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diff --git a/old/mnsry10.txt b/old/mnsry10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d6c9296 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mnsry10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18962 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Monastery, by Sir Walter Scott +#25 in our series by Sir Walter Scott + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Monastery + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6406] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 8, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONASTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Alan Millar, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +[Illustration: Halbert Glendinning Invoking The White Lady] + +[Illustration: WAVERLEY NOVELS ABBOTSFORD EDITION] + + THE WAVERLY NOVELS + by + SIR WALTER SCOTT. + + Complete + In Twelve Volumes + + Printed + from the latest English Editions + Embracing + The Author's Last Corrections, Prefaces, and Notes. + + + THE MONASTERY. + + +INTRODUCTION--(1830.) + +It would be difficult to assign any good reason why the author of +Ivanhoe, after using, in that work, all the art he possessed to remove +the personages, action, and manners of the tale, to a distance from +his own country, should choose for the scene of his next attempt the +celebrated ruins of Melrose, in the immediate neighbourhood of his own +residence. But the reason, or caprice, which dictated his change of +system, has entirely escaped his recollection, nor is it worth while +to attempt recalling what must be a matter of very little consequence. + +The general plan of the story was, to conjoin two characters in that +bustling and contentious age, who, thrown into situations which gave +them different views on the subject of the Reformation, should, with +the same sincerity and purity of intention, dedicate themselves, the +one to the support of the sinking fabric of the Catholic Church, the +other to the establishment of the Reformed doctrines. It was +supposed that some interesting subjects for narrative might be +derived from opposing two such enthusiasts to each other in the path +of life, and contrasting the real worth of both with their passions +and prejudices. The localities of Melrose suited well the scenery of +the proposed story; the ruins themselves form a splendid theatre for +any tragic incident which might be brought forward; joined to the +vicinity of the fine river, with all its tributary streams, flowing +through a country which has been the scene of so much fierce +fighting, and is rich with so many recollections of former times, +and lying almost under the immediate eye of the author, by whom they +were to be used in composition. + +The situation possessed farther recommendations. On the opposite bank +of the Tweed might be seen the remains of ancient enclosures, +surrounded by sycamores and ash-trees of considerable size. These had +once formed the crofts or arable ground of a village, now reduced to a +single hut, the abode of a fisherman, who also manages a ferry. The +cottages, even the church which once existed there, have sunk into +vestiges hardly to be traced without visiting the spot, the +inhabitants having gradually withdrawn to the more prosperous town of +Galashiels, which has risen into consideration, within two miles of +their neighbourhood. Superstitious eld, however, has tenanted the +deserted groves with aerial beings, to supply the want of the mortal +tenants who have deserted it. The ruined and abandoned churchyard of +Boldside has been long believed to be haunted by the Fairies, and the +deep broad current of the Tweed, wheeling in moonlight round the foot +of the steep bank, with the number of trees originally planted for +shelter round the fields of the cottagers, but now presenting the +effect of scattered and detached groves, fill up the idea which one +would form in imagination for a scene that Oberon and Queen Mab might +love to revel in. There are evenings when the spectator might +believe, with Father Chaucer, that the + + --Queen of Faery, + With harp, and pipe, and symphony, + Were dwelling in the place. + +Another, and even a more familiar refuge of the elfin race, (if +tradition is to be trusted,) is the glen of the river, or rather +brook, named the Allen, which falls into the Tweed from the northward, +about a quarter of a mile above the present bridge. As the streamlet +finds its way behind Lord Sommerville's hunting-seat, called the +Pavilion, its valley has been popularly termed the Fairy Dean, or +rather the Nameless Dean, because of the supposed ill luck attached by +the popular faith of ancient times, to any one who might name or +allude to the race, whom our fathers distinguished as the Good +Neighbours, and the Highlanders called Daoine Shie, or Men of Peace; +rather by way of compliment, than on account of any particular idea of +friendship or pacific relation which either Highlander or Borderer +entertained towards the irritable beings whom they thus distinguished, +or supposed them to bear to humanity. [Footnote: See Rob Roy, Note, +p. 202.] + +In evidence of the actual operations of the fairy people even at this +time, little pieces of calcareous matter are found in the glen after a +flood, which either the labours of those tiny artists, or the eddies +of the brook among the stones, have formed into a fantastic +resemblance of cups, saucers, basins, and the like, in which children +who gather them pretend to discern fairy utensils. + +Besides these circumstances of romantic locality, _mea paupera +regna_ (as Captain Dalgetty denominates his territory of +Drumthwacket) are bounded by a small but deep lake, from which eyes +that yet look on the light are said to have seen the waterbull ascend, +and shake the hills with his roar. + +Indeed, the country around Melrose, if possessing less of romantic +beauty than some other scenes in Scotland, is connected with so many +associations of a fanciful nature, in which the imagination takes +delight, as might well induce one even less attached to the spot than +the author, to accommodate, after a general manner, the imaginary +scenes he was framing to the localities to which he was partial. But +it would be a misapprehension to suppose, that, because Melrose may in +general pass for Kennaquhair, or because it agrees with scenes of the +Monastery in the circumstances of the drawbridge, the milldam, and +other points of resemblance, that therefore an accurate or perfect +local similitude is to be found in all the particulars of the picture. +It was not the purpose of the author to present a landscape copied +from nature, but a piece of composition, in which a real scene, with +which he is familiar, had afforded him some leading outlines. Thus the +resemblance of the imaginary Glendearg with the real vale of the +Allen, is far from being minute, nor did the author aim at identifying +them. This must appear plain to all who know the actual character of +the Glen of Allen, and have taken the trouble to read the account of +the imaginary Glendearg. The stream in the latter case is described +as wandering down a romantic little valley, shifting itself, after the +fashion of such a brook, from one side to the other, as it can most +easily find its passage, and touching nothing in its progress that +gives token of cultivation. It rises near a solitary tower, the abode +of a supposed church vassal, and the scene of several incidents in the +Romance. + +The real Allen, on the contrary, after traversing the romantic ravine +called the Nameless Dean, thrown off from side to side alternately, +like a billiard ball repelled by the sides of the table on which it +has been played, and in that part of its course resembling the stream +which pours down Glendearg, may be traced upwards into a more open +country, where the banks retreat farther from each other, and the vale +exhibits a good deal of dry ground, which has not been neglected by +the active cultivators of the district. It arrives, too, at a sort of +termination, striking in itself, but totally irreconcilable with the +narrative of the Romance. Instead of a single peel-house, or border +tower of defence, such as Dame Glendinning is supposed to have +inhabited, the head of the Allen, about five miles above its junction +with the Tweed, shows three ruins of Border houses, belonging to +different proprietors, and each, from the desire of mutual support so +natural to troublesome times, situated at the extremity of the +property of which it is the principal messuage. One of these is the +ruinous mansion-house of Hillslap, formerly the property of the +Cairncrosses, and now of Mr. Innes of Stow; a second the tower of +Colmslie, an ancient inheritance of the Borthwick family, as is +testified by their crest, the Goat's Head, which exists on the ruin; +[Footnote: It appears that Sir Walter Scott's memory was not quite +accurate on these points. John Borthwick, Esq. in a note to the +publisher, (June I1, 1813.) says that _Colmslie_ belonged to Mr. +Innes of Stow, while _Hillslap_ forms part of the estate of +Crookston. He adds--"In proof that the tower of Hillslap, which I have +taken measures to preserve from injury, was chiefly in his head, as +the tower of _Glendearg,_ when writing the Monastery, I may +mention that, on one of the occasions when I had the honour of being a +visiter at Abbotsford, the stables then being full, I sent a pony to +be put up at our tenant's at Hillslap:--'Well.' said Sir Walter, 'if +you do that, you must trust for its not being _lifted_ before +to-morrow, to the protection of Halbert Glendinning: against Christie +of the Clintshill.' At page 58, vol. iii., the first edition, the +'_winding_ stair' which the monk ascended is described. The +winding stone stair is still to be seen in Hillslap, but not in either +of the other two towers" It is. however, probable, from the +Goat's-Head crest on Colmslie, that that tower also had been of old a +possession of the Borthwicks.] a third, the house of Langshaw, also +ruinous, but near which the proprietor, Mr. Baillie of Jerviswood and +Mellerstain, has built a small shooting box. + +All these ruins, so strangely huddled together in a very solitary +spot, have recollections and traditions of their own, but none of them +bear the most distant resemblance to the descriptions in the Romance +of the Monastery; and as the author could hardly have erred so grossly +regarding a spot within a morning's ride of his own house, the +inference is, that no resemblance was intended. Hillslap is remembered +by the humours of the last inhabitants, two or three elderly ladies, +of the class of Miss Raynalds, in the Old Manor House, though less +important by birth and fortune. Colmslie is commemorated in song:-- + + Colmslie stands on Colmslie hill. + The water it flows round Colmslie mill; + The mill and the kiln gang bonnily. + And it's up with the whippers of Colmslie. + +Langshaw, although larger than the other mansions assembled at the +head of the supposed Glendearg, has nothing about it more remarkable +than the inscription of the present proprietor over his shooting +lodge--_Utinam hane eliam viris impleam amicis_--a modest wish, +which I know no one more capable of attaining upon an extended scale, +than the gentleman who has expressed it upon a limited one. + +Having thus shown that I could say something of these desolated +towers, which the desire of social intercourse, or the facility of +mutual defence, had drawn together at the head of this Glen, I need +not add any farther reason to show, that there is no resemblance +between them and the solitary habitation of Dame Elspeth Glendinning. +Beyond these dwellings are some remains of natural wood, and a +considerable portion of morass and bog; but I would not advise any who +may be curious in localities, to spend time in looking for the +fountain and holly-tree of the White Lady. + +While I am on the subject I may add, that Captain Clutterbuck, the +imaginary editor of the Monastery, has no real prototype in the +village of Melrose or neighbourhood, that ever I saw or heard of. To +give some individuality to this personage, he is described as a +character which sometimes occurs in actual society--a person who, +having spent his life within the necessary duties of a technical +profession, from which he has been at length emancipated, finds +himself without any occupation whatever, and is apt to become the prey +of ennui, until he discerns some petty subject of investigation +commensurate to his talents, the study of which gives him employment +in solitude; while the conscious possession of information peculiar to +himself, adds to his consequence in society. I have often observed, +that the lighter and trivial branches of antiquarian study are +singularly useful in relieving vacuity of such a kind, and have known +them serve many a Captain Clutterbuck to retreat upon; I was therefore +a good deal surprised, when I found the antiquarian Captain identified +with a neighbour and friend of my own, who could never have been +confounded with him by any one who had read the book, and seen the +party alluded to. This erroneous identification occurs in a work +entitled, "Illustrations of the Author of Waverley, being Notices and +Anecdotes of real Characters, Scenes, and Incidents, supposed to be +described in his works, by Robert Chambers." This work was, of course, +liable to many errors, as any one of the kind must be, whatever may be +the ingenuity of the author, which takes the task of explaining what +can be only known to another person. Mistakes of place or inanimate +things referred to, are of very little moment; but the ingenious +author ought to have been more cautious of attaching real names to +fictitious characters. I think it is in the Spectator we read of a +rustic wag, who, in a copy of "The Whole Duty of Man," wrote opposite +to every vice the name of some individual in the neighbourhood, and +thus converted that excellent work into a libel on a whole parish. + +The scenery being thus ready at the author's hand, the reminiscences +of the country were equally favourable. In a land where the horses +remained almost constantly saddled, and the sword seldom quitted the +warrior's side--where war was the natural and constant state of the +inhabitants, and peace only existed in the shape of brief and feverish +truces--there could be no want of the means to complicate and +extricate the incidents of his narrative at pleasure. There was a +disadvantage, notwithstanding, in treading this Border district, for +it had been already ransacked by the author himself, as well as +others; and unless presented under a new light, was likely to afford +ground to the objection of _Crambe bis cocta_. + +To attain the indispensable quality of novelty, something, it was +thought, might be gained by contrasting the character of the vassals +of the church with those of the dependants of the lay barons, by whom +they were surrounded. But much advantage could not be derived from +this. There were, indeed, differences betwixt the two classes, but, +like tribes in the mineral and vegetable world, which, resembling each +other to common eyes, can be sufficiently well discriminated by +naturalists, they were yet too similar, upon the whole, to be placed +in marked contrast with each other. + +Machinery remained--the introduction of the supernatural and +marvellous; the resort of distressed authors since the days of Horace, +but whose privileges as a sanctuary have been disputed in the present +age, and well-nigh exploded. The popular belief no longer allows the +possibility of existence to the race of mysterious beings which +hovered betwixt this world and that which is invisible. The fairies +have abandoned their moonlight turf; the witch no longer holds her +black orgies in the hemlock dell; and + + Even the last lingering phantom of the brain, + The churchyard ghost, is now at rest again. + +From the discredit attached to the vulgar and more common modes in +which the Scottish superstition displays itself, the author was +induced to have recourse to the beautiful, though almost forgotten, +theory of astral spirits, or creatures of the elements, surpassing +human beings in knowledge and power, but inferior to them, as being +subject, after a certain space of years, to a death which is to them +annihilation, as they have no share in the promise made to the sons of +Adam. These spirits are supposed to be of four distinct kinds, as the +elements from which they have their origin, and are known, to those +who have studied the cabalistical philosophy, by the names of Sylphs, +Gnomes, Salamanders, and Naiads, as they belong to the elements of +Air, Earth, Fire, or Water. The general reader will find an +entertaining account of these elementary spirits in the French book +entitled, "Entretiens de Compte du Gabalis." The ingenious Compte de +la Motte Fouqu? composed, in German, one of the most successful +productions of his fertile brain, where a beautiful and even +afflicting effect is produced by the introduction of a water-nymph, +who loses the privilege of immortality by consenting to become +accessible to human feelings, and uniting her lot with that of a +mortal, who treats her with ingratitude. + +In imitation of an example so successful, the White Lady of Avenel +was introduced into the following sheets. She is represented as +connected with the family of Avenel by one of those mystic ties, +which, in ancient times, were supposed to exist, in certain +circumstances, between the creatures of the elements and the +children of men. Such instances of mysterious union are recognized +in Ireland, in the real Milosian families, who are possessed of a +Banshie; and they are known among the traditions of the Highlands, +which, in many cases, attached an immortal being or spirit to the +service of particular families or tribes. These demons, if they are +to be called so, announced good or evil fortune to the families +connected with them; and though some only condescended to meddle +with matters of importance, others, like the May Mollach, or Maid of +the Hairy Arms, condescended to mingle in ordinary sports, and even +to direct the Chief how to play at draughts. + +There was, therefore, no great violence in supposing such a being as +this to have existed, while the elementary spirits were believed in; +but it was more difficult to describe or imagine its attributes and +principles of action. Shakespeare, the first of authorities in such a +case, has painted Ariel, that beautiful creature of his fancy, as only +approaching so near to humanity as to know the nature of that sympathy +which the creatures of clay felt for each other, as we learn from the +expression--"Mine would, if I were human." The inferences from this +are singular, but seem capable of regular deduction. A being, however +superior to man in length of life--in power over the elements--in +certain perceptions respecting the present, the past, and the future, +yet still incapable of human passions, of sentiments of moral good and +evil, of meriting future rewards or punishments, belongs rather to the +class of animals, than of human creatures, and must therefore be +presumed to act more from temporary benevolence or caprice, than from +anything approaching to feeling or reasoning. Such a being's +superiority in power can only be compared to that of the elephant or +lion, who are greater in strength than man, though inferior in the +scale of creation. The partialities which we suppose such spirits to +entertain must be like those of the dog; their sudden starts of +passion, or the indulgence of a frolic, or mischief, may be compared +to those of the numerous varieties of the cat. All these propensities +are, however, controlled by the laws which render the elementary race +subordinate to the command of man--liable to be subjected by his +science, (so the sect of Gnostics believed, and on this turned the +Rosicrucian philosophy,) or to be overpowered by his superior courage +and daring, when it set their illusions at defiance. + +It is with reference to this idea of the supposed spirits of the +elements, that the White Lady of Avenel is represented as acting a +varying, capricious, and inconsistent part in the pages assigned to +her in the narrative; manifesting interest and attachment to the +family with whom her destinies are associated, but evincing whim, and +even a species of malevolence, towards other mortals, as the +Sacristan, and the Border robber, whose incorrect life subjected them +to receive petty mortifications at her hand. The White Lady is +scarcely supposed, however, to have possessed either the power or the +inclination to do more than inflict terror or create embarrassment, +and is also subjected by those mortals, who, by virtuous resolution, +and mental energy, could assert superiority over her. In these +particulars she seems to constitute a being of a middle class, between +the _esprit follet_ who places its pleasure in misleading and +tormenting mortals, and the benevolent Fairy of the East, who +uniformly guides, aids, and supports them. + +Either, however, the author executed his purpose indifferently, or +the public did not approve of it; for the White Lady of Avenel was +far from being popular. He does not now make the present statement, +in the view of arguing readers into a more favourable opinion on the +subject, but merely with the purpose of exculpating himself from the +charge of having wantonly intruded into the narrative a being of +inconsistent powers and propensities. + +In the delineation of another character, the author of the Monastery +failed, where he hoped for some success. As nothing is so successful a +subject for ridicule as the fashionable follies of the time, it +occurred to him that the more serious scenes of his narrative might be +relieved by the humour of a cavaliero of the age of Queen Elizabeth. +In every period, the attempt to gain and maintain the highest rank of +society, has depended on the power of assuming and supporting a +certain fashionable kind of affectation, usually connected with some +vivacity of talent and energy of character, but distinguished at the +same time by a transcendent flight, beyond sound reason and common +sense; both faculties too vulgar to be admitted into the estimate of +one who claims to be esteemed "a choice spirit of the age." These, in +their different phases, constitute the gallants of the day, whose +boast it is to drive the whims of fashion to extremity. + +On all occasions, the manners of the sovereign, the court, and the +time, must give the tone to the peculiar description of qualities by +which those who would attain the height of fashion must seek to +distinguish themselves. The reign of Elizabeth, being that of a maiden +queen, was distinguished by the decorum of the courtiers, and +especially the affectation of the deepest deference to the sovereign. +After the acknowledgment of the Queen's matchless perfections, the +same devotion was extended to beauty as it existed among the lesser +stars in her court, who sparkled, as it was the mode to say, by her +reflected lustre. It is true, that gallant knights no longer vowed to +Heaven, the peacock, and the ladies, to perform some feat of +extravagant chivalry, in which they endangered the lives of others as +well as their own; but although their chivalrous displays of personal +gallantry seldom went farther in Elizabeth's days than the tilt-yard, +where barricades, called barriers, prevented the shock of the horses, +and limited the display of the cavalier's skill to the comparatively +safe encounter of their lances, the language of the lovers to their +ladies was still in the exalted terms which Amadis would have +addressed to Oriana, before encountering a dragon for her sake. This +tone of romantic gallantry found a clever but conceited author, to +reduce it to a species of constitution and form, and lay down the +courtly manner of conversation, in a pedantic book, called Euphues and +his England. Of this, a brief account is given in the text, to which +it may now be proper to make some additions. + +The extravagance of Euphuism, or a symbolical jargon of the same +class, predominates in the romances of Calprenade and Scuderi, which +were read for the amusement of the fair sex of France during the +long reign of Louis XIV., and were supposed to contain the only +legitimate language of love and gallantry. In this reign they +encountered the satire of Moliere and Boileau. A similar disorder, +spreading into private society, formed the ground of the affected +dialogue of the _Praecieuses_, as they were styled, who formed +the coterie of the Hotel de Rambouillet, and afforded Moliere matter +for his admirable comedy, _Les Praecieuses Ridicules_. In +England, the humour does not seem to have long survived the +accession of James I. + +The author had the vanity to think that a character, whose +peculiarities should turn on extravagances which were once universally +fashionable, might be read in a fictitious story with a good chance of +affording amusement to the existing generation, who, fond as they are +of looking back on the actions and manners of their ancestors, might +be also supposed to be sensible of their absurdities. He must fairly +acknowledge that he was disappointed, and that the Euphuist, far from +being accounted a well drawn and humorous character of the period, was +condemned as unnatural and absurd. It would be easy to account for +this failure, by supposing the defect to arise from the author's want +of skill, and, probably, many readers may not be inclined to look +farther. But as the author himself can scarcely be supposed willing to +acquiesce in this final cause, if any other can be alleged, he has +been led to suspect, that, contrary to what he originally supposed, +his subject was injudiciously chosen, in which, and not in his mode of +treating it, lay the source of the want of success. + +The manners of a rude people are always founded on nature, and +therefore the feelings of a more polished generation immediately +sympathize with them. We need no numerous notes, no antiquarian +dissertations, to enable the most ignorant to recognize the sentiments +and diction of the characters of Homer; we have but, as Lear says, to +strip off our lendings--to set aside the factitious principles and +adornments which we have received from our comparatively artificial +system of society, and our natural feelings are in unison with those +of the bard of Chios and the heroes who live in his verses. It is the +same with a great part of the narratives of my friend Mr. Cooper. We +sympathize with his Indian chiefs and back-woodsmen, and acknowledge, +in the characters which he presents to us, the same truth of human +nature by which we should feel ourselves influenced if placed in the +same condition. So much is this the case, that, though it is +difficult, or almost impossible, to reclaim a savage, bred from his +youth to war and the chase, to the restraints and the duties of +civilized life, nothing is more easy or common than to find men who +have been educated in all the habits and comforts of improved society, +willing to exchange them for the wild labours of the hunter and the +fisher. The very amusements most pursued and relished by men of all +ranks, whose constitutions permit active exercise, are hunting, +fishing, and, in some instances, war, the natural and necessary +business of the savage of Dryden, where his hero talks of being + + --"As free as nature first made man, + When wild in woods the noble savage ran." + +But although the occupations, and even the sentiments, of human beings +in a primitive state, find access and interest in the minds of the +more civilized part of the species, it does not therefore follow, that +the national tastes, opinions, and follies of one civilized period, +should afford either the same interest or the same amusement to those +of another. These generally, when driven to extravagance, are founded, +not upon any natural taste proper to the species, but upon the growth +of some peculiar cast of affectation, with which mankind in general, +and succeeding generations in particular, feel no common interest or +sympathy. The extravagances of coxcombry in manners and apparel are +indeed the legitimate and often the successful objects of satire, +during the time when they exist. In evidence of this, theatrical +critics may observe how many dramatic _jeux d'esprit_ are well +received every season, because the satirist levels at some well-known +or fashionable absurdity; or, in the dramatic phrase, "shoots folly as +it flies." But when the peculiar kind of folly keeps the wing no +longer, it is reckoned but waste of powder to pour a discharge of +ridicule on what has ceased to exist; and the pieces in which such +forgotten absurdities are made the subject of ridicule, fall quietly +into oblivion with the follies which gave them fashion, or only +continue to exist on the scene, because they contain some other more +permanent interest than that which connects them with manners and +follies of a temporary character. + +This, perhaps, affords a reason why the comedies of Ben Jonson, +founded upon system, or what the age termed humours,--by which was +meant factitious and affected characters, superinduced on that which +was common to the rest of their race,--in spite of acute satire, deep +scholarship, and strong sense, do not now afford general pleasure, but +are confined to the closet of the antiquary, whose studies have +assured him that the personages of the dramatist were once, though +they are now no longer, portraits of existing nature. + +Let us take another example of our hypothesis from Shakspeare himself, +who, of all authors, drew his portraits for all ages. With the whole +sum of the idolatry which affects us at his name, the mass of readers +peruse, without amusement, the characters formed on the extravagances +of temporary fashion; and the Euphuist Don Armado, the pedant +Holofernes, even Nym and Pistol, are read with little pleasure by the +mass of the public, being portraits of which we cannot recognize the +humour, because the originals no longer exist. In like manner, while +the distresses of Romeo and Juliet continue to interest every bosom, +Mercutio, drawn as an accurate representation of the finished fine +gentleman of the period, and as such received by the unanimous +approbation of contemporaries, has so little to interest the present +age, that, stripped of all his puns, and quirks of verbal wit, he only +retains his place in the scene, in virtue of his fine and fanciful +speech upon dreaming, which belongs to no particular age, and because +he is a personage whose presence is indispensable to the plot. + +We have already prosecuted perhaps too far an argument, the tendency +of which is to prove, that the introduction of an humorist, acting +like Sir Piercie Shafton, upon some forgotten and obsolete model of +folly, once fashionable, is rather likely to awaken the disgust of the +reader, as unnatural, than find him food for laughter. Whether owing +to this theory, or whether to the more simple and probable cause of +the author's failure in the delineation of the subject he had proposed +to himself, the formidable objection of _incredulus odi_ was +applied to the Euphuist, as well as to the White Lady of Avenel; and +the one was denounced as unnatural, while the other was rejected as +impossible. + +There was little in the story to atone for these failures in two +principal points. The incidents were inartificially huddled together. +There was no part of the intrigue to which deep interest was found to +apply; and the conclusion was brought about, not by incidents arising +out of the story itself, but in consequence of public transactions, +with which the narrative has little connexion, and which the reader +had little opportunity to become acquainted with. + +This, if not a positive fault, was yet a great defect in the Romance. +It is true, that not only the practice of some great authors in this +department, but even the general course of human life itself, may be +quoted in favour of this more obvious and less artificial practice of +arranging a narrative. It is seldom that the same circle of +personages who have surrounded an individual at his first outset in +life, continue to have an interest in his career till his fate comes +to a crisis. On the contrary, and more especially if the events of his +life be of a varied character, and worth communicating to others, or +to the world, the hero's later connexions are usually totally +separated from those with whom he began the voyage, but whom the +individual has outsailed, or who have drifted astray, or foundered on +the passage. This hackneyed comparison holds good in another point. +The numerous vessels of so many different sorts, and destined for such +different purposes, which are launched in the same mighty ocean, +although each endeavours to pursue its own course, are in every case +more influenced by the winds and tides, which are common to the +element which they all navigate, than by their own separate exertions. +And it is thus in the world, that, when human prudence has done its +best, some general, perhaps national, event, destroys the schemes of +the individual, as the casual touch of a more powerful being sweeps +away the web of the spider. + +Many excellent romances have been composed in this view of human life, +where the hero is conducted through a variety of detached scenes, in +which various agents appear and disappear, without, perhaps, having +any permanent influence on the progress of the story. Such is the +structure of Gil Blas, Roderick Random, and the lives and adventures +of many other heroes, who are described as running through different +stations of life, and encountering various adventures, which are only +connected with each other by having happened to be witnessed by the +same individual, whose identity unites them together, as the string of +a necklace links the beads, which are otherwise detached. + +But though such an unconnected course of adventures is what most +frequently occurs in nature, yet the province of the romance writer +being artificial, there is more required from him than a mere +compliance with the simplicity of reality,--just as we demand from the +scientific gardener, that he shall arrange, in curious knots and +artificial parterres, the flowers which "nature boon" distributes +freely on hill and dale. Fielding, accordingly, in most of his novels, +but especially in Tom Jones, his _chef-d'oeuvre_, has set the +distinguished example of a story regularly built and consistent in all +its parts, in which nothing occurs, and scarce a personage is +introduced, that has not some share in tending to advance the +catastrophe. + +To demand equal correctness and felicity in those who may follow in +the track of that illustrious novelist, would be to fetter too much +the power of giving pleasure, by surrounding it with penal rules; +since of this sort of light literature it may be especially +said--_tout genre est permis, hors le genre ennuyeux_. Still, +however, the more closely and happily the story is combined, and the +more natural and felicitous the catastrophe, the nearer such a +composition will approach the perfection of the novelist's art; nor +can an author neglect this branch of his profession, without incurring +proportional censure. + +For such censure the Monastery gave but too much occasion. The +intrigue of the Romance, neither very interesting in itself, nor very +happily detailed, is at length finally disentangled by the breaking +out of national hostilities between England and Scotland, and the as +sudden renewal of the truce. Instances of this kind, it is true, +cannot in reality have been uncommon, but the resorting to such, in +order to accomplish the catastrophe, as by a _tour de force_, was +objected to as inartificial, and not perfectly, intelligible to the +general reader. + +Still the Monastery, though exposed to severe and just criticism, did +not fail, judging from the extent of its circulation, to have some +interest for the public. And this, too, was according to the ordinary +course of such matters; for it very seldom happens that literary +reputation is gained by a single effort, and still more rarely is it +lost by a solitary miscarriage. + +The author, therefore, had his days of grace allowed him, and time, if +he pleased, to comfort himself with the burden of the old Scots song, + + "If it isna weel bobbit. + We'll bob it again." + +ABBOTSFORD, +_1st November_, 1830. + + + * * * * * + + +INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE + +FROM CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK, LATE OF HIS MAJESTY'S ---- REGIMENT OF +INFANTRY, TO THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. + +Sir, + +Although I do not pretend to the pleasure of your personal +acquaintance, like many whom I believe to be equally strangers to you, +I am nevertheless interested in your publications, and desire their +continuance;-not that I pretend to much taste in fictitious +composition, or that I am apt to be interested in your grave scenes, +or amused by those which are meant to be lively. I will not disguise +from you, that I have yawned over the last interview of MacIvor and +his sister, and fell fairly asleep while the schoolmaster was reading +the humours of Dandie Dinmont. You see, sir, that I scorn to solicit +your favour in a way to which you are no stranger. If the papers I +enclose you are worth nothing, I will not endeavour to recommend them +by personal flattery, as a bad cook pours rancid butter upon stale +fish. No, sir! what I respect in you is the light you have +occasionally thrown on national antiquities, a study which I have +commenced rather late in life, but to which I am attached with the +devotions of a first love, because it is the only study I ever cared a +farthing for. + +You shall have my history, sir, (it will not reach to three volumes,) +before that of my manuscript; and as you usually throw out a few lines +of verse (by way of skirmishers, I suppose) at the head of each +division of prose, I have had the luck to light upon a stanza in the +schoolmaster's copy of Burns which describes me exactly. I love it the +better, because it was originally designed for Captain Grose, an +excellent antiquary, though, like yourself, somewhat too apt to treat +with levity his own pursuits: + + 'Tis said he was a soldier bred, + And ane wad rather fa'en than fled; + But now he's quit the spurtle blade, + And dog-skin wallet, + And ta'en the--antiquarian trade, + I think, they call it. + +I never could conceive what influenced me, when a boy, in the choice +of a profession. Military zeal and ardour it was not, which made me +stand out for a commission in the Scots Fusiliers, when my tutors +and curators wished to bind me apprentice to old David Stiles, Clerk +to his Majesty's Signet. I say, military zeal it was _not_; for +I was no fighting boy in my own person, and cared not a penny to +read the history of the heroes who turned the world upside down in +former ages. As for courage, I had, as I have since discovered, just +as much of it as serve'd my turn, and not one frain of surplus. I +soon found out, indeed, that in action there was more anger in +running away than in standing fast; and besides, I could not afford +to lose my commission, which was my chief means of support. But, as +for that overboiling valour, which I have heard many of _ours_ +talk of, though I seldom observed that it influenced them in the +actual affair---that exuberant zeal, which courts Danger as a +bride,--truly my courage was of a complexion much less ecstatical. + +Again, the love of a red coat, which, in default of all other +aptitudes to the profession, has made many a bad soldier and some good +ones, was an utter stranger to my disposition. I cared not a "bodle" +for the company of the misses: Nay, though there was a boarding-school +in the village, and though we used to meet with its fair inmates at +Simon Lightfoot's weekly Practising, I cannot recollect any strong +emotions being excited on these occasions, excepting the infinite +regret with which I went through the polite ceremonial of presenting +my partner with an orange, thrust into my pocket by my aunt for this +special purpose, but which, had I dared, I certainly would have +secreted for my own personal use. As for vanity, or love of finery for +itself, I was such a stranger to it, that the difficulty was great to +make me brush my coat, and appear in proper trim upon parade. I shall +never forget the rebuke of my old Colonel on a morning when the King +reviewed a brigade of which ours made part. "I am no friend to +extravagance, Ensign Clutterbuck," said he; "but, on the day when we +are to pass before the Sovereign of the kingdom, in the name of God I +would have at least shown him an inch of clean linen." + +Thus, a stranger to the ordinary motives which lead young men to make +the army their choice, and without the least desire to become either a +hero or a dandy, I really do not know what determined my thoughts that +way, unless it were the happy state of half-pay indolence enjoyed by +Captain Doolittle, who had set up his staff of rest in my native +village. Every other person had, or seemed to have, something to do, +less or more. They did not, indeed, precisely go to school and learn +tasks, that last of evils in my estimation; but it did not escape my +boyish observation, that they were all bothered with something or +other like duty or labour--all but the happy Captain Doolittle. The +minister had his parish to visit, and his preaching to prepare, though +perhaps he made more fuss than he needed about both. The laird had +his farming and improving operations to superintend; and, besides, he +had to attend trustee meetings, and lieutenancy meetings, and +head-courts, and meetings of justices, and what not--was as early up, +(that I detested,) and as much in the open air, wet and dry, as his +own grieve. The shopkeeper (the village boasted but one of eminence) +stood indeed pretty much at his ease behind his counter, for his +custom was by no means overburdensome; but still he enjoyed his +_status_, as the Bailie calls it, upon condition of tumbling all +the wares in his booth over and over, when any one chose to want a +yard of muslin, a mousetrap, an ounce of caraways, a paper of pins, +the Sermons of Mr. Peden, or the Life of Jack the Giant-Queller, (not +Killer, as usually erroneously written and pronounced.--See my essay +on the true history of this worthy, where real facts have in a +peculiar degree been obscured by fable.) In short, all in the village +were under the necessity of doing something which they would rather +have left undone, excepting Captain Doolittle, who walked every +morning in the open street, which formed the high mall of our village, +in a blue coat with a red neck, and played at whist the whole evening, +when he could make up a party. This happy vacuity of all employment +appeared to me so delicious, that it became the primary hint, which, +according to the system of Helvetius, as the minister says, determined +my infant talents towards the profession I was destined to illustrate. + +But who, alas! can form a just estimate of their future prospects in +this deceitful world? I was not long engaged in my new profession, +before I discovered, that if the independent indolence of half-pay was +a paradise, the officer must pass through the purgatory of duty and +service in order to gain admission to it. Captain Doolittle might +brush his blue coat with the red neck, or leave it unbrushed, at his +pleasure; but Ensign Clutterbuck had no such option. Captain Doolittle +might go to bed at ten o'clock, if he had a mind; but the Ensign must +make the rounds in his turn. What was worse, the Captain might repose +under the tester of his tent-bed until noon, if he was so pleased; but +the Ensign, God help him, had to appear upon parade at peep of day. As +for duty, I made that as easy as I could, had the sergeant to whisper +to me the words of command, and bustled through as other folks did. Of +service, I saw enough for an indolent man--was buffeted up and down +the world, and visited both the East and West Indies, Egypt, and other +distant places, which my youth had scarce dreamed of. The French I +saw, and felt too; witness two fingers on my right hand, which one of +their cursed hussars took off with his sabre as neatly as an hospital +surgeon. At length, the death of an old aunt, who left me some fifteen +hundred pounds, snugly vested in the three per cents, gave me the +long-wished-for opportunity of retiring, with the prospect of enjoying +a clean shirt and a guinea four times a-week at least. + +For the purpose of commencing my new way of life, I selected for my +residence the village of Kennaquhair, in the south of Scotland, +celebrated for the ruins of its magnificent Monastery, intending there +to lead my future life in the _otium cum dignitate_ of half-pay +and annuity. I was not long, however, in making the grand discovery, +that in order to enjoy leisure, it is absolutely necessary it should +be preceded by occupation. For some time, it was delightful to wake at +daybreak, dreaming of the reveill?--then to recollect my happy +emancipation from the slavery that doomed me to start at a piece of +clattering parchment, turn on my other side, damn the parade, and go +to sleep again. But even this enjoyment had its termination; and time, +when it became a stock entirely at my own disposal, began to hang +heavy on my hand. + +I angled for two days, during which time I lost twenty hooks, and +several scores of yards of gut and line, and caught not even a minnow. +Hunting was out of the question, for the stomach of a horse by no +means agrees with the half-pay establishment. When I shot, the +shepherds, and ploughmen, and my very dog, quizzed me every time that +I missed, which was, generally speaking, every time I fired. Besides, +the country gentlemen in this quarter like their game, and began to +talk of prosecutions and interdicts. I did not give up fighting the +French to commence a domestic war with the "pleasant men of +Teviotdale," as the song calls them; so I e'en spent three days (very +agreeably) in cleaning my gun, and disposing it upon two hooks over my +chimney-piece. + +The success of this accidental experiment set me on trying my skill in +the mechanical arts. Accordingly I took down and cleaned my landlady's +cuckoo-clock, and in so doing, silenced that companion of the spring +for ever and a day. I mounted a turning-lathe, and in attempting to +use it, I very nearly cribbed off, with an inch-and-half former, one +of the fingers which the hussar had left me. + +Books I tried, both those of the little circulating library, and of +the more rational subscription collection maintained by this +intellectual people. But neither the light reading of the one, nor the +heavy artillery of the other, suited my purpose. I always fell asleep +at the fourth or fifth page of history or disquisition; and it took me +a month's hard reading to wade through a half-bound trashy novel, +during which I was pestered with applications to return the volumes, +by every half-bred milliner's miss about the place. In short, during +the time when all the town besides had something to do, I had nothing +for it, but to walk in the church-yard, and whistle till it was +dinner-time. + +During these promenades, the ruins necessarily forced themselves on my +attention, and, by degrees, I found myself engaged in studying the +more minute ornaments, and at length the general plan, of this noble +structure. The old sexton aided my labours, and gave me his portion +of traditional lore. Every day added something to my stock of +knowledge respecting the ancient state of the building; and at length +I made discoveries concerning the purpose of several detached and very +ruinous portions of it, the use of which had hitherto been either +unknown altogether or erroneously explained. + +The knowledge which I thus acquired I had frequent opportunities of +retailing to those visiters whom the progress of a Scottish tour +brought to visit this celebrated spot. Without encroaching on the +privilege of my friend the sexton, I became gradually an assistant +Cicerone in the task of description and explanation, and often (seeing +a fresh party of visiters arrive) has he turned over to me those to +whom he had told half his story, with the flattering observation, +"What needs I say ony mair about it? There's the Captain kens mair +anent it than I do, or any man in the town." Then would I salute the +strangers courteously, and expatiate to their astonished minds upon +crypts and chancels, and naves, arches, Gothic and Saxon architraves, +mullions and flying buttresses. It not unfrequently happened, that an +acquaintance which commenced in the Abbey concluded in the inn, which +served to relieve the solitude as well as the monotony of my +landlady's shoulder of mutton, whether roast, cold, or hashed. + +By degrees my mind became enlarged; I found a book or two which +enlightened me on the subject of Gothic architecture, and I read now +with pleasure, because I was interested in what I read about. Even my +character began to dilate and expand. I spoke with more authority at +the club, and was listened to with deference, because on one subject, +at least, I possessed more information than any of its members. +Indeed, I found that even my stories about Egypt, which, to say truth, +were somewhat threadbare, were now listened to with more respect than +formerly. "The Captain," they said, "had something in him after +a',--there were few folk kend sae muckle about the Abbey." + +With this general approbation waxed my own sense of self-importance, +and my feeling of general comfort. I ate with more appetite, I +digested with more ease, I lay down at night with joy, and slept sound +till morning, when I arose with a sense of busy importance, and hied +me to measure, to examine, and to compare the various parts of this +interesting structure. I lost all sense and consciousness of certain +unpleasant sensations of a nondescript nature, about my head and +stomach, to which I had been in the habit of attending, more for the +benefit of the village apothecary than my own, for the pure want of +something else to think about. I had found out an occupation +unwittingly, and was happy because I had something to do. In a word, +I had commenced local antiquary, and was not unworthy of the name. + +Whilst I was in this pleasing career of busy idleness, for so it might +at best be called, it happened that I was one night sitting in my +little parlour, adjacent to the closet which my landlady calls my +bedroom, in the act of preparing for an early retreat to the realms of +Morpheus. Dugdale's Monasticon, borrowed from the library at A------, +was lying on the table before me, flanked by some excellent Cheshire +cheese, (a present, by the way, from an honest London citizen, to whom +I had explained the difference between a Gothic and a Saxon arch,) and +a glass of Vanderhagen's best ale. Thus armed at all points against my +old enemy Time, I was leisurely and deliciously preparing for bed--now +reading a line of old Dugdale--now sipping my ale, or munching my +bread and cheese--now undoing the strings at my breeches' knees, or a +button or two of my waistcoat, until the village clock should strike +ten, before which time I make it a rule never to go to bed. A loud +knocking, however, interrupted my ordinary process on this occasion, +and the voice of my honest landlord of the George was heard +vociferating, [Footnote: The George was, and is, the principal inn in +the village of Kennaquhair, or Melrose. But the landlord of the period +was not the same civil and quiet person by whom the inn is now kept. +David Kyle, a Melrose proprietor of no little importance, a first-rate +person of consequence in whatever belonged to the business of the +town, was the original owner and landlord of the inn. Poor David, like +many other busy men, took so much care of public affairs, as in some +degree to neglect his own. There are persons still alive at +Kennaquhair who can recognise him and his peculiarities in the +following sketch of mine Host of the George.] "What the deevil, Mrs. +Grimslees, the Captain is no in his bed? and a gentleman at our house +has ordered a fowl and minced collops, and a bottle of sherry, and has +sent to ask him to supper, to tell him all about the Abbey." + +"Na," answered Luckie Grimslees, in the true sleepy tone of a Scottish +matron when ten o'clock is going to strike, "he's no in his bed, but +I'se warrant him no gae out at this time o' night to keep folks +sitting up waiting for him--the Captain's a decent man." + +I plainly perceived this last compliment was made for my hearing, by +way both of indicating and of recommending the course of conduct which +Mrs. Grimslees desired I should pursue. But I had not been knocked +about the world for thirty years and odd, and lived a bluff bachelor +all the while, to come home and be put under petticoat government by +my landlady. Accordingly I opened my chamber-door, and desired my old +friend David to walk up stairs. + +"Captain," said he, as he entered, "I am as glad to find you up as if +I had hooked a twenty pound saumon. There's a gentleman up yonder that +will not sleep sound in his bed this blessed night unless he has the +pleasure to drink a glass of wine with you." + +"You know, David," I replied, with becoming dignity, "that I cannot +with propriety go out to visit strangers at this time of night, or +accept of invitations from people of whom I know nothing." + +David swore a round oath, and added, "Was ever the like heard of? He +has ordered a fowl and egg sauce, a pancake and minced collops and a +bottle of sherry--D'ye think I wad come and ask you to go to keep +company with ony bit English rider that sups on toasted cheese, and a +cheerer of rum-toddy? This is a gentleman every inch of him, and a +virtuoso, a clean virtuoso-a sad-coloured stand of claithes, and a wig +like the curled back of a mug-ewe. The very first question he speered +was about the auld drawbrig that has been at the bottom of the water +these twal score years--I have seen the fundations when we were +sticking saumon--And how the deevil suld he ken ony thing about the +old drawbrig, unless he were a virtuoso?" [Footnote: There is more to +be said about this old bridge hereafter. See Note, p. 57.] + +David being a virtuoso in his own way, and moreover a landholder and +heritor, was a qualified judge of all who frequented his house, and +therefore I could not avoid again tying the strings of my knees. + +"That's right, Captain," vociferated David; "you twa will be as thick +as three in a bed an ance ye forgather. I haena seen the like o' him +my very sell since I saw the great Doctor Samuel Johnson on his tower +through Scotland, whilk tower is lying in my back parlour for the +amusement of my guests, wi' the twa boards torn aff." + +"Then the gentleman is a scholar, David?" + +"I'se uphaud him a scholar," answered David: "he has a black coat on, +or a brown ane, at ony-rate." + +"Is he a clergyman?" + +"I am thinking no, for he looked after his horse's supper before he +spoke o' his ain," replied mine host. + +"Has he a servant?" demanded I. + +"Nae servant," answered David; "but a grand face o' his ain, that wad +gar ony body be willing to serve him that looks upon him." + +"And what makes him think of disturbing me? Ah, David, this has +been some of your chattering; you are perpetually bringing your guests +on my shoulders, as if it were my business to entertain every man who +comes to the George." + +"What the deil wad ye hae me do, Captain?" answered mine host; "a +gentleman lights down, and asks me in a most earnest manner, what man +of sense and learning there is about our town, that can tell him about +the antiquities of the place, and specially about the auld Abbey--ye +wadna hae me tell the gentleman a lee? and ye ken weel eneugh there is +naebody in the town can say a reasonable word about it, be it no +yoursell, except the bedral, and he is as fou as a piper by this time. +So, says I, there's Captain Clutterbuck, that's a very civil gentleman +and has little to do forby telling a' the auld cracks about the Abbey, +and dwells just hard by. Then says the gentleman to me, 'Sir,' says +he, very civilly, 'have the goodness to step to Captain Clutterbuck +with my compliments, and say I am a stranger, who have been led to +these parts chiefly by the fame of these Ruins, and that I would call +upon him, but the hour is late.' And mair he said that I have +forgotten, but I weel remember it ended,--'And, landlord, get a bottle +of your best sherry, and supper for two.'--Ye wadna have had me refuse +to do the gentleman's bidding, and me a publican?" + +"Well, David," said I, "I wish your virtuoso had taken a fitter hour-- +but as you say he is a gentleman--" + +"I'se uphaud him that--the order speaks for itsell--a bottle of sherry +--minched collops and a fowl--that's speaking like a gentleman, I +trow?--That's right, Captain, button weel up, the night's raw--but +the water's clearing for a' that; we'll be on't neist night wi' my +Lord's boats, and we'll hae ill luck if I dinna send you a kipper to +relish your ale at e'en." [Footnote: The nobleman whose boats are +mentioned in the text, is the late kind and amiable Lord Sommerville, +an intimate friend of the author. David Kyle was a constant and +privileged attendant when Lord Sommerville had a party for spearing +salmon; on such occasions, eighty or a hundred fish were often killed +between Gleamer and Leaderfoot.] + +In five minutes after this dialogue, I found myself in the parlour of +the George, and in the presence of the stranger. + +He was a grave personage, about my own age, (which we shall call about +fifty,) and really had, as my friend David expressed it, something in +his face that inclined men to oblige and to serve him. Yet this +expression of authority was not at all of the cast which I have seen +in the countenance of a general of brigade, neither was the stranger's +dress at all martial. It consisted of a uniform suit of iron-gray +clothes, cut in rather an old-fashioned form. His legs were defended +with strong leathern gambadoes, which, according to an antiquarian +contrivance, opened at the sides, and were secured by steel clasps. +His countenance was worn as much by toil and sorrow as by age, for it +intimated that he had seen and endured much. His address was +singularly pleasing and gentlemanlike, and the apology which he made +for disturbing me at such an hour, and in such a manner, was so well +and handsomely expressed, that I could not reply otherwise than by +declaring my willingness to be of service to him. + +"I have been a traveller to-day, sir," said he, "and I would willingly +defer the little I have to say till after supper, for which I feel +rather more appetized than usual." + +We sate down to table, and notwithstanding the stranger's alleged +appetite, as well as the gentle preparation of cheese and ale which I +had already laid aboard, I really believe that I of the two did the +greater honour to my friend David's fowl and minced collops. + +When the cloth was removed, and we had each made a tumbler of negus, +of that liquor which hosts call Sherry, and guests call Lisbon, I +perceived that the stranger seemed pensive, silent, and somewhat +embarrassed, as if he had something to communicate which he knew not +well how to introduce. To pave the way for him, I spoke of the +ancient ruins of the Monastery, and of their history. But, to my great +surprise, I found I had met my match with a witness. The stranger not +only knew all that I could tell him, but a great deal more; and, what +was still more mortifying, he was able, by reference to dates, +charters, and other evidence of facts, that, as Burns says, "downa be +disputed," to correct many of the vague tales which I had adopted on +loose and vulgar tradition, as well as to confute more than one of my +favourite theories on the subject of the old monks and their +dwellings, which I had sported freely in all the presumption of +superior information. And here I cannot but remark, that much of the +stranger's arguments and inductions rested upon the authority of Mr. +Deputy Register of Scotland, [Footnote: Thomas Thomson, Esq., whose +well-deserved panegyric ought to be found on another page than one +written by an intimate friend of thirty years' standing.] and his +lucubrations; a gentleman whose indefatigable research into the +national records is like to destroy my trade, and that of all local +antiquaries, by substituting truth instead of legend and romance. +Alas! I would the learned gentleman did but know how difficult it is +for us dealers in petty wares of antiquity to-- + + Pluck from our memories a rooted "legend," + Raze out the written records of our brain. + Or cleanse our bosoms of that perilous stuff-- + +and so forth. It would, I am sure, move his pity to think how many old +dogs he hath set to learn new tricks, how many venerable parrots he +hath taught to sing a new song, how many gray heads he hath addled by +vain attempts to exchange their old _Mumpsimus_ for his new +_Sumpsimus_. But let it pass. _Humana perpessi sumus_--All +changes round us, past, present, and to come; that which was history +yesterday becomes fable to-day, and the truth of to-day is hatched +into a lie by to-morrow. + +Finding myself like to be overpowered in the Monastery, which I had +hitherto regarded as my citadel, I began, like a skilful general, to +evacuate that place of defence, and fight my way through the adjacent +country. I had recourse to my acquaintance with the families and +antiquities of the neighbourhood, ground on which I thought I might +skirmish at large without its being possible for the stranger to meet +me with advantage. But I was mistaken. + +The man in the iron-gray suit showed a much more minute knowledge of +these particulars than I had the least pretension to. He could tell +the very year in which the family of De Haga first settled on their +ancient barony. + +[Footnote: The family of De Haga, modernized into Haig, of Bemerside, +is of the highest antiquity, and is the subject of one of the +prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer:-- + + Betide, betide, whate'er betide. + Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside. ] + +Not a Thane within reach but he knew his family and connexions, how +many of his ancestors had fallen by the sword of the English, how many +in domestic brawl, and how many by the hand of the executioner for +march-treason. Their castles he was acquainted with from turret to +foundation-stone; and as for the miscellaneous antiquities scattered +about the country, he knew every one of them, from a _cromlech_ +to a _cairn_, and could give as good an account of each as if he +had lived in the time of the Danes or Druids. + +I was now in the mortifying predicament of one who suddenly finds +himself a scholar when he came to teach, and nothing was left for me +but to pick up as much of his conversation as I could, for the benefit +of the next company. I told, indeed, Allan Ramsay's story of the Monk +and Miller's Wife, in order to retreat with some honour under cover of +a parting volley. Here, however, my flank was again turned by the +eternal stranger. + +"You are pleased to be facetious, sir," said he; "but you cannot be +ignorant that the ludicrous incident you mentioned is the subject of a +tale much older than that of Allan Ramsay." + +I nodded, unwilling to acknowledge my ignorance, though, in fact, I +knew no more what he meant than did one of my friend David's +post-horses. + +"I do not allude," continued my omniscient companion, "to the curious +poem published by Pinkerton from the Maitland Manuscript, called the +Fryars of Berwick, although it presents a very minute and amusing +picture of Scottish manners during the reign of James V.; but rather +to the Italian novelist, by whom, so far as I know, the story was +first printed, although unquestionably he first took his original from +some ancient _fabliau_." [Footnote: It is curious to remark at how +little expense of invention successive ages are content to receive +amusement. The same story which Ramsay and Dunbar have successively +handled, forms also the subject of the modern farce, No Song, no +Supper.] + +"It is not to be doubted," answered I, not very well understanding, +however, the proposition to which I gave such unqualified assent. + +"Yet," continued my companion, "I question much, had you known my +situation and profession, whether you would have pitched upon this +precise anecdote for my amusement." + +This observation he made in a tone of perfect good-humour. I pricked +up my ears at the hint, and answered as politely as I could, that my +ignorance of his condition and rank could be the only cause of my +having stumbled on anything disagreeable; and that I was most willing +to apologize for my unintentional offence, so soon as I should know +wherein it consisted. + +"Nay, no offence, sir," he replied; "offence can only exist where it +is taken. I have been too long accustomed to more severe and cruel +misconstructions, to be offended at a popular jest, though directed at +my profession." + +"Am I to understand, then," I answered, "that I am speaking with a +Catholic clergyman?" + +"An unworthy monk of the order of Saint Benedict," said the stranger, +"belonging to a community of your own countrymen, long established in +France, and scattered unhappily by the events of the Revolution." +"Then," said I, "you are a native Scotchman, and from this +neighbourhood?" + +"Not so," answered the monk; "I am a Scotchman by extraction only, +and never was in this neighbourhood during my whole life." + +"Never in this neighbourhood, and yet so minutely acquainted with its +history, its traditions, and even its external scenery! You surprise +me, sir," I replied. + +"It is not surprising," he said, "that I should have that sort of +local information, when it is considered, that my uncle, an excellent +man, as well as a good Scotchman, the head also of our religious +community, employed much of his leisure in making me acquainted with +these particulars; and that I myself, disgusted with what has been +passing around me, have for many years amused myself, by digesting and +arranging the various scraps of information which I derived from my +worthy relative, and other aged brethren of our order." + +"I presume, sir," said I, "though I would by no means intrude the +question, that you are now returned to Scotland with a view to settle +amongst your countrymen, since the great political catastrophe of our +time has reduced your corps?" + +"No, sir," replied the Benedictine, "such is not my intention. A +European potentate, who still cherishes the Catholic faith, has +offered us a retreat within his dominions, where a few of my scattered +brethren are already assembled, to pray to God for blessings on their +protector, and pardon to their enemies. No one, I believe, will be +able to object to us under our new establishment, that the extent of +our revenues will be inconsistent with our vows of poverty and +abstinence; but, let us strive to be thankful to God, that the snare +of temporal abundance is removed from us." + +"Many of your convents abroad, sir," said I, "enjoyed very handsome +incomes--and yet, allowing for times, I question if any were better +provided for than the Monastery of this village. It is said to have +possessed nearly two thousand pounds in yearly money-rent, fourteen +chalders and nine bolls of wheat, fifty-six chalders five bolls +barley, forty-four chalders and ten bolls oats, capons and poultry, +butter, salt, carriage and arriage, peats and kain, wool and ale." + +"Even too much of all these temporal goods, sir," said my companion, +"which, though well intended by the pious donors, served only to make +the establishment the envy and the prey of those by whom it was finally +devoured." + +"In the meanwhile, however," I observed, "the monks had an easy life +of it, and, as the old song goes, + + --made gude kale + On Fridays when they fasted." + +"I understand you, sir," said the Benedictine; "it is difficult, saith +the proverb, to carry a full cup without spilling. Unquestionably the +wealth of the community, as it endangered the safety of the +establishment by exciting the cupidity of others, was also in frequent +instances a snare to the brethren themselves. And yet we have seen the +revenues of convents expended, not only in acts of beneficence and +hospitality to individuals, but in works of general and permanent +advantage to the world at large. The noble folio collection of French +historians, commenced in 1737, under the inspection and at the expense +of the community of Saint Maur, will long show that the revenues of +the Benedictines were not always spent in self-indulgence, and that +the members of that order did not uniformly slumber in sloth and +indolence, when they had discharged the formal duties of their rule." + +As I knew nothing earthly at the time about the community of St. Maur, +and their learned labours, I could only return a mumbling assent to +this proposition. I have since seen this noble work in the library of +a distinguished family, and I must own I am ashamed to reflect, that, +in so wealthy a country as ours, a similar digest of our historians +should not be undertaken, under the patronage of the noble and the +learned, in rivalry of that which the Benedictines of Paris executed +at the expense of their own conventual funds. + +"I perceive," said the ex-Benedictine, smiling, "that your heretical +prejudices are too strong to allow us poor brethren any merit, whether +literary or spiritual." + +"Far from it, sir," said I; "I assure you I have been much obliged to +monks in my time. When I was quartered in a Monastery in Flanders, in +the campaign of 1793, I never lived more comfortably in my life. They +were jolly fellows, the Flemish Canons, and right sorry was I to leave +my good quarters, and to know that my honest hosts were to be at the +mercy of the Sans-Culottes. But _fortune de la guerre!_" + +The poor Benedictine looked down and was silent. I had unwittingly +awakened a train of bitter reflections, or rather I had touched +somewhat rudely upon a chord which seldom ceased to vibrate of itself. +But he was too much accustomed to this sorrowful train of ideas to +suffer it to overcome him. On my part, I hastened to atone for my +blunder. "If there was any object of his journey to this country in +which I could, with propriety, assist him, I begged to offer him my +best services." I own I laid some little emphasis on the words "with +propriety," as I felt it would ill become me, a sound Protestant, and +a servant of government so far as my half-pay was concerned, to +implicate myself in any recruiting which my companion might have +undertaken in behalf of foreign seminaries, or in any similar design +for the advancement of Popery, which, whether the Pope be actually the +old lady of Babylon or no, it did not become me in any manner to +advance or countenance. + +My new friend hastened to relieve my indecision. "I was about to +request your assistance, sir," he said, "in a matter which cannot but +interest you as an antiquary, and a person of research. But I assure +you it relates entirely to events and persons removed to the distance +of two centuries and a half. I have experienced too much evil from the +violent unsettlement of the country in which I was born, to be a rash +labourer in the work of innovation in that of my ancestors." + +I again assured him of my willingness to assist him in anything that +was not contrary to my allegiance or religion. + +"My proposal," he replied, "affects neither.--May God bless the +reigning family in Britain! They are not, indeed, of that dynasty to +restore which my ancestors struggled and suffered in vain; but the +Providence who has conducted his present Majesty to the throne, has +given him the virtues necessary to his time--firmness and +intrepidity--a true love of his country, and an enlightened view of +the dangers by which she is surrounded.--For the religion of these +realms, I am contented to hope that the great Power, whose mysterious +dispensation has rent them from the bosom of the church, will, in his +own good time and manner, restore them to its holy pale. The efforts +of an individual, obscure and humble as myself, might well retard, but +could never advance, a work so mighty." + +"May I then inquire, sir," said I, "with what purpose you seek this +country?" + +Ere my companion replied, he took from his pocket a clasped paper +book, about the size of a regimental orderly-book, full, as it seemed, +of memoranda; and, drawing one of the candles close to him, (for +David, as a strong proof of his respect for the stranger, had indulged +us with two,) he seemed to peruse the contents very earnestly. + +"There is among the ruins of the western end of the Abbey church," +said he, looking up to me, yet keeping the memorandum-book half open, +and occasionally glancing at it, as if to refresh his memory, "a sort +of recess or chapel beneath a broken arch, and in the immediate +vicinity of one of those shattered Gothic columns which once supported +the magnificent roof, whose fall has now encumbered that part of the +building with its ruins." + +"I think," said I, "that I know whereabouts you are. Is there not in +the side wall of the chapel, or recess, which you mention, a large +carved stone, bearing a coat of arms, which no one hitherto has been +able to decipher?" + +"You are right," answered the Benedictine; and again consulting his +memoranda, he added, "the arms on the dexter side are those of +Glendinning, being a cross parted by a cross indented and +countercharged of the same; and on the sinister three spur-rowels for +those of Avenel; they are two ancient families, now almost extinct in +this country--the arms _part y per pale_." + +"I think," said I, "there is no part of this ancient structure with +which you are not as well acquainted as was the mason who built it. +But if your information be correct, he who made out these bearings +must have had better eyes than mine." + +"His eyes," said the Benedictine, "have long been closed in death; +probably when he inspected the monument it was in a more perfect +state, or he may have derived his information from the tradition of +the place." + +"I assure you," said I, "that no such tradition now exists. I have +made several reconnoissances among the old people, in hopes to learn +something of the armorial bearings, but I never heard of such a +circumstance. It seems odd that you should have acquired it in a +foreign land." + +"These trifling particulars," he replied, "were formerly looked upon +as more important, and they were sanctified to the exiles who retained +recollection of them, because they related to a place dear indeed to +memory, but which their eyes could never again behold. It is possible, +in like manner, that on the Potomac or Susquehannah, you may find +traditions current concerning places in England, which are utterly +forgotten in the neighbourhood where they originated. But to my +purpose. In this recess, marked by the armorial bearings, lies buried +a treasure, and it is in order to remove it that I have undertaken my +present journey." + +"A treasure!" echoed I, in astonishment. + +"Yes," replied the monk, "an inestimable treasure, for those who know +how to use it rightly." + +I own my ears did tingle a little at the word treasure, and that a +handsome tilbury, with a neat groom in blue and scarlet livery, having +a smart cockade on his glazed hat, seemed as it were to glide across +the room before gay eyes, while a voice, as of a crier, pronounced my +ear, "Captain Clutterbuck's tilbury--drive up." But I resisted the +devil, and he fled from me. + +"I believe," said I, "all hidden treasure belongs either to the king +or the lord of the soil; and as I have served his majesty, I cannot +concern myself in any adventure which may have an end in the Court of +Exchequer." + +"The treasure I seek," said the stranger, smiling, "will not be envied +by princes or nobles,---it is simply the heart of an upright man." + +"Ah! I understand you," I answered; "some relic, forgotten in the +confusion of the Reformation. I know the value which men of your +persuasion put upon the bodies and limbs of saints. I have seen the +Three Kings of Cologne." + +"The relics which I seek, however," said the Benedictine, "are not +precisely of that nature. The excellent relative whom I have already +mentioned, amused his leisure hours with putting into form the +traditions of his family, particularly some remarkable circumstances +which took place about the first breaking out of the schism of the +church in Scotland. He became so much interested in his own labours, +that at length he resolved that the heart of one individual, the hero +of his tale, should rest no longer in a land of heresy, now deserted +by all his kindred. As he knew where it was deposited, he formed the +resolution to visit his native country for the purpose of recovering +this valued relic. But age, and at length disease, interfered with his +resolution, and it was on his deathbed that he charged me to undertake +the task in his stead. The various important events which have crowded +upon each other, our ruin and our exile, have for many years obliged +me to postpone this delegated duty. Why, indeed, transfer the relics +of a holy and worthy man to a country, where religion and virtue are +become the mockery of the scorner? I have now a home, which I trust +may be permanent, if any thing in this earth can be, termed so. +Thither will I transport the heart of the good father, and beside the +shrine which it shall occupy, I will construct my own grave." + +"He must, indeed, have been an excellent man," replied I, "whose +memory, at so distant a period, calls forth such strong marks of +regard." + +"He was, as you justly term him," said the ecclesiastic, "indeed +excellent--excellent in his life and doctrine--excellent, above all, +in his self-denied and disinterested sacrifice of all that life holds +dear to principle and to friendship. But you shall read his history. I +shall be happy at once to gratify your curiosity, and to show my sense +of your kindness, if you will have the goodness to procure me the +means of accomplishing my object." I replied to the Benedictine, that, +as the rubbish amongst which he proposed to search was no part of the +ordinary burial-ground, and as I was on the best terms with the +sexton, I had little doubt that I could procure him the means of +executing his pious purpose. + +With this promise we parted for the night; and on the ensuing morning +I made it my business to see the sexton, who, for a small gratuity, +readily granted permission of search, on condition, however, that he +should be present himself, to see that the stranger removed nothing of +intrinsic value. + +"To banes, and skulls, and hearts, if he can find ony, he shall be +welcome," said this guardian of the ruined Monastery, "there's plenty +a' about, an he's curious of them; but if there be ony picts" (meaning +perhaps _pyx_) "or chalishes, or the like of such Popish veshells +of gold and silver, deil hae me an I conneve at their being removed." + +The sexton also stipulated, that our researches should take place at +night, being unwilling to excite observation, or give rise to scandal. +My new acquaintance and I spent the day as became lovers of hoar +antiquity. We visited every corner of these magnificent ruins again +and again during the forenoon; and, having made a comfortable dinner +at David's, we walked in the afternoon to such places in the +neighbourhood as ancient tradition or modern conjecture had rendered +mark worthy. Night found us in the interior of the ruins, attended by +the sexton, who carried a dark lantern, and stumbling alternately over +the graves of the dead, and the fragments of that architecture, which +they doubtless trusted would have canopied their bones till doomsday. + +I am by no means particularly superstitious, and yet there was that in +the present service which I did not very much like. There was +something awful in the resolution of disturbing, at such an hour, and +in such a place, the still and mute sanctity of the grave. My +companions were free from this impression--the stranger from his +energetic desire to execute the purpose for which he came--and the +sexton from habitual indifference. We soon stood in the aisle, which, +by the account of the Benedictine, contained the bones of the family +of Glendinning, and were busily employed in removing the rubbish from +a corner which the stranger pointed out. If a half-pay Captain could +have represented an ancient Border-knight, or an ex-Benedictine of the +nineteenth century a wizard monk of the sixteenth, we might have aptly +enough personified the search after Michael Scott's lamp and book of +magic power. But the sexton would have been _de trop_ in the +group. [Footnote: This is one of those passages which must now read +awkwardly, since every one knows that the Novelist and the author of +the Lay of the Minstrel, is the same person. But before the avowal was +made, the author was forced into this and similar offences against +good taste, to meet an argument, often repeated, that there was +something very mysterious in the Author of Waverley's reserve +concerning Sir Walter Scott, an author sufficiently voluminous at +least. I had a great mind to remove the passages from this edition, +but the more candid way is to explain how they came there.] + +Ere the stranger, assisted by the sexton in his task, had been long at +work, they came to some hewn stones, which seemed to have made part of +a small shrine, though now displaced and destroyed. + +"Let us remove these with caution, my friend," said the stranger, +"lest we injure that which I come to seek." + +"They are prime stanes," said the sexton, "picked free every ane of +them;--warse than the best wad never serve the monks, I'se warrant." + +A minute after he had made this observation, he exclaimed, "I hae fund +something now that stands again' the spade, as if it were neither +earth nor stane." + +The stranger stooped eagerly to assist him. + +"Na, na, haill o' my ain," said the sexton; "nae halves or +quarters;"--and he lifted from amongst the ruins a small leaden box. + +"You will be disappointed, my friend," said the Benedictine, "if you +expect any thing there but the mouldering dust of a human heart, closed +in an inner case of porphyry." + +I interposed as a neutral party, and taking the box from the sexton, +reminded him, that if there were treasure concealed in it, still it +could not become the property of the finder. I then proposed, that as +the place was too dark to examine the contents of the leaden casket, +we should adjourn to David's, where we might have the advantage of +light and fire while carrying on our investigation. The stranger +requested us to go before, assuring us that he would follow in a few +minutes. + +I fancy that old Mattocks suspected these few minutes might be +employed in effecting farther discoveries amongst the tombs, for he +glided back through a side-aisle to watch the Benedictine's motions, +but presently returned, and told me in a whisper that "the gentleman +was on his knees amang the cauld stanes, praying like ony saunt." + +I stole back, and beheld the old man actually employed as Mattocks had +informed me. The language seemed to be Latin; and as, the whispered, +yet solemn accent, glided away through the ruined aisles, I could not +help reflecting how long it was since they had heard the forms of that +religion, for the exercise of which they had been reared at such cost +of time, taste, labour, and expense. "Come away, come away," said I; +"let us leave him to himself, Mattocks; this is no business of ours." + +"My certes, no, Captain," said Mattocks; "ne'ertheless, it winna be +amiss to keep an eye on him. My father, rest his saul, was a +horse-couper, and used to say he never was cheated in a naig in his +life, saving by a west-country whig frae Kilmarnock, that said a grace +ower a dram o' whisky. But this gentleman will be a Roman, I'se +warrant?" + +"You are perfectly right in that, Saunders," said I. + +"Ay, I have seen twa or three of their priests that were chased ower +here some score o' years syne. They just danced like mad when they +looked on the friars' heads, and the nuns' heads, in the cloister +yonder; they took to them like auld acquaintance like.--Od, he is not +stirring yet, mair than he were a through-stane! [Footnote: A +tombstone.] I never kend a Roman, to say kend him, but ane--mair by +token, he was the only ane in the town to ken--and that was auld Jock +of the Pend. It wad hae been lang ere ye fand Jock praying in the +Abbey in a thick night, wi' his knees on a cauld stane. Jock likit a +kirk wi' a chimley in't. Mony a merry ploy I hae had wi' him down at +the inn yonder; and when he died, decently I wad hae earded him; but, +or I gat his grave weel howkit, some of the quality, that were o' his +ain unhappy persuasion, had the corpse whirried away up the water, and +buried him after their ain pleasure, doubtless--they kend best. I wad +hae made nae great charge. I wadna hae excised Johnnie, dead or +alive.--Stay, see--the strange gentleman is coming." + +"Hold the lantern to assist him, Mattocks," said I.--"This is rough +walking, sir." + +"Yes," replied the Benedictine; "I may say with a poet, who is +doubtless familiar to you----" + +I should be surprised if he were, thought I internally. + +The stranger continued: + + "Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night + Have my old feet stumbled at graves!" + +"We are now clear of the churchyard," said I, "and have but a short +walk to David's, where I hope we shall find a cheerful fire to enliven +us after our night's work." + +We entered, accordingly, the little parlour, into which Mattocks was +also about to push himself with sufficient effrontery, when David, +with a most astounding oath, expelled him by head and shoulders, +d--ning his curiosity, that would not let gentlemen be private in +their own inn. Apparently mine host considered his own presence as no +intrusion, for he crowded up to the table on which I had laid down the +leaden box. It was frail and wasted, as might be guessed, from having +lain so many years in the ground. On opening it, we found deposited +within, a case made of porphyry, as the stranger had announced to us. + +"I fancy," he said, "gentlemen, your curiosity will not be +satisfied,--perhaps I should say that your suspicions will not be +removed,--unless I undo this casket; yet it only contains the +mouldering remains of a heart, once the seat of the noblest thoughts." + +He undid the box with great caution; but the shrivelled substance +which it contained bore now no resemblance to what it might once have +been, the means used having been apparently unequal to preserve its +shape and colour, although they were adequate to prevent its total +decay. We were quite satisfied, notwithstanding, that it was, what the +stranger asserted, the remains of a human heart; and David readily +promised his influence in the village, which was almost co-ordinate +with that of the bailie himself, to silence all idle rumours. He was, +moreover, pleased to favour us with his company to supper; and having +taken the lion's share of two bottles of sherry, he not only +sanctioned with his plenary authority the stranger's removal of the +heart, but, I believe, would have authorized the removal of the Abbey +itself, were it not that it happens considerably to advantage the +worthy publican's own custom. + +The object of the Benedictine's visit to the land of his forefathers +being now accomplished, he announced his intention of leaving us early +in the ensuing day, but requested my company to breakfast with him +before his departure. I came accordingly, and when we had finished our +morning's meal, the priest took me apart, and pulling from his pocket +a large bundle of papers, he put them into my hands. "These," said he, +"Captain Clutterbuck, are genuine Memoirs of the sixteenth century, +and exhibit in a singular, and, as I think, an interesting point of +view, the manners of that period. I am induced to believe that their +publication will not be an unacceptable present to the British public; +and willingly make over to you any profit that may accrue from such a +transaction." + +I stared a little at this annunciation, and observed, that the hand +seemed too modern for the date he assigned to the manuscript. + +"Do not mistake me, sir," said the Benedictine; "I did not mean to say +the Memoirs were written in the sixteenth century, but only, that they +were compiled from authentic materials of that period, but written in +the taste and language of the present day. My uncle commenced this +book; and I, partly to improve my habit of English composition, partly +to divert melancholy thoughts, amused my leisure hours with continuing +and concluding it. You will see the period of the story where my uncle +leaves off his narrative, and I commence mine. In fact, they relate in +a great measure to different persons, as well as to a different +period." + +Retaining the papers in my hand, I proceeded to state to him my +doubts, whether, as a good Protestant, I could undertake or +superintend a publication written probably in the spirit of Popery. + +"You will find," he said, "no matter of controversy in these sheets, +nor any sentiments stated, with which, I trust, the good in all +persuasions will not be willing to join. I remembered I was writing +for a land unhappily divided from the Catholic faith; and I have taken +care to say nothing which, justly interpreted, could give ground for +accusing me of partiality. But if, upon collating my narrative with +the proofs to which I refer you--for you will find copies of many of +the original papers in that parcel--you are of opinion that I have +been partial to my own faith, I freely give you leave to correct my +errors in that respect. I own, however, I am not conscious of this +defect, and have rather to fear that the Catholics may be of opinion, +that I have mentioned circumstances respecting the decay of discipline +which preceded, and partly occasioned, the great schism, called by you +the Reformation, over which I ought to have drawn a veil. And indeed, +this is one reason why I choose the papers should appear in a foreign +land, and pass to the press through the hands of a stranger." + +To this I had nothing to reply, unless to object my own incompetency +to the task the good father was desirous to impose upon me. On this +subject he was pleased to say more, I fear, than his knowledge of me +fully warranted--more, at any rate, than my modesty will permit me to +record. At length he ended, with advising me, if I continued to feel +the diffidence which I stated, to apply to some veteran of literature, +whose experience might supply my deficiencies. Upon these terms we +parted, with mutual expressions of regard, and I have never since +heard of him. + +After several attempts to peruse the quires of paper thus singularly +conferred on me, in which I was interrupted by the most inexplicable +fits of yawning, I at length, in a sort of despair, communicated them +to our village club, from whom they found a more favourable reception +than the unlucky conformation of my nerves had been able to afford +them. They unanimously pronounced the work to be exceedingly good, and +assured me I would be guilty of the greatest possible injury to our +flourishing village, if I should suppress what threw such an +interesting and radiant light upon the history of the ancient +Monastery of Saint Mary. + +At length, by dint of listening to their opinion, I became dubious of +my own; and, indeed, when I heard passages read forth by the sonorous +voice of our worthy pastor, I was scarce more tired than I have felt +myself at some of his own sermons. Such, and so great is the +difference betwixt reading a thing one's self, making toilsome way +through all the difficulties of manuscript, and, as the man says in +the play, "having the same read to you;"--it is positively like being +wafted over a creek in a boat, or wading through it on your feet, with +the mud up to your knees. Still, however, there remained the great +difficulty of finding some one who could act as editor, corrector at +once of the press and of the language, which, according to the +schoolmaster, was absolutely necessary. + +Since the trees walked forth to choose themselves a king, never was an +honour so bandied about. The parson would not leave the quiet of his +chimney-corner--the bailie pleaded the dignity of his situation, and +the approach of the great annual fair, as reasons against going to +Edinburgh to make arrangements for printing the Benedictine's +manuscript. The schoolmaster alone seemed of malleable stuff; and, +desirous perhaps of emulating the fame of Jedediah Cleishbotham, +evinced a wish to undertake this momentous commission. But a +remonstrance from three opulent farmers, whose sons he had at bed, +board, and schooling, for twenty pounds per annum a-head, came like a +frost over the blossoms of his literary ambition, and he was compelled +to decline the service. + +In these circumstances, sir, I apply to you, by the advice of our +little council of war, nothing doubting you will not be disinclined to +take the duty upon you, as it is much connected with that in which you +have distinguished yourself. What I request is, that you will review, +or rather revise and correct, the enclosed packet, and prepare it for +the press, by such alterations, additions, and curtailments, as you +think necessary. Forgive my hinting to you, that the deepest well may +be exhausted,--the best corps of grenadiers, as our old general of +brigade expressed himself, may be _used up_. A few hints can do +you no harm; and, for the prize-money, let the battle be first won, +and it shall be parted at the drum-head. I hope you will take nothing +amiss that I have said. I am a plain soldier, and little accustomed to +compliments. I may add, that I should be well contented to march in +the front with you--that is, to put my name with yours on the +title-page. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your unknown humble +Servant, Cuthbert Clutterbuck. Village of Kennaquhair, -- of April, +18-- + +_For the Author of "Waverley," &c. +care of Mr. John Ballantyne, +Hanover Street, Edinburgh._ + + + * * * * * + + +ANSWER BY "THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY," + +TO THE FOREGOING LETTER FROM CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK. + + +DEAR CAPTAIN, + +Do not admire, that, notwithstanding the distance and ceremony of your +address, I return an answer in the terms of familiarity. The truth is, +your origin and native country are better known to me than even to +yourself. You derive your respectable parentage, if I am not greatly +mistaken, from a land which has afforded much pleasure, as well as +profit, to those who have traded to it successfully,--I mean that part +of the _terra incognita_ which is called the province of Utopia. +Its productions, though censured by many (and some who use tea and +tobacco without scruple) as idle and unsubstantial luxuries, have +nevertheless, like many other luxuries, a general acceptation, and are +secretly enjoyed even by those who express the greatest scorn and +dislike of them in public. The dram-drinker is often the first to be +shocked at the smell of spirits--it is not unusual to hear old maiden +ladies declaim against scandal--the private book-cases of some +grave-seeming men would not brook decent eyes--and many, I say not of +the wise and learned, but of those most anxious to seem such, when the +spring-lock of their library is drawn, their velvet cap pulled over +their ears, their feet insinuated into their turkey slippers, are to +be found, were their retreats suddenly intruded upon, busily engaged +with the last new novel. + +I have said, the truly wise and learned disdain these shifts, and will +open the said novel as avowedly as they would the lid of their +snuff-box. I will only quote one instance, though I know a hundred. +Did you know the celebrated Watt of Birmingham, Captain Clutterbuck? I +believe not, though, from what I am about to state, he would not have +failed to have sought an acquaintance with you. It was only once my +fortune to meet him, whether in body or in spirit it matters not. +There were assembled about half a score of our Northern Lights, who +had amongst them, Heaven knows how, a well-known character of your +country, Jedediah Cleishbotham. This worthy person, having come to +Edinburgh during the Christmas vacation, had become a sort of lion in +the place, and was lead in leash from house to house along with the +guisards, the stone-eater, and other amusements of the season, which +"exhibited their unparalleled feats to private family-parties, if +required." Amidst this company stood Mr. Watt, the man whose genius +discovered the means of multiplying our national resources to a degree +perhaps even beyond his own stupendous powers of calculation and +combination; bringing the treasures of the abyss to the summit of the +earth--giving the feeble arm of man the momentum of an +Afrite--commanding manufactures to arise, as the rod of the prophet +produced water in the desert--affording the means of dispensing with +that time and tide which wait for no man, and of sailing without that +wind which defied the commands and threats of Xerxes himself. + +[Footnote: Probably the ingenious author alludes to the national +adage: + + The king said sail, + But the wind said no. + +Our schoolmaster (who is also a land surveyor) thinks this whole +passage refers to Mr. Watt's improvements on the steam +engine.