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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of
+Scotland, Volume VI, by Various, Edited by Alexander Leighton
+
+
+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: Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume VI
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Alexander Leighton
+
+Release Date: June 3, 2009  [eBook #29030]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS AND
+OF SCOTLAND, VOLUME VI***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Clarke, Anne Storer, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   In the THE ROTHESAY FISHERMAN, Charles' brother is referred
+   to both as Harry and Henry on numerous occasions.
+
+
+
+
+
+WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS AND OF SCOTLAND.
+
+Historical, Traditionary, & Imaginative.
+
+With a Glossary.
+
+Revised by
+
+ALEXANDER LEIGHTON,
+
+One of the Original Editors and Contributors.
+
+VOL. VI.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London:
+Walter Scott, 14 Paternoster Square.
+and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
+1885.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                              Page
+
+ THE GUIDWIFE OF COLDINGHAM,          (_John Mackay Wilson_),    1
+
+ THE SURGEON'S TALES,                     (_Alex. Leighton_)--
+        THE SOMNAMBULIST OF REDCLEUGH,                          22
+
+ THE ROTHESAY FISHERMAN,               (_Oliver Richardson_),   47
+
+ LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF AN AGED SPINSTER,
+                                      (_John Mackay Wilson_),   80
+
+ GEORDIE WILLISON, AND THE HEIRESS OF CASTLE GOWER,
+                                      (_Alexander Leighton_),   93
+
+ THE SNOW STORM OF 1825,              (_Alexander Campbell_),  117
+
+ GUILTY, OR NOT GUILTY,                            (_Anon._),  149
+
+ THE SERGEANT'S TALES,                       (_John Howell_)--
+        THE PALANTINES,                                        181
+
+ THE PARSONAGE: MY FATHER'S FIRESIDE, (_Alexander Peterkin_),  213
+
+ THE SEERS' CAVE,              (_William Hethrington, D.D._),  245
+
+ THE LAIDLEY WORM OF SPINDLESTON HEUGH,
+                                      (_John Mackay Wilson_),  260
+
+ THE SABBATH WRECKS,                  (_John Mackay Wilson_),  276
+
+
+
+
+
+ WILSON'S
+ TALES OF THE BORDERS,
+ AND OF SCOTLAND.
+
+
+ THE GUIDWIFE OF COLDINGHAM;
+ OR,
+ THE SURPRISE OF FAST CASTLE.
+
+
+Near where St. Abb stretches, in massive strength, into the sea, still
+terrible, even in ruins, may be seen the remains of Fast Castle, one
+of the most interesting in its history--as it is the most fearfully
+romantic in its situation--of all the mouldering strongholds which are
+still to be traced among the Borders, like monuments of war, crumbling
+into nothingness beneath the silent but destroying touch of time. After
+the death of the bluff Harry the Eighth of England, who had long kept
+many of the corruptible amongst the Scottish nobility and gentry in his
+pay, the ambitious Somerset, succeeding to the office of guardian of the
+young king, speedily, under the name of Protector, acquired an authority
+nothing inferior to the power of an absolute monarch. He had not long
+held the reins of government when he rendered it evident, that it was a
+part of his ambition to subdue Scotland, or the better portion of it,
+into a mere province of England.
+
+The then governor of Scotland, Hamilton, Earl of Arran, (for Queen Mary
+was but a child,) was not ignorant of the designs of Somerset, and every
+preparation was made to repel him on his crossing the Borders. It was
+drawing towards evening on the first of September, 1547, when the
+Protector, at the head of an army of eighteen thousand men, arrived
+at Berwick; and nearly at the same instant, while the gloaming yet lay
+light and thin upon the sea, a fleet, consisting of thirty-four vessels
+of war, thirty transports, and a galley, were observed sailing round
+Emmanuel's head--the most eastern point of Holy Island. On the moment
+that the fleet was perceived, St. Abb's lighted up its fires, throwing a
+long line of light along the darkening sea, from the black shore to the
+far horizon: and scarce had the first flame of its alarm-fire waved in
+the wind, till the Dow Hill repeated the fiery signal; and, in a few
+minutes, Domilaw, Dumprender, and Arthur's Seat, exhibited tops of fire
+as the night fell down on them, bearing the tidings, as if lightnings
+flying on different courses revealed them, through Berwickshire and the
+Lothians, and enabling Roxburghshire and Fife to read the tale; while
+Binning's Craig, repeating the telegraphic fire, startled the burghers
+of Linlithgow on the one hand, and on the other aroused the men of
+Lanarkshire.
+
+Before, therefore, the vessels had arrived in the bay, or the
+Protector's army had encamped in the Magdalen Fields around
+Berwick--Berwickshire, Roxburgh, the Lothians, Fife, and Lanark were
+in arms. The cry from the hills and in the glens was, "The enemy is
+come--the English--to arms!" The shepherd drove his flocks to the
+inaccessible places in the mountains; he threw down his crook and
+grasped his spear.
+
+At the same time that Somerset crossed the Borders on the east, the Earl
+of Lennox, who, from disappointed ambition, had proved false to his
+country, entered it at the head of another English army to the west.
+
+But I mean not to write a history of Somerset's invasion--of the
+plausible proposals which he made, and which were rejected--nor of the
+advantages which the Scots, through recklessness or want of discipline,
+flung away, and of the disasters which followed. All the places of
+strength upon the Borders fell into his hands, and he garrisoned them
+from his army and set governors over them. The first place of his attack
+was Fast Castle; in which, after taking possession of it, he left a
+governor and strong garrison, composed of English troops and foreign
+mercenaries, causing also the people around, for their own safety, to
+take to him an oath of fealty, renouncing their allegiance to the young
+queen. But while there were many who obeyed his command with reluctance,
+there were others who chose rather to endanger or forfeit their lives
+and property than comply with it. It had not, however, been two years
+in the hands of the English, when, by a daring and desperate act of
+courage, it was wrested from them.
+
+A decree went forth from the English governor of the castle, commanding
+them to bring into it, from time to time, all necessary provisions
+for the use of the garrison, for which they should receive broad money
+in return; for Somerset and his chief officers--the Lord Grey and
+others--had caused it to be published, that they considered the
+inhabitants of that part of Scotland as the subjects of young Edward, in
+common with themselves, and not as a people with whom they were at war,
+or from whom their soldiers might collect provisions and pay them with
+the sword.
+
+The English, indeed, paid liberally for whatsoever they received;
+and there was policy in their so doing, for there were not a few who
+preferred lucre to their country, and the effigy of a prince upon a
+coin to allegiance to their lawful monarch. But, while such obeyed
+with alacrity the command of the governor of Fast Castle, to bring
+provisions to his garrison, there were many others who acquiesced in it
+reluctantly, and only obeyed from the consciousness that disobedience
+would be the price of their lives.
+
+At this period there dwelt in Coldingham a widow, named Madge Gordon.
+She was a tall and powerful woman, and her years might be a little below
+fifty. Daily she indulged in invectives against the English, and spoke
+contemptuously of the spirit of her countrymen in submitting to the
+mandate of the governor of Fast Castle. She had two cows and more than a
+score of poultry; but she declared that she would spill the milk of the
+one upon the ground every day, and throw the eggs of the other over the
+cliffs, rather than that either the one or the other should be taken
+through the gates of the castle while an English garrison held it.
+
+Often, therefore, as Madge beheld her neighbours carrying their baskets
+on their arms, their creels or sacks upon their backs, or driving their
+horses, laden with provisions, towards the castle, her wrath would rise
+against them, and she was wont to exclaim--
+
+"O ye slaves!--ye base loun-hearted beasts o' burden! hoo lang will ye
+boo before the hand that strikes ye, or kiss the foot that tramples on
+ye? Throw doun the provisions, and gang hame and bring what they better
+deserve; for, if ye will gie them bread, feed them on the point o' yer
+faithers' spears."
+
+Some laughed as Madge spoke; but her words sank deep into the hearts of
+others; and a few answered--
+
+"Ye are as daft as ever, Madge; but a haveral woman's tongue is nae
+scandal, and ye ken that the governor winna tak cognizance o' ye."
+
+"Me ken or care for him, ye spiritless coofs, ye!" she replied; "gae
+tell him that Madge Gordon defies him and a' his men, as she despises
+you, and wad shake the dirt frae her shoon at baith the ane and the
+other o' ye. Shame fa' ye, ye degenerate, mongrel race! for, if ye had
+ae drap o' the bluid o' the men in yer veins wha bled wi' Wallace and
+wi' Bruce, before the sun gaed doun, the flag o' bonny Scotland wad wave
+frae the castle towers."
+
+"Mother! mother!" said an interesting-looking girl of nineteen, who
+had come to the door as the voice of Madge waxed louder and more
+bitter--"dinna talk foolishly--ye will bring us a' into trouble."
+
+"Trouble! ye silly lassie, ye!" rejoined Madge; "these are times indeed
+to talk o' the like o' us being brought into trouble, when our puir
+bluiding country is groaning beneath the yoke o' an enemy, and we see
+them harrying us not only oot o' hoose and ha', but even those that
+should be our protectors oot o' their manhood! See," added she, "do ye
+see wha yon is, skulking as far as he can get frae our door wi' the
+weel-filled sack upon his shouthers? It is yer ain dearie, Florence
+Wilson! O the betrayer o' his country!--He's a coward, Janet, like the
+rest o' them, and shall ne'er ca' ye his wife while I live to ca' ye
+daughter."
+
+"O mother!" added the maiden, in a low and agitated voice--"what could
+poor Florence do? It isna wi' a man body as it is wi' the like o' us. If
+he didna do as the lave do, he wad be informed against, and he maun obey
+or die!"
+
+"Let him die, then, as a man, as a Scotchman!" said the stern guidwife
+of Coldingham.
+
+Florence Wilson, of whom Madge had spoken, was a young man of three or
+four and twenty, and who then held, as his fathers had done before him,
+sheep lands under the house of Home. He was one of those who obeyed
+reluctantly the command of the governor to bring provisions to the
+garrison; and, until the day on which Madge beheld him with the sack
+upon his shoulders, he had resisted doing so. But traitors had whispered
+the tale of his stubbornness and discontent in the castle; and, in
+order to save himself and his flocks, he that day took a part of his
+substance to the garrison. He had long been the accepted of Janet
+Gordon; and the troubles of the times alone prevented them, as the
+phrase went, from "commencing house together." He well knew the fierce
+and daring patriotism of his intended mother-in-law, and he took a
+circuitous route, in order to avoid passing her door, laden with a
+burden of provisions for the enemy. But, as has been told, she perceived
+him.
+
+In the evening, Florence paid his nightly visit to Janet.
+
+"Out! out! ye traitor!" cried Madge, as she beheld him crossing her
+threshold; "the shadow of a coward shall ne'er fall on my floor while I
+hae a hand to prevent it."
+
+"I'm nae coward, guidwife," retorted Florence indignantly.
+
+"Nae coward!" she rejoined; "what are ye, then? Did not I, this very
+day, wi' my ain een, behold ye skulking, and carrying provisions to the
+enemy!"
+
+"Ye might," said Florence; "but ae man canna tak a castle, nor drive
+frae it five hundred enemies. Bide ye yet. Foolhardy courage isna
+manhood; and, had mair prudence and caution, and less confidence, been
+exercised by our army last year, we wouldna hae this day to mourn owre
+the battle o' Pinkie. I tell ye, therefore, again, just bide ye yet."
+
+"Come in, Florence," said Madge; "draw in a seat and sit doun, and tell
+me what ye mean."
+
+"Hoots, Florence," said Janet, in a tone partaking of reproach and
+alarm, "are ye gaun to be as daft as my mother? What matters it to us
+wha's king or wha's queen?--it will be lang or either the ane or the
+ither o' them do onything for us. When ye see lords and gentry in the
+pay o' England, and takin its part, what can the like o' you or my
+mother do?"
+
+"Do! ye chicken-hearted trembler at yer ain shadow!" interrupted Madge;
+"though somewhat past its best, I hae an arm as strong and healthy as
+the best o' them, and the blood that runs in it is as guid as the
+proudest o' them."
+
+Now, the maiden name of Madge was Home; and when her pride was touched,
+it was her habit to run over the genealogical tree of her father's
+family, which she could illustrate upon her fingers, beginning on all
+occasions--"I am, and so is every Home in Berwickshire, descended frae
+the Saxon kings o' England and the first Earls o' Northumberland." Thus
+did she run on, tracing their descent from Crinan, chief of the Saxons
+in the north of England, to Maldredus, his son, who married Algatha,
+daughter of Uthred, prince of Northumberland, and grand-daughter of
+Ethelrid, king of England; and from Maldredus to his son Cospatrick,
+of whose power William the Conqueror became jealous, and who was,
+therefore, forced to fly into Scotland in the year 1071, where Malcolm
+Canmore bestowed on him the manor of Dunbar, and many baronies in
+Berwickshire. Thus did she notice three other Cospatricks, famous and
+mighty men in their day, each succeeding Cospatrick the son of his
+predecessor; and after them a Waldreve, and a Patrick, whose son,
+William, marrying his cousin, he obtained with her the lands of Home,
+and, assuming the name, they became the founders of the clan. From the
+offspring of the cousin, the male of whom took the name of Sir William
+Home, and from him through eleven other successors, down to George,
+the fourth Lord Home, who had fallen while repelling the invasion of
+Somerset a few months before, did Madge trace the roots, shoots, and
+branches of her family, carrying it back through a period of more than
+six hundred years; and she glowed, therefore, with true aristocratic
+indignation at the remark of her daughter to Florence--"What can the
+like o' you or my mother do?" And she concluded her description of her
+genealogical tree by saying--"Talk noo the like o' yer mother, hizzy!"
+
+"Aweel, mother," said Janet, mildly--"that may a' be; but there is
+nae cause for you fleeing into a tift upon the matter, for nae harm was
+meant. I only dinna wish Florence to be putting his life in jeopardy for
+neither end nor purpose. I'm sure I wish that oor nobility would keep to
+their bargain, and allow the queen, though she is but a lassie yet, to
+be married to young king Edward, and then we might hae peace in the
+land, and ither folk would be married as weel as them."
+
+"We shall be married, Janet, my doo," said Florence, gazing on her
+tenderly--"only ye bide a wee."
+
+Now, it must not be thought that Janet loved her country less than
+did her mother or her betrothed husband; but, while the land of blue
+mountains was dear to her heart, Florence Wilson was yet more dear; and
+it was only because they were associated with thoughts of him that they
+became as a living thing, as a voice and as music in her bosom. For,
+whence comes our fondness for the woods, the mountains, the rivers
+of nativity, but from the fond remembrances which their associations
+conjure up, and the visions which they recall to the memory of those who
+were dear to us, but who are now far from us, or with the dead? We may
+have seen more stupendous mountains, nobler rivers, and more stately
+woods--but they were not _ours_! They were not the mountains, the
+rivers, and the woods, by which we played in childhood, formed first
+friendships, or breathed love's tender tale in the ear of her who was
+beautiful as the young moon or the evening star, which hung over us
+like smiles of heaven; nor were they the fountains, the woods, and the
+rivers, near which our kindred, the flesh of our flesh, and the bone of
+our bone, SLEEP! But I digress.
+
+"Tell me, Florence," said Madge, "what mean ye by 'bide a wee?' Is
+there a concerted project amongst ony o' ye, an' are ye waiting for an
+opportunity to carry it into effect?"
+
+"No," answered he, "I canna say as how we hae devised ony practicable
+scheme o' owrecoming our oppressors as yet; but there are hundreds o' us
+ready to draw our swords an' strike, on the slightest chance o' success
+offering--and the chance may come."
+
+"An' amongst the hundreds o' hands ye speak o'," returned Madge, "is
+there no a single head that can plot an' devise a plan to owrecome an'
+drive our persecutors frae the castle?"
+
+"I doot it--at least I hae ne'er heard ony feasible-like plan proposed,"
+said Florence, sorrowfully.
+
+Madge sat thoughtful for a few minutes, her chin resting on her hand. At
+length she inquired--"When go ye back to sell provisions to them again?"
+
+"This day week," was the reply.
+
+"Then I shall tak my basket wi' eggs an' butter, an' gae wi' ye,"
+answered Madge.
+
+"O mother! what are ye sayin?" cried Janet. "Ye maun gang nae sic
+gate. I ken yer temper would flare up the moment ye heard a word spoken
+against Scotland, or a jibe broken on it; an' there is nae tellin' what
+might be the consequence."
+
+"Leave baith the action an' the consequence to me, Janet, my woman,"
+said the patriotic mother; "as I brew, I will drink. But ye hae naething
+to fear; I will be as mim in the castle as ye wad be if gieing Florence
+yer hand in the kirk."
+
+The day on which the people were again to carry provisions to the
+garrison in Fast Castle arrived; and to the surprize of every one,
+Madge, with a laden basket on each arm, mingled amongst them. Many
+marvelled, and the more mercenary said--
+
+"Ay, ay!--Madge likes to turn the penny as weel as ither folk. The
+English will hae guid luck if ony o' them get a bargain oot o' her
+baskets."
+
+She, therefore, went to the castle, bearing provisions with the rest of
+the peasantry; but, under pretence of disposing of her goods to the best
+advantage, she went through and around the castle, and quitted it not
+until she had ascertained where were its strongest, where its weakest
+points of defence, and in what manner it was guarded.
+
+When, therefore, Florence Wilson again visited her dwelling, she
+addressed him, saying--
+
+"Noo, I hae seen oor enemies i' the heart o' their strength; an' I hae
+a word to say to ye that will try yer courage, and the courage o' the
+hunders o' guid men an' true that ye hae spoken o' as only bidin' their
+time to strike. Noo, is it yer opinion that, between Dunglass an'
+Eyemouth, ye could gather a hundred men willing an' ready to draw the
+sword for Scotland's right, an' to drive the invaders frae Fast Castle,
+if a feasible plan were laid before them?"
+
+"I hae nae doot o't," replied he.
+
+"Doots winna do," said she; "will ye try it?"
+
+"Yes," said he.
+
+"Florence, ye _shall_ be my son," added she, taking his hand--"I see
+there is spirit in ye yet."
+
+"Mother," said Janet earnestly, "what dangerous errand is this ye wad
+set him upon?--what do ye think it could matter to me wha was governor
+o' Fast Castle, if Florence should meet his death in the attempt?"
+
+"Wheesht! ye silly lassie, ye," replied her mother; "had I no borne ye,
+I wad hae said that ye hadna a drap o' my bluid i' yer veins. What is't
+that ye fear? If they'll abide by my counsel, though it may try their
+courage, oor purpose shall be accomplished wi' but little scaith."
+
+"Neither fret nor fear, dear," said Florence, addressing Janet; "I hae a
+hand to defend my head, an' a guid sword to guard baith." Then turning
+to her mother, he added--"An' what may be yer plan, that I may
+communicate it to them that I ken to be zealous in oor country's cause?"
+
+"Were I to tell ye noo," said she, "that ye might communicate it to
+them, before we were ready to put it into execution, the story wad
+spread frae the Tweed to John o' Groat's, and frae St. Abb's to the
+Solway, and our designs be prevented. Na, lad, my scheme maun be laid
+before a' the true men that can be gathered together at the same moment,
+an' within a few hours o' its being put in execution. Do ye ken the dark
+copse aboon Houndwood, where there is a narrow and crooked opening
+through the tangled trees, but leading to a bit o' bonny green sward,
+where a thousand men might encamp unobserved?"
+
+"I do," answered Florence.
+
+"And think ye that ye could assemble the hundred men ye speak o' there,
+on this night fortnight?"
+
+"I will try," replied he.
+
+"Try, then," added she, "and I will meet ye there before the new moon
+sink behind the Lammermoors."
+
+It was a few days after this that Madge was summoned to the village of
+Home, to attend the funeral of a relative; and while she was yet there,
+the castle of her ancestors was daringly wrested from the hands of the
+Protector's troops, by an aged kinsman of her own, and a handful of
+armed men. The gallant deed fired her zeal more keenly, and strengthened
+her resolution to wrest Fast Castle from the hands of the invaders. She
+had been detained at Home until the day on which Florence Wilson was
+to assemble the stout-hearted and trust-worthy in the copse above
+Houndwood. Her kindred would have detained her longer; but she resisted
+their entreaties, and took leave of them saying, that "her bit lassie,
+Janet, would be growing irksome wi' being left alane, an' that, at ony
+rate, she had business on hand that couldna be delayed."
+
+She proceeded direct to the place of rendezvous, without going onwards
+to her own house; and, as she drew near the narrow opening which led to
+the green space in the centre of the dark copse, the young moon was
+sinking behind the hills. As she drew cautiously forward she heard the
+sound of voices, which gradually became audible.
+
+"Well, Florence," said one, "what are ye waiting for? Where is the grand
+project that ye was to lay before us?"
+
+"Florence," said others, "let us proceed to business. It is gaun to be
+very dark, and ye will remember we have to gang as far as the Peaths[A]
+the night yet."
+
+  [A] The Pease Bridge.
+
+Florence answered as one perplexed, but in his wonted words--"Hae
+patience--bide a wee;" and added, in a sort of soliloquy, but loud
+enough to be overheard by his companions--"She promised to be here
+before the moon gaed down upon the Lammermoors."
+
+"Wha did?--wha promised to be here?" inquired half a dozen voices.
+
+"I did!" cried Madge, proudly, as she issued from the narrow aperture in
+the copse, and her tall figure was revealed by the fading moonbeams.
+With a stately step, she walked into the midst of them, and gazed round
+as though the blood and dignity of all the Homes had been centred in her
+own person.
+
+"Weel, Madge," inquired they, "and, since ye are come, for what hae ye
+brought us here?"
+
+"To try," added she, "whether, inheriting, as ye do, yer faithers'
+bluid, ye also inherit their spirit--to see whether ye hae the manhood
+to break the yoke o' yer oppressors, or if ye hae the courage to follow
+the example which the men o' Home set ye the other nicht."
+
+"What have they done?" inquired Florence.
+
+"Hearken," said she, "ane and a' o' ye, and I will tell ye; for, wi' my
+ain een, I beheld a sicht that was as joyfu' to me as the sight o' a
+sealed pardon to a condemned criminal. Ye weel ken that, for near twa
+years, the English have held Home Castle, just as they still hold Fast
+Castle, beside us. Now, it was the other nicht, and just as the grey
+gloam was darkening the towers, that an auld kinsman o' mine, o' the
+name o' Home, scaled the walls where they were highest, strongest, and
+least guarded; thirty gallant countrymen had accompanied him to their
+foot, but before they could follow his example, he was perceived by a
+sentinel, wha shouted out--'To arms!--to arms!' 'Cower, lads, cower!'
+said my auld kinsman, in a sort o' half whisper, to his followers; and
+he again descended the wall, and they lay down, with their swords in
+their hands, behind some whin bushes at the foot o' the battlements.
+There was running, clanking, and shouting through the castle for a time;
+but, as naething like the presence o' an enemy was either seen or heard,
+the sentry that had raised the alarm was laughed at, and some gaed back
+to their beds, and others to their wine. But, after about two hours, and
+when a'thing was again quiet, my kinsman and his followers climbed the
+walls, and, rushing frae sentinel to sentinel, they owrecam ane after
+anither before they could gie the alarm to the garrison in the castle;
+and, bursting into it, shouted--'Hurra!--Scotland and Home for ever!'
+Panic seized the garrison; some started frae their sleep--others reeled
+frae their cups--some grasped their arms--others ran, they knew not
+where--but terror struck the hearts o' ane and a'; and still, as the
+cry, 'Scotland and Home for ever!' rang frae room to room, and was
+echoed through the lang high galleries, it seemed like the shouting o'
+a thousand men; and, within ten minutes, every man in the garrison was
+made prisoner or put to the sword! And noo, neebors, what my kinsman
+and a handfu' o' countrymen did for the deliverance o' the Castle o'
+Home, can ye not do for Fast Castle, or will ye not--and so drive every
+invader oot o' Berwickshire?"
+
+"I dinna mean to say, Madge," answered one, who appeared to be the
+most influential personage amongst her auditors--"I dinna mean to say
+but that your relation and his comrades hae performed a most noble
+and gallant exploit--one that renders them worthy o' being held in
+everlasting remembrance by their countrymen--and glad would I be if we
+could this night do the same for Fast Castle. But, woman, the thing is
+impossible; the cases are not parallel. It mightna be a difficult matter
+to scale the highest part o' the walls o' Home Castle, and ladders could
+easily be got for that purpose; but, at Fast Castle, wi' the draw-brig
+up, and the dark, deep, terrible chasm between you and the walls, like
+the bottomless gulf between time and eternity!--I say, again, for my
+part, the thing is impossible. Wha has strength o' head, even for a
+moment, to look doun frae the dark and dizzy height o' the Wolf's
+Crag?--and wha could think o' scaling it? Even if it had been possible,
+the stoutest heart that ever beat in a bosom would, wi' the sickening
+horror o' its owner's situation, before he was half-way up, be dead as
+the rocks that would dash him to pieces as he fell! Na, na, I should hae
+been glad to lend a helping and a willing hand to ony practicable plan,
+but it would be madness to throw away our lives where there couldna be
+the slightest possibility o' success."
+
+"Listen," said Madge; "I ken what is possible, and what is impossible,
+as weel as ony o' ye. I meant that ye should tak for example the
+dauntless spirit o' my kinsman and the men o' Home, and no their manner
+o' entering the castle. But, if yer hearts beat as their hearts did,
+before this hour the morn's nicht, the invaders will be driven frae
+Fast Castle. In the morning we are ordered to take provisions to the
+garrison. I shall be wi' ye, and in the front o' ye. But, though my left
+arm carries a basket, beneath my cloak shall be hidden the bit sword
+which my guidman wore in the wars against King Harry; and, as I reach
+the last sentinel--'Now, lads! now for Scotland and our Queen!' I shall
+cry; and wha dare follow my example?"
+
+"I dare! I will!" said Florence Wilson, "and be at yer side to strike
+doun the sentinel; and sure am I that there isna a man here that winna
+do or die, and drive oor enemies frae the castle, or leave his body
+within its wa's for them to cast into the sea. Every man o' us, the
+morn, will enter the castle wi' arms concealed about him, and hae them
+ready to draw and strike at a moment's warning. Ye canny say, freends,
+but that this is a feasible plan, and ye winna be outdone in bravery by
+a woman. Do ye agree to it?"
+
+There were cries of--"Yes, Florence, yes!--every man o' us!"--and "It
+is an excellent plan--it is only a pity that it hadna been thocht o'
+suner," resounded on all sides; but "Better late than never," said
+others.
+
+"Come round me, then," said Madge; and they formed a circle around
+her. "Ye swear now," she continued, "in the presence o' Him who see'th
+through the darkness o' night and searcheth the heart, that nane o' ye
+will betray to oor enemies what we hae this nicht determined on; but
+that every man o' ye will, the morn, though at the price o' his life, do
+yer utmost to deliver oor groaning country frae the yoke o' its invaders
+and oppressors! This ye swear?"
+
+And they bowed their heads around her.
+
+"Awa, then," added she, "ilka man to his ain hoose, and get his weapons
+in readiness." And, leaving the copse, they proceeded in various
+directions across the desolate moor. But Florence Wilson accompanied
+Madge to her dwelling; and, as they went, she said--
+
+"Florence, if ye act as weel the morn as ye hae spoken this nicht, the
+morn shall my dochter, Janet, be yer wife, wi' a fu' purse for her
+portion that neither o' ye kens aboot."
+
+He pressed her hand in the fulness of his heart; but she added--
+
+"Na, na, Florence, I'm no a person that cares aboot a fuss being made
+for the sake o' gratitude--thank me wi' deeds. Remember I have said--a'
+depends on yer conduct the morn."
+
+When they entered the house, poor Janet was weeping, because of her
+mother's absence, for she had expected her for two days; and her
+apprehensions were not removed when she saw her in the company of
+Florence, who, although her destined husband, and who, though he had
+long been in the habit of visiting her daily, had called but once during
+her mother's absence, and then he was sad and spoke little. She saw that
+her parent had prevailed on him to undertake some desperate project, and
+she wept for his sake.
+
+When he arose to depart, she rose also and accompanied him to the door.
+
+"Florence," said she, tenderly, "you and my mother hae some secret
+between ye, which ye winna communicate to me."
+
+"A' that is a secret between us," said he, "is, that she consents that
+the morn ye shall be my winsome bride, if ye be willing, as I'm sure ye
+are; and that is nae secret that I wad keep frae ye; but I didna wish to
+put ye aboot by mentioning it before her."
+
+Janet blushed, and again added--
+
+"But there is something mair between ye than that, Florence, and why
+should ye hide it frae me?"
+
+"Dear me, hinny!" said he, "I wonder that ye should be sae apprehensive.
+There is nae secret between yer mother an' me that isna weel-kenned to
+every ane in the country-side. But just ye hae patience--bide a
+wee--wait only till the morn; and, when I come to lead ye afore the
+minister, I'll tell ye a'thing then."
+
+"An' wherefore no tell me the noo, Florence?" said she. "I am sure that
+there is something brewing, an' a dangerous something too. Daur ye no
+trust me? Ye may think me a weak an' silly creature; but, if I am not
+just so rash and outspoken as my mother, try me if I haena as stout a
+heart when there is a necessity for showing it."
+
+"Weel, Janet, dear," said Florence, "I winna conceal frae ye that there
+is something brewing--but what that something is I am not at liberty
+to tell. I am bound by an oath not to speak o't, and so are a hunder
+others, as weel as me. But the morn it will be in my power to tell ye
+a'. Noo, just be ye contented, and get ready for our wedding."
+
+"And my mother kens," Janet was proceeding to say, when her mother's
+voice was heard, crying from the house--
+
+"Come in, Janet--what are ye doing oot there in the cauld?--ye hae been
+lang enough wi' Florence the nicht--but the morn's nicht ye may speak to
+him as lang as ye like. Sae come in, lassie."
+
+As the reader may suppose, Madge was not one whose commands required to
+be uttered twice; and, with a troubled heart, Janet bade Florence
+"good-night," and returned to the cottage.
+
+It was a little after sunrise on the following day, when a body of more
+than a hundred peasantry, agreeably to the command of the governor,
+appeared before the castle, laden with provisions. Some of them had the
+stores which they had brought upon the backs of horses, but which they
+placed upon their own shoulders as they approached the bridge. Amongst
+them were fishermen from Eyemouth and Coldingham, shepherds from the
+hills with slaughtered sheep, millers, and the cultivators of the
+patches of arable ground beyond the moor. With them, also, were a few
+women carrying eggs, butter, cheese, and poultry; and at the head of the
+procession (for the narrowness of the drawbridge over the frightful
+chasm, beyond which the castle stood, caused the company to assume the
+form of a procession as they entered the walls) was Madge Gordon, and
+her intended son-in-law, Florence Wilson.
+
+The drawbridge had been let down to them; the last of the burden-bearers
+had crossed it; and Madge had reached the farthest sentinel, when
+suddenly dropping her basket, out from beneath her grey cloak gleamed
+the sword of her dead husband!
+
+"Now, lads!--now for Scotland and our Queen!" she exclaimed, and as she
+spoke, the sword in her hand pierced the body of the sentinel. At the
+same instant every man cast his burden to the ground, a hundred hidden
+swords were revealed, and every sentinel was overpowered.
+
+"Forward, lads! forward!" shouted Madge.
+
+"Forward!" cried Florence Wilson, with his sword in his hand, leading
+the way. They rushed into the interior of the castle; they divided into
+bands. Some placed themselves before the arsenal where arms were kept,
+while others rushed from room to room, making prisoners of those of the
+garrison who yielded willingly, and showing no quarter to those who
+resisted. Many sought safety in flight, some flying half-naked, aroused
+from morning dreams after a night's carouse, and almost all fled without
+weapons of defence. The effect upon the garrison was as if a thunderbolt
+had burst in the midst of them. Within half an hour, Fast Castle was in
+the hands of the peasantry, and the entire soldiery who had defended it
+had either fled, were slain, or made prisoners.
+
+Besides striking the first blow, Madge had not permitted the sword of
+her late husband to remain idle in her hands during the conflict. And,
+as the conquerors gathered round Florence Wilson, to acknowledge to him
+that to his counsel, presence of mind, and courage, as their leader, in
+the midst of the confusion that prevailed, they owed their victory, and
+the deliverance of the east of Berwickshire from its invaders, Madge
+pressed forward, and, presenting him her husband's sword, said--
+
+"Tak this, my son, and keep it--it was the sword o' a brave man, and to
+a brave man I gie it--and this night shall ye be my son indeed."
+
+"Thank ye, mother--mother!" said Florence. And as he spoke a faint smile
+crossed his features.
+
+But scarce had he taken the sword in his hand, ere a voice was heard,
+crying--
+
+"Where is he?--where shall I find him?--does he live?--where is my
+mother?"
+
+"Here, love!--here! It is my Janet!" cried Florence; but his voice
+seemed to fail him as he spoke.
+
+"Come here, my bairn," cried her mother, "and in the presence of these
+witnesses receive a hand that ye may be proud o'."
+
+As part of the garrison fled through Coldingham, Janet had heard of
+the surprise by which the castle had been taken, and ran towards it to
+gather tidings of her mother and affianced husband; for she now knew the
+secret which they would not reveal to her.
+
+As she rushed forward, the crowd that surrounded Florence gave way,
+and, as he moved forward to meet her, it was observed that he shook or
+staggered as he went; but it was thought no more of; and when she fell
+upon his bosom, and her mother took their hands and pressed them
+together, the multitude burst into a shout and blessed them. He strove
+to speak--he muttered the word "Janet!" but his arms fell from her neck,
+and he sank as lifeless on the ground.
+
+"Florence! my Florence!--he is wounded--murdered!" cried the maiden, and
+she flung herself beside him on the ground.
+
+Madge and the spectators endeavoured to raise him; but his eyes were
+closed; and, as he gasped, they with difficulty could understand the
+words he strove to utter--"Water--water!"
+
+He had, indeed, been wounded--mortally wounded--but he spoke not of it.
+They raised him in their arms and carried him to an apartment in the
+castle; but, ere they reached it, the spirit of Florence Wilson had
+fled.
+
+Poor Janet clung to his lifeless body. She now
+cried--"Florence!--Florence!--we shall be married
+to-night?--yes!--yes!--I have everything ready!" And again she spoke
+bitter words to her mother, and said that she had murdered her Florence.
+The spectators lifted her from his body, and Madge stood as one on whom
+affliction, in the midst of her triumph, had fallen as a palsy,
+depriving her of speech and action.
+
+"My poor bereaved bairn!" she at length exclaimed; and she took her
+daughter in her arms and kissed her--"ye hae indeed cause to mourn,
+for Florence was a noble lad!--but, oh, dinna say it was my doing,
+hinny!--dinna wyte yer mother!--will ye no, Janet? It is a great comfort
+that Florence has died like a hero."
+
+But Janet never was herself again. She became, as their neighbours
+said, a poor, melancholy, maundering creature, going about talking of
+her Florence and the surprise of Fast Castle, and ever ending her
+story--"But I maun awa hame and get ready, for Florence and I are to be
+married the nicht."
+
+Madge followed her, mourning, wheresoever she went, bearing with and
+soothing all her humours. But she had not long to bear them; for, within
+two years, Janet was laid by the side of Florence Wilson, in Coldingham
+kirkyard; and, before another winter howled over their peaceful graves,
+Madge lay at rest beside them.
+
+
+
+
+THE SURGEON'S TALES.
+
+THE SOMNAMBULIST OF REDCLEUGH.
+
+
+It is now many years since I visited a patient, at the distance of some
+sixty miles from the proper circuit of my practice. On one occasion,
+when with him, I received a letter from a gentleman, who subscribed
+himself as one of the trustees of Mr. Bernard[B] of Redcleugh,
+requesting me to visit, on my return home, the widow of that gentleman,
+who still resided in the old mansion, and whose mind had received a
+shock from some domestic affliction, any allusion to which was, for some
+reason, very specially reserved. I may remark, that I believe I owed
+this application to some opinions I was known to entertain on the
+subject of that species of insanity produced by moral causes, and which
+is to be carefully distinguished from the diathetic mania, so often
+accompanied by pathological changes in the brain. It is scarcely
+necessary to inform the reader, that we have always a better chance for
+a cure in the one case than in the other, insomuch indeed as, in the
+first, we have merely functional derangement; in the second, organic
+change. I always maintain there is no interest about insane people,
+except to the man of science; and even he very soon gets to that "ass's
+bridge," on the other side of which Nature, as the genius of occult
+things, stands with a satirical smile on her face, as she sees the proud
+savans toppling over into the Lethe of sheer ignorance, and getting
+drowned for their insane curiosity. In the asylum in France, mentioned
+by De Vayer, the inmates enjoyed exceedingly the imputed madness of the
+visiting physician. The same play is acted in the world all throughout.
+Our insanity has only a little more method in it--and while I avoid any
+description of the madness of Mrs. Bernard, I will have to set forth a
+story, which, leading to that madness, has in it apparently as much of
+insanity as may be found in the ravings of a maniac.
+
+  [B] I find it more convenient, in this tale, to give names to
+  my personages, in place of initials.
+
+I obeyed the call to Redcleugh, where I found the _res domi_ in a
+peculiar position. There were few inmates in the large old house.
+Besides the invalid herself, there was an old cook and a butler, by name
+Francis, who had been in the family for many years, and whose garrulity
+was supplied from an inexhaustible fountain--the fate and fortunes of
+the Bernards. My patient was a lovely woman in body--a maniac in mind.
+Her affliction had suddenly shot up into her brain, and left untouched
+the lineaments of her beauty, excepting the expression of the eye, which
+had become nervous and furtive, oscillating between the extreme of
+softness and the intensity of ferocity. Having been cautioned by Francis
+to make no allusion to her husband or to certain children, whom he
+named, or to the word "book," and many other things, I contented myself,
+in the first instance, with a general examination of her symptoms; and,
+as it was late before I arrived, I resolved upon remaining all night,
+which would enable me to see her again in the morning. I had supper
+served up to me by Francis, who brought me some wine which had been in
+the house for fifty years, and told me stories of the family, extending
+back twice that period. Sometimes these old legends would be interrupted
+for a moment by a shrill cry, coming from a source which we both knew.
+All else in this house was under the spell of Angerana, the genius of
+silence. There is something peculiar in the sound of a common voice in
+a large house, filled with memorials of those who had lived in it, and
+yet with no living sounds to break the dull heavy air, which seems to
+thicken by not being moved. It appeared as if I had been suddenly thrown
+into a region of romance, but my experiences were not pleasant. I wished
+to escape to my own professional thoughts again, and desired to go to
+bed.
+
+I was accordingly, not without some efforts on the part of my
+entertainer to prolong his stories, ushered into my bed-room--a large
+apartment, hung with pictures, some very old, and some very new. Francis
+put the candle down, and left me. It was not long before I was undressed
+and under the bed-clothes; but not being sure about sleeping, I left the
+candle burning, intending to rise and extinguish it when I found myself
+more inclined to fall over into the rest I required. The old legends
+began to pass through my mind, and I was engrossed with the spirit of
+the past. Time makes poetry out of very common things, and then we are
+to remember, what we do not often think of, that the most ordinary life
+cannot be passed without encountering some incidents which smack of the
+romantic. Nay, every man's life, as a bright gleam thrown on the dark
+abyss which separates him from eternity, is all through a romance, in
+the midst of that greater one, seen by us only as shadows--the negatives
+of some positives, perhaps, witnessed by eyes on the other side. I
+have always been tinged by something of the spirit of old Bruno,
+that dreamer, whose most real realities were no other than umbery
+forms--flakes of shadow--cast off by a central light from the real
+objects, of which we are the mere shadowy representatives. All the
+breathing, throbbing, active beings, who for two hundred years had run
+along these narrow passages of the old house, and peered into half-open
+doors, or out of the small skew-topped windows--danced, sang, laughed
+and wept--died, and been carried out--were to each other as such umbery
+things; and I, the present subsisting shadow, received them all into my
+living microcosm, where, as in a mirror, they existed again, scarcely
+less shadowy than before.
+
+Somehow or another I could not get to sleep; not that I had any fears:
+these were out of the question with me. My vigils were attributable to
+a fancy, wrought upon by the recitals of the old butler, illustrated
+by the very concrete things which had been used by the personages he
+described. There were the chairs they sat on, the beds they slept on,
+the piano they played on, all as they had been left. It was impossible
+for me to conceive that there was yet no connection between these things
+and the old family. The pictures, too, were still there, in the various
+rooms, some of them in my bed-room. The light of my eyes seemed to have
+disenchanted these silent staring personages. They came forth and
+occupied themselves as they had been wont before they became pictures.
+The chair of the first of the late Mr. Bernard's two wives--that "angel
+whose look was an eternal smile," as Francis poetically described
+her--appeared to have the power of drawing her down into it; but then
+the attraction was not less for the second wife, "whose fate was a
+terrible mystery;" and thus would I get confused. Then, to which of
+these did the little dark fellow on the south wall belong--he who seemed
+to have been scorched by too strong a sun--and the girl beside them, who
+looked as if she had been blanched by too bright a moon--which of the
+two was her mother?
+
+At last I got out of bed, and rummaged for some stray volume to
+disenchant me out of the imaginary world of these Bernards. I drew out
+one or two drawers, which had been so long shut that they had lost their
+allegiance to the hand. I peered into an escritoire, and another old
+cabinet, which creaked and groaned at being disturbed by a hand not a
+Bernard's. All was empty. There was one drawer which refused to come
+out to the full extent. Something seemed to be jammed between it and
+the back of the escritoire. Man is an enterprising animal; a little
+resistance sets his energies a-spring. I would not be baulked. I
+would know what the impediment was and work out the solution of the
+difficulty. By pulling hard the obstacle gave way. The drawer followed
+my hand, while my body fell back on the floor. Psha! some stray leaves
+of an old pamphlet fluttered about. I had dismembered the obstacle, and
+would now collect the fragments. I had got for my pains an old brochure,
+embellished by dreadful woodcuts, of the old Newgate calender style, and
+entitled, "The true and genuine history of the murderer, Jane Grierson,
+who poisoned her mistress, and thereby became the wife of her master,
+Josiah Temple;" the date 1742. I was no fancier of awful histories of
+murderers, yet I would read myself asleep amidst horrors rather than
+lie with my imagination in wakeful subjugation to the images of these
+eternal Bernards. Bernard still! on the top of the title page was
+written "Amelia Bernard." The charm was here too. Which of these fair
+creatures on the wall was the proprietor of this brochure? She had read
+it surely with care. She must have cherished it, or why identify it as
+her own? Perhaps she was a lover of old books; it could not be that she
+was a lover of cruel stories. Those eyes were made for throwing forth
+the lambent light of affection and love; how unlike to the staring
+blood-shot orbs of that Jane Grierson on that terrific woodcut! Yet,
+true to the nature of my species, at least my sex, I found in the grim
+pamphlet that inexpressible something which recommends coarse recitals
+of human depravity even to cultivated minds, and which consists probably
+in the conformity between the thing itself and the description of it;
+the rugged words, semblances of the rugged implements, and the savage
+actions of cruelty, address themselves to the latent barbarism which
+lies as the lowest stratum of our many piled nature, and receive the
+savage response at the moment we blush for humanity. These dire images
+of the murderer's story were stronger than those of the Bernards--even
+of those lovely faces on the wall--and as the candle burned down, and
+the red wick grew up, I read and read on, how the cruel fiend did
+destroy while she fawned upon her victim; how that victim, overcome by
+the kindness of her enemy, praised her to her husband, who loved his
+wife to distraction; and how she, even in her devoted gratitude,
+recommended her murderer as her successor to the bed she lay on, and to
+those arms where she so often had enjoyed the pressure of his love. Nor
+was the recommendation ineffectual, for the said wicked Jane did become
+the wife of her victim's husband. The old horrid savagery of our
+criminal literature!--not yet abated--never to be abated--only glossed
+with tropes and figures more hideous than the plain narrative of blood.
+
+It was a vain thought that I should read myself asleep among the
+terrible images suggested by my brochure. I was even more vigilant than
+before. Then, that Francis seemed never at rest; I heard him clambering
+up stairs, tramping along passages, shutting doors, speaking to himself,
+just as if all the actions of his prior life were being gone over again.
+I would have another visit, and another long narrative of some Bernard,
+whose picture was somewhere in a red or blue room, and who had been, as
+usual, with all those bearded individuals who hung on walls, either at
+the crusades under Peter the hermit, or at Flodden under James, or at
+Culloden under Charles. The clock struck, with a sound of grating rust,
+two; and--tramp, tramp--he trudged along the passage. The door opened,
+and in came my chronicler.
+
+"Doctor, I saw your light," said he, "and you know it was always my
+duty, when the family were in their old home here, to see that all the
+lights were out o' nights; aye ever after the east wing was burned down,
+through aunt Marjory's love of reading old romances. I hope I did not
+disturb you."
+
+"No," replied I; "pray, Francis, I need not ask which of these two
+pictured beauties is Amelia, my patient? The likeness is good."
+
+"Yes, there she is," said he, with a return of his old enthusiasm. "See
+her light locks and her blue eyes. She was the mother of that fair
+child. Don't you see the daughter in the mother and the mother in the
+daughter? But I cannot look long on these pictures. My heart fails and
+my head runs round. Look at the dark one. It was a terrible night that
+when she came to Redcleugh. My wife, who now lies in Deathscroft, down
+among the elms yonder, could not sleep for the screeching of the owls,
+as if every horned devil of them shouted woe! woe!--to the house of
+Redcleugh."
+
+"Nonsense, Francis, omens--all nonsense," I said, interrupting him.
+
+"So said I to Christy, just as you say, doctor. So say we all, every one
+of us, here and everywhere, always, just until we are pulled up at a
+jerk by some one of God's acts, when we see His finger pointed to the
+sign. You are not so old as I am, and have something to learn. Signs are
+made only when there are to be judgments, and judgments are not
+according to the common ways of heaven."
+
+"What did Mr. Bernard do," asked I, "to bring upon him this judgment
+which appears to you to have been so fearful?"
+
+"I am not in the secrets of God's ways with erring man," replied he.
+"But who can tell how my master got Lillah--that's her there with these
+dark eyes--his first wife? He had been away for years in the eastern
+countries, and he never wrote to any one that he was to bring a wife
+with him. He brought her, amidst the storm of that fearful night, as if
+she had been a bird which he had rescued from the blast, so cowering and
+timid did she appear, always clinging to the laird, and looking at him
+with such beseeching eyes, and so unlike the women of our land--aye, for
+it was no northern sun lighted up these eyes; and as for a heathen faith
+imparting such gentleness, we could understand it no way. 'Twas all a
+hurry in Redcleugh as well as a sort of fright among us in the hall,
+every one whispering and wondering and questioning all to no end; for
+from that night we never knew more of her home or kindred, save that it
+was suspected she was a Circassian, and had left a noble home for the
+love she bore to master. Nor was she ever inquired after by her friends,
+except once, when a great eastern lord, as they said, came in a strange
+equipage to see her; but her change to a Christian shocked and angered
+him, so that high words rose and even reached our ears. He spoke of the
+faith she had forsworn, of Allah, and Mahomet, and the Koran, and she
+with tears responded Christ, the Saviour of all mankind, and his holy
+mother, and the cross of Calvary, so that he was made more angry; and
+then he spoke of Euphrosyne, her mother, as we thought, and again the
+tears rolled down these cheeks, as she clung to master and lay upon his
+neck, sobbing as if her heart would burst in the battle between the
+daughter and the wife. The stranger departed in anger, nor did he break
+his fast at Redcleugh, and many a day afterwards my young lady was in
+tears. 'Twas not long till she had that boy, whom she bore after many
+days of labour, with such pain that there was not a servant in the
+household did not look as if her own salvation depended upon the issue
+of that protracted struggle, so beloved was she, sir; so respected, so
+adored, so pitied; and as for Mr. Bernard, he was not himself--scarcely
+a man--and little wonder either, for his face was ever the attraction
+of her eyes, and every look seemed to be watched by her as if all her
+happiness hung upon one of his smiles. Such doings were the wonder of us
+all in these parts; for you know we are rougher lovers in our cold land,
+and neither Christy, nor I, nor any of us, could understand how, on the
+face of this earth, there could be such affection--not a single drop of
+bitterness, not a ruffle on the smooth surface. Why, sir! did we not
+all, to satisfy our self-love, and our country's custom, call it very
+idolatry; but it was only a little envy which we, as it were, stole to
+ourselves, as a sweet unction to our sores, and when these were mended
+we loved her the more--nay, we could do nothing less; for even the
+devil's spleen couldn't detect an unevenness to hang upon it a suspicion
+against her."
+
+"You are even more partial, Francis, than the painter," said I, "whom I
+have been charging with the fault of drawing upon his fancy to enable
+him to draw upon our credulity. She looks scarcely earthly."
+
+"It's no use my description, sir. There are certain perfections
+we cannot attribute to God's creatures, because we suffer by the
+comparison. They say if there's not now and then a little anger there's
+a want. Oh! they will say God's image is not perfect if it have not a
+dash of our own evil in it. But experience is the mother of wonders as
+well as wisdom. Aye, sir, years of intercourse, even at a servant's
+distance, are worth more than your theories in these days."
+
+"I suspect you have been in the library, Francis," said I; "you have
+opened books as well as bottles."
+
+"Aye, sir, and _the book_ of all books," replied he seriously; "but I
+hope I am not irreverend when I say that God may lead us to understand
+the first image in Eden by showing us sometimes something better here
+than what we can feel within our own hearts."
+
+"Oh, I am not sceptical," said I; for I thought he was pained by my
+remark, as if I doubted the qualities of his idol. "I believe all you
+have said of poor Lillah; and I love for the sake of my own matrimonial
+hopes to believe it, and more. But this idol died!"
+
+"And died young, sir; perhaps because she was an idol," replied he.
+"They don't live long, sir, these creatures. They're like some of those
+bright winged things of the East, of which I have read, that exist only
+so long as the rose blooms on which they hang and live. But my lady
+Lillah never dwined--only there came a sadness over her, and master
+noticed that she began to cherish more than usual a miniature which she
+carried about with her in her bosom--the figure of a lady--I have seen
+it often--so like herself you'd have said they were of the same
+family--'twas her mother, whom she called Euphrosyne. Even now I think I
+see her sitting in the rose arbour in the garden, with little Caleb by
+her side, gazing at that picture, so long, so thoughtfully, so pitifully
+that she seemed ready to weep; then she would, as if recalled by
+remorse, hug the child, and bid him run for his father; then Mr. Bernard
+would no sooner come than she would be so much more loving than was even
+her wont, that he seemed oppressed by the very fervour of her affection.
+Master was a quiet man, sir, and full of thought; and he soon saw that
+it would be good for my lady that she should have a companion. So the
+next thing we heard was that Amelia Temple, who had been governess over
+the muir at Abbey Field, and had been several times at Redcleugh with
+Mr. Orchardstoun's daughters, was engaged to come to us at the term. And
+she came. The wind did not whistle that night, nor the owl sound his
+horn; there was no omen, sir, and this will please you, though it does
+not shake me in my faith in heaven's warnings. You see Amelia there
+(holding up the candle, now nearly in the socket), I need not describe
+what the painter has copied so faithfully. But master did not look
+kindly on that face, beautiful as it is, with that flashing eye and
+joyful expression. No, 'twas not till my lady grew distractedly fond of
+her that he looked sweetly on her (in the right way) for the love she
+gave to and got from her he loved the best of all the world. Oh! 'twas a
+beautiful sight, sir, those women. The rose of the west was a match for
+the lily of the east; then the pensive sweetness of the one, and the
+innocent light-heartedness of the other, met and mingled in a friendship
+without guile--a love without envy."
+
+"Your last visit, Francis," I said, with a smile which I could not
+conceal, "must have been to the poets of the library."
+
+"'Tis only truth, sir," resumed he. "When one sees a beautiful thing
+and feels the beauty--a privilege which is probably never denied at all
+times to any of God's creatures, and does not belong exclusively to the
+high born or the learned--he is a poet, be he a gauger or a butler. Aye,
+sir, a man may be a poet when his nose is right over the mouth of a
+bottle of burgundy, vintage '81."
+
+"And not very poetical when he reflects that there is not a bottle left
+in the house," said I.
+
+"He has still 'the pleasures of hope,'" rejoined Francis, with a little
+newborn moisture on his dry lips.
+
+"Well," rejoined I, as I began to yawn from pure want of sleep, "there
+is at least little of either poetry or pleasure in 'hope deferred.' We
+will moisten these dry legends of the Bernards by a little of that
+burgundy of theirs now."
+
+And this chronicler of the Bernards, as well as of something better than
+small beer, soon handed me a large glassful of this prince of wines.
+
+"You will require all the benefit of that, sir," said he, "if I am to go
+on with my story."
+
+"I'm not afraid," said I, listlessly, "after what I have read of the
+Grierson horrors."
+
+The old man turned upon me a strange, wild look, rendered grotesque, if
+not ludicrous, by the effect of the glassful he had at that moment taken
+at my request. "Ah! you have heard--yet surely it is impossible. Was it
+not all between me and master? Who other could know of it? And the book!
+Oh, it was never found."
+
+"I know nothing of these mysteries," replied I, not really understanding
+him, yet amazed at his appearance, as with long grey locks, shaking by
+his excitement, he kept staring at me in the dim light--for the candle
+was now out, and the fire burned red and dull. A little more conjuring
+would have brought all these pictures out into the room, and even as it
+was, I was beginning to transform my companion's shadow, as it lay on
+the arm chair behind him, into the very person itself of Lillah Bernard.
+
+"Doctor," he said, gravely, "you must know the dark secret of this
+apartment."
+
+"Nothing," replied I. "Go on; you have roused my curiosity. I know
+nothing of the Bernard's but what you have told me, and I request to
+know more. Go on, Francis."
+
+He was not satisfied; continued to search, so far as he could, my face;
+but I wore him out.
+
+"It's no use denying it, sir," he at length said, "but take your own
+way now;" then heaving a deep sigh, which might have been heard at the
+farthest end of the large room, so silent was all, he went on: "'Twas
+not to last, sir, all that happiness among those three, and little Caleb
+was the centre by which they were all joined. There's an enemy abroad to
+such heart-unions--unseen by all but God, who views him with the eye of
+anger, but lets him have his way for a season, and why we know it. Such
+little Edens grow up here and there among roses, as if to remind us of
+the one paradise which has gone, and to make us hope for the other which
+is to come; the old tragedy is wrought within a circuit of a few feet
+and the reach of a few hearts. Oh! the old fiend triumphs with the old
+laugh on his dark cheek. Yes, sir, it is even so; there is nothing new
+with the devil, nor nothing old, nor will there be till his neck is
+fastened; but in this meanwhile of days and years of time, oh! how the
+soul pants as it looks through the clouds of sorrow which rise under his
+dark wing, and can see no light, save through the deep grave where lie
+those once beautiful things in corruption. 'Twas the beauty did it all,
+sir; the enemy cannot stand that loveliness; it makes him wild; he raves
+to get between the hearts and tear them so that the sanctified temples
+shall have no incense in them--nothing save the heavy odours of carrion.
+My lady Lillah one day felt a drowsiness come over her; it seemed, as
+Christy said, she felt only as if she had been inclined to sleep at an
+unusual time; she made no complaint, but Mr. Bernard observed something
+in her eye, and his watchfulness took alarm at every turn of her quiet
+manner. The drowsiness increased, and then it was observed that her
+pulse was slow and languid; it seemed to beat with fewer pulses every
+hour, and then master became more alarmed, and Amelia could not be away
+from her an instant. 'Twas strange the change which all of a sudden took
+place in Miss Temple; the gay laugh which Mr. Bernard used to encourage
+as a welcome light thrown on the soul of his wife was no more heard; a
+pitiful sympathy took its place, and, as Christy described it, looked
+like the light which we see so beautiful in the thin haze when the sun
+seems to melt all through it; it was the spirit of love, sir, dissolved
+in the shadows of grief. She hung over our dear lady as if she would
+have poured her own spirit into her to raise the still ebbing pulses.
+Nothing would stop that ebbing; the pulse would beat a little stronger
+after something given to her, but never quicker. Then these long silken
+eyelashes fell farther and farther down, and the voice which had ever
+been all meekness, fell and fell into half whispers. At length she said
+something into master's ear; and he motioned to Miss Temple to go out
+for a little, but Christy remained. It was an awful moment, sir, when
+she made a sign that she would speak. 'Dear Edward,' she said, as she
+seemed to try to lift higher the drooping lids, 'I will never more see
+the beautiful valley of the Kabarda, where stands my father's castle,
+with its gardens and roses of Shiraz. Oh, strange it seems to me, as all
+the things about me grow dim, the vision of those beloved scenes of my
+childhood wax brighter and brighter. I hear my father's voice crying
+Euphrosyne, and my mother's Lillah; my brothers and sisters take up the
+cry, and the mountaineers salute the favourite daughter of their chief.
