do not permit +them to pay court to the existing government are neglected and degraded, +and many conduct themselves accordingly; and, like some of the persons +you have seen at Tully-Veolan, adopt habits and companions inconsistent +with their birth and breeding. The ruthless proscription of party seems +to degrade the victims whom it brands, however unjustly. But let us hope +that a brighter day is approaching, when a Scottish country-gentleman +may be a scholar without the pedantry of our friend the Baron; a +sportsman, without the low habits of Mr. Falconer; and a judicious +improver of his property, without becoming a boorish two-legged steer +like Killancureit.' +</p> +<p> +Thus did Flora prophesy a revolution, which time indeed has produced, +but in a manner very different from what she had in her mind. +</p> +<p> +The amiable Rose was next mentioned, with the warmest encomium on +her person, manners, and mind, 'That man,' said Flora, 'will find an +inestimable treasure in the affections of Rose Bradwardine, who shall be +so fortunate as to become their object. Her very soul is in home, and +in the discharge of all those quiet virtues of which home is the centre. +Her husband will be to her what her father now is—the object of all +her care, solicitude, and affection. She will see nothing, and connect +herself with nothing, but by him and through him. If he is a man +of sense and virtue, she will sympathize in his sorrows, divert his +fatigue, and share his pleasures. If she becomes the property of a +churlish or negligent husband, she will suit his taste also, for she +will not long survive his unkindness. And, alas, how great is the chance +that some such unworthy lot may be that of my poor friend!—Oh, that I +were a queen this moment, and could command the most amiable and +worthy youth of my kingdom to accept happiness with the hand of Rose +Bradwardine!' +</p> +<p> +'I wish you would command her to accept mine EN ATTENDANT,' said Fergus, +laughing. +</p> +<p> +I don't know by what caprice it was that this wish, however jocularly +expressed, rather jarred on Edward's feelings, notwithstanding his +growing inclination to Flora, and his indifference to Miss Bradwardine. +This is one of the inexplicabilities of human nature, which we leave +without comment. +</p> +<p> +'Yours, brother?' answered Flora, regarding him steadily. 'No; you have +another bride—Honour; and the dangers you must run in pursuit of her +rival would break poor Rose's heart.' +</p> +<p> +With this discourse they reached the castle, and Waverley soon prepared +his dispatches for Tully-Veolan. As he knew the Baron was punctilious +in such matters, he was about to impress his billet with a seal on +which his armorial bearings were engraved, but he did not find it at his +watch, and thought he must have left it at Tully-Veolan. He mentioned +his loss, borrowing at the same time the family seal of the Chieftain. +</p> +<p> +'Surely,' said Miss Mac-Ivor, 'Donald Bean Lean would not—' +</p> +<p> +'My life for him, in such circumstances,' answered her +brother;—'besides, he would never have left the watch behind.' +</p> +<p> +'After all, Fergus,' said Flora,' and with every allowance, I am +surprised you can countenance that man.' +</p> +<p> +'I countenance him!—This kind sister of mine would persuade you, +Captain Waverley, that I take what the people of old used to call "a +steakraid," that is, a "collop of the foray," or, in plainer words, +a portion of the robber's booty, paid by him to the Laird, or Chief, +through whose grounds he drove his prey. Oh, it is certain, that unless +I can find some way to charm Flora's tongue, General Blakeney will send +a sergeant's party from Stirling (this he said with haughty and emphatic +irony) to seize Vich Ian Vohr, as they nickname me, in his own castle.' +</p> +<p> +'Now, Fergus, must not our guest be sensible that all this is folly +and affectation? You have men enough to serve you without enlisting a +banditti, and your own honour is above taint.—Why don't you send this +Donald Bean Lean, whom I hate for his smoothness and duplicity, even +more than for his rapine, out of your country at once? No cause should +induce me to tolerate such a character.' +</p> +<p> +'NO cause, Flora?' said the Chieftain, significantly. +</p> +<p> +'No cause, Fergus! not even that which is nearest to my heart. Spare it +the omen of such evil supporters!' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, but, sister,' rejoined the Chief, gaily, 'you don't consider +my respect for LA BELLE PASSION. Evan Dhu Maccombich is in love with +Donald's daughter, Alice, and you cannot expect me to disturb him in his +amours. Why, the whole clan would cry shame on me. You know it is one +of their wise sayings, that a kinsman is part of a man's body, but a +foster-brother is a piece of his heart.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, Fergus, there is no disputing with you; but I would all this may +end well.' +</p> +<p> +'Devoutly prayed, my dear and prophetic sister, and the best way in the +world to close a dubious argument.—But hear ye not the pipes, Captain +Waverley? Perhaps you will like better to dance to them in the hall, +than to be deafened with their harmony without taking part in the +exercise they invite us to.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley took Flora's hand. The dance, song, and merry-making proceeded, +and closed the day's entertainment at the castle of Vich Ian Vohr. +Edward at length retired, his mind agitated by a variety of new and +conflicting feelings, which detained him from rest for some time, in +that not unpleasing state of mind in which fancy takes the helm, and the +soul rather drifts passively along with the rapid and confused tide of +reflections, than exerts itself to encounter, systematize, or examine +them. At a late hour he fell asleep, and dreamed of Flora Mac-Ivor. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0024"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIV +</h2> +<h3> + A STAG-HUNT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES +</h3> +<p> +Shall this be a long or a short chapter?—This is a question in which +you, gentle reader, have no vote, however much you may be interested in +the consequences; just as you may (like myself) probably have nothing to +do with the imposing a new tax, excepting the trifling circumstance of +being obliged to pay it. More happy surely in the present case, since, +though it lies within my arbitrary power to extend my materials as +I think proper, I cannot call you into Exchequer if you do not think +proper to read my narrative. Let me therefore consider. It is true, that +the annals and documents in my hands say but little of this Highland +chase; but then I can find copious materials for description elsewhere. +There is old Lindsay of Pitscottie ready at my elbow, with his Athole +hunting, and his 'lofted and joisted palace of green timber; with all +kind of drink to be had in burgh and land, as ale, beer, wine, muscadel, +malvaise, hippocras, and aquavitae; with wheat-bread, main-bread, +ginge-bread, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, +coney, crane, swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock, +pawnies, black-cock, muir-fowl, and capercailzies;' not forgetting the +'costly bedding, vaiselle, and napry,' and least of all the 'excelling +stewards, cunning barters, excellent cooks, and pottingars, with +confections and drugs for the desserts.' Besides the particulars which +may be thence gleaned for this Highland feast (the splendour of which +induced the Pope's legate to dissent from an opinion which he had +hitherto held, that Scotland, namely, was the—the—the latter end of +the world)—besides these, might I not illuminate my pages with Taylor +the Water Poet's hunting in the braes of Mar, where, +</p> +<pre> + Through heather, mosse, 'mong frogs, and bogs, and fogs, + 'Mongst craggy cliffs and thunder-battered hills, + Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chased by men and dogs, + Where two hours' hunting fourscore fat deer kills. + Lowland, your sports are low as is your seat; + The Highland games and minds are high and great. +</pre> +<p> +But without further tyranny over my readers, or display of the extent of +my own reading, I shall content myself with borrowing a single incident +from the memorable hunting at Lude, commemorated in the ingenious Mr. +Gunn's Essay on the Caledonian Harp, and so proceed in my story with +all the brevity that my natural style of composition, partaking of +what scholars call the periphrastic and ambagitory, and the vulgar the +circumbendibus, will permit me. +</p> +<p> +The solemn hunting was delayed, from various causes, for about three +weeks. The interval was spent by Waverley with great satisfaction at +Glennaquoich; for the impression which Flora had made on his mind at +their first meeting grew daily stronger. She was precisely the character +to fascinate a youth of romantic imagination. Her manners, her language, +her talents for poetry and music, gave additional and varied influence +to her eminent personal charms. Even in her hours of gaiety, she was in +his fancy exalted above the ordinary daughters of Eve, and seemed only +to stoop for an instant to those topics of amusement and gallantry which +others appear to live for. In the neighbourhood of this enchantress, +while sport consumed the morning, and music and the dance led on +the hours of evening, Waverley became daily more delighted with his +hospitable landlord, and more enamoured of his bewitching sister. +</p> +<p> +At length, the period fixed for the grand hunting arrived, and Waverley +and the Chieftain departed for the place of rendezvous, which was a +day's journey to the northward of Glennaquoich. Fergus was attended +on this occasion by about three hundred of his clan, well armed, and +accoutred in their best fashion. Waverley complied so far with the +custom of the country as to adopt the trews (he could not be reconciled +to the kilt), brogues, and bonnet, as the fittest dress for the exercise +in which he was to be engaged, and which least exposed him to be stared +at as a stranger when they should reach the place of rendez-vous. They +found, on the spot appointed, several powerful Chiefs, to all of whom +Waverley was formally presented, and by all cordially received. Their +vassals and clansmen, a part of whose feudal duty it was to attend on +these parties, appeared in such numbers as amounted to a small army. +These active assistants spread through the country far and near, forming +a circle, technically called the TINCHEL, which, gradually closing, +drove the deer in herds together towards the glen where the Chiefs +and principal sportsmen lay in wait for them. In the meanwhile, these +distinguished personages bivouacked among the flowery heath, wrapped up +in their plaids; a mode of passing a summer's night which Waverley found +by no means unpleasant. +</p> +<p> +For many hours after sunrise, the mountain ridges and passes retained +their ordinary appearance of silence and solitude; and the Chiefs, with +their followers, amused themselves with various pastimes, in which the +joys of the shell, as Ossian has it, were not forgotten. 'Others apart +sat on a hill retired;' probably as deeply engaged in the discussion of +politics and news, as Milton's spirits in metaphysical disquisition. +At length signals of the approach of the game were descried and heard. +Distant shouts resounded from valley to valley, as the various parties +of Highlanders, climbing rocks, struggling through copses, wading +brooks, and traversing thickets, approached more and more near to each +other, and compelled the astonished deer, with the other wild animals +that fled before them, into a narrower circuit. Every now and then the +report of muskets was heard, repeated by a thousand echoes. The baying +of the dogs was soon added to the chorus, which grew ever louder and +more loud. At length the advanced parties of the deer began to show +themselves; and as the stragglers came bounding down the pass by two +or three at a time, the Chiefs showed their skill by distinguishing the +fattest deer, and their dexterity in bringing them down with their guns. +Fergus exhibited remarkable address, and Edward was also so fortunate as +to attract the notice and applause of the sportsmen. +</p> +<p> +But now the main body of the deer appeared at the head of the glen, +compelled into a very narrow compass, and presenting such a formidable +phalanx, that their antlers appeared at a distance, over the ridge of +the steep pass, like a leafless grove. Their number was very great, and +from a desperate stand which they made, with the tallest of the red-deer +stags arranged in front, in a sort of battle array, gazing on the group +which barred their passage down the glen, the more experienced sportsmen +began to augur danger. The work of destruction, however, now commenced +on all sides. Dogs and hunters were at work, and muskets and fusees +resounded from every quarter. The deer, driven to desperation, made at +length a fearful charge right upon the spot where the more distinguished +sportsmen had taken their stand. The word was given in Gaelic to fling +themselves upon their faces; but Waverley, on whose English ears the +signal was lost, had almost fallen a sacrifice to his ignorance of the +ancient language in which it was communicated. Fergus, observing his +danger, sprang up and pulled him with violence to the ground, just +as the whole herd broke down upon them. The tide being absolutely +irresistible, and wounds from a stag's horn highly dangerous, the +activity of the Chieftain may be considered, on this occasion, as having +saved his guest's life. [The thrust from the tynes, or branches, of the +stag's horns, was accounted far more dangerous than those of the boar's +tusk:— +</p> +<pre> + If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier, + But barber's hand shall boar's hurt heal; thereof have thou no + fear.] +</pre> +<p> +He detained him with a firm grasp until the whole herd of deer had +fairly run over them. Waverley then attempted to rise, but found that +he had suffered several very severe contusions; and, upon a further +examination, discovered that he had sprained his ankle violently. +</p> +<p> +This checked the mirth of the meeting, although the Highlanders, +accustomed to such incidents, and prepared for them, had suffered no +harm themselves. A wigwam was erected almost in an instant, where Edward +was deposited on a couch of heather. The surgeon, or he who assumed the +office, appeared to unite the characters of a leech and a conjurer. He +was an old smoke-dried Highlander, wearing a venerable grey beard, +and having for his sole garment a tartan frock, the skirts of which +descended to the knee; and, being undivided in front, made the vestment +serve at once for doublet and breeches. [This garb, which resembled +the dress often put on children in Scotland, called a polonie (i.e. +polonaise), is a very ancient modification of the Highland garb. It was, +in fact, the hauberk or shirt of mail, only composed of cloth instead of +rings of armour.] He observed great ceremony in approaching Edward; +and though our hero was writhing with pain, would not proceed to any +operation which might assuage it until he had perambulated his couch +three times, moving from east to west, according to the course of the +sun. This, which was called making the DEASIL, [Old Highlanders will +still make the deasil around those whom they wish well to. To go round a +person in the opposite direction, or wither-shins (German WIDER-SHINS), +is unlucky, and a sort of incantation.] both the leech and the +assistants seemed to consider as a matter of the last importance to the +accomplishment of a cure; and Waverley, whom pain rendered incapable of +expostulation, and who indeed saw no chance of its being attended to, +submitted in silence. +</p> +<p> +After this ceremony was duly performed, the old Esculapius let his +patient blood with a cupping-glass with great dexterity, and proceeded, +muttering all the while to himself in Gaelic, to boil on the fire +certain herbs, with which he compounded an embrocation. He then fomented +the parts which had sustained injury, never failing to murmur prayers or +spells, which of the two Waverley could not distinguish, as his ear only +caught the words GASPER-MELCHIOR-BALTHAZAR-MAX-PRAX-FAX, and similar +gibberish. The fomentation had a speedy effect in alleviating the pain +and swelling, which our hero imputed to the virtue of the herbs, or +the effect of the chafing, but which was by the bystanders unanimously +ascribed to the spells with which the operation had been accompanied. +Edward was given to understand, that not one of the ingredients had been +gathered except during the full moon, and that the herbalist had, while +collecting them, uniformly recited a charm, which in English ran thus:— +</p> +<pre> + Hail to thee, thou holy herb, + That sprung on holy ground! + All in the Mount Olivet + First wert thou found: + Thou art boot for many a bruise, + And healest many a wound; + In our Lady's blessed name, + I take thee from the ground.' + [This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preserved + by Reginald Scott, in his work on Witchcraft.] +</pre> +<p> +Edward observed, with some surprise, that even Fergus, notwithstanding +his knowledge and education, seemed to fall in with the superstitious +ideas of his countrymen, either because he deemed it impolitic to affect +scepticism on a matter of general belief, or more probably because, like +most men who do not think deeply or accurately on such subjects, he had +in his mind a reserve of superstition which balanced the freedom of +his expressions and practice upon other occasions. Waverley made no +commentary, therefore, on the manner of the treatment, but rewarded the +professor of medicine with a liberality beyond the utmost conception +of his wildest hopes. He uttered, on the occasion, so many incoherent +blessings in Gaelic and English, that Mac-Ivor, rather scandalized at +the excess of his acknowledgements, cut them short, by exclaiming, 'CEUD +MILE MHALLOICH ART ORT!' i.e. 'A hundred thousand curses on you!' and so +pushed the helper of men out of the cabin. +</p> +<p> +After Waverley was left alone, the exhaustion of pain and fatigue,—for +the whole day's exercise had been severe,—threw him into a profound, +but yet a feverish sleep, which he chiefly owed to an opiate draught +administered by the old Highlander from some decoction of herbs in his +pharmacopoeia. +</p> +<p> +Early the next morning, the purpose of their meeting being over, and +their sports damped by the untoward accident, in which Fergus and all +his friends expressed the greatest sympathy, it became a question how to +dispose of the disabled sportsman. This was settled by Mac-Ivor, who had +a litter prepared, of 'birch and hazel grey,' +</p> +<pre> + [On the morrow they made their biers, + of birch and hazel grey.—CHEVY CHASE.] +</pre> +<p> +which was borne by his people with such caution and dexterity as renders +it not improbable that they may have been the ancestors of some of +those sturdy Gael, who have now the happiness to transport the belles +of Edinburgh, in their sedan chairs, to ten routs in one evening. +When Edward was elevated upon their shoulders, he could not help being +gratified with the romantic effect produced by the breaking up of this +sylvan camp. [The author has been sometimes accused of confounding +fiction with reality. He therefore thinks it necessary to state, that +the circumstance of the hunting described in the text as preparatory to +the insurrection of 1745, is, so far as he knows, entirely imaginary. +But it is well known such a great hunting was held in the Forest of +Braemar, under the auspices of the Earl of Mar, as preparatory to the +Rebellion of 1715; and most of the Highland Chieftains who afterwards +engaged in that civil commotion were present on this occasion.] +</p> +<p> +The various tribes assembled, each at the pibroch of their native clan, +and each headed by their patriarchal ruler. Some, who had already begun +to retire, were seen winding up the hills, or descending the passes +which led to the scene of action, the sound of their bagpipes dying +upon the ear. Others made still a moving picture upon the narrow plain, +forming various changeful groups, their feathers and loose plaids waving +in the morning breeze, and their arms glittering in the rising sun. Most +of the Chiefs came to take farewell of Waverley, and to express their +anxious hope they might again, and speedily, meet; but the care of +Fergus abridged the ceremony of taking leave. At length, his own men +being completely assembled and mustered. Mac-Ivor commenced his march, +but not towards the quarter from which they had come. He gave Edward to +understand, that the greater part of his followers, now on the field, +were bound on a distant expedition, and that when he had deposited +him in the house of a gentleman, who he was sure would pay him every +attention, he himself should be under the necessity of accompanying them +the greater part of the way, but would lose no time in rejoining his +friend. +</p> +<p> +Waverley was rather surprised that Fergus had not mentioned this +ulterior destination when they set out upon the hunting-party; but his +situation did not admit of many interrogatories. The greater part of the +clansmen went forward under the guidance of old Ballenkeiroch and Evan +Dhu Maccombich, apparently in high spirits. A few remained for the +purpose of escorting the Chieftain, who walked by the side of Edward's +litter, and attended him with the most affectionate assiduity. About +noon, after a journey which the nature of the conveyance, the pain +of his bruises, and the roughness of the way, rendered inexpressibly +painful, Waverley was hospitably received into the house of a gentleman +related to Fergus, who had prepared for him every accommodation which +the simple habits of living, then universal in the Highlands, put in his +power. In this person, an old man about seventy, Edward admired a relic +of primitive simplicity. He wore no dress but what his estate afforded. +The cloth was the fleece of his own sheep, woven by his own servants, +and stained into tartan by the dyes produced from the herbs and lichens +of the hills around him. His linen was spun by his daughters and +maid-servants, from his own flax, nor did his table, though plentiful, +and varied with game and fish, offer an article but what was of native +produce. +</p> +<p> +Claiming himself no rights of clanship or vassalage, he was fortunate +in the alliance and protection of Vich Ian Vohr and other bold and +enterprising Chieftains, who protected him in the quiet unambitious life +he loved. It is true, the youth born on his grounds were often enticed +to leave him for the service of his more active friends; but a few old +servants and tenants used to shake their grey locks when they heard +their master censured for want of spirit, and observed, 'When the wind +is still, the shower falls soft.' This good old man, whose charity and +hospitality were unbounded, would have received Waverley with kindness, +had he been the meanest Saxon peasant, since his situation required +assistance. But his attention to a friend and guest of Vich Ian Vohr was +anxious and unremitted. Other embrocations were applied to the injured +limb, and new spells were put in practice. At length, after more +solicitude than was perhaps for the advantage of his health, Fergus took +farewell of Edward for a few days, when, he said, he would return to +Tomanrait, and hoped by that time Waverley would be able to ride one +of the Highland ponies of his landlord, and in that manner return to +Glennaquoich. +</p> +<p> +The next day, when his good old host appeared, Edward learned that his +friend had departed with the dawn, leaving none of his followers except +Callum Beg, the sort of foot-page who used to attend his person, and +who had it now in charge to wait upon Waverley. On asking his host if +he knew where the Chieftain was gone, the old man looked fixedly at him, +with something mysterious and sad in the smile which was his only +reply. Waverley repeated his question, to which his host answered in a +proverb,— +</p> +<pre> + What sent the messengers to hell, + Was asking what they knew full well.' + [Corresponding to the Lowland saying, 'Mony ane speirs the + gate they ken fu' weel.] +</pre> +<p> +He was about to proceed, but Callum Beg said, rather pertly, as Edward +thought, that 'Ta Tighearnach (i.e. the Chief) did not like ta Sassenagh +Duinhe-wassel to be pingled wi' mickle speaking, as she was na tat +weel.' From this Waverley concluded he should disoblige his friend by +inquiring of a stranger the object of a journey which he himself had not +communicated. +</p> +<p> +It is unnecessary to trace the progress of our hero's recovery. The +sixth morning had arrived, and he was able to walk about with a staff, +when Fergus returned with about a score of his men. He seemed in +the highest spirits, congratulated Waverley on his progress towards +recovery, and finding he was able to sit on horseback, proposed their +immediate return to Glennaquoich, Waverley joyfully acceded, for the +form of his fair mistress had lived in his dreams during all the time of +his confinement. +</p> +<pre> + Now he has ridden o'er moor and moss, + O'er hill and many a glen. +</pre> +<p> +Fergus, all the while, with his myrmidons, striding stoutly by his side, +or diverging to get a shot at a roe or a heath-cock. Waverley's bosom +beat thick when they approached the old tower of Ian nan Chaistel, and +could distinguish the fair form of its mistress advancing to meet them. +</p> +<p> +Fergus began immediately, with his usual high spirits, to exclaim, 'Open +your gates, incomparable princess, to the wounded Moor Abindarez, whom +Rodrigo de Narvez, constable of Antiquera, conveys to your castle; or +open them, if you like it better, to the renowned Marquis of Mantua, the +sad attendant of his half-slain friend, Baldovinos of the Mountain.—Ah, +long rest to thy soul, Cervantes! without quoting thy remnants, how +should I frame my language to befit romantic ears!' +</p> +<p> +Flora now advanced, and welcoming Waverley with much kindness, expressed +her regret for his accident, of which she had already heard the +particulars, and her surprise that her brother should not have taken +better care to put a stranger on his guard against the perils of the +sport in which he engaged him. Edward easily exculpated the Chieftain, +who, indeed, at his own personal risk, had probably saved his life. +</p> +<p> +This greeting over, Fergus said three or four words to his sister in +Gaelic. The tears instantly sprang to her eyes, but they seemed to be +tears of devotion and joy, for she looked up to heaven, and folded her +hands as in a solemn expression of prayer or gratitude. After the +pause of a minute, she presented to Edward some letters which had been +forwarded from Tully-Veolan during his absence, and, at the same time, +delivered some to her brother. To the latter she likewise gave three +or four numbers of the CALEDONIAN MERCURY, the only newspaper which was +then published to the north of the Tweed. +</p> +<p> +Both gentlemen retired to examine their dispatches, and Edward speedily +found that those which he had received contained matters of very deep +interest. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0025"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXV +</h2> +<h3> + NEWS FROM ENGLAND +</h3> +<p> +The letters which Waverley had hitherto received from his relations +in England, were not such as required any particular notice in this +narrative. His father usually wrote to him with the pompous affectation +of one who was too much oppressed by public affairs to find leisure to +attend to those of his own family. Now and then he mentioned persons of +rank in Scotland to whom he wished his son should pay some attention; +but Waverley, hitherto occupied by the amusements which he had found at +Tully-Veolan and Glennaquoich, dispensed with paying any attention to +hints so coldly thrown out, especially as distance, shortness of leave +of absence, and so forth, furnished a ready apology. But latterly the +burden of Mr. Richard Waverley's paternal epistles consisted in certain +mysterious hints of greatness and influence which he was speedily +to attain, and which would ensure his son's obtaining the most rapid +promotion, should he remain in the military service. Sir Everard's +letters were of a different tenor. They were short; for the good Baronet +was none of your illimitable correspondents, whose manuscript overflows +the folds of their large post paper, and leaves no room for the seal; +but they were kind and affectionate, and seldom concluded without some +allusion to our hero's stud, some question about the state of his purse, +and a special inquiry after such of his recruits as had preceded him +from Waverley-Honour. Aunt Rachel charged him to remember his principles +of religion, to take care of his health, to beware of Scotch mists, +which, she had heard, would wet an Englishman through and through; +never to go out at night without his great-coat; and, above all, to wear +flannel next to his skin. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Pembroke only wrote to our hero one letter, but it was of the bulk +of six epistles of these degenerate days, containing, in the moderate +compass of ten folio pages, closely written, a precis of a supplementary +quarto manuscript of ADDENDA, DELENDA, ET CORRIGENDA, in reference to +the two tracts with which he had presented Waverley. This he considered +as a mere sop in the pan to stay the appetite of Edward's curiosity, +until he should find an opportunity of sending down the volume itself, +which was much too heavy for the post, and which he proposed to +accompany with certain interesting pamphlets, lately published by his +friend in Little Britain, with whom he had kept up a sort of +literary correspondence, in virtue of which the library shelves of +Waverley-Honour were loaded with much trash, and a good round bill, +seldom summed in fewer than three figures, was yearly transmitted, in +which Sir Everard Waverley, of Waverley-Honour, Bart., was marked Dr. +to Jonathan Grubbet, bookseller and stationer, Little Britain. Such had +hitherto been the style of the letters which Edward had received from +England; but the packet delivered to him at Glennaquoich was of a +different and more interesting complexion. It would be impossible +for the reader, even were I to insert the letters at full length, to +comprehend the real cause of their being written, without a glance into +the interior of the British Cabinet at the period in question. +</p> +<p> +The Ministers of the day happened (no very singular event) to be divided +into two parties; the weakest of which, making up by assiduity of +intrigue their inferiority in real consequence, had of late acquired +some new proselytes, and with them the hope of superseding their rivals +in the favour of their sovereign, and overpowering them in the House +of Commons. Amongst others, they had thought it worth while to practise +upon Richard Waverley. This honest gentleman, by a grave mysterious +demeanour, an attention to the etiquette of business, rather more than +to its essence, a facility in making long dull speeches, consisting of +truisms and commonplaces, hashed up with a technical jargon of office, +which prevented the inanity of his orations from being discovered, had +acquired a certain name and credit in public life, and even established, +with many, the character of a profound politician; none of your shining +orators, indeed, whose talents evaporate in tropes of rhetoric and +dashes of wit, but one possessed of steady parts for business, which +would wear well, as the ladies say in choosing their silks, and ought +in all reason to be good for common and everyday use, since they were +confessedly formed of no holiday texture. +</p> +<p> +This faith had become so general, that the insurgent party in the +Cabinet of which we have made mention, after sounding Mr. Richard +Waverley, were so satisfied with his sentiments and abilities, as to +propose, that, in case of a certain revolution in the ministry, he +should take an ostensible place in the new order of things, not indeed +of the very first rank, but greatly higher, in point both of emolument +and influence, than that which he now enjoyed. There was no resisting +so tempting a proposal, notwithstanding that the Great Man, under whose +patronage he had enlisted and by whose banner he had hitherto stood +firm, was the principal object of the proposed attack by the new allies. +Unfortunately this fair scheme of ambition was blighted in the very bud, +by a premature movement. All the official gentlemen concerned in it, +who hesitated to take the part of a voluntary resignation, were informed +that the king had no further occasion for their services; and, in +Richard Waverley's case, which the Minister considered as aggravated +by ingratitude; dismissal was accompanied by something like personal +contempt and contumely. The public, and even the party of whom he shared +the fall, sympathized little in the disappointment of this selfish +and interested statesman; and he retired to the country under the +comfortable reflection, that he had lost, at the same time, character, +credit, and,—what he at least equally deplored,—emolument. +</p> +<p> +Richard Waverley's letter to his son upon this occasion was a +masterpiece of its kind. Aristides himself could not have made out a +harder case. An unjust monarch, and an ungrateful country, were the +burden of each rounded paragraph. He spoke of long services, and +unrequited sacrifices; though the former had been overpaid by his +salary, and nobody could guess in what the latter consisted, unless it +were in his deserting, not from conviction, but for the lucre of gain, +the Tory principles of his family. In the conclusion, his resentment was +wrought to such an excess by the force of his own oratory, that he could +not repress some threats of vengeance, however vague and impotent, and +finally acquainted his son with his pleasure that he should testify +his sense of the ill-treatment he had sustained, by throwing up his +commission as soon as the letter reached him. This, he said, was also +his uncle's desire, as he would himself intimate in due course. +</p> +<p> +Accordingly, the next letter which Edward opened was from Sir Everard. +His brother's disgrace seemed to have removed from his well-natured +bosom all recollection of their differences, and, remote as he was from +every means of learning that Richard's disgrace was in reality only the +just, as well as natural consequence, of his own unsuccessful intrigues, +the good but credulous Baronet at once set it down as a new and enormous +instance of the injustice of the existing Government. It was true, he +said, and he must not disguise it even from Edward, that his father +could not have sustained such an insult as was now, for the first time, +offered to one of his house, unless he had subjected himself to it by +accepting of an employment under the present system. Sir Everard had no +doubt that he now both saw and felt the magnitude of this error, and it +should be his (Sir Everard's) business, to take care that the cause of +his regret should not extend itself to pecuniary consequences. It +was enough for a Waverley to have sustained the public disgrace; the +patrimonial injury could easily be obviated by the head of their family. +But it was both the opinion of Mr. Richard Waverley and his own, that +Edward, the representative of the family of Waverley-Honour, should not +remain in a situation which subjected him also to such treatment as +that with which his father had been stigmatized. He requested his nephew +therefore to take the fittest, and, at the same time, the most speedy +opportunity, of transmitting his resignation to the War-Office, and +hinted, moreover, that little ceremony was necessary where so little had +been used to his father. He sent multitudinous greetings to the Baron of +Bradwardine. +</p> +<p> +A letter from Aunt Rachel spoke out even more plainly. She considered +the disgrace of brother Richard as the just reward of his forfeiting his +allegiance to a lawful, though exiled sovereign, and taking the oaths +to an alien; a concession which her grandfather, Sir Nigel Waverley, +refused to make, either to the Roundhead Parliament or to Cromwell, when +his life and fortune stood in the utmost extremity. She hoped her dear +Edward would follow the footsteps of his ancestors, and as speedily as +possible get rid of the badge of servitude to the usurping family, and +regard the wrongs sustained by his father as an admonition from Heaven, +that every desertion of the line of loyalty becomes its own punishment. +She also concluded with her respects to Mr. Bradwardine, and begged +Waverley would inform her whether his daughter, Miss Rose, was old +enough to wear a pair of very handsome ear-rings, which she proposed +to send as a token of her affection. The good lady also desired to be +informed whether Mr. Bradwardine took as much Scotch snuff, and danced +as unweariedly, as he did when he was at Waverley-Honour about thirty +years ago. +</p> +<p> +These letters, as might have been expected, highly excited Waverley's +indignation. From the desultory style of his studies, he had not any +fixed political opinion to place in opposition to the movements of +indignation which he felt at his father's supposed wrongs. Of the real +cause of his disgrace, Edward was totally ignorant; nor had his habits +at all led him to investigate the politics of the period in which he +lived, or remark the intrigues in which his father had been so actively +engaged. Indeed, any impressions which he had accidentally adopted +concerning the parties of the times, were (owing to the society in which +he had lived at Waverley-Honour) of a nature rather unfavourable to +the existing government and dynasty. He entered, therefore, without +hesitation, into the resentful feeling of the relations who had the best +title to dictate his conduct; and not perhaps the less willingly, when +he remembered the tedium of his quarters, and the inferior figure which +he had made among the officers of his regiment. If he could have had +any doubt upon the subject, it would have been decided by the following +letter from his commanding-officer, which, as it is very short, shall be +inserted verbatim:— +</p> +<center> +'SIR, +</center> +<p> +'Having carried somewhat beyond the line of my duty an indulgence which +even the lights of nature, and much more those of Christianity, direct +towards errors which may arise from youth and inexperience, and that +altogether without effect, I am reluctantly compelled, at the present +crisis, to use the only remaining remedy which is in my power. You are +therefore, hereby commanded to repair to—, the head-quarters of the +regiment, within three days after the date of this letter. If you shall +fail to do so, I must report you to the War-Office as absent without +leave, and also take other steps, which will be disagreeable to you, as +well as to, Sir, +</p> +<p> +'Your obedient Servant, +</p> +<p> +'J. GARDINER, Lieut.-Col. +</p> +<p> +'Commanding the—Regt. Dragoons.' +</p> +<p> +Edward's blood boiled within him as he read this letter. He had been +accustomed from his very infancy to possess, in a great measure, the +disposal of his own time, and thus acquired habits which rendered the +rules of military discipline as unpleasing to him in this as they were +in some other respects. An idea that in his own case they would not be +enforced in a very rigid manner had also obtained full possession of his +mind, and had hitherto been sanctioned by the indulgent conduct of his +lieutenant-colonel. Neither had anything occurred, to his knowledge, +that should have induced his commanding-officer, without any other +warning than the hints we noticed at the end of the fourteenth chapter, +so suddenly to assume a harsh, and, as Edward deemed it, so insolent +a tone of dictatorial authority. Connecting it with the letters he had +just received from his family, he could not but suppose that it was +designed to make him feel, in his present situation, the same pressure +of authority which had been exercised in his father's case, and that the +whole was a concerted scheme to depress and degrade every member of the +Waverley family. +</p> +<p> +Without a pause, therefore, Edward wrote a few cold lines, thanking his +lieutenant-colonel for past civilities, and expressing regret that he +should have chosen to efface the remembrance of them, by assuming a +different tone towards him. The strain of his letter, as well as what +he (Edward) conceived to be his duty, in the present crisis, called upon +him to lay down his commission; and he therefore enclosed the formal +resignation of a situation which subjected him to so unpleasant a +correspondence, and requested Colonel Gardiner would have the goodness +to forward it to the proper authorities. +</p> +<p> +Having finished this magnanimous epistle, he felt somewhat uncertain +concerning the terms in which his resignation ought to be expressed, +upon which subject he resolved to consult Fergus Mac-Ivor. It may +be observed in passing, that the bold and prompt habits of thinking, +acting, and speaking, which distinguished this young Chieftain, had +given him a considerable ascendancy over the mind of Waverley. Endowed +with at least equal powers of understanding, and with much finer genius, +Edward yet stooped to the bold and decisive activity of an intellect +which was sharpened by the habit of acting on a preconceived and regular +system, as well as by extensive knowledge of the world. +</p> +<p> +When Edward found his friend, the latter had still in his hand the +newspaper which he had perused, and advanced to meet him with the +embarrassment of one who has unpleasing news to communicate. 'Do your +letters, Captain Waverley, confirm the unpleasing information which I +find in this paper?' +</p> +<p> +He put the paper into his hand, where his father's disgrace was +registered in the most bitter terms, transferred probably from some +London journal. At the end of the paragraph was this remarkable +innuendo:— +</p> +<p> +'We understand, that "this same RICHARD, who hath done all this," is +not the only example of the WAVERING HONOUR of W-v-rl-y H-n-r. See the +GAZETTE of this day.' +</p> +<p> +With hurried and feverish apprehension our hero turned to the place +referred to, and found therein recorded, 'Edward Waverley, captain +in—regiment dragoons, superseded for absence without leave:' and in +the list of military promotions, referring to the same regiment, he +discovered this further article, 'Lieut. Julius Butler, to be captain, +vice Edward Waverley, superseded.' +</p> +<p> +Our hero's bosom glowed with the resentment which undeserved and +apparently premeditated insult was calculated to excite in the bosom +of one who had aspired after honour, and was thus wantonly held up to +public scorn and disgrace. Upon comparing the date of his colonel's +letter with that of the article in the GAZETTE, he perceived that his +threat of making a report upon his absence had been literally fulfilled, +and without inquiry, as it seemed, whether Edward had either received +his summons, or was disposed to comply with it. The whole, therefore, +appeared a formed plan to degrade him in the eyes of the public; and the +idea of its having succeeded filled him with such bitter emotions, that, +after various attempts to conceal them, he at length threw himself into +Mac-Ivor's arms, and gave vent to tears of shame and indignation. +</p> +<p> +It was none of this Chieftain's faults to be indifferent to the wrongs +of his friends; and for Edward, independent of certain plans with which +he was connected, he felt a deep and sincere interest. The proceeding +appeared as extraordinary to him as it had done to Edward. He indeed +knew of more motives than Waverley was privy to, for the peremptory +order that he should join his regiment. But that, without further +inquiry into the circumstances of a necessary delay, the commanding +officer, in contradiction to his known and established character, should +have proceeded in so harsh and unusual a manner, was a mystery which he +could not penetrate. He soothed our hero, however, to the best of +his power, and began to turn his thoughts on revenge for his insulted +honour. +</p> +<p> +Edward eagerly grasped at the idea. 'Will you carry a message for me to +Colonel Gardiner, my dear Fergus, and oblige me for ever?' +</p> +<p> +Fergus paused. 'It is an act of friendship which you should command, +could it be useful, or lead to the righting your honour; but in the +present case, I doubt if your commanding-officer would give you the +meeting on account of his having taken measures, which, however harsh +and exasperating, were still within the strict bounds of his duty. +Besides, Gardiner is a precise Huguenot, and has adopted certain +ideas about the sinfulness of such rencontres, from which it would be +impossible to make him depart, especially as his courage is beyond +all suspicion. And besides, I—I—to say the truth—I dare not at this +moment, for some very weighty reasons, go near any of the military +quarters or garrisons belonging to this government.' +</p> +<p> +'And am I,' said Waverley, 'to sit down quiet and contented under the +injury I have received?' +</p> +<p> +'That will I never advise, my friend,' replied Mac-Ivor. 'But I would +have vengeance to fall on the head, not on the hand; on the tyrannical +and oppressive Government which designed and directed these premeditated +and reiterated insults, not on the tools of office which they employed +in the execution of the injuries they aimed at you.' +</p> +<p> +'On the Government!' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' replied the impetuous Highlander, 'on the usurping House of +Hanover, whom your grandfather would no more have served than he would +have taken wages of red-hot gold from the great fiend of hell!' +</p> +<p> +'But since the time of my grandfather, two generations of this dynasty +have possessed the throne,' said Edward, coolly. +</p> +<p> +'True,' replied the Chieftain; 'and because we have passively given them +so long the means of showing their native character,—because both you +and I myself have lived in quiet submission, have even truckled to the +times so far as to accept commissions under them, and thus have given +them an opportunity of disgracing us publicly by resuming them,—are +we not on that account to resent injuries which our fathers only +apprehended, but which we have actually sustained? Or is the cause of +the unfortunate Stuart family become less just, because their title has +devolved upon an heir who is innocent of the charges of misgovernment +brought against his father? Do you remember the lines of your favourite +poet?— +</p> +<pre> + Had Richard unconstrained resigned the throne, + A king can give no more than is his own; + The title stood entailed had Richard had a son. +</pre> +<p> +You see, my dear Waverley, I can quote poetry as well as Flora and +you. But come, clear your moody brow, and trust to me to show you an +honourable road to a speedy and glorious revenge. Let us seek Flora, +who perhaps has more news to tell us of what has occurred during +our absence. She will rejoice to hear that you are relieved of your +servitude. But first add a postcript to your letter, marking the time +when you received this calvinistical Colonel's first summons, and +express your regret that the hastiness of his proceedings prevented your +anticipating them by sending your resignation. Then let him blush for +his injustice.' +</p> +<p> +The letter was sealed accordingly, covering a formal resignation of the +commission, and Mac-Ivor dispatched it with some letters of his own by a +special messenger, with charge to put them into the nearest post office +in the Lowlands. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0026"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVI +</h2> +<h3> + AN ECLAIRCISSEMENT +</h3> +<p> +The hint which the Chieftain had thrown out respecting Flora was not +unpremeditated. He had observed with great satisfaction the growing +attachment of Waverley to his sister, nor did he see any bar to their +union, excepting the situation which Waverley's father held in the +ministry, and Edward's own commission in the army of George II. These +obstacles were now removed, and in a manner which apparently paved the +way for the son's becoming reconciled to another allegiance. In every +other respect the match would be most eligible. The safety, happiness, +and honourable provision of his sister, whom he dearly loved, appeared +to be ensured by the proposed union; and his heart swelled when he +considered how his own interest would be exalted in the eyes of the +ex-monarch to whom he had dedicated his service, by an alliance with one +of those ancient, powerful, and wealthy English families of the steady +Cavalier faith, to awaken whose decayed attachment to the Stuart family +was now a matter of such vital importance to the Stuart cause. Nor could +Fergus perceive any obstacle to such a scheme. Waverley's attachment +was evident; and as his person was handsome, and his taste apparently +coincided with her own, he anticipated no opposition on the part of +Flora. Indeed, between his ideas of patriarchal power, and those +which he had acquired in France respecting the disposal of females in +marriage, any opposition from his sister, dear as she was to him, would +have been the last obstacle on which he would have calculated, even had +the union been less eligible. +</p> +<p> +Influenced by these feelings, the Chief now led Waverley in quest of +Miss Mac-Ivor, not without the hope that the present agitation of his +guest's spirits might give him courage to cut short what Fergus termed +the romance of the courtship. They found Flora, with her faithful +attendants, Una and Cathleen, busied in preparing what appeared to +Waverley to be white bridal favours. Disguising as well as he could +the agitation of his mind, Waverley asked for what joyful occasion Miss +Mac-Ivor made such ample preparation. +</p> +<p> +'It is for Fergus's bridal,' she said, smiling. +</p> +<p> +'Indeed!' said Edward; 'he has kept his secret well. I hope he will +allow me to be his bride's-man.' +</p> +<p> +'That is a man's office, but not yours, as Beatrice says,' retorted +Flora. +</p> +<p> +'And who is the fair lady, may I be permitted to ask, Miss Mac-Ivor?' +</p> +<p> +'Did not I tell you long since, that Fergus wooed no bride but Honour?' +answered Flora. +</p> +<p> +'And am I then incapable of being his assistant and counsellor in the +pursuit of honour?' said our hero, colouring deeply. 'Do I rank so low +in your opinion?' +</p> +<p> +'Far from it, Captain Waverley. I would to God you were of our +determination! and made use of the expression which displeased you, +solely +</p> +<pre> + Because you are not of our quality, + But stand against us as an enemy.' +</pre> +<p> +'That time is past, sister,' said Fergus; 'and you may wish Edward +Waverley (no longer captain) joy of being freed from the slavery to an +usurper, implied in that sable and ill-omened emblem.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said Waverley, undoing the cockade from his hat, 'it has pleased +the king who bestowed this badge upon me, to resume it in a manner which +leaves me little reason to regret his service.' +</p> +<p> +'Thank God for that!' cried the enthusiast;—'and oh that they may be +blind enough to treat every man of honour who serves them with the +same indignity, that I may have less to sigh for when the struggle +approaches! +</p> +<p> +'And now, sister,' said the Chieftain, 'replace his cockade with one of +a more lively colour, I think it was the fashion of the ladies of yore +to arm and send forth their knights to high achievement.' +</p> +<p> +'Not,' replied the lady, 'till the knight adventurer had well weighed +the justice and the danger of the cause, Fergus. Mr. Waverley is just +now too much agitated by feelings of recent emotion, for me to press +upon him a resolution of consequence.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley felt half alarmed at the thought of adopting the badge of what +was by the majority of the kingdom esteemed rebellion, yet he could +not disguise his chagrin at the coldness with which Flora parried her +brother's hint. 'Miss Mac-Ivor, I perceive, thinks the knight unworthy +of her encouragement and favour,' said he, somewhat bitterly. +</p> +<p> +'Not so, Mr. Waverley,' she replied, with great sweetness. 'Why should I +refuse my brother's valued friend a boon which I am distributing to his +whole clan? Most willingly would I enlist every man of honour in the +cause to which my brother has devoted himself. But Fergus has taken his +measures with his eyes open. His life has been devoted to this cause +from his cradle; with him its call is sacred, were it even a summons to +the tomb. But how can I wish you, Mr. Waverley, so new to the world, so +far from every friend who might advise and ought to influence you,—in +a moment too of sudden pique and indignation,—how can I wish you to +plunge yourself at once into so desperate an enterprise?' +</p> +<p> +Fergus, who did not understand these delicacies, strode through the +apartment biting his lip, and then, with a constrained smile, said, +'Well, sister, I leave you to act your new character of mediator between +the Elector of Hanover and the subjects of your lawful sovereign and +benefactor,' and left the room. +</p> +<p> +There was a painful pause, which was at length broken by Miss Mac-Ivor. +'My brother is unjust,' she said, 'because he can bear no interruption +that seems to thwart his loyal zeal.' +</p> +<p> +'And do you not share his ardour?' asked Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Do I not?' answered Flora—'God knows mine exceeds his, if that +be possible. But I am not, like him, rapt by the bustle of military +preparation, and the infinite detail necessary to the present +undertaking, beyond consideration of the grand principles of justice and +truth, on which our enterprise is grounded; and these, I am certain, can +only be furthered by measures in themselves true and just. To operate +upon your present feelings, my dear Mr. Waverley, to induce you to an +irretrievable step, of which you have not considered either the justice +or the danger, is, in my poor judgement, neither the one nor the other.' +</p> +<p> +'Incomparable Flora!' said Edward, taking her hand, 'how much do I need +such a monitor!' +</p> +<p> +'A better one by far,' said Flora, gently withdrawing her hand, 'Mr. +Waverley will always find in his own bosom, when he will give its small +still voice leisure to be heard.' +</p> +<p> +'No, Miss Mac-Ivor, I dare not hope it. A thousand circumstances of +fatal self-indulgence have made me the creature rather of imagination +than reason. Durst I but hope—could I but think that you would deign +to be to me that affectionate, that condescending friend, who would +strengthen me to redeem my errors, my future life'— +</p> +<p> +'Hush, my dear sir! now you carry your joy at escaping the hands of a +Jacobite recruiting officer to an unparalleled excess of gratitude.' +</p> +<p> +'Nay, dear Flora, trifle with me no longer; you cannot mistake the +meaning of those feelings which I have almost involuntarily expressed; +and since I have broken the barrier of silence, let me profit by my +audacity—Or may I, with your permission, mention to your brother'— +</p> +<p> +'Not for the world, Mr. Waverley!' +</p> +<p> +'What am I to understand?' said Edward. 'Is there any fatal bar—has any +prepossession'— +</p> +<p> +'None, sir,' answered Flora. 'I owe it to myself to say, that I never +yet saw the person on whom I thought with reference to the present +subject.' +</p> +<p> +'The shortness of our acquaintance, perhaps—If Miss Mac-Ivor will deign +to give me time—' +</p> +<p> +'I have not even that excuse. Captain Waverley's character is so +open—is, in short, of that nature, that it cannot be misconstrued, +either in its strength or its weakness.' +</p> +<p> +'And for that weakness you despise me?' said Edward. +</p> +<p> +'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley, and remember it is but within this +half-hour that there existed between us a barrier of a nature to me +insurmountable, since I never could think of an officer in the +service of the Elector of Hanover in any other light than as a casual +acquaintance. Permit me then to arrange my ideas upon so unexpected a +topic, and in less than an hour I will be ready to give you such reasons +for the resolution I shall express, as may be satisfactory at least, +if not pleasing to you.' So saying, Flora withdrew, leaving Waverley to +meditate upon the manner in which she had received his addresses. +</p> +<p> +Ere he could make up his mind whether to believe his suit had been +acceptable or no, Fergus re-entered the apartment. 'What, A LA MORT, +Waverley?' he cried. 'Come down with me to the court, and you shall see +a sight worth all the tirades of your romances. An hundred firelocks, my +friend, and as many broadswords, just arrived from good friends; and two +or three hundred stout fellows almost fighting which shall first possess +them.—But let me look at you closer—Why, a true Highlander would say +you had been blighted by an evil eye.—Or can it be this silly girl that +has thus blanked your spirit?—Never mind her, dear Edward; the wisest +of her sex are fools in what regards the business of life.' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed, my good friend,' answered Waverley, 'all that I can charge +against your sister is, that she is too sensible, too reasonable.' +</p> +<p> +'If that be all, I ensure you for a louis d'or against the mood lasting +four-and-twenty hours. No woman was ever steadily sensible for that +period; and I will engage, if that will please you, Flora shall be +as unreasonable to-morrow as any of her sex. You must learn, my dear +Edward, to consider women EN MOUSQUETAIRE.' So saying, he seized +Waverley's arm, and dragged him off to review his military preparations. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0027"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVII +</h2> +<h3> + UPON THE SAME SUBJECT +</h3> +<p> +Fergus Mac-Ivor had too much tact and delicacy to renew the subject +which he had interrupted. His head was, or appeared to be, so full of +guns, broadswords, bonnets, canteens, and tartan hose, that Waverley +could not for some time draw his attention to any other topic. +</p> +<p> +'Are you to take the field so soon, Fergus,' he asked, 'that you are +making all these martial preparations?' +</p> +<p> +'When we have settled that you go with me, you shall know all; but +otherwise, the knowledge might rather be prejudicial to you.' +</p> +<p> +'But are you serious in your purpose, with such inferior forces, to rise +against an established government? It is mere frenzy.' +</p> +<p> +'LAISSEZ FAIRE A DON ANTOINE—I shall take good care of myself. We shall +at least use the compliment of Conan, who never got a stroke but he gave +one. I would not, however,' continued the Chieftain, 'have you think me +mad enough to stir till a favourable opportunity: I will not slip my dog +before the game's afoot. But once more, will you join with us, and you +shall know all?' +</p> +<p> +'How can I?' said Waverley; 'I who have so lately held that commission +which is now posting back to those that gave it? My accepting it implied +a promise of fidelity, and an acknowledgement of the legality of the +government. +</p> +<p> +'A rash promise,' answered Fergus, 'is not a steel handcuff; it may be +shaken off, especially when it was given under deception, and has been +repaid by insult. But if you cannot immediately make up your mind to a +glorious revenge, go to England, and ere you cross the Tweed, you will +hear tidings that will make the world ring; and if Sir Everard be the +gallant old cavalier I have heard him described by some of our HONEST +gentlemen of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifteen, he will +find you a better horse-troop and a better cause than you have lost.' +</p> +<p> +'But your sister, Fergus?' +</p> +<p> +'Out, hyperbolical fiend,' replied the Chief, laughing; 'how vexest thou +this man!—Speak'st thou of nothing but of ladies?' +</p> +<p> +'Nay, be serious, my dear friend,' said Waverley; 'I feel that the +happiness of my future life must depend upon the answer which Miss +Mac-Ivor shall make to what I ventured to tell her this morning.' +</p> +<p> +'And is this your very sober earnest,' said Fergus, more gravely, 'or +are we in the land of romance and fiction?' +</p> +<p> +'My earnest, undoubtedly. How could you suppose me jesting on such a +subject?' +</p> +<p> +'Then, in very sober earnest,' answered his friend, 'I am very glad to +hear it; and so highly do I think of Flora, that; you are the only man +in England for whom I would say so much.—But before you shake my hand +so warmly, there is more to be considered.—Your own family—will they +approve your connecting yourself with the sister of a highborn Highland +beggar?' +</p> +<p> +'My uncle's situation,' said Waverley, 'his general opinions, and his +uniform indulgence, entitle me to say, that birth and personal qualities +are all he would look to in such a connexion. And where can I find both +united in such excellence as in your sister?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, nowhere!—CELA VA SANS DIRE,' replied Fergus with a smile. 'But +your father will expect a father's prerogative in being consulted.' +</p> +<p> +'Surely; but his late breach with the ruling powers removes all +apprehension of objection on his part, especially as I am convinced that +my uncle will be warm in my cause.' +</p> +<p> +'Religion, perhaps,' said Fergus, 'may make obstacles, though we are not +bigoted Catholics.' +</p> +<p> +'My grandmother was of the Church of Rome, and her religion was never +objected to by my family.—Do not think of MY friends, dear Fergus; let +me rather have your influence where it may be more necessary to remove +obstacles—I mean with your lovely sister.' +</p> +<p> +'My lovely sister,' replied Fergus, 'like her loving brother, is very +apt to have a pretty decisive will of her own, by which, in this case, +you must be ruled; but you shall not want my interest, nor my counsel. +And, in the first place, I will give you one hint—loyalty is her ruling +passion; and since she could spell an English book, she has been in love +with the memory of the gallant Captain Wogan, who renounced the service +of the usurper Cromwell to join the standard of Charles II, marched a +handful of cavalry from London to the Highlands to join Middleton, then +in arms for the king, and at length died gloriously in the royal cause. +Ask her to show you some verses she made on his history and fate; they +have been much admired, I assure you. The next point is—I think I +saw Flora go up towards the waterfall a short time since—follow, man, +follow! don't allow the garrison time to strengthen its purposes of +resistance—ALERTE A LA MURAILLE! Seek Flora out, and learn her decision +as soon as you can—and Cupid go with you, while I go to look over belts +and cartouch-boxes.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley ascended the glen with an anxious and throbbing heart. Love, +with all its romantic train of hopes, fears, and wishes, was mingled +with other feelings of a nature less easily defined. He could not but +remember how much this morning had changed his fate, and into what a +complication of perplexity it was likely to plunge him. Sunrise had seen +him possessed of an esteemed rank in the honourable profession of +arms, his father to all appearance rapidly rising in the favour of +his sovereign;—all this had passed away like a dream—he himself was +dishonoured, his father disgraced, and he had become involuntarily the +confidant at least, if not the accomplice, of plans dark, deep, and +dangerous, which must infer either subversion of the government he had +so lately served, or the destruction of all who had participated in +them, Should Flora even listen to his suit favourably, what prospect was +there of its being brought to a happy termination, amid the tumult of +an impending insurrection? Or how could he make the selfish request that +she should leave Fergus, to whom she was so much attached, and, retiring +with him to England, wait, as a distant spectator, the success of her +brother's undertaking, or the ruin of all his hopes and fortunes!—Or, +on the other hand, to engage himself, with no other aid than his single +arm, in the dangerous and precipitate counsels of the Chieftain,—to be +whirled along by him, the partaker of all his desperate and impetuous +motions, renouncing almost the power of judging, or deciding upon the +rectitude or prudence of his actions,—this was no pleasing prospect for +the secret pride of Waverley to stoop to. And yet what other conclusion +remained, saving the rejection of his addresses by Flora, an alternative +not to be thought of in the present high-wrought state of his feelings, +with anything short of mental agony. Pondering the doubtful and +dangerous prospect before him, he at length arrived near the cascade, +where, as Fergus had augured, he found Flora seated. +</p> +<p> +She was quite alone; and, as soon as she observed his approach, she +arose, and came to meet him. Edward attempted to say something within +the verge of ordinary compliment and conversation, but found himself +unequal to the task. Flora seemed at first equally embarrassed, but +recovered herself more speedily, and (an unfavourable augury for +Waverley's suit) was the first to enter upon the subject of their last +interview, 'It is too important, in every point of view, Mr. Waverley, +to permit me to leave you in doubt on my sentiments.' +</p> +<p> +'Do not speak them speedily,' said Waverley, much agitated, 'unless they +are such as, I fear from your manner, I must not dare to anticipate. Let +time—let my future conduct—let your brother's influence'— +</p> +<p> +'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley,' said Flora, her complexion a little +heightened, but her voice firm and composed. 'I should incur my own +heavy censure, did I delay expressing my sincere conviction that I can +never regard you otherwise than as a valued friend. I should do you +the highest injustice did I conceal my sentiments for a moment. I see +I distress you, and I grieve for it, but better now than later; and oh, +better a thousand times, Mr. Waverley, that you should feel a present +momentary disappointment, than the long and heart-sickening griefs which +attend a rash and ill-assorted marriage!' +</p> +<p> +'Good God!' exclaimed Waverley, 'why should you anticipate such +consequences from a union where birth is equal, where fortune is +favourable, where, if I may venture to say so, the tastes are similar, +where you allege no preference for another, where you even express a +favourable opinion of him whom you reject?' +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Waverley, I HAVE that favourable opinion,' answered Flora; 'and so +strongly, that though I would rather have been silent on the grounds of +my resolution, you shall command them, if you exact such a mark of my +esteem and confidence.' +</p> +<p> +She sat down upon a fragment of rock, and Waverley, placing himself near +her, anxiously pressed for the explanation she offered. +</p> +<p> +'I dare hardly,' she said, 'tell you the situation of my feelings, they +are so different from those usually ascribed to young women at my period +of life; and I dare hardly touch upon what I conjecture to be the nature +of yours, lest I should give offence where I would willingly administer +consolation. For myself, from my infancy till this day, I have had but +one wish—the restoration of my royal benefactors to their rightful +throne. It is impossible to express to you the devotion of my feelings +to this single subject; and I will frankly confess, that it has so +occupied my mind as to exclude every thought respecting what is called +my own settlement in life. Let me but live to see the day of that happy +restoration, and a Highland cottage, a French convent, or an English +palace, will be alike indifferent to me.' +</p> +<p> +'But, dearest Flora, how is your enthusiastic zeal for the exiled family +inconsistent with my happiness?' +</p> +<p> +'Because you seek, or ought to seek in the object of your attachment, +a heart whose principal delight should be in augmenting your domestic +felicity, and returning your affection, even to the height of romance. +To a man of less keen sensibility, and less enthusiastic tenderness of +disposition, Flora Mac-Ivor might give content, if not happiness; for +were the irrevocable words spoken, never would she be deficient in the +duties which she vowed.' +</p> +<p> +'And why—why, Miss Mac-Ivor, should you think yourself a more valuable +treasure to one who is less capable of loving, of admiring you, than to +me?' +</p> +<p> +'Simply because the tone of our affections would be more in unison, and +because his more blunted sensibility would not require the return of +enthusiasm which I have not to bestow. But you, Mr. Waverley, would for +ever refer to the idea of domestic happiness which your imagination +is capable of painting, and whatever fell short of that ideal +representation would be construed into coolness and indifference, while +you might consider the enthusiasm with which I regarded the success of +the royal family as defrauding your affection of its due return.' +</p> +<p> +'In other words, Miss Mac-Ivor, you cannot love me?' said her suitor, +dejectedly. +</p> +<p> +'I could esteem you, Mr. Waverley, as much, perhaps more, than any man +I have ever seen; but I cannot love you as you ought to be loved. Oh! +do not, for your own sake, desire so hazardous an experiment! The woman +whom you marry ought to have affections and opinions moulded upon yours. +Her studies ought to be your studies;—her wishes, her feelings, her +hopes, her fears, should all mingle with yours. She should enhance your +pleasures, share your sorrows, and cheer your melancholy.' +</p> +<p> +'And, why will not you, Miss Mac-Ivor, who can so well describe a happy +union,—why will not you be yourself the person you describe?' +</p> +<p> +'Is it possible you do not yet comprehend me?' answered Flora. 'Have I +not told you, that every keener sensation of my mind is bent exclusively +towards an event, upon which, indeed, I have no power but those of my +earnest prayers?' +</p> +<p> +'And might not the granting the suit I solicit,' said Waverley, too +earnest on his purpose to consider what he was about to say, 'even +advance the interest to which you have devoted yourself? My family is +wealthy and powerful, inclined in principles to the Stuart race, and +should a favourable opportunity'— +</p> +<p> +'A favourable opportunity!' said Flora, somewhat scornfully,—'inclined +in principles!—Can such lukewarm adherence be honourable to yourselves, +or gratifying to your lawful sovereign?—Think, from my present +feelings, what I should suffer when I held the place of member in a +family where the rights which I hold most sacred are subjected to cold +discussion, and only deemed worthy of support when they shall appear on +the point of triumphing without it!' +</p> +<p> +'Your doubts,' quickly replied Waverley, 'are unjust as far as concerns +myself. The cause that I shall assert, I dare support through every +danger, as undauntedly as the boldest who draws sword in its behalf.' +</p> +<p> +'Of that,' answered Flora, 'I cannot doubt for a moment. But consult +your own good sense and reason, rather than a prepossession hastily +adopted, probably only because you have met a young woman possessed of +the usual accomplishments, in a sequestered and romantic situation. Let +your part in this great and perilous drama rest upon conviction, and not +on a hurried, and probably a temporary feeling.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley attempted to reply, but his words failed him. Every sentiment +that Flora had uttered vindicated the strength of his attachment; for +even her loyalty, although wildly enthusiastic, was generous and noble, +and disdained to avail itself of any indirect means of supporting the +cause to which she was devoted. +</p> +<p> +After walking a little way in silence down the path, Flora thus resumed +the conversation.—'One word more, Mr. Waverley, ere we bid farewell to +this topic for ever; and forgive my boldness if that word have the air +of advice. My brother Fergus is anxious that you should join him in his +present enterprise. But do not consent to this: you could not, by your +single exertions, further his success, and you would inevitably share +his fall, if it be God's pleasure that fall he must. Your character +would also suffer irretrievably. Let me beg you will return to your +own country; and, having publicly freed yourself from every tie to the +usurping government, I trust you will see cause, and find opportunity, +to serve your injured sovereign with effect, and stand forth, as your +loyal ancestors, at the head of your natural followers and adherents, a +worthy representative of the house of Waverley.' +</p> +<p> +'And should I be so happy as thus to distinguish myself, might I not +hope'— +</p> +<p> +'Forgive my interruption,' said Flora. 'The present time only is ours, +and I can but explain to you with candour the feelings which I now +entertain; how they might be altered by a train of events too favourable +perhaps to be hoped for, it were in vain even to conjecture: only be +assured, Mr. Waverley, that, after my brother's honour and happiness, +there is none which I shall more sincerely pray for than for yours.' +</p> +<p> +With these words she parted from him, for they were now arrived where +two paths separated. Waverley reached the castle amidst a medley of +conflicting passions. He avoided any private interview with Fergus, as +he did not find himself able either to encounter his raillery, or reply +to his solicitations. The wild revelry of the feast, for Mac-Ivor kept +open table for his clan, served in some degree to stun reflection. When +their festivity was ended, he began to consider how he should again +meet Miss Mac-Ivor after the painful and interesting explanation of the +morning. But Flora did not appear. Fergus, whose eyes flashed when he +was told by Cathleen that her mistress designed to keep her apartment +that evening, went himself in quest of her; but apparently his +remonstrances were in vain, for he returned with a heightened +complexion, and manifest symptoms of displeasure. The rest of the +evening passed on without any allusion, on the part either of Fergus or +Waverley, to the subject which engrossed the reflections of the latter, +and perhaps of both. +</p> +<p> +When retired to his own apartment, Edward endeavoured to sum up the +business of the day. That the repulse he had received from Flora would +be persisted in for the present, there was no doubt. But could he hope +for ultimate success in case circumstances permitted the renewal of his +suit? Would the enthusiastic loyalty, which at this animating moment +left no room for a softer passion, survive, at least in its engrossing +force, the success or the failure of the present political machinations? +And if so, could he hope that the interest which she had acknowledged +him to possess in her favour, might be improved into a warmer +attachment? He taxed his memory to recall every word she had used, with +the appropriate looks and gestures which had enforced them, and ended +by finding himself in the same state of uncertainty. It was very late +before sleep brought relief to the tumult of his mind, after the most +painful and agitating day which he had ever passed. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0028"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXVIII +</h2> +<h3> + A LETTER FROM TULLY-VEOLAN +</h3> +<p> +In the morning, when Waverley's troubled reflections had for some time +given way to repose, there came music to his dreams, but not the voice +of Selma. He imagined himself transported back to Tully-Veolan, and that +he heard Davie Gellatley singing in the court those matins which used +generally to be the first sounds that disturbed his repose while a +guest of the Baron of Bradwardine. The notes which suggested this +vision continued, and waxed louder, until Edward awoke in earnest. The +illusion, however, did not seem entirely dispelled. The apartment was +in the fortress of Ian nan Chaistel, but it was still the voice of Davie +Gellatley that made the following lines resound under the window:— +</p> +<pre> + My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, + My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; + A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, + My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. + [These lines form the burden of an old song to which Burns + wrote additional verses.] +</pre> +<p> +Curious to know what could have determined Mr. Gellatley on an excursion +of such unwonted extent, Edward began to dress himself in all haste, +during which operation the minstrelsy of Davie changed its tune more +than once:— +</p> +<pre> + There's naught in the Highlands but syboes and leeks, + And lang-leggit callants gaun wanting the breeks; + Wanting the breeks, and without hose and shoon, + But we'll a' win the breeks when King Jamie comes hame. + [These lines are also ancient, and I believe to the tune of + 'We'll never hae peace till Jamie comes hame;' + to which Burns likewise wrote some verses.] +</pre> +<p> +By the time Waverley was dressed and had issued forth, David had +associated himself with two or three of the numerous Highland loungers +who always graced the gates of the castle with their presence, and was +capering and dancing full merrily in the doubles and full career of a +Scotch foursome reel, to the music of his own whistling. In this double +capacity of dancer and musician, he continued, until an idle piper, who +observed his zeal, obeyed the unanimous call of SEID SUAS (i.e. blow +up), and relieved him from the latter part of his trouble. Young and old +then mingled in the dance as they could find partners. The appearance +of Waverley did not interrupt David's exercise, though he contrived, by +grinning, nodding, and throwing one or two inclinations of the body into +the graces with which he performed the Highland fling, to convey to our +hero symptoms of recognition. Then, while busily employed in setting, +whooping all the while, and snapping his fingers over his head, he of a +sudden prolonged his side-step until it brought him to the place where +Edward was standing, and, still keeping time to the music like Harlequin +in a pantomime, he thrust a letter into our hero's hand, and continued +his saltation without pause or intermission, Edward, who perceived that +the address was in Rose's handwriting, retired to peruse it, leaving the +faithful bearer to continue his exercise until the piper or he should be +tired out. +</p> +<p> +The contents of the letter greatly surprised him. It had originally +commenced with DEAR SIR; but these words had been carefully erased, +and the monosyllable, SIR, substituted in their place. The rest of the +contents shall be given in Rose's own language:— +</p> +<p> +'I fear I am using an improper freedom by intruding upon you, yet I +cannot trust to any one else to let you know some things which have +happened here, with which it seems necessary you should be acquainted. +Forgive me if I am wrong in what I am doing; for, alas! Mr. Waverley, I +have no better advice than that of my own feelings;—my dear father +is gone from this place, and when he can return to my assistance +and protection, God alone knows. You have probably heard, that in +consequence of some troublesome news from the Highlands, warrants were +sent out for apprehending several gentlemen in these parts, and, among +others, my dear father. In spite of all my tears and entreaties that he +would surrender himself to the Government, he joined with Mr. Falconer +and some other gentlemen, and they have all gone northwards, with a body +of about forty horsemen. So I am not so anxious concerning his immediate +safety, as about what may follow afterwards, for these troubles are only +beginning. But all this is nothing to you, Mr. Waverley, only I thought +you would be glad to learn that my father has escaped, in case you +happen to have heard that he was in danger. +</p> +<p> +'The day after my father went off, there came a party of soldiers to +Tully-Veolan, and behaved very rudely to Bailie Macwheeble; but the +officer was very civil to me, only said his duty obliged him to search +for arms and papers. My father had provided against this by taking away +all the arms except the old useless things which hung in the hall; and +he had put all his papers out of the way. But oh! Mr. Waverley, how +shall I tell you that they made strict inquiry after you, and asked when +you had been at Tully-Veolan, and where you now were. The officer is +gone back with his party, but a non-commissioned officer and four men +remain as a sort of garrison in the house. They have hitherto behaved +very well, as we are forced to keep them in good humour. But these +soldiers have hinted as if on your falling into their hands you would +be in great danger; I cannot prevail on myself to write what wicked +falsehoods they said, for I am sure they are falsehoods; but you will +best judge what you ought to do. The party that returned carried off +your servant prisoner, with your two horses, and everything that you +left at Tully-Veolan. I hope God will protect you, and that you will get +safe home to England, where you used to tell me there was no military +violence nor fighting among clans permitted, but everything was done +according to an equal law that protected all who were harmless and +innocent. I hope you will exert your indulgence as to my boldness in +writing to you, where it seems to me, though perhaps erroneously, that +your safety and honour are concerned. I am sure—at least I think, +my father would approve of my writing; for Mr. Rubrick is fled to his +cousin's at the Duchran, to be out of danger from the soldiers and the +Whigs, and Bailie Macwheeble does not like to meddle (he says) in other +men's concerns, though I hope what may serve my father's friend at +such a time as this, cannot be termed improper interference. Farewell, +Captain Waverley! I shall probably never see you more; for it would +be very improper to wish you to call at Tully-Veolan just now, even +if these men were gone; but I will always remember with gratitude your +kindness in assisting so poor a scholar as myself, and your attentions +to my dear, dear father. +</p> +<p> +'I remain, your obliged servant, +</p> +<center> +'ROSE COMYNE BRADWARDINE. +</center> +<p> +'PS.—I hope you will send me a line by David Gellatley, just to say you +have received this, and that you will take care of yourself; and forgive +me if I entreat you, for your own sake, to join none of these unhappy +cabals, but escape, as fast as possible, to your own fortunate +country.—My compliments to my dear Flora, and, to Glennaquoich. Is she +not as handsome and accomplished as I have described her?' +</p> +<p> +Thus concluded the letter of Rose Bradwardine, the contents of which +both surprised and affected Waverley. That the Baron should fall under +the suspicions of Government, in consequence of the present stir +among the partisans of the house of Stuart, seemed only the natural +consequence of his political predilections; but how he himself should +have been involved in such suspicions, conscious that until yesterday +he had been free from harbouring a thought against the prosperity of +the reigning family, seemed inexplicable. Both at Tully-Veolan and +Glennaquoich, his hosts had respected his engagements with the existing +government, and though enough passed by accidental innuendo that might +induce him to reckon the Baron and the Chief among those disaffected +gentlemen who were still numerous in Scotland, yet until his own +connexion with the army had been broken off by the resumption of +his commission, he had no reason to suppose that they nourished any +immediate or hostile attempts against the present establishment. Still +he was aware that unless he meant at once to embrace the proposal of +Fergus Mac-Ivor, it would deeply concern him to leave the suspicious +neighbourhood without delay, and repair where his conduct might undergo +a satisfactory examination. Upon this he the rather determined, as +Flora's advice favoured his doing so, and because he felt inexpressible +repugnance at the idea of being accessory to the plague of civil war. +Whatever were the original rights of the Stuarts, calm reflection told +him, that, omitting the question how far James the Second could forfeit +those of his posterity, he had, according to the united voice of the +whole nation, justly forfeited his own. Since that period, four monarchs +had reigned in peace and glory over Britain, sustaining and exalting the +character of the nation abroad, and its liberties at home. Reason +asked, was it worth while to disturb a government so long settled and +established, and to plunge a kingdom into all the miseries of civil +war, for the purpose of replacing upon the throne the descendants of a +monarch by whom it had been wilfully forfeited? If, on the other hand, +his own final conviction of the goodness of their cause, or the commands +of his father or uncle, should recommend to him allegiance to the +Stuarts, still it was necessary to clear his own character by showing +that he had not, as seemed to be falsely insinuated, taken any step to +this purpose, during his holding the commission of the reigning monarch. +</p> +<p> +The affectionate simplicity of Rose, and her anxiety for his +safety,—his sense, too, of her unprotected state, and of the terror and +actual dangers to which she might be exposed, made an impression upon +his mind, and he instantly wrote to thank her in the kindest terms for +her solicitude on his account, to express his earnest good wishes for +her welfare and that of her father, and to assure her of his own safety. +The feelings which this task excited were speedily lost in the necessity +which he now saw of bidding farewell to Flora Mac-Ivor, perhaps for +ever. The pang attending this reflection were inexpressible; for her +high-minded elevation of character, her self-devotion to the cause which +she had embraced, united to her scrupulous rectitude as to the means of +serving it, had vindicated to his judgement the choice adopted by his +passions. But time pressed, calumny was busy with his fame, and every +hour's delay increased the power to injure it. His departure must be +instant. +</p> +<p> +With this determination he sought out Fergus, and communicated to him +the contents of Rose's letter, with his own resolution instantly to +go to Edinburgh, and put into the hands of some one or other of those +persons of influence to whom he had letters from his father, his +exculpation from any charge which might be preferred against him. +</p> +<p> +'You run your head into the lion's mouth,' answered Mac-Ivor. 'You do +not know the severity of a Government harassed by just apprehensions, +and a consciousness of their own illegality and insecurity. I shall have +to deliver you from some dungeon in Stirling or Edinburgh Castle.' +</p> +<p> +'My innocence, my rank, my father's intimacy with Lord M—, General G—, +&c., will be a sufficient protection,' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'You will find the contrary,' replied the Chieftain;—'these gentlemen +will have enough to do about their own matters. Once more, will you +take the plaid, and stay a little while with us among the mists and the +crows, in the bravest cause ever sword was drawn in?' [A Highland rhyme +on Glencairn's Expedition, in 1650, has these lines— +</p> +<pre> + We'll hide a while among ta crows, + 'We'll wiske ta sword and bend ta bows.] +</pre> +<p> +'For many reasons, my dear Fergus, you must hold me excused.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, then,' said Mac-Ivor, 'I shall certainly find you exerting +your poetical talents in elegies upon a prison, or your antiquarian +researches in detecting the Oggam [The Oggam is a species of the old +Irish character. The idea of the correspondence betwixt the Celtic +and Punic, founded on a scene in Plautus, was not started till General +Vallancey set up his theory, long after the date of Fergus Mac-Ivor.] +character, or some Punic hieroglyphic upon the key-stones of a vault, +curiously arched. Or what say you to UN PETIT PENDEMENT BIEN JOLI? +against which awkward ceremony I don't warrant you, should you meet a +body of the armed west-country Whigs.' +</p> +<p> +'And why should they use me so?' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'For a hundred good reasons,' answered Fergus: 'First, you are an +Englishman; secondly, a gentleman; thirdly, a prelatist abjured; and, +fourthly, they have not had an opportunity to exercise their talents +on such a subject this long while. But don't be cast down, beloved: all +will be done in the fear of the Lord.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, I must run my hazard,' +</p> +<p> +'You are determined, then?' +</p> +<p> +'I am.' +</p> +<p> +'Wilful will do 't,' said Fergus;—'but you cannot go on foot and I +shall want no horse, as I must march on foot at the head of the children +of Ivor; you shall have Brown Dermid.' +</p> +<p> +'If you will sell him, I shall certainly be much obliged.' +</p> +<p> +'If your proud English heart cannot be obliged by a gift or loan, I +will not refuse money at the entrance of a campaign: his price is twenty +guineas, [Remember, reader, it was Sixty Years since.] And when do you +propose to depart?' +</p> +<p> +'The sooner the better,' answered Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'You are right, since go you must, or rather, since go you will: I will +take Flora's pony, and ride with you as far as Bally-Brough.—Callum +Beg, see that our horses are ready, with a pony for yourself, to attend +and carry Mr. Waverley's baggage as far as—(naming a small town), where +he can have a horse and guide to Edinburgh. Put on a Lowland dress, +Callum, and see you keep your tongue close, if you would not have me cut +it out: Mr. Waverley rides Dermid,' Then turning to Edward, 'You will +take leave of my sister?' +</p> +<p> +'Surely—that is, if Miss Mac-Ivor will honour me so far.' +</p> +<p> +'Cathleen, let my sister know that Mr. Waverley wishes to bid her +farewell before he leaves us.—But Rose Bradwardine,—her situation must +be thought of. I wish she were here. And why should she not? There are +but four red-coats at Tully-Veolan, and their muskets would be very +useful to us.' +</p> +<p> +To these broken remarks Edward made no answer; his ear indeed received +them, but his soul was intent upon the expected entrance of Flora. The +door opened—it was but Cathleen, with her lady's excuse, and wishes for +Captain Waverley's health and happiness. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0029"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXIX +</h2> +<h3> + WAVERLEY'S RECEPTION IN THE LOWLANDS AFTER HIS HIGHLAND TOUR +</h3> +<p> +It was noon when the two friends stood at the top of the pass of +Bally-Brough. 'I must go no farther,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, who during +the journey had in vain endeavoured to raise his friend's spirits, 'If +my cross-grained sister has any share in your dejection, trust me she +thinks highly of you, though her present anxiety about the public cause +prevents her listening to any other subject. Confide your interest to +me; I will not betray it, providing you do not again assume that vile +cockade.' +</p> +<p> +'No fear of that, considering the manner in which it has been recalled. +Adieu, Fergus; do not permit your sister to forget me.' +</p> +<p> +'And adieu, Waverley; you may soon hear of her with a prouder title. Get +home, write letters, and make friends as many and as fast as you can; +there will speedily be unexpected guests on the coast of Suffolk, or my +news from France has deceived me.' [The sanguine Jacobites, during the +eventful years 1745-6, kept up the spirits of their party by the rumour +of descents from France on behalf of the Chevalier St. George.] +</p> +<p> +Thus parted the friends; Fergus returning back to his castle, while +Edward, followed by Callum Beg, the latter transformed from point to +point into a Low-country groom, proceeded to the little town of—. +</p> +<p> +Edward paced on under the painful and yet not altogether embittered +feelings which separation and uncertainty produce in the mind of a +youthful lover. I am not sure if the ladies understand the full value of +the influence of absence, nor do I think it wise to teach it them, lest, +like the Clelias and Mandanes of yore, they should resume the humour of +sending their lovers into banishment. Distance, in truth, produces in +idea the same effect as in real prospective. Objects are softened, and +rounded, and rendered doubly graceful; the harsher and more ordinary +points of character are mellowed down, and those by which it is +remembered are the more striking outlines that mark sublimity, grace, +or beauty. There are mists, too, in the mental, as well as the natural +horizon, to conceal what is less pleasing in distant objects, and there +are happy lights, to stream in full glory upon those points which can +profit by brilliant illumination. +</p> +<p> +Waverley forgot Flora Mac-Ivor's prejudices in her magnanimity, +and almost pardoned her indifference towards his affection, when he +recollected the grand and decisive object which seemed to fill her whole +soul. She, whose sense of duty so wholly engrossed her in the cause of +a benefactor,—what would be her feelings in favour of the happy +individual who should be so fortunate as to awaken them? Then came the +doubtful question, whether he might not be that happy man,—a question +which fancy endeavoured to answer in the affirmative, by conjuring up +all she had said in his praise, with the addition of a comment much more +flattering than the text warranted. All that was commonplace—all that +belonged to the everyday world—was melted away and obliterated in those +dreams of imagination, which only remembered with advantage the points +of grace and dignity that distinguished Flora, from the generality of +her sex, not the particulars which she held in common with them, +Edward was, in short, in the fair way of creating a goddess out of a +high-spirited, accomplished, and beautiful young woman; and the time was +wasted in castle-building, until, at the descent of a steep hill, he saw +beneath him the market-town of—. +</p> +<p> +The Highland politeness of Callum Beg—there are few nations, by the +way, who can boast of so much natural politeness as the Highlanders +[The Highlander, in former times, had always a high idea, of his own +gentility, and was anxious to impress the same upon those with whom +he conversed. His language abounded in the phrases of courtesy and +compliment; and the habit of carrying arms, and mixing with those +who did so, made if particularly desirable they should use cautious +politeness in their intercourse with each other.]—the Highland civility +of his attendant had not permitted him to disturb the reveries of our +hero. But observing him rouse himself at the sight of the village, +Callum pressed closer to his side, and hoped 'When they cam to the +public, his honour wad not say nothing about Vich Ian Vohr, for ta +people were bitter Whigs, deil burst tem.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley assured the prudent page that he would be cautious; and as he +now distinguished, not indeed the ringing of bells, but the tinkling +of something like a hammer against the side of an old messy, green, +inverted porridge-pot, that hung in an open booth, of the size and +shape of a parrot's cage, erected to grace the east end of a building +resembling an old barn, he asked Callum Beg if it were Sunday. +</p> +<p> +'Could na say just preceesely—Sunday seldom cam aboon the pass of +Bally-Brough.' +</p> +<p> +On entering the town, however, and advancing towards the most apparent +public house which presented itself, the numbers of old women, in tartan +screens and red cloaks, who streamed from the barn-resembling building, +debating, as they went, the comparative merits of the blessed youth +Jabesh Rentowel, and that chosen vessel Maister Goukthrapple, induced +Callum to assure his temporary master, 'that it was either ta muckle +Sunday hersell, or ta little government Sunday that they ca'd ta fast.' +</p> +<p> +On alighting at the sign of the Seven-branched Golden Candlestick, +which, for the further delectation of the guests, was graced with +a short Hebrew motto, they were received by mine host, a tall, thin +puritanical figure, who seemed to debate with himself whether he ought +to give shelter to those who travelled on such a day. Reflecting, +however, in all probability, that he possessed the power of mulcting +them for this irregularity, a penalty which they might escape by passing +into Gregor Duncanson's, at the sign of the Highlander and the Hawick +Gill, Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks condescended to admit them into his +dwelling. +</p> +<p> +To this sanctified person Waverley addressed his request that he would +procure him a guide, with a saddle-horse, to carry his portmanteau to +Edinburgh. +</p> +<p> +'And whar may ye be coming from?' demanded mine host of the Candlestick. +</p> +<p> +'I have told you where I wish to go; I do not conceive any further +information necessary either for the guide or his saddle-horse.' +</p> +<p> +'Hem! Ahem!' returned he of the Candlestick, somewhat disconcerted at +this rebuff. 'It's the general fast, sir, and I cannot enter into ony +carnal transactions on sic a day, when the people should be humbled, +and the back sliders should return, as worthy Mr. Goukthrapple said; and +moreover when, as the precious Mr. Jabesh Rentowel did weel observe, the +land was mourning for covenants burnt, broken, and buried.' +</p> +<p> +'My good friend,' said Waverley, 'if you cannot let me have a horse and +guide, my servant shall seek them elsewhere.' +</p> +<p> +'Aweel! Your servant?—and what for gangs he not forward wi' you +himsell?' +</p> +<p> +Waverley had but very little of a captain of horse's spirit within +him—I mean of that sort of spirit which I have been obliged to when I +happened, in a mail-coach, or diligence, to meet some military man +who has kindly taken upon him the disciplining of the waiters, and the +taxing of reckonings. Some of this useful talent our hero had, however, +acquired during his military service, and on this gross provocation +it began seriously to arise. 'Look ye, sir; I came here for my own +accommodation, and not to answer impertinent questions. Either say you +can, or cannot, get me what I want; I shall pursue my course in either +case.' +</p> +<p> +Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks left the room with some indistinct muttering; +but whether negative or acquiescent, Edward could not well distinguish. +The hostess, a civil, quiet, laborious drudge, came to take his orders +for dinner, but declined to make answer on the subject of the horse and +guide; for the Salique law, it seems, extended to the stables of the +Golden Candlestick. +</p> +<p> +From a window which overlooked the dark and narrow court in which Callum +Beg rubbed down the horses after their journey, Waverley heard the +following dialogue betwixt the subtle foot-page of Vich Ian Vohr and his +landlord:— +</p> +<p> +'Ye'll be frae the north, young man?' began the latter. +</p> +<p> +'And ye may say that,' answered Callum. +</p> +<p> +'And ye'll hae ridden a lang way the day, it may weel be?' +</p> +<p> +'Sae lang, that I could weel tak a dram,' +</p> +<p> +'Gudewife, bring the gill stoup.' +</p> +<p> +Here some compliments passed, fitting the occasion, when my host of the +Golden Candlestick, having, as he thought, opened his guest's heart by +this hospitable propitiation, resumed his scrutiny. +</p> +<p> +'Ye'll no hae mickle better whisky than that aboon the Pass?' +</p> +<p> +'I am nae frae aboon the Pass.' +</p> +<p> +'Ye're a Highlandman by your tongue?' +</p> +<p> +'Na; I am but just Aberdeen-a-way.' +</p> +<p> +'And did your master come frae Aberdeen wi' you?' +</p> +<p> +'Aye—that's when I left it mysell,' answered the cool and impenetrable +Callum Beg. +</p> +<p> +'And what kind of a gentleman is he?' +</p> +<p> +'I believe he is ane o' King George's state officers; at least he's +aye for ganging on to the south; and he has a hantle siller, and never +grudges ony thing till a poor body, or in the way of a lawing.' +</p> +<p> +'He wants a guide and a horse frae hence to Edinburgh?' +</p> +<p> +'Aye, and ye maun find it him forthwith.' +</p> +<p> +'Ahem! It will be chargeable.' +</p> +<p> +'He cares na for that a bodle.' +</p> +<p> +'Aweel, Duncan—did ye say your name was Duncan, or Donald?' +</p> +<p> +'Na, man—Jamie—Jamie Steenson—I telt ye before.' +</p> +<p> +This last undaunted parry altogether foiled Mr. Cruickshanks, who, +though not quite satisfied either with the reserve of the master, or +the extreme readiness of the man, was contented to lay a tax on the +reckoning and horse-hire, that might compound for his ungratified +curiosity. The circumstance of its being the fast-day was not forgotten +in the charge, which, on the whole, did not, however, amount to much +more than double what in fairness it should have been. +</p> +<p> +Callum Beg soon after announced in person the ratification of this +treaty, adding, 'Ta auld deevil was ganging to ride wi' ta Duinhe-wassel +hersell.' +</p> +<p> +'That will not be very pleasant, Callum, nor altogether safe, for our +host seems a person of great curiosity; but a traveller must submit to +these inconveniences. Meanwhile, my good lad, here is a trifle for you +to drink Vich Ian Vohr's health.' +</p> +<p> +The hawk's eye of Callum flashed delight upon a golden guinea, with +which these last words were accompanied. He hastened, not without a +curse on the intricacies of a Saxon breeches pocket, or SPLEUCHAN, as +he called it, to deposit the treasure in his fob; and then, as if he +conceived the benevolence called for some requital on his part, +he gathered close up to Edward, with an expression of countenance +peculiarly knowing, and spoke in an undertone, 'If his honour thought ta +auld deevil Whig carle was a bit dangerous, she could easily provide for +him, and tell ane ta wiser.' +</p> +<p> +'How, and in what manner?' +</p> +<p> +'Her ain sell,' replied Callum, 'could wait for him a wee bit frae the +toun, and kittle his quarters wi' her SKENE-OCCLE.' +</p> +<p> +'Skene-occle! what's that?' +</p> +<p> +Callum unbuttoned his coat, raised his left arm, and, with an emphatic +nod, pointed to the hilt of a small dirk, snugly deposited under it, +in the lining of his jacket. Waverley thought he had misunderstood his +meaning; he gazed in his face, and discovered in Callum's very handsome, +though embrowned features, just the degree of roguish malice with which +a lad of the same age in England would have brought forward a plan for +robbing an orchard. +</p> +<p> +'Good God, Callum, would you take the man's life?' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed,' answered the young desperado, 'and I think he has had just a +lang enough lease o't, when he's for betraying honest folk, that come to +spend siller at his public.' +</p> +<p> +Edward saw nothing was to be gained by argument, and therefore contented +himself with enjoining Callum to lay aside all practices against the +person of Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks; in which injunction the page seemed +to acquiesce with an air of great indifference. +</p> +<p> +'Ta Duinhe-wassel might please himsell; ta auld rudas loon had never +done Callum nae ill. But here's a bit line frae ta Tighearna, tat he +bade me gie your honour ere I came back.' +</p> +<p> +The letter from the Chief contained Flora's lines on the fate of Captain +Wogan, whose enterprising character is so well drawn by Clarendon. He +had originally engaged in the service of the Parliament, but had abjured +that party upon the execution of Charles I; and upon hearing that the +royal standard was set up by the Earl of Glencairn and General Middleton +in the Highlands of Scotland, took leave of Charles II, who was then +at Paris, passed into England, assembled a body of cavaliers in the +neighbourhood of London, and traversed the kingdom, which had been so +long under domination of the usurper, by marches conducted with such +skill, dexterity, and spirit, that he safely united his handful of +horsemen with the body of Highlanders then in arms. After several months +of desultory warfare, in which Wogan's skill and courage gained him the +highest reputation, he had the misfortune to be wounded in a dangerous +manner, and no surgical assistance being within reach, he terminated his +short but glorious career. +</p> +<p> +Where were obvious reasons why the politic Chieftain was desirous to +place the example of this young hero under the eye of Waverley, with +whose romantic disposition it coincided so peculiarly. But his letter +turned chiefly upon some trifling commissions which Waverley had +promised to execute for him in England, and it was only toward the +conclusion that Edward found these words: 'I owe Flora a grudge for +refusing us her company yesterday; and as I am giving you the trouble +of reading these lines, in order to keep in your memory your promise to +procure me the fishing-tackle and cross-bow from London, I will enclose +her verses on the Grave of Wogan. This I know will tease her; for, to +tell you the truth, I think her more in love with the memory of that +dead hero, than she is likely to be with any living one, unless he +shall tread a similar path. But English squires of our day keep their +oak-trees to shelter their deer-parks, or repair the losses of an +evening at White's, and neither invoke them to wreathe their brows nor +shelter their graves. Let me hope for one brilliant exception in a dear +friend, to whom I would most gladly give a dearer title.' +</p> +<p> +The verses were inscribed, +</p> +<center> +TO AN OAK TREE +</center> +<p> +IN THE CHURCHYARD OF—, IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, SAID TO MARK THE +GRAVE OF CAPTAIN WOGAN, KILLED IN 1649. +</p> +<pre> + Emblem of England's ancient faith, + Full proudly may thy branches wave, + Where loyalty lies low in death, + And valour fills a timeless grave. + + And thou, brave tenant of the tomb! + Repine not if our clime deny, + Above thine honoured sod to bloom, + The flowerets of a milder sky. + + These owe their birth to genial May; + Beneath a fiercer sun they pine, + Before the winter storm decay— + And can their worth be type of thine? + + No! for 'mid storms of Fate opposing, + Still higher swelled thy dauntless heart, + And, while Despair the scene was closing, + Commenced thy brief but brilliant part. + + Twas then thou sought'st on Albyn's hill, + (When England's sons the strife resigned), + A rugged race, resisting still, + And unsubdued though unrefined. + + Thy death's hour heard no kindred wail, + No holy knell thy requiem rung; + Thy mourners were the plaided Gael; + Thy dirge the clamorous pibroch sung. + + Yet who, in Fortune's summer-shine, + To waste life's longest term away, + Would change that glorious dawn of thine, + Though darkened ere its noontide day? + + Be thine the Tree whose dauntless boughs + Brave summer's drought and winter's gloom! + Rome bound with oak her patriots' brows, + As Albyn shadows Wogan's tomb. +</pre> +<p> +Whatever might be the real merit of Flora Mac-Ivor's poetry, +the enthusiasm which it intimated was well calculated to make a +corresponding impression upon her lover. The lines were read—read +again—then deposited in Waverley's bosom—then again drawn out, and +read line by line, in a low and smothered voice, and with frequent +pauses which, prolonged the mental treat, as an epicure protracts, by +sipping slowly the enjoyment of a delicious beverage. The entrance +of Mrs. Cruickshanks, with the sublunary articles of dinner and wine, +hardly interrupted this pantomime of affectionate enthusiasm. +</p> +<p> +At length the tall, ungainly figure and ungracious visage of Ebenezer +presented themselves. The upper part of his form, notwithstanding the +season required no such defence, was shrouded in a large great-coat, +belted over his under habiliments, and crested with a huge cowl of +the same stuff, which, when drawn over the head and hat, completely +over-shadowed both, and being buttoned beneath the chin, was called a +TROT-COZY. His hand grasped a huge jockey-whip, garnished with brass +mounting. His thin legs tenanted a pair of gambadoes, fastened at the +sides with rusty clasps. Thus accoutred, he stalked into the midst of +the apartment, and announced his errand in brief phrase:— +</p> +<p> +'Yerhorses are ready.' +</p> +<p> +'You go with me yourself then, landlord?' +</p> +<p> +'I do, as far as Perth; where you may be supplied With a guide to +Embro', as your occasions shall require.' +</p> +<p> +Thus saying, he placed under Waverley's eye the bill which he held in +his hand; and at the same time, self-invited, filled a glass of wine, +and drank devoutly to a blessing on their journey. Waverley stared +at the man's impudence, but, as their connexion was to be short, and +promised to be convenient, he made no observation upon it; and, having +paid his reckoning, expressed his intention to depart immediately. +He mounted Dermid accordingly, and sallied forth from the Golden +Candlestick, followed by the puritanical figure we have described, +after he had, at the expense of some time and difficulty, and by the +assistance of a 'louping-on-stane,' or structure of masonry erected for +the traveller's convenience in front of the house, elevated his person +to the back of a long-backed, raw-boned, thin-gutted phantom of a +broken-down blood-horse, on which Waverley's portmanteau was deposited. +Our hero, though not in a very gay humour, could hardly help laughing +at the appearance of his new squire, and at imagining the astonishment +which his person and equipage would have excited at Waverley-Honour. +</p> +<p> +Edward's tendency to mirth did not escape mine host of the Candlestick, +who, conscious of the cause, infused a double portion of souring into +the pharisaical leaven of his countenance, and resolved internally +that in one way or other the young ENGLISHER should pay dearly for the +contempt with which he seemed to regard him. Callum also stood at the +gate, and enjoyed, with undissembled glee, the ridiculous figure of +Mr. Cruickshanks. As Waverley passed him, he pulled off his hat +respectfully, and approaching his stirrup, bade him 'Tak heed the auld +Whig deevil played him nae cantrip.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley once more thanked, and bade him farewell, and then rode briskly +onward, not sorry to be out of hearing of the shouts of the children, +as they beheld old Ebenezer rise and sink in his stirrups, to avoid +the concussions occasioned by a hard trot upon a half-paved street. The +village of—was soon several miles behind him. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0030"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXX +</h2> +<h3> + SHOWS THAT THE LOSS OF A HORSE'S SHOE MAY BE A SERIOUS INCONVENIENCE +</h3> +<p> +The manner and air of Waverley, but, above all, the glittering contents +of his purse, and the indifference with which he seemed to regard +them, somewhat overawed his companion, and deterred him from making any +attempts to enter upon conversation. His own reflections were, moreover, +agitated by various surmises, and by plans of self-interest, with which +these were intimately connected. The travellers journeyed, therefore, +in silence, until it was interrupted by the annunciation, on the part of +the guide, that his 'naig had lost a fore-foot shoe, which, doubtless, +his honour would consider it was his part to replace.' +</p> +<p> +This was what lawyers call a FISHING QUESTION, calculated to ascertain +how far Waverley was disposed to submit to petty imposition. 'My part +to replace your horse's shoe, you rascal!' said Waverley, mistaking the +purport of the intimation. +</p> +<p> +'Indubitably,' answered Mr. Cruickshanks; 'though there was no preceese +clause to that effect, it canna be expected that I am to pay for +the casualties whilk may befall the puir naig while in your honour's +service.—Nathless, if your honour—' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, you mean I am to pay the farrier; but where shall we find one?' +</p> +<p> +Rejoiced at discerning there would be no objection made on the part of +his temporary master, Mr. Cruickshanks assured him that Cairnvreckan, +a village which they were about to enter, was happy in an excellent +blacksmith; 'but as he was a professor, he would drive a nail for no +man on the Sabbath, or kirk-fast, unless it were in a case of absolute +necessity, for which he always charged sixpence each shoe.' The most +important part of this communication, in the opinion of the speaker, +made a very slight impression on the hearer, who only internally +wondered what college this veterinary professor belonged to; not aware +that the word was used to denote any person who pretended to uncommon +sanctity of faith and manner. +</p> +<p> +As they entered the village of Cairnvreckan, they speedily distinguished +the smith's house. Being also a PUBLIC, it was two stories high, and +proudly reared its crest, covered with grey slate, above the thatched +hovels by which it was surrounded. The adjoining smithy betokened none +of the Sabbatical silence and repose which Ebenezer had augured from the +sanctity of his friend. On the contrary, hammer clashed and anvil rang, +the bellows groaned, and the whole apparatus of Vulcan appeared to be +in full activity. Nor was the labour of a rural and pacific nature. The +master smith, benempt, as his sign intimated, John Mucklewrath, with two +assistants, toiled busily in arranging, repairing, and furbishing old +muskets, pistols, and swords, which lay scattered around his workshop +in military confusion. The open shed, containing the forge, was crowded +with persons who came and went as if receiving and communicating +important news; and a single glance at the aspect of the people who +traversed the street in haste, or stood assembled in groups, with +eyes elevated, and hands uplifted, announced that some extraordinary +intelligence was agitating the public mind of the municipality of +Cairnvreckan. 'There is some news,' said mine host of the Candlestick, +pushing his lantern-jawed visage and bare-boned nag rudely forward into +the crowd—'there is some news; and if it please my Creator, I will +forthwith obtain speirings thereof.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley, with better regulated curiosity than his attendant's, +dismounted, and gave his horse to a boy who stood idling near. It arose, +perhaps, from the shyness of his character in early youth, that he felt +dislike at applying to a stranger even for casual information, without +previously glancing at his physiognomy and appearance. While he looked +about in order to select the person with whom he would most willingly +hold communication, the buzz around saved him in some degree the trouble +of interrogatories. The names of Lochiel, Clanronald, Glengarry, and +other distinguished Highland Chiefs, among whom Vich Ian Vohr was +repeatedly mentioned, were as familiar in men's mouths as household +words; and from the alarm generally expressed, he easily conceived that +their descent into the Lowlands, at the head of their armed tribes, had +either already taken place, or was instantly apprehended. +</p> +<p> +Ere Waverley could ask particulars, a strong, large-boned, hard-featured +woman, about forty, dressed as if her clothes had been flung on with +a pitchfork, her cheeks flushed with a scarlet red where they were +not smutted with soot and lamp-black, jostled through the crowd, and, +brandishing high a child of two years old, which she danced in her +arms, without regard to its screams of terror, sang forth, with all her +might,— +</p> +<pre> + 'Charlie is my darling, my darling, my darling, + Charlie is my darling, + The young Chevalier! +</pre> +<p> +'D'ye hear what's come ower ye now,' continued the virago, 'ye whingeing +Whig carles? D'ye hear wha's coming to cow yer cracks? +</p> +<pre> + Little wot ye wha's coming, + Little wot ye wha's coming, + A' the wild Macraws are coming.' +</pre> +<p> +The Vulcan of Cairnvreckan, who acknowledged his Venus in this exulting +Bacchante, regarded her with a grim and ire-foreboding countenance, +while some of the senators of the village hastened to interpose. +'Whisht, gudewife; is this a time, or is this a day, to be singing your +ranting fule sangs in?—a time when the wine of wrath is poured out +without mixture in the cup of indignation, and a day when the land +should give testimony against popery, and prelacy, and quakerism, and +independency, and supremacy, and erastianism, and antinomianism, and a' +the errors of the church?' +</p> +<p> +'And that's a' your Whiggery,' re-echoed the Jacobite heroine; 'that's +a' your Whiggery, and your presbytery, ye cut-lugged, graning carles! +What! d'ye think the lads wi' the kilts will care for yer synods and +yer presbyteries, and yer buttock-mail, and yer stool o' repentance? +Vengeance on the black face o't! Mony an honester woman's been set upon +it than streeks doon beside ony Whig in the country. I mysell'— +</p> +<p> +Here John Mucklewrath, who dreaded her entering upon a detail of +personal experience, interposed his matrimonial authority. 'Gae hame, +and be d— (that I should say sae), and put on the sowens for supper.' +</p> +<p> +'And you, ye doil'd dotard,' replied his gentle helpmate, her wrath, +which had hitherto wandered abroad over the whole assembly, being at +once and violently impelled into its natural channel, 'ye stand +there hammering dog-heads for fules that will never snap them at a +Highlandman, instead, of earning bread for your family, and shoeing this +winsome young gentleman's horse that's just come frae the north! I'se +warrant him nane of your whingeing King George folk, but a gallant +Gordon, at the least o' him.' +</p> +<p> +The eyes of the assembly were now turned upon Waverley, who took the +opportunity to beg the smith to shoe his guide's horse with all speed, +as he wished to proceed on his journey;—for he had heard enough to make +him sensible that there would be danger in delaying long in this place. +The smith's eye rested on him with a look of displeasure and suspicion, +not lessened by the eagerness with which his wife enforced Waverley's +mandate. 'D'ye hear what the weel-favoured young gentleman says, ye +drunken ne'er-do-good?' +</p> +<p> +And what may your name be, sir?' quoth Mucklewrath. +</p> +<p> +'It is of no consequence to you, my friend, provided I pay your labour.' +</p> +<p> +'But it may be of consequence to the state, sir,' replied an old farmer, +smelling strongly of whisky and peat-smoke; 'and I doubt we maun delay +your journey till you have seen the Laird.' +</p> +<p> +'You certainly,' said Waverley, haughtily, 'will find it both difficult +and dangerous to detain me, unless you can produce some proper +authority.' +</p> +<p> +There was a pause and a whisper among the crowd—'Secretary Murray;' +'Lord Lewis Gordon;' 'Maybe the Chevalier himsell!' Such were the +surmises that passed hurriedly among them, and there was obviously an +increased disposition to resist Waverley's departure. He attempted to +argue mildly with them, but his voluntary ally, Mrs. Mucklewrath, broke +in upon and drowned his expostulations, taking his part with an abusive +violence, which was all set down to Edward's account by those on whom it +was bestowed. 'YE'LL stop ony gentleman that's the Prince's freend?' +for she too, though with other feelings, had adopted the general opinion +respecting Waverley. 'I daur ye to touch him,' spreading abroad her long +and muscular fingers, garnished with claws which a vulture might have +envied. 'I'll set my ten commandments in the face o' the first loon that +lays a finger on him.' +</p> +<p> +'Gae hame, gudewife, quoth the farmer aforesaid; 'it wad better set you +to be nursing the gudeman's bairns than to be deaving us here.' +</p> +<p> +'HIS bairns!' retorted the amazon, regarding her husband with a grin of +ineffable contempt—'HIS bairns! +</p> +<pre> + O gin ye were dead, gudeman, + And a green turf on your head, gudeman! + Then I would ware my widowhood + Upon a ranting Highlandman.' +</pre> +<p> +This canticle, which excited a suppressed titter among the younger part +of the audience, totally overcame the patience of the taunted man of the +anvil. 'Deil be in me but I'll put this het gad down her throat!' cried +he, in an ecstasy of wrath, snatching a bar from the forge; and he might +have executed his threat, had he not been withheld by a part of the mob; +while the rest endeavoured to force the termagant out of his presence. +</p> +<p> +Waverley meditated a retreat in the confusion, but his horse was nowhere +to be seen. At length he observed, at some distance, his faithful +attendant, Ebenezer, who, as soon as he had perceived the turn matters +were likely to take, had withdrawn both horses from the press, and, +mounted on the one, and holding the other, answered the loud and +repeated calls of Waverley for his horse—'Na, na! if ye are nae friend +to kirk and the king, and are detained as siccan a person, ye maun +answer to honest men of the country for breach of contract; and I maun +keep the naig and the walise for damage and expense, in respect my +horse and mysell will lose to-morrow's day's-wark, besides the afternoon +preaching.' +</p> +<p> +Edward, out of patience, hemmed in and hustled by the rabble on every +side, and every moment expecting personal violence, resolved to +try measures of intimidation, and at length drew a pocket-pistol, +threatening, on the one hand, to shoot whomsoever dared to stop him, +and, on the other, menacing Ebenezer with a similar doom, if he stirred +a foot with the horses. The sapient Partridge says, that one man with a +pistol is equal to a hundred unarmed, because, though he can shoot but +one of the multitude, yet no one knows but that he himself may be that +luckless individual. The levy en masse of Cairnvreckan would therefore +probably have given way, nor would Ebenezer, whose natural paleness had +waxed three shades more cadaverous, have ventured to dispute a mandate +so enforced, had not the Vulcan of the village, eager to discharge upon +some more worthy object the fury which his helpmate had provoked, and +not ill satisfied to find such an object in Waverley, rushed at him with +the red-hot bar of iron, with such determination as made the discharge +of his pistol an act of self-defence. The unfortunate man fell; and +while Edward, thrilled with a natural horror at the incident, neither +had presence of mind to unsheathe his sword nor to draw his remaining +pistol, the populace threw themselves upon him, disarmed him, and were +about to use him with great violence, when the appearance of a venerable +clergyman, the pastor of the parish, put a curb on their fury. +</p> +<p> +This worthy man (none of the Goukthrapples or Rentowels) maintained his +character with the common people, although he preached the practical +fruits of Christian faith, as well as its abstract tenets, and was +respected by the higher orders, notwithstanding he declined soothing +their speculative errors by converting the pulpit of the gospel into a +school of heathen morality. Perhaps it is owing to this mixture of faith +and practice in his doctrine, that, although his memory has formed a +sort of era in the annals of Cairnvreckan, so that the parishioners, to +denote what befell Sixty Years since, still say it happened 'in good Mr. +Morton's time,' I have never been able to discover which he belonged to, +the evangelical, or the moderate party in the kirk. Nor do I hold the +circumstance of much moment, since, in my own remembrance, the one was +headed by an Erskine, the other by a Robertson. [The Rev. John Erskine, +D.D., an eminent Scottish divine, and a most excellent man, headed +the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland at the time when the +celebrated Dr. Robertson, the historian, was the leader of the Moderate +party. These two distinguished persons were colleagues in the Old Grey +Friars' Church, Edinburgh; and, however much they differed in church +politics, preserved the most perfect harmony as private friends, and as +clergymen serving the same cure.] +</p> +<p> +Mr. Morton had been alarmed by the discharge of the pistol, and the +increasing hubbub around the smithy. His first attention, after he had +directed the bystanders to detain Waverley, but to abstain from injuring +him, was turned to the body of Mucklewrath, over which his wife, in a +revulsion of feeling, was weeping, howling, and tearing her elf-locks, +in a state little short of distraction. On raising up the smith, the +first discovery was, that he was alive; and the next, that he was likely +to live as long as if he had never heard the report of a pistol in his +life. He had made a narrow escape, however; the bullet had grazed his +head, and stunned him for a moment or two, which trance terror and +confusion of spirit had prolonged, somewhat longer. He now arose +to demand vengeance on the person of Waverley, and with difficulty +acquiesced in the proposal of Mr. Morton, that he should be carried +before the laird, as a justice of peace, and placed at his disposal. The +rest of the assistants unanimously agreed to the measure recommended; +even Mrs. Mucklewrath, who had begun to recover from her hysterics, +whimpered forth, 'She wadna say naething against what the minister +proposed; he was e'en ower gude for his trade, and she hoped to see him +wi' a dainty decent bishop's gown on his back; a comelier sight than +your Geneva cloaks and bands, I wis.' +</p> +<p> +All controversy being thus laid aside, Waverley, escorted by the whole +inhabitants of the village who were not bed-ridden, was conducted to the +house of Cairnvreckan, which was about half a mile distant. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0031"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXI +</h2> +<h3> + AN EXAMINATION +</h3> +<p> +Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, an elderly gentleman, who had spent his +youth in the military service, received Mr. Morton with great kindness, +and our hero with civility, which the equivocal circumstances wherein +Edward was placed rendered constrained and distant. +</p> +<p> +The nature of the smith's hurt was inquired into, and as the actual +injury was likely to prove trifling, and the circumstances in which it +was received rendered the infliction, on Edward's part, a natural act +of self-defence, the Major conceived he might dismiss that matter, on +Waverley's depositing in his hands a small sum for the benefit of the +wounded person. +</p> +<p> +'I could wish, sir,' continued the Major, 'that my duty terminated here; +but it is necessary that we should have some further inquiry into +the cause of your journey through the country at this unfortunate and +distracted time.' +</p> +<p> +Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks now stood forth, and communicated to the +magistrate all he knew or suspected, from the reserve of Waverley, and +the evasions of Callum Beg. The horse upon which Edward rode, he said he +knew to belong to Vich Ian Vohr, though he dared not tax Edward's former +attendant with the fact, lest he should have his house and stables +burnt over his head some night by that godless gang, the Mac-Ivors. He +concluded by exaggerating his own services to kirk and state, as having +been the means, under God (as he modestly qualified the assertion), of +attaching this suspicious and formidable delinquent. He intimated hopes +of future reward, and of instant reimbursement for loss of time, and +even of character, by travelling on the state business on the fast-day. +</p> +<p> +To this Major Melville answered, with great composure, that so far from +claiming any merit in this affair, Mr. Cruickshanks ought to deprecate +the imposition of a very heavy fine for neglecting to lodge, in terms of +the recent proclamation, an account with the nearest magistrate of any +stranger who came to his inn; that as Mr. Cruickshanks boasted so +much of religion and loyalty, he should not impute this conduct to +disaffection, but only suppose that his zeal for kirk and state had +been lulled asleep by the opportunity of charging a stranger with double +horse-hire; that, however, feeling himself incompetent to decide singly +upon the conduct of a person of such importance, he should reserve it +for consideration of the next quarter-sessions. Now our history for the +present saith no more of him of the Candlestick, who wended dolorous and +malcontent back to his own dwelling. +</p> +<p> +Major Melville then commanded the villagers to return to their homes, +excepting two, who officiated as constables, and whom he directed to +wait below. The apartment was thus cleared of every person but Mr. +Morton, whom the Major invited to remain; a sort of factor, who acted +as clerk; and Waverley himself. There ensued a painful and embarrassed +pause, till Major Melville, looking upon Waverley with much compassion, +and often consulting a paper or memorandum which he held in his hand, +requested to know his name.—'Edward Waverley.' +</p> +<p> +'I thought so; late of the—dragoons, and nephew of Sir Everard Waverley +of Waverley-Honour?' +</p> +<p> +'The same.' +</p> +<p> +'Young gentleman, I am extremely sorry that this painful duty has fallen +to my lot.' +</p> +<p> +'Duty, Major Melville, renders apologies superfluous.' +</p> +<p> +'True, sir; permit me, therefore, to ask you how your time has been +disposed of since you obtained leave of absence from your regiment, +several weeks ago, until the present moment?' +</p> +<p> +'My reply,' said Waverley, 'to so general a question must be guided by +the nature of the charge which renders it necessary. I request to know +what that charge is, and upon what authority I am forcibly detained to +reply to it?' +</p> +<p> +'The charge, Mr. Waverley, I grieve to say, is of a very high nature, +and affects your character both as a soldier and a subject. In the +former capacity, you are charged with spreading mutiny and rebellion +among the men you commanded, and setting them the example of desertion, +by prolonging your own absence from the regiment, contrary to the +express orders of your commanding-officer. The civil crime of which you +stand accused is that of high treason, and levying war against the king, +the highest delinquency of which a subject can be guilty.' +</p> +<p> +'And by what authority am I detained to reply to such heinous +calumnies?' +</p> +<p> +'By one which you must not dispute, nor I disobey.' +</p> +<p> +He handed to Waverley a warrant from the Supreme Criminal Court of +Scotland, in full form, for apprehending and securing the person of +Edward Waverley, Esq., suspected of treasonable practices and other high +crimes and misdemeanours. +</p> +<p> +The astonishment which Waverley expressed at this communication was +imputed by Major Melville to conscious guilt, while Mr. Morton was +rather disposed to construe it into the surprise of innocence unjustly +suspected. There was something true in both conjectures; for although +Edward's mind acquitted him of the crime with which he was charged, +yet a hasty review of his own conduct convinced him he might have great +difficulty in establishing his innocence to the satisfaction of others. +</p> +<p> +'It is a very painful part of this painful business,' said Major +Melville, after a pause, 'that, under so grave a charge, I must +necessarily request to see such papers as you have on your person.' +</p> +<p> +'You shall, sir, without reserve,' said Edward, throwing his pocket-book +and memorandums upon the table; 'there is but one with which I could +wish you would dispense.' +</p> +<p> +'I am afraid, Mr. Waverley, I can indulge you with no reservation.' +</p> +<p> +'You shall see it then, sir; and as it can be of no service, I beg it +may be returned.' +</p> +<p> +He took from his bosom the lines he had that morning received, and +presented them with the envelope. The Major perused them in silence, and +directed his clerk to make a copy of them. He then wrapped the copy +in the envelope, and placing it on the table before him, returned the +original to Waverley, with an air of melancholy gravity. +</p> +<p> +After indulging the prisoner, for such our hero must now be considered, +with what he thought a reasonable time for reflection, Major Melville +resumed his examination, premising, that as Mr. Waverley seemed to +object to general questions, his interrogatories should be as specific +as his information permitted. He then proceeded in his investigation, +dictating, as he went on, the import of the questions and answers to the +amanuensis, by whom it was written down. +</p> +<p> +Did Mr. Waverley know one Humphry Houghton, a non-commissioned officer +in Gardiner's dragoons?' +</p> +<p> +'Certainly; he was sergeant of my troop, and son of a tenant of my +uncle.' +</p> +<p> +'Exactly—and had a considerable share of your confidence, and an +influence among his comrades?' +</p> +<p> +'I had never occasion to repose confidence in a person of his +description,' answered Waverley. 'I favoured Sergeant Houghton as a +clever, active young fellow, and I believe his fellow soldiers respected +him accordingly.' +</p> +<p> +'But you used through this man,' answered Major Melville, 'to +communicate with such of your troop as were recruited upon +Waverley-Honour?' +</p> +<p> +'Certainly; the poor fellows, finding themselves in a regiment chiefly +composed of Scotch or Irish, looked up to me in any of their little +distresses, and naturally made their countryman, and sergeant, their +spokesman on such occasions.' +</p> +<p> +'Sergeant Houghton's influence,' continued the Major, 'extended, then, +particularly over those soldiers who followed you to the regiment from +your uncle's estate?' +</p> +<p> +'Surely;—but what is that to the present purpose?' +</p> +<p> +'To that I am just coming, and I beseech your candid reply. Have you, +since leaving the regiment, held any correspondence, direct or indirect, +with this Sergeant Houghton?' +</p> +<p> +'I!—I hold correspondence with a man of his rank and situation!—How, +or for what purpose?' +</p> +<p> +'That you are to explain;—but did you not, for example, send to him for +some books?' +</p> +<p> +'You remind me of a trifling commission,' said Waverley, 'which I gave +Sergeant Houghton, because my servant could not read. I do recollect I +bade him, by letter, select some books, of which I sent him a list, and +send them to me at Tully-Veolan.' +</p> +<p> +'And of what description were those books?' +</p> +<p> +'They related almost entirely to elegant literature; they were designed +for a lady's perusal.' +</p> +<p> +'Were there not, Mr. Waverley, treasonable tracts and pamphlets among +them?' +</p> +<p> +'There were some political treatises, into which I hardly looked. They +had been sent to me by the officiousness of a kind friend, whose heart +is more to be esteemed than his prudence or political sagacity; they +seemed to be dull compositions.' +</p> +<p> +'That friend,' continued the persevering inquirer, 'was a Mr. Pembroke, +a nonjuring clergyman, the author of two treasonable works, of which the +manuscripts were found among your baggage?' +</p> +<p> +'But of which, I give you my honour as a gentleman,' replied Waverley, +'I never read six pages.' +</p> +<p> +'I am not your judge, Mr. Waverley; your examination will be transmitted +elsewhere. And now to proceed—Do you know a person that passes by the +name of Wily Will, or Will Ruthven?' +</p> +<p> +'I never heard of such a name till this moment.' +</p> +<p> +'Did you never, through such a person, or any other person, communicate +with Sergeant Humphry Houghton, instigating him to desert, with as +many of his comrades as he could seduce to join him, and unite with the +Highlanders and other rebels now in arms under the command of the young +Pretender?' +</p> +<p> +'I assure you I am not only entirely guiltless of the plot you have laid +to my charge, but I detest it from the very bottom of my soul, nor would +I be guilty of such treachery to gain a throne, either for myself or any +other man alive.' +</p> +<p> +'Yet when I consider this envelope, in the handwriting of one of those +misguided gentlemen who are now in arms against their country, and the +verses which it enclosed, I cannot but find some analogy between the +enterprise I have mentioned and the exploit of Wogan, which the writer +seems to expect you should imitate.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley was struck with the coincidence, but denied that the wishes +or expectations of the letter-writer were to be regarded as proofs of a +charge otherwise chimerical. +</p> +<p> +'But, if I am rightly informed, your time was spent, during your absence +from the regiment, between the house of this Highland Chieftain, +and that of Mr. Bradwardine of Bradwardine, also in arms for this +unfortunate cause?' +</p> +<p> +'I do not mean to disguise it; but I do deny, most resolutely, being +privy to any of their designs against the Government.' +</p> +<p> +'You do not, however, I presume, intend to deny, that you attended your +host Glennaquoich to a rendezvous, where, under a pretence of a general +hunting-match, most of the accomplices of his treason were assembled to +concert measures for taking arms?' +</p> +<p> +'I acknowledge having been at such a meeting,' said Waverley; 'but I +neither heard nor saw anything which could give it the character you +affix to it.' +</p> +<p> +'From thence you proceeded,' continued the magistrate, 'with +Glennaquoich and a part of his clan, to join the army of the young +Pretender, and returned, after having paid your homage to him, to +discipline and arm the remainder, and unite them to his bands on their +way southward?' +</p> +<p> +'I never went with Glennaquoich on such an errand. I never so much as +heard that the person whom you mention was in the country.' +</p> +<p> +He then detailed the history of his misfortune at the hunting-match, +and added, that on his return he found himself suddenly deprived of his +commission and did not deny that he then, for the first time, observed +symptoms which indicated a disposition in the Highlanders to take arms; +but added, that having no inclination to join their cause, and no longer +any reason for remaining in Scotland, he was now on his return to his +native country, to which he had been summoned by those who had a right +to direct his motions, as Major Melville would perceive from the letters +on the table. +</p> +<p> +Major Melville accordingly perused the letters of Richard Waverley, of +Sir Everard, and of Aunt Rachel; but the inferences he drew from them +were different from what Waverley expected. They held the language of +discontent with Government, threw out no obscure hints of revenge; and +that of poor Aunt Rachel, which plainly asserted the justice of the +Stuart cause, was held to contain the open avowal of what the others +only ventured to insinuate. +</p> +<p> +'Permit me another question, Mr. Waverley,' said Major Melville. 'Did +you not receive repeated letters from your commanding-officer, warning +you and commanding you to return to your post, and acquainting you with +the use made of your name to spread discontent among your soldiers?' +</p> +<p> +'I never did, Major Melville. One letter, indeed, I received from him, +containing a civil intimation of his wish that I would employ my leave +of absence otherwise than in constant residence at Bradwardine, as to +which, I own, I thought he was not called on to interfere; and, finally, +I received, on the same day on which I observed myself superseded in the +Gazette, a second letter from Colonel Gardiner, commanding me to join +the regiment,—an order which, owing to my absence, already mentioned +and accounted for, I received too late to be obeyed. If there were any +intermediate letters—and certainly, from the Colonel's high character, +I think it probable that there were—they have never reached me.' +</p> +<p> +'I have omitted, Mr. Waverley,' continued Major Melville, 'to inquire +after a matter of less consequence, but which has nevertheless been +publicly talked of to your disadvantage. It is said that a treasonable +toast having been proposed in your hearing and presence, you, holding +his Majesty's commission, suffered the task of resenting it to devolve +upon another gentleman of the company. This, sir, cannot be charged +against you in a court of justice; but if, as I am informed, the +officers of your regiment requested an explanation of such a rumour, +as a gentleman and soldier, I cannot but be surprised that you did not +afford it to them.' +</p> +<p> +This was too much. Beset and pressed on every hand by accusations, in +which gross falsehoods were blended with such circumstances of truth +as could not fail to procure them credit,—alone, unfriended, and in a +strange land, Waverley almost gave up his life and honour for lost, and, +leaning his head upon his hand, resolutely refused to answer any further +questions, since the fair and candid statement he had already made had +only served to furnish arms against him. +</p> +<p> +Without expressing either surprise or displeasure at the change in +Waverley's manner, Major Melville proceeded composedly to put several +other queries to him. 'What does it avail me to answer you?' said +Edward, sullenly. 'You appear convinced of my guilt, and wrest every +reply I have made to support your own preconceived opinion. Enjoy your +supposed triumph, then, and torment me no further. If I am capable of +the cowardice and treachery your charge burdens me with, I am not worthy +to be believed in any reply I can make to you. If I am not deserving of +your suspicion—and God and my own conscience bear evidence with me +that it is so—then I do not see why I should, by my candour, lend my +accusers arms against my innocence. There is no reason I should answer +a word more, and I am determined to abide by this resolution.' And again +he resumed his posture of sullen and determined silence. +</p> +<p> +'Allow me,' said the magistrate, 'to remind you of one reason that may +suggest the propriety of a candid and open confession. The inexperience +of youth, Mr. Waverley, lays it open to the plans of the more designing +and artful; and one of your friends at least—I mean Mac-Ivor of +Glennaquoich—ranks high in the latter class, as, from your apparent +ingenuousness, youth, and unacquaintance with the manners of the +Highlands, I should be disposed to place you among the former. In such +a case, a false step, or error like yours, which I shall be happy to +consider as involuntary, may be atoned for, and I would willingly act as +intercessor. But as you must necessarily be acquainted with the strength +of the individuals in this country who have assumed arms, with their +means, and with their plans, I must expect you will merit this mediation +on my part by a frank and candid avowal of all that has come to your +knowledge upon these heads. In which case, I think I can venture to +promise that a very short personal restraint will be the only ill +consequence that can arise from your accession to these unhappy +intrigues.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley listened with great composure until the end of this +exhortation, when, springing from his seat, with an energy he had not +yet displayed, he replied, 'Major Melville, since that is your name, +I have hitherto answered your questions with candour, or declined them +with temper, because their import concerned myself alone; but as you +presume to esteem me mean enough to commence informer against others, +who received me, whatever may be their public misconduct, as a guest and +friend,—I declare to you that I consider your questions as an insult +infinitely more offensive than your calumnious suspicions; and that, +since my hard fortune permits me no other mode of resenting them than by +verbal defiance, you should sooner have my heart out of my bosom, than +a single syllable of information on subjects which I could only become +acquainted with in the full confidence of unsuspecting hospitality.' +</p> +<p> +Mr. Morton and the Major looked at each other; and the former, who, in +the course of the examination, had been repeatedly troubled with a sorry +rheum, had recourse to his snuff-box and his handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Waverley,' said the Major, 'my present situation prohibits me alike +from giving or receiving offence, and I will not protract a discussion +which approaches to either. I am afraid I must sign a warrant for +detaining you in custody, but this house shall for the present be +your prison. I fear I cannot persuade you to accept a share of our +supper?—(Edward shook his head)—but I will order refreshments in your +apartment. +</p> +<p> +Our hero bowed and withdrew, under guard of the officers of justice, to +a small but handsome room, where, declining all offers of food or wine, +he flung himself on the bed, and, stupefied by the harassing events +and mental fatigue of this miserable day, he sank into a deep and heavy +slumber. This was more than he himself could have expected; but it is +mentioned of the North American Indians, when at the stake of torture, +that on the least intermission of agony, they will sleep until the fire +is applied to awaken them. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0032"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXII +</h2> +<h3> + A CONFERENCE, AND THE CONSEQUENCE +</h3> +<p> +Major Melville had detained Mr. Morton during his examination of +Waverley, both because he thought he might derive assistance from his +practical good sense and approved loyalty, and also because it was +agreeable to have a witness of unimpeached candour and veracity to +proceedings which touched the honour and safety of a young Englishman of +high rank and family, and the expectant heir of a large fortune. Every +step he knew would be rigorously canvassed, and it was his business to +place the justice and integrity of his own conduct beyond the limits of +question. +</p> +<p> +When Waverley retired, the laird and clergyman of Cairnvreckan sat down +in silence to their evening meal. While the servants were in attendance, +neither chose to say anything on the circumstances which occupied their +minds, and neither felt it easy to speak upon any other. The youth and +apparent frankness of Waverley stood in strong contrast to the shades +of suspicion which darkened around him, and he had a sort of NAIVETE and +openness of demeanour, that seemed to belong to one unhackneyed in the +ways of intrigue, and which pleaded highly in his favour. +</p> +<p> +Each mused over the particulars of the examination, and each viewed it +through the medium of his own feelings. Both were men of ready and acute +talent, and both were equally competent to combine various parts of +evidence, and to deduce from them the necessary conclusions. But the +wide difference of their habits and education often occasioned a great +discrepancy in their respective deductions from admitted premises. +</p> +<p> +Major Melville had been versed in camps and cities; he was vigilant by +profession, and cautious from experience; had met with much evil in +the world, and therefore, though himself an upright magistrate and an +honourable man, his opinions of others were always strict, and sometimes +unjustly severe. Mr. Morton, on the contrary, had passed from the +literary pursuits of a college, where he was beloved by his companions, +and respected by his teachers, to the ease and simplicity of his present +charge, where his opportunities of witnessing evil were few, and never +dwelt upon but in order to encourage repentance and amendment; and where +the love and respect of his parishioners repaid his affectionate zeal in +their behalf, by endeavouring to disguise from him what they knew +would give him the most acute pain, namely, their own occasional +transgressions of the duties which it was the business of his life to +recommend. Thus it was a common saying in the neighbourhood (though +both wore popular characters), that the laird knew only the ill in the +parish, and the minister only the good. +</p> +<p> +A love of letters, though kept in subordination to his clerical studies +and duties, also distinguished the pastor of Cairnvreckan, and had +tinged his mind in earlier days with a slight feeling of romance, which +no after incidents of real life had entirely dissipated. The early loss +of an amiable young woman, whom he had married for love, and who was +quickly followed to the grave by an only child, had also served, even +after the lapse of many years, to soften a disposition naturally mild +and contemplative. His feelings on the present occasion were therefore +likely to differ from those of the severe disciplinarian, strict +magistrate, and distrustful man of the world. +</p> +<p> +When the servants had withdrawn, the silence of both parties continued, +until Major Melville, filling his glass, and pushing the bottle to Mr. +Morton, commenced. 'A distressing affair this, Mr. Morton. I fear this +youngster has brought himself within the compass of a halter.' +</p> +<p> +'God forbid!' answered the clergyman. +</p> +<p> +'Marry, and amen,' said the temporal magistrate; 'but I think even your +merciful logic will hardly deny the conclusion.' +</p> +<p> +'Surely, Major,' answered the clergyman, 'I should hope it might be +averted, for aught we have heard to-night?' +</p> +<p> +'Indeed!' replied Melville. 'But, my good parson, you are one of those +who would communicate to every criminal the benefit of clergy.' +</p> +<p> +'Unquestionably I would: mercy and long-suffering are the grounds of the +doctrine I am called to teach.' +</p> +<p> +'True, religiously speaking; but mercy to a criminal may be gross +injustice to the community. I don't speak of this young fellow in +particular, who I heartily wish may be able to clear himself, for I +like both his modesty and his spirit. But I fear he has rushed upon his +fate.' +</p> +<p> +'And why? Hundreds of misguided gentlemen are now in arms against the +Government; many, doubtless, upon principles which education and +early prejudice have gilded with the names of patriotism and +heroism;—Justice, when she selects her victims from such a multitude +(for surely all will not be destroyed), must regard the moral motive. +He whom ambition, or hope of personal advantage, has led to disturb the +peace of a well-ordered government, let him fall a victim to the laws; +but surely youth, misled by the wild visions of chivalry and imaginary +loyalty, may plead for pardon.' +</p> +<p> +'If visionary chivalry and imaginary loyalty come within the predicament +of high treason,' replied the magistrate, 'I know no court in +Christendom, my dear Mr. Morton, where they can sue out their Habeas +Corpus.' +</p> +<p> +'But I cannot see that this youth's guilt is at all established to my +satisfaction,' said the clergyman. +</p> +<p> +'Because your good nature blinds your good sense,' replied Major +Melville. 'Observe now: this young man, descended of a family of +hereditary Jacobites, his uncle the leader of the Tory interest in the +county of—, his father a disobliged and discontented courtier, his +tutor a nonjuror, and the author of two treasonable volumes—this youth, +I say, enters into Gardiner's dragoons, bringing with him a body-of +young fellows from his uncle's estate, who have not stickled at +avowing, in their way, the High Church principles they learned at +Waverley-Honour, in their disputes with their comrades. To these young +men Waverley is unusually attentive; they are supplied with money beyond +a soldier's wants, and inconsistent with his discipline; and are under +the management of a favourite sergeant, through whom they hold an +unusually close communication with their captain, and affect to consider +themselves as independent of the other officers, and superior to their +comrades.' +</p> +<p> +'All this, my dear Major, is the natural consequence of their attachment +to their young landlord, and of their finding themselves in a regiment +levied chiefly in the north of Ireland and the west of Scotland, and of +course among comrades disposed to quarrel with them, both as Englishmen, +and as members of the Church of England.' +</p> +<p> +'Well said, parson!' replied the magistrate.—'I would some of your +synod heard you.—But let me go on. This young man obtains leave +of absence, goes to Tully-Veolan—the principles of the Baron of +Bradwardine are pretty well known, not to mention that this lad's uncle +brought him off in the year fifteen; he engages there in a brawl, in +which he is said to have disgraced the commission he bore; Colonel +Gardiner writes to him, first mildly, then more sharply—I think you +will not doubt his having done so, since he says so; the mess invite +him to explain the quarrel in which he is said to have been involved; he +neither replies to his commander nor his comrades. In the meanwhile, his +soldiers become mutinous and disorderly, and at length, when the rumour +of this unhappy rebellion becomes general, his favourite Sergeant +Houghton, and another fellow, are detected in correspondence with a +French emissary, accredited, as he says, by Captain Waverley, who urges +him, according to the men's confession, to desert with the troop and +join their captain, who was with Prince Charles. In the meanwhile this +trusty captain is, by his own admission, residing at Glennaquoich with +the most active, subtle, and desperate Jacobite in Scotland; he goes +with him at least as far as their famous hunting rendezvous, and I +fear a little farther. Meanwhile two other summonses are sent him; +one warning him of the disturbances in his troop, another peremptorily +ordering him to repair to the regiment, which, indeed, common sense +might have dictated, when he observed rebellion thickening all round +him. He returns an absolute refusal, and throws up his commission.' +</p> +<p> +'He had been already deprived of it,' said Mr. Morton. +</p> +<p> +'But he regrets,' replied Melville, 'that the measure had anticipated +his resignation. His baggage is seized at his quarters, and at +Tully-Veolan, and is found to contain a stock of pestilent jacobitical +pamphlets, enough to poison a whole country, besides the unprinted +lucubrations of his worthy friend and tutor Mr. Pembroke. +</p> +<p> +'He says he never read them,' answered the minister. +</p> +<p> +'In an ordinary case I should believe him,' replied the magistrate, 'for +they are as stupid and pedantic in composition, as mischievous in their +tenets. But can you suppose anything but value for the principles they +maintain would induce a young man of his age to lug such trash about +with him? Then, when news arrive of the approach of the rebels, he sets +out in a sort of disguise, refusing to tell his name; and, if yon old +fanatic tell truth, attended by a very suspicious character, and mounted +on a horse known to have belonged to Glennaquoich, and bearing on his +person letters from his family expressing high rancour against the house +of Brunswick, and a copy of verses in praise of one Wogan, who abjured +the service of the Parliament to join the Highland insurgents, when in +arms to restore the house of Stuart, with a body of English cavalry the +very counterpart of his own plot—and summed up with a "Go thou and +do likewise," from that loyal subject, and most safe and peaceable +character, Fergus Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich, Vich Ian Vohr, and so forth. +And, lastly,' continued Major Melville, warming in the detail of his +arguments, 'where do we find this second edition of Cavalier Wogan? Why, +truly, in the very track most proper for execution of his design, and +pistolling the first of the king's subjects who ventures to question his +intentions.' +</p> +<p> +Mr. Morton prudently abstained from argument, which he perceived would +only harden the magistrate in his opinion, and merely asked how he +intended to dispose of the prisoner? +</p> +<p> +'It is a question of some difficulty, considering the state of the +country,' said Major Melville. +</p> +<p> +'Could you not detain him (being such a gentleman-like young man) here +in your own house, out of harm's way, till this storm blow over?' +</p> +<p> +'My good friend,' said Major Melville, 'neither your house nor mine will +be long out of harm's way, even were it legal to confine him here. I +have just learned that the commander-in-chief, who marched into the +Highlands to seek out and disperse the insurgents, has declined giving +them battle at Corryerick, and marched on northward with all the +disposable force of Government to Inverness, John-o'-Groat's House, or +the devil, for what I know, leaving the road to the Low Country open and +undefended to the Highland army.' +</p> +<p> +'Good God!' said the clergyman. 'Is the man a coward, a traitor, or an +idiot?' +</p> +<p> +'None of the three, I believe,' answered Melville. 'Sir John has the +commonplace courage of a common soldier, is honest enough, does what he +is commanded, and understands what is told him, but is as fit to act for +himself in circumstances of importance, as I, my dear parson, to occupy +your pulpit.' +</p> +<p> +This important public intelligence naturally diverted the discourse from +Waverley for some time; at length, however, the subject was resumed. +</p> +<p> +'I believe,' said Major Melville, 'that I must give this young man in +charge to some of the detached parties of armed volunteers, who were +lately sent out to overawe the disaffected districts, They are now +recalled towards Stirling, and a small body comes this way to-morrow or +next day, commanded by the westland man,—what's his name?—You saw him, +and said he was the very model of one of Cromwell's military saints,' +</p> +<p> +Gilfillan, the Cameronian,' answered Mr. Morton. 'I wish the young +gentleman may be safe with him. Strange things are done in the heat and +hurry of minds in so agitating a crisis, and I fear Gilfillan is of a +sect which has suffered persecution without learning mercy.' +</p> +<p> +'He has only to lodge Mr. Waverley in Stirling Castle,' said the Major: +'I will give strict injunctions to treat him well. I really cannot +devise any better mode for securing him, and I fancy you would hardly +advise me to encounter the responsibility of setting him at liberty.' +</p> +<p> +'But you will have no objection to my seeing him tomorrow in private?' +said the minister. +</p> +<p> +'None, certainly; your loyalty and character are my warrant. But with +what view do you make the request?' +</p> +<p> +'Simply,' replied Mr. Morton, 'to make the experiment whether he may not +be brought to communicate to me some circumstances which may hereafter +be useful to alleviate, if not to exculpate his conduct.' +</p> +<p> +The friends now parted and retired to rest, each filled with the most +anxious reflections on the state of the country. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0033"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIII +</h2> +<h3> + A CONFIDANT +</h3> +<p> +Waverley awoke in the morning, from troubled dreams and unrefreshing +slumbers, to a full consciousness of the horrors of his situation. How +it might terminate he knew not. He might be delivered up to military +law, which, in the midst of civil war, was not likely to be scrupulous +in the choice of its victims, or the quality of the evidence. Nor did he +feel much more comfortable at the thoughts of a trial before a Scottish +court of justice, where he knew the laws and forms differed in many +respects from those of England, and had been taught to believe, however +erroneously, that the liberty and rights of the subject were less +carefully protected. A sentiment of bitterness rose in his mind against +the Government, which he considered as the cause of his embarrassment +and peril, and he cursed internally his scrupulous rejection of +Mac-Ivor's invitation to accompany him to the field. +</p> +<p> +'Why did not I,' he said to himself, 'like other men of honour, take the +earliest opportunity to welcome to Britain the descendant of her ancient +kings, and lineal heir of her throne? Why did not I +</p> +<pre> + Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, + And welcome home again discarded faith, + Seek out Prince Charles, and fall before his feet? +</pre> +<p> +All that has been recorded of excellence and worth in the house of +Waverley has been founded upon their loyal faith to the house of Stuart. +From the interpretation which this Scotch magistrate has put upon +the letters of my uncle and father, it is plain that I ought to have +understood them as marshalling me to the course of my ancestors; and it +has been my gross dullness, joined to the obscurity of expression which +they adopted for the sake of security, that has confounded my judgement. +Had I yielded to the first generous impulse of indignation when I +learned that my honour was practised upon, how different had been my +present situation! I had then been free and in arms, fighting, like my +forefathers, for love, for loyalty, and for fame. And now I am here, +netted and in the toils, at the disposal of a suspicious, stern, +and cold-hearted man, perhaps to be turned over to the solitude of a +dungeon, or the infamy of a public execution. O Fergus! how true has +your prophecy proved; and how speedy, how very speedy, has been its +accomplishment!' +</p> +<p> +While Edward was ruminating on these painful subjects of contemplation, +and very naturally, though not quite so justly, bestowing upon the +reigning dynasty that blame which was due to chance, or, in part at +least, to his own unreflecting conduct, Mr. Morton availed himself of +Major Melville's permission to pay him an early visit. +</p> +<p> +Waverley's first impulse was to intimate a desire that he might not +be disturbed with questions or conversation; but he suppressed it upon +observing the benevolent and reverend appearance of the clergyman who +had rescued him from the immediate violence of the villagers. +</p> +<p> +'I believe, sir,' said the unfortunate young man, 'that in any other +circumstances I should have had as much gratitude to express to you as +the safety of my life may be worth; but such is the present tumult of +my mind, and such is my anticipation of what I am yet likely to endure, +that I can hardly offer you thanks for your interposition.' +</p> +<p> +Mr. Morton replied, that, far from making any claim upon his good +opinion, his only wish and the sole purpose of his visit was to find +out the means of deserving it. 'My excellent friend, Major Melville,' he +continued, 'has feelings and duties as a soldier and public functionary, +by which I am not fettered; nor can I always coincide in opinions which +he forms, perhaps with too little allowance for the imperfections of +human nature. He paused, and then proceeded: 'I do not intrude myself +on your confidence, Mr. Waverley, for the purpose of learning any +circumstances, the knowledge of which can be prejudicial either to +yourself or to others; but I own my earnest wish is, that you would +entrust me with any particulars which could lead to your exculpation. I +can solemnly assure you they will be deposited with a faithful, and, to +the extent of his limited powers, a zealous agent.' +</p> +<p> +'You are, sir, I presume, a Presbyterian clergyman?'—Mr. Morton +bowed.—'Were I to be guided by the prepossessions of education, I might +distrust your friendly professions in my case; but I have observed +that similar prejudices are nourished in this country against your +professional brethren of the Episcopal persuasion, and I am willing to +believe them equally unfounded in both cases.' +</p> +<p> +'Evil to him that thinks otherwise,' said Mr. Morton; 'or who holds +church government and ceremonies as the exclusive gage of Christian +faith or moral virtue.' +</p> +<p> +'But,' continued Waverley, 'I cannot perceive why I should trouble you +with a detail of particulars, out of which, after revolving them as +carefully as possible in my recollection, I find myself unable to +explain much of what is charged against me. I know, indeed, that I am +innocent, but I hardly see how I can hope to prove myself so.' +</p> +<p> +'It is for that very reason, Mr. Waverley,' said the clergyman, 'that I +venture to solicit your confidence. My knowledge of individuals in +this country is pretty general, and can upon occasion be extended. +Your situation will, I fear, preclude you taking those active steps for +recovering intelligence, or tracing imposture, which I would willingly +undertake in your behalf; and if you are not benefited by my exertions, +at least they cannot be prejudicial to you.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley, after a few minutes' reflection, was convinced that his +reposing confidence in Mr. Morton, so far as he himself was concerned, +could hurt neither Mr. Bradwardine nor Fergus Mac-Ivor, both of whom had +openly assumed arms against the Government, and that it might possibly, +if the professions of his new friend corresponded in sincerity with +the earnestness of his expression, be of some service to himself. He +therefore ran briefly over most of the events with which the reader +is already acquainted, suppressing his attachment to Flora, and indeed +neither mentioning her nor Rose Bradwardine in the course of his +narrative. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Morton seemed particularly struck with the account of Waverley's +visit to Donald Bean Lean. 'I am glad,' he said, 'you did not mention +this circumstance to the Major. It is capable of great misconstruction +on the part; of those who do not consider the power of curiosity and the +influence of romance as motives of youthful conduct. When I was a young +man like you, Mr. Waverley, any such hair-brained expedition (I beg your +pardon for the expression) would have had inexpressible charms for me. +But there are men in the world who will not believe that danger +and fatigue are often incurred without any very adequate cause, and +therefore who are sometimes led to assign motives of action entirely +foreign to the truth. This man Bean Lean is renowned through the country +as a sort of Robin Hood, and the stories which are told of his address +and enterprise are the common tales of the winter fireside. He certainly +possesses talents beyond the rude sphere in which he moves; and, being +neither destitute of ambition nor encumbered with scruples, he will +probably attempt, by every means, to distinguish himself during the +period of these unhappy commotions.' Mr. Morton then made a careful +memorandum of the various particulars of Waverley's interview with +Donald Bean Lean, and the other circumstances which he had communicated. +</p> +<p> +The interest which this good man seemed to take in his +misfortunes,—above all, the full confidence he appeared to repose in +his innocence,—had the natural effect of softening Edward's heart, whom +the coldness of Major Melville had taught to believe that the world +was leagued to oppress him. He shook Mr. Morton warmly by the hand, and +assuring him that his kindness and sympathy had relieved his mind of a +heavy load, told him, that whatever might be his own fate, he belonged +to a family who had both gratitude and the power of displaying it. +</p> +<p> +The earnestness of his thanks called drops to the eyes of the worthy +clergyman, who was doubly interested in the cause for which he had +volunteered his services, by observing the genuine and undissembled +feelings of his young friend. +</p> +<p> +Edward now inquired if Mr. Morton knew what was likely to be his +destination. +</p> +<p> +'Stirling Castle,' replied his friend; 'and so far I am well pleased +for your sake, for the governor is a man of honour and humanity. But +I am more doubtful of your treatment upon the road; Major Melville is +involuntarily obliged to entrust the custody of your person to another.' +</p> +<p> +'I am glad of it,' answered Waverley. 'I detest that cold-blooded +calculating Scotch magistrate. I hope he and I shall never meet more: +he had neither sympathy with my innocence nor my wretchedness; and the +petrifying accuracy with which he attended to every form of civility, +while he tortured me by his questions, his suspicions, and his +inferences, was as tormenting as the racks of the Inquisition. Do not +vindicate him, my dear sir, for that I cannot bear with patience; tell +me rather who is to have the charge of so important a state prisoner as +I am.' +</p> +<p> +'I believe a person called Gilfillan, one of the sect who are termed +Cameronians.' +</p> +<p> +'I never heard of them before.' +</p> +<p> +'They claim,' said the clergyman, 'to represent the more strict and +severe Presbyterians, who in Charles Second's and James Second's days, +refused to profit by the Toleration, or Indulgence, as it was called, +which was extended to others of that religion. They held conventicles in +the open fields, and being treated, with great violence and cruelty by +the Scottish government, more than once took arms during those reigns. +They take their name from their leader, Richard Cameron. +</p> +<p> +'I recollect,' said Waverley; 'but did not the triumph of Presbytery at +the Revolution extinguish that sect?' +</p> +<p> +'By no means,' replied Morton; 'that great event fell yet far short +of what they proposed, which was nothing less than the complete +establishment of the Presbyterian Church, upon the grounds of the old +Solemn League and Covenant. Indeed, I believe they scarce knew what they +wanted; but being a numerous body of men, and not unacquainted with the +use of arms, they kept themselves together as a separate party in the +state, and at the time of the Union had nearly formed a most unnatural +league with their old enemies, the Jacobites, to oppose that important +national measure. Since that time their numbers have gradually +diminished; but a good many are still to be found in the western +counties, and several, with a better temper than in 1707, have now taken +arms for Government, This person, whom they call Gifted Gilfillan, has +been long a leader among them, and now heads a small party, which will +pass here to-day, or to-morrow, on their march towards Stirling, under +whose escort Major Melville proposes you shall travel. I would willingly +speak to Gilfillan in your behalf; but, having deeply imbibed all the +prejudices of his sect, and being of the same fierce disposition, he +would pay little regard to the remonstrances of an Erastian divine, as +he would politely term me.—And now, farewell, my young friend; for the +present, I must not weary out the Major's indulgence, that I may obtain +his permission to visit you again in the course of the day.' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0034"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIV +</h2> +<h3> + THINGS MEND A LITTLE +</h3> +<p> +About noon, Mr. Morton returned, and brought an invitation from Major +Melville that Mr. Waverley would honour him with his company to +dinner, notwithstanding the unpleasant affair which detained him at +Cairnvreckan, from which he should heartily rejoice to see Mr. Waverley +completely extricated. The truth was, that Mr. Morton's favourable +report and opinion had somewhat staggered the preconceptions of the +old soldier concerning Edward's supposed accession to the mutiny in +the regiment; and in the unfortunate state of the country, the mere +suspicion of disaffection, or an inclination to join the insurgent +Jacobites, might infer criminality indeed, but certainly not dishonour. +Besides, a person whom the Major trusted had reported to him (though, +as it proved, inaccurately) a contradiction of the agitating news of the +preceding evening. According to this second edition of the intelligence, +the Highlanders had withdrawn from the Lowland frontier with the purpose +of following the army in their march to Inverness. The Major was at a +loss, indeed, to reconcile his information with the well-known abilities +of some of the gentlemen in the Highland army, yet it was the course +which was likely to be most agreeable to others. He remembered the +same policy had detained them in the north in the year 1715, and he +anticipated a similar termination to the insurrection as upon that +occasion. +</p> +<p> +This news put him in such good humour, that he readily acquiesced in Mr. +Morton's proposal to pay some hospitable attention to his unfortunate +guest, and voluntarily added, he hoped the whole affair would prove a +youthful escapade, which might be easily atoned by a short confinement. +The kind mediator had some trouble to prevail on his young friend to +accept the invitation. He dared not urge to him the real motive, which +was a good-natured wish to secure a favourable report of Waverley's case +from Major Melville to Governor Blakeney. He remarked, from the flashes +of our hero's spirit, that touching upon this topic would be sure to +defeat his purpose. He therefore pleaded, that the invitation argued the +Major's disbelief of any part of the accusation which was inconsistent +with Waverley's conduct as a soldier and a man of honour, and that to +decline his courtesy might be interpreted into a consciousness that it +was unmerited. In short, he so far satisfied Edward that the manly and +proper course was to meet the Major on easy terms, that, suppressing +his strong dislike again to encounter his cold and punctilious civility, +Waverley agreed to be guided by his new friend. The meeting, at first, +was stiff and formal enough. But Edward, having accepted the invitation, +and his mind being really soothed and relieved by the kindness of +Morton, held himself bound to behave with ease, though he could not +affect cordiality. The Major was somewhat of a BON VIVANT, and his wine +was excellent. He told his old campaign stories, and displayed much +knowledge of men and manners. Mr. Morton had an internal fund of placid +and quiet gaiety, which seldom failed to enliven any small party in +which he found himself pleasantly seated. Waverley, whose life was a +dream, gave ready way to the predominating impulse, and became the most +lively of the party. He had at all times remarkable natural powers of +conversation, though easily silenced by discouragement. On the present +occasion, he piqued himself upon leaving on the minds of his companions +a favourable impression of one who, under such disastrous circumstances, +could sustain his misfortunes with ease and gaiety. His spirits, though +not unyielding, were abundantly elastic, and soon seconded his efforts. +The trio were engaged in very lively discourse, apparently delighted +with each other, and the kind host was pressing a third bottle of +Burgundy, when the sound of a drum was heard at some distance. The +Major, who, in the glee of an old soldier, had forgot the duties of a +magistrate, cursed, with a muttered military oath, the circumstances +which recalled him to his official functions. He rose and went towards +the window, which commanded a very near view of the high-road, and he +was followed by his guests. +</p> +<p> +The drum advanced, beating no measured martial tune, but a kind +of rub-a-dub-dub, like that with which the fire-drum startles the +slumbering artisans of a Scotch burgh. It is the object of this history +to do justice to all men; I must therefore record, in justice to the +drummer, that he protested he could beat any known march or point of +war known in the British army, and had accordingly commenced with +'Dumbarton's Drums,' when he was silenced by Gifted Gilfillan, the +commander of the party, who refused to permit his followers to move to +this profane, and even, as he said, persecuting tune, and commanded the +drummer to beat the 119th Psalm. As this was beyond the capacity of the +drubber of sheepskin, he was fain to have recourse to the inoffensive +row-de-dow, as a harmless substitute for the sacred music which his +instrument or skill were unable to achieve. This may be held a trifling +anecdote, but the drummer in question was no less than town-drummer +of Anderton. I remember his successor in office, a member of that +enlightened body, the British Convention: be his memory, therefore, +treated with due respect. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0035"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXV +</h2> +<h3> + A VOLUNTEER SIXTY YEARS SINCE +</h3> +<p> +On hearing the unwelcome sound of the drum, Major Melville hastily +opened a sashed door, and stepped out upon a sort of terrace which +divided his house from the high-road from which the martial music +proceeded. Waverley and his new friend followed him, though probably +he would have dispensed with their attendance. They soon recognized in +solemn march, first, the performer upon the drum; secondly, a large +flag of four compartments, on which were inscribed the words COVENANTS, +RELIGION, KING, KINGDOMES. The person who was honoured with this charge +was followed by the commander of the party, a thin, dark, rigid-looking +man, about sixty years old. The spiritual pride, which in mine Host of +the Candlestick mantled in a sort of supercilious hypocrisy, was, in +this man's face, elevated and yet darkened by genuine and undoubting +fanaticism. It was impossible to behold him without imagination +placing him in some strange crisis, where religious zeal was the ruling +principle. A martyr at the stake, a soldier in the field, a lonely and +banished wanderer consoled by the intensity and supposed purity of his +faith under every earthly privation; perhaps a persecuting inquisitor, +as terrible in power as unyielding in adversity; any of these seemed +congenial characters to this personage. With these high traits of +energy, there was something in the affected precision and solemnity of +his deportment and discourse, that bordered upon the ludicrous; so that, +according to the mood of the spectator's mind, and the light under which +Mr. Gilfillan presented himself, one might have feared; admired, or +laughed at him. His dress was that of a west-country peasant, of +better materials indeed than that of the lower rank, but in no respect +affecting either the mode of the age, or of the Scottish gentry at +any period. His arms were a broadsword and pistols, which, from the +antiquity of their appearance, might have seen the rout of Pentland, or +Bothwell Brigg. +</p> +<p> +As he came up a few steps to meet Major Melville, and touched solemnly, +but slightly, his huge and overbrimmed blue bonnet, in answer to the +Major, who had courteously raised a small triangular gold-laced hat, +Waverley was irresistibly impressed with the idea that he beheld a +leader of the Roundheads of yore in conference with one of Marlborough's +captains. +</p> +<p> +The group of about thirty armed men who followed this gifted commander, +was of a motley description. They were in ordinary Lowland dresses, of +different colours, which, contrasted with the arms they bore, gave them +an irregular and mobbish appearance; so much is the eye accustomed to +connect uniformity of dress with the military character. In front were +a few who apparently partook of their leader's enthusiasm; men obviously +to be feared in a combat where their natural courage was exalted by +religious zeal. Others puffed and strutted, filled with the importance +of carrying arms, and all the novelty of their situation, while +the rest, apparently fatigued with their march, dragged their limbs +listlessly along, or straggled from their companions to procure such +refreshments as the neighbouring cottages and ale-houses afforded.—Six +grenadiers of Ligonier's, thought the Major to himself, as his mind +reverted to his own military experience, would have sent all these +fellows to the right about. +</p> +<p> +Greeting, however, Mr. Gilfillan civilly, he requested to know if he +had received the letter he had sent to him upon his march, and could +undertake the charge of the state prisoner whom he there mentioned, as +far as Stirling Castle. 'Yea,' was the concise reply of the Cameronian +leader, in a voice which seemed to issue from the very PENETRALIA of his +person. +</p> +<p> +'But your escort, Mr. Gilfillan, is not so strong as I expected,' said +Major Melville, +</p> +<p> +'Some of the people,' replied Gilfillan, 'hungered and were athirst +by the way, and tarried until their poor souls were refreshed with the +word.' +</p> +<p> +'I am sorry, sir,' replied the Major, 'you did not trust to your +refreshing your men at Cairnvreckan; whatever my house contains is at +the command of persons employed in the service.' +</p> +<p> +'It was not of creature comforts I spake,' answered the Covenanter, +regarding Major Melville with something like a smile of contempt; +'howbeit, I thank you; but the people remained waiting upon the precious +Mr. Jabesh Rentowel, for the outpouring of the afternoon exhortation.' +</p> +<p> +'And have you, sir,' said the Major, 'when the rebels are about to +spread themselves through this country, actually left a great part of +your command at a field-preaching!' +</p> +<p> +Gilfillan again smiled scornfully as he made this indirect +answer,—'Even thus are the children of this world wiser in their +generation than the children of light!' +</p> +<p> +'However, sir,' said the Major, 'as you are to take charge of this +gentleman to Stirling, and deliver him, with these papers, into the +hands of Governor Blakeney, I beseech you to observe some rules of +military discipline upon your march. For example, I would advise you to +keep your men more closely together, and that each, in his march, should +cover his file-leader, instead of straggling like geese upon a common; +and, for fear of surprise, I further recommend to you to form a small +advance-party of your best men, with a single vidette in front of the +whole march, so that when you approach a village or a wood'—(Here the +Major interrupted himself)—'But as I don't observe you listen to me, +Mr. Gilfillan, I suppose I need not give myself the trouble to say more +upon the subject. You are a better judge, unquestionably, than I am, of +the measures to be pursued; but one thing I would have you well aware +of, that you are to treat this gentleman, your prisoner, with no rigour +nor incivility, and are to subject him to no other restraint than is +necessary for his security.' +</p> +<p> +'I have looked into my commission,' said Mr. Gilfillan, subscribed by +a worthy and professing nobleman, William, Earl of Glencairn; nor do I +find it therein set down that I am to receive any charges or commands +anent my doings from Major William Melville of Cairnvreckan.' +</p> +<p> +Major Melville reddened even to the well-powdered ears which appeared +beneath his neat military side-curls, the more so, as he observed Mr. +Morton smile at the same moment. 'Mr. Gilfillan,' he answered with some +asperity, 'I beg ten thousand pardons for interfering with a person +of your importance. I thought, however, that as you have been bred a +grazier, if I mistake not, there might be occasion to remind you of the +difference between Highlanders and Highland cattle; and if you should +happen to meet with any gentleman who has seen service; and is disposed +to speak upon the subject, I should still imagine that listening to him +would do you no sort of harm. But I have done, and have only once +more to recommend this gentleman to your civility, as well as to your +custody.—Mr Waverley, I am truly sorry we should part in this way; but +I trust, when you are again in this country, I may have an opportunity +to render Cairnvreckan more agreeable than circumstances have permitted +on this occasion.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he shook our hero by the hand. Morton also took an +affectionate farewell; and Waverley, having mounted his horse, with a +musketeer leading it by the bridle, and a file upon each side to prevent +his escape, set forward upon the march with Gilfillan and his party. +Through the little village they were accompanied with the shouts of the +children, who cried out, 'Eh! see to the Southland gentleman, that's +gaun to be hanged for shooting lang John Mucklewrath the smith!' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0036"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVI +</h2> +<h3> + AN INCIDENT +</h3> +<p> +The dinner-hour of Scotland Sixty Years since was two o'clock. It was +therefore about four o'clock of a delightful autumn afternoon that Mr. +Gilfillan commenced his march, in hopes, although Stirling was eighteen +miles distant, he might be able, by becoming a borrower of the night +for an hour or two, to reach it that evening. He therefore put forth his +strength, and marched stoutly along at the head of his followers, eyeing +our hero from time to time, as if he longed to enter into controversy +with him. At length unable to resist the temptation, he slackened his +pace till he was alongside of his prisoner's horse, and after marching a +few steps in silence abreast of him, he suddenly asked,—'Can ye say wha +the carle was wi' the black coat; and the mousted head, that was wi' the +Laird of Cairnvreckan?' +</p> +<p> +'A Presbyterian clergyman,' answered Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Presbyterian!' answered Gilfillan contemptuously: 'a wretched Erastian, +or rather an obscured Prelatist,—a favourer of the black Indulgence; +ane of thae dumb dogs that canna bark: they tell ower a clash o' terror +and a clatter o' comfort in their sermons, without ony sense, or savour, +or life.—Ye've been fed in siccan a fauld, belike?' +</p> +<p> +'No; I am of the Church of England,' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +And they're just neighbour-like,' replied the Covenanter; 'and nae +wonder they gree sae weel. Wha wad hae thought the goodly structure +of the Kirk of Scotland, built up by our fathers in 1642, wad hae been +defaced by carnal ends and, the corruptions of the time;—aye, wha wad +hae thought the carved work of the sanctuary would hae been sae soon cut +down!' +</p> +<p> +To this lamentation, which one or two of the assistants chorussed with a +deep groan, our hero thought it unnecessary to make any reply. Whereupon +Mr. Gilfillan, resolving that he should be a hearer at least, if not a +disputant, proceeded in his Jeremiad. +</p> +<p> +'And now is it wonderful, when, for lack of exercise anent the call to +the service of the altar and the duty of the day, ministers fall into +sinful compliances with patronage, and indemnities, and oaths, and +bonds, and, other corruptions,—is it wonderful, I say, that you, sir, +and other sic-like unhappy persons, should labour to build up your auld +Babel of iniquity, as in the bluidy persecuting saint-killing times? I +trow, gin ya werena blinded wi' the graces and favours, and services and +enjoyments, and employments and inheritances, of this wicked world, I +could prove to you, by the Scripture, in what a filthy rag ye put your +trust; and that your surplices, and your copes and vestments, are but +cast-off-garments of the muckle harlot, that sitteth upon seven hills, +and drinketh of the cup of abomination. But, I trow, ye are deaf +as adders upon that side of the head; aye, ye are deceived with her +enchantments, and ye traffic with her merchandise, and ye are drunk with +the cup of her fornication!' +</p> +<p> +How much longer this military theologist might have continued his +invective, in which he spared nobody but the scattered remnant of +HILL-FOLK, as he called them, is absolutely uncertain. His matter was +copious, his voice powerful, and his memory strong; so that there was +little chance of his ending his exhortation till the party had reached +Stirling, had not his attention been attracted by a pedlar who had +joined the march from a cross-road, and who sighed or groaned with great +regularity at all fitting pauses of his homily. +</p> +<p> +'And what may ya be, friend?' said the Gifted Gilfillan. +</p> +<p> +'A puir pedler, that's bound for Stirling, and craves the protection of +your honour's party in these kittle times. Ah! your honour has a notable +faculty in searching and explaining the secret,—aye, the secret and +obscure and incomprehensible causes of the backslidings of the land; +aye, your honour touches the root o' the matter.' +</p> +<p> +'Friend,' said Gilfillan, with a more complacent voice than he had +hitherto used, 'honour not me. I do not go out to park-dikes, and to +steadings, and to market-towns, to have herds and cottars and +burghers pull off their bonnets to me as they do to Major Melville o' +Cairnvreckan, and ca' me laird, or captain, or honour;—no; my sma' +means, whilk are not aboon twenty thousand merk, have had the blessing +of increase, but the pride of heart has not increased with them; nor do +I delight to be called captain, though I have the subscribed commission +of that gospel-searching nobleman, the Earl of Glencairn, in whilk I am +so designated. While I live, I am and will be called Habakkuk Gilfillan, +who will stand up for the standards of doctrine agreed on by the +ance-famous Kirk of Scotland, before she trafficked with the accursed +Achan, while he has a plack in his purse, or a drap o' bluid in his +body.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah,' said the pedlar, 'I have seen your land about Mauchlin—a fertile +spot! your lines have fallen in pleasant places!—And siccan a breed o' +cattle is not in ony laird's land in Scotland.' +</p> +<p> +'Ye say right,—ye say right, friend,' retorted Gilfillan eagerly, for +he was not inaccessible to flattery upon this subject,—'ye say right; +they are the real Lancashire, and there's no the like o' them even at +the Mains of Kilmaurs;' and he then entered into a discussion of their +excellences, to which our readers will probably be as indifferent as +our hero. After this excursion, the leader returned to his theological +discussions, while the pedlar, less profound upon those mystic points, +contented himself with groaning, and expressing his edification at +suitable intervals. +</p> +<p> +'What a blessing it would be to the puir blinded popish nations among +whom I hae sojourned, to have siccan a light to their paths! I hae been +as far as Muscovia in my sma' trading way, as a travelling merchant; +and I hae been through France, and the Low Countries, and a' Poland, and +maist feck o' Germany; and oh! it would grieve your honour's soul to see +the murmuring, and the singing, and massing, that's in the kirk, and the +piping that's in the quire, and the heathenish dancing and dicing upon +the Sabbath!' +</p> +<p> +This set Gilfillan off upon the Book of Sports and the Covenant, and +the Engagers, and the Protesters, and the Whiggamore's Raid, and +the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and the Longer and Shorter +Catechism, and the Excommunication at Torwood, and the slaughter of +Archbishop Sharp. This last topic, again, led him into the lawfulness of +defensive arms, on which subject he uttered much more sense than could +have been expected from some other parts of his harangue, and attracted +even Waverley's attention, who had hitherto been lost in his own sad +reflections. Mr. Gilfillan then considered the lawfulness of a private +man's standing forth as the avenger of public oppression, and as he was +labouring with great earnestness the cause of Mas James Mitchell, who +fired at the Archbishop of St. Andrews some years before the prelate's +assassination on Magus Muir, an incident occurred which interrupted his +harangue. +</p> +<p> +The rays of the sun were lingering on the very verge of the horizon, as +the party ascended a hollow and somewhat steep path, which led to the +summit of a rising ground. The country was unenclosed, being part of a +very extensive heath or common; but it was far from level, exhibiting +in many places hollows filled with furze and broom; in others little +dingles of stunted brushwood. A thicket of the latter description +crowned the hill up which the party ascended. The foremost of the band, +being the stoutest and most active, had pushed on, and having surmounted +the ascent, were out of ken for the present. Gilfillan, with the pedlar, +and the small party who were Waverley's more immediate guard, were +near the top of the ascent, and the remainder straggled after them at a +considerable interval. +</p> +<p> +Such was the situation of matters, when the pedlar, missing, as he said, +a little doggie which belonged to him, began to halt and whistle for the +animal. This signal, repeated more than once, gave offence to the rigour +of his companion, the rather because it appeared to indicate inattention +to the treasures of theological and controversial knowledge which was +pouring out for his edification. He therefore signified gruffly, that he +could not waste his time in waiting for a useless cur. +</p> +<p> +'But if your honour wad consider the case of Tobit'— +</p> +<p> +'Tobit!' exclaimed Gilfillan, with great heat; 'Tobit and his dog baith +are altogether heathenish and apocryphal, and none but a prelatist or +a papist would draw them into question. I doubt I hae been mista'en in +you, friend.' +</p> +<p> +'Very likely,' answered the pedlar, with great composure; 'but +ne'ertheless, I shall take leave to whistle again upon puir Bawty,' +</p> +<p> +This last signal was answered in an unexpected manner; for six or eight +stout Highlanders, who lurked among the copse and brushwood, sprang +into the hollow way, and began to lay about them with their claymores. +Gilfillan, un-appalled at this undesirable apparition, cried out +manfully, 'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!' and, drawing his +broadsword, would probably have done as much credit to the good old +cause as any of its doughty champions at Drumclog, when, behold! the +pedlar, snatching a musket from the person who was next him, bestowed +the butt of it with such emphasis on the head of his late instructor in +the Cameronian creed, that he was forthwith levelled to the ground. In +the confusion which ensued, the horse which bore our hero was shot +by one of Gilfillan's party, as he discharged his firelock at random. +Waverley fell with, and indeed under, the animal, and sustained some +severe contusions. But he was almost instantly extricated from the +fallen steed by two Highlanders, who, each seizing him by the arm, +hurried him away from the scuffle and from the high-road. They ran with +great speed, half supporting and half dragging our hero, who could, +however, distinguish a few dropping shots fired about the spat which +he had left. This, as he afterwards learned, proceeded from Gilfillan's +party, who had now assembled, the stragglers in front and rear having +joined the others. At their approach the Highlanders drew off, but not +before they had rifled Gilfillan and two of his people, who remained on +the spot grievously wounded. A few shots were exchanged betwixt them +and the Westlanders; but the latter, now without a commander, and +apprehensive of a second ambush, did not make any serious effort to +recover their prisoner, judging it more wise to proceed on their journey +to Stirling, carrying with them their wounded captain and comrades. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0037"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVII +</h2> +<h3> + WAVERLEY IS STILL IN DISTRESS +</h3> +<p> +The velocity, and indeed violence, with which Waverley was hurried +along, nearly deprived him of sensation; for the injury he had received +from his fall prevented him from aiding himself so effectually as he +might otherwise have done. When this was observed by his conductors, +they called to their aid two or three others of the party, and swathing +our hero's body in one of their plaids, divided his weight by that +means among them, and transported him at the same rapid rate as before, +without any exertion of his own. They spoke little, and that in Gaelic; +and did not slacken their pace till they had run nearly two miles, when +they abated their extreme rapidity, but continued still to walk very +fast, relieving each other occasionally, +</p> +<p> +Our hero now endeavoured to address them, but was only answered with +'CHA N'EIL BEURL' AGAM,' i.e. 'I have no English,' being, as Waverley +well knew, the constant reply of a Highlander, when he either does not +understand, or does not choose to reply to, an Englishman or Lowlander. +He then mentioned the name of Vich Ian Vohr, concluding that he was +indebted to his friendship for his rescue from the clutches of Gifted +Gilfillan; but neither did this produce any mark of recognition from his +escort. +</p> +<p> +The twilight had given place to moonshine when the party halted upon +the brink of a precipitous glen, which, as partly enlightened by the +moonbeams, seemed full of trees and tangled brushwood. Two of the +Highlanders dived into it by a small footpath, as if to explore its +recesses, and one of them returning in a few minutes, said something to +his companions, who instantly raised their burden, and bore him, +with great attention and care, down the narrow and abrupt descent. +Notwithstanding their precautions, however, Waverley's person came more +than once into contact, rudely enough, with the projecting stumps and +branches which overhung the pathway. +</p> +<p> +At the bottom of the descent, and, as it seemed, by the side of a +brook (for Waverley heard the rushing of a considerable body of water, +although its stream was invisible in the darkness), the party again +stopped before a small and rudely-constructed hovel. The door was open, +and the inside of the premises appeared as uncomfortable and rude as its +situation and exterior foreboded. There was no appearance of a floor +of any kind; the roof seemed rent in several places; the walls were +composed of loose stones and turf, and the thatch of branches of trees. +The fire was in the centre, and filled the whole wigwam with smoke, +which escaped as much through the door as by means of a circular +aperture in the roof. An old Highland sibyl, the only inhabitant of this +forlorn mansion, appeared busy in the preparation of some food. By +the light which the fire afforded, Waverley could discover that his +attendants were not of the clan of Ivor, for Fergus was particularly +strict in requiring from his followers that they should wear the tartan +striped in the mode peculiar to their race; a mark of distinction +anciently general through the Highlands, and still maintained by those +chiefs who were proud of their lineage, or jealous of their separate and +exclusive authority. +</p> +<p> +Edward had lived at Glennaquoich long enough to be aware of a +distinction which he had repeatedly heard noticed; and now satisfied +that he had no interest with his attendants, he glanced a disconsolate +eye around the interior of the cabin. The only furniture, excepting a +washing-tub, and a wooden press, called in Scotland an AMBRY, sorely +decayed, was a large wooden bed, planked, as is usual, all around, and +opening by a sliding panel. In this recess the Highlanders deposited +Waverley, after he had by signs declined any refreshment. His slumbers +were broken and unrefreshing; strange visions passed before his eyes, +and it required constant and reiterated efforts of mind to dispel them. +Shivering, violent headache, and shooting pains in his limbs, succeeded +these symptoms; and in the morning it was evident to his Highland +attendants or guard, for he knew not in which light to consider them, +that Waverley was quite unfit to travel. After a long consultation +among themselves, six of the party left the hut with their arms, leaving +behind an old and a young man. The former addressed Waverley, and bathed +the contusions, which swelling and livid colour now made conspicuous. +His own portmanteau, which the Highlanders had not failed to bring off, +supplied him with linen, and, to his great surprise, was, with all its +undiminished contents, freely resigned to his use. The bedding of his +couch seemed clean and comfortable, and his aged attendant closed the +door of the bed, for it had no curtain, after a few words of Gaelic, +from which Waverley gathered that he exhorted him to repose. So behold +our hero for a second time the patient of a Highland Aesculapius, but +in a situation much more uncomfortable than when he was the guest of the +worthy Tomanrait. +</p> +<p> +The symptomatic fever which accompanied the injuries he had sustained +did not abate till the third day, when it gave way to the care of his +attendants and the strength of his constitution, and he could now raise +himself in his bed, though not without pain. He observed, however, that +there was a great disinclination, on the part of the old woman who acted +as his nurse, as well as on that of the elderly Highlander, to permit +the door of the bed to be left open, so that he might amuse himself with +observing their motions; and at length, after Waverley had repeatedly +drawn open, and they had as frequently shut, the hatchway of his cage, +the old gentleman put an end to the contest, by securing it on the +outside with a nail, so effectually that the door could not be drawn +till this exterior impediment was removed. +</p> +<p> +While musing upon the cause of this contradictory spirit in persons +whose conduct intimated no purpose of plunder, and who, in all other +points, appeared to consult his welfare and his wishes, it occurred to +our hero, that, during the worst crisis of his illness, a female figure, +younger than his old Highland nurse, had appeared to flit around his +couch. Of this, indeed, he had but a very indistinct recollection, but +his suspicions were confirmed when, attentively listening, he often +heard, in the course of the day, the voice of another female conversing +in whispers with his attendant. Who could it be? And why should she +apparently desire concealment? Fancy immediately roused herself, and +turned to Flora Mac-Ivor. But after a short conflict between his eager +desire to believe she was in his neighbourhood, guarding, like an angel +of mercy, the couch of his sickness, Waverley was compelled to conclude +that his conjecture was altogether improbable; since, to suppose she had +left the comparatively safe situation at Glennaquoich to descend into +the Low Country, now the seat of civil war, and to inhabit such a +lurking-place as this, was a thing hardly to be imagined. Yet his heart +bounded as he sometimes could distinctly hear the trip of a light female +step glide to or from the door of the hut, or the suppressed sounds of +a female voice, of softness and delicacy, hold dialogue with the hoarse +inward croak of old Janet, for so he understood his antiquated attendant +was denominated. +</p> +<p> +Having nothing else to amuse his solitude, he employed himself in +contriving some plan to gratify his curiosity, in spite of the sedulous +caution of Janet and the old Highland janizary, for he had never seen +the young fellow since the first morning. At length, upon accurate +examination, the infirm state of his wooden prison-house appeared to +supply the means of gratifying his curiosity, for out of a spot which +was somewhat decayed he was able to extract a nail. Through this minute +aperture he could perceive a female form, wrapped in a plaid, in the act +of conversing with Janet. But, since the days of our grandmother Eve, +the gratification of inordinate curiosity has generally borne its +penalty in disappointment. The form was not that of Flora, nor was the +face visible; and, to crown his vexation, while he laboured with the +nail to enlarge the hole, that he might obtain a more complete view, +a slight noise betrayed his purpose, and the object of his curiosity +instantly disappeared; nor, so far as he could observe, did she again +revisit the cottage. +</p> +<p> +All precautions to blockade his view were from that time abandoned, and +he was not only permitted, but assisted to rise and quit what had been, +in a literal sense, his couch of confinement. But he was not allowed to +leave the hut; for the young Highlander had now rejoined his senior, and +one or other was constantly on the watch. Whenever Waverley approached +the cottage door, the sentinel upon duty civilly, but resolutely, placed +himself against it and opposed his exit, accompanying his action with +signs which seemed to imply there was danger in the attempt, and an +enemy in the neighbourhood. Old Janet appeared anxious and upon the +watch; and Waverley, who had not yet recovered strength enough to +attempt to take his departure in spite of the opposition of his hosts, +was under the necessity of remaining patient. His fare was, in every +point of view, better than he could have conceived; for poultry, +and even wine, were no strangers to his table. The Highlanders never +presumed to eat with him, and unless in the circumstance of watching +him, treated him with great respect. His sole amusement was gazing from +the window, or rather the shapeless aperture which was meant to answer +the purpose of a window, upon large and rough brook, which raged and +foamed through a rocky channel, closely canopied with trees and bushes, +about ten feet beneath the site of his house of captivity. +</p> +<p> +Upon the sixth day of his confinement, Waverley found himself so well, +that he began to meditate his escape from this dull and miserable +prison-house, thinking any risk which he might incur in the attempt +preferable to the stupefying and intolerable uniformity of Janet's +retirement. The question indeed occurred, whither he was to direct his +course when again at his own disposal. Two schemes seemed practicable, +yet both attended with danger and difficulty. One was to go back to +Glennaquoich, and join Fergus Mac-Ivor, by whom he was sure to be kindly +received; and in the present state of his mind, the rigour with which +he had been treated fully absolved him, in his own eyes, from his +allegiance to the existing government. The other project was to +endeavour to attain a Scottish seaport, and thence to take shipping for +England. His mind wavered between these plans; and probably, if he +had effected his escape in the manner he proposed, he would have been +finally determined by the comparative facility by which either might +have been executed. But his fortune had settled that he was not to be +left to his option. +</p> +<p> +Upon the evening of the seventh day the door of the hut suddenly opened, +and two Highlanders entered, whom Waverley recognized as having been a +part of his original escort to this cottage. They conversed for a +short time with the old man and his companion, and then made Waverley +understand, by very significant signs, that he was to prepare to +accompany them. This was a joyful communication. What had already passed +during his confinement made it evident that no personal injury was +designed to him; and his romantic spirit, having recovered during +his repose much of that elasticity which anxiety, resentment, +disappointment, and the mixture of unpleasant feelings excited by +his late adventures, had for a time subjugated, was now wearied with +inaction. His passion for the wonderful, although it is the nature of +such dispositions to be excited, by that degree of danger which merely +gives dignity to the feeling of the individual exposed to it, had sunk +under the extraordinary and apparently, insurmountable evils by which +he appeared environed at Cairnvreckan. In fact, this compound of intense +curiosity and exalted imagination forms a peculiar species of +courage, which somewhat resembles the light usually carried by a +miner,—sufficiently competent, indeed, to afford him guidance and +comfort during the ordinary perils of his labour, but certain to +be extinguished should he encounter the more formidable hazard of +earth-damps or pestiferous vapours. It was now, however, once more +rekindled, and with a throbbing mixture of hope, awe, and anxiety, +Waverley watched the group before him, as those who had just arrived +snatched a hasty meal, and the others assumed their arms, and made brief +preparations for their departure. +</p> +<p> +As he sat in the smoky hut, at some distance from the fire, around which +the others were crowded, he felt a gentle pressure upon his arm. He +looked round—it was Alice, the daughter of Donald Bean Lean. She showed +him a packet of papers in such a manner that the motion was remarked by +no one else, put her finger for a second to her lips, and passed on, as +if to assist old Janet in packing Waverley's clothes in his portmanteau. +It was obviously her wish that he should not seem to recognize her; yet +she repeatedly looked back at him, as an opportunity occurred of doing +so unobserved, and when she saw that he remarked what she did, she +folded the packet with great address and speed in one of his shirts, +which she deposited in the portmanteau. +</p> +<p> +Here then was fresh food for conjecture. Was Alice his unknown warden, +and was this maiden of the cavern the tutelar genius that watched his +bed during his sickness? Was he in the hands of her father? and if +so, what was his purpose? Spoil, his usual object, seemed in this case +neglected; for not only Waverley's property was restored, but his purse, +which might have tempted this professional plunderer, had been all along +suffered to remain in his possession. All this perhaps the packet might +explain; but it was plain from Alice's manner that she desired he should +consult it in secret. Nor did she again seek his eye after she had +satisfied herself that her manoeuvre was observed and understood. On the +contrary, she shortly afterwards left the hut, and it was only as she +tripped out from the door, that, favoured by the obscurity, she gave +Waverley a parting smile and nod of significance, ere she vanished in +the dark glen. +</p> +<p> +The young Highlander was repeatedly dispatched by his comrades as if to +collect intelligence. At length when he had returned for the third +or fourth time, the whole party arose, and made signs to our hero to +accompany them. Before his departure, however, he shook hands with old +Janet, who had been so sedulous in his behalf, and added substantial +marks of his gratitude for her attendance. +</p> +<p> +'God bless you! God prosper you, Captain Waverley!' said Janet, in good +Lowland Scotch, though he had never hitherto heard her utter a syllable, +save in Gaelic. But the impatience of his attendants prohibited his +asking any explanation. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0038"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXVIII +</h2> +<h3> + A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE +</h3> +<p> +There was a moment's pause when the whole party had got out of the +hut; and the Highlander who assumed the command, and who, in Waverley's +awakened recollection, seemed to be the same tall figure who had acted +as Donald Bean Lean's lieutenant, by whispers and signs imposed the +strictest silence. He delivered to Edward a sword and steel pistol, and, +pointing up the tract, laid his hand on the hilt of his own claymore, +as if to make him sensible they might have occasion to use force to make +good their passage. He then placed himself at the head of the party, +who moved up the pathway in single or Indian file, Waverley being placed +nearest to their leader. He moved with great precaution, as if to avoid +giving any alarm, and halted as soon as he came to the verge of the +ascent. Waverley was soon sensible of the reason, for he heard at no +great distance an English sentinel call out 'All's well.' The heavy +sound sank on the night-wind down the woody glen, and was answered by +the echoes of its banks. A second, third, and fourth time, the signal +was repeated, fainter and fainter, as if at a greater and greater +distance. It was obvious that a party of soldiers were near, and upon +their guard, though not sufficiently so to detect men skilful in every +art of predatory warfare, like those with whom he now watched their +ineffectual precautions. +</p> +<p> +When these sounds had died upon the silence of the night, the +Highlanders began their march swiftly, yet with the most cautious +silence. Waverley had little time, or indeed disposition, for +observation, and could only discern that; they passed at some distance +from a large building, in the windows of which a light or two yet seemed +to twinkle. A little farther on, the leading Highlander snuffed the wind +like a setting spaniel, and then made a signal to his party again to +halt. He stooped down upon all-fours, wrapped up in his plaid, so as to +be scarce distinguishable from the heathy ground on which he moved, and +advanced in this posture to reconnoitre. In a short time he returned, +and dismissed his attendants excepting one; and, intimating to Waverley +that he must imitate his cautious mode of proceeding, all three crept +forward on hands and knees. +</p> +<p> +After proceeding a greater way in this inconvenient manner than was at +all comfortable to his knees and shins, Waverley perceived the smell +of smoke, which probably had been much sooner distinguished by the more +acute nasal organs of his guide. It proceeded from the corner of a low +and ruinous sheepfold, the walls of which were made of loose stones, +as is usual in Scotland. Close by this low wall the Highlander guided +Waverley, and, in order probably to make him sensible of his danger, or +perhaps to obtain the full credit of his own dexterity, he intimated +to him, by sign and example, that he might raise his head so as to peep +into the sheepfold. Waverley did so, and beheld an outpost of four or +five soldiers lying by their watch-fire. They were all asleep, except +the sentinel, who paced backwards and forwards with his firelock on his +shoulder, which glanced red in the light of the fire as he crossed and +recrossed before it in his short walk, casting his eye frequently to +that part of the heavens from which the moon, hitherto obscured by mist, +seemed now about to make her appearance, +</p> +<p> +In the course of a minute or two, by one of those sudden changes of +atmosphere incident to a mountainous country, a breeze arose, and swept +before it the clouds which had covered the horizon, and the night planet +poured her full effulgence upon a wide and blighted heath, skirted +indeed with copsewood and stunted trees in the quarter from which they +had come, but open and bare to the observation of the sentinel in +that to which their course tended. The wall of the sheepfold, indeed, +concealed them as they lay, but any advance beyond its shelter seemed +impossible without certain discovery. +</p> +<p> +The Highlander eyed the blue vault, but far from blessing the useful +light with Homer's, or rather Pope's, benighted peasant, he muttered a +Gaelic curse upon the unseasonable splendour of MAC-FARLANE'S BUAT +(i. e. lantern). <a href="#note-21" name="noteref-21"><small>21</small></a> He looked anxiously around for a few +minutes, and then apparently took his resolution. Leaving his attendant +with Waverley, after motioning to Edward to remain quiet, and giving +his comrade directions in a brief whisper, he retreated, favoured by the +irregularity of the ground, in the same direction and in the same manner +as they had advanced. Edward, turning his head after him, could perceive +him crawling on all-fours with the dexterity of an Indian, availing +himself of every bush and inequality to escape observation, and never +passing over the more exposed parts of his track until the sentinel's +back was turned from him. At length he reached the thickets and +underwood which partly covered the moor in that direction, and probably +extended to the verge of the glen where Waverley had been so long +an inhabitant. The Highlander disappeared, but it was only for a few +minutes, for he suddenly issued forth from a different part of the +thicket, and advancing boldly upon the open heath, as if to invite +discovery, he levelled his piece, and fired at the sentinel. A wound +in the arm proved a disagreeable interruption to the poor fellow's +meteorological observations, as well as to the tune of 'Nancy Dawson,' +which he was whistling. He returned the fire ineffectually, and his +comrades, starting up at the alarm, advanced alertly towards the spot +from which the first shot had issued. The Highlander, after giving them +a full view of his person, dived among the thickets, for his RUSE DE +GUERRE had now perfectly succeeded. +</p> +<p> +While the soldiers pursued the cause of their disturbance in one +direction, Waverley, adopting the hint of his remaining attendant, made +the best of his speed in that which his guide originally intended to +pursue, and which now (the attention of the soldiers being drawn to a +different quarter) was unobserved and unguarded. When they had run +about a quarter of a mile, the brow of a rising ground, which they had +surmounted, concealed them from further risk of observation. They +still heard, however, at a distance, the shouts of the soldiers as they +hallooed to each other upon the heath, and they could also hear the +distant roll of a drum beating to arms in the same direction. But these +hostile sounds were now far in their rear, and died away upon the breeze +as they rapidly proceeded. +</p> +<p> +When they had walked about half an hour, still along open and waste +ground of the same description, they came to the stump of an ancient +oak, which, from its relics, appeared to have been at one time a tree of +very large size. In an adjacent hollow they found several Highlanders, +with a horse or two. They had not joined them above a few minutes, which +Waverley's attendant employed, in all probability, in communicating +the cause of their delay (for the words 'Duncan Duroch' were often +repeated), when Duncan himself appeared, out of breath indeed, and with +all the symptoms of having run for his life, but laughing, and in high +spirits at the success of the stratagem by which he had baffled his +pursuers. This, indeed, Waverley could easily conceive might be a matter +of no great difficulty to the active mountaineer, who was perfectly +acquainted with the ground, and traced his course with a firmness and +confidence to which his pursuers must have been strangers. The alarm +which he excited seemed still to continue, for a dropping shot or two +were heard at a great distance, which seemed to serve as an addition to +the mirth of Duncan and his comrades. +</p> +<p> +The mountaineer now resumed the arms with which he had entrusted our +hero, giving him to understand that the dangers of the journey were +happily surmounted. Waverley was then mounted upon one of the horses, +a change which the fatigue of the night and his recent illness rendered +exceedingly acceptable. His portmanteau was placed on another +pony, Duncan mounted a third, and they set forward at a round pace, +accompanied by their escort. No other incident marked the course of that +night's journey, and at the dawn of morning they attained the banks of a +rapid river. The country around was at once fertile and romantic. Steep +banks of wood were broken by cornfields, which this year presented an +abundant harvest, already in a great measure cut down. +</p> +<p> +On the opposite bank of the river, and partly surrounded by a winding of +its stream, stood a large and massive castle, the half-ruined turrets +of which were already glittering in the first rays of the sun. <a href="#note-22" name="noteref-22"><small>22</small></a> +It was in form an oblong square, of size sufficient to contain a +large court in the centre. The towers at each angle of the square rose +higher than the walls of the building, and were in their turn surmounted +by turrets, differing in height, and irregular in shape. Upon one of +these a sentinel watched, whose bonnet and plaid, streaming in the wind, +declared him to be a Highlander, as a broad white ensign, which +floated from another tower, announced that the garrison was held by the +insurgent adherents of the House of Stuart. +</p> +<p> +Passing hastily through a small and mean town, where their appearance +excited neither surprise nor curiosity in the few peasants whom the +labours of the harvest began to summon from their repose, the party +crossed an ancient and narrow bridge of several arches, and turning to +the left, up an avenue of huge old sycamores, Waverley found himself in +front of the gloomy yet picturesque structure which he had admired at a +distance. A huge iron-grated door, which formed the exterior defence +of the gateway, was already thrown back to receive them; and a second, +heavily constructed of oak, and studded thickly with iron nails, being +next opened, admitted them into the interior courtyard. A gentleman, +dressed in the Highland garb, and having a white cockade in his bonnet, +assisted Waverley to dismount from his horse, and with much courtesy bid +him welcome to the castle. +</p> +<p> +The governor for so we must term him, having conducted Waverley to a +half-ruinous apartment, where, however, there was a small camp-bed, and +having offered him any refreshment which he desired, was then about to +leave him. +</p> +<p> +'Will you not add to your civilities,' said Waverley, after having made +the usual acknowledgement, 'by having the kindness to inform me where I +am, and whether or not I am to consider myself as a prisoner?' +</p> +<p> +'I am not at liberty to be so explicit upon this subject as I could +wish. Briefly, however, you are in the Castle of Doune, in the district +of Menteith, and in no danger whatever.' +</p> +<p> +'And how am I assured of that?' +</p> +<p> +'By the honour of Donald Stewart, governor of the garrison, and +lieutenant-colonel in the service of his Royal Highness Prince Charles +Edward.' So saying, he hastily left the apartment, as if to avoid +further discussion. +</p> +<p> +Exhausted by the fatigues of the night, our hero now threw himself upon +the bed, and was in a few minutes fast asleep. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0039"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XXXIX +</h2> +<h3> + THE JOURNEY IS CONTINUED +</h3> +<p> +Before Waverley awakened from his repose, the day was far advanced, and +he began to feel that he had passed many hours without food. This was +soon supplied in form of a copious breakfast, but Colonel Stewart, as +if wishing to avoid the queries of his guest, did not again present +himself. His compliments were, however, delivered by a servant, with an +offer to provide anything in his power that could be useful to Captain +Waverley on his journey, which he intimated would be continued that +evening. To Waverley's further inquiries, the servant opposed the +impenetrable barrier of real or affected ignorance and stupidity. He +removed the table and provisions, and Waverley was again consigned to +his own meditations. +</p> +<p> +As he contemplated the strangeness of his fortune, which seemed to +delight in placing him at the disposal of others, without the power +of directing his own motions, Edward's eye suddenly rested upon his +portmanteau, which had been deposited in his apartment during his +sleep. The mysterious appearance of Alice, in the cottage of the glen, +immediately rushed upon his mind, and he was about to secure and examine +the packet which she had deposited among his clothes, when the +servant of Colonel Stewart again made his appearance, and took up the +portmanteau upon his shoulders. +</p> +<p> +'May I not take out a change of linen, my friend?' +</p> +<p> +'Your honour sall get ane o' the Colonel's ain ruffled sarks, but this +maun gang in the baggage-cart.' +</p> +<p> +And so saying, he very coolly carried off the portmanteau, without +waiting further remonstrance, leaving our hero in a state where +disappointment and indignation struggled for the mastery. In a few +minutes he heard a cart rumble out of the rugged courtyard, and made +no doubt that he was now dispossessed, for a space at least, if not for +ever, of the only documents which seemed to promise some light upon +the dubious events which had of late influenced his destiny. With +such melancholy thoughts he had to beguile about four or five hours of +solitude. +</p> +<p> +When this space was elapsed, the trampling of horse was heard in the +courtyard, and Colonel Stewart soon after made his appearance to request +his guest to take some further refreshment before his departure. The +offer was accepted, for a late breakfast had by no means left our +hero incapable of doing honour to dinner, which was now presented. The +conversation of his host was that of a plain country gentleman, mixed +with some soldier-like sentiments and expressions. He cautiously avoided +any reference to the military operations or civil politics of the time: +and to Waverley's direct inquiries concerning some of these points, +replied, that he was not at liberty to speak upon such topics. +</p> +<p> +When dinner was finished, the governor arose, and, wishing Edward a good +journey, said, that having been informed by Waverley's servant that his +baggage had been sent forward, he had taken the freedom to supply him +with such changes of linen as he might find necessary, till he was again +possessed of his own. With this compliment he disappeared. A servant +acquainted Waverley an instant afterwards, that his horse was ready. +</p> +<p> +Upon this hint he descended into the courtyard, and found a trooper +holding a saddled horse, on which he mounted, and sallied from the +portal of Doune Castle, attended by about a score of armed men on +horseback. These had less the appearance of regular soldiers than of +individuals who had suddenly assumed arms from some pressing motive of +unexpected emergency. Their uniform, which was blue and red, an affected +imitation of that of French chasseurs, was in many respects incomplete, +and sat awkwardly upon those who wore it. Waverley's eye, accustomed +to look at a well-disciplined regiment, could easily discover that the +motions and habits of his escort were not those of trained soldiers, and +that, although expert enough in the management of their horses, their +skill was that of huntsmen or grooms, rather than of troopers. The +horses were not trained to the regular pace so necessary to execute +simultaneous and combined movements and formations; nor did they seem +BITTED (as it is technically expressed) for the use of the sword. +The men, however, were stout, hardy-looking fellows, and might be +individually formidable as irregular cavalry. The commander of this +small party was mounted upon an excellent hunter, and although dressed +in uniform, his change of apparel did not prevent Waverley from +recognizing his old acquaintance, Mr. Falconer of Balmawhapple. +</p> +<p> +Now, although the terms upon which Edward had parted with this +gentleman were none of the most friendly, he would have sacrificed every +recollection of their foolish quarrel for the pleasure of enjoying once +more the social intercourse of question and answer, from which he had +been so long secluded. But apparently the remembrance of his defeat by +the Baron of Bradwardine, of which Edward had been the unwilling cause, +still rankled in the mind of the low-bred, and yet proud laird. He +carefully avoided giving the least sign of recognition, riding doggedly +at the head of his men, who, though scarce equal in numbers to a +sergeant's party, were denominated Captain Falconer's troop, being +preceded by a trumpet, which sounded from time to time, and a standard, +borne by Cornet Falconer, the laird's young brother. The lieutenant, an +elderly man, had much the air of a low sportsman and boon companion; an +expression of dry humour predominated in his countenance over features +of a vulgar cast, which indicated habitual intemperance. His cocked hat +was set knowingly upon one side of his head, and while he whistled the +'Bob of Dumblain,' under the influence of half a mutchkin of brandy, he +seemed to fret merrily forward, with a happy indifference to the state +of the country, the conduct of the party, the end of the journey, and +all other sublunary matters whatever. +</p> +<p> +From this wight, who now and then dropped alongside of his horse, +Waverley hoped to acquire some information, or at least to beguile the +way with talk. +</p> +<p> +'A fine evening, sir,' was Edward's salutation. +</p> +<p> +'Ow, aye, sir! a bra' night,' replied the lieutenant, in broad Scotch of +the most vulgar description. +</p> +<p> +'And a fine harvest, apparently,' continued Waverley, following up his +first attack. +</p> +<p> +'Aye, the aits will be got bravely in: but the farmers, deil burst them, +and the corn-mongers will make the auld price gude against them as has +horses till keep.' +</p> +<p> +'You perhaps act as quarter-master, sir?' +</p> +<p> +'Aye, quarter-master, riding-master, and lieutenant,' answered this +officer of all work. 'And, to be sure, wha's fitter to look after the +breaking and the keeping of the poor beasts than mysell, that bought and +sold every ane o' them?' +</p> +<p> +'And pray, sir, if it be not too great a freedom, may I beg to know +where we are going just now?' +</p> +<p> +'A fule's errand, I fear,' answered this communicative personage. +</p> +<p> +'In that case,' said Waverley, determined not to spare civility, 'I +should have thought a person of your appearance would not have been +found on the road.' +</p> +<p> +'Vera true, vera true, sir,' replied the officer, 'but every why has its +wherefore. Ye maun ken, the laird there bought a' thir beasts frae' +me to munt his troop, and agreed to pay for them according to the +necessities and prices of the time. But then he hadna the ready penny, +and I hae been advised his bond will not be worth a boddle against the +estate, and then I had a' my dealers to settle wi' at Martinmas; and so +as he very kindly offered me this commission, and as the auld Fifteen +[The Judges of the Supreme Court of Session in Scotland are proverbially +termed, among the country people, The Fifteen.] wad never help me to my +siller for sending out naigs against the Government, why, conscience! +sir, I thought my best chance for payment was e'en to GAE OUT mysell; +and ye may judge, sir, as I hae dealt a' my life in halters, I think na +mickle o' putting my craig in peril of a St. Johnstone's tippet.' [TO GO +OUT, or TO HAVE BEEN OUT, in Scotland, was a conventional phrase similar +to that of the Irish respecting a man having been UP, both having +reference to an individual who had been engaged in insurrection. It was +accounted ill-breeding in Scotland, about forty years since, to use the +phrase rebellion or rebel, which might be interpreted by some of the +parties present as a personal insult. It was also esteemed more polite +even for stanch Whigs to denominate Charles Edward the Chevalier, +than to speak of him as the Pretender; and this kind of accommodating +courtesy was usually observed in society where individuals of each party +mixed on friendly terms.] +</p> +<p> +'You are not, then, by profession a soldier?' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Na, na; thank God,' answered this doughty partisan, 'I wasna bred at +sae short a tether; I was brought up to hack and manger. I was bred a +horse-couper, sir; and if I might live to see you at Whitson-tryst, or +at Stagshawbank, or the winter fair at Hawick, and ye wanted a spanker +that would lead the field, I'se be caution I would serve ye easy; for +Jamie Jinker was ne'er the lad to impose upon a gentleman. Ye're +a gentleman, sir, and should ken a horse's points; ye see that +through-ganging thing that Balmawhapple's on; I selled her till him. +She was bred out of Lick-the-Ladle, that wan the king's plate at +Caverton-Edge, by Duke Hamilton's White-foot,' &c. &c. &c. +</p> +<p> +But as Jinker was entered full sail upon the pedigree of Balmawhapple's +mare, having already got as far as great-grandsire and great-grand-dam, +and while Waverley was watching for an opportunity to obtain from him +intelligence of more interest, the noble captain checked his horse until +they came up, and then, without directly appearing to notice Edward, +said sternly to the genealogist, 'I thought, lieutenant', my orders were +preceese, that no one should speak to the prisoner?' +</p> +<p> +The metamorphosed horse-dealer was silenced of course, and slunk to the +rear, where he consoled himself by entering into a vehement dispute upon +the price of hay with a farmer, who had reluctantly followed his laird +to the field, rather than give up his farm, whereof the lease had +just expired. Waverley was therefore once more consigned to silence, +foreseeing that further attempts at conversation with any of the party +would only give Balmawhapple a wished-for opportunity to display the +insolence of authority, and the sulky spite of a temper naturally +dogged, and rendered more so by habits of low indulgence and the incense +of servile adulation. +</p> +<p> +In about two hours' time, the party were near the Castle of Stirling, +over whose battlements the union flag was brightened as it waved in the +evening sun. To shorten his journey or perhaps to display his importance +and insult the English garrison, Balmawhapple, inclining to the right, +took his route through the royal park, which reaches to and surrounds +the rock upon which the fortress is situated. +</p> +<p> +With a mind more at ease, Waverley could not have failed to admire +the mixture of romance and beauty which renders interesting the scene +through which he was now passing—the field which had been the scene +of the tournaments of old—the rock from which the ladies beheld +the contest, while each made vows for the success of some favourite +knight—the towers of the Gothic church, where these vows might be +paid—and, surmounting all, the fortress itself, at once a castle and +palace, where valour received the prize from royalty, and knights and +dames closed the evening amid the revelry of the dance, the song, +and the feast. All these were objects fitted to arouse and interest a +romantic imagination. +</p> +<p> +But Waverley had other objects of meditation, and an incident soon +occurred of a nature to disturb meditation of any kind. Balmawhapple, in +the pride of his heart, as he wheeled his little body of cavalry round +the base of the castle, commanded his trumpet to sound a flourish, +and his standard to be displayed. This insult produced apparently +some sensation; for when the cavalcade was at such a distance from the +southern battery as to admit of a gun being depressed so as to bear upon +them, a flash of fire issued from one of the embrasures upon the rock; +and ere the report with which it was attended could be heard, the +rushing sound of a cannon-ball passed over Balmawhapple's head, and the +bullet, burying itself in the ground at a few yards' distance, covered +him with the earth which it drove up. There was no need to bid the party +trudge. In fact, every man, acting upon the impulse of the moment, soon +brought Mr. Jinker's steeds to show their mettle, and the cavaliers, +retreating with more speed than regularity, never took to a trot, as +the lieutenant afterwards observed, until an intervening eminence had +secured them from any repetition of so undesirable a compliment on the +part of Stirling Castle. I must do Balmawhapple, however, the justice +to say, that he not only kept the rear of his troop, and laboured to +maintain some order among them, but, in the height of his gallantry, +answered the fire of the castle by discharging one of his horse-pistols +at the battlements; although, the distance being nearly half a mile, I +could never learn that this measure of retaliation was attended with any +particular effect. +</p> +<p> +The travellers now passed the memorable field of Bannockburn, and +reached the Torwood,—a place glorious or terrible to the recollections +of the Scottish peasant, as the feats of Wallace, or the cruelties of +Wude Willie Grime, predominate in his recollection. At Falkirk, a town +formerly famous in Scottish history, and soon to be again distinguished +as the scene of military events of importance, Balmawhapple proposed +to halt and repose for the evening. This was performed with very little +regard to military discipline, his worthy quarter-master being chiefly +solicitous to discover where the best brandy might be come at. Sentinels +were deemed unnecessary, and the only vigils performed were those of +such of the party as could procure liquor. A few resolute men might +easily have cut off the detachment; but of the inhabitants some +were favourable, many indifferent, and the rest overawed. So nothing +memorable occurred in the course of the evening, except that Waverley's +rest was sorely interrupted by the revellers hallooing forth their +Jacobite songs, without remorse or mitigation of voice. +</p> +<p> +Early in the morning they were again mounted, and on the road to +Edinburgh, though the pallid visages of some of the troop betrayed +that they had spent a night of sleepless debauchery. They halted at +Linlithgow, distinguished by its ancient palace, which, Sixty Years +since, was entire and habitable, and whose venerable ruins, not quite +Sixty Years since, very narrowly escaped the unworthy fate of being +converted into a barrack for French prisoners. May repose and blessings +attend the ashes of the patriotic statesman, who, amongst his last +services to Scotland, interposed to prevent this profanation! +</p> +<p> +As they approached the metropolis of Scotland, through a champaign and +cultivated country, the sounds of war began to be heard. The distant, +yet distinct report of heavy cannon, fired at intervals, apprized +Waverley that the work of destruction was going forward. Even +Balmawhapple seemed moved to take some precautions, by sending an +advanced party in front of his troop, keeping the main body in tolerable +order, and moving steadily forward. +</p> +<p> +Marching in this manner they speedily reached an eminence, from which +they could view Edinburgh stretching along the ridgy hill which slopes +eastward from the Castle. The latter, being in a state of siege, or +rather of blockade, by the northern insurgents, who had already occupied +the town for two or three days, fired at intervals upon such parties +of Highlanders as exposed themselves, either on the main street, or +elsewhere in the vicinity of the fortress. The morning being calm and +fair, the effect of this dropping fire was to invest the Castle in +wreaths of smoke, the edges of which dissipated slowly in the air, while +the central veil was darkened ever and anon by fresh clouds poured forth +from the battlements; the whole giving, by the partial concealment, an +appearance of grandeur and gloom, rendered more terrific when Waverley +reflected on the cause by which it was produced, and that each explosion +might ring some brave man's knell. +</p> +<p> +Ere they approached the city, the partial cannonade had wholly ceased. +Balmawhapple, however, having in his recollection the unfriendly +greeting which his troop had received from the battery of Stirling, +had apparently no wish to tempt the forbearance of the artillery of the +Castle. He therefore left the direct road, and sweeping considerably to +the southward, so as to keep out of the range of the cannon, approached +the ancient palace of Holyrood, without having entered the walls of +the city. He then drew up his men in front of that venerable pile, +and delivered Waverley to the custody of a guard of Highlanders, whose +officer conducted him into the interior of the building. +</p> +<p> +A long, low, and ill-proportioned gallery, hung with pictures, affirmed +to be the portraits of kings, who, if they ever flourished at all, lived +several hundred years before the invention of painting in oil colours, +served as a sort of guard-chamber, or vestibule, to the apartments +which the adventurous Charles Edward now occupied in the palace of his +ancestors. Officers, both in the Highland and Lowland garb, passed and +repassed in haste, or loitered in the hall, as if waiting for orders. +Secretaries were engaged in making out passes, musters, and returns. +All seemed busy, and earnestly intent upon something of importance; +but Waverley was suffered to remain seated in the recess of a window, +unnoticed by any one, in anxious reflection upon the crisis of his fate, +which seemed now rapidly approaching. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0040"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XL +</h2> +<h3> + AN OLD AND A NEW ACQUAINTANCE +</h3> +<p> +While he was deep sunk in his reverie, the rustle of tartans was heard +behind him, a friendly arm clasped his shoulders, and a friendly voice +exclaimed, +</p> +<p> +'Said the Highland prophet sooth?—or must second-sight go for nothing?' +</p> +<p> +Waverley turned, and was warmly embraced by Fergus Mac-Ivor. 'A thousand +welcomes to Holyrood, once more possessed by her legitimate sovereign! +Did I not say we should prosper, and that you would fall into the hands +of the Philistines if you parted from us?' +</p> +<p> +'Dear Fergus!' said Waverley, eagerly returning his greeting, 'it is +long since I have heard a friend's voice. Where is Flora?' +</p> +<p> +'Safe, and a triumphant spectator of our success.' +</p> +<p> +'In this place?' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Aye, in this city at least,' answered his friend, 'and you shall see +her; but first you must meet a friend whom you little think of, who has +been frequent in his inquiries after you.' +</p> +<p> +Thus saying, he dragged Waverley by the arm out of the guard-chamber, +and, ere he knew where he was conducted, Edward found himself in a +presence-room, fitted up with some attempt at royal state. +</p> +<p> +A young man, wearing his own fair hair, distinguished by the dignity +of his mien and the noble expression of his well-formed and regular +features, advanced out of a circle of military gentlemen and Highland +chiefs, by whom he was surrounded. In his easy and graceful manners +Waverley afterwards thought he could have discovered his high birth and +rank, although the star on his breast, and the embroidered garter at his +knee, had not appeared as its indications. +</p> +<p> +'Let me present to your Royal Highness,' said Fergus, bowing +profoundly— +</p> +<p> +'The descendant of one of the most ancient and loyal families in +England,' said the young Chevalier, interrupting him. 'I beg your pardon +for interrupting you, my dear Mac-Ivor; but no master of ceremonies is +necessary to present a Waverley to a Stuart.' +</p> +<p> +Thus saying, he extended his hand to Edward with the utmost courtesy, +who could not, had he desired it, have avoided rendering him the homage +which seemed due to his rank, and was certainly the right of his birth. +'I am sorry to understand, Mr. Waverley, that, owing to circumstances +which have been as yet but ill explained, you have suffered some +restraint among my followers in Perthshire, and on your march here; but +we are in such a situation that we hardly know our friends, and I +am even at this moment uncertain whether I can have the pleasure of +considering Mr. Waverley as among mine.' +</p> +<p> +He then paused for an instant; but before Edward could adjust a suitable +reply or even arrange his ideas as to its purport, the Prince took out +a paper, and then proceeded:—'I should indeed have no doubts upon this +subject, if I could trust to this proclamation, set forth by the friends +of the Elector of Hanover, in which they rank Mr. Waverley among the +nobility and gentry who are menaced with the pains of high treason for +loyalty to their legitimate sovereign. But I desire to gain no adherents +save from affection and conviction; and if Mr. Waverley inclines +to prosecute his journey to the south, or to join the forces of the +Elector, he shall have my passport and free permission to do so; and I +can only regret, that my present power will not extend to protect him +against the probable consequences of such a measure.—But,' continued +Charles Edward, after another short pause, 'if Mr. Waverley should, like +his ancestor, Sir Nigel, determine to embrace a cause which has little +to recommend it but its justice, and follow a prince who throws +himself upon the affections of his people to recover the throne of his +ancestors, or perish in the attempt, I can only say, that among these +nobles and gentlemen he will find worthy associates in a gallant +enterprise, and will follow a master who may be unfortunate, but, I +trust, will never be ungrateful.' +</p> +<p> +The politic Chieftain of the race of Ivor knew his advantage in +introducing Waverley to this personal interview with the royal +Adventurer. Unaccustomed to the address and manners of a polished court, +in which Charles was eminently skilful, his words and his kindness +penetrated the heart of our hero, and easily outweighed all prudential +motives. To be thus personally solicited for assistance by a Prince, +whose form and manners, as well as the spirit which he displayed in +this singular enterprise, answered his ideas of a hero of romance; to be +courted by him in the ancient halls of his paternal palace, recovered +by the sword which he was already bending towards other conquests, gave +Edward, in his own eyes, the dignity and importance which he had ceased +to consider as his attributes. Rejected, slandered, and threatened +upon the one side, he was irresistibly attracted to the cause which the +prejudices of education, and the political principles of his family, had +already recommended as the most just. These thoughts rushed through +his mind like a torrent, sweeping before them every consideration of an +opposite tendency,—the time, besides, admitted of no deliberation,—and +Waverley, kneeling to Charles Edward, devoted his heart and sword to the +vindication of his rights! +</p> +<p> +The Prince (for, although unfortunate in the faults and follies of his +forefathers, we shall here, and elsewhere, give him the title due to +his birth) raised Waverley from the ground, and embraced him with an +expression of thanks too warm not to be genuine. He also thanked +Fergus Mac-Ivor repeatedly for having brought him such an adherent, and +presented Waverley to the various noblemen, chieftains, and officers +who were about his person, as a young gentleman of the highest hopes and +prospects, in whose bold and enthusiastic avowal of his cause they might +see an evidence of the sentiments of the English families of rank at +this important crisis. <a href="#note-23" name="noteref-23"><small>23</small></a> Indeed, this was a point +much doubted among the adherents of the house of Stuart; and as a +well-founded disbelief in the co-operation of the English Jacobites kept +many Scottish men of rank from his standard, and diminished the courage +of those who had joined it, nothing could be more seasonable for the +Chevalier than the open declaration in his favour of the representative +of the house of Waverley-Honour, so long known as cavaliers and +royalists. This Fergus had foreseen from the beginning. He really loved +Waverley, because their feelings and projects never thwarted each other; +he hoped to see him united with Flora, and he rejoiced that they were +effectually engaged in the same cause. But, as we before hinted, he also +exulted as a politician in beholding secured to his party a partisan of +such consequence; and he was far from being insensible to the personal +importance which he himself gained with the Prince, from having so +materially assisted in making the acquisition. +</p> +<p> +Charles Edward, on his part, seemed eager to show his attendants the +value which he attached to his new adherent, by entering immediately, as +in confidence, upon the circumstances of his situation. 'You have been +secluded so much from intelligence, Mr. Waverley, from causes of which +I am but indistinctly informed, that I presume you are even yet +unacquainted with the important particulars of my present situation. You +have, however, heard of my landing in the remote district of Moidart, +with only seven attendants, and of the numerous chiefs and clans whose +loyal enthusiasm at once placed a solitary adventurer at the head of +a gallant army. You must also, I think, have learned, that the +commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian Elector, Sir John Cope, marched +into the Highlands at the head of a numerous and well-appointed military +force, with the intention of giving us battle, but that his courage +failed him when we were within three hours' march of each other, so that +he fairly gave us the slip, and marched northward to Aberdeen, leaving +the Low Country open and undefended. Not to lose so favourable an +opportunity, I marched on to this metropolis, driving before me two +regiments of horse, Gardiner's and Hamilton's, who had threatened to +cut to pieces every Highlander that should venture to pass Stirling; +and while discussions were carrying forward among the magistracy +and citizens of Edinburgh, whether they should defend themselves or +surrender, my good friend Lochiel (laying his hand on the shoulder +of that gallant and accomplished chieftain) saved them the trouble of +further deliberation, by entering the gates with five hundred Camerons. +Thus far, therefore, we have done well; but, in the meanwhile, this +doughty general's nerves being braced by the keen air of Aberdeen, +he has taken shipping for Dunbar, and I have just received certain +information that he landed there yesterday. His purpose must +unquestionably be to march towards us to recover possession of the +capital. Now, there are two opinions in my council of war: one, that +being inferior probably in numbers, and certainly in discipline and +military appointments, not to mention our total want of artillery, and +the weakness of our cavalry, it will be safest to fall back towards the +mountains, and there protract the war, until fresh succours arrive from +France, and the whole body of the Highland clans shall have taken +arms in our favour. The opposite opinion maintains, that a retrograde +movement, in our circumstances, is certain to throw utter discredit on +our arms and undertaking; and, far from gaining us new partisans, will +be the means of disheartening-those who have joined our standard. The +officers who use these last arguments, among whom is your friend Fergus +Mac-Ivor, maintain, that if the Highlanders are strangers to the usual +military discipline of Europe, the soldiers whom they are to encounter +are no less strangers to their peculiar and formidable mode of attack; +that the attachment and courage of the chiefs and gentlemen are not to +be doubted; and that as they will be in the midst of the enemy, their +clansmen will as surely follow them; in fine, that having drawn the +sword, we should throw away the scabbard, and trust our cause to battle, +and to the God of Battles. Will Mr. Waverley favour us with his opinion +in these arduous circumstances?' +</p> +<p> +Waverley coloured high betwixt pleasure and modesty at the distinction +implied in this question, and answered, with equal spirit-and readiness, +that he could not venture to offer an opinion as derived from military +skill, but that the counsel would be far the most acceptable to him +which should first afford him an opportunity to evince his zeal in his +Royal Highness's service. +</p> +<p> +'Spoken like a Waverley!' answered Charles Edward; and that you may hold +a rank in some degree corresponding to your name, allow me, instead of +the captain's commission which you have lost, to offer you the brevet +rank of major in my service, with the advantage of acting as one of my +aides de camp until you can be attached to a regiment, of which I hope +several will be speedily embodied.' +</p> +<p> +'Your Royal Highness will forgive me,' answered Waverley (for his +recollection turned to Balmawhapple and his scanty troop), 'If I decline +accepting any rank until the time and place where I may have interest +enough to raise a sufficient body of men to make my command useful +to your Royal Highness's service. In the meanwhile, I hope for your +permission to serve as a volunteer under my friend Fergus Mac-Ivor.' +</p> +<p> +'At least,' said the Prince, who was obviously pleased with this +proposal, 'allow me the pleasure of arming you after the Highland +fashion.' With these words, he unbuckled the broadsword which he wore, +the belt of which was plated with silver, and the steel basket-hilt +richly and curiously inlaid, 'The blade,' said the Prince, 'is a genuine +Andrea Ferrara; it has been a sort of heirloom in our family; but I am +convinced I put it into better hands than my own, and will add to it +pistols of the same workmanship.—Colonel Mac-Ivor, you must have much +to say to your friend; I will detain you no longer from your private +conversation; but remember, we expect you both to attend us in the +evening. It may be perhaps the last night we may enjoy in these halls, +and as we go to the field with a clear conscience, we will spend the eve +of battle merrily.' +</p> +<p> +Thus licensed, the Chief and Waverley left the presence-chamber. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0041"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLI +</h2> +<h3> + THE MYSTERY BEGINS TO BE CLEARED UP +</h3> +<p> +'How do you like him?' was Fergus's first question, as they descended +the large stone staircase. +</p> +<p> +'A prince to live and die under,' was Waverley's enthusiastic answer. +</p> +<p> +'I knew you would think so when you saw him, and I intended you should +have met earlier, but was prevented by your sprain. And yet he has +his foibles, or rather he has difficult cards to play, and his +Irish officers, <a href="#note-24" name="noteref-24"><small>24</small></a> who are much about him, are but sorry +advisers,—they cannot discriminate among the numerous pretensions that +are set up. Would you think it—I have been obliged for the present to +suppress an earl's patent, granted for services rendered ten years ago, +for fear of exciting the jealousy, forsooth, of C— and M—. But you +were very right, Edward, to refuse the situation of aide de camp. There +are two vacant, indeed, but Clanronald and Lochiel, and almost all of +us, have requested one for young Aberchallader, and the Lowlanders and +the Irish party are equally desirous to have the other for the Master +of F—. Now, if either of these candidates were to be superseded in your +favour, you would make enemies. And then I am surprised that the Prince +should have offered you a majority, when he knows very well that nothing +short of lieutenant-colonel will satisfy others, who cannot bring one +hundred and fifty men to the field. "But patience, cousin, and shuffle +the cards!" It is all very well for the present, and we must have you +regularly equipped for the evening in your new costume; for, to say +truth, your outward man is scarce fit for a court.' +</p> +<p> +'Why,' said Waverley, looking at his soiled dress, 'my shooting-jacket +has seen service since we parted; but that, probably, you, my friend, +know as well or better than I.' +</p> +<p> +'You do my second-sight too much honour,' said Fergus, 'We were so busy, +first with the scheme of giving battle to Cope, and afterwards with our +operations in the Lowlands, that I could only give general directions +to such of our people as were left in Perthshire to respect and protect +you, should you come in their way. But let me hear the full story +of your adventures, for they have reached us in a very partial and +mutilated manner.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley then detailed at length the circumstances with which the reader +is already acquainted, to which Fergus listened with great attention. By +this time they had reached the door of his quarters, which he had +taken up in a small paved court, retiring from the street called the +Canongate, at the house of a buxom widow of forty, who seemed to smile +very graciously upon the handsome young Chief, she being a person +with whom good looks and good humour were sure to secure an interest, +whatever might be the party's political opinions. Here Callum Beg +received them with a smile of recognition. 'Callum,' said the Chief, +'call Shemus an Snachad' (James of the Needle). This was the hereditary +tailor of Vich Ian Vohr. 'Shemus, Mr. Waverley is to wear the CATH DATH +(battle colour, or tartan); his trews must be ready in four hours. You +know the measure of a well-made man: two double nails to the small of +the leg'— +</p> +<p> +'Eleven from haunch to heel, seven round the waist—I give your honour +leave to hang Shemus, if there's a pair of sheers in the Highlands that +has a baulder sneck than her's ain at the CUMADH AN TRUAIS' (shape of +the trews). +</p> +<p> +'Get a plaid of Mac-Ivor tartan, and sash,' continued the Chieftain, +'and a blue bonnet of the Prince's pattern, at Mr. Mouat's in the +Crames. My short green coat, with silver lace and silver buttons, will +fit him exactly, and I have never worn it. Tell Ensign Maccombich to +pick out a handsome target from among mine. The Prince has given Mr. +Waverley broadsword and pistols, I will furnish him with a dirk and +purse; add but a pair of low-heeled shoes, and then, my dear Edward +(turning to him), you will be a complete son of Ivor. +</p> +<p> +These necessary directions given, the Chieftain resumed the subject of +Waverley's adventures. 'It is plain,' he said, 'that you have been in +the custody of Donald Bean Lean. You must know, that when I marched away +my clan to join the Prince, I laid my injunctions on that worthy member +of society to perform a certain piece of service, which done, he was to +join me with all the force he could muster. But instead of doing so, the +gentleman, finding the coast clear, thought it better to make war on his +own account, and has scoured the country, plundering, I believe, both +friend and foe, under pretence of levying blackmail, sometimes as if by +my authority, and sometimes (and be cursed to his consummate impudence) +in his own great name! Upon my honour, if I live to see the cairn of +Benmore again, I shall be tempted to hang that fellow! I recognize his +hand particularly in the mode of your rescue from that canting rascal +Gilfillan, and I have little doubt that Donald himself played the part +of the pedlar on that occasion; but how he should not have plundered +you, or put you to ransom, or availed himself in some way or other of +your captivity for his own advantage, passes my judgement.' +</p> +<p> +'When and how did you hear the intelligence of my confinement?' asked +Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'The Prince himself told me,' said Fergus,' and inquired very minutely +into your history. He then mentioned your being at that moment in the +power of one of our northern parties—you know I could not ask him to +explain particulars—and requested my opinion about disposing of you. I +recommended that you should be brought here as a prisoner, because I did +not wish to prejudice you further with the English Government, in case +you pursued your purpose of going southward. I knew nothing, you must +recollect, of the charge brought against you of aiding and abetting +high treason, which, I presume, had some share in changing your original +plan. That sullen, good-for-nothing brute, Balmawhapple, was sent to +escort you from Doune, with what he calls his troop of horse. As to +his behaviour, in addition to his natural antipathy to everything that +resembles a gentleman, I presume his adventure with Bradwardine rankles +in his recollection, the rather that I dare say his mode of telling +that story contributed to the evil reports which reached your quondam +regiment.' +</p> +<p> +'Very likely,' said Waverley; 'but now surely, my dear Fergus, you may +find time to tell me something of Flora.' +</p> +<p> +'Why,' replied Fergus, 'I can only tell you that she is well, and +residing for the present with a relation in this city. I thought it +better she should come here, as since our success a good many ladies of +rank attend our military court; and I assure you, that there is a sort +of consequence annexed to the near relative of such a person as Flora +Mac-Ivor; and where there is such a justling of claims and requests, a +man must use every fair means to enhance his importance.' +</p> +<p> +There was something in this last sentence which grated on Waverley's +feelings. He could not bear that Flora should be considered as +conducing to her brother's preferment, by the admiration which she must +unquestionably attract; and although it was in strict correspondence +with many points of Fergus's character, it shocked him as selfish, +and unworthy of his sister's high mind, and his own independent pride. +Fergus, to whom such manoeuvres were familiar, as to one brought up at +the French court, did not observe the unfavourable impression which he +had unwarily made upon his friend's mind, and concluded by saying, that +they could hardly see Flora before the evening, when she would be at the +concert and ball, with which the Prince's party were to be entertained. +She and I had a quarrel about her not appearing to take leave of you. I +am unwilling to renew it, by soliciting her to receive you this morning; +and perhaps my doing so might not only be ineffectual, but prevent your +meeting this evening.' +</p> +<p> +While thus conversing, Waverley heard in the court, before the windows +of the parlour, a well-known voice. 'I aver to you, my worthy +friend,' said the speaker, 'that it is a total dereliction of military +discipline; and were you not as it were a TYRO, your purpose would +deserve strong reprobation. For a prisoner of war is on no account to be +coerced with fetters, or detained IN ERGASTULO, as would have been +the case had you put this gentleman into the pit of the peel-house at +Balmawhapple. I grant, indeed, that such a prisoner may for security be +coerced IN CARCERE, that is, in a public prison.' +</p> +<p> +The growling voice of Balmawhapple was heard as taking leave in +displeasure, but the word 'land-louper' alone was distinctly audible. He +had disappeared before Waverley reached the house, in order to greet the +worthy Baron of Bradwardine. The uniform in which he was now attired, a +blue coat, namely, with gold lace, a scarlet waistcoat and breeches, and +immense jack-boots, seemed to have added fresh stiffness and rigidity +to his tall, perpendicular figure; and the consciousness of military +command and authority had increased, in the same proportion, the +self-importance of his demeanour, and the dogmatism of his conversation. +</p> +<p> +He received Waverley with his usual kindness, and expressed immediate +anxiety to hear an explanation of the circumstances attending the loss +of his commission in Gardiner's dragoons; 'not,' he said, 'that he had +the least apprehension of his young friend having done aught which could +merit such ungenerous treatment as he had received from Government, but +because it was right and seemly that the Baron of Bradwardine should +be, in point of trust and in point of power, fully able to refute all +calumnies against the heir of Waverley-Honour, whom he had so much right +to regard as his own son.' +</p> +<p> +Fergus Mac-Ivor, who had now joined them, went hastily over the +circumstances of Waverley's story, and concluded with the flattering +reception he had met from the young Chevalier. The Baron listened in +silence, and at the conclusion shook Waverley heartily by the hand, and +congratulated him upon entering the service of his lawful Prince. 'For,' +continued he, 'although it has been justly held in all nations a matter +of scandal and dishonour to infringe the SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, and +that whether it was taken by each soldier singly, whilk the Romans +denominated PER CONJURATIONEM, or by one soldier in name of the rest, +yet no one ever doubted that the allegiance so sworn was discharged by +the DIMISSIO, or discharging of a soldier, whose case would be as hard +as that of colliers, salters, and other ADSCRIPTI GLEBAE, or slaves of +the soil, were it to be accounted otherwise. This is something like the +brocard expressed by the learned Sanchez in his work DE JURE-JURANDO, +which you have questionless consulted upon this occasion. As for those +who have calumniated you by leasing-making, I protest to Heaven I think +they have justly incurred the penalty of the MEMNONIA LEX, also called +LEX RHEMNIA, which is prelected upon by Tullius in his oration IN +VERREM. I should have deemed, however, Mr. Waverley, that before +destining yourself to any special service in the army of the Prince, +ye might have inquired what rank the old Bradwardine held there, +and whether he would not have been peculiarly happy to have had your +services in the regiment of horse which he is now about to levy.' +</p> +<p> +Edward eluded this reproach by pleading the necessity of giving an +immediate answer to the Prince's proposal, and his uncertainty at the +moment whether his friend the Baron was with the army, or engaged upon +service elsewhere. +</p> +<p> +This punctilio being settled, Waverley made inquiry after Miss +Bradwardine, and was informed she had come to Edinburgh with Flora +Mac-Ivor, under guard of a party of the Chieftain's men. This step was +indeed necessary, Tully-Veolan having become a very unpleasant, and even +dangerous place of residence for an unprotected young lady, on account +of its vicinity to the Highlands, and also to one or two large villages, +which, from aversion as much to the Caterans as zeal for presbytery, +had declared themselves on the side of Government, and formed irregular +bodies of partisans, who had frequent skirmishes with the mountaineers, +and sometimes attacked the houses of the Jacobite gentry in the braes, +or frontier betwixt the mountain and plain. +</p> +<p> +'I would propose to you,' continued the Baron, 'to walk as far as my +quarters in the Luckenbooths, and to admire in your passage the High +Street, whilk is, beyond a shadow of dubitation, finer than any street, +whether in London or Paris. But Rose, poor thing, is sorely discomposed +with the firing of the Castle, though I have proved to her from Blondel +and Coehorn, that it is impossible a bullet can reach these buildings; +and, besides, I have it in charge from His Royal Highness to go to the +camp, or leaguer of our army, to see that the men do CONCLAMARE VASA, +that is, truss up their bag and baggage for to-morrow's march.' +</p> +<p> +'That will be easily done by most of us,' said Mac-Ivor, laughing. +</p> +<p> +'Craving your pardon, Colonel Mac-Ivor, not quite so easily as ye seem +to opine. I grant most of your folk left the Highlands, expedited as it +were, and free from the incumbrance of baggage; but it is unspeakable +the quantity of useless sprechery which they have collected on their +march, I saw one fellow of yours (craving your pardon once more) with a +pier-glass upon his back.' +</p> +<p> +'Aye,' said Fergus, still in good humour, 'he would have told you, if +you had questioned him, A GANGING FOOT IS AYE GETTING.—But come, my +dear Baron, you know as well as I, that a hundred Uhlans, or a single +troop of Schmirschitz's Pandours, would make more havoc in a country +than the knight of the mirror and all the rest of our clans put +together.' +</p> +<p> +'And that is very true likewise,' replied the Baron; 'they are, as +the heathen author says, FEROCIORES IN ASPECTU, MITIORES IN ACTU, of +a horrid and grim visage, but more benign in demeanour than their +physiognomy or aspect might infer.—But I stand here talking to you two +youngsters when I should be in the King's Park.' +</p> +<p> +'But you will dine with Waverley and me on your return? I assure you, +Baron, though I can live like a Highlander when needs must, I remember +my Paris education, and understand perfectly FAIRE LA MEILLEURE CHERE.' +</p> +<p> +'And wha the deil doubts it,' quoth the Baron, laughing, 'when ye bring +only the cookery, and the gude toun must furnish the materials?—'Weel, +I have some business in the toun too: But I'll join you at three, if the +vivers can tarry so long.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he took leave of his friends, and went to look after the +charge which had been assigned him. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0042"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLII +</h2> +<h3> + A SOLDIER'S DINNER +</h3> +<p> +James of the Needle was a man of his word, when whisky was no party +to the contract; and upon this occasion Callum Beg, who still thought +himself in Waverley's debt, since he had declined accepting compensation +at the expense of mine Host of the Candlestick's person, took the +opportunity of discharging the obligation, by mounting guard over the +hereditary tailor of Sliochd nan Ivor; and, as he expressed himself, +'targed him tightly' till the finishing of the job. To rid himself of +this restraint, Shemus's needle flew through the tartan like lightning; +and as the artist kept chanting some dreadful skirmish of Fin Macoul, +he accomplished at least three stitches to the death of every hero. The +dress was, therefore, soon ready, for the short coat fitted the wearer, +and the rest of the apparel required little adjustment. +</p> +<p> +Our hero having now fairly assumed the 'garb of old Gaul,' well +calculated its it was to give an appearance of strength to a figure, +which, though tall and well-made, was rather elegant than robust, I hope +my fair readers will excuse him if he looked at himself in the mirror +more than once, and could not help acknowledging that the reflection +seemed that of a very handsome young fellow. In fact, there was +no disguising it. His light-brown hair—for he wore no periwig, +notwithstanding the universal fashion of the time—became the bonnet +which surmounted it. His person promised firmness and agility, to which +the ample folds of the tartan added an air of dignity. His blue eye +seemed of that kind, +</p> +<pre> + Which melted in love, and which kindled in war; +</pre> +<p> +and an air of bashfulness, which was in reality the effect of want of +habitual intercourse with the world, gave interest to his features, +without injuring their grace or intelligence. +</p> +<p> +'He's a pratty man—a very pratty man,' said Evan Dhu (now Ensign +Maccombich) to Fergus's buxom landlady. +</p> +<p> +'He's vera weel,' said the Widow Flockhart, 'but no naething sae +weel-far'd as your colonel, ensign.' +</p> +<p> +'I wasna comparing them,' quoth Evan, 'nor was I speaking about his +being weel-favoured; but only that Mr. Waverley looks clean-made and +DELIVER, and like a proper lad of his quarters, that will not cry +barley in a brulzie, And, indeed, he's gleg aneuch at the broadsword and +target, I hae played wi' him mysell at Glennaquoich, and sae has Vich +Ian Vohr, often of a Sunday afternoon,' +</p> +<p> +'Lord forgie ye, Ensign Maccombich,' said the alarmed Presbyterian; 'I'm +sure the colonel wad never do the like o' that!' +</p> +<p> +'Hout! hout! Mrs. Flockhart,' replied the ensign, 'we're young blude, ye +ken; and young saints, auld deils.' +</p> +<p> +'But will ye fight wi' Sir John Cope the morn, Ensign Maccombich?' +demanded Mrs. Flockhart of her guest. +</p> +<p> +'Troth I'se ensure him, an' he'll bide us, Mrs. Flockhart,' replied the +Gael. +</p> +<p> +'And will ye face thae tearing chields, the dragoons, Ensign +Maccombich?' again inquired the landlady. +</p> +<p> +'Claw for claw, as Conan said to Satan, Mrs. Flockhart, and the deevil +tak the shortest nails.' +</p> +<p> +'And will the colonel venture on the bagganets himsell?' +</p> +<p> +'Ye may swear it, Mrs. Flockhart; the very first man will he be, by +Saint Phedar.' +</p> +<p> +'Merciful goodness! and if he's killed amang the red-coats!' exclaimed +the soft-hearted widow. +</p> +<p> +'Troth, if it should sae befall, Mrs. Flockhart, I ken ane that will +no be living to weep for him. But we maun a' live the day, and have +our dinner; and there's Vich Ian Vohr has packed his DORLACH, and Mr. +Waverley's wearied wi' majoring yonder afore the muckle pier-glass; and +that grey auld stoor carle, the Baron o' Bradwardine, that shot young +Ronald of Ballenkeiroch, he's coming down the close wi' that droghling +coghling bailie body they ca' Macwhupple, just like the Laird o' +Kittlegab's French cook, wi' his turn-spit doggie trindling ahint him, +and I am as hungry as a gled, my bonny dow; sae bid Kate set on the +broo', and do ye put on your pinners, for ye ken Vich Ian Vohr winna +sit down till ye be at the head o' the table;—and dinna forget the pint +bottle o' brandy, my woman.' +</p> +<p> +This hint produced dinner. Mrs. Flockhart, smiling in her weeds like the +sun through a mist; took the head of the table, thinking within herself, +perhaps, that she cared not how long the rebellion lasted, that brought +her into company so much above her usual associates. She was supported +by Waverley and the Baron, with the advantage of the Chieftain +VIS-A-VIS. The men of peace and of war, that is, Bailie Macwheeble and +Ensign Maccombich, after many profound conges to their superiors and +each other, took their places on each side of the Chieftain. Their fare +was excellent, time, place, and circumstances considered, and Fergus's +spirits were extravagantly high. Regardless of danger, and sanguine from +temper, youth, and ambition, he saw in imagination all his prospects +crowned with success, and was totally indifferent to the probable +alternative of a soldier's grave. The Baron apologized slightly for +bringing Macwheeble. They had been providing, he said, for the expenses +of the campaign. 'And, by my faith,' said the old man, 'as I think this +will be my last, so I just end where I began—I hae evermore found +the sinews of war, as a learned author calls the CAISSE MILITAIRE mair +difficult to come by than either its flesh, blood, or bones.' +</p> +<p> +'What! have you raised our only efficient body of cavalry, and got ye +none of the louis d'or out of the DOUTELLE, to help you?' [The Doutelle +was an armed vessel, which brought a small supply of money and arms from +France for the use of the insurgents.] +</p> +<p> +'No, Glennaquoich; cleverer fellows have been before me.' +</p> +<p> +'That's a scandal,' said the young Highlander; 'but you will share what +is left of my subsidy: it will save you an anxious thought to-night, and +will be all one to-morrow, for we shall all be provided for, one way or +other, before the sun sets.' Waverley, blushing deeply, but with great +earnestness, pressed the same request. +</p> +<p> +'I thank ye baith, my good lads,' said the Baron, 'but I will not +infringe upon your peculium. Bailie Macwheeble has provided the sum +which is necessary.' +</p> +<p> +Here the Bailie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat, and appeared +extremely uneasy. At length, after several preliminary hems, and much +tautological expression of his devotion to his honour's service, by +night or day, living or dead, he began to insinuate, 'that the Banks +had removed a' their ready cash into the Castle; that, nae doubt, Sandie +Goldie, the silversmith, would do mickle for his honour; but there was +little time to get the wadset made out; and, doubtless, if his honour +Glennaquoich, or Mr. Waverley, could accommodate'— +</p> +<p> +'Let me hear of no such nonsense, sir,' said the Baron, in a tone which +rendered Macwheeble mute, 'but proceed as we accorded before dinner, if +it be your wish to remain in my service.' +</p> +<p> +To this peremptory order the Bailie, though he felt as if condemned +to suffer a transfusion of blood from his own veins into those of the +Baron, did not presume to make any reply. After fidgeting a little while +longer, however, he addressed himself to Glennaquoich, and told him, if +his honour had mair ready siller than was sufficient for his occasions +in the field, he could put it out at use for his honour in safe hands, +and at great profit, at this time. +</p> +<p> +At this proposal Fergus laughed heartily, and answered, when he had +recovered his breath,—'Many thanks, Bailie; but you must know it is a +general custom among us soldiers to make our landlady our banker.—Here, +Mrs. Flockhart,' said he, taking four or five broad pieces out of a +well-filled purse, and tossing the purse itself, with its remaining +contents, into her apron, 'these will serve my occasions; do you take +the rest; be my banker if I live, and my executor if I die; but take +care to give something to the Highland cailliachs [Old women, on whom +devolved the duty of lamenting for the dead, which the Irish call +KEENING.] that shall cry the coronach loudest for the last Vich Ian +Vohr.' +</p> +<p> +'It is the TESTAMENTUM MILITARE,' quoth the Baron, 'whilk, amang the +Romans, was privilegiate to be nuncupative.' But the soft heart of Mrs. +Flockhart was melted within her at the Chieftain's speech; she set up +a lamentable blubbering, and positively refused to touch the bequest, +which Fergus was therefore obliged to resume. +</p> +<p> +'Well, then,' said the Chief, 'if I fall, it will go to the grenadier +that knocks my brains out, and I shall take care he works hard for it.' +</p> +<p> +Bailie Macwheeble was again tempted to put in his oar; for where cash +was concerned, he did not willingly remain silent. 'Perhaps he had +better carry the gowd to Miss Mac-Ivor, in case of mortality, or +accidents of war. It might tak the form of a MORTIS CAUSA donation in +the young leddie's favour, and wad cost but the scrape of a pen to mak +it out.' +</p> +<p> +'The young lady,' said Fergus, 'should such an event happen, will have +other matters to think of than these wretched louis d'or.' +</p> +<p> +'True—undeniable—there 's nae doubt o' that; but your honour kens that +a full sorrow'— +</p> +<p> +'Is endurable by most folk more easily than a hungry one?—True, Bailie, +very true; and I believe there may even be some who would be consoled +by such a reflection for the loss of the whole existing generation. +But there is a sorrow which knows neither hunger nor thirst; and poor +Flora'—He paused, and the whole company sympathized in his emotion. +</p> +<p> +The Baron's thoughts naturally reverted to the unprotected state of +his daughter, and the big tear came to the veteran's eye. 'If I fall, +Macwheeble; you have all my papers, and know all my affairs; be just to +Rose.' +</p> +<p> +The Bailie was a man of earthly mould, after all; a good deal of dirt +and dress about him, undoubtedly, but some kindly and just feelings he +had, especially where the Baron or his young mistress were concerned. He +set up a lamentable howl. 'If that doleful day should come, while Duncan +Macwheeble had a boddle, it should be Miss Rose's. He wald scroll for +a plack the sheet, or she kenn'd what it was to want; if indeed +a' the bonnie baronie o' Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, with the +fortalice and manor-place thereof (he kept sobbing and whining +at every pause), tofts, crofts, mosses, muirs—outfield, +infield—buildings—orchards—dovecots—with the right of net and +coble in the water and loch of Veolan—teinds, parsonage and +vicarage—annexis, connexis—rights of pasturage—fuel, feal, and +divot—parts, pendicles, and pertinents whatsoever—(here he had +recourse to the end of his long cravat to wipe his eyes, which +overflowed in spite of him, at the ideas which this technical jargon +conjured up)—all as more fully described in the proper evidents and +titles thereof—and lying within the parish of Bradwardine, and the +shire of Perth—if, as aforesaid, they must a' pass from my master's +child to Inch-Grabbit, wha's a Whig and a Hanoverian, and be managed +by his doer, Jamie Howie, wha's no fit to be a birlieman, let be a +bailie'— +</p> +<p> +The beginning of this lamentation really had something affecting, but +the conclusion rendered laughter irresistible. 'Never mind, Bailie,' +said Ensign Maccombich, 'for the gude auld times of rugging and riving +(pulling and tearing) are come back again, an' Sneckus Mac-Snacbus +(meaning, probably, annexis, connexis), and a' the rest of your friends, +maun gie place to the langest claymore.' +</p> +<p> +'And that claymore shall be ours, Bailie,' said the Chieftain, who saw +that Macwheeble looked very blank at this intimation. +</p> +<pre> + We'll give them the metal our mountain affords, + Lillibulero, bullen a la, + And in place of broad-pieces we'll pay with broadswords, + Lero, lero, &c. + With duns and with debts we will soon clear our score, + Lillibulero, &c. + For the man that's thus paid will crave payment no more, + Lero, Lero, &c. + [These lines, or something like them, occur in an old magazine + of the period.] +</pre> +<p> +'But come, Bailie, be not cast down; drink your wine with a joyous +heart; the Baron shall return safe and victorious to Tully-Veolan, +and unite Killancureit's lairdship with his own, since the cowardly +half-bred swine will not turn out for the Prince like a gentleman.' +</p> +<p> +'To be sure, they lie maist ewest,' [i.e. contiguous] said the Bairie, +wiping his eyes, 'and should naturally fa' under the same factory.' +</p> +<p> +'And I,' proceeded the Chieftain, 'shall take care of myself, too; 'for +you must know, I have to complete a good work here, by bringing Mrs. +Flockhart into the bosom of the Catholic church, or at least half way, +and that is to your Episcopal meeting-house. Oh, Baron! if you heard her +fine counter-tenor admonishing Kate and Matty in the morning, you, who +understand music, would tremble at the idea of hearing her shriek in the +psalmody of Haddo's Hole.' +</p> +<p> +'Lord forgie you, colonel, how ye rin on! But I hope your honours will +tak tea before ye gang to the palace, and I maun gang and mask it for +you.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, Mrs. Flockhart left the gentlemen to their own conversation, +which, as might be supposed, turned chiefly upon the approaching events +of the campaign. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0043"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLIII +</h2> +<h3> + THE BALL +</h3> +<p> +Ensign Maccombich having gone to the Highland camp upon duty, and Bailie +Macwheeble having retired to digest his dinner and Evan Dhu's intimation +of martial law in some blind change-house, Waverley, with the Baron and +the Chieftain, proceeded to Holyrood House. The two last were in full +tide of spirits, and the Baron rallied in his way our hero upon the +handsome figure which his new dress displayed to advantage. 'If you have +any design upon the heart of a bonny Scotch lassie, I would premonish +you, when you address her, to remember and quote the words of +Virgilius:— +</p> +<pre> + Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis, + Tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes: +</pre> +<p> +whilk verses Robertson of Struan, Chief of the Clan Donnochy (unless +the claims of Lude ought to be preferred PRIMO LOCO), has thus elegantly +rendered; +</p> +<pre> + For cruel love has gartan'd low my leg, + And clad my hurdies in a philabeg. +</pre> +<p> +Although, indeed, ye wear the trews, a garment whilk I approve maist of +the twa, as mair ancient and seemly.' 'Or rather,' said Fergus, 'hear my +song: +</p> +<pre> + She wadna hae a Lowland laird, + Nor be an English lady; + But she's away with Duncan Graeme, + And he's row'd her in his plaidy.' +</pre> +<p> +By this time they reached the palace of Holyrood, and were announced +respectively as they entered the apartments. +</p> +<p> +It is but too well known how many gentlemen of rank, education, and +fortune, took a concern in the ill-fated and desperate undertaking of +1745. The ladies, also, of Scotland very generally espoused the cause of +the gallant and handsome young Prince, who threw himself upon the mercy +of his countrymen, rather like a hero of romance than a calculating +politician. It is not, therefore, to be wondered that Edward, who +had spent the greater part of his life in the solemn seclusion of +Waverley-Honour, should have been dazzled at the liveliness and elegance +of the scene now exhibited in the long-deserted halls of the Scottish +palace. The accompaniments, indeed, fell short of splendour, being such +as the confusion and hurry of the time admitted; still, however, the +general effect was striking, and, the rank of the company considered, +might well be called brilliant. +</p> +<p> +It was not long before the lover's eye discovered the object of his +attachment. Flora Mac-Ivor was in the act; of returning to her seat, +near the top of the room, with Rose Bradwardine by her side. Among much +elegance and beauty, they had attracted a great degree of the public +attention, being certainly two of the handsomest women present. The +Prince took much notice of both, particularly of Flora, with whom he +danced; a preference which she probably owed to her foreign education, +and command of the French and Italian languages. +</p> +<p> +When the bustle attending the conclusion of the dance permitted, Edward, +almost intuitively, followed Fergus to the place where Miss Mac-Ivor was +seated. The sensation of hope, with which he had nursed his affection +in absence of the beloved object, seemed to vanish in her presence, and, +like one striving to recover the particulars of a forgotten dream, +he would have given the world at that moment to have recollected +the grounds on which he had founded expectations which now seemed so +delusive. He accompanied Fergus with downcast eyes, tingling ears, +and the feelings of the criminal, who, while the melancholy cart moves +slowly through the crowds that have assembled to behold his execution, +receives no clear sensation either from the noise which fills his ears, +or the tumult on which he casts his wandering look. +</p> +<p> +Flora seemed a little—a very little—affected and discomposed at his +approach. 'I bring you an adopted son of Ivor,' said Fergus. +</p> +<p> +'And I receive him as a second brother,' replied Flora. +</p> +<p> +There was a slight emphasis on the word, which would have escaped +every ear but one that was feverish with apprehension. It was, however, +distinctly marked, and, combined with her whole tone and manner, plainly +intimated, 'I will never think of Mr. Waverley as a more intimate +connexion.' Edward stopped, bowed, and looked at Fergus, who bit his +lip; a movement of anger, which proved that he also had put a sinister +interpretation on the reception which his sister had given his friend. +'This, then, is an end of my day-dream!' Such was Waverley's first +thought, and it was so exquisitely painful as to banish from his cheek +every drop of blood. +</p> +<p> +'Good God!' said Rose Bradwardine, 'he is not yet recovered!' +</p> +<p> +These words, which she uttered with great emotion, were overheard by the +Chevalier himself, who stepped hastily forward, and, taking Waverley by +the hand, inquired kindly after his health, and added, that he wished to +speak with him. By a strong and sudden effort, which the circumstances +rendered indispensable, Waverley recovered himself so far as to follow +the Chevalier in silence to a recess in the apartment. +</p> +<p> +Here the Prince detained him some time, asking various questions about +the great Tory and Catholic families of England, their connexions, +their influence, and the state of their affections towards the house of +Stuart. To these queries Edward could not at any time have given more +than general answers, and it may be supposed that, in the present state +of his feelings, his responses were indistinct even to confusion. The +Chevalier smiled once or twice at the incongruity of his replies, but +continued the same style of conversation, although he found himself +obliged to occupy the principal share of it, until he perceived that +Waverley had recovered his presence of mind. It is probable that this +long audience was partly meant to further the idea which the Prince +desired should be entertained among his followers, that Waverley was a +character of political influence. But it appeared, from his concluding +expressions, that he had a different and good-natured motive, personal +to our hero, for prolonging the conference. 'I cannot resist the +temptation,' he said, 'of boasting of my own discretion as a lady's +confidant. You see, Mr. Waverley, that I know all, and I assure you I am +deeply interested in the affair. But, my good young friend, you must put +a more severe restraint upon your feelings. There are many here whose +eyes can see as clearly as mine, but the prudence of whose tongues may +not be equally trusted.' +</p> +<p> +So saying, he turned easily away, and joined a circle of officers at +a few paces' distance, leaving Waverley to meditate upon his parting +expression, which though not intelligible to him in its whole purport, +was sufficiently so in the caution which the last word recommended. +Making, therefore, an effort to show himself worthy of the interest +which his new master had expressed, by instant obedience to his +recommendation, he walked up to the spot where Flora and Miss +Bradwardine were still seated, and having made his compliments to the +latter, he succeeded, even beyond his own expectation, in entering into +conversation upon general topics. +</p> +<p> +If, my dear reader, thou hast ever happened to take post-horses at—, +or at—(one at least of which blanks, or more probably both, you will +be able to fill up from an inn near your own residence), you must have +observed, and doubtless with sympathetic pain, the reluctant agony with +which the poor jades at first apply their galled necks to the collars +of the harness. But when the irresistible arguments of the postboy have +prevailed upon them to proceed a mile or two, they will become callous +to the first sensation; and being warm at the harness, as the said +postboy may term it, proceed as if their withers were altogether +unwrung. This simile so much corresponds with the state of Waverley's +feelings in the course of this memorable evening, that I prefer it +(especially as being, I trust, wholly original) to any more splendid +illustration with which Byshe's ART OF POETRY might supply me. +</p> +<p> +Exertion, like virtue, is its own reward; and our hero had, moreover, +other stimulating motives for persevering in a display of affected +composure and indifference to Flora's obvious unkindness. Pride, which +supplies its caustic as a useful, though severe, remedy for the wounds +of affection, came rapidly to his aid. Distinguished by the favour of a +Prince; destined, he had room to hope, to play a conspicuous part in +the revolution which awaited a mighty kingdom; excelling, probably, +in mental acquirements, and equalling, at least, in personal +accomplishments, most of the noble and distinguished persons with whom +he was now ranked; young, wealthy, and high-born—could he, or ought he +to droop beneath the frown of a capricious beauty? +</p> +<pre> + O nymph, unrelenting and cold as thou art, + My bosom is proud as thine own. +</pre> +<p> +With the feeling expressed in these beautiful lines (which, however, +were not then written) [They occur in Miss Seward's fine verses, +beginning—To thy rocks, stormy Lannow, adieu.], Waverley determined +upon convincing Flora that he was not to be depressed by a rejection, +in which his vanity whispered that perhaps she did her own prospects as +much injustice as his. And, to aid this change of feeling, there lurked +the secret and unacknowledged hope, that she might learn to prize his +affection more highly when she did not conceive it to be altogether +within her own choice to attract or repulse it. There was a mystic tone +of encouragement, also, in the Chevalier's words, though he feared they +only referred to the wishes of Fergus in favour of a union between +him and his sister. But the whole circumstances of time, place, and +incident, combined at once to awaken his imagination, and to call upon +him for a manly and decisive tone of conduct, leaving to fate to dispose +of the issue. Should he appear to be the only one sad and disheartened +on the eve of battle, how greedily would the tale be commented upon by +the slander which had been already but too busy with his fame? Never, +never, he internally resolved, shall my unprovoked enemies possess such +an advantage over my reputation. +</p> +<p> +Under the influence of these mixed sensations, and cheered at times by +a smile of intelligence and approbation from the Prince as he passed the +group, Waverley exerted his powers of fancy, animation, and eloquence, +and attracted the general admiration of the company. The conversation +gradually assumed the tone best qualified for the display of his talents +and acquisitions. The gaiety of the evening was exalted in character, +rather than checked, by the approaching dangers of the morrow. All +nerves were strung for the future, and prepared to enjoy the present. +This mood of mind is highly favourable for the exercise of the powers +of imagination, for poetry, and for that eloquence which is allied to +poetry. Waverley, as we have elsewhere observed, possessed at times a +wonderful flow of rhetoric; and, on the present occasion, he touched +more than once the higher notes of feeling, and then again ran off in +a wild voluntary of fanciful mirth. He was supported and excited by +kindred spirits, who felt the same impulse of mood and time; and even +those of more cold and calculating habits were hurried along by the +torrent. Many ladies declined the dance, which still went forward, and, +under various pretences, joined the party to which the 'handsome young +Englishman' seemed to have attached himself. He was presented to +several of the first rank, and his manners, which for the present were +altogether free from the bashful restraint by which, in a moment of less +excitation, they were usually clouded, gave universal delight. +</p> +<p> +Flora Mac-Ivor appeared to be the only female present who regarded him +with a degree of coldness and reserve; yet even she could not suppress +a sort of wonder at talents which, in the course of their acquaintance, +she had never seen displayed with equal brilliancy and impressive +effect. I do not know whether she might not feel a momentary regret at +having taken so decisive a resolution upon the addresses of a lover, who +seemed fitted so well to fill a high place in the highest stations +of society. Certainly she had hitherto accounted among the incurable +deficiencies of Edward's disposition, the MAUVAISE HONTE, which, as +she had been educated in the first foreign circles, and was little +acquainted with the shyness of English manners, was, in her opinion, +too nearly related to timidity and imbecility of disposition. But if +a passing wish occurred that Waverley could have rendered himself +uniformly thus amiable and attractive, its influence was momentary; for +circumstances had arisen since they met, which rendered, in her eyes, +the resolution she had formed respecting him final and irrevocable. +</p> +<p> +With opposite feelings, Rose Bradwardine bent her whole soul to listen. +She felt a secret triumph at the public tribute paid to one, whose merit +she had learned to prize too early and too fondly. Without a thought of +jealousy, without a feeling of fear, pain, or doubt, and undisturbed by +a single selfish consideration, she resigned herself to the pleasure of +observing the general murmur of applause. When Waverley spoke, her ear +was exclusively filled with his voice; when others answered, her eye +took its turn of observation, and seemed to watch his reply. Perhaps +the delight which she experienced in the course of that evening, though +transient, and followed by much sorrow, was in its nature the most pure +and disinterested which the human mind is capable of enjoying. +</p> +<p> +'Baron,' said the Chevalier, 'I would not trust my mistress in the +company of your young friend. He is really, though perhaps somewhat +romantic, one of the most fascinating young men whom I have ever seen.' +</p> +<p> +'And by my honour, sir,' replied the Baron, 'the lad can sometimes be as +dowff as a sexagenary like myself. If your Royal Highness had seen +him dreaming and dozing about the banks of Tully-Veolan like an +hypochondriac person, or, as Burton's ANATOMIA hath it, a phrenesiac or +lethargic patient, you would wonder where he hath sae suddenly acquired +all this fine sprack festivity and jocularity.' +</p> +<p> +'Truly,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, 'I think it can only be the inspiration +of the tartans; for, though Waverley be always a young fellow of +sense and honour, I have hitherto often found him a very absent and +inattentive companion.' +</p> +<p> +'We are the more obliged to him,' said the Prince, 'for having reserved +for this evening qualities which even such intimate friends had not +discovered.—But come, gentlemen, the night advances, and the business +of to-morrow must be early thought upon. Each take charge of his fair +partner, and honour a small refreshment with your company.' +</p> +<p> +He led the way to another suite of apartments, and assumed the seat and +canopy at the head of a long range of tables, with an air of dignity +mingled with courtesy, which well became his high birth and lofty +pretensions. An hour had hardly flown away when the musicians played the +signal for parting, so well known in Scotland.' [Which is, or was wont +to be, the old air of 'Good-night, and joy be with you a'!'] +</p> +<p> +'Good-night, then, said the Chevalier, rising; 'Good-night, and joy +be with you!—Good-night, fair ladies, who have so highly honoured a +proscribed and banished Prince.—Good-night, my brave friends;—may the +happiness we have this evening experienced be an omen of our return to +these our paternal halls, speedily and in triumph, and of many and many +future meetings of mirth and pleasure in the palace of Holyrood!' +</p> +<p> +When the Baron of Bradwardine afterwards mentioned this adieu of the +Chevalier, he never failed to repeat, in a melancholy tone, +</p> +<pre> + Audiit, et voti Phoebus succedere partem + Mente dedit; partem volueres dispersit in auras, +</pre> +<p> +'which,' as he added, 'is weel rendered into English metre by my friend +Bangour: +</p> +<pre> + Ae half the prayer, wi' Phoebus grace did find, + The t'other half he whistled down the wind.' +</pre> +<a name="2HCH0044"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLIV +</h2> +<h3> + THE MARCH +</h3> +<p> +The conflicting passions and exhausted feelings of Waverley had resigned +him to late but sound repose. He was dreaming of Glennaquoich, and had +transferred to the halls of Ian nan Chaistel the festal train which so +lately graced those of Holyrood. The pibroch too was distinctly heard; +and this at least was no delusion, for the 'proud step of the chief +piper' of the 'chlain Mac-Ivor' was perambulating the court before the +door of his Chieftain's quarters, and, as Mrs. Flockhart, apparently +no friend to his minstrelsy, was pleased to observe, 'garring the very +stane-and-lime wa's dingle wi' his screeching.' Of course, it soon +became too powerful for Waverley's dream, with which it had at first +rather harmonized. +</p> +<p> +The sound of Callum's brogues in his apartment (for Mac-Ivor had again +assigned Waverley to his care) was the next note of parting. 'Winna yere +honour bang up? Vich Ian Vohr and ta Prince are awa to the lang green +glen ahint the clachan, tat they ca' the King's Park, and mony ane's on +his ain shanks the day, that will be carried on ither folk's ere night.' +[The main body of the Highland army encamped, or rather bivouacked, +in that part of the King's Park which lies towards the village of +Duddingston.] +</p> +<p> +Waverley sprang up, and, with Callum's assistance and instructions, +adjusted his tartans in proper costume. Callum told him also, 'tat his +leather DORLACH wi' the lock on her was come frae Doune, and she was awa +again in the wain wi' Vich Inn Vohr's walise,' +</p> +<p> +By this periphrasis Waverley readily apprehended his portmanteau was +intended. He thought upon the mysterious packet of the maid of the +cavern, which seemed always to escape him when within his very grasp. +But this was no time for indulgence of curiosity; and having declined +Mrs. Flockhart's compliment of a morning, i.e. a matutinal dram, being +probably the only man in the Chevalier's army by whom such a courtesy +would have been rejected, he made his adieus, and departed with Callum. +</p> +<p> +'Callum,' said he, as they proceeded down a dirty close to gain the +southern skirts of the Canongate, 'what shall I do for a horse?' +</p> +<p> +'Ta deil ane ye maun think o',' said Callum. 'Vich Ian Vohr's marching +on foot at the head o' his kin (not to say ta Prince, wha does +the like), wi' his target on his shoulder; and ye maun e'en be +neighbour-like.' +</p> +<p> +'And so I will, Callum—give me my target;—so, there we are fixed. How +does it look?' +</p> +<p> +'Like the bra' Highlander tat's painted on the board afore the mickle +change-house they ca' Luckie Middlemass's,' answered Callum; meaning, +I must observe, a high compliment, for, in his opinion, Luckie +Middlemass's sign was an exquisite specimen of art. Waverley, however, +not feeling the full force of this polite simile, asked him no further +questions. +</p> +<p> +Upon extricating themselves from the mean and dirty suburbs of the +metropolis, and emerging into the open air, Waverley felt a renewal both +of health and spirits, and turned his recollection with firmness upon +the events of the preceding evening, and with hope and resolution +towards those of the approaching day. +</p> +<p> +When he had surmounted a small craggy eminence, called St. Leonard's +Hill, the King's Park, or the hollow between the mountain of Arthur's +Seat, and the rising grounds on which the southern part of Edinburgh +is now built, lay beneath him, and displayed a singular and animating +prospect. It was occupied by the army of the Highlanders, now in the act +of preparing for their march. Waverley had already seen something of the +kind at the hunting-match which he attended with Fergus Mac-Ivor; but +this was on a scale of much greater magnitude, and incomparably deeper +interest. The rocks, which formed the background of the scene, and the +very sky itself, rang with the clang of the bagpipers, summoning +forth, each with his appropriate pibroch, his chieftain and clan. The +mountaineers, rousing themselves from their couch under the canopy of +heaven, with the hum and bustle of a confused and irregular multitude, +like bees alarmed and arming in their hives, seemed to possess all the +pliability of movement fitted to execute military manoeuvres. Their +motions appeared spontaneous and confused, but the result was order and +regularity; so that a general must have praised the conclusion, though a +martinet might have ridiculed the method by which it was attained. +</p> +<p> +The sort of complicated medley created by the hasty arrangements of the +various clans under their respective banners, for the purpose of getting +into the order of march, was in itself a gay and lively spectacle. They +had no tents to strike, having generally, and by choice, slept upon the +open field, although the autumn was now waning, and the nights began to +be frosty. For a little space, while they were getting into order, there +was exhibited a changing, fluctuating; and confused appearance of +waving tartans and floating plumes, and of banners displaying the proud +gathering word of Clanronald, GANION COHERIGA (Gainsay who dares); +LOCH-SLOY, the watchword of the Mac-Farlanes; FORTH FORTUNE, AND FILL +THE FETTERS, the motto of the Marquis of Tuilibardine; BYDAND, that of +Lord Lewis Gordon; and the appropriate signal words and emblems of many +other chieftains and clans. +</p> +<p> +At length the mixed and wavering multitude arranged themselves into a +narrow and dusky column of great length, stretching through the whole +extent of the valley. In the front of the column the standard of the +Chevalier was displayed, bearing at red cross upon a white ground, +with the motto TANDEM TRIUMPHANS. The few cavalry being chiefly Lowland +gentry, with their domestic servants and retainers, formed the advanced +guard of the army; and their standards, of which they had rather too +many in respect of their numbers, were seen waving upon the extreme +verge of the horizon. Many horsemen of this body, among whom Waverley +accidentally remarked Balmawhapple, and his lieutenant, Jinker (which +last, however, had been reduced, with several others, by the advice of +the Baron of Bradwardine, to the situation of what he called reformed +officers, or reformadoes), added to the liveliness, though by no means +to the regularity, of the scene, by galloping their horses as fast +forward as the press would permit, to join their proper station in +the van. The fascinations of the Circes of the High Street, and the +potations of strength with which they had been drenched over night, had +probably detained these heroes within the walls of Edinburgh somewhat +later than was consistent with their morning duty. Of such loiterers, +the prudent took the longer and circuitous, but more open route, to +attain their place in the march, by keeping at some distance from the +infantry, and making their way through the enclosures to the right, at +the expense of leaping over or pulling down the dry-stone fences. The +irregular appearance and vanishing of these small parties of horsemen, +as well as the confusion occasioned by those who endeavoured, though +generally without effect, to press to the front through the crowd of +Highlanders, maugre their curses, oaths, and opposition, added to the +picturesque wildness what it took from the military regularity of the +scene. +</p> +<p> +While Waverley gazed upon this remarkable spectacle, rendered yet more +impressive by the occasional discharge of cannon-shot from the Castle +at the Highland guards as they were withdrawn from its vicinity to +join their main body, Callum, with his usual freedom of interference, +reminded him that Vich Ian Vohr's folk were nearly at the head of the +column of march, which was still distant, and that 'they would gang very +fast after the cannon fired.' Thus admonished, Waverley walked briskly +forward, yet often easting a glance upon the darksome clouds of warriors +who were collected before and beneath him. A nearer view, indeed, +rather diminished the effect impressed on the mind by the more distant +appearance of the army. The leading men of each clan were well armed +with broadsword, target, and fusee, to which all added the dirk, and +most the steel pistol. But these consisted of gentlemen, that is, +relations of the chief, however distant, and who had an immediate title +to his countenance and protection. Finer and hardier men could not +have been selected out of any army in Christendom; while the free and +independent habits which each possessed, and which each was yet so well +taught to subject to the command of his chief, and the peculiar mode of +discipline adopted in Highland warfare, rendered them equally formidable +by their individual courage and high spirit, and from their rational +conviction of the necessity of acting in unison, and of giving their +national mode of attack the fullest opportunity of success. +</p> +<p> +But, in a lower rank to these, there were found individuals of an +inferior description, the common peasantry of the Highland country, +who, although they did not allow themselves to be so called, and claimed +often, with apparent truth, to be of more ancient descent than the +masters whom they served, bore, nevertheless, the livery of extreme +penury, being indifferently accoutred, and worse armed, half naked, +stinted in growth, and miserable in aspect. Each important clan had some +of those Helots attached to them;—thus, the Mac-Couls, though tracing +their descent from Comhal, the father of Finn or Fingal, were a sort +of Gibeonites, or hereditary servants to the Stewarts of Appin; the +Macbeths, descended from the unhappy monarch of that name, were subjects +to the Morays, and clan Donnochy, or Robertsons of Athole; and many +other examples might be given, were it not for the risk of hurting any +pride of clanship which may yet be left, and thereby drawing a Highland +tempest into the shop of my publisher. Now these same Helots, though +forced into the field by the arbitrary authority of the chieftains under +whom they hewed wood and drew water, were, in general, very sparingly +fed, ill dressed, and worse armed. The latter circumstance was indeed +owing chiefly to the general disarming act, which had been carried into +effect ostensibly through the whole Highlands, although most of the +chieftains contrived to elude-its influence, by retaining the weapons +of their own immediate clansmen, and delivering up those of less value, +which they collected from these inferior satellites. It followed, as a +matter of course, that, as we have already hinted, many of these poor +fellows were brought to the field in a very wretched condition. +</p> +<p> +From this it happened, that, in bodies, the van of which were admirably +well armed in their own fashion, the rear resembled actual banditti. +Here was a pole-axe, there a sword without a scabbard; here a gun +without a lock, there a scythe set straight upon a pole; and some had +only their dirks, and bludgeons or stakes pulled out of hedges. The +grim, uncombed, and wild appearance of these men, most of whom gazed +with all the admiration of ignorance upon the most ordinary production +of domestic art, created surprise in the Lowlands, but it also created +terror. So little was the condition of the Highlands known at that late +period, that the character and appearance of their population, +while thus sallying forth as military adventurers, conveyed to the +south-country Lowlanders as much surprise as if an invasion of African +Negroes or Esquimaux Indians had issued forth from the northern +mountains of their own native country. It cannot therefore be wondered +if Waverley, who had hitherto judged of the Highlanders generally from +the samples which the policy of Fergus had from time to time exhibited, +should have felt damped and astonished at the daring attempt of a body +not then exceeding four thousand men, and of whom not above half the +number, at the utmost, were armed, to change the fate, and alter the +dynasty, of the British kingdoms. +</p> +<p> +As he moved along the column, which still remained stationary, an iron +gun, the only piece of artillery possessed by the army which meditated +so important a revolution, was fired as the signal of march. The +Chevalier had expressed a wish to leave this useless piece of ordnance +behind him; but, to his surprise, the Highland chiefs interposed to +solicit that it might accompany their march, pleading the prejudices of +their followers, who, little accustomed to artillery, attached a +degree of absurd importance to this field-piece, and expected it would +contribute essentially to a victory which they could only owe to their +own muskets and broadswords. Two or three French artillerymen were +therefore appointed to the management of this military engine, which +was drawn along by a string of Highland ponies, and was, after all, only +used for the purpose of firing signals. <a href="#note-25" name="noteref-25"><small>25</small></a> +</p> +<p> +No sooner was its voice heard upon the present occasion, than the whole +line was in motion. A wild cry of joy from the advancing battalions rent +the air, and was then lost in the shrill clangour of the bagpipes, as +the sound of these, in their turn, was partially drowned by the heavy +tread of so many men put at once into motion. The banners glittered +and shook as they moved forward, and the horse hastened to occupy their +station as the advanced guard, and to push on reconnoitring parties +to ascertain and report the motions of the enemy. They vanished from +Waverley's eye as they wheeled round the base of Arthur's seat, under +the remarkable ridge of basaltic rocks which fronts the little lake of +Duddingston. +</p> +<p> +The infantry followed in the same direction, regulating their pace by +another body which occupied a road more to the southward. It cost Edward +some exertion of activity to attain the place which Fergus's followers +occupied in the line of march. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0045"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLV +</h2> +<h3> + AN INCIDENT GIVES RISE TO UNAVAILING REFLECTIONS +</h3> +<p> +When Waverley reached that part of the column which was filled by +the clan of Mac-Ivor, they halted, formed, and received him with a +triumphant flourish upon the bagpipes, and a loud shout of the men, most +of whom knew him personally, and were delighted to see him in the dress +of their country and of their sept. 'You shout,' said a Highlander of +a neighbouring clan to Evan Dhu, 'as if the Chieftain were just come to +your head.' +</p> +<p> +MAR E BRAN IS E BRATHAIR, If it be not Bran, it is Bran's brother,' was +the proverbial reply of Maccombich. [Bran, the well-known dog of Fingal, +is often the theme of Highland proverb as well as song.] +</p> +<p> +'Oh, then, it is the handsome Sassenach Duinhe-wassel, that is to be +married to Lady Flora?' +</p> +<p> +'That may be, or it may not be; and it is neither your matter nor mine, +Gregor.' +</p> +<p> +Fergus advanced to embrace the volunteer, and afford him a warm and +hearty welcome; but he thought it necessary to apologize for the +diminished numbers of his battalion (which did not exceed three hundred +men), by observing, he had sent a good many out upon parties. +</p> +<p> +The real fact, however, was, that the defection of Donald Bean Lean had +deprived him of at least thirty hardy fellows, whose services he had +fully reckoned upon, and that many of his occasional adherents had been +recalled by their several chiefs to the standards to which they most +properly owed their allegiance. The rival chief of the great northern +branch also of his own clan, had mustered his people, although he had +not yet declared either for the Government or for the Chevalier, and by +his intrigues had in some degree diminished the force with which +Fergus took the field. To make amends for these disappointments, it was +universally admitted that the followers of Vich Ian Vohr, in point of +appearance, equipment, arms, and dexterity in using them, equalled the +most choice troops which followed the standard of Charles Edward. Old +Ballenkeiroch acted as his major; and, with the other officers who had +known Waverley when at Glennaquoich, gave our hero a cordial reception, +as the sharer of their future dangers and expected honours. +</p> +<p> +The route pursued by the Highland army, after leaving the village of +Duddingston, was for some time the common post-road betwixt Edinburgh +and Haddington, until they crossed the Esk at Musselburgh, when, instead +of keeping the low grounds towards the sea, they turned more inland, and +occupied the brow of the eminence called Carberry hill, a place already +distinguished in Scottish history as the spot where the lovely Mary +surrendered herself to her insurgent subjects. This direction was +chosen, because the Chevalier had received notice that the army of the +Government, arriving by sea from Aberdeen, had landed at Dunbar, and +quartered the night before to the west of Haddington, with the intention +of falling down towards the sea-side, and approaching Edinburgh by the +lower coast-road. By keeping the height, which overhung that road in +many places, it was hoped the Highlanders might find an opportunity of +attacking them to advantage. The army therefore halted upon the ridge of +Carberry hill, both to refresh the soldiers, and as a central situation, +from which their march could be directed to any point that the motions +of the enemy might render most advisable. While they remained in this +position, a messenger arrived in haste to desire Mac-Ivor to come to the +Prince, adding, that their advanced post had had a skirmish with some of +the enemy's cavalry, and that the Baron of Bradwardine had sent in a few +prisoners. +</p> +<p> +Waverley walked forward out of the line to satisfy his curiosity, and +soon observed five or six of the troopers, who, covered with dust, had +galloped in to announce that the enemy were in full march westward along +the coast. Passing still a little further on, he was struck with a groan +which issued from a hovel. He approached the spot, and heard a voice, in +the provincial English of his native county, which endeavoured, though +frequently interrupted by pain, to repeat the Lord's Prayer. The voice +of distress always found a ready answer in our hero's bosom. He entered +the hovel, which seemed to be intended for what is called, in the +pastoral counties of Scotland, a smearing-house; and in its obscurity +Edward could only at first discern a sort of red bundle; for those who +had stripped the wounded man of his arms, and part of his clothes, had +left him the dragoon-cloak in which he was enveloped. +</p> +<p> +'For the love of God,' said the wounded man, as he heard Waverley's +step, 'give me a single drop of water!' +</p> +<p> +'You shall have it,' answered Waverley, at the same time raising him in +his arms, bearing him to the door of the hut, and giving him some drink +from his flask. +</p> +<p> +'I should know that voice,' said the man; but, looking on Waverley's +dress with a bewildered look,—'no, this is not the young squire!' +</p> +<p> +This was the common phrase by which Edward was distinguished on the +estate of Waverley-Honour, and the sound now thrilled to his heart with +the thousand recollections which the well-known accents of his native +country had already contributed to awaken. 'Houghton!' he said, gazing +on the ghastly features which death was fast disfiguring, 'can this be +you?' +</p> +<p> +'I never thought to hear an English voice again,' said the wounded man; +'they left me to live or die here as I could, when they found I would +say nothing about the strength of the regiment. But, oh, squire! how +could you stay from us so long, and let us be tempted by that fiend of +the pit, Ruffin?—we should have followed you through flood and fire, to +be sure.' +</p> +<p> +'Ruffin! I assure you, Houghton, you have been vilely imposed upon.' +</p> +<p> +'I often thought so,' said Houghton, 'though they showed us your very +seal; and so Timms was shot, and I was reduced to the ranks.' +</p> +<p> +'Do not exhaust your strength in speaking,' said Edward; 'I will get you +a surgeon presently.' +</p> +<p> +He saw Mac-Ivor approaching, who was now returning from head-quarters, +where he had attended a council of war, and hastened to meet him. 'Brave +news!' shouted the Chief; 'we shall be at it in less than two hours. The +Prince has put himself at the head of the advance, and as he drew his +sword, called out, "My friends, I have thrown away the scabbard." Come, +Waverley, we move instantly.' +</p> +<p> +'A moment,—a moment; this poor prisoner is dying where shall I find a +surgeon?' +</p> +<p> +'Why, where should you? We have none, you know, but two or three French +fellows, who, I believe, are little better than GARCONS APOTHICAIRES.' +</p> +<p> +'But the man will bleed to death.' +</p> +<p> +'Poor fellow!' said Fergus, in a momentary fit of compassion; then +instantly added, 'But it will be a thousand men's fate before night; so +come along.' +</p> +<p> +'I cannot; I tell you he is a son of a tenant of my uncle's.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, if he's a follower of yours, he must be looked to; +</p> +<p> +'I'll send Callum to you. But DIAOUL!-CAEDE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART!' +continued the impatient Chieftain,—'what made an old soldier, like +Bradwardine, send dying men here to cumber us?' +</p> +<p> +Callum came with his usual alertness; and, indeed, Waverley rather +gained than lost in the opinion of the Highlanders, by his anxiety about +the wounded man. They would not have understood the general philanthropy +which rendered it almost impossible for Waverley to have passed any +person in such distress; but, as apprehending that the sufferer was one +of his following, [SCOTTICE for followers.] they unanimously allowed +that Waverley's conduct was that of a kind and considerate chieftain, +who merited the attachment of his people. In about a quarter of an +hour poor Humphry breathed his last, praying his young master, when +he returned to Waverley-Honour, to be kind to old Job Houghton and +his dame, and conjuring him not to fight with these wild petticoat-men +against old England. +</p> +<p> +When his last breath was drawn, Waverley, who had beheld with sincere +sorrow, and no slight tinge of remorse, the final agonies of mortality, +now witnessed for the first time, commanded Callum to remove the body +into the hut. This the young Highlander performed, not without examining +the pockets of the defunct, which, however, he remarked, had been +pretty well spung'd. He took the cloak, however, and proceeding with the +provident caution of a spaniel hiding a bone, concealed it among some +furze, and carefully marked the spot, observing that, if he chanced to +return that way, it would be an excellent rokelay for his auld mother +Elspat. +</p> +<p> +It was by a considerable exertion that they regained their place in the +marching column, which was now moving rapidly forward to occupy the high +grounds above the village of Tranent, between which and the sea, lay the +purposed march of the opposite army. +</p> +<p> +This melancholy interview with his late sergeant forced many unavailing +and painful reflections upon Waverley's mind. It was clear, from the +confession of the man, that Colonel Gardiner's proceedings had been +strictly warranted, and even rendered indispensable, by the steps taken +in Edward's name to induce the soldiers of his troop to mutiny. The +circumstance of the seal, he now, for the first time, recollected, and +that he had lost it in the cavern of the robber, Bean Lean. That the +artful villain had secured it, and used it as the means of carrying +on an intrigue in the regiment, for his own purposes, was sufficiently +evident, and Edward had now little doubt that in the packet placed in +his portmanteau by his daughter, he should find further light upon +his proceedings. In the meanwhile, the repeated expostulation of +Houghton,—'Ah, squire, why did you leave us?' rang like a knell in his +ears. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' he said, 'I have indeed acted towards you with thoughtless +cruelty. I brought you from your paternal fields, and the protection of +a generous and kind landlord, and when I had subjected you to all the +rigour of military discipline, I shunned to bear my own share of the +burden, and wandered from the duties I had undertaken, leaving alike +those whom it was my business to protect, and my own reputation, to +suffer under the artifices of villany. O indolence and indecision of +mind! if not in yourselves vices, to how much exquisite misery and +mischief do you frequently prepare the way!' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0046"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLVI +</h2> +<h3> + THE EVE OF BATTLE +</h3> +<p> +Although the Highlanders marched on very fast, the sun was declining +when they arrived upon the brow of those high grounds which command an +open and extensive plain stretching northward to the sea, on which are +situated, but at a considerable distance from each other, the small +villages of Seaton and Cockenzie, and the larger one of Preston. One of +the low coast-roads to Edinburgh passed through this plain, issuing upon +it from the enclosures of Seaton-house, and at the town or village of +Preston again entering the defiles of an enclosed country. By this way +the English general had chosen to approach the metropolis, both as most +commodious for his cavalry, and being probably of opinion that, by doing +so, he would meet in front with the Highlanders advancing from Edinburgh +in the opposite direction. In this he was mistaken; for the sound +judgement of the Chevalier, or of those to whose advice he listened, +left the direct passage free, but occupied the strong ground by which it +was overlooked and commanded. +</p> +<p> +When the Highlanders reached the heights above the plain described, they +were immediately formed in army of battle along the brow of the hill. +Almost at the same instant the van of the English appeared issuing from +among the trees and enclosures of Seaton, with the purpose of occupying +the level plain between the high ground and the sea; the space which +divided the armies being only about half a mile in breadth. Waverley +could plainly see the squadrons of dragoons issue, one after another, +from the defiles, with their videttes in front, and form upon the +plain, with their front opposed to that of the Prince's army. They were +followed by a train of field-pieces, which, when they reached the flank +of the dragoons, were also brought into line, and pointed against the +heights. The march was continued by three or four regiments of infantry +marching in open column, their fixed bayonets showing like successive +hedges of steel, and their arms glancing like lightning, as, at a +signal given, they also at once wheeled up, and were placed in direct +opposition to the Highlanders. A second train of artillery, with another +regiment of horse, closed the long march, and formed on the left flank +of the infantry, the whole line facing southward. +</p> +<p> +While the English army went through these evolutions, the Highlanders +showed equal promptitude and zeal for battle. As fast as the clans came +upon the ridge which fronted their enemy, they were formed into line, so +that both armies got into complete order of battle at the same moment. +When this was accomplished, the Highlanders set up a tremendous yell, +which was re-echoed by the heights behind them. The regulars, who were +in high spirits, returned a loud shout of defiance, and fired one or +two of their cannon upon an advanced post of the Highlanders. The latter +displayed great earnestness to proceed instantly to the attack, Evan Dhu +urging to Fergus, by way of argument, that 'the SIDIER ROY was tottering +like an egg upon a staff, and that they had a' the vantage of the onset, +for even a haggis (God bless her!) could charge down hill.' +</p> +<p> +But the ground through which the mountaineers must have descended, +although not of great extent, was impracticable in its character, being +not only marshy, but intersected with walls of dry-stone, and traversed +in its whole length by a very broad and deep ditch, circumstances which +must have given the musketry of the regulars dreadful advantages, before +the mountaineers could have used their swords, on which they were taught +to rely. The authority of the commanders was therefore interposed to +curb the impetuosity of the Highlanders, and only a few marksmen were +sent down the descent to skirmish with the enemy's advanced posts, and +to reconnoitre the ground. +</p> +<p> +Here, then, was a military spectacle of no ordinary interest, or usual +occurrence. The two armies, so different in aspect and discipline, +yet each admirably trained in its own peculiar mode of war, upon whose +conflict the temporary fate at least of Scotland appeared to depend, now +faced each other like two gladiators in the arena, each meditating +upon the mode of attacking their enemy. The leading officers, and the +general's staff of each army, could be distinguished in front of their +lines, busied with spy-glasses to watch each other's motions, and +occupied in dispatching the orders and receiving the intelligence +conveyed, by the aides-de-camp and orderly men, who gave life to the +scene by galloping along in different directions as if the fate of +the day depended upon the speed of their horses. The space between the +armies was at times occupied by the partial and irregular contests of +individual sharpshooters, and a hat or bonnet was occasionally seen to +fall, as a wounded man was borne off by his comrades. These, however, +were but trifling skirmishes, for it suited the views of neither +party to advance in that direction. From the neighbouring hamlets, the +peasantry cautiously showed themselves, as if watching the issue of +the expected engagement; and at no great distance in the bay were two +square-rigged vessels, bearing the English flag, whose tops and yards +were crowded with less timid spectators. +</p> +<p> +When this awful pause had lasted for a short time, Fergus, with another +chieftain, received orders to detach their clans towards the village of +Preston, in order to threaten the right flank of Cope's army, and compel +him to a change of position. To enable him to execute these orders, the +Chief of Glennaquoich occupied the churchyard of Tranent, a commanding +situation, and a convenient place, as Evan Dhu remarked, 'for any +gentleman who might have the misfortune to be killed, and chanced to be +curious about Christian burial.' To check or dislodge this party, the +English general detached two guns escorted by a strong party of cavalry. +They approached so near, that Waverley could plainly recognize the +standard of the troop he had formerly commanded, and hear the trumpets +and kettledrums sound the signal of advance, which he had so often +obeyed. He could hear, too, the well-known word given in the +English dialect, by the equally well-distinguished voice of the +commanding-officer, for whom he had once felt so much respect. It was +at that instant, that, looking around him, he saw the wild dress and +appearance of his Highland associates, heard their whispers in an +uncouth and unknown language, looked upon his own dress, so unlike that +which he had worn from his infancy, and wished to awake from what seemed +at the moment a dream, strange, horrible, and unnatural. 'Good God!' he +muttered, 'am I then a traitor to my country, a renegade to my standard, +and a foe, as that poor dying wretch expressed himself, to my native +England?' +</p> +<p> +Ere he could digest or smother the recollection, the tall military +form of his late commander came full in view, for the purpose of +reconnoitring. 'I can hit him now,' said Callum, cautiously raising his +fusee over the wall under which he lay couched, at scarce sixty yards' +distance. +</p> +<p> +Edward felt as if he was about to see a parricide committed in his +presence; for the venerable grey hair and striking countenance of the +veteran recalled the almost paternal respect with which his officers +universally regarded him. But ere he could say 'Hold!' an aged +Highlander, who lay beside Callum Beg, stopped his arm. 'Spare your +shot,' said the seer, 'his hour is not yet come. But let him beware of +to-morrow.—I see his winding-sheet high upon his breast.' +</p> +<p> +Callum, flint to other considerations, was penetrable to superstition. +He turned pale at the words of the TAISHATR, and recovered his piece. +Colonel Gardiner, unconscious of the danger he had escaped, turned his +horse round, and rode slowly back to the front of his regiment. +</p> +<p> +By this time the regular army had assumed a new line, with one flank +inclined towards the sea, and the other resting upon the village of +Preston; and as similar difficulties occurred in attacking their new +position, Fergus and the rest of the detachment were recalled to their +former post. This alteration created the necessity of a corresponding +change in General Cope's army, which was again brought into a line +parallel with that of the Highlanders. In these manoeuvres on both sides +the daylight was nearly consumed, and both armies prepared to rest upon +their arms for the night in the lines which they respectively occupied. +</p> +<p> +'There will be nothing done to-night,' said Fergus to his friend +Waverley. 'Ere we wrap ourselves in our plaids, let us go see what the +Baron is doing in the rear of the line.' +</p> +<p> +When they approached his post, they found the good old careful officer, +after having sent out his night patrols, and posted his sentinels, +engaged in reading the Evening Service of the Episcopal Church to the +remainder of his troop. His voice was loud and sonorous, and though his +spectacles upon his nose, and the appearance of Saunders Saunderson, +in military array, performing the functions of clerk, had something +ludicrous, yet the circumstances of danger in which they stood, the +military costume of the audience, and the appearance of their horses, +saddled and picketed behind them, gave an impressive and solemn effect +to the office of devotion. +</p> +<p> +'I have confessed to-day, ere you were awake,' whispered Fergus to +Waverley; 'yet I am not so strict a Catholic as to refuse to join in +this good man's prayers.' +</p> +<p> +Edward assented, and they remained till the Baron had concluded the +service. +</p> +<p> +As he shut the book, 'Now, lads,' said he, 'have at them in the morning, +with heavy hands and light consciences.' He then kindly greeted Mac-Ivor +and Waverley, who requested to know his opinion of their situation. +'Why, you know, Tacitus saith, "IN REBUS BELLICIS MAXIME DOMINATUR +FORTUNA," which is equiponderate with our vernacular adage, "Luck can +maist in the mellee." But credit me, gentlemen, yon man is not a deacon +o' his craft. He damps the spirits of the poor lads he commands, by +keeping them on the defensive, whilk of itself implies inferiority or +fear. Now will they lie on their arms yonder, as anxious and as ill at +ease as a toad under a harrow, while our men will be quite fresh and +blithe for action in the morning. Well, goodnight.—One thing troubles +me, but if to-morrow goes well off, I will consult you about it, +Glennaquoich.'— +</p> +<p> +'I could almost apply to Mr. Bradwardine the character which Henry gives +of Fluellen,' said Waverley, as his friend and he walked towards their +BIVOUAC: +</p> +<pre> + Though it appears a little out of fashion, + There is much care and valour in this 'Scotchman.' +</pre> +<p> +'He has seen much service,' answered Fergus, 'and one is sometimes +astonished to find how much nonsense and reason are mingled in his +composition, I wonder what can be troubling his mind—probably something +about Rose.—Hark! the English are setting their watch.' +</p> +<p> +The roll of the drum and shrill accompaniment of the fifes swelled up +the hill-died away—resumed its thunder—and was at length hushed. The +trumpets and kettledrums of the cavalry were next heard to perform the +beautiful and wild point of war appropriated as a signal for that piece +of nocturnal duty, and then finally sank upon the wind with a shrill and +mournful cadence. +</p> +<p> +The friends, who had now reached their post, stood and looked round them +ere they lay down to rest. The western sky twinkled with stars, but +a frost-mist, rising from the ocean, covered the eastern horizon, and +rolled in white wreaths along the plain where the adverse army lay +couched upon their arms. Their advanced posts were pushed as far as the +side of the great ditch at the bottom of the descent, and had kindled +large fires at different intervals, gleaming with obscure and hazy +lustre through the heavy fog which encircled them with a doubtful halo. +</p> +<p> +The Highlanders, 'thick as leaves in Vallombrosa,' lay stretched upon +the ridge of the hill, buried (excepting their sentinels) in the most +profound repose. 'How many of these brave fellows will sleep more +soundly before to-morrow night, Fergus!' said Waverley, with an +involuntary sigh. +</p> +<p> +'You must not think of that,' answered Fergus, whose ideas were entirely +military. 'You must only think of your sword, and by whom it was given. +All other reflections are now TOO LATE.' +</p> +<p> +With the opiate contained in this undeniable remark, Edward endeavoured +to lull the tumult of his conflicting feelings. The Chieftain and he, +combining their plaids, made a comfortable and warm couch. Callum, +sitting down at their head (for it was his duty to watch upon the +immediate person of the Chief), began a long mournful song in Gaelic, to +a low and uniform tune, which, like the sound of the wind at a distance, +soon lulled them to sleep. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0047"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLVII +</h2> +<h3> + THE CONFLICT +</h3> +<p> +When Fergus Mac-Ivor and his friend had slept for a few hours, they were +awakened, and summoned to attend the Prince. The distant village-clock +was heard to toll three as they hastened to the place where he lay. +He was already surrounded by his principal officers and the chiefs of +clans. A bundle of peas-straw, which had been lately his couch, now +served for his seat. Just as Fergus reached the circle, the consultation +had broken up. 'Courage, my brave friends!' said the Chevalier, 'and +each one put himself instantly at the head of his command; a faithful +friend <a href="#note-26" name="noteref-26"><small>26</small></a> has offered to guide us by a practicable, though +narrow and circuitous route, which, sweeping to our right, traverses +the broken ground and morass, and enables us to gain the firm and open +plain, upon which the enemy are lying. This difficulty surmounted, +Heaven and your good swords must do the rest.' +</p> +<p> +The proposal spread unanimous joy, and each leader hastened to get his +men into order with as little noise as possible. The army, moving by +its right from off the ground on which they had rested, soon entered the +path through the morass, conducting their march with astonishing silence +and great rapidity. The mist had not risen to the higher grounds, so +that for some time they had the advantage of starlight. But this was +lost as the stars faded before approaching day, and the head of the +marching column, continuing its descent, plunged as it were into the +heavy ocean of fog, which rolled its white waves over the whole plain, +and over the sea by which it was bounded. Some difficulties were now to +be encountered, inseparable from darkness,—a narrow, broken, and +marshy path, and the necessity of preserving union in the march. These, +however, were less inconvenient to Highlanders, from their habits of +life, than they would have been to any other troops, and they continued +a steady and swift movement. +</p> +<p> +As the clan of Ivor approached the firm ground, following the track of +those who preceded them, the challenge of a patrol was heard through the +mist, though they could not see the dragoon by whom it was made—'Who +goes there?' +</p> +<p> +'Hush!' cried Fergus, 'hush!—Let none answer, as he values his +life.—Press forward!' and they continued their march with silence and +rapidity. +</p> +<p> +The patrol fired his carabine upon the body, and the report was +instantly followed by the clang of his horse's feet as he galloped off. +'HYLAX IN LIMINE LATRAT,' said the Baron of Bradwardine, who heard the +shot; 'that loon will give the alarm.' +</p> +<p> +The clan of Fergus had now gained the firm plain, which had lately borne +a large crop of corn. But the harvest was gathered in, and the expense +was unbroken by tree, bush, or interruption of any kind. The rest of the +army were following fast, when they heard the drums of the enemy beat +the general. Surprise, however, had made no part of their plan, so they +were not disconcerted by this intimation that the foe was upon his guard +and prepared to receive them. It only hastened their dispositions for +the combat, which were very simple. +</p> +<p> +The Highland army, which now occupied the eastern end of the wide plain, +or stubble field, so often referred to, was drawn up in two lines, +extending from the morass towards the sea. The first was destined to +charge the enemy, the second to act as a reserve. The few horse, +whom the Prince headed in person, remained between the two lines. The +Adventurer had intimated a resolution to charge in person at the head of +his first line; but his purpose was deprecated by all around him, and he +was with difficulty induced to abandon it. +</p> +<p> +Both lines were now moving forward, the first prepared for instant +combat. The clans of which it was composed, formed each a sort of +separate phalanx, narrow in front, and in depth ten, twelve, or fifteen +files, according to the strength of the following. The best armed and +best born, for the words were synonymous, were placed in front of each +of these irregular subdivisions. The others in the rear shouldered +forward the front, and by their pressure added both physical impulse, +and additional ardour and confidence, to those who were first to +encounter the danger. +</p> +<p> +'Down with your plaid, Waverley,' cried Fergus, throwing off his own; +'we'll win silks for our tartans before the sun is above the sea.' +</p> +<p> +The clansmen on every side stripped their plaids, prepared their arms, +and there was an awful pause of about three minutes, during which +the men, pulling off their bonnets, raised their faces to heaven, and +uttered a short prayer; then pulled their bonnets over their brows, and +began to move forward at first slowly. Waverley felt his heart at that +moment throb as it would have burst from his bosom. It was not fear, it +was not ardour,—it was a compound of both, a new and deeply energetic +impulse, that with its first emotion chilled and astounded, then fevered +and maddened his mind, The sounds around him combined to exalt his +enthusiasm; the pipes played, and the clans rushed forward, each in +its own dark column. As they advanced they mended their pace, and the +muttering sounds of the men to each other began to swell into a wild +cry. +</p> +<p> +At this moment, the sun, which was now risen above the horizon, +dispelled the mist. The vapours rose like a curtain, and showed the +two armies in the act of closing. The line of the regulars was formed +directly fronting the attack of the Highlanders; it glittered with +the appointments of a complete army, and was flanked by cavalry and +artillery. But the sight impressed no terror on the assailants. +</p> +<p> +'Forward, sons of Ivor,' cried their Chief, 'or the Camerons will draw +the first blood!'—They rushed on with a tremendous yell. +</p> +<p> +The rest is well known. The horse, who were commanded to charge the +advancing Highlanders in the flank, received an irregular fire from +their fusees as they ran on, and, seized with a disgraceful panic, +wavered, halted, disbanded, and galloped from the field. The +artillerymen, deserted by the cavalry, fled after discharging their +pieces, and the Highlanders, who dropped their guns when fired, and drew +their broadswords, rushed with headlong fury against the infantry. +</p> +<p> +It was at this moment of confusion and terror, that Waverley remarked an +English officer, apparently of high rank, standing alone and unsupported +by a field-piece, which, after the flight of the men by whom it was +wrought, he had himself levelled and discharged against the clan of +Mac-Ivor, the nearest group of Highlanders within his aim. Struck +with his tall, martial figure, and eager to save him from inevitable +destruction, Waverley outstripped for an instant even the speediest of +the warriors, and, reaching the spot first, called to him to surrender. +The officer replied by a thrust with his sword, which Waverley received +in his target, and in turning it aside the Englishman's weapon broke. +At the same time the battle-axe of Dugald Mahony was in the act of +descending upon the officer's head. Waverley intercepted and prevented +the blow, and the officer, perceiving further resistance unavailing, +and struck with Edward's generous anxiety for his safety, resigned the +fragment of his sword, and was committed by Waverley to Dugald, with +strict charge to use him well, and not to pillage his person, promising +him, at the same time, full indemnification for the spoil. +</p> +<p> +On Edward's right, the battle for a few minutes raged fierce and thick. +The English infantry, trained in the wars in Flanders, stood their +ground with great courage. But their extended files were pierced and +broken in many places by the close masses of the clans; and in the +personal struggle which ensued, the nature of the Highlanders' weapons, +and their extraordinary fierceness and activity, gave them a decided +superiority over those who had been accustomed to trust much to their +array and discipline, and felt that the one was broken and the other +useless. Waverley, as he cast his eyes towards this scene of smoke and +slaughter, observed Colonel Gardiner, deserted by his own soldiers in +spite of all his attempts to rally them, yet spurring his horse through +the field to take the command of a small body of infantry, who, with +their backs arranged against the wall of his own park (for his house +was close by the field of battle), continued a desperate and unavailing +resistance. Waverley could perceive that he had already received many +wounds, his clothes and saddle being marked with blood. To save this +good and brave man, became the instant object of his most anxious +exertions. But he could only witness his fall. Ere Edward could make +his way among the Highlanders, who, furious and eager for spoil, now +thronged upon each other, he saw his former commander brought from his +horse by the blow of a scythe, and beheld him receive, while on the +ground, more wounds than would have let out twenty lives. When Waverley +came up, however, perception had not entirely fled. The dying warrior +seemed to recognize Edward, for he fixed his eye upon him with an +upbraiding, yet sorrowful look, and appeared to struggle for utterance. +But he felt that death was dealing closely with him, and resigning his +purpose, and folding his hands as if in devotion, he gave up his soul +to his Creator. The look with which he regarded Waverley in his dying +moments did not strike him so deeply at that crisis of hurry and +confusion, as when it recurred to his imagination at the distance of +some time. <a href="#note-27" name="noteref-27"><small>27</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Loud shouts of triumph now echoed over the whole field. The battle was +fought and won, and the whole baggage, artillery, and military stores +of the regular army remained in possession of the victors. Never was a +victory more complete. Scarce any escaped from the battle, excepting the +cavalry, who had left it at the very onset, and even these were broken +into different parties and scattered all over the country. So far as our +tale is concerned, we have only to relate the fate of Balmawhapple, who, +mounted on a horse as headstrong and stiff-necked as his rider, pursued +the flight of the dragoons above four miles from the field of battle, +when some dozen of the fugitives took heart of grace, turned round, and, +cleaving his skull with their broadswords, satisfied the world that +the unfortunate gentleman had actually brains, the end of his life thus +giving proof of a fact greatly doubted during its progress. His death +was lamented by few. Most of those who knew him agreed in the pithy +observation of Ensign Maccombich, that there 'was mair TINT (lost) at +Sheriff-Muir.' His friend, Lieutenant Jinker, bent his eloquence only +to exculpate his favourite mare from any share in contributing to the +catastrophe. 'He had tauld the laird a thousand times,' he said, 'that +it was a burning shame to put a martingale upon the puir thing, when he +would needs ride her wi' a curb of half a yard lang; and that he could +na but bring himsell (not to say her) to some mischief, by flinging her +down, or otherwise; whereas, if he had had a wee bit rinnin ring on the +snaffle, she wad ha' rein'd as cannily as a cadger's pownie.' +</p> +<p> +Such was the elegy of the Laird of Balmawhapple. <a href="#note-28" name="noteref-28"><small>28</small></a> +</p> +<a name="2HCH0048"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLVIII +</h2> +<h3> + AN UNEXPECTED EMBARRASSMENT +</h3> +<p> +When the battle was over, and all things coming into order, the Baron +of Bradwardine, returning from the duty of the day, and having disposed +those under his command in their proper stations, sought the Chieftain +of Glennaquoich and his friend Edward Waverley. He found the former +busied in determining disputes among his clansmen about points of +precedence and deeds of valour, besides sundry high and doubtful +questions concerning plunder. The most important of the last respected +the property of a gold watch, which had once belonged to some +unfortunate English officer. The party against whom judgement was +awarded consoled himself by observing, 'She (i.e. the watch, which he +took for a living animal) died the very night Vich Ian Vohr gave her to +Murdock;' the machine having, in fact, stopped for want of winding up. +</p> +<p> +It was just when this important question was decided, that the Baron of +Bradwardine, with a careful and yet important expression of countenance, +joined the two young men. He descended from his reeking charger, the +care of which he recommended to one of his grooms. 'I seldom ban, sir,' +said he to the man; 'but if you play any of your hound's-foot tricks, +and leave puir Berwick before he's sorted, to rin after spuilzie, deil +be wi' me if I do not; give your craig a thraw. He then stroked with +great complacency the animal which had borne him through the fatigues of +the day, and having taken a tender leave of him,—'Weel, my good young +friends, a glorious and decisive victory,' said he; 'but these loons of +troopers fled ower soon. I should have liked to have shown you the +true points of the PRAELIUM EQUESTRE, or equestrian combat, whilk their +cowardice has postponed, and which I hold to be the pride and terror +of warfare. Weel, I have fought once more in this old quarrel, though I +admit I could not be so far BEN as you lads, being that it was my point +of duty to keep together our handful of horse. And no cavalier ought +in any wise to begrudge honour that befalls his companions, even though +they are ordered upon thrice his danger, whilk, another time, by the +blessing of God, may be his own case.—But, Glennaquoich, and you, Mr. +Waverley, I pray ye to give me your best advice on a matter of +mickle weight, and which deeply affects the honour of the house of +Bradwardine.—I crave your pardon, Ensign Maccombich, and yours, +Inveraughlin, and yours, Edderalshendrach, and yours, sir.' +</p> +<p> +The last person he addressed was Ballenkeiroch, who, remembering the +death of his son, loured on him with a look of savage defiance. The +Baron, quick as lightning at taking umbrage, had already bent his brow, +when Glennaquoich dragged his major from the spot, and remonstrated +with him, in the authoritative tone of a chieftain, on the madness of +reviving a quarrel in such a moment. +</p> +<p> +'The ground is cumbered with carcases,' said the old mountaineer, +turning sullenly away; 'ONE MORE would hardly have been kenn'd upon +it; and if it wasna for yoursell, Vich Ian Vohr, that one should be +Bradwardine's or mine.' +</p> +<p> +The chief soothed while he hurried him away; and then returned to the +Baron. 'It is Ballenkeiroch,' he said, in an under and confidential +voice, 'father of the young man who fell eight years since in the +unlucky affair at the Mains.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah!' said the Baron, instantly relaxing the doubtful sternness of +his features, 'I can take mickle frae a man to whom I have unhappily +rendered sie a displeasure as that. Ye were right to apprize me, +Glennaquoich; he may look as black as midnight at Martinmas ere Cosmo +Comyne Bradwardine shall say he does him wrang. Ah! I have nae male +lineage, and I should bear with one I have made childless, though +you are aware the blood-wit was made up to your ain satisfaction by +assythment, and that I have since expedited letters of slains.—Weel, as +I have said, I have no male issue, and yet it is needful that I maintain +the honour of my house; and it is on that score I prayed ye for your +peculiar and private attention.' +</p> +<p> +The two young men awaited to hear him in anxious curiosity. +</p> +<p> +'I doubt na, lads,' he proceeded, 'but your education has been sae seen +to, that ye understand the true nature of the feudal tenures?' +</p> +<p> +Fergus, afraid of an endless dissertation, answered, 'Intimately, +Baron,' and touched Waverley, as a signal to express no ignorance. +</p> +<p> +'And ye are aware, I doubt not, that the holding of the Barony of +Bradwardine is of a nature alike honourable and peculiar, being blanch +(which Craig opines ought to be Latinated BLANCUM, or rather FRANCUM, a +free holding) PRO SERVITIO DETRAHENDI, SEU EXUENDI, CALIGAS REGIS POST +BATTALIAM.' Here Fergus turned his falcon eye upon Edward, with an +almost imperceptible rise of his eyebrow, to which his shoulders +corresponded in the same degree of elevation. 'Now, twa points of +dubitation occur to me upon this topic. First, whether this service, +or feudal homage, be at any event due to the person of the Prince, +the words being, PER EXPRESSUM, CALIGAS REGIS, the boots of the king +himself; and I pray your opinion anent that particular before we proceed +further.' +</p> +<p> +'Why, he is Prince Regent,' answered Mac-Ivor, with laudable composure +of countenance; 'and in the court of France all the honours are rendered +to the person of the Regent which are due to that of the King. Besides, +were I to pull off either of their boots, I would render that service to +the young Chevalier ten times more willingly than to his father.' +</p> +<p> +'Aye, but I talk not of personal predilections. However, your authority +is of great weight as to the usages of the court of France: and +doubtless the Prince, as ALTER EGO, may have a right to claim the +HOMAGIUM of the great tenants of the crown, since all faithful subjects +are commanded, in the commission of regency, to respect him as the +king's own person. Far, therefore, be it from me to diminish the lustre +of his authority, by withholding this act of homage, so peculiarly +calculated to give it splendour; for I question if the Emperor of +Germany hath his boots taken off by a free baron of the empire. But +here lieth the second difficulty—The Prince wears no boots, but simply +brogues and trews.' +</p> +<p> +This last dilemma had almost disturbed Fergus's gravity. +</p> +<p> +'Why,' said he, 'you know, Baron, the proverb tells us, "It's ill taking +the breeks off a Highlandman,"—and the boots are here in the same +predicament.' +</p> +<p> +'The word CALIGAE, however,' continued the Baron, 'though I admit, that, +by family tradition, and even in our ancient evidents, it is explained +LIE BOOTS, means, in its primitive sense, rather sandals; and Caius +Caesar, the nephew and successor of Caius Tiberius, received the agnomen +of Caigula, A CALIGULIS, SIVE CALIGIS LEVIORIBUS, QUIBUS ADOLESCENTIOR +USUS FUERAT IN EXERCITU GERMANICI PATRIS SUI. And the CALIGAE were also +proper to the monastic bodies; for we read in an ancient Glossarium, +upon the rule of St. Benedict, in the Abbey of St. Amand, that CALIGAE +were tied with latchets.' +</p> +<p> +'That will apply to the brogues,' said Fergus. +</p> +<p> +'It will so, my dear Glennaquoich;—and the words are express: +CALIGAE DICTAE SUNT QUIA LIGANTUR; NAM SOCCI NON LIGANTUR, SED TANTUM +INTROMITTUNTUR; that is, CALIGAE are denominated from the ligatures +wherewith they are bound; whereas SOCCI, which may be analogous to our +mules, whilk the English denominate slippers, are only slipped upon +the feet, The words of the charter are also alternative,—EXUERE, SEU +DETRAHERE; that is, to UNDO, as in the case of sandals or brogues; and +to PULL OF, as we say vernacularly, concerning boots. Yet I would we had +more light; but I fear there is little chance of finding hereabout any +erudite author DE RE VESTIARIA.' +</p> +<p> +'I should doubt it very much,' said the Chieftain, looking around on +the straggling Highlanders, who were returning loaded with spoils of the +slain, 'though the RES VESTIARIA itself seems to be in some request at +present.' +</p> +<p> +This remark coming within the Baron's idea of jocularity, he honoured it +with a smile, but immediately resumed what to him appeared very serious +business. 'Bailie Macwheeble indeed holds an opinion, that this honorary +service is due, from its very nature, SI PETATUR TANTUM; only if his +Royal Highness shall require of the great tenant of the crown to perform +that personal duty; and indeed he pointed out the case in Dirleton's +DOUBTS AND QUERIES, Grippit VERSUS Spicer, anent the eviction of an +estate OB NON SOLUTUM CANONEM, that is, for non-payment of a feu-duty of +three peppercorns a year, whilk were taxt to be worth seven-eighths of a +penny Scots, in whilk the defender was assoilzied. But I deem it safest, +wi' your good favour, to place myself in the way of rendering the Prince +this service, and to proffer performance thereof; and I shall cause +the Bailie to attend with a schedule of a protest, whilk he has here +prepared (taking out a paper), intimating, that if it shall be his Royal +Highness's pleasure to accept of other assistance at pulling off his +CALIGAE (whether the same shall be rendered boots or brogues) save that +of the said Baron of Bradwardine, who is in presence ready and willing +to perform the same, it shall in no wise impinge upon or prejudice the +right of the said Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine to perform the said service +in future; nor shall it give any esquire, valet of the chamber, squire, +or page, whose assistance it may please his Royal Highness to employ, +any right, title, or ground, for evicting from the said Cosmo Comyne +Bradwardine the estate and barony of Bradwardine, and others held as +aforesaid, by the due and faithful performance thereof.' +</p> +<p> +Fergus highly applauded this arrangement; and the Baron took a friendly +leave of them, with a smile of contented importance upon his visage. +</p> +<p> +'Long live our dear friend the Baron,' exclaimed the Chief, as soon as +he was out of hearing, 'for the most absurd original that exists north +of the Tweed! I wish to heaven I had recommended him to attend the +circle this evening with a boot-ketch under his arm. I think he might +have adopted the suggestion, if it had been made with suitable gravity.' +</p> +<p> +'And how can you take pleasure in making a man of his worth so +ridiculous?' +</p> +<p> +'Begging pardon, my dear Waverley, you are as ridiculous as he. Why, do +you not see that the man's whole mind is wrapped up in this ceremony? He +has heard and thought of it since infancy, as the most august privilege +and ceremony in the world; and I doubt not but the expected pleasure of +performing it was a principal motive with him for taking up arms. Depend +upon it, had I endeavoured to divert him from exposing himself, he would +have treated me as an ignorant conceited coxcomb, or perhaps might have +taken a fancy to cut my throat; a pleasure which he once proposed to +himself upon some point of etiquette, not half so important, in his +eyes, as this matter of boots or brogues, or whatever the CALIGAE shall +finally be pronounced by the learned. But I must go to head-quarters to +prepare the Prince for this extraordinary scene. My information will be +well taken, for it will give him a hearty laugh at present, and put him +on his guard against laughing, when it might be very MAL-A-PROPOS. So, +AU REVOIR, my dear Waverley.' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0049"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER XLIX +</h2> +<h3> + THE ENGLISH PRISONER +</h3> +<p> +The first occupation of Waverley, after he departed from the Chieftain, +was to go in quest of the officer whose life he had saved. He was +guarded, along with his companions in misfortune, who were very +numerous, in a gentleman's house near the field of battle. +</p> +<p> +On entering the room where they stood crowded together, Waverley easily +recognized the object of his visit, not only by the peculiar dignity +of his appearance, but by the appendage of Dugald Mahony, with his +battle-axe, who had stuck to him from the moment of his captivity, as +if he had been skewered to his side. This close attendance was, perhaps, +for the purpose of securing his promised reward from Edward, but it also +operated to save the English gentleman from being plundered in the scene +of general confusion; for Dugald sagaciously argued, that the amount of +the salvage which he might be allowed, would be regulated by the +state of the prisoner, when he should deliver him over to Waverley, He +hastened to assure Waverley, therefore, with more words than he usually +employed, that he had 'keepit ta SIDIER ROY haill, and that he wasna a +plack the waur since the fery moment when his honour forbad her to gie +him a bit clamhewit wi' her Lochaber-axe.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley assured Dugald of a liberal recompense, and, approaching +the English officer, expressed his anxiety to do anything which +might contribute to his convenience under his present unpleasant +circumstances. +</p> +<p> +'I am not so inexperienced a soldier, sir,' answered the Englishman, 'as +to complain of the fortune of war. I am only grieved to see those scenes +acted in our own island, which I have often witnessed elsewhere with +comparative indifference.' +</p> +<p> +'Another such day as this,' said Waverley, 'and I trust the cause of +your regrets will be removed, and all will again return to peace and +order.' +</p> +<p> +The officer smiled and shook his head. 