--_Note by Captain Clutterbuck_.] + +This potent commander of the elements--this abridger of time and +space--this magician, whose cloudy machinery has produced a change on +the world, the effects of which, extraordinary as they are, are +perhaps only now beginning to be felt--was not only the most profound +man of science, the most successful combiner of powers and calculator +of numbers as adapted to practical purposes,--was not only one of the +most generally well-informed,--but one of the best and kindest of +human beings. + +There he stood, surrounded by the little band I have mentioned of +Northern literati, men not less tenacious, generally speaking, of +their own fame and their own opinions, than the national regiments are +supposed to be jealous of the high character which they have won upon +service. Methinks I yet see and hear what I shall never see or hear +again. In his eighty-fifth year, the alert, kind, benevolent old man, +had his attention alive to every one's question, his information at +every one's command. + +His talents and fancy overflowed on every subject. One gentleman was a +deep philologist--he talked with him on the origin of the alphabet as +if he had been coeval with Cadmus; another a celebrated critic,--you +would have said the old man had studied political economy and +belles-lettres all his life,--of science it is unnecessary to speak, +it was his own distinguished walk. And yet, Captain Clutterbuck, when +he spoke with your countryman Jedediah Cleishbotham, you would have +sworn he had been coeval with Claver'se and Burley, with the +persecutors and persecuted, and could number every shot the dragoons +had fired at the fugitive Covenanters. In fact, we discovered that no +novel of the least celebrity escaped his perusal, and that the gifted +man of science was as much addicted to the productions of your native +country, (the land of Utopia aforesaid,) in other words, as shameless +and obstinate a peruser of novels, as if he had been a very milliner's +apprentice of eighteen. I know little apology for troubling you with +these things, excepting the desire to commemorate a delightful +evening, and a wish to encourage you to shake off that modest +diffidence which makes you afraid of being supposed connected with the +fairy-land of delusive fiction. I will requite your tag of verse, from +Horace himself, with a paraphrase for your own use, my dear Captain, +and for that of your country club, excepting in reverence the +clergyman and schoolmaster:-- + + _Ne sit ancillae tibi amor pudori, &c._ + + Take thou no scorn. + Of fiction born, + Fair fiction's muse to woe; + Old Homer's theme + Was but a dream, + Himself a fiction too. + +Having told you your country, I must next, my dear Captain +Clutterbuck, make free to mention your own immediate descent. You are +not to suppose your land of prodigies so little known to us as the +careful concealment of your origin would seem to imply. But you have +it in common with many of your country, studiously and anxiously to +hide any connexion with it. There is this difference, indeed, betwixt +your countrymen and those of our more material world, that many of the +most estimable of them, such as an old Highland gentleman called +Ossian, a monk of Bristol called Rowley, and others, are inclined to +pass themselves off as denizens of the land of reality, whereas most +of our fellow-citizens who deny their country are such as that country +would be very willing to disclaim. The especial circumstances you +mention relating to your life and services, impose not upon us. We +know the versatility of the unsubstantial species to which you belong +permits them to assume all manner of disguises; we have seen them +apparelled in the caftan of a Persian, and the silken robe of a +Chinese, [Footnote: See the Persian Letters, and the Citizen of the +World.] and are prepared to suspect their real character under every +disguise. But how can we be ignorant of your country and manners, or +deceived by the evasion of its inhabitants, when the voyages of +discovery which have been made to it rival in number those recorded by +Purchas or by Hackluyt? [Footnote: See Les Voyages Imaginaires.] And +to show the skill and perseverance of your navigators and travellers, +we have only to name Sindbad, Aboulfouaris, and Robinson Crusoe. These +were the men for discoveries. Could we have sent Captain Greenland to +look out for the north-west passage, or Peter Wilkins to examine +Baffin's Bay, what discoveries might we not have expected? But there +are feats, and these both numerous and extraordinary, performed by the +inhabitants of your country, which we read without once attempting to +emulate. + +I wander from my purpose, which was to assure you, that I know you as +well as the mother who _did_ not bear you, for MacDuff's +peculiarity sticks to your whole race. You are not born of woman, +unless, indeed, in that figurative sense, in which the celebrated +Maria Edgeworth may, in her state of single blessedness, be termed +mother of the finest family in England. You belong, sir, to the +Editors of the land of Utopia, a sort of persons for whom I have the +highest esteem. How is it possible it should be otherwise, when you +reckon among your corporation the sage Cid Hamet Benengeli, the +short-faced president of the Spectator's Club, poor Ben Silton, and +many others, who have acted as gentlemen-ushers to works which have +cheered our heaviest, and added wings to our lightest hours? + +What I have remarked as peculiar to Editors of the class in which I +venture to enrol you, is the happy combination of fortuitous +circumstances which usually put you in possession of the works which +you have the goodness to bring into public notice. One walks on the +sea-shore, and a wave casts on land a small cylindrical trunk or +casket, containing a manuscript much damaged with sea-water, which is +with difficulty deciphered, and so forth. [Footnote: See the History +of Automathes.] Another steps into a chandler's shop, to purchase a +pound of butter, and, behold! the waste-paper on which it is laid is +the manuscript of a cabalist. [Footnote: Adventures of a Guinea.] A +third is so fortunate as to obtain from a woman who lets lodgings, the +curious contents of an antique bureau, the property of a deceased +lodger. [Footnote: Adventures of an Atom.] All these are certainly +possible occurrences; but, I know not how, they seldom occur to any +Editors save those of your country. At least I can answer for myself, +that in my solitary walks by the sea, I never saw it cast ashore any +thing but dulse and tangle, and now and then a deceased star-fish; my +landlady never presented me with any manuscript save her cursed bill; +and the most interesting of my discoveries in the way of waste-paper, +was finding a favourite passage of one of my own novels wrapt round an +ounce of snuff. No, Captain, the funds from which I have drawn my +power of amusing the public, have been bought otherwise than by +fortuitous adventure. I have buried myself in libraries to extract +from the nonsense of ancient days new nonsense of my own. I have +turned over volumes, which, from the pot-hooks I was obliged to +decipher, might have been the cabalistic manuscripts of Cornelius +Agrippa, although I never saw "the door open and the devil come in." +[Footnote: See Southey's Ballad on the Young Man who read in a +Conjuror's Books.] But all the domestic inhabitants of the libraries +were disturbed by the vehemence of my studies:-- + + From my research the boldest spider fled, + And moths, retreating, trembled as I read; + +From this learned sepulchre I emerged like the Magician in the Persian +Tales, from his twelve-month's residence in the mountain, not like him +to soar over the heads of the multitude, but to mingle in the crowd, +and to elbow amongst the throng, making my way from the highest +society to the lowest, undergoing the scorn, or, what is harder to +brook, the patronizing condescension of the one, and enduring the +vulgar familiarity of the other,--and all, you will say, for +what?--to collect materials for one of those manuscripts with which +mere chance so often accommodates your country-men; in other words, to +write a successful novel.--"O Athenians, how hard we labour to deserve +your praise!" + +I might stop here, my dear Clutterbuck; it would have a touching +effect, and the air of proper deference to our dear Public. But I will +not be false with you,--(though falsehood is--excuse the +observation--the current coin of your country,) the truth is, I have +studied and lived for the purpose of gratifying my own curiosity, and +passing my own time; and though the result has been, that, in one +shape or other, I have been frequently before the Public, perhaps more +frequently than prudence warranted, yet I cannot claim from them the +favour due to those who have dedicated their ease and leisure to the +improvement and entertainment of others. + +Having communicated thus freely with you, my dear Captain, it follows, +of course, that I will gratefully accept of your communication, which, +as your Benedictine observed, divides itself both by subject, manner, +and age, into two parts. But I am sorry I cannot gratify your literary +ambition, by suffering your name to appear upon the title-page; and I +will candidly tell you the reason. + +The Editors of your country are of such a soft and passive +disposition, that they have frequently done themselves great disgrace +by giving up the coadjutors who first brought them into public notice +and public favour, and suffering their names to be used by those +quacks and impostors who live upon the ideas of others. Thus I shame +to tell how the sage Cid Hamet Benengeli was induced by one Juan +Avellaneda to play the Turk with the ingenious Miguel Cervantes, and +to publish a Second Part of the adventures of his hero the renowned +Don Quixote, without the knowledge or co-operation of his principal +aforesaid. It is true, the Arabian sage returned to his allegiance, +and thereafter composed a genuine continuation of the Knight of La +Mancha, in which the said Avellaneda of Tordesillas is severely +chastised. For in this you pseudo-editors resemble the juggler's +disciplined ape, to which a sly old Scotsman likened James I., "if you +have Jackoo in your hand, you can make him bite me; if I have Jackoo +in my hand, I can make him bite you." Yet, notwithstanding the +_amende honorable_ thus made by Cid Hamet Benengeli, his +temporary defection did not the less occasion the decease of the +ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote, if he can be said to die, whose memory +is immortal. Cervantes put him to death, lest he should again fall +into bad hands. Awful, yet just consequence of Cid Hamet's defection! + +To quote a more modern and much less important instance. I am sorry to +observe my old acquaintance Jedediah Cleishbotham has misbehaved +himself so far as to desert his original patron, and set up for +himself. I am afraid the poor pedagogue will make little by his new +allies, unless the pleasure of entertaining the public, and, for aught +I know, the gentlemen of the long robe, with disputes about his +identity. + +[Footnote: I am since more correctly informed, that Mr. Cleishbotham +died some months since at Gandercleuch, and that the person assuming +his name is an impostor. The real Jedediah made a most Christian and +edifying end; and, as I am credibly informed, having sent for a +Cameronian clergyman when he was _in extremis_, was so fortunate +as to convince the good man, that, after all, he had no wish to bring +down on the scattered remnant of Mountain folks, "the bonnets of Bonny +Dundee." Hard that the speculators in print and paper will not allow a +good man to rest quiet in his grave. + +This note, and the passages in the text, were occasioned by a London +bookseller having printed, as a Speculation, an additional collection +of Tales of My Landlord, which was not so fortunate as to succeed in +passing on the world as genuine.] + +Observe, therefore, Captain Clutterbuck, that, wise by these great +examples, I receive you as a partner, but a sleeping partner only. As +I give you no title to employ or use the firm of the copartnery we are +about to form, I will announce my property in my title-page, and put +my own mark on my own chattels, which the attorney tells me it will be +a crime to counterfeit, as much as it would to imitate the autograph +of any other empiric--a crime amounting, as advertisements upon little +vials assure to us, to nothing short of felony. If, therefore, my +dear friend, your name should hereafter appear in any title-page +without mine, readers will know what to think of you. I scorn to use +either arguments or threats; but you cannot but be sensible, that, as +you owe your literary existence to me on the one hand, so, on the +other, your very all is at my disposal. I can at pleasure cut off your +annuity, strike your name from the half-pay establishment, nay, +actually put you to death, without being answerable to any one. These +are plain words to a gentleman who has served during the whole war; +but, I am aware, you will take nothing amiss at my hands. + +And now, my good sir, let us address ourselves to our task, and +arrange, as we best can, the manuscript of your Benedictine, so as to +suit the taste of this critical age. You will find I have made very +liberal use of his permission, to alter whatever seemed too favourable +to the Church of Rome, which I abominate, were it but for her fasts +and penances. + +Our reader is doubtless impatient, and we must own, with John Bunyan, + + We have too long detain'd him in the porch, + And kept him from the sunshine with a torch. + +Adieu, therefore, my dear Captain--remember me respectfully to the +parson, the schoolmaster, and the bailie, and all friends of the happy +club in the village of Kennaquhair. I have never seen, and never shall +see, one of their faces; and notwithstanding, I believe that as yet I +am better acquainted with them than any other man who lives.--I shall +soon introduce you to my jocund friend, Mr. John Ballantyne of Trinity +Grove, whom you will find warm from his match at single-stick with a +brother Publisher. [Footnote: In consequence of the pseudo Tales of My +Landlord printed in London, as already mentioned, the late Mr. John +Ballantyne, the author's publisher, had a controversy with the +interloping bibliopolist, each insisting that his Jedediah +Cleishbotham was the real Simon Pure.] Peace to their differences! It +is a wrathful trade, and the _irritabile genus_ comprehends the +bookselling as well as the book-writing species.--Once more adieu! + +THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. + + + + * * * * * + +THE MONASTERY. + + + + +Chapter the First. + + + O ay! the Monks, the Monks they did the mischief! + Theirs all the grossness, all the superstition + Of a most gross and superstitious age-- + May He be praised that sent the healthful tempest + And scatter'd all these pestilential vapours! + But that we owed them _all_ to yonder Harlot + Throned on the seven hills with her cup of gold, + I will as soon believe, with kind Sir Roger, + That old Moll White took wing with cat arid broomstick, + And raised the last night's thunder. + OLD PLAY. + +The village described in the Benedictine's manuscript by the name of +Kennaquhair, bears the same Celtic termination which occurs in +Traquhair, Caquhair, and other compounds. The learned Chalmers derives +this word Quhair, from the winding course of a stream; a definition +which coincides, in a remarkable degree, with the serpentine turns of +the river Tweed near the village of which we speak. It has been long +famous for the splendid Monastery of Saint Mary, founded by David the +First of Scotland, in whose reign were formed, in the same county, the +no less splendid establishments of Melrose, Jedburgh, and Kelso. The +donations of land with which the King endowed these wealthy +fraternities procured him from the Monkish historians the epithet of +Saint, and from one of his impoverished descendants the splenetic +censure, "that he had been a sore saint for the Crown." + +It seems probable, notwithstanding, that David, who was a wise as well +as a pious monarch, was not moved solely by religious motives to those +great acts of munificence to the church, but annexed political views +to his pious generosity. His possessions in Northumberland and +Cumberland became precarious after the loss of the Battle of the +Standard; and since the comparatively fertile valley of Teviot-dale +was likely to become the frontier of his kingdom, it is probable he +wished to secure at least a part of these valuable possessions by +placing them in the hands of the monks, whose property was for a long +time respected, even amidst the rage of a frontier war. In this manner +alone had the King some chance of ensuring protection and security to +the cultivators of the soil; and, in fact, for several ages the +possessions of these Abbeys were each a sort of Goshen, enjoying the +calm light of peace and immunity, while the rest of the country, +occupied by wild clans and marauding barons, was one dark scene of +confusion, blood, and unremitted outrage. + +But these immunities did not continue down to the union of the crowns. +Long before that period the wars betwixt England and Scotland had lost +their original character of international hostilities, and had become +on the part of the English, a struggle for subjugation, on that of the +Scots a desperate and infuriated defence of their liberties. This +introduced on both sides a degree of fury and animosity unknown to the +earlier period of their history; and as religious scruples soon gave +way to national hatred spurred by a love of plunder, the patrimony of +the Church was no longer sacred from incursions on either side. Still, +however, the tenants and vassals of the great Abbeys had many +advantages over those of the lay barons, who were harassed by constant +military duty, until they became desperate, and lost all relish for +the arts of peace. The vassals of the church, on the other hand, were +only liable to be called to arms on general occasions, and at other +times were permitted in comparative quiet to possess their farms and +feus. [Footnote: Small possessions conferred upon vassals and their +heirs, held for a small quit-rent, or a moderate proportion of the +produce. This was a favourite manner, by which the churchmen peopled +the patrimony of their convents; and many descendants of such +_feuars_, as they are culled, are still to be found in possession +of their family inheritances in the neighbourhood of the great +Monasteries of Scotland.] They of course exhibited superior skill in +every thing that related to the cultivation of the soil, and were +therefore both wealthier and better informed than the military +retainers of the restless chiefs and nobles in their neighbourhood. + +The residence of these church vassals was usually in a small village +or hamlet, where, for the sake of mutual aid and protection, some +thirty or forty families dwelt together. This was called the Town, and +the land belonging to the various families by whom the Town was +inhabited, was called the Township. They usually possessed the land in +common, though in various proportions, according to their several +grants. The part of the Township properly arable, and kept as such +continually under the plough, was called _in-field_. Here the use +of quantities of manure supplied in some degree the exhaustion of the +soil, and the feuars raised tolerable oats and bear, [Footnote: Or +bigg, a kind of coarse barley.] usually sowed on alternate ridges, on +which the labour of the whole community was bestowed without +distinction, the produce being divided after harvest, agreeably to +their respective interests. + +There was, besides, _out-field_ land, from which it was thought +possible to extract a crop now and then, after which it was abandoned +to the "skiey influences," until the exhausted powers of vegetation +were restored. These out-field spots were selected by any feuar at his +own choice, amongst the sheep-walks and hills which were always +annexed to the Township, to serve as pasturage to the community. The +trouble of cultivating these patches of out-field, and the precarious +chance that the crop would pay the labour, were considered as giving +a right to any feuar, who chose to undertake the adventure, to the +produce which might result from it. + +There remained the pasturage of extensive moors, where the valleys +often afforded good grass, and upon which the whole cattle belonging +to the community fed indiscriminately during the summer, under the +charge of the Town-herd, who regularly drove them out to pasture in +the morning, and brought them back at night, without which precaution +they would have fallen a speedy prey to some of the Snatchers in the +neighbourhood. These are things to make modern agriculturists hold up +their hands and stare; but the same mode of cultivation is not yet +entirely in desuetude in some distant parts of North Britain, and may +be witnessed in full force and exercise in the Zetland Archipelago. + +The habitations of the church-feuars were not less primitive than +their agriculture. In each village or town were several small towers, +having battlements projecting over the side walls, and usually an +advanced angle or two with shot-holes for flanking the door-way, which +was always defended by a strong door of oak, studded with nails, and +often by an exterior grated door of iron. These small peel-houses were +ordinarily inhabited by the principal feuars and their families; but, +upon the alarm of approaching danger, the whole inhabitants thronged +from their own miserable cottages, which were situated around, to +garrison these points of defence. It was then no easy matter for a +hostile party to penetrate into the village, for the men were +habituated to the use of bows and fire-arms, and the towers being +generally so placed, that the discharge from one crossed that of +another, it was impossible to assault any of them individually. + +The interior of these houses was usually sufficiently wretched, for it +would have been folly to have furnished them in a manner which could +excite the avarice of their lawless neighbours. Yet the families +themselves exhibited in their appearance a degree of comfort, +information, and independence, which could hardly have been expected. +Their in-field supplied them with bread and home-brewed ale, their +herds and flocks with beef and mutton (the extravagance of killing +lambs or calves was never thought of). Each family killed a mart, or +fat bullock, in November, which was salted up for winter use, to which +the good wife could, upon great occasions, add a dish of pigeons or a +fat capon,--the ill-cultivated garden afforded "lang-cale,"--and the +river gave salmon to serve as a relish during the season of Lent. + +Of fuel they had plenty, for the bogs afforded turf; and the remains +of the abused woods continued to give them logs for burning, as well +as timber for the usual domestic purposes. In addition to these +comforts, the good-man would now and then sally forth to the +greenwood, and mark down a buck of season with his gun or his +cross-bow; and the Father Confessor seldom refused him absolution for +the trespass, if duly invited to take his share of the smoking haunch. +Some, still bolder, made, either with their own domestics, or by +associating themselves with the moss-troopers, in the language of +shepherds, "a start and overloup;" and the golden ornaments and silken +head-gear--worn by the females of one or two families of note, were +invidiously traced by their neighbours to such successful excursions. +This, however, was a more inexplicable crime in the eyes of the Abbot +and Community of Saint Mary's, than the borrowing one of the "gude +king's deer;" and they failed not to discountenance and punish, by +every means in their power, offences which were sure to lead to severe +retaliation upon the property of the church, and which tended to alter +the character of their peaceful vassalage. + +As for the information possessed by those dependents of the Abbacies, +they might have been truly said to be better fed than taught, even +though their fare had been worse than it was. Still, however, they +enjoyed opportunities of knowledge from which others were excluded. +The monks were in general well acquainted with their vassals and +tenants, and familiar in the families of the better class among them, +where they were sure to be received with the respect due to their +twofold character of spiritual father and secular landlord. Thus it +often happened, when a boy displayed talents and inclination for +study, one of the brethren, with a view to his being bred to the +church, or out of good-nature, in order to pass away his own idle +time, if he had no better motive, initiated him into the mysteries of +reading and writing, and imparted to him such other knowledge as he +himself possessed. And the heads of these allied families, having more +time for reflection, and more skill, as well as stronger motives for +improving their small properties, bore amongst their neighbours the +character of shrewd, intelligent men, who claimed respect on account +of their comparative wealth, even while they were despised for a less +warlike and enterprising turn than the other Borderers. They lived as +much as they well could amongst themselves, avoiding the company of +others, and dreading nothing more than to be involved in the deadly +feuds and ceaseless contentions of the secular landholders. + +Such is a general picture of these communities. During the fatal wars +in the commencement of Queen Mary's reign, they had suffered +dreadfully by the hostile invasions. For the English, now a Protestant +people, were so far from sparing the church-lands, that they forayed +them with more unrelenting severity than even the possessions of the +laity. But the peace of 1550 had restored some degree of tranquillity +to those distracted and harassed regions, and matters began again +gradually to settle upon the former footing. The monks repaired their +ravaged shrines--the feuar again roofed his small fortalice which the +enemy had ruined--the poor labourer rebuilt his cottage--an easy task, +where a few sods, stones, and some pieces of wood from the next copse, +furnished all the materials necessary. The cattle, lastly, were driven +out of the wastes and thickets in which the remnant of them had been +secreted; and the mighty bull moved at the head of his seraglio and +their followers, to take possession of their wonted pastures. There +ensued peace and quiet, the state of the age and nation considered, to +the Monastery of Saint Mary, and its dependencies, for several +tranquil years. + + + + +Chapter the Second. + + + In yon lone vale his early youth was bred, + Not solitary then--the bugle-horn + Of fell Alecto often waked its windings, + From where the brook joins the majestic river, + To the wild northern bog, the curlew's haunt, + Where oozes forth its first and feeble streamlet. + OLD PLAY. + +We have said, that most of the feuars dwelt in the village belonging +to their townships. This was not, however, universally the case. A +lonely tower, to which the reader must now be introduced, was at least +one exception to the general rule. + +It was of small dimensions, yet larger than those which occurred in +the village, as intimating that, in case of assault, the proprietor +would have to rely upon his own unassisted strength. Two or three +miserable huts, at the foot of the fortalice, held the bondsmen and +tenants of the feuar. The site was a beautiful green knoll, which +started up suddenly in the very throat of a wild and narrow glen, and +which, being surrounded, except on one side, by the winding of a small +stream, afforded a position of considerable strength. + +But the great security of Glendearg, for so the place was called, lay +in its secluded, and almost hidden situation. To reach the tower, it +was necessary to travel three miles up the glen, crossing about twenty +times the little stream, which, winding through the narrow valley, +encountered at every hundred yards the opposition of a rock or +precipitous bank on the one side, which altered its course, and caused +it to shoot off in an oblique direction to the other. The hills which +ascend on each side of this glen are very steep, and rise boldly over +the stream, which is thus imprisoned within their barriers. The sides +of the glen are impracticable for horse, and are only to be traversed +by means of the sheep-paths which lie along their sides. It would not +be readily supposed that a road so hopeless and so difficult could +lead to any habitation more important than the summer shealing of a +shepherd. + +Yet the glen, though lonely, nearly inaccessible, and sterile, was not +then absolutely void of beauty. The turf which covered the small +portion of level ground on the sides of the stream, was as close and +verdant as if it had occupied the scythes of a hundred gardeners once +a-fortnight; and it was garnished with an embroidery of daisies and +wild flowers, which the scythes would certainly have destroyed. The +little brook, now confined betwixt closer limits, now left at large to +choose its course through the narrow valley, danced carelessly on from +stream to pool, light and unturbid, as that better class of spirits +who pass their way through life, yielding to insurmountable obstacles, +but as far from being subdued by them as the sailor who meets by +chance with an unfavourable wind, and shapes his course so as to be +driven back as little as possible. + +The mountains, as they would have been called in England, +_Scottice_ the steep _braes_, rose abruptly over the little +glen, here presenting the gray face of a rock, from which the turf had +been peeled by the torrents, and there displaying patches of wood and +copse, which had escaped the waste of the cattle and the sheep of the +feuars, and which, feathering naturally up the beds of empty torrents, +or occupying the concave recesses of the bank, gave at once beauty and +variety to the landscape. Above these scattered woods rose the hill, +in barren, but purple majesty; the dark rich hue, particularly in +autumn, contrasting beautifully with the thickets of oak and birch, +the mountain ashes and thorns, the alders and quivering aspens, which +checquered and varied the descent, and not less with the dark-green +and velvet turf, which composed the level part of the narrow glen. + +Yet, though thus embellished, the scene could neither be strictly +termed sublime nor beautiful, and scarcely even picturesque or +striking. But its extreme solitude pressed on the heart; the traveller +felt that uncertainty whither he was going, or in what so wild a path +was to terminate, which, at times, strikes more on the imagination +than the grand features of a show-scene, when you know the exact +distance of the inn where your dinner is bespoke, and at the moment +preparing. These are ideas, however, of a far later age; for at the +time we treat of, the picturesque, the beautiful, the sublime, and all +their intermediate shades, were ideas absolutely unknown to the +inhabitants and occasional visitors of Glendearg. + +These had, however, attached to the scene feelings fitting the time. +Its name, signifying the Red Valley, seems to have been derived, not +only from the purple colour of the heath, with which the upper part of +the rising banks was profusely clothed, but also from the dark red +colour of the rocks, and of the precipitous earthen banks, which in +that country are called _scaurs_. Another glen, about the head of +Ettrick, has acquired the same name from similar circumstances; and +there are probably more in Scotland to which it has been given. + +As our Glendearg did not abound in mortal visitants, superstition, +that it might not be absolutely destitute of inhabitants, had peopled +its recesses with beings belonging to another world. The savage and +capricious Brown Man of the Moors, a being which seems the genuine +descendant of the northern dwarfs, was supposed to be seen there +frequently, especially after the autumnal equinox, when the fogs were +thick, and objects not easily distinguished. The Scottish fairies, +too, a whimsical, irritable, and mischievous tribe, who, though at +times capriciously benevolent, were more frequently adverse to +mortals, were also supposed to have formed a residence in a +particularly wild recess of the glen, of which the real name was, in +allusion to that circumstance, _Corrie nan Shian_, which, in +corrupted Celtic, signifies the Hollow of the Fairies. But the +neighbours were more cautious in speaking about this place, and +avoided giving it a name, from an idea common then throughout all the +British and Celtic provinces of Scotland, and still retained in many +places, that to speak either good or ill of this capricious race of +imaginary beings, is to provoke their resentment, and that secrecy and +silence is what they chiefly desire from those who may intrude upon +their revels, or discover their haunts. + +A mysterious terror was thus attached to the dale, which afforded +access from the broad valley of the Tweed, up the little glen we have +described, to the fortalice called the Tower of Glendearg. Beyond the +knoll, where, as we have said, the tower was situated, the hills grew +more steep, and narrowed on the slender brook, so as scarce to leave a +footpath; and there the glen terminated in a wild waterfall, where a +slender thread of water dashed in a precipitous line of foam over two +or three precipices. Yet farther in the same direction, and above +these successive cataracts, lay a wild and extensive morass, +frequented only by waterfowl, wide, waste, apparently almost +interminable, and serving in a great measure to separate the +inhabitants of the glen from those who lived to the northward. + +To restless and indefatigable moss-troopers, indeed, these morasses +were well known, and sometimes afforded a retreat. They often rode +down the glen--called at this tower--asked and received +hospitality--but still with a sort of reserve on the part of its more +peaceful inhabitants, who entertained them as a party of +North-American Indians might be received by a new European settler, as +much out of fear as hospitality, while the uppermost wish of the +landlord is the speedy departure of the savage guests. + +This had not always been the current of feeling in the little valley +and its tower. Simon Glendinning, its former inhabitant, boasted his +connexion by blood to that ancient family of Glendonwyne, on the +western border. He used to narrate, at his fireside, in the autumn +evenings, the feats of the family to which he belonged, one of whom +fell by the side of the brave Earl of Douglas at Otterbourne. On these +occasions Simon usually held upon his knee an ancient broadsword, +which had belonged to his ancestors before any of the family had +consented to accept a fief under the peaceful dominion of the monks of +St. Mary's. In modern days, Simon might have lived at ease on his own +estate, and quietly murmured against the fate that had doomed him to +dwell there, and cut off his access to martial renown. But so many +opportunities, nay so many calls there were for him, who in those days +spoke big, to make good his words by his actions, that Simon +Glendinning was soon under the necessity of marching with the men of +the Halidome, as it was called, of St. Mary's, in that disastrous +campaign which was concluded by the battle of Pinkie. + +The Catholic clergy were deeply interested in that national quarrel, +the principal object of which was, to prevent the union of the infant +Queen Mary, with the son of the heretical Henry VIII. The Monks had +called out their vassals, under an experienced leader. Many of +themselves had taken arms, and marched to the field, under a banner +representing a female, supposed to personify the Scottish Church, +kneeling in the attitude of prayer, with the legend, _Afflictae +Sponsae ne obliviscaris_. [Footnote: Forget not the afflicted +spouse.] + +The Scots, however, in all their wars, had more occasion for good and +cautious generals, than for excitation, whether political or +enthusiastic. Their headlong and impatient courage uniformly induced +them to rush into action without duly weighing either their own +situation, or that of their enemies, and the inevitable consequence +was frequent defeat. With the dolorous slaughter of Pinkie we have +nothing to do, excepting that, among ten thousand men of low and high +degree, Simon Glendinning, of the Tower of Glendearg, bit the dust, no +way disparaging in his death that ancient race from which he claimed +his descent. + +When the doleful news, which spread terror and mourning through the +whole of Scotland, reached the Tower of Glendearg, the widow of Simon, +Elspeth Brydone by her family name, was alone in that desolate +habitation, excepting a hind or two, alike past martial and +agricultural labour, and the helpless widows and families of those who +had fallen with their master. The feeling of desolation was +universal;--but what availed it? The monks, their patrons and +protectors, were driven from their Abbey by the English forces, who +now overran the country, and enforced at least an appearance of +submission on the part of the inhabitants. The Protector, Somerset, +formed a strong camp among the ruins of the ancient Castle of +Roxburgh, and compelled the neighbouring country to come in, pay +tribute, and take assurance from him, as the phrase then went. Indeed, +there was no power of resistance remaining; and the few barons, whose +high spirit disdained even the appearance of surrender, could only +retreat into the wildest fastnesses of the country, leaving their +houses and property to the wrath of the English, who detached parties +everywhere to distress, by military exaction, those whose chiefs had +not made their submission. The Abbot and his community having +retreated beyond the Forth, their lands were severely forayed, as +their sentiments were held peculiarly inimical to the alliance with +England. + +Amongst the troops detached on this service was a small party, +commanded by Stawarth Bolton, a captain in the English army, and full +of the blunt and unpretending gallantry and generosity which has so +often distinguished that nation. Resistance was in vain. Elspeth +Brydone, when she descried a dozen of horsemen threading their way up +the glen, with a man at their head, whose scarlet cloak, bright +armour, and dancing plume, proclaimed him a leader, saw no better +protection for herself than to issue from the iron grate, covered with +a long mourning veil, and holding one of her two sons in each hand, to +meet the Englishman--state her deserted condition--place the little +tower at his command--and beg for his mercy. She stated, in a few +brief words, her intention, and added, "I submit, because I have nae +means of resistance." + +"And I do not ask your submission, mistress, for the same reason," +replied the Englishman. "To be satisfied of your peaceful intentions +is all I ask; and, from what you tell me, there is no reason to doubt +them." + +"At least, sir," said Elspeth Brydone, "take share of what our spence +and our garners afford. Your horses are tired--your folk want +refreshment." + +"Not a whit--not a whit," answered the honest Englishman; "it shall +never be said we disturbed by carousal the widow of a brave soldier, +while she was mourning for her husband.--Comrades, face about.--Yet +stay," he added, checking his war-horse, "my parties are out in every +direction; they must have some token that your family are under my +assurance of safety.--Here, my little fellow," said he, speaking to +the eldest boy, who might be about nine or ten years old, "lend me thy +bonnet." + +The child reddened, looked sulky, and hesitated, while the mother, +with many a _fye_ and _nay pshaw_, and such sarsenet +chidings as tender mothers give to spoiled children, at length +succeeded in snatching the bonnet from him, and handing it to the +English leader. + +Stawarth Bolton took his embroidered red cross from his barret-cap, +and putting it into the loop of the boy's bonnet, said to the +mistress, (for the title of lady was not given to dames of her +degree,) "By this token, which all my people will respect, you will be +freed from any importunity on the part of our forayers." [Footnote: As +gallantry of all times and nations has the same mode of thinking and +acting, so it often expresses itself by the same symbols. In the civil +war 1745-6, a party of Highlanders, under a Chieftain of rank, came to +Rose Castle, the seat of the Bishop of Carlisle, but then occupied by +the family of Squire Dacre of Cumberland. They demanded quarters, +which of course were not to be refused to armed men of a strange +attire and unknown language. But the domestic represented to the +captain of the mountaineers, that the lady of the mansion had been +just delivered of a daughter, and expressed her hope, that, under +these circumstances, his party would give as little trouble as +possible. "God forbid," said the gallant chief, "that I or mine should +be the means of adding to a lady's inconvenience at such a time. May I +request to see the infant?" The child was brought, and the Highlander, +taking his cockade out of his bonnet, and pinning it on the child's +breast, "That will be a token," he said, "to any of our people who may +come hither, that Donald McDonald of Kinloch-Moidart, has taken the +family of Rose Castle under his protection." The lady who received in +infancy this gage of Highland protection, is now Mary, Lady Clerk of +Pennycuik; and on the 10th of June still wears the cockade which was +pinned on her breast, with a white rose as a kindred decoration.] He +placed it on the boy's head; but it was no sooner there, than the +little fellow, his veins swelling, and his eyes shooting fire through +tears, snatched the bonnet from his head, and, ere his mother could +interfere, skimmed it into the brook. The other boy ran instantly to +fish it out again, threw it back to his brother, first taking out the +cross, which, with great veneration, he kissed and put into his bosom. +The Englishman was half diverted, half surprised, with the scene. + +"What mean ye by throwing away Saint George's red cross?" said he to +the elder boy, in a tone betwixt jest and earnest. + +"Because Saint George is a southern saint," said the child, sulkily. +"Good"--said Stawarth Bolton.--"And what did you mean by taking it out +of the brook again, my little fellow?" he demanded of the younger. +"Because the priest says it is the common sign of salvation to all +good Christians." + +"Why, good again!" said the honest soldier. "I protest unto you, +mistress, I envy you these boys. Are they both yours?" + +Stawarth Bolton had reason to put the question, for Halbert +Glendinning, the elder of the two, had hair as dark as the raven's +plumage, black eyes, large, bold, and sparkling, that glittered under +eyebrows of the same complexion; a skin deep embrowned, though it +could not be termed swarthy, and an air of activity, frankness, and +determination, far beyond his age. On the other hand, Edward, the +younger brother, was light-haired, blue-eyed, and of fairer +complexion, in countenance rather pale, and not exhibiting that rosy +hue which colours the sanguine cheek of robust health. Yet the boy had +nothing sickly or ill-conditioned in his look, but was, on the +contrary, a fair and handsome child, with a smiling face, and mild, +yet cheerful eye. + +The mother glanced a proud motherly glance, first at the one, and then +at the other, ere she answered the Englishman, "Surely, sir, they are +both my children." + +"And by the same father, mistress?" said Stawarth; but, seeing a blush +of displeasure arise on her brow, he instantly added, "Nay, I mean no +offence; I would have asked the same question at any of my gossips in +merry Lincoln.--Well, dame, you have two fair boys; I would I could +borrow one, for Dame Bolton and I live childless in our old +hall.--Come, little fellows, which of you will go with me?" + +The trembling mother, half-fearing as he spoke, drew the children +towards her, one with either hand, while they both answered the +stranger. "I will not go with you," said Halbert, boldly, "for you are +a false-hearted Southern; and the Southerns killed my father; and I +will war on you to the death, when I can draw my father's sword." + +"God-a-mercy, my little levin-bolt," said Stawarth, "the goodly custom +of deadly feud will never go down in thy day, I presume.--And you, my +fine white-head, will you not go with me, to ride a cock-horse?" +"No," said Edward, demurely, "for you are a heretic." + +"Why, God-a-mercy still!" said Stawarth Bolton. "Well, dame, I see I +shall find no recruits for my troop from you; and yet I do envy you +these two little chubby knaves." He sighed a moment, as was visible, +in spite of gorget and corslet, and then added, "And yet, my dame and +I would but quarrel which of the knaves we should like best; for I +should wish for the black-eyed rogue--and she, I warrant me, for that +blue-eyed, fair-haired darling. Natheless, we must brook our solitary +wedlock, and wish joy to those that are more fortunate. Sergeant +Brittson, do thou remain here till recalled--protect this family, as +under assurance--do them no wrong, and suffer no wrong to be done to +them, as thou wilt answer it.--Dame, Brittson is a married man, old +and steady; feed him on what you will, but give him not over much +liquor." + +Dame Glendinning again offered refreshments, but with a faltering +voice, and an obvious desire her invitation should not be accepted. +The fact was, that, supposing her boys as precious in the eyes of the +Englishman as in her own, (the most ordinary of parental errors,) she +was half afraid, that the admiration he expressed of them in his blunt +manner might end in his actually carrying off one or other of the +little darlings whom he appeared to covet so much. She kept hold of +their hands, therefore, as if her feeble strength could have been of +service, had any violence been intended, and saw with joy she could +not disguise, the little party of horse countermarch, in order to +descend the glen. Her feelings did not escape Bolton: "I forgive you, +dame," he said, "for being suspicious that an English falcon was +hovering over your Scottish moor-brood. But fear not--those who have +fewest children have fewest cares; nor does a wise man covet those of +another household. Adieu, dame; when the black-eyed rogue is able to +drive a foray from England, teach him to spare women and children, for +the sake of Stawarth Bolton." + +"God be with you, gallant Southern!" said Elspeth Glendinning, but not +till he was out of hearing, spurring on his good horse to regain the +head of his party, whose plumage and armour were now glancing and +gradually disappearing in the distance, as they winded down the glen. + +"Mother," said the elder boy, "I will not say amen to a prayer for a +Southern." + +"Mother," said the younger, more reverentially, "is it right to pray +for a heretic?" + +"The God to whom I pray only knows," answered poor Elspeth; "but these +two words, Southern and heretic, have already cost Scotland ten +thousand of her best and bravest, and me a husband, and you a father; +and, whether blessing or banning, I never wish to hear them +more.--Follow me to the Place, sir," she said to Brittson, "and such +as we have to offer you shall be at your disposal." + + + + +Chapter the Third. + + + They lighted down on Tweed water + And blew their coals sae het, + And fired the March and Teviotdale, + All in an evening late. + AULD MAITLAND. + +The report soon spread through the patrimony of Saint Mary's and its +vicinity, that the Mistress of Glendearg had received assurance from +the English Captain, and that her cattle were not to be driven off, or +her corn burned. Among others who heard this report, it reached the +ears of a lady, who, once much higher in rank than Elspeth +Glendinning, was now by the same calamity reduced to even greater +misfortune. + +She was the widow of a brave soldier, Walter Avenel, descended of a +very ancient Border family, who once possessed immense estates in +Eskdale. These had long since passed from them into other hands, but +they still enjoyed an ancient Barony of considerable extent, not very +far from the patrimony of Saint Mary's, and lying upon the same side +of the river with the narrow vale of Glendearg, at the head of which +was the little tower of the Glendinnings. Here they had lived, bearing +a respectable rank amongst the gentry of their province, though +neither wealthy nor powerful. This general regard had been much +augmented by the skill, courage, and enterprise which had been +displayed by Walter Avenel, the last Baron. + +When Scotland began to recover from the dreadful shock she had +sustained after the battle of Pinkie-Cleuch, Avenel was one of the +first who, assembling a small force, set an example in those bloody +and unsparing skirmishes, which showed that a nation, though conquered +and overrun by invaders, may yet wage against them such a war of +detail as shall in the end become fatal to the foreigners. In one of +these, however, Walter Avenel fell, and the news which came to the +house of his fathers was followed by the distracting intelligence, +that a party of Englishmen were coming to plunder the mansion and +lands of his widow, in order, by this act of terror, to prevent others +from following the example of the deceased. + +The unfortunate lady had no better refuge than the miserable cottage +of a shepherd among the hills, to which she was hastily removed, +scarce conscious where or for what purpose her terrified attendants +were removing her and her infant daughter from her own house. Here she +was tended with all the duteous service of ancient times by the +shepherd's wife, Tibb Tacket, who in better days had been her own +bowerwoman. For a time the lady was unconscious of her misery; but +when the first stunning effect of grief was so far passed away that +she could form an estimate of her own situation, the widow of Avenel +had cause to envy the lot of her husband in his dark and silent abode. +The domestics who had guided her to her place of refuge, were +presently obliged to disperse for their own safety, or to seek for +necessary subsistence; and the shepherd and his wife, whose poor +cottage she shared, were soon after deprived of the means of affording +their late mistress even that coarse sustenance which they had gladly +shared with her. Some of the English forayers had discovered and +driven off the few sheep which had escaped the first researches of +their avarice. Two cows shared the fate of the remnant of their stock; +they had afforded the family almost their sole support, and now famine +appeared to stare them in the face. + +"We are broken and beggared now, out and out," said old Martin the +shepherd--and he wrung his hands in the bitterness of agony, "the +thieves, the harrying thieves I not a cloot left of the haill hirsel!" + +"And to see poor Grizzle and Crumbie," said his wife, "turning back +their necks to the byre, and routing while the stony-hearted villains +were brogging them on wi' their lances!" + +"There were but four of them," said Martin, "and I have seen the day +forty wad not have ventured this length. But our strength and manhood +is gane with our puir maister." + +"For the sake of the holy rood, whisht, man," said the goodwife, "our +leddy is half gane already, as ye may see by that fleightering of the +ee-lid--a word mair and she's dead outright." + +"I could almost wish," said Martin, "we were a' gane, for what to do +passes my puir wit. I care little for mysell, or you, Tibb,--we can +make a fend--work or want--we can do baith, but she can do neither." + +They canvassed their situation thus openly before the lady, convinced +by the paleness of her look, her quivering lip, and dead-set eye, that +she neither heard nor understood what they were saying. + +"There is a way," said the shepherd, "but I kenna if she could bring +her heart to it,--there's Simon Glendinning's widow of the glen +yonder, has had assurance from the Southern loons, and nae soldier to +steer them for one cause or other. Now, if the leddy could bow her +mind to take quarters with Elspeth Glendinning till better days cast +up, nae doubt it wad be doing an honour to the like of her, but----" + +"An honour," answered Tibb, "ay, by my word, sic an honour as wad be +pride to her kin mony a lang year after her banes were in the mould. +Oh! gudeman, to hear ye even the Lady of Avenel to seeking quarters +wi' a Kirk-vassal's widow!" + +"Loath should I be to wish her to it," said Martin; "but what may we +do?--to stay here is mere starvation; and where to go, I'm sure I ken +nae mair than ony tup I ever herded." + +"Speak no more of it," said the widow of Avenel, suddenly joining in the +conversation, "I will go to the tower.--Dame Elspeth is of good folk, a +widow, and the mother of orphans,--she will give us house-room until +something be thought upon. These evil showers make the low bush better +than no bield." + +"See there, see there," said Martin, "you see the leddy has twice our +sense." + +"And natural it is," said Tibb, "seeing that she is convent-bred, and +can lay silk broidery, forby white-seam and shell-work." + +"Do you not think," said the lady to Martin, still clasping her child to +her bosom and making it clear from what motives she desired the refuge, +"that Dame Glendinning will make us welcome?" + +"Blithely welcome, blithely welcome, my leddy," answered Martin, +cheerily, "and we shall deserve a welcome at her hand. Men are scarce +now, my leddy, with these wars; and gie me a thought of time to it, I +can do as good a day's darg as ever I did in my life, and Tibb can +sort cows with ony living woman." + +"And muckle mair could I do," said Tibb, "were it ony feasible house; +but there will be neither pearlins to mend, nor pinners to busk up, in +Elspeth Glendinning's." + +"Whisht wi' your pride, woman," said the shepherd; "eneugh you can do, +baith outside and inside, an ye set your mind to it; and hard it is if +we twa canna work for three folk's meat, forby my dainty wee leddy +there. Come awa, come awa, nae use in staying here langer; we have +five Scots miles over moss and muir, and that is nae easy walk for a +leddy born and bred." + +Household stuff there was little or none to remove or care for; an old +pony which had escaped the plunderers, owing partly to its pitiful +appearance, partly from the reluctance which it showed to be caught by +strangers, was employed to carry the few blankets and other trifles +which they possessed. When Shagram came to his master's well-known +whistle, he was surprised to find the poor thing had been wounded, +though slightly, by an arrow, which one of the forayers had shot off +in anger after he had long chased it in vain. + +"Ay, Shagram," said the old man, as he applied something to the wound, +"must you rue the lang-bow as weel as all of us?" + +"What corner in Scotland rues it not!" said the Lady of Avenel. + +"Ay, ay, madam," said Martin, "God keep the kindly Scot from the +cloth-yard shaft, and he will keep himself from the handy stroke. But +let us go our way; the trash that is left I can come back for. There +is nae ane to stir it but the good neighbours, and they----" + +"For the love of God, goodman," said his wife, in a remonstrating tone, +"haud your peace! Think what ye're saying, and we hae sae muckle wild +land to go over before we win to the girth gate." + +The husband nodded acquiescence; for it was deemed highly imprudent to +speak of the fairies, either by their title of _good neighbours_ +or by any other, especially when about to pass the places which they +were supposed to haunt. + +[Footnote: This superstition continues to prevail, though one would +suppose it must now be antiquated. It is only a year or two since an +itinerant puppet show-man, who, disdaining to acknowledge the +profession of Gines de Passamonte, called himself an artist from +Vauxhall, brought a complaint of a singular nature before the author, +as Sheriff of Selkirkshire. The singular dexterity with which the +show-man had exhibited the machinery of his little stage, had, upon a +Selkirk fair-day, excited the eager curiosity of some mechanics of +Galashiels. These men, from no worse motive that could be discovered +than a thirst after knowledge beyond their sphere, committed a +burglary upon the barn in which the puppets had been consigned to +repose, and carried them off in the nook of their plaids, when +returning from Selkirk to their own village. + + "But with the morning cool reflection came." + +The party found, however, they could not make Punch dance, and that +the whole troop were equally intractable; they had also, perhaps, some +apprehensions of the Rhadamanth of the district; and, willing to be +quit of their booty, they left the puppets seated in a grove by the +side of the Ettrick, where they were sure to be touched by the first +beams of the rising sun. Here a shepherd, who was on foot with sunrise +to pen his master's sheep on a field of turnips, to his utter +astonishment, saw this train, profusely gay, sitting in the little +grotto. His examination proceeded thus:-- + +_Sheriff_. You saw these gay-looking things? what did you think +they were? + +_Shepherd_. Ou, I am no that free to say what I might think they +were. + +_Sheriff_. Come, lad, I must have a direct answer--who did you +think they were? + +_Shepherd_. Ou, sir, troth I am no that free to say that I mind +wha I might think they were. + +_Sheriff_. Come, come sir! I ask you distinctly, did you think +they were the fairies you saw? + +_Shepherd_. Indeed, sir, and I winna say but I might think it was +the Good Neighbours. + +Thus unwillingly was he brought to allude to the irritable and +captious inhabitants of fairy land.] + +They set forward on their pilgrimage on the last day of October. "This +is thy birthday, my sweet Mary," said the mother, as a sting of bitter +recollection crossed her mind. "Oh, who could have believed that the +head, which, a few years since, was cradled amongst so many rejoicing +friends, may perhaps this night seek a cover in vain!" + +The exiled family then set forward,--Mary Avenel, a lovely girl between +five and six years old, riding gipsy fashion upon Shagram, betwixt two +bundles of bedding; the Lady of Avenel walking by the animal's side; +Tibb leading the bridle, and old Martin walking a little before, looking +anxiously around him to explore the way. + +Martin's task as guide, after two or three miles' walking, became more +difficult than he himself had expected, or than he was willing to +avow. It happened that the extensive range of pasturage, with which he +was conversant, lay to the west, and to get into the little valley of +Glendearg he had to proceed easterly. In the wilder districts of +Scotland, the passage from one vale to another, otherwise than by +descending that which you leave, and reascending the other, is often +very difficult.--Heights and hollows, mosses and rocks intervene, and +all those local impediments which throw a traveller out of his course. +So that Martin, however sure of his general direction, became +conscious, and at length was forced reluctantly to admit, that he had +missed the direct road to Glendearg, though he insisted they must be +very near it. "If we can but win across this wide bog," he said, "I +shall warrant ye are on the top of the tower." But to get across the +bog was a point of no small difficulty. The farther they ventured into +it, though proceeding with all the caution which Martin's experience +recommended, the more unsound the ground became, until, after they had +passed some places of great peril, their best argument for going +forward came to be, that they had to encounter equal danger in +returning. The Lady of Avenel had been tenderly nurtured, but what +will not a woman endure when her child is in danger? Complaining less +of the dangers of the road than her attendants, who had been inured to +such from their infancy, she kept herself close by the side of the +pony, watching its every footstep, and ready, if it should flounder in +the morass, to snatch her little Mary from its back. At length they +came to a place where the guide greatly hesitated, for all around him +was broken lumps of heath, divided from each other by deep sloughs of +black tenacious mire. After great consideration, Martin, selecting +what he thought the safest path, began himself to lead forward +Shagram, in order to afford greater security to the child. But Shagram +snorted, laid his ears back, stretched his two feet forward, and drew +his hind feet under him, so as to adopt the best possible posture for +obstinate resistance, and refused to move one yard in the direction +indicated. Old Martin, much puzzled, now hesitated whether to exert +his absolute authority, or to defer to the contumacious obstinacy of +Shagram, and was not greatly comforted by his wife's observation, who, +seeing Shagram stare with his eyes, distend his nostrils, and tremble +with terror, hinted that "he surely saw more than they could see." + +In this dilemma, the child suddenly exclaimed--"Bonny leddy signs to +us to come yon gate." They all looked in the direction where the child +pointed, but saw nothing, save a wreath, of rising mist, which fancy +might form into a human figure; but which afforded to Martin only the +sorrowful conviction, that the danger of their situation was about to +be increased by a heavy fog. He once more essayed to lead forward +Shagram; but the animal was inflexible in its determination not to +move in the direction Martin recommended. "Take your awn way for it, +then," said Martin, "and let us see what you can do for us." + +Shagram, abandoned to the discretion of his own free-will, set off +boldly in the direction the child had pointed. There was nothing +wonderful in this, nor in its bringing them safe to the other side of +the dangerous morass; for the instinct of these animals in traversing +bogs is one of the most curious parts of their nature, and is a fact +generally established. But it was remarkable, that the child more +than once mentioned the beautiful lady and her signals, and that +Shagram seemed to be in the secret, always moving in the same +direction which she indicated. The Lady of Avenel took little notice +at the time, her mind being probably occupied by the instant danger; +but her attendants changed expressive looks with each other more than +once. + +"All-Hallow Eve!" said Tibb, in a whisper to Martin. + +"For the mercy of Our Lady, not a word of that now!" said Martin in +reply. "Tell your beads, woman, if you cannot be silent." + +When they got once more on firm ground, Martin recognized certain +land-marks, or cairns, on the tops of the neighbouring hills, by which +he was enabled to guide his course, and ere long they arrived at the +Tower of Glendearg. + +It was at the sight of this little fortalice that the misery of her +lot pressed hard on the poor Lady of Avenel. When by any accident they +had met at church, market, or other place of public resort, she +remembered the distant and respectful air with which the wife of the +warlike baron was addressed by the spouse of the humble feuar. And +now, so much was her pride humbled, that she was to ask to share the +precarious safety of the same feuar's widow, and her pittance of food, +which might perhaps be yet more precarious. Martin probably guessed +what was passing in her mind, for he looked at her with a wistful +glance, as if to deprecate any change of resolution; and answering to +his looks, rather than his words, she said, while the sparkle of +subdued pride once more glanced from her eye, "If it were for myself +alone, I could but die-but for this infant--the last pledge of +Avenel--" + +"True, my lady," said Martin, hastily; and, as if to prevent the +possibility of her retracting, he added, "I will step on and see Dame +Elspeth--I kend her husband weel, and have bought and sold with him, +for as great a man as he was." + +Martin's tale was soon told, and met all acceptance from her companion +in misfortune. The Lady of Avenel had been meek and courteous in her +prosperity; in adversity, therefore, she met with the greatest +sympathy. Besides, there was a point of pride in sheltering and +supporting a woman of such superior birth and rank; and, not to do +Elspeth Glendinning injustice, she felt sympathy for one whose fate +resembled her own in so many points, yet was so much more severe. +Every species of hospitality was gladly and respectfully extended to +the distressed travellers, and they were kindly requested to stay as +long at Glendearg as their circumstances rendered necessary, or their +inclination prompted. + + + + +Chapter the Fourth. + + + Ne'er be I found by thee unawed, + On that thrice hallow'd eve abroad. + When goblins haunt from flood and fen, + The steps of men. + COLLINS'S _Ode to Fear_. + +As the country became more settled, the Lady of Avenel would have +willingly returned to her husband's mansion. But that was no longer in +her power. It was a reign of minority, when the strongest had the best +right, and when acts of usurpation were frequent amongst those who had +much power and little conscience. + +Julian Avenel, the younger brother of the deceased Walter, was a +person of this description. He hesitated not to seize upon his +brother's house and lands, so soon as the retreat of the English +permitted him. At first, he occupied the property in the name of his +niece; but when the lady proposed to return with her child to the +mansion of its fathers, he gave her to understand, that Avenel, being +a male fief, descended to the brother, instead of the daughter, of the +last possessor. The ancient philosopher declined a dispute with the +emperor who commanded twenty legions, and the widow of Walter Avenel +was in no condition to maintain a contest with the leader of twenty +moss-troopers. Julian was also a man of service, who could back a +friend in case of need, and was sure, therefore, to find protectors +among the ruling powers. In short, however clear the little Mary's +right to the possessions of her father, her mother saw the necessity +of giving way, at least for the time, to the usurpation of her uncle. + +Her patience and forbearance were so far attended with advantage, that +Julian, for very shame's sake, could no longer suffer her to be +absolutely dependant on the charity of Elspeth Glendinning. A drove of +cattle and a bull (which were probably missed by some English farmer) +were driven to the pastures of Glendearg; presents of raiment and +household stuff were sent liberally, and some little money, though +with a more sparing hand: for those in the situation of Julian Avenel +could come more easily by the goods, than the representing medium of +value, and made their payments chiefly in kind. + +In the meantime, the widows of Walter Avenel and Simon Glendinning had +become habituated to each other's society, and were unwilling to part. +The lady could hope no more secret and secure residence than in the +Tower of Glendearg, and she was now in a condition to support her +share of the mutual housekeeping. Elspeth, on the other hand, felt +pride, as well as pleasure, in the society of a guest of such +distinction, and was at all times willing to pay much greater +deference than the Lady of Walter Avenel could be prevailed on to +accept. + +Martin and his wife diligently served the united family in their +several vocations, and yielded obedience to both mistresses, though +always considering themselves as the especial servants of the Lady of +Avenel. This distinction sometimes occasioned a slight degree of +difference between Dame Elspeth and Tibb; the former being jealous of +her own consequence, and the latter apt to lay too much stress upon +the rank and family of her mistress. But both were alike desirous to +conceal such petty squabbles from the lady, her hostess scarce +yielding to her old domestic in respect for her person. Neither did +the difference exist in such a degree as to interrupt the general +harmony of the family, for the one wisely gave way as she saw the +other become warm; and Tibb, though she often gave the first +provocation, had generally the sense to be the first in relinquishing +the argument. + +The world which lay beyond was gradually forgotten by the inhabitants +of this sequestered glen, and unless when she attended mass at the +Monastery Church upon some high holiday, Alice of Avenel almost forgot +that she once held an equal rank with the proud wives of the +neighbouring barons and nobles who on such occasions crowded to the +solemnity. The recollection gave her little pain. She loved her +husband for himself, and in his inestimable loss all lesser subjects +of regret had ceased to interest her. At times, indeed, she thought of +claiming the protection of the Queen Regent (Mary of Guise) for her +little orphan, but the fear of Julian Avenel always came between. She +was sensible that he would have neither scruple nor difficulty in +spiriting away the child, (if he did not proceed farther,) should he +once consider its existence as formidable to his interest. Besides, he +led a wild and unsettled life, mingling in all feuds and forays, +wherever there was a spear to be broken; he evinced no purpose of +marrying, and the fate which he continually was braving might at +length remove him from his usurped inheritance. Alice of Avenel, +therefore, judged it wise to check all ambitious thoughts for the +present, and remain quiet in the rude, but peaceable retreat, to which +Providence had conducted her. + +It was upon an All-Hallow's eve, when the family had resided together +for the space of three years, that the domestic circle was assembled +round the blazing turf-fire, in the old narrow hall of the Tower of +Glendearg. The idea of the master or mistress of the mansion feeding +or living apart from their domestics, was at this period never +entertained. The highest end of the board, the most commodious settle +by the fire,--these were the only marks of distinction; and the +servants mingled, with deference indeed, but unreproved and with +freedom, in whatever conversation was going forward. But the two or +three domestics, kept merely for agricultural purposes, had retired to +their own cottages without, and with them a couple of wenches, usually +employed within doors, the daughters of one of the hinds. + +After their departure, Martin locked, first, the iron grate; and, +secondly, the inner door of the tower, when the domestic circle was +thus arranged. Dame Elspeth sate pulling the thread from her distaff; +Tibb watched the progress of scalding the whey, which hung in a large +pot upon the _crook_, a chain terminated by a hook, which was +suspended in the chimney to serve the purpose of the modern crane. +Martin, while busied in repairing some of the household articles, (for +every man in those days was his own carpenter and smith, as well as +his own tailor and shoemaker,) kept from time to time a watchful eye +upon the three children. + +They were allowed, however, to exercise their juvenile restlessness by +running up and down the hall, behind the seats of the elder members of +the family, with the privilege of occasionally making excursions into +one or two small apartments which opened from it, and gave excellent +opportunity to play at hide-and-seek. This night, however, the +children seemed not disposed to avail themselves of their privilege of +visiting these dark regions, but preferred carrying on their gambols +in the vicinity of the light. + +In the meanwhile, Alice of Avenel, sitting close to an iron +candlestick, which supported a misshapen torch of domestic +manufacture, read small detached passages from a thick clasped volume, +which she preserved with the greatest care. The art of reading the +lady had acquired by her residence in a nunnery during her youth, but +she seldom, of late years, put it to any other use than perusing this +little volume, which formed her whole library. The family listened to +the portions which she selected, as to some good thing which there was +a merit in hearing with respect, whether it was fully understood or +no. To her daughter, Alice of Avenel had determined to impart their +mystery more fully, but the knowledge was at that period attended with +personal danger, and was not rashly to be trusted to a child. + +The noise of the romping children interrupted, from time to time, the +voice of the lady, and drew on the noisy culprits the rebuke of Elspeth. + +"Could they not go farther a-field, if they behoved to make such a +din, and disturb the lady's good words?" And this command was backed +with the threat of sending the whole party to bed if it was not +attended to punctually. Acting under the injunction, the children +first played at a greater distance from the party, and more quietly, +and then began to stray into the adjacent apartments, as they became +impatient of the restraint to which they were subjected. But, all at +once, the two boys came open-mouthed into the hall, to tell that there +was an armed man in the spence. + +"It must be Christie of Clint-hill," said Martin, rising; "what can have +brought him here at this time?" + +"Or how came he in?" said Elspeth. + +"Alas! what can he seek?" said the Lady of Avenel, to whom this man, a +retainer of her husband's brother, and who sometimes executed his +commissions at Glendearg, was an object of secret apprehension and +suspicion. "Gracious heavens!" she added, rising up, "where is my +child?" All rushed to the spence, Halbert Glendinning first arming +himself with a rusty sword, and the younger seizing upon the lady's +book. They hastened to the spence, and were relieved of a part of +their anxiety by meeting Mary at the door of the apartment. She did +not seem in the slightest degree alarmed, or disturbed. They rushed +into the spence, (a sort of interior apartment in which the family ate +their victuals in the summer season,) but there was no one there. + +"Where is Christie of Clint-hill?" said Martin. + +"I do not know," said little Mary; "I never saw him." + +"And what made you, ye misleard loons," said Dame Elspeth to her two +boys, "come yon gate into the ha', roaring like bullsegs, to frighten +the leddy, and her far frae strong?" The boys looked at each other in +silence and confusion, and their mother proceeded with her lecture. +"Could ye find nae night for daffin but Hallowe'en, and nae time but +when the leddy was reading to us about the holy Saints? May ne'er be +in my fingers, if I dinna sort ye baith for it!" The eldest boy bent +his eyes on the ground, the younger began to weep, but neither spoke; +and the mother would have proceeded to extremities, but for the +interposition of the little maiden. + +"Dame Elspeth, it was _my_ fault--I did say to them, that I saw a +man in the spence." + +"And what made you do so, child," said her mother, "to startle us all +thus?" + +"Because," said Mary, lowering her voice, "I could not help it." + +"Not help it, Mary!--you occasioned all this idle noise, and you could +not help it? How mean you by that, minion?" + +"There really was an armed man in this spence," said Mary; "and +because I was surprised to see him, I cried out to Halbert and Edward--" + +"She has told it herself," said Halbert Glendinning, "or it had never +been told by me." + +"Nor by me neither," said Edward, emulously. + +"Mistress Mary," said Elspeth, "you never told us anything before that +was not true; tell us if this was a Hallowe'en cantrip, and make an +end of it." The Lady of Avenel looked as if she would have interfered, +but knew not how; and Elspeth, who was too eagerly curious to regard +any distant hint, persevered in her inquiries. "Was it Christie of the +Clint-hill?--I would not for a mark that he were about the house, and +a body no ken whare." + +"It was not Christie," said Mary; "it was--it was a gentleman--a +gentleman with a bright breastplate, like what I hae seen langsyne, +when we dwelt at Avenel--" + +"What like was he?" continued Tibb, who now took share in the +investigation. + +"Black-haired, black-eyed, with a peaked black beard," said the child; +"and many a fold of pearling round his neck, and hanging down his +breast ower his breastplate; and he had a beautiful hawk, with silver +bells, standing on his left hand, with a crimson silk hood upon its +head--" + +"Ask her no more questions, for the love of God," said the anxious +menial to Elspeth, "but look to my leddy!" But the Lady of Avenel, +taking Mary in her hand, turned hastily away, and, walking into the +hall, gave them no opportunity of remarking in what manner she +received the child's communication, which she thus cut short. What +Tibb thought of it appeared from her crossing herself repeatedly, and +whispering into Elspeth's ear, "Saint Mary preserve us!--the lassie +has seen her father!" + +When they reached the hall, they found the lady holding her daughter +on her knee, and kissing her repeatedly. When they entered, she again +arose, as if to shun observation, and retired to the little apartment +where her child and she occupied the same bed. + +The boys were also sent to their cabin, and no one remained by the +hall fire save the faithful Tibb and dame Elspeth, excellent persons +both, and as thorough gossips as ever wagged a tongue. + +It was but natural that they should instantly resume the subject of the +supernatural appearance, for such they deemed it, which had this night +alarmed the family. + +"I could hae wished it had been the deil himself--be good to and +preserve us!--rather than Christie o' the Clint-hill," said the matron +of the mansion, "for the word runs rife in the country, that he is ane +of the maist masterfu' thieves ever lap on horse." + +"Hout-tout, Dame Elspeth," said Tibb, "fear ye naething frae Christie; +tods keep their ain holes clean. You kirk-folk make sic a fasherie +about men shifting a wee bit for their living! Our Border-lairds would +ride with few men at their back, if a' the light-handed lads were out +o' gate." + +"Better they rade wi' nane than distress the country-side the gate they +do," said Dame Elspeth. + +"But wha is to haud back the Southron, then," said Tibb, "if ye take +away the lances and broadswords? I trow we auld wives couldna do that +wi' rock and wheel, and as little the monks wi' bell and book." + +"And sae weel as the lances and broadswords hae kept them back, I +trow!--I was mair beholden to ae Southron, and that was Stawarth +Bolton, than to a' the border-riders ever wore Saint Andrew's cross--I +reckon their skelping back and forward, and lifting honest men's gear, +has been a main cause of a' the breach between us and England, and I +am sure that cost me a kind goodman. They spoke about the wedding of +the Prince and our Queen, but it's as like to be the driving of the +Cumberland folk's stocking that brought them down on us like dragons." +Tibb would not have failed in other circumstances to answer what she +thought reflections disparaging to her country folk; but she +recollected that Dame Elspeth was mistress of the family, curbed her +own zealous patriotism, and hastened to change the subject. + +"And is it not strange," she said, "that the heiress of Avenel should +have seen her father this blessed night?" + +"And ye think it was her father, then?" said Elspeth Glendinning. + +"What else can I think?" said Tibb. + +"It may hae been something waur, in his likeness," said Dame +Glendinning. + +"I ken naething about that," said Tibb,--"but his likeness it was, +that I will be sworn to, just as he used to ride out a-hawking; for +having enemies in the country, he seldom laid off the breast-plate; +and for my part," added Tibb, "I dinna think a man looks like a man +unless he has steel on his breast, and by his side too." + +"I have no skill of your harness on breast or side either," said Dame +Glendinning; "but I ken there is little luck in Hallowe'en sights, for I +have had ane myself." + +"Indeed, Dame Elspeth?" said old Tibb, edging her stool closer to the +huge elbow-chair occupied by her friend, "I should like to hear about +that." + +"Ye maun ken, then, Tibb," said Dame Glendinning, "that when I was +a hempie of nineteen or twenty, it wasna my fault if I wasna at a' the +merry-makings time about." + +"That was very natural," said Tibb; "but ye hae sobered since that, or +ye wadna haud our braw gallants sae lightly." + +"I have had that wad sober me or ony ane," said the matron, "Aweel, +Tibb, a lass like me wasna to lack wooers, for I wasna sae +ill-favoured that the tikes wad bark after me." + +"How should that be," said Tibb, "and you sic a weel-favoured woman +to this day?" + +"Fie, fie, cummer," said the matron of Glendearg, hitching her seat of +honour, in her turn, a little nearer to the cuttle-stool on which Tibb +was seated; "weel-favoured is past my time of day; but I might pass +then, for I wasna sae tocherless but what I had a bit land at my +breast-lace. My father was portioner of Little-dearg." + +"Ye hae tell'd me that before," said Tibb; "but anent the Hallowe'en?" + +"Aweel, aweel, I had mair joes than ane, but I favoured nane o' them; +and sae, at Hallowe'en, Father Nicolas the cellarer--he was cellarer +before this father, Father Clement, that now is--was cracking his nuts +and drinking his brown beer with us, and as blithe as might be, and +they would have me try a cantrip to ken wha suld wed me: and the monk +said there was nae ill in it, and if there was, he would assoil me for +it. And wha but I into the barn to winnow my three weights o' +naething--sair, sair my mind misgave me for fear of wrang-doing and +wrang-suffering baith; but I had aye a bauld spirit. I had not +winnowed the last weight clean out, and the moon was shining bright +upon the floor, when in stalked the presence of my dear Simon +Glendinning, that is now happy. I never saw him plainer in my life +than I did that moment; he held up an arrow as he passed me, and I +swarf'd awa wi' fright. Muckle wark there was to bring me to mysell +again, and sair they tried to make me believe it was a trick of Father +Nicolas and Simon between them, and that the arrow was to signify +Cupid's shaft, as the Father called it; and mony a time Simon wad +threep it to me after I was married--gude man, he liked not it should +be said that he was seen out o' the body!--But mark the end o' it, +Tibb; we were married, and the gray-goose wing was the death o' him +after a'!" + +"As it has been of ower mony brave men," said Tibb; "I wish there +wasna sic a bird as a goose in the wide warld, forby the clecking that +we hae at the burn-side." + +"But tell me, Tibb," said Dame Glendinning, "what does your leddy aye +do reading out o' that thick black book wi' the silver clasps?--there +are ower mony gude words in it to come frae ony body but a priest--An +it were about Robin Hood, or some o' David Lindsay's ballants, ane wad +ken better what to say to it. I am no misdoubting your mistress nae +way, but I wad like ill to hae a decent house haunted wi' ghaists and +gyrecarlines." + +"Ye hae nae reason to doubt my leddy, or ony thing she says or does, +Dame Glendinning," said the faithful Tibb, something offended; "and +touching the bairn, it's weel kend she was born on Hallowe'en, was nine +years gane, and they that are born on Hallowe'en whiles see mair than +ither folk." + +"And that wad be the cause, then, that the bairn didna mak muckle din +about what it saw?--if it had been my Halbert himself, forby Edward, +who is of softer nature, he wad hae yammered the haill night of a +constancy. But it's like Mistress Mary hae sic sights mair natural to +her." + +"That may weel be," said Tibb; "for on Hallowe'en she was born, as I +tell ye, and our auld parish priest wad fain hae had the night ower, +and All-Hallow day begun. But for a' that, the sweet bairn is just +like ither bairns, as ye may see yourself; and except this blessed +night, and ance before when we were in that weary bog on the road +here, I kenna that it saw mair than ither folk." + +"But what saw she in the bog, then," said Dame Glendinning, "forby +moor-cocks and heather-blutters?" + +"The wean saw something like a white leddy that weised us the gate," +said Tibb; "when we were like to hae perished in the moss-hags-- +certain it was that Shagram reisted, and I ken Martin thinks he saw +something." + +"And what might the white leddy be?" said Elspeth; "have ye ony +guess o' that?" + +"It's weel kend that, Dame Elspeth," said Tibb; "if ye had lived under +grit folk, as I hae dune, ye wadna be to seek in that matter." + +"I hae aye keepit my ain ha' house abune my head," said Elspeth, not +without emphasis, "and if I havena lived wi' grit folk, grit folk have +lived wi' me." + +"Weel, weel, dame," said Tibb, "your pardon's prayed, there was nae +offence meant. But ye maun ken the great ancient families canna be +just served wi' the ordinary saunts, (praise to them!) like Saunt +Anthony, Saunt Cuthbert, and the like, that come and gang at every +sinner's bidding, but they hae a sort of saunts or angels, or what +not, to themsells; and as for the White Maiden of Avenel, she is kend +ower the haill country. And she is aye seen to yammer and wail before +ony o' that family dies, as was weel kend by twenty folk before the +death of Walter Avenel, haly be his cast!" + +"If she can do nae mair than that," said Elspeth, somewhat scornfully, +"they needna make mony vows to her, I trow. Can she make nae better +fend for them than that, and has naething better to do than wait on +them?" + +"Mony braw services can the White Maiden do for them to the boot of +that, and has dune in the auld histories," said Tibb, "but I mind o' +naething in my day, except it was her that the bairn saw in the bog." + +"Aweel, aweel, Tibb," said Dame Glendinning, rising and lighting the +iron lamp, "these are great privileges of your grand folk. But our +Lady and Saunt Paul are good eneugh saunts for me, and I'se warrant +them never leave me in a bog that they can help me out o', seeing I +send four waxen candles to their chapels every Candlemas; and if they +are not seen to weep at my death, I'se warrant them smile at my joyful +rising again, whilk Heaven send to all of us, Amen." + +"Amen," answered Tibb, devoutly; "and now it's time I should hap up +the wee bit gathering turf, as the fire is ower low." + +Busily she set herself to perform this duty. The relict of Simon +Glendinning did but pause a moment to cast a heedful and cautious +glance all around the hall, to see that nothing was out of its proper +place; then, wishing Tibb good-night, she retired to repose. + +"The deil's in the carline," said Tibb to herself, "because she was +the wife of a cock-laird, she thinks herself grander, I trow, than the +bower-woman of a lady of that ilk!" Having given vent to her +suppressed spleen in this little ejaculation, Tibb also betook herself +to slumber. + + + + +Chapter the Fifth. + + + A priest, ye cry, a priest!--lame shepherds they, + How shall they gather in the straggling flock? + Dumb dogs which bark not--how shall they compel + The loitering vagrants to the Master's fold? + Fitter to bask before the blazing fire, + And snuff the mess neat-handed Phillis dresses, + Than on the snow-wreath battle with the wolf. + REFORMATION. + + +The health of the Lady of Avenel had been gradually decaying ever +since her disaster. It seemed as if the few years which followed her +husband's death had done on her the work of half a century. She lost +the fresh elasticity of form, the colour and the mien of health, and +became wasted, wan, and feeble. She appeared to have no formed +complaint; yet it was evident to those who looked on her, that her +strength waned daily. Her lips at length became blenched and her eye +dim; yet she spoke not of any desire to see a priest, until Elspeth +Glendinning in her zeal could not refrain from touching upon a point +which she deemed essential to salvation. Alice of Avenel received her +hint kindly, and thanked her for it. + +"If any good priest would take the trouble of such a journey," she +said, "he should be welcome; for the prayers and lessons of the good +must be at all times advantageous." + +This quiet acquiescence was not quite what Elspeth Glendinning wished +or expected. She made up, however, by her own enthusiasm, for the +lady's want of eagerness to avail herself of ghostly counsel, and +Martin was despatched with such haste as Shagram would make, to pray +one of the religious men of Saint Mary's to come up to administer the +last consolations to the widow of Walter Avenel. + +When the Sacristan had announced to the Lord Abbot, that the Lady of +the umquhile Walter de Avenel was in very weak health in the Tower of +Glendearg, and desired the assistance of a father confessor, the +lordly monk paused on the request. + +"We do remember Walter de Avenel," he said; "a good knight and a +valiant: he was dispossessed of his lands, and slain by the +Southron--May not the lady come hither to the sacrament of confession? +the road is distant and painful to travel." + +"The lady is unwell, holy father," answered the Sacristan, "and unable +to bear the journey." + +"True--ay,--yes--then must one of our brethren go to her--Knowest +thou if she hath aught of a jointure from this Walter de Avenel?" + +"Very little, holy father," said the Sacristan; "she hath resided at +Glendearg since her husband's death, well-nigh on the charity of a +poor widow, called Elspeth Glendinning." + +"Why, thou knowest all the widows in the country-side!" said the +Abbot. "Ho! ho! ho!" and he shook his portly sides at his own jest. + +"Ho! ho! ho!" echoed the Sacristan, in the tone and tune in which an +inferior applauds the jest of his superior.--Then added, with a +hypocritical shuffle, and a sly twinkle of his eye, "It is our duty, +most holy father, to comfort the widow--He! he! he!" + +This last laugh was more moderate, until the Abbot should put his +sanction on the jest. + +"Ho! ho!" said the Abbot; "then, to leave jesting, Father Philip, take +thou thy riding gear, and go to confess this Dame Avenel." + +"But," said the Sacristan---- + +"Give me no _Buts;_ neither But nor If pass between monk and +Abbot, Father Philip; the bands of discipline must not be +relaxed--heresy gathers force like a snow-ball--the multitude expect +confessions and preachings from the Benedictine, as they would from so +many beggarly friars--and we may not desert the vineyard, though the +toil be grievous unto us." + +"And with so little advantage to the holy monastery," said the +Sacristan. + +"True, Father Philip; but wot you not that what preventeth harm doth +good? This Julian de Avenel lives a light and evil life, and should we +neglect the widow of his brother, he might foray our lands, and we +never able to show who hurt us--moreover it is our duty to an ancient +family, who, in their day, have been benefactors to the Abbey. Away +with thee instantly, brother; ride night and day, an it be necessary, +and let men see how diligent Abbot Boniface and his faithful children +are in the execution of their spiritual duty--toil not deterring them, +for the glen is five miles in length--fear not withholding them, for +it is said to be haunted of spectres--nothing moving them from pursuit +of their spiritual calling; to the confusion of calumnious heretics, +and the comfort and edification of all true and faithful sons of the +Catholic Church. I wonder what our brother Eustace will say to this?" + +Breathless with his own picture of the dangers and toil which he was +to encounter, and the fame which he was to acquire, (both by proxy,) +the Abbot moved slowly to finish his luncheon in the refectory, and +the Sacristan, with no very good will, accompanied old Martin in his +return to Glendearg; the greatest impediment in the journey being the +trouble of restraining his pampered mule, that she might tread in +something like an equal pace with poor jaded Shagram. + +After remaining an hour in private with his penitent, the monk +returned moody and full of thought. Dame Elspeth, who had placed for +the honoured guest some refreshment in the hall, was struck with the +embarrassment which appeared in his countenance. Elspeth watched him +with great anxiety. She observed there was that on his brow which +rather resembled a person come from hearing the confession of some +enormous crime, than the look of a confessor who resigns a reconciled +penitent, not to earth, but to heaven. After long hesitating, she +could not at length refrain from hazarding a question. She was sure +she said, the leddy had made an easy shrift. Five years had they +resided together, and she could safely say, no woman lived better. + +"Woman," said the Sacristan, sternly, "thou speakest thou knowest not +what--What avails clearing the outside of the platter, if the inside +be foul with heresy?" + +"Our dishes and trenchers are not so clean as they could be wished, +holy father," said Elspeth, but half understanding what he said, and +beginning with her apron to wipe the dust from the plates, of which +she supposed him to complain. + +"Forbear, Dame Elspeth" said the monk; "your plates are as clean as +wooden trenchers and pewter flagons can well be; the foulness of which +I speak is of that pestilential heresy which is daily becoming +ingrained in this our Holy Church of Scotland, and as a canker-worm in +the rose-garland of the Spouse." + +"Holy Mother of Heaven!" said Dame Elspeth, crossing herself, "have +I kept house with a heretic?" + +"No, Elspeth, no," replied the monk; "it were too strong a speech for +me to make of this unhappy lady, but I would I could say she is free +from heretical opinions. Alas! they fly about like the pestilence by +noon-day, and infect even the first and fairest of the flock! For it +is easy to see of this dame, that she hath been high in judgment as in +rank." + +"And she can write and read, I had almost said, as weel as your +reverence" said Elspeth. + +"Whom doth she write to, and what doth she read?" said the monk, +eagerly. + +"Nay," replied Elspeth, "I cannot say I ever saw her write at all, but +her maiden that was--she now serves the family--says she can write--And +for reading, she has often read to us good things out of a thick black +volume with silver clasps." + +"Let me see it," said the monk, hastily, "on your allegiance as a true +vassal--on your faith as a Catholic Christian--instantly--instantly +let me see it." + +The good woman hesitated, alarmed at the tone in which the confessor +took up her information; and being moreover of opinion, that what so +good a woman as the Lady of Avenel studied so devoutly, could not be +of a tendency actually evil. But borne down by the clamour, +exclamations, and something like threats used by Father Philip, she at +length brought him the fatal volume. It was easy to do this without +suspicion on the part of the owner, as she lay on her bed exhausted +with the fatigue of a long conference with her confessor, and as the +small _round_, or turret closet, in which was the book and her +other trifling property, was accessible by another door. Of all her +effects the book was the last she would have thought of securing, for +of what use or interest could it be in a family who neither read +themselves, nor were in the habit of seeing any who did? so that Dame +Elspeth had no difficulty in possessing herself of the volume, +although her heart all the while accused her of an ungenerous and an +inhospitable part towards her friend and inmate. The double power of a +landlord and a feudal superior was before her eyes; and to say truth, +the boldness, with which she might otherwise have resisted this double +authority, was, I grieve to say it, much qualified by the curiosity +she entertained, as a daughter of Eve, to have some explanation +respecting the mysterious volume which the lady cherished with so much +care, yet whose contents she imparted with such caution. For never had +Alice of Avenel read them any passage from the book in question until +the iron door of the tower was locked, and all possibility of +intrusion prevented. Even then she had shown, by the selection of +particular passages, that she was more anxious to impress on their +minds the principles which the volume contained, than to introduce +them to it as a new rule of faith. + +When Elspeth, half curious, half remorseful, had placed the book in the +monk's hands, he exclaimed, after turning over the leaves, "Now, by mine +order, it is as I suspected!--My mule, my mule!