+But she is here in this far land, and you, my best beloved, are there
+before her. Edward, I am going to die--soon--soon. I wished the dear
+Amelia away for a little--only a little--to be here again, and never to
+go more. She is faithful and loving and true. Edward; listen, my love:
+when I am gone, and you can forget me, take that dear girl into that
+place where you treasured me--into your affections, as your wife,
+Edward. The thought pleases me, for I think you will in her marry
+happiness, and my life seems to ebb away in the hope that you may be
+with her as you have been with me. Farewell; bring Caleb to kiss me
+before I go. There is a voice in my ears; it is Allah! Allah! but it is
+not listened to by the heart which whispers Jesus! the Mediator! the
+Saviour!'
+
+"And with these words in her lips she died. O, sir, had you seen
+master--it was pitiful; and as for Amelia, who knew nothing of Lillah's
+words, she kept weeping till her eyes were inflamed. But the grief was
+everywhere throughout Redcleugh. It seemed as if some dreadful fate had
+befallen the whole household; gloom--gloom and sadness all about--in
+every face--in every heart; for never was a daughter of Scotland
+beloved as was this dear lady of the far east; and I think somehow
+it was her having died so far away from the land of her kindred that
+softened the hearts of the people, and made them take on as I never saw
+servants take on for a mistress. 'Twould be a sharp eye, sir, that could
+distinguish now, in the vault of death's croft, the grey ashes of the
+beautiful Circassian from the dust of the Bernards--ay, or that of my
+poor Christian Dempster! It was now a long dark night to the house of
+Redcleugh, but the longest night is at last awakened by a sun in the
+morning. Mr. Bernard--always a moody man--scarcely opened his mouth for
+months and months. He was like a tree, that stands erect after being
+blasted--it may move by the winds, but the sun has no warmth for it, and
+there is nothing inside or at the root to give it life. They say that
+when a beloved wife dies, it is to the husband like the sun going away
+out of the firmament, and that by-and-by she appears as a pale moon. Ay,
+sir; everything here is full of change. Mr. Bernard's moon had no waning
+in it, till he began to catch the echoes of Miss Amelia's voice as he
+wandered among the woods. It was the grey dawn of another sun, and the
+sun rose and rose, promising to gild the east again with its glory. The
+long burden was taken off Amelia. Her laugh began again to enliven
+Redcleugh, when she saw that Mr. Bernard was able to bear it. Then,
+sir, to bear it was to begin to love it, for it was the most infectious
+joyfulness that ever gladdened man's ears. The change, once begun, went
+on; he hung upon her voice as if it had been music. Every laugh shook
+him out of his long misery--it appeared to be to him like new life
+running along the nerves of the old dead tabernacle. So might one think
+of a man in the desert, as he looks down into the well, with the
+reflection of the sun in it; the water is drunk in living light; he
+shakes off all the horrors of his long-borne thirst, and rises renewed
+and glad. It was pitiful--yea, it was pleasant too--to see how he
+followed her, gazed at her, listened to her, just as if he were always
+praying her, for mercy's sake, to give him some more of that medicine
+of his spirit. But, perhaps, he never would have thought of marrying
+Amelia, but for the parting words of Lillah. Christy, in her curious
+way, said that it was Lillah's moon that lighted him on to the rising of
+the new sun of Amelia; and as Christy wanted this new match, for the
+sake of saving, as she thought, the life of our master--it was strange
+enough that she saw no omens now save good ones; for was it not a good
+one, that every living thing about Redcleugh looked as joyful as Amelia
+herself? A wonderful work this world, sir! No magician could have worked
+a greater wonder than the scene of that marriage after the scene of that
+deathbed; yet it delighted me to see old Redcleugh all in a blaze again,
+and to go down into the old catacombs for the old-crusted vintages.
+Bless your heart!--it was just like the beginning of a new term of
+life to me. Then the memory of Lillah threw no shade over the scene of
+enjoyment, for we all knew that if her spirit were not hovering over her
+beloved Circassia, it would be here looking down on the fulfilment of
+her dying wish."
+
+Here Francis drew breath, as if to prepare himself for something much
+more wonderful. It may easily be conceived that he had enlisted my
+sympathy, as well by the facts of his story, as his manner of telling
+it; and as one turns to the woodcut of a tale to get his impressions
+enlivened or verified, I felt a desire to see again, by the light of a
+candle, the face of the second wife. Francis gratified me by getting
+another candle, lighting it, and holding it up full in the face of
+Amelia.
+
+"'Twas all well for Redcleugh for a time," he resumed, "save for me, who
+lost my dear Christy shortly after Mira was born. That's she there, sir,
+as I have told you, alongside of my lady Amelia. When the grief was
+still heavy upon me, I was surprised by an almost sudden change in Mr.
+Bernard. I had gone up in the morning, expecting to find him in his
+dressing-room, which, as you see, enters as well from the lobby as by a
+door from the parlour, where breakfast was served. As I proceeded along
+the passage, I saw my lady hurrying away, with her handkerchief over her
+eyes, and her right hand held up, as if she were addressing Heaven; then
+deep sobs came from her, and a groan, which burst from the heart as she
+turned away into the west angle, sounded through the long lobbies and
+corridors. Master was not in his dressing-room. I heard his voice
+calling me from his bed-room, and I started at the sound, so unlike his
+utterance--so deep, heart-ridden, and agonized. On entering, I found him
+in his morning gown, sitting in that chair; his head thrown back, and
+his eyes fixed on my lady Lillah's portrait. It seemed, also, as if
+Amelia could not rest in the room in the west angle, where I thought I
+had seen her hurrying. Her foot was distinctly heard as she passed again
+along the lobby, which stretches along to the east tower, and passes
+this room, where my master and I were. A succession of groans followed,
+and died away as she receded. Mr. Bernard was too much occupied by some
+heart-stupefying thought to heed these sounds, and I stood before him
+not knowing what to say, far less what to do. At length he held up his
+hands, and placing one on my arm, said, in a voice which seemed the
+sound of one choking:--
+
+"'Francis, you are an old friend, not a servant--not now at least. I
+trust you. The house of Redcleugh is doomed, nor shall a Bernard be ever
+again happy within its walls.'
+
+"'What is wrong, master?' I inquired.
+
+"'The core,' said he; 'the master's heart. I must go to the East again.
+There may be peace there for me; here, in my father's house, there is
+none. But what shall become of Caleb and Mira?'
+
+"My heart was too full to answer, and still Amelia's groans came from
+the passages, changing and changing, like the voice of a restless
+spirit. My master rose, and, folding his arms, paced along the room. His
+brow was knit tight as the muscles would draw. He seemed to contract his
+arms, as if to compress his heart--nor did a word escape from him. A
+thought seized me, that, like the older Bernards, he was under a fit of
+alienation. I made for the door, to seek my lady Amelia, and even in her
+agonies to consult her what was to be done. My master seized me sharply
+by the arm.
+
+"'Whither going?' he said.
+
+"'For my lady,' replied I.
+
+"'For Amelia?' he said--'for the murderer of my Lillah, my first love,
+my angel?'
+
+"I stood petrified, the word 'murderer' twittering on my shaking lips in
+fragments.
+
+"'Yes,' he said, 'come in, come in--bolt that door; the other is
+already cared for. Francis, you know how my Lillah died; there was no
+disease--she slept away as a drugged victim. Now, listen. During this
+last night I was awoke by the restlessness of Amelia. I heard her leave
+my side, and rise from the bed'--that on which you are now lying.--'The
+rush-light burned on the mantelpiece, and I could see my wife, as she
+rose and began to pace the floor. I called out gently, "Amelia;" but
+got no answer. Her eyes, I saw, were fixed; and she moved her arms,
+as if she were addressing some imaginary being. I concluded she was
+sleep-walking, and immediately she began to speak, as she paced
+backwards and forwards. Part of what she said I lost, but I could join
+together enough for conviction.
+
+"'"She stood between me and my love," she said, as she stopped for a
+moment, laying one hand upon another, "and it was necessary she should
+be put out of the way. A Grierson was never a waverer when a deed of
+blood was to be done." "How did you do it?" "How did I do it? Poison! I
+made her sleep the long sleep, which the sun never breaks, nor the moon,
+nor time." "What poison did you say?" "The sleepy poison. I made for her
+a draught, that I might draw the sweet life away; and"--
+
+"'She stopped and laughed, as a sleep-walker laughs--hollow and distant.
+
+"'"And get into the _Temple_ she occupied. Was you still kind to her
+while you watched the effect of your draught?" "Was I, did you say? Yes,
+very kind. Oh! I nursed her dying spirit, that he might think me a
+ministering angel to his wife, whom I wanted to succeed. He was
+deceived. Yes, yes; simple fool, he was deceived. Ay, and not deceived,
+for I loved him."
+
+"'She began to walk again to and fro, sometimes slowly, sometimes
+quickly, then of a sudden turned and stood--"She was fair," she
+continued, as she kept looking at the wall; "but so am I. He got as good
+a bargain in me as in her." Then she made devious movements, turning and
+returning, muttering to herself, but so thickly that I only caught words
+much disjointed--"Remorse!--yes, yes!--no, no!--not till I am to be
+hanged; but that cannot be; no one saw me. Say nothing, nothing!--mix
+the draught--away to bed. 'Tis late, late! and I am cold."
+
+"'She came to bed, Francis, cold and shivering. My mind began to regain
+some form of thinking, after having been tossed about by the effect of
+her horrible monologue, or rather part of a dialogue. The conviction was
+instant, unavoidable, and certain. I never thought of awakening her to
+question her, but lay distant from her as from a reptile. I slept none.
+In the morning she turned to kiss me. I drew back my head in horror,
+and saw that she too was horrified at my manner. I bade her begone for a
+murderer, and, committed thus by my agony, told her she had confessed
+the whole story in a fit of somnambulism. Then she flew from me, crying
+she was innocent, tearing her hair in good acting--and there she walks
+by the passages under the sting of her guilt. Oh! she dare not face me,
+even were I to allow a meeting, which I wont. Francis, I am convinced.'
+
+"My master," continued Francis, addressing me as I lay listening and
+thinking of the old brochure, "was always moody, as I have said--ay, and
+crotchety; no one had any power to drive from him a settled opinion or
+resolution. After I had listened to him I said--
+
+"'Master, permit me, your poor servant, to say that this is not evidence
+on which I would beat a dog.'
+
+"'I am convinced,' he replied sternly and unkindly, and he moved his
+hand as a sign that I should leave him. I retreated, grieved to the
+heart, for I knew master's nature. When I got to the top of the stair, I
+saw my lady beckoning me from the door of the library. I went to her.
+
+"'Francis,' she said, as she shut the door, 'what is this? Has my
+husband told you anything?'
+
+"'All,' I replied. 'He has recounted to me some strange words uttered by
+you in your sleep, from which he infers that you poisoned my lady
+Lillah.'
+
+"'Repeat them--repeat them,' she said hurriedly.
+
+"I did so, and when I mentioned the name Grierson, she seemed to
+brighten a little. O how she hung upon my words!
+
+"'Francis,' she said, 'I may be saved. You may help me. Some nights
+ago I was occupied in reading the history of Jane Grierson--a little
+pamphlet which you will find in the drawer of the escritoire, in
+the dressing-room. There is the key. That story is the story I had
+recounted in my sleep. Go get the book, and bring it to me. That will
+save me, and nothing but that will save me.'
+
+"'God be praised,' I ejaculated, and then hurried with all speed to get
+the book. I searched the escritoire; it was not there. I examined other
+drawers with no better success. At length I returned to my lady, and
+reported my failure. Without saying a word she hurried away from me,
+rushed along the lobby, and entered the parlour opening into the
+dressing-room. Not doubting her word, and agitated by the hope of all
+being thus satisfactorily explained when the book should be got, I flew
+to my master's room through the door from the passage.
+
+"'It is all explainable,' I cried, as I entered.
+
+"'Indeed!' answered Mr. Bernard satirically.
+
+"'My lady was some nights ago reading the story of Jane Grierson,' said
+I, 'and her sleep-walking conversation was only a repetition of the
+story.'
+
+"'Grierson, Grierson!' cried my master, as he rose frantically, and
+placed his hand on his forehead. 'Yes, yes! she mentioned the word. I
+have never thought of that. Yes! yes! show me that book, and I shall be
+satisfied.'
+
+"I ran immediately to the door leading to the dressing-room, where I
+heard my lady searching. Master had shut it. He opened it for me by the
+key which he held in his hand, and locked it as I passed out. It seemed
+he wanted no interview till the book should be got. Amelia was there,
+searching and searching, trembling and sighing.
+
+"'What means this?' she ejaculated, as she proceeded--then paused. 'I
+must have placed it in the trunk, from whence I took it;' and she rushed
+away to the room where the trunks lay, which she had brought with her to
+Redcleugh.
+
+"'Twas all in vain. That book could not be got, sir. That book was never
+found. No copy of it could be procured. The loss of that book was the
+ruin of the house of Redcleugh."
+
+"There it is," said I, holding up the tattered brochure to the wondering
+eyes of the old butler.
+
+"Gracious Heaven!" cried the old man. "Yet not gracious--too late, too
+late!" and he staggered, like one who is drunk. "Mr. Bernard is dead."
+
+"And Amelia is mad," said I, sorrowfully.
+
+"Yes, mad," said he, as he still gazed on the brochure, and turned it
+over and over with trembling hands.
+
+"But how did you come to get this," he inquired.
+
+I told him, and he rose and hastened to the escritoire to examine it,
+and satisfy himself of the truth of my statement.
+
+"When that book could not be found, sir," he resumed when he came back,
+"my master put his resolution into effect. He placed his children with
+Mr. Gordon, one of his trustees, executed a settlement, and went to the
+East. My lady Amelia never saw him from that morning, but he left word
+with me, that if the pamphlet was found in the house, he should be made
+acquainted with it through his trustee, Mr. Gordon. But, ah! sir, that
+never happened, in God's mysterious providence; and now my poor Lady
+Amelia could receive no advantage from this proof of her innocence. I
+have heard from her own lips, before her reason gave way, that she was
+the grand-daughter of Jane Grierson and Mr. Temple, and that was the
+reason why she came to have this little book. The story haunted her, yet
+she read it; while, at the same time, she concealed her possession of
+it, and her connection with the parties."
+
+Francis now left me, and if I had little inclination to sleep before, I
+had less now. All the strange incidents of the story seemed to revolve
+round myself; though my part in it seemed merely the result of chance, I
+appeared to myself somehow as a directly-appointed agent for working
+out some design of Providence. Yet what I was required to do I did not
+know. I cogitated and recogitated, and came to no conclusion as to how I
+should act; only I saw no great benefit in the meantime in endeavouring
+to make any use of the pamphlet for the purpose of recovering the
+aberrant reason of the poor lady. At length I fell asleep, and next
+morning awoke to the strange recollections of what had occurred so
+shortly before. I saw Amelia again; she was depressed and moody; the
+fiend within her was dormant, but its weight pressed on the issues of
+thought, and her vacant stare told unutterable woe.
+
+I left Redcleugh without much hope, intending to pay another visit
+shortly afterwards. About three or four days after reaching home, a
+letter came to me from Francis, inclosing one from Mr. Gordon, the
+latter of which contained the intelligence that there had been some
+mistake as to the report of Mr. Bernard's death. A gentleman of the same
+name had died at Aleppo, but the master of Redcleugh was still alive. A
+gleam of the sunshine of hope darted through my mind. The dark images of
+the story were illumined--even the figure of that poor lady enshrined in
+the gloom of sorrow became bright with lustrous, meaning, intelligent
+eyes. Within an hour I had a letter posted for Mr. Gordon, informing him
+of the finding of the pamphlet, and requesting him to send for Mr.
+Bernard by an express messenger.
+
+In the meanwhile I visited Mrs. Bernard regularly, though the distance
+was much beyond my usual journeys. Some parts of the intelligence were
+broken to her through the medium of Francis, but without any marked
+result, if exacerbations were not more frequent, ending in deeper
+depression; as if a wild hope had risen and died away in the absence of
+anything visible or tangible to justify it to the erring but suspicious
+judgment of the victim of despair. Other preparations were made; the
+old servants recalled; and Francis was glorying in the prospect of a
+restoration of the old ways, if not the very continuation of that broken
+happiness of which he was so full. At length Mr. Bernard arrived, along
+with Caleb and Mira. Mr. Gordon was along with them, and I was sent for.
+We were all assembled without Mrs. Bernard being aware of our presence
+in the house. I counselled caution, and Mira was introduced to the
+mother alone; but the child retreated under the fear of a scream which
+might betoken either joy or despair; nor did her mother ask for her
+again--a strange circumstance, and not of good omen; but we behoved to
+persevere, and Mr. Bernard himself, accompanied by Mr. Gordon and me,
+presented ourselves before her. Was there ever a meeting under such
+circumstances? The husband clasped the unconscious wife to his bosom. I
+stood to watch the effect of an act which I considered precipitate, if
+not imprudent. The moment she felt herself in the arms of her husband
+she struggled to release herself, uttered the loudest scream I ever
+heard from her, and fell in a swoon upon the floor. That swoon gave me
+hopes, for in confirmed madness we do not often find that moral causes
+working on the mind show any power over the body. When she recovered,
+and was placed in a chair, she panted for breath, like one choking; and
+waving her hands and grasping convulsively the clothes of those next to
+her, seemed as if she were testing the reality of all these appearances,
+as things new and wonderful and incredible. I then held out to her the
+pamphlet, in all its tattered condition. The effect was extraordinary.
+She clutched it with such an intensity of grasp that she crumpled it all
+up, and then tried with trembling hands to undo the crushed leaves, some
+of which fell at her feet. I watched the rise of the natural expression
+of wonder struggling through the look of insanity; but I could discover
+no joy, only something like fear. I still augured favourably. She was
+laid upon her bed, and in about an hour afterwards fell into a troubled
+sleep. A day passed, yet amid my hopes I could see nothing on which I
+could absolutely rely as an undoubted sign of a favourable change, till
+on the evening of the second day, when she burst into a flood of tears.
+I had Mr. Bernard at her side at the end of this paroxysm, and in a very
+short time she was hanging upon his neck, sobbing like a child who is
+reconciled to its mother.
+
+Under a date some six months after these indications of Amelia's
+convalescence, I find a note in my diary, "Dined at Redcleugh with
+Mr. and Mrs. Bernard; the invalid restored, and again the object
+of her husband's affection; the butler once more the pride of his
+major-domoship; the old Burgundy produced and declared better than ever;
+heard that musical laugh which once charmed Mr. Bernard from the depth
+of his sorrow, as it now mingled, like a fluid, with the glory of a
+summer sun shining through the green blinds, and spread joy throughout
+the old house of Redcleugh."
+
+
+
+
+THE ROTHESAY FISHERMAN.
+
+
+When I was a boy, I used to pass the summer vacation in the Isle
+of Bute, where my father had a small cottage, for the convenience
+of sea-bathing. I enjoyed my sea-side visits greatly, for I was
+passionately fond of boating and fishing and, before I was sixteen, had
+become a fearless and excellent swimmer. From morning till night, I was
+rambling about the beach, or either sailing upon or swimming in the
+beautiful Frith. I was a prime favourite among the fishermen, with most
+of whom I was on familiar terms, and knew them all by name. Among their
+number was one man who particularly attracted my attention, and excited
+my curiosity. He was civil and obliging, though distant and reserved in
+his manners, with a shade of habitual melancholy on his countenance,
+which awakened my sympathy, at the same time that his "bearing," which
+was much above his station, commanded my respect. He _appeared_ to be
+about sixty years of age; particularly prepossessing in his appearance;
+and his language and demeanour would have done honour to any rank of
+society. I felt involuntarily attracted towards him, and took every
+opportunity of showing my wish to please and become better acquainted
+with him; but in vain. He seemed gratified by my attentions; but I made
+no nearer approach to his confidence. He went, among his companions, by
+the name of "Gentleman Douglas;" but they appeared to be as ignorant of
+the particulars of his history as myself. All they knew of him was, that
+he had come among them a perfect stranger, some years before, no one
+knew from whence; that he seemed to have some means of support
+independent of his boat; and that he was melancholy, silent, and
+reserved--as much as possible avoiding all communication with his
+neighbours. These particulars only served to whet my boyish curiosity,
+and I determined to leave no means untried to penetrate to the bottom of
+Douglas' mystery. Let me do myself justice, however: my eagerness to
+know his history proceeded from an earnest desire to soothe his sorrow,
+whatever it might be, and to benefit him in any way in my power. Day
+after day I used to stroll down to the beach, when he was preparing to
+get his boat under way, and volunteer to pull an oar on board. At first
+he seemed annoyed by my officiousness; and, though he always behaved
+with civility, showed, by his impatient manner, that he would rather
+dispense with my company; but the constant dripping of water will wear
+away a stone, and hard indeed must be the heart that will not be
+softened by unremitting kindness. My persevering wish to please him
+gradually produced the desired effect--he _was_ pleased, and evinced it
+by his increasing cordiality of manner, and by the greater interest
+he seemed to take in all my movements. In a short time we became
+inseparables, and his boat hardly ever left the shore without me. My
+father was not at all adverse to my intimacy with Douglas; he knew him
+to be a sober, industrious man, and one who bore an irreproachable
+moral character; and as he was anxious that I should strengthen my
+constitution as much as possible in the sea-breeze, he thought I could
+not roam about under safer or less objectionable protection. On a
+further acquaintance with Douglas, I found him a most agreeable
+companion; for, when his reserve wore off, his conversation was amusing
+and instructive; and he had tales to tell of foreign lands and of
+distant seas, which he described with that minuteness and closeness
+which only a personal acquaintance with them could have produced. Often,
+in the course of his narration, his eye would brighten and his cheek
+glow with an emotion foreign to his usual calm and melancholy manner;
+and then he would suddenly stop, as if some sound he had uttered had
+awakened dark memories of the past, and the gloom clouded his brow
+again, his voice trembled, and his cheek grew pale. These sudden
+transitions alarmed and surprised me; my suspicions were excited, and I
+began to imagine that the man must have been guilty of some unknown and
+dreadful crime, and that conscience was at such times busy within him.
+Douglas must have observed my changing manner; but it made little
+alteration in his demeanour towards myself.
+
+"What is the matter, Douglas?" said I, one day, when I observed him
+start and turn pale at some casual observation of mine.
+
+"Do not indulge a vain and idle curiosity, Master Charles, at the
+expense of another's feelings," replied he, gravely and mournfully, "nor
+endeavour to rake up the ashes of the past. The heart knows its own
+bitterness: long may yours be a stranger to sorrow! I have observed,
+with pain, that you, as others have done, begin to look upon me with
+suspicion. Be satisfied with the assurance, that I have no crimes
+needing concealment, to reproach myself with; and the sorrows of age
+should be sacred in the eyes of youth."
+
+I was humbled by the old man's reproof, and hastened to express my
+concern for having hurt his feelings.
+
+"Enough said, enough said, Mr. Charles," said he; "curiosity is natural
+at your age, and I am not surprised at your wishing, like some of your
+elders, to learn the cause of the melancholy which hangs over me like a
+cloud darkening the path of life, and embittering all its pleasures. At
+some future time I will tell you the reason why you see me what I am;
+but I cannot now--the very thought of it unmans me."
+
+Time wore on; every year I returned to the sea-side during the summer,
+and was always welcomed with unaffected cordiality by my old ally,
+Douglas. I was now a strapping youth of nineteen, tall and powerful of
+my age--thanks to the bracing sea-air and constant exercise. One day
+Douglas told me he was going over to Largs, and asked if I would
+accompany him.
+
+"With all my heart," said I; and in ten minutes we were standing across
+the Frith with a fine steady breeze. We were close over to the Ayrshire
+coast, when a sudden puff of wind capsized the boat, and we were both
+thrown into the water. When I rose to the surface again, after my
+plunge, I looked around in vain for Douglas, who had disappeared. He
+had on a heavy pea-jacket, and I was at first afraid the weight and
+encumbrance of it must have sunk him; but, on second thoughts, I dived
+under the boat, and found him floundering about beneath the sail, from
+whence I succeeded with great difficulty in extricating him. He was
+quite exhausted, and it required all my strength to support him to the
+gunnel of the boat. After hanging on there some time, to recover breath,
+we swam together to the beach, which was not far distant. When we
+landed, he seated himself on a large stone, and remained silent for some
+time, with his face buried in his hands.
+
+"Douglas," said I, wondering at his long silence, "are you hurt?"
+
+To my great surprise I heard low sobs, and saw the tears trickling
+between his fingers. Thinking that he was grieved at the loss of his
+boat, I said--
+
+"Cheer up, man! If the boat be lost, we will manage among us to get
+another for you."
+
+"'Tisn't the boat, sir, 'tisn't the boat; we can soon raise _her_ again:
+it is your kindness that has made a fool of me."
+
+He then looked up in my face, and, drying his glistening cheek with one
+hand, he shook mine long and heartily with the other.
+
+"Mr. Charles, before I met you, I thought I was alone in the world;
+shunned by most around me as a man of mystery. Because I could not join
+in their rude sports and boisterous merriment, they attributed my
+reserve and visible dejection to sinister causes--possibly to some
+horrible and undiscovered crime." A blush here flitted across my
+countenance; but Douglas did not remark it. "Young, and warm, and
+enthusiastic, _you_ sought me out with different feelings; you were
+attracted towards me by pity, and by a generous desire to relieve my
+distress. It was not the mere impulse of a moment; your kindness has
+been constant and unwavering--and now you have crowned all by saving
+my life. I hardly know whether or not to thank you for what was so
+worthless to myself; but I _do_ thank you from the bottom of my heart
+for the friendly and generous feeling which actuated you. You shall know
+the cause of the sorrow that weighs upon my heart; I would not that one
+to whom I owe so much should look upon me with the slightest shade of
+suspicion. I think, when you know my story, you will pity and sympathize
+with me; but you will judge less harshly, I doubt not, than I do of
+myself."
+
+"Do not call up unnecessary remembrances, which harrow your feelings,
+Douglas. That I have often thought there is mystery about you, I will
+not deny; but only once did the possibility of a cause of guilt flash
+across my mind. That unworthy suspicion has long past, and I am now
+heartily ashamed of myself for having harboured it for a moment. But we
+are forgetting the boat; we must try to get assistance to right her."
+
+We soon fell in with one of the fishermen on the coast, with whose
+assistance she was speedily righted and baled out; and, after having
+done what we came for at Largs we returned homewards.
+
+"Meet me to-morrow at ten o'clock, Mr. Charles," said Douglas, as he
+grasped my hand at parting, "and you shall then hear my story, and judge
+whether or not I have cause to grieve."
+
+At the appointed hour next morning I hastened to the rendezvous. The
+fisherman was already there, waiting for me.
+
+"I daresay you are surprised to see me here so soon," said he; "but
+now that I have determined to make you my confidant, I feel eager to
+disburden my mind, and to seek relief from my sorrows in the sympathy of
+one whom I am so proud to call my friend.
+
+"I was not always in the humble station in which you now see me,
+Mr. Stewart; but, thank Heaven! it was no misconduct of my own that
+occasioned the change. My father was an English clergyman, whose
+moderate stipend denied to his family the luxuries of life; but we had
+reason to acknowledge the truth of the wise man's saying, that 'a dinner
+of herbs, where love is, is better than more sumptuous fare where that
+love is not'. We were a united and a happy family, contented with the
+competence with which Providence had blessed us, and pitying, not
+envying, those who, endowed with greater wealth, were exposed to
+greater temptations. Oh! those happy, happy days! It sometimes almost
+maddens me, Mr. Stewart, to compare myself, as I am now, with what I
+was then. Every morning I rose with a light and happy heart, exulting
+in the sunbeam that awakened me with its smile, and blessing, in the
+gladfulness of youthful gratitude, the gracious Giver of light and life.
+My heart overflowed with love to all created beings. I could look back
+without regret, and the future was bright with hope. And now, what am I?
+A broken-hearted man, but still, after all my sufferings, grateful to
+the hand which has chastened me. I can picture the whole family grouped
+on a summer evening, now, Mr. Stewart, as vividly as a sight of
+yesterday, though fifty years have cast their dark shadows between. My
+mother, seated beside her work-table under the neat verandah in front of
+our cottage, encouraging my sisters, with her sweet smile and gentle
+voice, in the working of their first sampler; my father, seated with his
+book, under the shade of his favourite laburnum tree; while my brother
+and I were trundling our hoops round the garden, shouting with boyish
+glee; and my little fair-haired cousin, Julia, tottering along with her
+little hands extended, to catch the butterfly that tempted her on from
+flower to flower. My brother Henry was two years younger than myself,
+and was at the time I speak of a remarkably handsome, active boy, of ten
+years of age--full of fun and mischief, unsteady and volatile. My father
+found considerable difficulty in confining Henry's attention to his
+studies; for, though uncommonly quick and intelligent, he wanted
+patience and application. He could not bear the drudgery of poring over
+musty books. He used to say to me--'How I should like to be an officer,
+a gallant naval officer, to lead on my men through fire and smoke to
+victory!' And then the little fellow would wave his hand, while the
+colour flushed his cheeks, and shout--'Come on! come on!' He had,
+somehow or other, got possession of an old naval chronicle; and from
+that moment his whole thoughts were of ships and battles, and his
+principal amusement was to launch little fleets of ships upon the pond
+at the bottom of the garden. My father, though mild and indulgent in
+other matters, was a strict disciplinarian in education; and often did I
+save Henry from punishment by helping him with his exercises and other
+lessons. Dearly did I love my gallant, high-spirited little brother; and
+he looked up to me with equal fondness.
+
+"I will not weary you with details, but at once jump over the next twelve
+years of my life. The scene was now greatly changed at the parsonage.
+Death had been busy among its inmates; a contagious disorder had carried
+off my mother and sisters, and my poor father was left alone in his old
+age--not alone, for Julia was still with him. I forgot to say before,
+that she was the orphan daughter of his elder brother. Julia, at
+sixteen, was beautiful. I will not attempt to describe her, although
+every feature, every expression of her lovely countenance, is vividly
+pictured in my heart. She was its light, its pride, its hope. Alas!
+alas! she had grown up like a sweet flower beside me, and, from her
+infancy, had clung to me with a sister's confidence, and more than a
+sister's affection. Was it wonderful that I loved her? Yes, I loved
+her fondly and devotedly; and I soon had the bliss of knowing that my
+affection was returned. I had been for some time at college, studying
+for the church, when a distant relation died, and left me a comfortable
+competency. My father now consented with pleasure to my union with
+Julia; and a distant day was fixed for the marriage, to enable my
+brother Henry to be present. He had been abroad for some time in the
+merchant service, and his constant employment had prevented his visiting
+home for many years; but he had written to say that he expected now to
+have a long holiday with us. At length he returned, and great was my
+joy at meeting my beloved brother once more. He was a fine, handsome,
+manly-looking fellow--frank and boisterous in his manner, kind and
+generous in his disposition, but the slave of passion and impulse. In
+a week after his return, he became dull and reserved, and every one
+remarked the extraordinary change that had come over him. My father and
+I both thought that our quiet and monotonous life wearied and disgusted
+him, and that he longed for the more bustling scenes to which he had
+been accustomed. "Come, Harry!" said I to him one day, "cheer up, my
+boy! we shall be merry enough soon: you must lay in a fresh stock of
+spirits; Julia will quarrel with you if you show such a melancholy phiz
+at our wedding." He turned from me with impatience, and, rushing out
+into the garden, I saw no more of him that day. I was hurt and surprised
+by his manner, and hastened to express my annoyance to Julia. She
+received me with less than her usual warmth, blushed when I talked of my
+brother, and soon left me on some trifling pretext. My father had gone
+to visit a neighbouring clergyman, at whose house he was taken suddenly
+and alarmingly ill. I hastened to his bedside, and found him in such a
+precarious state, that I determined upon remaining near him. I therefore
+despatched a messenger to Julia, informing her of my intention, and
+intimating that it would be necessary to postpone our marriage, which
+was to have taken place in the course of a week, until my father's
+recovery. In answer to my letter, I received a short and hurried reply,
+merely acquiescing in the propriety of my movements, and without any
+expression of regret at my lengthened absence. Surprised at the
+infrequency and too apparent indifference of Julia's answers to the long
+and impassioned letters which I almost daily wrote to her, alarmed at
+the long interval which had elapsed since I last heard from her, and
+fearing that illness might have occasioned her silence, I left my
+father, who was rapidly recovering, and hastened home. When I arrived at
+the parsonage, I walked into the drawing-room; but as neither Julia nor
+my brother was there, I concluded they were out walking, and, taking a
+book, I sat down, impatiently waiting their return. Some time having
+elapsed, however, without their making their appearance, I rang the
+bell; and our aged servant, on entering, started at seeing me there.
+
+"La, sir!" said she, "I did'nt expect to see _you_!"
+
+"Where are Miss Julia and my brother?"
+
+"Why, la, sir! I was just agoing to ask _you_. Miss Julia had a letter
+from you about a week ago, and she and Mr. Henry went off in a poshay
+together next day. They said they would be back to-day."
+
+I said not a word in reply, but buried my face in my folded arms on the
+table, while the cold perspiration flowed over my brow, and my heart
+sickened within me, as the fatal truth by degrees broke upon me.
+
+"Fool, fond fool, that I was, to have been so long blind!" muttered I;
+"but it cannot be!--Julia!--_my_ Julia!--no, no!" And I almost cursed
+myself for the unworthy suspicion. But why dwell longer upon these
+moments of agony? My first surmise was a correct one. In a week's time
+all was known. My brother, my brother Harry, for whom I would have
+sacrificed fortune, life itself, had betrayed my dearest trust, and had
+become the husband of her I had fondly thought my own. The blow was too
+sudden and overpowering; I sunk beneath it. My reason became unsettled,
+and for several months I was unconscious of my own misery. I awoke to
+sense, an altered man. My heart was crushed, my very blood seemed to be
+turned into gall; I hated my kind, and resolved to seclude myself for
+ever from a world of falsehood and ingratitude. The only tie which could
+have reconciled me to life had been wrenched away from me during my
+unconsciousness: my brother's misconduct had broken my father's heart,
+and I was left alone in the world. I paid one sad visit to my father's
+grave, shed over it bitter tears of sorrow and disappointment, and from
+that hour to this I have never seen the home in which I passed so many
+happy days. Some months afterwards, I received a letter from a friend
+residing in Wales, of a very extraordinary nature, requiring me
+instantly to visit him, and stating that he had something of importance
+to communicate to me. I knew the writer, and confided in him; he had
+known my misfortune, and wept with me over the loss of my Julia and of
+my father. I hastened to him on the wings of expectation, and, when I
+arrived, was taken by him into an inner apartment of his house, with an
+air of secrecy and mystery.
+
+"Have you yet recovered from the effects of your misfortunes?" said he.
+"I have often reflected on your extraordinary fate, and pitied you from
+the innermost recesses of my soul. Would you believe it? I have in store
+for you an antidote against the grief of your ruined affections; but I
+will not say a medicine for your pain, or a balm for your sorrow."
+
+"For a broken heart," said I, "there is no cure in this world."
+
+He looked at me, and wept.
+
+"Dress yourself in this suit of my mournings," he said, "and accompany
+me whither I will lead you."
+
+I gazed at him in amazement; but he left me to put on the weeds, and to
+torture myself with vain thoughts.
+
+He returned and called me out. I followed him. We went some little
+distance, and joined a funeral that was slowly proceeding to the
+burying-ground. My confusion prevented me from looking at the time to
+see who was chief mourner. I proceeded with the mourners, and soon stood
+on the brink of the grave. When the pall was taken off, and the coffin
+lowered down into the earth, my eye caught the inscription on the plate;
+it was--"J. M., aged 20." "So young!" muttered I; and at the same moment
+I glanced at the chief mourner. He had withdrawn his handkerchief from
+his face. Our eyes met--he turned deadly pale, and made a motion as if
+to leave the ground; but I sprang forward, almost _shrieking_ "Henry!"
+and detained him. I looked in his face. Oh, what a change was there! His
+eye quailed beneath the cold, steady, withering glance of mine. I felt
+that he read the meaning of that glance, for he absolutely writhed
+beneath it.
+
+"Do not revile me, brother," murmured he; "the hand of Heaven has been
+heavy upon me; my crime has already met with its punishment. Oh, my
+poor, poor Julia!"
+
+"Where, where is she?" wildly exclaimed I. He pointed to the new-made
+grave?
+
+Oh, the bitterness of that hour! We wept--the betrayer and the betrayed
+wept together over the grave of their buried hopes. I arose calm and
+collected. "Brother," said I, giving him my hand, "my animosity shall be
+buried with her; may your own heart forgive you as freely as I do the
+injury you have done me! But we must never meet more." And, with slow
+steps and aching heart, I turned and left the spot.
+
+I received a letter from Henry some time afterwards, from one of the
+outports, telling me that he was just on the point of leaving England
+for ever, and imploring my forgiveness in the most touching terms, "for
+the sake of our early days, the happy years of our boyhood." Those early
+days--those happy days!--my heart softened towards him as I thought of
+them. Sorely as he had wronged me, he was my brother still, and I felt
+that I could, if permitted, clasp him to my heart once more.
+
+Weary of life, and tired of the world, I dragged on a miserable
+existence for some time, in a secluded situation on the shores of
+Cornwall; but, by degrees, the monotony of my sedentary and recluse life
+wearied me. I began to associate with the poor fishermen around me, and,
+in a short time, became enthusiastically fond of their perilous and
+exciting mode of life. The sea became to me quite a 'passion'--my mind
+had found a new channel for its energies; and when, a short time
+afterwards, I lost my little fortune through the mismanagement or
+villany of my agent, I took staff in hand, and, hastening to Liverpool,
+boldly launched into life again as a common seaman, on board a merchant
+vessel bound to the West Indies.
+
+I had toiled on for several years as a common seaman, during which time
+I attracted the notice of my captain, by my indefatigable attention to
+the duties of my station, and by the reckless indifference with which I
+lavished my strength, and often risked my life, in the performance of
+them.
+
+"Douglas" (for that was the name which I had assumed), "Douglas," said
+the captain to me one day, after I had been particularly active during a
+heavy gale we encountered, "I must try if I cannot do something for you;
+your activity and energy entitle you to promotion. I will speak to the
+owners when we return, and endeavour to procure you a mate's berth." I
+thanked him, and went forward again to my duty. A few days afterwards,
+we were going along with a strong beaming wind; there was a high sea
+running, every now and then throwing a thick spray over the weather
+bulwarks; the hands were at dinner, and I was just coming up to relieve
+the man at the wheel; there was no one on deck but the mate of the
+watch, and the captain, who was standing on the weather bulwark, shaking
+the backstays, to feel if they bore an equal strain: all at once the
+ship gave a heavy weather lurch, the captain lost his footing, and was
+overboard in a moment. I instantly sprang aft, cut away the life-buoy,
+and knowing that he was but an indifferent swimmer, jumped overboard
+after him. As I said before, the sea was running high, and a few minutes
+elapsed before I caught sight of him, rising on the crest of a wave, at
+some distance from me. I saw he could not hold out long; for he was
+over-exerting himself, shouting and raising his hand for assistance, and
+his face was pale as death. I struck out desperately towards him, and
+shouted, when I got near him, "Keep up your heart, sir; be cool; don't
+attempt to lay hold of me, and, please God, I will save you yet." My
+advice had the desired effect, and restored his self-possession; he
+became more cool and collected, and with occasional support from me,
+contrived to reach the life-buoy. In the meantime, all was confusion on
+board the ship; the second mate of the watch, a young hand, in the hurry
+of the moment, threw the ship too suddenly up to the wind, a squall
+struck her at the moment, and the foretopmast and topgallantmast went
+over the side, dragging the maintopgallantmast with them. The cry of
+"A man overboard!" had hurried the crew on deck, and the crash of the
+falling spars, and the contradictory orders from the quarter-deck, at
+first puzzled and confused them; but the _chief_ mate was a cool, active
+seaman, and the moment he made his appearance order and silence were
+restored; the quarter-boat was instantly lowered, numbers of the men
+springing forward to volunteer to man her, for the captain was
+deservedly beloved by his crew; and the rest of the hands were
+immediately set to work to clear away the wreck. In a few minutes the
+boat reached us, and we were safely seated in the stern sheets.
+
+"Douglas, my gallant fellow," said the captain, shaking me cordially by
+the hand, "I may thank _you_ that I am not food for the fishes by this
+time. I had just resigned myself to my fate, when your voice came over
+the water to me, like a messenger of hope and safety. How can I ever
+repay you?"
+
+"I am sufficiently repaid, Captain Rose, by seeing you beside me; the
+only way in which you can serve me, is by giving me a lift in the way of
+promotion, when we return home."
+
+"I will, you may depend upon it," replied he; "and as long as I live,
+you may apply to me as a firm and faithful friend."
+
+I was highly gratified by this promise; for the great object of my
+ambition for some time past had been to raise myself again from
+obscurity into something like my former station in life. Next voyage,
+through the captain's interest with the owners, I was appointed chief
+mate of the Albion, Captain Rose's ship, for which I was found duly
+qualified, having employed all my spare hours at sea in acquiring a
+knowledge of the theory of navigation. Captain Rose was like a brother
+to me, introducing me to his family and friends as the saver of his
+life, and making quite a _lion_ of me in Liverpool. We sailed in company
+with a large fleet, under convoy of three frigates and two sloops of
+war, and had been some time at sea when a heavy gale of wind came on one
+afternoon, which completely dispersed the convoy. When it commenced
+there were nearly two hundred sail in sight; at the end of two days, we
+were alone. The Albion was a beautiful vessel of her class, about four
+hundred tons burden; an excellent sea-boat. We had a smart active crew,
+besides a number of passengers, and were well furnished for defence, if
+required; but we were now so near our port that we dreaded little
+danger. However, it was necessary to be constantly on the alert, for
+there were many piratical vessels in those seas, which, in spite of the
+vigilance and activity of H.M. cruisers, were constantly on the watch to
+pounce upon any stray merchantmen. Capt. Rose was, on the whole, rather
+pleased at his separation from the convoy, as there were only one or two
+other vessels, besides himself, bound to the Havannah, and he would have
+been obliged to accompany the body of the fleet to Barbadoes. After we
+had parted from the convoy, we made the best of our way towards Cuba.
+One night, it was almost calm, but with every appearance of a coming
+breeze; the moon was nearly at her full, but dark, heavy clouds were
+drifting quickly over her, which almost entirely hid her from our view,
+except when, at intervals, she threw from between them a broad flash
+over the waters, as bright and almost as momentary as lightning gleams.
+We were crawling slowly along, with all our small canvas set; the breeze
+was blowing off the shore, the dark shadow of which lay like a shroud
+upon the water; it was nearly eight bells in the first watch; the
+captain and several of the passengers were still on deck, enjoying the
+cool, delightful breeze; but their suspicious and anxious glances into
+the dark shadow to windward, seemed to intimate that their conversation
+over their grog that evening, which had been of the pirates that
+infested those islands, and Cuba in particular, had awakened their
+fears and aroused their watchfulness.
+
+"Hark! Captain Rose," said I, "what noise is that?"
+
+Every face was instantly turned over the weather gunwale, and in
+breathless silence they all listened in the direction to which I
+pointed. A low, murmuring, rippling sound was heard, and a kind of dull,
+smothered, creaking noise repeated at short intervals; nothing was to be
+seen, however, for all was in deep shadow in that quarter.
+
+"Talk of the devil, and he'll show his horns, Douglas!" said the
+captain. "I have not been so long at sea without being able to
+distinguish the whispering of the smooth water when a sharp keel is
+slipping through it, or the sound of muffled sweeps. There may be
+mischief there, or there may not; but we'll be prepared for the worst.
+Get the men quietly to their quarters, put an extra dose of grape into
+the guns, and have all our tools ready."
+
+Just at this moment the moonlight broke brightly through the clouds, and
+showed us a small, black-looking schooner, slowly crawling out from the
+shadow of the land. Her decks were apparently crowded with people, and
+she had a boat towing astern. The men were soon at their quarters--and a
+fine, active, spirited set of fellows they were--each armed with a
+cutlass and a brace of pistols, while tomahawks and boarding pikes lay
+at hand for use if required. The passengers were all likewise provided
+with muskets, pistols, and cutlasses, and the servants were ready to
+load spare fire-arms. We mustered about fifty in all; but there was not
+a flincher among us.
+
+"Now, my lads;" said Captain Rose to his crew, "we must have a brush
+for it. I have no doubt those fellows are pirates; and if once they get
+footing on this deck, I would not give a farthing for any man's life on
+board. Be cool and quiet. Don't throw away a shot; remember that you are
+fighting for your lives; I do not doubt your courage, but be cool and
+steady!"
+
+In the meantime, the dark hull of the schooner was gradually nearing us.
+
+"Schooner ahoy!" shouted Captain Rose. No answer; but the sweeps dipped
+faster into the water, which rippled up beneath her bow. "Schooner,
+ahoy!--answer, or I'll fire!" Still no reply; but, almost immediately, a
+bright sudden flash burst from her bow, and a shot came whizzing through
+the mizen-rigging.
+
+"I thought so," calmly said the captain; "be cool, my lads; we must not
+throw away a shot; he's hardly within our range yet." The moon broke out
+for a moment. "Now, my lads, take time, and a steady aim. Give it him!"
+And flash, flash--bang, bang, went all our six carronades. The captain's
+advice had not been thrown away; the aim had been cool and deliberate;
+we heard the loud crashing of the sweeps as the grape-shot rattled among
+them, and fell pattering into the water; and at the same time a yell
+arose from the schooner, as if all the devils in hell were broke loose.
+The next glimpse of moonlight showed us her foretopmast hanging over the
+side.
+
+"Well done, my fine fellows!" shouted Captain Rose, "bear a hand, and
+give them another dose. We must keep them at arms' length as long as we
+can." The schooner had by this time, braced up on the larboard tack, and
+was standing the same way as ourselves, so as to bring her broadside to
+bear upon us; and seemed to be trying to edge out of the range of our
+guns.
+
+"Oh, oh," said our gallant captain, "is that your play, old boy? You
+want to pepper us at a distance: that'll never do. Starboard, my
+boy!--So! steady! Now, my lads, fire way!"--And again our little bark
+shook with the explosion. The schooner was not slow in returning the
+compliment. One of her shot lodged in our hull and another sent the
+splinters flying out of the boat on the booms. Immediately after she
+fired, she stood away before the wind, and, rounding our stern at a
+respectful distance, she crawled up on the other side of us, as fast
+almost as if we had been at anchor, with a wish apparently to cut off
+our escape in that direction. But he was playing a deeper game. A long,
+dark, unbroken cloud was passing over the moon, which threw its black
+shadow over the water, and partially concealed the movements of the
+pirate. When it cleared away again, he was braced sharp up on the
+larboard tack, standing across our bows, with the intention of raking
+us.
+
+"Starboard the helm!--Brace sharp up!--Bear a hand, my fine
+fellows!"--And, before she had time to take advantage of her position,
+the Albion again presented her broadside. The flash from the pirate's
+guns was quickly followed by the report of ours, and we heard
+immediately the loud clattering of blocks on board of her, as if some
+sail had come down by the run. At this moment, I thought I heard some
+strange noise astern, and, running aft, I plainly distinguished the
+sound of muffled oars, and, immediately after, saw a small dark line
+upon the water.
+
+"Aft, here, small-arm men!" shouted I.
+
+"Boat, ahoy!--Boat, ahoy!"--A loud and wild cheer rose from the boat;
+and the men in her, finding that caution would no longer avail them,
+evidently redoubled their efforts at their oars.
+
+"Fire!" shouted the captain, while a blue light he had just ignited
+threw a pale unearthly glare over the ship's tafferel, and showed us
+our new and unexpected enemy It was the pirate's boat, which she had
+dropped during the partial obscurity I spoke of, intending to board
+us a-head herself, while the boat's crew attacked us astern. It was
+fortunate that we happened to hear them--three minutes more and nothing
+could have saved us. There was a set of the most ferocious-looking
+desperadoes I had ever seen, armed to the teeth; and the boat (a large
+one) was crowded with them. Deadly was the effect of our fire. Four or
+five of the men at the oars were tumbled over on their faces; but their
+places were instantly supplied by others, who, with loud yells for
+revenge, bent desperately to their oars. In a few minutes the boat shot
+up under the mizen-chains, while the bullets that were raining down upon
+them from above only rendered them more desperate. The living trampled
+upon the dying and the dead, in their eagerness to board; and, in a
+thick swarm, the blood-thirsty scoundrels came yelling over the
+bulwarks. A sharp and well-directed fire staggered them for a moment,
+and sent several of them to their last account. We now threw aside the
+muskets, for cutlasses and tomahawks. Hand to hand, foot to foot,
+desperate and deadly was the struggle.
+
+"Down with them, my lads!" shouted Rose. "Hew the blood-thirsty villains
+to pieces. No quarter! no quarter!--show them such mercy as they would
+show you!"
+
+Short and bloody was the conflict; several of the pirates had been
+killed, the deck was slippery with blood, and the rest were keeping
+their ground with difficulty. I had a long and severe hand-to-hand fight
+with one of them. We had each received desperate wounds, when his foot
+slipped on the bloody deck. I gave him a severe stroke on the head with
+a tomahawk, and, after a deadly struggle on the gangway, tumbled him
+backwards overboard. The moon shone bright out at the moment, and fell
+full upon his face. Merciful heaven!--my brain reeled, I staggered
+against a gun, and became insensible--that face, Mr. Stewart, haunts my
+dreams to this hour with its ghastly, despairing expression. It was the
+long-lost Henry's--I was my brother's murderer! (Here the poor fellow
+hid his face in his hands, and groaned with agony. I pitied him from my
+heart; but I knew that sorrow such as his "will not be comforted" in the
+moment of its strength; so I sat in silence beside him, till his first
+burst of grief was over, and then I endeavoured calmly and coolly to
+reason with him on the subject, and to persuade him, by all the
+arguments I could think of, that he had no cause to reproach himself
+with what had happened).
+
+"It is kindly meant of you, Mr. Stewart (said he, mournfully shaking
+his head), kindly meant, but in vain! I know that I was only acting
+in self-defence--that it was life against life--that I was perfectly
+justified, in the eyes of men, in taking the life of him who would have
+taken mine--but I cannot drive that last despairing look from my memory.
+I feel as if my brother's blood were crying out against my soul. O my
+poor Harry! would that the blow had fallen on my head instead of
+thine!--would that I had had time to tell thee how fondly I loved thee,
+how freely I forgave thee!
+
+But I beg pardon, Mr. Stewart;--I must go on with my tale. Ten of the
+pirates were lying dead on the deck, and five of our poor fellows; the
+bodies of the former were immediately thrown overboard, and the others
+were laid side by side amidships, till we could find time to give them
+Christian burial. Our last lucky shot had prevented the pirate from
+carrying the other part of his scheme into effect: the moon was now
+shining out full and clear, and by her light we saw that her throat
+halyards had been shot away, and her main-sail was flapping over the
+quarter; there were hands aloft, reaving new halyards, and busily
+employed about the mast-head, as if it were crippled. "We have had
+fighting enough for one bout," said Captain Rose; "we must run for it
+now." Our main-top-gallant mast was hanging over the side, and our sails
+were riddled with the schooner's shot; she had evidently been firing
+high, to disable us, that she might carry us by boarding. We clapped on
+all the sail we could, served out grog to the men, and lay down at our
+quarters. We were not suffered to remain at peace long: the moment the
+schooner perceived our intention, she edged away after us, and having
+repaired her damage, set her main-sail again; and, as the wind was still
+light, with the assistance of her remaining sweeps, came crawling up
+again in-shore of us. "Scoundrels!" muttered the captain, "they will
+stick to us like leeches as long as there is a drop of blood left on
+board."
+
+Again we saw the flash of her gun, and the smoke curling white in the
+moonbeam. The shot told with fatal effect; our main-top-sail-yard
+creaked, bent, and snapped in the slings, falling forward in two pieces.
+
+The loud cheers of the pirate crew came faintly over the water; but our
+brave fellows, nothing daunted, responded to them heartily.
+
+"They have winged us, my lads!" said our gallant captain; "but we will
+die game at all events." The men answered him with another cheer, and
+swore they would go to the bottom rather than yield. We blazed away at
+the schooner, but in vain; she had been severely taught to respect us;
+our shot fell far short, while she, with her long metal, kept dropping
+shot after shot into us with deadly precision. We tried to close with
+her; but she saw her advantage, and kept it; all that we could do was to
+stand steadily on, the men lying down under the shelter of the bulwarks.
+A faint dull sound now fell upon our ears, like the report of a distant
+gun. "Thank heaven!" said I, "our guns have spoken to some purpose; some
+of the cruisers have taken the alarm." We immediately burnt a blue
+light, and threw up a couple of rockets. In a few minutes a shout of
+joy burst from the crew, a small glimmering star appeared in the
+distance, which flickered for a moment, and then increased to a strong,
+steady, glaring, light; at the same time, we heard a second report, much
+nearer and clearer than before. Alarmed at the near approach of the
+stranger, which was now distinctly visible, standing towards us under a
+press of sail, the pirate, determined to have another brush with us,
+bore up, and closed with us. But we were prepared for him; he was
+evidently staggered by our warm reception; and, giving us a parting
+broadside, hove round, stood in under the dark shadow of the land, and
+we soon lost sight of him.
+
+The stranger proved to be H.M. sloop Porcupine. She hove to when she
+neared us, and sent a boat on board. She had heard the report of our
+guns, and hastened to the scene of action, just in the very nick of time
+to save us. The lieutenant complimented the captain and crew on their
+gallant defence, and hastened on board the sloop again, to make his
+report. The boat soon returned, with a gang of hands to assist in
+repairing our damages; and on the evening of the next day, we were
+safely at anchor. When the excitement of the action was over, the pain
+of my wounds and the agitation of my mind brought on a violent attack of
+fever. During my delirium, the vision of my dying brother was ever
+before me; and in my madness I twice made an attempt upon my own life.
+At length the goodness of my constitution triumphed over the violence of
+my disorder; but my peace of mind was gone for ever. My worthy friend,
+the captain, to whom I confided my story, did everything in his power to
+rouse me from my sorrow, and to reconcile me to myself; but in vain. The
+sight of my brother had recalled the vivid recollection of by-gone
+scenes, which I had been for years steeling my heart to forget; my
+spirit was broken, I became listless and indifferent, and no longer felt
+any interest in my profession. I did my duty, to be sure; but it was
+mechanically--from the force of habit. Captain Rose was ceaseless in his
+kindness. When, on our return home, I expressed my determination not to
+go to sea again, he represented my conduct during the action, and on
+other occasions, in such glowing terms, to the owners, that they settled
+a small annuity upon me, in consideration of the wounds I had received
+in their service. It was with the deepest regret I took leave of my
+worthy friend and captain.
+
+"I can never forget," said he, "that, but for you, my children would
+have been fatherless, my wife a widow; whenever you need the assistance
+of a friend, Douglas, apply to me with as much confidence as to a
+brother."
+
+He then offered to evince his regard in a more substantial manner, which
+I firmly but gratefully declined. I wrote to him afterwards, telling him
+that I had settled in this neighbourhood, and requesting him to make
+arrangements that my annuity might be made payable to a certain firm in
+Glasgow. In reply, he wrote me a long and affectionate letter. It was
+the first and last I ever had from him; he died soon afterwards. It is
+now five years since I took up my abode here, and I feel the weakness
+and infirmities of age creeping fast upon me. Oh! how happily will I lay
+down the weary load of life!
+
+"Douglas," said I, when he had finished his story, "you certainly have
+had grievous sorrows and trials; but you have borne them nobly, except
+in wilfully attaching the odium of crime to the unfortunate
+circumstances of your brother's death."
+
+"Would that I could think as you do!" said he.
+
+We parted: and four years elapsed before we met again. I had, in
+the meantime, commenced practice as a surgeon in Glasgow, and my
+professional avocations kept me too constantly employed to allow of my
+leaving the town. At last, after a severe attack of illness, I was
+recommended to go to the sea-side for a few months; and my thoughts
+immediately recurred to my old friend. I took a lodging in Rothesay, and
+next morning went down to the beach, where I saw the old man just
+preparing to put off.
+
+"Here I am again, Douglas," said I.
+
+"Sir!" replied he, looking at me at first doubtingly, for illness had
+greatly reduced me. "Ah! Mr. Stewart, is that you? I thought you had
+forgotten me."
+
+"Then you did me injustice, Douglas; I have often and often regretted
+that the pressure of business prevented my visiting you again. By the
+by, I was reminded of you in rather an extraordinary way lately."
+
+"How was that, sir?"
+
+"On my way down here, a few days since, the steamer touched at Greenock.
+I was standing on the quay when a poor fellow, a passenger in a vessel
+just arrived, fell from the gangway, and was taken up insensible. I
+immediately bled him; and, seeing that he appeared to be seriously
+injured, I determined, as I had no other particular call upon my time,
+to remain beside him till he recovered. I had him carried to a small
+lodging in the neighbourhood, where he soon partially recovered; and,
+having prescribed for him, I left him, desiring that I might be sent for
+if any change took place. During the night he had a violent attack of
+fever. I was sent for; when I arrived, I found him delirious; he was
+raving about Cuba, and ships, and pirates, and fifty other things that
+immediately recalled you to my remembrance. When he came to his senses
+again--
+
+"'Doctor! tell me the truth,' said he: 'am I not dying?'
+
+"'No,' replied I; 'your present symptoms are favourable; everything
+depends upon your keeping your mind and body quiet.'