'I must not forget my situation +so far as to attempt a formal confutation of that opinion; but, +notwithstanding your success, and the valour which achieved it, you have +undertaken a task to which your strength appears wholly inadequate.' +</p> +<p> +At this moment Fergus pushed into the press. +</p> +<p> +'Come, Edward, come along; the Prince has gone to Pinkie-house for the +night; and we must follow, or lose the whole ceremony of the CALIGAE. +Your friend, the Baron, has been guilty of a great piece of cruelty; he +has insisted upon dragging Bailie Macwheeble out to the field of battle. +Now you must know the Bailie's greatest horror is an armed Highlander, +or a loaded gun; and there he stands, listening to the Baron's +instructions concerning the protest; ducking his head like a sea-gull +at the report of every gun and pistol that our idle boys are firing +upon the fields; and undergoing, by way of penance, at every symptom +of flinching, a severe rebuke from his patron, who would not admit the +discharge of a whole battery of cannon, within point-blank distance, as +an apology for neglecting a discourse, in which the honour of his family +is interested. +</p> +<p> +'But how has Mr. Bradwardine got him to venture so far?' said Edward. +</p> +<p> +'Why, he had come as far as Musselburgh, I fancy, in hopes of making +some of our wills; and the peremptory commands of the Baron dragged him +forward to Preston after the battle was over. He complains of one or two +of our ragamuffins having put him in peril of his life, by presenting +their pieces at him; but as they limited his ransom to an English penny, +I don't think we need trouble the provost-marshal upon that subject. So, +come along, Waverley.' +</p> +<p> +'Waverley!' said the English officer, with great emotion; 'the nephew of +Sir Everard Waverley, of —shire?' +</p> +<p> +'The same, sir,' replied our hero, somewhat surprised at the tone in +which he was addressed. +</p> +<p> +'I am at once happy and grieved,' said the prisoner, 'to have met with +you.' +</p> +<p> +'I am ignorant, sir,' answered Waverley, 'how I have deserved so much +interest.' +</p> +<p> +'Did your uncle never mention a friend called Talbot?' +</p> +<p> +'I have heard him talk with great regard of such a person,' replied +Edward; 'a colonel, I believe, in the army, and the husband of Lady +Emily Blandeville; but I thought Colonel Talbot had been abroad.' +</p> +<p> +'I am just returned,' answered the officer; 'and being in Scotland, +thought it my duty to act where my services promised to be useful. Yes, +Mr. Waverley, I am that Colonel Talbot, the husband of the lady you have +named; and I am proud to acknowledge, that I owe alike my professional +rank and my domestic happiness to your generous and noble-minded +relative. Good God! that I should find his nephew in such a dress, and +engaged in such a cause!' +</p> +<p> +'Sir,' said Fergus, haughtily, 'the dress and cause are those of men of +birth and honour.' +</p> +<p> +'My situation forbids me to dispute your assertion,' said Colonel +Talbot; 'otherwise it were no difficult matter to show, that neither +courage nor pride of lineage can gild a bad cause. But, with Mr. +Waverley's permission, and yours, sir, if yours also must be asked, I +would willingly speak a few words with him on affairs connected with his +own family.' +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Waverley, sir, regulates his own motions. You will follow me, I +suppose, to Pinkie,' said Fergus, turning to Edward, 'when you have +finished your discourse with this new acquaintance?' So saying, the +Chief of Glennaquoich adjusted his plaid with rather more than his usual +air of haughty assumption, and left the apartment. +</p> +<p> +The interest of Waverley readily procured for Colonel Talbot the freedom +of adjourning to a large garden belonging to his place of confinement. +They walked a few paces in silence, Colonel Talbot apparently studying +how to open what he had to say; at length he addressed Edward. +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Waverley, you have this day saved my life; and yet I would to God +that I had lost it, ere I had found you wearing the uniform and cockade +of these men.' +</p> +<p> +'I forgive your reproach, Colonel Talbot; it is well meant, and your +education and prejudices render it natural. But there is nothing +extraordinary in finding a man, whose honour has been publicly and +unjustly assailed, in the situation which promised most fair to afford +him satisfaction on his calumniators.' +</p> +<p> +'I should rather say, in the situation most likely to confirm the +reports which they have circulated,' said Colonel Talbot, 'by following +the very line of conduct ascribed to you. Are you aware, Mr. Waverley, +of the infinite distress, and even danger, which your present conduct +has occasioned to your nearest relatives?' +</p> +<p> +'Danger!' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, sir, danger. When I left England, your uncle and father had been +obliged to find bail to answer a charge of treason, to which they were +only admitted by the exertion of the most powerful interest. I came down +to Scotland, with the sole purpose of rescuing you from the gulf +into which you have precipitated yourself; nor can I estimate the +consequences to your family, of your having openly joined the rebellion, +since the very suspicion of your intention was so perilous to them. Most +deeply do I regret that I did not meet you before this last and fatal +error.' +</p> +<p> +'I am really ignorant,' said Waverley, in a tone of reserve, 'why +Colonel Talbot should have taken so much trouble on my account.' +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Waverley,' answered Talbot, 'I am dull at apprehending irony; and +therefore I shall answer your words according to their plain meaning. +I am indebted to your uncle for benefits greater than those which a son +owes to a father. I acknowledge to him the duty of a son; and as I know +there is no manner in which I can requite his kindness so well as by +serving you, I will serve you, if possible, whether you will permit me +or no. The personal obligation which you have this day laid me under +(although in common estimation as great as one human being can bestow +on another) adds nothing to my zeal on your behalf; nor can that zeal be +abated by any coolness with which you may please to receive it.' +</p> +<p> +'Your intentions may be kind, sir,' said Waverley, drily; 'but your +language is harsh, or at least peremptory.' +</p> +<p> +'On my return to England,' continued Colonel Talbot, 'after long +absence, I found your uncle, Sir Everard Waverley, in the custody of a +king's messenger, in consequence of the suspicion brought upon him by +your conduct. He is my oldest friend—how often shall I repeat it?—my +best benefactor; he sacrificed his own views of happiness to mine—he +never uttered a word, he never harboured a thought, that benevolence +itself might not have thought or spoken. I found this man in +confinement, rendered harsher to him by his habits of life, his natural +dignity of feeling, and—forgive me, Mr. Waverley—by the cause through +which this calamity had come upon him. I cannot disguise from you my +feelings upon this occasion; they were most painfully unfavourable +to you. Having, by my family interest, which you probably know is not +inconsiderable, succeeded in obtaining Sir Everard's release, I set +out for Scotland. I saw Colonel Gardiner, a man whose fate alone is +sufficient to render this insurrection for ever execrable. In the course +of conversation with him, I found, that, from late circumstances, from +a re-examination of the persons engaged in the mutiny, and from his +original good opinion of your character, he was much softened towards +you; and I doubted not, that if I could be so fortunate as to discover +you, all might yet be well. But this unnatural rebellion has ruined +all. I have, for the first time in a long and active military life, seen +Britons disgrace themselves by a panic flight, and that before a foe +without either arms or discipline: and now I find the heir of my dearest +friend—the son, I may say, of his affections—sharing a triumph, for +which he ought the first to have blushed. Why should I lament Gardiner? +his lot was happy, compared to mine!' +</p> +<p> +There was so much dignity in Colonel Talbot's manner, such a mixture +of military pride and manly sorrow, and the news of Sir Everard's +imprisonment was told in so deep a tone of feeling, that Edward stood +mortified, abashed, and distressed in presence of the prisoner, who +owed to him his life not many hours before. He was not sorry when Fergus +interrupted their conference a second time. +</p> +<p> +'His Royal Highness commands Mr. Waverley's attendance.' Colonel Talbot +threw upon Edward a reproachful glance, which did not escape the quick +eye of the Highland Chief. 'His immediate attendance,' he repeated, with +considerable emphasis. Waverley turned again towards the Colonel. +</p> +<p> +'We shall meet again,' he said; 'in the meanwhile, every possible +accommodation'— +</p> +<p> +'I desire none,' said the Colonel; 'let me fare like the meanest of +those brave men, who, on this day of calamity, have preferred wounds and +captivity to flight; I would, almost exchange places with one of those +who have fallen, to know that my words have made a suitable impression +on your mind.' +</p> +<p> +'Let Colonel Talbot be carefully secured,' said Fergus to the Highland +officer, who commanded the guard over the prisoners; 'it is the Prince's +particular command; he is a prisoner of the utmost importance.' +</p> +<p> +'But let him want no accommodation suitable to his rank,' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Consistent always with secure custody,' reiterated Fergus. The officer +signified his acquiescence in both commands, and Edward followed Fergus +to the garden-gate, where Callum Beg, with three saddle-horses, awaited +them. Turning his head, he saw Colonel Talbot reconducted to his place +of confinement by a file of Highlanders; he lingered on the threshold +of the door, and made a signal with his hand towards Waverley, as if +enforcing the language he had held towards him. +</p> +<p> +'Horses,' said Fergus, as he mounted, 'are now as plenty as +blackberries; every man may have them for the catching. Come, let Callum +adjust your stirrups, and let us to Pinkie-house [Charles Edward took +up his quarters after the battle at Pinkie-house, adjoining to +Musselburgh.] as fast as these CI-DEVANT dragoon-horses choose to carry +us.' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0050"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER L +</h2> +<h3> + RATHER UNIMPORTANT +</h3> +<p> +'I was turned back,' said Fergus to Edward, as they galloped from +Preston to Pinkie-house, 'by a message from the Prince. But, I suppose, +you know the value of this most noble Colonel Talbot as a prisoner. He +is held one of the best officers among the red-coats; a special friend +and favourite of the Elector himself, and of that dreadful hero, the +Duke of Cumberland, who has been summoned from his triumphs at Fontenoy, +to come over and devour us poor Highlanders alive. Has he been telling +you how the bells of St. James's ring? Not "turn again, Whittington," +like those of Bow, in the days of yore?' +</p> +<p> +'Fergus!' said Waverley, with a reproachful look. +</p> +<p> +'Nay, I cannot tell what to make of you,' answered the Chief of +Mac-Ivor, 'you are blown about with every wind of doctrine. Here have we +gained a victory, unparalleled in history—and your behaviour is praised +by every living mortal to the skies—and the Prince is eager to thank +you in person—and all our beauties of the White Rose are pulling caps +for you,—and you, the PREUX CHEVALIER of the day, are stooping on your +horse's neck like a butter-woman riding to market, and looking as black +as a funeral!' +</p> +<p> +'I am sorry for poor Colonel Gardiner's death: he was once very kind to +me.' +</p> +<p> +'Why, then, be sorry for five minutes, and then be glad again; his +chance to-day may be ours to-morrow. And what does it signify?—the next +best thing to victory is honourable death; but it is a PIS-ALLER, and +one would rather a foe had it than one's self.' +</p> +<p> +'But Colonel Talbot has informed me that my father and uncle are both +imprisoned by government on my account.' +</p> +<p> +'We'll put in bail, my boy; old Andrew Ferrara <a href="#note-29" name="noteref-29"><small>29</small></a> shall lodge his +security; and I should like to see him put to justify it in Westminster +Hall!' +</p> +<p> +'Nay, they are already at liberty, upon bail of a more civic +disposition.' +</p> +<p> +'Then why is thy noble spirit cast down, Edward? Dost think that the +Elector's Ministers are such doves as to set their enemies at liberty +at this critical moment, if they could or durst confine and punish them? +Assure thyself that either they have no charge against your relations on +which they can continue their imprisonment, or else they are afraid of +our friends, the jolly cavaliers of old England. At any rate, you need +not be apprehensive upon their account; and we will find some means of +conveying to them assurances of your safety.' +</p> +<p> +Edward was silenced, but not satisfied, with these reasons. He had now +been more than once shocked at the small degree of sympathy which Fergus +exhibited for the feelings even of those whom he loved, if they did not +correspond with his own mood at the time, and more especially if they +thwarted him while earnest in a favourite pursuit. Fergus sometimes +indeed observed that he had offended Waverley, but, always intent upon +some favourite plan or project of his own, he was never sufficiently +aware of the extent or duration of his displeasure, so that the +reiteration of these petty offences somewhat cooled the volunteer's +extreme attachment to his officer. +</p> +<p> +The Chevalier received Waverley with his usual favour, and paid him many +compliments on his distinguished bravery. He then took him apart, made +many inquiries concerning Colonel Talbot, and when he had received all +the information which Edward was able to give concerning him and his +connexions, he proceeded,—'I cannot but think, Mr. Waverley, that +since this gentleman is so particularly connected with our worthy and +excellent friend, Sir Everard Waverley, and since his lady is of the +house of Blandeville, whose devotion to the true and loyal principles of +the Church of England is so generally known, the Colonel's own private +sentiments cannot be unfavourable to us, whatever mask he may have +assumed to accommodate himself to the times.' +</p> +<p> +'If I am to judge from the language he this day held to me, I am under +the necessity of differing widely from your Royal Highness.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, it is worth making a trial at least. I therefore entrust you with +the charge of Colonel Talbot, with power to act concerning him as you +think most advisable;—and I hope you will find means of ascertaining +what are his real dispositions towards our Royal Father's restoration.' +</p> +<p> +'I am convinced,' said Waverley, bowing, 'that if Colonel Talbot chooses +to grant his parole, it may be securely depended upon; but if he refuses +it, I trust your Royal Highness will devolve on some other person than +the nephew of his friend, the task of laying him under the necessary +restraint.' +</p> +<p> +'I will trust him with no person but you,' said the Prince, smiling, but +peremptorily repeating his mandate: 'it is of importance to my service +that there should appear to be a good intelligence between you, even +if you are unable to gain his confidence in earnest. You will therefore +receive him into your quarters, and in case he declines giving his +parole, you must apply for a proper guard. I beg you will go about this +directly. We return to Edinburgh to-morrow.' +</p> +<p> +Being thus remanded to the vicinity of Preston, Waverley lost the Baron +of Bradwardine's solemn act of homage. So little, however, was he at +this time in love with vanity, that he had quite forgotten the ceremony +in which Fergus had laboured to engage his curiosity. But next day a +formal GAZETTE was circulated, containing a detailed account of the +battle of Gladsmuir, as the Highlanders chose to denominate their +victory. It concluded with an account of the Court afterwards held +by the Chevalier at Pinkie-house, which contained this among other +high-flown descriptive paragraphs: +</p> +<p> +'Since that fatal treaty which annihilates Scotland as an independent +nation, it has not been our happiness to see her princes receive, and +her nobles discharge, those acts of feudal homage, which, founded upon +the splendid actions of Scottish valour, recall the memory of her early +history, with the manly and chivalrous simplicity of the ties which +united to the Crown the homage of the warriors by whom it was repeatedly +upheld and defended. But on the evening of the 20th, our memories were +refreshed with one of those ceremonies which belong to the ancient +days of Scotland's glory. After the circle was formed, Cosmo Comyne +Bradwardine, of that ilk, colonel in the service, &c. &c. &c., came +before the Prince, attended by Mr. D. Macwheeble, the Bailie of his +ancient barony of Bradwardine (who, we understand, has been-lately named +a commissary), and, under form of instrument, claimed permission to +perform, to the person of his Royal Highness, as representing his +father, the service used and wont, for which, under a charter of Robert +Bruce (of which the original was produced and inspected by the Masters +of his Royal Highness's Chancery, for the time being), the claimant held +the barony of Bradwardine, and lands of Tully-Veolan. His claim being +admitted and registered, his Royal Highness having placed his foot +upon a cushion, the Baron of Bradwardine, kneeling upon his right knee, +proceeded to undo the latchet of the brogue, or low-heeled Highland +shoe, which our gallant young hero wears in compliment to his brave +followers. When this was performed, his Royal Highness declared the +ceremony completed; and embracing the gallant veteran, protested that +nothing but compliance with an ordinance of Robert Bruce could have +induced him to receive even the symbolical performance of a menial +office from hands which had fought so bravely to put the crown upon the +head of his father. The Baron of Bradwardine then took instruments in +the hands of Mr. Commissary Macwheeble, bearing, that all points and +circumstances of the act of homage had been RITE ET SOLENNITER ACTA ET +PERACTA; and a corresponding entry was made in the protocol of the Lord +High Chamberlain, and in the record of Chancery. We understand that it +is in contemplation of his Royal Highness, when his Majesty's pleasure +can be known, to raise Colonel Bradwardine to the peerage, by the title +of Viscount Bradwardine, of Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, and that, in +the meanwhile, his Royal Highness, in his father's name and authority, +has been pleased to grant him an honourable augmentation to his paternal +coat of arms, being a budget or boot-jack, disposed saltier-wise with a +naked broadsword, to be borne in the dexter cantle of the shield; and, +as an additional motto, on a scroll beneath, the words, "DRAW AND DRAW +OFF".' +</p> +<p> +'Were it not for the recollection of Fergus's raillery,' thought +Waverley to himself, when he had perused this long and grave document, +'how very tolerable would all this sound, and how little should I have +thought of connecting it with any ludicrous idea! Well, after all, +everything has its fair, as well as its seamy side; and truly I do not +see why the Baron's boot-jack may not stand as fair in heraldry as +the water-Buckets, waggons, cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, +candlesticks, and other ordinaries, conveying ideas of anything +save chivalry, which appear in the arms of some of our most ancient +gentry.'—This, however, is an episode in respect to the principal +story. +</p> +<p> +When Waverley returned to Preston, and rejoined Colonel Talbot, he +found him recovered from the strong and obvious emotions with which a +concurrence of unpleasing events had affected him. He had regained his +natural manner, which was that of an English gentleman and soldier, +manly, open, and generous, but not unsusceptible of prejudice against +those of a different country, or who opposed him in political tenets. +When Waverley acquainted Colonel Talbot with the Chevalier's purpose +to commit him to his charge, 'I did not think to have owed so much +obligation to that young gentleman,' he said, 'as is implied in this +destination. I can at least cheerfully join in the prayer of the honest +Presbyterian clergyman, that, as he has come among us seeking an earthly +crown, his labours may be speedily rewarded with a heavenly one. [The +clergyman's name was Mac-Vicar. Protected by the cannon of the Castle, +he preached every Sunday in the West Kirk, while the Highlanders were in +possession of Edinburgh; and it was in presence of some of the Jacobites +that he prayed for Prince Charles Edward in the terms quoted in the +text.] I shall willingly give my parole not to attempt an escape without +your knowledge, since, in fact, it was to meet you that I came to +Scotland; and I am glad it has happened even under this predicament. But +I suppose we shall be 'but a short time together. Your Chevalier (that +is a name we may both give to him), with his plaids and blue-caps, will, +I presume, be continuing his crusade southward?' +</p> +<p> +'Not as I hear; I believe the army makes some stay, in Edinburgh, to +collect reinforcements.' +</p> +<p> +'And to besiege the Castle?' said Talbot, smiling sarcastically. 'Well, +unless my old commander, General Preston, turn false metal, or the +Castle sink into the North Loch, events which I deem equally probable, +I think we shall have some time to make up our acquaintance. I have a +guess that this gallant Chevalier has a design that I should be your +proselyte; and, as I wish you to be mine, there cannot be a more fair +proposal than to afford us fair conference together. But as I spoke +to-day under the influence of feelings I rarely give way to, I hope +you will excuse my entering again upon controversy till we are somewhat +better acquainted.' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0051"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LI +</h2> +<h3> + INTRIGUES OF LOVE AND POLITICS +</h3> +<p> +It is not necessary to record in these pages the triumphant entrance of +the Chevalier into Edinburgh after the decisive affair of Preston. One +circumstance, however, may be noticed, because it illustrates the +high spirit of Flora Mac-Ivor. The Highlanders, by whom the Prince was +surrounded, in the licence and extravagance of this joyful moment, +fired their pieces repeatedly, and one of these having been accidentally +loaded with ball, the bullet grazed the young lady's temple as she waved +her handkerchief from a balcony. <a href="#note-30" name="noteref-30"><small>30</small></a> Fergus, who beheld the +accident, was at her side in an instant; and, on seeing that the wound +was trifling, he drew his broadsword, with the purpose of rushing down +upon the man by whose carelessness she had incurred so much danger, +when, holding him by the plaid, 'Do not harm the poor fellow,' she +cried; 'for Heaven's sake, do not harm him! but thank God with me that +the accident happened to Flora Mac-Ivor; for had it befallen a Whig, +they would have pretended that the shot was fired on purpose.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley escaped the alarm which this accident would have occasioned +to him, as he was unavoidably delayed by the necessity of accompanying +Colonel Talbot to Edinburgh. +</p> +<p> +They performed the journey together on horseback, and for some time, as +if to sound each other's feelings and sentiments, they conversed upon +general and ordinary topics. +</p> +<p> +When Waverley again entered upon the subject which he had most at heart, +the situation, namely, of his father and his uncle, Colonel Talbot +seemed now rather desirous to alleviate than to aggravate his anxiety. +This appeared particularly to be the case when he heard Waverley's +history, which he did not scruple to confide to him. +</p> +<p> +'And so,' said the Colonel, 'there has been no malice prepense, as +lawyers, I think, term it, in this rash step of yours; and you have been +trepanned into the service of this Italian knight-errant by a few civil +speeches from him, and one or two of his Highland recruiting sergeants? +It is sadly foolish, to be sure, but not nearly so bad as I was led +to expect. However, you cannot desert, even from the Pretender, at the +present moment,—that seems impossible. But I have little doubt that, +in the dissensions incident to this heterogeneous mass of wild and +desperate men, some opportunity may arise, by availing yourself of +which, you may extricate yourself honourably from your rash engagement +before the bubble burst. If this can be managed, I would have you go to +a place of safety in Flanders, which I shall point out. And I think I +can secure your pardon from Government after a few months' residence +abroad.' +</p> +<p> +'I cannot; permit you, Colonel Talbot,' answered Waverley, 'to speak of +any plan which turns on my deserting an enterprise in which I may have +engaged hastily, but certainly voluntarily, and with the purpose of +abiding the issue.' +</p> +<p> +'Well,' said Colonel Talbot, smiling, 'leave me my thoughts and hopes +at least at liberty, if not my speech. But have you never examined your +mysterious packet?' +</p> +<p> +'It is in my baggage,' replied Edward; 'we shall find it in Edinburgh.' +</p> +<p> +In Edinburgh they soon arrived. Waverley's quarters had been assigned to +him, by the Prince's express orders, in a handsome lodging, where there +was accommodation, for Colonel Talbot. His first business was to +examine his portmanteau, and, after a very short search, out tumbled the +expected packet. Waverley opened it eagerly. Under a blank cover, simply +addressed to E. Waverley, Esq., he found a number of open letters. The +uppermost were two from Colonel Gardiner, addressed to himself. The +earliest in date was a kind and gentle remonstrance for neglect of the +writer's advice respecting the disposal of his time during his leave +of absence, the renewal of which, he reminded Captain Waverley, would +speedily expire. 'Indeed,' the letter proceeded, 'had it been otherwise, +the news from abroad, and my instructions from the War-office, must have +compelled me to recall it, as there is great danger, since the disaster +in Flanders, both of foreign invasion and insurrection among the +disaffected at home. I therefore entreat you will repair, as soon as +possible, to the head-quarters of the regiment; and I am concerned to +add, that this is still the more necessary, as there is some discontent +in your troop, and I postpone inquiry into particulars until I can have +the advantage of your assistance.' +</p> +<p> +The second letter, dated eight days later, was in such a style as might +have been expected from the Colonel's receiving no answer to the first. +It reminded Waverley of his duty as a man of honour, an officer, and a +Briton; took notice of the increasing dissatisfaction of his men, and +that some of them had been heard to hint that their Captain encouraged +and approved of their mutinous behaviour; and, finally, the writer +expressed the utmost regret and surprise that he had not obeyed his +commands by repairing to head-quarters, reminded him that his leave +of absence had been recalled, and conjured him, in a style in which +paternal remonstrance was mingled with military authority, to redeem +his error by immediately joining his regiment. 'That I may be certain,' +concluded the letter, 'that this actually reaches you, I dispatch it by +Corporal Timms, of your troop, with orders to deliver it into your own +hand.' +</p> +<p> +Upon reading these letters, Waverley, with great bitterness of feeling, +was compelled to make the AMENDE HONORABLE to the memory of the brave +and excellent writer; for surely, as Colonel Gardiner must have had +every reason to conclude they had come safely to hand, less could not +follow, on their being neglected, than that third and final summons, +which Waverley actually received at Glennaquoich, though too late +to obey it. And his being superseded, in consequence of his apparent +neglect of this last command, was so far from being a harsh or severe +proceeding, that it was plainly inevitable. The next letter he unfolded +was from the Major of the regiment, acquainting him that a report, to +the disadvantage of his reputation, was public in the country, stating, +that one Mr. Falconer of Ballihopple, or some such name, had proposed, +in his presence, a treasonable toast, which he permitted to pass in +silence, although it was so gross an affront to the royal family, that +a gentleman in company, not remarkable for his zeal for government, had +nevertheless taken the matter up; and that, supposing the account true, +Captain Waverley had thus suffered another, comparatively unconcerned, +to resent an affront directed against him personally as an officer, and +to go out with the person by whom it was offered. The Major concluded, +that no one of Captain Waverley's brother officers could believe this +scandalous story, but it was necessarily their joint opinion that his +own honour, equally with that of the regiment, depended upon its being +instantly contradicted by his authority, &c. &c. &c. +</p> +<p> +'What do you think of all this?' said Colonel Talbot, to whom Waverley +handed the letters after he had perused them. +</p> +<p> +'Think! it renders thought impossible. It is enough to drive me mad.' +</p> +<p> +'Be calm, my young friend; let us see what are these dirty scrawls that +follow.' +</p> +<p> +The first was addressed, 'For Master W. Ruffin These,'—'Dear sur, sum +of our yong gulpins will not bite, thof I tuold them you shoed me the +squoire's own seel. But Timms will deliver you the lettrs as desired, +and tell ould Addem he gave them to squoir's hond, as to be sure yours +is the same, and shall be ready for signal, and hoy for Hoy Church and +Sachefrel, as fadur sings at harvest-whome. Yours, deer Sur, H.H. +</p> +<p> +'Poscriff. Do' e tell squoire we longs to heer from him, and has +dootings about his not writing himself, and Lieftenant Bottler is +smoky.' +</p> +<p> +'This Ruffin, I suppose, then, is your Donald of the Cavern, who has +intercepted your letters, and carried on a correspondence with the poor +devil Houghton, as if under your authority? +</p> +<p> +'It seems too true. But who can Addem be?' +</p> +<p> +'Possibly Adam, for poor Gardiner, a sort of pun on his name.' +</p> +<p> +The other letters were to the same purpose, and they soon received yet +more complete light upon Donald Bean's machinations. +</p> +<p> +John Hedges, one of Waverley's servants, who had remained with the +regiment, and had been taken at Preston, now made his appearance. He had +sought out his master, with the purpose of again entering his service. +From this fellow they learned, that, some time after Waverley had +gone from the head-quarters of the regiment, a pedlar, called Ruthven, +Ruffin, or Rivane, known among the soldiers by the name of Wily Will, +had made frequent visits to the town of Dundee. He appeared to possess +plenty of money, sold his commodities very cheap, seemed always willing +to treat his friends at the ale-house, and easily ingratiated himself +with many of Waverley's troop, particularly Sergeant Houghton, and +one Timms, also a non-commissioned officer. To these he unfolded, in +Waverley's name, a plan for leaving the regiment, and joining him in the +Highlands, where report said the clans had already taken arms in great +numbers. The men, who had been educated as Jacobites, so far as they had +any opinion at all, and who knew their landlord, Sir Everard, had always +been supposed to hold such tenets, easily fell into the snare. +That Waverley was at a distance in the Highlands, was received as a +sufficient excuse for transmitting his letters through the medium of the +pedlar; and the sight of his well-known seal seemed to authenticate the +negotiations in his name, where writing might have been dangerous. The +cabal, however, began to take air, from the premature mutinous language +of those concerned. Wily Will justified his appellative; for, after +suspicion arose, he was seen no more. When the Gazette appeared, in +which Waverley was superseded, great part of his troop broke out into +actual mutiny, but were surrounded and disarmed by the rest of the +regiment. In consequence of the sentence of a court-martial, Houghton +and Timms were condemned to be shot, but afterwards permitted to cast +lots for life. Houghton, the survivor, showed much penitence, being +convinced from the rebukes and explanations of Colonel Gardiner, that he +had really engaged in a very heinous crime. It is remarkable, that, as +soon as the poor fellow was satisfied of this, he became also convinced +that the instigator had acted without authority from Edward, saying, +'If it was dishonourable and against Old England, the squire could +know naught about it; he never did, or thought to do, anything +dishonourable,—no more didn't Sir Everard, nor none of them afore him, +and in that belief he would live and die that Ruffin had done it all of +his own head.' +</p> +<p> +The strength of conviction with which he expressed himself upon this +subject, as well as his assurances that the letters intended for +Waverley had been delivered to Ruthven, made that revolution in Colonel +Gardiner's opinion which he expressed to Talbot. +</p> +<p> +The reader has long since understood that Donald Bean Lean played the +part of tempter on this occasion. His motives were shortly these. Of an +active and intriguing spirit, he had been long employed as a subaltern +agent and spy by those in the confidence of the Chevalier, to an extent +beyond what was suspected even by Fergus Mac-Ivor, whom, though obliged +to him for protection, he regarded with fear and dislike. To success in +this political department, he naturally looked for raising himself by +some bold stroke above his present hazardous and precarious state of +rapine. He was particularly employed in learning the strength of the +regiments in Scotland, the character of the officers, &c., and had long +had his eye upon Waverley's troop, as open to temptation. Donald even +believed that Waverley himself was at bottom in the Stuart interest, +which seemed confirmed by his long visit to the Jacobite Baron +of Bradwardine. When, therefore, he came to his cave with one of +Glennaquoich's attendants, the robber, who could never appreciate his +real motive, which was mere curiosity, was so sanguine as to hope that +his own talents were to be employed in some intrigue of consequence, +under the auspices of this wealthy young Englishman. Nor was he +undeceived by Waverley's neglecting all hints and openings for an +explanation. His conduct passed for prudent reserve, and somewhat +piqued Donald Bean, who, supposing himself left out of a secret where +confidence promised to be advantageous, determined to have his share +in the drama, whether a regular part were assigned him or not. For this +purpose, during Waverley's sleep, he possessed, himself of his seal, as +a token to be used to any of the troopers whom he might discover to be +possessed of the captain's confidence. His first journey to Dundee, the +town where the regiment was quartered, undeceived him in his original +supposition, but opened to him a new field of action. He knew there +would be no service so well rewarded by the friends of the Chevalier, as +seducing a part of the regular army to his standard. For this purpose, +he opened the machinations with which the reader is already acquainted, +and which form a clue to all the intricacies and obscurities of the +narrative previous to Waverley's leaving Glennaquoich. +</p> +<p> +By Colonel Talbot's advice, Waverley declined detaining in his service +the lad whose evidence had thrown additional light on these intrigues. +He represented to him that it would be doing the man an injury to engage +him in a desperate undertaking, and that, whatever should happen, his +evidence would go some length, at least, in explaining the circumstances +under which Waverley himself had embarked in it. Waverley therefore +wrote a short statement of what had happened, to his uncle and his +father, cautioning them, however, in the present circumstances, not to +attempt to answer his letter. Talbot then gave the young man a letter +to the commander of one of the English vessels of war cruising in the +frith, requesting him to put the bearer ashore at Berwick, with a pass +to proceed to —shire. He was then furnished with money to make an +expeditious journey and directed to get on board the ship by means of +bribing a fishing-boat, which, as they afterwards learned, he easily +effected. +</p> +<p> +Tired of the attendance of Callum Beg, who, he thought, had some +disposition to act as a spy on his motions, Waverley hired as a servant +a simple Edinburgh swain, who had mounted the white cockade in a fit +of spleen and jealousy, because Jenny Jop had danced a whole night with +Corporal Bullock of the Fusileers. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0052"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LII +</h2> +<h3> + INTRIGUES OF SOCIETY AND LOVE +</h3> +<p> +Colonel Talbot became more kindly in his demeanour towards Waverley +after the confidence he had reposed in him; and as they were necessarily +much together, the character of the Colonel rose in Waverley's +estimation. There seemed at first something harsh in his strong +expressions of dislike and censure, although no one was in the general +case more open to conviction. The habit of authority had also given his +manners some peremptory hardness, notwithstanding the polish which they +had received from his intimate acquaintance with the higher circles. As +a specimen of the military character, he differed from all whom Waverley +had as yet seen. The soldiership of the Baron of Bradwardine was marked +by pedantry; that of Major Melville by a sort of martinet attention to +the minutiae and technicalities of discipline, rather suitable to one +who was to manoeuvre a battalion, than to him who was to command an +army; the military spirit of Fergus was so much warped and blended with +his plans and political views, that it was less that of a soldier than +of a petty sovereign. But Colonel Talbot was in every point the English +soldier. His whole soul was devoted to the service of his king and +country, without feeling any pride in knowing the theory of his art with +the Baron, or its practical minutiae with the Major, or in applying his +science to his own particular plans of ambition, like the Chieftain +of Glennaquoich. Added to this, he was a man of extended knowledge and +cultivated taste, although strongly tinged, as we have already observed, +with those prejudices which are peculiarly English. +</p> +<p> +The character of Colonel Talbot dawned upon Edward by degrees; for the +delay of the Highlanders in the fruitless siege of Edinburgh Castle +occupied several weeks, during which Waverley had little to do, +excepting to seek such amusement as society afforded. He would willingly +have persuaded his new friend to become acquainted with some of his +former intimates. But the Colonel, after one or two visits, shook his +head, and declined further experiment. Indeed he went further, and +characterized the Baron as the most intolerable formal pedant he had +ever had the misfortune to meet with, and the Chief of Glennaquoich as +a Frenchified Scotchman, possessing all the cunning and plausibility +of the nation where he was educated, with the proud, vindictive, and +turbulent humour of that of his birth. 'If the devil,' he said, 'had +sought out an agent expressly for the purpose of embroiling this +miserable country, I do not think he could find a better than such +a fellow as this, whose temper seems equally active, supple, and +mischievous, and who is followed, and implicitly obeyed, by a gang of +such cut-throats as those whom you are pleased to admire so much.' +</p> +<p> +The ladies of the party did not escape his censure. He allowed that +Flora Mac-Ivor was a fine woman, and Rose Bradwardine a pretty girl. +But he alleged that the former destroyed the effect of her beauty by an +affectation of the grand airs which she had probably seen practised at +the mock court of St. Germains. As for Rose Bradwardine, he said it +was impossible for any mortal to admire such a little uninformed thing, +whose small portion of education was as ill adapted to her sex or youth, +as if she had appeared with one of her father's old campaign-coats upon +her person for her sole garment. Now much of this was mere spleen and +prejudice in the excellent Colonel, with whom the white cockade on the +breast, the white rose in the hair, and the Mac at the beginning of a +name, would have made a devil out of an angel; and indeed he himself +jocularly allowed, that he could not have endured Venus herself, if she +had been announced in a drawing-room by the name of Miss Mac-Jupiter. +</p> +<p> +Waverley, it may easily be believed, looked upon these young ladies with +very different eyes. During the period of the siege, he paid them almost +daily visits, although he observed with regret that his suit made as +little progress in the affections of the former as the arms of the +Chevalier in subduing the fortress. She maintained with rigour the rule +she had laid down of treating him with indifference, without either +affecting to avoid him, or to shun intercourse with him. Every word, +every look, was strictly regulated to accord with her system, and +neither the dejection of Waverley, nor the anger which Fergus scarcely +suppressed, could extend Flora's attention to Edward beyond that +which the most ordinary politeness demanded. On the other hand, Rose +Bradwardine gradually rose in Waverley's opinion. He had several +opportunities of remarking, that, as her extreme timidity wore off, her +manners received a higher character; that the agitating circumstances +of the stormy time seemed to call forth a certain dignity of feeling and +expression, which he had not formerly observed; and that she omitted +no opportunity within her reach to extend her knowledge and refine her +taste. +</p> +<p> +Flora Mac-Ivor called Rose her pupil, and was attentive to assist her in +her studies, and to fashion both her taste and understanding. It might +have been remarked by a very close observer, that in the presence of +Waverley she was much more desirous to exhibit her friend's excellences +than her own. But I must request of the reader to suppose, that this +kind and disinterested purpose was concealed by the most cautious +delicacy, studiously shunning the most distant approach to affectation. +So that it was as unlike the usual exhibition of one pretty woman +affecting to PRONER another, as the friendship of David and Jonathan +might be to the intimacy of two Bond-street loungers. +</p> +<p> +The fact is, that, though the effect was felt, the cause could hardly be +observed. Each of the ladies, like two excellent actresses, were perfect +in their parts, and performed them to the delight of the audience; and +such being the case, it was almost impossible to discover that the +elder constantly ceded to her friend that which was most suitable to her +talents. +</p> +<p> +But to Waverley, Rose Bradwardine possessed an attraction which few men +can resist, from the marked interest which she took in everything that +effected him. She was too young and too inexperienced to estimate the +full force of the constant attention which she paid to him. Her father +was too abstractedly immersed in learned and military discussions +to observe her partiality, and Flora Mac-Ivor did not alarm her by +remonstrance, because she saw in this line of conduct the most probable +chance of her friend securing at length a return of affection. +</p> +<p> +The truth is, that, in her first conversation after their meeting, +Rose had discovered the state of her mind to that acute and intelligent +friend, although she was not herself aware of it. From that time, +Flora was not only determined upon the final rejection of Waverley's +addresses, but became anxious that they should, if possible, be +transferred to her friend. Nor was she less interested in this plan, +though her brother had from time to time talked, as between jest and +earnest, of paying his suit to Miss Bradwardine. She knew that Fergus +had the true continental latitude of opinion respecting the institution +of marriage, and would not have given his hand to an angel, unless for +the purpose of strengthening his alliances, and increasing his influence +and wealth. The Baron's whim of transferring his estate to the distant +heir-male instead of his own daughter, was therefore likely to be an +insurmountable obstacle to his entertaining any serious thoughts of Rose +Bradwardine. Indeed, Fergus's brain was a perpetual workshop of scheme +and intrigue of every possible kind and description; while, like many a +mechanic of more ingenuity than steadiness, he would often unexpectedly +and without any apparent motive, abandon one plan, and go earnestly +to work upon another, which was either fresh from the forge of his +imagination, or had at some former period been flung aside half +finished. It was therefore often difficult to guess what line of conduct +he might finally adopt upon any given occasion. +</p> +<p> +Although Flora was sincerely attached to her brother, whose high +energies might indeed have commanded her admiration even without the +ties which bound them together, she was by no means blind to his faults, +which she considered as dangerous to the hopes of any woman who should +found her ideas of a happy marriage in the peaceful enjoyment of +domestic society, and the exchange of mutual and engrossing affection. +The real disposition of Waverley, on the other hand, notwithstanding +his dreams of tented fields and military honour, seemed exclusively +domestic. He asked and received no share in the busy scenes which were +constantly going on around him, and was rather annoyed than interested +by the discussion of contending claims, rights, and interests, which +often passed in his presence. All this pointed him out as the person +formed to make happy a spirit like that of Rose, which corresponded with +his own. +</p> +<p> +She remarked this point in Waverley's character one day while she sat +with Miss Bradwardine. 'His genius and elegant taste,' answered Rose, +'cannot be interested in such trifling discussions. What is it to him, +for example, whether the Chief of the Macindallaghers, who has brought +out only fifty men, should be a colonel or a captain? and how could +Mr. Waverley be supposed to interest himself in the violent altercation +between your brother and young Corrinaschian, whether the post of honour +is due to the eldest cadet of a clan or the youngest?' 'My dear Rose, +if he were the hero you suppose him, he would interest himself in these +matters, not indeed as important in themselves, but for the purpose +of mediating between the ardent spirits who actually do make them the +subject of discord. You saw when Corrinaschian raised his voice in great +passion, and laid his hand upon his sword, Waverley lifted his head as +if he had just awaked from a dream, and asked, with great composure, +what the matter was.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, and did not the laughter they fell into at his absence of mind, +serve better to break off the dispute than anything he could have said +to them?' +</p> +<p> +'True, my dear,' answered Flora; 'but not quite so creditably for +Waverley as if he had brought them to their senses by force of reason.' +</p> +<p> +'Would you have him peacemaker general between all the gunpowder +Highlanders in the army? I beg your pardon, Flora—your brother, you +know, is out of the question; he has more sense than half of them. But +can you think the fierce, hot, furious spirits, of whose brawls we see +much, and hear more, and who terrify me out of my life every day in the +world, are at all to be compared to Waverley?' +</p> +<p> +'I do not compare him with those uneducated men, my dear Rose. I only +lament, that, with his talents and genius, he does not assume that place +in society for which they eminently fit him, and that he does not lend +their full impulse to the noble cause in which he has enlisted. Are +there not Lochiel, and P—, and M—, and G—, all men of the highest +education, as well as the first talents?—why will he not stoop like +them to be alive and useful?—I often believe his zeal is frozen by that +proud cold-blooded Englishman, whom he now lives with so much.' +</p> +<p> +'Colonel Talbot?—he is a very disagreeable person, to be sure. He looks +as if he thought no Scottish woman worth the trouble of handing her a +cup of tea. But Waverley is so gentle, so well informed'— +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said Flora, smiling; 'he can admire the moon, and quote a stanza +from Tasso.' +</p> +<p> +'Besides, you know how he fought,' added Miss Bradwardine. +</p> +<p> +'For mere fighting,' answered Flora, 'I believe all men (that is, who +deserve the name) are pretty much alike; there is generally more courage +required to run away. They have, besides, when confronted with each +other, a certain instinct for strife, as we see in other male animals, +such as dogs, bulls, and so forth. But high and perilous enterprise is +not Waverley's forte. He would never have been his celebrated ancestor +Sir Nigel, but only Sir Nigel's eulogist and poet. I will tell you where +he will be at home, my dear, and in his place,—in the quiet circle +of domestic happiness, lettered indolence, and elegant enjoyments, of +Waverley-Honour. And he will refit the old library in the most exquisite +Gothic taste, and garnish its shelves, with the rarest and most valuable +volumes; and he will draw plans and landscapes, and write verses, and +rear temples, and dig grottoes;—and he will stand in a clear summer +night in the colonnade before the hall, and gaze on the deer as they +stray in the moonlight, or lie shadowed by the boughs of the huge old +fantastic oaks;—and he will repeat verses to his beautiful wife, who +will hang upon his arm;—and he will be a happy man.' +</p> +<p> +'And she will be a happy woman,' thought poor Rose. But she only sighed, +and dropped the conversation. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0053"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LIII +</h2> +<h3> + FERGUS A SUITOR +</h3> +<p> +Waverly had, indeed, as he looked closer into the state of the +Chevalier's Court, less reason to be satisfied with it. It contained, as +they say an acorn includes all the ramifications of the future oak, as +many seeds of TRACASSERIE and intrigue, as might have done honour to the +Court of a large empire. Every person of consequence had some separate +object, which he pursued with a fury that Waverley considered as +altogether disproportioned to its importance. Almost all had their +reasons for discontent, although the most legitimate was that of the +worthy old Baron, who was only distressed on account of the common +cause. +</p> +<p> +'We shall hardly,' said he one morning to Waverley, when they had been +viewing the castle,—'we shall hardly gain the obsidional crown, which +you wot well was made of the roots or grain which takes root within +the place besieged, or it may be of the herb woodbind, PARETARIA, or +pellitory; we shall not, I say, gain it by this same blockade or +leaguer of Edinburgh Castle.' For this opinion, he gave most learned and +satisfactory reasons, that the reader may not care to hear repeated. +</p> +<p> +Having escaped from the old gentleman, Waverley went to Fergus's +lodgings by appointment, to await his return from Holyrood House. 'I +am to have a particular audience to-morrow,' said Fergus to Waverley, +overnight, 'and you must meet me to wish me joy of the success which I +securely anticipate.' +</p> +<p> +The morrow came, and in the Chief's apartment he found Ensign Maccombich +waiting to make report of his turn of duty in a sort of ditch which they +had dug across the Castle-hill, and called a trench. In a short time +the Chief's voice was heard on the stair in a tone of impatient +fury:—'Callum,—why, Callum Beg,—Diaoul!' He entered the room with all +the marks of a man agitated by a towering passion; and there were few +upon whose features rage produced a more violent effect. The veins of +his forehead swelled when he was in such agitation; his nostril became +dilated; his cheek and eye inflamed; and his look that of a demoniac. +These appearances of half-suppressed rage were the more frightful, +because they were obviously caused by a strong effort to temper with +discretion an almost ungovernable paroxysm of passion, and resulted from +an internal conflict of the most dreadful kind, which agitated his whole +frame of mortality. +</p> +<p> +As he entered the apartment, he unbuckled his broadsword, and throwing +it down with such violence that the weapon rolled to the other end of +the room, 'I know not what,' he exclaimed, 'withholds me from taking +a solemn oath that I will never more draw it in his cause. Load my +pistols, Callum, and bring them hither instantly;—instantly!' Callum, +whom nothing ever startled, dismayed, or disconcerted, obeyed very +coolly. Evan Dhu, upon whose brow the suspicion that his Chief had been +insulted, called up a corresponding storm, swelled in sullen silence, +awaiting to learn where or upon whom vengeance was to descend. +</p> +<p> +'So, Waverley you are there,' said the Chief, after a moment's +recollection;—'Yes, I remember I asked you to share my triumph, and +you have come to witness my—disappointment we shall call it.' Evan now +presented the written report he had in his hand, which Fergus threw from +him with great passion. 'I wish to God,' he said, 'the old den would +tumble down upon the heads of the fools who attack, and the knaves who +defend it! I see, Waverley, you think I am mad—leave us, Evan, but be +within call.' +</p> +<p> +'The Colonel's in an unco kippage,' said Mrs. Flockhart to Evan, as he +descended; 'I wish he may be weel,—the very veins on his brent brow are +swelled like whipcord: wad he no tak something?' +</p> +<p> +'He usually lets blood for these fits,' answered the Highland ancient +with great composure. +</p> +<p> +When this officer left the room, the Chieftain gradually reassumed some +degree of composure.—'I know, Waverley,' he said, 'that Colonel Talbot +has persuaded you to curse ten times a day your engagement with us; nay, +never deny it, for I am at this moment tempted to curse my own. Would +you believe it, I made this very morning two suits to the Prince, and he +has rejected them both: what do you think of it?' +</p> +<p> +'What can I think,' answered Waverley, 'till I know what your requests +were?' +</p> +<p> +'Why, what signifies what they were, man? I tell you it was I that made +them,—I, to whom he owes more than to any three who have joined the +standard; for I negotiated the whole business, and brought in all the +Perthshire men when not one would have stirred. I am not likely, I +think, to ask anything very unreasonable, and if I did they might have +stretched a point.—Well, but you shall know all, now that I can draw +my breath again with some freedom.—You remember my earl's patent; it +is dated some years back, for services then rendered; and certainly +my merit has not been diminished, to say the least, by my subsequent +behaviour. Now, sir, I value this bauble of a coronet as little as you +can, or any philosopher on earth; for I hold that the chief of such +a clan as the Sliochd nan Ivor is superior in rank to any earl in +Scotland. But I had a particular reason for assuming this cursed title +at this time. You must know, that I learned accidentally that the Prince +has been pressing that old foolish Baron of Bradwardine to disinherit +his male heir, or nineteenth or twentieth cousin, who has taken a +command in the Elector of Hanover's militia, and to settle his estate +upon your pretty little friend Rose; and this, as being the command +of his king and overlord, who may alter the destination of a fief at +pleasure, the old gentleman seems well reconciled to.' +</p> +<p> +'And what becomes of the homage?' +</p> +<p> +'Curse the homage!—I believe Rose is to pull off the queen's slipper +on her coronation-day, or some such trash. Well sir, as Rose Bradwardine +would always have made a suitable match for me, but for this idiotical +predilection of her father for the heir-male, it occurred to me there +now remained no obstacle, unless that the Baron might expect his +daughter's husband to take the name of Bradwardine (which you know would +be impossible in my case), and that this might be evaded by my assuming +the title to which I had so good a right, and which, of course, would +supersede that difficulty. If she was to be also Viscountess Bradwardine +in her own right, after her father's demise, so much the better; I could +have no objection.' +</p> +<p> +'But, Fergus,' said Waverley, 'I had no idea that you had any affection +for Miss Bradwardine, and you are always sneering at her father.' +</p> +<p> +'I have as much affection for Miss Bradwardine, my good friend, as I +think it necessary to have for the future mistress of my family, and the +mother of my children. She is a very pretty, intelligent girl, and is +certainly of one of the very first Lowland families; and, with a little +of Flora's instructions and forming, will make a very good figure. As to +her father, he is an original, it is true, and an absurd one enough; but +he has given such severe lessons to Sir Hew Halbert, that dear defunct +the Laird of Balmawhapple, and others, that nobody dare laugh at him, +so his absurdity goes for nothing. I tell you there could have been +no earthly objection—none. I had settled the thing entirely in my own +mind.' +</p> +<p> +'But had you asked the Baron's consent,' said Waverley, 'Or Rose's?' +</p> +<p> +'To what purpose? To have spoke to the Baron before I had assumed my +title would have only provoked a premature and irritating discussion on +the subject of the change of name, when, as Earl of Glennaquoich, I +had only to propose to him to carry his d-d bear and bootjack PARTY +PER PALE, or in a scutcheon of pretence, or in a separate shield +perhaps—any way that would not blemish my own coat of arms. And as to +Rose, I don't see what objection she could have made, if her father was +satisfied.' +</p> +<p> +'Perhaps the same that your sister makes to me, you being satisfied.' +</p> +<p> +Fergus gave a broad stare at the comparison which this supposition +implied, but cautiously suppressed the answer which rose to his tongue. +'Oh, we should easily have arranged all that.—so, sir, I craved a +private interview, and this morning was assigned; and I asked you to +meet me here, thinking, like a fool, that I should want your countenance +as bride's-man. Well—I state my pretensions—they are not denied; +the promises so repeatedly made, and the patent granted—they are +acknowledged. But I propose, as a natural consequence, to assume the +rank which the patent bestowed—I have the old story of the jealousy of +C—and M— trumped up against me—I resist this pretext, and offer to +procure their written acquiescence, in virtue of the date of my patent +as prior to their silly claims—I assure you I would have had such a +consent from them, if it had been at the point of the sword. And then, +out comes the real truth; and he dares to tell me, to my face, that my +patent must be suppressed for the present, for fear of disgusting +that rascally coward and FAINEANT—(naming the rival chief of his own +clan)—who has no better title to be a chieftain than I to be Emperor +of China; and who is pleased to shelter his dastardly reluctance to come +out, agreeable to his promise twenty times pledged, under a pretended +jealousy of the Prince's partiality to me. And, to leave this miserable +driveller without a pretence for his cowardice, the Prince asks if as +a personal favour of me, forsooth, not to press my just and reasonable +request at this moment. After this, put your faith in princes!' +</p> +<p> +'And did your audience end here?' +</p> +<p> +'End? Oh, no! I was determined to leave him no pretence for his +ingratitude, and I therefore stated, with all the composure I could +muster,—for I promise you I trembled with passion,—the particular +reasons I had for wishing that his Royal Highness would impose upon me +any other mode of exhibiting my duty and devotion, as my views in life +made, what at any other time would have been a mere trifle, at this +crisis a severe sacrifice; and then I explained to him my full plan.' +</p> +<p> +'And what did the Prince answer?' +</p> +<p> +'Answer? why—it is well it is written, Curse not the king; no, not in +thy thought!—why, he answered, that truly he was glad I had made him my +confidant, to prevent more grievous disappointment, for he could assure +me, upon the word of a prince, that Miss Bradwardine's affections were +engaged, and he was under a particular promise to favour them. "So, my +dear Fergus," said he, with his most gracious cast of smile, "as the +marriage is utterly out of question, there need be no hurry, you know, +about the earldom." And so he glided off, and left me PLANTE LA.' +</p> +<p> +'And what did you do?' +</p> +<p> +'I'll tell you what I could have done at that moment—sold myself to the +devil or the Elector, whichever offered the dearest revenge. However, +I am now cool. I know he intends to marry her to some of his rascally +Frenchmen, or his Irish officers: but I will watch them close; and let +the man that would supplant me look well to himself.—BISOGNA COPRIRSI, +SIGNOR.' +</p> +<p> +After some further conversation, unnecessary to be detailed, Waverley +took leave of the Chieftain, whose fury had now subsided into a deep and +strong desire of vengeance, and returned home, scarce able to analyse +the mixture of feelings which the narrative had awakened in his own +bosom. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0054"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LIV +</h2> +<h3> + 'TO ONE THING CONSTANT NEVER' +</h3> +<p> +'I am the very child of caprice,' said Waverley to himself, as he bolted +the door of his apartment, and paced it with hasty steps.—'What is it +to me that Fergus Mac-Ivor should wish to marry Rose Bradwardine?—I +love her not.—I might have been loved by her, perhaps; but I rejected +her simple, natural, and affecting attachment, instead of cherishing it +into tenderness, and dedicated myself to one who will never love mortal +man, unless old Warwick, the King-maker, should arise from the dead. +The Baron, too—I would not have cared about his estate, and so the +name would have been no stumbling-block, The devil might have taken the +barren moors, and drawn off the royal CALIGAE, for anything I would have +minded. But, framed as she is for domestic affection and tenderness, for +giving and receiving all those kind and quiet attentions which sweeten +life to those who pass it together, she is sought by Fergus Mac-Ivor. He +will not use her ill, to be sure—of that he is incapable—but he will +neglect her after the first month; he will be too intent on subduing +some rival chieftain, or circumventing some favourite at court, on +gaining some heathy hill and lake, or adding to his bands some new troop +of caterans, to inquire what she does, or how she amuses herself. +</p> +<pre> + And then will canker sorrow eat her bud, + And chase the native beauty from her cheek; + And she will look as hollow as a ghost, + And dim and meagre as an ague fit, + And so she'll die. +</pre> +<p> +And such a catastrophe of the most gentle creature on earth might have +been prevented, if Mr. Edward Waverley had had his eyes! Upon my word, +I cannot understand how I thought Flora so much—that is, so very +much—handsomer than Rose. She is taller, indeed, and her manner more +formed; but many people think Miss Bradwardine's more natural; and she +is certainly much younger. I should think Flora is two years older than +I am—I will look at them particularly this evening.' +</p> +<p> +And with this resolution Waverley went to drink tea (as the fashion was +Sixty Years since) at the house of a lady of quality attached to the +cause of the Chevalier, where he found, as he expected, both the ladies. +All rose as he entered, but Flora immediately resumed her place, and +the conversation in which she was engaged. Rose, on the contrary, almost +imperceptibly, made a little way in the crowded circle for his advancing +the corner of a chair. 'Her manner, upon the whole, is most engaging,' +said Waverley to himself. +</p> +<p> +A dispute occurred whether the Gaelic or Italian language was most +liquid, and best adapted for poetry; the opinion for the Gaelic, which +probably might not have found supporters elsewhere, was here fiercely +defended by seven Highland ladies, who talked at the top of their lungs, +and screamed the company deaf, with examples of Celtic EUPHONIA. Flora, +observing the Lowland ladies sneer at the comparison, produced some +reasons to show that it was not altogether so absurd; but Rose, when +asked for her opinion, gave it with animation in praise of Italian, +which she had studied with Waverley's assistance. 'She has a more +correct ear than Flora, though a less accomplished musician,' said +Waverley to himself. 'I suppose Miss Mac-Ivor will next compare +Mac-Murrough nan Fonn to Ariosto!' +</p> +<p> +Lastly, it so befell that the company differed whether Fergus should +be asked to perform on the flute, at which he was an adept, or Waverley +invited to read a play of Shakespeare; and the lady of the house +good-humouredly undertook to collect the votes of the company for poetry +or music, under the condition, that the gentleman whose talents were not +laid under contribution that evening, should contribute them to enliven +the next. It chanced that Rose had the casting vote. Now Flora, who +seemed to impose it as a rule upon herself never to countenance any +proposal which might seem to encourage Waverley, had voted for music, +providing the Baron would take his violin to accompany Fergus. 'I wish +you joy of your taste, Miss Mac-Ivor,' thought Edward, as they sought +for his book. 'I thought it better when we were at Glennaquoich; but +certainly the Baron is no great performer, and Shakespeare is worth +listening to.' +</p> +<p> +ROMEO AND JULIET was selected, and Edward read with taste, feeling, and +spirit, several scenes from that play. All the company applauded with +their hands, and many with their tears. Flora, to whom the drama was +well known, was among the former; Rose, to whom it was altogether new, +belonged to the latter class of admirers. 'She has more feeling, too,' +said Waverley, internally. +</p> +<p> +The conversation turning upon the incidents of the play, and upon the +characters, Fergus declared that the only one worth naming, as a man of +fashion and spirit, was Mercutio. 'I could not,' he said, 'quite follow +all his old-fashioned wit, but he must have been a very pretty fellow, +according to the ideas of his time.' +</p> +<p> +'And it was a shame,' said Ensign Maccombich, who usually followed his +Colonel everywhere, 'for that Tibbert, or Taggart, or whatever was his +name, to stick him under the other gentleman's arm while he was redding +the fray.' +</p> +<p> +The ladies, of course, declared loudly in favour of Romeo; but this +opinion did not go undisputed. The mistress of the house, and several +other ladies, severely reprobated the levity with which the hero +transfers his affections from Rosalind to Juliet. Flora remained silent +until her opinion was repeatedly requested, and then answered, she +thought the circumstance objected to not only reconcilable to nature, +but such as in the highest degree evinced the art of the poet. 'Romeo +is described,' said she, 'as a young man, peculiarly susceptible of +the softer passions; his love is at first fixed upon a woman who could +afford it no return; this he repeatedly tells you,— +</p> +<pre> + From love's weak childish bow she lives unharmed; +</pre> +<p> +and again,— +</p> +<pre> + She hath forsworn to love. +</pre> +<p> +Now, as it was impossible that Romeo's love, supposing him a reasonable +being, could continue to subsist without hope, the poet has, with great +art, seized the moment when he was reduced actually to despair, to throw +in his way an object more accomplished than her by whom he had been +rejected, and who is disposed to repay his attachment. I can scarce +conceive a situation more calculated to enhance the ardour of Romeo's +affection for Juliet, than his being at once raised by her from the +state of drooping melancholy in which he appears first upon the scene, +to the ecstatic state in which he exclaims— +</p> +<pre> + —come what sorrow can, + It cannot countervail the exchange of joy + That one short moment gives me in her sight.' +</pre> +<p> +'Good, now, Miss Mac-Ivor,' said a young lady of quality, 'do you mean +to cheat us out of our prerogative? will you persuade us love cannot +subsist-without hope, or that the lover must become fickle if the lady +is cruel? Oh, fie! I did not expect such an unsentimental conclusion.' +</p> +<p> +'A lover, my dear Lady Betty,' said Flora, 'may, I conceive, persevere +in his suit under very discouraging circumstances. Affection can (now +and then) withstand very severe storms of rigour, but not a long polar +frost of downright indifference. Don't, even with YOUR attractions, try +the experiment upon any lover whose faith you value. Love will subsist +on wonderfully little hope, but not altogether without it.' +</p> +<p> +'It will be just like Duncan Mac-Girdie's mare,' said Evan, 'if your +ladyships please; he wanted to use her by degrees to live without meat, +and just as he had put her on a straw a day, the poor thing died!' +</p> +<p> +Evan's illustration set the company a-laughing, and the discourse took +a different turn. Shortly afterwards the party broke up, and Edward +returned home, musing on what Flora had said. 'I will love my Rosalind +no more,' said he: 'she has given me a broad enough hint for that; and +I will speak to her brother, and resign my suit. But for a Juliet—would +it be handsome to interfere with Fergus's pretensions?—though it +is impossible they can ever succeed: and should they miscarry, what +then?—why then ALORS COMME ALORS.' And with this resolution, of being +guided by circumstances, did our hero commit himself to repose. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0055"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LV +</h2> +<h3> + A BRAVE MAN IN SORROW +</h3> +<p> +If my fair readers should be of opinion that my hero's levity in love +is altogether unpardonable, I must remind them that all his griefs and +difficulties did not arise from that sentimental source. Even the lyric +poet, who complains so feelingly of the pains of love, could not forget, +that, at the same time, he was 'in debt and in drink,' which, doubtless, +were great aggravations of his distress. There were indeed whole days in +which Waverley thought neither of Flora nor Rose Bradwardine, but which +were spent in melancholy conjectures on the probable state of matters at +Waverley-Honour, and the dubious issue of the civil contest in which he +was pledged. Colonel Talbot often engaged him in discussions upon +the justice of the cause he had espoused. 'Not,' he said, 'that it is +possible for you to quit it at this present moment, for, come what will, +you must stand by your rash engagement. But I with you to be aware +that the right is not with you; that you are fighting against the real +interests of your country; and that you ought, as an Englishman and a +patriot, to take the first opportunity to leave this unhappy expedition +before the snowball melts.' +</p> +<p> +In such political disputes, Waverley usually opposed the common +arguments of his party, with which it is unnecessary to trouble the +reader. But he had little to say when the Colonel urged him to compare +the strength by which they had undertaken to overthrow the Government, +with that which was now assembling very rapidly for its support. To this +statement Waverley had but one answer: 'If the cause I have undertaken +be perilous, there would be the greater disgrace in abandoning it.' +And in his turn he generally silenced Colonel Talbot, and succeeded in +changing the subject. +</p> +<p> +One night, when, after a long dispute of this nature, the friends +had separated, and our hero had retired to bed, he was awakened about +midnight by a suppressed groan. He started up and listened; it came from +the apartment of Colonel Talbot, which was divided from his own by a +wainscoted partition, with a door of communication. Waverley approached +this door, and distinctly heard one or two deep-drawn sighs. What could +be the matter? The Colonel had parted from him, apparently, in his +usual state of spirits. He must have been taken suddenly ill. Under +this impression, he opened the door of communication very gently, and +perceived the Colonel, in his nightgown, seated by a table, on which +lay a letter and a picture. He raised his head hastily, as Edward stood +uncertain whether to advance or retire, and Waverley perceived that his +cheeks were stained with tears. +</p> +<p> +As if ashamed at being found giving way to such emotion, Colonel Talbot +rose with apparent displeasure, and said, with some sternness, 'I think, +Mr. Waverley, my own apartment, and the hour, might have secured even a +prisoner against'— +</p> +<p> +'Do not say INTRUSION, Colonel Talbot; I heard you breathe hard, and +feared you were ill; that alone could have induced me to break in upon +you.' +</p> +<p> +'I am well,' said the Colonel, 'perfectly well.' +</p> +<p> +'But you are distressed,' said Edward: 'is there anything can be done?' +</p> +<p> +'Nothing, Mr. Waverley: I was only thinking of home, and of some +unpleasant occurrences there.' +</p> +<p> +'Good God, my uncle!' exclaimed Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'No,—it is a grief entirely my own. I am ashamed you should have seen +it disarm me so much; but it must have its course at times, that it may +be at others more decently supported. I would have kept it secret from +you; for I think it will grieve you, and yet you can administer no +consolation. But you have surprised me,—I see you are surprised +yourself,—and I hate mystery. Read that letter. +</p> +<p> +The letter was from Colonel Talbot's sister, and in these words: +</p> +<p> +'I received yours, my dearest brother, by Hodges. Sir E. W. and Mr. R. +are still at large, but are not permitted to leave London. I wish to +Heaven I could give you as good an account of matters in the square. +But the news of the unhappy affair at Preston came upon us, with the +dreadful addition that you were among the fallen. You know Lady Emily's +state of health, when your friendship for Sir E. induced you to leave +her. She was much harassed with the sad accounts from Scotland of the +rebellion having broken out; but kept up her spirits as, she said, it +became your wife, and for the sake of the future heir, so long hoped +for in vain. Alas, my dear brother, these hopes are now ended! +Notwithstanding all my watchful care, this unhappy rumour reached her +without preparation. She was taken ill immediately; and the poor infant +scarce survived its birth. Would to God this were all! But although +the contradiction of the horrible report by your own letter has greatly +revived her spirits, yet Dr—apprehends, I grieve to say, serious, +and even dangerous, consequences to her health, especially from +the uncertainty in which she must necessarily remain for some time, +aggravated by the ideas she has formed of the ferocity of those with +whom you are a prisoner. +</p> +<p> +Do therefore, my dear brother, as soon as this reaches you, endeavour to +gain your release, by parole, by ransom, or any way that is practicable. +I do not exaggerate Lady Emily's state of health; but I must not—dare +not—suppress the truth.—Ever, my dear Philip, your most affectionate +sister, 'LUCY TALBOT.' +</p> +<p> +Edward stood motionless when he had perused this letter; for the +conclusion was inevitable, that by the Colonel's journey in quest of +him, he had incurred this heavy calamity. It was severe enough, even in +its irremediable part; for Colonel Talbot and Lady Emily, long without a +family, had fondly exulted in the hopes which were now blasted. But this +disappointment was nothing to the extent of the threatened evil; and +Edward, with horror, regarded himself as the original cause of both. +</p> +<p> +Ere he could collect himself sufficiently to speak, Colonel Talbot had +recovered his usual composure of manner, though his troubled eye denoted +his mental agony. +</p> +<p> +'She is a woman, my young friend, who may justify even a soldier's +tears.' He reached him the miniature, exhibiting features which fully +justified the eulogium; 'and yet, God knows, what you see of her there +is the least of the charms she possesses—possessed, I should perhaps +say—but God's will be done!' +</p> +<p> +'You must fly—you must fly instantly to her relief. It is not—it shall +not be too late.' +</p> +<p> +'Fly!—how is it possible? I am a prisoner—upon parole.' +</p> +<p> +'I am your keeper—I restore your parole-I am to answer for you.' +</p> +<p> +'You cannot do so consistently with your duty; nor can I accept a +discharge from you with due regard to my own honour—you would be made +responsible.' +</p> +<p> +'I will answer it with my head, if necessary,' said Waverley, +impetuously. 'I have been the unhappy cause of the loss of your +child—make me not the murderer of your wife.' +</p> +<p> +'No, my dear Edward,' said Talbot, taking him kindly by the hand, 'you +are in no respect to blame; and if I concealed this domestic distress +for two days, it was lest your sensibility should view it in that light. +You could not think of me, hardly knew of my existence, when I +left England in quest of you. It is a responsibility, Heaven knows, +sufficiently heavy for mortality, that we must answer for the foreseen +and direct result of our actions,—for their indirect and consequential +operation, the great and good Being, who alone can foresee the +dependence of human events on each other, hath not pronounced his frail +creatures liable.' +</p> +<p> +But that you should have left Lady Emily,' said Waverley, with much +emotion, 'in the situation of all others the most interesting to a +husband, to seek a—' +</p> +<p> +'I only did my duty,' answered Colonel Talbot, calmly, 'and I do not, +ought not to regret it. If the path of gratitude and honour were always +smooth and easy, there would be little merit in following it; but it +moves often in contradiction to our interest and passions, and sometimes +to our better affections. These are the trials of life, and this, though +not the least bitter' (the tears came unbidden to his eyes), 'is not the +first which it has been my fate to encounter. But we will talk of this +to-morrow,' he said, wringing Waverley's hands. 'Good night; strive to +forget it for a few hours. It will dawn, I think, by six, and it is now +past two. Good-night.' +</p> +<p> +Edward retired, without trusting his voice with a reply. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0056"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LVI +</h2> +<h3> + EXERTION +</h3> +<p> +When Colonel Talbot entered the breakfast-parlour next morning, he +learned from Waverley's servant that our hero had been abroad at an +early hour, and was not yet returned. The morning was well advanced +before he again appeared, He arrived out of breath, but with an air of +joy that astonished Colonel Talbot. +</p> +<p> +'There,' said he, throwing a paper on the table, 'there is my morning's +work.—Alick, pack up the Colonel's clothes. Make haste, make haste.' +</p> +<p> +The Colonel examined the paper with astonishment. It was a pass from the +Chevalier to Colonel Talbot, to repair to Leith, or any other port +in possession of his Royal Highness's troops, and there to embark for +England or elsewhere, at his free pleasure; he only giving his parole of +honour not to bear arms against the house of Stuart for the space of a +twelvemonth. +</p> +<p> +'In the name of God,' said the Colonel, his eyes sparkling with +eagerness, 'how did you obtain this?' +</p> +<p> +'I was at the Chevalier's levee as soon as he usually rises. He was gone +to the camp at Duddingston. I pursued him thither; asked and obtained an +audience—but I will tell you not a word more, unless I see you begin to +pack.' +</p> +<p> +'Before I know whether I can avail myself of this passport, or how it +was obtained?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, you can take out the things again, you know.—Now I see you busy, +I will go on. When I first mentioned your name, his eyes sparkled almost +as bright as yours did two minutes since. "Had you," he earnestly asked, +"shown any sentiments favourable to his cause?" +</p> +<p> +"Not in the least, nor was there any hope you would do so." His +countenance fell. I requested your freedom. "Impossible," he +said;—"your importance, as a friend and confidant of such and such +personages, made my request altogether extravagant." I told him my own +story and yours and asked him to judge what my feelings must be by his +own. He has a heart, and a kind one, Colonel Talbot, you may say what +you please. He took a sheet of paper, and wrote the pass with his own +hand. "I will not-trust myself with my council," he said "they will +argue me out of what is right. I will not endure that a friend, valued +as I value you, should be loaded with the painful reflections which must +afflict you in ease of further misfortune in Colonel Talbot's family; +nor will I keep a brave enemy a prisoner under such circumstances. +Besides," said he, "I think I can justify myself to my prudent advisers, +by pleading the good effect such lenity will produce on the minds of the +great English families with whom Colonel Talbot is connected."' +</p> +<p> +'There the politician peeped out,' said the Colonel. +</p> +<p> +'Well, at least he concluded like a king's son—"Take the passport; I +have added a condition for form's sake; but if the Colonel objects to +it, let him depart without giving any parole whatever. I come here to +war with men, but not to distress or endanger women."' +</p> +<p> +'Well, I never thought to have been so much indebted to the Pretend—' +</p> +<p> +'To the Prince,' said Waverley, smiling. +</p> +<p> +'To the Chevalier,' said the Colonel; 'it is a good travelling name, and +which we may both freely use. Did he say anything more?' +</p> +<p> +'Only asked if there was anything else he could oblige me in; and when +I replied in the negative, he shook me by the hand, and wished all his +followers were as considerate, since some friends of mine not only asked +all he had to bestow, but many things which were entirely out of his +power, or that of the greatest sovereign upon earth. Indeed, he said, +no prince seemed, in the eyes of his followers, so like the Deity as +himself, if you were to judge from the extravagant requests which they +daily preferred to him.' +</p> +<p> +'Poor young gentleman!' said the Colonel 'I suppose he begins to feel +the difficulties of his situation. Well, dear Waverley, this is more +than kind, and shall not be forgotten while Philip Talbot can remember +anything. My life—pshaw—let Emily thank you for that—this is a +favour worth fifty lives. I cannot hesitate on giving my parole in the +circumstances: there it is—(he wrote it out in form)—and now, how am I +to get off?' +</p> +<p> +'All that is settled: your baggage is packed, my horses wait, and a boat +has been engaged, by the Prince's permission, to put you on board the +Fox frigate. I sent a messenger down to Leith on purpose.' +</p> +<p> +'That will do excellently well. Captain Beaver is my particular friend: +he will put me ashore at Berwick or Shields, from whence I can ride post +to London;—and you must entrust me with the packet of papers which you +recovered by means of your Miss Bean Lean. I may have an opportunity +of using them to your advantage.—But I see your Highland friend, +Glen—what do you call his barbarous name? and his orderly with him—I +must not call him his orderly cut-throat any more, I suppose. See how he +walks as if the world were his own, with the bonnet on one side of his +head, and his plaid puffed out across his breast! I should like now to +meet that youth where my hands were not tied: I would tame his pride, or +he should tame mine,' +</p> +<p> +'For shame, Colonel Talbot! you swell at sight of tartan, as the bull +is said to do at scarlet. You and Mac-Ivor have some points not much +unlike, so far as national prejudice is concerned.' +</p> +<p> +The latter part of this discourse took place in the street. They passed +the Chief, the Colonel and he sternly and punctiliously greeting each +other, like two duellists before they take their ground. It was evident +the dislike was mutual. 'I never see that surly fellow that dogs his +heels,' said the Colonel, after he had mounted his horse, 'but he +reminds me of lines I have somewhere heard—upon the stage, I think: +</p> +<pre> + —Close behind him + Stalks sullen Bertram, like a sorcerer's fiend, + Pressing to be employed.' +</pre> +<p> +'I assure you, Colonel,' said Waverley,' that you judge too harshly of +the Highlanders.' +</p> +<p> +'Not a whit, not a whit; I cannot spare them a jot—I cannot bate them +an ace. Let them stay in their own barren mountains, and puff and swell, +and hang their bonnets on the horns of the moon, if they have a mind; +but what business have they to come where people wear breeches, and +speak an intelligible language? I mean intelligible in comparison with +their gibberish, for even the Lowlanders talk a kind of English little +better than the negroes in Jamaica. I could pity the Pr—, I mean the +Chevalier himself, for having so many desperadoes about him. And they +learn their trade so early. There is a kind of subaltern imp, for +example, a sort of sucking devil, whom your friend Glenna—Glennamuck +there, has sometimes in his train. To look at him, he is about fifteen +years; but he is a century old in mischief and villany. He was playing +at quoits the other day in the court; a gentleman—a decent-looking +person enough—came past, and as a quoit hit his shin, he lifted his +cane: but my young brave whips out his pistol, like Beau Clincher in the +TRIP TO THE JUBILEE and had not a scream of GARDEZ L'EAU from an +upper window set all parties a-scampering for fear of the inevitable +consequences, the poor gentleman would have lost his life by the hands +of that little cockatrice.' +</p> +<p> +'A fine character you'll give of Scotland upon your return, Colonel +Talbot.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, Justice Shallow,' said the Colonel, 'will save me the +trouble—"Barren, barren—beggars all, beggars all. Marry, good +air,"—and that only when you are fairly out of Edinburgh, and not yet +come to Leith, as is our case at present.' +</p> +<p> +In a short time they arrived at the seaport: +</p> +<pre> + The boat rocked at the pier of Leith, + Full loud the wind blew down the ferry; + The ship rode at the Berwick Law— +</pre> +<p> +'Farewell, Colonel; may you find all as you would wish it! Perhaps we +may meet sooner than you expect: they talk of an immediate route to +England.' +</p> +<p> +Tell me nothing of that,' said Talbot 'I wish to carry no news of your +motions.' +</p> +<p> +'Simply then, adieu. Say, with a thousand kind greetings, all that is +dutiful and affectionate to Sir Everard and Aunt Rachel. Think of me as +kindly as you can—speak of me as indulgently as your conscience will +permit, and once more adieu.' +</p> +<p> +'And adieu, my dear Waverley!—many, many thanks for your kindness. +Unplaid yourself on the first opportunity. I shall ever think on +you with gratitude, and the worst of my censure shall be, QUE DIABLE +ALLOIT-IL FAIRE DANS CETTE GALERE?' +</p> +<p> +And thus they parted, Colonel Talbot going on board of the boat, and +Waverley returning to Edinburgh. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0057"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LVII +</h2> +<h3> + THE MARCH +</h3> +<p> +It is not our purpose to intrude upon the province of history. We shall +therefore only remind our readers, that about the beginning of November +the Young Chevalier, at the head of about six thousand men at the +utmost, resolved to peril his cause on an attempt to penetrate into the +centre of England, although aware of the mighty preparations which were +made for his reception. They set forward on this crusade in weather +which would have rendered any other troops incapable of marching, but +which in reality gave these active mountaineers advantages over a less +hardy enemy. In defiance of a superior army lying upon the Borders, +under Field Marshal Wade, they besieged and took Carlisle, and soon +afterwards prosecuted their daring march to the southward. +</p> +<p> +As Colonel Mac-Ivor's regiment marched in the van of the clans, he and +Waverley, who now equalled any Highlander in the endurance of fatigue, +and was become somewhat acquainted with their language, were perpetually +at its head. They marked the progress of the army, however, with very +different eyes. Fergus, all air and fire, and confident against the +world in arms, measured nothing but that every step was a yard nearer +London. He neither asked, expected, nor desired any aid, except that +of the clans, to place the Stuarts once more on the throne; and when by +chance a few adherents joined the standard, he always considered them in +the light of new claimants upon the favours of the future monarch, who, +he concluded, must therefore subtract for their gratification so much of +the bounty which ought to be shared among his Highland followers. +</p> +<p> +Edward's views were very different. He could not but observe, that in +those towns in which they proclaimed James the Third, 'no man cried, God +bless him.' The mob stared and listened, heartless, stupefied, and dull, +but gave few signs even of that boisterous spirit which induces them +to shout upon all occasions, for the mere exercise of their most sweet +voices. The Jacobites had been taught to believe that the north-western +counties abounded with wealthy squires and hardy yeomen, devoted to the +cause of the White Rose. But of the wealthier Tories they saw little. +Some fled from their houses, some feigned themselves sick, some +surrendered themselves to the Government as suspected persons. Of such +as remained, the ignorant gazed with astonishment, mixed with horror and +aversion, at the wild appearance, unknown language, and singular garb, +of the Scottish clans. And to the more prudent, their scanty numbers, +apparent deficiency in discipline; and poverty of equipment, seemed +certain tokens of the calamitous termination of their rash undertaking. +Thus the few who joined them were such as bigotry of political principle +blinded to consequences, or whose broken fortunes induced them to hazard +all on a risk so desperate. +</p> +<p> +The Baron of Bradwardine being asked what he thought of these recruits, +took a long pinch of snuff, and answered drily, 'that he could not but +have an excellent opinion of them, since they resembled precisely the +followers who attached themselves to the good King David at the cave of +Adullam; VIDELICET, every one that was in distress, and every one that +was in debt, and every one that was discontented, which the Vulgate +renders bitter of soul; and doubtless,' he said 'they will prove mighty +men of their hands, and there is much need that they should, for I have +seen many a sour look cast upon us.' +</p> +<p> +But none of these considerations moved Fergus. He admired the luxuriant +beauty of the country, and the situation of many of the seats which they +passed. 'Is Waverley-Honour like that house, Edward?' +</p> +<p> +'It is one half larger.' +</p> +<p> +'Is your uncle's park as fine a one as that?' +</p> +<p> +'It is three times; as extensive, and rather resembles a forest than a +mere park.' +</p> +<p> +'Flora, will be a happy woman.' +</p> +<p> +'I hope Miss Mac-Ivor will have much reason for happiness, unconnected +with Waverley-Honour.' +</p> +<p> +'I hope so too; but, to be mistress of such a place, will be a pretty +addition to the sum total.' +</p> +<p> +'An addition, the want of which, I trust, will be amply supplied by some +other means.' +</p> +<p> +'How,' said Fergus, stopping short, and turning upon Waverley—'How am +I to understand that, Mr. Waverley?—Had I the pleasure to hear you +aright?' +</p> +<p> +'Perfectly right, Fergus.' +</p> +<p> +'And I am to understand that you no longer desire my alliance, and my +sister's hand?' +</p> +<p> +'Your sister has refused mine,' said Waverley, 'both directly, and by +all the usual means by which ladies repress undesired attentions.' +</p> +<p> +'I have no idea,' answered the Chieftain, 'of a lady dismissing or a +gentleman withdrawing his suit, after it has been approved of by her +legal guardian, without giving him an opportunity of talking the matter +over with the lady. You did not, I suppose, expect my sister to drop +into your mouth like a ripe plum, the first moment you chose to open +it?' +</p> +<p> +'As to the lady's title to dismiss her lover, Colonel replied Edward, +'it is a point which you must argue with her, as I am ignorant of the +customs of the Highlands in that particular. But as to my title to +acquiesce in a rejection from her without an appeal to your interest, +I will tell you plainly, without meaning to undervalue Miss Mac-Ivor's +admitted beauty and accomplishments, that I would not take the hand of +an angel, with an empire for her dowry, if her consent were extorted by +the importunity of friends and guardians, and did not flow from her own +free inclination.' +</p> +<p> +'An angel, with the dowry of an empire,' repeated Fergus, in a tone +of bitter irony, 'is not very likely to be pressed upon a—shire +squire.—But sir,' changing his tone, 'if Flora Mac-Ivor have not the +dowry of an empire, she is my sister; and that is sufficient at least to +secure her against being treated with anything approaching to levity.' +</p> +<p> +She is Flora Mac-Ivor, sir,' said Waverley, with firmness, 'which to +me, were I capable of treating any woman with levity, would be a more +effectual protection.' +</p> +<p> +The brow of the Chieftain was now fully clouded, but Edward felt too +indignant at the unreasonable tone which he had adopted, to avert the +storm by the least concession. They both stood still while this short +dialogue passed, and Fergus seemed half disposed to say something more +violent, but, by a strong effort, suppressed his passion, and, turning +his face forward, walked sullenly on. As they had always hitherto walked +together, and almost constantly side by side; Waverley pursued his +course silently in the same direction, determined to let the Chief take +his own time in recovering the good humour which he had so unreasonably +discarded, and firm in his resolution not to bate him an inch of +dignity. +</p> +<p> +After they had marched on in this sullen manner about a mile, Fergus +resumed the discourse in a different tone. 'I believe I was warm, my +dear Edward, but you provoke me with your want of knowledge of the +world. You have taken pet at some of Flora's prudery, or high-flying +notions of loyalty, and now, like a child, you quarrel with the +plaything you have been crying for, and beat me, your faithful keeper, +because my arm cannot reach to Edinburgh to hand it to you. I am sure, +if I was passionate, the mortification of losing the alliance of such a +friend, after your arrangement had been the talk of both Highlands and +Lowlands, and that without so much as knowing why or wherefore, might +well provoke calmer blood than mine. I shall write to Edinburgh, and +put all to rights; that is, if you desire I should do so,—as indeed +I cannot suppose that your good opinion of Flora, it being such as you +have often expressed to me, can be at once laid aside.' +</p> +<p> +'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Edward, who had no mind to be hurried farther +or faster than he chose, in a matter which he had already considered as +broken off, 'I am fully sensible of the value of your good offices; and +certainly, by your zeal on my behalf in such an affair, you do me no +small honour. But as Miss Mac-Ivor has made her election freely and +voluntarily, and as all my attentions in Edinburgh were received with +more than coldness, I cannot, in justice either to her or myself, +consent that she should again be harassed upon this topic. I would have +mentioned this to you some time since;—but you saw the footing upon +which we stood together, and must have understood it. Had I thought +otherwise, I would have earlier spoken; but I had a natural reluctance +to enter upon a subject so painful to us both.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, very well, Mr. Waverley,' said Fergus, haughtily, 'the thing is at +an end. I have no occasion to press my sister upon any man.' +</p> +<p> +'Nor have I any occasion to court repeated rejection from the same young +lady,' answered Edward, in the same tone. +</p> +<p> +'I shall make due inquiry, however,' said the Chieftain, without +noticing the interruption, 'and learn what my sister thinks of all this: +we will then see whether it is to end here.' +</p> +<p> +'Respecting such inquiries, you will of course be guided by your own +judgement,' said Waverley. 'It is, I am aware, impossible Miss Mac-Ivor +can change her mind; and were such an unsupposable case to happen, it +is certain I will not change mine. I only mention this to prevent any +possibility of future misconstruction.' +</p> +<p> +Gladly at this moment would Mac-Ivor have put their quarrel to a +personal arbitrament;—his eye flashed fire, and he measured Edward as +if to choose where he might best plant a mortal wound. But although +we do not now quarrel according to the modes and figures of Caranza or +Vincent Saviola, no one knew better than Fergus that there must be some +decent pretext for a mortal duel. For instance, you may challenge a man +for treading on your corn in a crowd, or for pushing you up to the wall, +or for taking your seat in the theatre; but the modern code of honour +will not permit you to found a quarrel upon your right of compelling a +man to continue addresses to a female relative, which the fair lady has +already refused. So that Fergus was compelled to stomach this supposed +affront, until the whirligig of time, whose motion he promised himself +he would watch most sedulously, should bring about an opportunity of +revenge. +</p> +<p> +Waverley's servant always led a saddle-horse for him in the rear of the +battalion to which he was attached, though his master seldom rode. But +now, incensed at the domineering and unreasonable conduct of his late +friend, he fell behind the column, and mounted his horse, resolving to +seek the Baron of Bradwardine, and request permission to volunteer in +his troop, instead of the Mac-Ivor regiment. +</p> +<p> +'A happy time of it I should have had,' thought he, after he was +mounted, 'to have been so closely allied to this superb specimen of +pride and self-opinion and passion. A colonel! why, he should have been +a generalissimo. A petty chief of three or four hundred men!—his pride +might suffice for the Cham of Tartary—the Grand Seignior—the Great +Mogul! I am well free of him. Were Flora an angel, she would bring with +her a second Lucifer of ambition and wrath for a brother-in-law. +</p> +<p> +The Baron, whose learning (like Sancho's jests while in the Sierra +Morena) seemed to grow mouldy for want of exercise, joyfully embraced +the opportunity of Waverley's offering his service in his regiment, to +bring it into some exertion. The good-natured old gentleman, however, +laboured to effect a reconciliation between the two quondam friends. +Fergus turned a cold ear to his remonstrances, though he gave them a +respectful hearing; and as for Waverley, he saw no reason why he should +be the first in courting a renewal of the intimacy which the Chieftain +had so unreasonably disturbed. The Baron then mentioned the matter +to the Prince, who, anxious to prevent quarrels in his little army, +declared he would himself remonstrate with Colonel Mac-Ivor on the +unreasonableness of his conduct. But, in the hurry of their march, it +was a day or two before he had an opportunity to exert his influence in +the manner proposed. +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile, Waverley turned the instructions he had received while +in Gardiner's dragoons to some account, and assisted the Baron in his +command as a sort of adjutant. 'PARMI LES AVEUGLES UN BORGNE EST ROI,' +says the French proverb; and the cavalry, which consisted chiefly of +Lowland gentlemen, their tenants and servants, formed a high opinion of +Waverley's skill, and a great attachment to his person. This was indeed +partly owing to the satisfaction which they felt at the distinguished +English volunteer's leaving the Highlanders to rank among them; for +there was a latent grudge between the horse and foot, not only owing +to the difference of the services, but because most of the gentlemen, +living near the Highlands, had at one time or other had quarrels with +the tribes in their vicinity, and all of them looked with a jealous eye +on the Highlanders' avowed pretensions to superior valour, and utility +in the Prince's service. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0058"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LVIII +</h2> +<h3> + THE CONFUSION OF KING AGRAMANT'S CAMP +</h3> +<p> +It was Waverley's custom sometimes to ride a little apart from the main +body, to look at any object of curiosity which occurred on the march. +They were now in Lancashire, when, attracted by a castellated old hall, +he left the squadron for half an hour, to take a survey and slight +sketch of it. As he returned down the avenue, he was met by Ensign +Maccombich. This man had contracted a sort of regard for Edward since +the day of his first seeing him at Tully-Veolan, and introducing him to +the Highlands. He seemed to loiter, as if on purpose to meet with +our hero. Yet, as he passed him, he only approached his stirrup, and +pronounced the single word, 'Beware!' and then walked swiftly on, +shunning all further communication. +</p> +<p> +Edward, somewhat surprised at this hint, followed with his eyes the +course of Evan, who speedily disappeared among the trees. His servant, +Alick Polwarth, who was in attendance, also looked after the Highlander, +and then riding up close to his master, said, +</p> +<p> +'The ne'er be in me, sir, if I think you're safe amang thae Highland +rintherouts.' +</p> +<p> +'What do you mean, Alick?' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'The Mac-Ivors, sir, hae gotten it into their heads, that ye hae +affronted their young leddy, Miss Flora; and I hae heard mae than ane +say, they wadna, tak muckle to make a black-cock o' ye; and ye ken +weel eneugh there's mony o' them wadna mind a bawbee the weising a ball +through the Prince himsell, an the Chief gae them the wink—or whether +he did or no,—if they thought it a thing that would please him when it +was dune.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley, though confident that Fergus Mac-Ivor was incapable of such +treachery, was by no means equally sure of the forbearance of his +followers. He knew, that where the honour of the Chief or his family was +supposed to be touched, the happiest man would be he that could first +avenge the stigma; and he had often heard them quote a proverb, 'That +the best revenge was the most speedy and most safe.' Coupling this with +the hint of Evan, he judged it most prudent to set spurs to his horse, +and ride briskly back to the squadron. Ere he reached the end of the +long avenue, however, a ball whistled past him, and the report of a +pistol was heard. +</p> +<p> +'It was that deevil's buckie, Callum Beg,' said Alick; I saw him whisk +away through amang the reises.' +</p> +<p> +Edward, justly incensed at this act of treachery, galloped out of the +avenue, and observed the battalion of Mac-Ivor at some distance moving +along the common, in which it terminated. He also saw an individual +running very fast to join the party; this he concluded was the intended +assassin, who, by leaping an enclosure, might easily make a much shorter +path to the main body than he could find on horseback. Unable to contain +himself, he commanded Alick to go to the Baron of Bradwardine, who was +at the head of his regiment about half a mile in front, and acquaint +him with what had happened. He himself immediately rode up to Fergus's +regiment. The Chief himself was in the act of joining them. He was on +horseback, having returned from waiting on the Prince. On perceiving +Edward approaching, he put his horse in motion towards him. +</p> +<p> +'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Waverley, without any further salutation, 'I +have to inform you that one of your people has this instant fired at me +from a lurking-place. +</p> +<p> +'As that,' answered Mac-Ivor, 'excepting the circumstance of a +lurking-place, is a pleasure which I presently propose to myself, I +should be glad to know which of my clansmen dared to anticipate me.' +</p> +<p> +'I shall certainly be at your command whenever you please;—the +gentleman who took your office upon himself is your page there, Callum +Beg.' +</p> +<p> +'Stand forth from the ranks, Callum! Did you fire at Mr. Waverley?' +</p> +<p> +'No,' answered the unblushing Callum. +</p> +<p> +'You did,' said Alick Polwarth, who was already returned, having met a +trooper by whom he dispatched an account of what was going forward to +the Baron of Bradwardine, while he himself returned to his master at +full gallop, neither sparing the rowels of his spurs, nor the sides of +his horse. 'You did; I saw you as plainly as I ever saw the auld kirk at +Coudingham.' +</p> +<p> +'You lie,' replied Callum, with his usual impenetrable obstinacy. The +combat between the knights would certainly, as in the days of chivalry, +have been preceded by an encounter between the squires (for Alick was +a stout-hearted Merseman, and feared the bow of Cupid far more than +a Highlander's dirk or claymore), but Fergus, with his usual tone of +decision, demanded Callum's pistol. The cock was down, the pan and +muzzle were black with the smoke; it had been that instant fired. +</p> +<p> +'Take that,' said Fergus, striking the boy upon the head with the heavy +pistol-butt with his whole force, 'take that for acting without orders, +and lying to disguise it.' Callum received the blow without appearing to +flinch from it, and fell without sign of life. 'Stand still, upon your +lives!' said Fergus to the rest of the clan; 'I blow out the brains of +the first man who interferes between Mr. Waverley and me.' They stood +motionless; Evan Dhu alone showed symptoms of vexation and anxiety. +Callum lay on the ground bleeding copiously, but no one ventured to give +him any assistance. It seemed as if he had gotten his death-blow. +</p> +<p> +'And now for you, Mr. Waverley; please to turn your horse twenty yards +with me upon the common.' Waverley complied; and Fergus, confronting +him when they were a little way from the line of march, said, with great +affected coolness, 'I could not but wonder, sir, at the fickleness of +taste which you were pleased to express the other day. But it was not +an angel, as you justly observed, who had charms for you, unless she +brought an empire for her fortune. I have now an excellent commentary +upon that obscure text.' +</p> +<p> +'I am at a loss even to guess at your meaning, Colonel Mac-Ivor, unless +it seems plain that you intend to fasten a quarrel upon me.' +</p> +<p> +'Your affected ignorance shall not serve you, sir. The Prince,—the +Prince himself, has acquainted me with your manoeuvres, I little thought +that your engagements with Miss Bradwardine were the reason of +your breaking off your intended match with my sister. I suppose the +information that the Baron had altered the destination of his estate, +was quite a sufficient reason for slighting your friend's sister, and +carrying off your friend's mistress.' +</p> +<p> +'Did the Prince tell you I was engaged to Miss Bradwardine?' said +Waverley. 'Impossible.' +</p> +<p> +'He did, sir,' answered Mac-Ivor; 'so, either draw and defend yourself, +or resign your pretensions to the lady.' +</p> +<p> +'This is absolute madness,' exclaimed Waverley, 'or some strange +mistake!' +</p> +<p> +'Oh! no evasion! draw your sword!' said the infuriated Chieftain,—his +own already unsheathed. +</p> +<p> +'Must I fight in a madman's quarrel?' +</p> +<p> +'Then give up now, and for ever, all pretensions to Miss Bradwardine's +hand.' +</p> +<p> +'What title have you,' cried Waverley, utterly losing command of +himself,—'What title have you, or any man living, to dictate such terms +to me?' And he also drew his sword. +</p> +<p> +At this moment the Baron of Bradwardine, followed by several of his +troop, came up on the spur, some from curiosity, others to take part in +the quarrel, which they indistinctly understood had broken out between +the Mac-Ivors and their corps. The clan, seeing them approach, put +themselves in motion to support their Chieftain, and a scene of +confusion commenced, which seemed likely to terminate in bloodshed. +A hundred tongues were in motion at once. The Baron lectured, the +Chieftain stormed, the Highlanders screamed in Gaelic, the horsemen +cursed and swore in Lowland Scotch. At length matters came to such a +pass, that the Baron threatened to charge the Mac-Ivors unless they +resumed their ranks, and many of them, in return, presented their +fire-arms at him and the other troopers. The confusion was privately +fostered by old Ballenkeiroch, who made no doubt that his own day +of vengeance was arrived, when, behold! a cry arose of 'Room! make +way!—PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR! PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR!' This announced the +approach of the Prince, who came up with a party of Fitz-James's foreign +dragoons that acted as his bodyguard. His arrival produced some degree +of order. The Highlanders re-assumed their ranks, the cavalry fell in +and formed squadron, and the Baron and Chieftain were silent. +</p> +<p> +The Prince called them and Waverley before him. Having heard the +original cause of the quarrel through the villany of Callum Beg, he +ordered him into custody of the provost-marshal for immediate execution, +in the event of his surviving the chastisement inflicted by his +Chieftain. Fergus, however, in a tone betwixt claiming a right and +asking a favour, requested he might be left to his disposal, and +promised his punishment should be exemplary. To deny this, might have +seemed to encroach on the patriarchal authority of the Chieftains, +of which they were very jealous, and they were not persons to be +disobliged. Callum was therefore left to the justice of his own tribe. +</p> +<p> +The Prince next demanded to know the new cause of quarrel between +Colonel Mac-Ivor and Waverley. There was a pause. Both gentlemen found +the presence of the Baron of Bradwardine (for by this time all three +had approached the Chevalier by his command) an insurmountable barrier +against entering upon a subject where the name of his daughter must +unavoidably be mentioned. They turned their eyes on the ground, with +looks in which shame and embarrassment were mingled with displeasure. +The Prince, who had been educated amongst the discontented and mutinous +spirits of the court of St. Germains, where feuds of every kind were the +daily subject of solicitude to the dethroned sovereign, had served his +apprenticeship, as old Frederick of Prussia would have said, to the +trade of royalty. To promote or restore concord among his followers was +indispensable. Accordingly he took his measures. +</p> +<p> +'Monsieur de Beaujeu!' +</p> +<p> +'Monseigneur!' said a very handsome French cavalry officer, who was in +attendance. +</p> +<p> +'Ayez la bonte d'alligner ces montagnards la, ainsi que la cavalerie, +s'il vous plait, et de les remettre a la marche. Vous parlez si bien +l'Anglois, cela ne vous donneroit pas beaucoup de peine.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah! pas de tout, Monseigneur,' replied Mons. le Comte de Beaujeu, his +head bending down to the neck of his little prancing highly-managed +charger. Accordingly he PIAFFED away, in high spirits and confidence, +to the head of Fergus's regiment, although understanding not a word of +Gaelic, and very little English. +</p> +<p> +'Messieurs les sauvages Ecossois—dat is—gentilmans savages, have the +goodness d'arranger vous.' +</p> +<p> +The clan, comprehending the order more from the gesture than the words, +and seeing the Prince himself present, hastened to dress their ranks. +</p> +<p> +'Ah! ver well! dat is fort bien!' said the Count de Beaujeu. 'Gentilmans +sauvages—mais tres bien—Eh bien!—Qu'est-ce que vous appellez visage, +Monsieur?' (to a lounging trooper who stood by him). 'Ah, oui! FACE—Je +vous remercie, Monsieur.—Gentilshommes, have de goodness to make +de face to de right par file, dat is, by files.—Marsh!—Mais tres +bien—encore, Messieurs; il faut vous mettre a la marche...Marchez donc, +au nom de Dieu, parceque j'ai oublie le mot Anglois—mais vous etes des +braves gens, et me comprenez tres bien.' +</p> +<p> +The Count next hastened to put the cavalry in motion. 'Gentilmans +cavalry, you must fall in—Ah! par ma foi, I did not say fall off! I am +a fear de little gross fat gentilman is moche hurt. Ah, mon Dieu! c'est +le Commissaire qui nous a apporte les premieres nouvelles de ce maudit +fracas. Je suis trop fache, Monsieur!' +</p> +<p> +But poor Macwheeble, who, with a sword stuck across him, and a white +cockade as large as a pancake, now figured in the character of a +commissary, being overturned in the bustle occasioned by the troopers +hastening to get themselves in order in the Prince's presence, before +he could rally his galloway, slunk to the rear amid the unrestrained +laughter of the spectators. +</p> +<p> +'Eh bien, Messieurs, wheel to de right—Ah! dat is it!—Eh, Monsieur de +Bradwardine, ayez la bonte de vous mettre a la tete de votre regiment, +car, par Dieu, je n'en puis plus!' +</p> +<p> +The Baron of Bradwardine was obliged to go to the assistance of Monsieur +de Beaujeu, after he had fairly expended his few English military +phrases. One purpose of the Chevalier was thus answered. The other he +proposed was, that in the eagerness to hear and comprehend commands +issued through such an indistinct medium in his own presence, the +thoughts of the soldiers in both corps might get a current different +from the angry channel in which they were flowing at the time. +</p> +<p> +Charles Edward was no sooner left with the Chieftain and Waverley, the +rest of his attendants being at some distance, than he said, 'If I owed +less to your disinterested friendship, I could be most seriously angry +with both of you for this very extraordinary and causeless broil, at a +moment when my father's service so decidedly demands the most perfect +unanimity. But the worst of my situation is, that my very best friends +hold they have liberty to ruin themselves, as well as the cause they are +engaged in, upon the slightest caprice.' +</p> +<p> +Both the young men protested their resolution to submit every difference +to his arbitration. 'Indeed,' said Edward, 'I hardly know of what I am +accused. I sought Colonel Mac-Ivor merely to mention to him that I had +narrowly escaped assassination at the hand of his immediate dependent—a +dastardly revenge, which I knew him to be incapable of authorizing. As +to the cause for which he is disposed to fasten a quarrel upon me, I +am ignorant of it, unless it be that he accuses me, most unjustly, +of having engaged the affections of a young lady in prejudice of his +pretensions.' +</p> +<p> +'If there is an error,' said the Chieftain, 'it arises from a +conversation which I held this morning with his Royal Highness himself.' +</p> +<p> +'With me?' said the Chevalier; 'how can Colonel Mac-Ivor have so far +misunderstood me?' +</p> +<p> +He then led Fergus aside, and, after five minutes' earnest conversation, +spurred his horse towards Edward. 'Is it possible—nay, ride up, +Colonel, for I desire no secrets—Is it possible, Mr. Waverley, that +I am mistaken in supposing that you are an accepted lover of Miss +Bradwardine?—a fact of which I was by circumstances, though not by +communication from you, so absolutely convinced, that I alleged it to +Vich Ian Vohr this morning as a reason why, without offence to him, you +might not continue to be ambitious of an alliance, which to an unengaged +person, even though once repulsed, holds out too many charms to be +lightly laid aside.' +</p> +<p> +'Your Royal Highness,' said Waverley, 'must have founded on +circumstances altogether unknown to me, when you did me the +distinguished honour of supposing me an accepted lover of Miss +Bradwardine. I feel the distinction implied in the supposition, but I +have no title to it. For the rest, my confidence in my own merits is +too justly slight to admit of my hoping for success in any quarter after +positive rejection.' +</p> +<p> +The Chevalier was silent for a moment, looking steadily at them both, +and then said, 'Upon my word, Mr. Waverley, you are a less happy man +than I conceived I had very good reason to believe you.—But now, +gentlemen, allow me to be umpire in this matter, not as Prince Regent, +but as Charles Stuart, a brother adventurer with you in the same gallant +cause. Lay my pretensions to be obeyed by you entirely out of view, and +consider your own honour, and how far it is well, or becoming, to give +our enemies the advantage, and our friends the scandal, of showing that, +few as we are, we are not united. And forgive me if I add, that the +names of the ladies who have been mentioned, crave more respect from us +all than to be made themes of discord.' +</p> +<p> +He took Fergus a little apart, and spoke to him very earnestly for two +or three minutes, and then returning to Waverley, said—'I believe I +have satisfied Colonel Mac-Ivor that his resentment was founded upon +a misconception, to which, indeed, I myself gave rise; and I trust Mr. +Waverley is too generous to harbour any recollection of what is past, +when I assure him that such is the case.—You must state this matter +properly to your clan, Vich Iain Vohr, to prevent a recurrence of their +precipitate violence.' Fergus bowed. 'And now, gentlemen, let me have +the pleasure to see you shake hands.' +</p> +<p> +They advanced coldly, and with measured steps, each apparently reluctant +to appear most forward in concession. They did, however, shake hands, +and parted, taking a respectful leave of the Chevalier. Charles Edward +<a href="#note-31" name="noteref-31"><small>31</small></a> then rode to the head of the Mac-Ivors, threw himself +from his horse, begged a drink out of old Ballenkeiroch's canteen, and +marched about half a mile along with them, inquiring into the history +and connexions of Sliochd nan Ivor, adroitly using the few words of +Gaelic he possessed, and affecting a great desire to learn it more +thoroughly. He then mounted his horse once more, and galloped to the +Baron's cavalry, which was in front; halted them, and examined their +accoutrements and state of discipline; took notice of the principal +gentlemen, and even of the cadets; inquired after their ladies, +and commended their horses;—rode about an hour with the Baron of +Bradwardine, and endured three long stories about Field-Marshal the Duke +of Berwick. +</p> +<p> +'Ah, Beaujeu, mon cher ami,' said he as he returned to his usual place +in the line of march, 'que mon metier de prince errant est ennuyant, par +fois. Mais, courage! c'est le grand jeu, apres tout.' +</p> +<a name="2HCH0059"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LIX +</h2> +<h3> + A SKIRMISH +</h3> +<p> +The reader need hardly be reminded, that, after a council of war held +at Derby on the 5th of December, the Highlanders relinquished their +desperate attempt to penetrate farther into England, and, greatly to the +dissatisfaction of their young and daring leader, positively determined +to return northward. They commenced their retreat accordingly, and by +the extreme celerity of their movements, outstripped the motions of +the Duke of Cumberland, who now pursued them with a very large body of +cavalry. +</p> +<p> +This retreat was a virtual resignation of their towering hopes. None had +been so sanguine as Fergus Mac-Ivor; none, consequently, was so cruelly +mortified at the change of measures. He argued, or rather remonstrated, +with the utmost vehemence at the council of war; and, when his opinion +was rejected, shed tears of grief and indignation. From that moment +his whole manner was so much altered, that he could scarcely have been +recognized for the same soaring and ardent spirit, for whom the whole +earth seemed too narrow but a week before. The retreat had continued +for several days, when Edward, to his surprise, early on the 12th of +December, received a visit from the Chieftain in his quarters, in a +hamlet about half way between Shap and Penrith. +</p> +<p> +Having had no intercourse with the Chieftain since their rupture, Edward +waited with some anxiety an explanation of this unexpected visit; nor +could he help being surprised, and somewhat shocked, with the change in +his appearance. His eye had lost much of its fire; his cheek was hollow, +his voice was languid; even his gait seemed less firm and elastic +than it was wont; and his dress, to which he used to be particularly +attentive, was now carelessly flung about him. He invited Edward to +walk out with him by the little river in the vicinity; and smiled in +a melancholy manner when he observed him take down and buckle on his +sword. +</p> +<p> +As soon as they were in a wild sequestered path by the side of the +stream, the Chief broke out,—'Our fine adventure is now totally ruined, +Waverley, and I wish to know what you intend to do:—nay, never stare at +me, man. I tell you I received a packet from my sister yesterday, and, +had I got the information it contains sooner, it would have prevented +a quarrel, which I am always vexed when I think of. In a letter written +after our dispute, I acquainted her with the cause of it; and she now +replies to me, that she never had, nor could have, any purpose of giving +you encouragement; so that it seems I have acted like a madman. Poor +Flora! she writes in high spirits; what a change will the news of this +unhappy retreat make in her state of mind!' +</p> +<p> +Waverley, who was really much affected by the deep tone of melancholy +with which Fergus spoke, affectionately entreated him to banish from his +remembrance any unkindness which had arisen between them, and they once +more shook hands, but now with sincere cordiality. Fergus again inquired +of Waverley what he intended to do. 'Had you not better leave this +luckless army, and get down before us into Scotland, and embark for +the Continent from some of the eastern ports that are still in our +possession? When you are out of the kingdom, your friends will easily +negotiate your pardon; and, to tell you the truth, I wish you would +carry Rose Bradwardine with you as your wife, and take Flora also under +your joint protection.' Edward looked surprised—'She loves you, and I +believe you love her, though, perhaps, you have not found it out, for +you are not celebrated for knowing your own mind very pointedly.' He +said this with a sort of smile. +</p> +<p> +'How!' answered Edward,' can you advise me to desert the expedition in +which we are all embarked?' +</p> +<p> +'Embarked?' said Fergus; 'the vessel is going to pieces, and it is full +time for all who can, to get into the long-boat and leave her.' +</p> +<p> +'Why, what will other gentlemen do?' answered Waverley, 'and why did the +Highland chiefs consent to this retreat, if it is so ruinous?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh,' replied Mac-Ivor, 'they think that, as on former occasions, the +heading, hanging, and forfeiting, will chiefly fall to the lot of the +Lowland gentry; that they will be left secure in their poverty and their +fastnesses, there, according to their proverb, "to listen to the wind +upon the hill till the waters abate." But they will be disappointed; +they have been too often troublesome to be so repeatedly passed over, +and this time John Bull has been too heartily frightened to recover his +good humour for some time. The Hanoverian ministers always deserved +to be hanged for rascals; but now, if they get the power in their +hands,—as, sooner or later, they must, since there is neither rising +in England nor assistance from France,—they will deserve the gallows as +fools, if they leave a single clan in the Highlands in a situation to +be again troublesome to Government. Aye, they will make root-and-branch +work, I warrant them.' +</p> +<p> +'And while you recommend flight to me,' said Edward,—'a counsel which I +would rather die than embrace,—what are your own views?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh,' answered Fergus, with a melancholy air, 'my fate is settled. Dead +or captive I must be before to-morrow.' +</p> +<p> +'What do you mean by that, my friend?' said Edward. 'The enemy is still +a day's march in our rear, and if he comes up, we are still strong +enough to keep him in check. Remember Gladsmuir.' +</p> +<p> +'What I tell you is true notwithstanding, so far as I am individually +concerned.' +</p> +<p> +'Upon what authority can you found so melancholy a prediction?' asked +Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'On one which never failed a person of my house. I have seen,' he said, +lowering his voice, 'I have seen the Bodach Glas.' +</p> +<p> +'Bodach Glas?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes: have you been so long at Glennaquoich, and never heard of the Grey +Spectre? though indeed there is a certain reluctance among us to mention +him.' +</p> +<p> +'No, never.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah! it would have been a tale for poor Flora to have told you. Or, +if that hill were Benmore, and that long blue lake, which you see just +winding towards yon mountainous country, were Loch Tay, or my own Loch +an Ri, the tale would be better suited with scenery. However, let us sit +down on this knell; even Saddleback and Ullswater will suit what I have +to say better than the English hedgerows, enclosures, and farm-houses. +You must know, then, that when my ancestor, Ian nan Chaistel, wasted +Northumberland, there was associated with him in the expedition a sort +of Southland Chief, or captain of a band of Low-landers, called Halbert +Hall. In their return through the Cheviots, they quarrelled about the +division of the great booty they had acquired, and came from words to +blows. The Lowlanders were cut off to a man, and their chief fell the +last, covered with wounds by the sword of my ancestor, Since that time, +his spirit has crossed the Vich Ian Vohr of the day when any great +disaster was impending, but especially before approaching death. My +father saw him twice; once before he was made prisoner at Sheriff-Muir; +another time, on the morning of the day on which he died.' +</p> +<p> +'How can you, my dear Fergus, tell such nonsense with a grave face?' +</p> +<p> +'I do not ask you to believe it; but I tell you the truth, ascertained +by three hundred years' experience at least, and last night by my own +eyes.' +</p> +<p> +'The particulars, for Heaven's sake!' said Waverley, with eagerness. +</p> +<p> +'I will, on condition you will not attempt a jest on the subject.—Since +this unhappy retreat commenced, I have scarce ever been able to sleep +for thinking of my clan, and of this poor Prince, whom they are leading +back like a dog in a string, whether he will or no, and of the downfall +of my family. Last night I felt so feverish that I left my quarters, and +walked out, in hopes the keen frosty air would brace my nerves—I cannot +tell how much I dislike going on, for I know you will hardly believe me. +However—I crossed a small footbridge, and kept walking backwards and +forwards, when I observed with surprise, by the clear moonlight, a tall +figure in a grey plaid, such as shepherds wear in the south of Scotland, +which, move at what pace I would, kept regularly about four yards before +me.' +</p> +<p> +'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.' +</p> +<p> +'No: I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's audacity +in daring to dog me. I called to him but received no answer. I felt an +anxious throbbing at my heart; and to ascertain what I dreaded, I stood +still, and turned myself on the same spot successively to the four +points of the compass—By Heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the figure +was instantly before my eyes, at precisely the same distance! I was then +convinced it was the Bodach Glas. My hair bristled, and my knees shook. +I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my quarters. My +ghastly visitant glided before me (for I cannot say he walked), until he +reached the footbridge: there he stopped, and turned full round. I must +either wade the river, or pass him as close as I am to you. A desperate +courage, founded on the belief that my death was near, made me resolve +to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew my +sword, and uttered, "In the name of God, Evil Spirit, give place!" "Vich +Ian Vohr," it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle, "beware +of to-morrow!" It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's +point; but the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing +appeared further to obstruct my passage. I got home, and threw myself on +my bed, where I spent a few hours heavily enough; and this morning, as +no enemy was reported to be near us, I took my horse, and rode forward +to make up matters with you. I would not willingly fall until I am in +charity with a wronged friend.' +</p> +<p> +Edward had little doubt that this phantom was the operation of an +exhausted frame and depressed spirits, working on the belief common to +all Highlanders in such superstitions. He did not the less pity Fergus, +for whom, in his present distress, he felt all his former regard revive. +With the view of diverting his mind from these gloomy images, he offered +with the Baron's permission, which he knew he could readily obtain, to +remain in his quarters till Fergus's corps should come up, and then to +march with them as usual. The Chief seemed much pleased, yet hesitated +to accept the offer. +</p> +<p> +'We are, you know, in the rear,—the post of danger in a retreat.' +</p> +<p> +'And therefore the post of honour.' +</p> +<p> +'Well,' replied the Chieftain, 'let Alick have your horse in readiness, +in case we should be over-matched, and I shall be delighted to have your +company once more.' +</p> +<p> +The rearguard were late in making their appearance, having been delayed +by various accidents and by the badness of the roads. At length they +entered the hamlet. When Waverley joined the clan Mac-Ivor, arm in arm +with their Chieftain, all the resentment they had entertained against +him seemed blown off at once. Evan Dhu received him with a grin of +congratulation; and even Callum, who was running about as active +as ever, pale indeed, and with a great patch on his head, appeared +delighted to see him. +</p> +<p> +'That gallows-bird's skull,' said Fergus, 'must be harder than marble: +the lock of the pistol was actually broken.' +</p> +<p> +'How could you strike so young a lad so hard?' said Waverley, with some +interest. +</p> +<p> +'Why, if I did not strike hard sometimes, the rascals would forget +themselves.' +</p> +<p> +They were now in full march, every caution being taken to prevent +surprise. Fergus's people, and a fine clan regiment from Badenoch, +commanded by Cluny Mac-Pherson, had the rear. They had passed a large +open moor, and were entering into the enclosures which surround a small +village called Clifton. The winter sun had set, and Edward began to +rally Fergus upon the false predictions of the Grey Spirit. 'The Ides of +March are not past,' said Mac-Ivor, with a smile; when, suddenly casting +his eyes back on the moor, a large body of cavalry was indistinctly seen +to hover upon its brown and dark surface. To line the enclosures facing +the open ground, and the road by which the enemy must move from it upon +the village, was the work of a short time. While these manoeuvres were +accomplishing, night sunk down, dark and gloomy, though the moon was +at full. Sometimes, however, she gleamed forth a dubious light upon the +scene of action. +</p> +<p> +The Highlanders did not remain long undisturbed in the defensive +position they had adopted. Favoured by the night, one large body of +dismounted dragoons attempted to force the enclosures, while another, +equally strong, strove to penetrate by the high road. Both were received +by such a heavy fire as disconcerted their ranks, and effectually +checked their progress. Unsatisfied with the advantage thus gained, +Fergus, to whose ardent spirit the approach of danger seemed to restore +all ifs elasticity, drawing his sword, and calling out 'Claymore!' +encouraged his men, by voice and example, to break through the hedge +which divided them, and rush down upon the enemy. Mingling with the +dismounted dragoons, they forced them, at the sword-point, to fly to the +open moor, where a considerable number were cut to pieces. But the moon, +which suddenly shone out, showed to the English the small number of +assailants, disordered by their own success. Two squadrons of horse +moving to the support of their companions, the Highlanders endeavoured +to recover the enclosures. But several of them, amongst others their +brave Chieftain, were cut off and surrounded before they could effect +their purpose. Waverley, looking eagerly for Fergus, from whom, as well +as from the retreating body of his followers, he had been separated in +the darkness and tumult, saw him, with Evan Dhu and Callum, defending +themselves desperately against a dozen of horsemen, who were hewing +at them with their long broadswords. The moon was again at that moment +totally overclouded, and Edward, in the obscurity, could neither bring +aid to his friends, nor discover which way lay his own road to rejoin +the rear-guard. After once or twice narrowly escaping being slain or +made prisoner by parties of the cavalry whom he encountered in the +darkness, he at length reached an enclosure, and clambering over it, +concluded himself in safety, and on the way to the Highland forces, +whose pipes he heard at some distance. For Fergus hardly a hope +remained, unless that he might be made prisoner. Revolving his fate +with sorrow and anxiety, the superstition of the Bodach Glas recurred to +Edward's recollection, and he said to himself, with internal surprise, +'What, can the devil speak truth?' <a href="#note-32" name="noteref-32"><small>32</small></a> +</p> +<a name="2HCH0060"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LX +</h2> +<a name="2HCH0061"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS +</h2> +<p> +Edward was in a most unpleasant and dangerous situation. He soon lost +the sound of the bagpipes; and, what was yet more unpleasant, when, +after searching long in vain, and scrambling through many enclosures, he +at length approached the high road, he learned, from the unwelcome noise +of kettledrums and trumpets, that the English cavalry now occupied +it, and consequently were between him and the Highlanders. Precluded, +therefore, from advancing in a straight direction, he resolved to avoid +the English military, and endeavour to join his friends by making a +circuit to the left, for which a beaten path deviating from the main +road in that direction seemed to afford facilities. The path was muddy, +and the night dark and cold; but even these inconveniences were hardly +felt amidst the apprehensions which falling into the hands of the King's +forces reasonably excited in his bosom. +</p> +<p> +After walking about three miles, he at length reached a hamlet. +Conscious that the common people were in general unfavourable to the +cause he had espoused, yet desirous, if possible, to procure a horse and +guide to Penrith, where he hoped to find the rear, if not the main body, +of the Chevalier's army, he approached the ale-house of the place. There +was a great noise within: he paused to listen. A round English oath or +two, and the burden of a campaign song, convinced him the hamlet also +was occupied by the Duke of Cumberland's soldiers. Endeavouring to +retire from it as softly as possible, and blessing the obscurity which +hitherto he had murmured against, Waverley groped his way the best he +could along a small paling, which seemed the boundary of some +cottage garden. As he reached the gate of this little enclosure, his +outstretched hand was grasped by that of a female, whose voice at the +same time uttered, 'Edward, is't thou, man?' +</p> +<p> +'Here is some unlucky mistake,' thought Edward, struggling, but gently, +to disengage himself. +</p> +<p> +'Naen o' thy foun, now; man, or the red cwoats will hear thee; they hae +been houlerying and poulerying every ane that past alehouse door +this noight to make them drive their wagons and sick loike. Come into +feyther's, or they'll do ho a mischief.' +</p> +<p> +'A good hint,' thought Waverley, following the girl through the little +garden into a brick-paved kitchen, where she set herself to kindle a +match at an expiring fire, and with the match to light a candle. She +had no sooner looked on Edward than she dropped the light, with a shrill +scream of 'O feyther! feyther!' +</p> +<p> +The father, thus invoked, speedily appeared, a sturdy old farmer, in a +pair of leather breeches, and boots pulled on without stockings, +having just started from his bed;—the rest of his dress was only a +Westmoreland statesman's robe-de-chambre,—that is, his shirt. His +figure was displayed to advantage, by a candle which he bore in his left +hand; in his right he brandished a poker. +</p> +<p> +What hast ho here, wench?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh!' cried the poor girl, almost going off in hysterics, I thought it +was Ned Williams, and it is one of the plaid-men!' +</p> +<p> +'And what was thee ganging to do wi' Ned Williams at this time o' +noight?' To this, which was, perhaps, one of the numerous class of +questions more easily asked than answered, the rosy-cheeked damsel made +no reply, but continued sobbing and wringing her hands. +</p> +<p> +'And thee, lad, dost ho know that the dragoons be a town? Dost ho know +that, mon?—ad, they'll sliver thee like a turnip, mon.' +</p> +<p> +'I know my life is in great danger,' said Waverley, 'but if you can +assist me, I will reward you handsomely, I am no Scotchman, but an +unfortunate English gentleman.' +</p> +<p> +'Be ho Scot or no,' said the honest farmer, 'I wish thou hadst kept the +other side of the hallan. But since thou art here, Jacob Jopson will +betray no man's bluid; and the plaids were gay canny, and did not +so much mischief when they were here yesterday.' Accordingly, he set +seriously about sheltering and refreshing our hero for the night, The +fire was speedily rekindled, but with precaution against its light being +seen from without. The jolly yeoman cut a rasher of bacon, which Cicely +soon broiled, and her father added a swingeing tankard of his best ale. +It was settled, that Edward should remain there till the troops marched +in the morning, then hire or buy a horse from the farmer, and, with +the best directions that could be obtained, endeavour to overtake his +friends. A clean, though coarse bed, received him after the fatigues of +this unhappy day. +</p> +<p> +With the morning arrived the news that the Highlanders had evacuated +Penrith, and marched off towards Carlisle; that the Duke of Cumberland +was in possession of Penrith, and that detachments of his army covered +the roads in every direction. To attempt to get through undiscovered, +would be an act of the most frantic temerity. Ned Williams (the right +Edward) was now called to council by Cicely and her father, Ned, who +perhaps did not care that his handsome namesake should remain too long +in the same house with his sweetheart, for fear of fresh mistakes, +proposed that Waverley, exchanging his uniform and plaid for the dress +of the country, should go with him to his father's farm near Ullswater, +and remain in that undisturbed retirement until the military movements +in the country should have ceased to render his departure hazardous. +A price was also agreed upon, at which the stranger might board with +Farmer Williams, if he thought proper, till he could depart with safety. +It was of moderate amount; the distress of his situation, among this +honest and simple-hearted race, being considered as no reason for +increasing their demand. +</p> +<p> +The necessary articles of dress were accordingly procured; and, by +following by-paths, known to the young farmer, they hoped to escape any +unpleasant rencontre, A recompense for their hospitality was refused +peremptorily by old Jopson and his cherry-cheeked daughter; a kiss paid +the one, and a hearty shake of the hand the other. Both seemed anxious +for their guest's safety, and took leave of him with kind wishes, +</p> +<p> +In the course of their route, Edward, with his guide, traversed those +fields which the night before had been the scene of action. A brief +gleam of December's sun shone sadly on the broad heath, which, towards +the spot where the great north-west road entered the enclosures of Lord +Lonsdale's property, exhibited dead bodies of men and horses, and the +usual companions of war—a number of carrion-crows, hawks, and ravens. +</p> +<p> +'And this, then, was thy last field,' said Waverley to himself, his +eye filling at the recollection of the many splendid points of +Fergus's character, and of their former intimacy, all his passions +and imperfections forgotten.—'Here fell the last Vich Ian Vohr, on +a nameless heath; and in an obscure night-skirmish was quenched that +ardent spirit, who thought it little to cut a way for his master to the +British throne! Ambition, policy, bravery, all far beyond their sphere, +here learned the fate of mortals, The sole support, too, of a sister, +whose spirit, as proud and unbending, was even more exalted than thine +own; here ended all thy hopes for Flora, and the long and valued line +which it was thy boast to raise yet more highly by thy adventurous +valour!' +</p> +<p> +As these ideas pressed on Waverley's mind, he resolved to go upon the +open heath, and search if, among the slain, he could discover the body +of his friend, with the pious intention of procuring for him the +last rites of sepulture. The timorous young man who accompanied him +remonstrated upon the danger of the attempt, but Edward was determined. +The followers of the camp had already stripped the dead of all they +could carry away; but the country people, unused to scenes of blood, +had not yet approached the field of action, though some stood fearfully +gazing at a distance. About sixty or seventy dragoons lay slain within +the first enclosure, upon the high road, and on the open moor. Of the +Highlanders, not above a dozen had fallen, chiefly those who, venturing +too far on the moor, could not regain the strong ground. He could not +find the body of Fergus among the slain. On a little knell, separated +from the others, lay the carcasses of three English dragoons, two +horses, and the page Callum Beg, whose hard skull a trooper's broadsword +had, at length, effectually cloven. It was possible his clan had +carried off the body of Fergus; but it was also possible he had escaped, +especially as Evan Dhu, who would never leave his Chief, was not +found among the dead; or he might be prisoner, and the less formidable +denunciation inferred from the appearance of the Bodach Glas might have +proved the true one. The approach of a party, sent for the purpose of +compelling the country people to bury the dead, and who had already +assembled several peasants for that purpose, now obliged Edward to +rejoin his guide, who awaited him in great anxiety and fear under shade +of the plantations. +</p> +<p> +After leaving this field of death, the rest of their journey was happily +accomplished. At the house of Farmer Williams, Edward passed for a young +kinsman, educated for the church, who was come to reside there till the +civil tumults permitted him to pass through the country. This silenced +suspicion among the kind and simple yeomanry of Cumberland, and +accounted sufficiently for the grave manners and retired habits of +the new guest, The precaution became more necessary than Waverley had +anticipated, as a variety of incidents prolonged his stay at Fasthwaite, +as the farm was called. +</p> +<p> +A tremendous fall of snow rendered his departure impossible for more +than ten days. When the roads began to become a little practicable, +they successively received news of the retreat of the Chevalier into +Scotland; then, that he had abandoned the frontiers, retiring upon +Glasgow; and that the Duke of Cumberland had formed the siege of +Carlisle. His army, therefore, cut off all possibility of Waverley's +escaping into Scotland in that direction. On the eastern border, Marshal +Wade, with a large force, was advancing upon Edinburgh; and all along +the frontier, parties of militia, volunteers, and partisans, were in +arms to suppress insurrection, and apprehend such stragglers from the +Highland army as had been left in England, The surrender of Carlisle, +and the severity with which the rebel garrison were threatened, soon +formed an additional reason against venturing upon a solitary and +hopeless journey through a hostile country and a large army, to carry +the assistance of a single sword to a cause which seemed altogether +desperate. +</p> +<p> +In this lonely and secluded situation, without the advantage of company +or conversation with men of cultivated minds, the arguments of Colonel +Talbot often recurred to the mind of our hero. A still more anxious +recollection haunted his slumbers—it was the dying look and gesture +of Colonel Gardiner. Most devoutly did he hope, as the rarely occurring +post brought news of skirmishes with various success, that it might +never again be his lot to draw his sword in civil conflict. Then his +mind turned to the supposed death of Fergus, to the desolate situation +of Flora, and, with yet more tender recollection, to that of Rose +Bradwardine, who was destitute of the devoted enthusiasm of loyalty, +which, to her friend, hallowed and exalted misfortune. These reveries he +was permitted to enjoy, undisturbed by queries or interruption;—and it +was in many a winter walk by the shores of Ullswater, that he acquired +a more complete mastery of a spirit tamed by adversity than his former +experience had given him; and that he felt himself entitled to say +firmly, though perhaps with a sigh, that the romance of his life was +ended, and that its real history had now commenced. He was soon called +upon to justify his pretensions by reason and philosophy. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0062"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXI +</h2> +<h3> + A JOURNEY TO LONDON +</h3> +<p> +The family at Fasthwaite were soon attached to Edward. He had, +indeed, that gentleness and urbanity which almost universally attracts +corresponding kindness; and to their simple ideas his learning gave him +consequence, and his sorrows interest. The last he ascribed, evasively, +to the loss of a brother in the skirmish near Clifton; and in that +primitive state of society, where the ties of affection were highly +deemed of, his continued depression excited sympathy, but not surprise. +</p> +<p> +In the end of January, his more lively powers were called out by the +happy union of Edward Williams, the son of his host, with Cicely Jopson. +Our hero would not cloud with sorrow the festivity attending the wedding +of two persons to whom he was so highly obliged. He therefore exerted +himself, danced, sang, played at the various games of the day, and was +the blithest of the company. The next morning, however, he had more +serious matters to think of. +</p> +<p> +The clergyman who had married the young couple was so much pleased with +the supposed student of divinity, that he came next day from Penrith on +purpose to pay him a visit. This might have been a puzzling chapter +had he entered into any examination of our hero's supposed theological +studies; but fortunately he loved better to hear and communicate the +news of the day. He brought with him two or three old newspapers, in +one of which Edward found a piece of intelligence that soon rendered him +deaf to every word which the Reverend Mr. Twigtythe was saying upon the +news from the north, and the prospect of the Duke's speedily overtaking +and crushing the rebels. This was an article in these, or nearly these +words: +</p> +<p> +'Died at his house, in Hill street, Berkeley Square, upon the 10th +inst., Richard Waverley, Esq., second son of Sir Giles Waverley of +Waverley-Honour, &c. &c. He died of a lingering disorder, augmented by +the unpleasant predicament of suspicion in which he stood, having been +obliged to find bail to a high amount, to meet an impending accusation +of high-treason. An accusation of the same grave crime hangs over his +elder brother, Sir Everard Waverley, the representative of that ancient +family; and we understand the day of his trial will be fixed early in +the next month, unless Edward Waverley, son of the deceased Richard, and +heir to the Baronet, shall surrender himself to justice. In that case, +we are assured it is his Majesty's gracious purpose to drop further +proceedings upon the charge against Sir Everard. This unfortunate +young gentleman is ascertained to have been in arms in the Pretender's +service, and to have marched along with the Highland troops into +England. But he has not been heard of since the skirmish at Clifton, on +the 18th December last.' +</p> +<p> +Such was this distracting paragraph.—'Good God!' exclaimed Waverley, +'am I then a parricide?—Impossible! My father, who never showed the +affection of a father while he lived, cannot have been so much affected +by my supposed death as to hasten his own. No, I will not believe +it,—it were distraction to entertain for a moment such a horrible idea. +But it were, if possible, worse than parricide to suffer any danger to +hang over my noble and generous uncle, who has ever been more to me than +a father, if such evil can be averted by any sacrifice on my part!' +</p> +<p> +While these reflections passed like the stings of scorpions through +Waverley's sensorium, the worthy divine was startled in a long +disquisition on the battle of Falkirk by the ghastliness which they +communicated to his looks, and asked him if he was ill. Fortunately the +bride, all smirk and blush, had just entered the room. Mrs. Williams was +none of the brightest of women, but she was good-natured, and readily +concluding that Edward had been shocked by disagreeable news in the +papers, interfered so judiciously, that, without exciting suspicion, she +drew off Mr. Twigtythe's attention, and engaged it until he soon after +took his leave. Waverley then explained to his friends, that he was +under the necessity of going to London with as little delay as possible. +</p> +<p> +One cause of delay, however, did occur, to which Waverley had been very +little accustomed. His purse, though well stocked when he first went to +Tully-Veolan, had not been reinforced since that period; and although +his life since had not been of a nature to exhaust it hastily (for he +had lived chiefly with his friends or with the army), yet he found, +that, after settling with his kind landlord, he should be too poor to +encounter the expense of travelling post. The best course, therefore, +seemed to be, to get into the great north road about Boroughbridge, and +there take a place in the Northern Diligence,—a huge old-fashioned tub, +drawn by three horses, which completed the journey from Edinburgh to +London (God willing, as the advertisement expressed it) in three weeks. +Our hero, therefore, took an affectionate farewell of his Cumberland +friends, whose kindness he promised never to forget, and tacitly hoped +one day to acknowledge by substantial proofs of gratitude. After some +petty difficulties and vexatious delays, and after putting his dress +into a shape better befitting his rank, though perfectly plain and +simple, he accomplished crossing the country, and found himself in +the desired vehicle, VIS-A-VIS to Mrs. Nosebag, the lady of Lieutenant +Nosebag, adjutant and riding-master of the—dragoons, a jolly woman of +about fifty, wearing a blue habit, faced with scarlet, and grasping a +silver-mounted horsewhip. +</p> +<p> +This lady was one of those active members of society who take upon them +FAIRE LE FRAIS DE CONVERSATION. She had just returned from the north, +and informed Edward how nearly her regiment had cut the petticoat people +into ribands at Falkirk, 'only somehow there was one of those nasty, +awkward marshes, that they are never without in Scotland, I think, and +so our poor dear little regiment suffered something, as my Nosebag says, +in that unsatisfactory affair. You, sir, have served in the dragoons?' +Waverley was taken so much at unawares, that he acquiesced. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, I knew it at once; I saw you were military from your air, and I was +sure you could be none of the foot-wobblers, as my Nosebag calls them. +What regiment, pray?' Here was a delightful question. Waverley, however, +justly concluded that this good lady had the whole army-list by heart; +and, to avoid detection by adhering to truth, answered—'Gardiner's +dragoons, ma'am; but I have retired some time.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh aye, those as won the race at the battle of Preston, as my Nosebag +says. Pray, sir, were you there?' +</p> +<p> +'I was so unfortunate, madam,' he replied, 'as to witness that +engagement.' +</p> +<p> +'And that was a misfortune that few of Gardiner's stood to witness, I +believe, sir—ha! ha! ha!—I beg your pardon; but a soldier's wife loves +a joke.' +</p> +<p> +'Devil confound you!' thought Waverley; 'what infernal luck has penned +me up with this inquisitive bag!' +</p> +<p> +Fortunately the good lady did not stick long to one subject. 'We are +coming to Ferrybridge, now,' she said, 'where there was a party of OURS +left to support the beadles, and constables, and justices, and these +sort of creatures that are examining papers and stopping rebels, and all +that.' They were hardly in the inn before she dragged Waverley to the +window, exclaiming, 'Yonder comes Corporal Bridoon, of our poor dear +troop; he's coming with the constable man: Bridoon's one of my lambs, as +Nosebag calls 'em. Come, Mr.—a—a—pray, what 's your name, sir?' +</p> +<p> +'Butler, ma'am,' said Waverley, resolved rather to make free with the +name of a former fellow officer, than run the risk of detection by +inventing one not to be found in the regiment. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, you got a troop lately, when that shabby fellow, Waverley, went +over to the rebels. Lord, I wish our old cross Captain Crump would go +over to the rebels, that Nosebag might get the troop!—Lord, what can +Bridoon be standing swinging on the bridge for? I'll be hanged if he +a'nt hazy, as Nosebag says.—Come, sir, as you and I belong to the +service, we'll go put the rascal in mind of his duty.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley, with feelings more easily conceived than described, saw +himself obliged to follow this doughty female commander. The gallant +trooper was as like a lamb as a drunk corporal of dragoons, about six +feet high, with very broad shoulders, and very thin legs, not to mention +a great scar across his nose, could well be. Mrs. Nosebag addressed +him with something which, if not an oath, sounded very like one, and +commanded him to attend to his duty. 'You be d—d for a—,' commenced +the gallant cavalier; but, looking up in order to suit the action to +the words, and also to enforce the epithet which he meditated, with an +adjective applicable to the party, he recognized the speaker, made his +military salaam, and altered his tone.—'Lord love your handsome face, +Madam Nosebag, is it you? Why, if a poor fellow does happen to fire a +slug of a morning, I am sure you were never the lady to bring him to +harm.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, you rascallion, go, mind your duty; this gentleman and I belong +to the service; but be sure you look after that shy cock in the slouched +hat that sits in the corner of the coach. I believe he's one of the +rebels in disguise.' +</p> +<p> +'D—n her gooseberry wig!' said the corporal, when she was out of +hearing. 'That gimlet-eyed jade—mother adjutant, as we call her—is a +greater plague to the regiment than prevot-marshal, sergeant-major, +and old Hubble-de-Shuff the colonel into the bargain.—Come, Master +Constable, let's see if this shy cock, as she calls him' (who, by the +way, was a Quaker from Leeds, with whom Mrs. Nosebag had had some tart +argument on the legality of bearing arms), 'will stand godfather to a +sup of brandy, for your Yorkshire ale is cold on my stomach.' +</p> +<p> +The vivacity of this good lady, as it helped Edward out of this scrape, +was like to have drawn him into one or two others. In every town where +they stopped, she wished to examine the CORPS DE GARDE, if there +was one, and once very narrowly missed introducing Waverley to a +recruiting-sergeant of his own regiment. Then she Captain'd and Butler'd +him till he was almost mad with vexation and anxiety; and never was he +more rejoiced in his life at the termination of a journey, than when the +arrival of the coach in London freed him from the attentions of Madam +Nosebag. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0063"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXII +</h2> +<h3> + WHAT'S TO BE DONE NEXT? +</h3> +<p> +It was twilight when they arrived in town; and having shaken off +his companions, and walked through a good many streets to avoid the +possibility of being traced by them, Edward took a hackney-coach and +drove to Colonel Talbot's house, in one of the principal squares at the +west end of the town. That gentleman, by the death of relations, had +succeeded since his marriage to a large fortune, possessed considerable +political interest, and lived in what is called great style. +</p> +<p> +When Waverley knocked at his door, he found it at first difficult to +procure admittance, but at length was shown into an apartment where the +Colonel was at table. Lady Emily, whose very beautiful features were +still pallid from indisposition, sat opposite to him. The instant he +heard Waverley's voice, he started up and embraced him. 'Frank Stanley, +my dear boy, how d'ye do?—Emily, my love, this is young Stanley.' +</p> +<p> +The blood started to the lady's cheek as she gave Waverley a reception, +in which courtesy was mingled with kindness, while her trembling hand +and faltering voice showed how much she was startled and discomposed. +Dinner was hastily replaced, and while Waverley was engaged in +refreshing himself, the Colonel proceeded—'I wonder you have come +here, Frank; the doctors tell me the air of London is very bad for your +complaints. You should not have risked it. But I am delighted to see +you, and so is Emily, though I fear we must not reckon upon your staying +long.' +</p> +<p> +'Some particular business brought me up,' muttered Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'I supposed so, but I sha'n't allow you to stay long.—Spontoon' (to +an elderly military-looking servant out of livery), 'take away these +things, and answer the bell yourself, if I ring. Don't let any of the +other fellows disturb us.—My nephew and I have business to talk of.' +</p> +<p> +When the servants had retired, 'In the name of God, Waverley, what has +brought you here? It may be as much as your life is worth.' +</p> +<p> +'Dear Mr. Waverley,' said Lady Emily,' to whom I owe so much more than +acknowledgements can ever pity, how could you be so rash?' +</p> +<p> +'My father—my uncle—this paragraph,'—he handed the paper to Colonel +Talbot. +</p> +<p> +'I wish to Heaven' these scoundrels were condemned to be squeezed to +death in their own presses,' said Talbot. 'I am told there are not less +than a dozen of their papers now published in town, and no wonder that +they are obliged to invent lies to find sale for their journals. It is +true, however, my dear Edward, that you have lost your father; but as +to this flourish of his unpleasant situation having grated upon his +spirits, and hurt his health—the truth is—for though it is harsh +to say so now, yet it will relieve your mind from the idea of weighty +responsibility—the truth then is, that Mr. Richard Waverley, through +this whole business, showed great want of sensibility, both to your +situation and that of your uncle; and the last time I saw him, he told +me, with great glee, that, as I was so good as to take charge of your +interests, he had thought it best to patch up a separate negotiation for +himself, and make his peace with Government through some channels which +former connexions left still open to him.' +</p> +<p> +'And my uncle—my dear uncle?' +</p> +<p> +'Is in no danger whatever. It is true' (looking at the date of the +paper) 'there was a foolish report some time ago to the purport +here quoted, but it is entirely false. Sir Everard is gone down to +Waverley-Honour, freed from all uneasiness, unless upon your own +account. But you are in peril yourself—your name is in every +proclamation—warrants are out to apprehend you. How and when did you +come here?' +</p> +<p> +Edward told his story at length, suppressing his quarrel with Fergus; +for being himself partial to Highlanders, he did not wish to give any +advantage to the Colonel's national prejudice against them. +</p> +<p> +'Are you sure it was your friend Glen's footboy you saw dead in Clifton +Moor?' +</p> +<p> +'Quite positive.' +</p> +<p> +'Then that little limb of the devil has cheated the gallows, for +cut-throat was written in his face; though' (turning to Lady Emily) 'it +was a very handsome face too.—But for you, Edward, I wish you would go +down again to Cumberland, or rather I wish you had never stirred from +thence, for there is an embargo on all the seaports, and a strict search +for the adherents of the Pretender; and the tongue of that confounded +woman will wag in her head like the clack of a mill, till somehow or +other she will detect Captain Butler to be a feigned personage,' +</p> +<p> +'Do you know anything,' asked Waverley, 'of my fellow traveller?' +</p> +<p> +'Her husband was my sergeant-major for six years; she was a buxom widow, +with a little money—he married her—was steady, and got on by being a +good drill. I must send Spontoon to see what she is about; he will +find her out among the old regimental connexions. To-morrow you must be +indisposed, and keep your room from fatigue. Lady Emily is to be your +nurse, and Spontoon and I your attendants. You bear the name of a +near relation of mine, whom none of my present people ever saw, except +Spontoon; so there will be no immediate danger. So pray feel your head +ache and your eyes grow heavy as soon as possible, that you may be put +upon the sick list; and, Emily, do you order an apartment for Frank +Stanley, with all the attention which an invalid may require.' +</p> +<p> +In the morning the Colonel visited his guest.—'Now,' said he, 'I have +some good news for you. Your reputation as a gentleman and officer is +effectually cleared of neglect of duty, and accession to the mutiny in +Gardiner's regiment. I have had a correspondence on this subject with +a very zealous friend of yours, your Scottish parson, Morton; his first +letter was addressed to Sir Everard; but I relieved the good Baronet +of the trouble of answering it. You must know, that your freebooting +acquaintance; Donald of the Cave, has at length fallen into the hands of +the Philistines. He was driving off the cattle of a certain proprietor, +called Killan—something or other—' +</p> +<p> +'Killancureit?' +</p> +<p> +'The same. Now, the gentleman being, it seems, a great farmer, and +having a special value for his breed of cattle—being, moreover, rather +of a timid disposition, had got a party of soldiers to protect his +property. So Donald ran his head unawares into the lion's mouth, and was +defeated and made prisoner. Being ordered for execution, his conscience +was assailed on the one hand by a Catholic priest,—on the other by +your friend Morton. He repulsed the Catholic chiefly on account of the +doctrine of extreme unction, which this economical gentleman considered +as an excessive waste of oil. So his conversion from a state of +impenitence fell to Mr. Morton's share, who, I dare say, acquitted +himself excellently, though, I suppose, Donald made but a queer kind +of Christian after all. He confessed, however, before a magistrate—one +Major Melville, who seems to have been a correct, friendly sort of +person—his full intrigue with Houghton, explaining particularly how it +was carried on, and fully acquitting you of the least accession to +it. He also mentioned his rescuing you from the hands of the volunteer +officer, and sending you, by orders of the Pret—Chevalier, I mean as a +prisoner to Doune, from whence he understood you were carried prisoner +to Edinburgh. These are particulars which cannot but tell in your +favour. He hinted that he had been employed to deliver and protect you, +and rewarded for doing so; but he would not confess by whom, alleging, +that, though he would not have minded breaking any ordinary oath to +satisfy the curiosity of Mr. Morton, to whose pious admonitions he owed +so much, yet in the present case he had been sworn to silence upon the +edge of his dirk, <a href="#note-33" name="noteref-33"><small>33</small></a> which, it seems, constituted, in his +opinion, an inviolable obligation.' +</p> +<p> +'And what has become of him?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, he was hanged at Stirling after the rebels raised the siege, with +his lieutenant, and four plaids besides; he having the advantage of a +gallows more lofty than his friends.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, I have little cause either to regret or rejoice at his death; and +yet he has done me both good and harm to a very considerable extent.' +</p> +<p> +His confession, at least, will serve you materially, since it wipes from +your character all those suspicions which gave the accusation against +you a complexion of a nature different from that with which so many +unfortunate gentlemen, now or lately in arms against the Government, may +be justly charged. Their treason—I must give it its name, though you +participate in its guilt—is an action arising from mistaken virtue, and +therefore cannot be classed as a disgrace, though it be doubtless highly +criminal. Where the guilty are so numerous, clemency must be extended to +far the greater number; and I have little doubt of procuring a remission +for you, provided we can keep you out of the claws of justice till +she has selected and gorged upon her victims; for in this, as in other +cases, it will be according to the vulgar proverb, 'First come, first +served.' Besides, Government are desirous at present to intimidate the +English Jacobites, among whom they can find few examples for punishment. +This is a vindictive and timid feeling which will soon wear off, for, of +all nations, the English are least bloodthirsty by nature. But it +exists at present, and you must therefore be kept out of the way in the +meantime.' +</p> +<p> +Now entered Spontoon with an anxious countenance. By his regimental +acquaintances he had traced out Madam Nosebag, and found her full of +ire, fuss, and fidget, at discovery of an impostor, who had travelled +from the north with her under the assumed name of Captain Butler of +Gardiner's dragoons. She was going to lodge an information on the +subject, to have him sought for as an emissary of the Pretender; but +Spontoon (an old soldier), while he pretended to approve, contrived +to make her delay her intention. No time, however, was to be lost: the +accuracy of this good dame's description might probably lead to +the discovery that Waverley was the pretended Captain Butler; an +identification fraught with danger to Edward, perhaps to his uncle, +and even to Colonel Talbot. Which way to direct his course was now, +therefore, the question. +</p> +<p> +'To Scotland,' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'To Scotland!' said the Colonel; 'with what purpose?—not to engage +again with the rebels, I hope?' +</p> +<p> +'No—I considered my campaign ended, when, after all my efforts, I +could not rejoin them; and now, by all accounts, they are gone to make +a winter campaign in the Highlands, where such adherents as I am would +rather be burdensome than useful. Indeed, it seems likely that they only +prolong the war to place the Chevalier's person out of danger, and then +to make some terms for themselves. To burden them with my presence would +merely add another party, whom they would not give up, and could not +defend. I understand they left almost all their English adherents in +garrison at Carlisle, for that very reason: and on a more general view, +Colonel, to confess the truth, though it may lower me in your opinion, +I am heartily tired of the trade of war, and am, as Fletcher's Humorous +Lieutenant says, "even as weary of this fighting"—' +</p> +<p> +'Fighting! pooh, what have you seen but a skirmish or two?-Ah! if you +saw war on the grand scale—sixty or a hundred thousand men in the field +on each side!' +</p> +<p> +'I am not at all curious, Colonel.—"Enough," says our homely proverb, +"is as good as a feast." The plumed troops and the big war used to +enchant me in poetry; but the night marches, vigils, couched under the +wintry sky, and such accompaniments of the glorious trade, are not +at all to my taste in practice:—then for dry blows, I had my fill of +fighting at Clifton, where I escaped by a hair's-breadth half a dozen +times; and you, I should think—' He stopped. +</p> +<p> +'Had enough of it at Preston? you mean to say,' answered the Colonel, +laughing; 'but, "'tis my vocation, Hal."' +</p> +<p> +'It is not mine, though,' said Waverley; 'and having honourably got rid +of the sword, which I drew only as a volunteer, I am quite satisfied +with my military experience, and shall be in no hurry to take it up +again.' +</p> +<p> +'I am very glad you are of that mind—but then, what would you do in the +North?' +</p> +<p> +'In the first place, there are some seaports on the eastern coast of +Scotland still in the hands of the Chevalier's friends; should I gain +any of them, I can easily embark for the Continent.' +</p> +<p> +'Good—your second reason?' +</p> +<p> +'Why, to speak the very truth, there is a person in Scotland upon whom +I now find my happiness, depends more than I was always aware, and about +whose situation I am very anxious.' +</p> +<p> +'Then Emily was right, and there is a love affair in the case after +all?—And which of these two pretty Scotchwomen, whom you insisted upon +my admiring, is the distinguished fair?—not Miss Glen—I hope.' +</p> +<p> +'No.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, pass for the other: simplicity may be improved, but pride and +conceit never. Well, I don't discourage you; I think it will please Sir +Everard, from what he said when I jested with him about it; only I hope +that intolerable papa, with his brogue, and his snuff, and his Latin, +and his insufferable long stories about the Duke of Berwick, will find +it necessary hereafter to be an inhabitant of foreign parts. But as +to the daughter, though I think you might find as fitting a match in +England, yet if your heart be really set upon this Scotch rosebud, why, +the Baronet has a great opinion of her father and of his family, and he +wishes much to see you married and settled, both for your own sake and +for that of the three ermines passant, which may otherwise pass away +altogether. But I will bring you his mind fully upon the subject, since +you are debarred correspondence for the present, for I think you will +not be long in Scotland before me. +</p> +<p> +Indeed! and what can induce you to think of returning to Scotland? +No relenting longings towards the land of mountains and floods, I am +afraid.' +</p> +<p> +'None, on my word; but Emily's health is now, thank God, re-established, +and, to tell you the truth, I have little hopes of concluding the +business which I have at present most at heart, until I can have a +personal interview with his Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief; for, +as Fluellen says, "The duke doth love me well, and I thank Heaven I have +deserved some love at his hands." I am now going out for an hour or two +to arrange matters for your departure; your liberty extends to the +next room, Lady Emily's parlour, where you will find her when you are +disposed for music, reading, or conversation. We have taken measures to +exclude all servants but Spontoon, who is as true as steel.' +</p> +<p> +In about two hours Colonel Talbot returned, and found his young friend +conversing with his lady; she pleased with his manners and information, +and he delighted at being restored, though but for a moment, to the +society of his own rank, from which he had been for some time excluded.' +</p> +<p> +'And now,' said the Colonel, 'hear my arrangements, for there is little +time to lose. This youngster, Edward Waverley, ALIAS Williams, ALIAS +Captain Butler, must continue to pass by his fourth ALIAS of Francis +Stanley, my nephew: he shall set out to-morrow for the North, and the +chariot shall take him the first two stages.' Spontoon shall then attend +him; and they shall ride post as far as Huntingdon; and the presence +of Spontoon, well known on the road as my servant, will check all +disposition to inquiry. At Huntingdon you will meet the real Frank +Stanley. He is studying at Cambridge; but, a little while ago, doubtful +if Emily's health would permit me to go down to the North myself, I +procured him a passport from the Secretary of State's office to go in +my stead. As he went chiefly to look after you, his journey is now +unnecessary. He knows your story; you will dine together at Huntingdon; +and perhaps your wise heads may hit upon some plan for removing or +diminishing the danger of your further progress northward. And now' +(taking out a morocco case), 'let me put you in funds for the campaign.' +</p> +<p> +'I am ashamed, my dear Colonel,—' +</p> +<p> +'Nay,' said Colonel Talbot, 'you should command my purse in any event; +but this money is your own. Your father, considering the chance of your +being attainted, left me his trustee for your advantage. So that you are +worth above L15,000, besides Brerewood Lodge—a very independent person, +I promise you. There are bills here for L200; any larger sum you may +have, or credit abroad, as soon as your motions require it.' +</p> +<p> +The first use which occurred to Waverley of his newly-acquired wealth, +was to write to honest Farmer Jopson, requesting his acceptance of a +silver tankard on the part of his friend Williams, who had not forgotten +the night of the eighteenth December last. He begged him at the same +time carefully to preserve for him his Highland garb and accoutrements, +particularly the arms—curious in themselves, and to which the +friendship of the donors gave additional value. Lady Emily undertook to +find some suitable token of remembrance, likely to flatter the vanity +and please the taste of Mrs. Williams; and the Colonel, who was a kind +of farmer, promised to send the Ullswater patriarch an excellent team of +horses for cart and plough. +</p> +<p> +One happy day Waverley spent in London; and, travelling in the manner +projected, he met with Frank Stanley at Huntingdon. The two young men +were acquainted in a minute. +</p> +<p> +'I can read my uncle's riddle,' said Stanley. 'The cautious old soldier +did not care to hint to me that I might hand over to you this passport, +which I have no occasion for; but if it should afterwards come out as +the rattlepated trick of a young Cantab, CELA NE TIRE A RIEN. You are +therefore to be Francis Stanley, with this passport.' This proposal +appeared in effect to alleviate a great part of the difficulties which +Edward must otherwise have encountered at every turn; and accordingly +he scrupled not to avail himself of it, the more especially as he had +discarded all political purposes from his present journey, and could +not be accused of furthering machinations against the Government while +travelling under protection of the Secretary's passport. +</p> +<p> +The day passed merrily away. The young student was inquisitive about +Waverley's campaigns, and the manners of the Highlands; and Edward +was obliged to satisfy his curiosity by whistling a pibroch, dancing a +strathspey, and singing a Highland song. The next morning Stanley rode +a stage northward with his new friend, and parted from him with great +reluctance, upon the remonstrances of Spontoon, who, accustomed to +submit to discipline, was rigid in enforcing it. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0064"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXIII +</h2> +<h3> + DESOLATION +</h3> +<p> +Waverly riding post, as was the usual fashion of the period, without any +adventure save one or two queries, which the talisman of his passport +sufficiently answered, reached the borders of Scotland. Here he heard +the tidings of the decisive battle of Culloden. It was no more than he +had long expected, though the success at Falkirk had thrown a faint and +setting gleam over the arms of the Chevalier. Yet it came upon him like +a shock, by which he was for a time altogether unmanned. The generous, +the courteous, the noble-minded Adventurer, was then a fugitive, with +a price upon his head; his adherents, so brave, so enthusiastic, so +faithful, were dead, imprisoned, or exiled. Where, now, was the exalted +and high-souled Fergus, if, indeed, he had survived the night at +Clifton?—where the pure-hearted and primitive Baron of Bradwardine, +whose foibles seemed foils to set off the disinterestedness of his +disposition, the genuine goodness of his heart, and his unshaken +courage? Those who clung for support to these fallen columns, Rose and +Flora,—where were they to be sought, and in what distress must not the +loss of their natural protectors have involved them? Of Flora he thought +with the regard of a brother for a sister—of Rose, with a sensation yet +more deep and tender. It might be still his fate to supply the want +of those guardians they had lost. Agitated by these thoughts, he +precipitated his journey. +</p> +<p> +When he arrived in Edinburgh, where his inquiries must necessarily +commence, he felt the full difficulty of his situation. Many inhabitants +of that city had seen and known him as Edward Waverley; how, then, +could he avail himself of a passport as Francis Stanley? He resolved, +there-fore, to avoid all company, and to move northward as soon as +possible. He was, however, obliged to wait a day or two in expectation +of a letter from Colonel Talbot, and he was also to leave his own +address, under his feigned character, at a place agreed upon. With +this latter purpose he sallied out in the dusk through the well-known +streets, carefully shunning observation,—but in vain: one of the first +persons whom he met at once recognized him, It was Mrs. Flockhart, +Fergus Mac-Ivor's good-humoured landlady. +</p> +<p> +'Gude guide us, Mr. Waverley, is this you?—na, ye needna be feared for +me—I wad betray nae gentleman in your circumstances. Eh, lack-a-day! +lack-a-day! here's a change o' markets! how merry Colonel Mac-Ivor and +you used to be in our house!' And the good-natured widow shed a few +natural tears. As there was no resisting her claim of acquaintance, +Waverley acknowledged it with a good grace, as well as the danger of his +own situation. 'As it's near the darkening, sir, wad ye just step in by +to our house, and tak a dish o' tea? and I am sure, if ye like to sleep +in the little room, I wad tak care ye are no disturbed, and naebody wad +ken ye; for Kate and Matty, the limmers, gaed aff wi' twa o' Hawley's +dragoons, and I hae twa new queans instead o' them.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley accepted her invitation, and engaged her lodging for a night or +two, satisfied he should be safer in the house of this simple creature +than anywhere else. When he entered the parlour, his heart swelled to +see Fergus's bonnet, with the white cockade, hanging beside the little +mirror. +</p> +<p> +'Aye,' said Mrs. Flockhart, sighing, as she observed the direction of +his eyes, 'the puir Colonel bought a new ane just the day before they +marched, and I winna let them tak that ane doun, but just to brush it +ilka day mysell; and whiles I look at it till I just think I hear him +cry to Callum to bring him his bonnet, as he used to do when he was +ganging out.—It's unco silly—the neighbours ca' me a Jacobite—but +they may say their say—I am sure it's no for that—but he was as +kind-hearted a gentleman as ever lived, and as weel-fa'rd too. Oh, d'ye +ken, sir, when he is to suffer?' +</p> +<p> +'Suffer! Good heaven!—Why, where is he?' +</p> +<p> +'Eh, Lord's sake! d'ye no ken? The poor Hieland body, Dugald Mahoney, +cam here a while syne, wi' ane o' his arms cuttit off, and a sair +clour in the head—ye'll mind Dugald? he carried aye an axe on his +shouther—and he cam here just begging, as I may say, for something to +eat. Aweel, he tauld us the Chief, as they ca'd him (but I aye ca' +him the Colonel), and Ensign Maccombich, that ye mind weel, were ta'en +somewhere beside the English border, when it was sae dark that his folk +never missed him till it was ower late, and they were like to gang clean +daft. And he said that little Callum Beg (he was a bauld mischievous +callant that), and your honour, were killed that same night in the +tuilzie, and mony mae braw men. But he grat when he spak o' the Colonel, +ye never saw tie like. And now the word gangs, the Colonel is to be +tried, and to suffer wi' them that were ta'en at Carlisle.' +</p> +<p> +'And his sister?' +</p> +<p> +'Aye, that they ca'd the Lady Flora—weel, she's away up to Carlisle to +him, and lives wi' some grand Papist lady thereabouts, to be near him.' +</p> +<p> +'And,' said Edward, 'the other young lady?' +</p> +<p> +'Whilk other? I ken only of ae sister the Colonel had.' +</p> +<p> +'I mean Miss Bradwardine,' said Edward. +</p> +<p> +'Ou aye, the laird's daughter,' said his landlady. 'She was a very bonny +lassie, poor thing, but far shyer than Lady Flora.' +</p> +<p> +'Where is she, for God's sake?' +</p> +<p> +'Ou, wha kens where ony o' them is now? Puir things, they're sair ta'en +doun for their white cockades and their white roses; but she gaed north +to her father's in Perthshire, when the Government troops cam back to +Edinbro'. There was some pretty men amang them, and ane Major Whacker +was quartered on me, a very ceevil gentleman,—but oh, Mr. Waverley, he +was naething sae weel-fa'rd as the puir Colonel.' +</p> +<p> +'Do you know what is become of Miss Bradwardine's father?' +</p> +<p> +'The auld laird?—na, naebody kens that; but they say he fought +very hard in that bluidy battle at Inverness; and Deacon Clark, the +white-iron smith, says, that the Government folk are sair agane him +for having been OUT twice; and troth he might hae ta'en warning,—but +there's nae fule like an auld fule—the puir Colonel was only out ance.' +</p> +<p> +Such conversation contained almost all the good-natured widow knew of +the fate of her late lodgers and acquaintances; but it was enough to +determine Edward at all hazards to proceed instantly to Tully-Veolan, +where he concluded he should see, or at least hear, something of Rose. +He therefore left a letter for Colonel Talbot at the place agreed upon, +signed by his assumed name, and giving for his address the post-town +next to the Baron's residence. +</p> +<p> +From Edinburgh to Perth he took post-horses, resolving to make the rest +of his journey on foot—a mode of travelling to which he was partial, +and which had the advantage of permitting a deviation from the road when +he saw parties of military at a distance. His campaign had considerably +strengthened his constitution, and improved his habits of enduring +fatigue. His baggage he sent before him as opportunity occurred. +</p> +<p> +As he advanced northward, the traces of war became visible. Broken +carriages, dead horses, unroofed cottages, trees felled for palisades, +and bridges destroyed, or only partially repaired,—all indicated the +movements of hostile armies. In those places where the gentry were +attached to the Stuart cause, their houses seemed dismantled or +deserted, the usual course of what may be called ornamental labour was +totally interrupted, and the inhabitants were seen gliding about, with +fear, sorrow, and dejection on their faces. +</p> +<p> +It was evening when he approached the village of Tully-Veolan, with +feelings and sentiments—how different from those which attended +his first entrance! Then, life was so new to him, that a dull or +disagreeable day was one of the greatest misfortunes which his +imagination anticipated, and it seemed to him that his time ought only +to be consecrated to elegant or amusing study, and relieved by social +or youthful frolic. Now, how changed! how saddened, yet how elevated +was his character, within the course of a very few months! Danger and +misfortune are rapid, though severe teachers. 'A sadder and a wiser +man,' he felt, in internal confidence and mental dignity, a compensation +for the gay dreams which, in his case, experience had so rapidly +dissolved. +</p> +<p> +As he approached the village, he saw, with surprise and anxiety, that a +party of soldiers were quartered near it, and, what was worse, that they +seemed stationary there. This he conjectured from a few tents which he +beheld glimmering upon what was called the Common Moor. To avoid the +risk of being stopped and questioned in a place where he was so likely +to be recognized, he made a large circuit, altogether avoiding the +hamlet, and approaching the upper gate of the avenue by a by-path well +known to him. A single glance announced that great changes had taken +place. One half of the gate, entirely destroyed and split up for +firewood, lay in piles, ready to be taken away; the other swung +uselessly about upon its loosened hinges. The battlements above the gate +were broken and thrown down, and the carved Bears, which were said to +have done sentinel's duty upon the top for centuries, now, hurled from +their posts, lay among the rubbish. The avenue was cruelly wasted. +Several large trees were felled and left lying across the path; and the +cattle of the villagers, and the more rude hoofs of dragoon horses, +had poached into black mud the verdant turf which Waverley had so much +admired. +</p> +<p> +Upon entering the courtyard, Edward saw the fears realized which these +circumstances had excited. The place had been sacked by the King's +troops, who, in wanton mischief, had even attempted to burn it; and +though the thickness of the walls had resisted the fire, unless to a +partial extent, the stables and out-houses were totally consumed. The +towers and pinnacles of the main building were scorched and blackened; +the pavement of the court broken and shattered; the doors torn down +entirely, or hanging by a single hinge; the windows dashed in and +demolished; and the court strewed with articles of furniture broken into +fragments. The accessories of ancient distinction, to which the +Baron, in the pride of his heart, had attached so much importance and +veneration, were treated with peculiar contumely. The fountain was +demolished, and the spring which had supplied it now flooded the +courtyard. The stone basin seemed to be destined for a drinking-trough +for cattle, from the manner in which it was arranged upon the ground. +The whole tribe of Bears, large and small, had experienced as little +favour as those at the head of the avenue; and one or two of the family +pictures, which seemed to have served as targets for the soldiers, lay +on the ground in tatters. With an aching heart, as may well be imagined, +Edward viewed this wreck of a mansion so respected. But his anxiety to +learn the fate of the proprietors, and his fears as to what that fate +might be, increased with every step. When he entered upon the terrace, +new scenes of desolation were visible. The balustrade was broken +down, the walls destroyed, the borders overgrown with weeds, and +the fruit-trees cut down or grubbed up. In one compartment of this +old-fashioned garden were two immense horse-chestnut trees, of whose +size the Baron was particularly vain: too lazy, perhaps, to cut them +down, the spoilers, with malevolent ingenuity, had mined them, and +placed a quantity of gunpowder in the cavity. One had been shivered +to pieces by the explosion, and the fragments lay scattered around, +encumbering the ground it had so long shadowed. The other mine had been +more partial in its effect. About one-fourth of the trunk of the tree +was torn from the mass, which, mutilated and defaced on the one side, +still spread on the other its ample and undiminished boughs. [A pair of +chestnut trees, destroyed, the one entirely, and the other in part, by +such a mischievous and wanton act of revenge, grew at Invergarry Castle, +the fastness of Macdonald of Glengarry.] +</p> +<p> +Amid these general marks of ravage, there were some which more +particularly addressed the feelings of Waverley. Viewing the front of +the building, thus wasted and defaced, his eyes naturally sought the +little balcony which more properly belonged to Rose's apartment—her +TROISIEME, or rather CINQUIEME ETAGE. It was easily discovered, for +beneath it lay the stage-flowers and shrubs with which it was her pride +to decorate it, and which had been hurled from the bartizan: several of +her books were mingled with broken flower-pots and other remnants. Among +these, Waverley distinguished one of his own, a small copy of Ariosto, +and gathered it as a treasure, though wasted by the wind and rain. +</p> +<p> +While, plunged in the sad reflections which the scene excited, he +was looking around for some one who might explain the fate of the +inhabitants, he heard a voice from the interior of the building singing, +in well-remembered accents, an old Scottish song: +</p> +<pre> + They came upon us in the night, + And brake my bower and slew my knight: + My servants a' for life did flee, + And left us in extremitie, + + They slew my knight, to me sae dear; + They slew my knight, and drave his gear; + The moon may set, the sun may rise, + But a deadly sleep has closed his eyes. + [The first three couplets are from an old ballad, called the + Border Widow's Lament.] +</pre> +<p> +'Alas!' thought Edward, 'is it thou? Poor helpless being, art thou alone +left, to gibber and moan, and fill with thy wild and unconnected scraps +of minstrelsy the halls that protected thee?'—He then called, first +low, and then louder, 'Davie—Davie Gellatley!' +</p> +<p> +The poor simpleton showed himself from among the ruins of a sort of +greenhouse, that once terminated what was called the Terrace-walk, +but at first sight of a stranger retreated, as if in terror. Waverley, +remembering his habits, began to whistle a tune to which he was partial, +which Davie had expressed great pleasure in listening to, and had picked +up from him by the ear. Our hero's minstrelsy no more equalled that of +Blondel, than poor Davie resembled Coeur de Lion; but the melody had +the same effect of producing recognition. Davie again stole from his +lurking-place, but timidly, while Waverley, afraid of frightening him, +stood making the most encouraging signals he could devise.—'It's his +ghaist,' muttered Davie; yet, coming nearer, he seemed to acknowledge +his living acquaintance. The poor fool himself appeared the ghost of +what he had been. The peculiar dress in which he had been attired in +better days, showed only miserable rags of its whimsical finery, the +lack of which was oddly supplied by the remnants of tapestried hangings, +window-curtains, and shreds of pictures, with which he had bedizened his +tatters. His face, too, had lost its vacant and careless air, and the +poor creature looked hollow-eyed, meagre, half-starved, and nervous to +a pitiable degree.—After long hesitation, he at length approached +Waverley with some confidence, stared him sadly in the face, and said, +'A' dead and gane—a' dead and gane!' +</p> +<p> +'Who are dead?' said Waverley, forgetting the incapacity of Davie to +hold any connected discourse. +</p> +<p> +'Baron—and Bailie and Saunders Saunderson and Lady Rose, that sang sae +sweet—A' dead and gane—dead and gane! +</p> +<pre> + But follow, follow me, + While glow-worms light the lea; + I'll show you where the dead should be— + Each in his shroud, + While winds pipe loud, + And the red moon peeps dim through the cloud. + Follow, follow me; + Brave should he be + That treads by night the dead man's lea.' +</pre> +<p> +With these' words, chanted in a wild and earnest tone, he made a sign +to Waverley to follow him, and walked rapidly towards the bottom of the +garden, tracing the bank of the stream, which, it may be remembered, was +its eastern boundary. Edward, over whom an involuntary shuddering stole +at the import of his words, followed him in some hope of an explanation. +As the house was evidently deserted, he could not expect to find among +the ruins any more rational informer. +</p> +<p> +Davie, walking very fast, soon reached the extremity of the garden, and +scrambled over the ruins of the wall that once had divided it from the +wooded glen in which the old Tower of Tully-Veolan was situated. He +then jumped down into the bed of the stream, and, followed by Waverley, +proceeded at a great pace, climbing over some fragments of rock, and +turning with difficulty round others. They passed beneath the ruins +of the castle; Waverley followed, keeping up with his guide with +difficulty, for the twilight began to fall. Following the descent of the +stream a little lower, he totally lost him, but a twinkling light, which +he now discovered among the tangled copse-wood and bushes, seemed a +surer guide. He soon pursued a very uncouth path; and by its guidance at +length reached the door of a wretched hut. A fierce barking of dogs was +at first heard, but it stilled at his approach. A voice sounded from +within, and he held it most prudent to listen before he advanced. +</p> +<p> +'Wha hast thou brought here, thou unsonsy villain, thou?' said an old +woman, apparently in great indignation. He heard Davie Gellatley, in +answer, whistle a part of the tune by which he had recalled himself to +the simpleton's memory, and had now no hesitation to knock at the door. +There was a dead silence instantly within, except the deep growling of +the dogs; and he next heard the mistress of the hut approach the door, +not probably for the sake of undoing a latch, but of fastening a bolt. +To prevent this, Waverley lifted the latch himself. +</p> +<p> +In front was an old wretched-looking woman, exclaiming, 'Wha comes into +folk's houses in this gate, at this time o' the night?' On one side, two +grim and half-starved deer greyhounds laid aside their ferocity at +his appearance, and seemed to recognize him. On the other side, half +concealed by the open door, yet apparently seeking that concealment +reluctantly, with a cocked pistol in his right hand, and his left in the +act of drawing another from his belt, stood a tall bony gaunt figure in +the remnants of a faded uniform, and a beard of three weeks' growth. +</p> +<p> +It was the Baron of Bradwardine. It is unnecessary to add, that he threw +aside his weapon, and greeted Waverley with a hearty embrace. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0065"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXIV +</h2> +<h3> + COMPARING OF NOTES +</h3> +<p> +The Baron's story was short, when divested of the adages and +commonplaces, Latin, English, and Scotch, with which his erudition +garnished it. He insisted much upon his grief at the loss of Edward and +of Glennaquoich, fought the fields of Falkirk and Culloden, and related +how, after all was lost in the last battle, he had returned home, under +the idea of more easily finding shelter among his own tenants, and on +his own estate, than elsewhere. A party of soldiers had been sent to +lay waste his property, for clemency was not the order of the day. Their +proceedings, however, were checked by an order from the civil court. +The estate, it was found, might not be forfeited to the crown, to the +prejudice of Malcolm Bradwardine of Inch-Grabbit, the heir-male, whose +claim could not be prejudiced by the Baron's attainder, as deriving no +right through him, and who, therefore, like other heirs of entail in +the same situation, entered upon possession. But, unlike many in similar +circumstances, the new laird speedily showed that he intended utterly to +exclude his predecessor from all benefit or advantage in the estate, and +that it was his purpose to avail himself of the old Baron's evil fortune +to the full extent. This was the more ungenerous, as it was generally +known, that, from a romantic idea of not prejudicing this young man's +right as heir-male, the Baron had refrained from settling his estate on +his daughter. +</p> +<p> +This selfish injustice was resented by the country people, who were +partial to their old master, and irritated against his successor. In the +Baron's own words, 'The matter did not coincide with the feelings of +the commons of Bradwardine, Mr. Waverley; and the tenants were slack and +repugnant in payment of their mails and duties; and when my kinsman came +to the village wi' the new factor, Mr. James Howie, to lift the +rents, some wanchancy person—I suspect John Heatherblutter, the auld +gamekeeper, that was out wi' me in the year fifteen—fired a shot at +him in the gloaming, whereby he was so affrighted, that I may say with +Tullius in Catilinam, ABIIT, EVASIT, ERUPIT, EFFUGIT. He fled, sir, as +one may say, incontinent to Stirling. And now he hath advertised the +estate for sale, being himself the last substitute in the entail. And if +I were to lament about sic matters, this would grieve me mair than its +passing from my immediate possession, whilk, by the course of nature, +must have happened in a few years. Whereas now it passes from the +lineage that should have possessed it in SAECULA SAECULORUM. But God's +will be done, HUMANA PERPESSI SUMUS. Sir John of Bradwardine—Black Sir +John, as he is called—who was the common ancestor of our house and the +Inch-Grabbits, little thought such a person would have sprung from his +loins. Meantime, he has accused me to some of the primates, the rulers +for the time, as if I were a cut-throat, and an abettor of bravoes and +assassinates, and coupe-jarrets. And they have sent soldiers here to +abide on the estate, and hunt me like a partridge upon the mountains, +as Scripture says of good King David, or like our valiant Sir William +Wallace,—not that I bring myself into comparison with either.—I +thought, when I heard you at the door, they had driven the auld deer to +his den at last; and so I e'en proposed to die at bay, like a buck of +the first head.—But now, Janet, canna ye gie us something for supper?' +</p> +<p> +'Ou aye, sir, I'll brander the moor-fowl that John Heatherblutter +brought in this morning; and ye see puir Davie's roasting the black +hen's eggs.—I daur say, Mr. Wauverley, ye never kend that a' the eggs +that were sae weel roasted at supper in the Ha'-house were aye turned +by our Davie?—there's no the like o' him ony gate for powtering wi' +his fingers amang the het peat-ashes, and roasting eggs. Davie all this +while lay with his nose almost in the fire, nuzzling among the ashes, +kicking his heels, mumbling to himself, turning the eggs as they lay in +the hot embers, as if to confute the proverb, that 'there goes reason to +roasting of eggs,' and justify the eulogium which poor Janet poured out +upon +</p> +<pre> + Him whom she loved, her idiot boy. +</pre> +<p> +Davie's no sae silly as folk tak him for, Mr. Wauverley; he wadna +hae brought you here unless he had kend ye was a friend to his +Honour—indeed the very dogs kend ye, Mr. Wauverley, for ye was aye kind +to beast and body.—I can tell you a story o' Davie, wi' his Honour's +leave: His Honour, ye see, being under hiding in thae sair times—the +mair's the pity—he lies a' day, and whiles a' night, in the cove in the +dern hag; but though it 's a bieldy eneugh bit, and the auld gudeman o' +Corse-Cleugh has panged it wi' a kemple o' strae amaist, yet when the +country's quiet, and the night very cauld, his Honour whiles creeps doun +here to get a warm at the ingle, and a sleep amang the blankets, and +gangs awa in the morning. And so, ae morning, siccan a fright as I +got! Twa unlucky red-coats were up for black-fishing, or some siccan +ploy—for the neb o' them's never out o' mischief—and they just got a +glisk o' his Honour as he gaed into the wood, and banged aff a gun at +him, I out like a jer-falcon, and cried,—"Wad they shoot an honest +woman's poor innocent bairn?" And I fleyt at them, and threepit it was +my son; and they damned and swuir at me that it was the auld rebel, as +the villains ca'd his Honour; and Davie was in the wood, and heard the +tuilzie, and he, just out o' his ain head, got up the auld grey mantle +that his Honour had flung off him to gang the faster, and he cam out o' +the very same bit o' the wood, majoring and looking about sae like his +Honour, that they were clean beguiled, and thought they had letten aff +their gun at crack-brained Sawney, as they ca'd him; and they gae +me saxpence, and twa saumon fish, to say naething about it.—Na, na; +Davie's no just like other folk, puir fallow; but he's no sae silly as +folk tak him for.—But, to be sure, how can we do eneugh for his Honour, +when we and ours have lived on his ground this twa hundred years; and +when he keepit my puir Jamie at school and college, and even at the +Ha'-house, till he gaed to a better place; and when he saved me frae +being ta'en to Perth as a witch—lord forgi'e them that would touch +sic a puir silly auld body!—and has maintained puir Davie at heck and +manger maist feck o' his life?' +</p> +<p> +Waverley at length found an opportunity to interrupt Janet's narrative, +by an inquiry after Miss Bradwardine. +</p> +<p> +'She's weel and safe, thank God! at the Duchran,' answered the Baron. +'The laird's distantly related to us, and more nearly to my chaplain, +Mr. Rubrick; and, though he be of Whig principles, yet he's not +forgetful of auld friendship at this time. The Bailie's doing what he +can to save something out of the wreck for puir Rose; but I doubt, I +doubt, I shall never see her again, for I maun lay my banes in some far +country.' +</p> +<p> +'Hout na, your Honour,' said old Janet; 'ye were just as ill aff in the +feifteen, and got the bonnie baronie back, an' a'.—And now the eggs is +ready, and the muir-cock's brandered, and there's ilk ane a trencher and +some saut, and the heel o' the white loaf that cam frae the Bailie's; +and there's plenty o' brandy in the greybeard that Luckie Maclearie sent +doun; and winna ye be suppered like princes?' +</p> +<p> +'I wish one Prince, at least, of our acquaintance, may be no worse off,' +said the Baron to Waverley, who joined him in cordial hopes for the +safety of the unfortunate Chevalier. +</p> +<p> +They then began to talk of their future prospects. The Baron's plan was +very simple. It was, to escape to France, where, by the interest of his +old friends, he hoped to get some military employment, of which he +still conceived himself capable. He invited Waverley to go with him, +a proposal in which he acquiesced, providing the interest of Colonel +Talbot should fail in procuring his pardon. Tacitly he hoped the Baron +would sanction his addresses to Rose, and give him a right to assist him +in his exile; but he forbore to speak on this subject until his own fate +should be decided. They then talked of Glennaquoich, for whom the +Baron expressed great anxiety, although, he observed, he was 'the very +Achilles of Horatius Flaccus,— +</p> +<pre> + Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer. +</pre> +<p> +Which,' he continued, 'has been thus rendered (vernacularly) by Struan +Robertson: +</p> +<pre> + A fiery etter-cap, a fractious chiel, + As het as ginger, and as stieve as steel.' +</pre> +<p> +Flora had a large and unqualified share of the good old man's sympathy. +</p> +<p> +It was now wearing late. Old Janet got into some kind of kennel behind +the hallan. Davie had been long asleep and snoring between Ban and +Buscar. These dogs had followed him to the hut after the mansion-house +was deserted, and there constantly resided; and their ferocity, with the +old woman's reputation of being a witch, contributed a good deal to keep +visitors from the glen. With this view, Bailie Macwheeble provided Janet +underhand with meal for their maintenance, and also with little articles +of luxury for their patron's use, in supplying which much precaution was +necessarily used. After some compliments, the Baron occupied his usual +couch, and Waverley reclined in an easy-chair of tattered velvet, which +had once garnished the state bed-room of Tully-Veolan (for the furniture +of this mansion was now scattered through all the cottages in the +vicinity), and went to sleep as comfortably as if he had been in a bed +of down. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0066"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXV +</h2> +<h3> + MORE EXPLANATION +</h3> +<p> +With the first dawn of the day, old Janet was scuttling about the house +to wake the Baron, who usually slept sound and heavily. +</p> +<p> +'I must go back,' he said to Waverley, to my cove: will you walk down +the glen wi' me?' +</p> +<p> +They went out together, and followed a narrow and entangled footpath, +which the occasional passage of anglers, or wood-cutters, had traced by +the side of the stream. On their way, the Baron explained to Waverley, +that he would be under no danger in remaining a day or two at +Tully-Veolan, and even in being seen walking about, if he used the +precaution of pretending that he was looking at the estate as agent or +surveyor for an English gentleman, who designed to be purchaser. With +this view, he recommended to him to visit the Bailie, who still lived at +the factor's house, called Little Veolan, about a mile from the village, +though he was to remove at next term. Stanley's passport would be an +answer to the officer who commanded the military; and as to any of the +country people who might recognize Waverley the Baron assured him that +he was in no danger of being betrayed by them. +</p> +<p> +'I believe,' said the old man, 'half the people of the barony know that +their poor auld laird is somewhere hereabout; for I see they do not +suffer a single bairn to come here a bird-nesting—a practice whilk, +when I was in full possession of my power as baron, I was unable totally +to inhibit. Nay, I often find bits of things in my way, that the poor +bodies, God help them! leave there, because they think they may be +useful to me. I hope they will get a wiser master, and as kind a one as +I was.' +</p> +<p> +A natural sigh closed the sentence; but the quiet equanimity with which +the Baron endured his misfortunes, had something in it venerable, and +even sublime. There was no fruitless repining, no turbid melancholy; he +bore his lot, and the hardships which it involved, with a good-humoured, +though serious composure, and used no violent language against the +prevailing party. +</p> +<p> +'I did what I thought my duty,' said the good old man, 'and questionless +they are doing what they think theirs. It grieves me sometimes to look +upon these blackened walls of the house of my ancestors; but doubtless +officers cannot always keep the soldier's hand from depredation and +spuilzie; and Gustavus Adolphus himself, as ye may read in Colonel Munro +his Expedition with the worthy Scotch regiment called Mackay's regiment, +did often permit it.—Indeed I have myself seen as sad sights as +Tully-Veolan now is, when I served with the Mareschal Duke of Berwick. +To be sure, we may say with Virgilius Maro, FUIMUS TROES—and there's +the end of an auld sang. But houses and families and men have a' stood +lang eneugh when they have stood till they fall with honour; and now +I hae gotten a house that is not unlike a DOMUS ULTIMA'—they were now +standing below a steep rock. 'We poor Jacobites,' continued the Baron, +looking up, 'are now like the conies in Holy Scripture (which the great +traveller Pococke calleth Jerboa), a feeble people, that make our abode +in the rocks. So, fare you well, my good lad, till we meet at Janet's in +the even; for I must get into my Patmos, which is no easy matter for my +auld still limbs.' +</p> +<p> +With that he began to ascend the rock, striding, with the help of +his hands, from one precarious footstep to another, till he got about +half-way up, where two or three bushes concealed the mouth of a hole, +resembling an oven, into which the Baron insinuated, first his head and +shoulders, and then, by slow gradation, the rest of his long body; his +legs and feet finally disappearing, coiled up like a huge snake entering +his retreat, or a long pedigree introduced with care and difficulty into +the narrow pigeon-hole of an old cabinet. Waverley had the curiosity to +clamber up and look in upon him in his den, as the lurking-place might +well be termed. Upon the whole, he looked not unlike that ingenious +puzzle, called a reel in a bottle, the marvel of children (and of +some grown people too, myself for one), who can neither comprehend the +mystery how it was got in, or how it is to be taken out. The cave was +very narrow, too low in the roof to admit of his standing, or almost +of his sitting up, though he made some awkward attempts at the latter +posture. His sole amusement was the perusal of his old friend Titus +Livius, varied by occasionally scratching Latin proverbs and texts of +Scripture with his knife on the roof and walls of his fortalice, which +were of sandstone. As the cave was dry, and filled with clean straw and +withered fern, 'it made,' as he said, coiling himself up with an air +of snugness and comfort which contrasted strangely with his situation, +'unless when the wind was due north, a very passable GITE for an old +soldier.' Neither, as he observed, was he without sentries for the +purpose of reconnoitring. Davie and his mother were constantly on the +watch, to discover and avert danger; and it was singular what instances +of address seemed dictated by the instinctive attachment of the poor +simpleton, when his patron's safety was concerned. +</p> +<p> +With Janet, Edward now sought an interview. He had recognized her at +first sight as the old woman who had nursed him during his sickness +after his delivery from Gifted Gilfillan. The hut, also, though a little +repaired, and somewhat better furnished, was certainly the place of his +confinement; and he now recollected on the common moor of Tully-Veolan +the trunk of a large decayed tree, called the TRYSTING-TREE, which he +had no doubt was the same at which the Highlanders rendezvoused on that +memorable night. All this he had combined in his imagination the night +before; but reasons, which may probably occur to the reader, prevented +him from catechizing Janet in the presence of the Baron. +</p> +<p> +He now commenced the task in good earnest; and the first question was, +Who was the young lady that visited the hut during his illness? Janet +paused for a little; and then observed, that to keep the secret now, +would neither do good nor ill to anybody. 'It was just a leddy that +hasna her equal in the world—Miss Rose Bradwardine.' +</p> +<p> +'Then Miss Rose was probably also the author of my deliverance,' +inferred Waverley, delighted at the confirmation of an idea which local +circumstances had already induced him to entertain. +</p> +<p> +'I wot weel, Mr. Wauverley, and that was she e'en; but sair, sair angry +and affronted wad she hae been, puir thing, if she had thought ye had +been ever to ken a word about the matter; for she gar'd me speak aye +Gaelic when ye was in hearing, to mak ye trow we were in the Hielands. I +can speak it well eneugh, for my mother was a Hieland woman.' +</p> +<p> +A few more questions now brought out the whole mystery respecting +Waverley's deliverance from the bondage in which he left Cairnvreckan. +Never did music sound sweeter to an amateur, than the drowsy tautology, +with which old Janet detailed every circumstance, thrilled upon the +ears of Waverley. But my reader is not a lover, and I must spare his +patience, by attempting to condense within reasonable compass the +narrative which old Janet spread through a harangue of nearly two hours, +</p> +<p> +When Waverley communicated to Fergus the letter he had received from +Rose Bradwardine, by Davie Gellatley, giving an account of Tully-Veolan +being occupied by a small party of soldiers, that circumstance had +struck upon the busy and active mind of the Chieftain. Eager to +distress and narrow the posts of the enemy, desirous to prevent their +establishing a garrison so near him, and willing also to oblige the +Baron,—for he often had the idea of marriage with Rose floating through +his brain,—he resolved to send some of his people to drive out the +red-coats, and to bring Rose to Glennaquoich. But just as he had ordered +Evan with a small party on this duty, the news of Cope's having marched +into the Highlands to meet and disperse the forces of the Chevalier, +ere they came to a head, obliged him to join the standard with his whole +forces. +</p> +<p> +He sent to order Donald Bean to attend him; but that cautious +freebooter, who well understood the value of a separate command, instead +of joining, sent various apologies which the pressure of the times +compelled Fergus to admit as current, though not without the internal +resolution of being revenged on him for his procrastination, time and +place convenient. However, as he could not amend the matter, he issued +orders to Donald to descend into the Low Country, drive the soldiers +from Tully-Veolan, and, paying all respect to the mansion of the Baron, +to take his abode somewhere near it, for protection of his daughter and +family, and to harass and drive away any of the armed volunteers, +or small parties of military, which he might find moving about the +vicinity. +</p> +<p> +As this charge formed a sort of roving commission, which Donald proposed +to interpret in the way most advantageous to himself, as he was relieved +from the immediate terrors of Fergus, and as he had, from former secret +services, some interest in the councils of the Chevalier, he resolved to +make hay while the sun shone. He achieved, without difficulty, the +task of driving the soldiers from Tully-Veolan; but although he did not +venture to encroach upon the interior of the family, or to disturb +Miss Rose, being unwilling to make himself a powerful enemy in the +Chevalier's army, +</p> +<pre> + For well he knew the Baron's wrath was deadly; +</pre> +<p> +yet he set about to raise contributions and exactions upon the tenantry, +and otherwise to turn the war to his own advantage. Meanwhile he mounted +the white cockade, and waited upon Rose with a pretext of great devotion +for the service in which her father was engaged, and many apologies for +the freedom he must necessarily use for the support of his people. It +was at this moment that Rose learned, by open-mouthed fame, with +all sorts of exaggeration, that Waverley had killed the smith of +Cairnvreckan, in an attempt to arrest him; had been cast into a dungeon +by Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, and was to be executed by martial +law within three days. In the agony which these tidings excited, she +proposed to Donald Bean the rescue of the prisoner. It was the very +sort of service which he was desirous to undertake, judging it might +constitute a merit of such a nature as would make amends for any +peccadilloes which he might be guilty of in the country. He had the art, +however, pleading all the while duty and discipline, to hold off, until +poor Rose, in the extremity of her distress, offered to bribe him to the +enterprise with some valuable jewels which had been her mother's. +</p> +<p> +Donald Bean, who had served in France, knew, and perhaps over-estimated, +the value of these trinkets. But he also perceived Rose's apprehensions +of its being discovered that she had parted with her jewels for +Waverley's liberation. Resolved this scruple should not part him and +the treasure, he voluntarily offered to take an oath that he would never +mention Miss Rose's share in the transaction; and foreseeing convenience +in keeping the oath, and no probable advantage in breaking it, he took +the engagement—in order, as he told his lieutenant, to deal handsomely +by the young lady—in the only form and mode which, by a mental paction +with himself, he considered as binding—he swore secrecy upon his drawn +dirk. He was the more especially moved to this act of good faith by some +attentions that Miss Bradwardine showed to his daughter Alice, which, +while they gained the heart of the mountain damsel, highly gratified the +pride of her father. Alice, who could now speak a little English, was +very communicative in return for Rose's kindness, readily confided to +her the whole papers respecting the intrigue with Gardiner's regiment, +of which she was the depositary, and as readily undertook, at her +instance, to restore them to Waverley without her father's knowledge. +'For they may oblige the bonnie young lady and the handsome young +gentleman,' said Alice, 'and what use has my father for a whin bits o' +scarted paper?' +</p> +<p> +The reader is aware that she took an opportunity of executing this +purpose on the eve of Waverley's leaving the glen. +</p> +<p> +How Donald executed his enterprise, the reader is aware. But the +expulsion of the military from Tully-Veolan had given alarm, and, while +he was lying in wait for Gilfillan, a strong party, such as Donald did +not care to face, was sent to drive back the insurgents in their turn, +to encamp there, and to protect the country. The officer, a gentleman +and a disciplinarian, neither intruded himself on Miss Bradwardine, +whose unprotected situation he respected, nor permitted his soldiers +to commit any breach of discipline. He formed a little camp, upon an +eminence near the house of Tully-Veolan, and placed proper guards at the +passes in the vicinity. This unwelcome news reached Donald Bean Lean +as he was returning to Tully-Veolan. Determined, however, to obtain the +guerdon of his labour, he resolved, since approach to Tully-Veolan was +impossible; to deposit his prisoner in Janet's cottage—a place the very +existence of which could hardly have been suspected even by those who +had long lived In the vicinity, unless they had been guided thither, and +which was utterly unknown to Waverley himself. This effected, he claimed +and received his reward. Waverley's illness was an event which deranged +all their calculations. Donald was obliged to leave the neighbourhood +with his people, and to seek more free course for his adventures +elsewhere. At Rose's earnest entreaty, he left an old man, a herbalist, +who was supposed to understand a little of medicine, to attend Waverley +during his illness. +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile, new and fearful doubts started in Rose's mind. They +were suggested by old Janet, who insisted, that a reward having been +offered for the apprehension of Waverley, and his own personal effects +being so valuable, there was no saying to what breach of faith Donald +might be tempted. In an agony of grief and terror, Rose took the daring +resolution of explaining to the Prince himself the danger in which Mr. +Waverley stood, judging that, both as a politician, and a man of honour +and humanity, Charles Edward would interest himself to prevent his +falling into the hands of the opposite party. This letter she at first +thought of sending anonymously, but naturally feared it would not, in +that case, be credited. She therefore subscribed her name, though with +reluctance and terror, and consigned it in charge to a young man, who, +at leaving his farm to join the Chevalier's army, made it his petition +to her to have some sort of credentials to the Adventurer, from whom he +hoped to obtain a commission. +</p> +<p> +The letter reached Charles Edward on his descent to the Lowlands, and, +aware of the political importance of having it supposed that he was in +correspondence with the English Jacobites, he caused the most positive +orders to be transmitted to Donald Bean Lean, to transmit Waverley, safe +and uninjured in person or effects, to the governor of Doune Castle. The +freebooter durst not disobey, for the army of the Prince was now so near +him that punishment might have followed; besides, he was a politician +as well as a robber, and was unwilling to cancel the interest created +through former secret services, by being refractory on this occasion. +He therefore made a virtue of necessity, and transmitted orders to his +lieutenant to convey Edward to Doune, which was safely accomplished +in the mode mentioned in a former chapter. The governor of Doune was +directed to send him to Edinburgh as a prisoner, because the Prince was +apprehensive that Waverley, if set at liberty, might have resumed his +purpose of returning to England, without affording him an opportunity +of a personal interview. In this, indeed, he acted by the advice of the +Chieftain of Glennaquoich, with whom it may be remembered the Chevalier +communicated upon the mode of disposing of Edward, though without +telling him how he came to learn the place of his confinement. +</p> +<p> +This, indeed, Charles Edward considered as a lady's secret; for although +Rose's letter was couched in the most cautious and general terms, and +professed to be written merely from motives of humanity, and zeal for +the Prince's service, yet she expressed so anxious a wish that she +should not be known to have interfered, that the Chevalier was induced +to suspect the deep interest which she took in Waverley's safety. This +conjecture, which was well founded, led, however, to false inferences. +For the emotion which Edward displayed on approaching Flora and Rose at +the ball of Holyrood, was placed by the Chevalier to the account of the +latter, and he concluded that the Baron's views about the settlement of +his property, or some such obstacle, thwarted their mutual inclinations. +Common fame, it is true, frequently gave Waverley to Miss Mac-Ivor; but +the Prince knew that common fame is very prodigal in such gifts; and, +watching attentively the behaviour of the ladies towards Waverley, he +had no doubt that the young Englishman had no interest with Flora, +and was beloved by Rose Bradwardine. Desirous to bind Waverley to his +service, and wishing also to do a kind and friendly action, the Prince +next assailed the Baron on the subject of settling his estate upon his +daughter. Mr. Bradwardine acquiesced; but the consequence was, that +Fergus was immediately induced to prefer his double suit for a wife and +an earldom, which the Prince rejected in the manner we have seen. The +Chevalier, constantly engaged in his own multiplied affairs, had not +hitherto sought any explanation with Waverley, though often meaning to +do so. But after Fergus's declaration, he saw the necessity of appearing +neutral between the rivals, devoutly hoping that the matter, which now +seemed fraught with the seeds of strife, might be permitted to lie over +till the termination of the expedition. When on the march to Derby, +Fergus, being questioned concerning his quarrel with Waverley, alleged +as the cause, that Edward was desirous of retracting the suit he made to +his sister, the Chevalier plainly told him, that he had himself observed +Miss Mac-Ivor's behaviour to Waverley, and that he was convinced Fergus +was under the influence of a mistake in judging of Waverley's conduct, +who, he had every reason to believe, was engaged to Miss Bradwardine. +The quarrel which ensued between Edward and the chieftain is, I hope, +still in the remembrance of the reader. These circumstances will serve +to explain such points of our narrative as, according to the custom of +story-tellers, we deemed it fit to leave unexplained, for the purpose of +exciting the reader's curiosity. +</p> +<p> +When Janet had once finished the leading facts of this narrative, +Waverley was easily enabled to apply the clue which they afforded, +to other mazes of the labyrinth in which he had been engaged. To Rose +Bradwardine, then, he owed the life which he now thought he could +willingly have laid down to serve her. A little reflection convinced +him, however, that to live for her sake was more convenient and +agreeable, and that, being possessed of independence, she might share +it with him either in foreign countries or in his own. The pleasure of +being allied to a man of the Baron's high worth, and who was so much +valued by his uncle Sir Everard, was also an agreeable consideration, +had anything been wanting to recommend the match. His absurdities, which +had appeared grotesquely ludicrous during his prosperity, seemed, in the +sunset of his fortune, to be harmonized and assimilated with the noble +features of his character, so as to add peculiarity without exciting +ridicule. His mind occupied with such projects of future happiness, +Edward sought Little Veolan, the habitation of Mr. Duncan Macwheeble. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0067"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXVI +</h2> +<pre> + Now is Cupid like a child of conscience—he makes + restitution.—SHAKESPEARE. +</pre> +<p> +Mr. Duncan Macwheeble, no longer Commissary or Bailie, though still +enjoying the empty name of the latter dignity, had escaped +proscription by an early secession from the insurgent party and by his +insignificance. +</p> +<p> +Edward found him in his office, immersed among papers and accounts. +Before him was a large bicker of oatmeal-porridge, and at the side +thereof, a horn-spoon and a bottle of two-penny. Eagerly running his eye +over a voluminous law-paper, he from time to time shovelled an +immense spoonful of these nutritive viands into his capacious mouth. A +pot-bellied Dutch bottle of brandy which stood by, intimated either that +this honest limb of the law had taken his morning already, or that +he meant to season his porridge with such digestive; or perhaps +both circumstances might reasonably be inferred. His night-cap and +morning-gown had whilome been of tartan, but, equally cautious and +frugal, the honest Bailie had got them dyed black, lest their original +ill-omened colour might remind his visitors of his unlucky excursion to +Derby. To sum up the picture, his face was daubed with snuff up to the +eyes, and his fingers with ink up to the knuckles. He looked dubiously +at Waverley as he approached the little green rail which fenced his desk +and stool from the approach of the vulgar. Nothing could give the Bailie +more annoyance than the idea of his acquaintance being claimed by any +of the unfortunate gentlemen who were now so much more likely to +need assistance than to afford profit. But this was the rich young +Englishman—who knew what might be his situation?—he was the Baron's +friend too—what was to be done? +</p> +<p> +While these reflections gave an air of absurd perplexity to the poor +man's visage, Waverley, reflecting on the communication he was about to +make to him, of a nature so ridiculously contrasted with the appearance +of the individual, could not help bursting out a-laughing, as he checked +the propensity to exclaim with Syphax— +</p> +<pre> + Cato's a proper person to entrust + A love-tale with. +</pre> +<p> +As Mr. Macwheeble had no idea of any person laughing heartily who was +either encircled by peril or oppressed by poverty, the hilarity of +Edward's countenance greatly relieved the embarrassment of his own, and, +giving him a tolerably hearty welcome to Little Veolan, he asked what +he would choose for breakfast. His visitor had, in the first place, +something for his private ear, and begged leave to bolt the door. +Duncan by no means liked this precaution, which savoured of danger to be +apprehended; but he could not now draw back. +</p> +<p> +Convinced he might trust this man, as he could make it his interest +to be faithful, Edward communicated his present situation and future +schemes to Macwheeble. The wily agent listened with apprehension when +he found Waverley was still in a state of proscription—was somewhat +comforted by learning that he had a passport—rubbed his hands with glee +when he mentioned the amount of his present fortune—opened huge eyes +when he heard the brilliancy of his future expectations; but when +he expressed his intention to share them with Miss Rose Bradwardine, +ecstasy had almost deprived the honest man of his senses. The Bailie +started from his three-footed stool like the Pythoness from her tripod; +flung his best wig out of the window, because the block on which it was +placed stood in the way of his career; chucked his cap to the ceiling, +caught it as it fell; whistled Tullochgorum; danced a Highland fling +with inimitable grace and agility; and then threw himself exhausted into +a chair, exclaiming, 'Lady Wauverley!—ten thousand a year, the least +penny!—Lord preserve my poor understanding!' +</p> +<p> +'Amen, with all my heart,' said Waverley;—'but now, Mr. Macwheeble, let +us proceed to business.' This word had a somewhat sedative effect, but +the Bailie's head, as he expressed himself, was still 'in the bees.' +He mended his pen, however, marked half a dozen sheets of paper with an +ample marginal fold, whipped down Dallas of St. Martin's STYLES from +a shelf, where that venerable work roosted with Stair's INSTITUTIONS, +Dirleton's DOUBTS, Balfour's PRACTIQUES, and a parcel of old +account-books-opened the volume at the article Contract of Marriage, and +prepared to make what he called a 'sma' minute, to prevent parties frae +resiling. +</p> +<p> +With some difficulty, Waverley made him comprehend that he was going a +little too fast. He explained to him that he should want his assistance, +in the first place, to make his residence safe for the time, by writing +to the officer at Tully-Veolan, that Mr. Stanley, an English gentleman, +nearly related to Colonel Talbot, was upon a visit of business at +Mr. Macwheeble's, and, knowing the state of the country, had sent his +passport for Captain Foster's inspection. This produced a polite answer +from the officer, with an invitation to Mr. Stanley to dine with him, +which was declined (as may easily be supposed), under pretence of +business. +</p> +<p> +Waverley's next request was, that Mr. Macwheeble would dispatch a man +and horse to —, the post-town, at which Colonel Talbot was to address +him, with directions to wait there until the post should bring a letter +for Mr. Stanley, and then to forward it to Little Veolan with all speed. +In a moment, the Bailie was in search of his apprentice (or servitor, as +he was called Sixty Years since), Jock Scriever, and in not much greater +space of time, Jock was on the back of the white pony. +</p> +<p> +'Tak care ye guide him weel, sir, for he's aye been short in the wind +since—ahem—lord be gude to me!' (in a low voice) 'I was gaun to come +out wi'—since I rode whip and spur to fetch the Chevalier to redd +Mr. Wauverley and Vich Ian Vohr; and an uncanny coup I gat for my +pains.—Lord forgie your honour! I might hae broken my neck—but troth +it was in a venture, mae ways nor ane; but this maks amends for a'. Lady +Wauverley!—ten thousand a year!—Lord be gude unto me!' +</p> +<p> +'But you forget, Mr. Macwheeble, we want the Baron's consent—the +lady's—' +</p> +<p> +'Never fear, I'se be caution for them—I'se gie you my personal +warrandice—ten thousand a year! it dings Balmawhapple out and out—a +year's rent's worth a' Balmawhapple, fee and life-rent! Lord make us +thankful!' +</p> +<p> +To turn the current of his feelings, Edward inquired if he had heard +anything lately of the Chieftain of Glennaquoich? +</p> +<p> +'Not one word,' answered Macwheeble, 'but that he was still in Carlisle +Castle, and was soon to be panelled for his life. I dinna wish the young +gentleman ill,' he said, 'but I hope that they that hae got him will +keep him, and no let him back to this Hieland border to plague us wi' +blackmail, and a' manner o' violent, wrongous, and masterfu' oppression +and spoliation, both by himself and others of his causing, sending, and +hounding out:—and he couldna tak care o' the siller when he had gotten +it neither, but flung it a' into yon idle quean's lap at Edinburgh—but +light come light gane. For my part, I never wish to see a kilt in the +country again, nor a red-coat, nor a gun, for that matter, unless it +were to shoot a paitrick:—they're a' tarr'd wi' ae stick. And when +they have done ye wrang, even when ya hae gotten decreet of spuilzie, +oppression, and violent profits against them, what better are ye?—they +hae na a plack to pay ye; ye need never extract it.' +</p> +<p> +With such discourse, and the intervening topics of business, the time +passed until dinner, Macwheeble meanwhile promising to devise some mode +of introducing Edward at the Duchran, where Rose at present resided, +without risk of danger or suspicion; which seemed no very easy +task, since the laird was a very zealous friend to Government.—The +poultry-yard had been laid under requisition, and cockyleeky and Scotch +collops soon reeked in the Bailie's little parlour. The landlord's +corkscrew was just introduced into the muzzle of a pint-bottle of claret +(cribbed possibly from the cellars of Tully-Veolan), when the sight of +the grey pony, passing the window at full trot, induced the Bailie, +but with due precaution, to place it aside for the moment. Enter Jock +Scriever with a packet for Mr. Stanley: it is Colonel Talbot's seal; and +Edward's fingers tremble as he undoes it. Two official papers, folded, +signed, and sealed in all formality, drop out. They were hastily picked +up by the Bailie, who had a natural respect for everything resembling +a deed, and, glancing slily on their titles, his eyes, or rather +spectacles, are greeted with 'Protection by His Royal Highness to the +person of Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq. of that ilk, commonly +called Baron of Bradwardine, forfeited for his accession to the late +rebellion.' The other proves to be a protection of the same tenor in +favour of Edward Waverley, Esq. Colonel Talbot's letter was in these +words:— +</p> +<center> +'MY DEAR EDWARD, +</center> +<p> +'I am just arrived here, and yet I have finished my business; it has +cost me some trouble though, as you shall hear. I waited upon his Royal +Highness immediately on my arrival, and found him in no very good humour +for my purpose. Three or four Scotch gentlemen were just leaving his +levee. After he had expressed himself to me very courteously; "Would +you think it," he said, "Talbot? here have been half a dozen of the +most respectable gentlemen, and best friends to Government north of +the Forth,—Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, Rubrick of Duchran, and +others,—who have fairly wrung from me, by their downright importunity, +a present protection, and the promise of a future pardon, for that +stubborn old rebel whom they call Baron of Bradwardine. They allege that +his high personal character, and the clemency which he showed to such of +our people as fell into the rebels' hands, should weigh in his favour; +especially as the loss of his estate is likely to be a severe enough +punishment. Rubrick has undertaken to keep him at his own house till +things are settled in the country; but it's a little hard to be forced +in a manner to pardon such a mortal enemy to the House of Brunswick." +This was no favourable moment for opening my business:—however, I said +I was rejoiced to learn that his Royal Highness was in the course of +granting such requests, as it emboldened me to present one of the like +nature in my own name. He was very angry, but I persisted;—I mentioned +the uniform support of our three votes in the House, touched modestly +on services abroad, though valuable only in his Royal Highness's having +been pleased kindly to accept them, and founded pretty strongly on his +own expressions of friendship and goodwill. He was embarrassed, but +obstinate. I hinted the policy of detaching, on all future occasions, +the heir of such a fortune as your uncle's from the machinations of the +disaffected. But I made no impression. I mentioned the obligation which +I lay under to Sir Everard, and to you personally, and claimed, as the +sole reward of my services, that he would be pleased to afford me the +means of evincing my gratitude. I perceived that he still meditated a +refusal, and, taking my commission from my pocket, I said (as a last +resource), that as his Royal Highness did not, under these pressing +circumstances, think me worthy of a favour which he had not scrupled +to grant to other gentlemen, whose services I could hardly judge more +important than my own, I must beg leave to deposit, with all humility, +my commission in his Royal Highness's hands, and to retire from the +service. He was not prepared for this;—he told me to take up my +commission; said some handsome things of my services, and granted my +request. You are therefore once more a free man, and I have promised for +you that you will be a good boy in future, and remember what you owe to +the lenity of Government. Thus you see MY PRINCE can be as generous as +YOURS. I do not pretend, indeed, that he confers a favour with all the +foreign graces and compliments of your Chevalier errant; but he has a +plain English manner, and the evident reluctance with which he grants +your request, indicates the sacrifice which he makes of his own +inclination to your wishes. My friend, the adjutant-general, has +procured me a duplicate of the Baron's protection (the original being in +Major Melville's possession), which I send to you, as I know that if you +can find him you will have pleasure in being the first to communicate +the joyful intelligence. He will of course repair to the Duchran without +loss of time, there to ride quarantine for a few weeks. As for you, I +give you leave to escort him thither, and to stay a week there, as +I understand a certain fair lady is in that quarter. And I have the +pleasure to tell you, that whatever progress you can make in her good +graces will be highly agreeable to Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachel, who will +never believe your view and prospects settled, and the three ermines +passant in actual safety, until you present them with a Mrs. Edward +Waverley. Now, certain love-affairs of my own—a good many years +since—interrupted some measures which were then proposed in favour of +the three ermines passant; so I am bound in honour to make them amends. +Therefore make good use of your time, for when your week is expired, it +will be necessary that you go to London to plead your pardon in the law +courts. +</p> +<p> +'Ever, dear Waverley, yours most truly, +</p> +<center> +'PHILIP TALBOT.' +</center> +<a name="2HCH0068"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXVII +</h2> +<pre> + Happy 's the wooing + That's not long a-doing. +</pre> +<p> +When the first rapturous sensation occasioned by these excellent tidings +had somewhat subsided, Edward proposed instantly to go down to the glen +to acquaint the Baron with their import. But the cautious Bailie justly +observed, that if the Baron were to appear instantly in public, the +tenantry and villagers might become riotous in expressing their joy, +and give offence to 'the powers that be,' a sort of persons for whom +the Bailie always had unlimited respect. He therefore proposed that Mr. +Waverley should go to Janet Gellatley's, and bring the Baron up under +cloud of night to Little Veolan, where he might once more enjoy the +luxury of a good bed. In the meanwhile, he said, he himself would go +to Captain Foster, and show him the Baron's protection, and obtain his +countenance for harbouring him that night,—and he would have horses +ready on the morrow to set him on his way to the Duchran along with +Mr. Stanley, 'whilk denomination, I apprehend, your honour will for the +present retain,' said the Bailie. +</p> +<p> +'Certainly, Mr. Macwheeble; but will you not go down to the glen +yourself in the evening to meet your patron?' +</p> +<p> +'That I wad wi' a' my heart; and mickle obliged to your honour for +putting me in mind o' my bounden duty. But it will be past sunset afore +I get back frae the Captain's, and at these unsonsy hours the glen has +a bad name—there's something no that canny about auld Janet Gellatley. +The Laird he'll no believe thae things, but he was aye ower rash and +venturesome—and feared neither man nor deevil—and sae's seen o't. +But right sure am I Sir George Mackenyie says, that no divine can doubt +there are witches, since the Bible says thou shalt not suffer them +to live; and that no lawyer in Scotland can doubt it, since it is +punishable with death by our law. So there's baith law and gospel for +it. An his honour winna believe the Leviticus, he might aye believe +the Statute-book; but he may tak his ain way o't—it's a' ane to Duncan +Macwheeble. However, I shall send to ask up auld Janet this e'en; it 's +best no to lightly them that have that character—and we'll want Davie +to turn the spit, for I'll gar Eppie put down a fat goose to the fire +for your honours to your supper.' +</p> +<p> +When it was near sunset, Waverley hastened to the hut; and he could not +but allow that superstition had chosen no improper locality, or unfit +object, for the foundation of her fantastic terrors. It resembled +exactly the description of Spenser: +</p> +<pre> + There, in a gloomy hollow glen, she found. + A little cottage built of sticks and reeds, + In homely wise, and wall'd with sods around, + In which a witch did dwell in loathly weeds, + And wilful want, all careless of her needs; + So choosing solitary to abide + Far from all neighbours, that her devilish deeds, + And hellish arts, from people she might hide, + And hurt far off, unknown, whomsoever she espied. +</pre> +<p> +He entered the cottage with these verses in his memory. Poor old Janet, +bent double with age, and bleared with peat-smoke, was tottering about +the hut with a birch broom, muttering to herself as she endeavoured +to make her hearth and floor a little clean for the reception of her +expected guests. Waverley's step made her start, look up, and fall +a-trembling, so much had her nerves been on the rack for her patron's +safety. With difficulty Waverley made her comprehend that the Baron +was now safe from personal danger; and when her mind had admitted that +joyful news, it was equally hard to make her believe that he was not to +enter again upon possession of his estate. 'It behoved to be,' she said, +'he wad get it back again; naebody wad be sae gripple as to tak his gear +after they had gi'en him a pardon: and for that Inch-Grabbit, I could +whiles wish mysell a witch for his sake, if I werena feared the Enemy +wad tak me at my word.' Waverley then gave her some money, and promised +that her fidelity should be rewarded. 'How can I be rewarded, sir, sae +weel, as just to see my auld maister and Miss Rose come back and bruik +their ain?' +</p> +<p> +Waverley now took leave of Janet, and soon stood beneath the Baron's +Patmos. At a low whistle, he observed the veteran peeping out to +reconnoitre, like an old badger with his head out of his hole. 'Ye hae +come rather early, my good lad,' said he, descending; 'I question if the +red-coats hae beat the tattoo yet, and we're not safe till then.' +</p> +<p> +'Good news cannot be told too soon,' said Waverley; and with infinite +joy communicated to him the happy tidings. +</p> +<p> +The old man stood for a moment in silent devotion, then exclaimed, +'Praise be to God!—I shall see my bairn again.' +</p> +<p> +'And never, I hope, to part with her more,' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'I trust in God, not, unless it be to win the means of supporting her; +for my things are but in a bruckle state;—but what signifies warld's +gear?' +</p> +<p> +'And if,' said Waverley, modestly, 'there were a situation in life which +would put Miss Bradwardine beyond the uncertainty of fortune, and in +the rank to which she was born, would you object to it, my dear Baron, +because it would make one of your friends the happiest man in the +world?' The Baron turned, and looked at him with great earnestness. +'Yes,' continued Edward, 'I shall not consider my sentence of banishment +as repealed, unless you will give me permission to accompany you to the +Duchran, and—' +</p> +<p> +The Baron seemed collecting all his dignity to make a suitable reply to +what, at another time, he would have treated as the propounding a treaty +of alliance between the houses of Bradwardine and Waverley. But his +efforts were in vain; the father was too mighty for the Baron; the pride +of birth and rank were swept away: in the joyful surprise, a slight +convulsion passed rapidly over his features as he gave way to the +feelings of nature, threw his arms around Waverley's neck, and sobbed +out,—'My son! my son!—if I had been to search the world, I would have +made my choice here.' Edward returned the embrace with great sympathy of +feeling, and for a little while they both kept silence. At length it was +broken by Edward. But Miss Bradwardine?' +</p> +<p> +'She had never a will but her old father's; besides, you are a likely +youth, of honest principles and high birth; no, she never had any other +will than mine, and in my proudest days I could not have wished a mair +eligible espousal for her than the nephew of my excellent old friend, +Sir Everard.—But I hope, young man, ye deal na rashly in this matter? +I hope ye hae secured the approbation of your ain friends and allies, +particularly of your uncle, who is in LOCO PARENTIS? Ah! we maun tak +heed o' that.' Edward assured him that Sir Everard would think himself +highly honoured in the flattering reception his proposal had met with, +and that it had his entire approbation; in evidence of which, he put +Colonel Talbot's letter into the Baron's hand. The Baron read it with +great attention. 'Sir Everard,' he said, 'always despised wealth in +comparison of honour and birth; and indeed he had no occasion to court +the DIVA PECUNIA. Yet I now wish, since this Malcolm turns out such a +parricide, for I can call him no better, as to think of alienating the +family inheritance-I now wish' (his eyes fixed on a part of the roof +which was visible above the trees) 'that I could have left Rose the +auld hurley-house, and the riggs belanging to it.—And yet,' said he, +resuming more cheerfully, 'it's maybe as weel as it is; for, as Baron +of Bradwardine, I might have thought it my duty to insist upon certain +compliances respecting name and bearings, whilk now, as a landless laird +wi' a tocherless daughter, no one can blame me for departing from.' +</p> +<p> +'Now, Heaven be praised!' thought Edward, 'that Sir Everard does not +hear these scruples!—the three ermines passsat and rampant bear would +certainly have gone together by the ears.' He then, with all the ardour +of a young lover, assured the Baron, that he sought for his happiness +only in Rose's heart and hand, and thought himself as happy in her +father's simple approbation, as if he had settled an earldom upon his +daughter. +</p> +<p> +They now reached Little Veolan. The goose was smoking on the table, and +the Bailie brandished his knife and fork. A joyous greeting took place +between him and his patron. The kitchen, too, had its company. Auld +Janet was established at the ingle-nook; Davie had turned the spit +to his immortal honour; and even Ban and Buscar, in the liberality of +Macwheeble's joy, had been stuffed to the throat with food, and now lay +snoring on the floor. +</p> +<p> +The next day conducted the Baron and his young friend to the Duchran, +where the former was expected, in consequence of the success of the +nearly unanimous application of the Scottish friends of Government in +his favour. This had been so general and so powerful, that it was almost +thought his estate might have been saved, had it not passed into the +rapacious hands-of his unworthy kinsman, whose right, arising out of the +Baron's attainder, could not be affected by a pardon from the crown. +The old gentleman, however, said, with his usual spirit, he was +more gratified by the hold he possessed in the good opinion of his +neighbours, than he would have been in being 'rehabilitated and restored +IN INTEGRUM, had it been found practicable.' +</p> +<p> +We shall not attempt to describe the meeting of the father and +daughter,—loving each other so affectionately, and separated under such +perilous circumstances. Still less shall we attempt to analyse the deep +blush of Rose, at receiving the compliments of Waverley, or stop to +inquire whether she had any curiosity respecting the particular cause of +his journey to Scotland at that period. We shall not; even trouble the +reader with the humdrum details of a courtship Sixty Years since. It is +enough to say, that, under so strict a martinet as the Baron, all things +were conducted in due form. He took upon himself, the morning after +their arrival, the task of announcing the proposal of Waverley to Rose, +which she heard with a proper degree of maiden timidity. Fame does, +however, say, that Waverley had, the evening before, found five minutes +to apprize her of what was coming, while the rest of the company were +looking at three twisted serpents which formed a JET D'EAU in the +garden. +</p> +<p> +My fair readers will judge for themselves; but, for my part, I cannot +conceive how so important an affair could be communicated in so short a +space of time;—at least, it certainly took a full hour in the Baron's +mode of conveying it. +</p> +<p> +Waverley was now considered as a received lover in all the forms. He +was made, by dint of smirking and nodding on the part of the lady of +the house, to sit next to Miss Bradwardine at dinner, to be Miss +Bradwardine's partner at cards. If he came into the room, she of the +four Miss Rubricks who chanced to be next Rose, was sure to recollect +that her thimble, or her scissors, were at the other end of the room, +in order to leave the seat nearest to Miss Bradwardine vacant for his +occupation, And sometimes, if papa and mamma were not in the way to keep +them on their good behaviour, the misses would titter a little. The old +laird of Duchran would also have his occasional jest, and the old lady +her remark. Even the Baron could not refrain; but here Rose escaped +every embarrassment but that of conjecture, for his wit was usually +couched in a Latin quotation. The very footmen sometimes grinned too +broadly, the maid-servants giggled mayhap too loud, and a provoking +air of intelligence seemed to pervade the whole family. Alice Bean, the +pretty maid of the cavern, who, after her father's MISFORTUNE, as she +called it, had attended Rose as fille-de-chambre, smiled and smirked +with the best of them. Rose and Edward, however, endured all these +little vexatious circumstances as other folks have done before and +since, and probably contrived to obtain some indemnification, since they +are not supposed, on the whole, to have been particularly unhappy during +Waverley's six days' stay at the Duchran. +</p> +<p> +It was finally arranged that Edward should go to Waverley-Honour to make +the necessary arrangements for his marriage, thence to London to take +the proper measures for pleading his pardon, and return as soon as +possible to claim the hand of his plighted bride. He also intended in +his journey to visit Colonel Talbot; but, above all, it was his +most important object to learn the fate of the unfortunate Chief of +Glennaquoich; to visit him at Carlisle, and to try whether anything +could be done for procuring, if not a pardon, a commutation at least, or +alleviation, of the punishment to which he was almost certain of being +condemned;—and in case of the worst, to offer the miserable Flora an +asylum with Rose, or otherwise to assist her views in any mode which +might seem possible. The fate of Fergus seemed hard to be averted. +Edward had already striven to interest his friend Colonel Talbot in his +behalf; but had been given distinctly to understand, by his reply, that +his credit in matters of that nature was totally exhausted. +</p> +<p> +The Colonel was still in Edinburgh, and proposed to wait there for some +months upon business confided to him by the Duke of Cumberland. He was +to be joined by Lady Emily, to whom easy travelling and goat's whey +were recommended, and who was to journey northward, under the escort of +Francis Stanley. Edward, therefore, met the Colonel at Edinburgh, who +wished him joy in the kindest manner on his approaching happiness, and +cheerfully undertook many commissions which our hero was necessarily +obliged to delegate to his charge. But on the subject of Fergus he was +inexorable. He satisfied Edward, indeed, that his interference would +be unavailing; but besides, Colonel Talbot owned that he could not +conscientiously use any influence in favour of that unfortunate +gentleman. 'Justice,' he said, 'which demanded some penalty of those who +had wrapped the whole nation in fear and in mourning, could not perhaps +have selected a fitter victim, He came to the field with the fullest +light upon the nature of his attempt. He had studied and understood the +subject. His father's fate could not intimidate him; the lenity of the +laws which had restored to him his father's property and rights could +not melt him. That he was brave, generous, and possessed many good +qualities, only rendered him the more dangerous; that he was enlightened +and accomplished, made his crime the less excusable; that he was an +enthusiast in a wrong cause, only made him the more fit to be its +martyr. Above all, he had been the means of bringing many hundreds of +men into the field, who, without him, would never have broken the peace +of the country. +</p> +<p> +'I repeat it,' said the Colonel, 'though Heaven knows with a heart +distressed for him as an individual, that this young gentleman has +studied and fully understood the desperate game which he has played. +He threw for life or death, a coronet or a coffin; and he cannot now be +permitted, with justice to the country, to draw stakes because the dice +have gone against him.' +</p> +<p> +Such was the reasoning of those times, held even by brave and humane men +towards a vanquished enemy. Let us devoutly hope, that, in this respect +at least, we shall never see the scenes, or hold the sentiments, that +were general in Britain Sixty Years since. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0069"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXVIII: +</h2> +<pre> + To-morrow? Oh that's sudden! Spare him! spare him! + SHAKESPEARE. +</pre> +<p> +Edward, attended by his former servant Alick Polwarth, who had +re-entered his service at Edinburgh, reached Carlisle while the +commission of Oyer and Terminer on his unfortunate associates was yet +sitting. He had pushed forward in haste,—not, alas! with the most +distant hope of saving Fergus, but to see him for the last time. I ought +to have mentioned, that he had furnished funds for the defence of the +prisoners in the most liberal manner, as soon as he heard that the day +of trial was fixed. A solicitor, and the first counsel, accordingly +attended; but it was upon the same footing on which the first physicians +are usually summoned to the bedside of some dying man of rank;—the +doctors to take the advantage of some incalculable chance of an exertion +of nature—the lawyers to avail themselves of the barely possible +occurrence of some legal flaw. Edward pressed into the court, which was +extremely crowded; but by his arriving from the north, and his extreme +eagerness and agitation, it was supposed he was a relation of the +prisoners, and people made way for him. It was the third sitting of +the court, and there were two men at the bar. The verdict of GUILTY was +already pronounced. Edward just glanced at the bar during the momentous +pause which ensued. There was no mistaking the stately form and noble +features of Fergus Mac-Ivor, although his dress was squalid, and +his countenance tinged with the sickly yellow hue of long and close +imprisonment. By his side was Evan Maccombich. Edward felt sick and +dizzy as he gazed on them; but he was recalled to himself as the +Clerk of the Arraigns pronounced the solemn words: 'Fergus Mac-Ivor of +Glennaquoich, otherwise called Vich Ian Vohr, and Evan Mac-Ivor, in the +Dhu of Tarrascleugh, otherwise called Evan Dhu, otherwise called +Evan Maccombich, or Evan Dhu Maccombich—you, and each of you, stand +attainted of high treason. What have you to say for yourselves why the +Court should not pronounce judgement against you, that you die according +to law?' +</p> +<p> +Fergus, as the presiding Judge was putting on the fatal cap of +judgement, placed his own bonnet upon his head, regarded him with a +steadfast and stern look, and replied in a firm voice, 'I cannot let +this numerous audience suppose that to such an appeal I have no answer +to make. But what I have to say, you would not bear to hear, for my +defence would be your condemnation. Proceed, then, in the name of God, +to do what is permitted to you. Yesterday, and the day before, you have +condemned loyal and honourable blood to be poured forth like water. +Spare not mine. Were that of all my ancestors in my veins, I would have +peril'd it in this quarrel.' He resumed his seat, and refused again to +rise. +</p> +<p> +Evan Maccombich looked at him with great earnestness, and, rising +up, seemed anxious to speak; but the confusion of the court, and the +perplexity arising from thinking in a language different from that in +which he was to express himself, kept him silent. There was a murmur +of compassion among the spectators, from an idea that the poor fellow +intended to plead the influence of his superior as an excuse for his +crime. The Judge commanded silence, and encouraged Evan to proceed. +</p> +<p> +'I was only ganging to say, my lord,' said Evan, in what he meant to +be in an insinuating manner, 'that if your excellent honour, and the +honourable Court, would let Vich Ian Vohr go free just this once, and +let him gae back to France, and no to trouble King George's government +again, that ony six o' the very best of his clan will be willing to +be justified in his stead; and if you'll just let me gae down to +Glennaquoich, I'll fetch them up to ye mysel, to head or hang, and you +may begin wi' me the very first man.' +</p> +<p> +Notwithstanding the solemnity of the occasion, a sort of laugh was heard +in the court at the extraordinary nature of the proposal. The Judge +checked this indecency, and Evan, looking sternly around, when the +murmur abated, 'If the Saxon gentlemen are laughing,' he said, 'because +a poor man, such as me, thinks my life, or the life of six of my degree, +is worth that of Vich Ian Vohr, it's like enough they may be very right; +but if they laugh because they think I would not keep my word, and come +back to redeem him, I can tell them they ken neither the heart of a +Hielandman, nor the honour of a gentleman.' +</p> +<p> +There was no further inclination to laugh among the audience, and a dead +silence ensued. +</p> +<p> +The Judge then pronounced upon both prisoners the sentence of the law +of high treason, with all its horrible accompaniments. The execution was +appointed for the ensuing day. 'For you, Fergus Mac-Ivor,' continued +the Judge, 'I can hold out no hope of mercy. You must prepare +against to-morrow for your last sufferings here, and your great audit +hereafter.' +</p> +<p> +'I desire nothing else, my lord,' answered Fergus, in the same manly and +firm tone. +</p> +<p> +The hard eyes of Evan, which had been perpetually bent on his Chief, +were moistened with a tear. 'For you, poor ignorant man,' continued the +Judge, 'who, following the ideas in which you have been educated, have +this day given us a striking example how the loyalty due to the king +and state alone, is, from your unhappy ideas of clanship, transferred +to some ambitious individual, who ends by making you the tool of his +crimes—for you, I say, I feel so much compassion, that if you can make +up your mind to petition for grace, I will endeavour to procure if for +you. Otherwise—' +</p> +<p> +'Grace me no grace,' said Evan; 'since you are to shed Vich Ian Vohr's +blood, the only favour I would accept from you, is—to bid them loose my +hands and gie me my claymore, and bide you just a minute sitting where +you are!' +</p> +<p> +'Remove the prisoners,' said the Judge; 'his blood be upon his own +head.' +</p> +<p> +Almost stupefied with his feelings, Edward found that the rush of the +crowd had conveyed him out into the street, ere he knew what he was +doing.—His immediate wish was to see and speak with Fergus once more. +He applied at the Castle where his unfortunate friend was confined, but +was refused admittance. 'The High Sheriff,' a non-commissioned officer +said, 'had requested of the governor that none should be admitted to see +the prisoner excepting his confessor and his sister.' +</p> +<p> +'And where was Miss Mac-Ivor?' They gave him the direction, It was the +house of a respectable Catholic family near Carlisle. +</p> +<p> +Repulsed from the gate of the Castle, and not venturing to make +application to the High Sheriff or Judges in his own unpopular name, +he had recourse to the solicitor who came down in Fergus's behalf. This +gentleman told him, that it was thought the public mind was in danger of +being debauched by the account of the last moments of these persons, as +given by the friends of the Pretender; that there had been a resolution, +therefore, to exclude all such persons as had not the plea of near +kindred for attending upon them. Yet he promised (to oblige the heir of +Waverley-Honour) to get him an order for admittance to the prisoner the +next morning, before his irons were knocked off for execution. +</p> +<p> +'Is it of Fergus Mac-Ivor they speak thus,' thought Waverley 'or do I +dream? of Fergus, the bold, the chivalrous, the free-minded,—the lofty +chieftain of a tribe devoted to him? Is it he, that I have seen lead the +chase and head the attack,—the brave, the active, the young, the noble, +the love of ladies, and the theme of song,—is it he who is ironed like +a malefactor—who is to be dragged on a hurdle to the common gallows—to +die a lingering and cruel death, and to be mangled by the hand of the +most outcast of wretches? Evil indeed was the spectre that boded such a +fate as this to the brave Chief of Glennaquoich!' +</p> +<p> +With a faltering voice he requested the solicitor to find means to warn +Fergus of his intended visit, should he obtain permission to make it. He +then turned away from him, and, returning to the inn, wrote a scarcely +intelligible note to Flora Mac-Ivor, intimating his purpose to wait +upon her that evening. The messenger brought back a letter in Flora's +beautiful Italian hand, which seemed scarce to tremble even under this +load of misery. 'Miss Flora Mac-Ivor,' the letter bore, 'could not +refuse to see the dearest friend of her dear brother, even in her +present circumstances of unparalleled distress.' +</p> +<p> +When Edward reached Miss Mac-Ivor's present place of abode, he was +instantly admitted. In a large and gloomy tapestried apartment, Flora +was seated by a latticed window, sewing what seemed to be a garment of +white flannel. At a little distance sat an elderly woman, apparently +a foreigner, and of a religious order. She was reading in a book of +Catholic devotion; but when Waverley entered, laid it on the table and +left the room. Flora rose to receive him, and stretched out her hand, +but neither ventured to attempt speech. Her fine complexion was totally +gone; her person considerably emaciated; and her face and hands as white +as the purest statuary marble, forming a strong contrast with her sable +dress and jet-black hair. Yet, amid these marks of distress, there +was nothing negligent or ill-arranged about her attire; even her hair, +though totally without ornament, was disposed with her usual attention +to neatness. The first words she uttered were, 'Have you seen him?' +</p> +<p> +'Alas, no,' answered Waverley; 'I have been refused admittance.' +</p> +<p> +'It accords with the rest,' she said; 'but we must submit. Shall you +obtain leave, do you suppose?' +</p> +<p> +'For—for—to-morrow,' said Waverley; but muttering the last word so +faintly that it was almost unintelligible. +</p> +<p> +'Aye, then or never,' said Flora, 'until'—she added, looking upward, +'the time when, I trust, we shall all meet. But I hope you will see him +while earth yet bears him. He always loved you at his heart, though—but +it is vain to talk of the past.' +</p> +<p> +'Vain indeed!' echoed Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Or even of the future, my good friend,' said Flora, 'so far as earthly +events are concerned; for how often have I pictured to myself the strong +possibility of this horrid issue, and tasked myself to consider how I +could support my part; and yet how far has all my anticipation fallen +short of the unimaginable bitterness of this hour!' +</p> +<p> +'Dear Flora, if your strength of mind'— +</p> +<p> +'Aye, there it is,' she answered, somewhat wildly; 'there is, Mr. +Waverley, there is a busy devil at my heart, that whispers—but it were +madness to listen to it—that the strength of mind on which Flora prided +herself has murdered her brother!' +</p> +<p> +'Good God! how can you give utterance to a thought so shocking?' +</p> +<p> +'Aye, is it not so?—but yet it haunts me like a phantom: I know it is +unsubstantial and vain; but it will be present—will intrude its horrors +on my mind—will whisper that my brother, as volatile as ardent, would +have divided his energies amid a hundred objects. It was I who taught +him to concentrate them, and to gage all on this dreadful and desperate +cast. Oh that I could recollect that I had but once said to him, "He +that striketh with the sword shall die by the sword"; that I had but +once said, Remain at home; reserve yourself, your vassals, your life, +for enterprises within the reach of man. But oh, Mr. Waverley, I spurred +his fiery temper, and half of his ruin at least lies with his sister.' +</p> +<p> +The horrid idea which she had intimated, Edward endeavoured to combat by +every incoherent argument that occurred to him. He recalled to her the +principles on which both thought it their duty to act, and in which they +had been educated. +</p> +<p> +'Do not think I have forgotten them,' she said, looking up, with eager +quickness; 'I do not regret his attempt, because it was wrong—oh no! +on that point I am armed—but because it was impossible it could end +otherwise than thus.' +</p> +<p> +'Yet it did not always seem so desperate and hazardous as it was; and +it would have been chosen by the bold spirit of Fergus, whether you +had approved it or no; your counsels only served to give unity and +consistence to his conduct; to dignify, but not to precipitate his +resolution.' Flora had soon ceased to listen to Edward, and was again +intent upon her needlework. +</p> +<p> +'Do you remember,' she said, looking up with a ghastly smile, 'you +once found me making Fergus's bride-favours, and now I am sewing his +bridal-garment. Our friends here,' she continued, with suppressed +emotion, 'are to give hallowed earth in their chapel to the bloody +relies of the last Vich Ian Vohr. But they will not all rest together; +no—his head!—-I shall not have the last miserable consolation of +kissing the cold lips of my dear, dear Fergus!' +</p> +<p> +The unfortunate Flora here, after one or two hysterical sobs, fainted +in her chair. The lady, who had been attending in the ante-room, now +entered hastily, and begged Edward to leave the room, but not the house. +</p> +<p> +When he was recalled, after the space of nearly half an hour, he found +that, by a strong effort, Miss Mac-Ivor had greatly composed herself. It +was then he ventured to urge Miss Bradwardine's claim to be considered +as an adopted sister, and empowered to assist her plans for the future. +</p> +<p> +'I have had a letter from my dear Rose,' she replied, 'to the same +purpose. Sorrow is selfish and engrossing, or I would have written to +express that, even in my own despair, I felt a gleam of pleasure at +learning her happy prospects, and at hearing that the good old Baron has +escaped the general wreck. Give this to my dearest Rose; it is her poor +Flora's only ornament of value, and was the gift of a princess.' She put +into his hands a case containing the chain of diamonds with which she +used to decorate her hair. 'To me it is in future useless. The kindness +of my friends has secured me a retreat in the convent of the Scottish +Benedictine nuns in Paris. To-morrow—if indeed I can survive +to-morrow—I set forward on my journey with this venerable sister. And +now, Mr. Waverley, adieu! May you be as happy with Rose as your amiable +dispositions deserve!—and think sometimes on the friends you have lost. +Do not attempt to see me again; it would be mistaken kindness.' +</p> +<p> +She gave him her hand, on which Edward shed a torrent of tears, and, +with a faltering step, withdrew from the apartment, and returned to +the town of Carlisle. At the inn he found a letter from his law friend, +intimating that he would be admitted to Fergus next morning as soon as +the Castle gates were opened, and permitted to remain with him till the +arrival of the Sheriff gave signal for the fatal procession. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0070"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXIX +</h2> +<pre> + —A darker departure is near, + The death-drum is muffled, and sable the bier. + CAMPBELL. +</pre> +<p> +After a sleepless night, the first dawn of morning found Waverley on +the esplanade in front of the old Gothic gate of Carlisle Castle. But he +paced it long in every direction, before the hour when, according to the +rules of the garrison, the gates were opened and the drawbridge lowered. +He produced his order to the sergeant of the guard, and was admitted. +</p> +<p> +The place of Fergus's confinement was a gloomy and vaulted apartment +in the central part of the Castle—a huge old tower, supposed to be of +great antiquity, and surrounded by outworks, seemingly of Henry VIII's +time, or somewhat later. The grating of the large old-fashioned bars and +bolts, withdrawn for the purpose of admitting Edward, was answered by +the clash of chains, as the unfortunate Chieftain, strongly and heavily +fettered, shuffled along the stone floor of his prison, to fling himself +into his friend's arms. +</p> +<p> +'My dear Edward,' he said, in a firm, and even cheerful voice, 'this +is truly kind. I heard of your approaching happiness with the highest +pleasure. And how does Rose? and how is our old whimsical friend the +Baron? Well, I trust, since I see you at freedom—And how will you +settle precedence between the three ermines passant and the bear and +bootjack?' +</p> +<p> +'How, oh how, my dear Fergus, can you talk of such things at such a +moment!' +</p> +<p> +'Why, we have entered Carlisle with happier auspices, to be sure—on the +16th of November last, for example, when we marched in, side by side, +and hoisted the white flag on these ancient towers. But I am no boy, to +sit down and weep because the luck has gone against me. I knew the stake +which I risked; we played the game boldly, and the forfeit shall be paid +manfully. And now, since my time is short, let me come to the questions +that interest me most—The Prince? has he escaped the bloodhounds?' +</p> +<p> +'He has, and is in safety.' +</p> +<p> +'Praised be God for that! Tell me the particulars of his escape.' +</p> +<p> +Waverley communicated that remarkable history, so far as it had then +transpired, to which Fergus listened with deep interest. He then asked +after several other friends; and made many minute inquiries concerning +the fate of his own clansmen. They had suffered less than other tribes +who had been engaged in the affair; for, having in a great measure +dispersed and returned home after the captivity of their Chieftain, +according to the universal custom of the Highlanders, they were not in +arms when the insurrection was finally suppressed, and consequently were +treated with less rigour. This Fergus heard with great satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +'You are rich,' he said, 'Waverley, and you are generous. When you +hear of these poor Mac-Ivors being distressed about their miserable +possessions by some harsh overseer or agent of Government, remember you +have worn their tartan, and are an adopted son of their race. The Baron, +who knows our manners, and lives near our country, will apprize you of +the time and means to be their protector. Will you promise this to the +last Vich Ian Vohr?' +</p> +<p> +Edward, as may well be believed, pledged his word; which he afterwards +so amply redeemed, that his memory still lives in these glens by the +name of the Friend of the Sons of Ivor. +</p> +<p> +'Would to God,' continued the Chieftain, 'I could bequeath to you my +rights to the love and obedience of this primitive and brave race:—or +at least, as I have striven to do, persuade poor Evan to accept of +his life upon their terms, and be to you what he has been to me, the +kindest,—the bravest,—the most devoted—' +</p> +<p> +The tears which his own fate could not draw forth, fell fast for that of +his foster-brother. +</p> +<p> +'But,' said he, drying them, 'that cannot be. You cannot be to them Vich +Ian Vohr; and these three magic words,' said he, half smiling, 'are the +only Open Sesame to their feelings and sympathies, and poor Evan must +attend his foster-brother in death, as he has done through his whole +life.' +</p> +<p> +'And I am sure,' said Maccombich, raising himself from the floor, on +which, for fear of interrupting their conversation, he had lain so +still, that, in the obscurity of the apartment, Edward was not aware of +his presence,—'I am sure Evan never desired or deserved a better end +than just to die with his Chieftain.' +</p> +<p> +'And now,' said Fergus, 'while we are upon the subject of clanship—what +think you now of the prediction of the Bodach Glas?'—Then, before +Edward could answer, 'I saw him again last night—he stood in the slip +of moonshine, which fell from that high and narrow window towards my +bed. Why should I fear him, I thought—to-morrow, long ere this time, I +shall be as immaterial as he. "False Spirit!" I said, "art thou come to +close thy walks on earth, and to enjoy thy triumph in the fall of the +last descendant of thine enemy?" The spectre seemed to beckon and to +smile as he faded from my sight. What do you think of it?—I asked the +same question of the priest, who is a good and sensible man; he admitted +that the Church allowed that such apparitions were possible, but urged +me not to permit my mind to dwell upon it, as imagination plays us such +strange tricks. What do you think of it?' +</p> +<p> +'Much as your confessor,' said Waverley, willing to avoid dispute upon +such a point at such a moment. A tap at the door now announced that good +man, and Edward retired while he administered to both prisoners the last +rites of religion, in the mode which the Church of Rome prescribes. +</p> +<p> +In about an hour he was re-admitted; soon after, a file of soldiers +entered with a blacksmith, who struck the fetters from the legs of the +prisoners. +</p> +<p> +'You see the compliment they pay to our Highland strength and +courage—we have lain chained here like wild beasts, till our legs are +cramped into palsy, and when they free us, they send six soldiers with +loaded muskets to prevent our taking the castle by storm!' +</p> +<p> +Edward afterwards learned that these severe precautions had been taken +in consequence of a desperate attempt of the prisoners to escape, in +which they had very nearly succeeded. +</p> +<p> +Shortly afterwards the drums of the garrison beat to arms. 'This is the +last turn-out,' said Fergus, 'that I shall hear and obey. And now, my +dear, dear Edward, ere we part let us speak of Flora—a subject which +awakes the tenderest feeling that yet thrills within me.' +</p> +<p> +'We part not here!' said Waverley. +</p> +<p> +'Oh yes, we do; you must come no farther. Not that I fear what is to +follow for myself,' he said proudly: 'Nature has her tortures as well as +art; and how happy should we think the man who escapes from the throes +of a mortal and painful disorder, in the space of a short half hour? And +this matter, spin it out as they will, cannot last longer, But what +a dying man can suffer firmly, may kill a living friend to look +upon.—This same law of high treason,' he continued, with astonishing +firmness and composure, 'is one of the blessings, Edward, with +which your free country has accommodated poor old Scotland: her own +jurisprudence, as I have heard, was much milder. But I suppose one day +or other—when there are no longer any wild Highlanders to benefit by +its tender mercies—they will blot it from their records, as levelling +them with a nation of cannibals. The mummery, too, of exposing the +senseless head—they have not the wit to grace mine with a paper +coronet; there would be some satire in that, Edward. I hope they will +set it on the Scotch gate though, that I may look, even after death, +to the blue hills of my own country, which I love so dearly. The Baron +would have added, +</p> +<center> +MORITUR, ET MORIENS DULCES REMINISCITUR ARGOS.' +</center> +<p> +A bustle, and the sound of wheels and horses' feet, was now heard in the +courtyard of the Castle. 'As I have told you why you must not follow me, +and these sounds admonish me that my time flies fast, tell me how you +found poor Flora?' +</p> +<p> +Waverley, with a voice interrupted by suffocating sensations, gave some +account of the state of her mind. +</p> +<p> +'Poor Flora!' answered the Chief, 'she could have borne her own sentence +of death, but not mine. You, Waverley, will soon know the happiness of +mutual affection in the married state—long, long may Rose and you enjoy +it!—but you can never know the purity of feeling which combines two +orphans, like Flora and me, left alone as it were in the world, and +being all in all to each other from our very infancy. But her strong +sense of duty, and predominant feeling of loyalty, will give new nerve +to her mind after the immediate and acute sensation of this parting has +passed away. She will then think of Fergus as of the heroes of our race, +upon whose deeds she loved to dwell.' +</p> +<p> +'Shall she not see you, then?' asked Waverley. 'She seemed to expect +it.' +</p> +<p> +'A necessary deceit will spare her the last dreadful parting. I could +not part with her without tears, and I cannot bear that these men should +think they have power to extort them. She was made to believe she +would see me at a later hour, and this letter, which my confessor will +deliver, will apprize her that all is over.' +</p> +<p> +An officer now appeared, and intimated that the High Sheriff and his +attendants waited before the gate of the Castle, to claim the bodies of +Fergus Mac-Ivor and Evan Maccombich. 'I come,' said Fergus. Accordingly, +supporting Edward by the arm, and followed by Evan Dhu and the priest, +he moved down the stairs of the tower, the soldiers bringing up the +rear. The court was occupied by a squadron of dragoons and a battalion +of infantry, drawn up in hollow square. Within their ranks was the +sledge, or hurdle, on which the prisoners were to be drawn to the place +of execution, about a mile distant from Carlisle. It was painted +black, and drawn by a white horse. At one end of the vehicle sat the +Executioner, a horrid-looking fellow, as beseemed his trade, with the +broad axe in his hand; at the other end, next the horse, was an empty +seat for two persons. Through the deep and dark Gothic archway that +opened on the drawbridge, were seen on horseback the High Sheriff and +his attendants, whom the etiquette betwixt the civil and military powers +did not permit to come farther. 'This is well GOT UP for a closing +scene,' said Fergus, smiling disdainfully as he gazed around upon the +apparatus of terror. Evan Dhu exclaimed with some eagerness, after +looking at the dragoons, 'These are the very chields that galloped +off at Gladsmuir, before we could kill a dozen o' them. They look bold +enough now, however.' The priest entreated him to be silent. +</p> +<p> +The sledge now approached, and Fergus, turning round, embraced Waverley, +kissed him on each side of the face, and stepped nimbly into his place. +Evan sat down by his side. The priest was to follow in a carriage +belonging to his patron, the Catholic gentleman at whose house Flora +resided. As Fergus waved his hand to Edward, the ranks closed around +the sledge, and the whole procession began to move forward. There was a +momentary stop at the gateway, while the governor of the Castle and the +High Sheriff went through a short ceremony, the military officer there +delivering over the persons of the criminals to the civil power. 'God +save King George!' said the High Sheriff. When the formality concluded, +Fergus stood erect in the sledge, and with a firm and steady voice, +replied, 'God save King James!' These were the last words which Waverley +heard him speak. +</p> +<p> +The procession resumed its march, and the sledge vanished from beneath +the portal, under which it had stopped for an instant. The dead-march +was then heard, and its melancholy sounds were mingled with those of a +muffled peal, tolled from the neighbouring cathedral. The sound of the +military music died away as the procession moved on—the sullen clang of +the bells was soon heard to sound alone. +</p> +<p> +The last of the soldiers had now disappeared from under the vaulted +archway through which they had been filing for several minutes; the +courtyard was now totally empty, but Waverley still stood there as if +stupefied, his eyes fixed upon the dark pass where he had so lately +seen the last glimpse of his friend. At length, a female servant of the +governor's, struck with compassion at the stupefied misery which his +countenance expressed, asked him if he would not walk into her master's +house and sit down? She was obliged to repeat her question twice ere he +comprehended her, but at length it recalled him to himself. Declining +the courtesy by a hasty gesture, he pulled his hat over his eyes, and, +leaving the Castle, walked as swiftly as he could through the empty +streets, till he regained his inn, then rushed into an apartment, and +bolted the door. +</p> +<p> +In about an hour and a half, which seemed an age of unutterable +suspense, the sound of the drums and fifes, performing a lively air, and +the confused murmur of the crowd which now filled the streets, so lately +deserted, apprized him that all was finished, and that the military and +populace were returning from the dreadful scene. I will not attempt to +describe his sensations. +</p> +<p> +In the evening the priest made him a visit, and informed him that he +did so by directions of his deceased friend, to assure him that Fergus +Mac-Ivor had died as he lived, and remembered his friendship to the +last. He added, he had also seen Flora, whose state of mind seemed more +composed since all was over. With her and Sister Theresa, the priest +proposed next day to leave Carlisle, for the nearest seaport from which +they could embark for France. Waverley forced on this good man a ring +of some value, and a sum of money to be employed (as he thought might +gratify Flora) in the services of the Catholic Church, for the memory of +his friend. 'FUNGARQUE INANI MUNERE,' he repeated, as the ecclesiastic +retired. 'Yet why not class these acts of remembrance with other +honours, with which affection, in all sects, pursues the memory of the +dead?' +</p> +<p> +The next morning, ere daylight, he took leave of the town of Carlisle, +promising to himself never again to enter its walls. He dared hardly +look back towards the Gothic battlements of the fortified gate under +which he passed (for the place is surrounded with an old wall). 'They're +no there,' said Alick Polwarth, who guessed the cause of the dubious +look which Waverley cast backward, and who, with the vulgar appetite for +the horrible, was master of each detail of the butchery—'the heads are +ower the Scotch yate, as they ca' it. It's a great pity of Evan Dhu, +who was a very weel-meaning, good-natured man, to be a Hielandman; and +indeed so was the Laird o' Glennaquoich too, for that matter, when he +wasna in ane o' his tirrivies. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0071"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXX +</h2> +<h3> + DOLCE DOMUM +</h3> +<p> +The impression of horror with which Waverley left Carlisle softened +by degrees into melancholy—a gradation which was accelerated by the +painful, yet soothing, task of writing to Rose; and, while he could not +suppress his own feelings of the calamity, he endeavoured to place it +in a light which might grieve her without shocking her imagination. The +picture which he drew for her benefit he gradually familiarized to his +own mind; and his next letters were more cheerful, and referred to the +prospects of peace and happiness which lay before them. Yet, though his +first horrible sensations had sunk into melancholy, Edward had reached +his native county before he could, as usual on former occasions, look +round for enjoyment upon the face of nature. +</p> +<p> +He then, for the first time since leaving Edinburgh, began to experience +that pleasure which almost all feel who return to a verdant, populous, +and highly cultivated country, from scenes of waste desolation, or of +solitary and melancholy grandeur. But how were those feelings enhanced +when he entered on the domain so long possessed by his forefathers; +recognized the old oaks of Waverley-Chase; thought with what delight he +should introduce Rose to all his favourite haunts; beheld at length the +towers of the venerable hall arise above the woods which embowered it, +and finally threw himself into the arms of the venerable relations to +whom he owed so much duty and affection! +</p> +<p> +The happiness of their meeting was not tarnished by a single word of +reproach. On the contrary, whatever pain Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachel had +felt during Waverley's perilous engagement with the young Chevalier, it +assorted too well with the principles in which they had been brought up, +to incur reprobation, or even censure. Colonel Talbot also had smoothed +the way, with great address, for Edward's favourable reception, +by dwelling upon his gallant behaviour in the military character, +particularly his bravery and generosity at Preston; until, warmed at the +idea of their nephew's engaging in single combat, making prisoner, +and saving from slaughter, so distinguished an officer as the Colonel +himself, the imagination of the Baronet and his sister ranked the +exploits of Edward with those of Wilibert, Hildebrand, and Nigel, the +vaunted heroes of their line. +</p> +<p> +The appearance of Waverley, embrowned by exercise, and dignified by +the habits of military discipline, had acquired an athletic and +hardy character, which not only verified the Colonel's narration, but +surprised and delighted all the inhabitants of Waverley-Honour. They +crowded to see, to hear him, and to sing his praises. Mr. Pembroke, who +secretly extolled his spirit and courage in embracing the genuine cause +of the Church of England, censured his pupil gently, nevertheless, +for being so careless of his manuscripts, which indeed, he said, had +occasioned him some personal inconvenience, as, upon the Baronet's being +arrested by a king's messenger, he had deemed it prudent to retire to a +concealment called 'The Priest's Hole,' from the use it had been put to +in former days; where, he assured our hero, the butler had thought it +safe to venture with food only once in the day, so that he had been +repeatedly compelled to dine upon victuals either absolutely cold, or, +what was worse, only half warm, not to mention that sometimes his +bed had not been arranged for two days together. Waverley's mind +involuntarily turned to the Patmos of the Baron of Bradwardine, who was +well pleased with Janet's fare, and a few bunches of straw stowed in +a cleft in the front of a sand-cliff: but he made no remarks upon a +contrast which could only mortify his worthy tutor. +</p> +<p> +All was now in a bustle to prepare for the nuptials of Edward, an event +to which the good old Baronet and Mrs. Rachel looked forward as if +to the renewal of their own youth. The match, as Colonel Talbot had +intimated, had seemed to them in the highest degree eligible, having +every recommendation but wealth, of which they themselves had more than +enough. Mr. Clippurse was therefore summoned to Waverley-Honour, under +better auspices than at the commencement of our story. But Mr. Clippurse +came not alone; for, being now stricken in years, he had associated with +him a nephew, a younger vulture (as our English Juvenal, who tells +the tale of Swallow the attorney, might have called him), and they +now carried on business as Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem. These worthy +gentlemen had directions to make the necessary settlements on the most +splendid scale of liberality, as if Edward were to wed a peeress in her +own right, with her paternal estate tacked to the fringe of her ermine. +</p> +<p> +But before entering upon a subject of proverbial delay, I must remind my +reader of the progress of a stone rolled down hill by an idle truant boy +(a pastime at which I was myself expert in my more juvenile years): +it moves at first slowly, avoiding by inflection every obstacle of the +least importance; but when it has attained its full impulse, and draws +near the conclusion of its career, it smokes and thunders down, taking +a rood at every spring, clearing hedge and ditch like a Yorkshire +huntsman, and becoming most furiously rapid in its course when it is +nearest to being consigned to rest for ever. Even such is the course +of a narrative like that which you are perusing. The earlier events are +studiously dwelt upon, that you, kind reader, may be introduced to +the character rather by narrative, than by the duller medium of direct +description; but when the story draws near its close, we hurry over +the circumstances, however important, which your imagination must have +forestalled, and leave you to suppose those things which it would be +abusing your patience to relate at length. +</p> +<p> +We are, therefore, so far from attempting to trace the dull progress of +Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem, or that of their worthy official brethren, +who had the charge of suing out the pardons of Edward Waverley and +his intended father-in-law, that we can but touch upon matters more +attractive. The mutual epistles, for example, which were exchanged +between Sir Everard and the Baron upon this occasion, though matchless +specimens of eloquence in their way, must be consigned to merciless +oblivion. Nor can I tell you at length, how worthy Aunt Rachel, not +without a delicate and affectionate allusion to the circumstances which +had transferred Rose's maternal diamonds to the hands of Donald Bean +Lean, stocked her casket with a set of jewels that a duchess might have +envied. Moreover, the reader will have the goodness to imagine that Job +Houghton and his dame were suitably provided for, although they could +never be persuaded that their son fell otherwise than fighting by the +young squire's side; so that Alick, who, as a lover of truth, had made +many needless attempts to expound the real circumstances to them, was +finally ordered to say not a word more upon the subject. He indemnified +himself, however, by the liberal allowance of desperate battles, +grisly executions, and rawhead and bloody-bone stories, with which he +astonished the servants' hall. +</p> +<p> +But although these important matters may be briefly told in narrative, +like a newspaper report of a Chancery suit, yet, with all the urgency +which Waverley could use, the real time which the law proceedings +occupied, joined to the delay occasioned by the mode of travelling at +that period, rendered it considerably more than two months ere Waverley, +having left England, alighted once more at the mansion of the Laird of +Duchran to claim the hand of his plighted bride. +</p> +<p> +The day of his marriage was fixed for the sixth after his arrival. The +Baron of Bradwardine, with whom bridals, christenings, and funerals, +were festivals of high and solemn import, felt a little hurt, that, +including the family of the Duchran, and all the immediate vicinity who +had title to be present on such an occasion, there could not be above +thirty persons collected. 'When he was married,' he observed, 'three +hundred horse of gentlemen born, besides servants, and some score or +two of Highland lairds, who never got on horseback, were present on the +occasion.' +</p> +<p> +But his pride found some consolation in reflecting, that he and his +son-in-law having been so lately in arms against Government, it, might +give matter of reasonable fear and offence to the ruling powers, if +they were to collect together the kith, kin, and allies of their houses, +arrayed in effeir of war, as was the ancient custom of Scotland on these +occasions—'And, without dubitation,' he concluded with a sigh, 'many of +those who would have rejoiced most freely upon these joyful espousals, +are either gone to a better place, or are now exiles from their native +land.' +</p> +<p> +The marriage took place on the appointed day. The Reverend Mr. Rubrick, +kinsman to the proprietor of the hospitable mansion where it was +solemnized, and chaplain to the Baron of Bradwardine, had the +satisfaction to unite their hands; and Frank Stanley acted as bridesman, +having joined Edward with that view soon after his arrival. Lady Emily +and Colonel Talbot had proposed being present; but Lady Emily's health, +when the day approached, was found inadequate to the journey. In amends, +it was arranged that Edward Waverley and his lady, who, with the Baron, +proposed an immediate journey to Waverley-Honour, should, in their way, +spend a few days at an estate which Colonel Talbot had been tempted to +purchase in Scotland as a very great bargain, and at which he proposed +to reside for some time. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0072"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXXI +</h2> +<pre> + This is no mine ain house, I ken by the bigging o't'. + —OLD SONG. +</pre> +<p> +The nuptial party travelled in great style. There was a coach and six +after the newest pattern, which Sir Everard had presented to his nephew, +that dazzled with its splendour the eyes of one half of Scotland; there +was the family coach of Mr. Rubrick;—both these were crowded with +ladies, and there were gentlemen on horseback, with their servants, to +the number of a round score. Nevertheless, without having the fear +of famine before his eyes, Bailie Macwheeble met them in the road, to +entreat that they would pass by his house at Little Veolan. The Baron +stared, and said his son and he would certainly ride by Little Veolan, +and pay their compliments to the Bailie, but could not think of bringing +with them the 'haill COMITATUS NUPTIALIS, or matrimonial procession.' +He added, 'that, as he understood that the barony had been sold by +its unworthy possessor, he was glad to see his old friend Duncan had +regained his situation under the new DOMINUS, or proprietor.' The +Bailie ducked, bowed, and fidgeted, and then again insisted upon his +invitation; until the Baron, though rather piqued at the pertinacity of +his instances, could not nevertheless refuse to consent, without making +evident sensations which he was anxious to conceal. +</p> +<p> +He fell into a deep study as they approached the top of the avenue, +and was only startled from it by observing that the battlements were +replaced, the ruins cleared sway, and (most wonderful of all) that +the two great stone Bears, those mutilated Dagons of his idolatry, had +resumed their posts over the gateway. 'Now this new proprietor,' said he +to Edward, 'has shown mair gusto, as the Italians call it, in the short +time he has had this domain, than that hound Malcolm, though I bred him +here mysell, has acquired VITA ADHUC DURANTE.—and now I talk of hounds, +is not yon Ban and Buscar, who come scouping up the avenue with Davie +Gallatley?' +</p> +<p> +'I vote we should go to meet them, sir,' said Waverley, 'for I believe +the present master of the house is Colonel Talbot, who will expect to +see us. We hesitated to mention to you at first that he had purchased +your ancient patrimonial property, and even yet, if you do not incline +to visit him, we can pass on to the Bailie's.' +</p> +<p> +The Baron had occasion for all his magnanimity. However, he drew a long +breath, took a long snuff, and observed, since they had brought him so +far, he could not pass the Colonel's gate, and he would be happy to see +the new master of his old tenants. He alighted accordingly, as did the +other gentlemen and ladies;—he gave his arm to his daughter, and as +they descended the avenue, pointed out to her how speedily the 'DIVA +PECUNIA of the Southron—their tutelary deity, he might call her—had +removed the marks of spoliation.' +</p> +<p> +In truth, not only had the felled trees been removed, but, their stumps +being grubbed up, and the earth round them levelled and sown with grass, +every mark of devastation, unless to an eye intimately acquainted +with the spot, was already totally obliterated. There was a similar +reformation in the outward man of Davie Gellatley, who met them, every +now and then stopping to admire the new suit which graced his person, In +the same colours as formerly, but bedizened fine enough to have served +Touchstone himself. He danced up with his usual ungainly frolics, first +to the Baron, and then to Rose, passing his hands over his clothes, +crying, 'BRA', BRA' DAVIE,' and scarce able to sing a bar to an end of +his thousand-and-one songs, for the breathless extravagance of his joy. +The dogs also acknowledged their old master with a thousand gambols. +'Upon my conscience, Rose,' ejaculated the Baron, 'the gratitude o' thae +dumb brutes, and of that puir innocent, brings the tears into my auld +een, while that schellum Malcolm—but I'm obliged to Colonel Talbot for +putting my hounds into such good condition, and likewise for puir Davie. +But, Rose, my dear, we must not permit them to be a liferent burden upon +the estate.' +</p> +<p> +As he spoke, Lady Emily, leaning upon the arm of her husband, met the +party at the lower gate, with a thousand welcomes. After the ceremony +of introduction had been gone through, much abridged by the ease and +excellent breeding of Lady Emily, she apologized for having used a +little art to wile them back to a place which might awaken some painful +reflections—'But as it was to change masters, we were very desirous +that the Baron'— +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Bradwardine, madam, if you please,' said the old gentleman. +</p> +<p> +'—Mr. Bradwardine, then, and Mr. Waverley, should see what we have done +towards restoring the mansion of your fathers to its former state.' +</p> +<p> +The Baron answered with a low bow. Indeed, when he entered the court, +excepting that the heavy stables, which had been burnt down, were +replaced by buildings of a lighter and more picturesque appearance, all +seemed as much as possible restored to the state in which he had left +it when he assumed arms some months before. The pigeon-house was +replenished; the fountain played with its usual activity; and not +only the Bear who predominated over its basin, but all the other Bears +whatsoever, were replaced on their several stations, and renewed or +repaired with so much care, that they bore no tokens of the violence +which had so lately descended upon them. While these minutiae had been +so heedfully attended to, it is scarce necessary to add, that the house +itself had been thoroughly repaired, as well as the gardens, with the +strictest attention to maintain the original character of both, and +to remove, as far as possible, all appearance of the ravage they had +sustained. The Baron gazed in silent wonder; at length he addressed +Colonel Talbot: +</p> +<p> +'While I acknowledge my obligation to you, sir, for the restoration +of the badge of our family, I cannot but marvel that you have nowhere +established your own crest, whilk is, I believe, a mastiff, anciently +called a talbot; as the poet has it, +</p> +<p> +A talbot strong—a sturdy tyke. +</p> +<p> +At least such a dog is the crest of the martial and renowned Earls of +Shrewsbury, to whom your family are probably blood relations.' +</p> +<p> +'I believe,' said the Colonel, smiling, 'our dogs are whelps of the same +litter: for my part, if crests were to dispute precedence, I should be +apt to let them, as the proverb says, "fight dog, fight bear."' +</p> +<p> +As he made this speech, at which the Baron took another long pinch of +snuff, they had entered the house—that is, the Baron, Rose, and Lady +Emily, with young Stanley and the Bailie, for Edward and the rest of the +party remained on the terrace, to examine a new greenhouse stocked with +the finest plants. The Baron resumed his favourite topic: 'However it +may please you to derogate from the honour of your burgonet, Colonel +Talbot, which is doubtless your humour, as I have seen in other +gentlemen of birth and honour in your country, I must again repeat it +as a most ancient and distinguished bearing, as well as that of my young +friend Francis Stanley, which is the eagle and child.' +</p> +<p> +'The bird and bantling they call it in Derbyshire, sir,' said Stanley. +</p> +<p> +'Ye're a daft callant, sir,' said the Baron, who had a great liking to +this young man, perhaps because he sometimes teased him—'Ye're a daft +callant, and I must correct you some of these days,' shaking his great +brown fist at him. 'But what I meant to say, Colonel Talbot, is, that +yours is an ancient PROSAPIA, or descent, and since you have lawfully +and justly acquired the estate for you and yours, which I have lost for +me and mine, I wish it may remain in your name as many centuries as it +has done in that of the late proprietor's.' +</p> +<p> +'That,' answered the Colonel, 'is very handsome, Mr. Bradwardine, +indeed.' +</p> +<p> +'And yet, sir, I cannot but marvel that you, Colonel, whom I noted to +have so much of the AMOR PATRIAE, when we met in Edinburgh, as even to +vilipend other countries, should have chosen to establish your Lares, or +household gods, PROCUL A PATRIEA FINIBUS, and in a manner to expatriate +yourself.' +</p> +<p> +'Why really, Baron, I do not see why, to keep the secret of these +foolish boys, Waverley and Stanley, and of my wife, who is no wiser, one +old soldier should continue to impose upon another. You must know, +then, that I have so much of that same prejudice in favour of my native +country, that the sum of money which I advanced to the seller of this +extensive barony has only purchased for me a box in —shire, called +Brerewood Lodge, with about two hundred and fifty acres of land, +the chief merit of which is, that it is within a very few miles of +Waverley-Honour.' +</p> +<p> +'And who, then, in the name of Haven, has bought this property?' +</p> +<p> +'That,' said the Colonel,' it is this gentleman's profession to +explain.' +</p> +<p> +The Bailie, whom this reference regarded, and who had all this while +shifted from one foot to another with great impatience, 'like a hen,' +as he afterwards said, 'upon a het girdle'; and chuckling, he might have +added, like the said hen in all the glory of laying an egg—now pushed +forward: 'That I can, that I can, your Honour,' drawing from his pocket +a budget of papers, and untying the red tape with a hand trembling +with eagerness. 'Here is the disposition and assignation, by Malcolm +Bradwardine of Inch-Grabbit, regularly signed and tested in terms of +the statute, whereby, for a certain sum of sterling money presently +contented and paid to him, he has disponed, alienated, and conveyed the +whole estate and barony of Bradwardine, Tully-Veolan, and others, with +the fortalice and manor-place—' +</p> +<p> +'For God's sake, to the point, sir—I have all that by heart,' said the +Colonel. +</p> +<p> +'To Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq.' pursued the Bailie, 'his heirs and +assignees, simply and irredeemably—to be held either A ME VEL DE ME—' +</p> +<p> +'Pray read short, sir.' +</p> +<p> +'On the conscience of an honest man, Colonel, I read as short as is +consistent with style.—Under the burden and reservation always— +</p> +<p> +'Mr. Macwheeble, this would outlast a Russian winter—give me leave. In +short, Mr. Bradwardine, your family estate is your own once more in full +property, and at your absolute disposal, but only burdened with the sum +advanced to repurchase it, which I understand is utterly disproportioned +to its value. +</p> +<p> +'An auld sang—an auld sang, if it please your Honours,' cried the +Bailie, rubbing his hands; 'look at the rental book.' +</p> +<p> +'Which sum being advanced by Mr. Edward Waverley, chiefly from the price +of his father's property which I bought from him, is secured to his lady +your daughter, and her family by this marriage.' +</p> +<p> +'It is a catholic security,' shouted the Bailie, 'to Rose Comyne +Bradwardine, ALIAS Wauverley, in liferent, and the children of the +said marriage in fee; and I made up a wee bit minute of an ante-nuptial +contract, INTUITU MATRIMONII, so it cannot be subject to reduction +hereafter, as a donation INTER VIRUM ET UXOREM.' +</p> +<p> +It is difficult to say whether the worthy Baron was most delighted +with the restitution of his family property, or with the delicacy and +generosity that left him unfettered to pursue his purpose in disposing +of it after his death, and which avoided, as much as possible, even +the appearance of laying him under pecuniary obligation. When his first +pause of joy and astonishment was over, his thoughts turned to the +unworthy heir-male, who, he pronounced, 'had sold his birthright, like +Esau, for a mess o' pottage.' +</p> +<p> +'But wha cookit the parritch for him?' exclaimed the Bailie; 'I wad like +to ken that—wha but your Honour's to command, Duncan Macwheeble? +His Honour, young Mr. Wauverley, put it a' into my hand frae the +beginning—frae the first calling o' the summons, as I may say. I +circumvented them—I played at bogle about the bush wi' them—I cajoled +them; and if I havena gien Inch-Grabbit and Jamie Howie a bonnie begunk, +they ken themselves. Him a writer! I didna gea slapdash to them wi' our +young bra' bridegroom, to gar them haud up the market; na, na; I scared +them wi' our wild tenantry, and the Mac-Ivors, that are but ill settled +yet, till they durstna on ony errand whatsoever gang ower the +doorstane after gloaming, for fear John Heatherblutter, or some siccan +dare-the-deil, should tak a baff at them: then, on the other hand, I +beflumm'd them wi' Colonel Talbot—wad they offer to keep up the price +again' the Duke's friend? did they na ken wha was master? had they na +seen eneugh, by the sad example of mony a puir misguided unhappy body—' +</p> +<p> +'Who went to Derby, for example, Mr. Macwheeble?' said the Colonel to +him, aside. +</p> +<p> +'Oh' whisht, Colonel, for the love o' God! let that flee stick i' +the wa'. There were mony good folk at Derby; and it's ill speaking of +halters,'—with a sly cast of his eye toward the Baron, who was in a +deep reverie. +</p> +<p> +Starting out of it at once, he took Macwheeble by the button, and led +him into one of the deep window recesses, whence only fragments of their +conversation reached the rest of the party. It certainly related to +stamp-paper and parchment; for no other subject, even from the mouth of +his patron, and he, once more an efficient one, could have arrested so +deeply the Bailie's reverent and absorbed attention. +</p> +<p> +'I understand your Honour perfectly; it can be dune as easy as taking +out a decreet in absence.' +</p> +<p> +'To her and him, after my demise, and to their heirs-male,—but +preferring the second son, if God shall bless them with two, who is to +carry the name and arms of Bradwardine of that Ilk, without any other +name or armorial bearings whatsoever.' +</p> +<p> +'Tut, your Honour!' whispered the Bailie, 'I'll mak a slight jotting the +morn; it will cost but a charter of resignation IN FAVOREM; and I'll hae +it ready for the next term in Exchequer. +</p> +<p> +Their private conversation ended, the Baron was now summoned to do the +honours of Tully-Veolan to new guests. These were, Major Melville of +Cairnvreckan, and the Reverend Mr. Morton, followed by two or three +others of the Baron's acquaintances, who had been made privy to his +having again acquired the estate of his fathers. The shouts of the +villagers were also heard beneath in the courtyard; for Saunders +Saunderson, who had kept the secret for several days with laudable +prudence, had unloosed his tongue upon beholding the arrival of the +carriages. +</p> +<p> +But, while Edward received Major Melville with politeness, and the +clergyman with the most affectionate and grateful kindness, his +father-in-law looked a little awkward, as uncertain how he should answer +the necessary claims of hospitality to his guests, and forward the +festivity of his tenants. Lady Emily relieved him, by intimating, that, +though she must be an indifferent representative of Mrs. Edward Waverley +in many respects, she hoped the Baron would approve of the entertainment +she had ordered, in expectation of so many guests; and that they would +find such other accommodations provided, as might in some degree support +the ancient hospitality of Tully-Veolan. It is impossible to describe +the pleasure which this assurance gave the Baron, who, with an air of +gallantry half appertaining to the stiff Scottish laird, and half to the +officer in the French service, offered his arm to the fair speaker, and +led the way, in something between a stride and a minuet step, into the +large dining parlour, followed by all the rest of the good company. +</p> +<p> +By dint of Saunderson's directions and exertions, all here, as well as +in the other apartments, had been disposed as much as possible according +to the old arrangement; and where new movables had been necessary, they +had been selected in the same character with the old furniture, There +was one addition to this fine old apartment, however, which drew +tears into the Baron's eyes. It was a large and spirited painting, +representing Fergus Mac-Ivor and Waverley in their Highland dress; the +scene a wild, rocky, and mountainous pass, down which the clan were +descending in the background. It was taken from a spirited sketch, drawn +while they were in Edinburgh by a young man of high genius, and had +been painted on a full-length scale by an eminent London artist. Raeburn +himself (whose Highland chiefs do all but walk out of the canvas) could +not have done more justice to the subject; and the ardent, fiery, and +impetuous character of the unfortunate Chief of Glennaquoich was finely +contrasted with the contemplative, fanciful, and enthusiastic expression +of his happier friend. Beside this painting hung the arms which Waverley +had borne in the unfortunate civil war; The whole piece was beheld with +admiration, and deeper feelings. +</p> +<p> +Men must, however, eat, in spite both of sentiment and vertu; and the +Baron, while he assumed the lower end of the table, insisted that Lady +Emily should do the honours of the head, that they might, he said, set a +meet example to the YOUNG FOLK. After a pause of deliberation, employed +in adjusting in his own brain the precedence between the Presbyterian +kirk and Episcopal church of Scotland, he requested Mr. Morton, as the +stranger, would crave a blessing,—observing, that Mr. Rubrick, who was +at home, would return thanks for the distinguished mercies it had been +his lot to experience. The dinner was excellent. Saunderson attended +in full costume, with all the former domestics, who had been collected, +excepting one or two, that had not been heard of since the affair of +Culloden. The cellars were stocked with wine which was pronounced to be +superb, and it had been contrived that the Bear of the Fountain, in the +courtyard, should (for that night only) play excellent brandy punch for +the benefit of the lower orders. +</p> +<p> +When the dinner was over, the Baron, about to propose a toast, cast a +somewhat sorrowful look upon the sideboard,—which, however, exhibited +much of his plate, that had either been secreted or purchased by +neighbouring gentlemen from the soldiery, and by them gladly restored to +the original owner. +</p> +<p> +'In the late times,' he said, 'those must be thankful who have saved +life and land; yet, when I am about to pronounce this toast, I cannot +but regret an old heirloom, Lady Emily—A POCULUM POTATORIUM, Colonel +Talbot'— +</p> +<p> +Here the Baron's elbow was gently touched by his major-demo, and, +turning round, he beheld, in the hands of Alexander ab Alexandro, the +celebrated cup of Saint Duthac, the Blessed Bear of Bradwardine! I +question if the recovery of his estate afforded him more rapture. 'By +my honour,' he said, 'one might almost believe in brownies and fairies, +Lady Emily, when your ladyship is in presence!' +</p> +<p> +'I am truly happy,' said Colonel Talbot, 'that by the recovery of this +piece of family antiquity, it has fallen within my power to give you +some token of my deep interest in all that concerns my young friend +Edward. But that you may not suspect Lady Emily for a sorceress, or me +for a conjurer, which is no joke in Scotland, I must tell you that Frank +Stanley, your friend, who has been seized with a tartan fever ever since +he heard Edward's tales of old Scottish manners, happened to describe to +us at second hand this remarkable cup. My servant, Spontoon, who, like +a true old soldier, observes everything and says little, gave me +afterwards to understand that he thought he had seen the piece of plate +Mr. Stanley mentioned, in the possession of a certain Mrs. Nosebag, +who, having been originally the helpmate of a pawnbroker, had found +opportunity, during the late unpleasant scenes in Scotland, to trade +a little in her old line, and so became the depositary of the more +valuable part of the spoil of half the army. You may believe the cup was +speedily recovered; and it will give me very great pleasure if you allow +me to suppose that its value is not diminished by having been restored +through my means.' +</p> +<p> +A tear mingled with the wine which the Baron filled, as he proposed a +cup of gratitude to Colonel Talbot, and 'The Prosperity of the united +Houses of Waverley-Honour and Bradwardine!'— +</p> +<p> +It only remains for me to say, that as no wish was ever uttered with +more affectionate sincerity, there are few which, allowing for the +necessary mutability of human events, have been, upon the whole, more +happily fulfilled. +</p> +<a name="2HCH0073"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER LXXII +</h2> +<h3> + A POSTSCRIPT, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PREFACE +</h3> +<p> +Our journey is now finished, gentle reader; and if your patience has +accompanied me through these sheets, the contract is, on your part, +strictly fulfilled. Yet, like the driver who has received his full hire, +I still linger near you, and make, with becoming diffidence, a trifling +additional claim upon your bounty and good nature. You are as free, +however, to shut the volume of the one petitioner, as to close your door +in the face of the other. +</p> +<p> +This should have been a prefatory chapter, but for two reasons:—First, +that most novel readers, as my own conscience reminds me, are apt to +be guilty of the sin of omission respecting that same matter of +prefaces;—secondly, that it is a general custom with that class of +students, to begin with the last chapter of a work; so that, after +all, these remarks, being introduced last in order, have still the best +chance to be read in their proper place. +</p> +<p> +There is no European nation, which, within the course of half a century, +or little more, has undergone so complete a change as this kingdom of +Scotland. The effects of the insurrection of 1745,—the destruction +of the patriarchal power of the Highland chiefs,—the abolition of the +heritable jurisdictions of the Lowland nobility and barons,—the total +eradication of the Jacobite party, which, averse to intermingle with the +English, or adopt their customs, long continued to pride themselves +upon maintaining ancient Scottish manners and customs,—commenced this +innovation. The gradual influx of wealth, and extension of commerce, +have since united to render the present people of Scotland a class of +beings as different from their grandfathers as the existing English +are from those of Queen Elizabeth's time, The political and economical +effects of these changes have been traced by Lord Selkirk with great +precision and accuracy. But the change, though steadily and rapidly +progressive, has, nevertheless, been gradual; and, like those who drift +down the stream of a deep and smooth river, we are not aware of the +progress we have made until we fix our eye on the now distant point +from which we have been drifted.—Such of the present generation as +can recollect the last twenty or twenty-five years of the +eighteenth century, will be fully sensible of the truth of this +statement;—especially if their acquaintance and connexions lay among +those, who, in my younger time, were facetiously called 'folks of +the old leaven,' who still cherished a lingering, though hopeless, +attachment, to the house of Stuart. This race has now almost entirely +vanished from the land, and with it, doubtless, much absurd political +prejudice—but also, many living examples of singular and disinterested +attachment to the principles of loyalty which they received from their +fathers, and of old Scottish faith, hospitality, worth, and honour. +</p> +<p> +It was my accidental lot, though not born a Highlander (which may be an +apology for much bad Gaelic), to reside, during my childhood and youth, +among persons of the above description;—and now, for the purpose of +preserving some idea of the ancient manners of which I have witnessed +the almost total extinction, I have embodied in imaginary scenes, and +ascribed to fictitious characters, a part of the incidents which I then +received from those who were actors in them. Indeed, the most romantic +parts of this narrative are precisely those which have a foundation in +fact. The exchange of mutual protection between a Highland gentleman +and an officer of rank in the king's service, together with the spirited +manner in which the latter asserted his right to return the favour he +had received, is literally true. The accident by a musket-shot, and +the heroic reply imputed to Flora, relate to a lady of rank not long +deceased. And scarce a gentleman who was 'in hiding' after the battle of +Culloden but could tell a tale of strange concealments, and of wild and +hair's-breadth 'scapes, as extraordinary as any which I have ascribed +to my heroes. Of this, the escape of Charles Edward himself, as the most +prominent, is the most striking example. The accounts of the battle +of Preston and skirmish at Clifton are taken from the narrative of +intelligent eye-witnesses, and corrected from the History of the +Rebellion by the late venerable author of DOUGLAS. The Lowland Scottish +gentlemen, and the subordinate characters, are not given as individual +portraits, but are drawn from the general habits of the period (of which +I have witnessed some remnants in my younger days), and partly gathered +from tradition. +</p> +<p> +It has been my object to describe these persons, not by a caricatured +and exaggerated use of the national dialect, but by their habits, +manners, and feelings; so as in some distant degree to emulate the +admirable Irish portraits drawn by Miss Edgeworth, so different from +the 'Teagues' and 'dear joys,' who so long, with the most perfect family +resemblance to each other, occupied the drama and the novel. +</p> +<p> +I feel no confidence, however, in the manner in which I have executed +my purpose. Indeed, so little was I satisfied with my production, that +I laid it aside in an unfinished state, and only found it again by mere +accident among other waste papers in an old cabinet, the drawers of +which I was rummaging, in order to accommodate a friend with some +fishing tackle, after it had been mislaid for several years. Two +works upon similar subjects, by female authors, whose genius is highly +creditable to their country, have appeared in the interval; I mean Mrs. +Hamilton's GLENBURNIE, and the late account of Highland Superstitions. +But the first is confined to the rural habits of Scotland, of which +it has given a picture with striking and impressive fidelity; and the +traditional records of the respectable and ingenious Mrs. Grant of +Laggan, are of a nature distinct from the fictitious narrative which I +have here attempted. +</p> +<p> +I would willingly persuade myself, that the preceding work will not be +found altogether uninteresting. To elder persons it will recall scenes +and characters familiar to their youth; and to the rising generation the +tale may present some idea of the manners of their forefathers. +</p> +<p> +Yet I heartily wish that the task of tracing the evanescent manners of +his own country had employed the pen of the only man in Scotland who +could have done it justice,—of him so eminently distinguished +in elegant literature,—and whose sketches of Colonel Caustic and +Umphraville are perfectly blended with the finer traits of national +character. I should in that case have had more pleasure as a reader +than I shall ever feel in the pride of a successful author, should these +sheets confer upon me that envied distinction. And as I have inverted +the usual arrangement, placing these remarks at the end of the work +to which they refer, I will venture on a second violation of form, by +closing the whole with a Dedication:— +</p> +<center> +THESE VOLUMES BEING RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO OUR SCOTTISH ADDISON, +</center> +<center> +HENRY MACKENZIE, +</center> +<center> +BY AN UNKNOWN ADMIRER OF HIS GENIUS. +</center> +<hr> +<a name="2H_NOTE"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + NOTES +</h2> +<a name="note-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>1</u> (<a href="#noteref-1">return</a>)<br> +[—THE BRADSHAIGH LEGEND +</p> +<p> +There is a family legend to this purpose, belonging to the knightly +family of Bradshaigh, the proprietors of Haighhall, in Lancashire, +where, I have been told, the event is recorded on a painted glass +window. The German ballad of the 'Noble Moringer' turns upon a similar +topic. But undoubtedly many such incidents may have taken place, where, +the distance being great, and the intercourse infrequent, false reports +concerning the fate of the absent Crusaders must have been commonly +circulated, and sometimes perhaps rather hastily credited at home.] +</p> +<a name="note-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>2</u> (<a href="#noteref-2">return</a>)<br> +[—TITUS LIVIUS +</p> +<p> +The attachment to this classic was, it is said, actually displayed, in +the manner mentioned in the text, by an unfortunate Jacobite in that +unhappy period. He escaped from the jail in which he was confined for +a hasty trial and certain condemnation, and was retaken as he hovered +around the place in which he had been imprisoned, for which he could +give no better reason than the hope of recovering his favourite Titus +Livius. I am sorry to add, that the simplicity of such a character +was found to form no apology for his guilt as a rebel, and that he was +condemned and executed.] +</p> +<a name="note-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>3</u> (<a href="#noteref-3">return</a>)<br> +[—NICHOLAS AMHURST +</p> +<p> +Nicholas Amhurst, a noted political writer, who conducted for many years +a paper called the Craftsman, under the assumed name of Caleb d'Anvers. +He was devoted to the Tory interest, and seconded with much ability the +attacks of Pulteney on Sir Robert Walpole. He died in 1742, neglected by +his great patrons, and in the most miserable circumstances. +</p> +<p> +Amhurst survived the downfall of Walpole's power, and had reason to +expect a reward for his labours. If we excuse Bolingbroke, who had only +saved the shipwreck of his fortunes, we shall be at a loss to justify +Pulteney, who could with ease have given this man a considerable income. +The utmost of his generosity to Amhurst, that I ever heard of, was a +hogshead of claret! He died, it is supposed, of a broken heart; and was +buried at the charge of his honest printer, Richard Franklin.'—LORD +CHESTERFIELD'S CHARACTERS REVIEWED, p. 42.] +</p> +<a name="note-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>4</u> (<a href="#noteref-4">return</a>)<br> +[—COLONEL GARDINER +</p> +<p> +I have now given in the text the full name of this gallant and excellent +man, and proceed to copy the account of his remarkable conversion, as +related by Dr. Doddridge. +</p> +<p> +'This memorable event,' says the pious writer, 'happened towards the +middle of July, 1719. The major had spent the evening (and, if I +mistake not, it was the Sabbath) in some gay company, and had an unhappy +assignation with a married woman, whom he was to attend exactly at +twelve. The company broke up about eleven; and not judging it convenient +to anticipate the time appointed, he went into his chamber to kill the +tedious hour, perhaps with some amusing book, or some other way. But it +very accidentally happened that he took up a religious book, which +his good mother or aunt had, without his knowledge, slipped into +his portmanteau. It was called, if I remember the title exactly, THE +CHRISTIAN SOLDIER, or HEAVEN TAKEN BY STORM; and it was written by +Mr. Thomas Watson. Guessing by the title of it that he would find some +phrases of his own profession spiritualized in a manner which he thought +might afford him some diversion, he resolved to dip into it; but he took +no serious notice of anything it had in it; and yet, while this book was +in his hand an impression was made upon his mind (perhaps God only +knows how) which drew after it a train of the most important and happy +consequences. He thought he saw an unusual blaze of light fall upon the +book which he was reading, which he at first imagined might happen by +some accident in the candle: but lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to +his extreme amazement, that there was before him, as it were suspended +in the air, a visible representation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the +cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory; and was impressed, as if +a voice, or something equivalent to a voice, had come to him, to this +effect (for he was not confident as to the words)—"Oh, sinner! did I +suffer this for thee? and are these thy returns?" Struck with so amazing +a phenomenon as this, there remained hardly any life in him, so that he +sunk down in the arm-chair in which he sat, and continued, he knew not +how long, insensible.' +</p> +<p> +'With regard to this vision,' says the ingenious Dr. Hibbert, 'the +appearance of our Saviour on the cross, and the awful words repeated, +can be considered in no other light than as so many recollected images +of the mind, which, probably, had their origin in the language of some +urgent appeal to repentance, that the colonel might have casually read +or heard delivered. From what cause, however, such ideas were rendered +as vivid as actual impressions, we have no information to be depended +upon. This vision was certainly attended with one of the most important +of consequences connected with the Christian dispensation—the +conversion of a sinner; and hence no single narrative has, perhaps, done +more to confirm the superstitious opinion that apparitions of this +awful kind cannot arise without a divine fiat.' Dr. Hibbert adds, in a +note—'A short time before the vision, Colonel Gardiner had received a +severe fall from his horse. Did the brain receive some slight degree +of injury from the accident, so as to predispose him to this spiritual +illusion?'—HIBBERT'S PHILOSOPHY OF APPARITIONS, Edinburgh, 1824, p. +190.] +</p> +<a name="note-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>5</u> (<a href="#noteref-5">return</a>)<br> +[—SCOTTISH INNS +</p> +<p> +The courtesy of an invitation to partake a traveller's meal, or at least +that of being invited to share whatever liquor the guest called for, was +expected by certain old landlords in Scotland, even in the youth of the +author. In requital, mine host was always furnished with the news of the +country, and was probably a little of a humorist to boot. The devolution +of the whole actual business and drudgery of the inn upon the poor +gudewife, was very common among the Scottish Bonifaces. There was in +ancient times, in the city of Edinburgh, a gentleman of good family, +who condescended, in order to gain a livelihood, to become the nominal +keeper of a coffee house, one of the first places of the kind which +had been opened in the Scottish metropolis. As usual, it was entirely +managed by the careful and industrious Mrs. B—; while her husband +amused himself with field sports, without troubling his head about the +matter. Once upon a time the premises having taken fire, the husband was +met, walking up the High Street loaded with his guns and fishing-rods, +and replied calmly to some one who inquired after his wife, 'that the +poor woman was trying to save a parcel of crockery, and some trumpery +books'; the last being those which served her to conduct the business of +the house. +</p> +<p> +There were many elderly gentlemen in the author's younger days, who +still held it part of the amusement of a journey 'to parley with mine +host,' who often resembled, in his quaint humour, mine Host of the +Garter in the MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; or Blague of the George in the +MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON. Sometimes the landlady took her share of +entertaining the company. In either case, the omitting to pay them due +attention gave displeasure, and perhaps brought down a smart jest, as on +the following occasion:— +</p> +<p> +A jolly dame, who, not 'Sixty Years since,' kept the principal +caravansary at Greenlaw in Berwickshire, had the honour to receive +under her roof a very worthy clergyman, with three sons of the same +profession, each having a cure of souls: be it said in passing, none of +the reverend party were reckoned powerful in the pulpit. After dinner +was over, the worthy senior, in the pride of his heart, asked Mrs. +Buchan whether she ever had had such a party in her house before. 'Here +sit I,' he said, 'a placed minister of the Kirk of Scotland, and here +sit my three sons, each a placed minister of the same kirk.—confess, +Luckie Buchan, you never had such a party in your house before.' The +question was not premised by any invitation to sit down and take a glass +of wine or the like, so Mrs. B. answered dryly, 'Indeed, Sir, I cannot +just say that ever I had such a party in my house before, except once in +the forty-five, when I had a Highland piper here, with his three sons, +all Highland pipers; AND DEIL A SPRING THEY COULD PLAY AMANG THEM.'] +</p> +<a name="note-6"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>6</u> (<a href="#noteref-6">return</a>)<br> +[—THE CUSTOM OF KEEPING FOOLS +</p> +<p> +I am ignorant how long the ancient and established custom of keeping +fools has been disused in England. Swift writes an epitaph on the Earl +of Suffolk's fool,— +</p> +<p> +'Whose name was Dickie Pearce.' +</p> +<p> +In Scotland the custom subsisted till late in the last century. At +Glamis Castle, is preserved the dress of one of the jesters, very +handsome, and ornamented with many bells. It is not above thirty years +since such a character stood by the sideboard of a nobleman of the first +rank in Scotland, and occasionally mixed in the conversation, till he +carried the joke rather too far, in making proposals to one of the young +ladies of the family, and publishing the banns betwixt her and himself +in the public church.] +</p> +<a name="note-7"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>7</u> (<a href="#noteref-7">return</a>)<br> +[—PERSECUTION OF EPISCOPAL CLERGYMEN +</p> +<p> +After the Revolution of 1688, and on some occasions when the spirit of +the Presbyterians had been unusually animated against their opponents, +the Episcopal clergymen, who were chiefly non-jurors, were exposed to +be mobbed, as we should now say, or rabbled, as the phrase then went, +to expiate their political heresies. But notwithstanding that the +Presbyterians had the persecution in Charles II and his brother's time +to exasperate them, there was little mischief done beyond the kind of +petty violence mentioned in the text.] +</p> +<a name="note-8"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>8</u> (<a href="#noteref-8">return</a>)<br> +[—STIRRUP-CUP +</p> +<p> +I may here mention, that the fashion of compotation described in the +text, was still occasionally practised in Scotland in the author's +youth. A company, after having taken leave of their host, often went to +finish the evening at the clachan or village, in 'womb of tavern.' Their +entertainer always accompanied them to take the stirrup-cup, which often +occasioned a long and late revel. +</p> +<p> +The POCULUM POTATORIUM of the valiant Baron, his Blessed Bear, has a +prototype at the fine old Castle of Glamis, so rich in memorials of +ancient times; it is a massive beaker of silver, double gilt, moulded +into the shape of a lion, and holding about an English pint of wine. The +form alludes to the family name of Strathmore, which is Lyon, and, when +exhibited, the cup must necessarily be emptied to the Earl's health. +The author ought perhaps to be ashamed of recording that he has had the +honour of swallowing the contents of the Lion; and the recollection of +the feat served to suggest the story of the Bear of Bradwardine. In the +family of Scott of Thirlestane (not Thirlestane in the Forest, but the +place of the same name in Roxburghshire) was long preserved a cup of the +same kind, in the form of a jack-boot. Each guest was obliged to empty +this at his departure. If the guest's name was Scott, the necessity was +doubly imperative. +</p> +<p> +When the landlord of an inn presented his guests with DEOCH AN DORUIS, +that is, the drink at the door, or the stirrup-cup, the draught was not +charged in the reckoning. On this point a learned Bailie of the town of +Forfar pronounced a very sound judgement. +</p> +<p> +A., an ale-wife in Forfar, had brewed her 'peck of malt,' and set the +liquor out of doors to cool; the cow of B., a neighbour of A. chanced +to come by, and seeing the good beverage, was allured to taste it, and +finally to drink it up. When A. came to take in her liquor, she found +the tub empty, and from the cow's staggering and staring, so as to +betray her intemperance, she easily divined the mode in which her +'brewst' had disappeared. To take vengeance on Crummie's ribs with a +stick, was her first effort. The roaring of the cow brought B., her +master, who remonstrated with his angry neighbour, and received in reply +a demand for the value of the ale which Crummie had drunk up. B. refused +payment, and was conveyed before C., the Bailie, or sitting Magistrate. +He heard the case patiently; and then demanded of the plaintiff A., +whether the cow had sat down to her potation, or taken it standing. The +plaintiff answered she had not seen the deed committed, but she supposed +the cow drank the ale standing on her feet; adding, that had she been +near, she would have made her use them to some purpose. The Bailie, +on this admission, solemnly adjudged the cow's drink to be DEOCH +AN DORUIS—a stirrup-cup, for which no charge could be made without +violating the ancient hospitality of Scotland] +</p> +<a name="note-9"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>9</u> (<a href="#noteref-9">return</a>)<br> +[—CANTING HERALDRY +</p> +<p> +Although canting heraldry is generally reprobated, it seems nevertheless +to have been adopted in the arms and mottoes of many honourable +families. Thus the motto of the Vernons, VER NON SEMPER VIRET, is a +perfect pun, and so is that of the Onslows, FESTINA LENTE. The PERIISSEM +NI PER-IISSEM of the Anstruthers is liable to a similar objection. One +of that ancient race, finding that an antagonist, with whom he had +fixed a friendly meeting, was determined to take the opportunity of +assassinating him, prevented the hazard by dashing out his brains with +a battle-axe. Two sturdy arms brandishing such a weapon, form the usual +crest of the family, with the above motto—PERIISSEM NI PER-IISSEM—I +had died, unless I had gone through with it.] +</p> +<a name="note-10"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>10</u> (<a href="#noteref-10">return</a>)<br> +[—THE LEVYING OF BLACKMAIL +</p> +<p> +Mac-Donald of Barrisdale, one of the very last Highland gentlemen who +carried on the plundering system to any great extent, was a scholar and +a well-bred gentleman. He engraved on his broadswords the well-known +lines— +</p> +<p> +Hae tibi erunt artes—pacisque imponere morem, +</p> +<p> +Parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos. +</p> +<p> +Indeed, the levying of blackmail was, before 1745, practised by several +chiefs of very high rank, who, in doing so, contended that they were +lending the laws the assistance of their arms and swords, and affording +a protection which could not be obtained from the magistracy in +the disturbed state of the country. The author has seen a memoir of +Mac-Pherson of Cluny, chief of that ancient clan, from which it appears +that he levied protection-money to a very large amount, which was +willingly paid even by some of his most powerful neighbours. A gentleman +of this clan hearing a clergyman hold forth to his congregation on the +crime of theft, interrupted the preacher to assure him, he might leave +the enforcement of such doctrines to Cluny Mac-Pherson, whose broadsword +would put a stop to theft sooner than all the sermons of all the +ministers of the synod.] +</p> +<a name="note-11"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>11</u> (<a href="#noteref-11">return</a>)<br> +[—ROB ROY +</p> +<p> +An adventure, very similar to what is here stated, actually befell +the late Mr. Abercromby of Tullibody, grandfather of the present Lord +Abercromby, and father of the celebrated Sir Ralph. When this +gentlemen, who lived to a very advanced period of life, first settled in +Stirlingshire, his cattle were repeatedly driven off by the celebrated +Rob Roy, or some of his gang; and at length he was obliged, after +obtaining a proper safe-conduct, to make the Cateran such a visit as +that of Waverley to Bean Lean in the text. Rob received him with much +courtesy, and made many apologies for the accident, which must have +happened, he said, through some mistake. Mr. Abercromby was regaled with +collops from two of his own cattle, which were hung up by the heels in +the cavern, and was dismissed in perfect safety, after having agreed to +pay in future a small sum of blackmail, in consideration of which Rob +Roy not only undertook to forbear his herds in future, but to replace +any that should be stolen from him by other freebooters. Mr. Abercromby +said, Rob Roy affected to consider him as a friend to the Jacobite +interest, and a sincere enemy to the Union. Neither of these +circumstances were true; but the laird thought it quite unnecessary +to undeceive his Highland host at the risk of bringing on a political +dispute in such a situation. This anecdote I received many years since +(about 1792) from the mouth of the venerable gentleman who was concerned +in it.] +</p> +<a name="note-12"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>12</u> (<a href="#noteref-12">return</a>)<br> +[—KIND GALLOWS OF CRIEFF +</p> +<p> +This celebrated gibbet was, in the memory of the last generation, still +standing at the western end of the town of Crieff, in Perthshire. Why +it was called the kind gallows, we are unable to inform the reader with +certainty; but it is alleged that the Highlanders used to touch their +bonnets as they passed a place which had been fatal to many of their +countrymen, with the ejaculation—'God bless her nain sell, and the Teil +tamn you!' It may therefore have been called kind, as being a sort +of native or kindred place of doom to those who suffered there, as in +fulfilment of a natural destiny.] +</p> +<a name="note-13"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>13</u> (<a href="#noteref-13">return</a>)<br> +[—CATERANS +</p> +<p> +The story of the bridegroom carried off by Caterans on his bridal-day +is taken from one which was told to the author by the late Laird of +Mac-Nab, many years since. To carry off persons from the Lowlands, and +to put them to ransom, was a common practice with the wild Highlanders, +as it is said to be at the present day with the banditti in the south of +Italy. Upon the occasion alluded to, a party of Caterans carried off +the bridegroom, and secreted him in some cave near the mountain of +Schehallion. The young man caught the small-pox before his ransom could +be agreed on; and whether it was the fine cool air of the place, or the +want of medical attendance, Mac-Nab did not pretend to be positive; but +so it was, that the prisoner recovered, his ransom was paid, and he was +restored to his friends and bride, but always considered the Highland +robbers as having saved his life by their treatment of his malady.] +</p> +<a name="note-14"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>14</u> (<a href="#noteref-14">return</a>)<br> +[—RE-PURCHASE OF FORFEITED ESTATES +</p> +<p> +This happened on many occasions. Indeed, it was not till after the total +destruction of the clan influence, after 1745, that purchasers could be +found who offered a fair price for the estates forfeited in 1715, +which were then brought to sale by the creditors of the York-Buildings +Company, who had purchased the whole, or greater part, from Government +at a very small price. Even so late as the period first mentioned, +the prejudices of the public in favour of the heirs of the forfeited +families threw various impediments in the way of intending purchasers of +such property.] +</p> +<a name="note-15"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>15</u> (<a href="#noteref-15">return</a>)<br> +[—HIGHLAND POLICY +</p> +<p> +This sort of political game ascribed to Mac-Ivor was in reality played +by several Highland chiefs, the celebrated Lord Lovat in particular, who +used that kind of finesse to the uttermost. The Laird of Mac— was also +captain of an independent company, but valued the sweets of present pay +too well to incur the risk of losing them in the Jacobite cause. His +martial consort raised his clan, and headed it in 1745. But the chief +himself would have nothing to do with king-making, declaring himself for +that monarch, and no other, who gave the Laird of Mac— 'half a guinea +the day, and half a guinea the morn.'] +</p> +<a name="note-16"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>16</u> (<a href="#noteref-16">return</a>)<br> +[—HIGHLAND DISCIPLINE +</p> +<p> +In explanation of the military exercise observed at the Castle of +Glennaquoich, the author begs to remark, that the Highlanders were not +only well practised in the use of the broadsword, firelock, and most of +the manly sports and trials of strength common throughout Scotland, but +also used a peculiar sort of drill, suited to their own dress and mode +of warfare. There were, for instance, different modes of disposing +the plaid,—one when on a peaceful journey, another when danger was +apprehended; one way of enveloping themselves in it when expecting +undisturbed repose, and another which enabled them to start up with +sword and pistol in hand on the slightest alarm. +</p> +<p> +Previous to 1720, or thereabouts, the belted plaid was universally worn, +in which the portion which surrounded the middle of the wearer, and +that which was flung around his shoulders, were all of the same piece of +tartan. In a desperate onset, all was thrown away, and the clan charged +bare beneath the doublet, save for an artificial arrangement of the +shirt, which, like that of the Irish, was always ample, and for the +sporran-mollach, or goat's-skin purse. +</p> +<p> +The manner of handling the pistol and dirk was also part of the Highland +manual exercise, which the author has seen gone through by men who had +learned it in their youth.] +</p> +<a name="note-17"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>17</u> (<a href="#noteref-17">return</a>)<br> +[—HIGHLAND ABHORRENCE OF PORK +</p> +<p> +Pork, or swine's flesh, in any shape, was, till of late years, much +abominated by the Scotch, nor is it yet a favourite food amongst them. +King Jamie carried this prejudice to England, and is known to have +abhorred pork almost as much as he did tobacco. Ben Jonson has recorded +this peculiarity, where the gipsy in a masque, examining the king's +hand, says,— +</p> +<p> +—'you should, by this line, Love a horse, and a hound, but no part of a +swine.'—THE GYPSIES METAMORPHOSED. +</p> +<p> +James's own proposed banquet for the devil was a loin of pork and a poll +of ling, with a pipe of tobacco for digestion.] +</p> +<a name="note-18"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>18</u> (<a href="#noteref-18">return</a>)<br> +[—A HIGHLAND CHIEF'S DINNER-TABLE +</p> +<p> +In the number of persons of all ranks who assembled at the same table, +though by no means to discuss the same fare, the Highland Chiefs +only retained a custom which had been formerly universally observed +throughout Scotland. 'I myself,' says the traveller Fynes Morrison, +in the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the scene being the Lowlands of +Scotland, 'was at a knight's house, who had many servants to attend him, +that brought in his meat with their heads covered with blue caps, the +table being more than half furnished with great platters of porridge +each having a little piece of sodden meat. And when the table was +served, the servants did sit down with us; but the upper mess, instead +of porridge, had a pullet, with some prunes in the broth.'—TRAVELS, p. +155. +</p> +<p> +Till within this last century, the farmers, even of a respectable +condition, dined with their work-people. The difference betwixt those of +high degree was ascertained by the place of the party above or below +the salt, or, sometimes, by a line drawn with chalk on the dining-table. +Lord Lovat, who knew well how to feed the vanity and restrain the +appetites of his clansmen, allowed each sturdy Fraser, who had the +slightest pretension to be a Duinhe-wassel, the full honour of the +sitting, but, at the same time, took care that his young kinsmen did not +acquire at his table any taste for outlandish luxuries. His Lordship was +always ready with some honourable apology, why foreign wines and French +brandy—delicacies which he conceived might sap the hardy habits of his +cousins—should not circulate past an assigned point on the table.] +</p> +<a name="note-19"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>19</u> (<a href="#noteref-19">return</a>)<br> +[—CONAN THE JESTER +</p> +<p> +In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of Mac-Pherson), there +occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes, +each of whom has some distinguishing attribute: upon these qualities, +and the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed +which are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan +is distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and +daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a +blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of antiquity, +descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the +Arch-fiend; who presided there, which he instantly returned, using the +expression in the text. Sometimes the proverb is worded thus:—'Claw +for claw, and the devil take the shortest nails, as Conan said to the +devil.'] +</p> +<a name="note-20"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>20</u> (<a href="#noteref-20">return</a>)<br> +[—WATERFALL +</p> +<p> +The description of the waterfall mentioned in this chapter is taken from +that of Ledeard, at the farm so called on the northern side of Lochard, +and near the head of the Lake, four or five miles from Aberfoyle. It is +upon a small scale, but otherwise one of the most exquisite cascades +it is possible to behold. The appearance of Flora with the harp, as +described, has been justly censured as too theatrical and affected for +the ladylike simplicity of her character. But something may be allowed +to her French education, in which point and striking effect always make +a considerable object.] +</p> +<a name="note-21"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>21</u> (<a href="#noteref-21">return</a>)<br> +[—MAC-FARLANE'S LANTERN +</p> +<p> +The clan of Mac-Farlane, occupying the fastnesses of the western side +of Loch Lomond, were great depredators on the Low Country; and as their +excursions were made usually by night, the moon was proverbially called +their lantern. Their celebrated pibroch of HOGGIL NAM BO, which is the +name of their gathering tune, intimates similar practices,—the sense +being— +</p> +<pre> + We are bound to drive the bullocks, + All by hollows, hirsts, and hillocks, + Through the sleet and through the rain; + When the moon is beaming low + On frozen lake and hills of snow, + Bold and heartily we go; + And all for little gain.] +</pre> + + +<a name="note-22"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>22</u> (<a href="#noteref-22">return</a>)<br> +[—CASTLE OF DOUNE +</p> + +<p> +This noble ruin is dear to my recollection, from associations which have +been long and painfully broken. It holds a commanding station on the +banks of the river Teith, and has been one of the largest castles in +Scotland. Murdock, Duke of Albany, the founder of this stately pile, +was beheaded on the Castle-hill of Stirling, from which he might see the +towers of Doune, the monument of his fallen greatness. +</p> +<p> +In 1745-6, as stated in the text, a garrison on the part of the +Chevalier was put into the castle, then less ruinous than at present. It +was commanded by Mr. Stewart of Balloch, as governor for Prince Charles +he was a man of property near Callander. This castle became at that time +the actual scene of a romantic escape made by John Home, the author of +Douglas, and some other prisoners, who, having been taken at the battle +of Falkirk, were confined there by the insurgents. The poet, who had in +his own mind a large stock of that romantic and enthusiastic spirit of +adventure, which he has described as animating the youthful hero of his +drama, devised and undertook the perilous enterprise of escaping from +his prison. He inspired his companions with his sentiments and when +every attempt at open force was deemed hopeless, they resolved to twist +their bed-clothes into ropes, and thus to descend. Four persons, with +Home himself, reached the ground in safety. But the rope broke with the +fifth, who was a tall lusty man. The sixth was Thomas Barrow, a brave +young Englishman, a particular friend of Home's. Determined to take the +risk, even in such unfavourable circumstances, Barrow committed himself +to the broken rope, slid down on it as far as it could assist him, and +then let himself drop. His friends beneath succeeded in breaking his +fall. Nevertheless, he dislocated his ankle, and had several of his ribs +broken. His companions, however, were able to bear him off in safety. +</p> +<p> +The Highlanders next morning sought for their prisoners with great +activity. An old gentleman told the author he remembered seeing the +commander Stewart, +</p> +<p> +Bloody with spurring, fiery red with haste, +</p> +<p> +riding furiously through the country in quest of the fugitives. +</p> +<a name="note-23"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>23</u> (<a href="#noteref-23">return</a>)<br> +[—JACOBITE SENTIMENTS +</p> +<p> +The Jacobite sentiments were general among the western counties, and in +Wales. But although the great families of the Wynnes, the Wyndhams, and +others, had come under an actual obligation to join Prince Charles if +he should land, they had done so under the express stipulation, that he +should be assisted by an auxiliary army of French, without which they +foresaw the enterprise would be desperate. Wishing well to his cause, +therefore, and watching an opportunity to join him, they did not, +nevertheless, think themselves bound in honour to do so, as he was only +supported by a body of wild mountaineers, speaking an uncouth dialect, +and wearing a singular dress. The race up to Derby struck them with more +dread than admiration. But it was difficult to say what the effect might +have been, had either the battle of Preston or Falkirk been fought and +won during the advance into England.] +</p> +<a name="note-24"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>24</u> (<a href="#noteref-24">return</a>)<br> +[—THE CHEVALIER'S IRISH OFFICERS +</p> +<p> +Divisions early showed themselves in the Chevalier's little army, not +only amongst the independent chieftains, who were far too proud to brook +subjection to each other, but betwixt the Scotch and Charles's governor +O'Sullivan, an Irishman by birth, who, with some of his countrymen +bred in the Irish Brigade in the service of the King of France, had an +influence with the Adventurer much resented by the Highlanders, who +were sensible that their own clans made the chief, or rather the only +strength of his enterprise. There was a feud, also, between Lord George +Murray, and James Murray of Broughton, the Prince's secretary, whose +disunion greatly embarrassed the affairs of the Adventurer. In general, +a thousand different pretensions divided their little army, and finally +contributed in no small degree to its overthrow.] +</p> +<a name="note-25"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>25</u> (<a href="#noteref-25">return</a>)<br> +[—FIELD-PIECE IN THE HIGHLAND ARMY +</p> +<p> +This circumstance, which is historical, as well as the description that +precedes it, will remind the reader of the war of La Vendee, in which +the royalists, consisting chiefly of insurgent peasantry, attached a +prodigious and even superstitious interest to the possession of a piece +of brass ordnance, which they called Marie Jeanne. +</p> +<p> +The Highlanders of an early period were afraid of cannon, with the noise +and effect of which they were totally unacquainted. It was by means +of three or four small pieces of artillery that the Earl of Huntly and +Errol, in James VI's time, gained a great victory at Glenlivat, over a +numerous Highland army, commanded by the Earl of Argyle. At the battle +of the Bridge of Dee, General Middleton obtained by his artillery a +similar success, the Highlanders not being able to stand the discharge +of MUSKET'S-MOTHER, which was the name they bestowed on great guns. In +an old ballad on the battle of the Bridge of Dee, these verses occur:— +</p> +<pre> + The Highlandmen are pretty men + For handling sword and shield, + But yet they are but simple men + To stand a stricken field. + + The Highlandmen are pretty men + For target and claymore, + But yet they are but naked men + To face the cannon's roar. + + For the cannons roar on a summer night + Like thunder in the air; + Was never man in Highland garb + Would face the cannon fair. +</pre> +<p> +But the Highlanders of 1745 had got far beyond the simplicity of their +forefathers, and showed throughout the whole war how little they dreaded +artillery, although the common people still attached some consequence to +the possession of the field-piece which led to this disquisition.] +</p> +<a name="note-26"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>26</u> (<a href="#noteref-26">return</a>)<br> +[—ANDERSON OF WHITBURGH +</p> +<p> +The faithful friend who pointed out the pass by which the Highlanders +moved from Tranent to Seaton, was Robert Anderson, Junior, of Whitburgh, +a gentleman of property in East Lothian. He had been interrogated by the +Lord George Murray concerning the possibility of crossing the uncouth +and marshy piece of ground which divided the armies, and which he +described as impracticable. When dismissed, he recollected that there +was a circuitous path leading eastward through the marsh into the +plain, by which the Highlanders might turn the flank of Sir John Cope's +position, without being exposed to the enemy's fire. Having mentioned +his opinion to Mr. Hepburn of Keith, who instantly saw its importance, +he was encouraged by that gentleman to awake Lord George Murray, and +communicate the idea to him. Lord George received the information with +grateful thanks, and instantly awakened Prince Charles, who was sleeping +in the field with a bunch of peas under his head. The Adventurer +received with alacrity the news that there was a possibility of bringing +an excellently provided army to a decisive battle with his own irregular +forces. His joy on the occasion was not very consistent with the charge +of cowardice brought against him by Chevalier Johnstone, a discontented +follower, whose Memoirs possess at least as much of a romantic as a +historical character. Even by the account of the Chevalier himself, the +Prince was at the head of the second line of the Highland army during +the battle, of which he says, 'It was gained with such rapidity, that in +the second line, where I was still by the side of the Prince, we saw no +other enemy than those who were lying on the ground killed and wounded, +THOUGH WE WERE NOT MORE THAN FIFTY PACES BEHIND OUR FIRST LINE, RUNNING +ALWAYS AS FAST AS WE COULD TO OVERTAKE THEM.' +</p> +<p> +This passage in the Chevalier's Memoirs places the Prince within fifty +paces of the best of the battle, a position which would never have been +the choice of one unwilling to take a share of its dangers. Indeed, +unless the chiefs had complied with the young Adventurer's proposal +to lead the van in person, it does not appear that he could have been +deeper in the action.] +</p> +<a name="note-27"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>27</u> (<a href="#noteref-27">return</a>)<br> +[—DEATH OF COLONEL GARDINER +</p> +<p> +The death of this good Christian and gallant man is thus given by +his affectionate biographer Dr. Doddridge, from the evidence of +eye-witnesses:— +</p> +<p> +'He continued all night under arms, wrapped up in his cloak, and +generally sheltered under a rick of barley, which happened to be in the +field. About three in the morning he called-his domestic servants to +him, of which there were four in waiting. He dismissed three of them +with most affectionate Christian advice, and such solemn charges +relating to the performance of their duty and the care of their souls, +as seemed plainly to intimate that he apprehended it was at least very +probable he was taking his last farewell of them. There is great reason +to believe that he spent the little remainder of the time, which could +not be much above an hour, in those devout exercises of soul which had +been so long habitual to him and to which so many circumstances did then +concur to call him. The army was alarmed, by break of day, by the noise +of the rebels' approach, and the attack was made before sunrise, yet +when it was light enough to discern what passed. As soon as the enemy +came within gunshot they made a furious fire; and it is said that the +dragoons which constituted the left wing immediately fled. The Colonel, +at the beginning of the onset, which in the whole lasted but a few +minutes, received a wound by a bullet in his left breast, which made him +give a sudden spring in his saddle upon which his servant, who led the +horse, would have persuaded him to retreat, but he said it was only a +wound in the flesh, and fought on, though he presently after received a +shot in his right thigh. In the meantime, it was discerned that some +of the enemy fell by him, and particularly one man, who had made him a +treacherous visit but a few days before, with great profession of zeal +for the present establishment. +</p> +<p> +'Events of this kind pass in less time than the description of them can +be written, or than it can be read. The Colonel was for a few +moments supported by his men, and particularly by that worthy person +Lieutenant-Colonel Whitney, who was shot through the arm here, and a +few months after fell nobly at the battle of Falkirk, and by Lieutenant +West, a man of distinguished bravery, as also by about fifteen dragoons, +who stood by him to the last. But after a faint fire, the regiment in +general was seized with a panic; and though their Colonel and some other +gallant officers did what they could to rally them once or twice, they +at last took a precipitate flight. And just in the moment when Colonel +Gardiner seemed to be making a pause to deliberate what duty required +him to do in such circumstances, an accident happened, which must, I +think, in the judgement of every worthy and generous man, be allowed a +sufficient apology for exposing his life to so great hazard, when his +regiment had left him. He saw a party of the foot, who were then bravely +fighting near him, and whom he was ordered to support, had no officer to +head them; upon which he said eagerly, in the hearing of the person from +whom I had this account, "These brave fellows will be cut to pieces +for want of a commander," or words to that effect; which while he was +speaking, he rode up to them and cried out, "Fire on, my lads, and fear +nothing." But just as the words were out of his mouth, a Highlander +advanced towards him with a scythe fastened to a long pole, with which +he gave him so dreadful a wound on his right arm, that his sword dropped +out of his hand; and at the same time several others coming about him +while he was thus dreadfully entangled with that cruel weapon, he was +dragged off from his horse. The moment he fell, another Highlander, who, +if the king's evidence at Carlisle may be credited (as I know not why +they should not, though the unhappy creature died denying it), was +one Mac-Naught, who was executed about a year after, gave him a stroke +either with a broadsword or a Lochaber-axe (for my informant could +not exactly distinguish) on the hinder part of his head, which was the +mortal blow. All that his faithful attendant saw further at this time +was, that, as his hat was falling off, he took it in his left hand, and +waved it as a signal to him to retreat, and added what were the last +words he ever heard him speak, "Take care of yourself," upon which the +servant retired.'—SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF COLONEL JAMES +GARDINER, BY P. DODDRIDGE, D.D., London, 1747, p. 187. +</p> +<p> +I may remark on this extract, that it confirms the account given in +the text of the resistance offered by some of the English infantry. +Surprised by a force of a peculiar and unusual description, their +opposition could not be long or formidable, especially as they +were deserted by the cavalry, and those who undertook to manage the +artillery. But although the affair was soon decided, I have always +understood that many of the infantry showed an inclination to do their +duty.] +</p> +<a name="note-28"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>28</u> (<a href="#noteref-28">return</a>)<br> +[—THE LAIRD OF BALMAWHAPPLE +</p> +<p> +It is scarcely necessary to say that the character of this brutal +young Laird is entirely imaginary. A gentleman, however, who resembled +Balmawhapple in the article of courage only, fell at Preston in +the manner described. A Perthshire gentleman of high honour and +respectability, one of the handful of cavalry who followed the fortunes +of Charles Edward, pursued the fugitive dragoons almost alone till +near St. Clement's Wells, where the efforts of some of the officers had +prevailed on a few of them to make a momentary stand. Perceiving at this +moment that they were pursued by only one man and a couple of servants, +they turned upon him and cut him down with their swords. I remember, +when a child, sitting on his grave, where the grass long grew rank and +green, distinguishing it from the rest of the field. A female of the +family then residing at St. Clement's Wells used to tell me the tragedy, +of which she had been an eye-witness, and showed me in evidence one of +the silver clasps of the unfortunate gentleman's waistcoat.] +</p> +<a name="note-29"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>29</u> (<a href="#noteref-29">return</a>)<br> +[—ANDREA DE FERRARA +</p> +<p> +The name of Andrea de Ferrara is inscribed on all the Scottish +broadswords which are accounted of peculiar excellence. Who this artist +was, what were his fortunes, and when he flourished, have hitherto +defied the research of antiquaries; only it is in general believed that +Andrea de Ferrara was a Spanish or Italian artificer, brought over by +James IV or V to instruct the Scots in the manufacture of sword blades. +Most barbarous nations excel in the fabrication of arms; and the Scots +had attained great proficiency in forging swords, so early as the field +of Pinkie; at which period the historian Patten describes them as 'all +notably broad and thin, universally made to slice, and of such exceeding +good temper, that as I never saw any so good, so I think it hard to +devise better.' ACCOUNT OF SOMERSET'S EXPEDITION. +</p> +<p> +It may be observed, that the best and most genuine Andrea Ferraras have +a crown marked on the blades.] +</p> +<a name="note-30"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>30</u> (<a href="#noteref-30">return</a>)<br> +[—MISS NAIRNE +</p> +<p> +The incident here said to have happened to Flora, Mac-Ivor, actually +befell Miss Nairne, a lady with whom the author had the pleasure of +being acquainted. As the Highland army rushed into Edinburgh, Miss +Nairne, like other ladies who approved of their cause, stood waving her +handkerchief from a balcony, when a ball from a Highlander's musket, +which was discharged by accident, grazed her forehead. 'Thank God' said +she, the instant she recovered, 'that the accident happened to me, whose +principles are known. Had it befallen a Whig, they would have said it +was done on purpose.'] +</p> +<a name="note-31"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>31</u> (<a href="#noteref-31">return</a>)<br> +[—PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD +</p> +<p> +The Author of Waverley has been charged with painting the young +Adventurer in colours more amiable than his character deserved. But +having known many individuals who were near his person, he has been +described according to the light in which those eye-witnesses saw his +temper and qualifications. Something must be allowed, no doubt, to +the natural exaggerations of those who remembered him as the bold and +adventurous Prince, in whose cause they had braved death and ruin; but +is their evidence to give place entirely to that of a single malcontent? +</p> +<p> +I have already noticed the imputations thrown by the Chevalier Johnstone +on the Prince's courage. But some part at least of that gentleman's tale +is purely romantic. It would not, for instance, be supposed, that at +the time he is favouring us with the highly-wrought account of his amour +with the adorable Peggie, the Chevalier Johnstone was a married man, +whose grandchild is now alive, or that the whole circumstantial story +concerning the outrageous vengeance taken by Gordon of Abbachie on a +Presbyterian clergyman, is entirely apocryphal. At the same time it may +be admitted, that the Prince, like others of his family, did not esteem +the services done him by his adherents so highly as he ought. Educated +in high ideas of his hereditary right, he has been supposed to have held +every exertion and sacrifice made in his cause as too much the duty of +the person making it, to merit extravagant gratitude on his part. +Dr. King's evidence (which his leaving the Jacobite interest renders +somewhat doubtful) goes to strengthen this opinion. +</p> +<p> +The ingenious editor of Johnstone's MEMOIRS has quoted a story said +to be told by Helvetius, stating that Prince Charles Edward, far from +voluntarily embarking on his daring expedition, was literally bound hand +and foot, and to which he seems disposed to yield credit. Now, it being +a fact as well known as any in his history, and, so far as I know, +entirely undisputed, that the Prince's personal entreaties and urgency +positively forced Boisdale and Lochiel into insurrection, when they +were earnestly desirous that he would put off his attempt until he could +obtain a sufficient force from France, it will be very difficult to +reconcile his alleged reluctance to undertake the expedition, with his +desperately insisting on carrying the rising into effect, against the +advice and entreaty of his most powerful and most sage partisans. Surely +a man who had been carried bound on board the vessel which brought him +to so desperate an enterprise, would have taken the opportunity afforded +by the reluctance of his partisans, to return to France in safety. +</p> +<p> +It is averred in Johnstone's Memoirs, that Charles Edward left the field +of Culloden without doing the utmost to dispute the victory; and, +to give the evidence on both sides, there is in existence the more +trustworthy testimony of Lord Elcho, who states, that he himself +earnestly exhorted the Prince to charge at the head of the left wing, +which was entire, and retrieve the day, or die with honour. And on +his counsel being declined, Lord Elcho took leave of him with a bitter +execration, swearing he would never look on his face again, and kept his +word. +</p> +<p> +On the other hand, it seems to have been the opinion of almost all the +other officers, that the day was irretrievably lost, one wing of the +Highlanders being entirely routed, the rest of the army out-numbered, +out-flanked, and in a condition totally hopeless. In this situation of +things, the Irish officers who surrounded Charles's person interfered +to force him off the field. A cornet who was close to the Prince, left +a strong attestation, that he had seen Sir Thomas Sheridan seize the +bridle of his horse, and turn him round. There is some discrepancy of +evidence; but the opinion of Lord Elcho, a man of fiery temper, and +desperate at the ruin which he beheld impending, cannot fairly be taken +in prejudice of a character for courage which is intimated by the nature +of the enterprise itself, by the Prince's eagerness to fight on all +occasions, by his determination to advance from Derby to London, and by +the presence of mind which he manifested during the romantic perils of +his escape. The author is far from claiming for this unfortunate person +the praise due to splendid talents; but he continues to be of opinion, +that at the period of his enterprise, he had a mind capable of facing +danger and aspiring to fame. +</p> +<p> +That Charles Edward had the advantages of a graceful presence, courtesy, +and an address and manner becoming his station, the author never heard +disputed by any who approached his person, nor does he conceive that +these qualities are overcharged in the present attempt to sketch his +portrait. The following extracts, corroborative of the general opinion +respecting the Prince's amiable disposition, are taken from a manuscript +account of his romantic expedition, by James Maxwell of Kirkconnel, +of which I possess a copy, by the friendship of J. Menzies, Esq., +of Pitfoddells. The author, though partial to the Prince, whom he +faithfully followed, seems to have been a fair and candid man, and well +acquainted with the intrigues among the Adventurer's council:— +</p> +<p> +'Everybody was mightily taken with the Prince's figure and personal +behaviour. There was but one voice about them. Those whom interest or +prejudice made a runaway to his cause, could not help acknowledging that +they wished him well in all other respects, and could hardly blame him +for his present undertaking. Sundry things had concurred to raise his +character to the highest pitch, besides the greatness of the enterprise, +and the conduct that had hitherto appeared in the execution of it. There +were several instances of good nature and humanity that had made a great +impression on people's minds, I shall confine myself to two or three. +Immediately after the battle, as the Prince was riding along the ground +that Cope's army had occupied a few minutes before, one of the officers +came up to congratulate him, and said, pointing to the killed, "Sir, +there are your enemies at your feet." The Prince, far from exulting, +expressed a great deal of compassion for his father's deluded subjects, +whom he declared he was heartily sorry to see in that posture. Next day, +while the Prince was at Pinkie-house, a citizen of Edinburgh came to +make some representation to Secretary Murray about the tents that city +was ordered to furnish against a certain day. Murray happened to be out +of the way, which the Prince hearing of, called to have the gentleman +brought to him, saying, he would rather dispatch the business, whatever +it was, himself, than have the gentleman wait, which he did, by granting +everything that was asked. So much affability in a young prince, flushed +with victory, drew encomiums even from his enemies. But what gave the +people the highest idea of him, was the negative he gave to a thing that +very nearly concerned his interest, and upon which the success of +his enterprise perhaps depended. It was proposed to send one of the +prisoners to London, to demand of that court a cartel for the exchange +of prisoners taken, and to be taken, during this war, and to intimate +that a refusal would be looked upon as a resolution on their part to +give no quarter. It was visible a cartel would be of great advantage to +the Prince's affairs; his friends would be more ready to declare for him +if they had nothing to fear but the chance of war in the field; and +if the court of London refused to settle a cartel, the Prince was +authorized to treat his prisoners in the same manner the Elector of +Hanover was determined to treat such of the Prince's friends as might +fall into his hands: it was urged that a few examples would compel the +court of London to comply. It was to be presumed that the officers of +the English army would make a point of it. They had never engaged in the +service but upon such terms as are in use among all civilized nations, +and it could be no stain upon their honour to lay down their commissions +if these terms were not observed, and that owing to the obstinacy of +their own Prince. Though this scheme was plausible, and represented as +very important, the Prince could never be brought into it: it was below +him, he said, to make empty threats, and he would never put such as +those into execution; he would never in cold blood take away lives which +he had saved in heat of action, at the peril of his own. These were not +the only proofs of good nature the Prince gave about this time. Every +day produced something new of this kind. These things softened the +rigour of a military government, which was only imputed to the necessity +of his affairs, and which he endeavoured to make as gentle and easy as +possible.' +</p> +<p> +It has been said, that the Prince sometimes exacted more state and +ceremonial than seemed to suit his condition; but, on the other hand +some strictness of etiquette was altogether indispensable where he must +otherwise have been exposed to general intrusion. He could also endure, +with a good grace, the retorts which his affectation of ceremony +sometimes exposed him to. It is said, for example, that Grant of +Glenmoriston having made a hasty march to join Charles, at the head +of his clan, rushed into the Prince's presence at Holyrood with +unceremonious haste, without having attended to the duties of the +toilet. The Prince received him kindly, but not without a hint that +a previous interview with the barber might not have been wholly +unnecessary. 'It is not beardless boys,' answered the displeased Chief, +'who are to do your Royal Highness's turn.' The Chevalier took the +rebuke in good part. +</p> +<p> +On the whole, if Prince Charles had concluded his life soon after his +miraculous escape, his character in history must have stood very high. +As it was, his station is amongst those, a certain brilliant portion of +whose life forms a remarkable contrast to all which precedes, and all +which follows it] +</p> +<a name="note-32"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>32</u> (<a href="#noteref-32">return</a>)<br> +[—THE SKIRMISH AT CLIFTON +</p> +<p> +The following account of the skirmish at Clifton is extracted from +the manuscript Memoirs of Evan Macpherson of Cluny, chief of the clan +Macpherson who had the merit of supporting the principal brunt of that +spirited affair. The Memoirs appear to have been composed about 1755, +only ten years after the action had taken place. They were written in +France, where that gallant Chief resided in exile, which accounts for +some Gallicisms which occur in the narrative. +</p> +<p> +'In the Prince's return from Derby back towards Scotland, my Lord George +Murray, Lieutenant-General, cheerfully charg'd himself with the command +of the rear; a post, which, altho' honourable, was attended with great +danger, many difficulties, and no small fatigue; for the Prince being +apprehensive that his retreat to Scotland might be cut off by Marischall +Wade, who lay to the northward of him with an armie much superior to +what H. R. H. had, while the Duke of Comberland with his whole cavalrie +followed hard in the rear, was obliged to hasten his marches. It was +not, therefore, possible for the artilirie to march so fast as the +Prince's armie, in the depth of winter, extremely bad weather, and +the worst roads in England; so Lord George Murray was obliged often to +continue his marches long after it was dark almost every night, while at +the same time, he had frequent allarms and disturbances from the Duke of +Comberland's advanc'd parties. Towards the evening of the twentie-eight +December 1745, the Prince entered the town of Penrith, in the Province +of Comberland. But as Lord George Murray could not bring up the +artilirie so fast as he wou'd have wish'd, he was obliged to pass +the night six miles short of that town, together with the regiment of +Mac-Donel of Glengarrie, which that day happened to have the arrear +guard. The Prince, in order to refresh his armie, and to give my Lord +George and the artilirie time to come up, resolved to sejour the 29th at +Penrith; so ordered his little army to appear in the morning under arms, +in order to be reviewed, and to know in what manner the numbers stood +from his haveing entered England. It did not at that time amount to +5000 foot in all, with about 400 cavalrie, composed of the noblesse who +serv'd as volunteers, part of whom form'd a first troop of guards for +the Prince, under the command of My Lord Elchoe, now Comte de Weems, +who, being proscribed, is presently in France. Another part formed a +second troup of guards under the command of My Lord Balmirino, who was +beheaded at the Tower of London. A third part serv'd under My Lord le +Comte de Kilmarnock, who was likewise beheaded at the Tower. A fourth +part serv'd under My Lord Pitsligow, who is also proscribed; which +cavalrie, tho' very few in numbers, being all Noblesse, were very brave, +and of infinite advantage to the foot, not only in the day of battle, +but in serving as advanced guards on the several marches, and in +patroling dureing the night on the different roads which led towards the +towns where the army happened to quarter. +</p> +<p> +'While this small army was out in a body on the 29th December, upon +a rising ground to the northward of Penrith, passing review, Mons. de +Cluny with his tribe, was ordered to the Bridge of Clifton, about a +mile to southward of Penrith, after having pass'd in review before Mons. +Patullo, who was charged with the inspection of the troops, and was +likewise Quarter Master General of the army, and is now in France. They +remained under arms at the Bridge, waiting the arrival of My Lord George +Murray with the artilirie, whom Mons. de Cluny had orders to cover in +passing the bridge. They arrived about sunsett closely pursued by the +Duke of Comberland with the whole body of his cavalrie, reckoned upwards +of 3000 strong, about a thousand of whom, as near as might be computed, +dismounted, in order to cut off the passage of the artilirie towards the +bridge, while the Duke and the others remained on horseback in order to +attack the arrear. My Lord George Murray advanced, and although he +found Mons. de Cluny and his tribe in good spirits under arms, yet +the circumstance appear'd extremely delicate. The numbers were vastly +unequall, and the attack seem'd very dangerous; so my Lord George +declin'd giving orders to such time as he ask'd Mons. de Cluny's +oppinion. "I will attack them with all my heart," says Mons. de Cluny, +"if you order me." "I do order it then," answered my Lord George, and +immediately went on himself along with Mons. de Cluny, and fought sword +in hand on foot, at the head of the single tribe of Macphersons. They +in a moment made their way through a strong hedge of thorns, under the +cover whereof the cavalrie had taken their station, in the struggle of +passing which hedge My Lord George Murray, being dressed EN MONTAGNARD, +as all the army were, lost his bonnet and wig; so continued to fight +bare-headed during the action, They at first made a brisk discharge of +their firearms on the enemy, then attacked them with their sabres, and +made a great slaughter a considerable time, which obliged Comberland +and his cavalrie to fly with precipitation and in great confusion; in +so much, that if the Prince had been provided in a sufficient number of +cavalrie to have taken advantage of the disorder, it is beyond question +that the Duke of Comberland and the bulk of his cavalrie had been taken +prisoners. By this time it was so dark that it was not possible to view +or number the slain, who filled all the ditches which happened to be on +the ground where they stood. But it was computed that, besides those who +went off wounded upwards of a hundred at least were left on the spot, +among whom was Colonel Honeywood, who commanded the dismounted cavalrie, +whose sabre, of considerable value, Mons. de Cluny brought off and still +preserves; and his tribe lykeways brought off many arms;—the Colonel +was afterwards taken up, and, his wounds being dress'd, with great +difficultie recovered. Mons. de Cluny lost only in the action twelve +men, of whom some haveing been only wounded, fell afterwards into the +hands of the enemy, and were sent as slaves to America, whence several +of them returned, and one of them is now in France, a serjeant in the +Regiment of Royal Scots. How soon the accounts of the enemie's approach +had reached the Prince, H. R. H. had immediately ordered Mi-Lord le +Comte de Nairne, Brigadier, who, being proscribed, is now in France, +with the three batalions of the Duke of Athol, the batalion of the Duke +of Perth, and some other troups under his command, in order to support +Cluny, and to bring off the artilirie. But the action was intirely over +before the Comte de Nairne, with his command, cou'd reach nigh to the +place. They therefore return'd all to Penrith, and the artilirie marched +up in good order. Nor did the Duke of Comberland ever afterwards dare to +come within a day's march of the Prince and his army dureing the course +of all that retreat, which was conducted with great prudence and safety, +when in some manner surrounded by enemies.'] +</p> +<a name="note-33"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>33</u> (<a href="#noteref-33">return</a>)<br> +[—THE OATH UPON THE DIRK +</p> +<p> +As the heathen deities contracted an indelible obligation if they swore +by Styx, the Scottish Highlanders had usually some peculiar solemnity +attached to an oath which they intended should be binding on them. Very +frequently it consisted in laying their hand, as they swore, on their +own drawn dirk; which dagger, becoming a party to the transaction, was +invoked to punish any breach of faith. But, by whatever ritual the oath +was sanctioned, the party was extremely desirous to keep secret what the +especial oath was, which he considered as irrevocable. This was a matter +of great convenience, as he felt no scruple in breaking his asseveration +when made in any other form than that which he accounted as peculiarly +solemn; and therefore readily granted any engagement which bound him +no longer than he inclined. Whereas, if the oath which he accounted +inviolable was once publicly known, no party with whom he might have +occasion to contract, would have rested satisfied with any other. Louis +XI of France practised the same sophistry, for he also had a peculiar +species of oath, the only one which he was ever known to respect, and +which, therefore, he was very unwilling to pledge. The only engagement +which that wily tyrant accounted binding upon him, was an oath by the +Holy Cross of Saint Lo d'Angers, which contained a Portion of the True +Cross. If he prevaricated after taking this oath, Louis believed he +should die within the year. The Constable Saint Paul, being invited to a +personal conference with Louis, refused to meet the king unless he would +agree to ensure him safe conduct under sanction of this oath. But, says +Comines, the king replied, he would never again pledge that engagement +to mortal man, though he was willing to take any other oath which could +be devised. The treaty broke off, therefore, after much chaffering +concerning the nature of the vow which Louis was to take. Such is the +difference between the dictates of superstition and those of conscience.] +</p> +<hr> +<a name="2H_GLOS"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + GLOSSARY +</h2> +<p> +ABIIT, EVASIT, ERUPIT, EFFUGIT, more correctly the quotation is, 'abiit, +excessit, evasit, erupit': varying terms to express the haste, secrecy, +and energy of the flight. +</p> +<p> +ABOON or ABUNE, above. +</p> +<p> +ACCOLADE, embrace. +</p> +<p> +ADSCRIPTI GLEBAE, slaves, transferred with the land to which they are +bound, from one possessor to another. +</p> +<p> +AHINT, behind. +</p> +<p> +AITS, oats. +</p> +<p> +ALERTE A LA MURAILLE, 'Quick to the wall!' +</p> +<p> +ALEXANDER AB ALEXANDRO, Alexander the son of Alexander. +</p> +<p> +ALMA = 'alma mater terra', the land, the bounteous mother. +</p> +<p> +ALTER EGO, his other self. +</p> +<p> +AMBRY, AWMRY, chest. +</p> +<p> +ANENT, concerning. +</p> +<p> +ANILIA, old women's tales. +</p> +<p> +APOTHEOSIS, deification. +</p> +<p> +ARIETTE, air. +</p> +<p> +ASSOILZIED, acquitted, or absolved. +</p> +<p> +ASSYTHMENT, satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +BAFF, slap. +</p> +<p> +BAGGANETS, bayonets. +</p> +<p> +BARLEY, parley; CRY BARLEY IN A BRUILZIE, call a truce during a +scrimmage. +</p> +<p> +BARON-BAILIE, steward of the estate. +</p> +<p> +BAWBEE, halfpenny. +</p> +<p> +BAXTER, baker. +</p> +<p> +BEAUFET, buffet, sideboard. +</p> +<p> +BEFLUMMED, befooled. +</p> +<p> +BEGUNK, trick. +</p> +<p> +BEN, within (by, in). +</p> +<p> +BENEMPT, named. +</p> +<p> +BENT, open country. +</p> +<p> +BHAIRD, bard. +</p> +<p> +BIBLIOPOLIST, seller of books. +</p> +<p> +BIELDY, sheltered. +</p> +<p> +BIRLIEMAN, a parish official. +</p> +<p> +BLIND, hidden, out of the way. +</p> +<p> +BLOOD-WIT, blood-money, compensation for homicide. +</p> +<p> +BODACH, spectre. +</p> +<p> +BODLE, farthing. +</p> +<p> +BOGLE, bogey. +</p> +<p> +BON VIVANT, a lover of good fare. +</p> +<p> +BOUNE, make ready. +</p> +<p> +BRANDER, broil. +</p> +<p> +BRAW, fine. +</p> +<p> +BROGUES, shoes. +</p> +<p> +BROO', broth. +</p> +<p> +BRUCKLE, brittle, frail. +</p> +<p> +BRUIK, possess. +</p> +<p> +BRUILZIE, broil, scrimmage. +</p> +<p> +BURGONET, helmet. +</p> +<p> +BUSK, get ready. +</p> +<p> +CAILLIACH, crone, old woman. +</p> +<p> +CAISSE MILITAIRE, military chest. +</p> +<p> +CALLANT, lad. +</p> +<p> +CANNY, shrewd; UNCANNY or NO CANNY, eerie. +</p> +<p> +CANTER, beggar; from the whining or 'canting' tone. +</p> +<p> +CANTRIPS, tricks. +</p> +<p> +CATH-DATH, tartan. +</p> +<p> +C'EST DES DEUX OREILLES, properly, 'c'est d'une oreille,' an expression +appreciative of good wine. +</p> +<p> +C'EST L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE, it is the man who fights and +gives counsel. +</p> +<p> +CEAN-KINNE, head of the clan. +</p> +<p> +CEDANT ARMA TOGAE, let weapons give place to the citizen's robe. +</p> +<p> +CELA NE TIRE A RIEN, that counts for nothing. +</p> +<p> +CELA VA SANS DIRE, that goes without saying. +</p> +<p> +CESS-MONEY, land-tax. +</p> +<p> +CHANGE-HOUSE, public house. +</p> +<p> +CHEVAUX-DE-POSTE, post-horses. +</p> +<p> +CHIEL, person. +</p> +<p> +CLACHAN, village. +</p> +<p> +CLAMHEWIT, slash, clout. +</p> +<p> +CLAW FAVOUR, curry favour. +</p> +<p> +CLOUR, bump. +</p> +<p> +COGHLING, blowing. +</p> +<p> +COM., short for COMITATUS = county. +</p> +<p> +CONCLAMARE VASA, to give the signal for baggage, i.e. for packing the +baggage. +</p> +<p> +CONGES, bowing and scraping. +</p> +<p> +CORONACH, lament. +</p> +<p> +CORRI, hill-side. +</p> +<p> +COUP, upset. +</p> +<p> +COUPE-JARRET, cut-throat (literally, leg-chopper). +</p> +<p> +COUR PLENIERE, full court, state-reception. +</p> +<p> +COUTEAU DE CHASSE, hunting-knife. +</p> +<p> +COW YER CRACKS, stop your chatter. +</p> +<p> +CRAIG, neck. +</p> +<p> +CREAGH, foray, raid. +</p> +<p> +CUITTLE, fickle. +</p> +<p> +CURRAGH, boat, +</p> +<p> +CURRANT, running. +</p> +<p> +CUT-LUGGED, crop-eared. +</p> +<p> +DANS SON TORT, in the wrong. +</p> +<p> +DE FACTO, in actual fact. +</p> +<p> +DE JURE, by legal right. +</p> +<p> +DEAVING, deafening. +</p> +<p> +DELIVER, active. +</p> +<p> +DEMELEE, extrication from a hobble. +</p> +<p> +DEOCH AN DORUIS, stirrup-cup. +</p> +<p> +DERN, dark. +</p> +<p> +DIAOUL, devil. +</p> +<p> +DIAOUL!—CEADE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART, O the devil! a hundred thousand +curses. +</p> +<p> +DINMONTS, year-old wethers. +</p> +<p> +DISPONE, assign. +</p> +<p> +DIVERTISEMENTS, diversions. +</p> +<p> +DOER, factor, agent. +</p> +<p> +DOITED, witless. +</p> +<p> +DOON, down. +</p> +<p> +DORLACH, valise, portmanteau. +</p> +<p> +DOVERING, half-asleep. +</p> +<p> +DOW, dove. +</p> +<p> +DOWFF, dull. +</p> +<p> +DUE DONZELLETTE GARRULE, two garrulous damsels. +</p> +<p> +DUINHE-WASSEL, gentleman. +</p> +<p> +EARN, eagle. +</p> +<p> +ELD, age. +</p> +<p> +ELISOS OCULOS, ET SICCUM SANGUINE GUTTUR, eyes squeezed out of his head, +and throat drained of blood. +</p> +<p> +EN ATTENDANT, meanwhile. +</p> +<p> +EN MOUSQUETAIRE, from a soldier's point of view. +</p> +<p> +EPULAE AD SENATUM, PRANDIUM VERO AD POPULUM ATTINET, for the senate +feasts are befitting, but for the people a simple meal. +</p> +<p> +EPULAE LAUTIORES, splendid feasts. +</p> +<p> +EQUIPONDERATE, equivalent. +</p> +<p> +ET SINGULA PRAEDANTUR ANNI, the passing years rob us of every thing we +possess, one by one. +</p> +<p> +ETTER-CAP, A venomous person. +</p> +<p> +EVITE, evade. +</p> +<p> +EWEST, nearest. +</p> +<p> +EXEEMED, exempt. +</p> +<p> +FAIRE LA CUREE, to give the shin, &c., of a killed stag to the hounds. +</p> +<p> +FAIRE LA MEILLEURE CHERE, to make good cheer. +</p> +<p> +FEAL, loyal. +</p> +<p> +FECK, part. +</p> +<p> +FENDY, handy. +</p> +<p> +FEROCIORES IN ASPECTU, MITIORES IN ACTU, fierce in appearance, in +behaviour mild. +</p> +<p> +FILLE DE CHAMBRE, lady's maid. +</p> +<p> +FLEMIT, frightened. +</p> +<p> +FLEYT, scold. +</p> +<p> +FORIS-FAMILIATED, excluded from the family, out of the jurisdiction of +the head of the family. +</p> +<p> +FUNGARQUE INANI MUNERE, I shall render a fruitless service. +</p> +<p> +GABERLUNZIE, beggar. +</p> +<p> +GAD, bar. +</p> +<p> +GANE, gone. +</p> +<p> +GAR, make. +</p> +<p> +GARCONS APOTHICAIRES, chemists' assistants. +</p> +<p> +GARDEZ L'EAU, beware of the water. +</p> +<p> +GARTANED, gartered. +</p> +<p> +GAUDET EQUIS ET CANIBUS, he finds his pleasure in horses and dogs. +</p> +<p> +GAUN, going. +</p> +<p> +GEAR, goods. +</p> +<p> +GIMMERS, ewes of two years. +</p> +<p> +GIN, if. +</p> +<p> +GLED, hawk. +</p> +<p> +GLEG, quick. +</p> +<p> +GLISK, glimpse. +</p> +<p> +GRANING, groaning. +</p> +<p> +GRAT, cried; GREET, cry, weep. +</p> +<p> +GREY-BEARD, jug. +</p> +<p> +GRICE, young pig. +</p> +<p> +GRIFFIN, a four-legged dragon. +</p> +<p> +GRIPPLE, greedy. +</p> +<p> +GUSTO, taste. +</p> +<p> +HAEC TIBI ERUNT ARTES, &c. 'These be your acts; to impose the rule of +peace; To spare the humbled, crush the arrogant foe.' +</p> +<p> +HAG, copse. +</p> +<p> +HAGGIS, a dish composed of the pluck, &c., of a sheep, with oatmeal, +suet, onions, &c., boiled inside the animal's maw. +</p> +<p> +HAILL, whole. +</p> +<p> +HALLAN, inner wall. +</p> +<p> +HANTLE, a lot. +</p> +<p> +HECK, cattle rack. +</p> +<p> +HER NAIN SELL, me, myself. +</p> +<p> +HERSHIP, plunder. +</p> +<p> +HET, hot. +</p> +<p> +HIPPOGRIFF, a cross between a horse and a dragon. +</p> +<p> +HOG, lamb. +</p> +<p> +HOMAGIUM, the act of homage. +</p> +<p> +HORNING, outlawry. +</p> +<p> +HORSE-COUPER, horse-dealer. +</p> +<p> +HOWE, hollow. +</p> +<p> +HUMANA PERPESSI SUMUS, we have borne all that man can inflict on us. +</p> +<p> +HURDLES, buttocks. +</p> +<p> +ILK, each; OF THAT ILK, having the same title as the surname. +</p> +<p> +IMPIGER, IRACUNDUS, INEXORABILIS, ACER, untiring, swift to wrath, +unyielding, keen. +</p> +<p> +IN CARCERE, in prison. +</p> +<p> +IN ERGASTULO, in a dungeon (a private prison, as opposed to INCARCERE). +</p> +<p> +IN INTEGNUM, in full. +</p> +<p> +IN LOCO PARENTIS, in the place of a parent. +</p> +<p> +IN REBUS BELLICIS MAXIME DOMINATUR FORTUNA, in matters of war, Luck has +most to say. +</p> +<p> +IN SERVITIO EXUENDI, SEU DETRAHENDI. CALIGAS REGIS POST BATALLIAM, for +the service of undoing or pulling off the king's boots after a battle. +</p> +<p> +INTROMITTED, interfered with. +</p> +<p> +JOGUE, jogee, ascetic or conjurer. +</p> +<p> +KEMPLE, a load of hay (forty 'bottles'). +</p> +<p> +KIPPAGE, rage. +</p> +<p> +KITTLE, tricky, difficult. +</p> +<p> +KYLOES, highland cattle. +</p> +<p> +LA BELLE PASSION, the gentle passion. +</p> +<p> +LA HOULETTE ET LE CHALLUMEAU, the shepherd's crook and pipe. +</p> +<p> +LAIRD, (equivalent to) squire. +</p> +<p> +LAISSEZ FAIRE A DON ANTOINE, Leave that to Don Antonio. +</p> +<p> +LANG-LEGGIT, long-legged. +</p> +<p> +LAPIS OFFENSIONIS ET PETRA SCANDALI, a stone of stumbling and a rock of +offence. +</p> +<p> +LAWING, reckoning. +</p> +<p> +LE BEAU IDEAL, the perfect conception. +</p> +<p> +LEGES CONVIVIALES, the rules of the table. +</p> +<p> +LES COUSTUSMES DE NORMANDIE, C'EST L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE, +[according to] the Norman custom, it is the man who fights and gives +counsel. +</p> +<p> +LEVY EN MASSE, full muster. +</p> +<p> +LIBER PATER, Father Liber; an old Italian deity, afterwards identified +with Bacchus. +</p> +<p> +LIGHTLY, make light of. +</p> +<p> +LIMMER, hussy, good-for-nothing. +</p> +<p> +LOON, fellow. +</p> +<p> +LOUPING-ON STANE, mounting-stone. +</p> +<p> +LOUR, to frown. +</p> +<p> +LUCKIE, widow. +</p> +<p> +LUG, ear. +</p> +<p> +LUNZIE, wallet. +</p> +<p> +MA BELLE DEMOISELLE, my fair damsel. +</p> +<p> +MADAME SON EPOUSE, Madam his wife. +</p> +<p> +MAILS, rent, dues. +</p> +<p> +MAIS CELA VIENDRA AVEC LE TEMPS, but that will come with time. +</p> +<p> +MAIST, most. +</p> +<p> +MAJOR DOMO, butler, mayor of the house, steward. +</p> +<p> +MANEGE, the art of training and managing horses. +</p> +<p> +MART, fatted beasts, slaughtered at Martinmas for winter provision. +</p> +<p> +MASK, infuse. +</p> +<p> +MAUGRE, in spite of. +</p> +<p> +MAUN, must. +</p> +<p> +MAUVAISE HONTE, false shame. +</p> +<p> +MAVORTIA PECTORA, warlike breasts. +</p> +<p> +MEAL-ARK, meal-tub. +</p> +<p> +MISGUGGLE, mishandle. +</p> +<p> +MOLDWARP, mole. +</p> +<p> +MON COEUR, &c. 'My heart so light, quo' she, My lad, is not for +you; 'Tis for a soldier bold, With beard of martial hue. Down, down, +derrydown. 'A feather in his hat, A red heel on his shoe; Who plays upon +the flute, And on the fiddle too. Down, down, derrydown.' +</p> +<p> +MORNING, morning drink. +</p> +<p> +MORTIS CAUSA, the cause of death. +</p> +<p> +MOUSTED, powdered. +</p> +<p> +MUTEMUS CLYPEOS, &c. 'Change we our shields, and for ourselves assume +the trappings of the Greeks.' +</p> +<p> +NEB, nose. +</p> +<p> +NEBULONES NEQUISSIMI, worthless scamps. +</p> +<p> +NEC NATURALITER IDIOTA, not a born idiot. +</p> +<p> +NOLT, cattle. +</p> +<p> +NUNC INSANUS AMOR, &c. 'Love's frenzy keeps me still in war's array +Where bolts fly thick, and foemen compass me.' +</p> +<p> +NUNCUPATIVE, legally valid nomination of an heir. +</p> +<p> +OBSIDIONAL CROWN, the reward of a commander who delivered a town from +siege; here used erroneously for the reward of the soldier who first +entered a besieged city. +</p> +<p> +ORRA, odd; ORRA MAN, the man who does the odd jobs. +</p> +<p> +OUTRECUIDANCE, presumption. +</p> +<p> +O VOUS QUI BUVEZ, &c. 'O you, who drink from flagons full, From out this +happy fountain cool, Here where, upon the banks, you see Only the flocks +of silly sheep, With rustic maids for company, Who bare of foot their +wardship keep.' +</p> +<p> +OYER AND TERMINER, to hear and determine (legal, from Norman +terminology). +</p> +<p> +PAITRICK, partridge. +</p> +<p> +PALINODE, recantation. +</p> +<p> +PANGED, crammed. +</p> +<p> +PAUNIE, peacock. +</p> +<p> +PEACHED, informed against, betrayed. +</p> +<p> +PECULIUM, property. +</p> +<p> +PENETRALIA, interior. +</p> +<p> +PER CONJURATIONEM, on oath. +</p> +<p> +PHILABEG, kilt. +</p> +<p> +PHRENESIAC, frenzied. +</p> +<p> +PINNERS, cap with lappets. +</p> +<p> +PIS-ALLER, an inferior article which will do to go on with. +</p> +<p> +PLACK, halfpenny. +</p> +<p> +PLEADER, barrister. +</p> +<p> +PLOY, employment, or fuss. +</p> +<p> +POCULUM POTATORIUM, drinking-cup. +</p> +<p> +POWTERING, rummaging. +</p> +<p> +PRANDIUM, a meal. +</p> +<p> +PRETTY, athletic. +</p> +<p> +PRIMAE NOTAE, of the first quality. +</p> +<p> +PRINCEPS, chieftain. +</p> +<p> +PROCUL A PATRIAE FINIBUS, far from the borders of your own land. +</p> +<p> +PROCUL DUBIO, without doubt. +</p> +<p> +PRONER, praise up. +</p> +<p> +PROPONE, propose. +</p> +<p> +PROSAPIA, ancestry. +</p> +<p> +PUER (JUVENIS) BONAE SPEI ET MAGNAE INDOLIS, a youth of promising future +and of high character. +</p> +<p> +QUANTUM SUFFICIT, as much as is needed, enough. +</p> +<p> +QUASI BEARWARDEN, in the capacity of Bearwarden. +</p> +<p> +QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES GENS, that he knows well with whom he has to +deal. +</p> +<p> +QUEAN, girl. +</p> +<p> +QUODLIBETS, subtleties. +</p> +<p> +RAMPANT, erect on the hind legs. +</p> +<p> +RECEPTO AMICO, when a friend is present. +</p> +<p> +RECTUS IN CURIA, cleared before the law, +</p> +<p> +REDD, put in order. +</p> +<p> +REIFS, robberies. +</p> +<p> +REISES, brushwood. +</p> +<p> +RESILING, drawing back. +</p> +<p> +RINTHEROUT, rapscallion. +</p> +<p> +RISU SOLVUNTUR TABULAE, the prosecution is laughed out of court. +</p> +<p> +ROKELAY, short cloak. +</p> +<p> +ROYNISH, scurvy. +</p> +<p> +RUNT, an old cow. +</p> +<p> +RUSE DE GUERRE, military stratagem. +</p> +<p> +SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, soldiers' oath of allegiance. +</p> +<p> +SAGESSE, discretion. +</p> +<p> +SALIENT, in the act of leaping. +</p> +<p> +SANCTUM SANCTORUM, lit. 'holy of holies'; a specially private retreat or +study. +</p> +<p> +SANS TACHE, without stain. +</p> +<p> +SARKS, shirts. +</p> +<p> +SCARTED, scratched, +</p> +<p> +SCHELLUM, scamp. +</p> +<p> +SCOUPING, scampering. +</p> +<p> +SENNACHIES, Highland genealogists. +</p> +<p> +SERVABIT ODOREM TESTA DIU, the pot will keep the smell for a long time. +</p> +<p> +SHEMUS BEG, little James. +</p> +<p> +SHIBBOLETH, a pass-word (Judges xii, 6). +</p> +<p> +SHILPIT, thin. +</p> +<p> +SICCAN, such. +</p> +<p> +SIDIER ROY, red-coated soldiers. +</p> +<p> +SILLER, silver. +</p> +<p> +SKENE, small dirk or dagger. +</p> +<p> +SMOKY, suspicious. +</p> +<p> +SONSIE, sensible. +</p> +<p> +SOPITE, allay. +</p> +<p> +SORNER, a person who lives on his neighbours. +</p> +<p> +SOWENS, porridge or gruel. +</p> +<p> +SPEIRINGS, askings, = information. +</p> +<p> +SPENCE, best room. +</p> +<p> +SPES ALTERA, another hope. +</p> +<p> +SPLEUCHAN, pocket. +</p> +<p> +SPRACK, spruce. +</p> +<p> +SPRECHERY, cattle-lifting. +</p> +<p> +SPUILZIE, spoil (cf. BRUILZIE = broil). +</p> +<p> +STEADINGS, farms. +</p> +<p> +STIEVE, stiff. +</p> +<p> +STIRK, a year-old heifer or bullock. +</p> +<p> +STOOR, austere. +</p> +<p> +STOT, bull. +</p> +<p> +STOUP, mug, flagon. +</p> +<p> +STOUTHREIF, robbery with violence. +</p> +<p> +STRAE, straw. +</p> +<p> +STRATH, a valley. +</p> +<p> +STRATHSPEY, a Scottish dance. +</p> +<p> +STREEK, lie down. +</p> +<p> +SUI JURIS, of his own right. +</p> +<p> +SUUM CUIQUE, to each his due. +</p> +<p> +SYBOES, onions or radishes. +</p> +<p> +TACKSMAN, tenant. +</p> +<p> +TAIGLIT, slow, tired. +</p> +<p> +TAILLIE, covenant, bond. +</p> +<p> +TAISHATR, a person who has second-sight. +</p> +<p> +TANDEM TRIUMPHANS, triumphant in the end. +</p> +<p> +TANQUAM PRIVATUS, in my private capacity. +</p> +<p> +TAPPIT-HEN, a pewter-pot, holding nearly a gallon. +</p> +<p> +TENTAMINA, experiments. +</p> +<p> +TESTAMENTUM MILITARE, will made on the field of battle. +</p> +<p> +THIR, those. +</p> +<p> +THRAW, twist. +</p> +<p> +THREEPIT, declared. +</p> +<p> +TIGHEARNA, chief. +</p> +<p> +TIL, to; INTIL, into; UNTIL, unto. +</p> +<p> +TINCHEL, circle of beaters for driving game. +</p> +<p> +TOCHER, dowry; TOCHERLESS, dowerless. +</p> +<p> +TOTO COELO, as widely as may be. +</p> +<p> +TOUN, collection of houses, +</p> +<p> +TRACASSERIE, annoyance. +</p> +<p> +TREWS, tartan trousers. +</p> +<p> +TRINDLING, trundling. +</p> +<p> +TROISIEME ETAGE, third floor. +</p> +<p> +TROT-COZY, riding-hood. +</p> +<p> +TUILZIE, scrimmage. +</p> +<p> +UMWHILE, sometime, late. +</p> +<p> +UN PETIT PENDEMENT BIEN JOLI, a very pretty little hanging. +</p> +<p> +UNCO, very. +</p> +<p> +UNSONSY, senseless, or uncanny. +</p> +<p> +UNTIL, unto. +</p> +<p> +USQUEBAUGH, whiskey. +</p> +<p> +VILIPENDED, slandered. +</p> +<p> +VINUM LOCUTUM EST, it was the wine that spoke. +</p> +<p> +VINUM PRIMAE NOTAE, wine of the first quality. +</p> +<p> +VITA ADHUC DURANTE, as long as life lasts. +</p> +<p> +VIVERS, victuals. +</p> +<p> +VIX EA NOSTRA VOCO, I scarcely call these things my own. +</p> +<p> +WADSET, pledge. +</p> +<p> +WANCHANCY, unchancy unlucky. ill-omened. +</p> +<p> +WAPPEN, brief. +</p> +<p> +WARE, spend, bestow. +</p> +<p> +WA'S, walls. +</p> +<p> +WEEL-FAR'D, well-favoured. +</p> +<p> +WEISING, aiming. +</p> +<p> +WHEEN, WHIN, few. +</p> +<p> +WHILK, which. +</p> +<p> +WHINGEING, whining. +</p> +<p> +WYVERN, two-legged dragon. +</p> + +<br /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Waverley, by Sir Walter Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAVERLEY *** + +***** This file should be named 2034-h.htm or 2034-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/2034/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + +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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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: Waverley + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: February 25, 2006 [EBook #2034] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAVERLEY *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + + + + +WAVERLEY or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE + + +by SIR WALTER SCOTT BART. + + + + +CONTENTS: + + INTRODUCTION + WAVERLEY or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE + NOTES + GLOSSARY + + +[Note: + +Characters that were in italics in the printed text have been written in +capital letters in this Etext. Accents in quotations in French and other +accented languages have been omitted. + +Footnotes in the printed text that were at the bottom of the page have +been placed in square brackets, as near as possible to the place where +they were originally referred to by a suffix. + +Numbered notes at the end of the book are referred to by the insertion +of references to those notes in square brackets.] + + + + +Under which King, Bezonian? speak, or die! Henry IV, Part II. + + +INTRODUCTION--(1829) + +The plan of this Edition leads me to insert in this place some account +of the incidents on which the Novel of WAVERLEY is founded. They have +been already given to the public, by my late lamented friend, William +Erskine, Esq. (afterwards Lord Kinneder), when reviewing the 'Tales of +My Landlord' for the QUARTERLY REVIEW, in 1817. The particulars were +derived by the Critic from the Author's information. Afterwards they +were published in the Preface to the CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE. They +are now inserted in their proper place. + +The mutual protection afforded by Waverley and Talbot to each other, +upon which the whole plot depends, is founded upon one of those +anecdotes which soften the features even of civil war; and as it is +equally honourable to the memory of both parties, we have no hesitation +to give their names at length. When the Highlanders, on the morning of +the battle of Preston, 1745, made their memorable attack on Sir John +Cope's army, a battery of four field-pieces was stormed and carried by +the Camerons and the Stewarts of Appine. The late Alexander Stewart +of Invernahyle was one of the foremost in the charge, and observing an +officer of the King's forces, who, scorning to join the flight of all +around, remained with his sword in his hand, as if determined to the +very last to defend the post assigned to him, the Highland gentleman +commanded him to surrender, and received for reply a thrust, which +he caught in his target. The officer was now defenceless, and the +battle-axe of a gigantic Highlander (the miller of Invernahyle's mill) +was uplifted to dash his brains out, when Mr. Stewart with difficulty +prevailed on him to yield. He took charge of his enemy's property, +protected his person, and finally obtained him liberty on his parole. +The officer proved to be Colonel Whitefoord, an Ayrshire gentleman +of high character and influence, and warmly attached to the House +of Hanover; yet such was the confidence existing between these two +honourable men, though of different political principles, that while +the civil war was raging, and straggling officers from the Highland army +were executed without mercy, Invernahyle hesitated not to pay his +late captive a visit, as he returned to the Highlands to raise fresh +recruits, on which occasion he spent a day or two in Ayrshire among +Colonel Whitefoord's Whig friends, as pleasantly and as good-humouredly +as if all had been at peace around him. + +After the battle of Culloden had ruined the hopes of Charles Edward, and +dispersed his proscribed adherents, it was Colonel Whitefoord's turn to +strain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stewart's pardon. He went to the Lord +Justice-Clerk, to the Lord-Advocate, and to all the officers of state, +and each application was answered by the production of a list, in which +Invernahyle (as the good old gentleman was wont to express it) appeared +'marked with the sign of the beast!' as a subject unfit for favour or +pardon. + +At length Colonel Whitefoord applied to the Duke of Cumberland in +person. From him, also, he received a positive refusal. He then limited +his request, for the present, to a protection for Stewart's house, wife, +children, and property. This was also refused by the Duke; on which +Colonel Whitefoord, taking his commission from his bosom, laid it on the +table before his Royal Highness with much emotion, and asked permission +to retire from the service of a sovereign who did not know how to spare +a vanquished enemy. The Duke was struck, and even affected. He bade the +Colonel take up his commission, and granted the protection he required. +If was issued just in time to save the house, corn, and cattle at +Invernahyle, from the troops who were engaged in laying waste what it +was the fashion to call 'the country of the enemy.' A small encampment +of soldiers was formed on Invernahyle's property, which they spared +while plundering the country around, and searching in every direction +for the leaders of the insurrection, and for Stewart in particular. He +was much nearer them than they suspected; for, hidden in a cave (like +the Baron of Bradwardine), he lay for many days so near the English +sentinels, that he could hear their muster-roll called, His food was +brought to him by one of his daughters, a child of eight years old, whom +Mrs. Stewart was under the necessity of entrusting with this commission; +for her own motions, and those of all her elder inmates, were closely +watched. With ingenuity beyond her years, the child used to stray about +among the soldiers, who were rather kind to her, and thus seize the +moment when she was unobserved, and steal into the thicket, when she +deposited whatever small store of provisions she had in charge at some +marked spot, where her father might find it. Invernahyle supported life +for several weeks by means of these precarious supplies; and as he had +been wounded in the battle of Culloden, the hardships which he endured +were aggravated by great bodily pain. After the soldiers had removed +their quarters, he had another remarkable escape. + +As he now ventured to his own house at night, and left it in the +morning, he was espied during the dawn by a party of the enemy, who +fired at and pursued him. The fugitive being fortunate enough to escape +their search, they returned to the house, and charged the family with +harbouring one of the proscribed traitors. An old woman had presence +of mind enough to maintain that the man they had seen was the shepherd. +'Why did he not stop when we called to him?' said the soldier.--'He +is as deaf, poor man, as a peat-stack,' answered the ready-witted +domestic.--'Let him be sent for, directly.' The real shepherd +accordingly was brought from the hill, and as there was time to tutor +him by the way, he was as deaf when he made his appearance, as was +necessary to sustain his character. Invernahyle was afterwards pardoned +under the Act of Indemnity. + +The Author knew him well, and has often heard these circumstances +from his own mouth. He was a noble specimen of the old Highlander, far +descended, gallant, courteous, and brave, even to chivalry. He had been +OUT, I believe, in 1715 and 1745; was an active partaker in all the +stirring scenes which passed in the Highlands betwixt these memorable +eras; and, I have heard, was remarkable, among other exploits, for +having fought a duel with the broadsword with the celebrated Rob Roy +MacGregor, at the Clachan of Balquhidder. + +Invernahyle chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came into the +Frith of Forth, and though then an old man, I saw him in arms, and +heard him exult (to use his own words) in the prospect of 'drawing his +claymore once more before he died.' In fact, on that memorable occasion, +when the capital of Scotland was menaced by three trifling sloops or +brigs, scarce fit to have sacked a fishing village, he was the only +man who seemed to propose a plan of resistance. He offered to the +magistrates, if broadswords and dirks could be obtained, to find as many +Highlanders among the lower classes, as would cut off any boat's-crew +who might be sent into a town full of narrow and winding passages, in +which they were like to disperse in quest of plunder. I know not if +his plan was attended to; I rather think it seemed too hazardous to the +constituted authorities, who might not, even at that time, desire to +see arms in Highland hands. A steady and powerful west wind settled the +matter, by sweeping Paul Jones and his vessels out of the Frith. + +If there is something degrading in this recollection, it is not +unpleasant to compare it with those of the last war, when Edinburgh, +besides regular forces and militia, furnished a volunteer brigade of +cavalry, infantry, and artillery, to the amount of six thousand men and +upwards, which was in readiness to meet and repel a force of a far more +formidable description than was commanded by the adventurous American. +Time and circumstances change the character of nations and the fate +of cities; and it is some pride to a Scotchman to reflect, that the +independent and manly character of a country willing to entrust its own +protection to the arms of its children, after having been obscured for +half a century, has, during the course of his own lifetime, recovered +its lustre. + +Other illustrations of Waverley will be found in the Notes at the foot +of the pages to which they belong. [In this etext they are embedded in +the text in square brackets.] Those which appeared too long to be so +placed are given at the end of the volume. + + + + + +WAVERLEY or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + +The title of this work has not been chosen without the grave and solid +deliberation, which matters of importance demand from the prudent. Even +its first, or general denomination, was the result of no common research +or selection, although, according to the example of my predecessors, +I had only to seize upon the most sounding and euphonic surname that +English history or topography affords, and elect it at once as the title +of my work, and the name of my hero. But, alas! what could my readers +have expected from the chivalrous epithets of Howard, Mordaunt, +Mortimer, or Stanley, or from the softer and more sentimental sounds of +Belmour, Belville, Belfield, and Belgrave, but pages of inanity, similar +to those which have been so christened for half a century past? I +must modestly admit I am too diffident of my own merit to place it in +unnecessary opposition to preconceived associations; I have, therefore, +like a maiden knight with his white shield, assumed for my hero, +WAVERLEY, an uncontaminated name, bearing with its sound little of good +or evil, excepting what the reader shall hereafter be pleased to affix +to it. But my second or supplemental title was a matter of much more +difficult election, since that, short as it is, may be held as pledging +the author to some special mode of laying his scene, drawing his +characters, and managing his adventures. Had I, for example, announced +in my frontispiece, 'Waverley, a Tale of other Days,' must not every +novel reader have anticipated a castle scarce less than that of Udolpho, +of which the eastern wing had long been uninhabited, and the keys either +lost, or consigned to the care of some aged butler or housekeeper, whose +trembling steps, about the middle of the second volume, were doomed to +guide the hero, or heroine, to the ruinous precincts? Would not the owl +have shrieked and the cricket cried in my very title-page? and could +it have been possible for me, with a moderate attention to decorum, to +introduce any scene more lively than might be produced by the jocularity +of a clownish but faithful valet, or the garrulous narrative of the +heroine's fille-de-chambre, when rehearsing the stories of blood and +horror which she had heard in the servants' hall? Again, had my title +borne 'Waverley, a Romance from the German,' what head so obtuse as +not to image forth a profligate abbot, an oppressive duke, a secret and +mysterious association of Rosycrucians and Illuminati, with all their +properties of black cowls, caverns, daggers, electrical machines, +trap-doors, and dark-lanterns? Or if I had rather chosen to call my work +a 'Sentimental Tale,' would it not have been a sufficient presage of a +heroine with a profusion of auburn hair, and a harp, the soft solace +of her solitary hours, which she fortunately finds always the means of +transporting from castle to cottage, although she herself be sometimes +obliged to jump out of a two-pair-of-stairs window, and is more than +once bewildered on her journey, alone and on foot, without any guide but +a blowzy peasant girl, whose jargon she hardly can understand? Or again, +if my WAVERLEY had been entitled 'A Tale of the Times,' wouldst thou +not, gentle reader, have demanded from me a dashing sketch of the +fashionable world, a few anecdotes of private scandal thinly veiled, +and if lusciously painted, so much the better? a heroine from Grosvenor +Square, and a hero from the Barouche Club or the Four-in-hand, with a +set of subordinate characters from the elegantes of Queen Anne Street +East, or the dashing heroes of the Bow Street Office? I could proceed in +proving the importance of a title-page, and displaying at the same time +my own intimate knowledge of the particular ingredients necessary to the +composition of romances and novels of various descriptions: but it +is enough, and I scorn to tyrannize longer over the impatience of my +reader, who is doubtless already anxious to know the choice made by an +author so profoundly versed in the different branches of his art. + +By fixing, then, the date of my story Sixty Years before the present 1st +November, 1805, I would have my readers understand, that they will meet +in the following pages neither a romance of chivalry, nor a tale of +modern manners; that my hero will neither have iron on his shoulders, +as of yore, nor on the heels of his boots, as is the present fashion of +Bond Street; and that my damsels will neither be clothed 'in purple +and in pall,' like the Lady Alice of an old ballad, nor reduced to the +primitive nakedness of a modern fashionable at a rout. From this my +choice of an era the understanding critic may further presage, that the +object of my tale is more a description of men than manners. A tale of +manners, to be interesting, must either refer to antiquity so great as +to have become venerable, or it must bear a vivid reflection of those +scenes which are passing daily before our eyes, and are interesting +from their novelty. Thus the coat-of-mail of our ancestors, and +the triple-furred pelisse of our modern beaux, may, though for very +different reasons, be equally fit for the array of a fictitious +character; but who, meaning the costume of his hero to be impressive, +would willingly attire him in the court dress of George the Second's +reign, with its no collar, large sleeves, and low pocket-holes? The +same may be urged, with equal truth, of the Gothic hall, which, with its +darkened and tinted windows, its elevated and gloomy roof, and massive +oaken table garnished with boar's-head and rosemary, pheasants and +peacocks, cranes and cygnets, has an excellent effect in fictitious +description. Much may also be gained by a lively display of a modern +fete, such as we have daily recorded in that part of a newspaper +entitled the Mirror of Fashion, if we contrast these, or either of them, +with the splendid formality of an entertainment given Sixty Years since; +and thus it will be readily seen how much the painter of antique or +of fashionable manners gains over him who delineates those of the last +generation. + +Considering the disadvantages inseparable from this part of my subject, +I must be understood to have resolved to avoid them as much as possible, +by throwing the force of my narrative upon the characters and passions +of the actors;--those passions common to men in all stages of society, +and which have alike agitated the human heart, whether it throbbed under +the steel corselet of the fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the +eighteenth, or the blue frock and white dimity waistcoat of the present +day. [Alas! that attire, respectable and gentlemanlike in 1805, or +thereabouts, is now as antiquated as the Author of Waverley has himself +become since that period! The reader of fashion will please to fill up +the costume with an embroidered waistcoat of purple velvet or silk, +and a coat of whatever colour he pleases.] Upon these passions it is +no doubt true that the state of manners and laws casts a necessary +colouring; but the bearings, to use the language of heraldry, remain +the same, though the tincture may be not only different, but opposed in +strong contradistinction. The wrath of our ancestors, for example, was +coloured GULES; it broke forth in acts of open and sanguinary violence +against the objects of its fury. Our malignant feelings, which must +seek gratification through more indirect channels, and undermine the +obstacles which they cannot openly bear down, may be rather said to be +tinctured SABLE. But the deep-ruling impulse is the same in both cases; +and the proud peer who can now only ruin his neighbour according to law, +by protracted suits, is the genuine descendant of the baron who wrapped +the castle of his competitor in flames, and knocked him on the head as +he endeavoured to escape from the conflagration. It is from the great +book of Nature, the same through a thousand editions, whether of +black-letter, or wire-wove and hot-pressed, that I have venturously +essayed to read a chapter to the public. Some favourable opportunities +of contrast have been afforded me, by the state of society in the +northern part of the island at the period of my history, and may serve +at once to vary and to illustrate the moral lessons, which I would +willingly consider as the most important part of my plan; although I +am sensible how short these will fall of their aim, if I shall be found +unable to mix them with amusement,--a task not quite so easy in this +critical generation as it was 'Sixty Years since.' + + + +CHAPTER II + +WAVERLEY-HONOUR---A RETROSPECT + +It is, then, sixty years since Edward Waverley, the hero of the +following pages, took leave of his family, to join the regiment +of dragoons in which he had lately obtained a commission. It was a +melancholy day at Waverley-Honour when the young officer parted with +Sir Everard, the affectionate old uncle to whose title and estate he was +presumptive heir. + +A difference in political opinions had early separated the Baronet +from his younger brother, Richard Waverley, the father of our hero. +Sir Everard had inherited from his sires the whole train of Tory or +High-Church predilections and prejudices, which had distinguished the +house of Waverley since the Great Civil War. Richard, on the contrary, +who was ten years younger, beheld himself born to the fortune of a +second brother, and anticipated neither dignity nor entertainment in +sustaining the character of Will Wimble. He saw early, that, to succeed +in the race of life, it was necessary he should carry as little weight +as possible. Painters talk of the difficulty of expressing the existence +of compound passions in the same features at the same moment: it would +be no less difficult for the moralist to analyse the mixed motives which +unite to form the impulse of our actions. Richard Waverley read and +satisfied himself, from history and sound argument, that, in the words +of the old song, + + Passive obedience was a jest, + And pshaw! was non-resistance; + +yet reason would have probably been unable to combat and remove +hereditary prejudice, could Richard have anticipated that his elder +brother, Sir Everard, taking to heart an early disappointment, would +have remained a batchelor at seventy-two. The prospect of succession, +however remote, might in that case have led him to endure dragging +through the greater part of his life as 'Master Richard at the Hall, +the baronet's brother,' in the hope that ere its conclusion he should be +distinguished as Sir Richard Waverley of Waverley-Honour, successor to +a princely estate, and to extended political connexions as head of the +county interest in the shire where it lay. But this was a consummation +of things not to be expected at Richard's outset, when Sir Everard was +in the prime of life, and certain to be an acceptable suitor in almost +any family, whether wealth or beauty should be the object of his +pursuit, and when, indeed, his speedy marriage was a report which +regularly amused the neighbourhood once a year. His younger brother saw +no practicable road to independence save that of relying upon his own +exertions, and adopting a political creed more consonant both to reason +and his own interest than the hereditary faith of Sir Everard in High +Church and in the house of Stewart. He therefore read his recantation +at the beginning of his career, and entered life as an avowed Whig, and +friend of the Hanover succession. + +The ministry of George the First's time were prudently anxious to +diminish the phalanx of opposition. The Tory nobility, depending for +their reflected lustre upon the sunshine of a court, had for some +time been gradually reconciling themselves to the new dynasty. But the +wealthy country gentlemen of England, a rank which retained, with +much of ancient manners and primitive integrity, a great proportion of +obstinate and unyielding prejudice, stood aloof in haughty and sullen +opposition, and cast many a look of mingled regret and hope to Bois de +Duc, Avignon, and Italy. [Where the Chevalier Saint George, or, as he +was termed, the Old Pretender, held his exiled court, as his situation +compelled him to shift his place of residence.] The accession of the +near relation of one of those steady and inflexible opponents was +considered as a means of bringing over more converts, and therefore +Richard Waverley met with a share of ministerial favour more than +proportioned to his talents or his political importance. It was however, +discovered that he had respectable talents for public business, and the +first admittance to the minister's levee being negotiated, his success +became rapid. Sir Everard learned from the public NEWS-LETTER,--first, +that Richard Waverley, Esquire, was returned for the ministerial borough +of Barterfaith; next, that Richard Waverley, Esquire, had taken a +distinguished part in the debate upon the Excise bill in the support +of government; and, lastly, that Richard Waverley, Esquire, had been +honoured with a seat at one of those boards, where the pleasure of +serving the country is combined with other important gratifications, +which, to render them the more acceptable, occur regularly once a +quarter. + +Although these events followed each other so closely that the sagacity +of the editor of a modern newspaper would have presaged the last two +even while he announced the first, yet they came upon Sir Everard +gradually, and drop by drop, as it were, distilled through the cool and +procrastinating alembic of DYER'S WEEKLY LETTER. [Long the oracle of the +country gentlemen of the high Tory party. The ancient NEWS-LETTER was +written in manuscript and copied by clerks, who addressed the copies to +the subscribers. The politician by whom they were compiled picked up +his intelligence at coffee-houses, and often pleaded for an additional +gratuity, in consideration of the extra expense attached to frequenting +such places of fashionable resort.] For it may be observed in passing, +that instead of those mail-coaches, by means of which every mechanic at +his sixpenny club may nightly learn from twenty contradictory channels +the yesterday's news of the capital, a weekly post brought, in those +days, to Waverley-Honour, a WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER, which, after it had +gratified Sir Everard's curiosity, his sister's, and that of his aged +butler, was regularly transferred from the Hall to the Rectory, from +the Rectory to Squire Stubbs' at the Grange, from the Squire to the +Baronet's steward at his neat white house on the heath, from the steward +to the bailiff, and from him through a huge circle of honest dames and +gaffers, by whose hard and horny hands it was generally worn to pieces +in about a month after its arrival. + +This slow succession of intelligence was of some advantage to Richard +Waverley in the case before us; for, had the sum total of his enormities +reached the ears of Sir Everard at once, there can be no doubt that the +new commissioner would have had little reason to pique himself on the +success of his politics. The Baronet, although the mildest of human +beings, was not without sensitive points in his character; his brother's +conduct had wounded these deeply; the Waverley estate was fettered by +no entail (for it had never entered into the head of any of its former +possessors that one of their progeny could be guilty of the atrocities +laid by DYER'S LETTER to the door of Richard), and if it had, the +marriage of the proprietor might have been fatal to a collateral heir. +These various ideas floated through the brain of Sir Everard, without, +however, producing any determined conclusion. + +He examined the tree of his genealogy, which, emblazoned with many +an emblematic mark of honour and heroic achievement, hung upon the +well-varnished wainscot of his hall. The nearest descendants of Sir +Hildebrand Waverley, failing those of his eldest son Wilfred, of whom +Sir Everard and his brother were the only representatives, were, as this +honoured register informed him (and, indeed, as he himself well knew), +the Waverleys of Highley Park, com. Hants; with whom the main branch, or +rather stock, of the house had renounced all connexion, since the great +lawsuit in 1670. + +This degenerate scion had committed a further offence against the +head and source of their gentility, by the intermarriage of their +representative with Judith, heiress of Oliver Bradshawe, of Highley +Park, whose arms, the same with those of Bradshawe the regicide, +they had quartered with the ancient coat of Waverley. These offences, +however, had vanished from Sir Everard's recollection in the heat of his +resentment; and had Lawyer Clippurse, for whom his groom was dispatched +express, arrived but an hour earlier, he might have had the benefit of +drawing a new settlement of the lordship and manor of Waverley-Honour, +with all its dependencies. But an hour of cool reflection is a great +matter, when employed in weighing the comparative evil of two measures, +to neither of which we are internally partial. Lawyer Clippurse found +his patron involved in a deep study, which he was too respectful to +disturb, otherwise than by producing his paper and leathern ink-case, as +prepared to minute his honour's commands. Even this slight manoeuvre +was embarrassing to Sir Everard, who felt it as a reproach to his +indecision. He looked at the attorney with some desire to issue his +fiat, when the sun, emerging from behind a cloud, poured at once its +chequered light through the stained window of the gloomy cabinet in +which they were seated. The Baronet's eye, as he raised it to the +splendour, fell right upon the central scutcheon, impressed with the +same device which his ancestor was said to have borne in the field of +Hastings; three ermines passant, argent, in a field azure, with its +appropriate motto, SANS LACHE. 'May our name rather perish,' exclaimed +Sir Everard, 'than that ancient and loyal symbol should be blended with +the dishonoured insignia of a traitorous Roundhead!' + +All this was the effect of the glimpse of a sunbeam, just sufficient to +light Lawyer Clippurse to mend his pen. The pen was mended in vain. The +attorney was dismissed, with directions to hold himself in readiness on +the first summons. + +The apparition of Lawyer Clippurse at the Hall occasioned much +speculation in that portion of the world to which Waverley-Honour formed +the centre: but the more judicious politicians of this microcosm augured +yet worse consequences to Richard Waverley from a movement which shortly +followed his apostasy. This was no less than an excursion of the Baronet +in his coach-and-six, with four attendants in rich liveries, to make a +visit of some duration to a noble peer on the confines of the shire, of +untainted descent, steady Tory principles, and the happy father of six +unmarried and accomplished daughters. + +Sir Everard's reception in this family was, as it may be easily +conceived, sufficiently favourable; but of the six young ladies, +his taste unfortunately determined him in favour of Lady Emily, the +youngest, who received his attentions with an embarrassment which showed +at once that she durst not decline them, and that they afforded her +anything but pleasure. + +Sir Everard could not but perceive something uncommon in the restrained +emotions which the young lady testified at the advances he hazarded; +but, assured by the prudent Countess that they were the natural effects +of a retired education, the sacrifice might have been completed, as +doubtless has happened in many similar instances, had it not been for +the courage of an elder sister, who revealed to the wealthy suitor that +Lady Emily's affections were fixed upon a young soldier of fortune, +a near relation of her own. Sir Everard manifested great emotion on +receiving this intelligence, which was confirmed to him, in a private +interview, by the young lady herself, although under the most dreadful +apprehensions of her father's indignation. + +Honour and generosity were hereditary attributes of the house of +Waverley. With a grace and delicacy worthy the hero of a romance, Sir +Everard withdrew his claim to the hand of Lady Emily. He had even, +before leaving Blandeville Castle, the address to extort from her father +a consent to her union with the object of her choice. What arguments he +used on this point cannot exactly be known, for Sir Everard was never +supposed strong in the powers of persuasion; but the young officer, +immediately after this transaction, rose in the army with a rapidity far +surpassing the usual pace of unpatronized professional merit, although, +to outward appearance, that was all he had to depend upon. + +The shock which Sir Everard encountered upon this occasion, although +diminished by the consciousness of having acted virtuously and +generously, had its effect upon his future life. His resolution of +marriage had been adopted in a fit of indignation; the labour of +courtship did not quite suit the dignified indolence of his habits; he +had but just escaped the risk of marrying a woman who could never love +him; and his pride could not be greatly flattered by the termination of +his amour, even if his heart had not suffered. The result of the whole +matter was his return to Waverley-Honour without any transfer of his +affections, notwithstanding the sighs and languishments of the fair +tell-tale, who had revealed, in mere sisterly affection, the secret +of Lady Emily's attachment, and in despite of the nods, winks, and +innuendoes of the officious lady mother, and the grave eulogiums which +the Earl pronounced successively on the prudence, and good sense, and +admirable dispositions, of his first, second, third, fourth, and fifth +daughters. The memory of his unsuccessful amour was with Sir Everard, +as with many more of his temper, at once shy, proud, sensitive, and +indolent, a beacon against exposing himself to similar mortification, +pain, and fruitless exertion for the time to come. He continued to +live at Waverley-Honour in the style of an old English gentleman, of an +ancient descent and opulent fortune. His sister, Miss Rachel Waverley, +presided at his table; and they became, by degrees, an old bachelor +and an ancient maiden lady, the gentlest and kindest of the votaries of +celibacy. + +The vehemence of Sir Everard's resentment against his brother was but +short-lived; yet his dislike to the Whig and the placeman, though unable +to stimulate him to resume any active measures prejudicial to Richard's +interest in the succession to the family estate, continued to maintain +the coldness between them. Richard knew enough of the world, and of his +brother's temper, to believe that by any ill-considered or precipitate +advances on his part, he might turn passive dislike into a more active +principle. It was accident, therefore, which at length occasioned a +renewal of their intercourse. Richard had married a young woman of rank, +by whose family interest and private fortune he hoped to advance his +career. In her right, he became possessor of a manor of some value, at +the distance of a few miles from Waverley-Honour. + +Little Edward, the hero of our tale, then in his fifth year, was their +only child. It chanced that the infant with his maid had strayed one +morning to a mile's distance from the avenue of Brere-wood Lodge, his +father's seat. Their attention was attracted by a carriage drawn by six +stately long-failed black horses, and with as much carving and gilding +as would have done honour to my lord mayor's. It was waiting for +the owner, who was at a little distance inspecting the progress of a +half-built farm-house. I know not whether the boy's nurse had been +a Welsh or a Scotch woman, or in what manner he associated a shield +emblazoned with three ermines with the idea of personal property, but +he no sooner beheld this family emblem, than he stoutly determined on +vindicating his right to the splendid vehicle on which it was displayed. +The Baronet arrived while the boy's maid was in vain endeavouring to +make him desist from his determination to appropriate the gilded coach +and six. The rencontre was at a happy moment for Edward, as his uncle +had been just eyeing wistfully, with something of a feeling like envy, +the chubby boys of the stout yeoman whose mansion was building by his +direction. In the round-faced rosy cherub before him, bearing his eye +and his name, and vindicating a hereditary title to his family affection +and patronage, by means of a tie which Sir Everard held as sacred as +either Garter or Blue Mantle, Providence seemed to have granted to him +the very object best calculated to fill up the void in his hopes and +affections. Sir Everard returned to Waverley Hall upon a led horse which +was kept in readiness for him, while the child and his attendant were +sent home in the carriage to Brere-wood Lodge, with such a message +as opened to Richard Waverley a door of reconciliation with his elder +brother. + +Their intercourse, however, though thus renewed, continued to be rather +formal and civil, than partaking of brotherly cordiality; yet it was +sufficient to the wishes of both parties. Sir Everard obtained, in the +frequent society of his little nephew, something on which his hereditary +pride might found the anticipated pleasure of a continuation of his +lineage, and where his kind and gentle affections could at the same +time fully exercise themselves. For Richard Waverley, he beheld in the +growing attachment between the uncle and nephew the means of securing +his son's, if not his own, succession to the hereditary estate, which he +felt would be rather endangered than promoted by any attempt on his own +part towards a closer intimacy with a man of Sir Everard's habits and +opinions. + +Thus, by a sort of tacit compromise, little Edward was permitted to pass +the greater part of the year at the Hall, and appeared to stand in +the same intimate relation to both families, although their mutual +intercourse was otherwise limited to formal messages, and more formal +visits. The education of the youth was regulated alternately by the +taste and opinions of his uncle and of his father. But more of this in a +subsequent chapter. + + + +CHAPTER III + +EDUCATION + +The education of our hero, Edward Waverley, was of a nature somewhat +desultory. In infancy, his health suffered, or was supposed to suffer +(which is quite the same thing), by the air of London. As soon, +therefore, as official duties, attendance on Parliament, or the +prosecution of any of his plans of interest or ambition, called his +father to town, which was his usual residence for eight months in the +year, Edward was transferred to Waverley-Honour, and experienced a total +change of instructors and of lessons, as well as of residence. +This might have been remedied, had his father placed him under the +superintendence of a permanent tutor. But he considered that one of his +choosing would probably have been unacceptable at Waverley-Honour, and +that such a selection as Sir Everard might have made, were the matter +left to him, would have burdened him with a disagreeable inmate, if not +a political spy, in his family. He therefore prevailed upon his private +secretary, a young man of taste and accomplishments, to bestow an hour +or two on Edward's education while at Brere-wood Lodge, and left his +uncle answerable for his improvement in literature while an inmate at +the Hall. + +This was in some degree respectably provided for. Sir Everard's +chaplain, an Oxonian, who had lost his fellowship for declining to +take the oaths at the accession of George I, was not only an excellent +classical scholar, but reasonably skilled in science, and master of most +modern languages. He was, however, old and indulgent, and the recurring +interregnum, during which Edward was entirely freed from his discipline, +occasioned such a relaxation of authority, that the youth was permitted, +in a great measure, to learn as he pleased, what he pleased, and when he +pleased. This slackness of rule might have been ruinous to a boy of +slow understanding, who, feeling labour in the acquisition of +knowledge, would have altogether neglected it, save for the command of a +task-master; and it might have proved equally dangerous to a youth whose +animal spirits were more powerful than his imagination or his feelings, +and whom the irresistible influence of Alma would have engaged in field +sports from morning till night. But the character of Edward Waverley +was remote from either of these. His powers of apprehension were so +uncommonly quick, as almost to resemble intuition, and the chief care of +his preceptor was to prevent him, as a sportsman would phrase it, from +overrunning his game, that is, from acquiring his knowledge in a slight, +flimsy, and inadequate manner. And here the instructor had to combat +another propensity too often united with brilliancy of fancy and +vivacity of talent,--that indolence, namely, of disposition, which +can only be stirred by some strong motive of gratification, and which +renounces study as soon as curiosity is gratified, the pleasure of +conquering the first difficulties exhausted, and the novelty of pursuit +at an end. Edward would throw himself with spirit upon any classical +author of which his preceptor proposed the perusal, make himself master +of the style so far as to understand the story, and if that pleased or +interested him, he finished the volume. But it was in vain to attempt +fixing his attention on critical distinctions of philology, upon +the difference of idiom, the beauty of felicitous expression, or the +artificial combinations of syntax. 'I can read and understand a Latin +author,' said young Edward, with the self-confidence and rash reasoning +of fifteen, 'and Scaliger or Bentley could not do much more.' Alas! +while he was thus permitted to read only for the gratification of his +amusement, he foresaw not that he was losing for ever the opportunity of +acquiring habits of firm and assiduous application, of gaining the art +of controlling, directing, and concentrating the powers of his mind +for earnest investigation,--an art far more essential than even that +intimate acquaintance with classical learning, which is the primary +object of study. + +I am aware I may be here reminded of the necessity of rendering +instruction agreeable to youth, and of Tasso's infusion of honey into +the medicine prepared for a child; but an age in which children are +taught the driest doctrines by the insinuating method of instructive +games, has little reason to dread the consequences of study being +rendered too serious or severe. The history of England is now reduced +to a game at cards,--the problems of mathematics to puzzles and +riddles,--and the doctrines of arithmetic may, we are assured, be +sufficiently acquired, by spending a few hours a week at a new and +complicated edition of the Royal Game of the Goose. There wants but one +step further, and the Creed and Ten Commandments may be taught in the +same manner, without the necessity of the grave face, deliberate tone of +recital, and devout attention, hitherto exacted from the well governed +childhood of this realm. It may, in the meantime, be subject of +serious consideration, whether those who are accustomed only to acquire +instruction through the medium of amusement, may not be brought to +reject that which approaches under the aspect of study; whether those +who learn history by the cards, may not be led to prefer the means to +the end; and whether, were we to teach religion in the way of sport, +our pupils may not thereby be gradually induced to make sport of their +religion. To our young hero, who was permitted to seek his instruction +only according to the bent of his own mind, and who, of consequence, +only sought it so long as it afforded him amusement, the indulgence of +his tutors was attended with evil consequences, which long continued +to influence his character, happiness, and utility. Edward's power of +imagination and love of literature, although the former was vivid, and +the latter ardent, were so far from affording a remedy to this peculiar +evil, that they rather inflamed and increased its violence. The library +at Waverley-Honour, a large Gothic room, with double arches and a +gallery, contained such a miscellaneous and extensive collection of +volumes as had been assembled together, during the course of two hundred +years, by a family which had been always wealthy, and inclined, of +course, as a mark of splendour, to furnish their shelves with the +current literature of the day, without much scrutiny, or nicety of +discrimination. Throughout this ample realm Edward was permitted to +roam at large. His tutor had his own studies; and church politics and +controversial divinity, together with a love of learned ease, though +they did not withdraw his attention at stated times from the progress +of his patron's presumptive heir, induced him readily to grasp at any +apology for not extending a strict and regulated survey towards his +general studies. Sir Everard had never been himself a student, and, +like his sister Miss Rachel Waverley, he held the common doctrine, that +idleness is incompatible with reading of any kind, and that the mere +tracing the alphabetical characters with the eye is in itself a useful +and meritorious task, without scrupulously considering what ideas +or doctrines they may happen to convey. With a desire of amusement, +therefore, which better discipline might soon have converted into a +thirst for knowledge, young Waverley drove through the sea of books, +like a vessel without a pilot or a rudder. Nothing perhaps increases by +indulgence more than a desultory habit of reading, especially under such +opportunities of gratifying it. I believe one reason why such numerous +instances of erudition occur among the lower ranks is, that, with the +same powers of mind, the poor student is limited to a narrow circle +for indulging his passion for books, and must necessarily make himself +master of the few he possesses ere he can acquire more. Edward, on the +contrary, like the epicure who only deigned to take a single morsel from +the sunny side of a peach, read no volume a moment after it ceased to +excite his curiosity or interest; and it necessarily happened, that the +habit of seeking only this sort of gratification rendered it daily more +difficult of attainment, till the passion for reading, like other strong +appetites, produced by indulgence a sort of satiety. + +Ere he attained this indifference, however, he had read, and stored in +a memory of uncommon tenacity, much curious, though ill-arranged and +miscellaneous information. In English literature he was master of +Shakespeare and Milton, of our earlier dramatic authors; of many +picturesque and interesting passages from our old historical chronicles; +and was particularly well acquainted with Spenser, Drayton, and other +poets who have exercised themselves on romantic fiction, of all themes +the most fascinating to a youthful imagination, before the passions have +roused themselves, and demand poetry of a more sentimental description. +In this respect his acquaintance with Italian opened him yet a wider +range. He had perused the numerous romantic poems, which, from the days +of Pulci, have been a favourite exercise of the wits of Italy; and had +sought gratification in the numerous collections of NOVELLE, which were +brought forth by the genius of that elegant though luxurious nation, in +emulation of the DECAMERON. In classical literature, Waverley had made +the usual progress, and read the usual authors; and the French had +afforded him an almost exhaustless collection of memoirs, scarcely more +faithful than romances, and of romances so well written as hardly to be +distinguished from memoirs. The splendid pages of Froissart, with his +heart-stirring and eye-dazzling descriptions of war and of tournaments, +were among his chief favourites; and from those of Brantome and de +la Noue he learned to compare the wild and loose yet superstitious +character of the nobles of the League, with the stern, rigid, and +sometimes turbulent disposition of the Huguenot party. The Spanish had +contributed to his stock of chivalrous and romantic lore. The earlier +literature of the northern nations did not escape the study of one who +read rather to awaken the imagination than to benefit the understanding. +And yet, knowing much that is known but to few, Edward Waverley might +justly be considered as ignorant, since he knew little of what adds +dignify to man, and qualifies him to support and adorn an elevated +situation in society. + +The occasional attention of his parents might indeed have been of +service, to prevent the dissipation of mind incidental to such a +desultory course of reading. But his mother died in the seventh year +after the reconciliation between the brothers, and Richard Waverley +himself, who, after this event, resided more constantly in London, was +too much interested in his own plans of wealth and ambition, to notice +more respecting Edward, than that he was of a very bookish turn, and +probably destined to be a bishop. If he could have discovered and +analysed his son's waking dreams, he would have formed a very different +conclusion. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CASTLE-BUILDING + +I have already hinted, that the dainty, squeamish, and fastidious taste +acquired by a surfeit of idle reading, had not only rendered our hero +unfit for serious and sober study, it had even disgusted him in some +degree with that in which he had hitherto indulged. + +He was in his sixteenth year, when his habits of abstraction and love of +solitude became so much marked, as to excite Sir Everard's affectionate +apprehension. He tried to counterbalance these propensities, by engaging +his nephew in field sports, which had been the chief pleasure of his +own youthful days. But although Edward eagerly carried the gun for one +season, yet when practice had given him some dexterity, the pastime +ceased to afford him amusement. + +In the succeeding spring, the perusal of old Isaac Walton's fascinating +volume determined Edward to become 'a brother of the angle.' But of +all diversions which ingenuity ever devised for the relief of idleness, +fishing is the worst qualified to amuse a man who is at once indolent +and impatient; and our hero's rod was speedily flung aside. Society and +example, which, more than any other motives, master and sway the +natural bent of our passions, might have had their usual effect upon the +youthful visionary: but the neighbourhood was thinly inhabited, and the +homebred young squires whom it afforded, were not of a class fit to form +Edward's usual companions, far less to excite him to emulation in the +practice of those pastimes which composed the serious business of their +lives. + +There were a few other youths of better education, and a more liberal +character; but from their society also our hero was in some degree +excluded. Sir Everard had, upon the death of Queen Anne, resigned his +seat in Parliament, and, as his age increased and the number of his +contemporaries diminished, had gradually withdrawn himself from +society; so that when, upon any particular occasion, Edward mingled +with accomplished and well-educated young men of his own rank and +expectations, he felt an inferiority in their company, not so much from +deficiency of information, as from the want of the skill to command and +to arrange that which he possessed. A deep and increasing sensibility +added to this dislike of society. The idea of having committed the +slightest solecism in politeness, whether real or imaginary, was agony +to him; for perhaps even guilt itself does not impose upon some minds +so keen a sense of shame and remorse, as a modest, sensitive, and +inexperienced youth feels from the consciousness of having neglected +etiquette, or excited ridicule. Where we are not at ease, we cannot be +happy; and therefore it is not surprising, that Edward Waverley supposed +that he disliked and was unfitted for society, merely because he had +not yet acquired the habit of living in it with ease and comfort, and of +reciprocally giving and receiving pleasure. + +The hours he spent with his uncle and aunt were exhausted in listening +to the oft-repeated tale of narrative old age. Yet even there his +imagination, the predominant faculty of his mind, was frequently +excited. Family tradition and genealogical history, upon which much of +Sir Everard's discourse turned, is the very reverse of amber, which, +itself a valuable substance, usually includes flies, straws, and other +trifles; whereas these studies, being themselves very insignificant and +trifling, do nevertheless serve to perpetuate a great deal of what is +rare and valuable in ancient manners, and to record many curious and +minute facts, which could have been preserved and conveyed through no +other medium. If, therefore, Edward Waverley yawned at times over +the dry deduction of his line of ancestors, with their various +intermarriages, and inwardly deprecated the remorseless and protracted +accuracy with which the worthy Sir Everard rehearsed the various degrees +of propinquity between the house of Waverley-Honour and the +doughty barons, knights, and squires, to whom they stood allied; if +(notwithstanding his obligations to the three ermines passant) he +sometimes cursed in his heart the jargon of heraldry, its griffins, +its moldwarps, its wyverns, and its dragons with all the bitterness of +Hotspur himself, there were moments when these communications interested +his fancy and rewarded his attention. + +The deeds of Wilibert of Waverley in the Holy Land, his long absence and +perilous adventures, his supposed death, and his return in the evening +when the betrothed of his heart had wedded the hero who had protected +her from insult and oppression during his absence; the generosity with +which the Crusader relinquished his claims, and sought in a neighbouring +cloister that peace which passeth not away; [1]--to these +and similar tales he would hearken till his heart glowed and his +eye glistened. Nor was he less affected, when his aunt, Mrs. Rachel, +narrated the sufferings and fortitude of Lady Alice Waverley during +the Great Civil War. The benevolent features of the venerable spinster +kindled into more majestic expression, as she told how Charles had, +after the field of Worcester, found a day's refuge at Waverley-Honour; +and how, when a troop of cavalry were approaching to search the mansion, +Lady Alice dismissed her youngest son with a handful of domestics, +charging them to make good with their lives an hour's diversion, that +the king might have that space for escape, 'And, God help her,' would +Mrs. Rachel continue, fixing her eyes upon the heroine's portrait as she +spoke, 'full dearly did she purchase the safety of her prince with the +life of her darling child. They brought him here a prisoner, mortally +wounded; and you may trace the drops of his blood from the great hall +door along the little gallery, and up to the saloon, where they laid +him down to die at his mother's feet. But there was comfort exchanged +between them; for he knew from the glance of his mother's eye, that +the purpose of his desperate defence was attained. Ah! I remember,' she +continued, 'I remember well to have seen one that knew and loved him. +Miss Lucy St. Aubin lived and died a maid for his sake, though one of +the most beautiful and wealthy matches in this country; all the world +ran after her, but she wore widow's mourning all her life for poor +William, for they were betrothed though not married, and died in--I +cannot think of the date; but I remember, in the November of that very +year, when she found herself sinking, she desired to be brought to +Waverley-Honour once more, and visited all the places where she had been +with my grand-uncle, and caused the carpets to be raised that she might +trace the impression of his blood, and if tears could have washed it +out, it had not been there now; for there was not a dry eye in the +house. You would have thought, Edward, that the very trees mourned for +her, for their leaves dropped around her without a gust of wind; and, +indeed, she looked like one that would never see them green again.' + +From such legends our hero would steal away to indulge the fancies they +excited. In the corner of the large and sombre library, with no other +light than was afforded by the decaying brands on its ponderous and +ample hearth, he would exercise for hours that internal sorcery, by +which past or imaginary events are presented in action, as it were, to +the eye of the muser. Then arose in long and fair array the splendour of +the bridal feast at Waverley Castle; the tall and emaciated form of its +real lord, as he stood in his pilgrim's weeds, an unnoticed spectator of +the festivities of his supposed heir and intended bride; the electrical +shock occasioned by the discovery; the springing of the vassals to arms; +the astonishment of the bridegroom; the terror and confusion of the +bride; the agony with which Wilibert observed that her heart as well as +consent was in these nuptials; the air of dignity, yet of deep feeling, +with which he flung down the half-drawn sword, and turned away for ever +from the house of his ancestors. Then would he change the scene, and +fancy would at his wish represent Aunt Rachel's tragedy. He saw the Lady +Waverley seated in her bower, her ear strained to every sound, her heart +throbbing with double agony, now listening to the decaying echo of the +hoofs of the king's horse, and when that had died away, hearing in +every breeze that shook the trees of the park, the noise of the remote +skirmish. A distant sound is heard like the rushing of a swollen stream; +it comes nearer, and Edward can plainly distinguish the galloping +of horses, the cries and shouts of men, with straggling pistol-shots +between, rolling forwards to the Hall. The lady starts up--a terrified +menial rushes in--but why pursue such a description? + +As living in this ideal world became daily more delectable to our hero, +interruption was disagreeable in proportion. The extensive domain that +surrounded the Hall, which, far exceeding the dimensions of a park, was +usually termed Waverley-Chase, had originally been forest ground, and +still, though broken by extensive glades, in which the young deer were +sporting, retained its pristine and savage character. It was traversed +by broad avenues, in many places half grown up with brushwood, where the +beauties of former days used to take their stand to see the stag course +with greyhounds, or to gain an aim at him with the crossbow. In one +spot, distinguished by a moss-grown Gothic monument, which retained the +name of Queen's Standing, Elizabeth herself was said to have pierced +seven bucks with her own arrows. This was a very favourite haunt of +Waverley. At other times, with his gun and his spaniel, which served +as an apology to others, and with a book in his pocket, which perhaps +served as an apology to himself, he used to pursue one of these long +avenues, which, after an ascending sweep of four miles, gradually +narrowed into a rude and contracted path through the cliffy and woody +pass called Mirkwood Dingle, and opened suddenly upon a deep, dark, and +small lake, named, from the same cause, Mirkwood Mere. There stood, +in former times, a solitary tower upon a rock almost surrounded by the +water, which had acquired the name of the Strength of Waverley, because, +in perilous times, it had often been the refuge of the family. There, in +the wars of York and Lancaster, the last adherents of the Red Rose +who dared to maintain her cause, carried on a harassing and predatory +warfare, till the stronghold was reduced by the celebrated Richard of +Gloucester. Here, too, a party of cavaliers long maintained themselves +under Nigel Waverley, elder brother of that William whose fate Aunt +Rachel commemorated. Through these scenes it was that Edward loved to +'chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy,' and, like a child among his +toys, culled and arranged, from the splendid yet useless imagery and +emblems with which his imagination was stored, visions as brilliant and +as fading as those of an evening sky. The effect of this indulgence upon +his temper and character will appear in the next chapter. + + + +CHAPTER V + +CHOICE OF A PROFESSION + +From the minuteness with which I have traced Waverley's pursuits, and +the bias which these unavoidably communicated to his imagination, the +reader may perhaps anticipate, in the following tale, an imitation of +the romance of Cervantes. But he will do my prudence injustice in the +supposition. My intention is not to follow the steps of that inimitable +author, in describing such total perversion of intellect as misconstrues +the objects actually presented to the senses, but that more common +aberration from sound judgement, which apprehends occurrences indeed in +their reality, but communicates to them a tincture of its own romantic +tone and colouring. So far was Edward Waverley from expecting general +sympathy with his own feelings, or concluding that the present state of +things was calculated to exhibit the reality of those visions in which +he loved to indulge, that he dreaded nothing more than the detection +of such sentiments as were dictated by his musings, he neither had nor +wished to have a confidant, with whom to communicate his reveries; and +so sensible was he of the ridicule attached to them, that, had he been +to choose between any punishment short of ignominy, and the necessity of +giving a cold and composed account of the ideal world in which he lived +the better part of his days, I think he would not have hesitated to +prefer the former infliction. This secrecy became doubly precious, as he +felt in advancing life the influence of the awakening passions. Female +forms of exquisite grace and beauty began to mingle in his mental +adventures; nor was he long without looking abroad to compare the +creatures of his own imagination with the females of actual life. + +The list of the beauties who displayed their hebdomadal finery at the +parish church of Waverley was neither numerous nor select. By far the +most passable was Miss Sissly, or, as she rather chose to be called, +Miss Cecilia Stubbs, daughter of Squire Stubbs at the Grange. I know not +whether it was by the 'merest accident in the world,' a phrase which, +from female lips, does not always exclude MALICE PREPENSE, or whether it +was from a conformity of taste, that Miss Cecilia more than once crossed +Edward in his favourite walks through Waverley-Chase. He had not as yet +assumed courage to accost her on these occasions; but the meeting was +not without its effect. A romantic lover is a strange idolater, +who sometimes cares not out of what log he frames the object of his +adoration; at least, if nature has given that object any passable +proportion of personal charms, he can easily play the jeweller and +Dervise in the Oriental tale, [See Hoppner's tale of The Seven Lovers.] +and supply her richly, out of the stores of his own imagination, with +supernatural beauty, and all the properties of intellectual wealth. + +But ere the charms of Miss Cecilia Stubbs had erected her into a +positive goddess, or elevated her at least to a level with the saint her +namesake, Mrs. Rachel Waverley gained some intimation which determined +her to prevent the approaching apotheosis. Even the most simple and +unsuspicious of the female sex have (God bless them!) an instinctive +sharpness of perception in such matters, which sometimes goes the length +of observing partialities that never existed, but rarely misses to +detect such as pass actually under their observation. Mrs. Rachel +applied herself with great prudence, not to combat, but to elude, the +approaching danger, and suggested to her brother the necessity that +the heir of his house should see something more of the world than was +consistent with constant residence at Waverley-Honour. + +Sir Everard would not at first listen to a proposal which went to +separate his nephew from him. Edward was a little bookish, he admitted; +but youth, he had always heard, was the season for learning, and, no +doubt, when his rage for letters was abated, and his head fully stocked +with knowledge, his nephew would take to field sports and country +business. He had often, he said, himself regretted that he had not spent +some time in study during his youth: he would neither have shot nor +hunted with less skill, and he might have made the roof of St. Stephen's +echo to longer orations than were comprised in those zealous Noes, with +which, when a member of the House during Godolphin's administration, he +encountered every measure of government. + +Aunt Rachel's anxiety, however, lent her address to carry her point. +Every representative of their house had visited foreign parts, or served +his country in the army, before he settled for life at Waverley-Honour, +and she appealed for the truth of her assertion to the genealogical +pedigree, an authority which Sir Everard was never known to contradict. +In short, a proposal was made to Mr. Richard Waverley that his son +should travel, under the direction of his present tutor, Mr. Pembroke, +with a suitable allowance from the baronet's liberality. The father +himself saw no objection to this overture; but upon mentioning it +casually at the table of the Minister, the great man looked grave. +The reason was explained in private. The unhappy turn of Sir Everard's +politics, the Minister observed, was such as would render it highly +improper that a young gentleman of such hopeful prospects should travel +on the Continent with a tutor doubtless of his uncle's choosing, +and directing his course by his instructions. What might Mr. Edward +Waverley's society be at Paris, what at Rome, where all manner of snares +were spread by the Pretender and his sons--these were points for Mr. +Waverley to consider. This he could himself say, that he knew his +Majesty had such a just sense of Mr. Richard Waverley's merits, that if +his son adopted the army for a few years, a troop, he believed, might +be reckoned upon in one of the dragoon regiments lately returned from +Flanders. + +A hint thus conveyed and enforced was not to be neglected with impunity; +and Richard Waverley, though with great dread of shocking his brother's +prejudices, deemed he could not avoid accepting the commission thus +offered him for his son. The truth is, he calculated much, and justly, +upon Sir Everard's fondness for Edward, which made him unlikely to +resent any step that he might take in due submission to parental +authority. Two letters announced this determination to the Baronet and +his nephew. The latter barely communicated the fact, and pointed out the +necessary preparation for joining his regiment. To his brother, Richard +was more diffuse and circuitous. He coincided with him in the most +flattering manner, in the propriety of his son's seeing a little more +of the world, and was even humble in expressions of gratitude for his +proposed assistance; was, however, deeply concerned that it was now, +unfortunately, not in Edward's power exactly to comply with the plan +which had been chalked out by his best friend and benefactor. He himself +had thought with pain on the boy's inactivity, at an age when all his +ancestors had borne arms; even Royalty itself had deigned to inquire +whether young Waverley was not now in Flanders, at an age when his +grandfather was already bleeding for his king in the Great Civil War. +This was accompanied by an offer of a troop of horse. What could he +do? There was no time to consult his brother's inclinations, even if he +could have conceived there might be objections on his part to his +nephew's following the glorious career of his predecessors. And, in +short, that Edward was now (the intermediate steps of cornet and +lieutenant being overleapt with great agility) Captain Waverley, of +Gardiner's regiment of dragoons, which he must join in their quarters +at Dundee in Scotland, in the course of a month. + +Sir Everard Waverley received this intimation with a mixture of +feelings. At the period of the Hanoverian succession he had withdrawn +from Parliament, and his conduct, in the memorable year 1715, had not +been altogether unsuspected. There were reports of private musters +of tenants and horses in Waverley-Chase by moonlight, and of cases of +carbines and pistols purchased in Holland, and addressed to the Baronet, +but intercepted by the vigilance of a riding officer of the excise, +who was afterwards tossed in a blanket on a moonless night, by an +association of stout yeomen, for his officiousness. Nay, it was even +said, that at the arrest of Sir William Wyndham, the leader of the +Tory party, a letter from Sir Everard was found in the pocket of his +night-gown. But there was no overt act which an attainder could be +founded on; and government, contented with suppressing the insurrection +of 1715, felt it neither prudent nor safe to push their vengeance +further than against those unfortunate gentlemen who actually took up +arms. + +Nor did Sir Everard's apprehensions of personal consequences seem to +correspond with the reports spread among his Whig neighbours. It was +well known that he had supplied with money several of the distressed +Northumbrians and Scotchmen, who, after being made prisoners at Preston +in Lancashire, were imprisoned in Newgate and the Marshalsea; and it was +his solicitor and ordinary counsel who conducted the defence of some of +these unfortunate gentlemen at their trial. It was generally supposed, +however, that, had ministers possessed any real proof of Sir Everard's +accession to the rebellion, he either would not have ventured thus to +brave the existing government, or at least would not have done so with +impunity. The feelings which then dictated his proceedings, were +those of a young man, and at an agitating period. Since that time Sir +Everard's jacobitism had been gradually decaying, like a fire which +burns out for want of fuel. His Tory and High Church principles were +kept up by some occasional exercise at elections and quarter-sessions: +but those respecting hereditary right were fallen into a sort of +abeyance. Yet it jarred severely upon his feelings, that his nephew +should go into the army under the Brunswick dynasty; and the more +so, as, independent of his high and conscientious ideas of paternal +authority, it was impossible, or at least highly imprudent, to interfere +authoritatively to prevent it. This suppressed vexation gave rise to +many poohs and pshaws, which were placed to the account of an incipient +fit of gout, until, having sent for the Army List, the worthy Baronet +consoled himself with reckoning the descendants of the houses of genuine +loyalty, Mordaunts, Granvilles, and Stanleys, whose names were to be +found in that military record; and, calling up all his feelings of +family grandeur and warlike glory, he concluded, with logic something +like Falstaff's, that when war was at hand, although it were shame to +be on any side but one, it were worse shame to be idle than to be on the +worst side, though blacker than usurpation could make it. As for Aunt +Rachel, her scheme had not exactly terminated according to her wishes, +but she was under the necessity of submitting to circumstances; and her +mortification was diverted by the employment she found in fitting out +her nephew for the campaign, and greatly consoled by the prospect of +beholding him blaze in complete uniform. + +Edward Waverley himself received with animated and undefined surprise +this most unexpected intelligence. It was, as a fine old poem expresses +it, 'like a fire to heather set,' that covers a solitary hill with +smoke, and illumines it at the same time with dusky fire. His tutor, +or, I should say, Mr. Pembroke, for he scarce assumed the name of tutor, +picked up about Edward's room some fragments of irregular verse, which +he appeared to have composed under the influence of the agitating +feelings occasioned by this sudden page being turned up to him in the +book of life. The doctor, who was a believer in all poetry which was +composed by his friends, and written out in fair straight lines, with +a capital at the beginning of each, communicated this treasure to Aunt +Rachel, who, with her spectacles dimmed with tears, transferred them to +her commonplace book, among choice receipts for cookery and medicine, +favourite texts, and portions from High Church divines, and a few songs, +amatory and jacobitical, which she had carolled in her younger days, +from whence her nephew's poetical TENTAMINA were extracted, when the +volume itself, with other authentic records of the Waverley family, +were exposed to the inspection of the unworthy editor of this memorable +history. If they afford the reader no higher amusement, they will serve, +at least, better than narrative of any kind, to acquaint him with the +wild and irregular spirit of our hero:-- + + Late when the Autumn evening fell + On Mirkwood-Mere's romantic dell, + The lake returned, in chastened gleam, + The purple cloud, the golden beam: + Reflected in the crystal pool, + Headand and bank lay fair and cool; + The weather-tinted rock and tower, + Each drooping tree, each fairy flower, + So true, so soft, the mirror gave, + As if there lay beneath the wave, + Secure from trouble, toil, and care, + A world than earthly world more fair. + + But distant winds began to wake, + And roused the Genius of the Lake! + He heard the groaning of the oak, + And donned at once his sable cloak, + As warrior, at the battle-cry, + Invests him with his panoply: + Then as the whirlwind nearer pressed, + He 'gan to shake his foamy crest + O'er furrowed brow and blackened cheek, + And bade his surge in thunder speak. + In wild and broken eddies whirled, + Flitted that fond ideal world, + And, to the shore in tumult tost, + The realms of fairy bliss were lost. + + Yet, with a stern delight and strange, + I saw the spirit-stirring change, + As warred the wind with wave and wood. + Upon the ruined tower I stood, + And felt my heart more strongly bound, + Responsive to the lofty sound, + While, joying in the mighty roar, + I mourned that tranquil scene no more. + + So, on the idle dreams of youth, + Breaks the loud trumpet-call of truth, + Bids each fair vision pass away, + Like landscape on the lake that lay, + As fair, as flitting, and as frail, + As that which fled the Autumn gale.-- + For ever dead to fancy's eye + Be each gay form that glided by, + While dreams of love and lady's charms + Give place to honour and to arms! + +In sober prose, as perhaps these verses intimate less decidedly, the +transient idea of Miss Cecilia Stubbs passed from Captain Waverley's +heart amid the turmoil which his new destinies excited. She appeared, +indeed, in full splendour in her father's pew upon the Sunday when he +attended service for the last time at the old parish church, upon which +occasion, at the request of his uncle and Aunt Rachel, he was induced +(nothing loth, if the truth must be told) to present himself in full +uniform. + +There is no better antidote against entertaining too high an opinion of +others, than having an excellent one of ourselves at the very same time. +Miss Stubbs had indeed summoned up every assistance which art could +afford to beauty; but, alas! hoop, patches, frizzled locks, and a +new mantua of genuine French silk, were lost upon a young officer of +dragoons, who wore, for the first time, his gold-laced hat, jack-boots, +and broadsword. I know not whether, like the champion of an old ballad, + + His heart was all on honour bent, + He could not stoop to love; + No lady in the land had power + His frozen heart to move; + +or whether the deep and flaming bars of embroidered gold, which now +fenced his breast, defied the artillery of Cecilia's eyes; but every +arrow was launched at him in vain. + + Yet did I mark where Cupid's shaft did light; + It lighted not on little western flower, + But on bold yeoman, flower of all the west, + Hight Jonas Culbertfield, the steward's son. + +Craving pardon for my heroics (which I am unable in certain cases to +resist giving way to), it is a melancholy fact, that my history must +here take leave of the fair Cecilia, who, like many a daughter of Eve, +after the departure of Edward, and the dissipation of certain idle +visions which she had adopted, quietly contented herself with a +PIS-ALLER, and gave her hand, at the distance of six months, to the +aforesaid Jonas, son of the Baronet's steward, and heir (no unfertile +prospect) to a steward's fortune; besides the snug probability of +succeeding to his father's office. All these advantages moved Squire +Stubbs, as much as the ruddy brow and manly form of the suitor +influenced his daughter, to abate somewhat in the article of their +gentry; and so the match was concluded. None seemed more gratified +than Aunt Rachel, who had hitherto looked rather askance upon the +presumptuous damsel (as much so, peradventure, as her nature would +permit), but who, on the first appearance of the new-married pair +at church, honoured the bride with a smile and a profound curtsy, +in presence of the rector, the curate, the clerk, and the whole +congregation of the united parishes of Waverley CUM Beverley. + +I beg pardon, once and for all, of those readers who take up novels +merely for amusement, for plaguing them so long with old-fashioned +politics, and Whig and Tory, and Hanoverians and Jacobites, The truth +is, I cannot promise them that this story shall be intelligible, not +to say probable, without it. My plan requires that I should explain the +motives on which its action proceeded; and these motives necessarily +arose from the feelings, prejudices, and parties of the times. I do not +invite my fair readers, whose sex and impatience give them the greatest +right to complain of these circumstances, into a flying chariot drawn +by hippogriffs, or moved by enchantment. Mine is a humble English +post-chaise, drawn upon four wheels, and keeping his Majesty's highway. +Such as dislike the vehicle may leave it at the next halt, and wait +for the conveyance of Prince Hussein's tapestry, or Malek the Weaver's +flying sentry-box. Those who are contented to remain with me will be +occasionally exposed to the dullness inseparable from heavy roads, steep +hills, sloughs, and other terrestrial retardations; but, with tolerable +horses and a civil driver (as the advertisements have it), I engage to +get as soon as possible into a more picturesque and romantic country, +if my passengers incline to have some patience with me during my first +stages. [These Introductory Chapters have been a good deal censured as +tedious and unnecessary. Yet there are circumstances recorded in them +which the author has not been able to persuade himself to retract or +cancel.] + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ADIEUS OF WAVERLEY + +It was upon the evening of this memorable Sunday that Sir Everard +entered the library, where he narrowly missed surprising our young hero +as he went through the guards of the broadsword with the ancient weapon +of old Sir Hildebrand, which, being preserved as an heirloom, usually +hung over the chimney in the library, beneath a picture of the knight +and his horse, where the features were almost entirely hidden by the +knight's profusion of curled hair, and the Bucephalus which he bestrode +concealed by the voluminous robes of the Bath with which he was +decorated. Sir Everard entered, and after a glance at the picture and +another at his nephew, began a little speech, which, however, soon +dropped into the natural simplicity of his common manner, agitated upon +the present occasion by no common feeling. 'Nephew,' he said; and then, +as mending his phrase, 'My dear Edward, it is God's will, and also the +will of your father, whom, under God, it is your duty to obey, that you +should leave us to take up the profession of arms, in which so many of +your ancestors have been distinguished. I have made such arrangements +as will enable you to take the field as their descendant, and as the +probable heir of the house of Waverley; and, sir, in the field of battle +you will remember what name you bear. And, Edward, my dear boy, remember +also that you are the last of that race, and the only hope of its +revival depends upon you; therefore, as far as duty and honour will +permit, avoid danger--I mean unnecessary danger--and keep no company +with rakes, gamblers, and Whigs, of whom, it is to be feared, there are +but too many in the service into which you are going. Your colonel, as +I am informed, is an excellent man--for a Presbyterian; but you will +remember your duty to God, the Church of England, and the--' (this +breach ought to have been supplied, according to the rubric, with +the word KING; but as, unfortunately, that word conveyed a double and +embarrassing sense, one meaning DE FACTO, and the other DE JURE, the +knight filled up the blank otherwise)--'the Church of England, and all +constituted authorities.' Then, not trusting himself with any further +oratory, he carried his nephew to his stables to see the horses destined +for his campaign. Two were black (the regimental colour), superb +chargers both; the other three were stout active hacks, designed for +the road, or for his domestics, of whom two were to attend him from the +Hall: an additional groom, if necessary, might be picked up in Scotland. + +'You will depart with but a small retinue,' quoth the Baronet, 'compared +to Sir Hildebrand, when he mustered before the gate of the Hall a larger +body of horse than your whole regiment consists of. I could have wished +that these twenty young fellows from my estate, who have enlisted in +your troop, had been to march with you on your journey to Scotland. +It would have been something, at least; but I am told their attendance +would be thought unusual in these days, when every new and foolish +fashion is introduced to break the natural dependence of the people upon +their landlords.' + +Sir Everard had done his best to correct this unnatural disposition of +the times; for he had brightened the chain of attachment between the +recruits and their young captain, not only by a copious repast of beef +and ale, by way of parting feast, but by such a pecuniary donation to +each individual, as tended rather to improve the conviviality than the +discipline of their march. After inspecting the cavalry, Sir Everard +again conducted his nephew to the library, where he produced a letter, +carefully folded, surrounded by a little stripe of flox-silk, according +to ancient form, and sealed with an accurate impression of the Waverley +coat-of-arms. It was addressed, with great formality, 'To Cosmo +Comyne Bradwardine, Esq. of Bradwardine, at his principal mansion of +Tully-Veolan, in Perthshire, North Britain, These--By the hands +of Captain Edward Waverley, nephew of Sir Everard Waverley, of +Waverley-Honour, Bart.' + +The gentleman to whom this enormous greeting was addressed, of whom we +shall have more to say in the sequel, had been in arms for the exiled +family of Stuart in the year 1715, and was made prisoner at Preston in +Lancashire. He was of a very ancient family, and somewhat embarrassed +fortune; a scholar, according to the scholarship of Scotchmen, that is, +his learning was more diffuse than accurate, and he was rather a reader +than a grammarian. Of his zeal for the classic authors he is said to +have given an uncommon instance. On the road between Preston and London +he made his escape from his guards; but being afterwards found +loitering near the place where they had lodged the former night, he was +recognized, and again arrested. His companions, and even his escort, +were surprised at his infatuation, and could not help inquiring, why, +being once at liberty, he had not made the best of his way to a place of +safety; to which he replied, that he had intended to do so, but, in good +faith, he had returned to seek his Titus Livius, which he had forgot in +the hurry of his escape. [2] The simplicity of this anecdote +struck the gentleman, who, as we before observed, had managed the +defence of some of those unfortunate persons, at the expense of Sir +Everard, and perhaps some others of the party. He was, besides, himself +a special admirer of the old Patavinian; and though probably his own +zeal might not have carried him such extravagant lengths, even to +recover the edition of Sweynheim and Pannartz (supposed to be the +princeps), he did not the less estimate the devotion of the North +Briton, and in consequence exerted himself to so much purpose to remove +and soften evidence, detect legal flaws, ET CETERA, that he accomplished +the final discharge and deliverance of Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine from +certain very awkward consequences of a plea before our sovereign lord +the king in Westminster. + +The Baron of Bradwardine, for he was generally so called in Scotland +(although his intimates, from his place of residence, used to denominate +him. Tully-Veolan, or more familiarly, Tully), no sooner stood RECTUS +IN CURIA, than he posted down to pay his respects and make his +acknowledgements at Waverley-Honour. A congenial passion for field +sports, and a general coincidence in political opinions, cemented his +friendship with Sir Everard, notwithstanding the difference of their +habits and studies in other particulars; and, having spent several weeks +at Waverley-Honour, the Baron departed with many expressions of regard, +warmly pressing the Baronet to return his visit, and partake of the +diversion of grouse-shooting upon his moors in Perthshire next +season. Shortly after, Mr. Bradwardine remitted from Scotland a sum +in reimbursement of expenses incurred in the King's High Court of +Westminster, which, although not quite so formidable when reduced to +the English denomination, had, in its original form of Scotch pounds, +shillings, and pence, such a formidable effect upon the frame of Duncan +Macwheeble, the laird's confidential factor, baron-bailie, and man of +resource, that he had a fit of the colic which lasted for five days, +occasioned, he said, solely and utterly by becoming the unhappy +instrument of conveying such a serious sum of money out of his native +country into the hands of the false English. But patriotism as it is the +fairest, so it is often the most suspicious mask of other feelings; +and many who knew Bailie Macwheeble, concluded that his professions of +regret were not altogether disinterested, and that he would have grudged +the moneys paid to the LOONS at Westminster much less had they not come +from Bradwardine estate, a fund which he considered as more particularly +his own. But the Bailie protested he was absolutely disinterested-- + + Woe, woe, for Scotland, not a whit for me! + +The laird was only rejoiced that his worthy friend, Sir Everard Waverley +of Waverley-Honour, was reimbursed of the expenditure which he had +outlaid on account of the house of Bradwardine. It concerned, he said, +the credit of his own family, and of the kingdom of Scotland at large, +that these disbursements should be repaid forthwith, and, if delayed, if +would be a matter of national reproach. Sir Everard, accustomed to treat +much larger sums with indifference, received the remittance of 294l. +13s. 6d., without being aware that the payment was an international +concern, and, indeed, would probably have forgot the circumstance +altogether, if Bailie Macwheeble had thought of comforting his colic by +intercepting the subsidy. A yearly intercourse took place, of a short +letter, and a hamper or a cask or two, between Waverley-Honour and +Tully-Veolan, the English exports consisting of mighty cheeses and +mightier ale, pheasants and venison, and the Scottish returns being +vested in grouse, white hares, pickled salmon, and usquebaugh. All which +were meant, sent, and received, as pledges of constant friendship and +amity between two important houses. It followed as a matter of course, +that the heir-apparent of Waverley-Honour could not, with propriety, +visit Scotland without being furnished with credentials to the Baron of +Bradwardine. + +When this matter was explained and settled, Mr. Pembroke expressed his +wish to take a private and particular leave of his dear pupil. The good +man's exhortations to Edward to preserve an unblemished life and morals, +to hold fast the principles of the Christian religion, and to eschew the +profane company of scoffers and latitudinarians, too much abounding +in the army, were not unmingled with his political prejudices. It had +pleased Heaven, he said, to place Scotland (doubtless for the sins of +their ancestors in 1642) in a more deplorable state of darkness than +even this unhappy kingdom of England. Here, at least, although the +candlestick of the Church of England had been in some degree removed +from its place, it yet afforded a glimmering light; there was a +hierarchy, though schismatical, and fallen from the principles +maintained by those great fathers of the church, Sancroft and his +brethren; there was a liturgy, though wofully perverted in some of +the principal petitions. But in Scotland it was utter darkness; and, +excepting a sorrowful, scattered, and persecuted remnant, the pulpits +were abandoned to Presbyterians, and he feared, to sectaries of every +description. It should be his duty to fortify his dear pupil to resist +such unhallowed and pernicious doctrines in church and state, as must +necessarily be forced at times upon his unwilling ears. + +Here he produced two immense folded packets, which appeared each to +contain a whole ream of closely-written manuscript. They had been the +labour of the worthy man's whole life; and never were labour and zeal +more absurdly wasted. He had at one time gone to London, with the +intention of giving them to the world, by the medium of a bookseller in +Little Britain, well known to deal in such commodities, and to whom he +was instructed to address himself in a particular phrase, and with a +certain sign, which, it seems, passed at that time current among the +initiated Jacobites. The moment Mr. Pembroke had uttered the +shibboleth, with the appropriate gesture, the bibliopolist greeted +him, notwithstanding every disclamation, by the title of Doctor, and +conveying him into his back shop, after inspecting every possible and +impossible place of concealment, he commenced: 'Eh, doctor! Well--all +under the rose--snug--I keep no holes here even for a Hanoverian rat +to hide in. And, what--eh! any good news from our friends over the +water?--and how does the worthy king of France? Or perhaps you are more +lately from Rome?--it must be Rome will do it at last--the church must +light its candle at the old lamp. Eh! what, cautious? I like you the +better; but no fear.' + +Here Mr. Pembroke, with some difficulty, stopped a torrent of +interrogations, eked out with signs, nods, and winks; and, having at +length convinced the bookseller that he did him too much honour in +supposing him an emissary of exiled royalty, he explained his actual +business. + +The man of books, with a much more composed air, proceeded to examine +the manuscripts. The title of the first was 'A Dissent from Dissenters, +or the Comprehension confuted; showing the Impossibility of any +Composition between the Church and Puritans, Presbyterians, or Sectaries +of any Description; illustrated from the Scriptures, the fathers of +the Church, and the soundest Controversial Divines.' To this work the +bookseller positively demurred. 'Well meant,' he said, 'and learned, +doubtless; but the time had gone by. Printed on small pica it would +run to eight hundred pages, and could never pay. Begged therefore to be +excused. Loved and honoured the true church from his soul; and, had it +been a sermon on the martyrdom, or any twelve-penny touch--why I would +venture something for the honour of the cloth. But come, let's see +the other. 'Right Hereditary righted!' ah, there's some sense in this! +Hum--hum--hum--pages so many, paper so much, letterpress--Ah! I'll tell +you, though, doctor, you must knock out some of the Latin and Greek; +heavy, doctor, damn'd heavy--(beg your pardon) and if you throw in a +few grains more pepper--I am he that never peached my author--I have +published for Drake, and Charlwood Lawton, and poor Amhurst. [3]--Ah, +Caleb! Caleb! Well, it was a shame to let poor Caleb starve, +and so many fat rectors and squires among us. I gave him a dinner once +a week; but, Lord love you, what's once a week, when a man does not know +where to go the other six days?--Well, but I must show the manuscript +to little Tom Alibi the solicitor, who manages all my law affairs--must +keep on the windy side--the mob were very uncivil the last time I +mounted in Old Palace Yard--all Whigs and Roundheads every man of them, +Williamites and Hanover rats.' + +The next day Mr. Pembroke again called on the publisher, but found Tom +Alibi's advice had determined him against undertaking the work. 'Not but +what I would go to--(what was I going to say?) to the Plantations for +the church with pleasure--but, dear doctor, I have a wife and family; +but, to show my zeal, I'll recommend the job to my neighbour Trimmel--he +is a bachelor, and leaving off business, so a voyage in a western barge +would not inconvenience him.' But Mr. Trimmel was also obdurate, and Mr. +Pembroke, fortunately perchance for himself, was compelled to return to +Waverley-Honour with his treatise in vindication of the real fundamental +principles of church and state safely packed in his saddle-bags. + +As the public were thus likely to be deprived of the benefit arising +from his lucubrations by the selfish cowardice of the trade, Mr. +Pembroke resolved to make two copies of these tremendous manuscripts for +the use of his pupil. He felt that he had been indolent as a tutor, and, +besides, his conscience checked him for complying with the request of +Mr. Richard Waverley, that he would impress no sentiments upon Edward's +mind inconsistent with the present settlement in church and state. But +now, thought he, I may, without breach of my word, since he is no longer +under my tuition, afford the youth the means of judging for himself, and +have only to dread his reproaches for so long concealing the light +which the perusal will flash upon his mind. While he thus indulged the +reveries of an author and a politician, his darling proselyte, seeing +nothing very inviting in the title of the tracts, and appalled by the +bulk and compact lines of the manuscript, quietly consigned them to a +corner of his travelling trunk. + +Aunt Rachel's farewell was brief and affectionate. She only cautioned +her dear Edward, whom she probably deemed somewhat susceptible, against +the fascination of Scottish beauty. She allowed that the northern part +of the island contained some ancient families, but they were all Whigs +and Presbyterians except the Highlanders; and respecting them she must +needs say, there could be no great delicacy among the ladies, where the +gentlemen's usual attire was, as she had been assured, to say the least, +very singular, and not at all decorous. She concluded her farewell with +a kind and moving benediction, and gave the young officer, as a pledge +of her regard, a valuable diamond ring (often worn by the male sex +at that time), and a purse of broad gold pieces, which also were more +common Sixty Years since than they have been of late. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A HORSE-QUARTER IN SCOTLAND + +The next morning, amid varied feelings, the chief of which was a +predominant, anxious, and even solemn impression, that he was now in +a great measure abandoned to his own guidance and direction, Edward +Waverley departed from the Hall amid the blessings and tears of all the +old domestics and the inhabitants of the village, mingled with some sly +petitions for sergeantcies and corporalships, and so forth, on the part +of those who professed that 'they never thoft to ha' seen Jacob, and +Giles, and Jonathan, go off for soldiers, save to attend his honour, as +in duty bound.' Edward, as in duty bound, extricated himself from the +supplicants with the pledge of fewer promises than might have been +expected from a young man so little accustomed to the world. After a +short visit to London, he proceeded on horseback, then the general mode +of travelling, to Edinburgh, and from thence to Dundee, a seaport on the +eastern coast of Angus-shire, where his regiment was then quartered. + +He now entered upon a new world, where, for a time, all was beautiful +because all was new. Colonel Gardiner, the commanding officer of the +regiment, was himself a study for a romantic, and at the same time an +inquisitive, youth. In person he was tall, handsome, and active, though +somewhat advanced in life. In his early years, he had been what is +called, by manner of palliative, a very gay young man, and strange +stories were circulated about his sudden conversion from doubt, if not +infidelity, to a serious and even enthusiastic turn of mind. It was +whispered that a supernatural communication, of a nature obvious even to +the exterior senses, had produced this wonderful change; and though some +mentioned the proselyte as an enthusiast, none hinted at his being a +hypocrite. This singular and mystical circumstance gave Colonel Gardiner +a peculiar and solemn interest in the eyes of the young soldier. [4] +It may be easily imagined that the officers of a regiment, +commanded by so respectable a person, composed a society more sedate and +orderly than a military mess always exhibits; and that Waverley escaped +some temptations to which he might otherwise have been exposed. + +Meanwhile his military education proceeded. Already a good horseman, he +was now initiated into the arts of the manege, which, when carried to +perfection, almost realize the fable of the Centaur, the guidance of the +horse appearing to proceed from the rider's mere volition, rather than +from the use of any external and apparent signal of motion. He received +also instructions in his field duty; but, I must own, that when +his first ardour was passed, his progress fell short in the latter +particular of what he wished and expected. The duty of an officer, +the most imposing of all others to the inexperienced mind, because +accompanied with so much outward pomp and circumstance, is in +its essence a very dry and abstract task, depending chiefly upon +arithmetical combinations, requiring much attention, and a cool and +reasoning head, to bring them into action. Our hero was liable to fits +of absence, in which his blunders excited some mirth, and called down +some reproof. This circumstance impressed him with a painful sense of +inferiority in those qualities which appeared most to deserve and obtain +regard in his new profession. He asked himself in vain, why his eye +could not judge of distance or space so well as those of his companions; +why his head was not always successful in disentangling the various +partial movements necessary to execute a particular evolution; and +why his memory, so alert upon most occasions, did not correctly retain +technical phrases, and minute points of etiquette or field discipline. +Waverley was naturally modest, and therefore did not fall into the +egregious mistake of supposing such minuter rules of military duty +beneath his notice, or conceiting himself to be born a general, because +he made an indifferent subaltern. The truth was, that the vague and +unsatisfactory course of reading which he had pursued, working upon a +temper naturally retired and abstracted, had given him that wavering +and unsettled habit of mind, which is most averse to study and riveted +attention. Time, in the meanwhile, hung heavy on his hands. The gentry +of the neighbourhood were disaffected, and, showed little hospitality +to the military guests; and the people of the town, chiefly engaged in +mercantile pursuits, were not such as Waverley chose to associate +with. The arrival of summer, and a curiosity to know something more of +Scotland than he could see in a ride from his quarters, determined him +to request leave of absence for a few weeks. He resolved first to +visit his uncle's ancient friend and correspondent, with the purpose +of extending or shortening the time of his residence according to +circumstances. He travelled of course on horseback, and with a single +attendant, and passed his first night at a miserable inn, where the +landlady had neither shoes nor stockings, and the landlord, who called +himself a gentleman, was disposed to be rude to his guest, because he +had not bespoke the pleasure of his society to supper. [5] The +next day, traversing an open and unenclosed country, Edward gradually +approached the Highlands of Perthshire, which at first had appeared a +blue outline in the horizon, but now swelled into huge gigantic masses, +which frowned defiance over the more level country that lay beneath +them. Near the bottom of this stupendous barrier, but still in the +Lowland country, dwelt Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine of Bradwardine; and, if +grey-haired eld can be in aught believed, there had dwelt his ancestors, +with all their heritage, since the days of the gracious King Duncan. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A SCOTTISH MANOR-HOUSE SIXTY YEARS SINCE + +It was about noon when Captain Waverley entered the straggling village, +or rather hamlet, of Tully-Veolan, close to which was situated the +mansion of the proprietor. The houses seemed miserable in the extreme, +especially to an eye accustomed to the smiling neatness of English +cottages. They stood, without any respect for regularity, on each side +of & straggling kind of unpaved street, where children, almost in a +primitive state of nakedness, lay sprawling, as if to be crushed by +the hoofs of the first passing horse. Occasionally, indeed, when such a +consummation seemed inevitable, a watchful old grandam, with her close +cap, distaff, and spindle, rushed like a sibyl in frenzy out of one of +these miserable cells, dashed into the middle of the path, and snatching +up her own charge from among the sunburnt loiterers, saluted him with +a sound cuff, and transported him back to his dungeon, the little +white-headed varlet screaming all the while, from the very top of his +lungs, a shrilly treble to the growling remonstrances of the enraged +matron. Another part in this concert was sustained by the incessant +yelping of a score of idle useless curs, which followed, snarling, +barking, howling, and snapping at the horses' heels; a nuisance at +that time so common in Scotland, that a French tourist, who, like other +travellers, longed to find a good and rational reason for everything +he saw, has recorded, as one of the memorabilia of Caledonia, that the +state maintained in each village a relay of curs, called COLLIES, whose +duty it was to chase the CHEVAUX DE POSTE (too starved and exhausted +to move without such a stimulus) from one hamlet to another, till their +annoying convoy drove them to the end of their stage. The evil and +remedy (such as it is) still exist: but this is remote from our present +purpose, and is only thrown out for consideration of the collectors +under Mr. Dent's dog bill. + +As Waverley moved on, here and there an old man, bent as much by toil as +years, his eyes bleared with age and smoke, tottered to the door of his +hut, to gaze on the dress of the stranger, and the form and motions of +the horses, and then assembled with his neighbours, in a little group +at the smithy, to discuss the probabilities of whence the stranger came, +and where he might be going. Three or four village girls, returning from +the well or brook with pitchers and pails upon their heads, formed +more pleasing objects; and, with their thin, short gowns and single +petticoats, bare arms, legs, and feet, uncovered heads, and braided +hair, somewhat resembled Italian forms of landscape. Nor could a lover +of the picturesque have challenged either the elegance of their costume, +or the symmetry of their shape; although, to say the truth, a mere +Englishman, in search of the COMFORTABLE, a word peculiar to his native +tongue, might have wished the clothes less scanty, the feet and legs +somewhat protected from the weather, the head and complexion shrouded +from the sun, or perhaps might even have thought the whole person and +dress considerably improved, by a plentiful application of spring water, +with a QUANTUM SUFFICIT of soap, The whole scene was depressing; for +it argued, at the first glance, at least a stagnation of industry, and +perhaps of intellect. Even curiosity, the busiest passion of the idle, +seemed of a listless cast in the village of Tully-Veolan: the curs +aforesaid alone showed any part of its activity; with the villagers it +was passive. They stood and gazed at the handsome young officer and his +attendant, but without any of those quick motions, and eager looks, that +indicate the earnestness with which those who live in monotonous ease at +home, look out for amusement abroad. Yet the physiognomy of the people, +when more closely examined, was far from exhibiting the indifference of +stupidity; their features were rough, but remarkably intelligent; grave, +but the very reverse of stupid; and from among the young women, an +artist might have chosen more than one model, whose features and form +resembled those of Minerva. The children, also, whose skins were burnt +black, and whose hair was bleached white, by the influence of the sun, +had a look and manner of life and interest. It seemed, upon the whole, +as if poverty, and indolence, its too frequent companion, were combining +to depress the natural genius and acquired information of a hardy, +intelligent, and reflecting peasantry. + +Some such thoughts crossed Waverley's mind as he paced his horse slowly +through the rugged and flinty street of Tully-Veolan, interrupted +only in his meditations by the occasional caprioles which his charger +exhibited at the reiterated assaults of those canine Cossacks, the +COLLIES before mentioned. The village was more than half a mile long, +the cottages being irregularly divided from each other by gardens, or +yards, as the inhabitants called them, of different sizes, where (for +it is Sixty Years since) the now universal potato was unknown, but which +were stored with gigantic plants of KALE or colewort, encircled with +groves of nettles, and exhibited here and there a huge hemlock, or the +national thistle, overshadowing a quarter of the petty enclosure. The +broken ground on which the village was built had never been levelled; so +that these enclosures presented declivities of every degree, here rising +like terraces, there sinking like tan-pits. The dry-stone walls which +fenced, or seemed to fence (for they were sorely breached), these +hanging gardens of Tully-Veolan, were intersected by a narrow lane +leading to the common field, where the joint labour of the villagers +cultivated alternate ridges and patches of rye, oats, barley, and peas, +each of such minute extent, that at a little distance the unprofitable +variety of the surface resembled a tailor's book of patterns. In a +few favoured instances, there appeared behind the cottages a miserable +wigwam, compiled of earth, loose stones, and turf, where the wealthy +might perhaps shelter a starved cow or sorely galled horse. But almost +every hut was fenced in front by a huge black stack of turf on one side +of the door, while on the other the family dung-hill ascended in noble +emulation. + +About a bow-shot from the end of the village appeared the enclosures, +proudly denominated the Parks of Tully-Veolan, being certain square +fields, surrounded and divided by stone walls five feet in height. In +the centre of the exterior barrier was the upper gate of the avenue, +opening under an archway, battlemented on the top, and adorned with two +large weather-beaten mutilated masses of upright stone, which, if the +tradition of the hamlet could be trusted, had once represented, at least +had been once designed to represent, two rampant Bears, the supporters +of the family of Bradwardine. This avenue was straight, and of moderate +length, running between a double row of very ancient horse-chestnuts, +planted alternately with sycamores, which rose to such huge height, and +flourished so luxuriantly, that their boughs completely over-arched the +broad road beneath. Beyond these venerable ranks, and running parallel +to them, were two high walls, of apparently the like antiquity, +overgrown with ivy, honeysuckle, and other climbing plants. The avenue +seemed very little trodden, and chiefly by foot-passengers; so that +being very broad, and enjoying a constant shade, it was clothed with +grass of a deep and rich verdure, excepting where a footpath, worn by +occasional passengers, tracked with a natural sweep the way from the +upper to the lower gate. This nether portal, like the former, opened in +front of a wall ornamented with some rude sculpture, with battlements on +the top, over which were seen, half-hidden by the trees of the avenue, +the high steep roofs and narrow gables of the mansion, with lines +indented into steps, and corners decorated with small turrets. One of +the folding leaves of the lower gate was open, and as the sun shone +full into the court behind, a long line of brilliancy was flung upon +the aperture up the dark and gloomy avenue. It was one of those effects +which a painter loves to represent, and mingled well with the struggling +light which found its way between the boughs of the shady arch that +vaulted the broad green alley. + +The solitude and repose of the whole scene seemed almost romantic; and +Waverley, who had given his horse to his servant on entering the first +gate, walked slowly down the avenue, enjoying the grateful and cooling +shade, and so much pleased with the placid ideas of rest and seclusion +excited by this confined and quiet scene, that he forgot the misery and +dirt of the hamlet he had left behind him. The opening into the paved +courtyard corresponded with the rest of the scene. The house, which +seemed to consist of two or three high, narrow, and steep-roofed +buildings, projecting from each other at right angles, formed one side +of the enclosure. It had been built at a period when castles were no +longer necessary, and when the Scottish architects had not yet acquired +the art of designing a domestic residence. The windows were numberless, +but very small; the roof had some nondescript kind of projections, +called bartizans, and displayed at each frequent angle a small turret, +rather resembling a pepper-box than a Gothic watch-tower. Neither did +the front indicate absolute security from danger. There were loop-holes +for musketry, and iron stanchions on the lower windows, probably to +repel any roving band of gipsies, or resist a predatory visit from +the Caterans of the neighbouring Highlands. Stables and other offices +occupied another side of the square. The former were low vaults, with +narrow slits instead of windows, resembling, as Edward's groom observed, +'rather a prison for murderers and larceners, and such like as are +tried at 'sizes, than a place for any Christian cattle.' Above these +dungeon-looking stables were granaries, called girnels, and other +offices, to which there was access by outside stairs of heavy masonry. +Two battlemented walls, one of which faced the avenue, and the other +divided the court from the garden, completed the enclosure. + +Nor was the court without its ornaments. In one corner was a tun-bellied +pigeon-house, of great size and rotundity, resembling in figure and +proportion the curious edifice called Arthur's Oven, which would have +turned the brains of all the antiquaries in England, had not the +worthy proprietor pulled it down for the sake of mending a neighbouring +dam-dyke. This dovecot, or COLUMBARIUM, as the owner called it, was no +small resource to a Scottish laird of that period, whose scanty rents +were eked out by the contributions levied upon the farms by these light +foragers, and the conscriptions exacted from the latter for the benefit +of the table. + +Another corner of the court displayed a fountain, where a huge bear, +carved in stone, predominated over a large stone basin, into which he +disgorged the water. This work of art was the wonder of the country ten +miles round. It must not be forgotten, that all sorts of bears, small +and large, demi or in full proportion, were carved over the windows, +upon the ends of the gables, terminated the spouts, and supported the +turrets, with the ancient family motto 'BEWAR THE BAR,' cut under each +hyperborean form. The court was spacious, well paved, and perfectly +clean, there being probably another entrance behind the stables for +removing the litter. Everything around appeared solitary, and would have +been silent, but for the continued plashing of the fountain; and the +whole scene still maintained the monastic illusion which the fancy of +Waverley had conjured up.--And here we beg permission to close a chapter +of still life. [There is no particular mansion described under the +name of Tully-Veolan; but the peculiarities of the description occur +in various old Scottish seats. The House of Warrender upon Bruntsfield +Links, and that of Old Ravelston, belonging, the former to Sir George +Warrender, the latter to Sir Alexander Keith, have both contributed +several hints to the description in the text. The House of Dean, near +Edinburgh, has also some points of resemblance with Tully-Veolan. +The author has, however, been informed, that the House of Grandtully +resembles that of the Baron of Bradwardine still more than any of the +above.] + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MORE OF THE MANOR-HOUSE AND ITS ENVIRONS + +After having satisfied his curiosity by gazing around him for a +few minutes, Waverley applied himself to the massive knocker of the +hall-door, the architrave of which bore the date 1594. But no answer was +returned, though the peal resounded through a number of apartments, and +was echoed from the courtyard walls without the house, startling the +pigeons from the venerable rotunda which they occupied, and alarming +anew even the distant village curs, which had retired to sleep upon +their respective dung-hills. Tired of the din which he created, and the +unprofitable responses which it excited, Waverley began to think that he +had reached the castle of Orgoglio, as entered by the victorious Prince +Arthur, + + When 'gan he loudly through the house to call, + But no man cared to answer to his cry; + There reigned a solemn silence over all, + Nor voice was heard, nor wight was seen, in bower or hall. + +Filled almost with expectation of beholding some 'old, old man, with +beard as white as snow,' whom he might question concerning this deserted +mansion, our hero turned to a little oaken wicket-door, well clenched +with iron nails, which opened in the courtyard wall at its angle +with the house. It was only latched, notwithstanding its fortified +appearance, and, when opened, admitted him into the garden, which +presented a pleasant scene. [At Ravelston may be seen such a garden, +which the taste of the proprietor, the author's friend and kinsman, Sir +Alexander Keith, Knight Mareschal, has judiciously preserved. That, as +well as the house, is, however, of smaller dimensions than the Baron +of Bradwardine's mansion and garden are presumed to have been.] The +southern side of the house, clothed with fruit-trees, and having many +evergreens trained upon its walls, extended its irregular yet venerable +front along a terrace, partly paved, partly gravelled, partly bordered +with flowers and choice shrubs. This elevation descended by three +several flights of steps, placed in its centre and at the extremities, +into what might be called the garden proper, and was fenced along the +top by a stone parapet with a heavy balustrade, ornamented from space to +space with huge grotesque figures of animals seated upon their haunches, +among which the favourite bear was repeatedly introduced. Placed in the +middle of the terrace, between a sashed door opening from the house and +the central flight of steps, a huge animal of the same species supported +on his head and fore-paws a sundial of large circumference, inscribed +with more diagrams than Edward's mathematics enabled him to decipher. + +The garden, which seemed to be kept with great accuracy, abounded in +fruit-trees, and exhibited a profusion of flowers and evergreens, cut +into grotesque forms. It was laid out in terraces, which descended rank +by rank from the western wall to a large brook, which had a tranquil +and smooth appearance, where it served as a boundary to the garden; but, +near the extremity, leapt in tumult over a strong dam, or weir-head, the +cause of its temporary tranquillity, and there forming a cascade, was +overlooked by an octangular summer-house, with a gilded bear on the top +by way of vane. After this feat, the brook, assuming its natural rapid +and fierce character, escaped from the eye down a deep and wooded dell, +from the copse of which arose a massive, but ruinous tower, the former +habitation of the Barons of Bradwardine, The margin of the brook, +opposite to the garden, displayed a narrow meadow, or haugh, as it was +called, which formed a small washing-green; the bank, which retired +behind it, was covered by ancient trees. + +The scene, though pleasing, was not quite equal to the gardens of +Alcina; yet wanted not the 'DUE DONZELLETTE GARRULE' of that enchanted +paradise, for upon the green aforesaid two bare-legged damsels, each +standing in a spacious tub, performed with their feet the office of +a patent washing-machine. These did not, however, like the maidens of +Armida, remain to greet with their harmony the approaching guest, but, +alarmed at the appearance of a handsome stranger on the opposite side, +dropped their garments (I should say garment, to be quite-correct) over +their limbs, which their occupation exposed somewhat too freely, and, +with a shrill exclamation of 'Eh, sirs!' uttered with an accent between +modesty and coquetry, sprang off like deer in different directions. + +Waverley began to despair of gaining entrance into this solitary and +seemingly enchanted mansion, when a man advanced up one of the garden +alleys, where he still retained his station. Trusting this might be a +gardener, or some domestic belonging to the house, Edward descended +the steps in order to meet him; but as the figure approached, and long +before he could descry its features, he was struck with the oddity of +its appearance and gestures.--Sometimes this mister wight held his hands +clasped over his head, like an Indian Jogue in the attitude of penance; +sometimes he swung them perpendicularly, like a pendulum, on each side; +and anon he slapped them swiftly and repeatedly across his breast, +like the substitute used by a hackney-coachman for his usual flogging +exercise, when his cattle are idle upon the stand in a clear frosty day. +His gait was as singular as his gestures, for at times he hopped with +great perseverance on the right foot, then exchanged that supporter to +advance in the same manner on the left, and then putting his feet close +together, he hopped upon both at once. His attire, also, was antiquated +and extravagant. It consisted in a sort of grey jerkin, with scarlet +cuffs and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet lining; the other parts +of the dress corresponded in colour, not forgetting a pair of scarlet +stockings, and a scarlet bonnet, proudly surmounted with a turkey's +feather. Edward, whom he did not seem to observe, now perceived +confirmation in his features of what the mien and gestures had already +announced. It was apparently neither idiocy nor insanity which gave +that wild, unsettled, irregular expression to a face which naturally was +rather handsome, but something that resembled a compound of both, where +the simplicity of the fool was mixed with the extravagance of a crazed +imagination. He sang with great earnestness, and not without some taste, +a fragment of an old Scottish ditty:-- + + False love, and hast thou played me thus + In summer among the flowers? + I will repay thee back again + In winter among the showers. + Unless again, again, my love, + Unless you turn again; + As you with other maidens rove, + I'll smile on other men. + +[This is a genuine ancient fragment, with some alteration in the last +two lines.] + +Here lifting up his eyes, which had hither&o been fixed in observing how +his feet kept time to the tune, he beheld Waverley, and instantly +doffed his cap, with many grotesque signals of surprise, respect, and +salutation. Edward, though with little hope of receiving an answer to +any constant question, requested to know whether Mr. Bradwardine were at +home, or where he could find any of the domestics. The questioned party +replied,--and, like the witch of Thalaba, 'still his speech was song,'-- + + The Knight's to the mountain + His bugle to wind; + The Lady's to greenwood + Her garland to bind. + The bower of Burd Ellen + Has moss on the floor, + That the step of Lord William + Be silent and sure. + +This conveyed no information, and Edward, repeating his queries, +received a rapid answer, in which, from the haste and peculiarity of +the dialect, the word 'butler' was alone intelligible. Waverley then +requested to see the butler; upon which the fellow, with a knowing look +and nod of intelligence, made a signal to Edward to follow, and began to +dance and caper down the alley up which he had made his approaches.--A +strange guide this, thought Edward, and not much unlike one of +Shakespeare's roynish clowns. I am not over prudent to trust to his +pilotage; but wiser men have been led by fools.--By this time he reached +the bottom of the alley, where, turning short on a little parterre of +flowers, shrouded from the east and north by a close yew hedge, he found +an old man at work without his coat, whose appearance hovered between +that of an upper servant and gardener; his red nose and ruffed shirt +belonging to the former profession; his hale and sunburnt visage, with +his green apron, appearing to indicate + + Old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden. + +The major domo--for such he was, and indisputably the second officer of +state in the barony (nay, as chief minister of the interior, superior +even to Bailie Macwheeble, in his own department of the kitchen and +cellar)--the major domo laid down his spade, slipped on his coat in +haste, and with a wrathful look at Edward's guide, probably excited by +his having introduced a stranger while he was engaged in this laborious, +and, as he might suppose it, degrading office, requested to know the +gentleman's commands. Being informed that he wished to pay his respects +to his master, that his name was Waverley, and so forth, the old man's +countenance assumed a great deal of respectful importance. 'He could +take it upon his conscience to say, his honour would have exceeding +pleasure in seeing him. Would not Mr. Waverley choose some refreshment +after his journey? His honour was with the folk who were getting doon +the dark hag; the twa gardener lads (an emphasis on the word TWA) had +been ordered to attend him; and he had been just amusing himself in the +meantime with dressing Miss Rose's flower-bed, that he might be near to +receive his honour's orders, if need were: he was very fond of a garden, +but had little time for such divertisements.' + +'He canna get it wrought in abune twa days in the week at no rate +whatever,' said Edward's fantastic conductor. + +A grim look from the butler chastised his interference, and he commanded +him, by the name of Davie Gellatley, in a tone which admitted no +discussion, to look for his honour at the dark hag, and tell him there +was a gentleman from the south had arrived at the Ha'. + +'Can this poor fellow deliver a letter?' asked Edward. + +'With all fidelity, sir, to any one whom he respects. I would hardly +trust him with a long message by word of mouth--though he is more knave +than fool.' + +Waverley delivered his credentials to Mr. Gellatley, who seemed to +confirm the butler's last observation, by twisting his features at him, +when he was looking another way, into the resemblance of the grotesque +face on the bowl of a German tobacco-pipe; after which, with an odd +conge to Waverley, he danced off to discharge his errand. + +'He is an innocent, sir,' said the butler; 'there is one such in almost +every town in the country, but ours is brought far ben. He used to work +a day's turn weel eneugh; but he help'd Miss Rose when she was flemit +with the Laird of Killancureit's new English bull, and since that time +we ca' him Davie Do-little indeed we might ca' him Davie Do-naething, +for since he got that gay clothing, to please his honour and my young +mistress (great folks will have their fancies), he has done naething but +dance up and down about the TOUN, without doing a single turn, unless +trimming the laird's fishing-wand or busking his flies, or maybe +catching a dish of trouts at an orra-time. But here comes Miss Rose, +who, I take burden upon me for her, will be especially glad to see one +of the house of Waverley at her father's mansion at Tully-Veolan.' + +But Rose Bradwardine deserves better of her unworthy historian, than to +be introduced at the end of a chapter. + +In the meanwhile it may be noticed, that Waverley learned two things +from this colloquy; that in Scotland a single house was called a TOWN, +and a natural fool an INNOCENT. [6] + + + +CHAPTER X + +ROSE BRADWARDINE AND HER FATHER + +Miss Bradwardine was but seventeen; yet, at the last races of the county +town of--, upon her health being proposed among a round of beauties, +the Laird of Bumperquaigh, permanent feast-master and croupier of the +Bautherwhillery Club, not only said MORE to the pledge in a pint bumper +of Bourdeaux, but, ere pouring forth the libation, denominated the +divinity to whom it was dedicated, 'the Rose of Tully-Veolan;' upon +which festive occasion, three cheers were given by all the sitting +members of that respectable society, whose throats the wine had left +capable of such exertion. Nay, I am well assured, that the sleeping +partners of the company snorted applause, and that although strong +bumpers and weak brains had consigned two or three to the floor, yet +even these, fallen as they were from their high estate, and weltering--I +will carry the parody no further--uttered divers inarticulate sounds, +intimating their assent to the motion. + +Such unanimous applause could not be extorted but by acknowledged merit; +and Rose Bradwardine not only deserved it, but also the approbation +of much more rational persons than the Bautherwhillery Club could have +mustered, even before discussion of the first MAGNUM. She was indeed a +very pretty girl of the Scotch cast of beauty, that is, with a profusion +of hair of paley gold, and a skin like the snow of her own mountains in +whiteness. Yet she had not a pallid or pensive cast of countenance; +her features, as well as her temper, had a lively expression; her +complexion, though not florid, was so pure as to seem transparent, and +the slightest emotion sent her whole blood at once to her face and neck. +Her form, though under the common size, was remarkably elegant, and her +motions light, easy, and unembarrassed. She came from another part +of the garden to receive Captain Waverley, with a manner that hovered +between bashfulness and courtesy. + +The first greetings past, Edward learned from her that the dark hag, +which had somewhat puzzled him in the butler's account of his master's +avocations, had nothing to do either with a black cat or a broomstick, +but was simply a portion of oak copse which was to be felled that day. +She offered, with diffident civility, to show the stranger the way to +the spot, which, it seems, was not far distant; but they were prevented +by the appearance of the Baron of Bradwardine in person, who, summoned +by David Gellatley, now appeared, 'on hospitable thoughts intent,' +clearing the ground at a prodigious rate with swift and long strides, +which reminded Waverley of the seven-league boots of the nursery fable. +He was a tall, thin, athletic figure; old indeed, and grey-haired, but +with every muscle rendered as tough as whip-cord by constant exercise. +He was dressed carelessly, and more like a Frenchman than an Englishman +of the period, while, from his hard features and perpendicular rigidity +of stature, he bore some resemblance to a Swiss officer of the guards, +who had resided some time at Paris, and caught the costume, but not the +ease or manner of its inhabitants. The truth was, that his language and +habits were as heterogeneous as his external appearance. + +Owing to his natural disposition to study, or perhaps to a very general +Scottish fashion of giving young men of rank a legal education, he +had been bred with a view to the Bar. But the politics of his family +precluding the hope of his rising in that profession, Mr. Bradwardine +travelled with high reputation for several years, and made some +campaigns in foreign service. After his DEMELE with the law of high +treason in 1715, he had lived in retirement, conversing almost entirely +with those of his own principles in the vicinage. The pedantry of the +lawyer, superinduced upon the military pride of the soldier, might +remind a modern of the days of the zealous volunteer service, when the +bar-gown of our pleaders was often hung over a blazing uniform. To this +must be added the prejudices of ancient birth and Jacobite politics, +greatly strengthened by habits of solitary and secluded authority, +which, though exercised only within the bounds of his half-cultivated +estate, was there indisputable and undisputed. For, as he used to +observe, 'the lands of Bradwardine, Tully-Veolan, and others, had +been erected into a free barony by a charter from David the First, CUM +LIBERALI POTEST. HABENDI CURIAS ET JUSTICIAS, CUM FOSSA ET FURCA (LIE +pit and gallows) ET SAKA ET SOKA, ET THOL ET THEAM, ET INFANG-THIEF ET +OUTFANG-THIEF, SIVE HAND-HABEND. SIVE BAK-BARAND.' The peculiar meaning +of all these cabalistical words few or none could explain; but they +implied, upon the whole, that the Baron of Bradwardine might, in case +of delinquency, imprison, try, and execute his vassals at his pleasure. +Like James the First, however, the present possessor of this authority +was more pleased in talking about prerogative than in exercising it; +and, excepting that he imprisoned two poachers in the dungeon of the old +tower of Tully-Veolan, where they were sorely frightened by ghosts, +and almost eaten by rats, and that he set an old woman in the JOUGS (or +Scottish pillory) for saying 'there were mair fules in the laird's +ha' house than Davie Gellatley,' I do not learn that he was accused +of abusing his high powers. Still, however, the conscious pride +of possessing them gave additional importance to his language and +deportment. + +At his first address to Waverley, it would seem that the hearty pleasure +he felt to behold the nephew of his friend had somewhat discomposed the +stiff and upright dignity of the Baron of Bradwardine's demeanour, for +the tears stood in the old gentleman's eyes, when, having first shaken +Edward heartily by the hand in the English fashion, he embraced him A +LA MODE FRANCAISE, and kissed him on both sides of his face; while +the hardness of his grip, and the quantity of Scotch snuff which his +ACCOLADE communicated, called corresponding drops of moisture to the +eyes of his guest. + +'Upon the honour of a gentleman,' he said, 'but it makes me young again +to see you here, Mr. Waverley!' A worthy scion of the old stock of +Waverley-Honour--SPES ALTERA, as Maro hath it--and you have the look of +the old line, Captain Waverley, not so portly yet as my old friend Sir +Everard--MAIS CELA VIENDRA AVEC LE TEMPS, as my Dutch acquaintance, +Baron Kikkitbroeck, said of the SAGESSE of MADAME SON EPOUSE.--And so ye +have mounted the cockade? Right, right; though I could have wished the +colour different, and so I would ha' deemed might Sir Everard. But no +more of that; I am old, and times are changed.--And how does the worthy +knight baronet, and the fair Mrs. Rachel?--Ah, ye laugh, young man! +In troth she was the fair Mrs. Rachel in the year of grace seventeen +hundred and sixteen; but time passes--ET SINGULA PRAEDANTUR ANNI--that +is most certain. But once again, ye are most heartily welcome to my poor +house of Tully-Veolan!--Hie to the house, Rose, and see that Alexander +Saunderson leaks out the old Chateau Margaux, which I sent from +Bourdeaux to Dundee in the year 1713.' + +Rose tripped off demurely enough till she turned the first corner, and +then ran with the speed of a fairy, that she might gain leisure, after +discharging her father's commission, to put her own dress in order, and +produce all her little finery, an occupation for which the approaching +dinner hour left but limited time. + +'We cannot rival the luxuries of your English table, Captain Waverley, +or give you the EPULAE LAUTIORES of Wavery-Honour--I say EPULAE rather +than PRANDIUM, because the latter phrase is popular; EPULAE AD SENATUM, +PRANDIUM VERO AD POPULUM ATTINET, says Suetonius Tranquillus. But I +trust ye will applaud my Bourdeaux; C'EST D'UNE OREILLE, as Captain +Vinsauf used to say--VINUM PRIMAE NOTAE, the Principal of St. Andrews +denominated it. And, once more, Captain Waverley, right glad am I that +ye are here to drink the best my cellar can make forthcoming.' + +This speech, with the necessary interjectional answers, continued from +the lower alley where they met, up to the door of the house, where +four or five servants in old-fashioned liveries, headed by Alexander +Saunderson, the butler, who now bore no token of the sable stains of the +garden, received them in grand costume, + + In an old hall hung round with pikes and with bows, + With old bucklers and corselets that had borne many shrewd blows. + +With much ceremony, and still more real kindness, the Baron, without +stopping in any intermediate apartment, conducted his guest through +several into the great dining parlour, wainscoted with black oak, and +hung round with the pictures of his ancestry, where a table was set +forth in form for six persons, and an old-fashioned beaufet displayed +all the ancient and massive plate of the Bradwardine family. A bell was +now heard at the head of the avenue; for an old man, who acted as porter +upon gala days, had caught the alarm given by Waverley's arrival, and, +repairing to his post, announced the arrival of other guests. + +These, as the Baron assured his young friend, were very estimable +persons. 'There was the young Laird of Balmawhapple, a Falconer by +surname, of the house of Glenfarquhar, given right much to field +sports--GAUDAT EQUIS ET CANIBUS--but a very discreet young gentleman. +Then there was the Laird of Killancureit, who had devoted his leisure +UNTILL tillage and agriculture, and boasted himself to be possessed of a +bull of matchless merit, brought from the county of Devon (the Damnonia, +of the Romans, if we can trust Robert of Cirencester). He is, as ye may +well suppose from such a tendency, but of yeoman extraction--SERVABIT +ODOREM TESTA DIU--and I believe, between ourselves, his grandsire was +from the wrong side of the Border--one Bullsegg, who came hither as a +steward, or bailiff, or ground-officer, or something in that department, +to the last Girnigo of Killancureit, who died of an atrophy. After his +master's death, sir,--ye would hardly believe such a scandal,--but this +Bullsegg, being portly and comely of aspect, intermarried with the lady +dowager, who was young and amorous, and possessed himself of the estate, +which devolved on this unhappy woman by a settlement of her umwhile +husband, in direct contravention of an unrecorded taillie, and to the +prejudice of the disponer's own flesh and blood, in the person of his +natural heir and seventh cousin, Girnigo of Tipperhewit, whose family +was so reduced by the ensuing lawsuit, that his representative is now +serving as a private gentleman-sentinel in the Highland Black Watch. But +this gentleman, Mr. Bullsegg of Killancureit that now is, has good blood +in his veins by the mother and grandmother, who were both of the family +of Pickletillim, and he is well liked and looked upon, and knows his +own place. And God forbid, Captain Waverley, that we of irreproachable +lineage should exult over him, when it may be, that in the eighth, +ninth, or tenth generation, his progeny may rank, in a manner, with the +old gentry of the country. Rank and ancestry, sir, should be the last +words in the mouths of us of unblemished race--VIX EA NOSTRA VOCO, +as Naso saith.--There is, besides, a clergyman of the true (though +suffering) Episcopal church of Scotland. He was a confessor in her cause +after the year 1715, when a Whiggish mob destroyed his meeting-house, +tore his surplice, and plundered his dwelling-house of four silver +spoons, intromitting also with his mart and his meal-ark, and with two +barrels, one of single, and one of double ale, besides three bottles of +brandy. [7] My Baron-Bailie and doer, Mr. Duncan Macwheeble, +is the fourth on our list. There is a question, owing to the incertitude +of ancient orthography, whether he belongs to the clan of Wheedle or of +Quibble, but both have produced persons eminent in the law.'-- + + As such he described them by person and name, + They entered, and dinner was served as they came. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BANQUET + +The entertainment was ample, and handsome, according to the Scotch ideas +of the period, and the guests did great honour to it. The Baron ate like +a famished soldier, the Laird of Balmawhapple like a sportsman, Bullsegg +of Killancureit like a farmer, Waverley himself like a traveller, and +Bailie Macwheeble like all four together; though, either out of more +respect, or in order to preserve that proper declination of person which +showed a sense that he was in the presence of his patron, he sat upon +the edge of his chair, placed at three feet distance from the table, and +achieved a communication with his plate by projecting his person towards +it in a line, which obliqued from the bottom of his spine, so that the +person who sat opposite to him could only see the foretop of his riding +periwig. + +This stooping position might have been inconvenient to another person; +but long habit made it, whether seated or walking, perfectly easy to +the worthy Bailie. In the latter posture, it occasioned, no doubt, an +unseemly projection of the person towards those who happened to walk +behind; but those being at all times his inferiors (for Mr. Macwheeble +was very scrupulous in giving place to all others), he cared very little +what inference of contempt or slight regard they might derive from the +circumstance. Hence, when he waddled across the court to and from his +old grey pony, he somewhat resembled a turnspit walking upon its hind +legs. + +The nonjuring clergyman was a pensive and interesting old man, with much +the air of a sufferer for conscience' sake. He was one of those, + + Who, undeprived, their benefice forsook. + +For this whim, when the Baron was out of hearing, the Bailie used +sometimes gently to rally Mr. Rubrick, upbraiding him with the nicety of +his scruples. Indeed it must be owned, that he himself, though at heart +a keen partisan of the exiled family, had kept pretty fair with all +the different turns of state in his time; so that Davie Gellatley once +described him as a particularly good man, who had a very quiet and +peaceful conscience, THAT NEVER DID HIM ANY HARM. + +When the dinner was removed, the Baron announced the health of the +King, politely leaving to the consciences of his guests to drink to +the sovereign DE FACTO or DE JURE, as their politics inclined. +The conversation now became general; and, shortly afterwards, Miss +Bradwardine, who had done the honours with natural grace and simplicity, +retired, and was soon followed by the clergyman. Among the rest of the +party, the wine, which fully justified the encomiums of the landlord, +flowed freely round, although Waverley, with some difficulty, obtained +the privilege of sometimes neglecting the glass. At length, as the +evening grew more late, the Baron made a private signal to Mr. Saunders +Saunderson, or, as he facetiously denominated him, ALEXANDER AB +ALEXANDRO, who left the room with a nod, and soon after returned, his +grave countenance mantling with a solemn and mysterious smile, and +placed before his master a small oaken casket, mounted with brass +ornaments of curious form. The Baron, drawing out a private key, +unlocked the casket, raised the lid, and produced a golden goblet of +a singular and antique appearance, moulded into the shape of a rampant +bear, which the owner regarded with a look of mingled reverence, pride, +and delight, that irresistibly reminded Waverley of Ben Jonson's Tom +Otter, with his Bull, Horse, and Dog, as that wag wittily denominated +his chief carousing cups. But Mr. Bradwardine, fuming towards him with +complacency, requested him to observe this curious relic of the olden +time. + +'It represents,' he said, 'the chosen crest of our family, a bear, as ye +observe, and rampant; because a good herald will depict every animal in +its noblest posture; as a horse SALIENT, a greyhound CURRANT, and, as +may be inferred, a ravenous animal IN ACTU FEROCIORI, or in a voracious, +lacerating, and devouring posture. Now, sir, we hold this most +honourable achievement by the wappen-brief, or concession of arms, +of Frederick Redbeard, Emperor of Germany, to my predecessor, Godmund +Bradwardine, it being the crest of a gigantic Dane, whom he slew in +the lists in the Holy Land, on a quarrel touching the chastity of the +Emperor's spouse or daughter, tradition saith not precisely which, and +thus, as Virgilius hath it-- + + Mutemus clypeos, Danaumque insignia nobis + Aptemus. + +Then for the cup, Captain Waverley, it was wrought by the command of St. +Duthac, Abbot of Aberbrothock, for behoof of another baron of the +house of Bradwardine, who had valiantly defended the patrimony of that +monastery against certain encroaching nobles. It is properly termed the +Blessed Bear of Bradwardine (though old Dr. Doubleit used jocosely to +call it Ursa Major), and was supposed, in old and Catholic times, to be +invested with certain properties of a mystical and supernatural quality. +And though I give not in to such ANILIA, it is certain it has always +been esteemed a solemn standard cup and heirloom of our house; nor is it +ever used but upon seasons of high festival, and such I hold to be the +arrival of the heir of Sir Everard under my roof; and I devote +this draught to the health and prosperity of the ancient and +highly-to-be-honoured house of Waverley.' + +During this long harangue, he carefully decanted a cobwebbed bottle of +claret into the goblet, which held nearly an English pint; and, at the +conclusion, delivering the bottle to the butler, to be held carefully in +the same angle with the horizon, he devoutly quaffed off the contents of +the Blessed Bear of Bradwardine. + +Edward, with horror and alarm, beheld the animal making his rounds, +and thought with great anxiety upon the appropriate motto, 'Beware the +Bear;' but at the same time plainly foresaw, that as none of the guests +scrupled to do him this extraordinary honour, a refusal on-his part +to pledge their courtesy would be extremely ill received. Resolving, +therefore, to submit to this last piece of tyranny, and then to quit the +table, if possible, and confiding in the strength of his constitution, +he did justice to the company in the contents of the Blessed Bear, and +felt less inconvenience from the draught than he could possibly have +expected. The others, whose time had been more actively employed, began +to show symptoms of innovation,--'the good wine did its good office.' +[Southey's MADOC.] The frost of etiquette, and pride of birth, began to +give way before the genial blessings of this benign constellation, and +the formal appellatives with which the three dignitaries had hitherto +addressed each other, were now familiarly abbreviated into Tully, +Bally, and Killie. When a few rounds had passed, the two latter, after +whispering together, craved permission (a joyful hearing for Edward) to +ask the grace-cup. This, after some delay, was at length produced, and +Waverley concluded that the orgies of Bacchus were terminated for the +evening. He was never more mistaken in his life. + +As the guests had left their horses at the small inn, or CHANGE-HOUSE, +as it was called, of the village, the Baron could not, in politeness, +avoid walking with them up the avenue, and Waverley, from the same +motive, and to enjoy, after this feverish revel, the cool summer +evening, attended the party. But when they arrived at Luckie Macleary's, +the Lairds of Balmawhapple and Killancureit declared their determination +to acknowledge their sense of the hospitality of Tully-Veolan, by +partaking with their entertainer and his guest Captain Waverley, what +they technically called DEOCH AN DORUIS, a stirrup-cup, to the honour of +the Baron's roof-tree. [8] + +It must be noticed, that the Bailie, knowing by experience that the +day's joviality, which had been hitherto sustained at the expense of his +patron, might terminate partly at his own, had mounted his spavined grey +pony, and, between gaiety of heart, and alarm for being hooked into a +reckoning, spurred him into a hobbling canter (a trot was out of the +question), and had already cleared the village. The others entered the +change-house, leading Edward in unresisting submission; for his landlord +whispered him, that to demur to such an overture would be construed into +a high misdemeanour against the LEGES CONVIVIALES, or regulations of +genial compotation. Widow Macleary seemed to have expected this visit, +as well she might, for it was the usual consummation of merry bouts, not +only at Tully-Veolan, but at most other gentlemen's houses in Scotland, +Sixty Years since. The guests thereby at once acquitted themselves of +their burden of gratitude for their entertainer's kindness, encouraged +the trade of his change-house, did honour to the place which afforded +harbour to their horses, and indemnified themselves for the previous +restraints imposed by private hospitality, by spending, what Falstaff +calls the sweet of the night, in the genial license of a tavern. + +Accordingly, in full expectation of these distinguished guests, Luckie +Macleary had swept her house for the first time this fortnight, tempered +her turf-fire to such a heat as the season required in her damp hovel +even at Midsummer, set forth her deal table newly washed, propped its +lame foot with a fragment of turf, arranged four or five stools of huge +and clumsy form, upon the sites which best suited the inequalities of +her clay floor; and having, moreover, put on her clean toy, rokelay, and +scarlet plaid, gravely awaited the arrival of the company, in full hope +of custom and profit. When they were seated under the sooty rafters of +Luckie Macleary's only apartment, thickly tapestried with cobwebs, their +hostess, who had already taken her cue from the Laird of Balmawhapple, +appeared with a huge pewter measuring-pot, containing at least three +English quarts, familiarly denominated a TAPPIT HEN, and which, in the +language of the hostess, reamed (i.e. mantled) with excellent claret, +just drawn from the cask. + +It was soon plain that what crumbs of reason the Bear had not devoured, +were to be picked up by the Hen; but the confusion which appeared to +prevail favoured Edward's resolution to evade the gaily circling glass. +The others began to talk thick and at once, each performing his own part +in the conversation, without the least respect to hist neighbour. The +Baron of Bradwardine sang French CHANSONS-A-BOIRE, and spouted pieces +of Latin; Killancureit talked, in a steady unalterable dull key, +of top-dressing and bottom-dressing, [This has been censured as an +anachronism; and it must be confessed that agriculture of this kind was +unknown to the Scotch Sixty Years since.] and year-olds, and gimmers, +and dinmonts, and stots, and runts, and kyloes, and a proposed +turnpike-act; while Balmawhapple, in notes exalted above both, extolled +his horse, his hawks, and a greyhound called Whistler. In the middle of +this din, the Baron repeatedly implored silence; and when at length the +instinct of polite discipline so far prevailed, that for a moment he +obtained it, he hastened to beseech their attention 'unto a military +ariette, which was a particular favourite of the Marechal Duc de +Berwick;' then, imitating, as well as he could, the manner and tone of a +French mousquetaire, he immediately commenced,-- + + Mon coeur volage, dit-elle, + N'est pas pour vous, garcon; + Est pour un homme de guerre, + Qui a barbe au menton. + Lon, Lon, Laridon. + + Qui ports chapeau a plume, + Soulier a rouge talon, + Qui joue de la flute, + Aussi du violon. + Lon, Lon, Laridon. + +Balmawhapple could hold no longer, but broke in with what he called a +d--d good song, composed by Gibby Gaethroughwi't, the piper of Cupar; +and, without wasting more time, struck up,-- + + It's up Glenbarchan's braes I gaed, + And o'er the bent of Killiebraid, + And mony a weary cast I made, + To cuittle the muirfowl's tail. + +[SUUM CUIQUE. This snatch of a ballad was composed by Andrew MacDonald, +the ingenious and unfortunate author of VIMONDA.] + +The Baron, whose voice was drowned in the louder and more obstreperous +strains of Balmawhapple, now dropped the competition, but continued to +hum, Lon, Lon, Laridon, and to regard the successful candidate for the +attention of the company, with an eye of disdain, while Balmawhapple +proceeded,-- + + If up a bonny black-cock should spring, + To whistle him down wi' a slug in his wing, + And strap him on to my lunzie string, + Right seldom would I fail. + +After an ineffectual attempt to recover the second verse, he sang the +first over again; and, in prosecution of his triumph, declared there was +'more sense in that than in all the DERRY-DONGS of France, and Fifeshire +to the boot of it.' The Baron only answered with a long pinch of snuff, +and a glance of infinite contempt. But those noble allies, the Bear and +the Hen, had emancipated the young laird from the habitual reverence +in which he held Bradwardine at other times. He pronounced the claret +SHILPIT, and demanded brandy with great vociferation. It was brought; +and now the Demon of Politics envied even the harmony arising from +this Dutch concert, merely because there was not a wrathful note in the +strange compound of sounds which it produced. Inspired by her, the Laird +of Balmawhapple, now superior to the nods and winks with which the Baron +of Bradwardine, in delicacy to Edward, had hitherto checked his entering +upon political discussion, demanded a bumper, with the lungs of a +Stentor, 'to the little gentleman in black velvet who did such service +in 1702, and may the white horse break his neck over a mound of his +making!' + +Edward was not at that moment clear-headed enough to remember that King +William's fall, which occasioned his death, was said to be owing to his +horse stumbling at a mole-hill; yet felt inclined to take umbrage at a +toast, which seemed, from the glance of Balmawhapple's eye, to have a +peculiar and uncivil reference to the Government which he served. +But, ere he could interfere, the Baron of Bradwardine had taken up the +quarrel. 'Sir,' he said, 'whatever my sentiments, TANQUAM PRIVATUS, may +be in such matters, I shall not tamely endure your saying anything that +may impinge upon the honourable feelings of a gentleman under my roof. +Sir, if you have no respect for the laws of urbanity, do ye not respect +the military oath, the SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, by which every officer is +bound to the standards under which he is enrolled? Look at Titus Livius, +what he says of those Roman soldiers who were so unhappy as EXUERE +SACRAMENTUM,--to renounce their legionary oath; but you are ignorant, +sir, alike of ancient history and modern courtesy.' + +'Not so ignorant as ye would pronounce me,' roared Balmawhapple. 'I ken +weel that you mean the Solemn League and Covenant; but if a' the Whigs +in hell had taken the--' + +Here the Baron and Waverley both spoke at once, the former calling out, +'Be silent, sir! ye not only show your ignorance, but disgrace your +native country before a stranger and an Englishman;' and Waverley, at +the same moment, entreating Mr. Bradwardine to permit him to reply to +an affront which seemed levelled at him personally. But the Baron was +exalted by wine, wrath, and scorn, above all sublunary considerations. + +'I crave you to be hushed, Captain Waverley; you are elsewhere, +peradventure, SUI JURIS,--foris-familiated, that is, and entitled, it +may be, to think and resent for yourself; but in my domain, in this poor +Barony of Bradwardine, and under this roof, which is QUASI mine, being +held by tacit relocation by a tenant at will, I am IN LOCO PARENTIS +to you, and bound to see you scathless.--And for you, Mr. Falconer of +Balmawhapple, I warn ye, let me see no more aberrations from the paths +of good manners.' + +'And I tell you, Mr. Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, of Bradwardine and +Tully-Veolan,' retorted the sportsman, in huge disdain, 'that I'll make +a moor-cock of the man that refuses my toast, whether it be a crop-eared +English Whig wi' a black ribband at his lug, or ane wha deserts his ain +friends to claw favour wi' the rats of Hanover.' + +In an instant both rapiers were brandished, and some desperate passes +exchanged. Balmawhapple was young, stout, and active; but the Baron, +infinitely more master of his weapon, would, like Sir Toby Belch, have +tickled his opponent other gates than he did, had he not been under the +influence of Ursa Major. + +Edward rushed forward to interfere between the combatants, but the +prostrate bulk of the Laird of Killancureit, over which he stumbled, +intercepted his passage. How Killancureit happened to be in this +recumbent posture at so interesting a moment, was never accurately +known. Some thought he was about to ensconce himself under the table; he +himself alleged that he stumbled in the act of lifting a joint-stool, to +prevent mischief, by knocking down Balmawhapple. Be that as it may, +if readier aid than either his or Waverley's had not interposed, there +would certainly have been bloodshed. But the well-known clash of swords, +which was no stranger to her dwelling, aroused Luckie Macleary as she +sat quietly beyond the hallan, or earthen partition of the cottage, with +eyes employed on Boston's CROOK OF THE LOT, while her ideas were engaged +in summing up the reckoning. She boldly rushed in, with the shrill +expostulation, 'Wad their honours slay ane another there, and bring +discredit on an honest widow-woman's house, when there was a' the +lee-land in the country to fight upon?' a remonstrance which she +seconded by flinging her plaid with great dexterity over the weapons of +the combatants. The servants by this time rushed in, and being, by great +chance, tolerably sober, separated the incensed opponents, with the +assistance of Edward and Killancureit. The latter led off Balmawhapple, +cursing, swearing, and vowing revenge against every Whig, Presbyterian, +and fanatic in England and Scotland, from John-o'-Groat's to the Land's +End, and with difficulty got him to horse. Our hero, with the assistance +of Saunders Saunderson, escorted the Baron of Bradwardine to his own +dwelling, but could not prevail upon him to retire to bed until he had +made a long and learned apology for the events of the evening, of which, +however, there was not a word intelligible, except something about the +Centaurs and the Lapithae. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +REPENTANCE AND A RECONCILIATION + +Waverley was unaccustomed to the use of wine, excepting with great +temperance. He slept, therefore, soundly till late in the succeeding +morning, and then awakened to a painful recollection of the scene of the +preceding evening. He had received a personal affront,--he, a gentleman, +a soldier, and a Waverley. True, the person who had offered it was not, +at the time it was given, possessed of the moderate share of sense which +nature had allotted him; true also, in resenting this insult, he would +break the laws of Heaven, as well as of his country; true, in doing so, +he might take the life of a young man who perhaps respectably discharged +the social duties, and render his family miserable; or he might lose his +own;--no pleasant alternative even to the bravest, when it is debated +coolly and in private. + +All this pressed on his mind; yet the original statement recurred with +the same irresistible force. He had received a personal insult; he +was of the house of Waverley; and he bore a commission. There was +no alternative; and he descended to the breakfast parlour with the +intention of taking leave of the family, and writing to one of his +brother officers to meet him at the inn mid-way between Tully-Veolan and +the town where they were quartered, in order that he might convey such +a message to the Laird of Balmawhapple as the circumstances seemed to +demand. He found Miss Bradwardine presiding over the tea and coffee, the +table loaded with warm bread, both of flour, oatmeal, and barley-meal, +in the shape of leaves, cakes, biscuits, and other varieties, together +with eggs, reindeer ham, mutton and beef, ditto, smoked salmon, +marmalade, and all other delicacies which induced even Johnson himself +to extol the luxury of a Scotch breakfast above that of all other +countries. A mess of oatmeal porridge, flanked by a silver jug, which +held an equal mixture of cream and butter-milk, was placed for the +Baron's share of this repast; but Rose observed he had walked out +early in the morning, after giving orders that his guest should not be +disturbed. + +Waverley sat down almost in silence, and with an air of absence and +abstraction, which could not give Miss Bradwardine a favourable opinion +of his talents for conversation. He answered at random one or two +observations which she ventured to make upon ordinary topics; so that +feeling herself almost repulsed in her efforts at entertaining him, and +secretly wondering that a scarlet coat should cover no better breeding, +she left him to his mental amusement of cursing Dr. Doubleit's favourite +constellation of Ursa Major, as the cause of all the mischief which had +already happened, and was likely to ensue. At once he started, and his +colour heightened, as, looking toward the window, he beheld the Baron +and young Balmawhapple pass arm in arm, apparently in deep conversation; +and he hastily asked, 'Did Mr. Falconer sleep here last night?' Rose, +not much pleased with the abruptness of the first question which the +young stranger had addressed to her, answered drily in the negative, and +the conversation again sank into silence. + +At this moment Mr. Saunderson appeared, with a message from his master, +requesting to speak with Captain Waverley in another apartment. With +a heart which beat; a little quicker, not indeed from fear, but from +uncertainty and anxiety, Edward obeyed the summons. He found the two +gentlemen standing together, an air of complacent dignity on the brow of +the Baron, while something like sullenness, or shame, or both, blanked +the bold visage of Balmawhapple. The former slipped his arm through that +of the latter, and thus seeming to walk with him, while in reality he +led him, advanced to meet Waverley, and, stopping in the midst of +the apartment, made in great state the following oration: 'Captain +Waverley,--my young and esteemed friend, Mr. Falconer of Balmawhapple, +has craved of my age and experience, as of one not wholly unskilled in +the dependencies and punctilios of the duello or monomachia, to be his +interlocutor in expressing to you the regret with which he calls to +remembrance certain passages of our symposion last night, which could +not but be highly displeasing to you, as serving for the time under this +present existing government. He craves you, sir, to drown in oblivion +the memory of such solecisms against the laws of politeness, as being +what his better reason disavows, and to receive the hand which he offers +you in amity; and I must needs assure you, that nothing less than a +sense of being DANS SON TORT, as a gallant French chevalier, Mons, Le +Bretailleur, once said to me on such an occasion, and an opinion also +of your peculiar merit, could have extorted such concessions; for he and +all his family are, and have been time out of mind, MAVORTIA PECTORA, as +Buchanan saith, a bold and warlike sept, or people.' + +Edward immediately, and with natural politeness, accepted the hand which +Balmawhapple, or rather the Baron in his character of mediator, extended +towards him. 'It was impossible,' he said, 'for him to remember what +a gentleman expressed his wish he had not uttered; and he willingly +imputed what had passed to the exuberant festivity of the day.' + +'That is very handsomely said,' answered the Baron; 'for undoubtedly, +if a man be EBRIUS, or intoxicated--an incident which, on solemn and +festive occasions, may and will take place in the life of a man of +honour; and if the same gentleman, being fresh and sober, recants the +contumelies which he hath spoken in his liquor, it must be held VINUM +LOCUTUM EST; the words cease to be his own. Yet would I not find this +exculpation relevant in the case of one who was EBRIOSUS, or an habitual +drunkard; because, if such a person choose to pass the greater part +of his time in the predicament of intoxication, he hath no title to be +exeemed from the obligations of the code of politeness, but should learn +to deport himself peaceably and courteously when under the influence of +the vinous stimulus.--And now let us proceed to breakfast, and think no +more of this daft business.' + +I must confess, whatever inference may be drawn from the circumstance, +that Edward, after so satisfactory an explanation, did much greater +honour to the delicacies of Miss Bradwardine's breakfast-table than +his commencement had promised. Balmawhapple, on the contrary, seemed +embarrassed and dejected; and Waverley now, for the first time, observed +that his arm was in a sling, which seemed to account for the awkward and +embarrassed manner with which he had presented his hand. To a question +from Miss Bradwardine, he muttered, in answer, something about his horse +having fallen; and, seeming desirous to escape both from the subject and +the company, he arose as soon as breakfast was over, made his bow to the +party, and, declining the Baron's invitation to tarry till after dinner, +mounted his horse and returned to his own home. + +Waverley now announced his purpose of leaving Tully-Veolan early enough +after dinner to gain the stage at which he meant to sleep; but the +unaffected and deep mortification with which the good-natured and +affectionate old gentleman heard the proposal, quite deprived him of +courage to persist in it. No sooner had he gained Waverley's consent +to lengthen his visit for a few days, than he laboured to remove the +grounds upon which he conceived he had meditated a more early retreat. +'I would not have you opine, Captain Waverley, that I am by practice or +precept an advocate of ebriety, though it may be that, in our festivity +of last night, some of our friends, if not perchance altogether EBRII, +or drunken, were, to say the least, EBRIOLI, by which the ancients +designed those who were fuddled, or, as your English vernacular and +metaphorical phrase goes, half-seas-over. Not that I would so insinuate +respecting you, Captain Waverley, who, like a prudent youth, did rather +abstain from potation; nor can it be truly said of myself, who, having +assisted at the tables of many great generals and marechals at their +solemn carousals, have the art to carry my wine discreetly, and did not, +during the whole evening, as ye must have doubtless observed, exceed the +bounds of a modest hilarity.' + +There was no refusing assent to a proposition so decidedly laid down by +him who undoubtedly was the best judge; although, had Edward formed his +opinion from his own recollections, he would have pronounced that the +Baron was not only EBRIOLUS, but verging to become EBRIUS; or, in plain +English, was incomparably the most drunk of the party, except perhaps +his antagonist the Laird of Balmawhapple. However, having received the +expected, or rather the required, compliment on his sobriety, the Baron +proceeded,--'No, sir, though I am myself of a strong temperament, I +abhor ebriety, and detest those who swallow wine GULAE CAUSA, for the +oblectation of the gullet; albeit I might deprecate the law of Pittacus +of Mitylene, who punished doubly a crime committed under the influence +of LIBER PATER; nor would I utterly accede to the objurgation of the +younger Plinius, in the fourteenth book of his HISTORIA NATURALIS. No, +sir; I distinguish, I discriminate, and approve of wine so far only as +it maketh glad the face, or, in the language of Flaccus, RECEPTO AMICO.' + +Thus terminated the apology which the Baron of Bradwardine thought it +necessary to make for the super-abundance of his hospitality; and it may +be easily believed that he was neither interrupted by dissent, nor any +expression of incredulity. + +He then invited his guest to a morning ride, and ordered that Davie +Gellatley should meet them at the DERN PATH with Ban and Buscar. 'For, +until the shooting season commenced, I would willingly show you some +sport, and we may, God willing, meet with a roe. The roe, Captain +Waverley, may be hunted at all times alike; for never being in what is +called PRIDE OF GREASE, he is also never out of season, though it be a +truth that his venison is not equal to that of either the red or fallow +deer. [The learned in cookery dissent from the Baron of Bradwardine, and +hold the roe-venison dry and indifferent food, unless when dressed in +soup and Scotch collops.] But he will serve to show how my dogs run; and +therefore they shall attend us with Davie Gellatley.' + +Waverley expressed his surprise that his friend Davie was capable +of such trust; but the Baron gave him to understand that this poor +simpleton was neither fatuous, NEC NATURALITER IDIOTA, as is expressed +in the brieves of furiosity, but simply a crack-brained knave, who could +execute very well any commission which jumped with his own humour, and +made his folly a plea for avoiding every other. 'He has made an interest +with us,' continued the Baron, 'by saving Rose from a great danger with +his own proper peril; and the roguish loon must therefore eat of our +bread and drink of our cup, and do what he can, or what he will; which, +if the suspicions of Saunderson and the Bailie are well founded, may +perchance in his case be commensurate terms.' + +Miss Bradwardine then gave Waverley to understand, that this poor +simpleton was doatingly fond of music, deeply affected by that which was +melancholy, and transported into extravagant gaiety by light and +lively airs. He had in this respect a prodigious memory, stored with +miscellaneous snatches and fragments of all tunes and songs, which +he sometimes applied, with considerable address, as the vehicles of +remonstrance, explanation, or satire. Davie was much attached to the few +who showed him kindness; and both aware of any slight or ill usage which +he happened to receive, and sufficiently apt, where he saw opportunity, +to revenge it. The common people, who often judge hardly of each +other, as well as of their betters, although they had expressed great +compassion for the poor innocent while suffered to wander in rags about +the village, no sooner beheld him decently clothed, provided for, and +even a sort of favourite, than they called up all the instances of +sharpness and ingenuity, in action and repartee, which his annals +afforded, and charitably bottomed thereupon a hypothesis, that Davie +Gellatley was no further fool than was necessary to avoid hard labour. +This opinion was not better founded than that of the Negroes, who, from +the acute and mischievous pranks of the monkeys, suppose that they +have the gift of speech, and only suppress their powers of elocution +to escape being set to work. But the hypothesis was entirely imaginary: +Davie Gellatley was in good earnest the half-crazed simpleton which he +appeared, and was incapable of any constant and steady exertion. He had +just so much solidity as kept on the windy side of insanity; so much +wild wit as saved him from the imputation of idiocy; some dexterity +in field sports (in which we have known as great fools excel), great +kindness and humanity in the treatment of animals entrusted to him, warm +affections, a prodigious memory, and an ear for music. + +The stamping of horses was now heard in the court, and Davie's voice +singing to the two large deer greyhounds,-- + + Hie away, hie away, + Over bank and over brae, + Where the copsewood is the greenest, + Where the fountains glisten sheenest, + Where the lady-fern grows strongest, + Where the morning dew lies longest, + Where the black-cock sweetest sips it, + Where the fairy latest trips it: + Hie to haunts right seldom seen, + Lovely, lonesome, cool, and green, + Over bank and over brae, + Hie away, hie away. + +'Do the verses he sings,' asked Waverley, 'belong to old Scottish +poetry, Miss Bradwardine?' + +'I believe not,' she replied. 'This poor creature had a brother, and +Heaven, as if to compensate to the family Davie's deficiencies, had +given him what the hamlet thought uncommon talents. An uncle contrived +to educate him for the Scottish kirk, but he could not get preferment +because he came from our GROUND. He returned from college hopeless and +broken-hearted, and fell into a decline. My father supported him till +his death, which happened before he was nineteen. He played beautifully +on the flute, and was supposed to have a great turn for poetry. He was +affectionate and compassionate to his brother, who followed him like +his shadow, and we think that from him Davie gathered many fragments of +songs and music unlike those of this country. But if we ask him where +he got such a fragment as he is now singing, he either answers with wild +and long fits of laughter, or else breaks into tears of lamentation; +but was never heard to give any explanation, or to mention his brother's +name since his death.' + +'Surely,' said Edward, who was readily interested by a tale bordering on +the romantic, 'surely more might be learned by more particular inquiry.' + +'Perhaps so,' answered Rose, 'but my father will not permit any one to +practise on his feelings on this subject.' + +By this time the Baron, with the help of Mr. Saunderson, had indued +a pair of jack-boots of large dimensions, and now invited our hero to +follow him as he stalked clattering down the ample staircase, tapping +each huge balustrade as he passed with the butt of his massive +horsewhip, and humming, with the air of a chasseur of Louis Quatorze, + + Pour la chasse ordonnee il faut preparer tout, + Hola ho! Vite! vite debout. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A MORE RATIONAL DAY THAN THE LAST + +The Baron of Bradwardine, mounted on an active and well-managed horse, +and seated on a demi-pique saddle, with deep housings to agree with his +livery, was no bad representative of the old school. His light-coloured +embroidered coat, and superbly barred waistcoat, his brigadier wig, +surmounted by a small gold-laced cocked-hat, completed his personal +costume; but he was attended by two well-mounted servants on horseback, +armed with holster pistols. + +In this guise he ambled forth over hill and valley, the admiration of +every farmyard which they passed in their progress, till, 'low down in +a grassy vale,' they found Davie Gellatley leading two very tall deer +greyhounds, and presiding over half a dozen curs, and about as many +bare-legged and bare-headed boys, who, to procure the chosen distinction +of attending on the chase, had not failed to tickle his ears with the +dulcet appellation of Maister Gellatley, though probably all and each +had booted him on former occasions in the character of daft Davie. +But this is no uncommon strain of flattery to persons in office, nor +altogether confined to the bare-legged villagers of Tully-Veolan: it +was in fashion Sixty Years since, is now, and will be six hundred years +hence, if this admirable compound of folly and knavery, called the +world, shall be then in existence. + +These GILLIE-WET-FOOTS, [A bare-footed Highland lad is called a +gillie-wet-foot. Gillie, in general, means servant or attendant.] as +they were called, were destined to beat the bushes, which they performed +with so much success, that, after half an hour's search, a roe was +started, coursed, and killed; the Baron following on his white horse, +like Earl Percy of yore, and magnanimously flaying and embowelling the +slain animal (which, he observed, was called by the French chasseurs +FAIRE LA CUREE) with his own baronial COUTEAU DE CHASSE. After this +ceremony he conducted his guest homeward by a pleasant and circuitous +route, commanding an extensive prospect of different villages and +houses, to each of which Mr. Bradwardine attached some anecdote of +history or genealogy, told in language whimsical from prejudice and +pedantry, but often respectable for the good sense and honourable +feelings which his narrative displayed, and almost always curious, if +not valuable, for the information they contained. + +The truth is, the ride seemed agreeable to both gentlemen, because they +found amusement in each other's conversation, although their characters +and habits of thinking were in many respects totally opposite. Edward, +we have informed the reader, was warm in his feelings, wild and romantic +in his ideas and in his taste of reading, with a strong disposition +towards poetry. Mr. Bradwardine was the reverse of all this, and piqued +himself upon stalking through life with the same upright, starched, +stoical gravity which distinguished his evening promenade upon the +terrace of Tully-Veolan, where for hours together--the very model old +Hardyknute-- + + Stately stepped he east the wa', + And stately stepped he west. + +As for literature, he read the classic poets, to be sure, and the +EPITHALAMIUM of Georgius Buchanan, and Arthur Johnston's PSALMS, of +a Sunday; and the DELICIAE POETARUM SCOTORUM, and Sir David Lindsay's +WORKS, and Barbour's BRUCE, and Blind Harry's WALLACE, and the GENTLE +SHEPHERD, and the CHERRY AND THE SLAE. But though he thus far sacrificed +his time to the Muses, he would if the truth must be spoken, have been +much better pleased had the pious or sapient apothegms, as well as +the historical narratives, which these various works contained, been +presented to him in the form of simple prose. And he sometimes could not +refrain from expressing contempt of the 'vain and unprofitable art of +poem-making,' in which, he said, 'the only one who had excelled in his +time was Allan Ramsay, the periwig-maker.' + +[The Baron ought to have remembered that the joyous Allan literally drew +his blood from the house of the noble Earl, whom he terms-- + + Dalhousie of an old descent, + My stoup, my pride, my ornament.] + +But although Edward and he differed TOTO COELO, as the Baron would +have said, upon this subject, yet they met upon history as on a neutral +ground, in which each claimed an interest. The Baron, indeed, only +cumbered his memory with matters of fact; the cold, dry, hard outlines +which history delineates. Edward, on the contrary, loved to fill up and +round the sketch with the colouring of a warm and vivid imagination, +which gives light and life to the actors and speakers in the drama of +past ages. Yet with tastes so opposite, they contributed greatly to +each other's amusement. Mr. Bradwardine's minute narratives and powerful +memory supplied to Waverley fresh subjects of the kind upon which his +fancy loved to labour, and opened to him a new mine of incident and of +character. And he repaid the pleasure thus communicated, by an earnest +attention, valuable to all story-tellers, more especially to the Baron, +who felt his habits of self-respect flattered by it; and sometimes +also by reciprocal communications, which interested Mr. Bradwardine, +as confirming or illustrating his own favourite anecdotes. Besides, Mr. +Bradwardine loved to talk of the scenes of his youth, which had been +spent in camps and foreign lands, and had many interesting particulars +to tell of the generals under whom he had served, and the actions he had +witnessed. + +Both parties returned to Tully-Veolan in great good humour with each +other; Waverley desirous of studying more attentively what he considered +as a singular and interesting character, gifted with a memory containing +a curious register of ancient and modern anecdotes; and Bradwardine +disposed to regard Edward as PUER (or rather JUVENIS) BONAE SPEI ET +MAGNAE INDOLIS, a youth devoid of that petulant volatility, which is +impatient of, or vilipends, the conversation and advice of his +seniors, from which he predicted great things of his future success and +deportment in life. There was no other guest except Mr. Rubrick, whose +information and discourse, as a clergyman and a scholar, harmonized very +well with that of the Baron and his guest. + +Shortly after dinner, the Baron, as if to show that his temperance was +not entirely theoretical, proposed a visit to Rose's apartment, or, as +he termed it, her TROISIEME ETAGE. Waverley was accordingly conducted +through one or two of those long awkward passages with which ancient +architects studied to puzzle the inhabitants of the houses which they +planned, at the end of which Mr. Bradwardine began to ascend, by two +steps at once, a very steep, narrow, and winding stair, leaving Mr. +Rubrick and Waverley to follow at more leisure, while he should announce +their approach to his daughter. + +After having climbed this perpendicular corkscrew until their brains +were almost giddy, they arrived in a little matted lobby, which served +as an ante-room to Rose's SANCTUM SANCTORUM, and through which they +entered her parlour. It was a small but pleasant apartment, opening to +the south, and hung with tapestry; adorned besides with two pictures, +one of her mother, in the dress of a shepherdess, with a bell-hoop; +the other of the Baron, in his tenth year, in a blue coat, embroidered +waistcoat, laced hat, and bag-wig, with a bow in his hand. Edward could +not help smiling at the costume, and at the odd resemblance between +the round, smooth, red-checked, staring visage in the portrait, and +the gaunt, bearded, hollow-eyed, swarthy features, which travelling, +fatigues of war, and advanced age, had bestowed on the original. The +Baron joined in the laugh. 'Truly,' he said, 'that picture was a woman's +fantasy of my good mother's (a daughter of the Laird of Tulliellum, +Captain Waverley; I indicated the house to you when we were on the top +of the Shinnyheuch; it was burnt by the Dutch auxiliaries brought in by +the Government in 1715); I never sat for my pourtraicture but once since +that was painted, and it was at the special and reiterated request of +the Marechal Duke of Berwick.' + +The good old gentleman did not mention what Mr. Rubrick afterwards told +Edward, that the Duke had done him this honour on account of his being +the first to mount the breach of a fort; in Savoy during the memorable +campaign of 1709, and his having there defended himself with his +half-pike for nearly ten minutes before any support reached him. To do +the Baron justice, although sufficiently prone to dwell upon, and even +to exaggerate, his family dignity and consequence, he was too much a man +of real courage ever to allude to such personal acts of merit as he had +himself manifested. + +Miss Rose now appeared from the interior room of her apartment, to +welcome her father and his friends. The little labours in which she +had been employed obviously showed a natural taste, which required only +cultivation. Her father had taught her French and Italian, and a few of +the ordinary authors in those languages ornamented her shelves. He had +endeavoured also to be her preceptor in music; but as he began with the +more abstruse doctrines of the science, and was not perhaps master of +them himself, she had made no proficiency further than to be able to +accompany her voice with the harpsichord; but even this was not very +common in Scotland at that period. To make amends, she sang with great +taste and feeling, and with a respect to the sense of what she uttered +that might be proposed in example to ladies of much superior musical +talent. Her natural good sense taught her, that if, as we are assured +by high authority, music be 'married to immortal verse,' they are +very often divorced by the performer in a most shameful manner. It was +perhaps owing to this sensibility to poetry, and power of combining its +expression with those of the musical notes, that her singing gave more +pleasure to all the unlearned in music, and even to many of the learned, +than could have been communicated by a much finer voice and more +brilliant execution, unguided by the same delicacy of feeling. + +A bartizan, or projecting gallery, before the windows of her parlour, +served to illustrate another of Rose's pursuits; for it was crowded +with flowers of different kinds, which she had taken under her special +protection. A projecting turret gave access to this Gothic balcony, +which commanded a most beautiful prospect. The formal garden, with its +high bounding walls, lay below, contracted, as it seemed, to a mere +parterre; while the view extended beyond them down a wooded glen, where +the small river was sometimes visible, sometimes hidden in copse. The +eye might be delayed by a desire to rest on the rocks, which here and +there rose from the dell with massive or spiry fronts, or it might dwell +on the noble, though ruined tower, which was here beheld in all its +dignity, frowning from a promontory over the river. To the left were +seen two or three cottages, a part of the village; the brow of the hill +concealed the others. The glen, or dell, was terminated by a sheet of +water, called Loch-Veolan, into which the brook discharged itself, and +which now glistened in the western sun. The distant country seemed +open and varied in surface, though not wooded; and there was nothing to +interrupt the view until the scene was bounded by a ridge of distant and +blue hills, which formed the southern boundary of the strath or valley. +To this pleasant station Miss Bradwardine had ordered coffee. + +The view of the old tower, or fortalice, introduced some family +anecdotes and tales of Scottish chivalry, which the Baron told with +great enthusiasm. The projecting peak of an impending crag which rose +near it, had acquired the name of St. Swithin's Chair. it was the scene +of a peculiar superstition, of which Mr. Rubrick mentioned some curious +particulars, which reminded Waverley of a rhyme quoted By Edgar in KING +LEAR; and Rose was called upon to sing a little legend, in which they +had been interwoven by some village poet, + + Who, noteless as the race from which he sprung, + Saved others' names, but left his own unsung. + +The sweetness of her voice, and the simple beauty of her music, gave +all the advantage which the minstrel could have desired, and which his +poetry so much wanted. I almost doubt if it can be read with patience, +destitute of these advantages; although I conjecture the following copy +to have been somewhat corrected by Waverley, to suit the taste of those +who might not relish pure antiquity:-- + + ST. SWITHIN'S CHAIR. + + On Hallow-Mass Eve, ere ye boune ye to rest, + Ever beware that your couch be blessed; + Sign it with cross, and sain it with bead, + Sing the Ave, and say the Creed. + + For on Hallow-Mass Eve the Night-Hag will ride, + And all her nine-fold sweeping on by her side, + Whether the wind sing lowly or loud, + Sailing through moonshine or swathed in the cloud. + + The Lady she sat in St. Swithin's Chair, + The dew of the night has damped her hair: + Her cheek was pale--but resolved and high + Was the word of her lip and the glance of her eye. + + She muttered the spell of Swithin bold, + When his naked foot traced the midnight wold, + When he stopped the Hag as she rode the night, + And bade her descend, and her promise plight. + + He that dare sit on St. Swithin's Chair, + When the Night-Hag wings the troubled air, + Questions three, when he speaks the spell, + He may ask, and she must tell. + + The Baron has been with King Robert his liege, + These three long years in battle and siege; + News are there none of his weal or his woe, + And fain the Lady his fate would know. + + She shudders and stops as the charm she speaks;-- + Is it the moody owl that shrieks? + Or is it that sound, betwixt laughter and scream, + The voice of the Demon who haunts the stream? + + The moan of the wind sunk silent and low, + And the roaring torrent ceased to flow; + The calm was more dreadful than raging storm, + Then the cold grey mist brought the ghastly form! + + . . . . . . + +'I am sorry to disappoint the company, especially Captain Waverley, who +listens with such laudable gravity; it is but a fragment, although I +think there are other verses, describing the return of the Baron from +the wars, and how the lady was found "clay-cold upon the grounsill +ledge."' + +'It is one of those figments,' observed Mr. Bradwardine, 'with which +the early history of distinguished families was deformed in the times +of superstition; as that of Rome, and other ancient nations, had their +prodigies, sir, the which you may read in ancient histories, or in the +little work compiled by Julius Obsequens, and inscribed by the learned +Scheffer, the editor, to his patron, Benedictus Skytte, Baron of +Dudershoff.' + +'My father has a strange defiance of the marvellous, Captain Waverley,' +observed Rose, 'and once stood firm when a whole synod of Presbyterian +divines were put to the rout by a sudden apparition of the foul fiend.' + +Waverley looked as if desirous to hear more. + +Must I tell my story as well as sing my song?--Well.--Once upon a time +there lived an old woman, called Janet Gellatley, who was suspected to +be a witch, on the infallible grounds that she was very old, very ugly, +very poor, and had two sons, one of whom was a poet, and the other a +fool, which visitation, all the neighbourhood agreed, had come upon +her for the sin of witchcraft. And she was imprisoned for a week in the +steeple of the parish church, and sparingly supplied with food, and not +permitted to sleep, until she herself became as much persuaded of her +being a witch as her accusers; and in this lucid and happy state of +mind was brought forth to make a clean breast, that is, to make open +confession of her sorceries, before all the Whig gentry and ministers +in the vicinity, who were no conjurers themselves. My father went to see +fair play between the witch and the clergy; for the witch had been +born on his estate. 'And while the witch was confessing that the Enemy +appeared, and made his addresses to her as a handsome black man,--which, +if you could have seen poor old blear-eyed Janet, reflected little +honour on Apollyon's taste,--and while the auditors listened with +astonished ears, and the clerk recorded with a trembling hand, she, all +of a sudden, changed the low mumbling tone with which she spoke into a +shrill yell, and exclaimed, "Look to yourselves! look to yourselves! I +see the Evil One sitting in the midst of ye." The surprise was general, +and terror and flight its immediate consequences. Happy were those who +were next the door; and many were the disasters that befell hats, bands, +cuffs, and wigs, before they could get out of the church, where they +left the obstinate prelatist to settle matters with the witch and her +admirer, at his own peril or pleasure.' + +'RISU SOLVUNTUR TABULAE,' said the Baron: 'when they recovered their +panic trepidation, they were too much ashamed to bring any wakening of +the process against Janet Gellatley.' [The story last told was said to +have happened in the south of Scotland; but--CEDANT ARMA TOGAE--and +let the gown have its dues. It was an old clergyman, who had wisdom and +firmness enough to resist the panic which seized his brethren, who was +the means of rescuing a poor insane creature from the cruel fate which +would otherwise have overtaken her. The accounts of the trials for +witchcraft form one of the most deplorable chapters in Scottish story.] + +This anecdote led to a long discussion of + + All those idle thoughts and fantasies, + Devices, dreams, opinions unsound, + Shows, visions, soothsays, and prophecies, + And all that feigned is, as leasings, tales, and lies. + +With such conversation, and the romantic legends which it produced, +closed our hero's second evening in the house of Tully-Veolan. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DISCOVERY--WAVERLEY BECOMES DOMESTICATED AT TULLY-VEOLAN + +The next day Edward arose betimes, and in a morning walk around the +house and its vicinity, came suddenly upon a small court in front of the +dog-kennel, where his friend Davie was employed about his four-footed +charge. One quick glance of his eye recognized Waverley, when, instantly +turning his back, as if he had not observed him, he began to sing part +of an old ballad:-- + + Young men will love thee more fair and more fast; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + Old men's love the longest will last, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + + The young man's wrath is like light straw on fire; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + But like red-hot steel is the old man's ire, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + + The young man will brawl at the evening board; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + But the old man will draw at the dawning the sword, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + +Waverley could not avoid observing that Davie laid something like +a satirical emphasis on these lines. He therefore approached, and +endeavoured, by sundry queries, to elicit from him what the innuendo +might mean; but Davie had no mind to explain, and had wit enough to +make his folly cloak his knavery. Edward could collect nothing from +him, excepting that the Laird of Balmawhapple had gone home yesterday +morning, 'wi' his boots fu' o' bluid.' In the garden, however, he met +the old butler, who no longer attempted to conceal, that, having been +bred in the nursery line with Sumack & Co., of Newcastle, he sometimes +wrought a turn in the flower-borders to oblige the Laird and Miss Rose. +By a series of queries, Edward at length discovered, with a painful +feeling of surprise and shame, that Balmawhapple's submission and +apology had been the consequence of a rencontre with the Baron before +his guest had quitted his pillow, in which the younger combatant had +been disarmed and wounded in the sword-arm. + +Greatly mortified at this information, Edward sought out his friendly +host, and anxiously expostulated with him upon the injustice he had done +him in anticipating his meeting with Mr. Falconer, a circumstance which, +considering his youth and the profession of arms which he had just +adopted, was capable of being represented much to his prejudice. The +Baron justified himself at greater length than I choose to repeat. He +urged that the quarrel was common to them, and that Balmawhapple could +not, by the code of honour, EVITE giving satisfaction to both, which he +had done in his case by an honourable meeting, and in that of Edward by +such a PALINODE as rendered the use of the sword unnecessary, and which, +being made and accepted, must necessarily SOPITE the whole affair. + +With this excuse or explanation, Waverley was silenced, if not +satisfied; but he could not help testifying some displeasure against +the Blessed Bear, which had given rise to the quarrel, nor refrain from +hinting, that the sanctified epithet was hardly appropriate. The Baron +observed, he could not deny that 'the Bear, though allowed by heralds +as a most honourable ordinary, had, nevertheless, somewhat fierce, +churlish, and morose in his disposition (as might be read in Archibald +Simson, pastor of Dalkeith's HIEROGLYPHICA ANIMALIUM), and had thus +been the type of many quarrels and dissensions which had occurred in the +house of Bradwardine; of which,' he continued, 'I might commemorate mine +own unfortunate dissension with my third cousin by the mother's side, +Sir Hew Halbert, who was so unthinking as to deride my family name, as +if it had been QUASI BEARWARDEN; a most uncivil jest, since it not only +insinuated that the founder of our house occupied such a mean situation +as to be a custodier of wild beasts, a charge which, ye must have +observed, is only entrusted to the very basest plebeians; but, moreover, +seemed to infer that our coat-armour had not been achieved by honourable +actions in war, but bestowed by way of PARONOMASIA, or pun upon our +family appellation,--a sort of bearing which the French call ARMOIRES +PARLANTES; the Latins ARMA CANTANTIA; and your English authorities, +canting heraldry; being indeed a species of emblazoning more befitting +canters, gaberlunzies, and such-like mendicants, whose gibberish is +formed upon playing upon the word, than the noble, honourable, and +useful science of heraldry, which assigns armorial bearings as the +reward of noble and generous actions, and not to tickle the ear with +vain quodlibets, such as are found in jest-books.' [9] Of his +quarrel with Sir Hew, he said nothing more, than that it was settled in +a fitting manner. + +Having been so minute with respect to the diversions of Tully-Veolan, on +the first days of Edward's arrival, for the purpose of introducing its +inmates to the reader's acquaintance, it becomes less necessary to trace +the progress of his intercourse with the same accuracy. It is probable +that a young man, accustomed to more cheerful society, would have tired +of the conversation of so violent an asserter of the 'boast of heraldry' +as the Baron; but Edward found an agreeable variety in that of Miss +Bradwardine, who listened with eagerness to his remarks upon literature, +and showed great justness of taste in her answers. The sweetness of her +disposition had made her submit with complacency, and even pleasure, +to the course of reading prescribed by her father, although it not only +comprehended several heavy folios of history, but certain gigantic tomes +in High Church polemics. In heraldry he was fortunately contented to +give her only such a slight tincture as might be acquired by perusal of +the two folio volumes of Nisbet. Rose was indeed the very apple of her +father's eye. Her constant liveliness, her attention to all those little +observances most gratifying to those who would never think of exacting +them, her beauty, in which he recalled the features of his beloved wife, +her unfeigned piety, and the noble generosity of her disposition, would +have justified the affection of the most doting father. + +His anxiety on her behalf did not, however, seem to extend itself +in that quarter, where, according to the general opinion, it is most +efficiently displayed; in labouring, namely, to establish her in life, +either by a large dowry or a wealthy marriage. By an old settlement, +almost all the landed estates of the Baron went, after his death, to a +distant relation; and it was supposed that Miss Bradwardine would remain +but slenderly provided for, as the good gentleman's cash matters had +been too long under the exclusive charge of Bailie Macwheeble, to admit +of any great expectations from his personal succession. It is true, the +said Bailie loved his patron and his patron's daughter next (although at +an incomparable distance) to himself. He thought it was possible to +set aside the settlement on the male line, and had actually procured +an opinion to that effect (and, as he boasted, without a fee) from an +eminent Scottish counsel, under whose notice he contrived to bring the +point while consulting him regularly on some other business. But +the Baron would not listen to such a proposal for an instant. On the +contrary, he used to have a perverse pleasure in boasting that the +barony of Bradwardine was a male fief, the first charter having been +given at that early period when women were not deemed capable to hold a +feudal grant; because, according to Les COUSTUSMES DE NORMANDIE, C'EST +L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE; or, as is yet more ungallantly +expressed by other authorities, all of whose barbarous names he +delighted to quote at full length, because a woman could not serve the +superior, or feudal lord, in war, on account of the decorum of her sex, +nor assist him with advice, because of her limited intellect, nor +keep his counsel, owing to the infirmity of her disposition. He would +triumphantly ask, how it would become a female, and that female a +Bradwardine, to be seen employed in, SERVITIO EXUENDI, SEU DETRAHENDI, +CALIGAS REGIS POST BATTALIAM? that is, in pulling off the king's boots +after an engagement, which was the feudal service by which he held the +barony of Bradwardine. 'No,' he said, 'beyond hesitation, PROCUL DUBIO, +many females, as worthy as Rose, had been excluded, in order to make +way for my own succession, and Heaven forbid that I should do aught that +might contravene the destination of my forefathers, or impinge upon the +right of my kinsman, Malcolm Bradwardine of Inchgrabbit, an honourable +though decayed branch of my own family.' + +The Bailie, as prime minister, having received this decisive +communication from his sovereign, durst not press his own opinion +any further, but contented himself with deploring, on all suitable +occasions, to Saunderson, the minister of the interior, the Laird's +self-willedness, and with laying plans for uniting Rose with the young +laird of Balmawhapple, who had a fine estate, only moderately burdened, +and was a faultless young gentleman, being as sober as a saint--if you +keep brandy from him, and him from brandy--and who, in brief, had +no imperfection but that of keeping light company at a time; such as +Jinker, the horse-couper, and Gibby Gaethroughwi't, the piper o' Cupar; +o' whilk follies, Mr. Saunderson, he'll mend, he'll mend,'--pronounced +the Bailie. + +'Like sour ale in simmer,' added Davie Gellatley, who happened to be +nearer the conclave than they were aware of. + +Miss Bradwardine, such as we have described her, with all the simplicity +and curiosity of a recluse, attached herself to the opportunities of +increasing her store of literature which Edward's visit afforded her. +He sent for some of his books from his quarters, and they opened to +her sources of delight of which she had hitherto had no idea. The best +English poets, of every description, and other works on belles lettres, +made a part of this precious cargo. Her music, even her flowers, were +neglected, and Saunders not only mourned over, but began to mutiny +against the labour for which he now scarce received thanks. These +new pleasures became gradually enhanced by sharing them with one of +a kindred taste. Edward's readiness to comment, to recite, to explain +difficult passages, rendered his assistance invaluable; and the wild +romance of his spirit delighted a character too young and inexperienced +to observe its deficiencies. Upon subjects which interested him, and +when quite at ease, he possessed that flow of natural, and somewhat +florid eloquence, which has been supposed as powerful even as figure, +fashion, fame, or fortune, in winning the female heart. There was, +therefore, an increasing danger in this constant intercourse, to poor +Rose's peace of mind, which was the more imminent, as her father was +greatly too much abstracted in his studies, and wrapped up in his own +dignity, to dream of his daughter's incurring it. The daughters of the +house of Bradwardine were, in his opinion, like those of the house of +Bourbon or Austria, placed high above the clouds of passion which +might obfuscate the intellects of meaner females; they moved in another +sphere, were governed by other feelings, and amenable to other rules, +than those of idle and fantastic affection. In short, he shut his eyes +so resolutely to the natural consequences of Edward's intimacy with Miss +Bradwardine, that the whole neighbourhood concluded that he had opened +them to the advantages of a match between his daughter and the wealthy +young Englishman, and pronounced him much less a fool than he had +generally shown himself in cases where his own interest was concerned. + +If the Baron, however, had really meditated such an alliance, the +indifference of Waverley would have been an insuperable bar to his +project. Our hero, since mixing more freely with the world, had learned +to think with great shame and confusion upon his mental legend of Saint +Cecilia, and the vexation of these reflections was likely, for some +time at least, to counterbalance the natural susceptibility of his +disposition. Besides, Rose Bradwardine, beautiful and amiable as we +have described her, had not precisely the sort of beauty or merit which +captivates a romantic imagination in early youth. She was too frank, too +confiding, too kind; amiable qualities, undoubtedly, but destructive of +the marvellous, with which a youth of imagination delights to address +the empress of his affections. Was it possible to bow, to tremble, +and to adore, before the timid, yet playful little girl, who now asked +Edward to mend her pen, now to construe a stanza in Tasso, and now +how to spell a very--very long word in her version of it? All these +incidents have their fascination on the mind at a certain period of +life, but not when a youth is entering it, and rather looking out +for some object whose affection may dignify him in his own eyes, than +stooping to one who looks up to him for such distinction. Hence, +though there can be no rule in so capricious a passion, early love is +frequently ambitious in choosing its object; or, which comes to the +same, selects her (as in the case of Saint Cecilia aforesaid) from a +situation that gives fair scope for LE BEAU IDEAL, which the reality of +intimate and familiar life rather tends to limit and impair. I knew a +very accomplished and sensible young man cured of a violent passion for +a pretty woman, whose talents were not equal to her face and figure, by +being permitted to bear her company for a whole afternoon. Thus it is +certain, that had Edward enjoyed such an opportunity of conversing with +Miss Stubbs, Aunt Rachel's precaution would have been unnecessary, for +he would as soon have fallen in love with the dairymaid. And although +Miss Bradwardine was a very different character, it seems probable that +the very intimacy of their intercourse prevented his feeling for her +other sentiments than those of a brother for an amiable and accomplished +sister; while the sentiments of poor Rose were gradually, and without +her being conscious, assuming a shade of warmer affection. + +I ought to have said that Edward, when he sent to Dundee for the books +before mentioned, had applied for, and received permission, extending +his leave of absence. But the letter of his commanding-officer contained +a friendly recommendation to him, not to spend his time exclusively with +persons, who, estimable as they might be in a general sense, could +not be supposed well affected to a government which they declined +to acknowledge by taking the oath of allegiance. The letter further +insinuated, though with great delicacy, that although some family +connexions might be supposed to render it necessary for Captain Waverley +to communicate with gentlemen who were in this unpleasant state of +suspicion, yet his father's situation and wishes ought to prevent +his prolonging those attentions into exclusive intimacy. And it was +intimated, that; while his political principles were endangered by +communicating with laymen of this description, he might also receive +erroneous impressions in religion from the prelatic clergy, who so +perversely laboured to set up the royal prerogative in things sacred. + +This last insinuation probably induced Waverley to set both down to +the prejudices of his commanding-officer. He was sensible that Mr. +Bradwardine had acted with the most scrupulous delicacy, in never +entering upon any discussion that had the most remote tendency to bias +his mind in political opinions, although he was himself not only a +decided partisan of the exiled family, but had been trusted at different +times with important commissions for their service. Sensible, therefore, +that there was no risk of his being perverted from his allegiance, +Edward felt as if he should do his uncle's old friend injustice in +removing from a house where he gave and received pleasure and amusement, +merely to gratify a prejudiced and ill-judged suspicion, He therefore +wrote a very general answer, assuring his commanding-officer that +his loyalty was not in the most distant danger of contamination, and +continued an honoured guest and inmate of the house of Tully-Veolan. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A CREAGH, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES [A CREAGH was an incursion for plunder, +termed on the Borders a raid.] + +When Edward had been a guest at Tully-Veolan nearly six weeks, +he descried one morning, as he took his usual walk before the +breakfast-hour, signs of uncommon perturbation in the family. Four +bare-legged dairymaids, with each an empty milk-pail in her hand, ran +about with frantic gestures, and uttering loud exclamations of surprise, +grief, and resentment. From their appearance, a pagan might have +conceived them a detachment of the celebrated Belides, just come from +their baling penance. As nothing was to be got from this distracted +chorus, excepting 'Lord guide us!' and 'Eh, sirs!' ejaculations which +threw no light upon the cause of their dismay, Waverley repaired to the +forecourt, as it was called, where he beheld Bailie Macwheeble cantering +his white pony down the avenue with all the speed it could muster. He +had arrived, it would seem, upon a hasty summons and was followed by +half a score of peasants from the village, who had no great difficulty +in keeping pace with him. + +The Bailie, greatly too busy, and too important, to enter into +explanations with Edward, summoned forth Mr. Saunderson, who appeared +with a countenance in which dismay was mingled with solemnity, and they +immediately entered into close conference. Davie Gellatley was also +seen in the group, idle as Diogenes at Sinope, while his countrymen were +preparing for a siege. His spirits always rose with anything, good +or bad, which occasioned tumult, and he continued frisking, hopping, +dancing, and singing the burden of an old ballad, + + Our gear's a' gane, + +until, happening to pass too near the Bailie, he received an admonitory +hint from his horsewhip, which converted his songs into lamentation. + +Passing from thence towards the garden, Waverley beheld the Baron in +person, measuring and re-measuring, with swift and tremendous strides, +the length of the terrace; his countenance clouded with offended pride +and indignation, and the whole of his demeanour such as seemed to +indicate, that any inquiry concerning the cause of his discomposure +would give pain at least, if not offence. Waverley therefore glided into +the house, without addressing him, and took his way to the breakfast +parlour, where he found his young friend Rose, who, though she neither +exhibited the resentment of her father, the turbid importance of Bailie +Macwheeble, nor the despair of the hand-maidens, seemed vexed and +thoughtful. A single word explained the mystery. 'Your breakfast will +be a disturbed one, Captain Waverley, A party of Caterans have come down +upon us, last night, and have driven off all our milch cows.' + +'A party of Caterans?' + +'Yes; robbers from the neighbouring Highlands. We used to be quite free +from them while we paid blackmail to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr; +but my father thought it unworthy of his rank and birth to pay it any +longer, and so this disaster has happened. It is not the value of the +cattle, Captain Waverley, that vexes me; but my father is so much hurt +at the affront, and is so bold and hot, that I fear he will try to +recover them by the strong hand; and if he is not hurt himself, he will +hurt some of these wild people, and then there will be no peace between +them and us perhaps for our lifetime; and we cannot defend ourselves as +is old times, for the government have taken all our arms; and my dear +father is so rash--Oh, what will become of us!'--Here poor Rose lost +heart altogether, and burst into a flood of tears. + +The Baron entered at this moment, and rebuked her with more asperity +than Waverley had ever heard him use to any one. 'Was it not a shame,' +he said, 'that she should exhibit herself before any gentleman in such +a light, as if she shed tears for a drove of horned nolt and milch kine, +like the daughter of a Cheshire yeoman! Captain Waverley, I must request +your favourable construction of her grief, which may, or ought to +proceed, solely from seeing her father's estate exposed to spulzie and +depredation from common thieves and sornars, [Sornars may be translated +sturdy beggars, more especially indicating those unwelcome visitors who +exact lodgings and victuals by force, or something approaching to it.] +while we are not allowed to keep half a score of muskets, whether for +defence or rescue.' + +Bailie Macwheeble entered immediately afterwards, and by his report of +arms and ammunition confirmed this statement, informing the Baron, in +a melancholy voice, that though the people would certainly obey his +honour's orders, yet there was no chance of their following the gear to +ony guid purpose, in respect there were only his honour's body servants +who had swords and pistols, and the depredators were twelve Highlanders, +completely armed after the manner of their country.--Having delivered +this doleful annunciation, he assumed a posture of silent dejection, +shaking his head slowly with the motion of a pendulum when it is ceasing +to vibrate, and then remained stationary, his body stooping at a more +acute angle than usual, and the latter part of his person projecting in +proportion. + +The Baron, meanwhile, paced the room in silent indignation, and at +length fixing his eye upon an old portrait, whose person was clad in +armour, and whose features glared grimly out of a huge bush of hair, +part of which descended from his head to his shoulders, and part from +his chin and upper-lip to his breastplate,--'That gentleman, Captain +Waverley, my grandsire,' he said, 'with two hundred horse, whom he +levied within his own bounds, discomfited and put to the rout more +than five hundred of these Highland reivers, who have been ever LAPIS +OFFENSIONIS, ET PETRA SCANDALI, a stumbling-block and a rock of offence +to the Lowland vicinage--he discomfited them, I say, when they had the +temerity to descend to harry this country, in the time of the civil +dissensions, in the year of grace sixteen hundred forty and two. And +now, sir, I, his grandson, am thus used at such unworthy hands!' + +Here there was an awful pause; after which all the company, as is usual +in cases of difficulty, began to give separate and inconsistent counsel. +Alexander ab Alexandro proposed they should send some one to compound +with the Caterans, who would readily, he said, give up their prey for a +dollar a head. The Bailie opined that this transaction would amount to +theft-boot, or composition of felony; and he recommended that some CANNY +HAND should be sent up to the glens to make the best bargain he could, +as it were for himself, so that the laird might not be seen in such a +transaction. Edward proposed to send off to the nearest garrison for a +party of soldiers and a magistrate's warrant; and Rose, as far as she +dared, endeavoured to insinuate the course of paying the arrears of +tribute money to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, who, they all knew, +could easily procure restoration of the cattle, if he were properly +propitiated. + +None of these proposals met the Baron's approbation. The idea of +composition, direct or implied, was absolutely ignominious; that +of Waverley only showed that he did not understand the state of the +country, and of the political parties which divided it; and, standing +matters as they did with Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, the Baron would +make no concession to him, were it, he said, to procure restitution IN +INTEGRUM of every stirk and stot that the chief, his forefathers, and +his clan, had stolen since the days of Malcolm Canmore.' + +In fact, his voice was still for war, and he proposed to send expresses +to Balmawhapple, Killancureit, Tulliellum, and other lairds, who were +exposed to similar depredations, inviting them to join in the pursuit; +'and then, sir, shall these NEBULONES NEQUISSIMI, as Leslaeus calls +them, be brought to the fate of their predecessor Cacus, + + Elisos oculos, et siccum sanguine guttur.' + +The Bailie, who by no means relished these warlike counsels, here pulled +forth an immense watch, of the colour, and nearly of the size, of a +pewter warming-pan, and observed it was now past noon, and that the +Caterans had been seen in the pass of Bally-Brough soon after sunrise; +so that before the allied forces could assemble, they and their prey +would be far beyond the reach of the most active pursuit, and sheltered +in those pathless deserts where it was neither advisable to follow, nor +indeed possible to trace them. + +This proposition was undeniable. The council therefore broke up +without coming to any conclusion, as has occurred to councils of more +importance; only it was determined that the Bailie should send his own +three milk-cows down to the Mains for the use of the Baron's family, +and brew small ale, as a substitute for milk, in his own. To this +arrangement, which was suggested by Saunderson, the Bailie readily +assented, both from habitual deference to the family, and an internal +consciousness that his courtesy would, in some mode or other, be repaid +tenfold. + +The Baron having also retired to give some necessary directions, +Waverley seized the opportunity to ask, whether this Fergus, with the +unpronounceable name, was the chief thief-taker of the district. + +'Thief-taker!' answered Rose, laughing; 'he is a gentleman of great +honour and consequence; the chieftain of an independent branch of a +powerful Highland clan, and is much respected, both for his own power, +and that of his kith, kin, and allies.' + +'And what has he to do with the thieves, then? is he a magistrate, or in +the commission of the peace?' asked Waverley. + +The commission of war rather, if there be such a thing,' said Rose; 'for +he is a very unquiet neighbour to his un-friends, and keeps a greater +FOLLOWING on foot than many that have thrice his estates. As to his +connexion with the thieves, that I cannot well explain; but the boldest +of them will never steal a hoof from any one that pays blackmail to Vich +Ian Vohr.' + +'And what is blackmail?' + +'A sort of protection-money that Low-country gentlemen and heritors, +lying near the Highlands, pay to some Highland chief, that he may +neither do them harm himself, nor suffer it to be done to them by +others; and then, if your cattle are stolen, you have only to send him +word, and he will recover them; or it may be, he will drive away cows +from some distant place, where he has a quarrel, and give them to you to +make up your loss.' + +'And is this sort of Highland Jonathan Wild admitted into society, and +called a gentleman?' + +'So much so,' said Rose, 'that the quarrel between my father and Fergus +Mac-Ivor began at a county meeting, where he wanted to take precedence +of all the Lowland gentlemen then present, only my father would not +suffer it. And then he upbraided my father that he was under his banner, +and paid him tribute; and my father was in a towering passion, for +Bailie Macwheeble, who manages such things his own way, had contrived to +keep this blackmail a secret from him, and passed it in his account for +cess-money. And they would have fought; but Fergus Mac-Ivor said, very +gallantly, he would never raise his hand against a grey head that was +so much respected as my father's. Oh, I wish, I wish they had continued +friends!' + +'And did you ever see this Mr. Mac-Ivor, if that be his name, Miss +Bradwardine?' + +'No, that is not his name; and he would consider MASTER as a sort of +affront, only that you are an Englishman, and know no better. But the +Lowlanders call him, like other gentlemen, by the name of his estate, +Glennaquoich; and the Highlanders call him Vich Ian Vohr, that is, the +son of John the Great; and we upon the braes here call him by both names +indifferently.' + +I am afraid I shall never bring my English tongue to call him by either +one or other.' + +'But he is a very polite, handsome man,' continued Rose; 'and his sister +Flora is one of the most beautiful and accomplished young ladies in this +country: she was bred in a convent in France, and was a great friend +of mine before this unhappy dispute. Dear Captain Waverley, try your +influence with my father to make matters up. I am sure this is but the +beginning of our troubles; for Tully-Veolan has never been a safe or +quiet residence when we have been at feud with the Highlanders. When +I was a girl about ten, there was a skirmish fought between a party of +twenty of them, and my father and his servants, behind the Mains; and +the bullets broke several panes in the north windows, they were so near. +Three of the Highlanders were killed, and they brought them in, wrapped +in their plaids, and laid them on the stone floor of the hall; and +next morning, their wives and daughters came, clapping their hands, and +crying the coronach, and shrieking, and carried away the dead bodies, +with the pipes playing before them. I could not sleep for six weeks +without starting, and thinking I heard these terrible cries, and saw +the bodies lying on the steps, all stiff and swathed up in their bloody +tartans. But since that time there came a party from the garrison at +Stirling, with a warrant from the Lord Justice-Clerk, or some such +great man, and took away all our arms; and now, how are we to protect +ourselves if they come down in any strength?' + +Waverley could not help starting at a story which bore so much +resemblance to one of his own day-dreams. Here was a girl scarce +seventeen, the gentlest of her sex, both in temper and appearance, who +had witnessed with her own eyes such a scene as he had used to conjure +up in his imagination, as only occurring in ancient times, and spoke of +it coolly, as one very likely to recur. He felt at once the impulse of +curiosity, and that slight sense of danger which only serves to heighten +its interest. He might have said with Malvolio, '"I do not now fool +myself, to let imagination jade me!" I am actually in the land of +military and romantic adventures, and it only remains to be seen what +will be my own share in them.' + +The whole circumstances now detailed concerning the state of the +country, seemed equally novel and extraordinary. He had indeed often +heard of Highland thieves, but had no idea of the systematic mode in +which their depredations were conducted; and that the practice was +connived at, and even encouraged, by many of the Highland chieftains, +who not only found the creaghs, or forays, useful for the purpose of +training individuals of their clan to the practice of arms, but also +of maintaining a wholesome terror among their Lowland neighbours, +and levying, as we have seen, a tribute from them, under colour of +protection-money. + +Bailie Macwheeble, who soon afterwards entered, expatiated still more at +length upon the same topic. This honest gentleman's conversation was so +formed upon his professional practice, that Davie Gellatley once said +his discourse was like 'a charge of horning.' He assured our hero, that +'from the maist ancient times of record, the lawless thieves, limmers, +and broken men of the Highlands, had been in fellowship together by +reason of their surnames, for the committing of divers thefts, reifs, +and herships upon the honest men of the Low Country, when they not only +intromitted with their whole goods and gear, corn, cattle, horse, nolt, +sheep, outsight and insight plenishing, at their wicked pleasure, but +moreover made prisoners, ransomed them, or concussed them into giving +borrows (pledges) to enter into captivity again: all which was directly +prohibited in divers parts of the Statute Book, both by the act one +thousand five hundred and sixty-seven, and various others; the whilk +statutes, with all that had followed and might follow thereupon, were +shamefully broken and vilipended by the said sornars, limmers, and +broken men, associated into fellowships, for the aforesaid purposes of +theft, stouthreef, fire-raising, murther, RAPTUS MULIERUM, or forcible +abduction of women, and such like as aforesaid.' + +It seemed like a dream to Waverley that these deeds of violence should +be familiar to men's minds, and currently talked of, as falling within +the common order of things, and happening daily in the immediate +vicinity, without his having crossed the seas, and while he was yet in +the otherwise well-ordered island of Great Britain. [10] + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AN UNEXPECTED ALLY APPEARS + +The Baron returned at the dinner-hour, and had in a great measure +recovered his composure and good humour. He not only confirmed the +stories which Edward had heard from Rose and Bailie Macwheeble, but +added many anecdotes from his own experience, concerning the state of +the Highlands and their inhabitants, The chiefs he pronounced to be, +in general, gentlemen of great honour and high pedigree, whose word was +accounted as a law by all those of their own sept, or clan. 'It did not, +indeed,' he said, 'become them, as had occurred in late instances, to +propone their PROSAPIA, a lineage which rested for the most part on the +vain and fond rhymes of their Seannachies or Barahs, as aequiponderate +with the evidence of ancient charters and royal grants of antiquity, +conferred upon distinguished houses in the Low Country by divers +Scottish monarchs; nevertheless, such was their OUTRECUIDANCE and +presumption, as to undervalue those who possessed such evidents, as if +they held their lands in a sheep's skin.' + +This, by the way, pretty well explained the cause of quarrel between +the Baron and his Highland ally. But he went on to state so many +curious particulars concerning the manners, customs, and habits of this +patriarchal race, that Edward's curiosity became highly interested, and +he inquired whether it was possible to make with safety an excursion +into the neighbouring Highlands, whose dusky barrier of mountains had +already excited his wish to penetrate beyond them. The Baron assured his +guest that nothing would be more easy, providing this quarrel were +first made up, since he could himself give him letters to many of the +distinguished chiefs, who would receive him with the utmost courtesy and +hospitality. + +While they were on this topic, the door suddenly opened, and, ushered by +Saunders Saunderson, a Highlander, fully armed and equipped, entered the +apartment. Had it not been that Saunders acted the part of master of the +ceremonies to this martial apparition, without appearing to deviate from +his usual composure, and that neither Mr. Bradwardine nor Rose exhibited +any emotion, Edward would certainly have thought the intrusion hostile, +As it was, he started at the sight of what he had not yet happened to +see, a mountaineer in his full national costume. The individual Gael was +a stout, dark, young man, of low stature, the ample folds of whose plaid +added to the appearance of strength which his person exhibited. The +short kilt, or petticoat, showed his sinewy and clean-made limbs; the +goat-skin purse, flanked by the usual defences, a dirk and steel-wrought +pistol, hung before him; his bonnet had a short feather, which indicated +his claim to be treated as a Duinhe-wassel, or sort of gentleman; a +broadsword dangled by his side, a target hung upon his shoulder, and +a long Spanish fowling-piece occupied one of his hands. With the other +hand he pulled off his bonnet, and the Baron, who well knew their +customs, and the proper mode of addressing them, immediately said, with +an air of dignity, but without rising, and much, as Edward thought, +in the manner of a prince receiving an embassy, 'Welcome, Evan Dhu +Maccombich! what news from Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr?' + +'Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr,' said the ambassador, in good English, +'greets you well, Baron of Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, and is sorry +there has been a thick cloud interposed between you and him, which has +kept you from seeing and considering the friendship and alliances that +have been between your houses and forebears of old; and he prays you +that the cloud may pass away, and that things may be as they have been +heretofore between the clan Ivor and the house of Bradwardine, when +there was an egg between them for a flint, and a knife for a sword. And +he expects you will also say, you are sorry for the cloud, and no man +shall hereafter ask whether it descended from the hill to the valley, +or rose from the valley to the hill; for they never struck with the +scabbard who did not receive with the sword; and woe to him who would +lose his friend for the stormy cloud of a spring morning!' + +To this the Baron of Bradwardine answered, with suitable dignity, that +he knew the chief of clan Ivor to be a well-wisher to the King, and he +was sorry there should have been a cloud between him and any gentleman +of such sound principles, 'for when folks are banding together, feeble +is he who hath no brother.' + +This appearing perfectly satisfactory, that the peace between these +august persons might be duly solemnized, the Baron ordered a stoup of +usquebaugh, and, filling a glass, drank to the health and prosperity of +Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich; upon which the Celtic ambassador, to requite +his politeness, turned down a mighty bumper of the same generous liquor, +seasoned with his good wishes to the house of Bradwardine. + +Having thus ratified the preliminaries of the general treaty of +pacification, the envoy retired to adjust with Mr. Macwheeble some +subordinate articles with which it was not thought necessary to trouble +the Baron. These probably referred to the discontinuance of the subsidy, +and apparently the Bailie found means to satisfy their ally, without +suffering his master to suppose that his dignity was compromised. At +least, it is certain, that after the plenipotentiaries had drunk a +bottle of brandy in single drams, which seemed to have no more effect +upon such seasoned vessels, than if it had been poured upon the two +bears at the top of the avenue, Evan Dhu Maccombich, having possessed +himself of all the information which he could procure respecting the +robbery of the preceding night, declared his intention to set off +immediately in pursuit of the cattle, which he pronounced to be 'not +far off;--they have broken the bone,' he observed, 'but they have had no +time to suck the marrow.' + +Our hero, who had attended Evan Dhu during his perquisitions, was much +struck with the ingenuity which he displayed in collecting information, +and the precise and pointed conclusions which he drew from it. Evan Dhu, +on his part, was obviously flattered with the attention of Waverley, the +interest he seemed to take in his inquiries, and his curiosity about the +customs and scenery of the Highlands. Without much ceremony he invited +Edward to accompany him on a short walk of ten or fifteen miles into the +mountains, and see the place where the cattle were conveyed to; adding, +'If it be as I suppose, you never saw such a place in your life, nor +ever will, unless you go with me, or the like of me.' + +Our hero, feeling his curiosity considerably excited by the idea of +visiting the den of a Highland Cacus, took, however, the precaution +to inquire if his guide might be trusted. He was assured, that the +invitation would on no account have been given had there been the least +danger, and that all he had to apprehend was a little fatigue; and +as Evan proposed he should pass a day at his Chieftain's house in +returning, where he would be sure of good accommodation and an excellent +welcome, there seemed nothing very formidable in the task he undertook. +Rose, indeed, turned pale when she heard of it; but her father, who +loved the spirited curiosity of his young friend, did not attempt +to damp it by an alarm of danger which really did not exist; and a +knapsack, with a few necessaries, being bound on the shoulders of a sort +of deputy gamekeeper, our hero set forth with a fowling-piece in his +hand, accompanied by his new friend Evan Dhu, and, followed by the +gamekeeper aforesaid, and by two wild Highlanders, the attendants of +Evan, one of whom had upon his shoulder a hatchet at the end of a pole, +called a Lochaber-axe, [The Town-guard of Edinburgh were, till a late +period, armed with this weapon when on their police duty. There was +a hook at the back of the axe, which the ancient Highlanders used to +assist them to climb over walls, fixing the hook upon it, and raising +themselves by the handle. The axe, which was also much used by the +natives of Ireland, is supposed to have been introduced into both +countries from Scandinavia.] and the other a long ducking-gun. Evan, +upon Edward's inquiry, gave him to understand that this martial escort +was by no means necessary as a guard, but merely, as he said, drawing +up and adjusting his plaid with an air of dignity, that he might appear +decently at Tully-Veolan, and as Vich Ian Vohr's foster-brother ought to +do. 'Ah!' said he, 'if you Saxon Duinhe-wassel (English gentlemen) saw +but the Chief with his tail on!' + +'With his tail on!' echoed Edward, in some surprise. + +'Yes--that is, with all his usual followers, when he visits those of the +same rank. There is,' he continued, stopping and drawing himself proudly +up, while he counted upon his fingers the several officers of his +chief's retinue--'there is his HANCH-MAN, or right-hand man; then his +BARDH, or poet; then his BLADIER, or orator, to make harangues to the +great folks whom he visits; then his GILLY-MORE, or armour-bearer, to +carry his sword and target, and his gun; then his GILLY CASFLIUCH, +who carries him on his back through the sikes and brooks; then his +GILLY-COMSTRIAN, to lead his horse by the bridle in steep and difficult +paths; then his GILLY-TRUSHHARNISH, to carry his knapsack; and the piper +and the piper's man, and it may be a dozen young lads besides, that have +no business, but are just boys of the belt, to follow the laird, and do +his honour's bidding.' + +And does your Chief regularly maintain all these men?' demanded +Waverley. + +'All these!' replied Evan; 'aye, and many a fair head beside, that would +not ken where to lay itself, but for the mickle barn at Glennaquoich.' + +With similar tales of the grandeur of the Chief in peace and war, +Evan Dhu beguiled the way till they approached more closely those huge +mountains which Edward had hitherto only seen at a distance. It was +towards evening as they entered one of the tremendous passes which +afford communication between the High and Low Country; the path, which +was extremely steep and rugged, winded up a chasm between two tremendous +rocks, following the passage which a foaming stream, that brawled far +below, appeared to have worn for itself in the course of ages. A few +slanting beams of the sun, which was now setting, reached the water in +its darksome bed, and showed it partially, chafed by a hundred rocks, +and broken by a hundred falls. The descent from the path to the stream +was a mere precipice, with here and there a projecting fragment of +granite, or a scathed tree, which had warped its twisted roots into the +fissures of the rock. On the right hand, the mountain rose above the +path with almost equal inaccessibility; but the hill on the opposite +side displayed a shroud of copsewood, with which some pines were +intermingled. + +'This,' said Evan, 'is the pass of Bally-Brough, which was kept in +former times by ten of the clan Donnochie against a hundred of the Low +Country carles. The graves of the slain are still to be seen in that +little corri, or bottom, on the opposite side of the burn--if your eyes +are good, you may see the green specks among the heather.--See, there +is an earn, which you Southrons call an eagle--you have no such birds +as that in England--he is going to fetch his supper from the Laird of +Bradwardine's braes, but I'll send a slug after him.' + +He fired his piece accordingly, but missed the superb monarch of the +feathered tribes, who, without noticing the attempt to annoy him, +continued his majestic flight to the southward. A thousand birds of +prey, hawks, kites, carrion-crows, and ravens, disturbed from the +lodgings which they had just taken up for the evening, rose at the +report of the gun, and mingled their hoarse and discordant notes with +the echoes which replied to it, and with the roar of the mountain +cataracts. Evan, a little disconcerted at having missed his mark, when +he meant to have displayed peculiar dexterity, covered his confusion by +whistling part of a pibroch as he reloaded his piece, and proceeded in +silence up the pass. + +It issued in a narrow glen, between two mountains, both very lofty, and +covered with heath. The brook continued to be their companion, and they +advanced up its mazes, crossing them now and then, on which occasions +Even Dhu uniformly offered the assistance of his attendants to carry +over Edward; but our hero, who had been always a tolerable pedestrian, +declined the accommodation, and obviously rose in his guide's opinion by +showing that he did not fear wetting his feet. Indeed he was anxious, +so far as he could without affectation, to remove the opinion which +Evan seemed to entertain of the effeminacy of the Lowlanders, and +particularly of the English. + +Through the gorge of this glen they found access to a black bog, of +tremendous extent, full of large pit-holes, which they traversed +with great difficulty and some danger, by tracks which no one but a +Highlander could have followed. The path itself, or rather the portion +of more solid ground on which the travellers half walked, half waded, +was rough, broken, and in many places quaggy and unsound. Sometimes the +ground was so completely unsafe, that it was necessary to spring from +one hillock to another, the space between being incapable of bearing +the human weight. This was an easy matter to the Highlanders, who +wore thin-soled brogues fit for the purpose, and moved with a peculiar +springing step; but Edward began to find the exercise, to which he was +unaccustomed, more fatiguing than he expected. The lingering twilight +served to show them through this Serbonian bog, but deserted them almost +totally at the bottom of a steep and very stony hill, which it was +the travellers' next toilsome task to ascend. The night, however, +was pleasant, and not dark; and Waverley, calling up mental energy to +support personal fatigue, held on his march gallantly, though envying in +his heart his Highland attendants, who continued, without a symptom +of abated vigour, the rapid and swinging pace, or rather trot, which, +according to his computation, had already brought them fifteen miles +upon their journey. + +After crossing this mountain, and descending on the other side towards a +thick wood, Evan Dhu held some conference with his Highland attendants, +in consequence of which Edward's baggage was shifted from the shoulders +of the gamekeeper to those of one of the gillies, and the former was +sent off with the other mountaineer in a direction different from +that of the three remaining travellers. On asking the meaning of this +separation, Waverley was told that the Lowlander must go to a hamlet +about three miles off for the night; for unless it was some very +particular friend, Donald Bean Lean, the worthy person whom they +supposed to be possessed of the cattle, did not much approve of +strangers approaching his retreat. This seemed reasonable, and silenced +a qualm of suspicion which came across Edward's mind, when he saw +himself, at such a place and such an hour, deprived of his only Lowland +companion. And Evan immediately afterwards added, 'that indeed he +himself had better get forward, and announce their approach to Donald +Bean Lean, as the arrival of a SIDIER ROY (red soldier) might otherwise +be a disagreeable surprise.' And without waiting for an answer, in +jockey phrase, he trotted out, and putting himself to a very round pace, +was out of sight in an instant. + +Waverley was now left to his own meditations, for his attendant with the +battle-axe spoke very little English. They were traversing a thick, and, +as it seemed, an endless wood of pines, and consequently the path was +altogether indiscernible in the murky darkness which surrounded them. +The Highlander, however, seemed to trace it by instinct, without the +hesitation of a moment, and Edward followed his footsteps as close as he +could. + +After journeying a considerable time in silence, he could not help +asking, 'Was it far to the end of their journey?' + +'Ta cove was tree, four mile; but as Duinhe-wassel was a wee taiglit, +Donald could, tat is, might--would--should send ta curragh.' + +This conveyed no information. The CURRAGH which was promised might be a +man, a horse, a cart, or chaise; and no more could be got from the man +with the battle-axe, but a repetition of 'Aich ay! ta curragh.' + +But in a short time Edward began to conceive his meaning, when, issuing +from the wood, he found himself on the banks of a large river or lake, +where his conductor gave him to understand they must sit down for a +little while. The moon, which now began to rise, showed obscurely +the expanse of water which spread before them, and the shapeless and +indistinct forms of mountains with which it seemed to be surrounded. The +cool and yet mild air of the summer night refreshed Waverley after +his rapid and toilsome walk; and the perfume which it wafted from the +birch-trees, bathed in the evening dew, was exquisitely fragrant. [It is +not the weeping birch, the most common species in the Highlands, but the +woolly-leaved Lowland birch, that is distinguished by this fragrance.] + +He had now time to give himself up to the full romance of his situation. +Here he saw on the banks of an unknown lake, under the guidance of a +wild native, whose language was unknown to him, on a visit to the den of +some renowned outlaw, a second Robin Hood, perhaps, or Adam o' Gordon, +and that at deep midnight, through scenes of difficulty and toil, +separated from his attendant, left by his guide.--What a variety of +incidents for the exercise of a romantic imagination, and all enhanced +by the solemn feeling of uncertainty, at least, if not of danger! The +only circumstance which assorted ill with the rest, was the cause of his +journey--the Baron's milk-cows! This degrading incident he kept in the +background. + +While wrapped in these dreams of imagination, his companion gently +touched him, and pointing in a direction nearly straight across the +lake, said 'Yon's ta cove.' A small point of light was seen to twinkle +in the direction in which he pointed, and gradually increasing in +size and lustre, seemed to flicker like a meteor upon the verge of the +horizon. While Edward watched this phenomenon, the distant dash of +oars was heard. The measured sound approached near and more near, and +presently a loud whistle was heard in the same direction. His friend +with the battle-axe immediately whistled clear and shrill, in reply to +the signal, and a boat, manned with four or five Highlanders, pushed for +a little inlet, near which Edward was sitting. He advanced to meet +them with his attendant, was immediately assisted into the boat by the +officious attention of two stout mountaineers, and had no sooner seated +himself than they resumed their oars, and began to row across the lake +with great rapidity. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE HOLD OF A HIGHLAND ROBBER + +The party preserved silence, interrupted only by the monotonous and +murmured chant of a Gaelic song, sung in a kind of low recitative by +the steersman, and by the dash of the oars, which the notes seemed to +regulate, as they dipped to them in cadence. The light, which they now +approached more nearly, assumed a broader, redder, and more irregular +splendour. It appeared plainly to be a large fire, but whether kindled +upon an island or the main land, Edward could not determine. As he saw +it, the red glaring orb seemed to rest on the very surface of the lake +itself, and resembled the fiery vehicle in which the Evil Genius of an +Oriental tale traverses land and sea. They approached nearer, and the +light of the fire sufficed to show that it was kindled at the bottom +of a huge dark crag or rock, rising abruptly from the very edge of +the water; its front changed by the reflection to dusky red, formed a +strange and even awful contrast to the banks around, which were from +time to time faintly and partially illuminated by pallid moonlight. + +The boat now neared the shore, and Edward could discover that this large +fire, amply supplied with branches of pine-wood by two figures, who, in +the red reflection of its light, appeared like demons, was kindled in +the jaws of a lofty cavern, into which an inlet from the lake seemed to +advance; and he conjectured, which was indeed true, that the fire had +been lighted as a beacon to the boatmen on their return. They rowed +right for the mouth of the cave, and then, shipping their oars, +permitted the boat to enter in obedience to the impulse which it had +received. + +The skiff passed the little point or platform of rock on which the fire +was blazing, and running about two boats' length farther, stopped where +the cavern (for it was already arched overhead) ascended from the water +by five or six broad ledges of rocks, so easy and regular that they +might be termed natural steps. At this moment a quantity of water was +suddenly flung upon the fire, which sank with a hissing noise, and with +it disappeared the light it had hitherto afforded. Four or five active +arms lifted Waverley out of the boat, placed him on his feet, and +almost carried him into the recesses of the cave. He made a few paces in +darkness, guided in this manner; and advancing towards a hum of voices, +which seemed to sound from the centre of the rock, at an acute turn +Donald Bean Lean and his whole establishment were before his eyes. + +The interior of the cave, which here rose very high, was illuminated by +torches made of pine-tree, which emitted a bright and bickering light, +attended by a strong though not unpleasant odour. Their light was +assisted by the red glare of a large charcoal fire, round which were +seated five or six armed Highlanders, while others were indistinctly +seen couched on their plaids, in the more remote recesses of the cavern. +In one large aperture, which the robber facetiously called his spence +(or pantry), there hung by the heels the carcasses of a sheep, or +ewe, and two cows lately slaughtered. The principal inhabitant of this +singular mansion, attended by Evan Dhu as master of the ceremonies, came +forward to meet his guest, totally different in appearance and manner +from what his imagination had anticipated. The profession which he +followed--the wilderness in which he dwelt--the wild warrior-forms +that surrounded him, were all calculated to inspire terror. From such +accompaniments, Waverley prepared himself to meet a stern, gigantic, +ferocious figure, such as Salvator would have chosen to be the central +object of a group of banditti. [11] + +Donald Bean Lean was the very reverse of all these. He was thin in +person and low in stature, with light sandy-coloured hair, and small +pale features, from which he derived his agnomen of BEAN, or white; and +although his form was light, well-proportioned, and active, he appeared, +on the whole, rather a diminutive and insignificant figure. He had +served in some inferior capacity in the French army, and in order to +receive his English visitor in great form, and probably meaning, in his +way, to pay him a compliment, he had laid aside the Highland dress for +the time, to put on an old blue and red uniform, and a feathered hat, +in which he was far from showing to advantage, and indeed looked so +incongruous, compared with all around him, that Waverley would have been +tempted to laugh, had laughter been either civil or safe. The robber +received Captain Waverley with a profusion of French politeness and +Scottish hospitality, seemed perfectly to know his name and connexions, +and to be particularly acquainted with his uncle's political principles. +On these he bestowed great applause, to which Waverley judged it prudent +to make a very general reply. + +Being placed at a convenient distance from the charcoal fire, the heat +of which the season rendered oppressive, a strapping Highland damsel +placed before Waverley, Evan, and Donald Bean, three cogues, or wooden +vessels, composed of staves and hoops, containing EANARUICH, [This was +the regale presented by Rob Roy to the Laird of Tullibody.] a sort of +strong soup, made out of a particular part of the inside of the beeves. +After this refreshment, which, though coarse, fatigue and hunger +rendered palatable, steaks, roasted on the coals, were supplied in +liberal abundance, and disappeared before Even Dhu and their host with +a promptitude that seemed like magic, and astonished Waverley, who was +much puzzled to reconcile their voracity with what he had heard of the +abstemiousness of the Highlanders. He was ignorant that this abstinence +was with the lower ranks wholly compulsory, and that, like some animals +of prey, those who practise it were usually gifted with the power of +indemnifying themselves to good purpose, when chance threw plenty in +their way. The whisky came forth in abundance to crown the cheer. The +Highlanders drank it copiously and undiluted; but Edward, having mixed +a little with water, did not find it so palatable as to invite him to +repeat the draught. Their host bewailed himself exceedingly that he +could offer him no wine: 'Had he but known four-and-twenty hours before, +he would have had some, had it been within the circle of forty miles +round him. But no gentleman could do more to show his sense of the +honour of a visit from another, than to offer him the best cheer his +house afforded. Where there are no bushes there can be no nuts, and the +way of those you live with is that you must follow.' + +He went on regretting to Evan Dhu the death of an aged man, Donnacha an +Amrigh, or Duncan with the Cap, 'a gifted seer,' who foretold, through +the second sight, visitors of every description who haunted their +dwelling, whether as friends or foes. + +'Is not his son Malcolm TAISHATR?' (a second-sighted person), asked +Evan. + +'Nothing equal to his father,' replied Donald Bean. He told us the other +day we were to see a great gentleman riding on a horse, and there came +nobody that whole day but Shemus Beg, the blind harper, with his dog. +Another time he advertised us of a wedding, and behold it proved a +funeral; and on the creagh, when he foretold to us we should bring home +a hundred head of horned cattle, we gripped nothing but a fat bailie of +Perth.' + +From this discourse he passed to the political and military state of the +country; and Waverley was astonished, and even alarmed, to find a person +of this description so accurately acquainted with the strength of the +various garrisons and regiments quartered north of the Tay. He even +mentioned the exact number of recruits who had joined Waverley's troop +from his uncle's estate, and observed they were pretty men, meaning, not +handsome, but stout warlike fellows. He put Waverley in mind of one or +two minute circumstances which had happened at a general review of the +regiment, which satisfied him that the robber had been an eye-witness of +it; and Evan Dhu having by this time retired from the conversation, +and wrapped himself up in his plaid to take some repose, Donald asked +Edward, in a very significant manner, whether he had nothing particular +to say to him. + +Waverley, surprised and somewhat startled at this question from such a +character, answered he had no motive in visiting him but curiosity to +see his extraordinary place of residence. Donald Bean Lean looked him +steadily in the face for an instant, and then said, with a significant +nod, 'You might as well have confided in me; I am as much worthy of +trust as either the Baron of Bradwardine, or Vich Ian Vohr:--but you are +equally welcome to my house.' + +Waverley felt an involuntary shudder creep over him at the mysterious +language held by this outlawed and lawless bandit, which, in despite of +his attempts to master it, deprived him of the proper to ask the meaning +of his insinuations. A heath pallet, with the flowers stuck uppermost, +had been prepared for him in a recess of the cave, and here, covered +with such spare plaids as could be mustered, he lay for some time +matching the motions of the other inhabitants of the cavern. Small +parties of two or three entered or left the place without any other +ceremony than a few words in Gaelic to the principal outlaw, and, when +he fell asleep, to a tall Highlander who acted as his lieutenant, and +seemed to keep watch during his repose. Those who entered, seemed to +have returned from some excursion, of which they reported the success, +and went without further ceremony to the larder, where, cutting with +their dirks their rations from the carcasses which were there suspended, +they proceeded to broil and eat them at their own pleasure and leisure. +The liquor was under strict regulation, being served out either +by Donald himself, his lieutenant, or the strapping Highland girl +aforesaid, who was the only female that appeared. The allowance of +whisky, however, would have appeared prodigal to any but Highlanders, +who, living entirely in the open air, and in a very moist climate, can +consume great quantities of ardent spirits without the usual baneful +effects either upon the brain or constitution. + +At length the fluctuating groups began to swim before the eyes of our +hero as they gradually closed; nor did he re-open them till the morning +sun was high on the lake without, though there was but a faint and +glimmering twilight in the recesses of Uaimh an Ri, or the King's +Cavern, as the abode of Donald Bean Lean was proudly denominated. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WAVERLEY PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY + +Then Edward had collected his scattered recollection, he was surprised +to observe the cavern totally deserted. Having arisen and put his dress +in some order, he looked more accurately round him; but all was still +solitary. If it had not been for the decayed brands of the fire, now +sunk into grey ashes, and the remnants of the festival, consisting +of bones half burnt and half gnawed, and an empty keg or two, there +remained no traces of Donald and his band. When Waverley sallied forth +to the entrance of the cave, he perceived that the point of rock, on +which remained the marks of last night's beacon, was accessible by +a small path, either natural, or roughly hewn in the rock, along the +little inlet of water which ran a few yards up into the cavern, where, +as in a wet-dock, the skiff which brought him there the night before +was still lying moored. When he reached the small projecting platform +on which the beacon had been established, he would have believed his +further progress by land impossible, only that it was scarce probable +but that the inhabitants of the cavern had some mode of issuing from it +otherwise than by the lake. Accordingly, he soon observed three or four +shelving steps, or ledges of rock, at the very extremity of the little +platform; and, making use of them as a staircase, he clambered by their +means around the projecting shoulder of the crag on which the cavern +opened, and, descending with some difficulty on the other side, he +gained the wild and precipitous shores of a Highland loch, about four +miles in length, and a mile and a half across, surrounded by heathy +and savage mountains, on the crests of which the morning mist was still +sleeping. + +Looking back to the place from which he came, he could not help admiring +the address which had adopted a retreat of such seclusion and +secrecy. The rock, round the shoulder of which he had turned by a few +imperceptible notches, that barely afforded place for the foot, seemed, +in looking back upon it, a huge precipice, which barred all further +passage by the shores of the lake in that direction. There could be +no possibility, the breadth of the lake considered, of descrying the +entrance of the narrow and low-browed cave from the other side; so +that, unless the retreat had been sought for with boats, or disclosed +by treachery, it might be a safe and secret residence to its garrison +as long as they were supplied with provisions. Having satisfied his +curiosity in these particulars, Waverley looked around for Evan Dhu and +his attendants, who, he rightly judged, would be at no great distance, +whatever might have become of Donald Bean Lean and his party, whose +mode of life was, of course, liable to sudden migrations of abode. +Accordingly, at the distance of about half a mile, he beheld a +Highlander (Evan apparently) angling in the lake, with another attending +him, whom, from the weapon which he shouldered, he recognized for his +friend with the battle-axe. + +Much nearer to the mouth of the cave, he heard the notes of a lively +Gaelic song, guided by which, in a sunny recess, shaded by a glittering +birch-tree, and carpeted with a bank of firm white sand, he found the +damsel of the cavern, whose lay had already reached him, busy, to the +best of her power, in arranging to advantage a morning repast of milk, +eggs, barley-bread, fresh butter, and honeycomb. The poor girl had +already made a circuit of four miles that morning in search of the eggs, +of the meal which baked her cakes, and of the other materials of the +breakfast, being all delicacies which she had to beg or borrow from +distant cottagers. The followers of Donald Bean Lean used little food +except the flesh of the animals which they drove away from the Lowlands; +bread itself was a delicacy seldom thought of, because hard to be +obtained, and all the domestic accommodations of milk, poultry, butter, +&c., were out of the question in this Scythian camp. Yet it must not +be omitted, that, although Alice had occupied a part of the morning in +providing those accommodations for her guest which the cavern did not +afford, she had secured time also to arrange her own person in her best +trim. Her finery was very simple. A short russet-coloured jacket, and +a petticoat, of scanty longitude, was her whole dress; but these were +clean, and neatly arranged. A piece of scarlet embroidered cloth, called +the snood, confined her hair, which fell over it in a profusion of rich +dark curls. The scarlet plaid, which formed part of her dress, was laid +aside, that it might not impede her activity in attending the stranger. +I should forget Alice's proudest ornament, were I to omit mentioning a +pair of gold ear-rings, and a golden rosary, which her father (for +she was the daughter of Donald Bean Lean) had brought from France, the +plunder, probably, of some battle or storm. + +Her form, though rather large for her years, was very well proportioned, +and her demeanour had a natural and rustic grace, with nothing of the +sheepishness of an ordinary peasant. The smiles, displaying a row of +teeth of exquisite whiteness, and the laughing eyes, with which, in dumb +show, she gave Waverley that morning greeting which she wanted English +words to express, might have been interpreted by a coxcomb, or perhaps +by a young soldier, who, without being such, was conscious of a handsome +person, as meant to convey more than the courtesy of an hostess. Nor do +I take it upon me to say, that the little wild mountaineer would +have welcomed any staid old gentleman advanced in life, the Baron of +Bradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains which she bestowed +upon Edward's accommodation. She seemed eager to place him by the meal +which she had so sedulously arranged, and to which she now added a few +bunches of cranberries, gathered in an adjacent morass. Having had the +satisfaction of seeing him seated at his breakfast, she placed herself +demurely upon a stone at a few yards' distance, and appeared to watch +with great complacency for some opportunity of serving him. + +Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along the beach, the latter +bearing a large salmon-trout, the produce of the morning's sport, +together with the angling-rod, while Evan strolled forward, with +an easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, towards the spot where +Waverley was so agreeably employed at the breakfast-table. After morning +greetings had passed on both sides, and Evan, looking at Waverley, had +said something in Gaelic to Alice, which made her laugh, yet colour up +to her eyes, through a complexion well embrowned by sun and wind, Evan +intimated his commands that the fish should be prepared for breakfast. +A spark from the lock of his pistol produced a light, and a few withered +fir branches were quickly in flame, and as speedily reduced to hot +embers, on which the trout was broiled in large slices. To crown the +repast, Evan produced from the pocket of his short jerkin, a large +scallop shell, and from under the folds of his plaid, a ram's horn full +of whisky. Of this he took a copious dram, observing he had already +taken his MORNING with Donald Bean Lean, before his departure; he +offered the same cordial to Alice and to Edward, which they both +declined. With the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then proffered the +scallop to Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, without waiting to be +asked a second time, drank it off with great gusto. Evan then prepared +to move towards the boat, inviting Waverley to attend him. Meanwhile, +Alice had made up in a small basket what she thought worth removing, and +hinging her plaid around her, she advanced up to Edward, and, with the +utmost simplicity, taking hold of his hand, offered her cheek to his +salute, dropping, at the same time, her little curtsy. Evan, who was +esteemed a wag among the mountain fair, advanced, as if to secure a +similar favour; but Alice, snatching up her basket, escaped up the +rocky bank as fleetly as a roe, and, turning round and laughing, called +something out to him in Gaelic, which he answered in the same tone and +language; then, waving her hand to Edward, she resumed her road, and +was soon lost among the thickets, though they continued for some time to +hear her lively carol, as she proceeded gaily on her solitary journey. + +They now again entered the gorge of the cavern, and stepping into the +boat, the Highlander pushed off, and, taking advantage of the morning +breeze, hoisted a clumsy sort of sail, while Evan assumed the helm, +directing their course, as it appeared to Waverley, rather higher up the +lake than towards the place of his embarkation on the preceding night. +As they glided along the silver mirror, Evan opened the conversation +with a panegyric upon Alice, who, he said, was both CANNY and FENDY; +and was, to the boot of all that, the best dancer of a strathspey in +the whole strath. Edward assented to her praises so far as he understood +them, yet could not help regretting that she was condemned to such a +perilous and dismal life. + +'Oich! for that,' said Evan, 'there is nothing in Perthshire that she +need want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it be too hot or +too heavy. + +'But to be the daughter of a cattle-stealer--a common thief!' + +'Common thief!--no such thing: Donald Bean Lean never LIFTED less than a +drove in his life.' + +'Do you call him an uncommon thief, then?' + +'No--he that steals a cow from a poor widow, or a stirk from a +cottar, is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach laird, is a +gentleman-drover. And, besides, to take a tree from the forest, a salmon +from the river, a deer from the hill, or a cow from a Lowland strath, is +what no Highlander need ever think shame upon.' + +'But what can this end in, were he taken in such an appropriation?' + +'To be sure he would DIE FOR THE LAW, as many a pretty man has done +before him.' + +'Die for the law!' + +'Aye; that is, with the law, or by the law; be strapped up on the +KIND gallows of Crieff, [12] where his father died, and his +goodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to die himself, if he's not +shot, or slashed, in a creagh.' + +'You HOPE such a death for your friend, Evan!' + +'And that do I e'en; would you have me wish him to die on a bundle of +wet straw in yon den of his, like a mangy tyke?' + +'But what becomes of Alice, then?' + +'Troth, if such an accident were to happen, as her father would not need +her help ony langer, I ken naught to hinder me to marry her mysell.' + +'Gallantly resolved!' said Edward;--'but, in the meanwhile, Evan, what +has your father-in-law (that shall be, if he have the good fortune to be +hanged) done with the Baron's cattle?' + +'Oich,' answered Evan, 'they were all trudging before your lad and Allan +Kennedy before the sun blinked ower Ben-Lawers this morning; and they'll +be in the pass of Bally-Brough by this time, in their way back to the +parks of Tully-Veolan, all but two, that were unhappily slaughtered +before I got last night to Uaimh an Ri.' + +'And where are we going, Evan, if I may be so bold as to ask?' said +Waverley. + +'Where would you be ganging, but to the laird's ain house of +Glennaquoich? Ye would not think to be in his country, without ganging +to see him? It would be as much as a man's life's worth,' + +'And are we far from Glennaquoich?' + +But five bits of miles; and Vich Ian Vohr will meet us.' + +In about half an hour they reached the upper end of the lake, where, +after landing Waverley, the two Highlanders drew the boat into a little +creek among thick flags and reeds, where it lay perfectly concealed. +The oars they put in another place of concealment, both for the use of +Donald Bean Lean probably, when his occasions should next bring him to +that place. + +The travellers followed for some time a delightful opening into the +hills, down which a little brook found its way to the lake. When they +had pursued their walk a short distance, Waverley renewed his questions +about their host of the cavern. + +'Does he always reside in that cave?' + +'Out, no! it's past the skill of man to tell where he's to be found +at a' times; there's not a dern nook, or cove, or corri, in the whole +country, that he's not acquainted with.' + +'And do others beside your master shelter him?' + +'My master?--My master is in heaven,' answered Evan haughtily; and then +immediately assuming his usual civility of manner--'But you mean my +Chief;--no, he does not shelter Donald Bean Lean, nor any that are like +him; he only allows him (with a smile) wood and water.' + +'No great boon, I should think, Evan, when both seem to be very plenty.' + +'Ah! but ye dinna see through it. When I say wood and water, I mean the +loch and the land; and I fancy Donald would be put till't if the laird +were to look for him wi' threescore men in the wood of Kailychat yonder; +and if our boats, with a score or twa mair, were to come down the loch +to Uaimh an Ri, headed by mysell, or ony other pretty man.' + +'But suppose a strong party came against him from the Low Country, would +not your Chief defend him?' + +'Na, he would not ware the spark of a flint for him--if they came with +the law.' + +'And what must Donald do, then?' + +'He behoved to rid this country of himsell, and fall back, it may be, +over the mount upon Letter Scriven.' + +'And if he were pursued to that place?' + +'I'se warrant he would go to his cousin's at Rannoch.' + +'Well, but if they followed him to Rannoch?' + +'That,' quoth Evan, 'is beyond all belief; and, indeed, to tell you the +truth, there durst not a Lowlander in all Scotland follow the fray a +gun-shot beyond Bally-Brough, unless he had the help of the SIDIER DHU.' + +'Whom do you call so?' + +'The SIDIER DHU? the black soldier; that is what they call the +independent companies that were raised to keep peace and law in the +Highlands. Vich Ian Vohr commanded one of them for five years, and I was +sergeant myself, I shall warrant ye. They call them SIDIER DHU, because +they wear the tartans,--as they call your men, King George's men, SIDIER +ROY, or red soldiers.' + +'Well, but when you were in King George's pay, Evan, you were surely +King George's soldiers?' + +'Troth, and you must ask Vich Ian Vohr about that; for we are for his +king, and care not much which o' them it is. At any rate, nobody can +say we are King George's men now, when we have not seen his pay this +twelvemonth.' + +This last argument admitted of no reply, nor did Edward attempt any; +he rather chose to bring back the discourse to Donald Bean Lean. 'Does +Donald confine himself to cattle, or does he LIFT, as you call it, +anything else that comes in his way?' + +'Troth, he's nae nice body, and he'll just tak ony thing, but most +readily cattle, horse, or live Christians; for sheep are slow of travel, +and inside plenishing is cumbrous to carry, and not easy to put away for +siller in this country.' + +'But does he carry off men and women?' + +'Out, aye. Did not ye hear him speak o' the Perth bailie? It cost that +body five hundred merks ere he got to the south of Bally-Brough.--And +ance Donald played a pretty sport. [13] There was to be a +blythe bridal between the Lady Cramfeezer, in the howe o' the Mearns +(she was the auld laird's widow, and no sae young as she had been +hersell), and young Gilliewhackit, who had spent his heirship and +movables, like a gentleman, at cock-matches, bull-baitings, horse-races, +and the like. Now, Donald Bean Lean, being aware that the bridegroom +was in request, and wanting to cleik the cunzie (that is, to hook the +siller), he cannily carried off Gilliewhackit ae night when he was +riding DOVERING hame (wi' the malt rather abune the meal), and with the +help of his gillies he gat him into the hills with the speed of light, +and the first place he wakened in was the cove of Uaimh an Ri. So there +was old to do about ransoming the bridegroom; for Donald would not lower +a farthing of a thousand punds'-- + +The devil!' + +'Punds Scottish, ya shall understand. And the lady had not the siller +if she had pawned her gown; and they applied to the governor o' Stirling +castle, and to the major o' the Black Watch; and the governor said, it +was ower far to the northward, and out of his district; and the major +said, his men were gane hame to the shearing, and he would not call +them out before the victual was got in for all the Cramfeezers in +Christendom, let alane the Mearns, for that it would prejudice the +country. And in the meanwhile ye'll no hinder Gilliewhackit to take the +small-pox. There was not the doctor in Perth or Stirling would look near +the poor lad; and I cannot blame them, for Donald had been misguggled by +ane of these doctors about Paris, and he swore he would fling the first +into the loch that he catched beyond the Pass. However, some cailliachs +(that is, old women) that were about Donald's hand, nursed Gilliewhackit +sae weel, that between the free open air in the cove and the fresh whey, +deil an' he did not recover maybe as weel as if he had been closed in a +glazed chamber and a bed with curtains, and fed with red wine and white +meat. And Donald was sae vexed about it, that when he was stout and +weel, he even sent him free home, and said he would be pleased with +onything they would like to gie him for the plague and trouble which +he had about Gilliewhackit to an unkenn'd degree. And I cannot tell you +precisely how they sorted; but they agreed sae right that Donald was +invited to dance at the wedding in his Highland trews, and they said +that there was never sae meikle siller clinked in his purse either +before or since. And to the boot of all that, Gilliewhackit said, that, +be the evidence what it liked, if he had the luck to be on Donald's +inquest, he would bring him in guilty of nothing whatever, unless it +were wilful arson, or murder under trust.' + +With such bald and disjointed chat Evan went on, illustrating the +existing state of the Highlands, more perhaps to the amusement of +Waverley than that of our readers. At length, after having marched over +bank and brae, moss and heather, Edward, though not unacquainted with +the Scottish liberality in computing distance, began to think that +Evan's five miles were nearly doubled. His observation on the large +measure which the Scottish allowed of their land, in comparison to the +computation of their money, was readily answered by Evan, with the old +jest, The deil take them wha have the least pint stoup.' ['The Scotch +are liberal in computing their land and liquor; the Scottish pint +corresponds to two English quarts. As for their coin, every one knows +the couplet-- + + 'How can the rogues pretend to sense? + Their pound is only twenty pence.'] + +And now the report of a gun was heard, and a sportsman was seen, with +his dogs and attendant, at the upper end of the glen. 'Shough,' said +Dugald Mahony, 'tat's ta Chief.' + +'It is not,' said Evan imperiously. 'Do you think he would come to meet +a Sassenach Duinhe-wassel in such a way as that?' + +But as they approached a little nearer, he said, with an appearance of +mortification, 'And it is even he, sure enough; and he has not his tail +on after all;--there is no living creature with him but Callum Beg.' + +In fact, Fergus Mac-Ivor, of whom a Frenchman might have said, as truly +as of any man in the Highlands, 'QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES GENS,' had no +idea of raising himself in the eyes of an English young man of fortune, +by appearing with a retinue of idle Highlanders disproportioned to the +occasion. He was well aware that such an unnecessary attendance would +seem to Edward rather ludicrous than respectable; and while few men were +more attached to ideas of chieftainship and feudal power, he was, for +that very reason, cautious of exhibiting external marks of dignity, +unless at the time and in the manner when they were most likely to +produce an imposing effect. Therefore, although, had he been to receive +a brother chieftain, he would probably have been attended by all that +retinue which Evan described with so much unction, he judged it more +respectable to advance to meet Waverley with a single attendant, a very +handsome Highland boy, who carried his master's shooting-pouch and his +broadsword, without which he seldom went abroad. + +When Fergus and Waverley met, the latter was struck with the peculiar +grace and dignity of the Chieftain's figure, Above the middle size, and +finely proportioned, the Highland dress, which he wore in its simplest +mode, set off his person to great advantage. He wore the trews, or +close trousers, made of tartan, chequed scarlet and white; in other +particulars, his dress strictly resembled Evan's, excepting that he had +no weapon save a dirk, very richly mounted with silver. His page, as we +have said, carried his claymore and the fowling-piece, which he held in +his hand, seemed only designed for sport. He had shot in the course of +his walk some young wild-ducks, as, though CLOSE TIME was then +unknown, the broods of grouse were yet too young for the sportsman. His +countenance was decidedly Scottish, with all the peculiarities of +the northern physiognomy, but yet had so little of ifs harshness +and exaggeration, that it would have been pronounced in any country +extremely handsome. The martial air of the bonnet, with a single eagle's +feather as a distinction, added much to the manly appearance of his +head, which was besides ornamented with a far more natural and graceful +cluster of close black curls than ever were exposed to sale in Bond +Street. + +An air of openness and affability increased the favourable impression +derived from this handsome and dignified exterior. Yet a skilful +physiognomist would have been less satisfied with the countenance on +the second than on the first view. The eyebrow and upper lip bespoke +something of the habit of peremptory command and decisive superiority. +Even his courtesy, though open, frank, and unconstrained, seemed +to indicate a sense of personal importance; and, upon any check or +accidental excitation, a sudden, though transient lour of the eye, +showed a hasty, haughty, and vindictive temper, not less to be dreaded +because it seemed much under its owner's command. In short, the +countenance of the Chieftain resembled a smiling summer's day, in which, +notwithstanding, we are made sensible by certain, though slight signs, +that it may thunder and lighten before the close of evening. + +It was not, however, upon their first meeting that Edward had an +opportunity of making these less favourable remarks. The Chief received +him as a friend of the Baron of Bradwardine, with the utmost expression +of kindness and obligation for the visit; upbraided him gently with +choosing so rude an abode as he had done the night before; and entered +into a lively conversation with him about Donald Bean's housekeeping, +but without the least hint as to his predatory habits, or the immediate +occasion of Waverley's visit, a topic which, as the Chief did not +introduce it, our hero also avoided. While they walked merrily on +towards the house of Glennaquoich, Evan, who now fell respectfully into +the rear, followed with Callum Beg and Dugald Mahony. + +We shall take the opportunity to introduce the reader to some +particulars of Fergus Mac-Ivor's character and history, which were +not completely known to Waverley till after a connexion, which, though +arising from a circumstance so casual, had for a length of time the +deepest influence upon his character, actions, and prospects. But this, +being an important subject, must form the commencement of a new chapter. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION + +The ingenious licentiate, Francisco de Ubeda, when he commenced his +history of La Picara Justina Diez,--which, by the way, is one of the +most rare books of Spanish literature,--complained of his pen having +caught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with more eloquence than +common sense, an affectionate expostulation with that useful implement, +upbraiding it with being the quill of a goose,--a bird inconstant by +nature, as frequenting the three elements of water, earth, and air, +indifferently, and being, of course, 'to one thing constant never.' Now +I protest to thee, gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Francisco +de Ubeda in this matter, and hold it the most useful quality of my pen, +that it can speedily change from grave to gay, and from description and +dialogue to narrative and character. So that, if my quill display no +other properties of its mother-goose than her mutability, truly I shall +be well pleased; and I conceive that you, my worthy friend, will have +no occasion for discontent. From the jargon, therefore, of the Highland +gillies, I pass to the character of their Chief. It is an important +examination, and therefore, like Dogberry, we must spare no wisdom. + +The ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three centuries before, had set +up a claim to be recognized as chief of the numerous and powerful clan +to which he belonged, the name of which it is unnecessary to mention. +Being defeated by an opponent who had more justice, or at least more +force, on his side, he moved southwards, with those who adhered to him, +in quest of new settlements, like a second Aeneas. The state of the +Perthshire Highlands favoured his purpose. A great baron in that country +had lately become traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the name of our +adventurer, united himself with those who were commissioned by the king +to chastise him, and did such good service, that he obtained a grant +of the property, upon which he and his posterity afterwards resided. He +followed the king also in war to the fertile regions of England, where +he employed his leisure hours so actively in raising subsidies among the +boors of Northumberland and Durham, that upon his return he was enabled +to erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much admired by his dependants +and neighbours, that he, who had hitherto been called Ian Mac-Ivor, or +John the son of Ivor, was thereafter distinguished, both in song and +genealogy, by the high title of IAN NAN CHAISTEL, or John of the Tower. +The descendants of this worthy were so proud of him, that the reigning +chief always bore the patronymic title of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son of +John the Great; while the clan at large, to distinguish them from that +from which they had seceded, were denominated SLIOCHD NAN IVOR, the race +of Ivor. + +The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of the +Tower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, and was +forced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year in favour of the +Stuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate than other fugitives, he +obtained employment in the French service, and married a lady of rank in +that kingdom, by whom he had two children, Fergus and his sister Flora. +The Scottish estate had been forfeited and exposed to sale, but was +re-purchased for a small price in the name of the young proprietor, who +in consequence came to reside upon his native domains. [14] It +was soon perceived that he possessed a character of uncommon acuteness, +fire, and ambition, which, as he became acquainted with the state of the +country, gradually assumed a mixed and peculiar tone, that could only +have been acquired Sixty Years since. + +Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he would, in +all probability, have wanted the polished manner and knowledge of the +world which he now possessed; and had he lived Sixty Years later, his +ambition and love of rule would have lacked the fuel which his situation +now afforded. He was indeed, within his little circle, as perfect a +politician as Castruccio Castracani himself. He applied himself with +great earnestness to appease all the feuds and dissensions which often +arose among other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he became +a frequent umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal power he +strengthened at every expense which his fortune would permit, and indeed +stretched his means to the uttermost, to maintain the rude and plentiful +hospitality, which was the most valued attribute of a chieftain. For the +same reason, he crowded his estate with a tenantry, hardy indeed, and +fit for the purposes of war, but greatly outnumbering what the soil was +calculated to maintain. These consisted chiefly of his own clan, not one +of whom he suffered to quit his lands if he could possibly prevent it. +But he maintained, besides, many adventurers from the mother sept, who +deserted a less warlike, though more wealthy chief, to do homage to +Fergus Mac-Ivor. Other individuals, too, who had not even that apology, +were nevertheless received into his allegiance, which indeed was refused +to none who were, like Poins, proper men of their hands, and were +willing to assume the name of Mac-Ivor. + +He was enabled to discipline these forces, from having obtained command +of one of the independent companies raised by Government to preserve the +peace of the Highlands. While in this capacity he acted with vigour and +spirit, and preserved great order in the country under his charge. He +caused his vassals to enter by rotation into his company, and serve for +a certain space of time, which gave them all in turn a general notion +of military discipline. In his campaigns against the banditti, it was +observed that he assumed and exercised to the utmost the discretionary +power, which, while the law had no free course in the Highlands, was +conceived to belong to the military parties who were called in to +support it. He acted, for example, with great and suspicious lenity +to those freebooters who made restitution on his summons, and +offered personal submission to himself, while he rigorously pursued, +apprehended, and sacrificed to justice, all such interlopers as dared to +despise his admonitions or commands. On the other hand, if any officers +of justice, military parties, or others, presumed to pursue thieves or +marauders through his territories, and without applying for his consent +and concurrence, nothing was more certain than that they would meet with +some notable foil or defeat; upon which occasions Fergus Mac-Ivor +was the first to condole with them, and, after gently blaming their +rashness, never failed deeply to lament the lawless state of the +country. These lamentations did not exclude suspicion, and matters were +so represented to Government, that our Chieftain was deprived of his +military command. [15] + +Whatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, he had the art of +entirely suppressing every appearance of discontent; but in a short time +the neighbouring country began to feel bad effects from his disgrace. +Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, whose depredations had +hitherto been confined to other districts, appeared from thenceforward +to have made a settlement on this devoted border; and their ravages were +carried on with little opposition, as the Lowland gentry were chiefly +Jacobites, and disarmed. This forced many of the inhabitants into +contracts of blackmail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which not only +established him their protector, and gave him great weight in all their +consultations, but, moreover, supplied funds for the waste of his feudal +hospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay might have otherwise +essentially diminished. + +In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a further object than +merely being the great man of his neighbourhood, and ruling despotically +over a small clan. From his infancy upward, he had devoted himself to +the cause of the exiled family, and had persuaded himself, not only +that their restoration to the crown of Britain would be speedy, but that +those who assisted them would be raised to honour and rank. It was +with this view that he laboured to reconcile the Highlanders among +themselves, and augmented his own force to the utmost, to be prepared +for the first favourable opportunity of rising. With this purpose also +he conciliated the favour of such Lowland gentlemen in the vicinity +as were friends to the good cause; and for the same reason, having +incautiously quarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine, who, notwithstanding his +peculiarities, was much respected in the country, he took advantage of +the foray of Donald Bean Lean to solder up the dispute in the manner we +have mentioned. Some, indeed, surmised that he caused the enterprise to +be suggested to Donald, on purpose to pave the way to a reconciliation, +which, supposing that to be the case, cost the Laird of Bradwardine two +good milch-cows. This zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart repaid +with a considerable share of their confidence, an occasional supply of +louis d'or, abundance of fair words, and a parchment, with a huge waxen +seal appended, purporting to be an Earl's patent, granted by no less +a person than James the Third King of England, and Eighth King of +Scotland, to his right leal, trusty, and well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor of +Glennaquoich, in the county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland. + +With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus plunged +deeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappy period; and, +like all such active agents, easily reconciled his conscience to going +certain lengths in the service of his party, from which honour and pride +would have deterred him, had his sole object been the direct advancement +of his own personal interest. With this insight into a bold, ambitious, +and ardent, yet artful and politic character, we resume the broken +thread of our narrative. + +The Chief and his guest had by this time reached the house of +Glennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel's mansion, a high +rude-looking square tower, with the addition of a lofted house, that is, +a building of two stories, constructed by Fergus's grandfather when he +returned from that memorable expedition, well remembered by the western +shires under the name of the Highland Host. Upon occasion of this +crusade against the Ayrshire Whigs and Covenanters, the Vich Ian Vohr +of the time had probably been as successful as his predecessor was in +harrying Northumberland, and therefore left to his posterity a rival +edifice, as a monument of his magnificence. + +Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of a narrow +Highland valley, there appeared none of that attention to convenience, +far less to ornament and decoration, which usually surrounds a +gentleman's habitation. An enclosure or two, divided by dry-stone walls, +were the only part of the domain that was fenced; as to the rest, +the narrow slips of level ground which lay by the side of the brook +exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to constant depredations from +the herds of wild ponies and black cattle that grazed upon the adjacent +hills. These ever and anon made an incursion upon the arable ground, +which was repelled by the loud, uncouth, and dissonant shouts of half +a dozen Highland swains, all running as if they had been mad, and every +one hallooing a half-starved dog to the rescue of the forage. At a +little distance up the glen was a small and stunted wood of birch; the +hills were high and heathy, but without any variety of surface; so that +the whole view was wild and desolate, rather than grand and solitary. +Yet, such as it was, no genuine descendant of Ian nan Chaistel would +have changed the domain for Stowe or Blenheim. + +There was a sight, however, before the gate, which perhaps would have +afforded the first owner of Blenheim more pleasure than the finest view +in the domain assigned to him by the gratitude of his country. This +consisted of about a hundred Highlanders in complete dress and arms; +at sight of whom the Chieftain apologized to Waverley in a sort of +negligent manner. 'He had forgot,' he said, 'that he had ordered a +few of his clan out, for the purpose of seeing that they were in a fit +condition to protect the country, and prevent such accidents as, he was +sorry to learn, had befallen the Baron of Bradwardine. Before they were +dismissed, perhaps Captain Waverley might choose to see them go through +a part of their exercise.' + +Edward assented, and the men executed with agility and precision some of +the ordinary military movements. They then practised individually at a +mark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in the management of the +pistol and firelock. They took aim, standing, sitting, leaning, or +lying prostrate, as they were commanded, and always with effect upon the +target. Next, they paired off for the broadsword exercise; and, having +manifested their individual skill and dexterity, united in two bodies, +and exhibited a sort of mock encounter, in which the charge, the rally, +the flight, the pursuit, and all the current of a heady fight, were +exhibited to the sound of the great war-bagpipe. + +On a signal made by the Chief, the skirmish was ended. Marches were +then made for running, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, and other +sports, in which this feudal militia displayed incredible swiftness, +strength, and agility; and accomplished the purpose which their +Chieftain had at heart, by impressing on Waverley no light sense of +their merit as soldiers, and of the power of him who commanded them by +his nod. [16] + +'And what number of such gallant fellows have the happiness to call you +leader?' asked Waverley. + +'In a good cause, and under a chieftain whom they loved, the race of +Ivor have seldom taken the field under five hundred claymores. But you +are aware, Captain Waverley, that the Disarming Act, passed about twenty +years ago, prevents their being in the complete state of preparation +as in former times; and I keep no more of my clan under arms than may +defend my own or my friends' property, when the country is troubled +with such men as your last night's landlord; and Government, which +has removed other means of defence, must connive at our protecting +ourselves.' + +'But, with your force, you might soon destroy, or put down, such gangs +as that of Donald Bean Lean.' + +'Yes, doubtless; and my reward would be a summons to deliver up to +General Blakeney, at Stirling, the few broadswords they have left us: +there were little policy in that, methinks.--But come, Captain, the +sound of the pipes informs me that dinner is prepared. Let me have the +honour to show you into my rude mansion.' + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A HIGHLAND FEAST + +Ere Waverley entered the banqueting hall, he was offered the patriarchal +refreshment of a bath for the feet, which the sultry weather, and the +morasses he had traversed, rendered highly acceptable. He was not, +indeed, so luxuriously attended upon this occasion as the heroic +travellers in the Odyssey; the task of ablution and abstersion being +performed, not by a beautiful damsel, trained + + To chafe the limb, and pour the fragrant oil, + +but by a smoke-dried skinny old Highland woman, who did not seem to +think herself much honoured by the duty imposed upon her, but muttered +between her teeth, 'Our father's herds did not feed so near together, +that I should do you this service.' A small donation, however, amply +reconciled this ancient handmaiden to the supposed degradation; and, as +Edward proceeded to the hall, she gave him her blessing, in the Gaelic +proverb, 'May the open hand be filled the fullest.' + +The hall, in which the feast was prepared, occupied all the first storey +of Ian nan Chaistel's original erection, and a huge oaken table extended +through its whole length. The apparatus for dinner was simple, even to +rudeness, and the company numerous, even to crowding. At the head of +the table was the Chief himself, with Edward, and two or three Highland +visitors of neighbouring clans; the elders of his own tribe, wadsetters, +and tacksmen, as they were called, who occupied portions of his estate +as mortgagers or lessees, sat next in rank beneath them, their sons, +and nephews, and foster-brethren; then the officers of the Chief's +household, according to their order; and, lowest of all, the tenants +who actually cultivated the ground. Even beyond this long perspective, +Edward might see upon the green, to which a huge pair of folding doors +opened, a multitude of Highlanders of a yet inferior description, who, +nevertheless, were considered as guests, and had their share both of +the countenance of the entertainer, and of the cheer of the day. In the +distance, and fluctuating round this extreme verge of the banquet, was a +changeful group of women, ragged boys and girls, beggars, young and old, +large greyhounds, and terriers, and pointers, and curs of low degree; +all of whom took some interest, more or less immediate, in the main +action of the piece. + +This hospitality, apparently unbounded, had yet its line of economy. +Some pains had been bestowed in dressing the dishes of fish, game, &c., +which were at the upper end of the table, and immediately under the +eye of the English stranger. Lower down stood immense clumsy joints +of mutton and beef, which, but for the absence of pork, [17.] +abhorred in the Highlands, resembled the rude festivity of the banquet +of Penelope's suitors. But the central dish was a yearling lamb, called +'a hog in har'st,' roasted whole. It was set upon its legs, with a bunch +of parsley in its mouth, and was probably exhibited in that form to +gratify the pride of the cook, who piqued himself more on the plenty +than the elegance of his master's table. The sides of this poor animal +were fiercely attacked by the clansmen, some with dirks, others with the +knives which were usually in the same sheath with the dagger, so that it +was soon rendered a mangled and rueful spectacle. Lower down still, the +victuals seemed of yet coarser quality, though sufficiently abundant. +Broth, onions, cheese, and the fragments of the feast, regaled the sons +of Ivor who feasted in the open air. + +The liquor was supplied in the same proportion, and under similar +regulations. Excellent claret and champagne were liberally distributed +among the Chief's immediate neighbours; whisky, plain or diluted, and +strong beer, refreshed those who sat near the lower end. Nor did this +inequality of distribution appear to give the least offence. Every one +present understood that his taste was to be formed according to the +rank which he held at table; and, consequently, the tacksmen and their +dependants always professed the wine was too cold for their stomachs, +and called, apparently out of choice, for the liquor which was assigned +to them from economy. [See Note 18.] The bagpipers, three in number, +screamed, during the whole time of dinner, a tremendous war-tune; +and the echoing of the vaulted roof, and clang of the Celtic tongue, +produced such a Babel of noises, that Waverley dreaded his ears would +never recover it. Mac-Ivor, indeed, apologized for the confusion +occasioned by so large a party, and pleaded the necessity of his +situation, on which unlimited hospitality was imposed as a paramount +duty. 'These stout idle kinsmen of mine,' he said, 'account my estate +as held in trust for their support; and I must find them beef and +ale, while the rogues will do nothing for themselves but practise the +broadsword, or wander about the hills, shooting, fishing, hunting, +drinking, and making love to the lasses of the strath. But what can I +do, Captain Waverley? everything will keep after its kind, whether it +be a hawk or a Highlander.' Edward made the expected answer, in a +compliment upon his possessing so many bold and attached followers. + +'Why, yes,' replied the Chief,' were I disposed, like my father, to put +myself in the way of getting one blow on the head, or two on the neck, +I believe the loons would stand by me. But who thinks of that in the +present day, when the maxim is,--"Better an old woman with a purse in +her hand, than three men with belted brands?"' Then, turning to the +company, he proposed the 'Health of Captain Waverley, a worthy friend of +his kind neighbour and ally, the Baron of Bradwardine.' + +'He is welcome hither,' said one of the elders, 'if he come from Cosmo +Comyne Bradwardine.' + +'I say nay to that,' said an old man, who apparently did not mean to +pledge the toast: 'I say nay to that;--while there is a green leaf in +the forest, there will be fraud in a Comyne.' + +'There is nothing but honour in the Baron of Bradwardine,' answered +another ancient; 'and the guest that comes hither from him should be +welcome, though he came with blood on his hand, unless it were blood of +the race of Ivor.' + +The old man, whose cup remained full, replied, 'There has been blood +enough of the race of Ivor on the hand of Bradwardine.' + +'Ah! Ballenkeiroch,' replied the first, 'you think rather of the flash +of the carbine at the Mains of Tully-Veolan, than the glance of the +sword that fought for the cause at Preston.' + +'And well I may,' answered Ballenkeiroch; 'the flash of the gun cost me +a fair-haired son, and the glance of the sword has done but little for +King James.' + +The Chieftain, in two words of French, explained to Waverley, that the +Baron had shot this old man's son in a fray near Tully-Veolan about +seven years before; and then hastened to remove Ballenkeiroch's +prejudice, by informing him that Waverley was an Englishman, unconnected +by birth or alliance with the family of Bradwardine; upon which the old +gentleman raised the hitherto-untasted cup, and courteously drank to +his health. This ceremony being requited in kind, the Chieftain made +a signal for the pipes to cease, and said aloud, 'Where is the song +hidden, my friends, that Mac-Murrough cannot find it?' + +Mac-Murrough, the family BHAIRDH, an aged man, immediately took the +hint, and began to chant, with low and rapid utterance, a profusion of +Celtic verses, which were received by the audience with all the applause +of enthusiasm. As he advanced in his declamation, his ardour seemed to +increase. He had at first spoken with his eyes fixed on the ground; +he now cast them around as if beseeching, and anon as if commanding, +attention, and his tones rose into wild and impassioned notes, +accompanied with appropriate gestures. He seemed to Edward, who attended +to him with much interest, to recite many proper names, to lament the +dead, to apostrophize the absent, to exhort, and entreat, and animate +those who were present. Waverley thought he even discerned his own name, +and was convinced his conjecture was right, from the eyes of the company +being at that moment turned towards him simultaneously. The ardour of +the poet appeared to communicate itself to the audience. Their wild and +sunburnt countenances assumed a fiercer and more animated expression; +all bent forward towards the reciter, many sprang up and waved their +arms in ecstasy, and some laid their hands on their swords. When the +song ceased, there was a deep pause, while the aroused feelings of the +poet and of the hearers gradually subsided into their usual channel. + +The Chieftain, who during this scene had appeared rather to watch +the emotions which were excited, than to partake their high tone of +enthusiasm, filled with claret a small silver cup which stood by him. +'Give this,' he said to an attendant, 'to Mac-Murrough nan Fonn (i.e. of +the songs), and when he has drunk the juice, bid him keep, for the sake +of Vich Ian Vohr, the shell of the gourd which contained it.' The gift +was received by Mac-Murrough with profound gratitude; he drank the wine, +and, kissing the cup, shrouded it with reverence in the plaid which +was folded on his bosom. He then burst forth into what Edward justly +supposed to be an extemporaneous effusion of thanks, and praises of his +Chief. It was received with applause, but did not produce the effect +of his first poem. It was obvious, however, that the clan regarded +the generosity of their Chieftain with high approbation. Many approved +Gaelic toasts were then proposed, of some of which the Chieftain gave +his guest the following versions:--'To him that will not turn his back +on friend or foe.' 'To him that never forsook a comrade.' 'To him that +never bought or sold justice.' 'Hospitality to the exile, and broken +bones to the tyrant.' 'The lads with the kilts.' 'Highlanders, shoulder +to shoulder,'--with many other pithy sentiments of the like nature. + +Edward was particularly solicitous to know the meaning of that song +which appeared to produce such effect upon the passions of the +company, and hinted his curiosity to his host. 'As I observe,' said +the Chieftain, 'that you have passed the bottle during the last +three rounds, I was about to propose to you to retire to my sister's +tea-table, who can explain these things to you better than I can. +Although I cannot stint my clan in the usual current of their festivity, +yet I neither am addicted myself to exceed in its amount, nor do I,' +added he, smiling, 'keep a Bear to devour the intellects of such as can +make good use of them.' + +Edward readily assented to this proposal, and the Chieftain, saying a +few words to those around him, left the table, followed by Waverley. As +the door closed behind them, Edward heard Vich Ian Vohr's health invoked +with a wild and animated cheer, that expressed the satisfaction of the +guests, and the depth of their devotion to his service. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CHIEFTAIN'S SISTER + +The drawing-room of Flora Mac-Ivor was furnished in the plainest and +most simple manner; for at Glennaquoich every other sort of expenditure +was retrenched as much as possible, for the purpose of maintaining, in +its full dignity, the hospitality of the Chieftain, and retaining and +multiplying the number of his dependants and adherents. But there was no +appearance of this parsimony in the dress of the lady herself, which +was in texture elegant, and even rich, and arranged in a manner which +partook partly of the Parisian fashion, and partly of the more simple +dress of the Highlands, blended together with great taste. Her hair was +not disfigured by the art of the friseur, but fell in jetty ringlets +on her neck, confined only by a circlet, richly set with diamonds. This +peculiarity she adopted in compliance with the Highland prejudices, +which could not endure that a woman's head should be covered before +wedlock. + +Flora Mac-Ivor bore a most striking resemblance to her brother Fergus; +so much so, that they might have played Viola and Sebastian with the +same exquisite effect produced by the appearance of Mrs. Henry Siddons +and her brother, Mr. William Murray, in these characters. They had, the +same antique and regular correctness of profile; the same dark eyes, +eyelashes, and eyebrows; the same clearness of complexion, excepting +that Fergus's was embrowned by exercise, and Flora's possessed the +utmost feminine delicacy. But the haughty, and somewhat stern regularity +of Fergus's features was beautifully softened in those of Flora. Their +voices were also similar in tone, though differing in the key. That of +Fergus, especially while issuing orders to his followers during their +military exercise, reminded Edward of a favourite passage in the +description of Emetrius: + + --whose voice was heard around, + Loud as a trumpet with a silver sound. + +That of Flora, on the contrary, was soft and sweet,--'an excellent thing +in woman;' yet, in urging any favourite topic, which she often pursued +with natural eloquence, it possessed as well the tones which impress awe +and conviction, as those of persuasive insinuation. The eager glance of +the keen black eye, which in the Chieftain seemed impatient even of the +material obstacles it encountered, had, in his sister, acquired a gentle +pensiveness. His looks seemed to seek glory, power, all that could exalt +him above others in the race of humanity; while those of his sister, +as if she were already conscious of mental superiority, seemed to pity, +rather than envy, those who were struggling for any further distinction. +Her sentiments corresponded with the expression of her countenance. +Early education had impressed upon her mind, as well as on that of the +Chieftain, the most devoted attachment to the exiled family of Stuart. +She believed if the duty of her brother, of his clan, of every man in +Britain, at whatever personal hazard, to contribute to that restoration +which the partisans of the Chevalier de St. George had not ceased +to hope for. For this she was prepared to do all, to suffer all, +to sacrifice all. But her loyalty, as it exceeded her brother's in +fanaticism, excelled it also in purity. Accustomed to petty intrigue, +and necessarily involved in a thousand paltry and selfish discussions, +ambitious also by nature, his political faith was tinctured, at least, +if not tainted, by the views of interest and advancement so easily +combined with it; and at the moment he should unsheathe his claymore, +it might be difficult to say whether it would be most with the view of +making James Stuart a king, or Fergus Mac-Ivor an earl. This, indeed, +was a mixture of feeling which he did not avow even to himself, but it +existed, nevertheless, in a powerful degree. + +In Flora's bosom, on the contrary, the zeal of loyalty burnt pure and +unmixed with any selfish feeling; she would have as soon made religion +the mask of ambitious and interested views, as have shrouded them +under the opinions which she had been taught to think patriotism. Such +instances of devotion were not uncommon among the followers of the +unhappy race of Stuart, of which many memorable proofs will recur to the +mind of most of my readers. But peculiar attention on the part of the +Chevalier de St. George and his princess to the parents of Fergus and +his sister, and to themselves when orphans, had riveted their faith. +Fergus, upon the death of his parents, had been for some time a page of +honour in the train of the Chevalier's lady, and, from his beauty +and sprightly temper, was uniformly treated by her with the utmost +distinction. This was also extended to Flora, who was maintained for +some time at a convent of the first order, at the princess's expense, +and removed from thence into her own family, where she spent nearly two +years. Both brother and sister retained the deepest and most grateful +sense of her kindness. + +Having thus touched upon the leading principle of Flora's character, I +may dismiss the rest more slightly. She was highly accomplished, and +had acquired those elegant manners to be expected from one who, in early +youth, had been the companion of a princess; yet she had not learned +to substitute the gloss of politeness for the reality of feeling. +When settled in the lonely regions of Glennaquoich, she found that her +resources in French, English, and Italian literature, were likely to +be few and interrupted; and, in order to fill up the vacant time, she +bestowed a part of it upon the music and poetical traditions of the +Highlanders, and began really to feel the pleasure in the pursuit, which +her brother, whose perceptions of literary merit were more blunt, rather +affected for the sake of popularity than actually experienced. Her +resolution was strengthened in these researches by the extreme delight +which her inquiries seemed to afford those to whom she resorted for +information. + +Her love of her clan, an attachment which was almost hereditary in +her bosom, was, like her loyalty, a more pure passion than that of +her brother. He was too thorough a politician, regarded his patriarchal +influence too much as the means of accomplishing his own aggrandizement, +that we should term him the model of a Highland Chieftain. Flora felt +the same anxiety for cherishing and extending their patriarchal sway, +but it was with the generous desire of vindicating from poverty, or at +least from want and foreign oppression, those whom her brother was by +birth, according to the notions of the time and country, entitled to +govern. The savings of her income, for she had a small pension from the +Princess Sobieski, were dedicated, not to add to the comforts of the +peasantry, for that was a word which they neither knew nor apparently +wished to know, but to relieve their absolute necessities, when in +sickness or extreme old age. At every other period, they rather toiled +to procure something which they might share with the Chief as a proof of +their attachment, than expected other assistance from him save what was +afforded by the rude hospitality of his castle, and the general division +and subdivision of his estate among them. Flora was so much beloved by +them, that when Mac-Murrough composed a song in which he enumerated all +the principal beauties of the district, and intimated her superiority +by concluding; that 'the fairest apple hung on the highest bough,' +he received, in donatives from the individuals of the clan, more +seed-barley than would have sowed his Highland Parnassus, the Bard's +croft as it was called, ten times over. + +From situation, as well as choice, Miss Mac-Ivor's society was extremely +limited. Her most intimate friend had been Rose Bradwardine, to whom she +was much attached; and when seen together, they would have afforded +an artist two admirable subjects for the gay and the melancholy muse. +Indeed Rose was so tenderly watched by her father, and her circle +of wishes was so limited, that none arose but what he was willing to +gratify, and scarce any which did not come within the compass of +his power. With Flora it was otherwise. While almost a girl, she had +undergone the most complete change of scene, from gaiety and splendour +to absolute solitude and comparative poverty; and the ideas and wishes +which she chiefly fostered, respected great national events, and changes +not to be brought round without both hazard and bloodshed, and therefore +not to be thought of with levity. Her manner, consequently, was grave, +though she readily contributed her talents to the amusement of society, +and stood very high in the opinion of the old Baron, who used to sing +along with her such French duets of Lindor and Cloris, &c., as were in +fashion about the end of the reign of old Louis le Grand. + +It was generally believed, though no one durst have hinted it to the +Baron of Bradwardine, that Flora's entreaties had no small share in +allaying the wrath of Fergus upon occasion of their quarrel. She took +her brother on the assailable side, by dwelling first upon the Baron's +age, and then representing the injury which the cause might sustain, and +the damage which must arise to his own character in point of prudence, +so necessary to a political agent, if he persisted in carrying it to +extremity. Otherwise it is probable it would have terminated in a duel, +both because the Baron had, on a former occasion, shed blood of the +clan, though the matter had been timely accommodated, and on account +of his high reputation for address at his weapon, which Fergus +almost condescended to envy. For the same reason she had urged their +reconciliation, which the Chieftain the more readily agreed to, as it +favoured some ulterior projects of his own. + +To this young lady, now presiding at the female empire of the tea-table, +Fergus introduced Captain Waverley, whom she received with the usual +forms of politeness. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HIGHLAND MINSTRELSY + +When the first salutations had passed, Fergus said to his sister, 'My +dear Flora, before I return to the barbarous ritual of our forefathers, +I must tell you that Captain Waverley is a worshipper of the Celtic +muse, not the less so perhaps that he does not understand a word of her +language. I have told him you are eminent as a translator of Highland +poetry, and that Mac-Murrough admires your version of his songs upon the +same principle that Captain Waverley admires the original,--because he +does not comprehend them. Will you have the goodness to read or recite +to our guest in English, the extraordinary string of names which +Mac-Murrough has tacked together in Gaelic?--My life to a moorfowl's +feather, you are provided with a version; for I know you are in all the +bard's councils, and acquainted with his songs long before he rehearses +them in the hall.' + +'How can you say so, Fergus? You know how little these verses can +possibly interest an English stranger, even if I could translate them as +you pretend.' + +'Not less than they interest me, lady fair. To-day your joint +composition, for I insist you had a share in it, has cost me the last +silver cup in the castle, and I suppose will cost me something else next +time I hold COUR PLENIERE, if the muse descends on Mac-Murrough; for +you know our proverb,--When the hand of the chief ceases to bestow, the +breath of the bard is frozen in the utterance.--Well, I would it were +even so: there are three things that are useless to a modern Highlander, +a sword which he must not draw,--a bard to sing of deeds which he dare +not imitate,--and a large goatskin purse without a louis d'or to put +into it.' + +'Well, brother, since you betray my secrets, you cannot expect me to +keep yours.--I assure you, Captain Waverley, that Fergus is too proud +to exchange his broadsword for a marechal's baton; that he esteems +Mac-Murrough a far greater poet than Homer, and would not give up his +goat skin purse for all the louis d'or which it could contain.' + +'Well pronounced, Flora; blow for blow, as Conan [See Note 19.] said to +the devil. Now do you two talk of bards and poetry, if not of purses and +claymores, while I return to do the final honours to the senators of the +tribe of Ivor.' So saying, he left the room. + +The conversation continued between Flora, and Waverley; for two +well-dressed young women, whose character seemed to hover between that +of companions and dependants, took no share in it. They were both +pretty girls, but served only as foils to the grace and beauty of their +patroness. The discourse followed the turn which the Chieftain had given +it, and Waverley was equally amused and surprised with the account which +the lady gave him of Celtic poetry. + +'The recitation,' she said, 'of poems, recording the feats of heroes, +the complaints of lovers, and the wars of contending tribes, forms the +chief amusement of a winter fireside in the Highlands. Some of these are +said to be very ancient, and if they are ever translated into any of the +languages of civilized Europe, cannot fail to produce a deep and general +sensation. Others are more modern, the composition of those family bards +whom the chieftains of more distinguished name and power retain as the +poets and historians of their tribes. These, of course, possess various +degrees of merit; but much of it must evaporate in translation, or be +lost on those who do not sympathize with the feelings of the poet. + +'And your bard, whose effusions seemed to produce such effect upon +the company to-day,--is he reckoned among the favourite poets of the +mountain?' + +'That is a trying question. His reputation is high among his countrymen, +and you must not expect me to depreciate it.' [The Highland poet almost +always was an improvisatore. Captain Burt met one of them at Lovat's +table.] + +'But the song, Miss Mac-Ivor, seemed to awaken all those warriors, both +young and old.' + +'The song is little more than a catalogue of names of the 'Highland +clans under their distinctive peculiarities, and an exhortation to them +to remember and to emulate the actions of their forefathers.' + +'And am I wrong in conjecturing, however extraordinary the guess +appears, that there was some allusion to me in the verses which he +recited?' + +'You have a quick observation, Captain Waverley, which in this instance +has not deceived you. The Gaelic language, being uncommonly vocalic, +is well adapted for sudden and extemporaneous poetry; and a bard seldom +fails to augment the effects of a premeditated song, by throwing in +any stanzas which may be suggested by the circumstances attending the +recitation.' + +'I would give my best horse to know what the Highland bard could find to +say of such an unworthy Southron as myself.' + +'It shall not even cost you a lock of his mane.--Una, MAVOURNEEN! (She +spoke a few words to one of the young girls in attendance, who instantly +curtsied, and tripped out of the room.)--I have sent Una to learn from +the bard the expressions he used, and you shall command my skill as +dragoman.' + +Una returned in a few minutes, and repeated to her mistress a few +lines in Gaelic. Flora seemed to think for a moment, and then, slightly +colouring, she turned to Waverley--'It is impossible to gratify your +curiosity, Captain Waverley, without exposing my own presumption. If +you will give me a few moments for consideration, I will endeavour to +engraft the meaning of these lines upon a rude English translation, +which I have attempted, of a part of the original. The duties of the +tea-table seem to be concluded, and, as the evening is delightful, Una +will show you the way to one of my favourite haunts, and Cathleen and I +will join you there.' + +Una, having received instructions in her native language, conducted +Waverley out by a passage different from that through which he had +entered the apartment. At a distance he heard the hall of the chief +still resounding with the clang of bagpipes and the high applause of +his guests. Having gained the open air by a postern door, they walked a +little way up the wild, bleak, and narrow valley in which the house was +situated, following the course of the stream that winded through it. +In a spot, about a quarter of a mile from the castle, two brooks, which +formed the little river, had their junction. The larger of the two came +down the long bare valley, which extended, apparently without any change +or elevation of character, as far as the hills which formed its boundary +permitted the eye to reach. But the other stream, which had its source +among the mountains on the left hand of the strath, seemed to issue from +a very narrow and dark opening betwixt two large rocks. These streams +were different also in character. The larger was placid, and even sullen +in its course, wheeling in deep eddies, or sleeping in dark blue pools; +but the motions of the lesser brook were rapid and furious, issuing from +between precipices, like a maniac from his confinement, all foam and +uproar. + +It was up the course of this last stream that Waverley, like a knight of +romance, was conducted by the fair Highland damsel, his silent guide. +A small path, which had been rendered easy in many places for Flora's +accommodation, led him through scenery of a very different description +from that which he had just quitted. Around the castle, all was cold, +bare, and desolate, yet tame even in desolation; but this narrow glen, +at so short a distance, seemed to open into the land of romance. The +rocks assumed a thousand peculiar and varied forms. In one place, a +crag of huge size presented its gigantic bulk, as if to forbid the +passenger's farther progress; and it was not until he approached its +very base, that Waverley discerned the sudden and acute turn by which +the pathway wheeled its course around this formidable obstacle. In +another spot, the projecting rocks from the opposite sides of the chasm +had approached so near to each other, that two pine-trees laid across, +and covered with turf, formed a rustic bridge at the height of at least +one hundred and fifty feet. It had no ledges, and was barely three feet +in breadth. + +While gazing at this pass of peril, which crossed, like a single black +line, the small portion of blue sky not intercepted by the projecting +rocks on either side, it was with a sensation of horror that Waverley +beheld Flora and her attendant appear, like inhabitants of another +region, propped, as it were, in mid air, upon this trembling structure. +She stopped upon observing him below, and, with an air of graceful ease, +which made him shudder, waved her handkerchief to him by way of signal. +He was unable, from the sense of dizziness which her situation conveyed, +to return the salute; and was never more relieved than when the fair +apparition passed on from the precarious eminence which she seemed to +occupy with so much indifference, and disappeared on the other side. + +Advancing a few yards, and passing under the bridge which he had viewed +with so much terror, the path ascended rapidly from the edge of the +brook, and the glen widened into a sylvan amphitheatre, waving with +birch, young oaks, and hazels, with here and there a scattered yew-tree. +The rocks now receded, but still showed their grey and shaggy crests +rising among the copse-wood. Still higher, rose eminences and peaks, +some bare, some clothed with wood, some round and purple with heath, and +others splintered into rocks and crags. At a short turning, the path, +which had for some furlongs lost sight of the brook, suddenly placed +Waverley in front of a romantic waterfall. It was not so remarkable +either for great height or quantity of water, as for the beautiful +accompaniments which made the spot interesting. After a broken cataract +of about twenty feet, the stream was received in a large natural basin +filled to the brim with water, which, where the bubbles of the fall +subsided, was so exquisitely clear, that, although it was of great +depth, the eye could discern each pebble at the bottom. Eddying round +this reservoir, the brook found its way over a broken part of the ledge, +and formed a second fall, which seemed to seek the very abyss; then, +wheeling out beneath from among the smooth dark rocks, which it had +polished for ages, it wandered murmuring down the glen, forming the +stream up which Waverley had just ascended. [See Note 20.] The borders +of this romantic reservoir corresponded in beauty; but it was beauty +of a stern and commanding cast, as if in the act of expanding into +grandeur. Mossy banks of turf were broken and interrupted by huge +fragments of rock, and decorated with trees and shrubs, some of which +had been planted under the direction of Flora, but so cautiously, that +they added to the grace, without diminishing the romantic wildness of +the scene. + +Here, like one of those lovely forms which decorate the landscapes +of Poussin, Waverley found Flora, gazing on the waterfall. Two paces +further back stood Cathleen, holding a small Scottish harp, the use of +which had been taught to Flora by Rory Dall, one of the last harpers of +the Western Highlands. The sun, now stooping in the west, gave a rich +and varied tinge to all the objects which surrounded Waverley, and +seemed to add more than human brilliancy to the full expressive darkness +of Flora's eye, exalted the richness and purity of her complexion, and +enhanced the dignity and grace of her beautiful form. Edward thought +he had never, even in his wildest dreams, imagined a figure of such +exquisite and interesting loveliness. The wild beauty of the retreat, +bursting upon him as if by magic, augmented the mingled feeling of +delight and awe with which he approached her, like a fair enchantress of +Boiardo or Ariosto, by whose nod the scenery around seemed to have been +created, an Eden in the wilderness. + +Flora, like every beautiful woman, was conscious of her own power, +and pleased with its effects, which she could easily discern from the +respectful, yet confused address of the young soldier. But, as she +possessed excellent sense, she gave the romance of the scene, and other +accidental circumstances, full weight in appreciating the feelings with +which Waverley seemed obviously to be impressed; and, unacquainted with +the fanciful and susceptible peculiarities of his character, considered +his homage as the passing tribute which a woman of even inferior charms +might have expected in such a situation. She therefore quietly led the +way to a spot at such a distance from the cascade, that its sound should +rather accompany than interrupt that of her voice and instrument, and, +sitting down upon a mossy fragment of rock, she took the harp from +Cathleen. + +'I have given you the trouble of walking to this spot, Captain Waverley, +both because I thought the scenery would interest you, and because a +Highland song would suffer still more from my imperfect translation, +were I to introduce it without its own wild and appropriate +accompaniments. To speak in the poetical language of my country, the +seat of the Celtic muse is in the mist of the secret and solitary hill, +and her voice in the murmur of the mountain stream. He who wooes her +must love the barren rock more than the fertile valley, and the solitude +of the desert better than the festivity of the hall.' + +Few could have heard this lovely woman make this declaration, with a +voice where harmony was exalted by pathos, without exclaiming that +the muse whom she invoked could never find a more appropriate +representative. But Waverley, though the thought rushed on his mind, +found no courage to utter it. Indeed, the wild feeling of romantic +delight with which he heard the first few notes she drew from her +instrument, amounted almost to a sense of pain. He would not for worlds +have quitted his place by her side; yet he almost longed for solitude, +that he might decipher and examine at leisure the complication of +emotions which now agitated his bosom. + +Flora had exchanged the measured and monotonous recitative of the bard +for a lofty and uncommon Highland air, which had been a battle-song in +former ages. A few irregular strains introduced a prelude of a wild and +peculiar tone, which harmonized well with the distant waterfall, and the +soft sigh of the evening breeze in the rustling leaves of an aspen which +overhung the seat of the fair harpress. The following verses convey but +little idea of the feelings with which, so sung and accompanied, they +were heard by Waverley:-- + + There is mist on the mountain, and night on the vale, + But more dark is the sleep of the sons of the Gael. + A stranger commanded--it sunk on the land; + It has frozen each heart, and benumbed every hand! + + The dirk and the target lie sordid with dust; + The bloodless claymore is but reddened with rust; + On the hill or the glen if a gun should appear, + It is only to war with the heath-cock or deer. + + The deeds of our sires if our bards should rehearse, + Let a blush or a blow be the meed of their verse! + Be mute every string, and be hushed every tone, + That shall bid us remember the fame that is flown! + + But the dark hours of night and of slumber are past; + The morn on our mountains is dawning at last; + Glenaladale's peaks are illumed with the rays, + And the streams of Glenfinnan leap bright in the blaze. + + [The young and daring adventurer, Charles Edward, landed at + Glenaladale, in Moidart, and displayed his standard in the + valley of Glenfinnan, mustering around it the Mac-Donalds, the + Camerons, and other less numerous clans, whom he had prevailed + on to join him. There is a monument erected on the spot, with + a Latin inscription by the late Dr. Gregory.] + + + O high-minded Moray!--the exiled--the dear!