--I will abide no longer +here--well hast thou done, dame, in placing in my hands this perilous +volume." + +"Is it then witchcraft or devil's work?" said Dame Elspeth, in great +agitation. + +"Nay, God forbid!" said the monk, signing himself with the cross, "it +is the Holy Scripture. But it is rendered into the vulgar tongue, and +therefore, by the order of the Holy Catholic Church, unfit to be in +the hands of any lay person." + +"And yet is the Holy Scripture communicated for our common salvation," +said Elspeth. "Good Father, you must instruct mine ignorance better; +but lack of wit cannot be a deadly sin, and truly, to my poor +thinking, I should be glad to read the Holy Scripture." + +"I dare say thou wouldst," said the monk; "and even thus did our +mother Eve seek to have knowledge of good and evil, and thus Sin came +into the world, and Death by Sin." + +"I am sure, and it is true," said Elspeth. "Oh, if she had dealt by the +counsel of Saint Peter and Saint Paul!" + +"If she had reverenced the command of Heaven," said the monk, "which, +as it gave her birth, life, and happiness, fixed upon the grant such +conditions as best corresponded with its holy pleasure. I tell thee, +Elspeth, _the Word slayeth_--that is, the text alone, read with +unskilled eye and unhallowed lips, is like those strong medicines +which sick men take by the advice of the learned. Such patients +recover and thrive; while those dealing in them at their own hand, +shall perish by their own deed." + +"Nae doubt, nae doubt," said the poor woman, "your reverence knows +best." + +"Not I," said Father Philip, in a tone as deferential as he thought +could possibly become the Sacristan of Saint Mary's,--"Not I, but the +Holy Father of Christendom, and our own holy father, the Lord Abbot, +know best. I, the poor Sacristan of Saint Mary's, can but repeat what +I hear from others my superiors. Yet of this, good woman, be +assured,--the Word, the mere Word, slayetlh. But the church hath her +ministers to gloze and to expound the same unto her faithful +congregation; and this I say, not so much, my beloved brethren--I mean +my beloved sister," (for the Sacristan had got into the end of one of +his old sermons,)--"This I speak not so much of the rectors, curates, +and secular clergy, so called because they live after the fashion of +the _seculum_ or age, unbound by those ties which sequestrate us +from the world; neither do I speak this of the mendicant friars, +whether black or gray, whether crossed or uncrossed; but of the monks, +and especially of the monks Benedictine, reformed on the rule of Saint +Bernard of Clairvaux, thence called Cistercian, of which monks, +Christian brethren--sister, I would say--great is the happiness and +glory of the country in possessing the holy ministers of Saint Mary's, +whereof I, though an unworthy brother, may say it hath produced more +saints, more bishops, more popes--may our patrons make us +thankful!--than any holy foundation in Scotland. Wherefore--But I see +Martin hath my mule in readiness, and I will but salute you with the +kiss of sisterhood, which maketh not ashamed, and so betake me to my +toilsome return, for the glen is of bad reputation for the evil +spirits which haunt it. Moreover, I may arrive too late at the +bridge, whereby I may be obliged to take to the river, which I +observed to be somewhat waxen." + +Accordingly, he took his leave of Dame Elspeth, who was confounded by +the rapidity of his utterance, and the doctrine he gave forth, and by +no means easy on the subject of the book, which her conscience told +her she should not have communicated to any one, without the knowledge +of its owner. + +Notwithstanding the haste which the monk as well as the mule made to +return to better quarters than they had left at the head of Glendearg; +notwithstanding the eager desire Father Philip had to be the very +first who should acquaint the Abbot that a copy of the book they most +dreaded had been found within the Halidome, or patrimony of the Abbey; +notwithstanding, moreover, certain feelings which induced him to hurry +as fast as possible through the gloomy and evil-reputed glen, still +the difficulties of the road, and the rider's want of habitude of +quick motion, were such, that twilight came upon him ere he had nearly +cleared the narrow valley. It was indeed a gloomy ride. The two sides +of the vale were so near, that at every double of the river the +shadows from the western sky fell upon, and totally obscured, the +eastern bank; the thickets of copsewood seemed to wave with a +portentous agitation of boughs and leaves, and the very crags and +scaurs seemed higher and grimmer than they had appeared to the monk +while he was travelling in daylight, and in company. Father Philip was +heartily rejoiced, when, emerging from the narrow glen, he gained the +open valley of the Tweed, which held on its majestic course from +current to pool, and from pool stretched away to other currents, with +a dignity peculiar to itself amongst the Scottish rivers; for whatever +may have been the drought of the season, the Tweed usually fills up +the space between its banks, seldom leaving those extensive sheets of +shingle which deform the margins of many of the celebrated Scottish +streams. + +The monk, insensible to beauties which the age had not regarded as +deserving of notice, was, nevertheless, like a prudent general, +pleased to find himself out of the narrow glen in which the enemy +might have stolen upon him unperceived. He drew up his bridle, reduced +his mule to her natural and luxurious amble, instead of the agitating +and broken trot at which, to his no small inconvenience, she had +hitherto proceeded, and, wiping his brow, gazed forth at leisure on +the broad moon, which, now mingling with the lights of evening, was +rising over field and forest, village and fortalice, and, above all, +over the stately Monastery, seen far and dim amid the vellow light. + +The worst part of the magnificent view, in the monk's apprehension, +was, that the Monastery stood on the opposite side of the river, and +that of the many fine bridges which have since been built across that +classical stream, not one then existed. There was, however, in +recompense, a bridge then standing which has since disappeared, +although its ruins may still be traced by the curious. + +It was of a very peculiar form. Two strong abutments were built on +either side of the river, at a part where the stream was peculiarly +contracted. Upon a rock in the centre of the current was built a +solid piece of masonry, constructed like the pier of a bridge, and +presenting, like a pier, an angle to the current of the stream. The +masonry continued solid until the pier rose to a level with the two +abutments upon either side, and from thence the building rose in the +form of a tower. The lower story of this tower consisted only of an +archway or passage through the building, over either entrance to which +hung a drawbridge with counterpoises, either of which, when dropped, +connected the archway with the opposite abutment, where the farther +end of the drawbridge rested. When both bridges were thus lowered, the +passage over the river was complete. + +The bridge-keeper, who was the dependant of a neighbouring baron, +resided with his family in the second and third stories of the tower, +which, when both drawbridges were raised, formed an insulated +fortalice in the midst of the river. He was entitled to a small toll +or custom for the passage, concerning the amount of which disputes +sometimes arose between him and the passengers. It is needless to say, +that the bridge-ward had usually the better in these questions, since +he could at pleasure detain the traveller on the opposite side; or, +suffering him to pass half way, might keep him prisoner in his tower +till they were agreed on the rate of pontage. + +[Footnote: A bridge of the very peculiar construction described in the +text, actually existed at a small hamlet about a mile and a half above +Melrose, called from the circumstance Bridge-end. It is thus noticed +in Gordon's _Iter Septentrionale_:-- + +"In another journey through the south parts of Scotland, about a mile +and a half from Melrose, in the shire of Teviotdale, I saw the remains +of a curious bridge over the river Tweed, consisting of three +octangular pillars, or rather towers, standing within the water, +without any arches to join them. The middle one, which is the most +entire, has a door towards the north, and I suppose another opposite +one toward the south, which I could not see without crossing the +water. In the middle of this tower is a projection or cornice +surrounding it: the whole is hollow from the door upwards, and now +open at the top, near which is a small window. I was informed that not +long agro a countryman and his family lived in this tower--and got his +livelihood by laying out planks from pillar to pillar, and conveying +passengers over the river. Whether this be ancient or modern, I know +not; but as it is singular in its kind I have thought fit to exhibit +it." + +The vestiges of this uncommon species of bridge still exist, and the +author has often seen the foundations of the columns when drifting +down the Tweed at night for the purpose of killing salmon by +torch-light. Mr. John Mercer of Bridge-end recollects, that about +fifty years ago the pillars were visible above water; and the late Mr. +David Kyle, of the George Inn, Melrose, told the author that he saw a +stone taken from the river bearing this inscription:-- + +"I, Sir John Pringle of Palmer stede, +Give an hundred markis of gowd sae reid, +To help to bigg my brigg ower Tweed." + +Pringle of Galashiels, afterwards of Whytbank, was the Baron to whom +the bridge belonged.] + +But it was most frequently with the Monks of Saint Mary's that the +warder had to dispute his perquisites. These holy men insisted for, +and at length obtained, a right of gratuitous passage to themselves, +greatly to the discontent of the bridge-keeper. But when they demanded +the same immunity for the numerous pilgrims who visited the shrine, +the bridge-keeper waxed restive, and was supported by his lord in his +resistance. The controversy grew animated on both sides; the Abbot +menaced excommunication, and the keeper of the bridge, though unable +to retaliate in kind, yet made each individual monk who had to cross +and recross the river, endure a sort of purgatory, ere he would +accommodate them with a passage. This was a great inconvenience, and +would have proved a more serious one, but that the river was fordable +for man and horse in ordinary weather. + +It was a fine moonlight night, as we have already said, when Father +Philip approached this bridge, the singular construction of which +gives a curious idea of the insecurity of the times. The river was not +in flood, but it was above its ordinary level--_a heavy water_, +as it is called in that country, through which the monk had no +particular inclination to ride, if he could manage the matter better. + +"Peter, my good friend," cried the Sacristan, raising his voice; "my +very excellent friend, Peter, be so kind as to lower the drawbridge. +Peter, I say, dost thou not hear?--it is thy gossip, Father Philip, +who calls thee." + +Peter heard him perfectly well, and saw him into the bargain; but as +he had considered the Sacristan as peculiarly his enemy in his dispute +with the convent, he went quietly to bed, after reconnoitring the monk +through his loop-hole, observing to his wife, that "riding the water +in a moonlight night would do the Sacristan no harm, and would teach +him the value of a brig the neist time, on whilk a man might pass high +and dry, winter and summer, flood and ebb." + +After exhausting his voice in entreaties and threats, which were +equally unattended to by Peter of the Brig, as he was called, Father +Philip at length moved down the river to take the ordinary ford at the +head of the next stream. Cursing the rustic obstinacy of Peter, he +began, nevertheless, to persuade himself that the passage of the river +by the ford was not only safe, but pleasant. The banks and scattered +trees were so beautifully reflected from the bosom of the dark stream, +the whole cool and delicious picture formed so pleasing a contrast to +his late agitation, to the warmth occasioned by his vain endeavours to +move the relentless porter of the bridge, that the result was rather +agreeable than otherwise. + +As Father Philip came close to the water's edge, at the spot where he +was to enter it, there sat a female under a large broken scathed +oak-tree, or rather under the remains of such a tree, weeping, +wringing her hands, and looking earnestly on the current of the river. +The monk was struck with astonishment to see a female there at that +time of night. But he was, in all honest service,--and if a step +farther, I put it upon his own conscience,--a devoted squire of dames. +After observing the maiden for a moment, although she seemed to take +no notice of his presence, he was moved by her distress, and willing +to offer his assistance. "Damsel," said he, "thou seemest in no +ordinary distress; peradventure, like myself, thou hast been refused +passage at the bridge by the churlish keeper, and thy crossing may +concern thee either for performance of a vow, or some other weighty +charge." + +The maiden uttered some inarticulate sounds, looked at the river, and +then in the face of the Sacristan. It struck Father Philip at that +instant, that a Highland chief of distinction had been for some time +expected to pay his vows at the shrine of Saint Mary's; and that +possibly this fair maiden might be one of his family, travelling alone +for accomplishment of a vow, or left behind by some accident, to whom, +therefore, it would be but right and prudent to use every civility in +his power, especially as she seemed unacquainted with the Lowland +tongue. Such at least was the only motive the Sacristan was ever known +to assign for his courtesy; if there was any other, I once more refer +it to his own conscience. + +To express himself by signs, the common language of all nations, the +cautious Sacristan first pointed to the river, then to his mule's +crupper, and then made, as gracefully as he could, a sign to induce +the fair solitary to mount behind him. She seemed to understand his +meaning, for she rose up as if to accept his offer; and while the good +monk, who, as we have hinted, was no great cavalier, laboured, with +the pressure of the right leg and the use of the left rein, to place +his mule with her side to the bank in such a position that the lady +might mount with ease, she rose from the ground with rather portentous +activity, and at one bound sate behind the monk upon the animal, much +the firmer rider of the two. The mule by no means seemed to approve of +this double burden; she bounded, bolted, and would soon have thrown +Father Philip over her head, had not the maiden with a firm hand +detained him in the saddle. + +At last the restive brute changed her humour; and, from refusing to +budge off the spot, suddenly stretched her nose homeward, and dashed +into the ford as fast as she could scamper. A new terror now invaded +the monk's mind--the ford seemed unusually deep, the water eddied off +in strong ripple from the counter of the mule, and began to rise upon +her side. Philip lost his presence of mind,--which was at no time his +most ready attribute, the mule yielded to the weight of the current, +and as the rider was not attentive to keep her head turned up the +river, she drifted downward, lost the ford and her footing at once, +and began to swim with her head down the stream. And what was +sufficiently strange, at the same moment, notwithstanding the extreme +peril, the damsel began to sing, thereby increasing, if anything could +increase, the bodily fear of the worthy Sacristan. + + I. + + Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright, + Both current and ripple are dancing in light. + We have roused the night raven, I heard him croak, + As we plashed along beneath the oak + That flings its broad branches so far and so wide, + Their shadows are dancing in midst of the tide. + "Who wakens my nestlings," the raven he said, + "My beak shall ere morn in his blood be red. + For a blue swoln corpse is a dainty meal. + And I'll have my share with the pike and the eel." + + II. + + Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright, + There's a golden gleam on the distant height; + There's a silver shower on the alders dank. + And the drooping willows that wave on the bank. + I see the abbey, both turret and tower, + It is all astir for the vesper hour; + The monks for the chapel are leaving each cell. + But Where's Father Philip, should toll the bell? + + III. + + Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright, + Downward we drift through shadow and light, + Under yon rock the eddies sleep, + Calm and silent, dark and deep. + The Kelpy has risen from the fathomless pool. + He has lighted his candle of death and of dool. + Look, Father, look, and you'll laugh to see + How he gapes and glares with his eyes on thee. + + IV. + + Good luck to your fishing, whom watch ye to-night? + A man of mean, or a man of might? + Is it layman or priest that must float in your cove, + Or lover who crosses to visit his love? + Hark! heard ye the Kelpy reply, as we pass'd,-- + "God's blessing on the warder, he lock'd the bridge fast! + All that come to my cove are sunk, + Priest or layman, lover or monk." + + +How long the damsel might have continued to sing, or where the +terrified monk's journey might have ended, is uncertain. As she sung +the last stanza, they arrived at, or rather in, a broad tranquil sheet +of water, caused by a strong wear or damhead, running across the +river, which dashed in a broad cataract over the barrier. The mule, +whether from choice, or influenced by the suction of the current, made +towards the cut intended to supply the convent mills, and entered it +half swimming half wading, and pitching the unlucky monk to and fro in +the saddle at a fearful rate. + +As his person flew hither and thither, his garment became loose, and +in an effort to retain it, his hand lighted on the volume of the Lady +of Avenel which was in his bosom. No sooner had he grasped it, than +his companion pitched him out of the saddle into the stream, where, +still keeping her hand on his collar, she gave him two or three good +souses in the watery fluid, so as to ensure that every other part of +him had its share of wetting, and then quitted her hold when he was so +near the side that by a slight effort (of a great one he was +incapable) he might scramble on shore. This accordingly he +accomplished, and turning his eyes to see what had become of his +extraordinary companion, she was nowhere to be seen; but still he +heard, as if from the surface of the river, and mixing with the noise +of the water breaking over the damhead, a fragment of her wild song, +which seemed to run thus:-- + + Landed--landed! the black book hath won. + Else had you seen Berwick with morning sun! + Sain ye, and save ye, and blithe mot ye be, + For seldom they land that go swimming with me. + +The ecstasy of the monk's terror could be endured no longer; his head +grew dizzy, and, after staggering a few steps onward and running himself +against a wall, he sunk down in a state of insensibility. + + + + +Chapter the Sixth. + + + Now let us sit in conclave. That these weeds + Be rooted from the vineyard of the church. + That these foul tares be severed from the wheat, + We are, I trust, agreed.--Yet how to do this, + Nor hurt the wholesome crop and tender vine-plants, + Craves good advisement. + +THE REFORMATION. + +The vesper service in the Monastery Church of Saint Mary's was now +over. The Abbot had disrobed himself of his magnificent vestures of +ceremony, and resumed his ordinary habit, which was a black gown, worn +over a white cassock, with a narrow scapulary; a decent and venerable +dress, which was calculated to set off to advantage the portly mien of +Abbot Boniface. + +In quiet times no one could have filled the state of a mitred Abbot, +for such was his dignity, more respectably than this worthy prelate. +He had, no doubt, many of those habits of self-indulgence which men +are apt to acquire who live for themselves alone. He was vain, +moreover; and when boldly confronted, had sometimes shown symptoms of +timidity, not very consistent with the high claims which he preferred +as an eminent member of the church, or with the punctual deference +which he exacted from his religious brethren, and all who were placed +under his command. But he was hospitable, charitable, and by no means +of himself disposed to proceed with severity against any one. In +short, he would in other times have slumbered out his term of +preferment with as much credit as any other "purple Abbot," who lived +easily, but at the same time decorously--slept soundly, and did not +disquiet himself with dreams. + +But the wide alarm spread through the whole Church of Rome by the +progress of the reformed doctrines, sorely disturbed the repose of +Abbot Boniface, and opened to him a wide field of duties and cares +which he had never so much as dreamed of. There were opinions to be +combated and refuted--practices to be inquired into--heretics to be +detected and punished--the fallen off to be reclaimed--the wavering to +be confirmed--scandal to be removed from the clergy, and the vigour of +discipline to be re-established. Post upon post arrived at the +Monastery of Saint Mary's--horses reeking, and riders exhausted--this +from the Privy Council, that from the Primate of Scotland, and this +other again from the Queen Mother, exhorting, approving, condemning, +requesting advice upon this subject, and requiring information upon +that. + +These missives Abbot Boniface received with an important air of +helplessness, or a helpless air of importance,--whichever the reader +may please to term it, evincing at once gratified vanity, and profound +trouble of mind. The sharp-witted Primate of Saint Andrews had +foreseen the deficiencies of the Abbot of St. Mary's, and endeavoured +to provide for them by getting admitted into his Monastery as +Sub-Prior a brother Cistercian, a man of parts and knowledge, devoted +to the service of the Catholic Church, and very capable not only to +advise the Abbot on occasions of difficulty, but to make him sensible +of his duty in case he should, from good-nature or timidity, be +disposed to shrink from it. + +Father Eustace played the same part in the Monastery as the old +general who, in foreign armies, is placed at the elbow of the Prince +of the Blood, who nominally commands in chief, on condition of +attempting nothing without the advice of his dry-nurse; and he shared +the fate of all such dry-nurses, being heartily disliked as well as +feared by his principal. Still, however, the Primate's intention was +fully answered. Father Eustace became the constant theme and often the +bugbear of the worthy Abbot, who hardly dared to turn himself in his +bed without, considering what Father Eustace would think of it. In +every case of difficulty, Father Eustace was summoned, and his opinion +asked; and no sooner was the embarrassment removed, than the Abbot's +next thought was how to get rid of his adviser. In every letter which +he wrote to those in power, he recommended Father Eustace to some high +church preferment, a bishopric or an abbey; and as they dropped one +after another, and were otherwise conferred, he began to think, as he +confessed to the Sacristan in the bitterness of his spirit, that the +Monastery of St. Mary's had got a life-rent lease of their Sub-Prior. + +Yet more indignant he would have been, had he suspected that Father +Eustace's ambition was fixed upon his own mitre, which, from some +attacks of an apoplectic nature, deemed by the Abbot's friends to be +more serious than by himself, it was supposed might be shortly vacant. +But the confidence which, like other dignitaries, he reposed in his +own health, prevented Abbot Boniface from imagining that it held any +concatenation, with the motions of Father Eustace. + +The necessity under which he found himself of consulting with his +grand adviser, in cases of real difficulty, rendered the worthy Abbot +particularly desirous of doing without him in all ordinary cases of +administration, though not without considering what Father Eustace +would have said of the matter. He scorned, therefore, to give a hint +to the Sub-Prior of the bold stroke by which he had dispatched Brother +Philip to Glendearg; but when the vespers came without his +reappearance he became a little uneasy, the more as other matters +weighed upon his mind. The feud with the warder or keeper of the +bridge threatened to be attended with bad consequences, as the man's +quarrel was taken up by the martial baron under whom he served; and +pressing letters of an unpleasant tendency had just arrived from the +Primate. Like a gouty man, who catches hold of his crutch while he +curses the infirmity that induces him to use if, the Abbot, however +reluctant, found himself obliged to require Eustace's presence, after +the service was over, in his house, or rather palace, which was +attached to, and made part of, the Monastery. + +Abbot Boniface was seated in his high-backed chair, the grotesque +carved back of which terminated in a mitre, before a fire where two or +three large logs were reduced to one red glowing mass of charcoal. At +his elbow, on an oaken stand, stood the remains of a roasted capon, on +which his reverence had made his evening meal, flanked by a goodly +stoup of Bordeaux of excellent flavour. He was gazing indolently on +the fire, partly engaged in meditation on his past and present +fortunes, partly occupied by endeavouring to trace towers and steeples +in the red embers. + +"Yes," thought the Abbot to himself, "in that red perspective I could +fancy to myself the peaceful towers of Dundrennan, where I passed my +life ere I was called to pomp and to trouble. A quiet brotherhood we +were, regular in our domestic duties; and when the frailties of +humanity prevailed over us, we confessed, and were absolved by each +other, and the most formidable part of the penance was the jest of the +convent on the culprit. I can almost fancy that I see the cloister +garden, and the pear-trees which I grafted with my own hands. And for +what have I changed all this, but to be overwhelmed with business +which concerns me not, to be called My Lord Abbot, and to be tutored +by Father Eustace? I would these towers were the Abbey of +Aberbrothwick, and Father Eustace the Abbot,--or I would he were in +the fire on any terms, so I were rid of him! The Primate says our Holy +Father, the Pope hath an adviser--I am sure he could not live a week +with such a one as mine. Then there is no learning what Father Eustace +thinks till you confess your own difficulties--No hint will bring +forth his opinion--he is like a miser, who will not unbuckle his purse +to bestow a farthing, until the wretch who needs it has owned his +excess of poverty, and wrung out the boon by importunity. And thus I +am dishonoured in the eyes of my religious brethren, who behold me +treated like a child which hath no sense of its own--I will bear it no +longer!--Brother Bennet,"--(a lay brother answered to his call)--" +tell Father Eustace that I need not his presence." + +"I came to say to your reverence, that the holy father is entering +even now from the cloisters." + +"Be it so," said the Abbot, "he is welcome,--remove these things--or +rather, place a trencher, the holy father may be a little hungry--yet, +no--remove them, for there is no good fellowship in him--Let the stoup +of wine remain, however, and place another cup." + +The lay brother obeyed these contradictory commands in the way he +judged most seemly--he removed the carcass of the half-sacked capon, +and placed two goblets beside the stoup of Bourdeaux. At the same +instant entered Father Eustace. + +He was a thin, sharp-faced, slight-made little man, whose keen grey +eyes seemed almost to look through the person to whom he addressed +himself. His body was emaciated not only with the fasts which he +observed with rigid punctuality, but also by the active and unwearied +exercise of his sharp and piercing intellect;-- + + A fiery soul, which working out its way, + Fretted the puny body to decay, + And o'er-informed the tenement of clay. + +He turned with conventual reverence to the Lord Abbot; and as they +stood together, it was scarce possible to see a more complete +difference of form and expression. The good-natured rosy face and +laughing eye of the Abbot, which even his present anxiety could not +greatly ruffle, was a wonderful contrast to the thin pallid cheek and +quick penetrating glance of the monk, in which an eager and keen +spirit glanced through eyes to which it seemed to give supernatural +lustre. + +The Abbot opened the conversation by motioning to his monk to take a +stool, and inviting to a cup of wine. The courtesy was declined with +respect, yet not without a remark, that the vesper service was past. + +"For the stomach's sake, brother," said the Abbot, colouring a +little--"You know the text." + +"It is a dangerous one," answered the monk, "to handle alone, or at +late hours. Out off from human society, the juice of the grape becomes +a perilous companion of solitude, and therefore I ever shun it." + +Abbot Boniface had poured himself out a goblet which might hold about +half an English pint; but, either struck with the truth of the +observation, or ashamed to act in direct opposition to it, he suffered +it to remain untasted before him, and immediately changed the subject. + +"The Primate hath written to us," said he, "to make strict search +within our bounds after the heretical persons denounced in this list, +who have withdrawn themselves from the justice which their opinions +deserve. It is deemed probable that they will attempt to retire to +England by our Borders, and the Primate requireth me to watch with +vigilance, and what not." + +"Assuredly," said the monk, "the magistrate should not bear the sword +in vain--those be they that turn the world upside down--and doubtless +your reverend wisdom will with due diligence second the exertions of +the Right Reverend Father in God, being in the peremptory defence of +the Holy Church." + +"Ay, but how is this to be done?" answered the Abbot; "Saint Mary aid +us! The Primate writes to me as if I were a temporal baron--a man +under command, having soldiers under him! He says, send forth--scour +the country--guard the passes--Truly these men do not travel as those +who would give their lives for nothing--the last who went south passed +the dry-march at the Riding-burn with an escort of thirty spears, as +our reverend brother the Abbot of Kelso did write unto us. How are +cowls and scapularies to stop the way?" + +"Your bailiff is accounted a good man at arms, holy father," said +Eustace; "your vassals are obliged to rise for the defence of the Holy +Kirk--it is the tenure on which they hold their lands--if they will +not come forth for the Church which gives them bread, let their +possessions be given to others." + +"We shall not be wanting," said the Abbot, collecting himself with +importance, "to do whatever may advantage Holy Kirk--thyself shall +hear the charge to our Bailiff and our officials--but here again is +our controversy with the warden of the bridge and the Baron of +Meigallot--Saint Mary! vexations do so multiply upon the House, and +upon the generation, that a man wots not where to turn to! Thou didst +say, Father Eustace, thou wouldst look into our evidents touching this +free passage for the pilgrims?" + +"I have looked into the Chartulary of the House, holy father," said +Eustace, "and therein I find a written and formal grant of all duties +and customs payable at the drawbridge of Brigton, not only by +ecclesiastics of this foundation, but by every pilgrim truly designed +to accomplish his vows at this House, to the Abbot Allford, and the +monks of the House of Saint Mary in Kennaquhair, from that time and +for ever. The deed is dated on Saint Bridget's Even, in the year of +Redemption, 1137, and bears the sign and seal of the granter, Charles +of Meigallot, great-great-grandfather of this baron, and purports to +be granted for the safety of his own soul, and for the weal of the +souls of his father and mother, and of all his predecessors and +successors, being Barons of Meigallot." + +"But he alleges," said the Abbot, "that the bridge-wards have been in +possession of these dues, and have rendered them available for more +than fifty years--and the baron threatens violence--meanwhile, the +journey of the pilgrims is interrupted, to the prejudice of their own +souls and the diminution of the revenues of Saint Mary. The Sacristan +advised us to put on a boat; but the warden, whom thou knowest to be a +godless man, has sworn the devil tear him, but that if they put on a +boat on the laird's stream, he will rive her board from board--and +then some say we should compound the claim for a small sum in silver." +Here the Abbot paused a moment for a reply, but receiving none, he +added, "But what thinkest thou, Father Eustace? why art thou silent?" + +"Because I am surprised at the question which the Lord Abbot of Saint +Mary's asks at the youngest of his brethren." + +"Youngest in time of your abode with us, Brother Eustace," said the +Abbot, "not youngest in years, or I think in experience. Sub-Prior +also of this convent." + +"I am astonished," continued Eustace, "that the Abbot of this +venerable house should ask of any one whether he can alienate the +patrimony of our holy and divine patroness, or give up to an +unconscientious, and perhaps, a heretic baron, the rights conferred on +this church by his devout progenitor. Popes and councils alike +prohibit it--the honour of the living, and the weal of departed souls, +alike forbid it--it may not be. To force, if he dare use it, we must +surrender; but never by our consent should we see the goods of the +church plundered, with as little scruple as he would drive off a herd +of English beeves. Rouse yourself, Reverend father, and doubt nothing +but that the good cause shall prevail. Whet the spiritual sword, and +direct it against the wicked who would usurp our holy rights. Whet the +temporal sword, if it be necessary, and stir up the courage and zeal +of your loyal vassals." + +The Abbot sighed deeply. "All this," he said, "is soon spoken by him +who hath to act it not; but--" He was interrupted by the entrance of +Bennet rather hastily. "The mule on which the Sacristan had set out in +the morning had returned," he said, "to the convent stable all over +wet, and with the saddle turned round beneath her belly." + +"Sancta Maria!" said the Abbot, "our dear brother hath perished by the +way!" + +"It may not be," said Eustace, hastily--"let the bell be tolled--cause +the brethren to get torches--alarm the village--hurry down to the +river--I myself will be the foremost." + +The real Abbot stood astonished and agape, when at once he beheld his +office filled, and saw all which he ought to have ordered, going +forward at the dictates of the youngest monk in the convent. But ere +the orders of Eustace, which nobody dreamed of disputing, were carried +into execution, the necessity was prevented by the sudden apparition +of the Sacristan, whose supposed danger excited all the alarm. + + + + +Chapter the Seventh. + + + Raze out the written troubles of the brain, + Cleanse the foul bosom of the perilous stuff + That weighs upon the heart. + MACBETH. + +What betwixt cold and fright the afflicted Sacristan stood before his +Superior, propped on the friendly arm of the convent miller, drenched +with water, and scarce able to utter a syllable. + +After various attempts to speak, the first words he uttered were, + + "Swim we merrily--the moon shines bright." + +"Swim we merrily!" retorted the Abbot, indignantly; "a merry night +have ye chosen for swimming, and a becoming salutation to your +Superior!" + +"Our brother is bewildered," said Eustace;--"speak, Father Philip, how +is it with you?" + + "Good luck to your fishing," + +continued the Sacristan, making a most dolorous attempt at the tune of +his strange companion. + +"Good luck to your fishing!" repeated the Abbot, still more surprised +than displeased; "by my halidome he is drunken with wine, and comes to +our presence with his jolly catches in his throat! If bread and water +can cure this folly--" + +"With your pardon, venerable father," said the Sub-Prior, "of water +our brother has had enough; and methinks, the confusion of his eye, is +rather that of terror, than of aught unbecoming his profession. Where +did you find him, Hob Miller?" + +"An it please your reverence, I did but go to shut the sluice of the +mill--and as I was going to shut the sluice, I heard something groan +near to me; but judging it was one of Giles Fletcher's hogs--for so +please you he never shuts his gate--I caught up my lever, and was +about--Saint Mary forgive me!--to strike where I heard the sound, +when, as the saints would have it, I heard the second groan just like +that of a living man. So I called up my knaves, and found the Father +Sacristan lying wet and senseless under the wall of our kiln. So soon +as we brought him to himself a bit, he prayed to be brought to your +reverence, but I doubt me his wits have gone a bell-wavering by the +road. It was but now that he spoke in somewhat better form." + +"Well!" said Brother Eustace, "thou hast done well, Hob Miller; only +begone now, and remember a second time to pause, ere you strike in the +dark." + +"Please your reverence, it shall be a lesson to me," said the miller, +"not to mistake a holy man for a hog again, so long as I live." And, +making a bow, with profound humility, the miller withdrew. + +"And now that this churl is gone, Father Philip," said Eustace, "wilt +thou tell our venerable Superior what ails thee? art thou _vino +gravatus,_ man? if so we will have thee to thy cell." + +"Water! water! not wine," muttered the exhausted Sacristan. + +"Nay," said the monk, "if that be thy complaint, wine may perhaps +cure thee;" and he reached him a cup, which the patient drank off to his +great benefit. + +"And now," said the Abbot, "let his garments be changed, or rather let +him be carried to the infirmary; for it will prejudice our health, +should we hear his narrative while he stands there, steaming like a +rising hoar-frost." + +"I will hear his adventure," said Eustace, "and report it to your +reverence." And, accordingly, he attended the Sacristan to his cell. In +about half an hour he returned to the Abbot. + +"How is it with Father Philip?" said the Abbot; "and through what +came he into such a state?" + +"He comes from Glendearg, reverend sir," said Eustace; "and for the +rest, he telleth such a legend, as has not been heard in this +Monastery for many a long day." He then gave the Abbot the outlines of +the Sacristan's adventures in the homeward journey, and added, that +for some time he was inclined to think his brain was infirm, seeing he +had sung, laughed, and wept all in the same breath. + +"A wonderful thing it is to us," said the Abbot, "that Satan has been +permitted to put forth his hand thus far on one of our sacred brethren!" + +"True," said Father Eustace; "but for every text there is a +paraphrase; and I have my suspicions, that if the drenching of Father +Philip cometh of the Evil one, yet it may not have been altogether +without his own personal fault." + +"How!" said the Father Abbot; "I will not believe that thou makest +doubt that Satan, in former days, hath been permitted to afflict +saints and holy men, even as he afflicted the pious Job?" + +"God forbid I should make question of it," said the monk, crossing +himself; "yet, where there is an exposition of the Sacristan's tale, +which is less than miraculous, I hold it safe to consider it at least, +if not to abide by it. Now, this Hob the Miller hath a buxom daughter. +Suppose--I say only suppose--that our Sacristan met her at the ford on +her return from her uncle's on the other side, for there she hath this +evening been--suppose, that, in courtesy, and to save her stripping +hose and shoon, the Sacristan brought her across behind him-suppose he +carried his familiarities farther than the maiden was willing to +admit; and we may easily suppose, farther, that this wetting was the +result of it." + +"And this legend invented to deceive us!" said the Superior, reddening +with wrath; "but most strictly shall it be sifted and inquired into; +it is not upon us that Father Philip must hope to pass the result of +his own evil practices for doings of Satan. To-morrow cite the wench +to appear before us--we will examine, and we will punish." + +"Under your reverence's favour," said Eustace, "that were but poor +policy. As things now stand with us, the heretics catch hold of each +flying report which tends to the scandal of our clergy. We must abate +the evil, not only by strengthening discipline, but also by +suppressing and stifling the voice of scandal. If my conjectures are +true, the miller's daughter will be silent for her own sake; and your +reverence's authority may also impose silence on her father, and on +the Sacristan. If he is again found to afford room for throwing +dishonour on his order, he can be punished with severity, but at the +same time with secrecy. For what say the Decretals! Facinora ostendi +dum punientur, flagitia autem abscondi debent." + +A sentence of Latin, as Eustace had before observed, had often much +influence on the Abbot, because he understood it not fluently, and was +ashamed to acknowledge his ignorance. On these terms they parted for +the night. + +The next day, Abbot Boniface strictly interrogated Philip on the real +cause of his disaster of the previous night. But the Sacristan stood +firm to his story; nor was he found to vary from any point of it, +although the answers he returned were in some degree incoherent, owing +to his intermingling with them ever and anon snatches of the strange +damsel's song, which had made such deep impression on his imagination, +that he could not prevent himself from imitating it repeatedly in the +course of his examination. The Abbot had compassion with the +Sacristan's involuntary frailty, to which something supernatural +seemed annexed, and finally became of opinion, that Father Eustace's +more natural explanation was rather plausible than just. And, indeed, +although we have recorded the adventure as we find it written down, we +cannot forbear to add that there was a schism on the subject in the +convent, and that several of the brethren pretended to have good +reason for thinking that the miller's black-eyed daughter was at the +bottom of the affair after all. Whichever way it might be interpreted, +all agreed that it had too ludicrous a sound to be permitted to get +abroad, and therefore the Sacristan was charged, on his vow of +obedience, to say no more of his ducking; an injunction which, having +once eased his mind by telling his story, it may be well conjectured +that he joyfully obeyed. + +The attention of Father Eustace was much less forcibly arrested by the +marvellous tale of the Sacristan's danger, and his escape, than by the +mention of the volume which he had brought with him from the Tower of +Glendearg. A copy of the Scriptures, translated into the vulgar +tongue, had found its way even into the proper territory of the +church, and had been discovered in one of the most hidden and +sequestered recesses of the Halidome of Saint Mary's. + +He anxiously requested to see the volume. In this the Sacristan was +unable to gratify him, for he had lost it, as far as he recollected, +when the supernatural being, as he conceived her to be, took her +departure from him. Father Eustace went down to the spot in person, +and searched all around it, in hopes of recovering the volume in +question; but his labour was in vain. He returned to the Abbot, and +reported that it must have fallen into the river or the mill-stream; +"for I will hardly believe," he said, "that Father Philip's musical +friend would fly off with a copy of the Holy Scriptures." + +"Being," said the Abbot, "as it is, an heretical translation, it may +be thought that Satan may have power over it." + +"Ay!" said Father Eustace, "it is indeed his chiefest magazine of +artillery, when he inspireth presumptuous and daring men to set forth +their own opinions and expositions of Holy Writ. But though thus +abused, the Scriptures are the source of our salvation, and are no +more to be reckoned unholy, because of these rash men's proceedings, +than a powerful medicine is to be contemned, or held poisonous, +because bold and evil leeches have employed it to the prejudice of +their patients. With the permission of your reverence, I would that +this matter were looked into more closely. I will myself visit the +Tower of Glendearg ere I am many hours older, and we shall see if any +spectre or white woman of the wild will venture to interrupt my +journey or return. Have I your reverend permission and your blessing?" +he added, but in a tone that appeared to set no great store by either. + +"Thou hast both, my brother," said the Abbot; but no sooner had +Eustace left the apartment, than Boniface could not help breaking on +the willing ear of the Sacristan his sincere wish, that any spirit, +black, white, or gray, would read the adviser such a lesson, as to +cure him of his presumption in esteeming himself wiser than the whole +community. + +"I wish him no worse lesson," said the Sacristan, "than to go swimming +merrily down the river with a ghost behind, and Kelpies, night-crows, +and mud-eels, all waiting to have a snatch at him. + + Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright! + Good luck to your fishing, whom watch you to-night?" + +"Brother Philip," said the Abbot, "we exhort thee to say thy prayers, +compose thyself, and banish that foolish chant from thy mind;--it is +but a deception of the devil's." + +"I will essay, reverend Father," said the Sacristan, "but the tune +hangs by my memory like a bur in a beggar's rags; it mingles with the +psalter--the very bells of the convent seem to repeat the words, and +jingle to the tune; and were you to put me to death at this very +moment, it is my belief I should die singing it--'Now swim we +merrily'--it is as it were a spell upon me." + +He then again began to warble + + "Good luck to your fishing." + +And checking himself in the strain with difficulty, he exclaimed, "It +is too certain--I am but a lost priest! Swim we merrily--I shall sing +it at the very mass--Wo is me! I shall sing all the remainder of my +life, and yet never be able to change the tune!" + +The honest Abbot replied, "he knew many a good fellow in the same +condition;" and concluded the remark with "ho! ho! ho!" for his +reverence, as the reader may partly have observed, was one of those +dull folks who love a quiet joke. + +The Sacristan, well acquainted with his Superior's humour, endeavoured +to join in the laugh, but his unfortunate canticle came again across +his imagination, and interrupted the hilarity of his customary echo. + +"By the rood, Brother Philip," said the Abbot, much moved, "you become +altogether intolerable! and I am convinced that such a spell could not +subsist over a person of religion, and in a religious house, unless he +were under mortal sin. Wherefore, say the seven penitentiary +psalms--make diligent use of thy scourge and hair-cloth--refrain for +three days from all food, save bread and water--I myself will shrive +thee, and we will see if this singing devil may be driven out of thee; +at least I think Father Eustace himself could devise no better +exorcism." + +The Sacristan sighed deeply, but knew remonstrance was vain. He +retired therefore to his cell, to try how far psalmody might be able +to drive off the sounds of the syren tune which haunted his memory. + +Meanwhile, Father Eustace proceeded to the drawbridge, in his way to +the lonely valley of Glendearg. In a brief conversation with the +churlish warder, he had the address to render him more tractable in +the controversy betwixt him and the convent. He reminded him that his +father had been a vassal under the community; that his brother was +childless; and that their possession would revert to the church on his +death, and might be either granted to himself the warder, or to some +greater favourite of the Abbot, as matters chanced to stand betwixt +them at the time. The Sub-Prior suggested to him also, the necessary +connexion of interests betwixt the Monastery and the office which +this man enjoyed. He listened with temper to his rude and churlish +answers; and by keeping his own interest firm pitched in his view, he +had the satisfaction to find that Peter gradually softened his tone, +and consented to let every pilgrim who travelled upon foot pass free +of exaction until Pentocost next; they who travelled on horseback or +otherwise, contenting to pay the ordinary custom. Having thus +accommodated a matter in which the weal of the convent was so deeply +interested, Father Eustace proceeded on his journey. + + + + +Chapter the Eighth. + + + Nay, dally not with time, the wise man's treasure, + Though fools are lavish on't--the fatal Fisher + Hooks souls, while we waste moments. + OLD PLAY. + +A November mist overspread the little valley, up which slowly but +steadily rode the Monk Eustace. He was not insensible to the feeling +of melancholy inspired by the scene and by the season. The stream +seemed to murmur with a deep and oppressed note, as if bewailing the +departure of autumn. Among the scattered copses which here and there +fringed its banks, the oak-trees only retained that pallid green that +precedes their russet hue. The leaves of the willows were most of them +stripped from the branches, lay rustling at each breath, and disturbed +by every step of the mule; while the foliage of other trees, totally +withered, kept still precarious possession of the boughs, waiting the +first wind to scatter them. + +The monk dropped into the natural train of pensive thought which these +autumnal emblems of mortal hopes are peculiarly calculated to inspire. +"There," he said, looking at the leaves which lay strewed around, "lie +the hopes of early youth, first formed that they may soonest wither, +and loveliest in spring to become most contemptible in winter; but +you, ye lingerers," he added, looking to a knot of beeches which still +bore their withered leaves, "you are the proud plans of adventurous +manhood, formed later, and still clinging to the mind of age, although +it acknowledges their inanity! None lasts--none endures, save the +foliage of the hardy oak, which only begins to show itself when that +of the rest of the forest has enjoyed half its existence. A pale and +decayed hue is all it possesses, but still it retains that symptom of +vitality to the last.--So be it with Father Eustace! The fairy hopes +of my youth I have trodden under foot like those neglected +rustlers--to the prouder dreams of my manhood I look back as to lofty +chimeras, of which the pith and essence have long since faded; but my +religious vows, the faithful profession which I have made in my +maturer age, shall retain life while aught of Eustace lives. Dangerous +it may be--feeble it must be--yet live it shall, the proud +determination to serve the Church of which I am a member, and to +combat the heresies by which she is assailed." Thus spoke, at least +thus thought, a man zealous according to his imperfect knowledge, +confounding the vital interests of Christianity with the extravagant +and usurped claims of the Church of Rome, and defending his cause with +an ardour worthy of a better. + +While moving onward in this contemplative mood, he could not help +thinking more than once, that he saw in his path the form of a female +dressed in white, who appeared in the attitude of lamentation. But the +impression was only momentary, and whenever he looked steadily to the +point where he conceived the figure appeared, it always proved that he +had mistaken some natural object, a white crag, or the trunk of a +decayed birch-tree with its silver bark, for the appearance in +question. + +Father Eustace had dwelt too long in Rome to partake the superstitious +feelings of the more ignorant Scottish clergy; yet he certainly +thought it extraordinary, that so strong an impression should have +been made on his mind by the legend of the Sacristan. "It is strange," +he said to himself, "that this story, which doubtless was the +invention of Brother Philip to cover his own impropriety of conduct, +should run so much in my head, and disturb my more serious thoughts--I +am wont, I think, to have more command over my senses. I will repeat +my prayers, and banish such folly from my recollection." + +The monk accordingly began with devotion to tell his beads, in pursuance +of the prescribed rule of his order, and was not again disturbed by any +wanderings of the imagination, until he found himself beneath the little +fortalice of Glendearg. + +Dame Glendinning, who stood at the gate, set up a shout of surprise and +joy at seeing the good father. "Martin," she said, "Jasper, where be a' +the folk?--help the right reverend Sub-Prior to dismount, and take his +mule from him.--O father! God has sent you in our need--I was just going +to send man and horse to the convent, though I ought to be ashamed to +give so much trouble to your reverences." + +"Our trouble matters not, good dame," said Father Eustace; "in what +can I pleasure you? I came hither to visit the Lady of Avenel." + +"Well-a-day!" said Dame Alice, "and it was on her part that I had the +boldness to think of summoning you, for the good lady will never be able +to wear over the day!--Would it please you to go to her chamber?" + +"Hath she not been shriven by Father Philip?" said the monk. + +"Shriven she was," said the Dame of Glendearg, "and by Father Philip, +as your reverence truly says--but--I wish it may have been a clean +shrift--Methought Father Philip looked but moody upon it--and there +was a book which he took away with him, that--" She paused as if +unwilling to proceed. + +"Speak out, Dame Glendinning," said the Father; "with us it is your +duty to have no secrets." + +"Nay, if it please your reverence, it is not that I would keep +anything from your reverence's knowledge, but I fear I should +prejudice the lady in your opinion; for she is an excellent +lady--months and years has she dwelt in this tower, and none more +exemplary than she; but this matter, doubtless, she will explain it +herself to your reverence." + +"I desire first to know it from you, Dame Glendinning," said the monk; +"and I again repeat, it is your duty to tell it to me." + +"This book, if it please your reverence, which Father Philip removed +from Glendearg, was this morning returned to us in a strange manner," +said the good widow. + +"Returned!" said the monk; "how mean you?" + +"I mean," answered Dame Glendinning, "that it was brought back to the +tower of Glendearg, the saints best know how--that same book which +Father Philip carried with him but yesterday. Old Martin, that is my +tasker and the lady's servant, was driving out the cows to the +pasture--for we have three good milk-cows, reverend father, blessed be +Saint Waldave, and thanks to the holy Monastery--" + +The monk groaned with impatience; but he remembered that a woman of +the good dame's condition was like a top, which, if you let it spin on +untouched, must at last come to a pause; but, if you interrupt it by +flogging, there is no end to its gyrations. "But, to speak no more of +the cows, your reverence, though they are likely cattle as ever were +tied to a stake, the tasker was driving them out, and the lads, that +is my Halbert and my Edward, that your reverence has seen at church on +holidays, and especially Halbert,--for you patted him on the head and +gave him a brooch of Saint Cuthbert, which he wears in his +bonnet,--and little Mary Avenel, that is the lady's daughter, they ran +all after the cattle, and began to play up and down the pasture as +young folk will, your reverence. And at length they lost sight of +Martin and the cows; and they began to run up a little cleugh which we +call _Corri-nan-Shian_, where there is a wee bit stripe of a +burn, and they saw there--Good guide us!--a White Woman sitting on the +burnside wringing her hands--so the bairns were frighted to see a +strange woman sitting there, all but Halbert, who will be sixteen come +Whitsuntide; and, besides, he never feared ony thing--and when they +went up to her--behold she was passed away!" + +"For shame, good woman!" said Father Eustace; "a woman of your sense +to listen to a tale so idle!--the young folk told you a lie, and that +was all." + +"Nay, sir, it was more than that," said the old dame; "for, besides +that they never told me a lie in their lives, I must warn you that on +the very ground where the White Woman was sitting, they found the Lady +of Avenel's book, and brought it with them to the tower." + +"That is worthy of mark at least," said the monk. "Know you no other +copy of this volume within these bounds?" + +"None, your reverence," returned Elspeth; "why should there?--no one +could read it were there twenty." + +"Then you are sure it is the very same volume which you gave to Father +Philip?" said the monk. + +"As sure as that I now speak with your reverence." + +"It is most singular!" said the monk; and he walked across the room in +a musing posture. + +"I have been upon nettles to hear what your reverence would say," +continued Dame Glendinning, "respecting this matter--There is nothing +I would not do for the Lady of Avenel and her family, and that has +been proved, and for her servants to boot, both Martin and Tibb, +although Tibb is not so civil sometimes as altogether I have a right +to expect; but I cannot think it beseeming to have angels, or ghosts, +or fairies, or the like, waiting upon a leddy when she is in another +woman's house, in respect it is no ways creditable. Ony thing she had +to do was always done to her hand, without costing her either pains or +pence, as a country body says; and besides the discredit, I cannot but +think that there is no safety in having such unchancy creatures about +ane. But I have tied red thread round the bairns's throats," (so her +fondness still called them,) "and given ilka ane of them a riding-wand +of rowan-tree, forby sewing up a slip of witch-elm into their +doublets; and I wish to know of your reverence if there be ony thing +mair that a lone woman can do in the matter of ghosts and fairies?--Be +here! that I should have named their unlucky names twice ower!" + +"Dame Glendinning," answered the monk, somewhat abruptly, when the +good woman had finished her narrative, "I pray you, do you know the +miller's daughter?" + +"Did I know Kate Happer?" replied the widow; "as well as the beggar +knows his dish--a canty quean was Kate, and a special cummer of my ain +maybe twenty years syne." + +"She cannot be the wench I mean," said Father Eustace; "she after whom +I inquire is scarce fifteen, a black-eyed girl--you may have seen her +at the kirk." + +"Your reverence must be in the right; and she is my cummer's nie'ce, +doubtless, that you are pleased to speak of: but I thank God I have +always been too duteous in attention to the mass, to know whether +young wenches have black eyes or green ones." + +The good father had so much of the world about him, that he was unable +to avoid smiling, when the dame boasted her absolute resistance to a +temptation, which was not quite so liable to beset her as those of the +other sex. + +"Perhaps, then," he said, "you know her usual dress, Dame Glendinning?" + +"Ay, ay, father," answered the dame readily enough, "a white kirtle +the wench wears, to hide the dust of the mill, no doubt--and a blue +hood, that might weel be spared, for pridefulness." + +"Then, may it not be she," said the father, "who has brought back this +book, and stepped out of the way when the children came near her?" + +The dame paused--was unwilling to combat the solution suggested by the +monk--but was at a loss to conceive why the lass of the mill should +come so far from home into so wild a corner merely to leave an old +book with three children, from whose observation she wished to conceal +herself. + +Above all, she could not understand why, since she had acquaintances +in the family, and since the Dame Glendinning had always paid her +multure and knaveship duly, the said lass of the mill had not come in +to rest herself and eat a morsel, and tell her the current news of the +water. + +These very objections satisfied the monk that his conjectures were +right. "Dame," he said, "you must be cautious in what you say. This +is an instance--I would it were the sole one--of the power of the +Enemy in these days. The matter must be sifted--with a curious and a +careful hand." + +"Indeed," said Elspeth, trying to catch and chime in with the ideas of +the Sub-Prior, "I have often thought the miller's folk at the +Monastery-mill were far over careless in sifting our melder, and in +bolting it too--some folk say they will not stick at whiles to put in +a handful of ashes amongst Christian folk's corn-meal." + +"That shall be looked after also, dame," said the Sub-Prior, not +displeased to see that the good old woman went off on a false scent; +"and now, by your leave, I will see this lady--do you go before, and +prepare her to see me." + +Dame Glendinning left the lower apartment accordingly, which the monk +paced in anxious reflection, considering how he might best discharge, +with humanity as well as with effect, the important duty imposed on +him. He resolved to approach the bedside of the sick person with +reprimands, mitigated only by a feeling for her weak condition--he +determined, in case of her reply, to which late examples of hardened +heretics might encourage her, to be prepared with answers to the +customary scruples. High fraught, also, with zeal against her +unauthorized intrusion into the priestly function, by study of the +Sacred Scriptures, he imagined to himself the answers which one of the +modern school of heresy might return to him--the victorious refutation +which should lay the disputant prostrate at the Confessor's mercy--and +the healing, yet awful exhortation, which, under pain of refusing the +last consolations of religion, he designed to make to the penitent, +conjuring her, as she loved her own soul's welfare, to disclose to him +what she knew of the dark mystery of iniquity, by which heresies were +introduced into the most secluded spots of the very patrimony of the +Church herself--what agents they had who could thus glide, as it were +unseen, from place to place, bring back the volume which the Church +had interdicted to the spots from which it had been removed under her +express auspices; and, who, by encouraging the daring and profane +thirst after knowledge forbidden and useless to the laity, had +encouraged the fisher of souls to use with effect his old bait of +ambition and vain-glory. + +Much of this premeditated disputation escaped the good father, when +Elspeth returned, her tears flowing faster than her apron could dry +them, and made him a signal to follow her. "How," said the monk, "is +she then so near her end?--nay, the Church must not break or bruise, +when comfort is yet possible;" and forgetting his polemics, the good +Sub-Prior hastened to the little apartment, where, on the wretched bed +which she had occupied since her misfortunes had driven her to the +Tower of Glendearg, the widow of Walter Avenel had rendered up her +spirit to her Creator. "My God!" said the Sub-Prior, "and has my +unfortunate dallying suffered her to depart without the Church's +consolation! Look to her, dame," he exclaimed, with eager impatience; +"is there not yet a sparkle of the life left?--may she not be +recalled--recalled but for a moment?--Oh! would that she could +express, but by the most imperfect word--but by the most feeble +motion, her acquiescence in the needful task of penitential +prayer!--Does she not breathe?--Art thou sure she doth not?" + +"She will never breathe more," said the matron. "Oh! the poor +fatherless girl--now motherless also--Oh, the kind companion I have +had these many years, whom I shall never see again! But she is in +heaven for certain, if ever woman went there; for a woman of better +life----" + +"Wo to me," said the good monk, "if indeed she went not hence in good +assurance--wo to the reckless shepherd, who suffered the wolf to carry +a choice one from the flock, while he busied himself with trimming his +sling and his staff to give the monster battle! Oh! if in the long +Hereafter, aught but weal should that poor spirit share, what has my +delay cost?--the value of an immortal soul!" + +He then approached the body, full of the deep remorse natural to a +good man of his persuasion, who devoutly believed the doctrines of the +Catholic Church. "Ay," said he, gazing on the pallid corpse, from +which the spirit had parted so placidly as to leave a smile upon the +thin blue lips, which had been so long wasted by decay that they had +parted with the last breath of animation without the slightest +convulsive tremor--"Ay," said Father Eustace, "there lies the faded +tree, and, as it fell, so it lies--awful thought for me, should my +neglect have left it to descend in an evil direction!" He then again +and again conjured Dame Glendinning to tell him what she knew of the +demeanour and ordinary walk of the deceased. + +All tended to the high honour of the deceased lady; for her companion, +who admired her sufficiently while alive, notwithstanding some +trifling points of jealousy, now idolized her after her death, and +could think of no attribute of praise with which she did not adorn her +memory. + +Indeed, the Lady of Avenel, however she might privately doubt some of +the doctrines announced by the Church of Rome, and although she had +probably tacitly appealed from that corrupted system of Christianity +to the volume on which Christianity itself is founded, had +nevertheless been regular in her attendance on the worship of the +Church, not, perhaps, extending her scruples so far as to break off +communion. Such indeed was the first sentiment of the earlier +reformers, who seemed to have studied, for a time at least, to avoid a +schism, until the violence of the Pope rendered it inevitable. + +Father Eustace, on the present occasion, listened with eagerness to +everything which could lead to assure him of the lady's orthodoxy in +the main points of belief; for his conscience reproached him sorely, +that, instead of protracting conversation with the Dame of Glendearg, +he had not instantly hastened where his presence was so necessary. +"If," he said, addressing the dead body, "thou art yet free from the +utmost penalty due to the followers of false doctrine--if thou dost +but suffer for a time, to expiate faults done in the body, but +partaking of mortal frailty more than of deadly sin, fear not that thy +abode shall be long in the penal regions to which thou mayest be +doomed--if vigils--if masses--if penance--if maceration of my body, +till it resembles that extenuated form which the soul hath abandoned, +may assure thy deliverance. The Holy Church--the godly foundation--our +blessed Patroness herself, shall intercede for one whose errors were +counter-balanced by so many virtues.--Leave me, dame--here, and by her +bed-side, will I perform those duties--which this piteous case +demands!" + +Elspeth left the monk, who employed himself in fervent and sincere, +though erroneous prayers, for the weal of the departed spirit. For an +hour he remained in the apartment of death, and then returned to the +hall, where he found the still weeping friend of the deceased. + +But it would be injustice to Mrs. Glendinning's hospitality, if we +suppose her to have been weeping during this long interval, or rather +if we suppose her so entirely absorbed by the tribute of sorrow which +she paid frankly and plentifully to her deceased friend, as to be +incapable of attending to the rights of hospitality due to the holy +visitor--who was confessor at once, and Sub-Prior--mighty in all +religious and secular considerations, so far as the vassals of the +Monastery were interested. + +Her barley-bread had been toasted--her choicest cask of home-brewed +ale had been broached--her best butter had been placed on the +hall-table, along with her most savoury ham, and her choicest cheese, +ere she abandoned herself to the extremity of sorrow; and it was not +till she had arranged her little repast neatly on the board, that she +sat down in the chimney corner, threw her checked apron over her head, +and gave way to the current of tears and sobs. In this there was no +grimace or affectation. The good dame held the honours of her house +to be as essential a duty, especially when a monk was her visitant, as +any other pressing call upon her conscience; nor until these were +suitably attended to did she find herself at liberty to indulge her +sorrow for her departed friend. + +When she was conscious of the Sub-Prior's presence, she rose with the +same attention to his reception; but he declined all the offers of +hospitality with which she endeavoured to tempt him. Not her butter, +as yellow as gold, and the best, she assured him, that was made in the +patrimony of St. Mary--not the barley scones, which "the departed +saint, God sain her! used to say were so good"--not the ale, nor any +other cates which poor Elspeth's stores afforded, could prevail on the +Sub-Prior to break his fast. "This day," he said, "I must not taste +food until the sun go down, happy if, in so doing, I can expiate my +own negligence--happier still, if my sufferings of this trifling +nature, undertaken in pure faith and singleness of heart, may benefit +the soul of the deceased. Yet, dame," he added, I may not so far +forget the living in my cares for the dead, as to leave behind me that +book, which is to the ignorant what, to our first parents, the tree of +Knowledge of Good and Evil unhappily proved-excellent indeed in +itself, but fatal because used by those to whom it is prohibited." + +"Oh, blithely, reverend father," said the widow of Simon Glendinning, +"will I give you the book, if so be I can while it from the bairns; +and indeed, poor things, as the case stands with them even now, you +might take the heart out of their bodies, and they never find it out, +they are sae begrutten." [Footnote: _Begrutten_--over-weeped] + +"Give them this missal instead, good dame," said the father, drawing +from his pocket one which was curiously illuminated with paintings, +"and I will come myself, or send one at a fitting time, and teach them +the meaning of these pictures." + +"The bonny images!" said Dame Glendinning, forgetting for an instant +her grief in her admiration, "and weel I wot," added she, "it is +another sort of a book than the poor Lady of Avenel's; and blessed +might we have been this day, if your reverence had found the way up +the glen, instead of Father Philip, though the Sacristan is a powerful +man too, and speaks as if he would ger the house fly abroad, save that +the walls are gey thick. Simon's forebears (may he and they be +blessed!) took care of that." + +The monk ordered his mule, and was about to take his leave; and the +good dame was still delaying him with questions about the funeral, +when a horseman, armed and accoutred, rode into the little court-yard +which surrounded the Keep. + + + + +Chapter the Ninth. + + + For since they rode among our doors + With splent on spauld and rusty spurs, + There grows no fruit into our furs; + Thus said John Up-on-land. + DANNATYNE MS. + +The Scottish laws, which were as wisely and judiciously made as they +were carelessly and ineffectually executed, had in vain endeavoured to +restrain the damage done to agriculture, by the chiefs and landed +proprietors retaining in their service what were called jack-men, from +the _jack_, or doublet, quilted with iron which they wore as +defensive armour. These military retainers conducted themselves with +great insolence towards the industrious part of the community--lived +in a great measure by plunder, and were ready to execute any commands +of their master, however unlawful. In adopting this mode of life, men +resigned the quiet hopes and regular labours of industry, for an +unsettled, precarious, and dangerous trade, which yet had such charms +for those once accustomed to it, that they became incapable of +following any other. Hence the complaint of John Upland, a fictitious +character, representing a countryman, into whose mouth the poets of +the day put their general satires upon men and manners. + + They ride about in such a rage, + By forest, frith, and field, + With buckler, bow, and brand. + Lo! where they ride out through the rye! + The Devil mot save the company, + Quoth John Up-on-land. + +Christie of the Clinthill, the horseman who now arrived at the little +Tower of Glendearg, was one of the hopeful company of whom the poet +complains, as was indicated by his "splent on spauld," (iron-plates on +his shoulder,) his rusted spurs, and his long lance. An iron +skull-cap, none of the brightest, bore for distinction a sprig of the +holly, which was Avenel's badge. A long two-edged straight sword, +having a handle made of polished oak, hung down by his side. The +meagre condition of his horse, and the wild and emaciated look of the +rider, showed their occupation could not be accounted an easy or a +thriving one. He saluted Dame Glendinning with little courtesy, and +the monk with less; for the growing, disrespect to the religious +orders had not failed to extend itself among a class of men of such +disorderly habits, although it may be supposed they were tolerably +indifferent alike to the new or the ancient doctrines. + +"So, our lady is dead, Dame Glendinning?" said the jack-man; "my +master has sent you even now a fat bullock for her mart--it may serve +for her funeral. I have left him in the upper cleugh, as he is +somewhat kenspeckle, [Footnote: _Kenspeckle>/I>--that which is +easily recognized by the eye.] and is marked both with cut and +birn--the sooner the skin is off, and he is in saultfat, the less like +you are to have trouble--you understand me? Let me have a peck of corn +for my horse, and beef and beer for myself, for I must go on to the +Monastery--though I think this monk hero might do mine errand." + +"Thine errand, rude man!" said the Sub-Prior, knitting his brows-- + +"For God's sake" cried poor Dame Glendinning, terrified at the idea of +a quarrel between them,--"O Christie!---it is the Sub-Prior--O +reverend sir, it is Christie of the Clinthill, the laird's chief +jack-man; ye know that little havings can be expected from the like o' +them." + +"Are you a retainer of the Laird of Avenel?" said the monk, addressing +himself to the horseman, "and do you speak thus rudely to a Brother of +Saint Mary's, to whom thy master is so much beholden?" + +"He means to be yet more beholden to your house, Sir Monk," answered +the fellow; "for hearing his sister-in-law, the widow of Walter of +Avenel, was on her death-bed, he sent me to say to the Father Abbot +and the brethren, that he will hold the funeral-feast at their +convent, and invites himself thereto, with a score of horse and some +friends, and to abide there for three days and three nights,--having +horse-meat and men's-meat at the charge of the community; of which his +intention he sends due notice, that fitting preparation may be +timeously made." + +"Friend," said the Sub-Prior, "believe not that I will do to the +Father Abbot the indignity of delivering such an errand.--Think'st +thou the goods of the church were bestowed upon her by holy princes +and pious nobles, now dead and gone, to be consumed in revelry by +every profligate layman who numbers in his train more followers than +he can support by honest means, or by his own incomings? Tell thy +master, from the Sub-Prior of Saint Mary's, that the Primate hath +issued his commands to us that we submit no longer to this compulsory +exaction of hospitality on slight or false pretences. Our lands and +goods were given to relieve pilgrims and pious persons, not to feast +bands of rude soldiers." + +"This to me!" said the angry spearman, "this to me and to my master +--Look to yourself then, Sir Priest, and try if _Ave_ and +_Credo_ will keep bullocks from wandering, and hay-stacks from +burning." + +"Dost thou menace the Holy Church's patrimony with waste and +fire-raising," said the Sub-Prior, "and that in the face of the sun? I +call on all who hear me to bear witness to the words this ruffian has +spoken. Remember how the Lord James drowned such as you by scores in +the black pool at Jeddart.-To him and to the Primate will I complain." +The soldier shifted the position of his lance, and brought it down to +a level with the monk's body. + +Dame Glendinning began to shriek for assistance. "Tibb Tacket! Martin! +where be ye all?--Christie, for the love of God, consider he is a man +of Holy Kirk!" + +"I care not for his spear," said the Sub-Prior; "if I am slain in +defending the rights and privileges of my community, the Primate will +know how to take vengeance." + +"Let him look to himself," said Christie, but at the same time +depositing his lance against the wall of the tower; "if the Fife men +spoke true who came hither with the Governor in the last raid, Norman +Leslie has him at feud, and is like to set him hard. We know Norman a +true bloodhound, who will never quit the slot. But I had no design to +offend the holy father," he added, thinking perhaps he had gone a +little too far; "I am a rude man, bred to lance and stirrup, and not +used to deal with book-learned men and priests; and I am willing to +ask his forgiveness--and his blessing, if I have said aught amiss." + +"For God's sake! your reverence," said the widow of Glendearg apart to +the Sub-Prior, "bestow on him your forgiveness--how shall we poor folk +sleep in security in the dark nights, if the convent is at feud with +such men as he is?" + +"You are right, dame," said the Sub-Prior, "your safety should, and +must be, in the first instance consulted.--Soldier, I forgive thee, +and may God bless thee and send thee honesty." + +Christie of the Clinthill made an unwilling inclination with his head, +and muttered apart, "that is as much as to say, God send thee +starvation, But now to my master's demand, Sir Priest? What answer am +I to return?" + +"That the body of the widow of Walter of Avenel," answered the Father, +"shall be interred as becomes her rank, and in the tomb of her valiant +husband. For your master's proffered visit of three days, with such a +company and retinue, I have no authority to reply to it; you must +intimate your Chief's purpose to the Reverend Lord Abbot." + +"That will cost me a farther ride," said the man, "but it is all in +the day's work.--How now, my lad," said he to Halbert, who was +handling the long lance which he had laid aside; "how do you like such +a plaything?--will you go with me and be a moss-trooper?" + +"The Saints in their mercy forbid!" said the poor mother; and then, +afraid of having displeased Christie by the vivacity of her +exclamation, she followed it up by explaining, that since Simon's +death she could not look on a spear or a bow, or any implement of +destruction without trembling. + +"Pshaw!" answered Christie, "thou shouldst take another husband, dame, +and drive such follies out of thy thoughts--what sayst thou to such a +strapping lad as I? Why, this old tower of thine is fensible enough, +and there is no want of clenchs, and crags, and bogs, and thickets, if +one was set hard; a man might bide here and keep his half-score of +lads, and as many geldings, and live on what he could lay his hand on, +and be kind to thee, old wench." + +"Alas! Master Christie," said the matron, "that you should talk to a +lone woman in such a fashion, and death in the house besides!" + +"Lone woman!--why, that is the very reason thou shouldst take a mate. +Thy old friend is dead, why, good--choose thou another of somewhat +tougher frame, and that will not die of the pip like a young chicken.-- +Better still--Come, dame, let me have something to eat, and we will talk +more of this." + +Dame Elspeth, though she well knew the character of the man, whom in +fact she both disliked and feared, could not help simpering at the +personal address which he thought proper to make to her. She whispered +to the Sub-Prior, "ony thing just to keep him quiet," and went into +the tower to set before the soldier the food he desired, trusting +betwixt good cheer and the power of her own charms, to keep Christie +of the Clinthill so well amused, that the altercation betwixt him and +the holy father should not be renewed. + +The Sub-Prior was equally unwilling to hazard any unnecessary rupture +between the community and such a person as Julian of Avenel. He was +sensible that moderation, as well as firmness, was necessary to +support the tottering cause of the Church of Rome; and that, contrary +to former times, the quarrels betwixt the clergy and laity had, in the +present, usually terminated to the advantage of the latter. He +resolved, therefore, to avoid farther strife by withdrawing, but +failed not, in the first place, to possess himself of the volume which +the Sacristan carried off the evening before, and which had been +returned to the glen in such a marvellous manner. + +Edward, the younger of Dame Elspeth's boys, made great objections to +the book's being removed, in which Mary would probably have joined, +but that she was now in her little sleeping-chamber with Tibb, who was +exerting her simple skill to console the young lady for her mother's +death. But the younger Glendinning stood up in defence of her +property, and, with a positiveness which had hitherto made no part of +his character, declared, that now the kind lady was dead, the book was +Mary's, and no one but Mary should have it. + +"But if it is not a fit book for Mary to read, my dear boy," said the +father, gently, "you would not wish it to remain with her?" + +"The lady read it," answered the young champion of property; "and so +it could not be wrong--it shall not be taken away.--I wonder where +Halbert is?--listening to the bravading tales of gay Christie, I +reckon,--he is always wishing for fighting, and now he is out of the +way." + +"Why, Edward, you would not fight with me, who am both a priest and +old man?" + +"If you were as good a priest as the Pope," said the boy, "and as old +as the hills to boot, you shall not carry away Mary's book without her +leave. I will do battle for it." + +"But see you, my love," said the monk, amused with the resolute +friendship manifested by the boy, "I do not take it; I only borrow it; +and I leave in its place my own gay missal, as a pledge I will bring +it again." + +Edward opened the missal with eager curiosity, and glanced at the +pictures with which it was illustrated. "Saint George and the dragon-- +Halbert will like that; and Saint Michael brandishing his sword over +the head of the Wicked One--and that will do for Halbert too. And see +the Saint John leading his lamb in the wilderness, with his little +cross made of reeds, and his scrip and staff--that shall be my +favourite; and where shall we find one for poor Mary?--here is a +beautiful woman weeping and lamenting herself." + +"This is Saint Mary Magdalen repenting of her sins, my dear boy," said +the father. + +"That will not suit _our_ Mary; for she commits no faults, and is +never angry with us, but when we do something wrong." + +"Then," said the father, "I will show you a Mary, who will protect her +and you, and all good children. See how fairly she is represented, +with her gown covered with golden stars." + +The boy was lost in wonder at the portrait of the Virgin, which the +Sub-Prior turned up to him. + +"This," he said, "is really like our sweet Mary; and I think I will +let you take away the black book, that has no such goodly shows in it, +and leave this for Mary instead. But you must promise to bring back +the book, good father--for now I think upon it, Mary may like that +best which was her mother's." + +"I will certainly return," said the monk, evading his answer, "and +perhaps I may teach you to write and read such beautiful letters as +you see there written, and to paint them blue, green, and yellow, and +to blazon them with gold." + +"Ay, and to make such figures as these blessed Saints, and especially +these two Marys?" said the boy. + +"With their blessing," said the Sub-Prior, "I can teach you that art +too, so far as I am myself capable of showing, and you of learning +it." "Then," said Edward, "will I paint Mary's picture--and remember +you are to bring back the black book; that you must promise me." + +The Sub-Prior, anxious to get rid of the boy's pertinacity, and to set +forward on his return to the convent, without having any further +interview with Christie the galloper, answered by giving the promise +Edward required, mounted his mule, and set forth on his return +homeward. + +The November day was well spent ere the Sub-Prior resumed his journey; +for the difficulty of the road, and the various delays which he had +met with at the tower, had detained him longer than he proposed. A +chill easterly wind was sighing among the withered leaves, and +stripping them from the hold they had yet retained on the parent +trees. + +"Even so," said the monk, "our prospects in this vale of time grow +more disconsolate as the stream of years passes on. Little have I gained +by my journey, saving the certainty that heresy is busy among us with +more than his usual activity, and that the spirit of insulting religious +orders, and plundering the Church's property, so general in the eastern +districts of Scotland, has now come nearer home." + +The tread of a horse which came up behind him, interrupted his reverie, +and he soon saw he was mounted by the same wild rider whom he had left +at the tower. + +"Good even, my son, and benedicite," said the Sub-Prior as he passed; +but the rude soldier scarce acknowledged the greeting, by bending his +head; and dashing the spurs into his horse, went on at a pace which +soon left the monk and his mule far behind. And there, thought the +Sub-Prior, goes another plague of the times--a fellow whose birth +designed him to cultivate the earth, but who is perverted by the +unhallowed and unchristian divisions of the country, into a daring and +dissolute robber. The barons of Scotland are now turned masterful +thieves and ruffians, oppressing the poor by violence, and wasting the +Church, by extorting free-quarters from abbeys and priories, without +either shame or reason. I fear me I shall be too late to counsel the +Abbot to make a stand against these daring _sorners_ [Footnote: +To _sorne_, in Scotland, is to exact free quarters against the +will of the landlord. It is declared equivalent to theft, by a statute +passed in the year 1445. The great chieftains oppressed the +monasteries very much by exactions of this nature. The community of +Aberbrothwick complained of an Earl of Angus, I think, who was in the +regular habit of visiting them once a year, with a train of a thousand +horse, and abiding till the whole winter provisions of the convent +were exhausted.]--I must make haste." He struck his mule with his +riding wand accordingly; but, instead of mending her pace, the animal +suddenly started from the path, and the rider's utmost efforts could +not force her forward. + +"Art thou, too, infected with the spirit of the times?" said the +Sub-Prior; "thou wert wont to be ready and serviceable, and art now as +restive as any wild jack-man or stubborn heretic of them all." + +While he was contending with the startled animal, a voice, like that +of a female, chanted in his ear, or at least very close to it, + + "Good evening-. Sir Priest, and so late as you ride, + With your mule so fair, and your mantle so wide; + But ride you through valley, or ride you o'er hill. + There is one that has warrant to wait on you still. + Back, back, + The volume black! + I have a warrant to carry it back." + +The Sub-Prior looked around, but neither bush nor brake was near which +could conceal an ambushed songstress. "May Our Lady have mercy on me!" +he said; "I trust my senses have not forsaken me--yet how my thoughts +should arrange themselves into rhymes which I despise, and music which +I care not for, or why there should be the sound of a female voice in +ears, in which its melody has been so long indifferent, baffles my +comprehension, and almost realizes the vision of Philip the Sacristan. +Come, good mule, betake thee to the path, and let us hence while our +judgment serves us." + +But the mule stood as if it had been rooted to the spot, backed from +the point to which it was pressed by its rider, and by her ears laid +close into her neck, and her eyes almost starting from their sockets, +testified that she was under great terror. + +While the Sub-Prior, by alternate threats and soothing, endeavoured to +reclaim the wayward animal to her duty, the wild musical voice was again +heard close beside him. + + "What, ho! Sub-Prior, and came you but here + To conjure a book from a dead woman's bier? + Sain you, and save you, be wary and wise, + Ride back with the book, or you'll pay for your prize. + Back, back. + There's death in the track! + In the name of my master I bid thee bear back." + +"In the name of MY Master," said the astonished monk, "that name +before which all things created tremble, I conjure thee to say what +thou art that hauntest me thus?" + +The same voice replied, + + "That which is neither ill nor well. + That which belongs not to Heaven nor to hell, + A wreath of the mist, a bubble of the stream, + 'Twixt a waking thought and a sleeping dream; + A form that men spy + With the half-shut eye. + In the beams of the setting sun, am I." + +"This is more than simple fantasy," said the Sub-Prior, rousing +himself; though, notwithstanding the natural hardihood of his temper, +the sensible presence of a supernatural being so near him, failed not +to make his blood run cold, and his hair bristle. "I charge thee," he +said aloud, "be thine errand what it will, to depart and trouble me no +more! False spirit, thou canst not appal any save those who do the +work negligently." The voice immediately answered: + + "Vainly, Sir Prior. wouldst thou bar me my right! + Like the star when it shoots, I can dart through the night; + I can dance on the torrent and ride on the air, + And travel the world with the bonny night-mare. + Again, again, + At the crook of the glen, + Where bickers the burnie, I'll meet thee again." + +The road was now apparently left open; for the mule collected herself, +and changed from her posture of terror to one which promised advance, +although a profuse perspiration, and general trembling of the joints, +indicated the bodily terror she had undergone. + +"I used to doubt the existence of Cabalists and Rosicrucians," thought +the Sub-Prior, "but, by my Holy Order, I know no longer what to say!-- +My pulse beats temperately--my hand is cool--I am fasting from +everything but sin, and possessed of my ordinary faculties--Either +some fiend is permitted to bewilder me, or the tales of Cornelius +Agrippa, Paracelsus, and others who treat of occult philosophy, are +not without foundation.--At the crook of the glen? I could have +desired to avoid a second meeting, but I am on the service of the +Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against me." + +He moved around accordingly, but with precaution, and not without +fear; for he neither knew the manner in which, or the place where his +journey might be next interrupted by his invisible attendant. He +descended the glen without interruption for about a mile farther, +when, just at the spot where the brook approached the steep hill, with +a winding so abrupt as to leave scarcely room for a horse to pass, the +mule was again visited with the same symptoms of terror which had +before interrupted her course. Better acquainted than before with the +cause of her restiveness, the Priest employed no effort to make her +proceed, but addressed himself to the object, which he doubted not was +the same that had formerly interrupted him, in the words of solemn +exorcism prescribed by the Church of Rome on such occasions. + +In reply to his demand, the voice again sung;-- + + "Men of good are bold as sackless,[Footnote: Sackless--Innocent.] + Men of rude are wild and reckless, + Lie thou still + In the nook of the hill. + For those be before thee that wish thee ill." + +While the Sub-Prior listened, with his head turned in the direction +from which the sounds seemed to come, he felt as if something rushed +against him; and ere he could discover the cause, he was pushed from +his saddle with gentle but irresistible force. Before he reached the +ground his senses were gone, and he lay long in a state of +insensibility; for the sunset had not ceased to gild the top of the +distant hill when he fell,--and when he again became conscious of +existence, the pale moon was gleaming on the landscape. He awakened in +a state of terror, from which, for a few minutes, he found it +difficult to shake himself free. At length he sate upon the grass, and +became sensible, by repeated exertion, that the only personal injury +which he had sustained was the numbness arising from extreme cold. The +motion of something near him made the blood again run to his heart, +and by a sudden effort he started up, and, looking around, saw to his +relief that the noise was occasioned by the footsteps of his own mule. +The peaceable animal had remained quietly beside her master during his +trance, browsing on the grass which grew plentifully in that +sequestered nook. + +With some exertion he collected himself, remounted the animal, and +meditating upon his wild adventure, descended the glen till its +junction with the broader valley through which the Tweed winds. The +drawbridge was readily dropped at his first summons; and so much had +he won upon the heart of the churlish warden, that Peter appeared +himself with a lantern to show the Sub-Prior his way over the perilous +pass. + +"By my sooth, sir," he said, holding the light up to Father Eustace's +face, "you look sorely travelled and deadly pale--but a little matter +serves to weary out you men of the cell. I now who speak to you--I +have ridden--before I was perched up here on this pillar betwixt wind +and water--it may be thirty Scots miles before I broke my fast, and +have had the red of a bramble rose in my cheek all the while--But will +you taste some food, or a cup of distilled waters?" + +"I may not," said Father Eustace, "being under a vow; but I thank you +for your kindness, and pray you to give what I may not accept to the +next poor pilgrim who comes hither pale and fainting, for so it shall +be the better both with him here, and with you hereafter." + +"By my faith, and I will do so," said Peter Bridge-Ward, "even for thy +sake--It is strange now, how this Sub-Prior gets round one's heart +more than the rest of these cowled gentry, that think of nothing but +quaffing and stuffing!--Wife, I say--wife, we will give a cup of +distilled waters and a crust of bread unto the next pilgrim that comes +over; and ye may keep for [Footnote: An old-fashioned name for an +earthen jar for holding spirits.] the purpose the grunds of the last +greybeard, and the ill-baked bannock which the bairns couldna eat." + +While Peter issued these charitable, and, at the same time, prudent +injunctions, the Sub-Prior, whose mild interference had awakened the +Bridge-Ward to such an act of unwonted generosity, was pacing onward +to the Monastery. In the way, he had to commune with and subdue his +own rebellious heart, an enemy, he was sensible, more formidable than +any which the external powers of Satan could place in his way. + +Father Eustace had indeed strong temptation to suppress the +extraordinary incident which had befallen him, which he was the more +reluctant to confess, because he had passed so severe a judgment upon +Father Philip, who, as he was not unwilling to allow, had, on his +return from Glendearg, encountered obstacles somewhat similar to his +own. Of this the Sub-Prior was the more convinced, when, feeling in +his bosom for the Book which he had brought off from the Tower of +Glendearg, he found it was amissing, which he could only account for +by supposing it had been stolen from him during his trance. + +"If I confess this strange visitation," thought the Sub-Prior, "I +become the ridicule of all my brethren--I whom the Primate sent hither +to be a watch, as it were, and a check upon their follies. I give the +Abbot an advantage over me which I shall never again recover, and +Heaven only knows how he may abuse it, in his foolish simplicity, to +the dishonour and loss of Holy Kirk.--But then, if I make not true +confession of my shame, with what face can I again presume to admonish +or restrain others?--Avow, proud heart," continued he, addressing +himself, "that the weal of Holy Church interests thee less in this +matter than thine own humiliation--Yes, Heaven has punished thee even +in that point in which thou didst deem thyself most strong, in thy +spiritual pride and thy carnal wisdom. Thou hast laughed at and +derided the inexperience of thy brethren--stoop thyself in turn to +their derision--tell what they may not believe--affirm that which they +will ascribe to idle fear, or perhaps to idle falsehood--sustain the +disgrace of a silly visionary, or a wilful deceiver.