+
+"'Quiet mind!' muttered he, with a bitter smile on his countenance. 'It
+is not that I fear death, doctor; I think I could willingly depart in
+peace, if I had but been allowed time to find the person whom I came to
+Scotland in search of.'
+
+"'And who is that?'
+
+"'A fisherman at Rothesay.'
+
+"He mentioned the name; but at this moment I forget it. Let me see--it
+was--ay, it was Ponsonby--Charles Ponsonby."
+
+Douglas started, and turned pale.
+
+"Ponsonby!" exclaimed he; "that was _my_ name, my father's name! Who can
+he be? Perhaps some old shipmate of poor Harry's. I will go directly and
+see him." And he turned as if to depart.
+
+"Gently, gently, my friend," said I, detaining him; "I must go with
+you. When I left the poor fellow under the charge of a medical man at
+Greenock, he was greatly better; but he had received some severe
+internal injury, and he cannot live long. A sudden surprise might hasten
+his death. I must go with you to prevent accidents."
+
+We went on board the next steamer that started, and in two hours we
+landed at Greenock. I led the way to the small lodging in which I had
+left my patient; and leaving Douglas at the door, went in to inquire
+into the state of the sufferer's health, and to prepare him for
+his visitor. I found him asleep; but his was not the slumber that
+refreshes--the restless and unquiet spirit within was disturbing the
+rest of the fevered and fatigued body. His flushed cheek lay upon one
+arm, while his other was every now and then convulsively raised above
+his head, and his lips moved with indistinct mutterings.
+
+"He is asleep," said I to Douglas; "we must wait till he awakens."
+
+"Oh, let me look at him," said he; "it can do no harm. He must be an old
+shipmate of poor Harry's; perhaps he has some memento of him for me."
+
+"Very well," said I; "you may come in; but make as little noise as
+possible."
+
+We walked up gently to the bed; Douglas looked earnestly at the sleeper,
+and, suddenly raising his clasped hands, he exclaimed--
+
+"Merciful heaven! it is Henry himself!"
+
+The poor patient started with a wild and fevered look.
+
+"Who called me? I thought I heard Charles' voice! Where am I? Give way
+in the boat!--oh, spare me, spare me, Charles!--Fire!--Down with them!
+Hurra!"--And, waving his hands above his head, he sunk down again on has
+bed, exhausted.
+
+He soon fell into a deep slumber, which lasted for some hours. I was
+sitting by his bedside when he awoke.
+
+"How do you feel now?" said I.
+
+"O doctor! I am dying. I have been dreaming: I thought I heard the voice
+of one I have deeply injured--nay, I dreamt I _saw_ him; but changed,
+how changed!--and I--I have been the cause of it."
+
+Here he was interrupted by the smothered sobs of poor Douglas, or
+Charles, as I now must call him.
+
+"Who is that? there is somebody else in the room," said he; and,
+drawing the curtain aside, he saw his brother. "Then it was no dream! O
+Charles!" and, turning round, he buried his face in the pillow. Douglas
+sprang forward, and, throwing himself on the bed, gave way to a violent
+burst of emotion.
+
+"Henry! dear Henry! look at me--it _is_ your brother, Henry!"
+
+The dying man groaned. "I cannot look you in the face, Charles," said
+he, "till you say you have forgiven me."
+
+"Forgiven you!" replied the other; "bless you! bless you, Henry! if you
+did but know the load of remorse that the sight of you has relieved me
+from! Thank heaven I was _not_ your murderer!"
+
+"And can you forget the past, Charles?" said Henry. "Do not my ears
+deceive me? Do you really forgive me?"
+
+"Freely, fully, from my heart!" was the reply; "the joy of meeting you
+again, even thus, repays me for all I have suffered."
+
+"O Charles!" again ejaculated Henry, "you were always generous and
+forgiving; but this is more than I expected from you."
+
+I was now going to leave the room; but my patient, noticing my
+intention, begged me to remain.
+
+"Stay, doctor, and listen to my confession; concealment is no longer
+necessary, for I feel that the hand of death is upon me, and that, in a
+few short hours, my career of sin, and shame, and sorrow, will be at an
+end."
+
+"My poor fellow," said I, "I have heard the first part of your story
+from your brother; you had better defer the remainder till you have
+recovered from your present agitation; I will come again to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow, sir!" said he; "where may I be before to-morrow? Oh, let me
+speak now, while time and strength are allowed. It will do me good, sir;
+it will relieve my mind, and be a comfort to my troubled spirit."
+
+Feeling that he was right, I seated myself, while he thus commenced his
+tale:--
+
+"You remember, Charles, our last sad parting--when we stood"----
+
+"Mention it not, Harry!" groaned his brother--"there is agony in the
+recollection. Poor Julia!"
+
+"When I left you, I was maddened with sorrow and remorse; all night long
+I wandered about in a state of distraction, and, when morning dawned, I
+fell down by the roadside, overcome with fatigue and misery. How long I
+lay I know not; when I awoke, the sun was high in the heaven; and,
+during one brief moment of forgetfulness, I rejoiced in his brightness.
+Alas! it was but for a moment; my guilty love, my treachery, my loss,
+all flashed upon my mind at once, and I started to my feet, and hurried
+madly onwards, as if I hoped, by the rapidity of my movements, to escape
+from my own thoughts. Hunger at last compelled me to enter a small
+public-house, where I fell in with a poor sailor, who was on his way to
+Liverpool in search of a ship. The sight of this man turned my thoughts
+into another channel. 'Double-dyed traitor that I am,' muttered I,
+'England is no longer a home for me. She for whose love I broke a
+father's heart and betrayed a brother's confidence, has been torn from
+me; and what more have I to live for here?' My mind was made up.
+
+"'My lad,' said I to the sailor, 'if you have no objection, we will
+travel together; I am bound to Liverpool myself.'
+
+"'With all my heart,' said he; 'I like to sail in company.'
+
+"I engaged to work my passage out before the mast, in a ship bound
+to Jamaica, intending to turn my education to some account there if
+possible, or, at all events, to remain there as long as my money lasted.
+When I saw the shores of my native land sink in the distance, I felt
+that I was a forlorn and miserable outcast--that the last link was
+severed that bound me to existence. A dark change came over me; a spirit
+of desperation and reckless indifference; a longing wish to end my
+miseries at once. I strove against the evil spirit; and for a while
+succeeded. On our arrival at Kingston, I endeavoured in vain to obtain
+employment; my stock of money was fast decreasing; and when that was
+gone, where was I to turn for more? Poverty and wretchedness threatened
+me from without; remorse was busy within. 'Why should I bear this weary
+load of life?' said I, as I madly paced the shore, 'when one bold plunge
+would bury it for ever?'
+
+"I threw myself headlong into the water; and, though an excellent
+swimmer, I resolutely kept my face beneath the surface; yes, with
+desperate determination, I strove to _force_ myself into the presence of
+that dread Being whom I had so grievously offended. When I came to my
+senses again, I was lying on a part of the beach I was unacquainted
+with; a tall, handsome, dark-featured young man, was bending over me,
+and, within a few yards of where I lay, a small light boat was drawn up
+on the shore.
+
+"'So you have opened your eyes at last, my friend,' said the man; 'you
+have had a narrow squeak for it. When I dragged you out of the water,
+like a drowned rat, I thought all was over with you. Have you as many
+lives as a cat that you can afford to throw away _one_ in such a foolish
+manner?'
+
+"'Life! I am sick of it,' answered I.
+
+"'Well,' said he, 'if that is the case, why not throw it away like a
+man, among men? Come with me, and I will furnish you with active
+employment to drive the devil out of your mind. But here, before we
+start, take some of the cordial to cheer you.'
+
+"I was chilled and exhausted, and took a hearty draught. I felt its
+warmth steal through my frame--it mounted to my brain--I laughed aloud;
+I felt that I was equal to any act of desperation. Alas! I little knew
+the snare I was falling into. We launched the boat and sprang into it;
+and my companion, seizing the oars, pulled rapidly along the beach.
+After rowing some distance, we saw a light glimmering amid the bushes;
+it was now nearly dusk; my companion lay on his oars, and gave a long,
+low, peculiar whistle, which was immediately answered. He then ran the
+boat ashore; two men sprang in, who relieved him at the oars; and we
+again held on our way. There was a great deal of conversation carried on
+in a low tone; and from what I heard of it, half tipsy as I was, I
+inferred that my companion, whom the other men addressed with great
+respect, was a naval officer on some secret duty. Just as we were
+crossing the mouth of a narrow creek, a light four-oared gig dashed out
+after us, a voice hailed us in English to lie on our oars, and, when we
+still held on our course, a musket ball whizzed over us, to enforce
+obedience.
+
+"'The piratical rascals!' exclaimed the young man; 'if they lay hold of
+us, we are all dead men.' 'Here!' continued he, seizing a musket, which
+lay in the stern sheets, and giving me another, 'fire for your life!'
+
+"I was half mad with fever, and the effects of my late draught; and,
+under the persuasion that our lives were in danger, I fired. The bowman
+of the gig fell, and we rapidly left her. We came at last to a narrow
+lagune, close to the low shore of which lay a small schooner at anchor,
+with sails bent, and every preparation for a start.
+
+"'Welcome on board the little Spitfire, my man!' said the young
+stranger; 'we want hands--will you ship?'
+
+"'What colours do you sail under,' replied I.
+
+"'Oh, not particular to a shade,' said he; 'any that happens to suit us
+for the time being: black is rather a favourite.'
+
+"'Black!' exclaimed I; 'I thought you were king's men. I won't go with
+you.'
+
+"'It is too late, my lad--go you must! Besides, there is no safety for
+you on shore now; you shot one of the crew of the cruiser's gig, and
+they will have life for life, depend upon it.'
+
+"The whole horror of my situation now burst upon me. I was in a fearful
+strait; but I made up my mind at once, to deceive the pirates, by
+appearing to be contented with my situation, and to take advantage of
+the first opportunity that presented itself to escape.
+
+"'Well,' said I, 'if that's the case, I had better die fighting bravely
+like a man, than hang like a dog from the yard-arm of a man-of-war.'
+
+"'Bravely said, my hearty!' replied the young leader; 'but we must be
+moving--the blue jackets will be after us; that shot of yours will bring
+the whole hornet's nest about our ears.'
+
+"We got under way; and, after rounding the east end of Jamaica, we stood
+away for the Cuba shore. The very first time we came to an anchor, I
+made an attempt to escape; I had saved part of my provisions for some
+days before, and concealed it, in readiness to take with me. We were
+lying close to the shore, and the darkness of the night would, I
+thought, conceal my movements; I was just slipping over the schooner's
+side, to swim ashore, when I felt a touch upon my shoulder, and, turning
+round, a dark lantern flashed in my face, and I saw the young pirate
+standing beside me. He held a cocked pistol to my head. 'One touch of
+this trigger,' said he, 'and you would require no more looking after. My
+eye has been upon you all along; you cannot escape me; do not attempt it
+again--the consequences may be fatal.'
+
+"From that hour I was aware that I was constantly and narrowly watched.
+Except in the one instance of the gig's man, whom I had fired at under
+a delusion, it was my good fortune as yet to have escaped imbruing my
+hands in blood. During the action with the Albion, I was sent in the
+boat, under the particular charge of the mate. 'Keep your eye on this
+fellow,' said the captain; 'If he flinches for a moment, blow his brains
+out instantly; we must _glue him_ to us with blood. I will keep her in
+play till you creep alongside; and, once on board, cut every one down
+before you--give no quarter.'
+
+"My blood ran cold at this horrible order, and I determined upon doing
+all in my power to counteract its execution. I was delighted when you
+discovered our approach and the blue light flashed from your stern; for
+I dreaded the scene of massacre that must have ensued, if we had
+boarded you unawares. I sprang on deck with the rest, in hopes that I
+might be able to prevent some bloodshed; but, when I was violently
+attacked, my passions were aroused, and I fought desperately for my
+life. Just as you tumbled me over the gangway, the gleam of moonshine
+showed me your face. I recognised you immediately; and, when I rose to
+the surface of the water again after my plunge, I blessed heaven that I
+had been spared the guilt of murder. I reached the boat which was still
+hanging under your quarter, cut the painter, and in the confusion,
+escaped unnoticed. I immediately made for the shore; and after many
+hair-breadth escapes from my old associates, I volunteered on board one
+of the cruisers on the Jamaica station. At length she returned home, the
+crew were paid off, and I determined to seek you out. On inquiring at
+the office of the owners of the Albion, in Liverpool, they told me that
+the late chief mate had settled, some years before, in the neighbourhood
+of Rothesay, in the Isle of Bute, and was still alive. Thank heaven! I
+have found you at last! I should like to live, Charles, to prove to you
+my sorrow and repentance for the past; but, as heaven has willed it
+otherwise, the blessed assurance of your forgiveness will lighten death
+of half its terrors."
+
+The poor fellow breathed his last a few days afterwards. Douglas mourned
+long and deeply for his brother's death; but after time had soothed his
+grief, he became quite an altered man. His mind and spirits recovered
+their elasticity, after the load which had so long weighed them down
+was removed. He did not resume his own name; but lived many years
+afterwards, contented and happy, in the humble station of a fisherman;
+and it was not till after his death that his old companions discovered
+how justly the name of "Gentleman Douglas" had been applied to him. His
+tombstone bore the simple inscription, "Charles Douglas Ponsonby,
+eldest son of the late Reverend T. Ponsonby."
+
+I often wander, in the calm summer evenings, to the quiet churchyard,
+and return a sadder, but, I hope, a better man, after meditating upon
+the troublous and adventurous life, and peaceful and Christian death of
+the ROTHESAY FISHERMAN.
+
+
+
+
+LEAVES
+FROM
+THE DIARY OF AN AGED SPINSTER.
+
+
+The poet of THE ELEGY _par excellence_, hath written two lines, which
+run thus--
+
+    "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
+     And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
+
+Now, I never can think of these lines but they remind me of the tender,
+delicate, living, breathing, and neglected flowers that bud, blossom,
+shed their leaves, and die, in cold unsunned obscurity--flowers that
+were formed to shed their fragrance around a man's heart, and to charm
+his eye--but which, though wandering melancholy and alone in the
+wilderness where they grow, he passeth by with neglect, making a
+companion of his loneliness. But, to drop all metaphor--where will you
+find a flower more interesting than a spinster of threescore and ten, of
+sixty, of fifty, or of forty? They have, indeed, "wasted their sweetness
+on the desert air." Some call them "old maids;" but it is a malicious
+appellation, unless it can be proved that they have refused to be wives.
+I would always take the part of a spinster; they are a peculiar people,
+far more "sinned against than sinning." Every blockhead thinks himself
+at liberty to crack a joke upon them; and when he says something, that
+he conceives to be wondrous smart, about Miss Such-an-One and her cat or
+poodle dog, he conceives himself a marvellous clever fellow; yea, even
+those of her own sex who are below what is called a "certain age" (what
+that age is, I cannot tell), think themselves privileged to giggle at
+the expense of their elder sister. Now, though there may be a degree of
+peevishness (and it is not to be wondered at) amongst the sisterhood,
+yet with them you will find the most sensitive tenderness of heart,
+a delicacy that quivers, like the aspen leaf, at a breath, and a
+kindliness of soul that a mother might envy--or rather, for envy, shall
+I not write _imitate_? But ah! if their history were told, what a
+chronicle would it exhibit of blighted affections, withered hearts,
+secret tears, and midnight sighs!
+
+The first spinster of whom I have a particular remembrance, as belonging
+to her caste, was Diana Darling. It is now six and twenty years since
+Diana paid the debt of nature, up to which period, and for a few years
+before, she rented a room in Chirnside. It was only a year or two before
+her death that I became acquainted with her; and I was then very young.
+But I never shall forget her kindness towards me. She treated me as
+though I had been her own child, or rather her grandchild, for she was
+then very little under seventy years of age. She had always an air of
+gentility about her; people called her "a betterish sort o' body." And,
+although _Miss_ and _Mistress_ are becoming general appellations now,
+twenty or thirty years ago, upon the Borders, those titles were only
+applied to particular persons or on particular occasions; and whether
+their more frequent use now is to be attributed to the schoolmaster
+being abroad or the dancing-master being abroad, I cannot tell, but
+Diana Darling, although acknowledged to be a "betterish sort o' body,"
+never was spoken of by any other term but "auld Diana," or "auld Die."
+Well do I remember her flowing chintz gown, with short sleeves, her
+snow-white apron, her whiter cap, and old kid gloves, reaching to her
+elbows; and as well do I remember how she took one of the common _blue
+cakes_ which washer-women use, and tying it up in a piece of woollen
+cloth, dipped it in water, and daubed it round and round the walls of
+her room, to give them the appearance of being papered. I have often
+heard of and seen _stenciling_ since; but, rude as the attempt was, I am
+almost persuaded that Diana was the first who put it in practice. To
+keep up gentility putteth people to strange shifts, and often to
+ridiculous ones--and to both of these extremities she was driven. But I
+have hinted that she was a kind-hearted creature; and, above all, do I
+remember her for the fine old ballads which she sang to me. But there
+was one that was an especial favourite with her, and a verse of which,
+if I remember correctly, ran thus--
+
+    "Fie, Lizzy Lindsay!
+       Sae lang in the mornins ye lie,
+     Mair fit ye was helping yer minny
+       To milk a' the ewes and the kye."
+
+Diana, however, was a woman of some education; and to a relative she
+left a sort of history of her life, from which the following is an
+extract:--
+
+"My father died before I was eighteen (so began Diana's narrative), and
+he left five of us--that is, my mother, two sisters, a brother, and
+myself--five hundred pounds a-piece. My sisters were both younger than
+me; but, within six years after our father's death, they both got
+married; and my brother, who was only a year older than myself, left the
+house also, and took a wife, so that there was nobody but me and my
+mother left. Everybody thought there was something very singular in
+this; for it was not natural that the youngest should be taken and the
+auldest left; and, besides, it was acknowledged that I was the best
+faured,[C] and the best tempered in the family; and there could be no
+dispute but that my siller was as good as theirs.
+
+  [C] Best-looking, or most beautiful.
+
+I must confess, however, that, when I was but a lassie o' sixteen, I had
+drawn up wi' one James Laidlaw--but I should score out the word _one_,
+and just say that I had drawn up wi' _James Laidlaw_. He was a year, or
+maybe three, aulder than me, and I kenned him when he was just a laddie,
+at Mr. Wh----'s school in Dunse; but I took no notice o' him then in
+particular, and, indeed, I never did, until one day that I was an errand
+down by Kimmerghame, and I met James just coming out frae the gardens.
+It was the summer season, and he had a posie in his hand, and a very
+bonny posie it was. 'Here's a fine day, Diana,' says he. 'Yes, it is,'
+says I.
+
+So we said nae mair for some time; but he keepit walking by my side, and
+at last he said--'What do ye think o' this posie?' 'It is very bonny,
+James,' said I. 'I think sae,' quoth he; 'and if ye will accept it,
+there should naebody be mair welcome to it.' 'Ou, I thank ye,' said I,
+and I blushed in a way--'why should ye gie me it?' 'Never mind,' says
+he, 'tak it for auld acquaintance sake--we were at the school together.'
+
+So I took the flowers, and James keepit by my side, and cracked to me a'
+the way to my mother's door, and I cracked to him--and I really wondered
+that the road between Kimmerghame and Dunse had turned sae short. It
+wasna half the length that it used to be, or what I thought it ought to
+be.
+
+But I often saw James Laidlaw after this; and somehow or other I aye met
+him just as I was coming out o' the kirk, and weel do I recollect that,
+one Sabbath in particular, he said to me--'Diana, will ye no come out
+and tak a walk after ye get your dinner?' 'I dinna ken, James,' says
+I; 'I doubt I daurna, for our folk are very particular, and baith my
+faither and my mother are terribly against onything like gaun about
+stravaigin on the Sundays.' 'Oh, they need never ken where ye're gaun,'
+says he. 'Weel, I'll try,' says I, for by this time I had a sort o'
+liking for James. 'Then,' said he, 'I'll be at the Penny Stane at four
+o'clock.' 'Very weel,' quoth I.
+
+And, although baith my faither and mother said to me, as I was gaun
+out--'Where are ye gaun, lassie?'--'Oh, no very far,' said I; and, at
+four o'clock, I met James at the Penny Stane. I shall never forget the
+grip that he gied my hand when he took it in his, and said--
+
+'Ye hae been as good as your word, Diana.'
+
+We wandered awa doun by Wedderburn dyke, till we came to the Blackadder,
+and then we sauntered down by the river side, till we were opposite
+Kelloe--and, oh, it was a pleasant afternoon. Everything round about us,
+aboon us, and among our feet, seemed to ken it was Sunday--everything
+but James and me. The laverock was singing in the blue lift--the
+blackbirds were whistling in the hedges--the mavis chaunted its loud
+sang frae the bushes on the braes--the lennerts[D] were singing and
+chirming among the whins--and the shelfa[E] absolutely seemed to follow
+ye wi' its three notes over again, in order that ye might learn them.
+
+  [D] Linnets
+
+  [E] Chaffinch
+
+It was the happiest afternoon I ever spent. James grat, and I grat. I
+got a scolding frae my faither and my mother when I gaed hame, and they
+demanded to ken where I had been; but the words that James had spoken to
+me bore me up against their reproaches.
+
+Weel, it was very shortly (I daresay not six months after my faither's
+death), that James called at my mother's, and as he said, to bid us
+_farewell!_ He took my mother's hand--I mind I saw him raise it to his
+lips, while the tears were on his cheeks; and he was also greatly put
+about to part wi' my sisters; but to me he said--
+
+'Ye'll set me down a bit, Diana.'
+
+He was to take the coach for Liverpool--or at least, a coach to take him
+on the road to that town, the next day; and from there he was to proceed
+to the West Indies, to meet an uncle who was to make him his heir.
+
+I went out wi' him, and we wandered away down by our auld walks; but,
+oh, he said little, and he sighed often, and his heart was sad. But mine
+was as sad as his, and I could say as little as him. I winna, I canna
+write a' the words and the vows that passed. He took the chain frae his
+watch, and it was o' the best gold, and he also took a pair o' Bibles
+frae his pocket, and he put the watch chain and the Bibles into my hand,
+and--'Diana,' said he, 'take these, dear--keep them for the sake o' your
+poor James, and, as often as ye see them, think on him.' I took them,
+and wi' the tears running down my cheeks--'O James,' cried I, 'this is
+hard!--hard!'
+
+Twice, ay thrice, we bade each other '_farewell_,' and thrice, after he
+had parted frae me, he cam running back again, and, throwing his arms
+round my neck, cried--
+
+'Diana! I canna leave ye!--promise me that ye will never marry onybody
+else!'
+
+And thrice I promised him that I wouldna.
+
+But he gaed awa, and my only consolation was looking at the Bibles, on
+one o' the white leaves o' the first volume o' which I found written, by
+his own hand, '_James Laidlaw and Diana Darling vowed, that, if they
+were spared, they would become man and wife; and that neither time,
+distance, nor circumstances, should dissolve their plighted troth.
+Dated, May 25th, 17--_.'
+
+These were cheering words to me; and I lived on them for years, even
+after my younger sisters were married, and I had ceased to hear from
+him. And, during that time, for his sake, I had declined offers which my
+friends said I was waur than foolish to reject. At least half a dozen
+good matches I let slip through my hands, and a' for the love o' James
+Laidlaw who was far awa, and the vows he had plighted to me by the side
+o' the Blackadder. And, although he hadna written to me for some years,
+I couldna think that ony man could be so wicked as to write words o'
+falsehood and bind them up in the volume o' everlasting truth.
+
+But, about ten years after he had gane awa, James Laidlaw came back to
+our neighbourhood; but he wasna the same lad he left--for he was now a
+dark-complexioned man, and he had wi' him a mulatto woman, and three
+bairns that called him _faither!_ He was no longer my James!
+
+My mother was by this time dead, and I expected naething but that the
+knowledge o' his faithlessness would kill me too--for I had clung to
+hope till the last straw was broken.
+
+I met him once during his stay in the country, and, strange to tell, it
+was within a hundred yards o' the very spot where I first foregathered
+wi' him, when he offered me the posie.
+
+'Ha! Die!' said he, 'my old girl, are you still alive? I'm glad to see
+you. Is the old woman, your mother, living yet?' I was ready to faint,
+my heart throbbed as though it would have burst. A' the trials I had
+ever had were naething to this; and he continued--'Why, if I remember
+right, there was once something like an old flame between you and me.'
+'O James! James!' said I, 'do you remember the words ye wrote in the
+Bible, and the vows that ye made me by the side of the Blackadder?'
+'Ha! ha!' said he, and he laughed, 'you are there, are you? I do mind
+something of it. But, Die, I did not think that a girl like you would
+have been such a fool as to remember what a boy said to her.'
+
+I would have spoken to him again; but I remembered he was the husband
+of another woman--though she was a mulatto--an' I hurried away as fast
+as my fainting heart would permit. I had but one consolation, and that
+was, that, though he had married another, naebody could compare her face
+wi' mine.
+
+But it was lang before I got the better o' this sair slight--ay, I may
+say it was ten years and mair; and I had to try to pingle and find a
+living upon the interest o' my five hundred pounds, wi' ony other thing
+that I could turn my hand to in a genteel sort o' way.
+
+I was now getting on the wrang side o' eight and thirty; and that is an
+age when it isna prudent in a spinister to be throwing the pouty side o'
+her lip to any decent lad that hauds out his hand, and says--'Jenny,
+will ye tak me?' Often and often, baith by day and by night, did I think
+o' the good bargains I had lost, for the sake o' my fause James Laidlaw;
+and often, when I saw some o' them that had come praying to me, pass me
+on a Sunday, having their wives wi' their hands half round their waist
+on the horse behint them--'O James! fause James!' I have said, 'but for
+trusting to you, and it would hae been me that would this day been
+riding behint Mr. ----.'
+
+But I had still five hundred pounds, and sic fend as I could make, to
+help what they brought to me. And, about this time, there was one that
+had the character of being a very respectable sort o' a lad, one Walter
+Sanderson; he was a farmer, very near about my own age, and altogether a
+most prepossessing and intelligent young man. I first met wi' him at my
+youngest sister's goodman's kirn,[F] and I must say, a better or a more
+gracefu' dancer I never saw upon a floor. He had neither the jumping o'
+a mountebank, nor the sliding o' a play-actor, but there was an ease in
+his carriage which I never saw equalled. I was particularly struck wi'
+him, and especially his dancing; and it so happened that he was no less
+struck wi' me. I thought he looked even better than James Laidlaw used
+to do--but at times I had doubts about it. However, he had stopped all
+the night at my brother-in-law's as weel as mysel; and when I got up to
+gang hame the next day, he said he would bear me company. I thanked him,
+and said I was obliged to him, never thinking that he would attempt such
+a thing. But, just as the pony was brought out for me to ride on (and
+the callant was to come up to Dunse for it at night), Mr. Walter
+Sanderson mounted his horse, and says he--
+
+'Now, wi' your permission, Miss Darling, I will see you hame.'
+
+  [F] Harvest Home.
+
+It would hae been very rude o' me to hae said--'No, I thank you, sir,'
+and especially at my time o' life, wi' twa younger sisters married that
+had families; so I blushed, as it were, and giein my powny a twitch, he
+sprang on to his saddle, and came trotting along by my side. He was very
+agreeable company; and, when he said, 'I shall be most happy to pay you
+a visit, Miss Darling,' I didna think o' what I had said, until after
+that I had answered him, 'I shall be very happy to see ye, sir.' And
+when I thought o' it my very cheek bones burned wi' shame.
+
+But, howsoever, Mr. Sanderson was not long in calling again--and often
+he did call, and my sisters and their guid-men began to jeer me about
+him. Weel, he called and called, for I daresay as good as three quarters
+of a year; and he was sae backward and modest a' the time that I thought
+him a very remarkable man; indeed, I began to think him every way
+superior to James Laidlaw.
+
+But at last he made proposals--I consented--the wedding-day was set, and
+we had been cried in the kirk. It was the fair day, just two days before
+we were to be married, and he came into the house, and, after he had
+been seated a while, and cracked in his usual kind way--
+
+'Oh,' says he, 'what a bargain I hae missed the day! There are four lots
+o' cattle in the market, and I might hae cleared four hundred pounds,
+cent. per cent., by them.'
+
+'Losh me! Walter, then,' says I, 'why didna ye do it? How did ye let sic
+a bargain slip through your fingers?'
+
+'Woman,' said he, 'I dinna ken; but a man that is to be married within
+eight and forty hours is excusable. I came to the Fair without any
+thought o' either buying or selling--but just to see you, Diana--and I
+kenned there wasna meikle siller necessary for that.'
+
+'Losh, Walter, man,' said I, 'but that is a pity--and ye say ye could
+mak cent. per cent. by the beasts?'
+
+''Deed could I,' quoth he--'I am sure o' that.'
+
+'Then, Walter,' says I, 'what is mine the day is to be yours the morn, I
+may say; and it would be a pity to lose sic a bargain.'
+
+Therefore I put into his hands an order on a branch bank, that had been
+established in Dunse, for every farthing that I was worth in the world,
+and Walter kissed me, and went out to get the money frae the bank and
+buy the cattle.
+
+But he hadna been out an hour, when ane o' my brothers-in-law called,
+and I thought he looked unco dowie. So I began to tell him about the
+excellent bargain that Walter had made, and what I had done. But the man
+started frae his seat as if he were crazed, and, without asking me ony
+questions, he only cried--'Gracious! Diana! hae ye been sic an idiot?'
+and, rushing out o' the house, ran to the bank.
+
+He left me in a state that I canna describe; I neither kenned what to do
+nor what to think. But within half an hour he returned, and he cried out
+as he entered--'Diana, ye are ruined! He has taken in you and everybody
+else. The villain broke yesterday. He is off! Ye may bid fare weel to
+your siller!' 'Wha is off?' cried I, and I was in sic a state I was
+hardly able to speak. 'Walter Sanderson!' answered my brother-in-law.
+
+I believe I went into hysterics; for the first thing I mind o' after his
+saying so, was a dozen people standing round about me--some slapping at
+the palms o' my hands, and others laving water on my breast and temples,
+until they had me as wet as if they had douked me in Pollock's Well.
+
+I canna tell how I stood up against this clap o' misery. It was near
+getting the better o' me. For a time I really hated the very name and
+the sight o' man, and I said, as the song says, that
+
+    'Men are a' deceivers.'
+
+But this was not the worst o' it--I had lost my all, and I was now
+forced into the acquaintanceship of poverty and dependence. I first went
+to live under the roof o' my youngest sister, who had always been my
+favourite; but, before six months went round, I found that she began to
+treat me just as though I had been a servant, ordering me to do this
+and do the other; and sometimes my dinner was sent ben to me into the
+kitchen; and the servant lassies, seeing how their mistress treated me,
+considered that they should be justified in doing the same--and they did
+the same. Many a weary time have I lain down upon my bed and wished
+never to rise again, for my spirit was weary o' this world. But I put up
+wi' insult after insult, until flesh and blood could endure it no
+longer. Then did I go to my other sister, and she hardly opened her
+mouth to me as I entered her house. I saw that I might gang where I
+liked--I wasna welcome there. Before I had been a week under her roof, I
+found that the herd's dog led a lady's life to mine. I was forced to
+leave her too.
+
+And, as a sort o' last alternative, just to keep me in existence, I
+began a bit shop in a neighbouring town, and took in sewing and washing;
+and, after I had tried them awhile, and found that they would hardly
+do, I commenced a bit school, at the advice of the minister's wife, and
+learned bairns their letters and the catechism, and knitting and sewing.
+I also taught them (for they were a' girls) how to work their samplers,
+and to write, and to cast accounts. But what vexed and humbled me more
+than all I had suffered, was, that one night, just after I had let my
+scholars away, an auld hedger and ditcher body, almost sixty years o'
+age, came into the house, and 'How's a' wi' ye the nicht?' says he,
+though I had never spoken to the man before. But he took off his bonnet,
+and, pulling in a chair, drew a seat to the fire. I was thunderstruck!
+But I was yet mair astonished and ashamed, when the auld body, sleeking
+down his hair and his chin, had the assurance to make love to me!
+
+'There is the door, sir!' cried I. And when he didna seem willing to
+understand me, I gripped him by the shouthers, and showed him what I
+meant.
+
+Yet quite composedly he turned round to me and said, 'I dinna see what
+is the use o' the like o' this--it is true I am aulder than you, but you
+are at a time o' life now that ye canna expect ony young man to look at
+ye. Therefore, ye had better think twice before ye turn me to the door.
+Ye will find it just as easy a life being the wife o' a hedger as
+keeping a school--rather mair sae I apprehend, and mair profitable too.'
+I had nae patience wi' the man. I thought my sisters had insulted me;
+but this offer o' the hedger's wounded me mair than a' that they had
+done.
+
+'O James Laidlaw!' cried I, when I was left to mysel, 'what hae ye
+brought me to! My sisters dinna look after me. My parting wi' them has
+gien them an excuse to forget that I exist. My brother is far frae me,
+and he is ruled by a wife; and I hae been robbed by another o' the
+little that I had. I am like a withered tree in a wilderness, standing
+its lane--I will fa' and naebody will miss me. I am sick, and there are
+none to haud my head. My throat is parched and my lips dry, and there
+are none to bring me a cup o' water. There is nae _living thing_ that I
+can ca' mine. And some day I shall be found a stiffened corpse in my
+bed, with no one near me to close my eyes in death or perform the last
+office of humanity! For I am alone--I am by myself--I am forgotten in
+the world; and my latter years, if I have a long life, will be a burden
+to strangers.'"
+
+But Diana Darling did not so die. Her gentleness, her kindness, caused
+her to be beloved by many who knew not her history; and, when the last
+stern messenger came to call her hence, many watched with tears around
+her bed of death, and many more in sorrow followed her to the grave. So
+ran the few leaves in the diary of a spinster--and the reader will
+forgive our interpolations.
+
+
+
+
+GEORDIE WILLISON,
+AND THE HEIRESS OF CASTLE GOWER.
+
+
+Antiquaries know very well that one of the oldest of the Nova Scotia
+knights, belonging to Scotland, was Sir Marmaduke Maitland of Castle
+Gower, situated in one of the southern counties of the kingdom; but they
+may not know so well that Sir Marmaduke held his property under a strict
+entail to heirs male, whom failing, to heirs female, under the condition
+of bearing the arms and name of the Castle Gower family; or that he was
+married to Catherine Maxwell, a near relative of the family of Herries,
+in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright--a person of no very great beauty,
+but sprightly, and of good manners. This woman had been brought up in
+France, and was deeply tinged with French feelings. She had French cooks
+and French milliners about her in abundance; and a French lackey was
+considered by her as indispensable as meat and drink. Then she was
+represented as being a proud, imperious woman, with a bad temper; which
+was rendered worse by her continued fretting, in consequence of not
+having any children to her husband; whereby the property would go away
+to a son of her husband's brother. Sir Marmaduke and his lady had a
+town-house in Edinburgh, in which they lived for the greater part of the
+year, situated so as to look to the North Back of the Canongate, and
+with an entry to it from that street, but the principal gate was from
+the north side. A garden was attached to the house; and the stables
+and coach-houses were situated at the foot of the garden. All these
+premises are now removed; but Sir Marmaduke Maitland's house--or, as it
+was styled, the Duke's house--at the period of this story, was a very
+showy house, and very well known to the inhabitants of Edinburgh.
+
+Now, at the foot of Leith Wynd, there lived, about the same time, a
+poor widow woman, called Widow Willison, who had a son and a daughter.
+She was the widow of a William Willison, who earned a livelihood by
+the humble means of serving the inhabitants of Edinburgh with water,
+which he conveyed to their doors by the means of an ass; and was, in
+consequence, called Water Willie--a good, simple, honest creature; much
+liked by his customers, from whom he never wanted a good diet; and had
+no fault, but that of disliking the element in which he dealt. He liked
+he said very well to drive water to the great folks, and he wished them
+"meikle guid o't; but, for his ain pairt, he preferred whisky, which, he
+thocht, was o' a warmer and mair congenial nature, and better suited to
+the inside o' a rational animal, like man."
+
+Strange enough, it was to William Willison's dislike to water that
+people attributed his death. It would have been more logical--but
+scandal is a bad logician--to have debited that event to the water; for,
+though it will not conceal that Willie was drunk when he died, it was as
+notorious that it was not because he was drunk that he died--but that he
+died because his water-cart went over him when he was drunk. However
+that may be, and there is no use in wasting much reasoning on the point,
+William left, at his death, a widow and two children, with nothing to
+support them.
+
+Widow Willison was a good, religious woman, of the old school, believing
+in the transcendent influence of mere faith, as carrying along with it
+all the minor points of justification by works, election, and others,
+in the same way that a river takes with it the drops of rain that
+fall from the heavens, and carries all down to the ocean. She was an
+excellent example of the influence of a pure religion--kind and generous
+in her sentiments; and, though left with two children, and no food to
+satisfy their hunger, patient and hopeful--placing implicit trust and
+confidence in the Author of all good, and viewing murmuring as a sin
+against His providence.
+
+Let us introduce, now, George Willison, her son, an extraordinary
+individual, apparently destined to be more notorious than his father,
+in so much as his character was composed of that mixture of simplicity,
+bordering on silliness, and shrewd sagacity in the ordinary affairs of
+life, which is often observed in people of Scotland. Though common, the
+character is nearly inexplicable to the analyst; for the individual
+seems conscious of the weaker part of his character, but he appears to
+love it, and often makes it subservient to the stronger elements of his
+mind, by using it at once as a cloak and a foil to them. George, like
+the other individuals of his peculiar species, followed no trade.
+Sometimes he acted as a cadie, a letter-carrier, a messenger, a porter,
+a water-carrier--in any capacity, in short, in which he could, with no
+continuous labour, earn a little money. To work at any given thing for
+longer time than a day, was a task which he generally condemned, as
+being wearisome and monotonous, and more suited to the inferior animals
+than to man. His clothes, like his avocations, were many-coloured, and
+suited the silly half of his character, without altogether depriving him
+of the rights of a citizen, or making him the property and sport of
+school-boys. Like his employments, his earnings were chancy and various,
+ranging between a shilling to five shillings a-week, including
+gratuities, which his conceit prompted him to call "helps," with a view
+to avoid the imputation of living upon alms--a name, in the Scotch
+language "awmous," which did not sound agreeably in the ears of Geordie
+Willison.
+
+The very reverse of George was his sister--a black-eyed beauty, of great
+intelligence, who earned a little money, to support the family, by means
+of her needle. She was a great comfort to her mother, seldom going out,
+and felt much annoyed by the strange character of her brother, whom she
+often endeavoured to improve, with a view to his following some trade.
+He was twenty years of age, and if he did not "tak' himself up" now, she
+said, "he would be a vagrant a' his days." Geordie, on the other hand,
+quietly heard his sister, but he never saw--at least, he pretended not
+to see, which was the same thing--the force of her argument. The weak
+half of his constitution was always presented to any attack of logic;
+and the adroitness with which he met his opponent by this soft
+buckler--which, like a feather-bed presented to a canon bullet,
+swallowed the force and the noise at the same time--was worthy of
+Aristotle, or Thomas Scotus, or any other logical warrior. Take an
+example:--
+
+"Whar hae ye been the day, Geordie?" said his mother to him one day.
+
+"I hae been convoying Sir Marmaduke Maitland a wee bit on his way to
+France," said Geordie. "He asked me to bear him company and carry his
+luggage to Leith, and I couldna refuse sic a favour to the braw knight."
+
+"An' what got ye frae him?" said his mother; "for I hae naething i' the
+house for supper."
+
+"Twa or three placks," said Geordie, throwing down some coppers on the
+table.
+
+"This is the 21st day o' April--your birthday, Geordie," said the
+mother; "an' as it has aye been our practice to hae something by common
+on that occasion, I'll gang down to Widow Johnston's an' get a pint o'
+the best, to drink yer health wi'." And Widow Willison did as she said.
+
+"Is Lady Maitland no awa wi' Sir Marmaduke, Geordie?" resumed his
+mother, when they were taking their meagre supper.
+
+"Na! na!" said Geordie; "they dinna like ane anither sae weel; an' I
+dinna wonder at Sir Marmaduke no likin' her, for I dinna like her
+mysel."
+
+"For what reason, Geordie?" asked his mother.
+
+"Because she doesna like me," answered the casuist.
+
+Now it happened that on the 19th day of February, after the conversation
+here detailed, that George Willison was wandering over the grounds of
+Warriston, on the north side of Edinburgh. He had been with a letter to
+the Laird of Warriston, and, in coming back, as was not uncommon with
+him, was musing, in a half dreaming, listless kind of state, as he
+sauntered through the planted grounds in the neighbourhood. His
+attention was in an instant arrested by the sounds of voices, and he
+stood, or rather sat down, behind a hedge and listened. The speakers
+were very near to him; for it was so very dark that they could not
+observe him.
+
+"I will stand at a little distance, Louise," said a voice, "and thou
+canst do the thing thyself. I could despatch thine, but I cannot do that
+good work to myself; for the mother rises in me, and unnerves me quite.
+Besides, thou didst promise to do me this service for the ten gold
+pieces I gave thee, and the many more I will yet give thee."
+
+"_Oui! oui!_ my lady; but de infant is so _fort_, so trong, dat it will
+be difficult for me to trottle her. Death, _la mort_, does not come ever
+when required; but I vill do my endeavour to trangle de leetle jade, vit
+as much activity as I can. Ha! ha! de leetle baggage tinks she is
+already _perdir_--she tombles so--be quiet, you _petite_ leetle deevil.
+It vill be de best vay, I tink, to do it on de ground. Hark! is dere not
+some person near?--my heart goes _en palpitant_."
+
+"It is nobody, thou fool," answered the lady; "it is only a rustling
+produced by a breath of wind among the trees."
+
+"Very vell, very vell, my Lady Maitland; dat is right. Now for de vork."
+
+"Stop until I am at a little distance; and, when thou hearest me cry
+'Now,' finish the thing cleverly."
+
+The rustling of the lady's gown betokened that she had done as she said.
+The rustling ceased; and the word "Now," came from the mouth of the
+mother.
+
+All was silent for a minute; a quick breath, indicating the application
+of a strong effort, was now heard, mixed with the sound of a convulsed
+suspiration, something like that of a child labouring under
+hooping-cough, though weaker. The rustling of clothes indicated a
+struggle of some violence; and several ejaculations escaped at
+intervals:--"_Mon dieu!_ dis is de _triste_ vork; how trong de leetle
+she velp is!--now, now--not yet--how trange!--_diable!_ she still
+breats!"
+
+"Hast thou finished, Louise?" asked the lady, impatiently.
+
+"Not yet, my lady," said Louise; "give me your hair necklace; de leetle
+she velp vont die vitout tronger force dan my veak hands can apply."
+
+"I cannot go to thee," said the lady; "thou must come to me. Lay the
+babe on the ground, and come for the necklace."
+
+Louise did as she was desired.
+
+The sounds of a struggle again commenced, mixed with Louise's
+ejaculations:--"Now, now--dis vill do for you--_une fois_--vonce, twice,
+trice round--dat vill do--quite sufficient to kill de giant, or Sir
+Marmaduke himself. Now, my lady, I tink de ting is pretty vell done; I
+vill trow her into de hedge--dere--now, let us go."
+
+The two ladies went away, and Geordie rushed forward to the place where
+they had thrown the child. It was still convulsed. He loosened the
+necklace, which had been left by mistake, and blew strongly into the
+child's mouth. He heard it sigh, and in a little time breathe; and,
+carrying it with the greatest care, he took it home with him to his
+mother's house.
+
+"Whar hae ye been, man, and what is this ye hae in your airms?" said
+Widow Willison to Geordie, when he went in.
+
+"It's a wee bit birdie I fand in a nest amang the hedges o' Warriston,"
+said Geordie. "Its mither didna seem to care aboot it, and I hae brought
+it hame wi' me. Gie't a pickle crowdie, puir thing."
+
+Astonished, and partly displeased, Widow Willison took the child out of
+her son's arms, and seeing its face swoln and blue, and marks of
+strangulation on its neck, her maternal sympathies arose, and she
+applied all the articles of a mother's pharmacopoeia with a view to
+restore it.
+
+"But whar got ye the bairn, man?" she again inquired. "Gie us nane o'
+yer nonsense about birds and hedges. Tell us the story sae as plain folk
+can understand it."
+
+"I hae already tauld ye," said Geordie, dryly and slowly; "and it's no
+my intention at present to tell ye ony mair aboot it. Ye didna ask whar
+_I_ came frae when ye got me first."
+
+"An' wha's to bring up the bairn?" asked the mother, who knew it was in
+vain to put the same question twice to Geordie.
+
+"Ye didna ask that question at my faither when _I_ cam hame," replied
+the stoic, with one of his peculiar looks; "but, if ye had, maybe ye
+wadna hae got sae kind an answer as I'll gie ye: Geordie Willison will
+pay for bringing up the bairn; and I'll no answer ony mair o' yer
+questions."
+
+Strictly did Geordie keep his word with his mother. He would tell
+neither her nor his sister anything about the child. They knew his
+temper and disposition, and gradually resigned an importunity which had
+the effect of making him more obstinate. At night, when the child's
+clothes were taken off, with a view to putting it to bed, Geordie got
+hold of them and carried them off, unknown to his mother. He locked them
+up in his chest, and, in the morning, when his mother asked him if he
+had seen them, he said he knew nothing about them. Annoyed by this
+conduct on the part of her son, his mother threatened to throw the child
+upon the parish as a foundling; and yet, when she reflected on the
+extreme sagacity which was mixed up with her son's peculiarities, and
+read in his looks, which she well understood, a more than ordinary
+confidence of power to do what he had said, as to bringing up the child,
+she hesitated in her purpose, and at last resolved to go in with the
+humour and inclinations of her son, and do the duty of a mother to the
+babe.
+
+We now change the scene.
+
+"It's a braw day this, my Leddy Maitland," said Geordie, bowing to the
+very ground, and holding in his hand a clean sheet of paper, which he
+had folded up like a letter, as a passport to her ladyship's presence.
+
+Lady Maitland, who was sitting at her work-table, stared at the person
+thus saluting her, and seeing it was Geordie Willison, who had offended
+her at the time of his carrying down Sir Marmaduke's luggage, by asking,
+jocularly, if "ony o' the bairns were gaun wi' their father," she asked
+him sternly what he wanted, and, thinking he had the letter in his hand
+to deliver to her, snatched it in a petted manner and opened it. On
+finding it a clean sheet of paper, with her address on the back of it,
+she got into a great rage, and ran to the bell to call up a lackey to
+kick Geordie down stairs.
+
+"Canny, my braw leddy--canny," said Geordie, seizing her hand; "ye are
+hasty--maybe no quite recovered yet--the wet dews o' Warriston are no
+for the tender health o' the bonny Leddy Maitland; for even Geordie
+Willison, wha can ban a' bield i' the cauldest nicht o' winter, felt
+them chill and gruesome as he passed through them yestreen."
+
+On hearing this speech, Lady Maitland changed, in an instant, from a
+state of violent passion to the rigidity and appearance of a marble
+statue.
+
+Eyeing her with one of his peculiar looks, as much as to say, "I know
+all," Geordie proceeded.
+
+"I dinna want to put your leddyship to ony trouble by this veesit; but,
+being in want o' some siller in thir hard times, I thocht I would tak
+the liberty o' ca'in upon yer leddyship, as weel for the sake o' being
+better acquainted wi' a leddy o' yer station and presence, as for the
+sake o' gettin' the little I require on my first introduction to high
+life."
+
+"How much money dost thou require?" asked the lady, with a tremulous
+voice.
+
+"Twunty pund, my leddy, twenty pund at the present time," answered
+Geordie, with the same simple look; "ye ken the folk haud me for a
+natural, and ower fu' a cup is no easy carried, even by the wise. Sae, I
+wadna like to trust mysel' wi' mair than twenty pund at a time."
+
+Without saying a word, Lady Maitland went, with trembling steps, and a
+hurried and confused manner, to her bureau: she took out her keys--tried
+one, then another, and, with some difficulty, at last got it opened. She
+counted out twenty pounds, and handed it over to Geordie, who counted it
+again with all the precision of a modern banker.
+
+"Thank ye, my leddy," said Geordie; "an' whan I need mair, I'll just tak
+the liberty o' makin yer leddyship my banker. Guid day, my leddy." And,
+with a low bow, reaching nearly to the ground, he departed.
+
+The result of this interview satisfied Geordie that what he had
+suspected was true. Sir Marmaduke had not yet returned, and his lady,
+having been unfaithful to him, and given birth to a child, had resolved
+upon putting it out of the way, in the manner already detailed. He had
+no doubt that the lady thought the child was dead; and he did not wish,
+in the meantime, to disturb that notion; for, although he knew that the
+circumstance of the child being alive would give him greater power over
+her, in the event of her becoming refractory, he was apprehensive that
+she would not have allowed the child to remain in his keeping; and
+might, in all likelihood, resort to some desperate scheme to destroy it.
+
+On returning home, Geordie drew his seat to the fire, and sat silent.
+His mother, who was sitting opposite to him, asked him if he had earned
+any money that day, wherewith he could buy some clothes for the child he
+had undertaken to bring up. With becoming gravity, and without appearing
+to feel that any remarkable change had taken place upon his finances,
+Geordie slowly put his hand into his pocket, drew out the twenty pounds,
+and gave his mother one for interim expenditure. As he returned the
+money into his pocket, he said, with an air of the most supreme
+nonchalance, "If ye want ony mair, ye can let me ken."
+
+The mother and daughter looked at each other with surprise and
+astonishment, mixed with some pleasure, and, perhaps, some apprehension.
+Neither of them put any question as to where the money had been got; for
+Geordie's look had already informed them that any such question would
+not be answered.
+
+Meanwhile, no great change seemed to have been produced in Geordie
+Willison's manner of living, in consequence of his having become
+comparatively rich. He lounged about the streets, joking with his
+acquaintances--went his messages--sometimes appeared with a crowd of
+boys after him--dressed in the same style--and, altogether, was just the
+same kind of person he used to be.
+
+Time passed, and precisely on the same day next year he went to Lady
+Maitland's. In the passage, he was met by the housekeeper, Louise
+Grecourt, who asked him what he wanted. He looked at her intently, and
+recognised in this person's voice the same tones which had arrested his
+ears so forcibly on the night of the attempted murder of the child. To
+make himself more certain of this, Geordie led her into conversation.
+
+"I want my Leddy Maitland," answered Geordie--"are ye her leddyship?"
+
+"No," answered the housekeeper, with a kick of her head, which Geordie
+took as a sign that his bait had been swallowed; "I am not Lady
+Maitland--I am in de charge of her ladyship's house. Vat you vant vit
+her ladyship? Can Louise Grecourt not satisfy a fellow like you?"
+
+"No exactly at present," answered Geordie; "tell her leddyship that
+Geordie Willison wants to speak to her."
+
+Louise started when he mentioned his name, certifying Geordie that she
+was in the secret of his knowledge. Her manner changed. She became all
+condescension; and, leading him up stairs, opened a door, and showed him
+into a room where Lady Maitland was sitting.
+
+"I houp yer leddyship," began Geordie, with a low bow, "has been quite
+weel sin' I had the honour o' yer acquaintanceship, whilk is now a year,
+come twa o'clock o' this day. Ye micht maybe be thinking we were gaun to
+fa' out o' acquaintanceship; but I'm no ane o' yer conceited creatures
+wha despise auld freends, and rin after new anes, merely because they
+may think them brawer--sae ye may keep yer mind easy on that score; and
+I wad farther tak the liberty to assure yer leddyship that, if ye hae
+ony siller by ye at present, I winna hesitate to gie ye a proof o' the
+continuance o' my freendship, by offerin' to tak frae ye as meikle as I
+may need."
+
+"How much is that?" asked Lady Maitland.
+
+"Twunty pund, my leddy, twunty pund," answered Geordie.
+
+The money was handed to him by the lady, without saying a word; and,
+having again made a low bow, he departed.
+
+Next year, Geordie Willison went and paid a visit to Lady Maitland, got
+from her the same sum of money, and nothing passed to indicate what it
+was paid for. The lady clearly remained under the impression that the
+child was not in existence.
+
+It happened that, some time after the last payment, Geordie was on the
+pier of Leith, with a view to fall in with some chance message or
+carriage to Edinburgh. A vessel had newly arrived from the Continent,
+and one of the passengers was Sir Marmaduke Maitland. Geordie was
+employed to assist in getting his luggage removed to Edinburgh. On
+arriving at the house, Lady Maitland, with Louise behind her, was
+standing on the landing-place to receive her husband. They saw Geordie
+walking alongside of him, and talking to him in the familiar manner
+which his alleged silliness in many cases entitled him to do; but
+whatever they may have felt or expressed, by looks or otherwise, Geordie
+seemed not to be any way out of his ordinary manner, and they soon
+observed, from the conduct of Sir Marmaduke, that Geordie had said
+nothing to him. Geordie bustled about, assisting to take out the
+luggage, while Sir Marmaduke was standing in the lobby with his lady
+alongside of him.
+
+"Is there any news stirring in these parts, Geordie, worth telling to
+one who has been from his own country so long as I have been."
+
+"Naething worth mentioning, Sir Marmaduke," answered Geordie; "a'thing
+quiet, decent, and orderly i' the toun and i' the country--no excepting
+your ain house here, whar I hae missed mony a gude luck-penny sin' your
+honour departed."
+
+"Has Lady Maitland not been in the habit of employing you, then,
+Geordie?" asked Sir Marmaduke.
+
+"No exactly, Sir Marmaduke," answered Geordie; "the last time I ca'ed
+on her leddyship, she asked me what I wanted. I didna think it quite
+ceevil, and I haena gane back; but I canna deny that she paid me
+handsomely for the last thing I carried for her. She's a fine leddy, Sir
+Marmaduke, and meikle credit to ye."
+
+At any subsequent period, when Geordie's yearly pension was due, he
+generally contrived to call for Lady Maitland when Sir Marmaduke was out
+of the way. He took always the same amount of money. The only departure
+he made from this custom was in the year of his sister's marriage, when
+he asked and got a sum of forty pounds, twenty of which he gave to her.
+Her husband, George Dempster, had at one time been a butler in Lady
+Maitland's family; but her ladyship did not know either that he was
+acquainted with George Willison, or that he was now married to his
+sister. We may explain that George Dempster was in the family at
+the time when Geordie brought home the child; and, in some of his
+conversations with his wife, he did not hesitate to say that he
+suspected that Lady Maitland bore a child to a French lackey, who was
+then about the house; but the child never made its appearance, and
+strong grounds existed for believing that it was made away with. Geordie
+himself sometimes heard these stories; but he affected to be altogether
+indifferent to them, putting a silly question to Dempster, as if he had
+just awakened from sleep, and had forgot the thread of the discourse,
+and, when he got his answer, pretending to fall asleep again.
+
+In the meantime the young foundling, who had been christened Jessie
+Warriston, by Geordie's desire, grew up to womanhood. She became,
+in every respect, the picture of her mother--tall and noble in her
+appearance. Her hair was jet black, and her eye partook of the same
+colour, with a lustre that dazzled the beholder. Her manners were
+cheerful and kind; and she was grateful for the most ordinary attentions
+paid to her by Widow Willison, or her daughter--the latter of whom often
+took her out with her to the house of Ludovic Brodie, commonly called
+Birkiehaugh, a nephew of Sir Marmaduke Maitland, with whom George
+Dempster was serving as butler, in his temporary house, about a mile
+south from Edinburgh.
+
+This young laird had seen Jessie Warriston, and been struck with her
+noble appearance. He asked Dempster who she was, and was told that she
+was a young person who lived with one of his wife's friends. Brodie,
+whose character was that of a most unprincipled rake, often endeavoured
+to make up to Jessie, as she went backwards and forwards between his
+house and Widow Willison's. In all endeavours he had been unsuccessful;
+for Jessie--independently of being aware, from the admonitions of the
+pious Widow Willison, that an acquaintanceship with a person above her
+degree was improper and dangerous--had a lover of her own, a young man
+of the name of William Forbes, a clerk to Mr. Carstairs, an advocate,
+at that time in great practice at the Scotch bar. Forbes generally
+accompanied Jessie when she went out at night, after she told him that
+Brodie had insulted her; and she discontinued her visits to George
+Dempster.
+
+Foiled by the precautions which Jessie took to avoid him, Brodie only
+became more determined to get his object gratified. He meditated various
+schemes for this purpose. He turned off Dempster, who might have been a
+spy upon his conduct; and it was remarked, by the people living near
+to Widow Willison's, that a woman, rolled up in a cloak, had been seen
+watching about the door. Geordie, though apparently not listening to any
+of these transactions, was all alive to the interests of his foundling.
+He kept a constant eye upon the neighbourhood, and did not fail to
+observe, that a woman, of the description stated, came always, at a
+certain hour, near his mother's door, about the time that Jessie
+generally went out.
+
+Now, Geordie was determined to know, by some means, who this woman was;
+and, as the day was drawing in, he thought he might disguise himself in
+such a way as to get into conversation with her.