-- + In the blush of the dawning the STANDARD uprear! + Wide, wide on the winds of the north let it fly, + Like the sun's latest flash when the tempest is nigh! + + [The Marquis of Tullibardine's elder brother, who, long exiled, + returned to Scotland with Charles Edward in 1745] + + Ye sons of the strong, when that dawning shall break, + Need the harp of the aged remind you to wake? + That dawn never beamed on your forefathers' eye, + But it roused each high chieftain to vanquish or die. + + O! sprung from the kings who in Islay kept state, + Proud chiefs of Clan Ranald, Glengarry, and Sleat! + Combine like three streams from one mountain of snow, + And resistless in union rush down on the foe! + + True son of Sir Even, undaunted Lochiel, + Place thy targe on thy shoulder and burnish thy steel! + Rough Keppoch, give breath to thy bugle's bold swell, + Till far Coryarrick resound to the knell! + + Stern son of Lord Kenneth, high chief of Kinntail, + Let the stag in thy standard bound wild in the gale! + May the race of Clan Gillean, the fearless and free, + Remember Glenlivat, Harlaw, and Dundee! + + Let the clan of grey Fingon, whose offspring has given + Such heroes to earth, and such martyrs to heaven, + Unite with the race of renowned Rorri More, + To launch the long galley, and stretch to the oar. + + How Mac-Shimei will joy when their chief shall display + The ewe-crested bonnet o'er tresses of grey! + How the race of wronged Alpine and murdered Glencoe + Shall shout for revenge when they pour on the foe! + + Ye sons of brown Dermid, who slew the wild boar, + Resume the pure faith of the great Callum-More! + Mac-Neil of the Islands, and Moy of the Lake, + For honour, for freedom, for vengeance awake! + +Here a large greyhound, bounding up the glen, jumped upon Flora, and +interrupted her music by his importunate caresses. At a distant whistle, +he turned, and shot down the path again with the rapidity of an arrow. +'That is Fergus's faithful attendant, Captain Waverley, and that was his +signal. He likes no poetry but what is humorous, and comes in good time +to interrupt my long catalogue of the tribes, whom one of your saucy +English poets calls + + Our bootless host of high-born beggars, + Mac-Leans, Mac-Kenzies, and Mac-Gregors.' + +Waverley expressed his regret at the interruption. + +'Oh, you cannot guess how much you have lost! The bard, as in duty +bound, has addressed three long stanzas to Vich Ian Vohr of the Banners, +enumerating all his great properties, and not forgetting his being a +cheerer of the harper and bard,--"a giver of bounteous gifts." Besides, +you should have heard a practical admonition to the fair-haired son of +the stranger, who lives in the land where the grass is always green--the +rider on the shining pampered steed, whose hue is like the raven, and +whose neigh is like the scream of the eagle for battle. This valiant +horseman is affectionately conjured to remember that his ancestors were +distinguished by their loyalty, as well as by their courage.--All this +you have lost; but, since your curiosity is not satisfied, I judge, from +the distant sound of my brother's whistle, I may have time to sing the +concluding stanzas before he comes to laugh at my translation.' + + Awake on your hills, on your islands awake, + Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake! + 'Tis the bugle--but not for the chase is the call; + 'Tis the pibroch's shrill summons--but not to the hall. + + 'Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death, + When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath: + They call to the dirk, the claymore, and the targe, + To the march and the muster, the line and the charge. + + Be the brand of each Chieftain like Fin's in his ire! + May the blood through his veins flow like currents of fire! + Burst the base foreign yoke as your sires did of yore, + Or die like your sires, and endure it no more! + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WAVERLEY CONTINUES AT GLENNAQUOICH + +As Flora concluded her song, Fergus stood before them. 'I knew I should +find you here, even without the assistance of my friend Bran. A simple +and unsublimed taste now, like my own, would prefer a jet d'eau at +Versailles to this cascade with all its accompaniments of rock and roar; +but this is Flora's Parnassus, Captain Waverley, and that fountain her +Helicon. It would be greatly for the benefit of my cellar if she could +teach her coadjutor, Mac-Murrough, the value of its influence: he has +just drunk a pint of usquebaugh to correct, he said, the coldness of the +claret.--Let me try its virtues.' He sipped a little water in the hollow +of his hand, and immediately commenced, with a theatrical air,-- + + 'O Lady of the desert, hail! + That lov'st the harping of the Gael, + Through fair and fertile regions borne, + Where never yet grew grass or corn. + +But English poetry will never succeed under the influence of a Highland +Helicon.--ALLONS, COURAGE!-- + + O vous, qui buvez, a tasse pleine, + A cette heureuse fontaine, + Ou on ne voit, sur le rivage, + Que quelques vilains troupeaux, + Suivis de nymphes de village, + Qui les escortent sans sabots'-- + +'A truce, dear Fergus! spare us those most tedious and insipid persons +of all Arcadia. Do not, for Heaven's sake, bring down Coridon and Lindor +upon us.' + +'Nay, if you cannot relish LA HOULETTE ET LE CHALUMEAU, have with you in +heroic strains.' + +'Dear Fergus, you have certainly partaken of the inspiration of +Mac-Murrough's cup, rather than of mine.' + +'I disclaim it, MA BELLE DEMOISELLE, although I protest it would be the +more congenial of the two. Which of your crackbrained Italian romancers +is it that says, + + Io d'Elicona niente + Mi curo, in fe de Dio, che'il bere d'acque + (Bea chi ber ne vuol) sempre me spiacque! + [Good sooth, I reck not of your Helicon; + Drink water whoso will, in faith I will drink none.] + +But if you prefer the Gaelic, Captain Waverley, here is little Cathleen +shall sing you Drimmindhu.--Come, Cathleen, ASTORE (i.e. my dear), +begin; no apologies to the CEANKINNE.' + +Cathleen sang with much liveliness a little Gaelic song, the burlesque +elegy of a countryman on the loss of his cow, the comic tones of which, +though he did not understand the language, made Waverley laugh more +than once. [This ancient Gaelic ditty is still well known, both in the +Highlands and in Ireland. It was translated into English, and published, +if I mistake not, under the auspices of the facetious Tom D'Urfey, by +the title of 'Colley, my Cow.'] + +'Admirable, Cathleen!' cried the Chieftain; 'I must find you a handsome +husband among the clansmen one of these days.' + +Cathleen laughed, blushed, and sheltered herself behind her companion. + +In the progress of their return to the castle, the Chieftain warmly +pressed Waverley to remain for a week or two, in order to see a grand +hunting party, in which he and some other Highland gentlemen proposed +to join. The charms of melody and beauty were too strongly impressed in +Edward's breast to permit his declining an invitation so pleasing. +It was agreed, therefore, that he should write a note to the Baron +of Bradwardine, expressing his intention to stay a fortnight at +Glennaquoich, and requesting him to forward by the bearer (a GILLY of +the Chieftain's) any letters which might have arrived for him. + +This turned the discourse upon the Baron, whom Fergus highly extolled +as a gentleman and soldier. His character was touched with yet more +discrimination by Flora, who observed that he was the very model of the +old Scottish cavalier, with all his excellences and peculiarities. 'It +is a character, Captain Waverley, which is fast disappearing; for its +best point was a self-respect, which was never lost sight of till now. +But, in the present time, the gentlemen whose principles do not permit +them to pay court to the existing government are neglected and degraded, +and many conduct themselves accordingly; and, like some of the persons +you have seen at Tully-Veolan, adopt habits and companions inconsistent +with their birth and breeding. The ruthless proscription of party seems +to degrade the victims whom it brands, however unjustly. But let us hope +that a brighter day is approaching, when a Scottish country-gentleman +may be a scholar without the pedantry of our friend the Baron; a +sportsman, without the low habits of Mr. Falconer; and a judicious +improver of his property, without becoming a boorish two-legged steer +like Killancureit.' + +Thus did Flora prophesy a revolution, which time indeed has produced, +but in a manner very different from what she had in her mind. + +The amiable Rose was next mentioned, with the warmest encomium on +her person, manners, and mind, 'That man,' said Flora, 'will find an +inestimable treasure in the affections of Rose Bradwardine, who shall be +so fortunate as to become their object. Her very soul is in home, and +in the discharge of all those quiet virtues of which home is the centre. +Her husband will be to her what her father now is--the object of all +her care, solicitude, and affection. She will see nothing, and connect +herself with nothing, but by him and through him. If he is a man +of sense and virtue, she will sympathize in his sorrows, divert his +fatigue, and share his pleasures. If she becomes the property of a +churlish or negligent husband, she will suit his taste also, for she +will not long survive his unkindness. And, alas, how great is the chance +that some such unworthy lot may be that of my poor friend!--Oh, that I +were a queen this moment, and could command the most amiable and +worthy youth of my kingdom to accept happiness with the hand of Rose +Bradwardine!' + +'I wish you would command her to accept mine EN ATTENDANT,' said Fergus, +laughing. + +I don't know by what caprice it was that this wish, however jocularly +expressed, rather jarred on Edward's feelings, notwithstanding his +growing inclination to Flora, and his indifference to Miss Bradwardine. +This is one of the inexplicabilities of human nature, which we leave +without comment. + +'Yours, brother?' answered Flora, regarding him steadily. 'No; you have +another bride--Honour; and the dangers you must run in pursuit of her +rival would break poor Rose's heart.' + +With this discourse they reached the castle, and Waverley soon prepared +his dispatches for Tully-Veolan. As he knew the Baron was punctilious +in such matters, he was about to impress his billet with a seal on +which his armorial bearings were engraved, but he did not find it at his +watch, and thought he must have left it at Tully-Veolan. He mentioned +his loss, borrowing at the same time the family seal of the Chieftain. + +'Surely,' said Miss Mac-Ivor, 'Donald Bean Lean would not--' + +'My life for him, in such circumstances,' answered her +brother;--'besides, he would never have left the watch behind.' + +'After all, Fergus,' said Flora,' and with every allowance, I am +surprised you can countenance that man.' + +'I countenance him!--This kind sister of mine would persuade you, +Captain Waverley, that I take what the people of old used to call "a +steakraid," that is, a "collop of the foray," or, in plainer words, +a portion of the robber's booty, paid by him to the Laird, or Chief, +through whose grounds he drove his prey. Oh, it is certain, that unless +I can find some way to charm Flora's tongue, General Blakeney will send +a sergeant's party from Stirling (this he said with haughty and emphatic +irony) to seize Vich Ian Vohr, as they nickname me, in his own castle.' + +'Now, Fergus, must not our guest be sensible that all this is folly +and affectation? You have men enough to serve you without enlisting a +banditti, and your own honour is above taint.--Why don't you send this +Donald Bean Lean, whom I hate for his smoothness and duplicity, even +more than for his rapine, out of your country at once? No cause should +induce me to tolerate such a character.' + +'NO cause, Flora?' said the Chieftain, significantly. + +'No cause, Fergus! not even that which is nearest to my heart. Spare it +the omen of such evil supporters!' + +'Oh, but, sister,' rejoined the Chief, gaily, 'you don't consider +my respect for LA BELLE PASSION. Evan Dhu Maccombich is in love with +Donald's daughter, Alice, and you cannot expect me to disturb him in his +amours. Why, the whole clan would cry shame on me. You know it is one +of their wise sayings, that a kinsman is part of a man's body, but a +foster-brother is a piece of his heart.' + +'Well, Fergus, there is no disputing with you; but I would all this may +end well.' + +'Devoutly prayed, my dear and prophetic sister, and the best way in the +world to close a dubious argument.--But hear ye not the pipes, Captain +Waverley? Perhaps you will like better to dance to them in the hall, +than to be deafened with their harmony without taking part in the +exercise they invite us to.' + +Waverley took Flora's hand. The dance, song, and merry-making proceeded, +and closed the day's entertainment at the castle of Vich Ian Vohr. +Edward at length retired, his mind agitated by a variety of new and +conflicting feelings, which detained him from rest for some time, in +that not unpleasing state of mind in which fancy takes the helm, and the +soul rather drifts passively along with the rapid and confused tide of +reflections, than exerts itself to encounter, systematize, or examine +them. At a late hour he fell asleep, and dreamed of Flora Mac-Ivor. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A STAG-HUNT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES + +Shall this be a long or a short chapter?--This is a question in which +you, gentle reader, have no vote, however much you may be interested in +the consequences; just as you may (like myself) probably have nothing to +do with the imposing a new tax, excepting the trifling circumstance of +being obliged to pay it. More happy surely in the present case, since, +though it lies within my arbitrary power to extend my materials as +I think proper, I cannot call you into Exchequer if you do not think +proper to read my narrative. Let me therefore consider. It is true, that +the annals and documents in my hands say but little of this Highland +chase; but then I can find copious materials for description elsewhere. +There is old Lindsay of Pitscottie ready at my elbow, with his Athole +hunting, and his 'lofted and joisted palace of green timber; with all +kind of drink to be had in burgh and land, as ale, beer, wine, muscadel, +malvaise, hippocras, and aquavitae; with wheat-bread, main-bread, +ginge-bread, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, +coney, crane, swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock, +pawnies, black-cock, muir-fowl, and capercailzies;' not forgetting the +'costly bedding, vaiselle, and napry,' and least of all the 'excelling +stewards, cunning barters, excellent cooks, and pottingars, with +confections and drugs for the desserts.' Besides the particulars which +may be thence gleaned for this Highland feast (the splendour of which +induced the Pope's legate to dissent from an opinion which he had +hitherto held, that Scotland, namely, was the--the--the latter end of +the world)--besides these, might I not illuminate my pages with Taylor +the Water Poet's hunting in the braes of Mar, where, + + Through heather, mosse, 'mong frogs, and bogs, and fogs, + 'Mongst craggy cliffs and thunder-battered hills, + Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chased by men and dogs, + Where two hours' hunting fourscore fat deer kills. + Lowland, your sports are low as is your seat; + The Highland games and minds are high and great. + +But without further tyranny over my readers, or display of the extent of +my own reading, I shall content myself with borrowing a single incident +from the memorable hunting at Lude, commemorated in the ingenious Mr. +Gunn's Essay on the Caledonian Harp, and so proceed in my story with +all the brevity that my natural style of composition, partaking of +what scholars call the periphrastic and ambagitory, and the vulgar the +circumbendibus, will permit me. + +The solemn hunting was delayed, from various causes, for about three +weeks. The interval was spent by Waverley with great satisfaction at +Glennaquoich; for the impression which Flora had made on his mind at +their first meeting grew daily stronger. She was precisely the character +to fascinate a youth of romantic imagination. Her manners, her language, +her talents for poetry and music, gave additional and varied influence +to her eminent personal charms. Even in her hours of gaiety, she was in +his fancy exalted above the ordinary daughters of Eve, and seemed only +to stoop for an instant to those topics of amusement and gallantry which +others appear to live for. In the neighbourhood of this enchantress, +while sport consumed the morning, and music and the dance led on +the hours of evening, Waverley became daily more delighted with his +hospitable landlord, and more enamoured of his bewitching sister. + +At length, the period fixed for the grand hunting arrived, and Waverley +and the Chieftain departed for the place of rendezvous, which was a +day's journey to the northward of Glennaquoich. Fergus was attended +on this occasion by about three hundred of his clan, well armed, and +accoutred in their best fashion. Waverley complied so far with the +custom of the country as to adopt the trews (he could not be reconciled +to the kilt), brogues, and bonnet, as the fittest dress for the exercise +in which he was to be engaged, and which least exposed him to be stared +at as a stranger when they should reach the place of rendez-vous. They +found, on the spot appointed, several powerful Chiefs, to all of whom +Waverley was formally presented, and by all cordially received. Their +vassals and clansmen, a part of whose feudal duty it was to attend on +these parties, appeared in such numbers as amounted to a small army. +These active assistants spread through the country far and near, forming +a circle, technically called the TINCHEL, which, gradually closing, +drove the deer in herds together towards the glen where the Chiefs +and principal sportsmen lay in wait for them. In the meanwhile, these +distinguished personages bivouacked among the flowery heath, wrapped up +in their plaids; a mode of passing a summer's night which Waverley found +by no means unpleasant. + +For many hours after sunrise, the mountain ridges and passes retained +their ordinary appearance of silence and solitude; and the Chiefs, with +their followers, amused themselves with various pastimes, in which the +joys of the shell, as Ossian has it, were not forgotten. 'Others apart +sat on a hill retired;' probably as deeply engaged in the discussion of +politics and news, as Milton's spirits in metaphysical disquisition. +At length signals of the approach of the game were descried and heard. +Distant shouts resounded from valley to valley, as the various parties +of Highlanders, climbing rocks, struggling through copses, wading +brooks, and traversing thickets, approached more and more near to each +other, and compelled the astonished deer, with the other wild animals +that fled before them, into a narrower circuit. Every now and then the +report of muskets was heard, repeated by a thousand echoes. The baying +of the dogs was soon added to the chorus, which grew ever louder and +more loud. At length the advanced parties of the deer began to show +themselves; and as the stragglers came bounding down the pass by two +or three at a time, the Chiefs showed their skill by distinguishing the +fattest deer, and their dexterity in bringing them down with their guns. +Fergus exhibited remarkable address, and Edward was also so fortunate as +to attract the notice and applause of the sportsmen. + +But now the main body of the deer appeared at the head of the glen, +compelled into a very narrow compass, and presenting such a formidable +phalanx, that their antlers appeared at a distance, over the ridge of +the steep pass, like a leafless grove. Their number was very great, and +from a desperate stand which they made, with the tallest of the red-deer +stags arranged in front, in a sort of battle array, gazing on the group +which barred their passage down the glen, the more experienced sportsmen +began to augur danger. The work of destruction, however, now commenced +on all sides. Dogs and hunters were at work, and muskets and fusees +resounded from every quarter. The deer, driven to desperation, made at +length a fearful charge right upon the spot where the more distinguished +sportsmen had taken their stand. The word was given in Gaelic to fling +themselves upon their faces; but Waverley, on whose English ears the +signal was lost, had almost fallen a sacrifice to his ignorance of the +ancient language in which it was communicated. Fergus, observing his +danger, sprang up and pulled him with violence to the ground, just +as the whole herd broke down upon them. The tide being absolutely +irresistible, and wounds from a stag's horn highly dangerous, the +activity of the Chieftain may be considered, on this occasion, as having +saved his guest's life. [The thrust from the tynes, or branches, of the +stag's horns, was accounted far more dangerous than those of the boar's +tusk:-- + + If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier, + But barber's hand shall boar's hurt heal; thereof have thou no + fear.] + +He detained him with a firm grasp until the whole herd of deer had +fairly run over them. Waverley then attempted to rise, but found that +he had suffered several very severe contusions; and, upon a further +examination, discovered that he had sprained his ankle violently. + +This checked the mirth of the meeting, although the Highlanders, +accustomed to such incidents, and prepared for them, had suffered no +harm themselves. A wigwam was erected almost in an instant, where Edward +was deposited on a couch of heather. The surgeon, or he who assumed the +office, appeared to unite the characters of a leech and a conjurer. He +was an old smoke-dried Highlander, wearing a venerable grey beard, +and having for his sole garment a tartan frock, the skirts of which +descended to the knee; and, being undivided in front, made the vestment +serve at once for doublet and breeches. [This garb, which resembled +the dress often put on children in Scotland, called a polonie (i.e. +polonaise), is a very ancient modification of the Highland garb. It was, +in fact, the hauberk or shirt of mail, only composed of cloth instead of +rings of armour.] He observed great ceremony in approaching Edward; +and though our hero was writhing with pain, would not proceed to any +operation which might assuage it until he had perambulated his couch +three times, moving from east to west, according to the course of the +sun. This, which was called making the DEASIL, [Old Highlanders will +still make the deasil around those whom they wish well to. To go round a +person in the opposite direction, or wither-shins (German WIDER-SHINS), +is unlucky, and a sort of incantation.] both the leech and the +assistants seemed to consider as a matter of the last importance to the +accomplishment of a cure; and Waverley, whom pain rendered incapable of +expostulation, and who indeed saw no chance of its being attended to, +submitted in silence. + +After this ceremony was duly performed, the old Esculapius let his +patient blood with a cupping-glass with great dexterity, and proceeded, +muttering all the while to himself in Gaelic, to boil on the fire +certain herbs, with which he compounded an embrocation. He then fomented +the parts which had sustained injury, never failing to murmur prayers or +spells, which of the two Waverley could not distinguish, as his ear only +caught the words GASPER-MELCHIOR-BALTHAZAR-MAX-PRAX-FAX, and similar +gibberish. The fomentation had a speedy effect in alleviating the pain +and swelling, which our hero imputed to the virtue of the herbs, or +the effect of the chafing, but which was by the bystanders unanimously +ascribed to the spells with which the operation had been accompanied. +Edward was given to understand, that not one of the ingredients had been +gathered except during the full moon, and that the herbalist had, while +collecting them, uniformly recited a charm, which in English ran thus:-- + + Hail to thee, thou holy herb, + That sprung on holy ground! + All in the Mount Olivet + First wert thou found: + Thou art boot for many a bruise, + And healest many a wound; + In our Lady's blessed name, + I take thee from the ground.' + [This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preserved + by Reginald Scott, in his work on Witchcraft.] + +Edward observed, with some surprise, that even Fergus, notwithstanding +his knowledge and education, seemed to fall in with the superstitious +ideas of his countrymen, either because he deemed it impolitic to affect +scepticism on a matter of general belief, or more probably because, like +most men who do not think deeply or accurately on such subjects, he had +in his mind a reserve of superstition which balanced the freedom of +his expressions and practice upon other occasions. Waverley made no +commentary, therefore, on the manner of the treatment, but rewarded the +professor of medicine with a liberality beyond the utmost conception +of his wildest hopes. He uttered, on the occasion, so many incoherent +blessings in Gaelic and English, that Mac-Ivor, rather scandalized at +the excess of his acknowledgements, cut them short, by exclaiming, 'CEUD +MILE MHALLOICH ART ORT!' i.e. 'A hundred thousand curses on you!' and so +pushed the helper of men out of the cabin. + +After Waverley was left alone, the exhaustion of pain and fatigue,--for +the whole day's exercise had been severe,--threw him into a profound, +but yet a feverish sleep, which he chiefly owed to an opiate draught +administered by the old Highlander from some decoction of herbs in his +pharmacopoeia. + +Early the next morning, the purpose of their meeting being over, and +their sports damped by the untoward accident, in which Fergus and all +his friends expressed the greatest sympathy, it became a question how to +dispose of the disabled sportsman. This was settled by Mac-Ivor, who had +a litter prepared, of 'birch and hazel grey,' + + [On the morrow they made their biers, + of birch and hazel grey.--CHEVY CHASE.] + +which was borne by his people with such caution and dexterity as renders +it not improbable that they may have been the ancestors of some of +those sturdy Gael, who have now the happiness to transport the belles +of Edinburgh, in their sedan chairs, to ten routs in one evening. +When Edward was elevated upon their shoulders, he could not help being +gratified with the romantic effect produced by the breaking up of this +sylvan camp. [The author has been sometimes accused of confounding +fiction with reality. He therefore thinks it necessary to state, that +the circumstance of the hunting described in the text as preparatory to +the insurrection of 1745, is, so far as he knows, entirely imaginary. +But it is well known such a great hunting was held in the Forest of +Braemar, under the auspices of the Earl of Mar, as preparatory to the +Rebellion of 1715; and most of the Highland Chieftains who afterwards +engaged in that civil commotion were present on this occasion.] + +The various tribes assembled, each at the pibroch of their native clan, +and each headed by their patriarchal ruler. Some, who had already begun +to retire, were seen winding up the hills, or descending the passes +which led to the scene of action, the sound of their bagpipes dying +upon the ear. Others made still a moving picture upon the narrow plain, +forming various changeful groups, their feathers and loose plaids waving +in the morning breeze, and their arms glittering in the rising sun. Most +of the Chiefs came to take farewell of Waverley, and to express their +anxious hope they might again, and speedily, meet; but the care of +Fergus abridged the ceremony of taking leave. At length, his own men +being completely assembled and mustered. Mac-Ivor commenced his march, +but not towards the quarter from which they had come. He gave Edward to +understand, that the greater part of his followers, now on the field, +were bound on a distant expedition, and that when he had deposited +him in the house of a gentleman, who he was sure would pay him every +attention, he himself should be under the necessity of accompanying them +the greater part of the way, but would lose no time in rejoining his +friend. + +Waverley was rather surprised that Fergus had not mentioned this +ulterior destination when they set out upon the hunting-party; but his +situation did not admit of many interrogatories. The greater part of the +clansmen went forward under the guidance of old Ballenkeiroch and Evan +Dhu Maccombich, apparently in high spirits. A few remained for the +purpose of escorting the Chieftain, who walked by the side of Edward's +litter, and attended him with the most affectionate assiduity. About +noon, after a journey which the nature of the conveyance, the pain +of his bruises, and the roughness of the way, rendered inexpressibly +painful, Waverley was hospitably received into the house of a gentleman +related to Fergus, who had prepared for him every accommodation which +the simple habits of living, then universal in the Highlands, put in his +power. In this person, an old man about seventy, Edward admired a relic +of primitive simplicity. He wore no dress but what his estate afforded. +The cloth was the fleece of his own sheep, woven by his own servants, +and stained into tartan by the dyes produced from the herbs and lichens +of the hills around him. His linen was spun by his daughters and +maid-servants, from his own flax, nor did his table, though plentiful, +and varied with game and fish, offer an article but what was of native +produce. + +Claiming himself no rights of clanship or vassalage, he was fortunate +in the alliance and protection of Vich Ian Vohr and other bold and +enterprising Chieftains, who protected him in the quiet unambitious life +he loved. It is true, the youth born on his grounds were often enticed +to leave him for the service of his more active friends; but a few old +servants and tenants used to shake their grey locks when they heard +their master censured for want of spirit, and observed, 'When the wind +is still, the shower falls soft.' This good old man, whose charity and +hospitality were unbounded, would have received Waverley with kindness, +had he been the meanest Saxon peasant, since his situation required +assistance. But his attention to a friend and guest of Vich Ian Vohr was +anxious and unremitted. Other embrocations were applied to the injured +limb, and new spells were put in practice. At length, after more +solicitude than was perhaps for the advantage of his health, Fergus took +farewell of Edward for a few days, when, he said, he would return to +Tomanrait, and hoped by that time Waverley would be able to ride one +of the Highland ponies of his landlord, and in that manner return to +Glennaquoich. + +The next day, when his good old host appeared, Edward learned that his +friend had departed with the dawn, leaving none of his followers except +Callum Beg, the sort of foot-page who used to attend his person, and +who had it now in charge to wait upon Waverley. On asking his host if +he knew where the Chieftain was gone, the old man looked fixedly at him, +with something mysterious and sad in the smile which was his only +reply. Waverley repeated his question, to which his host answered in a +proverb,-- + + What sent the messengers to hell, + Was asking what they knew full well.' + [Corresponding to the Lowland saying, 'Mony ane speirs the + gate they ken fu' weel.] + +He was about to proceed, but Callum Beg said, rather pertly, as Edward +thought, that 'Ta Tighearnach (i.e. the Chief) did not like ta Sassenagh +Duinhe-wassel to be pingled wi' mickle speaking, as she was na tat +weel.' From this Waverley concluded he should disoblige his friend by +inquiring of a stranger the object of a journey which he himself had not +communicated. + +It is unnecessary to trace the progress of our hero's recovery. The +sixth morning had arrived, and he was able to walk about with a staff, +when Fergus returned with about a score of his men. He seemed in +the highest spirits, congratulated Waverley on his progress towards +recovery, and finding he was able to sit on horseback, proposed their +immediate return to Glennaquoich, Waverley joyfully acceded, for the +form of his fair mistress had lived in his dreams during all the time of +his confinement. + + Now he has ridden o'er moor and moss, + O'er hill and many a glen. + +Fergus, all the while, with his myrmidons, striding stoutly by his side, +or diverging to get a shot at a roe or a heath-cock. Waverley's bosom +beat thick when they approached the old tower of Ian nan Chaistel, and +could distinguish the fair form of its mistress advancing to meet them. + +Fergus began immediately, with his usual high spirits, to exclaim, 'Open +your gates, incomparable princess, to the wounded Moor Abindarez, whom +Rodrigo de Narvez, constable of Antiquera, conveys to your castle; or +open them, if you like it better, to the renowned Marquis of Mantua, the +sad attendant of his half-slain friend, Baldovinos of the Mountain.--Ah, +long rest to thy soul, Cervantes! without quoting thy remnants, how +should I frame my language to befit romantic ears!' + +Flora now advanced, and welcoming Waverley with much kindness, expressed +her regret for his accident, of which she had already heard the +particulars, and her surprise that her brother should not have taken +better care to put a stranger on his guard against the perils of the +sport in which he engaged him. Edward easily exculpated the Chieftain, +who, indeed, at his own personal risk, had probably saved his life. + +This greeting over, Fergus said three or four words to his sister in +Gaelic. The tears instantly sprang to her eyes, but they seemed to be +tears of devotion and joy, for she looked up to heaven, and folded her +hands as in a solemn expression of prayer or gratitude. After the +pause of a minute, she presented to Edward some letters which had been +forwarded from Tully-Veolan during his absence, and, at the same time, +delivered some to her brother. To the latter she likewise gave three +or four numbers of the CALEDONIAN MERCURY, the only newspaper which was +then published to the north of the Tweed. + +Both gentlemen retired to examine their dispatches, and Edward speedily +found that those which he had received contained matters of very deep +interest. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NEWS FROM ENGLAND + +The letters which Waverley had hitherto received from his relations +in England, were not such as required any particular notice in this +narrative. His father usually wrote to him with the pompous affectation +of one who was too much oppressed by public affairs to find leisure to +attend to those of his own family. Now and then he mentioned persons of +rank in Scotland to whom he wished his son should pay some attention; +but Waverley, hitherto occupied by the amusements which he had found at +Tully-Veolan and Glennaquoich, dispensed with paying any attention to +hints so coldly thrown out, especially as distance, shortness of leave +of absence, and so forth, furnished a ready apology. But latterly the +burden of Mr. Richard Waverley's paternal epistles consisted in certain +mysterious hints of greatness and influence which he was speedily +to attain, and which would ensure his son's obtaining the most rapid +promotion, should he remain in the military service. Sir Everard's +letters were of a different tenor. They were short; for the good Baronet +was none of your illimitable correspondents, whose manuscript overflows +the folds of their large post paper, and leaves no room for the seal; +but they were kind and affectionate, and seldom concluded without some +allusion to our hero's stud, some question about the state of his purse, +and a special inquiry after such of his recruits as had preceded him +from Waverley-Honour. Aunt Rachel charged him to remember his principles +of religion, to take care of his health, to beware of Scotch mists, +which, she had heard, would wet an Englishman through and through; +never to go out at night without his great-coat; and, above all, to wear +flannel next to his skin. + +Mr. Pembroke only wrote to our hero one letter, but it was of the bulk +of six epistles of these degenerate days, containing, in the moderate +compass of ten folio pages, closely written, a precis of a supplementary +quarto manuscript of ADDENDA, DELENDA, ET CORRIGENDA, in reference to +the two tracts with which he had presented Waverley. This he considered +as a mere sop in the pan to stay the appetite of Edward's curiosity, +until he should find an opportunity of sending down the volume itself, +which was much too heavy for the post, and which he proposed to +accompany with certain interesting pamphlets, lately published by his +friend in Little Britain, with whom he had kept up a sort of +literary correspondence, in virtue of which the library shelves of +Waverley-Honour were loaded with much trash, and a good round bill, +seldom summed in fewer than three figures, was yearly transmitted, in +which Sir Everard Waverley, of Waverley-Honour, Bart., was marked Dr. +to Jonathan Grubbet, bookseller and stationer, Little Britain. Such had +hitherto been the style of the letters which Edward had received from +England; but the packet delivered to him at Glennaquoich was of a +different and more interesting complexion. It would be impossible +for the reader, even were I to insert the letters at full length, to +comprehend the real cause of their being written, without a glance into +the interior of the British Cabinet at the period in question. + +The Ministers of the day happened (no very singular event) to be divided +into two parties; the weakest of which, making up by assiduity of +intrigue their inferiority in real consequence, had of late acquired +some new proselytes, and with them the hope of superseding their rivals +in the favour of their sovereign, and overpowering them in the House +of Commons. Amongst others, they had thought it worth while to practise +upon Richard Waverley. This honest gentleman, by a grave mysterious +demeanour, an attention to the etiquette of business, rather more than +to its essence, a facility in making long dull speeches, consisting of +truisms and commonplaces, hashed up with a technical jargon of office, +which prevented the inanity of his orations from being discovered, had +acquired a certain name and credit in public life, and even established, +with many, the character of a profound politician; none of your shining +orators, indeed, whose talents evaporate in tropes of rhetoric and +dashes of wit, but one possessed of steady parts for business, which +would wear well, as the ladies say in choosing their silks, and ought +in all reason to be good for common and everyday use, since they were +confessedly formed of no holiday texture. + +This faith had become so general, that the insurgent party in the +Cabinet of which we have made mention, after sounding Mr. Richard +Waverley, were so satisfied with his sentiments and abilities, as to +propose, that, in case of a certain revolution in the ministry, he +should take an ostensible place in the new order of things, not indeed +of the very first rank, but greatly higher, in point both of emolument +and influence, than that which he now enjoyed. There was no resisting +so tempting a proposal, notwithstanding that the Great Man, under whose +patronage he had enlisted and by whose banner he had hitherto stood +firm, was the principal object of the proposed attack by the new allies. +Unfortunately this fair scheme of ambition was blighted in the very bud, +by a premature movement. All the official gentlemen concerned in it, +who hesitated to take the part of a voluntary resignation, were informed +that the king had no further occasion for their services; and, in +Richard Waverley's case, which the Minister considered as aggravated +by ingratitude; dismissal was accompanied by something like personal +contempt and contumely. The public, and even the party of whom he shared +the fall, sympathized little in the disappointment of this selfish +and interested statesman; and he retired to the country under the +comfortable reflection, that he had lost, at the same time, character, +credit, and,--what he at least equally deplored,--emolument. + +Richard Waverley's letter to his son upon this occasion was a +masterpiece of its kind. Aristides himself could not have made out a +harder case. An unjust monarch, and an ungrateful country, were the +burden of each rounded paragraph. He spoke of long services, and +unrequited sacrifices; though the former had been overpaid by his +salary, and nobody could guess in what the latter consisted, unless it +were in his deserting, not from conviction, but for the lucre of gain, +the Tory principles of his family. In the conclusion, his resentment was +wrought to such an excess by the force of his own oratory, that he could +not repress some threats of vengeance, however vague and impotent, and +finally acquainted his son with his pleasure that he should testify +his sense of the ill-treatment he had sustained, by throwing up his +commission as soon as the letter reached him. This, he said, was also +his uncle's desire, as he would himself intimate in due course. + +Accordingly, the next letter which Edward opened was from Sir Everard. +His brother's disgrace seemed to have removed from his well-natured +bosom all recollection of their differences, and, remote as he was from +every means of learning that Richard's disgrace was in reality only the +just, as well as natural consequence, of his own unsuccessful intrigues, +the good but credulous Baronet at once set it down as a new and enormous +instance of the injustice of the existing Government. It was true, he +said, and he must not disguise it even from Edward, that his father +could not have sustained such an insult as was now, for the first time, +offered to one of his house, unless he had subjected himself to it by +accepting of an employment under the present system. Sir Everard had no +doubt that he now both saw and felt the magnitude of this error, and it +should be his (Sir Everard's) business, to take care that the cause of +his regret should not extend itself to pecuniary consequences. It +was enough for a Waverley to have sustained the public disgrace; the +patrimonial injury could easily be obviated by the head of their family. +But it was both the opinion of Mr. Richard Waverley and his own, that +Edward, the representative of the family of Waverley-Honour, should not +remain in a situation which subjected him also to such treatment as +that with which his father had been stigmatized. He requested his nephew +therefore to take the fittest, and, at the same time, the most speedy +opportunity, of transmitting his resignation to the War-Office, and +hinted, moreover, that little ceremony was necessary where so little had +been used to his father. He sent multitudinous greetings to the Baron of +Bradwardine. + +A letter from Aunt Rachel spoke out even more plainly. She considered +the disgrace of brother Richard as the just reward of his forfeiting his +allegiance to a lawful, though exiled sovereign, and taking the oaths +to an alien; a concession which her grandfather, Sir Nigel Waverley, +refused to make, either to the Roundhead Parliament or to Cromwell, when +his life and fortune stood in the utmost extremity. She hoped her dear +Edward would follow the footsteps of his ancestors, and as speedily as +possible get rid of the badge of servitude to the usurping family, and +regard the wrongs sustained by his father as an admonition from Heaven, +that every desertion of the line of loyalty becomes its own punishment. +She also concluded with her respects to Mr. Bradwardine, and begged +Waverley would inform her whether his daughter, Miss Rose, was old +enough to wear a pair of very handsome ear-rings, which she proposed +to send as a token of her affection. The good lady also desired to be +informed whether Mr. Bradwardine took as much Scotch snuff, and danced +as unweariedly, as he did when he was at Waverley-Honour about thirty +years ago. + +These letters, as might have been expected, highly excited Waverley's +indignation. From the desultory style of his studies, he had not any +fixed political opinion to place in opposition to the movements of +indignation which he felt at his father's supposed wrongs. Of the real +cause of his disgrace, Edward was totally ignorant; nor had his habits +at all led him to investigate the politics of the period in which he +lived, or remark the intrigues in which his father had been so actively +engaged. Indeed, any impressions which he had accidentally adopted +concerning the parties of the times, were (owing to the society in which +he had lived at Waverley-Honour) of a nature rather unfavourable to +the existing government and dynasty. He entered, therefore, without +hesitation, into the resentful feeling of the relations who had the best +title to dictate his conduct; and not perhaps the less willingly, when +he remembered the tedium of his quarters, and the inferior figure which +he had made among the officers of his regiment. If he could have had +any doubt upon the subject, it would have been decided by the following +letter from his commanding-officer, which, as it is very short, shall be +inserted verbatim:-- + +'SIR, + +'Having carried somewhat beyond the line of my duty an indulgence which +even the lights of nature, and much more those of Christianity, direct +towards errors which may arise from youth and inexperience, and that +altogether without effect, I am reluctantly compelled, at the present +crisis, to use the only remaining remedy which is in my power. You are +therefore, hereby commanded to repair to--, the head-quarters of the +regiment, within three days after the date of this letter. If you shall +fail to do so, I must report you to the War-Office as absent without +leave, and also take other steps, which will be disagreeable to you, as +well as to, Sir, + +'Your obedient Servant, + +'J. GARDINER, Lieut.-Col. + +'Commanding the--Regt. Dragoons.' + +Edward's blood boiled within him as he read this letter. He had been +accustomed from his very infancy to possess, in a great measure, the +disposal of his own time, and thus acquired habits which rendered the +rules of military discipline as unpleasing to him in this as they were +in some other respects. An idea that in his own case they would not be +enforced in a very rigid manner had also obtained full possession of his +mind, and had hitherto been sanctioned by the indulgent conduct of his +lieutenant-colonel. Neither had anything occurred, to his knowledge, +that should have induced his commanding-officer, without any other +warning than the hints we noticed at the end of the fourteenth chapter, +so suddenly to assume a harsh, and, as Edward deemed it, so insolent +a tone of dictatorial authority. Connecting it with the letters he had +just received from his family, he could not but suppose that it was +designed to make him feel, in his present situation, the same pressure +of authority which had been exercised in his father's case, and that the +whole was a concerted scheme to depress and degrade every member of the +Waverley family. + +Without a pause, therefore, Edward wrote a few cold lines, thanking his +lieutenant-colonel for past civilities, and expressing regret that he +should have chosen to efface the remembrance of them, by assuming a +different tone towards him. The strain of his letter, as well as what +he (Edward) conceived to be his duty, in the present crisis, called upon +him to lay down his commission; and he therefore enclosed the formal +resignation of a situation which subjected him to so unpleasant a +correspondence, and requested Colonel Gardiner would have the goodness +to forward it to the proper authorities. + +Having finished this magnanimous epistle, he felt somewhat uncertain +concerning the terms in which his resignation ought to be expressed, +upon which subject he resolved to consult Fergus Mac-Ivor. It may +be observed in passing, that the bold and prompt habits of thinking, +acting, and speaking, which distinguished this young Chieftain, had +given him a considerable ascendancy over the mind of Waverley. Endowed +with at least equal powers of understanding, and with much finer genius, +Edward yet stooped to the bold and decisive activity of an intellect +which was sharpened by the habit of acting on a preconceived and regular +system, as well as by extensive knowledge of the world. + +When Edward found his friend, the latter had still in his hand the +newspaper which he had perused, and advanced to meet him with the +embarrassment of one who has unpleasing news to communicate. 'Do your +letters, Captain Waverley, confirm the unpleasing information which I +find in this paper?' + +He put the paper into his hand, where his father's disgrace was +registered in the most bitter terms, transferred probably from some +London journal. At the end of the paragraph was this remarkable +innuendo:-- + +'We understand, that "this same RICHARD, who hath done all this," is +not the only example of the WAVERING HONOUR of W-v-rl-y H-n-r. See the +GAZETTE of this day.' + +With hurried and feverish apprehension our hero turned to the place +referred to, and found therein recorded, 'Edward Waverley, captain +in--regiment dragoons, superseded for absence without leave:' and in +the list of military promotions, referring to the same regiment, he +discovered this further article, 'Lieut. Julius Butler, to be captain, +vice Edward Waverley, superseded.' + +Our hero's bosom glowed with the resentment which undeserved and +apparently premeditated insult was calculated to excite in the bosom +of one who had aspired after honour, and was thus wantonly held up to +public scorn and disgrace. Upon comparing the date of his colonel's +letter with that of the article in the GAZETTE, he perceived that his +threat of making a report upon his absence had been literally fulfilled, +and without inquiry, as it seemed, whether Edward had either received +his summons, or was disposed to comply with it. The whole, therefore, +appeared a formed plan to degrade him in the eyes of the public; and the +idea of its having succeeded filled him with such bitter emotions, that, +after various attempts to conceal them, he at length threw himself into +Mac-Ivor's arms, and gave vent to tears of shame and indignation. + +It was none of this Chieftain's faults to be indifferent to the wrongs +of his friends; and for Edward, independent of certain plans with which +he was connected, he felt a deep and sincere interest. The proceeding +appeared as extraordinary to him as it had done to Edward. He indeed +knew of more motives than Waverley was privy to, for the peremptory +order that he should join his regiment. But that, without further +inquiry into the circumstances of a necessary delay, the commanding +officer, in contradiction to his known and established character, should +have proceeded in so harsh and unusual a manner, was a mystery which he +could not penetrate. He soothed our hero, however, to the best of +his power, and began to turn his thoughts on revenge for his insulted +honour. + +Edward eagerly grasped at the idea. 'Will you carry a message for me to +Colonel Gardiner, my dear Fergus, and oblige me for ever?' + +Fergus paused. 'It is an act of friendship which you should command, +could it be useful, or lead to the righting your honour; but in the +present case, I doubt if your commanding-officer would give you the +meeting on account of his having taken measures, which, however harsh +and exasperating, were still within the strict bounds of his duty. +Besides, Gardiner is a precise Huguenot, and has adopted certain +ideas about the sinfulness of such rencontres, from which it would be +impossible to make him depart, especially as his courage is beyond +all suspicion. And besides, I--I--to say the truth--I dare not at this +moment, for some very weighty reasons, go near any of the military +quarters or garrisons belonging to this government.' + +'And am I,' said Waverley, 'to sit down quiet and contented under the +injury I have received?' + +'That will I never advise, my friend,' replied Mac-Ivor. 'But I would +have vengeance to fall on the head, not on the hand; on the tyrannical +and oppressive Government which designed and directed these premeditated +and reiterated insults, not on the tools of office which they employed +in the execution of the injuries they aimed at you.' + +'On the Government!' said Waverley. + +'Yes,' replied the impetuous Highlander, 'on the usurping House of +Hanover, whom your grandfather would no more have served than he would +have taken wages of red-hot gold from the great fiend of hell!' + +'But since the time of my grandfather, two generations of this dynasty +have possessed the throne,' said Edward, coolly. + +'True,' replied the Chieftain; 'and because we have passively given them +so long the means of showing their native character,--because both you +and I myself have lived in quiet submission, have even truckled to the +times so far as to accept commissions under them, and thus have given +them an opportunity of disgracing us publicly by resuming them,--are +we not on that account to resent injuries which our fathers only +apprehended, but which we have actually sustained? Or is the cause of +the unfortunate Stuart family become less just, because their title has +devolved upon an heir who is innocent of the charges of misgovernment +brought against his father? Do you remember the lines of your favourite +poet?-- + + Had Richard unconstrained resigned the throne, + A king can give no more than is his own; + The title stood entailed had Richard had a son. + +You see, my dear Waverley, I can quote poetry as well as Flora and +you. But come, clear your moody brow, and trust to me to show you an +honourable road to a speedy and glorious revenge. Let us seek Flora, +who perhaps has more news to tell us of what has occurred during +our absence. She will rejoice to hear that you are relieved of your +servitude. But first add a postcript to your letter, marking the time +when you received this calvinistical Colonel's first summons, and +express your regret that the hastiness of his proceedings prevented your +anticipating them by sending your resignation. Then let him blush for +his injustice.' + +The letter was sealed accordingly, covering a formal resignation of the +commission, and Mac-Ivor dispatched it with some letters of his own by a +special messenger, with charge to put them into the nearest post office +in the Lowlands. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AN ECLAIRCISSEMENT + +The hint which the Chieftain had thrown out respecting Flora was not +unpremeditated. He had observed with great satisfaction the growing +attachment of Waverley to his sister, nor did he see any bar to their +union, excepting the situation which Waverley's father held in the +ministry, and Edward's own commission in the army of George II. These +obstacles were now removed, and in a manner which apparently paved the +way for the son's becoming reconciled to another allegiance. In every +other respect the match would be most eligible. The safety, happiness, +and honourable provision of his sister, whom he dearly loved, appeared +to be ensured by the proposed union; and his heart swelled when he +considered how his own interest would be exalted in the eyes of the +ex-monarch to whom he had dedicated his service, by an alliance with one +of those ancient, powerful, and wealthy English families of the steady +Cavalier faith, to awaken whose decayed attachment to the Stuart family +was now a matter of such vital importance to the Stuart cause. Nor could +Fergus perceive any obstacle to such a scheme. Waverley's attachment +was evident; and as his person was handsome, and his taste apparently +coincided with her own, he anticipated no opposition on the part of +Flora. Indeed, between his ideas of patriarchal power, and those +which he had acquired in France respecting the disposal of females in +marriage, any opposition from his sister, dear as she was to him, would +have been the last obstacle on which he would have calculated, even had +the union been less eligible. + +Influenced by these feelings, the Chief now led Waverley in quest of +Miss Mac-Ivor, not without the hope that the present agitation of his +guest's spirits might give him courage to cut short what Fergus termed +the romance of the courtship. They found Flora, with her faithful +attendants, Una and Cathleen, busied in preparing what appeared to +Waverley to be white bridal favours. Disguising as well as he could +the agitation of his mind, Waverley asked for what joyful occasion Miss +Mac-Ivor made such ample preparation. + +'It is for Fergus's bridal,' she said, smiling. + +'Indeed!' said Edward; 'he has kept his secret well. I hope he will +allow me to be his bride's-man.' + +'That is a man's office, but not yours, as Beatrice says,' retorted +Flora. + +'And who is the fair lady, may I be permitted to ask, Miss Mac-Ivor?' + +'Did not I tell you long since, that Fergus wooed no bride but Honour?' +answered Flora. + +'And am I then incapable of being his assistant and counsellor in the +pursuit of honour?' said our hero, colouring deeply. 'Do I rank so low +in your opinion?' + +'Far from it, Captain Waverley. I would to God you were of our +determination! and made use of the expression which displeased you, +solely + + Because you are not of our quality, + But stand against us as an enemy.' + +'That time is past, sister,' said Fergus; 'and you may wish Edward +Waverley (no longer captain) joy of being freed from the slavery to an +usurper, implied in that sable and ill-omened emblem.' + +'Yes,' said Waverley, undoing the cockade from his hat, 'it has pleased +the king who bestowed this badge upon me, to resume it in a manner which +leaves me little reason to regret his service.' + +'Thank God for that!' cried the enthusiast;--'and oh that they may be +blind enough to treat every man of honour who serves them with the +same indignity, that I may have less to sigh for when the struggle +approaches! + +'And now, sister,' said the Chieftain, 'replace his cockade with one of +a more lively colour, I think it was the fashion of the ladies of yore +to arm and send forth their knights to high achievement.' + +'Not,' replied the lady, 'till the knight adventurer had well weighed +the justice and the danger of the cause, Fergus. Mr. Waverley is just +now too much agitated by feelings of recent emotion, for me to press +upon him a resolution of consequence.' + +Waverley felt half alarmed at the thought of adopting the badge of what +was by the majority of the kingdom esteemed rebellion, yet he could +not disguise his chagrin at the coldness with which Flora parried her +brother's hint. 'Miss Mac-Ivor, I perceive, thinks the knight unworthy +of her encouragement and favour,' said he, somewhat bitterly. + +'Not so, Mr. Waverley,' she replied, with great sweetness. 'Why should I +refuse my brother's valued friend a boon which I am distributing to his +whole clan? Most willingly would I enlist every man of honour in the +cause to which my brother has devoted himself. But Fergus has taken his +measures with his eyes open. His life has been devoted to this cause +from his cradle; with him its call is sacred, were it even a summons to +the tomb. But how can I wish you, Mr. Waverley, so new to the world, so +far from every friend who might advise and ought to influence you,--in +a moment too of sudden pique and indignation,--how can I wish you to +plunge yourself at once into so desperate an enterprise?' + +Fergus, who did not understand these delicacies, strode through the +apartment biting his lip, and then, with a constrained smile, said, +'Well, sister, I leave you to act your new character of mediator between +the Elector of Hanover and the subjects of your lawful sovereign and +benefactor,' and left the room. + +There was a painful pause, which was at length broken by Miss Mac-Ivor. +'My brother is unjust,' she said, 'because he can bear no interruption +that seems to thwart his loyal zeal.' + +'And do you not share his ardour?' asked Waverley. + +'Do I not?' answered Flora--'God knows mine exceeds his, if that +be possible. But I am not, like him, rapt by the bustle of military +preparation, and the infinite detail necessary to the present +undertaking, beyond consideration of the grand principles of justice and +truth, on which our enterprise is grounded; and these, I am certain, can +only be furthered by measures in themselves true and just. To operate +upon your present feelings, my dear Mr. Waverley, to induce you to an +irretrievable step, of which you have not considered either the justice +or the danger, is, in my poor judgement, neither the one nor the other.' + +'Incomparable Flora!' said Edward, taking her hand, 'how much do I need +such a monitor!' + +'A better one by far,' said Flora, gently withdrawing her hand, 'Mr. +Waverley will always find in his own bosom, when he will give its small +still voice leisure to be heard.' + +'No, Miss Mac-Ivor, I dare not hope it. A thousand circumstances of +fatal self-indulgence have made me the creature rather of imagination +than reason. Durst I but hope--could I but think that you would deign +to be to me that affectionate, that condescending friend, who would +strengthen me to redeem my errors, my future life'-- + +'Hush, my dear sir! now you carry your joy at escaping the hands of a +Jacobite recruiting officer to an unparalleled excess of gratitude.' + +'Nay, dear Flora, trifle with me no longer; you cannot mistake the +meaning of those feelings which I have almost involuntarily expressed; +and since I have broken the barrier of silence, let me profit by my +audacity--Or may I, with your permission, mention to your brother'-- + +'Not for the world, Mr. Waverley!' + +'What am I to understand?' said Edward. 'Is there any fatal bar--has any +prepossession'-- + +'None, sir,' answered Flora. 'I owe it to myself to say, that I never +yet saw the person on whom I thought with reference to the present +subject.' + +'The shortness of our acquaintance, perhaps--If Miss Mac-Ivor will deign +to give me time--' + +'I have not even that excuse. Captain Waverley's character is so +open--is, in short, of that nature, that it cannot be misconstrued, +either in its strength or its weakness.' + +'And for that weakness you despise me?' said Edward. + +'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley, and remember it is but within this +half-hour that there existed between us a barrier of a nature to me +insurmountable, since I never could think of an officer in the +service of the Elector of Hanover in any other light than as a casual +acquaintance. Permit me then to arrange my ideas upon so unexpected a +topic, and in less than an hour I will be ready to give you such reasons +for the resolution I shall express, as may be satisfactory at least, +if not pleasing to you.' So saying, Flora withdrew, leaving Waverley to +meditate upon the manner in which she had received his addresses. + +Ere he could make up his mind whether to believe his suit had been +acceptable or no, Fergus re-entered the apartment. 'What, A LA MORT, +Waverley?' he cried. 'Come down with me to the court, and you shall see +a sight worth all the tirades of your romances. An hundred firelocks, my +friend, and as many broadswords, just arrived from good friends; and two +or three hundred stout fellows almost fighting which shall first possess +them.--But let me look at you closer--Why, a true Highlander would say +you had been blighted by an evil eye.--Or can it be this silly girl that +has thus blanked your spirit?--Never mind her, dear Edward; the wisest +of her sex are fools in what regards the business of life.' + +'Indeed, my good friend,' answered Waverley, 'all that I can charge +against your sister is, that she is too sensible, too reasonable.' + +'If that be all, I ensure you for a louis d'or against the mood lasting +four-and-twenty hours. No woman was ever steadily sensible for that +period; and I will engage, if that will please you, Flora shall be +as unreasonable to-morrow as any of her sex. You must learn, my dear +Edward, to consider women EN MOUSQUETAIRE.' So saying, he seized +Waverley's arm, and dragged him off to review his military preparations. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +UPON THE SAME SUBJECT + +Fergus Mac-Ivor had too much tact and delicacy to renew the subject +which he had interrupted. His head was, or appeared to be, so full of +guns, broadswords, bonnets, canteens, and tartan hose, that Waverley +could not for some time draw his attention to any other topic. + +'Are you to take the field so soon, Fergus,' he asked, 'that you are +making all these martial preparations?' + +'When we have settled that you go with me, you shall know all; but +otherwise, the knowledge might rather be prejudicial to you.' + +'But are you serious in your purpose, with such inferior forces, to rise +against an established government? It is mere frenzy.' + +'LAISSEZ FAIRE A DON ANTOINE--I shall take good care of myself. We shall +at least use the compliment of Conan, who never got a stroke but he gave +one. I would not, however,' continued the Chieftain, 'have you think me +mad enough to stir till a favourable opportunity: I will not slip my dog +before the game's afoot. But once more, will you join with us, and you +shall know all?' + +'How can I?' said Waverley; 'I who have so lately held that commission +which is now posting back to those that gave it? My accepting it implied +a promise of fidelity, and an acknowledgement of the legality of the +government. + +'A rash promise,' answered Fergus, 'is not a steel handcuff; it may be +shaken off, especially when it was given under deception, and has been +repaid by insult. But if you cannot immediately make up your mind to a +glorious revenge, go to England, and ere you cross the Tweed, you will +hear tidings that will make the world ring; and if Sir Everard be the +gallant old cavalier I have heard him described by some of our HONEST +gentlemen of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifteen, he will +find you a better horse-troop and a better cause than you have lost.' + +'But your sister, Fergus?' + +'Out, hyperbolical fiend,' replied the Chief, laughing; 'how vexest thou +this man!--Speak'st thou of nothing but of ladies?' + +'Nay, be serious, my dear friend,' said Waverley; 'I feel that the +happiness of my future life must depend upon the answer which Miss +Mac-Ivor shall make to what I ventured to tell her this morning.' + +'And is this your very sober earnest,' said Fergus, more gravely, 'or +are we in the land of romance and fiction?' + +'My earnest, undoubtedly. How could you suppose me jesting on such a +subject?' + +'Then, in very sober earnest,' answered his friend, 'I am very glad to +hear it; and so highly do I think of Flora, that; you are the only man +in England for whom I would say so much.--But before you shake my hand +so warmly, there is more to be considered.--Your own family--will they +approve your connecting yourself with the sister of a highborn Highland +beggar?' + +'My uncle's situation,' said Waverley, 'his general opinions, and his +uniform indulgence, entitle me to say, that birth and personal qualities +are all he would look to in such a connexion. And where can I find both +united in such excellence as in your sister?' + +'Oh, nowhere!--CELA VA SANS DIRE,' replied Fergus with a smile. 'But +your father will expect a father's prerogative in being consulted.' + +'Surely; but his late breach with the ruling powers removes all +apprehension of objection on his part, especially as I am convinced that +my uncle will be warm in my cause.' + +'Religion, perhaps,' said Fergus, 'may make obstacles, though we are not +bigoted Catholics.' + +'My grandmother was of the Church of Rome, and her religion was never +objected to by my family.--Do not think of MY friends, dear Fergus; let +me rather have your influence where it may be more necessary to remove +obstacles--I mean with your lovely sister.' + +'My lovely sister,' replied Fergus, 'like her loving brother, is very +apt to have a pretty decisive will of her own, by which, in this case, +you must be ruled; but you shall not want my interest, nor my counsel. +And, in the first place, I will give you one hint--loyalty is her ruling +passion; and since she could spell an English book, she has been in love +with the memory of the gallant Captain Wogan, who renounced the service +of the usurper Cromwell to join the standard of Charles II, marched a +handful of cavalry from London to the Highlands to join Middleton, then +in arms for the king, and at length died gloriously in the royal cause. +Ask her to show you some verses she made on his history and fate; they +have been much admired, I assure you. The next point is--I think I +saw Flora go up towards the waterfall a short time since--follow, man, +follow! don't allow the garrison time to strengthen its purposes of +resistance--ALERTE A LA MURAILLE! Seek Flora out, and learn her decision +as soon as you can--and Cupid go with you, while I go to look over belts +and cartouch-boxes.' + +Waverley ascended the glen with an anxious and throbbing heart. Love, +with all its romantic train of hopes, fears, and wishes, was mingled +with other feelings of a nature less easily defined. He could not but +remember how much this morning had changed his fate, and into what a +complication of perplexity it was likely to plunge him. Sunrise had seen +him possessed of an esteemed rank in the honourable profession of +arms, his father to all appearance rapidly rising in the favour of +his sovereign;--all this had passed away like a dream--he himself was +dishonoured, his father disgraced, and he had become involuntarily the +confidant at least, if not the accomplice, of plans dark, deep, and +dangerous, which must infer either subversion of the government he had +so lately served, or the destruction of all who had participated in +them, Should Flora even listen to his suit favourably, what prospect was +there of its being brought to a happy termination, amid the tumult of +an impending insurrection? Or how could he make the selfish request that +she should leave Fergus, to whom she was so much attached, and, retiring +with him to England, wait, as a distant spectator, the success of her +brother's undertaking, or the ruin of all his hopes and fortunes!--Or, +on the other hand, to engage himself, with no other aid than his single +arm, in the dangerous and precipitate counsels of the Chieftain,--to be +whirled along by him, the partaker of all his desperate and impetuous +motions, renouncing almost the power of judging, or deciding upon the +rectitude or prudence of his actions,--this was no pleasing prospect for +the secret pride of Waverley to stoop to. And yet what other conclusion +remained, saving the rejection of his addresses by Flora, an alternative +not to be thought of in the present high-wrought state of his feelings, +with anything short of mental agony. Pondering the doubtful and +dangerous prospect before him, he at length arrived near the cascade, +where, as Fergus had augured, he found Flora seated. + +She was quite alone; and, as soon as she observed his approach, she +arose, and came to meet him. Edward attempted to say something within +the verge of ordinary compliment and conversation, but found himself +unequal to the task. Flora seemed at first equally embarrassed, but +recovered herself more speedily, and (an unfavourable augury for +Waverley's suit) was the first to enter upon the subject of their last +interview, 'It is too important, in every point of view, Mr. Waverley, +to permit me to leave you in doubt on my sentiments.' + +'Do not speak them speedily,' said Waverley, much agitated, 'unless they +are such as, I fear from your manner, I must not dare to anticipate. Let +time--let my future conduct--let your brother's influence'-- + +'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley,' said Flora, her complexion a little +heightened, but her voice firm and composed. 'I should incur my own +heavy censure, did I delay expressing my sincere conviction that I can +never regard you otherwise than as a valued friend. I should do you +the highest injustice did I conceal my sentiments for a moment. I see +I distress you, and I grieve for it, but better now than later; and oh, +better a thousand times, Mr. Waverley, that you should feel a present +momentary disappointment, than the long and heart-sickening griefs which +attend a rash and ill-assorted marriage!' + +'Good God!' exclaimed Waverley, 'why should you anticipate such +consequences from a union where birth is equal, where fortune is +favourable, where, if I may venture to say so, the tastes are similar, +where you allege no preference for another, where you even express a +favourable opinion of him whom you reject?' + +'Mr. Waverley, I HAVE that favourable opinion,' answered Flora; 'and so +strongly, that though I would rather have been silent on the grounds of +my resolution, you shall command them, if you exact such a mark of my +esteem and confidence.' + +She sat down upon a fragment of rock, and Waverley, placing himself near +her, anxiously pressed for the explanation she offered. + +'I dare hardly,' she said, 'tell you the situation of my feelings, they +are so different from those usually ascribed to young women at my period +of life; and I dare hardly touch upon what I conjecture to be the nature +of yours, lest I should give offence where I would willingly administer +consolation. For myself, from my infancy till this day, I have had but +one wish--the restoration of my royal benefactors to their rightful +throne. It is impossible to express to you the devotion of my feelings +to this single subject; and I will frankly confess, that it has so +occupied my mind as to exclude every thought respecting what is called +my own settlement in life. Let me but live to see the day of that happy +restoration, and a Highland cottage, a French convent, or an English +palace, will be alike indifferent to me.' + +'But, dearest Flora, how is your enthusiastic zeal for the exiled family +inconsistent with my happiness?' + +'Because you seek, or ought to seek in the object of your attachment, +a heart whose principal delight should be in augmenting your domestic +felicity, and returning your affection, even to the height of romance. +To a man of less keen sensibility, and less enthusiastic tenderness of +disposition, Flora Mac-Ivor might give content, if not happiness; for +were the irrevocable words spoken, never would she be deficient in the +duties which she vowed.' + +'And why--why, Miss Mac-Ivor, should you think yourself a more valuable +treasure to one who is less capable of loving, of admiring you, than to +me?' + +'Simply because the tone of our affections would be more in unison, and +because his more blunted sensibility would not require the return of +enthusiasm which I have not to bestow. But you, Mr. Waverley, would for +ever refer to the idea of domestic happiness which your imagination +is capable of painting, and whatever fell short of that ideal +representation would be construed into coolness and indifference, while +you might consider the enthusiasm with which I regarded the success of +the royal family as defrauding your affection of its due return.' + +'In other words, Miss Mac-Ivor, you cannot love me?' said her suitor, +dejectedly. + +'I could esteem you, Mr. Waverley, as much, perhaps more, than any man +I have ever seen; but I cannot love you as you ought to be loved. Oh! +do not, for your own sake, desire so hazardous an experiment! The woman +whom you marry ought to have affections and opinions moulded upon yours. +Her studies ought to be your studies;--her wishes, her feelings, her +hopes, her fears, should all mingle with yours. She should enhance your +pleasures, share your sorrows, and cheer your melancholy.' + +'And, why will not you, Miss Mac-Ivor, who can so well describe a happy +union,--why will not you be yourself the person you describe?' + +'Is it possible you do not yet comprehend me?' answered Flora. 'Have I +not told you, that every keener sensation of my mind is bent exclusively +towards an event, upon which, indeed, I have no power but those of my +earnest prayers?' + +'And might not the granting the suit I solicit,' said Waverley, too +earnest on his purpose to consider what he was about to say, 'even +advance the interest to which you have devoted yourself? My family is +wealthy and powerful, inclined in principles to the Stuart race, and +should a favourable opportunity'-- + +'A favourable opportunity!' said Flora, somewhat scornfully,--'inclined +in principles!--Can such lukewarm adherence be honourable to yourselves, +or gratifying to your lawful sovereign?--Think, from my present +feelings, what I should suffer when I held the place of member in a +family where the rights which I hold most sacred are subjected to cold +discussion, and only deemed worthy of support when they shall appear on +the point of triumphing without it!' + +'Your doubts,' quickly replied Waverley, 'are unjust as far as concerns +myself. The cause that I shall assert, I dare support through every +danger, as undauntedly as the boldest who draws sword in its behalf.' + +'Of that,' answered Flora, 'I cannot doubt for a moment. But consult +your own good sense and reason, rather than a prepossession hastily +adopted, probably only because you have met a young woman possessed of +the usual accomplishments, in a sequestered and romantic situation. Let +your part in this great and perilous drama rest upon conviction, and not +on a hurried, and probably a temporary feeling.' + +Waverley attempted to reply, but his words failed him. Every sentiment +that Flora had uttered vindicated the strength of his attachment; for +even her loyalty, although wildly enthusiastic, was generous and noble, +and disdained to avail itself of any indirect means of supporting the +cause to which she was devoted. + +After walking a little way in silence down the path, Flora thus resumed +the conversation.--'One word more, Mr. Waverley, ere we bid farewell to +this topic for ever; and forgive my boldness if that word have the air +of advice. My brother Fergus is anxious that you should join him in his +present enterprise. But do not consent to this: you could not, by your +single exertions, further his success, and you would inevitably share +his fall, if it be God's pleasure that fall he must. Your character +would also suffer irretrievably. Let me beg you will return to your +own country; and, having publicly freed yourself from every tie to the +usurping government, I trust you will see cause, and find opportunity, +to serve your injured sovereign with effect, and stand forth, as your +loyal ancestors, at the head of your natural followers and adherents, a +worthy representative of the house of Waverley.' + +'And should I be so happy as thus to distinguish myself, might I not +hope'-- + +'Forgive my interruption,' said Flora. 'The present time only is ours, +and I can but explain to you with candour the feelings which I now +entertain; how they might be altered by a train of events too favourable +perhaps to be hoped for, it were in vain even to conjecture: only be +assured, Mr. Waverley, that, after my brother's honour and happiness, +there is none which I shall more sincerely pray for than for yours.' + +With these words she parted from him, for they were now arrived where +two paths separated. Waverley reached the castle amidst a medley of +conflicting passions. He avoided any private interview with Fergus, as +he did not find himself able either to encounter his raillery, or reply +to his solicitations. The wild revelry of the feast, for Mac-Ivor kept +open table for his clan, served in some degree to stun reflection. When +their festivity was ended, he began to consider how he should again +meet Miss Mac-Ivor after the painful and interesting explanation of the +morning. But Flora did not appear. Fergus, whose eyes flashed when he +was told by Cathleen that her mistress designed to keep her apartment +that evening, went himself in quest of her; but apparently his +remonstrances were in vain, for he returned with a heightened +complexion, and manifest symptoms of displeasure. The rest of the +evening passed on without any allusion, on the part either of Fergus or +Waverley, to the subject which engrossed the reflections of the latter, +and perhaps of both. + +When retired to his own apartment, Edward endeavoured to sum up the +business of the day. That the repulse he had received from Flora would +be persisted in for the present, there was no doubt. But could he hope +for ultimate success in case circumstances permitted the renewal of his +suit? Would the enthusiastic loyalty, which at this animating moment +left no room for a softer passion, survive, at least in its engrossing +force, the success or the failure of the present political machinations? +And if so, could he hope that the interest which she had acknowledged +him to possess in her favour, might be improved into a warmer +attachment? He taxed his memory to recall every word she had used, with +the appropriate looks and gestures which had enforced them, and ended +by finding himself in the same state of uncertainty. It was very late +before sleep brought relief to the tumult of his mind, after the most +painful and agitating day which he had ever passed. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A LETTER FROM TULLY-VEOLAN + +In the morning, when Waverley's troubled reflections had for some time +given way to repose, there came music to his dreams, but not the voice +of Selma. He imagined himself transported back to Tully-Veolan, and that +he heard Davie Gellatley singing in the court those matins which used +generally to be the first sounds that disturbed his repose while a +guest of the Baron of Bradwardine. The notes which suggested this +vision continued, and waxed louder, until Edward awoke in earnest. The +illusion, however, did not seem entirely dispelled. The apartment was +in the fortress of Ian nan Chaistel, but it was still the voice of Davie +Gellatley that made the following lines resound under the window:-- + + My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, + My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; + A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, + My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. + [These lines form the burden of an old song to which Burns + wrote additional verses.] + +Curious to know what could have determined Mr. Gellatley on an excursion +of such unwonted extent, Edward began to dress himself in all haste, +during which operation the minstrelsy of Davie changed its tune more +than once:-- + + There's naught in the Highlands but syboes and leeks, + And lang-leggit callants gaun wanting the breeks; + Wanting the breeks, and without hose and shoon, + But we'll a' win the breeks when King Jamie comes hame. + [These lines are also ancient, and I believe to the tune of + 'We'll never hae peace till Jamie comes hame;' + to which Burns likewise wrote some verses.] + +By the time Waverley was dressed and had issued forth, David had +associated himself with two or three of the numerous Highland loungers +who always graced the gates of the castle with their presence, and was +capering and dancing full merrily in the doubles and full career of a +Scotch foursome reel, to the music of his own whistling. In this double +capacity of dancer and musician, he continued, until an idle piper, who +observed his zeal, obeyed the unanimous call of SEID SUAS (i.e. blow +up), and relieved him from the latter part of his trouble. Young and old +then mingled in the dance as they could find partners. The appearance +of Waverley did not interrupt David's exercise, though he contrived, by +grinning, nodding, and throwing one or two inclinations of the body into +the graces with which he performed the Highland fling, to convey to our +hero symptoms of recognition. Then, while busily employed in setting, +whooping all the while, and snapping his fingers over his head, he of a +sudden prolonged his side-step until it brought him to the place where +Edward was standing, and, still keeping time to the music like Harlequin +in a pantomime, he thrust a letter into our hero's hand, and continued +his saltation without pause or intermission, Edward, who perceived that +the address was in Rose's handwriting, retired to peruse it, leaving the +faithful bearer to continue his exercise until the piper or he should be +tired out. + +The contents of the letter greatly surprised him. It had originally +commenced with DEAR SIR; but these words had been carefully erased, +and the monosyllable, SIR, substituted in their place. The rest of the +contents shall be given in Rose's own language:-- + +'I fear I am using an improper freedom by intruding upon you, yet I +cannot trust to any one else to let you know some things which have +happened here, with which it seems necessary you should be acquainted. +Forgive me if I am wrong in what I am doing; for, alas! Mr. Waverley, I +have no better advice than that of my own feelings;--my dear father +is gone from this place, and when he can return to my assistance +and protection, God alone knows. You have probably heard, that in +consequence of some troublesome news from the Highlands, warrants were +sent out for apprehending several gentlemen in these parts, and, among +others, my dear father. In spite of all my tears and entreaties that he +would surrender himself to the Government, he joined with Mr. Falconer +and some other gentlemen, and they have all gone northwards, with a body +of about forty horsemen. So I am not so anxious concerning his immediate +safety, as about what may follow afterwards, for these troubles are only +beginning. But all this is nothing to you, Mr. Waverley, only I thought +you would be glad to learn that my father has escaped, in case you +happen to have heard that he was in danger. + +'The day after my father went off, there came a party of soldiers to +Tully-Veolan, and behaved very rudely to Bailie Macwheeble; but the +officer was very civil to me, only said his duty obliged him to search +for arms and papers. My father had provided against this by taking away +all the arms except the old useless things which hung in the hall; and +he had put all his papers out of the way. But oh! Mr. Waverley, how +shall I tell you that they made strict inquiry after you, and asked when +you had been at Tully-Veolan, and where you now were. The officer is +gone back with his party, but a non-commissioned officer and four men +remain as a sort of garrison in the house. They have hitherto behaved +very well, as we are forced to keep them in good humour. But these +soldiers have hinted as if on your falling into their hands you would +be in great danger; I cannot prevail on myself to write what wicked +falsehoods they said, for I am sure they are falsehoods; but you will +best judge what you ought to do. The party that returned carried off +your servant prisoner, with your two horses, and everything that you +left at Tully-Veolan. I hope God will protect you, and that you will get +safe home to England, where you used to tell me there was no military +violence nor fighting among clans permitted, but everything was done +according to an equal law that protected all who were harmless and +innocent. I hope you will exert your indulgence as to my boldness in +writing to you, where it seems to me, though perhaps erroneously, that +your safety and honour are concerned. I am sure--at least I think, +my father would approve of my writing; for Mr. Rubrick is fled to his +cousin's at the Duchran, to be out of danger from the soldiers and the +Whigs, and Bailie Macwheeble does not like to meddle (he says) in other +men's concerns, though I hope what may serve my father's friend at +such a time as this, cannot be termed improper interference. Farewell, +Captain Waverley! I shall probably never see you more; for it would +be very improper to wish you to call at Tully-Veolan just now, even +if these men were gone; but I will always remember with gratitude your +kindness in assisting so poor a scholar as myself, and your attentions +to my dear, dear father. + +'I remain, your obliged servant, + +'ROSE COMYNE BRADWARDINE. + +'PS.--I hope you will send me a line by David Gellatley, just to say you +have received this, and that you will take care of yourself; and forgive +me if I entreat you, for your own sake, to join none of these unhappy +cabals, but escape, as fast as possible, to your own fortunate +country.--My compliments to my dear Flora, and, to Glennaquoich. Is she +not as handsome and accomplished as I have described her?' + +Thus concluded the letter of Rose Bradwardine, the contents of which +both surprised and affected Waverley. That the Baron should fall under +the suspicions of Government, in consequence of the present stir +among the partisans of the house of Stuart, seemed only the natural +consequence of his political predilections; but how he himself should +have been involved in such suspicions, conscious that until yesterday +he had been free from harbouring a thought against the prosperity of +the reigning family, seemed inexplicable. Both at Tully-Veolan and +Glennaquoich, his hosts had respected his engagements with the existing +government, and though enough passed by accidental innuendo that might +induce him to reckon the Baron and the Chief among those disaffected +gentlemen who were still numerous in Scotland, yet until his own +connexion with the army had been broken off by the resumption of +his commission, he had no reason to suppose that they nourished any +immediate or hostile attempts against the present establishment. Still +he was aware that unless he meant at once to embrace the proposal of +Fergus Mac-Ivor, it would deeply concern him to leave the suspicious +neighbourhood without delay, and repair where his conduct might undergo +a satisfactory examination. Upon this he the rather determined, as +Flora's advice favoured his doing so, and because he felt inexpressible +repugnance at the idea of being accessory to the plague of civil war. +Whatever were the original rights of the Stuarts, calm reflection told +him, that, omitting the question how far James the Second could forfeit +those of his posterity, he had, according to the united voice of the +whole nation, justly forfeited his own. Since that period, four monarchs +had reigned in peace and glory over Britain, sustaining and exalting the +character of the nation abroad, and its liberties at home. Reason +asked, was it worth while to disturb a government so long settled and +established, and to plunge a kingdom into all the miseries of civil +war, for the purpose of replacing upon the throne the descendants of a +monarch by whom it had been wilfully forfeited? If, on the other hand, +his own final conviction of the goodness of their cause, or the commands +of his father or uncle, should recommend to him allegiance to the +Stuarts, still it was necessary to clear his own character by showing +that he had not, as seemed to be falsely insinuated, taken any step to +this purpose, during his holding the commission of the reigning monarch. + +The affectionate simplicity of Rose, and her anxiety for his +safety,--his sense, too, of her unprotected state, and of the terror and +actual dangers to which she might be exposed, made an impression upon +his mind, and he instantly wrote to thank her in the kindest terms for +her solicitude on his account, to express his earnest good wishes for +her welfare and that of her father, and to assure her of his own safety. +The feelings which this task excited were speedily lost in the necessity +which he now saw of bidding farewell to Flora Mac-Ivor, perhaps for +ever. The pang attending this reflection were inexpressible; for her +high-minded elevation of character, her self-devotion to the cause which +she had embraced, united to her scrupulous rectitude as to the means of +serving it, had vindicated to his judgement the choice adopted by his +passions. But time pressed, calumny was busy with his fame, and every +hour's delay increased the power to injure it. His departure must be +instant. + +With this determination he sought out Fergus, and communicated to him +the contents of Rose's letter, with his own resolution instantly to +go to Edinburgh, and put into the hands of some one or other of those +persons of influence to whom he had letters from his father, his +exculpation from any charge which might be preferred against him. + +'You run your head into the lion's mouth,' answered Mac-Ivor. 'You do +not know the severity of a Government harassed by just apprehensions, +and a consciousness of their own illegality and insecurity. I shall have +to deliver you from some dungeon in Stirling or Edinburgh Castle.' + +'My innocence, my rank, my father's intimacy with Lord M--, General G--, +&c., will be a sufficient protection,' said Waverley. + +'You will find the contrary,' replied the Chieftain;--'these gentlemen +will have enough to do about their own matters. Once more, will you +take the plaid, and stay a little while with us among the mists and the +crows, in the bravest cause ever sword was drawn in?' [A Highland rhyme +on Glencairn's Expedition, in 1650, has these lines-- + + We'll hide a while among ta crows, + 'We'll wiske ta sword and bend ta bows.] + +'For many reasons, my dear Fergus, you must hold me excused.' + +'Well, then,' said Mac-Ivor, 'I shall certainly find you exerting +your poetical talents in elegies upon a prison, or your antiquarian +researches in detecting the Oggam [The Oggam is a species of the old +Irish character. The idea of the correspondence betwixt the Celtic +and Punic, founded on a scene in Plautus, was not started till General +Vallancey set up his theory, long after the date of Fergus Mac-Ivor.] +character, or some Punic hieroglyphic upon the key-stones of a vault, +curiously arched. Or what say you to UN PETIT PENDEMENT BIEN JOLI? +against which awkward ceremony I don't warrant you, should you meet a +body of the armed west-country Whigs.' + +'And why should they use me so?' said Waverley. + +'For a hundred good reasons,' answered Fergus: 'First, you are an +Englishman; secondly, a gentleman; thirdly, a prelatist abjured; and, +fourthly, they have not had an opportunity to exercise their talents +on such a subject this long while. But don't be cast down, beloved: all +will be done in the fear of the Lord.' + +'Well, I must run my hazard,' + +'You are determined, then?' + +'I am.' + +'Wilful will do 't,' said Fergus;--'but you cannot go on foot and I +shall want no horse, as I must march on foot at the head of the children +of Ivor; you shall have Brown Dermid.' + +'If you will sell him, I shall certainly be much obliged.' + +'If your proud English heart cannot be obliged by a gift or loan, I +will not refuse money at the entrance of a campaign: his price is twenty +guineas, [Remember, reader, it was Sixty Years since.] And when do you +propose to depart?' + +'The sooner the better,' answered Waverley. + +'You are right, since go you must, or rather, since go you will: I will +take Flora's pony, and ride with you as far as Bally-Brough.--Callum +Beg, see that our horses are ready, with a pony for yourself, to attend +and carry Mr. Waverley's baggage as far as--(naming a small town), where +he can have a horse and guide to Edinburgh. Put on a Lowland dress, +Callum, and see you keep your tongue close, if you would not have me cut +it out: Mr. Waverley rides Dermid,' Then turning to Edward, 'You will +take leave of my sister?' + +'Surely--that is, if Miss Mac-Ivor will honour me so far.' + +'Cathleen, let my sister know that Mr. Waverley wishes to bid her +farewell before he leaves us.--But Rose Bradwardine,--her situation must +be thought of. I wish she were here. And why should she not? There are +but four red-coats at Tully-Veolan, and their muskets would be very +useful to us.' + +To these broken remarks Edward made no answer; his ear indeed received +them, but his soul was intent upon the expected entrance of Flora. The +door opened--it was but Cathleen, with her lady's excuse, and wishes for +Captain Waverley's health and happiness. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +WAVERLEY'S RECEPTION IN THE LOWLANDS AFTER HIS HIGHLAND TOUR + +It was noon when the two friends stood at the top of the pass of +Bally-Brough. 'I must go no farther,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, who during +the journey had in vain endeavoured to raise his friend's spirits, 'If +my cross-grained sister has any share in your dejection, trust me she +thinks highly of you, though her present anxiety about the public cause +prevents her listening to any other subject. Confide your interest to +me; I will not betray it, providing you do not again assume that vile +cockade.' + +'No fear of that, considering the manner in which it has been recalled. +Adieu, Fergus; do not permit your sister to forget me.' + +'And adieu, Waverley; you may soon hear of her with a prouder title. Get +home, write letters, and make friends as many and as fast as you can; +there will speedily be unexpected guests on the coast of Suffolk, or my +news from France has deceived me.' [The sanguine Jacobites, during the +eventful years 1745-6, kept up the spirits of their party by the rumour +of descents from France on behalf of the Chevalier St. George.] + +Thus parted the friends; Fergus returning back to his castle, while +Edward, followed by Callum Beg, the latter transformed from point to +point into a Low-country groom, proceeded to the little town of--. + +Edward paced on under the painful and yet not altogether embittered +feelings which separation and uncertainty produce in the mind of a +youthful lover. I am not sure if the ladies understand the full value of +the influence of absence, nor do I think it wise to teach it them, lest, +like the Clelias and Mandanes of yore, they should resume the humour of +sending their lovers into banishment. Distance, in truth, produces in +idea the same effect as in real prospective. Objects are softened, and +rounded, and rendered doubly graceful; the harsher and more ordinary +points of character are mellowed down, and those by which it is +remembered are the more striking outlines that mark sublimity, grace, +or beauty. There are mists, too, in the mental, as well as the natural +horizon, to conceal what is less pleasing in distant objects, and there +are happy lights, to stream in full glory upon those points which can +profit by brilliant illumination. + +Waverley forgot Flora Mac-Ivor's prejudices in her magnanimity, +and almost pardoned her indifference towards his affection, when he +recollected the grand and decisive object which seemed to fill her whole +soul. She, whose sense of duty so wholly engrossed her in the cause of +a benefactor,--what would be her feelings in favour of the happy +individual who should be so fortunate as to awaken them? Then came the +doubtful question, whether he might not be that happy man,--a question +which fancy endeavoured to answer in the affirmative, by conjuring up +all she had said in his praise, with the addition of a comment much more +flattering than the text warranted. All that was commonplace--all that +belonged to the everyday world--was melted away and obliterated in those +dreams of imagination, which only remembered with advantage the points +of grace and dignity that distinguished Flora, from the generality of +her sex, not the particulars which she held in common with them, +Edward was, in short, in the fair way of creating a goddess out of a +high-spirited, accomplished, and beautiful young woman; and the time was +wasted in castle-building, until, at the descent of a steep hill, he saw +beneath him the market-town of--. + +The Highland politeness of Callum Beg--there are few nations, by the +way, who can boast of so much natural politeness as the Highlanders +[The Highlander, in former times, had always a high idea, of his own +gentility, and was anxious to impress the same upon those with whom +he conversed. His language abounded in the phrases of courtesy and +compliment; and the habit of carrying arms, and mixing with those +who did so, made if particularly desirable they should use cautious +politeness in their intercourse with each other.]--the Highland civility +of his attendant had not permitted him to disturb the reveries of our +hero. But observing him rouse himself at the sight of the village, +Callum pressed closer to his side, and hoped 'When they cam to the +public, his honour wad not say nothing about Vich Ian Vohr, for ta +people were bitter Whigs, deil burst tem.' + +Waverley assured the prudent page that he would be cautious; and as he +now distinguished, not indeed the ringing of bells, but the tinkling +of something like a hammer against the side of an old messy, green, +inverted porridge-pot, that hung in an open booth, of the size and +shape of a parrot's cage, erected to grace the east end of a building +resembling an old barn, he asked Callum Beg if it were Sunday. + +'Could na say just preceesely--Sunday seldom cam aboon the pass of +Bally-Brough.' + +On entering the town, however, and advancing towards the most apparent +public house which presented itself, the numbers of old women, in tartan +screens and red cloaks, who streamed from the barn-resembling building, +debating, as they went, the comparative merits of the blessed youth +Jabesh Rentowel, and that chosen vessel Maister Goukthrapple, induced +Callum to assure his temporary master, 'that it was either ta muckle +Sunday hersell, or ta little government Sunday that they ca'd ta fast.' + +On alighting at the sign of the Seven-branched Golden Candlestick, +which, for the further delectation of the guests, was graced with +a short Hebrew motto, they were received by mine host, a tall, thin +puritanical figure, who seemed to debate with himself whether he ought +to give shelter to those who travelled on such a day. Reflecting, +however, in all probability, that he possessed the power of mulcting +them for this irregularity, a penalty which they might escape by passing +into Gregor Duncanson's, at the sign of the Highlander and the Hawick +Gill, Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks condescended to admit them into his +dwelling. + +To this sanctified person Waverley addressed his request that he would +procure him a guide, with a saddle-horse, to carry his portmanteau to +Edinburgh. + +'And whar may ye be coming from?' demanded mine host of the Candlestick. + +'I have told you where I wish to go; I do not conceive any further +information necessary either for the guide or his saddle-horse.' + +'Hem! Ahem!' returned he of the Candlestick, somewhat disconcerted at +this rebuff. 'It's the general fast, sir, and I cannot enter into ony +carnal transactions on sic a day, when the people should be humbled, +and the back sliders should return, as worthy Mr. Goukthrapple said; and +moreover when, as the precious Mr. Jabesh Rentowel did weel observe, the +land was mourning for covenants burnt, broken, and buried.' + +'My good friend,' said Waverley, 'if you cannot let me have a horse and +guide, my servant shall seek them elsewhere.' + +'Aweel! Your servant?--and what for gangs he not forward wi' you +himsell?' + +Waverley had but very little of a captain of horse's spirit within +him--I mean of that sort of spirit which I have been obliged to when I +happened, in a mail-coach, or diligence, to meet some military man +who has kindly taken upon him the disciplining of the waiters, and the +taxing of reckonings. Some of this useful talent our hero had, however, +acquired during his military service, and on this gross provocation +it began seriously to arise. 'Look ye, sir; I came here for my own +accommodation, and not to answer impertinent questions. Either say you +can, or cannot, get me what I want; I shall pursue my course in either +case.' + +Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks left the room with some indistinct muttering; +but whether negative or acquiescent, Edward could not well distinguish. +The hostess, a civil, quiet, laborious drudge, came to take his orders +for dinner, but declined to make answer on the subject of the horse and +guide; for the Salique law, it seems, extended to the stables of the +Golden Candlestick. + +From a window which overlooked the dark and narrow court in which Callum +Beg rubbed down the horses after their journey, Waverley heard the +following dialogue betwixt the subtle foot-page of Vich Ian Vohr and his +landlord:-- + +'Ye'll be frae the north, young man?' began the latter. + +'And ye may say that,' answered Callum. + +'And ye'll hae ridden a lang way the day, it may weel be?' + +'Sae lang, that I could weel tak a dram,' + +'Gudewife, bring the gill stoup.' + +Here some compliments passed, fitting the occasion, when my host of the +Golden Candlestick, having, as he thought, opened his guest's heart by +this hospitable propitiation, resumed his scrutiny. + +'Ye'll no hae mickle better whisky than that aboon the Pass?' + +'I am nae frae aboon the Pass.' + +'Ye're a Highlandman by your tongue?' + +'Na; I am but just Aberdeen-a-way.' + +'And did your master come frae Aberdeen wi' you?' + +'Aye--that's when I left it mysell,' answered the cool and impenetrable +Callum Beg. + +'And what kind of a gentleman is he?' + +'I believe he is ane o' King George's state officers; at least he's +aye for ganging on to the south; and he has a hantle siller, and never +grudges ony thing till a poor body, or in the way of a lawing.' + +'He wants a guide and a horse frae hence to Edinburgh?' + +'Aye, and ye maun find it him forthwith.' + +'Ahem! It will be chargeable.' + +'He cares na for that a bodle.' + +'Aweel, Duncan--did ye say your name was Duncan, or Donald?' + +'Na, man--Jamie--Jamie Steenson--I telt ye before.' + +This last undaunted parry altogether foiled Mr. Cruickshanks, who, +though not quite satisfied either with the reserve of the master, or +the extreme readiness of the man, was contented to lay a tax on the +reckoning and horse-hire, that might compound for his ungratified +curiosity. The circumstance of its being the fast-day was not forgotten +in the charge, which, on the whole, did not, however, amount to much +more than double what in fairness it should have been. + +Callum Beg soon after announced in person the ratification of this +treaty, adding, 'Ta auld deevil was ganging to ride wi' ta Duinhe-wassel +hersell.' + +'That will not be very pleasant, Callum, nor altogether safe, for our +host seems a person of great curiosity; but a traveller must submit to +these inconveniences. Meanwhile, my good lad, here is a trifle for you +to drink Vich Ian Vohr's health.' + +The hawk's eye of Callum flashed delight upon a golden guinea, with +which these last words were accompanied. He hastened, not without a +curse on the intricacies of a Saxon breeches pocket, or SPLEUCHAN, as +he called it, to deposit the treasure in his fob; and then, as if he +conceived the benevolence called for some requital on his part, +he gathered close up to Edward, with an expression of countenance +peculiarly knowing, and spoke in an undertone, 'If his honour thought ta +auld deevil Whig carle was a bit dangerous, she could easily provide for +him, and tell ane ta wiser.' + +'How, and in what manner?' + +'Her ain sell,' replied Callum, 'could wait for him a wee bit frae the +toun, and kittle his quarters wi' her SKENE-OCCLE.' + +'Skene-occle! what's that?' + +Callum unbuttoned his coat, raised his left arm, and, with an emphatic +nod, pointed to the hilt of a small dirk, snugly deposited under it, +in the lining of his jacket. Waverley thought he had misunderstood his +meaning; he gazed in his face, and discovered in Callum's very handsome, +though embrowned features, just the degree of roguish malice with which +a lad of the same age in England would have brought forward a plan for +robbing an orchard. + +'Good God, Callum, would you take the man's life?' + +'Indeed,' answered the young desperado, 'and I think he has had just a +lang enough lease o't, when he's for betraying honest folk, that come to +spend siller at his public.' + +Edward saw nothing was to be gained by argument, and therefore contented +himself with enjoining Callum to lay aside all practices against the +person of Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks; in which injunction the page seemed +to acquiesce with an air of great indifference. + +'Ta Duinhe-wassel might please himsell; ta auld rudas loon had never +done Callum nae ill. But here's a bit line frae ta Tighearna, tat he +bade me gie your honour ere I came back.' + +The letter from the Chief contained Flora's lines on the fate of Captain +Wogan, whose enterprising character is so well drawn by Clarendon. He +had originally engaged in the service of the Parliament, but had abjured +that party upon the execution of Charles I; and upon hearing that the +royal standard was set up by the Earl of Glencairn and General Middleton +in the Highlands of Scotland, took leave of Charles II, who was then +at Paris, passed into England, assembled a body of cavaliers in the +neighbourhood of London, and traversed the kingdom, which had been so +long under domination of the usurper, by marches conducted with such +skill, dexterity, and spirit, that he safely united his handful of +horsemen with the body of Highlanders then in arms. After several months +of desultory warfare, in which Wogan's skill and courage gained him the +highest reputation, he had the misfortune to be wounded in a dangerous +manner, and no surgical assistance being within reach, he terminated his +short but glorious career. + +Where were obvious reasons why the politic Chieftain was desirous to +place the example of this young hero under the eye of Waverley, with +whose romantic disposition it coincided so peculiarly. But his letter +turned chiefly upon some trifling commissions which Waverley had +promised to execute for him in England, and it was only toward the +conclusion that Edward found these words: 'I owe Flora a grudge for +refusing us her company yesterday; and as I am giving you the trouble +of reading these lines, in order to keep in your memory your promise to +procure me the fishing-tackle and cross-bow from London, I will enclose +her verses on the Grave of Wogan. This I know will tease her; for, to +tell you the truth, I think her more in love with the memory of that +dead hero, than she is likely to be with any living one, unless he +shall tread a similar path. But English squires of our day keep their +oak-trees to shelter their deer-parks, or repair the losses of an +evening at White's, and neither invoke them to wreathe their brows nor +shelter their graves. Let me hope for one brilliant exception in a dear +friend, to whom I would most gladly give a dearer title.' + +The verses were inscribed, + +TO AN OAK TREE + +IN THE CHURCHYARD OF--, IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, SAID TO MARK THE +GRAVE OF CAPTAIN WOGAN, KILLED IN 1649. + + Emblem of England's ancient faith, + Full proudly may thy branches wave, + Where loyalty lies low in death, + And valour fills a timeless grave. + + And thou, brave tenant of the tomb! + Repine not if our clime deny, + Above thine honoured sod to bloom, + The flowerets of a milder sky. + + These owe their birth to genial May; + Beneath a fiercer sun they pine, + Before the winter storm decay-- + And can their worth be type of thine? + + No! for 'mid storms of Fate opposing, + Still higher swelled thy dauntless heart, + And, while Despair the scene was closing, + Commenced thy brief but brilliant part. + + Twas then thou sought'st on Albyn's hill, + (When England's sons the strife resigned), + A rugged race, resisting still, + And unsubdued though unrefined. + + Thy death's hour heard no kindred wail, + No holy knell thy requiem rung; + Thy mourners were the plaided Gael; + Thy dirge the clamorous pibroch sung. + + Yet who, in Fortune's summer-shine, + To waste life's longest term away, + Would change that glorious dawn of thine, + Though darkened ere its noontide day? + + Be thine the Tree whose dauntless boughs + Brave summer's drought and winter's gloom! + Rome bound with oak her patriots' brows, + As Albyn shadows Wogan's tomb. + +Whatever might be the real merit of Flora Mac-Ivor's poetry, +the enthusiasm which it intimated was well calculated to make a +corresponding impression upon her lover. The lines were read--read +again--then deposited in Waverley's bosom--then again drawn out, and +read line by line, in a low and smothered voice, and with frequent +pauses which, prolonged the mental treat, as an epicure protracts, by +sipping slowly the enjoyment of a delicious beverage. The entrance +of Mrs. Cruickshanks, with the sublunary articles of dinner and wine, +hardly interrupted this pantomime of affectionate enthusiasm. + +At length the tall, ungainly figure and ungracious visage of Ebenezer +presented themselves. The upper part of his form, notwithstanding the +season required no such defence, was shrouded in a large great-coat, +belted over his under habiliments, and crested with a huge cowl of +the same stuff, which, when drawn over the head and hat, completely +over-shadowed both, and being buttoned beneath the chin, was called a +TROT-COZY. His hand grasped a huge jockey-whip, garnished with brass +mounting. His thin legs tenanted a pair of gambadoes, fastened at the +sides with rusty clasps. Thus accoutred, he stalked into the midst of +the apartment, and announced his errand in brief phrase:-- + +'Yerhorses are ready.' + +'You go with me yourself then, landlord?' + +'I do, as far as Perth; where you may be supplied With a guide to +Embro', as your occasions shall require.' + +Thus saying, he placed under Waverley's eye the bill which he held in +his hand; and at the same time, self-invited, filled a glass of wine, +and drank devoutly to a blessing on their journey. Waverley stared +at the man's impudence, but, as their connexion was to be short, and +promised to be convenient, he made no observation upon it; and, having +paid his reckoning, expressed his intention to depart immediately. +He mounted Dermid accordingly, and sallied forth from the Golden +Candlestick, followed by the puritanical figure we have described, +after he had, at the expense of some time and difficulty, and by the +assistance of a 'louping-on-stane,' or structure of masonry erected for +the traveller's convenience in front of the house, elevated his person +to the back of a long-backed, raw-boned, thin-gutted phantom of a +broken-down blood-horse, on which Waverley's portmanteau was deposited. +Our hero, though not in a very gay humour, could hardly help laughing +at the appearance of his new squire, and at imagining the astonishment +which his person and equipage would have excited at Waverley-Honour. + +Edward's tendency to mirth did not escape mine host of the Candlestick, +who, conscious of the cause, infused a double portion of souring into +the pharisaical leaven of his countenance, and resolved internally +that in one way or other the young ENGLISHER should pay dearly for the +contempt with which he seemed to regard him. Callum also stood at the +gate, and enjoyed, with undissembled glee, the ridiculous figure of +Mr. Cruickshanks. As Waverley passed him, he pulled off his hat +respectfully, and approaching his stirrup, bade him 'Tak heed the auld +Whig deevil played him nae cantrip.' + +Waverley once more thanked, and bade him farewell, and then rode briskly +onward, not sorry to be out of hearing of the shouts of the children, +as they beheld old Ebenezer rise and sink in his stirrups, to avoid +the concussions occasioned by a hard trot upon a half-paved street. The +village of--was soon several miles behind him. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +SHOWS THAT THE LOSS OF A HORSE'S SHOE MAY BE A SERIOUS INCONVENIENCE + +The manner and air of Waverley, but, above all, the glittering contents +of his purse, and the indifference with which he seemed to regard +them, somewhat overawed his companion, and deterred him from making any +attempts to enter upon conversation. His own reflections were, moreover, +agitated by various surmises, and by plans of self-interest, with which +these were intimately connected. The travellers journeyed, therefore, +in silence, until it was interrupted by the annunciation, on the part of +the guide, that his 'naig had lost a fore-foot shoe, which, doubtless, +his honour would consider it was his part to replace.' + +This was what lawyers call a FISHING QUESTION, calculated to ascertain +how far Waverley was disposed to submit to petty imposition. 'My part +to replace your horse's shoe, you rascal!' said Waverley, mistaking the +purport of the intimation. + +'Indubitably,' answered Mr. Cruickshanks; 'though there was no preceese +clause to that effect, it canna be expected that I am to pay for +the casualties whilk may befall the puir naig while in your honour's +service.--Nathless, if your honour--' + +'Oh, you mean I am to pay the farrier; but where shall we find one?' + +Rejoiced at discerning there would be no objection made on the part of +his temporary master, Mr. Cruickshanks assured him that Cairnvreckan, +a village which they were about to enter, was happy in an excellent +blacksmith; 'but as he was a professor, he would drive a nail for no +man on the Sabbath, or kirk-fast, unless it were in a case of absolute +necessity, for which he always charged sixpence each shoe.' The most +important part of this communication, in the opinion of the speaker, +made a very slight impression on the hearer, who only internally +wondered what college this veterinary professor belonged to; not aware +that the word was used to denote any person who pretended to uncommon +sanctity of faith and manner. + +As they entered the village of Cairnvreckan, they speedily distinguished +the smith's house. Being also a PUBLIC, it was two stories high, and +proudly reared its crest, covered with grey slate, above the thatched +hovels by which it was surrounded. The adjoining smithy betokened none +of the Sabbatical silence and repose which Ebenezer had augured from the +sanctity of his friend. On the contrary, hammer clashed and anvil rang, +the bellows groaned, and the whole apparatus of Vulcan appeared to be +in full activity. Nor was the labour of a rural and pacific nature. The +master smith, benempt, as his sign intimated, John Mucklewrath, with two +assistants, toiled busily in arranging, repairing, and furbishing old +muskets, pistols, and swords, which lay scattered around his workshop +in military confusion. The open shed, containing the forge, was crowded +with persons who came and went as if receiving and communicating +important news; and a single glance at the aspect of the people who +traversed the street in haste, or stood assembled in groups, with +eyes elevated, and hands uplifted, announced that some extraordinary +intelligence was agitating the public mind of the municipality of +Cairnvreckan. 'There is some news,' said mine host of the Candlestick, +pushing his lantern-jawed visage and bare-boned nag rudely forward into +the crowd--'there is some news; and if it please my Creator, I will +forthwith obtain speirings thereof.' + +Waverley, with better regulated curiosity than his attendant's, +dismounted, and gave his horse to a boy who stood idling near. It arose, +perhaps, from the shyness of his character in early youth, that he felt +dislike at applying to a stranger even for casual information, without +previously glancing at his physiognomy and appearance. While he looked +about in order to select the person with whom he would most willingly +hold communication, the buzz around saved him in some degree the trouble +of interrogatories. The names of Lochiel, Clanronald, Glengarry, and +other distinguished Highland Chiefs, among whom Vich Ian Vohr was +repeatedly mentioned, were as familiar in men's mouths as household +words; and from the alarm generally expressed, he easily conceived that +their descent into the Lowlands, at the head of their armed tribes, had +either already taken place, or was instantly apprehended. + +Ere Waverley could ask particulars, a strong, large-boned, hard-featured +woman, about forty, dressed as if her clothes had been flung on with +a pitchfork, her cheeks flushed with a scarlet red where they were +not smutted with soot and lamp-black, jostled through the crowd, and, +brandishing high a child of two years old, which she danced in her +arms, without regard to its screams of terror, sang forth, with all her +might,-- + + 'Charlie is my darling, my darling, my darling, + Charlie is my darling, + The young Chevalier! + +'D'ye hear what's come ower ye now,' continued the virago, 'ye whingeing +Whig carles? D'ye hear wha's coming to cow yer cracks? + + Little wot ye wha's coming, + Little wot ye wha's coming, + A' the wild Macraws are coming.' + +The Vulcan of Cairnvreckan, who acknowledged his Venus in this exulting +Bacchante, regarded her with a grim and ire-foreboding countenance, +while some of the senators of the village hastened to interpose. +'Whisht, gudewife; is this a time, or is this a day, to be singing your +ranting fule sangs in?--a time when the wine of wrath is poured out +without mixture in the cup of indignation, and a day when the land +should give testimony against popery, and prelacy, and quakerism, and +independency, and supremacy, and erastianism, and antinomianism, and a' +the errors of the church?' + +'And that's a' your Whiggery,' re-echoed the Jacobite heroine; 'that's +a' your Whiggery, and your presbytery, ye cut-lugged, graning carles! +What! d'ye think the lads wi' the kilts will care for yer synods and +yer presbyteries, and yer buttock-mail, and yer stool o' repentance? +Vengeance on the black face o't! Mony an honester woman's been set upon +it than streeks doon beside ony Whig in the country. I mysell'-- + +Here John Mucklewrath, who dreaded her entering upon a detail of +personal experience, interposed his matrimonial authority. 'Gae hame, +and be d-- (that I should say sae), and put on the sowens for supper.' + +'And you, ye doil'd dotard,' replied his gentle helpmate, her wrath, +which had hitherto wandered abroad over the whole assembly, being at +once and violently impelled into its natural channel, 'ye stand +there hammering dog-heads for fules that will never snap them at a +Highlandman, instead, of earning bread for your family, and shoeing this +winsome young gentleman's horse that's just come frae the north! I'se +warrant him nane of your whingeing King George folk, but a gallant +Gordon, at the least o' him.' + +The eyes of the assembly were now turned upon Waverley, who took the +opportunity to beg the smith to shoe his guide's horse with all speed, +as he wished to proceed on his journey;--for he had heard enough to make +him sensible that there would be danger in delaying long in this place. +The smith's eye rested on him with a look of displeasure and suspicion, +not lessened by the eagerness with which his wife enforced Waverley's +mandate. 'D'ye hear what the weel-favoured young gentleman says, ye +drunken ne'er-do-good?' + +And what may your name be, sir?' quoth Mucklewrath. + +'It is of no consequence to you, my friend, provided I pay your labour.' + +'But it may be of consequence to the state, sir,' replied an old farmer, +smelling strongly of whisky and peat-smoke; 'and I doubt we maun delay +your journey till you have seen the Laird.' + +'You certainly,' said Waverley, haughtily, 'will find it both difficult +and dangerous to detain me, unless you can produce some proper +authority.' + +There was a pause and a whisper among the crowd--'Secretary Murray;' +'Lord Lewis Gordon;' 'Maybe the Chevalier himsell!' Such were the +surmises that passed hurriedly among them, and there was obviously an +increased disposition to resist Waverley's departure. He attempted to +argue mildly with them, but his voluntary ally, Mrs. Mucklewrath, broke +in upon and drowned his expostulations, taking his part with an abusive +violence, which was all set down to Edward's account by those on whom it +was bestowed. 'YE'LL stop ony gentleman that's the Prince's freend?' +for she too, though with other feelings, had adopted the general opinion +respecting Waverley. 'I daur ye to touch him,' spreading abroad her long +and muscular fingers, garnished with claws which a vulture might have +envied. 'I'll set my ten commandments in the face o' the first loon that +lays a finger on him.' + +'Gae hame, gudewife, quoth the farmer aforesaid; 'it wad better set you +to be nursing the gudeman's bairns than to be deaving us here.' + +'HIS bairns!' retorted the amazon, regarding her husband with a grin of +ineffable contempt--'HIS bairns! + + O gin ye were dead, gudeman, + And a green turf on your head, gudeman! + Then I would ware my widowhood + Upon a ranting Highlandman.' + +This canticle, which excited a suppressed titter among the younger part +of the audience, totally overcame the patience of the taunted man of the +anvil. 'Deil be in me but I'll put this het gad down her throat!' cried +he, in an ecstasy of wrath, snatching a bar from the forge; and he might +have executed his threat, had he not been withheld by a part of the mob; +while the rest endeavoured to force the termagant out of his presence. + +Waverley meditated a retreat in the confusion, but his horse was nowhere +to be seen. At length he observed, at some distance, his faithful +attendant, Ebenezer, who, as soon as he had perceived the turn matters +were likely to take, had withdrawn both horses from the press, and, +mounted on the one, and holding the other, answered the loud and +repeated calls of Waverley for his horse--'Na, na! if ye are nae friend +to kirk and the king, and are detained as siccan a person, ye maun +answer to honest men of the country for breach of contract; and I maun +keep the naig and the walise for damage and expense, in respect my +horse and mysell will lose to-morrow's day's-wark, besides the afternoon +preaching.' + +Edward, out of patience, hemmed in and hustled by the rabble on every +side, and every moment expecting personal violence, resolved to +try measures of intimidation, and at length drew a pocket-pistol, +threatening, on the one hand, to shoot whomsoever dared to stop him, +and, on the other, menacing Ebenezer with a similar doom, if he stirred +a foot with the horses. The sapient Partridge says, that one man with a +pistol is equal to a hundred unarmed, because, though he can shoot but +one of the multitude, yet no one knows but that he himself may be that +luckless individual. The levy en masse of Cairnvreckan would therefore +probably have given way, nor would Ebenezer, whose natural paleness had +waxed three shades more cadaverous, have ventured to dispute a mandate +so enforced, had not the Vulcan of the village, eager to discharge upon +some more worthy object the fury which his helpmate had provoked, and +not ill satisfied to find such an object in Waverley, rushed at him with +the red-hot bar of iron, with such determination as made the discharge +of his pistol an act of self-defence. The unfortunate man fell; and +while Edward, thrilled with a natural horror at the incident, neither +had presence of mind to unsheathe his sword nor to draw his remaining +pistol, the populace threw themselves upon him, disarmed him, and were +about to use him with great violence, when the appearance of a venerable +clergyman, the pastor of the parish, put a curb on their fury. + +This worthy man (none of the Goukthrapples or Rentowels) maintained his +character with the common people, although he preached the practical +fruits of Christian faith, as well as its abstract tenets, and was +respected by the higher orders, notwithstanding he declined soothing +their speculative errors by converting the pulpit of the gospel into a +school of heathen morality. Perhaps it is owing to this mixture of faith +and practice in his doctrine, that, although his memory has formed a +sort of era in the annals of Cairnvreckan, so that the parishioners, to +denote what befell Sixty Years since, still say it happened 'in good Mr. +Morton's time,' I have never been able to discover which he belonged to, +the evangelical, or the moderate party in the kirk. Nor do I hold the +circumstance of much moment, since, in my own remembrance, the one was +headed by an Erskine, the other by a Robertson. [The Rev. John Erskine, +D.D., an eminent Scottish divine, and a most excellent man, headed +the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland at the time when the +celebrated Dr. Robertson, the historian, was the leader of the Moderate +party. These two distinguished persons were colleagues in the Old Grey +Friars' Church, Edinburgh; and, however much they differed in church +politics, preserved the most perfect harmony as private friends, and as +clergymen serving the same cure.] + +Mr. Morton had been alarmed by the discharge of the pistol, and the +increasing hubbub around the smithy. His first attention, after he had +directed the bystanders to detain Waverley, but to abstain from injuring +him, was turned to the body of Mucklewrath, over which his wife, in a +revulsion of feeling, was weeping, howling, and tearing her elf-locks, +in a state little short of distraction. On raising up the smith, the +first discovery was, that he was alive; and the next, that he was likely +to live as long as if he had never heard the report of a pistol in his +life. He had made a narrow escape, however; the bullet had grazed his +head, and stunned him for a moment or two, which trance terror and +confusion of spirit had prolonged, somewhat longer. He now arose +to demand vengeance on the person of Waverley, and with difficulty +acquiesced in the proposal of Mr. Morton, that he should be carried +before the laird, as a justice of peace, and placed at his disposal. The +rest of the assistants unanimously agreed to the measure recommended; +even Mrs. Mucklewrath, who had begun to recover from her hysterics, +whimpered forth, 'She wadna say naething against what the minister +proposed; he was e'en ower gude for his trade, and she hoped to see him +wi' a dainty decent bishop's gown on his back; a comelier sight than +your Geneva cloaks and bands, I wis.' + +All controversy being thus laid aside, Waverley, escorted by the whole +inhabitants of the village who were not bed-ridden, was conducted to the +house of Cairnvreckan, which was about half a mile distant. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +AN EXAMINATION + +Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, an elderly gentleman, who had spent his +youth in the military service, received Mr. Morton with great kindness, +and our hero with civility, which the equivocal circumstances wherein +Edward was placed rendered constrained and distant. + +The nature of the smith's hurt was inquired into, and as the actual +injury was likely to prove trifling, and the circumstances in which it +was received rendered the infliction, on Edward's part, a natural act +of self-defence, the Major conceived he might dismiss that matter, on +Waverley's depositing in his hands a small sum for the benefit of the +wounded person. + +'I could wish, sir,' continued the Major, 'that my duty terminated here; +but it is necessary that we should have some further inquiry into +the cause of your journey through the country at this unfortunate and +distracted time.' + +Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks now stood forth, and communicated to the +magistrate all he knew or suspected, from the reserve of Waverley, and +the evasions of Callum Beg. The horse upon which Edward rode, he said he +knew to belong to Vich Ian Vohr, though he dared not tax Edward's former +attendant with the fact, lest he should have his house and stables +burnt over his head some night by that godless gang, the Mac-Ivors. He +concluded by exaggerating his own services to kirk and state, as having +been the means, under God (as he modestly qualified the assertion), of +attaching this suspicious and formidable delinquent. He intimated hopes +of future reward, and of instant reimbursement for loss of time, and +even of character, by travelling on the state business on the fast-day. + +To this Major Melville answered, with great composure, that so far from +claiming any merit in this affair, Mr. Cruickshanks ought to deprecate +the imposition of a very heavy fine for neglecting to lodge, in terms of +the recent proclamation, an account with the nearest magistrate of any +stranger who came to his inn; that as Mr. Cruickshanks boasted so +much of religion and loyalty, he should not impute this conduct to +disaffection, but only suppose that his zeal for kirk and state had +been lulled asleep by the opportunity of charging a stranger with double +horse-hire; that, however, feeling himself incompetent to decide singly +upon the conduct of a person of such importance, he should reserve it +for consideration of the next quarter-sessions. Now our history for the +present saith no more of him of the Candlestick, who wended dolorous and +malcontent back to his own dwelling. + +Major Melville then commanded the villagers to return to their homes, +excepting two, who officiated as constables, and whom he directed to +wait below. The apartment was thus cleared of every person but Mr. +Morton, whom the Major invited to remain; a sort of factor, who acted +as clerk; and Waverley himself. There ensued a painful and embarrassed +pause, till Major Melville, looking upon Waverley with much compassion, +and often consulting a paper or memorandum which he held in his hand, +requested to know his name.--'Edward Waverley.' + +'I thought so; late of the--dragoons, and nephew of Sir Everard Waverley +of Waverley-Honour?' + +'The same.' + +'Young gentleman, I am extremely sorry that this painful duty has fallen +to my lot.' + +'Duty, Major Melville, renders apologies superfluous.' + +'True, sir; permit me, therefore, to ask you how your time has been +disposed of since you obtained leave of absence from your regiment, +several weeks ago, until the present moment?' + +'My reply,' said Waverley, 'to so general a question must be guided by +the nature of the charge which renders it necessary. I request to know +what that charge is, and upon what authority I am forcibly detained to +reply to it?' + +'The charge, Mr. Waverley, I grieve to say, is of a very high nature, +and affects your character both as a soldier and a subject. In the +former capacity, you are charged with spreading mutiny and rebellion +among the men you commanded, and setting them the example of desertion, +by prolonging your own absence from the regiment, contrary to the +express orders of your commanding-officer. The civil crime of which you +stand accused is that of high treason, and levying war against the king, +the highest delinquency of which a subject can be guilty.' + +'And by what authority am I detained to reply to such heinous +calumnies?' + +'By one which you must not dispute, nor I disobey.' + +He handed to Waverley a warrant from the Supreme Criminal Court of +Scotland, in full form, for apprehending and securing the person of +Edward Waverley, Esq., suspected of treasonable practices and other high +crimes and misdemeanours. + +The astonishment which Waverley expressed at this communication was +imputed by Major Melville to conscious guilt, while Mr. Morton was +rather disposed to construe it into the surprise of innocence unjustly +suspected. There was something true in both conjectures; for although +Edward's mind acquitted him of the crime with which he was charged, +yet a hasty review of his own conduct convinced him he might have great +difficulty in establishing his innocence to the satisfaction of others. + +'It is a very painful part of this painful business,' said Major +Melville, after a pause, 'that, under so grave a charge, I must +necessarily request to see such papers as you have on your person.' + +'You shall, sir, without reserve,' said Edward, throwing his pocket-book +and memorandums upon the table; 'there is but one with which I could +wish you would dispense.' + +'I am afraid, Mr. Waverley, I can indulge you with no reservation.' + +'You shall see it then, sir; and as it can be of no service, I beg it +may be returned.' + +He took from his bosom the lines he had that morning received, and +presented them with the envelope. The Major perused them in silence, and +directed his clerk to make a copy of them. He then wrapped the copy +in the envelope, and placing it on the table before him, returned the +original to Waverley, with an air of melancholy gravity. + +After indulging the prisoner, for such our hero must now be considered, +with what he thought a reasonable time for reflection, Major Melville +resumed his examination, premising, that as Mr. Waverley seemed to +object to general questions, his interrogatories should be as specific +as his information permitted. He then proceeded in his investigation, +dictating, as he went on, the import of the questions and answers to the +amanuensis, by whom it was written down. + +Did Mr. Waverley know one Humphry Houghton, a non-commissioned officer +in Gardiner's dragoons?' + +'Certainly; he was sergeant of my troop, and son of a tenant of my +uncle.' + +'Exactly--and had a considerable share of your confidence, and an +influence among his comrades?' + +'I had never occasion to repose confidence in a person of his +description,' answered Waverley. 'I favoured Sergeant Houghton as a +clever, active young fellow, and I believe his fellow soldiers respected +him accordingly.' + +'But you used through this man,' answered Major Melville, 'to +communicate with such of your troop as were recruited upon +Waverley-Honour?' + +'Certainly; the poor fellows, finding themselves in a regiment chiefly +composed of Scotch or Irish, looked up to me in any of their little +distresses, and naturally made their countryman, and sergeant, their +spokesman on such occasions.' + +'Sergeant Houghton's influence,' continued the Major, 'extended, then, +particularly over those soldiers who followed you to the regiment from +your uncle's estate?' + +'Surely;--but what is that to the present purpose?' + +'To that I am just coming, and I beseech your candid reply. Have you, +since leaving the regiment, held any correspondence, direct or indirect, +with this Sergeant Houghton?' + +'I!--I hold correspondence with a man of his rank and situation!--How, +or for what purpose?' + +'That you are to explain;--but did you not, for example, send to him for +some books?' + +'You remind me of a trifling commission,' said Waverley, 'which I gave +Sergeant Houghton, because my servant could not read. I do recollect I +bade him, by letter, select some books, of which I sent him a list, and +send them to me at Tully-Veolan.' + +'And of what description were those books?' + +'They related almost entirely to elegant literature; they were designed +for a lady's perusal.' + +'Were there not, Mr. Waverley, treasonable tracts and pamphlets among +them?' + +'There were some political treatises, into which I hardly looked. They +had been sent to me by the officiousness of a kind friend, whose heart +is more to be esteemed than his prudence or political sagacity; they +seemed to be dull compositions.' + +'That friend,' continued the persevering inquirer, 'was a Mr. Pembroke, +a nonjuring clergyman, the author of two treasonable works, of which the +manuscripts were found among your baggage?' + +'But of which, I give you my honour as a gentleman,' replied Waverley, +'I never read six pages.' + +'I am not your judge, Mr. Waverley; your examination will be transmitted +elsewhere. And now to proceed--Do you know a person that passes by the +name of Wily Will, or Will Ruthven?' + +'I never heard of such a name till this moment.' + +'Did you never, through such a person, or any other person, communicate +with Sergeant Humphry Houghton, instigating him to desert, with as +many of his comrades as he could seduce to join him, and unite with the +Highlanders and other rebels now in arms under the command of the young +Pretender?' + +'I assure you I am not only entirely guiltless of the plot you have laid +to my charge, but I detest it from the very bottom of my soul, nor would +I be guilty of such treachery to gain a throne, either for myself or any +other man alive.' + +'Yet when I consider this envelope, in the handwriting of one of those +misguided gentlemen who are now in arms against their country, and the +verses which it enclosed, I cannot but find some analogy between the +enterprise I have mentioned and the exploit of Wogan, which the writer +seems to expect you should imitate.' + +Waverley was struck with the coincidence, but denied that the wishes +or expectations of the letter-writer were to be regarded as proofs of a +charge otherwise chimerical. + +'But, if I am rightly informed, your time was spent, during your absence +from the regiment, between the house of this Highland Chieftain, +and that of Mr. Bradwardine of Bradwardine, also in arms for this +unfortunate cause?' + +'I do not mean to disguise it; but I do deny, most resolutely, being +privy to any of their designs against the Government.' + +'You do not, however, I presume, intend to deny, that you attended your +host Glennaquoich to a rendezvous, where, under a pretence of a general +hunting-match, most of the accomplices of his treason were assembled to +concert measures for taking arms?' + +'I acknowledge having been at such a meeting,' said Waverley; 'but I +neither heard nor saw anything which could give it the character you +affix to it.' + +'From thence you proceeded,' continued the magistrate, 'with +Glennaquoich and a part of his clan, to join the army of the young +Pretender, and returned, after having paid your homage to him, to +discipline and arm the remainder, and unite them to his bands on their +way southward?' + +'I never went with Glennaquoich on such an errand. I never so much as +heard that the person whom you mention was in the country.' + +He then detailed the history of his misfortune at the hunting-match, +and added, that on his return he found himself suddenly deprived of his +commission and did not deny that he then, for the first time, observed +symptoms which indicated a disposition in the Highlanders to take arms; +but added, that having no inclination to join their cause, and no longer +any reason for remaining in Scotland, he was now on his return to his +native country, to which he had been summoned by those who had a right +to direct his motions, as Major Melville would perceive from the letters +on the table. + +Major Melville accordingly perused the letters of Richard Waverley, of +Sir Everard, and of Aunt Rachel; but the inferences he drew from them +were different from what Waverley expected. They held the language of +discontent with Government, threw out no obscure hints of revenge; and +that of poor Aunt Rachel, which plainly asserted the justice of the +Stuart cause, was held to contain the open avowal of what the others +only ventured to insinuate. + +'Permit me another question, Mr. Waverley,' said Major Melville. 'Did +you not receive repeated letters from your commanding-officer, warning +you and commanding you to return to your post, and acquainting you with +the use made of your name to spread discontent among your soldiers?' + +'I never did, Major Melville. One letter, indeed, I received from him, +containing a civil intimation of his wish that I would employ my leave +of absence otherwise than in constant residence at Bradwardine, as to +which, I own, I thought he was not called on to interfere; and, finally, +I received, on the same day on which I observed myself superseded in the +Gazette, a second letter from Colonel Gardiner, commanding me to join +the regiment,--an order which, owing to my absence, already mentioned +and accounted for, I received too late to be obeyed. If there were any +intermediate letters--and certainly, from the Colonel's high character, +I think it probable that there were--they have never reached me.' + +'I have omitted, Mr. Waverley,' continued Major Melville, 'to inquire +after a matter of less consequence, but which has nevertheless been +publicly talked of to your disadvantage. It is said that a treasonable +toast having been proposed in your hearing and presence, you, holding +his Majesty's commission, suffered the task of resenting it to devolve +upon another gentleman of the company. This, sir, cannot be charged +against you in a court of justice; but if, as I am informed, the +officers of your regiment requested an explanation of such a rumour, +as a gentleman and soldier, I cannot but be surprised that you did not +afford it to them.' + +This was too much. Beset and pressed on every hand by accusations, in +which gross falsehoods were blended with such circumstances of truth +as could not fail to procure them credit,--alone, unfriended, and in a +strange land, Waverley almost gave up his life and honour for lost, and, +leaning his head upon his hand, resolutely refused to answer any further +questions, since the fair and candid statement he had already made had +only served to furnish arms against him. + +Without expressing either surprise or displeasure at the change in +Waverley's manner, Major Melville proceeded composedly to put several +other queries to him. 'What does it avail me to answer you?' said +Edward, sullenly. 'You appear convinced of my guilt, and wrest every +reply I have made to support your own preconceived opinion. Enjoy your +supposed triumph, then, and torment me no further. If I am capable of +the cowardice and treachery your charge burdens me with, I am not worthy +to be believed in any reply I can make to you. If I am not deserving of +your suspicion--and God and my own conscience bear evidence with me +that it is so--then I do not see why I should, by my candour, lend my +accusers arms against my innocence. There is no reason I should answer +a word more, and I am determined to abide by this resolution.' And again +he resumed his posture of sullen and determined silence. + +'Allow me,' said the magistrate, 'to remind you of one reason that may +suggest the propriety of a candid and open confession. The inexperience +of youth, Mr. Waverley, lays it open to the plans of the more designing +and artful; and one of your friends at least--I mean Mac-Ivor of +Glennaquoich--ranks high in the latter class, as, from your apparent +ingenuousness, youth, and unacquaintance with the manners of the +Highlands, I should be disposed to place you among the former. In such +a case, a false step, or error like yours, which I shall be happy to +consider as involuntary, may be atoned for, and I would willingly act as +intercessor. But as you must necessarily be acquainted with the strength +of the individuals in this country who have assumed arms, with their +means, and with their plans, I must expect you will merit this mediation +on my part by a frank and candid avowal of all that has come to your +knowledge upon these heads. In which case, I think I can venture to +promise that a very short personal restraint will be the only ill +consequence that can arise from your accession to these unhappy +intrigues.' + +Waverley listened with great composure until the end of this +exhortation, when, springing from his seat, with an energy he had not +yet displayed, he replied, 'Major Melville, since that is your name, +I have hitherto answered your questions with candour, or declined them +with temper, because their import concerned myself alone; but as you +presume to esteem me mean enough to commence informer against others, +who received me, whatever may be their public misconduct, as a guest and +friend,--I declare to you that I consider your questions as an insult +infinitely more offensive than your calumnious suspicions; and that, +since my hard fortune permits me no other mode of resenting them than by +verbal defiance, you should sooner have my heart out of my bosom, than +a single syllable of information on subjects which I could only become +acquainted with in the full confidence of unsuspecting hospitality.' + +Mr. Morton and the Major looked at each other; and the former, who, in +the course of the examination, had been repeatedly troubled with a sorry +rheum, had recourse to his snuff-box and his handkerchief. + +'Mr. Waverley,' said the Major, 'my present situation prohibits me alike +from giving or receiving offence, and I will not protract a discussion +which approaches to either. I am afraid I must sign a warrant for +detaining you in custody, but this house shall for the present be +your prison. I fear I cannot persuade you to accept a share of our +supper?--(Edward shook his head)--but I will order refreshments in your +apartment. + +Our hero bowed and withdrew, under guard of the officers of justice, to +a small but handsome room, where, declining all offers of food or wine, +he flung himself on the bed, and, stupefied by the harassing events +and mental fatigue of this miserable day, he sank into a deep and heavy +slumber. This was more than he himself could have expected; but it is +mentioned of the North American Indians, when at the stake of torture, +that on the least intermission of agony, they will sleep until the fire +is applied to awaken them. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A CONFERENCE, AND THE CONSEQUENCE + +Major Melville had detained Mr. Morton during his examination of +Waverley, both because he thought he might derive assistance from his +practical good sense and approved loyalty, and also because it was +agreeable to have a witness of unimpeached candour and veracity to +proceedings which touched the honour and safety of a young Englishman of +high rank and family, and the expectant heir of a large fortune. Every +step he knew would be rigorously canvassed, and it was his business to +place the justice and integrity of his own conduct beyond the limits of +question. + +When Waverley retired, the laird and clergyman of Cairnvreckan sat down +in silence to their evening meal. While the servants were in attendance, +neither chose to say anything on the circumstances which occupied their +minds, and neither felt it easy to speak upon any other. The youth and +apparent frankness of Waverley stood in strong contrast to the shades +of suspicion which darkened around him, and he had a sort of NAIVETE and +openness of demeanour, that seemed to belong to one unhackneyed in the +ways of intrigue, and which pleaded highly in his favour. + +Each mused over the particulars of the examination, and each viewed it +through the medium of his own feelings. Both were men of ready and acute +talent, and both were equally competent to combine various parts of +evidence, and to deduce from them the necessary conclusions. But the +wide difference of their habits and education often occasioned a great +discrepancy in their respective deductions from admitted premises. + +Major Melville had been versed in camps and cities; he was vigilant by +profession, and cautious from experience; had met with much evil in +the world, and therefore, though himself an upright magistrate and an +honourable man, his opinions of others were always strict, and sometimes +unjustly severe. Mr. Morton, on the contrary, had passed from the +literary pursuits of a college, where he was beloved by his companions, +and respected by his teachers, to the ease and simplicity of his present +charge, where his opportunities of witnessing evil were few, and never +dwelt upon but in order to encourage repentance and amendment; and where +the love and respect of his parishioners repaid his affectionate zeal in +their behalf, by endeavouring to disguise from him what they knew +would give him the most acute pain, namely, their own occasional +transgressions of the duties which it was the business of his life to +recommend. Thus it was a common saying in the neighbourhood (though +both wore popular characters), that the laird knew only the ill in the +parish, and the minister only the good. + +A love of letters, though kept in subordination to his clerical studies +and duties, also distinguished the pastor of Cairnvreckan, and had +tinged his mind in earlier days with a slight feeling of romance, which +no after incidents of real life had entirely dissipated. The early loss +of an amiable young woman, whom he had married for love, and who was +quickly followed to the grave by an only child, had also served, even +after the lapse of many years, to soften a disposition naturally mild +and contemplative. His feelings on the present occasion were therefore +likely to differ from those of the severe disciplinarian, strict +magistrate, and distrustful man of the world. + +When the servants had withdrawn, the silence of both parties continued, +until Major Melville, filling his glass, and pushing the bottle to Mr. +Morton, commenced. 'A distressing affair this, Mr. Morton. I fear this +youngster has brought himself within the compass of a halter.' + +'God forbid!' answered the clergyman. + +'Marry, and amen,' said the temporal magistrate; 'but I think even your +merciful logic will hardly deny the conclusion.' + +'Surely, Major,' answered the clergyman, 'I should hope it might be +averted, for aught we have heard to-night?' + +'Indeed!' replied Melville. 'But, my good parson, you are one of those +who would communicate to every criminal the benefit of clergy.' + +'Unquestionably I would: mercy and long-suffering are the grounds of the +doctrine I am called to teach.' + +'True, religiously speaking; but mercy to a criminal may be gross +injustice to the community. I don't speak of this young fellow in +particular, who I heartily wish may be able to clear himself, for I +like both his modesty and his spirit. But I fear he has rushed upon his +fate.' + +'And why? Hundreds of misguided gentlemen are now in arms against the +Government; many, doubtless, upon principles which education and +early prejudice have gilded with the names of patriotism and +heroism;--Justice, when she selects her victims from such a multitude +(for surely all will not be destroyed), must regard the moral motive. +He whom ambition, or hope of personal advantage, has led to disturb the +peace of a well-ordered government, let him fall a victim to the laws; +but surely youth, misled by the wild visions of chivalry and imaginary +loyalty, may plead for pardon.' + +'If visionary chivalry and imaginary loyalty come within the predicament +of high treason,' replied the magistrate, 'I know no court in +Christendom, my dear Mr. Morton, where they can sue out their Habeas +Corpus.' + +'But I cannot see that this youth's guilt is at all established to my +satisfaction,' said the clergyman. + +'Because your good nature blinds your good sense,' replied Major +Melville. 'Observe now: this young man, descended of a family of +hereditary Jacobites, his uncle the leader of the Tory interest in the +county of--, his father a disobliged and discontented courtier, his +tutor a nonjuror, and the author of two treasonable volumes--this youth, +I say, enters into Gardiner's dragoons, bringing with him a body-of +young fellows from his uncle's estate, who have not stickled at +avowing, in their way, the High Church principles they learned at +Waverley-Honour, in their disputes with their comrades. To these young +men Waverley is unusually attentive; they are supplied with money beyond +a soldier's wants, and inconsistent with his discipline; and are under +the management of a favourite sergeant, through whom they hold an +unusually close communication with their captain, and affect to consider +themselves as independent of the other officers, and superior to their +comrades.' + +'All this, my dear Major, is the natural consequence of their attachment +to their young landlord, and of their finding themselves in a regiment +levied chiefly in the north of Ireland and the west of Scotland, and of +course among comrades disposed to quarrel with them, both as Englishmen, +and as members of the Church of England.' + +'Well said, parson!' replied the magistrate.--'I would some of your +synod heard you.--But let me go on. This young man obtains leave +of absence, goes to Tully-Veolan--the principles of the Baron of +Bradwardine are pretty well known, not to mention that this lad's uncle +brought him off in the year fifteen; he engages there in a brawl, in +which he is said to have disgraced the commission he bore; Colonel +Gardiner writes to him, first mildly, then more sharply--I think you +will not doubt his having done so, since he says so; the mess invite +him to explain the quarrel in which he is said to have been involved; he +neither replies to his commander nor his comrades. In the meanwhile, his +soldiers become mutinous and disorderly, and at length, when the rumour +of this unhappy rebellion becomes general, his favourite Sergeant +Houghton, and another fellow, are detected in correspondence with a +French emissary, accredited, as he says, by Captain Waverley, who urges +him, according to the men's confession, to desert with the troop and +join their captain, who was with Prince Charles. In the meanwhile this +trusty captain is, by his own admission, residing at Glennaquoich with +the most active, subtle, and desperate Jacobite in Scotland; he goes +with him at least as far as their famous hunting rendezvous, and I +fear a little farther. Meanwhile two other summonses are sent him; +one warning him of the disturbances in his troop, another peremptorily +ordering him to repair to the regiment, which, indeed, common sense +might have dictated, when he observed rebellion thickening all round +him. He returns an absolute refusal, and throws up his commission.' + +'He had been already deprived of it,' said Mr. Morton. + +'But he regrets,' replied Melville, 'that the measure had anticipated +his resignation. His baggage is seized at his quarters, and at +Tully-Veolan, and is found to contain a stock of pestilent jacobitical +pamphlets, enough to poison a whole country, besides the unprinted +lucubrations of his worthy friend and tutor Mr. Pembroke. + +'He says he never read them,' answered the minister. + +'In an ordinary case I should believe him,' replied the magistrate, 'for +they are as stupid and pedantic in composition, as mischievous in their +tenets. But can you suppose anything but value for the principles they +maintain would induce a young man of his age to lug such trash about +with him? Then, when news arrive of the approach of the rebels, he sets +out in a sort of disguise, refusing to tell his name; and, if yon old +fanatic tell truth, attended by a very suspicious character, and mounted +on a horse known to have belonged to Glennaquoich, and bearing on his +person letters from his family expressing high rancour against the house +of Brunswick, and a copy of verses in praise of one Wogan, who abjured +the service of the Parliament to join the Highland insurgents, when in +arms to restore the house of Stuart, with a body of English cavalry the +very counterpart of his own plot--and summed up with a "Go thou and +do likewise," from that loyal subject, and most safe and peaceable +character, Fergus Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich, Vich Ian Vohr, and so forth. +And, lastly,' continued Major Melville, warming in the detail of his +arguments, 'where do we find this second edition of Cavalier Wogan? Why, +truly, in the very track most proper for execution of his design, and +pistolling the first of the king's subjects who ventures to question his +intentions.' + +Mr. Morton prudently abstained from argument, which he perceived would +only harden the magistrate in his opinion, and merely asked how he +intended to dispose of the prisoner? + +'It is a question of some difficulty, considering the state of the +country,' said Major Melville. + +'Could you not detain him (being such a gentleman-like young man) here +in your own house, out of harm's way, till this storm blow over?' + +'My good friend,' said Major Melville, 'neither your house nor mine will +be long out of harm's way, even were it legal to confine him here. I +have just learned that the commander-in-chief, who marched into the +Highlands to seek out and disperse the insurgents, has declined giving +them battle at Corryerick, and marched on northward with all the +disposable force of Government to Inverness, John-o'-Groat's House, or +the devil, for what I know, leaving the road to the Low Country open and +undefended to the Highland army.' + +'Good God!' said the clergyman. 'Is the man a coward, a traitor, or an +idiot?' + +'None of the three, I believe,' answered Melville. 'Sir John has the +commonplace courage of a common soldier, is honest enough, does what he +is commanded, and understands what is told him, but is as fit to act for +himself in circumstances of importance, as I, my dear parson, to occupy +your pulpit.' + +This important public intelligence naturally diverted the discourse from +Waverley for some time; at length, however, the subject was resumed. + +'I believe,' said Major Melville, 'that I must give this young man in +charge to some of the detached parties of armed volunteers, who were +lately sent out to overawe the disaffected districts, They are now +recalled towards Stirling, and a small body comes this way to-morrow or +next day, commanded by the westland man,--what's his name?--You saw him, +and said he was the very model of one of Cromwell's military saints,' + +Gilfillan, the Cameronian,' answered Mr. Morton. 'I wish the young +gentleman may be safe with him. Strange things are done in the heat and +hurry of minds in so agitating a crisis, and I fear Gilfillan is of a +sect which has suffered persecution without learning mercy.' + +'He has only to lodge Mr. Waverley in Stirling Castle,' said the Major: +'I will give strict injunctions to treat him well. I really cannot +devise any better mode for securing him, and I fancy you would hardly +advise me to encounter the responsibility of setting him at liberty.' + +'But you will have no objection to my seeing him tomorrow in private?' +said the minister. + +'None, certainly; your loyalty and character are my warrant. But with +what view do you make the request?' + +'Simply,' replied Mr. Morton, 'to make the experiment whether he may not +be brought to communicate to me some circumstances which may hereafter +be useful to alleviate, if not to exculpate his conduct.' + +The friends now parted and retired to rest, each filled with the most +anxious reflections on the state of the country. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +A CONFIDANT + +Waverley awoke in the morning, from troubled dreams and unrefreshing +slumbers, to a full consciousness of the horrors of his situation. How +it might terminate he knew not. He might be delivered up to military +law, which, in the midst of civil war, was not likely to be scrupulous +in the choice of its victims, or the quality of the evidence. Nor did he +feel much more comfortable at the thoughts of a trial before a Scottish +court of justice, where he knew the laws and forms differed in many +respects from those of England, and had been taught to believe, however +erroneously, that the liberty and rights of the subject were less +carefully protected. A sentiment of bitterness rose in his mind against +the Government, which he considered as the cause of his embarrassment +and peril, and he cursed internally his scrupulous rejection of +Mac-Ivor's invitation to accompany him to the field. + +'Why did not I,' he said to himself, 'like other men of honour, take the +earliest opportunity to welcome to Britain the descendant of her ancient +kings, and lineal heir of her throne? Why did not I + + Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, + And welcome home again discarded faith, + Seek out Prince Charles, and fall before his feet? + +All that has been recorded of excellence and worth in the house of +Waverley has been founded upon their loyal faith to the house of Stuart. +From the interpretation which this Scotch magistrate has put upon +the letters of my uncle and father, it is plain that I ought to have +understood them as marshalling me to the course of my ancestors; and it +has been my gross dullness, joined to the obscurity of expression which +they adopted for the sake of security, that has confounded my judgement. +Had I yielded to the first generous impulse of indignation when I +learned that my honour was practised upon, how different had been my +present situation! I had then been free and in arms, fighting, like my +forefathers, for love, for loyalty, and for fame. And now I am here, +netted and in the toils, at the disposal of a suspicious, stern, +and cold-hearted man, perhaps to be turned over to the solitude of a +dungeon, or the infamy of a public execution. O Fergus! how true has +your prophecy proved; and how speedy, how very speedy, has been its +accomplishment!' + +While Edward was ruminating on these painful subjects of contemplation, +and very naturally, though not quite so justly, bestowing upon the +reigning dynasty that blame which was due to chance, or, in part at +least, to his own unreflecting conduct, Mr. Morton availed himself of +Major Melville's permission to pay him an early visit. + +Waverley's first impulse was to intimate a desire that he might not +be disturbed with questions or conversation; but he suppressed it upon +observing the benevolent and reverend appearance of the clergyman who +had rescued him from the immediate violence of the villagers. + +'I believe, sir,' said the unfortunate young man, 'that in any other +circumstances I should have had as much gratitude to express to you as +the safety of my life may be worth; but such is the present tumult of +my mind, and such is my anticipation of what I am yet likely to endure, +that I can hardly offer you thanks for your interposition.' + +Mr. Morton replied, that, far from making any claim upon his good +opinion, his only wish and the sole purpose of his visit was to find +out the means of deserving it. 'My excellent friend, Major Melville,' he +continued, 'has feelings and duties as a soldier and public functionary, +by which I am not fettered; nor can I always coincide in opinions which +he forms, perhaps with too little allowance for the imperfections of +human nature. He paused, and then proceeded: 'I do not intrude myself +on your confidence, Mr. Waverley, for the purpose of learning any +circumstances, the knowledge of which can be prejudicial either to +yourself or to others; but I own my earnest wish is, that you would +entrust me with any particulars which could lead to your exculpation. I +can solemnly assure you they will be deposited with a faithful, and, to +the extent of his limited powers, a zealous agent.' + +'You are, sir, I presume, a Presbyterian clergyman?'--Mr. Morton +bowed.--'Were I to be guided by the prepossessions of education, I might +distrust your friendly professions in my case; but I have observed +that similar prejudices are nourished in this country against your +professional brethren of the Episcopal persuasion, and I am willing to +believe them equally unfounded in both cases.' + +'Evil to him that thinks otherwise,' said Mr. Morton; 'or who holds +church government and ceremonies as the exclusive gage of Christian +faith or moral virtue.' + +'But,' continued Waverley, 'I cannot perceive why I should trouble you +with a detail of particulars, out of which, after revolving them as +carefully as possible in my recollection, I find myself unable to +explain much of what is charged against me. I know, indeed, that I am +innocent, but I hardly see how I can hope to prove myself so.' + +'It is for that very reason, Mr. Waverley,' said the clergyman, 'that I +venture to solicit your confidence. My knowledge of individuals in +this country is pretty general, and can upon occasion be extended. +Your situation will, I fear, preclude you taking those active steps for +recovering intelligence, or tracing imposture, which I would willingly +undertake in your behalf; and if you are not benefited by my exertions, +at least they cannot be prejudicial to you.' + +Waverley, after a few minutes' reflection, was convinced that his +reposing confidence in Mr. Morton, so far as he himself was concerned, +could hurt neither Mr. Bradwardine nor Fergus Mac-Ivor, both of whom had +openly assumed arms against the Government, and that it might possibly, +if the professions of his new friend corresponded in sincerity with +the earnestness of his expression, be of some service to himself. He +therefore ran briefly over most of the events with which the reader +is already acquainted, suppressing his attachment to Flora, and indeed +neither mentioning her nor Rose Bradwardine in the course of his +narrative. + +Mr. Morton seemed particularly struck with the account of Waverley's +visit to Donald Bean Lean. 'I am glad,' he said, 'you did not mention +this circumstance to the Major. It is capable of great misconstruction +on the part; of those who do not consider the power of curiosity and the +influence of romance as motives of youthful conduct. When I was a young +man like you, Mr. Waverley, any such hair-brained expedition (I beg your +pardon for the expression) would have had inexpressible charms for me. +But there are men in the world who will not believe that danger +and fatigue are often incurred without any very adequate cause, and +therefore who are sometimes led to assign motives of action entirely +foreign to the truth. This man Bean Lean is renowned through the country +as a sort of Robin Hood, and the stories which are told of his address +and enterprise are the common tales of the winter fireside. He certainly +possesses talents beyond the rude sphere in which he moves; and, being +neither destitute of ambition nor encumbered with scruples, he will +probably attempt, by every means, to distinguish himself during the +period of these unhappy commotions.' Mr. Morton then made a careful +memorandum of the various particulars of Waverley's interview with +Donald Bean Lean, and the other circumstances which he had communicated. + +The interest which this good man seemed to take in his +misfortunes,--above all, the full confidence he appeared to repose in +his innocence,--had the natural effect of softening Edward's heart, whom +the coldness of Major Melville had taught to believe that the world +was leagued to oppress him. He shook Mr. Morton warmly by the hand, and +assuring him that his kindness and sympathy had relieved his mind of a +heavy load, told him, that whatever might be his own fate, he belonged +to a family who had both gratitude and the power of displaying it. + +The earnestness of his thanks called drops to the eyes of the worthy +clergyman, who was doubly interested in the cause for which he had +volunteered his services, by observing the genuine and undissembled +feelings of his young friend. + +Edward now inquired if Mr. Morton knew what was likely to be his +destination. + +'Stirling Castle,' replied his friend; 'and so far I am well pleased +for your sake, for the governor is a man of honour and humanity. But +I am more doubtful of your treatment upon the road; Major Melville is +involuntarily obliged to entrust the custody of your person to another.' + +'I am glad of it,' answered Waverley. 'I detest that cold-blooded +calculating Scotch magistrate. I hope he and I shall never meet more: +he had neither sympathy with my innocence nor my wretchedness; and the +petrifying accuracy with which he attended to every form of civility, +while he tortured me by his questions, his suspicions, and his +inferences, was as tormenting as the racks of the Inquisition. Do not +vindicate him, my dear sir, for that I cannot bear with patience; tell +me rather who is to have the charge of so important a state prisoner as +I am.' + +'I believe a person called Gilfillan, one of the sect who are termed +Cameronians.' + +'I never heard of them before.' + +'They claim,' said the clergyman, 'to represent the more strict and +severe Presbyterians, who in Charles Second's and James Second's days, +refused to profit by the Toleration, or Indulgence, as it was called, +which was extended to others of that religion. They held conventicles in +the open fields, and being treated, with great violence and cruelty by +the Scottish government, more than once took arms during those reigns. +They take their name from their leader, Richard Cameron. + +'I recollect,' said Waverley; 'but did not the triumph of Presbytery at +the Revolution extinguish that sect?' + +'By no means,' replied Morton; 'that great event fell yet far short +of what they proposed, which was nothing less than the complete +establishment of the Presbyterian Church, upon the grounds of the old +Solemn League and Covenant. Indeed, I believe they scarce knew what they +wanted; but being a numerous body of men, and not unacquainted with the +use of arms, they kept themselves together as a separate party in the +state, and at the time of the Union had nearly formed a most unnatural +league with their old enemies, the Jacobites, to oppose that important +national measure. Since that time their numbers have gradually +diminished; but a good many are still to be found in the western +counties, and several, with a better temper than in 1707, have now taken +arms for Government, This person, whom they call Gifted Gilfillan, has +been long a leader among them, and now heads a small party, which will +pass here to-day, or to-morrow, on their march towards Stirling, under +whose escort Major Melville proposes you shall travel. I would willingly +speak to Gilfillan in your behalf; but, having deeply imbibed all the +prejudices of his sect, and being of the same fierce disposition, he +would pay little regard to the remonstrances of an Erastian divine, as +he would politely term me.--And now, farewell, my young friend; for the +present, I must not weary out the Major's indulgence, that I may obtain +his permission to visit you again in the course of the day.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THINGS MEND A LITTLE + +About noon, Mr. Morton returned, and brought an invitation from Major +Melville that Mr. Waverley would honour him with his company to +dinner, notwithstanding the unpleasant affair which detained him at +Cairnvreckan, from which he should heartily rejoice to see Mr. Waverley +completely extricated. The truth was, that Mr. Morton's favourable +report and opinion had somewhat staggered the preconceptions of the +old soldier concerning Edward's supposed accession to the mutiny in +the regiment; and in the unfortunate state of the country, the mere +suspicion of disaffection, or an inclination to join the insurgent +Jacobites, might infer criminality indeed, but certainly not dishonour. +Besides, a person whom the Major trusted had reported to him (though, +as it proved, inaccurately) a contradiction of the agitating news of the +preceding evening. According to this second edition of the intelligence, +the Highlanders had withdrawn from the Lowland frontier with the purpose +of following the army in their march to Inverness. The Major was at a +loss, indeed, to reconcile his information with the well-known abilities +of some of the gentlemen in the Highland army, yet it was the course +which was likely to be most agreeable to others. He remembered the +same policy had detained them in the north in the year 1715, and he +anticipated a similar termination to the insurrection as upon that +occasion. + +This news put him in such good humour, that he readily acquiesced in Mr. +Morton's proposal to pay some hospitable attention to his unfortunate +guest, and voluntarily added, he hoped the whole affair would prove a +youthful escapade, which might be easily atoned by a short confinement. +The kind mediator had some trouble to prevail on his young friend to +accept the invitation. He dared not urge to him the real motive, which +was a good-natured wish to secure a favourable report of Waverley's case +from Major Melville to Governor Blakeney. He remarked, from the flashes +of our hero's spirit, that touching upon this topic would be sure to +defeat his purpose. He therefore pleaded, that the invitation argued the +Major's disbelief of any part of the accusation which was inconsistent +with Waverley's conduct as a soldier and a man of honour, and that to +decline his courtesy might be interpreted into a consciousness that it +was unmerited. In short, he so far satisfied Edward that the manly and +proper course was to meet the Major on easy terms, that, suppressing +his strong dislike again to encounter his cold and punctilious civility, +Waverley agreed to be guided by his new friend. The meeting, at first, +was stiff and formal enough. But Edward, having accepted the invitation, +and his mind being really soothed and relieved by the kindness of +Morton, held himself bound to behave with ease, though he could not +affect cordiality. The Major was somewhat of a BON VIVANT, and his wine +was excellent. He told his old campaign stories, and displayed much +knowledge of men and manners. Mr. Morton had an internal fund of placid +and quiet gaiety, which seldom failed to enliven any small party in +which he found himself pleasantly seated. Waverley, whose life was a +dream, gave ready way to the predominating impulse, and became the most +lively of the party. He had at all times remarkable natural powers of +conversation, though easily silenced by discouragement. On the present +occasion, he piqued himself upon leaving on the minds of his companions +a favourable impression of one who, under such disastrous circumstances, +could sustain his misfortunes with ease and gaiety. His spirits, though +not unyielding, were abundantly elastic, and soon seconded his efforts. +The trio were engaged in very lively discourse, apparently delighted +with each other, and the kind host was pressing a third bottle of +Burgundy, when the sound of a drum was heard at some distance. The +Major, who, in the glee of an old soldier, had forgot the duties of a +magistrate, cursed, with a muttered military oath, the circumstances +which recalled him to his official functions. He rose and went towards +the window, which commanded a very near view of the high-road, and he +was followed by his guests. + +The drum advanced, beating no measured martial tune, but a kind +of rub-a-dub-dub, like that with which the fire-drum startles the +slumbering artisans of a Scotch burgh. It is the object of this history +to do justice to all men; I must therefore record, in justice to the +drummer, that he protested he could beat any known march or point of +war known in the British army, and had accordingly commenced with +'Dumbarton's Drums,' when he was silenced by Gifted Gilfillan, the +commander of the party, who refused to permit his followers to move to +this profane, and even, as he said, persecuting tune, and commanded the +drummer to beat the 119th Psalm. As this was beyond the capacity of the +drubber of sheepskin, he was fain to have recourse to the inoffensive +row-de-dow, as a harmless substitute for the sacred music which his +instrument or skill were unable to achieve. This may be held a trifling +anecdote, but the drummer in question was no less than town-drummer +of Anderton. I remember his successor in office, a member of that +enlightened body, the British Convention: be his memory, therefore, +treated with due respect. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A VOLUNTEER SIXTY YEARS SINCE + +On hearing the unwelcome sound of the drum, Major Melville hastily +opened a sashed door, and stepped out upon a sort of terrace which +divided his house from the high-road from which the martial music +proceeded. Waverley and his new friend followed him, though probably +he would have dispensed with their attendance. They soon recognized in +solemn march, first, the performer upon the drum; secondly, a large +flag of four compartments, on which were inscribed the words COVENANTS, +RELIGION, KING, KINGDOMES. The person who was honoured with this charge +was followed by the commander of the party, a thin, dark, rigid-looking +man, about sixty years old. The spiritual pride, which in mine Host of +the Candlestick mantled in a sort of supercilious hypocrisy, was, in +this man's face, elevated and yet darkened by genuine and undoubting +fanaticism. It was impossible to behold him without imagination +placing him in some strange crisis, where religious zeal was the ruling +principle. A martyr at the stake, a soldier in the field, a lonely and +banished wanderer consoled by the intensity and supposed purity of his +faith under every earthly privation; perhaps a persecuting inquisitor, +as terrible in power as unyielding in adversity; any of these seemed +congenial characters to this personage. With these high traits of +energy, there was something in the affected precision and solemnity of +his deportment and discourse, that bordered upon the ludicrous; so that, +according to the mood of the spectator's mind, and the light under which +Mr. Gilfillan presented himself, one might have feared; admired, or +laughed at him. His dress was that of a west-country peasant, of +better materials indeed than that of the lower rank, but in no respect +affecting either the mode of the age, or of the Scottish gentry at +any period. His arms were a broadsword and pistols, which, from the +antiquity of their appearance, might have seen the rout of Pentland, or +Bothwell Brigg. + +As he came up a few steps to meet Major Melville, and touched solemnly, +but slightly, his huge and overbrimmed blue bonnet, in answer to the +Major, who had courteously raised a small triangular gold-laced hat, +Waverley was irresistibly impressed with the idea that he beheld a +leader of the Roundheads of yore in conference with one of Marlborough's +captains. + +The group of about thirty armed men who followed this gifted commander, +was of a motley description. They were in ordinary Lowland dresses, of +different colours, which, contrasted with the arms they bore, gave them +an irregular and mobbish appearance; so much is the eye accustomed to +connect uniformity of dress with the military character. In front were +a few who apparently partook of their leader's enthusiasm; men obviously +to be feared in a combat where their natural courage was exalted by +religious zeal. Others puffed and strutted, filled with the importance +of carrying arms, and all the novelty of their situation, while +the rest, apparently fatigued with their march, dragged their limbs +listlessly along, or straggled from their companions to procure such +refreshments as the neighbouring cottages and ale-houses afforded.--Six +grenadiers of Ligonier's, thought the Major to himself, as his mind +reverted to his own military experience, would have sent all these +fellows to the right about. + +Greeting, however, Mr. Gilfillan civilly, he requested to know if he +had received the letter he had sent to him upon his march, and could +undertake the charge of the state prisoner whom he there mentioned, as +far as Stirling Castle. 'Yea,' was the concise reply of the Cameronian +leader, in a voice which seemed to issue from the very PENETRALIA of his +person. + +'But your escort, Mr. Gilfillan, is not so strong as I expected,' said +Major Melville, + +'Some of the people,' replied Gilfillan, 'hungered and were athirst +by the way, and tarried until their poor souls were refreshed with the +word.' + +'I am sorry, sir,' replied the Major, 'you did not trust to your +refreshing your men at Cairnvreckan; whatever my house contains is at +the command of persons employed in the service.' + +'It was not of creature comforts I spake,' answered the Covenanter, +regarding Major Melville with something like a smile of contempt; +'howbeit, I thank you; but the people remained waiting upon the precious +Mr. Jabesh Rentowel, for the outpouring of the afternoon exhortation.' + +'And have you, sir,' said the Major, 'when the rebels are about to +spread themselves through this country, actually left a great part of +your command at a field-preaching!' + +Gilfillan again smiled scornfully as he made this indirect +answer,--'Even thus are the children of this world wiser in their +generation than the children of light!' + +'However, sir,' said the Major, 'as you are to take charge of this +gentleman to Stirling, and deliver him, with these papers, into the +hands of Governor Blakeney, I beseech you to observe some rules of +military discipline upon your march. For example, I would advise you to +keep your men more closely together, and that each, in his march, should +cover his file-leader, instead of straggling like geese upon a common; +and, for fear of surprise, I further recommend to you to form a small +advance-party of your best men, with a single vidette in front of the +whole march, so that when you approach a village or a wood'--(Here the +Major interrupted himself)--'But as I don't observe you listen to me, +Mr. Gilfillan, I suppose I need not give myself the trouble to say more +upon the subject. You are a better judge, unquestionably, than I am, of +the measures to be pursued; but one thing I would have you well aware +of, that you are to treat this gentleman, your prisoner, with no rigour +nor incivility, and are to subject him to no other restraint than is +necessary for his security.' + +'I have looked into my commission,' said Mr. Gilfillan, subscribed by +a worthy and professing nobleman, William, Earl of Glencairn; nor do I +find it therein set down that I am to receive any charges or commands +anent my doings from Major William Melville of Cairnvreckan.' + +Major Melville reddened even to the well-powdered ears which appeared +beneath his neat military side-curls, the more so, as he observed Mr. +Morton smile at the same moment. 'Mr. Gilfillan,' he answered with some +asperity, 'I beg ten thousand pardons for interfering with a person +of your importance. I thought, however, that as you have been bred a +grazier, if I mistake not, there might be occasion to remind you of the +difference between Highlanders and Highland cattle; and if you should +happen to meet with any gentleman who has seen service; and is disposed +to speak upon the subject, I should still imagine that listening to him +would do you no sort of harm. But I have done, and have only once +more to recommend this gentleman to your civility, as well as to your +custody.--Mr Waverley, I am truly sorry we should part in this way; but +I trust, when you are again in this country, I may have an opportunity +to render Cairnvreckan more agreeable than circumstances have permitted +on this occasion.' + +So saying, he shook our hero by the hand. Morton also took an +affectionate farewell; and Waverley, having mounted his horse, with a +musketeer leading it by the bridle, and a file upon each side to prevent +his escape, set forward upon the march with Gilfillan and his party. +Through the little village they were accompanied with the shouts of the +children, who cried out, 'Eh! see to the Southland gentleman, that's +gaun to be hanged for shooting lang John Mucklewrath the smith!' + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +AN INCIDENT + +The dinner-hour of Scotland Sixty Years since was two o'clock. It was +therefore about four o'clock of a delightful autumn afternoon that Mr. +Gilfillan commenced his march, in hopes, although Stirling was eighteen +miles distant, he might be able, by becoming a borrower of the night +for an hour or two, to reach it that evening. He therefore put forth his +strength, and marched stoutly along at the head of his followers, eyeing +our hero from time to time, as if he longed to enter into controversy +with him. At length unable to resist the temptation, he slackened his +pace till he was alongside of his prisoner's horse, and after marching a +few steps in silence abreast of him, he suddenly asked,--'Can ye say wha +the carle was wi' the black coat; and the mousted head, that was wi' the +Laird of Cairnvreckan?' + +'A Presbyterian clergyman,' answered Waverley. + +'Presbyterian!' answered Gilfillan contemptuously: 'a wretched Erastian, +or rather an obscured Prelatist,--a favourer of the black Indulgence; +ane of thae dumb dogs that canna bark: they tell ower a clash o' terror +and a clatter o' comfort in their sermons, without ony sense, or savour, +or life.--Ye've been fed in siccan a fauld, belike?' + +'No; I am of the Church of England,' said Waverley. + +And they're just neighbour-like,' replied the Covenanter; 'and nae +wonder they gree sae weel. Wha wad hae thought the goodly structure +of the Kirk of Scotland, built up by our fathers in 1642, wad hae been +defaced by carnal ends and, the corruptions of the time;--aye, wha wad +hae thought the carved work of the sanctuary would hae been sae soon cut +down!' + +To this lamentation, which one or two of the assistants chorussed with a +deep groan, our hero thought it unnecessary to make any reply. Whereupon +Mr. Gilfillan, resolving that he should be a hearer at least, if not a +disputant, proceeded in his Jeremiad. + +'And now is it wonderful, when, for lack of exercise anent the call to +the service of the altar and the duty of the day, ministers fall into +sinful compliances with patronage, and indemnities, and oaths, and +bonds, and, other corruptions,--is it wonderful, I say, that you, sir, +and other sic-like unhappy persons, should labour to build up your auld +Babel of iniquity, as in the bluidy persecuting saint-killing times? I +trow, gin ya werena blinded wi' the graces and favours, and services and +enjoyments, and employments and inheritances, of this wicked world, I +could prove to you, by the Scripture, in what a filthy rag ye put your +trust; and that your surplices, and your copes and vestments, are but +cast-off-garments of the muckle harlot, that sitteth upon seven hills, +and drinketh of the cup of abomination. But, I trow, ye are deaf +as adders upon that side of the head; aye, ye are deceived with her +enchantments, and ye traffic with her merchandise, and ye are drunk with +the cup of her fornication!' + +How much longer this military theologist might have continued his +invective, in which he spared nobody but the scattered remnant of +HILL-FOLK, as he called them, is absolutely uncertain. His matter was +copious, his voice powerful, and his memory strong; so that there was +little chance of his ending his exhortation till the party had reached +Stirling, had not his attention been attracted by a pedlar who had +joined the march from a cross-road, and who sighed or groaned with great +regularity at all fitting pauses of his homily. + +'And what may ya be, friend?' said the Gifted Gilfillan. + +'A puir pedler, that's bound for Stirling, and craves the protection of +your honour's party in these kittle times. Ah! your honour has a notable +faculty in searching and explaining the secret,--aye, the secret and +obscure and incomprehensible causes of the backslidings of the land; +aye, your honour touches the root o' the matter.' + +'Friend,' said Gilfillan, with a more complacent voice than he had +hitherto used, 'honour not me. I do not go out to park-dikes, and to +steadings, and to market-towns, to have herds and cottars and +burghers pull off their bonnets to me as they do to Major Melville o' +Cairnvreckan, and ca' me laird, or captain, or honour;--no; my sma' +means, whilk are not aboon twenty thousand merk, have had the blessing +of increase, but the pride of heart has not increased with them; nor do +I delight to be called captain, though I have the subscribed commission +of that gospel-searching nobleman, the Earl of Glencairn, in whilk I am +so designated. While I live, I am and will be called Habakkuk Gilfillan, +who will stand up for the standards of doctrine agreed on by the +ance-famous Kirk of Scotland, before she trafficked with the accursed +Achan, while he has a plack in his purse, or a drap o' bluid in his +body.' + +'Ah,' said the pedlar, 'I have seen your land about Mauchlin--a fertile +spot! your lines have fallen in pleasant places!--And siccan a breed o' +cattle is not in ony laird's land in Scotland.' + +'Ye say right,--ye say right, friend,' retorted Gilfillan eagerly, for +he was not inaccessible to flattery upon this subject,--'ye say right; +they are the real Lancashire, and there's no the like o' them even at +the Mains of Kilmaurs;' and he then entered into a discussion of their +excellences, to which our readers will probably be as indifferent as +our hero. After this excursion, the leader returned to his theological +discussions, while the pedlar, less profound upon those mystic points, +contented himself with groaning, and expressing his edification at +suitable intervals. + +'What a blessing it would be to the puir blinded popish nations among +whom I hae sojourned, to have siccan a light to their paths! I hae been +as far as Muscovia in my sma' trading way, as a travelling merchant; +and I hae been through France, and the Low Countries, and a' Poland, and +maist feck o' Germany; and oh! it would grieve your honour's soul to see +the murmuring, and the singing, and massing, that's in the kirk, and the +piping that's in the quire, and the heathenish dancing and dicing upon +the Sabbath!' + +This set Gilfillan off upon the Book of Sports and the Covenant, and +the Engagers, and the Protesters, and the Whiggamore's Raid, and +the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and the Longer and Shorter +Catechism, and the Excommunication at Torwood, and the slaughter of +Archbishop Sharp. This last topic, again, led him into the lawfulness of +defensive arms, on which subject he uttered much more sense than could +have been expected from some other parts of his harangue, and attracted +even Waverley's attention, who had hitherto been lost in his own sad +reflections. Mr. Gilfillan then considered the lawfulness of a private +man's standing forth as the avenger of public oppression, and as he was +labouring with great earnestness the cause of Mas James Mitchell, who +fired at the Archbishop of St. Andrews some years before the prelate's +assassination on Magus Muir, an incident occurred which interrupted his +harangue. + +The rays of the sun were lingering on the very verge of the horizon, as +the party ascended a hollow and somewhat steep path, which led to the +summit of a rising ground. The country was unenclosed, being part of a +very extensive heath or common; but it was far from level, exhibiting +in many places hollows filled with furze and broom; in others little +dingles of stunted brushwood. A thicket of the latter description +crowned the hill up which the party ascended. The foremost of the band, +being the stoutest and most active, had pushed on, and having surmounted +the ascent, were out of ken for the present. Gilfillan, with the pedlar, +and the small party who were Waverley's more immediate guard, were +near the top of the ascent, and the remainder straggled after them at a +considerable interval. + +Such was the situation of matters, when the pedlar, missing, as he said, +a little doggie which belonged to him, began to halt and whistle for the +animal. This signal, repeated more than once, gave offence to the rigour +of his companion, the rather because it appeared to indicate inattention +to the treasures of theological and controversial knowledge which was +pouring out for his edification. He therefore signified gruffly, that he +could not waste his time in waiting for a useless cur. + +'But if your honour wad consider the case of Tobit'-- + +'Tobit!' exclaimed Gilfillan, with great heat; 'Tobit and his dog baith +are altogether heathenish and apocryphal, and none but a prelatist or +a papist would draw them into question. I doubt I hae been mista'en in +you, friend.' + +'Very likely,' answered the pedlar, with great composure; 'but +ne'ertheless, I shall take leave to whistle again upon puir Bawty,' + +This last signal was answered in an unexpected manner; for six or eight +stout Highlanders, who lurked among the copse and brushwood, sprang +into the hollow way, and began to lay about them with their claymores. +Gilfillan, un-appalled at this undesirable apparition, cried out +manfully, 'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!' and, drawing his +broadsword, would probably have done as much credit to the good old +cause as any of its doughty champions at Drumclog, when, behold! the +pedlar, snatching a musket from the person who was next him, bestowed +the butt of it with such emphasis on the head of his late instructor in +the Cameronian creed, that he was forthwith levelled to the ground. In +the confusion which ensued, the horse which bore our hero was shot +by one of Gilfillan's party, as he discharged his firelock at random. +Waverley fell with, and indeed under, the animal, and sustained some +severe contusions. But he was almost instantly extricated from the +fallen steed by two Highlanders, who, each seizing him by the arm, +hurried him away from the scuffle and from the high-road. They ran with +great speed, half supporting and half dragging our hero, who could, +however, distinguish a few dropping shots fired about the spat which +he had left. This, as he afterwards learned, proceeded from Gilfillan's +party, who had now assembled, the stragglers in front and rear having +joined the others. At their approach the Highlanders drew off, but not +before they had rifled Gilfillan and two of his people, who remained on +the spot grievously wounded. A few shots were exchanged betwixt them +and the Westlanders; but the latter, now without a commander, and +apprehensive of a second ambush, did not make any serious effort to +recover their prisoner, judging it more wise to proceed on their journey +to Stirling, carrying with them their wounded captain and comrades. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +WAVERLEY IS STILL IN DISTRESS + +The velocity, and indeed violence, with which Waverley was hurried +along, nearly deprived him of sensation; for the injury he had received +from his fall prevented him from aiding himself so effectually as he +might otherwise have done. When this was observed by his conductors, +they called to their aid two or three others of the party, and swathing +our hero's body in one of their plaids, divided his weight by that +means among them, and transported him at the same rapid rate as before, +without any exertion of his own. They spoke little, and that in Gaelic; +and did not slacken their pace till they had run nearly two miles, when +they abated their extreme rapidity, but continued still to walk very +fast, relieving each other occasionally, + +Our hero now endeavoured to address them, but was only answered with +'CHA N'EIL BEURL' AGAM,' i.e. 'I have no English,' being, as Waverley +well knew, the constant reply of a Highlander, when he either does not +understand, or does not choose to reply to, an Englishman or Lowlander. +He then mentioned the name of Vich Ian Vohr, concluding that he was +indebted to his friendship for his rescue from the clutches of Gifted +Gilfillan; but neither did this produce any mark of recognition from his +escort. + +The twilight had given place to moonshine when the party halted upon +the brink of a precipitous glen, which, as partly enlightened by the +moonbeams, seemed full of trees and tangled brushwood. Two of the +Highlanders dived into it by a small footpath, as if to explore its +recesses, and one of them returning in a few minutes, said something to +his companions, who instantly raised their burden, and bore him, +with great attention and care, down the narrow and abrupt descent. +Notwithstanding their precautions, however, Waverley's person came more +than once into contact, rudely enough, with the projecting stumps and +branches which overhung the pathway. + +At the bottom of the descent, and, as it seemed, by the side of a +brook (for Waverley heard the rushing of a considerable body of water, +although its stream was invisible in the darkness), the party again +stopped before a small and rudely-constructed hovel. The door was open, +and the inside of the premises appeared as uncomfortable and rude as its +situation and exterior foreboded. There was no appearance of a floor +of any kind; the roof seemed rent in several places; the walls were +composed of loose stones and turf, and the thatch of branches of trees. +The fire was in the centre, and filled the whole wigwam with smoke, +which escaped as much through the door as by means of a circular +aperture in the roof. An old Highland sibyl, the only inhabitant of this +forlorn mansion, appeared busy in the preparation of some food. By +the light which the fire afforded, Waverley could discover that his +attendants were not of the clan of Ivor, for Fergus was particularly +strict in requiring from his followers that they should wear the tartan +striped in the mode peculiar to their race; a mark of distinction +anciently general through the Highlands, and still maintained by those +chiefs who were proud of their lineage, or jealous of their separate and +exclusive authority. + +Edward had lived at Glennaquoich long enough to be aware of a +distinction which he had repeatedly heard noticed; and now satisfied +that he had no interest with his attendants, he glanced a disconsolate +eye around the interior of the cabin. The only furniture, excepting a +washing-tub, and a wooden press, called in Scotland an AMBRY, sorely +decayed, was a large wooden bed, planked, as is usual, all around, and +opening by a sliding panel. In this recess the Highlanders deposited +Waverley, after he had by signs declined any refreshment. His slumbers +were broken and unrefreshing; strange visions passed before his eyes, +and it required constant and reiterated efforts of mind to dispel them. +Shivering, violent headache, and shooting pains in his limbs, succeeded +these symptoms; and in the morning it was evident to his Highland +attendants or guard, for he knew not in which light to consider them, +that Waverley was quite unfit to travel. After a long consultation +among themselves, six of the party left the hut with their arms, leaving +behind an old and a young man. The former addressed Waverley, and bathed +the contusions, which swelling and livid colour now made conspicuous. +His own portmanteau, which the Highlanders had not failed to bring off, +supplied him with linen, and, to his great surprise, was, with all its +undiminished contents, freely resigned to his use. The bedding of his +couch seemed clean and comfortable, and his aged attendant closed the +door of the bed, for it had no curtain, after a few words of Gaelic, +from which Waverley gathered that he exhorted him to repose. So behold +our hero for a second time the patient of a Highland Aesculapius, but +in a situation much more uncomfortable than when he was the guest of the +worthy Tomanrait. + +The symptomatic fever which accompanied the injuries he had sustained +did not abate till the third day, when it gave way to the care of his +attendants and the strength of his constitution, and he could now raise +himself in his bed, though not without pain. He observed, however, that +there was a great disinclination, on the part of the old woman who acted +as his nurse, as well as on that of the elderly Highlander, to permit +the door of the bed to be left open, so that he might amuse himself with +observing their motions; and at length, after Waverley had repeatedly +drawn open, and they had as frequently shut, the hatchway of his cage, +the old gentleman put an end to the contest, by securing it on the +outside with a nail, so effectually that the door could not be drawn +till this exterior impediment was removed. + +While musing upon the cause of this contradictory spirit in persons +whose conduct intimated no purpose of plunder, and who, in all other +points, appeared to consult his welfare and his wishes, it occurred to +our hero, that, during the worst crisis of his illness, a female figure, +younger than his old Highland nurse, had appeared to flit around his +couch. Of this, indeed, he had but a very indistinct recollection, but +his suspicions were confirmed when, attentively listening, he often +heard, in the course of the day, the voice of another female conversing +in whispers with his attendant. Who could it be? And why should she +apparently desire concealment? Fancy immediately roused herself, and +turned to Flora Mac-Ivor. But after a short conflict between his eager +desire to believe she was in his neighbourhood, guarding, like an angel +of mercy, the couch of his sickness, Waverley was compelled to conclude +that his conjecture was altogether improbable; since, to suppose she had +left the comparatively safe situation at Glennaquoich to descend into +the Low Country, now the seat of civil war, and to inhabit such a +lurking-place as this, was a thing hardly to be imagined. Yet his heart +bounded as he sometimes could distinctly hear the trip of a light female +step glide to or from the door of the hut, or the suppressed sounds of +a female voice, of softness and delicacy, hold dialogue with the hoarse +inward croak of old Janet, for so he understood his antiquated attendant +was denominated. + +Having nothing else to amuse his solitude, he employed himself in +contriving some plan to gratify his curiosity, in spite of the sedulous +caution of Janet and the old Highland janizary, for he had never seen +the young fellow since the first morning. At length, upon accurate +examination, the infirm state of his wooden prison-house appeared to +supply the means of gratifying his curiosity, for out of a spot which +was somewhat decayed he was able to extract a nail. Through this minute +aperture he could perceive a female form, wrapped in a plaid, in the act +of conversing with Janet. But, since the days of our grandmother Eve, +the gratification of inordinate curiosity has generally borne its +penalty in disappointment. The form was not that of Flora, nor was the +face visible; and, to crown his vexation, while he laboured with the +nail to enlarge the hole, that he might obtain a more complete view, +a slight noise betrayed his purpose, and the object of his curiosity +instantly disappeared; nor, so far as he could observe, did she again +revisit the cottage. + +All precautions to blockade his view were from that time abandoned, and +he was not only permitted, but assisted to rise and quit what had been, +in a literal sense, his couch of confinement. But he was not allowed to +leave the hut; for the young Highlander had now rejoined his senior, and +one or other was constantly on the watch. Whenever Waverley approached +the cottage door, the sentinel upon duty civilly, but resolutely, placed +himself against it and opposed his exit, accompanying his action with +signs which seemed to imply there was danger in the attempt, and an +enemy in the neighbourhood. Old Janet appeared anxious and upon the +watch; and Waverley, who had not yet recovered strength enough to +attempt to take his departure in spite of the opposition of his hosts, +was under the necessity of remaining patient. His fare was, in every +point of view, better than he could have conceived; for poultry, +and even wine, were no strangers to his table. The Highlanders never +presumed to eat with him, and unless in the circumstance of watching +him, treated him with great respect. His sole amusement was gazing from +the window, or rather the shapeless aperture which was meant to answer +the purpose of a window, upon large and rough brook, which raged and +foamed through a rocky channel, closely canopied with trees and bushes, +about ten feet beneath the site of his house of captivity. + +Upon the sixth day of his confinement, Waverley found himself so well, +that he began to meditate his escape from this dull and miserable +prison-house, thinking any risk which he might incur in the attempt +preferable to the stupefying and intolerable uniformity of Janet's +retirement. The question indeed occurred, whither he was to direct his +course when again at his own disposal. Two schemes seemed practicable, +yet both attended with danger and difficulty. One was to go back to +Glennaquoich, and join Fergus Mac-Ivor, by whom he was sure to be kindly +received; and in the present state of his mind, the rigour with which +he had been treated fully absolved him, in his own eyes, from his +allegiance to the existing government. The other project was to +endeavour to attain a Scottish seaport, and thence to take shipping for +England. His mind wavered between these plans; and probably, if he +had effected his escape in the manner he proposed, he would have been +finally determined by the comparative facility by which either might +have been executed. But his fortune had settled that he was not to be +left to his option. + +Upon the evening of the seventh day the door of the hut suddenly opened, +and two Highlanders entered, whom Waverley recognized as having been a +part of his original escort to this cottage. They conversed for a +short time with the old man and his companion, and then made Waverley +understand, by very significant signs, that he was to prepare to +accompany them. This was a joyful communication. What had already passed +during his confinement made it evident that no personal injury was +designed to him; and his romantic spirit, having recovered during +his repose much of that elasticity which anxiety, resentment, +disappointment, and the mixture of unpleasant feelings excited by +his late adventures, had for a time subjugated, was now wearied with +inaction. His passion for the wonderful, although it is the nature of +such dispositions to be excited, by that degree of danger which merely +gives dignity to the feeling of the individual exposed to it, had sunk +under the extraordinary and apparently, insurmountable evils by which +he appeared environed at Cairnvreckan. In fact, this compound of intense +curiosity and exalted imagination forms a peculiar species of +courage, which somewhat resembles the light usually carried by a +miner,--sufficiently competent, indeed, to afford him guidance and +comfort during the ordinary perils of his labour, but certain to +be extinguished should he encounter the more formidable hazard of +earth-damps or pestiferous vapours. It was now, however, once more +rekindled, and with a throbbing mixture of hope, awe, and anxiety, +Waverley watched the group before him, as those who had just arrived +snatched a hasty meal, and the others assumed their arms, and made brief +preparations for their departure. + +As he sat in the smoky hut, at some distance from the fire, around which +the others were crowded, he felt a gentle pressure upon his arm. He +looked round--it was Alice, the daughter of Donald Bean Lean. She showed +him a packet of papers in such a manner that the motion was remarked by +no one else, put her finger for a second to her lips, and passed on, as +if to assist old Janet in packing Waverley's clothes in his portmanteau. +It was obviously her wish that he should not seem to recognize her; yet +she repeatedly looked back at him, as an opportunity occurred of doing +so unobserved, and when she saw that he remarked what she did, she +folded the packet with great address and speed in one of his shirts, +which she deposited in the portmanteau. + +Here then was fresh food for conjecture. Was Alice his unknown warden, +and was this maiden of the cavern the tutelar genius that watched his +bed during his sickness? Was he in the hands of her father? and if +so, what was his purpose? Spoil, his usual object, seemed in this case +neglected; for not only Waverley's property was restored, but his purse, +which might have tempted this professional plunderer, had been all along +suffered to remain in his possession. All this perhaps the packet might +explain; but it was plain from Alice's manner that she desired he should +consult it in secret. Nor did she again seek his eye after she had +satisfied herself that her manoeuvre was observed and understood. On the +contrary, she shortly afterwards left the hut, and it was only as she +tripped out from the door, that, favoured by the obscurity, she gave +Waverley a parting smile and nod of significance, ere she vanished in +the dark glen. + +The young Highlander was repeatedly dispatched by his comrades as if to +collect intelligence. At length when he had returned for the third +or fourth time, the whole party arose, and made signs to our hero to +accompany them. Before his departure, however, he shook hands with old +Janet, who had been so sedulous in his behalf, and added substantial +marks of his gratitude for her attendance. + +'God bless you! God prosper you, Captain Waverley!' said Janet, in good +Lowland Scotch, though he had never hitherto heard her utter a syllable, +save in Gaelic. But the impatience of his attendants prohibited his +asking any explanation. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE + +There was a moment's pause when the whole party had got out of the +hut; and the Highlander who assumed the command, and who, in Waverley's +awakened recollection, seemed to be the same tall figure who had acted +as Donald Bean Lean's lieutenant, by whispers and signs imposed the +strictest silence. He delivered to Edward a sword and steel pistol, and, +pointing up the tract, laid his hand on the hilt of his own claymore, +as if to make him sensible they might have occasion to use force to make +good their passage. He then placed himself at the head of the party, +who moved up the pathway in single or Indian file, Waverley being placed +nearest to their leader. He moved with great precaution, as if to avoid +giving any alarm, and halted as soon as he came to the verge of the +ascent. Waverley was soon sensible of the reason, for he heard at no +great distance an English sentinel call out 'All's well.' The heavy +sound sank on the night-wind down the woody glen, and was answered by +the echoes of its banks. A second, third, and fourth time, the signal +was repeated, fainter and fainter, as if at a greater and greater +distance. It was obvious that a party of soldiers were near, and upon +their guard, though not sufficiently so to detect men skilful in every +art of predatory warfare, like those with whom he now watched their +ineffectual precautions. + +When these sounds had died upon the silence of the night, the +Highlanders began their march swiftly, yet with the most cautious +silence. Waverley had little time, or indeed disposition, for +observation, and could only discern that; they passed at some distance +from a large building, in the windows of which a light or two yet seemed +to twinkle. A little farther on, the leading Highlander snuffed the wind +like a setting spaniel, and then made a signal to his party again to +halt. He stooped down upon all-fours, wrapped up in his plaid, so as to +be scarce distinguishable from the heathy ground on which he moved, and +advanced in this posture to reconnoitre. In a short time he returned, +and dismissed his attendants excepting one; and, intimating to Waverley +that he must imitate his cautious mode of proceeding, all three crept +forward on hands and knees. + +After proceeding a greater way in this inconvenient manner than was at +all comfortable to his knees and shins, Waverley perceived the smell +of smoke, which probably had been much sooner distinguished by the more +acute nasal organs of his guide. It proceeded from the corner of a low +and ruinous sheepfold, the walls of which were made of loose stones, +as is usual in Scotland. Close by this low wall the Highlander guided +Waverley, and, in order probably to make him sensible of his danger, or +perhaps to obtain the full credit of his own dexterity, he intimated +to him, by sign and example, that he might raise his head so as to peep +into the sheepfold. Waverley did so, and beheld an outpost of four or +five soldiers lying by their watch-fire. They were all asleep, except +the sentinel, who paced backwards and forwards with his firelock on his +shoulder, which glanced red in the light of the fire as he crossed and +recrossed before it in his short walk, casting his eye frequently to +that part of the heavens from which the moon, hitherto obscured by mist, +seemed now about to make her appearance, + +In the course of a minute or two, by one of those sudden changes of +atmosphere incident to a mountainous country, a breeze arose, and swept +before it the clouds which had covered the horizon, and the night planet +poured her full effulgence upon a wide and blighted heath, skirted +indeed with copsewood and stunted trees in the quarter from which they +had come, but open and bare to the observation of the sentinel in +that to which their course tended. The wall of the sheepfold, indeed, +concealed them as they lay, but any advance beyond its shelter seemed +impossible without certain discovery. + +The Highlander eyed the blue vault, but far from blessing the useful +light with Homer's, or rather Pope's, benighted peasant, he muttered a +Gaelic curse upon the unseasonable splendour of MAC-FARLANE'S BUAT +(i. e. lantern). [See Note 21.] He looked anxiously around for a few +minutes, and then apparently took his resolution. Leaving his attendant +with Waverley, after motioning to Edward to remain quiet, and giving +his comrade directions in a brief whisper, he retreated, favoured by the +irregularity of the ground, in the same direction and in the same manner +as they had advanced. Edward, turning his head after him, could perceive +him crawling on all-fours with the dexterity of an Indian, availing +himself of every bush and inequality to escape observation, and never +passing over the more exposed parts of his track until the sentinel's +back was turned from him. At length he reached the thickets and +underwood which partly covered the moor in that direction, and probably +extended to the verge of the glen where Waverley had been so long +an inhabitant. The Highlander disappeared, but it was only for a few +minutes, for he suddenly issued forth from a different part of the +thicket, and advancing boldly upon the open heath, as if to invite +discovery, he levelled his piece, and fired at the sentinel. A wound +in the arm proved a disagreeable interruption to the poor fellow's +meteorological observations, as well as to the tune of 'Nancy Dawson,' +which he was whistling. He returned the fire ineffectually, and his +comrades, starting up at the alarm, advanced alertly towards the spot +from which the first shot had issued. The Highlander, after giving them +a full view of his person, dived among the thickets, for his RUSE DE +GUERRE had now perfectly succeeded. + +While the soldiers pursued the cause of their disturbance in one +direction, Waverley, adopting the hint of his remaining attendant, made +the best of his speed in that which his guide originally intended to +pursue, and which now (the attention of the soldiers being drawn to a +different quarter) was unobserved and unguarded. When they had run +about a quarter of a mile, the brow of a rising ground, which they had +surmounted, concealed them from further risk of observation. They +still heard, however, at a distance, the shouts of the soldiers as they +hallooed to each other upon the heath, and they could also hear the +distant roll of a drum beating to arms in the same direction. But these +hostile sounds were now far in their rear, and died away upon the breeze +as they rapidly proceeded. + +When they had walked about half an hour, still along open and waste +ground of the same description, they came to the stump of an ancient +oak, which, from its relics, appeared to have been at one time a tree of +very large size. In an adjacent hollow they found several Highlanders, +with a horse or two. They had not joined them above a few minutes, which +Waverley's attendant employed, in all probability, in communicating +the cause of their delay (for the words 'Duncan Duroch' were often +repeated), when Duncan himself appeared, out of breath indeed, and with +all the symptoms of having run for his life, but laughing, and in high +spirits at the success of the stratagem by which he had baffled his +pursuers. This, indeed, Waverley could easily conceive might be a matter +of no great difficulty to the active mountaineer, who was perfectly +acquainted with the ground, and traced his course with a firmness and +confidence to which his pursuers must have been strangers. The alarm +which he excited seemed still to continue, for a dropping shot or two +were heard at a great distance, which seemed to serve as an addition to +the mirth of Duncan and his comrades. + +The mountaineer now resumed the arms with which he had entrusted our +hero, giving him to understand that the dangers of the journey were +happily surmounted. Waverley was then mounted upon one of the horses, +a change which the fatigue of the night and his recent illness rendered +exceedingly acceptable. His portmanteau was placed on another +pony, Duncan mounted a third, and they set forward at a round pace, +accompanied by their escort. No other incident marked the course of that +night's journey, and at the dawn of morning they attained the banks of a +rapid river. The country around was at once fertile and romantic. Steep +banks of wood were broken by cornfields, which this year presented an +abundant harvest, already in a great measure cut down. + +On the opposite bank of the river, and partly surrounded by a winding of +its stream, stood a large and massive castle, the half-ruined turrets +of which were already glittering in the first rays of the sun. [See Note +22.] It was in form an oblong square, of size sufficient to contain a +large court in the centre. The towers at each angle of the square rose +higher than the walls of the building, and were in their turn surmounted +by turrets, differing in height, and irregular in shape. Upon one of +these a sentinel watched, whose bonnet and plaid, streaming in the wind, +declared him to be a Highlander, as a broad white ensign, which +floated from another tower, announced that the garrison was held by the +insurgent adherents of the House of Stuart. + +Passing hastily through a small and mean town, where their appearance +excited neither surprise nor curiosity in the few peasants whom the +labours of the harvest began to summon from their repose, the party +crossed an ancient and narrow bridge of several arches, and turning to +the left, up an avenue of huge old sycamores, Waverley found himself in +front of the gloomy yet picturesque structure which he had admired at a +distance. A huge iron-grated door, which formed the exterior defence +of the gateway, was already thrown back to receive them; and a second, +heavily constructed of oak, and studded thickly with iron nails, being +next opened, admitted them into the interior courtyard. A gentleman, +dressed in the Highland garb, and having a white cockade in his bonnet, +assisted Waverley to dismount from his horse, and with much courtesy bid +him welcome to the castle. + +The governor for so we must term him, having conducted Waverley to a +half-ruinous apartment, where, however, there was a small camp-bed, and +having offered him any refreshment which he desired, was then about to +leave him. + +'Will you not add to your civilities,' said Waverley, after having made +the usual acknowledgement, 'by having the kindness to inform me where I +am, and whether or not I am to consider myself as a prisoner?' + +'I am not at liberty to be so explicit upon this subject as I could +wish. Briefly, however, you are in the Castle of Doune, in the district +of Menteith, and in no danger whatever.' + +'And how am I assured of that?' + +'By the honour of Donald Stewart, governor of the garrison, and +lieutenant-colonel in the service of his Royal Highness Prince Charles +Edward.' So saying, he hastily left the apartment, as if to avoid +further discussion. + +Exhausted by the fatigues of the night, our hero now threw himself upon +the bed, and was in a few minutes fast asleep. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE JOURNEY IS CONTINUED + +Before Waverley awakened from his repose, the day was far advanced, and +he began to feel that he had passed many hours without food. This was +soon supplied in form of a copious breakfast, but Colonel Stewart, as +if wishing to avoid the queries of his guest, did not again present +himself. His compliments were, however, delivered by a servant, with an +offer to provide anything in his power that could be useful to Captain +Waverley on his journey, which he intimated would be continued that +evening. To Waverley's further inquiries, the servant opposed the +impenetrable barrier of real or affected ignorance and stupidity. He +removed the table and provisions, and Waverley was again consigned to +his own meditations. + +As he contemplated the strangeness of his fortune, which seemed to +delight in placing him at the disposal of others, without the power +of directing his own motions, Edward's eye suddenly rested upon his +portmanteau, which had been deposited in his apartment during his +sleep. The mysterious appearance of Alice, in the cottage of the glen, +immediately rushed upon his mind, and he was about to secure and examine +the packet which she had deposited among his clothes, when the +servant of Colonel Stewart again made his appearance, and took up the +portmanteau upon his shoulders. + +'May I not take out a change of linen, my friend?' + +'Your honour sall get ane o' the Colonel's ain ruffled sarks, but this +maun gang in the baggage-cart.' + +And so saying, he very coolly carried off the portmanteau, without +waiting further remonstrance, leaving our hero in a state where +disappointment and indignation struggled for the mastery. In a few +minutes he heard a cart rumble out of the rugged courtyard, and made +no doubt that he was now dispossessed, for a space at least, if not for +ever, of the only documents which seemed to promise some light upon +the dubious events which had of late influenced his destiny. With +such melancholy thoughts he had to beguile about four or five hours of +solitude. + +When this space was elapsed, the trampling of horse was heard in the +courtyard, and Colonel Stewart soon after made his appearance to request +his guest to take some further refreshment before his departure. The +offer was accepted, for a late breakfast had by no means left our +hero incapable of doing honour to dinner, which was now presented. The +conversation of his host was that of a plain country gentleman, mixed +with some soldier-like sentiments and expressions. He cautiously avoided +any reference to the military operations or civil politics of the time: +and to Waverley's direct inquiries concerning some of these points, +replied, that he was not at liberty to speak upon such topics. + +When dinner was finished, the governor arose, and, wishing Edward a good +journey, said, that having been informed by Waverley's servant that his +baggage had been sent forward, he had taken the freedom to supply him +with such changes of linen as he might find necessary, till he was again +possessed of his own. With this compliment he disappeared. A servant +acquainted Waverley an instant afterwards, that his horse was ready. + +Upon this hint he descended into the courtyard, and found a trooper +holding a saddled horse, on which he mounted, and sallied from the +portal of Doune Castle, attended by about a score of armed men on +horseback. These had less the appearance of regular soldiers than of +individuals who had suddenly assumed arms from some pressing motive of +unexpected emergency. Their uniform, which was blue and red, an affected +imitation of that of French chasseurs, was in many respects incomplete, +and sat awkwardly upon those who wore it. Waverley's eye, accustomed +to look at a well-disciplined regiment, could easily discover that the +motions and habits of his escort were not those of trained soldiers, and +that, although expert enough in the management of their horses, their +skill was that of huntsmen or grooms, rather than of troopers. The +horses were not trained to the regular pace so necessary to execute +simultaneous and combined movements and formations; nor did they seem +BITTED (as it is technically expressed) for the use of the sword. +The men, however, were stout, hardy-looking fellows, and might be +individually formidable as irregular cavalry. The commander of this +small party was mounted upon an excellent hunter, and although dressed +in uniform, his change of apparel did not prevent Waverley from +recognizing his old acquaintance, Mr. Falconer of Balmawhapple. + +Now, although the terms upon which Edward had parted with this +gentleman were none of the most friendly, he would have sacrificed every +recollection of their foolish quarrel for the pleasure of enjoying once +more the social intercourse of question and answer, from which he had +been so long secluded. But apparently the remembrance of his defeat by +the Baron of Bradwardine, of which Edward had been the unwilling cause, +still rankled in the mind of the low-bred, and yet proud laird. He +carefully avoided giving the least sign of recognition, riding doggedly +at the head of his men, who, though scarce equal in numbers to a +sergeant's party, were denominated Captain Falconer's troop, being +preceded by a trumpet, which sounded from time to time, and a standard, +borne by Cornet Falconer, the laird's young brother. The lieutenant, an +elderly man, had much the air of a low sportsman and boon companion; an +expression of dry humour predominated in his countenance over features +of a vulgar cast, which indicated habitual intemperance. His cocked hat +was set knowingly upon one side of his head, and while he whistled the +'Bob of Dumblain,' under the influence of half a mutchkin of brandy, he +seemed to fret merrily forward, with a happy indifference to the state +of the country, the conduct of the party, the end of the journey, and +all other sublunary matters whatever. + +From this wight, who now and then dropped alongside of his horse, +Waverley hoped to acquire some information, or at least to beguile the +way with talk. + +'A fine evening, sir,' was Edward's salutation. + +'Ow, aye, sir! a bra' night,' replied the lieutenant, in broad Scotch of +the most vulgar description. + +'And a fine harvest, apparently,' continued Waverley, following up his +first attack. + +'Aye, the aits will be got bravely in: but the farmers, deil burst them, +and the corn-mongers will make the auld price gude against them as has +horses till keep.' + +'You perhaps act as quarter-master, sir?' + +'Aye, quarter-master, riding-master, and lieutenant,' answered this +officer of all work. 'And, to be sure, wha's fitter to look after the +breaking and the keeping of the poor beasts than mysell, that bought and +sold every ane o' them?' + +'And pray, sir, if it be not too great a freedom, may I beg to know +where we are going just now?' + +'A fule's errand, I fear,' answered this communicative personage. + +'In that case,' said Waverley, determined not to spare civility, 'I +should have thought a person of your appearance would not have been +found on the road.' + +'Vera true, vera true, sir,' replied the officer, 'but every why has its +wherefore. Ye maun ken, the laird there bought a' thir beasts frae' +me to munt his troop, and agreed to pay for them according to the +necessities and prices of the time. But then he hadna the ready penny, +and I hae been advised his bond will not be worth a boddle against the +estate, and then I had a' my dealers to settle wi' at Martinmas; and so +as he very kindly offered me this commission, and as the auld Fifteen +[The Judges of the Supreme Court of Session in Scotland are proverbially +termed, among the country people, The Fifteen.] wad never help me to my +siller for sending out naigs against the Government, why, conscience! +sir, I thought my best chance for payment was e'en to GAE OUT mysell; +and ye may judge, sir, as I hae dealt a' my life in halters, I think na +mickle o' putting my craig in peril of a St. Johnstone's tippet.' [TO GO +OUT, or TO HAVE BEEN OUT, in Scotland, was a conventional phrase similar +to that of the Irish respecting a man having been UP, both having +reference to an individual who had been engaged in insurrection. It was +accounted ill-breeding in Scotland, about forty years since, to use the +phrase rebellion or rebel, which might be interpreted by some of the +parties present as a personal insult. It was also esteemed more polite +even for stanch Whigs to denominate Charles Edward the Chevalier, +than to speak of him as the Pretender; and this kind of accommodating +courtesy was usually observed in society where individuals of each party +mixed on friendly terms.] + +'You are not, then, by profession a soldier?' said Waverley. + +'Na, na; thank God,' answered this doughty partisan, 'I wasna bred at +sae short a tether; I was brought up to hack and manger. I was bred a +horse-couper, sir; and if I might live to see you at Whitson-tryst, or +at Stagshawbank, or the winter fair at Hawick, and ye wanted a spanker +that would lead the field, I'se be caution I would serve ye easy; for +Jamie Jinker was ne'er the lad to impose upon a gentleman. Ye're +a gentleman, sir, and should ken a horse's points; ye see that +through-ganging thing that Balmawhapple's on; I selled her till him. +She was bred out of Lick-the-Ladle, that wan the king's plate at +Caverton-Edge, by Duke Hamilton's White-foot,' &c. &c. &c. + +But as Jinker was entered full sail upon the pedigree of Balmawhapple's +mare, having already got as far as great-grandsire and great-grand-dam, +and while Waverley was watching for an opportunity to obtain from him +intelligence of more interest, the noble captain checked his horse until +they came up, and then, without directly appearing to notice Edward, +said sternly to the genealogist, 'I thought, lieutenant', my orders were +preceese, that no one should speak to the prisoner?' + +The metamorphosed horse-dealer was silenced of course, and slunk to the +rear, where he consoled himself by entering into a vehement dispute upon +the price of hay with a farmer, who had reluctantly followed his laird +to the field, rather than give up his farm, whereof the lease had +just expired. Waverley was therefore once more consigned to silence, +foreseeing that further attempts at conversation with any of the party +would only give Balmawhapple a wished-for opportunity to display the +insolence of authority, and the sulky spite of a temper naturally +dogged, and rendered more so by habits of low indulgence and the incense +of servile adulation. + +In about two hours' time, the party were near the Castle of Stirling, +over whose battlements the union flag was brightened as it waved in the +evening sun. To shorten his journey or perhaps to display his importance +and insult the English garrison, Balmawhapple, inclining to the right, +took his route through the royal park, which reaches to and surrounds +the rock upon which the fortress is situated. + +With a mind more at ease, Waverley could not have failed to admire +the mixture of romance and beauty which renders interesting the scene +through which he was now passing--the field which had been the scene +of the tournaments of old--the rock from which the ladies beheld +the contest, while each made vows for the success of some favourite +knight--the towers of the Gothic church, where these vows might be +paid--and, surmounting all, the fortress itself, at once a castle and +palace, where valour received the prize from royalty, and knights and +dames closed the evening amid the revelry of the dance, the song, +and the feast. All these were objects fitted to arouse and interest a +romantic imagination. + +But Waverley had other objects of meditation, and an incident soon +occurred of a nature to disturb meditation of any kind. Balmawhapple, in +the pride of his heart, as he wheeled his little body of cavalry round +the base of the castle, commanded his trumpet to sound a flourish, +and his standard to be displayed. This insult produced apparently +some sensation; for when the cavalcade was at such a distance from the +southern battery as to admit of a gun being depressed so as to bear upon +them, a flash of fire issued from one of the embrasures upon the rock; +and ere the report with which it was attended could be heard, the +rushing sound of a cannon-ball passed over Balmawhapple's head, and the +bullet, burying itself in the ground at a few yards' distance, covered +him with the earth which it drove up. There was no need to bid the party +trudge. In fact, every man, acting upon the impulse of the moment, soon +brought Mr. Jinker's steeds to show their mettle, and the cavaliers, +retreating with more speed than regularity, never took to a trot, as +the lieutenant afterwards observed, until an intervening eminence had +secured them from any repetition of so undesirable a compliment on the +part of Stirling Castle. I must do Balmawhapple, however, the justice +to say, that he not only kept the rear of his troop, and laboured to +maintain some order among them, but, in the height of his gallantry, +answered the fire of the castle by discharging one of his horse-pistols +at the battlements; although, the distance being nearly half a mile, I +could never learn that this measure of retaliation was attended with any +particular effect. + +The travellers now passed the memorable field of Bannockburn, and +reached the Torwood,--a place glorious or terrible to the recollections +of the Scottish peasant, as the feats of Wallace, or the cruelties of +Wude Willie Grime, predominate in his recollection. At Falkirk, a town +formerly famous in Scottish history, and soon to be again distinguished +as the scene of military events of importance, Balmawhapple proposed +to halt and repose for the evening. This was performed with very little +regard to military discipline, his worthy quarter-master being chiefly +solicitous to discover where the best brandy might be come at. Sentinels +were deemed unnecessary, and the only vigils performed were those of +such of the party as could procure liquor. A few resolute men might +easily have cut off the detachment; but of the inhabitants some +were favourable, many indifferent, and the rest overawed. So nothing +memorable occurred in the course of the evening, except that Waverley's +rest was sorely interrupted by the revellers hallooing forth their +Jacobite songs, without remorse or mitigation of voice. + +Early in the morning they were again mounted, and on the road to +Edinburgh, though the pallid visages of some of the troop betrayed +that they had spent a night of sleepless debauchery. They halted at +Linlithgow, distinguished by its ancient palace, which, Sixty Years +since, was entire and habitable, and whose venerable ruins, not quite +Sixty Years since, very narrowly escaped the unworthy fate of being +converted into a barrack for French prisoners. May repose and blessings +attend the ashes of the patriotic statesman, who, amongst his last +services to Scotland, interposed to prevent this profanation! + +As they approached the metropolis of Scotland, through a champaign and +cultivated country, the sounds of war began to be heard. The distant, +yet distinct report of heavy cannon, fired at intervals, apprized +Waverley that the work of destruction was going forward. Even +Balmawhapple seemed moved to take some precautions, by sending an +advanced party in front of his troop, keeping the main body in tolerable +order, and moving steadily forward. + +Marching in this manner they speedily reached an eminence, from which +they could view Edinburgh stretching along the ridgy hill which slopes +eastward from the Castle. The latter, being in a state of siege, or +rather of blockade, by the northern insurgents, who had already occupied +the town for two or three days, fired at intervals upon such parties +of Highlanders as exposed themselves, either on the main street, or +elsewhere in the vicinity of the fortress. The morning being calm and +fair, the effect of this dropping fire was to invest the Castle in +wreaths of smoke, the edges of which dissipated slowly in the air, while +the central veil was darkened ever and anon by fresh clouds poured forth +from the battlements; the whole giving, by the partial concealment, an +appearance of grandeur and gloom, rendered more terrific when Waverley +reflected on the cause by which it was produced, and that each explosion +might ring some brave man's knell. + +Ere they approached the city, the partial cannonade had wholly ceased. +Balmawhapple, however, having in his recollection the unfriendly +greeting which his troop had received from the battery of Stirling, +had apparently no wish to tempt the forbearance of the artillery of the +Castle. He therefore left the direct road, and sweeping considerably to +the southward, so as to keep out of the range of the cannon, approached +the ancient palace of Holyrood, without having entered the walls of +the city. He then drew up his men in front of that venerable pile, +and delivered Waverley to the custody of a guard of Highlanders, whose +officer conducted him into the interior of the building. + +A long, low, and ill-proportioned gallery, hung with pictures, affirmed +to be the portraits of kings, who, if they ever flourished at all, lived +several hundred years before the invention of painting in oil colours, +served as a sort of guard-chamber, or vestibule, to the apartments +which the adventurous Charles Edward now occupied in the palace of his +ancestors. Officers, both in the Highland and Lowland garb, passed and +repassed in haste, or loitered in the hall, as if waiting for orders. +Secretaries were engaged in making out passes, musters, and returns. +All seemed busy, and earnestly intent upon something of importance; +but Waverley was suffered to remain seated in the recess of a window, +unnoticed by any one, in anxious reflection upon the crisis of his fate, +which seemed now rapidly approaching. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AN OLD AND A NEW ACQUAINTANCE + +While he was deep sunk in his reverie, the rustle of tartans was heard +behind him, a friendly arm clasped his shoulders, and a friendly voice +exclaimed, + +'Said the Highland prophet sooth?--or must second-sight go for nothing?' + +Waverley turned, and was warmly embraced by Fergus Mac-Ivor. 'A thousand +welcomes to Holyrood, once more possessed by her legitimate sovereign! +Did I not say we should prosper, and that you would fall into the hands +of the Philistines if you parted from us?' + +'Dear Fergus!' said Waverley, eagerly returning his greeting, 'it is +long since I have heard a friend's voice. Where is Flora?' + +'Safe, and a triumphant spectator of our success.' + +'In this place?' said Waverley. + +'Aye, in this city at least,' answered his friend, 'and you shall see +her; but first you must meet a friend whom you little think of, who has +been frequent in his inquiries after you.' + +Thus saying, he dragged Waverley by the arm out of the guard-chamber, +and, ere he knew where he was conducted, Edward found himself in a +presence-room, fitted up with some attempt at royal state. + +A young man, wearing his own fair hair, distinguished by the dignity +of his mien and the noble expression of his well-formed and regular +features, advanced out of a circle of military gentlemen and Highland +chiefs, by whom he was surrounded. In his easy and graceful manners +Waverley afterwards thought he could have discovered his high birth and +rank, although the star on his breast, and the embroidered garter at his +knee, had not appeared as its indications. + +'Let me present to your Royal Highness,' said Fergus, bowing +profoundly-- + +'The descendant of one of the most ancient and loyal families in +England,' said the young Chevalier, interrupting him. 'I beg your pardon +for interrupting you, my dear Mac-Ivor; but no master of ceremonies is +necessary to present a Waverley to a Stuart.' + +Thus saying, he extended his hand to Edward with the utmost courtesy, +who could not, had he desired it, have avoided rendering him the homage +which seemed due to his rank, and was certainly the right of his birth. +'I am sorry to understand, Mr. Waverley, that, owing to circumstances +which have been as yet but ill explained, you have suffered some +restraint among my followers in Perthshire, and on your march here; but +we are in such a situation that we hardly know our friends, and I +am even at this moment uncertain whether I can have the pleasure of +considering Mr. Waverley as among mine.' + +He then paused for an instant; but before Edward could adjust a suitable +reply or even arrange his ideas as to its purport, the Prince took out +a paper, and then proceeded:--'I should indeed have no doubts upon this +subject, if I could trust to this proclamation, set forth by the friends +of the Elector of Hanover, in which they rank Mr. Waverley among the +nobility and gentry who are menaced with the pains of high treason for +loyalty to their legitimate sovereign. But I desire to gain no adherents +save from affection and conviction; and if Mr. Waverley inclines +to prosecute his journey to the south, or to join the forces of the +Elector, he shall have my passport and free permission to do so; and I +can only regret, that my present power will not extend to protect him +against the probable consequences of such a measure.--But,' continued +Charles Edward, after another short pause, 'if Mr. Waverley should, like +his ancestor, Sir Nigel, determine to embrace a cause which has little +to recommend it but its justice, and follow a prince who throws +himself upon the affections of his people to recover the throne of his +ancestors, or perish in the attempt, I can only say, that among these +nobles and gentlemen he will find worthy associates in a gallant +enterprise, and will follow a master who may be unfortunate, but, I +trust, will never be ungrateful.' + +The politic Chieftain of the race of Ivor knew his advantage in +introducing Waverley to this personal interview with the royal +Adventurer. Unaccustomed to the address and manners of a polished court, +in which Charles was eminently skilful, his words and his kindness +penetrated the heart of our hero, and easily outweighed all prudential +motives. To be thus personally solicited for assistance by a Prince, +whose form and manners, as well as the spirit which he displayed in +this singular enterprise, answered his ideas of a hero of romance; to be +courted by him in the ancient halls of his paternal palace, recovered +by the sword which he was already bending towards other conquests, gave +Edward, in his own eyes, the dignity and importance which he had ceased +to consider as his attributes. Rejected, slandered, and threatened +upon the one side, he was irresistibly attracted to the cause which the +prejudices of education, and the political principles of his family, had +already recommended as the most just. These thoughts rushed through +his mind like a torrent, sweeping before them every consideration of an +opposite tendency,--the time, besides, admitted of no deliberation,--and +Waverley, kneeling to Charles Edward, devoted his heart and sword to the +vindication of his rights! + +The Prince (for, although unfortunate in the faults and follies of his +forefathers, we shall here, and elsewhere, give him the title due to +his birth) raised Waverley from the ground, and embraced him with an +expression of thanks too warm not to be genuine. He also thanked +Fergus Mac-Ivor repeatedly for having brought him such an adherent, and +presented Waverley to the various noblemen, chieftains, and officers +who were about his person, as a young gentleman of the highest hopes and +prospects, in whose bold and enthusiastic avowal of his cause they might +see an evidence of the sentiments of the English families of rank at +this important crisis. [See Note 23.] Indeed, this was a point +much doubted among the adherents of the house of Stuart; and as a +well-founded disbelief in the co-operation of the English Jacobites kept +many Scottish men of rank from his standard, and diminished the courage +of those who had joined it, nothing could be more seasonable for the +Chevalier than the open declaration in his favour of the representative +of the house of Waverley-Honour, so long known as cavaliers and +royalists. This Fergus had foreseen from the beginning. He really loved +Waverley, because their feelings and projects never thwarted each other; +he hoped to see him united with Flora, and he rejoiced that they were +effectually engaged in the same cause. But, as we before hinted, he also +exulted as a politician in beholding secured to his party a partisan of +such consequence; and he was far from being insensible to the personal +importance which he himself gained with the Prince, from having so +materially assisted in making the acquisition. + +Charles Edward, on his part, seemed eager to show his attendants the +value which he attached to his new adherent, by entering immediately, as +in confidence, upon the circumstances of his situation. 'You have been +secluded so much from intelligence, Mr. Waverley, from causes of which +I am but indistinctly informed, that I presume you are even yet +unacquainted with the important particulars of my present situation. You +have, however, heard of my landing in the remote district of Moidart, +with only seven attendants, and of the numerous chiefs and clans whose +loyal enthusiasm at once placed a solitary adventurer at the head of +a gallant army. You must also, I think, have learned, that the +commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian Elector, Sir John Cope, marched +into the Highlands at the head of a numerous and well-appointed military +force, with the intention of giving us battle, but that his courage +failed him when we were within three hours' march of each other, so that +he fairly gave us the slip, and marched northward to Aberdeen, leaving +the Low Country open and undefended. Not to lose so favourable an +opportunity, I marched on to this metropolis, driving before me two +regiments of horse, Gardiner's and Hamilton's, who had threatened to +cut to pieces every Highlander that should venture to pass Stirling; +and while discussions were carrying forward among the magistracy +and citizens of Edinburgh, whether they should defend themselves or +surrender, my good friend Lochiel (laying his hand on the shoulder +of that gallant and accomplished chieftain) saved them the trouble of +further deliberation, by entering the gates with five hundred Camerons. +Thus far, therefore, we have done well; but, in the meanwhile, this +doughty general's nerves being braced by the keen air of Aberdeen, +he has taken shipping for Dunbar, and I have just received certain +information that he landed there yesterday. His purpose must +unquestionably be to march towards us to recover possession of the +capital. Now, there are two opinions in my council of war: one, that +being inferior probably in numbers, and certainly in discipline and +military appointments, not to mention our total want of artillery, and +the weakness of our cavalry, it will be safest to fall back towards the +mountains, and there protract the war, until fresh succours arrive from +France, and the whole body of the Highland clans shall have taken +arms in our favour. The opposite opinion maintains, that a retrograde +movement, in our circumstances, is certain to throw utter discredit on +our arms and undertaking; and, far from gaining us new partisans, will +be the means of disheartening-those who have joined our standard. The +officers who use these last arguments, among whom is your friend Fergus +Mac-Ivor, maintain, that if the Highlanders are strangers to the usual +military discipline of Europe, the soldiers whom they are to encounter +are no less strangers to their peculiar and formidable mode of attack; +that the attachment and courage of the chiefs and gentlemen are not to +be doubted; and that as they will be in the midst of the enemy, their +clansmen will as surely follow them; in fine, that having drawn the +sword, we should throw away the scabbard, and trust our cause to battle, +and to the God of Battles. Will Mr. Waverley favour us with his opinion +in these arduous circumstances?' + +Waverley coloured high betwixt pleasure and modesty at the distinction +implied in this question, and answered, with equal spirit-and readiness, +that he could not venture to offer an opinion as derived from military +skill, but that the counsel would be far the most acceptable to him +which should first afford him an opportunity to evince his zeal in his +Royal Highness's service. + +'Spoken like a Waverley!' answered Charles Edward; and that you may hold +a rank in some degree corresponding to your name, allow me, instead of +the captain's commission which you have lost, to offer you the brevet +rank of major in my service, with the advantage of acting as one of my +aides de camp until you can be attached to a regiment, of which I hope +several will be speedily embodied.' + +'Your Royal Highness will forgive me,' answered Waverley (for his +recollection turned to Balmawhapple and his scanty troop), 'If I decline +accepting any rank until the time and place where I may have interest +enough to raise a sufficient body of men to make my command useful +to your Royal Highness's service. In the meanwhile, I hope for your +permission to serve as a volunteer under my friend Fergus Mac-Ivor.' + +'At least,' said the Prince, who was obviously pleased with this +proposal, 'allow me the pleasure of arming you after the Highland +fashion.' With these words, he unbuckled the broadsword which he wore, +the belt of which was plated with silver, and the steel basket-hilt +richly and curiously inlaid, 'The blade,' said the Prince, 'is a genuine +Andrea Ferrara; it has been a sort of heirloom in our family; but I am +convinced I put it into better hands than my own, and will add to it +pistols of the same workmanship.--Colonel Mac-Ivor, you must have much +to say to your friend; I will detain you no longer from your private +conversation; but remember, we expect you both to attend us in the +evening. It may be perhaps the last night we may enjoy in these halls, +and as we go to the field with a clear conscience, we will spend the eve +of battle merrily.' + +Thus licensed, the Chief and Waverley left the presence-chamber. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE MYSTERY BEGINS TO BE CLEARED UP + +'How do you like him?' was Fergus's first question, as they descended +the large stone staircase. + +'A prince to live and die under,' was Waverley's enthusiastic answer. + +'I knew you would think so when you saw him, and I intended you should +have met earlier, but was prevented by your sprain. And yet he has +his foibles, or rather he has difficult cards to play, and his +Irish officers, [See note 24.] who are much about him, are but sorry +advisers,--they cannot discriminate among the numerous pretensions that +are set up. Would you think it--I have been obliged for the present to +suppress an earl's patent, granted for services rendered ten years ago, +for fear of exciting the jealousy, forsooth, of C-- and M--. But you +were very right, Edward, to refuse the situation of aide de camp. There +are two vacant, indeed, but Clanronald and Lochiel, and almost all of +us, have requested one for young Aberchallader, and the Lowlanders and +the Irish party are equally desirous to have the other for the Master +of F--. Now, if either of these candidates were to be superseded in your +favour, you would make enemies. And then I am surprised that the Prince +should have offered you a majority, when he knows very well that nothing +short of lieutenant-colonel will satisfy others, who cannot bring one +hundred and fifty men to the field. "But patience, cousin, and shuffle +the cards!" It is all very well for the present, and we must have you +regularly equipped for the evening in your new costume; for, to say +truth, your outward man is scarce fit for a court.' + +'Why,' said Waverley, looking at his soiled dress, 'my shooting-jacket +has seen service since we parted; but that, probably, you, my friend, +know as well or better than I.' + +'You do my second-sight too much honour,' said Fergus, 'We were so busy, +first with the scheme of giving battle to Cope, and afterwards with our +operations in the Lowlands, that I could only give general directions +to such of our people as were left in Perthshire to respect and protect +you, should you come in their way. But let me hear the full story +of your adventures, for they have reached us in a very partial and +mutilated manner.' + +Waverley then detailed at length the circumstances with which the reader +is already acquainted, to which Fergus listened with great attention. By +this time they had reached the door of his quarters, which he had +taken up in a small paved court, retiring from the street called the +Canongate, at the house of a buxom widow of forty, who seemed to smile +very graciously upon the handsome young Chief, she being a person +with whom good looks and good humour were sure to secure an interest, +whatever might be the party's political opinions. Here Callum Beg +received them with a smile of recognition. 'Callum,' said the Chief, +'call Shemus an Snachad' (James of the Needle). This was the hereditary +tailor of Vich Ian Vohr. 'Shemus, Mr. Waverley is to wear the CATH DATH +(battle colour, or tartan); his trews must be ready in four hours. You +know the measure of a well-made man: two double nails to the small of +the leg'-- + +'Eleven from haunch to heel, seven round the waist--I give your honour +leave to hang Shemus, if there's a pair of sheers in the Highlands that +has a baulder sneck than her's ain at the CUMADH AN TRUAIS' (shape of +the trews). + +'Get a plaid of Mac-Ivor tartan, and sash,' continued the Chieftain, +'and a blue bonnet of the Prince's pattern, at Mr. Mouat's in the +Crames. My short green coat, with silver lace and silver buttons, will +fit him exactly, and I have never worn it. Tell Ensign Maccombich to +pick out a handsome target from among mine. The Prince has given Mr. +Waverley broadsword and pistols, I will furnish him with a dirk and +purse; add but a pair of low-heeled shoes, and then, my dear Edward +(turning to him), you will be a complete son of Ivor. + +These necessary directions given, the Chieftain resumed the subject of +Waverley's adventures. 'It is plain,' he said, 'that you have been in +the custody of Donald Bean Lean. You must know, that when I marched away +my clan to join the Prince, I laid my injunctions on that worthy member +of society to perform a certain piece of service, which done, he was to +join me with all the force he could muster. But instead of doing so, the +gentleman, finding the coast clear, thought it better to make war on his +own account, and has scoured the country, plundering, I believe, both +friend and foe, under pretence of levying blackmail, sometimes as if by +my authority, and sometimes (and be cursed to his consummate impudence) +in his own great name! Upon my honour, if I live to see the cairn of +Benmore again, I shall be tempted to hang that fellow! I recognize his +hand particularly in the mode of your rescue from that canting rascal +Gilfillan, and I have little doubt that Donald himself played the part +of the pedlar on that occasion; but how he should not have plundered +you, or put you to ransom, or availed himself in some way or other of +your captivity for his own advantage, passes my judgement.' + +'When and how did you hear the intelligence of my confinement?' asked +Waverley. + +'The Prince himself told me,' said Fergus,' and inquired very minutely +into your history. He then mentioned your being at that moment in the +power of one of our northern parties--you know I could not ask him to +explain particulars--and requested my opinion about disposing of you. I +recommended that you should be brought here as a prisoner, because I did +not wish to prejudice you further with the English Government, in case +you pursued your purpose of going southward. I knew nothing, you must +recollect, of the charge brought against you of aiding and abetting +high treason, which, I presume, had some share in changing your original +plan. That sullen, good-for-nothing brute, Balmawhapple, was sent to +escort you from Doune, with what he calls his troop of horse. As to +his behaviour, in addition to his natural antipathy to everything that +resembles a gentleman, I presume his adventure with Bradwardine rankles +in his recollection, the rather that I dare say his mode of telling +that story contributed to the evil reports which reached your quondam +regiment.' + +'Very likely,' said Waverley; 'but now surely, my dear Fergus, you may +find time to tell me something of Flora.' + +'Why,' replied Fergus, 'I can only tell you that she is well, and +residing for the present with a relation in this city. I thought it +better she should come here, as since our success a good many ladies of +rank attend our military court; and I assure you, that there is a sort +of consequence annexed to the near relative of such a person as Flora +Mac-Ivor; and where there is such a justling of claims and requests, a +man must use every fair means to enhance his importance.' + +There was something in this last sentence which grated on Waverley's +feelings. He could not bear that Flora should be considered as +conducing to her brother's preferment, by the admiration which she must +unquestionably attract; and although it was in strict correspondence +with many points of Fergus's character, it shocked him as selfish, +and unworthy of his sister's high mind, and his own independent pride. +Fergus, to whom such manoeuvres were familiar, as to one brought up at +the French court, did not observe the unfavourable impression which he +had unwarily made upon his friend's mind, and concluded by saying, that +they could hardly see Flora before the evening, when she would be at the +concert and ball, with which the Prince's party were to be entertained. +She and I had a quarrel about her not appearing to take leave of you. I +am unwilling to renew it, by soliciting her to receive you this morning; +and perhaps my doing so might not only be ineffectual, but prevent your +meeting this evening.' + +While thus conversing, Waverley heard in the court, before the windows +of the parlour, a well-known voice. 'I aver to you, my worthy +friend,' said the speaker, 'that it is a total dereliction of military +discipline; and were you not as it were a TYRO, your purpose would +deserve strong reprobation. For a prisoner of war is on no account to be +coerced with fetters, or detained IN ERGASTULO, as would have been +the case had you put this gentleman into the pit of the peel-house at +Balmawhapple. I grant, indeed, that such a prisoner may for security be +coerced IN CARCERE, that is, in a public prison.' + +The growling voice of Balmawhapple was heard as taking leave in +displeasure, but the word 'land-louper' alone was distinctly audible. He +had disappeared before Waverley reached the house, in order to greet the +worthy Baron of Bradwardine. The uniform in which he was now attired, a +blue coat, namely, with gold lace, a scarlet waistcoat and breeches, and +immense jack-boots, seemed to have added fresh stiffness and rigidity +to his tall, perpendicular figure; and the consciousness of military +command and authority had increased, in the same proportion, the +self-importance of his demeanour, and the dogmatism of his conversation. + +He received Waverley with his usual kindness, and expressed immediate +anxiety to hear an explanation of the circumstances attending the loss +of his commission in Gardiner's dragoons; 'not,' he said, 'that he had +the least apprehension of his young friend having done aught which could +merit such ungenerous treatment as he had received from Government, but +because it was right and seemly that the Baron of Bradwardine should +be, in point of trust and in point of power, fully able to refute all +calumnies against the heir of Waverley-Honour, whom he had so much right +to regard as his own son.' + +Fergus Mac-Ivor, who had now joined them, went hastily over the +circumstances of Waverley's story, and concluded with the flattering +reception he had met from the young Chevalier. The Baron listened in +silence, and at the conclusion shook Waverley heartily by the hand, and +congratulated him upon entering the service of his lawful Prince. 'For,' +continued he, 'although it has been justly held in all nations a matter +of scandal and dishonour to infringe the SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, and +that whether it was taken by each soldier singly, whilk the Romans +denominated PER CONJURATIONEM, or by one soldier in name of the rest, +yet no one ever doubted that the allegiance so sworn was discharged by +the DIMISSIO, or discharging of a soldier, whose case would be as hard +as that of colliers, salters, and other ADSCRIPTI GLEBAE, or slaves of +the soil, were it to be accounted otherwise. This is something like the +brocard expressed by the learned Sanchez in his work DE JURE-JURANDO, +which you have questionless consulted upon this occasion. As for those +who have calumniated you by leasing-making, I protest to Heaven I think +they have justly incurred the penalty of the MEMNONIA LEX, also called +LEX RHEMNIA, which is prelected upon by Tullius in his oration IN +VERREM. I should have deemed, however, Mr. Waverley, that before +destining yourself to any special service in the army of the Prince, +ye might have inquired what rank the old Bradwardine held there, +and whether he would not have been peculiarly happy to have had your +services in the regiment of horse which he is now about to levy.' + +Edward eluded this reproach by pleading the necessity of giving an +immediate answer to the Prince's proposal, and his uncertainty at the +moment whether his friend the Baron was with the army, or engaged upon +service elsewhere. + +This punctilio being settled, Waverley made inquiry after Miss +Bradwardine, and was informed she had come to Edinburgh with Flora +Mac-Ivor, under guard of a party of the Chieftain's men. This step was +indeed necessary, Tully-Veolan having become a very unpleasant, and even +dangerous place of residence for an unprotected young lady, on account +of its vicinity to the Highlands, and also to one or two large villages, +which, from aversion as much to the Caterans as zeal for presbytery, +had declared themselves on the side of Government, and formed irregular +bodies of partisans, who had frequent skirmishes with the mountaineers, +and sometimes attacked the houses of the Jacobite gentry in the braes, +or frontier betwixt the mountain and plain. + +'I would propose to you,' continued the Baron, 'to walk as far as my +quarters in the Luckenbooths, and to admire in your passage the High +Street, whilk is, beyond a shadow of dubitation, finer than any street, +whether in London or Paris. But Rose, poor thing, is sorely discomposed +with the firing of the Castle, though I have proved to her from Blondel +and Coehorn, that it is impossible a bullet can reach these buildings; +and, besides, I have it in charge from His Royal Highness to go to the +camp, or leaguer of our army, to see that the men do CONCLAMARE VASA, +that is, truss up their bag and baggage for to-morrow's march.' + +'That will be easily done by most of us,' said Mac-Ivor, laughing. + +'Craving your pardon, Colonel Mac-Ivor, not quite so easily as ye seem +to opine. I grant most of your folk left the Highlands, expedited as it +were, and free from the incumbrance of baggage; but it is unspeakable +the quantity of useless sprechery which they have collected on their +march, I saw one fellow of yours (craving your pardon once more) with a +pier-glass upon his back.' + +'Aye,' said Fergus, still in good humour, 'he would have told you, if +you had questioned him, A GANGING FOOT IS AYE GETTING.--But come, my +dear Baron, you know as well as I, that a hundred Uhlans, or a single +troop of Schmirschitz's Pandours, would make more havoc in a country +than the knight of the mirror and all the rest of our clans put +together.' + +'And that is very true likewise,' replied the Baron; 'they are, as +the heathen author says, FEROCIORES IN ASPECTU, MITIORES IN ACTU, of +a horrid and grim visage, but more benign in demeanour than their +physiognomy or aspect might infer.--But I stand here talking to you two +youngsters when I should be in the King's Park.' + +'But you will dine with Waverley and me on your return? I assure you, +Baron, though I can live like a Highlander when needs must, I remember +my Paris education, and understand perfectly FAIRE LA MEILLEURE CHERE.' + +'And wha the deil doubts it,' quoth the Baron, laughing, 'when ye bring +only the cookery, and the gude toun must furnish the materials?--'Weel, +I have some business in the toun too: But I'll join you at three, if the +vivers can tarry so long.' + +So saying, he took leave of his friends, and went to look after the +charge which had been assigned him. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +A SOLDIER'S DINNER + +James of the Needle was a man of his word, when whisky was no party +to the contract; and upon this occasion Callum Beg, who still thought +himself in Waverley's debt, since he had declined accepting compensation +at the expense of mine Host of the Candlestick's person, took the +opportunity of discharging the obligation, by mounting guard over the +hereditary tailor of Sliochd nan Ivor; and, as he expressed himself, +'targed him tightly' till the finishing of the job. To rid himself of +this restraint, Shemus's needle flew through the tartan like lightning; +and as the artist kept chanting some dreadful skirmish of Fin Macoul, +he accomplished at least three stitches to the death of every hero. The +dress was, therefore, soon ready, for the short coat fitted the wearer, +and the rest of the apparel required little adjustment. + +Our hero having now fairly assumed the 'garb of old Gaul,' well +calculated its it was to give an appearance of strength to a figure, +which, though tall and well-made, was rather elegant than robust, I hope +my fair readers will excuse him if he looked at himself in the mirror +more than once, and could not help acknowledging that the reflection +seemed that of a very handsome young fellow. In fact, there was +no disguising it. His light-brown hair--for he wore no periwig, +notwithstanding the universal fashion of the time--became the bonnet +which surmounted it. His person promised firmness and agility, to which +the ample folds of the tartan added an air of dignity. His blue eye +seemed of that kind, + + Which melted in love, and which kindled in war; + +and an air of bashfulness, which was in reality the effect of want of +habitual intercourse with the world, gave interest to his features, +without injuring their grace or intelligence. + +'He's a pratty man--a very pratty man,' said Evan Dhu (now Ensign +Maccombich) to Fergus's buxom landlady. + +'He's vera weel,' said the Widow Flockhart, 'but no naething sae +weel-far'd as your colonel, ensign.' + +'I wasna comparing them,' quoth Evan, 'nor was I speaking about his +being weel-favoured; but only that Mr. Waverley looks clean-made and +DELIVER, and like a proper lad of his quarters, that will not cry +barley in a brulzie, And, indeed, he's gleg aneuch at the broadsword and +target, I hae played wi' him mysell at Glennaquoich, and sae has Vich +Ian Vohr, often of a Sunday afternoon,' + +'Lord forgie ye, Ensign Maccombich,' said the alarmed Presbyterian; 'I'm +sure the colonel wad never do the like o' that!' + +'Hout! hout! Mrs. Flockhart,' replied the ensign, 'we're young blude, ye +ken; and young saints, auld deils.' + +'But will ye fight wi' Sir John Cope the morn, Ensign Maccombich?' +demanded Mrs. Flockhart of her guest. + +'Troth I'se ensure him, an' he'll bide us, Mrs. Flockhart,' replied the +Gael. + +'And will ye face thae tearing chields, the dragoons, Ensign +Maccombich?' again inquired the landlady. + +'Claw for claw, as Conan said to Satan, Mrs. Flockhart, and the deevil +tak the shortest nails.' + +'And will the colonel venture on the bagganets himsell?' + +'Ye may swear it, Mrs. Flockhart; the very first man will he be, by +Saint Phedar.' + +'Merciful goodness! and if he's killed amang the red-coats!' exclaimed +the soft-hearted widow. + +'Troth, if it should sae befall, Mrs. Flockhart, I ken ane that will +no be living to weep for him. But we maun a' live the day, and have +our dinner; and there's Vich Ian Vohr has packed his DORLACH, and Mr. +Waverley's wearied wi' majoring yonder afore the muckle pier-glass; and +that grey auld stoor carle, the Baron o' Bradwardine, that shot young +Ronald of Ballenkeiroch, he's coming down the close wi' that droghling +coghling bailie body they ca' Macwhupple, just like the Laird o' +Kittlegab's French cook, wi' his turn-spit doggie trindling ahint him, +and I am as hungry as a gled, my bonny dow; sae bid Kate set on the +broo', and do ye put on your pinners, for ye ken Vich Ian Vohr winna +sit down till ye be at the head o' the table;--and dinna forget the pint +bottle o' brandy, my woman.' + +This hint produced dinner. Mrs. Flockhart, smiling in her weeds like the +sun through a mist; took the head of the table, thinking within herself, +perhaps, that she cared not how long the rebellion lasted, that brought +her into company so much above her usual associates. She was supported +by Waverley and the Baron, with the advantage of the Chieftain +VIS-A-VIS. The men of peace and of war, that is, Bailie Macwheeble and +Ensign Maccombich, after many profound conges to their superiors and +each other, took their places on each side of the Chieftain. Their fare +was excellent, time, place, and circumstances considered, and Fergus's +spirits were extravagantly high. Regardless of danger, and sanguine from +temper, youth, and ambition, he saw in imagination all his prospects +crowned with success, and was totally indifferent to the probable +alternative of a soldier's grave. The Baron apologized slightly for +bringing Macwheeble. They had been providing, he said, for the expenses +of the campaign. 'And, by my faith,' said the old man, 'as I think this +will be my last, so I just end where I began--I hae evermore found +the sinews of war, as a learned author calls the CAISSE MILITAIRE mair +difficult to come by than either its flesh, blood, or bones.' + +'What! have you raised our only efficient body of cavalry, and got ye +none of the louis d'or out of the DOUTELLE, to help you?' [The Doutelle +was an armed vessel, which brought a small supply of money and arms from +France for the use of the insurgents.] + +'No, Glennaquoich; cleverer fellows have been before me.' + +'That's a scandal,' said the young Highlander; 'but you will share what +is left of my subsidy: it will save you an anxious thought to-night, and +will be all one to-morrow, for we shall all be provided for, one way or +other, before the sun sets.' Waverley, blushing deeply, but with great +earnestness, pressed the same request. + +'I thank ye baith, my good lads,' said the Baron, 'but I will not +infringe upon your peculium. Bailie Macwheeble has provided the sum +which is necessary.' + +Here the Bailie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat, and appeared +extremely uneasy. At length, after several preliminary hems, and much +tautological expression of his devotion to his honour's service, by +night or day, living or dead, he began to insinuate, 'that the Banks +had removed a' their ready cash into the Castle; that, nae doubt, Sandie +Goldie, the silversmith, would do mickle for his honour; but there was +little time to get the wadset made out; and, doubtless, if his honour +Glennaquoich, or Mr. Waverley, could accommodate'-- + +'Let me hear of no such nonsense, sir,' said the Baron, in a tone which +rendered Macwheeble mute, 'but proceed as we accorded before dinner, if +it be your wish to remain in my service.' + +To this peremptory order the Bailie, though he felt as if condemned +to suffer a transfusion of blood from his own veins into those of the +Baron, did not presume to make any reply. After fidgeting a little while +longer, however, he addressed himself to Glennaquoich, and told him, if +his honour had mair ready siller than was sufficient for his occasions +in the field, he could put it out at use for his honour in safe hands, +and at great profit, at this time. + +At this proposal Fergus laughed heartily, and answered, when he had +recovered his breath,--'Many thanks, Bailie; but you must know it is a +general custom among us soldiers to make our landlady our banker.--Here, +Mrs. Flockhart,' said he, taking four or five broad pieces out of a +well-filled purse, and tossing the purse itself, with its remaining +contents, into her apron, 'these will serve my occasions; do you take +the rest; be my banker if I live, and my executor if I die; but take +care to give something to the Highland cailliachs [Old women, on whom +devolved the duty of lamenting for the dead, which the Irish call +KEENING.] that shall cry the coronach loudest for the last Vich Ian +Vohr.' + +'It is the TESTAMENTUM MILITARE,' quoth the Baron, 'whilk, amang the +Romans, was privilegiate to be nuncupative.' But the soft heart of Mrs. +Flockhart was melted within her at the Chieftain's speech; she set up +a lamentable blubbering, and positively refused to touch the bequest, +which Fergus was therefore obliged to resume. + +'Well, then,' said the Chief, 'if I fall, it will go to the grenadier +that knocks my brains out, and I shall take care he works hard for it.' + +Bailie Macwheeble was again tempted to put in his oar; for where cash +was concerned, he did not willingly remain silent. 'Perhaps he had +better carry the gowd to Miss Mac-Ivor, in case of mortality, or +accidents of war. It might tak the form of a MORTIS CAUSA donation in +the young leddie's favour, and wad cost but the scrape of a pen to mak +it out.' + +'The young lady,' said Fergus, 'should such an event happen, will have +other matters to think of than these wretched louis d'or.' + +'True--undeniable--there 's nae doubt o' that; but your honour kens that +a full sorrow'-- + +'Is endurable by most folk more easily than a hungry one?--True, Bailie, +very true; and I believe there may even be some who would be consoled +by such a reflection for the loss of the whole existing generation. +But there is a sorrow which knows neither hunger nor thirst; and poor +Flora'--He paused, and the whole company sympathized in his emotion. + +The Baron's thoughts naturally reverted to the unprotected state of +his daughter, and the big tear came to the veteran's eye. 'If I fall, +Macwheeble; you have all my papers, and know all my affairs; be just to +Rose.' + +The Bailie was a man of earthly mould, after all; a good deal of dirt +and dress about him, undoubtedly, but some kindly and just feelings he +had, especially where the Baron or his young mistress were concerned. He +set up a lamentable howl. 'If that doleful day should come, while Duncan +Macwheeble had a boddle, it should be Miss Rose's. He wald scroll for +a plack the sheet, or she kenn'd what it was to want; if indeed +a' the bonnie baronie o' Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, with the +fortalice and manor-place thereof (he kept sobbing and whining +at every pause), tofts, crofts, mosses, muirs--outfield, +infield--buildings--orchards--dovecots--with the right of net and +coble in the water and loch of Veolan--teinds, parsonage and +vicarage--annexis, connexis--rights of pasturage--fuel, feal, and +divot--parts, pendicles, and pertinents whatsoever--(here he had +recourse to the end of his long cravat to wipe his eyes, which +overflowed in spite of him, at the ideas which this technical jargon +conjured up)--all as more fully described in the proper evidents and +titles thereof--and lying within the parish of Bradwardine, and the +shire of Perth--if, as aforesaid, they must a' pass from my master's +child to Inch-Grabbit, wha's a Whig and a Hanoverian, and be managed +by his doer, Jamie Howie, wha's no fit to be a birlieman, let be a +bailie'-- + +The beginning of this lamentation really had something affecting, but +the conclusion rendered laughter irresistible. 'Never mind, Bailie,' +said Ensign Maccombich, 'for the gude auld times of rugging and riving +(pulling and tearing) are come back again, an' Sneckus Mac-Snacbus +(meaning, probably, annexis, connexis), and a' the rest of your friends, +maun gie place to the langest claymore.' + +'And that claymore shall be ours, Bailie,' said the Chieftain, who saw +that Macwheeble looked very blank at this intimation. + + We'll give them the metal our mountain affords, + Lillibulero, bullen a la, + And in place of broad-pieces we'll pay with broadswords, + Lero, lero, &c. + With duns and with debts we will soon clear our score, + Lillibulero, &c. + For the man that's thus paid will crave payment no more, + Lero, Lero, &c. + [These lines, or something like them, occur in an old magazine + of the period.] + +'But come, Bailie, be not cast down; drink your wine with a joyous +heart; the Baron shall return safe and victorious to Tully-Veolan, +and unite Killancureit's lairdship with his own, since the cowardly +half-bred swine will not turn out for the Prince like a gentleman.' + +'To be sure, they lie maist ewest,' [i.e. contiguous] said the Bairie, +wiping his eyes, 'and should naturally fa' under the same factory.' + +'And I,' proceeded the Chieftain, 'shall take care of myself, too; 'for +you must know, I have to complete a good work here, by bringing Mrs. +Flockhart into the bosom of the Catholic church, or at least half way, +and that is to your Episcopal meeting-house. Oh, Baron! if you heard her +fine counter-tenor admonishing Kate and Matty in the morning, you, who +understand music, would tremble at the idea of hearing her shriek in the +psalmody of Haddo's Hole.' + +'Lord forgie you, colonel, how ye rin on! But I hope your honours will +tak tea before ye gang to the palace, and I maun gang and mask it for +you.' + +So saying, Mrs. Flockhart left the gentlemen to their own conversation, +which, as might be supposed, turned chiefly upon the approaching events +of the campaign. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE BALL + +Ensign Maccombich having gone to the Highland camp upon duty, and Bailie +Macwheeble having retired to digest his dinner and Evan Dhu's intimation +of martial law in some blind change-house, Waverley, with the Baron and +the Chieftain, proceeded to Holyrood House. The two last were in full +tide of spirits, and the Baron rallied in his way our hero upon the +handsome figure which his new dress displayed to advantage. 'If you have +any design upon the heart of a bonny Scotch lassie, I would premonish +you, when you address her, to remember and quote the words of +Virgilius:-- + + Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis, + Tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes: + +whilk verses Robertson of Struan, Chief of the Clan Donnochy (unless +the claims of Lude ought to be preferred PRIMO LOCO), has thus elegantly +rendered; + + For cruel love has gartan'd low my leg, + And clad my hurdies in a philabeg. + +Although, indeed, ye wear the trews, a garment whilk I approve maist of +the twa, as mair ancient and seemly.' 'Or rather,' said Fergus, 'hear my +song: + + She wadna hae a Lowland laird, + Nor be an English lady; + But she's away with Duncan Graeme, + And he's row'd her in his plaidy.' + +By this time they reached the palace of Holyrood, and were announced +respectively as they entered the apartments. + +It is but too well known how many gentlemen of rank, education, and +fortune, took a concern in the ill-fated and desperate undertaking of +1745. The ladies, also, of Scotland very generally espoused the cause of +the gallant and handsome young Prince, who threw himself upon the mercy +of his countrymen, rather like a hero of romance than a calculating +politician. It is not, therefore, to be wondered that Edward, who +had spent the greater part of his life in the solemn seclusion of +Waverley-Honour, should have been dazzled at the liveliness and elegance +of the scene now exhibited in the long-deserted halls of the Scottish +palace. The accompaniments, indeed, fell short of splendour, being such +as the confusion and hurry of the time admitted; still, however, the +general effect was striking, and, the rank of the company considered, +might well be called brilliant. + +It was not long before the lover's eye discovered the object of his +attachment. Flora Mac-Ivor was in the act; of returning to her seat, +near the top of the room, with Rose Bradwardine by her side. Among much +elegance and beauty, they had attracted a great degree of the public +attention, being certainly two of the handsomest women present. The +Prince took much notice of both, particularly of Flora, with whom he +danced; a preference which she probably owed to her foreign education, +and command of the French and Italian languages. + +When the bustle attending the conclusion of the dance permitted, Edward, +almost intuitively, followed Fergus to the place where Miss Mac-Ivor was +seated. The sensation of hope, with which he had nursed his affection +in absence of the beloved object, seemed to vanish in her presence, and, +like one striving to recover the particulars of a forgotten dream, +he would have given the world at that moment to have recollected +the grounds on which he had founded expectations which now seemed so +delusive. He accompanied Fergus with downcast eyes, tingling ears, +and the feelings of the criminal, who, while the melancholy cart moves +slowly through the crowds that have assembled to behold his execution, +receives no clear sensation either from the noise which fills his ears, +or the tumult on which he casts his wandering look. + +Flora seemed a little--a very little--affected and discomposed at his +approach. 'I bring you an adopted son of Ivor,' said Fergus. + +'And I receive him as a second brother,' replied Flora. + +There was a slight emphasis on the word, which would have escaped +every ear but one that was feverish with apprehension. It was, however, +distinctly marked, and, combined with her whole tone and manner, plainly +intimated, 'I will never think of Mr. Waverley as a more intimate +connexion.' Edward stopped, bowed, and looked at Fergus, who bit his +lip; a movement of anger, which proved that he also had put a sinister +interpretation on the reception which his sister had given his friend. +'This, then, is an end of my day-dream!' Such was Waverley's first +thought, and it was so exquisitely painful as to banish from his cheek +every drop of blood. + +'Good God!' said Rose Bradwardine, 'he is not yet recovered!' + +These words, which she uttered with great emotion, were overheard by the +Chevalier himself, who stepped hastily forward, and, taking Waverley by +the hand, inquired kindly after his health, and added, that he wished to +speak with him. By a strong and sudden effort, which the circumstances +rendered indispensable, Waverley recovered himself so far as to follow +the Chevalier in silence to a recess in the apartment. + +Here the Prince detained him some time, asking various questions about +the great Tory and Catholic families of England, their connexions, +their influence, and the state of their affections towards the house of +Stuart. To these queries Edward could not at any time have given more +than general answers, and it may be supposed that, in the present state +of his feelings, his responses were indistinct even to confusion. The +Chevalier smiled once or twice at the incongruity of his replies, but +continued the same style of conversation, although he found himself +obliged to occupy the principal share of it, until he perceived that +Waverley had recovered his presence of mind. It is probable that this +long audience was partly meant to further the idea which the Prince +desired should be entertained among his followers, that Waverley was a +character of political influence. But it appeared, from his concluding +expressions, that he had a different and good-natured motive, personal +to our hero, for prolonging the conference. 'I cannot resist the +temptation,' he said, 'of boasting of my own discretion as a lady's +confidant. You see, Mr. Waverley, that I know all, and I assure you I am +deeply interested in the affair. But, my good young friend, you must put +a more severe restraint upon your feelings. There are many here whose +eyes can see as clearly as mine, but the prudence of whose tongues may +not be equally trusted.' + +So saying, he turned easily away, and joined a circle of officers at +a few paces' distance, leaving Waverley to meditate upon his parting +expression, which though not intelligible to him in its whole purport, +was sufficiently so in the caution which the last word recommended. +Making, therefore, an effort to show himself worthy of the interest +which his new master had expressed, by instant obedience to his +recommendation, he walked up to the spot where Flora and Miss +Bradwardine were still seated, and having made his compliments to the +latter, he succeeded, even beyond his own expectation, in entering into +conversation upon general topics. + +If, my dear reader, thou hast ever happened to take post-horses at--, +or at--(one at least of which blanks, or more probably both, you will +be able to fill up from an inn near your own residence), you must have +observed, and doubtless with sympathetic pain, the reluctant agony with +which the poor jades at first apply their galled necks to the collars +of the harness. But when the irresistible arguments of the postboy have +prevailed upon them to proceed a mile or two, they will become callous +to the first sensation; and being warm at the harness, as the said +postboy may term it, proceed as if their withers were altogether +unwrung. This simile so much corresponds with the state of Waverley's +feelings in the course of this memorable evening, that I prefer it +(especially as being, I trust, wholly original) to any more splendid +illustration with which Byshe's ART OF POETRY might supply me. + +Exertion, like virtue, is its own reward; and our hero had, moreover, +other stimulating motives for persevering in a display of affected +composure and indifference to Flora's obvious unkindness. Pride, which +supplies its caustic as a useful, though severe, remedy for the wounds +of affection, came rapidly to his aid. Distinguished by the favour of a +Prince; destined, he had room to hope, to play a conspicuous part in +the revolution which awaited a mighty kingdom; excelling, probably, +in mental acquirements, and equalling, at least, in personal +accomplishments, most of the noble and distinguished persons with whom +he was now ranked; young, wealthy, and high-born--could he, or ought he +to droop beneath the frown of a capricious beauty? + + O nymph, unrelenting and cold as thou art, + My bosom is proud as thine own. + +With the feeling expressed in these beautiful lines (which, however, +were not then written) [They occur in Miss Seward's fine verses, +beginning--To thy rocks, stormy Lannow, adieu.], Waverley determined +upon convincing Flora that he was not to be depressed by a rejection, +in which his vanity whispered that perhaps she did her own prospects as +much injustice as his. And, to aid this change of feeling, there lurked +the secret and unacknowledged hope, that she might learn to prize his +affection more highly when she did not conceive it to be altogether +within her own choice to attract or repulse it. There was a mystic tone +of encouragement, also, in the Chevalier's words, though he feared they +only referred to the wishes of Fergus in favour of a union between +him and his sister. But the whole circumstances of time, place, and +incident, combined at once to awaken his imagination, and to call upon +him for a manly and decisive tone of conduct, leaving to fate to dispose +of the issue. Should he appear to be the only one sad and disheartened +on the eve of battle, how greedily would the tale be commented upon by +the slander which had been already but too busy with his fame? Never, +never, he internally resolved, shall my unprovoked enemies possess such +an advantage over my reputation. + +Under the influence of these mixed sensations, and cheered at times by +a smile of intelligence and approbation from the Prince as he passed the +group, Waverley exerted his powers of fancy, animation, and eloquence, +and attracted the general admiration of the company. The conversation +gradually assumed the tone best qualified for the display of his talents +and acquisitions. The gaiety of the evening was exalted in character, +rather than checked, by the approaching dangers of the morrow. All +nerves were strung for the future, and prepared to enjoy the present. +This mood of mind is highly favourable for the exercise of the powers +of imagination, for poetry, and for that eloquence which is allied to +poetry. Waverley, as we have elsewhere observed, possessed at times a +wonderful flow of rhetoric; and, on the present occasion, he touched +more than once the higher notes of feeling, and then again ran off in +a wild voluntary of fanciful mirth. He was supported and excited by +kindred spirits, who felt the same impulse of mood and time; and even +those of more cold and calculating habits were hurried along by the +torrent. Many ladies declined the dance, which still went forward, and, +under various pretences, joined the party to which the 'handsome young +Englishman' seemed to have attached himself. He was presented to +several of the first rank, and his manners, which for the present were +altogether free from the bashful restraint by which, in a moment of less +excitation, they were usually clouded, gave universal delight. + +Flora Mac-Ivor appeared to be the only female present who regarded him +with a degree of coldness and reserve; yet even she could not suppress +a sort of wonder at talents which, in the course of their acquaintance, +she had never seen displayed with equal brilliancy and impressive +effect. I do not know whether she might not feel a momentary regret at +having taken so decisive a resolution upon the addresses of a lover, who +seemed fitted so well to fill a high place in the highest stations +of society. Certainly she had hitherto accounted among the incurable +deficiencies of Edward's disposition, the MAUVAISE HONTE, which, as +she had been educated in the first foreign circles, and was little +acquainted with the shyness of English manners, was, in her opinion, +too nearly related to timidity and imbecility of disposition. But if +a passing wish occurred that Waverley could have rendered himself +uniformly thus amiable and attractive, its influence was momentary; for +circumstances had arisen since they met, which rendered, in her eyes, +the resolution she had formed respecting him final and irrevocable. + +With opposite feelings, Rose Bradwardine bent her whole soul to listen. +She felt a secret triumph at the public tribute paid to one, whose merit +she had learned to prize too early and too fondly. Without a thought of +jealousy, without a feeling of fear, pain, or doubt, and undisturbed by +a single selfish consideration, she resigned herself to the pleasure of +observing the general murmur of applause. When Waverley spoke, her ear +was exclusively filled with his voice; when others answered, her eye +took its turn of observation, and seemed to watch his reply. Perhaps +the delight which she experienced in the course of that evening, though +transient, and followed by much sorrow, was in its nature the most pure +and disinterested which the human mind is capable of enjoying. + +'Baron,' said the Chevalier, 'I would not trust my mistress in the +company of your young friend. He is really, though perhaps somewhat +romantic, one of the most fascinating young men whom I have ever seen.' + +'And by my honour, sir,' replied the Baron, 'the lad can sometimes be as +dowff as a sexagenary like myself. If your Royal Highness had seen +him dreaming and dozing about the banks of Tully-Veolan like an +hypochondriac person, or, as Burton's ANATOMIA hath it, a phrenesiac or +lethargic patient, you would wonder where he hath sae suddenly acquired +all this fine sprack festivity and jocularity.' + +'Truly,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, 'I think it can only be the inspiration +of the tartans; for, though Waverley be always a young fellow of +sense and honour, I have hitherto often found him a very absent and +inattentive companion.' + +'We are the more obliged to him,' said the Prince, 'for having reserved +for this evening qualities which even such intimate friends had not +discovered.--But come, gentlemen, the night advances, and the business +of to-morrow must be early thought upon. Each take charge of his fair +partner, and honour a small refreshment with your company.' + +He led the way to another suite of apartments, and assumed the seat and +canopy at the head of a long range of tables, with an air of dignity +mingled with courtesy, which well became his high birth and lofty +pretensions. An hour had hardly flown away when the musicians played the +signal for parting, so well known in Scotland.' [Which is, or was wont +to be, the old air of 'Good-night, and joy be with you a'!'] + +'Good-night, then, said the Chevalier, rising; 'Good-night, and joy +be with you!--Good-night, fair ladies, who have so highly honoured a +proscribed and banished Prince.--Good-night, my brave friends;--may the +happiness we have this evening experienced be an omen of our return to +these our paternal halls, speedily and in triumph, and of many and many +future meetings of mirth and pleasure in the palace of Holyrood!' + +When the Baron of Bradwardine afterwards mentioned this adieu of the +Chevalier, he never failed to repeat, in a melancholy tone, + + Audiit, et voti Phoebus succedere partem + Mente dedit; partem volueres dispersit in auras, + +'which,' as he added, 'is weel rendered into English metre by my friend +Bangour: + + Ae half the prayer, wi' Phoebus grace did find, + The t'other half he whistled down the wind.' + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE MARCH + +The conflicting passions and exhausted feelings of Waverley had resigned +him to late but sound repose. He was dreaming of Glennaquoich, and had +transferred to the halls of Ian nan Chaistel the festal train which so +lately graced those of Holyrood. The pibroch too was distinctly heard; +and this at least was no delusion, for the 'proud step of the chief +piper' of the 'chlain Mac-Ivor' was perambulating the court before the +door of his Chieftain's quarters, and, as Mrs. Flockhart, apparently +no friend to his minstrelsy, was pleased to observe, 'garring the very +stane-and-lime wa's dingle wi' his screeching.' Of course, it soon +became too powerful for Waverley's dream, with which it had at first +rather harmonized. + +The sound of Callum's brogues in his apartment (for Mac-Ivor had again +assigned Waverley to his care) was the next note of parting. 'Winna yere +honour bang up? Vich Ian Vohr and ta Prince are awa to the lang green +glen ahint the clachan, tat they ca' the King's Park, and mony ane's on +his ain shanks the day, that will be carried on ither folk's ere night.' +[The main body of the Highland army encamped, or rather bivouacked, +in that part of the King's Park which lies towards the village of +Duddingston.] + +Waverley sprang up, and, with Callum's assistance and instructions, +adjusted his tartans in proper costume. Callum told him also, 'tat his +leather DORLACH wi' the lock on her was come frae Doune, and she was awa +again in the wain wi' Vich Inn Vohr's walise,' + +By this periphrasis Waverley readily apprehended his portmanteau was +intended. He thought upon the mysterious packet of the maid of the +cavern, which seemed always to escape him when within his very grasp. +But this was no time for indulgence of curiosity; and having declined +Mrs. Flockhart's compliment of a morning, i.e. a matutinal dram, being +probably the only man in the Chevalier's army by whom such a courtesy +would have been rejected, he made his adieus, and departed with Callum. + +'Callum,' said he, as they proceeded down a dirty close to gain the +southern skirts of the Canongate, 'what shall I do for a horse?' + +'Ta deil ane ye maun think o',' said Callum. 'Vich Ian Vohr's marching +on foot at the head o' his kin (not to say ta Prince, wha does +the like), wi' his target on his shoulder; and ye maun e'en be +neighbour-like.' + +'And so I will, Callum--give me my target;--so, there we are fixed. How +does it look?' + +'Like the bra' Highlander tat's painted on the board afore the mickle +change-house they ca' Luckie Middlemass's,' answered Callum; meaning, +I must observe, a high compliment, for, in his opinion, Luckie +Middlemass's sign was an exquisite specimen of art. Waverley, however, +not feeling the full force of this polite simile, asked him no further +questions. + +Upon extricating themselves from the mean and dirty suburbs of the +metropolis, and emerging into the open air, Waverley felt a renewal both +of health and spirits, and turned his recollection with firmness upon +the events of the preceding evening, and with hope and resolution +towards those of the approaching day. + +When he had surmounted a small craggy eminence, called St. Leonard's +Hill, the King's Park, or the hollow between the mountain of Arthur's +Seat, and the rising grounds on which the southern part of Edinburgh +is now built, lay beneath him, and displayed a singular and animating +prospect. It was occupied by the army of the Highlanders, now in the act +of preparing for their march. Waverley had already seen something of the +kind at the hunting-match which he attended with Fergus Mac-Ivor; but +this was on a scale of much greater magnitude, and incomparably deeper +interest. The rocks, which formed the background of the scene, and the +very sky itself, rang with the clang of the bagpipers, summoning +forth, each with his appropriate pibroch, his chieftain and clan. The +mountaineers, rousing themselves from their couch under the canopy of +heaven, with the hum and bustle of a confused and irregular multitude, +like bees alarmed and arming in their hives, seemed to possess all the +pliability of movement fitted to execute military manoeuvres. Their +motions appeared spontaneous and confused, but the result was order and +regularity; so that a general must have praised the conclusion, though a +martinet might have ridiculed the method by which it was attained. + +The sort of complicated medley created by the hasty arrangements of the +various clans under their respective banners, for the purpose of getting +into the order of march, was in itself a gay and lively spectacle. They +had no tents to strike, having generally, and by choice, slept upon the +open field, although the autumn was now waning, and the nights began to +be frosty. For a little space, while they were getting into order, there +was exhibited a changing, fluctuating; and confused appearance of +waving tartans and floating plumes, and of banners displaying the proud +gathering word of Clanronald, GANION COHERIGA (Gainsay who dares); +LOCH-SLOY, the watchword of the Mac-Farlanes; FORTH FORTUNE, AND FILL +THE FETTERS, the motto of the Marquis of Tuilibardine; BYDAND, that of +Lord Lewis Gordon; and the appropriate signal words and emblems of many +other chieftains and clans. + +At length the mixed and wavering multitude arranged themselves into a +narrow and dusky column of great length, stretching through the whole +extent of the valley. In the front of the column the standard of the +Chevalier was displayed, bearing at red cross upon a white ground, +with the motto TANDEM TRIUMPHANS. The few cavalry being chiefly Lowland +gentry, with their domestic servants and retainers, formed the advanced +guard of the army; and their standards, of which they had rather too +many in respect of their numbers, were seen waving upon the extreme +verge of the horizon. Many horsemen of this body, among whom Waverley +accidentally remarked Balmawhapple, and his lieutenant, Jinker (which +last, however, had been reduced, with several others, by the advice of +the Baron of Bradwardine, to the situation of what he called reformed +officers, or reformadoes), added to the liveliness, though by no means +to the regularity, of the scene, by galloping their horses as fast +forward as the press would permit, to join their proper station in +the van. The fascinations of the Circes of the High Street, and the +potations of strength with which they had been drenched over night, had +probably detained these heroes within the walls of Edinburgh somewhat +later than was consistent with their morning duty. Of such loiterers, +the prudent took the longer and circuitous, but more open route, to +attain their place in the march, by keeping at some distance from the +infantry, and making their way through the enclosures to the right, at +the expense of leaping over or pulling down the dry-stone fences. The +irregular appearance and vanishing of these small parties of horsemen, +as well as the confusion occasioned by those who endeavoured, though +generally without effect, to press to the front through the crowd of +Highlanders, maugre their curses, oaths, and opposition, added to the +picturesque wildness what it took from the military regularity of the +scene. + +While Waverley gazed upon this remarkable spectacle, rendered yet more +impressive by the occasional discharge of cannon-shot from the Castle +at the Highland guards as they were withdrawn from its vicinity to +join their main body, Callum, with his usual freedom of interference, +reminded him that Vich Ian Vohr's folk were nearly at the head of the +column of march, which was still distant, and that 'they would gang very +fast after the cannon fired.' Thus admonished, Waverley walked briskly +forward, yet often easting a glance upon the darksome clouds of warriors +who were collected before and beneath him. A nearer view, indeed, +rather diminished the effect impressed on the mind by the more distant +appearance of the army. The leading men of each clan were well armed +with broadsword, target, and fusee, to which all added the dirk, and +most the steel pistol. But these consisted of gentlemen, that is, +relations of the chief, however distant, and who had an immediate title +to his countenance and protection. Finer and hardier men could not +have been selected out of any army in Christendom; while the free and +independent habits which each possessed, and which each was yet so well +taught to subject to the command of his chief, and the peculiar mode of +discipline adopted in Highland warfare, rendered them equally formidable +by their individual courage and high spirit, and from their rational +conviction of the necessity of acting in unison, and of giving their +national mode of attack the fullest opportunity of success. + +But, in a lower rank to these, there were found individuals of an +inferior description, the common peasantry of the Highland country, +who, although they did not allow themselves to be so called, and claimed +often, with apparent truth, to be of more ancient descent than the +masters whom they served, bore, nevertheless, the livery of extreme +penury, being indifferently accoutred, and worse armed, half naked, +stinted in growth, and miserable in aspect. Each important clan had some +of those Helots attached to them;--thus, the Mac-Couls, though tracing +their descent from Comhal, the father of Finn or Fingal, were a sort +of Gibeonites, or hereditary servants to the Stewarts of Appin; the +Macbeths, descended from the unhappy monarch of that name, were subjects +to the Morays, and clan Donnochy, or Robertsons of Athole; and many +other examples might be given, were it not for the risk of hurting any +pride of clanship which may yet be left, and thereby drawing a Highland +tempest into the shop of my publisher. Now these same Helots, though +forced into the field by the arbitrary authority of the chieftains under +whom they hewed wood and drew water, were, in general, very sparingly +fed, ill dressed, and worse armed. The latter circumstance was indeed +owing chiefly to the general disarming act, which had been carried into +effect ostensibly through the whole Highlands, although most of the +chieftains contrived to elude-its influence, by retaining the weapons +of their own immediate clansmen, and delivering up those of less value, +which they collected from these inferior satellites. It followed, as a +matter of course, that, as we have already hinted, many of these poor +fellows were brought to the field in a very wretched condition. + +From this it happened, that, in bodies, the van of which were admirably +well armed in their own fashion, the rear resembled actual banditti. +Here was a pole-axe, there a sword without a scabbard; here a gun +without a lock, there a scythe set straight upon a pole; and some had +only their dirks, and bludgeons or stakes pulled out of hedges. The +grim, uncombed, and wild appearance of these men, most of whom gazed +with all the admiration of ignorance upon the most ordinary production +of domestic art, created surprise in the Lowlands, but it also created +terror. So little was the condition of the Highlands known at that late +period, that the character and appearance of their population, +while thus sallying forth as military adventurers, conveyed to the +south-country Lowlanders as much surprise as if an invasion of African +Negroes or Esquimaux Indians had issued forth from the northern +mountains of their own native country. It cannot therefore be wondered +if Waverley, who had hitherto judged of the Highlanders generally from +the samples which the policy of Fergus had from time to time exhibited, +should have felt damped and astonished at the daring attempt of a body +not then exceeding four thousand men, and of whom not above half the +number, at the utmost, were armed, to change the fate, and alter the +dynasty, of the British kingdoms. + +As he moved along the column, which still remained stationary, an iron +gun, the only piece of artillery possessed by the army which meditated +so important a revolution, was fired as the signal of march. The +Chevalier had expressed a wish to leave this useless piece of ordnance +behind him; but, to his surprise, the Highland chiefs interposed to +solicit that it might accompany their march, pleading the prejudices of +their followers, who, little accustomed to artillery, attached a +degree of absurd importance to this field-piece, and expected it would +contribute essentially to a victory which they could only owe to their +own muskets and broadswords. Two or three French artillerymen were +therefore appointed to the management of this military engine, which +was drawn along by a string of Highland ponies, and was, after all, only +used for the purpose of firing signals. [See Note 25.] + +No sooner was its voice heard upon the present occasion, than the whole +line was in motion. A wild cry of joy from the advancing battalions rent +the air, and was then lost in the shrill clangour of the bagpipes, as +the sound of these, in their turn, was partially drowned by the heavy +tread of so many men put at once into motion. The banners glittered +and shook as they moved forward, and the horse hastened to occupy their +station as the advanced guard, and to push on reconnoitring parties +to ascertain and report the motions of the enemy. They vanished from +Waverley's eye as they wheeled round the base of Arthur's seat, under +the remarkable ridge of basaltic rocks which fronts the little lake of +Duddingston. + +The infantry followed in the same direction, regulating their pace by +another body which occupied a road more to the southward. It cost Edward +some exertion of activity to attain the place which Fergus's followers +occupied in the line of march. + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +AN INCIDENT GIVES RISE TO UNAVAILING REFLECTIONS + +When Waverley reached that part of the column which was filled by +the clan of Mac-Ivor, they halted, formed, and received him with a +triumphant flourish upon the bagpipes, and a loud shout of the men, most +of whom knew him personally, and were delighted to see him in the dress +of their country and of their sept. 'You shout,' said a Highlander of +a neighbouring clan to Evan Dhu, 'as if the Chieftain were just come to +your head.' + +MAR E BRAN IS E BRATHAIR, If it be not Bran, it is Bran's brother,' was +the proverbial reply of Maccombich. [Bran, the well-known dog of Fingal, +is often the theme of Highland proverb as well as song.] + +'Oh, then, it is the handsome Sassenach Duinhe-wassel, that is to be +married to Lady Flora?' + +'That may be, or it may not be; and it is neither your matter nor mine, +Gregor.' + +Fergus advanced to embrace the volunteer, and afford him a warm and +hearty welcome; but he thought it necessary to apologize for the +diminished numbers of his battalion (which did not exceed three hundred +men), by observing, he had sent a good many out upon parties. + +The real fact, however, was, that the defection of Donald Bean Lean had +deprived him of at least thirty hardy fellows, whose services he had +fully reckoned upon, and that many of his occasional adherents had been +recalled by their several chiefs to the standards to which they most +properly owed their allegiance. The rival chief of the great northern +branch also of his own clan, had mustered his people, although he had +not yet declared either for the Government or for the Chevalier, and by +his intrigues had in some degree diminished the force with which +Fergus took the field. To make amends for these disappointments, it was +universally admitted that the followers of Vich Ian Vohr, in point of +appearance, equipment, arms, and dexterity in using them, equalled the +most choice troops which followed the standard of Charles Edward. Old +Ballenkeiroch acted as his major; and, with the other officers who had +known Waverley when at Glennaquoich, gave our hero a cordial reception, +as the sharer of their future dangers and expected honours. + +The route pursued by the Highland army, after leaving the village of +Duddingston, was for some time the common post-road betwixt Edinburgh +and Haddington, until they crossed the Esk at Musselburgh, when, instead +of keeping the low grounds towards the sea, they turned more inland, and +occupied the brow of the eminence called Carberry hill, a place already +distinguished in Scottish history as the spot where the lovely Mary +surrendered herself to her insurgent subjects. This direction was +chosen, because the Chevalier had received notice that the army of the +Government, arriving by sea from Aberdeen, had landed at Dunbar, and +quartered the night before to the west of Haddington, with the intention +of falling down towards the sea-side, and approaching Edinburgh by the +lower coast-road. By keeping the height, which overhung that road in +many places, it was hoped the Highlanders might find an opportunity of +attacking them to advantage. The army therefore halted upon the ridge of +Carberry hill, both to refresh the soldiers, and as a central situation, +from which their march could be directed to any point that the motions +of the enemy might render most advisable. While they remained in this +position, a messenger arrived in haste to desire Mac-Ivor to come to the +Prince, adding, that their advanced post had had a skirmish with some of +the enemy's cavalry, and that the Baron of Bradwardine had sent in a few +prisoners. + +Waverley walked forward out of the line to satisfy his curiosity, and +soon observed five or six of the troopers, who, covered with dust, had +galloped in to announce that the enemy were in full march westward along +the coast. Passing still a little further on, he was struck with a groan +which issued from a hovel. He approached the spot, and heard a voice, in +the provincial English of his native county, which endeavoured, though +frequently interrupted by pain, to repeat the Lord's Prayer. The voice +of distress always found a ready answer in our hero's bosom. He entered +the hovel, which seemed to be intended for what is called, in the +pastoral counties of Scotland, a smearing-house; and in its obscurity +Edward could only at first discern a sort of red bundle; for those who +had stripped the wounded man of his arms, and part of his clothes, had +left him the dragoon-cloak in which he was enveloped. + +'For the love of God,' said the wounded man, as he heard Waverley's +step, 'give me a single drop of water!' + +'You shall have it,' answered Waverley, at the same time raising him in +his arms, bearing him to the door of the hut, and giving him some drink +from his flask. + +'I should know that voice,' said the man; but, looking on Waverley's +dress with a bewildered look,--'no, this is not the young squire!' + +This was the common phrase by which Edward was distinguished on the +estate of Waverley-Honour, and the sound now thrilled to his heart with +the thousand recollections which the well-known accents of his native +country had already contributed to awaken. 'Houghton!' he said, gazing +on the ghastly features which death was fast disfiguring, 'can this be +you?' + +'I never thought to hear an English voice again,' said the wounded man; +'they left me to live or die here as I could, when they found I would +say nothing about the strength of the regiment. But, oh, squire! how +could you stay from us so long, and let us be tempted by that fiend of +the pit, Ruffin?--we should have followed you through flood and fire, to +be sure.' + +'Ruffin! I assure you, Houghton, you have been vilely imposed upon.' + +'I often thought so,' said Houghton, 'though they showed us your very +seal; and so Timms was shot, and I was reduced to the ranks.' + +'Do not exhaust your strength in speaking,' said Edward; 'I will get you +a surgeon presently.' + +He saw Mac-Ivor approaching, who was now returning from head-quarters, +where he had attended a council of war, and hastened to meet him. 'Brave +news!' shouted the Chief; 'we shall be at it in less than two hours. The +Prince has put himself at the head of the advance, and as he drew his +sword, called out, "My friends, I have thrown away the scabbard." Come, +Waverley, we move instantly.' + +'A moment,--a moment; this poor prisoner is dying where shall I find a +surgeon?' + +'Why, where should you? We have none, you know, but two or three French +fellows, who, I believe, are little better than GARCONS APOTHICAIRES.' + +'But the man will bleed to death.' + +'Poor fellow!' said Fergus, in a momentary fit of compassion; then +instantly added, 'But it will be a thousand men's fate before night; so +come along.' + +'I cannot; I tell you he is a son of a tenant of my uncle's.' + +'Oh, if he's a follower of yours, he must be looked to; + +'I'll send Callum to you. But DIAOUL!-CAEDE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART!' +continued the impatient Chieftain,--'what made an old soldier, like +Bradwardine, send dying men here to cumber us?' + +Callum came with his usual alertness; and, indeed, Waverley rather +gained than lost in the opinion of the Highlanders, by his anxiety about +the wounded man. They would not have understood the general philanthropy +which rendered it almost impossible for Waverley to have passed any +person in such distress; but, as apprehending that the sufferer was one +of his following, [SCOTTICE for followers.] they unanimously allowed +that Waverley's conduct was that of a kind and considerate chieftain, +who merited the attachment of his people. In about a quarter of an +hour poor Humphry breathed his last, praying his young master, when +he returned to Waverley-Honour, to be kind to old Job Houghton and +his dame, and conjuring him not to fight with these wild petticoat-men +against old England. + +When his last breath was drawn, Waverley, who had beheld with sincere +sorrow, and no slight tinge of remorse, the final agonies of mortality, +now witnessed for the first time, commanded Callum to remove the body +into the hut. This the young Highlander performed, not without examining +the pockets of the defunct, which, however, he remarked, had been +pretty well spung'd. He took the cloak, however, and proceeding with the +provident caution of a spaniel hiding a bone, concealed it among some +furze, and carefully marked the spot, observing that, if he chanced to +return that way, it would be an excellent rokelay for his auld mother +Elspat. + +It was by a considerable exertion that they regained their place in the +marching column, which was now moving rapidly forward to occupy the high +grounds above the village of Tranent, between which and the sea, lay the +purposed march of the opposite army. + +This melancholy interview with his late sergeant forced many unavailing +and painful reflections upon Waverley's mind. It was clear, from the +confession of the man, that Colonel Gardiner's proceedings had been +strictly warranted, and even rendered indispensable, by the steps taken +in Edward's name to induce the soldiers of his troop to mutiny. The +circumstance of the seal, he now, for the first time, recollected, and +that he had lost it in the cavern of the robber, Bean Lean. That the +artful villain had secured it, and used it as the means of carrying +on an intrigue in the regiment, for his own purposes, was sufficiently +evident, and Edward had now little doubt that in the packet placed in +his portmanteau by his daughter, he should find further light upon +his proceedings. In the meanwhile, the repeated expostulation of +Houghton,--'Ah, squire, why did you leave us?' rang like a knell in his +ears. + +'Yes,' he said, 'I have indeed acted towards you with thoughtless +cruelty. I brought you from your paternal fields, and the protection of +a generous and kind landlord, and when I had subjected you to all the +rigour of military discipline, I shunned to bear my own share of the +burden, and wandered from the duties I had undertaken, leaving alike +those whom it was my business to protect, and my own reputation, to +suffer under the artifices of villany. O indolence and indecision of +mind! if not in yourselves vices, to how much exquisite misery and +mischief do you frequently prepare the way!' + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE EVE OF BATTLE + +Although the Highlanders marched on very fast, the sun was declining +when they arrived upon the brow of those high grounds which command an +open and extensive plain stretching northward to the sea, on which are +situated, but at a considerable distance from each other, the small +villages of Seaton and Cockenzie, and the larger one of Preston. One of +the low coast-roads to Edinburgh passed through this plain, issuing upon +it from the enclosures of Seaton-house, and at the town or village of +Preston again entering the defiles of an enclosed country. By this way +the English general had chosen to approach the metropolis, both as most +commodious for his cavalry, and being probably of opinion that, by doing +so, he would meet in front with the Highlanders advancing from Edinburgh +in the opposite direction. In this he was mistaken; for the sound +judgement of the Chevalier, or of those to whose advice he listened, +left the direct passage free, but occupied the strong ground by which it +was overlooked and commanded. + +When the Highlanders reached the heights above the plain described, they +were immediately formed in army of battle along the brow of the hill. +Almost at the same instant the van of the English appeared issuing from +among the trees and enclosures of Seaton, with the purpose of occupying +the level plain between the high ground and the sea; the space which +divided the armies being only about half a mile in breadth. Waverley +could plainly see the squadrons of dragoons issue, one after another, +from the defiles, with their videttes in front, and form upon the +plain, with their front opposed to that of the Prince's army. They were +followed by a train of field-pieces, which, when they reached the flank +of the dragoons, were also brought into line, and pointed against the +heights. The march was continued by three or four regiments of infantry +marching in open column, their fixed bayonets showing like successive +hedges of steel, and their arms glancing like lightning, as, at a +signal given, they also at once wheeled up, and were placed in direct +opposition to the Highlanders. A second train of artillery, with another +regiment of horse, closed the long march, and formed on the left flank +of the infantry, the whole line facing southward. + +While the English army went through these evolutions, the Highlanders +showed equal promptitude and zeal for battle. As fast as the clans came +upon the ridge which fronted their enemy, they were formed into line, so +that both armies got into complete order of battle at the same moment. +When this was accomplished, the Highlanders set up a tremendous yell, +which was re-echoed by the heights behind them. The regulars, who were +in high spirits, returned a loud shout of defiance, and fired one or +two of their cannon upon an advanced post of the Highlanders. The latter +displayed great earnestness to proceed instantly to the attack, Evan Dhu +urging to Fergus, by way of argument, that 'the SIDIER ROY was tottering +like an egg upon a staff, and that they had a' the vantage of the onset, +for even a haggis (God bless her!) could charge down hill.' + +But the ground through which the mountaineers must have descended, +although not of great extent, was impracticable in its character, being +not only marshy, but intersected with walls of dry-stone, and traversed +in its whole length by a very broad and deep ditch, circumstances which +must have given the musketry of the regulars dreadful advantages, before +the mountaineers could have used their swords, on which they were taught +to rely. The authority of the commanders was therefore interposed to +curb the impetuosity of the Highlanders, and only a few marksmen were +sent down the descent to skirmish with the enemy's advanced posts, and +to reconnoitre the ground. + +Here, then, was a military spectacle of no ordinary interest, or usual +occurrence. The two armies, so different in aspect and discipline, +yet each admirably trained in its own peculiar mode of war, upon whose +conflict the temporary fate at least of Scotland appeared to depend, now +faced each other like two gladiators in the arena, each meditating +upon the mode of attacking their enemy. The leading officers, and the +general's staff of each army, could be distinguished in front of their +lines, busied with spy-glasses to watch each other's motions, and +occupied in dispatching the orders and receiving the intelligence +conveyed, by the aides-de-camp and orderly men, who gave life to the +scene by galloping along in different directions as if the fate of +the day depended upon the speed of their horses. The space between the +armies was at times occupied by the partial and irregular contests of +individual sharpshooters, and a hat or bonnet was occasionally seen to +fall, as a wounded man was borne off by his comrades. These, however, +were but trifling skirmishes, for it suited the views of neither +party to advance in that direction. From the neighbouring hamlets, the +peasantry cautiously showed themselves, as if watching the issue of +the expected engagement; and at no great distance in the bay were two +square-rigged vessels, bearing the English flag, whose tops and yards +were crowded with less timid spectators. + +When this awful pause had lasted for a short time, Fergus, with another +chieftain, received orders to detach their clans towards the village of +Preston, in order to threaten the right flank of Cope's army, and compel +him to a change of position. To enable him to execute these orders, the +Chief of Glennaquoich occupied the churchyard of Tranent, a commanding +situation, and a convenient place, as Evan Dhu remarked, 'for any +gentleman who might have the misfortune to be killed, and chanced to be +curious about Christian burial.' To check or dislodge this party, the +English general detached two guns escorted by a strong party of cavalry. +They approached so near, that Waverley could plainly recognize the +standard of the troop he had formerly commanded, and hear the trumpets +and kettledrums sound the signal of advance, which he had so often +obeyed. He could hear, too, the well-known word given in the +English dialect, by the equally well-distinguished voice of the +commanding-officer, for whom he had once felt so much respect. It was +at that instant, that, looking around him, he saw the wild dress and +appearance of his Highland associates, heard their whispers in an +uncouth and unknown language, looked upon his own dress, so unlike that +which he had worn from his infancy, and wished to awake from what seemed +at the moment a dream, strange, horrible, and unnatural. 'Good God!' he +muttered, 'am I then a traitor to my country, a renegade to my standard, +and a foe, as that poor dying wretch expressed himself, to my native +England?' + +Ere he could digest or smother the recollection, the tall military +form of his late commander came full in view, for the purpose of +reconnoitring. 'I can hit him now,' said Callum, cautiously raising his +fusee over the wall under which he lay couched, at scarce sixty yards' +distance. + +Edward felt as if he was about to see a parricide committed in his +presence; for the venerable grey hair and striking countenance of the +veteran recalled the almost paternal respect with which his officers +universally regarded him. But ere he could say 'Hold!' an aged +Highlander, who lay beside Callum Beg, stopped his arm. 'Spare your +shot,' said the seer, 'his hour is not yet come. But let him beware of +to-morrow.--I see his winding-sheet high upon his breast.' + +Callum, flint to other considerations, was penetrable to superstition. +He turned pale at the words of the TAISHATR, and recovered his piece. +Colonel Gardiner, unconscious of the danger he had escaped, turned his +horse round, and rode slowly back to the front of his regiment. + +By this time the regular army had assumed a new line, with one flank +inclined towards the sea, and the other resting upon the village of +Preston; and as similar difficulties occurred in attacking their new +position, Fergus and the rest of the detachment were recalled to their +former post. This alteration created the necessity of a corresponding +change in General Cope's army, which was again brought into a line +parallel with that of the Highlanders. In these manoeuvres on both sides +the daylight was nearly consumed, and both armies prepared to rest upon +their arms for the night in the lines which they respectively occupied. + +'There will be nothing done to-night,' said Fergus to his friend +Waverley. 'Ere we wrap ourselves in our plaids, let us go see what the +Baron is doing in the rear of the line.' + +When they approached his post, they found the good old careful officer, +after having sent out his night patrols, and posted his sentinels, +engaged in reading the Evening Service of the Episcopal Church to the +remainder of his troop. His voice was loud and sonorous, and though his +spectacles upon his nose, and the appearance of Saunders Saunderson, +in military array, performing the functions of clerk, had something +ludicrous, yet the circumstances of danger in which they stood, the +military costume of the audience, and the appearance of their horses, +saddled and picketed behind them, gave an impressive and solemn effect +to the office of devotion. + +'I have confessed to-day, ere you were awake,' whispered Fergus to +Waverley; 'yet I am not so strict a Catholic as to refuse to join in +this good man's prayers.' + +Edward assented, and they remained till the Baron had concluded the +service. + +As he shut the book, 'Now, lads,' said he, 'have at them in the morning, +with heavy hands and light consciences.' He then kindly greeted Mac-Ivor +and Waverley, who requested to know his opinion of their situation. +'Why, you know, Tacitus saith, "IN REBUS BELLICIS MAXIME DOMINATUR +FORTUNA," which is equiponderate with our vernacular adage, "Luck can +maist in the mellee." But credit me, gentlemen, yon man is not a deacon +o' his craft. He damps the spirits of the poor lads he commands, by +keeping them on the defensive, whilk of itself implies inferiority or +fear. Now will they lie on their arms yonder, as anxious and as ill at +ease as a toad under a harrow, while our men will be quite fresh and +blithe for action in the morning. Well, goodnight.--One thing troubles +me, but if to-morrow goes well off, I will consult you about it, +Glennaquoich.'-- + +'I could almost apply to Mr. Bradwardine the character which Henry gives +of Fluellen,' said Waverley, as his friend and he walked towards their +BIVOUAC: + + Though it appears a little out of fashion, + There is much care and valour in this 'Scotchman.' + +'He has seen much service,' answered Fergus, 'and one is sometimes +astonished to find how much nonsense and reason are mingled in his +composition, I wonder what can be troubling his mind--probably something +about Rose.--Hark! the English are setting their watch.' + +The roll of the drum and shrill accompaniment of the fifes swelled up +the hill-died away--resumed its thunder--and was at length hushed. The +trumpets and kettledrums of the cavalry were next heard to perform the +beautiful and wild point of war appropriated as a signal for that piece +of nocturnal duty, and then finally sank upon the wind with a shrill and +mournful cadence. + +The friends, who had now reached their post, stood and looked round them +ere they lay down to rest. The western sky twinkled with stars, but +a frost-mist, rising from the ocean, covered the eastern horizon, and +rolled in white wreaths along the plain where the adverse army lay +couched upon their arms. Their advanced posts were pushed as far as the +side of the great ditch at the bottom of the descent, and had kindled +large fires at different intervals, gleaming with obscure and hazy +lustre through the heavy fog which encircled them with a doubtful halo. + +The Highlanders, 'thick as leaves in Vallombrosa,' lay stretched upon +the ridge of the hill, buried (excepting their sentinels) in the most +profound repose. 'How many of these brave fellows will sleep more +soundly before to-morrow night, Fergus!' said Waverley, with an +involuntary sigh. + +'You must not think of that,' answered Fergus, whose ideas were entirely +military. 'You must only think of your sword, and by whom it was given. +All other reflections are now TOO LATE.' + +With the opiate contained in this undeniable remark, Edward endeavoured +to lull the tumult of his conflicting feelings. The Chieftain and he, +combining their plaids, made a comfortable and warm couch. Callum, +sitting down at their head (for it was his duty to watch upon the +immediate person of the Chief), began a long mournful song in Gaelic, to +a low and uniform tune, which, like the sound of the wind at a distance, +soon lulled them to sleep. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE CONFLICT + +When Fergus Mac-Ivor and his friend had slept for a few hours, they were +awakened, and summoned to attend the Prince. The distant village-clock +was heard to toll three as they hastened to the place where he lay. +He was already surrounded by his principal officers and the chiefs of +clans. A bundle of peas-straw, which had been lately his couch, now +served for his seat. Just as Fergus reached the circle, the consultation +had broken up. 'Courage, my brave friends!' said the Chevalier, 'and +each one put himself instantly at the head of his command; a faithful +friend [See Note 26.] has offered to guide us by a practicable, though +narrow and circuitous route, which, sweeping to our right, traverses +the broken ground and morass, and enables us to gain the firm and open +plain, upon which the enemy are lying. This difficulty surmounted, +Heaven and your good swords must do the rest.' + +The proposal spread unanimous joy, and each leader hastened to get his +men into order with as little noise as possible. The army, moving by +its right from off the ground on which they had rested, soon entered the +path through the morass, conducting their march with astonishing silence +and great rapidity. The mist had not risen to the higher grounds, so +that for some time they had the advantage of starlight. But this was +lost as the stars faded before approaching day, and the head of the +marching column, continuing its descent, plunged as it were into the +heavy ocean of fog, which rolled its white waves over the whole plain, +and over the sea by which it was bounded. Some difficulties were now to +be encountered, inseparable from darkness,--a narrow, broken, and +marshy path, and the necessity of preserving union in the march. These, +however, were less inconvenient to Highlanders, from their habits of +life, than they would have been to any other troops, and they continued +a steady and swift movement. + +As the clan of Ivor approached the firm ground, following the track of +those who preceded them, the challenge of a patrol was heard through the +mist, though they could not see the dragoon by whom it was made--'Who +goes there?' + +'Hush!' cried Fergus, 'hush!--Let none answer, as he values his +life.--Press forward!' and they continued their march with silence and +rapidity. + +The patrol fired his carabine upon the body, and the report was +instantly followed by the clang of his horse's feet as he galloped off. +'HYLAX IN LIMINE LATRAT,' said the Baron of Bradwardine, who heard the +shot; 'that loon will give the alarm.' + +The clan of Fergus had now gained the firm plain, which had lately borne +a large crop of corn. But the harvest was gathered in, and the expense +was unbroken by tree, bush, or interruption of any kind. The rest of the +army were following fast, when they heard the drums of the enemy beat +the general. Surprise, however, had made no part of their plan, so they +were not disconcerted by this intimation that the foe was upon his guard +and prepared to receive them. It only hastened their dispositions for +the combat, which were very simple. + +The Highland army, which now occupied the eastern end of the wide plain, +or stubble field, so often referred to, was drawn up in two lines, +extending from the morass towards the sea. The first was destined to +charge the enemy, the second to act as a reserve. The few horse, +whom the Prince headed in person, remained between the two lines. The +Adventurer had intimated a resolution to charge in person at the head of +his first line; but his purpose was deprecated by all around him, and he +was with difficulty induced to abandon it. + +Both lines were now moving forward, the first prepared for instant +combat. The clans of which it was composed, formed each a sort of +separate phalanx, narrow in front, and in depth ten, twelve, or fifteen +files, according to the strength of the following. The best armed and +best born, for the words were synonymous, were placed in front of each +of these irregular subdivisions. The others in the rear shouldered +forward the front, and by their pressure added both physical impulse, +and additional ardour and confidence, to those who were first to +encounter the danger. + +'Down with your plaid, Waverley,' cried Fergus, throwing off his own; +'we'll win silks for our tartans before the sun is above the sea.' + +The clansmen on every side stripped their plaids, prepared their arms, +and there was an awful pause of about three minutes, during which +the men, pulling off their bonnets, raised their faces to heaven, and +uttered a short prayer; then pulled their bonnets over their brows, and +began to move forward at first slowly. Waverley felt his heart at that +moment throb as it would have burst from his bosom. It was not fear, it +was not ardour,--it was a compound of both, a new and deeply energetic +impulse, that with its first emotion chilled and astounded, then fevered +and maddened his mind, The sounds around him combined to exalt his +enthusiasm; the pipes played, and the clans rushed forward, each in +its own dark column. As they advanced they mended their pace, and the +muttering sounds of the men to each other began to swell into a wild +cry. + +At this moment, the sun, which was now risen above the horizon, +dispelled the mist. The vapours rose like a curtain, and showed the +two armies in the act of closing. The line of the regulars was formed +directly fronting the attack of the Highlanders; it glittered with +the appointments of a complete army, and was flanked by cavalry and +artillery. But the sight impressed no terror on the assailants. + +'Forward, sons of Ivor,' cried their Chief, 'or the Camerons will draw +the first blood!'--They rushed on with a tremendous yell. + +The rest is well known. The horse, who were commanded to charge the +advancing Highlanders in the flank, received an irregular fire from +their fusees as they ran on, and, seized with a disgraceful panic, +wavered, halted, disbanded, and galloped from the field. The +artillerymen, deserted by the cavalry, fled after discharging their +pieces, and the Highlanders, who dropped their guns when fired, and drew +their broadswords, rushed with headlong fury against the infantry. + +It was at this moment of confusion and terror, that Waverley remarked an +English officer, apparently of high rank, standing alone and unsupported +by a field-piece, which, after the flight of the men by whom it was +wrought, he had himself levelled and discharged against the clan of +Mac-Ivor, the nearest group of Highlanders within his aim. Struck +with his tall, martial figure, and eager to save him from inevitable +destruction, Waverley outstripped for an instant even the speediest of +the warriors, and, reaching the spot first, called to him to surrender. +The officer replied by a thrust with his sword, which Waverley received +in his target, and in turning it aside the Englishman's weapon broke. +At the same time the battle-axe of Dugald Mahony was in the act of +descending upon the officer's head. Waverley intercepted and prevented +the blow, and the officer, perceiving further resistance unavailing, +and struck with Edward's generous anxiety for his safety, resigned the +fragment of his sword, and was committed by Waverley to Dugald, with +strict charge to use him well, and not to pillage his person, promising +him, at the same time, full indemnification for the spoil. + +On Edward's right, the battle for a few minutes raged fierce and thick. +The English infantry, trained in the wars in Flanders, stood their +ground with great courage. But their extended files were pierced and +broken in many places by the close masses of the clans; and in the +personal struggle which ensued, the nature of the Highlanders' weapons, +and their extraordinary fierceness and activity, gave them a decided +superiority over those who had been accustomed to trust much to their +array and discipline, and felt that the one was broken and the other +useless. Waverley, as he cast his eyes towards this scene of smoke and +slaughter, observed Colonel Gardiner, deserted by his own soldiers in +spite of all his attempts to rally them, yet spurring his horse through +the field to take the command of a small body of infantry, who, with +their backs arranged against the wall of his own park (for his house +was close by the field of battle), continued a desperate and unavailing +resistance. Waverley could perceive that he had already received many +wounds, his clothes and saddle being marked with blood. To save this +good and brave man, became the instant object of his most anxious +exertions. But he could only witness his fall. Ere Edward could make +his way among the Highlanders, who, furious and eager for spoil, now +thronged upon each other, he saw his former commander brought from his +horse by the blow of a scythe, and beheld him receive, while on the +ground, more wounds than would have let out twenty lives. When Waverley +came up, however, perception had not entirely fled. The dying warrior +seemed to recognize Edward, for he fixed his eye upon him with an +upbraiding, yet sorrowful look, and appeared to struggle for utterance. +But he felt that death was dealing closely with him, and resigning his +purpose, and folding his hands as if in devotion, he gave up his soul +to his Creator. The look with which he regarded Waverley in his dying +moments did not strike him so deeply at that crisis of hurry and +confusion, as when it recurred to his imagination at the distance of +some time. [See Note 27.] + +Loud shouts of triumph now echoed over the whole field. The battle was +fought and won, and the whole baggage, artillery, and military stores +of the regular army remained in possession of the victors. Never was a +victory more complete. Scarce any escaped from the battle, excepting the +cavalry, who had left it at the very onset, and even these were broken +into different parties and scattered all over the country. So far as our +tale is concerned, we have only to relate the fate of Balmawhapple, who, +mounted on a horse as headstrong and stiff-necked as his rider, pursued +the flight of the dragoons above four miles from the field of battle, +when some dozen of the fugitives took heart of grace, turned round, and, +cleaving his skull with their broadswords, satisfied the world that +the unfortunate gentleman had actually brains, the end of his life thus +giving proof of a fact greatly doubted during its progress. His death +was lamented by few. Most of those who knew him agreed in the pithy +observation of Ensign Maccombich, that there 'was mair TINT (lost) at +Sheriff-Muir.' His friend, Lieutenant Jinker, bent his eloquence only +to exculpate his favourite mare from any share in contributing to the +catastrophe. 'He had tauld the laird a thousand times,' he said, 'that +it was a burning shame to put a martingale upon the puir thing, when he +would needs ride her wi' a curb of half a yard lang; and that he could +na but bring himsell (not to say her) to some mischief, by flinging her +down, or otherwise; whereas, if he had had a wee bit rinnin ring on the +snaffle, she wad ha' rein'd as cannily as a cadger's pownie.' + +Such was the elegy of the Laird of Balmawhapple. [See Note 28.] + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +AN UNEXPECTED EMBARRASSMENT + +When the battle was over, and all things coming into order, the Baron +of Bradwardine, returning from the duty of the day, and having disposed +those under his command in their proper stations, sought the Chieftain +of Glennaquoich and his friend Edward Waverley. He found the former +busied in determining disputes among his clansmen about points of +precedence and deeds of valour, besides sundry high and doubtful +questions concerning plunder. The most important of the last respected +the property of a gold watch, which had once belonged to some +unfortunate English officer. The party against whom judgement was +awarded consoled himself by observing, 'She (i.e. the watch, which he +took for a living animal) died the very night Vich Ian Vohr gave her to +Murdock;' the machine having, in fact, stopped for want of winding up. + +It was just when this important question was decided, that the Baron of +Bradwardine, with a careful and yet important expression of countenance, +joined the two young men. He descended from his reeking charger, the +care of which he recommended to one of his grooms. 'I seldom ban, sir,' +said he to the man; 'but if you play any of your hound's-foot tricks, +and leave puir Berwick before he's sorted, to rin after spuilzie, deil +be wi' me if I do not; give your craig a thraw. He then stroked with +great complacency the animal which had borne him through the fatigues of +the day, and having taken a tender leave of him,--'Weel, my good young +friends, a glorious and decisive victory,' said he; 'but these loons of +troopers fled ower soon. I should have liked to have shown you the +true points of the PRAELIUM EQUESTRE, or equestrian combat, whilk their +cowardice has postponed, and which I hold to be the pride and terror +of warfare. Weel, I have fought once more in this old quarrel, though I +admit I could not be so far BEN as you lads, being that it was my point +of duty to keep together our handful of horse. And no cavalier ought +in any wise to begrudge honour that befalls his companions, even though +they are ordered upon thrice his danger, whilk, another time, by the +blessing of God, may be his own case.--But, Glennaquoich, and you, Mr. +Waverley, I pray ye to give me your best advice on a matter of +mickle weight, and which deeply affects the honour of the house of +Bradwardine.--I crave your pardon, Ensign Maccombich, and yours, +Inveraughlin, and yours, Edderalshendrach, and yours, sir.' + +The last person he addressed was Ballenkeiroch, who, remembering the +death of his son, loured on him with a look of savage defiance. The +Baron, quick as lightning at taking umbrage, had already bent his brow, +when Glennaquoich dragged his major from the spot, and remonstrated +with him, in the authoritative tone of a chieftain, on the madness of +reviving a quarrel in such a moment. + +'The ground is cumbered with carcases,' said the old mountaineer, +turning sullenly away; 'ONE MORE would hardly have been kenn'd upon +it; and if it wasna for yoursell, Vich Ian Vohr, that one should be +Bradwardine's or mine.' + +The chief soothed while he hurried him away; and then returned to the +Baron. 'It is Ballenkeiroch,' he said, in an under and confidential +voice, 'father of the young man who fell eight years since in the +unlucky affair at the Mains.' + +'Ah!' said the Baron, instantly relaxing the doubtful sternness of +his features, 'I can take mickle frae a man to whom I have unhappily +rendered sie a displeasure as that. Ye were right to apprize me, +Glennaquoich; he may look as black as midnight at Martinmas ere Cosmo +Comyne Bradwardine shall say he does him wrang. Ah! I have nae male +lineage, and I should bear with one I have made childless, though +you are aware the blood-wit was made up to your ain satisfaction by +assythment, and that I have since expedited letters of slains.--Weel, as +I have said, I have no male issue, and yet it is needful that I maintain +the honour of my house; and it is on that score I prayed ye for your +peculiar and private attention.' + +The two young men awaited to hear him in anxious curiosity. + +'I doubt na, lads,' he proceeded, 'but your education has been sae seen +to, that ye understand the true nature of the feudal tenures?' + +Fergus, afraid of an endless dissertation, answered, 'Intimately, +Baron,' and touched Waverley, as a signal to express no ignorance. + +'And ye are aware, I doubt not, that the holding of the Barony of +Bradwardine is of a nature alike honourable and peculiar, being blanch +(which Craig opines ought to be Latinated BLANCUM, or rather FRANCUM, a +free holding) PRO SERVITIO DETRAHENDI, SEU EXUENDI, CALIGAS REGIS POST +BATTALIAM.' Here Fergus turned his falcon eye upon Edward, with an +almost imperceptible rise of his eyebrow, to which his shoulders +corresponded in the same degree of elevation. 'Now, twa points of +dubitation occur to me upon this topic. First, whether this service, +or feudal homage, be at any event due to the person of the Prince, +the words being, PER EXPRESSUM, CALIGAS REGIS, the boots of the king +himself; and I pray your opinion anent that particular before we proceed +further.' + +'Why, he is Prince Regent,' answered Mac-Ivor, with laudable composure +of countenance; 'and in the court of France all the honours are rendered +to the person of the Regent which are due to that of the King. Besides, +were I to pull off either of their boots, I would render that service to +the young Chevalier ten times more willingly than to his father.' + +'Aye, but I talk not of personal predilections. However, your authority +is of great weight as to the usages of the court of France: and +doubtless the Prince, as ALTER EGO, may have a right to claim the +HOMAGIUM of the great tenants of the crown, since all faithful subjects +are commanded, in the commission of regency, to respect him as the +king's own person. Far, therefore, be it from me to diminish the lustre +of his authority, by withholding this act of homage, so peculiarly +calculated to give it splendour; for I question if the Emperor of +Germany hath his boots taken off by a free baron of the empire. But +here lieth the second difficulty--The Prince wears no boots, but simply +brogues and trews.' + +This last dilemma had almost disturbed Fergus's gravity. + +'Why,' said he, 'you know, Baron, the proverb tells us, "It's ill taking +the breeks off a Highlandman,"--and the boots are here in the same +predicament.' + +'The word CALIGAE, however,' continued the Baron, 'though I admit, that, +by family tradition, and even in our ancient evidents, it is explained +LIE BOOTS, means, in its primitive sense, rather sandals; and Caius +Caesar, the nephew and successor of Caius Tiberius, received the agnomen +of Caigula, A CALIGULIS, SIVE CALIGIS LEVIORIBUS, QUIBUS ADOLESCENTIOR +USUS FUERAT IN EXERCITU GERMANICI PATRIS SUI. And the CALIGAE were also +proper to the monastic bodies; for we read in an ancient Glossarium, +upon the rule of St. Benedict, in the Abbey of St. Amand, that CALIGAE +were tied with latchets.' + +'That will apply to the brogues,' said Fergus. + +'It will so, my dear Glennaquoich;--and the words are express: +CALIGAE DICTAE SUNT QUIA LIGANTUR; NAM SOCCI NON LIGANTUR, SED TANTUM +INTROMITTUNTUR; that is, CALIGAE are denominated from the ligatures +wherewith they are bound; whereas SOCCI, which may be analogous to our +mules, whilk the English denominate slippers, are only slipped upon +the feet, The words of the charter are also alternative,--EXUERE, SEU +DETRAHERE; that is, to UNDO, as in the case of sandals or brogues; and +to PULL OF, as we say vernacularly, concerning boots. Yet I would we had +more light; but I fear there is little chance of finding hereabout any +erudite author DE RE VESTIARIA.' + +'I should doubt it very much,' said the Chieftain, looking around on +the straggling Highlanders, who were returning loaded with spoils of the +slain, 'though the RES VESTIARIA itself seems to be in some request at +present.' + +This remark coming within the Baron's idea of jocularity, he honoured it +with a smile, but immediately resumed what to him appeared very serious +business. 'Bailie Macwheeble indeed holds an opinion, that this honorary +service is due, from its very nature, SI PETATUR TANTUM; only if his +Royal Highness shall require of the great tenant of the crown to perform +that personal duty; and indeed he pointed out the case in Dirleton's +DOUBTS AND QUERIES, Grippit VERSUS Spicer, anent the eviction of an +estate OB NON SOLUTUM CANONEM, that is, for non-payment of a feu-duty of +three peppercorns a year, whilk were taxt to be worth seven-eighths of a +penny Scots, in whilk the defender was assoilzied. But I deem it safest, +wi' your good favour, to place myself in the way of rendering the Prince +this service, and to proffer performance thereof; and I shall cause +the Bailie to attend with a schedule of a protest, whilk he has here +prepared (taking out a paper), intimating, that if it shall be his Royal +Highness's pleasure to accept of other assistance at pulling off his +CALIGAE (whether the same shall be rendered boots or brogues) save that +of the said Baron of Bradwardine, who is in presence ready and willing +to perform the same, it shall in no wise impinge upon or prejudice the +right of the said Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine to perform the said service +in future; nor shall it give any esquire, valet of the chamber, squire, +or page, whose assistance it may please his Royal Highness to employ, +any right, title, or ground, for evicting from the said Cosmo Comyne +Bradwardine the estate and barony of Bradwardine, and others held as +aforesaid, by the due and faithful performance thereof.' + +Fergus highly applauded this arrangement; and the Baron took a friendly +leave of them, with a smile of contented importance upon his visage. + +'Long live our dear friend the Baron,' exclaimed the Chief, as soon as +he was out of hearing, 'for the most absurd original that exists north +of the Tweed! I wish to heaven I had recommended him to attend the +circle this evening with a boot-ketch under his arm. I think he might +have adopted the suggestion, if it had been made with suitable gravity.' + +'And how can you take pleasure in making a man of his worth so +ridiculous?' + +'Begging pardon, my dear Waverley, you are as ridiculous as he. Why, do +you not see that the man's whole mind is wrapped up in this ceremony? He +has heard and thought of it since infancy, as the most august privilege +and ceremony in the world; and I doubt not but the expected pleasure of +performing it was a principal motive with him for taking up arms. Depend +upon it, had I endeavoured to divert him from exposing himself, he would +have treated me as an ignorant conceited coxcomb, or perhaps might have +taken a fancy to cut my throat; a pleasure which he once proposed to +himself upon some point of etiquette, not half so important, in his +eyes, as this matter of boots or brogues, or whatever the CALIGAE shall +finally be pronounced by the learned. But I must go to head-quarters to +prepare the Prince for this extraordinary scene. My information will be +well taken, for it will give him a hearty laugh at present, and put him +on his guard against laughing, when it might be very MAL-A-PROPOS. So, +AU REVOIR, my dear Waverley.' + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE ENGLISH PRISONER + +The first occupation of Waverley, after he departed from the Chieftain, +was to go in quest of the officer whose life he had saved. He was +guarded, along with his companions in misfortune, who were very +numerous, in a gentleman's house near the field of battle. + +On entering the room where they stood crowded together, Waverley easily +recognized the object of his visit, not only by the peculiar dignity +of his appearance, but by the appendage of Dugald Mahony, with his +battle-axe, who had stuck to him from the moment of his captivity, as +if he had been skewered to his side. This close attendance was, perhaps, +for the purpose of securing his promised reward from Edward, but it also +operated to save the English gentleman from being plundered in the scene +of general confusion; for Dugald sagaciously argued, that the amount of +the salvage which he might be allowed, would be regulated by the +state of the prisoner, when he should deliver him over to Waverley, He +hastened to assure Waverley, therefore, with more words than he usually +employed, that he had 'keepit ta SIDIER ROY haill, and that he wasna a +plack the waur since the fery moment when his honour forbad her to gie +him a bit clamhewit wi' her Lochaber-axe.' + +Waverley assured Dugald of a liberal recompense, and, approaching +the English officer, expressed his anxiety to do anything which +might contribute to his convenience under his present unpleasant +circumstances. + +'I am not so inexperienced a soldier, sir,' answered the Englishman, 'as +to complain of the fortune of war. I am only grieved to see those scenes +acted in our own island, which I have often witnessed elsewhere with +comparative indifference.' + +'Another such day as this,' said Waverley, 'and I trust the cause of +your regrets will be removed, and all will again return to peace and +order.' + +The officer smiled and shook his head. 'I must not forget my situation +so far as to attempt a formal confutation of that opinion; but, +notwithstanding your success, and the valour which achieved it, you have +undertaken a task to which your strength appears wholly inadequate.' + +At this moment Fergus pushed into the press. + +'Come, Edward, come along; the Prince has gone to Pinkie-house for the +night; and we must follow, or lose the whole ceremony of the CALIGAE. +Your friend, the Baron, has been guilty of a great piece of cruelty; he +has insisted upon dragging Bailie Macwheeble out to the field of battle. +Now you must know the Bailie's greatest horror is an armed Highlander, +or a loaded gun; and there he stands, listening to the Baron's +instructions concerning the protest; ducking his head like a sea-gull +at the report of every gun and pistol that our idle boys are firing +upon the fields; and undergoing, by way of penance, at every symptom +of flinching, a severe rebuke from his patron, who would not admit the +discharge of a whole battery of cannon, within point-blank distance, as +an apology for neglecting a discourse, in which the honour of his family +is interested. + +'But how has Mr. Bradwardine got him to venture so far?' said Edward. + +'Why, he had come as far as Musselburgh, I fancy, in hopes of making +some of our wills; and the peremptory commands of the Baron dragged him +forward to Preston after the battle was over. He complains of one or two +of our ragamuffins having put him in peril of his life, by presenting +their pieces at him; but as they limited his ransom to an English penny, +I don't think we need trouble the provost-marshal upon that subject. So, +come along, Waverley.' + +'Waverley!' said the English officer, with great emotion; 'the nephew of +Sir Everard Waverley, of --shire?' + +'The same, sir,' replied our hero, somewhat surprised at the tone in +which he was addressed. + +'I am at once happy and grieved,' said the prisoner, 'to have met with +you.' + +'I am ignorant, sir,' answered Waverley, 'how I have deserved so much +interest.' + +'Did your uncle never mention a friend called Talbot?' + +'I have heard him talk with great regard of such a person,' replied +Edward; 'a colonel, I believe, in the army, and the husband of Lady +Emily Blandeville; but I thought Colonel Talbot had been abroad.' + +'I am just returned,' answered the officer; 'and being in Scotland, +thought it my duty to act where my services promised to be useful. Yes, +Mr. Waverley, I am that Colonel Talbot, the husband of the lady you have +named; and I am proud to acknowledge, that I owe alike my professional +rank and my domestic happiness to your generous and noble-minded +relative. Good God! that I should find his nephew in such a dress, and +engaged in such a cause!' + +'Sir,' said Fergus, haughtily, 'the dress and cause are those of men of +birth and honour.' + +'My situation forbids me to dispute your assertion,' said Colonel +Talbot; 'otherwise it were no difficult matter to show, that neither +courage nor pride of lineage can gild a bad cause. But, with Mr. +Waverley's permission, and yours, sir, if yours also must be asked, I +would willingly speak a few words with him on affairs connected with his +own family.' + +'Mr. Waverley, sir, regulates his own motions. You will follow me, I +suppose, to Pinkie,' said Fergus, turning to Edward, 'when you have +finished your discourse with this new acquaintance?' So saying, the +Chief of Glennaquoich adjusted his plaid with rather more than his usual +air of haughty assumption, and left the apartment. + +The interest of Waverley readily procured for Colonel Talbot the freedom +of adjourning to a large garden belonging to his place of confinement. +They walked a few paces in silence, Colonel Talbot apparently studying +how to open what he had to say; at length he addressed Edward. + +'Mr. Waverley, you have this day saved my life; and yet I would to God +that I had lost it, ere I had found you wearing the uniform and cockade +of these men.' + +'I forgive your reproach, Colonel Talbot; it is well meant, and your +education and prejudices render it natural. But there is nothing +extraordinary in finding a man, whose honour has been publicly and +unjustly assailed, in the situation which promised most fair to afford +him satisfaction on his calumniators.' + +'I should rather say, in the situation most likely to confirm the +reports which they have circulated,' said Colonel Talbot, 'by following +the very line of conduct ascribed to you. Are you aware, Mr. Waverley, +of the infinite distress, and even danger, which your present conduct +has occasioned to your nearest relatives?' + +'Danger!' + +'Yes, sir, danger. When I left England, your uncle and father had been +obliged to find bail to answer a charge of treason, to which they were +only admitted by the exertion of the most powerful interest. I came down +to Scotland, with the sole purpose of rescuing you from the gulf +into which you have precipitated yourself; nor can I estimate the +consequences to your family, of your having openly joined the rebellion, +since the very suspicion of your intention was so perilous to them. Most +deeply do I regret that I did not meet you before this last and fatal +error.' + +'I am really ignorant,' said Waverley, in a tone of reserve, 'why +Colonel Talbot should have taken so much trouble on my account.' + +'Mr. Waverley,' answered Talbot, 'I am dull at apprehending irony; and +therefore I shall answer your words according to their plain meaning. +I am indebted to your uncle for benefits greater than those which a son +owes to a father. I acknowledge to him the duty of a son; and as I know +there is no manner in which I can requite his kindness so well as by +serving you, I will serve you, if possible, whether you will permit me +or no. The personal obligation which you have this day laid me under +(although in common estimation as great as one human being can bestow +on another) adds nothing to my zeal on your behalf; nor can that zeal be +abated by any coolness with which you may please to receive it.' + +'Your intentions may be kind, sir,' said Waverley, drily; 'but your +language is harsh, or at least peremptory.' + +'On my return to England,' continued Colonel Talbot, 'after long +absence, I found your uncle, Sir Everard Waverley, in the custody of a +king's messenger, in consequence of the suspicion brought upon him by +your conduct. He is my oldest friend--how often shall I repeat it?