--Be it so, I will +do my duty, and make ample confession to my Superior. If the discharge +of this duty destroys my usefulness in this house, God and Our Lady +will send me where I can better serve them." + +There was no little merit in the resolution thus piously and +generously formed by Father Eustace. To men of any rank the esteem of +their order is naturally most dear; but in the monastic establishment, +cut off, as the brethren are, from other objects of ambition, as well +as from all exterior friendship and relationship, the place which they +hold in the opinion of each other is all in all. + +But the consciousness how much he should rejoice the Abbot and most of +the other monks of Saint Mary's, who were impatient of the +unauthorized, yet irresistible control, which he was wont to exercise +in the affairs of the convent, by a confession which would put him in +a ludicrous, or perhaps even in a criminal point of view, could not +weigh with Father Eustace in comparison with the task which his belief +enjoined. + +As, strong in his feelings of duty, he approached the exterior gate of +the Monastery, he was surprised to see torches gleaming, and men +assembled around it, some on horseback, some on foot, while several of +the monks, distinguished through the night by their white scapularies, +were making themselves busy among the crowd. The Sub-Prior was +received with a unanimous shout of joy, which at once made him +sensible that he had himself been the object of their anxiety. + +"There he is! there he is! God be thanked--there he is, hale and +fear!" exclaimed the vassals; while the monks exclaimed, "_Te Deum +laudamus_--the blood of thy servants is precious in thy sight!" + +"What is the matter, children? what is the matter, my brethren?" said +Father Eustace, dismounting at the gate. + +"Nay, brother, if thou know'st not, we will not tell thee till thou +art in the refectory," answered the monks; "suffice it that the Lord +Abbot had ordered these, our zealous and faithful vassals, instantly +to set forth to guard thee from imminent peril--Ye may ungirth your +horses, children, and dismiss; and to-morrow, each who was at this +rendezvous may send to the convent kitchen for a quarter of a yard of +roast beef, and a black-jack full of double ale." [Footnote: It was +one of the few reminiscences of Old Parr, or Henry Jenkins, I forget +which, that, at some convent in the veteran's neighbourhood, the +community, before the dissolution, used to dole out roast-beef in the +measure of feet and yards.] + +The vassals dispersed with joyful acclamation, and the monks, with equal +jubilee, conducted the Sub-Prior into the refectory. + + + + +Chapter the Tenth. + + + Here we stand-- + Woundless and well, may Heaven's high name be bless'd for't! + As erst, ere treason couch'd a lance against us. + Decker. + +No sooner was the Sub-Prior hurried into the refectory by his +rejoicing companions, than the first person on whom he fixed his eye +proved to be Christie of the Clinthill. He was seated in the +chimney-corner, fettered and guarded, his features drawn into that air +of sulky and turbid resolution with which those hardened in guilt are +accustomed to view the approach of punishment. But as the Sub-Prior +drew near to him, his face assumed a more wild and startled +expression, while he exclaimed--"The devil! the devil himself, brings +the dead back upon the living." + +"Nay," said a monk to him, "say rather that Our Lady foils the +attempts of the wicked on her faithful servants--our dear brother +lives and moves." + +"Lives and moves!" said the ruffian, rising and shuffling towards the +Sub-Prior as well as his chains would permit; "nay, then, I will never +trust ashen shaft and steel point more--It is even so," he added, as he +gazed on the Sub-Prior with astonishment; "neither wem nor wound--not +as much as a rent in his frock!" + +"And whence should my wound have come?" said Father Eustace. + +"From the good lance that never failed me before," replied Christie of +the Clinthill. + +"Heaven absolve thee for thy purpose!" said the Sub-Prior; "wouldst +thou have slain a servant of the altar?" + +"To choose!" answered Christie; "the Fifemen say, an the whole pack +of ye were slain, there were more lost at Flodden." + +"Villain! art thou heretic as well as murderer?" + +"Not I, by Saint Giles," replied the rider; "I listened blithely +enough to the Laird of Monance, when he told me ye were all cheats and +knaves; but when he would have had me go hear one Wiseheart, a +gospeller as they call him, he might as well have persuaded the wild +colt that had flung one rider to kneel down and help another into the +saddle." + +"There is some goodness about him yet," said the Sacristan to the Abbot, +who at that moment entered--"He refused to hear a heretic preacher." + +"The better for him in the next world," answered the Abbot. "Prepare +for death, my son,--we deliver thee over to the secular arm of our +bailie, for execution on the Gallow-hill by peep of light." + +"Amen!" said the ruffian; "'tis the end I must have come by sooner or +later--and what care I whether I feed the crows at Saint Mary's or at +Carlisle?" + +"Let me implore your reverend patience for an instant," said the +Sub-Prior; "until I shall inquire--" + +"What!" exclaimed the Abbot, observing him for the first time--"Our +dear brother restored to us when his life was unhoped for!--nay, kneel +not to a sinner like me--stand up--thou hast my blessing. When this +villain came to the gate, accused by his own evil conscience, and +crying out he had murdered thee, I thought that the pillar of our main +aisle had fallen--no more shall a life so precious be exposed to such +risks as occur in this border country; no longer shall one beloved and +rescued of Heaven hold so low a station in the church as that of a +poor Sub-Prior--I will write by express to the Primate for thy speedy +removal and advancement." + +"Nay, but let me understand," said the Sub-Prior; "did this soldier say +he had slain me?" + +"That he had transfixed you," answered the Abbot, "in full career with +his lance--but it seems he had taken an indifferent aim. But no sooner +didst thou fall to the ground mortally gored, as he deemed, with his +weapon, than our blessed Patroness appeared to him, as he averred--" + +"I averred no such thing," said the prisoner; "I said a woman in white +interrupted me, as I was about to examine the priest's cassock, for +they are usually well lined--she had a bulrush in her hand, with one +touch of which she struck me from my horse, as I might strike down a +child of four years old with an iron mace--and then, like a singing +fiend as she was, she sung to me. + + 'Thank the holly-bush + That nods on thy brow; + Or with this slender rush + I had strangled thee now.' + +I gathered myself up with fear and difficulty, threw myself on my horse, +and came hither like a fool to get myself hanged for a rogue." + +"Thou seest, honoured brother," said the Abbot to the Sub-Prior, "in +what favour thou art with our blessed Patroness, that she herself +becomes the guardian of thy paths--Not since the days of our blessed +founder hath she shown such grace to any one. All unworthy were we to +hold spiritual superiority over thee, and we pray thee to prepare for +thy speedy removal to Aberbrothwick." + +"Alas! my lord and father," said the Sub-Prior, "your words pierce my +very soul. Under the seal of confession will I presently tell thee why +I conceive myself rather the baffled sport of a spirit of another +sort, than the protected favourite of the heavenly powers. But first +let me ask this unhappy man a question or two." + +"Do as ye list," replied the Abbot--"but you shall not convince me +that it is fitting you remain in this inferior office in the convent +of Saint Mary." + +"I would ask of this poor man," said Father Eustace, "for what purpose +he nourished the thought of putting to death one who never did him +evil?" + +"Ay! but thou didst menace me with evil," said the ruffian, "and no +one but a fool is menaced twice. Dost thou not remember what you said +touching the Primate and Lord James, and the black pool of Jedwood? +Didst thou think me fool enough to wait till thou hadst betrayed me to +the sack and the fork! There were small wisdom in that, methinks--as +little as in coming hither to tell my own misdeeds--I think the devil +was in me when I took this road--I might have remembered the proverb, +'Never Friar forgot feud.'" + +"And it was solely for that--for that only hasty word of mine, uttered +in a moment of impatience, and forgotten ere it was well spoken?" said +Father Eustace. + +"Ay! for that, and--for the love of thy gold crucifix," said Christie of +the Clinthill. + +"Gracious Heaven! and could the yellow metal--the glittering earth-- +so far overcome every sense of what is thereby represented?--Father +Abbot, I pray, as a dear boon, you will deliver this guilty person to +my mercy." + +"Nay, brother," interposed the Sacristan, "to your doom, if you will, +not to your mercy--Remember, we are not all equally favoured by our +blessed Lady, nor is it likely that every frock in the Convent will +serve as a coat of proof when a lance is couched against it." + +"For that very reason," said the Sub-Prior, "I would not that for my +worthless self the community were to fall at feud with Julian of Avenel, +this man's master." + +"Our Lady forbid!" said the Sacristan, "he is a second Julian the +Apostate." + +"With our reverend father the Abbot's permission, then," said Father +Eustace, "I desire this man be freed from his chains, and suffered to +depart uninjured;--and here, friend," he added, giving him the golden +crucifix, "is the image for which thou wert willing to stain thy hands +with murder. View it well, and may it inspire thee with other and +better thoughts than those which referred to it as a piece of bullion! +Part with it, nevertheless, if thy necessities require, and get thee +one of such coarse substance that Mammon shall have no share in any of +the reflections to which it gives rise. It was the bequest of a dear +friend to me; but dearer service can it never do than that of winning +a soul to Heaven." + +The Borderer, now freed from his chains, stood gazing alternately on +the Sub-Prior, and on the golden crucifix. "By Saint Giles," said he, +"I understand ye not!--An ye give me gold for couching my lance at +thee, what would you give me to level it at a heretic?" + +"The Church," said the Sub-Prior, "will try the effect of her +spiritual censures to bring these stray sheep into the fold, ere she +employ the edge of the sword of Saint Peter." + +"Ay, but," said the ruffian, "they say the Primate recommends a little +strangling and burning in aid of both censure and of sword. But fare ye +weel, I owe you a life, and it may be I will not forget my debt." + +The bailie now came bustling in, dressed in his blue coat and +bandaliers, and attended by two or three halberdiers. "I have been a +thought too late in waiting upon your reverend lordship. I am grown +somewhat fatter since the field of Pinkie, and my leathern coat slips +not on so soon as it was wont; but the dungeon is ready, and though, +as I said, I have been somewhat late--" + +Here his intended prisoner walked gravely up to the officer's nose, to +his great amazement. + +"You have been indeed somewhat late, bailie," said he, "and I am +greatly obligated to your buff-coat, and to the time you took to put +it on. If the secular arm had arrived some quarter of an hour sooner, +I had been out of the reach of spiritual grace; but as it is, I wish +you good even, and a safe riddance out of your garment of durance, in +which you have much the air of a hog in armour." + +Wroth was the bailie at this comparison, and exclaimed in ire--"An it +were not for the presence of the venerable Lord Abbot, thou knave--" + +"Nay, an thou wouldst try conclusions," said Christie of the Clinthill, +"I will meet thee at day-break by Saint Mary's Well." + +"Hardened wretch!" said Father Eustace, "art thou but this instant +delivered from death, and dost thou so soon morse thoughts of +slaughter?" + +"I will meet with thee ere it be long, thou knave," said the bailie, +"and teach thee thine Oremus." + +"I will meet thy cattle in a moonlight night before that day," said he +of the Clinthill. + +"I will have thee by the neck one misty morning, thou strong thief," +answered the secular officer of the Church. + +"Thou art thyself as strong a thief as ever rode," retorted Christie; +"and if the worms were once feasting on that fat carcass of thine I +might well hope to have thine office, by favour of these reverend +men." + +"A cast of their office, and a cast of mine," answered the bailie; "a +cord and a confessor, that is all thou wilt have from us." + +"Sirs," said the Sub-Prior, observing that his brethren began to take +more interest than was exactly decorous in this wrangling betwixt +justice and iniquity, "I pray you both to depart--Master Bailie, +retire with your halberdiers, and trouble not the man whom we have +dismissed.--And thou, Christie, or whatever be thy name, take thy +departure, and remember thou owest thy life to the Lord Abbot's +clemency." + +"Nay, as to that," answered Christie, "I judge that I owe it to your +own; but impute it to whom ye list, I owe a life among ye, and there is +an end." And whistling as he went, he left the apartment, seeming as if +he held the life which he had forfeited not worthy further thanks. + +"Obstinate even to brutality!" said Father Eustace; "and yet who +knows but some better ore may lie under so rude an exterior?" + +"Save a thief from the gallows," said the Sacristan--"you know the rest +of the proverb; and admitting, as may Heaven grant, that our lives and +limbs are safe from this outrageous knave, who shall insure our meal and +our malt, our herds and our flocks?" + +"Marry, that will I, my brethren," said an aged monk. "Ah, brethren, +you little know what may be made of a repentant robber. In Abbot +Ingilram's days--ay, and I remember them as it were yesterday--the +freebooters were the best welcome men that came to Saint Mary's. Ay, +they paid tithe of every drove that they brought over from the South, +and because they were something lightly come by, I have known them +make the tithe a seventh--that is, if their confessor knew his +business--ay, when we saw from the tower a score of fat bullocks, or a +drove of sheep, coming down the valley, with two or three stout +men-at-arms behind them with their glittering steel caps, and their +black-jacks, and their long lances, the good Lord Abbot Ingilram was +wont to say--he was a merry man--there come the tithes of the spoilers +of the Egyptians! Ay, and I have seen the famous John the Armstrang--a +fair man he was and a goodly, the more pity that hemp was ever heckled +for him--I have seen him come into the Abbey-church with nine tassels +of gold in his bonnet, and every tassel made of nine English nobles, +and he would go from chapel to chapel, and from image to image, and +from altar to altar, on his knees--and leave here a tassel, and there +a noble, till there was as little gold on his bonnet as on my +hood--you will find no such Border thieves now!" + +"No, truly, Brother Nicolas," answered the Abbot; "they are more apt +to take any gold the Church has left, than to bequeath or bestow +any--and for cattle, beshrew me if I think they care whether beeves +have fed on the meadows of Lanercost Abbey or of Saint Mary's!" + +"There is no good thing left in them," said Father Nicolas; "they are +clean naught--Ah, the thieves that I have seen!--such proper men! and +as pitiful as proper, and as pious as pitiful!" + +"It skills not talking of it, Brother Nicolas," said the Abbot; "and I +will now dismiss you, my brethren, holding your meeting upon this our +inquisition concerning the danger of our reverend Sub-Prior, instead +of the attendance on the lauds this evening--Yet let the bells be duly +rung for the edification of the laymen without, and also that the +novices may give due reverence.--And now, benedicite, brethren! The +cellarer will bestow on each a grace-cup and a morsel as ye pass the +buttery, for ye have been turmoiled and anxious, and dangerous it is +to fall asleep in such case with empty stomach." + +"_Gratias agimus quam maximas, Domine reverendissime_," replied the +brethren, departing in their due order. + +But the Sub-Prior remained behind, and falling on his knees before the +Abbot, as he was about to withdraw, craved him to hear under the seal +of confession the adventures of the day. The reverend Lord Abbot +yawned, and would have alleged fatigue; but to Father Eustace, of all +men, he was ashamed to show indifference in his religious duties. The +confession, therefore, proceeded, in which Father Eustace told all the +extraordinary circumstances which had befallen him during the journey. +And being questioned by the Abbot, whether he was not conscious of any +secret sin, through which he might have been subjected for a time to +the delusions of evil spirits, the Sub-Prior admitted, with frank +avowal, that he thought he might have deserved such penance for having +judged with unfraternal rigour of the report of Father Philip the +Sacristan. + +"Heaven," said the penitent, "may have been willing to convince me, +not only that he can at pleasure open a communication betwixt us and +beings of a different, and, as we word it, supernatural class, but +also to punish our pride of superior wisdom, or superior courage, or +superior learning." + +It is well said that virtue is its own reward; and I question if duty +was ever more completely recompensed, than by the audience which the +reverend Abbot so unwillingly yielded to the confession of the +Sub-Prior. To find the object of his fear shall we say, or of his +envy, or of both, accusing himself of the very error with which he had +so tacitly charged him, was a corroboration of the Abbot's judgment, a +soothing of his pride, and an allaying of his fears. The sense of +triumph, however, rather increased than diminished his natural +good-humour; and so far was Abbot Boniface from being disposed to +tyrannize over his Sub-Prior in consequence of this discovery, that in +his exhortation he hovered somewhat ludicrously betwixt the natural +expression of his own gratified vanity, and his timid reluctance to +hurt the feelings of Father Eustace. + +"My brother," said he, _ex cathedra_, "it cannot have escaped +your judicious observation, that we have often declined our own +judgment in favour of your opinion, even about those matters which +most nearly concerned the community. Nevertheless, grieved would we +be, could you think that we did this, either because we deemed our own +opinion less pregnant, or our wit more shallow, than that of our +brethren. For it was done exclusively to give our younger brethren, +such as your much esteemed self, my dearest brother, that courage +which is necessary to a free deliverance of your opinion,--we ofttimes +setting apart our proper judgment, that our inferiors, and especially +our dear brother the Sub-Prior, may be comforted and encouraged in +proposing valiantly his own thoughts. Which our deference and +humility may, in some sort, have produced in your mind, most reverend +brother, that self-opinion of parts and knowledge, which hath led +unfortunately to your over-estimating your own faculties, and thereby +subjecting yourself, as is but too visible, to the japes and mockeries +of evil spirits. For it is assured that Heaven always holdeth us in +the least esteem when we deem of ourselves most highly, and also, on +the other hand, it may be that we have somewhat departed from what +became our high seat in this Abbey, in suffering ourselves to be too +much guided, and even, as it were, controlled, by the voice of our +inferior. Wherefore," continued the Lord Abbot, "in both of us such +faults shall and must be amended--you hereafter presuming less upon +your gifts and carnal wisdom, and I taking heed not so easily to +relinquish mine own opinion for that of one lower in place and in +office. Nevertheless, we would not that we should thereby lose the +high advantage which we have derived, and may yet derive, from your +wise counsels, which hath been so often recommended to us by our most +reverend Primate. Wherefore, on affairs of high moment, we will call +you to our presence in private, and listen to your opinion, which, if +it shall agree with our own, we will deliver to the Chapter as +emanating directly from ourselves; thus sparing you, dearest brother, +that seeming victory which is so apt to engender spiritual pride, and +avoiding ourselves the temptation of falling into that modest facility +of opinion, whereby our office is lessened and our person (were that +of consequence) rendered less important in the eyes of the community +over which we preside." + +Notwithstanding the high notions which, as a rigid Catholic, Father +Eustace entertained of the sacrament of confession, as his Church +calls it, there was some danger that a sense of the ridiculous might +have stolen on him, when he heard his Superior, with such simple +cunning, lay out a little plan for availing himself of the Sub-Prior's +wisdom and experience, while he should take the whole credit to +himself. Yet his conscience immediately told him he was right. + +"I should have thought more," he reflected, "of the spiritual +Superior, and less of the individual. I should have spread my mantle +over the frailties of my spiritual father, and done what I might to +support his character, and, of course, to extend his utility among the +brethren, as well as with others. The Abbot cannot be humbled, but +what the community must be humbled in his person. Her boast is, that +over all her children, especially over those called to places of +distinction, she can diffuse those gifts which are necessary to render +them illustrious." + +Actuated by these sentiments, Father Eustace frankly assented to the +charge which his Superior, even in that moment of authority, had +rather intimated than made, and signified his humble acquiescence in +any mode of communicating his counsel which might be most agreeable to +the Lord Abbot, and might best remove from himself all temptation to +glory in his own wisdom. He then prayed the reverend Father to assign +him such penance as might best suit his offence, intimating, at the +same time, that he had already fasted the whole day. + +"And it is that I complain of," answered the Abbot, instead of giving +him credit for his abstinence; "it is these very penances, fasts, and +vigils, of which we complain; as tending only to generate airs and +fumes of vanity, which, ascending from the stomach into the head, do +but puff us up with vain-glory and self-opinion. It is meet and +beseeming that novices should undergo fasts and vigils; for some part +of every community must fast, and young stomachs may best endure it. +Besides, in them it abates wicked thoughts, and the desire of worldly +delights. But, reverend brother, for those to fast who are dead and +mortified to the world, as I and thou, is work of supererogation, and +is but the matter of spiritual pride. Wherefore, I enjoin thee, most +reverend brother, go to the buttery and drink two cups at least of +good wine, eating withal a comfortable morsel, such as may best suit +thy taste and stomach. And in respect that thine opinion of thy own +wisdom hath at times made thee less conformable to, and companionable +with, the weaker and less learned brethren, I enjoin thee, during the +said repast, to choose for thy companion, our reverend brother +Nicolas, and without interruption or impatience, to listen for a +stricken hour to his narration, concerning those things which befel in +the times of our venerable predecessor, Abbot Ingilram, on whose soul +may Heaven have mercy! And for such holy exercises as may farther +advantage your soul, and expiate the faults whereof you have +contritely and humbly avowed yourself guilty, we will ponder upon that +matter, and announce our will unto you the next morning." + +It was remarkable, that after this memorable evening, the feelings of +the worthy Abbot towards his adviser were much more kindly and +friendly than when he deemed the Sub-Prior the impeccable and +infallible person, in whose garment of virtue and wisdom no flaw was +to be discerned. It seemed as if this avowal of his own imperfections +had recommended Father Eustace to the friendship of the Superior, +although at the same time this increase of benevolence was attended +with some circumstances, which, to a man of the Sub-Prior's natural +elevation of mind and temper, were more grievous than even undergoing +the legends of the dull and verbose Father Nicolas. For instance, the +Abbot seldom mentioned him to the other monks, without designing him +our beloved Brother Eustace, poor man!--and now and then he used to +warn the younger brethren against the snares of vainglory and +spiritual pride, which Satan sets for the more rigidly righteous, with +such looks and demonstrations as did all but expressly designate the +Sub-Prior as one who had fallen at one time under such delusions. Upon +these occasions, it required all the votive obedience of a monk, all +the philosophical discipline of the schools, and all the patience of a +Christian, to enable Father Eustace to endure the pompous and +patronizing parade of his honest, but somewhat thick-headed Superior. +He began himself to be desirous of leaving the Monastery, or at least +he manifestly declined to interfere with its affairs, in that marked +and authoritative manner, which he had at first practised. + + + * * * * * + +Chapter the Eleventh. + + + You call this education, do you not? + Why 'tis the forced march of a herd of bullocks + Before a shouting drover. The glad van + Move on at ease, and pause a while to snatch + A passing morsel from the dewy greensward, + While all the blows, the oaths, the indignation, + Fall on the croupe of the ill-fated laggard + That cripples in the rear. + OLD PLAY. + +Two or three years glided on, during which the storm of the +approaching alteration in church government became each day louder and +more perilous. Owing to the circumstances which we have intimated in +the end of the last chapter, the Sub-Prior Eustace appeared to have +altered considerably his habits of life. He afforded, on all +extraordinary occasions, to the Abbot, whether privately, or in the +assembled Chapter, the support of his wisdom and experience; but in +his ordinary habits he seemed now to live more for himself, and less +for the community, than had been his former practice. + +He often absented himself for whole days from the convent; and as the +adventure of Glendearg dwelt deeply on his memory, he was repeatedly +induced to visit that lonely tower, and to take an interest in the +orphans who had their shelter under its roof. Besides, he felt a deep +anxiety to know whether the volume which he had lost, when so +strangely preserved from the lance of the murderer, had again found +its way back to the Tower of Glendearg. "It was strange," he thought, +"that a spirit," for such he could not help judging the being whose +voice he had heard, "should, on the one side, seek the advancement of +heresy, and, on the other, interpose to save the life of a zealous +Catholic priest." + +But from no inquiry which he made of the various inhabitants of the +Tower of Glendearg could he learn that the copy of the translated +Scriptures, for which he made such diligent inquiry, had again been +seen by any of them. + +In the meanwhile, the good father's occasional visits were of no small +consequence to Edward Glendinning and to Mary Avenel. The former +displayed a power of apprehending and retaining whatever was taught +him, which tilled Father Eustace with admiration. He was at once acute +and industrious, alert and accurate; one of those rare combinations of +talent and industry, which are seldom united. + +It was the earnest desire of Father Eustace that the excellent +qualities thus early displayed by Edward should be dedicated to the +service of the Church, to which he thought the youth's own consent +might be easily obtained, as he was of a calm, contemplative, retired +habit, and seemed to consider knowledge as the principal object, and +its enlargement as the greatest pleasure, in life. As to the mother, +the Sub-Prior had little doubt that, trained as she was to view the +monks of Saint Mary's with such profound reverence, she would be but +too happy in an opportunity of enrolling one of her sons in its +honoured community. But the good Father proved to be mistaken in both +these particulars. + +When he spoke to Elspeth Glendinning of that which a mother best loves +to hear--the proficiency and abilities of her son--she listened with a +delighted ear. But when Father Eustace hinted at the duty of +dedicating to the service of the Church, talents which seemed fitted +to defend and adorn it, the dame endeavoured always to shift the +subject; and when pressed farther, enlarged on her own incapacity, as +a lone woman, to manage the feu; on the advantage which her neighbours +of the township were often taking of her unprotected state, and on the +wish she had that Edward might fill his father's place, remain in the +tower, and close her eyes. + +On such occasions the Sub-Prior would answer, that even in a worldly +point of view the welfare of the family would be best consulted by one +of the sons entering into the community of Saint Mary's, as it was not +to be supposed that he would fail to afford his family the important +protection which he could then easily extend towards them. What could +be a more pleasing prospect than to see him high in honour? or what +more sweet than to have the last duties rendered to her by a son, +reverend for his holiness of life and exemplary manners? Besides, he +endeavoured to impress upon the dame, that her eldest son, Halbert, +whose bold temper and headstrong indulgence of a wandering humour, +rendered him incapable of learning, was, for that reason, as well as +that he was her eldest born, fittest to bustle through the affairs of +the world, and manage the little fief. + +Elspeth durst not directly dissent from what was proposed, for fear of +giving displeasure, and yet she always had something to say against it. +Halbert, she said, was not like any of the neighbour boys--he was +taller by the head, and stronger by the half, than any boy of his +years within the Halidome. But he was fit for no peaceful work that +could be devised. If he liked a book ill, he liked a plough or a +pattle worse. He had scoured his father's old broadsword--suspended it +by a belt round his waist, and seldom stirred without it. He was a +sweet boy and a gentle if spoken fair, but cross him and he was a born +devil. "In a word," she said, bursting into tears, "deprive me of +Edward, good father, and ye bereave my house of prop and pillar; for +my heart tells me that Halbert will take to his father's gates, and +die his father's death." + +When the conversation came to this crisis, the good-humoured monk was +always content to drop the discussion for the time, trusting some +opportunity would occur of removing her prejudices, for such he +thought them, against Edward's proposed destination. + +When, leaving the mother, the Sub-Prior addressed himself to the son, +animating his zeal for knowledge, and pointing out how amply it might +be gratified should he agree to take holy orders, he found the same +repugnance which Dame Elspeth had exhibited. Edward pleaded a want of +sufficient vocation to so serious a profession--his reluctance to +leave his mother, and other objections, which the Sub-Prior treated as +evasive. + +"I plainly perceive," he said one day, in answer to them, "that the +devil has his factors as well as Heaven, and that they are equally, +or, alas! the former are perhaps more active, in bespeaking for their +master the first of the market. I trust, young man, that neither +idleness, nor licentious pleasure, nor the love of worldly gain and +worldly grandeur, the chief baits with which the great Fisher of souls +conceals his hook, are the causes of your declining the career to +which I would incite you. But above all I trust--above all I +hope--that the vanity of superior knowledge--a sin with which those +who have made proficiency in learning are most frequently beset--has +not led you into the awful hazard of listening to the dangerous +doctrines which are now afloat concerning religion. Better for you +that you were as grossly ignorant as the beasts which perish, that +that the pride of knowledge should induce you to lend an ear to the +voice of heretics." Edward Glendinning listened to the rebuke with a +downcast look, and failed not, when it was concluded, earnestly to +vindicate himself from the charge of having pushed his studies into +any subjects which the Church inhibited; and so the monk was left to +form vain conjectures respecting the cause of his reluctance to +embrace the monastic state. + +It is an old proverb, used by Chaucer, and quoted by Elizabeth, that +"the greatest clerks are not the wisest men;" and it is as true as if +the poet had not rhymed, or the queen reasoned on it. If Father +Eustace had not had his thoughts turned so much to the progress of +heresy, and so little to what was passing in the tower, he might have +read, in the speaking eyes of Mary Avenel, now a girl of fourteen or +fifteen, reasons which might disincline her youthful companion towards +the monastic vows. I have said, that she also was a promising pupil of +the good father, upon whom her innocent and infantine beauty had an +effect of which he was himself, perhaps, unconscious. Her rank and +expectations entitled her to be taught the arts of reading and +writing;--and each lesson which the monk assigned her was conned over +in company with Edward, and by him explained and re-explained, and +again illustrated, until she became perfectly mistress of it. + +In the beginning of their studies, Halbert had been their school +companion. But the boldness and impatience of his disposition soon +quarrelled with an occupation in which, without assiduity and +unremitted attention, no progress was to be expected. The Sub-Prior's +visits were at regular intervals, and often weeks would intervene +between them, in which case Halbert was sure to forget all that had +been prescribed for him to learn, and much which he had partly +acquired before. His deficiencies on these occasions gave him pain, +but it was not of that sort which produces amendment. + +For a time, like all who are fond of idleness, he endeavoured to +detach the attention of his brother and Mary Avenel from their task, +rather than to learn his own, and such dialogues as the following +would ensue: + +"Take your bonnet, Edward, and make haste--the Laird of Colmslie is +at the head of the glen with his hounds." + +"I care not, Halbert," answered the younger brother; "two brace of dogs +may kill a deer without my being there to see them, and I must help Mary +Avenel with her lesson." + +"Ay! you will labour at the monk's lessons till you turn monk yourself," +answered Halbert.--"Mary, will you go with me, and I will show you the +cushat's nest I told you of?" + +"I cannot go with you, Halbert," answered Mary, "because I must study +this lesson--it will take me long to learn it--I am sorry I am so +dull, for if I could get my task as fast as Edward, I should like to +go with you." + +"Should you indeed?" said Halbert; "then I will wait for you--and, +what is more, I will try to get my lesson also." + +With a smile and a sigh he took up the primer, and began heavily to +con over the task which had been assigned him. As if banished from the +society of the two others, he sat sad and solitary in one of the deep +window-recesses, and after in vain struggling with the difficulties of +his task, and his disinclination to learn it, he found himself +involuntarily engaged in watching the movements of the other two +students, instead of toiling any longer. + +The picture which Halbert looked upon was delightful in itself, but +somehow or other it afforded very little pleasure to him. The +beautiful girl, with looks of simple, yet earnest anxiety, was bent on +disentangling those intricacies which obstructed her progress to +knowledge, and looking ever and anon to Edward for assistance, while, +seated close by her side, and watchful to remove every obstacle from +her way, he seemed at once to be proud of the progress which his pupil +made, and of the assistance which he was able to render her. There was +a bond betwixt them, a strong and interesting tie, the desire of +obtaining knowledge, the pride of surmounting difficulties. + +Feeling most acutely, yet ignorant of the nature and source of his own +emotions, Halbert could no longer endure to look upon this quiet +scene, but, starting up, dashed his book from him, and exclaimed +aloud, "To the fiend I bequeath all books, and the dreamers that make +them!--I would a score of Southrons would come up the glen, and we +should learn how little all this muttering and scribbling is worth." + +Mary Avenol and his brother started, and looked at Halbert with +surprise, while he went on with great animation, his features +swelling, and the tears starting into his eyes as he spoke.--"Yes, +Mary--I wish a score of Southrons came up the glen this very day; and +you should see one good hand, and one good sword, do more to protect +you, than all the books that were ever opened, and all the pens that +ever grew on a goose's wing." + +Mary looked a little surprised and a little frightened at his +vehemence, but instantly replied affectionately, "You are vexed, +Halbert, because you do not get your lesson so fast as Edward can; and +so am I, for I am as stupid as you--But come, and Edward shall sit +betwixt us and teach us." + +"He shall not teach _me_," said Halbert, in the same angry mood; +"I never can teach _him_ to do any thing that is honourable and +manly, and he shall not teach _me_ any of his monkish tricks.--I +hate the monks, with their drawling nasal tone like so many frogs, and +their long black petticoats like so many women, and their reverences, +and their lordships, and their lazy vassals that do nothing but peddle +in the mire with plough and harrow from Yule to Michaelmas. I will +call none lord, but him who wears a sword to make his title good; and +I will call none man, but he that can bear himself manlike and +masterful." + +"For Heaven's sake, peace, brother!" said Edward; "if such words were +taken up and reported out of the house, they would be our mother's +ruin." + +"Report them yourself, then, and they will be _your_ making, and +nobody's marring save mine own. Say that Halbert Glendinning will +never be vassal to an old man with a cowl and shaven crown, while +there are twenty barons who wear casque and plume that lack bold +followers. Let them grant you these wretched acres, and much meal may +they bear you to make your _brachan_." He left the room hastily, +but instantly returned, and continued to speak with the same tone of +quick and irritated feeling. "And you need not think so much, neither +of you, and especially you, Edward, need not think so much of your +parchment book there, and your cunning in reading it. By my faith, I +will soon learn to read as well as you; and--for I know a better +teacher than your grim old monk, and a better book than his printed +breviary; and since you like scholarcraft so well, Mary Avenel, you +shall see whether Edward or I have most of it." He left the apartment, +and came not again. + +"What can be the matter with him?" said Mary, following Halbert with +her eyes from the window, as with hasty and unequal steps he ran up the +wild glen--"Where can your brother be going, Edward?--what book?-- +what teacher does he talk of?" + +"It avails not guessing," said Edward. "Halbert is angry, he knows not +why, and speaks of he knows not what; let us go again to our lessons, +and he will come home when he has tired himself with scrambling among +the crags as usual." + +But Mary's anxiety on account of Halbert seemed more deeply rooted. +She declined prosecuting the task in which they had been so pleasingly +engaged, under the excuse of a headache; nor could Edward prevail upon +her to resume it again that morning. + +Meanwhile Halbert, his head unbonneted, his features swelled with +jealous anger, and the tear still in his eye, sped up the wild and +upper extremity of the little valley of Glendearg with the speed of a +roebuck, choosing, as if in desperate defiance of the difficulties of +the way, the wildest and most dangerous paths, and voluntarily +exposing himself a hundred times to dangers which he might have +escaped by turning a little aside from them. It seemed as if he +wished his course to be as straight as that of the arrow to its mark. + +He arrived at length in a narrow and secluded _cleuch_, or deep +ravine, which ran down into the valley, and contributed a scanty +rivulet to the supply of the brook with which Glendearg is watered. Up +this he sped with the same precipitate haste which had marked his +departure from the tower, nor did he pause and look around until he +had reached the fountain from which the rivulet had its rise. + +Here Halbert stopt short, and cast a gloomy, and almost a frightened +glance around him. A huge rock rose in front, from a cleft of which +grew a wild holly-tree, whose dark green branches rustled over the +spring which arose beneath. The banks on either hand rose so high, and +approached each other so closely, that it was only when the sun was at +its meridian height, and during the summer solstice, that its rays +could reach the bottom of the chasm in which he stood. But it was now +summer, and the hour was noon, so that the unwonted reflection of the +sun was dancing in the pellucid fountain. + +"It is the season and the hour," said Halbert to himself; "and now +I--I might soon become wiser than Edward with all his pains! Mary +should see whether he alone is fit to be consulted, and to sit by her +side, and hang over her as she reads, and point out every word and +every letter. And she loves me better than him--I am sure she +does--for she comes of noble blood, and scorns sloth and +cowardice.--And do I myself not stand here slothful and cowardly as +any priest of them all?--Why should I fear to call upon this +form--this shape?--Already have I endured the vision, and why not +again? What can it do to me, who am a man of lith and limb, and have +by my side my father's sword? Does my heart beat--do my hairs bristle, +at the thought of calling up a painted shadow, and how should I face a +band of Southrons in flesh and blood? By the soul of the first +Glendinning, I will make proof of the charm!" + +He cast the leathern brogue or buskin from his right foot, planted +himself in a firm posture, unsheathed his sword, and first looking +around to collect his resolution, he bowed three times deliberately +towards the holly-tree, and as often to the little fountain, repeating +at the same time, with a determined voice, the following rhyme: + + "Thrice to the holly brake-- + Thrice to the well:-- + I bid thee awake, + White Maid of Avenel! + + "Noon gleams on the Lake-- + Noon glows on the Fell-- + Wake thee, O wake, + White Maid of Avenel!" + +These lines were hardly uttered, when there stood the figure of a female +clothed in white, within three steps of Halbert Glendinning. + + "I guess'twas frightful there to see + A lady richly clad as she-- + Beautiful exceedingly." [Footnote: Coleridge's Christabelle.] + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Twelfth. + + + There's something in that ancient superstition, + Which, erring as it is, our fancy loves. + The spring that, with its thousand crystal bubbles, + Bursts from the bosom of some desert rock + In secret solitude, may well be deem'd + The haunt of something purer, more refined, + And mightier than ourselves. + OLD PLAY. + +Young Halbert Glendinning had scarcely pronounced the mystical rhymes, +than, as we have mentioned in the conclusion of the last chapter, an +appearance, as of a beautiful female, dressed in white, stood within +two yards of him. His terror for the moment overcame his natural +courage, as well as the strong resolution which he had formed, that +the figure which he had now twice seen should not a third time daunt +him. But it would seem there is something thrilling and abhorrent to +flesh and blood, in the consciousness that we stand in presence of a +being in form like to ourselves, but so different in faculties and +nature, that we can neither understand its purposes, nor calculate its +means of pursuing them. + +Halbert stood silent and gasped for breath, his hairs erecting +themselves on his head---his mouth open--his eyes fixed, and, as the +sole remaining sign of his late determined purpose, his sword pointed +towards the apparition. At length with a voice of ineffable +sweetness, the White Lady, for by that name we shall distinguish this +being, sung, or rather chanted, the following lines:-- + + "Youth of the dark eye, wherefore didst thou call me? + Wherefore art thou here, if terrors can appal thee? + He that seeks to deal with us must know no fear nor failing! + To coward and churl our speech is dark, our gifts are unavailing. + The breeze that brought me hither now, must sweep Egyptian ground, + The fleecy cloud on which I ride for Araby is bound; + The fleecy cloud is drifting by, the breeze sighs for my stay, + For I must sail a thousand miles before the close of day." + +The astonishment of Halbert began once more to give way to his +resolution, and he gained voice enough to say, though with a faltering +accent, "In the name of God, what art thou?" The answer was in melody +of a different tone and measure:-- + + "What I am I must not show-- + What I am thou couldst not know-- + Something betwixt heaven and hell-- + Something that neither stood nor fell-- + Something that through thy wit or will + May work thee good--may work thee ill. + Neither substance quite nor shadow, + Haunting lonely moor and meadow, + Dancing; by the haunted spring, + Riding on the whirlwind's wing; + Aping in fantastic fashion + Every change of human passion, + + While o'er our frozen minds they pass, + Like shadows from the mirror'd glass. + Wayward, fickle is our mood, + Hovering betwixt bad and good, + Happier than brief-dated man, + Living twenty times his span; + Far less happy, for we have + Help nor hope beyond the grave! + Man awakes to joy or sorrow; + Ours the sleep that knows no morrow. + This is all that I can show-- + This is all that thou mayest know." + +The White Lady paused, and appeared to await an answer; but, as Halbert +hesitated how to frame his speech, the vision seemed gradually to fade, +and became more and more incorporeal. Justly guessing this to be a +symptom of her disappearance, Halbert compelled himself to say,--"Lady, +when I saw you in the glen, and when you brought back the black book of +Mary Avenel, thou didst say I should one day learn to read it." + +The White Lady replied, + + "Ay! and I taught thee the word and the spell, + To waken me here by the Fairies' Well, + But thou hast loved the heron and hawk, + More than to seek my haunted walk; + And thou hast loved the lance and the sword, + More than good text and holy word; + And thou hast loved the deer to track, + More than the lines and the letters black; + And thou art a ranger of moss and of wood, + And scornest the nurture of gentle blood." + +"I will do so no longer, fair maiden," said Halbert; "I desire to +learn; and thou didst promise me, that when I did so desire, thou +wouldst be my helper; I am no longer afraid of thy presence, and I am +no longer regardless of instruction." As he uttered these words, the +figure of the White Maiden grew gradually as distinct as it had been +at first; and what had well-nigh faded into an ill-defined and +colourless shadow, again assumed an appearance at least of corporeal +consistency, although the hues were less vivid, and the outline of the +figure less distinct and defined--so at least it seemed to +Halbert--than those of an ordinary inhabitant of earth. "Wilt thou +grant my request," he said, "fair Lady, and give to my keeping the +holy book which Mary of Avenel has so often wept for?" + +The White Lady replied: + + "Thy craven fear my truth accused, + Thine idlehood my trust abused; + He that draws to harbour late, + Must sleep without, or burst the gate. + + There is a star for thee which burn'd. + Its influence wanes, its course is turn'd; + Valour and constancy alone + Can bring thee back the chance that's flown." + +"If I have been a loiterer, Lady," answered young Glendinning, "thou +shalt now find me willing to press forward with double speed. Other +thoughts have filled my mind, other thoughts have engaged my heart, +within a brief period--and by Heaven, other occupations shall +henceforward fill up my time. I have lived in this day the space of +years--I came hither a boy--I will return a man--a man, such as may +converse not only with his own kind, but with whatever God permits to +be visible to him. I will learn the contents of that mysterious +volume--I will learn why the Lady of Avenel loved it--why the priests +feared, and would have stolen it--why thou didst twice recover it +from their hands.--What mystery is wrapt in it?--Speak, I conjure +thee!" The lady assumed an air peculiarly sad and solemn, as drooping +her head, and folding her arms on her bosom, she replied: + + "Within that awful volume lies + The mystery of mysteries! + Happiest they of human race, + To whom God has granted grace + + To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, + To lift the latch, and force the way; + And better had they ne'er been born, + Who read, to doubt, or read to scorn." + +"Give me the volume, Lady," said young Glendinning. "They call me +idle--they call me dull--in this pursuit my industry shall not fail, +nor, with God's blessing, shall my understanding. Give me the volume." +The apparition again replied: + + "Many a fathom dark and deep + I have laid the book to sleep; + Ethereal fires around it glowing-- + Ethereal music ever flowing-- + The sacred pledge of Heav'n + All things revere. + Each in his sphere, + Save man for whom 'twas giv'n: + Lend thy hand, and thou shalt spy + Things ne'er seen by mortal eye." + +Halbert Glendinning boldly reached his hand to the White Lady. + +"Fearest thou to go with me?" she said, as his hand trembled at the soft +and cold touch of her own-- + + "Fearest thou to go with me? + Still it is free to thee + A peasant to dwell: + Thou mayst drive the dull steer, + And chase the king's deer, + But never more come near + This haunted well." + +"If what thou sayest be true," said the undaunted boy, "my destinies +are higher than thine own. There shall be neither well nor wood which I +dare not visit. No fear of aught, natural or supernatural, shall bar my +path through my native valley." + +He had scarce uttered the words, when they both descended through the +earth with a rapidity which took away Halbert's breath and every other +sensation, saving that of being hurried on with the utmost velocity. At +length they stopped with a shock so sudden, that the mortal journeyer +through this unknown space must have been thrown down with violence, +had he not been upheld by his supernatural companion. + +It was more than a minute, ere, looking around him, he beheld a +grotto, or natural cavern, composed of the most splendid spars and +crystals, which returned in a thousand prismatic hues the light of a +brilliant flame that glowed on an altar of alabaster. This altar, with +its fire, formed the central point of the grotto, which was of a round +form, and very high in the roof, resembling in some respects the dome +of a cathedral. Corresponding to the four points of the compass, there +went off four long galleries, or arcades, constructed of the same +brilliant materials with the dome itself, and the termination of which +was lost in darkness. + +No human imagination can conceive, or words suffice to describe, the +glorious radiance which, shot fiercely forth by the flame, was +returned from so many hundred thousand points of reflection, afforded +by the sparry pillars and their numerous angular crystals. The fire +itself did not remain steady and unmoved, but rose and fell, sometimes +ascending in a brilliant pyramid of condensed flame half way up the +lofty expanse, and again fading into a softer and more rosy hue, and +hovering, as it were, on the surface of the altar to collect its +strength for another powerful exertion. There was no visible fuel by +which it was fed, nor did it emit either smoke or vapour of any kind. + +What was of all the most remarkable, the black volume so often +mentioned lay not only unconsumed, but untouched in the slightest +degree, amid this intensity of fire, which, while it seemed to be of +force sufficient to melt adamant, had no effect whatever on the sacred +book thus subjected to its utmost influence. + +The White Lady, having paused long enough to let young Glendinning +take a complete survey of what was around him, now said in her usual +chant, + + "Here lies the volume thou boldly hast sought; + Touch it, and take it,--'twill dearly be bought!" + +Familiarized in some degree with marvels, and desperately desirous of +showing the courage he had boasted, Halbert plunged his hand, without +hesitation, into the flame, trusting to the rapidity of the motion, to +snatch out the volume before the fire could greatly affect him. But he +was much disappointed. The flame instantly caught upon his sleeve, and +though he withdrew his hand immediately, yet his arm was so dreadfully +scorched, that he had well-nigh screamed with pain. He suppressed the +natural expression of anguish, however, and only intimated the agony +which he felt by a contortion and a muttered groan. The White Lady +passed her cold hand over his arm, and, ere she had finished the +following metrical chant, his pain had entirely gone, and no mark of +the scorching was visible: + + "Rash thy deed, + Mortal weed + To immortal flames applying; + Rasher trust + Has thing of dust, + On his own weak worth relying: + Strip thee of such fences vain, + Strip, and prove thy luck, again." + +Obedient to what he understood to be the meaning of his conductress, +Halbert bared his arm to the shoulder, throwing down the remains of +his sleeve, which no sooner touched the floor on which he stood than +it collected itself together, shrivelled itself up, and was without +any visible fire reduced to light tinder, which a sudden breath of +wind dispersed into empty space. The White Lady, observing the +surprise of the youth, immediately repeated-- + + "Mortal warp and mortal woof. + Cannot brook this charmed roof; + All that mortal art hath wrought, + In our cell returns to nought. + The molten gold returns to clay, + The polish'd diamond melts away. + All is alter'd, all is flown, + Nought stands fast but truth alone. + Not for that thy quest give o'er: + Courage! prove thy chance once more." + +Imboldened by her words, Halbert Glendinning made a second effort, +and, plunging his bare arm into the flame, took out the sacred volume +without feeling either heat or inconvenience of any kind. Astonished, +and almost terrified at his own success, he beheld the flame collect +itself, and shoot up into one long and final stream, which seemed as +if it would ascend to the very roof of the cavern, and then, sinking +as suddenly, became totally extinguished. The deepest darkness ensued; +but Halbert had no time to consider his situation, for the White Lady +had already caught his hand, and they ascended to upper air with the +same velocity with which they had sunk into the earth. + +They stood by the fountain in the Corri-nan-shian when they emerged +from the bowels of the earth; but on casting a bewildered glance +around him, the youth was surprised to observe, that the shadows had +fallen far to the east, and that the day was well-nigh spent. He gazed +on his conductress for explanation, but her figure began to fade +before his eyes--her cheeks grew paler, her features less distinct, +her form became shadowy, and blended itself with the mist which was +ascending the hollow ravine. What had late the symmetry of form, and +the delicate, yet clear hues of feminine beauty, now resembled the +flitting and pale ghost of some maiden who has died for love, as it is +seen indistinctly and by moonlight, by her perjured lover. + +"Stay, spirit!" said the youth, imboldened by his success in the +subterranean dome, "thy kindness must not leave me, as one encumbered +with a weapon he knows not how to wield. Thou must teach me the art to +read, and to understand this volume; else what avails it me that I +possess it?" + +But the figure of the White Lady still waned before his eye, until it +became an outline as pale and indistinct as that of the moon, when the +winter morning is far advanced, and ere she had ended the following +chant, she was entirely invisible:-- + + "Alas! alas! + Not ours the grace + These holy characters to trace: + Idle forms of painted air, + Not to us is given to share + The boon bestow'd on Adam's race! + With patience bide. + Heaven will provide + The fitting time, the fitting guide." + +The form was already gone, and now the voice itself had melted away in +melancholy cadence, softening, as if the Being who spoke had been slowly +wafted from the spot where she had commenced her melody. + +It was at this moment that Halbert felt the extremity of the terror +which he had hitherto so manfully suppressed. The very necessity of +exertion had given him spirit to make it, and the presence of the +mysterious Being, while it was a subject of fear in itself, had +nevertheless given him the sense of protection being near to him. It +was when he could reflect with composure on what had passed, that a +cold tremor shot across his limbs, his hair bristled, and he was +afraid to look around lest he should find at his elbow something more +frightful than the first vision. A breeze arising suddenly, realized +the beautiful and wild idea of the most imaginative of our modern +bards [Footnote: Coleridge.]-- + + It fann'd his cheek, it raised his hair, + Like a meadow pale in spring; + It mingled strangely with his fears, + Yet it fell like a welcoming. + +The youth stood silent and astonished for a few minutes. It seemed to +him that the extraordinary Being he had seen, half his terror, half +his protectress, was still hovering on the gale which swept past him, +and that she might again make herself sensible to his organs of sight. +"Speak!" he said, wildly tossing his arms, "speak yet again--be once +more present, lovely vision!--thrice have I now seen thee, yet the +idea of thy invisible presence around or beside me, makes my heart +beat faster than if the earth yawned and gave up a demon." + +But neither sound nor appearance indicated the presence of the White +Lady, and nothing preternatural beyond what he had already witnessed, +was again audible or visible. Halbert, in the meanwhile, by the very +exertion of again inviting the presence of this mysterious Being, had +recovered his natural audacity. He looked around once more, and +resumed his solitary path down the valley into whose recesses he had +penetrated. + +Nothing could be more strongly contrasted than the storm of passion +with which he had bounded over stock and crag, in order to plunge +himself into the Corri-nan-shian, and the sobered mood in which he now +returned homeward, industriously seeking out the most practicable +path, not from a wish to avoid danger, but that he might not by +personal toil distract his attention, deeply fixed on the +extraordinary scene which he had witnessed. In the former case, he had +sought by hazard and bodily exertion to indulge at once the fiery +excitation of passion, and to banish the cause of the excitement from +his recollection; while now he studiously avoided all interruption to +his contemplative walk, lest the difficulty of the way should +interfere with, or disturb, his own deep reflections. Thus slowly +pacing forth his course, with the air of a pilgrim rather than of a +deer-hunter, Halbert about the close of the evening regained his +paternal tower. + + + + +Chapter the Thirteenth. + + + The Miller was of manly make, + To meet him was na mows; + There durst na ten come him to take, + Sae noited he their pows. + CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. + +It was after sunset, as we have already stated, when Halbert +Glendinning returned to the abode of his father. The hour of dinner +was at noon, and that of supper about an hour after sunset at this +period of the year. The former had passed without Halbert's +appearing; but this was no uncommon circumstance, for the chase, or +any other pastime which occurred, made Halbert a frequent neglecter of +hours; and his mother, though angry and disappointed when she saw him +not at table, was so much accustomed to his occasional absence, and +knew so little how to teach him more regularity, that a testy +observation was almost all the censure with which such omissions were +visited. + +On the present occasion, however, the wrath of good Dame Elspeth +soared higher than usual. It was not merely on account of the special +tup's head and trotters, the haggis and the side of mutton, with which +her table was set forth, but also because of the arrival of no less a +person than Hob Miller, as he was universally termed, though the man's +name was Happer. + +The object of the Miller's visit to the Tower of Glendearg was like +the purpose of those embassies which potentates send to each other's +courts, partly ostensible, partly politic. In outward show, Hob came +to visit his friends of the Halidome, and share the festivity common +among country folk, after the barn-yard has been filled, and to renew +old intimacies by new conviviality. But in very truth he also came to +have an eye upon the contents of each stack, and to obtain such +information respecting the extent of the crop reaped and gathered in +by each feuar, as might prevent the possibility of _abstracted +multures_. + +All the world knows that the cultivators of each barony or regality, +temporal or spiritual, in Scotland, are obliged to bring their corn to +be grinded at the mill of the territory, for which they pay a heavy +charge, called the _intown multures_. I could speak to the +thirlage of _invecta et illata_ too, but let that pass. I have +said enough to intimate that I talk not without book. Those of the +_Sucken_, or enthralled ground, were liable in penalties, if, +deviating from this thirlage, (or thraldom,) they carried their grain +to another mill. Now such another mill, erected on the lands of a +lay-baron, lay within a tempting and convenient distance of Glendearg; +and the Miller was so obliging, and his charges so moderate, that it +required Hob Miller's utmost vigilance to prevent evasions of his +right of monopoly. + +The most effectual means he could devise was this show of good +fellowship and neighbourly friendship,--under colour of which he made +his annual cruise through the barony--numbered every corn-stack, and +computed its contents by the boll, so that he could give a shrewd hint +afterwards whether or not the grist came to the right mill. + +Dame Elspeth, like her compeers, was obliged to take these domiciliary +visits in the sense of politeness; but in her case they had not +occurred since her husband's death, probably because the Tower of +Glendearg was distant, and there was but a trifling quantity of arable +or _infield_ land attached to it. This year there had been, upon +some speculation of old Martin's, several bolls sown in the +exit-field, which, the season being fine, had ripened remarkably well. +Perhaps this circumstance occasioned the honest Miller's including +Glendearg, on this occasion, in his annual round Dame Glendinning +received with pleasure a visit which she used formerly only to endure +with patience; and she had changed her view of the matter chiefly, if +not entirely, because Hob had brought with him his daughter Mysie, of +whose features she could give so slight an account, but whose dress +she had described so accurately to the Sub-Prior. + +Hitherto this girl had been an object of very trifling consideration +in the eyes of the good widow; but the Sub-Prior's particular and +somewhat mysterious inquiries had set her brains to work on the +subject of Mysie of the Mill; and she had here asked a broad question, +and there she had thrown out an innuendo, and there again she had +gradually led on to a conversation on the subject of poor Mysie. And +from all inquiries and investigations she had collected, that Mysie +was a dark-eyed, laughter-loving wench, with cherry-cheeks, and a skin +as white as her father's finest bolted flour, out of which was made +the Abbot's own wastel-bread. For her temper, she sung and laughed +from morning to night; and for her fortune, a material article, +besides that which the Miller might have amassed by means of his +proverbial golden thumb, Mysie was to inherit a good handsome lump of +land, with a prospect of the mill and mill-acres descending to her +husband on an easy lease, if a fair word were spoken in season to the +Abbot, and to the Prior, and to the Sub-Prior, and to the Sacristan, +and so forth. + +By turning and again turning these advantages over in her own mind, +Elspeth at length came to be of opinion, that the only way to save her +son Halbert from a life of "spur, spear, and snaffle," as they called +that of the border-riders, from the dint of a cloth-yard shaft, or the +loop of an inch-cord, was, that he should marry and settle, and that +Mysie Happer should be his destined bride. + +As if to her wish, Hob Miller arrived on his strong-built mare, +bearing on a pillion behind him the lovely Mysie, with cheeks like a +peony-rose, (if Dame Glendinning had ever seen one,) spirits all +afloat with rustic coquetry, and a profusion of hair as black as +ebony. The _beau-ideal_ which Dame Glendinning had been bodying +forth in her imagination, became unexpectedly realized in the buxom +form of Mysie Happer, whom, in the course of half an hour, she settled +upon as the maiden who was to fix the restless and untutored Halbert. +True, Mysie, as the dame soon saw, was like to love dancing round a +May-pole as well as managing a domestic establishment, and Halbert was +like to break more heads than he would grind stacks of corn. But then +a miller should always be of manly make, and has been described so +since the days of Chaucer and James I. [Footnote: The verse we have +chosen for a motto, is from a poem imputed to James I. of Scotland. As +for the Miller who figures among the Canterbury pilgrims, besides his +sword and buckler, he boasted other attributes, all of which, but +especially the last, show that he relied more on the strength of the +outside than that of the inside of his skull. + + The miller was a stout carl for the nones, + Full big he was of brawn, and eke of bones; + That proved well, for wheresoe'r he cam, + At wrestling he wold bear away the ram; + He was short shoulder'd, broad, a thick gnar; + There n'as no door that he n'old heave of bar, + Or break it at a running with his head, &c. ] + +Indeed, to be able to outdo and bully the whole _Sucken_, (once +more we use this barbarous phrase,) in all athletic exercises, was one +way to render easy the collection of dues which men would have +disputed with a less formidable champion. Then, as to the +deficiencies of the miller's wife, the dame was of opinion that they +might be supplied by the activity of the miller's mother. "I will keep +house for the young folk myself, for the tower is grown very lonely," +thought Dame Glendinning, "and to live near the kirk will be mair +comfortable in my auld age--and then Edward may agree with his brother +about the feu, more especially as he is a favourite with the +Sub-Prior, and then he may live in the auld tower like his worthy +father before him--and wha kens but Mary Avenel, high-blood as she is, +may e'en draw in her stool to the chimney-nook, and sit down here for +good and a'?--It's true she has no tocher, but the like of her for +beauty and sense ne'er crossed my een; and I have kend every wench in +the Halidome of St. Mary's--ay, and their mothers that bore them--ay, +she is a sweet and a lovely creature as ever tied snood over brown +hair--ay, and then, though her uncle keeps her out of her ain for the +present time, yet it is to be thought the gray-goose shaft will find a +hole in his coat of proof, as, God help us! it has done in many a +better man's--And, moreover, if they should stand on their pedigree +and gentle race, Edward might say to them, that is, to her gentle kith +and kin, 'whilk o' ye was her best friend, when she came down the glen +to Glendearg in a misty evening, on a beast mair like a cuddie than +aught else?'--And if they tax him with churl's blood, Edward might +say, that, forby the old proverb, how + + Gentle deed + Makes gentle bleid; + +yet, moreover, there comes no churl's blood from Glendinning or Brydone; +for, says Edward--" + +The hoarse voice of the Miller at this moment recalled the dame from +her reverie, and compelled her to remember that if she meant to +realize her airy castle, she must begin by laying the foundation in +civility to her guest and his daughter, whom she was at that moment +most strangely neglecting, though her whole plan turned on +conciliating their favour and good opinion, and that, in fact, while +arranging matters for so intimate a union with her company, she was +suffering them to sit unnoticed, and in their riding gear, as if about +to resume their journey. "And so I say, dame," concluded the Miller, +(for she had not marked the beginning of his speech,) "an ye be so +busied with your housekep, or ought else, why, Mysie and I will trot +our way down the glen again to Johnnie Broxmouth's, who pressed us +right kindly to bide with him." + +Starting at once from her dream of marriages and intermarriages, +mills, mill-lands, and baronies, Dame Elspeth felt for a moment like +the milk-maid in the fable, when she overset the pitcher, on the +contents of which so many golden dreams were founded. But the +foundation of Dame Glendinning's hopes was only tottering, not +overthrown, and she hastened to restore its equilibrium. Instead of +attempting to account for her absence of mind and want of attention to +her guests, which she might have found something difficult, she +assumed the offensive, like an able general when he finds it +necessary, by a bold attack, to disguise his weakness. + +A loud exclamation she made, and a passionate complaint she set up +against the unkindness of her old friend, who could for an instant +doubt the heartiness of her welcome to him and to his hopeful +daughter; and then to think of his going back to Johnny Broxmouth's, +when the auld tower stood where it did, and had room in it for a +friend or two in the worst of times--and he too a neighbour that his +umquhile gossip Simon, blessed be his cast, used to think the best +friend he had in the Halidome! And on she went, urging her complaint +with so much seriousness, that she had well-nigh imposed on herself as +well as upon Hob Miller, who had no mind to take any thing in dudgeon; +and as it suited his plans to pass the night at Glendearg, would have +been equally contented to do so even had his reception been less +vehemently hospitable. + +To all Elspeth's expostulations on the unkindness of his proposal to +leave her dwelling, he answered composedly, "Nay, dame, what could I +tell? ye might have had other grist to grind, for ye looked as if ye +scarce saw us--or what know I? ye might bear in mind the words Martin +and I had about the last barley ye sawed--for I ken dry multures +[Footnote: Dry multures were a fine, or compensation in money, for not +grinding at the mill of the thirl. It was, and is, accounted a +vexatious exaction.] will sometimes stick in the throat. A man seeks +but his awn, and yet folk shall hold him for both miller and miller's +man, that is millar and knave, [Footnote: The under miller is, in the +language of thirlage, called the knave, which, indeed, signified +originally his lad. (_Knabe_--German,) but by degrees came to be +taken in a worse sense. In the old translation of the Bible, Paul is +made to term himself the knave of our Saviour. The allowance of meal +taken by the miller's servant was called knave-ship.] all the country +over." + +"Alas, that you will say so, neighbour Hob," said Dame Elspeth, "or +that Martin should have had any words with you about the mill-dues! I +will chide him roundly for it, I promise you, on the faith of a true +widow. You know full well that a lone woman is sore put upon by her +servants." + +"Nay, dame," said the miller, unbuckling the broad belt which made +fast his cloak, and served, at the same time, to suspend by his side a +swinging Andrea Ferrara, "bear no grudge at Martin, for I bear none--I +take it on me as a thing of mine office, to maintain my right of +multure, lock, and gowpen. [Note: The multure was the regular +exaction for grinding the meal. The _lock_, signifying a small +quantity, and the _gowpen_, a handful, were additional +perquisites demanded by the miller, and submitted to or resisted by +the _Suckener_ as circumstances permitted. These and other petty +dues were called in general the _Sequels_.] And reason good, for +as the old song says, + + I live by my mill. God bless her, + She's parent, child, and wife. + +The poor old slut, I am beholden to her for my living, and bound to +stand by her, as I say to my mill knaves, in right and in wrong. And +so should every honest fellow stand by his bread-winner.--And so, +Mysie, ye may doff your cloak since our neighbour is so kindly glad to +see us--why, I think, we are as blithe to see her--not one in the +Halidome pays their multures more duly, sequels, arriage, and +carriage, and mill-services, used and wont." + +With that the Miller hung his ample cloak without farther ceremony +upon a huge pair of stag's antlers, which adorned at once the naked +walls of the tower, and served for what we vulgarly call cloak-pins. + +In the meantime Dame Elspeth assisted to disembarrass the damsel whom +she destined for her future daughter-in-law, of her hood, mantle, and +the rest of her riding gear, giving her to appear as beseemed the +buxom daughter of the wealthy Miller, gay and goodly, in a white +kirtle, the seams of which were embroidered with green silken lace or +fringe, entwined with some silver thread. An anxious glance did +Elspoth cast upon the good-humoured face, which was now more fully +shown to her, and was only obscured by a quantity of raven black hair, +which the maid of the mill had restrained by a snood of green silk, +embroidered with silver, corresponding to the trimmings of her kirtle. +The countenance itself was exceedingly comely--the eyes black, large, +and roguishly good-humoured--the mouth was small--the lips well +formed, though somewhat full--the teeth were pearly white--and the +chin had a very seducing dimple in it. The form belonging to this +joyous face was full and round, and firm and fair. It might become +coarse and masculine some years hence, which is the common fault of +Scottish beauty; but in Mysie's sixteenth year she had the shape of a +Hebe. The anxious Elspeth, with all her maternal partiality, could not +help admitting within herself, that a better man than Halbert might go +farther and fare worse. She looked a little giddy, and Halbert was +not nineteen; still it was time he should be settled, for to that +point the dame always returned; and here was an excellent opportunity. + +The simple cunning of Dame Elspeth now exhausted itself in +commendations of her fair guest, from the snood, as they say, to the +single-soled shoe. Mysie listened and blushed with pleasure for the +first five minutes; but ere ten had elapsed, she began to view the old +lady's compliments rather as subjects of mirth than of vanity, and was +much more disposed to laugh at than to be flattered with them, for +Nature had mingled the good-humour with which she had endowed the +damsel with no small portion of shrewdness. Even Hob himself began to +tire of hearing his daughter's praises, and broke in with, "Ay, ay, +she is a clever quean enough; and, were she five years older, she +shall lay a loaded sack on an _aver_ [Note: _Aver_--properly +a horse of labour.] with e'er a lass in the Halidome. But I have been +looking for your two sons, dame. Men say downby that Halbert's turned +a wild springald, and that we may have word of him from Westmoreland +one moonlight night or another." + +"God forbid, my good neighbour; God, in his mercy, forbid!" said Dame +Glendinning, earnestly; for it was touching the very key-note of her +apprehensions, to hint any probability that Halbert might become one +of the marauders so common in the age and country. But, fearful of +having betrayed too much alarm on this subject, she immediately added, +"That though, since the last rout at Pinkiecleuch, she had been all of +a tremble when a gun or a spear was named, or when men spoke of +fighting; yet, thanks to God and our Lady, her sons were like to live +and die honest and peaceful tenants to the Abbey, as their father +might have done, but for that awful hosting which he went forth to +with mony a brave man that never returned." + +"Ye need not tell me of it, dame," said the Miller, "since I was there +myself, and made two pair of legs (and these were not mine, but my +mare's,) worth one pair of hands. I judged how it would be, when I saw +our host break ranks, with rushing on through that broken ploughed +field, and so as they had made a pricker of me, I e'en pricked off +with myself while the play was good." + +"Ay, ay, neighbour," said the dame, "ye were aye a wise and a wary +man; if my Simon had had your wit, he might have been here to speak +about it this day; but he was aye cracking of his good blood and his +high kindred, and less would not serve him than to bide the bang to +the last, with the earls, and knights, and squires, that had no wives +to greet for them, or else had wives that cared not how soon they were +widows; but that is not for the like of us. But touching my son +Halbert, there is no fear of him; for if it should be his misfortune +to be in the like case, he has the best pair of heels in Halidome, and +could run almost as fast as your mare herself." + +"Is this he, neighbour?" quoth the Miller. + +"No," replied the mother; "that is my youngest son, Edward, who can +read and write like the Lord Abbot himself, if it were not a sin to +say so." + +"Ay," said the Miller; "and is that the young clerk the Sub-Prior +thinks so much of? they say he will come far ben that lad; wha kens +but he may come to be Sub-Prior himself?--as broken a ship has come to +land." + +"To be a Prior, neighbour Miller," said Edward, "a man must first be +a priest, and for that I judge I have little vocation." + +"He will take to the pleugh-pettle, neighbour," said the good dame; +"and so will Halbert too, I trust. I wish you saw Halbert.--Edward, +where is your brother?" + +"Hunting, I think," replied Edward; "at least he left us this morning +to join the Laird of Colmslie and his hounds. I have heard them +baying in the glen all day." + +"And if I had heard that music," said the Miller, "it would have done +my heart good, ay, and may be taken me two or three miles out of my +road. When I was the Miller of Morebattle's knave, I have followed +the hounds from Eckford to the foot of Hounam-law--followed them on +foot, Dame Glendinning, ay, and led the chase when the Laird of +Cessford and his gay riders were all thrown out by the mosses and +gills. I brought the stag on my back to Hounam Cross, when the dogs +had pulled him down. I think I see the old gray knight, as he sate so +upright on his strong war-horse, all white with foam; and 'Miller,' +said he to me, 'an thou wilt turn thy back on the mill, and wend with +me, I will make a man of thee.' But I chose rather to abide by clap +and happer, and the better luck was mine; for the proud Percy caused +hang five of the Laird's henchmen at Alnwick for burning a rickle of +houses some gate beyond Fowberry, and it might have been my luck as +well as another man's." + +"Ah, neighbour, neighbour," said Dame Glendinning, "you were aye wise +and wary; but if you like hunting, I must say Halbert's the lad to +please you. He hath all those fair holiday terms of hawk and hound as +ready in his mouth as Tom with the tod's tail, that is the Lord +Abbot's ranger." + +"Ranges he not homeward at dinner-time, dame," demanded the Miller; +"for we call noon the dinner-hour at Kennaquhair?" + +The widow was forced to admit that, even at this important period of +the day, Halbert was frequently absent; at which the Miller shook his +head, intimating, at the same time, some allusion to the proverb of +MacFarlane's geese, which "liked their play better than their +meat." [Footnote: A brood of wild-geese, which long frequented one of +the uppermost islands in Loch-Lomond, called Inch-Tavoe, were supposed +to have some mysterious connexion with the ancient family of +MacFarlane of that ilk, and it is said were never seen after the ruin +and extinction of that house. The MacFarlanes had a house and garden +upon that same island of Inch-Tavoe. Here James VI. was, on one +occasion, regaled by the chieftain. His Majesty had been previously +much amused by the geese pursuing each other on the Loch. But, when +one which was brought to table, was found to be tough and ill fed, +James observed--"that MacFarlane's geese liked their play better than +their meat," a proverb which has been current ever since.] + +That the delay of dinner might not increase the Miller's disposition +to prejudge Halbert, Dame Glendinning called hastily on Mary Avenel to +take her task of entertaining Mysie Happer, while she herself rushed +to the kitchen, and, entering at once into the province of Tibb +Tacket, rummaged among trenchers and dishes, snatched pots from the +fire, and placed pans and gridirons on it, accompanying her own feats +of personal activity with such a continued list of injunctions to +Tibb, that Tibb at length lost patience, and said, "Here was as muckle +wark about meating an auld miller, as if they had been to banquet the +blood of Bruce." But this, as it was supposed to be spoken aside, Dame +Glendinning did not think it convenient to hear. + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Fourteenth. + + + Nay, let me have the friends who eat my victuals, + As various as my dishes.--The feast's naught, + Where one huge plate predominates. John Plaintext, + He shall be mighty beef, our English staple; + The worthy Alderman, a butter'd dumpling; + Yon pair of whisker'd Cornets, ruffs and rees: + Their friend the Dandy, a green goose in sippets. + And so the hoard is spread at once and fill'd + On the same principle--Variety. + NEW PLAY. + +"And what brave lass is this?" said Hob Miller, as Mary Avenel entered +the apartment to supply the absence of Dame Elspeth Glendinning. + +"The young Lady of Avenel, father," said the Maid of the Mill, +dropping as low a curtsy as her rustic manners enabled her to make. +The Miller, her father, doffed his bonnet, and made his reverence, not +altogether so low perhaps as if the young lady had appeared in the +pride of rank and riches, yet so as to give high birth the due homage +which the Scotch for a length of time scrupulously rendered to it. + +Indeed, from having had her mother's example before her for so many +years, and from a native sense of propriety and even of dignity, Mary +Avenel had acquired a demeanour, which marked her title to +consideration, and effectually checked any attempt at familiarity on +the part of those who might be her associates in her present +situation, but could not be well termed her equals. She was by nature +mild, pensive, and contemplative, gentle in disposition, and most +placable when accidentally offended; but still she was of a retired +and reserved habit, and shunned to mix in ordinary sports, even--when +the rare occurrence of a fair or wake gave her an opportunity of +mingling with companions of her own age. If at such scenes she was +seen for an instant, she appeared to behold them with the composed +indifference of one to whom their gaiety was a matter of no interest, +and who seemed only desirous to glide away from the scene as soon as +she possibly could. + +Something also had transpired concerning her being born on All-hallow +Eve, and the powers with which that circumstance was supposed to +invest her over the invisible world. And from all-these particulars +combined, the young men and women of the Halidome used to distinguish +Mary among themselves by the name of the Spirit of Avenel, as if the +fair but fragile form, the beautiful but rather colourless cheek, the +dark blue eye, and the shady hair, had belonged rather to the +immaterial than the substantial world. The general tradition of the +White Lady, who was supposed to wait on the fortunes of the family of +Avenel, gave a sort of zest to this piece of rural wit. It gave great +offence, however, to the two sons of Simon Glendinning; and when the +expression was in their presence applied to the young lady, Edward was +wont to check the petulance of those who used it by strength of +argument, and Halbert by strength of arm. In such cases Halbert had +this advantage, that although ho could render no aid to his brother's +argument, yet when circumstances required it, he was sure to have that +of Edward, who never indeed himself commenced a fray, but, on the +other hand, did not testify any reluctance to enter into combat in +Halbert's behalf or in his rescue. + +But the zealous attachment of the two youths, being themselves, from +the retired situation in which they dwelt, comparative strangers in +the Halidome, did not serve in any degree to alter the feelings of the +inhabitants towards the young lady, who seemed to have dropped amongst +them from another sphere of life. Still, however, she was regarded +with respect, if not with fondness; and the attention of the Sub-Prior +to the family, not to mention the formidable name of Julian Avenel, +which every new incident of those tumultuous times tended to render +more famous, attached to his niece a certain importance. Thus some +aspired to her acquaintance out of pride while the more timid of the +feuars were anxious to inculcate upon their children the necessity of +being respectful to the noble orphan. So that Mary Avenel, little +loved because little known, was regarded with a mysterious awe, partly +derived from fear of her uncle's moss-troopers, and partly from her +own retired and distant habits, enhanced by the superstitious opinions +of the time and country. + +It was not without some portion of this awe, that Mysie felt herself +left alone in company with a young person so distant in rank, and so +different in bearing, from herself; for her worthy father had taken +the first opportunity to step out unobserved, in order to mark how the +barnyard was filled, and what prospect it afforded of grist to the +mill. In youth, however, there is a sort of free-masonry, which, +without much conversation, teaches young persons to estimate each +other's character, and places them at ease on the shortest +acquaintance. It is only when taught deceit by the commerce of the +world, that we learn to shroud our character from observation, and to +disguise our real sentiments from those with whom we are placed in +communion. + +Accordingly, the two young women were soon engaged in such objects of +interest as best became their age. They visited Mary Avenel's pigeons, +which she nursed with the tenderness of a mother; they turned over her +slender stores of finery, which yet contained some articles that +excited the respect of her companion, though Mysie was too +good-humoured to nourish envy. A golden rosary, and some female +ornaments marking superior rank, had been rescued in the moment of +their utmost adversity, more by Tibb Tacket's presence of mind, than +by the care of their owner,--who was at that sad period too much sunk +in grief to pay any attention to such circumstances. They struck +Mysie with a deep impression of veneration; for, excepting what the +Lord Abbot and the convent might possess, she did not believe there +was so much real gold in the world as was exhibited in these few +trinkets, and Mary, however sage and serious, was not above being +pleased with the admiration of her rustic companion. + +Nothing, indeed, could exhibit a stronger contrast than the appearance +of the two girls;--the good-humoured laughter-loving countenance of +the Maid of the Mill, who stood gazing with unrepressed astonishment +on whatever was in her inexperienced eye rare and costly, and with an +humble, and at the same time cheerful acquiescence in her inferiority, +asking all the little queries about the use and value of the +ornaments, while Mary Avenel, with her quiet composed dignity and +placidity of manner, produced them one after another for the amusement +of her companion. + +As they became gradually more familiar, Mysie of the Mill was just +venturing to ask, why Mary Avenel never appeared at the May-pole, and to +express her wonder when the young lady said she disliked dancing, when +a trampling of horses at the gate of the tower interrupted their +conversation. + +Mysie flew to the shot-window in the full ardour of unrestrained female +curiosity. "Saint Mary! sweet lady! here come two well-mounted gallants; +will you step this way to look at them ?" + +"No," said Mary Avenel, "you shall tell me who they are." + +"Well, if you like it better," said Mysie--"but how shall I know +them?---Stay, I do know one of them, and so do you, lady; he is a +blithe man, somewhat light of hand, they say, but the gallants of +these days think no great harm of that. He is your uncle's henchman, +that they call Christie of the Clinthill; and he has not his old green +jerkin and the rusty blackjack over it, but a scarlet cloak, laid down +with silver lace three inches broad, and a breast-plate you might see +to dress your hair in, as well as in that keeking-glass in the ivory +frame that you showed me even now. Come, dear lady, come to the +shot-window and see him." + +"If it be the man you mean, Mysie," replied the orphan of Avenel, "I +shall see him soon enough, considering either the pleasure or comfort +the sight will give me." + +"Nay, but if you will not come to see gay Christie," replied the Maid +of the Mill, her face flushed with eager curiosity, "come and tell me +who the gallant is that is with him, the handsomest, the very +lovesomest young man I ever saw with sight." + +"It is my foster-brother, Halbert Glendinning," said Mary, with, +apparent indifference; for she had been accustomed to call the sons of +Elspeth her foster-brethren, and to live with them as if they had been +brothers in earnest. + +"Nay, by Our Lady, that it is not," said Mysie; "I know the favour of +both the Glendinnings well, and I think this rider be not of our +country. He has a crimson velvet bonnet, and long brown hair falling +down under it, and a beard on his upper lip, and his chin clean and +close shaved, save a small patch on the point of the chin, and a +sky-blue jerkin slashed and lined with white satin, and trunk-hose to +suit, and no weapon but a rapier and dagger--Well, if I was a man, I +would never wear weapon but the rapier! it is so slender and +becoming, instead of having a cartload of iron at my back, like my +father's broad-sword with its great rusty basket-hilt. Do you not +delight in the rapier and poniard, lady?" + +"The best sword," answered Mary, "if I must needs answer a question of +the sort, is that which is drawn in the best cause, and which is best +used when it is out of the scabbard." + +"But can you not guess who this stranger should be?" said Mysie. + +"Indeed, I cannot even attempt it; but to judge by his companion, it is +no matter how little he is known," replied Mary. + +"My benison on his bonny face," said Mysie, "if he is not going to +alight here! Now, I am as much pleased as if my father had given me +the silver earrings he has promised me so often;--nay, you had as well +come to the window, for you must see him by and by whether you will or +not." I do not know how much sooner Mary Avenel might have sought the +point of observation, if she had not been scared from it by the +unrestrained curiosity expressed by her buxom friend; but at length +the same feeling prevailed over her sense of dignity, and satisfied +with having displayed all the indifference that was necessary in point +of decorum, she no longer thought herself bound to restrain her +curiosity. + +From the outshot or projecting window, she could perceive that +Christie of the Clinthill was attended on the present occasion by a +very gay and gallant cavalier, who, from the nobleness of his +countenance and manner, his rich and handsome dress, and the showy +appearance of his horse and furniture, must, she agreed with her new +friend, be a person of some consequence. + +Christie also seemed conscious of something, which made him call out +with more than his usual insolence of manner, "What, ho! so ho! the +house! Churl peasants, will no one answer when I call?--Ho! +Martin,--Tibb,--Dame Glendinning--a murrain on you, must we stand +keeping our horses in the cold here, and they steaming with heat, when +we have ridden so sharply?" + +At length he was obeyed, and old Martin made his appearance. "Ha!" +said Christie, "art thou there, old Truepenny? here, stable me these +steeds, and see them well bedded, and stretch thine old limbs by +rubbing them down; and see thou quit not the stable till there is not +a turned hair on either of them." + +Martin took the horses to the stable as commanded, but suppressed not +his indignation a moment after he could vent it with safety. "Would +not any one think," he said to Jasper, an old ploughman, who, in +coming to his assistance, had heard Christie's imperious injunctions, +"that this loon, this Christie of the Clinthill, was laird or lord at +least of him? No such thing, man! I remember him a little dirty +turnspit boy in the house of Avenel, that every body in a frosty +morning like this warmed his fingers by kicking or cuffing! and now he +is a gentleman, and swears, d--n him and renounce him, as if the +gentlemen could not so much as keep their own wickedness to +themselves, without the like of him going to hell in their very +company, and by the same road. I have as much a mind as ever I had to +my dinner, to go back and tell him to sort his horse himself, since he +is as able as I am." + +"Hout tout, man!" answered Jasper, "keep a calm sough; better to +fleech a fool than fight with him." + +Martin acknowledged the truth of the proverb, and, much comforted +therewith, betook himself to cleaning the stranger's horse with great +assiduity, remarking, it was a pleasure to handle a handsome nag, and +turned over the other to the charge of Jasper. Nor was it until +Christie's commands were literally complied with that he deemed it +proper, after fitting ablutions, to join the party in the spence; not +for the purpose of waiting upon them, as a mere modern reader might +possibly expect, but that he might have his share of dinner in their +company. + +In the meanwhile, Christie had presented his companion to Dame +Glendinning as Sir Piercie Shafton, a friend of his and of his master, +come to spend three or four days with little din in the tower. The +good dame could not conceive how she was entitled to such an honour, +and would fain have pleaded her want of every sort of convenience to +entertain a guest of that quality. But, indeed, the visiter, when he +cast his eyes round the bare walls, eyed the huge black chimney, +scrutinized the meagre and broken furniture of the apartment, and +beheld the embarrassment of the mistress of the family, intimated +great reluctance to intrude upon Dame Glendinning a visit, which could +scarce, from all appearances, prove otherwise than an inconvenience to +her, and a penance to himself. + +But the reluctant hostess and her guest had to do with an inexorable +man, who silenced all expostulations with, "such was his master's +pleasure. And, moreover," he continued, "though the Baron of Avenel's +will must, and ought to prove law to all within ten miles around him, +yet here, dame," he said, "is a letter from your petticoated baron, +the lord-priest yonder, who enjoins you, as you regard his pleasure, +that you afford to this good knight such decent accommodation as is in +your power, suffering him to live as privately as he shall +desire.