+
+Having equipped himself in the garb of a cadie, of more respectable
+appearance than he himself exhibited, and put a black patch over his
+eye, and a broad slouched hat over his head, Geordie took his station to
+watch the woman in the cloak.
+
+"Wha may ye be waitin' for?" said Geordie, in a feigned voice, to the
+woman, whom he at last found.
+
+"Are you von of de cadies?" asked the woman.
+
+"Yes," answered Geordie.
+
+"Do you live in de neighbourhood?" asked again the woman.
+
+"I wadna live in ony ither place war ye to pay me for't," answered
+Geordie.
+
+"Very good--dat is a very good answer," said the woman; "dere is a
+little money for you."
+
+"I dinna tak siller for tellin' folk whar I live," said Geordie; "but,
+if there's onything else I can, in my capacity o' cadie, do for ye,
+maybe I may then condescend to tak yer siller."
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_ vat a trange fellow!" ejaculated the woman. "Vell, can you
+tell me if a young woman, carrying the name of Jessie Varriston, lives
+up dat stair?" pointing with her hand.
+
+"I ken the lassie as weel as I ken mysel," answered Geordie; "she lives
+just whar ye hae said."
+
+"Very goot--very goot--dat is just vat I vant--_un sage homme_
+dis--excellent goot chap. Now, tell me if de girl lives vit an imbecile
+that is von idiot, called George Villison, and how long she has lived
+vit him, vere she comes from, and vat is her history."
+
+"Ye hae asked four questions a' in ae breath," said Geordie, who wanted
+a prologue, to give him time to consider how much he could say, so as to
+serve the two purposes of safety and drawing out the woman at the same
+time. "It's no quite fair, to an ignorant man like me, to put sae mony
+questions at a time; but it's my wish to serve ye, an' I'll do my best
+to answer them. Jessie Warriston lives wi' the idiot cratur Geordie
+Willison's mither, and she has lived wi' her for seventeen years, that
+is, since she was a bit bairn. I'm thinking she'll be a granddochter o'
+Widow Willison's--dinna ye think sae yersel'?"
+
+"De brute!" muttered the woman to herself--"de brute is begun, like all
+de rest of his countrymen, to put de interrogation ven he should give de
+respond. You do not know den de girl's history, do you not?"
+
+"No, but maybe I may be able to get it for ye," answered Geordie,
+unwilling to be dismissed _simpliciter_.
+
+"Very vell, anoter time--I vish you, in de meantime, to carry dis letter
+to Ludovic Brodie, Esq. of Birkiehaugh. Do you know vere he lives?"
+
+"I will carry it wi' the greatest o' pleasure, madam," answered Geordie.
+
+The woman handed him the letter, with some more money, and departed.
+
+Geordie got the letter speedily read to him by a person in his
+confidence. It was in these terms:--
+
+"Mon cher Ludovic,--Jessie Varriston lives vit de idiot, Geordie
+Villison, in Leit Vynd. De bearer of dis knows her very vell, and vill
+assist you in de abduction. My Lady Maitland and I both tink we know her
+too; bot we do not vish at present to let any von know dis, for certain
+reasons, vich we cannot explain to you. Ven you arrange vit de bearer to
+carry her off, let me know, and I vill do every ting in my power to
+assist you, as my lady has a grand vish for de abduction of de vench
+vithout procrastination. My lady does not know of my having given you
+intelligence of her being up to de affair.--Yours till death.
+
+"LOUISE GRECOURT."
+
+From this letter, Geordie saw plainly that Lady Maitland and Louise had,
+at last, got some information regarding Jessie, which had led them to
+suspect that she was the child they had supposed to be dead. It was
+clear, however, that Brodie knew nothing of their suspicions, and the
+two parties were, undoubtedly, after the same game, with different
+objects and for different reasons. Having folded the letter and sealed
+it, so as to avoid suspicion, Geordie went out and delivered it into the
+hands of Birkiehaugh.
+
+Brodie, having read the letter, examined Geordie from head to
+heel--"Canst thou be trusted, man, in an affair requiring secrecy and
+ability to execute it?" asked he.
+
+"Do you see ony thing aboot me to produce ony doubt o' my ability or my
+secrecy?" answered Geordie. "Nae man will coup wi' Peter Finlayson in
+ony expedition whar death, danger, or exposure are to be avoided, or
+whar ability to plan, an' quickness to execute, and cunnin' to conceal,
+are things o' consideration or importance."
+
+"Well, Peter, I believe thou art the man. I wish to carry off the girl,
+Jessie Warriston, to-morrow night--canst thou assist me in that
+enterprise?"
+
+"It's just in the like o' thae bits o' ploys that the genius o' Peter
+Finlayson lies," answered Geordie. "I ken the lassie maist intimately,
+and can bring her to ony appointed spot at ony hour ye please to name."
+
+"To-morrow night, then," said Brodie, "at eight o'clock, at the
+resting-stone at the top of the Leith Lone; knowest thou the place?"
+
+"I do," answered Geordie; "and shall attend; but ye ken, I suppose, the
+difference that lies atween the ordinary jobs o' us cadies, and the
+like o' thae michty emprises, whar life and limb, and honour and
+reputation, are concerned. In the first case, the pay comes after
+the wark--in the ither, the wark comes after the pay; an' it's richt
+natural, whan ye think o't; because I hae often seen the city guard kick
+the wark and the warkmen to the deevil in an instant, and the puir cadie
+gets only broken banes for his pains."
+
+"There, then," said Brodie, "there is half of thy fee; the other shall
+be given when thou bringest the girl."
+
+"Vera weel," said Geordie, counting the gold pieces; "and thank ye. I
+wunna fail in my duty, I warrant ye."
+
+Next night, at the time and place appointed, Geordie attended with his
+charge. He found Brodie in waiting with a carriage, in which was seated
+Louise. Jessie was told to enter, and complied. Brodie jumped in, and
+Geordie held out his hand for the other half of the fee, which he
+received. He now slipped a piece of twine round the handle of the
+carriage, so as to prevent it from being opened; and, in a moment
+vaulted up beside the coachman, whose hat, as if by mere accident, he
+knocked off.
+
+"Gie me up my bannet, ye whelp," said the coachman, angrily.
+
+"Cadies are no cadies to coachmen," answered Geordie, dryly; "your
+brains maun be far spent, man, when they canna keep a house ower their
+head."
+
+The coachman jumped down for his hat, and Geordie, applying the whip to
+the horses, was off in an instant. The coachman cried, "Stop the coach!"
+Brodie, thinking it was a chase, cried to drive like the devil. Geordie
+obeyed to the letter, and dashed on like lightning.
+
+The coach stopped, and was instantly surrounded by a number of people,
+who opened the door, and pulling the three inmates out, led them into
+a large building, the door of which was double-bolted, and made a
+tremendous noise as it revolved on its hinges. The party were taken up
+stairs, and introduced (Geordie leading the way with his hat in his
+hand) into a large room, where several people were present, apparently
+waiting for them.
+
+"I beg leave to introduce," said Geordie, bowing low, "to yer lordship,
+the sheriff--wha has dune us the honour to receive us at this time in
+sae safe a place as the jail, whar we are perfectly free frae a'
+interruption--his honour, Ludovic Brodie, Esq. o' Birkiehaugh, and her
+highness, Louise Grecourt, a French leddy o' repute. They are anxious to
+receive yer opinion on a point o' law, in whilk they are personally
+concerned, a favour, I doutna, yer honour will condescend to grant."
+
+The sheriff immediately set about taking a precognition, for which he
+had been, by Geordie, previously prepared. Brodie was committed on a
+charge of abduction; but Louise, on the intercession of Geordie and his
+ward, was allowed to get off. Some time afterwards, Brodie was tried,
+and sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
+
+Geordie had now occasion to call upon Lady Maitland for his yearly
+allowance. Louise having been liberated without trial, it had not yet
+reached the ears of her or Lady Maitland that Peter Finlayson was, in
+fact, Geordie Willison. Brodie had made no communication of that fact
+as yet, and neither Louise nor Lady Maitland could have any idea that
+Geordie knew of the hand they had in the attempted abduction, or of
+their knowledge or suspicion that Jessie Warriston was the intended
+victim of their cruelty.
+
+"My leddy," began Geordie, with his accustomed bow, but with more than
+his usual significancy of look, "this is the first time for these
+seventeen years that I hae been awantin' in my attention and duty as yer
+leddyship's freend; for I am ae day ahint the usual time o' my veesit to
+yer leddyship, for whilk mark o' disrespect I beg leave to solicit yer
+leddyship's pardon, upon the condition that I offer, that I shall
+promise, as I here most solemnly do, that I shall not be again wantin'
+in my duty to yer leddyship. Can I say I hae yer leddyship's pardon?"
+
+Crucified by Geordie's cruel humour, but compelled to be silent, Lady
+Maitland signified her favour.
+
+"Yer leddyship's condescension is a great relief to me," resumed
+Geordie. "They say Sir Marmaduke's nevey, Brodie o' Birkiehaugh, is in
+jail for attempting to rin awa' wi' a young lassie. What he was to do
+wi' her, God only kens, but there can be nae doubt that he would get
+sma' favour and grace frae yer leddyship to ony attempt on the puir
+cratur's life. Na, na--a nobility sae michtie as yer leddyship's, an' a
+saftness o' heart whilk far excels that o' the bleatin' ewe for the puir
+lambie that lies deein' by its side, couldna patroneeze onything like
+the takin' awa o' God's breath frae the nostrils o' innocence."
+
+Geordie, whose cruelty was refined, paused, and fixed his eyes on the
+lady, who appeared to be in agony. She rose quickly, and went, as usual,
+to her bureau to give him money.
+
+"Stop," said Geordie; "I haena asked ye for't yet. I dinna like awmous.
+It's only when I want to favour yer leddyship that I tak siller fra ye,
+and naething I hae yet said could warrant yer leddyship in supposing
+that I was to confer sic a favour on ye, at least at the particular time
+when ye rose to open yer kist; and I dinna need to say, that favours
+quickly conferred are sune repented o'. Weel, the bit lassie wham
+Birkiehaugh was after, is a young creature, ca'ed Jessie Warriston, wha
+lives wi' my mither. Few folk on earth ken meikle about her; but my
+mither swears that her mither maun hae been hanged, for she has a ring
+round her bonny white craig, like that on the neck o' the turtle doo. I
+laugh, an' say to the bonny bairn, that it will stan' in place o' a
+coral or cornelian necklace to her.--Ha! ha! I see your leddyship's
+inclined to laugh too--eh?"
+
+And Geordie again eyed the lady, who was as far from laughing as the
+criminal at the stake.
+
+"Weel," resumed the crucifier, "Birkiehaugh didna succeed--thanks to
+Peter Finlayson, honest fallow--and the lassie is safe again; but I hae
+made a vow, and I hope sae gude a ane will be regularly recorded whar it
+should be, that the first person wha tries to lay sae meikle as a finger
+on that bonny bairn's head, or blaw a single breath o' suspicion against
+her reputation, will meet wi' the just indignation o' Geordie Willison.
+An' noo, my leddy, I will favour ye by accepting, at yer hands, twenty
+pund."
+
+Geordie received, and counted the money, as usual, and, with a bow,
+retired.
+
+The six months of Birkiehaugh's confinement expired, and, about the same
+time, Sir Marmaduke Maitland died. Having had no children by his wife,
+the title and fine property of Castle Gower fell to Brodie, who was his
+brother's son--Brodie being the name of the family who had succeeded to
+the title. No time was lost by Brodie's man of business to take out a
+brief from Chancery, for getting him served heir male of taillie to the
+estate and honours. The brief was published, and no doubt anywhere
+prevailed of the verdict which would be pronounced under it.
+
+About this time it was observed that Geordie Willison had long
+interviews with Advocate Carstairs; but neither his mother, nor his
+sister, nor, indeed, any person, could get him to say a word on the
+subject. His manner, in regard to the story of Jessie, had been all
+along quite uniform, and many years had passed since his mother had
+given up in despair all attempts to get him to divulge it. He was, at
+present, apparently very absent, as if something of great importance
+occupied his mind.
+
+One day, on leaving the advocate, he went direct for the house of Lady
+Maitland. He was admitted as usual. He said he wished to see her
+ladyship and Louise together.
+
+"I hae heard," began Geordie, "that my worthy freend, Sir Marmaduke,
+is dead. He was a gude man, and may the Lord deal mercifully wi' him!
+Ludovic Brodie, they say, is the heir, an' I dinna say he has nae richt
+to that title--though, maybe, it may cost some wigs a pickle flour to
+mak that oot. Noo, ye see, my Leddy Maitland, I hae dune ye some
+favours, and I'm just to take the liberty to ask ane in return. You an'
+yer freend, Louise, maun admit, in open court, that yer leddyship bore,
+upon the 19th day of February o' the year 16--, a dochter, and that that
+dochter is Jessie Warriston."
+
+Geordie waited for an answer, fixing his eyes on Lady Maitland.
+
+Louise immediately began to make indications of a spirit of opposition;
+and Lady Maitland herself, gathering up any traces of dignity, which the
+presence of Geordie generally dispersed, replied--
+
+"Thou hast no proof, sir, of the extraordinary charge, thou hast now,
+for the first time, brought against me; and I cannot convict myself of a
+crime."
+
+Louise blustered and supported her lady.
+
+"Vat, in the name of God, is de meaning of dis fellow's demand?
+_Parbleu!_ He is mad--_de fou_--bad--vicked--mechant. Vere I your
+ladyship, I would trust him out, and give him de grand kick, and tomble
+him down de marche de stairs. Vy, sir, could you have de grand impudence
+to tell my lady she be de bad woman."
+
+Geordie heard all this with calmness and silence.
+
+"It's o' sma importance to me," he resumed, "whether yer leddyship
+comply wi' my request or no; for, indeed, though politeness made me ca'
+it a favour conferred upon me, the favour is a' the ither way. Let yer
+leddyship be silent, an' I'll prove that yer leddyship bore the bairn;
+but ye maun ken that Geordie Willison has nae power ower the law--when
+the seals are broken, the judgment will come; and I canna prove the
+birth o' the bairn without, at the same time, and by the same prufe,
+proving that ye attempted to strangle it, and left it for dead in the
+hedges o' Warriston. Here is yer leddyship's necklace, whilk I took fra
+the craig o' the struggling cratur, and here are the claes it had on,
+marked wi' draps o' blude that cam frae its little mouth. I show thae
+things no as proofs on whilk I mean a'thegither to rest, but only to
+testify to ye what ye sae weel ken, that what I say is true. Speak, noo,
+my leddies--your lives are i' the hands o' the idiot cratur Geordie
+Willison. If ye gang to the court, ye are saved--if ye winna, ye are
+lost. Will ye gang, or will ye hang?"
+
+The women were both terrified by the statement of Geordie. Reluctant to
+make any such admission, they struggled with the various emotions of
+indignation, pride, and fear, which took, by turns, possession of their
+bosoms. Lady Maitland fainted, and Louise was totally unable to render
+her assistance; for she lay in a hysterical state of excitement on the
+floor. Geordie locked the door, and kept his eyes fixed on the females.
+He yielded them no aid; but stood like a destroying angel, witnessing
+the effects of his desolation. Lady Maitland at last opened her eyes,
+and having collected her senses, resolved to comply with Geordie's
+request. She said to him, that, provided nothing was asked beyond the
+questions, whether she bore the child on the day mentioned, and whether
+Jessie Maitland, whom she had secretly seen, was that child--she would
+answer them in the affirmative. This satisfied Geordie, and he departed.
+
+On the day of the service of Ludovic Brodie, a brief was taken out in
+name of Jessie Warriston or Maitland, as heir female of taillie to the
+estate and title of Maitland of Castle Gower. Brodie and his agents had
+no notice of the brief until they came into court.
+
+The briefs being read, Brodie's propinquity was proved, and no person
+had any idea that the existence of a nearer heir could be established.
+But the door of the court opened, and Lady Maitland and Louise Grecourt
+stood before the inquest. They swore to the birth of the child on the
+day mentioned, and that Jessie Maitland, who was presented to them in
+court by Geordie Willison himself, was that child.
+
+An objection was taken by Brodie's agents, that the child was
+illegitimate, because it was born ten months, minus two days, after Sir
+Marmaduke went to the continent; but the judge overruled the objection,
+stating that it was the law of Scotland, that every child born within
+ten months of the husband's departure, is a legal child.
+
+Jessie Warriston was, therefore, served heir, according to the terms of
+her brief. She went in her own carriage, in which sat Geordie Willison,
+to take possession of her estates and titles. She was now Lady Jessie
+Maitland of Castle Gower, and was soon afterwards united to William
+Forbes, her old lover.
+
+
+
+
+THE SNOW STORM OF 1825.
+
+
+Our readers will recollect the dreadful snow storm that occurred in the
+year 1825. Indeed, it is impossible that any one, who was above the
+years of childhood at the time, can have forgot it, or can ever forget
+it. It was the most tremendous with which this country has been visited
+for a century. For nearly six weeks, and in some places for a much
+longer period, every road, excepting those in the immediate vicinity of
+large towns, was blocked up, and rendered impassable, by either horse
+or foot; and one consequence was, that scores of travellers, of all
+descriptions, were suddenly arrested in their several places of
+temporary sojournment on the road, and held in durance during the whole
+period of the storm, without the possibility of communicating with their
+friends, or, in the case of mercantile travellers, with their employers.
+
+It was a weary time, on the whole, to those who were thus laid under
+embargo; but not without its pleasures either; for each house thus
+situated, having perhaps a dozen strangers in it, from and going to
+all parts of the kingdom, became a distinct and independent little
+community, from which its local exclusion from the busy world had shut
+out, also, for the time at any rate, much of its cares and troubles--a
+philosophic spirit soon prevailing, after the first day or two's
+confinement, to make the most of what could not be helped.
+
+The writer of this sheet happened to be one of nine who were shut up in
+the way alluded to, in an inn in the south of Scotland; and although, as
+already said, it was rather a weary thing on the whole, yet was it not
+without its enjoyments. Our _ennui_ was often delightfully relieved by
+the diversity of character as developed in our little community; for we
+had, if we may so speak, the salt, the pepper, and the vinegar of human
+dispositions, sprinkled throughout the party, which not only took from
+the cold insipidity of our confinement, but gave to it a rich and
+pleasant relish. Our host's cellar and larder happened to be well
+stored, while the house was, in all other respects, an excellent one;
+so, what with the produce of the former, and the roaring fires kept up
+by Jamie, the waiter, we had really nothing to complain of on the score
+of creature comforts--and it is amazing how far the possession of these
+will go to reconcile men to otherwise very unpleasant situations. In
+this case, they were enhanced by the dreary prospect from without--the
+howling storm, the drifting snow, and the wide, dismal, monotonous waste
+of dazzling white that lay all around us.
+
+The consciousness of the comforts we enjoyed, in short, put us all in
+good humour with one another; while a fellowship in misfortune, and a
+community of feeling, as well as of persons, introduced a degree of
+friendliness and intimacy, to which few other circumstances, perhaps,
+would have given rise. We had our small round of standard jokes,
+peculiar to our situation, which few else could have understood, and
+fewer still have appreciated, though they did understand them. We had,
+too, a small round of harmless tricks, which we regularly played off
+every day on some one or other of the corps. But, notwithstanding all
+this--the larder, the cellar, the fire, the jokes, and the tricks--time
+did occasionally hang rather heavily upon our hands, especially in the
+evenings. To lessen this weight, we latterly fell upon the contrivance
+of telling stories, one or two of us each night, by turns. The idea is a
+borrowed one, as the reader will at once perceive, but we humbly think
+not a pin the worse on that account. There was no limitation, of course,
+as to the subject. Each was allowed to tell what story he liked; but it
+was the general understanding that these stories should be personal,
+if possible--that is, that each should relate the most remarkable
+circumstances in his own life. Those who had nothing of the kind to
+communicate, were, of course, allowed to get off with anything else they
+chose to substitute. The first to whose lot it fell to entertain us in
+this way, was a fat, good-humoured, good-natured, little, hunch-backed
+gentleman, with a short leg, and a bright yellow waistcoat. He was a
+mercantile traveller, and, if I recollect right, a native of Newcastle.
+
+When the little man was asked to open his budget, "Why, gentlemen," said
+he, "I do not see that I can do better than comply with the understood
+wish of the company, by giving you a sketch of my own life, which you
+will find to present, I think, as curious a race, or struggle, or
+whatever else you may choose to call it, between luck and misfortune,
+as perhaps you have heard of:--
+
+You must know, then, my friends (went on the little gentleman in the
+bright yellow waistcoat), that the indications of my future good fortune
+began to exhibit themselves as early as they well could. I was born with
+a caul upon my head, gentlemen, which all of you know is an indubitable
+token that the little personage to whom it belongs will be singularly
+fortunate in life. Well, gentleman, I was favoured, as I have already
+said, with one of those desirable headpieces; and great was the joy the
+circumstance gave rise to amongst the female friends and gossips who
+were assembled on the occasion. The midwife said that everything I
+should put my hand to would prosper, and that I would be, to a
+certainty, at the very least, a general, a bishop, or a judge; the nurse
+to whom I was subsequently consigned, on the same ground, dubbed me a
+duke, and would never call me by any other title; whilst my poor mother
+saw me, in perspective, sitting amongst the great ones of the earth,
+surrounded with power, wealth, and glory. Such were the bright visions
+of my future prosperity, to which my caul gave rise; and probably they
+might have been realized, had it not been for an unlucky counteracting
+or thwarting power that always stepped in, seemingly for no other
+purpose but to disappoint my own hopes and those of my friends;
+sometimes baulking my expectations altogether, when on the point of
+fruition--sometimes converting that to evil in me which would assuredly
+have produced good to any other person. But to proceed with my history.
+I grew up a fine, stout, well-made child. Ay, you may laugh, gentlemen
+(said the little man, good-humouredly, seeing a titter go round at this
+personal allusion, which so ill accorded with his present deformed
+appearance), but it was the case, I assure you, until I met with the
+accidents that altered my shape to what you now see it. Well, I repeat,
+that I grew a fine promising child, and, to the inexpressible amazement
+and delight of my parents, showed symptoms of taking unusually early to
+my legs.
+
+Nor were these symptoms unfaithful. I took to my pins, on my own
+account, before I was ten months old; but, unfortunately, my first walk
+was into a draw-well, where I would infallibly have been drowned, if it
+had not been for a large Newfoundland dog which my father kept, and
+which was close by me at the time of the accident. The faithful creature
+leapt in after me, and kept me afloat, until my father came and
+extricated me. After this, I was never trusted a moment out of sight;
+and thus, instead of this precocious developement of my physical powers
+proving a blessing to me, it proved a curse; for it deprived me of all
+liberty. As I grew up, however, this restraint became less rigorous, and
+I was permitted to ramble in the garden; and one of my first feats,
+after obtaining this freedom, was, to climb a high wall, to come at an
+uncommonly fine apple that had long tempted me with its rosy cheeks, and
+I had just succeeded in getting near enough to the prize to grasp it,
+when, in making this effort, down I came; and this leg, gentlemen (said
+the little man, holding out his deformed limb), was the consequence. I
+fell and broke my leg, just as I was about to grasp the apple. Fatal
+type of all my subsequent misfortunes!
+
+I have now, gentlemen (went on the little man), to account for the other
+deformity that disfigures me, viz.,--my hump-back. This befell me in the
+following manner. Playing one day with a number of boys, of about my own
+age, which was then six or seven, a big fellow, of double the size
+of any of us, came in amongst us, and began to plunder us of our
+playthings; and he was in the very act of robbing me of a hoop, when
+another lad, still stronger and bigger, who saw the attempted robbery,
+generously ran to my assistance, and aimed a tremendous blow with a
+stick at my assailant. The blow, however, missed him at whom it was
+aimed, and took me exactly on the small of the back, which it broke in
+two as if it had been a pipe shank; and the consequence was, as you see,
+gentlemen (said the little man in the bright yellow waistcoat, edging
+round, at the same time, to indicate his hump).
+
+Well, then, gentlemen (he went on), up to my ninth year, this was
+all the good fortune that my caul brought me--that is, being first
+half-drowned, then breaking my leg, and lastly my back. To compensate,
+however, in some measure, for these mischances, I turned out an
+excellent scholar; and, especially, became a very expert Latinist--a
+circumstance which my father, who had a great veneration for the
+language, thought sufficient alone to make my fortune; and it certainly
+procured me--that is, very nearly procured me--in the meantime, some of
+the chief honours of the school. I say very nearly--for I did not
+actually obtain them; but it was only by the merest accident in the
+world that I did not. The misapprehension of a single word deprived me
+of a prize which was about to be awarded to me, and gave it to one of my
+competitors. This was reckoned a very hard case; but there was no help
+for it.
+
+Still there was luck in the caul, gentlemen (continued the little man in
+the bright yellow waistcoat), as you shall hear. Going home from school
+one day, a distance of about a mile and a half, I found a very handsome
+gold watch, with valuable appendages, lying upon the road. I was at
+first afraid to lift the glittering treasure, hardly believing it
+possible that so rich and splendid a thing could be without an owner;
+but, gradually picking up courage, I seized on the watch, hurried it
+into my pocket, and ran onwards like a madman. I had not run far,
+however, when a man, respectably dressed, but who seemed the worse of
+liquor, or rather like one just recovering from a debauch, met me, and,
+seizing me by the breast, fiercely asked me if I had seen anything of a
+gold watch. I instantly confessed that I had found such a thing; and,
+trembling with apprehension, for the fellow continued to look furiously
+at me, produced the watch.
+
+"Very well," said he, taking it from me. "Now, you little villain you,
+confess. You did not find the watch, but stole it from me whilst I slept
+on the roadside."
+
+I protested that it was not so--that I had found it as I had said. To
+this protest the fellow replied by striking me a violent blow on the
+side of the head, which stretched me on the road; where, after
+administering two or three parting kicks, to teach me honesty, as he
+said, he left me in a state of insensibility. I was shortly afterwards
+picked up and carried home; but so severe had been the drubbing I got,
+that I was obliged to keep my bed for three weeks after. And this was
+all I gained by finding a gold watch. Had any other person found it,
+they would have been allowed to keep it, or, at the worst, have got a
+handsome reward for giving it up; but such things were to be not in any
+case in which I should be concerned.
+
+Still I say, gentlemen (continued the little man in the bright yellow
+waistcoat), there _was_ luck in the caul; for, soon after, a distant
+relation of my mother's, who had been long in the West Indies, and had
+there realized a large fortune, having come to England on some business,
+paid us a visit, and was so well pleased with the attention shown him,
+and with the society he got introduced to, that he spent the whole
+subsequent period of his temporary residence in this country with us.
+During this time, he became remarkably fond of me--so fond that he could
+never be without me. I was obliged to accompany him in all his walks,
+and even to sleep with him. In short, he became so attached to me, that
+it was evident to every one that some good would come out of it; for he
+was immensely rich, and had no family of his own, never having been
+married. Indeed, that I would be the better for the old boy's love was
+not matter of conjecture, for he frequently hinted it very broadly. He
+would often take me on his knee, and, while fondling me, would say, in
+presence of my father and mother--"Well, my little fellow, who knows but
+you may ride in your carriage yet? As odd things have happened." Then,
+"Would you like to be a rich man, Bobby?" he would inquire, looking
+archly at me. "If you continue as good a boy as you are just now, I'll
+undertake to promise that you will." In short, before leaving us, our
+wealthy friend, whose name was Jeremiah Hairsplitter, held out certain
+hopes to my parents of my being handsomely provided for in his will.
+This so affected us all, that we wept bitterly when the good old man
+left us to return to the West Indies; where, however, he told us, he now
+intended remaining only a short time, having made up his mind to come
+home and spend the remainder of his days with us.
+
+Well, gentlemen (said the little hump-backed man in the bright yellow
+waistcoat), here was a very agreeable prospect, you'll all allow; and
+it was one in which there appeared so much certainty, that it cost my
+father--who had been led to believe he should get a handsome slice
+too--many serious thoughts as to how we should dispose of the money--how
+lay it out to the best advantage. My father, who was a very pious man,
+determined, for one thing, to build a church; and, as to me and my
+fortune, he thought the best thing I could do, seeing, from my
+deformities, that I was not very well adapted for undergoing the
+fatigues of a professional life, was, when I should become a little
+older, to turn country gentleman; and with this idea he was himself
+so well pleased, that he began, thinking it best to take time by the
+forelock, to look around for a suitable seat for me when I should come
+of age and be ready to act on my own account; and he fortunately
+succeeded in finding one that seemed a very eligible investment. It was
+a very handsome country house, about the distance of three miles from
+where we lived, and to which there was attached an estate of 1000 acres
+of land, all in a high state of cultivation. The upset price of the
+whole--for the property was at that moment on sale--was L20,000; a dead
+bargain, as the lawyer who had the management of the property assured
+us. It was worth at least double the money, he said; and in this Mr.
+Longshanks, the land-measurer, whom my father also consulted on the
+subject, perfectly agreed; but was good enough to give my father a quiet
+hint to hold off a bit, and, as the proprietor was in great distress for
+money, he might probably get the estate for L18,000, or something, at
+any rate, considerably below the price named. Grateful for this hint, my
+father invited Mr. Longshanks to dine with him, and gave him a bottle
+of his best wine. Now, gentlemen, please to observe (said the little
+hunch-backed gentleman in the bright yellow waistcoat) that while we
+were thus treating about an estate worth L20,000, we had not a sixpence
+wherewith to buy it; so that Mr. Longshanks' hint about holding off was
+rather a superfluous one. But then our prospects were good--nay,
+certain; there was, therefore, no harm--nay, it was proper and prudent
+to anticipate matters a little in the way we did; so that we might at
+once have the advantage of sufficient time to do things deliberately,
+and be prepared to make a good use of our fortune the moment we got
+possession of it.
+
+That our prospects were excellent, I think you will all allow,
+gentlemen, when you take into account what I have already told regarding
+our worthy relative; but that they really were so, you will still more
+readily admit, when I tell you that we received many letters from Mr.
+Hairsplitter, after his arrival in Jamaica (for he now opened a regular
+correspondence with us), in all of which he continued not only to keep
+our hopes alive, as to the destination of his wealth, but to increase
+them; so that I--for the bulk of his fortune, there was no doubt, was
+intended for me--was already looked upon as a singularly lucky young
+dog; and of this opinion, in the most unqualified sense, and in a most
+especial manner, was my mother, my nurse, and the lady who ushered me
+into the world--all of whom exultingly referred to my caul, and to their
+own oft-expressed sentiments regarding the luck that was to befall me.
+
+But, to return to my story. After a lapse of about two or three years,
+during which, as I have said, we received many letters from our worthy
+relative, one came, in which he informed us that it was the last we
+should have from him from Jamaica, as he had wound up all his affairs,
+and was about to leave the island, to return home and spend the
+remainder of his days with us, or in our immediate neighbourhood.
+
+Well, gentlemen, you see matters were gradually approaching to a very
+delightful crisis; and we, as you may believe, saw it with no small
+satisfaction. We indulged in the most delicious dreams; indeed, our
+whole life was now one continued reverie of the most soothing and balmy
+kind. From this dreamy state, however, we were very soon awakened by the
+following paragraph in a newspaper, which my father accidentally
+stumbled on, one morning as we were at breakfast. It was headed
+"Dreadful Shipwreck," and went on thus:--"It is with feelings of the
+most sincere regret we inform our readers, that the Isabella, from
+Jamaica to London, has foundered at sea, and every one on board
+perished, together with the whole of a most valuable cargo. Amongst the
+unfortunate passengers in this ill-fated vessel was a Mr. Jeremiah
+Hairsplitter, a well-known Jamaica planter, who was on his return, for
+good and all, to his native land. The whole of this gentleman's wealth,
+which was enormous, will now go, it is said (he having died intestate),
+to a poor man in this neighbourhood [Liverpool], who is nearest of kin."
+
+Well, gentlemen (continued the little hump-backed man in the bright
+yellow waistcoat), here was a pretty finish to all our bright
+anticipations! For some time, indeed, we entertained hopes that the
+reports, especially the last, might be false; but, alas! they turned out
+too true. True, true were they, to the letter. My father, unwilling to
+believe that all was lost, called upon a lawyer in the town where we
+resided, who had a good deal to do with our late relative's affairs;
+and, after mentioning to him the footing we were on with the deceased,
+and the expectations he had led us to indulge in, inquired if _nothing_
+would arise to us from Mr. Hairsplitter's effects.
+
+"Not a rap!" was the laconic and dignified reply--"not a cross, not
+a cowrie! You haven't a shadow of claim to anything. All that Mr.
+Hairsplitter may have said goes for nothing, as it is not down in black
+and white, in legal phrase."
+
+So, my friends (said the narrator, with a sigh) here was an end to this
+fortune and to my luck, at that bout, at any rate. Still, gentlemen
+(went on the little hump-backed man in the bright yellow waistcoat), I
+maintain there was luck in the caul.
+
+I was now, you must know, my friends, getting up in years--that is to
+say, I was now somewhere about one-and-twenty. Well, my father, thinking
+it full time that I should be put in a way of doing something for
+myself, applied, in my behalf, to a certain nobleman who resided in our
+neighbourhood, and who was under obligations to my father for some
+election services. When my father called on the peer alluded to, and
+informed him of his object--"Why, sir," said his lordship, "this is
+rather a fortunate circumstance for both of us. I am just now in want of
+precisely such a young man as you describe your son to be, to act as my
+secretary and amanuensis, and will therefore be very glad to employ
+him." His lordship then mentioned his terms. They were liberal, and, of
+course, instantly accepted. This settled, my father was desired to send
+me to Cram Hall, his lordship's residence, next day, to enter on my new
+duties.
+
+Here, then, you see, was luck at last, gentlemen (said the little
+hump-backed gentleman in the bright yellow waistcoat); for the nobleman
+was powerful, and there was no saying what he might do for me. Next day,
+accordingly, I repaired to Cram Hall with a beating, but exulting heart;
+for I was at once proud of my employment, and terrified for my employer,
+who was, I knew, a dignified, pompous, vain, conceited personage.
+
+"Show off your Latin to him, Dick, my boy," said my father, before I set
+out: "it will give him a good opinion of your talents and erudition." I
+promised that I would.
+
+Well, on being introduced to his lordship, he received me with the most
+affable condescension; but there was something about his affability, I
+thought, which made it look extremely like as if it had been assumed for
+the purpose of showing how a great man could descend.
+
+"Glad to see you, young man," he said. "I hope you and I shall get on
+well together. But there was just one single question regarding you,
+which I quite forgot to put to your father. Do you understand Latin
+thoroughly?--that is, can you translate it readily?"
+
+Feeling my own strength on this point, and delighted that he had
+afforded me so early an opportunity of declaring it, I replied, with a
+degree of exultation which I had some difficulty in repressing--"I
+flatter myself, my lord, that you will not find me deficient in that
+particular. I understand Latin very well, and will readily undertake to
+translate anything in that language which may be presented to me."
+
+"In that case," replied his lordship, gravely, "I am sorry to say, young
+man, you will not suit me."
+
+"How, my lord!" said I, with a look of mingled amazement and
+disappointment--"because I understand Latin? I should have thought that
+a recommendation to your lordship's service."
+
+"Quite otherwise, sir," replied his lordship, coolly. "It may appear to
+you, indeed, sir, rather an odd ground of disqualification. But the
+thing is easily explained. I have often occasion, sir," he went on, with
+increasing dignity, "to write on matters of importance to my friends in
+the cabinet; and, when I have anything of a very particular nature to
+say, I always write my sentiments in Latin. It would therefore, sir, be
+imprudent of me to employ any one in transcribing such letters, who is
+conversant with the language alluded to; or, indeed, otherwise exposing
+them to the eye of such a person. You will, therefore, young man,"
+continued the peer--now rising from his seat, as if with a desire that I
+should take the movement as a hint that he wished the interview to
+terminate--"present my respects to your father, and say that I am very
+sorry for this affair--very sorry, indeed."
+
+Saying this, he edged me towards the door; and, long before I reached
+it, bowed me a good morning, which there was no evading. I acknowledged
+it the best way I could, left the house, and returned home--I leave you,
+gentlemen, to conceive with what feelings. My Latin, you see, of which I
+was so vain, and which, with anybody else, would have been a help to
+success in the world in many situations, and in none could have been
+against it, was the very reverse to me.
+
+That there was luck in the caul, gentlemen, nevertheless, I still
+maintain (said the little hump-backed man in the bright yellow
+waistcoat, laughing); and you will acknowledge it when I tell you that,
+soon after the occurrence just related, I bought a ticket in the
+lottery, which turned out a prize of L20,000."
+
+"Ha, ha! at last!" here shouted out, with one voice, all the little
+man's auditors. "So you caught it at last!"
+
+"Not so fast, gentlemen, if you please--not so fast," said the little
+man, gravely. "The facts certainly were as I have stated. I did buy a
+ticket in the lottery. I recollect the number well, and will as long as
+I live. I chose it for its oddity. It was 9999, and it did turn out a
+L20,000 prize. But there is a trifling particular or two regarding it
+which I have yet to explain. A gentleman, an acquaintance of mine, to
+whom I had expressed some regret at having ventured so much money on a
+lottery ticket, offered not only to relieve me of it, but to give me a
+premium of five pounds, subject to a deduction of the price of a bowl of
+punch. "A bird in hand's worth two in the bush," thought I, and at once
+closed with his offer. Nay, so well pleased was I with my bargain, that
+I insisted on giving an additional bowl, and actually did so.
+
+Next day, my ticket was drawn a twenty thousand pound prize! and I
+had the happiness (added the little man, with a rueful expression of
+countenance) of communicating to my friend his good luck, as the letter
+of advice on the subject came, in the first instance, to me.
+
+However, gentlemen, luck there was in the caul still, say I (continued
+the little hump-backed gentleman in the bright yellow waistcoat). Love,
+gentlemen--sweet, dear, delightful love!--(here the little man looked
+extremely sentimental)--came to soothe my woes and banish my regrets.
+Yes, my friends he said (observing a slight smile of surprise and
+incredulity on the countenance of his auditors, proceeding, we need
+hardly say, from certain impressions regarding his personal appearance),
+I say that love--dear, delightful love--came now to my aid, to reconcile
+me to my misfortunes, and to restore my equanimity. The objects of my
+affections--for there were two----"
+
+"Oh, unconscionable man!" we here all exclaimed in one breath. "Two! Ah!
+too bad that."
+
+"Yes, I repeat, two," said the little man composedly--"the objects of my
+passion were two. The one was a beautiful girl of three-and-twenty--the
+other, a beautiful little fortune of L10,000, of which she was in full
+and uncontrolled possession. Well, gentlemen, to make a long story
+short, we loved each other most devotedly; for she was a girl of
+singular judgment and penetration, and placed little store by mere
+personal appearance in those she loved: the mind, gentlemen--the mind
+was what this amiable girl looked to. Well, as I was saying, we loved
+each other with the fondest affection, and at length I succeeded in
+prevailing upon her to name the happy day when we should become one.
+Need I describe to you, gentleman, what were my transports--what the
+intoxicating feelings of delight with which my whole soul was absorbed
+by the contemplation of the delicious prospect that lay before me! A
+beautiful woman and a fortune of L10,000 within my grasp! No. I'm sure I
+need not describe the sensations I allude to, gentlemen--you will at
+once conceive and appreciate them.
+
+Well, my friends, all went smoothly on with me this time. The happy day
+arrived--we proceeded to church. The clergyman began the service. In
+three minutes more, gentleman, I would have been indissolubly united to
+my beloved and her L10,000, when, at this critical moment, a person
+rushed breathless into the church, forced his way through the crowd of
+friends by whom we were surrounded, and caught my betrothed in his arms,
+exclaiming--"Jessie, Jessie! would you forsake me? Have you forgot your
+vows?" Jessie replied by a loud shriek, and immediately fainted.
+
+Here, then, you see, gentlemen (continued the little hump-backed man in
+the bright yellow waistcoat), was a pretty kick-up all in a moment.
+
+In a twinkling, the bevy of friends by whom we were accompanied
+scattered in all directions--some running for water, some for brandy,
+some for one thing and some for another, till there was scarcely one
+left in the church. The service was, of course, instantly stopped; and
+my beloved was, in the meantime, very tenderly supported by the arms of
+the stranger; for such he was to me at any rate, although by no means
+so either to the lady herself or to her friends. I was, as you may well
+believe, all astonishment and amazement at this extraordinary scene, and
+could not at all conceive what it meant; but it was not long before I
+was very fully informed on this head. To return, however, in the
+meantime, to the lady. On recovering from her fainting fit, the
+stranger, who had been all along contemplating her with a look of the
+most tender affection, asked her, in a gentle voice, "If she would still
+continue true to him." And, gentlemen, she answered, though in a voice
+scarcely audible, "Yes;" and, immediately after, the two walked out of
+the church arm in arm, in spite of the remonstrances and even threats
+of myself and my friends--leaving us, and me in particular, to such
+reflections on the uncertainty of all human events as the circumstance
+which had just occurred was calculated to excite. In three weeks after,
+the stranger and Jessie were married. Who he was is soon explained. He
+had been a favoured lover of Jessie's some seven years before, and had
+gone abroad, where it was believed he had died, there having been no
+word from him during the greater part of that period. How this was
+explained I never knew; but that he was not dead, you will allow was now
+pretty clearly established.
+
+Now, gentlemen (added our little friend), I have brought my mishaps up
+to the present date. What may be still in store for me, I know not; but
+I have now brought myself to the peaceful and most comfortable condition
+of having no hopes of succeeding in anything, and therefore am freed, at
+least, from all liability to the pains of disappointment." And here
+ended the story of the little hump-backed gentleman in the bright yellow
+waistcoat.
+
+We all felt for his disappointments, and wished him better luck.
+
+The person to whose turn it came next to entertain us, was a quiet,
+demure looking personage, of grave demeanour, but of mild and pleasant
+countenance. His gravity, we thought, partook a little of melancholy;
+and he was, in consequence, recognised generally in the house by the
+title of the melancholy gentleman. He was, however, very far from being
+morose; indeed, on the contrary, he was exceedingly kind and gentle in
+his manner, and would not, I am convinced, have harmed the meanest
+insect that crawls, let alone his own species.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," said this person, on being informed that it was his
+turn to divert us with some story or other, "I will do the best I can
+to entertain you, and will follow the example of my unfortunate
+predecessor of the evening, by choosing a subject of something of a
+personal nature."
+
+"To begin, then, my friends," went on the melancholy gentleman--"I do
+not, I think, arrogate too much when I say that I am as peaceable and
+peace-loving a man as ever existed. I have always abhorred strife and
+wrangling; and never knowingly or willingly interfere in any way with
+the affairs of my neighbours or of others. I would, in short, at any
+time, rather sacrifice my interests than quarrel with any one; while I
+reckon it the greatest happiness to be let alone, and to be allowed to
+get through the world quietly and noiselessly. From my very infancy, my
+friends (said the melancholy gentleman), I loved quiet above all things;
+and there is a tradition in our family, strikingly corroborative of
+this. The tradition alluded to bears that I never cried while an infant,
+and that I never could endure my rattle. Well, gentlemen, such were and
+such still are my dispositions. But, offending no one, and interfering
+with no one, how have I been treated in my turn? You shall hear.
+
+At school, I was thrashed by the master for not interfering to prevent
+my companions fighting; and I was thrashed by my companions for not
+taking part in their quarrels: so that, between them, I had, I assure
+you, a very miserable life of it. However, these were but small matters,
+compared to what befell me after I had fairly embarked in the world.
+
+My first experience after this, of how little my peaceful and
+inoffensive disposition would avail me, was with an evening club which I
+joined. For some time I got on very well with the persons who composed
+this association, and seemed--at least I thought so--to be rather a
+favourite with them, on account of my quiet and peaceable demeanour;
+and, under ordinary circumstances, perhaps I might have continued so.
+But the demon of discord got amongst them, and I became, in consequence
+of my non-resisting qualities, the scapegoat of their spleen; or rather,
+I became the safety-valve by which their passions found a harmless
+egress. But, to drop metaphor, my friends (said the melancholy
+gentleman), the club got to loggerheads on a certain political
+question--I forget now what it was--and for some nights there was a
+great deal of angry discussion and violent altercation on the subject.
+In these debates, however, in accordance with my natural disposition, I
+took no part whatever, except by making some fruitless attempts to abate
+the resentment of the parties, by thrusting in a jocular remark or so,
+when anything particularly severe was said. Well, gentlemen, how was I
+rewarded for this charitable conduct, think you? Why, I'll tell you.
+
+On the third or fourth night, I think it was, of the discussion alluded
+to, a member got up and said, addressing the club--"My friends, a good
+deal of vituperation and opprobrious language has been used in this here
+room, regarding the question we have been discussing these three or four
+nights back; but we have all spoke our minds freely, and stood to it
+like men who isn't afeard to speak their sentiments anywhere. Now, I
+says that's what I likes. I likes a man to stand to his tackle. But I
+hates, as I do the devil, your snakes in the grass, your smooth-chopped
+fellows, who hears all and never says nothing, so as how you can't tell
+whether he is fish or flesh. I say, I hate such dastardly, sneaking
+fellows, who won't speak out; and I says that such are unfit for this
+company;" (here the speaker looked hard at me); "and I move that he be
+turned out directly, neck and heel."
+
+Well, this speech, my friends (went on the melancholy gentleman), which
+you will perceive was levelled at me, was received with a shout of
+applause by both parties. The ruffing and cheering was immense; and
+most laudably prompt was the execution of the proposal that excited
+it. Before I had time to evacuate the premises quietly and of my own
+accord, which I was about to do, I was seized by the breast by a tall
+ferocious-looking fellow, who sat next me, and who was immediately aided
+by three or four others, and dragged over every obstacle that stood in
+the way to the door, out of which I was finally kicked with particular
+emphasis.
+
+Such, then, my friends (said the melancholy gentleman), was the first
+most remarkable instance of the benefits I was likely to derive from my
+inoffensive non-meddling disposition. However, it was my nature; and
+neither this unmerited treatment, nor any other usage which I afterwards
+experienced, could alter it.
+
+Some time after this, I connected myself with a certain congregation in
+our town, and it unfortunately happened that, soon after I joined them,
+they came all to sixes and sevens about a minister. One party was for a
+Mr. Triterite, the other a Mr. White. These were distinguished, as
+usual, in such and similar cases, by the adjunct _ite_, which had, as
+you may perceive, a most unhappy effect in the case of the name of the
+first gentleman, whose followers were called Triteriteites, and those of
+the other Whiteites. However, this was but a small matter. To proceed.
+In the squabbles alluded to, gentlemen, I took no part; it being a
+matter of perfect indifference to me which of the candidates had the
+appointment. All that I desired was, that I might be let alone, and not
+be called upon to interfere in any way in the dispute. But would they
+allow me this indulgence, think you? No, not they. They resolved,
+seemingly, that my unobtrusive conduct should be no protection to me.
+Two or three days after the commencement of the contest, I was waited
+upon by a deputation from a committee of the Triteriteites, and
+requested to join them in opposing the Whiteites. This I civilly
+declined; telling them, at the same time, that it was my intention and
+my earnest wish to avoid all interference in the pending controversy;
+that I was perfectly indifferent to which of the candidates the church
+was given, and would be very glad to become a hearer of either of them;
+that, in short, I wished to make myself no enemies on account of any
+such contest.
+
+"Oh, very well, Mr. B----," said the spokesman, reddening with anger,
+"we understand all this perfectly, and think very little, I assure you,
+of such mean evasive conduct. Had you said boldly and at once that you
+favoured the other party, we would at least have given you credit for
+honesty. But you may depend upon it, sir," he added, "White never will
+get the church. That you may rely upon."
+
+"Scurvy conduct," muttered another of the committee, as he was retiring
+after the speaker.
+
+"Shabby, sniveling, _drivelling_ conduct," muttered a third.
+
+"Low, mean, _sneaking_ conduct," said a fourth.
+
+"Dirty subterfuge," exclaimed a fifth. And off the gentlemen went.
+
+But they had not yet done with me. One of the number was a person with
+whom I had some acquaintance, and the next day I received from him the
+following note:--"Sir, your unmanly (I will not mince the matter with
+you), your unmanly and disingenuous conduct yesterday, when called upon
+by Mr. Triterite's committee, has so disgusted me that I beg you to
+understand that we are friends no longer. A candid and open avowal of
+opposite sentiments from those which I entertain, I trust, I shall be
+always liberal enough to tolerate in any one, without prejudice to
+previous intimacy; but I cannot remain on terms of friendship with a man
+who has the meanness to seek to conciliate the party he opposes, by
+concealing his adherence to that which he has espoused.--I am, sir,"
+&c.
+
+Well, my friends (said the melancholy gentleman), was not this an
+extremely hard case? To be thus abused, and reviled, and scouted, for
+merely desiring to be allowed to live in peace, and to have nothing to
+do with a squabble in which I did not feel in any way interested. But
+this was not all. I was lampooned, caricatured, and paragraphed in the
+newspapers, in a thousand different ways. In the first, I was satirized
+as the _fair_ dealer; in the second, I was represented as a wolf in
+sheep's clothing; and in the last, I was hinted at as "a certain quiet
+double-faced gentleman, not a hundred miles from hence."
+
+But still this was not all. Two or three days after I had been waited on
+by the Triteriteites, the same honour was done me by the Whiteites, and
+with similar views. To the gentlemen of this party, I said precisely
+what I had said to those of the opposite faction, and begged of them, in
+heaven's name, to let me alone, and settle the matter amongst them as
+they best could.
+
+"Well," replied one of the gentlemen, when I had done, "I must say, I
+did not expect this of you, Mr. B. I thought I could have reckoned
+on your support; but it doesn't signify. We can secure Mr. White's
+appointment without you. But I must say, if you had been the candid man
+I took you for, you would have told me, ere this, that you meant to have
+supported the other party. I really cannot think very highly, Mr. B., of
+your conduct in this matter; but it doesn't signify, sir--it doesn't
+signify. We now know who are our friends and who are not. Mr. Triterite,
+you may depend upon it, will never get the church, even though he has
+you to support him." Saying this, he turned on his heel and left me,
+followed by his train, who, precisely as the others had done, muttered
+as they went, "shabby fellow," "mean scamp," "shuffling conduct," "snake
+in the grass" (favourite phrase this), &c. &c.
+
+Well, my friends, here you see (said the melancholy gentleman), without
+giving any one the smallest offence, and desiring nothing so much as
+peace and the good will of my neighbours--here was I, I say, become
+obnoxious to heaven knows how many people; for my reputation naturally
+extended from the committees to the other members of the congregation,
+and from them again to their friends and acquaintances; so that I had,
+in the end, a pretty formidable array of enemies. The consequence of
+this affair was, that I soon found myself compelled, from the petty
+persecutions and annoyances of all sorts, to which I was subsequently
+exposed, to leave the congregation altogether. However, to compensate
+for all these troubles and vexations, I had the good fortune, about this
+time, to become acquainted with a very amiable young lady, as peaceably
+inclined and as great a lover of quiet as myself. This lady I married,
+having previously secured a house in one of the quietest and most
+retired places in the town, so as to be out of the way of all noise and
+din. Immediately beneath this house, however, there was an empty unlet
+shop, which I could not help regarding with a suspicious eye, from an
+apprehension that it might be taken by a person of some noisy calling or
+other; and so much at last did this fear alarm me, that I determined on
+taking the shop into my own hands, and running myself the risk of its
+letting--thus securing the choice of a tenant. Having come to this
+resolution, then, I called upon the landlord and inquired the rent.
+
+"O sir," said he, "the shop is let."
+
+"Let, sir!" replied I; "I saw a ticket on it yesterday."
+
+"That might well be, sir, for it was only let this morning."
+
+"And to whom, sir, is it let, may I ask? I mean, sir, what is his
+business?"
+
+"A tinsmith, sir," said the landlord, coolly.
+
+"A tinsmith!" replied I, turning pale. "Then my worse fears are
+realized!"
+
+The landlord looked surprised, and inquired what I meant. I told him,
+and had a laugh from him for my pains.
+
+Yes, my friends (said the melancholy gentleman), a tinsmith had taken
+the shop--a working tinsmith--and a most industrious and hard-working
+one he was, to my cost. But this was not the worst of it. The tinsmith
+was not a week in his new shop, when he received a large West India
+order; and when I mention that this piece of good fortune, as I have
+no doubt he reckoned it, compelled him to engage about a score of
+additional hands, I may safely leave it to yourselves, gentlemen, to
+conceive what sort of a neighbourhood I soon found myself in. On this
+subject, then, I need only say, that, in less than a week thereafter, I
+was fairly hammered out of the house, and compelled to look out for
+other quarters. But this, after all, was merely a personal matter--one
+which did not involve the inimical feelings of others towards me; and,
+therefore, though an inconvenience at the time, it did not disturb my
+quiet beyond the moment of suffering, as those unhappy occurrences did
+in which I had, however unwittingly, provoked the enmity of others; and,
+therefore, after I had been fairly settled in my new house, I thought
+very little more about the matter, and was beginning to enjoy the calm,
+quiet life which I so much loved, as nobody had meddled with me for
+upwards of three weeks. But, alas! this felicity was to be but of short
+duration. The election of a member of Parliament came on, and I had a
+vote--but I had determined to make no use of it; for, being but little
+of a politician, and, above all things, desiring to be on good terms
+with everybody, whatever might be their religious or political
+persuasions, I thought the best way for me was to take no share whatever
+in the impending contest; it being a mere matter of moonshine to me
+whether Whig or Tory was uppermost. In adopting this neutral course, I
+expected, and I think not unreasonably, to get quietly through with the
+matter, and that I should avoid giving offence to any one. I will
+further confess, that, besides this feeling, I was guided to a certain
+extent by interest. I had many customers of opposite political
+tenets--Whig, Tory, and Radical--and I was desirous of retaining the
+custom and good will of them all, by taking part with none. Grievous
+error--dreadful mistake!
+
+Soon after, the candidates started, and there happened to be one of each
+of the three classes just mentioned--that is, Whig, Tory, and Radical. I
+received a card from one of my best customers, a Whig, containing a
+larger order than usual for tea, wine, spirits, &c.--such being the
+articles in which I deal, gentlemen (said our melancholy friend); but,
+at the bottom of the slip, there was the following note:--"Mr. S----
+hopes he may count on Mr. B.'s supporting the Liberal interest in the
+ensuing election, by giving his vote to Lord Botherem. Mr. S---- is
+perfectly aware of Mr. B.'s indifference to political matters; but it is
+on this very account that Mr. S---- reckons on his support, as it can be
+a matter of no moment to him to whom he gives his vote."
+
+Well, gentleman, here you see was the first attack upon me; and the
+second soon followed. I saw the storm that was gathering. In the course
+of the very same day, I was waited on by another customer, an inveterate
+Tory.
+
+"Well, Mr. B.," he said, on entering my shop, "I am come to solicit a
+very important favour from you; but still one which I am sure you will
+not refuse an old friend and a tolerably good customer. In short, Mr.
+B.," he went on, "knowing it is a matter of moonshine to you who is
+member for this burgh--for I've heard you say so--I have come to ask
+your vote for Mr. Blatheringham, the Tory candidate."
+
+"My dear sir," I replied, "you are quite right in saying that it is a
+matter of moonshine to me what may be the political tenets of our
+member; but I have resolved--and I have done so for that very
+reason--not to interfere in the matter at all. I do not mean to vote
+on any side." And I laughed; but my friend looked grave.
+
+"Oh! you don't, Mr. B.!" he said. "Then am I to understand that you
+won't oblige me in this matter, although it is on a point which is of no
+consequence to you, on your own confession, and, therefore, requiring no
+sacrifice of political principle."
+
+"My dear sir," replied I, in the mildest and most conciliating manner
+possible, anxious to turn away wrath--"I have already said"----
+
+"Oh! I know very well, sir, what you have said, and I'll recollect it,
+too, you may depend upon it, and not much to your profit. My account's
+closed with you, sir. Good morning!" And out of the shop he went in a
+furious passion. On the day following this, I received a note from
+the Whig canvasser, in reply to one from me on the subject of _his_
+solicitation, in which I had expressed nearly the same sentiments which
+I delivered verbally to my Tory friend: and in this note I was served
+with almost precisely the same terms which the Tory had used in return,
+only he carried the matter a little farther--telling me plainly that he
+would not only withdraw his own custom from me, but do his endeavour to
+deprive me of the custom of those of his friends who dealt with me,
+who were of the same political opinions with himself. This I thought
+barefaced enough; and I daresay you will agree with me, my friends (said
+the melancholy gentleman), that it was so.
+
+Here then, were two of my best customers lost to me for ever. Nay, not
+only their own custom, but that of all their political partisans who
+happened to deal with me; for the one was fully as good as his word, and
+the other a great deal better: that is to say, the one who threatened
+to deprive me of the custom of his friends, as well as his own, did so
+most effectually; while the other, who held out no such threat, did
+precisely the same thing by his friends, and with at least equal
+success.
+
+In truth, I wanted now but to be asked to support the Radical interest
+to be fairly ruined; and this was a piece of good fortune that was not
+long denied me. "My dear Bob,"--thus commenced a note, which I had, on
+this unhappy occasion, from an intimate friend, a rattling, rough,
+outspoken fellow--"As I know your political creed to be couched in the
+phrase--'Let who likes be king, I'll be subject'--that is, you don't
+care one of your own figs what faction is uppermost--I request, as a
+personal favour, your support for Mr. Sweepthedecks; and this I do the
+more readily, that I know there is no chance of your being pre-engaged.