--my +best benefactor; he sacrificed his own views of happiness to mine--he +never uttered a word, he never harboured a thought, that benevolence +itself might not have thought or spoken. I found this man in +confinement, rendered harsher to him by his habits of life, his natural +dignity of feeling, and--forgive me, Mr. Waverley--by the cause through +which this calamity had come upon him. I cannot disguise from you my +feelings upon this occasion; they were most painfully unfavourable +to you. Having, by my family interest, which you probably know is not +inconsiderable, succeeded in obtaining Sir Everard's release, I set +out for Scotland. I saw Colonel Gardiner, a man whose fate alone is +sufficient to render this insurrection for ever execrable. In the course +of conversation with him, I found, that, from late circumstances, from +a re-examination of the persons engaged in the mutiny, and from his +original good opinion of your character, he was much softened towards +you; and I doubted not, that if I could be so fortunate as to discover +you, all might yet be well. But this unnatural rebellion has ruined +all. I have, for the first time in a long and active military life, seen +Britons disgrace themselves by a panic flight, and that before a foe +without either arms or discipline: and now I find the heir of my dearest +friend--the son, I may say, of his affections--sharing a triumph, for +which he ought the first to have blushed. Why should I lament Gardiner? +his lot was happy, compared to mine!' + +There was so much dignity in Colonel Talbot's manner, such a mixture +of military pride and manly sorrow, and the news of Sir Everard's +imprisonment was told in so deep a tone of feeling, that Edward stood +mortified, abashed, and distressed in presence of the prisoner, who +owed to him his life not many hours before. He was not sorry when Fergus +interrupted their conference a second time. + +'His Royal Highness commands Mr. Waverley's attendance.' Colonel Talbot +threw upon Edward a reproachful glance, which did not escape the quick +eye of the Highland Chief. 'His immediate attendance,' he repeated, with +considerable emphasis. Waverley turned again towards the Colonel. + +'We shall meet again,' he said; 'in the meanwhile, every possible +accommodation'-- + +'I desire none,' said the Colonel; 'let me fare like the meanest of +those brave men, who, on this day of calamity, have preferred wounds and +captivity to flight; I would, almost exchange places with one of those +who have fallen, to know that my words have made a suitable impression +on your mind.' + +'Let Colonel Talbot be carefully secured,' said Fergus to the Highland +officer, who commanded the guard over the prisoners; 'it is the Prince's +particular command; he is a prisoner of the utmost importance.' + +'But let him want no accommodation suitable to his rank,' said Waverley. + +'Consistent always with secure custody,' reiterated Fergus. The officer +signified his acquiescence in both commands, and Edward followed Fergus +to the garden-gate, where Callum Beg, with three saddle-horses, awaited +them. Turning his head, he saw Colonel Talbot reconducted to his place +of confinement by a file of Highlanders; he lingered on the threshold +of the door, and made a signal with his hand towards Waverley, as if +enforcing the language he had held towards him. + +'Horses,' said Fergus, as he mounted, 'are now as plenty as +blackberries; every man may have them for the catching. Come, let Callum +adjust your stirrups, and let us to Pinkie-house [Charles Edward took +up his quarters after the battle at Pinkie-house, adjoining to +Musselburgh.] as fast as these CI-DEVANT dragoon-horses choose to carry +us.' + + + +CHAPTER L + +RATHER UNIMPORTANT + +'I was turned back,' said Fergus to Edward, as they galloped from +Preston to Pinkie-house, 'by a message from the Prince. But, I suppose, +you know the value of this most noble Colonel Talbot as a prisoner. He +is held one of the best officers among the red-coats; a special friend +and favourite of the Elector himself, and of that dreadful hero, the +Duke of Cumberland, who has been summoned from his triumphs at Fontenoy, +to come over and devour us poor Highlanders alive. Has he been telling +you how the bells of St. James's ring? Not "turn again, Whittington," +like those of Bow, in the days of yore?' + +'Fergus!' said Waverley, with a reproachful look. + +'Nay, I cannot tell what to make of you,' answered the Chief of +Mac-Ivor, 'you are blown about with every wind of doctrine. Here have we +gained a victory, unparalleled in history--and your behaviour is praised +by every living mortal to the skies--and the Prince is eager to thank +you in person--and all our beauties of the White Rose are pulling caps +for you,--and you, the PREUX CHEVALIER of the day, are stooping on your +horse's neck like a butter-woman riding to market, and looking as black +as a funeral!' + +'I am sorry for poor Colonel Gardiner's death: he was once very kind to +me.' + +'Why, then, be sorry for five minutes, and then be glad again; his +chance to-day may be ours to-morrow. And what does it signify?--the next +best thing to victory is honourable death; but it is a PIS-ALLER, and +one would rather a foe had it than one's self.' + +'But Colonel Talbot has informed me that my father and uncle are both +imprisoned by government on my account.' + +'We'll put in bail, my boy; old Andrew Ferrara [See Note 29.] shall +lodge his security; and I should like to see him put to justify it in +Westminster Hall!' + +'Nay, they are already at liberty, upon bail of a more civic +disposition.' + +'Then why is thy noble spirit cast down, Edward? Dost think that the +Elector's Ministers are such doves as to set their enemies at liberty +at this critical moment, if they could or durst confine and punish them? +Assure thyself that either they have no charge against your relations on +which they can continue their imprisonment, or else they are afraid of +our friends, the jolly cavaliers of old England. At any rate, you need +not be apprehensive upon their account; and we will find some means of +conveying to them assurances of your safety.' + +Edward was silenced, but not satisfied, with these reasons. He had now +been more than once shocked at the small degree of sympathy which Fergus +exhibited for the feelings even of those whom he loved, if they did not +correspond with his own mood at the time, and more especially if they +thwarted him while earnest in a favourite pursuit. Fergus sometimes +indeed observed that he had offended Waverley, but, always intent upon +some favourite plan or project of his own, he was never sufficiently +aware of the extent or duration of his displeasure, so that the +reiteration of these petty offences somewhat cooled the volunteer's +extreme attachment to his officer. + +The Chevalier received Waverley with his usual favour, and paid him many +compliments on his distinguished bravery. He then took him apart, made +many inquiries concerning Colonel Talbot, and when he had received all +the information which Edward was able to give concerning him and his +connexions, he proceeded,--'I cannot but think, Mr. Waverley, that +since this gentleman is so particularly connected with our worthy and +excellent friend, Sir Everard Waverley, and since his lady is of the +house of Blandeville, whose devotion to the true and loyal principles of +the Church of England is so generally known, the Colonel's own private +sentiments cannot be unfavourable to us, whatever mask he may have +assumed to accommodate himself to the times.' + +'If I am to judge from the language he this day held to me, I am under +the necessity of differing widely from your Royal Highness.' + +'Well, it is worth making a trial at least. I therefore entrust you with +the charge of Colonel Talbot, with power to act concerning him as you +think most advisable;--and I hope you will find means of ascertaining +what are his real dispositions towards our Royal Father's restoration.' + +'I am convinced,' said Waverley, bowing, 'that if Colonel Talbot chooses +to grant his parole, it may be securely depended upon; but if he refuses +it, I trust your Royal Highness will devolve on some other person than +the nephew of his friend, the task of laying him under the necessary +restraint.' + +'I will trust him with no person but you,' said the Prince, smiling, but +peremptorily repeating his mandate: 'it is of importance to my service +that there should appear to be a good intelligence between you, even +if you are unable to gain his confidence in earnest. You will therefore +receive him into your quarters, and in case he declines giving his +parole, you must apply for a proper guard. I beg you will go about this +directly. We return to Edinburgh to-morrow.' + +Being thus remanded to the vicinity of Preston, Waverley lost the Baron +of Bradwardine's solemn act of homage. So little, however, was he at +this time in love with vanity, that he had quite forgotten the ceremony +in which Fergus had laboured to engage his curiosity. But next day a +formal GAZETTE was circulated, containing a detailed account of the +battle of Gladsmuir, as the Highlanders chose to denominate their +victory. It concluded with an account of the Court afterwards held +by the Chevalier at Pinkie-house, which contained this among other +high-flown descriptive paragraphs: + +'Since that fatal treaty which annihilates Scotland as an independent +nation, it has not been our happiness to see her princes receive, and +her nobles discharge, those acts of feudal homage, which, founded upon +the splendid actions of Scottish valour, recall the memory of her early +history, with the manly and chivalrous simplicity of the ties which +united to the Crown the homage of the warriors by whom it was repeatedly +upheld and defended. But on the evening of the 20th, our memories were +refreshed with one of those ceremonies which belong to the ancient +days of Scotland's glory. After the circle was formed, Cosmo Comyne +Bradwardine, of that ilk, colonel in the service, &c. &c. &c., came +before the Prince, attended by Mr. D. Macwheeble, the Bailie of his +ancient barony of Bradwardine (who, we understand, has been-lately named +a commissary), and, under form of instrument, claimed permission to +perform, to the person of his Royal Highness, as representing his +father, the service used and wont, for which, under a charter of Robert +Bruce (of which the original was produced and inspected by the Masters +of his Royal Highness's Chancery, for the time being), the claimant held +the barony of Bradwardine, and lands of Tully-Veolan. His claim being +admitted and registered, his Royal Highness having placed his foot +upon a cushion, the Baron of Bradwardine, kneeling upon his right knee, +proceeded to undo the latchet of the brogue, or low-heeled Highland +shoe, which our gallant young hero wears in compliment to his brave +followers. When this was performed, his Royal Highness declared the +ceremony completed; and embracing the gallant veteran, protested that +nothing but compliance with an ordinance of Robert Bruce could have +induced him to receive even the symbolical performance of a menial +office from hands which had fought so bravely to put the crown upon the +head of his father. The Baron of Bradwardine then took instruments in +the hands of Mr. Commissary Macwheeble, bearing, that all points and +circumstances of the act of homage had been RITE ET SOLENNITER ACTA ET +PERACTA; and a corresponding entry was made in the protocol of the Lord +High Chamberlain, and in the record of Chancery. We understand that it +is in contemplation of his Royal Highness, when his Majesty's pleasure +can be known, to raise Colonel Bradwardine to the peerage, by the title +of Viscount Bradwardine, of Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, and that, in +the meanwhile, his Royal Highness, in his father's name and authority, +has been pleased to grant him an honourable augmentation to his paternal +coat of arms, being a budget or boot-jack, disposed saltier-wise with a +naked broadsword, to be borne in the dexter cantle of the shield; and, +as an additional motto, on a scroll beneath, the words, "DRAW AND DRAW +OFF".' + +'Were it not for the recollection of Fergus's raillery,' thought +Waverley to himself, when he had perused this long and grave document, +'how very tolerable would all this sound, and how little should I have +thought of connecting it with any ludicrous idea! Well, after all, +everything has its fair, as well as its seamy side; and truly I do not +see why the Baron's boot-jack may not stand as fair in heraldry as +the water-Buckets, waggons, cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, +candlesticks, and other ordinaries, conveying ideas of anything +save chivalry, which appear in the arms of some of our most ancient +gentry.'--This, however, is an episode in respect to the principal +story. + +When Waverley returned to Preston, and rejoined Colonel Talbot, he +found him recovered from the strong and obvious emotions with which a +concurrence of unpleasing events had affected him. He had regained his +natural manner, which was that of an English gentleman and soldier, +manly, open, and generous, but not unsusceptible of prejudice against +those of a different country, or who opposed him in political tenets. +When Waverley acquainted Colonel Talbot with the Chevalier's purpose +to commit him to his charge, 'I did not think to have owed so much +obligation to that young gentleman,' he said, 'as is implied in this +destination. I can at least cheerfully join in the prayer of the honest +Presbyterian clergyman, that, as he has come among us seeking an earthly +crown, his labours may be speedily rewarded with a heavenly one. [The +clergyman's name was Mac-Vicar. Protected by the cannon of the Castle, +he preached every Sunday in the West Kirk, while the Highlanders were in +possession of Edinburgh; and it was in presence of some of the Jacobites +that he prayed for Prince Charles Edward in the terms quoted in the +text.] I shall willingly give my parole not to attempt an escape without +your knowledge, since, in fact, it was to meet you that I came to +Scotland; and I am glad it has happened even under this predicament. But +I suppose we shall be 'but a short time together. Your Chevalier (that +is a name we may both give to him), with his plaids and blue-caps, will, +I presume, be continuing his crusade southward?' + +'Not as I hear; I believe the army makes some stay, in Edinburgh, to +collect reinforcements.' + +'And to besiege the Castle?' said Talbot, smiling sarcastically. 'Well, +unless my old commander, General Preston, turn false metal, or the +Castle sink into the North Loch, events which I deem equally probable, +I think we shall have some time to make up our acquaintance. I have a +guess that this gallant Chevalier has a design that I should be your +proselyte; and, as I wish you to be mine, there cannot be a more fair +proposal than to afford us fair conference together. But as I spoke +to-day under the influence of feelings I rarely give way to, I hope +you will excuse my entering again upon controversy till we are somewhat +better acquainted.' + + + +CHAPTER LI + +INTRIGUES OF LOVE AND POLITICS + +It is not necessary to record in these pages the triumphant entrance of +the Chevalier into Edinburgh after the decisive affair of Preston. One +circumstance, however, may be noticed, because it illustrates the +high spirit of Flora Mac-Ivor. The Highlanders, by whom the Prince was +surrounded, in the licence and extravagance of this joyful moment, +fired their pieces repeatedly, and one of these having been accidentally +loaded with ball, the bullet grazed the young lady's temple as she waved +her handkerchief from a balcony. [See Note 30.] Fergus, who beheld the +accident, was at her side in an instant; and, on seeing that the wound +was trifling, he drew his broadsword, with the purpose of rushing down +upon the man by whose carelessness she had incurred so much danger, +when, holding him by the plaid, 'Do not harm the poor fellow,' she +cried; 'for Heaven's sake, do not harm him! but thank God with me that +the accident happened to Flora Mac-Ivor; for had it befallen a Whig, +they would have pretended that the shot was fired on purpose.' + +Waverley escaped the alarm which this accident would have occasioned +to him, as he was unavoidably delayed by the necessity of accompanying +Colonel Talbot to Edinburgh. + +They performed the journey together on horseback, and for some time, as +if to sound each other's feelings and sentiments, they conversed upon +general and ordinary topics. + +When Waverley again entered upon the subject which he had most at heart, +the situation, namely, of his father and his uncle, Colonel Talbot +seemed now rather desirous to alleviate than to aggravate his anxiety. +This appeared particularly to be the case when he heard Waverley's +history, which he did not scruple to confide to him. + +'And so,' said the Colonel, 'there has been no malice prepense, as +lawyers, I think, term it, in this rash step of yours; and you have been +trepanned into the service of this Italian knight-errant by a few civil +speeches from him, and one or two of his Highland recruiting sergeants? +It is sadly foolish, to be sure, but not nearly so bad as I was led +to expect. However, you cannot desert, even from the Pretender, at the +present moment,--that seems impossible. But I have little doubt that, +in the dissensions incident to this heterogeneous mass of wild and +desperate men, some opportunity may arise, by availing yourself of +which, you may extricate yourself honourably from your rash engagement +before the bubble burst. If this can be managed, I would have you go to +a place of safety in Flanders, which I shall point out. And I think I +can secure your pardon from Government after a few months' residence +abroad.' + +'I cannot; permit you, Colonel Talbot,' answered Waverley, 'to speak of +any plan which turns on my deserting an enterprise in which I may have +engaged hastily, but certainly voluntarily, and with the purpose of +abiding the issue.' + +'Well,' said Colonel Talbot, smiling, 'leave me my thoughts and hopes +at least at liberty, if not my speech. But have you never examined your +mysterious packet?' + +'It is in my baggage,' replied Edward; 'we shall find it in Edinburgh.' + +In Edinburgh they soon arrived. Waverley's quarters had been assigned to +him, by the Prince's express orders, in a handsome lodging, where there +was accommodation, for Colonel Talbot. His first business was to +examine his portmanteau, and, after a very short search, out tumbled the +expected packet. Waverley opened it eagerly. Under a blank cover, simply +addressed to E. Waverley, Esq., he found a number of open letters. The +uppermost were two from Colonel Gardiner, addressed to himself. The +earliest in date was a kind and gentle remonstrance for neglect of the +writer's advice respecting the disposal of his time during his leave +of absence, the renewal of which, he reminded Captain Waverley, would +speedily expire. 'Indeed,' the letter proceeded, 'had it been otherwise, +the news from abroad, and my instructions from the War-office, must have +compelled me to recall it, as there is great danger, since the disaster +in Flanders, both of foreign invasion and insurrection among the +disaffected at home. I therefore entreat you will repair, as soon as +possible, to the head-quarters of the regiment; and I am concerned to +add, that this is still the more necessary, as there is some discontent +in your troop, and I postpone inquiry into particulars until I can have +the advantage of your assistance.' + +The second letter, dated eight days later, was in such a style as might +have been expected from the Colonel's receiving no answer to the first. +It reminded Waverley of his duty as a man of honour, an officer, and a +Briton; took notice of the increasing dissatisfaction of his men, and +that some of them had been heard to hint that their Captain encouraged +and approved of their mutinous behaviour; and, finally, the writer +expressed the utmost regret and surprise that he had not obeyed his +commands by repairing to head-quarters, reminded him that his leave +of absence had been recalled, and conjured him, in a style in which +paternal remonstrance was mingled with military authority, to redeem +his error by immediately joining his regiment. 'That I may be certain,' +concluded the letter, 'that this actually reaches you, I dispatch it by +Corporal Timms, of your troop, with orders to deliver it into your own +hand.' + +Upon reading these letters, Waverley, with great bitterness of feeling, +was compelled to make the AMENDE HONORABLE to the memory of the brave +and excellent writer; for surely, as Colonel Gardiner must have had +every reason to conclude they had come safely to hand, less could not +follow, on their being neglected, than that third and final summons, +which Waverley actually received at Glennaquoich, though too late +to obey it. And his being superseded, in consequence of his apparent +neglect of this last command, was so far from being a harsh or severe +proceeding, that it was plainly inevitable. The next letter he unfolded +was from the Major of the regiment, acquainting him that a report, to +the disadvantage of his reputation, was public in the country, stating, +that one Mr. Falconer of Ballihopple, or some such name, had proposed, +in his presence, a treasonable toast, which he permitted to pass in +silence, although it was so gross an affront to the royal family, that +a gentleman in company, not remarkable for his zeal for government, had +nevertheless taken the matter up; and that, supposing the account true, +Captain Waverley had thus suffered another, comparatively unconcerned, +to resent an affront directed against him personally as an officer, and +to go out with the person by whom it was offered. The Major concluded, +that no one of Captain Waverley's brother officers could believe this +scandalous story, but it was necessarily their joint opinion that his +own honour, equally with that of the regiment, depended upon its being +instantly contradicted by his authority, &c. &c. &c. + +'What do you think of all this?' said Colonel Talbot, to whom Waverley +handed the letters after he had perused them. + +'Think! it renders thought impossible. It is enough to drive me mad.' + +'Be calm, my young friend; let us see what are these dirty scrawls that +follow.' + +The first was addressed, 'For Master W. Ruffin These,'--'Dear sur, sum +of our yong gulpins will not bite, thof I tuold them you shoed me the +squoire's own seel. But Timms will deliver you the lettrs as desired, +and tell ould Addem he gave them to squoir's hond, as to be sure yours +is the same, and shall be ready for signal, and hoy for Hoy Church and +Sachefrel, as fadur sings at harvest-whome. Yours, deer Sur, H.H. + +'Poscriff. Do' e tell squoire we longs to heer from him, and has +dootings about his not writing himself, and Lieftenant Bottler is +smoky.' + +'This Ruffin, I suppose, then, is your Donald of the Cavern, who has +intercepted your letters, and carried on a correspondence with the poor +devil Houghton, as if under your authority? + +'It seems too true. But who can Addem be?' + +'Possibly Adam, for poor Gardiner, a sort of pun on his name.' + +The other letters were to the same purpose, and they soon received yet +more complete light upon Donald Bean's machinations. + +John Hedges, one of Waverley's servants, who had remained with the +regiment, and had been taken at Preston, now made his appearance. He had +sought out his master, with the purpose of again entering his service. +From this fellow they learned, that, some time after Waverley had +gone from the head-quarters of the regiment, a pedlar, called Ruthven, +Ruffin, or Rivane, known among the soldiers by the name of Wily Will, +had made frequent visits to the town of Dundee. He appeared to possess +plenty of money, sold his commodities very cheap, seemed always willing +to treat his friends at the ale-house, and easily ingratiated himself +with many of Waverley's troop, particularly Sergeant Houghton, and +one Timms, also a non-commissioned officer. To these he unfolded, in +Waverley's name, a plan for leaving the regiment, and joining him in the +Highlands, where report said the clans had already taken arms in great +numbers. The men, who had been educated as Jacobites, so far as they had +any opinion at all, and who knew their landlord, Sir Everard, had always +been supposed to hold such tenets, easily fell into the snare. +That Waverley was at a distance in the Highlands, was received as a +sufficient excuse for transmitting his letters through the medium of the +pedlar; and the sight of his well-known seal seemed to authenticate the +negotiations in his name, where writing might have been dangerous. The +cabal, however, began to take air, from the premature mutinous language +of those concerned. Wily Will justified his appellative; for, after +suspicion arose, he was seen no more. When the Gazette appeared, in +which Waverley was superseded, great part of his troop broke out into +actual mutiny, but were surrounded and disarmed by the rest of the +regiment. In consequence of the sentence of a court-martial, Houghton +and Timms were condemned to be shot, but afterwards permitted to cast +lots for life. Houghton, the survivor, showed much penitence, being +convinced from the rebukes and explanations of Colonel Gardiner, that he +had really engaged in a very heinous crime. It is remarkable, that, as +soon as the poor fellow was satisfied of this, he became also convinced +that the instigator had acted without authority from Edward, saying, +'If it was dishonourable and against Old England, the squire could +know naught about it; he never did, or thought to do, anything +dishonourable,--no more didn't Sir Everard, nor none of them afore him, +and in that belief he would live and die that Ruffin had done it all of +his own head.' + +The strength of conviction with which he expressed himself upon this +subject, as well as his assurances that the letters intended for +Waverley had been delivered to Ruthven, made that revolution in Colonel +Gardiner's opinion which he expressed to Talbot. + +The reader has long since understood that Donald Bean Lean played the +part of tempter on this occasion. His motives were shortly these. Of an +active and intriguing spirit, he had been long employed as a subaltern +agent and spy by those in the confidence of the Chevalier, to an extent +beyond what was suspected even by Fergus Mac-Ivor, whom, though obliged +to him for protection, he regarded with fear and dislike. To success in +this political department, he naturally looked for raising himself by +some bold stroke above his present hazardous and precarious state of +rapine. He was particularly employed in learning the strength of the +regiments in Scotland, the character of the officers, &c., and had long +had his eye upon Waverley's troop, as open to temptation. Donald even +believed that Waverley himself was at bottom in the Stuart interest, +which seemed confirmed by his long visit to the Jacobite Baron +of Bradwardine. When, therefore, he came to his cave with one of +Glennaquoich's attendants, the robber, who could never appreciate his +real motive, which was mere curiosity, was so sanguine as to hope that +his own talents were to be employed in some intrigue of consequence, +under the auspices of this wealthy young Englishman. Nor was he +undeceived by Waverley's neglecting all hints and openings for an +explanation. His conduct passed for prudent reserve, and somewhat +piqued Donald Bean, who, supposing himself left out of a secret where +confidence promised to be advantageous, determined to have his share +in the drama, whether a regular part were assigned him or not. For this +purpose, during Waverley's sleep, he possessed, himself of his seal, as +a token to be used to any of the troopers whom he might discover to be +possessed of the captain's confidence. His first journey to Dundee, the +town where the regiment was quartered, undeceived him in his original +supposition, but opened to him a new field of action. He knew there +would be no service so well rewarded by the friends of the Chevalier, as +seducing a part of the regular army to his standard. For this purpose, +he opened the machinations with which the reader is already acquainted, +and which form a clue to all the intricacies and obscurities of the +narrative previous to Waverley's leaving Glennaquoich. + +By Colonel Talbot's advice, Waverley declined detaining in his service +the lad whose evidence had thrown additional light on these intrigues. +He represented to him that it would be doing the man an injury to engage +him in a desperate undertaking, and that, whatever should happen, his +evidence would go some length, at least, in explaining the circumstances +under which Waverley himself had embarked in it. Waverley therefore +wrote a short statement of what had happened, to his uncle and his +father, cautioning them, however, in the present circumstances, not to +attempt to answer his letter. Talbot then gave the young man a letter +to the commander of one of the English vessels of war cruising in the +frith, requesting him to put the bearer ashore at Berwick, with a pass +to proceed to --shire. He was then furnished with money to make an +expeditious journey and directed to get on board the ship by means of +bribing a fishing-boat, which, as they afterwards learned, he easily +effected. + +Tired of the attendance of Callum Beg, who, he thought, had some +disposition to act as a spy on his motions, Waverley hired as a servant +a simple Edinburgh swain, who had mounted the white cockade in a fit +of spleen and jealousy, because Jenny Jop had danced a whole night with +Corporal Bullock of the Fusileers. + + + +CHAPTER LII + +INTRIGUES OF SOCIETY AND LOVE + +Colonel Talbot became more kindly in his demeanour towards Waverley +after the confidence he had reposed in him; and as they were necessarily +much together, the character of the Colonel rose in Waverley's +estimation. There seemed at first something harsh in his strong +expressions of dislike and censure, although no one was in the general +case more open to conviction. The habit of authority had also given his +manners some peremptory hardness, notwithstanding the polish which they +had received from his intimate acquaintance with the higher circles. As +a specimen of the military character, he differed from all whom Waverley +had as yet seen. The soldiership of the Baron of Bradwardine was marked +by pedantry; that of Major Melville by a sort of martinet attention to +the minutiae and technicalities of discipline, rather suitable to one +who was to manoeuvre a battalion, than to him who was to command an +army; the military spirit of Fergus was so much warped and blended with +his plans and political views, that it was less that of a soldier than +of a petty sovereign. But Colonel Talbot was in every point the English +soldier. His whole soul was devoted to the service of his king and +country, without feeling any pride in knowing the theory of his art with +the Baron, or its practical minutiae with the Major, or in applying his +science to his own particular plans of ambition, like the Chieftain +of Glennaquoich. Added to this, he was a man of extended knowledge and +cultivated taste, although strongly tinged, as we have already observed, +with those prejudices which are peculiarly English. + +The character of Colonel Talbot dawned upon Edward by degrees; for the +delay of the Highlanders in the fruitless siege of Edinburgh Castle +occupied several weeks, during which Waverley had little to do, +excepting to seek such amusement as society afforded. He would willingly +have persuaded his new friend to become acquainted with some of his +former intimates. But the Colonel, after one or two visits, shook his +head, and declined further experiment. Indeed he went further, and +characterized the Baron as the most intolerable formal pedant he had +ever had the misfortune to meet with, and the Chief of Glennaquoich as +a Frenchified Scotchman, possessing all the cunning and plausibility +of the nation where he was educated, with the proud, vindictive, and +turbulent humour of that of his birth. 'If the devil,' he said, 'had +sought out an agent expressly for the purpose of embroiling this +miserable country, I do not think he could find a better than such +a fellow as this, whose temper seems equally active, supple, and +mischievous, and who is followed, and implicitly obeyed, by a gang of +such cut-throats as those whom you are pleased to admire so much.' + +The ladies of the party did not escape his censure. He allowed that +Flora Mac-Ivor was a fine woman, and Rose Bradwardine a pretty girl. +But he alleged that the former destroyed the effect of her beauty by an +affectation of the grand airs which she had probably seen practised at +the mock court of St. Germains. As for Rose Bradwardine, he said it +was impossible for any mortal to admire such a little uninformed thing, +whose small portion of education was as ill adapted to her sex or youth, +as if she had appeared with one of her father's old campaign-coats upon +her person for her sole garment. Now much of this was mere spleen and +prejudice in the excellent Colonel, with whom the white cockade on the +breast, the white rose in the hair, and the Mac at the beginning of a +name, would have made a devil out of an angel; and indeed he himself +jocularly allowed, that he could not have endured Venus herself, if she +had been announced in a drawing-room by the name of Miss Mac-Jupiter. + +Waverley, it may easily be believed, looked upon these young ladies with +very different eyes. During the period of the siege, he paid them almost +daily visits, although he observed with regret that his suit made as +little progress in the affections of the former as the arms of the +Chevalier in subduing the fortress. She maintained with rigour the rule +she had laid down of treating him with indifference, without either +affecting to avoid him, or to shun intercourse with him. Every word, +every look, was strictly regulated to accord with her system, and +neither the dejection of Waverley, nor the anger which Fergus scarcely +suppressed, could extend Flora's attention to Edward beyond that +which the most ordinary politeness demanded. On the other hand, Rose +Bradwardine gradually rose in Waverley's opinion. He had several +opportunities of remarking, that, as her extreme timidity wore off, her +manners received a higher character; that the agitating circumstances +of the stormy time seemed to call forth a certain dignity of feeling and +expression, which he had not formerly observed; and that she omitted +no opportunity within her reach to extend her knowledge and refine her +taste. + +Flora Mac-Ivor called Rose her pupil, and was attentive to assist her in +her studies, and to fashion both her taste and understanding. It might +have been remarked by a very close observer, that in the presence of +Waverley she was much more desirous to exhibit her friend's excellences +than her own. But I must request of the reader to suppose, that this +kind and disinterested purpose was concealed by the most cautious +delicacy, studiously shunning the most distant approach to affectation. +So that it was as unlike the usual exhibition of one pretty woman +affecting to PRONER another, as the friendship of David and Jonathan +might be to the intimacy of two Bond-street loungers. + +The fact is, that, though the effect was felt, the cause could hardly be +observed. Each of the ladies, like two excellent actresses, were perfect +in their parts, and performed them to the delight of the audience; and +such being the case, it was almost impossible to discover that the +elder constantly ceded to her friend that which was most suitable to her +talents. + +But to Waverley, Rose Bradwardine possessed an attraction which few men +can resist, from the marked interest which she took in everything that +effected him. She was too young and too inexperienced to estimate the +full force of the constant attention which she paid to him. Her father +was too abstractedly immersed in learned and military discussions +to observe her partiality, and Flora Mac-Ivor did not alarm her by +remonstrance, because she saw in this line of conduct the most probable +chance of her friend securing at length a return of affection. + +The truth is, that, in her first conversation after their meeting, +Rose had discovered the state of her mind to that acute and intelligent +friend, although she was not herself aware of it. From that time, +Flora was not only determined upon the final rejection of Waverley's +addresses, but became anxious that they should, if possible, be +transferred to her friend. Nor was she less interested in this plan, +though her brother had from time to time talked, as between jest and +earnest, of paying his suit to Miss Bradwardine. She knew that Fergus +had the true continental latitude of opinion respecting the institution +of marriage, and would not have given his hand to an angel, unless for +the purpose of strengthening his alliances, and increasing his influence +and wealth. The Baron's whim of transferring his estate to the distant +heir-male instead of his own daughter, was therefore likely to be an +insurmountable obstacle to his entertaining any serious thoughts of Rose +Bradwardine. Indeed, Fergus's brain was a perpetual workshop of scheme +and intrigue of every possible kind and description; while, like many a +mechanic of more ingenuity than steadiness, he would often unexpectedly +and without any apparent motive, abandon one plan, and go earnestly +to work upon another, which was either fresh from the forge of his +imagination, or had at some former period been flung aside half +finished. It was therefore often difficult to guess what line of conduct +he might finally adopt upon any given occasion. + +Although Flora was sincerely attached to her brother, whose high +energies might indeed have commanded her admiration even without the +ties which bound them together, she was by no means blind to his faults, +which she considered as dangerous to the hopes of any woman who should +found her ideas of a happy marriage in the peaceful enjoyment of +domestic society, and the exchange of mutual and engrossing affection. +The real disposition of Waverley, on the other hand, notwithstanding +his dreams of tented fields and military honour, seemed exclusively +domestic. He asked and received no share in the busy scenes which were +constantly going on around him, and was rather annoyed than interested +by the discussion of contending claims, rights, and interests, which +often passed in his presence. All this pointed him out as the person +formed to make happy a spirit like that of Rose, which corresponded with +his own. + +She remarked this point in Waverley's character one day while she sat +with Miss Bradwardine. 'His genius and elegant taste,' answered Rose, +'cannot be interested in such trifling discussions. What is it to him, +for example, whether the Chief of the Macindallaghers, who has brought +out only fifty men, should be a colonel or a captain? and how could +Mr. Waverley be supposed to interest himself in the violent altercation +between your brother and young Corrinaschian, whether the post of honour +is due to the eldest cadet of a clan or the youngest?' 'My dear Rose, +if he were the hero you suppose him, he would interest himself in these +matters, not indeed as important in themselves, but for the purpose +of mediating between the ardent spirits who actually do make them the +subject of discord. You saw when Corrinaschian raised his voice in great +passion, and laid his hand upon his sword, Waverley lifted his head as +if he had just awaked from a dream, and asked, with great composure, +what the matter was.' + +'Well, and did not the laughter they fell into at his absence of mind, +serve better to break off the dispute than anything he could have said +to them?' + +'True, my dear,' answered Flora; 'but not quite so creditably for +Waverley as if he had brought them to their senses by force of reason.' + +'Would you have him peacemaker general between all the gunpowder +Highlanders in the army? I beg your pardon, Flora--your brother, you +know, is out of the question; he has more sense than half of them. But +can you think the fierce, hot, furious spirits, of whose brawls we see +much, and hear more, and who terrify me out of my life every day in the +world, are at all to be compared to Waverley?' + +'I do not compare him with those uneducated men, my dear Rose. I only +lament, that, with his talents and genius, he does not assume that place +in society for which they eminently fit him, and that he does not lend +their full impulse to the noble cause in which he has enlisted. Are +there not Lochiel, and P--, and M--, and G--, all men of the highest +education, as well as the first talents?--why will he not stoop like +them to be alive and useful?--I often believe his zeal is frozen by that +proud cold-blooded Englishman, whom he now lives with so much.' + +'Colonel Talbot?--he is a very disagreeable person, to be sure. He looks +as if he thought no Scottish woman worth the trouble of handing her a +cup of tea. But Waverley is so gentle, so well informed'-- + +'Yes,' said Flora, smiling; 'he can admire the moon, and quote a stanza +from Tasso.' + +'Besides, you know how he fought,' added Miss Bradwardine. + +'For mere fighting,' answered Flora, 'I believe all men (that is, who +deserve the name) are pretty much alike; there is generally more courage +required to run away. They have, besides, when confronted with each +other, a certain instinct for strife, as we see in other male animals, +such as dogs, bulls, and so forth. But high and perilous enterprise is +not Waverley's forte. He would never have been his celebrated ancestor +Sir Nigel, but only Sir Nigel's eulogist and poet. I will tell you where +he will be at home, my dear, and in his place,--in the quiet circle +of domestic happiness, lettered indolence, and elegant enjoyments, of +Waverley-Honour. And he will refit the old library in the most exquisite +Gothic taste, and garnish its shelves, with the rarest and most valuable +volumes; and he will draw plans and landscapes, and write verses, and +rear temples, and dig grottoes;--and he will stand in a clear summer +night in the colonnade before the hall, and gaze on the deer as they +stray in the moonlight, or lie shadowed by the boughs of the huge old +fantastic oaks;--and he will repeat verses to his beautiful wife, who +will hang upon his arm;--and he will be a happy man.' + +'And she will be a happy woman,' thought poor Rose. But she only sighed, +and dropped the conversation. + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +FERGUS A SUITOR + +Waverly had, indeed, as he looked closer into the state of the +Chevalier's Court, less reason to be satisfied with it. It contained, as +they say an acorn includes all the ramifications of the future oak, as +many seeds of TRACASSERIE and intrigue, as might have done honour to the +Court of a large empire. Every person of consequence had some separate +object, which he pursued with a fury that Waverley considered as +altogether disproportioned to its importance. Almost all had their +reasons for discontent, although the most legitimate was that of the +worthy old Baron, who was only distressed on account of the common +cause. + +'We shall hardly,' said he one morning to Waverley, when they had been +viewing the castle,--'we shall hardly gain the obsidional crown, which +you wot well was made of the roots or grain which takes root within +the place besieged, or it may be of the herb woodbind, PARETARIA, or +pellitory; we shall not, I say, gain it by this same blockade or +leaguer of Edinburgh Castle.' For this opinion, he gave most learned and +satisfactory reasons, that the reader may not care to hear repeated. + +Having escaped from the old gentleman, Waverley went to Fergus's +lodgings by appointment, to await his return from Holyrood House. 'I +am to have a particular audience to-morrow,' said Fergus to Waverley, +overnight, 'and you must meet me to wish me joy of the success which I +securely anticipate.' + +The morrow came, and in the Chief's apartment he found Ensign Maccombich +waiting to make report of his turn of duty in a sort of ditch which they +had dug across the Castle-hill, and called a trench. In a short time +the Chief's voice was heard on the stair in a tone of impatient +fury:--'Callum,--why, Callum Beg,--Diaoul!' He entered the room with all +the marks of a man agitated by a towering passion; and there were few +upon whose features rage produced a more violent effect. The veins of +his forehead swelled when he was in such agitation; his nostril became +dilated; his cheek and eye inflamed; and his look that of a demoniac. +These appearances of half-suppressed rage were the more frightful, +because they were obviously caused by a strong effort to temper with +discretion an almost ungovernable paroxysm of passion, and resulted from +an internal conflict of the most dreadful kind, which agitated his whole +frame of mortality. + +As he entered the apartment, he unbuckled his broadsword, and throwing +it down with such violence that the weapon rolled to the other end of +the room, 'I know not what,' he exclaimed, 'withholds me from taking +a solemn oath that I will never more draw it in his cause. Load my +pistols, Callum, and bring them hither instantly;--instantly!' Callum, +whom nothing ever startled, dismayed, or disconcerted, obeyed very +coolly. Evan Dhu, upon whose brow the suspicion that his Chief had been +insulted, called up a corresponding storm, swelled in sullen silence, +awaiting to learn where or upon whom vengeance was to descend. + +'So, Waverley you are there,' said the Chief, after a moment's +recollection;--'Yes, I remember I asked you to share my triumph, and +you have come to witness my--disappointment we shall call it.' Evan now +presented the written report he had in his hand, which Fergus threw from +him with great passion. 'I wish to God,' he said, 'the old den would +tumble down upon the heads of the fools who attack, and the knaves who +defend it! I see, Waverley, you think I am mad--leave us, Evan, but be +within call.' + +'The Colonel's in an unco kippage,' said Mrs. Flockhart to Evan, as he +descended; 'I wish he may be weel,--the very veins on his brent brow are +swelled like whipcord: wad he no tak something?' + +'He usually lets blood for these fits,' answered the Highland ancient +with great composure. + +When this officer left the room, the Chieftain gradually reassumed some +degree of composure.--'I know, Waverley,' he said, 'that Colonel Talbot +has persuaded you to curse ten times a day your engagement with us; nay, +never deny it, for I am at this moment tempted to curse my own. Would +you believe it, I made this very morning two suits to the Prince, and he +has rejected them both: what do you think of it?' + +'What can I think,' answered Waverley, 'till I know what your requests +were?' + +'Why, what signifies what they were, man? I tell you it was I that made +them,--I, to whom he owes more than to any three who have joined the +standard; for I negotiated the whole business, and brought in all the +Perthshire men when not one would have stirred. I am not likely, I +think, to ask anything very unreasonable, and if I did they might have +stretched a point.--Well, but you shall know all, now that I can draw +my breath again with some freedom.--You remember my earl's patent; it +is dated some years back, for services then rendered; and certainly +my merit has not been diminished, to say the least, by my subsequent +behaviour. Now, sir, I value this bauble of a coronet as little as you +can, or any philosopher on earth; for I hold that the chief of such +a clan as the Sliochd nan Ivor is superior in rank to any earl in +Scotland. But I had a particular reason for assuming this cursed title +at this time. You must know, that I learned accidentally that the Prince +has been pressing that old foolish Baron of Bradwardine to disinherit +his male heir, or nineteenth or twentieth cousin, who has taken a +command in the Elector of Hanover's militia, and to settle his estate +upon your pretty little friend Rose; and this, as being the command +of his king and overlord, who may alter the destination of a fief at +pleasure, the old gentleman seems well reconciled to.' + +'And what becomes of the homage?' + +'Curse the homage!--I believe Rose is to pull off the queen's slipper +on her coronation-day, or some such trash. Well sir, as Rose Bradwardine +would always have made a suitable match for me, but for this idiotical +predilection of her father for the heir-male, it occurred to me there +now remained no obstacle, unless that the Baron might expect his +daughter's husband to take the name of Bradwardine (which you know would +be impossible in my case), and that this might be evaded by my assuming +the title to which I had so good a right, and which, of course, would +supersede that difficulty. If she was to be also Viscountess Bradwardine +in her own right, after her father's demise, so much the better; I could +have no objection.' + +'But, Fergus,' said Waverley, 'I had no idea that you had any affection +for Miss Bradwardine, and you are always sneering at her father.' + +'I have as much affection for Miss Bradwardine, my good friend, as I +think it necessary to have for the future mistress of my family, and the +mother of my children. She is a very pretty, intelligent girl, and is +certainly of one of the very first Lowland families; and, with a little +of Flora's instructions and forming, will make a very good figure. As to +her father, he is an original, it is true, and an absurd one enough; but +he has given such severe lessons to Sir Hew Halbert, that dear defunct +the Laird of Balmawhapple, and others, that nobody dare laugh at him, +so his absurdity goes for nothing. I tell you there could have been +no earthly objection--none. I had settled the thing entirely in my own +mind.' + +'But had you asked the Baron's consent,' said Waverley, 'Or Rose's?' + +'To what purpose? To have spoke to the Baron before I had assumed my +title would have only provoked a premature and irritating discussion on +the subject of the change of name, when, as Earl of Glennaquoich, I +had only to propose to him to carry his d-d bear and bootjack PARTY +PER PALE, or in a scutcheon of pretence, or in a separate shield +perhaps--any way that would not blemish my own coat of arms. And as to +Rose, I don't see what objection she could have made, if her father was +satisfied.' + +'Perhaps the same that your sister makes to me, you being satisfied.' + +Fergus gave a broad stare at the comparison which this supposition +implied, but cautiously suppressed the answer which rose to his tongue. +'Oh, we should easily have arranged all that.--so, sir, I craved a +private interview, and this morning was assigned; and I asked you to +meet me here, thinking, like a fool, that I should want your countenance +as bride's-man. Well--I state my pretensions--they are not denied; +the promises so repeatedly made, and the patent granted--they are +acknowledged. But I propose, as a natural consequence, to assume the +rank which the patent bestowed--I have the old story of the jealousy of +C--and M-- trumped up against me--I resist this pretext, and offer to +procure their written acquiescence, in virtue of the date of my patent +as prior to their silly claims--I assure you I would have had such a +consent from them, if it had been at the point of the sword. And then, +out comes the real truth; and he dares to tell me, to my face, that my +patent must be suppressed for the present, for fear of disgusting +that rascally coward and FAINEANT--(naming the rival chief of his own +clan)--who has no better title to be a chieftain than I to be Emperor +of China; and who is pleased to shelter his dastardly reluctance to come +out, agreeable to his promise twenty times pledged, under a pretended +jealousy of the Prince's partiality to me. And, to leave this miserable +driveller without a pretence for his cowardice, the Prince asks if as +a personal favour of me, forsooth, not to press my just and reasonable +request at this moment. After this, put your faith in princes!' + +'And did your audience end here?' + +'End? Oh, no! I was determined to leave him no pretence for his +ingratitude, and I therefore stated, with all the composure I could +muster,--for I promise you I trembled with passion,--the particular +reasons I had for wishing that his Royal Highness would impose upon me +any other mode of exhibiting my duty and devotion, as my views in life +made, what at any other time would have been a mere trifle, at this +crisis a severe sacrifice; and then I explained to him my full plan.' + +'And what did the Prince answer?' + +'Answer? why--it is well it is written, Curse not the king; no, not in +thy thought!--why, he answered, that truly he was glad I had made him my +confidant, to prevent more grievous disappointment, for he could assure +me, upon the word of a prince, that Miss Bradwardine's affections were +engaged, and he was under a particular promise to favour them. "So, my +dear Fergus," said he, with his most gracious cast of smile, "as the +marriage is utterly out of question, there need be no hurry, you know, +about the earldom." And so he glided off, and left me PLANTE LA.' + +'And what did you do?' + +'I'll tell you what I could have done at that moment--sold myself to the +devil or the Elector, whichever offered the dearest revenge. However, +I am now cool. I know he intends to marry her to some of his rascally +Frenchmen, or his Irish officers: but I will watch them close; and let +the man that would supplant me look well to himself.--BISOGNA COPRIRSI, +SIGNOR.' + +After some further conversation, unnecessary to be detailed, Waverley +took leave of the Chieftain, whose fury had now subsided into a deep and +strong desire of vengeance, and returned home, scarce able to analyse +the mixture of feelings which the narrative had awakened in his own +bosom. + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +'TO ONE THING CONSTANT NEVER' + +'I am the very child of caprice,' said Waverley to himself, as he bolted +the door of his apartment, and paced it with hasty steps.--'What is it +to me that Fergus Mac-Ivor should wish to marry Rose Bradwardine?--I +love her not.--I might have been loved by her, perhaps; but I rejected +her simple, natural, and affecting attachment, instead of cherishing it +into tenderness, and dedicated myself to one who will never love mortal +man, unless old Warwick, the King-maker, should arise from the dead. +The Baron, too--I would not have cared about his estate, and so the +name would have been no stumbling-block, The devil might have taken the +barren moors, and drawn off the royal CALIGAE, for anything I would have +minded. But, framed as she is for domestic affection and tenderness, for +giving and receiving all those kind and quiet attentions which sweeten +life to those who pass it together, she is sought by Fergus Mac-Ivor. He +will not use her ill, to be sure--of that he is incapable--but he will +neglect her after the first month; he will be too intent on subduing +some rival chieftain, or circumventing some favourite at court, on +gaining some heathy hill and lake, or adding to his bands some new troop +of caterans, to inquire what she does, or how she amuses herself. + + And then will canker sorrow eat her bud, + And chase the native beauty from her cheek; + And she will look as hollow as a ghost, + And dim and meagre as an ague fit, + And so she'll die. + +And such a catastrophe of the most gentle creature on earth might have +been prevented, if Mr. Edward Waverley had had his eyes! Upon my word, +I cannot understand how I thought Flora so much--that is, so very +much--handsomer than Rose. She is taller, indeed, and her manner more +formed; but many people think Miss Bradwardine's more natural; and she +is certainly much younger. I should think Flora is two years older than +I am--I will look at them particularly this evening.' + +And with this resolution Waverley went to drink tea (as the fashion was +Sixty Years since) at the house of a lady of quality attached to the +cause of the Chevalier, where he found, as he expected, both the ladies. +All rose as he entered, but Flora immediately resumed her place, and +the conversation in which she was engaged. Rose, on the contrary, almost +imperceptibly, made a little way in the crowded circle for his advancing +the corner of a chair. 'Her manner, upon the whole, is most engaging,' +said Waverley to himself. + +A dispute occurred whether the Gaelic or Italian language was most +liquid, and best adapted for poetry; the opinion for the Gaelic, which +probably might not have found supporters elsewhere, was here fiercely +defended by seven Highland ladies, who talked at the top of their lungs, +and screamed the company deaf, with examples of Celtic EUPHONIA. Flora, +observing the Lowland ladies sneer at the comparison, produced some +reasons to show that it was not altogether so absurd; but Rose, when +asked for her opinion, gave it with animation in praise of Italian, +which she had studied with Waverley's assistance. 'She has a more +correct ear than Flora, though a less accomplished musician,' said +Waverley to himself. 'I suppose Miss Mac-Ivor will next compare +Mac-Murrough nan Fonn to Ariosto!' + +Lastly, it so befell that the company differed whether Fergus should +be asked to perform on the flute, at which he was an adept, or Waverley +invited to read a play of Shakespeare; and the lady of the house +good-humouredly undertook to collect the votes of the company for poetry +or music, under the condition, that the gentleman whose talents were not +laid under contribution that evening, should contribute them to enliven +the next. It chanced that Rose had the casting vote. Now Flora, who +seemed to impose it as a rule upon herself never to countenance any +proposal which might seem to encourage Waverley, had voted for music, +providing the Baron would take his violin to accompany Fergus. 'I wish +you joy of your taste, Miss Mac-Ivor,' thought Edward, as they sought +for his book. 'I thought it better when we were at Glennaquoich; but +certainly the Baron is no great performer, and Shakespeare is worth +listening to.' + +ROMEO AND JULIET was selected, and Edward read with taste, feeling, and +spirit, several scenes from that play. All the company applauded with +their hands, and many with their tears. Flora, to whom the drama was +well known, was among the former; Rose, to whom it was altogether new, +belonged to the latter class of admirers. 'She has more feeling, too,' +said Waverley, internally. + +The conversation turning upon the incidents of the play, and upon the +characters, Fergus declared that the only one worth naming, as a man of +fashion and spirit, was Mercutio. 'I could not,' he said, 'quite follow +all his old-fashioned wit, but he must have been a very pretty fellow, +according to the ideas of his time.' + +'And it was a shame,' said Ensign Maccombich, who usually followed his +Colonel everywhere, 'for that Tibbert, or Taggart, or whatever was his +name, to stick him under the other gentleman's arm while he was redding +the fray.' + +The ladies, of course, declared loudly in favour of Romeo; but this +opinion did not go undisputed. The mistress of the house, and several +other ladies, severely reprobated the levity with which the hero +transfers his affections from Rosalind to Juliet. Flora remained silent +until her opinion was repeatedly requested, and then answered, she +thought the circumstance objected to not only reconcilable to nature, +but such as in the highest degree evinced the art of the poet. 'Romeo +is described,' said she, 'as a young man, peculiarly susceptible of +the softer passions; his love is at first fixed upon a woman who could +afford it no return; this he repeatedly tells you,-- + + From love's weak childish bow she lives unharmed; + +and again,-- + + She hath forsworn to love. + +Now, as it was impossible that Romeo's love, supposing him a reasonable +being, could continue to subsist without hope, the poet has, with great +art, seized the moment when he was reduced actually to despair, to throw +in his way an object more accomplished than her by whom he had been +rejected, and who is disposed to repay his attachment. I can scarce +conceive a situation more calculated to enhance the ardour of Romeo's +affection for Juliet, than his being at once raised by her from the +state of drooping melancholy in which he appears first upon the scene, +to the ecstatic state in which he exclaims-- + + --come what sorrow can, + It cannot countervail the exchange of joy + That one short moment gives me in her sight.' + +'Good, now, Miss Mac-Ivor,' said a young lady of quality, 'do you mean +to cheat us out of our prerogative? will you persuade us love cannot +subsist-without hope, or that the lover must become fickle if the lady +is cruel? Oh, fie! I did not expect such an unsentimental conclusion.' + +'A lover, my dear Lady Betty,' said Flora, 'may, I conceive, persevere +in his suit under very discouraging circumstances. Affection can (now +and then) withstand very severe storms of rigour, but not a long polar +frost of downright indifference. Don't, even with YOUR attractions, try +the experiment upon any lover whose faith you value. Love will subsist +on wonderfully little hope, but not altogether without it.' + +'It will be just like Duncan Mac-Girdie's mare,' said Evan, 'if your +ladyships please; he wanted to use her by degrees to live without meat, +and just as he had put her on a straw a day, the poor thing died!' + +Evan's illustration set the company a-laughing, and the discourse took +a different turn. Shortly afterwards the party broke up, and Edward +returned home, musing on what Flora had said. 'I will love my Rosalind +no more,' said he: 'she has given me a broad enough hint for that; and +I will speak to her brother, and resign my suit. But for a Juliet--would +it be handsome to interfere with Fergus's pretensions?--though it +is impossible they can ever succeed: and should they miscarry, what +then?--why then ALORS COMME ALORS.' And with this resolution, of being +guided by circumstances, did our hero commit himself to repose. + + + +CHAPTER LV + +A BRAVE MAN IN SORROW + +If my fair readers should be of opinion that my hero's levity in love +is altogether unpardonable, I must remind them that all his griefs and +difficulties did not arise from that sentimental source. Even the lyric +poet, who complains so feelingly of the pains of love, could not forget, +that, at the same time, he was 'in debt and in drink,' which, doubtless, +were great aggravations of his distress. There were indeed whole days in +which Waverley thought neither of Flora nor Rose Bradwardine, but which +were spent in melancholy conjectures on the probable state of matters at +Waverley-Honour, and the dubious issue of the civil contest in which he +was pledged. Colonel Talbot often engaged him in discussions upon +the justice of the cause he had espoused. 'Not,' he said, 'that it is +possible for you to quit it at this present moment, for, come what will, +you must stand by your rash engagement. But I with you to be aware +that the right is not with you; that you are fighting against the real +interests of your country; and that you ought, as an Englishman and a +patriot, to take the first opportunity to leave this unhappy expedition +before the snowball melts.' + +In such political disputes, Waverley usually opposed the common +arguments of his party, with which it is unnecessary to trouble the +reader. But he had little to say when the Colonel urged him to compare +the strength by which they had undertaken to overthrow the Government, +with that which was now assembling very rapidly for its support. To this +statement Waverley had but one answer: 'If the cause I have undertaken +be perilous, there would be the greater disgrace in abandoning it.' +And in his turn he generally silenced Colonel Talbot, and succeeded in +changing the subject. + +One night, when, after a long dispute of this nature, the friends +had separated, and our hero had retired to bed, he was awakened about +midnight by a suppressed groan. He started up and listened; it came from +the apartment of Colonel Talbot, which was divided from his own by a +wainscoted partition, with a door of communication. Waverley approached +this door, and distinctly heard one or two deep-drawn sighs. What could +be the matter? The Colonel had parted from him, apparently, in his +usual state of spirits. He must have been taken suddenly ill. Under +this impression, he opened the door of communication very gently, and +perceived the Colonel, in his nightgown, seated by a table, on which +lay a letter and a picture. He raised his head hastily, as Edward stood +uncertain whether to advance or retire, and Waverley perceived that his +cheeks were stained with tears. + +As if ashamed at being found giving way to such emotion, Colonel Talbot +rose with apparent displeasure, and said, with some sternness, 'I think, +Mr. Waverley, my own apartment, and the hour, might have secured even a +prisoner against'-- + +'Do not say INTRUSION, Colonel Talbot; I heard you breathe hard, and +feared you were ill; that alone could have induced me to break in upon +you.' + +'I am well,' said the Colonel, 'perfectly well.' + +'But you are distressed,' said Edward: 'is there anything can be done?' + +'Nothing, Mr. Waverley: I was only thinking of home, and of some +unpleasant occurrences there.' + +'Good God, my uncle!' exclaimed Waverley. + +'No,--it is a grief entirely my own. I am ashamed you should have seen +it disarm me so much; but it must have its course at times, that it may +be at others more decently supported. I would have kept it secret from +you; for I think it will grieve you, and yet you can administer no +consolation. But you have surprised me,--I see you are surprised +yourself,--and I hate mystery. Read that letter. + +The letter was from Colonel Talbot's sister, and in these words: + +'I received yours, my dearest brother, by Hodges. Sir E. W. and Mr. R. +are still at large, but are not permitted to leave London. I wish to +Heaven I could give you as good an account of matters in the square. +But the news of the unhappy affair at Preston came upon us, with the +dreadful addition that you were among the fallen. You know Lady Emily's +state of health, when your friendship for Sir E. induced you to leave +her. She was much harassed with the sad accounts from Scotland of the +rebellion having broken out; but kept up her spirits as, she said, it +became your wife, and for the sake of the future heir, so long hoped +for in vain. Alas, my dear brother, these hopes are now ended! +Notwithstanding all my watchful care, this unhappy rumour reached her +without preparation. She was taken ill immediately; and the poor infant +scarce survived its birth. Would to God this were all! But although +the contradiction of the horrible report by your own letter has greatly +revived her spirits, yet Dr--apprehends, I grieve to say, serious, +and even dangerous, consequences to her health, especially from +the uncertainty in which she must necessarily remain for some time, +aggravated by the ideas she has formed of the ferocity of those with +whom you are a prisoner. + +Do therefore, my dear brother, as soon as this reaches you, endeavour to +gain your release, by parole, by ransom, or any way that is practicable. +I do not exaggerate Lady Emily's state of health; but I must not--dare +not--suppress the truth.--Ever, my dear Philip, your most affectionate +sister, 'LUCY TALBOT.' + +Edward stood motionless when he had perused this letter; for the +conclusion was inevitable, that by the Colonel's journey in quest of +him, he had incurred this heavy calamity. It was severe enough, even in +its irremediable part; for Colonel Talbot and Lady Emily, long without a +family, had fondly exulted in the hopes which were now blasted. But this +disappointment was nothing to the extent of the threatened evil; and +Edward, with horror, regarded himself as the original cause of both. + +Ere he could collect himself sufficiently to speak, Colonel Talbot had +recovered his usual composure of manner, though his troubled eye denoted +his mental agony. + +'She is a woman, my young friend, who may justify even a soldier's +tears.' He reached him the miniature, exhibiting features which fully +justified the eulogium; 'and yet, God knows, what you see of her there +is the least of the charms she possesses--possessed, I should perhaps +say--but God's will be done!' + +'You must fly--you must fly instantly to her relief. It is not--it shall +not be too late.' + +'Fly!--how is it possible? I am a prisoner--upon parole.' + +'I am your keeper--I restore your parole-I am to answer for you.' + +'You cannot do so consistently with your duty; nor can I accept a +discharge from you with due regard to my own honour--you would be made +responsible.' + +'I will answer it with my head, if necessary,' said Waverley, +impetuously. 'I have been the unhappy cause of the loss of your +child--make me not the murderer of your wife.' + +'No, my dear Edward,' said Talbot, taking him kindly by the hand, 'you +are in no respect to blame; and if I concealed this domestic distress +for two days, it was lest your sensibility should view it in that light. +You could not think of me, hardly knew of my existence, when I +left England in quest of you. It is a responsibility, Heaven knows, +sufficiently heavy for mortality, that we must answer for the foreseen +and direct result of our actions,--for their indirect and consequential +operation, the great and good Being, who alone can foresee the +dependence of human events on each other, hath not pronounced his frail +creatures liable.' + +But that you should have left Lady Emily,' said Waverley, with much +emotion, 'in the situation of all others the most interesting to a +husband, to seek a--' + +'I only did my duty,' answered Colonel Talbot, calmly, 'and I do not, +ought not to regret it. If the path of gratitude and honour were always +smooth and easy, there would be little merit in following it; but it +moves often in contradiction to our interest and passions, and sometimes +to our better affections. These are the trials of life, and this, though +not the least bitter' (the tears came unbidden to his eyes), 'is not the +first which it has been my fate to encounter. But we will talk of this +to-morrow,' he said, wringing Waverley's hands. 'Good night; strive to +forget it for a few hours. It will dawn, I think, by six, and it is now +past two. Good-night.' + +Edward retired, without trusting his voice with a reply. + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +EXERTION + +When Colonel Talbot entered the breakfast-parlour next morning, he +learned from Waverley's servant that our hero had been abroad at an +early hour, and was not yet returned. The morning was well advanced +before he again appeared, He arrived out of breath, but with an air of +joy that astonished Colonel Talbot. + +'There,' said he, throwing a paper on the table, 'there is my morning's +work.--Alick, pack up the Colonel's clothes. Make haste, make haste.' + +The Colonel examined the paper with astonishment. It was a pass from the +Chevalier to Colonel Talbot, to repair to Leith, or any other port +in possession of his Royal Highness's troops, and there to embark for +England or elsewhere, at his free pleasure; he only giving his parole of +honour not to bear arms against the house of Stuart for the space of a +twelvemonth. + +'In the name of God,' said the Colonel, his eyes sparkling with +eagerness, 'how did you obtain this?' + +'I was at the Chevalier's levee as soon as he usually rises. He was gone +to the camp at Duddingston. I pursued him thither; asked and obtained an +audience--but I will tell you not a word more, unless I see you begin to +pack.' + +'Before I know whether I can avail myself of this passport, or how it +was obtained?' + +'Oh, you can take out the things again, you know.--Now I see you busy, +I will go on. When I first mentioned your name, his eyes sparkled almost +as bright as yours did two minutes since. "Had you," he earnestly asked, +"shown any sentiments favourable to his cause?" + +"Not in the least, nor was there any hope you would do so." His +countenance fell. I requested your freedom. "Impossible," he +said;--"your importance, as a friend and confidant of such and such +personages, made my request altogether extravagant." I told him my own +story and yours and asked him to judge what my feelings must be by his +own. He has a heart, and a kind one, Colonel Talbot, you may say what +you please. He took a sheet of paper, and wrote the pass with his own +hand. "I will not-trust myself with my council," he said "they will +argue me out of what is right. I will not endure that a friend, valued +as I value you, should be loaded with the painful reflections which must +afflict you in ease of further misfortune in Colonel Talbot's family; +nor will I keep a brave enemy a prisoner under such circumstances. +Besides," said he, "I think I can justify myself to my prudent advisers, +by pleading the good effect such lenity will produce on the minds of the +great English families with whom Colonel Talbot is connected."' + +'There the politician peeped out,' said the Colonel. + +'Well, at least he concluded like a king's son--"Take the passport; I +have added a condition for form's sake; but if the Colonel objects to +it, let him depart without giving any parole whatever. I come here to +war with men, but not to distress or endanger women."' + +'Well, I never thought to have been so much indebted to the Pretend--' + +'To the Prince,' said Waverley, smiling. + +'To the Chevalier,' said the Colonel; 'it is a good travelling name, and +which we may both freely use. Did he say anything more?' + +'Only asked if there was anything else he could oblige me in; and when +I replied in the negative, he shook me by the hand, and wished all his +followers were as considerate, since some friends of mine not only asked +all he had to bestow, but many things which were entirely out of his +power, or that of the greatest sovereign upon earth. Indeed, he said, +no prince seemed, in the eyes of his followers, so like the Deity as +himself, if you were to judge from the extravagant requests which they +daily preferred to him.' + +'Poor young gentleman!' said the Colonel 'I suppose he begins to feel +the difficulties of his situation. Well, dear Waverley, this is more +than kind, and shall not be forgotten while Philip Talbot can remember +anything. My life--pshaw--let Emily thank you for that--this is a +favour worth fifty lives. I cannot hesitate on giving my parole in the +circumstances: there it is--(he wrote it out in form)--and now, how am I +to get off?' + +'All that is settled: your baggage is packed, my horses wait, and a boat +has been engaged, by the Prince's permission, to put you on board the +Fox frigate. I sent a messenger down to Leith on purpose.' + +'That will do excellently well. Captain Beaver is my particular friend: +he will put me ashore at Berwick or Shields, from whence I can ride post +to London;--and you must entrust me with the packet of papers which you +recovered by means of your Miss Bean Lean. I may have an opportunity +of using them to your advantage.--But I see your Highland friend, +Glen--what do you call his barbarous name? and his orderly with him--I +must not call him his orderly cut-throat any more, I suppose. See how he +walks as if the world were his own, with the bonnet on one side of his +head, and his plaid puffed out across his breast! I should like now to +meet that youth where my hands were not tied: I would tame his pride, or +he should tame mine,' + +'For shame, Colonel Talbot! you swell at sight of tartan, as the bull +is said to do at scarlet. You and Mac-Ivor have some points not much +unlike, so far as national prejudice is concerned.' + +The latter part of this discourse took place in the street. They passed +the Chief, the Colonel and he sternly and punctiliously greeting each +other, like two duellists before they take their ground. It was evident +the dislike was mutual. 'I never see that surly fellow that dogs his +heels,' said the Colonel, after he had mounted his horse, 'but he +reminds me of lines I have somewhere heard--upon the stage, I think: + + --Close behind him + Stalks sullen Bertram, like a sorcerer's fiend, + Pressing to be employed.' + +'I assure you, Colonel,' said Waverley,' that you judge too harshly of +the Highlanders.' + +'Not a whit, not a whit; I cannot spare them a jot--I cannot bate them +an ace. Let them stay in their own barren mountains, and puff and swell, +and hang their bonnets on the horns of the moon, if they have a mind; +but what business have they to come where people wear breeches, and +speak an intelligible language? I mean intelligible in comparison with +their gibberish, for even the Lowlanders talk a kind of English little +better than the negroes in Jamaica. I could pity the Pr--, I mean the +Chevalier himself, for having so many desperadoes about him. And they +learn their trade so early. There is a kind of subaltern imp, for +example, a sort of sucking devil, whom your friend Glenna--Glennamuck +there, has sometimes in his train. To look at him, he is about fifteen +years; but he is a century old in mischief and villany. He was playing +at quoits the other day in the court; a gentleman--a decent-looking +person enough--came past, and as a quoit hit his shin, he lifted his +cane: but my young brave whips out his pistol, like Beau Clincher in the +TRIP TO THE JUBILEE and had not a scream of GARDEZ L'EAU from an +upper window set all parties a-scampering for fear of the inevitable +consequences, the poor gentleman would have lost his life by the hands +of that little cockatrice.' + +'A fine character you'll give of Scotland upon your return, Colonel +Talbot.' + +'Oh, Justice Shallow,' said the Colonel, 'will save me the +trouble--"Barren, barren--beggars all, beggars all. Marry, good +air,"--and that only when you are fairly out of Edinburgh, and not yet +come to Leith, as is our case at present.' + +In a short time they arrived at the seaport: + + The boat rocked at the pier of Leith, + Full loud the wind blew down the ferry; + The ship rode at the Berwick Law-- + +'Farewell, Colonel; may you find all as you would wish it! Perhaps we +may meet sooner than you expect: they talk of an immediate route to +England.' + +Tell me nothing of that,' said Talbot 'I wish to carry no news of your +motions.' + +'Simply then, adieu. Say, with a thousand kind greetings, all that is +dutiful and affectionate to Sir Everard and Aunt Rachel. Think of me as +kindly as you can--speak of me as indulgently as your conscience will +permit, and once more adieu.' + +'And adieu, my dear Waverley!--many, many thanks for your kindness. +Unplaid yourself on the first opportunity. I shall ever think on +you with gratitude, and the worst of my censure shall be, QUE DIABLE +ALLOIT-IL FAIRE DANS CETTE GALERE?' + +And thus they parted, Colonel Talbot going on board of the boat, and +Waverley returning to Edinburgh. + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +THE MARCH + +It is not our purpose to intrude upon the province of history. We shall +therefore only remind our readers, that about the beginning of November +the Young Chevalier, at the head of about six thousand men at the +utmost, resolved to peril his cause on an attempt to penetrate into the +centre of England, although aware of the mighty preparations which were +made for his reception. They set forward on this crusade in weather +which would have rendered any other troops incapable of marching, but +which in reality gave these active mountaineers advantages over a less +hardy enemy. In defiance of a superior army lying upon the Borders, +under Field Marshal Wade, they besieged and took Carlisle, and soon +afterwards prosecuted their daring march to the southward. + +As Colonel Mac-Ivor's regiment marched in the van of the clans, he and +Waverley, who now equalled any Highlander in the endurance of fatigue, +and was become somewhat acquainted with their language, were perpetually +at its head. They marked the progress of the army, however, with very +different eyes. Fergus, all air and fire, and confident against the +world in arms, measured nothing but that every step was a yard nearer +London. He neither asked, expected, nor desired any aid, except that +of the clans, to place the Stuarts once more on the throne; and when by +chance a few adherents joined the standard, he always considered them in +the light of new claimants upon the favours of the future monarch, who, +he concluded, must therefore subtract for their gratification so much of +the bounty which ought to be shared among his Highland followers. + +Edward's views were very different. He could not but observe, that in +those towns in which they proclaimed James the Third, 'no man cried, God +bless him.' The mob stared and listened, heartless, stupefied, and dull, +but gave few signs even of that boisterous spirit which induces them +to shout upon all occasions, for the mere exercise of their most sweet +voices. The Jacobites had been taught to believe that the north-western +counties abounded with wealthy squires and hardy yeomen, devoted to the +cause of the White Rose. But of the wealthier Tories they saw little. +Some fled from their houses, some feigned themselves sick, some +surrendered themselves to the Government as suspected persons. Of such +as remained, the ignorant gazed with astonishment, mixed with horror and +aversion, at the wild appearance, unknown language, and singular garb, +of the Scottish clans. And to the more prudent, their scanty numbers, +apparent deficiency in discipline; and poverty of equipment, seemed +certain tokens of the calamitous termination of their rash undertaking. +Thus the few who joined them were such as bigotry of political principle +blinded to consequences, or whose broken fortunes induced them to hazard +all on a risk so desperate. + +The Baron of Bradwardine being asked what he thought of these recruits, +took a long pinch of snuff, and answered drily, 'that he could not but +have an excellent opinion of them, since they resembled precisely the +followers who attached themselves to the good King David at the cave of +Adullam; VIDELICET, every one that was in distress, and every one that +was in debt, and every one that was discontented, which the Vulgate +renders bitter of soul; and doubtless,' he said 'they will prove mighty +men of their hands, and there is much need that they should, for I have +seen many a sour look cast upon us.' + +But none of these considerations moved Fergus. He admired the luxuriant +beauty of the country, and the situation of many of the seats which they +passed. 'Is Waverley-Honour like that house, Edward?' + +'It is one half larger.' + +'Is your uncle's park as fine a one as that?' + +'It is three times; as extensive, and rather resembles a forest than a +mere park.' + +'Flora, will be a happy woman.' + +'I hope Miss Mac-Ivor will have much reason for happiness, unconnected +with Waverley-Honour.' + +'I hope so too; but, to be mistress of such a place, will be a pretty +addition to the sum total.' + +'An addition, the want of which, I trust, will be amply supplied by some +other means.' + +'How,' said Fergus, stopping short, and turning upon Waverley--'How am +I to understand that, Mr. Waverley?--Had I the pleasure to hear you +aright?' + +'Perfectly right, Fergus.' + +'And I am to understand that you no longer desire my alliance, and my +sister's hand?' + +'Your sister has refused mine,' said Waverley, 'both directly, and by +all the usual means by which ladies repress undesired attentions.' + +'I have no idea,' answered the Chieftain, 'of a lady dismissing or a +gentleman withdrawing his suit, after it has been approved of by her +legal guardian, without giving him an opportunity of talking the matter +over with the lady. You did not, I suppose, expect my sister to drop +into your mouth like a ripe plum, the first moment you chose to open +it?' + +'As to the lady's title to dismiss her lover, Colonel replied Edward, +'it is a point which you must argue with her, as I am ignorant of the +customs of the Highlands in that particular. But as to my title to +acquiesce in a rejection from her without an appeal to your interest, +I will tell you plainly, without meaning to undervalue Miss Mac-Ivor's +admitted beauty and accomplishments, that I would not take the hand of +an angel, with an empire for her dowry, if her consent were extorted by +the importunity of friends and guardians, and did not flow from her own +free inclination.' + +'An angel, with the dowry of an empire,' repeated Fergus, in a tone +of bitter irony, 'is not very likely to be pressed upon a--shire +squire.--But sir,' changing his tone, 'if Flora Mac-Ivor have not the +dowry of an empire, she is my sister; and that is sufficient at least to +secure her against being treated with anything approaching to levity.' + +She is Flora Mac-Ivor, sir,' said Waverley, with firmness, 'which to +me, were I capable of treating any woman with levity, would be a more +effectual protection.' + +The brow of the Chieftain was now fully clouded, but Edward felt too +indignant at the unreasonable tone which he had adopted, to avert the +storm by the least concession. They both stood still while this short +dialogue passed, and Fergus seemed half disposed to say something more +violent, but, by a strong effort, suppressed his passion, and, turning +his face forward, walked sullenly on. As they had always hitherto walked +together, and almost constantly side by side; Waverley pursued his +course silently in the same direction, determined to let the Chief take +his own time in recovering the good humour which he had so unreasonably +discarded, and firm in his resolution not to bate him an inch of +dignity. + +After they had marched on in this sullen manner about a mile, Fergus +resumed the discourse in a different tone. 'I believe I was warm, my +dear Edward, but you provoke me with your want of knowledge of the +world. You have taken pet at some of Flora's prudery, or high-flying +notions of loyalty, and now, like a child, you quarrel with the +plaything you have been crying for, and beat me, your faithful keeper, +because my arm cannot reach to Edinburgh to hand it to you. I am sure, +if I was passionate, the mortification of losing the alliance of such a +friend, after your arrangement had been the talk of both Highlands and +Lowlands, and that without so much as knowing why or wherefore, might +well provoke calmer blood than mine. I shall write to Edinburgh, and +put all to rights; that is, if you desire I should do so,--as indeed +I cannot suppose that your good opinion of Flora, it being such as you +have often expressed to me, can be at once laid aside.' + +'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Edward, who had no mind to be hurried farther +or faster than he chose, in a matter which he had already considered as +broken off, 'I am fully sensible of the value of your good offices; and +certainly, by your zeal on my behalf in such an affair, you do me no +small honour. But as Miss Mac-Ivor has made her election freely and +voluntarily, and as all my attentions in Edinburgh were received with +more than coldness, I cannot, in justice either to her or myself, +consent that she should again be harassed upon this topic. I would have +mentioned this to you some time since;--but you saw the footing upon +which we stood together, and must have understood it. Had I thought +otherwise, I would have earlier spoken; but I had a natural reluctance +to enter upon a subject so painful to us both.' + +'Oh, very well, Mr. Waverley,' said Fergus, haughtily, 'the thing is at +an end. I have no occasion to press my sister upon any man.' + +'Nor have I any occasion to court repeated rejection from the same young +lady,' answered Edward, in the same tone. + +'I shall make due inquiry, however,' said the Chieftain, without +noticing the interruption, 'and learn what my sister thinks of all this: +we will then see whether it is to end here.' + +'Respecting such inquiries, you will of course be guided by your own +judgement,' said Waverley. 'It is, I am aware, impossible Miss Mac-Ivor +can change her mind; and were such an unsupposable case to happen, it +is certain I will not change mine. I only mention this to prevent any +possibility of future misconstruction.' + +Gladly at this moment would Mac-Ivor have put their quarrel to a +personal arbitrament;--his eye flashed fire, and he measured Edward as +if to choose where he might best plant a mortal wound. But although +we do not now quarrel according to the modes and figures of Caranza or +Vincent Saviola, no one knew better than Fergus that there must be some +decent pretext for a mortal duel. For instance, you may challenge a man +for treading on your corn in a crowd, or for pushing you up to the wall, +or for taking your seat in the theatre; but the modern code of honour +will not permit you to found a quarrel upon your right of compelling a +man to continue addresses to a female relative, which the fair lady has +already refused. So that Fergus was compelled to stomach this supposed +affront, until the whirligig of time, whose motion he promised himself +he would watch most sedulously, should bring about an opportunity of +revenge. + +Waverley's servant always led a saddle-horse for him in the rear of the +battalion to which he was attached, though his master seldom rode. But +now, incensed at the domineering and unreasonable conduct of his late +friend, he fell behind the column, and mounted his horse, resolving to +seek the Baron of Bradwardine, and request permission to volunteer in +his troop, instead of the Mac-Ivor regiment. + +'A happy time of it I should have had,' thought he, after he was +mounted, 'to have been so closely allied to this superb specimen of +pride and self-opinion and passion. A colonel! why, he should have been +a generalissimo. A petty chief of three or four hundred men!--his pride +might suffice for the Cham of Tartary--the Grand Seignior--the Great +Mogul! I am well free of him. Were Flora an angel, she would bring with +her a second Lucifer of ambition and wrath for a brother-in-law. + +The Baron, whose learning (like Sancho's jests while in the Sierra +Morena) seemed to grow mouldy for want of exercise, joyfully embraced +the opportunity of Waverley's offering his service in his regiment, to +bring it into some exertion. The good-natured old gentleman, however, +laboured to effect a reconciliation between the two quondam friends. +Fergus turned a cold ear to his remonstrances, though he gave them a +respectful hearing; and as for Waverley, he saw no reason why he should +be the first in courting a renewal of the intimacy which the Chieftain +had so unreasonably disturbed. The Baron then mentioned the matter +to the Prince, who, anxious to prevent quarrels in his little army, +declared he would himself remonstrate with Colonel Mac-Ivor on the +unreasonableness of his conduct. But, in the hurry of their march, it +was a day or two before he had an opportunity to exert his influence in +the manner proposed. + +In the meanwhile, Waverley turned the instructions he had received while +in Gardiner's dragoons to some account, and assisted the Baron in his +command as a sort of adjutant. 'PARMI LES AVEUGLES UN BORGNE EST ROI,' +says the French proverb; and the cavalry, which consisted chiefly of +Lowland gentlemen, their tenants and servants, formed a high opinion of +Waverley's skill, and a great attachment to his person. This was indeed +partly owing to the satisfaction which they felt at the distinguished +English volunteer's leaving the Highlanders to rank among them; for +there was a latent grudge between the horse and foot, not only owing +to the difference of the services, but because most of the gentlemen, +living near the Highlands, had at one time or other had quarrels with +the tribes in their vicinity, and all of them looked with a jealous eye +on the Highlanders' avowed pretensions to superior valour, and utility +in the Prince's service. + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +THE CONFUSION OF KING AGRAMANT'S CAMP + +It was Waverley's custom sometimes to ride a little apart from the main +body, to look at any object of curiosity which occurred on the march. +They were now in Lancashire, when, attracted by a castellated old hall, +he left the squadron for half an hour, to take a survey and slight +sketch of it. As he returned down the avenue, he was met by Ensign +Maccombich. This man had contracted a sort of regard for Edward since +the day of his first seeing him at Tully-Veolan, and introducing him to +the Highlands. He seemed to loiter, as if on purpose to meet with +our hero. Yet, as he passed him, he only approached his stirrup, and +pronounced the single word, 'Beware!' and then walked swiftly on, +shunning all further communication. + +Edward, somewhat surprised at this hint, followed with his eyes the +course of Evan, who speedily disappeared among the trees. His servant, +Alick Polwarth, who was in attendance, also looked after the Highlander, +and then riding up close to his master, said, + +'The ne'er be in me, sir, if I think you're safe amang thae Highland +rintherouts.' + +'What do you mean, Alick?' said Waverley. + +'The Mac-Ivors, sir, hae gotten it into their heads, that ye hae +affronted their young leddy, Miss Flora; and I hae heard mae than ane +say, they wadna, tak muckle to make a black-cock o' ye; and ye ken +weel eneugh there's mony o' them wadna mind a bawbee the weising a ball +through the Prince himsell, an the Chief gae them the wink--or whether +he did or no,--if they thought it a thing that would please him when it +was dune.' + +Waverley, though confident that Fergus Mac-Ivor was incapable of such +treachery, was by no means equally sure of the forbearance of his +followers. He knew, that where the honour of the Chief or his family was +supposed to be touched, the happiest man would be he that could first +avenge the stigma; and he had often heard them quote a proverb, 'That +the best revenge was the most speedy and most safe.' Coupling this with +the hint of Evan, he judged it most prudent to set spurs to his horse, +and ride briskly back to the squadron. Ere he reached the end of the +long avenue, however, a ball whistled past him, and the report of a +pistol was heard. + +'It was that deevil's buckie, Callum Beg,' said Alick; I saw him whisk +away through amang the reises.' + +Edward, justly incensed at this act of treachery, galloped out of the +avenue, and observed the battalion of Mac-Ivor at some distance moving +along the common, in which it terminated. He also saw an individual +running very fast to join the party; this he concluded was the intended +assassin, who, by leaping an enclosure, might easily make a much shorter +path to the main body than he could find on horseback. Unable to contain +himself, he commanded Alick to go to the Baron of Bradwardine, who was +at the head of his regiment about half a mile in front, and acquaint +him with what had happened. He himself immediately rode up to Fergus's +regiment. The Chief himself was in the act of joining them. He was on +horseback, having returned from waiting on the Prince. On perceiving +Edward approaching, he put his horse in motion towards him. + +'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Waverley, without any further salutation, 'I +have to inform you that one of your people has this instant fired at me +from a lurking-place. + +'As that,' answered Mac-Ivor, 'excepting the circumstance of a +lurking-place, is a pleasure which I presently propose to myself, I +should be glad to know which of my clansmen dared to anticipate me.' + +'I shall certainly be at your command whenever you please;--the +gentleman who took your office upon himself is your page there, Callum +Beg.' + +'Stand forth from the ranks, Callum! Did you fire at Mr. Waverley?' + +'No,' answered the unblushing Callum. + +'You did,' said Alick Polwarth, who was already returned, having met a +trooper by whom he dispatched an account of what was going forward to +the Baron of Bradwardine, while he himself returned to his master at +full gallop, neither sparing the rowels of his spurs, nor the sides of +his horse. 'You did; I saw you as plainly as I ever saw the auld kirk at +Coudingham.' + +'You lie,' replied Callum, with his usual impenetrable obstinacy. The +combat between the knights would certainly, as in the days of chivalry, +have been preceded by an encounter between the squires (for Alick was +a stout-hearted Merseman, and feared the bow of Cupid far more than +a Highlander's dirk or claymore), but Fergus, with his usual tone of +decision, demanded Callum's pistol. The cock was down, the pan and +muzzle were black with the smoke; it had been that instant fired. + +'Take that,' said Fergus, striking the boy upon the head with the heavy +pistol-butt with his whole force, 'take that for acting without orders, +and lying to disguise it.' Callum received the blow without appearing to +flinch from it, and fell without sign of life. 'Stand still, upon your +lives!' said Fergus to the rest of the clan; 'I blow out the brains of +the first man who interferes between Mr. Waverley and me.' They stood +motionless; Evan Dhu alone showed symptoms of vexation and anxiety. +Callum lay on the ground bleeding copiously, but no one ventured to give +him any assistance. It seemed as if he had gotten his death-blow. + +'And now for you, Mr. Waverley; please to turn your horse twenty yards +with me upon the common.' Waverley complied; and Fergus, confronting +him when they were a little way from the line of march, said, with great +affected coolness, 'I could not but wonder, sir, at the fickleness of +taste which you were pleased to express the other day. But it was not +an angel, as you justly observed, who had charms for you, unless she +brought an empire for her fortune. I have now an excellent commentary +upon that obscure text.' + +'I am at a loss even to guess at your meaning, Colonel Mac-Ivor, unless +it seems plain that you intend to fasten a quarrel upon me.' + +'Your affected ignorance shall not serve you, sir. The Prince,--the +Prince himself, has acquainted me with your manoeuvres, I little thought +that your engagements with Miss Bradwardine were the reason of +your breaking off your intended match with my sister. I suppose the +information that the Baron had altered the destination of his estate, +was quite a sufficient reason for slighting your friend's sister, and +carrying off your friend's mistress.' + +'Did the Prince tell you I was engaged to Miss Bradwardine?' said +Waverley. 'Impossible.' + +'He did, sir,' answered Mac-Ivor; 'so, either draw and defend yourself, +or resign your pretensions to the lady.' + +'This is absolute madness,' exclaimed Waverley, 'or some strange +mistake!' + +'Oh! no evasion! draw your sword!' said the infuriated Chieftain,--his +own already unsheathed. + +'Must I fight in a madman's quarrel?' + +'Then give up now, and for ever, all pretensions to Miss Bradwardine's +hand.' + +'What title have you,' cried Waverley, utterly losing command of +himself,--'What title have you, or any man living, to dictate such terms +to me?' And he also drew his sword. + +At this moment the Baron of Bradwardine, followed by several of his +troop, came up on the spur, some from curiosity, others to take part in +the quarrel, which they indistinctly understood had broken out between +the Mac-Ivors and their corps. The clan, seeing them approach, put +themselves in motion to support their Chieftain, and a scene of +confusion commenced, which seemed likely to terminate in bloodshed. +A hundred tongues were in motion at once. The Baron lectured, the +Chieftain stormed, the Highlanders screamed in Gaelic, the horsemen +cursed and swore in Lowland Scotch. At length matters came to such a +pass, that the Baron threatened to charge the Mac-Ivors unless they +resumed their ranks, and many of them, in return, presented their +fire-arms at him and the other troopers. The confusion was privately +fostered by old Ballenkeiroch, who made no doubt that his own day +of vengeance was arrived, when, behold! a cry arose of 'Room! make +way!--PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR! PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR!' This announced the +approach of the Prince, who came up with a party of Fitz-James's foreign +dragoons that acted as his bodyguard. His arrival produced some degree +of order. The Highlanders re-assumed their ranks, the cavalry fell in +and formed squadron, and the Baron and Chieftain were silent. + +The Prince called them and Waverley before him. Having heard the +original cause of the quarrel through the villany of Callum Beg, he +ordered him into custody of the provost-marshal for immediate execution, +in the event of his surviving the chastisement inflicted by his +Chieftain. Fergus, however, in a tone betwixt claiming a right and +asking a favour, requested he might be left to his disposal, and +promised his punishment should be exemplary. To deny this, might have +seemed to encroach on the patriarchal authority of the Chieftains, +of which they were very jealous, and they were not persons to be +disobliged. Callum was therefore left to the justice of his own tribe. + +The Prince next demanded to know the new cause of quarrel between +Colonel Mac-Ivor and Waverley. There was a pause. Both gentlemen found +the presence of the Baron of Bradwardine (for by this time all three +had approached the Chevalier by his command) an insurmountable barrier +against entering upon a subject where the name of his daughter must +unavoidably be mentioned. They turned their eyes on the ground, with +looks in which shame and embarrassment were mingled with displeasure. +The Prince, who had been educated amongst the discontented and mutinous +spirits of the court of St. Germains, where feuds of every kind were the +daily subject of solicitude to the dethroned sovereign, had served his +apprenticeship, as old Frederick of Prussia would have said, to the +trade of royalty. To promote or restore concord among his followers was +indispensable. Accordingly he took his measures. + +'Monsieur de Beaujeu!' + +'Monseigneur!' said a very handsome French cavalry officer, who was in +attendance. + +'Ayez la bonte d'alligner ces montagnards la, ainsi que la cavalerie, +s'il vous plait, et de les remettre a la marche. Vous parlez si bien +l'Anglois, cela ne vous donneroit pas beaucoup de peine.' + +'Ah! pas de tout, Monseigneur,' replied Mons. le Comte de Beaujeu, his +head bending down to the neck of his little prancing highly-managed +charger. Accordingly he PIAFFED away, in high spirits and confidence, +to the head of Fergus's regiment, although understanding not a word of +Gaelic, and very little English. + +'Messieurs les sauvages Ecossois--dat is--gentilmans savages, have the +goodness d'arranger vous.' + +The clan, comprehending the order more from the gesture than the words, +and seeing the Prince himself present, hastened to dress their ranks. + +'Ah! ver well! dat is fort bien!' said the Count de Beaujeu. 'Gentilmans +sauvages--mais tres bien--Eh bien!--Qu'est-ce que vous appellez visage, +Monsieur?' (to a lounging trooper who stood by him). 'Ah, oui! FACE--Je +vous remercie, Monsieur.--Gentilshommes, have de goodness to make +de face to de right par file, dat is, by files.--Marsh!--Mais tres +bien--encore, Messieurs; il faut vous mettre a la marche...Marchez donc, +au nom de Dieu, parceque j'ai oublie le mot Anglois--mais vous etes des +braves gens, et me comprenez tres bien.' + +The Count next hastened to put the cavalry in motion. 'Gentilmans +cavalry, you must fall in--Ah! par ma foi, I did not say fall off! I am +a fear de little gross fat gentilman is moche hurt. Ah, mon Dieu! c'est +le Commissaire qui nous a apporte les premieres nouvelles de ce maudit +fracas. Je suis trop fache, Monsieur!' + +But poor Macwheeble, who, with a sword stuck across him, and a white +cockade as large as a pancake, now figured in the character of a +commissary, being overturned in the bustle occasioned by the troopers +hastening to get themselves in order in the Prince's presence, before +he could rally his galloway, slunk to the rear amid the unrestrained +laughter of the spectators. + +'Eh bien, Messieurs, wheel to de right--Ah! dat is it!--Eh, Monsieur de +Bradwardine, ayez la bonte de vous mettre a la tete de votre regiment, +car, par Dieu, je n'en puis plus!' + +The Baron of Bradwardine was obliged to go to the assistance of Monsieur +de Beaujeu, after he had fairly expended his few English military +phrases. One purpose of the Chevalier was thus answered. The other he +proposed was, that in the eagerness to hear and comprehend commands +issued through such an indistinct medium in his own presence, the +thoughts of the soldiers in both corps might get a current different +from the angry channel in which they were flowing at the time. + +Charles Edward was no sooner left with the Chieftain and Waverley, the +rest of his attendants being at some distance, than he said, 'If I owed +less to your disinterested friendship, I could be most seriously angry +with both of you for this very extraordinary and causeless broil, at a +moment when my father's service so decidedly demands the most perfect +unanimity. But the worst of my situation is, that my very best friends +hold they have liberty to ruin themselves, as well as the cause they are +engaged in, upon the slightest caprice.' + +Both the young men protested their resolution to submit every difference +to his arbitration. 'Indeed,' said Edward, 'I hardly know of what I am +accused. I sought Colonel Mac-Ivor merely to mention to him that I had +narrowly escaped assassination at the hand of his immediate dependent--a +dastardly revenge, which I knew him to be incapable of authorizing. As +to the cause for which he is disposed to fasten a quarrel upon me, I +am ignorant of it, unless it be that he accuses me, most unjustly, +of having engaged the affections of a young lady in prejudice of his +pretensions.' + +'If there is an error,' said the Chieftain, 'it arises from a +conversation which I held this morning with his Royal Highness himself.' + +'With me?' said the Chevalier; 'how can Colonel Mac-Ivor have so far +misunderstood me?' + +He then led Fergus aside, and, after five minutes' earnest conversation, +spurred his horse towards Edward. 'Is it possible--nay, ride up, +Colonel, for I desire no secrets--Is it possible, Mr. Waverley, that +I am mistaken in supposing that you are an accepted lover of Miss +Bradwardine?--a fact of which I was by circumstances, though not by +communication from you, so absolutely convinced, that I alleged it to +Vich Ian Vohr this morning as a reason why, without offence to him, you +might not continue to be ambitious of an alliance, which to an unengaged +person, even though once repulsed, holds out too many charms to be +lightly laid aside.' + +'Your Royal Highness,' said Waverley, 'must have founded on +circumstances altogether unknown to me, when you did me the +distinguished honour of supposing me an accepted lover of Miss +Bradwardine. I feel the distinction implied in the supposition, but I +have no title to it. For the rest, my confidence in my own merits is +too justly slight to admit of my hoping for success in any quarter after +positive rejection.' + +The Chevalier was silent for a moment, looking steadily at them both, +and then said, 'Upon my word, Mr. Waverley, you are a less happy man +than I conceived I had very good reason to believe you.--But now, +gentlemen, allow me to be umpire in this matter, not as Prince Regent, +but as Charles Stuart, a brother adventurer with you in the same gallant +cause. Lay my pretensions to be obeyed by you entirely out of view, and +consider your own honour, and how far it is well, or becoming, to give +our enemies the advantage, and our friends the scandal, of showing that, +few as we are, we are not united. And forgive me if I add, that the +names of the ladies who have been mentioned, crave more respect from us +all than to be made themes of discord.' + +He took Fergus a little apart, and spoke to him very earnestly for two +or three minutes, and then returning to Waverley, said--'I believe I +have satisfied Colonel Mac-Ivor that his resentment was founded upon +a misconception, to which, indeed, I myself gave rise; and I trust Mr. +Waverley is too generous to harbour any recollection of what is past, +when I assure him that such is the case.--You must state this matter +properly to your clan, Vich Iain Vohr, to prevent a recurrence of their +precipitate violence.' Fergus bowed. 'And now, gentlemen, let me have +the pleasure to see you shake hands.' + +They advanced coldly, and with measured steps, each apparently reluctant +to appear most forward in concession. They did, however, shake hands, +and parted, taking a respectful leave of the Chevalier. Charles Edward +[See Note 31.] then rode to the head of the Mac-Ivors, threw himself +from his horse, begged a drink out of old Ballenkeiroch's canteen, and +marched about half a mile along with them, inquiring into the history +and connexions of Sliochd nan Ivor, adroitly using the few words of +Gaelic he possessed, and affecting a great desire to learn it more +thoroughly. He then mounted his horse once more, and galloped to the +Baron's cavalry, which was in front; halted them, and examined their +accoutrements and state of discipline; took notice of the principal +gentlemen, and even of the cadets; inquired after their ladies, +and commended their horses;--rode about an hour with the Baron of +Bradwardine, and endured three long stories about Field-Marshal the Duke +of Berwick. + +'Ah, Beaujeu, mon cher ami,' said he as he returned to his usual place +in the line of march, 'que mon metier de prince errant est ennuyant, par +fois. Mais, courage! c'est le grand jeu, apres tout.' + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +A SKIRMISH + +The reader need hardly be reminded, that, after a council of war held +at Derby on the 5th of December, the Highlanders relinquished their +desperate attempt to penetrate farther into England, and, greatly to the +dissatisfaction of their young and daring leader, positively determined +to return northward. They commenced their retreat accordingly, and by +the extreme celerity of their movements, outstripped the motions of +the Duke of Cumberland, who now pursued them with a very large body of +cavalry. + +This retreat was a virtual resignation of their towering hopes. None had +been so sanguine as Fergus Mac-Ivor; none, consequently, was so cruelly +mortified at the change of measures. He argued, or rather remonstrated, +with the utmost vehemence at the council of war; and, when his opinion +was rejected, shed tears of grief and indignation. From that moment +his whole manner was so much altered, that he could scarcely have been +recognized for the same soaring and ardent spirit, for whom the whole +earth seemed too narrow but a week before. The retreat had continued +for several days, when Edward, to his surprise, early on the 12th of +December, received a visit from the Chieftain in his quarters, in a +hamlet about half way between Shap and Penrith. + +Having had no intercourse with the Chieftain since their rupture, Edward +waited with some anxiety an explanation of this unexpected visit; nor +could he help being surprised, and somewhat shocked, with the change in +his appearance. His eye had lost much of its fire; his cheek was hollow, +his voice was languid; even his gait seemed less firm and elastic +than it was wont; and his dress, to which he used to be particularly +attentive, was now carelessly flung about him. He invited Edward to +walk out with him by the little river in the vicinity; and smiled in +a melancholy manner when he observed him take down and buckle on his +sword. + +As soon as they were in a wild sequestered path by the side of the +stream, the Chief broke out,--'Our fine adventure is now totally ruined, +Waverley, and I wish to know what you intend to do:--nay, never stare at +me, man. I tell you I received a packet from my sister yesterday, and, +had I got the information it contains sooner, it would have prevented +a quarrel, which I am always vexed when I think of. In a letter written +after our dispute, I acquainted her with the cause of it; and she now +replies to me, that she never had, nor could have, any purpose of giving +you encouragement; so that it seems I have acted like a madman. Poor +Flora! she writes in high spirits; what a change will the news of this +unhappy retreat make in her state of mind!' + +Waverley, who was really much affected by the deep tone of melancholy +with which Fergus spoke, affectionately entreated him to banish from his +remembrance any unkindness which had arisen between them, and they once +more shook hands, but now with sincere cordiality. Fergus again inquired +of Waverley what he intended to do. 'Had you not better leave this +luckless army, and get down before us into Scotland, and embark for +the Continent from some of the eastern ports that are still in our +possession? When you are out of the kingdom, your friends will easily +negotiate your pardon; and, to tell you the truth, I wish you would +carry Rose Bradwardine with you as your wife, and take Flora also under +your joint protection.' Edward looked surprised--'She loves you, and I +believe you love her, though, perhaps, you have not found it out, for +you are not celebrated for knowing your own mind very pointedly.' He +said this with a sort of smile. + +'How!' answered Edward,' can you advise me to desert the expedition in +which we are all embarked?' + +'Embarked?' said Fergus; 'the vessel is going to pieces, and it is full +time for all who can, to get into the long-boat and leave her.' + +'Why, what will other gentlemen do?' answered Waverley, 'and why did the +Highland chiefs consent to this retreat, if it is so ruinous?' + +'Oh,' replied Mac-Ivor, 'they think that, as on former occasions, the +heading, hanging, and forfeiting, will chiefly fall to the lot of the +Lowland gentry; that they will be left secure in their poverty and their +fastnesses, there, according to their proverb, "to listen to the wind +upon the hill till the waters abate." But they will be disappointed; +they have been too often troublesome to be so repeatedly passed over, +and this time John Bull has been too heartily frightened to recover his +good humour for some time. The Hanoverian ministers always deserved +to be hanged for rascals; but now, if they get the power in their +hands,--as, sooner or later, they must, since there is neither rising +in England nor assistance from France,--they will deserve the gallows as +fools, if they leave a single clan in the Highlands in a situation to +be again troublesome to Government. Aye, they will make root-and-branch +work, I warrant them.' + +'And while you recommend flight to me,' said Edward,--'a counsel which I +would rather die than embrace,--what are your own views?' + +'Oh,' answered Fergus, with a melancholy air, 'my fate is settled. Dead +or captive I must be before to-morrow.' + +'What do you mean by that, my friend?' said Edward. 'The enemy is still +a day's march in our rear, and if he comes up, we are still strong +enough to keep him in check. Remember Gladsmuir.' + +'What I tell you is true notwithstanding, so far as I am individually +concerned.' + +'Upon what authority can you found so melancholy a prediction?' asked +Waverley. + +'On one which never failed a person of my house. I have seen,' he said, +lowering his voice, 'I have seen the Bodach Glas.' + +'Bodach Glas?' + +'Yes: have you been so long at Glennaquoich, and never heard of the Grey +Spectre? though indeed there is a certain reluctance among us to mention +him.' + +'No, never.' + +'Ah! it would have been a tale for poor Flora to have told you. Or, +if that hill were Benmore, and that long blue lake, which you see just +winding towards yon mountainous country, were Loch Tay, or my own Loch +an Ri, the tale would be better suited with scenery. However, let us sit +down on this knell; even Saddleback and Ullswater will suit what I have +to say better than the English hedgerows, enclosures, and farm-houses. +You must know, then, that when my ancestor, Ian nan Chaistel, wasted +Northumberland, there was associated with him in the expedition a sort +of Southland Chief, or captain of a band of Low-landers, called Halbert +Hall. In their return through the Cheviots, they quarrelled about the +division of the great booty they had acquired, and came from words to +blows. The Lowlanders were cut off to a man, and their chief fell the +last, covered with wounds by the sword of my ancestor, Since that time, +his spirit has crossed the Vich Ian Vohr of the day when any great +disaster was impending, but especially before approaching death. My +father saw him twice; once before he was made prisoner at Sheriff-Muir; +another time, on the morning of the day on which he died.' + +'How can you, my dear Fergus, tell such nonsense with a grave face?' + +'I do not ask you to believe it; but I tell you the truth, ascertained +by three hundred years' experience at least, and last night by my own +eyes.' + +'The particulars, for Heaven's sake!' said Waverley, with eagerness. + +'I will, on condition you will not attempt a jest on the subject.--Since +this unhappy retreat commenced, I have scarce ever been able to sleep +for thinking of my clan, and of this poor Prince, whom they are leading +back like a dog in a string, whether he will or no, and of the downfall +of my family. Last night I felt so feverish that I left my quarters, and +walked out, in hopes the keen frosty air would brace my nerves--I cannot +tell how much I dislike going on, for I know you will hardly believe me. +However--I crossed a small footbridge, and kept walking backwards and +forwards, when I observed with surprise, by the clear moonlight, a tall +figure in a grey plaid, such as shepherds wear in the south of Scotland, +which, move at what pace I would, kept regularly about four yards before +me.' + +'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.' + +'No: I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's audacity +in daring to dog me. I called to him but received no answer. I felt an +anxious throbbing at my heart; and to ascertain what I dreaded, I stood +still, and turned myself on the same spot successively to the four +points of the compass--By Heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the figure +was instantly before my eyes, at precisely the same distance! I was then +convinced it was the Bodach Glas. My hair bristled, and my knees shook. +I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my quarters. My +ghastly visitant glided before me (for I cannot say he walked), until he +reached the footbridge: there he stopped, and turned full round. I must +either wade the river, or pass him as close as I am to you. A desperate +courage, founded on the belief that my death was near, made me resolve +to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew my +sword, and uttered, "In the name of God, Evil Spirit, give place!" "Vich +Ian Vohr," it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle, "beware +of to-morrow!" It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's +point; but the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing +appeared further to obstruct my passage. I got home, and threw myself on +my bed, where I spent a few hours heavily enough; and this morning, as +no enemy was reported to be near us, I took my horse, and rode forward +to make up matters with you. I would not willingly fall until I am in +charity with a wronged friend.' + +Edward had little doubt that this phantom was the operation of an +exhausted frame and depressed spirits, working on the belief common to +all Highlanders in such superstitions. He did not the less pity Fergus, +for whom, in his present distress, he felt all his former regard revive. +With the view of diverting his mind from these gloomy images, he offered +with the Baron's permission, which he knew he could readily obtain, to +remain in his quarters till Fergus's corps should come up, and then to +march with them as usual. The Chief seemed much pleased, yet hesitated +to accept the offer. + +'We are, you know, in the rear,--the post of danger in a retreat.' + +'And therefore the post of honour.' + +'Well,' replied the Chieftain, 'let Alick have your horse in readiness, +in case we should be over-matched, and I shall be delighted to have your +company once more.' + +The rearguard were late in making their appearance, having been delayed +by various accidents and by the badness of the roads. At length they +entered the hamlet. When Waverley joined the clan Mac-Ivor, arm in arm +with their Chieftain, all the resentment they had entertained against +him seemed blown off at once. Evan Dhu received him with a grin of +congratulation; and even Callum, who was running about as active +as ever, pale indeed, and with a great patch on his head, appeared +delighted to see him. + +'That gallows-bird's skull,' said Fergus, 'must be harder than marble: +the lock of the pistol was actually broken.' + +'How could you strike so young a lad so hard?' said Waverley, with some +interest. + +'Why, if I did not strike hard sometimes, the rascals would forget +themselves.' + +They were now in full march, every caution being taken to prevent +surprise. Fergus's people, and a fine clan regiment from Badenoch, +commanded by Cluny Mac-Pherson, had the rear. They had passed a large +open moor, and were entering into the enclosures which surround a small +village called Clifton. The winter sun had set, and Edward began to +rally Fergus upon the false predictions of the Grey Spirit. 'The Ides of +March are not past,' said Mac-Ivor, with a smile; when, suddenly casting +his eyes back on the moor, a large body of cavalry was indistinctly seen +to hover upon its brown and dark surface. To line the enclosures facing +the open ground, and the road by which the enemy must move from it upon +the village, was the work of a short time. While these manoeuvres were +accomplishing, night sunk down, dark and gloomy, though the moon was +at full. Sometimes, however, she gleamed forth a dubious light upon the +scene of action. + +The Highlanders did not remain long undisturbed in the defensive +position they had adopted. Favoured by the night, one large body of +dismounted dragoons attempted to force the enclosures, while another, +equally strong, strove to penetrate by the high road. Both were received +by such a heavy fire as disconcerted their ranks, and effectually +checked their progress. Unsatisfied with the advantage thus gained, +Fergus, to whose ardent spirit the approach of danger seemed to restore +all ifs elasticity, drawing his sword, and calling out 'Claymore!' +encouraged his men, by voice and example, to break through the hedge +which divided them, and rush down upon the enemy. Mingling with the +dismounted dragoons, they forced them, at the sword-point, to fly to the +open moor, where a considerable number were cut to pieces. But the moon, +which suddenly shone out, showed to the English the small number of +assailants, disordered by their own success. Two squadrons of horse +moving to the support of their companions, the Highlanders endeavoured +to recover the enclosures. But several of them, amongst others their +brave Chieftain, were cut off and surrounded before they could effect +their purpose. Waverley, looking eagerly for Fergus, from whom, as well +as from the retreating body of his followers, he had been separated in +the darkness and tumult, saw him, with Evan Dhu and Callum, defending +themselves desperately against a dozen of horsemen, who were hewing +at them with their long broadswords. The moon was again at that moment +totally overclouded, and Edward, in the obscurity, could neither bring +aid to his friends, nor discover which way lay his own road to rejoin +the rear-guard. After once or twice narrowly escaping being slain or +made prisoner by parties of the cavalry whom he encountered in the +darkness, he at length reached an enclosure, and clambering over it, +concluded himself in safety, and on the way to the Highland forces, +whose pipes he heard at some distance. For Fergus hardly a hope +remained, unless that he might be made prisoner. Revolving his fate +with sorrow and anxiety, the superstition of the Bodach Glas recurred to +Edward's recollection, and he said to himself, with internal surprise, +'What, can the devil speak truth?' [See Note 32.] + + + +CHAPTER LX + +CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS + +Edward was in a most unpleasant and dangerous situation. He soon lost +the sound of the bagpipes; and, what was yet more unpleasant, when, +after searching long in vain, and scrambling through many enclosures, he +at length approached the high road, he learned, from the unwelcome noise +of kettledrums and trumpets, that the English cavalry now occupied +it, and consequently were between him and the Highlanders. Precluded, +therefore, from advancing in a straight direction, he resolved to avoid +the English military, and endeavour to join his friends by making a +circuit to the left, for which a beaten path deviating from the main +road in that direction seemed to afford facilities. The path was muddy, +and the night dark and cold; but even these inconveniences were hardly +felt amidst the apprehensions which falling into the hands of the King's +forces reasonably excited in his bosom. + +After walking about three miles, he at length reached a hamlet. +Conscious that the common people were in general unfavourable to the +cause he had espoused, yet desirous, if possible, to procure a horse and +guide to Penrith, where he hoped to find the rear, if not the main body, +of the Chevalier's army, he approached the ale-house of the place. There +was a great noise within: he paused to listen. A round English oath or +two, and the burden of a campaign song, convinced him the hamlet also +was occupied by the Duke of Cumberland's soldiers. Endeavouring to +retire from it as softly as possible, and blessing the obscurity which +hitherto he had murmured against, Waverley groped his way the best he +could along a small paling, which seemed the boundary of some +cottage garden. As he reached the gate of this little enclosure, his +outstretched hand was grasped by that of a female, whose voice at the +same time uttered, 'Edward, is't thou, man?' + +'Here is some unlucky mistake,' thought Edward, struggling, but gently, +to disengage himself. + +'Naen o' thy foun, now; man, or the red cwoats will hear thee; they hae +been houlerying and poulerying every ane that past alehouse door +this noight to make them drive their wagons and sick loike. Come into +feyther's, or they'll do ho a mischief.' + +'A good hint,' thought Waverley, following the girl through the little +garden into a brick-paved kitchen, where she set herself to kindle a +match at an expiring fire, and with the match to light a candle. She +had no sooner looked on Edward than she dropped the light, with a shrill +scream of 'O feyther! feyther!' + +The father, thus invoked, speedily appeared, a sturdy old farmer, in a +pair of leather breeches, and boots pulled on without stockings, +having just started from his bed;--the rest of his dress was only a +Westmoreland statesman's robe-de-chambre,--that is, his shirt. His +figure was displayed to advantage, by a candle which he bore in his left +hand; in his right he brandished a poker. + +What hast ho here, wench?' + +'Oh!' cried the poor girl, almost going off in hysterics, I thought it +was Ned Williams, and it is one of the plaid-men!' + +'And what was thee ganging to do wi' Ned Williams at this time o' +noight?' To this, which was, perhaps, one of the numerous class of +questions more easily asked than answered, the rosy-cheeked damsel made +no reply, but continued sobbing and wringing her hands. + +'And thee, lad, dost ho know that the dragoons be a town? Dost ho know +that, mon?--ad, they'll sliver thee like a turnip, mon.' + +'I know my life is in great danger,' said Waverley, 'but if you can +assist me, I will reward you handsomely, I am no Scotchman, but an +unfortunate English gentleman.' + +'Be ho Scot or no,' said the honest farmer, 'I wish thou hadst kept the +other side of the hallan. But since thou art here, Jacob Jopson will +betray no man's bluid; and the plaids were gay canny, and did not +so much mischief when they were here yesterday.' Accordingly, he set +seriously about sheltering and refreshing our hero for the night, The +fire was speedily rekindled, but with precaution against its light being +seen from without. The jolly yeoman cut a rasher of bacon, which Cicely +soon broiled, and her father added a swingeing tankard of his best ale. +It was settled, that Edward should remain there till the troops marched +in the morning, then hire or buy a horse from the farmer, and, with +the best directions that could be obtained, endeavour to overtake his +friends. A clean, though coarse bed, received him after the fatigues of +this unhappy day. + +With the morning arrived the news that the Highlanders had evacuated +Penrith, and marched off towards Carlisle; that the Duke of Cumberland +was in possession of Penrith, and that detachments of his army covered +the roads in every direction. To attempt to get through undiscovered, +would be an act of the most frantic temerity. Ned Williams (the right +Edward) was now called to council by Cicely and her father, Ned, who +perhaps did not care that his handsome namesake should remain too long +in the same house with his sweetheart, for fear of fresh mistakes, +proposed that Waverley, exchanging his uniform and plaid for the dress +of the country, should go with him to his father's farm near Ullswater, +and remain in that undisturbed retirement until the military movements +in the country should have ceased to render his departure hazardous. +A price was also agreed upon, at which the stranger might board with +Farmer Williams, if he thought proper, till he could depart with safety. +It was of moderate amount; the distress of his situation, among this +honest and simple-hearted race, being considered as no reason for +increasing their demand. + +The necessary articles of dress were accordingly procured; and, by +following by-paths, known to the young farmer, they hoped to escape any +unpleasant rencontre, A recompense for their hospitality was refused +peremptorily by old Jopson and his cherry-cheeked daughter; a kiss paid +the one, and a hearty shake of the hand the other. Both seemed anxious +for their guest's safety, and took leave of him with kind wishes, + +In the course of their route, Edward, with his guide, traversed those +fields which the night before had been the scene of action. A brief +gleam of December's sun shone sadly on the broad heath, which, towards +the spot where the great north-west road entered the enclosures of Lord +Lonsdale's property, exhibited dead bodies of men and horses, and the +usual companions of war--a number of carrion-crows, hawks, and ravens. + +'And this, then, was thy last field,' said Waverley to himself, his +eye filling at the recollection of the many splendid points of +Fergus's character, and of their former intimacy, all his passions +and imperfections forgotten.--'Here fell the last Vich Ian Vohr, on +a nameless heath; and in an obscure night-skirmish was quenched that +ardent spirit, who thought it little to cut a way for his master to the +British throne! Ambition, policy, bravery, all far beyond their sphere, +here learned the fate of mortals, The sole support, too, of a sister, +whose spirit, as proud and unbending, was even more exalted than thine +own; here ended all thy hopes for Flora, and the long and valued line +which it was thy boast to raise yet more highly by thy adventurous +valour!' + +As these ideas pressed on Waverley's mind, he resolved to go upon the +open heath, and search if, among the slain, he could discover the body +of his friend, with the pious intention of procuring for him the +last rites of sepulture. The timorous young man who accompanied him +remonstrated upon the danger of the attempt, but Edward was determined. +The followers of the camp had already stripped the dead of all they +could carry away; but the country people, unused to scenes of blood, +had not yet approached the field of action, though some stood fearfully +gazing at a distance. About sixty or seventy dragoons lay slain within +the first enclosure, upon the high road, and on the open moor. Of the +Highlanders, not above a dozen had fallen, chiefly those who, venturing +too far on the moor, could not regain the strong ground. He could not +find the body of Fergus among the slain. On a little knell, separated +from the others, lay the carcasses of three English dragoons, two +horses, and the page Callum Beg, whose hard skull a trooper's broadsword +had, at length, effectually cloven. It was possible his clan had +carried off the body of Fergus; but it was also possible he had escaped, +especially as Evan Dhu, who would never leave his Chief, was not +found among the dead; or he might be prisoner, and the less formidable +denunciation inferred from the appearance of the Bodach Glas might have +proved the true one. The approach of a party, sent for the purpose of +compelling the country people to bury the dead, and who had already +assembled several peasants for that purpose, now obliged Edward to +rejoin his guide, who awaited him in great anxiety and fear under shade +of the plantations. + +After leaving this field of death, the rest of their journey was happily +accomplished. At the house of Farmer Williams, Edward passed for a young +kinsman, educated for the church, who was come to reside there till the +civil tumults permitted him to pass through the country. This silenced +suspicion among the kind and simple yeomanry of Cumberland, and +accounted sufficiently for the grave manners and retired habits of +the new guest, The precaution became more necessary than Waverley had +anticipated, as a variety of incidents prolonged his stay at Fasthwaite, +as the farm was called. + +A tremendous fall of snow rendered his departure impossible for more +than ten days. When the roads began to become a little practicable, +they successively received news of the retreat of the Chevalier into +Scotland; then, that he had abandoned the frontiers, retiring upon +Glasgow; and that the Duke of Cumberland had formed the siege of +Carlisle. His army, therefore, cut off all possibility of Waverley's +escaping into Scotland in that direction. On the eastern border, Marshal +Wade, with a large force, was advancing upon Edinburgh; and all along +the frontier, parties of militia, volunteers, and partisans, were in +arms to suppress insurrection, and apprehend such stragglers from the +Highland army as had been left in England, The surrender of Carlisle, +and the severity with which the rebel garrison were threatened, soon +formed an additional reason against venturing upon a solitary and +hopeless journey through a hostile country and a large army, to carry +the assistance of a single sword to a cause which seemed altogether +desperate. + +In this lonely and secluded situation, without the advantage of company +or conversation with men of cultivated minds, the arguments of Colonel +Talbot often recurred to the mind of our hero. A still more anxious +recollection haunted his slumbers--it was the dying look and gesture +of Colonel Gardiner. Most devoutly did he hope, as the rarely occurring +post brought news of skirmishes with various success, that it might +never again be his lot to draw his sword in civil conflict. Then his +mind turned to the supposed death of Fergus, to the desolate situation +of Flora, and, with yet more tender recollection, to that of Rose +Bradwardine, who was destitute of the devoted enthusiasm of loyalty, +which, to her friend, hallowed and exalted misfortune. These reveries he +was permitted to enjoy, undisturbed by queries or interruption;--and it +was in many a winter walk by the shores of Ullswater, that he acquired +a more complete mastery of a spirit tamed by adversity than his former +experience had given him; and that he felt himself entitled to say +firmly, though perhaps with a sigh, that the romance of his life was +ended, and that its real history had now commenced. He was soon called +upon to justify his pretensions by reason and philosophy. + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +A JOURNEY TO LONDON + +The family at Fasthwaite were soon attached to Edward. He had, +indeed, that gentleness and urbanity which almost universally attracts +corresponding kindness; and to their simple ideas his learning gave him +consequence, and his sorrows interest. The last he ascribed, evasively, +to the loss of a brother in the skirmish near Clifton; and in that +primitive state of society, where the ties of affection were highly +deemed of, his continued depression excited sympathy, but not surprise. + +In the end of January, his more lively powers were called out by the +happy union of Edward Williams, the son of his host, with Cicely Jopson. +Our hero would not cloud with sorrow the festivity attending the wedding +of two persons to whom he was so highly obliged. He therefore exerted +himself, danced, sang, played at the various games of the day, and was +the blithest of the company. The next morning, however, he had more +serious matters to think of. + +The clergyman who had married the young couple was so much pleased with +the supposed student of divinity, that he came next day from Penrith on +purpose to pay him a visit. This might have been a puzzling chapter +had he entered into any examination of our hero's supposed theological +studies; but fortunately he loved better to hear and communicate the +news of the day. He brought with him two or three old newspapers, in +one of which Edward found a piece of intelligence that soon rendered him +deaf to every word which the Reverend Mr. Twigtythe was saying upon the +news from the north, and the prospect of the Duke's speedily overtaking +and crushing the rebels. This was an article in these, or nearly these +words: + +'Died at his house, in Hill street, Berkeley Square, upon the 10th +inst., Richard Waverley, Esq., second son of Sir Giles Waverley of +Waverley-Honour, &c. &c. He died of a lingering disorder, augmented by +the unpleasant predicament of suspicion in which he stood, having been +obliged to find bail to a high amount, to meet an impending accusation +of high-treason. An accusation of the same grave crime hangs over his +elder brother, Sir Everard Waverley, the representative of that ancient +family; and we understand the day of his trial will be fixed early in +the next month, unless Edward Waverley, son of the deceased Richard, and +heir to the Baronet, shall surrender himself to justice. In that case, +we are assured it is his Majesty's gracious purpose to drop further +proceedings upon the charge against Sir Everard. This unfortunate +young gentleman is ascertained to have been in arms in the Pretender's +service, and to have marched along with the Highland troops into +England. But he has not been heard of since the skirmish at Clifton, on +the 18th December last.' + +Such was this distracting paragraph.--'Good God!' exclaimed Waverley, +'am I then a parricide?--Impossible! My father, who never showed the +affection of a father while he lived, cannot have been so much affected +by my supposed death as to hasten his own. No, I will not believe +it,--it were distraction to entertain for a moment such a horrible idea. +But it were, if possible, worse than parricide to suffer any danger to +hang over my noble and generous uncle, who has ever been more to me than +a father, if such evil can be averted by any sacrifice on my part!' + +While these reflections passed like the stings of scorpions through +Waverley's sensorium, the worthy divine was startled in a long +disquisition on the battle of Falkirk by the ghastliness which they +communicated to his looks, and asked him if he was ill. Fortunately the +bride, all smirk and blush, had just entered the room. Mrs. Williams was +none of the brightest of women, but she was good-natured, and readily +concluding that Edward had been shocked by disagreeable news in the +papers, interfered so judiciously, that, without exciting suspicion, she +drew off Mr. Twigtythe's attention, and engaged it until he soon after +took his leave. Waverley then explained to his friends, that he was +under the necessity of going to London with as little delay as possible. + +One cause of delay, however, did occur, to which Waverley had been very +little accustomed. His purse, though well stocked when he first went to +Tully-Veolan, had not been reinforced since that period; and although +his life since had not been of a nature to exhaust it hastily (for he +had lived chiefly with his friends or with the army), yet he found, +that, after settling with his kind landlord, he should be too poor to +encounter the expense of travelling post. The best course, therefore, +seemed to be, to get into the great north road about Boroughbridge, and +there take a place in the Northern Diligence,--a huge old-fashioned tub, +drawn by three horses, which completed the journey from Edinburgh to +London (God willing, as the advertisement expressed it) in three weeks. +Our hero, therefore, took an affectionate farewell of his Cumberland +friends, whose kindness he promised never to forget, and tacitly hoped +one day to acknowledge by substantial proofs of gratitude. After some +petty difficulties and vexatious delays, and after putting his dress +into a shape better befitting his rank, though perfectly plain and +simple, he accomplished crossing the country, and found himself in +the desired vehicle, VIS-A-VIS to Mrs. Nosebag, the lady of Lieutenant +Nosebag, adjutant and riding-master of the--dragoons, a jolly woman of +about fifty, wearing a blue habit, faced with scarlet, and grasping a +silver-mounted horsewhip. + +This lady was one of those active members of society who take upon them +FAIRE LE FRAIS DE CONVERSATION. She had just returned from the north, +and informed Edward how nearly her regiment had cut the petticoat people +into ribands at Falkirk, 'only somehow there was one of those nasty, +awkward marshes, that they are never without in Scotland, I think, and +so our poor dear little regiment suffered something, as my Nosebag says, +in that unsatisfactory affair. You, sir, have served in the dragoons?' +Waverley was taken so much at unawares, that he acquiesced. + +'Oh, I knew it at once; I saw you were military from your air, and I was +sure you could be none of the foot-wobblers, as my Nosebag calls them. +What regiment, pray?' Here was a delightful question. Waverley, however, +justly concluded that this good lady had the whole army-list by heart; +and, to avoid detection by adhering to truth, answered--'Gardiner's +dragoons, ma'am; but I have retired some time.' + +'Oh aye, those as won the race at the battle of Preston, as my Nosebag +says. Pray, sir, were you there?' + +'I was so unfortunate, madam,' he replied, 'as to witness that +engagement.' + +'And that was a misfortune that few of Gardiner's stood to witness, I +believe, sir--ha! ha! ha!--I beg your pardon; but a soldier's wife loves +a joke.' + +'Devil confound you!' thought Waverley; 'what infernal luck has penned +me up with this inquisitive bag!' + +Fortunately the good lady did not stick long to one subject. 'We are +coming to Ferrybridge, now,' she said, 'where there was a party of OURS +left to support the beadles, and constables, and justices, and these +sort of creatures that are examining papers and stopping rebels, and all +that.' They were hardly in the inn before she dragged Waverley to the +window, exclaiming, 'Yonder comes Corporal Bridoon, of our poor dear +troop; he's coming with the constable man: Bridoon's one of my lambs, as +Nosebag calls 'em. Come, Mr.--a--a--pray, what 's your name, sir?' + +'Butler, ma'am,' said Waverley, resolved rather to make free with the +name of a former fellow officer, than run the risk of detection by +inventing one not to be found in the regiment. + +'Oh, you got a troop lately, when that shabby fellow, Waverley, went +over to the rebels. Lord, I wish our old cross Captain Crump would go +over to the rebels, that Nosebag might get the troop!--Lord, what can +Bridoon be standing swinging on the bridge for? I'll be hanged if he +a'nt hazy, as Nosebag says.--Come, sir, as you and I belong to the +service, we'll go put the rascal in mind of his duty.' + +Waverley, with feelings more easily conceived than described, saw +himself obliged to follow this doughty female commander. The gallant +trooper was as like a lamb as a drunk corporal of dragoons, about six +feet high, with very broad shoulders, and very thin legs, not to mention +a great scar across his nose, could well be. Mrs. Nosebag addressed +him with something which, if not an oath, sounded very like one, and +commanded him to attend to his duty. 'You be d--d for a--,' commenced +the gallant cavalier; but, looking up in order to suit the action to +the words, and also to enforce the epithet which he meditated, with an +adjective applicable to the party, he recognized the speaker, made his +military salaam, and altered his tone.--'Lord love your handsome face, +Madam Nosebag, is it you? Why, if a poor fellow does happen to fire a +slug of a morning, I am sure you were never the lady to bring him to +harm.' + +'Well, you rascallion, go, mind your duty; this gentleman and I belong +to the service; but be sure you look after that shy cock in the slouched +hat that sits in the corner of the coach. I believe he's one of the +rebels in disguise.' + +'D--n her gooseberry wig!' said the corporal, when she was out of +hearing. 'That gimlet-eyed jade--mother adjutant, as we call her--is a +greater plague to the regiment than prevot-marshal, sergeant-major, +and old Hubble-de-Shuff the colonel into the bargain.--Come, Master +Constable, let's see if this shy cock, as she calls him' (who, by the +way, was a Quaker from Leeds, with whom Mrs. Nosebag had had some tart +argument on the legality of bearing arms), 'will stand godfather to a +sup of brandy, for your Yorkshire ale is cold on my stomach.' + +The vivacity of this good lady, as it helped Edward out of this scrape, +was like to have drawn him into one or two others. In every town where +they stopped, she wished to examine the CORPS DE GARDE, if there +was one, and once very narrowly missed introducing Waverley to a +recruiting-sergeant of his own regiment. Then she Captain'd and Butler'd +him till he was almost mad with vexation and anxiety; and never was he +more rejoiced in his life at the termination of a journey, than when the +arrival of the coach in London freed him from the attentions of Madam +Nosebag. + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +WHAT'S TO BE DONE NEXT? + +It was twilight when they arrived in town; and having shaken off +his companions, and walked through a good many streets to avoid the +possibility of being traced by them, Edward took a hackney-coach and +drove to Colonel Talbot's house, in one of the principal squares at the +west end of the town. That gentleman, by the death of relations, had +succeeded since his marriage to a large fortune, possessed considerable +political interest, and lived in what is called great style. + +When Waverley knocked at his door, he found it at first difficult to +procure admittance, but at length was shown into an apartment where the +Colonel was at table. Lady Emily, whose very beautiful features were +still pallid from indisposition, sat opposite to him. The instant he +heard Waverley's voice, he started up and embraced him. 'Frank Stanley, +my dear boy, how d'ye do?--Emily, my love, this is young Stanley.' + +The blood started to the lady's cheek as she gave Waverley a reception, +in which courtesy was mingled with kindness, while her trembling hand +and faltering voice showed how much she was startled and discomposed. +Dinner was hastily replaced, and while Waverley was engaged in +refreshing himself, the Colonel proceeded--'I wonder you have come +here, Frank; the doctors tell me the air of London is very bad for your +complaints. You should not have risked it. But I am delighted to see +you, and so is Emily, though I fear we must not reckon upon your staying +long.' + +'Some particular business brought me up,' muttered Waverley. + +'I supposed so, but I sha'n't allow you to stay long.--Spontoon' (to +an elderly military-looking servant out of livery), 'take away these +things, and answer the bell yourself, if I ring. Don't let any of the +other fellows disturb us.--My nephew and I have business to talk of.' + +When the servants had retired, 'In the name of God, Waverley, what has +brought you here? It may be as much as your life is worth.' + +'Dear Mr. Waverley,' said Lady Emily,' to whom I owe so much more than +acknowledgements can ever pity, how could you be so rash?' + +'My father--my uncle--this paragraph,'--he handed the paper to Colonel +Talbot. + +'I wish to Heaven' these scoundrels were condemned to be squeezed to +death in their own presses,' said Talbot. 'I am told there are not less +than a dozen of their papers now published in town, and no wonder that +they are obliged to invent lies to find sale for their journals. It is +true, however, my dear Edward, that you have lost your father; but as +to this flourish of his unpleasant situation having grated upon his +spirits, and hurt his health--the truth is--for though it is harsh +to say so now, yet it will relieve your mind from the idea of weighty +responsibility--the truth then is, that Mr. Richard Waverley, through +this whole business, showed great want of sensibility, both to your +situation and that of your uncle; and the last time I saw him, he told +me, with great glee, that, as I was so good as to take charge of your +interests, he had thought it best to patch up a separate negotiation for +himself, and make his peace with Government through some channels which +former connexions left still open to him.' + +'And my uncle--my dear uncle?' + +'Is in no danger whatever. It is true' (looking at the date of the +paper) 'there was a foolish report some time ago to the purport +here quoted, but it is entirely false. Sir Everard is gone down to +Waverley-Honour, freed from all uneasiness, unless upon your own +account. But you are in peril yourself--your name is in every +proclamation--warrants are out to apprehend you. How and when did you +come here?' + +Edward told his story at length, suppressing his quarrel with Fergus; +for being himself partial to Highlanders, he did not wish to give any +advantage to the Colonel's national prejudice against them. + +'Are you sure it was your friend Glen's footboy you saw dead in Clifton +Moor?' + +'Quite positive.' + +'Then that little limb of the devil has cheated the gallows, for +cut-throat was written in his face; though' (turning to Lady Emily) 'it +was a very handsome face too.--But for you, Edward, I wish you would go +down again to Cumberland, or rather I wish you had never stirred from +thence, for there is an embargo on all the seaports, and a strict search +for the adherents of the Pretender; and the tongue of that confounded +woman will wag in her head like the clack of a mill, till somehow or +other she will detect Captain Butler to be a feigned personage,' + +'Do you know anything,' asked Waverley, 'of my fellow traveller?' + +'Her husband was my sergeant-major for six years; she was a buxom widow, +with a little money--he married her--was steady, and got on by being a +good drill. I must send Spontoon to see what she is about; he will +find her out among the old regimental connexions. To-morrow you must be +indisposed, and keep your room from fatigue. Lady Emily is to be your +nurse, and Spontoon and I your attendants. You bear the name of a +near relation of mine, whom none of my present people ever saw, except +Spontoon; so there will be no immediate danger. So pray feel your head +ache and your eyes grow heavy as soon as possible, that you may be put +upon the sick list; and, Emily, do you order an apartment for Frank +Stanley, with all the attention which an invalid may require.' + +In the morning the Colonel visited his guest.--'Now,' said he, 'I have +some good news for you. Your reputation as a gentleman and officer is +effectually cleared of neglect of duty, and accession to the mutiny in +Gardiner's regiment. I have had a correspondence on this subject with +a very zealous friend of yours, your Scottish parson, Morton; his first +letter was addressed to Sir Everard; but I relieved the good Baronet +of the trouble of answering it. You must know, that your freebooting +acquaintance; Donald of the Cave, has at length fallen into the hands of +the Philistines. He was driving off the cattle of a certain proprietor, +called Killan--something or other--' + +'Killancureit?' + +'The same. Now, the gentleman being, it seems, a great farmer, and +having a special value for his breed of cattle--being, moreover, rather +of a timid disposition, had got a party of soldiers to protect his +property. So Donald ran his head unawares into the lion's mouth, and was +defeated and made prisoner. Being ordered for execution, his conscience +was assailed on the one hand by a Catholic priest,--on the other by +your friend Morton. He repulsed the Catholic chiefly on account of the +doctrine of extreme unction, which this economical gentleman considered +as an excessive waste of oil. So his conversion from a state of +impenitence fell to Mr. Morton's share, who, I dare say, acquitted +himself excellently, though, I suppose, Donald made but a queer kind +of Christian after all. He confessed, however, before a magistrate--one +Major Melville, who seems to have been a correct, friendly sort of +person--his full intrigue with Houghton, explaining particularly how it +was carried on, and fully acquitting you of the least accession to +it. He also mentioned his rescuing you from the hands of the volunteer +officer, and sending you, by orders of the Pret--Chevalier, I mean as a +prisoner to Doune, from whence he understood you were carried prisoner +to Edinburgh. These are particulars which cannot but tell in your +favour. He hinted that he had been employed to deliver and protect you, +and rewarded for doing so; but he would not confess by whom, alleging, +that, though he would not have minded breaking any ordinary oath to +satisfy the curiosity of Mr. Morton, to whose pious admonitions he owed +so much, yet in the present case he had been sworn to silence upon the +edge of his dirk, [See Note 33.] which, it seems, constituted, in his +opinion, an inviolable obligation.' + +'And what has become of him?' + +'Oh, he was hanged at Stirling after the rebels raised the siege, with +his lieutenant, and four plaids besides; he having the advantage of a +gallows more lofty than his friends.' + +'Well, I have little cause either to regret or rejoice at his death; and +yet he has done me both good and harm to a very considerable extent.' + +His confession, at least, will serve you materially, since it wipes from +your character all those suspicions which gave the accusation against +you a complexion of a nature different from that with which so many +unfortunate gentlemen, now or lately in arms against the Government, may +be justly charged. Their treason--I must give it its name, though you +participate in its guilt--is an action arising from mistaken virtue, and +therefore cannot be classed as a disgrace, though it be doubtless highly +criminal. Where the guilty are so numerous, clemency must be extended to +far the greater number; and I have little doubt of procuring a remission +for you, provided we can keep you out of the claws of justice till +she has selected and gorged upon her victims; for in this, as in other +cases, it will be according to the vulgar proverb, 'First come, first +served.' Besides, Government are desirous at present to intimidate the +English Jacobites, among whom they can find few examples for punishment. +This is a vindictive and timid feeling which will soon wear off, for, of +all nations, the English are least bloodthirsty by nature. But it +exists at present, and you must therefore be kept out of the way in the +meantime.' + +Now entered Spontoon with an anxious countenance. By his regimental +acquaintances he had traced out Madam Nosebag, and found her full of +ire, fuss, and fidget, at discovery of an impostor, who had travelled +from the north with her under the assumed name of Captain Butler of +Gardiner's dragoons. She was going to lodge an information on the +subject, to have him sought for as an emissary of the Pretender; but +Spontoon (an old soldier), while he pretended to approve, contrived +to make her delay her intention. No time, however, was to be lost: the +accuracy of this good dame's description might probably lead to +the discovery that Waverley was the pretended Captain Butler; an +identification fraught with danger to Edward, perhaps to his uncle, +and even to Colonel Talbot. Which way to direct his course was now, +therefore, the question. + +'To Scotland,' said Waverley. + +'To Scotland!' said the Colonel; 'with what purpose?--not to engage +again with the rebels, I hope?' + +'No--I considered my campaign ended, when, after all my efforts, I +could not rejoin them; and now, by all accounts, they are gone to make +a winter campaign in the Highlands, where such adherents as I am would +rather be burdensome than useful. Indeed, it seems likely that they only +prolong the war to place the Chevalier's person out of danger, and then +to make some terms for themselves. To burden them with my presence would +merely add another party, whom they would not give up, and could not +defend. I understand they left almost all their English adherents in +garrison at Carlisle, for that very reason: and on a more general view, +Colonel, to confess the truth, though it may lower me in your opinion, +I am heartily tired of the trade of war, and am, as Fletcher's Humorous +Lieutenant says, "even as weary of this fighting"--' + +'Fighting! pooh, what have you seen but a skirmish or two?-Ah! if you +saw war on the grand scale--sixty or a hundred thousand men in the field +on each side!' + +'I am not at all curious, Colonel.--"Enough," says our homely proverb, +"is as good as a feast." The plumed troops and the big war used to +enchant me in poetry; but the night marches, vigils, couched under the +wintry sky, and such accompaniments of the glorious trade, are not +at all to my taste in practice:--then for dry blows, I had my fill of +fighting at Clifton, where I escaped by a hair's-breadth half a dozen +times; and you, I should think--' He stopped. + +'Had enough of it at Preston? you mean to say,' answered the Colonel, +laughing; 'but, "'tis my vocation, Hal."' + +'It is not mine, though,' said Waverley; 'and having honourably got rid +of the sword, which I drew only as a volunteer, I am quite satisfied +with my military experience, and shall be in no hurry to take it up +again.' + +'I am very glad you are of that mind--but then, what would you do in the +North?' + +'In the first place, there are some seaports on the eastern coast of +Scotland still in the hands of the Chevalier's friends; should I gain +any of them, I can easily embark for the Continent.' + +'Good--your second reason?' + +'Why, to speak the very truth, there is a person in Scotland upon whom +I now find my happiness, depends more than I was always aware, and about +whose situation I am very anxious.' + +'Then Emily was right, and there is a love affair in the case after +all?--And which of these two pretty Scotchwomen, whom you insisted upon +my admiring, is the distinguished fair?--not Miss Glen--I hope.' + +'No.' + +'Ah, pass for the other: simplicity may be improved, but pride and +conceit never. Well, I don't discourage you; I think it will please Sir +Everard, from what he said when I jested with him about it; only I hope +that intolerable papa, with his brogue, and his snuff, and his Latin, +and his insufferable long stories about the Duke of Berwick, will find +it necessary hereafter to be an inhabitant of foreign parts. But as +to the daughter, though I think you might find as fitting a match in +England, yet if your heart be really set upon this Scotch rosebud, why, +the Baronet has a great opinion of her father and of his family, and he +wishes much to see you married and settled, both for your own sake and +for that of the three ermines passant, which may otherwise pass away +altogether. But I will bring you his mind fully upon the subject, since +you are debarred correspondence for the present, for I think you will +not be long in Scotland before me. + +Indeed! and what can induce you to think of returning to Scotland? +No relenting longings towards the land of mountains and floods, I am +afraid.' + +'None, on my word; but Emily's health is now, thank God, re-established, +and, to tell you the truth, I have little hopes of concluding the +business which I have at present most at heart, until I can have a +personal interview with his Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief; for, +as Fluellen says, "The duke doth love me well, and I thank Heaven I have +deserved some love at his hands." I am now going out for an hour or two +to arrange matters for your departure; your liberty extends to the +next room, Lady Emily's parlour, where you will find her when you are +disposed for music, reading, or conversation. We have taken measures to +exclude all servants but Spontoon, who is as true as steel.' + +In about two hours Colonel Talbot returned, and found his young friend +conversing with his lady; she pleased with his manners and information, +and he delighted at being restored, though but for a moment, to the +society of his own rank, from which he had been for some time excluded.' + +'And now,' said the Colonel, 'hear my arrangements, for there is little +time to lose. This youngster, Edward Waverley, ALIAS Williams, ALIAS +Captain Butler, must continue to pass by his fourth ALIAS of Francis +Stanley, my nephew: he shall set out to-morrow for the North, and the +chariot shall take him the first two stages.' Spontoon shall then attend +him; and they shall ride post as far as Huntingdon; and the presence +of Spontoon, well known on the road as my servant, will check all +disposition to inquiry. At Huntingdon you will meet the real Frank +Stanley. He is studying at Cambridge; but, a little while ago, doubtful +if Emily's health would permit me to go down to the North myself, I +procured him a passport from the Secretary of State's office to go in +my stead. As he went chiefly to look after you, his journey is now +unnecessary. He knows your story; you will dine together at Huntingdon; +and perhaps your wise heads may hit upon some plan for removing or +diminishing the danger of your further progress northward. And now' +(taking out a morocco case), 'let me put you in funds for the campaign.' + +'I am ashamed, my dear Colonel,--' + +'Nay,' said Colonel Talbot, 'you should command my purse in any event; +but this money is your own. Your father, considering the chance of your +being attainted, left me his trustee for your advantage. So that you are +worth above L15,000, besides Brerewood Lodge--a very independent person, +I promise you. There are bills here for L200; any larger sum you may +have, or credit abroad, as soon as your motions require it.' + +The first use which occurred to Waverley of his newly-acquired wealth, +was to write to honest Farmer Jopson, requesting his acceptance of a +silver tankard on the part of his friend Williams, who had not forgotten +the night of the eighteenth December last. He begged him at the same +time carefully to preserve for him his Highland garb and accoutrements, +particularly the arms--curious in themselves, and to which the +friendship of the donors gave additional value. Lady Emily undertook to +find some suitable token of remembrance, likely to flatter the vanity +and please the taste of Mrs. Williams; and the Colonel, who was a kind +of farmer, promised to send the Ullswater patriarch an excellent team of +horses for cart and plough. + +One happy day Waverley spent in London; and, travelling in the manner +projected, he met with Frank Stanley at Huntingdon. The two young men +were acquainted in a minute. + +'I can read my uncle's riddle,' said Stanley. 'The cautious old soldier +did not care to hint to me that I might hand over to you this passport, +which I have no occasion for; but if it should afterwards come out as +the rattlepated trick of a young Cantab, CELA NE TIRE A RIEN. You are +therefore to be Francis Stanley, with this passport.' This proposal +appeared in effect to alleviate a great part of the difficulties which +Edward must otherwise have encountered at every turn; and accordingly +he scrupled not to avail himself of it, the more especially as he had +discarded all political purposes from his present journey, and could +not be accused of furthering machinations against the Government while +travelling under protection of the Secretary's passport. + +The day passed merrily away. The young student was inquisitive about +Waverley's campaigns, and the manners of the Highlands; and Edward +was obliged to satisfy his curiosity by whistling a pibroch, dancing a +strathspey, and singing a Highland song. The next morning Stanley rode +a stage northward with his new friend, and parted from him with great +reluctance, upon the remonstrances of Spontoon, who, accustomed to +submit to discipline, was rigid in enforcing it. + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +DESOLATION + +Waverly riding post, as was the usual fashion of the period, without any +adventure save one or two queries, which the talisman of his passport +sufficiently answered, reached the borders of Scotland. Here he heard +the tidings of the decisive battle of Culloden. It was no more than he +had long expected, though the success at Falkirk had thrown a faint and +setting gleam over the arms of the Chevalier. Yet it came upon him like +a shock, by which he was for a time altogether unmanned. The generous, +the courteous, the noble-minded Adventurer, was then a fugitive, with +a price upon his head; his adherents, so brave, so enthusiastic, so +faithful, were dead, imprisoned, or exiled. Where, now, was the exalted +and high-souled Fergus, if, indeed, he had survived the night at +Clifton?--where the pure-hearted and primitive Baron of Bradwardine, +whose foibles seemed foils to set off the disinterestedness of his +disposition, the genuine goodness of his heart, and his unshaken +courage? Those who clung for support to these fallen columns, Rose and +Flora,--where were they to be sought, and in what distress must not the +loss of their natural protectors have involved them? Of Flora he thought +with the regard of a brother for a sister--of Rose, with a sensation yet +more deep and tender. It might be still his fate to supply the want +of those guardians they had lost. Agitated by these thoughts, he +precipitated his journey. + +When he arrived in Edinburgh, where his inquiries must necessarily +commence, he felt the full difficulty of his situation. Many inhabitants +of that city had seen and known him as Edward Waverley; how, then, +could he avail himself of a passport as Francis Stanley? He resolved, +there-fore, to avoid all company, and to move northward as soon as +possible. He was, however, obliged to wait a day or two in expectation +of a letter from Colonel Talbot, and he was also to leave his own +address, under his feigned character, at a place agreed upon. With +this latter purpose he sallied out in the dusk through the well-known +streets, carefully shunning observation,--but in vain: one of the first +persons whom he met at once recognized him, It was Mrs. Flockhart, +Fergus Mac-Ivor's good-humoured landlady. + +'Gude guide us, Mr. Waverley, is this you?--na, ye needna be feared for +me--I wad betray nae gentleman in your circumstances. Eh, lack-a-day! +lack-a-day! here's a change o' markets! how merry Colonel Mac-Ivor and +you used to be in our house!' And the good-natured widow shed a few +natural tears. As there was no resisting her claim of acquaintance, +Waverley acknowledged it with a good grace, as well as the danger of his +own situation. 'As it's near the darkening, sir, wad ye just step in by +to our house, and tak a dish o' tea? and I am sure, if ye like to sleep +in the little room, I wad tak care ye are no disturbed, and naebody wad +ken ye; for Kate and Matty, the limmers, gaed aff wi' twa o' Hawley's +dragoons, and I hae twa new queans instead o' them.' + +Waverley accepted her invitation, and engaged her lodging for a night or +two, satisfied he should be safer in the house of this simple creature +than anywhere else. When he entered the parlour, his heart swelled to +see Fergus's bonnet, with the white cockade, hanging beside the little +mirror. + +'Aye,' said Mrs. Flockhart, sighing, as she observed the direction of +his eyes, 'the puir Colonel bought a new ane just the day before they +marched, and I winna let them tak that ane doun, but just to brush it +ilka day mysell; and whiles I look at it till I just think I hear him +cry to Callum to bring him his bonnet, as he used to do when he was +ganging out.--It's unco silly--the neighbours ca' me a Jacobite--but +they may say their say--I am sure it's no for that--but he was as +kind-hearted a gentleman as ever lived, and as weel-fa'rd too. Oh, d'ye +ken, sir, when he is to suffer?' + +'Suffer! Good heaven!--Why, where is he?' + +'Eh, Lord's sake! d'ye no ken? The poor Hieland body, Dugald Mahoney, +cam here a while syne, wi' ane o' his arms cuttit off, and a sair +clour in the head--ye'll mind Dugald? he carried aye an axe on his +shouther--and he cam here just begging, as I may say, for something to +eat. Aweel, he tauld us the Chief, as they ca'd him (but I aye ca' +him the Colonel), and Ensign Maccombich, that ye mind weel, were ta'en +somewhere beside the English border, when it was sae dark that his folk +never missed him till it was ower late, and they were like to gang clean +daft. And he said that little Callum Beg (he was a bauld mischievous +callant that), and your honour, were killed that same night in the +tuilzie, and mony mae braw men. But he grat when he spak o' the Colonel, +ye never saw tie like. And now the word gangs, the Colonel is to be +tried, and to suffer wi' them that were ta'en at Carlisle.' + +'And his sister?' + +'Aye, that they ca'd the Lady Flora--weel, she's away up to Carlisle to +him, and lives wi' some grand Papist lady thereabouts, to be near him.' + +'And,' said Edward, 'the other young lady?' + +'Whilk other? I ken only of ae sister the Colonel had.' + +'I mean Miss Bradwardine,' said Edward. + +'Ou aye, the laird's daughter,' said his landlady. 'She was a very bonny +lassie, poor thing, but far shyer than Lady Flora.' + +'Where is she, for God's sake?' + +'Ou, wha kens where ony o' them is now? Puir things, they're sair ta'en +doun for their white cockades and their white roses; but she gaed north +to her father's in Perthshire, when the Government troops cam back to +Edinbro'. There was some pretty men amang them, and ane Major Whacker +was quartered on me, a very ceevil gentleman,--but oh, Mr. Waverley, he +was naething sae weel-fa'rd as the puir Colonel.' + +'Do you know what is become of Miss Bradwardine's father?' + +'The auld laird?--na, naebody kens that; but they say he fought +very hard in that bluidy battle at Inverness; and Deacon Clark, the +white-iron smith, says, that the Government folk are sair agane him +for having been OUT twice; and troth he might hae ta'en warning,--but +there's nae fule like an auld fule--the puir Colonel was only out ance.' + +Such conversation contained almost all the good-natured widow knew of +the fate of her late lodgers and acquaintances; but it was enough to +determine Edward at all hazards to proceed instantly to Tully-Veolan, +where he concluded he should see, or at least hear, something of Rose. +He therefore left a letter for Colonel Talbot at the place agreed upon, +signed by his assumed name, and giving for his address the post-town +next to the Baron's residence. + +From Edinburgh to Perth he took post-horses, resolving to make the rest +of his journey on foot--a mode of travelling to which he was partial, +and which had the advantage of permitting a deviation from the road when +he saw parties of military at a distance. His campaign had considerably +strengthened his constitution, and improved his habits of enduring +fatigue. His baggage he sent before him as opportunity occurred. + +As he advanced northward, the traces of war became visible. Broken +carriages, dead horses, unroofed cottages, trees felled for palisades, +and bridges destroyed, or only partially repaired,--all indicated the +movements of hostile armies. In those places where the gentry were +attached to the Stuart cause, their houses seemed dismantled or +deserted, the usual course of what may be called ornamental labour was +totally interrupted, and the inhabitants were seen gliding about, with +fear, sorrow, and dejection on their faces. + +It was evening when he approached the village of Tully-Veolan, with +feelings and sentiments--how different from those which attended +his first entrance! Then, life was so new to him, that a dull or +disagreeable day was one of the greatest misfortunes which his +imagination anticipated, and it seemed to him that his time ought only +to be consecrated to elegant or amusing study, and relieved by social +or youthful frolic. Now, how changed! how saddened, yet how elevated +was his character, within the course of a very few months! Danger and +misfortune are rapid, though severe teachers. 'A sadder and a wiser +man,' he felt, in internal confidence and mental dignity, a compensation +for the gay dreams which, in his case, experience had so rapidly +dissolved. + +As he approached the village, he saw, with surprise and anxiety, that a +party of soldiers were quartered near it, and, what was worse, that they +seemed stationary there. This he conjectured from a few tents which he +beheld glimmering upon what was called the Common Moor. To avoid the +risk of being stopped and questioned in a place where he was so likely +to be recognized, he made a large circuit, altogether avoiding the +hamlet, and approaching the upper gate of the avenue by a by-path well +known to him. A single glance announced that great changes had taken +place. One half of the gate, entirely destroyed and split up for +firewood, lay in piles, ready to be taken away; the other swung +uselessly about upon its loosened hinges. The battlements above the gate +were broken and thrown down, and the carved Bears, which were said to +have done sentinel's duty upon the top for centuries, now, hurled from +their posts, lay among the rubbish. The avenue was cruelly wasted. +Several large trees were felled and left lying across the path; and the +cattle of the villagers, and the more rude hoofs of dragoon horses, +had poached into black mud the verdant turf which Waverley had so much +admired. + +Upon entering the courtyard, Edward saw the fears realized which these +circumstances had excited. The place had been sacked by the King's +troops, who, in wanton mischief, had even attempted to burn it; and +though the thickness of the walls had resisted the fire, unless to a +partial extent, the stables and out-houses were totally consumed. The +towers and pinnacles of the main building were scorched and blackened; +the pavement of the court broken and shattered; the doors torn down +entirely, or hanging by a single hinge; the windows dashed in and +demolished; and the court strewed with articles of furniture broken into +fragments. The accessories of ancient distinction, to which the +Baron, in the pride of his heart, had attached so much importance and +veneration, were treated with peculiar contumely. The fountain was +demolished, and the spring which had supplied it now flooded the +courtyard. The stone basin seemed to be destined for a drinking-trough +for cattle, from the manner in which it was arranged upon the ground. +The whole tribe of Bears, large and small, had experienced as little +favour as those at the head of the avenue; and one or two of the family +pictures, which seemed to have served as targets for the soldiers, lay +on the ground in tatters. With an aching heart, as may well be imagined, +Edward viewed this wreck of a mansion so respected. But his anxiety to +learn the fate of the proprietors, and his fears as to what that fate +might be, increased with every step. When he entered upon the terrace, +new scenes of desolation were visible. The balustrade was broken +down, the walls destroyed, the borders overgrown with weeds, and +the fruit-trees cut down or grubbed up. In one compartment of this +old-fashioned garden were two immense horse-chestnut trees, of whose +size the Baron was particularly vain: too lazy, perhaps, to cut them +down, the spoilers, with malevolent ingenuity, had mined them, and +placed a quantity of gunpowder in the cavity. One had been shivered +to pieces by the explosion, and the fragments lay scattered around, +encumbering the ground it had so long shadowed. The other mine had been +more partial in its effect. About one-fourth of the trunk of the tree +was torn from the mass, which, mutilated and defaced on the one side, +still spread on the other its ample and undiminished boughs. [A pair of +chestnut trees, destroyed, the one entirely, and the other in part, by +such a mischievous and wanton act of revenge, grew at Invergarry Castle, +the fastness of Macdonald of Glengarry.] + +Amid these general marks of ravage, there were some which more +particularly addressed the feelings of Waverley. Viewing the front of +the building, thus wasted and defaced, his eyes naturally sought the +little balcony which more properly belonged to Rose's apartment--her +TROISIEME, or rather CINQUIEME ETAGE. It was easily discovered, for +beneath it lay the stage-flowers and shrubs with which it was her pride +to decorate it, and which had been hurled from the bartizan: several of +her books were mingled with broken flower-pots and other remnants. Among +these, Waverley distinguished one of his own, a small copy of Ariosto, +and gathered it as a treasure, though wasted by the wind and rain. + +While, plunged in the sad reflections which the scene excited, he +was looking around for some one who might explain the fate of the +inhabitants, he heard a voice from the interior of the building singing, +in well-remembered accents, an old Scottish song: + + They came upon us in the night, + And brake my bower and slew my knight: + My servants a' for life did flee, + And left us in extremitie, + + They slew my knight, to me sae dear; + They slew my knight, and drave his gear; + The moon may set, the sun may rise, + But a deadly sleep has closed his eyes. + [The first three couplets are from an old ballad, called the + Border Widow's Lament.] + +'Alas!' thought Edward, 'is it thou? Poor helpless being, art thou alone +left, to gibber and moan, and fill with thy wild and unconnected scraps +of minstrelsy the halls that protected thee?'--He then called, first +low, and then louder, 'Davie--Davie Gellatley!' + +The poor simpleton showed himself from among the ruins of a sort of +greenhouse, that once terminated what was called the Terrace-walk, +but at first sight of a stranger retreated, as if in terror. Waverley, +remembering his habits, began to whistle a tune to which he was partial, +which Davie had expressed great pleasure in listening to, and had picked +up from him by the ear. Our hero's minstrelsy no more equalled that of +Blondel, than poor Davie resembled Coeur de Lion; but the melody had +the same effect of producing recognition. Davie again stole from his +lurking-place, but timidly, while Waverley, afraid of frightening him, +stood making the most encouraging signals he could devise.--'It's his +ghaist,' muttered Davie; yet, coming nearer, he seemed to acknowledge +his living acquaintance. The poor fool himself appeared the ghost of +what he had been. The peculiar dress in which he had been attired in +better days, showed only miserable rags of its whimsical finery, the +lack of which was oddly supplied by the remnants of tapestried hangings, +window-curtains, and shreds of pictures, with which he had bedizened his +tatters. His face, too, had lost its vacant and careless air, and the +poor creature looked hollow-eyed, meagre, half-starved, and nervous to +a pitiable degree.--After long hesitation, he at length approached +Waverley with some confidence, stared him sadly in the face, and said, +'A' dead and gane--a' dead and gane!' + +'Who are dead?' said Waverley, forgetting the incapacity of Davie to +hold any connected discourse. + +'Baron--and Bailie and Saunders Saunderson and Lady Rose, that sang sae +sweet--A' dead and gane--dead and gane! + + But follow, follow me, + While glow-worms light the lea; + I'll show you where the dead should be-- + Each in his shroud, + While winds pipe loud, + And the red moon peeps dim through the cloud. + Follow, follow me; + Brave should he be + That treads by night the dead man's lea.' + +With these' words, chanted in a wild and earnest tone, he made a sign +to Waverley to follow him, and walked rapidly towards the bottom of the +garden, tracing the bank of the stream, which, it may be remembered, was +its eastern boundary. Edward, over whom an involuntary shuddering stole +at the import of his words, followed him in some hope of an explanation. +As the house was evidently deserted, he could not expect to find among +the ruins any more rational informer. + +Davie, walking very fast, soon reached the extremity of the garden, and +scrambled over the ruins of the wall that once had divided it from the +wooded glen in which the old Tower of Tully-Veolan was situated. He +then jumped down into the bed of the stream, and, followed by Waverley, +proceeded at a great pace, climbing over some fragments of rock, and +turning with difficulty round others. They passed beneath the ruins +of the castle; Waverley followed, keeping up with his guide with +difficulty, for the twilight began to fall. Following the descent of the +stream a little lower, he totally lost him, but a twinkling light, which +he now discovered among the tangled copse-wood and bushes, seemed a +surer guide. He soon pursued a very uncouth path; and by its guidance at +length reached the door of a wretched hut. A fierce barking of dogs was +at first heard, but it stilled at his approach. A voice sounded from +within, and he held it most prudent to listen before he advanced. + +'Wha hast thou brought here, thou unsonsy villain, thou?' said an old +woman, apparently in great indignation. He heard Davie Gellatley, in +answer, whistle a part of the tune by which he had recalled himself to +the simpleton's memory, and had now no hesitation to knock at the door. +There was a dead silence instantly within, except the deep growling of +the dogs; and he next heard the mistress of the hut approach the door, +not probably for the sake of undoing a latch, but of fastening a bolt. +To prevent this, Waverley lifted the latch himself. + +In front was an old wretched-looking woman, exclaiming, 'Wha comes into +folk's houses in this gate, at this time o' the night?' On one side, two +grim and half-starved deer greyhounds laid aside their ferocity at +his appearance, and seemed to recognize him. On the other side, half +concealed by the open door, yet apparently seeking that concealment +reluctantly, with a cocked pistol in his right hand, and his left in the +act of drawing another from his belt, stood a tall bony gaunt figure in +the remnants of a faded uniform, and a beard of three weeks' growth. + +It was the Baron of Bradwardine. It is unnecessary to add, that he threw +aside his weapon, and greeted Waverley with a hearty embrace. + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +COMPARING OF NOTES + +The Baron's story was short, when divested of the adages and +commonplaces, Latin, English, and Scotch, with which his erudition +garnished it. He insisted much upon his grief at the loss of Edward and +of Glennaquoich, fought the fields of Falkirk and Culloden, and related +how, after all was lost in the last battle, he had returned home, under +the idea of more easily finding shelter among his own tenants, and on +his own estate, than elsewhere. A party of soldiers had been sent to +lay waste his property, for clemency was not the order of the day. Their +proceedings, however, were checked by an order from the civil court. +The estate, it was found, might not be forfeited to the crown, to the +prejudice of Malcolm Bradwardine of Inch-Grabbit, the heir-male, whose +claim could not be prejudiced by the Baron's attainder, as deriving no +right through him, and who, therefore, like other heirs of entail in +the same situation, entered upon possession. But, unlike many in similar +circumstances, the new laird speedily showed that he intended utterly to +exclude his predecessor from all benefit or advantage in the estate, and +that it was his purpose to avail himself of the old Baron's evil fortune +to the full extent. This was the more ungenerous, as it was generally +known, that, from a romantic idea of not prejudicing this young man's +right as heir-male, the Baron had refrained from settling his estate on +his daughter. + +This selfish injustice was resented by the country people, who were +partial to their old master, and irritated against his successor. In the +Baron's own words, 'The matter did not coincide with the feelings of +the commons of Bradwardine, Mr. Waverley; and the tenants were slack and +repugnant in payment of their mails and duties; and when my kinsman came +to the village wi' the new factor, Mr. James Howie, to lift the +rents, some wanchancy person--I suspect John Heatherblutter, the auld +gamekeeper, that was out wi' me in the year fifteen--fired a shot at +him in the gloaming, whereby he was so affrighted, that I may say with +Tullius in Catilinam, ABIIT, EVASIT, ERUPIT, EFFUGIT. He fled, sir, as +one may say, incontinent to Stirling. And now he hath advertised the +estate for sale, being himself the last substitute in the entail. And if +I were to lament about sic matters, this would grieve me mair than its +passing from my immediate possession, whilk, by the course of nature, +must have happened in a few years. Whereas now it passes from the +lineage that should have possessed it in SAECULA SAECULORUM. But God's +will be done, HUMANA PERPESSI SUMUS. Sir John of Bradwardine--Black Sir +John, as he is called--who was the common ancestor of our house and the +Inch-Grabbits, little thought such a person would have sprung from his +loins. Meantime, he has accused me to some of the primates, the rulers +for the time, as if I were a cut-throat, and an abettor of bravoes and +assassinates, and coupe-jarrets. And they have sent soldiers here to +abide on the estate, and hunt me like a partridge upon the mountains, +as Scripture says of good King David, or like our valiant Sir William +Wallace,--not that I bring myself into comparison with either.--I +thought, when I heard you at the door, they had driven the auld deer to +his den at last; and so I e'en proposed to die at bay, like a buck of +the first head.--But now, Janet, canna ye gie us something for supper?' + +'Ou aye, sir, I'll brander the moor-fowl that John Heatherblutter +brought in this morning; and ye see puir Davie's roasting the black +hen's eggs.--I daur say, Mr. Wauverley, ye never kend that a' the eggs +that were sae weel roasted at supper in the Ha'-house were aye turned +by our Davie?--there's no the like o' him ony gate for powtering wi' +his fingers amang the het peat-ashes, and roasting eggs. Davie all this +while lay with his nose almost in the fire, nuzzling among the ashes, +kicking his heels, mumbling to himself, turning the eggs as they lay in +the hot embers, as if to confute the proverb, that 'there goes reason to +roasting of eggs,' and justify the eulogium which poor Janet poured out +upon + + Him whom she loved, her idiot boy. + +Davie's no sae silly as folk tak him for, Mr. Wauverley; he wadna +hae brought you here unless he had kend ye was a friend to his +Honour--indeed the very dogs kend ye, Mr. Wauverley, for ye was aye kind +to beast and body.--I can tell you a story o' Davie, wi' his Honour's +leave: His Honour, ye see, being under hiding in thae sair times--the +mair's the pity--he lies a' day, and whiles a' night, in the cove in the +dern hag; but though it 's a bieldy eneugh bit, and the auld gudeman o' +Corse-Cleugh has panged it wi' a kemple o' strae amaist, yet when the +country's quiet, and the night very cauld, his Honour whiles creeps doun +here to get a warm at the ingle, and a sleep amang the blankets, and +gangs awa in the morning. And so, ae morning, siccan a fright as I +got! Twa unlucky red-coats were up for black-fishing, or some siccan +ploy--for the neb o' them's never out o' mischief--and they just got a +glisk o' his Honour as he gaed into the wood, and banged aff a gun at +him, I out like a jer-falcon, and cried,--"Wad they shoot an honest +woman's poor innocent bairn?" And I fleyt at them, and threepit it was +my son; and they damned and swuir at me that it was the auld rebel, as +the villains ca'd his Honour; and Davie was in the wood, and heard the +tuilzie, and he, just out o' his ain head, got up the auld grey mantle +that his Honour had flung off him to gang the faster, and he cam out o' +the very same bit o' the wood, majoring and looking about sae like his +Honour, that they were clean beguiled, and thought they had letten aff +their gun at crack-brained Sawney, as they ca'd him; and they gae +me saxpence, and twa saumon fish, to say naething about it.--Na, na; +Davie's no just like other folk, puir fallow; but he's no sae silly as +folk tak him for.--But, to be sure, how can we do eneugh for his Honour, +when we and ours have lived on his ground this twa hundred years; and +when he keepit my puir Jamie at school and college, and even at the +Ha'-house, till he gaed to a better place; and when he saved me frae +being ta'en to Perth as a witch--lord forgi'e them that would touch +sic a puir silly auld body!--and has maintained puir Davie at heck and +manger maist feck o' his life?' + +Waverley at length found an opportunity to interrupt Janet's narrative, +by an inquiry after Miss Bradwardine. + +'She's weel and safe, thank God! at the Duchran,' answered the Baron. +'The laird's distantly related to us, and more nearly to my chaplain, +Mr. Rubrick; and, though he be of Whig principles, yet he's not +forgetful of auld friendship at this time. The Bailie's doing what he +can to save something out of the wreck for puir Rose; but I doubt, I +doubt, I shall never see her again, for I maun lay my banes in some far +country.' + +'Hout na, your Honour,' said old Janet; 'ye were just as ill aff in the +feifteen, and got the bonnie baronie back, an' a'.--And now the eggs is +ready, and the muir-cock's brandered, and there's ilk ane a trencher and +some saut, and the heel o' the white loaf that cam frae the Bailie's; +and there's plenty o' brandy in the greybeard that Luckie Maclearie sent +doun; and winna ye be suppered like princes?' + +'I wish one Prince, at least, of our acquaintance, may be no worse off,' +said the Baron to Waverley, who joined him in cordial hopes for the +safety of the unfortunate Chevalier. + +They then began to talk of their future prospects. The Baron's plan was +very simple. It was, to escape to France, where, by the interest of his +old friends, he hoped to get some military employment, of which he +still conceived himself capable. He invited Waverley to go with him, +a proposal in which he acquiesced, providing the interest of Colonel +Talbot should fail in procuring his pardon. Tacitly he hoped the Baron +would sanction his addresses to Rose, and give him a right to assist him +in his exile; but he forbore to speak on this subject until his own fate +should be decided. They then talked of Glennaquoich, for whom the +Baron expressed great anxiety, although, he observed, he was 'the very +Achilles of Horatius Flaccus,-- + + Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer. + +Which,' he continued, 'has been thus rendered (vernacularly) by Struan +Robertson: + + A fiery etter-cap, a fractious chiel, + As het as ginger, and as stieve as steel.' + +Flora had a large and unqualified share of the good old man's sympathy. + +It was now wearing late. Old Janet got into some kind of kennel behind +the hallan. Davie had been long asleep and snoring between Ban and +Buscar. These dogs had followed him to the hut after the mansion-house +was deserted, and there constantly resided; and their ferocity, with the +old woman's reputation of being a witch, contributed a good deal to keep +visitors from the glen. With this view, Bailie Macwheeble provided Janet +underhand with meal for their maintenance, and also with little articles +of luxury for their patron's use, in supplying which much precaution was +necessarily used. After some compliments, the Baron occupied his usual +couch, and Waverley reclined in an easy-chair of tattered velvet, which +had once garnished the state bed-room of Tully-Veolan (for the furniture +of this mansion was now scattered through all the cottages in the +vicinity), and went to sleep as comfortably as if he had been in a bed +of down. + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +MORE EXPLANATION + +With the first dawn of the day, old Janet was scuttling about the house +to wake the Baron, who usually slept sound and heavily. + +'I must go back,' he said to Waverley, to my cove: will you walk down +the glen wi' me?' + +They went out together, and followed a narrow and entangled footpath, +which the occasional passage of anglers, or wood-cutters, had traced by +the side of the stream. On their way, the Baron explained to Waverley, +that he would be under no danger in remaining a day or two at +Tully-Veolan, and even in being seen walking about, if he used the +precaution of pretending that he was looking at the estate as agent or +surveyor for an English gentleman, who designed to be purchaser. With +this view, he recommended to him to visit the Bailie, who still lived at +the factor's house, called Little Veolan, about a mile from the village, +though he was to remove at next term. Stanley's passport would be an +answer to the officer who commanded the military; and as to any of the +country people who might recognize Waverley the Baron assured him that +he was in no danger of being betrayed by them. + +'I believe,' said the old man, 'half the people of the barony know that +their poor auld laird is somewhere hereabout; for I see they do not +suffer a single bairn to come here a bird-nesting--a practice whilk, +when I was in full possession of my power as baron, I was unable totally +to inhibit. Nay, I often find bits of things in my way, that the poor +bodies, God help them! leave there, because they think they may be +useful to me. I hope they will get a wiser master, and as kind a one as +I was.' + +A natural sigh closed the sentence; but the quiet equanimity with which +the Baron endured his misfortunes, had something in it venerable, and +even sublime. There was no fruitless repining, no turbid melancholy; he +bore his lot, and the hardships which it involved, with a good-humoured, +though serious composure, and used no violent language against the +prevailing party. + +'I did what I thought my duty,' said the good old man, 'and questionless +they are doing what they think theirs. It grieves me sometimes to look +upon these blackened walls of the house of my ancestors; but doubtless +officers cannot always keep the soldier's hand from depredation and +spuilzie; and Gustavus Adolphus himself, as ye may read in Colonel Munro +his Expedition with the worthy Scotch regiment called Mackay's regiment, +did often permit it.--Indeed I have myself seen as sad sights as +Tully-Veolan now is, when I served with the Mareschal Duke of Berwick. +To be sure, we may say with Virgilius Maro, FUIMUS TROES--and there's +the end of an auld sang. But houses and families and men have a' stood +lang eneugh when they have stood till they fall with honour; and now +I hae gotten a house that is not unlike a DOMUS ULTIMA'--they were now +standing below a steep rock. 'We poor Jacobites,' continued the Baron, +looking up, 'are now like the conies in Holy Scripture (which the great +traveller Pococke calleth Jerboa), a feeble people, that make our abode +in the rocks. So, fare you well, my good lad, till we meet at Janet's in +the even; for I must get into my Patmos, which is no easy matter for my +auld still limbs.' + +With that he began to ascend the rock, striding, with the help of +his hands, from one precarious footstep to another, till he got about +half-way up, where two or three bushes concealed the mouth of a hole, +resembling an oven, into which the Baron insinuated, first his head and +shoulders, and then, by slow gradation, the rest of his long body; his +legs and feet finally disappearing, coiled up like a huge snake entering +his retreat, or a long pedigree introduced with care and difficulty into +the narrow pigeon-hole of an old cabinet. Waverley had the curiosity to +clamber up and look in upon him in his den, as the lurking-place might +well be termed. Upon the whole, he looked not unlike that ingenious +puzzle, called a reel in a bottle, the marvel of children (and of +some grown people too, myself for one), who can neither comprehend the +mystery how it was got in, or how it is to be taken out. The cave was +very narrow, too low in the roof to admit of his standing, or almost +of his sitting up, though he made some awkward attempts at the latter +posture. His sole amusement was the perusal of his old friend Titus +Livius, varied by occasionally scratching Latin proverbs and texts of +Scripture with his knife on the roof and walls of his fortalice, which +were of sandstone. As the cave was dry, and filled with clean straw and +withered fern, 'it made,' as he said, coiling himself up with an air +of snugness and comfort which contrasted strangely with his situation, +'unless when the wind was due north, a very passable GITE for an old +soldier.' Neither, as he observed, was he without sentries for the +purpose of reconnoitring. Davie and his mother were constantly on the +watch, to discover and avert danger; and it was singular what instances +of address seemed dictated by the instinctive attachment of the poor +simpleton, when his patron's safety was concerned. + +With Janet, Edward now sought an interview. He had recognized her at +first sight as the old woman who had nursed him during his sickness +after his delivery from Gifted Gilfillan. The hut, also, though a little +repaired, and somewhat better furnished, was certainly the place of his +confinement; and he now recollected on the common moor of Tully-Veolan +the trunk of a large decayed tree, called the TRYSTING-TREE, which he +had no doubt was the same at which the Highlanders rendezvoused on that +memorable night. All this he had combined in his imagination the night +before; but reasons, which may probably occur to the reader, prevented +him from catechizing Janet in the presence of the Baron. + +He now commenced the task in good earnest; and the first question was, +Who was the young lady that visited the hut during his illness? Janet +paused for a little; and then observed, that to keep the secret now, +would neither do good nor ill to anybody. 'It was just a leddy that +hasna her equal in the world--Miss Rose Bradwardine.' + +'Then Miss Rose was probably also the author of my deliverance,' +inferred Waverley, delighted at the confirmation of an idea which local +circumstances had already induced him to entertain. + +'I wot weel, Mr. Wauverley, and that was she e'en; but sair, sair angry +and affronted wad she hae been, puir thing, if she had thought ye had +been ever to ken a word about the matter; for she gar'd me speak aye +Gaelic when ye was in hearing, to mak ye trow we were in the Hielands. I +can speak it well eneugh, for my mother was a Hieland woman.' + +A few more questions now brought out the whole mystery respecting +Waverley's deliverance from the bondage in which he left Cairnvreckan. +Never did music sound sweeter to an amateur, than the drowsy tautology, +with which old Janet detailed every circumstance, thrilled upon the +ears of Waverley. But my reader is not a lover, and I must spare his +patience, by attempting to condense within reasonable compass the +narrative which old Janet spread through a harangue of nearly two hours, + +When Waverley communicated to Fergus the letter he had received from +Rose Bradwardine, by Davie Gellatley, giving an account of Tully-Veolan +being occupied by a small party of soldiers, that circumstance had +struck upon the busy and active mind of the Chieftain. Eager to +distress and narrow the posts of the enemy, desirous to prevent their +establishing a garrison so near him, and willing also to oblige the +Baron,--for he often had the idea of marriage with Rose floating through +his brain,--he resolved to send some of his people to drive out the +red-coats, and to bring Rose to Glennaquoich. But just as he had ordered +Evan with a small party on this duty, the news of Cope's having marched +into the Highlands to meet and disperse the forces of the Chevalier, +ere they came to a head, obliged him to join the standard with his whole +forces. + +He sent to order Donald Bean to attend him; but that cautious +freebooter, who well understood the value of a separate command, instead +of joining, sent various apologies which the pressure of the times +compelled Fergus to admit as current, though not without the internal +resolution of being revenged on him for his procrastination, time and +place convenient. However, as he could not amend the matter, he issued +orders to Donald to descend into the Low Country, drive the soldiers +from Tully-Veolan, and, paying all respect to the mansion of the Baron, +to take his abode somewhere near it, for protection of his daughter and +family, and to harass and drive away any of the armed volunteers, +or small parties of military, which he might find moving about the +vicinity. + +As this charge formed a sort of roving commission, which Donald proposed +to interpret in the way most advantageous to himself, as he was relieved +from the immediate terrors of Fergus, and as he had, from former secret +services, some interest in the councils of the Chevalier, he resolved to +make hay while the sun shone. He achieved, without difficulty, the +task of driving the soldiers from Tully-Veolan; but although he did not +venture to encroach upon the interior of the family, or to disturb +Miss Rose, being unwilling to make himself a powerful enemy in the +Chevalier's army, + + For well he knew the Baron's wrath was deadly; + +yet he set about to raise contributions and exactions upon the tenantry, +and otherwise to turn the war to his own advantage. Meanwhile he mounted +the white cockade, and waited upon Rose with a pretext of great devotion +for the service in which her father was engaged, and many apologies for +the freedom he must necessarily use for the support of his people. It +was at this moment that Rose learned, by open-mouthed fame, with +all sorts of exaggeration, that Waverley had killed the smith of +Cairnvreckan, in an attempt to arrest him; had been cast into a dungeon +by Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, and was to be executed by martial +law within three days. In the agony which these tidings excited, she +proposed to Donald Bean the rescue of the prisoner. It was the very +sort of service which he was desirous to undertake, judging it might +constitute a merit of such a nature as would make amends for any +peccadilloes which he might be guilty of in the country. He had the art, +however, pleading all the while duty and discipline, to hold off, until +poor Rose, in the extremity of her distress, offered to bribe him to the +enterprise with some valuable jewels which had been her mother's. + +Donald Bean, who had served in France, knew, and perhaps over-estimated, +the value of these trinkets. But he also perceived Rose's apprehensions +of its being discovered that she had parted with her jewels for +Waverley's liberation. Resolved this scruple should not part him and +the treasure, he voluntarily offered to take an oath that he would never +mention Miss Rose's share in the transaction; and foreseeing convenience +in keeping the oath, and no probable advantage in breaking it, he took +the engagement--in order, as he told his lieutenant, to deal handsomely +by the young lady--in the only form and mode which, by a mental paction +with himself, he considered as binding--he swore secrecy upon his drawn +dirk. He was the more especially moved to this act of good faith by some +attentions that Miss Bradwardine showed to his daughter Alice, which, +while they gained the heart of the mountain damsel, highly gratified the +pride of her father. Alice, who could now speak a little English, was +very communicative in return for Rose's kindness, readily confided to +her the whole papers respecting the intrigue with Gardiner's regiment, +of which she was the depositary, and as readily undertook, at her +instance, to restore them to Waverley without her father's knowledge. +'For they may oblige the bonnie young lady and the handsome young +gentleman,' said Alice, 'and what use has my father for a whin bits o' +scarted paper?' + +The reader is aware that she took an opportunity of executing this +purpose on the eve of Waverley's leaving the glen. + +How Donald executed his enterprise, the reader is aware. But the +expulsion of the military from Tully-Veolan had given alarm, and, while +he was lying in wait for Gilfillan, a strong party, such as Donald did +not care to face, was sent to drive back the insurgents in their turn, +to encamp there, and to protect the country. The officer, a gentleman +and a disciplinarian, neither intruded himself on Miss Bradwardine, +whose unprotected situation he respected, nor permitted his soldiers +to commit any breach of discipline. He formed a little camp, upon an +eminence near the house of Tully-Veolan, and placed proper guards at the +passes in the vicinity. This unwelcome news reached Donald Bean Lean +as he was returning to Tully-Veolan. Determined, however, to obtain the +guerdon of his labour, he resolved, since approach to Tully-Veolan was +impossible; to deposit his prisoner in Janet's cottage--a place the very +existence of which could hardly have been suspected even by those who +had long lived In the vicinity, unless they had been guided thither, and +which was utterly unknown to Waverley himself. This effected, he claimed +and received his reward. Waverley's illness was an event which deranged +all their calculations. Donald was obliged to leave the neighbourhood +with his people, and to seek more free course for his adventures +elsewhere. At Rose's earnest entreaty, he left an old man, a herbalist, +who was supposed to understand a little of medicine, to attend Waverley +during his illness. + +In the meanwhile, new and fearful doubts started in Rose's mind. They +were suggested by old Janet, who insisted, that a reward having been +offered for the apprehension of Waverley, and his own personal effects +being so valuable, there was no saying to what breach of faith Donald +might be tempted. In an agony of grief and terror, Rose took the daring +resolution of explaining to the Prince himself the danger in which Mr. +Waverley stood, judging that, both as a politician, and a man of honour +and humanity, Charles Edward would interest himself to prevent his +falling into the hands of the opposite party. This letter she at first +thought of sending anonymously, but naturally feared it would not, in +that case, be credited. She therefore subscribed her name, though with +reluctance and terror, and consigned it in charge to a young man, who, +at leaving his farm to join the Chevalier's army, made it his petition +to her to have some sort of credentials to the Adventurer, from whom he +hoped to obtain a commission. + +The letter reached Charles Edward on his descent to the Lowlands, and, +aware of the political importance of having it supposed that he was in +correspondence with the English Jacobites, he caused the most positive +orders to be transmitted to Donald Bean Lean, to transmit Waverley, safe +and uninjured in person or effects, to the governor of Doune Castle. The +freebooter durst not disobey, for the army of the Prince was now so near +him that punishment might have followed; besides, he was a politician +as well as a robber, and was unwilling to cancel the interest created +through former secret services, by being refractory on this occasion. +He therefore made a virtue of necessity, and transmitted orders to his +lieutenant to convey Edward to Doune, which was safely accomplished +in the mode mentioned in a former chapter. The governor of Doune was +directed to send him to Edinburgh as a prisoner, because the Prince was +apprehensive that Waverley, if set at liberty, might have resumed his +purpose of returning to England, without affording him an opportunity +of a personal interview. In this, indeed, he acted by the advice of the +Chieftain of Glennaquoich, with whom it may be remembered the Chevalier +communicated upon the mode of disposing of Edward, though without +telling him how he came to learn the place of his confinement. + +This, indeed, Charles Edward considered as a lady's secret; for although +Rose's letter was couched in the most cautious and general terms, and +professed to be written merely from motives of humanity, and zeal for +the Prince's service, yet she expressed so anxious a wish that she +should not be known to have interfered, that the Chevalier was induced +to suspect the deep interest which she took in Waverley's safety. This +conjecture, which was well founded, led, however, to false inferences. +For the emotion which Edward displayed on approaching Flora and Rose at +the ball of Holyrood, was placed by the Chevalier to the account of the +latter, and he concluded that the Baron's views about the settlement of +his property, or some such obstacle, thwarted their mutual inclinations. +Common fame, it is true, frequently gave Waverley to Miss Mac-Ivor; but +the Prince knew that common fame is very prodigal in such gifts; and, +watching attentively the behaviour of the ladies towards Waverley, he +had no doubt that the young Englishman had no interest with Flora, +and was beloved by Rose Bradwardine. Desirous to bind Waverley to his +service, and wishing also to do a kind and friendly action, the Prince +next assailed the Baron on the subject of settling his estate upon his +daughter. Mr. Bradwardine acquiesced; but the consequence was, that +Fergus was immediately induced to prefer his double suit for a wife and +an earldom, which the Prince rejected in the manner we have seen. The +Chevalier, constantly engaged in his own multiplied affairs, had not +hitherto sought any explanation with Waverley, though often meaning to +do so. But after Fergus's declaration, he saw the necessity of appearing +neutral between the rivals, devoutly hoping that the matter, which now +seemed fraught with the seeds of strife, might be permitted to lie over +till the termination of the expedition. When on the march to Derby, +Fergus, being questioned concerning his quarrel with Waverley, alleged +as the cause, that Edward was desirous of retracting the suit he made to +his sister, the Chevalier plainly told him, that he had himself observed +Miss Mac-Ivor's behaviour to Waverley, and that he was convinced Fergus +was under the influence of a mistake in judging of Waverley's conduct, +who, he had every reason to believe, was engaged to Miss Bradwardine. +The quarrel which ensued between Edward and the chieftain is, I hope, +still in the remembrance of the reader. These circumstances will serve +to explain such points of our narrative as, according to the custom of +story-tellers, we deemed it fit to leave unexplained, for the purpose of +exciting the reader's curiosity. + +When Janet had once finished the leading facts of this narrative, +Waverley was easily enabled to apply the clue which they afforded, +to other mazes of the labyrinth in which he had been engaged. To Rose +Bradwardine, then, he owed the life which he now thought he could +willingly have laid down to serve her. A little reflection convinced +him, however, that to live for her sake was more convenient and +agreeable, and that, being possessed of independence, she might share +it with him either in foreign countries or in his own. The pleasure of +being allied to a man of the Baron's high worth, and who was so much +valued by his uncle Sir Everard, was also an agreeable consideration, +had anything been wanting to recommend the match. His absurdities, which +had appeared grotesquely ludicrous during his prosperity, seemed, in the +sunset of his fortune, to be harmonized and assimilated with the noble +features of his character, so as to add peculiarity without exciting +ridicule. His mind occupied with such projects of future happiness, +Edward sought Little Veolan, the habitation of Mr. Duncan Macwheeble. + + + +CHAPTER LXVI + + Now is Cupid like a child of conscience--he makes + restitution.--SHAKESPEARE. + +Mr. Duncan Macwheeble, no longer Commissary or Bailie, though still +enjoying the empty name of the latter dignity, had escaped +proscription by an early secession from the insurgent party and by his +insignificance. + +Edward found him in his office, immersed among papers and accounts. +Before him was a large bicker of oatmeal-porridge, and at the side +thereof, a horn-spoon and a bottle of two-penny. Eagerly running his eye +over a voluminous law-paper, he from time to time shovelled an +immense spoonful of these nutritive viands into his capacious mouth. A +pot-bellied Dutch bottle of brandy which stood by, intimated either that +this honest limb of the law had taken his morning already, or that +he meant to season his porridge with such digestive; or perhaps +both circumstances might reasonably be inferred. His night-cap and +morning-gown had whilome been of tartan, but, equally cautious and +frugal, the honest Bailie had got them dyed black, lest their original +ill-omened colour might remind his visitors of his unlucky excursion to +Derby. To sum up the picture, his face was daubed with snuff up to the +eyes, and his fingers with ink up to the knuckles. He looked dubiously +at Waverley as he approached the little green rail which fenced his desk +and stool from the approach of the vulgar. Nothing could give the Bailie +more annoyance than the idea of his acquaintance being claimed by any +of the unfortunate gentlemen who were now so much more likely to +need assistance than to afford profit. But this was the rich young +Englishman--who knew what might be his situation?--he was the Baron's +friend too--what was to be done? + +While these reflections gave an air of absurd perplexity to the poor +man's visage, Waverley, reflecting on the communication he was about to +make to him, of a nature so ridiculously contrasted with the appearance +of the individual, could not help bursting out a-laughing, as he checked +the propensity to exclaim with Syphax-- + + Cato's a proper person to entrust + A love-tale with. + +As Mr. Macwheeble had no idea of any person laughing heartily who was +either encircled by peril or oppressed by poverty, the hilarity of +Edward's countenance greatly relieved the embarrassment of his own, and, +giving him a tolerably hearty welcome to Little Veolan, he asked what +he would choose for breakfast. His visitor had, in the first place, +something for his private ear, and begged leave to bolt the door. +Duncan by no means liked this precaution, which savoured of danger to be +apprehended; but he could not now draw back. + +Convinced he might trust this man, as he could make it his interest +to be faithful, Edward communicated his present situation and future +schemes to Macwheeble. The wily agent listened with apprehension when +he found Waverley was still in a state of proscription--was somewhat +comforted by learning that he had a passport--rubbed his hands with glee +when he mentioned the amount of his present fortune--opened huge eyes +when he heard the brilliancy of his future expectations; but when +he expressed his intention to share them with Miss Rose Bradwardine, +ecstasy had almost deprived the honest man of his senses. The Bailie +started from his three-footed stool like the Pythoness from her tripod; +flung his best wig out of the window, because the block on which it was +placed stood in the way of his career; chucked his cap to the ceiling, +caught it as it fell; whistled Tullochgorum; danced a Highland fling +with inimitable grace and agility; and then threw himself exhausted into +a chair, exclaiming, 'Lady Wauverley!--ten thousand a year, the least +penny!--Lord preserve my poor understanding!' + +'Amen, with all my heart,' said Waverley;--'but now, Mr. Macwheeble, let +us proceed to business.' This word had a somewhat sedative effect, but +the Bailie's head, as he expressed himself, was still 'in the bees.' +He mended his pen, however, marked half a dozen sheets of paper with an +ample marginal fold, whipped down Dallas of St. Martin's STYLES from +a shelf, where that venerable work roosted with Stair's INSTITUTIONS, +Dirleton's DOUBTS, Balfour's PRACTIQUES, and a parcel of old +account-books-opened the volume at the article Contract of Marriage, and +prepared to make what he called a 'sma' minute, to prevent parties frae +resiling. + +With some difficulty, Waverley made him comprehend that he was going a +little too fast. He explained to him that he should want his assistance, +in the first place, to make his residence safe for the time, by writing +to the officer at Tully-Veolan, that Mr. Stanley, an English gentleman, +nearly related to Colonel Talbot, was upon a visit of business at +Mr. Macwheeble's, and, knowing the state of the country, had sent his +passport for Captain Foster's inspection. This produced a polite answer +from the officer, with an invitation to Mr. Stanley to dine with him, +which was declined (as may easily be supposed), under pretence of +business. + +Waverley's next request was, that Mr. Macwheeble would dispatch a man +and horse to --, the post-town, at which Colonel Talbot was to address +him, with directions to wait there until the post should bring a letter +for Mr. Stanley, and then to forward it to Little Veolan with all speed. +In a moment, the Bailie was in search of his apprentice (or servitor, as +he was called Sixty Years since), Jock Scriever, and in not much greater +space of time, Jock was on the back of the white pony. + +'Tak care ye guide him weel, sir, for he's aye been short in the wind +since--ahem--lord be gude to me!' (in a low voice) 'I was gaun to come +out wi'--since I rode whip and spur to fetch the Chevalier to redd +Mr. Wauverley and Vich Ian Vohr; and an uncanny coup I gat for my +pains.--Lord forgie your honour! I might hae broken my neck--but troth +it was in a venture, mae ways nor ane; but this maks amends for a'. Lady +Wauverley!--ten thousand a year!--Lord be gude unto me!' + +'But you forget, Mr. Macwheeble, we want the Baron's consent--the +lady's--' + +'Never fear, I'se be caution for them--I'se gie you my personal +warrandice--ten thousand a year! it dings Balmawhapple out and out--a +year's rent's worth a' Balmawhapple, fee and life-rent! Lord make us +thankful!' + +To turn the current of his feelings, Edward inquired if he had heard +anything lately of the Chieftain of Glennaquoich? + +'Not one word,' answered Macwheeble, 'but that he was still in Carlisle +Castle, and was soon to be panelled for his life. I dinna wish the young +gentleman ill,' he said, 'but I hope that they that hae got him will +keep him, and no let him back to this Hieland border to plague us wi' +blackmail, and a' manner o' violent, wrongous, and masterfu' oppression +and spoliation, both by himself and others of his causing, sending, and +hounding out:--and he couldna tak care o' the siller when he had gotten +it neither, but flung it a' into yon idle quean's lap at Edinburgh--but +light come light gane. For my part, I never wish to see a kilt in the +country again, nor a red-coat, nor a gun, for that matter, unless it +were to shoot a paitrick:--they're a' tarr'd wi' ae stick. And when +they have done ye wrang, even when ya hae gotten decreet of spuilzie, +oppression, and violent profits against them, what better are ye?--they +hae na a plack to pay ye; ye need never extract it.' + +With such discourse, and the intervening topics of business, the time +passed until dinner, Macwheeble meanwhile promising to devise some mode +of introducing Edward at the Duchran, where Rose at present resided, +without risk of danger or suspicion; which seemed no very easy +task, since the laird was a very zealous friend to Government.--The +poultry-yard had been laid under requisition, and cockyleeky and Scotch +collops soon reeked in the Bailie's little parlour. The landlord's +corkscrew was just introduced into the muzzle of a pint-bottle of claret +(cribbed possibly from the cellars of Tully-Veolan), when the sight of +the grey pony, passing the window at full trot, induced the Bailie, +but with due precaution, to place it aside for the moment. Enter Jock +Scriever with a packet for Mr. Stanley: it is Colonel Talbot's seal; and +Edward's fingers tremble as he undoes it. Two official papers, folded, +signed, and sealed in all formality, drop out. They were hastily picked +up by the Bailie, who had a natural respect for everything resembling +a deed, and, glancing slily on their titles, his eyes, or rather +spectacles, are greeted with 'Protection by His Royal Highness to the +person of Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq. of that ilk, commonly +called Baron of Bradwardine, forfeited for his accession to the late +rebellion.' The other proves to be a protection of the same tenor in +favour of Edward Waverley, Esq. Colonel Talbot's letter was in these +words:-- + +'MY DEAR EDWARD, + +'I am just arrived here, and yet I have finished my business; it has +cost me some trouble though, as you shall hear. I waited upon his Royal +Highness immediately on my arrival, and found him in no very good humour +for my purpose. Three or four Scotch gentlemen were just leaving his +levee. After he had expressed himself to me very courteously; "Would +you think it," he said, "Talbot? here have been half a dozen of the +most respectable gentlemen, and best friends to Government north of +the Forth,--Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, Rubrick of Duchran, and +others,--who have fairly wrung from me, by their downright importunity, +a present protection, and the promise of a future pardon, for that +stubborn old rebel whom they call Baron of Bradwardine. They allege that +his high personal character, and the clemency which he showed to such of +our people as fell into the rebels' hands, should weigh in his favour; +especially as the loss of his estate is likely to be a severe enough +punishment. Rubrick has undertaken to keep him at his own house till +things are settled in the country; but it's a little hard to be forced +in a manner to pardon such a mortal enemy to the House of Brunswick." +This was no favourable moment for opening my business:--however, I said +I was rejoiced to learn that his Royal Highness was in the course of +granting such requests, as it emboldened me to present one of the like +nature in my own name. He was very angry, but I persisted;--I mentioned +the uniform support of our three votes in the House, touched modestly +on services abroad, though valuable only in his Royal Highness's having +been pleased kindly to accept them, and founded pretty strongly on his +own expressions of friendship and goodwill. He was embarrassed, but +obstinate. I hinted the policy of detaching, on all future occasions, +the heir of such a fortune as your uncle's from the machinations of the +disaffected. But I made no impression. I mentioned the obligation which +I lay under to Sir Everard, and to you personally, and claimed, as the +sole reward of my services, that he would be pleased to afford me the +means of evincing my gratitude. I perceived that he still meditated a +refusal, and, taking my commission from my pocket, I said (as a last +resource), that as his Royal Highness did not, under these pressing +circumstances, think me worthy of a favour which he had not scrupled +to grant to other gentlemen, whose services I could hardly judge more +important than my own, I must beg leave to deposit, with all humility, +my commission in his Royal Highness's hands, and to retire from the +service. He was not prepared for this;--he told me to take up my +commission; said some handsome things of my services, and granted my +request. You are therefore once more a free man, and I have promised for +you that you will be a good boy in future, and remember what you owe to +the lenity of Government. Thus you see MY PRINCE can be as generous as +YOURS. I do not pretend, indeed, that he confers a favour with all the +foreign graces and compliments of your Chevalier errant; but he has a +plain English manner, and the evident reluctance with which he grants +your request, indicates the sacrifice which he makes of his own +inclination to your wishes. My friend, the adjutant-general, has +procured me a duplicate of the Baron's protection (the original being in +Major Melville's possession), which I send to you, as I know that if you +can find him you will have pleasure in being the first to communicate +the joyful intelligence. He will of course repair to the Duchran without +loss of time, there to ride quarantine for a few weeks. As for you, I +give you leave to escort him thither, and to stay a week there, as +I understand a certain fair lady is in that quarter. And I have the +pleasure to tell you, that whatever progress you can make in her good +graces will be highly agreeable to Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachel, who will +never believe your view and prospects settled, and the three ermines +passant in actual safety, until you present them with a Mrs. Edward +Waverley. Now, certain love-affairs of my own--a good many years +since--interrupted some measures which were then proposed in favour of +the three ermines passant; so I am bound in honour to make them amends. +Therefore make good use of your time, for when your week is expired, it +will be necessary that you go to London to plead your pardon in the law +courts. + +'Ever, dear Waverley, yours most truly, + +'PHILIP TALBOT.' + + + +CHAPTER LXVII + + Happy 's the wooing + That's not long a-doing. + +When the first rapturous sensation occasioned by these excellent tidings +had somewhat subsided, Edward proposed instantly to go down to the glen +to acquaint the Baron with their import. But the cautious Bailie justly +observed, that if the Baron were to appear instantly in public, the +tenantry and villagers might become riotous in expressing their joy, +and give offence to 'the powers that be,' a sort of persons for whom +the Bailie always had unlimited respect. He therefore proposed that Mr. +Waverley should go to Janet Gellatley's, and bring the Baron up under +cloud of night to Little Veolan, where he might once more enjoy the +luxury of a good bed. In the meanwhile, he said, he himself would go +to Captain Foster, and show him the Baron's protection, and obtain his +countenance for harbouring him that night,--and he would have horses +ready on the morrow to set him on his way to the Duchran along with +Mr. Stanley, 'whilk denomination, I apprehend, your honour will for the +present retain,' said the Bailie. + +'Certainly, Mr. Macwheeble; but will you not go down to the glen +yourself in the evening to meet your patron?' + +'That I wad wi' a' my heart; and mickle obliged to your honour for +putting me in mind o' my bounden duty. But it will be past sunset afore +I get back frae the Captain's, and at these unsonsy hours the glen has +a bad name--there's something no that canny about auld Janet Gellatley. +The Laird he'll no believe thae things, but he was aye ower rash and +venturesome--and feared neither man nor deevil--and sae's seen o't. +But right sure am I Sir George Mackenyie says, that no divine can doubt +there are witches, since the Bible says thou shalt not suffer them +to live; and that no lawyer in Scotland can doubt it, since it is +punishable with death by our law. So there's baith law and gospel for +it. An his honour winna believe the Leviticus, he might aye believe +the Statute-book; but he may tak his ain way o't--it's a' ane to Duncan +Macwheeble. However, I shall send to ask up auld Janet this e'en; it 's +best no to lightly them that have that character--and we'll want Davie +to turn the spit, for I'll gar Eppie put down a fat goose to the fire +for your honours to your supper.' + +When it was near sunset, Waverley hastened to the hut; and he could not +but allow that superstition had chosen no improper locality, or unfit +object, for the foundation of her fantastic terrors. It resembled +exactly the description of Spenser: + + There, in a gloomy hollow glen, she found. + A little cottage built of sticks and reeds, + In homely wise, and wall'd with sods around, + In which a witch did dwell in loathly weeds, + And wilful want, all careless of her needs; + So choosing solitary to abide + Far from all neighbours, that her devilish deeds, + And hellish arts, from people she might hide, + And hurt far off, unknown, whomsoever she espied. + +He entered the cottage with these verses in his memory. Poor old Janet, +bent double with age, and bleared with peat-smoke, was tottering about +the hut with a birch broom, muttering to herself as she endeavoured +to make her hearth and floor a little clean for the reception of her +expected guests. Waverley's step made her start, look up, and fall +a-trembling, so much had her nerves been on the rack for her patron's +safety. With difficulty Waverley made her comprehend that the Baron +was now safe from personal danger; and when her mind had admitted that +joyful news, it was equally hard to make her believe that he was not to +enter again upon possession of his estate. 'It behoved to be,' she said, +'he wad get it back again; naebody wad be sae gripple as to tak his gear +after they had gi'en him a pardon: and for that Inch-Grabbit, I could +whiles wish mysell a witch for his sake, if I werena feared the Enemy +wad tak me at my word.' Waverley then gave her some money, and promised +that her fidelity should be rewarded. 'How can I be rewarded, sir, sae +weel, as just to see my auld maister and Miss Rose come back and bruik +their ain?' + +Waverley now took leave of Janet, and soon stood beneath the Baron's +Patmos. At a low whistle, he observed the veteran peeping out to +reconnoitre, like an old badger with his head out of his hole. 'Ye hae +come rather early, my good lad,' said he, descending; 'I question if the +red-coats hae beat the tattoo yet, and we're not safe till then.' + +'Good news cannot be told too soon,' said Waverley; and with infinite +joy communicated to him the happy tidings. + +The old man stood for a moment in silent devotion, then exclaimed, +'Praise be to God!--I shall see my bairn again.' + +'And never, I hope, to part with her more,' said Waverley. + +'I trust in God, not, unless it be to win the means of supporting her; +for my things are but in a bruckle state;--but what signifies warld's +gear?' + +'And if,' said Waverley, modestly, 'there were a situation in life which +would put Miss Bradwardine beyond the uncertainty of fortune, and in +the rank to which she was born, would you object to it, my dear Baron, +because it would make one of your friends the happiest man in the +world?' The Baron turned, and looked at him with great earnestness. +'Yes,' continued Edward, 'I shall not consider my sentence of banishment +as repealed, unless you will give me permission to accompany you to the +Duchran, and--' + +The Baron seemed collecting all his dignity to make a suitable reply to +what, at another time, he would have treated as the propounding a treaty +of alliance between the houses of Bradwardine and Waverley. But his +efforts were in vain; the father was too mighty for the Baron; the pride +of birth and rank were swept away: in the joyful surprise, a slight +convulsion passed rapidly over his features as he gave way to the +feelings of nature, threw his arms around Waverley's neck, and sobbed +out,--'My son! my son!--if I had been to search the world, I would have +made my choice here.' Edward returned the embrace with great sympathy of +feeling, and for a little while they both kept silence. At length it was +broken by Edward. But Miss Bradwardine?' + +'She had never a will but her old father's; besides, you are a likely +youth, of honest principles and high birth; no, she never had any other +will than mine, and in my proudest days I could not have wished a mair +eligible espousal for her than the nephew of my excellent old friend, +Sir Everard.--But I hope, young man, ye deal na rashly in this matter? +I hope ye hae secured the approbation of your ain friends and allies, +particularly of your uncle, who is in LOCO PARENTIS? Ah! we maun tak +heed o' that.' Edward assured him that Sir Everard would think himself +highly honoured in the flattering reception his proposal had met with, +and that it had his entire approbation; in evidence of which, he put +Colonel Talbot's letter into the Baron's hand. The Baron read it with +great attention. 'Sir Everard,' he said, 'always despised wealth in +comparison of honour and birth; and indeed he had no occasion to court +the DIVA PECUNIA. Yet I now wish, since this Malcolm turns out such a +parricide, for I can call him no better, as to think of alienating the +family inheritance-I now wish' (his eyes fixed on a part of the roof +which was visible above the trees) 'that I could have left Rose the +auld hurley-house, and the riggs belanging to it.--And yet,' said he, +resuming more cheerfully, 'it's maybe as weel as it is; for, as Baron +of Bradwardine, I might have thought it my duty to insist upon certain +compliances respecting name and bearings, whilk now, as a landless laird +wi' a tocherless daughter, no one can blame me for departing from.' + +'Now, Heaven be praised!' thought Edward, 'that Sir Everard does not +hear these scruples!--the three ermines passsat and rampant bear would +certainly have gone together by the ears.' He then, with all the ardour +of a young lover, assured the Baron, that he sought for his happiness +only in Rose's heart and hand, and thought himself as happy in her +father's simple approbation, as if he had settled an earldom upon his +daughter. + +They now reached Little Veolan. The goose was smoking on the table, and +the Bailie brandished his knife and fork. A joyous greeting took place +between him and his patron. The kitchen, too, had its company. Auld +Janet was established at the ingle-nook; Davie had turned the spit +to his immortal honour; and even Ban and Buscar, in the liberality of +Macwheeble's joy, had been stuffed to the throat with food, and now lay +snoring on the floor. + +The next day conducted the Baron and his young friend to the Duchran, +where the former was expected, in consequence of the success of the +nearly unanimous application of the Scottish friends of Government in +his favour. This had been so general and so powerful, that it was almost +thought his estate might have been saved, had it not passed into the +rapacious hands-of his unworthy kinsman, whose right, arising out of the +Baron's attainder, could not be affected by a pardon from the crown. +The old gentleman, however, said, with his usual spirit, he was +more gratified by the hold he possessed in the good opinion of his +neighbours, than he would have been in being 'rehabilitated and restored +IN INTEGRUM, had it been found practicable.' + +We shall not attempt to describe the meeting of the father and +daughter,--loving each other so affectionately, and separated under such +perilous circumstances. Still less shall we attempt to analyse the deep +blush of Rose, at receiving the compliments of Waverley, or stop to +inquire whether she had any curiosity respecting the particular cause of +his journey to Scotland at that period. We shall not; even trouble the +reader with the humdrum details of a courtship Sixty Years since. It is +enough to say, that, under so strict a martinet as the Baron, all things +were conducted in due form. He took upon himself, the morning after +their arrival, the task of announcing the proposal of Waverley to Rose, +which she heard with a proper degree of maiden timidity. Fame does, +however, say, that Waverley had, the evening before, found five minutes +to apprize her of what was coming, while the rest of the company were +looking at three twisted serpents which formed a JET D'EAU in the +garden. + +My fair readers will judge for themselves; but, for my part, I cannot +conceive how so important an affair could be communicated in so short a +space of time;--at least, it certainly took a full hour in the Baron's +mode of conveying it. + +Waverley was now considered as a received lover in all the forms. He +was made, by dint of smirking and nodding on the part of the lady of +the house, to sit next to Miss Bradwardine at dinner, to be Miss +Bradwardine's partner at cards. If he came into the room, she of the +four Miss Rubricks who chanced to be next Rose, was sure to recollect +that her thimble, or her scissors, were at the other end of the room, +in order to leave the seat nearest to Miss Bradwardine vacant for his +occupation, And sometimes, if papa and mamma were not in the way to keep +them on their good behaviour, the misses would titter a little. The old +laird of Duchran would also have his occasional jest, and the old lady +her remark. Even the Baron could not refrain; but here Rose escaped +every embarrassment but that of conjecture, for his wit was usually +couched in a Latin quotation. The very footmen sometimes grinned too +broadly, the maid-servants giggled mayhap too loud, and a provoking +air of intelligence seemed to pervade the whole family. Alice Bean, the +pretty maid of the cavern, who, after her father's MISFORTUNE, as she +called it, had attended Rose as fille-de-chambre, smiled and smirked +with the best of them. Rose and Edward, however, endured all these +little vexatious circumstances as other folks have done before and +since, and probably contrived to obtain some indemnification, since they +are not supposed, on the whole, to have been particularly unhappy during +Waverley's six days' stay at the Duchran. + +It was finally arranged that Edward should go to Waverley-Honour to make +the necessary arrangements for his marriage, thence to London to take +the proper measures for pleading his pardon, and return as soon as +possible to claim the hand of his plighted bride. He also intended in +his journey to visit Colonel Talbot; but, above all, it was his +most important object to learn the fate of the unfortunate Chief of +Glennaquoich; to visit him at Carlisle, and to try whether anything +could be done for procuring, if not a pardon, a commutation at least, or +alleviation, of the punishment to which he was almost certain of being +condemned;--and in case of the worst, to offer the miserable Flora an +asylum with Rose, or otherwise to assist her views in any mode which +might seem possible. The fate of Fergus seemed hard to be averted. +Edward had already striven to interest his friend Colonel Talbot in his +behalf; but had been given distinctly to understand, by his reply, that +his credit in matters of that nature was totally exhausted. + +The Colonel was still in Edinburgh, and proposed to wait there for some +months upon business confided to him by the Duke of Cumberland. He was +to be joined by Lady Emily, to whom easy travelling and goat's whey +were recommended, and who was to journey northward, under the escort of +Francis Stanley. Edward, therefore, met the Colonel at Edinburgh, who +wished him joy in the kindest manner on his approaching happiness, and +cheerfully undertook many commissions which our hero was necessarily +obliged to delegate to his charge. But on the subject of Fergus he was +inexorable. He satisfied Edward, indeed, that his interference would +be unavailing; but besides, Colonel Talbot owned that he could not +conscientiously use any influence in favour of that unfortunate +gentleman. 'Justice,' he said, 'which demanded some penalty of those who +had wrapped the whole nation in fear and in mourning, could not perhaps +have selected a fitter victim, He came to the field with the fullest +light upon the nature of his attempt. He had studied and understood the +subject. His father's fate could not intimidate him; the lenity of the +laws which had restored to him his father's property and rights could +not melt him. That he was brave, generous, and possessed many good +qualities, only rendered him the more dangerous; that he was enlightened +and accomplished, made his crime the less excusable; that he was an +enthusiast in a wrong cause, only made him the more fit to be its +martyr. Above all, he had been the means of bringing many hundreds of +men into the field, who, without him, would never have broken the peace +of the country. + +'I repeat it,' said the Colonel, 'though Heaven knows with a heart +distressed for him as an individual, that this young gentleman has +studied and fully understood the desperate game which he has played. +He threw for life or death, a coronet or a coffin; and he cannot now be +permitted, with justice to the country, to draw stakes because the dice +have gone against him.' + +Such was the reasoning of those times, held even by brave and humane men +towards a vanquished enemy. Let us devoutly hope, that, in this respect +at least, we shall never see the scenes, or hold the sentiments, that +were general in Britain Sixty Years since. + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII: + + To-morrow? Oh that's sudden! Spare him! spare him! + SHAKESPEARE. + +Edward, attended by his former servant Alick Polwarth, who had +re-entered his service at Edinburgh, reached Carlisle while the +commission of Oyer and Terminer on his unfortunate associates was yet +sitting. He had pushed forward in haste,--not, alas! with the most +distant hope of saving Fergus, but to see him for the last time. I ought +to have mentioned, that he had furnished funds for the defence of the +prisoners in the most liberal manner, as soon as he heard that the day +of trial was fixed. A solicitor, and the first counsel, accordingly +attended; but it was upon the same footing on which the first physicians +are usually summoned to the bedside of some dying man of rank;--the +doctors to take the advantage of some incalculable chance of an exertion +of nature--the lawyers to avail themselves of the barely possible +occurrence of some legal flaw. Edward pressed into the court, which was +extremely crowded; but by his arriving from the north, and his extreme +eagerness and agitation, it was supposed he was a relation of the +prisoners, and people made way for him. It was the third sitting of +the court, and there were two men at the bar. The verdict of GUILTY was +already pronounced. Edward just glanced at the bar during the momentous +pause which ensued. There was no mistaking the stately form and noble +features of Fergus Mac-Ivor, although his dress was squalid, and +his countenance tinged with the sickly yellow hue of long and close +imprisonment. By his side was Evan Maccombich. Edward felt sick and +dizzy as he gazed on them; but he was recalled to himself as the +Clerk of the Arraigns pronounced the solemn words: 'Fergus Mac-Ivor of +Glennaquoich, otherwise called Vich Ian Vohr, and Evan Mac-Ivor, in the +Dhu of Tarrascleugh, otherwise called Evan Dhu, otherwise called +Evan Maccombich, or Evan Dhu Maccombich--you, and each of you, stand +attainted of high treason. What have you to say for yourselves why the +Court should not pronounce judgement against you, that you die according +to law?' + +Fergus, as the presiding Judge was putting on the fatal cap of +judgement, placed his own bonnet upon his head, regarded him with a +steadfast and stern look, and replied in a firm voice, 'I cannot let +this numerous audience suppose that to such an appeal I have no answer +to make. But what I have to say, you would not bear to hear, for my +defence would be your condemnation. Proceed, then, in the name of God, +to do what is permitted to you. Yesterday, and the day before, you have +condemned loyal and honourable blood to be poured forth like water. +Spare not mine. Were that of all my ancestors in my veins, I would have +peril'd it in this quarrel.' He resumed his seat, and refused again to +rise. + +Evan Maccombich looked at him with great earnestness, and, rising +up, seemed anxious to speak; but the confusion of the court, and the +perplexity arising from thinking in a language different from that in +which he was to express himself, kept him silent. There was a murmur +of compassion among the spectators, from an idea that the poor fellow +intended to plead the influence of his superior as an excuse for his +crime. The Judge commanded silence, and encouraged Evan to proceed. + +'I was only ganging to say, my lord,' said Evan, in what he meant to +be in an insinuating manner, 'that if your excellent honour, and the +honourable Court, would let Vich Ian Vohr go free just this once, and +let him gae back to France, and no to trouble King George's government +again, that ony six o' the very best of his clan will be willing to +be justified in his stead; and if you'll just let me gae down to +Glennaquoich, I'll fetch them up to ye mysel, to head or hang, and you +may begin wi' me the very first man.' + +Notwithstanding the solemnity of the occasion, a sort of laugh was heard +in the court at the extraordinary nature of the proposal. The Judge +checked this indecency, and Evan, looking sternly around, when the +murmur abated, 'If the Saxon gentlemen are laughing,' he said, 'because +a poor man, such as me, thinks my life, or the life of six of my degree, +is worth that of Vich Ian Vohr, it's like enough they may be very right; +but if they laugh because they think I would not keep my word, and come +back to redeem him, I can tell them they ken neither the heart of a +Hielandman, nor the honour of a gentleman.' + +There was no further inclination to laugh among the audience, and a dead +silence ensued. + +The Judge then pronounced upon both prisoners the sentence of the law +of high treason, with all its horrible accompaniments. The execution was +appointed for the ensuing day. 'For you, Fergus Mac-Ivor,' continued +the Judge, 'I can hold out no hope of mercy. You must prepare +against to-morrow for your last sufferings here, and your great audit +hereafter.' + +'I desire nothing else, my lord,' answered Fergus, in the same manly and +firm tone. + +The hard eyes of Evan, which had been perpetually bent on his Chief, +were moistened with a tear. 'For you, poor ignorant man,' continued the +Judge, 'who, following the ideas in which you have been educated, have +this day given us a striking example how the loyalty due to the king +and state alone, is, from your unhappy ideas of clanship, transferred +to some ambitious individual, who ends by making you the tool of his +crimes--for you, I say, I feel so much compassion, that if you can make +up your mind to petition for grace, I will endeavour to procure if for +you. Otherwise--' + +'Grace me no grace,' said Evan; 'since you are to shed Vich Ian Vohr's +blood, the only favour I would accept from you, is--to bid them loose my +hands and gie me my claymore, and bide you just a minute sitting where +you are!' + +'Remove the prisoners,' said the Judge; 'his blood be upon his own +head.' + +Almost stupefied with his feelings, Edward found that the rush of the +crowd had conveyed him out into the street, ere he knew what he was +doing.--His immediate wish was to see and speak with Fergus once more. +He applied at the Castle where his unfortunate friend was confined, but +was refused admittance. 'The High Sheriff,' a non-commissioned officer +said, 'had requested of the governor that none should be admitted to see +the prisoner excepting his confessor and his sister.' + +'And where was Miss Mac-Ivor?' They gave him the direction, It was the +house of a respectable Catholic family near Carlisle. + +Repulsed from the gate of the Castle, and not venturing to make +application to the High Sheriff or Judges in his own unpopular name, +he had recourse to the solicitor who came down in Fergus's behalf. This +gentleman told him, that it was thought the public mind was in danger of +being debauched by the account of the last moments of these persons, as +given by the friends of the Pretender; that there had been a resolution, +therefore, to exclude all such persons as had not the plea of near +kindred for attending upon them. Yet he promised (to oblige the heir of +Waverley-Honour) to get him an order for admittance to the prisoner the +next morning, before his irons were knocked off for execution. + +'Is it of Fergus Mac-Ivor they speak thus,' thought Waverley 'or do I +dream? of Fergus, the bold, the chivalrous, the free-minded,--the lofty +chieftain of a tribe devoted to him? Is it he, that I have seen lead the +chase and head the attack,--the brave, the active, the young, the noble, +the love of ladies, and the theme of song,--is it he who is ironed like +a malefactor--who is to be dragged on a hurdle to the common gallows--to +die a lingering and cruel death, and to be mangled by the hand of the +most outcast of wretches? Evil indeed was the spectre that boded such a +fate as this to the brave Chief of Glennaquoich!' + +With a faltering voice he requested the solicitor to find means to warn +Fergus of his intended visit, should he obtain permission to make it. He +then turned away from him, and, returning to the inn, wrote a scarcely +intelligible note to Flora Mac-Ivor, intimating his purpose to wait +upon her that evening. The messenger brought back a letter in Flora's +beautiful Italian hand, which seemed scarce to tremble even under this +load of misery. 'Miss Flora Mac-Ivor,' the letter bore, 'could not +refuse to see the dearest friend of her dear brother, even in her +present circumstances of unparalleled distress.' + +When Edward reached Miss Mac-Ivor's present place of abode, he was +instantly admitted. In a large and gloomy tapestried apartment, Flora +was seated by a latticed window, sewing what seemed to be a garment of +white flannel. At a little distance sat an elderly woman, apparently +a foreigner, and of a religious order. She was reading in a book of +Catholic devotion; but when Waverley entered, laid it on the table and +left the room. Flora rose to receive him, and stretched out her hand, +but neither ventured to attempt speech. Her fine complexion was totally +gone; her person considerably emaciated; and her face and hands as white +as the purest statuary marble, forming a strong contrast with her sable +dress and jet-black hair. Yet, amid these marks of distress, there +was nothing negligent or ill-arranged about her attire; even her hair, +though totally without ornament, was disposed with her usual attention +to neatness. The first words she uttered were, 'Have you seen him?' + +'Alas, no,' answered Waverley; 'I have been refused admittance.' + +'It accords with the rest,' she said; 'but we must submit. Shall you +obtain leave, do you suppose?' + +'For--for--to-morrow,' said Waverley; but muttering the last word so +faintly that it was almost unintelligible. + +'Aye, then or never,' said Flora, 'until'--she added, looking upward, +'the time when, I trust, we shall all meet. But I hope you will see him +while earth yet bears him. He always loved you at his heart, though--but +it is vain to talk of the past.' + +'Vain indeed!' echoed Waverley. + +'Or even of the future, my good friend,' said Flora, 'so far as earthly +events are concerned; for how often have I pictured to myself the strong +possibility of this horrid issue, and tasked myself to consider how I +could support my part; and yet how far has all my anticipation fallen +short of the unimaginable bitterness of this hour!' + +'Dear Flora, if your strength of mind'-- + +'Aye, there it is,' she answered, somewhat wildly; 'there is, Mr. +Waverley, there is a busy devil at my heart, that whispers--but it were +madness to listen to it--that the strength of mind on which Flora prided +herself has murdered her brother!' + +'Good God! how can you give utterance to a thought so shocking?' + +'Aye, is it not so?--but yet it haunts me like a phantom: I know it is +unsubstantial and vain; but it will be present--will intrude its horrors +on my mind--will whisper that my brother, as volatile as ardent, would +have divided his energies amid a hundred objects. It was I who taught +him to concentrate them, and to gage all on this dreadful and desperate +cast. Oh that I could recollect that I had but once said to him, "He +that striketh with the sword shall die by the sword"; that I had but +once said, Remain at home; reserve yourself, your vassals, your life, +for enterprises within the reach of man. But oh, Mr. Waverley, I spurred +his fiery temper, and half of his ruin at least lies with his sister.' + +The horrid idea which she had intimated, Edward endeavoured to combat by +every incoherent argument that occurred to him. He recalled to her the +principles on which both thought it their duty to act, and in which they +had been educated. + +'Do not think I have forgotten them,' she said, looking up, with eager +quickness; 'I do not regret his attempt, because it was wrong--oh no! +on that point I am armed--but because it was impossible it could end +otherwise than thus.' + +'Yet it did not always seem so desperate and hazardous as it was; and +it would have been chosen by the bold spirit of Fergus, whether you +had approved it or no; your counsels only served to give unity and +consistence to his conduct; to dignify, but not to precipitate his +resolution.' Flora had soon ceased to listen to Edward, and was again +intent upon her needlework. + +'Do you remember,' she said, looking up with a ghastly smile, 'you +once found me making Fergus's bride-favours, and now I am sewing his +bridal-garment. Our friends here,' she continued, with suppressed +emotion, 'are to give hallowed earth in their chapel to the bloody +relies of the last Vich Ian Vohr. But they will not all rest together; +no--his head!---I shall not have the last miserable consolation of +kissing the cold lips of my dear, dear Fergus!' + +The unfortunate Flora here, after one or two hysterical sobs, fainted +in her chair. The lady, who had been attending in the ante-room, now +entered hastily, and begged Edward to leave the room, but not the house. + +When he was recalled, after the space of nearly half an hour, he found +that, by a strong effort, Miss Mac-Ivor had greatly composed herself. It +was then he ventured to urge Miss Bradwardine's claim to be considered +as an adopted sister, and empowered to assist her plans for the future. + +'I have had a letter from my dear Rose,' she replied, 'to the same +purpose. Sorrow is selfish and engrossing, or I would have written to +express that, even in my own despair, I felt a gleam of pleasure at +learning her happy prospects, and at hearing that the good old Baron has +escaped the general wreck. Give this to my dearest Rose; it is her poor +Flora's only ornament of value, and was the gift of a princess.' She put +into his hands a case containing the chain of diamonds with which she +used to decorate her hair. 'To me it is in future useless. The kindness +of my friends has secured me a retreat in the convent of the Scottish +Benedictine nuns in Paris. To-morrow--if indeed I can survive +to-morrow--I set forward on my journey with this venerable sister. And +now, Mr. Waverley, adieu! May you be as happy with Rose as your amiable +dispositions deserve!--and think sometimes on the friends you have lost. +Do not attempt to see me again; it would be mistaken kindness.' + +She gave him her hand, on which Edward shed a torrent of tears, and, +with a faltering step, withdrew from the apartment, and returned to +the town of Carlisle. At the inn he found a letter from his law friend, +intimating that he would be admitted to Fergus next morning as soon as +the Castle gates were opened, and permitted to remain with him till the +arrival of the Sheriff gave signal for the fatal procession. + + + +CHAPTER LXIX + + --A darker departure is near, + The death-drum is muffled, and sable the bier. + CAMPBELL. + +After a sleepless night, the first dawn of morning found Waverley on +the esplanade in front of the old Gothic gate of Carlisle Castle. But he +paced it long in every direction, before the hour when, according to the +rules of the garrison, the gates were opened and the drawbridge lowered. +He produced his order to the sergeant of the guard, and was admitted. + +The place of Fergus's confinement was a gloomy and vaulted apartment +in the central part of the Castle--a huge old tower, supposed to be of +great antiquity, and surrounded by outworks, seemingly of Henry VIII's +time, or somewhat later. The grating of the large old-fashioned bars and +bolts, withdrawn for the purpose of admitting Edward, was answered by +the clash of chains, as the unfortunate Chieftain, strongly and heavily +fettered, shuffled along the stone floor of his prison, to fling himself +into his friend's arms. + +'My dear Edward,' he said, in a firm, and even cheerful voice, 'this +is truly kind. I heard of your approaching happiness with the highest +pleasure. And how does Rose? and how is our old whimsical friend the +Baron? Well, I trust, since I see you at freedom--And how will you +settle precedence between the three ermines passant and the bear and +bootjack?' + +'How, oh how, my dear Fergus, can you talk of such things at such a +moment!' + +'Why, we have entered Carlisle with happier auspices, to be sure--on the +16th of November last, for example, when we marched in, side by side, +and hoisted the white flag on these ancient towers. But I am no boy, to +sit down and weep because the luck has gone against me. I knew the stake +which I risked; we played the game boldly, and the forfeit shall be paid +manfully. And now, since my time is short, let me come to the questions +that interest me most--The Prince? has he escaped the bloodhounds?' + +'He has, and is in safety.' + +'Praised be God for that! Tell me the particulars of his escape.' + +Waverley communicated that remarkable history, so far as it had then +transpired, to which Fergus listened with deep interest. He then asked +after several other friends; and made many minute inquiries concerning +the fate of his own clansmen. They had suffered less than other tribes +who had been engaged in the affair; for, having in a great measure +dispersed and returned home after the captivity of their Chieftain, +according to the universal custom of the Highlanders, they were not in +arms when the insurrection was finally suppressed, and consequently were +treated with less rigour. This Fergus heard with great satisfaction. + +'You are rich,' he said, 'Waverley, and you are generous. When you +hear of these poor Mac-Ivors being distressed about their miserable +possessions by some harsh overseer or agent of Government, remember you +have worn their tartan, and are an adopted son of their race. The Baron, +who knows our manners, and lives near our country, will apprize you of +the time and means to be their protector. Will you promise this to the +last Vich Ian Vohr?' + +Edward, as may well be believed, pledged his word; which he afterwards +so amply redeemed, that his memory still lives in these glens by the +name of the Friend of the Sons of Ivor. + +'Would to God,' continued the Chieftain, 'I could bequeath to you my +rights to the love and obedience of this primitive and brave race:--or +at least, as I have striven to do, persuade poor Evan to accept of +his life upon their terms, and be to you what he has been to me, the +kindest,--the bravest,--the most devoted--' + +The tears which his own fate could not draw forth, fell fast for that of +his foster-brother. + +'But,' said he, drying them, 'that cannot be. You cannot be to them Vich +Ian Vohr; and these three magic words,' said he, half smiling, 'are the +only Open Sesame to their feelings and sympathies, and poor Evan must +attend his foster-brother in death, as he has done through his whole +life.' + +'And I am sure,' said Maccombich, raising himself from the floor, on +which, for fear of interrupting their conversation, he had lain so +still, that, in the obscurity of the apartment, Edward was not aware of +his presence,--'I am sure Evan never desired or deserved a better end +than just to die with his Chieftain.' + +'And now,' said Fergus, 'while we are upon the subject of clanship--what +think you now of the prediction of the Bodach Glas?'--Then, before +Edward could answer, 'I saw him again last night--he stood in the slip +of moonshine, which fell from that high and narrow window towards my +bed. Why should I fear him, I thought--to-morrow, long ere this time, I +shall be as immaterial as he. "False Spirit!" I said, "art thou come to +close thy walks on earth, and to enjoy thy triumph in the fall of the +last descendant of thine enemy?" The spectre seemed to beckon and to +smile as he faded from my sight. What do you think of it?--I asked the +same question of the priest, who is a good and sensible man; he admitted +that the Church allowed that such apparitions were possible, but urged +me not to permit my mind to dwell upon it, as imagination plays us such +strange tricks. What do you think of it?' + +'Much as your confessor,' said Waverley, willing to avoid dispute upon +such a point at such a moment. A tap at the door now announced that good +man, and Edward retired while he administered to both prisoners the last +rites of religion, in the mode which the Church of Rome prescribes. + +In about an hour he was re-admitted; soon after, a file of soldiers +entered with a blacksmith, who struck the fetters from the legs of the +prisoners. + +'You see the compliment they pay to our Highland strength and +courage--we have lain chained here like wild beasts, till our legs are +cramped into palsy, and when they free us, they send six soldiers with +loaded muskets to prevent our taking the castle by storm!' + +Edward afterwards learned that these severe precautions had been taken +in consequence of a desperate attempt of the prisoners to escape, in +which they had very nearly succeeded. + +Shortly afterwards the drums of the garrison beat to arms. 'This is the +last turn-out,' said Fergus, 'that I shall hear and obey. And now, my +dear, dear Edward, ere we part let us speak of Flora--a subject which +awakes the tenderest feeling that yet thrills within me.' + +'We part not here!' said Waverley. + +'Oh yes, we do; you must come no farther. Not that I fear what is to +follow for myself,' he said proudly: 'Nature has her tortures as well as +art; and how happy should we think the man who escapes from the throes +of a mortal and painful disorder, in the space of a short half hour? And +this matter, spin it out as they will, cannot last longer, But what +a dying man can suffer firmly, may kill a living friend to look +upon.--This same law of high treason,' he continued, with astonishing +firmness and composure, 'is one of the blessings, Edward, with +which your free country has accommodated poor old Scotland: her own +jurisprudence, as I have heard, was much milder. But I suppose one day +or other--when there are no longer any wild Highlanders to benefit by +its tender mercies--they will blot it from their records, as levelling +them with a nation of cannibals. The mummery, too, of exposing the +senseless head--they have not the wit to grace mine with a paper +coronet; there would be some satire in that, Edward. I hope they will +set it on the Scotch gate though, that I may look, even after death, +to the blue hills of my own country, which I love so dearly. The Baron +would have added, + +MORITUR, ET MORIENS DULCES REMINISCITUR ARGOS.' + +A bustle, and the sound of wheels and horses' feet, was now heard in the +courtyard of the Castle. 'As I have told you why you must not follow me, +and these sounds admonish me that my time flies fast, tell me how you +found poor Flora?' + +Waverley, with a voice interrupted by suffocating sensations, gave some +account of the state of her mind. + +'Poor Flora!' answered the Chief, 'she could have borne her own sentence +of death, but not mine. You, Waverley, will soon know the happiness of +mutual affection in the married state--long, long may Rose and you enjoy +it!--but you can never know the purity of feeling which combines two +orphans, like Flora and me, left alone as it were in the world, and +being all in all to each other from our very infancy. But her strong +sense of duty, and predominant feeling of loyalty, will give new nerve +to her mind after the immediate and acute sensation of this parting has +passed away. She will then think of Fergus as of the heroes of our race, +upon whose deeds she loved to dwell.' + +'Shall she not see you, then?' asked Waverley. 'She seemed to expect +it.' + +'A necessary deceit will spare her the last dreadful parting. I could +not part with her without tears, and I cannot bear that these men should +think they have power to extort them. She was made to believe she +would see me at a later hour, and this letter, which my confessor will +deliver, will apprize her that all is over.' + +An officer now appeared, and intimated that the High Sheriff and his +attendants waited before the gate of the Castle, to claim the bodies of +Fergus Mac-Ivor and Evan Maccombich. 'I come,' said Fergus. Accordingly, +supporting Edward by the arm, and followed by Evan Dhu and the priest, +he moved down the stairs of the tower, the soldiers bringing up the +rear. The court was occupied by a squadron of dragoons and a battalion +of infantry, drawn up in hollow square. Within their ranks was the +sledge, or hurdle, on which the prisoners were to be drawn to the place +of execution, about a mile distant from Carlisle. It was painted +black, and drawn by a white horse. At one end of the vehicle sat the +Executioner, a horrid-looking fellow, as beseemed his trade, with the +broad axe in his hand; at the other end, next the horse, was an empty +seat for two persons. Through the deep and dark Gothic archway that +opened on the drawbridge, were seen on horseback the High Sheriff and +his attendants, whom the etiquette betwixt the civil and military powers +did not permit to come farther. 'This is well GOT UP for a closing +scene,' said Fergus, smiling disdainfully as he gazed around upon the +apparatus of terror. Evan Dhu exclaimed with some eagerness, after +looking at the dragoons, 'These are the very chields that galloped +off at Gladsmuir, before we could kill a dozen o' them. They look bold +enough now, however.' The priest entreated him to be silent. + +The sledge now approached, and Fergus, turning round, embraced Waverley, +kissed him on each side of the face, and stepped nimbly into his place. +Evan sat down by his side. The priest was to follow in a carriage +belonging to his patron, the Catholic gentleman at whose house Flora +resided. As Fergus waved his hand to Edward, the ranks closed around +the sledge, and the whole procession began to move forward. There was a +momentary stop at the gateway, while the governor of the Castle and the +High Sheriff went through a short ceremony, the military officer there +delivering over the persons of the criminals to the civil power. 'God +save King George!' said the High Sheriff. When the formality concluded, +Fergus stood erect in the sledge, and with a firm and steady voice, +replied, 'God save King James!' These were the last words which Waverley +heard him speak. + +The procession resumed its march, and the sledge vanished from beneath +the portal, under which it had stopped for an instant. The dead-march +was then heard, and its melancholy sounds were mingled with those of a +muffled peal, tolled from the neighbouring cathedral. The sound of the +military music died away as the procession moved on--the sullen clang of +the bells was soon heard to sound alone. + +The last of the soldiers had now disappeared from under the vaulted +archway through which they had been filing for several minutes; the +courtyard was now totally empty, but Waverley still stood there as if +stupefied, his eyes fixed upon the dark pass where he had so lately +seen the last glimpse of his friend. At length, a female servant of the +governor's, struck with compassion at the stupefied misery which his +countenance expressed, asked him if he would not walk into her master's +house and sit down? She was obliged to repeat her question twice ere he +comprehended her, but at length it recalled him to himself. Declining +the courtesy by a hasty gesture, he pulled his hat over his eyes, and, +leaving the Castle, walked as swiftly as he could through the empty +streets, till he regained his inn, then rushed into an apartment, and +bolted the door. + +In about an hour and a half, which seemed an age of unutterable +suspense, the sound of the drums and fifes, performing a lively air, and +the confused murmur of the crowd which now filled the streets, so lately +deserted, apprized him that all was finished, and that the military and +populace were returning from the dreadful scene. I will not attempt to +describe his sensations. + +In the evening the priest made him a visit, and informed him that he +did so by directions of his deceased friend, to assure him that Fergus +Mac-Ivor had died as he lived, and remembered his friendship to the +last. He added, he had also seen Flora, whose state of mind seemed more +composed since all was over. With her and Sister Theresa, the priest +proposed next day to leave Carlisle, for the nearest seaport from which +they could embark for France. Waverley forced on this good man a ring +of some value, and a sum of money to be employed (as he thought might +gratify Flora) in the services of the Catholic Church, for the memory of +his friend. 'FUNGARQUE INANI MUNERE,' he repeated, as the ecclesiastic +retired. 'Yet why not class these acts of remembrance with other +honours, with which affection, in all sects, pursues the memory of the +dead?' + +The next morning, ere daylight, he took leave of the town of Carlisle, +promising to himself never again to enter its walls. He dared hardly +look back towards the Gothic battlements of the fortified gate under +which he passed (for the place is surrounded with an old wall). 'They're +no there,' said Alick Polwarth, who guessed the cause of the dubious +look which Waverley cast backward, and who, with the vulgar appetite for +the horrible, was master of each detail of the butchery--'the heads are +ower the Scotch yate, as they ca' it. It's a great pity of Evan Dhu, +who was a very weel-meaning, good-natured man, to be a Hielandman; and +indeed so was the Laird o' Glennaquoich too, for that matter, when he +wasna in ane o' his tirrivies. + + + +CHAPTER LXX + +DOLCE DOMUM + +The impression of horror with which Waverley left Carlisle softened +by degrees into melancholy--a gradation which was accelerated by the +painful, yet soothing, task of writing to Rose; and, while he could not +suppress his own feelings of the calamity, he endeavoured to place it +in a light which might grieve her without shocking her imagination. The +picture which he drew for her benefit he gradually familiarized to his +own mind; and his next letters were more cheerful, and referred to the +prospects of peace and happiness which lay before them. Yet, though his +first horrible sensations had sunk into melancholy, Edward had reached +his native county before he could, as usual on former occasions, look +round for enjoyment upon the face of nature. + +He then, for the first time since leaving Edinburgh, began to experience +that pleasure which almost all feel who return to a verdant, populous, +and highly cultivated country, from scenes of waste desolation, or of +solitary and melancholy grandeur. But how were those feelings enhanced +when he entered on the domain so long possessed by his forefathers; +recognized the old oaks of Waverley-Chase; thought with what delight he +should introduce Rose to all his favourite haunts; beheld at length the +towers of the venerable hall arise above the woods which embowered it, +and finally threw himself into the arms of the venerable relations to +whom he owed so much duty and affection! + +The happiness of their meeting was not tarnished by a single word of +reproach. On the contrary, whatever pain Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachel had +felt during Waverley's perilous engagement with the young Chevalier, it +assorted too well with the principles in which they had been brought up, +to incur reprobation, or even censure. Colonel Talbot also had smoothed +the way, with great address, for Edward's favourable reception, +by dwelling upon his gallant behaviour in the military character, +particularly his bravery and generosity at Preston; until, warmed at the +idea of their nephew's engaging in single combat, making prisoner, +and saving from slaughter, so distinguished an officer as the Colonel +himself, the imagination of the Baronet and his sister ranked the +exploits of Edward with those of Wilibert, Hildebrand, and Nigel, the +vaunted heroes of their line. + +The appearance of Waverley, embrowned by exercise, and dignified by +the habits of military discipline, had acquired an athletic and +hardy character, which not only verified the Colonel's narration, but +surprised and delighted all the inhabitants of Waverley-Honour. They +crowded to see, to hear him, and to sing his praises. Mr. Pembroke, who +secretly extolled his spirit and courage in embracing the genuine cause +of the Church of England, censured his pupil gently, nevertheless, +for being so careless of his manuscripts, which indeed, he said, had +occasioned him some personal inconvenience, as, upon the Baronet's being +arrested by a king's messenger, he had deemed it prudent to retire to a +concealment called 'The Priest's Hole,' from the use it had been put to +in former days; where, he assured our hero, the butler had thought it +safe to venture with food only once in the day, so that he had been +repeatedly compelled to dine upon victuals either absolutely cold, or, +what was worse, only half warm, not to mention that sometimes his +bed had not been arranged for two days together. Waverley's mind +involuntarily turned to the Patmos of the Baron of Bradwardine, who was +well pleased with Janet's fare, and a few bunches of straw stowed in +a cleft in the front of a sand-cliff: but he made no remarks upon a +contrast which could only mortify his worthy tutor. + +All was now in a bustle to prepare for the nuptials of Edward, an event +to which the good old Baronet and Mrs. Rachel looked forward as if +to the renewal of their own youth. The match, as Colonel Talbot had +intimated, had seemed to them in the highest degree eligible, having +every recommendation but wealth, of which they themselves had more than +enough. Mr. Clippurse was therefore summoned to Waverley-Honour, under +better auspices than at the commencement of our story. But Mr. Clippurse +came not alone; for, being now stricken in years, he had associated with +him a nephew, a younger vulture (as our English Juvenal, who tells +the tale of Swallow the attorney, might have called him), and they +now carried on business as Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem. These worthy +gentlemen had directions to make the necessary settlements on the most +splendid scale of liberality, as if Edward were to wed a peeress in her +own right, with her paternal estate tacked to the fringe of her ermine. + +But before entering upon a subject of proverbial delay, I must remind my +reader of the progress of a stone rolled down hill by an idle truant boy +(a pastime at which I was myself expert in my more juvenile years): +it moves at first slowly, avoiding by inflection every obstacle of the +least importance; but when it has attained its full impulse, and draws +near the conclusion of its career, it smokes and thunders down, taking +a rood at every spring, clearing hedge and ditch like a Yorkshire +huntsman, and becoming most furiously rapid in its course when it is +nearest to being consigned to rest for ever. Even such is the course +of a narrative like that which you are perusing. The earlier events are +studiously dwelt upon, that you, kind reader, may be introduced to +the character rather by narrative, than by the duller medium of direct +description; but when the story draws near its close, we hurry over +the circumstances, however important, which your imagination must have +forestalled, and leave you to suppose those things which it would be +abusing your patience to relate at length. + +We are, therefore, so far from attempting to trace the dull progress of +Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem, or that of their worthy official brethren, +who had the charge of suing out the pardons of Edward Waverley and +his intended father-in-law, that we can but touch upon matters more +attractive. The mutual epistles, for example, which were exchanged +between Sir Everard and the Baron upon this occasion, though matchless +specimens of eloquence in their way, must be consigned to merciless +oblivion. Nor can I tell you at length, how worthy Aunt Rachel, not +without a delicate and affectionate allusion to the circumstances which +had transferred Rose's maternal diamonds to the hands of Donald Bean +Lean, stocked her casket with a set of jewels that a duchess might have +envied. Moreover, the reader will have the goodness to imagine that Job +Houghton and his dame were suitably provided for, although they could +never be persuaded that their son fell otherwise than fighting by the +young squire's side; so that Alick, who, as a lover of truth, had made +many needless attempts to expound the real circumstances to them, was +finally ordered to say not a word more upon the subject. He indemnified +himself, however, by the liberal allowance of desperate battles, +grisly executions, and rawhead and bloody-bone stories, with which he +astonished the servants' hall. + +But although these important matters may be briefly told in narrative, +like a newspaper report of a Chancery suit, yet, with all the urgency +which Waverley could use, the real time which the law proceedings +occupied, joined to the delay occasioned by the mode of travelling at +that period, rendered it considerably more than two months ere Waverley, +having left England, alighted once more at the mansion of the Laird of +Duchran to claim the hand of his plighted bride. + +The day of his marriage was fixed for the sixth after his arrival. The +Baron of Bradwardine, with whom bridals, christenings, and funerals, +were festivals of high and solemn import, felt a little hurt, that, +including the family of the Duchran, and all the immediate vicinity who +had title to be present on such an occasion, there could not be above +thirty persons collected. 'When he was married,' he observed, 'three +hundred horse of gentlemen born, besides servants, and some score or +two of Highland lairds, who never got on horseback, were present on the +occasion.' + +But his pride found some consolation in reflecting, that he and his +son-in-law having been so lately in arms against Government, it, might +give matter of reasonable fear and offence to the ruling powers, if +they were to collect together the kith, kin, and allies of their houses, +arrayed in effeir of war, as was the ancient custom of Scotland on these +occasions--'And, without dubitation,' he concluded with a sigh, 'many of +those who would have rejoiced most freely upon these joyful espousals, +are either gone to a better place, or are now exiles from their native +land.' + +The marriage took place on the appointed day. The Reverend Mr. Rubrick, +kinsman to the proprietor of the hospitable mansion where it was +solemnized, and chaplain to the Baron of Bradwardine, had the +satisfaction to unite their hands; and Frank Stanley acted as bridesman, +having joined Edward with that view soon after his arrival. Lady Emily +and Colonel Talbot had proposed being present; but Lady Emily's health, +when the day approached, was found inadequate to the journey. In amends, +it was arranged that Edward Waverley and his lady, who, with the Baron, +proposed an immediate journey to Waverley-Honour, should, in their way, +spend a few days at an estate which Colonel Talbot had been tempted to +purchase in Scotland as a very great bargain, and at which he proposed +to reside for some time. + + + +CHAPTER LXXI + + This is no mine ain house, I ken by the bigging o't'. + --OLD SONG. + +The nuptial party travelled in great style. There was a coach and six +after the newest pattern, which Sir Everard had presented to his nephew, +that dazzled with its splendour the eyes of one half of Scotland; there +was the family coach of Mr. Rubrick;--both these were crowded with +ladies, and there were gentlemen on horseback, with their servants, to +the number of a round score. Nevertheless, without having the fear +of famine before his eyes, Bailie Macwheeble met them in the road, to +entreat that they would pass by his house at Little Veolan. The Baron +stared, and said his son and he would certainly ride by Little Veolan, +and pay their compliments to the Bailie, but could not think of bringing +with them the 'haill COMITATUS NUPTIALIS, or matrimonial procession.' +He added, 'that, as he understood that the barony had been sold by +its unworthy possessor, he was glad to see his old friend Duncan had +regained his situation under the new DOMINUS, or proprietor.' The +Bailie ducked, bowed, and fidgeted, and then again insisted upon his +invitation; until the Baron, though rather piqued at the pertinacity of +his instances, could not nevertheless refuse to consent, without making +evident sensations which he was anxious to conceal. + +He fell into a deep study as they approached the top of the avenue, +and was only startled from it by observing that the battlements were +replaced, the ruins cleared sway, and (most wonderful of all) that +the two great stone Bears, those mutilated Dagons of his idolatry, had +resumed their posts over the gateway. 'Now this new proprietor,' said he +to Edward, 'has shown mair gusto, as the Italians call it, in the short +time he has had this domain, than that hound Malcolm, though I bred him +here mysell, has acquired VITA ADHUC DURANTE.--and now I talk of hounds, +is not yon Ban and Buscar, who come scouping up the avenue with Davie +Gallatley?' + +'I vote we should go to meet them, sir,' said Waverley, 'for I believe +the present master of the house is Colonel Talbot, who will expect to +see us. We hesitated to mention to you at first that he had purchased +your ancient patrimonial property, and even yet, if you do not incline +to visit him, we can pass on to the Bailie's.' + +The Baron had occasion for all his magnanimity. However, he drew a long +breath, took a long snuff, and observed, since they had brought him so +far, he could not pass the Colonel's gate, and he would be happy to see +the new master of his old tenants. He alighted accordingly, as did the +other gentlemen and ladies;--he gave his arm to his daughter, and as +they descended the avenue, pointed out to her how speedily the 'DIVA +PECUNIA of the Southron--their tutelary deity, he might call her--had +removed the marks of spoliation.' + +In truth, not only had the felled trees been removed, but, their stumps +being grubbed up, and the earth round them levelled and sown with grass, +every mark of devastation, unless to an eye intimately acquainted +with the spot, was already totally obliterated. There was a similar +reformation in the outward man of Davie Gellatley, who met them, every +now and then stopping to admire the new suit which graced his person, In +the same colours as formerly, but bedizened fine enough to have served +Touchstone himself. He danced up with his usual ungainly frolics, first +to the Baron, and then to Rose, passing his hands over his clothes, +crying, 'BRA', BRA' DAVIE,' and scarce able to sing a bar to an end of +his thousand-and-one songs, for the breathless extravagance of his joy. +The dogs also acknowledged their old master with a thousand gambols. +'Upon my conscience, Rose,' ejaculated the Baron, 'the gratitude o' thae +dumb brutes, and of that puir innocent, brings the tears into my auld +een, while that schellum Malcolm--but I'm obliged to Colonel Talbot for +putting my hounds into such good condition, and likewise for puir Davie. +But, Rose, my dear, we must not permit them to be a liferent burden upon +the estate.' + +As he spoke, Lady Emily, leaning upon the arm of her husband, met the +party at the lower gate, with a thousand welcomes. After the ceremony +of introduction had been gone through, much abridged by the ease and +excellent breeding of Lady Emily, she apologized for having used a +little art to wile them back to a place which might awaken some painful +reflections--'But as it was to change masters, we were very desirous +that the Baron'-- + +'Mr. Bradwardine, madam, if you please,' said the old gentleman. + +'--Mr. Bradwardine, then, and Mr. Waverley, should see what we have done +towards restoring the mansion of your fathers to its former state.' + +The Baron answered with a low bow. Indeed, when he entered the court, +excepting that the heavy stables, which had been burnt down, were +replaced by buildings of a lighter and more picturesque appearance, all +seemed as much as possible restored to the state in which he had left +it when he assumed arms some months before. The pigeon-house was +replenished; the fountain played with its usual activity; and not +only the Bear who predominated over its basin, but all the other Bears +whatsoever, were replaced on their several stations, and renewed or +repaired with so much care, that they bore no tokens of the violence +which had so lately descended upon them. While these minutiae had been +so heedfully attended to, it is scarce necessary to add, that the house +itself had been thoroughly repaired, as well as the gardens, with the +strictest attention to maintain the original character of both, and +to remove, as far as possible, all appearance of the ravage they had +sustained. The Baron gazed in silent wonder; at length he addressed +Colonel Talbot: + +'While I acknowledge my obligation to you, sir, for the restoration +of the badge of our family, I cannot but marvel that you have nowhere +established your own crest, whilk is, I believe, a mastiff, anciently +called a talbot; as the poet has it, + +A talbot strong--a sturdy tyke. + +At least such a dog is the crest of the martial and renowned Earls of +Shrewsbury, to whom your family are probably blood relations.' + +'I believe,' said the Colonel, smiling, 'our dogs are whelps of the same +litter: for my part, if crests were to dispute precedence, I should be +apt to let them, as the proverb says, "fight dog, fight bear."' + +As he made this speech, at which the Baron took another long pinch of +snuff, they had entered the house--that is, the Baron, Rose, and Lady +Emily, with young Stanley and the Bailie, for Edward and the rest of the +party remained on the terrace, to examine a new greenhouse stocked with +the finest plants. The Baron resumed his favourite topic: 'However it +may please you to derogate from the honour of your burgonet, Colonel +Talbot, which is doubtless your humour, as I have seen in other +gentlemen of birth and honour in your country, I must again repeat it +as a most ancient and distinguished bearing, as well as that of my young +friend Francis Stanley, which is the eagle and child.' + +'The bird and bantling they call it in Derbyshire, sir,' said Stanley. + +'Ye're a daft callant, sir,' said the Baron, who had a great liking to +this young man, perhaps because he sometimes teased him--'Ye're a daft +callant, and I must correct you some of these days,' shaking his great +brown fist at him. 'But what I meant to say, Colonel Talbot, is, that +yours is an ancient PROSAPIA, or descent, and since you have lawfully +and justly acquired the estate for you and yours, which I have lost for +me and mine, I wish it may remain in your name as many centuries as it +has done in that of the late proprietor's.' + +'That,' answered the Colonel, 'is very handsome, Mr. Bradwardine, +indeed.' + +'And yet, sir, I cannot but marvel that you, Colonel, whom I noted to +have so much of the AMOR PATRIAE, when we met in Edinburgh, as even to +vilipend other countries, should have chosen to establish your Lares, or +household gods, PROCUL A PATRIEA FINIBUS, and in a manner to expatriate +yourself.' + +'Why really, Baron, I do not see why, to keep the secret of these +foolish boys, Waverley and Stanley, and of my wife, who is no wiser, one +old soldier should continue to impose upon another. You must know, +then, that I have so much of that same prejudice in favour of my native +country, that the sum of money which I advanced to the seller of this +extensive barony has only purchased for me a box in --shire, called +Brerewood Lodge, with about two hundred and fifty acres of land, +the chief merit of which is, that it is within a very few miles of +Waverley-Honour.' + +'And who, then, in the name of Haven, has bought this property?' + +'That,' said the Colonel,' it is this gentleman's profession to +explain.' + +The Bailie, whom this reference regarded, and who had all this while +shifted from one foot to another with great impatience, 'like a hen,' +as he afterwards said, 'upon a het girdle'; and chuckling, he might have +added, like the said hen in all the glory of laying an egg--now pushed +forward: 'That I can, that I can, your Honour,' drawing from his pocket +a budget of papers, and untying the red tape with a hand trembling +with eagerness. 'Here is the disposition and assignation, by Malcolm +Bradwardine of Inch-Grabbit, regularly signed and tested in terms of +the statute, whereby, for a certain sum of sterling money presently +contented and paid to him, he has disponed, alienated, and conveyed the +whole estate and barony of Bradwardine, Tully-Veolan, and others, with +the fortalice and manor-place--' + +'For God's sake, to the point, sir--I have all that by heart,' said the +Colonel. + +'To Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq.' pursued the Bailie, 'his heirs and +assignees, simply and irredeemably--to be held either A ME VEL DE ME--' + +'Pray read short, sir.' + +'On the conscience of an honest man, Colonel, I read as short as is +consistent with style.--Under the burden and reservation always-- + +'Mr. Macwheeble, this would outlast a Russian winter--give me leave. In +short, Mr. Bradwardine, your family estate is your own once more in full +property, and at your absolute disposal, but only burdened with the sum +advanced to repurchase it, which I understand is utterly disproportioned +to its value. + +'An auld sang--an auld sang, if it please your Honours,' cried the +Bailie, rubbing his hands; 'look at the rental book.' + +'Which sum being advanced by Mr. Edward Waverley, chiefly from the price +of his father's property which I bought from him, is secured to his lady +your daughter, and her family by this marriage.' + +'It is a catholic security,' shouted the Bailie, 'to Rose Comyne +Bradwardine, ALIAS Wauverley, in liferent, and the children of the +said marriage in fee; and I made up a wee bit minute of an ante-nuptial +contract, INTUITU MATRIMONII, so it cannot be subject to reduction +hereafter, as a donation INTER VIRUM ET UXOREM.' + +It is difficult to say whether the worthy Baron was most delighted +with the restitution of his family property, or with the delicacy and +generosity that left him unfettered to pursue his purpose in disposing +of it after his death, and which avoided, as much as possible, even +the appearance of laying him under pecuniary obligation. When his first +pause of joy and astonishment was over, his thoughts turned to the +unworthy heir-male, who, he pronounced, 'had sold his birthright, like +Esau, for a mess o' pottage.' + +'But wha cookit the parritch for him?' exclaimed the Bailie; 'I wad like +to ken that--wha but your Honour's to command, Duncan Macwheeble? +His Honour, young Mr. Wauverley, put it a' into my hand frae the +beginning--frae the first calling o' the summons, as I may say. I +circumvented them--I played at bogle about the bush wi' them--I cajoled +them; and if I havena gien Inch-Grabbit and Jamie Howie a bonnie begunk, +they ken themselves. Him a writer! I didna gea slapdash to them wi' our +young bra' bridegroom, to gar them haud up the market; na, na; I scared +them wi' our wild tenantry, and the Mac-Ivors, that are but ill settled +yet, till they durstna on ony errand whatsoever gang ower the +doorstane after gloaming, for fear John Heatherblutter, or some siccan +dare-the-deil, should tak a baff at them: then, on the other hand, I +beflumm'd them wi' Colonel Talbot--wad they offer to keep up the price +again' the Duke's friend? did they na ken wha was master? had they na +seen eneugh, by the sad example of mony a puir misguided unhappy body--' + +'Who went to Derby, for example, Mr. Macwheeble?' said the Colonel to +him, aside. + +'Oh' whisht, Colonel, for the love o' God! let that flee stick i' +the wa'. There were mony good folk at Derby; and it's ill speaking of +halters,'--with a sly cast of his eye toward the Baron, who was in a +deep reverie. + +Starting out of it at once, he took Macwheeble by the button, and led +him into one of the deep window recesses, whence only fragments of their +conversation reached the rest of the party. It certainly related to +stamp-paper and parchment; for no other subject, even from the mouth of +his patron, and he, once more an efficient one, could have arrested so +deeply the Bailie's reverent and absorbed attention. + +'I understand your Honour perfectly; it can be dune as easy as taking +out a decreet in absence.' + +'To her and him, after my demise, and to their heirs-male,--but +preferring the second son, if God shall bless them with two, who is to +carry the name and arms of Bradwardine of that Ilk, without any other +name or armorial bearings whatsoever.' + +'Tut, your Honour!' whispered the Bailie, 'I'll mak a slight jotting the +morn; it will cost but a charter of resignation IN FAVOREM; and I'll hae +it ready for the next term in Exchequer. + +Their private conversation ended, the Baron was now summoned to do the +honours of Tully-Veolan to new guests. These were, Major Melville of +Cairnvreckan, and the Reverend Mr. Morton, followed by two or three +others of the Baron's acquaintances, who had been made privy to his +having again acquired the estate of his fathers. The shouts of the +villagers were also heard beneath in the courtyard; for Saunders +Saunderson, who had kept the secret for several days with laudable +prudence, had unloosed his tongue upon beholding the arrival of the +carriages. + +But, while Edward received Major Melville with politeness, and the +clergyman with the most affectionate and grateful kindness, his +father-in-law looked a little awkward, as uncertain how he should answer +the necessary claims of hospitality to his guests, and forward the +festivity of his tenants. Lady Emily relieved him, by intimating, that, +though she must be an indifferent representative of Mrs. Edward Waverley +in many respects, she hoped the Baron would approve of the entertainment +she had ordered, in expectation of so many guests; and that they would +find such other accommodations provided, as might in some degree support +the ancient hospitality of Tully-Veolan. It is impossible to describe +the pleasure which this assurance gave the Baron, who, with an air of +gallantry half appertaining to the stiff Scottish laird, and half to the +officer in the French service, offered his arm to the fair speaker, and +led the way, in something between a stride and a minuet step, into the +large dining parlour, followed by all the rest of the good company. + +By dint of Saunderson's directions and exertions, all here, as well as +in the other apartments, had been disposed as much as possible according +to the old arrangement; and where new movables had been necessary, they +had been selected in the same character with the old furniture, There +was one addition to this fine old apartment, however, which drew +tears into the Baron's eyes. It was a large and spirited painting, +representing Fergus Mac-Ivor and Waverley in their Highland dress; the +scene a wild, rocky, and mountainous pass, down which the clan were +descending in the background. It was taken from a spirited sketch, drawn +while they were in Edinburgh by a young man of high genius, and had +been painted on a full-length scale by an eminent London artist. Raeburn +himself (whose Highland chiefs do all but walk out of the canvas) could +not have done more justice to the subject; and the ardent, fiery, and +impetuous character of the unfortunate Chief of Glennaquoich was finely +contrasted with the contemplative, fanciful, and enthusiastic expression +of his happier friend. Beside this painting hung the arms which Waverley +had borne in the unfortunate civil war; The whole piece was beheld with +admiration, and deeper feelings. + +Men must, however, eat, in spite both of sentiment and vertu; and the +Baron, while he assumed the lower end of the table, insisted that Lady +Emily should do the honours of the head, that they might, he said, set a +meet example to the YOUNG FOLK. After a pause of deliberation, employed +in adjusting in his own brain the precedence between the Presbyterian +kirk and Episcopal church of Scotland, he requested Mr. Morton, as the +stranger, would crave a blessing,--observing, that Mr. Rubrick, who was +at home, would return thanks for the distinguished mercies it had been +his lot to experience. The dinner was excellent. Saunderson attended +in full costume, with all the former domestics, who had been collected, +excepting one or two, that had not been heard of since the affair of +Culloden. The cellars were stocked with wine which was pronounced to be +superb, and it had been contrived that the Bear of the Fountain, in the +courtyard, should (for that night only) play excellent brandy punch for +the benefit of the lower orders. + +When the dinner was over, the Baron, about to propose a toast, cast a +somewhat sorrowful look upon the sideboard,--which, however, exhibited +much of his plate, that had either been secreted or purchased by +neighbouring gentlemen from the soldiery, and by them gladly restored to +the original owner. + +'In the late times,' he said, 'those must be thankful who have saved +life and land; yet, when I am about to pronounce this toast, I cannot +but regret an old heirloom, Lady Emily--A POCULUM POTATORIUM, Colonel +Talbot'-- + +Here the Baron's elbow was gently touched by his major-demo, and, +turning round, he beheld, in the hands of Alexander ab Alexandro, the +celebrated cup of Saint Duthac, the Blessed Bear of Bradwardine! I +question if the recovery of his estate afforded him more rapture. 'By +my honour,' he said, 'one might almost believe in brownies and fairies, +Lady Emily, when your ladyship is in presence!' + +'I am truly happy,' said Colonel Talbot, 'that by the recovery of this +piece of family antiquity, it has fallen within my power to give you +some token of my deep interest in all that concerns my young friend +Edward. But that you may not suspect Lady Emily for a sorceress, or me +for a conjurer, which is no joke in Scotland, I must tell you that Frank +Stanley, your friend, who has been seized with a tartan fever ever since +he heard Edward's tales of old Scottish manners, happened to describe to +us at second hand this remarkable cup. My servant, Spontoon, who, like +a true old soldier, observes everything and says little, gave me +afterwards to understand that he thought he had seen the piece of plate +Mr. Stanley mentioned, in the possession of a certain Mrs. Nosebag, +who, having been originally the helpmate of a pawnbroker, had found +opportunity, during the late unpleasant scenes in Scotland, to trade +a little in her old line, and so became the depositary of the more +valuable part of the spoil of half the army. You may believe the cup was +speedily recovered; and it will give me very great pleasure if you allow +me to suppose that its value is not diminished by having been restored +through my means.' + +A tear mingled with the wine which the Baron filled, as he proposed a +cup of gratitude to Colonel Talbot, and 'The Prosperity of the united +Houses of Waverley-Honour and Bradwardine!'-- + +It only remains for me to say, that as no wish was ever uttered with +more affectionate sincerity, there are few which, allowing for the +necessary mutability of human events, have been, upon the whole, more +happily fulfilled. + + + +CHAPTER LXXII + +A POSTSCRIPT, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PREFACE + +Our journey is now finished, gentle reader; and if your patience has +accompanied me through these sheets, the contract is, on your part, +strictly fulfilled. Yet, like the driver who has received his full hire, +I still linger near you, and make, with becoming diffidence, a trifling +additional claim upon your bounty and good nature. You are as free, +however, to shut the volume of the one petitioner, as to close your door +in the face of the other. + +This should have been a prefatory chapter, but for two reasons:--First, +that most novel readers, as my own conscience reminds me, are apt to +be guilty of the sin of omission respecting that same matter of +prefaces;--secondly, that it is a general custom with that class of +students, to begin with the last chapter of a work; so that, after +all, these remarks, being introduced last in order, have still the best +chance to be read in their proper place. + +There is no European nation, which, within the course of half a century, +or little more, has undergone so complete a change as this kingdom of +Scotland. The effects of the insurrection of 1745,--the destruction +of the patriarchal power of the Highland chiefs,--the abolition of the +heritable jurisdictions of the Lowland nobility and barons,--the total +eradication of the Jacobite party, which, averse to intermingle with the +English, or adopt their customs, long continued to pride themselves +upon maintaining ancient Scottish manners and customs,--commenced this +innovation. The gradual influx of wealth, and extension of commerce, +have since united to render the present people of Scotland a class of +beings as different from their grandfathers as the existing English +are from those of Queen Elizabeth's time, The political and economical +effects of these changes have been traced by Lord Selkirk with great +precision and accuracy. But the change, though steadily and rapidly +progressive, has, nevertheless, been gradual; and, like those who drift +down the stream of a deep and smooth river, we are not aware of the +progress we have made until we fix our eye on the now distant point +from which we have been drifted.--Such of the present generation as +can recollect the last twenty or twenty-five years of the +eighteenth century, will be fully sensible of the truth of this +statement;--especially if their acquaintance and connexions lay among +those, who, in my younger time, were facetiously called 'folks of +the old leaven,' who still cherished a lingering, though hopeless, +attachment, to the house of Stuart. This race has now almost entirely +vanished from the land, and with it, doubtless, much absurd political +prejudice--but also, many living examples of singular and disinterested +attachment to the principles of loyalty which they received from their +fathers, and of old Scottish faith, hospitality, worth, and honour. + +It was my accidental lot, though not born a Highlander (which may be an +apology for much bad Gaelic), to reside, during my childhood and youth, +among persons of the above description;--and now, for the purpose of +preserving some idea of the ancient manners of which I have witnessed +the almost total extinction, I have embodied in imaginary scenes, and +ascribed to fictitious characters, a part of the incidents which I then +received from those who were actors in them. Indeed, the most romantic +parts of this narrative are precisely those which have a foundation in +fact. The exchange of mutual protection between a Highland gentleman +and an officer of rank in the king's service, together with the spirited +manner in which the latter asserted his right to return the favour he +had received, is literally true. The accident by a musket-shot, and +the heroic reply imputed to Flora, relate to a lady of rank not long +deceased. And scarce a gentleman who was 'in hiding' after the battle of +Culloden but could tell a tale of strange concealments, and of wild and +hair's-breadth 'scapes, as extraordinary as any which I have ascribed +to my heroes. Of this, the escape of Charles Edward himself, as the most +prominent, is the most striking example. The accounts of the battle +of Preston and skirmish at Clifton are taken from the narrative of +intelligent eye-witnesses, and corrected from the History of the +Rebellion by the late venerable author of DOUGLAS. The Lowland Scottish +gentlemen, and the subordinate characters, are not given as individual +portraits, but are drawn from the general habits of the period (of which +I have witnessed some remnants in my younger days), and partly gathered +from tradition. + +It has been my object to describe these persons, not by a caricatured +and exaggerated use of the national dialect, but by their habits, +manners, and feelings; so as in some distant degree to emulate the +admirable Irish portraits drawn by Miss Edgeworth, so different from +the 'Teagues' and 'dear joys,' who so long, with the most perfect family +resemblance to each other, occupied the drama and the novel. + +I feel no confidence, however, in the manner in which I have executed +my purpose. Indeed, so little was I satisfied with my production, that +I laid it aside in an unfinished state, and only found it again by mere +accident among other waste papers in an old cabinet, the drawers of +which I was rummaging, in order to accommodate a friend with some +fishing tackle, after it had been mislaid for several years. Two +works upon similar subjects, by female authors, whose genius is highly +creditable to their country, have appeared in the interval; I mean Mrs. +Hamilton's GLENBURNIE, and the late account of Highland Superstitions. +But the first is confined to the rural habits of Scotland, of which +it has given a picture with striking and impressive fidelity; and the +traditional records of the respectable and ingenious Mrs. Grant of +Laggan, are of a nature distinct from the fictitious narrative which I +have here attempted. + +I would willingly persuade myself, that the preceding work will not be +found altogether uninteresting. To elder persons it will recall scenes +and characters familiar to their youth; and to the rising generation the +tale may present some idea of the manners of their forefathers. + +Yet I heartily wish that the task of tracing the evanescent manners of +his own country had employed the pen of the only man in Scotland who +could have done it justice,--of him so eminently distinguished +in elegant literature,--and whose sketches of Colonel Caustic and +Umphraville are perfectly blended with the finer traits of national +character. I should in that case have had more pleasure as a reader +than I shall ever feel in the pride of a successful author, should these +sheets confer upon me that envied distinction. And as I have inverted +the usual arrangement, placing these remarks at the end of the work +to which they refer, I will venture on a second violation of form, by +closing the whole with a Dedication:-- + +THESE VOLUMES BEING RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO OUR SCOTTISH ADDISON, + +HENRY MACKENZIE, + +BY AN UNKNOWN ADMIRER OF HIS GENIUS. + + +***** + + + +NOTES + + +NOTE 1.--THE BRADSHAIGH LEGEND + +There is a family legend to this purpose, belonging to the knightly +family of Bradshaigh, the proprietors of Haighhall, in Lancashire, +where, I have been told, the event is recorded on a painted glass +window. The German ballad of the 'Noble Moringer' turns upon a similar +topic. But undoubtedly many such incidents may have taken place, where, +the distance being great, and the intercourse infrequent, false reports +concerning the fate of the absent Crusaders must have been commonly +circulated, and sometimes perhaps rather hastily credited at home. + + +NOTE 2.--TITUS LIVIUS + +The attachment to this classic was, it is said, actually displayed, in +the manner mentioned in the text, by an unfortunate Jacobite in that +unhappy period. He escaped from the jail in which he was confined for +a hasty trial and certain condemnation, and was retaken as he hovered +around the place in which he had been imprisoned, for which he could +give no better reason than the hope of recovering his favourite Titus +Livius. I am sorry to add, that the simplicity of such a character +was found to form no apology for his guilt as a rebel, and that he was +condemned and executed. + + +NOTE 3.--NICHOLAS AMHURST + +Nicholas Amhurst, a noted political writer, who conducted for many years +a paper called the Craftsman, under the assumed name of Caleb d'Anvers. +He was devoted to the Tory interest, and seconded with much ability the +attacks of Pulteney on Sir Robert Walpole. He died in 1742, neglected by +his great patrons, and in the most miserable circumstances. + +Amhurst survived the downfall of Walpole's power, and had reason to +expect a reward for his labours. If we excuse Bolingbroke, who had only +saved the shipwreck of his fortunes, we shall be at a loss to justify +Pulteney, who could with ease have given this man a considerable income. +The utmost of his generosity to Amhurst, that I ever heard of, was a +hogshead of claret! He died, it is supposed, of a broken heart; and was +buried at the charge of his honest printer, Richard Franklin.'--LORD +CHESTERFIELD'S CHARACTERS REVIEWED, p. 42. + + +NOTE 4.--COLONEL GARDINER + +I have now given in the text the full name of this gallant and excellent +man, and proceed to copy the account of his remarkable conversion, as +related by Dr. Doddridge. + +'This memorable event,' says the pious writer, 'happened towards the +middle of July, 1719. The major had spent the evening (and, if I +mistake not, it was the Sabbath) in some gay company, and had an unhappy +assignation with a married woman, whom he was to attend exactly at +twelve. The company broke up about eleven; and not judging it convenient +to anticipate the time appointed, he went into his chamber to kill the +tedious hour, perhaps with some amusing book, or some other way. But it +very accidentally happened that he took up a religious book, which +his good mother or aunt had, without his knowledge, slipped into +his portmanteau. It was called, if I remember the title exactly, THE +CHRISTIAN SOLDIER, or HEAVEN TAKEN BY STORM; and it was written by +Mr. Thomas Watson. Guessing by the title of it that he would find some +phrases of his own profession spiritualized in a manner which he thought +might afford him some diversion, he resolved to dip into it; but he took +no serious notice of anything it had in it; and yet, while this book was +in his hand an impression was made upon his mind (perhaps God only +knows how) which drew after it a train of the most important and happy +consequences. He thought he saw an unusual blaze of light fall upon the +book which he was reading, which he at first imagined might happen by +some accident in the candle: but lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to +his extreme amazement, that there was before him, as it were suspended +in the air, a visible representation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the +cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory; and was impressed, as if +a voice, or something equivalent to a voice, had come to him, to this +effect (for he was not confident as to the words)--"Oh, sinner! did I +suffer this for thee? and are these thy returns?" Struck with so amazing +a phenomenon as this, there remained hardly any life in him, so that he +sunk down in the arm-chair in which he sat, and continued, he knew not +how long, insensible.' + +'With regard to this vision,' says the ingenious Dr. Hibbert, 'the +appearance of our Saviour on the cross, and the awful words repeated, +can be considered in no other light than as so many recollected images +of the mind, which, probably, had their origin in the language of some +urgent appeal to repentance, that the colonel might have casually read +or heard delivered. From what cause, however, such ideas were rendered +as vivid as actual impressions, we have no information to be depended +upon. This vision was certainly attended with one of the most important +of consequences connected with the Christian dispensation--the +conversion of a sinner; and hence no single narrative has, perhaps, done +more to confirm the superstitious opinion that apparitions of this +awful kind cannot arise without a divine fiat.' Dr. Hibbert adds, in a +note--'A short time before the vision, Colonel Gardiner had received a +severe fall from his horse. Did the brain receive some slight degree +of injury from the accident, so as to predispose him to this spiritual +illusion?'--HIBBERT'S PHILOSOPHY OF APPARITIONS, Edinburgh, 1824, p. +190. + + +NOTE 5.--SCOTTISH INNS + +The courtesy of an invitation to partake a traveller's meal, or at least +that of being invited to share whatever liquor the guest called for, was +expected by certain old landlords in Scotland, even in the youth of the +author. In requital, mine host was always furnished with the news of the +country, and was probably a little of a humorist to boot. The devolution +of the whole actual business and drudgery of the inn upon the poor +gudewife, was very common among the Scottish Bonifaces. There was in +ancient times, in the city of Edinburgh, a gentleman of good family, +who condescended, in order to gain a livelihood, to become the nominal +keeper of a coffee house, one of the first places of the kind which +had been opened in the Scottish metropolis. As usual, it was entirely +managed by the careful and industrious Mrs. B--; while her husband +amused himself with field sports, without troubling his head about the +matter. Once upon a time the premises having taken fire, the husband was +met, walking up the High Street loaded with his guns and fishing-rods, +and replied calmly to some one who inquired after his wife, 'that the +poor woman was trying to save a parcel of crockery, and some trumpery +books'; the last being those which served her to conduct the business of +the house. + +There were many elderly gentlemen in the author's younger days, who +still held it part of the amusement of a journey 'to parley with mine +host,' who often resembled, in his quaint humour, mine Host of the +Garter in the MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; or Blague of the George in the +MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON. Sometimes the landlady took her share of +entertaining the company. In either case, the omitting to pay them due +attention gave displeasure, and perhaps brought down a smart jest, as on +the following occasion:-- + +A jolly dame, who, not 'Sixty Years since,' kept the principal +caravansary at Greenlaw in Berwickshire, had the honour to receive +under her roof a very worthy clergyman, with three sons of the same +profession, each having a cure of souls: be it said in passing, none of +the reverend party were reckoned powerful in the pulpit. After dinner +was over, the worthy senior, in the pride of his heart, asked Mrs. +Buchan whether she ever had had such a party in her house before. 'Here +sit I,' he said, 'a placed minister of the Kirk of Scotland, and here +sit my three sons, each a placed minister of the same kirk.--confess, +Luckie Buchan, you never had such a party in your house before.' The +question was not premised by any invitation to sit down and take a glass +of wine or the like, so Mrs. B. answered dryly, 'Indeed, Sir, I cannot +just say that ever I had such a party in my house before, except once in +the forty-five, when I had a Highland piper here, with his three sons, +all Highland pipers; AND DEIL A SPRING THEY COULD PLAY AMANG THEM.' + + +NOTE 6.--THE CUSTOM OF KEEPING FOOLS + +I am ignorant how long the ancient and established custom of keeping +fools has been disused in England. Swift writes an epitaph on the Earl +of Suffolk's fool,-- + +'Whose name was Dickie Pearce.' + +In Scotland the custom subsisted till late in the last century. At +Glamis Castle, is preserved the dress of one of the jesters, very +handsome, and ornamented with many bells. It is not above thirty years +since such a character stood by the sideboard of a nobleman of the first +rank in Scotland, and occasionally mixed in the conversation, till he +carried the joke rather too far, in making proposals to one of the young +ladies of the family, and publishing the banns betwixt her and himself +in the public church. + + +NOTE 7.--PERSECUTION OF EPISCOPAL CLERGYMEN + +After the Revolution of 1688, and on some occasions when the spirit of +the Presbyterians had been unusually animated against their opponents, +the Episcopal clergymen, who were chiefly non-jurors, were exposed to +be mobbed, as we should now say, or rabbled, as the phrase then went, +to expiate their political heresies. But notwithstanding that the +Presbyterians had the persecution in Charles II and his brother's time +to exasperate them, there was little mischief done beyond the kind of +petty violence mentioned in the text. + + +NOTE 8.--STIRRUP-CUP + +I may here mention, that the fashion of compotation described in the +text, was still occasionally practised in Scotland in the author's +youth. A company, after having taken leave of their host, often went to +finish the evening at the clachan or village, in 'womb of tavern.' Their +entertainer always accompanied them to take the stirrup-cup, which often +occasioned a long and late revel. + +The POCULUM POTATORIUM of the valiant Baron, his Blessed Bear, has a +prototype at the fine old Castle of Glamis, so rich in memorials of +ancient times; it is a massive beaker of silver, double gilt, moulded +into the shape of a lion, and holding about an English pint of wine. The +form alludes to the family name of Strathmore, which is Lyon, and, when +exhibited, the cup must necessarily be emptied to the Earl's health. +The author ought perhaps to be ashamed of recording that he has had the +honour of swallowing the contents of the Lion; and the recollection of +the feat served to suggest the story of the Bear of Bradwardine. In the +family of Scott of Thirlestane (not Thirlestane in the Forest, but the +place of the same name in Roxburghshire) was long preserved a cup of the +same kind, in the form of a jack-boot. Each guest was obliged to empty +this at his departure. If the guest's name was Scott, the necessity was +doubly imperative. + +When the landlord of an inn presented his guests with DEOCH AN DORUIS, +that is, the drink at the door, or the stirrup-cup, the draught was not +charged in the reckoning. On this point a learned Bailie of the town of +Forfar pronounced a very sound judgement. + +A., an ale-wife in Forfar, had brewed her 'peck of malt,' and set the +liquor out of doors to cool; the cow of B., a neighbour of A. chanced +to come by, and seeing the good beverage, was allured to taste it, and +finally to drink it up. When A. came to take in her liquor, she found +the tub empty, and from the cow's staggering and staring, so as to +betray her intemperance, she easily divined the mode in which her +'brewst' had disappeared. To take vengeance on Crummie's ribs with a +stick, was her first effort. The roaring of the cow brought B., her +master, who remonstrated with his angry neighbour, and received in reply +a demand for the value of the ale which Crummie had drunk up. B. refused +payment, and was conveyed before C., the Bailie, or sitting Magistrate. +He heard the case patiently; and then demanded of the plaintiff A., +whether the cow had sat down to her potation, or taken it standing. The +plaintiff answered she had not seen the deed committed, but she supposed +the cow drank the ale standing on her feet; adding, that had she been +near, she would have made her use them to some purpose. The Bailie, +on this admission, solemnly adjudged the cow's drink to be DEOCH +AN DORUIS--a stirrup-cup, for which no charge could be made without +violating the ancient hospitality of Scotland. + + +NOTE 9.--CANTING HERALDRY + +Although canting heraldry is generally reprobated, it seems nevertheless +to have been adopted in the arms and mottoes of many honourable +families. Thus the motto of the Vernons, VER NON SEMPER VIRET, is a +perfect pun, and so is that of the Onslows, FESTINA LENTE. The PERIISSEM +NI PER-IISSEM of the Anstruthers is liable to a similar objection. One +of that ancient race, finding that an antagonist, with whom he had +fixed a friendly meeting, was determined to take the opportunity of +assassinating him, prevented the hazard by dashing out his brains with +a battle-axe. Two sturdy arms brandishing such a weapon, form the usual +crest of the family, with the above motto--PERIISSEM NI PER-IISSEM--I +had died, unless I had gone through with it. + + +NOTE 10.--THE LEVYING OF BLACKMAIL + +Mac-Donald of Barrisdale, one of the very last Highland gentlemen who +carried on the plundering system to any great extent, was a scholar and +a well-bred gentleman. He engraved on his broadswords the well-known +lines-- + +Hae tibi erunt artes--pacisque imponere morem, + +Parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos. + +Indeed, the levying of blackmail was, before 1745, practised by several +chiefs of very high rank, who, in doing so, contended that they were +lending the laws the assistance of their arms and swords, and affording +a protection which could not be obtained from the magistracy in +the disturbed state of the country. The author has seen a memoir of +Mac-Pherson of Cluny, chief of that ancient clan, from which it appears +that he levied protection-money to a very large amount, which was +willingly paid even by some of his most powerful neighbours. A gentleman +of this clan hearing a clergyman hold forth to his congregation on the +crime of theft, interrupted the preacher to assure him, he might leave +the enforcement of such doctrines to Cluny Mac-Pherson, whose broadsword +would put a stop to theft sooner than all the sermons of all the +ministers of the synod. + + +NOTE 11.--ROB ROY + +An adventure, very similar to what is here stated, actually befell +the late Mr. Abercromby of Tullibody, grandfather of the present Lord +Abercromby, and father of the celebrated Sir Ralph. When this +gentlemen, who lived to a very advanced period of life, first settled in +Stirlingshire, his cattle were repeatedly driven off by the celebrated +Rob Roy, or some of his gang; and at length he was obliged, after +obtaining a proper safe-conduct, to make the Cateran such a visit as +that of Waverley to Bean Lean in the text. Rob received him with much +courtesy, and made many apologies for the accident, which must have +happened, he said, through some mistake. Mr. Abercromby was regaled with +collops from two of his own cattle, which were hung up by the heels in +the cavern, and was dismissed in perfect safety, after having agreed to +pay in future a small sum of blackmail, in consideration of which Rob +Roy not only undertook to forbear his herds in future, but to replace +any that should be stolen from him by other freebooters. Mr. Abercromby +said, Rob Roy affected to consider him as a friend to the Jacobite +interest, and a sincere enemy to the Union. Neither of these +circumstances were true; but the laird thought it quite unnecessary +to undeceive his Highland host at the risk of bringing on a political +dispute in such a situation. This anecdote I received many years since +(about 1792) from the mouth of the venerable gentleman who was concerned +in it. + + +NOTE 12.--KIND GALLOWS OF CRIEFF + +This celebrated gibbet was, in the memory of the last generation, still +standing at the western end of the town of Crieff, in Perthshire. Why +it was called the kind gallows, we are unable to inform the reader with +certainty; but it is alleged that the Highlanders used to touch their +bonnets as they passed a place which had been fatal to many of their +countrymen, with the ejaculation--'God bless her nain sell, and the Teil +tamn you!' It may therefore have been called kind, as being a sort +of native or kindred place of doom to those who suffered there, as in +fulfilment of a natural destiny. + + +NOTE 13.--CATERANS + +The story of the bridegroom carried off by Caterans on his bridal-day +is taken from one which was told to the author by the late Laird of +Mac-Nab, many years since. To carry off persons from the Lowlands, and +to put them to ransom, was a common practice with the wild Highlanders, +as it is said to be at the present day with the banditti in the south of +Italy. Upon the occasion alluded to, a party of Caterans carried off +the bridegroom, and secreted him in some cave near the mountain of +Schehallion. The young man caught the small-pox before his ransom could +be agreed on; and whether it was the fine cool air of the place, or the +want of medical attendance, Mac-Nab did not pretend to be positive; but +so it was, that the prisoner recovered, his ransom was paid, and he was +restored to his friends and bride, but always considered the Highland +robbers as having saved his life by their treatment of his malady. + + +NOTE 14.--RE-PURCHASE OF FORFEITED ESTATES + +This happened on many occasions. Indeed, it was not till after the total +destruction of the clan influence, after 1745, that purchasers could be +found who offered a fair price for the estates forfeited in 1715, +which were then brought to sale by the creditors of the York-Buildings +Company, who had purchased the whole, or greater part, from Government +at a very small price. Even so late as the period first mentioned, +the prejudices of the public in favour of the heirs of the forfeited +families threw various impediments in the way of intending purchasers of +such property. + + +NOTE 15.--HIGHLAND POLICY + +This sort of political game ascribed to Mac-Ivor was in reality played +by several Highland chiefs, the celebrated Lord Lovat in particular, who +used that kind of finesse to the uttermost. The Laird of Mac-- was also +captain of an independent company, but valued the sweets of present pay +too well to incur the risk of losing them in the Jacobite cause. His +martial consort raised his clan, and headed it in 1745. But the chief +himself would have nothing to do with king-making, declaring himself for +that monarch, and no other, who gave the Laird of Mac-- 'half a guinea +the day, and half a guinea the morn.' + + +NOTE 16.--HIGHLAND DISCIPLINE + +In explanation of the military exercise observed at the Castle of +Glennaquoich, the author begs to remark, that the Highlanders were not +only well practised in the use of the broadsword, firelock, and most of +the manly sports and trials of strength common throughout Scotland, but +also used a peculiar sort of drill, suited to their own dress and mode +of warfare. There were, for instance, different modes of disposing +the plaid,--one when on a peaceful journey, another when danger was +apprehended; one way of enveloping themselves in it when expecting +undisturbed repose, and another which enabled them to start up with +sword and pistol in hand on the slightest alarm. + +Previous to 1720, or thereabouts, the belted plaid was universally worn, +in which the portion which surrounded the middle of the wearer, and +that which was flung around his shoulders, were all of the same piece of +tartan. In a desperate onset, all was thrown away, and the clan charged +bare beneath the doublet, save for an artificial arrangement of the +shirt, which, like that of the Irish, was always ample, and for the +sporran-mollach, or goat's-skin purse. + +The manner of handling the pistol and dirk was also part of the Highland +manual exercise, which the author has seen gone through by men who had +learned it in their youth. + + +NOTE 17.--HIGHLAND ABHORRENCE OF PORK + +Pork, or swine's flesh, in any shape, was, till of late years, much +abominated by the Scotch, nor is it yet a favourite food amongst them. +King Jamie carried this prejudice to England, and is known to have +abhorred pork almost as much as he did tobacco. Ben Jonson has recorded +this peculiarity, where the gipsy in a masque, examining the king's +hand, says,-- + +--'you should, by this line, Love a horse, and a hound, but no part of a +swine.'--THE GYPSIES METAMORPHOSED. + +James's own proposed banquet for the devil was a loin of pork and a poll +of ling, with a pipe of tobacco for digestion. + + +NOTE 18.--A HIGHLAND CHIEF'S DINNER-TABLE + +In the number of persons of all ranks who assembled at the same table, +though by no means to discuss the same fare, the Highland Chiefs +only retained a custom which had been formerly universally observed +throughout Scotland. 'I myself,' says the traveller Fynes Morrison, +in the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the scene being the Lowlands of +Scotland, 'was at a knight's house, who had many servants to attend him, +that brought in his meat with their heads covered with blue caps, the +table being more than half furnished with great platters of porridge +each having a little piece of sodden meat. And when the table was +served, the servants did sit down with us; but the upper mess, instead +of porridge, had a pullet, with some prunes in the broth.'--TRAVELS, p. +155. + +Till within this last century, the farmers, even of a respectable +condition, dined with their work-people. The difference betwixt those of +high degree was ascertained by the place of the party above or below +the salt, or, sometimes, by a line drawn with chalk on the dining-table. +Lord Lovat, who knew well how to feed the vanity and restrain the +appetites of his clansmen, allowed each sturdy Fraser, who had the +slightest pretension to be a Duinhe-wassel, the full honour of the +sitting, but, at the same time, took care that his young kinsmen did not +acquire at his table any taste for outlandish luxuries. His Lordship was +always ready with some honourable apology, why foreign wines and French +brandy--delicacies which he conceived might sap the hardy habits of his +cousins--should not circulate past an assigned point on the table. + + +NOTE 19.--CONAN THE JESTER + +In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of Mac-Pherson), there +occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes, +each of whom has some distinguishing attribute: upon these qualities, +and the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed +which are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan +is distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and +daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a +blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of antiquity, +descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the +Arch-fiend; who presided there, which he instantly returned, using the +expression in the text. Sometimes the proverb is worded thus:--'Claw +for claw, and the devil take the shortest nails, as Conan said to the +devil.' + + +NOTE 20.--WATERFALL + +The description of the waterfall mentioned in this chapter is taken from +that of Ledeard, at the farm so called on the northern side of Lochard, +and near the head of the Lake, four or five miles from Aberfoyle. It is +upon a small scale, but otherwise one of the most exquisite cascades +it is possible to behold. The appearance of Flora with the harp, as +described, has been justly censured as too theatrical and affected for +the ladylike simplicity of her character. But something may be allowed +to her French education, in which point and striking effect always make +a considerable object. + + +NOTE 21.--MAC-FARLANE'S LANTERN + +The clan of Mac-Farlane, occupying the fastnesses of the western side +of Loch Lomond, were great depredators on the Low Country; and as their +excursions were made usually by night, the moon was proverbially called +their lantern. Their celebrated pibroch of HOGGIL NAM BO, which is the +name of their gathering tune, intimates similar practices,--the sense +being-- + + We are bound to drive the bullocks, + All by hollows, hirsts, and hillocks, + Through the sleet and through the rain; + When the moon is beaming low + On frozen lake and hills of snow, + Bold and heartily we go; + And all for little gain. + + +NOTE 22.--CASTLE OF DOUNE + +This noble ruin is dear to my recollection, from associations which have +been long and painfully broken. It holds a commanding station on the +banks of the river Teith, and has been one of the largest castles in +Scotland. Murdock, Duke of Albany, the founder of this stately pile, +was beheaded on the Castle-hill of Stirling, from which he might see the +towers of Doune, the monument of his fallen greatness. + +In 1745-6, as stated in the text, a garrison on the part of the +Chevalier was put into the castle, then less ruinous than at present. It +was commanded by Mr. Stewart of Balloch, as governor for Prince Charles +he was a man of property near Callander. This castle became at that time +the actual scene of a romantic escape made by John Home, the author of +Douglas, and some other prisoners, who, having been taken at the battle +of Falkirk, were confined there by the insurgents. The poet, who had in +his own mind a large stock of that romantic and enthusiastic spirit of +adventure, which he has described as animating the youthful hero of his +drama, devised and undertook the perilous enterprise of escaping from +his prison. He inspired his companions with his sentiments and when +every attempt at open force was deemed hopeless, they resolved to twist +their bed-clothes into ropes, and thus to descend. Four persons, with +Home himself, reached the ground in safety. But the rope broke with the +fifth, who was a tall lusty man. The sixth was Thomas Barrow, a brave +young Englishman, a particular friend of Home's. Determined to take the +risk, even in such unfavourable circumstances, Barrow committed himself +to the broken rope, slid down on it as far as it could assist him, and +then let himself drop. His friends beneath succeeded in breaking his +fall. Nevertheless, he dislocated his ankle, and had several of his ribs +broken. His companions, however, were able to bear him off in safety. + +The Highlanders next morning sought for their prisoners with great +activity. An old gentleman told the author he remembered seeing the +commander Stewart, + +Bloody with spurring, fiery red with haste, + +riding furiously through the country in quest of the fugitives. + + +NOTE 23.--JACOBITE SENTIMENTS + +The Jacobite sentiments were general among the western counties, and in +Wales. But although the great families of the Wynnes, the Wyndhams, and +others, had come under an actual obligation to join Prince Charles if +he should land, they had done so under the express stipulation, that he +should be assisted by an auxiliary army of French, without which they +foresaw the enterprise would be desperate. Wishing well to his cause, +therefore, and watching an opportunity to join him, they did not, +nevertheless, think themselves bound in honour to do so, as he was only +supported by a body of wild mountaineers, speaking an uncouth dialect, +and wearing a singular dress. The race up to Derby struck them with more +dread than admiration. But it was difficult to say what the effect might +have been, had either the battle of Preston or Falkirk been fought and +won during the advance into England. + + +NOTE 24.--THE CHEVALIER'S IRISH OFFICERS + +Divisions early showed themselves in the Chevalier's little army, not +only amongst the independent chieftains, who were far too proud to brook +subjection to each other, but betwixt the Scotch and Charles's governor +O'Sullivan, an Irishman by birth, who, with some of his countrymen +bred in the Irish Brigade in the service of the King of France, had an +influence with the Adventurer much resented by the Highlanders, who +were sensible that their own clans made the chief, or rather the only +strength of his enterprise. There was a feud, also, between Lord George +Murray, and James Murray of Broughton, the Prince's secretary, whose +disunion greatly embarrassed the affairs of the Adventurer. In general, +a thousand different pretensions divided their little army, and finally +contributed in no small degree to its overthrow. + + +NOTE 25.--FIELD-PIECE IN THE HIGHLAND ARMY + +This circumstance, which is historical, as well as the description that +precedes it, will remind the reader of the war of La Vendee, in which +the royalists, consisting chiefly of insurgent peasantry, attached a +prodigious and even superstitious interest to the possession of a piece +of brass ordnance, which they called Marie Jeanne. + +The Highlanders of an early period were afraid of cannon, with the noise +and effect of which they were totally unacquainted. It was by means +of three or four small pieces of artillery that the Earl of Huntly and +Errol, in James VI's time, gained a great victory at Glenlivat, over a +numerous Highland army, commanded by the Earl of Argyle. At the battle +of the Bridge of Dee, General Middleton obtained by his artillery a +similar success, the Highlanders not being able to stand the discharge +of MUSKET'S-MOTHER, which was the name they bestowed on great guns. In +an old ballad on the battle of the Bridge of Dee, these verses occur:-- + + The Highlandmen are pretty men + For handling sword and shield, + But yet they are but simple men + To stand a stricken field. + + The Highlandmen are pretty men + For target and claymore, + But yet they are but naked men + To face the cannon's roar. + + For the cannons roar on a summer night + Like thunder in the air; + Was never man in Highland garb + Would face the cannon fair. + +But the Highlanders of 1745 had got far beyond the simplicity of their +forefathers, and showed throughout the whole war how little they dreaded +artillery, although the common people still attached some consequence to +the possession of the field-piece which led to this disquisition. + + +NOTE 26.--ANDERSON OF WHITBURGH + +The faithful friend who pointed out the pass by which the Highlanders +moved from Tranent to Seaton, was Robert Anderson, Junior, of Whitburgh, +a gentleman of property in East Lothian. He had been interrogated by the +Lord George Murray concerning the possibility of crossing the uncouth +and marshy piece of ground which divided the armies, and which he +described as impracticable. When dismissed, he recollected that there +was a circuitous path leading eastward through the marsh into the +plain, by which the Highlanders might turn the flank of Sir John Cope's +position, without being exposed to the enemy's fire. Having mentioned +his opinion to Mr. Hepburn of Keith, who instantly saw its importance, +he was encouraged by that gentleman to awake Lord George Murray, and +communicate the idea to him. Lord George received the information with +grateful thanks, and instantly awakened Prince Charles, who was sleeping +in the field with a bunch of peas under his head. The Adventurer +received with alacrity the news that there was a possibility of bringing +an excellently provided army to a decisive battle with his own irregular +forces. His joy on the occasion was not very consistent with the charge +of cowardice brought against him by Chevalier Johnstone, a discontented +follower, whose Memoirs possess at least as much of a romantic as a +historical character. Even by the account of the Chevalier himself, the +Prince was at the head of the second line of the Highland army during +the battle, of which he says, 'It was gained with such rapidity, that in +the second line, where I was still by the side of the Prince, we saw no +other enemy than those who were lying on the ground killed and wounded, +THOUGH WE WERE NOT MORE THAN FIFTY PACES BEHIND OUR FIRST LINE, RUNNING +ALWAYS AS FAST AS WE COULD TO OVERTAKE THEM.' + +This passage in the Chevalier's Memoirs places the Prince within fifty +paces of the best of the battle, a position which would never have been +the choice of one unwilling to take a share of its dangers. Indeed, +unless the chiefs had complied with the young Adventurer's proposal +to lead the van in person, it does not appear that he could have been +deeper in the action. + + +NOTE 27.--DEATH OF COLONEL GARDINER + +The death of this good Christian and gallant man is thus given by +his affectionate biographer Dr. Doddridge, from the evidence of +eye-witnesses:-- + +'He continued all night under arms, wrapped up in his cloak, and +generally sheltered under a rick of barley, which happened to be in the +field. About three in the morning he called-his domestic servants to +him, of which there were four in waiting. He dismissed three of them +with most affectionate Christian advice, and such solemn charges +relating to the performance of their duty and the care of their souls, +as seemed plainly to intimate that he apprehended it was at least very +probable he was taking his last farewell of them. There is great reason +to believe that he spent the little remainder of the time, which could +not be much above an hour, in those devout exercises of soul which had +been so long habitual to him and to which so many circumstances did then +concur to call him. The army was alarmed, by break of day, by the noise +of the rebels' approach, and the attack was made before sunrise, yet +when it was light enough to discern what passed. As soon as the enemy +came within gunshot they made a furious fire; and it is said that the +dragoons which constituted the left wing immediately fled. The Colonel, +at the beginning of the onset, which in the whole lasted but a few +minutes, received a wound by a bullet in his left breast, which made him +give a sudden spring in his saddle upon which his servant, who led the +horse, would have persuaded him to retreat, but he said it was only a +wound in the flesh, and fought on, though he presently after received a +shot in his right thigh. In the meantime, it was discerned that some +of the enemy fell by him, and particularly one man, who had made him a +treacherous visit but a few days before, with great profession of zeal +for the present establishment. + +'Events of this kind pass in less time than the description of them can +be written, or than it can be read. The Colonel was for a few +moments supported by his men, and particularly by that worthy person +Lieutenant-Colonel Whitney, who was shot through the arm here, and a +few months after fell nobly at the battle of Falkirk, and by Lieutenant +West, a man of distinguished bravery, as also by about fifteen dragoons, +who stood by him to the last. But after a faint fire, the regiment in +general was seized with a panic; and though their Colonel and some other +gallant officers did what they could to rally them once or twice, they +at last took a precipitate flight. And just in the moment when Colonel +Gardiner seemed to be making a pause to deliberate what duty required +him to do in such circumstances, an accident happened, which must, I +think, in the judgement of every worthy and generous man, be allowed a +sufficient apology for exposing his life to so great hazard, when his +regiment had left him. He saw a party of the foot, who were then bravely +fighting near him, and whom he was ordered to support, had no officer to +head them; upon which he said eagerly, in the hearing of the person from +whom I had this account, "These brave fellows will be cut to pieces +for want of a commander," or words to that effect; which while he was +speaking, he rode up to them and cried out, "Fire on, my lads, and fear +nothing." But just as the words were out of his mouth, a Highlander +advanced towards him with a scythe fastened to a long pole, with which +he gave him so dreadful a wound on his right arm, that his sword dropped +out of his hand; and at the same time several others coming about him +while he was thus dreadfully entangled with that cruel weapon, he was +dragged off from his horse. The moment he fell, another Highlander, who, +if the king's evidence at Carlisle may be credited (as I know not why +they should not, though the unhappy creature died denying it), was +one Mac-Naught, who was executed about a year after, gave him a stroke +either with a broadsword or a Lochaber-axe (for my informant could +not exactly distinguish) on the hinder part of his head, which was the +mortal blow. All that his faithful attendant saw further at this time +was, that, as his hat was falling off, he took it in his left hand, and +waved it as a signal to him to retreat, and added what were the last +words he ever heard him speak, "Take care of yourself," upon which the +servant retired.'--SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF COLONEL JAMES +GARDINER, BY P. DODDRIDGE, D.D., London, 1747, p. 187. + +I may remark on this extract, that it confirms the account given in +the text of the resistance offered by some of the English infantry. +Surprised by a force of a peculiar and unusual description, their +opposition could not be long or formidable, especially as they +were deserted by the cavalry, and those who undertook to manage the +artillery. But although the affair was soon decided, I have always +understood that many of the infantry showed an inclination to do their +duty. + + +NOTE 28.-THE LAIRD OF BALMAWHAPPLE + +It is scarcely necessary to say that the character of this brutal +young Laird is entirely imaginary. A gentleman, however, who resembled +Balmawhapple in the article of courage only, fell at Preston in +the manner described. A Perthshire gentleman of high honour and +respectability, one of the handful of cavalry who followed the fortunes +of Charles Edward, pursued the fugitive dragoons almost alone till +near St. Clement's Wells, where the efforts of some of the officers had +prevailed on a few of them to make a momentary stand. Perceiving at this +moment that they were pursued by only one man and a couple of servants, +they turned upon him and cut him down with their swords. I remember, +when a child, sitting on his grave, where the grass long grew rank and +green, distinguishing it from the rest of the field. A female of the +family then residing at St. Clement's Wells used to tell me the tragedy, +of which she had been an eye-witness, and showed me in evidence one of +the silver clasps of the unfortunate gentleman's waistcoat. + + +NOTE 29.--ANDREA DE FERRARA + +The name of Andrea de Ferrara is inscribed on all the Scottish +broadswords which are accounted of peculiar excellence. Who this artist +was, what were his fortunes, and when he flourished, have hitherto +defied the research of antiquaries; only it is in general believed that +Andrea de Ferrara was a Spanish or Italian artificer, brought over by +James IV or V to instruct the Scots in the manufacture of sword blades. +Most barbarous nations excel in the fabrication of arms; and the Scots +had attained great proficiency in forging swords, so early as the field +of Pinkie; at which period the historian Patten describes them as 'all +notably broad and thin, universally made to slice, and of such exceeding +good temper, that as I never saw any so good, so I think it hard to +devise better.' ACCOUNT OF SOMERSET'S EXPEDITION. + +It may be observed, that the best and most genuine Andrea Ferraras have +a crown marked on the blades. + + +NOTE 30.--MISS NAIRNE + +The incident here said to have happened to Flora, Mac-Ivor, actually +befell Miss Nairne, a lady with whom the author had the pleasure of +being acquainted. As the Highland army rushed into Edinburgh, Miss +Nairne, like other ladies who approved of their cause, stood waving her +handkerchief from a balcony, when a ball from a Highlander's musket, +which was discharged by accident, grazed her forehead. 'Thank God' said +she, the instant she recovered, 'that the accident happened to me, whose +principles are known. Had it befallen a Whig, they would have said it +was done on purpose.' + + +NOTE 31.--PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD + +The Author of Waverley has been charged with painting the young +Adventurer in colours more amiable than his character deserved. But +having known many individuals who were near his person, he has been +described according to the light in which those eye-witnesses saw his +temper and qualifications. Something must be allowed, no doubt, to +the natural exaggerations of those who remembered him as the bold and +adventurous Prince, in whose cause they had braved death and ruin; but +is their evidence to give place entirely to that of a single malcontent? + +I have already noticed the imputations thrown by the Chevalier Johnstone +on the Prince's courage. But some part at least of that gentleman's tale +is purely romantic. It would not, for instance, be supposed, that at +the time he is favouring us with the highly-wrought account of his amour +with the adorable Peggie, the Chevalier Johnstone was a married man, +whose grandchild is now alive, or that the whole circumstantial story +concerning the outrageous vengeance taken by Gordon of Abbachie on a +Presbyterian clergyman, is entirely apocryphal. At the same time it may +be admitted, that the Prince, like others of his family, did not esteem +the services done him by his adherents so highly as he ought. Educated +in high ideas of his hereditary right, he has been supposed to have held +every exertion and sacrifice made in his cause as too much the duty of +the person making it, to merit extravagant gratitude on his part. +Dr. King's evidence (which his leaving the Jacobite interest renders +somewhat doubtful) goes to strengthen this opinion. + +The ingenious editor of Johnstone's MEMOIRS has quoted a story said +to be told by Helvetius, stating that Prince Charles Edward, far from +voluntarily embarking on his daring expedition, was literally bound hand +and foot, and to which he seems disposed to yield credit. Now, it being +a fact as well known as any in his history, and, so far as I know, +entirely undisputed, that the Prince's personal entreaties and urgency +positively forced Boisdale and Lochiel into insurrection, when they +were earnestly desirous that he would put off his attempt until he could +obtain a sufficient force from France, it will be very difficult to +reconcile his alleged reluctance to undertake the expedition, with his +desperately insisting on carrying the rising into effect, against the +advice and entreaty of his most powerful and most sage partisans. Surely +a man who had been carried bound on board the vessel which brought him +to so desperate an enterprise, would have taken the opportunity afforded +by the reluctance of his partisans, to return to France in safety. + +It is averred in Johnstone's Memoirs, that Charles Edward left the field +of Culloden without doing the utmost to dispute the victory; and, +to give the evidence on both sides, there is in existence the more +trustworthy testimony of Lord Elcho, who states, that he himself +earnestly exhorted the Prince to charge at the head of the left wing, +which was entire, and retrieve the day, or die with honour. And on +his counsel being declined, Lord Elcho took leave of him with a bitter +execration, swearing he would never look on his face again, and kept his +word. + +On the other hand, it seems to have been the opinion of almost all the +other officers, that the day was irretrievably lost, one wing of the +Highlanders being entirely routed, the rest of the army out-numbered, +out-flanked, and in a condition totally hopeless. In this situation of +things, the Irish officers who surrounded Charles's person interfered +to force him off the field. A cornet who was close to the Prince, left +a strong attestation, that he had seen Sir Thomas Sheridan seize the +bridle of his horse, and turn him round. There is some discrepancy of +evidence; but the opinion of Lord Elcho, a man of fiery temper, and +desperate at the ruin which he beheld impending, cannot fairly be taken +in prejudice of a character for courage which is intimated by the nature +of the enterprise itself, by the Prince's eagerness to fight on all +occasions, by his determination to advance from Derby to London, and by +the presence of mind which he manifested during the romantic perils of +his escape. The author is far from claiming for this unfortunate person +the praise due to splendid talents; but he continues to be of opinion, +that at the period of his enterprise, he had a mind capable of facing +danger and aspiring to fame. + +That Charles Edward had the advantages of a graceful presence, courtesy, +and an address and manner becoming his station, the author never heard +disputed by any who approached his person, nor does he conceive that +these qualities are overcharged in the present attempt to sketch his +portrait. The following extracts, corroborative of the general opinion +respecting the Prince's amiable disposition, are taken from a manuscript +account of his romantic expedition, by James Maxwell of Kirkconnel, +of which I possess a copy, by the friendship of J. Menzies, Esq., +of Pitfoddells. The author, though partial to the Prince, whom he +faithfully followed, seems to have been a fair and candid man, and well +acquainted with the intrigues among the Adventurer's council:-- + +'Everybody was mightily taken with the Prince's figure and personal +behaviour. There was but one voice about them. Those whom interest or +prejudice made a runaway to his cause, could not help acknowledging that +they wished him well in all other respects, and could hardly blame him +for his present undertaking. Sundry things had concurred to raise his +character to the highest pitch, besides the greatness of the enterprise, +and the conduct that had hitherto appeared in the execution of it. There +were several instances of good nature and humanity that had made a great +impression on people's minds, I shall confine myself to two or three. +Immediately after the battle, as the Prince was riding along the ground +that Cope's army had occupied a few minutes before, one of the officers +came up to congratulate him, and said, pointing to the killed, "Sir, +there are your enemies at your feet." The Prince, far from exulting, +expressed a great deal of compassion for his father's deluded subjects, +whom he declared he was heartily sorry to see in that posture. Next day, +while the Prince was at Pinkie-house, a citizen of Edinburgh came to +make some representation to Secretary Murray about the tents that city +was ordered to furnish against a certain day. Murray happened to be out +of the way, which the Prince hearing of, called to have the gentleman +brought to him, saying, he would rather dispatch the business, whatever +it was, himself, than have the gentleman wait, which he did, by granting +everything that was asked. So much affability in a young prince, flushed +with victory, drew encomiums even from his enemies. But what gave the +people the highest idea of him, was the negative he gave to a thing that +very nearly concerned his interest, and upon which the success of +his enterprise perhaps depended. It was proposed to send one of the +prisoners to London, to demand of that court a cartel for the exchange +of prisoners taken, and to be taken, during this war, and to intimate +that a refusal would be looked upon as a resolution on their part to +give no quarter. It was visible a cartel would be of great advantage to +the Prince's affairs; his friends would be more ready to declare for him +if they had nothing to fear but the chance of war in the field; and +if the court of London refused to settle a cartel, the Prince was +authorized to treat his prisoners in the same manner the Elector of +Hanover was determined to treat such of the Prince's friends as might +fall into his hands: it was urged that a few examples would compel the +court of London to comply. It was to be presumed that the officers of +the English army would make a point of it. They had never engaged in the +service but upon such terms as are in use among all civilized nations, +and it could be no stain upon their honour to lay down their commissions +if these terms were not observed, and that owing to the obstinacy of +their own Prince. Though this scheme was plausible, and represented as +very important, the Prince could never be brought into it: it was below +him, he said, to make empty threats, and he would never put such as +those into execution; he would never in cold blood take away lives which +he had saved in heat of action, at the peril of his own. These were not +the only proofs of good nature the Prince gave about this time. Every +day produced something new of this kind. These things softened the +rigour of a military government, which was only imputed to the necessity +of his affairs, and which he endeavoured to make as gentle and easy as +possible.' + +It has been said, that the Prince sometimes exacted more state and +ceremonial than seemed to suit his condition; but, on the other hand +some strictness of etiquette was altogether indispensable where he must +otherwise have been exposed to general intrusion. He could also endure, +with a good grace, the retorts which his affectation of ceremony +sometimes exposed him to. It is said, for example, that Grant of +Glenmoriston having made a hasty march to join Charles, at the head +of his clan, rushed into the Prince's presence at Holyrood with +unceremonious haste, without having attended to the duties of the +toilet. The Prince received him kindly, but not without a hint that +a previous interview with the barber might not have been wholly +unnecessary. 'It is not beardless boys,' answered the displeased Chief, +'who are to do your Royal Highness's turn.' The Chevalier took the +rebuke in good part. + +On the whole, if Prince Charles had concluded his life soon after his +miraculous escape, his character in history must have stood very high. +As it was, his station is amongst those, a certain brilliant portion of +whose life forms a remarkable contrast to all which precedes, and all +which follows it. + + +NOTE 32.--THE SKIRMISH AT CLIFTON + +The following account of the skirmish at Clifton is extracted from +the manuscript Memoirs of Evan Macpherson of Cluny, chief of the clan +Macpherson who had the merit of supporting the principal brunt of that +spirited affair. The Memoirs appear to have been composed about 1755, +only ten years after the action had taken place. They were written in +France, where that gallant Chief resided in exile, which accounts for +some Gallicisms which occur in the narrative. + +'In the Prince's return from Derby back towards Scotland, my Lord George +Murray, Lieutenant-General, cheerfully charg'd himself with the command +of the rear; a post, which, altho' honourable, was attended with great +danger, many difficulties, and no small fatigue; for the Prince being +apprehensive that his retreat to Scotland might be cut off by Marischall +Wade, who lay to the northward of him with an armie much superior to +what H. R. H. had, while the Duke of Comberland with his whole cavalrie +followed hard in the rear, was obliged to hasten his marches. It was +not, therefore, possible for the artilirie to march so fast as the +Prince's armie, in the depth of winter, extremely bad weather, and +the worst roads in England; so Lord George Murray was obliged often to +continue his marches long after it was dark almost every night, while at +the same time, he had frequent allarms and disturbances from the Duke of +Comberland's advanc'd parties. Towards the evening of the twentie-eight +December 1745, the Prince entered the town of Penrith, in the Province +of Comberland. But as Lord George Murray could not bring up the +artilirie so fast as he wou'd have wish'd, he was obliged to pass +the night six miles short of that town, together with the regiment of +Mac-Donel of Glengarrie, which that day happened to have the arrear +guard. The Prince, in order to refresh his armie, and to give my Lord +George and the artilirie time to come up, resolved to sejour the 29th at +Penrith; so ordered his little army to appear in the morning under arms, +in order to be reviewed, and to know in what manner the numbers stood +from his haveing entered England. It did not at that time amount to +5000 foot in all, with about 400 cavalrie, composed of the noblesse who +serv'd as volunteers, part of whom form'd a first troop of guards for +the Prince, under the command of My Lord Elchoe, now Comte de Weems, +who, being proscribed, is presently in France. Another part formed a +second troup of guards under the command of My Lord Balmirino, who was +beheaded at the Tower of London. A third part serv'd under My Lord le +Comte de Kilmarnock, who was likewise beheaded at the Tower. A fourth +part serv'd under My Lord Pitsligow, who is also proscribed; which +cavalrie, tho' very few in numbers, being all Noblesse, were very brave, +and of infinite advantage to the foot, not only in the day of battle, +but in serving as advanced guards on the several marches, and in +patroling dureing the night on the different roads which led towards the +towns where the army happened to quarter. + +'While this small army was out in a body on the 29th December, upon +a rising ground to the northward of Penrith, passing review, Mons. de +Cluny with his tribe, was ordered to the Bridge of Clifton, about a +mile to southward of Penrith, after having pass'd in review before Mons. +Patullo, who was charged with the inspection of the troops, and was +likewise Quarter Master General of the army, and is now in France. They +remained under arms at the Bridge, waiting the arrival of My Lord George +Murray with the artilirie, whom Mons. de Cluny had orders to cover in +passing the bridge. They arrived about sunsett closely pursued by the +Duke of Comberland with the whole body of his cavalrie, reckoned upwards +of 3000 strong, about a thousand of whom, as near as might be computed, +dismounted, in order to cut off the passage of the artilirie towards the +bridge, while the Duke and the others remained on horseback in order to +attack the arrear. My Lord George Murray advanced, and although he +found Mons. de Cluny and his tribe in good spirits under arms, yet +the circumstance appear'd extremely delicate. The numbers were vastly +unequall, and the attack seem'd very dangerous; so my Lord George +declin'd giving orders to such time as he ask'd Mons. de Cluny's +oppinion. "I will attack them with all my heart," says Mons. de Cluny, +"if you order me." "I do order it then," answered my Lord George, and +immediately went on himself along with Mons. de Cluny, and fought sword +in hand on foot, at the head of the single tribe of Macphersons. They +in a moment made their way through a strong hedge of thorns, under the +cover whereof the cavalrie had taken their station, in the struggle of +passing which hedge My Lord George Murray, being dressed EN MONTAGNARD, +as all the army were, lost his bonnet and wig; so continued to fight +bare-headed during the action, They at first made a brisk discharge of +their firearms on the enemy, then attacked them with their sabres, and +made a great slaughter a considerable time, which obliged Comberland +and his cavalrie to fly with precipitation and in great confusion; in +so much, that if the Prince had been provided in a sufficient number of +cavalrie to have taken advantage of the disorder, it is beyond question +that the Duke of Comberland and the bulk of his cavalrie had been taken +prisoners. By this time it was so dark that it was not possible to view +or number the slain, who filled all the ditches which happened to be on +the ground where they stood. But it was computed that, besides those who +went off wounded upwards of a hundred at least were left on the spot, +among whom was Colonel Honeywood, who commanded the dismounted cavalrie, +whose sabre, of considerable value, Mons. de Cluny brought off and still +preserves; and his tribe lykeways brought off many arms;--the Colonel +was afterwards taken up, and, his wounds being dress'd, with great +difficultie recovered. Mons. de Cluny lost only in the action twelve +men, of whom some haveing been only wounded, fell afterwards into the +hands of the enemy, and were sent as slaves to America, whence several +of them returned, and one of them is now in France, a serjeant in the +Regiment of Royal Scots. How soon the accounts of the enemie's approach +had reached the Prince, H. R. H. had immediately ordered Mi-Lord le +Comte de Nairne, Brigadier, who, being proscribed, is now in France, +with the three batalions of the Duke of Athol, the batalion of the Duke +of Perth, and some other troups under his command, in order to support +Cluny, and to bring off the artilirie. But the action was intirely over +before the Comte de Nairne, with his command, cou'd reach nigh to the +place. They therefore return'd all to Penrith, and the artilirie marched +up in good order. Nor did the Duke of Comberland ever afterwards dare to +come within a day's march of the Prince and his army dureing the course +of all that retreat, which was conducted with great prudence and safety, +when in some manner surrounded by enemies.' + + +NOTE 33.