--And for you, Sir Piercie Shafton," continued Christie, "you +will judge for yourself, whether secrecy and safety is not more your +object even now, than soft beds and high cheer. And do not judge of +the dame's goods by the semblance of her cottage; for you will see by +the dinner she is about to spread for us, that the vassal of the kirk +is seldom found with her basket bare." To Mary Avenel, Christie +presented the stranger, after the best fashion he could, as to the +niece of his master the baron. + +While he thus laboured to reconcile Sir Piercie Shafton to his fate, +the widow, having consulted her son Edward on the real import of the +Lord Abbot's injunction, and having found that Christie had given a +true exposition, saw nothing else left for her but to make that fate +as easy as she could to the stranger. He himself also seemed +reconciled to his lot by some feeling probably of strong necessity, +and accepted with a good grace the hospitality which the dame offered +with a very indifferent one. + +In fact, the dinner, which soon smoked before the assembled guests, +was of that substantial kind which warrants plenty and comfort. Dame +Glendinning had cooked it after her best manner; and, delighted with +the handsome appearance which her good cheer made when placed on the +table, forgot both her plans and the vexations which interrupted them, +in the hospitable duty of pressing her assembled visiters to eat and +drink, watching every trencher as it waxed empty, and loading it with +fresh supplies ere the guest could utter a negative. + +In the meanwhile, the company attentively regarded each other's +motions, and seemed endeavouring to form a judgment of each other's +character. Sir Piercie Shafton condescended to speak to no one but to +Mary Avenel, and on her he conferred exactly the same familiar and +compassionate, though somewhat scornful sort of attention, which a +pretty fellow of these days will sometimes condescend to bestow on a +country miss, when there is no prettier or more fashionable woman +present. The manner indeed was different, for the etiquette of those +times did not permit Sir Piercie Shafton to pick his teeth, or to +yawn, or to gabble like the beggar whose tongue (as he says) was cut +out by the Turks, or to affect deafness or blindness, or any other +infirmity of the organs. But though the embroidery of his conversation +was different, the groundwork was the same, and the high-flown and +ornate compliments with which the gallant knight of the sixteenth +century inter-larded his conversation, were as much the offspring of +egotism and self-conceit, as the jargon of the coxcombs of our own +days. + +The English knight was, however, something daunted at finding that +Mary Avenel listened with an air of indifference, and answered with +wonderful brevity, to all the fine things which ought, as he +conceived, to have dazzled her with their brilliancy, and puzzled her +by their obscurity. But if he was disappointed in making the desired, +or rather the expected impression, upon her whom he addressed, Sir +Piercie Shafton's discourse was marvellous in the ears of Mysie the +Miller's daughter, and not the less so that she did not comprehend the +meaning of a single word which he uttered. Indeed, the gallant +knight's language was far too courtly to be understood by persons of +much greater acuteness than Mysie's. + +It was about this period, that the "only rare poet of his time, the +witty, comical, facetiously-quick, and quickly-facetious, John +Lylly--he that sate at Apollo's table, and to whom Phoebus gave a +wreath of his own bays without snatching" [Footnote: Such, and yet +more extravagant, are the compliments paid to this author by his +editor, Blount. Notwithstanding all exaggeration, Lylly was really a +man of wit and imagination, though both were deformed by the most +unnatural affectation that ever disgraced a printed page.]--he, in +short, who wrote that singularly coxcomical work, called _Euphues +and his England_, was in the very zenith of his absurdity and his +reputation. The quaint, forced, and unnatural style which he +introduced by his "Anatomy of Wit," had a fashion as rapid as it was +momentary--all the court ladies were his scholars, and to _parler +Euphuisme_, was as necessary a qualification to a courtly gallant, +as those of understanding how to use his rapier, or to dance a +measure. + +It was no wonder that the Maid of the Mill was soon as effectually +blinded by the intricacies of this erudite and courtly style of +conversation, as she had ever been by the dust of her father's own +meal-sacks. But there she sate with her mouth and eyes as open as the +mill-door and the two windows, showing teeth as white as her father's +bolted flour, and endeavouring to secure a word or two for her own +future use out of the pearls of rhetoric which Sir Piercie Shafton +scattered around him with such bounteous profusion. + +For the male part of the company, Edward felt ashamed of his own +manner and slowness of speech, when he observed the handsome young +courtier, with an ease and volubility of which he had no conception, +run over all the commonplace topics of high-flown gallantry. It is +true the good sense and natural taste of young Glendinning soon +informed him that the gallant cavalier was speaking nonsense. But, +alas! where is the man of modest merit, and real talent, who has not +suffered from being outshone in conversation and outstripped in the +race of life, by men of less reserve, and of qualities more showy, +though less substantial? and well constituted must the mind be, that +can yield up the prize without envy to competitors more worthy than +himself. + +Edward Glendinning had no such philosophy. While he despised the +jargon of the gay cavalier, he envied the facility with which he could +run on, as well as the courtly tone and expression, and the perfect +ease and elegance with which he offered all the little acts of +politeness to which the duties of the table gave opportunity. And if I +am to speak truth, I must own that he envied those qualities the more +as they were all exercised in Mary Avenel's service, and, although +only so far accepted as they could not be refused, intimated a wish on +the stranger's part to place himself in her good graces, as the only +person in the room to whom he thought it worth while to recommend +himself. His title, rank, and very handsome figure, together with some +sparks of wit and spirit which flashed across the cloud of nonsense +which he uttered, rendered him, as the words of the old song say, "a +lad for a lady's viewing;" so that poor Edward, with all his real +worth and acquired knowledge, in his home-spun doublet, blue cap, and +deerskin trowsers, looked like a clown beside the courtier, and, +feeling the full inferiority, nourished no good-will to him by whom he +was eclipsed. + +Christie, on the other hand, as soon as he had satisfied to the full a +commodious appetite, by means of which persons of his profession +could, like the wolf and eagle, gorge themselves with as much food at +one meal as might serve them for several days, began also to feel +himself more in the back-ground than he liked to be. This worthy had, +amongst his other good qualities, an excellent opinion of himself; +and, being of a bold and forward disposition, had no mind to be thrown +into the shade by any one. With an impudent familiarity which such +persons mistake for graceful ease, he broke in upon the knight's +finest speeches with as little remorse as he would have driven the +point of his lance through a laced doublet. Sir Piercie Shafton, a +man of rank and high birth, by no means encouraged or endured this +familiarity, and requited the intruder either with total neglect, or +such laconic replies as intimated a sovereign contempt for the rude +spearman, who affected to converse with him upon terms of equality. + +The Miller held his peace; for, as his usual conversation turned +chiefly on his clapper and toll-dish, he had no mind to brag of his +wealth in presence of Christie of the Clinthill, or to intrude his +discourse on the English cavalier. + +A little specimen of the conversation may not be out of place, were it +but to show young ladies what fine things they have lost by living when +Euphuism is out of fashion. + +"Credit me, fairest lady," said the knight, "that such is the cunning +of our English courtiers, of the hodiernal strain, that, as they have +infinitely refined upon the plain and rusticial discourse of our +fathers, which, as I may say, more beseemed the mouths of country +roisterers in a May-game than that of courtly gallants in a galliard, +so I hold it ineffably and unutterably impossible, that those who may +succeed us in that garden of wit and courtesy shall alter or amend it. +Venus delighted but in the language of Mercury, Bucephalus will stoop +to no one but Alexander, none can sound Apollo's pipe but Orpheus." + +"Valiant sir," said Mary, who could scarcely help laughing, "we have +but to rejoice in the chance which hath honoured this solitude with a +glimpse of the sun of courtesy, though it rather blinds than +enlightens us." + +"Pretty and quaint, fairest lady," answered the Euphuist. "Ah, that I +had with me my Anatomy of Wit--that all-to-be-unparalleled +volume--that quintessence of human wit--that treasury of quaint +invention--that exquisitively-pleasant-to-read, and +inevitably-necessary-to-be-remembered manual, of all that is worthy to +be known--which indoctrines the rude in civility, the dull in +intellectuality, the heavy in jocosity, the blunt in gentility, the +vulgar in nobility, and all of them in that unutterable perfection, of +human utterance, that eloquence which no other eloquence is sufficient +to praise, that art which, when we call it by its own name of +Euphuism, we bestow on it its richest panegyric." + +"By Saint Mary," said Christie of the Clinthill, "if your worship had +told me that you had left such stores of wealth as you talk of at +Prudhoe Castle, Long Dickie and I would have had them off with us if +man and horse could have carried them; but you told us of no treasure +I wot of, save the silver tongs for turning up your mustachoes." + +The knight treated this intruder's mistake--for certainly Christie had +no idea that all these epithets which sounded so rich and splendid, +were lavished upon a small quarto volume--with a stare, and then +turning again to Mary Avenel, the only person whom he thought worthy +to address, he proceeded in his strain of high-flown oratory, "Even +thus," said he, "do hogs contemn the splendour of Oriental pearls; +even thus are the delicacies of a choice repast in vain offered to the +long-eared grazer of the common, who turneth from them to devour a +thistle. Surely as idle is it to pour forth the treasures of oratory +before the eyes of the ignorant, and to spread the dainties of the +intellectual banquet before those who are, morally and metaphysically +speaking, no better than asses." + +"Sir Knight, since that is your quality," said Edward, "we cannot +strive with you in loftiness of language; but I pray you in fair +courtesy, while you honour my father's house with your presence, to +spare us such vile comparisons." + +"Peace, good villagio," said the knight, gracefully waving his hand, +"I prithee peace, kind rustic; and you, my guide, whom I may scarce +call honest, let me prevail upon you to imitate the laudable +taciturnity of that honest yeoman, who sits as mute as a mill-post, +and of that comely damsel, who seems as with her ears she drank in +what she did not altogether comprehend, even as a palfrey listening to +a lute, whereof, howsoever, he knoweth not the gamut." + +"Marvellous fine words," at length said Dame Glendinning, who began +to be tired of sitting so long silent, "marvellous fine words, neighbour +Happer, are they not?" + +"Brave words--very brave words--very exceeding pyet words," answered +the Miller; "nevertheless, to speak my mind, a lippy of bran were worth +a bushel of them." + +"I think so too, under his worship's favour," answered Christie of the +Clinthill. "I well remember that at the race of Morham, as we call it, +near Berwick, I took a young Southern fellow out of saddle with my +lance, and cast him, it might be, a gad's length from his nag; and so, +as he had some gold on his laced doublet, I deemed he might ha' the +like on it in his pocket too, though that is a rule that does not aye +hold good--So I was speaking to him of ransom, and out he comes with a +handful of such terms as his honour there hath gleaned up, and craved +me for mercy, as I was a true son of Mars, and such like." + +"And obtained no mercy at thy hand, I dare be sworn," said the knight, +who deigned not to speak Euphuism excepting to the fair sex. + +"By my troggs," replied Christie, "I would have thrust my lance down +his throat, but just then they flung open that accursed postern-gate, +and forth pricked old Hunsdon, and Henry Carey, and as many fellows at +their heels as turned the chase northward again. So I e'en pricked +Bayard with the spur, and went off with the rest; for a man should +ride when he may not wrestle, as they say in Tynedale." + +"Trust me," said the knight, again turning to Mary Avenel, "if I do +not pity you, lady, who, being of noble blood, are thus in a manner +compelled to abide in the cottage of the ignorant, like the precious +stone in the head of the toad, or like a precious garland on the brow +of an ass.--But soft, what gallant have we here, whose garb savoureth +more of the rustic than doth his demeanour, and whose looks seem more +lofty than his habit; even as--" + +"I pray you, Sir Knight," said Mary, "to spare your courtly similitudes +for refined ears, and give me leave to name unto you my foster-brother, +Halbert Glendinning." + +"The son of the good dame of the cottage, as I opine," answered the +English knight; "for by some such name did my guide discriminate the +mistress of this mansion, which you, madam, enrich with your +presence.--And yet, touching this juvenal, he hath that about him +which belongeth to higher birth, for all are not black who dig +coals--" + +"Nor all white who are millers," said honest Happer, glad to get in a +word, as they say, edgeways. + +Halbert, who had sustained the glance of the Englishman with some +impatience, and knew not what to make of his manner and language, +replied with some asperity, "Sir Knight, we have in this land of +Scotland an ancient saying, 'Scorn not the bush that bields you'--you +are a guest of my father's house to shelter you from danger, if I am +rightly informed by the domestics. Scoff not its homeliness, nor that +of its inmates--ye might long have abidden at the court of England, +ere we had sought your favour, or cumbered you with our society. Since +your fate has sent you hither amongst us, be contented with such fare +and such converse as we can afford you, and scorn us not for our +kindness; for the Scots wear short patience and long daggers." + +All eyes were turned on Halbert while he was thus speaking, and there +was a general feeling that his countenance had an expression of +intelligence, and his person an air of dignity, which they had never +before observed. Whether it were that the wonderful Being with whom +he had so lately held communication, had bestowed on him a grace and +dignity of look and bearing which he had not before, or whether the +being conversant in high matters, and called to a destiny beyond that +of other men, had a natural effect in giving becoming confidence to +his language and manner, we pretend not to determine. But it was +evident to all, that, from this day, young Halbert was an altered man; +that he acted with the steadiness, promptitude, and determination, +which belonged to riper years, and bore himself with a manner which +appertained to higher rank. + +The knight took the rebuke with good humour. "By my mine honour," he +said, "thou hast reason on thy side, good juvenal--nevertheless, I +spoke not as in ridicule of the roof which relieves me, but rather in +your own praise, to whom, if this roof be native, thou mayst +nevertheless rise from its lowliness; even as the lark, which maketh +its humble nest in the furrow, ascendeth towards the sun, as well as +the eagle which buildeth her eyry in the cliff." + +This high-flown discourse was interrupted by Dame Glendinning, who, +with all the busy anxiety of a mother, was loading her son's trencher +with food, and dinning in his ear her reproaches on account of his +prolonged absence. "And see," she said, "that you do not one day get +such a sight while you are walking about among the haunts of them that +are not of our flesh and bone, as befell Mungo Murray when he slept on +the greensward ring of the Auld Kirkhill at sunset, and wakened at +daybreak in the wild hills of Breadalbane. And see that, when you are +looking for deer, the red stag does not gall you as he did Diccon +Thorburn, who never overcast the wound that he took from a buck's +horn. And see, when you go swaggering about with a long broadsword by +your side, whilk it becomes no peaceful man to do, that you dinna meet +with them that have broadsword and lance both--there are enow of rank +riders in this land, that neither fear God nor regard man." + +Here her eye "in a fine frenzy rolling," fell full upon that of +Christie of the Clinthill, and at once her fears for having given +offence interrupted the current of maternal rebuke, which, like rebuke +matrimonial, may be often better meant than timed. There was something +of sly and watchful significance in Christie's eye, an eye gray, keen, +fierce, yet wily, formed to express at once cunning, and malice, which +made the dame instantly conjecture she had said too much, while she +saw in imagination her twelve goodly cows go lowing down the glen in a +moonlight night, with half a score of Border spearsmen at their heels. + +Her voice, therefore, sunk from the elevated tone of maternal +authority into a whimpering apologetic sort of strain, and she +proceeded to say, "It is no that I have ony ill thoughts of the Border +riders, for Tibb Tacket there has often heard me say that I thought +spear and bridle as natural to a Borderman as a pen to a priest, or a +feather-fan to a lady; and--have you not heard me say it, Tibb?" + +Tibb showed something less than her expected alacrity in attesting her +mistress's deep respect for the freebooters of the southland hills; +but, thus conjured, did at length reply, "Hout ay, mistress, I'se +warrant I have heard you say something like that." + +"Mother!" said Halbert, in a firm and commanding tone of voice, "what +or whom is it that you fear under my father's roof?--I well hope that +it harbours not a guest in whose presence you are afraid to say your +pleasure to me or my brother? I am sorry I have been detained so late, +being ignorant of the fair company which I should encounter on my +return.--I pray you let this excuse suffice: and what satisfies you, +will, I trust, be nothing less than acceptable to your guests." + +An answer calculated so jistly betwixt the submission due to his +parent, and the natural feeling of dignity in one who was by birth +master of the mansion, excited universal satisfaction. And as Elspeth +herself confessed to Tibb on the same evening, "She did not think it +had been in the callant. Till that night, he took pets and passions +if he was spoke to, and lap through the house like a four-year-auld at +the least word of advice that was minted at him, but now he spoke as +grave and as douce as the Lord Abbot himself. She kendna," she said, +"what might be the upshot of it, but it was like he was a wonderfu' +callant even now." + +The party then separated, the young men retiring to their apartments, +the elder to their household cares. While Christie went to see his horse +properly accommodated, Edward betook himself to his book, and Halbert, +who was as ingenious in employing his hands as he had hitherto appeared +imperfect in mental exertion, applied himself to constructing a place of +concealment in the floor of his apartment by raising a plank, beneath +which he resolved to deposit that copy of the Holy Scriptures which had +been so strangely regained from the possession of men and spirits. + +In the meanwhile Sir Piercie Shafton sate still as a stone, in the +chair in which he had deposited himself, his hands folded on his +breast, his legs stretched straight out before him and resting upon +the heels, his eyes cast up to the ceiling as if he had meant to count +every mesh of every cobweb with which the arched roof was canopied, +wearing at the same time a face of as solemn and imperturbable +gravity, as if his existence had depended on the accuracy of his +calculation. + +He could scarce be roused from his listless state of contemplative +absorption so as to take some supper, a meal at which the younger +females appeared not. Sir Piercie stared around twice or thrice as if +he missed something; but he asked not for them, and only evinced his +sense of a proper audience being wanting, by his abstraction and +absence of mind, seldom speaking until he was twice addressed, and +then replying, without trope or figure, in that plain English which +nobody could speak better when he had a mind. + +Christie, finding himself in undisturbed possession of the +conversation, indulged all who chose to listen with details of his own +wild and inglorious warfare, while Dame Elspeth's curch bristled with +horror, and Tibb Tacket, rejoiced to find herself once more in the +company of a jackman, listened to his tales, like Desdemona to +Othello's, with undisguised delight. Meantime the two young +Glendinnings were each wrapped up in his own reflections, and only +interrupted in them by the signal to move bedward. + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Fifteenth. + + + He strikes no coin,'tis true, but coins new phrases, + And vends them forth as knaves vend gilded counters, + Which wise men scorn, and fools accept in payment. + OLD PLAY. + +In the morning Christie of the Clinthill was nowhere to be seen. As this +worthy personage did seldom pique himself on sounding a trumpet before +his movements, no one was surprised at his moonlight departure, though +some alarm was excited lest he had not made it empty-handed. So, in the +language of the national ballad, + + Some ran to cupboard, and some to kist, + But nought was away that could be mist. + +All was in order, the key of the stable left above the door, and that +of the iron-grate in the inside of the lock. In short, the retreat had +been made with scrupulous attention to the security of the garrison, +and so far Christie left them nothing to complain of. + +The safety of the premises was ascertained by Halbert, who instead of +catching up a gun or cross-bow, and sallying out for the day as had +been his frequent custom, now, with a gravity beyond his years, took a +survey of all around the tower, and then returned to the spence, or +public apartment, in which, at the early hour of seven, the morning +meal was prepared. + +There he found the Euphuist in the same elegant posture of abstruse +calculation which he had exhibited on the preceding evening, his arms +folded in the same angle, his eyes turned up to the same cobwebs, and +his heels resting on the ground as before. Tired of this affectation +of indolent importance, and not much flattered with his guest's +persevering in it to the last, Halbert resolved at once to break the +ice, being determined to know what circumstance had brought to the +tower of Glendinning a guest at once so supercilious and so silent. + +"Sir Knight," he said with some firmness, "I have twice given you good +morning, to which the absence of your mind hath, I presume, prevented +you from yielding attention, or from making return. This exchange of +courtesy is at your pleasure to give or withhold--But, as what I have +further to say concerns your comfort and your motions in an especial +manner, I will entreat you to give me some signs of attention, that I +may be sure I am not wasting my words on a monumental image." + +At this unexpected address, Sir Piercie Shafton opened his eyes, and +afforded the speaker a broad stare; but as Halbert returned the glance +without either confusion or dismay, the knight thought proper to +change his posture, draw in his legs, raise his eyes, fix them on +young Glendinning, and assume the appearance of one who listens to +what is said to him. Nay, to make his purpose more evident, he gave +voice to his resolution in these words, "Speak! we do hear." + +"Sir Knight," said the youth, "it is the custom of this Halidome, or +patrimony of St. Mary's, to trouble with inquiries no guests who +receive our hospitality, providing they tarry in our house only for a +single revolution of the sun. We know that both criminals and debtors +come hither for sanctuary, and we scorn to extort from the pilgrim, +whom chance may make our guest, an avowal of the cause of his +pilgrimage and penance. But when one so high above our rank as +yourself, Sir Knight, and especially one to whom the possession of +such pre-eminence is not indifferent, shows his determination to be +our guest for a longer time, it is our usage to inquire of him whence +he comes, and what is the cause of his journey?" + +The English knight gaped twice or thrice before he answered, and then +replied in a bantering tone, "Truly, good villagio, your question hath +in it somewhat of embarrassment, for you ask me of things concerning +which I am not as yet altogether determined what answer I may find it +convenient to make. Let it suffice thee, kind juvenal, that thou hast +the Lord Abbot's authority for treating me to the best of that power +of thine, which, indeed, may not always so well suffice for my +accommodation as either of us would desire." + +"I must have a more precise answer than this, Sir Knight," said the +young Glendinning. + +"Friend," said the knight, "be not outrageous. It may suit your +northern manners thus to press harshly upon the secrets of thy +betters; but believe me, that even as the lute, struck by an unskilful +hand, doth produce discords, so----" At this moment the door of the +apartment opened, and Mary Avenel presented herself--"But who can talk +of discords," said the knight, assuming his complimentary vein and +humour, "when the soul of harmony descends upon us in the presence of +surpassing beauty! For even as foxes, wolves, and other animals void +of sense and reason, do fly from the presence of the resplendent sun +of heaven when he arises in his glory, so do strife, wrath, and all +ireful passions retreat, and, as it were, scud away, from the face +which now beams upon us, with power to compose our angry passions, +illuminate our errors and difficulties, soothe our wounded minds, and +lull to rest our disorderly apprehensions; for as the heat and warmth +of the eye of day is to the material and physical world, so is the eye +which I now bow down before to that of the intellectual microcosm." + +He concluded with a profound bow; and Mary Avenel, gazing from one to +the other, and plainly seeing that something was amiss, could only +say, "For heaven's sake, what is the meaning of this?" + +The newly-acquired tact and intelligence of her foster-brother was as +yet insufficient to enable him to give an answer. He was quite +uncertain how he ought to deal with a guest, who preserving a +singularly high tone of assumed superiority and importance, seemed +nevertheless so little serious in what he said, that it was quite +impossible to discern with accuracy whether he was in jest or earnest. + +Forming, however, the internal resolution to bring Sir Piercie Shafton +to a reckoning at a more fit place and season, he resolved to +prosecute the matter no farther at present; and the entrance of his +mother with the damsel of the Mill, and the return of the honest +Miller from the stack-yard, where he had been numbering and +calculating the probable amount of the season's grist, rendered +farther discussion impossible for the moment. + +In the course of the calculation it could not but strike the man of +meal and grindstones, that after the church's dues were paid, and +after all which he himself could by any means deduct from the crop, +still the residue which must revert to Dame Glendinning could not be +less than considerable. I wot not if this led the honest Miller to +nourish any plans similar to those adopted by Elspeth; but it is +certain that he accepted with grateful alacrity an invitation which +the dame gave to his daughter, to remain a week or two as her guest at +Glendearg. + +The principal persons being thus in high good humour with each other, +all business gave place to the hilarity of the morning repast; and so +much did Sir Piercie appear gratified by the attention which was paid +to every word that he uttered by the nut-brown Mysie, that, +notwithstanding his high birth and distinguished quality, he bestowed +on her some of the more ordinary and second-rate tropes of his +elocution. + +Mary Avenel, when relieved from the awkwardness of feeling the full +weight of his conversation addressed to herself, enjoyed it much more; +and the good knight, encouraged by those conciliating marks of +approbation from the sex, for whose sake he cultivated his oratorical +talents, made speedy intimation of his purpose to be more +communicative than he had shown himself in his conversation with +Halbert Glendinning, and gave them to understand, that it was in +consequence of some pressing danger that he was at present their +involuntary guest. + +The conclusion of the breakfast was a signal for the separation of the +company. The Miller went to prepare for his departure; his daughter to +arrange matters for her unexpected stay; Edward was summoned to +consultation by Martin concerning some agricultural matter, in which +Halbert could not be brought to interest himself; the dame left the +room upon her household concerns, and Mary was in the act of following +her, when she suddenly recollected, that if she did so, the strange +knight and Halbert must be left alone together, at the risk of another +quarrel. + +The maiden no sooner observed this circumstance, than she instantly +returned from the door of the apartment, and, seating herself in a +small stone window-seat, resolved to maintain that curb which she was +sensible her presence imposed on Halbert Glendinning, of whose quick +temper she had some apprehensions. + +The stranger marked her motions, and, either interpreting them as +inviting his society, or obedient to those laws of gallantry which +permitted him not to leave a lady in silence and solitude, he +instantly placed himself near to her side and opened the conversation +as follows:-- + +"Credit me, fair lady" he said, addressing Mary Avenel, "it much +rejoiceth me, being, as I am, a banished man from the delights of mine +own country, that I shall find here in this obscure and silvan cottage +of the north, a fair form and a candid soul, with whom I may explain +my mutual sentiments. And let me pray you in particular, lovely lady, +that, according to the universal custom now predominant in our court, +the garden of superior wits, you will exchange with me some epithet +whereby you may mark my devotion to your service. Be henceforward +named, for example, my Protection, and let me be your Affability." + +"Our northern and country manners, Sir Knight, do not permit us to +exchange epithets with those to whom we are strangers," replied Mary +Avenel. + +"Nay, but see now," said the knight, "how you are startled! even as +the unbroken steed, which swerves aside from the shaking of a +handkerchief, though he must in time encounter the waving of a pennon. +This courtly exchange of epithets of honour, is no more than the +compliments which pass between valour and beauty, wherever they meet, +and under whatever circumstances. Elizabeth of England herself calls +Philip Sydney her Courage, and he in return calls that princess his +Inspiration. Wherefore, my fair Protection, for by such epithet it +shall be mine to denominate you--" + +"Not without the young lady's consent, sir!" interrupted Halbert; +"most truly do I hope your courtly and quaint breeding will not so far +prevail over the more ordinary rules of civil behaviour." + +"Fair tenant of an indifferent copyhold," replied the knight, with the +same coolness and civility of mien, but in a tone somewhat more lofty +than he used to the young lady, "we do not in the southern parts, much +intermingle discourse, save with those with whom we may stand on some +footing of equality; and I must, in all discretion, remind you, that +the necessity which makes us inhabitants of the same cabin, doth not +place us otherwise on a level with each other." + +"By Saint Mary," replied young Glendinning, "it is my thought that it +does; for plain men hold, that he who asks the shelter is indebted to +him who gives it; and so far, therefore, is our rank equalized while +this roof covers us both." + +"Thou art altogether deceived," answered Sir Piercie; "and that thou +mayst fully adapt thyself to our relative condition, know that I +account not myself thy guest, but that of thy master, the Lord Abbot +of Saint Mary's, who, for reasons best known to himself and me, +chooseth to administer his hospitality to me through the means of +thee, his servant and vassal, who art, therefore, in good truth, as +passive an instrument of my accommodation as this ill-made and rugged +joint-stool on which I sit, or as the wooden trencher from which I eat +my coarse commons. Wherefore," he added, turning to Mary, "fairest +mistress, or rather, as I said before, most lovely Protection--" +[Footnote: There are many instances to be met with in the ancient +dramas of this whimsical and conceited custom of persons who formed an +intimacy, distinguishing: each, other by some quaint epithet. In +_Every Man out of his Humour_, there is a humorous debate upon +names most fit to bind the relation betwixt Sogliardo and Cavaliero +Shift, which ends by adopting those of Countenance and Resolution. +What is more to the point is in the speech of Hedon, a voluptuary and +a courtier in _Cynthia's Revels_. "you know that I call Madam +Plilantia my _Honour,_ and she calls me her _Ambition._ Now, +when I meet her in the presence, anon, I will come to her and say, +'Sweet Honour, I have hitherto contented my sense with the lilies of +your hand, and now I will taste the roses of your lip.' To which she +cannot but blushing answer, 'Nay, now you are too ambitious;' and then +do I reply, 'I cannot be too ambitious of Honour, sweet lady. Wilt not +be good?'"--I think there is some remnant of this foppery preserved in +masonic lodges, where each brother is distinguished by a name in the +Lodge, signifying some abstract quality as Discretion, or the like. +See the poems of Gavin Wilson.] + +Mary Avenel was about to reply to him, when the stern, fierce, and +resentful expression of voice and countenance with which Halbert +exclaimed, "not from the King of Scotland, did he live, would I brook +such terms!" induced her to throw herself between him and the +stranger, exclaiming, "for God's sake, Halbert, beware what you do!" + +"Fear not, fairest Protection," replied Sir Piercie, with the utmost +serenity, "that I can be provoked by this rustical and mistaught +juvenal to do aught misbecoming your presence or mine own dignity; for +as soon shall the gunner's linstock give fire unto the icicle, as the +spark of passion inflame my blood, tempered as it is to serenity by +the respect due to the presence of my gracious Protection." + +"You may well call her your protection, Sir Knight" said Halbert; "by +Saint Andrew, it is the only sensible word I have heard you speak! But +we may meet where her protection shall no longer afford you shelter." + +"Fairest Protection," continued the courtier, not even honouring with +a look, far less with a direct reply, the threat of the incensed +Halbert, "doubt not that thy faithful Affability will be more commoved +by the speech of this rudesby, than the bright and serene moon is +perturbed by the baying of the cottage-cur, proud of the height of his +own dunghill, which, in his conceit, lifteth him nearer unto the +majestic luminary." + +To what lengths so unsavoury a simile might have driven Halbert's +indignation, is left uncertain; for at that moment Edward rushed into +the apartment with the intelligence that two most important officers +of the Convent, the Kitchener and Refectioner, were just arrived with +a sumpter-mule, loaded with provisions, announcing that the Lord +Abbot, the Sub-Prior, and the Sacristan, were on their way thither. A +circumstance so very extraordinary had never been recorded in the +annals of Saint Mary's, or in the traditions of Glendearg, though +there was a faint legendary report that a certain Abbot had dined +there in old days, after having been bewildered in a hunting +expedition amongst the wilds which lie to the northward. But that the +present Lord Abbot should have taken a voluntary journey to so wild +and dreary a spot, the very Kamtschatka of the Halidome, was a thing +never dreamt of; and the news excited the greatest surprise in all the +members of the family saving Halbert alone. + +This fiery youth was too full of the insult he had received to think +of anything as unconnected with it. "I am glad of it," he exclaimed; +"I am glad the Abbot comes hither. I will know of him by what right +this stranger is sent hither to domineer over us under our father's +roof, as if we were slaves and not freemen. I will tell the proud +priest to his beard--" + +"Alas! alas! my brother," said Edward, "think what these words may +cost thee!" + +"And what will, or what can they cost me," said Halbert, "that I should +sacrifice my human feelings and my justifiable resentment to the fear of +what the Abbot can do?" + +"Our mother--our mother!" exclaimed Edward; "think, if she is deprived +of her home, expelled from her property, how can you amend what +your rashness may ruin?" + +"It is too true, by Heaven!" said Halbert, striking his forehead. +Then, stamping his foot against the floor to express the full energy +of the passion to which he dared no longer give vent, he turned round +and left the apartment. + +Mary Avenel looked at the stranger knight, while she was endeavouring +to frame a request that he would not report the intemperate violence +of her foster-brother to the prejudice of his family, in the mind of +the Abbot. But Sir Piercie, the very pink of courtesy, conjectured her +meaning from her embarrassment, and waited not to be entreated. + +"Credit me, fairest Protection," said he, "your Affability is less +than capable of seeing or hearing, far less of reciting or +reiterating, aught of an unseemly nature which may have chanced while +I enjoyed the Elysium of your presence. The winds of idle passion may +indeed rudely agitate the bosom of the rude; but the heart of the +courtier is polished to resist them. As the frozen lake receives not +the influence of the breeze, even so--" + +The voice of Dame Glendinning, in shrill summons, here demanded Mary +Avenel's attendance, who instantly obeyed, not a little glad to escape +from the compliments and similes of this courtlike gallant. Nor was it +apparently less a relief on his part; for no sooner was she past the +threshold of the room, than he exchanged the look of formal and +elaborate politeness which had accompanied each word he had uttered +hitherto, for an expression of the utmost lassitude and ennui; and +after indulging in one or two portentous yawns, broke forth into a +soliloquy. + +"What the foul fiend sent this wench hither? As if it were not +sufficient plague to be harboured in a hovel that would hardly serve +for a dog's kennel in England, baited by a rude peasant-boy, and +dependent on the faith of a mercenary ruffian, but I cannot even have +time to muse over my own mishap, but must come aloft, frisk, fidget, +and make speeches, to please this pale hectic phantom, because she has +gentle blood in her veins? By mine honour, setting prejudice aside, +the mill-wench is the more attractive of the two--But patienza, +Piercie Shafton; thou must not lose thy well-earned claim to be +accounted a devout servant of the fair sex, a witty-brained, prompt, +and accomplished courtier. Rather thank heaven, Piercie Shafton, which +hath sent thee a subject, wherein, without derogating from thy rank, +(since the honours of the Avenel family are beyond dispute,) thou +mayest find a whetstone for thy witty compliments, a strop whereon to +sharpen thine acute engine, a butt whereat to shoot the arrows of thy +gallantry. For even as a Bilboa blade, the more it is rubbed, the +brighter and the sharper will it prove, so--But what need I waste my +stock of similitudes in holding converse with myself?--Yonder comes +the monkish retinue, like some half score of crows winging their way +slowly up the valley--I hope, a'gad, they have not forgotten my +trunk-mails of apparel amid the ample provision they have made for +their own belly-timber--Mercy, a'gad, I were finely helped up if the +vesture has miscarried among the thievish Borderers!" + +Stung by this reflection, he ran hastily down stairs, and caused his +horse to be saddled, that he might, as soon as possible, ascertain +this important point, by meeting the Lord Abbot and his retinue as +they came up the glen. He had not ridden a mile before he met them +advancing with the slowness and decorum which became persons of their +dignity and profession. The knight failed not to greet the Lord Abbot +with all the formal compliments with which men of rank at that period +exchanged courtesies. He had the good fortune to find that his mails +were numbered among the train of baggage which attended upon the +party; and, satisfied in that particular, he turned his horse's head, +and accompanied the Abbot to the Tower of Glendearg. + +Great, in the meanwhile, had been the turmoil of the good Dame Elspeth +and her coadjutors, to prepare for the fitting reception of the Father +Lord Abbot and his retinue. The monks had indeed taken care not to +trust too much to the state of her pantry; but she was not the less +anxious to make such additions as might enable her to claim the thanks +of her feudal lord and spiritual father. Meeting Halbert, as, with his +blood on fire, he returned from his altercation with her guest, she +commanded him instantly to go forth to the hill, and not to return +without venison; reminding him that he was apt enough to go thither +for his own pleasure, and must now do so for the credit of the house. + +The Miller, who was now hastening his journey homewards, promised to +send up some salmon by his own servant. Dame Elspeth, who by this time +thought she had guests enough, had begun to repent of her invitation +to poor Mysie, and was just considering by what means, short of giving +offence, she could send off the Maid of the Mill behind her father, +and adjourn all her own aerial architecture till some future +opportunity, when this unexpected generosity on the part of the sire +rendered any present attempt to return his daughter on his hands too +highly ungracious to be farther thought on. So the Miller departed +alone on his homeward journey. + +Dame Elspeth's sense of hospitality proved in this instance its own +reward; for Mysie had dwelt too near the Convent to be altogether +ignorant of the noble art of cookery, which her father patronized to +the extent of consuming on festival days such dainties as his daughter +could prepare in emulation of the luxuries of the Abbot's kitchen. +Laying aside, therefore, her holiday kirtle, and adopting a dress more +suitable to the occasion, the good-humored maiden bared her snowy arms +above the elbows; and, as Elspeth acknowledged, in the language of the +time and country, took "entire and aefauld part with her" in the +labours of the day; showing unparalleled talent, and indefatigable +industry, in the preparation of _mortreux_, _blanc-manger_, +and heaven knows what delicacies besides, which Dame Glendinning, +unassisted by her skill, dared not even have dreamt of presenting. +Leaving this able substitute in the kitchen, and regretting that Mary +Avenel was so brought up, that she could intrust nothing to her care, +unless it might be seeing the great chamber strewed with rushes, and +ornamented with such flowers and branches as the season afforded, Dame +Elspeth hastily donned her best attire, and with a beating heart +presented herself at the door of her little tower, to make her +obeisance to the Lord Abbot as he crossed her humble threshold. Edward +stood by his mother, and felt the same palpitation, which his +philosophy was at a loss to account for. He was yet to learn how long +it is ere our reason is enabled to triumph over the force of external +circumstances, and how much our feelings are affected by novelty, and +blunted by use and habit. + +On the present occasion, he witnessed with wonder and awe the approach +of some half-score of riders, sober men upon sober palfreys, muffled +in their long black garments, and only relieved by their white +scapularies, showing more like a funeral procession than aught else, +and not quickening their pace beyond that which permitted easy +conversation and easy digestion. The sobriety of the scene was indeed +somewhat enlivened by the presence of Sir Piercie Shafton, who, to +show that his skill in the manege was not inferior to his other +accomplishments, kept alternately pressing and checking his gay +courser, forcing him to piaffe, to caracole, to passage, and to do all +the other feats of the school, to the great annoyance of the Lord +Abbot, the wonted sobriety of whose palfrey became at length +discomposed by the vivacity of its companion, while the dignitary kept +crying out in bodily alarm, "I do pray you--Sir Knight--good now, Sir +Piercie--Be quiet, Benedict, there is a good steed--soh, poor fellow" +and uttering all the other precatory and soothing exclamations by +which a timid horseman usually bespeaks the favour of a frisky +companion, or of his own unquiet nag, and concluding the bead-roll +with a sincere _Deo gratias_ so soon as he alighted in the +court-yard of the Tower of Glendearg. + +The inhabitants unanimously knelt down to kiss the hand of the Lord +Abbot, a ceremony which even the monks were often condemned to. Good +Abbot Boniface was too much fluttered by the incidents of the latter +part of his journey, to go through this ceremony with much solemnity, +or indeed with much patience. He kept wiping his brow with a +snow-white handkerchief with one hand, while another was abandoned to +the homage of his vassals; and then signing the cross with his +outstretched arm, and exclaiming, "Bless ye--bless ye, my children" he +hastened into the house, and murmured not a little at the darkness and +steepness of the rugged winding stair, whereby he at length scaled the +spence destined for his entertainment, and, overcome with fatigue, +threw himself, I do not say into an easy chair, but into the easiest +the apartment afforded. + + + + +Chapter the Sixteenth. + + + A courtier extraordinary, who by diet + Of meats and drinks, his temperate exercise, + Choice music, frequent bath, his horary shifts + Of shirts and waistcoats, means to immortalize + Mortality itself, and makes the essence + Of his whole happiness the trim of court. + MAGNETIC LADY. + + +When the Lord Abbot had suddenly and superciliously vanished from the +eyes of his expectant vassals, the Sub-Prior made amends for the +negligence of his principal, by the kind and affectionate greeting +which he gave to all the members of the family, but especially to Dame +Elspeth, her foster-daughter, and her son Edward. "Where," he even +condescended to inquire, "is that naughty Nimrod, Halbert?--He hath +not yet, I trust, turned, like his great prototype, his hunting-spear +against man!" + +"O no, an it please your reverence," said Dame Glendinning, "Halbert +is up at the glen to get some venison, or surely he would not have been +absent when such a day of honour dawned upon me and mine." + +"Oh, to get savoury meat, such as our soul loveth," muttered the +Sub-Prior; "it has been at times an acceptable gift.--I bid you good +morrow, my good dame, as I must attend upon his lordship the Father +Abbot." + +"And O, reverend sir," said the good widow, detaining him, "if it +might be your pleasure to take part with us if there is any thing +wrong; and if there is any thing wanted, to say that it is just +coming, or to make some excuses your learning best knows how. Every +bit of vassail and silver work have we been spoiled of since Pinkie +Cleuch, when I lost poor Simon Glendinning, that was the warst of a'." + +"Never mind--never fear," said the Sub-Prior, gently extricating his +garment from the anxious grasp of Dame Elspeth, "the Refectioner has +with him the Abbot's plate and drinking cups; and I pray you to believe +that whatever is short in your entertainment will be deemed amply made +up in your good-will." + +So saying, he escaped from her and went into the spence, where such +preparations as haste permitted were making for the noon collation of +the Abbot and the English knight. Here he found the Lord Abbot, for +whom a cushion, composed of all the plaids in the house, had been +unable to render Simon's huge elbow-chair a soft or comfortable place +of rest. + +"Benedicite!" said Abbot Boniface, "now marry fie upon these hard +benches with all my heart--they are as uneasy as the _scabella_ +of our novices. Saint Jude be with us, Sir Knight, how have you +contrived to pass over the night in this dungeon? An your bed was no +softer than your seat, you might as well have slept on the stone couch +of Saint Pacomius. After trotting a full ten miles, a man needs a +softer seat than has fallen to my hard lot." + +With sympathizing faces, the Sacristan and the Refectioner ran to +raise the Lord Abbot, and to adjust his seat to his mind, which was at +length accomplished in some sort, although he continued alternately to +bewail his fatigue, and to exult in the conscious sense of having +discharged an arduous duty. "You errant cavaliers," said he, +addressing the knight, "may now perceive that others have their +travail and their toils to undergo as well as your honoured faculty. +And this I will say for myself and the soldiers of Saint Mary, among +whom I may be termed captain, that it is not our wont to flinch from +the heat of the service, or to withdraw from the good fight. No, by +Saint Mary!--no sooner did I learn that you were here, and dared +not for certain reasons come to the Monastery, where, with as good +will, and with more convenience, we might have given you a better +reception, than, striking the table with my hammer, I called a +brother--Timothy, said I, let them saddle Benedict--let them saddle my +black palfrey, and bid the Sub-Prior and some half-score of attendants +be in readiness tomorrow after matins--we would ride to +Glendearg.--Brother Timothy stared, thinking, I imagine, that his ears +had scarce done him justice--but I repeated my commands, and said, Let +the Kitchener and Refectioner go before to aid the poor vassals to +whom the place belongs in making a suitable collation. So that you +will consider, good Sir Piercie, our mutual in commodities, and +forgive whatever you may find amiss" + +"By my faith," said Sir Piercie Shafton, "there is nothing to +forgive--If you spiritual warriors have to submit to the grievous +incommodities which your lordship narrates, it would ill become me, a +sinful and secular man, to complain of a bed as hard as a board, of +broth which relished as if made of burnt wool, of flesh, which, in its +sable and singed shape, seemed to put me on a level with Richard +Coeur-de-Lion,--when he ate up the head of a Moor carbonadoed, and of +other viands savouring rather of the rusticity of this northern +region." + +"By the good Saints, sir," said the Abbot, somewhat touched in point +of his character for hospitality, of which he was in truth a most +faithful and zealous professor, "it grieves me to the heart that you +have found our vassals no better provided for your reception--Yet I +crave leave to observe, that if Sir Piercie Shafton's affairs had +permitted him to honour with his company our poor house of Saint +Mary's, he might have had less to complain of in respect of +easements." + +"To give your lordship the reasons," said Sir Piercie Shafton, "why I +could not at this present time approach your dwelling, or avail myself +of its well-known and undoubted hospitality, craves either some delay, +or," looking around him, "a limited audience." + +The Lord Abbot immediately issued his mandate to the Refectioner: "Hie +thee to the kitchen, Brother Hilarius, and there make inquiry of our +brother the Kitchener, within what time he opines that our collation +may be prepared, since sin and sorrow it were, considering the +hardships of this noble and gallant knight, no whit mentioning +or--weighing those we ourselves have endured, if we were now either to +advance or retard the hour of refection beyond the time when the +viands are fit to be set before us." + +Brother Hilarius parted with an eager alertness to execute the will of +his Superior, and returned with the assurance, that punctually at one +afternoon would the collation be ready. + +"Before that time," said the accurate Refectioner, "the wafers, +flamms, and pastry-meat, will scarce have had the just degree of fire +which learned pottingers prescribe as fittest for the body; and if it +should be past one o'clock, were it but ten minutes, our brother the +Kitchener opines, that the haunch of venison would suffer in spite of +the skill of the little turn-broche whom he has recommended to your +holiness by his praises." + +"How!" said the Abbot, "a haunch of venison!--from whence comes that +dainty? I remember not thou didst intimate its presence in thy hamper +of vivers." + +"So please your holiness and lordship," said the Refectioner, "he is a +son of the woman of the house who has shot it and sent it in--killed +but now; yet, as the animal heat hath not left the body, the Kitchener +undertakes it shall eat as tender as a young chicken--and this youth +hath a special gift in shooting deer, and never misses the heart or +the brain; so that the blood is not driven through the flesh, as +happens too often with us. It is a hart of grease--your holiness has +seldom seen such a haunch." + +"Silence, Brother Hilarius," said the Abbot, wiping his mouth; "it is +not beseeming our order to talk of food so earnestly, especially as we +must oft have our animal powers exhausted by fasting, and be +accessible (as being ever mere mortals) to those signs of longing" (he +again wiped his mouth) "which arise on the mention of victuals to an +hungry man.--Minute down, however, the name of that youth--it is +fitting merit should be rewarded, and he shall hereafter be a +_frater ad succurrendum_ in the kitchen and buttery." + +"Alas! reverend Father and my good lord," replied the Refectioner, "I +did inquire after the youth, and I learn he is one who prefers the +casque to the cowl, and the sword of the flesh to the weapons of the +spirit." + +"And if it be so," said the Abbot, "see that thou retain him as a +deputy-keeper and man-at-arms, and not as a lay brother of the +Monastery--for old Tallboy, our forester, waxes dim-eyed, and hath +twice spoiled a noble buck, by hitting him unwarily on the haunch. Ah! +'tis a foul fault, the abusing by evil-killing, evil-dressing, +evil-appetite, or otherwise, the good creatures indulged to us for our +use. Wherefore, secure us the service of this youth, Brother Hilarius, +in the way that may best suit him.--And now, Sir Piercie Shafton, +since the fates have assigned us a space of well-nigh an hour, ere we +dare hope to enjoy more than the vapour or savour of our repast, may I +pray you, of your courtesy, to tell me the cause of this visit; and, +above all, to inform us, why you will not approach our more pleasant +and better furnished _hospitium_?" + +"Reverend Father, and my very good lord," said Sir Piercie Shafton, +"it is well known to your wisdom, that there are stone walls which +have ears, and that secrecy is to be looked to in matters which +concern a man's head." The Abbot signed to his attendants, excepting +the Sub-Prior, to leave the room, and then said, "Your valour, Sir +Piercie, may freely unburden yourself before our faithful friend and +counsellor Father Eustace, the benefits of whose advice we may too +soon lose, inasmuch as his merits will speedily recommend him to an +higher station, in which we trust he may find the blessing of a friend +and adviser as valuable as himself, since I may say of him, as our +claustral rhyme goeth,[Footnote: The rest of this doggerel rhyme may +be found in Fosbrooke's Learned work on British Monachism.] + + 'Dixit Abbas ad Prioris, + Tu es homo boni moris, + Quia semper sanioris + Mihi das concilia.' + +Indeed," he added, "the office of Sub-Prior is altogether beneath our +dear brother; nor can we elevate him unto that of Prior, which, for +certain reasons, is at present kept vacant amongst us. Howbeit, Father +Eustace is fully possessed of my confidence, and worthy of yours, and +well may it be said of him, _Intravit in secretis nostris_." + +Sir Piercie Shafton bowed to the reverend brethren, and, heaving a +sigh, as if he would burst his steel cuirass, he thus commenced his +speech:-- + +"Certes, reverend sirs, I may well heave such a suspiration, who have, +as it were, exchanged heaven for purgatory, leaving the lightsome +sphere of the royal court of England for a remote nook in this +inaccessible desert--quitting the tilt-yard, where I was ever ready +among my compeers to splinter a lance, either for the love of honour, +or for the honour of love, in order to couch my knightly spear against +base and pilfering besognios and marauders--exchanging the lighted +halls, wherein I used nimbly to pace the swift coranto, or to move +with a loftier grace in the stately galliard, for this rugged and +decayed dungeon of rusty-coloured stone--quitting the gay theatre, for +the solitary chimney-nook of a Scottish dog-house--bartering the +sounds of the soul-ravishing lute, and the love-awaking viol-de-gamba, +for the discordant squeak of a northern bagpipe--above all, exchanging +the smiles of those beauties, who form a gay galaxy around the throne +of England, for the cold courtesy of an untaught damsel, and the +bewildered stare of a miller's maiden. More might I say of the +exchange of the conversation of gallant knights and gay courtiers of +mine own order and capacity, whose conceits are bright and vivid as +the lightning, for that of monks and churchmen--but it were +discourteous to urge that topic." + +The Abbot listened to this list of complaints with great round eyes, +which evinced no exact intelligence of the orator's meaning; and when +the knight paused to take breath, he looked with a doubtful and +inquiring eye at the Sub-Prior, not well knowing in what tone he +should reply to an exordium so extraordinary. The Sub-Prior +accordingly stepped in to the relief of his principal. + +"We deeply sympathize with you, Sir Knight, in the several +mortifications and hardships to which fate has subjected you, +particularly in that which has thrown you into the society of those, +who, as they were conscious they deserved not such an honour, so +neither did they at all desire it. But all this goes little way to +expound the cause of this train of disasters, or, in plainer words, +the reason which has compelled you into a situation having so few +charms for you." + +"Gentle and reverend sir," replied the knight, "forgive an unhappy +person, who, in giving a history of his miseries, dilateth upon them +extremely, even as he who, having fallen from a precipice, looketh +upward to measure the height from which he hath been precipitated." + +"Yea, but," said Father Eustace, "methinks it were wiser in him to tell +those who come to lift him up, which of his bones have been broken." + +"You, reverend sir," said the knight, "have, in the encounter of our +wits, made a fair attaint; whereas I may be in some sort said to have +broken my staff across. [Footnote: _Attaint_ was a term of +tilting used to express the champion's having _attained_ his +mark, or, in other words, struck his lance straight and fair against +the helmet or breast of his adversary. Whereas to break the lance +across, intimated a total failure in directing the point of the weapon +on the object of his aim.] Pardon me, grave sir, that I speak in the +language of the tilt-yard, which is doubtless strange to your reverend +years.--Ah! brave resort of the noble, the fair and the gay!--Ah! +throne of love, and citadel of honour!--Ah! celestial beauties, by +whose bright eyes it is graced! Never more shall Piercie Shafton +advance, as the centre of your radiant glances, couch his lance, and +spur his horse at the sound of the spirit-stirring trumpets, nobly +called the voice of war--never more shall he baffle his adversary's +encounter boldly, break his spear dexterously, and ambling around the +lovely circle, receive the rewards with which beauty honours +chivalry!" + +Here he paused, wrung his hands, looked upwards, and seemed lost in +contemplation of his own fallen fortunes. + +"Mad, very mad," whispered the Abbot to the Sub-Prior; "I would we +were fairly rid of him; for, of a truth, I expect he will proceed from +raving to mischief--Were it not better to call up the rest of the +brethren?" + +But the Sub-Prior knew better than his Superior how to distinguish the +jargon of affectation from the ravings of insanity, and although the +extremity of the knight's passion seemed altogether fantastic, yet he +was not ignorant to what extravagancies the fashion of the day can +conduct its votaries. + +Allowing, therefore, two minutes' space to permit the knight's +enthusiastic feelings to exhaust themselves, he again gravely reminded +him that the Lord Abbot had taken a journey, unwonted to his age and +habits, solely to learn in what he could serve Sir Piercie +Shafton--that it was altogether impossible he could do so without his +receiving distinct information of the situation in which he had now +sought refuge in Scotland.--"The day wore on," he observed, looking at +the window; "and if the Abbot should be obliged to return to the +Monastery without obtaining the necessary intelligence, the regret +might be mutual, but the inconvenience was like to be all on Sir +Piercie's own side." + +The hint was not thrown away. + +"O, goddess of courtesy!" said the knight, "can I so far have +forgotten thy behests as to make this good prelate's ease and time a +sacrifice to my vain complaints! Know, then, most worthy, and not less +worshipful, that I, your poor visitor and guest, am by birth nearly +bound to the Piercie of Northumberland, whose fame is so widely blown +through all parts of the world where English worth hath been known. +Now, this present Earl of Northumberland, of whom I propose to give +you the brief history----" + +"It is altogether unnecessary," said the Abbot; "we know him to be a +good and true nobleman, and a sworn upholder of our Catholic faith, in +the spite of the heretical woman who now sits upon the throne of +England. And it is specially as his kinsman, and as knowing that ye +partake with him in such devout and faithful belief and adherence to +our holy Mother Church, that we say to you, Sir Piercie Shafton, that +ye be heartily welcome to us, and that, and we wist how, we would +labour to do you good service in your extremity." + +"For such kind offer I rest your most humble debtor," said Sir +Piercie, "nor need I at this moment say more than that my Right +Honourable Cousin of Northumberland, having devised with me and some +others, the choice and picked spirits of the age, how and by what +means the worship of God, according to the Catholic Church, might be +again introduced into this distracted kingdom of England, (even as one +deviseth, by the assistance of his friend, to catch and bridle a +runaway steed,) it pleased him so deeply to intrust me in those +communications, that my personal safety becomes, as it were, entwined +or complicated therewith. Natheless, as we have had sudden reason to +believe, this Princess Elizabeth, who maintaineth around her a sort of +counsellors skilful in tracking whatever schemes may be pursued for +bringing her title into challenge, or for erecting again the +discipline of the Catholic Church, has obtained certain knowledge of +the trains which we had laid before we could give fire unto them. +Wherefore, my Right Honourable Cousin of Northumberland, thinking it +best belike that one man should take both blame and shame for the +whole, did lay the burden of all this trafficking upon my back; which +load I am the rather content to bear, in that he hath always shown +himself my kind and honourable kinsman, as well as that my estate, I +wot not how, hath of late been somewhat insufficient to maintain the +expense of those braveries, wherewith it is incumbent on us, who are +chosen and selected spirits, to distinguish ourselves from the +vulgar." + +"So that possibly," said the Sub-Prior, "your private affairs rendered a +foreign journey less incommodious to you than it might have been to the +noble earl, your right worthy cousin?" + +"You are right, reverend sir," answered the courtier; "_rem +acu_--you have touched the point with a needle--My cost and +expenses had been indeed somewhat lavish at the late triumphs and +tourneys, and the flat-capp'd citizens had shown themselves unwilling +to furnish my pocket for new gallantries for the honour of the nation, +as well as for mine own peculiar glory--and, to speak truth, it was in +some part the hope of seeing these matters amended that led me to +desire a new world in England." + +"So that the miscarriage of your public enterprise, with the +derangement of your own private affairs," said the Sub-Prior, "have +induced you to seek Scotland as a place of refuge?" + +"_Rem acu_, once again," said Sir Piercie; and not without good +cause, since my neck, if I remained, might have been brought within +the circumstances of a halter--and so speedy was my journey northward, +that I had but time to exchange my peach-coloured doublet of Genoa +velvet, thickly laid over with goldsmith's work, for this cuirass, +which was made by Bonamico of Milan, and travelled northward with all +speed, judging that I might do well to visit my Right Honourable +Cousin of Northumberland, at one of his numerous castles. But as I +posted towards Alnwick, even with the speed of a star, which, darting +from its native sphere, shoots wildly downwards, I was met at +Northallerton by one Henry Vaughan, a servant of my right honourable +kinsman, who showed me, that as then I might not with safety come to +his presence, seeing that, in obedience to orders from his court, he +was obliged to issue out letters for my incarceration." + +"This," said the Abbot, "seems but hard measure on the part of your +honourable kinsman." + +"It might be so judged, my lord," replied Sir Piercie; "nevertheless, +I will stand to the death for the honour of my Right Honourable Cousin +of Northumberland. Also, Henry Vaughan gave me, from my said cousin, a +good horse, and a purse of gold, with two Border-prickers, as they are +called, for my guides, who conducted me, by such roads and by-paths as +have never been seen since the days of Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristrem, +into this kingdom of Scotland, and to the house of a certain baron, or +one who holds the style of such, called Julian Avenel, with whom I +found such reception as the place and party could afford." + +"And that," said the Abbot, "must have been right wretched; for to +judge from the appetite which Julian showeth when abroad, he hath not, I +judge, over-abundant provision at home." + +"You are right, sir--your reverence is in the right," continued Sir +Piercie; "we had but lenten fare, and, what was worse, a score to +clear at the departure; for though this Julian Avenel called us to no +reckoning, yet he did so extravagantly admire the fashion of my +poniard--the _poignet_ being of silver exquisitely hatched, and +indeed the weapon being altogether a piece of exceeding rare device +and beauty--that in faith I could not for very shame's sake but pray +his acceptance of it; words which he gave me not the trouble of +repeating twice, before he had stuck it into his greasy buff-belt, +where, credit me, reverend sir, it showed more like a butcher's knife +than a gentleman's dagger." + +"So goodly a gift might at least have purchased you a few days' +hospitality," said Father Eustace. + +"Reverend sir," said Sir Piercie, "had I abidden with him, I should +have been complimented out of every remnant of my wardrobe--actually +flayed, by the hospitable gods I swear it! Sir, he secured my spare +doublet, and had a pluck at my galligaskins--I was enforced to beat a +retreat before I was altogether unrigged. That Border knave, his +serving man, had a pluck at me too, and usurped a scarlet cassock and +steel cuirass belonging to the page of my body, whom I was fain to +leave behind me. In good time I received a letter from my Right +Honourable Cousin, showing me that he had written to you in my behalf, +and sent to your charge two mails filled with wearing apparel--namely, +my rich crimson silk doublet, slashed out and lined with cloth of +gold, which I wore at the last revels, with baldric and trimmings to +correspond--also two pair black silk slops, with hanging garters of +carnation silk--also the flesh-coloured silken doublet, with the +trimmings of fur, in which I danced the salvage man at the Gray's-Inn +mummery--also----" + +"Sir Knight," said the Sub-Prior, "I pray you to spare the farther +inventory of your wardrobe. The monks of Saint Mary's are no +free-booting barons, and whatever part of your vestments arrived at +our house, have been this day faithfully brought hither, with the +mails which contained them. I may presume from what has been said, as +we have indeed been, given to understand by the Earl of +Northumberland, that your desire is to remain for the present as +unknown and as unnoticed, as may be consistent with your high worth +and distinction?" + +"Alas, reverend father!" replied the courtier, "a blade when it is in +the scabbard cannot give lustre, a diamond when it is in the casket +cannot give light, and worth, when it is compelled by circumstances to +obscure itself, cannot draw observation--my retreat can only attract +the admiration of those few to whom circumstances permit its +displaying itself." + +"I conceive now, my venerable father and lord," said the Sub-Prior, +"that your wisdom will assign such a course of conduct to this noble +knight, as may be alike consistent with his safety, and with the weal +of the community. For you wot well, that perilous strides have been +made in these audacious days, to the destruction of all ecclesiastical +foundations, and that our holy community has been repeatedly menaced. +Hitherto they have found no flaw in our raiment; but a party, friendly +as well to the Queen of England, as to the heretical doctrines of the +schismatical church, or even to worse and wilder forms of heresy, +prevails now at the court of our sovereign, who dare not yield to her +suffering clergy the protection she would gladly extend to them." + +"My lord, and reverend sir," said the knight, "I will gladly relieve +you of my presence, while ye canvass this matter at your freedom; and +to speak truly, I am desirous to see in what case the chamberlain of +my noble kinsman hath found my wardrobe, and how he hath packed the +same, and whether it has suffered from the journey--there are four +suits of as pure and elegant device as ever the fancy of a fair lady +doated upon, every one having a treble, and appropriate change of +ribbons, trimmings, and fringes, which, in case of need, may as it +were renew each of them, and multiply the four into twelve.--There is +also my sad-coloured riding-suit, and three cut-work shirts with +falling bands--I pray you, pardon me--I must needs see how matters +stand with them without farther dallying." + +Thus speaking, he left the room; and the Sub-Prior, looking after him +significantly, added, "Where the treasure is will the heart be also." + +"Saint Mary preserve our wits!" said the Abbot, stunned with the +knight's abundance of words; "were man's brains ever so stuffed with +silk and broadcloth, cut-work, and I wot not what besides! And what +could move the Earl of Northumberland to assume for his bosom +counsellor, in. matters of death and danger, such a feather-brained +coxcomb as this?" + +"Had he been other than what he is, venerable father," said the +Sub-Prior, "he had been less fitted for the part of scape-goat, to which +his Right Honourable Cousin had probably destined him from the +commencement, in case of their plot failing. I know something of this +Piercie Shafton. The legitimacy of his mother's descent from the +Piercie family, the point on which he is most jealous, hath been +called in question. If hairbrained courage, and an outrageous spirit +of gallantry, can make good his pretensions to the high lineage he +claims, these qualities have never been denied him. For the rest, he +is one of the ruffling gallants of the time, like Howland Yorke, +Stukely, + +[Footnote: "Yorke," says Camden, "was a Londoner, a man of +loose and dissolute behaviour, and desperately audacious--famous in +his time amongst the common bullies and swaggerers, as being the first +that, to the great admiration of many at his boldness, brought into +England the bold and dangerous way of fencing with the rapier in +duelling. Whereas, till that time, the English used to fight with long +swords and bucklers, striking with the edge, and thought it no part of +man either to push or strike beneath the girdle. + +Having a command in the Low Countries, Yorke revolted to the +Spaniards, and died miserably, poisoned, as was supposed, by his new +allies. Three years afterwards, his bones were dug up and gibbeted by +the command of the States of Holland. + +Thomas Stukely, another distinguished gallant of the time, was bred a +merchant, being the son of a rich clothier in the west. He wedded the +daughter and heiress of a wealthy alderman of London, named Curtis, +after whose death he squandered the riches he thus acquired in all +manner of extravagance. His wife, whose fortune supplied his waste, +represented to him that he ought to make more of her. Stukely replied, +"I will make as much of thee, believe me, as it is possible for any to +do;" and he kept his word in one sense, having stripped her even of +her wearing apparel, before he finally ran away from her. + +Having fled to Italy, he contrived to impose upon the Pope, with a +plan of invading Ireland, for which he levied soldiers, and made some +preparations, but ended by engaging himself and his troops in the +service of King Sebastian of Portugal. He sailed with that prince on +his fatal voyage to Barbary, and fell with him at the battle of +Alcazar. + +Stukely, as one of the first gallants of the time, has had the honour +to be chronicled in song, in Evans' Old Ballads, vol. iii, edition +1810. His fate is also introduced in a tragedy, by George Peel, as has +been supposed, called the Battle of Alcazar, from which play Dryden is +alleged to have taken the idea of Don Sebastian; if so, it is +surprising he omitted a character so congenial to King Charles the +Second's time as the witty, brave, and profligate Thomas Stukely.] + +and others, who wear out their fortunes, and endanger their lives, in +idle braveries, in order that they may be esteemed the only choice +gallants of the time; and afterwards endeavour to repair their +estate, by engaging in the desperate plots and conspiracies which +wiser heads have devised. To use one of his own conceited similitudes, +such courageous fools resemble hawks, which the wiser conspirator +keeps hooded and blinded on his wrist until the quarry is on the wing, +and who are then flown at them." + +"Saint Mary," said the Abbot, "he were an evil guest to introduce into +our quiet household. Our young monks make bustle enough, and more than +is beseeming God's servants, about their outward attire already--this +knight were enough to turn their brains, from the _Vestiarius_ +down to the very scullion boy." + +"A worse evil might follow," said the Sub-Prior: "in these bad days, +the patrimony of the church is bought and sold, forfeited and +distrained, as if it were the unhallowed soil appertaining to a +secular baron. Think what penalty awaits us, were we convicted of +harbouring a rebel to her whom they call the Queen of England! There +would neither be wanting Scottish parasites to beg the lands of the +foundation, nor an army from England to burn and harry the Halidome. +The men of Scotland were once Scotsmen, firm and united in the love of +their country, and throwing every other consideration aside when the +frontier was menaced--now they are--what shall I call them--the one +part French, the other part English, considering their dear native +country merely as a prize-fighting stage, upon which foreigners are +welcome to decide their quarrels." + +"Benedictine!" replied the Abbot, "they are indeed slippery and evil +times." + +"And therefore," said Father Eustace, "we must walk warily--we must +not, for example, bring this man--this Sir Piercie Shafton, to our +house of Saint Mary's." + +"But how then shall we dispose of him?" replied the Abbot; "bethink +thee that he is a sufferer for holy Church's sake--that his patron, +the Earl of Northumberland, hath been our friend, and that, lying so +near us, he may work us weal or wo according as we deal with his +kinsman." + +"And, accordingly," said the Sub-Prior, "for these reasons, as well as +for discharge of the great duty of Christian charity, I would protect +and relieve this man. Let him not go back to Julian Avenel--that +unconscientious baron would not stick to plunder the exiled +stranger--Let him remain here--the spot is secluded, and if the +accommodation be beneath his quality, discovery will become the less +likely. We will make such means for his convenience as we can devise." + +"Will he be persuaded, thinkest thou?" said the Abbot; "I will leave +my own travelling bed for his repose, and send up a suitable +easy-chair." + +"With such easements," said the Sub-Prior, "he must not complain; and +then, if threatened by any sudden danger, he can soon come down to the +sanctuary, where we will harbour him in secret until means can be +devised of dismissing him in safety." + +"Were we not better," said the Abbot, "send him on to the court, and +get rid of him at once?" + +"Ay, but at the expense of our friends--this butterfly may fold his +wings, and lie under cover in the cold air of Glendearg; but were he +at Holyrood, he would, did his life depend on it, expand his spangled +drapery in the eyes of the queen and court--Rather than fail of +distinction, he would sue for love to our gracious sovereign--the eyes +of all men would be upon him in the course of three short days, and +the international peace of the two ends of the island endangered for a +creature, who, like a silly moth, cannot abstain from fluttering round +a light." + +"Thou hast prevailed with me, Father Eustace," said the Abbot, "and it +will go hard but I improve on thy plan--I will send up in secret, not +only household stuff, but wine and wassell-bread. There is a young +swankie here who shoots venison well. I will give him directions to +see that the knight lacks none." + +"Whatever accommodation he can have, which infers not a risk of +discovery," said the Sub-Prior, "it is our duty to afford him." + +"Nay," said the Abbot, "we will do more, and will instantly despatch a +servant express to the keeper of our revestiary to send us such things +as he may want, even this night. See it done, good father." + +"I will," answered Father Eustace; "but I hear the gull clamorous for +some one to truss his points.[Footnote: The points were the strings of +cord or ribbon, (so called, because _pointed_ with metal like the +laces of women's stays,) which attached the doublet to the hose. They +were very numerous, and required assistance to tie them properly, +which was called _trussing_.] He will be fortunate if he lights +on any one here who can do him the office of groom of the chamber." + +"I would he would appear," said the Abbot, "for here comes the +Refectioner with the collation--By my faith, the ride hath given me a +sharp appetite!" + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Seventeenth. + + + I'll seek for other aid--Spirits, they say, + Flit round invisible, as thick as motes + Dance in the sunbeam. If that spell + Or necromancer's sigil can compel them, + They shall hold council with me. + JAMES DUFF. + +The reader's attention must be recalled to Halbert Glendinning, who had +left the Tower of Glendearg immediately after his quarrel with its new +guest, Sir Piercie Shafton. As he walked with a rapid pace up the glen, +Old Martin followed him, beseeching him to be less hasty. + +"Halbert," said the old man, "you will never live to have white hair, if +you take fire thus at every spark of provocation." + +"And why should I wish it, old man," said Halbert, "if I am to be the +butt that every fool may aim a shaft of scorn against?--What avails +it, old man, that you yourself move, sleep, and wake, eat thy niggard +meal, and repose on thy hard pallet?--Why art thou so well pleased +that the morning should call thee up to daily toil, and the evening +again lay thee down a wearied-out wretch? Were it not better sleep and +wake no more, than to undergo this dull exchange of labour for +insensibility and of insensibility for labour?" + +"God help me," answered Martin, "there may be truth in what thou +sayest--but walk slower, for my old limbs cannot keep pace with your +young legs--walk slower, and I will tell you why age, though unlovely, +is yet endurable." + +"Speak on then," said Halbert, slackening his pace, "but remember we +must seek venison to refresh the fatigues of these holy men, who will +this morning have achieved a journey of ten miles; and if we reach not +the Brocksburn head we are scarce like to see an antler." + +"Then know, my good Halbert," said Martin, "whom I love as my own son, +that I am satisfied to live till death calls me, because my Maker +wills it. Ay, and although I spend what men call a hard life, pinched +with cold in winter, and burnt with heat in summer, though I feed hard +and sleep hard, and am held mean and despised, yet I bethink me, that +were I of no use on the face of this fair creation, God would withdraw +me from it." + +"Thou poor old man," said Halbert, "and can such a vain conceit as +this of thy fancied use, reconcile thee to a world where thou playest +so poor a part?" + +"My part was nearly as poor," said Martin, "my person nearly as much +despised, the day that I saved my mistress and her child from +perishing in the wilderness." + +"Right, Martin," answered Halbert; "there, indeed, thou didst what +might be a sufficient apology for a whole life of insignificance." + +"And do you account it for nothing, Halbert, that I should have the +power of giving you a lesson of patience, and submission to the +destinies of Providence? Methinks there is use for the grey hairs on +the old scalp, were it but to instruct the green head by precept and +by example." + +Halbert held down his face, and remained silent for a minute or two, and +then resumed his discourse: "Martin, seest thou aught changed in me of +late?" + +"Surely," said Martin. "I have always known you hasty, wild, and +inconsiderate, rude, and prompt to speak at the volley and without +reflection; but now, methinks, your bearing, without losing its +natural fire, has something in it of force and dignity which it had +not before. It seems as if you had fallen asleep a carle, and awakened +a gentleman." + +"Thou canst judge, then, of noble bearing?" said Halbert. + +"Surely," answered Martin, "in some sort I can; for I have travelled +through court, and camp, and city, with my master, Walter Avenel, +although he could do nothing for me in the long run, but give me room +for two score of sheep on the hill--and surely even now, while I speak +with you, I feel sensible that my language is more refined than it is +my wont to use, and that--though I know not the reason--the rude +northern dialect, so familiar to my tongue, has given place to a more +town-bred speech." + +"And this change in thyself and me, thou canst by no means account +for?" said young Glendinning. + +"Change!" replied Martin, "by our Lady it is not so much a change +which I feel, as a recalling and renewing sentiments and expressions +which I had some thirty years since, ere Tibb and I set up our humble +household. It is singular, that your society should have this sort of +influence over me, Halbert, and that I should never have experienced +it ere now." + +"Thinkest thou," said Halbert, "thou seest in me aught that can raise +me from this base, low, despised state, into one where I may rank with +those proud men, who now despise my clownish poverty?" + +Martin paused an instant, and then answered, "Doubtless you may, +Halbert; as broken a ship has come to land. Heard ye never of Hughie +Dun, who left this Halidome some thirty-five years gone by? A +deliverly fellow was Hughie--could read and write like a priest, and +could wield brand and buckler with the best of the riders. I mind +him--the like of him was never seen in the Halidome of Saint Mary's, +and so was seen of the preferment that God sent him." + +"And what was that?" said Halbert, his eyes sparkling with eagerness. + +"Nothing less," answered Martin, "than body-servant to the Archbishop +of Saint Andrews!" + +Halbert's countenance fell.--"A servant--and to a priest? Was this all +that knowledge and activity could raise him to?" + +Martin, in his turn, looked with wistful surprise in the face of his +young friend. "And to what could fortune lead him farther?" answered +he. "The son of a kirk-feuar is not the stuff that lords and knights +are made of. Courage and school craft cannot change churl's blood into +gentle blood, I trow. I have heard, forby, that Hughie Dun left a good +five hundred punds of Scots money to his only daughter, and that she +married the Bailie of Pittenweem." + +At this moment, and while Halbert was embarrassed with devising a +suitable answer, a deer bounded across their path. In an instant the +crossbow was at the youth's shoulder, the bolt whistled, and the deer, +after giving one bound upright, dropt dead on the green sward. + +"There lies the venison our dame wanted," said Martin; "who would have +thought of an out-lying stag being so low down the glen at this +season?--And it is a hart of grease too, in full season, and three +inches of fat on the brisket. Now this is all your luck, Halbert, that +follows you, go where you like. Were you to put in for it, I would +warrant you were made one of the Abbot's yeoman-prickers, and ride +about in a purple doublet as bold as the best." + +"Tush, man," answered Halbert, "I will serve the Queen or no one. +Take thou care to have down the venison to the Tower, since they +expect it. I will on to the moss. I have two or three bird-bolts at +my girdle, and it may be I shall find wild-fowl." + +He hastened his pace, and was soon out of sight. Martin paused for a +moment, and looked after him. "There goes the making of a right +gallant stripling, an ambition have not the spoiling of him--Serve the +Queen! said he. By my faith, and she hath worse servants, from all +that I e'er heard of him. And wherefore should he not keep a high +head? They that ettle to the top of the ladder will at least get up +some rounds. They that mint [Footnote: _Mint_--aim at.] at a gown +of gold, will always get a sleeve of it. But come, sir, (addressing +the stag,) you shall go to Glendearg on my two legs somewhat more +slowly than you were frisking it even now on your own four nimble +shanks. Nay, by my faith, if you be so heavy, I will content me with +the best of you, and that's the haunch and the nombles, and e'en heave +up the rest on the old oak-tree yonder, and come back for it with one +of the yauds." [Footnote: _Yauds_--horses; more particularly +horses of labour.] + +While Martin returned to Glendearg with the venison, Halbert +prosecuted his walk, breathing more easily since he was free of his +companion. "The domestic of a proud and lazy priest--body-squire to +the Archbishop of Saint Andrews," he repeated to himself; "and this, +with the privilege of allying his blood with the Bailie of Pittenween, +is thought a preferment worth a brave man's struggling for;--nay more, +a preferment which, if allowed, should crown the hopes, past, present, +and to come, of the son of a Kirk-vassal! By Heaven, but that I find +in me a reluctance to practise their acts of nocturnal rapine, I would +rather take the jack and lance, and join with the Border-riders. +--Something I will do. Here, degraded and dishonoured, I will not live +the scorn of each whiffling stranger from the South, because, +forsooth, he wears tinkling spurs on a tawney boot. This thing--this +phantom, be it what it will, I will see it once more. Since I spoke +with her, and touched her hand, thoughts and feelings have dawned on +me, of which my former life had not even dreamed; but shall I, who +feel my father's glen too narrow for my expanding spirit, brook to be +bearded in it by this vain gewgaw of a courtier, and in the sight too +of Mary Avenel? I will not stoop to it, by Heaven!" + +As he spoke thus, he arrived in the sequestered glen of +Corri-nan-shian, as it verged upon the hour of noon. A few moments he +remained looking upon the fountain, and doubting in his own mind with +what countenance the White Lady might receive him. She had not indeed +expressly forbidden his again evoking her; but yet there was something +like such a prohibition implied in the farewell, which recommended him +to wait for another guide. + +Halbert Glendinning did not long, however, allow himself to pause. +Hardihood was the natural characteristic of his mind; and under the +expansion and modification which his feelings had lately undergone, it +had been augmented rather than diminished. He drew his sword, undid +the buskin from his foot, bowed three times with deliberation towards +the fountain, and as often towards the tree, and repeated the same +rhyme as formerly,-- + + "Thrice to the holy brake-- + Thrice to the well:-- + I bid thee awake, + White Maid of Avenel! + + Noon gleams on the lake-- + Noon glows on the fell-- + Wake thee, O wake, + White Maid of Avenel!" + +His eye was on the holly bush as he spoke the last line; and it was +not without an involuntary shuddering that he saw the air betwixt his +eye and that object become more dim, and condense, as it were, into +the faint appearance of a form, through which, however, so thin and +transparent was the first appearance of the phantom, he could discern +the outline of the bush, as through a veil of fine crape. But, +gradually, it darkened into a more substantial appearance, and the +White Lady stood before him with displeasure on her brow. She spoke, +and her speech was still song, or rather measured chant; but, as if +now more familiar, it flowed occasionally in modulated blank-verse, +and at other times in the lyrical measure which she had used at their +former meeting. + + "This is the day when the fairy kind + Sits weeping alone for their hopeless lot, + And the wood-maiden sighs to the sighing wind, + And the mer-maiden weeps in her crystal grot: + For this is the day that a deed was wrought, + In which we have neither part nor share. + For the children of clay was salvation bought, + But not for the forms of sea or air! + And ever the mortal is most forlorn. + Who meeteth our race on the Friday morn." + +"Spirit," said Halbert Glendinning, boldly, "it is bootless to +threaten. one who holds his life at no rate. Thine anger can but +slay; nor do I think thy power extendeth, or thy will stretcheth, so +far. The terrors which your race produce upon others, are vain against +me. My heart is hardened against fear, as by a sense of despair. If I +am, as thy words infer, of a race more peculiarly the care of Heaven +than thine, it is mine to call, it must be thine to answer. I am the +nobler being." + +As he spoke, the figure looked upon him with a fierce and ireful +countenance, which, without losing the similitude of that which it +usually exhibited, had a wilder and more exaggerated cast of features. +The eyes seemed to contract and become more fiery, and slight +convulsions passed over the face, as if it was about to be transformed +into something hideous. The whole appearance resembled those faces +which the imagination summons up when it is disturbed by laudanum, but +which do not remain under the visionary's command, and, beautiful in +their first appearance, become wild and grotesque ere we can arrest +them. + +But when Halbert had concluded his bold speech, the White Lady stood +before him with the same pale, fixed, and melancholy aspect, which she +usually bore. He had expected the agitation which she exhibited would +conclude in some frightful metamorphosis. Folding her arms on her +bosom, the phantom replied,-- + + "Daring youth! for thee it is well, + Here calling me in haunted dell, + That thy heart has not quail'd, + Nor thy courage fail'd, + And that thou couldst brook + The angry look + Of Her of Avenel. + + Did one limb shiver, + Or an eyelid quiver, + Thou wert lost for ever. + Though I am form'd from the ether blue, + And my blood is of the unfallen dew. + And thou art framed of mud and dust, + 'Tis thine to speak, reply I must." + +"I demand of thee, then," said the youth, "by what charm it is that I +am thus altered in mind and in wishes--that I think no longer of deer +or dog, of bow or bolt--that my soul spurns the bounds of this obscure +glen--that my blood boils at an insult from one by whose stirrup I +would some days since have run for a whole summer's morn, contented +and honoured by the notice of a single word? Why do I now seek to mate +me with princes, and knights, and nobles?--Am I the same, who but +yesterday, as it were, slumbered in contented obscurity, but who am +to-day awakened to glory and ambition?--Speak--tell me, if thou canst, +the meaning of this change?--Am I spell-bound?--or have I till now +been under the influence of a spell, that I feel as another being, yet +am conscious of remaining the same? Speak and tell me, is it to thy +influence that the change is owing?" + +The White Lady replied,-- + + "A mightier wizard far than I + Wields o'er the universe his power; + Him owns the eagle in the sky, + The turtle in the bower. + Chanceful in shape, yet mightiest still, + He wields the heart of man at will, + From ill to good, from good, to ill, + In cot and castle-tower." + +"Speak not thus darkly," said the youth, colouring so deeply, that face, +neck, and hands were in a sanguine glow; "make me sensible of thy +purpose." + +The spirit answered,-- + + "Ask thy heart,--whose secret cell + Is fill'd with Marv Avenel! + Ask thy pride,--why scornful look + In Mary's view it will not brook? + Ask it, why thou seek'st to rise + Among the mighty and the wise?-- + Why thou spurn'st thy lowly lot?-- + Why thy pastimes are forgot? + Why thou wouldst in bloody strife + Mend thy luck or lose thy life? + Ask thy heart, and it shall tell, + Sighing from its secret cell, + 'Tis for Mary Avenel." + +"Tell me, then," said Halbert, his cheek still deeply crimsoned, "thou +who hast said to me that which I dared not say to myself, by what means +shall I urge my passion--by what means make it known?" + +The White Lady replied,-- + + "Do not ask me; + On doubts like these thou canst not task me. + We only see the passing show + Of human passions' ebb and flow; + And view the pageant's idle glance + As mortals eye the northern dance, + When thousand streamers, flashing bright, + Career it o'er the brow of night. + And gazers mark their changeful gleams, + But feel no influence from their beams." + +"Yet thine own fate," replied Halbert, "unless men greatly err, is +linked with that of mortals?" + +The phantom answered, + + "By ties mysterious link'd, our fated race + Holds strange connexion with the sons of men. + The star that rose upon the House of Avenel, + When Norman Ulric first assumed the name, + That star, when culminating in its orbit, + Shot from its sphere a drop of diamond dew, + And this bright font received it--and a Spirit + Rose from the fountain, and her date of life + Hath co-existence with the House of Avenel, + And with the star that rules it." + +"Speak yet more plainly," answered young Glendinning; "of this I can +understand nothing. Say, what hath forged thy wierded [Footnote: +_Wierded_--fated.] link of destiny with the House of Avenel? +Say, especially, what fate now overhangs that house?" + +The White Lady replied,-- + + "Look on my girdle--on this thread of gold-- + 'Tis fine as web of lightest gossamer. + And, but there is a spell on't, would not bind, + Light as they are, the folds of my thin robe. + But when 'twas donn'd, it was a massive chain, + Such as might bind the champion of the Jews, + + Even when his looks were longest--it hath dwindled, + Hath minish'd in its substance and its strength, + As sunk the greatness of the House of Avenel. + When this frail thread gives way. I to the elements + Resign the principles of life they lent me. + Ask me no more of this!--the stars forbid it." + +"Then canst thou read the stars," answered the youth; "and mayest +tell me the fate of my passion, if thou canst not aid it?" + +The White Lady again replied,-- + + "Dim burns the once bright star of Avenel, + Dim as the beacon when the morn is nigh, + And the o'er-wearied warder leaves the light-house; + There is an influence sorrowful and fearful. + That dogs its downward course. Disastrous passion, + Fierce hate and rivalry, are in the aspect + That lowers upon its fortunes." + +"And rivalry?" repeated Glendinning; "it is, then, as I feared!--But +shall that English silkworm presume to beard me in my father's house, +and in the presence of Mary Avenel?