+Now, you musn't refuse me, Bob, else you and I will positively quarrel;
+for I have promised to secure you."
+
+Here then, you see, my friends (said the melancholy gentleman), was
+a climax. The unities in the system of persecution adopted against
+me were strictly observed. There was beginning, middle, and end
+complete--nothing wanting. Well--still determined to maintain my
+neutrality--I wrote a note to my friend, expressing precisely the same
+sentiments to which I have so often alluded. To this note I received no
+answer; and can only conjecture the effect it had upon him by the
+circumstance of his withdrawing his custom from me, and never again
+entering my shop.
+
+Observe, however, my friends (here said the melancholy gentleman), that,
+in speaking of the persecutions I underwent on this occasion, I have
+merely selected instances--you are by no means to understand that the
+cases just mentioned included all the annoyance I met with on the
+subject of my vote. Not at all. I have, as already said, merely
+instanced these cases. I was assailed by scores of others in the same
+way. Indeed, there was not a day, for upwards of three weeks, that I was
+not badgered and abused by somebody or other--ay, and that too, in my
+own shop. But my shop was now not worth keeping; for Whig, Tory, and
+Radical had deserted me, and left me to the full enjoyment of my
+reflections on the course I had pursued. In short, I found that, in
+endeavouring to offend no one, I had offended everybody; and that, in
+place of securing my own peace, I had taken the most effectual way I
+possibly could to make myself unhappy.
+
+Well, in the meantime, you see, my friends (continued the melancholy
+gentleman), the election came on, and was gained by the Whig candidate.
+The streets were on the occasion paraded by the partisans of each of the
+parties; and, as is not unusual in such cases, there was a great deal of
+mischief done, and of which, as a sufferer, I came in for a very liberal
+share. The Whig mob attacked my shop, and demolished everything in it,
+to celebrate their triumph, as they said, by plucking a _hen_--in other
+words, one who would not support them. The Tory mob, again, attacked my
+house, and smashed every one of my windows, alleging that, as I was not
+a Tory, I must be a Whig; and, finally, the third estate came in, and
+finished what the other two had left undone, because I was not a
+Radical.
+
+Here, then, gentlemen, was I, I repeat, who had offended no one, or,
+at least, had given no one any reasonable grounds of offence, but who,
+on the contrary, was most anxious to remain on friendly terms with
+everybody--here, I say, then, was I, surrounded with enemies, persecuted
+at all hands, my business dwindled away to nothing, and, lastly, my
+effects destroyed, to the extent of nearly all I possessed in the world.
+There was still, however, a small residue left; and with this I now
+determined to retire to the country, and to take a small house in some
+sequestered place, at a distance from all other human habitations, with
+the view of ascertaining if I could not there secure the peace and
+quietness which I found the most harmless and inoffensive conduct could
+not procure me in society. I determined, in short, to fly the face of
+man. Well, such a house as I wished, I, after some time, found; and to
+it I immediately retired. It was situated in a remote part of the
+country, in a romantic little glen, and several miles distant, on all
+hands, from any other residence--just the thing I wanted. Here at last,
+thought I, as I gazed on the solitude around me, I will find that peace
+and quiet that are so dear to me; here is no one to quarrel with me
+because I do not choose to think as he does--none to disturb me because
+I seek to disturb no one. Fatal error again!
+
+There was a small trouting stream at a short distance from the house. I
+was fond of angling. I went to the river with rod and line, threw in (it
+was the very next day after I had taken possession of my new residence),
+and in the next instant found myself seized by the cuff of the neck. I
+had trespassed; and an immediate prosecution, notwithstanding all the
+concession I could make, was the consequence. The proprietor, at whose
+instance this proceeding took place, was a brute--a tyrant. To all my
+overtures, his only reply was, that he was determined to make an example
+of me; and this he did, to the tune of about a score of pounds. This
+occurrence, of course, put an immediate stop to my fishing recreations;
+and, at the same time, excited some suspicion in my mind as to the
+perfect felicity which I was likely to enjoy in my retirement. Having
+given up all thoughts of angling, I now took to walking, and determined
+to make a general inspection of the country in my neighbourhood; taking
+one direction one day, and another the next, and so on, till I should
+have seen all around me to the extent of some miles--"And surely this,"
+thought I to myself, "will give offence to nobody." Well, in pursuance
+of this resolution, I started on my first voyage of discovery; but had
+not proceeded far, when a beautiful shady avenue, with its gate flung
+invitingly open, tempted me to diverge. I entered it, and was sauntering
+luxuriously along, with my hat in my hand, enjoying the cool shade of
+the lofty umbrageous trees by which it was skirted, and admiring the
+beauties around me--for it was, indeed, a most lovely place. I was, in
+short, in a kind of delightful reverie, when all of a sudden I found
+myself again seized by the cuff of the neck, by a ferocious-looking
+fellow with a gun in his hand.
+
+"What do you want here, sir?" said the savage, looking at me as if he
+would have torn me to pieces.
+
+"Nothing, my good fellow," replied I, mildly. "I want nothing. I came
+here merely to enjoy a walk in this beautiful avenue."
+
+"Then, you'll pay for your walk, I warrant you. Curse me, if you don't!
+You have no right here, sir. Didn't you see the ticket at the entrance,
+forbidding all strangers to come here?"
+
+I declared I did not; which was true.
+
+"Then I'll teach you to look sharper next time. Your name, sir?"
+
+I gave it; and, in three days after, was served with a summons for
+another trespass, and was again severely fined.
+
+"Strange land of liberty this!" thought I on this occasion--as, indeed,
+I had done on some others before--"where one dare not think as they
+please without making a host of enemies, and where you can neither turn
+to the right or the left without being taken by the neck."
+
+I now, in short, found, gentlemen (said our melancholy friend), that I
+had only exchanged one scene of troubles for another; and that even my
+remote and sequestered situation was no protection to me whatever from
+annoyance and persecution; and I therefore resolved to quit and return
+once more to the town, to make another trial of the justice of mankind;
+and in this resolution I was confirmed by a letter which I shortly after
+this received from the proprietor whose lands adjoined the small patch
+of ground that was attached to the house I resided in.
+
+"Sir," began this new correspondent, "you must be aware that it is the
+business of the tenant of the house you occupy to keep the drain which
+passes your garden in an efficient state, throughout the length of its
+passage by your ground. Now, sir, it is, at present, far from being in
+such a condition; and the consequence is, that a large portion of my
+land in your neighbourhood is laid under water, to my serious loss. I
+therefore request that you will instantly see to this, to prevent
+further trouble. I am, sir," &c.
+
+Well, gentlemen (continued our melancholy friend), to prevent this
+further trouble, and to keep, if possible, on goods terms with my
+neighbour, I went, immediately on receipt of his letter, and examined
+the drain in question; resolving, at the same time, to do what he
+requested, or rather commanded, if it could be done at a reasonable
+cost, although I conceived that it was a matter with which I had
+nothing to do. It was an affair of my landlord's altogether, I thought,
+especially as nothing had been said to me about the drain when I took
+the house--at least nothing that I recollected. However, as I have said,
+I determined, for peace's sake, to repair it in the meantime, and to
+take my landlord in my own hand for restitution. On looking at the
+drain, I found it indeed in a very bad state, and immediately sent for a
+person skilled in such matters to give me an idea of what might be the
+cost of putting it in a proper order; and was informed that it might be
+put in very good condition, in such a state as my neighbour could not
+object to, for about fifty pounds. Now, gentlemen, this was precisely
+equal to two years' rent of my house, and, I thought, rather too large a
+price to pay for the good will of my neighbour; and I resisted, at the
+same time referring him to my landlord. My landlord said he had nothing
+to do with it, and that I must settle the affair with Mr. T---- the best
+way I could. Well, I took advice in the matter, for I thought it looked
+very like a conspiracy against my simplicity and good nature; and was
+advised by all means to resist. The result was, that my neighbour, Mr.
+T----, immediately commenced a suit against me; and, in my own defence,
+I was compelled to raise an action of relief against my landlord; so
+that, when I returned to town, I brought with me from my sweet, calm,
+peaceable retirement, a couple of full blown law pleas of the most
+promising dimensions. Who would have thought it--who would have dreamt
+it--that, in this seclusion, this desert, as I may call it, I should
+have got involved in such a world of troubles? Well, gentlemen, what do
+you think was the result? Why, both cases were given against me. In the
+one, I had to pay costs--and in the other, to pay costs and repair the
+drain too; and (added the melancholy gentleman with a sigh) I am at
+this moment on my way to Edinburgh to pay the last instalment of these
+ruinous and iniquitous claims." And, with this, the melancholy gentleman
+ended the sad story of his sufferings.
+
+We all pitied him from our hearts, and each in his own way offered him
+the condolence that his case demanded.
+
+He thanked us for the sympathy we expressed, and said that he felt
+encouraged by it to ask our advice as to how he should conduct himself
+in future, so as to obtain the peace and quiet he so earnestly desired.
+
+"What would you recommend me to do, gentlemen--where would you advise me
+to go," he said, in an imploring and despairing tone--nay, we thought
+half crying--"to escape this merciless and unprovoked persecution?"
+
+We were all much affected by this piteous appeal, and felt every desire
+to afford such counsel to our ill-used friend as might be of service to
+him; but, while we did so, we felt also the extreme difficulty of the
+case; for we did not see by what possible line of conduct he could
+escape persecution, if the very harmless and inoffensive one which he
+had hitherto, of his own accord, adopted, had been found ineffectual for
+his protection.
+
+Indeed, it was the very, nay, the only one, which, _a priori_, we would
+have recommended to him; but, as he had clearly shown us that it was an
+ineffectual one, we really felt greatly at a loss what to say; and,
+under this difficulty, we all remained for some time thoughtful and
+silent. At length, however, it was agreed amongst us, as the case was
+a poser, that we should sleep on the matter, and in the morning come
+prepared with such advice as our intervening cogitations should suggest.
+
+The melancholy gentleman again thanked us for the kind interest we
+took in his unhappy case; adding, that he was now so disheartened, so
+depressed in spirits, by the usage he had met with, that he almost felt
+it an obligation to be allowed to live.
+
+As it was now wearing late, and our landlord had just come in to
+announce that supper was ready, and would be served up when ordered,
+we agreed to rest satisfied for the night with the extempore
+autobiographies, as I may call them, of our two worthy companions--the
+little hunch-backed personage in the bright yellow waistcoat, and the
+melancholy gentleman; but we, at the same time, resolved that we would
+resume the same mode of entertainment on the following evening, and
+continue it till every one had contributed his quota.
+
+
+
+
+GUILTY, OR NOT GUILTY.
+
+
+On the 15th of September, 17--, an unusual stir was observable in our
+village. The people were gathered in little groups in the streets, with
+earnest and awe-stricken countenances; and even the little children had
+ceased their play, and, clinging to their mothers, looked up as if
+wondering what strange thing had happened. In some parts of the town the
+crowds were larger, but the remarks less audible; at times, two or three
+individuals were seen passing along, in grave conversation, while the
+women stood in groups at their own or their neighbour's doors, many of
+them with tears in their eyes, and giving utterance occasionally to
+sounds of lamentation. It was evident, to the most casual observer, that
+something unusual had occurred--something that had stricken a feeling
+approaching to alarm into all hearts--and that all were engaged in the
+discussion of one common topic. There was that gathering together, as if
+for mutual support, or for the purposes of sympathy and consultation,
+which usually attends the appearance of public danger, the extent of
+which is unknown. It seemed, indeed, as if the occurrence of an
+earthquake, however much it might have increased the alarm, could not
+have deepened the gloom. The night at length gradually thickened, and,
+one by one, the villagers crept into their dwellings. Many a fearful
+tale was told by the firesides that night; and not a door but was more
+carefully barred than it had been perhaps for years before.
+
+Our village was like many other villages in Scotland; it was long,
+dirty, and irregular, and wholly wanting in those qualities of neatness
+and taste which give a character of comfort and rustic beauty to the
+generality of English hamlets. The odour that rose from the fronts of
+the cottages was not from flowers, and was certainly much less agreeable
+to the senses. The situation, however, was romantic; and there was a
+character of rusticity about the place which harmonised well with the
+surrounding scenery. On one side it was skirted by a water, which, in
+rainy seasons, struggled into some importance, and turned two or three
+respectable mills. On the other, the country undulated gracefully, and
+rose at one point into a wooded hill, which formed no inconsiderable
+feature in the landscape. Striking off the main road, at a point about
+half-a-mile distant, was a rough by-road, which crossed near the summit
+of the hill, and wound upwards till it disappeared in a ridge of still
+loftier mountains. This road formed a favourite walk with the young
+people of the village. It was rough, and shaded, and retired, and led to
+many a green spot and glorious upland. On very dark nights, however, it
+was usually avoided. A considerable part of it was over-arched with
+thick foliage; and however pleasant at noonday, when the hot breezes
+came panting thither for relief, it needed rather a stout heart to pass
+whistling through it, when not even a gleam of starlight was visible,
+and when every sound of the rustling branches came to the ear of the
+listener, as a groan, a shriek, or a wailing.
+
+It was towards this road, on the morning succeeding the ominous
+appearances we have described, that many of the villagers directed their
+steps. A good number were hastening thither soon after daybreak, and one
+and all seemed bent on the same errand. They entered the road, now
+chequered with the wakening glints of the sun, and proceeded onwards
+till they came to a break in the rough wall, which bounded it on either
+side. They here struck off, and followed the windings of a narrow
+footpath, till they reached an open place which looked into the fields
+beyond. There was a bush of underwood a good deal dashed and torn; and
+those who had a better eyesight, or a more active fancy than the rest,
+declared they could trace the sprinklings of blood upon the grass. On
+that spot, not many hours before, a murder had been committed. A young
+woman, one of the loveliest and liveliest of the village, had been
+desperately and cruelly murdered.
+
+The affair was involved in mystery.
+
+Jessie Renton, the deceased, was the daughter of respectable parents in
+the village, and a favourite with young and old. She was warm-hearted
+and playful; and, pass her when you might, she always greeted you with
+a kind glance or a merry word. On the evening which closed on her for
+ever, she had gone out alone, as she had done a thousand times before,
+with a laughing eye and a light step. Her father had not returned from
+his daily toil, and her mother had not ceased from hers. The latter was
+busy at her wheel when Jessie left, and not a parting word was exchanged
+between them. They knew not that they were never to see each other alive
+again in this world, and they parted without thought or word. It was not
+known where the unfortunate girl had gone. She had passed the doctor's
+shop while his apprentice boy was squirting water from a syringe; and,
+joking, she had told him she would "tell his maister o' his tricks." She
+had chatted with two girls who were fetching water from the well, and
+hinted something about an approaching wedding. An old man had seen her
+at the outskirts of the village; and a cow-herd urchin thought--but
+"wasna sure"--that he had seen her entering the road leading through the
+wood; and that was all. Some hours after she had been thus traced, a
+couple of strolling pedlars had been making for the village, and were
+startled by a shriek and a cry of murder in the thicket. They rushed in;
+but had some difficulty in finding the spot whence the cry proceeded.
+The figure of a man dashed by them at some yards distance. They
+hallooed to him; but he passed on, and was out of sight in a moment. A
+few stifled cries led them to the fatal spot, where they found the
+wretched girl stretched upon the ground, faint from the loss of blood,
+and unable to articulate. One of the men supported her, while the other
+ran for help. The latter had scarcely reached the main road, when he met
+some labourers plodding homewards, and with them he returned to the
+dying girl; but what assistance could they render? Life was fast ebbing
+away; and, in a few moments afterwards, they bent in dumb horror and
+amazement, over a mangled corpse. After some consultation, they carried
+the body towards the village; and one of them hastened before and
+procured a vehicle to relieve them of their burthen. The news of what
+had occurred spread in all directions; and, by the time the mournful
+procession entered the village, the inhabitants were all astir. The body
+was soon recognised; tears and wailings followed; and dark suspicions
+and dismal regrets mingled with the hurried inquiries of every new
+comer.
+
+Old James Renton and his wife, as decent a couple as lived in the
+village, were seated by the fire, enjoying their quiet evening chat,
+when the awful intelligence reached them. Some considered it strange
+that they had been talking but a few minutes before of their daughter,
+and her prospects. But it was not strange: they had no other child: they
+had had no other theme so interesting. It was not a new thing with them.
+For themselves they had but little to hope, but little to dream over:
+their own ambition had long since died out, but it revived in their
+child. She was a link which bound them anew to this world, and seemed to
+open up to them, once more, bright prospects on this side of the grave.
+Often and often had they conversed upon her hopes, as they had aforetime
+done of their own; and with an interest only heightened from having
+become less selfish. Was it remarkable that they should do so on that
+evening? Jessie was growing to a most interesting age. She had arrived
+at that point in life from which many roads diverge, and where the path
+is often difficult to choose. For her sake, more than one homely hind
+had become a poet in his feelings. Indeed, she had many admirers, and
+was even what some might call a flirt. But, although her smiles were
+shed like the free and glad sunshine on all, there was one who, to
+appearance, was more favoured than the rest. This young man had known
+her from her childhood, and his attachment was of the most ardent kind.
+At school, he had been her champion, and certainly showed himself a true
+knight--ready to encounter, nay, courting danger for her sake, and
+conceiving himself sufficiently rewarded by her smile. She had recently
+been solicited in marriage by another, a man of retired and somewhat
+gloomy habits, who dwelt near; but it was understood that she had
+refused his offer, and that George Merrideth was the chosen one of her
+heart.
+
+It was on these things that the unconscious parents were conversing,
+when one of their neighbours entered with the frightful intelligence.
+Both started up and rushed to the door. The crowd were hastening on,
+bearing with them the melancholy evidence of the truth of what they had
+just heard. It came on still--it stopt--it was at their own door it
+stopt. The old man could not speak, but his wife rushed forward with a
+distressful shriek. The truth was soon all known. They had no child.
+They had only a dead body to weep over--to lay in the grave. Is it
+necessary to say more? A few days passed. They were the bitterest days
+the bereaved parents had ever known; but they passed, and their minds
+became comparatively calm. Neither the efforts of their own minds, nor
+the commiseration of their friends and neighbours, could subdue their
+grief: but it took free vent, and subsided from very exhaustion. They
+evinced but little anxiety to discover who had destroyed their child: it
+was enough to them that she was gone; and revenge, they said, would not
+bring her back. Their chief solace was to visit and linger in the
+church-yard--their chief hope to abide there.
+
+To discover the murderer, and drag him to justice, soon occupied the
+attention, not only of the authorities, but of many active men in the
+village. Rigorous inquiries were instituted, every scrap of evidence was
+collected, and suspicion fell at length upon one man. This individual
+was, to appearance, about thirty years of age, of a thoughtful
+disposition, and retired mode of life. He had been settled in the
+village for several years; and no sooner was the suspicion raised, than
+many circumstances were bruited to confirm it. His general conduct and
+bearing were remarked to have been mysterious. He had rarely associated
+with his neighbours; and had often been observed, in lonely places and
+at silent hours, muttering and musing, by himself. For some time back,
+he had been noticed watching the deceased, and following her whenever
+she had any distance to go; and the general belief was, that she had
+crossed his affections, and that he had taken this cowardly revenge. On
+the evening of the murder, he had been seen returning home only a few
+minutes after the time when the deed must have been perpetrated, and his
+air and manner were said to have been wild and agitated. The consequence
+was, that he was apprehended and thrown into prison. In a few months
+afterwards, he was tried. In his defence, he stated that the unfortunate
+girl had rather encouraged his suit than otherwise; and mentioned, in
+proof of this, that Merrideth, whose grief for her loss had excited
+general commiseration, had on the very afternoon of the day on which the
+murder took place, quarrelled him on the subject, and accused him of
+seeking him to supplant him in her affections. Ultimately, a verdict of
+not proven was returned, and he was dismissed from the court.
+
+Jones--for such was his name--returned to the village; but the suspicion
+still clung to him. As he went through the streets, the people avoided
+him, or gazed at him as a world's wonder. Wherever he passed, they spoke
+to each other in whispers. These whispers he seldom heard, but the
+thought of their import haunted him. He was restless and unhappy, and
+sought relief in motion. No sooner was the sun risen, than he was up and
+away to the fields. He wandered about alone for hours, and then came
+back to the village. He felt as if a curse rested on him; a stain on his
+name, which he could not wipe off. So unhappy did he seem, that some men
+began to take compassion on him, and even to converse with him. He felt
+grateful; the tears rushed to his eyes; and they left him with their
+suspicions confirmed. Night came, and he felt that he could not sleep.
+He sometimes tried to read, but in vain: and would suddenly dash down
+the book and hurry into the street.
+
+In one of his rambles, an incident occurred, which, although trifling in
+itself, may yet be related as showing the kind of feeling with which he
+was regarded. Miss Manners, the daughter of the village clergyman,
+accompanied by another young lady, was coming along in a direction in
+which they could not avoid meeting him. Jones observed the latter
+hesitate, on beholding him, and apparently refuse to go on, till
+encouraged by her companion. They met, however, and passed each other;
+but Jones had not proceeded many yards, when he observed a silk bag
+which one of them had dropped. He picked it up and hastened after them.
+The young lady, on hearing his footsteps, glanced round and screamed
+outright. Jones paused. When the affrighted damsel had somewhat
+recovered herself, he said in a soft voice--
+
+"Young lady! I am sorry if my politeness has alarmed you. I thought this
+might be your bag, which I found lying on the road."
+
+Miss Manners stepped towards him, and received it, saying--"Thank you,
+sir. My companion is foolish."
+
+"I cannot blame her," he replied, "for she does not know me. I have
+rather to thank you, than wonder at her."
+
+His voice was rather tremulous as he spoke; and Miss Manners regarded
+him with a look of the tenderest compassion. Nothing more, however, was
+said. They simply bowed to each other and parted. Jones walked on for a
+short distance, then, leaning over a rustic gate by the roadside, mused
+till his eyes filled.
+
+The violent emotion exhibited by the unhappy man was not allowed to pass
+unnoticed by the villagers. It was looked upon only as the writhing of a
+tortured spirit; and whatever doubts existed as to his guilt, they were
+soon all removed. There was hardly a soul in the village but shunned and
+feared him.
+
+Sometimes Jones would drop into one or two shops where he had been
+accustomed to visit, and talk freely on matters of common interest. But
+those who formerly saw nothing odd in his manner, now discovered a
+thousand peculiarities. They imagined they detected an unnatural
+wildness in his eye, and set him down as a deep and dangerous man. At
+one time the villagers would stand gazing after him, at others they
+would pass him with a scowl. Little children, whom he used sometimes to
+pat on the head were taught to fear and avoid him; and often, when he
+approached, would run away screaming to their homes.
+
+The unhappy man, at length, resolved to leave the place. He pursued his
+journey to Edinburgh, and took lodgings in a street in the Old Town. The
+reflection, however, that he had not succeeded in vindicating his
+character--that he had left behind him a blasted reputation--poisoned
+all his enjoyments. He walked backward and forward in Princes Street,
+crossed the North Bridge, and wandered about the Canongate and High
+Street, and tried to lose himself in the crowd. Again he returned to his
+lodging, and felt that his loneliness and misery were increased.
+
+He next set off for Glasgow, and pursued there the same course. He
+traversed the Trongate and Argyle Street for hours, and strode down to
+the Broomielaw, and stared vacantly at the bustle going on on the river.
+But in nothing could he take any interest. Change of scene could bring
+no change to his mind. Weeks and months were spent in this rambling and
+unsatisfactory life, and again he resolved to retrace his steps to the
+village.
+
+The coach in which he took his seat set him down within about a mile and
+a half of the place; and he finished the journey on foot. It was on a
+Saturday afternoon that he entered, and with feelings which can hardly
+be described. Many of the villagers were sitting at their doors,
+enjoying the cool air of the evening, when the mysterious man walked up
+the main street. His appearance attracted general attention. One rumour
+had stated that he had fled to America; another, that he had taken away
+his own life. At all events, the people had congratulated themselves on
+his sudden departure; and felt irritated, as well as surprised, at his
+return. As he walked quietly along, he was followed by a number of boys,
+some of whom threw pieces of turf at him; and, by the time he reached
+the centre of the town a considerable crowd was collected. A disposition
+to riot was soon exhibited, and stones began to be thrown. Jones turned
+coolly round and folded his arms, as if in defiance of his persecutors.
+At that moment, a stone of a pretty large size struck him on the
+forehead, and some blood trickled from the wound. He was a man of a
+quick eye and muscular frame. He singled out the person who threw it,
+and dashed through the crowd--never once losing sight of him until he
+had him firmly in his grasp. A struggle ensued, and Jones threw his
+opponent with great force on the ground. Loud threats, and angry
+imprecations followed; and "Villain!--Murderer!" burst from a hundred
+tongues. Ten or a dozen men sprang forward upon him at once; but he
+started back and eluded their grasp.
+
+"Stand back!" he cried in a loud voice. "I shall strike the first man to
+the earth who dares to lay a finger on me!"
+
+For a moment his pursuers were awed; but only for a moment. Two or three
+hands were in an instant at his throat, and a violent struggle and
+altercation ensued.
+
+"Villain!--villain!" cried one man, older than the rest, "ye hae killed
+ane o' the sweetest bairns that ever drew breath. It was an evil hour
+when ye took up your abode in this village!"
+
+"Hold off, old man!" exclaimed Jones; "why do you persecute me so?"
+
+Groans and yells followed.
+
+"I swear before God," he continued, shaking himself free, "that I am
+innocent of this crime!"
+
+The crowd, however, were not to be deterred from giving vent to their
+rage; and matters might have proceeded to an alarming height, had not
+Mr. Manners, the parish minister, who chanced to be passing at the time,
+interfered in his behalf. The old man pushed his way through the crowd,
+and taking Jones by the arm, succeeded in dragging him away. They
+proceeded in the direction of the manse; but, as the mob still followed,
+Mr. Manners did not think it safe to leave him. He accordingly took him
+in along with him; and, closing the garden gate, exhorted the crowd to
+return peaceably to their homes.
+
+For a few moments, some shouting and noise were heard; but they died
+away by degrees, and Jones and his protector stood alone in the quiet
+and secluded garden. The former grasped Mr. Manners by the hand, and
+thanked him cordially.
+
+"Sir," he said, "I have been sorely abused. An unhappy suspicion has
+clung to my name; but innocent I declare I am, although suffering the
+worst consequences of guilt. All men have some sins to weep for; but, as
+I shall answer to my Maker, I swear that I am as innocent of the great
+crime laid to my charge as the unborn child is."
+
+Mr. Manners was a kind-hearted man. He was struck with the
+earnestness--the quiet and subdued fervour with which Jones addressed
+him--and, taking him kindly by the hand--
+
+"Young man," he said, "I am bound to believe what I cannot disprove, and
+what you so solemnly affirm. If there be no truth in your words, you may
+yet repent having so solemnly sworn; but whether true or false, I can
+never repent doing you an act of kindness."
+
+Jones was invited into the house to rest--an invitation which he gladly
+accepted. On entering the lobby, they were met by Miss Manners, who
+started involuntarily on beholding the stranger; but instantly recovered
+herself, and opened the door of the parlour for him to enter. The latter
+bowed politely to her; and, blushing, she returned the salutation. Her
+father desired her to walk in and set some wine upon the table, which
+she did with alacrity and grace.
+
+Miss Manners was a young lady of rather an eccentric disposition. She
+was high-minded, and high-spirited, and not without a dash of romance.
+She was, of course, familiar with the story of the murder, and knew
+Jones well by sight. His appearance, which others regarded as at least
+mysterious-looking, seemed, in her eyes, rather prepossessing than
+otherwise; and when she heard the old women in the village imprecating
+curses on his head, she had uniformly reproved them for judging without
+adequate proof. On the present occasion, there was something in Jones'
+looks and manner peculiarly calculated to confirm her good impression,
+and engage her sympathy. His collar was loosened, and his dress a
+good deal dashed by the rough treatment he had experienced; but the
+expression of his countenance seemed to plead for compassion, and spoke
+eloquently to her heart. She addressed him in a kindly tone of voice;
+inquired what was the matter, and hoped that no accident had occurred.
+The stranger put his hand to his brow, from which the blood had been
+previously wiped, and turned towards the window; while her father
+briefly explained the circumstances of their meeting, of the harsh
+treatment to which Jones had been subjected, and of his own
+interference.
+
+"You did well father!" said the girl; "the people may be mistaken!"
+
+"They _are_ mistaken!" said Jones, turning round with moist eyes. "I
+know not why suspicion should have settled upon me. I led a quiet
+life in the village, harming no one, offending no one; neither had I
+exhibited any of those vices in which great crimes usually originate.
+I was not cruel, revengeful, or choleric: least of all had I shown
+unkindness to her whom they accuse me of having murdered. Lady, I cannot
+expect that you will believe the word of an accused, I may almost say a
+condemned, man; but I shall live in hope that something may yet arise to
+convince you that I am innocent!"
+
+A reply rushed to her lips, but she checked it, and pressed the stranger
+to take some refreshment.
+
+Mr. Manners expressed a hope that the people would not annoy him
+farther; and his daughter ventured to question him as to his returning
+to a place where he was exposed to such insult and persecution.
+
+"Madam," he replied, "where else could I be happy, with such a stigma on
+my character? A man's evil deeds are always more widely trumpeted than
+his good ones; and go where I would, I know that the slander would
+follow me. I have taken a solemn vow, never again to leave this place
+till I can do so with an unsullied character. The feeling that makes a
+man eager to trace a calumny to its source, and exculpate himself in the
+eyes of the world, deters me from flying from reproach. No! I will meet
+my accusers boldly. I have done nothing to cause me to leave the place;
+and what others may say or do, will not drive me from it."
+
+Both Mr. Manners and his daughter pressed him to stay to supper, but he
+declined. He expressed, as well as words could express, how grateful he
+felt for their kindness, and was about to depart, when the old gentleman
+laid one hand on his shoulder, and, grasping his hand frankly with the
+other, said--
+
+"Till it has been proved that you are undeserving of my hospitality, my
+door shall always be open to you; and the more readily, that others are
+closed!"
+
+Jones was a good deal affected, but struggled to conceal his emotion.
+
+"No," he articulated, with a slightly faltering voice, but a steady eye,
+"I will not trouble you with a friendship which might bring odium on
+you. I need not say how delightful it would be to me; but"----
+
+"My father," interrupted Miss Manners, "can easily bear a little burden
+to lighten another's great one. Can you not, father?"
+
+"My good child," he replied, "you know me, and can speak for me. Sir,"
+he added, "my good wishes and prayers attend you."
+
+Jones took his leave, with many expressions of gratitude, when Mr.
+Manners came running after him, with his hat on, to see whether the
+crowd had wholly dispersed, and resolved to accompany him if necessary.
+On reaching the road, however, it was discovered that everything was
+perfectly quiet; and the good man, having escorted him only a short
+distance on his way, left him to his reflections.
+
+It would be difficult to describe the train of thought which passed
+through Jones' mind, as he directed his steps towards the centre of the
+village. Buoyant feelings and hopes, such as he had not experienced for
+years before, suddenly filled his breast: glimmerings of bright thought
+flashed on his mind; were speedily checked, and again burst forth. Some
+of the people were lounging about their doors as he passed; but he
+heeded not--he cared not. He felt happy. Visions of mild grey eyes and
+chesnut ringlets engrossed his senses. They were Miss Manners'. A low
+but sweet voice filled his ears. It was hers. His memory recalled
+certain kindly expressions; and it was her lips that had uttered them.
+On arriving at his lodging, he thought the way had been short; he
+entered, and was welcomed by his old landlady, with whom he had lived
+for years, and who was one of the few who would listen to nothing to his
+discredit.
+
+That night, Jones sat up long, and thought much. The window of his room
+looked down upon the glen, the stream, the corn-mill, and across to the
+high and wooded banks, and upwards to where, on this particular night,
+the full round moon climbed, and threw a glittering bar of light upon
+the water; and never, to the eye of our lonely muser, looked so lonely,
+or shone upon so fair a scene. If, at that moment, he harboured an evil
+thought or an angry feeling, it soon melted in the rising tide of holier
+emotions. The quiet and softness of the night became, for the time, a
+portion of his own being; and the pale light, resting on his features,
+communicated to them much of its gentleness and beauty. For several
+hours he continued in deep reverie. At length he began to feel chilly,
+as the thin watery light, which precedes the dawn, made its appearance;
+and he reluctantly withdrew to rest; but only to dream over the images
+of beauty with which his mind was surcharged.
+
+Next morning broke forth--a benign and balmy Sabbath. He was the
+earliest at church, and lingered the latest in the church-yard. The
+subject of Mr. Manners' discourse was charity; but when the people came
+out, they passed by Jones with a scowl, and went on their several ways,
+talking mysteriously together. Jones, however, had again seen Miss
+Manners. It is uncertain whether or not he threw himself in her way;
+but, whether from design or accident, their eyes met. She bowed
+gracefully to him; but he was not prepared for this public recognition.
+For the moment he felt confused, his heart fluttered, and he passed on
+with two or three hurried steps. This incident, trifling as it was,
+deprived him of a whole night's sleep. He feared he had betrayed some
+awkwardness on the occasion; and yet, somehow or other, he had no
+fear of obtaining her forgiveness. Often and often he walked in the
+neighbourhood of the manse, avoiding being seen by her, but still seeing
+her; or, if not, indulging the delight of being near her. He had no
+heart to walk in any other direction. If he strolled out in the morning,
+or in the quiet of the evening, he proceeded almost instinctively
+towards the manse; and if he passed any distance beyond it, an
+irresistible impulse caused him to retrace his steps.
+
+These lonely walks, often at unseasonable hours, and without any
+apparent object, were not unobserved by the villagers, and gave rise to
+much speculation. Many weeks passed, and still the mystery continued;
+and Jones found, ere long, that he was regarded not only with suspicion,
+but terror. All the petty crimes, too, which occurred in the
+neighbourhood, were set down to his charge; and time, which he thought
+would clear his name, seemed only to blacken it the more. Every means,
+too, were taken to persecute him, and drive him from the place; but
+absence to him was now despair. He was chained to the spot by an
+uncontrollable destiny; and felt that, although pressed to the
+uttermost, he was yet wholly incapable of retreat.
+
+Jones was proprietor of a small property in the village, which had
+been left him by an uncle, and which first induced him to take up his
+residence in that quarter; he had also a small sum of money laid out at
+interest; and, both together, had hitherto yielded him a sufficient
+competency.
+
+One by one, however, the houses on which he chiefly relied became
+tenantless, and nothing seemed to await him but poverty and
+wretchedness.
+
+But then Miss Manners! Like a star in the heavens, she became brighter
+as his prospects darkened; and yet he feared that, like a star, he could
+only admire her at a distance. He had told his love to the listening
+winds; he had whispered it to his pillow; he had mingled his plaint
+with that of the running brooks. But, to human ear, he had breathed it
+neither in sighs nor words. Him, a wanderer and an outcast, what maid
+could ever love? Could he have asked Miss Manners to share happiness
+with him, the case might have been otherwise; but what must be his fate
+when he had only wretchedness to offer? He thought of her till she
+became purely a being of his imagination; and, being all that his
+imagination could paint her, she became too much for him to hope ever
+to possess.
+
+It is difficult to say what, at this early stage of their acquaintance,
+were Miss Manners' feelings towards Jones. Certain it is, however, that
+she had conceived for him a kind of romantic interest. She was eccentric
+in her disposition, but fervent in her attachments; and, without knowing
+much about him, she had, partly from compassion and partly, perhaps,
+from a secret love of being regarded singular, uniformly advocated his
+cause whenever occasion offered.
+
+One evening, two or three young girls were assembled at the manse. They
+were the daughters of a person of some consideration in the place, and
+Miss Manners' occasional associates. After tea, Mr. Manners withdrew to
+his studies; and, as the evening had set in rather cold, the ladies drew
+near the fire to converse.
+
+"Come, now," said Miss Manners, as she stirred the fire till it blazed
+and crackled right merrily, "let us make ourselves comfortable and
+happy. Emily, here"--sitting down beside the dullest of her
+guests--"looks as sad as if she had just lost her sweetheart."
+
+"Oh, she'll be thinking of Willie Green!" said another of the girls.
+
+A third giggled. Emily looked sad; and Miss Manners cheered her by
+remarking that Willie was a very decent fellow.
+
+"He's no sweetheart of mine," said Emily, indifferently, at the same
+time glancing up to the ceiling.
+
+An enormous "Good gracious!" or some such expression, rushed to the eyes
+of another of the girls; but, as Miss Manners had checked her, she did
+not get telling how often she had seen her and Willie together, and how
+well known it was that the day was all but fixed.
+
+"Now, don't tease her," said Miss Manners. "I see we must change the
+subject."
+
+Accordingly, Willie Green was dismissed, and William Jones introduced.
+Every one, except Miss Manners, had something to say against him--some
+frightful story to relate in which he had acted a principal part. One
+told how, on one evening--darker than all other evenings--he had been
+seen lounging in the neighbourhood of such and such a farm; and how,
+next morning, one of the farmer's children died. Another related how he
+had been heard to rave to himself when he thought no one was near; and
+many were the extraordinary casualties in which he was declared to have
+been concerned.
+
+"Pshaw! idle tales," said Miss Manners, who had sat for some time
+silent. "I have seen the man, and do not think him one-half so bad as he
+is represented. Never yet have I met any one who had seen him do a wrong
+action; and yet every one will swell the cry against him. O world!
+world!"
+
+The young ladies were somewhat surprised at the serious tone in which
+Miss Manners spoke, but laughed it off, without attempting to argue
+the matter. How little did they know--how little did Miss Manners
+know--that, at that very time, the man they spoke of was wandering in
+the darkness, not far off, with his eyes fixed on the lighted window of
+the room in which they sat! And, O, what feelings would have filled the
+breast of poor Jones, if he had known that the light on which he gazed
+so intently was rendered still brighter by those eyes which he loved
+best in the world being kindled in his defence.
+
+However, the conversation soon took a lighter turn; and was only
+interrupted, at length, by the appearance of Willie Green, who was
+ushered in "by accident," and seemed very desirous to impress upon all
+present that he had no particular errand. Sly looks were interchanged,
+which no one, of course, saw; and Willie was speedily inducted as one of
+the party. Supper followed, at which Mr. Manners was present; and, when
+the hour of departure came, Miss Manners threw on her bonnet, to trot
+them, as she expressed it, to the garden gate.
+
+On going down the walk, Mr. Green, who was the pink of politeness,
+offered Miss Manners his arm; but the latter knew she would not offend
+him by refusing. One by one, he applied to the other girls; till, as a
+last resource, he made an appeal to Emily, who, after some feeble show
+of following their example, relented; and, while Miss Manners and the
+rest proceeded onwards, Green and Emily lagged gradually behind. Miss
+Manners escorted the party a considerable distance on their way, and
+then bade them good night. Mr. Green offered to accompany her back; but
+she broke off, saying she was not afraid. The night was rather dark;
+but, in truth, it was not late; and she tripped on her way homewards
+without fear of molestation.
+
+As she approached the garden, however, she saw the figure of a man
+walking on before her, with that slow and apparently lounging step which
+indicates the absence of any pressing or definite object. It was Jones.
+Her heart failed her for a moment; but, instantly recovering herself,
+she proceeded on her way, and passed him. It was dark. There was no one
+else near. A rush of frightful thoughts came upon her mind; her step
+faltered; and she felt as if about to faint.
+
+This was a moment, with Jones, of intense--of overwhelming emotion. He
+had heard her light step behind him, but knew not that it was hers. No
+sooner, however, had her graceful form caught his eye, than a strange
+wildness of thought and feeling seized him, approaching almost to
+delirium. She was alone. He had long wished for such an opportunity to
+declare his passion; and yet, now that it had arrived, he trembled to
+embrace it. To allow it to pass was, in all probability, to entail upon
+himself many more weeks or months of racking anxiety, uncertainty, and
+suspense; and yet to embrace it was, perhaps, to set the last seal to
+his despair. On such a subject he could have debated for weeks; but now,
+the least hesitation, and the opportunity was lost.
+
+While these contending thoughts distracted his mind, Miss Manners
+started, and almost paused, as if seized with a sudden panic. This fixed
+his resolution.
+
+"Dear lady!" he said, in a bland and tremulous voice, "you seem
+frightened. I trust it is not of me you are afraid. Believe me, you are
+near one who would protect, not harm you."
+
+"Who are you?" she inquired, faintly.
+
+"Who am I?" he replied. "In truth, I can hardly tell you who I am. I am
+one, madam, lost both to himself and the world--an outcast--a wanderer
+in solitary places--a madman--a dreamer! O, sweet lady!--but I am wrong
+to speak thus."
+
+"I know you now," she said, gaining courage; "your name is Jones, is it
+not?"
+
+"Ay, madam," he answered, "that is my unfortunate name; but, if the
+world knew all--or if you knew all, I would not care for the world."
+
+"Tell me," she said, but with some hesitation, as if in doubt whether it
+was proper to stay.
+
+"I will, if you'll forgive me," he said; "but my story is, perhaps,
+long. Will you walk on?"
+
+Miss Manners proceeded slowly along, with Jones at her side.
+
+"I have now," resumed the latter, "resided for nearly six years in this
+village. In my intercourse with the world I had been unfortunate, and
+retirement was what I sought. I found it here; and, between the study of
+books and nature, I felt myself happy, and associated but little with my
+neighbours. I do not weary you?"
+
+"No," said Miss Manners; "go on."
+
+"At length," he continued, "I began to feel that marriage would be an
+addition to my happiness; and, accordingly, I cast my eyes round among
+the fair maidens of the village. They fell upon the unfortunate Jessie
+Renton. She lived within a few doors of me, and I had often seen and
+admired her in my walks. I thought I loved her--for, at that time, I had
+not learned what true love was--and offered to make her my wife. I
+dealt candidly and openly with her. In education, I need not say that I
+knew she was much beneath me; but she seemed warm-hearted and docile,
+and I thought it would be a loving pastime for me to make her my pupil.
+I was not ignorant, however, that she had other lovers; and, although
+she certainly encouraged my addresses, I saw reason to discontinue my
+suit. About this time, the awful event took place, the particulars of
+which are already known to you; and, simply because I had been abroad on
+the evening of the murder, and near the fatal spot, and partly, no
+doubt, from the circumstance of my attachment, which I had taken no
+pains to conceal, suspicion fastened upon me. I will not--indeed I
+cannot--tell you what laceration of feeling--what distraction of mind--I
+have since suffered. But you--you, O lady! is it wonderful that I should
+love you?--you who, when all the world was against me, spoke kindly to
+me?--you----forgive me, but I love--I adore you; day and night you have
+been my dream--my idol! But I rave; and yet, do not think me quite mad;
+for I know I am partly so, and madness knows not itself. O lady!--pardon
+me! but my heart will not let my tongue speak, lest it should wrong
+it--could my _heart_ speak, could"----
+
+"Sir--sir!" interrupted Miss Manners; "this is frenzy! I beg, sir, you
+will desist. So sudden--so"----
+
+"Sudden!" exclaimed Jones. "My love may have been sudden; but, for
+weeks, for months, it has taken possession of me. But, pardon me,
+madam," he added, in a calmer tone. "Do not mistake me. I know too well
+that I dare not hope; but an humble offering may be laid upon a lofty
+shrine. All I ask is your compassion; say only you pity me, and I shall
+embalm the words in my memory for ever!"
+
+Miss Manners _did_ pity him; but begged him, as he valued his own
+happiness, to banish from his mind all such thoughts as he had
+expressed.
+
+"Ah, madam," said he, "ask me to part with life, and I may obey you;
+but, while life remains, I never can cease to love you."
+
+They had now reached the entrance to the garden; and Miss Manners held
+out her hand, saying--
+
+"Good night."
+
+Jones took the hand. There was no glove on it; and, gently raising it,
+he pressed it to his lips.
+
+"Madam," he articulated, "good night; farewell. While you are asleep, I
+shall be thinking of you. On this road, gazing on the window of the room
+in which I think you are, I shall enjoy more rest than anywhere else I
+can go."
+
+He was about to add something more; but his utterance became choked;
+and, again pressing her hand to his lips, while a tear fell on it, he
+turned abruptly away. Miss Manners said not a word--her heart was too
+full--but closed the gate behind her and disappeared. Jones listened. He
+heard her step as she went up the gravel walk, and he heard nothing
+more. The night was, by this time, fearfully dark, and everything around
+him was silent. He walked on a short distance, returned, and again
+walked on. His mind was whirling and confused. He tried to recollect
+every word which Miss Manners had said, and by this means to get at the
+real state of her feelings; but he was too much agitated for reflection.
+On gaining his lodging, he felt faint, and put himself immediately to
+bed. All night long he tossed about in sleepless excitement; and, in the
+morning, fell into a feverish doze, broken by unintelligible dreams.
+When he awoke, he rose up, and felt so giddy as to be unable to stand,
+and again went to bed. During the day, he felt shivering and unwell;
+and, the next day, the same symptoms continued, and with increased
+violence. Another day arrived--another, and another--and all
+consciousness left him. Several weeks elapsed, and found him still
+bedridden, but convalescent; and it was nearly three months before he
+was enabled to venture out, and then only when the sun was warm.
+
+"You have been long out, Marion," said Mr. Manners to his daughter, as
+she returned from her accidental interview with Jones. "I was afraid
+some accident had befallen you."
+
+"No," said Miss Manners, whose eyes were slightly inflamed; for, somehow
+or other, she had wept before entering the house: "no accident."
+
+"Child," said her father, "what has happened--you look ill!"
+
+Miss Manners told all--her meeting with Jones, and his passionate
+declaration; but, notwithstanding that her father conjured her not to
+think of him, she thought of him all night long.
+
+The news of Jones' illness spread rapidly through the village; but, as
+might be expected, excited little sympathy. With the exception of Mr.
+Manners and the surgeon of the village, no one looked near his abode;
+and many were the remarks made by the gossips, that few tears would be
+shed for him, and that he might bless heaven he was allowed to die in
+bed. From the manse, however, he received much attention. Anxious
+inquiries concerning the state of his health were made almost daily,
+accompanied, occasionally, with presents of wine and jellies. This
+afforded Jones delightful materials for reflection; and, while his
+health continued to improve, he occupied his mind with dreams of the
+future, which his better judgment told him were too bright ever to be
+realised.
+
+It was on a mild spring morning that the poor invalid sallied forth, for
+the first time, since his illness. He was still rather pale and feeble;
+but the air was warm for the season, and he felt happy on being released
+from his confinement. His appearance, as he walked through the village,
+brought the people to their doors as before; and the old remarks about
+"the man that was tried for murder," were made from mouth to mouth.
+Nevertheless, he was allowed to pass unmolested, and was soon clear
+of the houses. The effect of natural scenery, and more particularly,
+perhaps, of the weather, on the animal spirits, has often been remarked,
+and the pleasing train of thought which now passed through the mind of
+our hero, might partly have arisen from this cause. The sun was
+unshaded, and the road warm and dry. On either side, the leaves were
+budding from the hedges, and the cheerful warbling of birds infused a
+delicious and summer-like feeling into his heart. He had gone out
+without any precise object, and merely to enjoy a walk in the fresh
+air--so delightful after long confinement to a sick chamber; but his
+steps had led him almost involuntarily in the direction of the manse. On
+reaching the gate, he stopped, loitered on for a few yards, and again
+stopped. He then turned back and hesitated, and at last made bold to
+enter. As he wound his way slowly up the walk, which was neatly laid off
+on either side with flowers and shrubbery, he felt more collected than,
+under the circumstances, he could have imagined possible; and, in a few
+moments, he was seated in the neat drawing-room of the manse, pouring
+out his gratitude to Miss Manners for the kindness and attention he had
+experienced during his illness.
+
+While the two sat conversing together, Mr. Manners entered. He
+congratulated Jones on his recovery; but the latter did not fail to
+observe that his manner towards him was less frank than formerly. The
+truth is, that the old man was a good deal alarmed for his daughter,
+whom he had warned to discourage his addresses; and, although desirous
+to treat him with kindness, endeavoured to avoid everything which might
+seem an approval of his suit. Jones had the good sense not to prolong
+his visit; and, after cordially repeating his thanks for the various
+acts of kindness he had experienced, rose up and took his leave.
+
+To her poor lover, Miss Manners had never appeared so lovely as on this
+occasion. He left the house with the intention of never beholding her
+more; but scarcely had he quitted her presence, than he felt that to
+remain long away were impossible. Her beauty; her goodness; her kind
+words; her kinder looks; all--all rushed to his mind; and his feelings,
+which had been somewhat calmed by his illness, acquired even more than
+their wonted fire. Day after day, as he continued to gather strength, he
+revisited all his old haunts, and felt as if he had just returned from a
+sojourn in a distant land. Everything was new and fresh; but, with every
+scene, old feelings were associated. To him Miss Manners was still the
+presiding genius of the place, from whom it derived all its beauty, and
+to whom the worship of his heart was involuntarily offered.
+
+Meanwhile, Miss Manners had received strict injunctions from her father
+not to receive his visits except when he himself was at home. To this
+course he had been urged, not so much by his own feelings towards him,
+as by the advice of his friends. Indeed, Jones was rather a favourite
+with him. He would willingly have done much to serve him; and yet, when
+the happiness of his daughter was at stake, he often reflected on the
+awful consequences which might ensue, if he were really the guilty
+wretch whom so many suspected he was.
+
+About this time a circumstance occurred, which put an end to his doubts.
+
+Among those who mourned the unhappy fate of the poor village maiden,
+the grief of her lover, George Merrideth, had been observed to be the
+wildest. For some days, he had wandered about like one demented; and
+all who witnessed, respected and commiserated his anguish. Latterly,
+however, he had disappeared entirely from the public view; and it was
+hinted by some, that his mind had been seriously affected by the
+occurrence. One morning, Mr. Manners was suddenly sent for to attend at
+his deathbed. When he entered, the patient had fallen into a kind of
+dozing sleep; and he was motioned to a seat near the bed. The light was
+almost entirely excluded from the chamber; and the only other person
+present was the mother of the dying lad, who was a widow. She was wasted
+with grief and watching, and seemed just such a figure as a painter
+would have chosen to heighten the melancholy of such a scene. As she
+came round and whispered some scarcely articulate words into the
+clergyman's ear, her son murmured in his sleep, became restless, and
+woke as in terror. Mr. Manners spoke to him in soothing words, and
+referred to a state of happiness hereafter.
+
+"Aha!" cried he, "can I enter heaven with my hand bloody? Her spirit is
+sainted. I could not go near it. Oh no--no--never--never."
+
+"Of what is it he speaks?" inquired Mr. Manners.
+
+"Oh, sir!" answered his mother, "his thoughts are wandering. I canna
+think he killed the lassie he loved."
+
+"Ay, mother," said the youth, with an effort, "this hand did it. O
+fool!--cut it off--off with it--it is not my hand--my hand never would
+have done it. Oh--oh--mother--Jessie."
+
+Mr. Manners was dumb with amazement. It was but too evident from whence
+the agony of the youth flowed, and he sat regarding him with looks of
+awe and terror.
+
+"It grows dark," continued the patient; "but, softly. You know I loved
+you when you were a child; but now you love another!--ay, that's it--you
+will not be mine! It grows still darker!--ha, ha, ha!--fly--fly!--it is
+done! O God! if I could draw back!"
+
+The dying man waxed wilder in his ravings. After a time, however, he
+became comparatively calm; and, on Mr. Manners addressing him,
+recognised his voice.
+
+"Ah, that voice!" he said. "I have often heard it. I have not attended
+to its counsel; but if it could console--oh, no, I cannot be consoled.
+Your hand, sir!--forgive--forgive."
+
+"Do not ask forgiveness of me," said Mr. Manners. "May God in his mercy
+pardon you!"
+
+The wretched youth muttered a kind of incoherent prayer, while his
+mother dropped on her knees by the bed-side. All afterwards was wildness
+and despair, only relieved by intervals of exhaustion. Mr. Manners
+continued to administer such consolation as the circumstances of the
+case admitted of, and did not leave the house till the voice of the
+guilty man had become hushed in death, and nothing broke the silence but
+the moanings of the afflicted mother.
+
+Several days had now passed since Jones visited the manse; and he could
+hold out no longer. On the very day on which Mr. Manners was engaged in
+the melancholy duty we have described, the unhappy lover bent his steps
+thither, with an anxious and fluttering heart. As he walked up the
+garden, he observed Miss Manners watering a small bed, in which she
+had planted some favourite flowers. The young lady was a good deal
+embarrassed on beholding him. Her father's injunctions against receiving
+his visits had made a deep impression on her mind, and she had directed
+the servant, the next time he called, to say that she could not be seen.
+Now, however, there was no escape. Jones walked towards her with a
+smile of mingled fear and admiration; and, if not with cordiality, she
+received him at least with politeness. Their conversation, as they
+strolled through the garden, was at first embarrassed, but became more
+free by degrees, and assumed at length an almost confidential tone. To
+a person of a romantic disposition, Jones' conversation was in a high
+degree fascinating; and his companion in this delightful walk did not
+conceal the pleasure with which she listened to it. His candour and
+unreserve she admired; his misfortunes she commiserated; and, with much
+that he said she could not fail to be both interested and flattered.
+Nevertheless, she avoided any word by which she thought she might give
+encouragement to his hopes; while he, on the other hand, although freely
+expressing his passion, was careful to avoid a syllable which might lead
+her to believe that, in his present disgrace and poverty, he presumed to
+the honour of her hand. After wandering about for some time, their souls
+melting into each other, Miss Manners could not resist inviting him into
+the house to rest. Scarcely, however, had they seated themselves in the
+parlour, when Mr. Manners appeared. He entered with rather a hasty step,
+and his manner was a good deal agitated. On perceiving Jones, he bowed
+to him, then turning to his daughter--
+
+"My child!" he said.
+
+"What is it?" inquired Miss Manners, in a tone of alarm.
+
+"Have you," he continued, "forgotten my injunctions?"
+
+Miss Manners cast her eyes on the ground, and seemed displeased at being
+taken to task before a stranger.
+
+Jones, observing her embarrassment, said--
+
+"Sir, I shall be sorry if my presence here should occasion you any
+uneasiness. Believe me, I am the last person in the world to intrude
+where I am not welcome. It will, no doubt, cost me a pang, sir; but if
+it be your wish that I should not see your daughter more, I shall try to
+tear my heart from her--I shall go and hide myself in obscurity, and
+endeavour to forget all I have most loved in this world!"
+
+Mr. Manners raised his hand, as if commanding silence, and gazed
+stedfastly on his daughter. The latter looked up to him with tears in
+her eyes, and exclaimed--
+
+"I think Mr. Jones is innocent!"
+
+"He _is_ innocent," said the old man, emphatically. "Come to my arms,
+both!"
+
+Both moved forward and took the hand he offered, but with amazement
+depicted on their countenances.
+
+"Oh, my children!" he said, "I have witnessed such a scene!"
+
+The old man sat down on the sofa, and, for a few moments, covered his
+eyes with his hands.
+
+"I have been," he, at length, proceeded, "by the dying bed of the poor
+village maiden's murderer--I have heard the fearful confession from his
+own lips. O God! may I never behold such another deathbed!"
+
+Jones dropped on his knee, and Miss Manners clasped her hands as in mute
+prayer.
+
+"Thank God!" at length exclaimed the latter; "the innocent will no
+longer suffer for the guilty!"
+
+"No!" said the old man. "Mr. Jones, you have been deeply wronged."
+
+"Ay," said Jones; "but not by you. From you only have I received
+kindness--kindness often better deserved, but never more needed--often,
+perhaps, bestowed, but never received with deeper gratitude. While every
+door was barred against me, yours was open--while every heart"----
+
+His utterance became choked, and he was altogether unable to proceed.
+Mr. Manners shook him warmly by the hand; and, with many expressions of
+thankfulness, Jones withdrew, leaving Miss Manners in tears.
+
+On returning homewards, it was obvious that the news of Merrideth's
+death, together with its fearful revelations, had spread like wildfire
+through the village. How different was Jones' reception!--nods,
+recognitions, congratulations, cheers, wherever he passed! Of these,
+however, he thought not: he thought only of the girl he had left behind
+him weeping. That very night he again repaired to the manse. He went
+often; and every succeeding time seemed to be made more welcome.
+
+A pleasant--a delightful change had now taken place in his feelings. The
+consciousness of having outlived the slander which had so long sullied
+his name, filled his bosom with a sensation of honest pride, and
+inspired him with a degree of ease and confidence which he had not
+previously experienced. Miss Manners was scarcely less gratified by the
+mystery having been at length cleared up, and the public mind disabused.
+From her first interview with Jones, she had entertained a strong
+impression of his innocence; and the fact of her good opinion of
+him being confirmed, she regarded with feelings almost of triumph.
+Accordingly, their meetings were mutually delightful. If, at any
+time, the latter doubted the propriety of encouraging his visits, the
+reflection that she had done right, in the first instance, in following
+the dictates of her heart, caused her to continue in the same course.