--THE OATH UPON THE DIRK + +As the heathen deities contracted an indelible obligation if they swore +by Styx, the Scottish Highlanders had usually some peculiar solemnity +attached to an oath which they intended should be binding on them. Very +frequently it consisted in laying their hand, as they swore, on their +own drawn dirk; which dagger, becoming a party to the transaction, was +invoked to punish any breach of faith. But, by whatever ritual the oath +was sanctioned, the party was extremely desirous to keep secret what the +especial oath was, which he considered as irrevocable. This was a matter +of great convenience, as he felt no scruple in breaking his asseveration +when made in any other form than that which he accounted as peculiarly +solemn; and therefore readily granted any engagement which bound him +no longer than he inclined. Whereas, if the oath which he accounted +inviolable was once publicly known, no party with whom he might have +occasion to contract, would have rested satisfied with any other. Louis +XI of France practised the same sophistry, for he also had a peculiar +species of oath, the only one which he was ever known to respect, and +which, therefore, he was very unwilling to pledge. The only engagement +which that wily tyrant accounted binding upon him, was an oath by the +Holy Cross of Saint Lo d'Angers, which contained a Portion of the True +Cross. If he prevaricated after taking this oath, Louis believed he +should die within the year. The Constable Saint Paul, being invited to a +personal conference with Louis, refused to meet the king unless he would +agree to ensure him safe conduct under sanction of this oath. But, says +Comines, the king replied, he would never again pledge that engagement +to mortal man, though he was willing to take any other oath which could +be devised. The treaty broke off, therefore, after much chaffering +concerning the nature of the vow which Louis was to take. Such is the +difference between the dictates of superstition and those of conscience. + + +***** + + + + +GLOSSARY + +ABIIT, EVASIT, ERUPIT, EFFUGIT, more correctly the quotation is, 'abiit, +excessit, evasit, erupit': varying terms to express the haste, secrecy, +and energy of the flight. + +ABOON or ABUNE, above. + +ACCOLADE, embrace. + +ADSCRIPTI GLEBAE, slaves, transferred with the land to which they are +bound, from one possessor to another. + +AHINT, behind. + +AITS, oats. + +ALERTE A LA MURAILLE, 'Quick to the wall!' + +ALEXANDER AB ALEXANDRO, Alexander the son of Alexander. + +ALMA = 'alma mater terra', the land, the bounteous mother. + +ALTER EGO, his other self. + +AMBRY, AWMRY, chest. + +ANENT, concerning. + +ANILIA, old women's tales. + +APOTHEOSIS, deification. + +ARIETTE, air. + +ASSOILZIED, acquitted, or absolved. + +ASSYTHMENT, satisfaction. + + +BAFF, slap. + +BAGGANETS, bayonets. + +BARLEY, parley; CRY BARLEY IN A BRUILZIE, call a truce during a +scrimmage. + +BARON-BAILIE, steward of the estate. + +BAWBEE, halfpenny. + +BAXTER, baker. + +BEAUFET, buffet, sideboard. + +BEFLUMMED, befooled. + +BEGUNK, trick. + +BEN, within (by, in). + +BENEMPT, named. + +BENT, open country. + +BHAIRD, bard. + +BIBLIOPOLIST, seller of books. + +BIELDY, sheltered. + +BIRLIEMAN, a parish official. + +BLIND, hidden, out of the way. + +BLOOD-WIT, blood-money, compensation for homicide. + +BODACH, spectre. + +BODLE, farthing. + +BOGLE, bogey. + +BON VIVANT, a lover of good fare. + +BOUNE, make ready. + +BRANDER, broil. + +BRAW, fine. + +BROGUES, shoes. + +BROO', broth. + +BRUCKLE, brittle, frail. + +BRUIK, possess. + +BRUILZIE, broil, scrimmage. + +BURGONET, helmet. + +BUSK, get ready. + + +CAILLIACH, crone, old woman. + +CAISSE MILITAIRE, military chest. + +CALLANT, lad. + +CANNY, shrewd; UNCANNY or NO CANNY, eerie. + +CANTER, beggar; from the whining or 'canting' tone. + +CANTRIPS, tricks. + +CATH-DATH, tartan. + +C'EST DES DEUX OREILLES, properly, 'c'est d'une oreille,' an expression +appreciative of good wine. + +C'EST L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE, it is the man who fights and +gives counsel. + +CEAN-KINNE, head of the clan. + +CEDANT ARMA TOGAE, let weapons give place to the citizen's robe. + +CELA NE TIRE A RIEN, that counts for nothing. + +CELA VA SANS DIRE, that goes without saying. + +CESS-MONEY, land-tax. + +CHANGE-HOUSE, public house. + +CHEVAUX-DE-POSTE, post-horses. + +CHIEL, person. + +CLACHAN, village. + +CLAMHEWIT, slash, clout. + +CLAW FAVOUR, curry favour. + +CLOUR, bump. + +COGHLING, blowing. + +COM., short for COMITATUS = county. + +CONCLAMARE VASA, to give the signal for baggage, i.e. for packing the +baggage. + +CONGES, bowing and scraping. + +CORONACH, lament. + +CORRI, hill-side. + +COUP, upset. + +COUPE-JARRET, cut-throat (literally, leg-chopper). + +COUR PLENIERE, full court, state-reception. + +COUTEAU DE CHASSE, hunting-knife. + +COW YER CRACKS, stop your chatter. + +CRAIG, neck. + +CREAGH, foray, raid. + +CUITTLE, fickle. + +CURRAGH, boat, + +CURRANT, running. + +CUT-LUGGED, crop-eared. + + +DANS SON TORT, in the wrong. + +DE FACTO, in actual fact. + +DE JURE, by legal right. + +DEAVING, deafening. + +DELIVER, active. + +DEMELEE, extrication from a hobble. + +DEOCH AN DORUIS, stirrup-cup. + +DERN, dark. + +DIAOUL, devil. + +DIAOUL!--CEADE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART, O the devil! a hundred thousand +curses. + +DINMONTS, year-old wethers. + +DISPONE, assign. + +DIVERTISEMENTS, diversions. + +DOER, factor, agent. + +DOITED, witless. + +DOON, down. + +DORLACH, valise, portmanteau. + +DOVERING, half-asleep. + +DOW, dove. + +DOWFF, dull. + +DUE DONZELLETTE GARRULE, two garrulous damsels. + +DUINHE-WASSEL, gentleman. + + +EARN, eagle. + +ELD, age. + +ELISOS OCULOS, ET SICCUM SANGUINE GUTTUR, eyes squeezed out of his head, +and throat drained of blood. + +EN ATTENDANT, meanwhile. + +EN MOUSQUETAIRE, from a soldier's point of view. + +EPULAE AD SENATUM, PRANDIUM VERO AD POPULUM ATTINET, for the senate +feasts are befitting, but for the people a simple meal. + +EPULAE LAUTIORES, splendid feasts. + +EQUIPONDERATE, equivalent. + +ET SINGULA PRAEDANTUR ANNI, the passing years rob us of every thing we +possess, one by one. + +ETTER-CAP, A venomous person. + +EVITE, evade. + +EWEST, nearest. + +EXEEMED, exempt. + + +FAIRE LA CUREE, to give the shin, &c., of a killed stag to the hounds. + +FAIRE LA MEILLEURE CHERE, to make good cheer. + +FEAL, loyal. + +FECK, part. + +FENDY, handy. + +FEROCIORES IN ASPECTU, MITIORES IN ACTU, fierce in appearance, in +behaviour mild. + +FILLE DE CHAMBRE, lady's maid. + +FLEMIT, frightened. + +FLEYT, scold. + +FORIS-FAMILIATED, excluded from the family, out of the jurisdiction of +the head of the family. + +FUNGARQUE INANI MUNERE, I shall render a fruitless service. + + +GABERLUNZIE, beggar. + +GAD, bar. + +GANE, gone. + +GAR, make. + +GARCONS APOTHICAIRES, chemists' assistants. + +GARDEZ L'EAU, beware of the water. + +GARTANED, gartered. + +GAUDET EQUIS ET CANIBUS, he finds his pleasure in horses and dogs. + +GAUN, going. + +GEAR, goods. + +GIMMERS, ewes of two years. + +GIN, if. + +GLED, hawk. + +GLEG, quick. + +GLISK, glimpse. + +GRANING, groaning. + +GRAT, cried; GREET, cry, weep. + +GREY-BEARD, jug. + +GRICE, young pig. + +GRIFFIN, a four-legged dragon. + +GRIPPLE, greedy. + +GUSTO, taste. + + +HAEC TIBI ERUNT ARTES, &c. 'These be your acts; to impose the rule of +peace; To spare the humbled, crush the arrogant foe.' + +HAG, copse. + +HAGGIS, a dish composed of the pluck, &c., of a sheep, with oatmeal, +suet, onions, &c., boiled inside the animal's maw. + +HAILL, whole. + +HALLAN, inner wall. + +HANTLE, a lot. + +HECK, cattle rack. + +HER NAIN SELL, me, myself. + +HERSHIP, plunder. + +HET, hot. + +HIPPOGRIFF, a cross between a horse and a dragon. + +HOG, lamb. + +HOMAGIUM, the act of homage. + +HORNING, outlawry. + +HORSE-COUPER, horse-dealer. + +HOWE, hollow. + +HUMANA PERPESSI SUMUS, we have borne all that man can inflict on us. + +HURDLES, buttocks. + + +ILK, each; OF THAT ILK, having the same title as the surname. + +IMPIGER, IRACUNDUS, INEXORABILIS, ACER, untiring, swift to wrath, +unyielding, keen. + +IN CARCERE, in prison. + +IN ERGASTULO, in a dungeon (a private prison, as opposed to INCARCERE). + +IN INTEGNUM, in full. + +IN LOCO PARENTIS, in the place of a parent. + +IN REBUS BELLICIS MAXIME DOMINATUR FORTUNA, in matters of war, Luck has +most to say. + +IN SERVITIO EXUENDI, SEU DETRAHENDI. CALIGAS REGIS POST BATALLIAM, for +the service of undoing or pulling off the king's boots after a battle. + +INTROMITTED, interfered with. + + +JOGUE, jogee, ascetic or conjurer. + + +KEMPLE, a load of hay (forty 'bottles'). + +KIPPAGE, rage. + +KITTLE, tricky, difficult. + +KYLOES, highland cattle. + + +LA BELLE PASSION, the gentle passion. + +LA HOULETTE ET LE CHALLUMEAU, the shepherd's crook and pipe. + +LAIRD, (equivalent to) squire. + +LAISSEZ FAIRE A DON ANTOINE, Leave that to Don Antonio. + +LANG-LEGGIT, long-legged. + +LAPIS OFFENSIONIS ET PETRA SCANDALI, a stone of stumbling and a rock of +offence. + +LAWING, reckoning. + +LE BEAU IDEAL, the perfect conception. + +LEGES CONVIVIALES, the rules of the table. + +LES COUSTUSMES DE NORMANDIE, C'EST L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE, +[according to] the Norman custom, it is the man who fights and gives +counsel. + +LEVY EN MASSE, full muster. + +LIBER PATER, Father Liber; an old Italian deity, afterwards identified +with Bacchus. + +LIGHTLY, make light of. + +LIMMER, hussy, good-for-nothing. + +LOON, fellow. + +LOUPING-ON STANE, mounting-stone. + +LOUR, to frown. + +LUCKIE, widow. + +LUG, ear. + +LUNZIE, wallet. + + +MA BELLE DEMOISELLE, my fair damsel. + +MADAME SON EPOUSE, Madam his wife. + +MAILS, rent, dues. + +MAIS CELA VIENDRA AVEC LE TEMPS, but that will come with time. + +MAIST, most. + +MAJOR DOMO, butler, mayor of the house, steward. + +MANEGE, the art of training and managing horses. + +MART, fatted beasts, slaughtered at Martinmas for winter provision. + +MASK, infuse. + +MAUGRE, in spite of. + +MAUN, must. + +MAUVAISE HONTE, false shame. + +MAVORTIA PECTORA, warlike breasts. + +MEAL-ARK, meal-tub. + +MISGUGGLE, mishandle. + +MOLDWARP, mole. + +MON COEUR, &c. 'My heart so light, quo' she, My lad, is not for +you; 'Tis for a soldier bold, With beard of martial hue. Down, down, +derrydown. 'A feather in his hat, A red heel on his shoe; Who plays upon +the flute, And on the fiddle too. Down, down, derrydown.' + +MORNING, morning drink. + +MORTIS CAUSA, the cause of death. + +MOUSTED, powdered. + +MUTEMUS CLYPEOS, &c. 'Change we our shields, and for ourselves assume +the trappings of the Greeks.' + + +NEB, nose. + +NEBULONES NEQUISSIMI, worthless scamps. + +NEC NATURALITER IDIOTA, not a born idiot. + +NOLT, cattle. + +NUNC INSANUS AMOR, &c. 'Love's frenzy keeps me still in war's array +Where bolts fly thick, and foemen compass me.' + +NUNCUPATIVE, legally valid nomination of an heir. + + +OBSIDIONAL CROWN, the reward of a commander who delivered a town from +siege; here used erroneously for the reward of the soldier who first +entered a besieged city. + +ORRA, odd; ORRA MAN, the man who does the odd jobs. + +OUTRECUIDANCE, presumption. + +O VOUS QUI BUVEZ, &c. 'O you, who drink from flagons full, From out this +happy fountain cool, Here where, upon the banks, you see Only the flocks +of silly sheep, With rustic maids for company, Who bare of foot their +wardship keep.' + +OYER AND TERMINER, to hear and determine (legal, from Norman +terminology). + + +PAITRICK, partridge. + +PALINODE, recantation. + +PANGED, crammed. + +PAUNIE, peacock. + +PEACHED, informed against, betrayed. + +PECULIUM, property. + +PENETRALIA, interior. + +PER CONJURATIONEM, on oath. + +PHILABEG, kilt. + +PHRENESIAC, frenzied. + +PINNERS, cap with lappets. + +PIS-ALLER, an inferior article which will do to go on with. + +PLACK, halfpenny. + +PLEADER, barrister. + +PLOY, employment, or fuss. + +POCULUM POTATORIUM, drinking-cup. + +POWTERING, rummaging. + +PRANDIUM, a meal. + +PRETTY, athletic. + +PRIMAE NOTAE, of the first quality. + +PRINCEPS, chieftain. + +PROCUL A PATRIAE FINIBUS, far from the borders of your own land. + +PROCUL DUBIO, without doubt. + +PRONER, praise up. + +PROPONE, propose. + +PROSAPIA, ancestry. + +PUER (JUVENIS) BONAE SPEI ET MAGNAE INDOLIS, a youth of promising future +and of high character. + + +QUANTUM SUFFICIT, as much as is needed, enough. + +QUASI BEARWARDEN, in the capacity of Bearwarden. + +QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES GENS, that he knows well with whom he has to +deal. + +QUEAN, girl. + +QUODLIBETS, subtleties. + + +RAMPANT, erect on the hind legs. + +RECEPTO AMICO, when a friend is present. + +RECTUS IN CURIA, cleared before the law, + +REDD, put in order. + +REIFS, robberies. + +REISES, brushwood. + +RESILING, drawing back. + +RINTHEROUT, rapscallion. + +RISU SOLVUNTUR TABULAE, the prosecution is laughed out of court. + +ROKELAY, short cloak. + +ROYNISH, scurvy. + +RUNT, an old cow. + +RUSE DE GUERRE, military stratagem. + + +SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, soldiers' oath of allegiance. + +SAGESSE, discretion. + +SALIENT, in the act of leaping. + +SANCTUM SANCTORUM, lit. 'holy of holies'; a specially private retreat or +study. + +SANS TACHE, without stain. + +SARKS, shirts. + +SCARTED, scratched, + +SCHELLUM, scamp. + +SCOUPING, scampering. + +SENNACHIES, Highland genealogists. + +SERVABIT ODOREM TESTA DIU, the pot will keep the smell for a long time. + +SHEMUS BEG, little James. + +SHIBBOLETH, a pass-word (Judges xii, 6). + +SHILPIT, thin. + +SICCAN, such. + +SIDIER ROY, red-coated soldiers. + +SILLER, silver. + +SKENE, small dirk or dagger. + +SMOKY, suspicious. + +SONSIE, sensible. + +SOPITE, allay. + +SORNER, a person who lives on his neighbours. + +SOWENS, porridge or gruel. + +SPEIRINGS, askings, = information. + +SPENCE, best room. + +SPES ALTERA, another hope. + +SPLEUCHAN, pocket. + +SPRACK, spruce. + +SPRECHERY, cattle-lifting. + +SPUILZIE, spoil (cf. BRUILZIE = broil). + +STEADINGS, farms. + +STIEVE, stiff. + +STIRK, a year-old heifer or bullock. + +STOOR, austere. + +STOT, bull. + +STOUP, mug, flagon. + +STOUTHREIF, robbery with violence. + +STRAE, straw. + +STRATH, a valley. + +STRATHSPEY, a Scottish dance. + +STREEK, lie down. + +SUI JURIS, of his own right. + +SUUM CUIQUE, to each his due. + +SYBOES, onions or radishes. + + +TACKSMAN, tenant. + +TAIGLIT, slow, tired. + +TAILLIE, covenant, bond. + +TAISHATR, a person who has second-sight. + +TANDEM TRIUMPHANS, triumphant in the end. + +TANQUAM PRIVATUS, in my private capacity. + +TAPPIT-HEN, a pewter-pot, holding nearly a gallon. + +TENTAMINA, experiments. + +TESTAMENTUM MILITARE, will made on the field of battle. + +THIR, those. + +THRAW, twist. + +THREEPIT, declared. + +TIGHEARNA, chief. + +TIL, to; INTIL, into; UNTIL, unto. + +TINCHEL, circle of beaters for driving game. + +TOCHER, dowry; TOCHERLESS, dowerless. + +TOTO COELO, as widely as may be. + +TOUN, collection of houses, + +TRACASSERIE, annoyance. + +TREWS, tartan trousers. + +TRINDLING, trundling. + +TROISIEME ETAGE, third floor. + +TROT-COZY, riding-hood. + +TUILZIE, scrimmage. + + +UMWHILE, sometime, late. + +UN PETIT PENDEMENT BIEN JOLI, a very pretty little hanging. + +UNCO, very. + +UNSONSY, senseless, or uncanny. + +UNTIL, unto. + +USQUEBAUGH, whiskey. + + +VILIPENDED, slandered. + +VINUM LOCUTUM EST, it was the wine that spoke. + +VINUM PRIMAE NOTAE, wine of the first quality. + +VITA ADHUC DURANTE, as long as life lasts. + +VIVERS, victuals. + +VIX EA NOSTRA VOCO, I scarcely call these things my own. + + +WADSET, pledge. + +WANCHANCY, unchancy unlucky. ill-omened. + +WAPPEN, brief. + +WARE, spend, bestow. + +WA'S, walls. + +WEEL-FAR'D, well-favoured. + +WEISING, aiming. + +WHEEN, WHIN, few. + +WHILK, which. + +WHINGEING, whining. + +WYVERN, two-legged dragon. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Waverley, by Sir Walter Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAVERLEY *** + +***** This file should be named 2034.txt or 2034.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/2034/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + +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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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +WAVERLEY + +or + +'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE + + +by SIR WALTER SCOTT BART. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +INTRODUCTION +WAVERLEY or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE +NOTES +GLOSSARY + + + +[Note: + +Characters that were in italics in the printed text have been +written in capital letters in this Etext. Accents in quotations +in French and other accented languages have been omitted. + +Footnotes in the printed text that were at the bottom of the +page have been placed in square brackets, as near as possible +to the place where they were originally referred to by a suffix. + +Numbered notes at the end of the book are referred to by the +insertion of references to those notes in square brackets.] + + + + +Under which King, Bezonian? speak, or die! Henry IV, Part II. + + +INTRODUCTION--(1829) + +The plan of this Edition leads me to insert in this place some +account of the incidents on which the Novel of WAVERLEY is +founded. They have been already given to the public, by my late +lamented friend, William Erskine, Esq. (afterwards Lord +Kinneder), when reviewing the 'Tales of My Landlord' for the +QUARTERLY REVIEW, in 1817. The particulars were derived by the +Critic from the Author's information. Afterwards they were +published in the Preface to the CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE. +They are now inserted in their proper place. + +The mutual protection afforded by Waverley and Talbot to each +other, upon which the whole plot depends, is founded upon one of +those anecdotes which soften the features even of civil war; and +as it is equally honourable to the memory of both parties, we +have no hesitation to give their names at length. When the +Highlanders, on the morning of the battle of Preston, 1745, made +their memorable attack on Sir John Cope's army, a battery of four +field-pieces was stormed and carried by the Camerons and the +Stewarts of Appine. The late Alexander Stewart of Invernahyle +was one of the foremost in the charge, and observing an officer +of the King's forces, who, scorning to join the flight of all +around, remained with his sword in his hand, as if determined to +the very last to defend the post assigned to him, the Highland +gentleman commanded him to surrender, and received for reply a +thrust, which he caught in his target. The officer was now +defenceless, and the battle-axe of a gigantic Highlander (the +miller of Invernahyle's mill) was uplifted to dash his brains +out, when Mr. Stewart with difficulty prevailed on him to yield. +He took charge of his enemy's property, protected his person, and +finally obtained him liberty on his parole. The officer proved +to be Colonel Whitefoord, an Ayrshire gentleman of high character +and influence, and warmly attached to the House of Hanover; yet +such was the confidence existing between these two honourable +men, though of different political principles, that while the +civil war was raging, and straggling officers from the Highland +army were executed without mercy, Invernahyle hesitated not to +pay his late captive a visit, as he returned to the Highlands to +raise fresh recruits, on which occasion he spent a day or two in +Ayrshire among Colonel Whitefoord's Whig friends, as pleasantly +and as good-humouredly as if all had been at peace around him. + +After the battle of Culloden had ruined the hopes of Charles +Edward, and dispersed his proscribed adherents, it was Colonel +Whitefoord's turn to strain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stewart's +pardon. He went to the Lord Justice-Clerk, to the Lord-Advocate, +and to all the officers of state, and each application was +answered by the production of a list, in which Invernahyle (as +the good old gentleman was wont to express it) appeared 'marked +with the sign of the beast!' as a subject unfit for favour or +pardon. + +At length Colonel Whitefoord applied to the Duke of Cumberland in +person. From him, also, he received a positive refusal. He then +limited his request, for the present, to a protection for +Stewart's house, wife, children, and property. This was also +refused by the Duke; on which Colonel Whitefoord, taking his +commission from his bosom, laid it on the table before his Royal +Highness with much emotion, and asked permission to retire from +the service of a sovereign who did not know how to spare a +vanquished enemy. The Duke was struck, and even affected. He +bade the Colonel take up his commission, and granted the +protection he required. If was issued just in time to save the +house, corn, and cattle at Invernahyle, from the troops who were +engaged in laying waste what it was the fashion to call 'the +country of the enemy.' A small encampment of soldiers was formed +on Invernahyle's property, which they spared while plundering the +country around, and searching in every direction for the leaders +of the insurrection, and for Stewart in particular. He was much +nearer them than they suspected; for, hidden in a cave (like the +Baron of Bradwardine), he lay for many days so near the English +sentinels, that he could hear their muster-roll called, His food +was brought to him by one of his daughters, a child of eight +years old, whom Mrs. Stewart was under the necessity of +entrusting with this commission; for her own motions, and those +of all her elder inmates, were closely watched. With ingenuity +beyond her years, the child used to stray about among the +soldiers, who were rather kind to her, and thus seize the moment +when she was unobserved, and steal into the thicket, when she +deposited whatever small store of provisions she had in charge at +some marked spot, where her father might find it. Invernahyle +supported life for several weeks by means of these precarious +supplies; and as he had been wounded in the battle of Culloden, +the hardships which he endured were aggravated by great bodily +pain. After the soldiers had removed their quarters, he had +another remarkable escape. + +As he now ventured to his own house at night, and left it in the +morning, he was espied during the dawn by a party of the enemy, +who fired at and pursued him. The fugitive being fortunate +enough to escape their search, they returned to the house, and +charged the family with harbouring one of the proscribed +traitors. An old woman had presence of mind enough to maintain +that the man they had seen was the shepherd. 'Why did he not +stop when we called to him?' said the soldier.--'He is as deaf, +poor man, as a peat-stack,' answered the ready-witted domestic. +--'Let him be sent for, directly.' The real shepherd accordingly +was brought from the hill, and as there was time to tutor him by +the way, he was as deaf when he made his appearance, as was +necessary to sustain his character. Invernahyle was afterwards +pardoned under the Act of Indemnity. + +The Author knew him well, and has often heard these circumstances +from his own mouth. He was a noble specimen of the old +Highlander, far descended, gallant, courteous, and brave, even to +chivalry. He had been OUT, I believe, in 1715 and 1745; was an +active partaker in all the stirring scenes which passed in the +Highlands betwixt these memorable eras; and, I have heard, was +remarkable, among other exploits, for having fought a duel with +the broadsword with the celebrated Rob Roy MacGregor, at the +Clachan of Balquhidder. + +Invernahyle chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came into +the Frith of Forth, and though then an old man, I saw him in +arms, and heard him exult (to use his own words) in the prospect +of 'drawing his claymore once more before he died.' In fact, on +that memorable occasion, when the capital of Scotland was menaced +by three trifling sloops or brigs, scarce fit to have sacked a +fishing village, he was the only man who seemed to propose a plan +of resistance. He offered to the magistrates, if broadswords and +dirks could be obtained, to find as many Highlanders among the +lower classes, as would cut off any boat's-crew who might be sent +into a town full of narrow and winding passages, in which they +were like to disperse in quest of plunder. I know not if his +plan was attended to; I rather think it seemed too hazardous to +the constituted authorities, who might not, even at that time, +desire to see arms in Highland hands. A steady and powerful west +wind settled the matter, by sweeping Paul Jones and his vessels +out of the Frith. + +If there is something degrading in this recollection, it is not +unpleasant to compare it with those of the last war, when +Edinburgh, besides regular forces and militia, furnished a +volunteer brigade of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, to the +amount of six thousand men and upwards, which was in readiness to +meet and repel a force of a far more formidable description than +was commanded by the adventurous American. Time and +circumstances change the character of nations and the fate of +cities; and it is some pride to a Scotchman to reflect, that the +independent and manly character of a country willing to entrust +its own protection to the arms of its children, after having been +obscured for half a century, has, during the course of his own +lifetime, recovered its lustre. + +Other illustrations of Waverley will be found in the Notes at the +foot of the pages to which they belong. [In this etext they are +embedded in the text in square brackets.] Those which appeared +too long to be so placed are given at the end of the volume. + + +* + + +WAVERLEY or 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + +The title of this work has not been chosen without the grave and +solid deliberation, which matters of importance demand from the +prudent. Even its first, or general denomination, was the result +of no common research or selection, although, according to the +example of my predecessors, I had only to seize upon the most +sounding and euphonic surname that English history or topography +affords, and elect it at once as the title of my work, and the +name of my hero. But, alas! what could my readers have expected +from the chivalrous epithets of Howard, Mordaunt, Mortimer, or +Stanley, or from the softer and more sentimental sounds of +Belmour, Belville, Belfield, and Belgrave, but pages of inanity, +similar to those which have been so christened for half a century +past? I must modestly admit I am too diffident of my own merit +to place it in unnecessary opposition to preconceived +associations; I have, therefore, like a maiden knight with his +white shield, assumed for my hero, WAVERLEY, an uncontaminated +name, bearing with its sound little of good or evil, excepting +what the reader shall hereafter be pleased to affix to it. But +my second or supplemental title was a matter of much more +difficult election, since that, short as it is, may be held as +pledging the author to some special mode of laying his scene, +drawing his characters, and managing his adventures. Had I, for +example, announced in my frontispiece, 'Waverley, a Tale of other +Days,' must not every novel reader have anticipated a castle +scarce less than that of Udolpho, of which the eastern wing had +long been uninhabited, and the keys either lost, or consigned to +the care of some aged butler or housekeeper, whose trembling +steps, about the middle of the second volume, were doomed to +guide the hero, or heroine, to the ruinous precincts? Would not +the owl have shrieked and the cricket cried in my very title- +page? and could it have been possible for me, with a moderate +attention to decorum, to introduce any scene more lively than +might be produced by the jocularity of a clownish but faithful +valet, or the garrulous narrative of the heroine's fille-de- +chambre, when rehearsing the stories of blood and horror which +she had heard in the servants' hall? Again, had my title borne +'Waverley, a Romance from the German,' what head so obtuse as not +to image forth a profligate abbot, an oppressive duke, a secret +and mysterious association of Rosycrucians and Illuminati, with +all their properties of black cowls, caverns, daggers, electrical +machines, trap-doors, and dark-lanterns? Or if I had rather +chosen to call my work a 'Sentimental Tale,' would it not have +been a sufficient presage of a heroine with a profusion of auburn +hair, and a harp, the soft solace of her solitary hours, which +she fortunately finds always the means of transporting from +castle to cottage, although she herself be sometimes obliged to +jump out of a two-pair-of-stairs window, and is more than once +bewildered on her journey, alone and on foot, without any guide +but a blowzy peasant girl, whose jargon she hardly can +understand? Or again, if my WAVERLEY had been entitled 'A Tale +of the Times,' wouldst thou not, gentle reader, have demanded +from me a dashing sketch of the fashionable world, a few +anecdotes of private scandal thinly veiled, and if lusciously +painted, so much the better? a heroine from Grosvenor Square, +and a hero from the Barouche Club or the Four-in-hand, with a set +of subordinate characters from the elegantes of Queen Anne Street +East, or the dashing heroes of the Bow Street Office? I could +proceed in proving the importance of a title-page, and displaying +at the same time my own intimate knowledge of the particular +ingredients necessary to the composition of romances and novels +of various descriptions: but it is enough, and I scorn to +tyrannize longer over the impatience of my reader, who is +doubtless already anxious to know the choice made by an author so +profoundly versed in the different branches of his art. + +By fixing, then, the date of my story Sixty Years before the +present 1st November, 1805, I would have my readers understand, +that they will meet in the following pages neither a romance of +chivalry, nor a tale of modern manners; that my hero will neither +have iron on his shoulders, as of yore, nor on the heels of his +boots, as is the present fashion of Bond Street; and that my +damsels will neither be clothed 'in purple and in pall,' like the +Lady Alice of an old ballad, nor reduced to the primitive +nakedness of a modern fashionable at a rout. From this my choice +of an era the understanding critic may further presage, that the +object of my tale is more a description of men than manners. A +tale of manners, to be interesting, must either refer to +antiquity so great as to have become venerable, or it must bear a +vivid reflection of those scenes which are passing daily before +our eyes, and are interesting from their novelty. Thus the coat- +of-mail of our ancestors, and the triple-furred pelisse of our +modern beaux, may, though for very different reasons, be equally +fit for the array of a fictitious character; but who, meaning the +costume of his hero to be impressive, would willingly attire him +in the court dress of George the Second's reign, with its no +collar, large sleeves, and low pocket-holes? The same may be +urged, with equal truth, of the Gothic hall, which, with its +darkened and tinted windows, its elevated and gloomy roof, and +massive oaken table garnished with boar's-head and rosemary, +pheasants and peacocks, cranes and cygnets, has an excellent +effect in fictitious description. Much may also be gained by a +lively display of a modern fete, such as we have daily recorded +in that part of a newspaper entitled the Mirror of Fashion, if we +contrast these, or either of them, with the splendid formality of +an entertainment given Sixty Years since; and thus it will be +readily seen how much the painter of antique or of fashionable +manners gains over him who delineates those of the last +generation. + +Considering the disadvantages inseparable from this part of my +subject, I must be understood to have resolved to avoid them as +much as possible, by throwing the force of my narrative upon the +characters and passions of the actors;--those passions common to +men in all stages of society, and which have alike agitated the +human heart, whether it throbbed under the steel corselet of the +fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the eighteenth, or the +blue frock and white dimity waistcoat of the present day. [Alas! +that attire, respectable and gentlemanlike in 1805, or +thereabouts, is now as antiquated as the Author of Waverley has +himself become since that period! The reader of fashion will +please to fill up the costume with an embroidered waistcoat of +purple velvet or silk, and a coat of whatever colour he pleases.] +Upon these passions it is no doubt true that the state of manners +and laws casts a necessary colouring; but the bearings, to use +the language of heraldry, remain the same, though the tincture +may be not only different, but opposed in strong +contradistinction. The wrath of our ancestors, for example, was +coloured GULES; it broke forth in acts of open and sanguinary +violence against the objects of its fury. Our malignant +feelings, which must seek gratification through more indirect +channels, and undermine the obstacles which they cannot openly +bear down, may be rather said to be tinctured SABLE. But the +deep-ruling impulse is the same in both cases; and the proud peer +who can now only ruin his neighbour according to law, by +protracted suits, is the genuine descendant of the baron who +wrapped the castle of his competitor in flames, and knocked him +on the head as he endeavoured to escape from the conflagration. +It is from the great book of Nature, the same through a thousand +editions, whether of black-letter, or wire-wove and hot-pressed, +that I have venturously essayed to read a chapter to the public. +Some favourable opportunities of contrast have been afforded me, +by the state of society in the northern part of the island at +the period of my history, and may serve at once to vary and to +illustrate the moral lessons, which I would willingly consider as +the most important part of my plan; although I am sensible how +short these will fall of their aim, if I shall be found unable to +mix them with amusement,--a task not quite so easy in this +critical generation as it was 'Sixty Years since.' + + + +CHAPTER II + +WAVERLEY-HONOUR---A RETROSPECT + +It is, then, sixty years since Edward Waverley, the hero of the +following pages, took leave of his family, to join the regiment +of dragoons in which he had lately obtained a commission. It was +a melancholy day at Waverley-Honour when the young officer parted +with Sir Everard, the affectionate old uncle to whose title and +estate he was presumptive heir. + +A difference in political opinions had early separated the +Baronet from his younger brother, Richard Waverley, the father of +our hero. Sir Everard had inherited from his sires the whole +train of Tory or High-Church predilections and prejudices, which +had distinguished the house of Waverley since the Great Civil +War. Richard, on the contrary, who was ten years younger, beheld +himself born to the fortune of a second brother, and anticipated +neither dignity nor entertainment in sustaining the character of +Will Wimble. He saw early, that, to succeed in the race of life, +it was necessary he should carry as little weight as possible. +Painters talk of the difficulty of expressing the existence of +compound passions in the same features at the same moment: it +would be no less difficult for the moralist to analyse the mixed +motives which unite to form the impulse of our actions. Richard +Waverley read and satisfied himself, from history and sound +argument, that, in the words of the old song, + + Passive obedience was a jest, + And pshaw! was non-resistance; + +yet reason would have probably been unable to combat and remove +hereditary prejudice, could Richard have anticipated that his +elder brother, Sir Everard, taking to heart an early +disappointment, would have remained a batchelor at seventy-two. +The prospect of succession, however remote, might in that case +have led him to endure dragging through the greater part of his +life as 'Master Richard at the Hall, the baronet's brother,' in +the hope that ere its conclusion he should be distinguished as +Sir Richard Waverley of Waverley-Honour, successor to a princely +estate, and to extended political connexions as head of the +county interest in the shire where it lay. But this was a +consummation of things not to be expected at Richard's outset, +when Sir Everard was in the prime of life, and certain to be an +acceptable suitor in almost any family, whether wealth or beauty +should be the object of his pursuit, and when, indeed, his speedy +marriage was a report which regularly amused the neighbourhood +once a year. His younger brother saw no practicable road to +independence save that of relying upon his own exertions, and +adopting a political creed more consonant both to reason and his +own interest than the hereditary faith of Sir Everard in High +Church and in the house of Stewart. He therefore read his +recantation at the beginning of his career, and entered life as +an avowed Whig, and friend of the Hanover succession. + +The ministry of George the First's time were prudently anxious to +diminish the phalanx of opposition. The Tory nobility, depending +for their reflected lustre upon the sunshine of a court, had for +some time been gradually reconciling themselves to the new +dynasty. But the wealthy country gentlemen of England, a rank +which retained, with much of ancient manners and primitive +integrity, a great proportion of obstinate and unyielding +prejudice, stood aloof in haughty and sullen opposition, and cast +many a look of mingled regret and hope to Bois de Duc, Avignon, +and Italy. [Where the Chevalier Saint George, or, as he was +termed, the Old Pretender, held his exiled court, as his +situation compelled him to shift his place of residence.] The +accession of the near relation of one of those steady and +inflexible opponents was considered as a means of bringing over +more converts, and therefore Richard Waverley met with a share of +ministerial favour more than proportioned to his talents or his +political importance. It was however, discovered that he had +respectable talents for public business, and the first admittance +to the minister's levee being negotiated, his success became +rapid. Sir Everard learned from the public NEWS-LETTER,--first, +that Richard Waverley, Esquire, was returned for the ministerial +borough of Barterfaith; next, that Richard Waverley, Esquire, had +taken a distinguished part in the debate upon the Excise bill in +the support of government; and, lastly, that Richard Waverley, +Esquire, had been honoured with a seat at one of those boards, +where the pleasure of serving the country is combined with other +important gratifications, which, to render them the more +acceptable, occur regularly once a quarter. + +Although these events followed each other so closely that the +sagacity of the editor of a modern newspaper would have presaged +the last two even while he announced the first, yet they came +upon Sir Everard gradually, and drop by drop, as it were, +distilled through the cool and procrastinating alembic of DYER'S +WEEKLY LETTER. [Long the oracle of the country gentlemen of the +high Tory party. The ancient NEWS-LETTER was written in +manuscript and copied by clerks, who addressed the copies to the +subscribers. The politician by whom they were compiled picked up +his intelligence at coffee-houses, and often pleaded for an +additional gratuity, in consideration of the extra expense +attached to frequenting such places of fashionable resort.] For +it may be observed in passing, that instead of those mail- +coaches, by means of which every mechanic at his sixpenny club +may nightly learn from twenty contradictory channels the +yesterday's news of the capital, a weekly post brought, in those +days, to Waverley-Honour, a WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER, which, after it +had gratified Sir Everard's curiosity, his sister's, and that of +his aged butler, was regularly transferred from the Hall to the +Rectory, from the Rectory to Squire Stubbs' at the Grange, from +the Squire to the Baronet's steward at his neat white house on +the heath, from the steward to the bailiff, and from him through +a huge circle of honest dames and gaffers, by whose hard and +horny hands it was generally worn to pieces in about a month +after its arrival. + +This slow succession of intelligence was of some advantage to +Richard Waverley in the case before us; for, had the sum total of +his enormities reached the ears of Sir Everard at once, there can +be no doubt that the new commissioner would have had little +reason to pique himself on the success of his politics. The +Baronet, although the mildest of human beings, was not without +sensitive points in his character; his brother's conduct had +wounded these deeply; the Waverley estate was fettered by no +entail (for it had never entered into the head of any of its +former possessors that one of their progeny could be guilty of +the atrocities laid by DYER'S LETTER to the door of Richard), and +if it had, the marriage of the proprietor might have been fatal +to a collateral heir. These various ideas floated through the +brain of Sir Everard, without, however, producing any determined +conclusion. + +He examined the tree of his genealogy, which, emblazoned with +many an emblematic mark of honour and heroic achievement, hung +upon the well-varnished wainscot of his hall. The nearest +descendants of Sir Hildebrand Waverley, failing those of his +eldest son Wilfred, of whom Sir Everard and his brother were the +only representatives, were, as this honoured register informed +him (and, indeed, as he himself well knew), the Waverleys of +Highley Park, com. Hants; with whom the main branch, or rather +stock, of the house had renounced all connexion, since the great +lawsuit in 1670. + +This degenerate scion had committed a further offence against the +head and source of their gentility, by the intermarriage of their +representative with Judith, heiress of Oliver Bradshawe, of +Highley Park, whose arms, the same with those of Bradshawe the +regicide, they had quartered with the ancient coat of Waverley. +These offences, however, had vanished from Sir Everard's +recollection in the heat of his resentment; and had Lawyer +Clippurse, for whom his groom was dispatched express, arrived but +an hour earlier, he might have had the benefit of drawing a new +settlement of the lordship and manor of Waverley-Honour, with all +its dependencies. But an hour of cool reflection is a great +matter, when employed in weighing the comparative evil of two +measures, to neither of which we are internally partial. Lawyer +Clippurse found his patron involved in a deep study, which he was +too respectful to disturb, otherwise than by producing his paper +and leathern ink-case, as prepared to minute his honour's +commands. Even this slight manoeuvre was embarrassing to Sir +Everard, who felt it as a reproach to his indecision. He looked +at the attorney with some desire to issue his fiat, when the sun, +emerging from behind a cloud, poured at once its chequered light +through the stained window of the gloomy cabinet in which they +were seated. The Baronet's eye, as he raised it to the +splendour, fell right upon the central scutcheon, impressed with +the same device which his ancestor was said to have borne in the +field of Hastings; three ermines passant, argent, in a field +azure, with its appropriate motto, SANS LACHE. 'May our name +rather perish,' exclaimed Sir Everard, 'than that ancient and +loyal symbol should be blended with the dishonoured insignia of a +traitorous Roundhead!' + +All this was the effect of the glimpse of a sunbeam, just +sufficient to light Lawyer Clippurse to mend his pen. The pen +was mended in vain. The attorney was dismissed, with directions +to hold himself in readiness on the first summons. + +The apparition of Lawyer Clippurse at the Hall occasioned much +speculation in that portion of the world to which Waverley-Honour +formed the centre: but the more judicious politicians of this +microcosm augured yet worse consequences to Richard Waverley from +a movement which shortly followed his apostasy. This was no less +than an excursion of the Baronet in his coach-and-six, with four +attendants in rich liveries, to make a visit of some duration to +a noble peer on the confines of the shire, of untainted descent, +steady Tory principles, and the happy father of six unmarried and +accomplished daughters. + +Sir Everard's reception in this family was, as it may be easily +conceived, sufficiently favourable; but of the six young ladies, +his taste unfortunately determined him in favour of Lady Emily, +the youngest, who received his attentions with an embarrassment +which showed at once that she durst not decline them, and that +they afforded her anything but pleasure. + +Sir Everard could not but perceive something uncommon in the +restrained emotions which the young lady testified at the +advances he hazarded; but, assured by the prudent Countess that +they were the natural effects of a retired education, the +sacrifice might have been completed, as doubtless has happened in +many similar instances, had it not been for the courage of an +elder sister, who revealed to the wealthy suitor that Lady +Emily's affections were fixed upon a young soldier of fortune, a +near relation of her own. Sir Everard manifested great emotion +on receiving this intelligence, which was confirmed to him, in a +private interview, by the young lady herself, although under the +most dreadful apprehensions of her father's indignation. + +Honour and generosity were hereditary attributes of the house of +Waverley. With a grace and delicacy worthy the hero of a +romance, Sir Everard withdrew his claim to the hand of Lady +Emily. He had even, before leaving Blandeville Castle, the +address to extort from her father a consent to her union with the +object of her choice. What arguments he used on this point +cannot exactly be known, for Sir Everard was never supposed +strong in the powers of persuasion; but the young officer, +immediately after this transaction, rose in the army with a +rapidity far surpassing the usual pace of unpatronized +professional merit, although, to outward appearance, that was all +he had to depend upon. + +The shock which Sir Everard encountered upon this occasion, +although diminished by the consciousness of having acted +virtuously and generously, had its effect upon his future life. +His resolution of marriage had been adopted in a fit of +indignation; the labour of courtship did not quite suit the +dignified indolence of his habits; he had but just escaped the +risk of marrying a woman who could never love him; and his pride +could not be greatly flattered by the termination of his amour, +even if his heart had not suffered. The result of the whole +matter was his return to Waverley-Honour without any transfer of +his affections, notwithstanding the sighs and languishments of +the fair tell-tale, who had revealed, in mere sisterly affection, +the secret of Lady Emily's attachment, and in despite of the +nods, winks, and innuendoes of the officious lady mother, and the +grave eulogiums which the Earl pronounced successively on the +prudence, and good sense, and admirable dispositions, of his +first, second, third, fourth, and fifth daughters. The memory of +his unsuccessful amour was with Sir Everard, as with many more of +his temper, at once shy, proud, sensitive, and indolent, a beacon +against exposing himself to similar mortification, pain, and +fruitless exertion for the time to come. He continued to live at +Waverley-Honour in the style of an old English gentleman, of an +ancient descent and opulent fortune. His sister, Miss Rachel +Waverley, presided at his table; and they became, by degrees, an +old bachelor and an ancient maiden lady, the gentlest and kindest +of the votaries of celibacy. + +The vehemence of Sir Everard's resentment against his brother was +but short-lived; yet his dislike to the Whig and the placeman, +though unable to stimulate him to resume any active measures +prejudicial to Richard's interest in the succession to the family +estate, continued to maintain the coldness between them. Richard +knew enough of the world, and of his brother's temper, to believe +that by any ill-considered or precipitate advances on his part, +he might turn passive dislike into a more active principle. It +was accident, therefore, which at length occasioned a renewal of +their intercourse. Richard had married a young woman of rank, by +whose family interest and private fortune he hoped to advance his +career. In her right, he became possessor of a manor of some +value, at the distance of a few miles from Waverley-Honour. + +Little Edward, the hero of our tale, then in his fifth year, was +their only child. It chanced that the infant with his maid had +strayed one morning to a mile's distance from the avenue of +Brere-wood Lodge, his father's seat. Their attention was +attracted by a carriage drawn by six stately long-failed black +horses, and with as much carving and gilding as would have done +honour to my lord mayor's. It was waiting for the owner, who was +at a little distance inspecting the progress of a half-built +farm-house. I know not whether the boy's nurse had been a Welsh +or a Scotch woman, or in what manner he associated a shield +emblazoned with three ermines with the idea of personal property, +but he no sooner beheld this family emblem, than he stoutly +determined on vindicating his right to the splendid vehicle on +which it was displayed. The Baronet arrived while the boy's maid +was in vain endeavouring to make him desist from his +determination to appropriate the gilded coach and six. The +rencontre was at a happy moment for Edward, as his uncle had been +just eyeing wistfully, with something of a feeling like envy, the +chubby boys of the stout yeoman whose mansion was building by his +direction. In the round-faced rosy cherub before him, bearing +his eye and his name, and vindicating a hereditary title to his +family affection and patronage, by means of a tie which Sir +Everard held as sacred as either Garter or Blue Mantle, +Providence seemed to have granted to him the very object best +calculated to fill up the void in his hopes and affections. Sir +Everard returned to Waverley Hall upon a led horse which was kept +in readiness for him, while the child and his attendant were sent +home in the carriage to Brere-wood Lodge, with such a message as +opened to Richard Waverley a door of reconciliation with his +elder brother. + +Their intercourse, however, though thus renewed, continued to be +rather formal and civil, than partaking of brotherly cordiality; +yet it was sufficient to the wishes of both parties. Sir Everard +obtained, in the frequent society of his little nephew, something +on which his hereditary pride might found the anticipated +pleasure of a continuation of his lineage, and where his kind and +gentle affections could at the same time fully exercise +themselves. For Richard Waverley, he beheld in the growing +attachment between the uncle and nephew the means of securing his +son's, if not his own, succession to the hereditary estate, which +he felt would be rather endangered than promoted by any attempt +on his own part towards a closer intimacy with a man of Sir +Everard's habits and opinions. + +Thus, by a sort of tacit compromise, little Edward was permitted +to pass the greater part of the year at the Hall, and appeared to +stand in the same intimate relation to both families, although +their mutual intercourse was otherwise limited to formal +messages, and more formal visits. The education of the youth was +regulated alternately by the taste and opinions of his uncle and +of his father. But more of this in a subsequent chapter. + + + +CHAPTER III + +EDUCATION + +The education of our hero, Edward Waverley, was of a nature +somewhat desultory. In infancy, his health suffered, or was +supposed to suffer (which is quite the same thing), by the air of +London. As soon, therefore, as official duties, attendance on +Parliament, or the prosecution of any of his plans of interest or +ambition, called his father to town, which was his usual +residence for eight months in the year, Edward was transferred to +Waverley-Honour, and experienced a total change of instructors +and of lessons, as well as of residence. This might have been +remedied, had his father placed him under the superintendence of +a permanent tutor. But he considered that one of his choosing +would probably have been unacceptable at Waverley-Honour, and +that such a selection as Sir Everard might have made, were the +matter left to him, would have burdened him with a disagreeable +inmate, if not a political spy, in his family. He therefore +prevailed upon his private secretary, a young man of taste and +accomplishments, to bestow an hour or two on Edward's education +while at Brere-wood Lodge, and left his uncle answerable for his +improvement in literature while an inmate at the Hall. + +This was in some degree respectably provided for. Sir Everard's +chaplain, an Oxonian, who had lost his fellowship for declining +to take the oaths at the accession of George I, was not only an +excellent classical scholar, but reasonably skilled in science, +and master of most modern languages. He was, however, old and +indulgent, and the recurring interregnum, during which Edward was +entirely freed from his discipline, occasioned such a relaxation +of authority, that the youth was permitted, in a great measure, +to learn as he pleased, what he pleased, and when he pleased. +This slackness of rule might have been ruinous to a boy of slow +understanding, who, feeling labour in the acquisition of +knowledge, would have altogether neglected it, save for the +command of a task-master; and it might have proved equally +dangerous to a youth whose animal spirits were more powerful than +his imagination or his feelings, and whom the irresistible +influence of Alma would have engaged in field sports from morning +till night. But the character of Edward Waverley was remote from +either of these. His powers of apprehension were so uncommonly +quick, as almost to resemble intuition, and the chief care of his +preceptor was to prevent him, as a sportsman would phrase it, +from overrunning his game, that is, from acquiring his knowledge +in a slight, flimsy, and inadequate manner. And here the +instructor had to combat another propensity too often united with +brilliancy of fancy and vivacity of talent,--that indolence, +namely, of disposition, which can only be stirred by some strong +motive of gratification, and which renounces study as soon as +curiosity is gratified, the pleasure of conquering the first +difficulties exhausted, and the novelty of pursuit at an end. +Edward would throw himself with spirit upon any classical author +of which his preceptor proposed the perusal, make himself master +of the style so far as to understand the story, and if that +pleased or interested him, he finished the volume. But it was in +vain to attempt fixing his attention on critical distinctions of +philology, upon the difference of idiom, the beauty of felicitous +expression, or the artificial combinations of syntax. 'I can +read and understand a Latin author,' said young Edward, with the +self-confidence and rash reasoning of fifteen, 'and Scaliger or +Bentley could not do much more.' Alas! while he was thus +permitted to read only for the gratification of his amusement, he +foresaw not that he was losing for ever the opportunity of +acquiring habits of firm and assiduous application, of gaining +the art of controlling, directing, and concentrating the powers +of his mind for earnest investigation,--an art far more essential +than even that intimate acquaintance with classical learning, +which is the primary object of study. + +I am aware I may be here reminded of the necessity of rendering +instruction agreeable to youth, and of Tasso's infusion of honey +into the medicine prepared for a child; but an age in which +children are taught the driest doctrines by the insinuating +method of instructive games, has little reason to dread the +consequences of study being rendered too serious or severe. The +history of England is now reduced to a game at cards,--the +problems of mathematics to puzzles and riddles,--and the +doctrines of arithmetic may, we are assured, be sufficiently +acquired, by spending a few hours a week at a new and complicated +edition of the Royal Game of the Goose. There wants but one step +further, and the Creed and Ten Commandments may be taught in the +same manner, without the necessity of the grave face, deliberate +tone of recital, and devout attention, hitherto exacted from the +well governed childhood of this realm. It may, in the meantime, +be subject of serious consideration, whether those who are +accustomed only to acquire instruction through the medium of +amusement, may not be brought to reject that which approaches +under the aspect of study; whether those who learn history by the +cards, may not be led to prefer the means to the end; and +whether, were we to teach religion in the way of sport, our +pupils may not thereby be gradually induced to make sport of +their religion. To our young hero, who was permitted to seek his +instruction only according to the bent of his own mind, and who, +of consequence, only sought it so long as it afforded him +amusement, the indulgence of his tutors was attended with evil +consequences, which long continued to influence his character, +happiness, and utility. Edward's power of imagination and love +of literature, although the former was vivid, and the latter +ardent, were so far from affording a remedy to this peculiar +evil, that they rather inflamed and increased its violence. The +library at Waverley-Honour, a large Gothic room, with double +arches and a gallery, contained such a miscellaneous and +extensive collection of volumes as had been assembled together, +during the course of two hundred years, by a family which had +been always wealthy, and inclined, of course, as a mark of +splendour, to furnish their shelves with the current literature +of the day, without much scrutiny, or nicety of discrimination. +Throughout this ample realm Edward was permitted to roam at +large. His tutor had his own studies; and church politics and +controversial divinity, together with a love of learned ease, +though they did not withdraw his attention at stated times from +the progress of his patron's presumptive heir, induced him +readily to grasp at any apology for not extending a strict and +regulated survey towards his general studies. Sir Everard had +never been himself a student, and, like his sister Miss Rachel +Waverley, he held the common doctrine, that idleness is +incompatible with reading of any kind, and that the mere tracing +the alphabetical characters with the eye is in itself a useful +and meritorious task, without scrupulously considering what ideas +or doctrines they may happen to convey. With a desire of +amusement, therefore, which better discipline might soon have +converted into a thirst for knowledge, young Waverley drove +through the sea of books, like a vessel without a pilot or a +rudder. Nothing perhaps increases by indulgence more than a +desultory habit of reading, especially under such opportunities +of gratifying it. I believe one reason why such numerous +instances of erudition occur among the lower ranks is, that, with +the same powers of mind, the poor student is limited to a narrow +circle for indulging his passion for books, and must necessarily +make himself master of the few he possesses ere he can acquire +more. Edward, on the contrary, like the epicure who only deigned +to take a single morsel from the sunny side of a peach, read no +volume a moment after it ceased to excite his curiosity or +interest; and it necessarily happened, that the habit of seeking +only this sort of gratification rendered it daily more difficult +of attainment, till the passion for reading, like other strong +appetites, produced by indulgence a sort of satiety. + +Ere he attained this indifference, however, he had read, and +stored in a memory of uncommon tenacity, much curious, though +ill-arranged and miscellaneous information. In English +literature he was master of Shakespeare and Milton, of our +earlier dramatic authors; of many picturesque and interesting +passages from our old historical chronicles; and was particularly +well acquainted with Spenser, Drayton, and other poets who have +exercised themselves on romantic fiction, of all themes the most +fascinating to a youthful imagination, before the passions have +roused themselves, and demand poetry of a more sentimental +description. In this respect his acquaintance with Italian +opened him yet a wider range. He had perused the numerous +romantic poems, which, from the days of Pulci, have been a +favourite exercise of the wits of Italy; and had sought +gratification in the numerous collections of NOVELLE, which were +brought forth by the genius of that elegant though luxurious +nation, in emulation of the DECAMERON. In classical literature, +Waverley had made the usual progress, and read the usual authors; +and the French had afforded him an almost exhaustless collection +of memoirs, scarcely more faithful than romances, and of romances +so well written as hardly to be distinguished from memoirs. The +splendid pages of Froissart, with his heart-stirring and eye- +dazzling descriptions of war and of tournaments, were among his +chief favourites; and from those of Brantome and de la Noue he +learned to compare the wild and loose yet superstitious character +of the nobles of the League, with the stern, rigid, and sometimes +turbulent disposition of the Huguenot party. The Spanish had +contributed to his stock of chivalrous and romantic lore. The +earlier literature of the northern nations did not escape the +study of one who read rather to awaken the imagination than to +benefit the understanding. And yet, knowing much that is known +but to few, Edward Waverley might justly be considered as +ignorant, since he knew little of what adds dignify to man, and +qualifies him to support and adorn an elevated situation in +society. + +The occasional attention of his parents might indeed have been of +service, to prevent the dissipation of mind incidental to such a +desultory course of reading. But his mother died in the seventh +year after the reconciliation between the brothers, and Richard +Waverley himself, who, after this event, resided more constantly +in London, was too much interested in his own plans of wealth and +ambition, to notice more respecting Edward, than that he was of a +very bookish turn, and probably destined to be a bishop. If he +could have discovered and analysed his son's waking dreams, he +would have formed a very different conclusion. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CASTLE-BUILDING + +I have already hinted, that the dainty, squeamish, and fastidious +taste acquired by a surfeit of idle reading, had not only +rendered our hero unfit for serious and sober study, it had even +disgusted him in some degree with that in which he had hitherto +indulged. + +He was in his sixteenth year, when his habits of abstraction and +love of solitude became so much marked, as to excite Sir +Everard's affectionate apprehension. He tried to counterbalance +these propensities, by engaging his nephew in field sports, which +had been the chief pleasure of his own youthful days. But +although Edward eagerly carried the gun for one season, yet when +practice had given him some dexterity, the pastime ceased to +afford him amusement. + +In the succeeding spring, the perusal of old Isaac Walton's +fascinating volume determined Edward to become 'a brother of the +angle.' But of all diversions which ingenuity ever devised for +the relief of idleness, fishing is the worst qualified to amuse a +man who is at once indolent and impatient; and our hero's rod was +speedily flung aside. Society and example, which, more than any +other motives, master and sway the natural bent of our passions, +might have had their usual effect upon the youthful visionary: +but the neighbourhood was thinly inhabited, and the homebred +young squires whom it afforded, were not of a class fit to form +Edward's usual companions, far less to excite him to emulation in +the practice of those pastimes which composed the serious +business of their lives. + +There were a few other youths of better education, and a more +liberal character; but from their society also our hero was in +some degree excluded. Sir Everard had, upon the death of Queen +Anne, resigned his seat in Parliament, and, as his age increased +and the number of his contemporaries diminished, had gradually +withdrawn himself from society; so that when, upon any particular +occasion, Edward mingled with accomplished and well-educated +young men of his own rank and expectations, he felt an +inferiority in their company, not so much from deficiency of +information, as from the want of the skill to command and to +arrange that which he possessed. A deep and increasing +sensibility added to this dislike of society. The idea of having +committed the slightest solecism in politeness, whether real or +imaginary, was agony to him; for perhaps even guilt itself does +not impose upon some minds so keen a sense of shame and remorse, +as a modest, sensitive, and inexperienced youth feels from the +consciousness of having neglected etiquette, or excited ridicule. +Where we are not at ease, we cannot be happy; and therefore it is +not surprising, that Edward Waverley supposed that he disliked +and was unfitted for society, merely because he had not yet +acquired the habit of living in it with ease and comfort, and of +reciprocally giving and receiving pleasure. + +The hours he spent with his uncle and aunt were exhausted in +listening to the oft-repeated tale of narrative old age. Yet +even there his imagination, the predominant faculty of his mind, +was frequently excited. Family tradition and genealogical +history, upon which much of Sir Everard's discourse turned, is +the very reverse of amber, which, itself a valuable substance, +usually includes flies, straws, and other trifles; whereas these +studies, being themselves very insignificant and trifling, do +nevertheless serve to perpetuate a great deal of what is rare and +valuable in ancient manners, and to record many curious and +minute facts, which could have been preserved and conveyed +through no other medium. If, therefore, Edward Waverley yawned +at times over the dry deduction of his line of ancestors, with +their various intermarriages, and inwardly deprecated the +remorseless and protracted accuracy with which the worthy Sir +Everard rehearsed the various degrees of propinquity between the +house of Waverley-Honour and the doughty barons, knights, and +squires, to whom they stood allied; if (notwithstanding his +obligations to the three ermines passant) he sometimes cursed in +his heart the jargon of heraldry, its griffins, its moldwarps, +its wyverns, and its dragons with all the bitterness of Hotspur +himself, there were moments when these communications interested +his fancy and rewarded his attention. + +The deeds of Wilibert of Waverley in the Holy Land, his long +absence and perilous adventures, his supposed death, and his +return in the evening when the betrothed of his heart had wedded +the hero who had protected her from insult and oppression during +his absence; the generosity with which the Crusader relinquished +his claims, and sought in a neighbouring cloister that peace +which passeth not away; [See Note 1]--to these and similar tales +he would hearken till his heart glowed and his eye glistened. +Nor was he less affected, when his aunt, Mrs. Rachel, narrated +the sufferings and fortitude of Lady Alice Waverley during the +Great Civil War. The benevolent features of the venerable +spinster kindled into more majestic expression, as she told how +Charles had, after the field of Worcester, found a day's refuge +at Waverley-Honour; and how, when a troop of cavalry were +approaching to search the mansion, Lady Alice dismissed her +youngest son with a handful of domestics, charging them to make +good with their lives an hour's diversion, that the king might +have that space for escape, 'And, God help her,' would Mrs. +Rachel continue, fixing her eyes upon the heroine's portrait as +she spoke, 'full dearly did she purchase the safety of her prince +with the life of her darling child. They brought him here a +prisoner, mortally wounded; and you may trace the drops of his +blood from the great hall door along the little gallery, and up +to the saloon, where they laid him down to die at his mother's +feet. But there was comfort exchanged between them; for he knew +from the glance of his mother's eye, that the purpose of his +desperate defence was attained. Ah! I remember,' she continued, +'I remember well to have seen one that knew and loved him. Miss +Lucy St. Aubin lived and died a maid for his sake, though one of +the most beautiful and wealthy matches in this country; all the +world ran after her, but she wore widow's mourning all her life +for poor William, for they were betrothed though not married, and +died in -- I cannot think of the date; but I remember, in the +November of that very year, when she found herself sinking, she +desired to be brought to Waverley-Honour once more, and visited +all the places where she had been with my grand-uncle, and caused +the carpets to be raised that she might trace the impression of +his blood, and if tears could have washed it out, it had not been +there now; for there was not a dry eye in the house. You would +have thought, Edward, that the very trees mourned for her, for +their leaves dropped around her without a gust of wind; and, +indeed, she looked like one that would never see them green +again.' + +From such legends our hero would steal away to indulge the +fancies they excited. In the corner of the large and sombre +library, with no other light than was afforded by the decaying +brands on its ponderous and ample hearth, he would exercise for +hours that internal sorcery, by which past or imaginary events +are presented in action, as it were, to the eye of the muser. +Then arose in long and fair array the splendour of the bridal +feast at Waverley Castle; the tall and emaciated form of its real +lord, as he stood in his pilgrim's weeds, an unnoticed spectator +of the festivities of his supposed heir and intended bride; the +electrical shock occasioned by the discovery; the springing of +the vassals to arms; the astonishment of the bridegroom; the +terror and confusion of the bride; the agony with which Wilibert +observed that her heart as well as consent was in these nuptials; +the air of dignity, yet of deep feeling, with which he flung down +the half-drawn sword, and turned away for ever from the house of +his ancestors. Then would he change the scene, and fancy would +at his wish represent Aunt Rachel's tragedy. He saw the Lady +Waverley seated in her bower, her ear strained to every sound, +her heart throbbing with double agony, now listening to the +decaying echo of the hoofs of the king's horse, and when that had +died away, hearing in every breeze that shook the trees of the +park, the noise of the remote skirmish. A distant sound is heard +like the rushing of a swollen stream; it comes nearer, and Edward +can plainly distinguish the galloping of horses, the cries and +shouts of men, with straggling pistol-shots between, rolling +forwards to the Hall. The lady starts up--a terrified menial +rushes in--but why pursue such a description? + +As living in this ideal world became daily more delectable to our +hero, interruption was disagreeable in proportion. The extensive +domain that surrounded the Hall, which, far exceeding the +dimensions of a park, was usually termed Waverley-Chase, had +originally been forest ground, and still, though broken by +extensive glades, in which the young deer were sporting, retained +its pristine and savage character. It was traversed by broad +avenues, in many places half grown up with brushwood, where the +beauties of former days used to take their stand to see the stag +course with greyhounds, or to gain an aim at him with the +crossbow. In one spot, distinguished by a moss-grown Gothic +monument, which retained the name of Queen's Standing, Elizabeth +herself was said to have pierced seven bucks with her own arrows. +This was a very favourite haunt of Waverley. At other times, +with his gun and his spaniel, which served as an apology to +others, and with a book in his pocket, which perhaps served as an +apology to himself, he used to pursue one of these long avenues, +which, after an ascending sweep of four miles, gradually narrowed +into a rude and contracted path through the cliffy and woody pass +called Mirkwood Dingle, and opened suddenly upon a deep, dark, +and small lake, named, from the same cause, Mirkwood Mere. There +stood, in former times, a solitary tower upon a rock almost +surrounded by the water, which had acquired the name of the +Strength of Waverley, because, in perilous times, it had often +been the refuge of the family. There, in the wars of York and +Lancaster, the last adherents of the Red Rose who dared to +maintain her cause, carried on a harassing and predatory warfare, +till the stronghold was reduced by the celebrated Richard of +Gloucester. Here, too, a party of cavaliers long maintained +themselves under Nigel Waverley, elder brother of that William +whose fate Aunt Rachel commemorated. Through these scenes it was +that Edward loved to 'chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy,' +and, like a child among his toys, culled and arranged, from the +splendid yet useless imagery and emblems with which his +imagination was stored, visions as brilliant and as fading as +those of an evening sky. The effect of this indulgence upon his +temper and character will appear in the next chapter. + + + +CHAPTER V + +CHOICE OF A PROFESSION + +From the minuteness with which I have traced Waverley's pursuits, +and the bias which these unavoidably communicated to his +imagination, the reader may perhaps anticipate, in the following +tale, an imitation of the romance of Cervantes. But he will do +my prudence injustice in the supposition. My intention is not to +follow the steps of that inimitable author, in describing such +total perversion of intellect as misconstrues the objects +actually presented to the senses, but that more common aberration +from sound judgement, which apprehends occurrences indeed in +their reality, but communicates to them a tincture of its own +romantic tone and colouring. So far was Edward Waverley from +expecting general sympathy with his own feelings, or concluding +that the present state of things was calculated to exhibit the +reality of those visions in which he loved to indulge, that he +dreaded nothing more than the detection of such sentiments as +were dictated by his musings, he neither had nor wished to have a +confidant, with whom to communicate his reveries; and so sensible +was he of the ridicule attached to them, that, had he been to +choose between any punishment short of ignominy, and the +necessity of giving a cold and composed account of the ideal +world in which he lived the better part of his days, I think he +would not have hesitated to prefer the former infliction. This +secrecy became doubly precious, as he felt in advancing life the +influence of the awakening passions. Female forms of exquisite +grace and beauty began to mingle in his mental adventures; nor +was he long without looking abroad to compare the creatures of +his own imagination with the females of actual life. + +The list of the beauties who displayed their hebdomadal finery at +the parish church of Waverley was neither numerous nor select. +By far the most passable was Miss Sissly, or, as she rather chose +to be called, Miss Cecilia Stubbs, daughter of Squire Stubbs at +the Grange. I know not whether it was by the 'merest accident in +the world,' a phrase which, from female lips, does not always +exclude MALICE PREPENSE, or whether it was from a conformity of +taste, that Miss Cecilia more than once crossed Edward in his +favourite walks through Waverley-Chase. He had not as yet +assumed courage to accost her on these occasions; but the meeting +was not without its effect. A romantic lover is a strange +idolater, who sometimes cares not out of what log he frames the +object of his adoration; at least, if nature has given that +object any passable proportion of personal charms, he can easily +play the jeweller and Dervise in the Oriental tale, [See +Hoppner's tale of The Seven Lovers.] and supply her richly, out +of the stores of his own imagination, with supernatural beauty, +and all the properties of intellectual wealth. + +But ere the charms of Miss Cecilia Stubbs had erected her into a +positive goddess, or elevated her at least to a level with the +saint her namesake, Mrs. Rachel Waverley gained some intimation +which determined her to prevent the approaching apotheosis. Even +the most simple and unsuspicious of the female sex have (God +bless them!) an instinctive sharpness of perception in such +matters, which sometimes goes the length of observing +partialities that never existed, but rarely misses to detect such +as pass actually under their observation. Mrs. Rachel applied +herself with great prudence, not to combat, but to elude, the +approaching danger, and suggested to her brother the necessity +that the heir of his house should see something more of the world +than was consistent with constant residence at Waverley-Honour. + +Sir Everard would not at first listen to a proposal which went to +separate his nephew from him. Edward was a little bookish, he +admitted; but youth, he had always heard, was the season for +learning, and, no doubt, when his rage for letters was abated, +and his head fully stocked with knowledge, his nephew would take +to field sports and country business. He had often, he said, +himself regretted that he had not spent some time in study during +his youth: he would neither have shot nor hunted with less +skill, and he might have made the roof of St. Stephen's echo to +longer orations than were comprised in those zealous Noes, with +which, when a member of the House during Godolphin's +administration, he encountered every measure of government. + +Aunt Rachel's anxiety, however, lent her address to carry her +point. Every representative of their house had visited foreign +parts, or served his country in the army, before he settled for +life at Waverley-Honour, and she appealed for the truth of her +assertion to the genealogical pedigree, an authority which Sir +Everard was never known to contradict. In short, a proposal was +made to Mr. Richard Waverley that his son should travel, under +the direction of his present tutor, Mr. Pembroke, with a suitable +allowance from the baronet's liberality. The father himself saw +no objection to this overture; but upon mentioning it casually at +the table of the Minister, the great man looked grave. The +reason was explained in private. The unhappy turn of Sir +Everard's politics, the Minister observed, was such as would +render it highly improper that a young gentleman of such hopeful +prospects should travel on the Continent with a tutor doubtless +of his uncle's choosing, and directing his course by his +instructions. What might Mr. Edward Waverley's society be at +Paris, what at Rome, where all manner of snares were spread by +the Pretender and his sons--these were points for Mr. Waverley to +consider. This he could himself say, that he knew his Majesty +had such a just sense of Mr. Richard Waverley's merits, that if +his son adopted the army for a few years, a troop, he believed, +might be reckoned upon in one of the dragoon regiments lately +returned from Flanders. + +A hint thus conveyed and enforced was not to be neglected with +impunity; and Richard Waverley, though with great dread of +shocking his brother's prejudices, deemed he could not avoid +accepting the commission thus offered him for his son. The truth +is, he calculated much, and justly, upon Sir Everard's fondness +for Edward, which made him unlikely to resent any step that he +might take in due submission to parental authority. Two letters +announced this determination to the Baronet and his nephew. The +latter barely communicated the fact, and pointed out the +necessary preparation for joining his regiment. To his brother, +Richard was more diffuse and circuitous. He coincided with him +in the most flattering manner, in the propriety of his son's +seeing a little more of the world, and was even humble in +expressions of gratitude for his proposed assistance; was, +however, deeply concerned that it was now, unfortunately, not in +Edward's power exactly to comply with the plan which had been +chalked out by his best friend and benefactor. He himself had +thought with pain on the boy's inactivity, at an age when all his +ancestors had borne arms; even Royalty itself had deigned to +inquire whether young Waverley was not now in Flanders, at an age +when his grandfather was already bleeding for his king in the +Great Civil War. This was accompanied by an offer of a troop of +horse. What could he do? There was no time to consult his +brother's inclinations, even if he could have conceived there +might be objections on his part to his nephew s following the +glorious career of his predecessors. And, in short, that Edward +was now (the intermediate steps of cornet and lieutenant being +overleapt with great agility) Captain Waverley, of Gardiner's +regiment of dragoons, which he must join in their quarters at +Dundee in Scotland, in the course of a month. + +Sir Everard Waverley received this intimation with a mixture of +feelings. At the period of the Hanoverian succession he had +withdrawn from Parliament, and his conduct, in the memorable year +1715, had not been altogether unsuspected. There were reports of +private musters of tenants and horses in Waverley-Chase by +moonlight, and of cases of carbines and pistols purchased in +Holland, and addressed to the Baronet, but intercepted by the +vigilance of a riding officer of the excise, who was afterwards +tossed in a blanket on a moonless night, by an association of +stout yeomen, for his officiousness. Nay, it was even said, that +at the arrest of Sir William Wyndham, the leader of the Tory +party, a letter from Sir Everard was found in the pocket of his +night-gown. But there was no overt act which an attainder could +be founded on; and government, contented with suppressing the +insurrection of 1715, felt it neither prudent nor safe to push +their vengeance further than against those unfortunate gentlemen +who actually took up arms. + +Nor did Sir Everard's apprehensions of personal consequences seem +to correspond with the reports spread among his Whig neighbours. +It was well known that he had supplied with money several of the +distressed Northumbrians and Scotchmen, who, after being made +prisoners at Preston in Lancashire, were imprisoned in Newgate +and the Marshalsea; and it was his solicitor and ordinary counsel +who conducted the defence of some of these unfortunate gentlemen +at their trial. It was generally supposed, however, that, had +ministers possessed any real proof of Sir Everard's accession to +the rebellion, he either would not have ventured thus to brave +the existing government, or at least would not have done so with +impunity. The feelings which then dictated his proceedings, were +those of a young man, and at an agitating period. Since that +time Sir Everard's jacobitism had been gradually decaying, like a +fire which burns out for want of fuel. His Tory and High Church +principles were kept up by some occasional exercise at elections +and quarter-sessions: but those respecting hereditary right were +fallen into a sort of abeyance. Yet it jarred severely upon his +feelings, that his nephew should go into the army under the +Brunswick dynasty; and the more so, as, independent of his high +and conscientious ideas of paternal authority, it was impossible, +or at least highly imprudent, to interfere authoritatively to +prevent it. This suppressed vexation gave rise to many poohs and +pshaws, which were placed to the account of an incipient fit of +gout, until, having sent for the Army List, the worthy Baronet +consoled himself with reckoning the descendants of the houses of +genuine loyalty, Mordaunts, Granvilles, and Stanleys, whose names +were to be found in that military record; and, calling up all his +feelings of family grandeur and warlike glory, he concluded, with +logic something like Falstaff's, that when war was at hand, +although it were shame to be on any side but one, it were worse +shame to be idle than to be on the worst side, though blacker +than usurpation could make it. As for Aunt Rachel, her scheme +had not exactly terminated according to her wishes, but she was +under the necessity of submitting to circumstances; and her +mortification was diverted by the employment she found in fitting +out her nephew for the campaign, and greatly consoled by the +prospect of beholding him blaze in complete uniform. + +Edward Waverley himself received with animated and undefined +surprise this most unexpected intelligence. It was, as a fine +old poem expresses it, 'like a fire to heather set,' that covers +a solitary hill with smoke, and illumines it at the same time +with dusky fire. His tutor, or, I should say, Mr. Pembroke, for +he scarce assumed the name of tutor, picked up about Edward's +room some fragments of irregular verse, which he appeared to have +composed under the influence of the agitating feelings occasioned +by this sudden page being turned up to him in the book of life. +The doctor, who was a believer in all poetry which was composed +by his friends, and written out in fair straight lines, with a +capital at the beginning of each, communicated this treasure to +Aunt Rachel, who, with her spectacles dimmed with tears, +transferred them to her commonplace book, among choice receipts +for cookery and medicine, favourite texts, and portions from High +Church divines, and a few songs, amatory and jacobitical, which +she had carolled in her younger days, from whence her nephew's +poetical TENTAMINA were extracted, when the volume itself, with +other authentic records of the Waverley family, were exposed to +the inspection of the unworthy editor of this memorable history. +If they afford the reader no higher amusement, they will serve, +at least, better than narrative of any kind, to acquaint him with +the wild and irregular spirit of our hero:- + + Late when the Autumn evening fell + On Mirkwood-Mere's romantic dell, + The lake returned, in chastened gleam, + The purple cloud, the golden beam: + Reflected in the crystal pool, + Headand and bank lay fair and cool; + The weather-tinted rock and tower, + Each drooping tree, each fairy flower, + So true, so soft, the mirror gave, + As if there lay beneath the wave, + Secure from trouble, toil, and care, + A world than earthly world more fair. + + But distant winds began to wake, + And roused the Genius of the Lake! + He heard the groaning of the oak, + And donned at once his sable cloak, + As warrior, at the battle-cry, + Invests him with his panoply: + Then as the whirlwind nearer pressed, + He 'gan to shake his foamy crest + O'er furrowed brow and blackened cheek, + And bade his surge in thunder speak. + In wild and broken eddies whirled, + Flitted that fond ideal world, + And, to the shore in tumult tost, + The realms of fairy bliss were lost. + + Yet, with a stern delight and strange, + I saw the spirit-stirring change, + As warred the wind with wave and wood. + Upon the ruined tower I stood, + And felt my heart more strongly bound, + Responsive to the lofty sound, + While, joying in the mighty roar, + I mourned that tranquil scene no more. + + So, on the idle dreams of youth, + Breaks the loud trumpet-call of truth, + Bids each fair vision pass away, + Like landscape on the lake that lay, + As fair, as flitting, and as frail, + As that which fled the Autumn gale.-- + For ever dead to fancy's eye + Be each gay form that glided by, + While dreams of love and lady's charms + Give place to honour and to arms! + +In sober prose, as perhaps these verses intimate less decidedly, +the transient idea of Miss Cecilia Stubbs passed from Captain +Waverley's heart amid the turmoil which his new destinies +excited. She appeared, indeed, in full splendour in her father's +pew upon the Sunday when he attended service for the last time at +the old parish church, upon which occasion, at the request of his +uncle and Aunt Rachel, he was induced (nothing loth, if the truth +must be told) to present himself in full uniform. + +There is no better antidote against entertaining too high an +opinion of others, than having an excellent one of ourselves at +the very same time. Miss Stubbs had indeed summoned up every +assistance which art could afford to beauty; but, alas! hoop, +patches, frizzled locks, and a new mantua of genuine French silk, +were lost upon a young officer of dragoons, who wore, for the +first time, his gold-laced hat, jack-boots, and broadsword. I +know not whether, like the champion of an old ballad, + + His heart was all on honour bent, + He could not stoop to love; + No lady in the land had power + His frozen heart to move; + +or whether the deep and flaming bars of embroidered gold, which +now fenced his breast, defied the artillery of Cecilia's eyes; +but every arrow was launched at him in vain. + + Yet did I mark where Cupid's shaft did light; + It lighted not on little western flower, + But on bold yeoman, flower of all the west, + Hight Jonas Culbertfield, the steward's son. + +Craving pardon for my heroics (which I am unable in certain cases +to resist giving way to), it is a melancholy fact, that my +history must here take leave of the fair Cecilia, who, like many +a daughter of Eve, after the departure of Edward, and the +dissipation of certain idle visions which she had adopted, +quietly contented herself with a PIS-ALLER, and gave her hand, at +the distance of six months, to the aforesaid Jonas, son of the +Baronet's steward, and heir (no unfertile prospect) to a +steward's fortune; besides the snug probability of succeeding to +his father's office. All these advantages moved Squire Stubbs, +as much as the ruddy brow and manly form of the suitor influenced +his daughter, to abate somewhat in the article of their gentry; +and so the match was concluded. None seemed more gratified than +Aunt Rachel, who had hitherto looked rather askance upon the +presumptuous damsel (as much so, peradventure, as her nature +would permit), but who, on the first appearance of the new- +married pair at church, honoured the bride with a smile and a +profound curtsy, in presence of the rector, the curate, the +clerk, and the whole congregation of the united parishes of +Waverley CUM Beverley. + +I beg pardon, once and for all, of those readers who take up +novels merely for amusement, for plaguing them so long with old- +fashioned politics, and Whig and Tory, and Hanoverians and +Jacobites, The truth is, I cannot promise them that this story +shall be intelligible, not to say probable, without it. My plan +requires that I should explain the motives on which its action +proceeded; and these motives necessarily arose from the feelings, +prejudices, and parties of the times. I do not invite my fair +readers, whose sex and impatience give them the greatest right to +complain of these circumstances, into a flying chariot drawn by +hippogriffs, or moved by enchantment. Mine is a humble English +post-chaise, drawn upon four wheels, and keeping his Majesty's +highway. Such as dislike the vehicle may leave it at the next +halt, and wait for the conveyance of Prince Hussein's tapestry, +or Malek the Weaver's flying sentry-box. Those who are contented +to remain with me will be occasionally exposed to the dullness +inseparable from heavy roads, steep hills, sloughs, and other +terrestrial retardations; but, with tolerable horses and a civil +driver (as the advertisements have it), I engage to get as soon +as possible into a more picturesque and romantic country, if my +passengers incline to have some patience with me during my first +stages. [These Introductory Chapters have been a good deal +censured as tedious and unnecessary. Yet there are circumstances +recorded in them which the author has not been able to persuade +himself to retract or cancel.] + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ADIEUS OF WAVERLEY + +It was upon the evening of this memorable Sunday that Sir Everard +entered the library, where he narrowly missed surprising our +young hero as he went through the guards of the broadsword with +the ancient weapon of old Sir Hildebrand, which, being preserved +as an heirloom, usually hung over the chimney in the library, +beneath a picture of the knight and his horse, where the features +were almost entirely hidden by the knight's profusion of curled +hair, and the Bucephalus which he bestrode concealed by the +voluminous robes of the Bath with which he was decorated. Sir +Everard entered, and after a glance at the picture and another at +his nephew, began a little speech, which, however, soon dropped +into the natural simplicity of his common manner, agitated upon +the present occasion by no common feeling. 'Nephew,' he said; +and then, as mending his phrase, 'My dear Edward, it is God's +will, and also the will of your father, whom, under God, it is +your duty to obey, that you should leave us to take up the +profession of arms, in which so many of your ancestors have been +distinguished. I have made such arrangements as will enable you +to take the field as their descendant, and as the probable heir +of the house of Waverley; and, sir, in the field of battle you +will remember what name you bear. And, Edward, my dear boy, +remember also that you are the last of that race, and the only +hope of its revival depends upon you; therefore, as far as duty +and honour will permit, avoid danger--I mean unnecessary danger-- +and keep no company with rakes, gamblers, and Whigs, of whom, it +is to be feared, there are but too many in the service into which +you are going. Your colonel, as I am informed, is an excellent +man--for a Presbyterian; but you will remember your duty to God, +the Church of England, and the--' (this breach ought to have been +supplied, according to the rubric, with the word KING; but as, +unfortunately, that word conveyed a double and embarrassing +sense, one meaning DE FACTO, and the other DE JURE, the knight +filled up the blank otherwise)--'the Church of England, and all +constituted authorities.' Then, not trusting himself with any +further oratory, he carried his nephew to his stables to see the +horses destined for his campaign. Two were black (the regimental +colour), superb chargers both; the other three were stout active +hacks, designed for the road, or for his domestics, of whom two +were to attend him from the Hall: an additional groom, if +necessary, might be picked up in Scotland. + +'You will depart with but a small retinue,' quoth the Baronet, +'compared to Sir Hildebrand, when he mustered before the gate of +the Hall a larger body of horse than your whole regiment consists +of. I could have wished that these twenty young fellows from my +estate, who have enlisted in your troop, had been to march with +you on your journey to Scotland. It would have been something, +at least; but I am told their attendance would be thought unusual +in these days, when every new and foolish fashion is introduced +to break the natural dependence of the people upon their +landlords.' + +Sir Everard had done his best to correct this unnatural +disposition of the times; for he had brightened the chain of +attachment between the recruits and their young captain, not only +by a copious repast of beef and ale, by way of parting feast, but +by such a pecuniary donation to each individual, as tended rather +to improve the conviviality than the discipline of their march. +After inspecting the cavalry, Sir Everard again conducted his +nephew to the library, where he produced a letter, carefully +folded, surrounded by a little stripe of flox-silk, according to +ancient form, and sealed with an accurate impression of the +Waverley coat-of-arms. It was addressed, with great formality, +'To Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq. of Bradwardine, at his +principal mansion of Tully-Veolan, in Perthshire, North Britain, +These--By the hands of Captain Edward Waverley, nephew of Sir +Everard Waverley, of Waverley-Honour, Bart.' + +The gentleman to whom this enormous greeting was addressed, of +whom we shall have more to say in the sequel, had been in arms +for the exiled family of Stuart in the year 1715, and was made +prisoner at Preston in Lancashire. He was of a very ancient +family, and somewhat embarrassed fortune; a scholar, according to +the scholarship of Scotchmen, that is, his learning was more +diffuse than accurate, and he was rather a reader than a +grammarian. Of his zeal for the classic authors he is said to +have given an uncommon instance. On the road between Preston and +London he made his escape from his guards; but being afterwards +found loitering near the place where they had lodged the former +night, he was recognized, and again arrested. His companions, +and even his escort, were surprised at his infatuation, and could +not help inquiring, why, being once at liberty, he had not made +the best of his way to a place of safety; to which he replied, +that he had intended to do so, but, in good faith, he had +returned to seek his Titus Livius, which he had forgot in the +hurry of his escape. [See Note 2.] The simplicity of this +anecdote struck the gentleman, who, as we before observed, had +managed the defence of some of those unfortunate persons, at the +expense of Sir Everard, and perhaps some others of the party. He +was, besides, himself a special admirer of the old Patavinian; +and though probably his own zeal might not have carried him such +extravagant lengths, even to recover the edition of Sweynheim and +Pannartz (supposed to be the princeps), he did not the less +estimate the devotion of the North Briton, and in consequence +exerted himself to so much purpose to remove and soften evidence, +detect legal flaws, ET CETERA, that he accomplished the final +discharge and deliverance of Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine from +certain very awkward consequences of a plea before our sovereign +lord the king in Westminster. + +The Baron of Bradwardine, for he was generally so called in +Scotland (although his intimates, from his place of residence, +used to denominate him. Tully-Veolan, or more familiarly, +Tully), no sooner stood RECTUS IN CURIA, than he posted down to +pay his respects and make his acknowledgements at Waverley- +Honour. A congenial passion for field sports, and a general +coincidence in political opinions, cemented his friendship with +Sir Everard, notwithstanding the difference of their habits and +studies in other particulars; and, having spent several weeks at +Waverley-Honour, the Baron departed with many expressions of +regard, warmly pressing the Baronet to return his visit, and +partake of the diversion of grouse-shooting upon his moors in +Perthshire next season. Shortly after, Mr. Bradwardine remitted +from Scotland a sum in reimbursement of expenses incurred in the +King's High Court of Westminster, which, although not quite so +formidable when reduced to the English denomination, had, in its +original form of Scotch pounds, shillings, and pence, such a +formidable effect upon the frame of Duncan Macwheeble, the +laird's confidential factor, baron-bailie, and man of resource, +that he had a fit of the colic which lasted for five days, +occasioned, he said, solely and utterly by becoming the unhappy +instrument of conveying such a serious sum of money out of his +native country into the hands of the false English. But +patriotism as it is the fairest, so it is often the most +suspicious mask of other feelings; and many who knew Bailie +Macwheeble, concluded that his professions of regret were not +altogether disinterested, and that he would have grudged the +moneys paid to the LOONS at Westminster much less had they not +come from Bradwardine estate, a fund which he considered as more +particularly his own. But the Bailie protested he was absolutely +disinterested-- + + Woe, woe, for Scotland, not a whit for me! + +The laird was only rejoiced that his worthy friend, Sir Everard +Waverley of Waverley-Honour, was reimbursed of the expenditure +which he had outlaid on account of the house of Bradwardine. It +concerned, he said, the credit of his own family, and of the +kingdom of Scotland at large, that these disbursements should be +repaid forthwith, and, if delayed, if would be a matter of +national reproach. Sir Everard, accustomed to treat much larger +sums with indifference, received the remittance of 294l. 13s. +6d., without being aware that the payment was an international +concern, and, indeed, would probably have forgot the circumstance +altogether, if Bailie Macwheeble had thought of comforting his +colic by intercepting the subsidy. A yearly intercourse took +place, of a short letter, and a hamper or a cask or two, between +Waverley-Honour and Tully-Veolan, the English exports consisting +of mighty cheeses and mightier ale, pheasants and venison, and +the Scottish returns being vested in grouse, white hares, pickled +salmon, and usquebaugh. All which were meant, sent, and +received, as pledges of constant friendship and amity between two +important houses. It followed as a matter of course, that the +heir-apparent of Waverley-Honour could not, with propriety, visit +Scotland without being furnished with credentials to the Baron of +Bradwardine. + +When this matter was explained and settled, Mr. Pembroke +expressed his wish to take a private and particular leave of his +dear pupil. The good man's exhortations to Edward to preserve an +unblemished life and morals, to hold fast the principles of the +Christian religion, and to eschew the profane company of scoffers +and latitudinarians, too much abounding in the army, were not +unmingled with his political prejudices. It had pleased Heaven, +he said, to place Scotland (doubtless for the sins of their +ancestors in 1642) in a more deplorable state of darkness than +even this unhappy kingdom of England. Here, at least, although +the candlestick of the Church of England had been in some degree +removed from its place, it yet afforded a glimmering light; there +was a hierarchy, though schismatical, and fallen from the +principles maintained by those great fathers of the church, +Sancroft and his brethren; there was a liturgy, though wofully +perverted in some of the principal petitions. But in Scotland it +was utter darkness; and, excepting a sorrowful, scattered, and +persecuted remnant, the pulpits were abandoned to Presbyterians, +and he feared, to sectaries of every description. It should be +his duty to fortify his dear pupil to resist such unhallowed and +pernicious doctrines in church and state, as must necessarily be +forced at times upon his unwilling ears. + +Here he produced two immense folded packets, which appeared each +to contain a whole ream of closely-written manuscript. They had +been the labour of the worthy man's whole life; and never were +labour and zeal more absurdly wasted. He had at one time gone to +London, with the intention of giving them to the world, by the +medium of a bookseller in Little Britain, well known to deal in +such commodities, and to whom he was instructed to address +himself in a particular phrase, and with a certain sign, which, +it seems, passed at that time current among the initiated +Jacobites. The moment Mr. Pembroke had uttered the shibboleth, +with the appropriate gesture, the bibliopolist greeted him, +notwithstanding every disclamation, by the title of Doctor, and +conveying him into his back shop, after inspecting every possible +and impossible place of concealment, he commenced: 'Eh, doctor! +Well--all under the rose--snug--I keep no holes here even for a +Hanoverian rat to hide in. And, what--eh! any good news from +our friends over the water?--and how does the worthy king of +France? Or perhaps you are more lately from Rome?--it must be +Rome will do it at last--the church must light its candle at the +old lamp. Eh! what, cautious? I like you the better; but no +fear.' + +Here Mr. Pembroke, with some difficulty, stopped a torrent of +interrogations, eked out with signs, nods, and winks; and, having +at length convinced the bookseller that he did him too much +honour in supposing him an emissary of exiled royalty, he +explained his actual business. + +The man of books, with a much more composed air, proceeded to +examine the manuscripts. The title of the first was 'A Dissent +from Dissenters, or the Comprehension confuted; showing the +Impossibility of any Composition between the Church and Puritans, +Presbyterians, or Sectaries of any Description; illustrated from +the Scriptures, the fathers of the Church, and the soundest +Controversial Divines.' To this work the bookseller positively +demurred. 'Well meant,' he said, 'and learned, doubtless; but +the time had gone by. Printed on small pica it would run to +eight hundred pages, and could never pay. Begged therefore to be +excused. Loved and honoured the true church from his soul; and, +had it been a sermon on the martyrdom, or any twelve-penny touch +--why I would venture something for the honour of the cloth. But +come, let's see the other. 'Right Hereditary righted!' ah, +there's some sense in this! Hum--hum--hum--pages so many, paper +so much, letterpress--Ah! I'll tell you, though, doctor, you +must knock out some of the Latin and Greek; heavy, doctor, damn'd +heavy--(beg your pardon) and if you throw in a few grains more +pepper--I am he that never peached my author--I have published +for Drake, and Charlwood Lawton, and poor Amhurst. [See Note +3.]--Ah, Caleb! Caleb! Well, it was a shame to let poor Caleb +starve, and so many fat rectors and squires among us. I gave him +a dinner once a week; but, Lord love you, what's once a week, +when a man does not know where to go the other six days?--Well, +but I must show the manuscript to little Tom Alibi the solicitor, +who manages all my law affairs--must keep on the windy side--the +mob were very uncivil the last time I mounted in Old Palace Yard +--all Whigs and Roundheads every man of them, Williamites and +Hanover rats.' + +The next day Mr. Pembroke again called on the publisher, but +found Tom Alibi's advice had determined him against undertaking +the work. 'Not but what I would go to--(what was I going to +say?) to the Plantations for the church with pleasure--but, dear +doctor, I have a wife and family; but, to show my zeal, I'll +recommend the job to my neighbour Trimmel--he is a bachelor, and +leaving off business, so a voyage in a western barge would not +inconvenience him.' But Mr. Trimmel was also obdurate, and Mr. +Pembroke, fortunately perchance for himself, was compelled to +return to Waverley-Honour with his treatise in vindication of the +real fundamental principles of church and state safely packed in +his saddle-bags. + +As the public were thus likely to be deprived of the benefit +arising from his lucubrations by the selfish cowardice of the +trade, Mr. Pembroke resolved to make two copies of these +tremendous manuscripts for the use of his pupil. He felt that he +had been indolent as a tutor, and, besides, his conscience +checked him for complying with the request of Mr. Richard +Waverley, that he would impress no sentiments upon Edward's mind +inconsistent with the present settlement in church and state. +But now, thought he, I may, without breach of my word, since he +is no longer under my tuition, afford the youth the means of +judging for himself, and have only to dread his reproaches for so +long concealing the light which the perusal will flash upon his +mind. While he thus indulged the reveries of an author and a +politician, his darling proselyte, seeing nothing very inviting +in the title of the tracts, and appalled by the bulk and compact +lines of the manuscript, quietly consigned them to a corner of +his travelling trunk. + +Aunt Rachel's farewell was brief and affectionate. She only +cautioned her dear Edward, whom she probably deemed somewhat +susceptible, against the fascination of Scottish beauty. She +allowed that the northern part of the island contained some +ancient families, but they were all Whigs and Presbyterians +except the Highlanders; and respecting them she must needs say, +there could be no great delicacy among the ladies, where the +gentlemen's usual attire was, as she had been assured, to say the +least, very singular, and not at all decorous. She concluded her +farewell with a kind and moving benediction, and gave the young +officer, as a pledge of her regard, a valuable diamond ring +(often worn by the male sex at that time), and a purse of broad +gold pieces, which also were more common Sixty Years since than +they have been of late. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A HORSE-QUARTER IN SCOTLAND + +The next morning, amid varied feelings, the chief of which was a +predominant, anxious, and even solemn impression, that he was now +in a great measure abandoned to his own guidance and direction, +Edward Waverley departed from the Hall amid the blessings and +tears of all the old domestics and the inhabitants of the +village, mingled with some sly petitions for sergeantcies and +corporalships, and so forth, on the part of those who professed +that 'they never thoft to ha' seen Jacob, and Giles, and +Jonathan, go off for soldiers, save to attend his honour, as in +duty bound.' Edward, as in duty bound, extricated himself from +the supplicants with the pledge of fewer promises than might have +been expected from a young man so little accustomed to the world. +After a short visit to London, he proceeded on horseback, then +the general mode of travelling, to Edinburgh, and from thence to +Dundee, a seaport on the eastern coast of Angus-shire, where his +regiment was then quartered. + +He now entered upon a new world, where, for a time, all was +beautiful because all was new. Colonel Gardiner, the commanding +officer of the regiment, was himself a study for a romantic, and +at the same time an inquisitive, youth. In person he was tall, +handsome, and active, though somewhat advanced in life. In his +early years, he had been what is called, by manner of palliative, +a very gay young man, and strange stories were circulated about +his sudden conversion from doubt, if not infidelity, to a serious +and even enthusiastic turn of mind. It was whispered that a +supernatural communication, of a nature obvious even to the +exterior senses, had produced this wonderful change; and though +some mentioned the proselyte as an enthusiast, none hinted at his +being a hypocrite. This singular and mystical circumstance gave +Colonel Gardiner a peculiar and solemn interest in the eyes of +the young soldier. [See Note 4.] It may be easily imagined that +the officers of a regiment, commanded by so respectable a person, +composed a society more sedate and orderly than a military mess +always exhibits; and that Waverley escaped some temptations to +which he might otherwise have been exposed. + +Meanwhile his military education proceeded. Already a good +horseman, he was now initiated into the arts of the manege, +which, when carried to perfection, almost realize the fable of +the Centaur, the guidance of the horse appearing to proceed from +the rider's mere volition, rather than from the use of any +external and apparent signal of motion. He received also +instructions in his field duty; but, I must own, that when his +first ardour was passed, his progress fell short in the latter +particular of what he wished and expected. The duty of an +officer, the most imposing of all others to the inexperienced +mind, because accompanied with so much outward pomp and +circumstance, is in its essence a very dry and abstract task, +depending chiefly upon arithmetical combinations, requiring much +attention, and a cool and reasoning head, to bring them into +action. Our hero was liable to fits of absence, in which his +blunders excited some mirth, and called down some reproof. This +circumstance impressed him with a painful sense of inferiority in +those qualities which appeared most to deserve and obtain regard +in his new profession. He asked himself in vain, why his eye +could not judge of distance or space so well as those of his +companions; why his head was not always successful in +disentangling the various partial movements necessary to execute +a particular evolution; and why his memory, so alert upon most +occasions, did not correctly retain technical phrases, and minute +points of etiquette or field discipline. Waverley was naturally +modest, and therefore did not fall into the egregious mistake of +supposing such minuter rules of military duty beneath his notice, +or conceiting himself to be born a general, because he made an +indifferent subaltern. The truth was, that the vague and +unsatisfactory course of reading which he had pursued, working +upon a temper naturally retired and abstracted, had given him +that wavering and unsettled habit of mind, which is most averse +to study and riveted attention. Time, in the meanwhile, hung +heavy on his hands. The gentry of the neighbourhood were +disaffected, and, showed little hospitality to the military +guests; and the people of the town, chiefly engaged in mercantile +pursuits, were not such as Waverley chose to associate with. The +arrival of summer, and a curiosity to know something more of +Scotland than he could see in a ride from his quarters, +determined him to request leave of absence for a few weeks. He +resolved first to visit his uncle's ancient friend and +correspondent, with the purpose of extending or shortening the +time of his residence according to circumstances. He travelled +of course on horseback, and with a single attendant, and passed +his first night at a miserable inn, where the landlady had +neither shoes nor stockings, and the landlord, who called himself +a gentleman, was disposed to be rude to his guest, because he had +not bespoke the pleasure of his society to supper. [See Note 5.] +The next day, traversing an open and unenclosed country, Edward +gradually approached the Highlands of Perthshire, which at first +had appeared a blue outline in the horizon, but now swelled into +huge gigantic masses, which frowned defiance over the more level +country that lay beneath them. Near the bottom of this +stupendous barrier, but still in the Lowland country, dwelt Cosmo +Comyne Bradwardine of Bradwardine; and, if grey-haired eld can be +in aught believed, there had dwelt his ancestors, with all their +heritage, since the days of the gracious King Duncan. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A SCOTTISH MANOR-HOUSE SIXTY YEARS SINCE + +It was about noon when Captain Waverley entered the straggling +village, or rather hamlet, of Tully-Veolan, close to which was +situated the mansion of the proprietor. The houses seemed +miserable in the extreme, especially to an eye accustomed to the +smiling neatness of English cottages. They stood, without any +respect for regularity, on each side of & straggling kind of +unpaved street, where children, almost in a primitive state of +nakedness, lay sprawling, as if to be crushed by the hoofs of the +first passing horse. Occasionally, indeed, when such a +consummation seemed inevitable, a watchful old grandam, with her +close cap, distaff, and spindle, rushed like a sibyl in frenzy +out of one of these miserable cells, dashed into the middle of +the path, and snatching up her own charge from among the sunburnt +loiterers, saluted him with a sound cuff, and transported him +back to his dungeon, the little white-headed varlet screaming all +the while, from the very top of his lungs, a shrilly treble to +the growling remonstrances of the enraged matron. Another part +in this concert was sustained by the incessant yelping of a score +of idle useless curs, which followed, snarling, barking, howling, +and snapping at the horses' heels; a nuisance at that time so +common in Scotland, that a French tourist, who, like other +travellers, longed to find a good and rational reason for +everything he saw, has recorded, as one of the memorabilia of +Caledonia, that the state maintained in each village a relay of +curs, called COLLIES, whose duty it was to chase the CHEVAUX DE +POSTE (too starved and exhausted to move without such a stimulus) +from one hamlet to another, till their annoying convoy drove them +to the end of their stage. The evil and remedy (such as it is) +still exist: but this is remote from our present purpose, and is +only thrown out for consideration of the collectors under Mr. +Dent's dog bill. + +As Waverley moved on, here and there an old man, bent as much by +toil as years, his eyes bleared with age and smoke, tottered to +the door of his hut, to gaze on the dress of the stranger, and +the form and motions of the horses, and then assembled with his +neighbours, in a little group at the smithy, to discuss the +probabilities of whence the stranger came, and where he might be +going. Three or four village girls, returning from the well or +brook with pitchers and pails upon their heads, formed more +pleasing objects; and, with their thin, short gowns and single +petticoats, bare arms, legs, and feet, uncovered heads, and +braided hair, somewhat resembled Italian forms of landscape. Nor +could a lover of the picturesque have challenged either the +elegance of their costume, or the symmetry of their shape; +although, to say the truth, a mere Englishman, in search of the +COMFORTABLE, a word peculiar to his native tongue, might have +wished the clothes less scanty, the feet and legs somewhat +protected from the weather, the head and complexion shrouded from +the sun, or perhaps might even have thought the whole person and +dress considerably improved, by a plentiful application of spring +water, with a QUANTUM SUFFICIT of soap, The whole scene was +depressing; for it argued, at the first glance, at least a +stagnation of industry, and perhaps of intellect. Even +curiosity, the busiest passion of the idle, seemed of a listless +cast in the village of Tully-Veolan: the curs aforesaid alone +showed any part of its activity; with the villagers it was +passive. They stood and gazed at the handsome young officer and +his attendant, but without any of those quick motions, and eager +looks, that indicate the earnestness with which those who live in +monotonous ease at home, look out for amusement abroad. Yet the +physiognomy of the people, when more closely examined, was far +from exhibiting the indifference of stupidity; their features +were rough, but remarkably intelligent; grave, but the very +reverse of stupid; and from among the young women, an artist +might have chosen more than one model, whose features and form +resembled those of Minerva. The children, also, whose skins were +burnt black, and whose hair was bleached white, by the influence +of the sun, had a look and manner of life and interest. It +seemed, upon the whole, as if poverty, and indolence, its too +frequent companion, were combining to depress the natural genius +and acquired information of a hardy, intelligent, and reflecting +peasantry. + +Some such thoughts crossed Waverley's mind as he paced his horse +slowly through the rugged and flinty street of Tully-Veolan, +interrupted only in his meditations by the occasional caprioles +which his charger exhibited at the reiterated assaults of those +canine Cossacks, the COLLIES before mentioned. The village was +more than half a mile long, the cottages being irregularly +divided from each other by gardens, or yards, as the inhabitants +called them, of different sizes, where (for it is Sixty Years +since) the now universal potato was unknown, but which were +stored with gigantic plants of KALE or colewort, encircled with +groves of nettles, and exhibited here and there a huge hemlock, +or the national thistle, overshadowing a quarter of the petty +enclosure. The broken ground on which the village was built had +never been levelled; so that these enclosures presented +declivities of every degree, here rising like terraces, there +sinking like tan-pits. The dry-stone walls which fenced, or +seemed to fence (for they were sorely breached), these hanging +gardens of Tully-Veolan, were intersected by a narrow lane +leading to the common field, where the joint labour of the +villagers cultivated alternate ridges and patches of rye, oats, +barley, and peas, each of such minute extent, that at a little +distance the unprofitable variety of the surface resembled a +tailor's book of patterns. In a few favoured instances, there +appeared behind the cottages a miserable wigwam, compiled of +earth, loose stones, and turf, where the wealthy might perhaps +shelter a starved cow or sorely galled horse. But almost every +hut was fenced in front by a huge black stack of turf on one side +of the door, while on the other the family dung-hill ascended in +noble emulation. + +About a bow-shot from the end of the village appeared the +enclosures, proudly denominated the Parks of Tully-Veolan, being +certain square fields, surrounded and divided by stone walls five +feet in height. In the centre of the exterior barrier was the +upper gate of the avenue, opening under an archway, battlemented +on the top, and adorned with two large weather-beaten mutilated +masses of upright stone, which, if the tradition of the hamlet +could be trusted, had once represented, at least had been once +designed to represent, two rampant Bears, the supporters of the +family of Bradwardine. This avenue was straight, and of moderate +length, running between a double row of very ancient horse- +chestnuts, planted alternately with sycamores, which rose to such +huge height, and flourished so luxuriantly, that their boughs +completely over-arched the broad road beneath. Beyond these +venerable ranks, and running parallel to them, were two high +walls, of apparently the like antiquity, overgrown with ivy, +honeysuckle, and other climbing plants. The avenue seemed very +little trodden, and chiefly by foot-passengers; so that being +very broad, and enjoying a constant shade, it was clothed with +grass of a deep and rich verdure, excepting where a footpath, +worn by occasional passengers, tracked with a natural sweep the +way from the upper to the lower gate. This nether portal, like +the former, opened in front of a wall ornamented with some rude +sculpture, with battlements on the top, over which were seen, +half-hidden by the trees of the avenue, the high steep roofs and +narrow gables of the mansion, with lines indented into steps, and +corners decorated with small turrets. One of the folding leaves +of the lower gate was open, and as the sun shone full into the +court behind, a long line of brilliancy was flung upon the +aperture up the dark and gloomy avenue. It was one of those +effects which a painter loves to represent, and mingled well with +the struggling light which found its way between the boughs of +the shady arch that vaulted the broad green alley. + +The solitude and repose of the whole scene seemed almost +romantic; and Waverley, who had given his horse to his servant on +entering the first gate, walked slowly down the avenue, enjoying +the grateful and cooling shade, and so much pleased with the +placid ideas of rest and seclusion excited by this confined and +quiet scene, that he forgot the misery and dirt of the hamlet he +had left behind him. The opening into the paved courtyard +corresponded with the rest of the scene. The house, which seemed +to consist of two or three high, narrow, and steep-roofed +buildings, projecting from each other at right angles, formed one +side of the enclosure. It had been built at a period when +castles were no longer necessary, and when the Scottish +architects had not yet acquired the art of designing a domestic +residence. The windows were numberless, but very small; the roof +had some nondescript kind of projections, called bartizans, and +displayed at each frequent angle a small turret, rather +resembling a pepper-box than a Gothic watch-tower. Neither did +the front indicate absolute security from danger. There were +loop-holes for musketry, and iron stanchions on the lower +windows, probably to repel any roving band of gipsies, or resist +a predatory visit from the Caterans of the neighbouring +Highlands. Stables and other offices occupied another side of +the square. The former were low vaults, with narrow slits +instead of windows, resembling, as Edward's groom observed, +'rather a prison for murderers and larceners, and such like as +are tried at 'sizes, than a place for any Christian cattle.' +Above these dungeon-looking stables were granaries, called +girnels, and other offices, to which there was access by outside +stairs of heavy masonry. Two battlemented walls, one of which +faced the avenue, and the other divided the court from the +garden, completed the enclosure. + +Nor was the court without its ornaments. In one corner was a +tun-bellied pigeon-house, of great size and rotundity, resembling +in figure and proportion the curious edifice called Arthur's +Oven, which would have turned the brains of all the antiquaries +in England, had not the worthy proprietor pulled it down for the +sake of mending a neighbouring dam-dyke. This dovecot, or +COLUMBARIUM, as the owner called it, was no small resource to a +Scottish laird of that period, whose scanty rents were eked out +by the contributions levied upon the farms by these light +foragers, and the conscriptions exacted from the latter for the +benefit of the table. + +Another corner of the court displayed a fountain, where a huge +bear, carved in stone, predominated over a large stone basin, +into which he disgorged the water. This work of art was the +wonder of the country ten miles round. It must not be forgotten, +that all sorts of bears, small and large, demi or in full +proportion, were carved over the windows, upon the ends of the +gables, terminated the spouts, and supported the turrets, with +the ancient family motto 'BEWAR THE BAR,' cut under each +hyperborean form. The court was spacious, well paved, and +perfectly clean, there being probably another entrance behind the +stables for removing the litter. Everything around appeared +solitary, and would have been silent, but for the continued +plashing of the fountain; and the whole scene still maintained +the monastic illusion which the fancy of Waverley had conjured +up.--And here we beg permission to close a chapter of still life. +[There is no particular mansion described under the name of +Tully-Veolan; but the peculiarities of the description occur in +various old Scottish seats. The House of Warrender upon +Bruntsfield Links, and that of Old Ravelston, belonging, the +former to Sir George Warrender, the latter to Sir Alexander +Keith, have both contributed several hints to the description in +the text. The House of Dean, near Edinburgh, has also some +points of resemblance with Tully-Veolan. The author has, +however, been informed, that the House of Grandtully resembles +that of the Baron of Bradwardine still more than any of the +above.] + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MORE OF THE MANOR-HOUSE AND ITS ENVIRONS + +After having satisfied his curiosity by gazing around him for a +few minutes, Waverley applied himself to the massive knocker of +the hall-door, the architrave of which bore the date 1594. But +no answer was returned, though the peal resounded through a +number of apartments, and was echoed from the courtyard walls +without the house, startling the pigeons from the venerable +rotunda which they occupied, and alarming anew even the distant +village curs, which had retired to sleep upon their respective +dung-hills. Tired of the din which he created, and the +unprofitable responses which it excited, Waverley began to think +that he had reached the castle of Orgoglio, as entered by the +victorious Prince Arthur, + + When 'gan he loudly through the house to call, + But no man cared to answer to his cry; + There reigned a solemn silence over all, + Nor voice was heard, nor wight was seen, in bower or hall. + +Filled almost with expectation of beholding some 'old, old man, +with beard as white as snow,' whom he might question concerning +this deserted mansion, our hero turned to a little oaken wicket- +door, well clenched with iron nails, which opened in the +courtyard wall at its angle with the house. It was only latched, +notwithstanding its fortified appearance, and, when opened, +admitted him into the garden, which presented a pleasant scene. +[At Ravelston may be seen such a garden, which the taste of the +proprietor, the author's friend and kinsman, Sir Alexander Keith, +Knight Mareschal, has judiciously preserved. That, as well as +the house, is, however, of smaller dimensions than the Baron of +Bradwardine's mansion and garden are presumed to have been.] The +southern side of the house, clothed with fruit-trees, and having +many evergreens trained upon its walls, extended its irregular +yet venerable front along a terrace, partly paved, partly +gravelled, partly bordered with flowers and choice shrubs. This +elevation descended by three several flights of steps, placed in +its centre and at the extremities, into what might be called the +garden proper, and was fenced along the top by a stone parapet +with a heavy balustrade, ornamented from space to space with huge +grotesque figures of animals seated upon their haunches, among +which the favourite bear was repeatedly introduced. Placed in +the middle of the terrace, between a sashed door opening from the +house and the central flight of steps, a huge animal of the same +species supported on his head and fore-paws a sundial of large +circumference, inscribed with more diagrams than Edward's +mathematics enabled him to decipher. + +The garden, which seemed to be kept with great accuracy, abounded +in fruit-trees, and exhibited a profusion of flowers and +evergreens, cut into grotesque forms. It was laid out in +terraces, which descended rank by rank from the western wall to a +large brook, which had a tranquil and smooth appearance, where it +served as a boundary to the garden; but, near the extremity, +leapt in tumult over a strong dam, or weir-head, the cause of its +temporary tranquillity, and there forming a cascade, was +overlooked by an octangular summer-house, with a gilded bear on +the top by way of vane. After this feat, the brook, assuming its +natural rapid and fierce character, escaped from the eye down a +deep and wooded dell, from the copse of which arose a massive, +but ruinous tower, the former habitation of the Barons of +Bradwardine, The margin of the brook, opposite to the garden, +displayed a narrow meadow, or haugh, as it was called, which +formed a small washing-green; the bank, which retired behind it, +was covered by ancient trees. + +The scene, though pleasing, was not quite equal to the gardens of +Alcina; yet wanted not the 'DUE DONZELLETTE GARRULE' of that +enchanted paradise, for upon the green aforesaid two bare-legged +damsels, each standing in a spacious tub, performed with their +feet the office of a patent washing-machine. These did not, +however, like the maidens of Armida, remain to greet with their +harmony the approaching guest, but, alarmed at the appearance of +a handsome stranger on the opposite side, dropped their garments +(I should say garment, to be quite-correct) over their limbs, +which their occupation exposed somewhat too freely, and, with a +shrill exclamation of 'Eh, sirs!' uttered with an accent between +modesty and coquetry, sprang off like deer in different +directions. + +Waverley began to despair of gaining entrance into this solitary +and seemingly enchanted mansion, when a, man advanced up one of +the garden alleys, where he still retained his station. Trusting +this might be a gardener, or some domestic belonging to the +house, Edward descended the steps in order to meet him; but as +the figure approached, and long before he could descry its +features, he was struck with the oddity of its appearance and +gestures.--Sometimes this mister wight held his hands clasped +over his head, like an Indian Jogue in the attitude of penance; +sometimes he swung them perpendicularly, like a pendulum, on each +side; and anon he slapped them swiftly and repeatedly across his +breast, like the substitute used by a hackney-coachman for his +usual flogging exercise, when his cattle are idle upon the stand +in a clear frosty day. His gait was as singular as his gestures, +for at times he hopped with great perseverance on the right foot, +then exchanged that supporter to advance in the same manner on +the left, and then putting his feet close together, he hopped +upon both at once. His attire, also, was antiquated and +extravagant. It consisted in a sort of grey jerkin, with scarlet +cuffs and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet lining; the other +parts of the dress corresponded in colour, not forgetting a pair +of scarlet stockings, and a scarlet bonnet, proudly surmounted +with a turkey's feather. Edward, whom he did not seem to +observe, now perceived confirmation in his features of what the +mien and gestures had already announced. It was apparently +neither idiocy nor insanity which gave that wild, unsettled, +irregular expression to a face which naturally was rather +handsome, but something that resembled a compound of both, where +the simplicity of the fool was mixed with the extravagance of a +crazed imagination. He sang with great earnestness, and not +without some taste, a fragment of an old Scottish ditty:-- + + False love, and hast thou played me thus + In summer among the flowers? + I will repay thee back again + In winter among the showers. + Unless again, again, my love, + Unless you turn again; + As you with other maidens rove, + I'll smile on other men. + +[This is a genuine ancient fragment, with some alteration in the +last two lines.] + +Here lifting up his eyes, which had hither&o been fixed in +observing how his feet kept time to the tune, he beheld Waverley, +and instantly doffed his cap, with many grotesque signals of +surprise, respect, and salutation. Edward, though with little +hope of receiving an answer to any constant question, requested +to know whether Mr. Bradwardine were at home, or where he could +find any of the domestics. The questioned party replied,--and, +like the witch of Thalaba, 'still his speech was song,'-- + + The Knight's to the mountain + His bugle to wind; + The Lady's to greenwood + Her garland to bind. + The bower of Burd Ellen + Has moss on the floor, + That the step of Lord William + Be silent and sure. + +This conveyed no information, and Edward, repeating his queries, +received a rapid answer, in which, from the haste and peculiarity +of the dialect, the word 'butler' was alone intelligible. +Waverley then requested to see the butler; upon which the fellow, +with a knowing look and nod of intelligence, made a signal to +Edward to follow, and began to dance and caper down the alley up +which he had made his approaches.--A strange guide this, thought +Edward, and not much unlike one of Shakespeare's roynish clowns. +I am not over prudent to trust to his pilotage; but wiser men +have been led by fools.--By this time he reached the bottom of +the alley, where, turning short on a little parterre of flowers, +shrouded from the east and north by a close yew hedge, he found +an old man at work without his coat, whose appearance hovered +between that of an upper servant and gardener; his red nose and +ruffed shirt belonging to the former profession; his hale and +sunburnt visage, with his green apron, appearing to indicate + + Old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden. + +The major domo--for such he was, and indisputably the second +officer of state in the barony (nay, as chief minister of the +interior, superior even to Bailie Macwheeble, in his own +department of the kitchen and cellar)--the major domo laid down +his spade, slipped on his coat in haste, and with a wrathful look +at Edward's guide, probably excited by his having introduced a +stranger while he was engaged in this laborious, and, as he might +suppose it, degrading office, requested to know the gentleman's +commands. Being informed that he wished to pay his respects to +his master, that his name was Waverley, and so forth, the old +man's countenance assumed a great deal of respectful importance. +'He could take it upon his conscience to say, his honour would +have exceeding pleasure in seeing him. Would not Mr. Waverley +choose some refreshment after his journey? His honour was with +the folk who were getting doon the dark hag; the twa gardener +lads (an emphasis on the word TWA) had been ordered to attend +him; and he had been just amusing himself in the meantime with +dressing Miss Rose's flower-bed, that he might be near to receive +his honour's orders, if need were: he was very fond of a garden, +but had little time for such divertisements.' + +'He canna get it wrought in abune twa days in the week at no rate +whatever,' said Edward's fantastic conductor. + +A grim look from the butler chastised his interference, and he +commanded him, by the name of Davie Gellatley, in a tone which +admitted no discussion, to look for his honour at the dark hag, +and tell him there was a gentleman from the south had arrived at +the Ha'. + +'Can this poor fellow deliver a letter?' asked Edward. + +'With all fidelity, sir, to any one whom he respects. I would +hardly trust him with a long message by word of mouth--though he +is more knave than fool.' + +Waverley delivered his credentials to Mr. Gellatley, who seemed +to confirm the butler's last observation, by twisting his +features at him, when he was looking another way, into the +resemblance of the grotesque face on the bowl of a German +tobacco-pipe; after which, with an odd conge to Waverley, he +danced off to discharge his errand. + +'He is an innocent, sir,' said the butler; 'there is one such in +almost every town in the country, but ours is brought far ben. +He used to work a day's turn weel eneugh; but he help'd Miss Rose +when she was flemit with the Laird of Killancureit's new English +bull, and since that time we ca' him Davie Do-little indeed we +might ca' him Davie Do-naething, for since he got that gay +clothing, to please his honour and my young mistress (great folks +will have their fancies), he has done naething but dance up and +down about the TOUN, without doing a single turn, unless trimming +the laird's fishing-wand or busking his flies, or maybe catching +a dish of trouts at an orra-time. But here comes Miss Rose, who, +I take burden upon me for her, will be especially glad to see one +of the house of Waverley at her father's mansion at Tully- +Veolan.' + +But Rose Bradwardine deserves better of her unworthy historian, +than to be introduced at the end of a chapter. + +In the meanwhile it may be noticed, that Waverley learned two +things from this colloquy; that in Scotland a single house was +called a TOWN, and a natural fool an INNOCENT. [See Note 6.] + + + +CHAPTER X + +ROSE BRADWARDINE AND HER FATHER + +Miss Bradwardine was but seventeen; yet, at the last races of the +county town of --, upon her health being proposed among a round +of beauties, the Laird of Bumperquaigh, permanent feast-master +and croupier of the Bautherwhillery Club, not only said MORE to +the pledge in a pint bumper of Bourdeaux, but, ere pouring forth +the libation, denominated the divinity to whom it was dedicated, +'the Rose of Tully-Veolan;' upon which festive occasion, three +cheers were given by all the sitting members of that respectable +society, whose throats the wine had left capable of such +exertion. Nay, I am well assured, that the sleeping partners of +the company snorted applause, and that although strong bumpers +and weak brains had consigned two or three to the floor, yet even +these, fallen as they were from their high estate, and weltering +--I will carry the parody no further--uttered divers inarticulate +sounds, intimating their assent to the motion. + +Such unanimous applause could not be extorted but by acknowledged +merit; and Rose Bradwardine not only deserved it, but also the +approbation of much more rational persons than the +Bautherwhillery Club could have mustered, even before discussion +of the first MAGNUM. She was indeed a very pretty girl of the +Scotch cast of beauty, that is, with a profusion of hair of paley +gold, and a skin like the snow of her own mountains in whiteness. +Yet she had not a pallid or pensive cast of countenance; her +features, as well as her temper, had a lively expression; her +complexion, though not florid, was so pure as to seem +transparent, and the slightest emotion sent her whole blood at +once to her face and neck. Her form, though under the common +size, was remarkably elegant, and her motions light, easy, and +unembarrassed. She came from another part of the garden to +receive Captain Waverley, with a manner that hovered between +bashfulness and courtesy. + +The first greetings past, Edward learned from her that the dark +hag, which had somewhat puzzled him in the butler's account of +his master's avocations, had nothing to do either with a black +cat or a broomstick, but was simply a portion of oak copse which +was to be felled that day. She offered, with diffident civility, +to show the stranger the way to the spot, which, it seems, was +not far distant; but they were prevented by the appearance of the +Baron of Bradwardine in person, who, summoned by David Gellatley, +now appeared, 'on hospitable thoughts intent,' clearing the +ground at a prodigious rate with swift and long strides, which +reminded Waverley of the seven-league boots of the nursery fable. +He was a tall, thin, athletic figure; old indeed, and grey- +haired, but with every muscle rendered as tough as whip-cord by +constant exercise. He was dressed carelessly, and more like a +Frenchman than an Englishman of the period, while, from his hard +features and perpendicular rigidity of stature, he bore some +resemblance to a Swiss officer of the guards, who had resided +some time at Paris, and caught the costume, but not the ease or +manner of its inhabitants. The truth was, that his language and +habits were as heterogeneous as his external appearance. + +Owing to his natural disposition to study, or perhaps to a very +general Scottish fashion of giving young men of rank a legal +education, he had been bred with a view to the Bar. But the +politics of his family precluding the hope of his rising in that +profession, Mr. Bradwardine travelled with high reputation for +several years, and made some campaigns in foreign service. After +his DEMELE with the law of high treason in 1715, he had lived in +retirement, conversing almost entirely with those of his own +principles in the vicinage. The pedantry of the lawyer, +superinduced upon the military pride of the soldier, might remind +a modern of the days of the zealous volunteer service, when the +bar-gown of our pleaders was often hung over a blazing uniform. +To this must be added the prejudices of ancient birth and +Jacobite politics, greatly strengthened by habits of solitary and +secluded authority, which, though exercised only within the +bounds of his half-cultivated estate, was there indisputable and +undisputed. For, as he used to observe, 'the lands of +Bradwardine, Tully-Veolan, and others, had been erected into a +free barony by a charter from David the First, CUM LIBERALI +POTEST. HABENDI CURIAS ET JUSTICIAS, CUM FOSSA ET FURCA (LIE pit +and gallows) ET SAKA ET SOKA, ET THOL ET THEAM, ET INFANG-THIEF +ET OUTFANG-THIEF, SIVE HAND-HABEND. SIVE BAK-BARAND.' The +peculiar meaning of all these cabalistical words few or none +could explain; but they implied, upon the whole, that the Baron +of Bradwardine might, in case of delinquency, imprison, try, and +execute his vassals at his pleasure. Like James the First. +however, the present possessor of this authority was more pleased +in talking about prerogative than in exercising it; and, +excepting that he imprisoned two poachers in the dungeon of the +old tower of Tully-Veolan, where they were sorely frightened by +ghosts, and almost eaten by rats, and that he set an old woman in +the JOUGS (or Scottish pillory) for saying 'there were mair fules +in the laird's ha' house than Davie Gellatley,' I do not learn +that he was accused of abusing his high powers. Still, however, +the conscious pride of possessing them gave additional importance +to his language and deportment. + +At his first address to Waverley, it would seem that the hearty +pleasure he felt to behold the nephew of his friend had somewhat +discomposed the stiff and upright dignity of the Baron of +Bradwardine's demeanour, for the tears stood in the old +gentleman's eyes, when, having first shaken Edward heartily by +the hand in the English fashion, he embraced him A LA MODE +FRANCAISE, and kissed him on both sides of his face; while the +hardness of his grip, and the quantity of Scotch snuff which his +ACCOLADE communicated, called corresponding drops of moisture to +the eyes of his guest. + +'Upon the honour of a gentleman,' he said, 'but it makes me young +again to see you here, Mr. Waverley!' A worthy scion of the old +stock of Waverley-Honour--SPES ALTERA, as Maro hath it--and you +have the look of the old line, Captain Waverley, not so portly +yet as my old friend Sir Everard--MAIS CELA VIENDRA AVEC LE +TEMPS, as my Dutch acquaintance, Baron Kikkitbroeck, said of the +SAGESSE of MADAME SON EPOUSE.--And so ye have mounted the +cockade? Right, right; though I could have wished the colour +different, and so I would ha' deemed might Sir Everard. But no +more of that; I am old, and times are changed.--And how does the +worthy knight baronet, and the fair Mrs. Rachel?--Ah, ye laugh, +young man! In troth she was the fair Mrs. Rachel in the year of +grace seventeen hundred and sixteen; but time passes--ET SINGULA +PRAEDANTUR ANNI--that is most certain. But once again, ye are +most heartily welcome to my poor house of Tully-Veolan!--Hie to +the house, Rose, and see that Alexander Saunderson leaks out the +old Chateau Margaux, which I sent from Bourdeaux to Dundee in the +year 1713.' + +Rose tripped off demurely enough till she turned the first +corner, and then ran with the speed of a fairy, that she might +gain leisure, after discharging her father's commission, to put +her own dress in order, and produce all her little finery, an +occupation for which the approaching dinner hour left but limited +time. + +'We cannot rival the luxuries of your English table, Captain +Waverley, or give you the EPULAE LAUTIORES of Wavery-Honour--I +say EPULAE rather than PRANDIUM, because the latter phrase is +popular; EPULAE AD SENATUM, PRANDIUM VERO AD POPULUM ATTINET, +says Suetonius Tranquillus. But I trust ye will applaud my +Bourdeaux; C'EST D'UNE OREILLE, as Captain Vinsauf used to say-- +VINUM PRIMAE NOTAE, the Principal of St. Andrews denominated it. +And, once more, Captain Waverley, right glad am I that ye are +here to drink the best my cellar can make forthcoming.' + +This speech, with the necessary interjectional answers, continued +from the lower alley where they met, up to the door of the house, +where four or five servants in old-fashioned liveries, headed by +Alexander Saunderson, the butler, who now bore no token of the +sable stains of the garden, received them in grand costume, + + In an old hall hung round with pikes and with bows, + With old bucklers and corselets that had borne many shrewd + blows. + +With much ceremony, and still more real kindness, the Baron, +without stopping in any intermediate apartment, conducted his +guest through several into the great dining parlour, wainscoted +with black oak, and hung round with the pictures of his ancestry, +where a table was set forth in form for six persons, and an old- +fashioned beaufet displayed all the ancient and massive plate of +the Bradwardine family. A bell was now heard at the head of the +avenue; for an old man, who acted as porter upon gala days, had +caught the alarm given by Waverley's arrival, and, repairing to +his post, announced the arrival of other guests. + +These, as the Baron assured his young friend, were very estimable +persons. 'There was the young Laird of Balmawhapple, a Falconer +by surname, of the house of Glenfarquhar, given right much to +field sports--GAUDAT EQUIS ET CANIBUS--but a very discreet young +gentleman. Then there was the Laird of Killancureit, who had +devoted his leisure UNTILL tillage and agriculture, and boasted +himself to be possessed of a bull of matchless merit, brought +from the county of Devon (the Damnonia, of the Romans, if we can +trust Robert of Cirencester). He is, as ye may well suppose from +such a tendency, but of yeoman extraction--SERVABIT ODOREM TESTA +DIU--and I believe, between ourselves, his grandsire was from the +wrong side of the Border--one Bullsegg, who came hither as a +steward, or bailiff, or ground-officer, or something in that +department, to the last Girnigo of Killancureit, who died of an +atrophy. After his master's death, sir,--ye would hardly believe +such a scandal,--but this Bullsegg, being portly and comely of +aspect, intermarried with the lady dowager, who was young and +amorous, and possessed himself of the estate, which devolved on +this unhappy woman by a settlement of her umwhile husband, in +direct contravention of an unrecorded taillie, and to the +prejudice of the disponer's own flesh and blood, in the person of +his natural heir and seventh cousin, Girnigo of Tipperhewit, +whose family was so reduced by the ensuing lawsuit, that his +represenative is now serving as a private gentleman-sentinel in +the Highland Black Watch. But this gentleman, Mr. Bullsegg of +Killancureit that now is, has good blood in his veins by the +mother and grandmother, who were both of the family of +Pickletillim, and he is well liked and looked upon, and knows his +own place. And God forbid, Captain Waverley, that we of +irreproachable lineage should exult over him, when it may be, +that in the eighth, ninth, or tenth generation, his progeny may +rank, in a manner, with the old gentry of the country. Rank and +ancestry, sir, should be the last words in the mouths of us of +unblemished race--VIX EA NOSTRA VOCO, as Naso saith.--There is, +besides, a clergyman of the true (though suffering) Episcopal +church of Scotland. He was a confessor in her cause after the +year 1715, when a Whiggish mob destroyed his meeting-house, tore +his surplice, and plundered his dwelling-house of four silver +spoons, intromitting also with his mart and his meal-ark, and +with two barrels, one of single, and one of double ale, besides +three bottles of brandy. [See Note 7.] My Baron-Bailie and +doer, Mr. Duncan Macwheeble, is the fourth on our list. There is +a question, owing to the incertitude of ancient orthography, +whether he belongs to the clan of Wheedle or of Quibble, but both +have produced persons eminent in the law.'-- + + As such he described them by person and name, + They entered, and dinner was served as they came. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BANQUET + +The entertainment was ample, and handsome, according to the +Scotch ideas of the period, and the guests did great honour to +it. The Baron ate like a famished soldier, the Laird of +Balmawhapple like a sportsman, Bullsegg of Killancureit like a +farmer, Waverley himself like a traveller, and Bailie Macwheeble +like all four together; though, either out of more respect, or in +order to preserve that proper declination of person which showed +a sense that he was in the presence of his patron, he sat upon +the edge of his chair, placed at three feet distance from the +table, and achieved a communication with his plate by projecting +his person towards it in a line, which obliqued from the bottom +of his spine, so that the person who sat opposite to him could +only see the foretop of his riding periwig. + +This stooping position might have been inconvenient to another +person; but long habit made it, whether seated or walking, +perfectly easy to the worthy Bailie. In the latter posture, it +occasioned, no doubt, an unseemly projection of the person +towards those who happened to walk behind; but those being at all +times his inferiors (for Mr. Macwheeble was very scrupulous in +giving place to all others), he cared very little what inference +of contempt or slight regard they might derive from the +circumstance. Hence, when he waddled across the court to and +from his old grey pony, he somewhat resembled a turnspit walking +upon its hind legs. + +The nonjuring clergyman was a pensive and interesting old man, +with much the air of a sufferer for conscience' sake. He was one +of those, + + Who, undeprived, their benefice forsook. + +For this whim, when the Baron was out of hearing, the Bailie used +sometimes gently to rally Mr. Rubrick, upbraiding him with the +nicety of his scruples. Indeed it must be owned, that he +himself, though at heart a keen partisan of the exiled family, +had kept pretty fair with all the different turns of state in his +time; so that Davie Gellatley once described him as a +particularly good man, who had a very quiet and peaceful +conscience, THAT NEVER DID HIM ANY HARM. + +When the dinner was removed, the Baron announced the health of +the King, politely leaving to the consciences of his guests to +drink to the sovereign DE FACTO or DE JURE, as their politics +inclined. The conversation now became general; and, shortly +afterwards, Miss Bradwardine, who had done the honours with +natural grace and simplicity, retired, and was soon followed by +the clergyman. Among the rest of the party, the wine, which +fully justified the encomiums of the landlord, flowed freely +round, although Waverley, with some difficulty, obtained the +privilege of sometimes neglecting the glass. At length, as the +evening grew more late, the Baron made a private signal to Mr. +Saunders Saunderson, or, as he facetiously denominated him, +ALEXANDER AB ALEXANDRO, who left the room with a nod, and soon +after returned, his grave countenance mantling with a solemn and +mysterious smile, and placed before his master a small oaken +casket, mounted with brass ornaments of curious form. The Baron, +drawing out a private key, unlocked the casket, raised the lid, +and produced a golden goblet of a singular and antique +appearance, moulded into the shape of a rampant bear, which the +owner regarded with a look of mingled reverence, pride, and +delight, that irresistibly reminded Waverley of Ben Jonson's Tom +Otter, with his Bull, Horse, and Dog, as that wag wittily +denominated his chief carousing cups. But Mr. Bradwardine, +fuming towards him with complacency, requested him to observe +this curious relic of the olden time. + +'It represents,' he said, 'the chosen crest of our family, a +bear, as ye observe, and rampant; because a good herald will +depict every animal in its noblest posture; as a horse SALIENT, a +greyhound CURRANT, and, as may be inferred, a ravenous animal IN +ACTU FEROCIORI, or in a voracious, lacerating, and devouring +posture. Now, sir, we hold this most honourable achievement by +the wappen-brief, or concession of arms, of Frederick Redbeard, +Emperor of Germany, to my predecessor, Godmund Bradwardine, it +being the crest of a gigantic Dane, whom he slew in the lists in +the Holy Land, on a quarrel touching the chastity of the +Emperor's spouse or daughter, tradition saith not precisely +which, and thus, as Virgilius hath it-- + + Mutemus clypeos, Danaumque insignia nobis + Aptemus. + +Then for the cup, Captain Waverley, it was wrought by the command +of St. Duthac, Abbot of Aberbrothock, for behoof of another baron +of the house of Bradwardine, who had valiantly defended the +patrimony of that monastery against certain encroaching nobles. +It is properly termed the Blessed Bear of Bradwardine (though old +Dr. Doubleit used jocosely to call it Ursa Major), and was +supposed, in old and Catholic times, to be invested with certain +properties of a mystical and supernatural quality. And though I +give not in to such ANILIA, it is certain it has always been +esteemed a solemn standard cup and heirloom of our house; nor is +it ever used but upon seasons of high festival, and such I hold +to be the arrival of the heir of Sir Everard under my roof; and I +devote this draught to the health and prosperity of the ancient +and highly-to-be-honoured house of Waverley.' + +During this long harangue, he carefully decanted a cobwebbed +bottle of claret into the goblet, which held nearly an English +pint; and, at the conclusion, delivering the bottle to the +butler, to be held carefully in the same angle with the horizon, +he devoutly quaffed off the contents of the Blessed Bear of +Bradwardine. + +Edward, with horror and alarm, beheld the animal making his +rounds, and thought with great anxiety upon the appropriate +motto, 'Beware the Bear;' but at the same time plainly foresaw, +that as none of the guests scrupled to do him this extraordinary +honour, a refusal on-his part to pledge their courtesy would be +extremely ill received. Resolving, therefore, to submit to this +last piece of tyranny, and then to quit the table, if possible, +and confiding in the strength of his constitution, he did justice +to the company in the contents of the Blessed Bear, and felt less +inconvenience from the draught than he could possibly have +expected. The others, whose time had been more actively +employed, began to show symptoms of innovation,--'the good wine +did its good office.' [Southey's MADOC.] The frost of etiquette, +and pride of birth, began to give way before the genial blessings +of this benign constellation, and the formal appellatives with +which the three dignitaries had hitherto addressed each other, +were now familiarly abbreviated into Tully, Bally, and Killie. +When a few rounds had passed, the two latter, after whispering +together, craved permission (a joyful hearing for Edward) to ask +the grace-cup. This, after some delay, was at length produced, +and Waverley concluded that the orgies of Bacchus were terminated +for the evening. He was never more mistaken in his life. + +As the guests had left their horses at the small inn, or CHANGE- +HOUSE, as it was called, of the village, the Baron could not, in +politeness, avoid walking with them up the avenue, and Waverley, +from the same motive, and to enjoy, after this feverish revel, +the cool summer evening, attended the party. But when they +arrived at Luckie Macleary's, the Lairds of Balmawhapple and +Killancureit declared their determination to acknowledge their +sense of the hospitality of Tully-Veolan, by partaking with their +entertainer and his guest Captain Waverley, what they technically +called DEOCH AN DORUIS, a stirrup-cup, to the honour of the +Baron's roof-tree. [See Note 8.] + +It must be noticed, that the Bailie, knowing by experience that +the day's joviality, which had been hitherto sustained at the +expense of his patron, might terminate partly at his own, had +mounted his spavined grey pony, and, between gaiety of heart, and +alarm for being hooked into a reckoning, spurred him into a +hobbling canter (a trot was out of the question), and had already +cleared the village. The others entered the change-house, +leading Edward in unresisting submission; for his landlord +whispered him, that to demur to such an overture would be +construed into a high misdemeanour against the LEGES CONVIVIALES, +or regulations of genial compotation. Widow Macleary seemed to +have expected this visit, as well she might, for it was the usual +consummation of merry bouts, not only at Tully-Veolan, but at +most other gentlemen's houses in Scotland, Sixty Years since. +The guests thereby at once acquitted themselves of their burden +of gratitude for their entertainer's kindness, encouraged the +trade of his change-house, did honour to the place which afforded +harbour to their horses, and indemnified themselves for the +previous restraints imposed by private hospitality, by spending, +what Falstaff calls the sweet of the night, in the genial license +of a tavern. + +Accordingly, in full expectation of these distinguished guests, +Luckie Macleary had swept her house for the first time this +fortnight, tempered her turf-fire to such a heat as the season +required in her damp hovel even at Midsummer, set forth her deal +table newly washed, propped its lame foot with a fragment of +turf, arranged four or five stools of huge and clumsy form, upon +the sites which best suited the inequalities of her clay floor; +and having, moreover, put on her clean toy, rokelay, and scarlet +plaid, gravely awaited the arrival of the company, in full hope +of custom and profit. When they were seated under the sooty +rafters of Luckie Macleary's only apartment, thickly tapestried +with cobwebs, their hostess, who had already taken her cue from +the Laird of Balmawhapple, appeared with a huge pewter measuring- +pot, containing at least three English quarts, familiarly +denominated a TAPPIT HEN, and which, in the language of the +hostess, reamed (i.e. mantled) with excellent claret, just drawn +from the cask. + +It was soon plain that what crumbs of reason the Bear had not +devoured, were to be picked up by the Hen; but the confusion +which appeared to prevail favoured Edward's resolution to evade +the gaily circling glass. The others began to talk thick and at +once, each performing his own part in the conversation, without +the least respect to hist neighbour. The Baron of Bradwardine +sang French CHANSONS-A-BOIRE, and spouted pieces of Latin; +Killancureit talked, in a steady unalterable dull key, of top- +dressing and bottom-dressing, [This has been censured as an +anachronism; and it must be confessed that agriculture of this +kind was unknown to the Scotch Sixty Years since.] and year- +olds, and gimmers, and dinmonts, and stots, and runts, and +kyloes, and a proposed turnpike-act; while Balmawhapple, in notes +exalted above both, extolled his horse, his hawks, and a +greyhound called Whistler. In the middle of this din, the Baron +repeatedly implored silence; and when at length the instinct of +polite discipline so far prevailed, that for a moment he obtained +it, he hastened to beseech their attention 'unto a military +ariette, which was a particular favourite of the Marechal Duc de +Berwick;' then, imitating, as well as he could, the manner and +tone of a French mousquetaire, he immediately commenced,-- + + Mon coeur volage, dit-elle, + N'est pas pour vous, garcon; + Est pour un homme de guerre, + Qui a barbe au menton. + Lon, Lon, Laridon. + + Qui ports chapeau a plume, + Soulier a rouge talon, + Qui joue de la flute, + Aussi du violon. + Lon, Lon, Laridon. + +Balmawhapple could hold no longer, but broke in with what he +called a, d--d good song, composed by Gibby Gaethroughwi't, the +piper of Cupar; and, without wasting more time, struck up,-- + + It's up Glenbarchan's braes I gaed, + And o'er the bent of Killiebraid, + And mony a weary cast I made, + To cuittle the muirfowl's tail. + +[SUUM CUIQUE. This snatch of a ballad was composed by Andrew +MacDonald, the ingenious and unfortunate author of VIMONDA.] + +The Baron, whose voice was drowned in the louder and more +obstreperous strains of Balmawhapple, now dropped the +competition, but continued to hum, Lon, Lon, Laridon, and to +regard the successful candidate for the attention of the company, +with an eye of disdain, while Balmawhapple proceeded,-- + + If up a bonny black-cock should spring, + To whistle him down wi' a slug in his wing, + And strap him on to my lunzie string, + Right seldom would I fail. + +After an ineffectual attempt to recover the second verse, he sang +the first over again; and, in prosecution of his triumph, +declared there was 'more sense in that than in all the DERRY- +DONGS of France, and Fifeshire to the boot of it.' The Baron +only answered with a long pinch of snuff, and a glance of +infinite contempt. But those noble allies, the Bear and the Hen, +had emancipated the young laird from the habitual reverence in +which he held Bradwardine at other times. He pronounced the +claret SHILPIT, and demanded brandy with great vociferation. It +was brought; and now the Demon of Politics envied even the +harmony arising from this Dutch concert, merely because there was +not a wrathful note in the strange compound of sounds which it +produced. Inspired by her, the Laird of Balmawhapple, now +superior to the nods and winks with which the Baron of +Bradwardine, in delicacy to Edward, had hitherto checked his +entering upon political discussion, demanded a bumper, with the +lungs of a Stentor, 'to the little gentleman in black velvet who +did such service in 1702, and may the white horse break his neck +over a mound of his making!' + +Edward was not at that moment clear-headed enough to remember +that King William's fall, which occasioned his death, was said to +be owing to his horse stumbling at a mole-hill; yet felt inclined +to take umbrage at a toast, which seemed, from the glance of +Balmawhapple's eye, to have a peculiar and uncivil reference to +the Government which he served. But, ere he could interfere, the +Baron of Bradwardine had taken up the quarrel. 'Sir,' he said, +'whatever my sentiments, TANQUAM PRIVATUS, may be in such +matters, I shall not tamely endure your saying anything that may +impinge upon the honourable feelings of a gentleman under my +roof. Sir, if you have no respect for the laws of urbanity, do ye +not respect the military oath, the SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, by which +every officer is bound to the standards under which he is +enrolled? Look at Titus Livius, what he says of those Roman +soldiers who were so unhappy as EXUERE SACRAMENTUM,--to renounce +their legionary oath; but you are ignorant, sir, alike of ancient +history and modern courtesy.' + +'Not so ignorant as ye would pronounce me,' roared Balmawhapple. +'I ken weel that you mean the Solemn League and Covenant; but if +a' the Whigs in hell had taken the--' + +Here the Baron and Waverley both spoke at once, the former +calling out, 'Be silent, sir! ye not only show your ignorance, +but disgrace your native country before a stranger and an +Englishman;' and Waverley, at the same moment, entreating Mr. +Bradwardine to permit him to reply to an affront which seemed +levelled at him personally. But the Baron was exalted by wine, +wrath, and scorn, above all sublunary considerations. + +'I crave you to be hushed, Captain Waverley; you are elsewhere, +peradventure, SUI JURIS,--foris-familiated, that is, and +entitled, it may be, to think and resent for yourself; but in my +domain, in this poor Barony of Bradwardine, and under this roof, +which is QUASI mine, being held by tacit relocation by a tenant +at will, I am IN LOCO PARENTIS to you, and bound to see you +scathless.--And for you, Mr. Falconer of Balmawhapple, I warn ye, +let me see no more aberrations from the paths of good manners.' + +'And I tell you, Mr. Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, of Bradwardine and +Tully-Veolan,' retorted the sportsman, in huge disdain, 'that +I'll make a moor-cock of the man that refuses my toast, whether +it be a crop-eared English Whig wi' a black ribband at his lug, +or ane wha deserts his ain friends to claw favour wi' the rats of +Hanover.' + +In an instant both rapiers were brandished, and some desperate +passes exchanged. Balmawhapple was young, stout, and active; but +the Baron, infinitely more master of his weapon, would, like Sir +Toby Belch, have tickled his opponent other gates than he did, +had he not been under the influence of Ursa Major. + +Edward rushed forward to interfere between the combatants, but +the prostrate bulk of the Laird of Killancureit, over which he +stumbled, intercepted his passage. How Killancureit happened to +be in this recumbent posture at so interesting a moment, was +never accurately known. Some thought he was about to ensconce +himself under the table; he himself alleged that he stumbled in +the act of lifting a joint-stool, to prevent mischief, by +knocking down Balmawhapple. Be that as it may, if readier aid +than either his or Waverley's had not interposed, there would +certainly have been bloodshed. But the well-known clash of +swords, which was no stranger to her dwelling, aroused Luckie +Macleary as she sat quietly beyond the hallan, or earthen +partition of the cottage, with eyes employed on Boston's CROOK OF +THE LOT, while her ideas were engaged in summing up the +reckoning. She boldly rushed in, with the shrill expostulation, +'Wad their honours slay ane another there, and bring discredit on +an honest widow-woman's house, when there was a' the lee-land in +the country to fight upon?' a remonstrance which she seconded by +flinging her plaid with great dexterity over the weapons of the +combatants. The servants by this time rushed in, and being, by +great chance, tolerably sober, separated the incensed opponents, +with the assistance of Edward and Killancureit. The latter led +off Balmawhapple, cursing, swearing, and vowing revenge against +every Whig, Presbyterian, and fanatic in England and Scotland, +from John-o'-Groat's to the Land's End, and with difficulty got +him to horse. Our hero, with the assistance of Saunders +Saunderson, escorted the Baron of Bradwardine to his own +dwelling, but could not prevail upon him to retire to bed until +he had made a long and learned apology for the events of the +evening, of which, however, there was not a word intelligible, +except something about the Centaurs and the Lapithae. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +REPENTANCE AND A RECONCILIATION + +Waverley was unaccustomed to the use of wine, excepting with +great temperance. He slept, therefore, soundly till late in the +succeeding morning, and then awakened to a painful recollection +of the scene of the preceding evening. He had received a +personal affront,--he, a gentleman, a soldier, and a Waverley. +True, the person who had offered it was not, at the time it was +given, possessed of the moderate share of sense which nature had +allotted him; true also, in resenting this insult, he would break +the laws of Heaven, as well as of his country; true, in doing so, +he might take the life of a young man who perhaps respectably +discharged the social duties, and render his family miserable; or +he might lose his own;--no pleasant alternative even to the +bravest, when it is debated coolly and in private. + +All this pressed on his mind; yet the original statement recurred +with the same irresistible force. He had received a personal +insult; he was of the house of Waverley; and he bore a +commission. There was no alternative; and he descended to the +breakfast parlour with the intention of taking leave of the +family, and writing to one of his brother officers to meet him at +the inn mid-way between Tully-Veolan and the town where they were +quartered, in order that he might convey such a message to the +Laird of Balmawhapple as the circumstances seemed to demand. He +found Miss Bradwardine presiding over the tea and coffee, the +table loaded with warm bread, both of flour, oatmeal, and barley- +meal, in the shape of leaves, cakes, biscuits, and other +varieties, together with eggs, reindeer ham, mutton and beef, +ditto, smoked salmon, marmalade, and all other delicacies which +induced even Johnson himself to extol the luxury of a Scotch +breakfast above that of all other countries. A mess of oatmeal +porridge, flanked by a silver jug, which held an equal mixture of +cream and butter-milk, was placed for the Baron's share of this +repast; but Rose observed he had walked out early in the morning, +after giving orders that his guest should not be disturbed. + +Waverley sat down almost in silence, and with an air of absence +and abstraction, which could not give Miss Bradwardine a +favourable opinion of his talents for conversation. He answered +at random one or two observations which she ventured to make upon +ordinary topics; so that feeling herself almost repulsed in her +efforts at entertaining him, and secretly wondering that a +scarlet coat should cover no better breeding, she left him to his +mental amusement of cursing Dr. Doubleit's favourite +constellation of Ursa Major, as the cause of all the mischief +which had already happened, and was likely to ensue. At once he +started, and his colour heightened, as, looking toward the +window, he beheld the Baron and young Balmawhapple pass arm in +arm, apparently in deep conversation; and he hastily asked, 'Did +Mr. Falconer sleep here last night?' Rose, not much pleased with +the abruptness of the first question which the young stranger had +addressed to her, answered drily in the negative, and the +conversation again sank into silence. + +At this moment Mr. Saunderson appeared, with a message from his +master, requesting to speak with Captain Waverley in another +apartment. With a heart which beat; a little quicker, not indeed +from fear, but from uncertainty and anxiety, Edward obeyed the +summons. He found the two gentlemen standing together, an air of +complacent dignity on the brow of the Baron, while something like +sullenness, or shame, or both, blanked the bold visage of +Balmawhapple. The former slipped his arm through that of the +latter, and thus seeming to walk with him, while in reality he +led him, advanced to meet Waverley, and, stopping in the midst of +the apartment, made in great state the following oration: +'Captain Waverley,--my young and esteemed friend, Mr. Falconer of +Balmawhapple, has craved of my age and experience, as of one not +wholly unskilled in the dependencies and punctilios of the duello +or monomachia, to be his interlocutor in expressing to you the +regret with which he calls to remembrance certain passages of our +symposion last night, which could not but be highly displeasing +to you, as serving for the time under this present existing +government. He craves you, sir, to drown in oblivion the memory +of such solecisms against the laws of politeness, as being what +his better reason disavows, and to receive the hand which he +offers you in amity; and I must needs assure you, that nothing +less than a sense of being DANS SON TORT, as a gallant French +chevalier, Mons, Le Bretailleur, once said to me on such an +occasion, and an opinion also of your peculiar merit, could have +extorted such concessions; for he and all his family are, and +have been time out of mind, MAVORTIA PECTORA, as Buchanan saith, +a bold and warlike sept, or people.' + +Edward immediately, and with natural politeness, accepted the +hand which Balmawhapple, or rather the Baron in his character of +mediator, extended towards him. 'It was impossible,' he said, +'for him to remember what a gentleman expressed his wish he had +not uttered; and he willingly imputed what had passed to the +exuberant festivity of the day.' + +'That is very handsomely said,' answered the Baron; 'for +undoubtedly, if a man be EBRIUS, or intoxicated--an incident +which, on solemn and festive occasions, may and will take place +in the life of a man of honour; and if the same gentleman, being +fresh and sober, recants the contumelies which he hath spoken in +his liquor, it must be held VINUM LOCUTUM EST; the words cease to +be his own. Yet would I not find this exculpation relevant in +the case of one who was EBRIOSUS, or an habitual drunkard; +because, if such a person choose to pass the greater part of his +time in the predicament of intoxication, he hath no title to be +exeemed from the obligations of the code of politeness, but +should learn to deport himself peaceably and courteously when +under the influence of the vinous stimulus.--And now let us +proceed to breakfast, and think no more of this daft business.' + +I must confess, whatever inference may be drawn from the +circumstance, that Edward, after so satisfactory an explanation, +did much greater honour to the delicacies of Miss Bradwardine's +breakfast-table than his commencement had promised. +Balmawhapple, on the contrary, seemed embarrassed and dejected; +and Waverley now, for the first time, observed that his arm was +in a sling, which seemed to account for the awkward and +embarrassed manner with which he had presented his hand. To a +question from Miss Bradwardine, he muttered, in answer, something +about his horse having fallen; and, seeming desirous to escape +both from the subject and the company, he arose as soon as +breakfast was over, made his bow to the party, and, declining the +Baron's invitation to tarry till after dinner, mounted his horse +and returned to his own home. + +Waverley now announced his purpose of leaving Tully-Veolan early +enough after dinner to gain the stage at which he meant to sleep; +but the unaffected and deep mortification with which the good- +natured and affectionate old gentleman heard the proposal, quite +deprived him of courage to persist in it. No sooner had he +gained Waverley's consent to lengthen his visit for a few days, +than he laboured to remove the grounds upon which he conceived he +had meditated a more early retreat. 'I would not have you opine, +Captain Waverley, that I am by practice or precept an advocate of +ebriety, though it may be that, in our festivity of last night, +some of our friends, if not perchance altogether EBRII, or +drunken, were, to say the least, EBRIOLI, by which the ancients +designed those who were fuddled, or, as your English vernacular +and metaphorical phrase goes, half-seas-over. Not that I would +so insinuate respecting you, Captain Waverley, who, like a +prudent youth, did rather abstain from potation; nor can it be +truly said of myself, who, having assisted at the tables of many +great generals and marechals at their solemn carousals, have the +art to carry my wine discreetly, and did not, during the whole +evening, as ye must have doubtless observed, exceed the bounds of +a modest hilarity.' + +There was no refusing assent to a proposition so decidedly laid +down by him who undoubtedly was the best judge; although, had +Edward formed his opinion from his own recollections, he would +have pronounced that the Baron was not only EBRIOLUS, but verging +to become EBRIUS; or, in plain English, was incomparably the most +drunk of the party, except perhaps his antagonist the Laird of +Balmawhapple. However, having received the expected, or rather +the required, compliment on his sobriety, the Baron proceeded,-- +'No, sir, though I am myself of a strong temperament, I abhor +ebriety, and detest those who swallow wine GULAE CAUSA, for the +oblectation of the gullet; albeit I might deprecate the law of +Pittacus of Mitylene, who punished doubly a crime committed under +the influence of LIBER PATER; nor would I utterly accede to the +objurgation of the younger Plinius, in the fourteenth book of his +HISTORIA NATURALIS. No, sir; I distinguish, I discriminate, and +approve of wine so far only as it maketh glad the face, or, in +the language of Flaccus, RECEPTO AMICO.' + +Thus terminated the apology which the Baron of Bradwardine +thought it necessary to make for the super-abundance of his +hospitality; and it may be easily believed that he was neither +interrupted by dissent, nor any expression of incredulity. + +He then invited his guest to a morning ride, and ordered that +Davie Gellatley should meet them at the DERN PATH with Ban and +Buscar. 'For, until the shooting season commenced, I would +willingly show you some sport, and we may, God willing, meet with +a roe. The roe, Captain Waverley, may be hunted at all times +alike; for never being in what is called PRIDE OF GREASE, he is +also never out of season, though it be a truth that his venison +is not equal to that of either the red or fallow deer. [The +learned in cookery dissent from the Baron of Bradwardine, and +hold the roe-venison dry and indifferent food, unless when +dressed in soup and Scotch collops.] But he will serve to show +how my dogs run; and therefore they shall attend us with Davie +Gellatley.' + +Waverley expressed his surprise that his friend Davie was capable +of such trust; but the Baron gave him to understand that this +poor simpleton was neither fatuous, NEC NATURALITER IDIOTA, as is +expressed in the brieves of furiosity, but simply a crack-brained +knave, who could execute very well any commission which jumped +with his own humour, and made his folly a plea for avoiding every +other. 'He has made an interest with us,' continued the Baron, +'by saving Rose from a great danger with his own proper peril; +and the roguish loon must therefore eat of our bread and drink of +our cup, and do what he can, or what he will; which, if the +suspicions of Saunderson and the Bailie are well founded, may +perchance in his case be commensurate terms.' + +Miss Bradwardine then gave Waverley to understand, that this poor +simpleton was doatingly fond of music, deeply affected by that +which was melancholy, and transported into extravagant gaiety by +light and lively airs. He had in this respect a prodigious +memory, stored with miscellaneous snatches and fragments of all +tunes and songs, which he sometimes applied, with considerable +address, as the vehicles of remonstrance, explanation, or satire. +Davie was much attached to the few who showed him kindness; and +both aware of any slight or ill usage which he happened to +receive, and sufficienty apt, where he saw opportunity, to +revenge it. The common people, who often judge hardly of each +other, as well as of their betters, although they had expressed +great compassion for the poor innocent while suffered to wander +in rags about the village, no sooner beheld him decently clothed, +provided for, and even a sort of favourite, than they called up +all the instances of sharpness and ingenuity, in action and +repartee, which his annals afforded, and charitably bottomed +thereupon a hypothesis, that Davie Gellatley was no further fool +than was necessary to avoid hard labour. This opinion was not +better founded than that of the Negroes, who, from the acute and +mischievous pranks of the monkeys, suppose that they have the +gift of speech, and only suppress their powers of elocution to +escape being set to work. But the hypothesis was entirely +imaginary: Davie Gellatley was in good earnest the half-crazed +simpleton which he appeared, and was incapable of any constant +and steady exertion. He had just so much solidity as kept on the +windy side of insanity; so much wild wit as saved him from the +imputation of idiocy; some dexterity in field sports (in which we +have known as great fools excel), great kindness and humanity in +the treatment of animals entrusted to him, warm affections, a +prodigious memory, and an ear for music. + +The stamping of horses was now heard in the court, and Davie's +voice singing to the two large deer greyhounds,-- + + Hie away, hie away, + Over bank and over brae, + Where the copsewood is the greenest, + Where the fountains glisten sheenest, + Where the lady-fern grows strongest, + Where the morning dew lies longest, + Where the black-cock sweetest sips it, + Where the fairy latest trips it: + Hie to haunts right seldom seen, + Lovely, lonesome, cool, and green, + Over bank and over brae, + Hie away, hie away. + +'Do the verses he sings,' asked Waverley, 'belong to old Scottish +poetry, Miss Bradwardine?' + +'I believe not,' she replied. 'This poor creature had a brother, +and Heaven, as if to compensate to the family Davie's +deficiencies, had given him what the hamlet thought uncommon +talents. An uncle contrived to educate him for the Scottish +kirk, but he could not get preferment because he came from our +GROUND. He returned from college hopeless and broken-hearted, +and fell into a decline. My father supported him till his death, +which happened before he was nineteen. He played beautifully on +the flute, and was supposed to have a great turn for poetry. He +was affectionate and compassionate to his brother, who followed +him like his shadow, and we think that from him Davie gathered +many fragments of songs and music unlike those of this country. +But if we ask him where he got such a fragment as he is now +singing, he either answers with wild and long fits of laughter, +or else breaks into tears of lamentation; but was never heard to +give any explanation, or to mention his brother's name since his +death.' + +'Surely,' said Edward, who was readily interested by a tale +bordering on the romantic, 'surely more might be learned by more +particular inquiry.' + +'Perhaps so,' answered Rose, 'but my father will not permit any +one to practise on his feelings on this subject.' + +By this time the Baron, with the help of Mr. Saunderson, had +indued a pair of jack-boots of large dimensions, and now invited +our hero to follow him as he stalked clattering down the ample +staircase, tapping each huge balustrade as he passed with the +butt of his massive horsewhip, and humming, with the air of a +chasseur of Louis Quatorze, + + Pour la chasse ordonnee il faut preparer tout, + Hola ho! Vite! vite debout. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A MORE RATIONAL DAY THAN THE LAST + +The Baron of Bradwardine, mounted on an active and well-managed +horse, and seated on a demi-pique saddle, with deep housings to +agree with his livery, was no bad representative of the old +school. His light-coloured embroidered coat, and superbly barred +waistcoat, his brigadier wig, surmounted by a small gold-laced +cocked-hat, completed his personal costume; but he was attended +by two well-mounted servants on horseback, armed with holster +pistols. + +In this guise he ambled forth over hill and valley, the +admiration of every farmyard which they passed in their progress, +till, 'low down in a grassy vale,' they found Davie Gellatley +leading two very tall deer greyhounds, and presiding over half a +dozen curs, and about as many bare-legged and bare-headed boys, +who, to procure the chosen distinction of attending on the chase, +had not failed to tickle his ears with the dulcet appellation of +Maister Gellatley, though probably all and each had booted him on +former occasions in the character of daft Davie. But this is no +uncommon strain of flattery to persons in office, nor altogether +confined to the bare-legged villagers of Tully-Veolan: it was in +fashion Sixty Years since, is now, and will be six hundred years +hence, if this admirable compound of folly and knavery, called +the world, shall be then in existence. + +These GILLIE-WET-FOOTS, [A bare-footed Highland lad is called a +gillie-wet-foot. Gillie, in general, means servant or +attendant.] as they were called, were destined to beat the +bushes, which they performed with so much success, that, after +half an hour's search, a roe was started, coursed, and killed; +the Baron following on his white horse, like Earl Percy of yore, +and magnanimously flaying and embowelling the slain animal +(which, he observed, was called by the French chasseurs FAIRE LA +CUREE) with his own baronial COUTEAU DE CHASSE. After this +ceremony he conducted his guest homeward by a pleasant and +circuitous route, commanding an extensive prospect of different +villages and houses, to each of which Mr. Bradwardine attached +some anecdote of history or genealogy, told in language whimsical +from prejudice and pedantry, but often respectable for the good +sense and honourable feelings which his narrative displayed, and +almost always curious, if not valuable, for the information they +contained. + +The truth is, the ride seemed agreeable to both gentlemen, +because they found amusement in each other's conversation, +although their characters and habits of thinking were in many +respects totally opposite. Edward, we have informed the reader, +was warm in his feelings, wild and romantic in his ideas and in +his taste of reading, with a strong disposition towards poetry. +Mr. Bradwardine was the reverse of all this, and piqued himself +upon stalking through life with the same upright, starched, +stoical gravity which distinguished his evening promenade upon +the terrace of Tully-Veolan, where for hours together--the very +model old Hardyknute-- + + Stately stepped he east the wa', + And stately stepped he west. + +As for literature, he read the classic poets, to be sure, and the +EPITHALAMIUM of Georgius Buchanan, and Arthur Johnston's PSALMS, +of a Sunday; and the DELICIAE POETARUM SCOTORUM, and Sir David +Lindsay's WORKS, and Barbour's BRUCE, and Blind Harry's WALLACE, +and the GENTLE SHEPHERD, and the CHERRY AND THE SLAE. But though +he thus far sacrificed his time to the Muses, he would if the +truth must be spoken, have been much better pleased had the pious +or sapient apothegms, as well as the historical narratives, which +these various works contained, been presented to him in the form +of simple prose. And he sometimes could not refrain from +expressing contempt of the 'vain and unprofitable art of poem- +making,' in which, he said, 'the only one who had excelled in his +time was Allan Ramsay, the periwig-maker.' + +[The Baron ought to have remembered that the joyous Allan +literally drew his blood from the house of the noble Earl, whom +he terms-- + + Dalhousie of an old descent, + My stoup, my pride, my ornament.] + +But although Edward and he differed TOTO COELO, as the Baron +would have said, upon this subject, yet they met upon history as +on a neutral ground, in which each claimed an interest. The +Baron, indeed, only cumbered his memory with matters of fact; the +cold, dry, hard outlines which history delineates. Edward, on +the contrary, loved to fill up and round the sketch with the +colouring of a warm and vivid imagination, which gives light and +life to the actors and speakers in the drama of past ages. Yet +with tastes so opposite, they contributed greatly to each other's +amusement. Mr. Bradwardine's minute narratives and powerful +memory supplied to Waverley fresh subjects of the kind upon which +his fancy loved to labour, and opened to him a new mine of +incident and of character. And he repaid the pleasure thus +communicated, by an earnest attention, valuable to all story- +tellers, more especially to the Baron, who felt his habits of +self-respect flattered by it; and sometimes also by reciprocal +communications, which interested Mr. Bradwardine, as confirming +or illustrating his own favourite anecdotes. Besides, Mr. +Bradwardine loved to talk of the scenes of his youth, which had +been spent in camps and foreign lands, and had many interesting +particulars to tell of the generals under whom he had served, and +the actions he had witnessed. + +Both parties returned to Tully-Veolan in great good humour with +each other; Waverley desirous of studying more attentively what +he considered as a singular and interesting character, gifted +with a memory containing a curious register of ancient and modern +anecdotes; and Bradwardine disposed to regard Edward as PUER (or +rather JUVENIS) BONAE SPEI ET MAGNAE INDOLIS, a youth devoid of +that petulant volatility, which is impatient of, or vilipends, +the conversation and advice of his seniors, from which he +predicted great things of his future success and deportment in +life. There was no other guest except Mr. Rubrick, whose +information and discourse, as a clergyman and a scholar, +harmonized very well with that of the Baron and his guest. + +Shortly after dinner, the Baron, as if to show that his +temperance was not entirely theoretical, proposed a visit to +Rose's appartment, or, as he termed it, her TROISIEME ETAGE. +Waverley was accordingly conducted through one or two of those +long awkward passages with which ancient architects studied to +puzzle the inhabitants of the houses which they planned, at the +end of which Mr. Bradwardine began to ascend, by two steps at +once, a very steep, narrow, and winding stair, leaving Mr. +Rubrick and Waverley to follow at more leisure, while he should +announce their approach to his daughter. + +After having climbed this perpendicular corkscrew until their +brains were almost giddy, they arrived in a little matted lobby, +which served as an ante-room to Rose's SANCTUM SANCTORUM, and +through which they entered her parlour. It was a small but +pleasant apartment, opening to the south, and hung with tapestry; +adorned besides with two pictures, one of her mother, in the +dress of a shepherdess, with a bell-hoop; the other of the Baron, +in his tenth year, in a blue coat, embroidered waistcoat, laced +hat, and bag-wig, with a bow in his hand. Edward could not help +smiling at the costume, and at the odd resemblance between the +round, smooth, red-checked, staring visage in the portrait, and +the gaunt, bearded, hollow-eyed, swarthy features, which +travelling, fatigues of war, and advanced age, had bestowed on +the original. The Baron joined in the laugh. 'Truly,' he said, +'that picture was a woman's fantasy of my good mother's (a +daughter of the Laird of Tulliellum, Captain Waverley; I +indicated the house to you when we were on the top of the +Shinnyheuch; it was burnt by the Dutch auxiliaries brought in by +the Government in 1715); I never sat for my pourtraicture but +once since that was painted, and it was at the special and +reiterated request of the Marechal Duke of Berwick.' + +The good old gentleman did not mention what Mr. Rubrick +afterwards told Edward, that the Duke had done him this honour on +account of his being the first to mount the breach of a fort; in +Savoy during the memorable campaign of 1709, and his having there +defended himself with his half-pike for nearly ten minutes before +any support reached him. To do the Baron justice, although +sufficiently prone to dwell upon, and even to exaggerate, his +family dignity and consequence, he was too much a man of real +courage ever to allude to such personal acts of merit as he had +himself manifested. + +Miss Rose now appeared from the interior room of her apartment, +to welcome her father and his friends. The little labours in +which she had been employed obviously showed a natural taste, +which required only cultivation. Her father had taught her +French and Italian, and a few of the ordinary authors in those +languages ornamented her shelves. He had endeavoured also to be +her preceptor in music; but as he began with the more abstruse +doctrines of the science, and was not perhaps master of them +himself, she had made no proficiency further than to be able to +accompany her voice with the harpsichord; but even this was not +very common in Scotland at that period. To make amends, she sang +with great taste and feeling, and with a respect to the sense of +what she uttered that might be proposed in example to ladies of +much superior musical talent. Her natural good sense taught her, +that if, as we are assured by high authority, music be 'married +to immortal verse,' they are very often divorced by the performer +in a most shameful manner. It was perhaps owing to this +sensibility to poetry, and power of combining its expression with +those of the musical notes, that her singing gave more pleasure +to all the unlearned in music, and even to many of the learned, +than could have been communicated by a much finer voice and more +brilliant execution, unguided by the same delicacy of feeling. + +A bartizan, or projecting gallery, before the windows of her +parlour, served to illustrate another of Rose's pursuits; for it +was crowded with flowers of different kinds, which she had taken +under her special protection. A projecting turret gave access to +this Gothic balcony, which commanded a most beautiful prospect. +The formal garden, with its high bounding walls, lay below, +contracted, as it seemed, to a mere parterre; while the view +extended beyond them down a wooded glen, where the small river +was sometimes visible, sometimes hidden in copse. The eye might +be delayed by a desire to rest on the rocks, which here and there +rose from the dell with massive or spiry fronts, or it might +dwell on the noble, though ruined tower, which was here beheld in +all its dignity, frowning from a promontory over the river. To +the left were seen two or three cottages, a part of the village; +the brow of the hill concealed the others. The glen, or dell, +was terminated by a sheet of water, called Loch-Veolan, into +which the brook discharged itself, and which now glistened in the +western sun. The distant country seemed open and varied in +surface, though not wooded; and there was nothing to interrupt +the view until the scene was bounded by a ridge of distant and +blue hills, which formed the southern boundary of the strath or +valley. To this pleasant station Miss Bradwardine had ordered +coffee. + +The view of the old tower, or fortalice, introduced some family +anecdotes and tales of Scottish chivalry, which the Baron told +with great enthusiasm. The projecting peak of an impending crag +which rose near it, had acquired the name of St. Swithin's Chair. +it was the scene of a peculiar superstition, of which Mr. Rubrick +mentioned some curious particulars, which reminded Waverley of a +rhyme quoted By Edgar in KING LEAR; and Rose was called upon to +sing a little legend, in which they had been interwoven by some +village poet, + + Who, noteless as the race from which he sprung, + Saved others' names, but left his own unsung. + +The sweetness of her voice, and the simple beauty of her music, +gave all the advantage which the minstrel could have desired, and +which his poetry so much wanted. I almost doubt if it can be +read with patience, destitute of these advantages; although I +conjecture the following copy to have been somewhat corrected by +Waverley, to suit the taste of those who might not relish pure +antiquity:-- + + ST. SWITHIN'S CHAIR. + + On Hallow-Mass Eve, ere ye boune ye to rest, + Ever beware that your couch be blessed; + Sign it with cross, and sain it with bead, + Sing the Ave, and say the Creed. + + For on Hallow-Mass Eve the Night-Hag will ride, + And all her nine-fold sweeping on by her side, + Whether the wind sing lowly or loud, + Sailing through moonshine or swathed in the cloud. + + The Lady she sat in St. Swithin's Chair, + The dew of the night has damped her hair: + Her cheek was pale--but resolved and high + Was the word of her lip and the glance of her eye. + + She muttered the spell of Swithin bold, + When his naked foot traced the midnight wold, + When he stopped the Hag as she rode the night, + And bade her descend, and her promise plight. + + He that dare sit on St. Swithin's Chair, + When the Night-Hag wings the troubled air, + Questions three, when he speaks the spell, + He may ask, and she must tell. + + The Baron has been with King Robert his liege, + These three long years in battle and siege; + News are there none of his weal or his woe, + And fain the Lady his fate would know. + + She shudders and stops as the charm she speaks;- + Is it the moody owl that shrieks? + Or is it that sound, betwixt laughter and scream, + The voice of the Demon who haunts the stream? + + The moan of the wind sunk silent and low, + And the roaring torrent ceased to flow; + The calm was more dreadful than raging storm, + Then the cold grey mist brought the ghastly form! + + . . . . . . + +'I am sorry to disappoint the company, especially Captain +Waverley, who listens with such laudable gravity; it is but a +fragment, although I think there are other verses, describing the +return of the Baron from the wars, and how the lady was found +"clay-cold upon the grounsill ledge."' + +'It is one of those figments,' observed Mr. Bradwardine, 'with +which the early history of distinguished families was deformed in +the times of superstition; as that of Rome, and other ancient +nations, had their prodigies, sir, the which you may read in +ancient histories, or in the little work compiled by Julius +Obsequens, and inscribed by the learned Scheffer, the editor, to +his patron, Benedictus Skytte, Baron of Dudershoff.' + +'My father has a strange defiance of the marvellous, Captain +Waverley,' observed Rose, 'and once stood firm when a whole synod +of Presbyterian divines were put to the rout by a sudden +apparition of the foul fiend.' + +Waverley looked as if desirous to hear more. + +Must I tell my story as well as sing my song?--Well.--Once upon a +time there lived an old woman, called Janet Gellatley, who was +suspected to be a witch, on the infallible grounds that she was +very old, very ugly, very poor, and had two sons, one of whom was +a poet, and the other a fool, which visitation, all the +neighbourhood agreed, had come upon her for the sin of +witchcraft. And she was imprisoned for a week in the steeple of +the parish church, and sparingly supplied with food, and not +permitted to sleep, until she herself became as much persuaded of +her being a witch as her accusers; and in this lucid and happy +state of mind was brought forth to make a clean breast, that is, +to make open confession of her sorceries, before all the Whig +gentry and ministers in the vicinity, who were no conjurers +themselves. My father went to see fair play between the witch +and the clergy; for the witch had been born on his estate. 'And +while the witch was confessing that the Enemy appeared, and made +his addresses to her as a handsome black man,--which, if you +could have seen poor old blear-eyed Janet, reflected little +honour on Apollyon's taste,--and while the auditors listened with +astonished ears, and the clerk recorded with a trembling hand, +she, all of a sudden, changed the low mumbling tone with which +she spoke into a shrill yell, and exclaimed, "Look to yourselves! +look to yourselves! I see the Evil One sitting in the midst of +ye." The surprise was general, and terror and flight its +immediate consequences. Happy were those who were next the door; +and many were the disasters that befell hats, bands, cuffs, and +wigs, before they could get out of the church, where they left +the obstinate prelatist to settle matters with the witch and her +admirer, at his own peril or pleasure.' + +'RISU SOLVUNTUR TABULAE,' said the Baron: 'when they recovered +their panic trepidation, they were too much ashamed to bring any +wakening of the process against Janet Gellatley.' [The story +last told was said to have happened in the south of Scotland; +but--CEDANT ARMA TOGAE--and let the gown have its dues. It was +an old clergyman, who had wisdom and firmness enough to resist +the panic which seized his brethren, who was the means of +rescuing a poor insane creature from the cruel fate which would +otherwise have overtaken her. The accounts of the trials for +witchcraft form one of the most deplorable chapters in Scottish +story.] + +This anecdote led to a long discussion of + + All those idle thoughts and fantasies, + Devices, dreams, opinions unsound, + Shows, visions, soothsays, and prophecies, + And all that feigned is, as leasings, tales, and lies. + +With such conversation, and the romantic legends which it +produced, closed our hero's second evening in the house of Tully- +Veolan. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DISCOVERY--WAVERLEY BECOMES DOMESTICATED AT +TULLY-VEOLAN + +The next day Edward arose betimes, and in a morning walk around +the house and its vicinity, came suddenly upon a small court in +front of the dog-kennel, where his friend Davie was employed +about his four-footed charge. One quick glance of his eye +recognized Waverley, when, instantly turning his back, as if he +had not observed him, he began to sing part of an old ballad:-- + + Young men will love thee more fair and more fast; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + Old men's love the longest will last, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + + The young man's wrath is like light straw on fire; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + But like red-hot steel is the old man's ire, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + + The young man will brawl at the evening board; + HEARD YE SO MERRY THE LITTLE BIRD SING? + But the old man will draw at the dawning the sword, + AND THE THROSTLE-COCK'S HEAD IS UNDER HIS WING. + +Waverley could not avoid observing that Davie laid something like +a satirical emphasis on these lines. He therefore approached, +and endeavoured, by sundry queries, to elicit from him what the +innuendo might mean; but Davie had no mind to explain, and had +wit enough to make his folly cloak his knavery. Edward could +collect nothing from him, excepting that the Laird of +Balmawhapple had gone home yesterday morning, 'wi' his boots fu' +o' bluid.' In the garden, however, he met the old butler, who no +longer attempted to conceal, that, having been bred in the +nursery line with Sumack & Co., of Newcastle, he sometimes +wrought a turn in the flower-borders to oblige the Laird and Miss +Rose. By a series of queries, Edward at length discovered, with +a painful feeling of surprise and shame, that Balmawhapple's +submission and apology had been the consequence of a rencontre +with the Baron before his guest had quitted his pillow, in which +the younger combatant had been disarmed and wounded in the sword- +arm. + +Greatly mortified at this information, Edward sought out his +friendly host, and anxiously expostulated with him upon the +injustice he had done him in anticipating his meeting with Mr. +Falconer, a circumstance which, considering his youth and the +profession of arms which he had just adopted, was capable of +being represented much to his prejudice. The Baron justified +himself at greater length than I choose to repeat. He urged that +the quarrel was common to them, and that Balmawhapple could not, +by the code of honour, EVITE giving satisfaction to both, which +he had done in his case by an honourable meeting, and in that of +Edward by such a PALINODE as rendered the use of the sword +unnecessary, and which, being made and accepted, must necessarily +SOPITE the whole affair. + +With this excuse or explanation, Waverley was silenced, if not +satisfied; but he could not help testifying some displeasure +against the Blessed Bear, which had given rise to the quarrel, +nor refrain from hinting, that the sanctified epithet was hardly +appropriate. The Baron observed, he could not deny that 'the +Bear, though allowed by heralds as a most honourable ordinary, +had, nevertheless, somewhat fierce, churlish, and morose in his +disposition (as might be read in Archibald Simson, pastor of +Dalkeith's HIEROGLYPHICA ANIMALIUM), and had thus been the type +of many quarrels and dissensions which had occurred in the house +of Bradwardine; of which,' he continued, 'I might commemorate +mine own unfortunate dissension with my third cousin by the +mother's side, Sir Hew Halbert, who was so unthinking as to +deride my family name, as if it had been QUASI BEARWARDEN; a most +uncivil jest, since it not only insinuated that the founder of +our house occupied such a mean situation as to be a custodier of +wild beasts, a charge which, ye must have observed, is only +entrusted to the very basest plebeians; but, moreover, seemed to +infer that our coat-armour had not been achieved by honourable +actions in war, but bestowed by way of PARONOMASIA, or pun upon +our family appellation,--a sort of bearing which the French call +ARMOIRES PARLANTES; the Latins ARMA CANTANTIA; and your English +authorities, canting heraldry; being indeed a species of +emblazoning more befitting canters, gaberlunzies, and such-like +mendicants, whose gibberish is formed upon playing upon the word, +than the noble, honourable, and useful science of heraldry, which +assigns armorial bearings as the reward of noble and generous +actions, and not to tickle the ear with vain quodlibets, such as +are found in jest-books.' [See Note 9.] Of his quarrel with Sir +Hew, he said nothing more, than that it was settled in a fitting +manner. + +Having been so minute with respect to the diversions of Tully- +Veolan, on the first days of Edward's arrival, for the purpose of +introducing its inmates to the reader's acquaintance, it becomes +less necessary to trace the progress of his intercourse with the +same accuracy. It is probable that a young man, accustomed to +more cheerful society, would have tired of the conversation of so +violent an asserter of the 'boast of heraldry' as the Baron; but +Edward found an agreeable variety in that of Miss Bradwardine, +who listened with eagerness to his remarks upon literature, and +showed great justness of taste in her answers. The sweetness of +her disposition had made her submit with complacency, and even +pleasure, to the course of reading prescribed by her father, +although it not only comprehended several heavy folios of +history, but certain gigantic tomes in High Church polemics. In +heraldry he was fortunately contented to give her only such a +slight tincture as might be acquired by perusal of the two folio +volumes of Nisbet. Rose was indeed the very apple of her +father's eye. Her constant liveliness, her attention to all +those little observances most gratifying to those who would never +think of exacting them, her beauty, in which he recalled the +features of his beloved wife, her unfeigned piety, and the noble +generosity of her disposition, would have justified the affection +of the most doting father. + +His anxiety on her behalf did not, however, seem to extend itself +in that quarter, where, according to the general opinion, it is +most efficiently displayed; in labouring, namely, to establish +her in life, either by a large dowry or a wealthy marriage. By +an old settlement, almost all the landed estates of the Baron +went, after his death, to a distant relation; and it was supposed +that Miss Bradwardine would remain but slenderly provided for, as +the good gentleman's cash matters had been too long under the +exclusive charge of Bailie Macwheeble, to admit of any great +expectations from his personal succession. It is true, the said +Bailie loved his patron and his patron's daughter next (although +at an incomparable distance) to himself. He thought it was +possible to set aside the settlement on the male line, and had +actually procured an opinion to that effect (and, as he boasted, +without a fee) from an eminent Scottish counsel, under whose +notice he contrived to bring the point while consulting him +regularly on some other business. But the Baron would not listen +to such a proposal for an instant. On the contrary, he used to +have a perverse pleasure in boasting that the barony of +Bradwardine was a male fief, the first charter having been given +at that early period when women were not deemed capable to hold a +feudal grant; because, according to Les COUSTUSMES DE NORMANDIE, +C'EST L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE; or, as is yet more +ungallantly expressed by other authorities, all of whose +barbarous names he delighted to quote at full length, because a +woman could not serve the superior, or feudal lord, in war, on +account of the decorum of her sex, nor assist him with advice, +because of her limited intellect, nor keep his counsel, owing to +the infirmity of her disposition. He would triumphantly ask, how +it would become a female, and that female a Bradwardine, to be +seen employed in, SERVITIO EXUENDI, SEU DETRAHENDI, CALIGAS REGIS +POST BATTALIAM? that is, in pulling off the king's boots after +an engagement, which was the feudal service by which he held the +barony of Bradwardine. 'No,' he said, 'beyond hesitation, PROCUL +DUBIO, many females, as worthy as Rose, had been excluded, in +order to make way for my own succession, and Heaven forbid that I +should do aught that might contravene the destination of my +forefathers, or impinge upon the right of my kinsman, Malcolm +Bradwardine of Inchgrabbit, an honourable though decayed branch +of my own family.' + +The Bailie, as prime minister, having received this decisive +communication from his sovereign, durst not press his own +opinion any further, but contented himself with deploring, on +all suitable occasions, to Saunderson, the minister of the +interior, the Laird's self-willedness, and with laying plans for +uniting Rose with the young laird of Balmawhapple, who had a fine +estate, only moderately burdened, and was a faultless young +gentleman, being as sober as a saint--if you keep brandy from +him, and him from brandy--and who, in brief, had no imperfection +but that of keeping light company at a time; such as Jinker, the +horse-couper, and Gibby Gaethroughwi't, the piper o' Cupar; o' +whilk follies, Mr. Saunderson, he'll mend, he'll mend,'-- +pronounced the Bailie. + +'Like sour ale in simmer,' added Davie Gellatley, who happened to +be nearer the conclave than they were aware of. + +Miss Bradwardine, such as we have described her, with all the +simplicity and curiosity of a recluse, attached herself to the +opportunities of increasing her store of literature which +Edward's visit afforded her. He sent for some of his books from +his quarters, and they opened to her sources of delight of which +she had hitherto had no idea. The best English poets, of every +description, and other works on belles lettres, made a part of +this precious cargo. Her music, even her flowers, were +neglected, and Saunders not only mourned over, but began to +mutiny against the labour for which he now scarce received +thanks. These new pleasures became gradually enhanced by sharing +them with one of a kindred taste. Edward's readiness to comment, +to recite, to explain difficult passages, rendered his assistance +invaluable; and the wild romance of his spirit delighted a +character too young and inexperienced to observe its +deficiencies. Upon subjects which interested him, and when quite +at ease, he possessed that flow of natural, and somewhat florid +eloquence, which has been supposed as powerful even as figure, +fashion, fame, or fortune, in winning the female heart. There +was, therefore, an increasing danger in this constant +intercourse, to poor Rose's peace of mind, which was the more +imminent, as her father was greatly too much abstracted in his +studies, and wrapped up in his own dignity, to dream of his +daughter's incurring it. The daughters of the house of +Bradwardine were, in his opinion, like those of the house of +Bourbon or Austria, placed high above the clouds of passion which +might obfuscate the intellects of meaner females; they moved in +another sphere, were governed by other feelings, and amenable to +other rules, than those of idle and fantastic affection. In +short, he shut his eyes so resolutely to the natural consequences +of Edward's intimacy with Miss Bradwardine, that the whole +neighbourhood concluded that he had opened them to the advantages +of a match between his daughter and the wealthy young Englishman, +and pronounced him much less a fool than he had generally shown +himself in cases where his own interest was concerned. + +If the Baron, however, had really meditated such an alliance, the +indifference of Waverley would have been an insuperable bar to +his project. Our hero, since mixing more freely with the world, +had learned to think with great shame and confusion upon his +mental legend of Saint Cecilia, and the vexation of these +reflections was likely, for some time at least, to counterbalance +the natural susceptibility of his disposition. Besides, Rose +Bradwardine, beautiful and amiable as we have described her, had +not precisely the sort of beauty or merit which captivates a +romantic imagination in early youth. She was too frank, too +confiding, too kind; amiable qualities, undoubtedly, but +destructive of the marvellous, with which a youth of imagination +delights to address the empress of his affections. Was it +possible to bow, to tremble, and to adore, before the timid, yet +playful little girl, who now asked Edward to mend her pen, now to +construe a stanza in Tasso, and now how to spell a very--very +long word in her version of it? All these incidents have their +fascination on the mind at a certain period of life, but not when +a youth is entering it, and rather looking out for some object +whose affection may dignify him in his own eyes, than stooping to +one who looks up to him for such distinction. Hence, though +there can be no rule in so capricious a passion, early love is +frequently ambitious in choosing its object; or, which comes to +the same, selects her (as in the case of Saint Cecilia aforesaid) +from a situation that gives fair scope for LE BEAU IDEAL, which +the reality of intimate and familiar life rather tends to limit +and impair. I knew a very accomplished and sensible young man +cured of a violent passion for a pretty woman, whose talents +were not equal to her face and figure, by being permitted to bear +her company for a whole afternoon. Thus it is certain, that had +Edward enjoyed such an opportunity of conversing with Miss +Stubbs, Aunt Rachel's precaution would have been unnecessary, for +he would as soon have fallen in love with the dairymaid. And +although Miss Bradwardine was a very different character, it +seems probable that the very intimacy of their intercourse +prevented his feeling for her other sentiments than those of a +brother for an amiable and accomplished sister; while the +sentiments of poor Rose were gradually, and without her being +conscious, assuming a shade of warmer affection. + +I ought to have said that Edward, when he sent to Dundee for the +books before mentioned, had applied for, and received permission, +extending his leave of absence. But the letter of his +commanding-officer contained a friendly recommendation to him, +not to spend his time exclusively with persons, who, estimable as +they might be in a general sense, could not be supposed well +affected to a government which they declined to acknowledge by +taking the oath of allegiance. The letter further insinuated, +though with great delicacy, that although some family connexions +might be supposed to render it necessary for Captain Waverley to +communicate with gentlemen who were in this unpleasant state of +suspicion, yet his father's situation and wishes ought to prevent +his prolonging those attentions into exclusive intimacy. And it +was intimated, that; while his political principles were +endangered by communicating with laymen of this description, he +might also receive erroneous impressions in religion from the +prelatic clergy, who so perversely laboured to set up the royal +prerogative in things sacred. + +This last insinuation probably induced Waverley to set both down +to the prejudices of his commanding-officer. He was sensible +that Mr. Bradwardine had acted with the most scrupulous delicacy, +in never entering upon any discussion that had the most remote +tendency to bias his mind in political opinions, although he was +himself not only a decided partisan of the exiled family, but had +been trusted at different times with important commissions for +their service. Sensible, therefore, that there was no risk of +his being perverted from his allegiance, Edward felt as if he +should do his uncle's old friend injustice in removing from a +house where he gave and received pleasure and amusement, merely +to gratify a prejudiced and ill-judged suspicion, He therefore +wrote a very general answer, assuring his commanding-officer that +his loyalty was not in the most distant danger of contamination, +and continued an honoured guest and inmate of the house of Tully- +Veolan. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A CREAGH, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES +[A CREAGH was an incursion for plunder, termed on the Borders a raid.] + +When Edward had been a guest at Tully-Veolan nearly six weeks, he +descried one morning, as he took his usual walk before the +breakfast-hour, signs of uncommon perturbation in the family. +Four bare-legged dairymaids, with each an empty milk-pail in her +hand, ran about with frantic gestures, and uttering loud +exclamations of surprise, grief, and resentment. From their +appearance, a pagan might have conceived them a detachment of the +celebrated Belides, just come from their baling penance. As +nothing was to be got from this distracted chorus, excepting +'Lord guide us!' and 'Eh, sirs!' ejaculations which threw no +light upon the cause of their dismay, Waverley repaired to the +forecourt, as it was called, where he beheld Bailie Macwheeble +cantering his white pony down the avenue with all the speed it +could muster. He had arrived, it would seem, upon a hasty +summons and was followed by half a score of peasants from the +village, who had no great difficulty in keeping pace with him. + +The Bailie, greatly too busy, and too important, to enter into +explanations with Edward, summoned forth Mr. Saunderson, who +appeared with a countenance in which dismay was mingled with +solemnity, and they immediately entered into close conference. +Davie Gellatley was also seen in the group, idle as Diogenes at +Sinope, while his countrymen were preparing for a siege. His +spirits always rose with anything, good or bad, which occasioned +tumult, and he continued frisking, hopping, dancing, and singing +the burden of an old ballad, + + Our gear's a' gane, + +until, happening to pass too near the Bailie, he received an +admonitory hint from his horsewhip, which converted his songs +into lamentation. + +Passing from thence towards the garden, Waverley beheld the Baron +in person, measuring and re-measuring, with swift and tremendous +strides, the length of the terrace; his countenance clouded with +offended pride and indignation, and the whole of his demeanour +such as seemed to indicate, that any inquiry concerning the cause +of his discomposure would give pain at least, if not offence. +Waverley therefore glided into the house, without addressing him, +and took his way to the breakfast parlour, where he found his +young friend Rose, who, though she neither exhibited the +resentment of her father, the turbid importance of Bailie +Macwheeble, nor the despair of the hand-maidens, seemed vexed and +thoughtful. A single word explained the mystery. 'Your +breakfast will be a disturbed one, Captain Waverley, A party of +Caterans have come down upon us, last night, and have driven off +all our milch cows.' + +'A party of Caterans?' + +'Yes; robbers from the neighbouring Highlands. We used to be +quite free from them while we paid blackmail to Fergus Mac-Ivor +Vich Ian Vohr; but my father thought it unworthy of his rank and +birth to pay it any longer, and so this disaster has happened. +It is not the value of the cattle, Captain Waverley, that vexes +me; but my father is so much hurt at the affront, and is so bold +and hot, that I fear he will try to recover them by the strong +hand; and if he is not hurt himself, he will hurt some of these +wild people, and then there will be no peace between them and us +perhaps for our lifetime; and we cannot defend ourselves as is +old times, for the government have taken all our arms; and my +dear father is so rash--Oh, what will become of us!'--Here poor +Rose lost heart altogether, and burst into a flood of tears. + +The Baron entered at this moment, and rebuked her with more +asperity than Waverley had ever heard him use to any one. 'Was +it not a shame,' he said, 'that she should exhibit herself before +any gentleman in such a light, as if she shed tears for a drove +of horned nolt and milch kine, like the daughter of a Cheshire +yeoman! Captain Waverley, I must request your favourable +construction of her grief, which may, or ought to proceed, solely +from seeing her father's estate exposed to spulzie and +depredation from common thieves and sornars, [Sornars may be +translated sturdy beggars, more especially indicating those +unwelcome visitors who exact lodgings and victuals by force, or +something approaching to it.] while we are not allowed to keep +half a score of muskets, whether for defence or rescue.' + +Bailie Macwheeble entered immediately afterwards, and by his +report of arms and ammunition confirmed this statement, informing +the Baron, in a melancholy voice, that though the people would +certainly obey his honour's orders, yet there was no chance of +their following the gear to ony guid purpose, in respect there +were only his honour's body servants who had swords and pistols, +and the depredators were twelve Highlanders, completely armed +after the manner of their country.--Having delivered this doleful +annunciation, he assumed a posture of silent dejection, shaking +his head slowly with the motion of a pendulum when it is ceasing +to vibrate, and then remained stationary, his body stooping at a +more acute angle than usual, and the latter part of his person +projecting in proportion. + +The Baron, meanwhile, paced the room in silent indignation, and +at length fixing his eye upon an old portrait, whose person was +clad in armour, and whose features glared grimly out of a huge +bush of hair, part of which descended from his head to his +shoulders, and part from his chin and upper-lip to his +breastplate,--'That gentleman, Captain Waverley, my grandsire,' +he said, 'with two hundred horse, whom he levied within his own +bounds, discomfited and put to the rout more than five hundred of +these Highland reivers, who have been ever LAPIS OFFENSIONIS, ET +PETRA SCANDALI, a stumbling-block and a rock of offence to the +Lowland vicinage--he discomfited them, I say, when they had the +temerity to descend to harry this country, in the time of the +civil dissensions, in the year of grace sixteen hundred forty and +two. And now, sir, I, his grandson, am thus used at such +unworthy hands!' + +Here there was an awful pause; after which all the company, as is +usual in cases of difficulty, began to give separate and +inconsistent counsel. Alexander ab Alexandro proposed they +should send some one to compound with the Caterans, who would +readily, he said, give up their prey for a dollar a head. The +Bailie opined that this transaction would amount to theft-boot, +or composition of felony; and he recommended that some CANNY HAND +should be sent up to the glens to make the best bargain he could, +as it were for himself, so that the laird might not be seen in +such a transaction. Edward proposed to send off to the nearest +garrison for a party of soldiers and a magistrate's warrant; and +Rose, as far as she dared, endeavoured to insinuate the course of +paying the arrears of tribute money to Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian +Vohr, who, they all knew, could easily procure restoration of the +cattle, if he were properly propitiated. + +None of these proposals met the Baron's approbation. The idea of +composition, direct or implied, was absolutely ignominious; that +of Waverley only showed that he did not understand the state of +the country, and of the political parties which divided it; and, +standing matters as they did with Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr, +the Baron would make no concession to him, were it, he said, (to +procure restitution IN INTEGRUM of every stirk and stot that the +chief, his forefathers, and his clan, had stolen since the days +of Malcolm Canmore.' + +In fact, his voice was still for war, and he proposed to send +expresses to Balmawhapple, Killancureit, Tulliellum, and other +lairds, who were exposed to similar depredations, inviting them +to join in the pursuit; 'and then, sir, shall these NEBULONES +NEQUISSIMI, as Leslaeus calls them, be brought to the fate of +their predecessor Cacus, + + Elisos oculos, et siccum sanguine guttur.' + +The Bailie, who by no means relished these warlike counsels, here +pulled forth an immense watch, of the colour, and nearly of the +size, of a pewter warming-pan, and observed it was now past noon, +and that the Caterans had been seen in the pass of Bally-Brough +soon after sunrise; so that before the allied forces could +assemble, they and their prey would be far beyond the reach of +the most active pursuit, and sheltered in those pathless deserts +where it was neither advisable to follow, nor indeed possible to +trace them. + +This proposition was undeniable. The council therefore broke up +without coming to any conclusion, as has occurred to councils of +more importance; only it was determined that the Bailie should +send his own three milk-cows down to the Mains for the use of the +Baron's family, and brew small ale, as a substitute for milk, in +his own. To this arrangement, which was suggested by Saunderson, +the Bailie readily assented, both from habitual deference to the +family, and an internal consciousness that his courtesy would, in +some mode or other, be repaid tenfold. + +The Baron having also retired to give some necessary directions, +Waverley seized the opportunity to ask, whether this Fergus, with +the unpronounceable name, was the chief thief-taker of the +district. + +'Thief-taker!' answered Rose, laughing; 'he is a gentleman of +great honour and consequence; the chieftain of an independent +branch of a powerful Highland clan, and is much respected, both +for his own power, and that of his kith, kin, and allies.' + +'And what has he to do with the thieves, then? is he a +magistrate, or in the commission of the peace?' asked Waverley. + +The commission of war rather, if there be such a thing,' said +Rose; 'for he is a very unquiet neighbour to his un-friends, and +keeps a greater FOLLOWING on foot than many that have thrice his +estates. As to his connexion with the thieves, that I cannot +well explain; but the boldest of them will never steal a hoof +from any one that pays blackmail to Vich Ian Vohr.' + +'And what is blackmail?' + +'A sort of protection-money that Low-country gentlemen and +heritors, lying near the Highlands, pay to some Highland chief, +that he may neither do them harm himself, nor suffer it to be +done to them by others; and then, if your cattle are stolen, you +have only to send him word, and he will recover them; or it may +be, he will drive away cows from some distant place, where he has +a quarrel, and give them to you to make up your loss.' + +'And is this sort of Highland Jonathan Wild admitted into +society, and called a gentleman?' + +'So much so,' said Rose, 'that the quarrel between my father and +Fergus Mac-Ivor began at a county meeting, where he wanted to +take precedence of all the Lowland gentlemen then present, only +my father would not suffer it. And then he upbraided my father +that he was under his banner, and paid him tribute; and my father +was in a towering passion, for Bailie Macwheeble, who manages +such things his own way, had contrived to keep this blackmail a +secret from him, and passed it in his account for cess-money. +And they would have fought; but Fergus Mac-Ivor said, very +gallantly, he would never raise his hand against a grey head that +was so much respected as my father's. Oh, I wish, I wish they +had continued friends!' + +'And did you ever see this Mr. Mac-Ivor, if that be his name, +Miss Bradwardine?' + +'No, that is not his name; and he would consider MASTER as a sort +of affront, only that you are an Englishman, and know no better. +But the Lowlanders call him, like other gentlemen, by the name of +his estate, Glennaquoich; and the Highlanders call him Vich Ian +Vohr, that is, the son of John the Great; and we upon the braes +here call him by both names indifferently.' + +I am afraid I shall never bring my English tongue to call him by +either one or other.' + +'But he is a very polite, handsome man,' continued Rose; 'and his +sister Flora is one of the most beautiful and accomplished young +ladies in this country: she was bred in a convent in France, and +was a great friend of mine before this unhappy dispute. Dear +Captain Waverley, try your influence with my father to make +matters up. I am sure this is but the beginning of our troubles; +for Tully-Veolan has never been a safe or quiet residence when we +have been at feud with the Highlanders. When I was a girl about +ten, there was a skirmish fought between a party of twenty of +them, and my father and his servants, behind the Mains; and the +bullets broke several panes in the north windows, they were so +near. Three of the Highlanders were killed, and they brought +them in, wrapped in their plaids, and laid them on the stone +floor of the hall; and next morning, their wives and daughters +came, clapping their hands, and crying the coronach, and +shrieking, and carried away the dead bodies, with the pipes +playing before them. I could not sleep for six weeks without +starting, and thinking I heard these terrible cries, and saw the +bodies lying on the steps, all stiff and swathed up in their +bloody tartans. But since that time there came a party from the +garrison at Stirling, with a warrant from the Lord Justice-Clerk, +or some such great man, and took away all our arms; and now, how +are we to protect ourselves if they come down in any strength?' + +Waverley could not help starting at a story which bore so much +resemblance to one of his own day-dreams. Here was a girl scarce +seventeen, the gentlest of her sex, both in temper and +appearance, who had witnessed with her own eyes such a scene as +he had used to conjure up in his imagination, as only occurring +in ancient times, and spoke of it coolly, as one very likely to +recur. He felt at once the impulse of curiosity, and that slight +sense of danger which only serves to heighten its interest. He +might have said with Malvolio, '"I do not now fool myself, to let +imagination jade me!" I am actually in the land of military and +romantic adventures, and it only remains to be seen what will be +my own share in them.' + +The whole circumstances now detailed concerning the state of the +country, seemed equally novel and extraordinary. He had indeed +often heard of Highland thieves, but had no idea of the +systematic mode in which their depredations were conducted; and +that the practice was connived at, and even encouraged, by many +of the Highland chieftains, who not only found the creaghs, or +forays, useful for the purpose of training individuals of their +clan to the practice of arms, but also of maintaining a wholesome +terror among their Lowland neighbours, and levying, as we have +seen, a tribute from them, under colour of protection-money. + +Bailie Macwheeble, who soon afterwards entered, expatiated still +more at length upon the same topic. This honest gentleman's +conversation was so formed upon his professional practice, that +Davie Gellatley once said his discourse was like 'a charge of +horning.' He assured our hero, that 'from the maist ancient +times of record, the lawless thieves, limmers, and broken men of +the Highlands, had been in fellowship together by reason of their +surnames, for the committing of divers thefts, reifs, and +herships upon the honest men of the Low Country, when they not +only intromitted with their whole goods and gear, corn, cattle, +horse, nolt, sheep, outsight and insight plenishing, at their +wicked pleasure, but moreover made prisoners, ransomed them, or +concussed them into giving borrows (pledges) to enter into +captivity again: all which was directly prohibited in divers +parts of the Statute Book, both by the act one thousand five +hundred and sixty-seven, and various others; the whilk statutes, +with all that had followed and might follow thereupon, were +shamefully broken and vilipended by the said sornars, limmers, +and broken men, associated into fellowships, for the aforesaid +purposes of theft, stouthreef, fire-raising, murther, RAPTUS +MULIERUM, or forcible abduction of women, and such like as +aforesaid.' + +It seemed like a dream to Waverley that these deeds of violence +should be familiar to men's minds, and currently talked of, as +falling within the common order of things, and happening daily in +the immediate vicinity, without his having crossed the seas, and +while he was yet in the otherwise well-ordered island of Great +Britain. [See Note 10.] + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AN UNEXPECTED ALLY APPEARS + +The Baron returned at the dinner-hour, and had in a great measure +recovered his composure and good humour. He not only confirmed +the stories which Edward had heard from Rose and Bailie +Macwheeble, but added many anecdotes from his own experience, +concerning the state of the Highlands and their inhabitants, The +chiefs he pronounced to be, in general, gentlemen of great honour +and high pedigree, whose word was accounted as a law by all those +of their own sept, or clan. 'It did not, indeed,' he +said, 'become them, as had occurred in late instances, to propone +their PROSAPIA, a lineage which rested for the most part on the +vain and fond rhymes of their Seannachies or Barahs, as +aequiponderate with the evidence of ancient charters and royal +grants of antiquity, conferred upon distinguished houses in the +Low Country by divers Scottish monarchs; nevertheless, such was +their OUTRECUIDANCE and presumption, as to undervalue those who +possessed such evidents, as if they held their lands in a sheep's +skin.' + +This, by the way, pretty well explained the cause of quarrel +between the Baron and his Highland ally. But he went on to state +so many curious particulars concerning the manners, customs, and +habits of this patriarchal race, that Edward's curiosity became +highly interested, and he inquired whether it was possible to +make with safety an excursion into the neighbouring Highlands, +whose dusky barrier of mountains had already excited his wish to +penetrate beyond them. The Baron assured his guest that nothing +would be more easy, providing this quarrel were first made up, +since he could himself give him letters to many of the +distinguished chiefs, who would receive him with the utmost +courtesy and hospitality. + +While they were on this topic, the door suddenly opened, and, +ushered by Saunders Saunderson, a Highlander, fully armed and +equipped, entered the apartment. Had it not been that Saunders +acted the part of master of the ceremonies to this martial +apparition, without appearing to deviate from his usual +composure, and that neither Mr. Bradwardine nor Rose exhibited +any emotion, Edward would certainly have thought the intrusion +hostile, As it was, he started at the sight of what he had not +yet happened to see, a mountaineer in his full national costume. +The individual Gael was a stout, dark, young man, of low stature, +the ample folds of whose plaid added to the appearance of +strength which his person exhibited. The short kilt, or +petticoat, showed his sinewy and clean-made limbs; the goat-skin +purse, flanked by the usual defences, a dirk and steel-wrought +pistol, hung before him; his bonnet had a short feather, which +indicated his claim to be treated as a Duinhe-wassel, or sort of +gentleman; a broadsword dangled by his side, a target hung upon +his shoulder, and a long Spanish fowling-piece occupied one of +his hands. With the other hand he pulled off his bonnet, and the +Baron, who well knew their customs, and the proper mode of +addressing them, immediately said, with an air of dignity, but +without rising, and much, as Edward thought, in the manner of a +prince receiving an embassy, 'Welcome, Evan Dhu Maccombich! what +news from Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr?' + +'Fergus Mac-Ivor Vich Ian Vohr,' said the ambassador, in good +English, 'greets you well, Baron of Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, +and is sorry there has been a thick cloud interposed between you +and him, which has kept you from seeing and considering the +friendship and alliances that have been between your houses and +forebears of old; and he prays you that the cloud may pass away, +and that things may be as they have been heretofore between the +clan Ivor and the house of Bradwardine, when there was an egg +between them for a flint, and a knife for a sword. And he +expects you will also say, you are sorry for the cloud, and no +man shall hereafter ask whether it descended from the hill to the +valley, or rose from the valley to the hill; for they never +struck with the scabbard who did not receive with the sword; and +woe to him who would lose his friend for the stormy cloud of a +spring morning!' + +To this the Baron of Bradwardine answered, with suitable dignity, +that he knew the chief of clan Ivor to be a well-wisher to the +King, and he was sorry there should have been a cloud between him +and any gentleman of such sound principles, 'for when folks are +banding together, feeble is he who hath no brother.' + +This appearing perfectly satisfactory, that the peace between +these august persons might be duly solemnized, the Baron ordered +a stoup of usquebaugh, and, filling a glass, drank to the health +and prosperity of Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich; upon which the Celtic +ambassador, to requite his politeness, turned down a mighty +bumper of the same generous liquor, seasoned with his good wishes +to the house of Bradwardine. + +Having thus ratified the preliminaries of the general treaty of +pacification, the envoy retired to adjust with Mr. Macwheeble +some subordinate articles with which it was not thought necessary +to trouble the Baron. These probably referred to the +discontinuance of the subsidy, and apparently the Bailie found +means to satisfy their ally, without suffering his master to +suppose that his dignity was compromised. At least, it is +certain, that after the plenipotentiaries had drunk a bottle of +brandy in single drams, which seemed to have no more effect upon +such seasoned vessels, than if it had been poured upon the two +bears at the top of the avenue, Evan Dhu Maccombich, having +possessed himself of all the information which he could procure +respecting the robbery of the preceding night, declared his +intention to set off immediately in pursuit of the cattle, which +he pronounced to be 'not far off;--they have broken the bone,' he +observed, 'but they have had no time to suck the marrow.' + +Our hero, who had attended Evan Dhu during his perquisitions, was +much struck with the ingenuity which he displayed in collecting +information, and the precise and pointed conclusions which he +drew from it. Evan Dhu, on his part, was obviously flattered +with the attention of Waverley, the interest he seemed to take in +his inquiries, and his curiosity about the customs and scenery of +the Highlands. Without much ceremony he invited Edward to +accompany him on a short walk of ten or fifteen miles into the +mountains, and see the place where the cattle were conveyed to; +adding, 'If it be as I suppose, you never saw such a place in +your life, nor ever will, unless you go with me, or the like of +me.' + +Our hero, feeling his curiosity considerably excited by the idea +of visiting the den of a Highland Cacus, took, however, the +precaution to inquire if his guide might be trusted. He was +assured, that the invitation would on no account have been given +had there been the least danger, and that all he had to apprehend +was a little fatigue; and as Evan proposed he should pass a day +at his Chieftain's house in returning, where he would be sure of +good accommodation and an excellent welcome, there seemed nothing +very formidable in the task he undertook. Rose, indeed, turned +pale when she heard of it; but her father, who loved the spirited +curiosity of his young friend, did not attempt to damp it by an +alarm of danger which really did not exist; and a knapsack, with +a few necessaries, being bound on the shoulders of a sort of +deputy gamekeeper, our hero set forth with a fowling-piece in his +hand, accompanied by his new friend Evan Dhu, and, followed by +the gamekeeper aforesaid, and by two wild Highlanders, the +attendants of Evan, one of whom had upon his shoulder a hatchet +at the end of a pole, called a Lochaber-axe, [The Town-guard of +Edinburgh were, till a late period, armed with this weapon when +on their police duty. There was a hook at the back of the axe, +which the ancient Highlanders used to assist them to climb over +walls, fixing the hook upon it, and raising themselves by the +handle. The axe, which was also much used by the natives of +Ireland, is supposed to have been introduced into both countries +from Scandinavia.] and the other a long ducking-gun. Evan, +upon Edward's inquiry, gave him to understand that this martial +escort was by no means necessary as a guard, but merely, as he +said, drawing up and adjusting his plaid with an air of dignity, +that he might appear decently at Tully-Veolan, and as Vich Ian +Vohr's foster-brother ought to do. 'Ah!' said he, 'if you Saxon +Duinhe-wassel (English gentlemen) saw but the Chief with his tail +on!' + +'With his tail on!' echoed Edward, in some surprise. + +'Yes--that is, with all his usual followers, when he visits those +of the same rank. There is,' he continued, stopping and drawing +himself proudly up, while he counted upon his fingers the several +officers of his chief's retinue--'there is his HANCH-MAN, or +right-hand man; then his BARDH, or poet; then his BLADIER, or +orator, to make harangues to the great folks whom he visits; then +his GILLY-MORE, or armour-bearer, to carry his sword and target, +and his gun; then his GILLY CASFLIUCH, who carries him on his +back through the sikes and brooks; then his GILLY-COMSTRIAN, to +lead his horse by the bridle in steep and difficult paths; then +his GILLY-TRUSHHARNISH, to carry his knapsack; and the piper and +the piper's man, and it may be a dozen young lads besides, that +have no business, but are just boys of the belt, to follow the +laird, and do his honour's bidding.' + +And does your Chief regularly maintain all these men?' demanded +Waverley. + +'All these!' replied Evan; 'aye, and many a fair head beside, +that would not ken where to lay itself, but for the mickle barn +at Glennaquoich.' + +With similar tales of the grandeur of the Chief in peace and war, +Evan Dhu beguiled the way till they approached more closely those +huge mountains which Edward had hitherto only seen at a distance. +It was towards evening as they entered one of the tremendous +passes which afford communication between the High and Low +Country; the path, which was extremely steep and rugged, winded +up a chasm between two tremendous rocks, following the passage +which a foaming stream, that brawled far below, appeared to have +worn for itself in the course of ages. A few slanting beams of +the sun, which was now setting, reached the water in its darksome +bed, and showed it partially, chafed by a hundred rocks, and +broken by a hundred falls. The descent from the path to the +stream was a mere precipice, with here and there a projecting +fragment of granite, or a scathed tree, which had warped its +twisted roots into the fissures of the rock. On the right hand, +the mountain rose above the path with almost equal +inaccessibility; but the hill on the opposite side displayed a +shroud of copsewood, with which some pines were intermingled. + +'This,' said Evan, 'is the pass of Bally-Brough, which was kept +in former times by ten of the clan Donnochie against a hundred of +the Low Country carles. The graves of the slain are still to be +seen in that little corri, or bottom, on the opposite side of the +burn--if your eyes are good, you may see the green specks among +the heather.--See, there is an earn, which you Southrons call an +eagle--you have no such birds as that in England--he is going to +fetch his supper from the Laird of Bradwardine's braes, but I'll +send a slug after him.' + +He fired his piece accordingly, but missed the superb monarch of +the feathered tribes, who, without noticing the attempt to annoy +him, continued his majestic flight to the southward. A thousand +birds of prey, hawks, kites, carrion-crows, and ravens, disturbed +from the lodgings which they had just taken up for the evening, +rose at the report of the gun, and mingled their hoarse and +discordant notes with the echoes which replied to it, and with +the roar of the mountain cataracts. Evan, a little disconcerted +at having missed his mark, when he meant to have displayed +peculiar dexterity, covered his confusion by whistling part of a +pibroch as he reloaded his piece, and proceeded in silence up the +pass. + +It issued in a narrow glen, between two mountains, both very +lofty, and covered with heath. The brook continued to be their +companion, and they advanced up its mazes, crossing them now and +then, on which occasions Even Dhu uniformly offered the +assistance of his attendants to carry over Edward; but our hero, +who had been always a tolerable pedestrian, declined the +accommodation, and obviously rose in his guide's opinion by +showing that he did not fear wetting his feet. Indeed he was +anxious, so far as he could without affectation, to remove the +opinion which Evan seemed to entertain of the effeminacy of the +Lowlanders, and particularly of the English. + +Through the gorge of this glen they found access to a black bog, +of tremendous extent, full of large pit-holes, which they +traversed with great difficulty and some danger, by tracks which +no one but a Highlander could have followed. The path itself, or +rather the portion of more solid ground on which the travellers +half walked, half waded, was rough, broken, and in many places +quaggy and unsound. Sometimes the ground was so completely +unsafe, that it was necessary to spring from one hillock to +another, the space between being incapable of bearing the human +weight. This was an easy matter to the Highlanders, who wore +thin-soled brogues fit for the purpose, and moved with a peculiar +springing step; but Edward began to find the exercise, to which +he was unaccustomed, more fatiguing than he expected. The +lingering twilight served to show them through this Serbonian +bog, but deserted them almost totally at the bottom of a steep +and very stony hill, which it was the travellers' next toilsome +task to ascend. The night, however, was pleasant, and not dark; +and Waverley, calling up mental energy to support personal +fatigue, held on his march gallantly, though envying in his heart +his Highland attendants, who continued, without a symptom of +abated vigour, the rapid and swinging pace, or rather trot, +which, according to his computation, had already brought them +fifteen miles upon their journey. + +After crossing this mountain, and descending on the other side +towards a thick wood, Evan Dhu held some conference with his +Highland attendants, in consequence of which Edward's baggage was +shifted from the shoulders of the gamekeeper to those of one of +the gillies, and the former was sent off with the other +mountaineer in a direction different from that of the three +remaining travellers. On asking the meaning of this separation, +Waverley was told that the Lowlander must go to a hamlet about +three miles off for the night; for unless it was some very +particular friend, Donald Bean Lean, the worthy person whom they +supposed to be possessed of the cattle, did not much approve of +strangers approaching his retreat. This seemed reasonable, and +silenced a qualm of suspicion which came across Edward's mind, +when he saw himself, at such a place and such an hour, deprived +of his only Lowland companion. And Evan immediately afterwards +added, 'that indeed he himself had better get forward, and +announce their approach to Donald Bean Lean, as the arrival of a +SIDIER ROY (red soldier) might otherwise be a disagreeable +surprise.' And without waiting for an answer, in jockey phrase, +he trotted out, and putting himself to a very round pace, was out +of sight in an instant. + +Waverley was now left to his own meditations, for his attendant +with the battle-axe spoke very little English. They were +traversing a thick, and, as it seemed, an endless wood of pines, +and consequently the path was altogether indiscernible in the +murky darkness which surrounded them. The Highlander, however, +seemed to trace it by instinct, without the hesitation of a +moment, and Edward followed his footsteps as close as he could. + +After journeying a considerable time in silence, he could not +help asking, 'Was it far to the end of their journey?' + +'Ta cove was tree, four mile; but as Duinhe-wassel was a wee +taiglit, Donald could, tat is, might--would--should send ta +curragh.' + +This conveyed no information. The CURRAGH which was promised +might be a man, a horse, a cart, or chaise; and no more could be +got from the man with the battle-axe, but a repetition of 'Aich +ay! ta curragh.' + +But in a short time Edward began to conceive his meaning, when, +issuing from the wood, he found himself on the banks of a large +river or lake, where his conductor gave him to understand they +must sit down for a little while. The moon, which now began to +rise, showed obscurely the expanse of water which spread before +them, and the shapeless and indistinct forms of mountains with +which it seemed to be surrounded. The cool and yet mild air of +the summer night refreshed Waverley after his rapid and toilsome +walk; and the perfume which it wafted from the birch-trees, +bathed in the evening dew, was exquisitely fragrant. [It is not +the weeping birch, the most common species in the Highlands, but +the woolly-leaved Lowland birch, that is distinguished by this +fragrance.] + +He had now time to give himself up to the full romance of his +situation. Here he saw on the banks of an unknown lake, under +the guidance of a wild native, whose language was unknown to him, +on a visit to the den of some renowned outlaw, a second Robin +Hood, perhaps, or Adam o' Gordon, and that at deep midnight, +through scenes of difficulty and toil, separated from his +attendant, left by his guide.--What a variety of incidents for +the exercise of a romantic imagination, and all enhanced by the +solemn feeling of uncertainty, at least, if not of danger! The +only circumstance which assorted ill with the rest, was the cause +of his journey--the Baron's milk-cows! This degrading incident +he kept in the background. + +While wrapped in these dreams of imagination, his companion +gently touched him, and pointing in a direction nearly straight +across the lake, said 'Yon's ta cove.' A small point of light +was seen to twinkle in the direction in which he pointed, and +gradually increasing in size and lustre, seemed to flicker like a +meteor upon the verge of the horizon. While Edward watched this +phenomenon, the distant dash of oars was heard. The measured +sound approached near and more near, and presently a loud whistle +was heard in the same direction. His friend with the battle-axe +immediately whistled clear and shrill, in reply to the signal, +and a boat, manned with four or five Highlanders, pushed for a +little inlet, near which Edward was sitting. He advanced to meet +them with his attendant, was immediately assisted into the boat +by the officious attention of two stout mountaineers, and had no +sooner seated himself than they resumed their oars, and began to +row across the lake with great rapidity. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE HOLD OF A HIGHLAND ROBBER + +The party preserved silence, interrupted only by the monotonous +and murmured chant of a Gaelic song, sung in a kind of low +recitative by the steersman, and by the dash of the oars, which +the notes seemed to regulate, as they dipped to them in cadence. +The light, which they now approached more nearly, assumed a +broader, redder, and more irregular splendour. It appeared +plainly to be a large fire, but whether kindled upon an island or +the main land, Edward could not determine. As he saw it, the red +glaring orb seemed to rest on the very surface of the lake +itself, and resembled the fiery vehicle in which the Evil Genius +of an Oriental tale traverses land and sea. They approached +nearer, and the light of the fire sufficed to show that it was +kindled at the bottom of a huge dark crag or rock, rising +abruptly from the very edge of the water; its front changed by +the reflection to dusky red, formed a strange and even awful +contrast to the banks around, which were from time to time +faintly and partially illuminated by pallid moonlight. + +The boat now neared the shore, and Edward could discover that +this large fire, amply supplied with branches of pine-wood by two +figures, who, in the red reflection of its light, appeared like +demons, was kindled in the jaws of a lofty cavern, into which an +inlet from the lake seemed to advance; and he conjectured, which +was indeed true, that the fire had been lighted as a beacon to +the boatmen on their return. They rowed right for the mouth of +the cave, and then, shipping their oars, permitted the boat to +enter in obedience to the impulse which it had received. + +The skiff passed the little point or platform of rock on which +the fire was blazing, and running about two boats' length +farther, stopped where the cavern (for it was already arched +overhead) ascended from the water by five or six broad ledges of +rocks, so easy and regular that they might be termed natural +steps. At this moment a quantity of water was suddenly flung +upon the fire, which sank with a hissing noise, and with it +disappeared the light it had hitherto afforded. Four or five +active arms lifted Waverley out of the boat, placed him on his +feet, and almost carried him into the recesses of the cave. He +made a few paces in darkness, guided in this manner; and +advancing towards a hum of voices, which seemed to sound from the +centre of the rock, at an acute turn Donald Bean Lean and his +whole establishment were before his eyes. + +The interior of the cave, which here rose very high, was +illuminated by torches made of pine-tree, which emitted a bright +and bickering light, attended by a strong though not unpleasant +odour. Their light was assisted by the red glare of a large +charcoal fire, round which were seated five or six armed +Highlanders, while others were indistinctly seen couched on their +plaids, in the more remote recesses of the cavern. In one large +aperture, which the robber facetiously called his spence (or +pantry), there hung by the heels the carcasses of a sheep, or +ewe, and two cows lately slaughtered. The principal inhabitant +of this singular mansion, attended by Evan Dhu as master of the +ceremonies, came forward to meet his guest, totally different in +appearance and manner from what his imagination had anticipated. +The profession which he followed--the wilderness in which he +dwelt--the wild warrior-forms that surrounded him, were all +calculated to inspire terror. From such accompaniments, Waverley +prepared himself to meet a stern, gigantic, ferocious figure, +such as Salvator would have chosen to be the central object of a +group of banditti. [See Note 11.] + +Donald Bean Lean was the very reverse of all these. He was thin +in person and low in stature, with light sandy-coloured hair, and +small pale features, from which he derived his agnomen of BEAN, +or white; and although his form was light, well-proportioned, and +active, he appeared, on the whole, rather a diminutive and +insignificant figure. He had served in some inferior capacity in +the French army, and in order to receive his English visitor in +great form, and probably meaning, in his way, to pay him a +compliment, he had laid aside the Highland dress for the time, to +put on an old blue and red uniform, and a feathered hat, in which +he was far from showing to advantage, and indeed looked so +incongruous, compared with all around him, that Waverley would +have been tempted to laugh, had laughter been either civil or +safe. The robber received Captain Waverley with a profusion of +French politeness and Scottish hospitality, seemed perfectly to +know his name and connexions, and to be particularly acquainted +with his uncle's political principles. On these he bestowed +great applause, to which Waverley judged it prudent to make a +very general reply. + +Being placed at a convenient distance from the charcoal fire, the +heat of which the season rendered oppressive, a strapping +Highland damsel placed before Waverley, Evan, and Donald Bean, +three cogues, or wooden vessels, composed of staves and hoops, +containing EANARUICH, [This was the regale presented by Rob Roy +to the Laird of Tullibody.] a sort of strong soup, made out of a +particular part of the inside of the beeves. After this +refreshment, which, though coarse, fatigue and hunger rendered +palatable, steaks, roasted on the coals, were supplied in liberal +abundance, and disappeared before Even Dhu and their host with a +promptitude that seemed like magic, and astonished Waverley, who +was much puzzled to reconcile their voracity with what he had +heard of the abstemiousness of the Highlanders. He was ignorant +that this abstinance was with the lower ranks wholly compulsory, +and that, like some animals of prey, those who practise it were +usually gifted with the power of indemnifying themselves to good +purpose, when chance threw plenty in their way. The whisky came +forth in abundance to crown the cheer. The Highlanders drank it +copiously and undiluted; but Edward, having mixed a little with +water, did not find it so palatable as to invite him to repeat +the draught. Their host bewailed himself exceedingly that he +could offer him no wine: 'Had he but known four-and-twenty hours +before, he would have had some, had it been within the circle of +forty miles round him. But no gentleman could do more to show +his sense of the honour of a visit from another, than to offer +him the best cheer his house afforded. Where there are no bushes +there can be no nuts, and the way of those you live with is that +you must follow.' + +He went on regretting to Evan Dhu the death of an aged man, +Donnacha an Amrigh, or Duncan with the Cap, 'a gifted seer,' who +foretold, through the second sight, visitors of every description +who haunted their dwelling, whether as friends or foes. + +'Is not his son Malcolm TAISHATR?' (a second-sighted person), +asked Evan. + +'Nothing equal to his father,' replied Donald Bean. He told us +the other day we were to see a great gentleman riding on a horse, +and there came nobody that whole day but Shemus Beg, the blind +harper, with his dog. Another time he advertised us of a +wedding, and behold it proved a funeral; and on the creagh, when +he foretold to us we should bring home a hundred head of horned +cattle, we gripped nothing but a fat bailie of Perth.' + +From this discourse he passed to the political and military state +of the country; and Waverley was astonished, and even alarmed, to +find a person of this description so accurately acquainted with +the strength of the various garrisons and regiments quartered +north of the Tay. He even mentioned the exact number of recruits +who had joined Waverley's troop from his uncle's estate, and +observed they were pretty men, meaning, not handsome, but stout +warlike fellows. He put Waverley in mind of one or two minute +circumstances which had happened at a general review of the +regiment, which satisfied him that the robber had been an eye- +witness of it; and Evan Dhu having by this time retired from the +conversation, and wrapped himself up in his plaid to take some +repose, Donald asked Edward, in a very significant manner, +whether he had nothing particular to say to him. + +Waverley, surprised and somewhat startled at this question from +such a character, answered he had no motive in visiting him but +curiosity to see his extraordinary place of residence. Donald +Bean Lean looked him steadily in the face for an instant, and +then said, with a significant nod, 'You might as well have +confided in me; I am as much worthy of trust as either the Baron +of Bradwardine, or Vich Ian Vohr:--but you are equally welcome to +my house.' + +Waverley felt an involuntary shudder creep over him at the +mysterious language held by this outlawed and lawless bandit, +which, in despite of his attempts to master it, deprived him of +the proper to ask the meaning of his insinuations. A heath +pallet, with the flowers stuck uppermost, had been prepared for +him in a recess of the cave, and here, covered with such spare +plaids as could be mustered, he lay for some time matching the +motions of the other inhabitants of the cavern. Small parties of +two or three entered or left the place without any other ceremony +than a few words in Gaelic to the principal outlaw, and, when he +fell asleep, to a tall Highlander who acted as his lieutenant, +and seemed to keep watch during his repose. Those who entered, +seemed to have returned from some excursion, of which they +reported the success, and went without further ceremony to the +larder, where, cutting with their dirks their rations from the +carcasses which were there suspended, they proceeded to broil and +eat them at their own pleasure and leisure. The liquor was under +strict regulation, being served out either by Donald himself, his +lieutenant, or the strapping Highland girl aforesaid, who was the +only female that appeared. The allowance of whisky, however, +would have appeared prodigal to any but Highlanders, who, living +entirely in the open air, and in a very moist climate, can +consume great quantities of ardent spirits without the usual +baneful effects either upon the brain or constitution. + +At length the fluctuating groups began to swim before the eyes of +our hero as they gradually closed; nor did he re-open them till +the morning sun was high on the lake without, though there was +but a faint and glimmering twilight in the recesses of Uaimh an +Ri, or the King's Cavern, as the abode of Donald Bean Lean was +proudly denominated. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WAVERLEY PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY + +Then Edward had collected his scattered recollection, he was +surprised to observe the cavern totally deserted. Having arisen +and put his dress in some order, he looked more accurately round +him; but all was still solitary. If it had not been for the +decayed brands of the fire, now sunk into grey ashes, and the +remnants of the festival, consisting of bones half burnt and half +gnawed, and an empty keg or two, there remained no traces of +Donald and his band. When Waverley sallied forth to the entrance +of the cave, he perceived that the point of rock, on which +remained the marks of last night's beacon, was accessible by a +small path, either natural, or roughly hewn in the rock, along +the little inlet of water which ran a few yards up into the +cavern, where, as in a wet-dock, the skiff which brought him +there the night before was still lying moored. When he reached +the small projecting platform on which the beacon had been +established, he would have believed his further progress by land +impossible, only that it was scarce probable but that the +inhabitants of the cavern had some mode of issuing from it +otherwise than by the lake. Accordingly, he soon observed three +or four shelving steps, or ledges of rock, at the very extremity +of the little platform; and, making use of them as a staircase, +he clambered by their means around the projecting shoulder of the +crag on which the cavern opened, and, descending with some +difficulty on the other side, he gained the wild and precipitous +shores of a Highland loch, about four miles in length, and a +mile and a half across, surrounded by heathy and savage +mountains, on the crests of which the morning mist was still +sleeping. + +Looking back to the place from which he came, he could not help +admiring the address which had adopted a retreat of such +seclusion and secrecy. The rock, round the shoulder of which he +had turned by a few imperceptible notches, that barely afforded +place for the foot, seemed, in looking back upon it, a huge +precipice, which barred all further passage by the shores of the +lake in that direction. There could be no possibility, the +breadth of the lake considered, of descrying the entrance of the +narrow and low-browed cave from the other side; so that, unless +the retreat had been sought for with boats, or disclosed by +treachery, it might be a safe and secret residence to its +garrison as long as they were supplied with provisions. Having +satisfied his curiosity in these particulars, Waverley looked +around for Evan Dhu and his attendants, who, he rightly judged, +would be at no great distance, whatever might have become of +Donald Bean Lean and his party, whose mode of life was, of +course, liable to sudden migrations of abode. Accordingly, at +the distance of about half a mile, he beheld a Highlander (Evan +apparently) angling in the lake, with another attending him, +whom, from the weapon which he shouldered, he recognized for his +friend with the battle-axe. + +Much nearer to the mouth of the cave, he heard the notes of a +lively Gaelic song, guided by which, in a sunny recess, shaded by +a glittering birch-tree, and carpeted with a bank of firm white +sand, he found the damsel of the cavern, whose lay had already +reached him, busy, to the best of her power, in arranging to +advantage a morning repast of milk, eggs, barley-bread, fresh +butter, and honeycomb. The poor girl had already made a circuit +of four miles that morning in search of the eggs, of the meal +which baked her cakes, and of the other materials of the +breakfast, being all delicacies which she had to beg or borrow +from distant cottagers. The followers of Donald Bean Lean used +little food except the flesh of the animals which they drove away +from the Lowlands; bread itself was a delicacy seldom thought of, +because hard to be obtained, and all the domestic accommodations +of milk, poultry, butter, &c., were out of the question in this +Scythian camp. Yet it must not be omitted, that, although Alice +had occupied a part of the morning in providing those +accommodations for her guest which the cavern did not afford, she +had secured time also to arrange her own person in her best trim. +Her finery was very simple. A short russet-coloured jacket, and +a petticoat, of scanty longitude, was her whole dress; but these +were clean, and neatly arranged. A piece of scarlet embroidered +cloth, called the snood, confined her hair, which fell over it in +a profusion of rich dark curls. The scarlet plaid, which formed +part of her dress, was laid aside, that it might not impede her +activity in attending the stranger. I should forget Alice's +proudest ornament, were I to omit mentioning a pair of gold +ear-rings, and a golden rosary, which her father (for she was the +daughter of Donald Bean Lean) had brought from France, the +plunder, probably, of some battle or storm. + +Her form, though rather large for her years, was very well +proportioned, and her demeanour had a natural and rustic grace, +with nothing of the sheepishness of an ordinary peasant. The +smiles, displaying a row of teeth of exquisite whiteness, and the +laughing eyes, with which, in dumb show, she gave Waverley that +morning greeting which she wanted English words to express, might +have been interpreted by a coxcomb, or perhaps by a young +soldier, who, without being such, was conscious of a handsome +person, as meant to convey more than the courtesy of an hostess. +Nor do I take it upon me to say, that the little wild mountaineer +would have welcomed any staid old gentleman advanced in life, the +Baron of Bradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains which +she bestowed upon Edward's accommodation. She seemed eager to +place him by the meal which she had so sedulously arranged, and +to which she now added a few bunches of cranberries, gathered in +an adjacent morass. Having had the satisfaction of seeing him +seated at his breakfast, she placed herself demurely upon a stone +at a few yards' distance, and appeared to watch with great +complacency for some opportunity of serving him. + +Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along the beach, the +latter bearing a large salmon-trout, the produce of the morning's +sport, together with the angling-rod, while Evan strolled +forward, with an easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, +towards the spot where Waverley was so agreeably employed at the +breakfast-table. After morning greetings had passed on both +sides, and Evan, looking at Waverley, had said something in +Gaelic to Alice, which made her laugh, yet colour up to her eyes, +through a complexion well embrowned by sun and wind, Evan +intimated his commands that the fish should be prepared for +breakfast. A spark from the lock of his pistol produced a light, +and a few withered fir branches were quickly in flame, and as +speedily reduced to hot embers, on which the trout was broiled in +large slices. To crown the repast, Evan produced from the pocket +of his short jerkin, a large scallop shell, and from under the +folds of his plaid, a ram's horn full of whisky. Of this he took +a copious dram, observing he had already taken his MORNING with +Donald Bean Lean, before his departure; he offered the same +cordial to Alice and to Edward, which they both declined. With +the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then proffered the scallop to +Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, without waiting to be asked a +second time, drank it off with great gusto. Evan then prepared +to move towards the boat, inviting Waverley to attend him. +Meanwhile, Alice had made up in a small basket what she thought +worth removing, and hinging her plaid around her, she advanced up +to Edward, and, with the utmost simplicity, taking hold of his +hand, offered her cheek to his salute, dropping, at the same +time, her little curtsy. Evan, who was esteemed a wag among the +mountain fair, advanced, as if to secure a similar favour; but +Alice, snatching up her basket, escaped up the rocky bank as +fleetly as a roe, and, turning round and laughing, called +something out to him in Gaelic, which he answered in the same +tone and language; then, waving her hand to Edward, she resumed +her road, and was soon lost among the thickets, though they +continued for some time to hear her lively carol, as she +proceeded gaily on her solitary journey. + +They now again entered the gorge of the cavern, and stepping into +the boat, the Highlander pushed off, and, taking advantage of the +morning breeze, hoisted a clumsy sort of sail, while Evan assumed +the helm, directing their course, as it appeared to Waverley, +rather higher up the lake than towards the place of his +embarkation on the preceding night. As they glided along the +silver mirror, Evan opened the conversation with a panegyric upon +Alice, who, he said, was both CANNY and FENDY; and was, to the +boot of all that, the best dancer of a strathspey in the whole +strath. Edward assented to her praises so far as he understood +them, yet could not help regretting that she was condemned to +such a perilous and dismal life. + +'Oich! for that,' said Evan, 'there is nothing in Perthshire +that she need want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it +be too hot or too heavy. + +'But to be the daughter of a cattle-stealer--a common thief!' + +'Common thief!--no such thing: Donald Bean Lean never LIFTED +less than a drove in his life.' + +'Do you call him an uncommon thief, then?' + +'No--he that steals a cow from a poor widow, or a stirk from a +cottar, is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach laird, +is a gentleman-drover. And, besides, to take a tree from the +forest, a salmon from the river, a deer from the hill, or a cow +from a Lowland strath, is what no Highlander need ever think +shame upon.' + +'But what can this end in, were he taken in such an +appropriation?' + +'To be sure he would DIE FOR THE LAW, as many a pretty man has +done before him.' + +'Die for the law!' + +'Aye; that is, with the law, or by the law; be strapped up on the +KIND gallows of Crieff, [See Note 12.] where his father died, +and his goodsire died, and where I hope he'll live to die +himself, if he's not shot, or slashed, in a creagh.' + +'You HOPE such a death for your friend, Evan!' + +'And that do I e'en; would you have me wish him to die on a +bundle of wet straw in yon den of his, like a mangy tyke?' + +'But what becomes of Alice, then?' + +'Troth, if such an accident were to happen, as her father would +not need her help ony langer, I ken naught to hinder me to marry +her mysell.' + +'Gallantly resolved!' said Edward;--'but, in the meanwhile, +Evan, what has your father-in-law (that shall be, if he have the +good fortune to be hanged) done with the Baron's cattle?' + +'Oich,' answered Evan, 'they were all trudging before your lad +and Allan Kennedy before the sun blinked ower Ben-Lawers this +morning; and they'll be in the pass of Bally-Brough by this time, +in their way back to the parks of Tully-Veolan, all but two, that +were unhappily slaughtered before I got last night to Uaimh an +Ri.' + +'And where are we going, Evan, if I may be so bold as to ask?' +said Waverley. + +'Where would you be ganging, but to the laird's ain house of +Glennaquoich? Ye would not think to be in his country, without +ganging to see him? It would be as much as a man's life's +worth,' + +'And are we far from Glennaquoich?' + +But five bits of miles; and Vich Ian Vohr will meet us.' + +In about half an hour they reached the upper end of the lake, +where, after landing Waverley, the two Highlanders drew the boat +into a little creek among thick flags and reeds, where it lay +perfectly concealed. The oars they put in another place of +concealment, both for the use of Donald Bean Lean probably, when +his occasions should next bring him to that place. + +The travellers followed for some time a delightful opening into +the hills, down which a little brook found its way to the lake. +When they had pursued their walk a short distance, Waverley +renewed his questions about their host of the cavern. + +'Does he always reside in that cave?' + +'Out, no! it's past the skill of man to tell where he's to be +found at a' times; there's not a dern nook, or cove, or corri, in +the whole country, that he's not acquainted with.' + +'And do others beside your master shelter him?' + +'My master?--My master is in heaven,' answered Evan haughtily; +and then immediately assuming his usual civility of manner--'But +you mean my Chief;--no, he does not shelter Donald Bean Lean, nor +any that are like him; he only allows him (with a smile) wood and +water.' + +'No great boon, I should think, Evan, when both seem to be very +plenty.' + +'Ah! but ye dinna see through it. When I say wood and water, I +mean the loch and the land; and I fancy Donald would be put +till't if the laird were to look for him wi' threescore men in +the wood of Kailychat yonder; and if our boats, with a score or +twa mair, were to come down the loch to Uaimh an Ri, headed by +mysell, or ony other pretty man.' + +'But suppose a strong party came against him from the Low +Country, would not your Chief defend him?' + +'Na, he would not ware the spark of a flint for him--if they came +with the law.' + +'And what must Donald do, then?' + +'He behoved to rid this country of himsell, and fall back, it may +be, over the mount upon Letter Scriven.' + +'And if he were pursued to that place?' + +'I'se warrant he would go to his cousin's at Rannoch.' + +'Well, but if they followed him to Rannoch?' + +'That,' quoth Evan, 'is beyond all belief; and, indeed, to tell +you the truth, there durst not a Lowlander in all Scotland follow +the fray a gun-shot beyond Bally-Brough, unless he had the help +of the SIDIER DHU.' + +'Whom do you call so?' + +'The SIDIER DHU? the black soldier; that is what they call the +independent companies that were raised to keep peace and law in +the Highlands. Vich Ian Vohr commanded one of them for five +years, and I was sergeant myself, I shall warrant ye. They call +them SIDIER DHU, because they wear the tartans,--as they call +your men, King George's men, SIDIER ROY, or red soldiers.' + +'Well, but when you were in King George's pay, Evan, you were +surely King George's soldiers?' + +'Troth, and you must ask Vich Ian Vohr about that; for we are for +his king, and care not much which o' them it is. At any rate, +nobody can say we are King George's men now, when we have not +seen his pay this twelvemonth.' + +This last argument admitted of no reply, nor did Edward attempt +any; he rather chose to bring back the discourse to Donald Bean +Lean. 'Does Donald confine himself to cattle, or does he LIFT, +as you call it, anything else that comes in his way?' + +'Troth, he's nae nice body, and he'll just tak ony thing, but +most readily cattle, horse, or live Christians; for sheep are +slow of travel, and inside plenishing is cumbrous to carry, and +not easy to put away for siller in this country.' + +'But does he carry off men and women?' + +'Out, aye. Did not ye hear him speak o' the Perth bailie? It +cost that body five hundred merks ere he got to the south of +Bally-Brough.--And ance Donald played a pretty sport. [See Note +13.] There was to be a blythe bridal between the Lady +Cramfeezer, in the howe o' the Mearns (she was the auld laird's +widow, and no sae young as she had been hersell), and young +Gilliewhackit, who had spent his heirship and movables, like a +gentleman, at cock-matches, bull-baitings, horse-races, and the +like. Now, Donald Bean Lean, being aware that the bridegroom was +in request, and wanting to cleik the cunzie (that is, to hook the +siller), he cannily carried off Gilliewhackit ae night when he +was riding DOVERING hame (wi' the malt rather abune the meal), +and with the help of his gillies he gat him into the hills with +the speed of light, and the first place he wakened in was the +cove of Uaimh an Ri. So there was old to do about ransoming the +bridegroom; for Donald would not lower a farthing of a thousand +punds'-- + +The devil!' + +'Punds Scottish, ya shall understand. And the lady had not the +siller if she had pawned her gown; and they applied to the +governor o' Stirling castle, and to the major o' the Black Watch; +and the governor said, it was ower far to the northward, and out +of his district; and the major said, his men were gane hame to +the shearing, and he would not call them out before the victual +was got in for all the Cramfeezers in Christendom, let alane the +Mearns, for that it would prejudice the country. And in the +meanwhile ye'll no hinder Gilliewhackit to take the small-pox. +There was not the doctor in Perth or Stirling would look near the +poor lad; and I cannot blame them, for Donald had been misguggled +by ane of these doctors about Paris, and he swore he would fling +the first into the loch that he catched beyond the Pass. +However, some cailliachs (that is, old women) that were about +Donald's hand, nursed Gilliewhackit sae weel, that between the +free open air in the cove and the fresh whey, deil an' he did not +recover maybe as weel as if he had been closed in a glazed +chamber and a bed with curtains, and fed with red wine and white +meat. And Donald was sae vexed about it, that when he was stout +and weel, he even sent him free home, and said he would be +pleased with onything they would like to gie him for the plague +and trouble which he had about Gilliewhackit to an unkenn'd +degree. And I cannot tell you precisely how they sorted; but +they agreed sae right that Donald was invited to dance at the +wedding in his Highland trews, and they said that there was never +sae meikle siller clinked in his purse either before or since. +And to the boot of all that, Gilliewhackit said, that, be the +evidence what it liked, if he had the luck to be on Donald's +inquest, he would bring him in guilty of nothing whatever, unless +it were wilful arson, or murder under trust.' + +With such bald and disjointed chat Evan went on, illustrating the +existing state of the Highlands, more perhaps to the amusement of +Waverley than that of our readers. At length, after having +marched over bank and brae, moss and heather, Edward, though not +unacquainted with the Scottish liberality in computing distance, +began to think that Evan's five miles were nearly doubled. His +observation on the large measure which the Scottish allowed of +their land, in comparison to the computation of their money, was +readily answered by Evan, with the old jest, The deil take them +wha have the least pint stoup.' ['The Scotch are liberal in +computing their land and liquor; the Scottish pint corresponds to +two English quarts. As for their coin, every one knows the +couplet-- + +'How can the rogues pretend to sense? + Their pound is only twenty pence.'] + +And now the report of a gun was heard, and a sportsman was seen, +with his dogs and attendant, at the upper end of the glen. +'Shough,' said Dugald Mahony, 'tat's ta Chief.' + +'It is not,' said Evan imperiously. 'Do you think he would come +to meet a Sassenach Duinhe-wassel in such a way as that?' + +But as they approached a little nearer, he said, with an +appearance of mortification, 'And it is even he, sure enough; and +he has not his tail on after all;--there is no living creature +with him but Callum Beg.' + +In fact, Fergus Mac-Ivor, of whom a Frenchman might have said, as +truly as of any man in the Highlands, 'QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES +GENS,' had no idea of raising himself in the eyes of an English +young man of fortune, by appearing with a retinue of idle +Highlanders disproportioned to the occasion. He was well aware +that such an unnecessary attendance would seem to Edward rather +ludicrous than respectable; and while few men were more attached +to ideas of chieftainship and feudal power, he was, for that very +reason, cautious of exhibiting external marks of dignity, unless +at the time and in the manner when they were most likely to +produce an imposing effect. Therefore, although, had he been to +receive a brother chieftain, he would probably have been attended +by all that retinue which Evan described with so much unction, he +judged it more respectable to advance to meet Waverley with a +single attendant, a very handsome Highland boy, who carried his +master's shooting-pouch and his broadsword, without which he +seldom went abroad. + +When Fergus and Waverley met, the latter was struck with the +peculiar grace and dignity of the Chieftain's figure, Above the +middle size, and finely proportioned, the Highland dress, which +he wore in its simplest mode, set off his person to great +advantage. He wore the trews, or close trousers, made of tartan, +chequed scarlet and white; in other particulars, his dress +strictly resembled Evan's, excepting that he had no weapon save a +dirk, very richly mounted with silver. His page, as we have +said, carried his claymore and the fowling-piece, which he held +in his hand, seemed only designed for sport. He had shot in the +course of his walk some young wild-ducks, as, though CLOSE TIME +was then unknown, the broods of grouse were yet too young for the +sportsman. His countenance was decidedly Scottish, with all the +peculiarities of the northern physiognomy, but yet had so little +of ifs harshness and exaggeration, that it would have been +pronounced in any country extremely handsome. The martial air of +the bonnet, with a single eagle's feather as a distinction, added +much to the manly appearance of his head, which was besides +ornamented with a far more natural and graceful cluster of close +black curls than ever were exposed to sale in Bond Street. + +An air of openness and affability increased the favourable +impression derived from this handsome and dignified exterior. +Yet a skilful physiognomist would have been less satisfied with +the countenance on the second than on the first view. The +eyebrow and upper lip bespoke something of the habit of +peremptory command and decisive superiority. Even his courtesy, +though open, frank, and unconstrained, seemed to indicate a sense +of personal importance; and, upon any check or accidental +excitation, a sudden, though transient lour of the eye, showed a +hasty, haughty, and vindictive temper, not less to be dreaded +because it seemed much under its owner's command. In short, the +countenance of the Chieftain resembled a smiling summer's day, in +which, notwithstanding, we are made sensible by certain, though +slight signs, that it may thunder and lighten before the close of +evening. + +It was not, however, upon their first meeting that Edward had an +opportunity of making these less favourable remarks. The Chief +received him as a friend of the Baron of Bradwardine, with the +utmost expression of kindness and obligation for the visit; +upbraided him gently with choosing so rude an abode as he had +done the night before; and entered into a lively conversation +with him about Donald Bean's housekeeping, but without the least +hint as to his predatory habits, or the immediate occasion of +Waverley's visit, a topic which, as the Chief did not introduce +it, our hero also avoided. While they walked merrily on towards +the house of Glennaquoich, Evan, who now fell respectfully into +the rear, followed with Callum Beg and Dugald Mahony. + +We shall take the opportunity to introduce the reader to some +particulars of Fergus Mac-Ivor's character and history, which +were not completely known to Waverley till after a connexion, +which, though arising from a circumstance so casual, had for a +length of time the deepest influence upon his character, actions, +and prospects. But this, being an important subject, must form +the commencement of a new chapter. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CHIEF AND HIS MANSION + +The ingenious licentiate, Francisco de Ubeda, when he commenced +his history of La Picara Justina Diez,--which, by the way, is one +of the most rare books of Spanish literature,--complained of his +pen having caught up a hair, and forthwith begins, with more +eloquence than common sense, an affectionate expostulation with +that useful implement, upbraiding it with being the quill of a +goose,--a bird inconstant by nature, as frequenting the three +elements of water, earth, and air, indifferently, and being, of +course, 'to one thing constant never.' Now I protest to thee, +gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Francisco de Ubeda in +this matter, and hold it the most useful quality of my pen, that +it can speedily change from grave to gay, and from description +and dialogue to narrative and character. So that, if my quill +display no other properties of its mother-goose than her +mutability, truly I shall be well pleased; and I conceive that +you, my worthy friend, will have no occasion for discontent. +From the jargon, therefore, of the Highland gillies, I pass to +the character of their Chief. It is an important examination, +and therefore, like Dogberry, we must spare no wisdom. + +The ancestor of Fergus Mac-Ivor, about three centuries before, +had set up a claim to be recognized as chief of the numerous and +powerful clan to which he belonged, the name of which it is +unnecessary to mention. Being defeated by an opponent who had +more justice, or at least more force, on his side, he moved +southwards, with those who adhered to him, in quest of new +settlements, like a second Aeneas. The state of the Perthshire +Highlands favoured his purpose. A great baron in that country +had lately become traitor to the crown; Ian, which was the name +of our adventurer, united himself with those who were +commissioned by the king to chastise him, and did such good +service, that he obtained a grant of the property, upon which he +and his posterity afterwards resided. He followed the king also +in war to the fertile regions of England, where he employed his +leisure hours so actively in raising subsidies among the boors of +Northumberland and Durham, that upon his return he was enabled to +erect a stone tower, or fortalice, so much admired by his +dependants and neighbours, that he, who had hitherto been called +Ian Mac-Ivor, or John the son of Ivor, was thereafter +distinguished, both in song and genealogy, by the high title of +IAN NAN CHAISTEL, or John of the Tower. The descendants of this +worthy were so proud of him, that the reigning chief always bore +the patronymic title of Vich Ian Vohr, i.e. the son of John the +Great; while the clan at large, to distinguish them from that +from which they had seceded, were denominated SLIOCHD NAN IVOR, +the race of Ivor. + +The father of Fergus, the tenth in direct descent from John of +the Tower, engaged heart and hand in the insurrection of 1715, +and was forced to fly to France, after the attempt of that year +in favour of the Stuarts had proved unsuccessful. More fortunate +than other fugitives, he obtained employment in the French +service, and married a lady of rank in that kingdom, by whom he +had two children, Fergus and his sister Flora. The Scottish +estate had been forfeited and exposed to sale, but was re- +purchased for a small price in the name of the young proprietor, +who in consequence came to reside upon his native domains. [See +Note 14.] It was soon perceived that he possessed a character of +uncommon acuteness, fire, and ambition, which, as he became +acquainted with the state of the country, gradually assumed a +mixed and peculiar tone, that could only have been acquired Sixty +Years since. + +Had Fergus Mac-Ivor lived Sixty Years sooner than he did, he +would, in all probability, have wanted the polished manner and +knowledge of the world which he now possessed; and had he lived +Sixty Years later, his ambition and love of rule would have +lacked the fuel which his situation now afforded. He was indeed, +within his little circle, as perfect a politician as Castruccio +Castracani himself. He applied himself with great earnestness to +appease all the feuds and dissensions which often arose among +other clans in his neighbourhood, so that he became a frequent +umpire in their quarrels. His own patriarchal power he +strengthened at every expense which his fortune would permit, and +indeed stretched his means to the uttermost, to maintain the rude +and plentiful hospitality, which was the most valued attribute of +a chieftain. For the same reason, he crowded his estate with a +tenantry, hardy indeed, and fit for the purposes of war, but +greatly outnumbering what the soil was calculated to maintain. +These consisted chiefly of his own clan, not one of whom he +suffered to quit his lands if he could possibly prevent it. But +he maintained, besides, many adventurers from the mother sept, +who deserted a less warlike, though more wealthy chief, to do +homage to Fergus Mac-Ivor. Other individuals, too, who had not +even that apology, were nevertheless received into his +allegiance, which indeed was refused to none who were, like +Poins, proper men of their hands, and were willing to assume the +name of Mac-Ivor. + +He was enabled to discipline these forces, from having obtained +command of one of the independent companies raised by Government +to preserve the peace of the Highlands. While in this capacity +he acted with vigour and spirit, and preserved great order in the +country under his charge. He caused his vassals to enter by +rotation into his company, and serve for a certain space of time, +which gave them all in turn a general notion of military +discipline. In his campaigns against the banditti, it was +observed that he assumed and exercised to the utmost the +discretionary power, which, while the law had no free course in +the Highlands, was conceived to belong to the military parties +who were called in to support it. He acted, for example, with +great and suspicious lenity to those freebooters who made +restitution on his summons, and offered personal submission to +himself, while he rigorously pursued, apprehended, and sacrificed +to justice, all such interlopers as dared to despise his +admonitions or commands. On the other hand, if any officers of +justice, military parties, or others, presumed to pursue thieves +or marauders through his territories, and without applying for +his consent and concurrence, nothing was more certain than that +they would meet with some notable foil or defeat; upon which +occasions Fergus Mac-Ivor was the first to condole with them, +and, after gently blaming their rashness, never failed deeply to +lament the lawless state of the country. These lamentations did +not exclude suspicion, and matters were so represented to +Government, that our Chieftain was deprived of his military +command. [See Note 15.] + +Whatever Fergus Mac-Ivor felt on this occasion, he had the art of +entirely suppressing every appearance of discontent; but in a +short time the neighbouring country began to feel bad effects +from his disgrace. Donald Bean Lean, and others of his class, +whose depredations had hitherto been confined to other districts, +appeared from thenceforward to have made a settlement on this +devoted border; and their ravages were carried on with little +opposition, as the Lowland gentry were chiefly Jacobites, and +disarmed. This forced many of the inhabitants into contracts of +blackmail with Fergus Mac-Ivor, which not only established him +their protector, and gave him great weight in all their +consultations, but, moreover, supplied funds for the waste of his +feudal hospitality, which the discontinuance of his pay might +have otherwise essentially diminished. + +In following this course of conduct, Fergus had a further object +than merely being the great man of his neighbourhood, and ruling +despotically over a small clan. From his infancy upward, he had +devoted himself to the cause of the exiled family, and had +persuaded himself, not only that their restoration to the crown +of Britain would be speedy, but that those who assisted them +would be raised to honour and rank. It was with this view that +he laboured to reconcile the Highlanders among themselves, and +augmented his own force to the utmost, to be prepared for the +first favourable opportunity of rising. With this purpose also +he conciliated the favour of such Lowland gentlemen in the +vicinity as were friends to the good cause; and for the same +reason, having incautiously quarrelled with Mr. Bradwardine, who, +notwithstanding his peculiarities, was much respected in the +country, he took advantage of the foray of Donald Bean Lean to +solder up the dispute in the manner we have mentioned. Some, +indeed, surmised that he caused the enterprise to be suggested to +Donald, on purpose to pave the way to a reconciliation, which, +supposing that to be the case, cost the Laird of Bradwardine two +good milch-cows. This zeal in their behalf the House of Stuart +repaid with a considerable share of their confidence, an +occasional supply of louis d'or, abundance of fair words, and a +parchment, with a huge waxen seal appended, purporting to be an +Earl's patent, granted by no less a person than James the Third +King of England, and Eighth King of Scotland, to his right leal, +trusty, and well-beloved Fergus Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich, in the +county of Perth, and kingdom of Scotland. + +With this future coronet glittering before his eyes, Fergus +plunged deeply into the correspondence and plots of that unhappy +period; and, like all such active agents, easily reconciled his +conscience to going certain lengths in the service of his party, +from which honour and pride would have deterred him, had his sole +object been the direct advancement of his own personal interest. +With this insight into a bold, ambitious, and ardent, yet artful +and politic character, we resume the broken thread of our +narrative. + +The Chief and his guest had by this time reached the house of +Glennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel's mansion, a +high rude-looking square tower, with the addition of a lofted +house, that is, a building of two stories, constructed by +Fergus's grandfather when he returned from that memorable +expedition, well remembered by the western shires under the name +of the Highland Host. Upon occasion of this crusade against the +Ayrshire Whigs and Covenanters, the Vich Ian Vohr of the time had +probably been as successful as his predecessor was in harrying +Northumberland, and therefore left to his posterity a rival +edifice, as a monument of his magnificence. + +Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of a +narrow Highland valley, there appeared none of that attention to +convenience, far less to ornament and decoration, which usually +surrounds a gentleman's habitation. An enclosure or two, divided +by dry-stone walls, were the only part of the domain that was +fenced; as to the rest, the narrow slips of level ground which +lay by the side of the brook exhibited a scanty crop of barley, +liable to constant depredations from the herds of wild ponies and +black cattle that grazed upon the adjacent hills. These ever and +anon made an incursion upon the arable ground, which was repelled +by the loud, uncouth, and dissonant shouts of half a dozen +Highland swains, all running as if they had been mad, and every +one hallooing a half-starved dog to the rescue of the forage. At +a little distance up the glen was a small and stunted wood of +birch; the hills were high and heathy, but without any variety of +surface; so that the whole view was wild and desolate, rather +than grand and solitary. Yet, such as it was, no genuine +descendant of Ian nan Chaistel would have changed the domain for +Stowe or Blenheim. + +There was a sight, however, before the gate, which perhaps would +have afforded the first owner of Blenheim more pleasure than the +finest view in the domain assigned to him by the gratitude of his +country. This consisted of about a hundred Highlanders in +complete dress and arms; at sight of whom the Chieftain +apologized to Waverley in a sort of negligent manner. 'He had +forgot,' he said, 'that he had ordered a few of his clan out, for +the purpose of seeing that they were in a fit condition to +protect the country, and prevent such accidents as, he was sorry +to learn, had befallen the Baron of Bradwardine. Before they +were dismissed, perhaps Captain Waverley might choose to see them +go through a part of their exercise.' + +Edward assented, and the men executed with agility and precision +some of the ordinary military movements. They then practised +individually at a mark, and showed extraordinary dexterity in the +management of the pistol and firelock. They took aim, standing, +sitting, leaning, or lying prostrate, as they were commanded, and +always with effect upon the target. Next, they paired off for +the broadsword exercise; and, having manifested their individual +skill and dexterity, united in two bodies, and exhibited a sort +of mock encounter, in which the charge, the rally, the flight, +the pursuit, and all the current of a heady fight, were exhibited +to the sound of the great war-bagpipe. + +On a signal made by the Chief, the skirmish was ended. Marches +were then made for running, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, +and other sports, in which this feudal militia displayed +incredible swiftness, strength, and agility; and accomplished the +purpose which their Chieftain had at heart, by impressing on +Waverley no light sense of their merit as soldiers, and of the +power of him who commanded them by his nod. [See Note 16.] + +'And what number of such gallant fellows have the happiness to +call you leader?' asked Waverley. + +'In a good cause, and under a chieftain whom they loved, the race +of Ivor have seldom taken the field under five hundred claymores. +But you are aware, Captain Waverley, that the Disarming Act, +passed about twenty years ago, prevents their being in the +complete state of preparation as in former times; and I keep no +more of my clan under arms than may defend my own or my friends' +property, when the country is troubled with such men as your last +night's landlord; and Government, which has removed other means +of defence, must connive at our protecting ourselves.' + +'But, with your force, you might soon destroy, or put down, such +gangs as that of Donald Bean Lean.' + +'Yes, doubtless; and my reward would be a summons to deliver up +to General Blakeney, at Stirling, the few broadswords they have +left us: there were little policy in that, methinks.--But come, +Captain, the sound of the pipes informs me that dinner is +prepared. Let me have the honour to show you into my rude +mansion.' + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A HIGHLAND FEAST + +Ere Waverley entered the banqueting hall, he was offered the +patriarchal refreshment of a bath for the feet, which the sultry +weather, and the morasses he had traversed, rendered highly +acceptable. He was not, indeed, so luxuriously attended upon +this occasion as the heroic travellers in the Odyssey; the task +of ablution and abstersion being performed, not by a beautiful +damsel, trained + + To chafe the limb, and pour the fragrant oil, + +but by a smoke-dried skinny old Highland woman, who did not seem +to think herself much honoured by the duty imposed upon her, but +muttered between her teeth, 'Our father's herds did not feed so +near together, that I should do you this service.' A small +donation, however, amply reconciled this ancient handmaiden to +the supposed degradation; and, as Edward proceeded to the hall, +she gave him her blessing, in the Gaelic proverb, 'May the open +hand be filled the fullest.' + +The hall, in which the feast was prepared, occupied all the first +storey of Ian nan Chaistel's original erection, and a huge oaken +table extended through its whole length. The apparatus for +dinner was simple, even to rudeness, and the company numerous, +even to crowding. At the head of the table was the Chief +himself, with Edward, and two or three Highland visitors of +neighbouring clans; the elders of his own tribe, wadsetters, and +tacksmen, as they were called, who occupied portions of his +estate as mortgagers or lessees, sat next in rank beneath them, +their sons, and nephews, and foster-brethren; then the officers +of the Chief's household, according to their order; and, lowest +of all, the tenants who actually cultivated the ground. Even +beyond this long perspective, Edward might see upon the green, to +which a huge pair of folding doors opened, a multitude of +Highlanders of a yet inferior description, who, nevertheless, +were considered as guests, and had their share both of the +countenance of the entertainer, and of the cheer of the day. In +the distance, and fluctuating round this extreme verge of the +banquet, was a changeful group of women, ragged boys and girls, +beggars, young and old, large greyhounds, and terriers, and +pointers, and curs of low degree; all of whom took some interest, +more or less immediate, in the main action of the piece. + +This hospitality, apparently unbounded, had yet its line of +economy. Some pains had been bestowed in dressing the dishes of +fish, game, &c., which were at the upper end of the table, and +immediately under the eye of the English stranger. Lower down +stood immense clumsy joints of mutton and beef, which, but for +the absence of pork, [See Note 17.] abhorred in the Highlands, +resembled the rude festivity of the banquet of Penelope's +suitors. But the central dish was a yearling lamb, called 'a hog +in har'st,' roasted whole. It was set upon its legs, with a +bunch of parsley in its mouth, and was probably exhibited in that +form to gratify the pride of the cook, who piqued himself more on +the plenty than the elegance of his master's table. The sides of +this poor animal were fiercely attacked by the clansmen, some +with dirks, others with the knives which were usually in the same +sheath with the dagger, so that it was soon rendered a mangled +and rueful spectacle. Lower down still, the victuals seemed of +yet coarser quality, though sufficiently abundant. Broth, +onions, cheese, and the fragments of the feast, regaled the sons +of Ivor who feasted in the open air. + +The liquor was supplied in the same proportion, and under similar +regulations. Excellent claret and champagne were liberally +distributed among the Chief's immediate neighbours; whisky, plain +or diluted, and strong beer, refreshed those who sat near the +lower end. Nor did this inequality of distribution appear to +give the least offence. Every one present understood that his +taste was to be formed according to the rank which he held at +table; and, consequently, the tacksmen and their dependants +always professed the wine was too cold for their stomachs, and +called, apparently out of choice, for the liquor which was +assigned to them from economy. [See Note 18.] The bagpipers, +three in number, screamed, during the whole time of dinner, a +tremendous war-tune; and the echoing of the vaulted roof, and +clang of the Celtic tongue, produced such a Babel of noises, that +Waverley dreaded his ears would never recover it. Mac-Ivor, +indeed, apologized for the confusion occasioned by so large a +party, and pleaded the necessity of his situation, on which +unlimited hospitality was imposed as a paramount duty. 'These +stout idle kinsmen of mine,' he said, 'account my estate as held +in trust for their support; and I must find them beef and ale, +while the rogues will do nothing for themselves but practise the +broadsword, or wander about the hills, shooting, fishing, +hunting, drinking, and making love to the lasses of the strath. +But what can I do, Captain Waverley? everything will keep after +its kind, whether it be a hawk or a Highlander.' Edward made the +expected answer, in a compliment upon his possessing so many bold +and attached followers. + +'Why, yes,' replied the Chief,' were I disposed, like my father, +to put myself in the way of getting one blow on the head, or two +on the neck, I believe the loons would stand by me. But who +thinks of that in the present day, when the maxim is,--"Better an +old woman with a purse in her hand, than three men with belted +brands?"' Then, turning to the company, he proposed the 'Health +of Captain Waverley, a worthy friend of his kind neighbour and +ally, the Baron of Bradwardine.' + +'He is welcome hither,' said one of the elders, 'if he come from +Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine.' + +'I say nay to that,' said an old man, who apparently did not mean +to pledge the toast: 'I say nay to that;--while there is a green +leaf in the forest, there will be fraud in a Comyne.' + +'There is nothing but honour in the Baron of Bradwardine,' +answered another ancient; 'and the guest that comes hither from +him should be welcome, though he came with blood on his hand, +unless it were blood of the race of Ivor.' + +The old man, whose cup remained full, replied, 'There has been +blood enough of the race of Ivor on the hand of Bradwardine.' + +'Ah! Ballenkeiroch,' replied the first, 'you think rather of the +flash of the carbine at the Mains of Tully-Veolan, than the +glance of the sword that fought for the cause at Preston.' + +'And well I may,' answered Ballenkeiroch; 'the flash of the gun +cost me a fair-haired son, and the glance of the sword has done +but little for King James.' + +The Chieftain, in two words of French, explained to Waverley, +that the Baron had shot this old man's son in a fray near Tully- +Veolan about seven years before; and then hastened to remove +Ballenkeiroch's prejudice, by informing him that Waverley was an +Englishman, unconnected by birth or alliance with the family of +Bradwardine; upon which the old gentleman raised the hitherto- +untasted cup, and courteously drank to his health. This ceremony +being requited in kind, the Chieftain made a signal for the pipes +to cease, and said aloud, 'Where is the song hidden, my friends, +that Mac-Murrough cannot find it?' + +Mac-Murrough, the family BHAIRDH, an aged man, immediately took +the hint, and began to chant, with low and rapid utterance, a +profusion of Celtic verses, which were received by the audience +with all the applause of enthusiasm. As he advanced in his +declamation, his ardour seemed to increase. He had at first +spoken with his eyes fixed on the ground; he now cast them around +as if beseeching, and anon as if commanding, attention, and his +tones rose into wild and impassioned notes, accompanied with +appropriate gestures. He seemed to Edward, who attended to him +with much interest, to recite many proper names, to lament the +dead, to apostrophize the absent, to exhort, and entreat, and +animate those who were present. Waverley thought he even +discerned his own name, and was convinced his conjecture was +right, from the eyes of the company being at that moment turned +towards him simultaneously. The ardour of the poet appeared to +communicate itself to the audience. Their wild and sunburnt +countenances assumed a fiercer and more animated expression; all +bent forward towards the reciter, many sprang up and waved their +arms in ecstasy, and some laid their hands on their swords. When +the song ceased, there was a deep pause, while the aroused +feelings of the poet and of the hearers gradually subsided into +their usual channel. + +The Chieftain, who during this scene had appeared rather to watch +the emotions which were excited, than to partake their high tone +of enthusiasm, filled with claret a small silver cup which stood +by him. 'Give this,' he said to an attendant, 'to Mac-Murrough +nan Fonn (i.e. of the songs), and when he has drunk the juice, +bid him keep, for the sake of Vich Ian Vohr, the shell of the +gourd which contained it.' The gift was received by Mac-Murrough +with profound gratitude; he drank the wine, and, kissing the cup, +shrouded it with reverence in the plaid which was folded on his +bosom. He then burst forth into what Edward justly supposed to +be an extemporaneous effusion of thanks, and praises of his +Chief. It was received with applause, but did not produce the +effect of his first poem. It was obvious, however, that the clan +regarded the generosity of their Chieftain with high approbation. +Many approved Gaelic toasts were then proposed, of some of which +the Chieftain gave his guest the following versions:--'To him +that will not turn his back on friend or foe.' 'To him that +never forsook a comrade.' 'To him that never bought or sold +justice.' 'Hospitality to the exile, and broken bones to the +tyrant.' 'The lads with the kilts.' 'Highlanders, shoulder to +shoulder,'--with many other pithy sentiments of the like nature. + +Edward was particularly solicitous to know the meaning of that +song which appeared to produce such effect upon the passions of +the company, and hinted his curiosity to his host. 'As I +observe,' said the Chieftain, 'that you have passed the bottle +during the last three rounds, I was about to propose to you to +retire to my sister's tea-table, who can explain these things to +you better than I can. Although I cannot stint my clan in the +usual current of their festivity, yet I neither am addicted +myself to exceed in its amount, nor do I,' added he, smiling, +'keep a Bear to devour the intellects of such as can make good +use of them.' + +Edward readily assented to this proposal, and the Chieftain, +saying a few words to those around him, left the table, followed +by Waverley. As the door closed behind them, Edward heard Vich +Ian Vohr's health invoked with a wild and animated cheer, that +expressed the satisfaction of the guests, and the depth of their +devotion to his service. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CHIEFTAIN'S SISTER + +The drawing-room of Flora Mac-Ivor was furnished in the plainest +and most simple manner; for at Glennaquoich every other sort of +expenditure was retrenched as much as possible, for the purpose +of maintaining, in its full dignity, the hospitality of the +Chieftain, and retaining and multiplying the number of his +dependants and adherents. But there was no appearance of this +parsimony in the dress of the lady herself, which was in texture +elegant, and even rich, and arranged in a manner which partook +partly of the Parisian fashion, and partly of the more simple +dress of the Highlands, blended together with great taste. Her +hair was not disfigured by the art of the friseur, but fell in +jetty ringlets on her neck, confined only by a circlet, richly +set with diamonds. This peculiarity she adopted in compliance +with the Highland prejudices, which could not endure that a +woman's head should be covered before wedlock. + +Flora Mac-Ivor bore a most striking resemblance to her brother +Fergus; so much so, that they might have played Viola and +Sebastian with the same exquisite effect produced by the +appearance of Mrs. Henry Siddons and her brother, Mr. William +Murray, in these characters. They had, the same antique and +regular correctness of profile; the same dark eyes, eyelashes, +and eyebrows; the same clearness of complexion, excepting that +Fergus's was embrowned by exercise, and Flora's possessed the +utmost feminine delicacy. But the haughty, and somewhat stern +regularity of Fergus's features was beautifully softened in those +of Flora. Their voices were also similar in tone, though +differing in the key. That of Fergus, especially while issuing +orders to his followers during their military exercise, reminded +Edward of a favourite passage in the description of Emetrius: + + --whose voice was heard around, + Loud as a trumpet with a silver sound. + +That of Flora, on the contrary, was soft and sweet,--'an +excellent thing in woman;' yet, in urging any favourite topic, +which she often pursued with natural eloquence, it possessed as +well the tones which impress awe and conviction, as those of +persuasive insinuation. The eager glance of the keen black eye, +which in the Chieftain seemed impatient even of the material +obstacles it encountered, had, in his sister, acquired a gentle +pensiveness. His looks seemed to seek glory, power, all that +could exalt him above others in the race of humanity; while those +of his sister, as if she were already conscious of mental +superiority, seemed to pity, rather than envy, those who were +struggling for any further distinction. Her sentiments +corresponded with the expression of her countenance. Early +education had impressed upon her mind, as well as on that of the +Chieftain, the most devoted attachment to the exiled family of +Stuart. She believed if the duty of her brother, of his clan, of +every man in Britain, at whatever personal hazard, to contribute +to that restoration which the partisans of the Chevalier de St. +George had not ceased to hope for. For this she was prepared to +do all, to suffer all, to sacrifice all. But her loyalty, as it +exceeded her brother's in fanaticism, excelled it also in purity. +Accustomed to petty intrigue, and necessarily involved in a +thousand paltry and selfish discussions, ambitious also by +nature, his political faith was tinctured, at least, if not +tainted, by the views of interest and advancement so easily +combined with it; and at the moment he should unsheathe his +claymore, it might be difficult to say whether it would be most +with the view of making James Stuart a king, or Fergus Mac-Ivor +an earl. This, indeed, was a mixture of feeling which he did not +avow even to himself, but it existed, nevertheless, in a powerful +degree. + +In Flora's bosom, on the contrary, the zeal of loyalty burnt pure +and unmixed with any selfish feeling; she would have as soon made +religion the mask of ambitious and interested views, as have +shrouded them under the opinions which she had been taught to +think patriotism. Such instances of devotion were not uncommon +among the followers of the unhappy race of Stuart, of which many +memorable proofs will recur to the mind of most of my readers. +But peculiar attention on the part of the Chevalier de St. George +and his princess to the parents of Fergus and his sister, and to +themselves when orphans, had riveted their faith. Fergus, upon +the death of his parents, had been for some time a page of honour +in the train of the Chevalier's lady, and, from his beauty and +sprightly temper, was uniformly treated by her with the utmost +distinction. This was also extended to Flora, who was maintained +for some time at a convent of the first order, at the princess's +expense, and removed from thence into her own family, where she +spent nearly two years. Both brother and sister retained the +deepest and most grateful sense of her kindness. + +Having thus touched upon the leading principle of Flora's +character, I may dismiss the rest more slightly. She was highly +accomplished, and had acquired those elegant manners to be +expected from one who, in early youth, had been the companion of +a princess; yet she had not learned to substitute the gloss of +politeness for the reality of feeling. When settled in the +lonely regions of Glennaquoich, she found that her resources in +French, English, and Italian literature, were likely to be few +and interrupted; and, in order to fill up the vacant time, she +bestowed a part of it upon the music and poetical traditions of +the Highlanders, and began really to feel the pleasure in the +pursuit, which her brother, whose perceptions of literary merit +were more blunt, rather affected for the sake of popularity than +actually experienced. Her resolution was strengthened in these +researches by the extreme delight which her inquiries seemed to +afford those to whom she resorted for information. + +Her love of her clan, an attachment which was almost hereditary +in her bosom, was, like her loyalty, a more pure passion than +that of her brother. He was too thorough a politician,regarded +his patriarchal influence too much as the means of accomplishing +his own aggrandizement, that we should term him the model of a +Highland Chieftain. Flora felt the same anxiety for cherishing +and extending their patriarchal sway, but it was with the +generous desire of vindicating from poverty, or at least from +want and foreign oppression, those whom her brother was by birth, +according to the notions of the time and country, entitled to +govern. The savings of her income, for she had a small pension +from the Princess Sobieski, were dedicated, not to add to the +comforts of the peasantry, for that was a word which they neither +knew nor apparently wished to know, but to relieve their absolute +necessities, when in sickness or extreme old age. At every other +period, they rather toiled to procure something which they might +share with the Chief as a proof of their attachment, than +expected other assistance from him save what was afforded by the +rude hospitality of his castle, and the general division and +subdivision of his estate among them. Flora was so much beloved +by them, that when Mac-Murrough composed a song in which he +enumerated all the principal beauties of the district, and +intimated her superiority by concluding; that 'the fairest apple +hung on the highest bough,' he received, in donatives from the +individuals of the clan, more seed-barley than would have sowed +his Highland Parnassus, the Bard's croft as it was called, ten +times over. + +From situation, as well as choice, Miss Mac-Ivor's society was +extremely limited. Her most intimate friend had been Rose +Bradwardine, to whom she was much attached; and when seen +together, they would have afforded an artist two admirable +subjects for the gay and the melancholy muse. Indeed Rose was so +tenderly watched by her father, and her circle of wishes was so +limited, that none arose but what he was willing to gratify, and +scarce any which did not come within the compass of his power. +With Flora it was otherwise. While almost a girl, she had +undergone the most complete change of scene, from gaiety and +splendour to absolute solitude and comparative poverty; and the +ideas and wishes which she chiefly fostered, respected great +national events, and changes not to be brought round without both +hazard and bloodshed, and therefore not to be thought of with +levity. Her manner, consequently, was grave, though she readily +contributed her talents to the amusement of society, and stood +very high in the opinion of the old Baron, who used to sing along +with her such French duets of Lindor and Cloris, &c., as were in +fashion about the end of the reign of old Louis le Grand. + +It was generally believed, though no one durst have hinted it to +the Baron of Bradwardine, that Flora's entreaties had no small +share in allaying the wrath of Fergus upon occasion of their +quarrel. She took her brother on the assailable side, by +dwelling first upon the Baron's age, and then representing the +injury which the cause might sustain, and the damage which must +arise to his own character in point of prudence, so necessary to +a political agent, if he persisted in carrying it to extremity. +Otherwise it is probable it would have terminated in a duel, both +because the Baron had, on a former occasion, shed blood of the +clan, though the matter had been timely accommodated, and on +account of his high reputation for address at his weapon, which +Fergus almost condescended to envy. For the same reason she had +urged their reconciliation, which the Chieftain the more readily +agreed to, as it favoured some ulterior projects of his own. + +To this young lady, now presiding at the female empire of the +tea-table, Fergus introduced Captain Waverley, whom she received +with the usual forms of politeness. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HIGHLAND MINSTRELSY + +When the first salutations had passed, Fergus said to his sister, +'My dear Flora, before I return to the barbarous ritual of our +forefathers, I must tell you that Captain Waverley is a +worshipper of the Celtic muse, not the less so perhaps that he +does not understand a word of her language. I have told him you +are eminent as a translator of Highland poetry, and that Mac- +Murrough admires your version of his songs upon the same +principle that Captain Waverley admires the original,--because he +does not comprehend them. Will you have the goodness to read or +recite to our guest in English, the extraordinary string of names +which Mac-Murrough has tacked together in Gaelic?--My life to a +moorfowl's feather, you are provided with a version; for I know +you are in all the bard's councils, and acquainted with his songs +long before he rehearses them in the hall.' + +'How can you say so, Fergus? You know how little these verses +can possibly interest an English stranger, even if I could +translate them as you pretend.' + +'Not less than they interest me, lady fair. To-day your joint +composition, for I insist you had a share in it, has cost me the +last silver cup in the castle, and I suppose will cost me +something else next time I hold COUR PLENIERE, if the muse +descends on Mac-Murrough; for you know our proverb,--When the +hand of the chief ceases to bestow, the breath of the bard is +frozen in the utterance.--Well, I would it were even so: there +are three things that are useless to a modern Highlander, a sword +which he must not draw,--a bard to sing of deeds which he dare +not imitate,--and a large goatskin purse without a louis d'or to +put into it.' + +'Well, brother, since you betray my secrets, you cannot expect me +to keep yours.--I assure you, Captain Waverley, that Fergus is +too proud to exchange his broadsword for a marechal's baton; that +he esteems Mac-Murrough a far greater poet than Homer, and would +not give up his goat skin purse for all the louis d'or which it +could contain.' + +'Well pronounced, Flora; blow for blow, as Conan [See Note 19.] +said to the devil. Now do you two talk of bards and poetry, if +not of purses and claymores, while I return to do the final +honours to the senators of the tribe of Ivor.' So saying, he +left the room. + +The conversation continued between Flora, and Waverley; for two +well-dressed young women, whose character seemed to hover between +that of companions and dependants, took no share in it. They +were both pretty girls, but served only as foils to the grace and +beauty of their patroness. The discourse followed the turn which +the Chieftain had given it, and Waverley was equally amused and +surprised with the account which the lady gave him of Celtic +poetry. + +'The recitation,' she said, 'of poems, recording the feats of +heroes, the complaints of lovers, and the wars of contending +tribes, forms the chief amusement of a winter fireside in the +Highlands. Some of these are said to be very ancient, and if +they are ever translated into any of the languages of civilized +Europe, cannot fail to produce a deep and general sensation. +Others are more modern, the composition of those family bards +whom the chieftains of more distinguished name and power retain +as the poets and historians of their tribes. These, of course, +possess various degrees of merit; but much of it must evaporate +in translation, or be lost on those who do not sympathize with +the feelings of the poet. + +'And your bard, whose effusions seemed to produce such effect +upon the company to-day,--is he reckoned among the favourite +poets of the mountain?' + +'That is a trying question. His reputation is high among his +countrymen, and you must not expect me to depreciate it.' [The +Highland poet almost always was an improvisatore. Captain Burt +met one of them at Lovat's table.] + +'But the song, Miss Mac-Ivor, seemed to awaken all those +warriors, both young and old.' + +'The song is little more than a catalogue of names of the +'Highland clans under their distinctive peculiarities, and an +exhortation to them to remember and to emulate the actions of +their forefathers.' + +'And am I wrong in conjecturing, however extraordinary the guess +appears, that there was some allusion to me in the verses which +he recited?' + +'You have a quick observation, Captain Waverley, which in this +instance has not deceived you. The Gaelic language, being +uncommonly vocalic, is well adapted for sudden and extemporaneous +poetry; and a bard seldom fails to augment the effects of a +premeditated song, by throwing in any stanzas which may be +suggested by the circumstances attending the recitation.' + +'I would give my best horse to know what the Highland bard could +find to say of such an unworthy Southron as myself.' + +'It shall not even cost you a lock of his mane.--Una, MAVOURNEEN! +(She spoke a few words to one of the young girls in attendance, +who instantly curtsied, and tripped out of the room.)--I have +sent Una to learn from the bard the expressions he used, and you +shall command my skill as dragoman.' + +Una returned in a few minutes, and repeated to her mistress a few +lines in Gaelic. Flora seemed to think for a moment, and then, +slightly colouring, she turned to Waverley--'It is impossible to +gratify your curiosity, Captain Waverley, without exposing my own +presumption. If you will give me a few moments for +consideration, I will endeavour to engraft the meaning of these +lines upon a rude English translation, which I have attempted, of +a part of the original. The duties of the tea-table seem to be +concluded, and, as the evening is delightful, Una will show you +the way to one of my favourite haunts, and Cathleen and I will +join you there.' + +Una, having received instructions in her native language, +conducted Waverley out by a passage different from that through +which he had entered the apartment. At a distance he heard the +hall of the chief still resounding with the clang of bagpipes and +the high applause of his guests. Having gained the open air by a +postern door, they walked a little way up the wild, bleak, and +narrow valley in which the house was situated, following the +course of the stream that winded through it. In a spot, about a +quarter of a mile from the castle, two brooks, which formed the +little river, had their junction. The larger of the two came +down the long bare valley, which extended, apparently without any +change or elevation of character, as far as the hills which +formed its boundary permitted the eye to reach. But the other +stream, which had its source among the mountains on the left hand +of the strath, seemed to issue from a very narrow and dark +opening betwixt two large rocks. These streams were different +also in character. The larger was placid, and even sullen in its +course, wheeling in deep eddies, or sleeping in dark blue pools; +but the motions of the lesser brook were rapid and furious, +issuing from between precipices, like a maniac from his +confinement, all foam and uproar. + +It was up the course of this last stream that Waverley, like a +knight of romance, was conducted by the fair Highland damsel, his +silent guide. A small path, which had been rendered easy in many +places for Flora's accommodation, led him through scenery of a +very different description from that which he had just quitted. +Around the castle, all was cold, bare, and desolate, yet tame +even in desolation; but this narrow glen, at so short a distance, +seemed to open into the land of romance. The rocks assumed a +thousand peculiar and varied forms. In one place, a crag of huge +size presented its gigantic bulk, as if to forbid the passenger's +farther progress; and it was not until he approached its very +base, that Waverley discerned the sudden and acute turn by which +the pathway wheeled its course around this formidable obstacle. +In another spot, the projecting rocks from the opposite sides of +the chasm had approached so near to each other, that two pine- +trees laid across, and covered with turf, formed a rustic bridge +at the height of at least one hundred and fifty feet. It had no +ledges, and was barely three feet in breadth. + +While gazing at this pass of peril, which crossed, like a single +black line, the small portion of blue sky not intercepted by the +projecting rocks on either side, it was with a sensation of +horror that Waverley beheld Flora and her attendant appear, like +inhabitants of another region, propped, as it were, in mid air, +upon this trembling structure. She stopped upon observing him +below, and, with an air of graceful ease, which made him shudder, +waved her handkerchief to him by way of signal. He was unable, +from the sense of dizziness which her situation conveyed, to +return the salute; and was never more relieved than when the fair +apparition passed on from the precarious eminence which she +seemed to occupy with so much indifference, and disappeared on +the other side. + +Advancing a few yards, and passing under the bridge which he had +viewed with so much terror, the path ascended rapidly from the +edge of the brook, and the glen widened into a sylvan +amphitheatre, waving with birch, young oaks, and hazels, with +here and there a scattered yew-tree. The rocks now receded, but +still showed their grey and shaggy crests rising among the copse- +wood. Still higher, rose eminences and peaks, some bare, some +clothed with wood, some round and purple with heath, and others +splintered into rocks and crags. At a short turning, the path, +which had for some furlongs lost sight of the brook, suddenly +placed Waverley in front of a romantic waterfall. It was not so +remarkable either for great height or quantity of water, as for +the beautiful accompaniments which made the spot interesting. +After a broken cataract of about twenty feet, the stream was +received in a large natural basin filled to the brim with water, +which, where the bubbles of the fall subsided, was so exquisitely +clear, that, although it was of great depth, the eye could +discern each pebble at the bottom. Eddying round this reservoir, +the brook found its way over a broken part of the ledge, and +formed a second fall, which seemed to seek the very abyss; then, +wheeling out beneath from among the smooth dark rocks, which it +had polished for ages, it wandered murmuring down the glen, +forming the stream up which Waverley had just ascended. [See +Note 20.] The borders of this romantic reservoir corresponded in +beauty; but it was beauty of a stern and commanding cast, as if +in the act of expanding into grandeur. Mossy banks of turf were +broken and interrupted by huge fragments of rock, and decorated +with trees and shrubs, some of which had been planted under the +direction of Flora, but so cautiously, that they added to the +grace, without diminishing the romantic wildness of the scene. + +Here, like one of those lovely forms which decorate the +landscapes of Poussin, Waverley found Flora, gazing on the +waterfall. Two paces further back stood Cathleen, holding a +small Scottish harp, the use of which had been taught to Flora by +Rory Dall, one of the last harpers of the Western Highlands. The +sun, now stooping in the west, gave a rich and varied tinge to +all the objects which surrounded Waverley, and seemed to add more +than human brilliancy to the full expressive darkness of Flora's +eye, exalted the richness and purity of her complexion, and +enhanced the dignity and grace of her beautiful form. Edward +thought he had never, even in his wildest dreams, imagined a +figure of such exquisite and interesting loveliness. The wild +beauty of the retreat, bursting upon him as if by magic, +augmented the mingled feeling of delight and awe with which he +approached her, like a fair enchantress of Boiardo or Ariosto, by +whose nod the scenery around seemed to have been created, an Eden +in the wilderness. + +Flora, like every beautiful woman, was conscious of her own +power, and pleased with its effects, which she could easily +discern from the respectful, yet confused address of the young +soldier. But, as she possessed excellent sense, she gave the +romance of the scene, and other accidental circumstances, full +weight in appreciating the feelings with which Waverley seemed +obviously to be impressed; and, unacquainted with the fanciful +and susceptible peculiarities of his character, considered his +homage as the passing tribute which a woman of even inferior +charms might have expected in such a situation. She therefore +quietly led the way to a spot at such a distance from the +cascade, that its sound should rather accompany than interrupt +that of her voice and instrument, and, sitting down upon a mossy +fragment of rock, she took the harp from Cathleen. + +'I have given you the trouble of walking to this spot, Captain +Waverley, both because I thought the scenery would interest you, +and because a Highland song would suffer still more from my +imperfect translation, were I to introduce it without its own +wild and appropriate accompaniments. To speak in the poetical +language of my country, the seat of the Celtic muse is in the +mist of the secret and solitary hill, and her voice in the murmur +of the mountain stream. He who wooes her must love the barren +rock more than the fertile valley, and the solitude of the desert +better than the festivity of the hall.' + +Few could have heard this lovely woman make this declaration, +with a voice where harmony was exalted by pathos, without +exclaiming that the muse whom she invoked could never find a more +appropriate representative. But Waverley, though the thought +rushed on his mind, found no courage to utter it. Indeed, the +wild feeling of romantic delight with which he heard the first +few notes she drew from her instrument, amounted almost to a +sense of pain. He would not for worlds have quitted his place by +her side; yet he almost longed for solitude, that he might +decipher and examine at leisure the complication of emotions +which now agitated his bosom. + +Flora had exchanged the measured and monotonous recitative of the +bard for a lofty and uncommon Highland air, which had been a +battle-song in former ages. A few irregular strains introduced a +prelude of a wild and peculiar tone, which harmonized well with +the distant waterfall, and the soft sigh of the evening breeze in +the rustling leaves of an aspen which overhung the seat of the +fair harpress. The following verses convey but little idea of +the feelings with which, so sung and accompanied, they were heard +by Waverley:-- + + There is mist on the mountain, and night on the vale, + But more dark is the sleep of the sons of the Gael. + A stranger commanded--it sunk on the land; + It has frozen each heart, and benumbed every hand! + + The dirk and the target lie sordid with dust; + The bloodless claymore is but reddened with rust; + On the hill or the glen if a gun should appear, + It is only to war with the heath-cock or deer. + + The deeds of our sires if our bards should rehearse, + Let a blush or a blow be the meed of their verse! + Be mute every string, and be hushed every tone, + That shall bid us remember the fame that is flown! + + But the dark hours of night and of slumber are past; + The morn on our mountains is dawning at last; + Glenaladale's peaks are illumed with the rays, + And the streams of Glenfinnan leap bright in the blaze. + + [The young and daring adventurer, Charles Edward, landed at + Glenaladale, in Moidart, and displayed his standard in the + valley of Glenfinnan, mustering around it the Mac-Donalds, the + Camerons, and other less numerous clans, whom he had prevailed + on to join him. There is a monument erected on the spot, with + a Latin inscription by the late Dr. Gregory.] + + + O high-minded Moray!--the exiled--the dear!-- + In the blush of the dawning the STANDARD uprear! + Wide, wide on the winds of the north let it fly, + Like the sun's latest flash when the tempest is nigh! + + [The Marquis of Tullibardine's elder brother, who, long exiled, + returned to Scotland with Charles Edward in 1745] + + Ye sons of the strong, when that dawning shall break, + Need the harp of the aged remind you to wake? + That dawn never beamed on your forefathers' eye, + But it roused each high chieftain to vanquish or die. + + O! sprung from the kings who in Islay kept state, + Proud chiefs of Clan Ranald, Glengarry, and Sleat! + Combine like three streams from one mountain of snow, + And resistless in union rush down on the foe! + + True son of Sir Even, undaunted Lochiel, + Place thy targe on thy shoulder and burnish thy steel! + Rough Keppoch, give breath to thy bugle's bold swell, + Till far Coryarrick resound to the knell! + + Stern son of Lord Kenneth, high chief of Kinntail, + Let the stag in thy standard bound wild in the gale! + May the race of Clan Gillean, the fearless and free, + Remember Glenlivat, Harlaw, and Dundee! + + Let the clan of grey Fingon, whose offspring has given + Such heroes to earth, and such martyrs to heaven, + Unite with the race of renowned Rorri More, + To launch the long galley, and stretch to the oar. + + How Mac-Shimei will joy when their chief shall display + The ewe-crested bonnet o'er tresses of grey! + How the race of wronged Alpine and murdered Glencoe + Shall shout for revenge when they pour on the foe! + + Ye sons of brown Dermid, who slew the wild boar, + Resume the pure faith of the great Callum-More! + Mac-Neil of the Islands, and Moy of the Lake, + For honour, for freedom, for vengeance awake! + +Here a large greyhound, bounding up the glen, jumped upon Flora, +and interrupted her music by his importunate caresses. At a +distant whistle, he turned, and shot down the path again with the +rapidity of an arrow. 'That is Fergus's faithful attendant, +Captain Waverley, and that was his signal. He likes no poetry +but what is humorous, and comes in good time to interrupt my long +catalogue of the tribes, whom one of your saucy English poets +calls + + Our bootless host of high-born beggars, + Mac-Leans, Mac-Kenzies, and Mac-Gregors.' + +Waverley expressed his regret at the interruption. + +'Oh, you cannot guess how much you have lost! The bard, as in +duty bound, has addressed three long stanzas to Vich Ian Vohr of +the Banners, enumerating all his great properties, and not +forgetting his being a cheerer of the harper and bard,--"a giver +of bounteous gifts." Besides, you should have heard a practical +admonition to the fair-haired son of the stranger, who lives in +the land where the grass is always green--the rider on the +shining pampered steed, whose hue is like the raven, and whose +neigh is like the scream of the eagle for battle. This valiant +horseman is affectionately conjured to remember that his +ancestors were distinguished by their loyalty, as well as by +their courage.--All this you have lost; but, since your curiosity +is not satisfied, I judge, from the distant sound of my brother's +whistle, I may have time to sing the concluding stanzas before he +comes to laugh at my translation.' + + Awake on your hills, on your islands awake, + Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake! + 'Tis the bugle--but not for the chase is the call; + 'Tis the pibroch's shrill summons--but not to the hall. + + 'Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death, + When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath: + They call to the dirk, the claymore, and the targe, + To the march and the muster, the line and the charge. + + Be the brand of each Chieftain like Fin's in his ire! + May the blood through his veins flow like currents of fire! + Burst the base foreign yoke as your sires did of yore, + Or die like your sires, and endure it no more! + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WAVERLEY CONTINUES AT GLENNAQUOICH + +As Flora concluded her song, Fergus stood before them. 'I knew I +should find you here, even without the assistance of my friend +Bran. A simple and unsublimed taste now, like my own, would +prefer a jet d'eau at Versailles to this cascade with all its +accompaniments of rock and roar; but this is Flora's Parnassus, +Captain Waverley, and that fountain her Helicon. It would be +greatly for the benefit of my cellar if she could teach her +coadjutor, Mac-Murrough, the value of its influence: he has just +drunk a pint of usquebaugh to correct, he said, the coldness of +the claret.--Let me try its virtues.' He sipped a little water +in the hollow of his hand, and immediately commenced, with a +theatrical air,-- + + 'O Lady of the desert, hail! + That lov'st the harping of the Gael, + Through fair and fertile regions borne, + Where never yet grew grass or corn. + +But English poetry will never succeed under the influence of a +Highland Helicon.--ALLONS, COURAGE!-- + + O vous, qui buvez, a tasse pleine, + A cette heureuse fontaine, + Ou on ne voit, sur le rivage, + Que quelques vilains troupeaux, + Suivis de nymphes de village, + Qui les escortent sans sabots'-- + +'A truce, dear Fergus! spare us those most tedious and insipid +persons of all Arcadia. Do not, for Heaven's sake, bring down +Coridon and Lindor upon us.' + +'Nay, if you cannot relish LA HOULETTE ET LE CHALUMEAU, have with +you in heroic strains.' + +'Dear Fergus, you have certainly partaken of the inspiration of +Mac-Murrough's cup, rather than of mine.' + +'I disclaim it, MA BELLE DEMOISELLE, although I protest it would +be the more congenial of the two. Which of your crackbrained +Italian romancers is it that says, + + Io d'Elicona niente + Mi curo, in fe de Dio, che'il bere d'acque + (Bea chi ber ne vuol) sempre me spiacque! + [Good sooth, I reck not of your Helicon; + Drink water whoso will, in faith I will drink none.] + +But if you prefer the Gaelic, Captain Waverley, here is little +Cathleen shall sing you Drimmindhu.--Come, Cathleen, ASTORE (i.e. +my dear), begin; no apologies to the CEANKINNE.' + +Cathleen sang with much liveliness a little Gaelic song, the +burlesque elegy of a countryman on the loss of his cow, the comic +tones of which, though he did not understand the language, made +Waverley laugh more than once. [This ancient Gaelic ditty is +still well known, both in the Highlands and in Ireland. It was +translated into English, and published, if I mistake not, under +the auspices of the facetious Tom D'Urfey, by the title of +'Colley, my Cow.'] + +'Admirable, Cathleen!' cried the Chieftain; 'I must find you a +handsome husband among the clansmen one of these days.' + +Cathleen laughed, blushed, and sheltered herself behind her +companion. + +In the progress of their return to the castle, the Chieftain +warmly pressed Waverley to remain for a week or two, in order to +see a grand hunting party, in which he and some other Highland +gentlemen proposed to join. The charms of melody and beauty were +too strongly impressed in Edward's breast to permit his declining +an invitation so pleasing. It was agreed, therefore, that he +should write a note to the Baron of Bradwardine, expressing his +intention to stay a fortnight at Glennaquoich, and requesting him +to forward by the bearer (a GILLY of the Chieftain's) any letters +which might have arrived for him. + +This turned the discourse upon the Baron, whom Fergus highly +extolled as a gentleman and soldier. His character was touched +with yet more discrimination by Flora, who observed that he was +the very model of the old Scottish cavalier, with all his +excellences and peculiarities. 'It is a character, Captain +Waverley, which is fast disappearing; for its best point was a +self-respect, which was never lost sight of till now. But, in +the present time, the gentlemen whose principles do not permit +them to pay court to the existing government are neglected and +degraded, and many conduct themselves accordingly; and, like some +of the persons you have seen at Tully-Veolan, adopt habits and +companions inconsistent with their birth and breeding. The +ruthless proscription of party seems to degrade the victims whom +it brands, however unjustly. But let us hope that a brighter day +is approaching, when a Scottish country-gentleman may be a +scholar without the pedantry of our friend the Baron; a +sportsman, without the low habits of Mr. Falconer; and a +judicious improver of his property, without becoming a boorish +two-legged steer like Killancureit." + +Thus did Flora prophesy a revolution, which time indeed has +produced, but in a manner very different from what she had in her +mind. + +The amiable Rose was next mentioned, with the warmest encomium on +her person, manners, and mind, 'That man,' said Flora, 'will find +an inestimable treasure in the affections of Rose Bradwardine, +who shall be so fortunate as to become their object. Her very +soul is in home, and in the discharge of all those quiet virtues +of which home is the centre. Her husband will be to her what her +father now is--the object of all her care, solicitude, and +affection. She will see nothing, and connect herself with +nothing, but by him and through him. If he is a man of sense and +virtue, she will sympathize in his sorrows, divert his fatigue, +and share his pleasures. If she becomes the property of a +churlish or negligent husband, she will suit his taste also, for +she will not long survive his unkindness. And, alas, how great +is the chance that some such unworthy lot may be that of my poor +friend!--Oh, that I were a, queen this moment, and could command +the most amiable and worthy youth of my kingdom to accept +happiness with the hand of Rose Bradwardine!' + +'I wish you would command her to accept mine EN ATTENDANT,' said +Fergus, laughing. + +I don't know by what caprice it was that this wish, however +jocularly expressed, rather jarred on Edward's feelings, +notwithstanding his growing inclination to Flora, and his +indifference to Miss Bradwardine. This is one of the +inexplicabilities of human nature, which we leave without +comment. + +'Yours, brother?' answered Flora, regarding him steadily. 'No; +you have another bride--Honour; and the dangers you must run in +pursuit of her rival would break poor Rose's heart.' + +With this discourse they reached the castle, and Waverley soon +prepared his dispatches for Tully-Veolan. As he knew the Baron +was punctilious in such matters, he was about to impress his +billet with a seal on which his armorial bearings were engraved, +but he did not find it at his watch, and thought he must have +left it at Tully-Veolan. He mentioned his loss, borrowing at the +same time the family seal of the Chieftain. + +'Surely,' said Miss Mac-Ivor, 'Donald Bean Lean would not--' + +'My life for him, in such circumstances,' answered her brother; +--'besides, he would never have left the watch behind.' + +'After all, Fergus,' said Flora,' and with every allowance, I am +surprised you can countenance that man.' + +'I countenance him!--This kind sister of mine would persuade you, +Captain Waverley, that I take what the people of old used to call +"a steakraid," that is, a "collop of the foray," or, in plainer +words, a portion of the robber's booty, paid by him to the Laird, +or Chief, through whose grounds he drove his prey. Oh, it is +certain, that unless I can find some way to charm Flora's tongue, +General Blakeney will send a sergeant's party from Stirling (this +he said with haughty and emphatic irony) to seize Vich Ian Vohr, +as they nickname me, in his own castle.' + +'Now, Fergus, must not our guest be sensible that all this is +folly and affectation? You have men enough to serve you without +enlisting a banditti, and your own honour is above taint.--Why +don't you send this Donald Bean Lean, whom I hate for his +smoothness and duplicity, even more than for his rapine, out of +your country at once? No cause should induce me to tolerate such +a character.' + +'NO cause, Flora?' said the Chieftain, significantly. + +'No cause, Fergus! not even that which is nearest to my heart. +Spare it the omen of such evil supporters!' + +'Oh, but, sister,' rejoined the Chief, gaily, 'you don't consider +my respect for LA BELLE PASSION. Evan Dhu Maccombich is in love +with Donald's daughter, Alice, and you cannot expect me to +disturb him in his amours. Why, the whole clan would cry shame +on me. You know it is one of their wise sayings, that a kinsman +is part of a man's body, but a foster-brother is a piece of his +heart.' + +'Well, Fergus, there is no disputing with you; but I would all +this may end well.' + +'Devoutly prayed, my dear and prophetic sister, and the best way +in the world to close a dubious argument.--But hear ye not the +pipes, Captain Waverley? Perhaps you will like better to dance +to them in the hall, than to be deafened with their harmony +without taking part in the exercise they invite us to.' + +Waverley took Flora's hand. The dance, song, and merry-making +proceeded, and closed the day's entertainment at the castle of +Vich Ian Vohr. Edward at length retired, his mind agitated by a +variety of new and conflicting feelings, which detained him from +rest for some time, in that not unpleasing state of mind in which +fancy takes the helm, and the soul rather drifts passively along +with the rapid and confused tide of reflections, than exerts +itself to encounter, systematize, or examine them. At a late +hour he fell asleep, and dreamed of Flora Mac-Ivor. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A STAG-HUNT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES + +Shall this be a long or a short chapter?--This is a question in +which you, gentle reader, have no vote, however much you may be +interested in the consequences; just as you may (like myself) +probably have nothing to do with the imposing a new tax, +excepting the trifling circumstance of being obliged to pay it. +More happy surely in the present case, since, though it lies +within my arbitrary power to extend my materials as I think +proper, I cannot call you into Exchequer if you do not think +proper to read my narrative. Let me therefore consider. It is +true, that the annals and documents in my hands say but little of +this Highland chase; but then I can find copious materials for +description elsewhere. There is old Lindsay of Pitscottie ready +at my elbow, with his Athole hunting, and his 'lofted and joisted +palace of green timber; with all kind of drink to be had in burgh +and land, as ale, beer, wine, muscadel, malvaise, hippocras, and +aquavitae; with wheat-bread, main-bread, ginge-bread, beef, +mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, coney, crane, +swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock, pawnies, +black-cock, muir-fowl, and capercailzies;' not forgetting the +'costly bedding, vaiselle, and napry,' and least of all the +'excelling stewards, cunning barters, excellent cooks, and +pottingars, with confections and drugs for the desserts.' +Besides the particulars which may be thence gleaned for this +Highland feast (the splendour of which induced the Pope's legate +to dissent from an opinion which he had hitherto held, that +Scotland, namely, was the--the--the latter end of the world)-- +besides these, might I not illuminate my pages with Taylor the +Water Poet's hunting in the braes of Mar, where, + + Through heather, mosse, 'mong frogs, and bogs, and fogs, + 'Mongst craggy cliffs and thunder-battered hills, + Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chased by men and dogs, + Where two hours' hunting fourscore fat deer kills. + Lowland, your sports are low as is your seat; + The Highland games and minds are high and great. + +But without further tyranny over my readers, or display of the +extent of my own reading, I shall content myself with borrowing a +single incident from the memorable hunting at Lude, commemorated +in the ingenious Mr. Gunn's Essay on the Caledonian Harp, and so +proceed in my story with all the brevity that my natural style of +composition, partaking of what scholars call the periphrastic and +ambagitory, and the vulgar the circumbendibus, will permit me. + +The solemn hunting was delayed, from various causes, for about +three weeks. The interval was spent by Waverley with great +satisfaction at Glennaquoich; for the impression which Flora had +made on his mind at their first meeting grew daily stronger. She +was precisely the character to fascinate a youth of romantic +imagination. Her manners, her language, her talents for poetry +and music, gave additional and varied influence to her eminent +personal charms. Even in her hours of gaiety, she was in his +fancy exalted above the ordinary daughters of Eve, and seemed +only to stoop for an instant to those topics of amusement and +gallantry which others appear to live for. In the neighbourhood +of this enchantress, while sport consumed the morning, and music +and the dance led on the hours of evening, Waverley became daily +more delighted with his hospitable landlord, and more enamoured +of his bewitching sister. + +At length, the period fixed for the grand hunting arrived, and +Waverley and the Chieftain departed for the place of rendezvous, +which was a day's journey to the northward of Glennaquoich. +Fergus was attended on this occasion by about three hundred of +his clan, well armed, and accoutred in their best fashion. +Waverley complied so far with the custom of the country as to +adopt the trews (he could not be reconciled to the kilt), +brogues, and bonnet, as the fittest dress for the exercise in +which he was to be engaged, and which least exposed him to be +stared at as a stranger when they should reach the place of +rendez-vous. They found, on the spot appointed, several powerful +Chiefs, to all of whom Waverley was formally presented, and by +all cordially received. Their vassals and clansmen, a part of +whose feudal duty it was to attend on these parties, appeared in +such numbers as amounted to a small army. These active +assistants spread through the country far and near, forming a +circle, technically called the TINCHEL, which, gradually closing, +drove the deer in herds together towards the glen where the +Chiefs and principal sportsmen lay in wait for them. In the +meanwhile, these distinguished personages bivouacked among the +flowery heath, wrapped up in their plaids; a mode of passing a +summer's night which Waverley found by no means unpleasant. + +For many hours after sunrise, the mountain ridges and passes +retained their ordinary appearance of silence and solitude; and +the Chiefs, with their followers, amused themselves with various +pastimes, in which the joys of the shell, as Ossian has it, were +not forgotten. 