--Give me to meet him, spirit--give +me to do away the vain distinction of rank on which he refuses me the +combat. Place us on equal terms, and gleam the stars with what aspect +they will, the sword of my father shall control their influences." + +She answered as promptly as before,-- + + "Complain not of me, child of clay, + If to thy harm I yield the way. + We, who soar thy sphere above, + Know not aught of hate or love; + As will or wisdom rules thy mood, + My gifts to evil turn, or good." + +"Give me to redeem my honour," said Halbert Glendinning--"give me to +retort on my proud rival the insults he has thrown on me, and let the +rest fare as it will. If I cannot revenge my wrong, I shall sleep +quiet, and know nought of my disgrace." + +The phantom failed not to reply,-- + + "When Piercie Shafton boasteth high, + Let this token meet his eye. + The sun is westering from the dell, + Thy wish is granted--fare thee well!" + +As the White Lady spoke or chanted these last words, she undid from +her locks a silver bodkin around which they were twisted, and gave it +to Halbert Glendinning; then shaking her dishevelled hair till it fell +like a veil around her, the outlines of her form gradually became as +diffuse as her flowing tresses, her countenance grew pale as the moon +in her first quarter, her features became indistinguishable, and she +melted into the air. + +Habit inures us to wonders; but the youth did not find himself alone +by the fountain without experiencing, though in a much less degree, +the revulsion of spirits which he had felt upon the phantom's former +disappearance. A doubt strongly pressed upon his mind, whether it +were safe to avail himself of the gifts of a spirit which did not even +pretend to belong to the class of angels, and might, for aught he +knew, have a much worse lineage than that which she was pleased to +avow. "I will speak of it," he said, "to Edward, who is clerkly +learned, and will tell me what I should do. And yet, no--Edward is +scrupulous and wary.--I will prove the effect of her gift on Sir +Piercie Shafton, if he again braves me, and by the issue, I will be +myself a sufficient judge whether there is danger in resorting to her +counsel. Home, then, home--and we shall soon learn whether that home +shall longer hold me; for not again will I brook insult, with my +father's sword by my side, and Mary for the spectator of my disgrace." + + + + +Chapter the Eighteenth. + + + I give thee eighteenpence a-day, + And my bow shall thou bear, + And over all the north country, + I make thee the chief rydere. + And I thirteenpence a-day, quoth the queen, + By God and by my faye, + Come fetch thy payment when thou wilt, + No man shall say thee nay. + WILLIAM OF CLOUDESLEY. + +The manners of the age did not permit the inhabitants of Glendearg to +partake of the collation which was placed in the spence of that +ancient tower, before the Lord Abbot and his attendants, and Sir +Piercie Shafton. Dame Glendinning was excluded, both by inferiority +of rank and by sex, for (though it was a rule often neglected) the +Superior of Saint Mary's was debarred from taking his meals in female +society. To Mary Avenel the latter, and to Edward Glendinning the +former, incapacity attached; but it pleased his lordship to require +their presence in the apartment, and to say sundry kind words to them +upon the ready and hospitable reception which they had afforded him. + +The smoking haunch now stood upon the table; a napkin, white as snow, +was, with due reverence, tucked under the chin of the Abbot by the +Refectioner; and nought was wanting to commence the repast, save the +presence of Sir Piercie Shafton, who at length appeared, glittering +like the sun, in a carnation-velvet doublet, slashed and puffed out +with cloth of silver, his hat of the newest block, surrounded by a +hatband of goldsmith's work, while around his neck he wore a collar of +gold, set with rubies and topazes so rich, that it vindicated his +anxiety for the safety of his baggage from being founded upon his love +of mere finery. This gorgeous collar or chain, resembling those worn +by the knights of the highest orders of chivalry, fell down on his +breast, and terminated in a medallion. + +"We waited for Sir Piercie Shafton," said the Abbot, hastily assuming +his place in the great chair which the Kitchener advanced to the table +with ready hand. + +"I pray your pardon, reverend father, and my good lord," replied that +pink of courtesy; "I did but wait to cast my riding slough, and to +transmew myself into some civil form meeter for this worshipful +company." + +"I cannot but praise your gallantry, Sir Knight," said the Abbot, "and +your prudence, also, for choosing the fitting time to appear thus +adorned. Certes, had that goodly chain been visible in some part of +your late progress, there was risk that the lawful owner might have +parted company therewith." + +"This chain, said your reverence?" answered Sir Piercie; "surely it is +but a toy, a trifle, a slight thing which shows but poorly with this +doublet--marry, when I wear that of the murrey-coloured double-piled +Genoa velvet, puffed out with ciprus, the gems, being relieved and set +off by the darker and more grave ground of the stuff, show like stars +giving a lustre through dark clouds." + +"I nothing doubt it," said the Abbot, "but I pray you to sit down at the +board." + +But Sir Piercie had now got into his element, and was not easily +interrupted--"I own," he continued, "that slight as the toy is, it +might perchance have had some captivation for Julian--Santa Maria!" +said he, interrupting himself; "what was I about to say, and my fair +and beauteous Protection, or shall I rather term her my Discretion, +here in presence!--Indiscreet hath it been in your Affability, O most +lovely Discretion, to suffer a stray word to have broke out of the +penfold of his mouth, that might overleap the fence of civility, and +trespass on the manor of decorum." + +"Marry!" said the Abbot, somewhat impatiently, "the greatest +discretion that I can see in the matter is, to eat our victuals being +hot--Father Eustace, say the Benedicite, and cut up the haunch." + +The Sub-Prior readily obeyed the first part of the Abbot's injunction, +but paused upon the second--"It is Friday, most reverend," he said in +Latin, desirous that the hint should escape, if possible, the ears of +the stranger. + +"We are travellers," said the Abbot, in reply, "and _viatoribus +licitum est_--You know the canon--a traveller must eat what food +his hard fate sets before him. I grant you all a dispensation to eat +flesh this day, conditionally that you, brethren, say the Confiteor at +curfew time, that the knight give alms to his ability, and that all +and each of you fast from flesh on such day within the next month that +shall seem most convenient;--wherefore fall to and eat your food with +cheerful countenances, and you, Father Refectioner, _da mixtus_." + +While the Abbot was thus stating the conditions on which his +indulgence was granted, he had already half finished a slice of the +noble haunch, and now washed it down with a flagon of Rhenish, +modestly tempered with water. + +"Well is it said," he observed, as he required from the Refectioner +another slice, "that virtue is its own reward; for though this is but +humble fare, and hastily prepared, and eaten in a poor chamber, I do +not remember me of having had such an appetite since I was a simple +brother in the Abbey of Dundrennan, and was wont to labour in the +garden from morning until nones, when our Abbot struck the +_Cymbalum_. Then would I enter keen with hunger, parched with +thirst, (_da mihi vinum quaeso, et merum sit_,) and partake with +appetite of whatever was set before us, according to our rule; feast +or fast day, _caritas_ or _penitentia_, was the same to me. +I had no stomach complaints then, which now crave both the aid of wine +and choice cookery, to render my food acceptable to my palate, and +easy of digestion." + +"It may be, holy father," said the Sub-Prior, "an occasional ride to +the extremity of Saint Mary's patrimony, may have the same happy +effect on your health as the air of the garden at Dundrennan." + +"Perchance, with our patroness's blessing, such progresses may +advantage us," said the Abbot; "having an especial eye that our +venison is carefully killed by some woodsman that is master of his +craft." + +"If the Lord Abbot will permit me," said the Kitchener, "I think the +best way to assure his lordship on that important point, would be to +retain as a yeoman-pricker, or deputy-ranger, the eldest son of this +good woman, Dame Glendinning, who is here to wait upon us. I should +know by mine office what belongs to killing of game, and I can safely +pronounce, that never saw I, or any other _coquinarius_, a bolt +so justly shot. It has cloven the very heart of the buck." + +"What speak you to us of one good shot, father?" said Sir Piercie; "I +would advise you that such no more maketh a shooter, than doth one +swallow make a summer--I have seen this springald of whom you speak, +and if his hand can send forth his shafts as boldly as his tongue doth +utter presumptuous speeches, I will own him as good an archer as Robin +Hood." + +"Marry," said the Abbot, "and it is fitting we know the truth of this +matter from the dame herself; for ill advised were we to give way to +any rashness in this matter, whereby the bounties which Heaven and our +patroness provide might be unskilfully mangled, and rendered unfit for +worthy men's use.--Stand forth, therefore, dame Glendinning, and tell +to us, as thy liege lord and spiritual Superior, using plainness and +truth, without either fear or favour, as being a matter wherein we are +deeply interested, Doth this son of thine use his bow as well as the +Father Kitchener avers to us?" + +"So please your noble fatherhood," answered Dame Glendinning with a +deep curtsy, "I should know somewhat of archery to my cost, seeing my +husband--God assoilzie him!--was slain in the field of Pinkie with an +arrow-shot, while he was fighting under the Kirk's banner, as became a +liege vassal of the Halidome. He was a valiant man, please your +reverence, and an honest; and saving that he loved a bit of venison, +and shifted for his living at a time as Border-men will sometimes do, +I wot not of sin that he did. And yet, though I have paid for mass +after mass to the matter of a forty shilling, besides a quarter of +wheat and four firlocks of rye, I can have no assurance yet that he +has been delivered from purgatory." + +"Dame," said the Lord Abbot, "this shall be looked into heedfully; and +since thy husband fell, as thou sayest, in the Kirk's quarrel, and +under her banner, rely upon it that we will have him out of purgatory +forthwith--that is, always provided he be there.--But it is not of +thy husband whom we now devise to speak, but of thy son; not of a shot +Scotsman, but of a shot deer--Wherefore, I say, answer me to the +point, is thy son a practised archer, ay or no?" + +"Alack! my reverend lord," replied the widow, "and my croft would be +better tilled, if I could answer your reverence that he is +not.--Practised archer!--marry, holy sir, I would he would practise +something else--cross-bow and long-bow, hand-gun and hack-but, +falconet and saker, he can shoot with them all. And if it would please +this right honourable gentleman, our guest, to hold out his hat at the +distance of a hundred yards, our Halbert shall send shaft, bolt, or +bullet through it, (so that right honourable gentleman swerve not, but +hold out steady,) and I will forfeit a quarter of barley if he touch +but a knot of his ribands. I have seen our old Martin do as much, and +so has our right reverend the Sub-Prior, if he be pleased to remember +it." + +"I am not like to forget it, dame," said Father Eustace; "for I knew +not which most to admire, the composure of the young marksman, or the +steadiness of the old mark. Yet I presume not to advise Sir Piercie +Shafton to subject his valuable beaver, and yet more valuable person, +to such a risk, unless it should be his own special pleasure." + +"Be assured it is not," said Sir Piercie Shafton, something hastily; +"be well assured, holy father, that it is not. I dispute not the lad's +qualities, for which your reverence vouches. But bows are but wood, +strings are but flax, or the silk-worm excrement at best; archers are +but men, fingers may slip, eyes may dazzle, the blindest may hit the +butt, the best marker may shoot a bow's length beside. Therefore will +we try no perilous experiments." + +"Be that as you will, Sir Piercie," said the Abbot; "meantime we will +name this youth bow-bearer in the forest granted to us by good King +David, that the chase might recreate our wearied spirits, the flesh of +the dear improve our poor commons, and the hides cover the books of +our library; thus tending at once to the sustenance of body and soul." + +"Kneel down, woman, kneel down," said the Refectioner and the +Kitchener, with one voice, to Dame Glendinning, "and kiss his lordship's +hand, for the grace which he has granted to thy son." + +They then, as if they had been chanting the service and the responses, +set off in a sort of duetto, enumerating the advantages of the +situation. + +"A green gown and a pair of leathern galligaskins every Pentecost," said +the Kitchener. + +"Four marks by the year at Candlemas," answered the Refectioner. + +"A hogshead of ale at Martlemas, of the double strike, and single ale at +pleasure, as he shall agree with the Cellarer--" + +"Who is a reasonable man," said the Abbot, "and will encourage an +active servant of the convent." + +"A mess of broth and a dole of mutton or beef, at the Kitchener's, on +each high holiday," resumed the Kitchener. + +"The gang of two cows and a palfrey on our Lady's meadow." answered +his brother officer. + +"An ox-hide to make buskins of yearly, because of the brambles," echoed +the Kitchener. + +"And various other perquisites, _quae nunc praescribere longum_," +said the Abbot, summing, with his own lordly voice, the advantages +attached to the office of conventional bow-bearer. + +Dame Glendinning was all this while on her knees, her head +mechanically turning from the one church officer to the other, which, +as they stood one on each side of her, had much the appearance of a +figure moved by clock-work, and so soon as they were silent, most +devotedly did she kiss the munificent hand of the Abbot. Conscious, +however, of Halbert's intractability in some points, she could not +help qualifying her grateful and reiterated thanks for the Abbot's +bountiful proffer, with a hope that Halbert would see his wisdom, and +accept of it. + +"How," said the Abbot, bending his brows, "accept of it?--Woman, is +thy son in his right wits?" + +Elspeth, stunned by the tone in which this question was asked, was +altogether unable to reply to it. Indeed, any answer she might have +made could hardly have been heard, as it pleased the two +office-bearers of the Abbot's table again to recommence their +alternate dialogue. + +"Refuse!" said the Kitchener. + +"Refuse!" answered the Refectioner, echoing the other's word in a tone +of still louder astonishment. + +"Refuse four marks by the year!" said the one. + +"Ale and beer--broth and mutton--cow's grass and palfrey's!" shouted +the Kitchener. + +"Gown and galligaskins!" responded the Refectioner. + +"A moment's patience, my brethren," answered the Sub-Prior, "and let +us not be thus astonished before cause is afforded of our amazement. +This good dame best knoweth the temper and spirit of her son--this +much I can say, that it lieth not towards letters or learning, of +which I have in vain endeavoured to instil into him some tincture. +Nevertheless, he is a youth of no common spirit, but much like those +(in my weak judgment) whom God raises up among a people when he +meaneth that their deliverance shall be wrought out with strength of +hand and valour of heart. Such men we have seen marked with a +waywardness, and even an obstinacy of character, which hath appeared +intractability and stupidity to those among whom they walked and were +conversant, until the very opportunity hath arrived in, which it was +the will of Providence that they should be the fitting instrument of +great things." + +"Now, in good time hast thou spoken, Father Eustace," said the Abbot; +"and we will see this swankie before we decide upon the means of +employing him.--How say you, Sir Piercie Shafton, is it not the court +fashion to suit the man to the office, and not the office to the man?" + +"So please your reverence and lordship," answered the Northumbrian +knight, "I do partly, that is, in some sort, subscribe to what your +wisdom hath delivered--Nevertheless, under reverence of the Sub-Prior, +we do not look for gallant leaders and national deliverers in the +hovels of the mean common people. Credit me, that if there be some +flashes of martial spirit about this young person, which I am not +called upon to dispute, (though I have seldom seen that presumption +and arrogance were made good upon the upshot by deed and action,) yet +still these will prove insufficient to distinguish him, save in his +own limited and lowly sphere--even as the glowworm, which makes a +goodly show among the grass of the field, would be of little avail if +deposited in a beacon-grate." + +"Now, in good time," said the Sub-Prior, "and here comes the young +huntsman to speak for himself;" for, being placed opposite to the +window, he could observe Halbert as he ascended the little mound on +which the tower was situated. + +"Summon him to our presence," said the Lord Abbot; and with an +obedient start the two attendant monks went off with emulous +alertness. Dame Glendinning sprung away at the same moment, partly to +gain an instant to recommend obedience to her son, partly to prevail +with him to change his apparel before coming in presence of the Abbot. +But the Kitchener and Refectioner, both speaking at once, had already +seized each an arm, and were leading Halbert in triumph into the +apartment, so that she could only ejaculate, "His will be done; but an +he had but had on him his Sunday's hose!" + +Limited and humble as this desire was, the fates did not grant it, for +Halbert Glendinning was hurried into the presence of the Lord Abbot +and his party, without a word of explanation, and without a moment's +time being allowed to assume his holiday hose, which, in the language +of the time, implied both breeches and stockings. + +Yet, though thus suddenly presented amid the centre of all eyes, there +was something in Halbert's appearance which commanded a certain degree +of respect from the company into which he was so unceremoniously +intruded, and the greater part of whom were disposed to consider him +with hauteur if not with absolute contempt. But his appearance and +reception we must devote to another chapter. + + * * * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Nineteenth. + + + Now choose thee, gallant, betwixt wealth and honour; + There lies the pelf, in sum to bear thee through + The dance of youth, and the turmoil of manhood, + Yet leave enough for age's chimney-corner; + But an thou grasp to it, farewell ambition, + Farewell each hope of bettering thy condition, + And raising thy low rank above the churls + That till the earth for bread. + OLD PLAY. + +It is necessary to dwell for some brief space on the appearance and +demeanour of young Glendinning, ere we proceed to describe his interview +with the Abbot of St. Mary's, at this momentous crisis of his life. + +Halbert was now about nineteen years old, tall and active rather than +strong, yet of that hardy conformation of limb and sinew, which +promises great strength when the growth shall be complete, and the +system confirmed. He was perfectly well made, and, like most men who +have that advantage, possessed a grace and natural ease of manner and +carriage, which prevented his height from being the distinguished part +of his external appearance. It was not until you had compared his +stature with that of those amongst or near to whom he stood, that you +became sensible that the young Glendinning was upwards of six feet +high. In the combination of unusual height with perfect symmetry, +ease, and grace of carriage, the young heir of Glendearg, +notwithstanding his rustic birth and education, had greatly the +advantage even of Sir Piercie Shafton himself, whose stature was +lower, and his limbs, though there was no particular point to object +to, were on the whole less exactly proportioned. On the other hand, +Sir Piercie's very handsome countenance afforded him as decided an +advantage over the Scotsman, as regularity of features and brilliance +of complexion could give over traits which were rather strongly marked +than beautiful, and upon whose complexion the "skyey influences," to +which he was constantly exposed, had blended the red and white into +the purely nut-brown hue, which coloured alike cheeks, neck, and +forehead, and blushed only in a darker glow upon the former.-- +Halbert's eyes supplied a marked and distinguished part of his +physiognomy. They were large and of a hazel colour, and sparkled in +moments of animation with such uncommon brilliancy, that it seemed as +if they actually emitted light. Nature had closely curled the locks of +dark-brown hair, which relieved and set off the features, such as we +have described them, displaying a bold and animated disposition, much +more than might have been expected from his situation, or from his +previous manners, which hitherto had seemed bashful, homely, and +awkward. + +Halbert's dress was certainly not of that description which sets off +to the best advantage a presence of itself prepossessing. His jerkin +and hose were of coarse rustic cloth, and his cap of the same. A belt +round his waist served at once to sustain the broad-sword which we +have already mentioned, and to hold five or six arrows and bird-bolts, +which were stuck into it on the right side, along with a large knife +hilted with buck-horn, or, as it was then called, a dudgeon-dagger. To +complete his dress, we must notice his loose buskins of deer's hide, +formed so as to draw up on the leg as high as the knee, or at pleasure +to be thrust down lower than the calves. These were generally used at +the period by such as either had their principal occupation, or their +chief pleasure, in silvan sports, as they served to protect the legs +against the rough and tangled thickets into which the pursuit of game +frequently led them.--And these trifling particulars complete his +external appearance. + +It is not easy to do justice to the manner in which young +Glendinning's soul spoke through his eyes when ushered so suddenly +into the company of those whom his earliest education had taught him +to treat with awe and reverence. The degree of embarrassment, which +his demeanor evinced, had nothing in it either meanly servile, or +utterly disconcerted. It was no more than became a generous and +ingenuous youth of a bold spirit, but totally inexperienced, who +should for the first time be called upon to think and act for himself +in such society and under such disadvantageous circumstances. There +was not in his carriage a grain either of forwardness or of timidity, +which a friend could have wished away. + +He kneeled and kissed the Abbot's hand, then rose, and retiring two +paces, bowed respectfully to the circle around, smiling gently as he +received an encouraging nod from the Sub-Prior, to whom alone he was +personally known, and blushing as he encountered the anxious look of +Mary Avenel, who beheld with painful interest the sort of ordeal to +which her foster-brother was about to be subjected. Recovering from +the transient flurry of spirits into which the encounter of her glance +had thrown him, he stood composedly awaiting till the Abbot should +express his pleasure. + +The ingenuous expression of countenance, noble form, and graceful +attitude of the young man, failed not to prepossess in his favor the +churchmen in whose presence he stood. The Abbot looked round, and +exchanged a gracious and approving glance with his counsellor Father +Eustace, although probably the appointment of a ranger, or bow-bearer, +was one in which he might have been disposed to proceed without the +Sub-Prior's advice, were it but to show his own free agency. But the +good mien of the young man now in nomination was such, that he rather +hastened to exchange congratulation on meeting with so proper a +subject of promotion, than to indulge any other feeling. Father +Eustace enjoyed the pleasure which a well-constituted mind derives +from seeing a benefit light on a deserving object; for as he had not +seen Halbert since circumstances had made so material a change in his +manner and feelings, he scarce doubted that the proffered +appointment would, notwithstanding his mother's uncertainty, suit the +disposition of a youth who had appeared devoted to woodland sports, +and a foe alike to sedentary or settled occupation of any kind. The +Refectioner and Kitchener were so well pleased with Halbert's +prepossessing appearance, that they seemed to think that the salary, +emoluments, and perquisites, the dole, the grazing, the gown, and the +galligaskins, could scarce be better bestowed than on the active and +graceful figure before them. + +Sir Piercie Shafton, whether from being more deeply engaged in his own +cogitations, or that the subject was unworthy of his notice, did not +seem to partake of the general feeling of approbation excited by the +young man's presence. He sate with his eyes half shut, and his arms +folded, appearing to be wrapped in contemplations of a nature deeper +than those arising out of the scene before him. But, notwithstanding +his seeming abstraction and absence of mind, there was a flutter of +vanity in Sir Piercie's very handsome countenance, an occasional +change of posture from one striking attitude (or what he conceived to +be such) to another, and an occasional stolen glance at the female +part of the company, to spy how far he succeeded in riveting their +attention, which gave a marked advantage, in comparison, to the less +regular and more harsh features of Halbert Glendinning, with their +composed, manly, and deliberate expression of mental fortitude. + +Of the females belonging to the family of Glendearg, the Miller's +daughter alone had her mind sufficiently at leisure to admire, from +time to time, the graceful attitudes of Sir Piercie Shafton; for both +Mary Avenel and Dame Glendinning were waiting in anxiety and +apprehension the answer which Halbert was to return to the Abbot's +proposal, and fearfully anticipating the consequences of his probable +refusal. The conduct of his brother Edward, for a lad constitutionally +shy, respectful, and even timid, was at once affectionate and noble. +This younger son of Dame Elspeth had stood unnoticed in a corner, +after the Abbot, at the request of the Sub-Prior, had honoured him +with some passing notice, and asked him a few common-place questions +about his progress in Donatus, and in the _Promptuarium +Parvulorum_, without waiting for the answers. From his corner he +now glided round to his brother's side, and keeping a little behind +him, slid his right hand into the huntsman's left, and by a gentle +pressure, which Halbert instantly and ardently returned, expressed at +once his interest in his situation, and his resolution to share his +fate. + +The group was thus arranged, when, after the pause of two or three +minutes, which he employed in slowly sipping his cup of wine, in order +that he might enter on his proposal with due and deliberate dignity, +the Abbot at length expressed himself thus:-- + +"My son--we your lawful Superior, and the Abbot, under God's favour, +of the community of Saint Mary's, have heard of your manifold good +gifts--a-hem--especially touching wood-craft--and the huntsman-like +fashion in which you strike your game, truly and as a yeoman should, +not abusing Heaven's good benefits by spoiling the flesh, as is too +often seen in careless rangers--a-hem." He made here a pause, but +observing that Glendinning only replied to his compliment by a bow, he +proceeded,--"My son, we commend your modesty; nevertheless, we will +that thou shouldst speak freely to us touching that which we have +premeditated for thine advancement, meaning to confer on thee the +office of bow-bearer and ranger, as well over the chases and forests +wherein our house hath privilege by the gifts of pious kings and +nobles, whose souls now enjoy the fruits of their bounties to the +Church as to those which belong to us in exclusive right of property +and perpetuity. Thy knee, my son--that we may, with our own hand, and +without loss of time, induct thee into office." + +"Kneel down," said the Kitchener on the one side; and "Kneel down," +said the Refectioner on the other. + +But Halbert Glendinning remained standing. + +"Were it to show gratitude and good-will for your reverend lordship's +noble offer, I could not," he said, "kneel low enough, or remain long +enough kneeling. But I may not kneel to take investure of your noble +gift, my Lord Abbot, being a man determined to seek my fortune +otherwise." + +"How is that, sir?" said the Abbot, knitting his brows; "do I hear you +speak aright? and do you, a born vassal of the Halidome, at the moment +when I am destining to you such a noble expression of my good-will, +propose exchanging my service for that of any other?" + +"My lord," said Halbert Glendinning, "it grieves me to think you hold +me capable of undervaluing your gracious offer, or of exchanging your +service for another. But your noble proffer doth but hasten the +execution of a determination which I have long since formed." + +"Ay, my son," said the Abbot, "is it indeed so?--right early have you +learned to form resolutions without consulting those on whom you +naturally depend. But what may it be, this sagacious resolution, if I +may so far pray you?" + +"To yield up to my brother and mother," answered Halbert, "mine +interest in the fief of Glendearg, lately possessed by my father, +Simon Glendinning: and having prayed your lordship to be the same kind +and generous master to them, that your predecessors, the venerable +Abbots of Saint Mary's, have been to my fathers in times past; for +myself, I am determined to seek my fortune where I may best find it." + +Dame Glendinning here ventured, emboldened by maternal anxiety, to +break silence with an exclamation of "O my son!" Edward clinging to +his brother's side, half spoke, half whispered, a similar ejaculation, +of "Brother! brother!" + +The Sub-Prior took up the matter in a tone of grave reprehension, +which, as he conceived, the interest he had always taken in the family +at Glendearg required at his hand. + +"Wilful young man," he said, "what folly can urge thee to push back +the hand that is stretched out to aid thee? What visionary aim hast +thou before thee, that can compensate for the decent and sufficient +independence which thou art now rejecting with scorn?" + +"Four marks by the year, duly and truly," said the Kitchener. + +"Cow's-grass, doublet, and galligaskins," responded the Refectioner. + +"Peace, my brethren," said the Sub-Prior; "and may it please your +lordship, venerable father, upon my petition, to allow this headstrong +youth a day for consideration, and it shall be my part so to +indoctrinate him, as to convince him what is due on this occasion to +your lordship, and to his family, and to himself." + +"Your kindness, reverend father," said the youth, "craves my dearest +thanks--it is the continuance of a long train of benevolence towards +me, for which I give you my gratitude, for I have nothing else to +offer. It is my mishap, not your fault, that your intentions have been +frustrated. But my present resolution is fixed and unalterable. I +cannot accept the generous offer of the Lord Abbot; my fate calls me +elsewhere, to scenes where I shall end it or mend it." + +"By our Lady," said the Abbot, "I think the youth be mad indeed--or +that you, Sir Piercie, judged of him most truly, when you prophesied +that he would prove unfit for the promotion we designed him--it may be +you knew something of this wayward humour before?" + +"By the mass, not I," answered Sir Piercie Shafton, with his usual +indifference. "I but judged of him by his birth and breeding; for seldom +doth a good hawk come out of a kite's egg." + +"Thou art thyself a kite, and kestrel to boot," replied Halbert +Glendinning, without a moment's hesitation. + +"This in our presence, and to a man of worship?" said the Abbot, the +blood rushing to his face. + +"Yes, my lord," answered the youth; "even in your presence I return to +this gay man's face, the causeless dishonour--which he has flung on my +name. My brave father, who fell in the cause of his country, demands +that justice at the hands of his son!" + +"Unmannered boy!" said the Abbot. + +"Nay, my good lord," said the knight, "praying pardon for the coarse +interruption, let me entreat you not to be wroth with this +rustical--Credit me, the north wind shall as soon puff one of your +rocks from its basis, as aught which I hold so slight and +inconsiderate as the churlish speech of an untaught churl, shall move +the spleen of Piercie Shafton." + +"Proud as you are, Sir Knight," said Halbert, "in your imagined +superiority, be not too confident that you cannot be moved." + +"Faith, by nothing that thou canst urge," said Sir Piercie. + +"Knowest thou, then, this token?" said young Glendinning, offering to +him the silver bodkin he had received from the White Lady. + +Never was such an instant change, from the most contemptuous serenity, +to the most furious state of passion, as that which Sir Piercie +Shafton exhibited. It was the difference between a cannon lying quiet +in its embrasure, and the same gun when touched by the linstock. He +started up, every limb quivering with rage, and his features so +inflamed and agitated by passion, that he more resembled a demoniac, +than a man under the regulation of reason. He clenched both his fists, +and thrusting them forward, offered them furiously at the face of +Glendinning, who was even himself startled at the frantic state of +excitation which his action had occasioned. The next moment he +withdrew them, struck his open palm against his own forehead, and +rushed out of the room in a state of indescribable agitation. The +whole matter had been so sudden, that no person present had time to +interfere. + +When Sir Piercie Shafton had left the apartment, there was a moment's +pause of astonishment; and then a general demand that Halbert +Glendinning should instantly explain by what means he had produced +such a violent change in the deportment of the English cavalier. + +"I did nought to him," answered Halbert Glendinning, "but what you +all saw--am I to answer for his fantastic freaks of humour?" + +"Boy," said the Abbot, in his most authoritative manner, "these +subterfuges shall not avail thee. This is not a man to be driven from +his temperament without some sufficient cause. That cause was given by +thee, and must have been known to thee. I command thee, as thou wilt +save thyself from worse measure, to explain to me by what means thou +hast moved our friend thus--We choose not that our vassals shall drive +our guests mad in our very presence, and we remain ignorant of the +means whereby that purpose is effected." + +"So may it please your reverence, I did but show him this token," said +Halbert Glendinning, delivering it at the same time to the Abbot, who +looked at it with much attention, and then, shaking his head, gravely +delivered it to the Sub-Prior, without speaking a word. + +Father Eustace looked at the mysterious token with some attention; and +then addressing Halbert in a stern and severe voice, said, "Young man, +if thou wouldst not have us suspect thee of some strange +double-dealing in this matter, let us instantly know whence thou hadst +this token, and how it possesses an influence on Sir Piercie +Shafton?"--It would have been extremely difficult for Halbert, thus +hard pressed, to have either evaded or answered so puzzling a +question. To have avowed the truth might, in those times, have +occasioned his being burnt at a stake, although, in ours, his +confession would have only gained for him the credit of a liar beyond +all rational credibility. He was fortunately relieved by the return of +Sir Piercie Shafton himself, whose ear caught, as he entered, the +sound of the Sub-Prior's question. + +Without waiting until Halbert Glendinning replied, he came forward, +whispering to him as he passed, "Be secret--thou shalt have the +satisfaction thou hast dared to seek for." + +When he returned to his place, there were still marks of discomposure +on his brow; but, becoming apparently collected and calm, he looked +around him, and apologized for the indecorum of which he had been +guilty, which he ascribed to sudden and severe indisposition. All were +silent, and looked on each other with some surprise. + +The Lord Abbot gave orders for all to retire from the apartment, save +himself, Sir Piercie Shafton, and the Sub-Prior. "And have an eye," he +added, "on that bold youth, that he escape not; for if he hath +practised by charm, or otherwise, on the health of our worshipful +guest, I swear by the alb and mitre which I wear, that his punishment +shall be most exemplary." + +"My lord and venerable father," said Halbert, bowing respectfully, +"fear not but that I will abide my doom. I think you will best learn +from the worshipful knight himself, what is the cause of his +distemperature, and how slight my share in it has been." + +"Be assured," said the knight, without looking up, however, while he +spoke, "I will satisfy the Lord Abbot." + +With these words the company retired, and with them young Glendinning. +When the Abbot, the Sub-Prior, and the English knight were left alone, +Father Eustace, contrary to his custom, could not help speaking the +first. "Expound unto us, noble sir," he said, "by what mysterious +means the production of this simple toy could so far move your spirit, +and overcome your patience, after you had shown yourself proof to all +the provocation offered by this self-sufficient and singular youth?" + +The knight took the silver bodkin from the good father's hand, looked +at it with great composure, and, having examined it all over, returned +it to the Sub-Prior, saying at the same time, "In truth, venerable +father, I cannot but marvel, that the wisdom implied alike in your +silver hairs, and in your eminent rank, should, like a babbling hound, +(excuse the similitude,) open thus loudly on a false scent. I were, +indeed, more slight to be moved than the leaves of the aspen-tree, +which wag at the least breath of heaven, could I be touched by such a +trifle as this, which in no way concerns me more than if the same +quantity of silver were stricken into so many groats. Truth is, that +from my youth upward, I have been subjected to such a malady as you +saw me visited with even now--a cruel and searching pain, which goeth +through nerve and bone, even as a good brand in the hands of a brave +soldier sheers through limb and sinew--but it passes away speedily, as +you yourselves may judge." + +"Still," said the Sub-Prior, "this will not account for the youth +offering to you this piece of silver, as a token by which you were to +understand something, and, as we must needs conjecture, something +disagreeable." + +"Your reverence is to conjecture what you will," said Sir Piercie; +"but I cannot pretend to lay your judgment on the right scent when I +see it at fault. I hope I am not liable to be called upon to account +for the foolish actions of a malapert boy?" + +"Assuredly," said the Sub-Prior, "we shall prosecute no inquiry which +is disagreeable to our guest. Nevertheless," said he, looking to his +Superior, "this chance may, in some sort, alter the plan your lordship +had formed for your worshipful guest's residence for a brief term in +this tower, as a place alike of secrecy and of security; both of +which, in the terms which we now stand on with England, are +circumstances to be desired." + +"In truth," said the Abbot, "and the doubt is well thought on, were it +as well removed; for I scarce know in the Halidome so fitting a place +of refuge, yet see I not how to recommend it to our worshipful guest, +considering the unrestrained petulance of this headstrong youth." + +"Tush! reverend sirs--what would you make of me?" said Sir Piercie +Shafton. "I protest, by mine honour, I would abide in this house were +I to choose. What! I take no exceptions at the youth for showing a +flash of spirit, though the spark may light on mine own head. I honour +the lad for it. I protest I will abide here, and he shall aid me in +striking down a deer. I must needs be friends with him, and he be such +a shot: and we will speedily send down to my lord Abbot a buck of the +first head, killed so artificially as shall satisfy even the reverend +Kitchener." + +This was said with such apparent ease and good-humour, that the Abbot +made no farther observation on what had passed, but proceeded to +acquaint his guest with the details of furniture, hangings, +provisions, and so forth, which he proposed to send up to the Tower of +Glendearg for his accommodation. This discourse, seasoned with a cup +or two of wine, served to prolong the time until the reverend Abbot +ordered his cavalcade to prepare for their return to the Monastery. + +"As we have," he said, "in the course of this our toilsome journey, +lost our meridian, [Footnote: The hour of repose at noon, which, in +the middle ages, was employed in slumber, and which the monastic rules +of nocturnal vigils rendered necessary.] indulgence shall be given to +those of our attendants who shall, from very weariness, be unable to +attend the duty at prime, [Footnote: _Prime_ was the midnight +service of the monks.] and this by way of misericord or +_indulgentia._" [Footnote: _Misericord,_ according to the +learned work of Fosbrooke on British Monachism, meant not only an +indulgence, or exoneration from particular duties, but also a +particular apartment in a convent, where the monks assembled to enjoy +such indulgences or allowances as were granted beyond the rule.] + +Having benevolently intimated a boon to his faithful followers, which +he probably judged would be far from unacceptable, the good Abbot, +seeing all ready for his journey, bestowed his blessing on the +assembled household--gave his hand to be kissed by Dame +Glendinning--himself kissed the cheek of Mary Avenel, and even of the +Miller's maiden, when they approached to render him the same +homage--commanded Halbert to rule his temper, and to be aiding and +obedient in all things to the English Knight--admonished Edward to be +_discipulus impiger atque strenuus_--then took a courteous +farewell of Sir Piercie Shafton, advising him to lie close, for fear +of the English borderers, who might be employed to kidnap him; and +having discharged these various offices of courtesy, moved forth to +the courtyard, followed by the whole establishment. Here, with a heavy +sigh, approaching to a groan, the venerable father heaved himself upon +his palfrey, whose dark purple housings swept the ground; and, greatly +comforted that the discretion of the animal's pace would be no longer +disturbed by the gambadoes of Sir Piercie and his prancing war-horse, +he set forth at a sober and steady trot upon his return to the +Monastery. + +When the Sub-Prior had mounted to accompany his principal, his eye +sought out Halbert, who, partly hidden by a projection of the outward +wall of the court, stood apart from, and gazing upon the departing +cavalcade, and the group which assembled around them. Unsatisfied with +the explanation he had received concerning the mysterious transaction +of the silver bodkin, yet interesting himself in the youth, of whose +character he had formed a favourable idea, the worthy monk resolved to +take an early opportunity of investigating that matter. In the +meanwhile, he looked upon Halbert with a serious and warning aspect, +and held up his finger to him as he signed farewell. He then joined +the rest of the churchmen, and followed his Superior down the valley. + + + + +Chapter the Twentieth. + + + I hope you'll give me cause to think you noble. + And do me right with your sword, sir, as becomes + One gentleman of honour to another; + + All this is fair, sir--let us make no days on't, + I'll lead your way. + +LOVE'S PILGRIMAGE. + +The look and sign of warning which the Sub-Prior gave to Halbert +Glendinning as they parted, went to his heart; for although he had +profited much less than Edward by the good man's instructions, he had +a sincere reverence for his person; and even the short time he had for +deliberation tended to show him he was embarked in a perilous +adventure. The nature of the provocation which he had given to Sir +Piercie Shafton he could not even conjecture; but he saw that it was +of a mortal quality, and he was now to abide the consequences. + +That he might not force these consequences forward by any premature +renewal of their quarrel, he resolved to walk apart for an hour, and +consider on what terms he was to meet this haughty foreigner. The time +seemed propitious for his doing so without having the appearance of +wilfully shunning the stranger, as all the members of the little +household were dispersing either to perform such tasks as had been +interrupted by the arrival of the dignitaries, or to put in order what +had been deranged by their visit. + +Leaving the tower, therefore, and descending, unobserved as he +thought, the knoll on which it stood, Halbert gained the little piece +of level ground which extended betwixt the descent of the hill, and +the first sweep made by the brook after washing the foot of the +eminence on which the tower was situated, where a few straggling birch +and oak-trees served to secure him from observation. But scarcely had +he reached the spot, when he was surprised to feel a smart tap upon +the shoulder, and, turning around, he perceived he had been closely +followed by Sir Piercie Shafton. When, whether from our state of +animal spirits, want of confidence in the justice of our cause, or any +other motive, our own courage happens to be in a wavering condition, +nothing tends so much altogether to disconcert us, as a great +appearance of promptitude on the part of our antagonist. Halbert +Glendinning, both morally and constitutionally intrepid, was +nevertheless somewhat troubled at seeing the stranger, whose +resentment he had provoked, appear at once before him, and with an +aspect which boded hostility. But though his heart might beat somewhat +thicker, he was too high-spirited to exhibit any external signs of +emotion.--"What is your pleasure, Sir Piercie?" he said to the English +knight, enduring without apparent discomposure all the terrors which +his antagonist had summoned into his aspect. + +"What is my pleasure!" answered Sir Piercie; "a goodly question after +the part you have acted towards me!--Young man, I know not what +infatuation has led thee to place thyself in direct and insolent +opposition to one who is a guest of thy liege-lord the Abbot, and who, +even from the courtesy due to thy mother's roof, had a right to remain +there without meeting insult. Neither do I ask, or care, by what means +thou hast become possessed of the fatal secret by which thou hast +dared to offer me open shame. But I must now tell thee, that the +possession of it has cost thee thy life." + +"Not, I trust, if my hand and sword can defend it," replied Halbert, +boldly. + +"True," said the Englishman, "I mean not to deprive thee of thy fair +chance of self-defence. I am only sorry to think, that, young and +country-bred as thou art, it can but little avail thee. But thou must +be well aware, that in this quarrel I shall use no terms of quarter." + +"Rely on it, proud man," answered the youth, "that I shall ask none; +and although thou speakest as if I lay already at thy feet, trust me, +that as I am determined never to ask thy mercy, so I am not fearful of +needing it." + +"Thou wilt, then," said the knight, "do nothing to avert the certain +fate which thou hast provoked with such wantonness?" + +"And how were that to be purchased?" replied Halbert Glendinning, more +with the wish of obtaining some farther insight into the terms on +which he stood with this stranger, than to make him the submission +which he might require. + +"Explain to me instantly," said Sir Piercie, "without equivocation or +delay, by what means thou wert enabled to wound my honour so +deeply--and shouldst thou point out to me by so doing an enemy more +worthy of my resentment, I will permit thine own obscure +insignificance to draw a veil over thine insolence." + +"This is too high a flight," said Glendinning, fiercely, "for thine +own presumption to soar without being checked. Thou hast come to my +father's house, as well as I can guess, a fugitive and an exile, and +thy first greeting to its inhabitants has been that of contempt and +injury. By what means I have been able to retort that contempt, let +thine own conscience tell thee. Enough for me that I stand on the +privilege of a free Scotchman, and will brook no insult unreturned, +and no injury unrequited." + +"It is well, then," said Sir Piercie Shafton; "we will dispute this +matter to-morrow morning with our swords. Let the time be daybreak, +and do thou assign the place. We will go forth as if to strike a +deer." + +"Content," replied Halbert Glendinning: "I will guide thee to a spot +where an hundred men might fight and fall without any chance of +interruption." + +"It is well," answered Sir Piercie Shafton. "Here then we part.--Many +will say, that in thus indulging the right of a gentleman to the son +of a clod-breaking peasant, I derogate from my sphere, even as the +blessed sun would derogate should he condescend to compare and match +his golden beams with the twinkle of a pale, blinking, expiring, +gross-fed taper. But no consideration of rank shall prevent my +avenging the insult thou hast offered me. We bear a smooth face, +observe me, Sir Villagio, before the worshipful inmates of yonder +cabin, and to-morrow we try conclusions with our swords." So saying, +he turned away towards the tower. + +It may not be unworthy of notice, that in the last speech only, had +Sir Piercie used some of those flowers of rhetoric which characterized +the usual style of his conversation. Apparently, a sense of wounded +honour, and the deep desire of vindicating his injured feelings, had +proved too strong for the fantastic affectation of his acquired +habits. Indeed, such is usually the influence of energy of mind, when +called forth and exerted, that Sir Piercie Shafton had never appeared +in the eyes of his youthful antagonist half so much deserving of +esteem and respect as in this brief dialogue, by which they exchanged +mutual defiance. As he followed him slowly to the tower, he could not +help thinking to himself, that, had the English knight always +displayed this superior tone of bearing and feeling, he would not +probably have felt so earnestly disposed to take offence at his hand. +Mortal offence, however, had been exchanged, and the matter was to be +put to mortal arbitrement. + +The family met at the evening meal, when Sir Piercie Shafton extended +the benignity of his countenance and the graces of his conversation +far more generally over the party than he had hitherto condescended to +do. The greater part of his attention was, of course, still engrossed +by his divine inimitable Discretion, as he chose to term Mary Avenel; +but, nevertheless there were interjectional flourishes to the Maid of +the Mill, under the title of Comely Damsel, and to the Dame, under +that of Worthy Matron. Nay, lest he should fail to excite their +admiration by the graces of his rhetoric, he generously, and without +solicitation, added those of his voice; and after regretting bitterly +the absence of his viol-de-gamba, he regaled them with a song, +"which," said he, "the inimitable Astrophel, whom mortals call Philip +Sidney, composed in the nonage of his muse, to show the world what +they are to expect from his riper years, and which will one day see +the light in that not-to-be-paralleled perfection of human wit, which +he has addressed to his sister, the matchless Parthenope, whom men +call Countess of Pembroke; a work," he continued, "whereof his +friendship hath permitted me, though unworthy, to be an occasional +partaker, and whereof I may well say, that the deep afflictive tale +which awakeneth our sorrows, is so relieved with brilliant +similitudes, dulcet descriptions, pleasant poems, and engaging +interludes, that they seem as the stars of the firmament, beautifying +the dusky robe of night. And though I wot well how much the lovely +and quaint language will suffer by my widowed voice, widowed in that +it is no longer matched by my beloved viol-de-gamba, I will essay to +give you a taste of the ravishing sweetness of the poesy of the +un-to-be-imitated Astrophel." + +So saying, he sung without mercy or remorse about five hundred verses, +of which the two first and the four last may suffice for a specimen-- + + "What tongue can her perfections tell, + On whose each part all pens may dwell. + + Of whose high praise arid praiseful bliss, + Goodness the pen. Heaven paper is; + The ink immortal fame doth send, + As I began so I must end." + +As Sir Piercie Shafton always sung with his eyes half shut, it was not +until, agreeably to the promise of poetry, he had fairly made an end, +that looking round, he discovered that the greater part of his +audience had, in the meanwhile, yielded to the charms of repose. Mary +Avenel, indeed, from a natural sense of politeness, had contrived to +keep awake through all the perplexities of the divine Astrophel; but +Mysie was transported in dreams back to the dusty atmosphere of her +father's mill. Edward himself, who had given his attention for some +time, had at length fallen fast asleep; and the good dame's nose, +could its tones have been put in regulation, might have supplied the +bass of the lamented viol-de-gamba. Halbert, however, who had no +temptation to give way to the charms of slumber, remained awake with +his eyes fixed on the songster; not that he was better entertained +with the words, or more ravished with the execution, than the rest of +the company, but rather because he admired, or perhaps envied, the +composure, which could thus spend the evening in interminable +madrigals, when the next morning was to be devoted to deadly combat. +Yet it struck his natural acuteness of observation, that the eye of +the gallant cavalier did now and then, furtively as it were, seek a +glance of his countenance, as if to discover how he was taking the +exhibition of his antagonist's composure and serenity of mind. + +He shall read nothing in my countenance, thought Halbert, proudly, that +can make him think my indifference less than his own. + +And taking from the shelf a bag full of miscellaneous matters +collected for the purpose, he began with great industry to dress +hooks, and had finished half-a-dozen of flies (we are enabled, for the +benefit of those who admire the antiquities of the gentle art of +angling, to state that they were brown hackles) by the time that Sir +Piercie had arrived at the conclusion of his long-winded strophes of +the divine Astrophel. So that he also testified a magnanimous contempt +of that which to-morrow should bring forth. + +As it now waxed late, the family of Glendearg separated for the evening; +Sir Piercie first saying to the dame, that "her son Albert--" + +"Halbert," said Elspeth, with emphasis, "Halbert, after his goodsire, +Halbert Brydone." + +"Well, then, I have prayed your son, Halbert, that we may strive +tomorrow, with the sun's earliness, to wake a stag from his lair, that +I may see whether he be as prompt at that sport as fame bespeaks him." + +"Alas! sir," answered Dame Elspeth, "he is but too prompt, an you talk +of promptitude, at any thing that has steel at one end of it, and +mischief at the other. But he is at your honourable disposal, and I +trust you will teach him how obedience is due to our venerable father +and lord, the Abbot, and prevail with him to take the bow-bearer's +place in fee; for, as the two worthy monks said, it will be a great +help to a widow-woman." + +"Trust me, good dame," replied Sir Piercie, "it is my purpose so to +indoctrinate him. touching his conduct and bearing towards his +betters, that he shall not lightly depart from the reverence due to +them.--We meet, then, beneath the birch-trees in the plain," he said, +looking to Halbert, "so soon as the eye of day hath opened its +lids."--Halbert answered with a sign of acquiescence, and the knight +proceeded, "And now, having wished to my fairest Discretion those +pleasant dreams which wave their pinions around the couch of sleeping +beauty, and to this comely damsel the bounties of Morpheus, and to all +others the common good-night, I will crave you leave to depart to my +place of rest, though I may say with the poet, + + 'Ah rest!--no rest but change of place and posture: + Ah sleep!--no sleep but worn-out Nature's swooning; + Ah bed!--no bed but cushion fill'd with stones: + Rest, sleep, nor bed, await not on an exile.'" + +With a delicate obeisance he left the room, evading Dame Glendinning, +who hastened to assure him he would find his accommodations for repose +much more agreeable than they had been the night before, there having +been store of warm coverlets, and a soft feather-bed, sent up from the +Abbey. But the good knight probably thought that the grace and effect +of his exit would be diminished, if he were recalled from his heroics +to discuss such sublunary and domestic topics, and therefore hastened +away without waiting to hear her out. + +"A pleasant gentleman," said Dame Glendinning; "but I will warrant him +an humorous [Footnote: _Humorous_--full of whims--thus +Shakspeare, "Humorous as winter."--The vulgar word humorsome comes +nearest to the meaning.]--And sings a sweet song, though it is +somewhat of the longest.--Well, I make mine avow he is goodly +company--I wonder when he will go away." + +Having thus expressed her respect for her guest, not without +intimation that she was heartily tired of his company, the good dame +gave the signal for the family to disperse, and laid her injunctions +on Halbert to attend Sir Piercie Shafton at daybreak, as he required. + +When stretched on his pallet by his brother's side, Halbert had no +small cause to envy the sound sleep which instantly settled on the +eyes of Edward, but refused him any share of its influence. He saw now +too well what the spirit had darkly indicated, that, in granting the +boon which he had asked so unadvisedly, she had contributed more to +his harm than his good. He was now sensible, too late, of the various +dangers and inconveniences with which his dearest friends were +threatened, alike by his discomfiture or his success in the +approaching duel. If he fell, he might say personally, "good-night +all." But it was not the less certain that he should leave a dreadful +legacy of distress and embarrassment to his mother and family,--an +anticipation which by no means tended to render the front of death, in +itself a grisly object, more agreeable to his imagination. The +vengeance of the Abbot, his conscience told him, was sure to descend +on his mother and brother, or could only be averted by the generosity +of the victor--And Mary Avenel--he should have shown himself, if he +succumbed in the present combat, as inefficient in protecting her, as +he had been unnecessarily active in bringing disaster on her, and on +the house in which she had been protected from infancy. And to this +view of the case were to be added all those imbittered and anxious +feelings with which the bravest men, even in a better or less doubtful +quarrel, regard the issue of a dubious conflict, the first time when +it has been their fate to engage in an affair of that nature. + +But however disconsolate the prospect seemed in the event of his being +conquered, Halbert could expect from victory little more than the +safety of his own life, and the gratification of his wounded pride. To +his friends--to his mother and brother--especially to Mary Avenel--the +consequences of his triumph would be more certain destruction than the +contingency of his defeat and death. If the English knight survived, +he might in courtesy extend his protection to them; but if he fell, +nothing was likely to screen them from the vindictive measures which +the Abbot and convent would surely adopt against the violation of the +peace of the Halidome, and the slaughter of a protected guest by one +of their own vassals, within whose house they had lodged him for +shelter. These thoughts, in which neither view of the case augured +aught short of ruin to his family, and that ruin entirely brought on +by his own rashness, were thorns in Halbert Glendinning's pillow, and +deprived his soul of peace and his eyes of slumber. + +There appeared no middle course, saving one which was marked by +degradation, and which, even if he stooped to it, was by no means free +of danger. He might indeed confess to the English knight the strange +circumstances which led to his presenting him with that token which +the White Lady (in her displeasure as it now seemed) had given him, +that he might offer it to Sir Piercie Shafton. But to this avowal his +pride could not stoop, and reason, who is wonderfully ready to be of +counsel with pride on such occasions, offered many arguments to show +it would be useless as well as mean so far to degrade himself. "If I +tell a tale so wonderful," thought he, "shall I not either be +stigmatized as a liar, or punished as a wizard?--Were Sir Piercie +Shafton generous, noble, and benevolent, as the champions of whom we +hear in romance, I might indeed gain his ear, and, without demeaning +myself, escape from the situation in which I am placed. But as he is, +or at least seems to be, self-conceited, arrogant, vain, and +presumptuous--I should but humble myself in vain--and I will not +humble myself!" he said, starting out of bed, grasping his broadsword, +and brandishing it in the light of the moon, which streamed through +the deep niche that served them as a window; when, to his extreme +surprise and terror, an airy form stood in the moonlight, but +intercepted not the reflection on the floor. Dimly as it was +expressed, the sound of the voice soon made him sensible he saw the +White Lady. + +At no time had her presence seemed so terrific to him; for when he had +invoked her, it was with the expectation of the apparition, and the +determination to abide the issue. But now she had come uncalled, and +her presence impressed him with a sense of approaching misfortune, and +with the hideous apprehension that he had associated himself with a +demon, over whose motions he had no control, and of whose powers and +quality he had no certain knowledge. He remained, therefore, in mere +terror, gazing on the apparition, which chanted or recited in cadence +the following lines-- + + "He whose heart for vengeance sued, + Must not shrink from shedding blood + The knot that thou hast tied with word, + Thou must loose by edge of sword." + +"Avaunt thee, false Spirit!" said Halbert Glendinning; "I have bought +thy advice too dearly already--Begone in the name of God!" + +The Spirit laughed; and the cold unnatural sound of her laughter had +something in it more fearful than the usually melancholy tones of her +voice. She then replied,-- + + "You have summon'd me once--you have summoned me twice, + And without e'er a summons I come to you thrice; + Unask'd for, unsued for, you came to my glen; + Unsued and unask'd I am with you again." + +Halbert Glendinning gave way for a moment to terror, and called on his +brother, "Edward! waken, waken, for Our Lady's sake!" + +Edward awaked accordingly, and asked what he wanted. + +"Look out," said Halbert, "look up! seest thou no one in the room?" + +"No, upon my good word," said Edward, looking out. + +"What! seest thou nothing in the moonshine upon the floor there?" + +"No, nothing," answered Edward, "save thyself resting on thy naked +sword. I tell thee, Halbert, thou shouldst trust more to thy spiritual +arms, and less to those of steel and iron. For this many a night hast +thou started and moaned, and cried out of fighting, and of spectres, +and of goblins--thy sleep hath not refreshed thee--thy waking hath +been a dream.--Credit me, dear Halbert, say the _Pater_ and +_Credo_, resign thyself to the protection of God, and thou wilt +sleep sound and wake in comfort." + +"It may be," said Halbert slowly, and having his eye still bent on the +female form which to him seemed distinctly visible,--"it may be. But +tell me, dear Edward, seest thou no one on the chamber floor but me?" + +"No one," answered Edward, raising himself on his elbow; "dear +brother, lay aside thy weapon, say thy prayers, and lay thee down to +rest." + +While he thus spoke, the Spirit smiled at Halbert as if in scorn; her +wan cheek faded in the wan moonlight even before the smile had passed +away, and Halbert himself no longer beheld the vision to which he had +so anxiously solicited his brother's attention. "May God preserve my +wits!" he said, as, laying aside his weapon, he again threw himself on +his bed. + +"Amen! my dearest brother," answered Edward; "but we must not provoke +that Heaven in our wantonness which we invoke in our misery.--Be not +angry with me, my dear brother--I know not why you have totally of +late estranged yourself from me--It is true, I am neither so athletic +in body, nor so alert in courage, as you have been from your infancy; +yet, till lately, you have not absolutely cast off my society--Believe +me, I have wept in secret, though I forbore to intrude myself on your +privacy. The time has been--when you held me not so cheap; and--when, +if I could not follow the game so closely, or mark it so truly as you, +I could fill up our intervals of pastime with pleasant tales of the +olden times, which I had read or heard, and which excited even your +attention as we sate and ate our provision by some pleasant +spring--but now I have, though I know not why, lost thy regard and +affection.--Nay, toss not thy arms about thee thus wildly," said the +younger brother; "from thy strange dreams, I fear some touch of fever +hath affected thy blood--let me draw closer around thee thy mantle." + +"Forbear," said Halbert--"your care is needless--your complaints are +without reason--your fears on my account are in vain." + +"Nay, but hear me, brother," said Edward. "Your speech in sleep, and +now even your waking dreams, are of beings which belong not to this +world, or to our race--Our good Father Eustace says, that howbeit we +may not do well to receive all idle tales of goblins and spectres, yet +there is warrant from holy Scripture to believe, that the fiends haunt +waste and solitary places; and that those who frequent such +wildernesses alone, are the prey, or the sport, of these wandering +demons. And therefore, I pray thee, brother, let me go with you when +you go next up the glen, where, as you well know, there be places of +evil reputation--Thou carest not for my escort; but, Halbert, such +dangers are more safely encountered by the wise in judgment, than by +the bold in bosom; and though I have small cause to boast of my own +wisdom, yet I have that which ariseth from the written knowledge of +elder times." + +There was a moment during this discourse, when Halbert had well-nigh +come to the resolution of disburdening his own breast, by intrusting +Edward with all that weighed upon it. But when his brother reminded +him that this was the morning of a high holiday, and that, setting +aside all other business or pleasure, he ought to go to the Monastery +and shrive himself before Father Eustace, who would that day occupy +the confessional, pride stepped in and confirmed his wavering +resolution. "I will not avow," he thought, "a tale so extraordinary, +that I may be considered as an impostor or something worse--I will not +fly from this Englishman, whose arm and sword may be no better than my +own. My fathers have faced his betters, were he as much distinguished +in battle as he is by his quaint discourse." + +Pride, which has been said to save man, and woman too, from falling, +has yet a stronger influence on the mind when it embraces the cause of +passion, and seldom fails to render it victorious over conscience and +reason. Halbert, once determined, though not to the better course, at +length slept soundly, and was only awakened by the dawn of day. + + * * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Twenty-First. + + + Indifferent, but indifferent--pshaw, he doth it not + Like one who is his craft's master--ne'er the less + I have seen a clown confer a bloody coxcomb + On one who was a master of defence. + OLD PLAY. + +With the first gray peep of dawn, Halbert Glendinning arose and +hastened to dress himself, girded on his weapon, and took a cross-bow +in his hand, as if his usual sport had been his sole object. He groped +his way down the dark and winding staircase, and undid, with as little +noise as possible, the fastenings of the inner door, and of the +exterior iron grate. At length he stood free in the court-yard, and +looking up to the tower, saw a signal made with a handkerchief from +the window. Nothing doubting that it was his antagonist, he paused, +expecting him. But it was Mary Avenel, who glided like a spirit from +under the low and rugged portal. + +Halbert was much surprised, and felt, he knew not why, like one caught +in the act of a meditated trespass. The presence of Mary Avenel had till +that moment never given him pain. She spoke, too, in a tone where sorrow +seemed to mingle with reproach, while she asked him with emphasis, +"What he was about to do?" + +He showed his cross-bow, and was about to express the pretext he had +meditated, when Mary interrupted him. + +"Not so, Halbert--that evasion were unworthy of one whose word has +hitherto been truth. You meditate not the destruction of the deer--your +hand and your heart are aimed at other game--you seek to do battle with +this stranger." + +"And wherefore should I quarrel with our guest?" answered Halbert, +blushing deeply. + +"There are, indeed, many reasons why you should not," replied the +maiden, "nor is there one of avail wherefore you should--yet +nevertheless, such a quarrel you are now searching after." + +"Why should you suppose so, Mary?" said Halbert, endeavouring to hide +his conscious purpose--"he is my mother's guest--he is protected by +the Abbot and the community, who are our masters--he is of high degree +also,--and wherefore should you think that I can, or dare, resent a +hasty word, which he has perchance thrown out against me more from the +wantonness of his wit, than the purpose of his heart?" + +"Alas!" answered the maiden, "the very asking that question puts your +resolution beyond a doubt. Since your childhood you were ever daring, +seeking danger rather than avoiding it--delighting in whatever had the +air of adventure and of courage: and it is not from fear that you will +now blench from your purpose--Oh, let it then be from pity!--from +pity, Halbert, to your aged mother, whom your death or victory will +alike deprive of the comfort and stay of her age." + +"She has my brother Edward," said Halbert, turning suddenly from her. + +"She has indeed," said Mary Avenel, "the calm, the noble-minded, the +considerate Edward, who has thy courage, Halbert, without thy fiery +rashness,--thy generous spirit, with more of reason to guide it. He +would not have heard his mother, would not have heard his adopted +sister, beseech him in vain not to ruin himself, and tear up their +future hopes of happiness and protection." + +Halbert's heart swelled as he replied to this reproach. "Well--what +avails it speaking?--you have him that is better than me--wiser, more +considerate--braver, for aught I know--you are provided with a +protector, and need care no more for me." + +Again he turned to depart, but Mary Avenel laid her hand on his arm so +gently that he scarce felt her hold, yet felt that it was impossible +for him to strike it off. There he stood, one foot advanced to leave +the court-yard, but so little determined on departure, that he +resembled a traveller arrested by the spell of a magician, and unable +either to quit the attitude of motion, or to proceed on his course. + +Mary Avenel availed herself of his state of suspense. "Hear me," she +said, "hear me, Halbert!--I am an orphan, and even Heaven hears the +orphan--I have been the companion of your infancy, and if _you_ +will not hear me for an instant, from whom may Mary Avenel claim so +poor a boon?" + +"I hear you," said Halbert Glendinning, "but be brief, dear Mary--you +mistake the nature of my business--it is but a morning of summer sport +which we propose." + +"Say not thus," said the maiden, interrupting him, "say not thus to me +--others thou mayst deceive, but me thou canst not--There has been +that in me from the earliest youth, which fraud flies from, and which +imposture cannot deceive. For what fate has given me such a power I +know not; but bred an ignorant maiden, in this sequestered valley, +mine eyes can too often see what man would most willingly hide--I can +judge of the dark purpose, though it is hid under the smiling brow, +and a glance of the eye says more to me than oaths and protestations +do to others." + +"Then," said Halbert, "if thou canst so read the human heart,--say, +dear Mary--what dost thou see in mine?--tell me that--say that what +thou seest--what thou readest in this bosom, does not offend thee--say +but _that_, and thou shalt be the guide of my actions, and mould +me now and henceforward to honour or to dishonour at thy own free +will!" + +Mary Avenel became first red, and then deadly pale, as Halbert +Glendinning spoke. But when, turning round at the close of his +address, he took her hand, she gently withdrew it, and replied, "I +cannot read the heart, Halbert, and I would not of my will know aught +of yours, save what beseems us both--I only can judge of signs, words, +and actions of little outward import, more truly than those around me, +as my eyes, thou knowest, have seen objects not presented to those of +others." + +"Let them gaze then on one whom they shall never see more," said +Halbert, once more turning from her, and rushing out of the court-yard +without again looking back. + +Mary Avenel gave a faint scream, and clasped both her hands firmly on +her forehead and eyes. She had been a minute in this attitude, when +she was thus greeted by a voice from behind: "Generously done, my most +clement Discretion, to hide those brilliant eyes from the far inferior +beams which even now begin to gild the eastern horizon--Certes, peril +there were that Phoebus, outshone in splendour, might in very +shamefacedness turn back his ear, and rather leave the world in +darkness, than incur the disgrace of such an encounter--Credit me, +lovely Discretion--" + +But as Sir Piercie Shafton (the reader will readily set down these +flowers of eloquence to the proper owner) attempted to take Mary +Avenel's hand, in order to proceed in his speech, she shook him +abruptly off, and regarding him with an eye which evinced terror and +agitation, rushed past him into the tower. + +The knight stood looking after her with a countenance in which +contempt was strongly mingled with mortification. "By my knighthood!" +he ejaculated, "I have thrown away upon this rude rustic Phidel? a +speech, which the proudest beauty at the court of Felicia (so let me +call the Elysium from which I am banished!) might have termed the very +matins of Cupid. Hard and inexorable was the fate that sent thee +thither, Piercie Shafton, to waste thy wit upon country wenches, and +thy valour upon hob-nailed clowns! But that insult--that affront--had +it been offered to me by the lowest plebeian, he must have died for it +by my hand, in respect the enormity of the offence doth countervail +the inequality of him by whom it is given. I trust I shall find this +clownish roisterer not less willing to deal in blows than in taunts." + +While he held this conversation with himself, Sir Piercie Shafton was +hastening to the little tuft of birch-trees which had been assigned as +the place of meeting. He greeted his antagonist with a courtly +salutation, followed by this commentary: "I pray you to observe, that +I doff my hat to you, though so much my inferior in rank, without +derogation on my part, inasmuch as my having so far honoured you in +receiving and admitting your defiance, doth, in the judgment of the +best martialists, in some sort and for the time, raise you to a level +with me--an honour which you may and ought to account cheaply +purchased, even with the loss of your life, if such should chance to +be the issue of this duello." + +"For which condescension," said Halbert, "I have to thank the token +which I presented to you." + +The knight changed colour, and grinded his teeth with rage--"Draw your +weapon!" said he to Glendinning. + +"Not in this spot," answered the youth; "we should be liable to +interruption--Follow me, and I will bring you to a place where we +shall encounter no such risk." + +He proceeded to walk up the glen, resolving that their place of combat +should be in the entrance of the Corri-nan-shian; both because the +spot, lying under the reputation of being haunted, was very little +frequented, and also because he regarded it as a place which to him +might be termed fated, and which he therefore resolved should witness +his death or victory. They walked up the glen for some time in +silence, like honourable enemies who did not wish to contend with +words, and who had nothing friendly to exchange with each other. +Silence, however, was always an irksome state with Sir Piercie and, +moreover, his anger was usually a hasty and short-lived passion. As, +therefore, he went forth, in his own idea, in all love and honour +towards his antagonist, he saw not any cause for submitting longer to +the painful restraint of positive silence. He began by complimenting +Halbert on the alert activity with which he surmounted the obstacles +and impediments of the way. + +"Trust me," said he, "worthy rustic, we have not a lighter or a firmer +step in our courtlike revels, and if duly set forth by a silk hose, +and trained unto that stately exercise, your leg would make an +indifferent good show in a pavin or a galliard. And I doubt nothing," +he added, "that you have availed yourself of some opportunity to +improve yourself in the art of fence, which is more akin than dancing +to our present purpose?" + +"I know nothing more of fencing," said Halbert, "than hath been taught +me by an old shepherd of ours, called Martin, and at whiles a lesson +from Christie of the Clinthill--for the rest, I must trust to good +sword, strong arm, and sound heart." + +"Marry and I am glad of it, young Audacity, (I will call you my +Audacity, and you will call me your Condescension, while we are on +these terms of unnatural equality,) I am glad of your ignorance with +all my heart. For we martialists proportion the punishments which we +inflict upon our opposites, to the length and hazard of the efforts +wherewith they oppose themselves to us. And I see not why you, being +but a tyro, may not be held sufficiently punished for your +outrecuidance, and orgillous presumption, by the loss of an ear, an +eye, or even a finger, accompanied by some flesh-wound of depth and +severity, suited to your error--whereas, had you been able to stand +more effectually on your defence, I see not how less than your life +could have atoned sufficiently for your presumption." + +"Now, by God and Our Lady," said Halbert, unable any longer to +restrain himself, "thou art thyself over-presumptuous, who speakest +thus daringly of the issue of a combat which is not yet even +begun--Are you a god, that you already dispose of my life and limbs? +or are you a judge in the justice-air, telling at your ease and +without risk, how the head and quarters of a condemned criminal are to +be disposed of?" + +"Not so, O thou,--whom I have well permitted to call thyself my +Audacity. I, thy Condescension, am neither a god to judge the issue +of the combat before it is fought, nor a judge to dispose at my ease +and in safety of the limbs and head of a condemned criminal; but I am +an indifferent good master of fence, being the first pupil of the +first master of the first school of fence that our royal England +affords, the said master being no other than the truly noble, and +all-unutterably skilful Vincentio Saviola, from whom I learned the +firm step, quick eye, and nimble hand--of which qualities thou, O my +most rustical Audacity, art full like to reap the fruits so soon as we +shall find a piece of ground fitting for such experiments." + +They had now reached the gorge of the ravine, where Halbert had at +first intended to stop; but when he observed the narrowness of the +level ground, he began to consider that it was only by superior +agility that he could expect to make up his deficiency in the science, +as it was called, of defence. He found no spot which afforded +sufficient room to traverse for this purpose, until he gained the +well-known fountain, by whose margin, and in front of the huge rock +from which it sprung, was an amphitheatre of level turf, of small +space indeed, compared with the great height of the cliffs with which +it was surrounded on every point save that from which the rivulet +issued forth, yet large enough for their present purpose. + +When they had reached this spot of ground, fitted well by its gloom +and sequestered situation to be a scene of mortal strife, both were +surprised to observe that a grave was dug close by the foot of the +rock with great neatness and regularity, the green turf being laid +down upon the one side, and the earth thrown out in a heap upon the +other. A mattock and shovel lay by the verge of the grave. + +Sir Piercie Shafton bent his eye with unusual seriousness upon Halbert +Glendinning, as he asked him sternly, "Does this bode treason, young +man? And have you purpose to set upon me here as in an emboscata or +place of vantage?" + +"Not on my part, by Heaven!" answered the youth: "I told no one of our +purpose, nor would I for the throne of Scotland take odds against a +single arm." + +"I believe thou wouldst not, mine Audacity," said the knight, resuming +the affected manner which was become a second nature to him; +"nevertheless this fosse is curiously well shaped, and might be the +masterpiece of Nature's last bed-maker, I would say the +sexton--Wherefore, let us be thankful to chance or some unknown +friend, who hath thus provided for one of us the decencies of +sepulture, and let us proceed to determine which shall have the +advantage of enjoying this place of undisturbed slumber." + +So saying, he stripped off his doublet and cloak, which he folded up +with great care, and deposited upon a large stone, while Halbert +Glendinning, not without some emotion, followed his example. Their +vicinity to the favourite haunt of the White Lady led him to form +conjectures concerning the incident of the grave--"It must have been +her work!" he thought: "the Spirit foresaw and has provided for the +fatal event of the combat--I must return from this place a homicide, +or I must remain here for ever!" + +The bridge seemed now broken down behind him, and the chance of coming +off honourably without killing or being killed, (the hope of which +issue has cheered the sinking heart of many a duellist,) seemed now +altogether to be removed. Yet the very desperation of his situation +gave him, on an instant's reflection, both firmness and courage, and +presented to him one sole alternative, conquest, namely, or death. + +"As we are here," said Sir Piercie Shafton, "unaccompanied by any +patrons or seconds, it were well you should pass your hands over my +sides, as I shall over yours; not that I suspect you to use any quaint +device of privy armour, but in order to comply with the ancient and +laudable custom practised on all such occasions." + +While complying with his antagonist's humour, Halbert Glendinning went +through this ceremony, Sir Piercie Shafton did not fail to solicit his +attention to the quality and fineness of his wrought and embroidered +shirt--"In this very shirt," said he, "O mine Audacity!--I say in this +very garment, in which I am now to combat a Scottish rustic like +thyself, it was my envied lot to lead the winning party at that +wonderous match at ballon, made betwixt the divine Astrophel, (our +matchless Sidney,) and the right honourable my very good lord of +Oxford. All the beauties of Felicia (by which name I distinguish our +beloved England) stood in the gallery, waving their kerchiefs at each +turn of the game, and cheering the winners by their plaudits. After +which noble sport we were refreshed by a suitable banquet, whereat it +pleased the noble Urania (being the unmatched Countess of Pembroke) to +accommodate me with her fan for the cooling my somewhat too much +inflamed visage, to requite which courtesy, I said, casting my +features into a smiling, yet melancholy fashion, O divinest Urania! +receive again that too fatal gift, which not like the Zephyr cooleth, +but like the hot breath of the Sirocco, heateth yet more that which is +already inflamed. Whereupon, looking upon me somewhat scornfully, yet +not so but what the experienced courtier might perceive a certain cast +of approbative affection----" + +Here the knight was interrupted by Halbert, who had waited with +courteous patience for some little time, till he found, that far from +drawing to a close, Sir Piercie seemed rather inclined to wax prolix +in his reminiscences. + +"Sir Knight," said the youth, "if this matter be not very much to the +purpose, we will, if you object not, proceed to that which we have in +hand. You should have abidden in England had you desired to waste +time in words, for here we spend it in blows." + +"I crave your pardon, most rusticated Audacity," answered Sir Piercie; +"truly I become oblivious of every thing beside, when the +recollections of the divine court of Felicia press upon my wakened +memory, even as a saint is dazzled when he bethinks him of the +beatific vision. Ah, felicitous Feliciana! delicate nurse of the +fair, chosen abode of the wise, the birth-place and cradle of +nobility, the temple of courtesy, the fane of sprightly chivalry--Ah, +heavenly court, or rather courtly heaven! cheered with dances, lulled +asleep with harmony, wakened with sprightly sports and tourneys, +decored with silks and tissues, glittering with diamonds and jewels, +standing on end with double-piled velvets, satins, and satinettas!" + +"The token, Sir Knight, the token!" exclaimed Halbert Glendinning, +who, impatient of Sir Piercie's interminable oratory, reminded him of +the ground of their quarrel, as the best way to compel him to the +purpose of their meeting. + +And he judged right; for Sir Piercie Shafton no sooner heard him +speak, than he exclaimed, "Thy death-hour has struck--betake thee to +thy sword--Via!" + +Both swords were unsheathed, and the combatants commenced their +engagement. Halbert became immediately aware, that, as he had +expected, he was far inferior to his adversary in the use of his +weapon. Sir Piercie Shafton had taken no more than his own share of +real merit, when he termed himself an absolutely good fencer; and +Glendinning soon found that he should have great difficulty in +escaping with life and honour from such a master of the sword. The +English knight was master of all the mystery of the _stoccata, +imbrocata, punto-reverso, incartata_, and so forth, which the +Italian masters of defence had lately introduced into general +practice. But Glendinning, on his part, was no novice in the +principles of the art, according to the old Scottish fashion, and +possessed the first of all qualities, a steady and collected mind. At +first, being desirous to try the skill, and become acquainted with the +play of his enemy, he stood on his defence, keeping his foot, hand, +eye, and body, in perfect unison, and holding his sword short, and +with the point towards his antagonist's face, so that Sir Piercie, in +order to assail him, was obliged to make actual passes, and could not +avail himself of his skill in making feints; while, on the other hand, +Halbert was prompt to parry these attacks, either by shifting his +ground or with the sword. The consequence was, that after two or three +sharp attempts on the part of Sir Piercie, which were evaded or +disconcerted by the address of his opponent, he began to assume the +defensive in his turn, fearful of giving some advantage by being +repeatedly the assailant. But Halbert was too cautious to press on a +swordsman whose dexterity had already more than once placed him within +a hair's breadth of death, which he had only escaped by uncommon +watchfulness and agility. + +When each had made a feint or two, there was a pause in the conflict, +both as if by one assent dropping their swords' point, and looking on +each other for a moment without speaking. At length Halbert +Glendinning, who felt perhaps more uneasy on account of his family +than he had done before he had displayed his own courage, and proved +the strength of his antagonist, could not help saying, "Is the subject +of our quarrel, Sir Knight, so mortal, that one of our two bodies must +needs fill up that grave? or may we with honour, having proved +ourselves against each other, sheathe our swords and depart friends?" + +"Valiant and most rustical Audacity," said the Southron knight, "to no +man on earth could you have put a question on the code of honour, who +was more capable of rendering you a reason. Let us pause for the space +of one venue, until I give you my opinion on this dependence, +[Footnote: _Dependence_--A phrase among the brethren of the sword +for an existing quarrel.] for certain it is, that brave men should not +run upon their fate like brute and furious wild beasts, but should +slay each other deliberately, decently, and with reason. Therefore, +if we coolly examine the state of our dependence, we may the better +apprehend whether the sisters three have doomed one of us to expiate +the same with his blood--Dost thou understand me?" + +"I have heard Father Eustace," said Halbert, after a moment's +recollection, "speak of the three furies, with their thread and their +shears." + +"Enough--enough,"--interrupted Sir Piercie Shafton, crimsoning with +a new fit of rage, "the thread of thy life is spun!" + +And with these words he attacked with the utmost ferocity the Scottish +youth, who had but just time to throw himself into a posture of +defence. But the rash fury of the assailant, as frequently happens, +disappointed its own purpose; for, as he made a desperate thrust, +Halbert Glendinning avoided it, and ere the knight could recover his +weapon, requited him (to use his own language) with a resolute +stoccata, which passed through his body, and Sir Piercie Shafton fell +to the ground. + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Second. + + + Yes, life hath left him--every busy thought, + Each fiery passion, every strong affection, + All sense of outward ill and inward sorrow, + Are fled at once from the pale trunk before me; + And I have given that which spoke and moved, + Thought, acted, suffer'd as a living man, + To be a ghastly form of bloody clay, + Soon the foul food for reptiles. + OLD PLAY. + +I believe few successful duellists (if the word successful can be +applied to a superiority so fatal) have beheld their dead antagonist +stretched on the earth at their feet, without wishing they could +redeem with their own blood that which it has been their fate to +spill. Least of all could such indifference be the lot of so young a +man as Halbert Glendinning, who, unused to the sight of human blood, +was not only struck with sorrow, but with terror, when he beheld Sir +Piercie Shafton lie stretched on the green-sward before him, vomiting +gore as if impelled by the strokes of a pump. He threw his bloody +sword on the ground, and hastened to kneel and support him, vainly +striving, at the same time, to stanch his wound, which seemed rather +to bleed inwardly than externally. + +The unfortunate knight spoke at intervals, when the syncope would +permit him, and his words, so far as intelligible, partook of his +affected and conceited, yet not ungenerous character. + +"Most rustical youth," he said, "thy fortune hath prevailed over +knightly skill--and Audacity hath overcome Condescension, even as the +kite hath sometimes hawked at and struck down the falcon-gentle.--Fly +and save thyself!--Take my purse--it is in the nether pocket of my +carnation-coloured hose--and is worth a clown's acceptance. See that +my mails, with my vestments, be sent to the Monastery of Saint +Mary's"--(here his voice grew weak, and his mind and recollection +seemed to waver)--"I bestow the cut velvet jerkin, with close breeches +conforming--for--oh!--the good of my soul." + +"Be of good comfort, sir," said Halbert, half distracted with his agony +of pity and remorse. "I trust you shall yet do well--Oh for a leech!" + +"Were there twenty physicians, O most generous Audacity, and that were +a grave spectacle--I might not survive, my life is ebbing +fast.--Commend me to the rustical nymph whom I called my Discretion--O +Claridiana!--true empress of this bleeding heart--which now bleedeth +in sad earnest!--Place me on the ground at my length, most rustical +victor, born to quench the pride of the burning light of the most +felicitous court of Feliciana--O saints and angels---knights and +ladies--masques and theatres--quaint devices--chain-work and +broidery--love, honour, and beauty!----" + +While muttering these last words, which slid from him, as it were +unawares, while doubtless he was calling to mind the glories of the +English court, the gallant Sir Piercie Shafton stretched out his +limbs--groaned deeply, shut his eyes, and became motionless. + +The victor tore his hair for very sorrow, as he looked on the pale +countenance of his victim. Life, he thought, had not utterly fled, but +without better aid than his own, he saw not how it could be preserved. + +"Why," he exclaimed in vain penitence, "why did I provoke him to an +issue so fatal! Would to God I had submitted to the worst insult man +could receive from man, rather than be the bloody instrument of this +bloody deed--and doubly cursed be this evil-boding spot, which, +haunted as I knew it to be by a witch or a devil, I yet chose for the +place of combat! In any other place, save this, there had been help to +be gotten by speed of foot, or by uplifting of voice--but here there +is no one to be found by search, no one to hear my shouts, save the +evil spirit who has counselled this mischief. It is not her hour--I +will essay the spell howsoever; and if she can give me aid, she +_shall_ do it, or know of what a madman is capable even against +those of another world!" + +He spurned his bloody shoe from his foot, and repeated the spell with +which the reader is well acquainted; but there was neither voice, +apparition, nor signal of answer. The youth, in the impatience of his +despair, and with the rash hardihood which formed the basis of his +character, shouted aloud, "Witch--Sorceress--Fiend!--art thou deaf to +my cries of help, and so ready to appear and answer those of +vengeance? Arise and speak to me, or I will choke up thy fountain, +tear down thy hollybush, and leave thy haunt as waste and bare as thy +fatal assistance has made me waste of comfort and bare of +counsel!"