+The truth is, she pitied Jones; and pity, it is well known, is akin to a
+still tenderer emotion.
+
+Two or three weeks after the scene we have described, there was a small
+evening party at the manse. It was given in honour of Mr. and Mrs.
+Green, who had just been a few days married. The young couple were
+ushered into the drawing-room in gay attire, and with their faces
+wreathed into still gayer smiles; and, in the fair bride, Jones, who
+was, of course, present, recognized the lady who had, on one occasion,
+betrayed so much alarm on his doing her a trifling act of kindness. The
+affair, in the absence of more important topic of conversation, was
+talked and laughed over; and the bride acknowledged herself to have
+been a very silly girl. All the company were soon in high spirits, and
+the merriment was kept up till it was near midnight. On separating, the
+company could not help expressing their admiration of the serenity of
+the night. It was a clear, lovely moonlight; and the exquisite stillness
+and beauty of the scene caused some of the younger individuals of the
+party to regret that they had spent so much time within doors. When they
+reached the gate, Miss Manners, who had accompanied them through the
+garden, bade them "good night." "Good night," said they, and parted; but
+Jones, who was the last to shake hands with her, could not part. He
+lingered, pressed her hand, wished her "good night," and still lingered.
+
+"I must escort you a little way back," he at length said; and,
+accordingly, the two strolled up the garden, hand in hand--she speaking
+of the lateness of the hour, and he of the loveliness of the moon and
+stars, until night, moon, and stars, were all forgotten.
+
+After a few moments' silence, Jones suddenly paused, and, pressing her
+hand in both of his, said--
+
+"Marion, I would we might never part. I never leave you without pain."
+
+"I know not why it should be so," she said; "but you must just come back
+the oftener."
+
+"Ay," said he; "but even to be absent from you a little while, is
+torture."
+
+"I fear," she said, "you are but a poor philosopher."
+
+"Ah," he replied, "philosophy can do many things, but it cannot cure the
+heartache. O Marion! I love to call you by that name! It is in your
+power to end all my anxieties: a word--a word will do it! How say you?
+May I hope? Nay, I do hope; but, may I call you by that name?"
+
+"What name?" interrupted Miss Manners, tremulously.
+
+"That name, dear heart, which is the tenderest man can bestow on woman?"
+
+Her reply was inaudible. Jones, however, kissed her lips, and she
+forbade him not. On parting, he again kissed her, and returned to his
+lodgings with feelings of unmixed ecstacy.
+
+A few weeks passed--they were weeks of delicious expectancy, of
+unrestrained intercourse, of active preparation; and the event which was
+to crown their happiness was duly solemnized. It was a day of great
+rejoicing in the village; and, as they dashed off on their marriage
+jaunt, they were honoured with the blessings and cheers of a large crowd
+of people who had assembled to wish them joy. On returning, a few days
+afterwards, similar demonstrations of respect awaited them; and they
+continued to live in the neighbourhood, greatly esteemed and beloved by
+all who knew them--esteemed for their many virtues, and beloved for
+their simple and unostentatious manners.
+
+One little incident, which happened many years afterwards, is perhaps
+worth relating. An old man, who had been long unable to work, and to
+whom Jones had shown much kindness, grasped him one day by the hand, and
+said--
+
+"Sir, I once struck you on the head with a stone; do you forgive me?"
+
+"I do," was the reply; "but you must not do so again."
+
+
+
+
+THE SERGEANT'S TALES.
+
+THE PALANTINES.[G]
+
+
+Of all the countless numbers that take their pleasure walks upon the
+Calton Hill of Edinburgh, none that do not remember it an isolated spot,
+of awkward access, can have any recollection of Sergeant Square's tall
+and gaunt figure, his cue, cocked hat, gaiters, and military appearance,
+as he took his daily promenade around the airy and delightful walks, or
+sat upon its highest point, where Nelson's Monument now stands, in
+stately solitude, as if he had been the genius of the hill, resting his
+square and bony chin on the top of his gold-headed cane, with his
+immense hands serving as a cushion between. Thus would he sit for hours,
+gazing on the busy scene beneath, as if he knew what occupied the
+bustling crowds, and directed their labours according to the impulse of
+his will. We had passed and repassed each other in our walks for weeks,
+before any approach to recognition took place between us. I was the
+first to make an advance, by giving him a slight bow, as we passed; this
+he returned, and an acquaintance soon ripened into intimacy. Under his
+stiff and formal air, I found one of the most kind and communicative
+hearts I ever communed with. It is long since I laid his head in the
+grave; and I never visit the hill, but memory conjures up his
+remarkable figure, as vividly as if we stood face to face, till I almost
+think I may meet him at each turn, while I saunter along, lost in musing
+on days that are gone. I may meet with new piles of stone and mortar
+profaning the sacred spot; but, Sergeant Square I shall never meet there
+again! But to proceed. It was on that day the 42d regiment marched into
+Edinburgh, after their return from Egypt, that we were enjoying our
+usual walk. It was a spirit-stirring time, and our talk was of war, and
+the gallant exploits of our countrymen. His eye flashed; his gold-headed
+cane rested on his shoulder as if it had been a musket; his walk became
+a march; he was evidently thinking of the battles he had been in;
+when, embracing the opportunity, I requested a short account of his
+adventures. It was some time before he took any notice of my request,
+so completely was his mind absorbed in his own recollections. We had
+reached the north-east angle of the hill before he spoke. At length he
+seated himself on the smooth green turf--I by his side; and, after a
+pause--
+
+"If you have the patience to listen to me," he said, "I do not care if I
+do give you some account of what I have seen, suffered, and enjoyed in
+this strange world."
+
+  [G] Palantine--a name given by the Americans and seamen, to
+  kidnapped individuals, or those who went out voluntarily to be indented,
+  for a time agreed upon, with any person in America willing to pay the
+  sum of money required by the captain for their passage out. The famous
+  Williamson, who first invented the penny-post and directories, obtained
+  damages from the magistrates of Aberdeen for suppressing his narrative,
+  in which he exposed them for this traffic.--ED.
+
+"It is of small importance," he began, "where a man was born, or who was
+his father--his own actions must bring him fame or shame. The first
+sounds that ever attracted my particular attention, were those of the
+music bells of old St. Giles', and the firing of the guns in Edinburgh
+Castle. I had reached my twelfth year, when my father, who was a
+Jacobite, joined the Highland army at Duddingstone, while Prince Charles
+was in Holyrood House, and I never saw him again. My mother, who was
+weakly at the time, and our circumstances very poor--for my father was
+only a day-labourer--took it so much to heart that she survived only a
+few months, and I was thrown destitute upon my own resources, which,
+God knows, were scant enough. I was tall and stout for my age, and
+roughed it out, ragged, hungry, and cold, about the city, for three
+years and some months--running messages, or doing any little thing I
+could get to do for a piece of bread or a mouthful of victuals; and
+choosing the warmest stair, or any other convenient place, for a
+bedroom. Rough as this training was, I was far from being unhappy; for I
+had my enjoyments, humble as they were--as yet innocent, and as keenly
+relished as if they had been those of luxury. These few years of
+hardships were soon to be of eminent service to me--perhaps the means of
+saving my life.
+
+It was the spring of the year. The winter had been very severe, and I
+was rejoicing in the thought of summer, which, for the poor, has fewer
+wants and less of suffering. Loitering, as usual, upon the High Street,
+hungry enough, and looking for some little job to earn a breakfast, I
+was accosted by a rough-looking man, rather genteelly dressed, who
+inquired if I would carry a parcel for him to Leith, and he would give
+me a sixpence. My heart bounding with joy at the rich reward, I said I
+would. Whereupon he inquired if my parents would not be angry at my
+going, or my master, if I had one. I told him I had neither parent nor
+master, not even a friend in the world to find fault with me how I spent
+my time. A grim smile of satisfaction came over his countenance; he put
+the offered sixpence again into his pocket, and gave me a small paper
+parcel, with the direction where I was to carry it; adding, as I stood
+waiting for my reward--'Run quick, like a good boy. Tell them to give
+you some breakfast, and wait until I come and give you the sixpence.'
+Away I ran, like a greyhound from the slip, to get a breakfast and earn
+my sixpence. Swift as was my flight, never did the Canongate or the
+Easter Road--the only one to Leith from Edinburgh at this time--appear
+so long to me. When I arrived at the house to which I had been
+directed, in one of the dark alleys near the shore, I was ushered into a
+small, darkened room. A stout, thick-set man, in a seaman's dress, heard
+my message, received my parcel, without once opening his lips, and
+locked the door.
+
+Hungry, disappointed, and alarmed at this unlooked-for reception, I
+stood for some time lost in amazement. At length I looked around; there
+was no furniture in the room, not even so much as a seat of any kind. My
+fears became excessive. I screamed to be set at liberty, and beat upon
+the door with my hands and feet, until I sank upon the floor from
+fatigue, and burst out into a fit of weeping. No answer was made, nor
+any notice taken of my efforts. I looked through my tears at the window;
+but it was high, small, and strongly secured with iron stanchels. I had
+lain thus on the floor for an hour or two, when I heard the key turn in
+the lock. I sprung to my feet as the door opened; and the same person
+entered, bearing a pewter tankard of beer, some bread, and salt beef. A
+thick stick under his arm caught my eye, and excited new terrors. He set
+the victuals upon the floor, and then, brandishing the bludgeon over
+my head, threatened to beat my brains out if I made such a noise
+again--giving, in pure cruelty and wantonness of power, a few blows
+across the shoulders, to teach me, as he said, what I might expect if I
+did not attend to his orders. Pointing to the food, he surlily ordered
+me to eat, and immediately again locked the door. Hungry as I had been a
+short time before, my heart was too full for me to eat; and the blows I
+had received pained me very much. I sat down and wept more bitterly than
+I had done; but the hunger of a boy is keener than his grief--so I at
+length made a hearty meal, moistened by my tears, and wept myself
+asleep.
+
+How long I had lain thus I had no means of ascertaining. I was roused
+by the voice of mirth and singing in another apartment. All was dark; so
+much so, I could not even distinguish the small grated window from the
+dead walls. I listened for some time in surprise, and would fain have
+persuaded myself I had been in an unpleasant dream; but my shoulders
+were still sore, and the small basket and tankard, I felt, were still at
+my side. For some time I revolved in my mind what step to take--whether
+to remain quiet, or knock upon the door, and implore my liberty--at
+least to be made acquainted with the cause of my being detained. At
+length my suspense became so unbearable that I resolved to brave every
+danger, and began to knock at the door, for which I had groped, tapping
+gently at first, and gradually knocking louder and louder. The voice of
+my jailor, evidently in extreme anger, again sounded fearfully through
+the key-hole--'Be quiet, or I will come in and beat your noisy body to a
+mummy.' I shrunk from the door, and leaned upon the wall, as far from
+him as the small dimensions of the room would admit, trembling, in
+fearful expectation of his entrance. While I stood thus, a prey to the
+keenest anguish, the mirth and jollity for a time increased, and at
+length grew fainter and fainter, until it ceased. All was still for a
+little; then I heard the noise of footsteps approaching the door of my
+prison-room, and a sound as if something was in the act of being dragged
+along the passage. The key was placed in the door, and it opened. My
+heart beat as if it would have burst my bosom, when I saw the ruffian
+who had locked me up, and another like himself, dragging what appeared
+to me to be the dead body of a man. I uttered a suppressed scream, and
+must have fallen to the ground, had I not been pent up in the corner. My
+eyes were as if they would have started from their sockets, and I could
+not withdraw them from the horrid sight. One of the men held a lanthorn
+in his left hand, which threw a feeble light upon the group; while,
+with his right hand, he grasped the left arm of the body; and, his
+companion exerting all his strength, they dragged it to the side of the
+room, and dropped it upon the floor. A stifled groan issued from it,
+which thrilled through my ears like an order for my execution; and I
+would have darted from the spot, wild with despair, although I saw the
+eyes of both watching me, as they deposited the body, with a malignant
+grin of satisfaction; but my limbs refused to obey my will, and I stood
+the image of despair. The men spoke not a word, but, retiring, locked
+the door upon me, and left me with a thing my nature revolted from.
+Scarce were they gone when similar sounds fell upon my ear, and they
+again entered with a second victim. This was more than I could endure: a
+wild energy came over me; I sank upon my knees, and implored them not to
+murder me, or leave me alone with the bodies, for mercy's sake! I sank
+upon the floor, and grasped their legs in the fervency of my
+supplications. With a fiendish laugh, they spurned me from them; and,
+as they locked the door, growled--
+
+'What does the fool mean?--beware, the cudgel!'
+
+As the sound of the closing and locking of the door died away, I was
+roused from my stupor of fear to an agony of terror, that drove me
+almost to madness. A movement in one of the bodies, accompanied by deep
+guttural sounds, indicated that the objects of my terror were coming to
+life again, or were not yet quite dead. This produced new terrors, and I
+dashed myself upon the door, uttering the most piercing cries. The
+ruffians again entered, and beat me without mercy; but I was now beyond
+the fear of personal suffering; and I really believe, so intense was my
+feeling of fear and horror, that I would have leaped into a furnace to
+avoid or free myself from my situation. Their threats and blows were
+vain. I reiterated my cries more intensely; for I saw both the bodies
+become apparently animated, and turn their dull, stupid gaze on me, as
+I struggled to wrench myself from the grasp of the ruffians. Our
+struggle was short; for one of them set down the lanthorn, forced down
+my arms behind me, and held me fast, while the other dropped the cudgel
+with which he had been beating me, and, taking a piece of rope-yarn from
+his jacket pocket, bound my wrists behind my back; he then deliberately
+took the large key out of the lock of the door, placed it in my mouth,
+across between my teeth, tied it firm behind my head, and so effectively
+gagged me, that I could not utter a sound. How I retained my reason at
+this fearful period I know not, for I expected death every moment; and
+there was a misty vagueness about my fate that had even greater terror
+than death itself. As soon as I was thus silenced, they stood grinning
+at my agony for a minute before either spoke. At length--
+
+'This is a troublesome customer enough, for noise part,' said the first
+ruffian to the other; 'but he will now be quiet enough, I think. I wish
+the boat were come, or we shall have plenty on our hands soon, when
+these two have slept it off. It is full tide now, and they were to have
+been here an hour ere flow. What can detain the lubbers, think you?'
+
+'Can't say,' replied the other; 'perhaps something is in their way.
+There they are.'
+
+At this moment a low whistle sounded faintly into the room, as if coming
+from under the window. One of the men answered by a similar whistle, and
+both left the room; and in a few minutes four sailors entered, and,
+taking up one of the objects of my dread, carried it out. One of the
+ruffians then assisted me to rise, and, holding me by the collar,
+dragged me out of the house after them, down to the Ferry-boat Stairs at
+the quay, more dead than alive. The four seamen had placed their burden
+in a boat that lay there. I was placed beside it. It lay inanimate; and
+I, seated on one of the thwarts, was guarded by two seamen, who kept
+watch, while the four were away for the other victim. At length they
+came, deposited their burden beside the other, pushed off from the pier,
+and rowed out of the harbour's mouth. As they pulled along, I felt my
+spirits revive, the fear of immediate death passed from my mind; and,
+besides, I was in company with living beings like myself, however cruel
+they might be. Before we reached the beacon, the ruffian who had first
+locked me up, and who was now in the boat with us, loosened the key from
+my mouth, and undid the cord from my hands, which had begun to swell,
+from the tight manner in which they were tied. This act almost relieved
+me of my fears; still all was silence in the boat, not a word had as yet
+been spoken by any one; but afterwards, as we gained distance from the
+shore, they began to converse.
+
+'So the Betsy sails to-morrow, without fail,' said the first ruffian.
+
+'She does,' was the answer of the seaman.
+
+'Why has her stay been so short this trip?' again asked the man. 'We
+will make but a poor job of it. We have only nabbed five.'
+
+'Why, I think you have done pretty well,' answered the sailor;
+'twenty-five pounds for two days' work is good pay. Old Satan, you are
+never content.'
+
+'None of your slack, mate,' rejoined the other; 'I won't stand it. Two
+days more would have made it fifty or better; and no man, more than I,
+would be content with one half of what he might and ought to have.'
+
+'I believe we are full, old Grumbler,' said the tar; 'others are more
+active than you; but here, we are just alongside of the Betsy. Ship,
+ahoy! Throw us a rope! Are you all asleep?'
+
+In a few minutes, a rope was thrown; it was made fast by the fore
+thwarts, when the ruffians and mate went on board, and remained for
+some time. At length the mate returned, and, holding the end of the rope
+from the vessel, ordered me to ascend, which I did with difficulty. My
+two companions were then hoisted on board, being fastened to a rope, and
+dragged up by the crew of the vessel. As soon as they were on deck, the
+ruffians descended into a boat without speaking a word, and put off for
+the harbour.
+
+When it was gone, I was conducted to the hold of the vessel; and the
+two companions of my adventure were carried, and placed beside me. My
+terror of them had now entirely fled; for, from their contortions and
+half-muttered expressions, I had perceived they were not dead, but in a
+beastly state of intoxication. Even to be from under the same roof with
+the cause of my sufferings was to me a change much for the better. With
+a mind comparatively at ease, I fell asleep upon the hard deck, where I
+had at first taken my station, and remained in happy unconsciousness
+until I was awoke after sunrise, in consequence of the bustle and noise
+around me. For a few minutes I revolved the events of the preceding day
+and night in my mind, and shuddered as the recollection dawned upon me.
+Raising myself upon my elbow, I gazed around as well as the obscurity
+would permit (for the main hatch was closed), and saw the two young men
+who had caused me so much alarm, lying close beside me, in a profound
+sleep, and breathing very heavily. I attempted to rise; but felt so sick
+and giddy that I could not keep my feet, from the motion of the vessel.
+I longed for the presence of some of the crew; but none of them came
+near us. The two lads at length awoke from their sleep, bewildered and
+sick almost to death; they gazed around them with a vacant stare, as if
+they had just passed into a new state of existence. They spoke not a
+word; their minds were occupied in examining all around them, and, as I
+thought, ascertaining their own identity. Young as I was, had I been at
+ease, I could have enjoyed the extraordinary scene before me; but, alas!
+I was a partaker of all the feelings that were passing in their minds.
+At length they broke silence--
+
+'Willie, Willie, what's come owre us now?' cried Peter.
+
+'Indeed I do not know, Peter,' replied he; 'but I fear it is no good.'
+
+'What good can be expected from such company as we were in last night?'
+continued the first, 'and such drinking as we had. O Willie, had you
+come away when I wanted--but I am as bad as you, or I would have left
+you when I threatened.'
+
+'There is no use to reflect upon what is done, when it cannot be
+undone,' said his friend. 'I fear the deceitful scoundrels drugged our
+liquor; for I have no recollection of anything that occurred after your
+proposing to leave them.'
+
+Then, addressing me, he asked if I knew where they were, or in what
+ship. I answered that I did not, further than that, from what I had seen
+and heard, I thought we were on board of a vessel they called the Betsy;
+and then gave them an account of all I had witnessed the evening before.
+The younger of the two began to weep like a child; while the other,
+whose rage knew no bounds, swore fearfully at the two ruffians who had
+betrayed them into their present situation. When he became more calm, I
+requested him to explain himself; and learned from him his own history
+and that of his companion. They were schoolfellows, cousins, and
+fellow-apprentices; had served their time as joiners; and then left
+their native village, to pursue their calling in the capital, with some
+views, though not matured, of emigrating to America. Having been
+unsuccessful in obtaining work in the city, they had come down to Leith
+to make inquiries about a passage to America; and were so unfortunate
+as to fall into the hands of one of the notorious plantation-crimps,
+who, pretending to be intimate with the captain of a trading vessel
+about to sail, enticed them to his den, that they might obtain all the
+information they required. They were plied with liquor; robbed of all
+the money they had; and placed in the situation in which I now saw them.
+From the inquiries they had made in Leith, and our mutual explanations,
+it was too evident to us all three that we had been kidnapped and sold
+to a palantine vessel, to be carried out to Virginia, and there sold as
+slaves, to the highest bidder. The young men were inconsolable; as
+for me, I cared little about it, now that I was assured there was no
+immediate personal violence to be feared: hard fare and hard living were
+my lot--I knew no other. While others, bred to better things, were in
+misery, I was comparatively in happiness. Such is the influence of
+habit. To have my provisions regularly served, with nothing to do but
+lie upon the floor of the hold, or walk about in its narrow limits, was
+to me sufficient recompense for an evil, which to others would have
+appeared irremediable.
+
+The next tide after we were put on board, the Betsy left Leith Roads,
+and sailed for Aberdeen, on her progress north. Our number was there
+augmented to eighteen--the recruits being all boys about my own age,
+who, not being kidnapped, but trepanned with false promises, came on
+board in great spirits, and full of hope. I could notice the various
+operations going forward, in consequence of my cheerful and contented
+manner having obtained for me permission to come on deck and range over
+the vessel. My slight sickness went off as soon as we were under way;
+and, pleased with my new mode of life, I began to make myself as useful
+to the crew as I could; but the two lads were not so fortunate; for
+they were continually abusing the captain, or importuning him to put
+them on shore. In the forenoon of the day before we sailed from Aberdeen,
+a boat, containing a quantity of luggage, came alongside, and a
+genteelly-dressed couple came on board, and were ushered into the cabin.
+The female appeared very dejected; and, hanging upon the male with
+anxious fondness, expressed through her silent tears, bent her gaze,
+alternately looking towards the shore with an expression of regret,
+and then in his face with a languid smile. He was as well-made and
+good-looking a man as I have ever seen in all my wanderings; but there
+was a marble-like rigidity in his features, only enlivened by a peculiar
+cast of his piercing black eyes, that created a peculiar feeling of
+uneasiness in me as I looked at him. He left the vessel; but when I know
+not; for we sailed before sunset; and I never again saw the female he
+left until we had passed Cape Wrath, some few days after. As for myself,
+I was quite happy, and felt myself more at home than I had done since my
+mother's death. The ship was a home to me. I had my allowance with the
+other palantines; slept in the hold with them at night; and enjoyed,
+along with many of them, the pleasure of building castles in the
+air--anticipations of the wealth and comforts we were to enjoy in the
+land of promise. It was, indeed, by delusive accounts of America, that
+most of them had been induced to embark.
+
+We were now careering over the blue waves of the vast Atlantic, as if we
+were far above the earth. Nothing was there for the weary eye to rest
+upon but a dreary expanse of ocean and sky. All was still as death, save
+the hissing at the bows of the vessel, as she parted the unfathomable
+deep. The crew loitered upon the decks listlessly; and we, as
+palantines, huddled together around the mainmast, were whiling away the
+time in songs, or talking of the homes we had left behind, and future
+hopes in a foreign land. We were suddenly interrupted by the female I
+have already mentioned, who came rushing up the companion, from the
+cabin, and crouched amongst us like a frightened hare. I could not have
+believed that so short a period of time could have wrought so great a
+change upon a human being. She was thin, pale; her eyes red, and sunk in
+her head; her hair dishevelled; and her whole appearance exhibiting the
+extreme of neglect. We all looked upon her in astonishment; for, indeed,
+we were not aware that there was a female on board. Her sobs and
+distracted looks moved our young hearts almost to tears. She spoke
+nothing; fear had chained up her tongue; her eyes were either bent
+imploringly upon us, or turned, in aversion and terror, towards the
+quarter from whence she had come. All on deck was dumb show; the sailors
+looked on, apparently as much surprised as we were; and, in the midst
+of the silent scene, the captain came on deck, apparently in great
+agitation. He was coming towards us, when the female sank on her knees,
+and, raising her clasped hands, called on God to save her from that bad
+man; then, looking around to us, implored us, in the most thrilling
+accents, not to deliver her up to him. We were ourselves slaves; yet,
+such is the force of a woman's appeal, that we placed ourselves between
+her and him, while the crew stood apart, and looked silently on. The
+captain affected to laugh.
+
+'Lady, what are you afraid of, that you have left the cabin?' he said.
+'It was all in jest, upon my honour! You are as safe there as in your
+father's house. Come, madam, I shall have the pleasure to lead you
+back.'
+
+'Oh, never!' screamed the female. 'Leave me! leave me! if you would not
+drive me mad, or into this boundless ocean. What on earth have I now to
+care for? I know I am your slave, by the basest and cruellest means, but
+worse I shall never be. A favour from your hands would be hateful to me.
+With these, my fellow-sufferers, I can alone feel myself secure from
+insult. Your cabin I shall never enter. Foolish--oh, how foolishly
+confiding I have been!--but criminal I shall never be. So, leave me,
+for mercy sake!'
+
+While she spoke, my eyes were fixed upon him. I saw the working of
+passion deeply depicted on his countenance; pity had no place there. A
+faint shade of shame passed over him; but disappointment settled into
+fierce rage. Stamping upon the deck, and in a voice hoarse from
+emotion--
+
+'It is well, madam,' he cried. 'You have made your choice, and shall
+abide by it; and those who, by their looks, indicate their resolution to
+abet your folly, shall not fare the better for their interference. Mate,
+call the crew! force the palantines below; and batten them down, as base
+mutineers.'
+
+Not one of us had as yet spoken one word; the whole was the affair of a
+few minutes. The mate ordered us below; and we were obeying the order as
+fast as we could--the distressed female huddling in the midst of us,
+fearful to be on the deck alone--when William, in his undaunted manner,
+stepped up to the captain, and began to upbraid him, both for his
+conduct in having kidnapped us, and for his present conduct towards an
+unprotected female. He even threatened him with exposure as soon as we
+reached the shores of America. Peter, his friend, in vain urged him to
+refrain from irritating the captain; but the hot-headed youth heeded not
+the advice, and stood by his point, till the captain, who uttered not
+one word, bit his lip, and, hurrying to his cabin, returned with a
+cocked pistol in each hand. The mate, who was a good-hearted kind of
+lad, was, at the moment, persuading William to go below quietly; but his
+blood was up; and, even at sight of the pistols, he quailed not. I
+looked on with fear, for the captain's stern silence looked ominous. He
+levelled one of the pistols, and fired; the ball passed close by his
+intended victim, and went right through the fore-sail. The second he was
+in the act of raising, when William struck his hand down, and it went
+off, sending the ball through the deck. The furious man now called to
+the mate and crew to place poor William in irons. The youth stood still
+resolute, and would have rushed upon the captain and hurled him to the
+deck, or perhaps overboard (for he was a powerful lad), had not Peter
+held him back. The irons were now produced from the cabin--William and
+the captain eyeing each other meanwhile like two tigers; and three of
+the crew and the mate, set on by the captain, who kept blaspheming in a
+fearful manner, rushed to secure the young man. Peter at once loosed his
+hold of William, and stood in his defence; whereupon the captain,
+starting to give personal aid, uttered a shrill cry of pain, and fell
+upon the deck, which was stained with his blood. The ball had passed
+through his foot before it entered the wood. As many of us as the
+hatchway would admit, witnessed the scene; but none of us had any mind
+to be partakers in it. William and Peter were secured and put in irons
+before the vindictive villain would allow himself to be removed from the
+deck. It was no matter, in his anger, that his foot bled. He even stood,
+while the deck was streaming, till we were also battened down into the
+dark hold--the two companions remaining in irons above. As soon as we
+were all settled below, in which there was not even proper accommodation
+for us poor palantines, the female retired to one corner; and, seating
+herself on the bare boards, leaned her head to the side of the vessel,
+and wept bitterly. We were deeply affected by her situation and
+distress; but had nothing in our power whereby to alleviate her sorrow,
+save, indeed, our sympathy; and that we only gave in secret; for her
+ladylike appearance, in a great measure, overawed us, and made us retire
+from her. The greater part of us composed ourselves to sleep. Before
+morning, it blew a dreadful gale, as we could perceive by the pitching
+of the vessel and the noise of the rigging, which sounded fearfully in
+our ears. All of us became very sick. The poor lady I thought would have
+died; her weakness was extreme; and her suffering apparently beyond
+any present remeid. Two days and nights we remained in this dreadful
+situation, without a mouthful of food or a drop of water. Our sufferings
+increased hourly, and were almost more than we could endure. We shouted
+for help, or to be liberated from our noisome prison. Our cries were
+either unheeded or drowned by the noise and tumult of the storm. I and
+a few more had recovered from the sickness only to feel, in greater
+horror, our painful situation. The heat of the hold was intense, and
+aggravated our thirst tenfold. The air even became offensive; our
+breathing a kind of painful spasm of the windpipe. We crept to the foot
+of the ladder under the main hatch and, holding by it, sucked in some
+fresh air. I had been here for some time, and felt my sufferings
+alleviated; and the poor female's situation in the distant corner,
+selfish as we had all become, moved us so much to pity, that two of us
+agreed to relinquish our envied post, to ascertain whether she still
+survived.
+
+We found her extended upon the hard boards, to all appearance dead; I
+placed my hand upon her heart, to ascertain if life was extinct. She
+opened her eyes, and made a motion with her hand as if she wished me to
+retire. Humanity forbade compliance; and, in the best manner we could,
+we conveyed her to the foot of the ladder, where she gradually began to
+recover and breathe more freely. This was now the third day of our
+confinement. The storm had almost subsided, as we could feel from the
+vessel lying more steady in the water; and, to our unspeakable joy, the
+hatch was opened, and a supply of water and biscuit given to us. Next to
+the water, the pure air of heaven was most welcome to us. I wet the
+parched lips of the pale sufferer, then held the beverage to them. She
+swallowed a few mouthfuls, blessed me for my kindness, then sank into
+her usual melancholy. We were now told by the mate that we were not to
+come on deck; but he would leave the hatch open. We obeyed this command,
+which came from the captain. William and Peter, who had witnessed and
+endured the whole storm, in irons, lashed at the foot of the mainmast to
+a ring bolt, were also liberated, and came down amongst us. We learned
+from them that we had been in great danger, and that the mate and crew
+had been alarmed for the safety of the vessel. The captain was still
+unable to leave his cabin; and, from all accounts, he was very bad of
+the wound. This was so far fortunate; for the mate, who was of a humane
+disposition, brought some coffee for the female, which William, with
+great difficulty, prevailed upon her to take. She gradually began to
+recover; and the more passionate bursts of her grief having subsided, we
+were anxious to learn how she had been reduced to her present situation,
+and thought of making a delicate inquiry into her history. At length the
+frank and generous William put the question to her in the most gentle
+manner; a burst of tears followed the request.
+
+'Much as it will pain me,' she said, 'I am so indebted to you all for
+your kindness and humanity, that I cannot refuse your desire. I almost
+feel it a duty to myself; for appearances are strongly against me. So
+low as I must appear at present to you all, I was born in affluence,
+though not of an ancient family. My father was a wealthy merchant, and
+the best of parents. My sainted mother died before I had reached my
+tenth year, leaving us both inconsolable for her loss. My father, who
+could scarce endure to have me out of his sight--for I was an only
+child--engaged a governess to complete my education. She was a young
+woman of engaging manners, and possessed of every accomplishment; yet
+under these she concealed a selfish disposition and hardness of heart,
+which neither my father nor myself suspected could have existed in
+one so young and bland in her speech. To me she was most kind and
+unremitting in her duties--more, indeed, like a mother than a hireling;
+and I loved her as if she had stood in that relation to me. This won my
+father's esteem for her, which, unfortunately, soon ripened into love.
+One day, I recollect, as I was walking in the garden, accompanied by
+him, he led me to an arbour, and, placing me beside him, said--
+
+'Eliza, do you love Marian?'
+
+I artlessly threw my arms around his neck, and exclaiming--
+
+'Oh, yes, papa; how much I thank you for getting me so good a
+governess!'
+
+I had pleased him; for he smiled and said--
+
+'My dear Eliza, I mean to bind her to you by a stronger tie. I have
+watched her maternal care and affection for you, and mean to give her
+the right to call you daughter.'
+
+I was delighted. The marriage was solemnised, and we lived in harmony
+and mutual love, so far as I could perceive, for six years. At this
+period my father fell into a bad state of health, which threatened to
+terminate fatally. Our attentions to him, unremitting and anxious, were
+repaid by a gratitude and love which seemed equally divided between his
+young wife and the child of his first love. Marian showed no jealousy;
+and my heart was incapable of any feelings but those of affection.
+Meanwhile, my dear parent, to prepare for the worst, settled his
+affairs. We were both in the room with him along with the lawyer. He was
+dissolved in tears, and asked us if we were satisfied with the manner in
+which he dictated the disposal of his wealth. I could only answer by my
+sobs. My grief was excessive. The making of a will, to my young and
+inexperienced mind, had all the appearance of the last act of a living
+person. Death soon closed the scene. By the settlement, it was provided
+that we were to be treated as sisters, only a greater share of power
+(as if she had been the elder sister) was given to his wife. It ran
+thus:--If neither married, we were to live together, and the survivor
+was to enjoy and have the disposal of all. If Marian married, she was,
+during her life, to enjoy one-half, which was to revert to me or my
+children at her death. If I married during her life, without her
+consent, I was to be cut off from any part of my father's property,
+except what she might choose to give me. This was a hard condition. I
+was to have no claim at law; and, in the event of me or my husband
+instituting an action, I was to be cut off with a shilling. This fatal
+clause, which I heard read to me at the time with indifference, has been
+the cause of all my misfortunes, and since then I have had every reason
+to believe my confiding father was prompted to insert it, at the
+suggestion of my artful stepmother. For some time, she had, at every
+opportunity, been speaking of foolish marriages made by young women, and
+their fatal consequences, illustrating them by numerous anecdotes and
+examples, whereby she invidiously prepared him for her selfish purpose,
+and at last compassed her object without the appearance of a dictation
+which he would have spurned. I was thus left at the mercy of this
+designing woman, who, when she put on her widow's robes, put off her
+hypocrisy towards me, and began to appear in her true colours. Alas! I
+have every reason to think that her acting had all along been irksome to
+her. She became harsh and cruel, doing all she could to make the house
+and her presence disagreeable to me. She became gay, and frequented
+company, of which I was forced to partake; and when I could scarce
+refrain from tears at the remembrance of some cutting speech she had
+used to me only a few hours before, I was forced to smile to hide my
+chagrin. Before strangers, there was no change towards me, neither was
+there anything I could complain of to my acquaintance; for so artfully
+did she manage to make me miserable, that every fault was imputable to
+my own apparent bad temper. It was when alone that I experienced her
+bitter manner. All was wrong I said or did, and her admonitions for my
+amendment were more cutting than her reproofs and abuse. I had several
+eligible offers for my hand; all of which she refused, under one
+pretence or another--covering her designs against me by the mask of an
+anxiety for my happiness; so that she was looked upon by all who were
+acquainted with her as the best of stepmothers--the kindest protector of
+youth. At length, her wishes were accomplished. A nephew of her own, by
+her invitation, came to reside with us for a short time, upon a visit.
+As if my good genius warned me of my fate, I disliked him so much at
+first, that I felt unhappy in his presence; but his assiduities
+gradually won upon me. I contrasted him with his aunt; love succeeded
+to aversion; and I was ruined.'
+
+Here a burst of tears for a time choked her utterance. After some time,
+she resumed--
+
+'I was now, for a time, happy in the delirium of youthful love. His
+tender attentions had completely won my heart. With a thrill of
+pleasure, covered by maiden modesty, I heard his first declaration of
+unalterable love for me. He saw too plainly the power he had over me.
+His aunt refused, as usual, her consent to our union; and, after
+upbraiding me for seducing the affections of her nephew, locked me up
+in my room, while she retained him in the house. Stolen interviews
+were the natural consequence. He was all indignation at his aunt for
+her unkindness to me; and, if possible, more tender and respectful than
+ever. To escape the tyranny I had so long suffered, I unfortunately
+agreed to elope with him, and be privately married. I explained to him
+the situation in which I was placed, by my father's will--he declared he
+loved me for myself alone. I was now completely in the toils; gave my
+consent; on the third night left my late father's house in his company,
+and set off in a postchaise, which was drawn up at a short distance from
+the gate. Next forenoon, we were lawfully married--his aunt taking no
+steps to prevent it by following us, but contenting herself by putting
+on the appearance of grief for my folly and ingratitude to her, for all
+the care and attention she had bestowed upon my education, and the base
+return I had made for all her kindness. Can there be a doubt she was
+the cause of all? Nay--she was the first to make known to me the prior
+history of my husband--the man whom she had first introduced to me, and
+to whom she gave every facility to win my unsuspecting heart. She
+herself now blushed not to say that he was a reprobate, without
+principle, addicted to every vice, and one whom his friends had found
+it out of their power to reclaim. With well-feigned tears of regret,
+she upbraided herself for having ever allowed him to enter her
+house--ascribing her motive to humanity, and a desire to reclaim him
+from his errors; and hinting, when she could, that I had defeated her
+good intentions, and ruined myself. Alas! how true the latter part has
+proved to me! I and my husband wrote to her letter after letter, in
+vain. She refused, in the most insulting manner, to allow me a shilling
+of my father's fortune. All I obtained was my own personal effects, and
+a few of the jewels that had belonged to my mother. Poverty came fast
+upon us, and debts increased. My husband had become unkind, and often
+absent from me for days--excusing himself by fears for his creditors. In
+our extremity, he spoke of emigration to America, describing the country
+in glowing colours, and dwelling on the happy prospects he anticipated
+from the assistance of some relations he had there. I offered no
+objection; for I had now no partiality for one country more than
+another--where my husband was, there was my heart and home; and, with a
+severe pang, not for their value, but for the sake of her who now was
+unconscious of my situation, I parted with the last of my mother's
+jewels, to defray the expense of our voyage. My own jewels had been long
+since disposed of, to supply our urgent wants. We left Edinburgh, like
+guilty creatures, under the cloud of night, for fear of his being
+arrested, and proceeded to join the vessel at Aberdeen. I can proceed no
+further, lest my heart should burst. My heartless husband had sold me to
+the captain, to be disposed of in America--trepanned me north for his
+wicked purpose. The rest you know.'
+
+Here her tears could no longer be suppressed; nor could we restrain
+ours; yet no one spoke to interrupt her grief. William alone uttered a
+few execrations against the aunt and nephew.
+
+The weather continued rough, and the wind contrary, and we suffered much
+for a few days from the pitching of the vessel. We were still confined
+to the hold by the captain's orders; yet we had no other cause of
+complaint, for the mate supplied all our wants in abundance. The
+captain, who had continued very ill from the wound in his foot, at
+length fevered, and his life was in danger; at his request, the lady
+left the hold and waited upon him. He begged forgiveness for the insult
+he had offered her; we were all allowed the freedom of the vessel; and
+she continued to nurse and watch over him with all that care and
+assiduity that belong to women. After a tedious passage of nine weeks,
+we arrived off Baltimore, in the State of Maryland; the captain, who
+recovered, being still very lame, though able to come upon deck. As soon
+as we cast anchor off the mouth of the harbour (for we did not enter) a
+message was sent to the town by the captain; and, on the following day,
+a regular market was held upon our deck, when we were put up to sale,
+and knocked down by an auctioneer to the highest bidder. William and
+Peter brought large sums, being expert tradesmen, and their time of
+service was short, compared with the rest. The others, like myself, were
+fit only for field work, and our time, to make up the sum of forty
+pounds, which we averaged, was three years. We all thought the captain
+would have given the injured lady her liberty, and a present, for her
+care of him; but avarice was his ruling passion, and stifled gratitude.
+He had paid her unprincipled husband a large sum for his victim, and was
+determined to reimburse himself. All the favour he conferred upon her
+was, that he did not dispose of her with the same regardlessness as to
+who was the purchaser, but kept her on board several days, while he made
+inquiries as to an eligible situation. Those who knew him gave him
+little credit for his endeavours, and did not scruple to say that he was
+as anxious to drive a good bargain for himself as to find a good master
+for her. Whatever was his motive, it turned out very fortunate for her,
+as I heard afterwards; for a rich shipowner of the city, whose wife had
+died a few months before, satisfied the captain's cupidity, and took
+her to his house as a governess to his children, three of whom were
+daughters. Before I left Maryland, I heard that she had learned, through
+the English papers, which her master regularly got, by one or other of
+the many vessels that traded to this port, that her unprincipled husband
+had been condemned and executed for robbing his aunt of a large sum of
+money, and forging an order upon her banker, not many weeks after we had
+left Scotland. Many years afterwards, I learned, in Edinburgh, from
+William, who had returned, after a long stay in Baltimore, with a
+considerable sum of money, and had commenced builder, that before he
+left the city, she had married her master, and was as wealthy and happy
+as any lady in the province. But what struck me most forcibly was, the
+just retribution that had taken place in her singular fortunes. Her
+stepmother was, when he left, actually living an humble dependent upon
+her bounty, in Baltimore. It appeared that, after she had succeeded in
+forcing her stepdaughter into the fatal marriage with her nephew,
+and obtained the object she plotted for--possession of the whole
+property--she herself fell a victim to a husband nearly as bad--a
+gambler and adventurer, of a most prepossessing figure and address; the
+consequence was, that all she possessed was lost by him at play, or
+squandered in dissipation. Both had been living in London in extreme
+want, when he was detected in swindling transactions to a considerable
+amount. Whether guilty or innocent of the fraudulent acts of her
+husband, there were many suspicious circumstances which she could not
+explain to the satisfaction of a jury, and both were convicted and
+banished to the plantations. By good fortune for them, the vessel that
+brought them out, bound for Norfolk, in Virginia, had suffered much in
+a storm, put into Baltimore in a leaky state, and there landed the
+convicts, handing them over to the governor of Maryland. Eliza's
+husband, who was in the magistracy of the city, got the list of their
+names when they were transferred from the ship to the prison. Several
+of them had died on the voyage, from bad fare, confinement, and harsh
+treatment; mostly all were sickly, more or less; and Marian was very
+ill. From her manners and appearance, Eliza's husband became interested
+in her; and, to save her life, had her removed from the hospital in the
+jail, to his own house. You may form your own conjectures of the
+astonishment of both when they met. Eliza was the most forgiving and
+gentle of creatures, as she had shown in her attention to the captain
+after his bad usage of her; and, at her request, her husband got from
+the governor a grant of their services, during the term the law had
+condemned them to serve. The husband ran from the country a few months
+after his arrival, and had not been heard of when William came away; but
+the wife remained under the protection of her she had attempted to ruin.
+
+To return to myself after this long digression, I and other two of
+the young Aberdeen lads were purchased by a farmer, and removed that
+afternoon to his home, about twelve miles from Baltimore. A more
+pitiable figure, as regards dress, never landed on any shore. I had
+still the same remnant of clothes with which I had left Edinburgh; but
+now they scarcely held together, and were besmeared with tar; my feet
+and legs were clean, but shoes or stockings were a luxury I had been
+long unused to. My long yellow hair hung down my back, but covering I
+had none for my head. My heart was light and joyous, as was that of my
+companions. Our three years of bondage, we thought, would soon pass
+away, and the golden period commence. During our ride over the rough
+and ill-made road, in a waggon in which our master had brought a load
+of tobacco to town, our whole conversation was of our future golden
+prospects; but, alas! we were soon awakened from our pleasant
+dreams--for, upon our arrival at the farm, which was not until some time
+after nightfall, we were placed in a dark out-house, and the door barred
+upon us. Our master was a sour-looking, taciturn man, who had scarcely
+spoken to us all the way, save to inquire our ages, and what kind of
+work we could best perform. For some time we stood close by the door,
+unable to speak from surprise and fear. So dark was the place where we
+were confined, that we could not see our own hands, even when they
+touched our faces. After standing thus, melancholy and terrified, the
+bars were withdrawn, and our master entered with a lanthorn and a
+basket, in which was abundance of pork and Indian corn, boiled whole,
+and still warm, to be eaten as bread. In a surly manner, he ordered us
+to take our supper quickly, that we might be ready to turn out in the
+morning to work. Young and hungry, we were not long in dispatching our
+meal, when, pointing to a quantity of dry grass at one end of our prison
+(for I can call it by no other name), he lifted his lanthorn, and left
+us to ruminate upon our melancholy situation and dreary prospects under
+such a taskmaster. None of us felt inclined to speak; yet it was some
+time ere any of us could close our eyes, in consequence of the noise
+made by the bull-frogs in a swamp near the farm. If we had not heard
+them as we approached the place, and inquired what caused the, to us,
+strange sounds, we would have been terribly alarmed. Tired nature at
+length prevailed, and I sank asleep. Before sunrise next morning, the
+harsh voice of our master, whip in hand, roused us from repose. We
+started up, and followed him into the enclosure in front of his barn
+and house.
+
+This was an oblong square, enclosed with stout wooden paling, very
+thickly set, on the banks of a beautiful stream. At one side were the
+buildings, composed entirely of wood--the forest, which extended as far
+as the eye could reach, was at no great distance in the rear--everything
+around indicated the greatest plenty of all that was necessary for the
+enjoyment of life, as far as food could administer to it; there were
+several cows and horses, sleek and fat, feeding under a shed; brood
+sows, with numerous progenies; and fowls actually swarming around. The
+morning was beautiful; the air, filled with a thousand grateful odours
+from the fields, imparting to our young minds a buoyancy we had been
+strangers to since we had left our own native shores. Our hasty survey
+was made in a few minutes, while we stood waiting further orders. Our
+master, who had entered another part of the building, returned,
+accompanied by two of the most miserable-looking men I had ever
+seen--as wretchedly clad as I was myself, with the exception that they
+had broad straw-hats upon their heads. Misery and they seemed to have
+been long intimates; my heart sank within me at their appearance; both
+had wooden clogs, consisting of a cut of about a foot long from the
+branch of a tree, chained to their right leg at the ancle; and this they
+carried over their arm. In addition, one of them had a stout collar
+round his neck, from which projected three iron hooks, about a foot
+from his head. We burst into tears, thinking we were to be similarly
+equipped, and would have fled, had flight been possible; all the riches
+in the world we would have counted a mean reward to the person who would
+have transported us from the tyrant's farm-yard to the beautiful hills
+and valleys of Scotland. As they came to where we stood gazing through
+our tears, three tall, bony, sallow-looking lads, sons of the
+proprietor, issued from the principal building, with implements upon
+their shoulders, one of which was given to each of us, and we were now
+to begin our work. Before we proceeded, our master said to us, in his
+harsh manner--
+
+'Mind ye, lads, you are my bound servants for three years, to do my
+will--mayhap for more. If you offer to run away, I will catch you again;
+and, besides punishment, dress you so--and he pointed with malicious
+triumph to his victims--to prevent your running; and, mark me, for every
+day you are absent, you serve me two.'
+
+In spite of his threat, I believe there was not one of us who did not
+resolve to make his escape from him the first opportunity. Had he
+treated us kindly, we would have obeyed him with pleasure, nor thought
+of anything but completing our period of service; but humanity was
+foreign to his nature, and short-sighted avarice alone possessed all his
+thoughts. He had himself been a convict in his youth; but had for many
+years been free, and had purchased, when it was yet part of the forest,
+the lot of land he now cultivated. All had been the creation of his own
+labour, and he was proud of it to excess. When in good humour, which was
+seldom the case, his feats against, and escapes from, the Indians, and
+praises of his lands, were the only things upon which he was loquacious.
+
+We soon learned that our two companions in misery were government
+convicts, and very bad characters; both had been guilty of many crimes,
+and were so hardened that nothing but the strictest surveillance and
+coercion could keep them in subjection. They were like tigers in chains,
+and threatened the most fearful revenge, as soon as the period of their
+servitude expired. This they did openly to his face; and not a day
+passed without an altercation, or without some punishment being
+inflicted upon them, when they would threaten again until they were
+tired, and wish that the Indians might give us a hot wakening before
+morning, and yield them an opportunity of making tobacco pouches of the
+scalps of the master and his sons.
+
+I often wondered how he kept his temper; he seemed to treat them with
+scorn--for his cool, calculating mind had so long been familiar with the
+perils of his situation, that he heeded them not so long as he conceived
+himself secure. To us three youths, who trembled at his voice, he was
+not excessively cruel, further than working us almost beyond our
+strength. From sunrise to sunset, we were allowed no intervals but a few
+minutes to swallow our food, of which we had abundance and to spare.
+
+'Eat well, work well,' he used to say, 'is American fashion.'
+
+I had been with him about six months, and was literally naked; my skin
+had become hard and brown as an Indian's; all my clothing consisted of
+some pieces of sheep skin I had contrived for winter wear, and a straw
+hat of coarse enough manufacture, which I had plaited and made for
+myself on the Sabbath-days, to screen me from the intolerable glare
+and heat of the sun. Our appearance gave us no concern, for we were
+completely excluded from all intercourse with human beings, except
+those upon the plantation; and strangers were seldom seen in our
+neighbourhood. At the time I speak of, our master had been down to
+Baltimore, with a waggon load of produce, consisting of pork and salted
+beef, &c. He had made an excellent market, and returned in a fit of good
+humour; at our return from labour, he called us three into the house, as
+we were passing to our prison, to be locked up for the night. We were
+surprised at the invitation, for we had never been within the walls of
+the dwelling-house. As soon as we entered, he inquired if we would
+purchase any clothing from him, seeing we were so much in want of them.
+Scarcely could we believe our ears and eyes, when, opening a box, he
+displayed canvas jackets, trousers, and check shirts.
+
+'You surely mean to make sport with us,' said I; 'for you know well that
+we have not one farthing among us three to purchase the smallest
+necessary.'
+
+'That, I guess, is not of much matter,' he replied, in his quiet, husky
+manner, 'if I choose to give you a long credit.'
+
+We at once agreed to his own terms, and I signed a bond for one hundred
+dollars, for a pair of coarse canvas trousers, a jacket of the same, two
+check shirts, and a good straw hat. My heart misgave me when I saw his
+peculiar smile, as he placed my bond in his pocket-book. Pleased as I
+was with my finery, I feared I had done wrong, but did not know to what
+extent until next morning, when we joined the convicts at labour. As
+soon as they saw us in our new dresses, they burst out into a loud
+laugh.
+
+'Oh!' said they, 'has the old villain limed his birds already? Poor
+greenhorns, you have sold yourselves for years to come. How are you to
+redeem the debts you have incurred, and others you must yet incur, but
+by new engagements? He has you in his toils.' And they again laughed
+aloud.
+
+We resumed our labour with heavy hearts; despondency came upon us, and
+we began to droop and pine. At night, when we retired to rest, and,
+until overpowered by fatigue and sleep, we talked of nothing but plans
+of escape. Numbers were formed and abandoned; to fly to the forests, we
+must perish through hunger and fatigue, or wander on, unknowing where to
+go; in the direction of the coast, was still more impracticable, for all
+the planters were in league with each other, to prevent the escape of
+the convicts and palantines, and no one could travel unmolested, without
+a certificate of his freedom. Our situation appeared to us truly without
+remeid, and bitterly did we lament our cruel fate.
+
+Fortunately for us, we had--more to have something to keep a lingering
+hope of escape awake, than with any prospect of success--for several
+Sundays employed ourselves in undermining a part of the clay floor under
+the dried grass upon which we slept. The hole passed under the logs; and
+we had ascertained that it would be opened behind a wild vine that
+spread its luxuriance over a great part of the side and roof of our
+prison. We did not open it at the outside, but contented ourselves by
+pushing a thin piece of a branch through, lest we had been discovered by
+the lynx eyes of our master and his sons. For weeks, things had remained
+in this state, we resolving to run for it, and again our hearts failing
+us, when one night we were aroused out of our sleep by fearful cries,
+mixed with the firing of rifles. It was the war-whoop of the Indians,
+who had come down on a plundering expedition, and to avenge some old
+aggression our master had perpetrated upon them. So well had they
+concerted their plans, that the house was surrounded before any one
+knew of their being in the neighbourhood. We lay still and trembled, nor
+knew what was passing without. Rifle after rifle cracked, amidst the
+whooping of the Indians; no one came to release us from our confined
+place, and we were afraid to venture out by our hole, lest we should be
+perceived by the savages, and murdered; for we had been informed that,
+in a case like the present, they gave no quarter to man, woman, or
+child. At length, we could both smell and hear the crackling of fire
+raging without. In agony we dashed upon the door; it resisted our utmost
+effort; even death by the Indians, was preferable to death by fire in
+our present situation--it was horrible and astounding--the noise, too,
+was dreadful--animals and men, all the inmates of the enclosure, were
+uttering their wildest cries, and rushing round it in distraction. The
+fire had caught the place we were in. I entered our mine, and, by
+convulsive efforts, forced off the little turf and earth we had left. I
+crawled out, never rising from my belly, for I could perceive the
+Indians, like fiends, running about in all directions, anxiously gazing
+upon every object. The glare of the burning buildings cast a deep red
+ray of light around, rendering all fearfully distinct--my companions
+followed me--fortunately some tall bushes concealed us from the Indians
+as we crawled along the ground like serpents. The building we had left
+we saw was now burning most furiously; and the yelling continued. Thus
+we lay along upon the ground, trembling lest we would be discovered
+every moment. The Indians were passing and repassing where we lay,
+with their piercing eyes bent upon the smouldering ruins. The roof
+fell in, and no one appearing to issue out, they retired towards the
+dwelling-house, where the fire of rifles was still kept up, and the
+flames making fearful progress. I have been in several battles, both by
+sea and land; but no sound ever met my ears so appalling as the shout
+that arose when the unfortunate inmates burst forth to force their way
+through their foes, or sell their lives as dearly as they could. The
+firing almost immediately ceased, and a fearful stillness ensued, almost
+as unbearable in our present situation as the former tumult. The ruins
+still continued to smoulder, and we feared even to breathe, lest we
+should betray ourselves to the Indians.
+
+At length the sun shone forth in all his glory upon the smoking
+ruins--our drooping spirits were partly revived, and we crept to the
+edge of the bushes, and timidly looked around--no human being was to be
+seen, and, after some time, we ventured to rise to our feet. The Indians
+appeared to have retired to the forest with their booty, and we ventured
+forth. A sight the most appalling soon met our eyes--there, close by
+each other, the old man and two of his sons lay mangled and scalped; the
+other had been consumed in the house, having doubtless been shot from
+without, and unable to leave it with the others. Soon the nearest
+proprietors began to ride up to the scene of murder and desolation,
+armed to the teeth, but too late to give any assistance. The bodies of
+the two convicts were not found; many believed they had either gone off
+or been carried off by the Indians. Being heartily sick of America, I
+returned to Baltimore, where I did labouring work for a few months,
+until I had got myself well clothed; then agreed with the captain of a
+Greenock vessel to work my passage to Scotland, where I arrived, after
+an absence of two years and three months. Such is an instance of the
+nefarious system of which I was a victim."
+
+
+
+
+THE PARSONAGE:
+MY FATHER'S FIRESIDE.
+
+
+After the lapse of about thirty years, I lately paid a visit to what had
+once been my father's fireside. It was in the month of October that I
+visited the manse of Kirkhall. My father had been minister of that
+parish; and I received a kindly welcome from his worthy successor--one
+of the warmest-hearted and most learned men in the Church of Scotland,
+whom I have long known and esteemed as a brother. I found myself again
+seated beside the hearth in the little parlour which was once gladdened
+with a mother's smile--which was once cheered with the childish sports
+of brothers and sisters--which was hallowed by the prayers and presiding
+virtues of an affectionate father. They are all departed to the land of
+spirits!
+
+Yet, on looking round me, every object seemed to assure me that they
+were still near--for almost everything else was unchanged. On looking
+through the window from the elbow-chair in which I sat, the old and
+magnificent lime tree, which, in the days of my youth, spread its
+branches and foliage in wide luxuriance over the court, and gave
+assurance of shade and shelter, was still unscathed. Its sweet-scented
+flowers were indeed faded--for the breath of approaching winter had
+touched its verdure; but its variegated green and yellow leaves were the
+same as when I had seen them, and attempted, with boyish hands, to
+imitate, nearly half a century ago. A little farther off, the "decent
+church" peered from among the majestic ash, elm, and chestnut trees,
+with which it was surrounded--the growth of centuries--casting a deep
+and solemn shadow over the place of graves. The humble offices, and the
+corn-yard in which I had rejoiced to mingle in rural occupations and
+frolic, were near; and nothing was wanted to realize the scenes of my
+youth, save the presence of the venerable patriarch and my mother, and
+their little ones grouping around their knees, or at the frugal board.
+
+But the illusion was short-lived. A holly tree, in the adjoining
+parterre, caught my eye. When I knew it of old, it was a little bush, in
+which the goldfinch and the linnet nestled, and were protected under my
+juvenile guardianship; but, now it had grown up to a stately tree. I
+saw, in the mirror over the mantelpiece, the image of my own visage, in
+which there were lines that time and the world's cares imprint on the
+smoothest brow and the most blooming cheek. The yellow locks of my
+forehead were fled, and the few remaining hairs were beginning to be
+silvered with grey. My son, too, rising almost to manhood, stood up
+before me, unconscious of the recollections and visions which flitted
+through my mind. These things dispelled my reverie; and my wandering
+thoughts were recalled to the realities of the passing hour.
+
+It was on a Saturday evening that I thus revisited Kirkhall; and my
+melancholy meditations were soon partially dissipated by the cheerful,
+but moderate hospitalities of my host; which were truly such as to make
+me feel that I was, as it were, among mine own kindred, and at my
+_father's fireside_.