'Others apart sat on a hill retired;' probably as +deeply engaged in the discussion of politics and news, as +Milton's spirits in metaphysical disquisition. At length signals +of the approach of the game were descried and heard. Distant +shouts resounded from valley to valley, as the various parties of +Highlanders, climbing rocks, struggling through copses, wading +brooks, and traversing thickets, approached more and more near to +each other, and compelled the astonished deer, with the other +wild animals that fled before them, into a narrower circuit. +Every now and then the report of muskets was heard, repeated by a +thousand echoes. The baying of the dogs was soon added to the +chorus, which grew ever louder and more loud. At length the +advanced parties of the deer began to show themselves; and as the +stragglers came bounding down the pass by two or three at a time, +the Chiefs showed their skill by distinguishing the fattest deer, +and their dexterity in bringing them down with their guns. +Fergus exhibited remarkable address, and Edward was also so +fortunate as to attract the notice and applause of the sportsmen. + +But now the main body of the deer appeared at the head of the +glen, compelled into a very narrow compass, and presenting such a +formidable phalanx, that their antlers appeared at a distance, +over the ridge of the steep pass, like a leafless grove. Their +number was very great, and from a desperate stand which they +made, with the tallest of the red-deer stags arranged in front, +in a sort of battle array, gazing on the group which barred their +passage down the glen, the more experienced sportsmen began to +augur danger. The work of destruction, however, now commenced on +all sides. Dogs and hunters were at work, and muskets and fusees +resounded from every quarter. The deer, driven to desperation, +made at length a fearful charge right upon the spot where the +more distinguished sportsmen had taken their stand. The word was +given in Gaelic to fling themselves upon their faces; but +Waverley, on whose English ears the signal was lost, had almost +fallen a sacrifice to his ignorance of the ancient language in +which it was communicated. Fergus, observing his danger, sprang +up and pulled him with violence to the ground, just as the whole +herd broke down upon them. The tide being absolutely +irresistible, and wounds from a stag's horn highly dangerous, the +activity of the Chieftain may be considered, on this occasion, as +having saved his guest's life. [The thrust from the tynes, or +branches, of the stag's horns, was accounted far more dangerous +than those of the boar's tusk:-- + + If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier, + But barber's hand shall boar's hurt heal; thereof have thou no + fear.] + +He detained him with a firm grasp until the whole herd of deer +had fairly run over them. Waverley then attempted to rise, but +found that he had suffered several very severe contusions; and, +upon a further examination, discovered that he had sprained his +ankle violently. + +This checked the mirth of the meeting, although the Highlanders, +accustomed to such incidents, and prepared for them, had suffered +no harm themselves. A wigwam was erected almost in an instant, +where Edward was deposited on a couch of heather. The surgeon, +or he who assumed the office, appeared to unite the characters of +a leech and a conjurer. He was an old smoke-dried Highlander, +wearing a venerable grey beard, and having for his sole garment a +tartan frock, the skirts of which descended to the knee; and, +being undivided in front, made the vestment serve at once for +doublet and breeches. [This garb, which resembled the dress +often put on children in Scotland, called a polonie (i.e. +polonaise), is a very ancient modification of the Highland garb. +It was, in fact, the hauberk or shirt of mail, only composed of +cloth instead of rings of armour.] He observed great ceremony in +approaching Edward; and though our hero was writhing with pain, +would not proceed to any operation which might assuage it until +he had perambulated his couch three times, moving from east to +west, according to the course of the sun. This, which was called +making the DEASIL, [Old Highlanders will still make the deasil +around those whom they wish well to. To go round a person in the +opposite direction, or wither-shins (German WIDER-SHINS), is +unlucky, and a sort of incantation.] both the leech and the +assistants seemed to consider as a matter of the last importance +to the accomplishment of a cure; and Waverley, whom pain rendered +incapable of expostulation, and who indeed saw no chance of its +being attended to, submitted in silence. + +After this ceremony was duly performed, the old Esculapius let +his patient blood with a cupping-glass with great dexterity, and +proceeded, muttering all the while to himself in Gaelic, to boil +on the fire certain herbs, with which he compounded an +embrocation. He then fomented the parts which had sustained +injury, never failing to murmur prayers or spells, which of the +two Waverley could not distinguish, as his ear only caught the +words GASPER-MELCHIOR-BALTHAZAR-MAX-PRAX-FAX, and similar +gibberish. The fomentation had a speedy effect in alleviating +the pain and swelling, which our hero imputed to the virtue of +the herbs, or the effect of the chafing, but which was by the +bystanders unanimously ascribed to the spells with which the +operation had been accompanied. Edward was given to understand, +that not one of the ingredients had been gathered except during +the full moon, and that the herbalist had, while collecting them, +uniformly recited a charm, which in English ran thus:-- + + Hail to thee, thou holy herb, + That sprung on holy ground! + All in the Mount Olivet + First wert thou found: + Thou art boot for many a bruise, + And healest many a wound; + In our Lady's blessed name, + I take thee from the ground.' + [This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preserved + by Reginald Scott, in his work on Witchcraft.] + +Edward observed, with some surprise, that even Fergus, +notwithstanding his knowledge and education, seemed to fall in +with the superstitious ideas of his countrymen, either because he +deemed it impolitic to affect scepticism on a matter of general +belief, or more probably because, like most men who do not think +deeply or accurately on such subjects, he had in his mind a +reserve of superstition which balanced the freedom of his +expressions and practice upon other occasions. Waverley made no +commentary, therefore, on the manner of the treatment, but +rewarded the professor of medicine with a liberality beyond the +utmost conception of his wildest hopes. He uttered, on the +occasion, so many incoherent blessings in Gaelic and English, +that Mac-Ivor, rather scandalized at the excess of his +acknowledgements, cut them short, by exclaiming, 'CEUD MILE +MHALLOICH ART ORT!' i.e. 'A hundred thousand curses on you!' +and so pushed the helper of men out of the cabin. + +After Waverley was left alone, the exhaustion of pain and +fatigue,--for the whole day's exercise had been severe,--threw +him into a profound, but yet a feverish sleep, which he chiefly +owed to an opiate draught administered by the old Highlander from +some decoction of herbs in his pharmacopoeia. + +Early the next morning, the purpose of their meeting being over, +and their sports damped by the untoward accident, in which Fergus +and all his friends expressed the greatest sympathy, it became a +question how to dispose of the disabled sportsman. This was +settled by Mac-Ivor, who had a litter prepared, of 'birch and +hazel grey,' + + [On the morrow they made their biers, + of birch and hazel grey.--CHEVY CHASE.] + +which was borne by his people with such caution and +dexterity as renders it not improbable that they may have been +the ancestors of some of those sturdy Gael, who have now the +happiness to transport the belles of Edinburgh, in their sedan +chairs, to ten routs in one evening. When Edward was elevated +upon their shoulders, he could not help being gratified with the +romantic effect produced by the breaking up of this sylvan camp. +[The author has been sometimes accused of confounding fiction +with reality. He therefore thinks it necessary to state, that +the circumstance of the hunting described in the text as +preparatory to the insurrection of 1745, is, so far as he knows, +entirely imaginary. But it is well known such a great hunting +was held in the Forest of Braemar, under the auspices of the +Earl of Mar, as preparatory to the Rebellion of 1715; and most +of the Highland Chieftains who afterwards engaged in that civil +commotion were present on this occasion.] + +The various tribes assembled, each at the pibroch of their native +clan, and each headed by their patriarchal ruler. Some, who had +already begun to retire, were seen winding up the hills, or +descending the passes which led to the scene of action, the sound +of their bagpipes dying upon the ear. Others made still a moving +picture upon the narrow plain, forming various changeful groups, +their feathers and loose plaids waving in the morning breeze, and +their arms glittering in the rising sun. Most of the Chiefs came +to take farewell of Waverley, and to express their anxious hope +they might again, and speedily, meet; but the care of Fergus +abridged the ceremony of taking leave. At length, his own men +being completely assembled and mustered. Mac-Ivor commenced his +march, but not towards the quarter from which they had come. He +gave Edward to understand, that the greater part of his +followers, now on the field, were bound on a distant expedition, +and that when he had deposited him in the house of a gentleman, +who he was sure would pay him every attention, he himself should +be under the necessity of accompanying them the greater part of +the way, but would lose no time in rejoining his friend. + +Waverley was rather surprised that Fergus had not mentioned this +ulterior destination when they set out upon the hunting-party; +but his situation did not admit of many interrogatories. The +greater part of the clansmen went forward under the guidance of +old Ballenkeiroch and Evan Dhu Maccombich, apparently in high +spirits. A few remained for the purpose of escorting the +Chieftain, who walked by the side of Edward's litter, and +attended him with the most affectionate assiduity. About noon, +after a journey which the nature of the conveyance, the pain of +his bruises, and the roughness of the way, rendered inexpressibly +painful, Waverley was hospitably received into the house of a +gentleman related to Fergus, who had prepared for him every +accommodation which the simple habits of living, then universal +in the Highlands, put in his power. In this person, an old man +about seventy, Edward admired a relic of primitive simplicity. +He wore no dress but what his estate afforded. The cloth was the +fleece of his own sheep, woven by his own servants, and stained +into tartan by the dyes produced from the herbs and lichens of +the hills around him. His linen was spun by his daughters and +maid-servants, from his own flax, nor did his table, though +plentiful, and varied with game and fish, offer an article but +what was of native produce. + +Claiming himself no rights of clanship or vassalage, he was +fortunate in the alliance and protection of Vich Ian Vohr and +other bold and enterprising Chieftains, who protected him in the +quiet unambitious life he loved. It is true, the youth born on +his grounds were often enticed to leave him for the service of +his more active friends; but a few old servants and tenants used +to shake their grey locks when they heard their master censured +for want of spirit, and observed, 'When the wind is still, the +shower falls soft.' This good old man, whose charity and +hospitality were unbounded, would have received Waverley with +kindness, had he been the meanest Saxon peasant, since his +situation required assistance. But his attention to a friend and +guest of Vich Ian Vohr was anxious and unremitted. Other +embrocations were applied to the injured limb, and new spells +were put in practice. At length, after more solicitude than was +perhaps for the advantage of his health, Fergus took farewell of +Edward for a few days, when, he said, he would return to +Tomanrait, and hoped by that time Waverley would be able to ride +one of the Highland ponies of his landlord, and in that manner +return to Glennaquoich. + +The next day, when his good old host appeared, Edward learned +that his friend had departed with the dawn, leaving none of his +followers except Callum Beg, the sort of foot-page who used to +attend his person, and who had it now in charge to wait upon +Waverley. On asking his host if he knew where the Chieftain was +gone, the old man looked fixedly at him, with something +mysterious and sad in the smile which was his only reply. +Waverley repeated his question, to which his host answered in a +proverb,-- + + What sent the messengers to hell, + Was asking what they knew full well.' + [Corresponding to the Lowland saying, 'Mony ane speirs the + gate they ken fu' weel.] + +He was about to proceed, but Callum Beg said, rather pertly, as +Edward thought, that 'Ta Tighearnach (i.e. the Chief) did not +like ta Sassenagh Duinhe-wassel to be pingled wi' mickle +speaking, as she was na tat weel.' From this Waverley concluded +he should disoblige his friend by inquiring of a stranger the +object of a journey which he himself had not communicated. + +It is unnecessary to trace the progress of our hero's recovery. +The sixth morning had arrived, and he was able to walk about with +a staff, when Fergus returned with about a score of his men. He +seemed in the highest spirits, congratulated Waverley on his +progress towards recovery, and finding he was able to sit on +horseback, proposed their immediate return to Glennaquoich, +Waverley joyfully acceded, for the form of his fair mistress had +lived in his dreams during all the time of his confinement. + + Now he has ridden o'er moor and moss, + O'er hill and many a glen. + +Fergus, all the while, with his myrmidons, striding stoutly by +his side, or diverging to get a shot at a roe or a heath-cock. +Waverley's bosom beat thick when they approached the old tower of +Ian nan Chaistel, and could distinguish the fair form of its +mistress advancing to meet them. + +Fergus began immediately, with his usual high spirits, to +exclaim, 'Open your gates, incomparable princess, to the wounded +Moor Abindarez, whom Rodrigo de Narvez, constable of Antiquera, +conveys to your castle; or open them, if you like it better, to +the renowned Marquis of Mantua, the sad attendant of his half- +slain friend, Baldovinos of the Mountain.--Ah, long rest to thy +soul, Cervantes! without quoting thy remnants, how should I +frame my language to befit romantic ears!' + +Flora now advanced, and welcoming Waverley with much kindness, +expressed her regret for his accident, of which she had already +heard the particulars, and her surprise that her brother should +not have taken better care to put a stranger on his guard against +the perils of the sport in which he engaged him. Edward easily +exculpated the Chieftain, who, indeed, at his own personal risk, +had probably saved his life. + +This greeting over, Fergus said three or four words to his sister +in Gaelic. The tears instantly sprang to her eyes, but they +seemed to be tears of devotion and joy, for she looked up to +heaven, and folded her hands as in a solemn expression of prayer +or gratitude. After the pause of a minute, she presented to +Edward some letters which had been forwarded from Tully-Veolan +during his absence, and, at the same time, delivered some to her +brother. To the latter she likewise gave three or four numbers +of the CALEDONIAN MERCURY, the only newspaper which was then +published to the north of the Tweed. + +Both gentlemen retired to examine their dispatches, and Edward +speedily found that those which he had received contained matters +of very deep interest. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NEWS FROM ENGLAND + +The letters which Waverley had hitherto received from his +relations in England, were not such as required any particular +notice in this narrative. His father usually wrote to him with +the pompous affectation of one who was too much oppressed by +public affairs to find leisure to attend to those of his own +family. Now and then he mentioned persons of rank in Scotland to +whom he wished his son should pay some attention; but Waverley, +hitherto occupied by the amusements which he had found at Tully- +Veolan and Glennaquoich, dispensed with paying any attention to +hints so coldly thrown out, especially as distance, shortness of +leave of absence, and so forth, furnished a ready apology. But +latterly the burden of Mr. Richard Waverley's paternal epistles +consisted in certain mysterious hints of greatness and influence +which he was speedily to attain, and which would ensure his son's +obtaining the most rapid promotion, should he remain in the +military service. Sir Everard's letters were of a different +tenor. They were short; for the good Baronet was none of your +illimitable correspondents, whose manuscript overflows the folds +of their large post paper, and leaves no room for the seal; but +they were kind and affectionate, and seldom concluded without +some allusion to our hero's stud, some question about the state +of his purse, and a special inquiry after such of his recruits as +had preceded him from Waverley-Honour. Aunt Rachel charged him +to remember his principles of religion, to take care of his +health, to beware of Scotch mists, which, she had heard, would +wet an Englishman through and through; never to go out at night +without his great-coat; and, above all, to wear flannel next to +his skin. + +Mr. Pembroke only wrote to our hero one letter, but it was of the +bulk of six epistles of these degenerate days, containing, in the +moderate compass of ten folio pages, closely written, a precis of +a supplementary quarto manuscript of ADDENDA, DELENDA, ET +CORRIGENDA, in reference to the two tracts with which he had +presented Waverley. This he considered as a mere sop in the pan +to stay the appetite of Edward's curiosity, until he should find +an opportunity of sending down the volume itself, which was much +too heavy for the post, and which he proposed to accompany with +certain interesting pamphlets, lately published by his friend in +Little Britain, with whom he had kept up a sort of literary +correspondence, in virtue of which the library shelves of +Waverley-Honour were loaded with much trash, and a good round +bill, seldom summed in fewer than three figures, was yearly +transmitted, in which Sir Everard Waverley, of Waverley-Honour, +Bart., was marked Dr. to Jonathan Grubbet, bookseller and +stationer, Little Britain. Such had hitherto been the style of +the letters which Edward had received from England; but the +packet delivered to him at Glennaquoich was of a different and +more interesting complexion. It would be impossible for the +reader, even were I to insert the letters at full length, to +comprehend the real cause of their being written, without a +glance into the interior of the British Cabinet at the period in +question. + +The Ministers of the day happened (no very singular event) to be +divided into two parties; the weakest of which, making up by +assiduity of intrigue their inferiority in real consequence, had +of late acquired some new proselytes, and with them the hope of +superseding their rivals in the favour of their sovereign, and +overpowering them in the House of Commons. Amongst others, they +had thought it worth while to practise upon Richard Waverley. +This honest gentleman, by a grave mysterious demeanour, an +attention to the etiquette of business, rather more than to its +essence, a facility in making long dull speeches, consisting of +truisms and commonplaces, hashed up with a technical jargon of +office, which prevented the inanity of his orations from being +discovered, had acquired a certain name and credit in public +life, and even established, with many, the character of a +profound politician; none of your shining orators, indeed, whose +talents evaporate in tropes of rhetoric and dashes of wit, but +one possessed of steady parts for business, which would wear +well, as the ladies say in choosing their silks, and ought in all +reason to be good for common and everyday use, since they were +confessedly formed of no holiday texture. + +This faith had become so general, that the insurgent party in the +Cabinet of which we have made mention, after sounding Mr. Richard +Waverley, were so satisfied with his sentiments and abilities, as +to propose, that, in case of a certain revolution in the +ministry, he should take an ostensible place in the new order of +things, not indeed of the very first rank, but greatly higher, in +point both of emolument and influence, than that which he now +enjoyed. There was no resisting so tempting a proposal, +notwithstanding that the Great Man, under whose patronage he had +enlisted and by whose banner he had hitherto stood firm, was the +principal object of the proposed attack by the new allies. +Unfortunately this fair scheme of ambition was blighted in the +very bud, by a premature movement. All the official gentlemen +concerned in it, who hesitated to take the part of a voluntary +resignation, were informed that the king had no further occasion +for their services; and, in Richard Waverley's case, which the +Minister considered as aggravated by ingratitude; dismissal was +accompanied by something like personal contempt and contumely. +The public, and even the party of whom he shared the fall, +sympathized little in the disappointment of this selfish and +interested statesman; and he retired to the country under the +comfortable reflection, that he had lost, at the same time, +character, credit, and,--what he at least equally deplored,-- +emolument. + +Richard Waverley's letter to his son upon this occasion was a +masterpiece of its kind. Aristides himself could not have made +out a harder case. An unjust monarch, and an ungrateful country, +were the burden of each rounded paragraph. He spoke of long +services, and unrequited sacrifices; though the former had been +overpaid by his salary, and nobody could guess in what the latter +consisted, unless it were in his deserting, not from conviction, +but for the lucre of gain, the Tory principles of his family. In +the conclusion, his resentment was wrought to such an excess by +the force of his own oratory, that he could not repress some +threats of vengeance, however vague and impotent, and finally +acquainted his son with his pleasure that he should testify his +sense of the ill-treatment he had sustained, by throwing up his +commission as soon as the letter reached him. This, he said, was +also his uncle's desire, as he would himself intimate in due +course. + +Accordingly, the next letter which Edward opened was from Sir +Everard. His brother's disgrace seemed to have removed from his +well-natured bosom all recollection of their differences, and, +remote as he was from every means of learning that Richard's +disgrace was in reality only the just, as well as natural +consequence, of his own unsuccessful intrigues, the good but +credulous Baronet at once set it down as a new and enormous +instance of the injustice of the existing Government. It was +true, he said, and he must not disguise it even from Edward, that +his father could not have sustained such an insult as was now, +for the first time, offered to one of his house, unless he had +subjected himself to it by accepting of an employment under the +present system. Sir Everard had no doubt that he now both saw +and felt the magnitude of this error, and it should be his (Sir +Everard's) business, to take care that the cause of his regret +should not extend itself to pecuniary consequences. It was +enough for a Waverley to have sustained the public disgrace; the +patrimonial injury could easily be obviated by the head of their +family. But it was both the opinion of Mr. Richard Waverley and +his own, that Edward, the representative of the family of +Waverley-Honour, should not remain in a situation which subjected +him also to such treatment as that with which his father had been +stigmatized. He requested his nephew therefore to take the +fittest, and, at the same time, the most speedy opportunity, of +transmitting his resignation to the War-Office, and hinted, +moreover, that little ceremony was necessary where so little had +been used to his father. He sent multitudinous greetings to the +Baron of Bradwardine. + +A letter from Aunt Rachel spoke out even more plainly. She +considered the disgrace of brother Richard as the just reward of +his forfeiting his allegiance to a lawful, though exiled +sovereign, and taking the oaths to an alien; a concession which +her grandfather, Sir Nigel Waverley, refused to make, either to +the Roundhead Parliament or to Cromwell, when his life and +fortune stood in the utmost extremity. She hoped her dear Edward +would follow the footsteps of his ancestors, and as speedily as +possible get rid of the badge of servitude to the usurping +family, and regard the wrongs sustained by his father as an +admonition from Heaven, that every desertion of the line of +loyalty becomes its own punishment. She also concluded with her +respects to Mr. Bradwardine, and begged Waverley would inform her +whether his daughter, Miss Rose, was old enough to wear a pair of +very handsome ear-rings, which she proposed to send as a token of +her affection. The good lady also desired to be informed whether +Mr. Bradwardine took as much Scotch snuff, and danced as +unweariedly, as he did when he was at Waverley-Honour about +thirty years ago. + +These letters, as might have been expected, highly excited +Waverley's indignation. From the desultory style of his studies, +he had not any fixed political opinion to place in opposition to +the movements of indignation which he felt at his father's +supposed wrongs. Of the real cause of his disgrace, Edward was +totally ignorant; nor had his habits at all led him to +investigate the politics of the period in which he lived, or +remark the intrigues in which his father had been so actively +engaged. Indeed, any impressions which he had accidentally +adopted concerning the parties of the times, were (owing to the +society in which he had lived at Waverley-Honour) of a nature +rather unfavourable to the existing government and dynasty. He +entered, therefore, without hesitation, into the resentful +feeling of the relations who had the best title to dictate his +conduct; and not perhaps the less willingly, when he remembered +the tedium of his quarters, and the inferior figure which he had +made among the officers of his regiment. If he could have had +any doubt upon the subject, it would have been decided by the +following letter from his commanding-officer, which, as it is +very short, shall be inserted verbatim:-- + +'SIR, + +'Having carried somewhat beyond the line of my duty an indulgence +which even the lights of nature, and much more those of +Christianity, direct towards errors which may arise from youth +and inexperience, and that altogether without effect, I am +reluctantly compelled, at the present crisis, to use the only +remaining remedy which is in my power. You are therefore, hereby +commanded to repair to --, the head-quarters of the regiment, +within three days after the date of this letter. If you shall +fail to do so, I must report you to the War-Office as absent +without leave, and also take other steps, which will be +disagreeable to you, as well as to, Sir, + + 'Your obedient Servant, + J. GARDINER, Lieut.-Col. + 'Commanding the -- Regt. Dragoons.' + +Edward's blood boiled within him as he read this letter. He had +been accustomed from his very infancy to possess, in a great +measure, the disposal of his own time, and thus acquired habits +which rendered the rules of military discipline as unpleasing to +him in this as they were in some other respects. An idea that in +his own case they would not be enforced in a very rigid manner +had also obtained full possession of his mind, and had hitherto +been sanctioned by the indulgent conduct of his lieutenant- +colonel. Neither had anything occurred, to his knowledge, that +should have induced his commanding-officer, without any other +warning than the hints we noticed at the end of the fourteenth +chapter, so suddenly to assume a harsh, and, as Edward deemed it, +so insolent a tone of dictatorial authority. Connecting it with +the letters he had just received from his family, he could not +but suppose that it was designed to make him feel, in his present +situation, the same pressure of authority which had been +exercised in his father's case, and that the whole was a +concerted scheme to depress and degrade every member of the +Waverley family. + +Without a pause, therefore, Edward wrote a few cold lines, +thanking his lieutenant-colonel for past civilities, and +expressing regret that he should have chosen to efface the +remembrance of them, by assuming a different tone towards him. +The strain of his letter, as well as what he (Edward) conceived +to be his duty, in the present crisis, called upon him to lay +down his commission; and he therefore enclosed the formal +resignation of a situation which subjected him to so unpleasant a +correspondence, and requested Colonel Gardiner would have the +goodness to forward it to the proper authorities. + +Having finished this magnanimous epistle, he felt somewhat +uncertain concerning the terms in which his resignation ought to +be expressed, upon which subject he resolved to consult Fergus +Mac-Ivor. It may be observed in passing, that the bold and +prompt habits of thinking, acting, and speaking, which +distinguished this young Chieftain, had given him a considerable +ascendancy over the mind of Waverley. Endowed with at least +equal powers of understanding, and with much finer genius, Edward +yet stooped to the bold and decisive activity of an intellect +which was sharpened by the habit of acting on a preconceived and +regular system, as well as by extensive knowledge of the world. + +When Edward found his friend, the latter had still in his hand +the newspaper which he had perused, and advanced to meet him with +the embarrassment of one who has unpleasing news to communicate. +'Do your letters, Captain Waverley, confirm the unpleasing +information which I find in this paper?' + +He put the paper into his hand, where his father's disgrace was +registered in the most bitter terms, transferred probably from +some London journal. At the end of the paragraph was this +remarkable innuendo:-- + +'We understand, that "this same RICHARD, who hath done all this," +is not the only example of the WAVERING HONOUR of W-v-rl-y H-n-r. +See the GAZETTE of this day.' + +With hurried and feverish apprehension our hero turned to the +place referred to, and found therein recorded, 'Edward Waverley, +captain in -- regiment dragoons, superseded for absence without +leave:' and in the list of military promotions, referring to the +same regiment, he discovered this further article, 'Lieut. Julius +Butler, to be captain, vice Edward Waverley, superseded.' + +Our hero's bosom glowed with the resentment which undeserved and +apparently premeditated insult was calculated to excite in the +bosom of one who had aspired after honour, and was thus wantonly +held up to public scorn and disgrace. Upon comparing the date of +his colonel's letter with that of the article in the GAZETTE, he +perceived that his threat of making a report upon his absence had +been literally fulfilled, and without inquiry, as it seemed, +whether Edward had either received his summons, or was disposed +to comply with it. The whole, therefore, appeared a formed plan +to degrade him in the eyes of the public; and the idea of its +having succeeded filled him with such bitter emotions, that, +after various attempts to conceal them, he at length threw +himself into Mac-Ivor's arms, and gave vent to tears of shame and +indignation. + +It was none of this Chieftain's faults to be indifferent to the +wrongs of his friends; and for Edward, independent of certain +plans with which he was connected, he felt a deep and sincere +interest. The proceeding appeared as extraordinary to him as it +had done to Edward. He indeed knew of more motives than Waverley +was privy to, for the peremptory order that he should join his +regiment. But that, without further inquiry into the +circumstances of a necessary delay, the commanding officer, in +contradiction to his known and established character, should have +proceeded in so harsh and unusual a manner, was a mystery which +he could not penetrate. He soothed our hero, however, to the +best of his power, and began to turn his thoughts on revenge for +his insulted honour. + +Edward eagerly grasped at the idea. 'Will you carry a message +for me to Colonel Gardiner, my dear Fergus, and oblige me for +ever?' + +Fergus paused. 'It is an act of friendship which you should +command, could it be useful, or lead to the righting your honour; +but in the present case, I doubt if your commanding-officer would +give you the meeting on account of his having taken measures, +which, however harsh and exasperating, were still within the +strict bounds of his duty. Besides, Gardiner is a precise +Huguenot, and has adopted certain ideas about the sinfulness of +such rencontres, from which it would be impossible to make him +depart, especially as his courage is beyond all suspicion. And +besides, I--I--to say the truth--I dare not at this moment, for +some very weighty reasons, go near any of the military quarters +or garrisons belonging to this government.' + +'And am I,' said Waverley, 'to sit down quiet and contented under +the injury I have received?' + +'That will I never advise, my friend,' replied Mac-Ivor. 'But I +would have vengeance to fall on the head, not on the hand; on the +tyrannical and oppressive Government which designed and directed +these premeditated and reiterated insults, not on the tools of +office which they employed in the execution of the injuries they +aimed at you.' + +'On the Government!' said Waverley. + +'Yes,' replied the impetuous Highlander, 'on the usurping House +of Hanover, whom your grandfather would no more have served than +he would have taken wages of red-hot gold from the great fiend of +hell!' + +'But since the time of my grandfather, two generations of this +dynasty have possessed the throne,' said Edward, coolly. + +'True,' replied the Chieftain; 'and because we have passively +given them so long the means of showing their native character, +--because both you and I myself have lived in quiet submission, +have even truckled to the times so far as to accept commissions +under them, and thus have given them an opportunity of disgracing +us publicly by resuming them,--are we not on that account to +resent injuries which our fathers only apprehended, but which we +have actually sustained? Or is the cause of the unfortunate +Stuart family become less just, because their title has devolved +upon an heir who is innocent of the charges of misgovernment +brought against his father? Do you remember the lines of your +favourite poet?-- + + Had Richard unconstrained resigned the throne, + A king can give no more than is his own; + The title stood entailed had Richard had a son. + +You see, my dear Waverley, I can quote poetry as well as Flora +and you. But come, clear your moody brow, and trust to me to +show you an honourable road to a speedy and glorious revenge. +Let us seek Flora, who perhaps has more news to tell us of what +has occurred during our absence. She will rejoice to hear that +you are relieved of your servitude. But first add a postcript to +your letter, marking the time when you received this +calvinistical Colonel's first summons, and express your regret +that the hastiness of his proceedings prevented your anticipating +them by sending your resignation. Then let him blush for his +injustice.' + +The letter was sealed accordingly, covering a formal resignation +of the commission, and Mac-Ivor dispatched it with some letters +of his own by a special messenger, with charge to put them into +the nearest post office in the Lowlands. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AN ECLAIRCISSEMENT + +The hint which the Chieftain had thrown out respecting Flora was +not unpremeditated. He had observed with great satisfaction the +growing attachment of Waverley to his sister, nor did he see any +bar to their union, excepting the situation which Waverley's +father held in the ministry, and Edward's own commission in the +army of George II. These obstacles were now removed, and in a +manner which apparently paved the way for the son's becoming +reconciled to another allegiance. In every other respect the +match would be most eligible. The safety, happiness, and +honourable provision of his sister, whom he dearly loved, +appeared to be ensured by the proposed union; and his heart +swelled when he considered how his own interest would be exalted +in the eyes of the ex-monarch to whom he had dedicated his +service, by an alliance with one of those ancient, powerful, and +wealthy English families of the steady Cavalier faith, to awaken +whose decayed attachment to the Stuart family was now a matter of +such vital importance to the Stuart cause. Nor could Fergus +perceive any obstacle to such a scheme. Waverley's attachment +was evident; and as his person was handsome, and his taste +apparently coincided with her own, he anticipated no opposition +on the part of Flora. Indeed, between his ideas of patriarchal +power, and those which he had acquired in France respecting the +disposal of females in marriage, any opposition from his sister, +dear as she was to him, would have been the last obstacle on +which he would have calculated, even had the union been less +eligible. + +Influenced by these feelings, the Chief now led Waverley in quest +of Miss Mac-Ivor, not without the hope that the present agitation +of his guest's spirits might give him courage to cut short what +Fergus termed the romance of the courtship. They found Flora, +with her faithful attendants, Una and Cathleen, busied in +preparing what appeared to Waverley to be white bridal favours. +Disguising as well as he could the agitation of his mind, +Waverley asked for what joyful occasion Miss Mac-Ivor made such +ample preparation. + +'It is for Fergus's bridal,' she said, smiling. + +'Indeed!' said Edward; 'he has kept his secret well. I hope he +will allow me to be his bride's-man.' + +'That is a man's office, but not yours, as Beatrice says,' +retorted Flora. + +'And who is the fair lady, may I be permitted to ask, Miss Mac- +Ivor?' + +'Did not I tell you long since, that Fergus wooed no bride but +Honour?' answered Flora. + +'And am I then incapable of being his assistant and counsellor in +the pursuit of honour?' said our hero, colouring deeply. 'Do I +rank so low in your opinion?' + +'Far from it, Captain Waverley. I would to God you were of our +determination! and made use of the expression which displeased +you, solely + + Because you are not of our quality, + But stand against us as an enemy. + +'That time is past, sister,' said Fergus; 'and you may wish +Edward Waverley (no longer captain) joy of being freed from the +slavery to an usurper, implied in that sable and ill-omened +emblem.' + +'Yes,' said Waverley, undoing the cockade from his hat, 'it has +pleased the king who bestowed this badge upon me, to resume it in +a manner which leaves me little reason to regret his service.' + +'Thank God for that!' cried the enthusiast;--'and oh that they +may be blind enough to treat every man of honour who serves them +with the same indignity, that I may have less to sigh for when +the struggle approaches! + +'And now, sister,' said the Chieftain, 'replace his cockade with +one of a more lively colour, I think it was the fashion of the +ladies of yore to arm and send forth their knights to high +achievement.' + +'Not,' replied the lady, 'till the knight adventurer had well +weighed the justice and the danger of the cause, Fergus. Mr. +Waverley is just now too much agitated by feelings of recent +emotion, for me to press upon him a resolution of consequence.' + +Waverley felt half alarmed at the thought of adopting the badge +of what was by the majority of the kingdom esteemed rebellion, +yet he could not disguise his chagrin at the coldness with which +Flora parried her brother's hint. 'Miss Mac-Ivor, I perceive, +thinks the knight unworthy of her encouragement and favour,' said +he, somewhat bitterly. + +'Not so, Mr. Waverley,' she replied, with great sweetness. 'Why +should I refuse my brother's valued friend a boon which I am +distributing to his whole clan? Most willingly would I enlist +every man of honour in the cause to which my brother has devoted +himself. But Fergus has taken his measures with his eyes open. +His life has been devoted to this cause from his cradle; with him +its call is sacred, were it even a summons to the tomb. But how +can I wish you, Mr. Waverley, so new to the world, so far from +every friend who might advise and ought to influence you,--in a +moment too of sudden pique and indignation,--how can I wish you +to plunge yourself at once into so desperate an enterprise?' + +Fergus, who did not understand these delicacies, strode through +the apartment biting his lip, and then, with a constrained smile, +said, 'Well, sister, I leave you to act your new character of +mediator between the Elector of Hanover and the subjects of your +lawful sovereign and benefactor,' and left the room. + +There was a painful pause, which was at length broken by Miss +Mac-Ivor. 'My brother is unjust,' she said, 'because he can bear +no interruption that seems to thwart his loyal zeal.' + +'And do you not share his ardour?' asked Waverley. + +'Do I not?' answered Flora--'God knows mine exceeds his, if that +be possible. But I am not, like him, rapt by the bustle of +military preparation, and the infinite detail necessary to the +present undertaking, beyond consideration of the grand principles +of justice and truth, on which our enterprise is grounded; and +these, I am certain, can only be furthered by measures in +themselves true and just. To operate upon your present feelings, +my dear Mr. Waverley, to induce you to an irretrievable step, of +which you have not considered either the justice or the danger, +is, in my poor judgement, neither the one nor the other.' + +'Incomparable Flora!' said Edward, taking her hand, 'how much do +I need such a monitor!' + +'A better one by far,' said Flora, gently withdrawing her hand, +'Mr. Waverley will always find in his own bosom, when he will +give its small still voice leisure to be heard.' + +'No, Miss Mac-Ivor, I dare not hope it. A thousand circumstances +of fatal self-indulgence have made me the creature rather of +imagination than reason. Durst I but hope--could I but think +that you would deign to be to me that affectionate, that +condescending friend, who would strengthen me to redeem my +errors, my future life'-- + +'Hush, my dear sir! now you carry your joy at escaping the hands +of a Jacobite recruiting officer to an unparalleled excess of +gratitude.' + +'Nay, dear Flora, trifle with me no longer; you cannot mistake +the meaning of those feelings which I have almost involuntarily +expressed; and since I have broken the barrier of silence, let me +profit by my audacity--Or may I, with your permission, mention to +your brother'-- + +'Not for the world, Mr. Waverley!' + +'What am I to understand?' said Edward. 'Is there any fatal +bar--has any prepossession'-- + +'None, sir,' answered Flora. 'I owe it to myself to say, that I +never yet saw the person on whom I thought with reference to the +present subject.' + +'The shortness of our acquaintance, perhaps--If Miss Mac-Ivor +will deign to give me time' + +'I have not even that excuse. Captain Waverley's character is so +open--is, in short, of that nature, that it cannot be +misconstrued, either in its strength or its weakness.' + +'And for that weakness you despise me?' said Edward. + +'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley, and remember it is but within this +half-hour that there existed between us a barrier of a nature to +me insurmountable, since I never could think of an officer in the +service of the Elector of Hanover in any other light than as a +casual acquaintance. Permit me then to arrange my ideas upon so +unexpected a topic, and in less than an hour I will be ready to +give you such reasons for the resolution I shall express, as may +be satisfactory at least, if not pleasing to you.' So saying, +Flora withdrew, leaving Waverley to meditate upon the manner in +which she had received his addresses. + +Ere he could make up his mind whether to believe his suit had +been acceptable or no, Fergus re-entered the apartment. 'What, A +LA MORT, Waverley?' he cried. 'Come down with me to the court, +and you shall see a sight worth all the tirades of your romances. +An hundred firelocks, my friend, and as many broadswords, just +arrived from good friends; and two or three hundred stout fellows +almost fighting which shall first possess them.--But let me look +at you closer--Why, a true Highlander would say you had been +blighted by an evil eye.--Or can it be this silly girl that has +thus blanked your spirit?--Never mind her, dear Edward; the +wisest of her sex are fools in what regards the business of +life.' + +'Indeed, my good friend,' answered Waverley, 'all that I can +charge against your sister is, that she is too sensible, too +reasonable.' + +'If that be all, I ensure you for a louis d'or against the mood +lasting four-and-twenty hours. No woman was ever steadily +sensible for that period; and I will engage, if that will please +you, Flora shall be as unreasonable to-morrow as any of her sex. +You must learn, my dear Edward, to consider women EN +MOUSQUETAIRE.' So saying, he seized Waverley's arm, and dragged +him off to review his military preparations. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +UPON THE SAME SUBJECT + +Fergus Mac-Ivor had too much tact and delicacy to renew the +subject which he had interrupted. His head was, or appeared to +be, so full of guns, broadswords, bonnets, canteens, and tartan +hose, that Waverley could not for some time draw his attention to +any other topic. + +'Are you to take the field so soon, Fergus,' he asked, 'that you +are making all these martial preparations?' + +'When we have settled that you go with me, you shall know all; +but otherwise, the knowledge might rather be prejudicial to you.' + +'But are you serious in your purpose, with such inferior forces, +to rise against an established government? It is mere frenzy.' + +'LAISSEZ FAIRE A DON ANTOINE--I shall take good care of myself. +We shall at least use the compliment of Conan, who never got a +stroke but he gave one. I would not, however,' continued the +Chieftain, 'have you think me mad enough to stir till a +favourable opportunity: I will not slip my dog before the game's +afoot. But once more, will you join with us, and you shall know +all?' + +'How can I?' said Waverley; 'I who have so lately held that +commission which is now posting back to those that gave it? My +accepting it implied a promise of fidelity, and an +acknowledgement of the legality of the government. + +'A rash promise,' answered Fergus, 'is not a steel handcuff; it +may be shaken off, especially when it was given under deception, +and has been repaid by insult. But if you cannot immediately +make up your mind to a glorious revenge, go to England, and ere +you cross the Tweed, you will hear tidings that will make the +world ring; and if Sir Everard be the gallant old cavalier I have +heard him described by some of our HONEST gentlemen of the year +one thousand seven hundred and fifteen, he will find you a better +horse-troop and a better cause than you have lost.' + +'But your sister, Fergus?' + +'Out, hyperbolical fiend,' replied the Chief, laughing; 'how +vexest thou this man!--Speak'st thou of nothing but of ladies?' + +'Nay, be serious, my dear friend,' said Waverley; 'I feel that +the happiness of my future life must depend upon the answer which +Miss Mac-Ivor shall make to what I ventured to tell her this +morning.' + +'And is this your very sober earnest,' said Fergus, more gravely, +'or are we in the land of romance and fiction?' + +'My earnest, undoubtedly. How could you suppose me jesting on +such a subject?' + +'Then, in very sober earnest,' answered his friend, 'I am very +glad to hear it; and so highly do I think of Flora, that; you are +the only man in England for whom I would say so much.--But before +you shake my hand so warmly, there is more to be considered.-- +Your own family--will they approve your connecting yourself with +the sister of a highborn Highland beggar?' + +'My uncle's situation,' said Waverley, 'his general opinions, and +his uniform indulgence, entitle me to say, that birth and +personal qualities are all he would look to in such a connexion. +And where can I find both united in such excellence as in your +sister?' + +'Oh, nowhere!--CELA VA SANS DIRE,' replied Fergus with a smile. +'But your father will expect a father's prerogative in being +consulted.' + +'Surely; but his late breach with the ruling powers removes all +apprehension of objection on his part, especially as I am +convinced that my uncle will be warm in my cause.' + +'Religion, perhaps,' said Fergus, 'may make obstacles, though we +are not bigoted Catholics.' + +'My grandmother was of the Church of Rome, and her religion was +never objected to by my family.--Do not think of MY friends, dear +Fergus; let me rather have your influence where it may be more +necessary to remove obstacles--I mean with your lovely sister.' + +'My lovely sister,' replied Fergus, 'like her loving brother, is +very apt to have a pretty decisive will of her own, by which, in +this case, you must be ruled; but you shall not want my interest, +nor my counsel. And, in the first place, I will give you one +hint--loyalty is her ruling passion; and since she could spell an +English book, she has been in love with the memory of the gallant +Captain Wogan, who renounced the service of the usurper Cromwell +to join the standard of Charles II, marched a handful of cavalry +from London to the Highlands to join Middleton, then in arms for +the king, and at length died gloriously in the royal cause. Ask +her to show you some verses she made on his history and fate; +they have been much admired, I assure you. The next point is--I +think I saw Flora go up towards the waterfall a short time since +--follow, man, follow! don't allow the garrison time to +strengthen its purposes of resistance--ALERTE A LA MURAILLE! +Seek Flora out, and learn her decision as soon as you can--and +Cupid go with you, while I go to look over belts and cartouch- +boxes.' + +Waverley ascended the glen with an anxious and throbbing heart. +Love, with all its romantic train of hopes, fears, and wishes, +was mingled with other feelings of a nature less easily defined. +He could not but remember how much this morning had changed his +fate, and into what a complication of perplexity it was likely to +plunge him. Sunrise had seen him possessed of an esteemed rank +in the honourable profession of arms, his father to all +appearance rapidly rising in the favour of his sovereign;--all +this had passed away like a dream--he himself was dishonoured, +his father disgraced, and he had become involuntarily the +confidant at least, if not the accomplice, of plans dark, deep, +and dangerous, which must infer either subversion of the +government he had so lately served, or the destruction of all who +had participated in them, Should Flora even listen to his suit +favourably, what prospect was there of its being brought to a +happy termination, amid the tumult of an impending insurrection? +Or how could he make the selfish request that she should leave +Fergus, to whom she was so much attached, and, retiring with him +to England, wait, as a distant spectator, the success of her +brother's undertaking, or the ruin of all his hopes and +fortunes!--Or, on the other hand, to engage himself, with no +other aid than his single arm, in the dangerous and precipitate +counsels of the Chieftain,--to be whirled along by him, the +partaker of all his desperate and impetuous motions, renouncing +almost the power of judging, or deciding upon the rectitude or +prudence of his actions,--this was no pleasing prospect for the +secret pride of Waverley to stoop to. And yet what other +conclusion remained, saving the rejection of his addresses by +Flora, an alternative not to be thought of in the present high- +wrought state of his feelings, with anything short of mental +agony. Pondering the doubtful and dangerous prospect before him, +he at length arrived near the cascade, where, as Fergus had +augured, he found Flora seated. + +She was quite alone; and, as soon as she observed his approach, +she arose, and came to meet him. Edward attempted to say +something within the verge of ordinary compliment and +conversation, but found himself unequal to the task. Flora +seemed at first equally embarrassed, but recovered herself more +speedily, and (an unfavourable augury for Waverley's suit) was +the first to enter upon the subject of their last interview, 'It +is too important, in every point of view, Mr. Waverley, to permit +me to leave you in doubt on my sentiments.' + +'Do not speak them speedily,' said Waverley, much agitated, +'unless they are such as, I fear from your manner, I must not dare +to anticipate. Let time--let my future conduct--let your +brother's influence'-- + +'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley,' said Flora, her complexion a little +heightened, but her voice firm and composed. 'I should incur my +own heavy censure, did I delay expressing my sincere conviction +that I can never regard you otherwise than as a valued friend. I +should do you the highest injustice did I conceal my sentiments +for a moment. I see I distress you, and I grieve for it, but +better now than later; and oh, better a thousand times, Mr. +Waverley, that you should feel a present momentary +disappointment, than the long and heart-sickening griefs which +attend a rash and ill-assorted marriage!' + +'Good God!' exclaimed Waverley, 'why should you anticipate such +consequences from a union where birth is equal, where fortune is +favourable, where, if I may venture to say so, the tastes are +similar, where you allege no preference for another, where you +even express a favourable opinion of him whom you reject?' + +'Mr. Waverley, I HAVE that favourable opinion,' answered Flora; +'and so strongly, that though I would rather have been silent on +the grounds of my resolution, you shall command them, if you +exact such a mark of my esteem and confidence.' + +She sat down upon a fragment of rock, and Waverley, placing +himself near her, anxiously pressed for the explanation she +offered. + +'I dare hardly,' she said, 'tell you the situation of my +feelings, they are so different from those usually ascribed to +young women at my period of life; and I dare hardly touch upon +what I conjecture to be the nature of yours, lest I should give +offence where I would willingly administer consolation. For +myself, from my infancy till this day, I have had but one wish +--the restoration of my royal benefactors to their rightful +throne. It is impossible to express to you the devotion of my +feelings to this single subject; and I will frankly confess, that +it has so occupied my mind as to exclude every thought respecting +what is called my own settlement in life. Let me but live to see +the day of that happy restoration, and a Highland cottage, a +French convent, or an English palace, will be alike indifferent +to me.' + +'But, dearest Flora, how is your enthusiastic zeal for the exiled +family inconsistent with my happiness?' + +'Because you seek, or ought to seek in the object of your +attachment, a heart whose principal delight should be in +augmenting your domestic felicity, and returning your affection, +even to the height of romance. To a man of less keen +sensibility, and less enthusiastic tenderness of disposition, +Flora Mac-Ivor might give content, if not happiness; for were the +irrevocable words spoken, never would she be deficient in the +duties which she vowed.' + +'And why--why, Miss Mac-Ivor, should you think yourself a more +valuable treasure to one who is less capable of loving, of +admiring you, than to me?' + +'Simply because the tone of our affections would be more in +unison, and because his more blunted sensibility would not +require the return of enthusiasm which I have not to bestow. But +you, Mr. Waverley, would for ever refer to the idea of domestic +happiness which your imagination is capable of painting, and +whatever fell short of that ideal representation would be +construed into coolness and indifference, while you might +consider the enthusiasm with which I regarded the success of the +royal family as defrauding your affection of its due return.' + +'In other words, Miss Mac-Ivor, you cannot love me?' said her +suitor, dejectedly. + +'I could esteem you, Mr. Waverley, as much, perhaps more, than +any man I have ever seen; but I cannot love you as you ought to +be loved. Oh! do not, for your own sake, desire so hazardous an +experiment! The woman whom you marry ought to have affections +and opinions moulded upon yours. Her studies ought to be your +studies;--her wishes, her feelings, her hopes, her fears, should +all mingle with yours. She should enhance your pleasures, share +your sorrows, and cheer your melancholy.' + +'And, why will not you, Miss Mac-Ivor, who can so well describe a +happy union,--why will not you be yourself the person you +describe?' + +'Is it possible you do not yet comprehend me?' answered Flora. +'Have I not told you, that every keener sensation of my mind is +bent exclusively towards an event, upon which, indeed, I have no +power but those of my earnest prayers?' + +'And might not the granting the suit I solicit,' said Waverley, +too earnest on his purpose to consider what he was about to say, +'even advance the interest to which you have devoted yourself? +My family is wealthy and powerful, inclined in principles to the +Stuart race, and should a favourable opportunity'-- + +'A favourable opportunity!' said Flora, somewhat scornfully,-- +'inclined in principles!--Can such lukewarm adherence be +honourable to yourselves, or gratifying to your lawful +sovereign?--Think, from my present feelings, what I should suffer +when I held the place of member in a family where the rights +which I hold most sacred are subjected to cold discussion, and +only deemed worthy of support when they shall appear on the point +of triumphing without it!' + +'Your doubts,' quickly replied Waverley, 'are unjust as far as +concerns myself. The cause that I shall assert, I dare support +through every danger, as undauntedly as the boldest who draws +sword in its behalf.' + +'Of that,' answered Flora, 'I cannot doubt for a moment. But +consult your own good sense and reason, rather than a +prepossession hastily adopted, probably only because you have met +a young woman possessed of the usual accomplishments, in a +sequestered and romantic situation. Let your part in this great +and perilous drama rest upon conviction, and not on a hurried, +and probably a temporary feeling.' + +Waverley attempted to reply, but his words failed him. Every +sentiment that Flora had uttered vindicated the strength of his +attachment; for even her loyalty, although wildly enthusiastic, +was generous and noble, and disdained to avail itself of any +indirect means of supporting the cause to which she was devoted. + +After walking a little way in silence down the path, Flora thus +resumed the conversation.--'One word more, Mr. Waverley, ere we +bid farewell to this topic for ever; and forgive my boldness if +that word have the air of advice. My brother Fergus is anxious +that you should join him in his present enterprise. But do not +consent to this: you could not, by your single exertions, +further his success, and you would inevitably share his fall, if +it be God's pleasure that fall he must. Your character would +also suffer irretrievably. Let me beg you will return to your +own country; and, having publicly freed yourself from every tie +to the usurping government, I trust you will see cause, and find +opportunity, to serve your injured sovereign with effect, and +stand forth, as your loyal ancestors, at the head of your natural +followers and adherents, a worthy representative of the house of +Waverley.' + +'And should I be so happy as thus to distinguish myself, might I +not hope'-- + +'Forgive my interruption,' said Flora. 'The present time only is +ours, and I can but explain to you with candour the feelings +which I now entertain; how they might be altered by a train of +events too favourable perhaps to be hoped for, it were in vain +even to conjecture: only be assured, Mr. Waverley, that, after +my brother's honour and happiness, there is none which I shall +more sincerely pray for than for yours.' + +With these words she parted from him, for they were now arrived +where two paths separated. Waverley reached the castle amidst a +medley of conflicting passions. He avoided any private interview +with Fergus, as he did not find himself able either to encounter +his raillery, or reply to his solicitations. The wild revelry of +the feast, for Mac-Ivor kept open table for his clan, served in +some degree to stun reflection. When their festivity was ended, +he began to consider how he should again meet Miss Mac-Ivor after +the painful and interesting explanation of the morning. But +Flora did not appear. Fergus, whose eyes flashed when he was +told by Cathleen that her mistress designed to keep her apartment +that evening, went himself in quest of her; but apparently his +remonstrances were in vain, for he returned with a heightened +complexion, and manifest symptoms of displeasure. The rest of +the evening passed on without any allusion, on the part either of +Fergus or Waverley, to the subject which engrossed the +reflections of the latter, and perhaps of both. + +When retired to his own apartment, Edward endeavoured to sum up +the business of the day. That the repulse he had received from +Flora would be persisted in for the present, there was no doubt. +But could he hope for ultimate success in case circumstances +permitted the renewal of his suit? Would the enthusiastic +loyalty, which at this animating moment left no room for a softer +passion, survive, at least in its engrossing force, the success +or the failure of the present political machinations? And if so, +could he hope that the interest which she had acknowledged him to +possess in her favour, might be improved into a warmer +attachment? He taxed his memory to recall every word she had +used, with the appropriate looks and gestures which had enforced +them, and ended by finding himself in the same state of +uncertainty. It was very late before sleep brought relief to the +tumult of his mind, after the most painful and agitating day +which he had ever passed. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A LETTER FROM TULLY-VEOLAN + +In the morning, when Waverley's troubled reflections had for some +time given way to repose, there came music to his dreams, but not +the voice of Selma. He imagined himself transported back to +Tully-Veolan, and that he heard Davie Gellatley singing in the +court those matins which used generally to be the first sounds +that disturbed his repose while a guest of the Baron of +Bradwardine. The notes which suggested this vision continued, +and waxed louder, until Edward awoke in earnest. The illusion, +however, did not seem entirely dispelled. The apartment was in +the fortress of Ian nan Chaistel, but it was still the voice of +Davie Gellatley that made the following lines resound under the +window:-- + + My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, + My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; + A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, + My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. + [These lines form the burden of an old song to which Burns + wrote additional verses.] + +Curious to know what could have determined Mr. Gellatley on an +excursion of such unwonted extent, Edward began to dress himself +in all haste, during which operation the minstrelsy of Davie +changed its tune more than once:-- + + There's naught in the Highlands but syboes and leeks, + And lang-leggit callants gaun wanting the breeks; + Wanting the breeks, and without hose and shoon, + But we'll a' win the breeks when King Jamie comes hame. + [These lines are also ancient, and I believe to the tune of + 'We'll never hae peace till Jamie comes hame;' + to which Burns likewise wrote some verses.] + +By the time Waverley was dressed and had issued forth, David had +associated himself with two or three of the numerous Highland +loungers who always graced the gates of the castle with their +presence, and was capering and dancing full merrily in the +doubles and full career of a Scotch foursome reel, to the music +of his own whistling. In this double capacity of dancer and +musician, he continued, until an idle piper, who observed his +zeal, obeyed the unanimous call of SEID SUAS (i.e. blow up), and +relieved him from the latter part of his trouble. Young and old +then mingled in the dance as they could find partners. The +appearance of Waverley did not interrupt David's exercise, though +he contrived, by grinning, nodding, and throwing one or two +inclinations of the body into the graces with which he performed +the Highland fling, to convey to our hero symptoms of +recognition. Then, while busily employed in setting, whooping +all the while, and snapping his fingers over his head, he of a +sudden prolonged his side-step until it brought him to the place +where Edward was standing, and, still keeping time to the music +like Harlequin in a pantomime, he thrust a letter into our hero's +hand, and continued his saltation without pause or intermission, +Edward, who perceived that the address was in Rose's handwriting, +retired to peruse it, leaving the faithful bearer to continue his +exercise until the piper or he should be tired out. + +The contents of the letter greatly surprised him. It had +originally commenced with DEAR SIR; but these words had been +carefully erased, and the monosyllable, SIR, substituted in their +place. The rest of the contents shall be given in Rose's own +language :-- + +'I fear I am using an improper freedom by intruding upon you, yet +I cannot trust to any one else to let you know some things which +have happened here, with which it seems necessary you should be +acquainted. Forgive me if I am wrong in what I am doing; for, +alas! Mr. Waverley, I have no better advice than that of my own +feelings;--my dear father is gone from this place, and when he +can return to my assistance and protection, God alone knows. You +have probably heard, that in consequence of some troublesome news +from the Highlands, warrants were sent out for apprehending +several gentlemen in these parts, and, among others, my dear +father. In spite of all my tears and entreaties that he would +surrender himself to the Government, he joined with Mr. Falconer +and some other gentlemen, and they have all gone northwards, with +a body of about forty horsemen. So I am not so anxious +concerning his immediate safety, as about what may follow +afterwards, for these troubles are only beginning. But all this +is nothing to you, Mr. Waverley, only I thought you would be glad +to learn that my father has escaped, in case you happen to have +heard that he was in danger. + +'The day after my father went off, there came a party of soldiers +to Tully-Veolan, and behaved very rudely to Bailie Macwheeble; +but the officer was very civil to me, only said his duty obliged +him to search for arms and papers. My father had provided +against this by taking away all the arms except the old useless +things which hung in the hall; and he had put all his papers out +of the way. But oh! Mr. Waverley, how shall I tell you that +they made strict inquiry after you, and asked when you had been +at Tully-Veolan, and where you now were. The officer is gone +back with his party, but a non-commissioned officer and four men +remain as a sort of garrison in the house. They have hitherto +behaved very well, as we are forced to keep them in good humour. +But these soldiers have hinted as if on your falling into their +hands you would be in great danger; I cannot prevail on myself to +write what wicked falsehoods they said, for I am sure they are +falsehoods; but you will best judge what you ought to do. The +party that returned carried off your servant prisoner, with your +two horses, and everything that you left at Tully-Veolan. I hope +God will protect you, and that you will get safe home to England, +where you used to tell me there was no military violence nor +fighting among clans permitted, but everything was done according +to an equal law that protected all who were harmless and +innocent. I hope you will exert your indulgence as to my +boldness in writing to you, where it seems to me, though perhaps +erroneously, that your safety and honour are concerned. I am +sure--at least I think, my father would approve of my writing; +for Mr. Rubrick is fled to his cousin's at the Duchran, to be out +of danger from the soldiers and the Whigs, and Bailie Macwheeble +does not like to meddle (he says) in other men's concerns, though +I hope what may serve my father's friend at such a time as this, +cannot be termed improper interference. Farewell, Captain +Waverley! I shall probably never see you more; for it would be +very improper to wish you to call at Tully-Veolan just now, even +if these men were gone; but I will always remember with gratitude +your kindness in assisting so poor a scholar as myself, and your +attentions to my dear, dear father. + +'I remain, your obliged servant, + +'ROSE COMYNE BRADWARDINE. + +'PS.--I hope you will send me a line by David Gellatley, just to +say you have received this, and that you will take care of +yourself; and forgive me if I entreat you, for your own sake, to +join none of these unhappy cabals, but escape, as fast as +possible, to your own fortunate country.--My compliments to my +dear Flora, and, to Glennaquoich. Is she not as handsome and +accomplished as I have described her?' + +Thus concluded the letter of Rose Bradwardine, the contents of +which both surprised and affected Waverley. That the Baron +should fall under the suspicions of Government, in consequence of +the present stir among the partisans of the house of Stuart, +seemed only the natural consequence of his political +predilections; but how he himself should have been involved in +such suspicions, conscious that until yesterday he had been free +from harbouring a thought against the prosperity of the reigning +family, seemed inexplicable. Both at Tully-Veolan and +Glennaquoich, his hosts had respected his engagements with the +existing government, and though enough passed by accidental +innuendo that might induce him to reckon the Baron and the Chief +among those disaffected gentlemen who were still numerous in +Scotland, yet until his own connexion with the army had been +broken off by the resumption of his commission, he had no reason +to suppose that they nourished any immediate or hostile attempts +against the present establishment. Still he was aware that +unless he meant at once to embrace the proposal of Fergus Mac- +Ivor, it would deeply concern him to leave the suspicious +neighbourhood without delay, and repair where his conduct might +undergo a satisfactory examination. Upon this he the rather +determined, as Flora's advice favoured his doing so, and because +he felt inexpressible repugnance at the idea of being accessory +to the plague of civil war. Whatever were the original rights of +the Stuarts, calm reflection told him, that, omitting the +question how far James the Second could forfeit those of his +posterity, he had, according to the united voice of the whole +nation, justly forfeited his own. Since that period, four +monarchs had reigned in peace and glory over Britain, sustaining +and exalting the character of the nation abroad, and its +liberties at home. Reason asked, was it worth while to disturb a +government so long settled and established, and to plunge a +kingdom into all the miseries of civil war, for the purpose of +replacing upon the throne the descendants of a monarch by whom it +had been wilfully forfeited? If, on the other hand, his own +final conviction of the goodness of their cause, or the commands +of his father or uncle, should recommend to him allegiance to the +Stuarts, still it was necessary to clear his own character by +showing that he had not, as seemed to be falsely insinuated, +taken any step to this purpose, during his holding the commission +of the reigning monarch. + +The affectionate simplicity of Rose, and her anxiety for his +safety,--his sense, too, of her unprotected state, and of the +terror and actual dangers to which she might be exposed, made an +impression upon his mind, and he instantly wrote to thank her in +the kindest terms for her solicitude on his account, to express +his earnest good wishes for her welfare and that of her father, +and to assure her of his own safety. The feelings which this +task excited were speedily lost in the necessity which he now saw +of bidding farewell to Flora Mac-Ivor, perhaps for ever. The +pang attending this reflection were inexpressible; for her high- +minded elevation of character, her self-devotion to the cause +which she had embraced, united to her scrupulous rectitude as to +the means of serving it, had vindicated to his judgement the +choice adopted by his passions. But time pressed, calumny was +busy with his fame, and every hour's delay increased the power to +injure it. His departure must be instant. + +With this determination he sought out Fergus, and communicated to +him the contents of Rose's letter, with his own resolution +instantly to go to Edinburgh, and put into the hands of some one +or other of those persons of influence to whom he had letters +from his father, his exculpation from any charge which might be +preferred against him. + +'You run your head into the lion's mouth,' answered Mac-Ivor. +'You do not know the severity of a Government harassed by just +apprehensions, and a consciousness of their own illegality and +insecurity. I shall have to deliver you from some dungeon in +Stirling or Edinburgh Castle.' + +'My innocence, my rank, my father's intimacy with Lord M--, +General G--, &c., will be a sufficient protection,' said +Waverley. + +'You will find the contrary,' replied the Chieftain;--'these +gentlemen will have enough to do about their own matters. Once +more, will you take the plaid, and stay a little while with us +among the mists and the crows, in the bravest cause ever sword +was drawn in?' [A Highland rhyme on Glencairn's Expedition, in +1650, has these lines-- + + We'll hide a while among ta crows, + 'We'll wiske ta sword and bend ta bows.] + +'For many reasons, my dear Fergus, you must hold me excused.' + +'Well, then,' said Mac-Ivor, 'I shall certainly find you exerting +your poetical talents in elegies upon a prison, or your +antiquarian researches in detecting the Oggam [The Oggam is a +species of the old Irish character. The idea of the +correspondence betwixt the Celtic and Punic, founded on a scene +in Plautus, was not started till General Vallancey set up his +theory, long after the date of Fergus Mac-Ivor.] character, or +some Punic hieroglyphic upon the key-stones of a vault, curiously +arched. Or what say you to UN PETIT PENDEMENT BIEN JOLI? +against which awkward ceremony I don't warrant you, should you +meet a body of the armed west-country Whigs.' + +'And why should they use me so?' said Waverley. + +'For a hundred good reasons,' answered Fergus: 'First, you are +an Englishman; secondly, a gentleman; thirdly, a prelatist +abjured; and, fourthly, they have not had an opportunity to +exercise their talents on such a subject this long while. But +don't be cast down, beloved: all will be done in the fear of the +Lord.' + +'Well, I must run my hazard,' + +'You are determined, then?' + +'I am.' + +'Wilful will do 't,' said Fergus;--'but you cannot go on foot and +I shall want no horse, as I must march on foot at the head of the +children of Ivor; you shall have Brown Dermid.' + +'If you will sell him, I shall certainly be much obliged.' + +'If your proud English heart cannot be obliged by a gift or loan, +I will not refuse money at the entrance of a campaign: his price +is twenty guineas, [Remember, reader, it was Sixty Years since.] +And when do you propose to depart?' + +'The sooner the better,' answered Waverley. + +'You are right, since go you must, or rather, since go you will: +I will take Flora's pony, and ride with you as far as Bally- +Brough.--Callum Beg, see that our horses are ready, with a pony +for yourself, to attend and carry Mr. Waverley's baggage as far +as -- (naming a small town), where he can have a horse and guide +to Edinburgh. Put on a Lowland dress, Callum, and see you keep +your tongue close, if you would not have me cut it out: Mr. +Waverley rides Dermid,' Then turning to Edward, 'You will take +leave of my sister?' + +'Surely--that is, if Miss Mac-Ivor will honour me so far.' + +'Cathleen, let my sister know that Mr. Waverley wishes to bid her +farewell before he leaves us.--But Rose Bradwardine,--her +situation must be thought of. I wish she were here. And why +should she not? There are but four red-coats at Tully-Veolan, +and their muskets would be very useful to us.' + +To these broken remarks Edward made no answer; his ear indeed +received them, but his soul was intent upon the expected entrance +of Flora. The door opened--it was but Cathleen, with her lady's +excuse, and wishes for Captain Waverley's health and happiness. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +WAVERLEY'S RECEPTION IN THE LOWLANDS AFTER HIS HIGHLAND TOUR + +It was noon when the two friends stood at the top of the pass of +Bally-Brough. 'I must go no farther,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, who +during the journey had in vain endeavoured to raise his friend's +spirits, 'If my cross-grained sister has any share in your +dejection, trust me she thinks highly of you, though her present +anxiety about the public cause prevents her listening to any +other subject. Confide your interest to me; I will not betray +it, providing you do not again assume that vile cockade.' + +'No fear of that, considering the manner in which it has been +recalled. Adieu, Fergus; do not permit your sister to forget +me.' + +'And adieu, Waverley; you may soon hear of her with a prouder +title. Get home, write letters, and make friends as many and as +fast as you can; there will speedily be unexpected guests on the +coast of Suffolk, or my news from France has deceived me.' [The +sanguine Jacobites, during the eventful years 1745-6, kept up the +spirits of their party by the rumour of descents from France on +behalf of the Chevalier St. George.] + +Thus parted the friends; Fergus returning back to his castle, +while Edward, followed by Callum Beg, the latter transformed from +point to point into a Low-country groom, proceeded to the little +town of --. + +Edward paced on under the painful and yet not altogether +embittered feelings which separation and uncertainty produce in +the mind of a youthful lover. I am not sure if the ladies +understand the full value of the influence of absence, nor do I +think it wise to teach it them, lest, like the Clelias and +Mandanes of yore, they should resume the humour of sending their +lovers into banishment. Distance, in truth, produces in idea the +same effect as in real prospective. Objects are softened, and +rounded, and rendered doubly graceful; the harsher and more +ordinary points of character are mellowed down, and those by +which it is remembered are the more striking outlines that mark +sublimity, grace, or beauty. There are mists, too, in the +mental, as well as the natural horizon, to conceal what is less +pleasing in distant objects, and there are happy lights, to +stream in full glory upon those points which can profit by +brilliant illumination. + +Waverley forgot Flora Mac-Ivor's prejudices in her magnanimity, +and almost pardoned her indifference towards his affection, when +he recollected the grand and decisive object which seemed to fill +her whole soul. She, whose sense of duty so wholly engrossed her +in the cause of a benefactor,--what would be her feelings in +favour of the happy individual who should be so fortunate as to +awaken them? Then came the doubtful question, whether he might +not be that happy man,--a question which fancy endeavoured to +answer in the affirmative, by conjuring up all she had said in +his praise, with the addition of a comment much more flattering +than the text warranted. All that was commonplace--all that +belonged to the everyday world--was melted away and obliterated +in those dreams of imagination, which only remembered with +advantage the points of grace and dignity that distinguished +Flora, from the generality of her sex, not the particulars which +she held in common with them, Edward was, in short, in the fair +way of creating a goddess out of a high-spirited, accomplished, +and beautiful young woman; and the time was wasted in castle- +building, until, at the descent of a steep hill, he saw beneath +him the market-town of --. + +The Highland politeness of Callum Beg--there are few nations, by +the way, who can boast of so much natural politeness as the +Highlanders [The Highlander, in former times, had always a high +idea, of his own gentility, and was anxious to impress the same +upon those with whom he conversed. His language abounded in the +phrases of courtesy and compliment; and the habit of carrying +arms, and mixing with those who did so, made if particularly +desirable they should use cautious politeness in their +intercourse with each other.]--the Highland civility of his +attendant had not permitted him to disturb the reveries of our +hero. But observing him rouse himself at the sight of the +village, Callum pressed closer to his side, and hoped 'When they +cam to the public, his honour wad not say nothing about Vich Ian +Vohr, for ta people were bitter Whigs, deil burst tem.' + +Waverley assured the prudent page that he would be cautious; and +as he now distinguished, not indeed the ringing of bells, but the +tinkling of something like a hammer against the side of an old +messy, green, inverted porridge-pot, that hung in an open booth, +of the size and shape of a parrot's cage, erected to grace the +east end of a building resembling an old barn, he asked Callum +Beg if it were Sunday. + +'Could na say just preceesely--Sunday seldom cam aboon the pass +of Bally-Brough.' + +On entering the town, however, and advancing towards the most +apparent public house which presented itself, the numbers of old +women, in tartan screens and red cloaks, who streamed from the +barn-resembling building, debating, as they went, the comparative +merits of the blessed youth Jabesh Rentowel, and that chosen +vessel Maister Goukthrapple, induced Callum to assure his +temporary master, 'that it was either ta muckle Sunday hersell, +or ta little government Sunday that they ca'd ta fast.' + +On alighting at the sign of the Seven-branched Golden +Candlestick, which, for the further delectation of the guests, +was graced with a short Hebrew motto, they were received by mine +host, a tall, thin puritanical figure, who seemed to debate with +himself whether he ought to give shelter to those who travelled +on such a day. Reflecting, however, in all probability, that he +possessed the power of mulcting them for this irregularity, a +penalty which they might escape by passing into Gregor +Duncanson's, at the sign of the Highlander and the Hawick Gill, +Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks condescended to admit them into his +dwelling. + +To this sanctified person Waverley addressed his request that he +would procure him a guide, with a saddle-horse, to carry his +portmanteau to Edinburgh. + +'And whar may ye be coming from?' demanded mine host of the +Candlestick. + +'I have told you where I wish to go; I do not conceive any +further information necessary either for the guide or his saddle- +horse.' + +'Hem! Ahem!' returned he of the Candlestick, somewhat +disconcerted at this rebuff. 'It's the general fast, sir, and I +cannot enter into ony carnal transactions on sic a day, when the +people should be humbled, and the back sliders should return, as +worthy Mr. Goukthrapple said; and moreover when, as the precious +Mr. Jabesh Rentowel did weel observe, the land was mourning for +covenants burnt, broken, and buried.' + +'My good friend,' said Waverley, 'if you cannot let me have a +horse and guide, my servant shall seek them elsewhere.' + +'Aweel! Your servant?--and what for gangs he not forward wi' you +himsell?' + +Waverley had but very little of a captain of horse's spirit +within him--I mean of that sort of spirit which I have been +obliged to when I happened, in a mail-coach, or diligence, to +meet some military man who has kindly taken upon him the +disciplining of the waiters, and the taxing of reckonings. Some +of this useful talent our hero had, however, acquired during his +military service, and on this gross provocation it began +seriously to arise. 'Look ye, sir; I came here for my own +accommodation, and not to answer impertinent questions. Either +say you can, or cannot, get me what I want; I shall pursue my +course in either case.' + +Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks left the room with some indistinct +muttering; but whether negative or acquiescent, Edward could not +well distinguish. The hostess, a civil, quiet, laborious drudge, +came to take his orders for dinner, but declined to make answer +on the subject of the horse and guide; for the Salique law, it +seems, extended to the stables of the Golden Candlestick. + +From a window which overlooked the dark and narrow court in which +Callum Beg rubbed down the horses after their journey, Waverley +heard the following dialogue betwixt the subtle foot-page of Vich +Ian Vohr and his landlord:-- + +'Ye'll be frae the north, young man?' began the latter. + +'And ye may say that,' answered Callum. + +'And ye'll hae ridden a lang way the day, it may weel be?' + +'Sae lang, that I could weel tak a dram,' + +'Gudewife, bring the gill stoup.' + +Here some compliments passed, fitting the occasion, when my host +of the Golden Candlestick, having, as he thought, opened his +guest's heart by this hospitable propitiation, resumed his +scrutiny. + +'Ye'll no hae mickle better whisky than that aboon the Pass?' + +'I am nae frae aboon the Pass.' + +'Ye're a Highlandman by your tongue?' + +'Na; I am but just Aberdeen-a-way.' + +'And did your master come frae Aberdeen wi' you?' + +'Aye--that's when I left it mysell,' answered the cool and +impenetrable Callum Beg. + +'And what kind of a gentleman is he?' + +'I believe he is ane o' King George's state officers; at least +he's aye for ganging on to the south; and he has a hantle siller, +and never grudges ony thing till a poor body, or in the way of a +lawing.' + +'He wants a guide and a horse frae hence to Edinburgh?' + +'Aye, and ye maun find it him forthwith.' + +'Ahem! It will be chargeable.' + +'He cares na for that a bodle.' + +'Aweel, Duncan--did ye say your name was Duncan, or Donald?' + +'Na, man--Jamie--Jamie Steenson--I telt ye before.' + +This last undaunted parry altogether foiled Mr. Cruickshanks, +who, though not quite satisfied either with the reserve of the +master, or the extreme readiness of the man, was contented to lay +a tax on the reckoning and horse-hire, that might compound for +his ungratified curiosity. The circumstance of its being the +fast-day was not forgotten in the charge, which, on the whole, +did not, however, amount to much more than double what in +fairness it should have been. + +Callum Beg soon after announced in person the ratification of +this treaty, adding, 'Ta auld deevil was ganging to ride wi' ta +Duinhe-wassel hersell.' + +'That will not be very pleasant, Callum, nor altogether safe, for +our host seems a person of great curiosity; but a traveller must +submit to these inconveniences. Meanwhile, my good lad, here is +a trifle for you to drink Vich Ian Vohr's health.' + +The hawk's eye of Callum flashed delight upon a golden guinea, +with which these last words were accompanied. He hastened, not +without a curse on the intricacies of a Saxon breeches pocket, or +SPLEUCHAN, as he called it, to deposit the treasure in his fob; +and then, as if he conceived the benevolence called for some +requital on his part, he gathered close up to Edward, with an +expression of countenance peculiarly knowing, and spoke in an +undertone, 'If his honour thought ta auld deevil Whig carle was a +bit dangerous, she could easily provide for him, and tell ane ta +wiser.' + +'How, and in what manner?' + +'Her ain sell,' replied Callum, 'could wait for him a wee bit +frae the toun, and kittle his quarters wi' her SKENE-OCCLE.' + +'Skene-occle! what's that?' + +Callum unbuttoned his coat, raised his left arm, and, with an +emphatic nod, pointed to the hilt of a small dirk, snugly +deposited under it, in the lining of his jacket. Waverley +thought he had misunderstood his meaning; he gazed in his face, +and discovered in Callum's very handsome, though embrowned +features, just the degree of roguish malice with which a lad of +the same age in England would have brought forward a plan for +robbing an orchard. + +'Good God, Callum, would you take the man's life?' + +'Indeed,' answered the young desperado, 'and I think he has had +just a lang enough lease o't, when he's for betraying honest +folk, that come to spend siller at his public.' + +Edward saw nothing was to be gained by argument, and therefore +contented himself with enjoining Callum to lay aside all +practices against the person of Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks; in +which injunction the page seemed to acquiesce with an air of +great indifference. + +'Ta Duinhe-wassel might please himsell; ta auld rudas loon had +never done Callum nae ill. But here's a bit line frae ta +Tighearna, tat he bade me gie your honour ere I came back.' + +The letter from the Chief contained Flora's lines on the fate of +Captain Wogan, whose enterprising character is so well drawn by +Clarendon. He had originally engaged in the service of the +Parliament, but had abjured that party upon the execution of +Charles I; and upon hearing that the royal standard was set up by +the Earl of Glencairn and General Middleton in the Highlands of +Scotland, took leave of Charles II, who was then at Paris, passed +into England, assembled a body of cavaliers in the neighbourhood +of London, and traversed the kingdom, which had been so long +under domination of the usurper, by marches conducted with such +skill, dexterity, and spirit, that he safely united his handful +of horsemen with the body of Highlanders then in arms. After +several months of desultory warfare, in which Wogan's skill and +courage gained him the highest reputation, he had the misfortune +to be wounded in a dangerous manner, and no surgical assistance +being within reach, he terminated his short but glorious career. + +Where were obvious reasons why the politic Chieftain was desirous +to place the example of this young hero under the eye of +Waverley, with whose romantic disposition it coincided so +peculiarly. But his letter turned chiefly upon some trifling +commissions which Waverley had promised to execute for him in +England, and it was only toward the conclusion that Edward found +these words: 'I owe Flora a grudge for refusing us her company +yesterday; and as I am giving you the trouble of reading these +lines, in order to keep in your memory your promise to procure me +the fishing-tackle and cross-bow from London, I will enclose her +verses on the Grave of Wogan. This I know will tease her; for, +to tell you the truth, I think her more in love with the memory +of that dead hero, than she is likely to be with any living one, +unless he shall tread a similar path. But English squires of our +day keep their oak-trees to shelter their deer-parks, or repair +the losses of an evening at White's, and neither invoke them to +wreathe their brows nor shelter their graves. Let me hope for +one brilliant exception in a dear friend, to whom I would most +gladly give a dearer title.' + +The verses were inscribed, + +TO AN OAK TREE + +IN THE CHURCHYARD OF --, IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, SAID TO +MARK THE GRAVE OF CAPTAIN WOGAN, KILLED IN 1649. + + Emblem of England's ancient faith, + Full proudly may thy branches wave, + Where loyalty lies low in death, + And valour fills a timeless grave. + + And thou, brave tenant of the tomb! + Repine not if our clime deny, + Above thine honoured sod to bloom, + The flowerets of a milder sky. + + These owe their birth to genial May; + Beneath a fiercer sun they pine, + Before the winter storm decay-- + And can their worth be type of thine? + + No! for 'mid storms of Fate opposing, + Still higher swelled thy dauntless heart, + And, while Despair the scene was closing, + Commenced thy brief but brilliant part. + + Twas then thou sought'st on Albyn's hill, + (When England's sons the strife resigned), + A rugged race, resisting still, + And unsubdued though unrefined. + + Thy death's hour heard no kindred wail, + No holy knell thy requiem rung; + Thy mourners were the plaided Gael; + Thy dirge the clamorous pibroch sung. + + Yet who, in Fortune's summer-shine, + To waste life's longest term away, + Would change that glorious dawn of thine, + Though darkened ere its noontide day? + + Be thine the Tree whose dauntless boughs + Brave summer's drought and winter's gloom! + Rome bound with oak her patriots' brows, + As Albyn shadows Wogan's tomb. + +Whatever might be the real merit of Flora Mac-Ivor's poetry, the +enthusiasm which it intimated was well calculated to make a +corresponding impression upon her lover. The lines were read-- +read again--then deposited in Waverley's bosom--then again drawn +out, and read line by line, in a low and smothered voice, and +with frequent pauses which, prolonged the mental treat, as an +epicure protracts, by sipping slowly the enjoyment of a delicious +beverage. The entrance of Mrs. Cruickshanks, with the sublunary +articles of dinner and wine, hardly interrupted this pantomime of +affectionate enthusiasm. + +At length the tall, ungainly figure and ungracious visage of +Ebenezer presented themselves. The upper part of his form, +notwithstanding the season required no such defence, was shrouded +in a large great-coat, belted over his under habiliments, and +crested with a huge cowl of the same stuff, which, when drawn +over the head and hat, completely over-shadowed both, and being +buttoned beneath the chin, was called a TROT-COZY. His hand +grasped a huge jockey-whip, garnished with brass mounting. His +thin legs tenanted a pair of gambadoes, fastened at the sides +with rusty clasps. Thus accoutred, he stalked into the midst of +the apartment, and announced his errand in brief phrase:-- 'Yer +horses are ready.' + +'You go with me yourself then, landlord?' + +'I do, as far as Perth; where you may be supplied With a guide to +Embro', as your occasions shall require.' + +Thus saying, he placed under Waverley's eye the bill which he +held in his hand; and at the same time, self-invited, filled a +glass of wine, and drank devoutly to a blessing on their journey. +Waverley stared at the man's impudence, but, as their connexion +was to be short, and promised to be convenient, he made no +observation upon it; and, having paid his reckoning, expressed +his intention to depart immediately. He mounted Dermid +accordingly, and sallied forth from the Golden Candlestick, +followed by the puritanical figure we have described, after he +had, at the expense of some time and difficulty, and by the +assistance of a 'louping-on-stane,' or structure of masonry +erected for the traveller's convenience in front of the house, +elevated his person to the back of a long-backed, raw-boned, +thin-gutted phantom of a broken-down blood-horse, on which +Waverley's portmanteau was deposited. Our hero, though not in a +very gay humour, could hardly help laughing at the appearance of +his new squire, and at imagining the astonishment which his +person and equipage would have excited at Waverley-Honour. + +Edward's tendency to mirth did not escape mine host of the +Candlestick, who, conscious of the cause, infused a double +portion of souring into the pharisaical leaven of his +countenance, and resolved internally that in one way or other the +young ENGLISHER should pay dearly for the contempt with which he +seemed to regard him. Callum also stood at the gate, and +enjoyed, with undissembled glee, the ridiculous figure of Mr. +Cruickshanks. As Waverley passed him, he pulled off his hat +respectfully, and approaching his stirrup, bade him 'Tak heed the +auld Whig deevil played him nae cantrip.' + +Waverley once more thanked, and bade him farewell, and then rode +briskly onward, not sorry to be out of hearing of the shouts of +the children, as they beheld old Ebenezer rise and sink in his +stirrups, to avoid the concussions occasioned by a hard trot upon +a half-paved street. The village of -- was soon several miles +behind him. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +SHOWS THAT THE LOSS OF A HORSE'S SHOE MAY BE A SERIOUS INCONVENIENCE + +The manner and air of Waverley, but, above all, the glittering +contents of his purse, and the indifference with which he seemed +to regard them, somewhat overawed his companion, and deterred him +from making any attempts to enter upon conversation. His own +reflections were, moreover, agitated by various surmises, and by +plans of self-interest, with which these were intimately +connected. The travellers journeyed, therefore, in silence, +until it was interrupted by the annunciation, on the part of the +guide, that his 'naig had lost a fore-foot shoe, which, +doubtless, his honour would consider it was his part to replace.' + +This was what lawyers call a FISHING QUESTION, calculated to +ascertain how far Waverley was disposed to submit to petty +imposition. 'My part to replace your horse's shoe, you rascal!' +said Waverley, mistaking the purport of the intimation. + +'Indubitably,' answered Mr. Cruickshanks; 'though there was no +preceese clause to that effect, it canna be expected that I am to +pay for the casualties whilk may befall the puir naig while in +your honour's service.--Nathless, if your honour--' + +'Oh, you mean I am to pay the farrier; but where shall we find +one?' + +Rejoiced at discerning there would be no objection made on the +part of his temporary master, Mr. Cruickshanks assured him that +Cairnvreckan, a village which they were about to enter, was happy +in an excellent blacksmith; 'but as he was a professor, he would +drive a nail for no man on the Sabbath, or kirk-fast, unless it +were in a case of absolute necessity, for which he always charged +sixpence each shoe.' The most important part of this +communication, in the opinion of the speaker, made a very slight +impression on the hearer, who only internally wondered what +college this veterinary professor belonged to; not aware that the +word was used to denote any person who pretended to uncommon +sanctity of faith and manner. + +As they entered the village of Cairnvreckan, they speedily +distinguished the smith's house. Being also a PUBLIC, it was two +stories high, and proudly reared its crest, covered with grey +slate, above the thatched hovels by which it was surrounded. The +adjoining smithy betokened none of the Sabbatical silence and +repose which Ebenezer had augured from the sanctity of his +friend. On the contrary, hammer clashed and anvil rang, the +bellows groaned, and the whole apparatus of Vulcan appeared to be +in full activity. Nor was the labour of a rural and pacific +nature. The master smith, benempt, as his sign intimated, John +Mucklewrath, with two assistants, toiled busily in arranging, +repairing, and furbishing old muskets, pistols, and swords, which +lay scattered around his workshop in military confusion. The +open shed, containing the forge, was crowded with persons who +came and went as if receiving and communicating important news; +and a single glance at the aspect of the people who traversed the +street in haste, or stood assembled in groups, with eyes +elevated, and hands uplifted, announced that some extraordinary +intelligence was agitating the public mind of the municipality of +Cairnvreckan. 'There is some news,' said mine host of the +Candlestick, pushing his lantern-jawed visage and bare-boned nag +rudely forward into the crowd--'there is some news; and if it +please my Creator, I will forthwith obtain speirings thereof.' + +Waverley, with better regulated curiosity than his attendant's, +dismounted, and gave his horse to a boy who stood idling near. +It arose, perhaps, from the shyness of his character in early +youth, that he felt dislike at applying to a stranger even for +casual information, without previously glancing at his +physiognomy and appearance. While he looked about in order to +select the person with whom he would most willingly hold +communication, the buzz around saved him in some degree the +trouble of interrogatories. The names of Lochiel, Clanronald, +Glengarry, and other distinguished Highland Chiefs, among whom +Vich Ian Vohr was repeatedly mentioned, were as familiar in men's +mouths as household words; and from the alarm generally +expressed, he easily conceived that their descent into the +Lowlands, at the head of their armed tribes, had either already +taken place, or was instantly apprehended. + +Ere Waverley could ask particulars, a strong, large-boned, hard- +featured woman, about forty, dressed as if her clothes had been +flung on with a pitchfork, her cheeks flushed with a scarlet red +where they were not smutted with soot and lamp-black, jostled +through the crowd, and, brandishing high a child of two years +old, which she danced in her arms, without regard to its screams +of terror, sang forth, with all her might,-- + + 'Charlie is my darling, my darling, my darling, + Charlie is my darling, + The young Chevalier! + +'D'ye hear what's come ower ye now,' continued the virago, 'ye +whingeing Whig carles? D'ye hear wha's coming to cow yer cracks? + + Little wot ye wha's coming, + Little wot ye wha's coming, + A' the wild Macraws are coming.' + +The Vulcan of Cairnvreckan, who acknowledged his Venus in this +exulting Bacchante, regarded her with a grim and ire-foreboding +countenance, while some of the senators of the village hastened +to interpose. 'Whisht, gudewife; is this a time, or is this a +day, to be singing your ranting fule sangs in?--a time when the +wine of wrath is poured out without mixture in the cup of +indignation, and a day when the land should give testimony +against popery, and prelacy, and quakerism, and independency, and +supremacy, and erastianism, and antinomianism, and a' the errors +of the church?' + +'And that's a' your Whiggery,' re-echoed the Jacobite heroine; +'that's a' your Whiggery, and your presbytery, ye cut-lugged, +graning carles! What! d'ye think the lads wi' the kilts will +care for yer synods and yer presbyteries, and yer buttock-mail, +and yer stool o' repentance? Vengeance on the black face o't! +Mony an honester woman's been set upon it than streeks doon +beside ony Whig in the country. I mysell'-- + +Here John Mucklewrath, who dreaded her entering upon a detail of +personal experience, interposed his matrimonial authority. 'Gae +hame, and be d-- (that I should say sae), and put on the sowens +for supper.' + +'And you, ye doil'd dotard,' replied his gentle helpmate, her +wrath, which had hitherto wandered abroad over the whole +assembly, being at once and violently impelled into its natural +channel, 'ye stand there hammering dog-heads for fules that will +never snap them at a Highlandman, instead, of earning bread for +your family, and shoeing this winsome young gentleman's horse +that's just come frae the north! I'se warrant him nane of your +whingeing King George folk, but a gallant Gordon, at the least o' +him.' + +The eyes of the assembly were now turned upon Waverley, who took +the opportunity to beg the smith to shoe his guide's horse with +all speed, as he wished to proceed on his journey;--for he had +heard enough to make him sensible that there would be danger in +delaying long in this place. The smith's eye rested on him with +a look of displeasure and suspicion, not lessened by the +eagerness with which his wife enforced Waverley's mandate. 'D'ye +hear what the weel-favoured young gentleman says, ye drunken +ne'er-do-good?' + +And what may your name be, sir?' quoth Mucklewrath. + +'It is of no consequence to you, my friend, provided I pay your +labour.' + +'But it may be of consequence to the state, sir,' replied an old +farmer, smelling strongly of whisky and peat-smoke; 'and I doubt +we maun delay your journey till you have seen the Laird.' + +'You certainly,' said Waverley, haughtily, 'will find it both +difficult and dangerous to detain me, unless you can produce some +proper authority.' + +There was a pause and a whisper among the crowd--'Secretary +Murray;' 'Lord Lewis Gordon;' 'Maybe the Chevalier himsell!' +Such were the surmises that passed hurriedly among them, and +there was obviously an increased disposition to resist WaverIey's +departure. He attempted to argue mildly with them, but his +voluntary ally, Mrs. Mucklewrath, broke in upon and drowned his +expostulations, taking his part with an abusive violence, which +was all set down to Edward's account by those on whom it was +bestowed. 'YE'LL stop ony gentleman that's the Prince's freend?' +for she too, though with other feelings, had adopted the general +opinion respecting Waverley. 'I daur ye to touch him,' spreading +abroad her long and muscular fingers, garnished with claws which +a vulture might have envied. 'I'll set my ten commandments in +the face o' the first loon that lays a finger on him.' + +'Gae hame, gudewife, quoth the farmer aforesaid; 'it wad better +set you to be nursing the gudeman's bairns than to be deaving us +here.' + +'HIS bairns!' retorted the amazon, regarding her husband with a +grin of ineffable contempt--'HIS bairns! + + O gin ye were dead, gudeman, + And a green turf on your head, gudeman! + Then I would ware my widowhood + Upon a ranting Highlandman.' + +This canticle, which excited a suppressed titter among the +younger part of the audience, totally overcame the patience of +the taunted man of the anvil. 'Deil be in me but I'll put this +het gad down her throat!' cried he, in an ecstasy of wrath, +snatching a bar from the forge; and he might have executed his +threat, had he not been withheld by a part of the mob; while the +rest endeavoured to force the termagant out of his presence. + +Waverley meditated a retreat in the confusion, but his horse was +nowhere to be seen. At length he observed, at some distance, his +faithful attendant, Ebenezer, who, as soon as he had perceived +the turn matters were likely to take, had withdrawn both horses +from the press, and, mounted on the one, and holding the other, +answered the loud and repeated calls of Waverley for his horse-- +'Na, na! if ye are nae friend to kirk and the king, and are +detained as siccan a person, ye maun answer to honest men of the +country for breach of contract; and I maun keep the naig and the +walise for damage and expense, in respect my horse and mysell +will lose to-morrow's day's-wark, besides the afternoon +preaching.' + +Edward, out of patience, hemmed in and hustled by the rabble on +every side, and every moment expecting personal violence, +resolved to try measures of intimidation, and at length drew a +pocket-pistol, threatening, on the one hand, to shoot whomsoever +dared to stop him, and, on the other, menacing Ebenezer with a +similar doom, if he stirred a foot with the horses. The sapient +Partridge says, that one man with a pistol is equal to a hundred +unarmed, because, though he can shoot but one of the multitude, +yet no one knows but that he himself may be that luckless +individual. The levy en masse of Cairnvreckan would therefore +probably have given way, nor would Ebenezer, whose natural +paleness had waxed three shades more cadaverous, have ventured to +dispute a mandate so enforced, had not the Vulcan of the village, +eager to discharge upon some more worthy object the fury which +his helpmate had provoked, and not ill satisfied to find such an +object in Waverley, rushed at him with the red-hot bar of iron, +with such determination as made the discharge of his pistol an +act of self-defence. The unfortunate man fell; and while Edward, +thrilled with a natural horror at the incident, neither had +presence of mind to unsheathe his sword nor to draw his remaining +pistol, the populace threw themselves upon him, disarmed him, and +were about to use him with great violence, when the appearance of +a venerable clergyman, the pastor of the parish, put a curb on +their fury. + +This worthy man (none of the Goukthrapples or Rentowels) +maintained his character with the common people, although he +preached the practical fruits of Christian faith, as well as its +abstract tenets, and was respected by the higher orders, +notwithstanding he declined soothing their speculative errors by +converting the pulpit of the gospel into a school of heathen +morality. Perhaps it is owing to this mixture of faith and +practice in his doctrine, that, although his memory has formed a +sort of era in the annals of Cairnvreckan, so that the +parishioners, to denote what befell Sixty Years since, still say +it happened 'in good Mr. Morton's time,' I have never been able +to discover which he belonged to, the evangelical, or the +moderate party in the kirk. Nor do I hold the circumstance of +much moment, since, in my own remembrance, the one was headed by +an Erskine, the other by a Robertson. [The Rev. John Erskine, +D.D., an eminent Scottish divine, and a most excellent man, +headed the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland at the +time when the celebrated Dr. Robertson, the historian, was the +leader of the Moderate party. These two distinguished persons +were colleagues in the Old Grey Friars' Church, Edinburgh; and, +however much they differed in church politics, preserved the most +perfect harmony as private friends, and as clergymen serving the +same cure.] + +Mr. Morton had been alarmed by the discharge of the pistol, and +the increasing hubbub around the smithy. His first attention, +after he had directed the bystanders to detain Waverley, but to +abstain from injuring him, was turned to the body of Mucklewrath, +over which his wife, in a revulsion of feeling, was weeping, +howling, and tearing her elf-locks, in a state little short of +distraction. On raising up the smith, the first discovery was, +that he was alive; and the next, that he was likely to live as +long as if he had never heard the report of a pistol in his life. +He had made a narrow escape, however; the bullet had grazed his +head, and stunned him for a moment or two, which trance terror +and confusion of spirit had prolonged, somewhat longer. He now +arose to demand vengeance on the person of Waverley, and with +difficulty acquiesced in the proposal of Mr. Morton, that he +should be carried before the laird, as a justice of peace, and +placed at his disposal. The rest of the assistants unanimously +agreed to the measure recommended; even Mrs. Mucklewrath, who had +begun to recover from her hysterics, whimpered forth, 'She wadna +say naething against what the minister proposed; he was e'en ower +gude for his trade, and she hoped to see him wi' a dainty decent +bishop's gown on his back; a comelier sight than your Geneva +cloaks and bands, I wis.' + +All controversy being thus laid aside, Waverley, escorted by the +whole inhabitants of the village who were not bed-ridden, was +conducted to the house of Cairnvreckan, which was about half a +mile distant. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +AN EXAMINATION + +Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, an elderly gentleman, who had +spent his youth in the military service, received Mr. Morton with +great kindness, and our hero with civility. which the equivocal +circumstances wherein Edward was placed rendered constrained and +distant. + +The nature of the smith's hurt was inquired into, and as the +actual injury was likely to prove trifling, and the circumstances +in which it was received rendered the infliction, on Edward's +part, a natural act of self-defence, the Major conceived he might +dismiss that matter, on Waverley's depositing in his hands a +small sum for the benefit of the wounded person. + +'I could wish, sir,' continued the Major, 'that my duty +terminated here; but it is necessary that we should have some +further inquiry into the cause of your journey through the +country at this unfortunate and distracted time.' + +Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks now stood forth, and communicated to +the magistrate all he knew or suspected, from the reserve of +Waverley, and the evasions of Callum Beg. The horse upon which +Edward rode, he said he knew to belong to Vich Ian Vohr, though +he dared not tax Edward's former attendant with the fact, lest he +should have his house and stables burnt over his head some night +by that godless gang, the Mac-Ivors. He concluded by +exaggerating his own services to kirk and state, as having been +the means, under God (as he modestly qualified the assertion), of +attaching this suspicious and formidable delinquent. He +intimated hopes of future reward, and of instant reimbursement +for loss of time, and even of character, by travelling on the +state business on the fast-day. + +To this Major Melville answered, with great composure, that so +far from claiming any merit in this affair, Mr. Cruickshanks +ought to deprecate the imposition of a very heavy fine for +neglecting to lodge, in terms of the recent proclamation, an +account with the nearest magistrate of any stranger who came to +his inn; that as Mr. Cruickshanks boasted so much of religion and +loyalty, he should not impute this conduct to disaffection, but +only suppose that his zeal for kirk and state had been lulled +asleep by the opportunity of charging a stranger with double +horse-hire; that, however, feeling himself incompetent to decide +singly upon the conduct of a person of such importance, he should +reserve it for consideration of the next quarter-sessions. Now +our history for the present saith no more of him of the +Candlestick, who wended dolorous and malcontent back to his own +dwelling. + +Major Melville then commanded the villagers to return to their +homes, excepting two, who officiated as constables, and whom he +directed to wait below. The apartment was thus cleared of every +person but Mr. Morton, whom the Major invited to remain; a sort +of factor, who acted as clerk; and Waverley himself. There +ensued a painful and embarrassed pause, till Major Melville, +looking upon Waverley with much compassion, and often consulting +a paper or memorandum which he held in his hand, requested to +know his name.--'Edward Waverley.' + +'I thought so; late of the -- dragoons, and nephew of Sir Everard +Waverley of Waverley-Honour?' + +'The same.' + +'Young gentleman, I am extremely sorry that this painful duty has +fallen to my lot.' + +'Duty, Major Melville, renders apologies superfluous.' + +'True, sir; permit me, therefore, to ask you how your time has +been disposed of since you obtained leave of absence from your +regiment, several weeks ago, until the present moment?' + +'My reply,' said Waverley, 'to so general a question must be +guided by the nature of the charge which renders it necessary. I +request to know what that charge is, and upon what authority I am +forcibly detained to reply to it?' + +'The charge, Mr. Waverley, I grieve to say, is of a very high +nature, and affects your character both as a soldier and a +subject. In the former capacity, you are charged with spreading +mutiny and rebellion among the men you commanded, and setting +them the example of desertion, by prolonging your own absence +from the regiment, contrary to the express orders of your +commanding-officer. The civil crime of which you stand accused +is that of high treason, and levying war against the king, the +highest delinquency of which a subject can be guilty.' + +'And by what authority am I detained to reply to such heinous +calumnies?' + +'By one which you must not dispute, nor I disobey.' + +He handed to Waverley a warrant from the Supreme Criminal Court +of Scotland, in full form, for apprehending and securing the +person of Edward Waverley, Esq., suspected of treasonable +practices and other high crimes and misdemeanours. + +The astonishment which Waverley expressed at this communication +was imputed by Major Melville to conscious guilt, while Mr. +Morton was rather disposed to construe it into the surprise of +innocence unjustly suspected. There was something true in both +conjectures; for although Edward's mind acquitted him of the +crime with which he was charged, yet a hasty review of his own +conduct convinced him he might have great difficulty in +establishing his innocence to the satisfaction of others. + +'It is a very painful part of this painful business,' said Major +Melville, after a pause, 'that, under so grave a charge, I must +necessarily request to see such papers as you have on your +person.' + +'You shall, sir, without reserve,' said Edward, throwing his +pocket-book and memorandums upon the table; 'there is but one +with which I could wish you would dispense.' + +'I am afraid, Mr. Waverley, I can indulge you with no +reservation.' + +'You shall see it then, sir; and as it can be of no service, I +beg it may be returned.' + +He took from his bosom the lines he had that morning received, +and presented them with the envelope. The Major perused them in +silence, and directed his clerk to make a copy of them. He then +wrapped the copy in the envelope, and placing it on the table +before him, returned the original to Waverley, with an air of +melancholy gravity. + +After indulging the prisoner, for such our hero must now be +considered, with what he thought a reasonable time for +reflection, Major Melville resumed his examination, premising, +that as Mr. Waverley seemed to object to general questions, his +interrogatories should be as specific as his information +permitted. He then proceeded in his investigation, dictating, as +he went on, the import of the questions and answers to the +amanuensis, by whom it was written down. + +Did Mr. Waverley know one Humphry Houghton, a non-commissioned +officer in Gardiner's dragoons?' + +'Certainly; he was sergeant of my troop, and son of a tenant of +my uncle.' + +'Exactly--and had a considerable share of your confidence, and an +influence among his comrades?' + +'I had never occasion to repose confidence in a person of his +description,' answered Waverley. 'I favoured Sergeant Houghton +as a clever, active young fellow, and I believe his fellow +soldiers respected him accordingly.' + +'But you used through this man,' answered Major Melville, 'to +communicate with such of your troop as were recruited upon +Waverley-Honour?' + +'Certainly; the poor fellows, finding themselves in a regiment +chiefly composed of Scotch or Irish, looked up to me in any of +their little distresses, and naturally made their countryman, and +sergeant, their spokesman on such occasions.' + +'Sergeant Houghton's influence,' continued the Major, 'extended, +then, particularly over those soldiers who followed you to the +regiment from your uncle's estate?' + +'Surely;--but what is that to the present purpose?' + +'To that I am just coming, and I beseech your candid reply. Have +you, since leaving the regiment, held any correspondence, direct +or indirect, with this Sergeant Houghton?' + +'I!--I hold correspondence with a man of his rank and situation! +--How, or for what purpose?' + +'That you are to explain;--but did you not, for example, send to +him for some books?' + +'You remind me of a trifling commission,' said Waverley, 'which I +gave Sergeant Houghton, because my servant could not read. I do +recollect I bade him, by letter, select some books, of which I +sent him a list, and send them to me at Tully-Veolan.' + +'And of what description were those books?' + +'They related almost entirely to elegant literature; they were +designed for a lady's perusal.' + +'Were there not, Mr. Waverley, treasonable tracts and pamphlets +among them?' + +'There were some political treatises, into which I hardly looked. +They had been sent to me by the officiousness of a kind friend, +whose heart is more to be esteemed than his prudence or political +sagacity; they seemed to be dull compositions.' + +'That friend,' continued the persevering inquirer, 'was a Mr. +Pembroke, a nonjuring clergyman, the author of two treasonable +works, of which the manuscripts were found among your baggage?' + +'But of which, I give you my honour as a gentleman,' replied +Waverley, 'I never read six pages.' + +'I am not your judge, Mr. Waverley; your examination will be +transmitted elsewhere. And now to proceed--Do you know a person +that passes by the name of Wily Will, or Will Ruthven?' + +'I never heard of such a name till this moment.' + +'Did you never, through such a person, or any other person, +communicate with Sergeant Humphry Houghton, instigating him to +desert, with as many of his comrades as he could seduce to join +him, and unite with the Highlanders and other rebels now in arms +under the command of the young Pretender?' + +'I assure you I am not only entirely guiltless of the plot you +have laid to my charge, but I detest it from the very bottom of +my soul, nor would I be guilty of such treachery to gain a +throne, either for myself or any other man alive.' + +'Yet when I consider this envelope, in the handwriting of one of +those misguided gentlemen who are now in arms against their +country, and the verses which it enclosed, I cannot but find some +analogy between the enterprise I have mentioned and the exploit +of Wogan, which the writer seems to expect you should imitate.' + +Waverley was struck with the coincidence, but denied that the +wishes or expectations of the letter-writer were to be regarded +as proofs of a charge otherwise chimerical. + +'But, if I am rightly informed, your time was spent, during your +absence from the regiment, between the house of this Highland +Chieftain, and that of Mr. Bradwardine of Bradwardine, also in +arms for this unfortunate cause?' + +'I do not mean to disguise it; but I do deny, most resolutely, +being privy to any of their designs against the Government.' + +'You do not, however, I presume, intend to deny, that you +attended your host Glennaquoich to a rendezvous, where, under a +pretence of a general hunting-match, most of the accomplices of +his treason were assembled to concert measures for taking arms?' + +'I acknowledge having been at such a meeting,' said Waverley; +'but I neither heard nor saw anything which could give it the +character you affix to it.' + +'From thence you proceeded,' continued the magistrate, 'with +Glennaquoich and a part of his clan, to join the army of the +young Pretender, and returned, after having paid your homage to +him, to discipline and arm the remainder, and unite them to his +bands on their way southward?' + +'I never went with Glennaquoich on such an errand. I never so +much as heard that the person whom you mention was in the +country.' + +He then detailed the history of his misfortune at the hunting- +match, and added, that on his return he found himself suddenly +deprived of his commission and did not deny that he then, for +the first time, observed symptoms which indicated a disposition +in the Highlanders to take arms; but added, that having no +inclination to join their cause, and no longer any reason for +remaining in Scotland, he was now on his return to his native +country, to which he had been summoned by those who had a right +to direct his motions, as Major Melville would perceive from the +letters on the table. + +Major Melville accordingly perused the letters of Richard +Waverley, of Sir Everard, and of Aunt Rachel; but the inferences +he drew from them were different from what Waverley expected. +They held the language of discontent with Government, threw out +no obscure hints of revenge; and that of poor Aunt Rachel, which +plainly asserted the justice of the Stuart cause, was held to +contain the open avowal of what the others only ventured to +insinuate. + +'Permit me another question, Mr. Waverley,' said Major Melville. +'Did you not receive repeated letters from your commanding- +officer, warning you and commanding you to return to your post, +and acquainting you with the use made of your name to spread +discontent among your soldiers?' + +'I never did, Major Melville. One letter, indeed, I received +from him, containing a civil intimation of his wish that I would +employ my leave of absence otherwise than in constant residence +at Bradwardine, as to which, I own, I thought he was not called +on to interfere; and, finally, I received, on the same day on +which I observed myself superseded in the Gazette, a second +letter from Colonel Gardiner, commanding me to join the +regiment,--an order which, owing to my absence, already mentioned +and accounted for, I received too late to be obeyed. If there +were any intermediate letters--and certainly, from the Colonel's +high character, I think it probable that there were--they have +never reached me.' + +'I have omitted, Mr. Waverley,' continued Major Melville, 'to +inquire after a matter of less consequence, but which has +nevertheless been publicly talked of to your disadvantage. It is +said that a treasonable toast having been proposed in your +hearing and presence, you, holding his Majesty's commission, +suffered the task of resenting it to devolve upon another +gentleman of the company. This, sir, cannot be charged against +you in a court of justice; but if, as I am informed, the officers +of your regiment requested an explanation of such a rumour, as a +gentleman and soldier, I cannot but be surprised that you did not +afford it to them.' + +This was too much. Beset and pressed on every hand by +accusations, in which gross falsehoods were blended with such +circumstances of truth as could not fail to procure them credit, +--alone, unfriended, and in a strange land, Waverley almost gave +up his life and honour for lost, and, leaning his head upon his +hand, resolutely refused to answer any further questions, since +the fair and candid statement he had already made had only served +to furnish arms against him. + +Without expressing either surprise or displeasure at the change +in Waverley's manner, Major Melville proceeded composedly to put +several other queries to him. 'What does it avail me to answer +you?' said Edward, sullenly. 'You appear convinced of my guilt, +and wrest every reply I have made to support your own +preconceived opinion. Enjoy your supposed triumph, then, and +torment me no further. If I am capable of the cowardice and +treachery your charge burdens me with, I am not worthy to be +believed in any reply I can make to you. If I am not deserving +of your suspicion--and God and my own conscience bear evidence +with me that it is so--then I do not see why I should, by my +candour, lend my accusers arms against my innocence. There is no +reason I should answer a word more, and I am determined to abide +by this resolution.' And again he resumed his posture of sullen +and determined silence. + +'Allow me,' said the magistrate, 'to remind you of one reason +that may suggest the propriety of a candid and open confession. +The inexperience of youth, Mr. Waverley, lays it open to the +plans of the more designing and artful; and one of your friends +at least--I mean Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich--ranks high in the +latter class, as, from your apparent ingenuousness, youth, and +unacquaintance with the manners of the Highlands, I should be +disposed to place you among the former. In such a case, a false +step, or error like yours, which I shall be happy to consider as +involuntary, may be atoned for, and I would willingly act as +intercessor. But as you must necessarily be acquainted with the +strength of the individuals in this country who have assumed +arms, with their means, and with their plans, I must expect you +will merit this mediation on my part by a frank and candid avowal +of all that has come to your knowledge upon these heads. In +which case, I think I can venture to promise that a very short +personal restraint will be the only ill consequence that can +arise from your accession to these unhappy intrigues.' + +Waverley listened with great composure until the end of this +exhortation, when, springing from his seat, with an energy he had +not yet displayed, he replied, 'Major Melville, since that is +your name, I have hitherto answered your questions with candour, +or declined them with temper, because their import concerned +myself alone; but as you presume to esteem me mean enough to +commence informer against others, who received me, whatever may +be their public misconduct, as a guest and friend,--I declare to +you that I consider your questions as an insult infinitely more +offensive than your calumnious suspicions; and that, since my +hard fortune permits me no other mode of resenting them than by +verbal defiance, you should sooner have my heart out of my bosom, +than a single syllable of information on subjects which I could +only become acquainted with in the full confidence of +unsuspecting hospitality.' + +Mr. Morton and the Major looked at each other; and the former, +who, in the course of the examination, had been repeatedly +troubled with a sorry rheum, had recourse to his snuff-box and +his handkerchief. + +'Mr. Waverley,' said the Major, 'my present situation prohibits +me alike from giving or receiving offence, and I will not +protract a discussion which approaches to either. I am afraid I +must sign a warrant for detaining you in custody, but this house +shall for the present be your prison. I fear I cannot persuade +you to accept a share of our supper?--(Edward shook his head)-- +but I will order refreshments in your apartment. + +Our hero bowed and withdrew, under guard of the officers of +justice, to a small but handsome room, where, declining all +offers of food or wine, he flung himself on the bed, and, +stupefied by the harassing events and mental fatigue of this +miserable day, he sank into a deep and heavy slumber. This was +more than he himself could have expected; but it is mentioned of +the North American Indians, when at the stake of torture, that on +the least intermission of agony, they will sleep until the fire +is applied to awaken them. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A CONFERENCE, AND THE CONSEQUENCE + +Major Melville had detained Mr. Morton during his examination of +Waverley, both because he thought he might derive assistance from +his practical good sense and approved loyalty, and also because +it was agreeable to have a witness of unimpeached candour and +veracity to proceedings which touched the honour and safety of a +young Englishman of high rank and family, and the expectant heir +of a large fortune. Every step he knew would be rigorously +canvassed, and it was his business to place the justice and +integrity of his own conduct beyond the limits of question. + +When Waverley retired, the laird and clergyman of Cairnvreckan +sat down in silence to their evening meal. While the servants +were in attendance, neither chose to say anything on the +circumstances which occupied their minds, and neither felt it +easy to speak upon any other. The youth and apparent frankness +of Waverley stood in strong contrast to the shades of suspicion +which darkened around him, and he had a sort of NAIVETE and +openness of demeanour, that seemed to belong to one unhackneyed +in the ways of intrigue, and which pleaded highly in his favour. + +Each mused over the particulars of the examination, and each +viewed it through the medium of his own feelings. Both were men +of ready and acute talent, and both were equally competent to +combine various parts of evidence, and to deduce from them the +necessary conclusions. But the wide difference of their habits +and education often occasioned a great discrepancy in their +respective deductions from admitted premises. + +Major Melville had been versed in camps and cities; he was +vigilant by profession, and cautious from experience; had met +with much evil in the world, and therefore, though himself an +upright magistrate and an honourable man, his opinions of others +were always strict, and sometimes unjustly severe. Mr. Morton, +on the contrary, had passed from the literary pursuits of a +college, where he was beloved by his companions, and respected by +his teachers, to the ease and simplicity of his present charge, +where his opportunities of witnessing evil were few, and never +dwelt upon but in order to encourage repentance and amendment; +and where the love and respect of his parishioners repaid his +affectionate zeal in their behalf, by endeavouring to disguise +from him what they knew would give him the most acute pain, +namely, their own occasional transgressions of the duties which +it was the business of his life to recommend. Thus it was a +common saying in the neighbourhood (though both wore popular +characters), that the laird knew only the ill in the parish, and +the minister only the good. + +A love of letters, though kept in subordination to his clerical +studies and duties, also distinguished the pastor of +Cairnvreckan, and had tinged his mind in earlier days with a +slight feeling of romance, which no after incidents of real life +had entirely dissipated. The early loss of an amiable young +woman, whom he had married for love, and who was quickly followed +to the grave by an only child, had also served, even after the +lapse of many years, to soften a disposition naturally mild and +contemplative. His feelings on the present occasion were +therefore likely to differ from those of the severe +disciplinarian, strict magistrate, and distrustful man of the +world. + +When the servants had withdrawn, the silence of both parties +continued, until Major Melville, filling his glass, and pushing +the bottle to Mr. Morton, commenced. 'A distressing affair this, +Mr. Morton. I fear this youngster has brought himself within the +compass of a halter.' + +'God forbid!' answered the clergyman. + +'Marry, and amen,' said the temporal magistrate; 'but I think +even your merciful logic will hardly deny the conclusion.' + +'Surely, Major,' answered the clergyman, 'I should hope it might +be averted, for aught we have heard to-night?' + +'Indeed!' replied Melville. 'But, my good parson, you are one +of those who would communicate to every criminal the benefit of +clergy.' + +'Unquestionably I would: mercy and long-suffering are the grounds +of the doctrine I am called to teach.' + +'True, religiously speaking; but mercy to a criminal may be gross +injustice to the community. I don't speak of this young fellow +in particular, who I heartily wish may be able to clear himself, +for I like both his modesty and his spirit. But I fear he has +rushed upon his fate.' + +'And why? Hundreds of misguided gentlemen are now in arms +against the Government; many, doubtless, upon principles which +education and early prejudice have gilded with the names of +patriotism and heroism;--Justice, when she selects her victims +from such a multitude (for surely all will not be destroyed), +must regard the moral motive. He whom ambition, or hope of +personal advantage, has led to disturb the peace of a well- +ordered government, let him fall a victim to the laws; but surely +youth, misled by the wild visions of chivalry and imaginary +loyalty, may plead for pardon.' + +'If visionary chivalry and imaginary loyalty come within the +predicament of high treason,' replied the magistrate, 'I know no +court in Christendom, my dear Mr. Morton, where they can sue out +their Habeas Corpus.' + +'But I cannot see that this youth's guilt is at all established +to my satisfaction,' said the clergyman. + +'Because your good nature blinds your good sense,' replied Major +Melville. 'Observe now: this young man, descended of a family of +hereditary Jacobites, his uncle the leader of the Tory interest +in the county of --, his father a disobliged and discontented +courtier, his tutor a nonjuror, and the author of two treasonable +volumes--this youth, I say, enters into Gardiner's dragoons, +bringing with him a body-of young fellows from his uncle's +estate, who have not stickled at avowing, in their way, the High +Church principles they learned at Waverley-Honour, in their +disputes with their comrades. To these young men Waverley is +unusually attentive; they are supplied with money beyond a +soldier's wants, and inconsistent with his discipline; and are +under the management of a favourite sergeant, through whom they +hold an unusually close communication with their captain, and +affect to consider themselves as independent of the other +officers, and superior to their comrades.' + +'All this, my dear Major, is the natural consequence of their +attachment to their young landlord, and of their finding +themselves in a regiment levied chiefly in the north of Ireland +and the west of Scotland, and of course among comrades disposed +to quarrel with them, both as Englishmen, and as members of the +Church of England.' + +'Well said, parson!' replied the magistrate.--'I would some of +your synod heard you.--But let me go on. This young man obtains +leave of absence, goes to Tully-Veolan--the principles of the +Baron of Bradwardine are pretty well known, not to mention that +this lad's uncle brought him off in the year fifteen; he engages +there in a brawl, in which he is said to have disgraced the +commission he bore; Colonel Gardiner writes to him, first mildly, +then more sharply--I think you will not doubt his having done so, +since he says so; the mess invite him to explain the quarrel in +which he is said to have been involved; he neither replies to his +commander nor his comrades. In the meanwhile, his soldiers +become mutinous and disorderly, and at length, when the rumour of +this unhappy rebellion becomes general, his favourite Sergeant +Houghton, and another fellow, are detected in correspondence with +a French emissary, accredited, as he says, by Captain Waverley, +who urges him, according to the men's confession, to desert with +the troop and join their captain, who was with Prince Charles. +In the meanwhile this trusty captain is, by his own admission, +residing at Glennaquoich with the most active, subtle, and +desperate Jacobite in Scotland; he goes with him at least as far +as their famous hunting rendezvous, and I fear a little farther. +Meanwhile two other summonses are sent him; one warning him of +the disturbances in his troop, another peremptorily ordering him +to repair to the regiment, which, indeed, common sense might have +dictated, when he observed rebellion thickening all round him. +He returns an absolute refusal, and throws up his commission.' + +'He had been already deprived of it,' said Mr. Morton. + +'But he regrets,' replied Melville, 'that the measure had +anticipated his resignation. His baggage is seized at his +quarters, and at Tully-Veolan, and is found to contain a stock of +pestilent jacobitical pamphlets, enough to poison a whole +country, besides the unprinted lucubrations of his worthy friend +and tutor Mr. Pembroke. + +'He says he never read them,' answered the minister. + +'In an ordinary case I should believe him,' replied the +magistrate, 'for they are as stupid and pedantic in composition, +as mischievous in their tenets. But can you suppose anything but +value for the principles they maintain would induce a young man +of his age to lug such trash about with him? Then, when news +arrive of the approach of the rebels, he sets out in a sort of +disguise, refusing to tell his name; and, if yon old fanatic tell +truth, attended by a very suspicious character, and mounted on a +horse known to have belonged to Glennaquoich, and bearing on his +person letters from his family expressing high rancour against +the house of Brunswick, and a copy of verses in praise of one +Wogan, who abjured the service of the Parliament to join the +Highland insurgents, when in arms to restore the house of Stuart, +with a body of English cavalry the very counterpart of his own +plot--and summed up with a "Go thou and do likewise," from that +loyal subject, and most safe and peaceable character, Fergus Mac- +Ivor of Glennaquoich, Vich Ian Vohr, and so forth. And, lastly,' +continued Major Melville, warming in the detail of his arguments, +'where do we find this second edition of Cavalier Wogan? Why, +truly, in the very track most proper for execution of his design, +and pistolling the first of the king's subjects who ventures to +question his intentions.' + +Mr. Morton prudently abstained from argument, which be perceived +would only harden the magistrate in his opinion, and merely asked +how he intended to dispose of the prisoner? + +'It is a question of some difficulty, considering the state of +the country,' said Major Melville. + +'Could you not detain him (being such a gentleman-like young man) +here in your own house, out of harm's way, till this storm blow +over?' + +'My good friend,' said Major Melville, 'neither your house nor +mine will be long out of harm's way, even were it legal to +confine him here. I have just learned that the commander-in- +chief, who marched into the Highlands to seek out and disperse +the insurgents, has declined giving them battle at Corryerick, +and marched on northward with all the disposable force of +Government to Inverness, John-o'-Groat's House, or the devil, for +what I know, leaving the road to the Low Country open and +undefended to the Highland army.' + +'Good God!' said the clergyman. 'Is the man a coward, a +traitor, or an idiot?' + +'None of the three, I believe,' answered Melville. 'Sir John has +the commonplace courage of a common soldier, is honest enough, +does what he is commanded, and understands what is told him, but +is as fit to act for himself in circumstances of importance, as +I, my dear parson, to occupy your pulpit.' + +This important public intelligence naturally diverted the +discourse from Waverley for some time; at length, however, the +subject was resumed. + +'I believe,' said Major Melville, 'that I must give this young +man in charge to some of the detached parties of armed +volunteers, who were lately sent out to overawe the disaffected +districts, They are now recalled towards Stirling, and a small +body comes this way to-morrow or next day, commanded by the +westland man,--what's his name?--You saw him, and said he was the +very model of one of Cromwell's military saints,' + +Gilfillan, the Cameronian,' answered Mr. Morton. 'I wish the +young gentleman may be safe with him. Strange things are done in +the heat and hurry of minds in so agitating a crisis, and I fear +Gilfillan is of a sect which has suffered persecution without +learning mercy.' + +'He has only to lodge Mr. Waverley in Stirling Castle,' said the +Major: 'I will give strict injunctions to treat him well. I +really cannot devise any better mode for securing him, and I +fancy you would hardly advise me to encounter the responsibility +of setting him at liberty.' + +'But you will have no objection to my seeing him tomorrow in +private?' said the minister. + +'None, certainly; your loyalty and character are my warrant. But +with what view do you make the request?' + +'Simply,' replied Mr. Morton, 'to make the experiment whether he +may not be brought to communicate to me some circumstances which +may hereafter be useful to alleviate, if not to exculpate his +conduct.' + +The friends now parted and retired to rest, each filled with the +most anxious reflections on the state of the country. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +A CONFIDANT + +Waverley awoke in the morning, from troubled dreams and +unrefreshing slumbers, to a full consciousness of the horrors of +his situation. How it might terminate he knew not. He might be +delivered up to military law, which, in the midst of civil war, +was not likely to be scrupulous in the choice of its victims, or +the quality of the evidence. Nor did he feel much more +comfortable at the thoughts of a trial before a Scottish court of +justice, where he knew the laws and forms differed in many +respects from those of England, and had been taught to believe, +however erroneously, that the liberty and rights of the subject +were less carefully protected. A sentiment of bitterness rose in +his mind against the Government, which he considered as the cause +of his embarrassment and peril, and he cursed internally his +scrupulous rejection of Mac-Ivor's invitation to accompany him to +the field. + +'Why did not I,' he said to himself, 'like other men of honour, +take the earliest opportunity to welcome to Britain the +descendant of her ancient kings, and lineal heir of her throne? +Why did not I + + Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, + And welcome home again discarded faith, + Seek out Prince Charles, and fall before his feet? + +All that has been recorded of excellence and worth in the house +of Waverley has been founded upon their loyal faith to the house +of Stuart. From the interpretation which this Scotch magistrate +has put upon the letters of my uncle and father, it is plain that +I ought to have understood them as marshalling me to the course +of my ancestors; and it has been my gross dullness, joined to the +obscurity of expression which they adopted for the sake of +security, that has confounded my judgement. Had I yielded to the +first generous impulse of indignation when I learned that my +honour was practised upon, how different had been my present +situation! I had then been free and in arms, fighting, like my +forefathers, for love, for loyalty, and for fame. And now I am +here, netted and in the toils, at the disposal of a suspicious, +stern, and cold-hearted man, perhaps to be turned over to the +solitude of a dungeon, or the infamy of a public execution. O +Fergus! how true has your prophecy proved; and how speedy, how +very speedy, has been its accomplishment!' + +While Edward was ruminating on these painful subjects of +contemplation, and very naturally, though not quite so justly, +bestowing upon the reigning dynasty that blame which was due to +chance, or, in part at least, to his own unreflecting conduct, +Mr. Morton availed himself of Major Melville's permission to pay +him an early visit. + +Waverley's first impulse was to intimate a desire that he might +not be disturbed with questions or conversation; but he +suppressed it upon observing the benevolent and reverend +appearance of the clergyman who had rescued him from the +immediate violence of the villagers. + +'I believe, sir,' said the unfortunate young man, 'that in any +other circumstances I should have had as much gratitude to +express to you as the safety of my life may be worth; but such is +the present tumult of my mind, and such is my anticipation of +what I am yet likely to endure, that I can hardly offer you +thanks for your interposition.' + +Mr. Morton replied, that, far from making any claim upon his good +opinion, his only wish and the sole purpose of his visit was to +find out the means of deserving it. 'My excellent friend, Major +Melville,' he continued, 'has feelings and duties as a soldier +and public functionary, by which I am not fettered; nor can I +always coincide in opinions which he forms, perhaps with too +little allowance for the imperfections of human nature. He +paused, and then proceeded: 'I do not intrude myself on your +confidence, Mr. Waverley, for the purpose of learning any +circumstances, the knowledge of which can be prejudicial either +to yourself or to others; but I own my earnest wish is, that you +would entrust me with any particulars which could lead to your +exculpation. I can solemnly assure you they will be deposited +with a faithful, and, to the extent of his limited powers, a +zealous agent.' + +'You are, sir, I presume, a Presbyterian clergyman?'--Mr. Morton +bowed.--'Were I to be guided by the prepossessions of education, +I might distrust your friendly professions in my case; but I have +observed that similar prejudices are nourished in this country +against your professional brethren of the Episcopal persuasion, +and I am willing to believe them equally unfounded in both +cases.' + +'Evil to him that thinks otherwise,' said Mr. Morton; 'or who +holds church government and ceremonies as the exclusive gage of +Christian faith or moral virtue.' + +'But,' continued Waverley, 'I cannot perceive why I should +trouble you with a detail of particulars, out of which, after +revolving them as carefully as possible in my recollection, I +find myself unable to explain much of what is charged against me. +I know, indeed, that I am innocent, but I hardly see how I can +hope to prove myself so.' + +'It is for that very reason, Mr. Waverley,' said the clergyman, +'that I venture to solicit your confidence. My knowledge of +individuals in this country is pretty general, and can upon +occasion be extended. Your situation will, I fear, preclude you +taking those active steps for recovering intelligence, or tracing +imposture, which I would willingly undertake in your behalf; and +if you are not benefited by my exertions, at least they cannot be +prejudicial to you.' + +Waverley, after a few minutes' reflection, was convinced that his +reposing confidence in Mr. Morton, so far as he himself was +concerned, could hurt neither Mr. Bradwardine nor Fergus +Mac-Ivor, both of whom had openly assumed arms against the +Government, and that it might possibly, if the professions of his +new friend corresponded in sincerity with the earnestness of his +expression, be of some service to himself. He therefore ran +briefly over most of the events with which the reader is already +acquainted, suppressing his attachment to Flora, and indeed +neither mentioning her nor Rose Bradwardine in the course of his +narrative. + +Mr. Morton seemed particularly struck with the account of +Waverley's visit to Donald Bean Lean. 'I am glad,' he said, 'you +did not mention this circumstance to the Major. It is capable of +great misconstruction on the part; of those who do not consider +the power of curiosity and the influence of romance as motives of +youthful conduct. When I was a young man like you, Mr. Waverley, +any such hair-brained expedition (I beg your pardon for the +expression) would have had inexpressible charms for me. But +there are men in the world who will not believe that danger and +fatigue are often incurred without any very adequate cause, and +therefore who are sometimes led to assign motives of action +entirely foreign to the truth. This man Bean Lean is renowned +through the country as a sort of Robin Hood, and the stories +which are told of his address and enterprise are the common tales +of the winter fireside. He certainly possesses talents beyond +the rude sphere in which he moves; and, being neither destitute +of ambition nor encumbered with scruples, he will probably +attempt, by every means, to distinguish himself during the period +of these unhappy commotions.' Mr. Morton then made a careful +memorandum of the various particulars of Waverley's interview +with Donald Bean Lean, and the other circumstances which he had +communicated. + +The interest which this good man seemed to take in his +misfortunes,--above all, the full confidence he appeared to +repose in his innocence,--had the natural effect of softening +Edward's heart, whom the coldness of Major Melville had taught to +believe that the world was leagued to oppress him. He shook Mr. +Morton warmly by the hand, and assuring him that his kindness and +sympathy had relieved his mind of a heavy load, told him, that +whatever might be his own fate, he belonged to a family who had +both gratitude and the power of displaying it. + +The earnestness of his thanks called drops to the eyes of the +worthy clergyman, who was doubly interested in the cause for +which he had volunteered his services, by observing the genuine +and undissembled feelings of his young friend. + +Edward now inquired if Mr. Morton knew what was likely to be his +destination. + +'Stirling Castle,' replied. his friend; 'and so far I am well +pleased for your sake, for the governor is a man of honour and +humanity. But I am more doubtful of your treatment upon the +road; Major Melville is involuntarily obliged to entrust the +custody of your person to another.' + +'I am glad of it,' answered Waverley. 'I detest that cold- +blooded calculating Scotch magistrate. I hope he and I shall +never meet more: he had neither sympathy with my innocence nor +my wretchedness; and the petrifying accuracy with which he +attended to every form of civility, while he tortured me by his +questions, his suspicions, and his inferences, was as tormenting +as the racks of the Inquisition. Do not vindicate him, my dear +sir, for that I cannot bear with patience; tell me rather who is +to have the charge of so important a state prisoner as I am.' + +'I believe a person called Gilfillan, one of the sect who are +termed Cameronians.' + +'I never heard of them before.' + +'They claim,' said the clergyman, 'to represent the more strict +and severe Presbyterians, who in Charles Second's and James +Second's days, refused to profit by the Toleration, or +Indulgence, as it was called, which was extended to others of +that religion. They held conventicles in the open fields, and +being treated, with great violence and cruelty by the Scottish +government, more than once took arms during those reigns. They +take their name from their leader, Richard Cameron. + +'I recollect,' said Waverley; 'but did not the triumph of +Presbytery at the Revolution extinguish that sect?' + +'By no means,' replied Morton; 'that great event fell yet far +short of what they proposed, which was nothing less than the +complete establishment of the Presbyterian Church, upon the +grounds of the old Solemn League and Covenant. Indeed, I believe +they scarce knew what they wanted; but being a numerous body of +men, and not unacquainted with the use of arms, they kept +themselves together as a separate party in the state, and at the +time of the Union had nearly formed a most unnatural league with +their old enemies, the Jacobites, to oppose that important +national measure. Since that time their numbers have gradually +diminished; but a good many are still to be found in the western +counties, and several, with a better temper than in 1707, have +now taken arms for Government, This person, whom they call Gifted +Gilfillan, has been long a leader among them, and now heads a +small party, which will pass here to-day, or to-morrow, on their +march towards Stirling, under whose escort Major Melville +proposes you shall travel. I would willingly speak to Gilfillan +in your behalf; but, having deeply imbibed all the prejudices of +his sect, and being of the same fierce disposition, he would pay +little regard to the remonstrances of an Erastian divine, as he +would politely term me.--And now, farewell, my young friend; for +the present, I must not weary out the Major's indulgence, that I +may obtain his permission to visit you again in the course of the +day.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THINGS MEND A LITTLE + +About noon, Mr. Morton returned, and brought an invitation from +Major Melville that Mr. Waverley would honour him with his +company to dinner, notwithstanding the unpleasant affair which +detained him at Cairnvreckan, from which he should heartily +rejoice to see Mr. Waverley completely extricated. The truth +was, that Mr. Morton's favourable report and opinion had somewhat +staggered the preconceptions of the old soldier concerning +Edward's supposed accession to the mutiny in the regiment; and in +the unfortunate state of the country, the mere suspicion of +disaffection, or an inclination to join the insurgent Jacobites, +might infer criminality indeed, but certainly not dishonour. +Besides, a person whom the Major trusted had reported to him +(though, as it proved, inaccurately) a contradiction of the +agitating news of the preceding evening. According to this +second edition of the intelligence, the Highlanders had withdrawn +from the Lowland frontier with the purpose of following the army +in their march to Inverness. The Major was at a loss, indeed, to +reconcile his information with the well-known abilities of some +of the gentlemen in the Highland army, yet it was the course +which was likely to be most agreeable to others. He remembered +the same policy had detained them in the north in the year 1715, +and he anticipated a similar termination to the insurrection as +upon that occasion. + +This news put him in such good humour, that he readily acquiesced +in Mr. Morton's proposal to pay some hospitable attention to his +unfortunate guest, and voluntarily added, he hoped the whole +affair would prove a youthful escapade, which might be easily +atoned by a short confinement. The kind mediator had some +trouble to prevail on his young friend to accept the invitation. +He dared not urge to him the real motive, which was a good- +natured wish to secure a favourable report of Waverley's case +from Major Melville to Governor Blakeney. He remarked, from the +flashes of our hero's spirit, that touching upon this topic would +be sure to defeat his purpose. He therefore pleaded, that the +invitation argued the Major's disbelief of any part of the +accusation which was inconsistent with Waverley's conduct as a +soldier and a man of honour, and that to decline his courtesy +might be interpreted into a consciousness that it was unmerited. +In short, he so far satisfied Edward that the manly and proper +course was to meet the Major on easy terms, that, suppressing his +strong dislike again to encounter his cold and punctilious +civility, Waverley agreed to be guided by his new friend. The +meeting, at first, was stiff and formal enough. But Edward, +having accepted the invitation, and his mind being really soothed +and relieved by the kindness of Morton, held himself bound to +behave with ease, though he could not affect cordiality. The +Major was somewhat of a BON VIVANT, and his wine was excellent. +He told his old campaign stories, and displayed much knowledge of +men and manners. Mr. Morton had an internal fund of placid and +quiet gaiety, which seldom failed to enliven any small party in +which he found himself pleasantly seated. Waverley, whose life +was a dream, gave ready way to the predominating impulse, and +became the most lively of the party. He had at all times +remarkable natural powers of conversation, though easily silenced +by discouragement. On the present occasion, he piqued himself +upon leaving on the minds of his companions a favourable +impression of one who, under such disastrous circumstances, could +sustain his misfortunes with ease and gaiety. His spirits, +though not unyielding, were abundantly elastic, and soon seconded +his efforts. The trio were engaged in very lively discourse, +apparently delighted with each other, and the kind host was +pressing a third bottle of Burgundy, when the sound of a drum was +heard at some distance. The Major, who, in the glee of an old +soldier, had forgot the duties of a magistrate, cursed, with a +muttered military oath, the circumstances which recalled him to +his official functions. He rose and went towards the window, +which commanded a very near view of the high-road, and he was +followed by his guests. + +The drum advanced, beating no measured martial tune, but a kind +of rub-a-dub-dub, like that with which the fire-drum startles the +slumbering artisans of a Scotch burgh. It is the object of this +history to do justice to all men; I must therefore record, in +justice to the drummer, that he protested he could beat any known +march or point of war known in the British army, and had +accordingly commenced with 'Dumbarton's Drums,' when he was +silenced by Gifted Gilfillan, the commander of the party, who +refused to permit his followers to move to this profane, and +even, as he said, persecuting tune, and commanded the drummer to +beat the 119th Psalm. As this was beyond the capacity of the +drubber of sheepskin, he was fain to have recourse to the +inoffensive row-de-dow, as a harmless substitute for the sacred +music which his instrument or skill were unable to achieve. This +may be held a trifling anecdote, but the drummer in question was +no less than town-drummer of Anderton. I remember his successor +in office, a member of that enlightened body, the British +Convention: be his memory, therefore, treated with due respect. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A VOLUNTEER SIXTY YEARS SINCE + +On hearing the unwelcome sound of the drum, Major Melville +hastily opened a sashed door, and stepped out upon a sort of +terrace which divided his house from the high-road from which the +martial music proceeded. Waverley and his new friend followed +him, though probably he would have dispensed with their +attendance. They soon recognized in solemn march, first, the +performer upon the drum; secondly, a large flag of four +compartments, on which were inscribed the words COVENANTS, +RELIGION, KING, KINGDOMES. The person who was honoured with this +charge was followed by the commander of the party, a thin, dark, +rigid-looking man, about sixty years old. The spiritual pride, +which in mine Host of the Candlestick mantled in a sort of +supercilious hypocrisy, was, in this man's face, elevated and yet +darkened by genuine and undoubting fanaticism. It was impossible +to behold him without imagination placing him in some strange +crisis, where religious zeal was the ruling principle. A martyr +at the stake, a soldier in the field, a lonely and banished +wanderer consoled by the intensity and supposed purity of his +faith under every earthly privation; perhaps a persecuting +inquisitor, as terrible in power as unyielding in adversity; any +of these seemed congenial characters to this personage. With +these high traits of energy, there was something in the affected +precision and solemnity of his deportment and discourse, that +bordered upon the ludicrous; so that, according to the mood of +the spectator's mind, and the light under which Mr. Gilfillan +presented himself, one might have feared; admired, or laughed at +him. His dress was that of a west-country peasant, of better +materials indeed than that of the lower rank, but in no respect +affecting either the mode of the age, or of the Scottish gentry +at any period. His arms were a broadsword and pistols, which, +from the antiquity of their appearance, might have seen the rout +of Pentland, or Bothwell Brigg. + +As he came up a few steps to meet Major Melville, and touched +solemnly, but slightly, his huge and overbrimmed blue bonnet, in +answer to the Major, who had courteously raised a small +triangular gold-laced hat, Waverley was irresistibly impressed +with the idea that he beheld a leader of the Roundheads of yore +in conference with one of Marlborough's captains. + +The group of about thirty armed men who followed this gifted +commander, was of a motley description. They were in ordinary +Lowland dresses, of different colours, which, contrasted with the +arms they bore, gave them an irregular and mobbish appearance; so +much is the eye accustomed to connect uniformity of dress with +the military character. In front were a few who apparently +partook of their leader's enthusiasm; men obviously to be feared +in a combat where their natural courage was exalted by religious +zeal. Others puffed and strutted, filled with the importance of +carrying arms, and all the novelty of their situation, while the +rest, apparently fatigued with their march, dragged their limbs +listlessly along, or straggled from their companions to procure +such refreshments as the neighbouring cottages and ale-houses +afforded.--Six grenadiers of Ligonier's, thought the Major to +himself, as his mind reverted to his own military experience, +would have sent all these fellows to the right about. + +Greeting, however, Mr. Gilfillan civilly, he requested to know if +he had received the letter he had sent to him upon his march, and +could undertake the charge of the state prisoner whom he there +mentioned, as far as Stirling Castle. 'Yea,' was the concise +reply of the Cameronian leader, in a voice which seemed to issue +from the very PENETRALIA of his person. + +'But your escort, Mr. Gilfillan, is not so strong as I expected,' +said Major Melville, + +'Some of the people,' replied Gilfillan, 'hungered and were +athirst by the way, and tarried until their poor souls were +refreshed with the word.' + +'I am sorry, sir,' replied the Major, 'you did not trust to your +refreshing your men at Cairnvreckan; whatever my house contains +is at the command of persons employed in the service.' + +'It was not of creature comforts I spake,' answered the +Covenanter, regarding Major Melville with something like a smile +of contempt; 'howbeit, I thank you; but the people remained +waiting upon the precious Mr. Jabesh Rentowel, for the outpouring +of the afternoon exhortation.' + +'And have you, sir,' said the Major, 'when the rebels are about +to spread themselves through this country, actually left a great +part of your command at a field-preaching!' + +Gilfillan again smiled scornfully as he made this indirect +answer,--'Even thus are the children of this world wiser in their +generation than the children of light!' + +'However, sir,' said the Major, 'as you are to take charge of +this gentleman to Stirling, and deliver him, with these papers, +into the hands of Governor Blakeney, I beseech you to observe +some rules of military discipline upon your march. For example, +I would advise you to keep your men more closely together, and +that each, in his march, should cover his file-leader, instead of +straggling like geese upon a common; and, for fear of surprise, I +further recommend to you to form a small advance-party of your +best men, with a single vidette in front of the whole march, so +that when you approach a village or a wood'--(Here the Major +interrupted himself)--'But as I don't observe you listen to me, +Mr. Gilfillan, I suppose I need not give myself the trouble to +say more upon the subject. You are a better judge, +unquestionably, than I am, of the measures to be pursued; but one +thing I would have you well aware of, that you are to treat this +gentleman, your prisoner, with no rigour nor incivility, and are +to subject him to no other restraint than is necessary for his +security.' + +'I have looked into my commission,' said Mr. Gilfillan, +subscribed by a worthy and professing nobleman, William, Earl of +Glencairn; nor do I find it therein set down that I am to receive +any charges or commands anent my doings from Major William +Melville of Cairnvreckan.' + +Major Melville reddened even to the well-powdered ears which +appeared beneath his neat military side-curls, the more so, as he +observed Mr. Morton smile at the same moment. 'Mr. Gilfillan,' +he answered with some asperity, 'I beg ten thousand pardons for +interfering with a person of your importance. I thought, +however, that as you have been bred a grazier, if I mistake not, +there might be occasion to remind you of the difference between +Highlanders and Highland cattle; and if you should happen to meet +with any gentleman who has seen service; and is disposed to speak +upon the subject, I should still imagine that listening to him +would do you no sort of harm. But I have done, and have only +once more to recommend this gentleman to your civility, as well +as to your custody.-- Mr, Waverley, I am truly sorry we should +part in this way; but I trust, when you are again in this +country, I may have an opportunity to render Cairnvreckan more +agreeable than circumstances have permitted on this occasion.' + +So saying, he shook our hero by the hand. Morton also took an +affectionate farewell; and Waverley, having mounted his horse, +with a musketeer leading it by the bridle, and a file upon each +side to prevent his escape, set forward upon the march with +Gilfillan and his party. Through the little village they were +accompanied with the shouts of the children, who cried out, 'Eh! +see to the Southland gentleman, that's gaun to be hanged for +shooting lang John Mucklewrath the smith!' + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +AN INCIDENT + +The dinner-hour of Scotland Sixty Years since was two o'clock. +It was therefore about four o'clock of a delightful autumn +afternoon that Mr. Gilfillan commenced his march, in hopes, +although Stirling was eighteen miles distant, he might be able, +by becoming a borrower of the night for an hour or two, to reach +it that evening. He therefore put forth his strength, and +marched stoutly along at the head of his followers, eyeing our +hero from time to time, as if he longed to enter into controversy +with him. At length unable to resist the temptation, he +slackened his pace till he was alongside of his prisoner's horse, +and after marching a few steps in silence abreast of him, he +suddenly asked,--'Can ye say wha the carle was wi' the black +coat; and the mousted head, that was wi' the Laird of +Cairnvreckan?' + +'A Presbyterian clergyman,' answered Waverley. + +'Presbyterian!' answered Gilfillan contemptuously: 'a wretched +Erastian, or rather an obscured Prelatist,--a favourer of the +black Indulgence; ane of thae dumb dogs that canna bark: they +tell ower a clash o' terror and a clatter o' comfort in their +sermons, without ony sense, or savour, or life.--Ye've been fed +in siccan a fauld, belike?' + +'No; I am of the Church of England,' said Waverley. + +And they're just neighbour-like,' replied the Covenanter; 'and +nae wonder they gree sae weel. Wha wad hae thought the goodly +structure of the Kirk of Scotland, built up by our fathers in +1642, wad hae been defaced by carnal ends and, the corruptions of +the time;--aye, wha wad hae thought the carved work of the +sanctuary would hae been sae soon cut down!' + +To this lamentation, which one or two of the assistants chorussed +with a deep groan, our hero thought it unnecessary to make any +reply. Whereupon Mr. Gilfillan, resolving that he should be a +hearer at least, if not a disputant, proceeded in his Jeremiad. + +'And now is it wonderful, when, for lack of exercise anent the +call to the service of the altar and the duty of the day, +ministers fall into sinful compliances with patronage, and +indemnities, and oaths, and bonds, and, other corruptions,--is it +wonderful, I say, that you, sir, and other sic-like unhappy +persons, should labour to build up your auld Babel of iniquity, +as in the bluidy persecuting saint-killing times? I trow, gin ya +werena blinded wi' the graces and favours, and services and +enjoyments, and employments and inheritances, of this wicked +world, I could prove to you, by the Scripture, in what a filthy +rag ye put your trust; and that your surplices, and your copes +and vestments, are but cast-off-garments of the muckle harlot, +that sitteth upon seven hills, and drinketh of the cup of +abomination. But, I trow, ye are deaf as adders upon that side +of the head; aye, ye are deceived with her enchantments, and ye +traffic with her merchandise, and ye are drunk with the cup of +her fornication!' + +How much longer this military theologist might have continued his +invective, in which he spared nobody but the scattered remnant of +HILL-FOLK, as he called them, is absolutely uncertain. His +matter was copious, his voice powerful, and his memory strong; so +that there was little chance of his ending his exhortation till +the party had reached Stirling, had not his attention been +attracted by a pedlar who had joined the march from a cross-road, +and who sighed or groaned with great regularity at all fitting +pauses of his homily. + +'And what may ya be, friend?' said the Gifted Gilfillan. + +'A puir pedler, that's bound for Stirling, and craves the +protection of your honour's party in these kittle times. Ah! +your honour has a notable faculty in searching and explaining the +secret,--aye, the secret and obscure and incomprehensible causes +of the backslidings of the land; aye, your honour touches the +root o' the matter.' + +'Friend,' said Gilfillan, with a more complacent voice than he +had hitherto used, 'honour not me. I do not go out to park- +dikes, and to steadings, and to market-towns, to have herds and +cottars and burghers pull off their bonnets to me as they do to +Major Melville o' Cairnvreckan, and ca' me laird, or captain, or +honour;--no; my sma' means, whilk are not aboon twenty thousand +merk, have had the blessing of increase, but the pride of heart +has not increased with them; nor do I delight to be called +captain, though I have the subscribed commission of that gospel- +searching nobleman, the Earl of Glencairn, in whilk I am so +designated. While I live, I am and will be called Habakkuk +Gilfillan, who will stand up for the standards of doctrine agreed +on by the ance-famous Kirk of Scotland, before she trafficked +with the accursed Achan, while he has a plack in his purse, or a +drap o' bluid in his body.' + +'Ah,' said the pedlar, 'I have seen your land about Mauchlin--a +fertile spot! your lines have fallen in pleasant places!--And +siccan a breed o' cattle is not in ony laird's land in Scotland.' + +'Ye say right,--ye say right, friend,' retorted Gilfillan +eagerly, for he was not inaccessible to flattery upon this +subject,--'ye say right; they are the real Lancashire, and +there's no the like o' them even at the Mains of Kilmaurs;' and +he then entered into a discussion of their excellences, to which +our readers will probably be as indifferent as our hero. After +this excursion, the leader returned to his theological +discussions, while the pedlar, less profound upon those mystic +points, contented himself with groaning, and expressing his +edification at suitable intervals. + +'What a blessing it would be to the puir blinded popish nations +among whom I hae sojourned, to have siccan a light to their +paths! I hae been as far as Muscovia in my sma' trading way, as +a travelling merchant; and I hae been through France, and the Low +Countries, and a' Poland, and maist feck o' Germany; and oh! it +would grieve your honour's soul to see the murmuring, and the +singing, and massing, that's in the kirk, and the piping that's +in the quire, and the heathenish dancing and dicing upon the +Sabbath!' + +This set Gilfillan off upon the Book of Sports and the Covenant, +and the Engagers, and the Protesters, and the Whiggamore's Raid, +and the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and the Longer and +Shorter Catechism, and the Excommunication at Torwood, and the +slaughter of Archbishop Sharp. This last topic, again, led him +into the lawfulness of defensive arms, on which subject he +uttered much more sense than could have been expected from some +other parts of his harangue, and attracted even Waverley's +attention, who had hitherto been lost in his own sad reflections. +Mr. Gilfillan then considered the lawfulness of a private man's +standing forth as the avenger of public oppression, and as he was +labouring with great earnestness the cause of Mas James Mitchell, +who fired at the Archbishop of St. Andrews some years before the +prelate's assassination on Magus Muir, an incident occurred which +interrupted his harangue. + +The rays of the sun were lingering on the very verge of the +horizon, as the party ascended a hollow and somewhat steep path, +which led to the summit of a rising ground. The country was +unenclosed, being part of a very extensive heath or common; but +it was far from level, exhibiting in many places hollows filled +with furze and broom; in others little dingles of stunted +brushwood. A thicket of the latter description crowned the hill +up which the party ascended. The foremost of the band, being the +stoutest and most active, had pushed on, and having surmounted +the ascent, were out of ken for the present. Gilfillan, with the +pedlar, and the small party who were Waverley's more immediate +guard, were near the top of the ascent, and the remainder +straggled after them at a considerable interval. + +Such was the situation of matters, when the pedlar, missing, as +he said, a little doggie which belonged to him, began to halt and +whistle for the animal. This signal, repeated more than once, +gave offence to the rigour of his companion, the rather because +it appeared to indicate inattention to the treasures of +theological and controversial knowledge which was pouring out for +his edification. He therefore signified gruffly, that he could +not waste his time in waiting for a useless cur. + +'But if your honour wad consider the case of Tobit'-- + +'Tobit!' exclaimed Gilfillan, with great heat; 'Tobit and his +dog baith are altogether heathenish and apocryphal, and none but +a prelatist or a papist would draw them into question. I doubt I +hae been mista'en in you, friend.' + +'Very likely,' answered the pedlar, with great composure; 'but +ne'ertheless, I shall take leave to whistle again upon puir +Bawty,' + +This last signal was answered in an unexpected manner; for six or +eight stout Highlanders, who lurked among the copse and +brushwood, sprang into the hollow way, and began to lay about +them with their claymores. Gilfillan, un-appalled at this +undesirable apparition, cried out manfully, 'The sword of the +Lord and of Gideon!' and, drawing his broadsword, would probably +have done as much credit to the good old cause as any of its +doughty champions at Drumclog, when, behold! the pedlar, +snatching a musket from the person who was next him, bestowed the +butt of it with such emphasis on the head of his late instructor +in the Cameronian creed, that he was forthwith levelled to the +ground. In the confusion which ensued, the horse which bore our +hero was shot by one of Gilfillan's party, as he discharged his +firelock at random. Waverley fell with, and indeed under, the +animal, and sustained some severe contusions. But he was almost +instantly extricated from the fallen steed by two Highlanders, +who, each seizing him by the arm, hurried him away from the +scuffle and from the high-road. They ran with great speed, half +supporting and half dragging our hero, who could, however, +distinguish a few dropping shots fired about the spat which he +had left. This, as he afterwards learned, proceeded from +Gilfillan's party, who had now assembled, the stragglers in front +and rear having joined the others. At their approach the +Highlanders drew off, but not before they had rifled Gilfillan +and two of his people, who remained on the spot grievously +wounded. A few shots were exchanged betwixt them and the +Westlanders; but the latter, now without a commander, and +apprehensive of a second ambush, did not make any serious effort +to recover their prisoner, judging it more wise to proceed on +their journey to Stirling, carrying with them their wounded +captain and comrades. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +WAVERLEY IS STILL IN DISTRESS + +The velocity, and indeed violence, with which Waverley was +hurried along, nearly deprived him of sensation; for the injury +he had received from his fall prevented him from aiding himself +so effectually as he might otherwise have done. When this was +observed by his conductors, they called to their aid two or three +others of the party, and swathing our hero's body in one of their +plaids, divided his weight by that means among them, and +transported him at the same rapid rate as before, without any +exertion of his own. They spoke little, and that in Gaelic; and +did not slacken their pace till they had run nearly two miles, +when they abated their extreme rapidity, but continued still to +walk very fast, relieving each other occasionally, + +Our hero now endeavoured to address them, but was only answered +with 'CHA N'EIL BEURL' AGAM,' i.e. 'I have no English,' being, as +Waverley well knew, the constant reply of a Highlander, when he +either does not understand, or does not choose to reply to, an +Englishman or Lowlander. He then mentioned the name of Vich Ian +Vohr, concluding that he was indebted to his friendship for his +rescue from the clutches of Gifted Gilfillan; but neither did +this produce any mark of recognition from his escort. + +The twilight had given place to moonshine when the party halted +upon the brink of a precipitous glen, which, as partly +enlightened by the moonbeams, seemed full of trees and tangled +brushwood. Two of the Highlanders dived into it by a small +footpath, as if to explore its recesses, and one of them +returning in a few minutes, said something to his companions, who +instantly raised their burden, and bore him, with great attention +and care, down the narrow and abrupt descent. Notwithstanding +their precautions, however, Waverley's person came more than once +into contact, rudely enough, with the projecting stumps and +branches which overhung the pathway. + +At the bottom of the descent, and, as it seemed, by the side of a +brook (for Waverley heard the rushing of a considerable body of +water, although its stream was invisible in the darkness), the +party again stopped before a small and rudely-constructed hovel. +The door was open, and the inside of the premises appeared as +uncomfortable and rude as its situation and exterior foreboded. +There was no appearance of a floor of any kind; the roof seemed +rent in several places; the walls were composed of loose stones +and turf, and the thatch of branches of trees. The fire was in +the centre, and filled the whole wigwam with smoke, which escaped +as much through the door as by means of a circular aperture in +the roof. An old Highland sibyl, the only inhabitant of this +forlorn mansion, appeared busy in the preparation of some food. +By the light which the fire afforded, Waverley could discover +that his attendants were not of the clan of Ivor, for Fergus was +particularly strict in requiring from his followers that they +should wear the tartan striped in the mode peculiar to their +race; a mark of distinction anciently general through the +Highlands, and still maintained by those chiefs who were proud of +their lineage, or jealous of their separate and exclusive +authority. + +Edward had lived at Glennaquoich long enough to be aware of a +distinction which he had repeatedly heard noticed; and now +satisfied that he had no interest with his attendants, he glanced +a disconsolate eye around the interior of the cabin. The only +furniture, excepting a washing-tub, and a wooden press, called in +Scotland an AMBRY, sorely decayed, was a large wooden bed, +planked, as is usual, all around, and opening by a sliding panel. +In this recess the Highlanders deposited Waverley, after he had +by signs declined any refreshment. His slumbers were broken and +unrefreshing; strange visions passed before his eyes, and it +required constant and reiterated efforts of mind to dispel them. +Shivering, violent headache, and shooting pains in his limbs, +succeeded these symptoms; and in the morning it was evident to +his Highland attendants or guard, for he knew not in which light +to consider them, that Waverley was quite unfit to travel. After +a long consultation among themselves, six of the party left the +hut with their arms, leaving behind an old and a young man. The +former addressed Waverley, and bathed the contusions, which +swelling and livid colour now made conspicuous. His own +portmanteau, which the Highlanders had not failed to bring off, +supplied him with linen, and, to his great surprise, was, with +all its undiminished contents, freely resigned to his use. The +bedding of his couch seemed clean and comfortable, and his aged +attendant closed the door of the bed, for it had no curtain, +after a few words of Gaelic, from which Waverley gathered that he +exhorted him to repose. So behold our hero for a second time the +patient of a Highland Aesculapius, but in a situation much more +uncomfortable than when he was the guest of the worthy Tomanrait. + +The symptomatic fever which accompanied the injuries he had +sustained did not abate till the third day, when it gave way to +the care of his attendants and the strength of his constitution, +and he could now raise himself in his bed, though not without +pain. He observed, however, that there was a great +disinclination, on the part of the old woman who acted as his +nurse, as well as on that of the elderly Highlander, to permit +the door of the bed to be left open, so that he might amuse +himself with observing their motions; and at length, after +Waverley had repeatedly drawn open, and they had as frequently +shut, the hatchway of his cage, the old gentleman put an end to +the contest, by securing it on the outside with a nail, so +effectually that the door could not be drawn till this exterior +impediment was removed. + +While musing upon the cause of this contradictory spirit in +persons whose conduct intimated no purpose of plunder, and who, +in all other points, appeared to consult his welfare and his +wishes, it occurred to our hero, that, during the worst crisis of +his illness, a female figure, younger than his old Highland +nurse, had appeared to flit around his couch. Of this, indeed, +he had but a very indistinct recollection, but his suspicions +were confirmed when, attentively listening, he often heard, in +the course of the day, the voice of another female conversing in +whispers with his attendant. Who could it be? And why should +she apparently desire concealment? Fancy immediately roused +herself, and turned to Flora Mac-Ivor. But after a short +conflict between his eager desire to believe she was in his +neighbourhood, guarding, like an angel of mercy, the couch of his +sickness, Waverley was compelled to conclude that his conjecture +was altogether improbable; since, to suppose she had left the +comparatively safe situation at Glennaquoich to descend into the +Low Country, now the seat of civil war, and to inhabit such a +lurking-place as this, was a thing hardly to be imagined. Yet +his heart bounded as he sometimes could distinctly hear the trip +of a light female step glide to or from the door of the hut, or +the suppressed sounds of a female voice, of softness and +delicacy, hold dialogue with the hoarse inward croak of old +Janet, for so he understood his antiquated attendant was +denominated. + +Having nothing else to amuse his solitude, he employed himself in +contriving some plan to gratify his curiosity, in spite of the +sedulous caution of Janet and the old Highland janizary, for he +had never seen the young fellow since the first morning. At +length, upon accurate examination, the infirm state of his wooden +prison-house appeared to supply the means of gratifying his +curiosity, for out of a spot which was somewhat decayed he was +able to extract a nail. Through this minute aperture he could +perceive a female form, wrapped in a plaid, in the act of +conversing with Janet. But, since the days of our grandmother +Eve, the gratification of inordinate curiosity has generally +borne its penalty in disappointment. The form was not that of +Flora, nor was the face visible; and, to crown his vexation, +while he laboured with the nail to enlarge the hole, that he +might obtain a more complete view, a slight noise betrayed his +purpose, and the object of his curiosity instantly disappeared; +nor, so far as he could observe, did she again revisit the +cottage. + +All precautions to blockade his view were from that time +abandoned, and he was not only permitted, but assisted to rise +and quit what had been, in a literal sense, his couch of +confinement. But he was not allowed to leave the hut; for the +young Highlander had now rejoined his senior, and one or other +was constantly on the watch. Whenever Waverley approached the +cottage door, the sentinel upon duty civilly, but resolutely, +placed himself against it and opposed his exit, accompanying his +action with signs which seemed to imply there was danger in the +attempt, and an enemy in the neighbourhood. Old Janet appeared +anxious and upon the watch; and Waverley, who had not yet +recovered strength enough to attempt to take his departure in +spite of the opposition of his hosts, was under the necessity of +remaining patient. His fare was, in every point of view, better +than he could have conceived; for poultry, and even wine, were no +strangers to his table. The Highlanders never presumed to eat +with him, and unless in the circumstance of watching him, treated +him with great respect. His sole amusement was gazing from the +window, or rather the shapeless aperture which was meant to +answer the purpose of a window, upon large and rough brook, which +raged and foamed through a rocky channel, closely canopied with +trees and bushes, about ten feet beneath the site of his house of +captivity. + +Upon the sixth day of his confinement, Waverley found himself so +well, that he began to meditate his escape from this dull and +miserable prison-house, thinking any risk which he might incur in +the attempt preferable to the stupefying and intolerable +uniformity of Janet's retirement. The question indeed occurred, +whither he was to direct his course when again at his own +disposal. Two schemes seemed practicable, yet both attended with +danger and difficulty. One was to go back to Glennaquoich, and +join Fergus Mac-Ivor, by whom he was sure to be kindly received; +and in the present state of his mind, the rigour with which he +had been treated fully absolved him, in his own eyes, from his +allegiance to the existing government. The other project was to +endeavour to attain a Scottish seaport, and thence to take +shipping for England. His mind wavered between these plans; and +probably, if he had effected his escape in the manner he +proposed, he would have been finally determined by the +comparative facility by which either might have been executed. +But his fortune had settled that he was not to be left to his +option. + +Upon the evening of the seventh day the door of the hut suddenly +opened, and two Highlanders entered, whom Waverley recognized as +having been a part of his original escort to this cottage. They +conversed for a short time with the old man and his companion, +and then made Waverley understand, by very significant signs, +that he was to prepare to accompany them. This was a joyful +communication. What had already passed during his confinement +made it evident that no personal injury was designed to him; and +his romantic spirit, having recovered during his repose much of +that elasticity which anxiety, resentment, disappointment, and +the mixture of unpleasant feelings excited by his late +adventures, had for a time subjugated, was now wearied with +inaction. His passion for the wonderful, although it is the +nature of such dispositions to be excited, by that degree of +danger which merely gives dignity to the feeling of the +individual exposed to it, had sunk under the extraordinary and +apparently, insurmountable evils by which he appeared environed +at Cairnvreckan. In fact, this compound of intense curiosity and +exalted imagination forms a peculiar species of courage, which +somewhat resembles the light usually carried by a miner,-- +sufficiently competent, indeed, to afford him guidance and +comfort during the ordinary perils of his labour, but certain to +be extinguished should he encounter the more formidable hazard of +earth-damps or pestiferous vapours. It was now, however, once +more rekindled, and with a throbbing mixture of hope, awe, and +anxiety, Waverley watched the group before him, as those who had +just arrived snatched a hasty meal, and the others assumed their +arms, and made brief preparations for their departure. + +As he sat in the smoky hut, at some distance from the fire, +around which the others were crowded, he felt a gentle pressure +upon his arm. He looked round--it was Alice, the daughter of +Donald Bean Lean. She showed him a packet of papers in such a +manner that the motion was remarked by no one else, put her +finger for a second to her lips, and passed on, as if to assist +old Janet in packing Waverley's clothes in his portmanteau. It +was obviously her wish that he should not seem to recognize her; +yet she repeatedly looked back at him, as an opportunity occurred +of doing so unobserved, and when she saw that he remarked what +she did, she folded the packet with great address and speed in +one of his shirts, which she deposited in the portmanteau. + +Here then was fresh food for conjecture. Was Alice his unknown +warden, and was this maiden of the cavern the tutelar genius that +watched his bed during his sickness? Was he in the hands of her +father? and if so, what was his purpose? Spoil, his usual +object, seemed in this case neglected; for not only Waverley's +property was restored, but his purse, which might have tempted +this professional plunderer, had been all along suffered to +remain in his possession. All this perhaps the packet might +explain; but it was plain from Alice's manner that she desired he +should consult it in secret. Nor did she again seek his eye +after she had satisfied herself that her manoeuvre was observed +and understood. On the contrary, she shortly afterwards left +the hut, and it was only as she tripped out from the door, that, +favoured by the obscurity, she gave Waverley a parting smile and +nod of significance, ere she vanished in the dark glen. + +The young Highlander was repeatedly dispatched by his comrades as +if to collect intelligence. At length when he had returned for +the third or fourth time, the whole party arose, and made signs +to our hero to accompany them. Before his departure, however, he +shook hands with old Janet, who had been so sedulous in his +behalf, and added substantial marks of his gratitude for her +attendance. + +'God bless you! God prosper you, Captain Waverley!' said Janet, +in good Lowland Scotch, though he had never hitherto heard her +utter a syllable, save in Gaelic. But the impatience of his +attendants prohibited his asking any explanation. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE + +There was a moment's pause when the whole party had got out of +the hut; and the Highlander who assumed the command, and who, in +Waverley's awakened recollection, seemed to be the same tall +figure who had acted as Donald Bean Lean's lieutenant, by +whispers and signs imposed the strictest silence. He delivered +to Edward a sword and steel pistol, and, pointing up the tract, +laid his hand on the hilt of his own claymore, as if to make him +sensible they might have occasion to use force to make good their +passage. He then placed himself at the head of the party, who +moved up the pathway in single or Indian file, Waverley being +placed nearest to their leader. He moved with great precaution, +as if to avoid giving any alarm, and halted as soon as he came to +the verge of the ascent. Waverley was soon sensible of the +reason, for he heard at no great distance an English sentinel +call out 'All's well.' The heavy sound sank on the night-wind +down the woody glen, and was answered by the echoes of its banks. +A second, third, and fourth time, the signal was repeated, +fainter and fainter, as if at a greater and greater distance. It +was obvious that a party of soldiers were near, and upon their +guard, though not sufficiently so to detect men skilful in every +art of predatory warfare, like those with whom he now watched +their ineffectual precautions. + +When these sounds had died upon the silence of the night, the +Highlanders began their march swiftly, yet with the most cautious +silence. Waverley had little time, or indeed disposition, for +observation, and could only discern that; they passed at some +distance from a large building, in the windows of which a light +or two yet seemed to twinkle. A little farther on, the leading +Highlander snuffed the wind like a setting spaniel, and then made +a signal to his party again to halt. He stooped down upon all- +fours, wrapped up in his plaid, so as to be scarce +distinguishable from the heathy ground on which he moved, and +advanced in this posture to reconnoitre. In a short time he +returned, and dismissed his attendants excepting one; and, +intimating to Waverley that he must imitate his cautious mode of +proceeding, all three crept forward on hands and knees. + +After proceeding a greater way in this inconvenient manner than +was at all comfortable to his knees and shins, Waverley perceived +the smell of smoke, which probably had been much sooner +distinguished by the more acute nasal organs of his guide. It +proceeded from the corner of a low and ruinous sheepfold, the +walls of which were made of loose stones, as is usual in +Scotland. Close by this low wall the Highlander guided Waverley, +and, in order probably to make him sensible of his danger, or +perhaps to obtain the full credit of his own dexterity, he +intimated to him, by sign and example, that he might raise his +head so as to peep into the sheepfold. Waverley did so, and +beheld an outpost of four or five soldiers lying by their watch- +fire. They were all asleep, except the sentinel, who paced +backwards and forwards with his firelock on his shoulder, which +glanced red in the light of the fire as he crossed and recrossed +before it in his short walk, casting his eye frequently to that +part of the heavens from which the moon, hitherto obscured by +mist, seemed now about to make her appearance, + +In the course of a minute or two, by one of those sudden changes +of atmosphere incident to a mountainous country, a breeze arose, +and swept before it the clouds which had covered the horizon, and +the night planet poured her full effulgence upon a wide and +blighted heath, skirted indeed with copsewood and stunted trees +in the quarter from which they had come, but open and bare to the +observation of the sentinel in that to which their course tended. +The wall of the sheepfold, indeed, concealed them as they lay, +but any advance beyond its shelter seemed impossible without +certain discovery. + +The Highlander eyed the blue vault, but far from blessing the +useful light with Homer's, or rather Pope's, benighted peasant, +he muttered a Gaelic curse upon the unseasonable splendour of +MAC-FARLANE'S BUAT (i. e. lantern). [See Note 21.] He looked +anxiously around for a few minutes, and then apparently took his +resolution. Leaving his attendant with Waverley, after motioning +to Edward to remain quiet, and giving his comrade directions in a +brief whisper, he retreated, favoured by the irregularity of the +ground, in the same direction and in the same manner as they had +advanced. Edward, turning his head after him, could perceive him +crawling on all-fours with the dexterity of an Indian, availing +himself of every bush and inequality to escape observation, and +never passing over the more exposed parts of his track until the +sentinel's back was turned from him. At length he reached the +thickets and underwood which partly covered the moor in that +direction, and probably extended to the verge of the glen where +Waverley had been so long an inhabitant. The Highlander +disappeared, but it was only for a few minutes, for he suddenly +issued forth from a different part of the thicket, and advancing +boldly upon the open heath, as if to invite discovery, he +levelled his piece, and fired at the sentinel. A wound in the +arm proved a disagreeable interruption to the poor fellow's +meteorological observations, as well as to the tune of 'Nancy +Dawson,' which he was whistling. He returned the fire +ineffectually, and his comrades, starting up at the alarm, +advanced alertly towards the spot from which the first shot had +issued. The Highlander, after giving them a full view of his +person, dived among the thickets, for his RUSE DE GUERRE had now +perfectly succeeded. + +While the soldiers pursued the cause of their disturbance in one +direction, Waverley, adopting the hint of his remaining +attendant, made the best of his speed in that which his guide +originally intended to pursue, and which now (the attention of +the soldiers being drawn to a different quarter) was unobserved +and unguarded. When they had run about a quarter of a mile, the +brow of a rising ground, which they had surmounted, concealed +them from further risk of observation. They still heard, +however, at a distance, the shouts of the soldiers as they +hallooed to each other upon the heath, and they could also hear +the distant roll of a drum beating to arms in the same direction. +But these hostile sounds were now far in their rear, and died +away upon the breeze as they rapidly proceeded. + +When they had walked about half an hour, still along open and +waste ground of the same description, they came to the stump of +an ancient oak, which, from its relics, appeared to have been at +one time a tree of very large size. In an adjacent hollow they +found several Highlanders, with a horse or two. They had not +joined them above a few minutes, which Waverley's attendant +employed, in all probability, in communicating the cause of their +delay (for the words 'Duncan Duroch' were often repeated), when +Duncan himself appeared, out of breath indeed, and with all the +symptoms of having run for his life, but laughing, and in high +spirits at the success of the stratagem by which he had baffled +his pursuers. This, indeed, Waverley could easily conceive might +be a matter of no great difficulty to the active mountaineer, who +was perfectly acquainted with the ground, and traced his course +with a firmness and confidence to which his pursuers must have +been strangers. The alarm which he excited seemed still to +continue, for a dropping shot or two were heard at a great +distance, which seemed to serve as an addition to the mirth of +Duncan and his comrades. + +The mountaineer now resumed the arms with which he had entrusted +our hero, giving him to understand that the dangers of the +journey were happily surmounted. Waverley was then mounted upon +one of the horses, a change which the fatigue of the night and +his recent illness rendered exceedingly acceptable. His +portmanteau was placed on another pony, Duncan mounted a third, +and they set forward at a round pace, accompanied by their +escort. No other incident marked the course of that night's +journey, and at the dawn of morning they attained the banks of a +rapid river. The country around was at once fertile and +romantic. Steep banks of wood were broken by cornfields, which +this year presented an abundant harvest, already in a great +measure cut down. + +On the opposite bank of the river, and partly surrounded by a +winding of its stream, stood a large and massive castle, the +half-ruined turrets of which were already glittering in the first +rays of the sun. [See Note 22.] It was in form an oblong +square, of size sufficient to contain a large court in the +centre. The towers at each angle of the square rose higher than +the walls of the building, and were in their turn surmounted by +turrets, differing in height, and irregular in shape. Upon one +of these a sentinel watched, whose bonnet and plaid, streaming in +the wind, declared him to be a Highlander, as a broad white +ensign, which floated from another tower, announced that the +garrison was held by the insurgent adherents of the House of +Stuart. + +Passing hastily through a small and mean town, where their +appearance excited neither surprise nor curiosity in the few +peasants whom the labours of the harvest began to summon from +their repose, the party crossed an ancient and narrow bridge of +several arches, and turning to the left, up an avenue of huge old +sycamores, Waverley found himself in front of the gloomy yet +picturesque structure which he had admired at a distance. A huge +iron-grated door, which formed the exterior defence of the +gateway, was already thrown back to receive them; and a second, +heavily constructed of oak, and studded thickly with iron nails, +being next opened, admitted them into the interior courtyard. A +gentleman, dressed in the Highland garb, and having a white +cockade in his bonnet, assisted Waverley to dismount from his +horse, and with much courtesy bid him welcome to the castle. + +The governor for so we must term him, having conducted Waverley +to a half-ruinous apartment, where, however, there was a small +camp-bed, and having offered him any refreshment which he +desired, was then about to leave him. + +'Will you not add to your civilities,' said Waverley, after +having made the usual acknowledgement, 'by having the kindness to +inform me where I am, and whether or not I am to consider myself +as a prisoner?' + +'I am not at liberty to be so explicit upon this subject as I +could wish. Briefly, however, you are in the Castle of Doune, in +the district of Menteith, and in no danger whatever.' + +'And how am I assured of that?' + +'By the honour of Donald Stewart, governor of the garrison, and +lieutenant-colonel in the service of his Royal Highness Prince +Charles Edward.' So saying, he hastily left the apartment, as if +to avoid further discussion. + +Exhausted by the fatigues of the night, our hero now threw +himself upon the bed, and was in a few minutes fast asleep. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE JOURNEY IS CONTINUED + +Before Waverley awakened from his repose, the day was far +advanced, and he began to feel that he had passed many hours +without food. This was soon supplied in form of a copious +breakfast, but Colonel Stewart, as if wishing to avoid the +queries of his guest, did not again present himself. His +compliments were, however, delivered by a servant, with an offer +to provide anything in his power that could be useful to Captain +Waverley on his journey, which he intimated would be continued +that evening. To Waverley's further inquiries, the servant +opposed the impenetrable barrier of real or affected ignorance +and stupidity. He removed the table and provisions, and Waverley +was again consigned to his own meditations. + +As he contemplated the strangeness of his fortune, which seemed +to delight in placing him at the disposal of others, without the +power of directing his own motions, Edward's eye suddenly rested +upon his portmanteau, which had been deposited in his apartment +during his sleep. The mysterious appearance of Alice, in the +cottage of the glen, immediately rushed upon his mind, and he was +about to secure and examine the packet which she had deposited +among his clothes, when the servant of Colonel Stewart again made +his appearance, and took up the portmanteau upon his shoulders. + +'May I not take out a change of linen, my friend?' + +'Your honour sall get ane o' the Colonel's ain ruffled sarks, but +this maun gang in the baggage-cart.' + +And so saying, he very coolly carried off the portmanteau, +without waiting further remonstrance, leaving our hero in a state +where disappointment and indignation struggled for the mastery. +In a few minutes he heard a cart rumble out of the rugged +courtyard, and made no doubt that he was now dispossessed, for a +space at least, if not for ever, of the only documents which +seemed to promise some light upon the dubious events which had of +late influenced his destiny. With such melancholy thoughts he +had to beguile about four or five hours of solitude. + +When this space was elapsed, the trampling of horse was heard in +the courtyard, and Colonel Stewart soon after made his appearance +to request his guest to take some further refreshment before his +departure. The offer was accepted, for a late breakfast had by +no means left our hero incapable of doing honour to dinner, which +was now presented. The conversation of his host was that of a +plain country gentleman, mixed with some soldier-like sentiments +and expressions. He cautiously avoided any reference to the +military operations or civil politics of the time: and to +Waverley's direct inquiries concerning some of these points, +replied, that he was not at liberty to speak upon such topics. + +When dinner was finished, the governor arose, and, wishing Edward +a good journey, said, that having been informed by Waverley's +servant that his baggage had been sent forward, he had taken the +freedom to supply him with such changes of linen as he might find +necessary, till he was again possessed of his own. With this +compliment he disappeared. A servant acquainted Waverley an +instant afterwards, that his horse was ready. + +Upon this hint he descended into the courtyard, and found a +trooper holding a saddled horse, on which he mounted, and sallied +from the portal of Doune Castle, attended by about a score of +armed men on horseback. These had less the appearance of regular +soldiers than of individuals who had suddenly assumed arms from +some pressing motive of unexpected emergency. Their uniform, +which was blue and red, an affected imitation of that of French +chasseurs, was in many respects incomplete, and sat awkwardly +upon those who wore it. Waverley's eye, accustomed to look at a +well-disciplined regiment, could easily discover that the motions +and habits of his escort were not those of trained soldiers, and +that, although expert enough in the management of their horses, +their skill was that of huntsmen or grooms, rather than of +troopers. The horses were not trained to the regular pace so +necessary to execute simultaneous and combined movements and +formations; nor did they seem BITTED (as it is technically +expressed) for the use of the sword. The men, however, were +stout, hardy-looking fellows, and might be individually +formidable as irregular cavalry. The commander of this small +party was mounted upon an excellent hunter, and although dressed +in uniform, his change of apparel did not prevent Waverley from +recognizing his old acquaintance, Mr. Falconer of Balmawhapple. + +Now, although the terms upon which Edward had parted with this +gentleman were none of the most friendly, he would have +sacrificed every recollection of their foolish quarrel for the +pleasure of enjoying once more the social intercourse of question +and answer, from which he had been so long secluded. But +apparently the remembrance of his defeat by the Baron of +Bradwardine, of which Edward had been the unwilling cause, still +rankled in the mind of the low-bred, and yet proud laird. He +carefully avoided giving the ]east sign of recognition, riding +doggedly at the head of his men, who, though scarce equal in +numbers to a sergeant's party, were denominated Captain +Falconer's troop, being preceded by a trumpet, which sounded from +time to time, and a standard, borne by Cornet Falconer, the +laird's young brother. The lieutenant, an elderly man, had much +the air of a low sportsman and boon companion; an expression of +dry humour predominated in his countenance over features of a +vulgar cast, which indicated habitual intemperance. His cocked +hat was set knowingly upon one side of his head, and while he +whistled the 'Bob of Dumblain,' under the influence of half a +mutchkin of brandy, he seemed to fret merrily forward, with a +happy indifference to the state of the country, the conduct of +the party, the end of the journey, and all other sublunary +matters whatever. + +From this wight, who now and then dropped alongside of his horse, +Waverley hoped to acquire some information, or at least to +beguile the way with talk. + +'A fine evening, sir,' was Edward's salutation. + +'Ow, aye, sir! a bra' night,' replied the lieutenant, in broad +Scotch of the most vulgar description. + +'And a fine harvest, apparently,' continued Waverley, following +up his first attack. + +'Aye, the aits will be got bravely in: but the farmers, deil +burst them, and the corn-mongers will make the auld price gude +against them as has horses till keep.' + +'You perhaps act as quarter-master, sir?' + +'Aye, quarter-master, riding-master, and lieutenant,' answered +this officer of all work. 'And, to be sure, wha's fitter to look +after the breaking and the keeping of the poor beasts than +mysell, that bought and sold every ane o' them?' + +'And pray, sir, if it be not too great a freedom, may I beg to +know where we are going just now?' + +'A fule's errand, I fear,' answered this communicative personage. + +'In that case,' said Waverley, determined not to spare civility, +'I should have thought a person of your appearance would not have +been found on the road.' + +'Vera true, vera true, sir,' replied the officer, 'but every why +has its wherefore. Ye maun ken, the laird there bought a' thir +beasts frae' me to munt his troop, and agreed to pay for them +according to the necessities and prices of the time. But then he +hadna the ready penny, and I hae been advised his bond will not +be worth a boddle against the estate, and then I had a' my +dealers to settle wi' at Martinmas; and so as he very kindly +offered me this commission, and as the auld Fifteen [The Judges +of the Supreme Court of Session in Scotland are proverbially +termed, among the country people, The Fifteen.] wad never help me +to my siller for sending out naigs against the Government, why, +conscience! sir, I thought my best chance for payment was e'en +to GAE OUT mysell; and ye may judge, sir, as I hae dealt a' my +life in halters, I think na mickle o' putting my craig in peril +of a St. Johnstone's tippet.' [TO GO OUT, or TO HAVE BEEN OUT, +in Scotland, was a conventional phrase similar to that of the +Irish respecting a man having been UP, both having reference to +an individual who had been engaged in insurrection. It was +accounted ill-breeding in Scotland, about forty years since, to +use the phrase rebellion or rebel, which might be interpreted by +some of the parties present as a personal insult. It was also +esteemed more polite even for stanch Whigs to denominate Charles +Edward the Chevalier, than to speak of him as the Pretender; and +this kind of accommodating courtesy was usually observed in +society where individuals of each party mixed on friendly terms.] + +'You are not, then, by profession a soldier?' said Waverley. + +'Na, na; thank God,' answered this doughty partisan, 'I wasna +bred at sae short a tether; I was brought up to hack and manger. +I was bred a horse-couper, sir; and if I might live to see you at +Whitson-tryst, or at Stagshawbank, or the winter fair at Hawick, +and ye wanted a spanker that would lead the field, I'se be +caution I would serve ye easy; for Jamie Jinker was ne'er the lad +to impose upon a gentleman. Ye're a gentleman, sir, and should +ken a horse's points; ye see that through-ganging thing that +Balmawhapple's on; I selled her till him. She was bred out of +Lick-the-Ladle, that wan the king's plate at Caverton-Edge, by +Duke Hamilton's White-foot,' &c. &c. &c. + +But as Jinker was entered full sail upon the pedigree of +Balmawhapple's mare, having already got as far as great-grandsire +and great-grand-dam, and while Waverley was watching for an +opportunity to obtain from him intelligence of more interest, the +noble captain checked his horse until they came up, and then, +without directly appearing to notice Edward, said sternly to the +genealogist, 'I thought, lieutenant', my orders were preceese, +that no one should speak to the prisoner?' + +The metamorphosed horse-dealer was silenced of course, and slunk +to the rear, where he consoled himself by entering into a +vehement dispute upon the price of hay with a farmer, who had +reluctantly followed his laird to the field, rather than give up +his farm, whereof the lease had just expired. Waverley was +therefore once more consigned to silence, foreseeing that further +attempts at conversation with any of the party would only give +Balmawhapple a wished-for opportunity to display the insolence of +authority, and the sulky spite of a temper naturally dogged, and +rendered more so by habits of low indulgence and the incense of +servile adulation. + +In about two hours' time, the party were near the Castle of +Stirling, over whose battlements the union flag was brightened as +it waved in the evening sun. To shorten his journey or perhaps +to display his importance and insult the English garrison, +Balmawhapple, inclining to the right, took his route through the +royal park, which reaches to and surrounds the rock upon which +the fortress is situated. + +With a mind more at ease, Waverley could not have failed to +admire the mixture of romance and beauty which renders +interesting the scene through which he was now passing--the field +which had been the scene of the tournaments of old--the rock from +which the ladies beheld the contest, while each made vows for the +success of some favourite knight--the towers of the Gothic +church, where these vows might be paid--and, surmounting all, the +fortress itself, at once a castle and palace, where valour +received the prize from royalty, and knights and dames closed the +evening amid the revelry of the dance, the song, and the feast. +All these were objects fitted to arouse and interest a romantic +imagination. + +But Waverley had other objects of meditation, and an incident +soon occurred of a nature to disturb meditation of any kind. +Balmawhapple, in the pride of his heart, as he wheeled his little +body of cavalry round the base of the castle, commanded his +trumpet to sound a flourish, and his standard to be displayed. +This insult produced apparently some sensation; for when the +cavalcade was at such a distance from the southern battery as to +admit of a gun being depressed so as to bear upon them, a flash +of fire issued from one of the embrasures upon the rock; and ere +the report with which it was attended could be heard, the rushing +sound of a cannon-ball passed over Balmawhapple's head, and the +bullet, burying itself in the ground at a few yards' distance, +covered him with the earth which it drove up. There was no need +to bid the party trudge. In fact, every man, acting upon the +impulse of the moment, soon brought Mr. Jinker's steeds to show +their mettle, and the cavaliers, retreating with more speed than +regularity, never took to a trot, as the lieutenant afterwards +observed, until an intervening eminence had secured them from any +repetition of so undesirable a compliment on the part of Stirling +Castle. I must do Balmawhapple, however, the justice to say, +that he not only kept the rear of his troop, and laboured to +maintain some order among them, but, in the height of his +gallantry, answered the fire of the castle by discharging one of +his horse-pistols at the battlements; although, the distance +being nearly half a mile, I could never learn that this measure +of retaliation was attended with any particular effect. + +The travellers now passed the memorable field of Bannockburn, and +reached the Torwood,--a place glorious or terrible to the +recollections of the Scottish peasant, as the feats of Wallace, +or the cruelties of Wude Willie Grime, predominate in his +recollection. At Falkirk, a town formerly famous in Scottish +history, and soon to be again distinguished as the scene of +military events of importance, Balmawhapple proposed to halt and +repose for the evening. This was performed with very little +regard to military discipline, his worthy quarter-master being +chiefly solicitous to discover where the best brandy might be +come at. Sentinels were deemed unnecessary, and the only vigils +performed were those of such of the party as could procure +liquor. A few resolute men might easily have cut off the +detachment; but of the inhabitants some were favourable, many +indifferent, and the rest overawed. So nothing memorable +occurred in the course of the evening, except that Waverley's +rest was sorely interrupted by the revellers hallooing forth +their Jacobite songs, without remorse or mitigation of voice. + +Early in the morning they were again mounted, and on the road to +Edinburgh, though the pallid visages of some of the troop +betrayed that they had spent a night of sleepless debauchery. +They halted at Linlithgow, distinguished by its ancient palace, +which, Sixty Years since, was entire and habitable, and whose +venerable ruins, not quite Sixty Years since, very narrowly +escaped the unworthy fate of being converted into a barrack for +French prisoners. May repose and blessings attend the ashes of +the patriotic statesman, who, amongst his last services to +Scotland, interposed to prevent this profanation! + +As they approached the metropolis of Scotland, through a +champaign and cultivated country, the sounds of war began to be +heard. The distant, yet distinct report of heavy cannon, fired +at intervals, apprized Waverley that the work of destruction was +going forward. Even Balmawhapple seemed moved to take some +precautions, by sending an advanced party in front of his troop, +keeping the main body in tolerable order, and moving steadily +forward. + +Marching in this manner they speedily reached an eminence, from +which they could view Edinburgh stretching along the ridgy hill +which slopes eastward from the Castle. The latter, being in a +state of siege, or rather of blockade, by the northern +insurgents, who had already occupied the town for two or three +days, fired at intervals upon such parties of Highlanders as +exposed themselves, either on the main street, or elsewhere in +the vicinity of the fortress. The morning being calm and fair, +the effect of this dropping fire was to invest the Castle in +wreaths of smoke, the edges of which dissipated slowly in the +air, while the central veil was darkened ever and anon by fresh +clouds poured forth from the battlements; the whole giving, by +the partial concealment, an appearance of grandeur and gloom, +rendered more terrific when Waverley reflected on the cause by +which it was produced, and that each explosion might ring some +brave man's knell. + +Ere they approached the city, the partial cannonade had wholly +ceased. Balmawhapple, however, having in his recollection the +unfriendly greeting which his troop had received from the battery +of Stirling, had apparently no wish to tempt the forbearance of +the artillery of the Castle. He therefore left the direct road, +and sweeping considerably to the southward, so as to keep out of +the range of the cannon, approached the ancient palace of +Holyrood, without having entered the walls of the city. He then +drew up his men in front of that venerable pile, and delivered +Waverley to the custody of a guard of Highlanders, whose officer +conducted him into the interior of the building. + +A long, low, and ill-proportioned gallery, hung with pictures, +affirmed to be the portraits of kings, who, if they ever +flourished at all, lived several hundred years before the +invention of painting in oil colours, served as a sort of guard- +chamber, or vestibule, to the apartments which the adventurous +Charles Edward now occupied in the palace of his ancestors. +Officers, both in the Highland and Lowland garb, passed and +repassed in haste, or loitered in the hall, as if waiting for +orders. Secretaries were engaged in making out passes, musters, +and returns. All seemed busy, and earnestly intent upon +something of importance; but Waverley was suffered to remain +seated in the recess of a window, unnoticed by any one, in +anxious reflection upon the crisis of his fate, which seemed now +rapidly approaching. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AN OLD AND A NEW ACQUAINTANCE + +While he was deep sunk in his reverie, the rustle of tartans was +heard behind him, a friendly arm clasped his shoulders, and a +friendly voice exclaimed, + +'Said the Highland prophet sooth?--or must second-sight go for +nothing?' + +Waverley turned, and was warmly embraced by Fergus Mac-Ivor. 'A +thousand welcomes to Holyrood, once more possessed by her +legitimate sovereign! Did I not say we should prosper, and that +you would fall into the hands of the Philistines if you parted +from us?' + +'Dear Fergus!' said Waverley, eagerly returning his greeting, +'it is long since I have heard a friend's voice. Where is +Flora?' + +'Safe, and a triumphant spectator of our success.' + +'In this place?' said Waverley. + +'Aye, in this city at least,' answered his friend, 'and you shall +see her; but first you must meet a friend whom you little think +of, who has been frequent in his inquiries after you.' + +Thus saying, he dragged Waverley by the arm out of the guard- +chamber, and, ere he knew where he was conducted, Edward found +himself in a presence-room, fitted up with some attempt at royal +state. + +A young man, wearing his own fair hair, distinguished by the +dignity of his mien and the noble expression of his well-formed +and regular features, advanced out of a circle of military +gentlemen and Highland chiefs, by whom he was surrounded. In his +easy and graceful manners Waverley afterwards thought he could +have discovered his high birth and rank, although the star on his +breast, and the embroidered garter at his knee, had not appeared +as its indications. + +'Let me present to your Royal Highness,' said Fergus, bowing +profoundly-- + +'The descendant of one of the most ancient and loyal families in +England,' said the young Chevalier, interrupting him. 'I beg +your pardon for interrupting you, my dear Mac-Ivor; but no master +of ceremonies is necessary to present a Waverley to a Stuart.' + +Thus saying, he extended his hand to Edward with the utmost +courtesy, who could not, had he desired it, have avoided +rendering him the homage which seemed due to his rank, and was +certainly the right of his birth. 'I am sorry to understand, Mr. +Waverley, that, owing to circumstances which have been as yet but +ill explained, you have suffered some restraint among my +followers in Perthshire, and on your march here; but we are in +such a situation that we hardly know our friends, and I am even +at this moment uncertain whether I can have the pleasure of +considering Mr. Waverley as among mine.' + +He then paused for an instant; but before Edward could adjust a +suitable reply or even arrange his ideas as to its purport, the +Prince took out a paper, and then proceeded:--'I should indeed +have no doubts upon this subject, if I could trust to this +proclamation, set forth by the friends of the Elector of Hanover, +in which they rank Mr. Waverley among the nobility and gentry who +are menaced with the pains of high treason for loyalty to their +legitimate sovereign. But I desire to gain no adherents save +from affection and conviction; and if Mr. Waverley inclines to +prosecute his journey to the south, or to join the forces of the +Elector, he shall have my passport and free permission to do so; +and I can only regret, that my present power will not extend to +protect him against the probable consequences of such a measure. +--But,' continued Charles Edward, after another short pause, 'if +Mr. Waverley should, like his ancestor, Sir Nigel, determine to +embrace a cause which has little to recommend it but its justice, +and follow a prince who throws himself upon the affections of his +people to recover the throne of his ancestors, or perish in the +attempt, I can only say, that among these nobles and gentlemen he +will find worthy associates in a gallant enterprise, and will +follow a master who may be unfortunate, but, I trust, will never +be ungrateful.' + +The politic Chieftain of the race of Ivor knew his advantage in +introducing Waverley to this personal interview with the royal +Adventurer. Unaccustomed to the address and manners of a +polished court, in which Charles was eminently skilful, his words +and his kindness penetrated the heart of our hero, and easily +outweighed all prudential motives. To be thus personally +solicited for assistance by a Prince, whose form and manners, as +well as the spirit which he displayed in this singular +enterprise, answered his ideas of a hero of romance; to be +courted by him in the ancient halls of his paternal palace, +recovered by the sword which he was already bending towards other +conquests, gave Edward, in his own eyes, the dignity and +importance which he had ceased to consider as his attributes. +Rejected, slandered, and threatened upon the one side, he was +irresistibly attracted to the cause which the prejudices of +education, and the political principles of his family, had +already recommended as the most just. These thoughts rushed +through his mind like a torrent, sweeping before them every +consideration of an opposite tendency,--the time, besides, +admitted of no deliberation,--and Waverley, kneeling to Charles +Edward, devoted his heart and sword to the vindication of his +rights! + +The Prince (for, although unfortunate in the faults and follies +of his forefathers, we shall here, and elsewhere, give him the +title due to his birth) raised Waverley from the ground, and +embraced him with an expression of thanks too warm not to be +genuine. He also thanked Fergus Mac-Ivor repeatedly for having +brought him such an adherent, and presented Waverley to the +various noblemen, chieftains, and officers who were about his +person, as a young gentleman of the highest hopes and prospects, +in whose bold and enthusiastic avowal of his cause they might see +an evidence of the sentiments of the English families of rank at +this important crisis. [See Note 23.] Indeed, this was a point +much doubted among the adherents of the house of Stuart; and as a +well-founded disbelief in the co-operation of the English +Jacobites kept many Scottish men of rank from his standard, and +diminished the courage of those who had joined it, nothing could +be more seasonable for the Chevalier than the open declaration in +his favour of the representative of the house of Waverley-Honour, +so long known as cavaliers and royalists. This Fergus had +foreseen from the beginning. He really loved Waverley, because +their feelings and projects never thwarted each other; he hoped +to see him united with Flora, and he rejoiced that they were +effectually engaged in the same cause. But, as we before hinted, +he also exulted as a politician in beholding secured to his party +a partisan of such consequence; and he was far from being +insensible to the personal importance which he himself gained +with the Prince, from having so materially assisted in making the +acquisition. + +Charles Edward, on his part, seemed eager to show his attendants +the value which he attached to his new adherent, by entering +immediately, as in confidence, upon the circumstances of his +situation. 'You have been secluded so much from intelligence, +Mr. Waverley, from causes of which I am but indistinctly +informed, that I presume you are even yet unacquainted with the +important particulars of my present situation. You have, +however, heard of my landing in the remote district of Moidart, +with only seven attendants, and of the numerous chiefs and clans +whose loyal enthusiasm at once placed a solitary adventurer at +the head of a gallant army. You must also, I think, have +learned, that the commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian Elector, +Sir John Cope, marched into the Highlands at the head of a +numerous and well-appointed military force, with the intention of +giving us battle, but that his courage failed him when we were +within three hours' march of each other, so that he fairly gave +us the slip, and marched northward to Aberdeen, leaving the Low +Country open and undefended. Not to lose so favourable an +opportunity, I marched on to this metropolis, driving before me +two regiments of horse, Gardiner's and Hamilton's, who had +threatened to cut to pieces every Highlander that should venture +to pass Stirling; and while discussions were carrying forward +among the magistracy and citizens of Edinburgh, whether they +should defend themselves or surrender, my good friend Lochiel +(laying his hand on the shoulder of that gallant and accomplished +chieftain) saved them the trouble of further deliberation, by +entering the gates with five hundred Camerons. Thus far, +therefore, we have done well; but, in the meanwhile, this doughty +general's nerves being braced by the keen air of Aberdeen, he has +taken shipping for Dunbar, and I have just received certain +information that he landed there yesterday. His purpose must +unquestionably be to march towards us to recover possession of +the capital. Now, there are two opinions in my council of war: +one, that being inferior probably in numbers, and certainly in +discipline and military appointments, not to mention our total +want of artillery, and the weakness of our cavalry, it will be +safest to fall back towards the mountains, and there protract the +war, until fresh succours arrive from France, and the whole body +of the Highland clans shall have taken arms in our favour. The +opposite opinion maintains, that a retrograde movement, in our +circumstances, is certain to throw utter discredit on our arms +and undertaking; and, far from gaining us new partisans, will be +the means of disheartening-those who have joined our standard. +The officers who use these last arguments, among whom is your +friend Fergus Mac-Ivor, maintain, that if the Highlanders are +strangers to the usual military discipline of Europe, the +soldiers whom they are to encounter are no less strangers to +their peculiar and formidable mode of attack; that the attachment +and courage of the chiefs and gentlemen are not to be doubted; +and that as they will be in the midst of the enemy, their +clansmen will as surely follow them; in fine, that having drawn +the sword, we should throw away the scabbard, and trust our cause +to battle, and to the God of Battles. Will Mr. Waverley favour +us with his opinion in these arduous circumstances?' + +Waverley coloured high betwixt pleasure and modesty at the +distinction implied in this question, and answered, with equal +spirit-and readiness, that he could not venture to offer an +opinion as derived from military skill, but that the counsel +would be far the most acceptable to him which should first afford +him an opportunity to evince his zeal in his Royal Highness's +service. + +'Spoken like a Waverley!' answered Charles Edward; and that you +may hold a rank in some degree corresponding to your name, allow +me, instead of the captain's commission which you have lost, to +offer you the brevet rank of major in my service, with the +advantage of acting as one of my aides de camp until you can be +attached to a regiment, of which I hope several will be speedily +embodied.' + +'Your Royal Highness will forgive me,' answered Waverley (for his +recollection turned to Balmawhapple and his scanty troop), 'If I +decline accepting any rank until the time and place where I may +have interest enough to raise a sufficient body of men to make my +command useful to your Royal Highness's service. In the +meanwhile, I hope for your permission to serve as a volunteer +under my friend Fergus Mac-Ivor.' + +'At least,' said the Prince, who was obviously pleased with this +proposal, 'allow me the pleasure of arming you after the Highland +fashion.' With these words, he unbuckled the broadsword which he +wore, the belt of which was plated with silver, and the steel +basket-hilt richly and curiously inlaid, 'The blade,' said the +Prince, 'is a genuine Andrea Ferrara; it has been a sort of +heirloom in our family; but I am convinced I put it into better +hands than my own, and will add to it pistols of the same +workmanship.--Colonel Mac-Ivor, you must have much to say to your +friend; I will detain you no longer from your private +conversation; but remember, we expect you both to attend us in +the evening. It may be perhaps the last night we may enjoy in +these halls, and as we go to the field with a clear conscience, +we will spend the eve of battle merrily.' + +Thus licensed, the Chief and Waverley left the presence-chamber. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE MYSTERY BEGINS TO BE CLEARED UP + +'How do you like him?' was Fergus's first question, as they +descended the large stone staircase. + +'A prince to live and die under,' was Waverley's enthusiastic +answer. + +'I knew you would think so when you saw him, and I intended you +should have met earlier, but was prevented by your sprain. And +yet he has his foibles, or rather he has difficult cards to play, +and his Irish officers, [See note 24.] who are much about him, +are but sorry advisers,--they cannot discriminate among the +numerous pretensions that are set up. Would you think it--I have +been obliged for the present to suppress an earl's patent, +granted for services rendered ten years ago, for fear of exciting +the jealousy, forsooth, of C-- and M--. But you were very right, +Edward, to refuse the situation of aide de camp. There are two +vacant, indeed, but Clanronald and Lochiel, and almost all of us, +have requested one for young Aberchallader, and the Lowlanders +and the Irish party are equally desirous to have the other for +the Master of F--. Now, if either of these candidates were to be +superseded in your favour, you would make enemies. And then I am +surprised that the Prince should have offered you a majority, +when he knows very well that nothing short of lieutenant-colonel +will satisfy others, who cannot bring one hundred and fifty men +to the field. "But patience, cousin, and shuffle the cards!" It +is all very well for the present, and we must have you regularly +equipped for the evening in your new costume; for, to say truth, +your outward man is scarce fit for a court.' + +'Why,' said Waverley, looking at his soiled dress, 'my shooting- +jacket has seen service since we parted; but that, probably, you, +my friend, know as well or better than I.' + +'You do my second-sight too much honour,' said Fergus, 'We were +so busy, first with the scheme of giving battle to Cope, and +afterwards with our operations in the Lowlands, that I could only +give general directions to such of our people as were left in +Perthshire to respect and protect you, should you come in their +way. But let me hear the full story of your adventures, for they +have reached us in a very partial and mutilated manner.' + +Waverley then detailed at length the circumstances with which the +reader is already acquainted, to which Fergus listened with great +attention. By this time they had reached the door of his +quarters, which he had taken up in a small paved court, retiring +from the street called the Canongate, at the house of a buxom +widow of forty, who seemed to smile very graciously upon the +handsome young Chief, she being a person with whom good looks and +good humour were sure to secure an interest, whatever might be +the party's political opinions. Here Callum Beg received them +with a smile of recognition. 'Callum,' said the Chief, 'call +Shemus an Snachad' (James of the Needle). This was the +hereditary tailor of Vich Ian Vohr. 'Shemus, Mr. Waverley is to +wear the CATH DATH (battle colour, or tartan); his trews must be +ready in four hours. You know the measure of a well-made man: +two double nails to the small of the leg'-- + +'Eleven from haunch to heel, seven round the waist--I give your +honour leave to hang Shemus, if there's a pair of sheers in the +Highlands that has a baulder sneck than her's ain at the CUMADH +AN TRUAIS' (shape of the trews). + +'Get a plaid of Mac-Ivor tartan, and sash,' continued the +Chieftain, 'and a blue bonnet of the Prince's pattern, at Mr. +Mouat's in the Crames. My short green coat, with silver lace and +silver buttons, will fit him exactly, and I have never worn it. +Tell Ensign Maccombich to pick out a handsome target from among +mine. The Prince has given Mr. Waverley broadsword and pistols, +I will furnish him with a dirk and purse; add but a pair of low- +heeled shoes, and then, my dear Edward (turning to him), you will +be a complete son of Ivor. + +These necessary directions given, the Chieftain resumed the +subject of Waverley's adventures. 'It is plain,' he said, 'that +you have been in the custody of Donald Bean Lean. You must know, +that when I marched away my clan to join the Prince, I laid my +injunctions on that worthy member of society to perform a certain +piece of service, which done, he was to join me with all the +force he could muster. But instead of doing so, the gentleman, +finding the coast clear, thought it better to make war on his own +account, and has scoured the country, plundering, I believe, both +friend and foe, under pretence of levying blackmail, sometimes as +if by my authority, and sometimes (and be cursed to his +consummate impudence) in his own great name! Upon my honour, if +I live to see the cairn of Benmore again, I shall be tempted to +hang that fellow! I recognize his hand particularly in the mode +of your rescue from that canting rascal Gilfillan, and I have +little doubt that Donald himself played the part of the pedlar on +that occasion; but how he should not have plundered you, or put +you to ransom, or availed himself in some way or other of your +captivity for his own advantage, passes my judgement.' + +'When and how did you hear the intelligence of my confinement?' +asked Waverley. + +'The Prince himself told me,' said Fergus,' and inquired very +minutely into your history. He then mentioned your being at that +moment in the power of one of our northern parties--you know I +could not ask him to explain particulars--and requested my +opinion about disposing of you. I recommended that you should be +brought here as a prisoner, because I did not wish to prejudice +you further with the English Government, in case you pursued your +purpose of going southward. I knew nothing, you must recollect, +of the charge brought against you of aiding and abetting high +treason, which, I presume, had some share in changing your +original plan. That sullen, good-for-nothing brute, +Balmawhapple, was sent to escort you from Doune, with what he +calls his troop of horse. As to his behaviour, in addition to +his natural antipathy to everything that resembles a gentleman, +I presume his adventure with Bradwardine rankles in his +recollection, the rather that I dare say his mode of telling that +story contributed to the evil reports which reached your quondam +regiment.' + +'Very likely,' said Waverley; 'but now surely, my dear Fergus, +you may find time to tell me something of Flora.' + +'Why,' replied Fergus, 'I can only tell you that she is well, and +residing for the present with a relation in this city. I thought +it better she should come here, as since our success a good many +ladies of rank attend our military court; and I assure you, that +there is a sort of consequence annexed to the near relative of +such a person as Flora Mac-Ivor; and where there is such a +justling of claims and requests, a man must use every fair means +to enhance his importance.' + +There was something in this last sentence which grated on +Waverley's feelings. He could not bear that Flora should be +considered as conducing to her brother's preferment, by the +admiration which she must unquestionably attract; and although it +was in strict correspondence with many points of Fergus's +character, it shocked him as selfish, and unworthy of his +sister's high mind, and his own independent pride. Fergus, to +whom such manoeuvres were familiar, as to one brought up at the +French court, did not observe the unfavourable impression which +he had unwarily made upon his friend's mind, and concluded by +saying, that they could hardly see Flora before the evening, when +she would be at the concert and ball, with which the Prince's +party were to be entertained. She and I had a quarrel about her +not appearing to take leave of you. I am unwilling to renew it, +by soliciting her to receive you this morning; and perhaps my +doing so might not only be ineffectual, but prevent your meeting +this evening.' + +While thus conversing, Waverley heard in the court, before the +windows of the parlour, a well-known voice. 'I aver to you, my +worthy friend,' said the speaker, 'that it is a total dereliction +of military discipline; and were you not as it were a TYRO, your +purpose would deserve strong reprobation. For a prisoner of war +is on no account to be coerced with fetters, or detained IN +ERGASTULO, as would have been the case had you put this gentleman +into the pit of the peel-house at Balmawhapple. I grant, indeed, +that such a prisoner may for security be coerced IN CARCERE, that +is, in a public prison.' + +The growling voice of Balmawhapple was heard as taking leave in +displeasure, but the word 'land-louper' alone was distinctly +audible. He had disappeared before Waverley reached the house, +in order to greet the worthy Baron of Bradwardine. The uniform +in which he was now attired, a blue coat, namely, with gold lace, +a scarlet waistcoat and breeches, and immense jack-boots, seemed +to have added fresh stiffness and rigidity to his tall, +perpendicular figure; and the consciousness of military command +and authority had increased, in the same proportion, the self- +importance of his demeanour, and the dogmatism of his +conversation. + +He received Waverley with his usual kindness, and expressed +immediate anxiety to hear an explanation of the circumstances +attending the loss of his commission in Gardiner's dragoons; +'not,' he said, 'that he had the least apprehension of his young +friend having done aught which could merit such ungenerous +treatment as he had received from Government, but because it was +right and seemly that the Baron of Bradwardine should be, in +point of trust and in point of power, fully able to refute all +calumnies against the heir of Waverley-Honour, whom he had so +much right to regard as his own son.' + +Fergus Mac-Ivor, who had now joined them, went hastily over the +circumstances of Waverley's story, and concluded with the +flattering reception he had met from the young Chevalier. The +Baron listened in silence, and at the conclusion shook Waverley +heartily by the hand, and congratulated him upon entering the +service of his lawful Prince. 'For,' continued he, 'although it +has been justly held in all nations a matter of scandal and +dishonour to infringe the SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, and that whether +it was taken by each soldier singly, whilk the Romans denominated +PER CONJURATIONEM, or by one soldier in name of the rest, yet no +one ever doubted that the allegiance so sworn was discharged by +the DIMISSIO, or discharging of a soldier, whose case would be as +hard as that of colliers, salters, and other ADSCRIPTI GLEBAE, or +slaves of the soil, were it to be accounted otherwise. This is +something like the brocard expressed by the learned Sanchez in +his work DE JURE-JURANDO, which you have questionless consulted +upon this occasion. As for those who have calumniated you by +leasing-making, I protest to Heaven I think they have justly +incurred the penalty of the MEMNONIA LEX, also called LEX +RHEMNIA, which is prelected upon by Tullius in his oration IN +VERREM. I should have deemed, however, Mr. Waverley, that before +destining yourself to any special service in the army of the +Prince, ye might have inquired what rank the old Bradwardine held +there, and whether he would not have been peculiarly happy to +have had your services in the regiment of horse which he is now +about to levy.' + +Edward eluded this reproach by pleading the necessity of giving +an immediate answer to the Prince's proposal, and his uncertainty +at the moment whether his friend the Baron was with the army, or +engaged upon service elsewhere. + +This punctilio being settled, Waverley made inquiry after Miss +Bradwardine, and was informed she had come to Edinburgh with +Flora Mac-Ivor, under guard of a party of the Chieftain's men. +This step was indeed necessary, Tully-Veolan having become a very +unpleasant, and even dangerous place of residence for an +unprotected young lady, on account of its vicinity to the +Highlands, and also to one or two large villages, which, from +aversion as much to the Caterans as zeal for presbytery, had +declared themselves on the side of Government, and formed +irregular bodies of partisans, who had frequent skirmishes with +the mountaineers, and sometimes attacked the houses of the +Jacobite gentry in the braes, or frontier betwixt the mountain +and plain. + +'I would propose to you,' continued the Baron, 'to walk as far as +my quarters in the Luckenbooths, and to admire in your passage +the High Street, whilk is, beyond a shadow of dubitation, finer +than any street, whether in London or Paris. But Rose, poor +thing, is sorely discomposed with the firing of the Castle, +though I have proved to her from Blondel and Coehorn, that it is +impossible a bullet can reach these buildings; and, besides, I +have it in charge from His Royal Highness to go to the camp, or +leaguer of our army, to see that the men do CONCLAMARE VASA, that +is, truss up their bag and baggage for to-morrow's march.' + +'That will be easily done by most of us,' said Mac-Ivor, +laughing. + +'Craving your pardon, Colonel Mac-Ivor, not quite so easily as ye +seem to opine. I grant most of your folk left the Highlands, +expedited as it were, and free from the incumbrance of baggage; +but it is unspeakable the quantity of useless sprechery which +they have collected on their march, I saw one fellow of yours +(craving your pardon once more) with a pier-glass upon his back.' + +'Aye,' said Fergus, still in good humour, 'he would have told +you, if you had questioned him, A GANGING FOOT IS AYE GETTING.-- +But come, my dear Baron, you know as well as I, that a hundred +Uhlans, or a single troop of Schmirschitz's Pandours, would make +more havoc in a country than the knight of the mirror and all the +rest of our clans put together.' + +'And that is very true likewise,' replied the Baron; 'they are, +as the heathen author says, FEROCIORES IN ASPECTU, MITIORES IN +ACTU, of a horrid and grim visage, but more benign in demeanour +than their physiognomy or aspect might infer.--But I stand here +talking to you two youngsters when I should be in the King's +Park.' + +'But you will dine with Waverley and me on your return? I assure +you, Baron, though I can live like a Highlander when needs must, +I remember my Paris education, and understand perfectly FAIRE LA +MEILLEURE CHERE.' + +'And wha the deil doubts it,' quoth the Baron, laughing, 'when ye +bring only the cookery, and the gude toun must furnish the +materials?--'Weel, I have some business in the toun too: But +I'll join you at three, if the vivers can tarry so long.' + +So saying, he took leave of his friends, and went to look after +the charge which had been assigned him. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +A SOLDIER'S DINNER + +James of the Needle was a man of his word, when whisky was no +party to the contract; and upon this occasion Callum Beg, who +still thought himself in Waverley's debt, since he had declined +accepting compensation at the expense of mine Host of the +Candlestick's person, took the opportunity of discharging the +obligation, by mounting guard over the hereditary tailor of +Sliochd nan Ivor; and, as he expressed himself, 'targed him +tightly' till the finishing of the job. To rid himself of this +restraint, Shemus's needle flew through the tartan like +lightning; and as the artist kept chanting some dreadful skirmish +of Fin Macoul, he accomplished at least three stitches to the +death of every hero. The dress was, therefore, soon ready, for +the short coat fitted the wearer, and the rest of the apparel +required little adjustment. + +Our hero having now fairly assumed the 'garb of old Gaul,' well +calculated its it was to give an appearance of strength to a +figure, which, though tall and well-made, was rather elegant than +robust, I hope my fair readers will excuse him if he looked at +himself in the mirror more than once, and could not help +acknowledging that the reflection seemed that of a very handsome +young fellow. In fact, there was no disguising it. His light- +brown hair--for he wore no periwig, notwithstanding the universal +fashion of the time--became the bonnet which surmounted it. His +person promised firmness and agility, to which the ample folds of +the tartan added an air of dignity. His blue eye seemed of that +kind, + + Which melted in love, and which kindled in war; + +and an air of bashfulness, which was in reality the effect of +want of habitual intercourse with the world, gave interest to his +features, without injuring their grace or intelligence. + +'He's a pratty man--a very pratty man,' said Evan Dhu (now Ensign +Maccombich) to Fergus's buxom landlady. + +'He's vera weel,' said the Widow Flockhart, 'but no naething sae +weel-far'd as your colonel, ensign.' + +'I wasna comparing them,' quoth Evan, 'nor was I speaking about +his being weel-favoured; but only that Mr. Waverley looks clean- +made and DELIVER, and like a proper lad of his quarters, that +will not cry barley in a brulzie, And, indeed, he's gleg aneuch +at the broadsword and target, I hae played wi' him mysell at +Glennaquoich, and sae has Vich Ian Vohr, often of a Sunday +afternoon,' + +'Lord forgie ye, Ensign Maccombich,' said the alarmed +Presbyterian; 'I'm sure the colonel wad never do the like o' +that!' + +'Hout! hout! Mrs. Flockhart,' replied the ensign, 'we're young +blude, ye ken; and young saints, auld deils.' + +'But will ye fight wi' Sir John Cope the morn, Ensign +Maccombich?' demanded Mrs. Flockhart of her guest. + +'Troth I'se ensure him, an' he'll bide us, Mrs. Flockhart,' +replied the Gael. + +'And will ye face thae tearing chields, the dragoons, Ensign +Maccombich?' again inquired the landlady. + +'Claw for claw, as Conan said to Satan, Mrs. Flockhart, and the +deevil tak the shortest nails.' + +'And will the colonel venture on the bagganets himsell?' + +'Ye may swear it, Mrs. Flockhart; the very first man will he be, +by Saint Phedar.' + +'Merciful goodness! and if he's killed amang the red-coats!' +exclaimed the soft-hearted widow. + +'Troth, if it should sae befall, Mrs. Flockhart, I ken ane that +will no be living to weep for him. But we maun a' live the day, +and have our dinner; and there's Vich Ian Vohr has packed his +DORLACH, and Mr. Waverley's wearied wi' majoring yonder afore the +muckle pier-glass; and that grey auld stoor carle, the Baron o' +Bradwardine, that shot young Ronald of Ballenkeiroch, he's +coming down the close wi' that droghling coghling bailie body +they ca' Macwhupple, just like the Laird o' Kittlegab's French +cook, wi' his turn-spit doggie trindling ahint him, and I am as +hungry as a gled, my bonny dow; sae bid Kate set on the broo', +and do ye put on your pinners, for ye ken Vich Ian Vohr winna sit +down till ye be at the head o' the table;--and dinna forget the +pint bottle o' brandy, my woman.' + +This hint produced dinner. Mrs. Flockhart, smiling in her weeds +like the sun through a mist; took the head of the table, thinking +within herself, perhaps, that she cared not how long the +rebellion lasted, that brought her into company so much above her +usual associates. She was supported by Waverley and the Baron, +with the advantage of the Chieftain VIS-A-VIS. The men of peace +and of war, that is, Bailie Macwheeble and Ensign Maccombich, +after many profound conges to their superiors and each other, +took their places on each side of the Chieftain. Their fare was +excellent, time, place, and circumstances considered, and +Fergus's spirits were extravagantly high. Regardless of danger, +and sanguine from temper, youth, and ambition, he saw in +imagination all his prospects crowned with success, and was +totally indifferent to the probable alternative of a soldier's +grave. The Baron apologized slightly for bringing Macwheeble. +They had been providing, he said, for the expenses of the +campaign. 'And, by my faith,' said the old man, 'as I think this +will be my last, so I just end where I began--I hae evermore +found the sinews of war, as a learned author calls the CAISSE +MILITAIRE mair difficult to come by than either its flesh, blood, +or bones.' + +'What! have you raised our only efficient body of cavalry, and +got ye none of the louis d'or out of the DOUTELLE, to help you?' +[The Doutelle was an armed vessel, which brought a small supply +of money and arms from France for the use of the insurgents.] + +'No, Glennaquoich; cleverer fellows have been before me.' + +'That's a scandal,' said the young Highlander; 'but you will +share what is left of my subsidy: it will save you an anxious +thought to-night, and will be all one to-morrow, for we shall all +be provided for, one way or other, before the sun sets.' +Waverley, blushing deeply, but with great earnestness, pressed +the same request. + +'I thank ye baith, my good lads,' said the Baron, 'but I will not +infringe upon your peculium. Bailie Macwheeble has provided the +sum which is necessary.' + +Here the Bailie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat, and +appeared extremely uneasy. At length, after several preliminary +hems, and much tautological expression of his devotion to his +honour's service, by night or day, living or dead, he began to +insinuate, 'that the Banks had removed a' their ready cash into +the Castle; that, nae doubt, Sandie Goldie, the silversmith, +would do mickle for his honour; but there was little time to get +the wadset made out; and, doubtless, if his honour Glennaquoich, +or Mr. Waverley, could accommodate'-- + +'Let me hear of no such nonsense, sir,' said the Baron, in a, +tone which rendered Macwheeble mute, 'but proceed as we accorded +before dinner, if it be your wish to remain in my service.' + +To this peremptory order the Bailie, though he felt as if +condemned to suffer a transfusion of blood from his own veins +into those of the Baron, did not presume to make any reply. +After fidgeting a little while longer, however, he addressed +himself to Glennaquoich, and told him, if his honour had mair +ready siller than was sufficient for his occasions in the field, +he could put it out at use for his honour in safe hands, and at +great profit, at this time. + +At this proposal Fergus laughed heartily, and answered, when he +had recovered his breath,--'Many thanks, Bailie; but you must +know it is a general custom among us soldiers to make our +landlady our banker.--Here, Mrs. Flockhart,' said he, taking four +or five broad pieces out of a well-filled purse, and tossing the +purse itself, with its remaining contents, into her apron, 'these +will serve my occasions; do you take the rest; be my banker if I +live, and my executor if I die; but take care to give something +to the Highland cailliachs [Old women, on whom devolved the duty +of lamenting for the dead, which the Irish call KEENING.] that +shall cry the coronach loudest for the last Vich Ian Vohr.' + +'It is the TESTAMENTUM MILITARE,' quoth the Baron, 'whilk, amang +the Romans, was privilegiate to be nuncupative.' But the soft +heart of Mrs. Flockhart was melted within her at the Chieftain's +speech; she set up a lamentable blubbering, and positively +refused to touch the bequest, which Fergus was therefore obliged +to resume. + +'Well, then,' said the Chief, 'if I fall, it will go to the +grenadier that knocks my brains out, and I shall take care he +works hard for it.' + +Bailie Macwheeble was again tempted to put in his oar; for where +cash was concerned, he did not willingly remain silent. 'Perhaps +he had better carry the gowd to Miss Mac-Ivor, in case of +mortality, or accidents of war. It might tak the form of a +MORTIS CAUSA donation in the young leddie's favour, and wad cost +but the scrape of a pen to mak it out.' + +'The young lady,' said Fergus, 'should such an event happen, will +have other matters to think of than these wretched louis d'or.' + +'True--undeniable--there 's nae doubt o' that; but your honour +kens that a full sorrow'-- + +'Is endurable by most folk more easily than a hungry one?--True, +Bailie, very true; and I believe there may even be some who would +be consoled by such a reflection for the loss of the whole +existing generation. But there is a sorrow which knows neither +hunger nor thirst; and poor Flora'--He paused, and the whole +company sympathized in his emotion. + +The Baron's thoughts naturally reverted to the unprotected state +of his daughter, and the big tear came to the veteran's eye. 'If +I fall, Macwheeble; you have all my papers, and know all my +affairs; be just to Rose.' + +The Bailie was a man of earthly mould, after all; a good deal of +dirt and dress about him, undoubtedly, but some kindly and just +feelings he had, especially where the Baron or his young mistress +were concerned. He set up a lamentable howl. 'If that doleful +day should come, while Duncan Macwheeble had a boddle, it should +be Miss Rose's. He wald scroll for a plack the sheet, or she +kenn'd what it was to want; if indeed a' the bonnie baronie o' +Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, with the fortalice and manor-place +thereof (he kept sobbing and whining at every pause), tofts, +crofts, mosses, muirs--outfield, infield--buildings--orchards +--dovecots--with the right of net and coble in the water and loch +of Veolan--teinds, parsonage and vicarage--annexis, connexis-- +rights of pasturage--fuel, feal, and divot--parts, pendicles, and +pertinents whatsoever--(here he had recourse to the end of his +long cravat to wipe his eyes, which overflowed in spite of him, +at the ideas which this technical jargon conjured up)--all as +more fully described in the proper evidents and titles thereof-- +and lying within the parish of Bradwardine, and the shire of +Perth--if, as aforesaid, they must a' pass from my master's child +to Inch-Grabbit, wha's a Whig and a Hanoverian, and be managed by +his doer, Jamie Howie, wha's no fit to be a birlieman, let be a +bailie'-- + +The beginning of this lamentation really had something affecting, +but the conclusion rendered laughter irresistible. 'Never mind, +Bailie,' said Ensign Maccombich, 'for the gude auld times of +rugging and riving (pulling and tearing) are come back again, an' +Sneckus Mac-Snacbus (meaning, probably, annexis, connexis), and +a' the rest of your friends, maun gie place to the langest +claymore.' + +'And that claymore shall be ours, Bailie,' said the Chieftain, +who saw that Macwheeble looked very blank at this intimation. + + We'll give them the metal our mountain affords, + Lillibulero, bullen a la, + And in place of broad-pieces we'll pay with broadswords, + Lero, lero, &c. + With duns and with debts we will soon clear our score, + Lillibulero, &c. + For the man that's thus paid will crave payment no more, + Lero, Lero, &c. + [These lines, or something like them, occur in an old magazine + of the period.] + +'But come, Bailie, be not cast down; drink your wine with a +joyous heart; the Baron shall return safe and victorious to +Tully-Veolan, and unite Killancureit's lairdship with his own, +since the cowardly half-bred swine will not turn out for the +Prince like a gentleman.' + +'To be sure, they lie maist ewest,' [i.e. contiguous] said the +Bairie, wiping his eyes, 'and should naturally fa' under the same +factory.' + +'And I,' proceeded the Chieftain, 'shall take care of myself, +too; 'for you must know, I have to complete a good work here, by +bringing Mrs. Flockhart into the bosom of the Catholic church, or +at least half way, and that is to your Episcopal meeting-house. +Oh, Baron! if you heard her fine counter-tenor admonishing Kate +and Matty in the morning, you, who understand music, would +tremble at the idea of hearing her shriek in the psalmody of +Haddo's Hole.' + +'Lord forgie you, colonel, how ye rin on! But I hope your +honours will tak tea before ye gang to the palace, and I maun +gang and mask it for you.' + +So saying, Mrs. Flockhart left the gentlemen to their own +conversation, which, as might be supposed, turned chiefly upon +the approaching events of the campaign. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE BALL + +Ensign Maccombich having gone to the Highland camp upon duty, and +Bailie Macwheeble having retired to digest his dinner and Evan +Dhu's intimation of martial law in some blind change-house, +Waverley, with the Baron and the Chieftain, proceeded to Holyrood +House. The two last were in full tide of spirits, and the Baron +rallied in his way our hero upon the handsome figure which his +new dress displayed to advantage. 'If you have any design upon +the heart of a bonny Scotch lassie, I would premonish you, when +you address her, to remember and quote the words of Virgilius:-- + + Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis, + Tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes: + +whilk verses Robertson of Struan, Chief of the Clan Donnochy +(unless the claims of Lude ought to be preferred PRIMO LOCO), has +thus elegantly rendered; + + For cruel love has gartan'd low my leg, + And clad my hurdies in a philabeg. + +Although, indeed, ye wear the trews, a garment whilk I approve +maist of the twa, as mair ancient and seemly.' 'Or rather,' said +Fergus, 'hear my song: + + She wadna hae a Lowland laird, + Nor be an English lady; + But she's away with Duncan Graeme, + And he's row'd her in his plaidy.' + +By this time they reached the palace of Holyrood, and were +announced respectively as they entered the apartments. + +It is but too well known how many gentlemen of rank, education, +and fortune, took a concern in the ill-fated and desperate +undertaking of 1745. The ladies, also, of Scotland very +generally espoused the cause of the gallant and handsome young +Prince, who threw himself upon the mercy of his countrymen, +rather like a hero of romance than a calculating politician. It +is not, therefore, to be wondered that Edward, who had spent the +greater part of his life in the solemn seclusion of Waverley- +Honour, should have been dazzled at the liveliness and elegance +of the scene now exhibited in the long-deserted halls of the +Scottish palace. The accompaniments, indeed, fell short of +splendour, being such as the confusion and hurry of the time +admitted; still, however, the general effect was striking, and, +the rank of the company considered, might well be called +brilliant. + +It was not long before the lover's eye discovered the object of +his attachment. Flora Mac-Ivor was in the act; of returning to +her seat, near the top of the room, with Rose Bradwardine by her +side. Among much elegance and beauty, they had attracted a great +degree of the public attention, being certainly two of the +handsomest women present. The Prince took much notice of both, +particularly of Flora, with whom he danced; a preference which +she probably owed to her foreign education, and command of the +French and Italian languages. + +When the bustle attending the conclusion of the dance permitted, +Edward, almost intuitively, followed Fergus to the place where +Miss Mac-Ivor was seated. The sensation of hope, with which he +had nursed his affection in absence of the beloved object, seemed +to vanish in her presence, and, like one striving to recover the +particulars of a forgotten dream, he would have given the world +at that moment to have recollected the grounds on which he had +founded expectations which now seemed so delusive. He +accompanied Fergus with downcast eyes, tingling ears, and the +feelings of the criminal, who, while the melancholy cart moves +slowly through the crowds that have assembled to behold his +execution, receives no clear sensation either from the noise +which fills his ears, or the tumult on which he casts his +wandering look. + +Flora seemed a little--a very little--affected and discomposed at +his approach. 'I bring you an adopted son of Ivor,' said Fergus. + +'And I receive him as a second brother,' replied Flora. + +There was a slight emphasis on the word, which would have escaped +every ear but one that was feverish with apprehension. It was, +however, distinctly marked, and, combined with her whole tone and +manner, plainly intimated, 'I will never think of Mr. Waverley as +a more intimate connexion.' Edward stopped, bowed, and looked at +Fergus, who bit his lip; a movement of anger, which proved that +he also had put a sinister interpretation on the reception which +his sister had given his friend. 'This, then, is an end of my +day-dream!' Such was Waverley's first thought, and it was so +exquisitely painful as to banish from his cheek every drop of +blood. + +'Good God!' said Rose Bradwardine, 'he is not yet recovered!' + +These words, which she uttered with great emotion, were overheard +by the Chevalier himself, who stepped hastily forward, and, +taking Waverley by the hand, inquired kindly after his health, +and added, that he wished to speak with him. By a strong and +sudden effort, which the circumstances rendered indispensable, +Waverley recovered himself so far as to follow the Chevalier in +silence to a recess in the apartment. + +Here the Prince detained him some time, asking various questions +about the great Tory and Catholic families of England, their +connexions, their influence, and the state of their affections +towards the house of Stuart. To these queries Edward could not +at any time have given more than general answers, and it may be +supposed that, in the present state of his feelings, his +responses were indistinct even to confusion. The Chevalier +smiled once or twice at the incongruity of his replies, but +continued the same style of conversation, although he found +himself obliged to occupy the principal share of it, until he +perceived that Waverley had recovered his presence of mind. It +is probable that this long audience was partly meant to further +the idea which the Prince desired should be entertained among his +followers, that Waverley was a character of political influence. +But it appeared, from his concluding expressions, that he had a +different and good-natured motive, personal to our hero, for +prolonging the conference. 'I cannot resist the temptation,' he +said, 'of boasting of my own discretion as a lady's confidant. +You see, Mr. Waverley, that I know all, and I assure you I am +deeply interested in the affair. But, my good young friend, you +must put a more severe restraint upon your feelings. There are +many here whose eyes can see as clearly as mine, but the prudence +of whose tongues may not be equally trusted.' + +So saying, he turned easily away, and joined a circle of officers +at a few paces' distance, leaving Waverley to meditate upon his +parting expression, which though not intelligible to him in its +whole purport, was sufficiently so in the caution which the last +word recommended. Making, therefore, an effort to show himself +worthy of the interest which his new master had expressed, by +instant obedience to his recommendation, he walked up to the spot +where Flora and Miss Bradwardine were still seated, and having +made his compliments to the latter, he succeeded, even beyond his +own expectation, in entering into conversation upon general +topics. + +If, my dear reader, thou hast ever happened to take post-horses +at --, or at -- (one at least of which blanks, or more probably +both, you will be able to fill up from an inn near your own +residence), you must have observed, and doubtless with +sympathetic pain, the reluctant agony with which the poor jades +at first apply their galled necks to the collars of the harness. +But when the irresistible arguments of the postboy have prevailed +upon them to proceed a mile or two, they will become callous to +the first sensation; and being warm at the harness, as the said +postboy may term it, proceed as if their withers were altogether +unwrung. This simile so much corresponds with the state of +Waverley's feelings in the course of this memorable evening, that +I prefer it (especially as being, I trust, wholly original) to +any more splendid illustration with which Byshe's ART OF POETRY +might supply me. + +Exertion, like virtue, is its own reward; and our hero had, +moreover, other stimulating motives for persevering in a display +of affected composure and indifference to Flora's obvious +unkindness. Pride, which supplies its caustic as a useful, +though severe, remedy for the wounds of affection, came rapidly +to his aid. Distinguished by the favour of a Prince; destined, +he had room to hope, to play a conspicuous part in the revolution +which awaited a mighty kingdom; excelling, probably, in mental +acquirements, and equalling, at least, in personal +accomplishments, most of the noble and distinguished persons with +whom he was now ranked; young, wealthy, and high-born--could he, +or ought he to droop beneath the frown of a capricious beauty? + + O nymph, unrelenting and cold as thou art, + My bosom is proud as thine own. + +With the feeling expressed in these beautiful lines (which, +however, were not then written) [They occur in Miss Seward's fine +verses, beginning--To thy rocks, stormy Lannow, adieu.], Waverley +determined upon convincing Flora that he was not to be depressed. +by a rejection, in which his vanity whispered that perhaps she +did her own prospects as much injustice as his. And, to aid this +change of feeling, there lurked the secret and unacknowledged +hope, that she might learn to prize his affection more highly +when she did not conceive it to be altogether within her own +choice to attract or repulse it. There was a mystic tone of +encouragement, also, in the Chevalier's words, though he feared +they only referred to the wishes of Fergus in favour of a union +between him and his sister. But the whole circumstances of time, +place, and incident, combined at once to awaken his imagination, +and to call upon him for a manly and decisive tone of conduct, +leaving to fate to dispose of the issue. Should he appear to be +the only one sad and disheartened on the eve of battle, how +greedily would the tale be commented upon by the slander which +had been already but too busy with his fame? Never, never, he +internally resolved, shall my unprovoked enemies possess such an +advantage over my reputation. + +Under the influence of these mixed sensations, and cheered at +times by a smile of intelligence and approbation from the Prince +as he passed the group, Waverley exerted his powers of fancy, +animation, and eloquence, and attracted the general admiration of +the company. The conversation gradually assumed the tone best +qualified for the display of his talents and acquisitions. The +gaiety of the evening was exalted in character, rather than +checked, by the approaching dangers of the morrow. All nerves +were strung for the future, and prepared to enjoy the present. +This mood of mind is highly favourable for the exercise of the +powers of imagination, for poetry, and for that eloquence which +is allied to poetry. Waverley, as we have elsewhere observed, +possessed at times a wonderful flow of rhetoric; and, on the +present occasion, he touched more than once the higher notes of +feeling, and then again ran off in a wild voluntary of fanciful +mirth. He was supported and excited by kindred spirits, who felt +the same impulse of mood and time; and even those of more cold +and calculating habits were hurried along by the torrent. Many +ladies declined the dance, which still went forward, and, under +various pretences, joined the party to which the 'handsome young +Englishman' seemed to have attached himself. He was presented to +several of the first rank, and his manners, which for the present +were altogether free from the bashful restraint by which, in a +moment of less excitation, they were usually clouded, gave +universal delight. + +Flora Mac-Ivor appeared to be the only female present who +regarded him with a degree of coldness and reserve; yet even she +could not suppress a sort of wonder at talents which, in the +course of their acquaintance, she had never seen displayed with +equal brilliancy and impressive effect. I do not know whether +she might not feel a momentary regret at having taken so decisive +a resolution upon the addresses of a lover, who seemed fitted so +well to fill a high place in the highest stations of society. +Certainly she had hitherto accounted among the incurable +deficiencies of Edward's disposition, the MAUVAISE HONTE, which, +as she had been educated in the first foreign circles, and was +little acquainted with the shyness of English manners, was, in +her opinion, too nearly related to timidity and imbecility of +disposition. But if a passing wish occurred that Waverley could +have rendered himself uniformly thus amiable and attractive, its +influence was momentary; for circumstances had arisen since they +met, which rendered, in her eyes, the resolution she had formed +respecting him final and irrevocable. + +With opposite feelings, Rose Bradwardine bent her whole soul to +listen. She felt a secret triumph at the public tribute paid to +one, whose merit she had learned to prize too early and too +fondly. Without a thought of jealousy, without a feeling of +fear, pain, or doubt, and undisturbed by a single selfish +consideration, she resigned herself to the pleasure of observing +the general murmur of applause. When Waverley spoke, her ear was +exclusively filled with his voice; when others answered, her eye +took its turn of observation, and seemed to watch his reply. +Perhaps the delight which she experienced in the course of that +evening, though transient, and followed by much sorrow, was in +its nature the most pure and disinterested which the human mind +is capable of enjoying. + +'Baron,' said the Chevalier, 'I would not trust my mistress in +the company of your young friend. He is really, though perhaps +somewhat romantic, one of the most fascinating young men whom I +have ever seen.' + +'And by my honour, sir,' replied the Baron, 'the lad can +sometimes be as dowff as a sexagenary like myself. If your Royal +Highness had seen him dreaming and dozing about the banks of +Tully-Veolan like an hypochondriac person, or, as Burton's +ANATOMIA hath it, a phrenesiac or lethargic patient, you would +wonder where he hath sae suddenly acquired all this fine sprack +festivity and jocularity.' + +'Truly,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, 'I think it can only be the +inspiration of the tartans; for, though Waverley be always a +young fellow of sense and honour, I have hitherto often found him +a very absent and inattentive companion.' + +'We are the more obliged to him,' said the Prince, 'for having +reserved for this evening qualities which even such intimate +friends had not discovered.--But come, gentlemen, the night +advances, and the business of to-morrow must be early thought +upon. Each take charge of his fair partner, and honour a small +refreshment with your company.' + +He led the way to another suite of apartments, and assumed the +seat and canopy at the head of a long range of tables, with an +air of dignity mingled with courtesy, which well became his high +birth and lofty pretensions. An hour had hardly flown away when +the musicians played the signal for parting, so well known in +Scotland.' [Which is, or was wont to be, the old air of 'Good- +night, and joy be with you a'!'] + +'Good-night, then, said the Chevalier, rising; 'Good-night, and +joy be with you!--Good-night, fair ladies, who have so highly +honoured a proscribed and banished Prince.--Good-night, my brave +friends;--may the happiness we have this evening experienced be +an omen of our return to these our paternal halls, speedily and +in triumph, and of many and many future meetings of mirth and +pleasure in the palace of Holyrood!' + +When the Baron of Bradwardine afterwards mentioned this adieu of +the Chevalier, he never failed to repeat, in a melancholy tone, + + Audiit, et voti Phoebus succedere partem + Mente dedit; partem volueres dispersit in auras, + +'which,' as he added, 'is weel rendered into English metre by my +friend Bangour: + + Ae half the prayer, wi' Phoebus grace did find, + The t'other half he whistled down the wind.' + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE MARCH + +The conflicting passions and exhausted feelings of Waverley had +resigned him to late but sound repose. He was dreaming of +Glennaquoich, and had transferred to the halls of Ian nan +Chaistel the festal train which so lately graced those of +Holyrood. The pibroch too was distinctly heard; and this at +least was no delusion, for the 'proud step of the chief piper' of +the 'chlain Mac-Ivor' was perambulating the court before the door +of his Chieftain's quarters, and, as Mrs. Flockhart, apparently +no friend to his minstrelsy, was pleased to observe, 'garring the +very stane-and-lime wa's dingle wi' his screeching.' Of course, +it soon became too powerful for Waverley's dream, with which it +had at first rather harmonized. + +The sound of Callum's brogues in his apartment (for Mac-Ivor had +again assigned Waverley to his care) was the next note of +parting. 'Winna yere honour bang up? Vich Ian Vohr and ta +Prince are awa to the lang green glen ahint the clachan, tat they +ca' the King's Park, and mony ane's on his ain shanks the day, +that will be carried on ither folk's ere night.' [The main body +of the Highland army encamped, or rather bivouacked, in that part +of the King's Park which lies towards the village of +Duddingston.] + +Waverley sprang up, and, with Callum's assistance and +instructions, adjusted his tartans in proper costume. Callum +told him also, 'tat his leather DORLACH wi' the lock on her was +come frae Doune, and she was awa again in the wain wi' Vich Inn +Vohr's walise,' + +By this periphrasis Waverley readily apprehended his portmanteau +was intended. He thought upon the mysterious packet of the maid +of the cavern, which seemed always to escape him when within his +very grasp. But this was no time for indulgence of curiosity; +and having declined Mrs, Flockhart's compliment of a morning, +i.e. a matutinal dram, being probably the only man in the +Chevalier's army by whom such a courtesy would have been +rejected, he made his adieus, and departed with Callum. + +'Callum,' said he, as they proceeded down a dirty close to gain +the southern skirts of the Canongate, 'what shall I do for a +horse?' + +'Ta deil ane ye maun think o',' said Callum. 'Vich Ian Vohr's +marching on foot at the head o' his kin (not to say ta Prince, +wha does the like), wi' his target on his shoulder; and ye maun +e'en be neighbour-like.' + +'And so I will, Callum--give me my target;--so, there we are +fixed. How does it look?' + +'Like the bra' Highlander tat's painted on the board afore the +mickle change-house they ca' Luckie Middlemass's,' answered +Callum; meaning, I must observe, a high compliment, for, in his +opinion, Luckie Middlemass's sign was an exquisite specimen of +art. Waverley, however, not feeling the full force of this +polite simile, asked him no further questions. + +Upon extricating themselves from the mean and dirty suburbs of +the metropolis, and emerging into the open air, Waverley felt a +renewal both of health and spirits, and turned his recollection +with firmness upon the events of the preceding evening, and with +hope and resolution towards those of the approaching day. + +When he had surmounted a small craggy eminence, called St. +Leonard's Hill, the King's Park, or the hollow between the +mountain of Arthur's Seat, and the rising grounds on which the +southern part of Edinburgh is now built, lay beneath him, and +displayed a singular and animating prospect. It was occupied by +the army of the Highlanders, now in the act of preparing for +their march. Waverley had already seen something of the kind at +the hunting-match which he attended with Fergus Mac-Ivor; but +this was on a scale of much greater magnitude, and incomparably +deeper interest. The rocks, which formed the background of the +scene, and the very sky itself, rang with the clang of the +bagpipers, summoning forth, each with his appropriate pibroch, +his chieftain and clan. The mountaineers, rousing themselves +from their couch under the canopy of heaven, with the hum and +bustle of a confused and irregular multitude, like bees alarmed +and arming in their hives, seemed to possess all the pliability +of movement fitted to execute military manoeuvres. Their motions +appeared spontaneous and confused, but the result was order and +regularity; so that a general must have praised the conclusion, +though a martinet might have ridiculed the method by which it was +attained. + +The sort of complicated medley created by the hasty arrangements +of the various clans under their respective banners, for the +purpose of getting into the order of march, was in itself a gay +and lively spectacle. They had no tents to strike, having +generally, and by choice, slept upon the open field, although the +autumn was now waning, and the nights began to be frosty. For a +little space, while they were getting into order, there was +exhibited a changing, fluctuating; and confused appearance of +waving tartans and floating plumes, and of banners displaying the +proud gathering word of Clanronald, GANION COHERIGA (Gainsay who +dares); LOCH-SLOY, the watchword of the Mac-Farlanes; FORTH +FORTUNE, AND FILL THE FETTERS, the motto of the Marquis of +Tuilibardine; BYDAND, that of Lord Lewis Gordon; and the +appropriate signal words and emblems of many other chieftains and +clans. + +At length the mixed and wavering multitude arranged themselves +into a narrow and dusky column of great length, stretching +through the whole extent of the valley. In the front of the +column the standard of the Chevalier was displayed, bearing at +red cross upon a white ground, with the motto TANDEM TRIUMPHANS. +The few cavalry being chiefly Lowland gentry, with their domestic +servants and retainers, formed the advanced guard of the army; +and their standards, of which they had rather too many in respect +of their numbers, were seen waving upon the extreme verge of the +horizon. Many horsemen of this body, among whom Waverley +accidentally remarked Balmawhapple, and his lieutenant, Jinker +(which last, however, had been reduced, with several others, by +the advice of the Baron of Bradwardine, to the situation of what +he called reformed officers, or reformadoes), added to the +liveliness, though by no means to the regularity, of the scene, +by galloping their horses as fast forward as the press would +permit, to join their proper station in the van. The +fascinations of the Circes of the High Street, and the potations +of strength with which they had been drenched over night, had +probably detained these heroes within the walls of Edinburgh +somewhat later than was consistent with their morning duty. Of +such loiterers, the prudent took the longer and circuitous, but +more open route, to attain their place in the march, by keeping +at some distance from the infantry, and making their way through +the enclosures to the right, at the expense of leaping over or +pulling down the dry-stone fences. The irregular appearance and +vanishing of these small parties of horsemen, as well as the +confusion occasioned by those who endeavoured, though generally +without effect, to press to the front through the crowd of +Highlanders, maugre their curses, oaths, and opposition, added to +the picturesque wildness what it took from the military +regularity of the scene. + +While Waverley gazed upon this remarkable spectacle, rendered yet +more impressive by the occasional discharge of cannon-shot from +the Castle at the Highland guards as they were withdrawn from its +vicinity to join their main body, Callum, with his usual freedom +of interference, reminded him that Vich Ian Vohr's folk were +nearly at the head of the column of march, which was still +distant, and that 'they would gang very fast after the cannon +fired.' Thus admonished, Waverley walked briskly forward, yet +often easting a glance upon the darksome clouds of warriors who +were collected before and beneath him. A nearer view, indeed, +rather diminished the effect impressed on the mind by the more +distant appearance of the army. The leading men of each clan +were well armed with broadsword, target, and fusee, to which all +added the dirk, and most the steel pistol. But these consisted +of gentlemen, that is, relations of the chief, however distant, +and who had an immediate title to his countenance and protection. +Finer and hardier men could not have been selected out of any +army in Christendom; while the free and independent habits which +each possessed, and which each was yet so well taught to subject +to the command of his chief, and the peculiar mode of discipline +adopted in Highland warfare, rendered them equally formidable by +their individual courage and high spirit, and from their rational +conviction of the necessity of acting in unison, and of giving +their national mode of attack the fullest opportunity of success. + +But, in a lower rank to these, there were found individuals of an +inferior description, the common peasantry of the Highland +country, who, although they did not allow themselves to be so +called, and claimed often, with apparent truth, to be of more +ancient descent than the masters whom they served, bore, +nevertheless, the livery of extreme penury, being indifferently +accoutred, and worse armed, half naked, stinted in growth, and +miserable in aspect. Each important clan had some of those +Helots attached to them;--thus, the Mac-Couls, though tracing +their descent from Comhal, the father of Finn or Fingal, were a +sort of Gibeonites, or hereditary servants to the Stewarts of +Appin; the Macbeths, descended from the unhappy monarch of that +name, were subjects to the Morays, and clan Donnochy, or +Robertsons of Athole; and many other examples might be given, +were it not for the risk of hurting any pride of clanship which +may yet be left, and thereby drawing a Highland tempest into the +shop of my publisher. Now these same Helots, though forced into +the field by the arbitrary authority of the chieftains under whom +they hewed wood and drew water, were, in general, very sparingly +fed, ill dressed, and worse armed. The latter circumstance was +indeed owing chiefly to the general disarming act, which had been +carried into effect ostensibly through the whole Highlands, +although most of the chieftains contrived to elude-its influence, +by retaining the weapons of their own immediate clansmen, and +delivering up those of less value, which they collected from +these inferior satellites. It followed, as a matter of course, +that, as we have already hinted, many of these poor fellows were +brought to the field in a very wretched condition. + +From this it happened, that, in bodies, the van of which were +admirably well armed in their own fashion, the rear resembled +actual banditti. Here was a pole-axe, there a sword without a +scabbard; here a gun without a lock, there a scythe set straight +upon a pole; and some had only their dirks, and bludgeons or +stakes pulled out of hedges. The grim, uncombed, and wild +appearance of these men, most of whom gazed with all the +admiration of ignorance upon the most ordinary production of +domestic art, created surprise in the Lowlands, but it also +created terror. So little was the condition of the Highlands +known at that late period, that the character and appearance of +their population, while thus sallying forth as military +adventurers, conveyed to the south-country Lowlanders as much +surprise as if an invasion of African Negroes or Esquimaux +Indians had issued forth from the northern mountains of their own +native country. It cannot therefore be wondered if Waverley, who +had hitherto judged of the Highlanders generally from the samples +which the policy of Fergus had from time to time exhibited, +should have felt damped and astonished at the daring attempt of a +body not then exceeding four thousand men, and of whom not above +half the number, at the utmost, were armed, to change the fate, +and alter the dynasty, of the British kingdoms. + +As he moved along the column, which still remained stationary, an +iron gun, the only piece of artillery possessed by the army which +meditated so important a revolution, was fired as the signal of +march. The Chevalier had expressed a wish to leave this useless +piece of ordnance behind him; but, to his surprise, the Highland +chiefs interposed to solicit that it might accompany their march, +pleading the prejudices of their followers, who, little +accustomed to artillery, attached a degree of absurd importance +to this field-piece, and expected it would contribute essentially +to a victory which they could only owe to their own muskets and +broadswords. Two or three French artillerymen were therefore +appointed to the management of this military engine, which was +drawn along by a string of Highland ponies, and was, after all, +only used for the purpose of firing signals. [See Note 25.] + +No sooner was its voice heard upon the present occasion, than the +whole line was in motion. A wild cry of joy from the advancing +battalions rent the air, and was then lost in the shrill clangour +of the bagpipes, as the sound of these, in their turn, was +partially drowned by the heavy tread of so many men put at once +into motion. The banners glittered and shook as they moved +forward, and the horse hastened to occupy their station as the +advanced guard, and to push on reconnoitring parties to ascertain +and report the motions of the enemy. They vanished from +Waverley's eye as they wheeled round the base of Arthur's seat, +under the remarkable ridge of basaltic rocks which fronts the +little lake of Duddingston. + +The infantry followed in the same direction, regulating their +pace by another body which occupied a road more to the southward. +It cost Edward some exertion of activity to attain the place +which Fergus's followers occupied in the line of march. + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +AN INCIDENT GIVES RISE TO UNAVAILING REFLECTIONS + +When Waverley reached that part of the column which was filled by +the clan of Mac-Ivor, they halted, formed, and received him with +a triumphant flourish upon the bagpipes, and a loud shout of the +men, most of whom knew him personally, and were delighted to see +him in the dress of their country and of their sept. 'You +shout,' said a Highlander of a neighbouring clan to Evan Dhu, 'as +if the Chieftain were just come to your head.' + +MAR E BRAN IS E BRATHAIR, If it be not Bran, it is Bran's +brother,' was the proverbial reply of Maccombich. [Bran, the +well-known dog of Fingal, is often the theme of Highland proverb +as well as song.] + +'Oh, then, it is the handsome Sassenach Duinhe-wassel, that is to +be married to Lady Flora?' + +'That may be, or it may not be; and it is neither your matter nor +mine, Gregor.' + +Fergus advanced to embrace the volunteer, and afford him a warm +and hearty welcome; but he thought it necessary to apologize for +the diminished numbers of his battalion (which did not exceed +three hundred men), by observing, he had sent a good many out +upon parties. + +The real fact, however, was, that the defection of Donald Bean +Lean had deprived him of at least thirty hardy fellows, whose +services he had fully reckoned upon, and that many of his +occasional adherents had been recalled by their several chiefs to +the standards to which they most properly owed their allegiance. +The rival chief of the great northern branch also of his own +clan, had mustered his people, although he had not yet declared +either for the Government or for the Chevalier, and by his +intrigues had in some degree diminished the force with which +Fergus took the field. To make amends for these disappointments, +it was universally admitted that the followers of Vich Ian Vohr, +in point of appearance, equipment, arms, and dexterity in using +them, equalled the most choice troops which followed the standard +of Charles Edward. Old Ballenkeiroch acted as his major; and, +with the other officers who had known Waverley when at +Glennaquoich, gave our hero a cordial reception, as the sharer of +their future dangers and expected honours. + +The route pursued by the Highland army, after leaving the village +of Duddingston, was for some time the common post-road betwixt +Edinburgh and Haddington, until they crossed the Esk at +Musselburgh, when, instead of keeping the low grounds towards the +sea, they turned more inland, and occupied the brow of the +eminence called Carberry hill, a place already distinguished in +Scottish history as the spot where the lovely Mary surrendered +herself to her insurgent subjects. This direction was chosen, +because the Chevalier had received notice that the army of the +Government, arriving by sea from Aberdeen, had landed at Dunbar, +and quartered the night before to the west of Haddington, with +the intention of falling down towards the sea-side, and +approaching Edinburgh by the lower coast-road. By keeping the +height, which overhung that road in many places, it was hoped the +Highlanders might find an opportunity of attacking them to +advantage. The army therefore halted upon the ridge of Carberry +hill, both to refresh the soldiers, and as a central situation, +from which their march could be directed to any point that the +motions of the enemy might render most advisable. While they +remained in this position, a messenger arrived in haste to desire +Mac-Ivor to come to the Prince, adding, that their advanced post +had had a skirmish with some of the enemy's cavalry, and that the +Baron of Bradwardine had sent in a few prisoners. + +Waverley walked forward out of the line to satisfy his curiosity, +and soon observed five or six of the troopers, who, covered with +dust, had galloped in to announce that the enemy were in full +march westward along the coast. Passing still a little further +on, he was struck with a groan which issued from a hovel. He +approached the spot, and heard a voice, in the provincial English +of his native county, which endeavoured, though frequently +interrupted by pain, to repeat the Lord's Prayer. The voice of +distress always found a ready answer in our hero's bosom. He +entered the hovel, which seemed to be intended for what is +called, in the pastoral counties of Scotland, a smearing-house; +and in its obscurity Edward could only at first discern a sort of +red bundle; for those who had stripped the wounded man of his +arms, and part of his clothes, had left him the dragoon-cloak in +which he was enveloped. + +'For the love of God,' said the wounded man, as he heard +Waverley's step, 'give me a single drop of water!' + +'You shall have it,' answered Waverley, at the same time raising +him in his arms, bearing him to the door of the hut, and giving +him some drink from his flask. + +'I should know that voice,' said the man; but, looking on +Waverley's dress with a bewildered look,--'no, this is not the +young squire!' + +This was the common phrase by which Edward was distinguished on +the estate of Waverley-Honour, and the sound now thrilled to his +heart with the thousand recollections which the well-known +accents of his native country had already contributed to awaken. +'Houghton!' he said, gazing on the ghastly features which death +was fast disfiguring, 'can this be you?' + +'I never thought to hear an English voice again,' said the +wounded man; 'they left me to live or die here as I could, when +they found I would say nothing about the strength of the +regiment. But, oh, squire! how could you stay from us so long, +and let us be tempted by that fiend of the pit, Ruffin?--we +should have followed you through flood and fire, to be sure.' + +'Ruffin! I assure you, Houghton, you have been vilely imposed +upon.' + +'I often thought so,' said Houghton, 'though they showed us your +very seal; and so Timms was shot, and I was reduced to the +ranks.' + +'Do not exhaust your strength in speaking,' said Edward; 'I will +get you a surgeon presently.' + +He saw Mac-Ivor approaching, who was now returning from head- +quarters, where he had attended a council of war, and hastened to +meet him. 'Brave news!' shouted the Chief; 'we shall be at it +in less than two hours. The Prince has put himself at the head +of the advance, and as he drew his sword, called out, "My +friends, I have thrown away the scabbard." Come, Waverley, we +move instantly.' + +'A moment,--a moment; this poor prisoner is dying where shall I +find a surgeon?' + +'Why, where should you? We have none, you know, but two or three +French fellows, who, I believe, are little better than GARCONS +APOTHICAIRES.' + +'But the man will bleed to death.' + +'Poor fellow!' said Fergus, in a momentary fit of compassion; +then instantly added, 'But it will be a thousand men's fate +before night; so come along.' + +'I cannot; I tell you he is a son of a tenant of my uncle's.' + +'Oh, if he's a follower of yours, he must be looked to; + +'I'll send Callum to you. But DIAOUL!-CAEDE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART!' +continued the impatient Chieftain,--'what made an old soldier, +like Bradwardine, send dying men here to cumber us?' + +Callum came with his usual alertness; and, indeed, Waverley +rather gained than lost in the opinion of the Highlanders, by his +anxiety about the wounded man. They would not have understood +the general philanthropy which rendered it almost impossible for +Waverley to have passed any person in such distress; but, as +apprehending that the sufferer was one of his following, +[SCOTTICE for followers.] they unanimously allowed that +Waverley's conduct was that of a kind and considerate chieftain, +who merited the attachment of his people. In about a quarter of +an hour poor Humphry breathed his last, praying his young master, +when he returned to Waverley-Honour, to be kind to old Job +Houghton and his dame, and conjuring him not to fight with these +wild petticoat-men against old England. + +When his last breath was drawn, Waverley, who had beheld with +sincere sorrow, and no slight tinge of remorse, the final agonies +of mortality, now witnessed for the first time, commanded Callum +to remove the body into the hut. This the young Highlander +performed, not without examining the pockets of the defunct, +which, however, he remarked, had been pretty well spung'd. He +took the cloak, however, and proceeding with the provident +caution of a spaniel hiding a bone, concealed it among some +furze, and carefully marked the spot, observing that, if he +chanced to return that way, it would be an excellent rokelay for +his auld mother Elspat. + +It was by a considerable exertion that they regained their place +in the marching column, which was now moving rapidly forward to +occupy the high grounds above the village of Tranent, between +which and the sea, lay the purposed march of the opposite army. + +This melancholy interview with his late sergeant forced many +unavailing and painful reflections upon Waverley's mind. It was +clear, from the confession of the man, that Colonel Gardiner's +proceedings had been strictly warranted, and even rendered +indispensable, by the steps taken in Edward's name to induce the +soldiers of his troop to mutiny. The circumstance of the seal, +he now, for the first time, recollected, and that he had lost it +in the cavern of the robber, Bean Lean. That the artful villain +had secured it, and used it as the means of carrying on an +intrigue in the regiment, for his own purposes, was sufficiently +evident, and Edward had now little doubt that in the packet +placed in his portmanteau by his daughter, he should find further +light upon his proceedings. In the meanwhile, the repeated +expostulation of Houghton,--'Ah, squire, why did you leave us?' +rang like a knell in his ears. + +'Yes,' he said, 'I have indeed acted towards you with thoughtless +cruelty. I brought you from your paternal fields, and the +protection of a generous and kind landlord, and when I had +subjected you to all the rigour of military discipline, I shunned +to bear my own share of the burden, and wandered from the duties +I had undertaken, leaving alike those whom it was my business to +protect, and my own reputation, to suffer under the artifices of +villany. O indolence and indecision of mind! if not in +yourselves vices, to how much exquisite misery and mischief do +you frequently prepare the way!' + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE EVE OF BATTLE + +Although the Highlanders marched on very fast, the sun was +declining when they arrived upon the brow of those high grounds +which command an open and extensive plain stretching northward to +the sea, on which are situated, but at a considerable distance +from each other, the small villages of Seaton and Cockenzie, and +the larger one of Preston. One of the low coast-roads to +Edinburgh passed through this plain, issuing upon it from the +enclosures of Seaton-house, and at the town or village of Preston +again entering the defiles of an enclosed country. By this way +the English general had chosen to approach the metropolis, both +as most commodious for his cavalry, and being probably of opinion +that, by doing so, he would meet in front with the Highlanders +advancing from Edinburgh in the opposite direction. In this he +was mistaken; for the sound judgement of the Chevalier, or of +those to whose advice he listened, left the direct passage free, +but occupied the strong ground by which it was overlooked and +commanded. + +When the Highlanders reached the heights above the plain +described, they were immediately formed in army of battle along +the brow of the hill. Almost at the same instant the van of the +English appeared issuing from among the trees and enclosures of +Seaton, with the purpose of occupying the level plain between the +high ground and the sea; the space which divided the armies being +only about half a mile in breadth. Waverley could plainly see +the squadrons of dragoons issue, one after another, from the +defiles, with their videttes in front, and form upon the plain, +with their front opposed to that of the Prince's army. They were +followed by a train of field-pieces, which, when they reached the +flank of the dragoons, were also brought into line, and pointed +against the heights. The march was continued by three or four +regiments of infantry marching in open column, their fixed +bayonets showing like successive hedges of steel, and their arms +glancing like lightning, as, at a signal given, they also at once +wheeled up, and were placed in direct opposition to the +Highlanders. A second train of artillery, with another regiment +of horse, closed the long march, and formed on the left flank of +the infantry, the whole line facing southward. + +While the English army went through these evolutions, the +Highlanders showed equal promptitude and zeal for battle. As +fast as the clans came upon the ridge which fronted their enemy, +they were formed into line, so that both armies got into complete +order of battle at the same moment. When this was accomplished, +the Highlanders set up a tremendous yell, which was re-echoed by +the heights behind them. The regulars, who were in high spirits, +returned a loud shout of defiance, and fired one or two of their +cannon upon an advanced post of the Highlanders. The latter +displayed great earnestness to proceed instantly to the attack, +Evan Dhu urging to Fergus, by way of argument, that 'the SIDIER +ROY was tottering like an egg upon a staff, and that they had a' +the vantage of the onset, for even a haggis (God bless her!) +could charge down hill.' + +But the ground through which the mountaineers must have +descended, although not of great extent, was impracticable in its +character, being not only marshy, but intersected with walls of +dry-stone, and traversed in its whole length by a very broad and +deep ditch, circumstances which must have given the musketry of +the regulars dreadful advantages, before the mountaineers could +have used their swords, on which they were taught to rely. The +authority of the commanders was therefore interposed to curb the +impetuosity of the Highlanders, and only a few marksmen were sent +down the descent to skirmish with the enemy's advanced posts, and +to reconnoitre the ground. + +Here, then, was a military spectacle of no ordinary interest, or +usual occurrence. The two armies, so different in aspect and +discipline, yet each admirably trained in its own peculiar mode +of war, upon whose conflict the temporary fate at least of +Scotland appeared to depend, now faced each other like two +gladiators in the arena, each meditating upon the mode of +attacking their enemy. The leading officers, and the general's +staff of each army, could be distinguished in front of their +lines, busied with spy-glasses to watch each other's motions, and +occupied in dispatching the orders and receiving the intelligence +conveyed, by the aides-de-camp and orderly men, who gave life to +the scene by galloping along in different directions as if the +fate of the day depended upon the speed of their horses. The +space between the armies was at times occupied by the partial and +irregular contests of individual sharpshooters, and a hat or +bonnet was occasionally seen to fall, as a wounded man was borne +off by his comrades. These, however, were but trifling +skirmishes, for it suited the views of neither party to advance +in that direction. From the neighbouring hamlets, the peasantry +cautiously showed themselves, as if watching the issue of the +expected engagement; and at no great distance in the bay were two +square-rigged vessels, bearing the English flag, whose tops and +yards were crowded with less timid spectators. + +When this awful pause had lasted for a short time, Fergus, with +another chieftain, received orders to detach their clans towards +the village of Preston, in order to threaten the right flank of +Cope's army, and compel him to a change of position. To enable +him to execute these orders, the Chief of Glennaquoich occupied +the churchyard of Tranent, a commanding situation, and a +convenient place, as Evan Dhu remarked, 'for any gentleman who +might have the misfortune to be killed, and chanced to be curious +about Christian burial.' To check or dislodge this party, the +English general detached two guns escorted by a strong party of +cavalry. They approached so near, that Waverley could plainly +recognize the standard of the troop he had formerly commanded, +and hear the trumpets and kettledrums sound the signal of +advance, which he had so often obeyed. He could hear, too, the +well-known word given in the English dialect, by the equally +well-distinguished voice of the commanding-officer, for whom he +had once felt so much respect. It was at that instant, that, +looking around him, he saw the wild dress and appearance of his +Highland associates, heard their whispers in an uncouth and +unknown language, looked upon his own dress, so unlike that which +he had worn from his infancy, and wished to awake from what +seemed at the moment a dream, strange, horrible, and unnatural. +'Good God!' he muttered, 'am I then a traitor to my country, a +renegade to my standard, and a foe, as that poor dying wretch +expressed himself, to my native England?' + +Ere he could digest or smother the recollection, the tall +military form of his late commander came full in view, for the +purpose of reconnoitring. 'I can hit him now,' said Callum, +cautiously raising his fusee over the wall under which he lay +couched, at scarce sixty yards' distance. + +Edward felt as if he was about to see a parricide committed in +his presence; for the venerable grey hair and striking +countenance of the veteran recalled the almost paternal respect +with which his officers universally regarded him. But ere he +could say 'Hold!' an aged Highlander, who lay beside Callum Beg, +stopped his arm. 'Spare your shot,' said the seer, 'his hour is +not yet come. But let him beware of to-morrow.--I see his +winding-sheet high upon his breast.' + +Callum, flint to other considerations, was penetrable to +superstition. He turned pale at the words of the TAISHATR, and +recovered his piece. Colonel Gardiner, unconscious of the danger +he had escaped, turned his horse round, and rode slowly back to +the front of his regiment. + +By this time the regular army had assumed a new line, with one +flank inclined towards the sea, and the other resting upon the +village of Preston; and as similar difficulties occurred in +attacking their new position, Fergus and the rest of the +detachment were recalled to their former post. This alteration +created the necessity of a corresponding change in General Cope's +army, which was again brought into a line parallel with that of +the Highlanders. In these manoeuvres on both sides the daylight +was nearly consumed, and both armies prepared to rest upon their +arms for the night in the lines which they respectively occupied. + +'There will be nothing done to-night,' said Fergus to his friend +Waverley. 'Ere we wrap ourselves in our plaids, let us go see +what the Baron is doing in the rear of the line.' + +When they approached his post, they found the good old careful +officer, after having sent out his night patrols, and posted his +sentinels, engaged in reading the Evening Service of the +Episcopal Church to the remainder of his troop. His voice was +loud and sonorous, and though his spectacles upon his nose, and +the appearance of Saunders Saunderson, in military array, +performing the functions of clerk, had something ludicrous, yet +the circumstances of danger in which they stood, the military +costume of the audience, and the appearance of their horses, +saddled and picketed behind them, gave an impressive and solemn +effect to the office of devotion. + +'I have confessed to-day, ere you were awake,' whispered Fergus +to Waverley; 'yet I am not so strict a Catholic as to refuse to +join in this good man's prayers.' + +Edward assented, and they remained till the Baron had concluded +the service. + +As he shut the book, 'Now, lads,' said he, 'have at them in the +morning, with heavy hands and light consciences.' He then kindly +greeted Mac-Ivor and Waverley, who requested to know his opinion +of their situation. 'Why, you know, Tacitus saith, "IN REBUS +BELLICIS MAXIME DOMINATUR FORTUNA," which is equiponderate with +our vernacular adage, "Luck can maist in the mellee." But credit +me, gentlemen, yon man is not a deacon o' his craft. He damps +the spirits of the poor lads he commands, by keeping them on the +defensive, whilk of itself implies inferiority or fear. Now will +they lie on their arms yonder, as anxious and as ill at ease as a +toad under a harrow, while our men will be quite fresh and blithe +for action in the morning. Well, goodnight.--One thing troubles +me, but if to-morrow goes well off, I will consult you about it, +Glennaquoich.'-- + +'I could almost apply to Mr. Bradwardine the character which +Henry gives of Fluellen,' said Waverley, as his friend and he +walked towards their BIVOUAC: + + Though it appears a little out of fashion, + There is much care and valour in this 'Scotchman.' + +'He has seen much service,' answered Fergus, 'and one is +sometimes astonished to find how much nonsense and reason are +mingled in his composition, I wonder what can be troubling his +mind--probably something about Rose.--Hark! the English are +setting their watch.' + +The roll of the drum and shrill accompaniment of the fifes +swelled up the hill-died away--resumed its thunder--and was at +length hushed. The trumpets and kettledrums of the cavalry were +next heard to perform the beautiful and wild point of war +appropriated as a signal for that piece of nocturnal duty, and +then finally sank upon the wind with a shrill and mournful +cadence. + +The friends, who had now reached their post, stood and looked +round them ere they lay down to rest. The western sky twinkled +with stars, but a frost-mist, rising from the ocean, covered the +eastern horizon, and rolled in white wreaths along the plain +where the adverse army lay couched upon their arms. Their +advanced posts were pushed as far as the side of the great ditch +at the bottom of the descent, and had kindled large fires at +different intervals, gleaming with obscure and hazy lustre +through the heavy fog which encircled them with a doubtful halo. + +The Highlanders, 'thick as leaves in Vallombrosa,' lay stretched +upon the ridge of the hill, buried (excepting their sentinels) in +the most profound repose. 'How many of these brave fellows will +sleep more soundly before to-morrow night, Fergus!' said +Waverley, with an involuntary sigh. + +'You must not think of that,' answered Fergus, whose ideas were +entirely military. 'You must only think of your sword, and by +whom it was given. All other reflections are now TOO LATE.' + +With the opiate contained in this undeniable remark, Edward +endeavoured to lull the tumult of his conflicting feelings. The +Chieftain and he, combining their plaids, made a comfortable and +warm couch. Callum, sitting down at their head (for it was his +duty to watch upon the immediate person of the Chief), began a +long mournful song in Gaelic, to a low and uniform tune, which, +like the sound of the wind at a distance, soon lulled them to +sleep. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE CONFLICT + +When Fergus Mac-Ivor and his friend had slept for a few hours, +they were awakened, and summoned to attend the Prince. The +distant village-clock was heard to toll three as they hastened to +the place where he lay. He was already surrounded by his +principal officers and the chiefs of clans. A bundle of peas- +straw, which had been lately his couch, now served for his seat. +Just as Fergus reached the circle, the consultation had broken +up. 'Courage, my brave friends!' said the Chevalier, 'and each +one put himself instantly at the head of his command; a faithful +friend [See Note 26.] has offered to guide us by a practicable, +though narrow and circuitous route, which, sweeping to our right, +traverses the broken ground and morass, and enables us to gain +the firm and open plain, upon which the enemy are lying. This +difficulty surmounted, Heaven and your good swords must do the +rest.' + +The proposal spread unanimous joy, and each leader hastened to +get his men into order with as little noise as possible. The +army, moving by its right from off the ground on which they had +rested, soon entered the path through the morass, conducting +their march with astonishing silence and great rapidity. The +mist had not risen to the higher grounds, so that for some time +they had the advantage of starlight. But this was lost as the +stars faded before approaching day, and the head of the marching +column, continuing its descent, plunged as it were into the heavy +ocean of fog, which rolled its white waves over the whole plain, +and over the sea by which it was bounded. Some difficulties were +now to be encountered, inseparable from darkness,--a narrow, +broken, and marshy path, and the necessity of preserving union in +the march. These, however, were less inconvenient to +Highlanders, from their habits of life, than they would have been +to any other troops, and they continued a steady and swift +movement. + +As the clan of Ivor approached the firm ground, following the +track of those who preceded them, the challenge of a patrol was +heard through the mist, though they could not see the dragoon by +whom it was made--'Who goes there?' + +'Hush!' cried Fergus, 'hush!--Let none answer, as he values his +life.--Press forward!' and they continued their march with +silence and rapidity. + +The patrol fired his carabine upon the body, and the report was +instantly followed by the clang of his horse's feet as he +galloped off. 'HYLAX IN LIMINE LATRAT,' said the Baron of +Bradwardine, who heard the shot; 'that loon will give the alarm.' + +The clan of Fergus had now gained the firm plain, which had +lately borne a large crop of corn. But the harvest was gathered +in, and the expense was unbroken by tree, bush, or interruption +of any kind. The rest of the army were following fast, when they +heard the drums of the enemy beat the general. Surprise, +however, had made no part of their plan, so they were not +disconcerted by this intimation that the foe was upon his guard +and prepared to receive them. It only hastened their +dispositions for the combat, which were very simple. + +The Highland army, which now occupied the eastern end of the wide +plain, or stubble field, so often referred to, was drawn up in +two lines, extending from the morass towards the sea. The first +was destined to charge the enemy, the second to act as a reserve. +The few horse, whom the Prince headed in person, remained between +the two lines. The Adventurer had intimated a resolution to +charge in person at the head of his first line; but his purpose +was deprecated by all around him, and he was with difficulty +induced to abandon it. + +Both lines were now moving forward, the first prepared for +instant combat. The clans of which it was composed, formed each +a sort of separate phalanx, narrow in front, and in depth ten, +twelve, or fifteen files, according to the strength of the +following. The best armed and best born, for the words were +synonymous, were placed in front of each of these irregular +subdivisions. The others in the rear shouldered forward the +front, and by their pressure added both physical impulse, and +additional ardour and confidence, to those who were first to +encounter the danger. + +'Down with your plaid, Waverley,' cried Fergus, throwing off his +own; 'we'll win silks for our tartans before the sun is above the +sea.' + +The clansmen on every side stripped their plaids, prepared their +arms, and there was an awful pause of about three minutes, during +which the men, pulling off their bonnets, raised their faces to +heaven, and uttered a short prayer; then pulled their bonnets +over their brows, and began to move forward at first slowly. +Waverley felt his heart at that moment throb as it would have +burst from his bosom. It was not fear, it was not ardour,--it +was a compound of both, a new and deeply energetic impulse, that +with its first emotion chilled and astounded, then fevered and +maddened his mind, The sounds around him combined to exalt his +enthusiasm; the pipes played, and the clans rushed forward, each +in its own dark column. As they advanced they mended their pace, +and the muttering sounds of the men to each other began to swell +into a wild cry. + +At this moment, the sun, which was now risen above the horizon, +dispelled the mist. The vapours rose like a curtain, and showed +the two armies in the act of closing. The line of the regulars +was formed directly fronting the attack of the Highlanders; it +glittered with the appointments of a complete army, and was +flanked by cavalry and artillery. But the sight impressed no +terror on the assailants. + +'Forward, sons of Ivor,' cried their Chief, 'or the Camerons will +draw the first blood!'--They rushed on with a tremendous yell. + +The rest is well known. The horse, who were commanded to charge +the advancing Highlanders in the flank, received an irregular +fire from their fusees as they ran on, and, seized with a +disgraceful panic, wavered, halted, disbanded, and galloped from +the field. The artillerymen, deserted by the cavalry, fled after +discharging their pieces, and the Highlanders, who dropped their +guns when fired, and drew their broadswords, rushed with headlong +fury against the infantry. + +It was at this moment of confusion and terror, that Waverley +remarked an English officer, apparently of high rank, standing +alone and unsupported by a field-piece, which, after the flight +of the men by whom it was wrought, he had himself levelled and +discharged against the clan of Mac-Ivor, the nearest group of +Highlanders within his aim. Struck with his tall, martial +figure, and eager to save him from inevitable destruction, +Waverley outstripped for an instant even the speediest of the +warriors, and, reaching the spot first, called to him to +surrender. The officer replied by a thrust with his sword, which +Waverley received in his target, and in turning it aside the +Englishman's weapon broke. At the same time the battle-axe of +Dugald Mahony was in the act of descending upon the officer's +head. Waverley intercepted and prevented the blow, and the +officer, perceiving further resistance unavailing, and struck +with Edward's generous anxiety for his safety, resigned the +fragment of his sword, and was committed by Waverley to Dugald, +with strict charge to use him well, and not to pillage his +person, promising him, at the same time, full indemnification for +the spoil. + +On Edward's right, the battle for a few minutes raged fierce and +thick. The English infantry, trained in the wars in Flanders, +stood their ground with great courage. But their extended files +were pierced and broken in many places by the close masses of the +clans; and in the personal struggle which ensued, the nature of +the Highlanders' weapons, and their extraordinary fierceness and +activity, gave them a decided superiority over those who had been +accustomed to trust much to their array and discipline, and felt +that the one was broken and the other useless. Waverley, as he +cast his eyes towards this scene of smoke and slaughter, observed +Colonel Gardiner, deserted by his own soldiers in spite of all +his attempts to rally them, yet spurring his horse through the +field to take the command of a small body of infantry, who, with +their backs arranged against the wall of his own park (for his +house was close by the field of battle), continued a desperate +and unavailing resistance. Waverley could perceive that he had +already received many wounds, his clothes and saddle being marked +with blood. To save this good and brave man, became the instant +object of his most anxious exertions. But he could only witness +his fall. Ere Edward could make his way among the Highlanders, +who, furious and eager for spoil, now thronged upon each other, +he saw his former commander brought from his horse by the blow of +a scythe, and beheld him receive, while on the ground, more +wounds than would have let out twenty lives. When Waverley came +up, however, perception had not entirely fled. The dying warrior +seemed to recognize Edward, for he fixed his eye upon him with an +upbraiding, yet sorrowful look, and appeared to struggle for +utterance. But he felt that death was dealing closely with him, +and resigning his purpose, and folding his hands as if in +devotion, he gave up his soul to his Creator. The look with +which he regarded Waverley in his dying moments did not strike +him so deeply at that crisis of hurry and confusion, as when it +recurred to his imagination at the distance of some time. [See +Note 27.] + +Loud shouts of triumph now echoed over the whole field. The +battle was fought and won, and the whole baggage, artillery, and +military stores of the regular army remained in possession of the +victors. Never was a victory more complete. Scarce any escaped +from the battle, excepting the cavalry, who had left it at the +very onset, and even these were broken into different parties and +scattered all over the country. So far as our tale is concerned, +we have only to relate the fate of Balmawhapple, who, mounted on +a horse as headstrong and stiff-necked as his rider, pursued the +flight of the dragoons above four miles from the field of battle, +when some dozen of the fugitives took heart of grace, turned +round, and, cleaving his skull with their broadswords, satisfied +the world that the unfortunate gentleman had actually brains, the +end of his life thus giving proof of a fact greatly doubted +during its progress. His death was lamented by few. Most of +those who knew him agreed in the pithy observation of Ensign +Maccombich, that there 'was mair TINT (lost) at Sheriff-Muir.' +His friend, Lieutenant Jinker, bent his eloquence only to +exculpate his favourite mare from any share in contributing to +the catastrophe. 'He had tauld the laird a thousand times,' he +said, 'that it was a burning shame to put a martingale upon the +puir thing, when he would needs ride her wi' a curb of half a +yard lang; and that he could na but bring himsell (not to say +her) to some mischief, by flinging her down, or otherwise; +whereas, if he had had a wee bit rinnin ring on the snaffle, she +wad ha' rein'd as cannily as a cadger's pownie.' + +Such was the elegy of the Laird of Balmawhapple. [See Note 28.] + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +AN UNEXPECTED EMBARRASSMENT + +When the battle was over, and all things coming into order, the +Baron of Bradwardine, returning from the duty of the day, and +having disposed those under his command in their proper stations, +sought the Chieftain of Glennaquoich and his friend Edward +Waverley. He found the former busied in determining disputes +among his clansmen about points of precedence and deeds of +valour, besides sundry high and doubtful questions concerning +plunder. The most important of the last respected the property +of a gold watch, which had once belonged to some unfortunate +English officer. The party against whom judgement was awarded +consoled himself by observing, 'She (i.e. the watch, which he +took for a living animal) died the very night Vich Ian Vohr gave +her to Murdock;' the machine having, in fact, stopped for want of +winding up. + +It was just when this important question was decided, that the +Baron of Bradwardine, with a careful and yet important expression +of countenance, joined the two young men. He descended from his +reeking charger, the care of which he recommended to one of his +grooms. 'I seldom ban, sir,' said he to the man; 'but if you +play any of your hound's-foot tricks, and leave puir Berwick +before he's sorted, to rin after spuilzie, deil be wi' me if I do +not; give your craig a thraw. He then stroked with great +complacency the animal which had borne him through the fatigues +of the day, and having taken a tender leave of him,--'Weel, my +good young friends, a glorious and decisive victory,' said he; +'but these loons of troopers fled ower soon. I should have liked +to have shown you the true points of the PRAELIUM EQUESTRE, or +equestrian combat, whilk their cowardice has postponed, and which +I hold to be the pride and terror of warfare. Weel, I have +fought once more in this old quarrel, though I admit I could not +be so far BEN as you lads, being that it was my point of duty to +keep together our handful of horse. And no cavalier ought in any +wise to begrudge honour that befalls his companions, even though +they are ordered upon thrice his danger, whilk, another time, by +the blessing of God, may be his own case.--But, Glennaquoich, and +you, Mr. Waverley, I pray ye to give me your best advice on a +matter of mickle weight, and which deeply affects the honour of +the house of Bradwardine.--I crave your pardon, Ensign +Maccombich, and yours, Inveraughlin, and yours, Edderalshendrach, +and yours, sir.' + +The last person he addressed was Ballenkeiroch, who, remembering +the death of his son, loured on him with a look of savage +defiance. The Baron, quick as lightning at taking umbrage, had +already bent his brow, when Glennaquoich dragged his major from +the spot, and remonstrated with him, in the authoritative tone of +a chieftain, on the madness of reviving a quarrel in such a +moment. + +'The ground is cumbered with carcases,' said the old mountaineer, +turning sullenly away; 'ONE MORE would hardly have been kenn'd +upon it; and if it wasna for yoursell, Vich Ian Vohr, that one +should be Bradwardine's or mine.' + +The chief soothed while he hurried him away; and then returned to +the Baron. 'It is Ballenkeiroch,' he said, in an under and +confidential voice, 'father of the young man who fell eight years +since in the unlucky affair at the Mains.' + +'Ah!' said the Baron, instantly relaxing the doubtful sternness +of his features, 'I can take mickle frae a man to whom I have +unhappily rendered sie a displeasure as that. Ye were right to +apprize me, Glennaquoich; he may look as black as midnight at +Martinmas ere Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine shall say he does him +wrang. Ah! I have nae male lineage, and I should bear with one +I have made childless, though you are aware the blood-wit was +made up to your ain satisfaction by assythment, and that I have +since expedited letters of slains.--Weel, as I have said, I have +no male issue, and yet it is needful that I maintain the honour +of my house; and it is on that score I prayed ye for your +peculiar and private attention,' + +The two young men awaited to hear him in anxious curiosity. + +'I doubt na, lads,' he proceeded, 'but your education has been +sae seen to, that ye understand the true nature of the feudal +tenures?' + +Fergus, afraid of an endless dissertation, answered, 'Intimately, +Baron,' and touched Waverley, as a signal to express no +ignorance. + +'And ye are aware, I doubt not, that the holding of the Barony of +Bradwardine is of a nature alike honourable and peculiar, being +blanch (which Craig opines ought to be Latinated BLANCUM, or +rather FRANCUM, a free holding) PRO SERVITIO DETRAHENDI, SEU +EXUENDI, CALIGAS REGIS POST BATTALIAM.' Here Fergus turned his +falcon eye upon Edward, with an almost imperceptible rise of his +eyebrow, to which his shoulders corresponded in the same degree +of elevation. 'Now, twa points of dubitation occur to me upon +this topic. First, whether this service, or feudal homage, be at +any event due to the person of the Prince, the words being, PER +EXPRESSUM, CALIGAS REGIS, the boots of the king himself; and I +pray your opinion anent that particular before we proceed +further.' + +'Why, he is Prince Regent,' answered Mac-Ivor, with laudable +composure of countenance; 'and in the court of France all the +honours are rendered to the person of the Regent which are due to +that of the King. Besides, were I to pull off either of their +boots, I would render that service to the young Chevalier ten +times more willingly than to his father.' + +'Aye, but I talk not of personal predilections. However, your +authority is of great weight as to the usages of the court of +France: and doubtless the Prince, as ALTER EGO, may have a right +to claim the HOMAGIUM of the great tenants of the crown, since +all faithful subjects are commanded, in the commission of +regency, to respect him as the king's own person. Far, +therefore, be it from me to diminish the lustre of his authority, +by withholding this act of homage, so peculiarly calculated to +give it splendour; for I question if the Emperor of Germany hath +his boots taken off by a free baron of the empire. But here +lieth the second difficulty--The Prince wears no boots, but +simply brogues and trews.' + +This last dilemma had almost disturbed Fergus's gravity. + +'Why,' said he, 'you know, Baron, the proverb tells us, "It's ill +taking the breeks off a Highlandman,"--and the boots are here in +the same predicament.' + +'The word CALIGAE, however,' continued the Baron, 'though I +admit, that, by family tradition, and even in our ancient +evidents, it is explained LIE BOOTS, means, in its primitive +sense, rather sandals; and Caius Caesar, the nephew and successor +of Caius Tiberius, received the agnomen of Caigula, A CALIGULIS, +SIVE CALIGIS LEVIORIBUS, QUIBUS ADOLESCENTIOR USUS FUERAT IN +EXERCITU GERMANICI PATRIS SUI. And the CALIGAE were also proper +to the monastic bodies; for we read in an ancient Glossarium, +upon the rule of St. Benedict, in the Abbey of St. Amand, that +CALIGAE were tied with latchets.' + +'That will apply to the brogues,' said Fergus. + +'It will so, my dear Glennaquoich;--and the words are express: +CALIGAE DICTAE SUNT QUIA LIGANTUR; NAM SOCCI NON LIGANTUR, SED +TANTUM INTROMITTUNTUR; that is, CALIGAE are denominated from the +ligatures wherewith they are bound; whereas SOCCI, which may be +analogous to our mules, whilk the English denominate slippers, +are only slipped upon the feet, The words of the charter are also +alternative,--EXUERE, SEU DETRAHERE; that is, to UNDO, as in the +case of sandals or brogues; and to PULL OF, as we say +vernacularly, concerning boots. Yet I would we had more light; +but I fear there is little chance of finding hereabout any +erudite author DE RE VESTIARIA.' + +'I should doubt it very much,' said the Chieftain, looking around +on the straggling Highlanders, who were returning loaded with +spoils of the slain, 'though the RES VESTIARIA itself seems to be +in some request at present.' + +This remark coming within the Baron's idea of jocularity, he +honoured it with a smile, but immediately resumed what to him +appeared very serious business. 'Bailie Macwheeble indeed holds +an opinion, that this honorary service is due, from its very +nature, SI PETATUR TANTUM; only if his Royal Highness shall +require of the great tenant of the crown to perform that personal +duty; and indeed he pointed out the case in Dirleton's DOUBTS AND +QUERIES, Grippit VERSUS Spicer, anent the eviction of an estate +OB NON SOLUTUM CANONEM, that is, for non-payment of a feu-duty of +three peppercorns a year, whilk were taxt to be worth seven- +eighths of a penny Scots, in whilk the defender was assoilzied. +But I deem it safest, wi' your good favour, to place myself in +the way of rendering the Prince this service, and to proffer +performance thereof; and I shall cause the Bailie to attend with +a schedule of a protest, whilk he has here prepared (taking out a +paper), intimating, that if it shall be his Royal Highness's +pleasure to accept of other assistance at pulling off his CALIGAE +(whether the same shall be rendered boots or brogues) save that +of the said Baron of Bradwardine, who is in presence ready and +willing to perform the same, it shall in no wise impinge upon or +prejudice the right of the said Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine to +perform the said service in future; nor shall it give any +esquire, valet of the chamber, squire, or page, whose assistance +it may please his Royal Highness to employ, any right, title, or +ground, for evicting from the said Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine the +estate and barony of Bradwardine, and others held as aforesaid, +by the due and faithful performance thereof.' + +Fergus highly applauded this arrangement; and the Baron took a +friendly leave of them, with a smile of contented importance upon +his visage. + +'Long live our dear friend the Baron,' exclaimed the Chief, as +soon as he was out of hearing, 'for the most absurd original that +exists north of the Tweed! I wish to heaven I had recommended +him to attend the circle this evening with a boot-ketch under his +arm. I think he might have adopted the suggestion, if it had +been made with suitable gravity.' + +'And how can you take pleasure in making a man of his worth so +ridiculous?' + +'Begging pardon, my dear Waverley, you are as ridiculous as he. +Why, do you not see that the man's whole mind is wrapped up in +this ceremony? He has heard and thought of it since infancy, as +the most august privilege and ceremony in the world; and I doubt +not but the expected pleasure of performing it was a principal +motive with him for taking up arms. Depend upon it, had I +endeavoured to divert him from exposing himself, he would have +treated me as an ignorant conceited coxcomb, or perhaps might +have taken a fancy to cut my throat; a pleasure which he once +proposed to himself upon some point of etiquette, not half so +important, in his eyes, as this matter of boots or brogues, or +whatever the CALIGAE shall finally be pronounced by the learned. +But I must go to head-quarters to prepare the Prince for this +extraordinary scene. My information will be well taken, for it +will give him a hearty laugh at present, and put him on his guard +against laughing, when it might be very MAL-A-PROPOS. So, AU +REVOIR, my dear Waverley.' + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE ENGLISH PRISONER + +The first occupation of Waverley, after he departed from the +Chieftain, was to go in quest of the officer whose life he had +saved. He was guarded, along with his companions in misfortune, +who were very numerous, in a gentleman's house near the field of +battle. + +On entering the room where they stood crowded together, Waverley +easily recognized the object of his visit, not only by the +peculiar dignity of his appearance, but by the appendage of +Dugald Mahony, with his battle-axe, who had stuck to him from the +moment of his captivity, as if he had been skewered to his side. +This close attendance was, perhaps, for the purpose of securing +his promised reward from Edward, but it also operated to save the +English gentleman from being plundered in the scene of general +confusion; for Dugald sagaciously argued, that the amount of the +salvage which he might be allowed, would be regulated by the +state of the prisoner, when he should deliver him over to +Waverley, He hastened to assure Waverley, therefore, with more +words than he usually employed, that he had 'keepit ta SIDIER ROY +haill, and that he wasna a plack the waur since the fery moment +when his honour forbad her to gie him a bit clamhewit wi' her +Lochaber-axe.' + +Waverley assured Dugald of a liberal recompense, and, approaching +the English officer, expressed his anxiety to do anything which +might contribute to his convenience under his present unpleasant +circumstances. + +'I am not so inexperienced a soldier, sir,' answered the +Englishman, 'as to complain of the fortune of war. I am only +grieved to see those scenes acted in our own island, which I have +often witnessed elsewhere with comparative indifference.' + +'Another such day as this,' said Waverley, 'and I trust the cause +of your regrets will be removed, and all will again return to +peace and order.' + +The officer smiled and shook his head. 'I must not forget my +situation so far as to attempt a formal confutation of that +opinion; but, notwithstanding your success, and the valour which +achieved it, you have undertaken a task to which your strength +appears wholly inadequate.' + +At this moment Fergus pushed into the press. + +'Come, Edward, come along; the Prince has gone to Pinkie-house +for the night; and we must follow, or lose the whole ceremony of +the CALIGAE. Your friend, the Baron, has been guilty of a great +piece of cruelty; he has insisted upon dragging Bailie Macwheeble +out to the field of battle. Now you must know the Bailie's +greatest horror is an armed Highlander, or a loaded gun; and +there he stands, listening to the Baron's instructions concerning +the protest; ducking his head like a sea-gull at the report of +every gun and pistol that our idle boys are firing upon the +fields; and undergoing, by way of penance, at every symptom of +flinching, a severe rebuke from his patron, who would not admit +the discharge of a whole battery of cannon, within point-blank +distance, as an apology for neglecting a discourse, in which the +honour of his family is interested. + +'But how has Mr. Bradwardine got him to venture so far?' said +Edward. + +'Why, he had come as far as Musselburgh, I fancy, in hopes of +making some of our wills; and the peremptory commands of the +Baron dragged him forward to Preston after the battle was over. +He complains of one or two of our ragamuffins having put him in +peril of his life, by presenting their pieces at him; but as they +limited his ransom to an English penny, I don't think we need +trouble the provost-marshal upon that subject. So, come along, +Waverley.' + +'Waverley!' said the English officer, with great emotion; 'the +nephew of Sir Everard Waverley, of --shire?' + +'The same, sir,' replied our hero, somewhat surprised at the tone +in which he was addressed. + +'I am at once happy and grieved,' said the prisoner, 'to have met +with you.' + +'I am ignorant, sir,' answered Waverley, 'how I have deserved so +much interest.' + +'Did your uncle never mention a friend called Talbot?' + +'I have heard him talk with great regard of such a person,' +replied Edward; 'a colonel, I believe, in the army, and the +husband of Lady Emily Blandeville; but I thought Colonel Talbot +had been abroad.' + +'I am just returned,' answered the officer; 'and being in +Scotland, thought it my duty to act where my services promised to +be useful. Yes, Mr. Waverley, I am that Colonel Talbot, the +husband of the lady you have named; and I am proud to +acknowledge, that I owe alike my professional rank and my +domestic happiness to your generous and noble-minded relative. +Good God! that I should find his nephew in such a dress, and +engaged in such a cause!' + +'Sir,' said Fergus, haughtily, 'the dress and cause are those of +men of birth and honour.' + +'My situation forbids me to dispute your assertion,' said Colonel +Talbot; 'otherwise it were no difficult matter to show, that +neither courage nor pride of lineage can gild a bad cause. But, +with Mr. Waverley's permission, and yours, sir, if yours also +must be asked, I would willingly speak a few words with him on +affairs connected with his own family.' + +'Mr. Waverley, sir, regulates his own motions. You will follow +me, I suppose, to Pinkie,' said Fergus, turning to Edward, 'when +you have finished your discourse with this new acquaintance?' So +saying, the Chief of Glennaquoich adjusted his plaid with rather +more than his usual air of haughty assumption, and left the +apartment. + +The interest of Waverley readily procured for Colonel Talbot the +freedom of adjourning to a large garden belonging to his place of +confinement. They walked a few paces in silence, Colonel Talbot +apparently studying how to open what he had to say; at length he +addressed Edward. + +'Mr. Waverley, you have this day saved my life; and yet I would +to God that I had lost it, ere I had found you wearing the +uniform and cockade of these men.' + +'I forgive your reproach, Colonel Talbot; it is well meant, and +your education and prejudices render it natural. But there is +nothing extraordinary in finding a man, whose honour has been +publicly and unjustly assailed, in the situation which promised +most fair to afford him satisfaction on his calumniators.' + +'I should rather say, in the situation most likely to confirm the +reports which they have circulated,' said Colonel Talbot, 'by +following the very line of conduct ascribed to you. Are you +aware, Mr. Waverley, of the infinite distress, and even danger, +which your present conduct has occasioned to your nearest +relatives?' + +'Danger!' + +'Yes, sir, danger. When I left England, your uncle and father +had been obliged to find bail to answer a charge of treason, to +which they were only admitted by the exertion of the most +powerful interest. I came down to Scotland, with the sole +purpose of rescuing you from the gulf into which you have +precipitated yourself; nor can I estimate the consequences to +your family, of your having openly joined the rebellion, since +the very suspicion of your intention was so perilous to them. +Most deeply do I regret that I did not meet you before this last +and fatal error.' + +'I am really ignorant,' said Waverley, in a tone of reserve, 'why +Colonel Talbot should have taken so much trouble on my account.' + +'Mr. Waverley,' answered Talbot, 'I am dull at apprehending +irony; and therefore I shall answer your words according to their +plain meaning. I am indebted to your uncle for benefits greater +than those which a son owes to a father. I acknowledge to him +the duty of a son; and as I know there is no manner in which I +can requite his kindness so well as by serving you, I will serve +you, if possible, whether you will permit me or no. The personal +obligation which you have this day laid me under (although in +common estimation as great as one human being can bestow on +another) adds nothing to my zeal on your behalf; nor can that +zeal be abated by any coolness with which you may please to +receive it.' + +'Your intentions may be kind, sir,' said Waverley, drily; 'but +your language is harsh, or at least peremptory.' + +'On my return to England,' continued Colonel Talbot, 'after long +absence, I found your uncle, Sir Everard Waverley, in the custody +of a king's messenger, in consequence of the suspicion brought +upon him by your conduct. He is my oldest friend--how often +shall I repeat it?--my best benefactor; he sacrificed his own +views of happiness to mine--he never uttered a word, he never +harboured a thought, that benevolence itself might not have +thought or spoken. I found this man in confinement, rendered +harsher to him by his habits of life, his natural dignity of +feeling, and--forgive me, Mr. Waverley--by the cause through +which this calamity had come upon him. I cannot disguise from +you my feelings upon this occasion; they were most painfully +unfavourable to you. Having, by my family interest, which you +probably know is not inconsiderable, succeeded in obtaining Sir +Everard's release, I set out for Scotland. I saw Colonel +Gardiner, a man whose fate alone is sufficient to render this +insurrection for ever execrable. In the course of conversation +with him, I found, that, from late circumstances, from a re- +examination of the persons engaged in the mutiny, and from his +original good opinion of your character, he was much softened +towards you; and I doubted not, that if I could be so fortunate +as to discover you, all might yet be well. But this unnatural +rebellion has ruined all. I have, for the first time in a long +and active military life, seen Britons disgrace themselves by a +panic flight, and that before a foe without either arms or +discipline: and now I find the heir of my dearest friend--the +son, I may say, of his affections--sharing a triumph, for which +he ought the first to have blushed. Why should I lament +Gardiner? his lot was happy, compared to mine!' + +There was so much dignity in Colonel Talbot's manner, such a +mixture of military pride and manly sorrow, and the news of Sir +Everard's imprisonment was told in so deep a tone of feeling, +that Edward stood mortified, abashed, and distressed in presence +of the prisoner, who owed to him his life not many hours before. +He was not sorry when Fergus interrupted their conference a +second time. + +'His Royal Highness commands Mr. Waverley's attendance.' Colonel +Talbot threw upon Edward a reproachful glance, which did not +escape the quick eye of the Highland Chief. 'His immediate +attendance,' he repeated, with considerable emphasis. Waverley +turned again towards the Colonel. + +'We shall meet again,' he said; 'in the meanwhile, every possible +accommodation'-- + +'I desire none,' said the Colonel; 'let me fare like the meanest +of those brave men, who, on this day of calamity, have preferred +wounds and captivity to flight; I would, almost exchange places +with one of those who have fallen, to know that my words have +made a suitable impression on your mind.' + +'Let Colonel Talbot be carefully secured,' said Fergus to the +Highland officer, who commanded the guard over the prisoners; 'it +is the Prince's particular command; he is a prisoner of the +utmost importance.' + +'But let him want no accommodation suitable to his rank,' said +Waverley. + +'Consistent always with secure custody,' reiterated Fergus. The +officer signified his acquiescence in both commands, and Edward +followed Fergus to the garden-gate, where Callum Beg, with three +saddle-horses, awaited them. Turning his head, he saw Colonel +Talbot reconducted to his place of confinement by a file of +Highlanders; he lingered on the threshold of the door, and made a +signal with his hand towards Waverley, as if enforcing the +language he had held towards him. + +'Horses,' said Fergus, as he mounted, 'are now as plenty as +blackberries; every man may have them for the catching. Come, +let Callum adjust your stirrups, and let us to Pinkie-house +[Charles Edward took up his quarters after the battle at Pinkie- +house, adjoining to Musselburgh.] as fast as these CI-DEVANT +dragoon-horses choose to carry us.' + + + +CHAPTER L + +RATHER UNIMPORTANT + +'I was turned back,' said Fergus to Edward, as they galloped from +Preston to Pinkie-house, 'by a message from the Prince. But, I +suppose, you know the value of this most noble Colonel Talbot as +a prisoner. He is held one of the best officers among the red- +coats; a special friend and favourite of the Elector himself, and +of that dreadful hero, the Duke of Cumberland, who has been +summoned from his triumphs at Fontenoy, to come over and devour +us poor Highlanders alive. Has he been telling you how the bells +of St. James's ring? Not "turn again, Whittington," like those +of Bow, in the days of yore?' + +'Fergus!' said Waverley, with a reproachful look. + +'Nay, I cannot tell what to make of you,' answered the Chief of +Mac-Ivor, 'you are blown about with every wind of doctrine. Here +have we gained a victory, unparalleled in history--and your +behaviour is praised by every living mortal to the skies--and the +Prince is eager to thank you in person--and all our beauties of +the White Rose are pulling caps for you,--and you, the PREUX +CHEVALIER of the day, are stooping on your horse's neck like a +butter-woman riding to market, and looking as black as a +funeral!' + +'I am sorry for poor Colonel Gardiner's death: he was once very +kind to me.' + +'Why, then, be sorry for five minutes, and then be glad again; +his chance to-day may be ours to-morrow. And what does it +signify?--the next best thing to victory is honourable death; but +it is a PIS-ALLER, and one would rather a foe had it than one's +self.' + +'But Colonel Talbot has informed me that my father and uncle are +both imprisoned by government on my account.' + +'We'll put in bail, my boy; old Andrew Ferrara [See Note 29.] +shall lodge his security; and I should like to see him put to +justify it in Westminster Hall!' + +'Nay, they are already at liberty, upon bail of a more civic +disposition.' + +'Then why is thy noble spirit cast down, Edward? Dost think that +the Elector's Ministers are such doves as to set their enemies at +liberty at this critical moment, if they could or durst confine +and punish them? Assure thyself that either they have no charge +against your relations on which they can continue their +imprisonment, or else they are afraid of our friends, the jolly +cavaliers of old England. At any rate, you need not be +apprehensive upon their account; and we will find some means of +conveying to them assurances of your safety.' + +Edward was silenced, but not satisfied, with these reasons. He +had now been more than once shocked at the small degree of +sympathy which Fergus exhibited for the feelings even of those +whom he loved, if they did not correspond with his own mood at +the time, and more especially if they thwarted him while earnest +in a favourite pursuit. Fergus sometimes indeed observed that he +had offended Waverley, but, always intent upon some favourite +plan or project of his own, he was never sufficiently aware of +the extent or duration of his displeasure, so that the +reiteration of these petty offences somewhat cooled the +volunteer's extreme attachment to his officer. + +The Chevalier received Waverley with his usual favour, and paid +him many compliments on his distinguished bravery. He then took +him apart, made many inquiries concerning Colonel Talbot, and +when he had received all the information which Edward was able to +give concerning him and his connexions, he proceeded,--'I cannot +but think, Mr. Waverley, that since this gentleman is so +particularly connected with our worthy and excellent friend, Sir +Everard Waverley, and since his lady is of the house of +Blandeville, whose devotion to the true and loyal principles of +the Church of England is so generally known, the Colonel's own +private sentiments cannot be unfavourable to us, whatever mask he +may have assumed to accommodate himself to the times.' + +'If I am to judge from the language he this day held to me, I am +under the necessity of differing widely from your Royal +Highness.' + +'Well, it is worth making a trial at least. I therefore entrust +you with the charge of Colonel Talbot, with power to act +concerning him as you think most advisable;--and I hope you will +find means of ascertaining what are his real dispositions towards +our Royal Father's restoration.' + +'I am convinced,' said Waverley, bowing, 'that if Colonel Talbot +chooses to grant his parole, it may be securely depended upon; +but if he refuses it, I trust your Royal Highness will devolve on +some other person than the nephew of his friend, the task of +laying him under the necessary restraint.' + +'I will trust him with no person but you,' said the Prince, +smiling, but peremptorily repeating his mandate: 'it is of +importance to my service that there should appear to be a good +intelligence between you, even if you are unable to gain his +confidence in earnest. You will therefore receive him into your +quarters, and in case he declines giving his parole, you must +apply for a proper guard. I beg you will go about this directly. +We return to Edinburgh to-morrow.' + +Being thus remanded to the vicinity of Preston, Waverley lost the +Baron of Bradwardine's solemn act of homage. So little, however, +was he at this time in love with vanity, that he had quite +forgotten the ceremony in which Fergus had laboured to engage his +curiosity. But next day a formal GAZETTE was circulated, +containing a detailed account of the battle of Gladsmuir, as the +Highlanders chose to denominate their victory. It concluded with +an account of the Court afterwards held by the Chevalier at +Pinkie-house, which contained this among other high-flown +descriptive paragraphs: + +'Since that fatal treaty which annihilates Scotland as an +independent nation, it has not been our happiness to see her +princes receive, and her nobles discharge, those acts of feudal +homage, which, founded upon the splendid actions of Scottish +valour, recall the memory of her early history, with the manly +and chivalrous simplicity of the ties which united to the Crown +the homage of the warriors by whom it was repeatedly upheld and +defended. But on the evening of the 20th, our memories were +refreshed with one of those ceremonies which belong to the +ancient days of Scotland's glory. After the circle was formed, +Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, of that ilk, colonel in the service, +&c. &c. &c., came before the Prince, attended by Mr. D. +Macwheeble, the Bailie of his ancient barony of Bradwardine (who, +we understand, has been-lately named a commissary), and, under +form of instrument, claimed permission to perform, to the person +of his Royal Highness, as representing his father, the service +used and wont, for which, under a charter of Robert Bruce (of +which the original was produced and inspected by the Masters of +his Royal Highness's Chancery, for the time being), the claimant +held the barony of Bradwardine, and lands of Tully-Veolan. His +claim being admitted and registered, his Royal Highness having +placed his foot upon a cushion, the Baron of Bradwardine, +kneeling upon his right knee, proceeded to undo the latchet of +the brogue, or low-heeled Highland shoe, which our gallant young +hero wears in compliment to his brave followers. When this was +performed, his Royal Highness declared the ceremony completed; +and embracing the gallant veteran, protested that nothing but +compliance with an ordinance of Robert Bruce could have induced +him to receive even the symbolical performance of a menial office +from hands which had fought so bravely to put the crown upon the +head of his father. The Baron of Bradwardine then took +instruments in the hands of Mr. Commissary Macwheeble, bearing, +that all points and circumstances of the act of homage had been +RITE ET SOLENNITER ACTA ET PERACTA; and a corresponding entry was +made in the protocol of the Lord High Chamberlain, and in the +record of Chancery. We understand that it is in contemplation of +his Royal Highness, when his Majesty's pleasure can be known, to +raise Colonel Bradwardine to the peerage, by the title of +Viscount Bradwardine, of Bradwardine and Tully-Veolan, and that, +in the meanwhile, his Royal Highness, in his father's name and +authority, has been pleased to grant him an honourable +augmentation to his paternal coat of arms, being a budget or +boot-jack, disposed saltier-wise with a naked broadsword, to be +borne in the dexter cantle of the shield; and, as an additional +motto, on a scroll beneath, the words, "DRAW AND DRAW OFF"' + +'Were it not for the recollection of Fergus's raillery,' thought +Waverley to himself, when he had perused this long and grave +document, 'how very tolerable would all this sound, and how +little should I have thought of connecting it with any ludicrous +idea! Well, after all, everything has its fair, as well as its +seamy side; and truly I do not see why the Baron's boot-jack may +not stand as fair in heraldry as the water-Buckets, waggons, +cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, candlesticks, and other +ordinaries, conveying ideas of anything save chivalry, which +appear in the arms of some of our most ancient gentry.'--This, +however, is an episode in respect to the principal story. + +When Waverley returned to Preston, and rejoined Colonel Talbot, +he found him recovered from the strong and obvious emotions with +which a concurrence of unpleasing events had affected him. He +had regained his natural manner, which was that of an English +gentleman and soldier, manly, open, and generous, but not +unsusceptible of prejudice against those of a different country, +or who opposed him in political tenets. When Waverley acquainted +Colonel Talbot with the Chevalier's purpose to commit him to his +charge, 'I did not think to have owed so much obligation to that +young gentleman,' he said, 'as is implied in this destination. I +can at least cheerfully join in the prayer of the honest +Presbyterian clergyman, that, as he has come among us seeking an +earthly crown, his labours may be speedily rewarded with a +heavenly one. [The clergyman's name was Mac-Vicar. Protected by +the cannon of the Castle, he preached every Sunday in the West +Kirk, while the Highlanders were in possession of Edinburgh; and +it was in presence of some of the Jacobites that he prayed for +Prince Charles Edward in the terms quoted in the text.] I shall +willingly give my parole not to attempt an escape without your +knowledge, since, in fact, it was to meet you that I came to +Scotland; and I am glad it has happened even under this +predicament. But I suppose we shall be 'but a short time +together. Your Chevalier (that is a name we may both give to +him), with his plaids and blue-caps, will, I presume, be +continuing his crusade southward?' + +'Not as I hear; I believe the army makes some stay, in Edinburgh, +to collect reinforcements.' + +'And to besiege the Castle?' said Talbot, smiling sarcastically. +'Well, unless my old commander, General Preston, turn false +metal, or the Castle sink into the North Loch, events which I +deem equally probable, I think we shall have some time to make up +our acquaintance. I have a guess that this gallant Chevalier has +a design that I should be your proselyte; and, as I wish you to +be mine, there cannot be a more fair proposal than to afford us +fair conference together. But as I spoke to-day under the +influence of feelings I rarely give way to, I hope you will +excuse my entering again upon controversy till we are somewhat +better acquainted.' + + + +CHAPTER LI + +INTRIGUES OF LOVE AND POLITICS + +It is not necessary to record in these pages the triumphant +entrance of the Chevalier into Edinburgh after the decisive +affair of Preston. One circumstance, however, may be noticed, +because it illustrates the high spirit of Flora Mac-Ivor. The +Highlanders, by whom the Prince was surrounded, in the licence +and extravagance of this joyful moment, fired their pieces +repeatedly, and one of these having been accidentally loaded with +ball, the bullet grazed the young lady's temple as she waved her +handkerchief from a balcony. [See Note 30.] Fergus, who beheld +the accident, was at her side in an instant; and, on seeing that +the wound was trifling, he drew his broadsword, with the purpose +of rushing down upon the man by whose carelessness she had +incurred so much danger, when, holding him by the plaid, 'Do not +harm the poor fellow,' she cried; 'for Heaven's sake, do not harm +him! but thank God with me that the accident happened to Flora +Mac-Ivor; for had it befallen a Whig, they would have pretended +that the shot was fired on purpose.' + +Waverley escaped the alarm which this accident would have +occasioned to him, as he was unavoidably delayed by the necessity +of accompanying Colonel Talbot to Edinburgh. + +They performed the journey together on horseback, and for some +time, as if to sound each other's feelings and sentiments, they +conversed upon general and ordinary topics. + +When Waverley again entered upon the subject which he had most at +heart, the situation, namely, of his father and his uncle, +Colonel Talbot seemed now rather desirous to alleviate than to +aggravate his anxiety. This appeared particularly to be the case +when he heard Waverley's history, which he did not scruple to +confide to him. + +'And so,' said the Colonel, 'there has been no malice prepense, +as lawyers, I think, term it, in this rash step of yours; and you +have been trepanned into the service of this Italian knight- +errant by a few civil speeches from him, and one or two of his +Highland recruiting sergeants? It is sadly foolish, to be sure, +but not nearly so bad as I was led to expect. However, you +cannot desert, even from the Pretender, at the present moment,-- +that seems impossible. But I have little doubt that, in the +dissensions incident to this heterogeneous mass of wild and +desperate men, some opportunity may arise, by availing yourself +of which, you may extricate yourself honourably from your rash +engagement before the bubble burst. If this can be managed, I +would have you go to a place of safety in Flanders, which I shall +point out. And I think I can secure your pardon from Government +after a few months' residence abroad.' + +'I cannot; permit you, Colonel Talbot,' answered Waverley, 'to +speak of any plan which turns on my deserting an enterprise in +which I may have engaged hastily, but certainly voluntarily, and +with the purpose of abiding the issue.' + +'Well,' said Colonel Talbot, smiling, 'leave me my thoughts and +hopes at least at liberty, if not my speech. But have you never +examined your mysterious packet?' + +'It is in my baggage,' replied Edward; 'we shall find it in +Edinburgh.' + +In Edinburgh they soon arrived. Waverley's quarters had been +assigned to him, by the Prince's express orders, in a handsome +lodging, where there was accommodation, for Colonel Talbot. His +first business was to examine his portmanteau, and, after a very +short search, out tumbled the expected packet. Waverley opened +it eagerly. Under a blank cover, simply addressed to E. +Waverley, Esq., he found a number of open letters. The uppermost +were two from Colonel Gardiner, addressed to himself. The +earliest in date was a kind and gentle remonstrance for neglect +of the writer's advice respecting the disposal of his time during +his leave of absence, the renewal of which, he reminded Captain +Waverley, would speedily expire. 