--This furious and raving invocation was suddenly interrupted +by a distant sound, resembling a hollo, from the gorge of the ravine. +"Now may Saint Mary be praised," said the youth, hastily fastening his +sandal, "I hear the voice of some living man, who may give me counsel +and help in this fearful extremity." + +Having donned his sandal, Halbert Glendinning, hallooing at intervals, +in answer to the sound which he had heard, ran with the speed of a +hunted buck down the rugged defile, as if paradise had been before +him, hell and all her furies behind, and his eternal happiness or +misery had depended upon the speed which he exerted. In a space +incredibly short for any one but a Scottish mountaineer having his +nerves strung by the deepest and most passionate interest, the youth +reached the entrance of the ravine, through which the rill that flows +down Corri-nan-shian discharges itself, and unites with the brook that +waters the little valley of Glendearg. + +Here he paused, and looked around him upwards and downwards through +the glen, without perceiving a human form. His heart sank within him. +But the windings of the glen intercepted his prospect, and the person, +whose voice he had heard, might therefore, be at no great distance, +though not obvious to his sight. The branches of an oak-tree, which +shot straight out from the face of a tall cliff, proffered to his bold +spirit, steady head, and active limbs, the means of ascending it as a +place of out-look, although the enterprise was what most men would +have shrunk from. But by one bound from the earth, the active youth +caught hold of the lower branch, and swung himself up into the tree, +and in a minute more gained the top of the cliff, from which he could +easily descry a human figure descending the valley. It was not that +of a shepherd, or of a hunter, and scarcely any others used to +traverse this deserted solitude, especially coming from the north, +since the reader may remember that the brook took its rise from an +extensive and dangerous morass which lay in that direction. + +But Halbert Glendinning did not pause to consider who the traveller +might be, or what might be the purpose of his journey. To know that he +saw a human being, and might receive, in the extremity of his +distress, the countenance and advice of a fellow-creature, was enough +for him at the moment. He threw himself from the pinnacle of the cliff +once more into the arms of the projecting oak-tree, whose boughs waved +in middle air, anchored by the roots in a huge rift or chasm of the +rock. Catching at the branch which was nearest to him, he dropped +himself from that height upon the ground; and such was the athletic +springiness of his youthful sinews, that he pitched there as lightly, +and with as little injury, as the falcon stooping from her wheel. + +To resume his race at full speed up the glen, was the work of an +instant; and as he turned angle after angle of the indented banks of +the valley, without meeting that which he sought, he became half +afraid that the form which he had seen at such a distance had already +melted into thin air, and was either a deception of his own +imagination, or of the elementary spirits by which the valley was +supposed to be haunted. + +But to his inexpressible joy, as he turned round the base of a huge +and distinguished crag, he saw, straight before and very near to him, +a person, whose dress, as he viewed it hastily, resembled that of a +pilgrim. + +He was a man of advanced life, and wearing a long beard, having on his +head a large slouched hat, without either band or brooch. His dress +was a tunic of black serge, which, like those commonly called +hussar-cloaks, had an upper part, which covered the arms and fell down +on the lower; a small scrip and bottle, which hung at his back, with a +stout staff in his hand, completed his equipage. His step was feeble, +like that of one exhausted by a toilsome journey. + +"Save ye, good father!" said the youth. "God and Our Lady have sent +you to my assistance." + +"And in what, my son, can so frail a creature as I am, be of service +to you?" said the old man, not a little surprised at being thus +accosted by so handsome a youth, his features discomposed by anxiety, +his face flushed with exertion, his hands and much of his dress +stained with blood. "A man bleeds to death in the valley here, hard +by. Come with me--come with me! You are aged--you have +experience--you have at least your senses--and mine have well nigh +left me." + +"A man--and bleeding to death--and here in this desolate spot!" said +the stranger. + +"Stay not to question it, father," said the youth, "but come instantly +to his rescue. Follow me,--follow me, without an instant's delay." + +"Nay, but, my son," said the old man, "we do not lightly follow the +guides who present themselves thus suddenly in the bosom of a howling +wilderness. Ere I follow thee, thou must expound to me thy name, thy +purpose, and thy cause." + +"There is no time to expound any thing," said Halbert; "I tell thee a +man's life is at stake, and thou must come to aid him, or I will carry +thee thither by force!" + +"Nay, thou shalt not need," said the traveller; "if it indeed be as +thou sayest, I will follow thee of free-will--the rather that I am not +wholly unskilled in leech-craft, and have in my scrip that which may +do thy friend a service--Yet walk more slowly, I pray thee, for I am +already well-nigh forespent with travel." + +With the indignant impatience of the fiery steed when compelled by his +rider to keep pace with some slow drudge upon the highway, Halbert +accompanied the wayfarer, burning with anxiety which he endeavoured to +subdue, that he might not alarm his companion, who was obviously +afraid to trust him. When they reached the place where they were to +turn off the wider glen into the Corri, the traveller made a doubtful +pause, as if unwilling to leave the broader path--"Young man," he +said, "if thou meanest aught but good to these gray hairs, thou wilt +gain little by thy cruelty--I have no earthly treasure to tempt either +robber or murderer." + +"And I," said the youth, "am neither--and yet--God of Heaven!--I +_may_ be a murderer, unless your aid comes in time to this +wounded wretch!" + +"Is it even so," said the traveller; "and do human passions disturb the +breast of nature, even in her deepest solitude?--Yet why should I marvel +that where darkness abides the works of darkness should abound?--By its +fruits is the tree known--Lead on, unhappy youth--I follow thee!" + +And with better will to the journey than he had evinced hitherto, the +stranger exerted himself to the uttermost, and seemed to forget his own +fatigue in his efforts to keep pace with his impatient guide. + +What was the surprise of Halbert Glendinning, when, upon arriving at +the fatal spot, he saw no appearance of the body of Sir Piercie +Shafton! The traces of the fray were otherwise sufficiently visible. +The knight's cloak had indeed vanished as well as his body, but his +doublet remained where he had laid it down, and the turf on which he +had been stretched was stained with blood in many a dark crimson spot. + +As he gazed round him in terror and astonishment, Halbert's eyes fell +upon the place of sepulture which had so lately appeared to gape for a +victim. It was no longer open, and it seemed that earth had received +the expected tenant; for the usual narrow hillock was piled over what +had lately been an open grave, and the green sod was adjusted over all +with the accuracy of an experienced sexton. Halbert stood aghast. The +idea rushed on his mind irresistibly, that the earth-heap before him +enclosed what had lately been a living, moving, and sentient +fellow-creature, whom, on little provocation, his fell act had reduced +to a clod of the valley, as senseless and as cold as the turf under +which he rested. The hand that scooped the grave had completed its +word; and whose hand could it be save that of the mysterious being of +doubtful quality, whom his rashness had invoked, and whom he had +suffered to intermingle in his destinies? + +As he stood with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, bitterly ruing his +rashness, he was roused by the voice of the stranger, whose suspicions +of his guide had again been awakened by finding the scene so different +from what Halbert had led him to expect.--"Young man," he said, "hast +thou baited thy tongue with falsehood to cut perhaps only a few days +from the life of one whom Nature will soon call home, without guilt on +thy part to hasten his journey?" + +"By the blessed Heaven!--by our dear Lady!" ejaculated Halbert-- + +"Swear not at all!" said the stranger, interrupting him, "neither by +Heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by earth, for it is his +footstool--nor by the creatures whom he hath made, for they are but +earth and clay as we are. Let thy yea be yea, and thy nay, nay. Tell +me in a word, why and for what purpose thou hast feigned a tale, to +lead a bewildered traveller yet farther astray?" + +"As I am a Christian man," said Glendinning, "I left him here bleeding +to death--and now I nowhere spy him, and much I doubt that the tomb +that thou seest has closed on his mortal remains." + +"And who is he for whose fate thou art so anxious?" said the stranger; +"or how is it possible that this wounded man could have been either +removed from, or interred in, a place so solitary?" + +"His name," said Halbert, after a moment's pause, "is Piercie +Shafton--there, on that very spot I left him bleeding; and what power +has conveyed him hence, I know no more than thou dost." + +"Piercie Shafton?" said the stranger; "Sir Piercie Shafton of +Wilverton, a kinsman, as it is said, of the great Piercie of +Northumberland? If thou hast slain him, to return to the territories +of the proud Abbot is to give thy neck to the gallows. He is well +known, that Piercie Shafton; the meddling tool of wiser plotters--a +harebrained trafficker in treason--a champion of the Pope, employed as +a forlorn hope by those more politic heads, who have more will to work +mischief, than valour to encounter danger.--Come with me, youth, and +save thyself from the evil consequences of this deed--Guide me to the +Castle of Avenel, and thy reward shall be protection and safety." + +Again Halbert paused, and summoned his mind to a hasty council. The +vengeance with which the Abbot was likely to visit the slaughter of +Shafton, his friend, and in some measure his guest, was likely to be +severe; yet, in the various contingencies which he had considered +previous to their duel, he had unaccountably omitted to reflect what +was to be his line of conduct in case of Sir Piercie falling by his +hand. If he returned to Glendearg, he was sure to draw on his whole +family, including Mary Avenel, the resentment of the Abbot and +community, whereas it was possible that flight might make him be +regarded as the sole author of the deed, and might avert the +indignation of the monks from the rest of the inhabitants of his +paternal tower. Halbert recollected also the favour expressed for the +household, and especially for Edward, by the Sub-Prior; and he +conceived that he could, by communicating his own guilt to that worthy +ecclesiastic, when at a distance from Glendearg, secure his powerful +interposition in favour of his family. These thoughts rapidly passed +through his mind, and he determined on flight. The stranger's company +and his promised protection came in aid of that resolution; but he was +unable to reconcile the invitation which the old man gave him to +accompany him for safety to the Castle of Avenel, with the connexions +of Julian, the present usurper of that inheritance. + +"Good father," he said, "I fear that you mistake the man with whom you +wish me to harbour. Avenel guided Piercie Shafton into Scotland, and +his henchman, Christie of the Clinthill, brought the Southron hither." + +"Of that," said the old man, "I am well aware. Yet if thou wilt trust +to me, as I have shown no reluctance to confide in thee, thou shalt +find with Julian Avenel welcome, or at least safety." + +"Father," replied Halbert, "though I can ill reconcile what thou +sayest with what Julian Avenel hath done, yet caring little about the +safety of a creature so lost as myself, and as thy words seem those of +truth and honesty, and finally, as thou didst render thyself frankly +up to my conduct, I will return the confidence thou hast shown, and +accompany thee to the Castle of Avenel by a road which thou thyself +couldst never have discovered." He led the way, and the old man +followed for some time in silence. + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Third. + + + 'Tis when the wound is stiffening with the cold. + The warrior first feels pain--'tis when the heat + And fiery fever of his soul is pass'd, + The sinner feels remorse. + OLD PLAY. + +The feelings of compunction with which Halbert Glendinning was visited +upon this painful occasion, were deeper than belonged to an age and +country in which human life was held so cheap. They fell far short +certainly of those which might have afflicted a mind regulated by +better religious precepts, and more strictly trained under social +laws; but still they were deep and severely felt, and divided in +Halbert's heart even the regret with which he parted from Mary Avenel +and the tower of his fathers. + +The old traveller walked silently by his side for some time, and then +addressed him.--"My son, it has been said that sorrow must speak or +die--Why art thou so much cast down?--Tell me thy unhappy tale, and it +may be that my gray head may devise counsel and aid for your young +life." + +"Alas !" said Halbert Glendinning, "can you wonder why I am cast +down?--I am at this instant a fugitive from my father's house, from my +mother, and from my friends, and I bear on my head the blood of a man +who injured me but in idle words, which I have thus bloodily requited. +My heart now tells me I have done evil--it were harder than these +rocks if it could bear unmoved the thought, that I have sent this man +to a long account, unhousled and unshrieved." + +"Pause there, my son," said the traveller. "That thou hast defaced +God's image in thy neighbour's person--that thou hast sent dust to +dust in idle wrath or idler pride, is indeed a sin of the deepest +dye--that thou hast cut short the space which Heaven might have +allowed him for repentance, makes it yet more deadly--but for all this +there is balm in Gilead." + +"I understand you not, father," said Halbert, struck by the solemn tone +which was assumed by his companion. + +The old man proceeded. "Thou hast slain thine enemy--it was a cruel +deed: thou hast cut him off perchance in his sins--it is a fearful +aggravation. Do yet by my counsel, and in lieu of him whom thou hast +perchance consigned to the kingdom of Satan, let thine efforts wrest +another subject from the reign of the Evil One." + +"I understand you, father," said Halbert; "thou wouldst have me atone +for my rashness by doing service to the soul of my adversary--But how +may this be? I have no money to purchase masses, and gladly would I +go barefoot to the Holy Land to free his spirit from purgatory, only +that--" + +"My son," said the old man, interrupting him, "the sinner for whose +redemption I entreat you to labour, is not the dead but the living. It +is not for the soul of thine enemy I would exhort thee to pray--that +has already had its final doom from a Judge as merciful as he is just; +nor, wert thou to coin that rock into ducats, and obtain a mass for +each one, would it avail the departed spirit. Where the tree hath +fallen, it must lie. But the sapling, which hath in it yet the vigour +and juice of life, may be bended to the point to which it ought to +incline." + +"Art thou a priest, father?" said the young man, "or by what commission +dost thou talk of such high matters?" + +"By that of my Almighty Master," said the traveller, "under whose +banner I am an enlisted soldier." + +Halbert's acquaintance with religious matters was no deeper than could +be derived from the Archbishop of Saint Andrew's Catechism, and the +pamphlet called the Twapennie Faith, both which were industriously +circulated and recommended by the monks of Saint Mary's. Yet, however +indifferent and superficial a theologian, he began to suspect that he +was now in company with one of the gospellers, or heretics, before +whose influence the ancient system of religion now tottered to the +very foundation. Bred up, as may well be presumed, in a holy horror +against these formidable sectaries, the youth's first feelings were +those of a loyal and devoted church vassal. "Old man," he said, "wert +thou able to make good with thy hand the words that thy tongue hath +spoken against our Holy Mother Church, we should have tried upon this +moor which of our creeds hath the better champion." + +"Nay," said the stranger, "if thou art a true soldier of Rome, thou +wilt not pause from thy purpose because thou hast the odds of years +and of strength on thy side. Hearken to me, my son. I have showed thee +how to make thy peace with Heaven, and thou hast rejected my proffer. +I will now show thee how thou shalt make thy reconciliation with the +powers of this world. Take this gray head from the frail body which +supports it, and carry it to the chair of proud Abbot Boniface; and +when thou tellest him thou hast slain Piercie Shafton, and his ire +rises at the deed, lay the head of Henry Warden at his foot, and thou +shalt have praise instead of censure." + +Halbert Glendinning stepped back in surprise. "What! are you that +Henry Warden so famous among the heretics, that even Knox's name is +scarce more frequently in their mouths? Art thou he, and darest thou to +approach the Halidome of Saint Mary's?" + +"I am Henry Warden, of a surety," said the old man, "far unworthy to +be named in the same breath with Knox, but yet willing to venture on +whatever dangers my master's service may call me to." + +"Hearken to me, then," said Halbert; "to slay thee, I have no +heart--to make thee prisoner, were equally to bring thy blood on my +head--to leave thee in this wild without a guide, were little better. +I will conduct thee, as I promised, in safety to the Castle of Avenel; +but breathe not, while we are on the journey, a word against the +doctrines of the holy church of which I am an unworthy--but though an +ignorant, a zealous member.--When thou art there arrived, beware of +thyself--there is a high price upon thy head, and Julian Avenel loves +the glance of gold bonnet-pieces." [Footnote: A gold coin of James V., +the most beautiful of the Scottish series; so called because the +effigy of the sovereignty is represented wearing a bonnet.] + +"Yet thou sayest not," answered the Protestant preacher, for such he +was, "that for lucre he would sell the blood of his guest?" + +"Not if thou comest an invited stranger, relying on his faith," said +the youth; "evil as Julian may be, he dare not break the rites of +hospitality; for, loose as we on these marches may be in all other +ties, these are respected amongst us even to idolatry, and his nearest +relations would think it incumbent on them to spill his blood +themselves, to efface the disgrace such treason would bring upon their +name and lineage. But if thou goest self-invited, and without +assurance of safety, I promise thee thy risk is great." + +"I am in God's hand," answered the preacher; "it is on His errand that +I traverse these wilds amidst dangers of every kind; while I am useful +for my master's service, they shall not prevail against me, and when, +like the barren fig-tree, I can no longer produce fruit, what imports +it when or by whom the axe is laid to the root?" + +"Your courage and devotion," said Glendinning, "are worthy of a better +cause." + +"That," said Warden, "cannot be--mine is the very best." + +They continued their journey in silence, Halbert Glendinning tracing +with the utmost accuracy the mazes of the dangerous and intricate +morasses and hills which divided the Halidome from the barony of +Avenel. From time to time he was obliged to stop, in order to assist +his companion to cross the black intervals of quaking bog, called in +the Scottish dialect _hags_, by which the firmer parts of the +morass were intersected. + +"Courage, old man," said Halbert, as he saw his companion almost +exhausted with fatigue, "we shall soon be upon hard ground. And yet +soft as this moss is, I have seen the merry falconers go through it as +light as deer when the quarry was upon the flight." + +"True, my son," answered Warden, "for so I will still call you, though +you term me no longer father; and even so doth headlong youth pursue its +pleasures, without regard to the mire and the peril of the paths through +which they are hurried." + +"I have already told thee," answered Halbert Glendinning, sternly, "that +I will hear nothing from thee that savours of doctrine." + +"Nay, but, my son," answered Warden, "thy spiritual father himself +would surely not dispute the truth of what I have now spoken for your +edification!" + +Glendinning stoutly replied, "I know not how that may be--but I wot +well it is the fashion of your brotherhood to bait your hook with fair +discourse, and to hold yourselves up as angels of light, that you may +the better extend the kingdom of darkness." + +"May God," replied the preacher, "pardon those who have thus reported +of his servants! I will not offend thee, my son, by being instant out of +season--thou speakest but as thou art taught--yet sure I trust that so +goodly a youth will be still rescued, like a brand from the burning." + +While he thus spoke, the verge of the morass was attained, and their +path lay on the declivity. Green-sward it was, and, viewed from a +distance, chequered with its narrow and verdant line the dark-brown +heath which it traversed, though the distinction was not so easily +traced when they were walking on it. [Footnote: This sort of path, +visible when looked at from a distance, but not to be seen when you +are upon it, is called on the Border by the significant name of a +Blind-road.] The old man pursued his journey with comparative ease; +and, unwilling again to awaken the jealous zeal of his young companion +for the Roman faith, he discoursed on other matters. The tone of his +conversation was still grave, moral, and instructive. He had travelled +much, and knew both the language and manners of other countries, +concerning which Halbert Glendinning, already anticipating the +possibility of being obliged to leave Scotland for the deed he had +done, was naturally and anxiously desirous of information. By degrees +he was more attracted by the charms of the stranger's conversation +than repelled by the dread of his dangerous character as a heretic, +and Halbert had called him father more than once, ere the turrets of +Avenel Castle came in view. + +The situation of this ancient fortress was remarkable. It occupied a +small rocky islet in a mountain lake, or _tarn,_ as such a piece +of water is called in Westmoreland. The lake might be about a mile in +circumference, surrounded by hills of considerable height, which, +except where old trees and brushwood occupied the ravines that divided +them from each other, were bare and heathy. The surprise of the +spectator was chiefly excited by finding a piece of water situated in +that high and mountainous region, and the landscape around had +features which might rather be termed wild, than either romantic or +sublime; yet the scene was not without its charms. Under the burning +sun of summer, the clear azure of the deep unruffled lake refreshed +the eye, and impressed the mind with a pleasing feeling of deep +solitude. In winter, when the snow lay on the mountains around, these +dazzling masses appeared to ascend far beyond their wonted and natural +height, while the lake, which stretched beneath, and filled their +bosom with all its frozen waves, lay like the surface of a darkened +and broken mirror around the black and rocky islet, and the walls of +the gray castle with which it was crowned. + +As the castle occupied, either with its principal buildings, or with +its flanking and outward walls, every projecting point of rock, which +served as its site, it seemed as completely surrounded by water as the +nest of a wild swan, save where a narrow causeway extended betwixt the +islet and the shore. But the fortress was larger in appearance than in +reality; and of the buildings which it actually contained, many had +become ruinous and uninhabitable. In the times of the grandeur of the +Avenel family, these had been occupied by a considerable garrison of +followers and retainers, but they were now in a great measure +deserted; and Julian Avenel would probably have fixed his habitation +in a residence better suited to his diminished fortunes, had it not +been for the great security which the situation of the old castle +afforded to a man of his precarious and perilous mode of life. Indeed, +in this respect, the spot could scarce have been more happily chosen, +for it could be rendered almost completely inaccessible at the +pleasure of the inhabitant. The distance betwixt the nearest shore and +the islet was not indeed above an hundred yards; but then the causeway +which connected them was extremely narrow, and completely divided by +two cuts, one in the mid-way between the islet and shore, and another +close under the outward gate of the castle. These formed a formidable, +and almost insurmountable interruption to any hostile approach. Each +was defended by a drawbridge, one of which, being that nearest to the +castle, was regularly raised at all times during the day, and both +were lifted at night. [Footnote: It is in vain to search near Melrose +for any such castle as is here described. The lakes at the head of the +Yarrow, and those at the rise of the water of Ale, present no object +of the kind. But in Vetholm Loch, (a romantic sheet of water, in the +dry march, as it is called,) there are the remains of a fortress +called Lochside Tower, which, like the supposed Castle of Avenel, is +built upon an island, and connected with the land by a causeway. It is +much smaller than the Castle of Avenel is described, consisting only +of a single *inous tower.] + +The situation of Julian Avenel, engaged in a variety of feuds, and a +party to almost every dark and mysterious transaction which was on +foot in that wild and military frontier, required all these +precautions for his security. His own ambiguous and doubtful course of +policy had increased these dangers; for as he made professions to both +parties in the state, and occasionally united more actively with +either the one or the other, as chanced best to serve his immediate +purpose, he could not be said to have either firm allies and +protectors, or determined enemies. His life was a life of expedients +and of peril; and while, in pursuit of his interest, he made all the +doubles which he thought necessary to attain his object, he often +overran his prey, and missed that which he might have gained by +observing a straighter course. + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Fourth. + + + I'll walk on tiptoe; arm my eye with caution, + My heart with courage, and my hand with weapon, + Like him who ventures on a lion's den. + OLD PLAY. + +When, issuing from the gorge of a pass which terminated upon the lake, +the travellers came in sight of the ancient castle of Avenel, the old +man looked with earnest attention upon the scene before him. The +castle was, as we have said, in many places ruinous, as was evident, +even at this distance, by the broken, rugged, and irregular outline of +the walls and of the towers. In others it seemed more entire, and a +pillar of dark smoke, which ascended from the chimneys of the donjon, +and spread its long dusky pennon through the clear ether, indicated +that it was inhabited. But no corn-fields or enclosed pasture-grounds +on the side of the lake showed that provident attention to comfort and +subsistence which usually appeared near the houses of the greater, and +even of the lesser barons. There were no cottages with their patches +of infield, and their crofts and gardens, surrounded by rows of +massive sycamores; no church with its simple tower in the valley; no +herds of sheep among the hills; no cattle on the lower ground; nothing +which intimated the occasional prosecution of the arts of peace and of +industry. It was plain that the inhabitants, whether few or numerous, +must be considered as the garrison of the castle, living within its +defended precincts, and subsisting by means which were other than +peaceful. + +Probably it was with this conviction that the old man, gazing on the +castle, muttered to himself, "_Lapis offensionis et petra +scandali!_" and then, turning to Halbert Glendinning, he added, "We +may say of yonder fort as King James did of another fastness in this +province, that he who built it was a thief in his heart." [Footnote: +It was of Lochwood, the hereditary fortress of the Johnstones of +Aunandale, a strong castle situated in the centre of a quaking bog, +that James VI. made this remark.] + +"But it was not so," answered Glendinning; "yonder castle was built by +the old lords of Avenel, men as much beloved in peace as they were +respected in war. They were the bulwark of the frontiers against +foreigners, and the protectors of the natives from domestic +oppression. The present usurper of their inheritance no more resembles +them, than the night-prowling owl resembles a falcon, because she +builds on the same rock." + +"This Julian Avenel, then, holds no high place in the love and regard of +his neighbours?" said Warden. + +"So little," answered Halbert, "that besides the jack-men and riders +with whom he has associated himself, and of whom he has many at his +disposal, I know of few who voluntarily associate with him. He has +been more than once outlawed both by England and Scotland, his lands +declared forfeited, and his head set at a price. But in these unquiet +times, a man so daring as Julian Avenel has ever found some friends +willing to protect him against the penalties of the law, on condition +of his secret services." + +"You describe a dangerous man," replied Warden. + +"You may have experience of that," replied the youth, "if you deal not +the more warily;--though it may be that he also has forsaken the +community of the church, and gone astray in the path of heresy." + +"What your blindness terms the path of heresy," answered the reformer, +"is indeed the straight and narrow way, wherein he who walks turns not +aside, whether for worldly wealth or for worldly passions. Would to +God this man were moved by no other and no worse spirit than that +which prompts my poor endeavours to extend the kingdom of Heaven! This +Baron of Avenel is personally unknown to me, is not of our +congregation or of our counsel; yet I bear to him charges touching my +safety, from those whom he must fear if he does not respect them, and +upon that assurance I will venture upon his hold--I am now +sufficiently refreshed by these few minutes of repose." + +"Take then this advice for your safety," said Halbert, "and believe +that it is founded upon the usage of this country and its inhabitants. +If you can better shift for yourself, go not to the Castle of +Avenel--if you do risk going thither, obtain from him, if possible, +his safe conduct, and beware that he swears it by the Black Rood--And +lastly, observe whether he eats with you at the board, or pledges you +in the cup; for if he gives you not these signs of welcome, his +thoughts are evil towards you." + +"Alas!" said the preacher, "I have no better earthly refuge for the +present than these frowning towers, but I go thither trusting to aid +which is not of this earth--But thou, good youth, needest thou trust +thyself in this dangerous den?" + +"I," answered Halbert, "am in no danger. I am well known to Christie +of the Clinthill, the henchman of this Julian Avenel; and, what is a +yet better protection, I have nothing either to provoke malice or to +tempt plunder." + +The tramp of a steed, which clattered along the shingly banks of the +loch, was now heard behind them; and, when they looked back, a rider +was visible, his steel cap and the point of his long lance glancing in +the setting sun, as he rode rapidly towards them. + +Halbert Glendinning soon recognized Christie of the Clinthill, and made +his companion aware that the henchman of Julian Avenel was approaching. + +"Ha, youngling!" said Christie to Halbert, as he came up to them, +"thou hast made good my word at last, and come to take service with my +noble master, hast thou not? Thou shalt find a good friend and a true; +and ere Saint Barnaby come round again, thou shalt know every pass +betwixt Millburn Plain and Netherby, as if thou hadst been born with a +jack on thy back, and a lance in thy hand.--What old carle hast thou +with thee?--He is not of the brotherhood of Saint Mary's--at least he +has not the buist [Footnote: _Buist_--The brand, or mark, set +upon sheep or cattle, by their owners.] of these black cattle." + +"He is a wayfaring man," said Halbert, "who has concerns with Julian +of Avenel. For myself, I intend to go to Edinburgh to see the court +and the Queen, and when I return hither we will talk of your proffer. +Meantime, as thou hast often invited me to the castle, I crave +hospitality there to-night for myself and my companion." + +"For thyself and welcome, young comrade," replied Christie; "but we +harbour no pilgrims, nor aught that looks like a pilgrim." + +"So please you," said Warden, "I have letters of commendation to thy +master from a sure friend, whom he will right willingly oblige in higher +matters than in affording me a brief protection.--And I am no pilgrim, +but renounce the same, with all its superstitious observances." +He offered his letters to the horseman, who shook his head. + +"These," he said, "are matters for my master, and it will be well if he +can read them himself; for me, sword and lance are my book and psalter, +and have been since I was twelve years old. But I will guide you to the +castle, and the Baron of Avenel will himself judge of your errand." + +By this time the party had reached the causeway, along which Christie +advanced at a trot, intimating his presence to the warders within the +castle by a shrill and peculiar whistle. At this signal the farther +drawbridge was lowered. The horseman passed it, and disappeared under +the gloomy portal which was beyond it. + +Glendinning and his companion advancing more leisurely along the +rugged causeway, stood at length under the same gateway, over which +frowned, in dark red freestone, the ancient armorial bearings of the +house of Avenel, which represented a female figure shrouded and +muffled, which occupied the whole field. The cause of their assuming +so singular a device was uncertain, but the figure was generally +supposed to represent the mysterious being called the White Lady of +Avenel. [Footnote: There is an ancient English family, I believe, +which bears, or did bear, a ghost or spirit passant sable in a field +argent. This seems to have been a device of a punning or +_canting_ herald.] The sight of this mouldering shield awakened +in the mind of Halbert the strange circumstances which had connected +his fate with that of Mary Avenel, and with the doings of the +spiritual being who was attached to her house, and whom he saw here, +represented in stone, as he had before seen her effigy upon the +seal-ring of Walter Avenel, which, with other trinkets formerly +mentioned, had been saved from pillage, and brought to Glendearg, when +Mary's mother was driven from her habitation. + +"You sigh, my son," said the old man, observing the impression made on +his youthful companion's countenance, but mistaking the cause; "if you +fear to enter, we may yet return." + +"That can ye not," said Christie of the Clinthill, who emerged at that +instant from the side-door under the archway. "Look yonder, and choose +whether you will return skimming the water like a wild-duck, or winging +the air like a plover." + +They looked, and saw that the drawbridge which they had just crossed +was again raised, and now interposed its planks betwixt the setting +sun and the portal of the castle, deepening the gloom of the arch +under which they stood. Christie laughed and bid them follow him, +saying, by way of encouragement, in Halbert's ear, "Answer boldly and +readily to whatever the Baron asks you. Never stop to pick your words, +and above all show no fear of him--the devil is not so black as he is +painted." + +As he spoke thus, he introduced them into the large stone hall, at the +upper end of which blazed a huge fire of wood. The long oaken table, +which, as usual, occupied the midst of the apartment, was covered with +rude preparations for the evening meal of the Baron and his chief +domestics, five or six of whom, strong, athletic, savage-looking men, +paced up and down the lower end of the hall, which rang to the jarring +clang of their long swords that clashed as they moved, and to the +heavy tramp of their high-heeled jack-boots. Iron jacks, or coats of +buff, formed the principal part of their dress, and steel-bonnets, or +large slouched hats with Spanish plumes drooping backwards, were their +head attire. + +The Baron of Avenel was one of those tall, muscular, martial figures, +which are the favourite subjects of Salvator Rosa. He wore a cloak +which had been once gaily trimmed, but which, by long wear and +frequent exposure to the weather, was now faded in its colours. Thrown +negligently about his tall person, it partly hid, and partly showed, a +short doublet of buff, under which was in some places visible that +light shirt of mail which was called a _secret_, because worn +instead of more ostensible armour to protect against private +assassination. A leathern belt sustained a large and heavy sword on +one side, and on the other that gay poniard which had once called Sir +Piercie Shafton master, of which the hatchments and gildings were +already much defaced, either by rough usage or neglect. + +Notwithstanding the rudeness of his apparel, Julian Avenel's manner +and countenance had far more elevation than those of the attendants +who surrounded him. He might be fifty or upwards, for his dark hair +was mingled with gray, but age had neither tamed the fire of his eye +nor the enterprise of his disposition. His countenance had been +handsome, for beauty was an attribute of the family; but the lines +were roughened by fatigue and exposure to the weather, and rendered +coarse by the habitual indulgence of violent passions. + +He seemed in deep and moody reflection, and was pacing at a distance +from his dependents along the upper end of the hall, sometimes +stopping from time to time to caress and feed a gos-hawk, which sat +upon his wrist, with its jesses (_i. e._ the leathern straps +fixed to its legs) wrapt around his hand. The bird, which seemed not +insensible to its master's attention, answered his caresses by +ruffling forward its feathers, and pecking playfully at his finger. At +such intervals the Baron smiled, but instantly resumed the darksome +air of sullen meditation. He did not even deign to look upon an +object, which few could have passed and repassed so often without +bestowing on it a transient glance. + +This was a woman of exceeding beauty, rather gaily than richly +attired, who sat on a low seat close by the huge hall chimney. The +gold chains round her neck and arms,--the gay gown of green which +swept the floor,--the silver embroidered girdle, with its bunch of +keys, depending in house-wifely pride by a silver chain,--the yellow +silken _couvrechef_ (Scottice, _curch_) which was disposed +around her head, and partly concealed her dark profusion of +hair,--above all, the circumstance so delicately touched in the old +ballad, that "the girdle was too short," the "gown of green all too +strait," for the wearer's present shape, would have intimated the +Baron's lady. But then the lowly seat,--the expression of deep +melancholy, which was changed into a timid smile whenever she saw the +least chance of catching the eye of Julian Avenel,--the subdued look +of grief, and the starting tear for which that constrained smile was +again exchanged when she saw herself entirely disregarded,--these were +not the attributes of a wife, or they were those of a dejected and +afflicted female, who had yielded her love on less than legitimate +terms. + +Julian Avenel, as we have said, continued to pace the hall without +paying any of that mute attention which is rendered to almost every +female either by affection or courtesy. He seemed totally unconscious +of her presence, or of that of his attendants, and was only roused +from his own dark reflections by the notice he paid to the falcon, to +which, however, the lady seemed to attend, as if studying to find +either an opportunity of speaking to the Baron, or of finding +something enigmatical in the expressions which he used to the bird. +All this the strangers had time enough to remark; for no sooner had +they entered the apartment than their usher, Christie of the +Clinthill, after exchanging a significant glance with the menials or +troopers at the lower end of the apartment, signed to Halbert +Glendinning and to his companion to stand still near the door, while +he himself, advancing nearer the table, placed himself in such a +situation as to catch the Baron's observation when he should be +disposed to look around, but without presuming to intrude himself on +his master's notice. Indeed, the look of this man, naturally bold, +hardy, and audacious, seemed totally changed when he was in presence +of his master, and resembled the dejected and cowering manner of a +quarrelsome dog when rebuked by his owner, or when he finds himself +obliged to deprecate the violence of a superior adversary of his own +species. + +In spite of the novelty of his own situation, and every painful +feeling connected with it, Halbert felt his curiosity interested in +the female, who sate by the chimney unnoticed and unregarded. He +marked with what keen and trembling solicitude she watched the broken +words of Julian, and how her glance stole towards him, ready to be +averted upon the slightest chance of his perceiving himself to be +watched. + +Meantime he went on with his dalliance with his feathered favourite, +now giving, now withholding, the morsel with which he was about to +feed the bird, and so exciting its appetite and gratifying it by +turns. "What! more yet?--thou foul kite, thou wouldst never have +done--give thee part thou wilt have all--Ay, prune thy feathers, and +prink thyself gay--much thou wilt make of it now--dost think I know +thee not?--dost think I see not that all that ruffling and pluming of +wing and feathers is not for thy master, but to try what thou canst +make of him, thou greedy gled?--well--there--take it then, and rejoice +thyself--little boon goes far with thee, and with all thy sex--and so +it should." + +He ceased to look on the bird, and again traversed the apartment. Then +taking another small piece of raw meat from the trencher, on which it +was placed ready cut for his use, he began once again to tempt and +tease the bird, by offering and withdrawing it, until he awakened its +wild and bold disposition. "What! struggling, fluttering, aiming at me +with beak and single? [Footnote: In the _kindly_ language of +hawking, as Lady Juliana Berners terms it, hawks' talons are called +their _singles_] So la! So la! wouldst mount? wouldst fly? the +jesses are round thy clutches, fool--thou canst neither stir nor soar +but by my will--Beware thou come to reclaim, wench, else I will wring +thy head off one of these days--Well, have it then, and well fare thou +with it.--So ho, Jenkin!" One of the attendants stepped forward--" +Take the foul gled hence to the mew--or, stay; leave her, but look +well to her casting and to her bathing--we will see her fly +to-morrow.--How now, Christie, so soon returned ?" + +Christie advanced to his master, and gave an account of himself and +his journey, in the way in which a police-officer holds communication +with his magistrate, that is, as much by signs as by words. + +"Noble sir," said that worthy satellite, "the Laird of--," he named no +place, but pointed with his finger in a south-western direction,--" +may not ride with you the day he purposed, because the Lord Warden has +threatened that he will--" + +Here another blank, intelligibly enough made up by the speaker +touching his own neck with his left fore-finger, and leaning his head +a little to one side. + +"Cowardly caitiff!" said Julian; "by Heaven! the whole world turns +sheer naught--it is not worth a brave man's living in--ye may ride a +day and night, and never see a feather wave or hear a horse +prance--the spirit of our fathers is dead amongst us--the very brutes +are degenerated--the cattle we bring at our life's risk are mere +carrion--our hawks are riflers [Footnote: So called when they only +caught their prey by the feathers.]--our hounds are turnspits and +trindle-tails--our men are women--and our women are--" + +He looked at the female for the first time, and stopped short in the +midst of what he was about to say, though there was something so +contemptuous in the glance, that the blank might have been thus filled +up--"Our women are such as she is." + +He said it not, however, and as if desirous of attracting his +attention at all risks, and in whatever manner, she rose and came +forward to him, but with a timorousness ill-disguised by affected +gaiety.--"Our women, Julian--what would you say of the women?" + +"Nothing," answered Julian Avenel, "at least nothing but that they are +kind-hearted wenches like thyself, Kate." The female coloured deeply, +and returned to her seat.--"And what strangers hast thou brought with +thee, Christie, that stand yonder like two stone statues?" said the +Baron. + +"The taller," answered Christie, "is, so please you, a young fellow +called Halbert Glendinning, the eldest son of the old widow at +Glendearg." + +"What brings him here?" said the Baron; "hath he any message from +Mary Avenel?" + +"Not as I think," said Christie; "the youth is roving the country--he +was always a wild slip, for I have known him since he was the height of +my sword." + +"What qualities hath he?" said the Baron. + +"All manner of qualities," answered his follower--"he can strike a +buck, track a deer, fly a hawk, halloo to a hound--he shoots in the +long and crossbow to a hair's breadth--wields a lance or sword like +myself nearly--backs a horse manfully and fairly--I wot not what more +a man need to do to make him a gallant companion." + +"And who," said the Baron, "is the old miser [Footnote: Miser, used in +the sense in which it often occurs in Spenser, and which is indeed its +literal import--"wretched old man."] who stands beside him?" + +"Some cast of a priest as I fancy--he says he is charged with letters to +you." + +"Bid them come forward," said the Baron; and no sooner had they +approached him more nearly, than, struck by the fine form and strength +displayed by Halbert Glendinning, he addressed him thus: "I am told, +young Swankie, that you are roaming the world to seek your fortune,--if +you will serve Julian Avenel, you may find it without going farther." + +"So please you," answered Glendinning, "something has chanced to me +that makes it better I should leave this land, and I am bound for +Edinburgh." + +"What!--thou hast stricken some of the king's deer, I warrant,--or +lightened the meadows of Saint Mary's of some of their beeves--or thou +hast taken a moonlight leap over the border?" + +"No, sir," said Halbert, "my case is entirely different." + +"Then I warrant thee," said the Baron, "thou hast stabbed some brother +churl in a fray about a wench--thou art a likely lad to wrangle in +such a cause." + +Ineffably disgusted at his tone and manner, Halbert Glendinning +remained silent, while the thought darted across his mind, what would +Julian Avenel have said, had he known the quarrel of which he spoke so +lightly, had arisen on account of his own brother's daughter! "But be +thy cause of flight what it will," said Julian, in continuation, "dost +thou think the law or its emissaries can follow thee into this island, +or arrest thee under the standard of Avenel?--Look at the depth of the +lake, the strength of the walls, the length of the causeway--look at +my men, and think if they are likely to see a comrade injured, or if +I, their master, am a man to desert a faithful follower, in good or +evil. I tell thee it shall be an eternal day of truce betwixt thee and +justice, as they call it, from the instant thou hast put my colours +into thy cap--thou shalt ride by the Warden's nose as thou wouldst +pass an old market-woman, and ne'er a cur which follows him shall dare +to bay at thee!" + +"I thank you for your offers, noble sir," replied Halbert, "but I must +answer in brief, that I cannot profit by them--my fortunes lead me +elsewhere." + +"Thou art a self-willed fool for thy pains," said Julian, turning from +him; and signing Christie to approach, he whispered in his ear, "there +is promise in that young fellow's looks, Christie, and we want men of +limbs and sinews so compacted--those thou hast brought to me of late +are the mere refuse of mankind, wretches scarce worth the arrow that +ends them: this youngster is limbed like Saint George. Ply him with +wine and wassail--let the wenches weave their meshes about him like +spiders--thou understandest?" Christie gave a sagacious nod of +intelligence, and fell back to a respectful distance from his +master.--"And thou, old man," said the Baron, turning to the elder +traveller, "hast thou been roaming the world after fortune too?--it +seems not she has fallen into thy way." + +"So please you," replied Warden, "I were perhaps more to be pitied than +I am now, had I indeed met with that fortune, which, like others, I have +sought in my greener days." + +"Nay, understand me, friend," said the Baron; "if thou art satisfied +with thy buckram gown and long staff, I also am well content thou +shouldst be as poor and contemptible as is good for the health of thy +body and soul--All I care to know of thee is, the cause which hath +brought thee to my castle, where few crows of thy kind care to settle. +Thou art, I warrant thee, some ejected monk of a suppressed convent, +paying in his old days the price of the luxurious idleness in which he +spent his youth.--Ay, or it may be some pilgrim with a budget of lies +from Saint James of Compostella, or Our Lady of Loretto; or thou +mayest be some pardoner with his budget of relics from Rome, forgiving +sins at a penny a-dozen, and one to the tale.--Ay, I guess why I find +thee in this boy's company, and doubtless thou wouldst have such a +strapping lad as he to carry thy wallet, and relieve thy lazy +shoulders; but by the mass I will cross thy cunning. I make my vow to +sun and moon, I will not see a proper lad so misleard as to run the +country with an old knave like Simmie and his brother. [Footnote: Two +_quaestionarii_, or begging friars, whose accoutrements and +roguery make the subject of an old Scottish satirical poem] Away with +thee!" he added, rising in wrath, and speaking so fast as to give no +opportunity of answer, being probably determined to terrify the elder +guest into an abrupt flight--"Away with thee, with thy clouted coat, +scrip, and scallop-shell, or, by the name of Avenel, I will have them +loose the hounds on thee." + +Warden waited with the greatest patience until Julian Avenel, astonished +that the threats and violence of his language made no impression on him, +paused in a sort of wonder, and said in a less imperious tone, "Why the +fiend dost thou not answer me?" + +"When you have done speaking," said Warden, in the same composed +manner, "it will be full time to reply." + +"Say on man, in the devil's name--but take heed--beg not here--were it +but for the rinds of cheese, the refuse of the rats, or a morsel that +my dogs would turn from--neither a grain of meal, nor the nineteenth +part of a gray groat, will I give to any feigned limmer of thy coat," + +"It may be," answered Warden, "that you would have less quarrel with +my coat if you knew what it covers, I am neither a friar nor +mendicant, and would be right glad to hear thy testimony against these +foul deceivers of God's church, and usurpers of his rights over the +Christian flock, were it given in Christian charity." + +"And who or what art thou, then," said Avenel, "that thou comest to this +Border land, and art neither monk, nor soldier, nor broken man?" + +"I am an humble teacher of the holy word," answered Warden. "This +letter from a most noble person will speak why I am here at this present +time." + +He delivered the letter to the Baron, who regarded the seal with some +surprise, and then looked on the letter itself, which seemed to excite +still more. He then fixed his eyes on the stranger, and said, in a +menacing tone, "I think thou darest not betray me or deceive me?" + +"I am not the man to attempt either," was the concise reply. + +Julian Avenel carried the letter to the window, where he perused, or +at least attempted to peruse it more than once, often looking from the +paper and gazing on the stranger who had delivered it, as if he meant +to read the purport of the missive in the face of the messenger. +Julian at length called to the female,--"Catherine, bestir thee, and +fetch me presently that letter which I bade thee keep ready at hand in +thy casket, having no sure lockfast place of my own." + +Catherine went with the readiness of one willing to be employed; and +as she walked, the situation which requires a wider gown and a longer +girdle, and in which woman claims from man a double portion of the +most anxious care, was still more visible than before. She soon +returned with the paper, and was rewarded with a cold--"I thank thee, +wench; thou art a careful secretary." + +This second paper he also perused and reperused more than once, and +still, as he read it, bent from time to time a wary and observant eye +upon Henry Warden. This examination and re-examination, though both +the man and the place were dangerous, the preacher endured with the +most composed and steady countenance, seeming, under the eagle, or +rather the vulture eye of the baron, as unmoved as under the gaze of +an ordinary and peaceful peasant. At length Julian Avenel folded both +papers, and having put them into the pocket of his cloak, cleared his +brow, and, coming forward, addressed his female companion. +"Catherine," said he, "I have done this good man injustice, when I +mistook him for one of the drones of Rome. He is a preacher, +Catherine--a preacher of the--the new doctrine of the Lords of the +Congregation." + +"The doctrine of the blessed Scriptures," said the preacher, "purified +from the devices of men." + +"Sayest thou?" said Julian Avenel--"Well, thou mayest call it what +thou lists; but to me it is recommended, because it flings off all +those sottish dreams about saints and angels and devils, and unhorses +lazy monks that have ridden us so long, and spur-galled us so hard. No +more masses and corpse-gifts--no more tithes and offerings to make men +poor--no more prayers or psalms to make men cowards-no more +christenings and penances, and confessions and marriages." + +"So please you," said Henry Warden, "it is against the corruptions, +not against the fundamental doctrines, of the church, which we desire +to renovate, and not to abolish." + +"Prithee, peace, man," said the Baron; "we of the laity care not what +you set up, so you pull merrily down what stands in our way. Specially +it suits well with us of the Southland fells; for it is our profession +to turn the world upside down, and we live ever the blithest life when +the downer side is uppermost." + +Warden would have replied; but the Baron allowed him not time, +striking the table with the hilt of his dagger, and crying out,--"Ha! +you loitering knaves, bring our supper-meal quickly. See you not this +holy man is exhausted for lack of food? heard ye ever of priest or +preacher that devoured not his five meals a-day?" + +The attendants bustled to and fro, and speedily brought in several +large smoking platters filled with huge pieces of beef, boiled and +roasted, but without any variety whatsoever; without vegetables, and +almost without bread, though there was at the upper end a few +oat-cakes in a basket. Julian Avenel made a sort of apology to Warden. + +"You have been commended to our care, Sir Preacher, since that is your +style, by a person whom we highly honour." + +"I am assured," said Warden, "that the most noble Lord--" + +"Prithee, peace, man," said Avenel; "what need of naming names, so we +understand each other? I meant but to speak in reference to your +safety and comfort, of which he desires us to be chary. Now, for your +safety, look at my walls and water. But touching your comfort, we have +no corn of our own, and the meal-girnels of the south are less easily +transported than their beeves, seeing they have no legs to walk upon. +But what though? a stoup of wine thou shalt have, and of the +best--thou shalt sit betwixt Catherine and me at the board-end.--And, +Christie, do thou look to the young springald, and call to the +cellarer for a flagon of the best." + +The Baron took his wonted place at the upper end of the board; his +Catherine sate down, and courteously pointed to a seat betwixt them for +their reverend guest. But notwithstanding the influence both of hunger +and fatigue, Henry Warden retained his standing posture. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Fifth. + + + When lovely woman stoops to folly, + And finds too late that men betray-- + +Julian Avenel saw with surprise the demeanour of the reverend +stranger. "Beshrew me," he said, "these new-fashioned religioners have +fast-days, I warrant me--the old ones used to confer these blessings +chiefly on the laity." + +"We acknowledge no such rule," said the preacher--"We hold that our +faith consists not in using or abstaining from special meats on special +days; and in fasting we rend our hearts, and not our garments." + +"The better--the better for yourselves, and the worse for Tom Tailor," +said the Baron; "but come, sit down, or, if thou needs must e'en give +us a cast of thy office, mutter thy charm." + +"Sir Baron," said the preacher, "I am in a strange land, where neither +mine office nor my doctrine are known, and where, it would seem, both +are greatly misunderstood. It is my duty so to bear me, that in my +person, however unworthy, my Master's dignity may be respected, and +that sin may take not confidence from relaxation of the bonds of +discipline." + +"Ho la! halt there," said the Baron; "thou wert sent hither for thy +safety, but not, I think, to preach to me, or control me. What is it +thou wouldst have, Sir Preacher? Remember thou speakest to one +somewhat short of patience, who loves a short health and a long +draught." + +"In a word, then," said Henry Warden, "that lady--" + +"How?" said the Baron, starting--"what of her?--what hast thou to +say of that dame?" + +"Is she thy house-dame?" said the preacher, after a moment's pause, in +which, he seemed to seek for the best mode of expressing what he had +to say--"Is she, in brief, thy wife?" + +The unfortunate young woman pressed both her hands on her face, as if +to hide it, but the deep blush which crimsoned her brow and neck, +showed that her cheeks were also glowing; and the bursting tears, +which found their way betwixt her slender fingers, bore witness to her +sorrow, as well as to her shame. + +"Now, by my father's ashes!" said the Baron, rising and spurning from +him his footstool with such violence, that it hit the wall on the +opposite side of the apartment--then instantly constraining himself, +he muttered, "What need to run myself into trouble for a fool's +word?"--then resuming his seat, he answered coldly and +scornfully--"No, Sir Priest or Sir Preacher, Catherine is not my +wife--Cease thy whimpering, thou foolish wench--she is not my wife, +but she is handfasted with me, and that makes her as honest a woman." + +"Handfasted?"--repeated Warden. + +"Knowest thou not that rite, holy man?" said Avenel, in the same tone +of derision; "then I will tell thee. We Border-men are more wary than +your inland clowns of Fife and Lothian--no jump in the dark for us--no +clenching the fetters around our wrists till we know how they will +wear with us--we take our wives, like our horses, upon trial. When we +are handfasted, as we term it, we are man and wife for a year and +day--that space gone by, each may choose another mate, or, at their +pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life--and this we call +handfasting." [Footnote: This custom of handfasting actually prevailed +in the upland days. It arose partly from the want of priests. While +the convents subsisted, monks were detached on regular circuits +through the wilder districts, to marry those who had lived in this +species of connexion. A practice of the same kind existed in the Isle +of Portland.] + +"Then," said the preacher, "I tell thee, noble Baron, in brotherly +love to thy soul, it is a custom licentious, gross, and corrupted, +and, if persisted in, dangerous, yea, damnable. It binds thee to the +frailer being while she is the object of desire--it relieves thee when +she is most the subject of pity--it gives all to brutal sense, and +nothing to generous and gentle affection. I say to thee, that he who +can meditate the breach of such an engagement, abandoning the deluded +woman and the helpless offspring, is worse than the birds of prey; for +of them the males remain with their mates until the nestlings can take +wing. Above all, I say it is contrary to the pure Christian doctrine, +which assigns woman to man as the partner of his labour, the soother +of his evil, his helpmate in peril, his friend in affliction; not as +the toy of his looser hours, or as a flower, which, once cropped, he +may throw aside at pleasure." + +"Now, by the Saints, a most virtuous homily!" said the Baron; +"quaintly conceived and curiously pronounced, and to a well-chosen +congregation. Hark ye, Sir Gospeller! trow ye to have a fool in hand? +Know I not that your sect rose by bluff Harry Tudor, merely because ye +aided him to change _his_ Kate; and wherefore should I not use +the same Christian liberty with _mine?_ Tush, man! bless the good +food, and meddle not with what concerns thee not--thou hast no gull in +Julian Avenel." + +"He hath gulled and cheated himself," said the preacher, "should he +even incline to do that poor sharer of his domestic cares the +imperfect justice that remains to him. Can he now raise her to the +rank of a pure and uncontaminated matron?--Can he deprive his child of +the misery of owing birth to a mother who has erred? He can indeed +give them both the rank, the state of married wife and of lawful son; +but, in public opinion, their names will be smirched and sullied with +a stain which his tardy efforts cannot entirely efface. Yet render it +to them, Baron of Avenel, render to them this late and imperfect +justice. Bid me bind you together for ever, and celebrate the day of +your bridal, not with feasting or wassail, but with sorrow for past +sin, and the resolution to commence a better life. Happy then will +have the chance been that has drawn me to this castle, though I come +driven by calamity, and unknowing where my course is bound, like a +leaf travelling on the north wind." + +The plain, and even coarse features, of the zealous speaker, were +warmed at once and ennobled by the dignity of his enthusiasm; and the +wild Baron, lawless as he was, and accustomed to spurn at the control +whether of religious or moral law, felt, for the first time perhaps in +his life, that he was under subjection to a mind superior to his own. +He sat mute and suspended in his deliberations, hesitating betwixt +anger and shame, yet borne down by the weight of the just rebuke thus +boldly fulminated against him. + +The unfortunate young woman, conceiving hopes from her tyrant's +silence and apparent indecision, forgot both her fear and shame in her +timid expectation that Avenel would relent; and fixing upon him her +anxious and beseeching eyes, gradually drew near and nearer to his +seat, till at length, laying a trembling hand on his cloak, she +ventured to utter, "O noble Julian, listen to the good man!" + +The speech and the motion were ill-timed, and wrought on that proud and +wayward spirit the reverse of her wishes. + +The fierce Baron started up in a fury, exclaiming, "What! thou foolish +callet, art thou confederate with this strolling vagabond, whom thou +hast seen beard me in my own hall! Hence with thee, and think that I +ana proof both to male and female hypocrisy!" + +The poor girl started back, astounded at his voice of thunder and +looks of fury, and, turning pale as death, endeavoured to obey his +orders, and tottered towards the door. Her limbs failed in the +attempt, and she fell on the stone floor in a manner which her +situation might have rendered fatal--The blood gushed from her +face.--Halbert Glendinning brooked not a sight so brutal, but, +uttering a deep imprecation, started from his seat, and laid his hand +on his sword, under the strong impulse of passing it through the body +of the cruel and hard-hearted ruffian. But Christie of the Clinthill, +guessing his intention, threw his arms around him, and prevented him +from stirring to execute his purpose. + +The impulse to such an act of violence was indeed but momentary, as it +instantly appeared that Avenel himself, shocked at the effects of his +violence, was lifting up and endeavouring to soothe in his own way the +terrified Catherine. + +"Peace," he said, "prithee, peace, thou silly minion--why, Kate, +though I listen not to this tramping preacher, I said not what might +happen an thou dost bear me a stout boy. There--there--dry thy +tears--Call thy women.--So ho!--where be these queans?--Christie-- +Rowley--Hutcheon--drag them hither by the hair of the head!" + +A half dozen of startled wild-looking females rushed into the room, +and bore out her who might be either termed their mistress or their +companion. She showed little sign of life, except by groaning faintly +and keeping her hand on her side. + +No sooner had this luckless female been conveyed from the apartment, +than the Baron, advancing to the table, filled and drank a deep goblet +of wine; then, putting an obvious restraint on his passions, turned to +the preacher, who stood horror-struck at the scene he had witnessed, +and said, "You have borne too hard on us, Sir Preacher--but coming +with the commendations which you have brought me, I doubt not but your +meaning was good. But we are a wilder folk than you inland men of Fife +and Lothian. Be advised, therefore, by me--Spur not an unbroken +horse--put not your ploughshare too deep into new land--Preach to us +spiritual liberty, and we will hearken to you.--But we will give no +way to spiritual bondage.--Sit, therefore, down, and pledge me in old +sack, and we will talk over these matters." + +"It is _from_ spiritual bondage," said the preacher, in the same +tone of admonitory reproof, "that I came to deliver you--it is from a +bondage more fearful than than that of the heaviest earthly gyves--it +is from your own evil passions." + +"Sit down," said Avenel, fiercely; "sit down while the play is good-- +else by my father's crest and my mother's honour!----" + +"Now," whispered Christie of the Clinthill to Halbert, "if he refuse to +sit down, I would not give a gray groat for his head." + +"Lord Baron," said Warden, "thou hast placed me in extremity. But if +the question be, whether I am to hide the light which I am commanded +to show forth, or to lose the light of this world, my choice is made. +I say to thee, like the Holy Baptist to Herod, it is not lawful for +thee to have this woman; and I say it though bonds and death be the +consequence, counting my life as nothing in comparison of the ministry +to which I am called." + +Julian Avenel, enraged at the firmness of this reply, flung from his +right hand the cup in which he was about to drink to his guest, and +from the other cast off the hawk, which flew wildly through the +apartment. His first motion was to lay hand upon his dagger. But, +changing his resolution, he exclaimed, "To the dungeon with this +insolent stroller!--I will hear no man speak a word for him----Look to +the falcon, Christie, thou fool--an she escape, I will despatch you +after her every man--Away with that hypocritical dreamer--drag him +hence if he resist!" + +He was obeyed in both points. Christie of the Clinthill arrested the +hawk's flight, by putting his foot on her jesses, and so holding her +fast, while Henry Warden was led off, without having shown the +slightest symptoms of terror, by two of the Baron's satellites. Julian +Avenel walked the apartment for a short time in sullen silence, and +despatching one of his attendants with a whispered message, which +probably related to the health of the unfortunate Catherine, he said +aloud, "These rash and meddling priests--By Heaven! they make us worse +than we would be without them." + +[Footnote: If it were necessary to name a prototype for this brutal, +licentious and cruel Border chief, in an age which showed but too many +such, the Laird of Black Ormiston might be selected for that purpose. +He was a friend and confidant of Bothwell, and an agent in Henry +Darnley's murder. At his last stage, he was, like other great +offenders, a seeming penitent; and, as his confession bears, divers +gentlemen and servants being in the chamber, he said, "For God's sake, +sit down and pray for me, for I have been a great sinner otherwise," +(that is, besides his share in Darnley's death,) "for the which God is +this day punishing me; for of all men on the earth, I have been one of +the proudest, and most high-minded, and most unclean of my body. But +specially I have shed the innocent blood of one Michael Hunter with my +own hands. Alas, therefore! because the said Michael, having me lying +on my back, having a fork in his hand, might have slain me if he had +pleased, and did it not, which of all things grieves me most in +conscience. Also, in a rage, I hanged a poor man for a horse;--with +many other wicked deeds, for whilk I ask my God mercy. It is not +marvel I have been wicked, considering the wicked company that ever I +have been in, but specially within the seven years by-past, in which I +never saw two good men or one good deed, but all kind of wickedness, +and yet God would not suffer me to be lost."--See the whole confession +in the State Trials. + +Another worthy of the Borders, called Geordy Bourne, of somewhat +subordinate rank, was a similar picture of profligacy. He had fallen +into the hands of Sir Robert Carey, then Warden of the English East +Marches, who gives the following account of his prisoner's +confession:-- + +"When all things were quiet, and the watch set at night, after supper, +about ten of the clock, I took one of my men's liveries, and put it +about me, and took two other of my servants with me in their liveries; +and we three, as the Warden's men, came to the Provost Marshal's where +Bourne was, and were let into his chamber. We sate down by him, and +told him that we were desirous to see him, because we heard he was +stout and valiant, and true to his friend, and that we were sorry our +master could not be moved to save his life. He voluntarily of himself +said, that he had lived long enough to do so many villanies as he had +done; and withal told us, that he had lain with above forty men's +wives, what in England what in Scotland; and that he had killed seven +Englishmen with his own hands, cruelly murdering them; and that he had +spent his whole time in whoring, drinking, stealing, and taking deep +revenge for slight offences. He seemed to be very penitent, and much +desired a minister for the comfort of his soul. We promised him to let +our master know his desire, who, we knew would promptly grant it. We +took leave of him; and presently I took order that Mr Selby, a very +honest preacher, should go to him, and not stir from him till his +execution the next morning; for after I had heard his own confession, +I was resolved no conditions should save his life, and so took order, +that at the gates opening the next morning, he should be carried to +execution, which accordingly was performed."--_Memoirs of Sir +Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth._] + +The answer which he presently received seemed somewhat to pacify his +angry mood, and he took his place at the board, commanding his retinue +to the like. All sat down in silence, and began the repast. + +During the meal Christie in vain attempted to engage his youthful +companion in carousal, or, at least, in conversation. Halbert +Glendinning pleaded fatigue, and expressed himself unwilling to take +any liquor stronger than the heather ale, which was at that time +frequently used at meals. Thus every effort at jovialty died away, +until the Baron, striking his hand against the table, as if impatient +of the long unbroken silence, cried out aloud, "What, ho! my +masters--are ye Border-riders, and sit as mute over your meal as a +mess of monks and friars?--Some one sing, if no one list to speak. +Much eaten without either mirth or music is ill of digestion.--Louis," +he added, speaking to one of the youngest of his followers, "thou art +ready enough to sing when no one bids thee." + +The young man looked first at his master, then up to the arched roof +of the hall, then drank off the horn of ale, or wine, which stood +beside him, and with a rough, yet not unmelodious voice, sung the +following ditty to the ancient air of "Blue bonnets over the Border." + + I. + + March, march, Ettrick and Teviotdale, + Why the deil dinna ye march forward in order? + March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale, + All the Blue Bonnets are bound for the Border + Many a banner spread, + Flutters above your head, + Many a crest that is famous in story; + Mount and make ready then, + Sons of the mountain glen, + Fight for the Queen and the old Scottish glory! + + II. + + Come from the hills where the hirsels are grazing, + Come from the glen of the buck and the roe; + Come to the crag where the beacon is blazing, + Come with the buckler, the lance, and the bow. + Trumpets are sounding, + War-steeds are bounding, + Stand to your arms then, and march in good order; + England shall many a day + Tell of the bloody fray, + When the Blue Bonnets came over the Border! + +The song, rude as it was, had in it that warlike character which at +any other time would have roused Halbert's spirit; but at present the +charm of minstrelsy had no effect upon him. He made it his request to +Christie to suffer him to retire to rest, a request with which that +worthy person, seeing no chance of making a favourable impression on +his intended proselyte in his present humour, was at length pleased to +comply. But no Sergeant Kite, who ever practised the profession of +recruiting, was more attentive that his object should not escape him, +than was Christie of the Clinthill. He indeed conducted Halbert +Glendinning to a small apartment overlooking the lake, which was +accommodated with a truckle bed. But before quitting him, Christie +took special care to give a look to the bars which crossed the outside +of the window, and when he left the apartment, he failed not to give +the key a double turn; circumstances which convinced young Glendinning +that there was no intention of suffering him to depart from the Castle +of Avenel at his own time and pleasure. He judged it, however, most +prudent to let these alarming symptoms pass without observation. + +No sooner did he find himself in undisturbed solitude, than he ran +rapidly over the events of the day in his recollection, and to his +surprise found that his own precarious fate, and even the death of +Piercie Shafton, made less impression on him than the singularly bold +and determined conduct of his companion, Henry Warden. Providence, +which suits its instruments to the end they are to achieve, had +awakened in the cause of Reformation in Scotland, a body of preachers +of more energy than refinement, bold in spirit, and strong in faith, +contemners of whatever stood betwixt them and their principal object, +and seeking the advancement of the great cause in which they laboured +by the roughest road, provided it were the shortest. The soft breeze +may wave the willow, but it requires the voice of the tempest to +agitate the boughs of the oak; and, accordingly, to milder hearers, +and in a less rude age, their manners would have been ill-adapted, but +they were singularly successful in their mission to the rude people to +whom it was addressed. + +Owing to these reasons, Halbert Glendinning, who had resisted and +repelled the arguments of the preacher, was forcibly struck by the +firmness of his demeanour in the dispute with Julian Avenel. It might +be discourteous, and most certainly it was incautious, to choose such +a place and such an audience, for upbraiding with his transgressions a +baron, whom both manners and situation placed in full possession of +independent power. But the conduct of the preacher was uncompromising, +firm, manly, and obviously grounded upon the deepest conviction which +duty and principle could afford; and Glendinning, who had viewed the +conduct of Avenel with the deepest abhorrence, was proportionally +interested in the brave old man, who had ventured life rather than +withhold the censure due to guilt. This pitch of virtue seemed to him +to be in religion what was demanded by chivalry of her votaries in +war; an absolute surrender of all selfish feelings, and a combination +of every energy proper to the human mind, to discharge the task which +duty demanded. + +Halbert was at the period when youth was most open to generous +emotions, and knows best how to appreciate them in others, and he +felt, although he hardly knew why, that, whether catholic or heretic, +the safety of this man deeply interested him. Curiosity mingled with +the feeling, and led him to wonder what the nature of those doctrines +could be, which stole their votary so completely from himself, and +devoted him to chains or to death as their sworn champion. He had +indeed been told of saints and martyrs of former days, who had braved +for their religious faith the extremity of death and torture. But +their spirit of enthusiastic devotion had long slept in the ease and +indolent habits of their successors, and their adventures, like those +of knights-errant, were rather read for amusement than for +edification. A new impulse had been necessary to rekindle the energies +of religious zeal, and that impulse was now operating in favour of a +purer religion, with one of whose steadiest votaries the youth had now +met for the first time. + +The sense that he himself was a prisoner, under the power of this +savage chieftain, by no means diminished Halbert's interest in the +fate of his fellow sufferer, while he determined at the same time so +far to emulate his fortitude, that neither threats nor suffering +should compel him to enter into the service of such a master. The +possibility of escape next occurred to him, and though with little +hope of effecting it in that way, Glendinning proceeded to examine +more particularly the window of the apartment. The apartment was +situated in the first story of the castle; and was not so far from the +rock, on which it was founded, but that an active and bold man might +with little assistance descend to a shelf of rock which was +immediately below the window, and from thence either leap or drop +himself down into the lake which lay before his eye, clear and blue in +the placid light of a full summer's moon.--"Were I once placed on that +ledge," thought Glendinning, "Julian Avenel and Christie had seen the +last of me." The size of the window favoured such an attempt, but the +stanchions or iron bars seemed to form an insurmountable obstacle. + +While Halbert Glendinning gazed from the window with that eagerness of +hope which was prompted by the energy of his character and his +determination not to yield to circumstances, his ear caught some +sounds from below, and listening with more attention, he could +distinguish the voice of the preacher engaged in his solitary +devotions. To open a correspondence with him became immediately his +object, and failing to do so by less marked sounds, he at length +ventured to speak, and was answered from beneath--"Is it thou, my +son?" The voice of the prisoner now sounded more distinctly than when +it was first heard, for Warden had approached the small aperture, +which, serving his prison for a window, opened just betwixt the wall +and the rock, and admitted a scanty portion of light through a wall of +immense thickness. This _soupirait_ being placed exactly under +Halbert's window, the contiguity permitted the prisoners to converse +in a low tone, when Halbert declared his intention to escape, and the +possibility he saw of achieving his purpose, but for the iron +stanchions of the window--"Prove thy strength, my son, in the name of +God" said the preacher. Halbert obeyed him more in despair than hope, +but to his great astonishment, and somewhat to his terror, the bar +parted asunder near the bottom, and the longer part being easily bent +outwards, and not secured with lead in the upper socket, dropt out +into Halbert's hand. He immediately whispered, but as energetically as +a whisper could be expressed--"By Heaven, the bar has given way in my +hand!" + +"Thank Heaven, my son, instead of swearing by it," answered Warden +from his dungeon. + +With little effort Halbert Glendinning forced himself through the +opening thus wonderfully effected, and using his leathern sword-belt +as a rope to assist him, let himself safely drop on the shelf of rock +upon which the preacher's window opened. But through this no passage +could be effected, being scarce larger than a loop-hole for musketry, +and apparently constructed for that purpose. + +"Are there no means by which I can assist your escape, my father?" +said Halbert. + +"There are none, my son," answered the preacher; "but if thou wilt +ensure my safety, that may be in thy power." + +"I will labour earnestly for it," said the youth. + +"Take then a letter which I will presently write, for I have the means +of light and writing materials in my scrip--Hasten towards Edinburgh, +and on the way thou wilt meet a body of horse marching +southwards--Give this to their leader, and acquaint him of the state +in which thou hast left me. It may hap that thy doing so will +advantage thyself." + +In a minute or two the light of a taper gleamed through the shot-hole, +and very shortly after, the preacher, with the assistance of his +staff, pushed a billet to Glendinning through the window. + +"God bless thee, my son," said the old man, "and complete the +marvellous work which he has begun." + +"Amen!" answered Halbert, with solemnity, and proceeded on his +enterprise. + +He hesitated a moment whether he should attempt to descend to the edge +of the water; but the steepness of the rock, and darkness of the +night, rendered the enterprise too dangerous. He clasped his hands +above his head and boldly sprung from the precipice, shooting himself +forward into the air as far as he could for fear of sunken rocks, and +alighted on the lake, head foremost, with such force as sunk him for a +minute below the surface. But strong, long-breathed, and accustomed to +such exercise, Halbert, even though encumbered with his sword, dived +and rose like a seafowl, and swam across the lake in the northern +direction. When he landed and looked back on the castle, he could +observe that the alarm had been given, for lights glanced from window +to window, and he heard the drawbridge lowered, and the tread of +horses' feet upon the causeway. But, little alarmed for the +consequence of a pursuit during the darkness, he wrung the water from +his dress, and, plunging into the moors, directed his course to the +north-east by the assistance of the polar star + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Sixth. + + + Why, what an intricate impeach is this! + I think you all have drank of Circe's cup. + If here you housed him, here he would have been; + If he were mad, he would not plead so coldly. + COMEDY OF ERRORS. + +The course of our story, leaving for the present Halbert Glendinning +to the guidance of his courage and his fortune, returns to the Tower +of Glendearg, where matters in the meanwhile fell out, with which it +is most fitting that the reader should be acquainted. + +The meal was prepared at noontide with all the care which Elspeth and +Tibb, assisted by the various accommodations which had been supplied +from the Monastery, could bestow on it. Their dialogue ran on as usual +in the intervals of their labour, partly as between mistress and +servant, partly as maintained by gossips of nearly equal quality. + +"Look to the minced meat, Tibb," said Elspeth; "and turn the broach +even, thou good-for-nothing Simmie,--thy wits are harrying birds' +nests, child.--Weel, Tibb, this is a fasheous job, this Sir Piercie +lying leaguer with us up here, and wha kens for how lang?" + +"A fasheous job indeed," answered her faithful attendant, "and little +good did the name ever bring to fair Scotland. Ye may have your hands +fuller of them than they are yet. Mony a sair heart have the Piercies +given to Scots wife and bairns with their pricking on the Borders. +There was Hotspur and many more of that bloody kindred, have sate in +our skirts since Malcolm's time, as Martin says!" + +"Martin should keep a well-scrapit tongue in his head," said Elspeth, +"and not slander the kin of any body that quarters at Glendearg; +forby, that Sir Piercie Shafton is much respected with the holy +fathers of the community, and they will make up to us ony fasherie +that we may have with him, either by good word or good deed, I'se +warrant them. He is a considerate lord the Lord Abbot." + +"And weel he likes a saft seat to his hinder end," said Tibb; "I have +seen a belted baron sit on a bare bench, and find nae fault. But an ye +are pleased, mistress, I am pleased." + +"Now, in good time, here comes Mysie of the Mill.--And where hae ye +been, lass for a's gane wrang without you?" said Elspeth. + +"I just gaed a blink up the burn," said Mysie, "for the young lady has +been down on her bed, and is no just that weel--So I gaed a gliff up +the burn." + +"To see the young lads come hame frae the sport, I will warrant you," +said Elspeth. "Ay, ay, Tibb, that's the way the young folk guide us, +Tibbie--leave us to do the wark, and out to the play themsells." + +"Ne'er a bit of that, mistress," said the Maid of the Mill, stripping +her round pretty arms, and looking actively and good-humouredly round +for some duty that she could discharge, "but just--I thought ye might +like to ken if they were coming back, just to get the dinner forward." + +"And saw ye ought of them then?" demanded Elspeth. + +"Not the least tokening," said Mysie, "though I got to the head of a +knowe, and though the English knight's beautiful white feather could +have been seen over all the bushes in the Shaw." + +"The knight's white feather!" said Dame Glendinning; "ye are a silly +hempie--my Halbert's high head will be seen farther than his feather, +let it be as white as it like, I trow." + +Mysie made no answer, but began to knead dough for wastel-cake with +all despatch, observing that Sir Piercie had partaken of that dainty, +and commended it upon the preceding day. And presently, in order to +place on the fire the _girdle_, or iron plate on which these +cates were to be baked, she displaced a stew-pan in which one of +Tibb's delicacies were submitted to the action of the kitchen fire. +Tibb muttered betwixt her teeth--"And it is the broth for my sick +bairn, that maun make room for the dainty Southron's wastel-bread. It +was a blithe time in Wight Wallace's day, or good King Robert's, when +the pock-puddings gat naething here but hard straiks and bloody +crowns. But we will see how it will a' end." + +Elspeth did not think it proper to notice these discontented +expressions of Tibbie, but they sunk into her mind; for she was apt to +consider her as a sort of authority in matters of war and policy, with +which her former experience as bower-woman at Avenel Castle made her +better acquainted than were the peaceful inhabitants of Halidome. She +only spoke, however, to express her surprise that the hunters did not +return. + +"An they come not back the sooner," said Tibb, "they will fare the +waur, for the meat will be roasted to a cinder--and there is poor +Simmie that can turn the spit nae langer: the bairn is melting like an +icicle in warm water--Gang awa, bairn, and take a mouthful of the +caller air, and I will turn the broach till ye come back." + +"Rin up to the bartizan at the tower-head, callant," said Dame +Glendinning, "the air will be callerer there than ony gate else, and +bring us word if our Halbert and the gentleman are coming down the +glen." + +The boy lingered long enough to allow his substitute, Tibb Tacket, +heartily to tire of her own generosity, and of his cricket-stool by +the side of a huge fire. He at length returned with the news that he +had seen nobody. The matter was not so remarkable as far as Halbert +Glendinning was concerned, for, patient alike of want and of fatigue, +it was no uncommon circumstance for him to remain in the wilds till +curfew time. But nobody had given Sir Piercie Shafton credit for being +so keen a sportsman, and the idea of an Englishman preferring the +chase to his dinner was altogether inconsistent with their +preconceptions of the national character. Amidst wondering and +conjecturing, the usual dinner-hour passed long away; and the inmates +of the tower, taking a hasty meal themselves, adjourned their more +solemn preparations until the hunters' return at night, since it +seemed now certain that their sport had either carried them to a +greater distance, or engaged them for a longer time than had been +expected. + +About four hours after noon, arrived, not the expected sportsmen, but +an unlooked for visitant, the Sub-Prior from the Monastery. The scene +of the preceding day had dwelt on the mind of Father Eustace, who was +of that keen and penetrating cast of mind which loves not to leave +unascertained whatever of mysterious is subjected to its inquiry. His +kindness was interested in the family of Glendearg, which he had now +known for a long time; and besides, the community was interested in +the preservation of the peace betwixt Sir Piercie Shafton and his +youthful host, since whatever might draw public attention on the +former, could not fail to be prejudicial to the Monastery, which was +already threatened by the hand of power. He found the family +assembled, all but Mary Avenel, and was informed that Halbert +Glendinning had accompanied the stranger on a day's sport. So far was +well. They had not returned; but when did youth and sport conceive +themselves bound by set hours? and the circumstance excited no alarm +in his mind. + +While he was conversing with Edward Glendinning touching his progress +in the studies he had pointed out to him, they were startled by a +shriek from Mary Avenel's apartment, which drew the whole family +thither in headlong haste. They found her in a swoon in the arms of +old Martin, who was bitterly accusing himself of having killed her; so +indeed it seemed, for her pale features and closed eyes argued rather +a dead corpse than a living person. The whole family were instantly +in tumult. Snatching her from Martin's arms with the eagerness of +affectionate terror, Edward bore her to the casement, that she might +receive the influence of the open air; the Sub-Prior, who, like many +of his profession, had some knowledge of medicine, hastened to +prescribe the readiest remedies which occurred to him, and the +terrified females contended with, and impeded each other, in their +rival efforts to be useful. + +"It has been ane of her weary ghaists," said Dame Glendinning. + +"It's just a trembling on her spirits, as her blessed mother used to +have," said Tibb. + +"It's some ill news has come ower her," said the miller's maiden; +while burnt feathers, cold water, and all the usual means of restoring +suspended animation, were employed alternately, and with little +effect. + +At length a new assistant, who had joined the group unobserved, tendered +his aid in the following terms:--"How is this, my most fair Discretion? +What cause hath moved the ruby current of life to rush back to the +citadel of the heart, leaving pale those features in which it should +have delighted to meander for ever?--Let me approach her," he +said,"--with this sovereign essence, distilled by the fair hands of +the divine Urania, and powerful to recall fugitive life, even if it +were trembling on the verge of departure." + +Thus speaking, Sir Piercie Shafton knelt down, and most gracefully +presented to the nostrils of Mary Avenel a silver pouncet-box, +exquisitely chased, containing a sponge dipt in the essence which he +recommmended so highly. Yes, gentle reader, it was Sir Piercie Shafton +himself who thus unexpectedly proffered his good offices! his cheeks, +indeed, very pale, and some part of his dress stained with blood, but +not otherwise appearing different from what he was on the preceding +evening. But no sooner had Mary Avenel opened her eyes, and fixed them +on the figure of the officious courtier, than she screamed faintly, +and exclaimed,--"Secure the murderer!" + +Those present stood aghast with astonishment, and none more so than the +Euphuist, who found himself so suddenly and so strangely accused by the +patient whom he was endeavouring to succour, and who repelled his +attempts to yield her assistance with all the energy of abhorrence. +"Take him away!" she exclaimed--"take away the murderer!" + +"Now, by my knighthood," answered Sir Piercie, "your lovely faculties +either of mind or body are, O my most fair Discretion, obnubilated by +some strange hallucination. For either your eyes do not discern that +it is Piercie Shafton, your most devoted Affability, who now stands +before you, or else, your eyes discerning truly, your mind hath most +erroneously concluded that he hath been guilty of some delict or +violence to which his hand is a stranger. No murder, O most scornful +Discretion, hath been this day done, saving but that which your angry +glances are now performing on your most devoted captive." + +He was here interrupted by the Sub-Prior, who had, in the meantime, +been speaking with Martin apart, and had received from him an account +of the circumstances, which, suddenly communicated to Mary Avenel, had +thrown her into this state. "Sir Knight," said the Sub-Prior, in a +very solemn tone, yet with some hesitation, "circumstances have been +communicated to us of a nature so extraordinary, that, reluctant as I +am to exercise such authority over a guest of our venerable community, +I am constrained to request from you an explanation of them. You left +this tower early in the morning, accompanied by a youth, Halbert +Glendinning, the eldest son of this good dame, and you return hither +without him. Where, and at what hour, did you part company from him?" + +The English knight paused for a moment, and then replied,--"I marvel +that your reverence employs so grave a tone to enforce so light a +question. I parted with the villagio whom you call Halbert +Glendinning some hour or twain after sunrise." + +"And at what place, I pray you?" said the monk. + +"In a deep ravine, where a fountain rises at the base of a huge rock; an +earth-born Titan, which heaveth up its gray head, even as--" + +"Spare us farther description," said the Sub-Prior; "we know the spot. +But that youth hath not since been heard of, and it will fall on you to +account for him." + +"My bairn! my bairn!" exclaimed Dame Glendinning. "Yes, holy +father, make the villain account for my bairn!" + +"I swear, good woman, by bread and by water,--which are the props of +our life--" + +"Swear by wine and wastel-bread, for these are the props of _thy_ +life, thou greedy Southron!" said Dame Glendinning;--"a base +belly-god, to come here to eat the best, and practise on our lives +that give it to him!" + +"I tell thee, woman," said Sir Piercie Shafton, "I did but go with thy +son to the hunting." + +"A black hunting it has been to him, poor bairn," replied Tibb; "and +sae I said it wad prove since I first saw the false Southron snout of +thee. Little good comes of a Piercie's hunting, from Chevy Chase till +now." + +"Be silent, woman," said the Sub-Prior, "and rail not upon the English +knight; we do not yet know of any thing beyond suspicion." + +"We will have his heart's blood!" said Dame Glendinning; and, seconded +by the faithful Tibbie, she made such a sudden onslaught on the +unlucky Euphuist, as must have terminated in something serious, had +not the monk, aided by Mysie Happer, interposed to protect him from +their fury. Edward had left the apartment the instant the disturbance +broke out, and now entered, sword in hand, followed by Martin and +Jasper, the one having a hunting spear in his hand, the other a +cross-bow. + +"Keep the door," he said to his two attendants; "shoot him or stab him +without mercy, should he attempt to break forth; if he offers an +escape, by Heaven he shall die!" + +"How now, Edward," said the Sub-Prior; "how is this that you so far +forget yourself? meditating violence to a guest, and in my presence, who +represent your liege lord?" + +Edward stepped forward with his drawn sword in his hand. "Pardon me, +reverend father," he said, "but in this matter the voice of nature +speaks louder and stronger than yours. I turn my sword's point against +this proud man, and I demand of him the blood of my brother--the blood +of my father's son--of the heir of our name! If he denies to give me a +true account of him, he shall not deny me vengeance." + +Embarrassed as he was, Sir Piercie Shafton showed no personal fear. +"Put up thy sword," he said, "young man; not in the same day does +Piercie Shafton contend with two peasants." + +"Hear him! he confesses the deed, holy father," said Edward. + +"Be patient, my son," said the Sub-Prior, endeavouring to soothe the +feelings which he could not otherwise control, "be patient--thou wilt +attain the ends of justice better through my means than thine own +violence--And you, women, be silent--Tibb, remove your mistress and Mary +Avenel." + +While Tibb, with the assistance of the other females of the household, +bore the poor mother and Mary Avenel into separate apartments, and +while Edward, still keeping his sword in his hand, hastily traversed +the room, as if to prevent the possibility of Sir Piercie Shafton's +escape, the Sub-Prior insisted upon knowing from the perplexed knight +the particulars which he knew respecting Halbert Glendinning. His +situation became extremely embarrassing, for what he might with safety +have told of the issue of their combat was so revolting to his pride, +that he could not bring himself to enter into the detail; and of +Halbert's actual fate he knew, as the reader is well aware, absolutely +nothing. + +The father in the meanwhile pressed him with remonstrances, and prayed +him to observe, he would greatly prejudice himself by declining to +give a full account of the transactions of the day. "You cannot deny," +he said, "that yesterday you seemed to take the most violent offence +at this unfortunate youth; and that you suppressed your resentment so +suddenly as to impress us all with surprise. Last night you proposed +to him this day's hunting party, and you set out together by break of +day. You parted, you said, at the fountain near the rock, about an +hour or twain after sunrise, and it appears that before you parted you +had been at strife together." + +"I said not so," replied the knight. "Here is a coil indeed about the +absence of a rustical bondsman, who, I dare say, hath gone off (if he +be gone) to join the next rascally band of freebooters! Ye ask me, a +knight of the Piercie's lineage, to account for such an insignificant +fugitive, and I answer,--let me know the price of his head, and I will +pay it to your convent treasurer." + +"You admit, then, that you have slain my brother?" said Edward, +interfering once more; "I will presently show you at what price we +Scots rate the lives of our friends." + +"Peace, Edward, peace--I entreat--I command thee," said the Sub-Prior. +"And you, Sir Knight, think better of us than to suppose you may spend +Scottish blood, and reckon for it as for wine spilt in a drunken +revel. This youth was no bondsman--thou well knowest, that in thine +own land thou hadst not dared to lift thy sword against the meanest +subject of England, but her laws would have called thee to answer for +the deed. Do not hope it will be otherwise here, for you will but +deceive yourself." + +"You drive me beyond my patience," said the Euphuist, "even as the +over-driven ox is urged into madness!