+
+What a flood of emotions and remembrances spring forth at the mental
+utterance of these words! On retiring from the parlour, I was ushered
+into what was, of old, denominated, in the quaint colloquial language of
+Scotland, "The Prophet's Cham'er"--that is, the apartment for study,
+which was to be found thus distinguished in all the old manses of our
+clergy. It was now a bedroom, the library being established in another
+apartment; and I laid my head upon the pillow in a chamber which was
+consecrated, in my memory, by the recollection that within its walls
+good men had often thought of "the ways of God to man," and prepared
+their spirits, in the depths of silence and seclusion, for proclaiming
+in the sanctuary the glad tidings of salvation.
+
+It was a tempestuous night; and, though the blast was completely
+excluded from the manse by the dense masses of trees with which it was
+surrounded, the wind howled and moaned through their branches and on
+their summits, and, like the thunder, gave forth a solemn music to the
+soul. I did not sleep, but listened to the sounds of the tempest with
+that pleasure which philosophy cannot explain. Ere long, the current of
+thought reverted to my own former relations, to the dwelling in which I
+reposed; and busy memory, in the watches of the night, supplied, with
+all the freshness of a recent event, the circumstances which chequered
+the life and marked the character of my father. Though, perhaps, in the
+estimation of many, these were commonplace, yet, to me, they were still
+full of interest; and, as they seem to afford a true and undistorted
+picture of a Scottish clergyman's real character and fortunes, I have
+written them down to fill a spare corner in the _Tales of the Borders_.
+
+William Douglas was the eldest son of a farmer in one of the northern
+counties of Scotland. The family had been tenants of the farm of Mains
+for five successive generations; and, so far as tradition and the humble
+annals of the parish could be relied on, had borne an unspotted name,
+and acquired that hereditary character for worth, which, in their humble
+station, maybe regarded as constituting the moral nobility of human
+nature. Just and devout in their lives--sincere, unpretending, and
+unaffected in their manners--they were never spoken of but with respect
+and goodwill by their neighbours; and were often, in the domestic and
+rural affairs of the vicinity, the counsellors and umpires, in whose
+good sense, and integrity, and kindness of heart, their humble friends
+trusted with confidence. Such characters and families are to be found in
+almost every rural district of this country; for, "though grace gangs
+no' by generation, yet there is sic a thing as a hawk o' a guid nest." I
+believe in the homely proverb, though some metaphysicians may dispute
+it, but whether debatable or not in the abstract, William Douglas had
+the good fortune, as he deemed it, to grow up in the bosom of a family
+in which the characteristic of worth was cherished and transmitted as an
+heirloom.
+
+The eldest son of the guidman of Mains showed an early fondness for his
+school exercises, and acquired, under the tuition of _Roaring Jock_, the
+dominie of the parish, a tolerable proficiency in the rudiments of
+literature. The guidman, being an elder of the kirk, was often at the
+minister's manse, and the bairns from Mains were occasionally invited to
+tea on the Saturdays and play-days; and Paplay, the minister, (was so
+denominated, from the name of a small estate of which he was the laird),
+showed great favour to the "auldest callant," and often conversed with
+him about the subject of his reading. In these circumstances, and
+considering the religious character of the Mains family, it was almost
+a matter of course that Willie should be destined by his parents, and
+prompted by his own predilections, to "the ministry." And, by the advice
+of Paplay and Roaring Jock, Willie was sent to the Marischal College at
+Aberdeen, where he gained a bursary at the competition, and prosecuted
+his studies with assiduity, until, at length, in the fulness of time, he
+became a licentiate of the church.
+
+The only thing I remember to have heard connected with this period of my
+father's life, was his anecdotes of Paplay's eccentricities, which were
+numerous--some of them personal, and some of them the peculiarities of
+the old school of clergy in Scotland. He was a pious and orthodox man;
+but withal had a tincture of the Covenanter about him, blended with
+the aristocratic and chivalrous feeling of a country gentleman of old
+family. In the troubled times, about the years 1745-6, he was a staunch
+Whig; and so very decided in his politics, that, when "Prince Charlie's
+men" had the ascendancy in Scotland, he was either in arms or in hiding;
+and when he ventured to preach, he wore his sword in the pulpit, and a
+blue coat, girt with a belt, in which a pair of pistols were hung--more
+like a man of war than a preacher of peace! Even after the defeat at
+Culloden, the Jacobitism of the north was so strong, and Paplay was so
+obnoxious, by reason of his vehement preaching against popery, and
+prelacy, and the Pretender, that he continued long after to wear his
+sword (in the pulpit and elsewhere), which was rather a formidable
+concern to the nonjurors about him, in the hand of a brave and athletic
+champion of true Whiggery. He assigned three reasons for wearing his
+sword after it seemed to some of his friends to be unnecessary:--"First,
+because I am a gentleman; secondly, because I can use it; and, thirdly,
+because, if you doubt, you may try." Among some of his oddities, he had
+a great admiration of a well-spring, a white calf, and a bonny lass; and
+he never passed any of them in his way without doing them homage. Though
+travelling on horseback, he would dismount to bathe his feet in a limpid
+stream, as it gushed from the earth, or to caress a white calf, or to
+salute a female--all which fantasies were united with the most primitive
+innocence. And he never ate a meal, even in his own house, or when he
+was a refugee in a hay stack or kiln barn, without exacting from his
+wife and friends the most urgent _pressing_.
+
+It was under the auspices of this warlike and singular apostle that my
+father was ushered into the sacred office of a minister of the gospel.
+He preached his first sermon in the church of his native parish; and,
+according to the fashion of the times, at the close of the service, the
+parish minister publicly criticised the discourses of the day. The young
+preacher, in this instance, found favour in Paplay's eyes; and his
+testimony in favour of the _plant_ which had sprung up among them was so
+emphatic, and rendered so piquant by his odd figures of speech, that
+William Douglas was long distinguished among his friends and neighbours
+by the familiar designation of _Paplay's Plant_.
+
+But there was another _plant_ that graced the manse, which was not
+unobserved or unadmired by the young preacher--Jane Malcolm (the
+daughter of a clergyman in a more remote parish, and niece of Paplay's
+lady), a sweet flower, that had grown up in the wilderness, like "a
+daisy on the mountain's side." It was in the nature of things that "the
+loves of the plants" should be illustrated by the juxtaposition of the
+two favourite flowers of the chivalrous parson. An affectionate but
+secret attachment naturally grew out of the frequent visits which
+"Paplay's Plant" paid to the manse; and these were multiplied in
+consequence of William Douglas being appointed assistant to his
+spiritual patron, whose decline into the vale of years had begun to
+abate the energy of his character, and to render assistance necessary.
+The attachment between the young people might be suspected, but was
+not formally made known to Paplay and "the lady," as she was called,
+according to the courtesy of the olden time. Indeed, such a promulgation
+would have been idle; for the "half-reverend" assistant (as Paplay was
+wont to address the young probationers of the church) had no immediate
+prospect of a benefice, although he was an acceptable preacher,
+throughout the bounds of the presbytery. But an incident occurred
+which facilitated the union, of which the preliminaries were thus
+established.
+
+The Earl of Bellersdale,[H] a nobleman in the neighbouring county, who
+affected to be descended from an ancient family that flourished in the
+days of good King Duncan, but who had really no more connection with it
+than with Hercules or the Man in the Moon, reared a village or sea-port
+at a short but convenient distance from his magnificent castle. Among
+the other items in the arrangements which were destined to immortalise
+the munificence of the Earl in the establishment of Bellerstown, a
+church was deemed necessary for political, to say nothing of moral
+considerations; and the earl, being a man of taste, thought that a
+church, placed in a particular position, would make a fine vista from
+various points in the noble park which surrounded the Castle of
+Bellersdale. A picturesque chapel was accordingly built on a rising
+knoll, separated from the pleasure grounds and the castle by a river,
+over which a handsome bridge made no mean addition to the lordly scene.
+
+  [H] A little reflection will enable the reader to see what true
+  name this fictitious one is intended to cover.--ED.
+
+The chapel being built, and endowed with a stipend of "forty pounds
+a-year" (the hint, I suppose, was taken from Oliver Goldsmith), it was
+necessary to provide a clergyman to officiate in it; and William Douglas
+being one of the most approved young men in the district, had the honour
+to be preferred by the patron. The period to which I now refer was long
+before the church, in its wisdom, enacted a law for regulating chapels
+of ease; and not only the amount of stipend, but the continuance of
+clergymen who officiated in such chapels, depended on the arbitrary and
+sovereign will of their pious founders. Bellerstown, though a step in
+William Douglas' professional progress, yielded too scanty a revenue to
+admit of matrimony; but the talents, respectability, and prepossessing
+manners of the chaplain made him a favourite at the castle, and
+rendered it practicable to eke out the slender living by the addition
+of a small farm, at what was called a moderate rent. But this appendage,
+too, was held by the same precarious tenure--Lord Bellersdale's will.
+The probationer was inducted as pastor of the Bellerstown chapel,
+according to the rules of the church; and, after the lapse of a few
+months, he and Miss Jane Malcolm thought--although no other person
+thought--that they might venture to enter into the holy bands of
+wedlock, and, with frugality and mutual love in their household, look
+forward to happiness in their humble and unambitious sphere of life.
+This thought ended in deed--and they were married.
+
+The tenor of a clergyman's life is, in general, even and unvaried,
+consisting of a faithful and regular discharge of his peculiar duties.
+Such, for some years, was the fate of William Douglas. He acquired the
+confidence and affections of his humble flock--the esteem of his
+brethren--the countenance of the neighbouring gentry--and even the
+patronage of the great man, at whose table he was a frequent and
+welcomed guest. Mrs. Douglas had presented him with two sons: and his
+parents, advanced in years, were gathered to their fathers. This
+bereavement was not unlooked for; but the first trial of life which
+wrung his heart to the core, was a fatal illness which, in a few days,
+snatched the object of his most tender affection from him.
+
+Time passed on, and "brought healing on its wings." After the lapse of
+several years, my father felt that it was not meet for man to be alone;
+and, whilst he cherished the fondest remembrance of his first domestic
+companion, he had too much good sense to go into the affectation of
+continuing single during the rest of his life "for her sake;" more
+especially as he had no female relative to whom he could confide the
+maternal charge of his boys in their nursery days. He accordingly
+discerned, in the daughter of one of his flock, a respectable farmer in
+the neighbourhood, those personal attractions and amiable dispositions
+which awakened his manly sympathies; and, too high-minded to stoop to
+mercenary considerations, he married a second time, without hunting for
+a _tocher_, as is sometimes imputed sarcastically to the Scottish
+clergy. Isobel Wilson was lovely and virtuous.
+
+About the time the American war ended, I came into this earthly part of
+the universe; but nothing occurred for several years of my father's life
+to diversify the peaceful enjoyments of his domestic life, or to
+interrupt the conscientious and zealous discharge of his pastoral
+duties. At length, however, a cloud gathered in the firmament, which
+ere long burst on his head, in the wrath of his patron, the Earl of
+Bellersdale.
+
+Local, rather than general politics agitated the district in which his
+humble life was cast; and there was a vehement struggle betwixt his
+lordship and a neighbouring nobleman for ascendancy in the county. The
+ranks of either party were swelled by the multiplication of freehold
+qualifications, for the purpose of acquiring votes. One of the
+expedients, as is well known, for the attainment of such objects, is the
+creation of nominal and fictitious voters, by conferring on the
+_friends_ of a political party an apparent, but not a real interest in a
+landed estate; and this is practised and justified by a legal fiction,
+and a little casuistry, with which political agents are quite familiar.
+The ordinary mode in these cases, is to confer such _parchment_
+franchises on dependents and personal connections of the great man who
+needs their support--and the Earl of Bellersdale, who had the patronage
+of many churches of greater or less value, found, even among the clergy
+who had hopes of preferment from his hand, several individuals
+sufficiently unscrupulous to accept of such discreditable titles to a
+political franchise as freeholders.[I] Amongst others, my father, who
+was in good odour at the castle, was deemed a _likely_ person to be
+intrusted with so precious a privilege as a right to vote for any tool
+of the earl who might be brought forward as a candidate for representing
+the shire in Parliament. The factor was despatched to Bellerstown to
+offer this high behest to the poor parson, whose ready compliance was
+expected, _as a matter of course_. But he calmly and peremptorily
+refused the proffered vote, and intimated that he held it derogatory to
+the sacred nature of his office to pollute himself with such politics,
+and inconsistent with every principle of honour, morality, and religion,
+to take an oath, as required by law, that he was possessed of a landed
+estate, while, in truth, he had no earthly title to an inch of it. This
+scrupulosity gave mortal offence at the castle; and the recusant parson
+was doomed to ridicule as a pious fool, and to ruin. And as, in such
+cases, when an offending individual is completely dependent on the
+offended party, pretexts are never wanting for cloaking the lurking
+purpose of mischief: these were soon and easily discovered. If the
+minister of Bellerstown discoursed on integrity and truth as Christian
+virtues, or on the sacredness of an oath, the earl's underlings bore the
+tidings to the castle, where such doctrine was deemed high treason
+against the electioneering morality; and the faithful and fearless
+minister of religion having rebuked, from the pulpit, some gross and
+public enormities and violations of the Sabbath by the canvassers for
+the earl's candidate, within the precincts of his pastoral charge, this
+was a sad and unpardonable aggravation of his rebellion. Nay, having
+published a little tract on the duty of attending public worship, of
+which he was the known author, this was regarded as a direct personal
+insult to the lord of the manor--because his lordship was so much
+engrossed with politics and his other affairs, that he had, for some
+time, ceased entirely to go to church. These little incidents were
+aggravated by the perfidy of the parson of the parish within which Mr.
+Douglas' chapel was situated. That gentleman had formed a scheme for
+transferring his residence from the ancient manse, in a remote part of
+the parish, to the more populous and flourishing burgh of barony of
+Bellerstown--intending to officiate himself in the chapel (receiving,
+of course, the additional accommodation applicable to that cure),
+and consigning the care of the souls in the parish church to the
+schoolmaster--a preacher whom he satisfied with a bonus of L10 or L12
+a-year. And for the accomplishment of this object, it was no difficult
+thing, as matters stood, to ingratiate himself into the patron's favour,
+and to accomplish his own personal objects, by whispering into the
+earl's greedy ear every remark that would suit his purpose, made by Mr.
+Douglas, in the most unbounded confidence of private intercourse and
+seeming friendship.
+
+  [I] This was written in 1829, before the Reform Act was dreamt
+  of.--ED.
+
+When the wrath which had accumulated in the heart of the earl was fanned
+to its height, he issued his orders to the factor in the following
+decree:--"Rackrent--_Us_"--(a grammatical singularity which his lordship
+always used, surpassing even the royal or editorial majesty, indicated
+by the first person plural)--"_Us_ is determined to root out that
+rebellious fellow Douglas, and to banish him from our grounds. Rackrent,
+order Spulzie, the scribe, instantly to serve the fellow with a summons
+of removing from Stablebarns; and, do you hear, go to Bellerstown, lock
+and nail up the chapel door, and tell the fellow that he shall never
+preach there again against _us_. Tell him to go to the devil, as _us_
+will not suffer rebels against our will."
+
+This mandate was instantly obeyed. Mr. Douglas received the intimation
+from Rackrent with surprise, but undismayed; and, his "courage swelling
+as the danger swells," he accepted the intimation as a testimony to his
+fidelity, and pitied the tyrant who had thus abused his authority. The
+earl had the uncontrolled power--there was no appeal from his heartless
+decree. Rackrent speedily promulgated in the burgh the purport of his
+mission, and ostentatiously performed his task of shutting up the
+chapel--putting the key in his pocket. Consternation, and sympathy with
+their "ain guid minister and his wife and bairns," spread from house to
+house; and it was not till the shadow of night afforded shelter from
+observation, that even a few true friends mustered courage to venture
+into the house of a proscribed man, and to cheer him with their
+condolence.
+
+Mr. Douglas had an instinctive courage, which prompted him to bear
+Rackrent's message without a quiver on his countenance, save perhaps a
+momentary expression of scorn on his lip, and a sparkle of indignation
+in his keen blue eye. But, after the minion of power had retired, and he
+felt himself alone, a cold and chilling emotion gathered round his
+heart. He went immediately to the nursery, where his wife was busied in
+tending and amusing her children; and having desired Grace Grant (our
+attached and only servant, who never was in any other service) to look
+after her matters in the kitchen, he communicated to his dear Isobel,
+that she and her little ones were thrown destitute. I was too young
+(being only four or five years of age at the time) to understand the
+import of what he said. But my mother and the elder children knew it
+well; and I need not describe the scene. The tears which a brave man
+sheds are only those of tenderness and affection--but these are, indeed,
+tears of bitterness. Such scenes of love and agony are too sacred to
+be disclosed to an unfeeling world; and all I remember of the one now
+alluded to, was, that my heart was like to break when I saw those around
+me embracing and embraced, in tears and in silence, save the sounds of
+sobs which burst from every bosom.
+
+It was a day of sorrow. Even the youngsters forgot, for a time, that
+they required their wonted frugal dinner; and it was not until twilight
+succeeded the last blaze of the setting sun, that Grace Grant called
+her mistress from the nursery (having heard from a neighbour the
+adversity which had befallen), to remind her that tea was ready. My
+mother was now much composed, and invited the minister to go to the
+parlour. It was a silent procession. My eldest brother carried me in
+his arms; and my father led his wife in one hand, while he bore their
+younger babe on his other arm. On reaching the parlour, we found tea
+prepared by the careful hands of Grace Grant; but, before sitting down
+to partake of that comforting refreshment, the minister proposed to
+offer up a prayer of resignation to the will of God, and of hope and
+trust in his providence.
+
+    "Then kneeling down to Heaven's eternal King,
+       The saint, the father, and the husband prays:
+     Hope 'springs exulting on triumphant wing,'
+       That thus they all shall meet in future days;
+     There, ever bask in uncreated rays,
+       No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear;
+     Together hymning their Creator's praise--
+       In such society yet still more dear,
+     While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere."
+
+These devout aspirations being ended, an air of calm composure reigned
+around my "Father's Fireside." He seated himself in his arm-chair, while
+my mother busied herself in preparing tea, and each little one took his
+appointed place around the oval wainscot table. The turf fire burned
+cheerily on the hearth. The tea-kettle gave out its hissing sounds,
+indicative of comfort; and the solitary candle diffused light on the
+fair young faces which brightened as the oat-cake and the "buttered
+pieces" began to disappear. But the minister's wonted playfulness was
+gone; and the decent silence of a Sabbath afternoon was observed even by
+the younger boys.
+
+The visits of their friends were a solace in the first hour of their
+unlooked-for adversity. But, after their retirement the vague,
+undefined, and gloomy shadows which rose to the contemplation of my
+parents, with respect to their future prospects, yielded only a troubled
+and unutterable anxiety. Repining and supineness, however, were not
+suited to my father's character; for, with mildness, he united decision
+and even boldness of spirit. He had, for several years previous to this
+explosion of lordly despotism in the patron of his chapel, corresponded
+with some of his college friends in the new Republic of America; and
+had been encouraged by them, and through them, by one of the most
+distinguished of the American patriots, to leave his meagre benefice and
+cross the Atlantic. These invitations he had declined; being warmly
+attached to his flock, to the Established Church of Scotland, to his
+friends at home, and to his country. In his altered circumstances,
+however--severed as he was by an arbitrary act over which there was no
+moral or legal control, cast destitute from the altar at which he had
+ministered with usefulness and acceptance, and having no claims to
+immediate patronage in the church--he resolved, with a heavy heart, to
+betake himself to that field of exertion in a foreign land to which he
+had been so courteously invited. Having adopted this resolution, he
+did not waste time in idle whining, but prepared to encounter all the
+inconveniences and perils of a long voyage across the deep; aggravated,
+unspeakably, by the accompaniments of a wife and six young children, and
+hampered by the scanty means which remained to him amidst this wreck of
+his hopes of happiness at home.
+
+But before his final departure from the cold and rocky shore of Scotland
+for ever, he wished to take a public leave of his flock. His own chapel
+had been shut up; but a reverend friend, in a closely adjoining burgh,
+acceded at once to his request, that he might have the use of his pulpit
+on the Sunday after the act of ejection which I have already mentioned.
+The villagers of Bellerstown were speedily apprised of their minister's
+intention; and they and many others attended to hear his farewell
+sermon. The church was crowded with an affectionate and even somewhat
+exasperated multitude, and the service of the day was characterised by a
+more than usual solemnity. All the energy of the preacher's spirit was
+called up to sustain him on so trying an occasion; and the unaffected,
+earnest, and native eloquence of his pulpit appearances, were heightened
+by the emotions which struggled within his bosom.
+
+His brief but christianlike and dignified address, in which the
+tremulous voice of deep emotion was occasionally mingled with the manly
+tones of bolder elocution, was listened to in silence deep as death; and
+when he descended from the pulpit, Mr. Douglas was surrounded by a
+throng of elders, and young men, and humble matrons, who were eager to
+manifest their heartfelt reverence for their beloved pastor.
+
+It were tedious and profitless to detail all the painful circumstances
+which intervened betwixt the time now referred to and that of the
+minister's embarkation. He experienced, on the one hand, all the
+petty vexations which the earl's sycophants could devise for his
+annoyance--and, on the other, much of that comfort which springs from
+spontaneous tokens of disinterested goodwill and of gratitude, even from
+the poor and humble; but the _mens conscia sibi recti_ enabled him to
+bear the former with composure, and the latter without vain presumption.
+
+The day of departure at length arrived--and, young as I was, I still
+remember as well as yesterday some of the circumstances. The family
+proceeded from the only home I had ever known, towards the harbour,
+accompanied by some of the most respectable inhabitants of the village.
+
+After passing by the chapel, which stood conspicuously on a rising
+ground, the party descended a steep road--like a patriarch of old going
+on a pilgrimage through the world, with his children around him--to the
+quay at which the vessel that was to bear us away was moored. The sea
+beach and quays were crowded. The entire population of the burgh seemed
+assembled. There were no shouts; but uncovered heads, and outstretched
+hands, and old visages glistening with tears of kindness, spoke a
+language more eloquent than words can utter. I was carried with my
+mother on board the ship. The sails were unfurled, while we were grouped
+on the quarter-deck. Most of the family went into the cabin; but my
+father sat on a coil of ropes, and I stood between his knees, encircled
+by his arm, and looking up in his face, which was occasionally convulsed
+with marks of strong but suppressed feeling. The vessel bounded over the
+waves of the German Ocean. My father spake not. His eye was still bent
+on the rocky cliffs (near which stood his church and dwelling of peace),
+after it could not discern the people that clustered on their summits.
+He wrapped me in his cloak, and held me to his bosom; and, for the first
+time, I felt a sad consciousness that I was without a home in the world.
+
+My first voyage in life was a rough one. The "Good Intent" of
+Bellerstown, in which my father and his family had embarked, as already
+stated, was a coasting trader, and was bound on this occasion for Leith,
+whence the patriarch of this intended emigration, and his partner, and
+little ones, were meant to be transferred to Greenock, as the port of
+final embarkation for the United States. To those who have had occasion
+to sojourn in such bottoms as the "Good Intent," ere yet the Berwick
+smacks and other vessels of a superior class had been established in the
+coasting trade of Scotland, it is needless to offer any description of
+such a vehicle for the conveyance of human beings--and those who have
+never experienced such a transit, can form no adequate conception of the
+misery which it exhibits. Let them, however, imagine a small and dirty
+cabin, into which no one is admitted save by the companion-door and a
+small sky-light that cannot be opened in rough weather--let them
+imagine, if they can, the "villanous compound of smells," produced by
+confined air, the flavour of bilge water, agitated in the hold of the
+ship, and diffused through every creaking crevice, and pitch, and
+effluvia of rancid salt meat and broth, and the products of universal
+sea-sickness, altogether inevitable in such circumstances--let them
+figure such a confined hole filled with human beings, crammed into
+smaller holes all around, called beds, or laid on shakedowns upon the
+floor, or stretched upon the lockers, in that state of despondency which
+overwhelming sickness induces;--and they have a picture of the Good
+Intent's cabin and _state-room_ during the voyage to which I refer. Nor
+was this all. The weather was boisterous, being the vernal equinox; the
+winds cross and tempestuous; and the waves of the sea so tremendous that
+the little vessel sunk, and rose, and rolled, as if each succeeding
+shock were the last ere she sank for ever into the roaring abyss; while
+each convulsion of the bark called forth involuntary moans and shrieks
+of distress, which were heard commingled with the whistling of the
+tempest, and the dash of the waves, that ever and anon burst on and
+swept over the deck. And thus, for the space of fourteen days went the
+Good Intent and her inmates, tossed to and fro on the German Ocean, with
+no comfort to mitigate the extreme of such unwonted sufferings, save the
+rough but hearty kindness of the skipper and crew, when their cares on
+deck left them a moment to go below, and offer any attention in their
+power. I have made many rough voyages since the time alluded to; but
+this one dwells on my memory like the visions in a wild and troubled
+dream, surpassing all I have since weathered in intensity of horror and
+dismay.
+
+At length, the expected haven came in sight; and we entered it--safe but
+sad enough, the Good Intent entered the Water of Leith at morning tide,
+and my childish wonderment was strangely excited by what seemed to my
+inexperienced eye a forest of masts and "leviathans afloat," as we were
+towed through among the vessels in harbour, until, amidst bawling and
+swearing on board and ashore, the Good Intent got a berth at the
+Coalhill of Leith. The emigrant party were all speedily taken on shore,
+and conveyed to a small inn, where soap and water, and clean clothes,
+and breakfast, revived, in no inconsiderable degree, the spirits of the
+whole party, after the exhaustion of such a voyage: and the youngsters,
+especially, were very speedily interested in the rude bustle which the
+shore of Leith usually exhibits.
+
+Leaving the little colony at Mrs. Monro's ship tavern, on the Coalhill,
+my father proceeded to the dwelling of his cousin, Mr. Pearson, who
+resided in one of the western suburbs of Edinburgh (where he and his
+were expected), in order to announce the advent to a temporary home. It
+was after noon ere he returned with his cousin to conduct the rest of
+the family; and the whole party proceeded on foot up Leith Walk, and
+through a part of Edinburgh, towards Mr. Pearson's hospitable abode,
+astonished and bewildered in a scene so new. There we all received a
+warm welcome from the good old man and his daughters, and experienced
+every attention and kindness which good hearts and the ties of kindred
+could suggest.
+
+Before proceeding to Greenock, to make the necessary arrangements for
+the final emigration, Mr. Douglas, while his family were refreshing with
+their relatives for a longer voyage than they had already encountered,
+paid a visit to an old friend, a clergyman in the country, in whose
+parish was situated the noble mansion of Earl H----. The countess of
+H---- was a relative of Lady B----, to whom Mr. Douglas had long been
+known as an exemplary clergyman, and who, in the day of his adversity
+and unmerited persecution, had taken a lively interest in his fate.
+Amongst other acts of kindness, she had not only given him an
+introductory letter to the countess of H----, but had written
+previously, recommending him earnestly to her good offices with the earl
+(who was, in all respects, a complete contrast to Lord Bellersdale), and
+soliciting some one of the numerous benefices in the church of which the
+earl was patron, when a vacancy might occur. Mr. Douglas visited his
+friend before delivering his introduction at the great house, and
+preached on the Sabbath which intervened during his stay: and the
+services of the day having been conducted with that simple and unfeigned
+devoutness which lends its highest power to pulpit eloquence, the noble
+family, who regularly attended on religious ordinances in their parish
+church, were much affected and gratified with the ministration of the
+stranger on this occasion; and this effect was not marred to "ears
+polite," even by the slight "accents of the northern tongue." Next
+morning, the pastor of the parish received an invitation to dine at
+H---- House that day, and was requested to bring along with him the
+friend who had officiated for him on the preceding Sunday. The
+invitation was, of course, accepted; and, on being introduced to the
+earl and countess of H----, and his name being announced, Lady H----
+inquired if he were of the north country, when he took the opportunity
+of delivering Lady B.'s introductory letter, which showed that Mr.
+Douglas was the same person of whom Lady B. had previously written. His
+reception by both the noble personages of the mansion was more than
+polite; it was kind in the highest degree, and every way worthy of a
+generous and high-minded race, whose good qualities have, in various
+periods of our history, given lustre to the nobility of Scotland. The
+day was spent with mutual satisfaction; and the earl, before parting,
+gave Mr. Douglas a cordial shake by the hand, and assured him that the
+first benefice that should fall in his gift, should be conferred on
+him. Thus they parted; but Mr. Douglas returned to Mr. Pearson's, with
+the unaltered purpose of pursuing his voyage to America--the hopes
+inspired by the earl's spontaneous promise being too faint and remote,
+in their possible accomplishment, to induce procrastination in his
+proceedings. The love of his native country yearned in his bosom, and
+all the perils and privations to which his little fireside-flock might
+be exposed, passed through his thoughts as he drove along the southern
+shore of the Forth, on his return; but he could see no immediate
+alternative, save to go onward in the path which he had previously
+chalked out for himself in his present circumstances.
+
+Accordingly, after a few days' repose, he set out to Greenock, to make
+arrangements for the passage to New York of himself and family. He
+applied to an eminent merchant there on the subject, in whose service,
+as a clerk, a favourite brother had lived and died. From that gentleman
+he received every courtesy and counsel suited to the occasion, and was
+offered the passage contemplated gratuitously. He had spent a day or two
+only in Greenock, making preparations for the voyage, when, having gone
+into the vessel in which he was destined to embark, to hold some
+necessary consultation with the master, a packet was brought to him
+which had been forwarded by Mr. Pearson to the care of Mr. B. the
+merchant. On unsealing it, Mr. Douglas found inclosed a presentation
+in his favour, by the Earl of H., to a living in one of the southern
+counties of Scotland!
+
+It were idle in any one who has never experienced a sudden and
+unexpected transition in the endless vicissitudes of human life--from a
+position encompassed with doubts and darkness, into scenes and prospects
+of brighter omen--to attempt any delineation of Mr. Douglas' emotions on
+this occasion; for, who can express in language the throb of gratitude
+to benefactors, which, in such circumstances, swells the heart beyond
+the power of utterance?--or who can convey any adequate notion of the
+devout and silent thankfulness which exalts the soul of a good man,
+when he sees and feels, in such an event, the manifestation of that
+overruling Providence which it is his habitual principle to acknowledge
+and adore?
+
+The American expedition was now abandoned, and Mr. Douglas returned from
+Greenock to Edinburgh, with all the despatch which the _Flies_ of those
+days rendered practicable. The tidings were soon told, not with proud
+exultation, but with the chastened gladness which these were calculated
+to impress on his own spirit and all around him; and, instead of packing
+up for Greenock, and preparing for crossing the wide Atlantic, nothing
+was now talked of in Pearson's kind circle but _plenishing_ for the
+manse.
+
+The day of departure at length arrived, ere yet the young folks had
+recovered from the astonishment which everything in the northern
+metropolis presented to them as wonders, and before they had become
+familiar with the splendours of long rows of lamps, and dazzling
+scattered lights over the dusky horizon of the "Auld Toun" in an
+evening. One of the most startling of these marvels, I well remember,
+was the Cowgate, with its rows of lamps extending beneath the South
+Bridge, and seen through the iron balustrades! This was perfect
+enchantment to some of us; and I don't believe I have ever seen any
+scene of artificial magnificence, since I first looked down on the
+Cowgate, that made so strong an impression on me, as a specimen of city
+grandeur!
+
+The vehicle for our conveyance was not, as in these latter days, a
+dashing stage-coach and four--for there was nothing of the kind on the
+public roads of Scotland fifty years ago--but a caravan or wagon, having
+a sort of rail round three sides of it, and covered overhead with a
+canvas cloth on strong hoops, with an aperture behind to let in the
+travellers, and the fresh air, and the light. Under this primitive
+pavilion sat ensconced the parson and spouse on trusses of straw, and
+with blankets to keep warmth, if necessary--the bairns being all packed
+in and about them, according to their dimensions; and in this fashion on
+jogged the cavalcade, consisting of the caravan, and another long cart
+with furniture. Two or three days were required for the journey--the
+carriers stopping each night at convenient distances in country inns for
+the "entertainment of men and horses," where slight and rough
+accommodation only was to be had.
+
+At length, on the third day, the caravansary reached the promised
+land--not like that in the Orient, flowing with milk and honey, and
+glowing in all the richness of natural beauty; but a long straggling
+village of heath-thatched cottages, with about half-a-dozen slated
+houses, including the kirk; and, though placed in a valley, on the banks
+of a rivulet, yet surrounded on all sides for many miles with the
+wildest moorlands in one of the most elevated situations inhabited in
+Scotland by human beings. But, what of all this? It afforded a _home_ in
+our native land--and we soon learnt by experience that its inhabitants
+were among the most kind-hearted and intelligent of the sons of
+Caledonia.
+
+The humble parsonage of Muirden was but a chapel of ease, yielding an
+income under one hundred pounds per annum. Yet, with this limited
+benefice, the Rev. William Douglas was enabled, by the frugal
+housewifery of the mistress, to maintain a decent, and, in his sphere,
+even a hospitable household, and to discharge the petty obligations to
+friends which he had incurred while "out of bread," and preparing to
+cross the deep to a foreign land. Until this last, and, in his
+estimation, sacred duty was accomplished, the strictest economy was
+observed. The "muckle wheel" and the "little wheel" were heard humming
+incessantly in the kitchen; and the bairns were clad in the good
+home-made cloths of the domicile; while they were early taught
+practically that plain and wholesome, though humble fare at the board,
+was all that they ought to desire, and that luxuries and delicacies,
+such as load "the rich man's table," were truly a matter of small
+moment, and utterly despicable when compared with those luxuries of the
+mind, and that superiority of character, which are derived from moral
+and intellectual culture. These latter, accordingly, were day by day
+pressed on their attention as the proper business of their early
+life--and all were habituated to regular and constant attention to
+their "lessons," at home as well as in school.
+
+Nor was this remote parsonage destitute of some strong and interesting
+attractions to a generous mind. Muirden was situated in a region which
+is consecrated by many events and traditions of "the persecuted times."
+There are hill-sides and moss-hags in its vicinity, still known to the
+peasant as the places of worship and of refuge to the Covenanters in
+days of peril and alarm; and some of Scotland's martyrs were immolated
+at the doors of their own huts, the foundation of which may still be
+traced, overgrown with the green turf or the heather-bell. To a Scottish
+pastor such scenes are classic, grand even in a higher sense than those
+of Marathon or Thermopylae--for it was the immutable and holy spirit
+which was there kindled, and formed into a flame, that finally won for
+Scotland not only the blessings of civil liberty, but the triumphs of
+religious truth.
+
+It was an inspiriting task to serve at the altar among a people who,
+though humble, cherished with fondness the memory of their godly
+forefathers; and was, indeed, a labour of love, in which the teacher and
+the taught found mutual comfort and advantage. Nor were the exercises
+of the pulpit the only parts of pastoral duty to which Mr. Douglas
+directed his attention and his heart. He visited and soon became
+acquainted with all his flock--not formally and pompously, but frankly
+and in unaffected kindness; and ere long became the friend and trusted
+counsellor of his parishioners, not merely in spiritual, but in their
+temporal concerns. And, as a proof of the impression which such a truly
+evangelical course of conduct made among his people, I may state that,
+within these few years, after the lapse of nearly fifty, I had a call
+from a respectable old man, who, having heard I was in Edinburgh, had
+found me out, and announced himself to be Mr. ----, who had taught
+me the alphabet, and first guided my hand to wield the pen which now
+records this incident. I have rarely met with an occurrence more
+gratifying to my feelings, than when the old gentleman (for he was a
+gentleman in the best sense of the term, though a country schoolmaster)
+told me that years had not effaced from his heart and his memory the
+kindly affection which he bore to my father and all his children, who
+were the objects of his careful tuition, and that he had sought and
+found me to give utterance to that feeling. I need not say he got a warm
+welcome. He had then retired from the laborious duties of his office,
+with a moderate competency, and in a green old age. He has since paid
+the debt of nature. Peace to his ashes! It would be well if our
+parochial clergy would thus cultivate, not the vulgar arts of wordly
+popularity, but, by acts of real kindness, the confidence and the
+respect of their flocks. It is thus that the human heart is to be won;
+and it is thus that a Christian pastor most effectually
+
+    "Allures to brighter realms, and leads the way."
+
+There was a peculiarity in the village of Muirden which I must not omit
+to notice. It was, perhaps, the first locality in Scotland, so entirely
+rural, that had a library established in it. I do not know precisely
+the history of that institution; but its supporters were the general
+community of the place, who were, in different grades, employed chiefly
+in the working of some mines in the vicinity, who devoted a small
+portion of their wages, periodically, for the purchase of books for the
+library. The fruits of this establishment were visible in the decent and
+orderly habits, and in the superior information of the whole population;
+presenting a moral picture exactly the reverse of that which too often
+characterises the now liberated _ascripti glebae_ who are usually engaged
+in such occupations, and who are proverbially the most barbarous and
+ignorant class of the community of Scotland--thus furnishing an example,
+which is now become pretty general, of supplying an interesting and
+improving employment of the hours of relaxation from labour, instead of
+misspending the precious intervals at the alehouse or other houses of
+debauchery.
+
+The village of Muirden, too, had the advantage of a resident country
+gentleman in its immediate neighbourhood--Mr. Sterling. Such an
+auxiliary to the clergyman and schoolmaster in a rural district, is
+generally of unspeakable advantage to the moral condition of the
+locality, more especially when, as in this instance, he was a man
+everyway worthy of his rank and position in society. He possessed an
+estate of his own in one of the most beautiful provinces in Scotland;
+but, being a man distinguished in science, he had a general supervision
+of the works to which I have alluded; and, being thus clothed with
+authority, as well as a magistrate in the county, he was ever ready to
+co-operate in every measure which was beneficial, and in the repression
+of whatever was pernicious, in this little colony. The society and
+friendly intercourse which naturally arose betwixt such a country
+gentleman and the pastor, formed no slight addition to the enjoyments of
+the latter, in a sphere shut out by its position from much personal
+intercourse with well-educated men; and, in short, amid mountain and
+moor all around, Muirden presented one of the most pleasing pictures
+that this country affords of a rural parsonage.
+
+Mr. Douglas' zealous and faithful discharge of his pastoral duties
+did not remain unknown to his noble patron. From the time, indeed,
+of his induction at Muirden, the moral movements of that hamlet were
+occasionally reported by its guardian, Mr. Sterling, to the family that
+was interested in its prosperity; and the unremitting but unobtrusive
+ministrations of the village pastor were not of course overlooked. These
+were duly appreciated; and, after the lapse of only two or three years,
+the Earl of H---- spontaneously, and without any previous communication,
+presented Mr. Douglas to the benefice of Eccleshall, which had fallen
+vacant by the demise of its minister. This change had the double
+advantage of being on the regular establishment of the church, beyond
+the risk of any such casualty as had formerly befallen the presentee,
+and of having a stipend nearly double the salary at Muirden--a
+consideration of no slight moment to a man with a family, however
+moderate in his views with regard to temporalities; and it possessed the
+further superiority over Muirden, that it was situated on the southern
+shore of the Firth of Forth, in a district of country highly cultivated,
+and within a few hours' ride of the metropolis. It had the charm of the
+most perfect seclusion from the great and bustling world--the church and
+manse being situated in a sheltered valley, embosomed amidst a cluster
+of ancient trees, which probably were planted ere the Reformation dawned
+in Scotland.
+
+The tidings of this promotion, as it may be deemed, produced, in the
+humble dwelling of the pastor of Muirden, that measure of gladness which
+is inspired by the smiles of fortune--varying in degree among the
+different members of the family according to their intelligence and
+their years. To the heads of it, the promised improvement in their
+condition afforded the calm, yet exquisite satisfaction which the
+prospect of a competence for their little ones, and the means of
+educating and preparing them to act their part in life, naturally
+awakens; and in the younger members of it, the reported beauties of the
+new parish, and the approach of a new journey, excited that joyousness
+and vivacity of hope which even invests what is unknown with the
+attribute of magnificence.
+
+After a little while devoted to necessary arrangements--after many
+visits paid to all the dwellings of the humble flock of Muirden--after
+the interchange of kindly hospitalities among the superior classes of
+his neighbours--and after a public and affectionate farewell to all--Mr.
+Douglas once more set out with his family on this, his last migration;
+and, with the aid of caravan and cart, the family party went on their
+way from Muirden to Edinburgh, retracing thus far their steps, on their
+journey to Eccleshall; and, in a few days, they were set down in the
+court before the manse of Eccleshall, over which two stately lime trees
+formed a cooling shade from the fervours of a summer sun.
+
+Whether the reality corresponded with the several anticipations of the
+new comers or not, I will not pretend to affirm; but the arrival had
+scarcely been accomplished, ere every room and recess of the manse was
+explored, and the neat and beautiful gardens were traversed, and the
+glebe surveyed, and the "bonny burnside" visited, and the water
+laved from its channel. It was, in truth, a new world to its young
+visitants--and appeared, in the superior house accommodation and
+rural amenity around, a terrestrial paradise, contrasted with the
+circumscribed dwelling on the rocky shore of the German Ocean in the
+north, or in the hamlet of Muirden amid the wilderness on the southern
+border of Scotland. The sensations and sympathies of that day, and of
+seven years which followed it, are yet fresh in my recollection, and
+still swell in my heart, as marking the brightest and the happiest
+period of my existence. Everything connected with that season of my
+life, is still invested in my memory with charms which I have never
+since tasted; and my young imagination clothed the vale of Eccleshall
+with a brighter verdure and gayer flowers than ever to me bloomed
+elsewhere on earth; and the heaven glowed in more resplendent sunshine
+than has ever since poured its golden radiance on my vision--for it was
+the sunshine of the young spirit still unclouded by a speck on its moral
+horizon, and undimmed by a tear of real suffering and sorrow. Are such
+youthful enchantments realities in the condition of man? or are they
+visions of fancy, which are kindled by a gracious dispensation of
+Providence, as a solace to the heart in riper years, when the cares, and
+toils, and anxieties of manhood are strewed thick in our path, and frown
+heavily in clouds over every stage of our progress?
+
+In a few days after the house was put in order, the induction of Mr.
+Douglas took place; and, although not so impressive as a Presbyterian
+ordination, it was to all, his own family at least, an interesting
+scene. A numerous assemblage of the parishioners and the reverend
+brethren was convened; and the arrival of the latter, successively or in
+groups--their friendly greetings in the parlour, their progress to the
+church, and their solemn devoir during the service of the day--bore a
+character of dignity and impressiveness which does not now generally
+belong to such ceremonials. It may, perhaps, be unphilosophical, and not
+in accordance with more modern sentiment, to ascribe any efficacy to
+mere externals of costume. But it is a principle deeply implanted in
+human nature, and not to be stifled by any cold reasoning in the matter,
+that external decorum and suitable habiliments in any of the solemnities
+of religion and the administration of justice, have a powerful effect
+on the great mass of mankind, which it is not wise to cast aside or
+contemn.
+
+It were an easy, and would be a pleasant task, to paint some of the
+scenes and characters which presented themselves to my observation even
+at that early period of life; but it would be foreign to the object I
+had in view, and would swell this humble narrative beyond the limits
+assigned to it. That object was merely to delineate some of the features
+in the character of a faithful Scottish clergyman, and to exhibit some
+of the "lights and shadows" which cheer or cloud his existence, like
+that of other men. I have traced his progress through various
+alternations of adversity and prosperity, and have placed him in
+circumstances such as usually fill up the measure of a Christian's
+ambition--a position of usefulness to those within the sphere of his
+influence, and of comfort in his temporal condition. During the space of
+seven years, it was the lot of the individual who, in real life, was the
+prototype of our story, to enjoy health, and strength, and domestic
+felicity, and to discharge his duties with zeal and advantage in the
+parish of Eccleshall; but, returning home after nightfall, from
+attending a meeting of synod in Edinburgh, he caught a severe cold in
+riding during a stormy night, which affected his lungs; and, ere long,
+his indisposition assumed all the symptoms of pulmonary consumption.
+
+Our tale of humble life now draws to a close. In the course of a few
+months, the indisposition of Mr. Douglas assumed all the symptoms of
+a settled consumption, which continued to present to his family and
+friends the alternations of hope and of fear, that are the unfailing
+companions of that subtle visitation. A sea voyage, native air, and all
+other expedients suggested by skill or affection, were tried in vain;
+and, in the fiftieth year of his age, the minister of Eccleshall
+returned to the bosom of his family, with a full anticipation that the
+distemper under which he lingered would, ere long, prove fatal. His
+eyes sparkled with more than wonted lustre--his benevolent and
+intelligent countenance glowed with the delicate hectic flush which so
+often marks the progress of consumption--and the healthy, but not robust
+frame of its victim, became emaciated and feeble. The fall of the year
+179-, brought the chilling blasts of November to quench the flickering
+spark of life in his bosom.
+
+I was despatched one cold morning on the pony for Mr. Blythe, a
+neighbouring clergyman and friend, to pay my father a visit. We rode
+together from his manse to Eccleshall; and, on his arrival, he remained
+alone with my father, engaged in those hallowed communings betwixt a
+dying man and his spiritual comforter which it is unseemly and
+sacrilegious in any case to disclose to mortal eyes. After a
+considerable space thus spent, the whole family, including the servants,
+were, by my father's directions, summoned to the side of his couch, in
+the Red Room, where he reposed. When all were assembled, he intimated,
+with composure and resignation, that he was conscious of the near
+approach of death, and addressed a few sentences of admonition and
+affection to them all; and, having done so, he requested Mr. Blythe to
+unite with his household in prayer and praise--requesting that the last
+hymn in the beautiful collection of sacred lyrics attached to our
+national psalmody, might be sung. My father's pulpit psalm-book was
+brought to Mr. Blythe. It is now before me, and I transcribe, from its
+page, with a vivid recollection of the scene now referred to, one of the
+solemn stanzas of that touching anthem:--
+
+    "The hour of my departure's come,
+     I hear the voice that calls me home;
+     At last, O Lord! let troubles cease,
+     And let thy servant die in peace!"
+
+Mr. Blythe breathed, rather than sung the hymn, in the notes of
+Luther's hundredth psalm; and he did it with the accompaniment of
+tremulous and broken accents from all around the couch. The tears of
+unutterable sorrow were shed by all, save my mother, whose grief could
+not find a vent in tears. The voice of psalms was quenched amid the sobs
+which burst from every heart; and, during the singing of the last
+portion of it, the pious man who guided these orisons, sympathized so
+deeply in the passion of lamentation which encompassed him, that his
+accents were scarcely audible. The overpowering scene was closed by a
+brief and pathetic prayer to the Most High, that to His dying servant he
+would "stretch out His everlasting arms," and "to the friendless prove a
+friend."
+
+A few hours more, and the scene of life had passed away from the mortal
+vision of William Douglas. I saw him die. It was the first deathbed I
+had ever seen. There are many occurrences in life which fill the mind
+with awe; but I have never been conscious of any emotion so profound and
+solemn as that which possessed me during the last day of my father's
+life. I witnessed the expiring flame in those dread moments when time is
+blent with eternity, and when the last sigh seems to waft the immortal
+spirit into a state of existence of which no adequate conception can be
+formed. After all was over, and the breath of life had fled, I could not
+believe my senses, that the prop of my affections was gone from my love
+and my embrace, and that all which remained on earth of my father,
+protector, and gentle monitor, was a lifeless wreck on the shore of
+time. The world appeared to my young eye and heart as a wide scene of
+mere darkness and desolation.
+
+I will not dwell on subsequent events. The funeral obsequies performed,
+the family councils were of a melancholy description. As to worldly
+matters, it was ascertained that there was very little debt--not more
+than could be fully paid by the current stipend and other limited
+means; but, beyond this, all was a dreary blank. The only means of
+subsistence to which my widowed mother could look with certainty, was
+her small annuity of L25 a-year; while one only of the family (the
+eldest boy, who had been educated as a surgeon, and had got an
+appointment in the East India Company's service) could do ought to eke
+out the means of life for the family. In the depth of her affliction,
+she would say, with pious confidence, in the language of scripture, "I
+have never seen the righteous man forsaken, or his seed begging their
+bread."
+
+But, leaving these painful retrospects, it may not be inappropriate to
+note briefly the career of the earl of Bellersdale, whom I had occasion
+to advert to in the earlier part of this story. He survived my father
+many years, and spent his life devoid of domestic happiness or public
+respect, in the accumulation of wealth and the pursuits of sordid
+ambition. He lived detested and despised of mankind; and, dying
+unlamented by any one human being, he destined the vast treasures which
+he had amassed, to constant accumulation, not to be enjoyed fully by his
+heirs, but for the creation of a princedom of indefinite extent and
+wealth. But the honours of the Bellersdale family were speedily
+tarnished. A spendthrift successor squandered all the revenues which he
+could touch; and the last time I visited that part of the country, the
+splendid mansion of Bellersdale Castle was stripped of all its movables;
+the collections of many years of aristocratic pride--the pictures, the
+statues, the very board destined for baronial hospitality--were all
+brought to the hammer for payment of a tailor's bill for gewgaws to
+grace a court pageant; and the nominal inheritor of the wide domains and
+honours of his lordship's house, is an obscure and useless, though
+good-natured dependent upon Hebrew usurers and Gentile pettifoggers--a
+mere cumberer of the ground--a sycophant of the vulgar!
+
+I need not point the moral of my tale.
+
+
+
+
+THE SEERS' CAVE.
+
+    "The desert gave him visions wild--
+     The midnight wind came wild and dread,
+     Swell'd with the voices of the dead;
+     Far on the future battle-heath
+     His eye beheld the ranks of death:
+     Thus the lone seer, from mankind hurl'd,
+     Shap'd forth a disembodied world."
+                                       SCOTT.
+
+
+In a certain wild and romantic glen in the Highlands of Scotland, there
+is a cave opening beneath the brow of a huge overhanging cliff, and half
+concealed by wreathed roots and wild festoons of brier and woodbine.
+Several indistinct traditions remain of this cave's having been, in
+former days, the abode of more than one holy hermit and gifted
+seer. From these it derived the name which it commonly received,
+Coir-nan-Taischatrin, or, The Cave of the Seers. At a little distance
+within the glen, upon its sunny side, stood Castle Feracht. The
+elevation on which it was built, gave it a prospect of the whole glen,
+without detaching it from the hills and woods around; and a space had
+been cleared of trees, so that, though completely surrounded, their
+leafy screen only curtained, not obscured it.
+
+Castle Feracht had long been the residence of a powerful branch of the
+Macphersons. In that far retirement repeated generations of that daring
+family had grown up and rushed forth, like young eagles from their
+mountain-eyrie, to the field of strife; and not unfrequently never to
+return. Such had been the fate of Angus Macpherson, in consequence of an
+accidental encounter with the Gordons, between whom and the Macphersons
+there had long subsisted a deadly feud. The death of his father had the
+effect of fixing upon the mind of his son Ewan Macpherson a feeling of
+stern and deadly resentment against all who had ever been the foes of
+his turbulent clan. The stripling seemed to fret at the slow pace of
+time, and to long for those years in which his arm might have sufficient
+force to wield his father's broadsword, that he might rush to vengeance.
+Such had often been his secret thoughts, when he at length reached a
+period of life which made him able to put the suggestions of his
+vindictive mind into execution; but a strong and arousing spirit, to
+which we need not farther allude, passed over the land, and he forgot
+for a time his personal animosities, in feelings and purposes of a more
+general and absorbing nature. The powerful sympathy of thousands,
+lending all their united energies towards one point, and laying aside
+their individual pursuits, in order to contribute to the advancement of
+that all-engrossing aim, laid its influence upon his soul, and he joined
+the company, and aided in the general plans of those whom he would have
+joyed to have met in deadly combat. Those against whom his hostility had
+been less violent, he had learned to meet almost on terms of friendship,
+though dashed at times with looks of coldness.
+
+Among those half-forgiven foes, was Allan Cameron, a younger son of that
+family of the Camerons which stood next in hereditary dignity to the
+chief. The feud between the Macphersons and Camerons had never been very
+deadly, and might, perhaps, have been forgotten, had Macpherson been
+less accustomed to "rake up the ashes of his fathers." Cameron, though
+still a very young man, had been obliged early to mingle with the world,
+and had acquired that habit of ready decision which gives its possessor
+an ascendancy over almost all with whom he has any intercourse.
+Notwithstanding his youth, therefore, he was of considerable influence,
+and being brought repeatedly into contact with Macpherson, there was
+something of a shy and distant friendship between them. Cameron soon
+perceived the coldness of Macpherson; but, as his own generous and
+cultivated mind was far superior to the influence of prejudices, such
+as had thrown a gloom over the whole being of Macpherson, he knew not,
+never dreamt, that he was an object of secret dislike to him; and, with
+his usual frank kind-heartedness, exerted himself to win the favour of a
+man so distinguished for personal daring as the dark-browed lord of Glen
+Feracht.
+
+During the course of the operations in which they were engaged, the
+decisive resolution and activity of Cameron had repeatedly attracted the
+notice of Macpherson. Several times had he said to himself, "Were he not
+a Cameron, he would be a gallant fellow!" At length, one day Macpherson
+was severely wounded, and rescued from immediate death by the fearless
+intrepidity and fiery promptness of Cameron. Macpherson's stern
+sullenness was subdued. Ere yet recovered from his wounds, he clasped
+Cameron's hand in token of cordial friendship; and so far laid aside his
+distant coldness, as to invite Allan Cameron to accompany him to Glen
+Feracht, when their present enterprise should have come to a
+termination.
+
+That termination came sooner than had been expected; and Cameron found
+it not only convenient but prudent to accompany his fellow soldier to
+the secret retreat of Castle Feracht. Cameron, an ardent admirer of
+nature's beauties, yielded all his soul to the emotions inspired by the
+wild and rugged entrance to Glen Feracht; nor could he suppress repeated
+exclamations of delight when all the softer beauties of the quiet glen
+opened upon his sight. Macpherson observed his admiration, and paced
+over the daisied sward of his own valley with a more lofty step. Nor was
+there less proud satisfaction in his heart and eye as he conducted his
+guest to the hall of his fathers, and presented to him his only sister,
+bidding her, at the same time, know in Allan Cameron the preserver of
+her brother's life.
+
+Elizabeth Macpherson rose and stepped blushing forward to receive her
+young and gallant guest. She was just on the verge of womanhood--that
+most fascinating period, when the tender and deep sensibilities of the
+woman begin to give a timid dignity to the liveliness of the girl. The
+open and rather ardent expression of her happy countenance was sweetly
+repressed and tempered by the pure veil of maidenly modesty; yet her
+graceful and commanding stature, the fire of her bright blue eye, and
+her free and stately step and gesture, told that the spirit of her
+fathers dwelt strong in the bosom of their lovely daughter. The heart of
+Allan Cameron bounded and fluttered in his breast, as he advanced to
+salute this beautiful mountain-nymph. He had braved, undaunted, the brow
+of man when darkened with the frown of deadly hostility, but he shrank
+with a new and undefinable tremor before the blushing smile of a
+youthful maiden's cheek and eye. His self-possession seemed for once to
+have forsaken him; and had Macpherson been acquainted with the human
+heart, he must have seen that a new and irresistible feeling was rapidly
+taking possession of his generous preserver's bosom. He saw in it,
+however, but the awkwardness of a first interview between two strangers
+of different sexes; and, in order to relieve Cameron, led him away to
+see all the beautiful and romantic scenery of the glen, particularly
+Coir-nan-Taischatrin.
+
+But it was not long ere the graceful person and fascinating manners of
+Cameron made an impression upon the artless and warm-hearted maiden. At
+first, her brother's intimate friend, the preserver of his life, had, in
+her view, just claims to her attention and grateful kindness; but she
+soon felt that she esteemed, not to say loved him for himself. The
+preserver of her brother would at all times have been dear to her; but
+Allan Cameron woke in her heart a feeling inexpressibly more deep, more
+tender, more intense.
+
+Art had little influence in directing the conduct of the youthful
+lovers; and it was not long till they experienced all that heaven of
+delight which arises in the heart upon being assured of the mutual
+return of affection. They had, however, kept their love hid from Ewan
+Macpherson; both because his dark and gloomy manner forbade all
+approaches to familiar confidence, and because, from the peculiar nature
+of love, mystery and concealment are necessary to give it its highest
+zest. Whatever might be the cause, certain it was that Allan Cameron and
+Elizabeth Macpherson planned the little excursions, which they now
+frequently made together, in such a manner that they might, as much as
+possible, avoid being seen by Ewan.
+
+At length, however, the suspicions of the proud chieftain were
+aroused. It had never entered into his mind that Cameron might, by any
+possibility, raise his presumptuous hopes so high as to dream of loving
+the sister of Ewan Macpherson; and no sooner did he suspect the truth,
+than he dashed from his mind every friendly and grateful feeling towards
+the man who had saved his life; and saw in Allan Cameron only the
+hereditary foe of his clan, whose daring insolence had attempted to
+disgrace the name of Macpherson, by seeking to win the heart of its most
+loftily descended maiden. Full of resentment at what he deemed so deep
+an insult, he was ranging the groves and thickets of Glen Feracht in
+quest of Cameron, like a wolf prowling for his unconscious victim.