'Indeed,' the letter proceeded, +'had it been otherwise, the news from abroad, and my instructions +from the War-office, must have compelled me to recall it, as +there is great danger, since the disaster in Flanders, both of +foreign invasion and insurrection among the disaffected at home. +I therefore entreat you will repair, as soon as possible, to the +head-quarters of the regiment; and I am concerned to add, that +this is still the more necessary, as there is some discontent in +your troop, and I postpone inquiry into particulars until I can +have the advantage of your assistance.' + +The second letter, dated eight days later, was in such a style as +might have been expected from the Colonel's receiving no answer +to the first. It reminded Waverley of his duty as a man of +honour, an officer, and a Briton; took notice of the increasing +dissatisfaction of his men, and that some of them had been heard +to hint that their Captain encouraged and approved of their +mutinous behaviour; and, finally, the writer expressed the utmost +regret and surprise that he had not obeyed his commands by +repairing to head-quarters, reminded him that his leave of +absence had been recalled, and conjured him, in a style in which +paternal remonstrance was mingled with military authority, to +redeem his error by immediately joining his regiment. 'That I +may be certain,' concluded the letter, 'that this actually +reaches you, I dispatch it by Corporal Timms, of your troop, with +orders to deliver it into your own hand.' + +Upon reading these letters, Waverley, with great bitterness of +feeling, was compelled to make the AMENDE HONORABLE to the memory +of the brave and excellent writer; for surely, as Colonel +Gardiner must have had every reason to conclude they had come +safely to hand, less could not follow, on their being neglected, +than that third and final summons, which Waverley actually +received at Glennaquoich, though too late to obey it. And his +being superseded, in consequence of his apparent neglect of this +last command, was so far from being a harsh or severe proceeding, +that it was plainly inevitable. The next letter he unfolded was +from the Major of the regiment, acquainting him that a report, to +the disadvantage of his reputation, was public in the country, +stating, that one Mr. Falconer of Ballihopple, or some such name, +had proposed, in his presence, a treasonable toast, which he +permitted to pass in silence, although it was so gross an affront +to the royal family, that a gentleman in company, not remarkable +for his zeal for government, had nevertheless taken the matter +up; and that, supposing the account true, Captain Waverley had +thus suffered another, comparatively unconcerned, to resent an +affront directed against him personally as an officer,and to go +out with the person by whom it was offered. The Major concluded, +that no one of Captain Waverley's brother officers could believe +this scandalous story, but it was necessarily their joint opinion +that his own honour, equally with that of the regiment, depended +upon its being instantly contradicted by his authority, &c. &c. +&c. + +'What do you think of all this?' said Colonel Talbot, to whom +Waverley handed the letters after he had perused them. + +'Think! it renders thought impossible. It is enough to drive me +mad.' + +'Be calm, my young friend; let us see what are these dirty +scrawls that follow.' + +The first was addressed, 'For Master W. Ruffin These,'--'Dear +sur, sum of our yong gulpins will not bite, thof I tuold them you +shoed me the squoire's own seel. But Timms will deliver you the +lettrs as desired, and tell ould Addem he gave them to squoir's +hond, as to be sure yours is the same, and shall be ready for +signal, and hoy for Hoy Church and Sachefrel, as fadur sings at +harvest-whome. Yours, deer Sur, H.H. + +'Poscriff. Do' e tell squoire we longs to heer from him, and has +dootings about his not writing himself, and Lieftenant Bottler is +smoky.' + +'This Ruffin, I suppose, then, is your Donald of the Cavern, who +has intercepted your letters, and carried on a correspondence +with the poor devil Houghton, as if under your authority? + +'It seems too true. But who can Addem be?' + +'Possibly Adam, for poor Gardiner, a sort of pun on his name.' + +The other letters were to the same purpose, and they soon +received yet more complete light upon Donald Bean's machinations. + +John Hedges, one of Waverley's servants, who had remained with +the regiment, and had been taken at Preston, now made his +appearance. He had sought out his master, with the purpose of +again entering his service. From this fellow they learned, that, +some time after Waverley had gone from the head-quarters of the +regiment, a pedlar, called Ruthven, Ruffin, or Rivane, known +among the soldiers by the name of Wily Will, had made frequent +visits to the town of Dundee. He appeared to possess plenty of +money, sold his commodities very cheap, seemed always willing to +treat his friends at the ale-house, and easily ingratiated +himself with many of Waverley's troop, particularly Sergeant +Houghton, and one Timms, also a non-commissioned officer. To +these he unfolded, in Waverley's name, a plan for leaving the +regiment, and joining him in the Highlands, where report said the +clans had already taken arms in great numbers. The men, who had +been educated as Jacobites, so far as they had any opinion at +all, and who knew their landlord, Sir Everard, had always been +supposed to hold such tenets, easily fell into the snare. That +Waverley was at a distance in the Highlands, was received as a +sufficient excuse for transmitting his letters through the medium +of the pedlar; and the sight of his well-known seal seemed to +authenticate the negotiations in his name, where writing might +have been dangerous. The cabal, however, began to take air, from +the premature mutinous language of those concerned. Wily Will +justified his appellative; for, after suspicion arose, he was +seen no more. When the Gazette appeared, in which Waverley was +superseded, great part of his troop broke out into actual mutiny, +but were surrounded and disarmed by the rest of the regiment. In +consequence of the sentence of a court-martial, Houghton and +Timms were condemned to be shot, but afterwards permitted to cast +lots for life. Houghton, the survivor, showed much penitence, +being convinced from the rebukes and explanations of Colonel +Gardiner, that he had really engaged in a very heinous crime. It +is remarkable, that, as soon as the poor fellow was satisfied of +this, he became also convinced that the instigator had acted +without authority from Edward, saying, 'If it was dishonourable +and against Old England, the squire could know naught about it; +he never did, or thought to do, anything dishonourable,--no more +didn't Sir Everard, nor none of them afore him, and in that +belief he would live and die that Ruffin had done it all of his +own head.' + +The strength of conviction with which he expressed himself upon +this subject, as well as his assurances that the letters intended +for Waverley had been delivered to Ruthven, made that revolution +in Colonel Gardiner's opinion which he expressed to Talbot. + +The reader has long since understood that Donald Bean Lean played +the part of tempter on this occasion. His motives were shortly +these. Of an active and intriguing spirit, he had been long +employed as a subaltern agent and spy by those in the confidence +of the Chevalier, to an extent beyond what was suspected even by +Fergus Mac-Ivor, whom, though obliged to him for protection, he +regarded with fear and dislike. To success in this political +department, he naturally looked for raising himself by some bold +stroke above his present hazardous and precarious state of +rapine. He was particularly employed in learning the strength of +the regiments in Scotland, the character of the officers, &c., +and had long had his eye upon Waverley's troop, as open to +temptation. Donald even believed that Waverley himself was at +bottom in the Stuart interest, which seemed confirmed by his long +visit to the Jacobite Baron of Bradwardine. When, therefore, he +came to his cave with one of Glennaquoich's attendants, the +robber, who could never appreciate his real motive, which was +mere curiosity, was so sanguine as to hope that his own talents +were to be employed in some intrigue of consequence, under the +auspices of this wealthy young Englishman. Nor was he undeceived +by Waverley's neglecting all hints and openings for an +explanation. His conduct passed for prudent reserve, and +somewhat piqued Donald Bean, who, supposing himself left out of a +secret where confidence promised to be advantageous, determined +to have his share in the drama, whether a regular part were +assigned him or not. For this purpose, during Waverley's sleep, +he possessed, himself of his seal, as a token to be used to any +of the troopers whom he might discover to be possessed of the +captain's confidence. His first journey to Dundee, the town +where the regiment was quartered, undeceived him in his original +supposition, but opened to him a new field of action. He knew +there would be no service so well rewarded by the friends of the +Chevalier, as seducing a part of the regular army to his +standard. For this purpose, he opened the machinations with +which the reader is already acquainted, and which form a clue to +all the intricacies and obscurities of the narrative previous to +Waverley's leaving Glennaquoich. + +By Colonel Talbot's advice, Waverley declined detaining in his +service the lad whose evidence had thrown additional light on +these intrigues. He represented to him that it would be doing +the man an injury to engage him in a desperate undertaking, and +that, whatever should happen, his evidence would go some length, +at least, in explaining the circumstances under which Waverley +himself had embarked in it. Waverley therefore wrote a short +statement of what had happened, to his uncle and his father, +cautioning them, however, in the present circumstances, not to +attempt to answer his letter. Talbot then gave the young man a +letter to the commander of one of the English vessels of war +cruising in the frith, requesting him to put the bearer ashore at +Berwick, with a pass to proceed to --shire. He was then +furnished with money to make an expeditious journey and directed +to get on board the ship by means of bribing a fishing-boat, +which, as they afterwards learned, he easily effected. + +Tired of the attendance of Callum Beg, who, he thought, had some +disposition to act as a spy on his motions, Waverley hired as a +servant a simple Edinburgh swain, who had mounted the white +cockade in a fit of spleen and jealousy, because Jenny Jop had +danced a whole night with Corporal Bullock of the Fusileers. + + + +CHAPTER LII + +INTRIGUES OF SOCIETY AND LOVE + +Colonel Talbot became more kindly in his demeanour towards +Waverley after the confidence he had reposed in him; and as they +were necessarily much together, the character of the Colonel rose +in Waverley's estimation. There seemed at first something harsh +in his strong expressions of dislike and censure, although no one +was in the general case more open to conviction. The habit of +authority had also given his manners some peremptory hardness, +notwithstanding the polish which they had received from his +intimate acquaintance with the higher circles. As a specimen of +the military character, he differed from all whom Waverley had as +yet seen. The soldiership of the Baron of Bradwardine was marked +by pedantry; that of Major Melville by a sort of martinet +attention to the minutiae and technicalities of discipline, +rather suitable to one who was to manoeuvre a battalion, than to +him who was to command an army; the military spirit of Fergus was +so much warped and blended with his plans and political views, +that it was less that of a soldier than of a petty sovereign. +But Colonel Talbot was in every point the English soldier. His +whole soul was devoted to the service of his king and country, +without feeling any pride in knowing the theory of his art with +the Baron, or its practical minutiae with the Major, or in +applying his science to his own particular plans of ambition, +like the Chieftain of Glennaquoich. Added to this, he was a man +of extended knowledge and cultivated taste, although strongly +tinged, as we have already observed, with those prejudices which +are peculiarly English. + +The character of Colonel Talbot dawned upon Edward by degrees; +for the delay of the Highlanders in the fruitless siege of +Edinburgh Castle occupied several weeks, during which Waverley +had little to do, excepting to seek such amusement as society +afforded. He would willingly have persuaded his new friend to +become acquainted with some of his former intimates. But the +Colonel, after one or two visits, shook his head, and declined +further experiment. Indeed he went further, and characterized +the Baron as the most intolerable formal pedant he had ever had +the misfortune to meet with, and the Chief of Glennaquoich as a +Frenchified Scotchman, possessing all the cunning and +plausibility of the nation where he was educated, with the proud, +vindictive, and turbulent humour of that of his birth. 'If the +devil,' he said, 'had sought out an agent expressly for the +purpose of embroiling this miserable country, I do not think he +could find a better than such a fellow as this, whose temper +seems equally active, supple, and mischievous, and who is +followed, and implicitly obeyed, by a gang of such cut-throats as +those whom you are pleased to admire so much.' + +The ladies of the party did not escape his censure. He allowed +that Flora Mac-Ivor was a fine woman, and Rose Bradwardine a +pretty girl. But he alleged that the former destroyed the effect +of her beauty by an affectation of the grand airs which she had +probably seen practised at the mock court of St. Germains. As +for Rose Bradwardine, he said it was impossible for any mortal to +admire such a little uninformed thing, whose small portion of +education was as ill adapted to her sex or youth, as if she had +appeared with one of her father's old campaign-coats upon her +person for her sole garment. Now much of this was mere spleen +and prejudice in the excellent Colonel, with whom the white +cockade on the breast, the white rose in the hair, and the Mac at +the beginning of a name, would have made a devil out of an angel; +and indeed he himself jocularly allowed, that he could not have +endured Venus herself, if she had been announced in a drawing- +room by the name of Miss Mac-Jupiter. + +Waverley, it may easily be believed, looked upon these young +ladies with very different eyes. During the period of the siege, +he paid them almost daily visits, although he observed with +regret that his suit made as little progress in the affections of +the former as the arms of the Chevalier in subduing the fortress. +She maintained with rigour the rule she had laid down of treating +him with indifference, without either affecting to avoid him, or +to shun intercourse with him. Every word, every look, was +strictly regulated to accord with her system, and neither the +dejection of Waverley, nor the anger which Fergus scarcely +suppressed, could extend Flora's attention to Edward beyond that +which the most ordinary politeness demanded. On the other hand, +Rose Bradwardine gradually rose in Waverley's opinion. He had +several opportunities of remarking, that, as her extreme timidity +wore off, her manners received a higher character; that the +agitating circumstances of the stormy time seemed to call forth a +certain dignity of feeling and expression, which he had not +formerly observed; and that she omitted no opportunity within her +reach to extend her knowledge and refine her taste. + +Flora Mac-Ivor called Rose her pupil, and was attentive to assist +her in her studies, and to fashion both her taste and +understanding. It might have been remarked by a very close +observer, that in the presence of Waverley she was much more +desirous to exhibit her friend's excellences than her own. But I +must request of the reader to suppose, that this kind and +disinterested purpose was concealed by the most cautious +delicacy, studiously shunning the most distant approach to +affectation. So that it was as unlike the usual exhibition of +one pretty woman affecting to PRONER another, as the friendship +of David and Jonathan might be to the intimacy of two Bond-street +loungers. + +The fact is, that, though the effect was felt, the cause could +hardly be observed. Each of the ladies, like two excellent +actresses, were perfect in their parts, and performed them to the +delight of the audience; and such being the case, it was almost +impossible to discover that the elder constantly ceded to her +friend that which was most suitable to her talents. + +But to Waverley, Rose Bradwardine possessed an attraction which +few men can resist, from the marked interest which she took in +everything that effected him. She was too young and too +inexperienced to estimate the full force of the constant +attention which she paid to him. Her father was too abstractedly +immersed in learned and military discussions to observe her +partiality, and Flora Mac-Ivor did not alarm her by remonstrance, +because she saw in this line of conduct the most probable chance +of her friend securing at length a return of affection. + +The truth is, that, in her first conversation after their +meeting, Rose had discovered the state of her mind to that acute +and intelligent friend, although she was not herself aware of it. +From that time, Flora was not only determined upon the final +rejection of Waverley's addresses, but became anxious that they +should, if possible, be transferred to her friend. Nor was she +less interested in this plan, though her brother had from time to +time talked, as between jest and earnest, of paying his suit to +Miss Bradwardine. She knew that Fergus had the true continental +latitude of opinion respecting the institution of marriage, and +would not have given his hand to an angel, unless for the purpose +of strengthening his alliances, and increasing his influence and +wealth. The Baron's whim of transferring his estate to the +distant heir-male instead of his own daughter, was therefore +likely to be an insurmountable obstacle to his entertaining any +serious thoughts of Rose Bradwardine. Indeed, Fergus's brain was +a perpetual workshop of scheme and intrigue of every possible +kind and description; while, like many a mechanic of more +ingenuity than steadiness, he would often unexpectedly and +without any apparent motive, abandon one plan, and go earnestly +to work upon another, which was either fresh from the forge of +his imagination, or had at some former period been flung aside +half finished. It was therefore often difficult to guess what +line of conduct he might finally adopt upon any given occasion. + +Although Flora was sincerely attached to her brother, whose high +energies might indeed have commanded her admiration even without +the ties which bound them together, she was by no means blind to +his faults, which she considered as dangerous to the hopes of any +woman who should found her ideas of a happy marriage in the +peaceful enjoyment of domestic society, and the exchange of +mutual and engrossing affection. The real disposition of +Waverley, on the other hand, notwithstanding his dreams of tented +fields and military honour, seemed exclusively domestic. He +asked and received no share in the busy scenes which were +constantly going on around him, and was rather annoyed than +interested by the discussion of contending claims, rights, and +interests, which often passed in his presence. All this pointed +him out as the person formed to make happy a spirit like that of +Rose, which corresponded with his own. + +She remarked this point in Waverley's character one day while she +sat with Miss Bradwardine. 'His genius and elegant taste,' +answered Rose, 'cannot be interested in such trifling +discussions. What is it to him, for example, whether the Chief +of the Macindallaghers, who has brought out only fifty men, +should be a colonel or a captain? and how could Mr. Waverley be +supposed to interest himself in the violent altercation between +your brother and young Corrinaschian, whether the post of honour +is due to the eldest cadet of a clan or the youngest?' +'My dear Rose, if he were the hero you suppose him, he would +interest himself in these matters, not indeed as important in +themselves, but for the purpose of mediating between the ardent +spirits who actually do make them the subject of discord. You +saw when Corrinaschian raised his voice in great passion, and +laid his hand upon his sword, Waverley lifted his head as if he +had just awaked from a dream, and asked, with great composure, +what the matter was.' + +'Well, and did not the laughter they fell into at his absence of +mind, serve better to break off the dispute than anything he +could have said to them?' + +'True, my dear,' answered Flora; 'but not quite so creditably for +Waverley as if he had brought them to their senses by force of +reason.' + +'Would you have him peacemaker general between all the gunpowder +Highlanders in the army? I beg your pardon, Flora--your brother, +you know, is out of the question; he has more sense than half of +them. But can you think the fierce, hot, furious spirits, of +whose brawls we see much, and hear more, and who terrify me out +of my life every day in the world, are at all to be compared to +Waverley?' + +'I do not compare him with those uneducated men, my dear Rose. I +only lament, that, with his talents and genius, he does not +assume that place in society for which they eminently fit him, +and that he does not lend their full impulse to the noble cause +in which he has enlisted. Are there not Lochiel, and P--, and +M--, and G--, all men of the highest education, as well as the +first talents?--why will he not stoop like them to be alive and +useful?--I often believe his zeal is frozen by that proud cold- +blooded Englishman, whom he now lives with so much.' + +'Colonel Talbot?--he is a very disagreeable person, to be sure. +He looks as if he thought no Scottish woman worth the trouble of +handing her a cup of tea. But Waverley is so gentle, so well +informed'-- + +'Yes,' said Flora, smiling; 'he can admire the moon, and quote a +stanza from Tasso.' + +'Besides, you know how he fought,' added Miss Bradwardine. + +'For mere fighting,' answered Flora, 'I believe all men (that is, +who deserve the name) are pretty much alike; there is generally +more courage required to run away. They have, besides, when +confronted with each other, a certain instinct for strife, as we +see in other male animals, such as dogs, bulls, and so forth. +But high and perilous enterprise is not Waverley's forte. He +would never have been his celebrated ancestor Sir Nigel, but only +Sir Nigel's eulogist and poet. I will tell you where he will be +at home, my dear, and in his place,--in the quiet circle of +domestic happiness, lettered indolence, and elegant enjoyments, +of Waverley-Honour. And he will refit the old library in the +most exquisite Gothic taste, and garnish its shelves, with the +rarest and most valuable volumes; and he will draw plans and +landscapes, and write verses, and rear temples, and dig +grottoes;--and he will stand in a clear summer night in the +colonnade before the hall, and gaze on the deer as they stray in +the moonlight, or lie shadowed by the boughs of the huge old +fantastic oaks;--and he will repeat verses to his beautiful wife, +who will hang upon his arm;--and he will be a happy man.' + +'And she will be a happy woman,' thought poor Rose. But she only +sighed, and dropped the conversation. + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +FERGUS A SUITOR + +Waverly had, indeed, as he looked closer into the state of the +Chevalier's Court, less reason to be satisfied with it. It +contained, as they say an acorn includes all the ramifications of +the future oak, as many seeds of TRACASSERIE and intrigue, as +might have done honour to the Court of a large empire. Every +person of consequence had some separate object, which he pursued +with a fury that Waverley considered as altogether +disproportioned to its importance. Almost all had their reasons +for discontent, although the most legitimate was that of the +worthy old Baron, who was only distressed on account of the +common cause. + +'We shall hardly,' said he one morning to Waverley, when they had +been viewing the castle,--'we shall hardly gain the obsidional +crown, which you wot well was made of the roots or grain which +takes root within the place besieged, or it may be of the herb +woodbind, PARETARIA, or pellitory; we shall not, I say, gain it +by this same blockade or leaguer of Edinburgh Castle.' For this +opinion, he gave most learned and satisfactory reasons, that the +reader may not care to hear repeated. + +Having escaped from the old gentleman, Waverley went to Fergus's +lodgings by appointment, to await his return from Holyrood House. +'I am to have a particular audience to-morrow,' said Fergus to +Waverley, overnight, 'and you must meet me to wish me joy of the +success which I securely anticipate.' + +The morrow came, and in the Chief's apartment he found Ensign +Maccombich waiting to make report of his turn of duty in a sort +of ditch which they had dug across the Castle-hill, and called a +trench. In a short time the Chief's voice was heard on the stair +in a tone of impatient fury:--'Callum,--why, Callum Beg,-- +Diaoul!' He entered the room with all the marks of a man +agitated by a towering passion; and there were few upon whose +features rage produced a more violent effect. The veins of his +forehead swelled when he was in such agitation; his nostril +became dilated; his cheek and eye inflamed; and his look that of +a demoniac. These appearances of half-suppressed rage were the +more frightful, because they were obviously caused by a strong +effort to temper with discretion an almost ungovernable paroxysm +of passion, and resulted from an internal conflict of the most +dreadful kind, which agitated his whole frame of mortality. + +As he entered the apartment, he unbuckled his broadsword, and +throwing it down with such violence that the weapon rolled to the +other end of the room, 'I know not what,' he exclaimed, +'withholds me from taking a solemn oath that I will never more +draw it in his cause. Load my pistols, Callum, and bring them +hither instantly;--instantly!' Callum, whom nothing ever +startled, dismayed, or disconcerted, obeyed very coolly. Evan +Dhu, upon whose brow the suspicion that his Chief had been +insulted, called up a corresponding storm, swelled in sullen +silence, awaiting to learn where or upon whom vengeance was to +descend. + +'So, Waverley you are there,' said the Chief, after a moment's +recollection;--'Yes, I remember I asked you to share my triumph, +and you have come to witness my--disappointment we shall call +it.' Evan now presented the written report he had in his hand, +which Fergus threw from him with great passion. 'I wish to God,' +he said, 'the old den would tumble down upon the heads of the +fools who attack, and the knaves who defend it! I see, Waverley, +you think I am mad--leave us, Evan, but be within call.' + +'The Colonel's in an unco kippage,' said Mrs. Flockhart to Evan, +as he descended; 'I wish he may be weel,--the very veins on his +brent brow are swelled like whipcord: wad he no tak something?' + +'He usually lets blood for these fits,' answered the Highland +ancient with great composure. + +When this officer left the room, the Chieftain gradually +reassumed some degree of composure.--'I know, Waverley,' he said, +'that Colonel Talbot has persuaded you to curse ten times a day +your engagement with us; nay, never deny it, for I am at this +moment tempted to curse my own. Would you believe it, I made +this very morning two suits to the Prince, and he has rejected +them both: what do you think of it?' + +'What can I think,' answered Waverley, 'till I know what your +requests were?' + +'Why, what signifies what they were, man? I tell you it was I +that made them,--I, to whom he owes more than to any three who +have joined the standard; for I negotiated the whole business, +and brought in all the Perthshire men when not one would have +stirred. I am not likely, I think, to ask anything very +unreasonable, and if I did they might have stretched a point.-- +Well, but you shall know all, now that I can draw my breath again +with some freedom.--You remember my earl's patent; it is dated +some years back, for services then rendered; and certainly my +merit has not been diminished, to say the least, by my subsequent +behaviour. Now, sir, I value this bauble of a coronet as little +as you can, or any philosopher on earth; for I hold that the +chief of such a clan as the Sliochd nan Ivor is superior in rank +to any earl in Scotland. But I had a particular reason for +assuming this cursed title at this time. You must know, that I +learned accidentally that the Prince has been pressing that old +foolish Baron of Bradwardine to disinherit his male heir, or +nineteenth or twentieth cousin, who has taken a command in the +Elector of Hanover's militia, and to settle his estate upon your +pretty little friend Rose; and this, as being the command of his +king and overlord, who may alter the destination of a fief at +pleasure, the old gentleman seems well reconciled to.' + +'And what becomes of the homage?' + +'Curse the homage!--I believe Rose is to pull off the queen's +slipper on her coronation-day, or some such trash. Well sir, as +Rose Bradwardine would always have made a suitable match for me, +but for this idiotical predilection of her father for the heir- +male, it occurred to me there now remained no obstacle, unless +that the Baron might expect his daughter's husband to take the +name of Bradwardine (which you know would be impossible in my +case), and that this might be evaded by my assuming the title to +which I had so good a right, and which, of course, would +supersede that difficulty. If she was to be also Viscountess +Bradwardine in her own right, after her father's demise, so much +the better; I could have no objection.' + +'But, Fergus,' said Waverley, 'I had no idea that you had any +affection for Miss Bradwardine, and you are always sneering at +her father.' + +'I have as much affection for Miss Bradwardine, my good friend, +as I think it necessary to have for the future mistress of my +family, and the mother of my children. She is a very pretty, +intelligent girl, and is certainly of one of the very first +Lowland families; and, with a little of Flora's instructions and +forming, will make a very good figure. As to her father, he is +an original, it is true, and an absurd one enough; but he has +given such severe lessons to Sir Hew Halbert, that dear defunct +the Laird of Balmawhapple, and others, that nobody dare laugh at +him, so his absurdity goes for nothing. I tell you there could +have been no earthly objection--none. I had settled the thing +entirely in my own mind.' + +'But had you asked the Baron's consent,' said Waverley, 'Or +Rose's?' + +'To what purpose? To have spoke to the Baron before I had +assumed my title would have only provoked a premature and +irritating discussion on the subject of the change of name, when, +as Earl of Glennaquoich, I had only to propose to him to carry +his d-d bear and bootjack PARTY PER PALE, or in a scutcheon of +pretence, or in a separate shield perhaps--any way that would not +blemish my own coat of arms. And as to Rose, I don't see what +objection she could have made, if her father was satisfied.' + +'Perhaps the same that your sister makes to me, you being +satisfied.' + +Fergus gave a broad stare at the comparison which this +supposition implied, but cautiously suppressed the answer which +rose to his tongue. 'Oh, we should easily have arranged all +that.--so, sir, I craved a private interview, and this morning +was assigned; and I asked you to meet me here, thinking, like a +fool, that I should want your countenance as bride's-man. Well +--I state my pretensions--they are not denied; the promises so +repeatedly made, and the patent granted--they are acknowledged. +But I propose, as a natural consequence, to assume the rank which +the patent bestowed--I have the old story of the jealousy of C-- +and M-- trumped up against me--I resist this pretext, and offer +to procure their written acquiescence, in virtue of the date of +my patent as prior to their silly claims--I assure you I would +have had such a consent from them, if it had been at the point of +the sword. And then, out comes the real truth; and he dares to +tell me, to my face, that my patent must be suppressed for the +present, for fear of disgusting that rascally coward and +FAINEANT--(naming the rival chief of his own clan)--who has no +better title to be a chieftain than I to be Emperor of China; and +who is pleased to shelter his dastardly reluctance to come out, +agreeable to his promise twenty times pledged, under a pretended +jealousy of the Prince's partiality to me. And, to leave this +miserable driveller without a pretence for his cowardice, the +Prince asks if as a personal favour of me, forsooth, not to press +my just and reasonable request at this moment. After this, put +your faith in princes!' + +'And did your audience end here?' + +'End? Oh, no! I was determined to leave him no pretence for his +ingratitude, and I therefore stated, with all the composure I +could muster,--for I promise you I trembled with passion,--the +particular reasons I had for wishing that his Royal Highness +would impose upon me any other mode of exhibiting my duty and +devotion, as my views in life made, what at any other time would +have been a mere trifle, at this crisis a severe sacrifice; and +then I explained to him my full plan.' + +'And what did the Prince answer?' + +'Answer? why--it is well it is written, Curse not the king; no, +not in thy thought!--why, he answered, that truly he was glad I +had made him my confidant, to prevent more grievous +disappointment, for he could assure me, upon the word of a +prince, that Miss Bradwardine's affections were engaged, and he +was under a particular promise to favour them. "So, my dear +Fergus," said he, with his most gracious cast of smile, "as the +marriage is utterly out of question, there need be no hurry, you +know, about the earldom." And so he glided off, and left me +PLANTE LA.' + +'And what did you do?' + +'I'll tell you what I could have done at that moment--sold myself +to the devil or the Elector, whichever offered the dearest +revenge. However, I am now cool. I know he intends to marry her +to some of his rascally Frenchmen, or his Irish officers: but I +will watch them close; and let the man that would supplant me +look well to himself.--BISOGNA COPRIRSI, SIGNOR.' + +After some further conversation, unnecessary to be detailed, +Waverley took leave of the Chieftain, whose fury had now subsided +into a deep and strong desire of vengeance, and returned home, +scarce able to analyse the mixture of feelings which the +narrative had awakened in his own bosom. + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +'TO ONE THING CONSTANT NEVER' + +'I am the very child of caprice,' said Waverley to himself, as he +bolted the door of his apartment, and paced it with hasty steps. +--'What is it to me that Fergus Mac-Ivor should wish to marry +Rose Bradwardine?--I love her not.--I might have been loved by +her, perhaps; but I rejected her simple, natural, and affecting +attachment, instead of cherishing it into tenderness, and +dedicated myself to one who will never love mortal man, unless +old Warwick, the King-maker, should arise from the dead. The +Baron, too--I would not have cared about his estate, and so the +name would have been no stumbling-block, The devil might have +taken the barren moors, and drawn off the royal CALIGAE, for +anything I would have minded. But, framed as she is for domestic +affection and tenderness, for giving and receiving all those kind +and quiet attentions which sweeten life to those who pass it +together, she is sought by Fergus Mac-Ivor. He will not use her +ill, to be sure--of that he is incapable--but he will neglect her +after the first month; he will be too intent on subduing some +rival chieftain, or circumventing some favourite at court, on +gaining some heathy hill and lake, or adding to his bands some +new troop of caterans, to inquire what she does, or how she +amuses herself. + + And then will canker sorrow eat her bud, + And chase the native beauty from her cheek; + And she will look as hollow as a ghost, + And dim and meagre as an ague fit, + And so she'll die. + +And such a catastrophe of the most gentle creature on earth might +have been prevented, if Mr. Edward Waverley had had his eyes! +Upon my word, I cannot understand how I thought Flora so much-- +that is, so very much--handsomer than Rose. She is taller, +indeed, and her manner more formed; but many people think Miss +Bradwardine's more natural; and she is certainly much younger. I +should think Flora is two years older than I am--I will look at +them particularly this evening.' + +And with this resolution Waverley went to drink tea (as the +fashion was Sixty Years since) at the house of a lady of quality +attached to the cause of the Chevalier, where he found, as he +expected, both the ladies. All rose as he entered, but Flora +immediately resumed her place, and the conversation in which she +was engaged. Rose, on the contrary, almost imperceptibly, made a +little way in the crowded circle for his advancing the corner of +a chair. 'Her manner, upon the whole, is most engaging,' said +Waverley to himself. + +A dispute occurred whether the Gaelic or Italian language was +most liquid, and best adapted for poetry; the opinion for the +Gaelic, which probably might not have found supporters elsewhere, +was here fiercely defended by seven Highland ladies, who talked +at the top of their lungs, and screamed the company deaf, with +examples of Celtic EUPHONIA. Flora, observing the Lowland ladies +sneer at the comparison, produced some reasons to show that it +was not altogether so absurd; but Rose, when asked for her +opinion, gave it with animation in praise of Italian, which she +had studied with Waverley's assistance. 'She has a more correct +ear than Flora, though a less accomplished musician,' said +Waverley to himself. 'I suppose Miss Mac-Ivor will next compare +Mac-Murrough nan Fonn to Ariosto!' + +Lastly, it so befell that the company differed whether Fergus +should be asked to perform on the flute, at which he was an +adept, or Waverley invited to read a play of Shakespeare; and the +lady of the house good-humouredly undertook to collect the votes +of the company for poetry or music, under the condition, that the +gentleman whose talents were not laid under contribution that +evening, should contribute them to enliven the next. It chanced +that Rose had the casting vote. Now Flora, who seemed to impose +it as a rule upon herself never to countenance any proposal which +might seem to encourage Waverley, had voted for music, providing +the Baron would take his violin to accompany Fergus. 'I wish you +joy of your taste, Miss Mac-Ivor,' thought Edward, as they sought +for his book. 'I thought it better when we were at Glennaquoich; +but certainly the Baron is no great performer, and Shakespeare is +worth listening to.' + +ROMEO AND JULIET was selected, and Edward read with taste, +feeling, and spirit, several scenes from that play. All the +company applauded with their hands, and many with their tears. +Flora, to whom the drama was well known, was among the former; +Rose, to whom it was altogether new, belonged to the latter class +of admirers. 'She has more feeling, too,' said Waverley, +internally. + +The conversation turning upon the incidents of the play, and upon +the characters, Fergus declared that the only one worth naming, +as a man of fashion and spirit, was Mercutio. 'I could not,' he +said, 'quite follow all his old-fashioned wit, but he must have +been a very pretty fellow, according to the ideas of his time.' + +'And it was a shame,' said Ensign Maccombich, who usually +followed his Colonel everywhere, 'for that Tibbert, or Taggart, +or whatever was his name, to stick him under the other +gentleman's arm while he was redding the fray.' + +The ladies, of course, declared loudly in favour of Romeo; but +this opinion did not go undisputed. The mistress of the house, +and several other ladies, severely reprobated the levity with +which the hero transfers his affections from Rosalind to Juliet. +Flora remained silent until her opinion was repeatedly requested, +and then answered, she thought the circumstance objected to not +only reconcilable to nature, but such as in the highest degree +evinced the art of the poet. 'Romeo is described,' said she, 'as +a young man, peculiarly susceptible of the softer passions; his +love is at first fixed upon a woman who could afford it no +return; this he repeatedly tells you,-- + + From love's weak childish bow she lives unharmed; + +and again,-- + + She hath forsworn to love. + +Now, as it was impossible that Romeo's love, supposing him a +reasonable being, could continue to subsist without hope, the +poet has, with great art, seized the moment when he was reduced +actually to despair, to throw in his way an object more +accomplished than her by whom he had been rejected, and who is +disposed to repay his attachment. I can scarce conceive a +situation more calculated to enhance the ardour of Romeo's +affection for Juliet, than his being at once raised by her from +the state of drooping melancholy in which he appears first upon +the scene, to the ecstatic state in which he exclaims-- + + --come what sorrow can, + It cannot countervail the exchange of joy + That one short moment gives me in her sight.' + +'Good, now, Miss Mac-Ivor,' said a young lady of quality, 'do you +mean to cheat us out of our prerogative? will you persuade us +love cannot subsist-without hope, or that the lover must become +fickle if the lady is cruel? Oh, fie! I did not expect such an +unsentimental conclusion.' + +'A lover, my dear Lady Betty,' said Flora, 'may, I conceive, +persevere in his suit under very discouraging circumstances. +Affection can (now and then) withstand very severe storms of +rigour, but not a long polar frost of downright indifference. +Don't, even with YOUR attractions, try the experiment upon any +lover whose faith you value. Love will subsist on wonderfully +little hope, but not altogether without it.' + +'It will be just like Duncan Mac-Girdie's mare,' said Evan, 'if +your ladyships please; he wanted to use her by degrees to live +without meat, and just as he had put her on a straw a day, the +poor thing died!' + +Evan's illustration set the company a-laughing, and the discourse +took a different turn. Shortly afterwards the party broke up, +and Edward returned home, musing on what Flora had said. 'I +will love my Rosalind no more,' said he: 'she has given me a +broad enough hint for that; and I will speak to her brother, and +resign my suit. But for a Juliet--would it be handsome to +interfere with Fergus's pretensions?--though it is impossible +they can ever succeed: and should they miscarry, what then?-- +why then ALORS COMME ALORS.' And with this resolution, of being +guided by circumstances, did our hero commit himself to repose. + + + +CHAPTER LV + +A BRAVE MAN IN SORROW + +If my fair readers should be of opinion that my hero's levity in +love is altogether unpardonable, I must remind them that all his +griefs and difficulties did not arise from that sentimental +source. Even the lyric poet, who complains so feelingly of the +pains of love, could not forget, that, at the same time, he was +'in debt and in drink,' which, doubtless, were great aggravations +of his distress. There were indeed whole days in which Waverley +thought neither of Flora nor Rose Bradwardine, but which were +spent in melancholy conjectures on the probable state of matters +at Waverley-Honour, and the dubious issue of the civil contest in +which he was pledged. Colonel Talbot often engaged him in +discussions upon the justice of the cause he had espoused. +'Not,' he said, 'that it is possible for you to quit it at this +present moment, for, come what will, you must stand by your rash +engagement. But I with you to be aware that the right is not +with you; that you are fighting against the real interests of +your country; and that you ought, as an Englishman and a patriot, +to take the first opportunity to leave this unhappy expedition +before the snowball melts.' + +In such political disputes, Waverley usually opposed the common +arguments of his party, with which it is unnecessary to trouble +the reader. But he had little to say when the Colonel urged him +to compare the strength by which they had undertaken to overthrow +the Government, with that which was now assembling very rapidly +for its support. To this statement Waverley had but one answer: +'If the cause I have undertaken be perilous, there would be the +greater disgrace in abandoning it.' And in his turn he generally +silenced Colonel Talbot, and succeeded in changing the subject. + +One night, when, after a long dispute of this nature, the friends +had separated, and our hero had retired to bed, he was awakened +about midnight by a suppressed groan. He started up and +listened; it came from the apartment of Colonel Talbot, which was +divided from his own by a wainscoted partition, with a door of +communication. Waverley approached this door, and distinctly +heard one or two deep-drawn sighs. What could be the matter? +The Colonel had parted from him, apparently, in his usual state +of spirits. He must have been taken suddenly ill. Under this +impression, he opened the door of communication very gently, and +perceived the Colonel, in his nightgown, seated by a table, on +which lay a letter and a picture. He raised his head hastily, as +Edward stood uncertain whether to advance or retire, and Waverley +perceived that his cheeks were stained with tears. + +As if ashamed at being found giving way to such emotion, Colonel +Talbot rose with apparent displeasure, and said, with some +sternness, 'I think, Mr. Waverley, my own apartment, and the +hour, might have secured even a prisoner against'-- + +'Do not say INTRUSION, Colonel Talbot; I heard you breathe hard, +and feared you were ill; that alone could have induced me to +break in upon you.' + +'I am well,' said the Colonel, 'perfectly well.' + +'But you are distressed,' said Edward: 'is there anything can be +done?' + +'Nothing, Mr. Waverley: I was only thinking of home, and of some +unpleasant occurrences there.' + +'Good God, my uncle!' exclaimed Waverley. + +'No,--it is a grief entirely my own. I am ashamed you should +have seen it disarm me so much; but it must have its course at +times, that it may be at others more decently supported. I would +have kept it secret from you; for I think it will grieve you, and +yet you can administer no consolation. But you have surprised +me,--I see you are surprised yourself,--and I hate mystery. Read +that letter. + +The letter was from Colonel Talbot's sister, and in these words: + +'I received yours, my dearest brother, by Hodges. Sir E. W. and +Mr. R. are still at large, but are not permitted to leave London. +I wish to Heaven I could give you as good an account of matters +in the square. But the news of the unhappy affair at Preston +came upon us, with the dreadful addition that you were among the +fallen. You know Lady Emily's state of health, when your +friendship for Sir E. induced you to leave her. She was much +harassed with the sad accounts from Scotland of the rebellion +having broken out; but kept up her spirits as, she said, it +became your wife, and for the sake of the future heir, so long +hoped for in vain. Alas, my dear brother, these hopes are now +ended! Notwithstanding all my watchful care, this unhappy rumour +reached her without preparation. She was taken ill immediately; +and the poor infant scarce survived its birth. Would to God this +were all! But although the contradiction of the horrible report +by your own letter has greatly revived her spirits, yet Dr-- +apprehends, I grieve to say, serious, and even dangerous, +consequences to her health, especially from the uncertainty in +which she must necessarily remain for some time, aggravated by +the ideas she has formed of the ferocity of those with whom you +are a prisoner. + +Do therefore, my dear brother, as soon as this reaches you, +endeavour to gain your release, by parole, by ransom, or any way +that is practicable. I do not exaggerate Lady Emily's state of +health; but I must not--dare not--suppress the truth.--Ever, my +dear Philip, your most affectionate sister, 'LUCY TALBOT.' + +Edward stood motionless when he had perused this letter; for the +conclusion was inevitable, that by the Colonel's journey in quest +of him, he had incurred this heavy calamity. It was severe +enough, even in its irremediable part; for Colonel Talbot and +Lady Emily, long without a family, had fondly exulted in the +hopes which were now blasted. But this disappointment was +nothing to the extent of the threatened evil; and Edward, with +horror, regarded himself as the original cause of both. + +Ere he could collect himself sufficiently to speak, Colonel +Talbot had recovered his usual composure of manner, though his +troubled eye denoted his mental agony. + +'She is a woman, my young friend, who may justify even a +soldier's tears.' He reached him the miniature, exhibiting +features which fully justified the eulogium; 'and yet, God knows, +what you see of her there is the least of the charms she +possesses--possessed, I should perhaps say--but God's will be +done!' + +'You must fly--you must fly instantly to her relief. It is not +--it shall not be too late.' + +'Fly!--how is it possible? I am a prisoner--upon parole.' + +'I am your keeper--I restore your parole-I am to answer for you.' + +'You cannot do so consistently with your duty; nor can I accept a +discharge from you with due regard to my own honour--you would be +made responsible.' + +'I will answer it with my head, if necessary,' said Waverley, +impetuously. 'I have been the unhappy cause of the loss of your +child--make me not the murderer of your wife.' + +'No, my dear Edward,' said Talbot, taking him kindly by the hand, +'you are in no respect to blame; and if I concealed this domestic +distress for two days, it was lest your sensibility should view +it in that light. You could not think of me, hardly knew of my +existence, when I left England in quest of you. It is a +responsibility, Heaven knows, sufficiently heavy for mortality, +that we must answer for the foreseen and direct result of our +actions,--for their indirect and consequential operation, the +great and good Being, who alone can foresee the dependence of +human events on each other, hath not pronounced his frail +creatures liable.' + +But that you should have left Lady Emily,' said Waverley, with +much emotion, 'in the situation of all others the most +interesting to a husband, to seek a--' + +'I only did my duty,' answered Colonel Talbot, calmly, 'and I do +not, ought not to regret it. If the path of gratitude and honour +were always smooth and easy, there would be little merit in +following it; but it moves often in contradiction to our interest +and passions, and sometimes to our better affections. These are +the trials of life, and this, though not the least bitter' (the +tears came unbidden to his eyes), 'is not the first which it has +been my fate to encounter. But we will talk of this to-morrow,' +he said, wringing Waverley's hands. 'Good night; strive to +forget it for a few hours. It will dawn, I think, by six, and it +is now past two. Good-night.' + +Edward retired, without trusting his voice with a reply. + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +EXERTION + +When Colonel Talbot entered the breakfast-parlour next morning, +he learned from Waverley's servant that our hero had been abroad +at an early hour, and was not yet returned. The morning was well +advanced before he again appeared, He arrived out of breath, but +with an air of joy that astonished Colonel Talbot. + +'There,' said he, throwing a paper on the table, 'there is my +morning's work.--Alick, pack up the Colonel's clothes. Make +haste, make haste.' + +The Colonel examined the paper with astonishment. It was a pass +from the Chevalier to Colonel Talbot, to repair to Leith, or any +other port in possession of his Royal Highness's troops, and +there to embark for England or elsewhere, at his free pleasure; +he only giving his parole of honour not to bear arms against the +house of Stuart for the space of a twelvemonth. + +'In the name of God,' said the Colonel, his eyes sparkling with +eagerness, 'how did you obtain this?' + +'I was at the Chevalier's levee as soon as he usually rises. He +was gone to the camp at Duddingston. I pursued him thither; +asked and obtained an audience--but I will tell you not a word +more, unless I see you begin to pack.' + +'Before I know whether I can avail myself of this passport, or +how it was obtained?' + +'Oh, you can take out the things again, you know.--Now I see you +busy, I will go on. When I first mentioned your name, his eyes +sparkled almost as bright as yours did two minutes since. "Had +you," he earnestly asked, "shown any sentiments favourable to his +cause?" + +"Not in the least, nor was there any hope you would do so." His +countenance fell. I requested your freedom. "Impossible," he +said;--"your importance, as a friend and confidant of such and +such personages, made my request altogether extravagant." I told +him my own story and yours and asked him to judge what my +feelings must be by his own. He has a heart, and a kind one, +Colonel Talbot, you may say what you please. He took a sheet of +paper, and wrote the pass with his own hand. "I will not-trust +myself with my council," he said "they will argue me out of what +is right. I will not endure that a friend, valued as I value +you, should be loaded with the painful reflections which must +afflict you in ease of further misfortune in Colonel Talbot's +family; nor will I keep a brave enemy a prisoner under such +circumstances. Besides," said he, "I think I can justify myself +to my prudent advisers, by pleading the good effect such lenity +will produce on the minds of the great English families with whom +Colonel Talbot is connected."' + +'There the politician peeped out,' said the Colonel. + +'Well, at least he concluded like a king's son--"Take the +passport; I have added a condition for form's sake; but if the +Colonel objects to it, let him depart without giving any parole +whatever. I come here to war with men, but not to distress or +endanger women."' + +'Well, I never thought to have been so much indebted to the +Pretend--' + +'To the Prince,' said Waverley, smiling. + +'To the Chevalier,' said the Colonel; 'it is a good travelling +name, and which we may both freely use. Did he say anything +more?' + +'Only asked if there was anything else he could oblige me in; and +when I replied in the negative, he shook me by the hand, and +wished all his followers were as considerate, since some friends +of mine not only asked all he had to bestow, but many things +which were entirely out of his power, or that of the greatest +sovereign upon earth. Indeed, he said, no prince seemed, in the +eyes of his followers, so like the Deity as himself, if you were +to judge from the extravagant requests which they daily preferred +to him.' + +'Poor young gentleman!' said the Colonel 'I suppose he begins to +feel the difficulties of his situation. Well, dear Waverley, +this is more than kind, and shall not be forgotten while Philip +Talbot can remember anything. My life--pshaw--let Emily thank +you for that--this is a favour worth fifty lives. I cannot +hesitate on giving my parole in the circumstances: there it is-- +(he wrote it out in form)--and now, how am I to get off?' + +'All that is settled: your baggage is packed, my horses wait, +and a boat has been engaged, by the Prince's permission, to put +you on board the Fox frigate. I sent a messenger down to Leith +on purpose.' + +'That will do excellently well. Captain Beaver is my particular +friend: he will put me ashore at Berwick or Shields, from whence +I can ride post to London;--and you must entrust me with the +packet of papers which you recovered by means of your Miss Bean +Lean. I may have an opportunity of using them to your +advantage.--But I see your Highland friend, Glen--what do you +call his barbarous name? and his orderly with him--I must not +call him his orderly cut-throat any more, I suppose. See how he +walks as if the world were his own, with the bonnet on one side +of his head, and his plaid puffed out across his breast! I +should like now to meet that youth where my hands were not tied: +I would tame his pride, or he should tame mine,' + +'For shame, Colonel Talbot! you swell at sight of tartan, as the +bull is said to do at scarlet. You and Mac-Ivor have some points +not much unlike, so far as national prejudice is concerned.' + +The latter part of this discourse took place in the street. They +passed the Chief, the Colonel and he sternly and punctiliously +greeting each other, like two duellists before they take their +ground. It was evident the dislike was mutual. 'I never see +that surly fellow that dogs his heels,' said the Colonel, after +he had mounted his horse, 'but he reminds me of lines I have +somewhere heard--upon the stage, I think: + + --Close behind him + Stalks sullen Bertram, like a sorcerer's fiend, + Pressing to be employed.' + +'I assure you, Colonel,' said Waverley,' that you judge too +harshly of the Highlanders.' + +'Not a whit, not a whit; I cannot spare them a jot--I cannot bate +them an ace. Let them stay in their own barren mountains, and +puff and swell, and hang their bonnets on the horns of the moon, +if they have a mind; but what business have they to come where +people wear breeches, and speak an intelligible language? I mean +intelligible in comparison with their gibberish, for even the +Lowlanders talk a kind of English little better than the negroes +in Jamaica. I could pity the Pr--, I mean the Chevalier himself, +for having so many desperadoes about him. And they learn their +trade so early. There is a kind of subaltern imp, for example, a +sort of sucking devil, whom your friend Glenna--Glennamuck there, +has sometimes in his train. To look at him, he is about fifteen +years; but he is a century old in mischief and villany. He was +playing at quoits the other day in the court; a gentleman--a +decent-looking person enough--came past, and as a quoit hit his +shin, he lifted his cane: but my young brave whips out his +pistol, like Beau Clincher in the TRIP TO THE JUBILEE and had not +a scream of GARDEZ L'EAU from an upper window set all parties a- +scampering for fear of the inevitable consequences, the poor +gentleman would have lost his life by the hands of that little +cockatrice.' + +'A fine character you'll give of Scotland upon your return, +Colonel Talbot.' + +'Oh, Justice Shallow,' said the Colonel, 'will save me the +trouble--"Barren, barren--beggars all, beggars all. Marry, good +air,"--and that only when you are fairly out of Edinburgh, and +not yet come to Leith, as is our case at present.' + +In a short time they arrived at the seaport: + + The boat rocked at the pier of Leith, + Full loud the wind blew down the ferry; + The ship rode at the Berwick Law-- + +'Farewell, Colonel; may you find all as you would wish it! +Perhaps we may meet sooner than you expect: they talk of an +immediate route to England.' + +Tell me nothing of that,' said Talbot 'I wish to carry no news of +your motions.' + +'Simply then, adieu. Say, with a thousand kind greetings, all +that is dutiful and affectionate to Sir Everard and Aunt Rachel. +Think of me as kindly as you can--speak of me as indulgently as +your conscience will permit, and once more adieu.' + +'And adieu, my dear Waverley!--many, many thanks for your +kindness. Unplaid yourself on the first opportunity. I shall +ever think on you with gratitude, and the worst of my censure +shall be, QUE DIABLE ALLOIT-IL FAIRE DANS CETTE GALERE?' + +And thus they parted, Colonel Talbot going on board of the boat, +and Waverley returning to Edinburgh. + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +THE MARCH + +It is not our purpose to intrude upon the province of history. +We shall therefore only remind our readers, that about the +beginning of November the Young Chevalier, at the head of about +six thousand men at the utmost, resolved to peril his cause on an +attempt to penetrate into the centre of England, although aware +of the mighty preparations which were made for his reception. +They set forward on this crusade in weather which would have +rendered any other troops incapable of marching, but which in +reality gave these active mountaineers advantages over a less +hardy enemy. In defiance of a superior army lying upon the +Borders, under Field Marshal Wade, they besieged and took +Carlisle, and soon afterwards prosecuted their daring march to +the southward. + +As Colonel Mac-Ivor's regiment marched in the van of the clans, +he and Waverley, who now equalled any Highlander in the endurance +of fatigue, and was become somewhat acquainted with their +language, were perpetually at its head. They marked the progress +of the army, however, with very different eyes. Fergus, all air +and fire, and confident against the world in arms, measured +nothing but that every step was a yard nearer London. He neither +asked, expected, nor desired any aid, except that of the clans, +to place the Stuarts once more on the throne; and when by chance +a few adherents joined the standard, he always considered them in +the light of new claimants upon the favours of the future +monarch, who, he concluded, must therefore subtract for their +gratification so much of the bounty which ought to be shared +among his Highland followers. + +Edward's views were very different. He could not but observe, +that in those towns in which they proclaimed James the Third, 'no +man cried, God bless him.' The mob stared and listened, +heartless, stupefied, and dull, but gave few signs even of that +boisterous spirit which induces them to shout upon all occasions, +for the mere exercise of their most sweet voices. The Jacobites +had been taught to believe that the north-western counties +abounded with wealthy squires and hardy yeomen, devoted to the +cause of the White Rose. But of the wealthier Tories they saw +little. Some fled from their houses, some feigned themselves +sick, some surrendered themselves to the Government as suspected +persons. Of such as remained, the ignorant gazed with +astonishment, mixed with horror and aversion, at the wild +appearance, unknown language, and singular garb, of the Scottish +clans. And to the more prudent, their scanty numbers, apparent +deficiency in discipline; and poverty of equipment, seemed +certain tokens of the calamitous termination of their rash +undertaking. Thus the few who joined them were such as bigotry +of political principle blinded to consequences, or whose broken +fortunes induced them to hazard all on a risk so desperate. + +The Baron of Bradwardine being asked what he thought of these +recruits, took a long pinch of snuff, and answered drily, 'that +he could not but have an excellent opinion of them, since they +resembled precisely the followers who attached themselves to the +good King David at the cave of Adullam; VIDELICET, every one that +was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one +that was discontented, which the Vulgate renders bitter of soul; +and doubtless,' he said 'they will prove mighty men of their +hands, and there is much need that they should, for I have seen +many a sour look cast upon us.' + +But none of these considerations moved Fergus. He admired the +luxuriant beauty of the country, and the situation of many of the +seats which they passed. 'Is Waverley-Honour like that house, +Edward?' + +'It is one half larger.' + +'Is your uncle's park as fine a one as that?' + +'It is three times; as extensive, and rather resembles a forest +than a mere park.' + +'Flora, will be a happy woman.' + +'I hope Miss Mac-Ivor will have much reason for happiness, +unconnected with Waverley-Honour.' + +'I hope so too; but, to be mistress of such a place, will be a +pretty addition to the sum total.' + +'An addition, the want of which, I trust, will be amply supplied +by some other means.' + +'How,' said Fergus, stopping short, and turning upon Waverley-- +'How am I to understand that, Mr. Waverley?--Had I the pleasure +to hear you aright?' + +'Perfectly right, Fergus.' + +'And I am to understand that you no longer desire my alliance, +and my sister's hand?' + +'Your sister has refused mine,' said Waverley, 'both directly, +and by all the usual means by which ladies repress undesired +attentions.' + +'I have no idea,' answered the Chieftain, 'of a lady dismissing +or a gentleman withdrawing his suit, after it has been approved +of by her legal guardian, without giving him an opportunity of +talking the matter over with the lady. You did not, I suppose, +expect my sister to drop into your mouth like a ripe plum, the +first moment you chose to open it?' + +'As to the lady's title to dismiss her lover, Colonel replied +Edward, 'it is a point which you must argue with her, as I am +ignorant of the customs of the Highlands in that particular. But +as to my title to acquiesce in a rejection from her without an +appeal to your interest, I will tell you plainly, without meaning +to undervalue Miss Mac-Ivor's admitted beauty and +accomplishments, that I would not take the hand of an angel, with +an empire for her dowry, if her consent were extorted by the +importunity of friends and guardians, and did not flow from her +own free inclination.' + +'An angel, with the dowry of an empire,' repeated Fergus, in a +tone of bitter irony, 'is not very likely to be pressed upon a +--shire squire.--But sir,' changing his tone, 'if Flora Mac-Ivor +have not the dowry of an empire, she is my sister; and that is +sufficient at least to secure her against being treated with +anything approaching to levity.' + +She is Flora Mac-Ivor, sir,' said Waverley, with firmness, 'which +to me, were I capable of treating any woman with levity, would be +a more effectual protection.' + +The brow of the Chieftain was now fully clouded, but Edward felt +too indignant at the unreasonable tone which he had adopted, to +avert the storm by the least concession. They both stood still +while this short dialogue passed, and Fergus seemed half disposed +to say something more violent, but, by a strong effort, +suppressed his passion, and, turning his face forward, walked +sullenly on. As they had always hitherto walked together, and +almost constantly side by side; Waverley pursued his course +silently in the same direction, determined to let the Chief take +his own time in recovering the good humour which he had so +unreasonably discarded, and firm in his resolution not to bate +him an inch of dignity. + +After they had marched on in this sullen manner about a mile, +Fergus resumed the discourse in a different tone. 'I believe I +was warm, my dear Edward, but you provoke me with your want of +knowledge of the world. You have taken pet at some of Flora's +prudery, or high-flying notions of loyalty, and now, like a +child, you quarrel with the plaything you have been crying for, +and beat me, your faithful keeper, because my arm cannot reach to +Edinburgh to hand it to you. I am sure, if I was passionate, the +mortification of losing the alliance of such a friend, after your +arrangement had been the talk of both Highlands and Lowlands, and +that without so much as knowing why or wherefore, might well +provoke calmer blood than mine. I shall write to Edinburgh, and +put all to rights; that is, if you desire I should do so,--as +indeed I cannot suppose that your good opinion of Flora, it being +such as you have often expressed to me, can be at once laid +aside.' + +'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Edward, who had no mind to be hurried +farther or faster than he chose, in a matter which he had already +considered as broken off, 'I am fully sensible of the value of +your good offices; and certainly, by your zeal on my behalf in +such an affair, you do me no small honour. But as Miss Mac-Ivor +has made her election freely and voluntarily, and as all my +attentions in Edinburgh were received with more than coldness, I +cannot, in justice either to her or myself, consent that she +should again be harassed upon this topic. I would have mentioned +this to you some time since;--but you saw the footing upon which +we stood together, and must have understood it. Had I thought +otherwise, I would have earlier spoken; but I had a natural +reluctance to enter upon a subject so painful to us both.' + +'Oh, very well, Mr. Waverley,' said Fergus, haughtily, 'the thing +is at an end. I have no occasion to press my sister upon any +man.' + +'Nor have I any occasion to court repeated rejection from the +same young lady,' answered Edward, in the same tone. + +'I shall make due inquiry, however,' said the Chieftain, without +noticing the interruption, 'and learn what my sister thinks of +all this: we will then see whether it is to end here.' + +'Respecting such inquiries, you will of course be guided by your +own judgement,' said Waverley. 'It is, I am aware, impossible +Miss Mac-Ivor can change her mind; and were such an unsupposable +case to happen, it is certain I will not change mine. I only +mention this to prevent any possibility of future +misconstruction.' + +Gladly at this moment would Mac-Ivor have put their quarrel to a +personal arbitrament;--his eye flashed fire, and he measured +Edward as if to choose where he might best plant a mortal wound. +But although we do not now quarrel according to the modes and +figures of Caranza or Vincent Saviola, no one knew better than +Fergus that there must be some decent pretext for a mortal duel. +For instance, you may challenge a man for treading on your corn +in a crowd, or for pushing you up to the wall, or for taking your +seat in the theatre; but the modern code of honour will not +permit you to found a quarrel upon your right of compelling a man +to continue addresses to a female relative, which the fair lady +has already refused. So that Fergus was compelled to stomach +this supposed affront, until the whirligig of time, whose motion +he promised himself he would watch most sedulously, should bring +about an opportunity of revenge. + +Waverley's servant always led a saddle-horse for him in the rear +of the battalion to which he was attached, though his master +seldom rode. But now, incensed at the domineering and +unreasonable conduct of his late friend, he fell behind the +column, and mounted his horse, resolving to seek the Baron of +Bradwardine, and request permission to volunteer in his troop, +instead of the Mac-Ivor regiment. + +'A happy time of it I should have had,' thought he, after he was +mounted, 'to have been so closely allied to this superb specimen +of pride and self-opinion and passion. A colonel! why, he +should have been a generalissimo. A petty chief of three or four +hundred men!--his pride might suffice for the Cham of Tartary-- +the Grand Seignior--the Great Mogul! I am well free of him. +Were Flora an angel, she would bring with her a second Lucifer of +ambition and wrath for a brother-in-law. + +The Baron, whose learning (like Sancho's jests while in the +Sierra Morena) seemed to grow mouldy for want of exercise, +joyfully embraced the opportunity of Waverley's offering his +service in his regiment, to bring it into some exertion. The +good-natured old gentleman, however, laboured to effect a +reconciliation between the two quondam friends. Fergus turned a +cold ear to his remonstrances, though he gave them a respectful +hearing; and as for Waverley, he saw no reason why he should be +the first in courting a renewal of the intimacy which the +Chieftain had so unreasonably disturbed. The Baron then +mentioned the matter to the Prince, who, anxious to prevent +quarrels in his little army, declared he would himself +remonstrate with Colonel Mac-Ivor on the unreasonableness of his +conduct. But, in the hurry of their march, it was a day or two +before he had an opportunity to exert his influence in the manner +proposed. + +In the meanwhile, Waverley turned the instructions he had +received while in Gardiner's dragoons to some account, and +assisted the Baron in his command as a sort of adjutant. 'PARMI +LES AVEUGLES UN BORGNE EST ROI,' says the French proverb; and the +cavalry, which consisted chiefly of Lowland gentlemen, their +tenants and servants, formed a high opinion of Waverley's skill, +and a great attachment to his person. This was indeed partly +owing to the satisfaction which they felt at the distinguished +English volunteer's leaving the Highlanders to rank among them; +for there was a latent grudge between the horse and foot, not +only owing to the difference of the services, but because most of +the gentlemen, living near the Highlands, had at one time or +other had quarrels with the tribes in their vicinity, and all of +them looked with a jealous eye on the Highlanders' avowed +pretensions to superior valour, and utility in the Prince's +service. + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +THE CONFUSION OF KING AGRAMANT'S CAMP + +It was Waverley's custom sometimes to ride a little apart from +the main body, to look at any object of curiosity which occurred +on the march. They were now in Lancashire, when, attracted by a +castellated old hall, he left the squadron for half an hour, to +take a survey and slight sketch of it. As he returned down the +avenue, he was met by Ensign Maccombich. This man had contracted +a sort of regard for Edward since the day of his first seeing him +at Tully-Veolan, and introducing him to the Highlands. He seemed +to loiter, as if on purpose to meet with our hero. Yet, as he +passed him, he only approached his stirrup, and pronounced the +single word, 'Beware!' and then walked swiftly on, shunning all +further communication. + +Edward, somewhat surprised at this hint, followed with his eyes +the course of Evan, who speedily disappeared among the trees. +His servant, Alick Polwarth, who was in attendance, also looked +after the Highlander, and then riding up close to his master, +said, + +'The ne'er be in me, sir, if I think you're safe amang thae +Highland rintherouts.' + +'What do you mean, Alick?' said Waverley. + +'The Mac-Ivors, sir, hae gotten it into their heads, that ye hae +affronted their young leddy, Miss Flora; and I hae heard mae than +ane say, they wadna, tak muckle to make a black-cock o' ye; and +ye ken weel eneugh there's mony o' them wadna mind a bawbee the +weising a ball through the Prince himsell, an the Chief gae them +the wink--or whether he did or no,--if they thought it a thing +that would please him when it was dune.' + +Waverley, though confident that Fergus Mac-Ivor was incapable of +such treachery, was by no means equally sure of the forbearance +of his followers. He knew, that where the honour of the Chief or +his family was supposed to be touched, the happiest man would be +he that could first avenge the stigma; and he had often heard +them quote a proverb, 'That the best revenge was the most speedy +and most safe.' Coupling this with the hint of Evan, he judged +it most prudent to set spurs to his horse, and ride briskly back +to the squadron. Ere he reached the end of the long avenue, +however, a ball whistled past him, and the report of a pistol was +heard. + +'It was that deevil's buckie, Callum Beg,' said Alick; I saw him +whisk away through amang the reises.' + +Edward, justly incensed at this act of treachery, galloped out of +the avenue, and observed the battalion of Mac-Ivor at some +distance moving along the common, in which it terminated. He +also saw an individual running very fast to join the party; this +he concluded was the intended assassin, who, by leaping an +enclosure, might easily make a much shorter path to the main body +than he could find on horseback. Unable to contain himself, he +commanded Alick to go to the Baron of Bradwardine, who was at the +head of his regiment about half a mile in front, and acquaint him +with what had happened. He himself immediately rode up to +Fergus's regiment. The Chief himself was in the act of joining +them. He was on horseback, having returned from waiting on the +Prince. On perceiving Edward approaching, he put his horse in +motion towards him. + +'Colonel Mac-Ivor,' said Waverley, without any further +salutation, 'I have to inform you that one of your people has +this instant fired at me from a lurking-place. + +'As that,' answered Mac-Ivor, 'excepting the circumstance of a +lurking-place, is a pleasure which I presently propose to myself, +I should be glad to know which of my clansmen dared to anticipate +me.' + +'I shall certainly be at your command whenever you please;--the +gentleman who took your office upon himself is your page there, +Callum Beg.' + +'Stand forth from the ranks, Callum! Did you fire at Mr. +Waverley?' + +'No,' answered the unblushing Callum. + +'You did,' said Alick Polwarth, who was already returned, having +met a trooper by whom he dispatched an account of what was going +forward to the Baron of Bradwardine, while he himself returned to +his master at full gallop, neither sparing the rowels of his +spurs, nor the sides of his horse. 'You did; I saw you as +plainly as I ever saw the auld kirk at Coudingham.' + +'You lie,' replied Callum, with his usual impenetrable obstinacy. +The combat between the knights would certainly, as in the days of +chivalry, have been preceded by an encounter between the squires +(for Alick was a stout-hearted Merseman, and feared the bow of +Cupid far more than a Highlander's dirk or claymore), but Fergus, +with his usual tone of decision, demanded Callum's pistol. The +cock was down, the pan and muzzle were black with the smoke; it +had been that instant fired. + +'Take that,' said Fergus, striking the boy upon the head with the +heavy pistol-butt with his whole force, 'take that for acting +without orders, and lying to disguise it.' Callum received the +blow without appearing to flinch from it, and fell without sign +of life. 'Stand still, upon your lives!' said Fergus to the +rest of the clan; 'I blow out the brains of the first man who +interferes between Mr. Waverley and me.' They stood motionless; +Evan Dhu alone showed symptoms of vexation and anxiety. Callum +lay on the ground bleeding copiously, but no one ventured to give +him any assistance. It seemed as if he had gotten his death- +blow. + +'And now for you, Mr. Waverley; please to turn your horse twenty +yards with me upon the common.' Waverley complied; and Fergus, +confronting him when they were a little way from the line of +march, said, with great affected coolness, 'I could not but +wonder, sir, at the fickleness of taste which you were pleased to +express the other day. But it was not an angel, as you justly +observed, who had charms for you, unless she brought an empire +for her fortune. I have now an excellent commentary upon that +obscure text.' + +'I am at a loss even to guess at your meaning, Colonel Mac-Ivor, +unless it seems plain that you intend to fasten a quarrel upon +me.' + +'Your affected ignorance shall not serve you, sir. The Prince, +--the Prince himself, has acquainted me with your manoeuvres, I +little thought that your engagements with Miss Bradwardine were +the reason of your breaking off your intended match with my +sister. I suppose the information that the Baron had altered the +destination of his estate, was quite a sufficient reason for +slighting your friend's sister, and carrying off your friend's +mistress.' + +'Did the Prince tell you I was engaged to Miss Bradwardine?' +said Waverley. 'Impossible.' + +'He did, sir,' answered Mac-Ivor; 'so, either draw and defend +yourself, or resign your pretensions to the lady.' + +'This is absolute madness,' exclaimed Waverley, 'or some strange +mistake!' + +'Oh! no evasion! draw your sword!' said the infuriated +Chieftain,--his own already unsheathed. + +'Must I fight in a madman's quarrel?' + +'Then give up now, and for ever, all pretensions to Miss +Bradwardine's hand.' + +'What title have you,' cried Waverley, utterly losing command of +himself,--'What title have you, or any man living, to dictate +such terms to me?' And he also drew his sword. + +At this moment the Baron of Bradwardine, followed by several of +his troop, came up on the spur, some from curiosity, others to +take part in the quarrel, which they indistinctly understood had +broken out between the Mac-Ivors and their corps. The clan, +seeing them approach, put themselves in motion to support their +Chieftain, and a scene of confusion commenced, which seemed +likely to terminate in bloodshed. A hundred tongues were in +motion at once. The Baron lectured, the Chieftain stormed, the +Highlanders screamed in Gaelic, the horsemen cursed and swore in +Lowland Scotch. At length matters came to such a pass, that the +Baron threatened to charge the Mac-Ivors unless they resumed +their ranks, and many of them, in return, presented their fire- +arms at him and the other troopers. The confusion was privately +fostered by old Ballenkeiroch, who made no doubt that his own day +of vengeance was arrived, when, behold! a cry arose of 'Room! +make way!--PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR! PLACE A MONSEIGNEUR!' This +announced the approach of the Prince, who came up with a party of +Fitz-James's foreign dragoons that acted as his bodyguard. His +arrival produced some degree of order. The Highlanders re- +assumed their ranks, the cavalry fell in and formed squadron, and +the Baron and Chieftain were silent. + +The Prince called them and Waverley before him. Having heard the +original cause of the quarrel through the villany of Callum Beg, +he ordered him into custody of the provost-marshal for immediate +execution, in the event of his surviving the chastisement +inflicted by his Chieftain. Fergus, however, in a tone betwixt +claiming a right and asking a favour, requested he might be left +to his disposal, and promised his punishment should be exemplary. +To deny this, might have seemed to encroach on the patriarchal +authority of the Chieftains, of which they were very jealous, and +they were not persons to be disobliged. Callum was therefore +left to the justice of his own tribe. + +The Prince next demanded to know the new cause of quarrel between +Colonel Mac-Ivor and Waverley. There was a pause. Both +gentlemen found the presence of the Baron of Bradwardine (for by +this time all three had approached the Chevalier by his command) +an insurmountable barrier against entering upon a subject where +the name of his daughter must unavoidably be mentioned. They +turned their eyes on the ground, with looks in which shame and +embarrassment were mingled with displeasure. The Prince, who had +been educated amongst the discontented and mutinous spirits of +the court of St. Germains, where feuds of every kind were the +daily subject of solicitude to the dethroned sovereign, had +served his apprenticeship, as old Frederick of Prussia would have +said, to the trade of royalty. To promote or restore concord +among his followers was indispensable. Accordingly he took his +measures. + +'Monsieur de Beaujeu!' + +'Monseigneur!' said a very handsome French cavalry officer, who +was in attendance. + +'Ayez la bonte d'alligner ces montagnards la, ainsi que la +cavalerie, s'il vous plait, et de les remettre a la marche. Vous +parlez si bien l'Anglois, cela ne vous donneroit pas beaucoup de +peine.' + +'Ah! pas de tout, Monseigneur,' replied Mons. le Comte de +Beaujeu, his head bending down to the neck of his little prancing +highly-managed charger. Accordingly he PIAFFED away, in high +spirits and confidence, to the head of Fergus's regiment, +although understanding not a word of Gaelic, and very little +English. + +'Messieurs les sauvages Ecossois--dat is--gentilmans savages, +have the goodness d'arranger vous.' + +The clan, comprehending the order more from the gesture than the +words, and seeing the Prince himself present, hastened to dress +their ranks. + +'Ah! ver well! dat is fort bien!' said the Count de Beaujeu. +'Gentilmans sauvages--mais tres bien--Eh bien!--Qu'est-ce que +vous appellez visage, Monsieur?' (to a lounging trooper who +stood by him). 'Ah, oui! FACE--Je vous remercie, Monsieur.-- +Gentilshommes, have de goodness to make de face to de right par +file, dat is, by files.--Marsh!--Mais tres bien--encore, +Messieurs; il faut vous mettre a la marche...Marchez donc, au nom +de Dieu, parceque j'ai oublie le mot Anglois--mais vous etes des +braves gens, et me comprenez tres bien.' + +The Count next hastened to put the cavalry in motion. +'Gentilmans cavalry, you must fall in--Ah! par ma foi, I did not +say fall off! I am a fear de little gross fat gentilman is moche +hurt. Ah, mon Dieu! c'est le Commissaire qui nous a apporte les +premieres nouvelles de ce maudit fracas. Je suis trop fache, +Monsieur!' + +But poor Macwheeble, who, with a sword stuck across him, and a +white cockade as large as a pancake, now figured in the character +of a commissary, being overturned in the bustle occasioned by the +troopers hastening to get themselves in order in the Prince's +presence, before he could rally his galloway, slunk to the rear +amid the unrestrained laughter of the spectators. + +'Eh bien, Messieurs, wheel to de right--Ah! dat is it!--Eh, +Monsieur de Bradwardine, ayez la bonte de vous mettre a la tete +de votre regiment, car, par Dieu, je n'en puis plus!' + +The Baron of Bradwardine was obliged to go to the assistance of +Monsieur de Beaujeu, after he had fairly expended his few English +military phrases. One purpose of the Chevalier was thus +answered. The other he proposed was, that in the eagerness to +hear and comprehend commands issued through such an indistinct +medium in his own presence, the thoughts of the soldiers in both +corps might get a current different from the angry channel in +which they were flowing at the time. + +Charles Edward was no sooner left with the Chieftain and +Waverley, the rest of his attendants being at some distance, than +he said, 'If I owed less to your disinterested friendship, I +could be most seriously angry with both of you for this very +extraordinary and causeless broil, at a moment when my father's +service so decidedly demands the most perfect unanimity. But the +worst of my situation is, that my very best friends hold they +have liberty to ruin themselves, as well as the cause they are +engaged in, upon the slightest caprice.' + +Both the young men protested their resolution to submit every +difference to his arbitration. 'Indeed,' said Edward, 'I hardly +know of what I am accused. I sought Colonel Mac-Ivor merely to +mention to him that I had narrowly escaped assassination at the +hand of his immediate dependent--a dastardly revenge, which I +knew him to be incapable of authorizing. As to the cause for +which he is disposed to fasten a quarrel upon me, I am ignorant +of it, unless it be that he accuses me, most unjustly, of having +engaged the affections of a young lady in prejudice of his +pretensions.' + +'If there is an error,' said the Chieftain, 'it arises from a +conversation which I held this morning with his Royal Highness +himself.' + +'With me?' said the Chevalier; 'how can Colonel Mac-Ivor have so +far misunderstood me?' + +He then led Fergus aside, and, after five minutes' earnest +conversation, spurred his horse towards Edward. 'Is it possible +--nay, ride up, Colonel, for I desire no secrets--Is it possible, +Mr. Waverley, that I am mistaken in supposing that you are an +accepted lover of Miss Bradwardine?--a fact of which I was by +circumstances, though not by communication from you, so +absolutely convinced, that I alleged it to Vich Ian Vohr this +morning as a reason why, without offence to him, you might not +continue to be ambitious of an alliance, which to an unengaged +person, even though once repulsed, holds out too many charms to +be lightly laid aside.' + +'Your Royal Highness,' said Waverley, 'must have founded on +circumstances altogether unknown to me, when you did me the +distinguished honour of supposing me an accepted lover of Miss +Bradwardine. I feel the distinction implied in the supposition, +but I have no title to it. For the rest, my confidence in my own +merits is too justly slight to admit of my hoping for success in +any quarter after positive rejection.' + +The Chevalier was silent for a moment, looking steadily at them +both, and then said, 'Upon my word, Mr. Waverley, you are a less +happy man than I conceived I had very good reason to believe +you.--But now, gentlemen, allow me to be umpire in this matter, +not as Prince Regent, but as Charles Stuart, a brother adventurer +with you in the same gallant cause. Lay my pretensions to be +obeyed by you entirely out of view, and consider your own honour, +and how far it is well, or becoming, to give our enemies the +advantage, and our friends the scandal, of showing that, few as +we are, we are not united. And forgive me if I add, that the +names of the ladies who have been mentioned, crave more respect +from us all than to be made themes of discord.' + +He took Fergus a little apart, and spoke to him very earnestly +for two or three minutes, and then returning to Waverley, said-- +'I believe I have satisfied Colonel Mac-Ivor that his resentment +was founded upon a misconception, to which, indeed, I myself gave +rise; and I trust Mr. Waverley is too generous to harbour any +recollection of what is past, when I assure him that such is the +case.--You must state this matter properly to your clan, Vich +Iain Vohr, to prevent a recurrence of their precipitate +violence.' Fergus bowed. 'And now, gentlemen, let me have the +pleasure to see you shake hands.' + +They advanced coldly, and with measured steps, each apparently +reluctant to appear most forward in concession. They did, +however, shake hands, and parted, taking a respectful leave of +the Chevalier. Charles Edward [See Note 31.] then rode to the +head of the Mac-Ivors, threw himself from his horse, begged a +drink out of old Ballenkeiroch's canteen, and marched about half +a mile along with them, inquiring into the history and connexions +of Sliochd nan Ivor, adroitly using the few words of Gaelic he +possessed, and affecting a great desire to learn it more +thoroughly. He then mounted his horse once more, and galloped to +the Baron's cavalry, which was in front; halted them, and +examined their accoutrements and state of discipline; took notice +of the principal gentlemen, and even of the cadets; inquired +after their ladies, and commended their horses;--rode about an +hour with the Baron of Bradwardine, and endured three long +stories about Field-Marshal the Duke of Berwick. + +'Ah, Beaujeu, mon cher ami,' said he as he returned to his usual +place in the line of march, 'que mon metier de prince errant est +ennuyant, par fois. Mais, courage! c'est le grand jeu, apres +tout.' + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +A SKIRMISH + +The reader need hardly be reminded, that, after a council of war +held at Derby on the 5th of December, the Highlanders +relinquished their desperate attempt to penetrate farther into +England, and, greatly to the dissatisfaction of their young and +daring leader, positively determined to return northward. They +commenced their retreat accordingly, and by the extreme celerity +of their movements, outstripped the motions of the Duke of +Cumberland, who now pursued them with a very large body of +cavalry. + +This retreat was a virtual resignation of their towering hopes. +None had been so sanguine as Fergus Mac-Ivor; none, consequently, +was so cruelly mortified at the change of measures. He argued, +or rather remonstrated, with the utmost vehemence at the council +of war; and, when his opinion was rejected, shed tears of grief +and indignation. From that moment his whole manner was so much +altered, that he could scarcely have been recognized for the same +soaring and ardent spirit, for whom the whole earth seemed too +narrow but a week before. The retreat had continued for several +days, when Edward, to his surprise, early on the 12th of +December, received a visit from the Chieftain in his quarters, in +a hamlet about half way between Shap and Penrith. + +Having had no intercourse with the Chieftain since their rupture, +Edward waited with some anxiety an explanation of this unexpected +visit; nor could he help being surprised, and somewhat shocked, +with the change in his appearance. His eye had lost much of its +fire; his cheek was hollow, his voice was languid; even his gait +seemed less firm and elastic than it was wont; and his dress, to +which he used to be particularly attentive, was now carelessly +flung about him. He invited Edward to walk out with him by the +little river in the vicinity; and smiled in a melancholy manner +when he observed him take down and buckle on his sword. + +As soon as they were in a wild sequestered path by the side of +the stream, the Chief broke out,--'Our fine adventure is now +totally ruined, Waverley, and I wish to know what you intend to +do:--nay, never stare at me, man. I tell you I received a packet +from my sister yesterday, and, had I got the information it +contains sooner, it would have prevented a quarrel, which I am +always vexed when I think of. In a letter written after our +dispute, I acquainted her with the cause of it; and she now +replies to me, that she never had, nor could have, any purpose of +giving you encouragement; so that it seems I have acted like a +madman. Poor Flora! she writes in high spirits; what a change +will the news of this unhappy retreat make in her state of mind!' + +Waverley, who was really much affected by the deep tone of +melancholy with which Fergus spoke, affectionately entreated him +to banish from his remembrance any unkindness which had arisen +between them, and they once more shook hands, but now with +sincere cordiality. Fergus again inquired of Waverley what he +intended to do. 'Had you not better leave this luckless army, +and get down before us into Scotland, and embark for the +Continent from some of the eastern ports that are still in our +possession? When you are out of the kingdom, your friends will +easily negotiate your pardon; and, to tell you the truth, I wish +you would carry Rose Bradwardine with you as your wife, and take +Flora also under your joint protection.' Edward looked surprised +--'She loves you, and I believe you love her, though, perhaps, +you have not found it out, for you are not celebrated for knowing +your own mind very pointedly.' He said this with a sort of +smile. + +'How!' answered Edward,' can you advise me to desert the +expedition in which we are all embarked?' + +'Embarked?' said Fergus; 'the vessel is going to pieces, and it +is full time for all who can, to get into the long-boat and leave +her.' + +'Why, what will other gentlemen do?' answered Waverley, 'and why +did the Highland chiefs consent to this retreat, if it is so +ruinous?' + +'Oh,' replied Mac-Ivor, 'they think that, as on former occasions, +the heading, hanging, and forfeiting, will chiefly fall to the +lot of the Lowland gentry; that they will be left secure in their +poverty and their fastnesses, there, according to their proverb, +"to listen to the wind upon the hill till the waters abate." But +they will be disappointed; they have been too often troublesome +to be so repeatedly passed over, and this time John Bull has been +too heartily frightened to recover his good humour for some time. +The Hanoverian ministers always deserved to be hanged for +rascals; but now, if they get the power in their hands,--as, +sooner or later, they must, since there is neither rising in +England nor assistance from France,--they will deserve the +gallows as fools, if they leave a single clan in the Highlands in +a situation to be again troublesome to Government. Aye, they +will make root-and-branch work, I warrant them.' + +'And while you recommend flight to me,' said Edward,--'a counsel +which I would rather die than embrace,--what are your own views?' + +'Oh,' answered Fergus, with a melancholy air, 'my fate is +settled. Dead or captive I must be before to-morrow.' + +'What do you mean by that, my friend?' said Edward. 'The enemy +is still a day's march in our rear, and if he comes up, we are +still strong enough to keep him in check. Remember Gladsmuir.' + +'What I tell you is true notwithstanding, so far as I am +individually concerned.' + +'Upon what authority can you found so melancholy a prediction?' +asked Waverley. + +'On one which never failed a person of my house. I have seen,' +he said, lowering his voice, 'I have seen the Bodach Glas.' + +'Bodach Glas?' + +'Yes: have you been so long at Glennaquoich, and never heard of +the Grey Spectre? though indeed there is a certain reluctance +among us to mention him.' + +'No, never.' + +'Ah! it would have been a tale for poor Flora to have told you. +Or, if that hill were Benmore, and that long blue lake, which you +see just winding towards yon mountainous country, were Loch Tay, +or my own Loch an Ri, the tale would be better suited with +scenery. However, let us sit down on this knell; even Saddleback +and Ullswater will suit what I have to say better than the +English hedgerows, enclosures, and farm-houses. You must know, +then, that when my ancestor, Ian nan Chaistel, wasted +Northumberland, there was associated with him in the expedition a +sort of Southland Chief, or captain of a band of Low-landers, +called Halbert Hall. In their return through the Cheviots, they +quarrelled about the division of the great booty they had +acquired, and came from words to blows. The Lowlanders were cut +off to a man, and their chief fell the last, covered with wounds +by the sword of my ancestor, Since that time, his spirit has +crossed the Vich Ian Vohr of the day when any great disaster was +impending, but especially before approaching death. My father +saw him twice; once before he was made prisoner at Sheriff-Muir; +another time, on the morning of the day on which he died.' + +'How can you, my dear Fergus, tell such nonsense with a grave +face?' + +'I do not ask you to believe it; but I tell you the truth, +ascertained by three hundred years' experience at least, and last +night by my own eyes.' + +'The particulars, for Heaven's sake!' said Waverley, with +eagerness. + +'I will, on condition you will not attempt a jest on the +subject.--Since this unhappy retreat commenced, I have scarce +ever been able to sleep for thinking of my clan, and of this poor +Prince, whom they are leading back like a dog in a string, +whether he will or no, and of the downfall of my family. Last +night I felt so feverish that I left my quarters, and walked out, +in hopes the keen frosty air would brace my nerves--I cannot tell +how much I dislike going on, for I know you will hardly believe +me. However--I crossed a small footbridge, and kept walking +backwards and forwards, when I observed with surprise, by the +clear moonlight, a tall figure in a grey plaid, such as shepherds +wear in the south of Scotland, which, move at what pace I would, +kept regularly about four yards before me.' + +'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.' + +'No: I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's +audacity in daring to dog me. I called to him but received no +answer. I felt an anxious throbbing at my heart; and to +ascertain what I dreaded, I stood still, and turned myself on the +same spot successively to the four points of the compass--By +Heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the figure was instantly +before my eyes, at precisely the same distance! I was then +convinced it was the Bodach Glas. My hair bristled, and my knees +shook. I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my +quarters. My ghastly visitant glided before me (for I cannot say +he walked), until he reached the footbridge: there he stopped, +and turned full round. I must either wade the river, or pass him +as close as I am to you. A desperate courage, founded on the +belief that my death was near, made me resolve to make my way in +despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew my sword, and +uttered, "In the name of God, Evil Spirit, give place!" "Vich +Ian Vohr," it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle, +"beware of to-morrow!" It seemed at that moment not half a yard +from my sword's point; but the words were no sooner spoken than +it was gone, and nothing appeared further to obstruct my passage. +I got home, and threw myself on my bed, where I spent a few hours +heavily enough; and this morning, as no enemy was reported to be +near us, I took my horse, and rode forward to make up matters +with you. I would not willingly fall until I am in charity with +a wronged friend.' + +Edward had little doubt that this phantom was the operation of an +exhausted frame and depressed spirits, working on the belief +common to all Highlanders in such superstitions. He did not the +less pity Fergus, for whom, in his present distress, he felt all +his former regard revive. With the view of diverting his mind +from these gloomy images, he offered with the Baron's permission, +which he knew he could readily obtain, to remain in his quarters +till Fergus's corps should come up, and then to march with them +as usual. The Chief seemed much pleased, yet hesitated to accept +the offer. + +'We are, you know, in the rear,--the post of danger in a +retreat.' + +'And therefore the post of honour.' + +'Well,' replied the Chieftain, 'let Alick have your horse in +readiness, in case we should be over-matched, and I shall be +delighted to have your company once more.' + +The rearguard were late in making their appearance, having been +delayed by various accidents and by the badness of the roads. At +length they entered the hamlet. When Waverley joined the clan +Mac-Ivor, arm in arm with their Chieftain, all the resentment +they had entertained against him seemed blown off at once. Evan +Dhu received him with a grin of congratulation; and even Callum, +who was running about as active as ever, pale indeed, and with a +great patch on his head, appeared delighted to see him. + +'That gallows-bird's skull,' said Fergus, 'must be harder than +marble: the lock of the pistol was actually broken.' + +'How could you strike so young a lad so hard?' said Waverley, +with some interest. + +'Why, if I did not strike hard sometimes, the rascals would +forget themselves.' + +They were now in full march, every caution being taken to prevent +surprise. Fergus's people, and a fine clan regiment from +Badenoch, commanded by Cluny Mac-Pherson, had the rear. They had +passed a large open moor, and were entering into the enclosures +which surround a small village called Clifton. The winter sun +had set, and Edward began to rally Fergus upon the false +predictions of the Grey Spirit. 'The Ides of March are not +past,' said Mac-Ivor, with a smile; when, suddenly casting his +eyes back on the moor, a large body of cavalry was indistinctly +seen to hover upon its brown and dark surface. To line the +enclosures facing the open ground, and the road by which the +enemy must move from it upon the village, was the work of a short +time. While these manoeuvres were accomplishing, night sunk +down, dark and gloomy, though the moon was at full. Sometimes, +however, she gleamed forth a dubious light upon the scene of +action. + +The Highlanders did not remain long undisturbed in the defensive +position they had adopted. Favoured by the night, one large body +of dismounted dragoons attempted to force the enclosures, while +another, equally strong, strove to penetrate by the high road. +Both were received by such a heavy fire as disconcerted their +ranks, and effectually checked their progress. Unsatisfied with +the advantage thus gained, Fergus, to whose ardent spirit the +approach of danger seemed to restore all ifs elasticity, drawing +his sword, and calling out 'Claymore!' encouraged his men, by +voice and example, to break through the hedge which divided them, +and rush down upon the enemy. Mingling with the dismounted +dragoons, they forced them, at the sword-point, to fly to the +open moor, where a considerable number were cut to pieces. But +the moon, which suddenly shone out, showed to the English the +small number of assailants, disordered by their own success. Two +squadrons of horse moving to the support of their companions, the +Highlanders endeavoured to recover the enclosures. But several +of them, amongst others their brave Chieftain, were cut off and +surrounded before they could effect their purpose. Waverley, +looking eagerly for Fergus, from whom, as well as from the +retreating body of his followers, he had been separated in the +darkness and tumult, saw him, with Evan Dhu and Callum, defending +themselves desperately against a dozen of horsemen, who were +hewing at them with their long broadswords. The moon was again +at that moment totally overclouded, and Edward, in the obscurity, +could neither bring aid to his friends, nor discover which way +lay his own road to rejoin the rear-guard. After once or twice +narrowly escaping being slain or made prisoner by parties of the +cavalry whom he encountered in the darkness, he at length reached +an enclosure, and clambering over it, concluded himself in +safety, and on the way to the Highland forces, whose pipes he +heard at some distance. For Fergus hardly a hope remained, +unless that he might be made prisoner. Revolving his fate with +sorrow and anxiety, the superstition of the Bodach Glas recurred +to Edward's recollection, and he said to himself, with internal +surprise, 'What, can the devil speak truth?' [See Note 32.] + + + +CHAPTER LX + +CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS + +Edward was in a most unpleasant and dangerous situation. He soon +lost the sound of the bagpipes; and, what was yet more +unpleasant, when, after searching long in vain, and scrambling +through many enclosures, he at length approached the high road, +he learned, from the unwelcome noise of kettledrums and trumpets, +that the English cavalry now occupied it, and consequently were +between him and the Highlanders. Precluded, therefore, from +advancing in a straight direction, he resolved to avoid the +English military, and endeavour to join his friends by making a +circuit to the left, for which a beaten path deviating from the +main road in that direction seemed to afford facilities. The +path was muddy, and the night dark and cold; but even these +inconveniences were hardly felt amidst the apprehensions which +falling into the hands of the King's forces reasonably excited in +his bosom. + +After walking about three miles, he at length reached a hamlet. +Conscious that the common people were in general unfavourable to +the cause he had espoused, yet desirous, if possible, to procure +a horse and guide to Penrith, where he hoped to find the rear, if +not the main body, of the Chevalier's army, he approached the +ale-house of the place. There was a great noise within: he +paused to listen. A round English oath or two, and the burden of +a campaign song, convinced him the hamlet also was occupied by +the Duke of Cumberland's soldiers. Endeavouring to retire from +it as softly as possible, and blessing the obscurity which +hitherto he had murmured against, Waverley groped his way the +best he could along a small paling, which seemed the boundary of +some cottage garden. As he reached the gate of this little +enclosure, his outstretched hand was grasped by that of a female, +whose voice at the same time uttered, 'Edward, is't thou, man?' + +'Here is some unlucky mistake,' thought Edward, struggling, but +gently, to disengage himself. + +'Naen o' thy foun, now; man, or the red cwoats will hear thee; +they hae been houlerying and poulerying every ane that past +alehouse door this noight to make them drive their wagons and +sick loike. Come into feyther's, or they'll do ho a mischief.' + +'A good hint,' thought Waverley, following the girl through the +little garden into a brick-paved kitchen, where she set herself +to kindle a match at an expiring fire, and with the match to +light a candle. She had no sooner looked on Edward than she +dropped the light, with a shrill scream of 'O feyther! feyther!' + +The father, thus invoked, speedily appeared, a sturdy old farmer, +in a pair of leather breeches, and boots pulled on without +stockings, having just started from his bed;--the rest of his +dress was only a Westmoreland statesman's robe-de-chambre,--that +is, his shirt. His figure was displayed to advantage, by a +candle which he bore in his left hand ; in his right he +brandished a poker. + +What hast ho here, wench?' + +'Oh!' cried the poor girl, almost going off in hysterics, I +thought it was Ned Williams, and it is one of the plaid-men!' + +'And what was thee ganging to do wi' Ned Williams at this time o' +noight?' To this, which was, perhaps, one of the numerous class +of questions more easily asked than answered, the rosy-cheeked +damsel made no reply, but continued sobbing and wringing her +hands. + +'And thee, lad, dost ho know that the dragoons be a town? Dost +ho know that, mon?--ad, they'll sliver thee like a turnip, mon.' + +'I know my life is in great danger,' said Waverley, 'but if you +can assist me, I will reward you handsomely, I am no Scotchman, +but an unfortunate English gentleman.' + +'Be ho Scot or no,' said the honest farmer, 'I wish thou hadst +kept the other side of the hallan. But since thou art here, +Jacob Jopson will betray no man's bluid; and the plaids were gay +canny, and did not so much mischief when they were here +yesterday.' Accordingly, he set seriously about sheltering and +refreshing our hero for the night, The fire was speedily +rekindled, but with precaution against its light being seen from +without. The jolly yeoman cut a rasher of bacon, which Cicely +soon broiled, and her father added a swingeing tankard of his +best ale. It was settled, that Edward should remain there till +the troops marched in the morning, then hire or buy a horse from +the farmer, and, with the best directions that could be obtained, +endeavour to overtake his friends. A clean, though coarse bed, +received him after the fatigues of this unhappy day. + +With the morning arrived the news that the Highlanders had +evacuated Penrith, and marched off towards Carlisle; that the +Duke of Cumberland was in possession of Penrith, and that +detachments of his army covered the roads in every direction. To +attempt to get through undiscovered, would be an act of the most +frantic temerity. Ned Williams (the right Edward) was now called +to council by Cicely and her father, Ned, who perhaps did not +care that his handsome namesake should remain too long in the +same house with his sweetheart, for fear of fresh mistakes, +proposed that Waverley, exchanging his uniform and plaid for the +dress of the country, should go with him to his father's farm +near Ullswater, and remain in that undisturbed retirement until +the military movements in the country should have ceased to +render his departure hazardous. A price was also agreed upon, at +which the stranger might board with Farmer Williams, if he +thought proper, till he could depart with safety. It was of +moderate amount; the distress of his situation, among this honest +and simple-hearted race, being considered as no reason for +increasing their demand. + +The necessary articles of dress were accordingly procured; and, +by following by-paths, known to the young farmer, they hoped to +escape any unpleasant rencontre, A recompense for their +hospitality was refused peremptorily by old Jopson and his +cherry-cheeked daughter; a kiss paid the one, and a hearty shake +of the hand the other. Both seemed anxious for their guest's +safety, and took leave of him with kind wishes, + +In the course of their route, Edward, with his guide, traversed +those fields which the night before had been the scene of action. +A brief gleam of December's sun shone sadly on the broad heath, +which, towards the spot where the great north-west road entered +the enclosures of Lord Lonsdale's property, exhibited dead bodies +of men and horses, and the usual companions of war--a number of +carrion-crows, hawks, and ravens. + +'And this, then, was thy last field,' said Waverley to himself, +his eye filling at the recollection of the many splendid points +of Fergus's character, and of their former intimacy, all his +passions and imperfections forgotten.--'Here fell the last Vich +Ian Vohr, on a nameless heath; and in an obscure night-skirmish +was quenched that ardent spirit, who thought it little to cut a +way for his master to the British throne! Ambition, policy, +bravery, all far beyond their sphere, here learned the fate of +mortals, The sole support, too, of a sister, whose spirit, as +proud and unbending, was even more exalted than thine own; here +ended all thy hopes for Flora, and the long and valued line which +it was thy boast to raise yet more highly by thy adventurous +valour!' + +As these ideas pressed on Waverley's mind, he resolved to go upon +the open heath, and search if, among the slain, he could discover +the body of his friend, with the pious intention of procuring for +him the last rites of sepulture. The timorous young man who +accompanied him remonstrated upon the danger of the attempt, but +Edward was determined. The followers of the camp had already +stripped the dead of all they could carry away; but the country +people, unused to scenes of blood, had not yet approached the +field of action, though some stood fearfully gazing at a +distance. About sixty or seventy dragoons lay slain within the +first enclosure, upon the high road, and on the open moor. Of +the Highlanders, not above a dozen had fallen, chiefly those who, +venturing too far on the moor, could not regain the strong +ground. He could not find the body of Fergus among the slain. +On a little knell, separated from the others, lay the carcasses +of three English dragoons, two horses, and the page Callum Beg, +whose hard skull a trooper's broadsword had, at length, +effectually cloven. It was possible his clan had carried off the +body of Fergus; but it was also possible he had escaped, +especially as Evan Dhu, who would never leave his Chief, was not +found among the dead; or he might be prisoner, and the less +formidable denunciation inferred from the appearance of the +Bodach Glas might have proved the true one. The approach of a +party, sent for the purpose of compelling the country people to +bury the dead, and who had already assembled several peasants for +that purpose, now obliged Edward to rejoin his guide, who awaited +him in great anxiety and fear under shade of the plantations. + +After leaving this field of death, the rest of their journey was +happily accomplished. At the house of Farmer Williams, Edward +passed for a young kinsman, educated for the church, who was come +to reside there till the civil tumults permitted him to pass +through the country. This silenced suspicion among the kind and +simple yeomanry of Cumberland, and accounted sufficiently for the +grave manners and retired habits of the new guest, The precaution +became more necessary than Waverley had anticipated, as a variety +of incidents prolonged his stay at Fasthwaite, as the farm was +called. + +A tremendous fall of snow rendered his departure impossible for +more than ten days. When the roads began to become a little +practicable, they successively received news of the retreat of +the Chevalier into Scotland; then, that he had abandoned the +frontiers, retiring upon Glasgow; and that the Duke of Cumberland +had formed the siege of Carlisle. His army, therefore, cut off +all possibility of Waverley's escaping into Scotland in that +direction. On the eastern border, Marshal Wade, with a large +force, was advancing upon Edinburgh; and all along the frontier, +parties of militia, volunteers, and partisans, were in arms to +suppress insurrection, and apprehend such stragglers from the +Highland army as had been left in England, The surrender of +Carlisle, and the severity with which the rebel garrison were +threatened, soon formed an additional reason against venturing +upon a solitary and hopeless journey through a hostile country +and a large army, to carry the assistance of a single sword to a +cause which seemed altogether desperate. + +In this lonely and secluded situation, without the advantage of +company or conversation with men of cultivated minds, the +arguments of Colonel Talbot often recurred to the mind of our +hero. A still more anxious recollection haunted his slumbers--it +was the dying look and gesture of Colonel Gardiner. Most +devoutly did he hope, as the rarely occurring post brought news +of skirmishes with various success, that it might never again be +his lot to draw his sword in civil conflict. Then his mind +turned to the supposed death of Fergus, to the desolate situation +of Flora, and, with yet more tender recollection, to that of Rose +Bradwardine, who was destitute of the devoted enthusiasm of +loyalty, which, to her friend, hallowed and exalted misfortune. +These reveries he was permitted to enjoy, undisturbed by queries +or interruption;--and it was in many a winter walk by the shores +of Ullswater, that he acquired a more complete mastery of a +spirit tamed by adversity than his former experience had given +him; and that he felt himself entitled to say firmly, though +perhaps with a sigh, that the romance of his life was ended, and +that its real history had now commenced. He was soon called upon +to justify his pretensions by reason and philosophy. + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +A JOURNEY TO LONDON + +The family at Fasthwaite were soon attached to Edward. He had, +indeed, that gentleness and urbanity which almost universally +attracts corresponding kindness; and to their simple ideas his +learning gave him consequence, and his sorrows interest. The +last he ascribed, evasively, to the loss of a brother in the +skirmish near Clifton; and in that primitive state of society, +where the ties of affection were highly deemed of, his continued +depression excited sympathy, but not surprise. + +In the end of January, his more lively powers were called out by +the happy union of Edward Williams, the son of his host, with +Cicely Jopson. Our hero would not cloud with sorrow the +festivity attending the wedding of two persons to whom he was so +highly obliged. He therefore exerted himself, danced, sang, +played at the various games of the day, and was the blithest of +the company. The next morning, however, he had more serious +matters to think of. + +The clergyman who had married the young couple was so much +pleased with the supposed student of divinity, that he came next +day from Penrith on purpose to pay him a visit. This might have +been a puzzling chapter had he entered into any examination of +our hero's supposed theological studies; but fortunately he loved +better to hear and communicate the news of the day. He brought +with him two or three old newspapers, in one of which Edward +found a piece of intelligence that soon rendered him deaf to +every word which the Reverend Mr. Twigtythe was saying upon the +news from the north, and the prospect of the Duke's speedily +overtaking and crushing the rebels. This was an article in +these, or nearly these words: + +'Died at his house, in Hill street, Berkeley Square, upon the +10th inst., Richard Waverley, Esq., second son of Sir Giles +Waverley of Waverley-Honour, &c. &c. He died of a lingering +disorder, augmented by the unpleasant predicament of suspicion in +which he stood, having been obliged to find bail to a high +amount, to meet an impending accusation of high-treason. An +accusation of the same grave crime hangs over his elder brother, +Sir Everard Waverley, the representative of that ancient family; +and we understand the day of his trial will be fixed early in the +next month, unless Edward Waverley, son of the deceased Richard, +and heir to the Baronet, shall surrender himself to justice. In +that case, we are assured it is his Majesty's gracious purpose to +drop further proceedings upon the charge against Sir Everard. +This unfortunate young gentleman is ascertained to have been in +arms in the Pretender's service, and to have marched along with +the Highland troops into England. But he has not been heard of +since the skirmish at Clifton, on the 18th December last.' + +Such was this distracting paragraph.--'Good God!' exclaimed +Waverley, 'am I then a parricide?--Impossible! My father, who +never showed the affection of a father while he lived, cannot +have been so much affected by my supposed death as to hasten his +own. No, I will not believe it,--it were distraction to +entertain for a moment such a horrible idea. But it were, if +possible, worse than parricide to suffer any danger to hang over +my noble and generous uncle, who has ever been more to me than a +father, if such evil can be averted by any sacrifice on my part!' + +While these reflections passed like the stings of scorpions +through Waverley's sensorium, the worthy divine was startled in a +long disquisition on the battle of Falkirk by the ghastliness +which they communicated to his looks, and asked him if he was +ill. Fortunately the bride, all smirk and blush, had just +entered the room. Mrs. Williams was none of the brightest of +women, but she was good-natured, and readily concluding that +Edward had been shocked by disagreeable news in the papers, +interfered so judiciously, that, without exciting suspicion, she +drew off Mr. Twigtythe's attention, and engaged it until he soon +after took his leave. Waverley then explained to his friends, +that he was under the necessity of going to London with as little +delay as possible. + +One cause of delay, however, did occur, to which Waverley had +been very little accustomed. His purse, though well stocked when +he first went to Tully-Veolan, had not been reinforced since that +period; and although his life since had not been of a nature to +exhaust it hastily (for he had lived chiefly with his friends or +with the army), yet he found, that, after settling with his kind +landlord, he should be too poor to encounter the expense of +travelling post. The best course, therefore, seemed to be, to +get into the great north road about Boroughbridge, and there take +a place in the Northern Diligence,--a huge old-fashioned tub, +drawn by three horses, which completed the journey from Edinburgh +to London (God willing, as the advertisement expressed it) in +three weeks. Our hero, therefore, took an affectionate farewell +of his Cumberland friends, whose kindness he promised never to +forget, and tacitly hoped one day to acknowledge by substantial +proofs of gratitude. After some petty difficulties and vexatious +delays, and after putting his dress into a shape better befitting +his rank, though perfectly plain and simple, he accomplished +crossing the country, and found himself in the desired vehicle, +VIS-A-VIS to Mrs. Nosebag, the lady of Lieutenant Nosebag, +adjutant and riding-master of the -- dragoons, a jolly woman of +about fifty, wearing a blue habit, faced with scarlet, and +grasping a silver-mounted horsewhip. + +This lady was one of those active members of society who take +upon them FAIRE LE FRAIS DE CONVERSATION. She had just returned +from the north, and informed Edward how nearly her regiment had +cut the petticoat people into ribands at Falkirk, 'only somehow +there was one of those nasty, awkward marshes, that they are +never without in ScotIand, I think, and so our poor dear little +regiment suffered something, as my Nosebag says, in that +unsatisfactory affair. You, sir, have served in the dragoons?' +Waverley was taken so much at unawares, that he acquiesced. + +'Oh, I knew it at once; I saw you were military from your air, +and I was sure you could be none of the foot-wobblers, as my +Nosebag calls them. What regiment, pray?' Here was a delightful +question. Waverley, however, justly concluded that this good +lady had the whole army-list by heart; and, to avoid detection by +adhering to truth, answered--'Gardiner's dragoons, ma'am; but I +have retired some time.' + +'Oh aye, those as won the race at the battle of Preston, as my +Nosebag says. Pray, sir, were you there?' + +'I was so unfortunate, madam,' he replied, 'as to witness that +engagement.' + +'And that was a misfortune that few of Gardiner's stood to +witness, I believe, sir--ha! ha! ha!--I beg your pardon; but a +soldier's wife loves a joke.' + +'Devil confound you!' thought Waverley; 'what infernal luck has +penned me up with this inquisitive bag!' + +Fortunately the good lady did not stick long to one subject. 'We +are coming to Ferrybridge, now,' she said, 'where there was a +party of OURS left to support the beadles, and constables, and +justices, and these sort of creatures that are examining papers +and stopping rebels, and all that.' They were hardly in the inn +before she dragged Waverley to the window, exclaiming, 'Yonder +comes Corporal Bridoon, of our poor dear troop; he's coming with +the constable man: Bridoon's one of my lambs, as Nosebag calls +'em. Come, Mr. --a--a--pray, what 's your name, sir?' + +'Butler, ma'am,' said Waverley, resolved rather to make free with +the name of a former fellow officer, than run the risk of +detection by inventing one not to be found in the regiment. + +'Oh, you got a troop lately, when that shabby fellow, Waverley, +went over to the rebels. Lord, I wish our old cross Captain +Crump would go over to the rebels, that Nosebag might get the +troop!--Lord, what can Bridoon be standing swinging on the bridge +for? I'll be hanged if he a'nt hazy, as Nosebag says.--Come, +sir, as you and I belong to the service, we'll go put the rascal +in mind of his duty.' + +Waverley, with feelings more easily conceived than described, saw +himself obliged to follow this doughty female commander. The +gallant trooper was as like a lamb as a drunk corporal of +dragoons, about six feet high, with very broad shoulders, and +very thin legs, not to mention a great scar across his nose, +could well be. Mrs. Nosebag addressed him with something which, +if not an oath, sounded very like one, and commanded him to +attend to his duty. 'You be d--d for a--,' commenced the gallant +cavalier; but, looking up in order to suit the action to the +words, and also to enforce the epithet which he meditated, with +an adjective applicable to the party, he recognized the speaker, +made his military salaam, and altered his tone.--'Lord love your +handsome face, Madam Nosebag, is it you? Why, if a poor fellow +does happen to fire a slug of a morning, I am sure you were never +the lady to bring him to harm.' + +'Well, you rascallion, go, mind your duty; this gentleman and I +belong to the service; but be sure you look after that shy cock +in the slouched hat that sits in the corner of the coach. I +believe he's one of the rebels in disguise.' + +'D--n her gooseberry wig!' said the corporal, when she was out +of hearing. 'That gimlet-eyed jade--mother adjutant, as we call +her--is a greater plague to the regiment than prevot-marshal, +sergeant-major, and old Hubble-de-Shuff the colonel into the +bargain.--Come, Master Constable, let's see if this shy cock, as +she calls him' (who, by the way, was a Quaker from Leeds, with +whom Mrs. Nosebag had had some tart argument on the legality of +bearing arms), 'will stand godfather to a sup of brandy, for your +Yorkshire ale is cold on my stomach.' + +The vivacity of this good lady, as it helped Edward out of this +scrape, was like to have drawn him into one or two others. In +every town where they stopped, she wished to examine the CORPS DE +GARDE, if there was one, and once very narrowly missed +introducing Waverley to a recruiting-sergeant of his own +regiment. Then she Captain'd and Butler'd him till he was almost +mad with vexation and anxiety; and never was he more rejoiced in +his life at the termination of a journey, than when the arrival +of the coach in London freed him from the attentions of Madam +Nosebag. + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +WHAT'S TO BE DONE NEXT? + +It was twilight when they arrived in town; and having shaken off +his companions, and walked through a good many streets to avoid +the possibility of being traced by them, Edward took a hackney- +coach and drove to Colonel Talbot's house, in one of the +principal squares at the west end of the town. That gentleman, +by the death of relations, had succeeded since his marriage to a +large fortune, possessed considerable political interest, and +lived in what is called great style. + +When Waverley knocked at his door, he found it at first difficult +to procure admittance, but at length was shown into an apartment +where the Colonel was at table. Lady Emily, whose very beautiful +features were still pallid from indisposition, sat opposite to +him. The instant he heard Waverley's voice, he started up and +embraced him. 'Frank Stanley, my dear boy, how d'ye do?--Emily, +my love, this is young Stanley.' + +The blood started to the lady's cheek as she gave Waverley a +reception, in which courtesy was mingled with kindness, while her +trembling hand and faltering voice showed how much she was +startled and discomposed. Dinner was hastily replaced, and while +Waverley was engaged in refreshing himself, the Colonel +proceeded--'I wonder you have come here, Frank; the doctors tell +me the air of London is very bad for your complaints. You should +not have risked it. But I am delighted to see you, and so is +Emily, though I fear we must not reckon upon your staying long.' + +'Some particular business brought me up,' muttered Waverley. + +'I supposed so, but I sha'n't allow you to stay long.--Spontoon' +(to an elderly military-looking servant out of livery), 'take +away these things, and answer the bell yourself, if I ring. +Don't let any of the other fellows disturb us.--My nephew and I +have business to talk of.' + +When the servants had retired, 'In the name of God, Waverley, +what has brought you here? It may be as much as your life is +worth.' + +'Dear Mr. Waverley,' said Lady Emily,' to whom I owe so much more +than acknowledgements can ever pity, how could you be so rash?' + +'My father--my uncle--this paragraph,'--he handed the paper to +Colonel Talbot. + +'I wish to Heaven' these scoundrels were condemned to be squeezed +to death in their own presses,' said Talbot. 'I am told there +are not less than a dozen of their papers now published in town, +and no wonder that they are obliged to invent lies to find sale +for their journals. It is true, however, my dear Edward, that +you have lost your father; but as to this flourish of his +unpleasant situation having grated upon his spirits, and hurt his +health--the truth is--for though it is harsh to say so now, yet +it will relieve your mind from the idea of weighty +responsibility--the truth then is, that Mr. Richard Waverley, +through this whole business, showed great want of sensibility, +both to your situation and that of your uncle; and the last time +I saw him, he told me, with great glee, that, as I was so good as +to take charge of your interests, he had thought it best to patch +up a separate negotiation for himself, and make his peace with +Government through some channels which former connexions left +still open to him.' + +'And my uncle--my dear uncle?' + +'Is in no danger whatever. It is true' (looking at the date of +the paper) 'there was a foolish report some time ago to the +purport here quoted, but it is entirely false. Sir Everard is +gone down to Waverley-Honour, freed from all uneasiness, unless +upon your own account. But you are in peril yourself--your name +is in every proclamation--warrants are out to apprehend you. How +and when did you come here?' + +Edward told his story at length, suppressing his quarrel with +Fergus; for being himself partial to Highlanders, he did not wish +to give any advantage to the Colonel's national prejudice against +them. + +'Are you sure it was your friend Glen's footboy you saw dead in +Clifton Moor?' + +'Quite positive.' + +'Then that little limb of the devil has cheated the gallows, for +cut-throat was written in his face; though' (turning to Lady +Emily) 'it was a very handsome face too.--But for you, Edward, I +wish you would go down again to Cumberland, or rather I wish you +had never stirred from thence, for there is an embargo on all the +seaports, and a strict search for the adherents of the Pretender; +and the tongue of that confounded woman will wag in her head like +the clack of a mill, till somehow or other she will detect +Captain Butler to be a feigned personage,' + +'Do you know anything,' asked Waverley, 'of my fellow traveller?' + +'Her husband was my sergeant-major for six years; she was a buxom +widow, with a little money--he married her--was steady, and got +on by being a good drill. I must send Spontoon to see what she +is about; he will find her out among the old regimental +connexions. To-morrow you must be indisposed, and keep your room +from fatigue. Lady Emily is to be your nurse, and Spontoon and I +your attendants. You bear the name of a near relation of mine, +whom none of my present people ever saw, except Spontoon; so +there will be no immediate danger. So pray feel your head ache +and your eyes grow heavy as soon as possible, that you may be put +upon the sick list; and, Emily, do you order an apartment for +Frank Stanley, with all the attention which an invalid may +require.' + +In the morning the Colonel visited his guest.--'Now,' said he, 'I +have some good news for you. Your reputation as a gentleman and +officer is effectually cleared of neglect of duty, and accession +to the mutiny in Gardiner's regiment. I have had a +correspondence on this subject with a very zealous friend of +yours, your Scottish parson, Morton; his first letter was +addressed to Sir Everard; but I relieved the good Baronet of the +trouble of answering it. You must know, that your freebooting +acquaintance; Donald of the Cave, has at length fallen into the +hands of the Philistines. He was driving off the cattle of a +certain proprietor, called Killan--something or other--' + +'Killancureit?' + +'The same. Now, the gentleman being, it seems, a great farmer, +and having a special value for his breed of cattle--being, +moreover, rather of a timid disposition, had got a party of +soldiers to protect his property. So Donald ran his head +unawares into the lion's mouth, and was defeated and made +prisoner. Being ordered for execution, his conscience was +assailed on the one hand by a Catholic priest,--on the other by +your friend Morton. He repulsed the Catholic chiefly on account +of the doctrine of extreme unction, which this economical +gentleman considered as an excessive waste of oil. So his +conversion from a state of impenitence fell to Mr. Morton's +share, who, I dare say, acquitted himself excellently, though, I +suppose, Donald made but a queer kind of Christian after all. He +confessed, however, before a magistrate--one Major Melville, who +seems to have been a correct, friendly sort of person--his full +intrigue with Houghton, explaining particularly how it was +carried on, and fully acquitting you of the least accession to +it. He also mentioned his rescuing you from the hands of the +volunteer officer, and sending you, by orders of the Pret-- +Chevalier, I mean as a prisoner to Doune, from whence he +understood you were carried prisoner to Edinburgh. These are +particulars which cannot but tell in your favour. He hinted that +he had been employed to deliver and protect you, and rewarded for +doing so; but he would not confess by whom, alleging, that, +though he would not have minded breaking any ordinary oath to +satisfy the curiosity of Mr. Morton, to whose pious admonitions +he owed so much, yet in the present case he had been sworn to +silence upon the edge of his dirk, [See Note 33.] which, it +seems, constituted, in his opinion, an inviolable obligation.' + +'And what has become of him?' + +'Oh, he was hanged at Stirling after the rebels raised the siege, +with his lieutenant, and four plaids besides; he having the +advantage of a gallows more lofty than his friends.' + +'Well, I have little cause either to regret or rejoice at his +death; and yet he has done me both good and harm to a very +considerable extent.' + +His confession, at least, will serve you materially, since it +wipes from your character all those suspicions which gave the +accusation against you a complexion of a nature different from +that with which so many unfortunate gentlemen, now or lately in +arms against the Government, may be justly charged. Their +treason--I must give it its name, though you participate in its +guilt--is an action arising from mistaken virtue, and therefore +cannot be classed as a disgrace, though it be doubtless highly +criminal. Where the guilty are so numerous, clemency must be +extended to far the greater number; and I have little doubt of +procuring a remission for you, provided we can keep you out of +the claws of justice till she has selected and gorged upon her +victims; for in this, as in other cases, it will be according to +the vulgar proverb, 'First come, first served.' Besides, +Government are desirous at present to intimidate the English +Jacobites, among whom they can find few examples for punishment. +This is a vindictive and timid feeling which will soon wear off, +for, of all nations, the English are least bloodthirsty by +nature. But it exists at present, and you must therefore be kept +out of the way in the meantime.' + +Now entered Spontoon with an anxious countenance. By his +regimental acquaintances he had traced out Madam Nosebag, and +found her full of ire, fuss, and fidget, at discovery of an +impostor, who had travelled from the north with her under the +assumed name of Captain Butler of Gardiner's dragoons. She was +going to lodge an information on the subject, to have him sought +for as an emissary of the Pretender; but Spontoon (an old +soldier), while he pretended to approve, contrived to make her +delay her intention. No time, however, was to be lost: the +accuracy of this good dame's description might probably lead to +the discovery that Waverley was the pretended Captain Butler; an +identification fraught with danger to Edward, perhaps to his +uncle, and even to Colonel Talbot. Which way to direct his +course was now, therefore, the question. + +'To Scotland,' said Waverley. + +'To Scotland!' said the Colonel; 'with what purpose?--not to +engage again with the rebels, I hope?' + +'No--I considered my campaign ended, when, after all my efforts, +I could not rejoin them; and now, by all accounts, they are gone +to make a winter campaign in the Highlands, where such adherents +as I am would rather be burdensome than useful. Indeed, it seems +likely that they only prolong the war to place the Chevalier's +person out of danger, and then to make some terms for themselves. +To burden them with my presence would merely add another party, +whom they would not give up, and could not defend. I understand +they left almost all their English adherents in garrison at +Carlisle, for that very reason: and on a more general view, +Colonel, to confess the truth, though it may lower me in your +opinion, I am heartily tired of the trade of war, and am, as +Fletcher's Humorous Lieutenant says, "even as weary of this +fighting"--' + +'Fighting! pooh, what have you seen but a skirmish or two?-Ah! +if you saw war on the grand scale--sixty or a hundred thousand +men in the field on each side!' + +'I am not at all curious, Colonel.--"Enough," says our homely +proverb, "is as good as a feast." The plumed troops and the big +war used to enchant me in poetry; but the night marches, vigils, +couched under the wintry sky, and such accompaniments of the +glorious trade, are not at all to my taste in practice:--then for +dry blows, I had my fill of fighting at Clifton, where I escaped +by a hair's-breadth half a dozen times; and you, I should think +--' He stopped. + +'Had enough of it at Preston? you mean to say,' answered the +Colonel, laughing; 'but, "'tis my vocation, Hal."' + +'It is not mine, though,' said Waverley; 'and having honourably +got rid of the sword, which I drew only as a volunteer, I am +quite satisfied with my military experience, and shall be in no +hurry to take it up again.' + +'I am very glad you are of that mind--but then, what would you do +in the North?' + +'In the first place, there are some seaports on the eastern coast +of Scotland still in the hands of the Chevalier's friends; should +I gain any of them, I can easily embark for the Continent.' + +'Good--your second reason?' + +'Why, to speak the very truth, there is a person in Scotland upon +whom I now find my happiness, depends more than I was always +aware, and about whose situation I am very anxious.' + +'Then Emily was right, and there is a love affair in the case +after all?--And which of these two pretty Scotchwomen, whom you +insisted upon my admiring, is the distinguished fair?--not Miss +Glen--I hope.' + +'No.' + +'Ah, pass for the other: simplicity may be improved, but pride +and conceit never. Well, I don't discourage you; I think it will +please Sir Everard, from what he said when I jested with him +about it; only I hope that intolerable papa, with his brogue, and +his snuff, and his Latin, and his insufferable long stories about +the Duke of Berwick, will find it necessary hereafter to be an +inhabitant of foreign parts. But as to the daughter, though I +think you might find as fitting a match in England, yet if your +heart be really set upon this Scotch rosebud, why, the Baronet +has a great opinion of her father and of his family, and he +wishes much to see you married and settled, both for your own +sake and for that of the three ermines passant, which may +otherwise pass away altogether. But I will bring you his mind +fully upon the subject, since you are debarred correspondence for +the present, for I think you will not be long in Scotland before +me. + +Indeed! and what can induce you to think of returning to +Scotland? No relenting longings towards the land of mountains +and floods, I am afraid.' + +'None, on my word; but Emily's health is now, thank God, re- +established, and, to tell you the truth, I have little hopes of +concluding the business which I have at present most at heart, +until I can have a personal interview with his Royal Highness the +Commander-in-Chief; for, as Fluellen says, "The duke doth love me +well, and I thank Heaven I have deserved some love at his hands." +I am now going out for an hour or two to arrange matters for your +departure; your liberty extends to the next room, Lady Emily's +parlour, where you will find her when you are disposed for music, +reading, or conversation. We have taken measures to exclude all +servants but Spontoon, who is as true as steel.' + +In about two hours Colonel Talbot returned, and found his young +friend conversing with his lady; she pleased with his manners and +information, and he delighted at being restored, though but for a +moment, to the society of his own rank, from which he had been +for some time excluded.' + +'And now,' said the Colonel, 'hear my arrangements, for there is +little time to lose. This youngster, Edward Waverley, ALIAS +Williams, ALIAS Captain Butler, must continue to pass by his +fourth ALIAS of Francis Stanley, my nephew: he shall set out +to-morrow for the North, and the chariot shall take him the first +two stages.' Spontoon shall then attend him; and they shall ride +post as far as Huntingdon; and the presence of Spontoon, well +known on the road as my servant, will check all disposition to +inquiry. At Huntingdon you will meet the real Frank Stanley. He +is studying at Cambridge; but, a little while ago, doubtful if +Emily's health would permit me to go down to the North myself, I +procured him a passport from the Secretary of State's office to +go in my stead. As he went chiefly to look after you, his +journey is now unnecessary. He knows your story; you will dine +together at Huntingdon; and perhaps your wise heads may hit upon +some plan for removing or diminishing the danger of your further +progress northward. And now' (taking out a morocco case), 'let +me put you in funds for the campaign.' + +'I am ashamed, my dear Colonel,--' + +'Nay,' said Colonel Talbot, 'you should command my purse in any +event; but this money is your own. Your father, considering the +chance of your being attainted, left me his trustee for your +advantage. So that you are worth above L15,000, besides +Brerewood Lodge--a very independent person, I promise you. There +are bills here for L200; any larger sum you may have, or credit +abroad, as soon as your motions require it.' + +The first use which occurred to Waverley of his newly-acquired +wealth, was to write to honest Farmer Jopson, requesting his +acceptance of a silver tankard on the part of his friend +Williams, who had not forgotten the night of the eighteenth +December last. He begged him at the same time carefully to +preserve for him his Highland garb and accoutrements, +particularly the arms--curious in themselves, and to which the +friendship of the donors gave additional value. Lady Emily +undertook to find some suitable token of remembrance, likely to +flatter the vanity and please the taste of Mrs. Williams; and the +Colonel, who was a kind of farmer, promised to send the Ullswater +patriarch an excellent team of horses for cart and plough. + +One happy day Waverley spent in London; and, travelling in the +manner projected, he met with Frank Stanley at Huntingdon. The +two young men were acquainted in a minute. + +'I can read my uncle's riddle,' said Stanley. 'The cautious old +soldier did not care to hint to me that I might hand over to you +this passport, which I have no occasion for; but if it should +afterwards come out as the rattlepated trick of a young Cantab, +CELA NE TIRE A RIEN. You are therefore to be Francis Stanley, +with this passport.' This proposal appeared in effect to +alleviate a great part of the difficulties which Edward must +otherwise have encountered at every turn; and accordingly he +scrupled not to avail himself of it, the more especially as he +had discarded all political purposes from his present journey, +and could not be accused of furthering machinations against the +Government while travelling under protection of the Secretary's +passport. + +The day passed merrily away. The young student was inquisitive +about Waverley's campaigns, and the manners of the Highlands; and +Edward was obliged to satisfy his curiosity by whistling a +pibroch, dancing a strathspey, and singing a Highland song. The +next morning Stanley rode a stage northward with his new friend, +and parted from him with great reluctance, upon the remonstrances +of Spontoon, who, accustomed to submit to discipline, was rigid +in enforcing it. + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +DESOLATION + +Waverly riding post, as was the usual fashion of the period, +without any adventure save one or two queries, which the talisman +of his passport sufficiently answered, reached the borders of +Scotland. Here he heard the tidings of the decisive battle of +Culloden. It was no more than he had long expected, though the +success at Falkirk had thrown a faint and setting gleam over the +arms of the Chevalier. Yet it came upon him like a shock, by +which he was for a time altogether unmanned. The generous, the +courteous, the noble-minded Adventurer, was then a fugitive, with +a price upon his head; his adherents, so brave, so enthusiastic, +so faithful, were dead, imprisoned, or exiled. Where, now, was +the exalted and high-souled Fergus, if, indeed, he had survived +the night at Clifton?--where the pure-hearted and primitive Baron +of Bradwardine, whose foibles seemed foils to set off the +disinterestedness of his disposition, the genuine goodness of his +heart, and his unshaken courage? Those who clung for support to +these fallen columns, Rose and Flora,--where were they to be +sought, and in what distress must not the loss of their natural +protectors have involved them? Of Flora he thought with the +regard of a brother for a sister--of Rose, with a sensation yet +more deep and tender. It might be still his fate to supply the +want of those guardians they had lost. Agitated by these +thoughts, he precipitated his journey. + +When he arrived in Edinburgh, where his inquiries must +necessarily commence, he felt the full difficulty of his +situation. Many inhabitants of that city had seen and known him +as Edward Waverley; how, then, could he avail himself of a +passport as Francis Stanley? He resolved, there-fore, to avoid +all company, and to move northward as soon as possible. He was, +however, obliged to wait a day or two in expectation of a letter +from Colonel Talbot, and he was also to leave his own address, +under his feigned character, at a place agreed upon. With this +latter purpose he sallied out in the dusk through the well-known +streets, carefully shunning observation,--but in vain: one of +the first persons whom he met at once recognized him, It was Mrs. +Flockhart, Fergus Mac-Ivor's good-humoured landlady. + +'Gude guide us, Mr. Waverley, is this you?--na, ye needna be +feared for me--I wad betray nae gentleman in your circumstances. +Eh, lack-a-day! lack-a-day! here's a change o' markets! how +merry Colonel Mac-Ivor and you used to be in our house!' And the +good-natured widow shed a few natural tears. As there was no +resisting her claim of acquaintance, Waverley acknowledged it +with a good grace, as well as the danger of his own situation. +'As it's near the darkening, sir, wad ye just step in by to our +house, and tak a dish o' tea? and I am sure, if ye like to sleep +in the little room, I wad tak care ye are no disturbed, and +naebody wad ken ye; for Kate and Matty, the limmers, gaed aff wi' +twa o' Hawley's dragoons, and I hae twa new queans instead o' +them.' + +Waverley accepted her invitation, and engaged her lodging for a +night or two, satisfied he should be safer in the house of this +simple creature than anywhere else. When he entered the parlour, +his heart swelled to see Fergus's bonnet, with the white cockade, +hanging beside the little mirror. + +'Aye,' said Mrs. Flockhart, sighing, as she observed the +direction of his eyes, 'the puir Colonel bought a new ane just +the day before they marched, and I winna let them tak that ane +doun, but just to brush it ilka day mysell; and whiles I look at +it till I just think I hear him cry to Callum to bring him his +bonnet, as he used to do when he was ganging out.--It's unco +silly--the neighbours ca' me a Jacobite--but they may say their +say--I am sure it's no for that--but he was as kind-hearted a +gentleman as ever lived, and as weel-fa'rd too. Oh, d'ye ken, +sir, when he is to suffer?' + +'Suffer! Good heaven!--Why, where is he?' + +'Eh, Lord's sake! d'ye no ken? The poor Hieland body, Dugald +Mahoney, cam here a while syne, wi' ane o' his arms cuttit off, +and a sair clour in the head--ye'll mind Dugald? he carried aye +an axe on his shouther--and he cam here just begging, as I may +say, for something to eat. Aweel, he tauld us the Chief, as they +ca'd him (but I aye ca' him the Colonel), and Ensign Maccombich, +that ye mind weel, were ta'en somewhere beside the English +border, when it was sae dark that his folk never missed him till +it was ower late, and they were like to gang clean daft. And he +said that little Callum Beg (he was a bauld mischievous callant +that), and your honour, were killed that same night in the +tuilzie, and mony mae braw men. But he grat when he spak o' the +Colonel, ye never saw tie like. And now the word gangs, the +Colonel is to be tried, and to suffer wi' them that were ta'en at +Carlisle.' + +'And his sister?' + +'Aye, that they ca'd the Lady Flora--weel, she's away up to +Carlisle to him, and lives wi' some grand Papist lady +thereabouts, to be near him.' + +'And,' said Edward, 'the other young lady?' + +'Whilk other? I ken only of ae sister the Colonel had.' + +'I mean Miss Bradwardine,' said Edward. + +'Ou aye, the laird's daughter,' said his landlady. 'She was a +very bonny lassie, poor thing, but far shyer than Lady Flora.' + +'Where is she, for God's sake?' + +'Ou, wha kens where ony o' them is now? Puir things, they're +sair ta'en doun for their white cockades and their white roses; +but she gaed north to her father's in Perthshire, when the +Government troops cam back to Edinbro'. There was some pretty +men amang them, and ane Major Whacker was quartered on me, a very +ceevil gentleman,--but oh, Mr. Waverley, he was naething sae +weel-fa'rd as the puir Colonel.' + +'Do you know what is become of Miss Bradwardine's father?' + +'The auld laird?--na, naebody kens that; but they say he fought +very hard in that bluidy battle at Inverness; and Deacon Clark, +the white-iron smith, says, that the Government folk are sair +agane him for having been OUT twice; and troth he might hae ta'en +warning,--but there's nae fule like an auld fule--the puir +Colonel was only out ance.' + +Such conversation contained almost all the good-natured widow +knew of the fate of her late lodgers and acquaintances; but it +was enough to determine Edward at all hazards to proceed +instantly to Tully-Veolan, where he concluded he should see, or +at least hear, something of Rose. He therefore left a letter for +Colonel Talbot at the place agreed upon, signed by his assumed +name, and giving for his address the post-town next to the +Baron's residence. + +From Edinburgh to Perth he took post-horses, resolving to make +the rest of his journey on foot--a mode of travelling to which he +was partial, and which had the advantage of permitting a +deviation from the road when he saw parties of military at a +distance. His campaign had considerably strengthened his +constitution, and improved his habits of enduring fatigue. His +baggage he sent before him as opportunity occurred. + +As he advanced northward, the traces of war became visible. +Broken carriages, dead horses, unroofed cottages, trees felled +for palisades, and bridges destroyed, or only partially +repaired,--all indicated the movements of hostile armies. In +those places where the gentry were attached to the Stuart cause, +their houses seemed dismantled or deserted, the usual course of +what may be called ornamental labour was totally interrupted, and +the inhabitants were seen gliding about, with fear, sorrow, and +dejection on their faces. + +It was evening when he approached the village of Tully-Veolan, +with feelings and sentiments--how different from those which +attended his first entrance! Then, life was so new to him, that +a dull or disagreeable day was one of the greatest misfortunes +which his imagination anticipated, and it seemed to him that his +time ought only to be consecrated to elegant or amusing study, +and relieved by social or youthful frolic. Now, how changed! +how saddened, yet how elevated was his character, within the +course of a very few months! Danger and misfortune are rapid, +though severe teachers. 'A sadder and a wiser man,' he felt, in +internal confidence and mental dignity, a compensation for the +gay dreams which, in his case, experience had so rapidly +dissolved. + +As he approached the village, he saw, with surprise and anxiety, +that a party of soldiers were quartered near it, and, what was +worse, that they seemed stationary there. This he conjectured +from a few tents which he beheld glimmering upon what was called +the Common Moor. To avoid the risk of being stopped and +questioned in a place where he was so likely to be recognized, he +made a large circuit, altogether avoiding the hamlet, and +approaching the upper gate of the avenue by a by-path well known +to him. A single glance announced that great changes had taken +place. One half of the gate, entirely destroyed and split up for +firewood, lay in piles, ready to be taken away; the other swung +uselessly about upon its loosened hinges. The battlements above +the gate were broken and thrown down, and the carved Bears, which +were said to have done sentinel's duty upon the top for +centuries, now, hurled from their posts, lay among the rubbish. +The avenue was cruelly wasted. Several large trees were felled +and left lying across the path; and the cattle of the villagers, +and the more rude hoofs of dragoon horses, had poached into black +mud the verdant turf which Waverley had so much admired. + +Upon entering the courtyard, Edward saw the fears realized which +these circumstances had excited. The place had been sacked by +the King's troops, who, in wanton mischief, had even attempted to +burn it; and though the thickness of the walls had resisted the +fire, unless to a partial extent, the stables and out-houses were +totally consumed. The towers and pinnacles of the main building +were scorched and blackened; the pavement of the court broken and +shattered; the doors torn down entirely, or hanging by a single +hinge; the windows dashed in and demolished; and the court +strewed with articles of furniture broken into fragments. The +accessories of ancient distinction, to which the Baron, in the +pride of his heart, had attached so much importance and +veneration, were treated with peculiar contumely. The fountain +was demolished, and the spring which had supplied it now flooded +the courtyard. The stone basin seemed to be destined for a +drinking-trough for cattle, from the manner in which it was +arranged upon the ground. The whole tribe of Bears, large and +small, had experienced as little favour as those at the head of +the avenue; and one or two of the family pictures, which seemed +to have served as targets for the soldiers, lay on the ground in +tatters. With an aching heart, as may well be imagined, Edward +viewed this wreck of a mansion so respected. But his anxiety to +learn the fate of the proprietors, and his fears as to what that +fate might be, increased with every step. When he entered upon +the terrace, new scenes of desolation were visible. The +balustrade was broken down, the walls destroyed, the borders +overgrown with weeds, and the fruit-trees cut down or grubbed up. +In one compartment of this old-fashioned garden were two immense +horse-chestnut trees, of whose size the Baron was particularly +vain: too lazy, perhaps, to cut them down, the spoilers, with +malevolent ingenuity, had mined them, and placed a quantity of +gunpowder in the cavity. One had been shivered to pieces by the +explosion, and the fragments lay scattered around, encumbering +the ground it had so long shadowed. The other mine had been more +partial in its effect. About one-fourth of the trunk of the tree +was torn from the mass, which, mutilated and defaced on the one +side, still spread on the other its ample and undiminished +boughs. [A pair of chestnut trees, destroyed, the one entirely, +and the other in part, by such a mischievous and wanton act of +revenge, grew at Invergarry Castle, the fastness of Macdonald of +Glengarry.] + +Amid these general marks of ravage, there were some which more +particularly addressed the feelings of Waverley. Viewing the +front of the building, thus wasted and defaced, his eyes +naturally sought the little balcony which more properly belonged +to Rose's apartment--her TROISIEME, or rather CINQUIEME ETAGE. +It was easily discovered, for beneath it lay the stage-flowers +and shrubs with which it was her pride to decorate it, and which +had been hurled from the bartizan: several of her books were +mingled with broken flower-pots and other remnants. Among these, +Waverley distinguished one of his own, a small copy of Ariosto, +and gathered it as a treasure, though wasted by the wind and +rain. + +While, plunged in the sad reflections which the scene excited, he +was looking around for some one who might explain the fate of the +inhabitants, he heard a voice from the interior of the building +singing, in well-remembered accents, an old Scottish song: + + They came upon us in the night, + And brake my bower and slew my knight: + My servants a' for life did flee, + And left us in extremitie, + + They slew my knight, to me sae dear; + They slew my knight, and drave his gear; + The moon may set, the sun may rise, + But a deadly sleep has closed his eyes. + [The first three couplets are from an old ballad, called the + Border Widow's Lament.] + +'Alas!' thought Edward, 'is it thou? Poor helpless being, art +thou alone left, to gibber and moan, and fill with thy wild and +unconnected scraps of minstrelsy the halls that protected thee?' +--He then called, first low, and then louder, 'Davie--Davie +Gellatley!' + +The poor simpleton showed himself from among the ruins of a sort +of greenhouse, that once terminated what was called the Terrace- +walk, but at first sight of a stranger retreated, as if in +terror. Waverley, remembering his habits, began to whistle a +tune to which he was partial, which Davie had expressed great +pleasure in listening to, and had picked up from him by the ear. +Our hero's minstrelsy no more equalled that of Blondel, than poor +Davie resembled Coeur de Lion; but the melody had the same effect +of producing recognition. Davie again stole from his lurking- +place, but timidly, while Waverley, afraid of frightening him, +stood making the most encouraging signals he could devise.--'It's +his ghaist,' muttered Davie; yet, coming nearer, he seemed to +acknowledge his living acquaintance. The poor fool himself +appeared the ghost of what he had been. The peculiar dress in +which he had been attired in better days, showed only miserable +rags of its whimsical finery, the lack of which was oddly +supplied by the remnants of tapestried hangings, window-curtains, +and shreds of pictures, with which he had bedizened his tatters. +His face, too, had lost its vacant and careless air, and the poor +creature looked hollow-eyed, meagre, half-starved, and nervous to +a pitiable degree.--After long hesitation, he at length +approached Waverley with some confidence, stared him sadly in the +face, and said, 'A' dead and gane--a' dead and gane!' + +'Who are dead?' said Waverley, forgetting the incapacity of +Davie to hold any connected discourse. + +'Baron--and Bailie and Saunders Saunderson and Lady Rose, that +sang sae sweet--A' dead and gane--dead and gane! + + But follow, follow me, + While glow-worms light the lea; + I'll show you where the dead should be-- + Each in his shroud, + While winds pipe loud, + And the red moon peeps dim through the cloud. + Follow, follow me; + Brave should he be + That treads by night the dead man's lea.' + +With these' words, chanted in a wild and earnest tone, he made a +sign to Waverley to follow him, and walked rapidly towards the +bottom of the garden, tracing the bank of the stream, which, it +may be remembered, was its eastern boundary. Edward, over whom +an involuntary shuddering stole at the import of his words, +followed him in some hope of an explanation. As the house was +evidently deserted, he could not expect to find among the ruins +any more rational informer. + +Davie, walking very fast, soon reached the extremity of the +garden, and scrambled over the ruins of the wall that once had +divided it from the wooded glen in which the old Tower of Tully- +Veolan was situated. He then jumped down into the bed of the +stream, and, followed by Waverley, proceeded at a great pace, +climbing over some fragments of rock, and turning with difficulty +round others. They passed beneath the ruins of the castle; +Waverley followed, keeping up with his guide with difficulty, for +the twilight began to fall. Following the descent of the stream +a little lower, he totally lost him, but a twinkling light, which +he now discovered among the tangled copse-wood and bushes, seemed +a surer guide. He soon pursued a very uncouth path; and by its +guidance at length reached the door of a wretched hut. A fierce +barking of dogs was at first heard, but it stilled at his +approach. A voice sounded from within, and he held it most +prudent to listen before he advanced. + +'Wha hast thou brought here, thou unsonsy villain, thou?' said +an old woman, apparently in great indignation. He heard Davie +Gellatley, in answer, whistle a part of the tune by which he had +recalled himself to the simpleton's memory, and had now no +hesitation to knock at the door. There was a dead silence +instantly within, except the deep growling of the dogs; and he +next heard the mistress of the hut approach the door, not +probably for the sake of undoing a latch, but of fastening a +bolt. To prevent this, Waverley lifted the latch himself. + +In front was an old wretched-looking woman, exclaiming, 'Wha +comes into folk's houses in this gate, at this time o' the +night?' On one side, two grim and half-starved deer greyhounds +laid aside their ferocity at his appearance, and seemed to +recognize him. On the other side, half concealed by the open +door, yet apparently seeking that concealment reluctantly, with a +cocked pistol in his right hand, and his left in the act of +drawing another from his belt, stood a tall bony gaunt figure in +the remnants of a faded uniform, and a beard of three weeks' +growth. + +It was the Baron of Bradwardine. It is unnecessary to add, that +he threw aside his weapon, and greeted Waverley with a hearty +embrace. + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +COMPARING OF NOTES + +The Baron's story was short, when divested of the adages and +commonplaces, Latin, English, and Scotch, with which his +erudition garnished it. He insisted much upon his grief at the +loss of Edward and of Glennaquoich, fought the fields of Falkirk +and Culloden, and related how, after all was lost in the last +battle, he had returned home, under the idea of more easily +finding shelter among his own tenants, and on his own estate, +than elsewhere. A party of soldiers had been sent to lay waste +his property, for clemency was not the order of the day. Their +proceedings, however, were checked by an order from the civil +court. The estate, it was found, might not be forfeited to the +crown, to the prejudice of Malcolm Bradwardine of Inch-Grabbit, +the heir-male, whose claim could not be prejudiced by the Baron's +attainder, as deriving no right through him, and who, therefore, +like other heirs of entail in the same situation, entered upon +possession. But, unlike many in similar circumstances, the new +laird speedily showed that he intended utterly to exclude his +predecessor from all benefit or advantage in the estate, and that +it was his purpose to avail himself of the old Baron's evil +fortune to the full extent. This was the more ungenerous, as it +was generally known, that, from a romantic idea of not +prejudicing this young man's right as heir-male, the Baron had +refrained from settling his estate on his daughter. + +This selfish injustice was resented by the country people, who +were partial to their old master, and irritated against his +successor. In the Baron's own words, 'The matter did not +coincide with the feelings of the commons of Bradwardine, Mr. +Waverley; and the tenants were slack and repugnant in payment of +their mails and duties; and when my kinsman came to the village +wi' the new factor, Mr. James Howie, to lift the rents, some +wanchancy person--I suspect John Heatherblutter, the auld +gamekeeper, that was out wi' me in the year fifteen--fired a shot +at him in the gloaming, whereby he was so affrighted, that I may +say with Tullius in Catilinam, ABIIT, EVASIT, ERUPIT, EFFUGIT. +He fled, sir, as one may say, incontinent to Stirling. And now +he hath advertised the estate for sale, being himself the last +substitute in the entail. And if I were to lament about sic +matters, this would grieve me mair than its passing from my +immediate possession, whilk, by the course of nature, must have +happened in a few years. Whereas now it passes from the lineage +that should have possessed it in SAECULA SAECULORUM. But God's +will be done, HUMANA PERPESSI SUMUS. Sir John of Bradwardine-- +Black Sir John, as he is called--who was the common ancestor of +our house and the Inch-Grabbits, little thought such a person +would have sprung from his loins. Meantime, he has accused me to +some of the primates, the rulers for the time, as if I were a +cut-throat, and an abettor of bravoes and assassinates, and +coupe-jarrets. And they have sent soldiers here to abide on the +estate, and hunt me like a partridge upon the mountains, as +Scripture says of good King David, or like our valiant Sir +William Wallace,--not that I bring myself into comparison with +either.--I thought, when I heard you at the door, they had driven +the auld deer to his den at last; and so I e'en proposed to die +at bay, like a buck of the first head.--But now, Janet, canna ye +gie us something for supper?' + +'Ou aye, sir, I'll brander the moor-fowl that John Heatherblutter +brought in this morning; and ye see puir Davie's roasting the +black hen's eggs.--I daur say, Mr. Wauverley, ye never kend that +a' the eggs that were sae weel roasted at supper in the Ha'-house +were aye turned by our Davie?--there's no the like o' him ony +gate for powtering wi' his fingers amang the het peat-ashes, and +roasting eggs. Davie all this while lay with his nose almost in +the fire, nuzzling among the ashes, kicking his heels, mumbling +to himself, turning the eggs as they lay in the hot embers, as if +to confute the proverb, that 'there goes reason to roasting of +eggs,' and justify the eulogium which poor Janet poured out upon + + Him whom she loved, her idiot boy. + +Davie's no sae silly as folk tak him for, Mr. Wauverley; he wadna +hae brought you here unless he had kend ye was a friend to his +Honour--indeed the very dogs kend ye, Mr. Wauverley, for ye was +aye kind to beast and body.--I can tell you a story o' Davie, wi' +his Honour's leave: His Honour, ye see, being under hiding in +thae sair times--the mair's the pity--he lies a' day, and whiles +a' night, in the cove in the dern hag; but though it 's a bieldy +eneugh bit, and the auld gudeman o' Corse-Cleugh has panged it +wi' a kemple o' strae amaist, yet when the country's quiet, and +the night very cauld, his Honour whiles creeps doun here to get a +warm at the ingle, and a sleep amang the blankets, and gangs awa +in the morning. And so, ae morning, siccan a fright as I got! +Twa unlucky red-coats were up for black-fishing, or some siccan +ploy--for the neb o' them's never out o' mischief--and they just +got a glisk o' his Honour as he gaed into the wood, and banged +aff a gun at him, I out like a jer-falcon, and cried,--"Wad they +shoot an honest woman's poor innocent bairn?" And I fleyt at +them, and threepit it was my son; and they damned and swuir at me +that it was the auld rebel, as the villains ca'd his Honour; and +Davie was in the wood, and heard the tuilzie, and he, just out o' +his ain head, got up the auld grey mantle that his Honour had +flung off him to gang the faster, and he cam out o' the very same +bit o' the wood, majoring and looking about sae like his Honour, +that they were clean beguiled, and thought they had letten aff +their gun at crack-brained Sawney, as they ca'd him; and they gae +me saxpence, and twa saumon fish, to say naething about it.--Na, +na; Davie's no just like other folk, puir fallow; but he's no sae +silly as folk tak him for.--But, to be sure, how can we do eneugh +for his Honour, when we and ours have lived on his ground this +twa hundred years; and when he keepit my puir Jamie at school and +college, and even at the Ha'-house, till he gaed to a better +place; and when he saved me frae being ta'en to Perth as a witch +--lord forgi'e them that would touch sic a puir silly auld body! +--and has maintained puir Davie at heck and manger maist feck o' +his life?' + +Waverley at length found an opportunity to interrupt Janet's +narrative, by an inquiry after Miss Bradwardine. + +'She's weel and safe, thank God! at the Duchran,' answered the +Baron. 'The laird's distantly related to us, and more nearly to +my chaplain, Mr. Rubrick; and, though he be of Whig principles, +yet he's not forgetful of auld friendship at this time. The +Bailie's doing what he can to save something out of the wreck for +puir Rose; but I doubt, I doubt, I shall never see her again, for +I maun lay my banes in some far country.' + +'Hout na, your Honour,' said old Janet; 'ye were just as ill aff +in the feifteen, and got the bonnie baronie back, an' a'.--And +now the eggs is ready, and the muir-cock's brandered, and there's +ilk ane a trencher and some saut, and the heel o' the white loaf +that cam frae the Bailie's; and there's plenty o' brandy in the +greybeard that Luckie Maclearie sent doun; and winna ye be +suppered like princes?' + +'I wish one Prince, at least, of our acquaintance, may be no +worse off,' said the Baron to Waverley, who joined him in cordial +hopes for the safety of the unfortunate Chevalier. + +They then began to talk of their future prospects. The Baron's +plan was very simple. It was, to escape to France, where, by the +interest of his old friends, he hoped to get some military +employment, of which he still conceived himself capable. He +invited Waverley to go with him, a proposal in which he +acquiesced, providing the interest of Colonel Talbot should fail +in procuring his pardon. Tacitly he hoped the Baron would +sanction his addresses to Rose, and give him a right to assist +him in his exile; but he forbore to speak on this subject until +his own fate should be decided. They then talked of +Glennaquoich, for whom the Baron expressed great anxiety, +although, he observed, he was 'the very Achilles of Horatius +Flaccus,-- + + Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer. + +Which,' he continued, 'has been thus rendered (vernacularly) by +Struan Robertson: + + A fiery etter-cap, a fractious chiel, + As het as ginger, and as stieve as steel.' + +Flora had a large and unqualified share of the good old man's +sympathy. + +It was now wearing late. Old Janet got into some kind of kennel +behind the hallan. Davie had been long asleep and snoring +between Ban and Buscar. These dogs had followed him to the hut +after the mansion-house was deserted, and there constantly +resided; and their ferocity, with the old woman's reputation of +being a witch, contributed a good deal to keep visitors from the +glen. With this view, Bailie Macwheeble provided Janet underhand +with meal for their maintenance, and also with little articles of +luxury for their patron's use, in supplying which much precaution +was necessarily used. After some compliments, the Baron occupied +his usual couch, and Waverley reclined in an easy-chair of +tattered velvet, which had once garnished the state bed-room of +Tully-Veolan (for the furniture of this mansion was now scattered +through all the cottages in the vicinity), and went to sleep as +comfortably as if he had been in a bed of down. + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +MORE EXPLANATION + +With the first dawn of the day, old Janet was scuttling about the +house to wake the Baron, who usually slept sound and heavily. + +'I must go back,' he said to Waverley, to my cove: will you walk +down the glen wi' me?' + +They went out together, and followed a narrow and entangled +footpath, which the occasional passage of anglers, or wood- +cutters, had traced by the side of the stream. On their way, the +Baron explained to Waverley, that he would be under no danger in +remaining a day or two at Tully-Veolan, and even in being seen +walking about, if he used the precaution of pretending that he +was looking at the estate as agent or surveyor for an English +gentleman, who designed to be purchaser. With this view, he +recommended to him to visit the Bailie, who still lived at the +factor's house, called Little Veolan, about a mile from the +village, though he was to remove at next term. Stanley's +passport would be an answer to the officer who commanded the +military; and as to any of the country people who might recognize +Waverley the Baron assured him that he was in no danger of being +betrayed by them. + +'I believe,' said the old man, 'half the people of the barony +know that their poor auld laird is somewhere hereabout; for I see +they do not suffer a single bairn to come here a bird-nesting--a +practice whilk, when I was in full possession of my power as +baron, I was unable totally to inhibit. Nay, I often find bits +of things in my way, that the poor bodies, God help them! leave +there, because they think they may be useful to me. I hope they +will get a wiser master, and as kind a one as I was.' + +A natural sigh closed the sentence; but the quiet equanimity with +which the Baron endured his misfortunes, had something in it +venerable, and even sublime. There was no fruitless repining, no +turbid melancholy; he bore his lot, and the hardships which it +involved, with a good-humoured, though serious composure, and +used no violent language against the prevailing party. + +'I did what I thought my duty,' said the good old man, 'and +questionless they are doing what they think theirs. It grieves +me sometimes to look upon these blackened walls of the house of +my ancestors; but doubtless officers cannot always keep the +soldier's hand from depredation and spuilzie; and Gustavus +Adolphus himself, as ye may read in Colonel Munro his Expedition +with the worthy Scotch regiment called Mackay's regiment, did +often permit it.--Indeed I have myself seen as sad sights as +Tully-Veolan now is, when I served with the Mareschal Duke of +Berwick. To be sure, we may say with Virgilius Maro, FUIMUS +TROES--and there's the end of an auld sang. But houses and +families and men have a' stood lang eneugh when they have stood +till they fall with honour; and now I hae gotten a house that is +not unlike a DOMUS ULTIMA'--they were now standing below a steep +rock. 'We poor Jacobites,' continued the Baron, looking up, 'are +now like the conies in Holy Scripture (which the great traveller +Pococke calleth Jerboa), a feeble people, that make our abode in +the rocks. So, fare you well, my good lad, till we meet at +Janet's in the even; for I must get into my Patmos, which is no +easy matter for my auld still limbs.' + +With that he began to ascend the rock, striding, with the help of +his hands, from one precarious footstep to another, till he got +about half-way up, where two or three bushes concealed the mouth +of a hole, resembling an oven, into which the Baron insinuated, +first his head and shoulders, and then, by slow gradation, the +rest of his long body; his legs and feet finally disappearing, +coiled up like a huge snake entering his retreat, or a long +pedigree introduced with care and difficulty into the narrow +pigeon-hole of an old cabinet. Waverley had the curiosity to +clamber up and look in upon him in his den, as the lurking-place +might well be termed. Upon the whole, he looked not unlike that +ingenious puzzle, called a reel in a bottle, the marvel of +children (and of some grown people too, myself for one), who can +neither comprehend the mystery how it was got in, or how it is to +be taken out. The cave was very narrow, too low in the roof to +admit of his standing, or almost of his sitting up, though he +made some awkward attempts at the latter posture. His sole +amusement was the perusal of his old friend Titus Livius, varied +by occasionally scratching Latin proverbs and texts of Scripture +with his knife on the roof and walls of his fortalice, which were +of sandstone. As the cave was dry, and filled with clean straw +and withered fern, 'it made,' as he said, coiling himself up with +an air of snugness and comfort which contrasted strangely with +his situation, 'unless when the wind was due north, a very +passable GITE for an old soldier.' Neither, as he observed, was +he without sentries for the purpose of reconnoitring. Davie and +his mother were constantly on the watch, to discover and avert +danger; and it was singular what instances of address seemed +dictated by the instinctive attachment of the poor simpleton, +when his patron's safety was concerned. + +With Janet, Edward now sought an interview. He had recognized +her at first sight as the old woman who had nursed him during his +sickness after his delivery from Gifted Gilfillan. The hut, +also, though a little repaired, and somewhat better furnished, +was certainly the place of his confinement; and he now +recollected on the common moor of Tully-Veolan the trunk of a +large decayed tree, called the TRYSTING-TREE, which he had no +doubt was the same at which the Highlanders rendezvoused on that +memorable night. All this he had combined in his imagination the +night before; but reasons, which may probably occur to the +reader, prevented him from catechizing Janet in the presence of +the Baron. + +He now commenced the task in good earnest; and the first question +was, Who was the young lady that visited the hut during his +illness? Janet paused for a little; and then observed, that to +keep the secret now, would neither do good nor ill to anybody. +'It was just a leddy that hasna her equal in the world--Miss Rose +Bradwardine.' + +'Then Miss Rose was probably also the author of my deliverance,' +inferred Waverley, delighted at the confirmation of an idea which +local circumstances had already induced him to entertain. + +'I wot weel, Mr. Wauverley, and that was she e'en; but sair, sair +angry and affronted wad she hae been, puir thing, if she had +thought ye had been ever to ken a word about the matter; for she +gar'd me speak aye Gaelic when ye was in hearing, to mak ye trow +we were in the Hielands. I can speak it well eneugh, for my +mother was a Hieland woman.' + +A few more questions now brought out the whole mystery respecting +Waverley's deliverance from the bondage in which he left +Cairnvreckan. Never did music sound sweeter to an amateur, than +the drowsy tautology, with which old Janet detailed every +circumstance, thrilled upon the ears of Waverley. But my reader +is not a lover, and I must spare his patience, by attempting to +condense within reasonable compass the narrative which old Janet +spread through a harangue of nearly two hours, + +When Waverley communicated to Fergus the letter he had received +from Rose Bradwardine, by Davie Gellatley, giving an account of +Tully-Veolan being occupied by a small party of soldiers, that +circumstance had struck upon the busy and active mind of the +Chieftain. Eager to distress and narrow the posts of the enemy, +desirous to prevent their establishing a garrison so near him, +and willing also to oblige the Baron,--for he often had the idea +of marriage with Rose floating through his brain,--he resolved to +send some of his people to drive out the red-coats, and to bring +Rose to Glennaquoich. But just as he had ordered Evan with a +small party on this duty, the news of Cope's having marched into +the Highlands to meet and disperse the forces of the Chevalier, +ere they came to a head, obliged him to join the standard with +his whole forces. + +He sent to order Donald Bean to attend him; but that cautious +freebooter, who well understood the value of a separate command, +instead of joining, sent various apologies which the pressure of +the times compelled Fergus to admit as current, though not +without the internal resolution of being revenged on him for his +procrastination, time and place convenient. However, as he could +not amend the matter, he issued orders to Donald to descend into +the Low Country, drive the soldiers from Tully-Veolan, and, +paying all respect to the mansion of the Baron, to take his abode +somewhere near it, for protection of his daughter and family, and +to harass and drive away any of the armed volunteers, or small +parties of military, which he might find moving about the +vicinity. + +As this charge formed a sort of roving commission, which Donald +proposed to interpret in the way most advantageous to himself, as +he was relieved from the immediate terrors of Fergus, and as he +had, from former secret services, some interest in the councils +of the Chevalier, he resolved to make hay while the sun shone. +He achieved, without difficulty, the task of driving the soldiers +from Tully-Veolan; but although he did not venture to encroach +upon the interior of the family, or to disturb Miss Rose, being +unwilling to make himself a powerful enemy in the Chevalier's +army, + + For well he knew the Baron's wrath was deadly; + +yet he set about to raise contributions and exactions upon the +tenantry, and otherwise to turn the war to his own advantage. +Meanwhile he mounted the white cockade, and waited upon Rose with +a pretext of great devotion for the service in which her father +was engaged, and many apologies for the freedom he must +necessarily use for the support of his people. It was at this +moment that Rose learned, by open-mouthed fame, with all sorts of +exaggeration, that Waverley had killed the smith of Cairnvreckan, +in an attempt to arrest him; had been cast into a dungeon by +Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, and was to be executed by martial +law within three days. In the agony which these tidings excited, +she proposed to Donald Bean the rescue of the prisoner. It was +the very sort of service which he was desirous to undertake, +judging it might constitute a merit of such a nature as would +make amends for any peccadilloes which he might be guilty of in +the country. He had the art, however, pleading all the while +duty and discipline, to hold off, until poor Rose, in the +extremity of her distress, offered to bribe him to the enterprise +with some valuable jewels which had been her mother's. + +Donald Bean, who had served in France, knew, and perhaps over- +estimated, the value of these trinkets. But he also perceived +Rose's apprehensions of its being discovered that she had parted +with her jewels for Waverley's liberation. Resolved this scruple +should not part him and the treasure, he voluntarily offered to +take an oath that he would never mention Miss Rose's share in the +transaction; and foreseeing convenience in keeping the oath, and +no probable advantage in breaking it, he took the engagement--in +order, as he told his lieutenant, to deal handsomely by the young +lady--in the only form and mode which, by a mental paction with +himself, he considered as binding--he swore secrecy upon his +drawn dirk. He was the more especially moved to this act of good +faith by some attentions that Miss Bradwardine showed to his +daughter Alice, which, while they gained the heart of the +mountain damsel, highly gratified the pride of her father. +Alice, who could now speak a little English, was very +communicative in return for Rose's kindness, readily confided to +her the whole papers respecting the intrigue with Gardiner's +regiment, of which she was the depositary, and as readily +undertook, at her instance, to restore them to Waverley without +her father's knowledge. 'For they may oblige the bonnie young +lady and the handsome young gentleman,' said Alice, 'and what use +has my father for a whin bits o' scarted paper?' + +The reader is aware that she took an opportunity of executing +this purpose on the eve of Waverley's leaving the glen. + +How Donald executed his enterprise, the reader is aware. But the +expulsion of the military from Tully-Veolan had given alarm, and, +while he was lying in wait for Gilfillan, a strong party, such as +Donald did not care to face, was sent to drive back the +insurgents in their turn, to encamp there, and to protect the +country. The officer, a gentleman and a disciplinarian, neither +intruded himself on Miss Bradwardine, whose unprotected situation +he respected, nor permitted his soldiers to commit any breach of +discipline. He formed a little camp, upon an eminence near the +house of Tully-Veolan, and placed proper guards at the passes in +the vicinity. This unwelcome news reached Donald Bean Lean as he +was returning to Tully-Veolan. Determined, however, to obtain +the guerdon of his labour, he resolved, since approach to Tully- +Veolan was impossible; to deposit his prisoner in Janet's +cottage--a place the very existence of which could hardly have +been suspected even by those who had long lived In the vicinity, +unless they had been guided thither, and which was utterly +unknown to Waverley himself. This effected, he claimed and +received his reward. Waverley's illness was an event which +deranged all their calculations. Donald was obliged to leave the +neighbourhood with his people, and to seek more free course for +his adventures elsewhere. At Rose's earnest entreaty, he left an +old man, a herbalist, who was supposed to understand a little of +medicine, to attend Waverley during his illness. + +In the meanwhile, new and fearful doubts started in Rose's mind. +They were suggested by old Janet, who insisted, that a reward +having been offered for the apprehension of Waverley, and his own +personal effects being so valuable, there was no saying to what +breach of faith Donald might be tempted. In an agony of grief +and terror, Rose took the daring resolution of explaining to the +Prince himself the danger in which Mr. Waverley stood, judging +that, both as a politician, and a man of honour and humanity, +Charles Edward would interest himself to prevent his falling into +the hands of the opposite party. This letter she at first +thought of sending anonymously, but naturally feared it would +not, in that case, be credited. She therefore subscribed her +name, though with reluctance and terror, and consigned it in +charge to a young man, who, at leaving his farm to join the +Chevalier's army, made it his petition to her to have some sort +of credentials to the Adventurer, from whom he hoped to obtain a +commission. + +The letter reached Charles Edward on his descent to the Lowlands, +and, aware of the political importance of having it supposed that +he was in correspondence with the English Jacobites, he caused +the most positive orders to be transmitted to Donald Bean Lean, +to transmit Waverley, safe and uninjured in person or effects, to +the governor of Doune Castle. The freebooter durst not disobey, +for the army of the Prince was now so near him that punishment +might have followed; besides, he was a politician as well as a +robber, and was unwilling to cancel the interest created through +former secret services, by being refractory on this occasion. He +therefore made a virtue of necessity, and transmitted orders to +his lieutenant to convey Edward to Doune, which was safely +accomplished in the mode mentioned in a former chapter. The +governor of Doune was directed to send him to Edinburgh as a +prisoner, because the Prince was apprehensive that Waverley, if +set at liberty, might have resumed his purpose of returning to +England, without affording him an opportunity of a personal +interview. In this, indeed, he acted by the advice of the +Chieftain of Glennaquoich, with whom it may be remembered the +Chevalier communicated upon the mode of disposing of Edward, +though without telling him how he came to learn the place of his +confinement. + +This, indeed, Charles Edward considered as a lady's secret; for +although Rose's letter was couched in the most cautious and +general terms, and professed to be written merely from motives of +humanity, and zeal for the Prince's service, yet she expressed so +anxious a wish that she should not be known to have interfered, +that the Chevalier was induced to suspect the deep interest which +she took in Waverley's safety. This conjecture, which was well +founded, led, however, to false inferences. For the emotion +which Edward displayed on approaching Flora and Rose at the ball +of Holyrood, was placed by the Chevalier to the account of the +latter, and he concluded that the Baron's views about the +settlement of his property, or some such obstacle, thwarted their +mutual inclinations. Common fame, it is true, frequently gave +Waverley to Miss Mac-Ivor; but the Prince knew that common fame +is very prodigal in such gifts; and, watching attentively the +behaviour of the ladies towards Waverley, he had no doubt that +the young Englishman had no interest with Flora, and was beloved +by Rose Bradwardine. Desirous to bind Waverley to his service, +and wishing also to do a kind and friendly action, the Prince +next assailed the Baron on the subject of settling his estate +upon his daughter. Mr. Bradwardine acquiesced; but the +consequence was, that Fergus was immediately induced to prefer +his double suit for a wife and an earldom, which the Prince +rejected in the manner we have seen. The Chevalier, constantly +engaged in his own multiplied affairs, had not hitherto sought +any explanation with Waverley, though often meaning to do so. +But after Fergus's declaration, he saw the necessity of appearing +neutral between the rivals, devoutly hoping that the matter, +which now seemed fraught with the seeds of strife, might be +permitted to lie over till the termination of the expedition. +When on the march to Derby, Fergus, being questioned concerning +his quarrel with Waverley, alleged as the cause, that Edward was +desirous of retracting the suit he made to his sister, the +Chevalier plainly told him, that he had himself observed Miss +Mac-Ivor's behaviour to Waverley, and that he was convinced +Fergus was under the influence of a mistake in judging of +Waverley's conduct, who, he had every reason to believe, was +engaged to Miss Bradwardine. The quarrel which ensued between +Edward and the chieftain is, I hope, still in the remembrance of +the reader. These circumstances will serve to explain such +points of our narrative as, according to the custom of story- +tellers, we deemed it fit to leave unexplained, for the purpose +of exciting the reader's curiosity. + +When Janet had once finished the leading facts of this narrative, +Waverley was easily enabled to apply the clue which they +afforded, to other mazes of the labyrinth in which he had been +engaged. To Rose Bradwardine, then, he owed the life which he +now thought he could willingly have laid down to serve her. A +little reflection convinced him, however, that to live for her +sake was more convenient and agreeable, and that, being possessed +of independence, she might share it with him either in foreign +countries or in his own. The pleasure of being allied to a man +of the Baron's high worth, and who was so much valued by his +uncle Sir Everard, was also an agreeable consideration, had +anything been wanting to recommend the match. His absurdities, +which had appeared grotesquely ludicrous during his prosperity, +seemed, in the sunset of his fortune, to be harmonized and +assimilated with the noble features of his character, so as to +add peculiarity without exciting ridicule. His mind occupied +with such projects of future happiness, Edward sought Little +Veolan, the habitation of Mr. Duncan Macwheeble. + + + +CHAPTER LXVI + + Now is Cupid like a child of conscience--he makes + restitution.-- + SHAKESPEARE. + +Mr. Duncan Macwheeble, no longer Commissary or Bailie, though +still enjoying the empty name of the latter dignity, had escaped +proscription by an early secession from the insurgent party and +by his insignificance. + +Edward found him in his office, immersed among papers and +accounts. Before him was a large bicker of oatmeal-porridge, and +at the side thereof, a horn-spoon and a bottle of two-penny. +Eagerly running his eye over a voluminous law-paper, he from time +to time shovelled an immense spoonful of these nutritive viands +into his capacious mouth. A pot-bellied Dutch bottle of brandy +which stood by, intimated either that this honest limb of the law +had taken his morning already, or that he meant to season his +porridge with such digestive; or perhaps both circumstances might +reasonably be inferred. His night-cap and morning-gown had +whilome been of tartan, but, equally cautious and frugal, the +honest Bailie had got them dyed black, lest their original ill- +omened colour might remind his visitors of his unlucky excursion +to Derby. To sum up the picture, his face was daubed with snuff +up to the eyes, and his fingers with ink up to the knuckles. He +looked dubiously at Waverley as he approached the little green +rail which fenced his desk and stool from the approach of the +vulgar. Nothing could give the Bailie more annoyance than the +idea of his acquaintance being claimed by any of the unfortunate +gentlemen who were now so much more likely to need assistance +than to afford profit. But this was the rich young Englishman-- +who knew what might be his situation?--he was the Baron's friend +too--what was to be done? + +While these reflections gave an air of absurd perplexity to the +poor man's visage, Waverley, reflecting on the communication he +was about to make to him, of a nature so ridiculously contrasted +with the appearance of the individual, could not help bursting +out a-laughing, as he checked the propensity to exclaim with +Syphax-- + + Cato's a proper person to entrust + A love-tale with. + +As Mr. Macwheeble had no idea of any person laughing heartily who +was either encircled by peril or oppressed by poverty, the +hilarity of Edward's countenance greatly relieved the +embarrassment of his own, and, giving him a tolerably hearty +welcome to Little Veolan, he asked what he would choose for +breakfast. His visitor had, in the first place, something for +his private ear, and begged leave to bolt the door. Duncan by no +means liked this precaution, which savoured of danger to be +apprehended; but he could not now draw back. + +Convinced he might trust this man, as he could make it his +interest to be faithful, Edward communicated his present +situation and future schemes to Macwheeble. The wily agent +listened with apprehension when he found Waverley was still in a +state of proscription--was somewhat comforted by learning that he +had a passport-- rubbed his hands with glee when he mentioned the +amount of his present fortune--opened huge eyes when he heard the +brilliancy of his future expectations; but when he expressed his +intention to share them with Miss Rose Bradwardine, ecstasy had +almost deprived the honest man of his senses. The Bailie started +from his three-footed stool like the Pythoness from her tripod; +flung his best wig out of the window, because the block on which +it was placed stood in the way of his career; chucked his cap to +the ceiling, caught it as it fell; whistled Tullochgorum; danced +a Highland fling with inimitable grace and agility; and then +threw himself exhausted into a chair, exclaiming, 'Lady +Wauverley!--ten thousand a year, the least penny!-- Lord preserve +my poor understanding!' + +'Amen, with all my heart,' said Waverley;--'but now, Mr. +Macwheeble, let us proceed to business.' This word had a +somewhat sedative effect, but the Bailie's head, as he expressed +himself, was still 'in the bees.' He mended his pen, however, +marked half a dozen sheets of paper with an ample marginal fold, +whipped down Dallas of St. Martin's STYLES from a shelf, where +that venerable work roosted with Stair's INSTITUTIONS, Dirleton's +DOUBTS, Balfour's PRACTIQUES, and a parcel of old account-books- +opened the volume at the article Contract of Marriage, and +prepared to make what he called a 'sma' minute, to prevent +parties frae resiling. + +With some difficulty, Waverley made him comprehend that he was +going a little too fast. He explained to him that he should want +his assistance, in the first place, to make his residence safe +for the time, by writing to the officer at Tully-Veolan, that Mr. +Stanley, an English gentleman, nearly related to Colonel Talbot, +was upon a visit of business at Mr. Macwheeble's, and, knowing +the state of the country, had sent his passport for Captain +Foster's inspection. This produced a polite answer from the +officer, with an invitation to Mr. Stanley to dine with him, +which was declined (as may easily be supposed), under pretence of +business. + +Waverley's next request was, that Mr. Macwheeble would dispatch a +man and horse to --, the post-town, at which Colonel Talbot was +to address him, with directions to wait there until the post +should bring a letter for Mr. Stanley, and then to forward it to +Little Veolan with all speed. In a moment, the Bailie was in +search of his apprentice (or servitor, as he was called Sixty +Years since), Jock Scriever, and in not much greater space of +time, Jock was on the back of the white pony. + +'Tak care ye guide him weel, sir, for he's aye been short in the +wind since--ahem--lord be gude to me!' (in a low voice) 'I was +gaun to come out wi'--since I rode whip and spur to fetch the +Chevalier to redd Mr. Wauverley and Vich Ian Vohr; and an uncanny +coup I gat for my pains.-- Lord forgie your honour! I might hae +broken my neck-- but troth it was in a venture, mae ways nor ane; +but this maks amends for a'. Lady Wauverley!--ten thousand a +year!--Lord be gude unto me!' + +'But you forget, Mr. Macwheeble, we want the Baron's consent--the +lady's--' + +'Never fear, I'se be caution for them--I'se gie you my personal +warrandice--ten thousand a year! it dings Balmawhapple out and +out--a year's rent's worth a' Balmawhapple, fee and life-rent! +Lord make us thankful!' + +To turn the current of his feelings, Edward inquired if he had +heard anything lately of the Chieftain of Glennaquoich? + +'Not one word,' answered Macwheeble, 'but that he was still in +Carlisle Castle, and was soon to be panelled for his life. I +dinna wish the young gentleman ill,' he said, 'but I hope that +they that hae got him will keep him, and no let him back to this +Hieland border to plague us wi' blackmail, and a' manner o' +violent, wrongous, and masterfu' oppression and spoliation, both +by himself and others of his causing, sending, and hounding out: +--and he couldna tak care o' the siller when he had gotten it +neither, but flung it a' into yon idle quean's lap at Edinburgh +--but light come light gane. For my part, I never wish to see a +kilt in the country again, nor a red-coat, nor a gun, for that +matter, unless it were to shoot a paitrick:--they're a' tarr'd +wi' ae stick. And when they have done ye wrang, even when ya hae +gotten decreet of spuilzie, oppression, and violent profits +against them, what better are ye?-- they hae na a plack to pay +ye; ye need never extract it.' + +With such discourse, and the intervening topics of business, the +time passed until dinner, Macwheeble meanwhile promising to +devise some mode of introducing Edward at the Duchran, where Rose +at present resided, without risk of danger or suspicion; which +seemed no very easy task, since the laird was a very zealous +friend to Government.--The poultry-yard had been laid under +requisition, and cockyleeky and Scotch collops soon reeked in the +Bailie's little parlour. The landlord's corkscrew was just +introduced into the muzzle of a pint-bottle of claret (cribbed +possibly from the cellars of Tully-Veolan), when the sight of the +grey pony, passing the window at full trot, induced the Bailie, +but with due precaution, to place it aside for the moment. Enter +Jock Scriever with a packet for Mr. Stanley: it is Colonel +Talbot's seal; and Edward's fingers tremble as he undoes it. Two +official papers, folded, signed, and sealed in all formality, +drop out. They were hastily picked up by the Bailie, who had a +natural respect for everything resembling a deed, and, glancing +slily on their titles, his eyes, or rather spectacles, are +greeted with 'Protection by His Royal Highness to the person of +Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq. of that ilk, commonly called Baron +of Bradwardine, forfeited for his accession to the late +rebellion.' The other proves to be a protection of the same +tenor in favour of Edward Waverley, Esq. Colonel Talbot's letter +was in these words:-- + +'MY DEAR EDWARD, + +'I am just arrived here, and yet I have finished my business; it +has cost me some trouble though, as you shall hear. I waited +upon his Royal Highness immediately on my arrival, and found him +in no very good humour for my purpose. Three or four Scotch +gentlemen were just leaving his levee. After he had expressed +himself to me very courteously; "Would you think it," he said, +"Talbot? here have been half a dozen of the most respectable +gentlemen, and best friends to Government north of the Forth,-- +Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, Rubrick of Duchran, and others, +--who have fairly wrung from me, by their downright importunity, +a present protection, and the promise of a future pardon, for +that stubborn old rebel whom they call Baron of Bradwardine. +They allege that his high personal character, and the clemency +which he showed to such of our people as fell into the rebels' +hands, should weigh in his favour; especially as the loss of his +estate is likely to be a severe enough punishment. Rubrick has +undertaken to keep him at his own house till things are settled +in the country; but it's a little hard to be forced in a manner +to pardon such a mortal enemy to the House of Brunswick." This +was no favourable moment for opening my business:--however, I +said I was rejoiced to learn that his Royal Highness was in the +course of granting such requests, as it emboldened me to present +one of the like nature in my own name. He was very angry, but I +persisted;--I mentioned the uniform support of our three votes in +the House, touched modestly on services abroad, though valuable +only in his Royal Highness's having been pleased kindly to accept +them, and founded pretty strongly on his own expressions of +friendship and goodwill. He was embarrassed, but obstinate. I +hinted the policy of detaching, on all future occasions, the heir +of such a fortune as your uncle's from the machinations of the +disaffected. But I made no impression. I mentioned the +obligation which I lay under to Sir Everard, and to you +personally, and claimed, as the sole reward of my services, that +he would be pleased to afford me the means of evincing my +gratitude. I perceived that he still meditated a refusal, and, +taking my commission from my pocket, I said (as a last resource), +that as his Royal Highness did not, under these pressing +circumstances, think me worthy of a favour which he had not +scrupled to grant to other gentlemen, whose services I could +hardly judge more important than my own, I must beg leave to +deposit, with all humility, my commission in his Royal Highness's +hands, and to retire from the service. He was not prepared for +this;--he told me to take up my commission; said some handsome +things of my services, and granted my request. You are therefore +once more a free man, and I have promised for you that you will +be a good boy in future, and remember what you owe to the lenity +of Government. Thus you see MY PRINCE can be as generous as +YOURS. I do not pretend, indeed, that he confers a favour with +all the foreign graces and compliments of your Chevalier errant; +but he has a plain English manner, and the evident reluctance +with which he grants your request, indicates the sacrifice which +he makes of his own inclination to your wishes. My friend, the +adjutant-general, has procured me a duplicate of the Baron's +protection (the original being in Major Melville's possession), +which I send to you, as I know that if you can find him you will +have pleasure in being the first to communicate the joyful +intelligence. He will of course repair to the Duchran without +loss of time, there to ride quarantine for a few weeks. As for +you, I give you leave to escort him thither, and to stay a week +there, as I understand a certain fair lady is in that quarter. +And I have the pleasure to tell you, that whatever progress you +can make in her good graces will be highly agreeable to Sir +Everard and Mrs. Rachel, who will never believe your view and +prospects settled, and the three ermines passant in actual +safety, until you present them with a Mrs. Edward Waverley. Now, +certain love-affairs of my own--a good many years since-- +interrupted some measures which were then proposed in favour of +the three ermines passant; so I am bound in honour to make them +amends. Therefore make good use of your time, for when your week +is expired, it will be necessary that you go to London to plead +your pardon in the law courts. + +'Ever, dear Waverley, yours most truly, + +'PHILIP TALBOT.' + + + +CHAPTER LXVII + +Happy 's the wooing +That's not long a-doing. + +When the first rapturous sensation occasioned by these excellent +tidings had somewhat subsided, Edward proposed instantly to go +down to the glen to acquaint the Baron with their import. But +the cautious Bailie justly observed, that if the Baron were to +appear instantly in public, the tenantry and villagers might +become riotous in expressing their joy, and give offence to 'the +powers that be,' a sort of persons for whom the Bailie always had +unlimited respect. He therefore proposed that Mr. Waverley +should go to Janet Gellatley's, and bring the Baron up under +cloud of night to Little Veolan, where he might once more enjoy +the luxury of a good bed. In the meanwhile, he said, he himself +would go to Captain Foster, and show him the Baron's protection, +and obtain his countenance for harbouring him that night,--and he +would have horses ready on the morrow to set him on his way to +the Duchran along with Mr. Stanley, 'whilk denomination, I +apprehend, your honour will for the present retain,' said the +Bailie. + +'Certainly, Mr. Macwheeble; but will you not go down to the glen +yourself in the evening to meet your patron?' + +'That I wad wi' a' my heart; and mickle obliged to your honour +for putting me in mind o' my bounden duty. But it will be past +sunset afore I get back frae the Captain's, and at these unsonsy +hours the glen has a bad name--there's something no that canny +about auld Janet Gellatley. The Laird he'll no believe thae +things, but he was aye ower rash and venturesome--and feared +neither man nor deevil--and sae's seen o't. But right sure am I +Sir George Mackenyie says, that no divine can doubt there are +witches, since the Bible says thou shalt not suffer them to live; +and that no lawyer in Scotland can doubt it, since it is +punishable with death by our law. So there's baith law and +gospel for it. An his honour winna believe the Leviticus, he +might aye believe the Statute-book; but he may tak his ain way +o't--it's a' ane to Duncan Macwheeble. However, I shall send to +ask up auld Janet this e'en; it 's best no to lightly them that +have that character--and we'll want Davie to turn the spit, for +I'll gar Eppie put down a fat goose to the fire for your honours +to your supper.' + +When it was near sunset, Waverley hastened to the hut; and he +could not but allow that superstition had chosen no improper +locality, or unfit object, for the foundation of her fantastic +terrors. It resembled exactly the description of Spenser: + + There, in a gloomy hollow glen, she found. + A little cottage built of sticks and reeds, + In homely wise, and wall'd with sods around, + In which a witch did dwell in loathly weeds, + And wilful want, all careless of her needs; + So choosing solitary to abide + Far from all neighbours, that her devilish deeds, + And hellish arts, from people she might hide, + And hurt far off, unknown, whomsoever she espied. + +He entered the cottage with these verses in his memory. Poor old +Janet, bent double with age, and bleared with peat-smoke, was +tottering about the hut with a birch broom, muttering to herself +as she endeavoured to make her hearth and floor a little clean +for the reception of her expected guests. Waverley's step made +her start, look up, and fall a-trembling, so much had her nerves +been on the rack for her patron's safety. With difficulty +Waverley made her comprehend that the Baron was now safe from +personal danger; and when her mind had admitted that joyful news, +it was equally hard to make her believe that he was not to enter +again upon possession of his estate. 'It behoved to be,' she +said, 'he wad get it back again; naebody wad be sae gripple as to +tak his gear after they had gi'en him a pardon: and for that +Inch-Grabbit, I could whiles wish mysell a witch for his sake, if +I werena feared the Enemy wad tak me at my word.' Waverley then +gave her some money, and promised that her fidelity should be +rewarded. 'How can I be rewarded, sir, sae weel, as just to see +my auld maister and Miss Rose come back and bruik their ain?' + +Waverley now took leave of Janet, and soon stood beneath the +Baron's Patmos. At a low whistle, he observed the veteran +peeping out to reconnoitre, like an old badger with his head out +of his hole. 'Ye hae come rather early, my good lad,' said he, +descending; 'I question if the red-coats hae beat the tattoo yet, +and we're not safe till then.' + +'Good news cannot be told too soon,' said Waverley; and with +infinite joy communicated to him the happy tidings. + +The old man stood for a moment in silent devotion, then +exclaimed, 'Praise be to God!--I shall see my bairn again.' + +'And never, I hope, to part with her more,' said Waverley. + +'I trust in God, not, unless it be to win the means of supporting +her; for my things are but in a bruckle state;--but what +signifies warld's gear?' + +'And if,' said Waverley, modestly, 'there were a situation in +life which would put Miss Bradwardine beyond the uncertainty of +fortune, and in the rank to which she was born, would you object +to it, my dear Baron, because it would make one of your friends +the happiest man in the world?' The Baron turned, and looked at +him with great earnestness. 'Yes,' continued Edward, 'I shall +not consider my sentence of banishment as repealed, unless you +will give me permission to accompany you to the Duchran, and--' + +The Baron seemed collecting all his dignity to make a suitable +reply to what, at another time, he would have treated as the +propounding a treaty of alliance between the houses of +Bradwardine and Waverley. But his efforts were in vain; the +father was too mighty for the Baron; the pride of birth and rank +were swept away: in the joyful surprise, a slight convulsion +passed rapidly over his features as he gave way to the feelings +of nature, threw his arms around Waverley's neck, and sobbed +out,--'My son! my son!--if I had been to search the world, I +would have made my choice here.' Edward returned the embrace +with great sympathy of feeling, and for a little while they both +kept silence. At length it was broken by Edward. But Miss +Bradwardine?' + +'She had never a will but her old father's; besides, you are a +likely youth, of honest principles and high birth; no, she never +had any other will than mine, and in my proudest days I could not +have wished a mair eligible espousal for her than the nephew of +my excellent old friend, Sir Everard.--But I hope, young man, ye +deal na rashly in this matter? I hope ye hae secured the +approbation of your ain friends and allies, particularly of your +uncle, who is in LOCO PARENTIS? Ah! we maun tak heed o' that.' +Edward assured him that Sir Everard would think himself highly +honoured in the flattering reception his proposal had met with, +and that it had his entire approbation; in evidence of which, he +put Colonel Talbot's letter into the Baron's hand. The Baron +read it with great attention. 'Sir Everard,' he said, 'always +despised wealth in comparison of honour and birth; and indeed he +had no occasion to court the DIVA PECUNIA. Yet I now wish, since +this Malcolm turns out such a parricide, for I can call him no +better, as to think of alienating the family inheritance-I now +wish' (his eyes fixed on a part of the roof which was visible +above the trees) 'that I could have left Rose the auld hurley- +house, and the riggs belanging to it.--And yet,' said he, +resuming more cheerfully, 'it's maybe as weel as it is; for, as +Baron of Bradwardine, I might have thought it my duty to insist +upon certain compliances respecting name and bearings, whilk now, +as a landless laird wi' a tocherless daughter, no one can blame +me for departing from.' + +'Now, Heaven be praised!' thought Edward, 'that Sir Everard does +not hear these scruples!--the three ermines passsat and rampant +bear would certainly have gone together by the ears.' He then, +with all the ardour of a young lover, assured the Baron, that he +sought for his happiness only in Rose's heart and hand, and +thought himself as happy in her father's simple approbation, as +if he had settled an earldom upon his daughter. + +They now reached Little Veolan. The goose was smoking on the +table, and the Bailie brandished his knife and fork. A joyous +greeting took place between him and his patron. The kitchen, +too, had its company. Auld Janet was established at the ingle- +nook; Davie had turned the spit to his immortal honour; and even +Ban and Buscar, in the liberality of Macwheeble's joy, had been +stuffed to the throat with food, and now lay snoring on the +floor. + +The next day conducted the Baron and his young friend to the +Duchran, where the former was expected, in consequence of the +success of the nearly unanimous application of the Scottish +friends of Government in his favour. This had been so general +and so powerful, that it was almost thought his estate might have +been saved, had it not passed into the rapacious hands-of his +unworthy kinsman, whose right, arising out of the Baron's +attainder, could not be affected by a pardon from the crown. The +old gentleman, however, said, with his usual spirit, he was more +gratified by the hold he possessed in the good opinion of his +neighbours, than he would have been in being 'rehabilitated and +restored IN INTEGRUM, had it been found practicable.' + +We shall not attempt to describe the meeting of the father and +daughter,--loving each other so affectionately, and separated +under such perilous circumstances. Still less shall we attempt +to analyse the deep blush of Rose, at receiving the compliments +of Waverley, or stop to inquire whether she had any curiosity +respecting the particular cause of his journey to Scotland at +that period. We shall not; even trouble the reader with the +humdrum details of a courtship Sixty Years since. It is enough +to say, that, under so strict a martinet as the Baron, all things +were conducted in due form. He took upon himself, the morning +after their arrival, the task of announcing the proposal of +Waverley to Rose, which she heard with a proper degree of maiden +timidity. Fame does, however, say, that Waverley had, the +evening before, found five minutes to apprize her of what was +coming, while the rest of the company were looking at three +twisted serpents which formed a JET D'EAU in the garden. + +My fair readers will judge for themselves; but, for my part, I +cannot conceive how so important an affair could be communicated +in so short a space of time;--at least, it certainly took a full +hour in the Baron's mode of conveying it. + +Waverley was now considered as a received lover in all the forms. +He was made, by dint of smirking and nodding on the part of the +lady of the house, to sit next to Miss Bradwardine at dinner, to +be Miss Bradwardine's partner at cards. If he came into the +room, she of the four Miss Rubricks who chanced to be next Rose, +was sure to recollect that her thimble, or her scissors, were at +the other end of the room, in order to leave the seat nearest to +Miss Bradwardine vacant for his occupation, And sometimes, if +papa and mamma were not in the way to keep them on their good +behaviour, the misses would titter a little. The old laird of +Duchran would also have his occasional jest, and the old lady her +remark. Even the Baron could not refrain; but here Rose escaped +every embarrassment but that of conjecture, for his wit was +usually couched in a Latin quotation. The very footmen sometimes +grinned too broadly, the maid-servants giggled mayhap too loud, +and a provoking air of intelligence seemed to pervade the whole +family. Alice Bean, the pretty maid of the cavern, who, after +her father's MISFORTUNE, as she called it, had attended Rose as +fille-de-chambre, smiled and smirked with the best of them. Rose +and Edward, however, endured all these little vexatious +circumstances as other folks have done before and since, and +probably contrived to obtain some indemnification, since they are +not supposed, on the whole, to have been particularly unhappy +during Waverley's six days' stay at the Duchran. + +It was finally arranged that Edward should go to Waverley-Honour +to make the necessary arrangements for his marriage, thence to +London to take the proper measures for pleading his pardon, and +return as soon as possible to claim the hand of his plighted +bride. He also intended in his journey to visit Colonel Talbot; +but, above all, it was his most important object to learn the +fate of the unfortunate Chief of Glennaquoich; to visit him at +Carlisle, and to try whether anything could be done for +procuring, if not a pardon, a commutation at least, or +alleviation, of the punishment to which he was almost certain of +being condemned;--and in case of the worst, to offer the +miserable Flora an asylum with Rose, or otherwise to assist her +views in any mode which might seem possible. The fate of Fergus +seemed hard to be averted. Edward had already striven to +interest his friend Colonel Talbot in his behalf; but had been +given distinctly to understand, by his reply, that his credit in +matters of that nature was totally exhausted. + +The Colonel was still in Edinburgh, and proposed to wait there +for some months upon business confided to him by the Duke of +Cumberland. He was to be joined by Lady Emily, to whom easy +travelling and goat's whey were recommended, and who was to +journey northward, under the escort of Francis Stanley. Edward, +therefore, met the Colonel at Edinburgh, who wished him joy in +the kindest manner on his approaching happiness, and cheerfully +undertook many commissions which our hero was necessarily obliged +to delegate to his charge. But on the subject of Fergus he was +inexorable. He satisfied Edward, indeed, that his interference +would be unavailing; but besides, Colonel Talbot owned that he +could not conscientiously use any influence in favour of that +unfortunate gentleman. 'Justice,' he said, 'which demanded some +penalty of those who had wrapped the whole nation in fear and in +mourning, could not perhaps have selected a fitter victim, He +came to the field with the fullest light upon the nature of his +attempt. He had studied and understood the subject. His +father's fate could not intimidate him; the lenity of the laws +which had restored to him his father's property and rights could +not melt him. That he was brave, generous, and possessed many +good qualities, only rendered him the more dangerous; that he was +enlightened and accomplished, made his crime the less excusable; +that he was an enthusiast in a wrong cause, only made him the +more fit to be its martyr. Above all, he had been the means of +bringing many hundreds of men into the field, who, without him, +would never have broken the peace of the country. + +'I repeat it,' said the Colonel, 'though Heaven knows with a +heart distressed for him as an individual, that this young +gentleman has studied and fully understood the desperate game +which he has played. He threw for life or death, a coronet or a +coffin; and he cannot now be permitted, with justice to the +country, to draw stakes because the dice have gone against him.' + +Such was the reasoning of those times, held even by brave and +humane men towards a vanquished enemy. Let us devoutly hope, +that, in this respect at least, we shall never see the scenes, or +hold the sentiments, that were general in Britain Sixty Years +since. + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII: + +To-morrow? Oh that's sudden! Spare him! spare him! + SHAKESPEARE. + +Edward, attended by his former servant Alick Polwarth, who had +re-entered his service at Edinburgh, reached Carlisle while the +commission of Oyer and Terminer on his unfortunate associates was +yet sitting. He had pushed forward in haste,--not, alas! with +the most distant hope of saving Fergus, but to see him for the +last time. I ought to have mentioned, that he had furnished +funds for the defence of the prisoners in the most liberal +manner, as soon as he heard that the day of trial was fixed. A +solicitor, and the first counsel, accordingly attended; but it +was upon the same footing on which the first physicians are +usually summoned to the bedside of some dying man of rank;--the +doctors to take the advantage of some incalculable chance of an +exertion of nature--the lawyers to avail themselves of the barely +possible occurrence of some legal flaw. Edward pressed into the +court, which was extremely crowded; but by his arriving from the +north, and his extreme eagerness and agitation, it was supposed +he was a relation of the prisoners, and people made way for him. +It was the third sitting of the court, and there were two men at +the bar. The verdict of GUILTY was already pronounced. Edward +just glanced at the bar during the momentous pause which ensued. +There was no mistaking the stately form and noble features of +Fergus Mac-Ivor, although his dress was squalid, and his +countenance tinged with the sickly yellow hue of long and close +imprisonment. By his side was Evan Maccombich. Edward felt sick +and dizzy as he gazed on them; but he was recalled to himself as +the Clerk of the Arraigns pronounced the solemn words: 'Fergus +Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich, otherwise called Vich Ian Vohr, and +Evan Mac-Ivor, in the Dhu of Tarrascleugh, otherwise called Evan +Dhu, otherwise called Evan Maccombich, or Evan Dhu Maccombich +--you, and each of you, stand attainted of high treason. What +have you to say for yourselves why the Court should not pronounce +judgement against you, that you die according to law?' + +Fergus, as the presiding Judge was putting on the fatal cap of +judgement, placed his own bonnet upon his head, regarded him with +a steadfast and stern look, and replied in a firm voice, 'I +cannot let this numerous audience suppose that to such an appeal +I have no answer to make. But what I have to say, you would not +bear to hear, for my defence would be your condemnation. +Proceed, then, in the name of God, to do what is permitted to +you. Yesterday, and the day before, you have condemned loyal and +honourable blood to be poured forth like water. Spare not mine. +Were that of all my ancestors in my veins, I would have peril'd +it in this quarrel.' He resumed his seat, and refused again to +rise. + +Evan Maccombich looked at him with great earnestness, and, rising +up, seemed anxious to speak; but the confusion of the court, and +the perplexity arising from thinking in a language different from +that in which he was to express himself, kept him silent. There +was a murmur of compassion among the spectators, from an idea +that the poor fellow intended to plead the influence of his +superior as an excuse for his crime. The Judge commanded +silence, and encouraged Evan to proceed. + +'I was only ganging to say, my lord,' said Evan, in what he meant +to be in an insinuating manner, 'that if your excellent honour, +and the honourable Court, would let Vich Ian Vohr go free just +this once, and let him gae back to France, and no to trouble King +George's government again, that ony six o' the very best of his +clan will be willing to be justified in his stead; and if you'll +just let me gae down to Glennaquoich, I'll fetch them up to ye +mysel, to head or hang, and you may begin wi' me the very first +man.' + +Notwithstanding the solemnity of the occasion, a sort of laugh +was heard in the court at the extraordinary nature of the +proposal. The Judge checked this indecency, and Evan, looking +sternly around, when the murmur abated, 'If the Saxon gentlemen +are laughing,' he said, 'because a poor man, such as me, thinks +my life, or the life of six of my degree, is worth that of Vich +Ian Vohr, it's like enough they may be very right; but if they +laugh because they think I would not keep my word, and come back +to redeem him, I can tell them they ken neither the heart of a +Hielandman, nor the honour of a gentleman.' + +There was no further inclination to laugh among the audience, and +a dead silence ensued. + +The Judge then pronounced upon both prisoners the sentence of the +law of high treason, with all its horrible accompaniments. The +execution was appointed for the ensuing day. 'For you, Fergus +Mac-Ivor,' continued the Judge, 'I can hold out no hope of mercy. +You must prepare against to-morrow for your last sufferings here, +and your great audit hereafter.' + +'I desire nothing else, my lord,' answered Fergus, in the same +manly and firm tone. + +The hard eyes of Evan, which had been perpetually bent on his +Chief, were moistened with a tear. 'For you, poor ignorant man,' +continued the Judge, 'who, following the ideas in which you have +been educated, have this day given us a striking example how the +loyalty due to the king and state alone, is, from your unhappy +ideas of clanship, transferred to some ambitious individual, who +ends by making you the tool of his crimes--for you, I say, I feel +so much compassion, that if you can make up your mind to petition +for grace, I will endeavour to procure if for you. Otherwise--' + +'Grace me no grace,' said Evan; 'since you are to shed Vich Ian +Vohr's blood, the only favour I would accept from you, is--to bid +them loose my hands and gie me my claymore, and bide you just a +minute sitting where you are!' + +'Remove the prisoners,' said the Judge; 'his blood be upon his +own head.' + +Almost stupefied with his feelings, Edward found that the rush of +the crowd had conveyed him out into the street, ere he knew what +he was doing.--His immediate wish was to see and speak with +Fergus once more. He applied at the Castle where his unfortunate +friend was confined, but was refused admittance. 'The High +Sheriff,' a non-commissioned officer said, 'had requested of the +governor that none should be admitted to see the prisoner +excepting his confessor and his sister.' + +'And where was Miss Mac-Ivor?' They gave him the direction, It +was the house of a respectable Catholic family near Carlisle. + +Repulsed from the gate of the Castle, and not venturing to make +application to the High Sheriff or Judges in his own unpopular +name, he had recourse to the solicitor who came down in Fergus's +behalf. This gentleman told him, that it was thought the public +mind was in danger of being debauched by the account of the last +moments of these persons, as given by the friends of the +Pretender; that there had been a resolution, therefore, to +exclude all such persons as had not the plea of near kindred for +attending upon them. Yet he promised (to oblige the heir of +Waverley-Honour) to get him an order for admittance to the +prisoner the next morning, before his irons were knocked off for +execution. + +'Is it of Fergus Mac-Ivor they speak thus,' thought Waverley 'or +do I dream? of Fergus, the bold, the chivalrous, the free- +minded,--the lofty chieftain of a tribe devoted to him? Is it +he, that I have seen lead the chase and head the attack,--the +brave, the active, the young, the noble, the love of ladies, and +the theme of song,--is it he who is ironed like a malefactor--who +is to be dragged on a hurdle to the common gallows--to die a +lingering and cruel death, and to be mangled by the hand of the +most outcast of wretches? Evil indeed was the spectre that boded +such a fate as this to the brave Chief of Glennaquoich!' + +With a faltering voice he requested the solicitor to find means +to warn Fergus of his intended visit, should he obtain permission +to make it. He then turned away from him, and, returning to the +inn, wrote a scarcely intelligible note to Flora Mac-Ivor, +intimating his purpose to wait upon her that evening. The +messenger brought back a letter in Flora's beautiful Italian +hand, which seemed scarce to tremble even under this load of +misery. 'Miss Flora Mac-Ivor,' the letter bore, 'could not +refuse to see the dearest friend of her dear brother, even in her +present circumstances of unparalleled distress.' + +When Edward reached Miss Mac-Ivor's present place of abode, he +was instantly admitted. In a large and gloomy tapestried +apartment, Flora was seated by a latticed window, sewing what +seemed to be a garment of white flannel. At a little distance +sat an elderly woman, apparently a foreigner, and of a religious +order. She was reading in a book of Catholic devotion; but when +Waverley entered, laid it on the table and left the room. Flora +rose to receive him, and stretched out her hand, but neither +ventured to attempt speech. Her fine complexion was totally +gone; her person considerably emaciated; and her face and hands +as white as the purest statuary marble, forming a strong contrast +with her sable dress and jet-black hair. Yet, amid these marks +of distress, there was nothing negligent or ill-arranged about +her attire; even her hair, though totally without ornament, was +disposed with her usual attention to neatness. The first words +she uttered were, 'Have you seen him?' + +'Alas, no,' answered Waverley; 'I have been refused admittance.' + +'It accords with the rest,' she said; 'but we must submit. Shall +you obtain leave, do you suppose?' + +'For--for--to-morrow,' said Waverley; but muttering the last word +so faintly that it was almost unintelligible. + +'Aye, then or never,' said Flora, 'until'--she added, looking +upward, 'the time when, I trust, we shall all meet. But I hope +you will see him while earth yet bears him. He always loved you +at his heart, though--but it is vain to talk of the past.' + +'Vain indeed!' echoed Waverley. + +'Or even of the future, my good friend,' said Flora, 'so far as +earthly events are concerned; for how often have I pictured to +myself the strong possibility of this horrid issue, and tasked +myself to consider how I could support my part; and yet how far +has all my anticipation fallen short of the unimaginable +bitterness of this hour!' + +'Dear Flora, if your strength of mind'-- + +'Aye, there it is,' she answered, somewhat wildly; 'there is, Mr. +Waverley, there is a busy devil at my heart, that whispers--but +it were madness to listen to it--that the strength of mind on +which Flora prided herself has murdered her brother!' + +'Good God! how can you give utterance to a thought so shocking?' + +'Aye, is it not so?--but yet it haunts me like a phantom: I know +it is unsubstantial and vain; but it will be present--will +intrude its horrors on my mind--will whisper that my brother, as +volatile as ardent, would have divided his energies amid a +hundred objects. It was I who taught him to concentrate them, +and to gage all on this dreadful and desperate cast. Oh that I +could recollect that I had but once said to him, "He that +striketh with the sword shall die by the sword"; that I had but +once said, Remain at home; reserve yourself, your vassals, your +life, for enterprises within the reach of man. But oh, Mr. +Waverley, I spurred his fiery temper, and half of his ruin at +least lies with his sister.' + +The horrid idea which she had intimated, Edward endeavoured to +combat by every incoherent argument that occurred to him. He +recalled to her the principles on which both thought it their +duty to act, and in which they had been educated. + +'Do not think I have forgotten them,' she said, looking up, with +eager quickness; 'I do not regret his attempt, because it was +wrong--oh no! on that point I am armed--but because it was +impossible it could end otherwise than thus.' + +'Yet it did not always seem so desperate and hazardous as it was; +and it would have been chosen by the bold spirit of Fergus, +whether you had approved it or no; your counsels only served to +give unity and consistence to his conduct; to dignify, but not to +precipitate his resolution.' Flora had soon ceased to listen to +Edward, and was again intent upon her needlework. + +'Do you remember,' she said, looking up with a ghastly smile, +'you once found me making Fergus's bride-favours, and now I am +sewing his bridal-garment. Our friends here,' she continued, +with suppressed emotion, 'are to give hallowed earth in their +chapel to the bloody relies of the last Vich Ian Vohr. But they +will not all rest together; no--his head!---I shall not have the +last miserable consolation of kissing the cold lips of my dear, +dear Fergus!' + +The unfortunate Flora here, after one or two hysterical sobs, +fainted in her chair. The lady, who had been attending in the +ante-room, now entered hastily, and begged Edward to leave the +room, but not the house. + +When he was recalled, after the space of nearly half an hour, he +found that, by a strong effort, Miss Mac-Ivor had greatly +composed herself. It was then he ventured to urge Miss +Bradwardine's claim to be considered as an adopted sister, and +empowered to assist her plans for the future. + +'I have had a letter from my dear Rose,' she replied, 'to the +same purpose. Sorrow is selfish and engrossing, or I would have +written to express that, even in my own despair, I felt a gleam +of pleasure at learning her happy prospects, and at hearing that +the good old Baron has escaped the general wreck. Give this to +my dearest Rose; it is her poor Flora's only ornament of value, +and was the gift of a princess.' She put into his hands a case +containing the chain of diamonds with which she used to decorate +her hair. 'To me it is in future useless. The kindness of my +friends has secured me a retreat in the convent of the Scottish +Benedictine nuns in Paris. To-morrow--if indeed I can survive +to-morrow--I set forward on my journey with this venerable +sister. And now, Mr. Waverley, adieu! May you be as happy with +Rose as your amiable dispositions deserve!--and think sometimes +on the friends you have lost. Do not attempt to see me again; it +would be mistaken kindness.' + +She gave him her hand, on which Edward shed a torrent of tears, +and, with a faltering step, withdrew from the apartment, and +returned to the town of Carlisle. At the inn he found a letter +from his law friend, intimating that he would be admitted to +Fergus next morning as soon as the Castle gates were opened, and +permitted to remain with him till the arrival of the Sheriff gave +signal for the fatal procession. + + + +CHAPTER LXIX + + --A darker departure is near, + The death-drum is muffled, and sable the bier. + CAMPBELL. + +After a sleepless night, the first dawn of morning found Waverley +on the esplanade in front of the old Gothic gate of Carlisle +Castle. But he paced it long in every direction, before the hour +when, according to the rules of the garrison, the gates were +opened and the drawbridge lowered. He produced his order to the +sergeant of the guard, and was admitted. + +The place of Fergus's confinement was a gloomy and vaulted +apartment in the central part of the Castle--a huge old tower, +supposed to be of great antiquity, and surrounded by outworks, +seemingly of Henry VIII's time, or somewhat later. The grating +of the large old-fashioned bars and bolts, withdrawn for the +purpose of admitting Edward, was answered by the clash of chains, +as the unfortunate Chieftain, strongly and heavily fettered, +shuffled along the stone floor of his prison, to fling himself +into his friend's arms. + +'My dear Edward,' he said, in a firm, and even cheerful voice, +'this is truly kind. I heard of your approaching happiness with +the highest pleasure. And how does Rose? and how is our old +whimsical friend the Baron? Well, I trust, since I see you at +freedom--And how will you settle precedence between the three +ermines passant and the bear and bootjack?' + +'How, oh how, my dear Fergus, can you talk of such things at such +a moment!' + +'Why, we have entered Carlisle with happier auspices, to be sure +--on the 16th of November last, for example, when we marched in, +side by side, and hoisted the white flag on these ancient towers. +But I am no boy, to sit down and weep because the luck has gone +against me. I knew the stake which I risked; we played the game +boldly, and the forfeit shall be paid manfully. And now, since +my time is short, let me come to the questions that interest me +most--The Prince? has he escaped the bloodhounds?' + +'He has, and is in safety.' + +'Praised be God for that! Tell me the particulars of his +escape.' + +Waverley communicated that remarkable history, so far as it had +then transpired, to which Fergus listened with deep interest. He +then asked after several other friends; and made many minute +inquiries concerning the fate of his own clansmen. They had +suffered less than other tribes who had been engaged in the +affair; for, having in a great measure dispersed and returned +home after the captivity of their Chieftain, according to the +universal custom of the Highlanders, they were not in arms when +the insurrection was finally suppressed, and consequently were +treated with less rigour. This Fergus heard with great +satisfaction. + +'You are rich,' he said, 'Waverley, and you are generous. When +you hear of these poor Mac-Ivors being distressed about their +miserable possessions by some harsh overseer or agent of +Government, remember you have worn their tartan, and are an +adopted son of their race. The Baron, who knows our manners, and +lives near our country, will apprize you of the time and means to +be their protector. Will you promise this to the last Vich Ian +Vohr?' + +Edward, as may well be believed, pledged his word; which he +afterwards so amply redeemed, that his memory still lives in +these glens by the name of the Friend of the Sons of Ivor. + +'Would to God,' continued the Chieftain, 'I could bequeath to you +my rights to the love and obedience of this primitive and brave +race:--or at least, as I have striven to do, persuade poor Evan +to accept of his life upon their terms, and be to you what he has +been to me, the kindest,--the bravest,--the most devoted--' + +The tears which his own fate could not draw forth, fell fast for +that of his foster-brother. + +'But,' said he, drying them, 'that cannot be. You cannot be to +them Vich Ian Vohr; and these three magic words,' said he, half +smiling, 'are the only Open Sesame to their feelings and +sympathies, and poor Evan must attend his foster-brother in +death, as he has done through his whole life.' + +'And I am sure,' said Maccombich, raising himself from the floor, +on which, for fear of interrupting their conversation, he had +lain so still, that, in the obscurity of the apartment, Edward +was not aware of his presence,--'I am sure Evan never desired or +deserved a better end than just to die with his Chieftain.' + +'And now,' said Fergus, 'while we are upon the subject of +clanship--what think you now of the prediction of the Bodach +Glas?'--Then, before Edward could answer, 'I saw him again last +night--he stood in the slip of moonshine, which fell from that +high and narrow window towards my bed. Why should I fear him, I +thought--to-morrow, long ere this time, I shall be as immaterial +as he. "False Spirit!" I said, "art thou come to close thy walks +on earth, and to enjoy thy triumph in the fall of the last +descendant of thine enemy?" The spectre seemed to beckon and to +smile as he faded from my sight. What do you think of it?--I +asked the same question of the priest, who is a good and sensible +man; he admitted that the Church allowed that such apparitions +were possible, but urged me not to permit my mind to dwell upon +it, as imagination plays us such strange tricks. What do you +think of it?' + +'Much as your confessor,' said Waverley, willing to avoid dispute +upon such a point at such a moment. A tap at the door now +announced that good man, and Edward retired while he administered +to both prisoners the last rites of religion, in the mode which +the Church of Rome prescribes. + +In about an hour he was re-admitted; soon after, a file of +soldiers entered with a blacksmith, who struck the fetters from +the legs of the prisoners. + +'You see the compliment they pay to our Highland strength and +courage--we have lain chained here like wild beasts, till our +legs are cramped into palsy, and when they free us, they send six +soldiers with loaded muskets to prevent our taking the castle by +storm!' + +Edward afterwards learned that these severe precautions had been +taken in consequence of a desperate attempt of the prisoners to +escape, in which they had very nearly succeeded. + +Shortly afterwards the drums of the garrison beat to arms. 'This +is the last turn-out,' said Fergus, 'that I shall hear and obey. +And now, my dear, dear Edward, ere we part let us speak of Flora +--a subject which awakes the tenderest feeling that yet thrills +within me.' + +'We part not here!' said Waverley. + +'Oh yes, we do; you must come no farther. Not that I fear what +is to follow for myself,' he said proudly: 'Nature has her +tortures as well as art; and how happy should we think the man +who escapes from the throes of a mortal and painful disorder, in +the space of a short half hour? And this matter, spin it out as +they will, cannot last longer, But what a dying man can suffer +firmly, may kill a living friend to look upon.--This same law of +high treason,' he continued, with astonishing firmness and +composure, 'is one of the blessings, Edward, with which your free +country has accommodated poor old Scotland: her own +jurisprudence, as I have heard, was much milder. But I suppose +one day or other--when there are no longer any wild Highlanders +to benefit by its tender mercies--they will blot it from their +records, as levelling them with a nation of cannibals. The +mummery, too, of exposing the senseless head--they have not the +wit to grace mine with a paper coronet; there would be some +satire in that, Edward. I hope they will set it on the Scotch +gate though, that I may look, even after death, to the blue hills +of my own country, which I love so dearly. The Baron would have +added, + + MORITUR, ET MORIENS DULCES REMINISCITUR ARGOS.' + +A bustle, and the sound of wheels and horses' feet, was now heard +in the courtyard of the Castle. 'As I have told you why you must +not follow me, and these sounds admonish me that my time flies +fast, tell me how you found poor Flora?' + +Waverley, with a voice interrupted by suffocating sensations, +gave some account of the state of her mind. + +'Poor Flora!' answered the Chief, 'she could have borne her own +sentence of death, but not mine. You, Waverley, will soon know +the happiness of mutual affection in the married state--long, +long may Rose and you enjoy it!--but you can never know the +purity of feeling which combines two orphans, like Flora and me, +left alone as it were in the world, and being all in all to each +other from our very infancy. But her strong sense of duty, and +predominant feeling of loyalty, will give new nerve to her mind +after the immediate and acute sensation of this parting has +passed away. She will then think of Fergus as of the heroes of +our race, upon whose deeds she loved to dwell.' + +'Shall she not see you, then?' asked Waverley. 'She seemed to +expect it.' + +'A necessary deceit will spare her the last dreadful parting. I +could not part with her without tears, and I cannot bear that +these men should think they have power to extort them. She was +made to believe she would see me at a later hour, and this +letter, which my confessor will deliver, will apprize her that +all is over,' + +An officer now appeared, and intimated that the High Sheriff and +his attendants waited before the gate of the Castle, to claim the +bodies of Fergus Mac-Ivor and Evan Maccombich. 'I come,' said +Fergus. Accordingly, supporting Edward by the arm, and followed +by Evan Dhu and the priest, he moved down the stairs of the +tower, the soldiers bringing up the rear. The court was occupied +by a squadron of dragoons and a battalion of infantry, drawn up +in hollow square. Within their ranks was the sledge, or hurdle, +on which the prisoners were to be drawn to the place of +execution, about a mile distant from Carlisle. It was painted +black, and drawn by a white horse. At one end of the vehicle sat +the Executioner, a horrid-looking fellow, as beseemed his trade, +with the broad axe in his hand; at the other end, next the horse, +was an empty seat for two persons. Through the deep and dark +Gothic archway that opened on the drawbridge, were seen on +horseback the High Sheriff and his attendants, whom the etiquette +betwixt the civil and military powers did not permit to come +farther. 'This is well GOT UP for a closing scene,' said Fergus, +smiling disdainfully as he gazed around upon the apparatus of +terror. Evan Dhu exclaimed with some eagerness, after looking at +the dragoons, 'These are the very chields that galloped off at +Gladsmuir, before we could kill a dozen o' them. They look bold +enough now, however.' The priest entreated him to be silent. + +The sledge now approached, and Fergus, turning round, embraced +Waverley, kissed him on each side of the face, and stepped nimbly +into his place. Evan sat down by his side. The priest was to +follow in a carriage belonging to his patron, the Catholic +gentleman at whose house Flora resided. As Fergus waved his hand +to Edward, the ranks closed around the sledge, and the whole +procession began to move forward. There was a momentary stop at +the gateway, while the governor of the Castle and the High +Sheriff went through a short ceremony, the military officer there +delivering over the persons of the criminals to the civil power. +'God save King George!' said the High Sheriff. When the +formality concluded, Fergus stood erect in the sledge, and with a +firm and steady voice, replied, 'God save King James!' These +were the last words which Waverley heard him speak. + +The procession resumed its march, and the sledge vanished from +beneath the portal, under which it had stopped for an instant. +The dead-march was then heard, and its melancholy sounds were +mingled with those of a muffled peal, tolled from the +neighbouring cathedral. The sound of the military music died +away as the procession moved on--the sullen clang of the bells +was soon heard to sound alone. + +The last of the soldiers had now disappeared from under the +vaulted archway through which they had been filing for several +minutes; the courtyard was now totally empty, but Waverley still +stood there as if stupefied, his eyes fixed upon the dark pass +where he had so lately seen the last glimpse of his friend. At +length, a female servant of the governor's, struck with +compassion at the stupefied misery which his countenance +expressed, asked him if he would not walk into her master's house +and sit down? She was obliged to repeat her question twice ere +he comprehended her, but at length it recalled him to himself. +Declining the courtesy by a hasty gesture, he pulled his hat over +his eyes, and, leaving the Castle, walked as swiftly as he could +through the empty streets, till he regained his inn, then rushed +into an apartment, and bolted the door. + +In about an hour and a half, which seemed an age of unutterable +suspense, the sound of the drums and fifes, performing a lively +air, and the confused murmur of the crowd which now filled the +streets, so lately deserted, apprized him that all was finished, +and that the military and populace were returning from the +dreadful scene. I will not attempt to describe his sensations. + +In the evening the priest made him a visit, and informed him that +he did so by directions of his deceased friend, to assure him +that Fergus Mac-Ivor had died as he lived, and remembered his +friendship to the last. He added, he had also seen Flora, whose +state of mind seemed more composed since all was over. With her +and Sister Theresa, the priest proposed next day to leave +Carlisle, for the nearest seaport from which they could embark +for France. Waverley forced on this good man a ring of some +value, and a sum of money to be employed (as he thought might +gratify Flora) in the services of the Catholic Church, for the +memory of his friend. 'FUNGARQUE INANI MUNERE,' he repeated, as +the ecclesiastic retired. 'Yet why not class these acts of +remembrance with other honours, with which affection, in all +sects, pursues the memory of the dead?' + +The next morning, ere daylight, he took leave of the town of +Carlisle, promising to himself never again to enter its walls. +He dared hardly look back towards the Gothic battlements of the +fortified gate under which he passed (for the place is surrounded +with an old wall). 'They're no there,' said Alick Polwarth, who +guessed the cause of the dubious look which Waverley cast +backward, and who, with the vulgar appetite for the horrible, was +master of each detail of the butchery--'the heads are ower the +Scotch yate, as they ca' it. It's a great pity of Evan Dhu, who +was a very weel-meaning, good-natured man, to be a Hielandman; +and indeed so was the Laird o' Glennaquoich too, for that matter, +when he wasna in ane o' his tirrivies. + + + +CHAPTER LXX + +DOLCE DOMUM + +The impression of horror with which Waverley left Carlisle +softened by degrees into melancholy--a gradation which was +accelerated by the painful, yet soothing, task of writing to +Rose; and, while he could not suppress his own feelings of the +calamity, he endeavoured to place it in a light which might +grieve her without shocking her imagination. The picture which +he drew for her benefit he gradually familiarized to his own +mind; and his next letters were more cheerful, and referred to +the prospects of peace and happiness which lay before them. Yet, +though his first horrible sensations had sunk into melancholy, +Edward had reached his native county before he could, as usual on +former occasions, look round for enjoyment upon the face of +nature. + +He then, for the first time since leaving Edinburgh, began to +experience that pleasure which almost all feel who return to a +verdant, populous, and highly cultivated country, from scenes of +waste desolation, or of solitary and melancholy grandeur. But +how were those feelings enhanced when he entered on the domain so +long possessed by his forefathers; recognized the old oaks of +Waverley-Chase; thought with what delight he should introduce +Rose to all his favourite haunts; beheld at length the towers of +the venerable hall arise above the woods which embowered it, and +finally threw himself into the arms of the venerable relations to +whom he owed so much duty and affection! + +The happiness of their meeting was not tarnished by a single word +of reproach. On the contrary, whatever pain Sir Everard and Mrs. +Rachel had felt during Waverley's perilous engagement with the +young Chevalier, it assorted too well with the principles in +which they had been brought up, to incur reprobation, or even +censure. Colonel Talbot also had smoothed the way, with great +address, for Edward's favourable reception, by dwelling upon his +gallant behaviour in the military character, particularly his +bravery and generosity at Preston; until, warmed at the idea of +their nephew's engaging in single combat, making prisoner, and +saving from slaughter, so distinguished an officer as the Colonel +himself, the imagination of the Baronet and his sister ranked the +exploits of Edward with those of Wilibert, Hildebrand, and Nigel, +the vaunted heroes of their line. + +The appearance of Waverley, embrowned by exercise, and dignified +by the habits of military discipline, had acquired an athletic +and hardy character, which not only verified the Colonel's +narration, but surprised and delighted all the inhabitants of +Waverley-Honour. They crowded to see, to hear him, and to sing +his praises. Mr. Pembroke, who secretly extolled his spirit and +courage in embracing the genuine cause of the Church of England, +censured his pupil gently, nevertheless, for being so careless of +his manuscripts, which indeed, he said, had occasioned him some +personal inconvenience, as, upon the Baronet's being arrested by +a king's messenger, he had deemed it prudent to retire to a +concealment called 'The Priest's Hole,' from the use it had been +put to in former days; where, he assured our hero, the butler had +thought it safe to venture with food only once in the day, so +that he had been repeatedly compelled to dine upon victuals +either absolutely cold, or, what was worse, only half warm, not +to mention that sometimes his bed had not been arranged for two +days together. Waverley's mind involuntarily turned to the +Patmos of the Baron of Bradwardine, who was well pleased with +Janet's fare, and a few bunches of straw stowed in a cleft in the +front of a sand-cliff: but he made no remarks upon a contrast +which could only mortify his worthy tutor. + +All was now in a bustle to prepare for the nuptials of Edward, an +event to which the good old Baronet and Mrs. Rachel looked +forward as if to the renewal of their own youth. The match, as +Colonel Talbot had intimated, had seemed to them in the highest +degree eligible, having every recommendation but wealth, of which +they themselves had more than enough. Mr. Clippurse was +therefore summoned to Waverley-Honour, under better auspices than +at the commencement of our story. But Mr. Clippurse came not +alone; for, being now stricken in years, he had associated with +him a nephew, a younger vulture (as our English Juvenal, who +tells the tale of Swallow the attorney, might have called him), +and they now carried on business as Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem. +These worthy gentlemen had directions to make the necessary +settlements on the most splendid scale of liberality, as if +Edward were to wed a peeress in her own right, with her paternal +estate tacked to the fringe of her ermine. + +But before entering upon a subject of proverbial delay, I must +remind my reader of the progress of a stone rolled down hill by +an idle truant boy (a pastime at which I was myself expert in my +more juvenile years): it moves at first slowly, avoiding by +inflection every obstacle of the least importance; but when it +has attained its full impulse, and draws near the conclusion of +its career, it smokes and thunders down, taking a rood at every +spring, clearing hedge and ditch like a Yorkshire huntsman, and +becoming most furiously rapid in its course when it is nearest to +being consigned to rest for ever. Even such is the course of a +narrative like that which you are perusing. The earlier events +are studiously dwelt upon, that you, kind reader, may be +introduced to the character rather by narrative, than by the +duller medium of direct description; but when the story draws +near its close, we hurry over the circumstances, however +important, which your imagination must have forestalled, and +leave you to suppose those things which it would be abusing your +patience to relate at length. + +We are, therefore, so far from attempting to trace the dull +progress of Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem, or that of their worthy +official brethren, who had the charge of suing out the pardons of +Edward Waverley and his intended father-in-law, that we can but +touch upon matters more attractive. The mutual epistles, for +example, which were exchanged between Sir Everard and the Baron +upon this occasion, though matchless specimens of eloquence in +their way, must be consigned to merciless oblivion. Nor can I +tell you at length, how worthy Aunt Rachel, not without a +delicate and affectionate allusion to the circumstances which had +transferred Rose's maternal diamonds to the hands of Donald Bean +Lean, stocked her casket with a set of jewels that a duchess +might have envied. Moreover, the reader will have the goodness +to imagine that Job Houghton and his dame were suitably provided +for, although they could never be persuaded that their son fell +otherwise than fighting by the young squire's side; so that +Alick, who, as a lover of truth, had made many needless attempts +to expound the real circumstances to them, was finally ordered to +say not a word more upon the subject. He indemnified himself, +however, by the liberal allowance of desperate battles, grisly +executions, and rawhead and bloody-bone stories, with which he +astonished the servants' hall. + +But although these important matters may be briefly told in +narrative, like a newspaper report of a Chancery suit, yet, with +all the urgency which Waverley could use, the real time which the +law proceedings occupied, joined to the delay occasioned by the +mode of travelling at that period, rendered it considerably more +than two months ere Waverley, having left England, alighted once +more at the mansion of the Laird of Duchran to claim the hand of +his plighted bride. + +The day of his marriage was fixed for the sixth after his +arrival. The Baron of Bradwardine, with whom bridals, +christenings, and funerals, were festivals of high and solemn +import, felt a little hurt, that, including the family of the +Duchran, and all the immediate vicinity who had title to be +present on such an occasion, there could not be above thirty +persons collected. 'When he was married,' he observed, 'three +hundred horse of gentlemen born, besides servants, and some score +or two of Highland lairds, who never got on horseback, were +present on the occasion.' + +But his pride found some consolation in reflecting, that he and +his son-in-law having been so lately in arms against Government, +it, might give matter of reasonable fear and offence to the +ruling powers, if they were to collect together the kith, kin, +and allies of their houses, arrayed in effeir of war, as was the +ancient custom of Scotland on these occasions--'And, without +dubitation,' he concluded with a sigh, 'many of those who would +have rejoiced most freely upon these joyful espousals, are either +gone to a better place, or are now exiles from their native +land.' + +The marriage took place on the appointed day. The Reverend Mr. +Rubrick, kinsman to the proprietor of the hospitable mansion +where it was solemnized, and chaplain to the Baron of +Bradwardine, had the satisfaction to unite their hands; and Frank +Stanley acted as bridesman, having joined Edward with that view +soon after his arrival. Lady Emily and Colonel Talbot had +proposed being present; but Lady Emily's health, when the day +approached, was found inadequate to the journey. In amends, it +was arranged that Edward Waverley and his lady, who, with the +Baron, proposed an immediate journey to Waverley-Honour, should, +in their way, spend a few days at an estate which Colonel Talbot +had been tempted to purchase in Scotland as a very great bargain, +and at which he proposed to reside for some time. + + + +CHAPTER LXXI + + This is no mine ain house, I ken by the bigging o't'. + --OLD SONG. + +The nuptial party travelled in great style. There was a coach +and six after the newest pattern, which Sir Everard had presented +to his nephew, that dazzled with its splendour the eyes of one +half of Scotland; there was the family coach of Mr. Rubrick;-- +both these were crowded with ladies, and there were gentlemen on +horseback, with their servants, to the number of a round score. +Nevertheless, without having the fear of famine before his eyes, +Bailie Macwheeble met them in the road, to entreat that they +would pass by his house at Little Veolan. The Baron stared, and +said his son and he would certainly ride by Little Veolan, and +pay their compliments to the Bailie, but could not think of +bringing with them the 'haill COMITATUS NUPTIALIS, or matrimonial +procession.' He added, 'that, as he understood that the barony +had been sold by its unworthy possessor, he was glad to see his +old friend Duncan had regained his situation under the new +DOMINUS, or proprietor. ' The Bailie ducked, bowed, and fidgeted, +and then again insisted upon his invitation; until the Baron, +though rather piqued at the pertinacity of his instances, could +not nevertheless refuse to consent, without making evident +sensations which he was anxious to conceal. + +He fell into a deep study as they approached the top of the +avenue, and was only startled from it by observing that the +battlements were replaced, the ruins cleared sway, and (most +wonderful of all) that the two great stone Bears, those mutilated +Dagons of his idolatry, had resumed their posts over the gateway. +'Now this new proprietor,' said he to Edward, 'has shown mair +gusto, as the Italians call it, in the short time he has had this +domain, than that hound Malcolm, though I bred him here mysell, +has acquired VITA ADHUC DURANTE.--and now I talk of hounds, is +not yon Ban and Buscar, who come scouping up the avenue with +Davie Gallatley?' + +'I vote we should go to meet them, sir,' said Waverley, 'for I +believe the present master of the house is Colonel Talbot, who +will expect to see us. We hesitated to mention to you at first +that he had purchased your ancient patrimonial property, and even +yet, if you do not incline to visit him, we can pass on to the +Bailie's.' + +The Baron had occasion for all his magnanimity. However, he drew +a long breath, took a long snuff, and observed, since they had +brought him so far, he could not pass the Colonel's gate, and he +would be happy to see the new master of his old tenants. He +alighted accordingly, as did the other gentlemen and ladies;--he +gave his arm to his daughter, and as they descended the avenue, +pointed out to her how speedily the 'DIVA PECUNIA of the +Southron--their tutelary deity, he might call her--had removed +the marks of spoliation.' + +In truth, not only had the felled trees been removed, but, their +stumps being grubbed up, and the earth round them levelled and +sown with grass, every mark of devastation, unless to an eye +intimately acquainted with the spot, was already totally +obliterated. There was a similar reformation in the outward man +of Davie Gellatley, who met them, every now and then stopping to +admire the new suit which graced his person, In the same colours +as formerly, but bedizened fine enough to have served Touchstone +himself. He danced up with his usual ungainly frolics, first to +the Baron, and then to Rose, passing his hands over his clothes, +crying, 'BRA', BRA' DAVIE,' and scarce able to sing a bar to an +end of his thousand-and-one songs, for the breathless +extravagance of his joy. The dogs also acknowledged their old +master with a thousand gambols. 'Upon my conscience, Rose,' +ejaculated the Baron, 'the gratitude o' thae dumb brutes, and of +that puir innocent, brings the tears into my auld een, while that +schellum Malcolm--but I'm obliged to Colonel Talbot for putting +my hounds into such good condition, and likewise for puir Davie. +But, Rose, my dear, we must not permit them to be a liferent +burden upon the estate.' + +As he spoke, Lady Emily, leaning upon the arm of her husband, met +the party at the lower gate, with a thousand welcomes. After the +ceremony of introduction had been gone through, much abridged by +the ease and excellent breeding of Lady Emily, she apologized for +having used a little art to wile them back to a place which might +awaken some painful reflections--'But as it was to change +masters, we were very desirous that the Baron'-- + +'Mr. Bradwardine, madam, if you please,' said the old gentleman. + +'--Mr. Bradwardine, then, and Mr. Waverley, should see what we +have done towards restoring the mansion of your fathers to its +former state.' + +The Baron answered with a low bow. Indeed, when he entered the +court, excepting that the heavy stables, which had been burnt +down, were replaced by buildings of a lighter and more +picturesque appearance, all seemed as much as possible restored +to the state in which he had left it when he assumed arms some +months before. The pigeon-house was replenished; the fountain +played with its usual activity; and not only the Bear who +predominated over its basin, but all the other Bears whatsoever, +were replaced on their several stations, and renewed or repaired +with so much care, that they bore no tokens of the violence which +had so lately descended upon them. While these minutiae had been +so heedfully attended to, it is scarce necessary to add, that the +house itself had been thoroughly repaired, as well as the +gardens, with the strictest attention to maintain the original +character of both, and to remove, as far as possible, all +appearance of the ravage they had sustained. The Baron gazed in +silent wonder; at length he addressed Colonel Talbot: + +'While I acknowledge my obligation to you, sir, for the +restoration of the badge of our family, I cannot but marvel that +you have nowhere established your own crest, whilk is, I believe, +a mastiff, anciently called a talbot; as the poet has it, + + A talbot strong--a sturdy tyke. + +At least such a dog is the crest of the martial and renowned +Earls of Shrewsbury, to whom your family are probably blood +relations.' + +'I believe,' said the Colonel, smiling, 'our dogs are whelps of +the same litter: for my part, if crests were to dispute +precedence, I should be apt to let them, as the proverb says, +"fight dog, fight bear."' + +As he made this speech, at which the Baron took another long +pinch of snuff, they had entered the house--that is, the Baron, +Rose, and Lady Emily, with young Stanley and the Bailie, for +Edward and the rest of the party remained on the terrace, to +examine a new greenhouse stocked with the finest plants. The +Baron resumed his favourite topic: 'However it may please you to +derogate from the honour of your burgonet, Colonel Talbot, which +is doubtless your humour, as I have seen in other gentlemen of +birth and honour in your country, I must again repeat it as a +most ancient and distinguished bearing, as well as that of my +young friend Francis Stanley, which is the eagle and child.' + +'The bird and bantling they call it in Derbyshire, sir,' said +Stanley. + +'Ye're a daft callant, sir,' said the Baron, who had a great +liking to this young man, perhaps because he sometimes teased +him--'Ye're a daft callant, and I must correct you some of these +days,' shaking his great brown fist at him. 'But what I meant to +say, Colonel Talbot, is, that yours is an ancient PROSAPIA, or +descent, and since you have lawfully and justly acquired the +estate for you and yours, which I have lost for me and mine, I +wish it may remain in your name as many centuries as it has done +in that of the late proprietor's.' + +'That,' answered the Colonel, 'is very handsome, Mr. Bradwardine, +indeed.' + +'And yet, sir, I cannot but marvel that you, Colonel, whom I +noted to have so much of the AMOR PATRIAE, when we met in +Edinburgh, as even to vilipend other countries, should have +chosen to establish your Lares, or household gods, PROCUL A +PATRIEA FINIBUS, and in a manner to expatriate yourself.' + +'Why really, Baron, I do not see why, to keep the secret of these +foolish boys, Waverley and Stanley, and of my wife, who is no +wiser, one old soldier should continue to impose upon another. +You must know, then, that I have so much of that same prejudice +in favour of my native country, that the sum of money which I +advanced to the seller of this extensive barony has only +purchased for me a box in --shire, called Brerewood Lodge, with +about two hundred and fifty acres of land, the chief merit of +which is, that it is within a very few miles of Waverley-Honour.' + +'And who, then, in the name of Haven, has bought this property?' + +'That,' said the Colonel,' it is this gentleman's profession to +explain.' + +The Bailie, whom this reference regarded, and who had all this +while shifted from one foot to another with great impatience, +'like a hen,' as he afterwards said, 'upon a het girdle'; and +chuckling, he might have added, like the said hen in all the +glory of laying an egg--now pushed forward: 'That I can, that I +can, your Honour,' drawing from his pocket a budget of papers, +and untying the red tape with a hand trembling with eagerness. +'Here is the disposition and assignation, by Malcolm Bradwardine +of Inch-Grabbit, regularly signed and tested in terms of the +statute, whereby, for a certain sum of sterling money presently +contented and paid to him, he has disponed, alienated, and +conveyed the whole estate and barony of Bradwardine, Tully- +Veolan, and others, with the fortalice and manor-place--' + +'For God's sake, to the point, sir--I have all that by heart,' +said the Colonel. + +'To Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine, Esq.' pursued the Bailie, 'his +heirs and assignees, simply and irredeemably--to be held either A +ME VEL DE ME--' + +'Pray read short, sir.' + +'On the conscience of an honest man, Colonel, I read as short as +is consistent with style.--Under the burden and reservation +always-- + +'Mr. Macwheeble, this would outlast a Russian winter--give me +leave. In short, Mr. Bradwardine, your family estate is your own +once more in full property, and at your absolute disposal, but +only burdened with the sum advanced to repurchase it, which I +understand is utterly disproportioned to its value. + +'An auld sang--an auld sang, if it please your Honours,' cried +the Bailie, rubbing his hands; 'look at the rental book.' + +'Which sum being advanced by Mr. Edward Waverley, chiefly from +the price of his father's property which I bought from him, is +secured to his lady your daughter, and her family by this +marriage.' + +'It is a catholic security,' shouted the Bailie, 'to Rose Comyne +Bradwardine, ALIAS Wauverley, in liferent, and the children of +the said marriage in fee; and I made up a wee bit minute of an +ante-nuptial contract, INTUITU MATRIMONII, so it cannot be +subject to reduction hereafter, as a donation INTER VIRUM ET +UXOREM.' + +It is difficult to say whether the worthy Baron was most +delighted with the restitution of his family property, or with +the delicacy and generosity that left him unfettered to pursue +his purpose in disposing of it after his death, and which +avoided, as much as possible, even the appearance of laying him +under pecuniary obligation. When his first pause of joy and +astonishment was over, his thoughts turned to the unworthy heir- +male, who, he pronounced, 'had sold his birthright, like Esau, +for a mess o' pottage.' + +'But wha cookit the parritch for him?' exclaimed the Bailie; 'I +wad like to ken that--wha but your Honour's to command, Duncan +Macwheeble? His Honour, young Mr. Wauverley, put it a' into my +hand frae the beginning--frae the first calling o' the summons, +as I may say. I circumvented them--I played at bogle about the +bush wi' them--I cajoled them; and if I havena gien Inch-Grabbit +and Jamie Howie a bonnie begunk, they ken themselves. Him a +writer! I didna gea slapdash to them wi' our young bra' +bridegroom, to gar them haud up the market; na, na; I scared them +wi' our wild tenantry, and the Mac-Ivors, that are but ill +settled yet, till they durstna on ony errand whatsoever gang ower +the doorstane after gloaming, for fear John Heatherblutter, or +some siccan dare-the-deil, should tak a baff at them: then, on +the other hand, I beflumm'd them wi' Colonel Talbot--wad they +offer to keep up the price again' the Duke's friend? did they na +ken wha was master? had they na seen eneugh, by the sad example +of mony a puir misguided unhappy body--' + +'Who went to Derby, for example, Mr. Macwheeble?' said the +Colonel to him, aside. + +'Oh' whisht, Colonel, for the love o' God! let that flee stick +i' the wa'. There were mony good folk at Derby; and it's ill +speaking of halters,'--with a sly cast of his eye toward the +Baron, who was in a deep reverie. + +Starting out of it at once, he took Macwheeble by the button, and +led him into one of the deep window recesses, whence only +fragments of their conversation reached the rest of the party. +It certainly related to stamp-paper and parchment; for no other +subject, even from the mouth of his patron, and he, once more an +efficient one, could have arrested so deeply the Bailie's +reverent and absorbed attention. + +'I understand your Honour perfectly; it can be dune as easy as +taking out a decreet in absence.' + +'To her and him, after my demise, and to their heirs-male,--but +preferring the second son, if God shall bless them with two, who +is to carry the name and arms of Bradwardine of that Ilk, without +any other name or armorial bearings whatsoever.' + +'Tut, your Honour!' whispered the Bailie, 'I'll mak a slight +jotting the morn; it will cost but a charter of resignation IN +FAVOREM; and I'll hae it ready for the next term in Exchequer. + +Their private conversation ended, the Baron was now summoned to +do the honours of Tully-Veolan to new guests. These were, Major +Melville of Cairnvreckan, and the Reverend Mr. Morton, followed +by two or three others of the Baron's acquaintances, who had been +made privy to his having again acquired the estate of his +fathers. The shouts of the villagers were also heard beneath in +the courtyard; for Saunders Saunderson, who had kept the secret +for several days with laudable prudence, had unloosed his tongue +upon beholding the arrival of the carriages. + +But, while Edward received Major Melville with politeness, and +the clergyman with the most affectionate and grateful kindness, +his father-in-law looked a little awkward, as uncertain how he +should answer the necessary claims of hospitality to his guests, +and forward the festivity of his tenants. Lady Emily relieved +him, by intimating, that, though she must be an indifferent +representative of Mrs. Edward Waverley in many respects, she +hoped the Baron would approve of the entertainment she had +ordered, in expectation of so many guests; and that they would +find such other accommodations provided, as might in some degree +support the ancient hospitality of Tully-Veolan. It is +impossible to describe the pleasure which this assurance gave the +Baron, who, with an air of gallantry half appertaining to the +stiff Scottish laird, and half to the officer in the French +service, offered his arm to the fair speaker, and led the way, in +something between a stride and a minuet step, into the large +dining parlour, followed by all the rest of the good company. + +By dint of Saunderson's directions and exertions, all here, as +well as in the other apartments, had been disposed as much as +possible according to the old arrangement; and where new movables +had been necessary, they had been selected in the same character +with the old furniture, There was one addition to this fine old +apartment, however, which drew tears into the Baron's eyes. It +was a large and spirited painting, representing Fergus Mac-Ivor +and Waverley in their Highland dress; the scene a wild, rocky, +and mountainous pass, down which the clan were descending in the +background. It was taken from a spirited sketch, drawn while +they were in Edinburgh by a young man of high genius, and had +been painted on a full-length scale by an eminent London artist. +Raeburn himself (whose Highland chiefs do all but walk out of the +canvas) could not have done more justice to the subject; and the +ardent, fiery, and impetuous character of the unfortunate Chief +of Glennaquoich was finely contrasted with the contemplative, +fanciful, and enthusiastic expression of his happier friend. +Beside this painting hung the arms which Waverley had borne in +the unfortunate civil war; The whole piece was beheld with +admiration, and deeper feelings. + +Men must, however, eat, in spite both of sentiment and vertu; and +the Baron, while he assumed the lower end of the table, insisted +that Lady Emily should do the honours of the head, that they +might, he said, set a meet example to the YOUNG FOLK. After a +pause of deliberation, employed in adjusting in his own brain the +precedence between the Presbyterian kirk and Episcopal church of +Scotland, he requested Mr. Morton, as the stranger, would crave a +blessing,--observing, that Mr. Rubrick, who was at home, would +return thanks for the distinguished mercies it had been his lot +to experience. The dinner was excellent. Saunderson attended in +full costume, with all the former domestics, who had been +collected, excepting one or two, that had not been heard of since +the affair of Culloden. The cellars were stocked with wine which +was pronounced to be superb, and it had been contrived that the +Bear of the Fountain, in the courtyard, should (for that night +only) play excellent brandy punch for the benefit of the lower +orders. + +When the dinner was over, the Baron, about to propose a toast, +cast a somewhat sorrowful look upon the sideboard,--which, +however, exhibited much of his plate, that had either been +secreted or purchased by neighbouring gentlemen from the +soldiery, and by them gladly restored to the original owner. + +'In the late times,' he said, 'those must be thankful who have +saved life and land; yet, when I am about to pronounce this +toast, I cannot but regret an old heirloom, Lady Emily--A POCULUM +POTATORIUM, Colonel Talbot'-- + +Here the Baron's elbow was gently touched by his major-demo, and, +turning round, he beheld, in the hands of Alexander ab Alexandro, +the celebrated cup of Saint Duthac, the Blessed Bear of +Bradwardine! I question if the recovery of his estate afforded +him more rapture. 'By my honour,' he said, 'one might almost +believe in brownies and fairies, Lady Emily, when your ladyship +is in presence!' + +'I am truly happy,' said Colonel Talbot, 'that by the recovery of +this piece of family antiquity, it has fallen within my power to +give you some token of my deep interest in all that concerns my +young friend Edward. But that you may not suspect Lady Emily for +a sorceress, or me for a conjurer, which is no joke in Scotland, +I must tell you that Frank Stanley, your friend, who has been +seized with a tartan fever ever since he heard Edward's tales of +old Scottish manners, happened to describe to us at second hand +this remarkable cup. My servant, Spontoon, who, like a true old +soldier, observes everything and says little, gave me afterwards +to understand that he thought he had seen the piece of plate Mr. +Stanley mentioned, in the possession of a certain Mrs. Nosebag, +who, having been originally the helpmate of a pawnbroker, had +found opportunity, during the late unpleasant scenes in Scotland, +to trade a little in her old line, and so became the depositary +of the more valuable part of the spoil of half the army. You may +believe the cup was speedily recovered; and it will give me very +great pleasure if you allow me to suppose that its value is not +diminished by having been restored through my means.' + +A tear mingled with the wine which the Baron filled, as he +proposed a cup of gratitude to Colonel Talbot, and 'The +Prosperity of the united Houses of Waverley-Honour and +Bradwardine!'-- + +It only remains for me to say, that as no wish was ever uttered +with more affectionate sincerity, there are few which, allowing +for the necessary mutability of human events, have been, upon the +whole, more happily fulfilled. + + + +CHAPTER LXXII + +A POSTSCRIPT, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PREFACE + +Our journey is now finished, gentle reader; and if your patience +has accompanied me through these sheets, the contract is, on your +part, strictly fulfilled. Yet, like the driver who has received +his full hire, I still linger near you, and make, with becoming +diffidence, a trifling additional claim upon your bounty and good +nature. You are as free, however, to shut the volume of the one +petitioner, as to close your door in the face of the other. + +This should have been a prefatory chapter, but for two reasons:-- +First, that most novel readers, as my own conscience reminds me, +are apt to be guilty of the sin of omission respecting that same +matter of prefaces;--secondly, that it is a general custom with +that class of students, to begin with the last chapter of a work; +so that, after all, these remarks, being introduced last in +order, have still the best chance to be read in their proper +place. + +There is no European nation, which, within the course of half a +century, or little more, has undergone so complete a change as +this kingdom of Scotland. The effects of the insurrection of +1745,--the destruction of the patriarchal power of the Highland +chiefs,--the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions of the +Lowland nobility and barons,--the total eradication of the +Jacobite party, which, averse to intermingle with the English, or +adopt their customs, long continued to pride themselves upon +maintaining ancient Scottish manners and customs,--commenced this +innovation. The gradual influx of wealth, and extension of +commerce, have since united to render the present people of +Scotland a class of beings as different from their grandfathers +as the existing English are from those of Queen Elizabeth's time, +The political and economical effects of these changes have been +traced by Lord Selkirk with great precision and accuracy. But +the change, though steadily and rapidly progressive, has, +nevertheless, been gradual; and, like those who drift down the +stream of a deep and smooth river, we are not aware of the +progress we have made until we fix our eye on the now distant +point from which we have been drifted.--Such of the present +generation as can recollect the last twenty or twenty-five years +of the eighteenth century, will be fully sensible of the truth of +this statement;--especially if their acquaintance and connexions +lay among those, who, in my younger time, were facetiously called +'folks of the old leaven,' who still cherished a lingering, +though hopeless, attachment, to the house of Stuart. This race +has now almost entirely vanished from the land, and with it, +doubtless, much absurd political prejudice--but also, many living +examples of singular and disinterested attachment to the +principles of loyalty which they received from their fathers, and +of old Scottish faith, hospitality, worth, and honour. + +It was my accidental lot, though not born a Highlander (which may +be an apology for much bad Gaelic), to reside, during my +childhood and youth, among persons of the above description;--and +now, for the purpose of preserving some idea of the ancient +manners of which I have witnessed the almost total extinction, I +have embodied in imaginary scenes, and ascribed to fictitious +characters, a part of the incidents which I then received from +those who were actors in them. Indeed, the most romantic parts +of this narrative are precisely those which have a foundation in +fact. The exchange of mutual protection between a Highland +gentleman and an officer of rank in the king's service, together +with the spirited manner in which the latter asserted his right +to return the favour he had received, is literally true. The +accident by a musket-shot, and the heroic reply imputed to Flora, +relate to a lady of rank not long deceased. And scarce a +gentleman who was 'in hiding' after the battle of Culloden but +could tell a tale of strange concealments, and of wild and +hair's-breadth 'scapes, as extraordinary as any which I have +ascribed to my heroes. Of this, the escape of Charles Edward +himself, as the most prominent, is the most striking example. +The accounts of the battle of Preston and skirmish at Clifton are +taken from the narrative of intelligent eye-witnesses, and +corrected from the History of the Rebellion by the late venerable +author of DOUGLAS. The Lowland Scottish gentlemen, and the +subordinate characters, are not given as individual portraits, +but are drawn from the general habits of the period (of which I +have witnessed some remnants in my younger days), and partly +gathered from tradition. + +It has been my object to describe these persons, not by a +caricatured and exaggerated use of the national dialect, but by +their habits, manners, and feelings; so as in some distant degree +to emulate the admirable Irish portraits drawn by Miss Edgeworth, +so different from the 'Teagues' and 'dear joys,' who so long, +with the most perfect family resemblance to each other, occupied +the drama and the novel. + +I feel no confidence, however, in the manner in which I have +executed my purpose. Indeed, so little was I satisfied with my +production, that I laid it aside in an unfinished state, and only +found it again by mere accident among other waste papers in an +old cabinet, the drawers of which I was rummaging, in order to +accommodate a friend with some fishing tackle, after it had been +mislaid for several years. Two works upon similar subjects, by +female authors, whose genius is highly creditable to their +country, have appeared in the interval; I mean Mrs. Hamilton's +GLENBURNIE, and the late account of Highland Superstitions. But +the first is confined to the rural habits of Scotland, of which +it has given a picture with striking and impressive fidelity; and +the traditional records of the respectable and ingenious Mrs. +Grant of Laggan, are of a nature distinct from the fictitious +narrative which I have here attempted. + +I would willingly persuade myself, that the preceding work will +not be found altogether uninteresting. To elder persons it will +recall scenes and characters familiar to their youth; and to the +rising generation the tale may present some idea of the manners +of their forefathers. + +Yet I heartily wish that the task of tracing the evanescent +manners of his own country had employed the pen of the only man +in Scotland who could have done it justice,--of him so eminently +distinguished in elegant literature,--and whose sketches of +Colonel Caustic and Umphraville are perfectly blended with the +finer traits of national character. I should in that case have +had more pleasure as a reader than I shall ever feel in the pride +of a successful author, should these sheets confer upon me that +envied distinction. And as I have inverted the usual +arrangement, placing these remarks at the end of the work to +which they refer, I will venture on a second violation of form, +by closing the whole with a Dedication:-- + +THESE VOLUMES BEING RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO OUR SCOTTISH +ADDISON, + +HENRY MACKENZIE, + +BY AN UNKNOWN ADMIRER OF HIS GENIUS. + + +* + + + +NOTES + + +NOTE 1.--THE BRADSHAIGH LEGEND + +There is a family legend to this purpose, belonging to the +knightly family of Bradshaigh, the proprietors of Haighhall, in +Lancashire, where, I have been told, the event is recorded on a +painted glass window. The German ballad of the 'Noble Moringer' +turns upon a similar topic. But undoubtedly many such incidents +may have taken place, where, the distance being great, and the +intercourse infrequent, false reports concerning the fate of the +absent Crusaders must have been commonly circulated, and +sometimes perhaps rather hastily credited at home. + + +NOTE 2.--TITUS LIVIUS + +The attachment to this classic was, it is said, actually +displayed, in the manner mentioned in the text, by an unfortunate +Jacobite in that unhappy period. He escaped from the jail in +which he was confined for a hasty trial and certain condemnation, +and was retaken as he hovered around the place in which he had +been imprisoned, for which he could give no better reason than +the hope of recovering his favourite Titus Livius. I am sorry to +add, that the simplicity of such a character was found to form no +apology for his guilt as a rebel, and that he was condemned and +executed. + + +NOTE 3.--NICHOLAS AMHURST + +Nicholas Amhurst, a noted political writer, who conducted for +many years a paper called the Craftsman, under the assumed name +of Caleb d'Anvers. He was devoted to the Tory interest, and +seconded with much ability the attacks of Pulteney on Sir Robert +Walpole. He died in 1742, neglected by his great patrons, and in +the most miserable circumstances. + +Amhurst survived the downfall of Walpole's power, and had reason +to expect a reward for his labours. If we excuse Bolingbroke, +who had only saved the shipwreck of his fortunes, we shall be at +a loss to justify Pulteney, who could with ease have given this +man a considerable income. The utmost of his generosity to +Amhurst, that I ever heard of, was a hogshead of claret! He +died, it is supposed, of a broken heart; and was buried at the +charge of his honest printer, Richard Franklin.'--LORD +CHESTERFIELD'S CHARACTERS REVIEWED, p. 42. + + +NOTE 4.--COLONEL GARDINER + +I have now given in the text the full name of this gallant and +excellent man, and proceed to copy the account of his remarkable +conversion, as related by Dr. Doddridge. + +'This memorable event,' says the pious writer, 'happened towards +the middle of July, 1719. The major had spent the evening (and, +if I mistake not, it was the Sabbath) in some gay company, and +had an unhappy assignation with a married woman, whom he was to +attend exactly at twelve. The company broke up about eleven; and +not judging it convenient to anticipate the time appointed, he +went into his chamber to kill the tedious hour, perhaps with some +amusing book, or some other way. But it very accidentally +happened that he took up a religious book, which his good mother +or aunt had, without his knowledge, slipped into his portmanteau. +It was called, if I remember the title exactly, THE CHRISTIAN +SOLDIER, or HEAVEN TAKEN BY STORM; and it was written by Mr. +Thomas Watson. Guessing by the title of it that he would find +some phrases of his own profession spiritualized in a manner +which he thought might afford him some diversion, he resolved to +dip into it; but he took no serious notice of anything it had in +it; and yet, while this book was in his hand an impression was +made upon his mind (perhaps God only knows how) which drew after +it a train of the most important and happy consequences. He +thought he saw an unusual blaze of light fall upon the book which +he was reading, which he at first imagined might happen by some +accident in the candle: but lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, +to his extreme amazement, that there was before him, as it were +suspended in the air, a visible representation of the Lord Jesus +Christ upon the cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory; and +was impressed, as if a voice, or something equivalent to a voice, +had come to him, to this effect (for he was not confident as to +the words)--"Oh, sinner! did I suffer this for thee? and are +these thy returns?" Struck with so amazing a phenomenon as this, +there remained hardly any life in him, so that he sunk down in +the arm-chair in which he sat, and continued, he knew not how +long, insensible.' + +'With regard to this vision,' says the ingenious Dr. Hibbert, +'the appearance of our Saviour on the cross, and the awful words +repeated, can be considered in no other light than as so many +recollected images of the mind, which, probably, had their origin +in the language of some urgent appeal to repentance, that the +colonel might have casually read or heard delivered. From what +cause, however, such ideas were rendered as vivid as actual +impressions, we have no information to be depended upon. This +vision was certainly attended with one of the most important of +consequences connected with the Christian dispensation--the +conversion of a sinner; and hence no single narrative has, +perhaps, done more to confirm the superstitious opinion that +apparitions of this awful kind cannot arise without a divine +fiat.' Dr. Hibbert adds, in a note--'A short time before the +vision, Colonel Gardiner had received a severe fall from his +horse. Did the brain receive some slight degree of injury from +the accident, so as to predispose him to this spiritual +illusion?'--HIBBERT'S PHILOSOPHY OF APPARITIONS, Edinburgh, 1824, +p. 190. + + +NOTE 5.--SCOTTISH INNS + +The courtesy of an invitation to partake a traveller's meal, or +at least that of being invited to share whatever liquor the guest +called for, was expected by certain old landlords in Scotland, +even in the youth of the author. In requital, mine host was +always furnished with the news of the country, and was probably a +little of a humorist to boot. The devolution of the whole actual +business and drudgery of the inn upon the poor gudewife, was very +common among the Scottish Bonifaces. There was in ancient times, +in the city of Edinburgh, a gentleman of good family, who +condescended, in order to gain a livelihood, to become the +nominal keeper of a coffee house, one of the first places of the +kind which had been opened in the Scottish metropolis. As usual, +it was entirely managed by the careful and industrious Mrs. B--; +while her husband amused himself with field sports, without +troubling his head about the matter. Once upon a time the +premises having taken fire, the husband was met, walking up the +High Street loaded with his guns and fishing-rods, and replied +calmly to some one who inquired after his wife, 'that the poor +woman was trying to save a parcel of crockery, and some trumpery +books'; the last being those which served her to conduct the +business of the house. + +There were many elderly gentlemen in the author's younger days, +who still held it part of the amusement of a journey 'to parley +with mine host,' who often resembled, in his quaint humour, mine +Host of the Garter in the MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR; or Blague of +the George in the MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON. Sometimes the +landlady took her share of entertaining the company. In either +case, the omitting to pay them due attention gave displeasure, +and perhaps brought down a smart jest, as on the following +occasion:-- + +A jolly dame, who, not 'Sixty Years since,' kept the principal +caravansary at Greenlaw in Berwickshire, had the honour to +receive under her roof a very worthy clergyman, with three sons +of the same profession, each having a cure of souls: be it said +in passing, none of the reverend party were reckoned powerful in +the pulpit. After dinner was over, the worthy senior, in the +pride of his heart, asked Mrs. Buchan whether she ever had had +such a party in her house before. 'Here sit I,' he said, 'a +placed minister of the Kirk of Scotland, and here sit my three +sons, each a placed minister of the same kirk.--confess, Luckie +Buchan, you never had such a party in your house before.' The +question was not premised by any invitation to sit down and take +a glass of wine or the like, so Mrs. B. answered dryly, 'Indeed, +Sir, I cannot just say that ever I had such a party in my house +before, except once in the forty-five, when I had a Highland +piper here, with his three sons, all Highland pipers; AND DEIL A +SPRING THEY COULD PLAY AMANG THEM.' + + +NOTE 6.--THE CUSTOM OF KEEPING FOOLS + +I am ignorant how long the ancient and established custom of +keeping fools has been disused in England. Swift writes an +epitaph on the Earl of Suffolk's fool,-- + + 'Whose name was Dickie Pearce.' + +In Scotland the custom subsisted till late in the last century. +At Glamis Castle, is preserved the dress of one of the jesters, +very handsome, and ornamented with many bells. It is not above +thirty years since such a character stood by the sideboard of a +nobleman of the first rank in Scotland, and occasionally mixed in +the conversation, till he carried the joke rather too far, in +making proposals to one of the young ladies of the family, and +publishing the banns betwixt her and himself in the public +church. + + +NOTE 7.--PERSECUTION OF EPISCOPAL CLERGYMEN + +After the Revolution of 1688, and on some occasions when the +spirit of the Presbyterians had been unusually animated against +their opponents, the Episcopal clergymen, who were chiefly non- +jurors, were exposed to be mobbed, as we should now say, or +rabbled, as the phrase then went, to expiate their political +heresies. But notwithstanding that the Presbyterians had the +persecution in Charles II and his brother's time to exasperate +them, there was little mischief done beyond the kind of petty +violence mentioned in the text. + + +NOTE 8.--STIRRUP-CUP + +I may here mention, that the fashion of compotation described in +the text, was still occasionally practised in Scotland in the +author's youth. A company, after having taken leave of their +host, often went to finish the evening at the clachan or village, +in 'womb of tavern.' Their entertainer always accompanied them +to take the stirrup-cup, which often occasioned a long and late +revel. + +The POCULUM POTATORIUM of the valiant Baron, his Blessed Bear, +has a prototype at the fine old Castle of Glamis, so rich in +memorials of ancient times; it is a massive beaker of silver, +double gilt, moulded into the shape of a lion, and holding about +an English pint of wine. The form alludes to the family name of +Strathmore, which is Lyon, and, when exhibited, the cup must +necessarily be emptied to the Earl's health. The author ought +perhaps to be ashamed of recording that he has had the honour of +swallowing the contents of the Lion; and the recollection of the +feat served to suggest the story of the Bear of Bradwardine. In +the family of Scott of Thirlestane (not Thirlestane in the +Forest, but the place of the same name in Roxburghshire) was long +preserved a cup of the same kind, in the form of a jack-boot. +Each guest was obliged to empty this at his departure. If the +guest's name was Scott, the necessity was doubly imperative. + +When the landlord of an inn presented his guests with DEOCH AN +DORUIS, that is, the drink at the door, or the stirrup-cup, the +draught was not charged in the reckoning. On this point a +learned Bailie of the town of Forfar pronounced a very sound +judgement. + +A., an ale-wife in Forfar, had brewed her 'peck of malt,' and set +the liquor out of doors to cool; the cow of B., a neighbour of A. +chanced to come by, and seeing the good beverage, was allured to +taste it, and finally to drink it up. When A. came to take in +her liquor, she found the tub empty, and from the cow's +staggering and staring, so as to betray her intemperance, she +easily divined the mode in which her 'brewst' had disappeared. +To take vengeance on Crummie's ribs with a stick, was her first +effort. The roaring of the cow brought B., her master, who +remonstrated with his angry neighbour, and received in reply a +demand for the value of the ale which Crummie had drunk up. B. +refused payment, and was conveyed before C., the Bailie, or +sitting Magistrate. He heard the case patiently; and then +demanded of the plaintiff A., whether the cow had sat down to her +potation, or taken it standing. The plaintiff answered she had +not seen the deed committed, but she supposed the cow drank the +ale standing on her feet; adding, that had she been near, she +would have made her use them to some purpose. The Bailie, on +this admission, solemnly adjudged the cow's drink to be DEOCH AN +DORUIS--a stirrup-cup, for which no charge could be made without +violating the ancient hospitality of Scotland. + + +NOTE 9.--CANTING HERALDRY + +Although canting heraldry is generally reprobated, it seems +nevertheless to have been adopted in the arms and mottoes of many +honourable families. Thus the motto of the Vernons, VER NON +SEMPER VIRET, is a perfect pun, and so is that of the Onslows, +FESTINA LENTE. The PERIISSEM NI PER-IISSEM of the Anstruthers is +liable to a similar objection. One of that ancient race, finding +that an antagonist, with whom he had fixed a friendly meeting, +was determined to take the opportunity of assassinating him, +prevented the hazard by dashing out his brains with a battle-axe. +Two sturdy arms brandishing such a weapon, form the usual crest +of the family, with the above motto--PERIISSEM NI PER-IISSEM--I +had died, unless I had gone through with it. + + +NOTE 10.--THE LEVYING OF BLACKMAIL + +Mac-Donald of Barrisdale, one of the very last Highland gentlemen +who carried on the plundering system to any great extent, was a +scholar and a well-bred gentleman. He engraved on his +broadswords the well-known lines-- + + Hae tibi erunt artes--pacisque imponere morem, + Parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos. + +Indeed, the levying of blackmail was, before 1745, practised by +several chiefs of very high rank, who, in doing so, contended +that they were lending the laws the assistance of their arms and +swords, and affording a protection which could not be obtained +from the magistracy in the disturbed state of the country. The +author has seen a memoir of Mac-Pherson of Cluny, chief of that +ancient clan, from which it appears that he levied protection- +money to a very large amount, which was willingly paid even by +some of his most powerful neighbours. A gentleman of this clan +hearing a clergyman hold forth to his congregation on the crime +of theft, interrupted the preacher to assure him, he might leave +the enforcement of such doctrines to Cluny Mac-Pherson, whose +broadsword would put a stop to theft sooner than all the sermons +of all the ministers of the synod. + + +NOTE 11.--ROB ROY + +An adventure, very similar to what is here stated, actually +befell the late Mr. Abercromby of Tullibody, grandfather of the +present Lord Abercromby, and father of the celebrated Sir Ralph. +When this gentlemen, who lived to a very advanced period of life, +first settled in Stirlingshire, his cattle were repeatedly driven +off by the celebrated Rob Roy, or some of his gang; and at length +he was obliged, after obtaining a proper safe-conduct, to make +the Cateran such a visit as that of Waverley to Bean Lean in the +text. Rob received him with much courtesy, and made many +apologies for the accident, which must have happened, he said, +through some mistake. Mr. Abercromby was regaled with collops +from two of his own cattle, which were hung up by the heels in +the cavern, and was dismissed in perfect safety, after having +agreed to pay in future a small sum of blackmail, in +consideration of which Rob Roy not only undertook to forbear his +herds in future, but to replace any that should be stolen from +him by other freebooters. Mr. Abercromby said, Rob Roy affected +to consider him as a friend to the Jacobite interest, and a +sincere enemy to the Union. Neither of these circumstances were +true; but the laird thought it quite unnecessary to undeceive his +Highland host at the risk of bringing on a political dispute in +such a situation. This anecdote I received many years since +(about 1792) from the mouth of the venerable gentleman who was +concerned in it. + + +NOTE 12.--KIND GALLOWS OF CRIEFF + +This celebrated gibbet was, in the memory of the last generation, +still standing at the western end of the town of Crieff, in +Perthshire. Why it was called the kind gallows, we are unable to +inform the reader with certainty; but it is alleged that the +Highlanders used to touch their bonnets as they passed a place +which had been fatal to many of their countrymen, with the +ejaculation--'God bless her nain sell, and the Teil tamn you!' +It may therefore have been called kind, as being a sort of native +or kindred place of doom to those who suffered there, as in +fulfilment of a natural destiny. + + +NOTE 13.--CATERANS + +The story of the bridegroom carried off by Caterans on his +bridal-day is taken from one which was told to the author by the +late Laird of Mac-Nab, many years since. To carry off persons +from the Lowlands, and to put them to ransom, was a common +practice with the wild Highlanders, as it is said to be at the +present day with the banditti in the south of Italy. Upon the +occasion alluded to, a party of Caterans carried off the +bridegroom, and secreted him in some cave near the mountain of +Schehallion. The young man caught the small-pox before his +ransom could be agreed on; and whether it was the fine cool air +of the place, or the want of medical attendance, Mac-Nab did not +pretend to be positive; but so it was, that the prisoner +recovered, his ransom was paid, and he was restored to his +friends and bride, but always considered the Highland robbers as +having saved his life by their treatment of his malady. + + +NOTE 14.--RE-PURCHASE OF FORFEITED ESTATES + +This happened on many occasions. Indeed, it was not till after +the total destruction of the clan influence, after 1745, that +purchasers could be found who offered a fair price for the +estates forfeited in 1715, which were then brought to sale by the +creditors of the York-Buildings Company, who had purchased the +whole, or greater part, from Government at a very small price. +Even so late as the period first mentioned, the prejudices of the +public in favour of the heirs of the forfeited families threw +various impediments in the way of intending purchasers of such +property. + + +NOTE 15.--HIGHLAND POLICY + +This sort of political game ascribed to Mac-Ivor was in reality +played by several Highland chiefs, the celebrated Lord Lovat in +particular, who used that kind of finesse to the uttermost. The +Laird of Mac-- was also captain of an independent company, but +valued the sweets of present pay too well to incur the risk of +losing them in the Jacobite cause. His martial consort raised +his clan, and headed it in 1745. But the chief himself would +have nothing to do with king-making, declaring himself for that +monarch, and no other, who gave the Laird of Mac-- 'half a guinea +the day, and half a guinea the morn.' + + +NOTE 16.--HIGHLAND DISCIPLINE + +In explanation of the military exercise observed at the Castle of +Glennaquoich, the author begs to remark, that the Highlanders +were not only well practised in the use of the broadsword, +firelock, and most of the manly sports and trials of strength +common throughout Scotland, but also used a peculiar sort of +drill, suited to their own dress and mode of warfare. There +were, for instance, different modes of disposing the plaid,--one +when on a peaceful journey, another when danger was apprehended; +one way of enveloping themselves in it when expecting undisturbed +repose, and another which enabled them to start up with sword and +pistol in hand on the slightest alarm. + +Previous to 1720, or thereabouts, the belted plaid was +universally worn, in which the portion which surrounded the +middle of the wearer, and that which was flung around his +shoulders, were all of the same piece of tartan. In a desperate +onset, all was thrown away, and the clan charged bare beneath the +doublet, save for an artificial arrangement of the shirt, which, +like that of the Irish, was always ample, and for the sporran- +mollach, or goat's-skin purse. + +The manner of handling the pistol and dirk was also part of the +Highland manual exercise, which the author has seen gone through +by men who had learned it in their youth. + + +NOTE 17.--HIGHLAND ABHORRENCE OF PORK + +Pork, or swine's flesh, in any shape, was, till of late years, +much abominated by the Scotch, nor is it yet a favourite food +amongst them. King Jamie carried this prejudice to England, and +is known to have abhorred pork almost as much as he did tobacco. +Ben Jonson has recorded this peculiarity, where the gipsy in a +masque, examining the king's hand, says,-- + + --'you should, by this line, + Love a horse, and a hound, but no part of a swine.'-- + THE GYPSIES METAMORPHOSED. + +James's own proposed banquet for the devil was a loin of pork and +a poll of ling, with a pipe of tobacco for digestion. + + +NOTE 18.--A HIGHLAND CHIEF'S DINNER-TABLE + +In the number of persons of all ranks who assembled at the same +table, though by no means to discuss the same fare, the Highland +Chiefs only retained a custom which had been formerly universally +observed throughout Scotland. 'I myself,' says the traveller +Fynes Morrison, in the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the scene +being the Lowlands of Scotland, 'was at a knight's house, who had +many servants to attend him, that brought in his meat with their +heads covered with blue caps, the table being more than half +furnished with great platters of porridge each having a little +piece of sodden meat. And when the table was served, the +servants did sit down with us; but the upper mess, instead of +porridge, had a pullet, with some prunes in the broth.'--TRAVELS, +p. 155. + +Till within this last century, the farmers, even of a respectable +condition, dined with their work-people. The difference betwixt +those of high degree was ascertained by the place of the party +above or below the salt, or, sometimes, by a line drawn with +chalk on the dining-table. Lord Lovat, who knew well how to feed +the vanity and restrain the appetites of his clansmen, allowed +each sturdy Fraser, who had the slightest pretension to be a +Duinhe-wassel, the full honour of the sitting, but, at the same +time, took care that his young kinsmen did not acquire at his +table any taste for outlandish luxuries. His Lordship was always +ready with some honourable apology, why foreign wines and French +brandy--delicacies which he conceived might sap the hardy habits +of his cousins--should not circulate past an assigned point on +the table. + + +NOTE 19.--CONAN THE JESTER + +In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of Mac- +Pherson), there occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most +nations, a cycle of heroes, each of whom has some distinguishing +attribute: upon these qualities, and the adventures of those +possessing them, many proverbs are formed which are still current +in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan is distinguished +as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and daring +even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a +blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of +antiquity, descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff +from the Arch-fiend; who presided there, which he instantly +returned, using the expression in the text. Sometimes the +proverb is worded thus:--'Claw for claw, and the devil take the +shortest nails, as Conan said to the devil.' + + +NOTE 20.--WATERFALL + +The description of the waterfall mentioned in this chapter is +taken from that of Ledeard, at the farm so called on the northern +side of Lochard, and near the head of the Lake, four or five +miles from Aberfoyle. It is upon a small scale, but otherwise +one of the most exquisite cascades it is possible to behold. The +appearance of Flora with the harp, as described, has been justly +censured as too theatrical and affected for the ladylike +simplicity of her character. But something may be allowed to her +French education, in which point and striking effect always make +a considerable object. + + +NOTE 21.--MAC-FARLANE'S LANTERN + +The clan of Mac-Farlane, occupying the fastnesses of the western +side of Loch Lomond, were great depredators on the Low Country; +and as their excursions were made usually by night, the moon was +proverbially called their lantern. Their celebrated pibroch of +HOGGIL NAM BO, which is the name of their gathering tune, +intimates similar practices,--the sense being-- + + We are bound to drive the bullocks, + All by hollows, hirsts, and hillocks, + Through the sleet and through the rain; + When the moon is beaming low + On frozen lake and hills of snow, + Bold and heartily we go; + And all for little gain. + + +NOTE 22.--CASTLE OF DOUNE + +This noble ruin is dear to my recollection, from associations +which have been long and painfully broken. It holds a commanding +station on the banks of the river Teith, and has been one of the +largest castles in Scotland. Murdock, Duke of Albany, the +founder of this stately pile, was beheaded on the Castle-hill of +Stirling, from which he might see the towers of Doune, the +monument of his fallen greatness. + +In 1745-6, as stated in the text, a garrison on the part of the +Chevalier was put into the castle, then less ruinous than at +present. It was commanded by Mr. Stewart of Balloch, as governor +for Prince Charles he was a man of property near Callander. This +castle became at that time the actual scene of a romantic escape +made by John Home, the author of Douglas, and some other +prisoners, who, having been taken at the battle of Falkirk, were +confined there by the insurgents. The poet, who had in his own +mind a large stock of that romantic and enthusiastic spirit of +adventure, which he has described as animating the youthful hero +of his drama, devised and undertook the perilous enterprise of +escaping from his prison. He inspired his companions with his +sentiments and when every attempt at open force was deemed +hopeless, they resolved to twist their bed-clothes into ropes, +and thus to descend. Four persons, with Home himself, reached +the ground in safety. But the rope broke with the fifth, who was +a tall lusty man. The sixth was Thomas Barrow, a brave young +Englishman, a particular friend of Home's. Determined to take +the risk, even in such unfavourable circumstances, Barrow +committed himself to the broken rope, slid down on it as far as +if could assist him, and then let himself drop. His friends +beneath succeeded in breaking his fall. Nevertheless, he +dislocated his ankle, and had several of his ribs broken. His +companions, however, were able to bear him off in safety. + +The Highlanders next morning sought for their prisoners with +great activity. An old gentleman told the author he remembered +seeing the commander Stewart, + + Bloody with spurring, fiery red with haste, + +riding furiously through the country in quest of the fugitives. + + +NOTE 23.--JACOBITE SENTIMENTS + +The Jacobite sentiments were general among the western counties, +and in Wales. But although the great families of the Wynnes, the +Wyndhams, and others, had come under an actual obligation to join +Prince Charles if he should land, they had done so under the +express stipulation, that he should be assisted by an auxiliary +army of French, without which they foresaw the enterprise would +be desperate. Wishing well to his cause, therefore, and watching +an opportunity to join him, they did not, nevertheless, think +themselves bound in honour to do so, as he was only supported by +a body of wild mountaineers, speaking an uncouth dialect, and +wearing a singular dress. The race up to Derby struck them with +more dread than admiration. But it was difficult to say what the +effect might have been, had either the battle of Preston or +Falkirk been fought and won during the advance into England. + + +NOTE 24.--THE CHEVALIER'S IRISH OFFICERS + +Divisions early showed themselves in the Chevalier's little army, +not only amongst the independent chieftains, who were far too +proud to brook subjection to each other, but betwixt the Scotch +and Charles's governor O'Sullivan, an Irishman by birth, who, +with some of his countrymen bred in the Irish Brigade in the +service of the King of France, had an influence with the +Adventurer much resented by the Highlanders, who were sensible +that their own clans made the chief, or rather the only strength +of his enterprise. There was a feud, also, between Lord George +Murray, and James Murray of Broughton, the Prince's secretary, +whose disunion greatly embarrassed the affairs of the Adventurer. +In general, a thousand different pretensions divided their little +army, and finally contributed in no small degree to its +overthrow. + + +NOTE 25.--FIELD-PIECE IN THE HIGHLAND ARMY + +This circumstance, which is historical, as well as the +description that precedes it, will remind the reader of the war +of La Vendee, in which the royalists, consisting chiefly of +insurgent peasantry, attached a prodigious and even superstitious +interest to the possession of a piece of brass ordnance, which +they called Marie Jeanne. + +The Highlanders of an early period were afraid of cannon, with +the noise and effect of which they were totally unacquainted. It +was by means of three or four small pieces of artillery that the +Earl of Huntly and Errol, in James VI's time, gained a great +victory at Glenlivat, over a numerous Highland army, commanded by +the Earl of Argyle. At the battle of the Bridge of Dee, General +Middleton obtained by his artillery a similar success, the +Highlanders not being able to stand the discharge of MUSKET'S- +MOTHER, which was the name they bestowed on great guns. In an +old ballad on the battle of the Bridge of Dee, these verses +occur:-- + + The Highlandmen are pretty men + For handling sword and shield, + But yet they are but simple men + To stand a stricken field. + + The Highlandmen are pretty men + For target and claymore, + But yet they are but naked men + To face the cannon's roar. + + For the cannons roar on a summer night + Like thunder in the air; + Was never man in Highland garb + Would face the cannon fair. + +But the Highlanders of 1745 had got far beyond the simplicity of +their forefathers, and showed throughout the whole war how little +they dreaded artillery, although the common people still attached +some consequence to the possession of the field-piece which led +to this disquisition. + + +NOTE 26.--ANDERSON OF WHITBURGH + +The faithful friend who pointed out the pass by which the +Highlanders moved from Tranent to Seaton, was Robert Anderson, +Junior, of Whitburgh, a gentleman of property in East Lothian. +He had been interrogated by the Lord George Murray concerning the +possibility of crossing the uncouth and marshy piece of ground +which divided the armies, and which he described as +impracticable. When dismissed, he recollected that there was a +circuitous path leading eastward through the marsh into the +plain, by which the Highlanders might turn the flank of Sir John +Cope's position, without being exposed to the enemy's fire. +Having mentioned his opinion to Mr. Hepburn of Keith, who +instantly saw its importance, he was encouraged by that gentleman +to awake Lord George Murray, and communicate the idea to him. +Lord George received the information with grateful thanks, and +instantly awakened Prince Charles, who was sleeping in the field +with a bunch of peas under his head. The Adventurer received +with alacrity the news that there was a possibility of bringing +an excellently provided army to a decisive battle with his own +irregular forces. His joy on the occasion was not very +consistent with the charge of cowardice brought against him by +Chevalier Johnstone, a discontented follower, whose Memoirs +possess at least as much of a romantic as a historical character. +Even by the account of the Chevalier himself, the Prince was at +the head of the second line of the Highland army during the +battle, of which he says, 'It was gained with such rapidity, that +in the second line, where I was still by the side of the Prince, +we saw no other enemy than those who were lying on the ground +killed and wounded, THOUGH WE WERE NOT MORE THAN FIFTY PACES +BEHIND OUR FIRST LINE, RUNNING ALWAYS AS FAST AS WE COULD TO +OVERTAKE THEM.' + +This passage in the Chevalier's Memoirs places the Prince within +fifty paces of the best of the battle, a position which would +never have been the choice of one unwilling to take a share of +its dangers. Indeed, unless the chiefs had complied with the +young Adventurer's proposal to lead the van in person, it does +not appear that he could have been deeper in the action. + + +NOTE 27.--DEATH OF COLONEL GARDINER + +The death of this good Christian and gallant man is thus given by +his affectionate biographer Dr. Doddridge, from the evidence of +eye-witnesses:-- + +'He continued all night under arms, wrapped up in his cloak, and +generally sheltered under a rick of barley, which happened to be +in the field. About three in the morning he called-his domestic +servants to him, of which there were four in waiting. He +dismissed three of them with most affectionate Christian advice, +and such solemn charges relating to the performance of their duty +and the care of their souls, as seemed plainly to intimate that +he apprehended it was at least very probable he was taking his +last farewell of them. There is great reason to believe that he +spent the little remainder of the time, which could not be much +above an hour, in those devout exercises of soul which had been +so long habitual to him and to which so many circumstances did +then concur to call him. The army was alarmed, by break of day, +by the noise of the rebels' approach, and the attack was made +before sunrise, yet when it was light enough to discern what +passed. As soon as the enemy came within gunshot they made a +furious fire; and it is said that the dragoons which constituted +the left wing immediately fled. The Colonel, at the beginning of +the onset, which in the whole lasted but a few minutes, received +a wound by a bullet in his left breast, which made him give a +sudden spring in his saddle upon which his servant, who led the +horse, would have persuaded him to retreat, but he said it was +only a wound in the flesh, and fought on, though he presently +after received a shot in his right thigh. In the meantime, it +was discerned that some of the enemy fell by him, and +particularly one man, who had made him a treacherous visit but a +few days before, with great profession of zeal for the present +establishment. + +'Events of this kind pass in less time than the description of +them can be written, or than it can be read. The Colonel was for +a few moments supported by his men, and particularly by that +worthy person Lieutenant-Colonel Whitney, who was shot through +the arm here, and a few months after fell nobly at the battle of +Falkirk, and by Lieutenant West, a man of distinguished bravery, +as also by about fifteen dragoons, who stood by him to the last. +But after a faint fire, the regiment in general was seized with a +panic; and though their Colonel and some other gallant officers +did what they could to rally them once or twice, they at last +took a precipitate flight. And just in the moment when Colonel +Gardiner seemed to be making a pause to deliberate what duty +required him to do in such circumstances, an accident happened, +which must, I think, in the judgement of every worthy and +generous man, be allowed a sufficient apology for exposing his +life to so great hazard, when his regiment had left him. He saw +a party of the foot, who were then bravely fighting near him, and +whom he was ordered to support, had no officer to head them; upon +which he said eagerly, in the hearing of the person from whom I +had this account, "These brave fellows will be cut to pieces for +want of a commander," or words to that effect; which while he was +speaking, he rode up to them and cried out, "Fire on, my lads, +and fear nothing." But just as the words were out of his mouth, a +Highlander advanced towards him with a scythe fastened to a long +pole, with which he gave him so dreadful a wound on his right +arm, that his sword dropped out of his hand; and at the same time +several others coming about him while he was thus dreadfully +entangled with that cruel weapon, he was dragged off from his +horse. The moment he fell, another Highlander, who, if the +king's evidence at Carlisle may be credited (as I know not why +they should not, though the unhappy creature died denying it), +was one Mac-Naught, who was executed about a year after, gave him +a stroke either with a broadsword or a Lochaber-axe (for my +informant could not exactly distinguish) on the hinder part of +his head, which was the mortal blow. All that his faithful +attendant saw further at this time was, that, as his hat was +falling off, he took it in his left hand, and waved it as a +signal to him to retreat, and added what were the last words he +ever heard him speak, "Take care of yourself," upon which the +servant retired.'--SOME REMARKABLE PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF +COLONEL JAMES GARDINER, BY P. DODDRIDGE, D.D., London, 1747, p. +187. + +I may remark on this extract, that it confirms the account given +in the text of the resistance offered by some of the English +infantry. Surprised by a force of a peculiar and unusual +description, their opposition could not be long or formidable, +especially as they were deserted by the cavalry, and those who +undertook to manage the artillery. But although the affair was +soon decided, I have always understood that many of the infantry +showed an inclination to do their duty. + + +NOTE 28.-THE LAIRD OF BALMAWHAPPLE + +It is scarcely necessary to say that the character of this brutal +young Laird is entirely imaginary. A gentleman, however, who +resembled Balmawhapple in the article of courage only, fell at +Preston in the manner described. A Perthshire gentleman of high +honour and respectability, one of the handful of cavalry who +followed the fortunes of Charles Edward, pursued the fugitive +dragoons almost alone till near St. Clement's Wells, where the +efforts of some of the officers had prevailed on a few of them to +make a momentary stand. Perceiving at this moment that they were +pursued by only one man and a couple of servants, they turned +upon him and cut him down with their swords. I remember, when a +child, sitting on his grave, where the grass long grew rank and +green, distinguishing it from the rest of the field. A female of +the family then residing at St. Clement's Wells used to tell me +the tragedy, of which she had been an eye-witness, and showed me +in evidence one of the silver clasps of the unfortunate +gentleman's waistcoat. + + +NOTE 29.--ANDREA DE FERRARA + +The name of Andrea de Ferrara is inscribed on all the Scottish +broadswords which are accounted of peculiar excellence. Who this +artist was, what were his fortunes, and when he flourished, have +hitherto defied the research of antiquaries; only it is in +general believed that Andrea de Ferrara was a Spanish or Italian +artificer, brought over by James IV or V to instruct the Scots in +the manufacture of sword blades. Most barbarous nations excel in +the fabrication of arms; and the Scots had attained great +proficiency in forging swords, so early as the field of Pinkie; +at which period the historian Patten describes them as 'all +notably broad and thin, universally made to slice, and of such +exceeding good temper, that as I never saw any so good, so I +think it hard to devise better.' ACCOUNT OF SOMERSET'S +EXPEDITION. + +It may be observed, that the best and most genuine Andrea +Ferraras have a crown marked on the blades. + + +NOTE 30.--MISS NAIRNE + +The incident here said to have happened to Flora, Mac-Ivor, +actually befell Miss Nairne, a lady with whom the author had the +pleasure of being acquainted. As the Highland army rushed into +Edinburgh, Miss Nairne, like other ladies who approved of their +cause, stood waving her handkerchief from a balcony, when a ball +from a Highlander's musket, which was discharged by accident, +grazed her forehead. 'Thank God' said she, the instant she +recovered, 'that the accident happened to me, whose principles +are known. Had it befallen a Whig, they would have said it was +done on purpose.' + + +NOTE 31.--PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD + +The Author of Waverley has been charged with painting the young +Adventurer in colours more amiable than his character deserved. +But having known many individuals who were near his person, he +has been described according to the light in which those eye- +witnesses saw his temper and qualifications. Something must be +allowed, no doubt, to the natural exaggerations of those who +remembered him as the bold and adventurous Prince, in whose cause +they had braved death and ruin; but is their evidence to give +place entirely to that of a single malcontent? + +I have already noticed the imputations thrown by the Chevalier +Johnstone on the Prince's courage. But some part at least of +that gentleman's tale is purely romantic. It would not, for +instance, be supposed, that at the time he is favouring us with +the highly-wrought account of his amour with the adorable Peggie, +the Chevalier Johnstone was a married man, whose grandchild is +now alive, or that the whole circumstantial story concerning the +outrageous vengeance taken by Gordon of Abbachie on a +Presbyterian clergyman, is entirely apocryphal. At the same time +it may be admitted, that the Prince, like others of his family, +did not esteem the services done him by his adherents so highly +as he ought. Educated in high ideas of his hereditary right, he +has been supposed to have held every exertion and sacrifice made +in his cause as too much the duty of the person making it, to +merit extravagant gratitude on his part. Dr. King's evidence +(which his leaving the Jacobite interest renders somewhat +doubtful) goes to strengthen this opinion. + +The ingenious editor of Johnstone's MEMOIRS has quoted a story +said to be told by Helvetius, stating that Prince Charles Edward, +far from voluntarily embarking on his daring expedition, was +literally bound hand and foot, and to which he seems disposed to +yield credit. Now, it being a fact as well known as any in his +history, and, so far as I know, entirely undisputed, that the +Prince's personal entreaties and urgency positively forced +Boisdale and Lochiel into insurrection, when they were earnestly +desirous that he would put off his attempt until he could obtain +a sufficient force from France, it will be very difficult to +reconcile his alleged reluctance to undertake the expedition, +with his desperately insisting on carrying the rising into +effect, against the advice and entreaty of his most powerful and +most sage partisans. Surely a man who had been carried bound on +board the vessel which brought him to so desperate an enterprise, +would have taken the opportunity afforded by the reluctance of +his partisans, to return to France in safety. + +It is averred in Johnstone's Memoirs, that Charles Edward left +the field of Culloden without doing the utmost to dispute the +victory; and, to give the evidence on both sides, there is in +existence the more trustworthy testimony of Lord Elcho, who +states, that he himself earnestly exhorted the Prince to charge +at the head of the left wing, which was entire, and retrieve the +day, or die with honour. And on his counsel being declined, Lord +Elcho took leave of him with a bitter execration, swearing he +would never look on his face again, and kept his word. + +On the other hand, it seems to have been the opinion of almost +all the other officers, that the day was irretrievably lost, one +wing of the Highlanders being entirely routed, the rest of the +army out-numbered, out-flanked, and in a condition totally +hopeless. In this situation of things, the Irish officers who +surrounded Charles's person interfered to force him off the +field. A cornet who was close to the Prince, left a strong +attestation, that he had seen Sir Thomas Sheridan seize the +bridle of his horse, and turn him round. There is some +discrepancy of evidence; but the opinion of Lord Elcho, a man of +fiery temper, and desperate at the ruin which he beheld +impending, cannot fairly be taken in prejudice of a character for +courage which is intimated by the nature of the enterprise +itself, by the Prince's eagerness to fight on all occasions, by +his determination to advance from Derby to London, and by the +presence of mind which he manifested during the romantic perils +of his escape. The author is far from claiming for this +unfortunate person the praise due to splendid talents; but he +continues to be of opinion, that at the period of his enterprise, +he had a mind capable of facing danger and aspiring to fame. + +That Charles Edward had the advantages of a graceful presence, +courtesy, and an address and manner becoming his station, the +author never heard disputed by any who approached his person, nor +does he conceive that these qualities are overcharged in the +present attempt to sketch his portrait. The following extracts, +corroborative of the general opinion respecting the Prince's +amiable disposition, are taken from a manuscript account of his +romantic expedition, by James Maxwell of Kirkconnel, of which I +possess a copy, by the friendship of J. Menzies, Esq., of +Pitfoddells. The author, though partial to the Prince, whom he +faithfully followed, seems to have been a fair and candid man, +and well acquainted with the intrigues among the Adventurer's +council:-- + +'Everybody was mightily taken with the Prince's figure and +personal behaviour. There was but one voice about them. Those +whom interest or prejudice made a runaway to his cause, could not +help acknowledging that they wished him well in all other +respects, and could hardly blame him for his present undertaking. +Sundry things had concurred to raise his character to the highest +pitch, besides the greatness of the enterprise, and the conduct +that had hitherto appeared in the execution of it. There were +several instances of good nature and humanity that had made a +great impression on people's minds, I shall confine myself to two +or three. Immediately after the battle, as the Prince was riding +along the ground that Cope's army had occupied a few minutes +before, one of the officers came up to congratulate him, and +said, pointing to the killed, "Sir, there are your enemies at +your feet." The Prince, far from exulting, expressed a great +deal of compassion for his father's deluded subjects, whom he +declared he was heartily sorry to see in that posture. Next day, +while the Prince was at Pinkie-house, a citizen of Edinburgh came +to make some representation to Secretary Murray about the tents +that city was ordered to furnish against a certain day. Murray +happened to be out of the way, which the Prince hearing of, +called to have the gentleman brought to him, saying, he would +rather dispatch the business, whatever it was, himself, than have +the gentleman wait, which he did, by granting everything that was +asked. So much affability in a young prince, flushed with +victory, drew encomiums even from his enemies. But what gave the +people the highest idea of him, was the negative he gave to a +thing that very nearly concerned his interest, and upon which the +success of his enterprise perhaps depended. It was proposed to +send one of the prisoners to London, to demand of that court a +cartel for the exchange of prisoners taken, and to be taken, +during this war, and to intimate that a refusal would be looked +upon as a resolution on their part to give no quarter. It was +visible a cartel would be of great advantage to the Prince's +affairs; his friends would be more ready to declare for him if +they had nothing to fear but the chance of war in the field; and +if the court of London refused to settle a cartel, the Prince was +authorized to treat his prisoners in the same manner the Elector +of Hanover was determined to treat such of the Prince's friends +as might fall into his hands: it was urged that a few examples +would compel the court of London to comply. It was to be +presumed that the officers of the English army would make a point +of it. They had never engaged in the service but upon such terms +as are in use among all civilized nations, and it could be no +stain upon their honour to lay down their commissions if these +terms were not observed, and that owing to the obstinacy of their +own Prince. Though this scheme was plausible, and represented as +very important, the Prince could never be brought into it: it +was below him, he said, to make empty threats, and he would never +put such as those into execution; he would never in cold blood +take away lives which he had saved in heat of action, at the +peril of his own. These were not the only proofs of good nature +the Prince gave about this time. Every day produced something +new of this kind. These things softened the rigour of a military +government, which was only imputed to the necessity of his +affairs, and which he endeavoured to make as gentle and easy as +possible.' + +It has been said, that the Prince sometimes exacted more state +and ceremonial than seemed to suit his condition; but, on the +other hand some strictness of etiquette was altogether +indispensable where he must otherwise have been exposed to +general intrusion. He could also endure, with a good grace, the +retorts which his affectation of ceremony sometimes exposed him +to. It is said, for example, that Grant of Glenmoriston having +made a hasty march to join Charles, at the head of his clan, +rushed into the Prince's presence at Holyrood with unceremonious +haste, without having attended to the duties of the toilet. The +Prince received him kindly, but not without a hint that a +previous interview with the barber might not have been wholly +unnecessary. 'It is not beardless boys,' answered the displeased +Chief, 'who are to do your Royal Highness's turn.' The Chevalier +took the rebuke in good part. + +On the whole, if Prince Charles had concluded his life soon after +his miraculous escape, his character in history must have stood +very high. As it was, his station is amongst those, a certain +brilliant portion of whose life forms a remarkable contrast to +all which precedes, and all which follows it. + + +NOTE 32.--THE SKIRMISH AT CLIFTON + +The following account of the skirmish at Clifton is extracted +from the manuscript Memoirs of Evan Macpherson of Cluny, chief of +the clan Macpherson who had the merit of supporting the principal +brunt of that spirited affair. The Memoirs appear to have been +composed about 1755, only ten years after the action had taken +place. They were written in France, where that gallant Chief +resided in exile, which accounts for some Gallicisms which occur +in the narrative. + +'In the Prince's return from Derby back towards Scotland, my Lord +George Murray, Lieutenant-General, cheerfully charg'd himself +with the command of the rear; a post, which, altho' honourable, +was attended with great danger, many difficulties, and no small +fatigue; for the Prince being apprehensive that his retreat to +Scotland might be cut off by Marischall Wade, who lay to the +northward of him with an armie much superior to what H. R. H. +had, while the Duke of Comberland with his whole cavalrie +followed hard in the rear, was obliged to hasten his marches. It +was not, therefore, possible for the artilirie to march so fast +as the Prince's armie, in the depth of winter, extremely bad +weather, and the worst roads in England; so Lord George Murray +was obliged often to continue his marches long after it was dark +almost every night, while at the same time, he had frequent +allarms and disturbances from the Duke of Comberland's advanc'd +parties. Towards the evening of the twentie-eight December 1745, +the Prince entered the town of Penrith, in the Province of +Comberland. But as Lord George Murray could not bring up the +artilirie so fast as he wou'd have wish'd, he was obliged to pass +the night six miles short of that town, together with the +regiment of Mac-Donel of Glengarrie, which that day happened to +have the arrear guard. The Prince, in order to refresh his +armie, and to give my Lord George and the artilirie time to come +up, resolved to sejour the 29th at Penrith; so ordered his little +army to appear in the morning under arms, in order to be +reviewed, and to know in what manner the numbers stood from his +haveing entered England. It did not at that time amount to 5000 +foot in all, with about 400 cavalrie, composed of the noblesse +who serv'd as volunteers, part of whom form'd a first troop of +guards for the Prince, under the command of My Lord Elchoe, now +Comte de Weems, who, being proscribed, is presently in France. +Another part formed a second troup of guards under the command of +My Lord Balmirino, who was beheaded at the Tower of London. A +third part serv'd under My Lord le Comte de Kilmarnock, who was +likewise beheaded at the Tower. A fourth part serv'd under My +Lord Pitsligow, who is also proscribed; which cavalrie, tho' very +few in numbers, being all Noblesse, were very brave, and of +infinite advantage to the foot, not only in the day of battle, +but in serving as advanced guards on the several marches, and in +patroling dureing the night on the different roads which led +towards the towns where the army happened to quarter. + +'While this small army was out in a body on the 29th December, +upon a rising ground to the northward of Penrith, passing review, +Mons. de Cluny with his tribe, was ordered to the Bridge of +Clifton, about a mile to southward of Penrith, after having +pass'd in review before Mons. Patullo, who was charged with the +inspection of the troops, and was likewise Quarter Master General +of the army, and is now in France. They remained under arms at +the Bridge, waiting the arrival of My Lord George Murray with the +artilirie, whom Mons. de Cluny had orders to cover in passing the +bridge. They arrived about sunsett closely pursued by the Duke +of Comberland with the whole body of his cavalrie, reckoned +upwards of 3000 strong, about a thousand of whom, as near as +might be computed, dismounted, in order to cut off the passage of +the artilirie towards the bridge, while the Duke and the others +remained on horseback in order to attack the arrear. My Lord +George Murray advanced, and although he found Mons. de Cluny and +his tribe in good spirits under arms, yet the circumstance +appear'd extremely delicate. The numbers were vastly unequall, +and the attack seem'd very dangerous; so my Lord George declin'd +giving orders to such time as he ask'd Mons. de Cluny's oppinion. +"I will attack them with all my heart," says Mons. de Cluny, "if +you order me." "I do order it then," answered my Lord George, and +immediately went on himself along with Mons. de Cluny, and fought +sword in hand on foot, at the head of the single tribe of +Macphersons. They in a moment made their way through a strong +hedge of thorns, under the cover whereof the cavalrie had taken +their station, in the struggle of passing which hedge My Lord +George Murray, being dressed EN MONTAGNARD, as all the army were, +lost his bonnet and wig; so continued to fight bare-headed during +the action, They at first made a brisk discharge of their +firearms on the enemy, then attacked them with their sabres, and +made a great slaughter a considerable time, which obliged +Comberland and his cavalrie to fly with precipitation and in +great confusion; in so much, that if the Prince had been provided +in a sufficient number of cavalrie to have taken advantage of the +disorder, it is beyond question that the Duke of Comberland and +the bulk of his cavalrie had been taken prisoners. By this time +it was so dark that it was not possible to view or number the +slain, who filled all the ditches which happened to be on the +ground where they stood. But it was computed that, besides those +who went off wounded upwards of a hundred at least were left on +the spot, among whom was Colonel Honeywood, who commanded the +dismounted cavalrie, whose sabre, of considerable value, Mons. de +Cluny brought off and still preserves; and his tribe lykeways +brought off many arms;--the Colonel was afterwards taken up, and, +his wounds being dress'd, with great difficultie recovered. +Mons. de Cluny lost only in the action twelve men, of whom some +haveing been only wounded, fell afterwards into the hands of the +enemy, and were sent as slaves to America, whence several of them +returned, and one of them is now in France, a serjeant in the +Regiment of Royal Scots. How soon the accounts of the enemie's +approach had reached the Prince, H. R. H. had immediately ordered +Mi-Lord le Comte de Nairne, Brigadier, who, being proscribed, is +now in France, with the three batalions of the Duke of Athol, the +batalion of the Duke of Perth, and some other troups under his +command, in order to support Cluny, and to bring off the +artilirie. But the action was intirely over before the Comte de +Nairne, with his command, cou'd reach nigh to the place. They +therefore return'd all to Penrith, and the artilirie marched up +in good order. Nor did the Duke of Comberland ever afterwards +dare to come within a day's march of the Prince and his army +dureing the course of all that retreat, which was conducted with +great prudence and safety, when in some manner surrounded by +enemies.' + + +NOTE 33.--THE OATH UPON THE DIRK + +As the heathen deities contracted an indelible obligation if they +swore by Styx, the Scottish Highlanders had usually some peculiar +solemnity attached to an oath which they intended should be +binding on them. Very frequently it consisted in laying their +hand, as they swore, on their own drawn dirk; which dagger, +becoming a party to the transaction, was invoked to punish any +breach of faith. But, by whatever ritual the oath was +sanctioned, the party was extremely desirous to keep secret what +the especial oath was, which he considered as irrevocable. This +was a matter of great convenience, as he felt no scruple in +breaking his asseveration when made in any other form than that +which he accounted as peculiarly solemn; and therefore readily +granted any engagement which bound him no longer than he +inclined. Whereas, if the oath which he accounted inviolable +was once publicly known, no party with whom he might have +occasion to contract, would have rested satisfied with any other. +Louis XI of France practised the same sophistry, for he also had +a peculiar species of oath, the only one which he was ever known +to respect, and which, therefore, he was very unwilling to +pledge. The only engagement which that wily tyrant accounted +binding upon him, was an oath by the Holy Cross of Saint Lo +d'Angers, which contained a Portion of the True Cross. If he +prevaricated after taking this oath, Louis believed he should +die within the year. The Constable Saint Paul, being invited to +a personal conference with Louis, refused to meet the king unless +he would agree to ensure him safe conduct under sanction of this +oath. But, says Comines, the king replied, he would never again +pledge that engagement to mortal man, though he was willing to +take any other oath which could be devised. The treaty broke +off, therefore, after much chaffering concerning the nature of +the vow which Louis was to take. Such is the difference between +the dictates of superstition and those of conscience. + + +* + +GLOSSARY + +ABIIT, EVASIT, ERUPIT, EFFUGIT, more correctly the quotation is, +'abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit': varying terms to express the +haste, secrecy, and energy of the flight. + +ABOON or ABUNE, above. + +ACCOLADE, embrace. + +ADSCRIPTI GLEBAE, slaves, transferred with the land to which they +are bound, from one possessor to another. + +AHINT, behind. + +AITS, oats. + +ALERTE A LA MURAILLE, 'Quick to the wall!' + +ALEXANDER AB ALEXANDRO, Alexander the son of Alexander. + +ALMA = 'alma mater terra', the land, the bounteous mother. + +ALTER EGO, his other self. + +AMBRY, AWMRY, chest. + +ANENT, concerning. + +ANILIA, old women's tales. + +APOTHEOSIS, deification. + +ARIETTE, air. + +ASSOILZIED, acquitted, or absolved. + +ASSYTHMENT, satisfaction. + + +BAFF, slap. + +BAGGANETS, bayonets. + +BARLEY, parley; CRY BARLEY IN A BRUILZIE, call a truce during a +scrimmage. + +BARON-BAILIE, steward of the estate. + +BAWBEE, halfpenny. + +BAXTER, baker. + +BEAUFET, buffet, sideboard. + +BEFLUMMED, befooled. + +BEGUNK, trick. + +BEN, within (by, in). + +BENEMPT, named. + +BENT, open country. + +BHAIRD, bard. + +BIBLIOPOLIST, seller of books. + +BIELDY, sheltered. + +BIRLIEMAN, a parish official. + +BLIND, hidden, out of the way. + +BLOOD-WIT, blood-money, compensation for homicide. + +BODACH, spectre. + +BODLE, farthing. + +BOGLE, bogey. + +BON VIVANT, a lover of good fare. + +BOUNE, make ready. + +BRANDER, broil. + +BRAW, fine. + +BROGUES, shoes. + +BROO', broth. + +BRUCKLE, brittle, frail. + +BRUIK, possess. + +BRUILZIE, broil, scrimmage. + +BURGONET, helmet. + +BUSK, get ready. + + +CAILLIACH, crone, old woman. + +CAISSE MILITAIRE, military chest. + +CALLANT, lad. + +CANNY, shrewd; UNCANNY or NO CANNY, eerie. + +CANTER, beggar; from the whining or 'canting' tone. + +CANTRIPS, tricks. + +CATH-DATH, tartan. + +C'EST DES DEUX OREILLES, properly, 'c'est d'une oreille,' an +expression appreciative of good wine. + +C'EST L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI CONSEILLE, it is the man who +fights and gives counsel. + +CEAN-KINNE, head of the clan. + +CEDANT ARMA TOGAE, let weapons give place to the citizen's robe. + +CELA NE TIRE A RIEN, that counts for nothing. + +CELA VA SANS DIRE, that goes without saying. + +CESS-MONEY, land-tax. + +CHANGE-HOUSE, public house. + +CHEVAUX-DE-POSTE, post-horses. + +CHIEL, person. + +CLACHAN, village. + +CLAMHEWIT, slash, clout. + +CLAW FAVOUR, curry favour. + +CLOUR, bump. + +COGHLING, blowing. + +COM., short for COMITATUS = county. + +CONCLAMARE VASA, to give the signal for baggage, i.e. for packing +the baggage. + +CONGES, bowing and scraping. + +CORONACH, lament. + +CORRI, hill-side. + +COUP, upset. + +COUPE-JARRET, cut-throat (literally, leg-chopper). + +COUR PLENIERE, full court, state-reception. + +COUTEAU DE CHASSE, hunting-knife. + +COW YER CRACKS, stop your chatter. + +CRAIG, neck. + +CREAGH, foray, raid. + +CUITTLE, fickle. + +CURRAGH, boat, + +CURRANT, running. + +CUT-LUGGED, crop-eared. + + +DANS SON TORT, in the wrong. + +DE FACTO, in actual fact. + +DE JURE, by legal right. + +DEAVING, deafening. + +DELIVER, active. + +DEMELEE, extrication from a hobble. + +DEOCH AN DORUIS, stirrup-cup. + +DERN, dark. + +DIAOUL, devil. + +DIAOUL!--CEADE MILLIA MOLLIGHEART, O the devil! a hundred +thousand curses. + +DINMONTS, year-old wethers. + +DISPONE, assign. + +DIVERTISEMENTS, diversions. + +DOER, factor, agent. + +DOITED, witless. + +DOON, down. + +DORLACH, valise, portmanteau. + +DOVERING, half-asleep. + +DOW, dove. + +DOWFF, dull. + +DUE DONZELLETTE GARRULE, two garrulous damsels. + +DUINHE-WASSEL, gentleman. + + +EARN, eagle. + +ELD, age. + +ELISOS OCULOS, ET SICCUM SANGUINE GUTTUR, eyes squeezed out of +his head, and throat drained of blood. + +EN ATTENDANT, meanwhile. + +EN MOUSQUETAIRE, from a soldier's point of view. + +EPULAE AD SENATUM, PRANDIUM VERO AD POPULUM ATTINET, for the +senate feasts are befitting, but for the people a simple meal. + +EPULAE LAUTIORES, splendid feasts. + +EQUIPONDERATE, equivalent. + +ET SINGULA PRAEDANTUR ANNI, the passing years rob us of every +thing we possess, one by one. + +ETTER-CAP, A venomous person. + +EVITE, evade. + +EWEST, nearest. + +EXEEMED, exempt. + + +FAIRE LA CUREE, to give the shin, &c., of a killed stag to the +hounds. + +FAIRE LA MEILLEURE CHERE, to make good cheer. + +FEAL, loyal. + +FECK, part. + +FENDY, handy. + +FEROCIORES IN ASPECTU, MITIORES IN ACTU, fierce in appearance, in +behaviour mild. + +FILLE DE CHAMBRE, lady's maid. + +FLEMIT, frightened. + +FLEYT, scold. + +FORIS-FAMILIATED, excluded from the family, out of the +jurisdiction of the head of the family. + +FUNGARQUE INANI MUNERE, I shall render a fruitless service. + + +GABERLUNZIE, beggar. + +GAD, bar. + +GANE, gone. + +GAR, make. + +GARCONS APOTHICAIRES, chemists' assistants. + +GARDEZ L'EAU, beware of the water. + +GARTANED, gartered. + +GAUDET EQUIS ET CANIBUS, he finds his pleasure in horses and +dogs. + +GAUN, going. + +GEAR, goods. + +GIMMERS, ewes of two years. + +GIN, if. + +GLED, hawk. + +GLEG, quick. + +GLISK, glimpse. + +GRANING, groaning. + +GRAT, cried; GREET, cry, weep. + +GREY-BEARD, jug. + +GRICE, young pig. + +GRIFFIN, a four-legged dragon. + +GRIPPLE, greedy. + +GUSTO, taste. + + +HAEC TIBI ERUNT ARTES, &c. + 'These be your acts; to impose the rule of peace; + To spare the humbled, crush the arrogant foe.' + +HAG, copse. + +HAGGIS, a dish composed of the pluck, &c., of a sheep, with +oatmeal, suet, onions, &c., boiled inside the animal's maw. + +HAILL, whole. + +HALLAN, inner wall. + +HANTLE, a lot. + +HECK, cattle rack. + +HER NAIN SELL, me, myself. + +HERSHIP, plunder. + +HET, hot. + +HIPPOGRIFF, a cross between a horse and a dragon. + +HOG, lamb. + +HOMAGIUM, the act of homage. + +HORNING, outlawry. + +HORSE-COUPER, horse-dealer. + +HOWE, hollow. + +HUMANA PERPESSI SUMUS, we have borne all that man can inflict on +us. + +HURDLES, buttocks. + + +ILK, each; OF THAT ILK, having the same title as the surname. + +IMPIGER, IRACUNDUS, INEXORABILIS, ACER, untiring, swift to wrath, +unyielding, keen. + +IN CARCERE, in prison. + +IN ERGASTULO, in a dungeon (a private prison, as opposed to +INCARCERE). + +IN INTEGNUM, in full. + +IN LOCO PARENTIS, in the place of a parent. + +IN REBUS BELLICIS MAXIME DOMINATUR FORTUNA, in matters of war, +Luck has most to say. + +IN SERVITIO EXUENDI, SEU DETRAHENDI. CALIGAS REGIS POST +BATALLIAM, for the service of undoing or pulling off the king's +boots after a battle. + +INTROMITTED, interfered with. + + +JOGUE, jogee, ascetic or conjurer. + + +KEMPLE, a load of hay (forty 'bottles'). + +KIPPAGE, rage. + +KITTLE, tricky, difficult. + +KYLOES, highland cattle. + + +LA BELLE PASSION, the gentle passion. + +LA HOULETTE ET LE CHALLUMEAU, the shepherd's crook and pipe. + +LAIRD, (equivalent to) squire. + +LAISSEZ FAIRE A DON ANTOINE, Leave that to Don Antonio. + +LANG-LEGGIT, long-legged. + +LAPIS OFFENSIONIS ET PETRA SCANDALI, a stone of stumbling and a +rock of offence. + +LAWING, reckoning. + +LE BEAU IDEAL, the perfect conception. + +LEGES CONVIVIALES, the rules of the table. + +LES COUSTUSMES DE NORMANDIE, C'EST L'HOMME KI SE BAST ET KI +CONSEILLE, [according to] the Norman custom, it is the man who +fights and gives counsel. + +LEVY EN MASSE, full muster. + +LIBER PATER, Father Liber; an old Italian deity, afterwards +identified with Bacchus. + +LIGHTLY, make light of. + +LIMMER, hussy, good-for-nothing. + +LOON, fellow. + +LOUPING-ON STANE, mounting-stone. + +LOUR, to frown. + +LUCKIE, widow. + +LUG, ear. + +LUNZIE, wallet. + + +MA BELLE DEMOISELLE, my fair damsel. + +MADAME SON EPOUSE, Madam his wife. + +MAILS, rent, dues. + +MAIS CELA VIENDRA AVEC LE TEMPS, but that will come with time. + +MAIST, most. + +MAJOR DOMO, butler, mayor of the house, steward. + +MANEGE, the art of training and managing horses. + +MART, fatted beasts, slaughtered at Martinmas for winter +provision. + +MASK, infuse. + +MAUGRE, in spite of. + +MAUN, must. + +MAUVAISE HONTE, false shame. + +MAVORTIA PECTORA, warlike breasts. + +MEAL-ARK, meal-tub. + +MISGUGGLE, mishandle. + +MOLDWARP, mole. + +MON COEUR, &c. + 'My heart so light, quo' she, + My lad, is not for you; + 'Tis for a soldier bold, + With beard of martial hue. + Down, down, derrydown. + 'A feather in his hat, + A red heel on his shoe; + Who plays upon the flute, + And on the fiddle too. + Down, down, derrydown.' + +MORNING, morning drink. + +MORTIS CAUSA, the cause of death. + +MOUSTED, powdered. + +MUTEMUS CLYPEOS, &c. + 'Change we our shields, and for + ourselves assume the trappings + of the Greeks.' + + +NEB, nose. + +NEBULONES NEQUISSIMI, worthless scamps. + +NEC NATURALITER IDIOTA, not a born idiot. + +NOLT, cattle. + +NUNC INSANUS AMOR, &c. + 'Love's frenzy keeps me still in war's array + Where bolts fly thick, and foemen compass me.' + +NUNCUPATIVE, legally valid nomination of an heir. + + +OBSIDIONAL CROWN, the reward of a commander who delivered a town +from siege; here used erroneously for the reward of the soldier +who first entered a besieged city. + +ORRA, odd; ORRA MAN, the man who does the odd jobs. + +OUTRECUIDANCE, presumption. + +O VOUS QUI BUVEZ, &c. + 'O you, who drink from flagons full, + From out this happy fountain cool, + Here where, upon the banks, you see + Only the flocks of silly sheep, + With rustic maids for company, + Who bare of foot their wardship keep.' + +OYER AND TERMINER, to hear and determine (legal, from Norman +terminology). + + +PAITRICK, partridge. + +PALINODE, recantation. + +PANGED, crammed. + +PAUNIE, peacock. + +PEACHED, informed against, betrayed. + +PECULIUM, property. + +PENETRALIA, interior. + +PER CONJURATIONEM, on oath. + +PHILABEG, kilt. + +PHRENESIAC, frenzied. + +PINNERS, cap with lappets. + +PIS-ALLER, an inferior article which will do to go on with. + +PLACK, halfpenny. + +PLEADER, barrister. + +PLOY, employment, or fuss. + +POCULUM POTATORIUM, drinking-cup. + +POWTERING, rummaging. + +PRANDIUM, a meal. + +PRETTY, athletic. + +PRIMAE NOTAE, of the first quality. + +PRINCEPS, chieftain. + +PROCUL A PATRIAE FINIBUS, far from the borders of your own land. + +PROCUL DUBIO, without doubt. + +PRONER, praise up. + +PROPONE, propose. + +PROSAPIA, ancestry. + +PUER (JUVENIS) BONAE SPEI ET MAGNAE INDOLIS, a youth of promising +future and of high character. + + +QUANTUM SUFFICIT, as much as is needed, enough. + +QUASI BEARWARDEN, in the capacity of Bearwarden. + +QU'IL CONNOIT BIEN SES GENS, that he knows well with whom he has +to deal. + +QUEAN, girl. + +QUODLIBETS, subtleties. + + +RAMPANT, erect on the hind legs. + +RECEPTO AMICO, when a friend is present. + +RECTUS IN CURIA, cleared before the law, + +REDD, put in order. + +REIFS, robberies. + +REISES, brushwood. + +RESILING, drawing back. + +RINTHEROUT, rapscallion. + +RISU SOLVUNTUR TABULAE, the prosecution is laughed out of court. + +ROKELAY, short cloak. + +ROYNISH, scurvy. + +RUNT, an old cow. + +RUSE DE GUERRE, military stratagem. + + +SACRAMENTUM MILITARE, soldiers' oath of allegiance. + +SAGESSE, discretion. + +SALIENT, in the act of leaping. + +SANCTUM SANCTORUM, lit. 'holy of holies'; a specially private +retreat or study. + +SANS TACHE, without stain. + +SARKS, shirts. + +SCARTED, scratched, + +SCHELLUM, scamp. + +SCOUPING, scampering. + +SENNACHIES, Highland genealogists. + +SERVABIT ODOREM TESTA DIU, the pot will keep the smell for a long +time. + +SHEMUS BEG, little James. + +SHIBBOLETH, a pass-word (Judges xii, 6). + +SHILPIT, thin. + +SICCAN, such. + +SIDIER ROY, red-coated soldiers. + +SILLER, silver. + +SKENE, small dirk or dagger. + +SMOKY, suspicious. + +SONSIE, sensible. + +SOPITE, allay. + +SORNER, a person who lives on his neighbours. + +SOWENS, porridge or gruel. + +SPEIRINGS, askings, = information. + +SPENCE, best room. + +SPES ALTERA, another hope. + +SPLEUCHAN, pocket. + +SPRACK, spruce. + +SPRECHERY, cattle-lifting. + +SPUILZIE, spoil (cf. BRUILZIE = broil). + +STEADINGS, farms. + +STIEVE, stiff. + +STIRK, a year-old heifer or bullock. + +STOOR, austere. + +STOT, bull. + +STOUP, mug, flagon. + +STOUTHREIF, robbery with violence. + +STRAE, straw. + +STRATH, a valley. + +STRATHSPEY, a Scottish dance. + +STREEK, lie down. + +SUI JURIS, of his own right. + +SUUM CUIQUE, to each his due. + +SYBOES, onions or radishes. + + +TACKSMAN, tenant. + +TAIGLIT, slow, tired. + +TAILLIE, covenant, bond. + +TAISHATR, a person who has second-sight. + +TANDEM TRIUMPHANS, triumphant in the end. + +TANQUAM PRIVATUS, in my private capacity. + +TAPPIT-HEN, a pewter-pot, holding nearly a gallon. + +TENTAMINA, experiments. + +TESTAMENTUM MILITARE, will made on the field of battle. + +THIR, those. + +THRAW, twist. + +THREEPIT, declared. + +TIGHEARNA, chief. + +TIL, to; INTIL, into; UNTIL, unto. + +TINCHEL, circle of beaters for driving game. + +TOCHER, dowry; TOCHERLESS, dowerless. + +TOTO COELO, as widely as may be. + +TOUN, collection of houses, + +TRACASSERIE, annoyance. + +TREWS, tartan trousers. + +TRINDLING, trundling. + +TROISIEME ETAGE, third floor. + +TROT-COZY, riding-hood. + +TUILZIE, scrimmage. + + +UMWHILE, sometime, late. + +UN PETIT PENDEMENT BIEN JOLI, a very pretty little hanging. + +UNCO, very. + +UNSONSY, senseless, or uncanny. + +UNTIL, unto. + +USQUEBAUGH, whiskey. + + +VILIPENDED, slandered. + +VINUM LOCUTUM EST, it was the wine that spoke. + +VINUM PRIMAE NOTAE, wine of the first quality. + +VITA ADHUC DURANTE, as long as life lasts. + +VIVERS, victuals. + +VIX EA NOSTRA VOCO, I scarcely call these things my own. + + +WADSET, pledge. + +WANCHANCY, unchancy unlucky. ill-omened. + +WAPPEN, brief. + +WARE, spend, bestow. + +WA'S, walls. + +WEEL-FAR'D, well-favoured. + +WEISING, aiming. + +WHEEN, WHIN, few. + +WHILK, which. + +WHINGEING, whining. + +WYVERN, two-legged dragon. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Waverley, by Walter Scott + diff --git a/old/wvrly10.zip b/old/wvrly10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d3fb8a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wvrly10.zip |