+
+The evening sun was at that time throwing his long lines of slanting
+glory across the summits of the mountains, and lighting the clouds of
+the west with a radiance too dazzling to be gazed upon, yet too
+magnificent to permit the eye and the excited soul to wander for a
+moment from the contemplation of its celestial splendour. Upon a gentle
+eminence, whence the castle and the greater part of the glen might be
+distinctly viewed, stood the lovers. They gazed with silent delight on
+the beauty and magnificence of the scene around them; yet, amidst their
+engrossing raptures, they had still enough of individual feeling
+remaining to be sensible of that warm palpitation of the heart, which,
+in the presence of a beloved object, so greatly enhances every feeling
+of delight. On a sudden, they were startled by a rustling noise in the
+adjoining thicket; and immediately forth bounded Bran, Macpherson's
+staghound, his master's constant attendant.
+
+"My brother must be near," said Elizabeth, in an anxious whisper; "and
+we shall be discovered. Good Heavens! what shall we do?"
+
+"Perhaps he may not have seen us," replied Cameron: "you can hasten to
+the castle, and I shall attempt to detain him here till you shall have
+reached it."
+
+She gave no answer; but, casting around a glance of great alarm, and
+fixing one tender, anxious look for one moment upon Cameron, she
+hastened away through secret but well-known paths. She did not, however,
+escape the eye of Ewan Macpherson, who had thus unseasonably approached
+the lovers in their retirement. At this discovery, madness swelled in
+his heart and boiled along his veins; but, suppressing his passion, he
+approached with haughty stateliness the spot where Cameron stood,
+apparently fixed in deep and all-engrossing admiration of the glowing
+beauties of earth and heaven.
+
+"The beauties of animated nature appear to have charms in the tasteful
+eyes of Allan Cameron," said Macpherson, as he advanced.
+
+"They have," replied Cameron; "and who could stand on this lovely spot
+and witness so much beauty and magnificence, without feeling a glow
+of rapture pervade his whole frame, and chain him to the place in
+delighted admiration! How happy ought the man to be who can call a place
+of such loveliness and grandeur his own!"
+
+"Stay! hold! Allan Cameron; let us understand each other. Does Allan
+Cameron mean to say that these woods and streams of Glen Feracht, the
+lofty mountains around him, the tints of the evening sky over his head,
+and these alone, have stirred up his soul to this pitch of enthusiasm?
+Or must Ewan Macpherson flatter himself that his sister's charms have
+also had some slight influence in producing these rapturous emotions?"
+
+Uncertain whether Macpherson was in earnest or in jest, Cameron
+hesitated to answer; and continued gazing on the mountain top, bright,
+and crimson, and airy, as if it terminated in an edge of flame.
+
+"Dishonour blast the name of Macpherson, if I endure this!" exclaimed
+the fierce Ewan, bursting into a tumult of fury. "Proud Cameron! dost
+thou disdain to answer the chief of the Macphersons? Are we fallen so
+low that a Cameron shall despise us? Speak! answer me! else I strike
+thee to my foot like a base hound! Hast thou dared to mention love--even
+to think of love for the sister of Macpherson?"
+
+"And where were the mighty offence, though a Cameron should aspire so
+high as to love the sister of Macpherson?"
+
+"Where were the offence?--I tell thee, boy, he had better never have
+seen the light. But I will not trifle with thee. Hast _thou_ so dared?"
+
+"I am little used to answer such interrogations. But I would not
+willingly quarrel with Ewan Macpherson. My heart must have been colder
+than it is, could I have enjoyed the company of Elizabeth Macpherson
+without yielding me to that influence of witching beauty which softens
+and subdues the soul."
+
+"Thou hast not said--thou dost not dare to say--thou lovest her!
+Cameron, I have felt friendship for thee. Thou hast resided in the hall
+of my fathers. My hand is withheld from thee. But, if thou dost not
+renounce, at once and for ever, all pretensions to the love of Elizabeth
+Macpherson, thou hast looked thy last on this green earth and those
+glorious heavens."
+
+"Renounce all pretensions to the love of Elizabeth Macpherson! I tell
+thee, proud man, that the daughter of the highest Macpherson might think
+herself honoured by an alliance with a Cameron."
+
+"Insolent serf! unsay thy words, or maintain them with thy
+sword!--Crouch, like a low-born slave as thou art, and beg Macpherson's
+pardon, if thou darest not bare thy coward blade."
+
+"Macpherson, thou didst not call me slave or coward, when, side by side,
+we two stemmed the stream of battle in its wildest rage;--nor was it a
+coward blade that hewed out a safe retreat for thee, when thine own arm
+waxed weak and thy steps were unequal on the field of the slain."
+
+"Thou dost well to speak of what thou knowest will prevent me from
+chastising thy base treachery. 'Tis what I might have expected;--'tis
+done like a cowardly Cameron!"
+
+"But that thou hast a sister, Macpherson, that taunt had cost thee dear.
+Thou knowest that thou speakest falsely."
+
+"Falsely!--defend thee, villain, or die like a slave! The feud of our
+fathers is but renewed--their spirits behold our strife!" cried
+Macpherson, and, drawing his claymore, rushed upon Cameron almost before
+his blade was bared for the combat.
+
+Macpherson, transported to a pitch of frenzy, thought not of artful
+skill, dreamt not of personal danger. He showered blow on blow with the
+intemperate fury of a maniac; all his aim, every effort, being directed
+to destroy his foe. Cameron, with less bodily strength, was possessed of
+calm and dauntless courage, superior skill in the use of his weapon, and
+unmatched personal activity. Unwilling to harm the brother of the object
+of his affection, he only defended himself, retiring and warding off the
+furious but aimless blows of Macpherson. The frowning cheek and brow of
+the baffled chief waxed grimmer with disappointed hate; and, changing
+his mode of attack, he swept circling round his young and agile
+antagonist, endeavouring thus to throw him off his guard. Cameron,
+turning dexterously on his heel, held him still at the sword's point,
+and allowed him to expend his strength in desperate efforts of fierce
+but ineffectual violence. During their combat, however, some of
+Macpherson's _gillies_ approached the spot; and Cameron perceived them
+nearing him with kindling eyes, and holding in their impatient hands the
+_skean dhu_ half unsheathed. He knew that Macpherson was as honourable
+as brave; and he knew that he might with perfect safety trust his life
+to the honour of any highlander, under any circumstance where the
+peculiar honour of his clan was not concerned. But he also knew that no
+clansman would esteem any deed a crime which should preserve the life or
+the reputation of his chief. There was, he saw, but one means of saving
+his life. Collecting all his strength, he beat aside one of Macpherson's
+furious blows, and bounding upon him as a crouching tiger springs upon
+his prey, he wrenched his claymore from his hand, dashed him to the
+earth with the mere violence of the assault; wielding a weapon in either
+hand, he struck to the ground two of the opposing clansmen, plunged into
+the thickets as a mountain stag bursts through his covert when the
+opening pack is near, and disappeared in an instant among the crashing
+and closing boughs of the underwood. Foaming with disappointed rage,
+Macpherson sprung from the ground, snatched a _skean dhu_ from one of
+his prostrated followers, and shouting, "Revenge!" rushed into the
+thickets in headlong pursuit. In vain. A fleeter foot than that of Allan
+Cameron never pressed the mountain heath, and, in a short time, he was
+far beyond all danger from his enraged pursuer; who, after ranging every
+dell and nook in vain, returned to Castle Feracht, chafing and foaming
+with impotent rage, and uttering dire but unavailing threats of
+vengeance.
+
+What would it avail to relate the chieftain's wrath, when he found
+himself compelled to forego his hopes of sweet revenge, and to endure
+what he esteemed a new and a more daring insult? Fret and chafe as he
+might, he knew that his high-souled sister would not be deterred, by
+threats of personal injury, from following the bent of her own
+inclination. He therefore assembled his followers in her presence, and
+caused them all to bind themselves, by a deep oath, to avenge the
+quarrel of their chief upon Allan Cameron, should he ever dare to set
+foot within Glen Feracht; enforcing his commands by threats of deadliest
+vengeance, should any clansman show him favour, hold intelligence with
+him, or meet him in terms of peace. Elizabeth Macpherson saw his
+purpose; but she scorned to display her emotion. A flush indeed mantled
+her brow, and her eye shed one sparkle of indignation--but she remained
+silent. Fraternal affection was banished the halls of Castle Feracht. An
+increasing gloom and moodiness of heart began to sink upon the rugged
+chief; and, at length, to prevent his dark soul's loneliness from
+becoming altogether insupportable, he began to take an interest in the
+affairs, first of his own clan, next of the neighbouring clans, and
+finally of the nation. He thus became acquainted with many a wild and
+many a wondrous legend, which might otherwise never have reached his
+observation; and his rather uncultivated mind was not able to resist the
+encroachments of superstition. Among others, a firm belief in the
+reality of the _taisch_, or second-sight, took possession of his mind;
+and he listened to the many almost incredible relations concerning it,
+with a wild excitement of spirit. These changes in the manners and
+pursuits of Macpherson, were, from time to time, reported to Allan
+Cameron, in spite of the stern threats which had been denounced against
+all who should hold intercourse with him. A youth, the cho-alt (foster
+brother) of Allan Cameron, had repeatedly, under the assumed character
+of a wandering hunter, entered within the precincts of Glen Feracht,
+where he was unknown; and, picking up all the information that could be
+obtained, without awakening suspicion, returned with it to his youthful
+chief.
+
+Ewan Macpherson was one day informed, by his aged _henchman_, Ranald
+Glas, that a second-sighted man had arrived in the glen, conducted,
+according to his own account, by the power of the taisch: that he was
+extremely old, and his visions were appallingly vivid: his thoughts were
+terror, and his words were fire. The revelations of things to come
+passed frequent and powerful across his soul, bright and living as
+realities; and his language was that of one who constantly held strange
+communication with scenes and beings not of this world. Though his foot
+had never before trod the heath of Glen Feracht, he described, with the
+most perfect accuracy, its castle, stream, and cave; saying that he was
+come to lay his bones beside those of the ancient seers and holy men who
+had inhabited Coir-nan-Taischatrin. This was enough to rouse the
+curiosity of Macpherson. Pursuing his inquiries, he learned that the
+seer had taken up his abode in the cave, and that he had already
+foretold to some of the clan things, part of which were accomplished,
+and the rest expected with the utmost confidence. In order to satisfy
+his curiosity, Macpherson determined to visit the hoary seer, and learn
+from himself the nature of his visions.
+
+The shadows of the pine and oak were stretching far across the ravine in
+the slant evening sunshine, when Ewan Macpherson appeared in front of
+the cave. His eye could not penetrate the deep darkness within it; and,
+yielding to a feeling of indescribable awe which crept over his soul, he
+remained for some time silent and motionless before its entrance. At
+length he ordered one of his gillies to acquaint the wondrous inmate
+that Ewan Macpherson wished to hold some converse with him. Forward came
+the venerable man; and his appearance, in the dimming twilight, had no
+tendency to diminish the strange delirium of superstitious feelings
+which had absorbed the whole mind of the bewildered chief. The sage bent
+one searching glance upon his visitor; and, seeming to have penetrated
+the state of his mind, advanced into more open view.
+
+A long and squared rod seemed to support his shaking frame as he came
+forward, tottering and halting at every step. The shaggy hide of an
+enormous wolf, thrown loosely over his shoulders, served partly to
+clothe him, partly to disguise his form by the air of savage wildness
+which a garment so uncouth gave its wearer. From his belt depended some
+instruments, with the use of which Macpherson was entirely unacquainted;
+together with a _skean dhu_ of exquisite and uncommon workmanship. His
+bonnet alone was like that of other men; for what could a true
+highlander substitute for the blue bonnet? but he neither doffed it,
+nor made any motions of obeisance as he approached. A long white beard
+flowed half down his bosom, waving heavily and solemnly as he moved. The
+fire of an intensely bright eye was half hid by his deep, grey, shaggy
+eyebrows; yet, from beneath that grim penthouse, they emitted occasional
+sparklings like diamonds in the dark.
+
+"Chief of Macpherson!" said he, in a deep hollow voice, "man of the
+dark brow and ruthless hand! what seekest thou with Moran of the Wild?"
+But, ere Macpherson could reply, the sage cast the wolf hide back from
+his right shoulder--extended the long square rod in his firmly clenched
+hand--raised himself up to his full height, while his eyes seemed
+starting from their sockets, and gleaming like two balls of living fire,
+and his whole frame agitated, and as if it were dilating with the
+internal workings of his wild visionary spirit. Macpherson shook and
+shrunk in his presence.
+
+"They come! they come!" exclaimed the seer--"the wild, the dreadful, the
+undefinable, the unutterable, the shadowy forms and seemings of things
+and actions to be! They crowd upon me in powers and numbers unendurable,
+inconceivable! Words never formed by human breath sound within my heart,
+and tell of things that mortal tongue may never utter. Eyes, clear,
+cold, dead, bright, and chill as winter moonshine, look into my soul,
+and fill it with all their lucid meanings! Oh, scene of blood and woe!
+when wilt thou end? Thou bright-haired angel, must the doom be thine!
+Fair lady of the stately brow! oh! let me see no more!" His lips
+quivered, but he uttered not another word. He remained fixed, rigid,
+statue-like, as if chilled into stone, bereft of life and motion, by the
+terrible vision. At length his extended arm dropped by his side; and,
+heaving a long, shuddering sigh, he leaned his drooping frame upon his
+rod, trembling and exhausted.
+
+After a considerable pause, Macpherson ventured to address him, with the
+intention of inquiring into the nature of his vision. "Speak not to me,
+Ewan Macpherson," said he. "Seek not to know the fate thou wilt and must
+know all too soon. Thy path through life has been blood-stained and
+devious. No warnings may now avail thee. But that lady--might she be
+rescued from misery and horror! Chief! if the safety and happiness of
+thy father's daughter be dear to thee, bid her assume the spirit of her
+race, and come alone to Coir-nan-Taischatrin. Tell her that Moran of the
+Wild has that to reveal to her which concerns her, and thee, too,
+deeply. And mark me, Chief! unless thou ceasest to pursue the feuds of
+thy fathers, thy course will be brief, and bloody will be its close."
+Thus saying, he turned and feebly dragged his spent and tottering form
+into the dark and awe-inspiring cave.
+
+Stunned and bewildered, incapable of thought or reflection, and
+staggering like one who walks in his sleep, Macpherson wandered back
+towards Castle Feracht. With a strange expression of vague astonishment
+and hesitation he gazed upon his sister. At length he found words:
+"Elizabeth Macpherson, if the honour of thy name, if thy own safety
+and happiness can move thee; if thy brother's life--but that is a
+trifle--assume the spirit of thy fathers, and go alone to
+Coir-nan-Taischatrin. Moran of the Wild has that to tell thee which
+deeply concerns thy safety and happiness. Canst thou execute his desire?
+He is a fearful man!" At his first words the blood forsook her cheek,
+and her heart sank within her; but, ere he ceased speaking, a wild
+surmise flashed gleaming across her soul.
+
+"Brother!" replied she, "the daughter of Angus Macpherson dare go alone
+to Coir-nan-Taischatrin, and hear whatever the sage may have to tell.
+Fear not for me. Do not, by impatience or needless anxiety for my
+safety, rashly interrupt our interview. Ere long, you shall know what
+warnings or what information the seer has to impart." Then, with a
+stately and determined step, and an eye kindled with an ambiguous
+expression of ardent hope or daring resolution, she bent her way to
+the dreaded cave.
+
+The fearless maiden approached the cave. She spoke; but the voice that
+answered was that of Allan Cameron. The wolf's hide was soon thrown
+aside, and he stood before her in the graceful garb of a mountain
+warrior; his noble countenance beaming with courage and triumphant
+love. Taking advantage of the time which Macpherson would delay at the
+castle, awaiting the expiration of their interview, they hastily fled
+from the hostile glen, and soon reached a concealment where the faithful
+cho-alt had horses prepared for their escape. Words would be feeble to
+express the fury of Ewan Macpherson when, after waiting till his
+patience was exhausted, he explored the cave, and found that he had been
+deceived, and that by the man whom he had begun to consider as his
+deadliest foe. He determined to take fearful vengeance upon Cameron, and
+all of his clan whom he might be able to overpower. Before he could get
+his purpose put in execution, he chanced to meet a small party of the
+Gordons; when, forgetting every other thought but that of his burning
+desire of vengeance on those who slew his father, he rushed upon them;
+and, bursting into the midst of them, was assailed on all sides, and
+wounded so severely that, though he was rescued by his own followers,
+and was completely victorious, he died ere he could be brought back to
+Castle Feracht. Dying unmarried, his estate and power passed to his
+sister, and from her to one of her younger sons, upon his dropping the
+name of Cameron, and retaining that of Macpherson alone. An amicable
+termination was thus put to the feud between the two families. A
+descendant from this auspicious union still resides in Castle Feracht,
+and occasionally relates, with considerable pleasure, the tradition of
+Coir-nan-Taischatrin.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAIDLEY WORM OF SPINDLESTON HEUGH.
+
+A TALE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
+
+    "Word went east, and word went west,
+       And word is gone over the sea,
+     That a Laidley Worm in Spindleston Heugh
+       Would ruin the north countrie.
+
+    "All folks believe within the shire
+       This story to be true,
+     And they all run to Spindleston
+       The cave and trough to view.
+
+    "This fact now Duncan Frazier,
+       Of Cheviot, sings in rhyme,
+     Lest Bamboroughshire-men should forget
+       Some part of it in time."--_Ancient Ballad._[J]
+
+  [J] The popular Ballad of the Laidley (or loathly) Worm of
+  Spindleston Heugh, was composed by Duncan Frazier, the Cheviot bard,
+  more than five hundred years ago, and had rendered the legend familiar
+  far beyond the Borders. The tradition has doubtless been commemorated by
+  the ancient Saxon bards, when old Duncan turned it into rhyme; and it is
+  under this supposition that the present tale is told, the narrator being
+  understood to be a wandering bard of the Saxon race.
+
+
+"Tell me, old man," said a Northumbrian chief to a Saxon bard who
+claimed his hospitality, "tell me a tale of the olden time--a legend of
+the race of Woden."
+
+The bard bowed his head and began:--Great was Ida, the flame-bearer,
+above all the kings of the isles. His ships covered the sea in shoals,
+and his warriors that launched them on the deep were stronger than its
+waves. He built the towers of Bamborough on the mighty rock whose shadow
+darkens the waters. He reared it as a habitation for his queen, and he
+called it by her name.[K] Wheresoever he went, strong places were
+consumed, kings were overthrown and became his servants, and nations
+became one. But Ida, in the midst of his conquests, fell in battle, by
+the red sword of Owen, the avenging Briton. Then followed six kings who
+reigned over Bernicia, from the southern Tyne even to the Frith of Dun
+Edin. But the duration of their sovereignty was as a summer cloud or
+morning dew. Their reigns were as six spans from an infant's hand, and
+peaceful as an infant's slumber.
+
+  [K] According to the venerable Bede, the name of Ida's queen
+  was Bidda, and the original name of Bamborough, Biddaburgh.
+
+But to them succeeded Ethelfrith the Fierce--the grandson of Ida--the
+descendant of the immortal Woden. His voice, when his ire was kindled,
+was like the sound of deep thunder, and his vengeance fleeter than the
+lightning. He overthrew princes as reeds, and he swept armies before him
+as stubble. His conquests extended from where clouds sleep on the brow
+of Cheviot, to where the heights of terrific Snowdon pierce heaven. Men
+trembled at his name; for he was as a wolf in the fold, as an eagle
+among the lesser birds of heaven.
+
+Now, the wife of Ethelfrith's bosom died; she departed to the place of
+spirits--to the company of her fathers. She left behind her a daughter,
+Agitha,[L] with the tresses of the raven's wing; and she was beautiful
+as sunbeams sparkling from morning dew amongst the flowers of spring.
+Her eyes were bright as the falcon's, but with their brightness was
+mingled the meekness of the dove's. The breath of sixteen summers had
+fanned her cheeks. Her bosom was white as the snow that lay in winter on
+the hills, and soft as the plumage of the sea-fowl that soared over the
+rocks of her lofty dwelling.
+
+  [L] In the old ballad she is called Margaret.
+
+A hundred princes sighed for the hand of the bright-haired Agitha; but
+their tales of love had no music for her ear, and they jarred upon her
+soul as the sounds of a broken instrument. She bent her ear only to
+listen to the song of affection from the lips of the Chylde Wynde--even
+to Chylde Wynde of the sharp sword and the unerring bow, who was her own
+kinsman, the son of her father's brother. His voice was to her as the
+music of water brooks to the weary and fainting traveller--dear as the
+shout of triumph to a conquering king. Great was the Chylde Wynde among
+the heroes of Bernicia. He had honoured the shield of his father. He had
+rendered his sword terrible. Where the battle raged fiercest, there was
+his voice heard, there was his sword seen; war-horses and their riders
+fell before it--it arrested the fury of the chariots of war. Bards
+recorded his deeds in immortal strains, and Agitha sang them in secret.
+
+Yet would not Ethelfrith listen to the prayer of his kinsman, but his
+anger was kindled against him. The fierce king loved his daughter, but
+he loved dominion more. It was dearer to him than the light of heaven,
+than the face of the blessed sun. He waded through blood as water, even
+the blood of his victims, to set his feet upon thrones. He said unto
+himself--"Agitha is beautiful--she is fairer than her mother was. She is
+stately as a pine, lifting its head above the sacred oaks. She is lovely
+as the moon when it blesseth the harvest fields. A king only shall
+possess her hand, and give a kingdom in exchange for it."
+
+Thus spoke her father, the mighty Ethelfrith, whose word was power,
+and whose purpose was fixed as the everlasting rocks on which the
+foundations of the earth are built. He said, therefore, unto the Chylde
+Wynde--"Strong art thou in battle, son of my brother; the mighty bend
+before thy spear, and thy javelins pierce through the shields of our
+enemies. As an eagle descendeth on its prey, so rusheth my kinsman to
+the onset. But thou hast no nation to serve thee--no throne to offer
+for my daughter's hand. Whoso calleth himself her husband, shall for
+that title exchange the name of king, and become tributary unto me--even
+as my sword, before which thrones shake and nations tremble, has caused
+others to do homage. Go, therefore, son of my brother, take with thee
+ships and warriors, and seek thee a people to conquer. Go, find a land
+to possess; and when with thy sword and with thy bow thou hast done
+this, return ye to me, bringing a crown in thy left hand, and in thy
+right will I place the hand of Agitha with the bright hair, whose eyes
+are as stars."
+
+"O king!" answered the Chylde--"thou who holdest the fate of princes
+in thy hands, and the shadow of whose sceptre stretcheth over many
+nations--the uplifting of whose arm turneth the tide of battle--swear
+unto me, by the spirit of mighty Woden, that while I am doing that which
+thou requirest, and ere I can return to lay a crown at thy feet, swear
+that thou will not bless another king, for an offered kingdom, with the
+hand of Agitha, in whom my soul liveth!"
+
+Then did the wrath of the king wax terrible; his eyes were as consuming
+fires, even as the fire of heaven when it darteth from the dark clouds
+of midnight. His countenance was fierce as the sea, when its waves boil
+and are lifted up with the tempest. In his wrath he dashed his heel upon
+the floor; and the armour of conquered kings, the spoils of a hundred
+battles, rang round the halls of Ida.
+
+"Shall the blood of my brother," he cried "stain the floor of his
+father? Boy! ask ye an oath from a king, the descendant of Woden?[M]
+Away! do as I command thee, lest ye perish!"
+
+  [M] It may be necessary to mention, that the imaginary deities
+  of the Saxons were named Woden, Tuisco, Thor, Frea, and Seator. They
+  also worshipped the sun and moon. Woden was their god of war; and from
+  him Ida and his descendants professed to spring. We need hardly add that
+  it is after these objects of pagan worship that we still name the days
+  of the week; as Woden's day (Wednesday), Thor's day (Thursday), Frea's
+  day (Friday), &c. &c.
+
+Then did the Chylde Wynde withdraw from before the anger of the great
+king, in the presence of whom, in his wrath, the life even of his
+kindred was as a spider's thread. He sought Agitha with the rainbow
+smile, where she sat with her maidens, in the groves of Budle,
+ornamenting a robe of skins for her father, the mighty Ethelfrith. The
+sea sang its anthem of power along the shore, and the caves of the rocks
+resounded with the chorus of the eternal hymn. The farthest branches of
+the grove bent over the cliff that overhung the sounding sea. The birds
+of heaven sang over her head, and before her the sea-birds wheeled in
+myriads, countless as the sand upon the shore, like burnished clouds
+over the adjacent isles. Their bright wings flashed in the sun, like the
+fitful fires that light the northern heavens.
+
+The warrior Chylde drew near where the princess sat. There was gloom and
+sorrow on his brow. The echoes of the grove answered to his sighs.
+Agitha heard them. She beheld the cloud of anguish that was before his
+countenance. The robe of skins dropped from her hand. Her eyes, that
+were as the morning light, became dim. She arose and went forward to
+meet him.
+
+"Wherefore," she inquired, "does my hero sigh, and why sits heaviness on
+the brightness of his face? Art not thou renowned in song as the warrior
+of the dauntless heart and the resistless sword? Art not thou the envy
+of princes--the beloved of the people--the admired by the daughters of
+kings? And can sadness dwell upon thy soul? Oh! thou who art as the
+plume of my father's warriors, and as the pride of his host, if grief
+hath entered into thy bosom, let it be buried in mine."
+
+Then thus replied the warrior Chylde:--"Agitha--thou that art fairer,
+milder than the light that plays around the brows of the summer moon,
+and dearer to me than a mother's milk to the lips of her babe--it is for
+thee that my countenance is sad, and my soul troubled. For thy father
+has pierced my spirit with many arrows; yea, even with the poisoned
+arrows of a deadly foe. He hath wrung my soul for thee, Agitha. Thou
+didst give me thy heart when the sacred moon rose over the rocky Ferns
+and beheld us; and while the ministering spirits that dwell in its beams
+descended as a shower of burning gold upon the sea, and, stretching to
+the shore, heard us. We exchanged our vows beneath the light of the
+hallowed orb, while the stars of heaven hid their faces before it. Then,
+Agitha, while its beams glowed on my father's sword, upon that sword I
+swore to love thee. But our vows are vain. Daughter of kings! our love
+is sorrow. Thy father hath vowed, by the mighty Woden, that thou shalt
+be the wife of a king, and that a kingdom shall be the price of thy
+hand. Yet will I gather my warriors together. They number a thousand
+spears; they have a thousand bows. The charge of their spears is as the
+rushing of the whirlwind. The flight of their arrows hides the face of
+the sun. Foes perish at their approach. Victory goeth before their face.
+Therefore will I go forth into a far country. I will make war upon a
+strange people, that I may take the kingdom from their ruler, and
+present his crown unto thy father for the hand of my Agitha."
+
+The maiden wept. Her head sank on her bosom like a fair flower weighed
+down with dew. Tears stood in the eyes of the warrior.
+
+"Weep not, daughter of heroes!" he said; "the tide of battle is in the
+hands of Woden. He will not turn it against a descendant of his race. I
+will return to thee in triumph. I will throw a crown at thy father's
+feet, and rush to the arms of Agitha. Thou wilt greet me again with thy
+smile of love--with thy voice that is sweeter than the music of spring.
+Thy heart, which is dearer than life, shall be my kingdom; and thy
+bosom, that is whiter than the breast of the wild swan, my throne. I
+will fly to thee as the hunted deer to its covert--as a bird to its nest
+where its young await it."
+
+Thus departed the warrior, and Agitha returned to her maidens; she sat
+down amongst them and mourned.
+
+Gormack, the weird, a thane of the Pictish race, had his dwelling near
+the giddy cliffs where the young eagles scream to the roar of the dark
+waters of the Forth. He had a daughter whose beauty was the theme of all
+tongues. Her fame went over the land like the sound of shells--yea, like
+the sound of shells when the wind is hushed, and the moon is bright in
+the heavens. Fair was the daughter of Gormack as the lily that groweth
+by the brook. Her hair was as the finest fleece when it is purified. It
+fell down her back in ringlets. It was bright as the golden clouds that
+encircle the throne of the rising sun--as the golden clouds when they
+are dipped in silver. Her father held counsel with spirits of evil. They
+were obedient to his will. He invoked them to endue his daughter with
+more than mortal beauty, that she might inflame the soul of princes, and
+sit upon their throne. Such was the tale of men. Her beauty was the
+burden of the song of bards. In their chorus to swell the praise of
+others, they said that they were "lovely as the fair daughter of
+Gormack."
+
+The tale of her charms was heard by Ethelfrith. It was heard by the
+fierce in war--the impetuous in love--the victor in battle--yea, even
+by Ethelfrith, king of Bernicia. "I will see the fair daughter of the
+thane," said the proud king, to whose will even war and the mighty in
+war did homage. Moreover, Gormack the thane was his vassal. He had sworn
+to his obedience.
+
+The king went forth to the dwelling of Gormack, among the cliffs.
+Ealdormen,[N] comites,[O] and thanes,[P] attended him. The weird thane
+came forth to meet him; he bowed his head and made obeisance.
+
+  [N] Earls.
+
+  [O] Companions.
+
+  [P] Thanes signified men high in power, of various degrees of rank.
+
+Ethelfrith beheld Bethoc the Beautiful; and the songs that he had heard
+in her praise were as an idle tale, for her loveliness exceeded the
+power of song. The soul of the fierce king melted within him. It was
+subdued by the sorcery of her charms.
+
+"Give me," said he unto her father--and commandments ever fell from his
+lips--"give me Bethoc to be my wife; for she is more lovely than the
+morning star. She is fit for a warrior's bride; she shall be THE LADY[Q]
+of Bernicia."
+
+  [Q] THE LADY was the appellation given to a queen amongst the
+  Anglo-Saxons.
+
+Again the weird bowed his head. He knelt upon his knee. He presented his
+daughter to the king. Then did Ethelfrith take her by the hand. He led
+her forth to his chariot of war, through the midst of his ealdormen, his
+comites, and his thanes, who were in great power and resistless in war,
+and they made obeisance to her as she passed through the midst of them.
+They saluted her as their queen. Her breast swelled with exultation.
+Pride flashed from her eyes, as the sun bursting from a cloud dazzleth
+the eye of the gazer. The king gazed upon her beauty as a dreamer upon a
+fair vision.
+
+Now, the beauty of Bethoc was sin made lovely. Her bosom was as a hill
+where the vine and the cedar grew, and where flowers shed forth perfume;
+but beneath which a volcano slept. To the eye was beauty, beyond were
+desolation and death. Pride, hatred, and envy, encircled her soul. She
+was sold unto evil, even as her father was. The spirit of destruction,
+in answer to her father's prayer, had formed her a beautiful destroyer.
+Whatsoever was lovely that she looked upon in envy, withered as though
+an east wind passed over it--the destroying wind which blighteth the
+hopes of the husbandman.
+
+At the going down of the sun, the king, and his fair queen, Bethoc, with
+his mighty men, drew near to the tower which Ida had built on the
+mountain-rock, and all the people of the city came forth to meet him,
+and to greet their queen.
+
+The bards lifted up their voice; they styled her the fairest of women.
+
+"Fair is the wife of the king," replied an aged thane, "but fairer is
+Agitha, his daughter! Bethoc, the queen, is a bright star, but Agitha is
+the star of the morning--fairest of the heavens!"
+
+Queen Bethoc heard the words of the aged thane, and she hated Agitha
+because of them. The spirit of evil spread his darkness over her soul.
+He filled her breast with the poison of asps, her eyes with the venom of
+the adder that lures to destruction.
+
+At the entrance of the tower of kings stood Agitha, lovely as the
+spirits that dwell among the stars, and give beauty to the beings of
+earth. She knelt before the queen. She offered her a daughter's homage.
+
+"Rise, beautiful one! inspirer of song!" said the queen; "kneel not to
+me, for I am but a star--thou art the star of the morning. Hide not thy
+face from before men. Let them serve and worship thee."
+
+Cold were her words as water which droppeth from the everlasting
+icicles in the caves of the north. As is the mercy of the tears of the
+crocodile, so was the kindness of her looks. Envy and hatred gleamed in
+her eyes, like lightnings round the sides of a dark cloud.
+
+The countenance of Agitha fell; for she knew that her father in his
+wrath was fiercer than the wild boar of the forest when at bay; and she
+feared to reply to the sneer of the wife in whom his eyes delighted.
+
+Queen Bethoc, the daughter of Gormack, knew that men said she was less
+beautiful than Agitha, the daughter of the king. When they walked by the
+clear fountains or the crystal brooks together, the fountains and the
+brooks whispered to her the words which men spoke--"Agitha is the most
+lovely." Therefore did the queen hate Agitha with a great and deadly
+hatred. As the sleuth-hound seeketh its prey, so did she seek her
+destruction. As the fowler lureth the bird into his net, so did she lie
+in wait for her. Yet she feared to destroy her openly, because that she
+was afraid of the fierce anger of her husband Ethelfrith, and his love
+for his daughter was great.
+
+Sleep fled from her eyes, and colour forsook her cheeks, because of her
+envy of the beauty of Agitha, and the hatred which she bore her. She
+spoke unto her father Gormack, the weird thane, that he would aid her
+with his sorceries against her. Then did they practise their unclean
+spells, and perform their dark incantations to destroy her; but their
+spells and incantations prevailed not, for the spirit of Woden protected
+Agitha.
+
+Now, there resided at that time in a dark cave, in the heugh which is
+called Spindleston, an enchantress of great power, named Elgiva--the
+worker of wonders. Men said that she could weave ropes of sand, and
+threads from the motes of the sunbeams. She could call down fire from
+the clouds, and transform all things by the waving of her magic wand.
+Around her hung a loose robe, composed of the skins of many beasts. Her
+feet and her arms were bare, and they were painted with strange figures.
+On her face, also, was the likeness of the spirits that ministered to
+her will. She was fearful to look upon. Men fled at her approach. The
+beasts of the field were scared by her shadow. Round her head was
+wreathed a crown of fantastic hemlock--round her neck a corslet of
+deadly nightshade. On her left arm coiled a living snake, and it rested
+its head upon her bosom. In her right hand she held a wand dipped in the
+poison of all things venomous. Whatsoever it touched died--whatsoever it
+waved over was transformed. No human foot approached her cave--no mortal
+dared. The warrior, who feared not a hundred foes, quailed at the sight
+of Elgiva, the enchantress, the worker of wonders. Unclean reptiles
+crawled around her cave--the asp, the loathsome toad, and the hissing
+adder. Two owls sat in the farthest corner of the cave, and their eyes
+were as lamps in its darkness. They sat upon skulls of the dead. A tame
+raven croaked in the midst of it. It was told that the reptiles, the
+owls, and the raven, were objects of her enchantment--warriors, and the
+daughters of warriors, transformed by the waving of her wand.
+
+Now, when Bethoc could find no rest because of the greatness of her
+hatred for Agitha, and, moreover, as she herself had communed with
+impure spirits, she overcame the terror which the name of Elgiva spread.
+She sought her aid. In the dead of night, when the moon had gone to
+rest, yea, when clouds and darkness had blotted out the stars that were
+left to watch in the heavens, she went forth from the tower of kings.
+She stood before the cave of the enchantress. She lifted up her voice
+and cried--"Elgiva--worker of wonders! the feared of mortals--come
+forth!"
+
+The owls clapped their wings and screamed; the ravens croaked, and
+the adders hissed. From the darkness of her cave the voice of the
+enchantress came forth--it came forth as a voice from the grave,
+saying--"Who amongst the children of mortals dareth to call upon the
+name of Elgiva?--or, what deed of sin bringeth thee hither?"
+
+"The queen," answered Bethoc, "the wife of the mighty Ethelfrith, she
+calleth thee, she invoketh thine aid. The strongest spirits obey
+thee--the spirits of the earth, of the air, and of the sea. Then help
+me, thou that art more powerful than the kings of the earth, that art
+stronger than the fate of the stars; help--rid me of mine enemy whom I
+hate, even of Agitha, the daughter of the king. Make her as one of the
+poisoned worms that crawl within thy cave. Or, if thou wilt not do this
+thing to serve me, when my right hand hath shed her blood, turn from me
+the fierce wrath of her father the king."
+
+Again the voice of the enchantress came forth from the cave, saying--"In
+seven days come unto me again--bring with thee the Princess Agitha; and
+Elgiva, the enchantress, will do towards her as Bethoc, the daughter of
+the weird thane, hath requested."
+
+Thus did the queen, while Ethelfrith, her lord, was making war against a
+strange king in a far country.
+
+Darkness lay heavy on the hills, it concealed the objects on the plains.
+The seven days, of which the enchantress had spoken, were expired.
+
+"Maiden," said the queen unto Agitha, "rise and follow me."
+
+Agitha obeyed; for the fear and the commandment of her father were upon
+her. Two servants, men of the Pictish race, also followed the queen. She
+went towards the cave of the enchantress. Agitha would have shrunk back,
+but the queen grasped her hand. The swords of the men of the Pictish
+race waved over her. They dragged her forward. They stood before the
+cave of the potent Elgiva.
+
+"Elgiva! worker of wonders!" exclaimed the queen; "Bethoc, thy servant,
+is come. The victim also is here--Agitha, the morning-star. By thy
+power, which is stronger than the lightning, and invisible as the wind,
+render loathsome her beauty; yea, make her as a vile worm which crawleth
+on the ground, with venom in its mouth."
+
+Again was heard the deep voice of the enchantress, mingled with the
+croaking of the raven, and the screeching of the owls, as she rushed
+from her cave, crying--"It shall be as thou hast said."
+
+Terror had entranced the soul of the fair Agitha--it had brought a sleep
+over her senses. The enchantress grasped her hand. She threw her arm
+around her.
+
+"Away, accursed!" she exclaimed unto Bethoc the queen; "fly! lest the
+power of the enchantment fall upon thee also. Fly! lest it overtake thee
+as darkness overtaketh the benighted traveller. Fly! ere the wand of the
+worker of wonders is uplifted, and destruction come upon thee."
+
+The followers of Bethoc quaked with dismay. They turned with her and
+fled to the tower of Ida. Of their outgoing and their incoming none
+knew.
+
+The maidens of Bernicia wept when the loss of Agitha was known.
+"Beauty," said they, "hath perished. Agitha, whose face was as the face
+of heaven when its glories appear--as the face of the earth when its
+flowers give forth their fragrance--Agitha is not!" And because she was
+not, the people mourned. Queen Bethoc alone rejoiced, and was silent.
+
+Dismay and wonder spread over the land--for a tale was told of a
+serpent-worm, fearful in magnitude and of monstrous form, which was seen
+at Spindleston, by the cave of Elgiva--the worker of wonders--the woman
+of power.
+
+The people trembled. They said of the monster--"It is Agitha, the
+beloved!--the daughter of our king, of conquering Ethelfrith. Elgiva,
+the daughter of destruction, who communeth with the spirits of the air,
+and defeateth armies by the waving of her wand, hath done this. She hath
+cast her enchantments over Agitha, the fairest of women--the meekest
+among the daughters of princes."
+
+The bards raised songs of lamentation for her fate. "Surely," said
+they, "when the Chylde Wynde cometh, his sword, which maketh the brave
+to fall and bringeth down the mighty, will break the enchantment." And
+the burden of the songs was--"Return, O valiant Chylde, conqueror of
+nations--thou who makest kings captives, return! Free the enchanted!
+Deliver the beautiful!"
+
+Now, the people of the land where the Chylde and his warriors landed,
+were stricken with terror at their approach. They fled before them, as
+sheep fly upon the hills when the howl of the hungry wolf is heard. He
+overthrew their king, he took possession of his kingdom. He took his
+crown, and he brought it to Ethelfrith, whose ambition was boundless as
+the sea. He brought it as the price of Agitha's hand.
+
+It was morn. The sun rose with his robes of glory over the sea. Bethoc,
+the daughter of Gormack the weird, stood upon the turrets of Ida's
+tower. She was performing incantations to the four winds of heaven. She
+called upon them to lift up the sea on their invisible wings, to raise
+its waves as mountains, and whelm the ships upon its bosom. But the
+winds obeyed not her voice, and the sea was still. In the bay of Budle
+lay the vessels of the Chylde Wynde, and the weapons of his warriors
+flashed in the sunbeams and upon the sea. Therefore was the spirit of
+Queen Bethoc troubled. It was troubled lest the enchantment should be
+broken--Agitha delivered from the spell, and her wrongs avenged.
+
+As a great wave rolleth in majesty to the shore, so advanced the warrior
+ships of Chylde Wynde, the subduer of heroes. The people came forth to
+meet him with a shout of joy. "He is come," they cried; "the favoured of
+the stars, the Chylde of the sharp sword, is come to deliver Agitha the
+beautiful, to break the spell of her enchantment."
+
+He heard the dark tale. His bosom heaved. He rent the robe that covered
+him. His grief was as the howling of the winter wind, in a deep glen
+between great mountains. He threw himself upon the earth and wept.
+
+But again the spirit of Woden came upon him. It burned within his bosom
+as a fierce flame. He started to his feet. To his lips he pressed the
+sword of his father. He vowed to break the enchantment that entombed his
+betrothed.
+
+He rushed towards the cave of Elgiva, the worker of wonders. His
+warriors feared to follow him. The people stood back in dismay. For by
+the waving of Elgiva's wand she turned the swords of warriors upon
+themselves, she caused them to melt in their hands.
+
+At the mouth of her cave stood the enchantress. By her side lay the
+serpent-worm.
+
+"Daughter of wickedness!" shouted the Chylde, "break thy accursed spell;
+restore the fair form of my Agitha, else the blood of thy heart shall
+dissolve the charm."
+
+"Hearken, O Chylde," cried the enchantress; "thou subduer of kings, thou
+vanquisher of the strong--sharp is thy sword, but against me it hath no
+power. Would it pierce the breast that suckled thee?--the breast of her
+that bore thee?"
+
+From the hand of the warrior dropped his uplifted sword. "Mother!" he
+exclaimed. He fell on his knees before her.
+
+"Yea, thy mother," answered the enchantress; "who, when her warrior
+husband fell, fled to the desert, to the cave, and to the forest, for
+protection--even for protection from the love and from the wrath of
+Ethelfrith the fierce, the brother of thy warrior father, whose eyes
+were as the eagle's, and his arm great of strength. Uncouth is the
+habit, wild is the figure, and idle the art of thy mother. Broken is her
+wand which the vulgar feared. That mine eyes might behold my son, this
+cave became my abode. Superstition walled it round with fire."
+
+"And Agitha?" gasped the warrior.
+
+"Behold!" answered she, "the loathly worm at the feet of thy mother."
+
+The skins of fish of the deep sea were sewed together with cords--they
+were fashioned into the form of a great serpent.
+
+"Come forth, my daughter!" cried the enchantress. Agitha sprang from her
+disguise of skins. She sank on the breast of her hero.
+
+The people beheld her from afar. Their shout of joy rang across the
+sea. It was echoed among the hills. A scream rose from the tower of
+Ida. From the highest turret Bethoc the queen had sprung. In pieces
+was her body scattered at the foot of the great cliff. They were gathered
+together--they were buried in the cave of Elgiva. From her grave crawled
+an unclean beast, and it crawleth around it for ever.
+
+Ethelfrith died in battle. Woden shut his eyes and saw him not, and he
+fell. And Elgiva, the enchantress, the worker of wonders, was hailed as
+Rowena, the mother of Wynde, the subduer of princes; yea, even of Chylde
+Wynde, the beloved, and the lord of Agitha the Beautiful.
+
+Such was the tale of the Saxon bard.
+
+
+
+
+THE SABBATH WRECKS.
+
+A LEGEND OF DUNBAR.
+
+
+It was a beautiful Sabbath morning in the autumn of 1577: a few small
+clouds, tinged with red, sailed slowly through the blue heavens; the sun
+shone brightly, as if conscious of the glory and goodness of its Maker,
+diffusing around a holy stillness and tranquillity, characteristic of
+the day of rest; the majestic Frith flashed back the sunbeams, while, on
+its bosom, slowly glided the winged granaries of commerce; there, too,
+lay its islands, glorying in their strength--the May, shrouded in light,
+appeared as a leviathan sunning in its rays--and the giant Bass, covered
+with sea-fowl, rose as a proud mountain of alabaster in the midst of the
+waters. A thousand boats lay along the shores of Dunbar. It was the
+herring season--and there were many boats from the south and from the
+north, and also from the coast of Holland.
+
+Now, tidings were brought to the fishermen that an immense shoal was
+upon the coast; and, regardless of its being Sabbath morning, they began
+to prepare their thousand boats, and to go out to set their nets. The
+Rev. Andrew Simpson, a man possessed of the piety and boldness of an
+apostle, was then minister of Dunbar; and, as he went forth to the kirk
+to preach to his people, he beheld the unhallowed preparations of the
+fishermen on the beach; and he turned and went amongst them, and
+reproved them sternly for their great wickedness. But the men were
+obdurate--the prospect of great gain was before them, and they mocked
+the words of the preacher. Yea, some of them said unto him, in the words
+of the children to the prophet--"Go up, thou bald head." He went from
+boat to boat, counselling, entreating, expostulating with them, and
+praying for them.
+
+"Surely," said he, "the Lord of the Sabbath will not hold ye guiltless
+for this profanation of his holy day." But, at that period, vital
+religion was but little felt or understood upon the Borders, and they
+regarded not his words.
+
+He went to one boat, which was the property of members of his own
+congregation, and there he found Agnes Crawford, the daughter of one
+of his elders, hanging upon the neck of her husband, and their three
+children also clung around him, and they entreated him not to be guilty
+of breaking the Sabbath for the sake of perishing gain. But he regarded
+not their voice; and he kissed his wife and his children, while he
+laughed at their idle fears. Mr. Simpson beheld the scene with emotion,
+and approaching the group--"John Crawford," he exclaimed, addressing the
+husband, "you may profess to mock, to laugh to scorn the words of a
+feeble woman; but see that they return not like a consuming fire into
+your bosom when hope has departed. Is not the Lord of the Sabbath the
+Creator of the sea as well as of the dry land? Know ye not that ye are
+now braving the wrath of him before whom the mighty ocean is a drop, and
+all space but a span? Will ye, then, glory in insulting his ordinances,
+and delight in profaning the day of holiness? Will ye draw down
+everlasting darkness on the Sabbath of your soul? When ye were but a
+youth, ye have listened to the words of John Knox--the great apostle of
+our country--ye have trembled beneath their power, and the conviction
+that they carried with them; and when ye think of those convictions, and
+contrast them with your conduct this day, does not the word _apostate_
+burn in your heart? John Crawford, some of your blood have embraced the
+stake for the sake of the truth, and will ye profane the Sabbath which
+they sanctified? The Scotsman who openly glories in such a sin,
+forfeits his claim to the name of one, and publishes to the world that
+he has no part nor communion with the land that gave him birth. John
+Crawford, hearken unto my voice, to the voice of your wife, and that of
+your bairns (whose bringing up is a credit to their mother), and be not
+guilty of this gross sin." But the fisherman, while he regarded not the
+supplications of his wife, became sullen at the words of the preacher;
+and, springing into the boat, seized an oar, and, with his comrades,
+began to pull from the shore.
+
+The thousand boats put to sea, and Mr. Simpson returned sorrowful from
+the beach to the kirk, while Agnes Crawford and her children followed
+him. That day he took for his text, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep
+it holy;" and, as he fearlessly and fervidly denounced the crime of
+Sabbath-breaking, and alluded to the impious proceedings of the day, his
+hearers trembled, but poor Agnes wept aloud, and her children clung
+around her, and they wept also, because she wept. But, ere the service
+had concluded, the heavens began to lower. Darkness fell over the
+congregation--and first came the murmur of the storm, which suddenly
+burst into the wild howl of the tempest. They gazed upon each other in
+silent terror, like guilty spirits stricken in their first rebellion by
+the searching glance of the Omniscient. The loud voice of psalms was
+abruptly hushed, and its echo mingled with the dreadful music of the
+elements, like the bleating of a tender lamb, in the wind that sweepeth
+howling on the mountains. For a moment, their features, convulsed and
+immovable, were still distended with the song of praise; but every
+tongue was silent, every eye fixed. There was no voice, save heaven's.
+The church seemed to rock to its foundations, but none fled--none moved.
+Pale, powerless as marble statues, horror transfixed them in the house
+of prayer. The steeple rocked in the blast, and, as it bent, a knell,
+untolled by human hands, pealed on the ears of the breathless multitude.
+A crash followed. The spire that glittered in the morning sun lay
+scattered in fragments, and the full voice of the whirlwind roared
+through the aisles. The trees crouched, and were stripped leafless; and
+the sturdy oak, whose roots had embraced the earth for centuries, torn
+from the deep darkness of its foundations, was uplifted on the wings of
+the tempest. Darkness was spread over the earth. Lightnings gathered
+together their terrors, and, clothed in the fury of their fearful
+majesty, flashed through the air. The fierce hail was poured down as
+clouds of ice. At the awful voice of the deep thunder, the whirlwind
+quailed, and the rage of the tempest seemed spent.
+
+Nothing was now heard save the rage of the troubled sea, which, lashed
+into foam by the angry storm, still bellowed forth its white billows to
+the clouds, and shouted its defiance loud as the war-cry of embattled
+worlds. The congregation still sat mute, horrified, death-like, as if
+waiting for the preacher to break the spell of the elements. He rose to
+return thanks for their preservation, and he had given out the lines--
+
+    "Lord, in thy wrath rebuke me not,
+     Nor in thy hot rage chasten me,"
+
+when the screams and the howling of women and children rushing wildly
+along the streets, rendered his voice inaudible. The congregation
+rose, and hurrying one upon another, they rushed from the church. The
+exhortations of the preacher to depart calmly were unheard and unheeded.
+Every seat was deserted, all rushed to the shore, and Agnes Crawford and
+her children ran, also, in terror, with the multitude.
+
+The wrecks of nearly two hundred boats were drifting among the rocks.
+The dead were strewed along the beach, and amongst them, wailing widows
+sought their husbands, children their fathers, mothers their sons, and
+all their kindred; and ever and anon an additional scream of grief
+arose, as the lifeless body of one or other such relation was found. A
+few of the lifeless bodies of the hardy crews were seen tossing to and
+fro; but the cry for help was hushed, and the yell of death was heard no
+more.
+
+It was, in truth, a fearful day--a day of lamentation, of warning, and
+of judgment. In one hour, and within sight of the beach, a hundred and
+ninety boats and their crews were whelmed in the mighty deep; and,
+dwelling on the shore between Spittal and North Berwick, two hundred and
+eighty widows wept their husbands lost.
+
+The spectators were busied carrying the dead, as they were driven on
+shore, beyond the reach of tide-mark. They had continued their
+melancholy task for near an hour, when a voice exclaimed--"See!
+see!--one still lives, and struggles to make the shore!"
+
+All rushed to the spot from whence the voice proceeded, and a young
+man was perceived, with more than mortal strength, yet labouring in the
+whirling waves. His countenance was black with despair. His heart panted
+with suffocating pangs. His limbs buffeted the billows in the strong
+agony of death, and he strained, with desperate eagerness, towards the
+projecting point of a black rock. It was now within his grasp, but,
+in its stead, he clutched the deceitful wave that laughed at his
+deliverance. He was whirled around it, dashed on it with violence, and
+again swept back by the relentless surge. He threw out his arms at
+random, and his deep groans and panting breath were heard through the
+sea's hoarse voice. He again reached the rock--he grasped, he clung to
+its tangled sides. A murmur moaned through the multitude. They gazed one
+upon another. His glazed eyes frowned darkly upon them. Supplication and
+scorn were mingled in his look. His lips moved, but his tongue uttered
+no sound. He only gasped to speak--to implore assistance. His strength
+gave way--the waters rushed around the rock as a whirlpool. He was again
+uplifted upon the white bosom of the foam, and tossed within a few yards
+of the wailing but unavailing crowd.
+
+"It is John Crawford!" exclaimed those who were enabled to recognise his
+features. A loud shriek followed the mention of his name--a female
+rushed through the crowd, and the next moment the delicate form of Agnes
+Crawford was seen floating on the wild sea. In an instant, a hundred
+plunged to her rescue; but, before the scream of horror and surprise
+raised by the spectators when they beheld her devoted but desperate
+purpose, had subsided, she was beyond the reach of all who feared death.
+Although no feminine amusement, Agnes, from a child, had delighted in
+buffeting the waters as though she felt at home upon their bosom; and
+now the strength of inspiration seemed to thrill through her frame. She
+was hidden from the gaze of the marvelling spectators, and a deep groan
+crept along the shore. She again appeared, and her fair hand grasped the
+shoulder of the drowning man! A shout of wild joy rang back on the
+deserted town. Her father, who was amongst the multitude, fell upon his
+knees. He clasped his hands together--"Merciful Heaven!" he exclaimed,
+"Thou who stillest the tempest, and holdest the waters in the hollow of
+thy hand, protect--protect my child!"
+
+The waters rioted with redoubled fury. Her strength seemed failing,
+but a smile of hope still lighted up her features, and her hand yet
+grasped her apparently lifeless burden. Despair again brooded on the
+countenances of her friends. For a moment, she disappeared amongst the
+waves; but the next, Agnes Crawford lay senseless on the beach, her arm
+resting on the bosom of him she had snatched from a watery grave--on
+the bosom of her husband.
+
+They were borne to their own house, where, in a few minutes, she
+recovered; but her husband manifested no sign of vitality. All the means
+within their power, and that they knew, were resorted to, in order to
+effect his resuscitation. Long and anxiously she wept over him, rubbing
+his temples and his bosom, and, at length, beneath her hand his breast
+first began to heave with the returning pulsation of his heart.
+
+"He lives!--he breathes!" she exclaimed; and she sank back in a state of
+unconsciousness, and was carried from the room. The preacher attended by
+the bedside, where the unconscious fisherman lay, directing and
+assisting in the operations necessary for restoring animation.
+
+In a few hours the fisherman awoke from his troubled sleep, which many
+expected would have been the sleep of death. He raised himself in the
+bed--he looked around wistfully. Agnes, who had recovered, and returned
+to the room, fell upon his bosom. "My Agnes!--my poor Agnes!" he cried,
+gazing wistfully in her face--"but, where--where am I?--and my bairnies,
+where are they?"
+
+"Here, faither, here!" cried the children, stretching out their little
+arms to embrace him.
+
+Again he looked anxiously around. A recollection of the past, and a
+consciousness of the present, fell upon his mind. "Thank God!" he
+exclaimed, and burst into tears; and when his troubled soul and his
+agitated bosom had found in them relief, he inquired, eagerly--"But, oh,
+tell me, how was I saved?"
+
+"John," said the aged elder, the father of Agnes, "ye was saved by the
+merciful and sustaining power o' that Providence which ye this morning
+set at nought. But I rejoice to find that your heart is not hardened,
+and that the awful visitation which has this day filled our coast with
+widows and with orphans, has not fallen upon you in vain; for ye
+acknowledge your guilt, and are grateful for your deliverance. Your
+being saved is naething short o' a miracle. We a' beheld how long and
+how desperately ye struggled wi' the raging waves. A scream burst
+upon my ear--a woman rushed through the crowd--and then, John!--oh,
+then!"---- But here the feelings of the old man overpowered him. He
+sobbed aloud, and pausing for a few moments, added--"Tell him, some o'
+ye."
+
+The preacher took up the tale. "Hearken unto me, John Crawford," said
+he. "Ye have reason, this day, to sorrow, and to rejoice, and to be
+grateful beyond measure. In the morning, ye mocked my counsel and set
+at nought my reproof; and as ye sowed so have ye reaped. But, as your
+faither-in-law has told ye, when your face was recognised from the
+shore, and your name mentioned, a woman screamed--she rushed through the
+multitude--she plunged into the boiling sea, and in an instant she was
+beyond the reach of help!"
+
+"Speak!--speak on!" cried the fisherman eagerly; and he placed his hands
+on his heaving bosom, and gazed anxiously, now towards the preacher, and
+again towards his Agnes, who wept upon his shoulder.
+
+"The Providence that had till then sustained you, while your fellow
+creatures perished around you," added the clergyman, "supported her. She
+reached you--she grasped your arm. After long struggling, she brought
+you within a few yards of the shore; a wave overwhelmed you both and
+cast you upon the beach, with her arm--the arm of your wife that saved
+you--upon your bosom!"
+
+"Gracious Heaven!" exclaimed the fisherman, pressing his wife to his
+bosom--"my ain Agnes!--was it you?--was it you?--my wife!--my saviour!"
+And he wept aloud, and his children wept also.
+
+But the feelings of the wife and the mother were too strong for words.
+I will not dwell upon the joy and gratitude of the family to whom the
+husband and the father had been restored as from the dead. It found a
+sorrowful contrast in the voice of lamentation and of mourning, which
+echoed along the coast like the peal of an alarm-bell. The dead were
+laid in heaps upon the beach, and, on the following day, widows,
+orphans, parents, and brothers, came from all the fishing towns along
+the coast, to seek their dead amongst the drowned that had been gathered
+together; or, if they found them not, they wandered along the shore to
+seek for them where the sea might have cast them forth. Such is the tale
+of the Sabbath wrecks--of the lost drave of Dunbar.
+
+
+END OF VOL. VI.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS AND OF
+SCOTLAND, VOLUME VI***
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