--What can I tell you of a young +fellow whom I have not seen since the second hour after sunrise?" + +"But can you explain in what circumstances you parted with him?" said +the monk. + +"What _are_ the circumstances, in the devil's name, which you +desire should be explained?--for although I protest against this +constraint as alike unworthy and inhospitable, yet would I willingly +end this fray, provided that by words it may be ended," said the +knight. + +"If these end it not," said Edward, "blows shall, and that full +speedily." + +"Peace, impatient boy!" said the Sub-Prior; "and do you, Sir Piercie +Shafton, acquaint me why the ground is bloody by the verge of the +fountain in Corri-nan-shian, where, as you say yourself, you parted +from Halbert Glendinning?" + +Resolute not to avow his defeat if possibly he could avoid it, the +knight answered in a haughty tone, that he supposed it was no unusual +thing to find the turf bloody where hunters had slain a deer. + +"And did you bury your game as well as kill it?" said the monk. "We +must know from you who is the tenant of that grave, that newly-made +grave, beside the very fountain whose margin is so deeply crimsoned +with blood?--thou seest thou canst not evade me; therefore be +ingenuous, and tell us the fate of this unhappy youth, whose body is +doubtless lying under that bloody turf." + +"If it be," said Sir Piercie, "they must have buried him alive; for I +swear to thee, reverend father, that this rustic juvenal parted from +me in perfect health. Let the grave be searched, and if his body be +found, then deal with me as ye list." + +"It is not my sphere to determine thy fate, Sir Knight, but that of the +Lord Abbot, and the right reverend Chapter. It is but my duty to collect +such information as may best possess their wisdom with the matters which +have chanced." + +"Might I presume so far, reverend father," said the knight, "I should +wish to know the author and evidence of all these suspicions, so +unfoundedly urged against me?" + +"It is soon told," said the Sub-Prior; "nor do I wish to disguise it, +if it can avail you in your defence. This maiden, Mary Avenel, +apprehending that you nourished malice against her foster-brother +under a friendly brow, did advisedly send up the old man, Martin +Tacket, to follow your footsteps and to prevent mischief. But it seems +that your evil passions had outrun precaution: for when he came to the +spot, guided by your footsteps upon the dew, he found but the bloody +turf and the new covered grave; and after long and vain search through +the wilds after Halbert and yourself, he brought back the sorrowful +news to her who had sent him." + +"Saw he not my doublet, I pray you?" said Sir Piercie; "for when I +came to myself, I found that I was wrapped in my cloak, but without my +under garment as your reverence may observe." + +So saying, he opened his cloak, forgetting, with his characteristical +inconsistency, that he showed his shirt stained with blood. + +"How! cruel man," said the monk, when he observed this confirmation of +his suspicions; "wilt thou deny the guilt, even while thou bearest on +thy person the blood thou hast shed?--Wilt thou longer deny that thy +rash hand has robbed a mother of a son, our community of a vassal, the +Queen of Scotland of a liege subject? and what canst thou expect, but +that, at the least, we deliver thee up to England, as undeserving our +farther protection?" + +"By the Saints!" said the knight, now driven to extremity, "if this +blood be the witness against me, it is but rebel blood, since this +morning at sunrise it flowed within my own veins." + +"How were that possible, Sir Piercie Shafton," said the monk, "since I +see no wound from whence it can have flowed?" + +"That," said the knight, "is the most mysterious part of the transaction +--See here!" + +So saying, he undid his shirt collar, and, opening his bosom, showed +the spot through--which Halbert's sword had passed, but already +cicatrized, and bearing the appearance of a wound lately healed. + +"This exhausts my patience, Sir Knight," said the Sub-Prior, "and is +adding insult to violence and injury. Do you hold me for a child or an +idiot, that you pretend to make me believe that the fresh blood with +which your shirt is stained, flowed from a wound which has been healed +for weeks or months? Unhappy mocker, thinkest thou thus to blind us? +Too well do we know that it is the blood of your victim, wrestling +with you in the desperate and mortal struggle, which has thus dyed +your apparel." + +The knight, after a moment's recollection, said in reply, "I will be +open with you, my father--bid these men stand out of ear-shot, and I +will tell you all I know of this mysterious business; and muse not, +good father, though it may pass thy wit to expound it, for I avouch to +you it is too dark for mine own." + +The monk commanded Edward and the two men to withdraw, assuring the +former that his conference with the prisoner should be brief, and +giving him permission to keep watch at the door of the apartment; +without which allowance he might, perhaps, have had some difficulty in +procuring his absence. Edward had no sooner left the chamber, than he +despatched messengers to one or two families of the Halidome, with +whose sons his brother and he sometimes associated, to tell them that +Halbert Glendinning had been murdered by an Englishman, and to require +them to repair to the Tower of Glendearg without delay. The duty of +revenge in such cases was held so sacred, that he had no reason to +doubt they would instantly come with such assistance as would ensure +the detention of the prisoner. He then locked the doors of the tower, +both inner and outer, and also the gate of the court-yard. Having +taken these precautions, he made a hasty visit to the females of the +family, exhausting himself in efforts to console them, and in +protestations that he would have vengeance for his murdered brother. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Seventh. + + + Now, by Our Lady, Sheriff,'tis hard reckoning, + That I, with every odds of birth and barony + Should be detain'd here for the casual death + Of a wild forester, whose utmost having + Is but the brazen buckle of the belt + In which he sticks his hedge-knife. + OLD PLAY. + +While Edward was making preparations for securing and punishing the +supposed murderer of his brother, with an intense thirst for +vengeance, which had not hitherto shown itself as part of his +character, Sir Piercie Shafton made such communications as it pleased +him to the Sub-Prior, who listened with great attention, though the +knight's narrative was none of the clearest, especially as his +self-conceit led him to conceal or abridge the details which were +necessary to render it intelligible. + +"You are to know," he said, "reverend father, that this rustical +juvenal having chosen to offer me, in the presence of your venerable +Superior, yourself, and other excellent and worthy persons, besides +the damsel, Mary Avenel, whom I term my Discretion in all honour and +kindness, a gross insult, rendered yet more intolerable by the time +and place, my just resentment did so gain the mastery over my +discretion, that I resolved to allow him the privileges of an equal, +and to indulge him with the combat." + +"But, Sir Knight," said the Sub-Prior, "you still leave two matters +very obscure. First, why the token he presented to you gave you so +much offence, as I with others witnessed; and then again, how the +youth, whom you then met for the first, or, at least, the second time, +knew so much of your history as enabled him so greatly to move you." + +The knight coloured very deeply. + +"For your first query," he said, "most reverend father, we will, if +you please, pretermit it as nothing essential to the matter in hand; +and for the second--I protest to you that I know as little of his +means of knowledge as you do, and that I am well-nigh persuaded he +deals with Sathanas, of which more anon.--Well, sir--In the evening, I +failed not to veil my purpose with a pleasant brow, as is the custom +amongst us martialists, who never display the bloody colours of +defiance in our countenance until our hand is armed to fight under +them. I amused the fair Discretion with some canzonettes, and other +toys, which could not but be ravishing to her inexperienced ears. I +arose in the morning, and met my antagonist, who, to say truth, for an +inexperienced villagio, comported himself as stoutly as I could have +desired.--So, coming to the encounter, reverend sir, I did try his +mettle with some half-a-dozen of downright passes, with any one of +which I could have been through his body, only that I was loth to take +so fatal an advantage, but rather, mixing mercy with my just +indignation, studied to inflict upon him some flesh-wound of no very +fatal quality. But, sir, in the midst of my clemency, he, being +instigated, I think, by the devil, did follow up his first offence +with some insult of the same nature. Whereupon, being eager to punish +him, I made an estramazone, and my foot slipping at the same +time,--not from any fault of fence on my part, or any advantage of +skill on his, but the devil having, as I said, taken up the matter in +hand, and the grass being slippery,--ere I recovered my position I +encountered his sword, which he had advanced, with my undefended +person, so that, as I think, I was in some sort run through the body. +My juvenal, being beyond measure appalled at his own unexpected and +unmerited success in this strange encounter, takes the flight and +leaves me there, and I fall into a dead swoon for the lack of the +blood I had lost so foolishly--and when I awake, as from a sound +sleep, I find myself lying, an it like you, wrapt up in my cloak at +the foot of one of the birch-trees which stand together in a clump +near to this place. I feel my limbs, and experience little pain, but +much weakness--I put my hand to the wound--it was whole and skinned +over as you now see it--I rise and come hither; and in these words you +have my whole day's story." + +"I can only reply to so strange a tale," answered the monk, "that it +is scarce possible that Sir Piercie Shafton can expect me to credit +it. Here is a quarrel, the cause of which you conceal--a wound +received in the morning, of which there is no recent appearance at +sunset,--a grave filled up, in which no body is deposited--the +vanquished found alive and well--the victor departed no man knows +whither. These things, Sir Knight, hang not so well together, that I +should receive them as gospel." + +"Reverend father," answered Sir Piercie Shafton, "I pray you in the +first place to observe, that if I offer peaceful and civil +justification of that which I have already averred to be true, I do so +only in devout deference to your dress and to your order, protesting, +that to any other opposite, saving a man of religion, a lady or my +liege prince, I would not deign to support that which I had once +attested, otherwise than with the point of my good sword. And so much +being premised, I have to add, that I can but gage my honour as a +gentleman, and my faith as a Catholic Christian, that the things which +I have described to you have happened to me as I have described them, +and not otherwise." + +"It is a deep assertion, Sir Knight," answered the Sub-Prior; "yet, +bethink you, it is only an assertion, and that no reason can be +alleged why things should be believed which are so contrary to reason. +Let me pray you to say whether the grave, which has been seen at your +place of combat, was open or closed when your encounter took place?" + +"Reverend father," said the knight, "I will veil from you nothing, but +show you each secret of my bosom; even as the pure fountain revealeth +the smallest pebble which graces the sand at the bottom of its crystal +mirror, and as--" + +"Speak in plain terms, for the love of heaven!" said the monk; "these +holiday phrases belong not to solemn affairs--Was the grave open when +the conflict began?" + +"It was," answered the knight, "I acknowledge it; even as he that +acknowledgeth--" + +"Nay, I pray you, fair son, forbear these similitudes, and observe me. +On yesterday at even no grave was found in that place, for old Martin +chanced, contrary to his wont, to go thither in quest of a strayed +sheep. At break of day, by your own confession, a grave was opened in +that spot, and there a combat was fought--only one of the combatants +appears, and he is covered with blood, and to all appearance +woundless."--Here the knight made a gesture of impatience.--"Nay, fair +son, hear me but one moment--the grave is closed and covered by the +sod--what can we believe, but that it conceals the bloody corpse of +the fallen duellist?" + +"By Heaven, it cannot!" said the knight, "unless the juvenal hath +slain himself and buried himself, in order to place me in the +predicament of his murderer." + +"The grave shall doubtless be explored, and that by to-morrow's dawn," +said the monk, "I will see it done with mine own eyes" + +"But," said the prisoner, "I protest against all evidence which may +arise from its contents, and do insist beforehand, that whatever may +be found in that grave shall not prejudice me in my defence. I have +been so haunted by diabolical deceptions in this matter, that what do +I know but that the devil may assume the form of this rustical +juvenal, in order to procure me farther vexation?--I protest to you, +holy father, it is my very thought that there is witchcraft in all +that hath befallen me. Since I entered into this northern land, in +which men say that sorceries do abound, I, who am held in awe and +regard even by the prime gallants in the court of Feliciana, have been +here bearded and taunted by a clod-treading clown. I, whom Vincentio +Saviola termed his nimblest and most agile disciple, was, to speak +briefly, foiled by a cow-boy, who knew no more of fence than is used +at every country wake. I am run, as it seemed to me, through the body, +with a very sufficient stoccata, and faint on the spot; and yet, when +I recover, I find myself without either wem or wound, and, lacking +nothing of my apparel, saving my murrey-coloured doublet, slashed with +satin, which I will pray may be inquired after, lest the devil, who +transported me, should have dropped it in his passage among some of +the trees or bushes--it being a choice and most fanciful piece of +raiment, which I wore for the first time at the Queen's pageant in +Southwark." + +"Sir Knight," said the monk, "you do again go astray from this matter. +I inquire of you respecting that which concerns the life of another +man, and it may be, touches your own also, and you answer me with the +tale of an old doublet!" + +"Old!" exclaimed the knight; "now, by the gods and saints, if there be +a gallant at the British Court more fancifully considerate, and more +considerately fanciful, but quaintly curious, and more curiously +quaint, in frequent changes of all rich articles of vesture, becoming +one who may be accounted point-de-vice a courtier, I will give you +leave to term me a slave and a liar." + +The monk thought, but did not say, that he had already acquired right +to doubt the veracity of the Euphuist, considering the marvellous tale +which he had told. Yet his own strange adventure, and that of Father +Philip, rushed on his mind, and forbade his coming to any conclusion. +He contented himself, therefore, with observing, that these were +certainly strange incidents, and requested to know if Sir Piercie +Shafton had any other reason for suspecting himself to be in a manner +so particularly selected for the sport of sorcery and witchcraft. + +"Sir Sub-Prior," said the Euphuist, "the most extraordinary +circumstance remains behind, which alone, had I neither been bearded +in dispute, nor foiled in combat, nor wounded and cured in the space +of a few hours, would nevertheless of itself, and without any other +corroborative, have compelled me to believe myself the subject of some +malevolent fascination. Reverend sir, it is not to your ears that men +should tell tales of love and gallantry, nor is Sir Piercie Shafton +one who, to any ears whatsoever, is wont to boast of his fair +acceptance with the choice and prime beauties of the court; insomuch +that a lady, none of the least resplendent constellations which +revolve in that hemisphere of honour, pleasure, and beauty, but whose +name I here pretermit, was wont to call me her Taciturnity. +Nevertheless truth must be spoken; and I cannot but allow, as the +general report of the court, allowed in camps, and echoed back by city +and country, that in the alacrity of the accost, the tender delicacy +of the regard, the facetiousness of the address, the adopting and +pursuing of the fancy, the solemn close and the graceful fall-off, +Piercie Shafton was accounted the only gallant of the time, and so +well accepted among the choicer beauties of the age, that no +silk-hosed reveller of the presence-chamber, or plumed jouster of the +tilt-yard, approached him by a bow's length in the ladies' regard, +being the mark at which every well-born and generous juvenal aimeth +his shaft. Nevertheless, reverend sir, having found in this rude +place something which by blood and birth might be termed a lady, and +being desirous to keep my gallant humour in exercise, as well as to +show my sworn devotion to the sex in general, I did shoot off some +arrows of compliment at this Mary Avenel, terming her my Discretion, +with other quaint and well-imagined courtesies, rather bestowed out of +my bounty than warranted by her merit, or perchance like unto the +boyish fowler, who, rather than not exercise his bird-piece, will +shoot at crows or magpies for lack of better game----" + +"Mary Avenel is much obliged by your notice," answered the monk; "but +to what does all this detail of past and present gallantry conduct +us?" + +"Marry, to this conclusion," answered the knight; "that either this my +Discretion, or I myself, am little less than bewitched; for, instead +of receiving my accost with a gratifying bow, answering my regard with +a suppressed smile, accompanying my falling off or departure with a +slight sigh--honours with which I protest to you the noblest dancers +and proudest beauties in Feliciana have graced my poor services--she +hath paid me as little and as cold regard as if I had been some +hob-nailed clown of these bleak mountains! Nay, this very day, while I +was in the act of kneeling at her feet to render her the succours of +this pungent quintessence, of purest spirit distilled by the fairest +hands of the court of Feliciana, she pushed me from her with looks +which savoured of repugnance, and, as I think, thrust at me with her +foot as if to spurn me from her presence. These things, reverend +father, are strange, portentous, unnatural, and befall not in the +current of mortal affairs, but are symptomatic of sorcery and +fascination. So that, having given to your reverence a perfect, +simple, and plain account of all that I know concerning this matter, I +leave it to your wisdom to solve what may be found soluble in the +same, it being my purpose to-morrow, with the peep of dawn, to set +forward towards Edinburgh." + +"I grieve to be an interruption to your designs, Sir Knight," said the +monk, "but that purpose of thine may hardly be fulfilled." + +"How, reverend father!" said the knight, with an air of the utmost +surprise; "if what you say respects my departure, understand that it +_must_ be, for I have so resolved it." + +"Sir Knight," reiterated the Sub-Prior, "I must once more repeat, this +_cannot_ be, until the Abbot's pleasure be known in the matter." + +"Reverend sir," said the knight, drawing himself up with great +dignity, "I desire my hearty and thankful commendations to the Abbot; +but in this matter I have nothing to do with his reverend pleasure, +designing only to consult my own." + +"Pardon me," said the Sub-Prior; "the Lord Abbot hath in this matter +a voice potential." + +Sir Piercie Shafton's colour began to rise--"I marvel," he said, "to +hear your reverence talk thus--What! will you, for the imagined death +of a rude, low-born frampler and wrangler, venture to impinge upon the +liberty of the kinsman of the house of Piercie?" + +"Sir Knight," returned the Sub-Prior, civilly, "your high lineage and +your kindling anger will avail you nothing in this matter--You shall +not come here to seek a shelter, and then spill our blood as if it +were water." + +"I tell you," said the knight, "once more, as I have told you already, +that there was no blood spilled but mine own!" + +"That remains to be proved," replied the Sub-Prior; "we of the +community of Saint Mary's of Kennaquhair, use not to take fairy tales in +exchange for the lives of our liege vassals." + +"We of the house of Piercie," answered Shafton, "brook neither threats +nor restraint--I say I will travel to-morrow, happen what may!" + +"And I," answered the Sub-Prior, in the same tone of determination, +"say that I will break your journey, come what may!" + +"Who shall gainsay me," said the knight, "if I make my way by force?" + +"You will judge wisely to think ere you make such an attempt," answered +the monk, with composure; "there are men enough in the Halidome to +vindicate its rights over those who dare infringe them." + +"My cousin of Northumberland will know how to revenge this usage to +a beloved kinsman so near to his blood," said the Englishman. + +"The Lord Abbot will know how to protect the rights of his territory, +both with, the temporal and spiritual sword," said the monk. "Besides, +consider, were we to send you to your kinsman at Alnwick or Warkworth +to-morrow, he dare do nothing but transmit you in fetters to the Queen +of England. Bethink, Sir Knight, that you stand on slippery ground, +and will act most wisely in reconciling yourself to be a prisoner in +this place until the Abbot shall decide the matter. There are armed +men enow to countervail all your efforts at escape. Let patience and +resignation, therefore, arm you to a necessary submission." + +So saying, he clapped his hands, and called aloud. Edward entered, +accompanied by two young men who had already joined him, and were well +armed. + +"Edward," said the Sub-Prior, "you will supply the English Knight here +in this spence with suitable food and accommodation for the night, +treating him with as much kindness as if nothing had happened between +you. But you will place a sufficient guard, and look carefully that he +make not his escape. Should he attempt to break forth, resist him to +the death; but in no other case harm a hair of his head, as you shall +be answerable." + +Edward Glendinning replied,--"That I may obey your commands, reverend +sir, I will not again offer myself to this person's presence; for +shame it were to me to break the peace of the Halidome, but not less +shame to leave my brother's death unavenged." + +As he spoke, his lips grew livid, the blood forsook his cheek, and he +was about to leave the apartment, when the Sub-Prior recalled him and +said in a solemn tone,--"Edward, I have known you from infancy--I have +done what lay within my reach to be of use to you--I say nothing of +what you owe to me as the representative of your spiritual Superior--I +say nothing of the duty from the vassal to the Sub-Prior--But Father +Eustace expects from the pupil whom he has nurtured--he expects from +Edward Glendinning, that he will not by any deed of sudden violence, +however justified in his own mind by the provocation, break through +the respect due to public justice, or that which he has an especial +right to claim from him." + +"Fear nothing, my reverend father, for so in an hundred senses may I +well term you," said the young man; "fear not, I would say, that I +will in any thing diminish the respect I owe to the venerable +community by whom we have so long been protected, far less that I will +do aught which can be personally less than respectful to you. But the +blood of my brother must not cry for vengeance in vain--your reverence +knows our Border creed." + +"'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will requite it,'" answered +the monk. "The heathenish custom of deadly feud which prevails in this +land, through which each man seeks vengeance at his own hand when the +death of a friend or kinsman has chanced, hath already deluged our +vales with the blood of Scottish men, spilled by the hands of +countrymen and kindred. It were endless to count up the fatal results. +On the Eastern Border, the Homes are at feud with the Swintons and +Cockburns; in our Middle Marches, the Scotts and Kerrs have spilled as +much brave blood in domestic feud as might have fought a pitched field +in England, could they have but forgiven and forgotten a casual +rencounter that placed their names in opposition to each other. On the +west frontier, the Johnstones are at war with the Maxwells, the +Jardines with the Bells, drawing with them the flower of the country, +which should place their breasts as a bulwark against England, into +private and bloody warfare, of which it is the only end to waste and +impair the forces of the country, already divided in itself. Do not, +my dear son Edward, permit this bloody prejudice to master your mind. +I cannot ask you to think of the crime supposed as if the blood +spilled had been less dear to you--Alas! I know that is impossible. +But I do require you, in proportion to your interest in the supposed +sufferer, (for as yet the whole is matter of supposition,) to bear on +your mind the evidence on which the guilt of the accused person must +be tried. He hath spoken with me, and I confess his tale is so +extraordinary, that I should have, without a moment's hesitation, +rejected it as incredible, but that an affair which chanced to myself +in this very glen--More of that another time--Suffice it for the +present to say, that from what I have myself experienced, I deem it +possible, that, extraordinary as Sir Piercie Shafton's story may seem, +I hold it not utterly impossible." + +"Father," said Edward Glendinning, when he saw that his preceptor +paused, unwilling farther to explain upon what grounds he was inclined +to give a certain degree of credit to Sir Piercie Shafton's story, +while he admitted it as improbable--"Father to me you have been in +every sense. You know that my hand grasped more readily to the book +than to the sword; and that I lacked utterly the ready and bold spirit +which distinguished----" Here his voice faltered, and he paused for a +moment, and then went on with resolution and rapidity--"I would say, +that I was unequal to Halbert in promptitude of heart and of hand; but +Halbert is gone, and I stand his representative, and that of my +father--his successor in all his rights," (while he said this his eyes +shot fire,) "and bound to assert and maintain them as he would have +done--therefore I am a changed man, increased in courage as in my +rights and pretensions. And, reverend father, respectfully, but +plainly and firmly do I say, his blood, if it has been shed by this +man, shall be atoned--Halbert shall not sleep neglected in his lonely +grave, as if with him the spirit of my father had ceased forever. His +blood flows in my veins, and while his has been poured forth +unrequited, mine will permit me no rest. My poverty and meanness of +rank shall not avail the lordly murderer. My calm nature and peaceful +studies shall not be his protection. Even the obligations, holy +father, which I acknowledge to you, shall not be his protection. I +wait with patience the judgment of the Abbot and Chapter, for the +slaughter of one of their most anciently descended vassals. If they do +right to my brother's memory, it is well. But mark me, father, if they +shall fail in rendering me that justice, I bear a heart and a hand +which, though I love not such extremities, are capable of remedying +such an error. He who takes up my brother's succession must avenge +his death." + +The monk perceived with surprise, that Edward, with his extreme +diffidence, humility, and obedient assiduity, for such were his +general characteristics, had still boiling in his veins the wild +principles of those from whom he was descended, and by whom he was +surrounded. His eyes sparkled, his frame was agitated, and the +extremity of his desire for vengeance seemed to give a vehemence to +his manner resembling the restlessness of joy. + +"May God help us," said Father Eustace, "for, frail wretches as we are, +we cannot help ourselves under sudden and strong temptation.--Edward, +I will rely on your word that you do nothing rashly." + +"That will I not," said Edward,--"that, my better than father, I +surely will not. But the blood of my brother,--the tears of my +mother--and--and--and of Mary Avenel, shall not be shed in vain. I +will not deceive you, father--if this Piercie Shafton hath slain my +brother, he dies, if the whole blood of the whole house of Piercie +were in his veins." + +There was a deep and solemn determination in the utterance of Edward +Glendinning expressive of a rooted resolution. The Sub-Prior sighed +deeply, and for the moment yielded to circumstances, and urged the +acquiescence of his pupil no farther. He commanded lights to be placed +in the lower chamber, which for a time he paced in silence. + +A thousand ideas, and even differing principles, debated with each +other in his bosom. He greatly doubted the English knight's account of +the duel, and of what had followed it. Yet the extraordinary and +supernatural circumstances which had befallen the Sacristan and +himself in that very glen, prevented him from being absolutely +incredulous on the score of the wonderful wound and recovery of Sir +Piercie Shafton, and prevented him from at once condemning as +impossible that which was altogether improbable. Then he was at a loss +how to control the fraternal affections of Edward, with respect to +whom he felt something like the keeper of a wild animal, a lion's +whelp or tiger's cub, which he has held under his command from +infancy, but which, when grown to maturity, on some sudden provocation +displays his fangs and talons, erects his crest, resumes his savage +nature, and bids defiance at once to his keeper and to all mankind. + +How to restrain and mitigate an ire which the universal example of the +times rendered deadly and inveterate, was sufficient cause of anxiety +to Father Eustace. But he had also to consider the situation of his +community, dishonoured and degraded by submitting to suffer the +slaughter of a vassal to pass unavenged; a circumstance which of +itself might in those times have afforded pretext for a revolt among +their wavering adherents, or, on the other hand, exposed the community +to imminent danger, should they proceed against a subject of England +of high degree, connected with the house of Northumberland, and other +northern families of high rank, who, as they possessed the means, +could not be supposed to lack inclination, to wreak upon the patrimony +of Saint Mary of Kennaquhair, any violence which might be offered to +their kinsman. + +In either case, the Sub-Prior well knew that the ostensible cause of +feud, insurrection, or incursion, being once afforded, the case would +not be ruled either by reason or by evidence, and he groaned in spirit +when, upon counting up the chances which arose in this ambiguous +dilemma, he found he had only a choice of difficulties. He was a monk, +but he felt also as a man, indignant at the supposed slaughter of +young Glendinning by one skilful in all the practice of arms, in which +the vassal of the Monastery was most likely to be deficient; and to +aid the resentment which he felt for the loss of a youth whom he had +known from infancy, came in full force the sense of dishonour arising +to his community from passing over so gross an insult unavenged. Then +the light in which it might be viewed by those who at present presided +in the stormy Court of Scotland, attached as they were to the +Reformation, and allied by common faith and common interest with Queen +Elizabeth, was a formidable subject of apprehension. The Sub-Prior +well knew how they lusted after the revenues of the Church, (to +express it in the ordinary phrase of the religious of the time,) and +how readily they would grasp at such a pretext for encroaching on +those of Saint Mary's, as would be afforded by the suffering to pass +unpunished the death of a native Scottishman by a Catholic Englishman, +a rebel to Queen Elizabeth. + +On the other hand, to deliver up to England, or, which was nearly the +same thing, the Scottish administration, an English knight leagued +with the Piercie by kindred and political intrigue, a faithful +follower of the Catholic Church, who had fled to the Halidome for +protection, was, in the estimation of the Sub-Prior, an act most +unworthy in itself, and meriting the malediction of Heaven, besides +being, moreover, fraught with great temporal risk. If the government +of Scotland was now almost entirely in the hands of the Protestant +party, the Queen was still a Catholic, and there was no knowing when, +amid the sudden changes which agitated that tumultuous country, she +might find herself at the head of her own affairs, and able to protect +those of her own faith. Then, if the Court of England and its Queen +were zealously Protestant, the northern counties, whose friendship or +enmity were of most consequence in the first instance to the community +of Saint Mary's, contained many Catholics, the heads of whom were +able, and must be supposed willing, to avenge any injury suffered by +Sir Piercie Shafton. + +On either side, the Sub-Prior, thinking, according to his sense of +duty, most anxiously for the safety and welfare of his Monastery, saw +the greatest risk of damage, blame, inroad, and confiscation. The only +course on which he could determine, was to stand by the helm like a +resolute pilot, watch every contingence, do his best to weather each +reef and shoal, and commit the rest to heaven and his patroness. + +As he left the apartment, the knight called after him, beseeching he +would order his trunk-mails to be sent into his apartment, +understanding he was to be guarded there for the night, as he wished +to make some alteration in his apparel. + +[Footnote: Sir Piercie Shafton's extreme love of dress was an +attribute of the coxcombs of this period. The display made by their +forefathers was in the numbers of their retinue; but as the actual +influence of the nobility began to be restrained both in France and +England by the increasing power of the crown, the indulgence of vanity +in personal display became more inordinate. There are many allusions +to this change of custom in Shakspeare and other dramatic writers, +where the reader may find mention made of + + "Bonds enter'd into + For gay apparel against the triumph day." + +Jonson informs us, that for the first entrance of a gallant, "'twere +good you turned four or five hundred acres of your best land into two +or three trunks of apparel."--_Every Man out of his Humour._ + +In the Memorie of the Somerville family, a curious instance occurs of +this fashionable species of extravagance. In the year 1537, when +James V. brought over his shortlived bride from France, the Lord +Somerville of the day was so profuse in the expense of his apparel, +that the money which he borrowed on the occasion was compensated by a +perpetual annuity of threescore pounds Scottish, payable out of the +barony of Carnwarth till doomsday, which was assigned by the creditor +to Saint Magdalen's Chapel. By this deep expense the Lord Somerville +had rendered himself so glorious in apparel, that the King, who saw so +brave a gallant enter the gate of Holyrood, followed, by only two +pages, called upon several of the courtiers to ascertain who it could +be who was so richly dressed and so slightly attended, and he was not +recognised until he entered the presence-chamber. "You are very brave, +my lord," said the King, as he received his homage; "but where are all +your men and attendants?" The Lord Somerville readily answered, "If it +please your Majesty, here they are," pointing to the lace that was on +his own and his pages' clothes: whereat the King laughed heartily, and +having surveyed the finery more nearly, bade him have away with it +all, and let him have his stout band of spears again. + +There is a scene in Jonson's "Every Man out of his Humour," (Act IV. +Scene 6.) in which a Euphuist of the time gives an account of the +effects of a duel on the clothes of himself and his opponent, and +never departs a syllable from the catalogue of his wardrobe. We shall +insert it in evidence that the foppery of our ancestors was not +inferior to that of our own time. + +"_Fastidius_. Good faith, Signior, now you speak of a quarrel, +I'll acquaint you with a difference that happened between a gallant +and myself, Sir Puntarvolo. You know him if I should name him--Signor +Luculento. + +"_Punt_. Luculento! What inauspicious chance interposed itself to +your two lives? + +"_Fast_. Faith, sir, the same that sundered Agamemnon, and great +Thetis' son; but let the cause escape, sir. He sent me a challenge, +mixt with some few braves, which I restored; and, in fine, we met. Now +indeed, sir, I must tell you, he did offer at first very desperately, +but without judgment; for look you, sir, I cast myself into this +figure; now he came violently on, and withal advancing his rapier to +strike, I thought to have took his arm, for he had left his body to my +election, and I was sure he could not recover his guard. Sir, I mist +my purpose in his arm, rashed his doublet sleeves, ran him close by +the left cheek and through his hair. He, again, light me here--I had +on a gold cable hat-band, then new come up, about a murrey French hat +I had; cuts my hat-band, and yet it was massy goldsmith's work, cuts +my brim, which, by good fortune, being thick embroidered with gold +twist and spangles, disappointed the force of the blow; nevertheless +it grazed on my shoulder, takes me away six purls of an Italian +cut-work band I wore, cost me three pounds in the Exchange but three +days before. + +"_Punt_. This was a strange encounter. + +"_Fast_. Nay, you shall hear, sir. With this, we both fell out +and breathed. Now, upon the second sign of his assault, I betook me to +my former manner of defence; he, on the other side, abandoned his body +to the same danger as before, and follows me still with blows; but I, +being loath to take the deadly advantage that lay before me of his +left side, made a kind of stramazoun, ran him up to the hilt through +the doublet, through the shirt, and yet missed the skin. He, making a +reverse blow, falls upon my embossed girdle,--I had thrown off the +hangers a little before,--strikes off a skirt of a thick-laced satin +doublet I had, lined with four taffetas, cuts off two panes +embroidered with pearl, rends through the drawings-out of tissue, +enters the linings, and spiks the flesh. + +"_Car_. I wonder he speaks not of his wrought shirt. + +"_Fast_. Here, in the opinion of mutual damage, we paused. But, +ere I proceed, I must tell you, signior, that in the last encounter, +not having leisure to put off my silver spurs, one of the rowels +catched hold of the ruffles of my boot, and, being Spanish leather and +subject to tear, overthrows me, rends me two pair of silk stockings +that I put on, being somewhat of a raw morning, a peach colour and +another, and strikes me some half-inch deep into the side of the calf: +He, seeing the blood come, presently takes horse and away; I having +bound up my wound with a piece of my wrought shirt-- + +"_Car_. O, comes it in there. + +"_Fast_. Ride after him, and, lighting at the court gate both +together, embraced, and marched hand in hand up into the presence. Was +not this business well carried? + +"_Maci_. Well! yes; and by this we can guess what apparel the +gentleman wore. + +"_Punt_. 'Fore valour! it was a designment begun with much +resolution, maintained with as much prowess, and ended with more +humanity."] + +"Ay, ay," said the monk, muttering as he went up the winding stair, +"carry him his trumpery with all despatch. Alas! that man, with so +many noble objects of pursuit, will amuse himself like a jackanape, +with a laced jerkin and a cap and bells!--I must now to the melancholy +work of consoling that which is well-nigh inconsolable, a mother +weeping for her first-born." + +Advancing, after a gentle knock, into the apartment of the women, he +found that Mary Avenel had retired to bed, extremely indisposed, and +that Dame Glendinning and Tibb were indulging their sorrows by the +side of a decaying fire, and by the light of a small iron lamp, or +cruize, as it was termed. Poor Elspeth's apron was thrown over her +head, and bitterly did she sob and weep for "her beautiful, her +brave,--the very image of her dear Simon Glendinning, the stay of her +widowhood and the support of her old age." + +The faithful Tibb echoed her complaints, and, more violently +clamorous, made deep promises of revenge on Sir Piercie Shafton, "if +there were a man left in the south who could draw a whinger, or a +woman that could thraw a rape." The presence of the Sub-Prior imposed +silence on these clamours. He sate down by the unfortunate mother, and +essayed, by such topics as his religion and reason suggested, to +interrupt the current of Dame Glendinning's feelings; but the attempt +was in vain. She listened, indeed, with some little interest, while he +pledged his word and his influence with the Abbot, that the family +which had lost their eldest-born by means of a guest received at his +command, should experience particular protection at the hands of the +community; and that the fief which belonged to Simon Glendinning +should, with extended bounds and added privileges, be conferred on +Edward. + +But it was only for a very brief space that the mother's sobs were +apparently softer, and her grief more mild. She soon blamed herself +for casting a moment's thought upon world's gear while poor Halbert +was lying stretched in his bloody shirt. The Sub-Prior was not more +fortunate, when he promised that Halbert's body "should be removed to +hallowed ground, and his soul secured by the prayers of the Church in +his behalf." Grief would have its natural course, and the voice of the +comforter was wasted in vain. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Eighth. + + + He is at liberty, I have ventured for him! + -----------------------------if the law + Find and condemn me for't, some living wenches, + Some honest-hearted maids will sing my dirge, + And tell to memory my death was noble, + Dying almost a martyr. + THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. + +The Sub-Prior of Saint Mary's, in taking his departure from the spence +which Sir Piercie Shafton was confined, and in which some preparations +were made for his passing the night as the room which might be most +conveniently guarded, left more than one perplexed person behind him. +There was connected with this chamber, and opening into it, a small +_outshot_, or projecting part of the building, occupied by a +sleeping apartment, which upon ordinary occasions, was that of Mary +Avenel, and which, in the unusual number of guests who had come to the +tower on the former evening, had also accommodated Mysie Happer, the +Miller's daughter; for anciently, as well as in the present day, a +Scottish house was always rather too narrow and limited for the extent +of the owner's hospitality, and some shift and contrivance was +necessary, upon any unusual occasion, to ensure the accommodation of +all the guests. + +The fatal news of Halbert Glendinning's death had thrown all former +arrangements into confusion. Mary Avenel, whose case required +immediate attention, had been transported into the apartment hitherto +occupied by Halbert and his brother, as the latter proposed to watch +all night, in order to prevent the escape of the prisoner. Poor Mysie +had been altogether overlooked, and had naturally enough betaken +herself to the little apartment which she had hitherto occupied, +ignorant that the spence, through which lay the only access to it, was +to be the sleeping chamber of Sir Piercie Shafton. The measures taken +for securing him there had been so sudden, that she was not aware of +it, until she found that the other females had been removed from the +spence by the Sub-Prior's direction, and having once missed the +opportunity of retreating along with them, bashfulness, and the high +respect which she was taught to bear to the monks, prevented her +venturing forth alone, and intruding herself on the presence of Father +Eustace, while in secret conference with the Southron. There appeared +no remedy but to wait till their interview was over; and, as the door +was thin, and did not shut very closely, she could hear every word +that passed betwixt them. + +It thus happened, that without any intended intrusion on her part, she +became privy to the whole conversation of the Sub-Prior and the +English knight, and could also observe from the window of her little +retreat, that more than one of the young men summoned by Edward +arrived successively at the tower. These circumstances led her to +entertain most serious apprehension that the life of Sir Piercie +Shafton was in great and instant peril. + +Woman is naturally compassionate, and not less willingly so when youth +and fair features are on the side of him who claims her sympathy. The +handsome presence, elaborate dress and address, of Sir Piercie +Shafton, which had failed to make any favorable impression on the +grave and lofty character of Mary Avenel, had completely dazzled and +bewildered the poor Maid of the Mill. The knight had perceived this +result, and, flattered by seeing that his merit was not universally +underrated, he had bestowed on Mysie a good deal more of his courtesy +than in his opinion her rank warranted. It was not cast away, but +received with a devout sense of his condescension, and with gratitude +for his personal notice, which, joined to her fears for his safety, +and the natural tenderness of her disposition, began to make wild work +in her heart. + +"To be sure it was very wrong in him to slay Halbert Glendinning," (it +was thus she argued the case with herself,) "but then he was a +gentleman born, and a soldier, and so gentle and courteous withal, +that she was sure the quarrel had been all of young Glendinning's own +seeking; for it was well known that both these lads were so taken up +with that Mary Avenel, that they never looked at another lass in the +Halidome, more than if they were of a different degree. And then +Halbert's dress was as clownish as his manners were haughty; and this +poor young gentleman, (who was habited like any prince,) banished from +his own land, was first drawn into a quarrel by a rude brangler, and +then persecuted and like to be put to death by his kin and allies." + +Mysie wept bitterly at the thought, and then her heart rising against +such cruelty and oppression to a defenceless stranger, who dressed +with so much skill, and spoke with so much grace, she began to +consider whether she could not render him some assistance in this +extremity. + +Her mind was now entirely altered from its original purpose. At first +her only anxiety had been to find the means of escaping from the +interior apartment, without being noticed by any one; but now she +began to think that Heaven had placed her there for the safety and +protection of the persecuted stranger. She was of a simple and +affectionate, but at the same time an alert and enterprising +character, possessing more than female strength of body, and more than +female courage, though with feelings as capable of being bewildered +with gallantry of dress and language, as a fine gentleman of any +generation would have desired to exercise his talents upon. "I will +save him," she thought, "that is the first thing to be resolved--and +then I wonder what he will say to the poor Miller's maiden, that has +done for him what all the dainty dames in London or Holyrood would +have been afraid to venture upon." + +Prudence began to pull her sleeve as she indulged speculations so +hazardous, and hinted to her that the warmer Sir Piercie Shafton's +gratitude might prove, it was the more likely to be fraught with +danger to his benefactress. Alas! poor Prudence, thou mayest say with +our moral teacher, + + "I preach for ever, but I preach in vain." + +The Miller's maiden, while you pour your warning into her unwilling +bosom, has glanced her eye on the small mirror by which she has placed +her little lamp, and it returns to her a countenance and eyes, pretty +and sparkling at all times, but ennobled at present with the energy of +expression proper to those who have dared to form, and stand prepared +to execute, deeds of generous audacity. "Will these features--will +these eyes, joined to the benefit I am about to confer upon Sir +Piercie Shafton, do nothing towards removing the distance of rank +between us?" + +Such was the question which female vanity asked of fancy; and though +even fancy dared not answer in a ready affirmative, a middle +conclusion was adopted--"Let me first succour the gallant youth, and +trust to fortune for the rest." + +Banishing, therefore, from her mind every thing that was personal to +herself, the rash but generous girl turned her whole thoughts to the +means of executing this enterprise. + +The difficulties which interposed were of no ordinary nature. The +vengeance of the men of that country, in cases of deadly feud, that +is, in cases of a quarrel excited by the slaughter of any of their +relations, was one of their most marked characteristics; and Edward, +however gentle in other respects, was so fond of his brother, that +there could be no doubt that he would be as signal in his revenge as +the customs of the country authorized. There were to be passed the +inner door of the apartment, the two gates of the tower itself, and +the gate of the court-yard, ere the prisoner was at liberty; and then +a guide and means of flight were to be provided, otherwise ultimate +escape was impossible. But where the will of woman is strongly bent on +the accomplishment of such a purpose, her wit is seldom baffled by +difficulties, however embarrassing. + +The Sub-Prior had not long left the apartment, ere Mysie had devised a +scheme for Sir Piercie Shafton's freedom, daring, indeed, but likely +to be successful, if dexterously conducted. It was necessary, however, +that she should remain where she was till so late an hour, that all in +the tower should have betaken themselves to repose, excepting those +whose duty made them watchers. The interval she employed in observing +the movements of the person in whose service she was thus boldly a +volunteer. + +She could hear Sir Piercie Shafton pace the floor to and fro, in +reflection doubtless on his own untoward fate and precarious +situation. By and by she heard him making a rustling among his trunks, +which, agreeable to the order of the Sub-Prior, had been placed in the +apartment to which he was confined, and which he was probably amusing +more melancholy thoughts by examining and arranging. Then she could +hear him resume his walk through the room, and, as if his spirits had +been somewhat relieved and elevated by the survey of his wardrobe, she +could distinguish that at one turn he half recited a sonnet, at +another half whistled a galliard, and at the third hummed a saraband. +At length she could understand that he extended himself on the +temporary couch which had been allotted to him, after muttering his +prayers hastily, and in a short time she concluded he must be fast +asleep. + +She employed the moment which intervened in considering her enterprise +under every different aspect; and dangerous as it was, the steady +review which she took of the various perils accompanying her purpose, +furnished her with plausible devices for obviating them. Love and +generous compassion, which give singly such powerful impulse to the +female heart, were in this case united, and championed her to the last +extremity of hazard. + +It was an hour past midnight. All in the tower slept sound but those +who had undertaken to guard the English prisoner; or if sorrow and +suffering drove sleep from the bed of Dame Glendinning and her +foster-daughter, they were too much wrapt in their own griefs to +attend to external sounds. The means of striking light were at hand +in the small apartment, and thus the Miller's maiden was enabled to +light and trim a small lamp. With a trembling step and throbbing +heart, she undid the door which separated her from the apartment in +which the Southron knight was confined, and almost flinched from her +fixed purpose, when she found herself in the same room with the +sleeping prisoner. She scarcely trusted herself to look upon him, as +he lay wrapped in his cloak, and fast asleep upon the pallet bed, but +turned her eyes away while she gently pulled his mantle with no more +force than was just equal to awaken him. He moved not until she had +twitched his cloak a second and a third time, and then at length +looking up, was about to make an exclamation in the suddenness of his +surprise. + +Mysie's bashfulness was conquered by her fear. She placed her fingers +on her lips, in token that he must observe the most strict silence, +and then pointed to the door to intimate that it was watched. + +Sir Piercie Shafton now collected himself and sat upright on his +couch. He gazed with surprise on the graceful figure of the young +woman who stood before him; her well-formed person, her flowing hair, +and the outline of her features, showed dimly, and yet to advantage, +by the partial and feeble light which she held in her hand. The +romantic imagination of the gallant would soon have coined some +compliment proper for the occasion, but Mysie left him not time. + +"I come," she said, "to save your life, which is else in great +peril--if you answer me, speak as low as you can, for they have +sentinelled your door with armed men." + +"Comeliest of miller's daughters," answered Sir Piercie, who by this +time was sitting upright on his couch, "dread nothing for my safety. +Credit me, that, as in very truth, I have not spilled the red puddle +(which these villagios call the blood) of their most uncivil relation, +so I am under no apprehension whatever for the issue of this +restraint, seeing that it cannot but be harmless to me. Natheless, to +thee, O most Molendinar beauty, I return the thanks which thy courtesy +may justly claim." + +"Nay, but, Sir Knight," answered the maiden, in a whisper as low as it +was tremulous, "I deserve no thanks unless you will act by my counsel. +Edward Glendinning hath sent for Dan of the Howlet-hirst, and young +Adie of Aikenshaw, and they are come with three men more, and with +bow, and jack, and spear, and I heard them say to each other, and to +Edward, as they alighted in the court, that they would have amends for +the death of their kinsman, if the monk's cowl should smoke for +it--And the vassals are so wilful now, that the Abbot himself dare not +control them, for fear they turn heretics, and refuse to pay their +feu-duties." + +"In faith," said Sir Piercie Shafton, "it may be a shrewd temptation, +and perchance the monks may rid themselves of trouble and cumber, by +handing me over the march to Sir John Foster or Lord Hundson, the +English wardens, and so make peace with their vassals and with England +at once. Fairest Molinara, I will for once walk by thy rede, and if +thou dost contrive to extricate me from this vile kennel, I will so +celebrate thy wit and beauty, that the Baker's nymph of Raphael +d'Urbino shall seem but a gipsey in comparison of my Molinara." + +"I pray you, then, be silent," said the Miller's daughter; "for if your +speech betrays that you are awake, my scheme fails utterly, and it is +Heaven's mercy and Our Lady's that we are not already overheard and +discovered." + +"I am silent," replied the Southron, "even as the starless night--but +yet--if this contrivance of thine should endanger thy safety, fair and +no less kind than fair damsel, it were utterly unworthy of me to +accept it at thy hand." + +"Do not think of me," said Mysie, hastily; "I am safe--I will take +thought for myself, if I once saw you out of this dangerous +dwelling--if you would provide yourself with any part of your apparel +or goods, lose no time." + +The knight _did_, however, lose some time, ere he could settle in +his own mind what to take and what to abandon of his wardrobe, each +article of which seemed endeared to him by recollection of the feasts +and revels at which it had been exhibited. For some little while Mysie +left him to make his selections at leisure, for she herself had also +some preparations to make for flight. But when, returning from the +chamber into which she had retired, with a small bundle in her hand, +she found him still indecisive, she insisted in plain terms, that he +should either make up his baggage for the enterprise, or give it up +entirely. Thus urged, the disconsolate knight hastily made up a few +clothes into a bundle, regarded his trunk-mails with a mute expression +of parting sorrow, and intimated his readiness to wait upon his kind +guide. + +She led the way to the door of the apartment, having first carefully +extinguished her lamp, and motioning to the knight to stand close +behind her, tapped once or twice at the door. She was at length +answered by Edward Glendinning, who demanded to know who knocked +within, and what was desired. + +"Speak low," said Mysie Happer, "or you will awaken the English +knight. It is I, Mysie Happer, who knock--I wish to get out--you have +locked me up--and I was obliged to wait till the Southron slept." + +"Locked you up!" replied Edward, in surprise. + +"Yes," answered the Miller's daughter, "you have locked me up into this +room--I was in Mary Avenel's sleeping apartment." + +"And can you not remain there till morning," replied Edward, "since it +has so chanced?" + +"What!" said the Miller's daughter, in a tone of offended delicacy, "I +remain here a moment longer than I can get out without discovery!--I +would not, for all the Halidome of St. Mary's, remain a minute longer +in the neighbourhood of a man's apartment than I can help it--For +whom, or for what do you hold me? I promise you my father's daughter +has been better brought up than to put in peril her good name." + +"Come forth then, and get to thy chamber in silence," said Edward. So +saying, he undid the bolt. The staircase without was in utter +darkness, as Mysie had before ascertained. So soon as she stept out, +she took hold of Edward as if to support herself, thus interposing her +person betwixt him and Sir Piercie Shaffcon, by whom she was closely +followed. Thus screened from observation, the Englishman slipped past +on tiptoe, unshod and in silence, while the damsel complained to +Edward that she wanted a light. + +"I cannot get you a light," said he, "for I cannot leave this post; but +there is a fire below." + +"I will sit below till morning," said the Maid of the Mill; and, +tripping down stairs, heard Edward bolt and bar the door of the now +tenantless apartment with vain caution. + +At the foot of the stair which she descended, she found the object of +her care waiting her farther directions. She recommended to him the +most absolute silence, which, for once in his life, he seemed not +unwilling to observe, conducted him, with as much caution as if he +were walking on cracked ice, to a dark recess, used for depositing +wood, and instructed him to ensconce himself behind the fagots. She +herself lighted her lamp once more at the kitchen fire, and took her +distaff and spindle, that she might not seem to be unemployed, in case +any one came into the apartment. + +From time to time, however, she stole towards the window on tiptoe, to +catch the first glance of the dawn, for the farther prosecution of her +adventurous project. At length she saw, to her great joy, the first +peep of the morning brighten upon the gray clouds of the east, and, +clasping her hands together, thanked Our Lady for the sight, and +implored protection during the remainder of her enterprise. Ere she +had finished her prayer, she started at feeling a man's arm across her +shoulder, while a rough voice spoke in her ear--"What! menseful Mysie +of the Mill so soon at her prayers?--now, benison on the bonny eyes +that open so early!--I'll have a kiss for good morrow's sake." + +Dan of the Howlet-hirst, for he was the gallant who paid Mysie this +compliment, suited the action with the word, and the action, as is +usual in such cases of rustic gallantry, was rewarded with a cuff, +which Dan received as a fine gentleman receives a tap with a fan, but +which, delivered by the energetic arm of the Miller's maiden, would +have certainly astonished a less robust gallant. + +"How now, Sir Coxcomb!" said she, "and must you be away from your +guard over the English knight, to plague quiet folks with your +horse-tricks!" + +"Truly you are mistaken, pretty Mysie," said the clown, "for I have +not yet relieved Edward at his post; and were it not a shame to let +him stay any longer, by my faith, I could find it in my heart not to +quit you these two hours." + +"Oh, you have hours and hours enough to see any one," said Mysie; "but +you must think of the distress of the household even now, and get Edward +to sleep for a while, for he has kept watch this whole night." + +"I will have another kiss first," answered Dan of the Howlet-hirst. + +But Mysie was now on her guard, and, conscious of the vicinity of the +wood-hole, offered such strenuous resistance, that the swain cursed +the nymph's bad humour with very unpastoral phrase and emphasis, and +ran up stairs to relieve the guard of his comrade. Stealing to the +door, she heard the new sentinel hold a brief conversation with +Edward, after which the latter withdrew, and the former entered upon +the duties of his watch. + +Mysie suffered him to walk there a little while undisturbed, until the +dawning became more general, by which time she supposed he might have +digested her coyness, and then presenting herself before the watchful +sentinel, demanded of him "the keys of the outer tower, and of the +courtyard gate." + +"And for what purpose?" answered the warder. + +"To milk the cows, and drive them out to their pasture," said Mysie; +"you would not have the poor beasts kept in the byre a' morning, and +the family in such distress, that there is na ane fit to do a turn but +the byre-woman and myself?" + +"And where is the byre-woman?" said Dan. + +"Sitting with me in the kitchen, in case these distressed folks want any +thing." + +"There are the keys, then, Mysie Dorts," said the sentinel. + +"Many thanks, Dan Ne'er-do-weel," answered the Maid of the Mill, and +escaped down stairs in a moment. + +To hasten to the wood-hole, and there to robe the English knight in a +short gown and petticoat, which she had provided for the purpose, was +the work of another moment. She then undid the gates of the tower, and +made towards the byre, or cow-house, which stood in one corner of the +courtyard. Sir Piercie Shafton remonstrated against the delay which +this would occasion. + +"Fair and generous Molinara," he said, "had we not better undo the +outward gate, and make the best of our way hence, even like a pair of +sea-mews who make towards shelter of the rocks as the storm waxes +high?" + +"We must drive out the cows first," said Mysie, "for a sin it were to +spoil the poor widow's cattle, both for her sake and the poor beasts' +own; and I have no mind any one shall leave the tower in a hurry to +follow us. Besides, you must have your horse, for you will need a +fleet one ere all be done." + +So saying, she locked and double-locked both the inward and outward +door of the tower, proceeded to the cow-house, turned out the cattle, +and, giving the knight his own horse to lead, drove them before her +out at the court-yard gate, intending to return for her own palfrey. +But the noise attending the first operation caught the wakeful +attention of Edward, who, starting to the bartizan, called to know +what the matter was. + +Mysie answered with great readiness, that "she was driving out the cows, +for that they would be spoiled for want of looking to." + +"I thank thee, kind maiden," said Edward--"and yet," he added, after +a moment's pause, "what damsel is that thou hast with thee?" + +Mysie was about to answer, when Sir Piercie Shafton, who apparently +did not desire that the great work of his liberation should be +executed without the interposition of his own ingenuity, exclaimed +from beneath, "I am she, O most bucolical juvenal, under whose charge +are placed the milky mothers of the herd." + +"Hell and darkness!" exclaimed Edward, in a transport of fury and +astonishment, "it is Piercie Shafton--What! treason! +treason!--ho!--Dan--Jasper--Martin--the villain escapes!" + +"To horse! to horse!" cried Mysie, and in an instant mounted behind +the knight, who was already in the saddle. + +Edward caught up a cross-bow, and let fly a bolt, which whistled so +near Mysie's ear, that she called to her companion,--"Spur--spur, Sir +Knight!--the next will not miss us.--Had it been Halbert instead of +Edward who bent that bow, we had been dead." + +The knight pressed his horse, which dashed past the cows, and down the +knoll on which the tower was situated. Then taking the road down the +valley, the gallant animal, reckless of its double burden, soon +conveyed them out of hearing of the tumult and alarm with which their +departure filled the Tower of Glendearg. + +Thus it strangely happened, that two men were flying in different +directions at the same time, each accused of being the other's murderer. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Ninth. + + + -------------Sure he cannot + Be so unmanly as to leave me here; + If he do, maids will not so easily + Trust men again. + THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. + +The knight continued to keep the good horse at a pace as quick as the +road permitted, until they had cleared the valley of Glendearg, and +entered upon the broad dale of the Tweed, which now rolled before them +in crystal beauty, displaying on its opposite bank the huge gray +Monastery of St. Mary's, whose towers and pinnacles were scarce yet +touched by the newly-risen sun, so deeply the edifice lies shrouded +under the mountains which rise to the southward. + +Turning to the left, the knight continued his road down to the northern +bank of the river, until they arrived nearly opposite to the weir, or +dam-dike, where Father Philip concluded his extraordinary aquatic +excursion. + +Sir Piercie Shafton, whose brain seldom admitted more than one idea at +a time, had hitherto pushed forward without very distinctly +considering where he was going. But the sight of the Monastery so near +to him, reminded, him that he was still on dangerous ground, and that +he must necessarily provide for his safety by choosing some settled +plan of escape. The situation of his guide and deliverer also occurred +to him, for he was far from being either selfish or ungrateful. He +listened, and discovered that the Miller's daughter was sobbing and +weeping bitterly as she rested her head on his shoulder. + +"What ails thee," he said, "my generous Molinara?--is there aught that +Piercie Shafton can do which may show his gratitude to his deliverer?" +Mysie pointed with her finger across the river, but ventured not to +turn her eyes in that direction. "Nay, but speak plain, most generous +damsel," said the knight, who, for once, was puzzled as much as his +own elegance of speech was wont to puzzle others, "for I swear to you +that I comprehend nought by the extension of thy fair digit." + +"Yonder is my father's house," said Mysie, in a voice interrupted by the +increased burst of her sorrow. + +"And I was carrying thee discourteously to a distance from thy +habitation?" said Shafton, imagining he had found out the source of +her grief. "Wo worth the hour that Piercie Shafton, in attention to +his own safety, neglected the accommodation of any female, far less of +his most beneficent liberatrice! Dismount, then, O lovely Molinara, +unless thou wouldst rather that I should transport thee on horseback +to the house of thy molendinary father, which, if thou sayest the +word, I am prompt to do, defying all dangers which may arise to me +personally, whether by monk or miller." + +Mysie suppressed her sobs, and with considerable difficulty muttered +her desire to alight, and take her fortune by herself. Sir Piercie +Shafton, too devoted a squire of dames to consider the most lowly as +exempted from a respectful attention, independent of the claims which +the Miller's maiden possessed over him, dismounted instantly from his +horse, and received in his arms the poor girl, who still wept +bitterly, and, when placed on the ground, seemed scarce able to +support herself, or at least still clung, though, as it appeared, +unconsciously, to the support he had afforded. He carried her to a +weeping birch tree, which grew on the green-sward bank around which +the road winded, and, placing her on the ground beneath it, exhorted +her to compose herself. A strong touch of natural feeling struggled +with, and half overcame, his acquired affectation, while he said, +"Credit me, most generous damsel, the service you have done to Piercie +Shafton he would have deemed too dearly bought, had he foreseen it was +to cost you these tears and singults. Show me the cause of your grief, +and if I can do aught to remove it, believe that the rights you have +acquired over me will make your commands sacred as those of an +empress. Speak, then, fair Molinara, and command him whom fortune hath +rendered at once your debtor and your champion. What are your orders?" + +"Only that you will fly and save yourself," said Mysie, mustering up her +utmost efforts to utter these few words. + +"Yet," said the knight, "let me not leave you without some token of +remembrance." Mysie would have said there needed none, and most truly +would she have spoken, could she have spoken for weeping. "Piercie +Shafton is poor," he continued, "but let this chain testify he is not +ungrateful to his deliverer." + +He took from his neck the rich chain and medallion we have formerly +mentioned, and put it into the powerless hand of the poor maiden, who +neither received nor rejected it, but, occupied with more intense +feelings, seemed scarce aware of what he was doing. + +"We shall meet again," said Sir Piercie Shafton, "at least I trust so; +meanwhile, weep no more, fair Molinara, an thou lovest me." + +The phrase of conjuration was but used as an ordinary commonplace +expression of the time, but bore a deeper sense to poor Mysie's ear. +She dried her tears; and when the knight, in all kind and chivalrous +courtesy, stooped to embrace her at their parting, she rose humbly up +to receive the proffered honour in a posture of more deference, and +meekly and gratefully accepted the offered salute. Sir Piercie Shafton +mounted his horse, and began to ride off, but curiosity, or perhaps a +stronger feeling, soon induced him to look back, when he beheld the +Miller's daughter standing still motionless on the spot where they had +parted, her eyes turned after him, and the unheeded chain hanging from +her hand. + +It was at this moment that a glimpse of the real state of Mysie's +affections, and of the motive from which she had acted in the whole +matter, glanced on Sir Piercie Shafton's mind. The gallants of that +age, disinterested, aspiring, and lofty-minded, even in their +coxcombry, were strangers to those degrading and mischievous pursuits +which are usually termed low amours. They did not "chase the humble +maidens of the plain," or degrade their own rank, to deprive rural +innocence of peace and virtue. It followed, of course, that as +conquests in this class were no part of their ambition, they were in +most cases totally overlooked and unsuspected, left unimproved, as a +modern would call it, where, as on the present occasion, they were +casually made. The companion of Astrophel, and flower of the tilt-yard +of Feliciana, had no more idea that his graces and good parts could +attach the love of Mysie Happer, than a first-rate beauty in the boxes +dreams of the fatal wound which her charms may inflict on some +attorney's romantic apprentice in the pit. I suppose, in any ordinary +case, the pride of rank and distinction would have pronounced on the +humble admirer the doom which Beau Fielding denounced against the +whole female world, "Let them look and die;" but the obligations under +which he lay to the enamoured maiden, miller's daughter as she was, +precluded the possibility of Sir Piercie's treating the matter _en +cavalier_, and, much embarrassed, yet a little flattered at the +same time, he rode back to try what could be done for the damsel's +relief. + +The innate modesty of poor Mysie could not prevent her showing too +obvious signs of joy at Sir Piercie Shafton's return. She was betrayed +by the sparkle of the rekindling eye, and a caress which, however +timidly bestowed, she could not help giving to the neck of the horse +which brought back the beloved rider. + +"What farther can I do for you, kind Molinara?" said Sir Piercie +Shafton, himself hesitating and blushing; for, to the grace of Queen +Bess's age be it spoken, her courtiers wore more iron on their breasts +than brass on their foreheads, and even amid their vanities preserved +still the decaying spirit of chivalry, which inspired of yore the very +gentle Knight of Chaucer, + + Who in his port was modest as a maid. + +Mysie blushed deeply, with her eyes fixed on the ground, and Sir Piercie +proceeded in the same tone of embarrassed kindness. "Are you afraid to +return home alone, my kind Molinara?--would you that I should +accompany you?" + +"Alas!" said Mysie, looking up, and her cheek changing from scarlet to +pale, "I have no home left." + +"How! no home!" said Shafton; "says my generous Molinara she hath no +home, when yonder stands the house of her father, and but a crystal +stream between?" + + +"Alas!" answered the Miller's maiden, "I have no longer either home +or father. He is a devoted servant to the Abbey--I have offended the +Abbot, and if I return home my father will kill me." + +"He dare not injure thee, by Heaven!" said Sir Piercie; "I swear to +thee, by my honour and knighthood, that the forces of my cousin of +Northumberland shall lay the Monastery so flat, that a horse shall not +stumble as he rides over it, if they should dare to injure a hair of +your head! Therefore be hopeful and content, kind Mysinda, and know +you have obliged one who can and will avenge the slightest wrong +offered to you." + +He sprung from his horse as he spoke, and, in the animation of his +argument, grasped the willing hand of Mysie, (or Mysinda as he had now +christened her.) He gazed too upon full black eyes, fixed upon his own +with an expression which, however subdued by maidenly shame, it was +impossible to mistake, on cheeks where something like hope began to +restore the natural colour, and on two lips which, like double +rosebuds, were kept a little apart by expectation, and showed within a +line of teeth as white as pearl. All this was dangerous to look upon, +and Sir. Piercie Shafton, after repeating with less and less force his +request that the fair Mysinda would allow him to carry her to her +father's, ended by asking the fair Mysinda to go along with him--"At +least," he added, "until I shall be able to conduct you to a place of +safety." + +Mysie Happer made no answer; but blushing scarlet betwixt joy and +shame, mutely expressed her willingness to accompany the Southron +Knight, by knitting her bundle closer, and preparing to resume her +seat _en croupe_. "And what is your pleasure that I should do +with this?" she said, holding up the chain as if she had been for the +first time aware that it was in her hand. + +"Keep it, fairest Mysinda, for my sake," said the Knight. + +"Not so, sir," answered Mysie, gravely; "the maidens of my country +take no such gifts from their superiors, and I need no token to remind +me of this morning." + +Most earnestly and courteously did the Knight urge her acceptance of +the proposed guerdon, but on this point Mysie was resolute; feeling, +perhaps, that to accept of any thing bearing the appearance of reward, +would be to place the service she had rendered him on a mercenary +footing. In short, she would only agree to conceal the chain, lest it +might prove the means of detecting the owner, until Sir Piercie should +be placed in perfect safety. + +They mounted and resumed their journey, of which Mysie, as bold and +sharp-witted in some points as she was simple and susceptible in +others, now took in some degree the direction, having only inquired +its general destination, and learned that Sir Piercie Shafton desired +to go to Edinburgh, where he hoped to find friends and protection. +Possessed of this information, Mysie availed herself of her local +knowledge to get as soon as possible out of the bounds of the +Halidome, and into those of a temporal baron, supposed to be addicted +to the reformed doctrines, and upon whose limits, at least, she +thought their pursuers would not attempt to hazard any violence. She +was not indeed very apprehensive of a pursuit, reckoning with some +confidence that the inhabitants of the Tower of Glendearg would find +it a matter of difficulty to surmount the obstacles arising from their +own bolts and bars, with which she had carefully secured them before +setting forth on the retreat. + +They journeyed on, therefore, in tolerable security, and Sir Piercie +Shafton found leisure to amuse the time in high-flown speeches and +long anecdotes of the court of Feliciana, to which Mysie bent an ear +not a whit less attentive, that she did not understand one word out of +three which was uttered by her fellow-traveller. She listened, +however, and admired upon trust, as many a wise man has been contented +to treat the conversation of a handsome but silly mistress. As for Sir +Piercie, he was in his element; and, well assured of the interest and +full approbation of his auditor, he went on spouting Euphuism of more +than usual obscurity, and at more than usual length. Thus passed the +morning, and noon brought them within sight of a winding stream, on +the side of which arose an ancient baronial castle, surrounded by some +large trees. At a small distance from the gate of the mansion, +extended, as in those days was usual, a straggling hamlet, having a +church in the centre. + +"There are two hostelries in this Kirk-town," said Mysie, "but the +worst is best for our purpose; for it stands apart from the other +houses, and I ken the man weel, for he has dealt with my father for +malt." + +This _causa scientiae_, to use a lawyer's phrase, was ill chosen +for Mysie's purpose; for Sir Piercie Shafton had, by dint of his own +loquacity, been talking himself all this while into a high esteem for +his fellow-traveller, and, pleased with the gracious reception which +she afforded to his powers of conversation, had well-nigh forgotten +that she was not herself one of those high-born beauties of whom he +was recounting so many stories, when this unlucky speech at once +placed the most disadvantageous circumstances attending her lineage +under his immediate recollection. He said nothing, however. What +indeed could he say? Nothing was so natural as that a miller's +daughter should be acquainted with publicans who dealt with her father +for malt, and all that was to be wondered at was the concurrence of +events which had rendered such a female the companion and guide of Sir +Piercie Shafton of Wilverton, kinsman of the great Earl of +Northumberland, whom princes and sovereigns themselves termed cousin, +because of the Piercie blood. [Footnote: Froissart tells us somewhere, +(the readers of romances are indifferent to accurate reference,) that +the King of France called one of the Piercies cousin, because of the +blood of Northumberland.] He felt the disgrace of strolling through +the country with a miller's maiden on the crupper behind him, and was +even ungrateful enough to feel some emotions of shame, when he halted +his horse at the door of the little inn. + +But the alert intelligence of Mysie Happer spared him farther sense of +derogation, by instantly springing from his horse, and cramming the +ears of mine host, who came out with his mouth agape to receive a +guest of the knight's appearance, with an imagined tale, in which +circumstance on circumstance were huddled so fast, as to astonish Sir +Piercie Shafton, whose own invention was none of the most brilliant. +She explained to the publican that this was a great English knight +travelling from the Monastery to the court of Scotland, after having +paid his vows to Saint Mary, and that she had been directed to conduct +him so far on the road; and that Ball, her palfrey, had fallen by the +way, because he had been over-wrought with carrying home the last +melder of meal to the portioner of Langhope; and that she had turned +in Ball to graze in the Tasker's park, near Cripplecross, for he had +stood as still as Lot's wife with very weariness; and that the knight +had courteously insisted she should ride behind him, and that she had +brought him to her kend friend's hostelry rather than to proud Peter +Peddie's, who got his malt at the Mellerstane mills; and that he must +get the best that the house afforded, and that he must get it ready in +a moment of time, and that she was ready to help in the kitchen. + +All this ran glibly off the tongue without pause on the part of Mysie +Happer, or doubt on that of the landlord. The guest's horse was +conducted to the stable, and he himself installed in the cleanest +corner and best seat which the place afforded. Mysie, ever active and +officious, was at once engaged in preparing food, in spreading the +table, and in making all the better arrangements which her experience +could suggest, for the honour and comfort of her companion. He would +fain have resisted this; for while it was impossible not to be +gratified with the eager and alert kindness which was so active in his +service, he felt an undefinable pain in seeing Mysinda engaged in +these menial services, and discharging them, moreover, as one to whom +they were but too familiar. Yet this jarring feeling was mixed with, +and perhaps balanced by, the extreme grace with which the neat-handed +maiden executed these tasks, however mean in themselves, and gave to +the wretched corner of a miserable inn of the period, the air of a +bower, in which an enamoured fairy, or at least a shepherdess of +Arcadia, was displaying, with unavailing solicitude, her designs on +the heart of some knight, destined by fortune to higher thoughts, and +a more splendid union. + +The lightness and grace with which Mysie covered the little round +table with a snow-white cloth, and arranged upon it the +hastily-roasted capon, with its accompanying stoup of Bourdeaux, were +but plebeian graces in themselves; but yet there were very flattering +ideas excited by each glance. She was so very well made, agile at +once and graceful, with her hand and arm as white as snow, and her +face in which a smile contended with a blush, and her eyes which +looked ever at Shafton when he looked elsewhere, and were dropped at +once when they encountered his, that she was irresistible! In fine, +the affectionate delicacy of her whole demeanour, joined to the +promptitude and boldness she had so lately evinced, tended to ennoble +the services she had rendered, as if some + + -----sweet engaging Grace + Put on some clothes to come abroad, + And took a waiter's place. + +But, on the other hand, came the damning reflection, that these duties +were not taught her by Love, to serve the beloved only, but arose from +the ordinary and natural habits of a miller's daughter, accustomed, +doubtless, to render the same service to every wealthier churl who +frequented her father's mill. This stopped the mouth of vanity, and of +the love which vanity had been hatching, as effectually as a peck of +literal flour would have done. + +Amidst this variety of emotions, Sir Piercie Shafton forgot not to ask +the object of them to sit down and partake the good cheer which she +had been so anxious to provide and to place in order. He expected that +this invitation would have been bashfully, perhaps, but certainly most +thankfully, accepted; but he was partly flattered, and partly piqued, +by the mixture of deference and resolution with which Mysie declined +his invitation. Immediately after, she vanished from the apartment, +leaving the Euphuist to consider whether he was most gratified or +displeased by her disappearance. + +In fact, this was a point on which he would have found it difficult to +make up his mind, had there been any necessity for it. As there was +none, he drank a few cups of claret, and sang (to himself) a strophe +or two of the canzonettes of the divine Astrophel. But in spite both +of wine and of Sir Philip Sidney, the connexion in which he now stood, +and that which he was in future to hold, with the lovely Molinara, or +Mysinda, as he had been pleased to denominate Mysie Happer, recurred +to his mind. The fashion of the times (as we have already noticed) +fortunately coincided with his own natural generosity of disposition, +which indeed amounted almost to extravagance, in prohibiting, as a +deadly sin, alike against gallantry, chivalry, and morality, his +rewarding the good offices he had received from this poor maiden, by +abusing any of the advantages which her confidence in his honour had +afforded. To do Sir Piercie justice, it was an idea which never +entered into his head; and he would probably have dealt the most +scientific _imbroccata, stoccata_, or _punto reverso_, which +the school of Vincent Saviola had taught him, to any man who had dared +to suggest to him such selfish and ungrateful meanness. On the other +hand, he was a man, and foresaw various circumstances which might +render their journey together in this intimate fashion a scandal and a +snare. Moreover, he was a coxcomb and a courtier, and felt there was +something ridiculous in travelling the land with a miller's daughter +behind his saddle, giving rise to suspicions not very creditable to +either, and to ludicrous constructions, so far as he himself was +concerned. + +"I would," he said half aloud, "that if such might be done without +harm or discredit to the too-ambitious, yet too-well-distinguishing +Molinara, she and I were fairly severed, and bound on our different +courses; even as we see the goodly vessel bound for the distant seas +hoist sails and bear away into the deep, while the humble fly-boat +carries to shore those friends, who, with wounded hearts and watery +eyes, have committed to their higher destinies the more daring +adventurers by whom the fair frigate is manned." + +He had scarce uttered the wish when it was gratified; for the host +entered to say that his worshipful knighthood's horse was ready to be +brought forth as he had desired; and on his inquiry for "the--the +damsel--that is--the young woman--" + +"Mysie Happer," said the landlord, "has returned to her father's; but +she bade me say, you could not miss the road for Edinburgh, in respect +it was neither far way nor foul gate." + +It is seldom we are exactly blessed with the precise fulfilment of our +wishes at the moment when we utter them; perhaps, because Heaven +wisely withholds what, if granted, would be often received with +ingratitude. So at least it chanced in the present instance; for when +mine host said that Mysie was returned homeward, the knight was +tempted to reply, with an ejaculation of surprise and vexation, and a +hasty demand, whither and when she had departed? The first emotions +his prudence suppressed, the second found utterance. + +"Where is she gane?" said the host, gazing on him, and repeating his +question--"She is gane hame to her father's, it is like--and she gaed +just when she gave orders about your worship's horse, and saw it well +fed, (she might have trusted me, but millers and millers' kin think a' +body as thief-like as themselves,) an' she's three miles on the gate +by this time." + +"Is she gone then?" muttered Sir Piercie, making two or three hasty +strides through the narrow apartment--"Is she gone?--Well, then, let +her go. She could have had but disgrace by abiding by me, and I little +credit by her society. That I should have thought there was such +difficulty in shaking her off! I warrant she is by this time laughing +with some clown she has encountered; and my rich chain will prove a +good dowry.--And ought it not to prove so? and has she not deserved +it, were it ten times more valuable?--Piercie Shafton! Piercie +Shafton! dost thou grudge thy deliverer the guerdon she hath so dearly +won? The selfish air of this northern land hath infected thee, Piercie +Shafton! and blighted the blossoms of thy generosity, even as it is +said to shrivel the flowers of the mulberry.--Yet I thought," he +added, after a moment's pause, "that she would not so easily and +voluntarily have parted from me. But it skills not thinking of +it.--Cast my reckoning, mine host, and let your groom lead forth my +nag." + +The good host seemed also to have some mental point to discuss, for he +answered not instantly, debating perhaps whether his conscience would +bear a double charge for the same guests. Apparently his conscience +replied in the negative, though not without hesitation, for he at +length replied--"It's daffing to lee; it winna deny that the lawing is +clean paid. Ne'ertheless, if your worshipful knighthood pleases to +give aught for increase of trouble--" + +"How!" said the knight; "the reckoning paid? and by whom, I pray +you?" + +"E'en by Mysie Happer, if truth maun be spoken, as I said before," +answered the honest landlord, with as many compunctious visitings for +telling the verity as another might have felt for making a lie in the +circumstances--"And out of the moneys supplied for your honour's +journey by the Abbot, as she tauld to me. And laith were I to +surcharge any gentleman that darkens my doors." He added in the +confidence of honesty which his frank avowal entitled him to +entertain, "Nevertheless, as I said before, if it pleases your +knighthood of free good-will to consider extraordinary trouble--" + +The knight cut short his argument, by throwing the landlord a +rose-noble, which probably doubled the value of a Scottish reckoning, +though it would have defrayed but a half one at the Three Cranes or +the Vintry. The bounty so much delighted mine host, that he ran to +fill the stirrup-cup (for which no charge was ever made) from a butt +yet charier than that which he had pierced for the former stoup. The +knight paced slowly to horse, partook of his courtesy, and thanked him +with the stiff condescension of the court of Elizabeth; then mounted +and followed the northern path, which was pointed out as the nearest +to Edinburgh, and which, though very unlike a modern highway, bore yet +so distinct a resemblance to a public and frequented road as not to be +easily mistaken. + +"I shall not need her guidance it seems," said he to himself, as he +rode slowly onward; "and I suppose that was one reason of her abrupt +departure, so different from what one might have expected.--Well, I +am well rid of her. Do we not pray to be liberated from temptation? +Yet that she should have erred so much in estimation of her own +situation and mine, as to think of defraying the reckoning! I would I +saw her once more, but to explain to her the solecism of which her +inexperience hath rendered her guilty. And I fear," he added, as he +emerged from some straggling trees, and looked out upon a wild moorish +country, composed of a succession of swelling lumpish hills, "I fear I +shall soon want the aid of this Ariadne, who might afford me a clew +through the recesses of yonder mountainous labyrinth." + +As the Knight thus communed with himself, his attention was caught by +the sound of a horse's footsteps; and a lad, mounted on a little gray +Scottish nag, about fourteen hands high, coming along a path which led +from behind the trees, joined him on the high-road, if it could be +termed such. The dress of the lad was completely in village fashion, +yet neat and handsome in appearance. He had a jerkin of gray cloth +slashed and trimmed, with black hose of the same, with deer-skin +rullions or sandals, and handsome silver spurs. A cloak of a dark +mulberry colour was closely drawn round the upper part of his person, +and the cape in part muffled his face, which was also obscured by his +bonnet of black velvet cloth, and its little plume of feathers. + +Sir Piercie Shafton, fond of society, desirous also to have a guide, +and, moreover, prepossessed in favour of so handsome a youth, failed +not to ask him whence he came, and whither he was going. The youth +looked another way, as he answered, that he was going to Edinburgh, +"to seek service in some nobleman's family." + +"I fear me you have run away from your last master," said Sir Piercie, +"since you dare not look me in the face while you answer my question." + +"Indeed, sir, I have not," answered the lad, bashfully, while, as if +with reluctance, he turned round his face, and instantly withdrew it. +It was a glance, but the discovery was complete. There was no +mistaking the dark full eye, the cheek in which much embarrassment +could not altogether disguise an expression of comic humour, and the +whole figure at once betrayed, under her metamorphosis, the Maid of +the Mill. The recognition was joyful, and Sir Piercie Shafton was too +much pleased to have regained his companion to remember the very +good reasons which had consoled him for losing her. + +To his questions respecting her dress, she answered that she had +obtained it in the Kirktown from a friend; it was the holiday suit of +a son of hers, who had taken the field with his liege-lord, the baron +of the land. She had borrowed the suit under pretence she meant to +play in some mumming or rural masquerade. She had left, she said, her +own apparel in exchange, which was better worth ten crowns than this +was worth four. + +"And the nag, my ingenious Molinara," said Sir Piercie, "whence comes +the nag?" + +"I borrowed him from our host at the Gled's-Nest," she replied; and +added, half stifling a laugh, "he has sent to get, instead of it, our +Ball, which I left in the Tasker's Park at Cripplecross. He will be +lucky if he find it there." + +"But then the poor man will lose his horse, most argute Mysinda," said +Sir Piercie Shafton, whose English notions of property were a little +startled at a mode of acquisition more congenial to the ideas of a +miller's daughter (and he a Border miller to boot) than with those of +an English person of quality. + +"And if he does lose his horse," said Mysie, laughing, "surely he is +not the first man on the marches who has had such a mischance. But he +will be no loser, for I warrant he will stop the value out of moneys +which he has owed my father this many a day." + +"But then your father will be the loser," objected yet again the +pertinacious uprightness of Sir Piercie Shafton. + +"What signifies it now to talk of my father?" said the damsel, +pettishly; then instantly changing to a tone of deep feeling, she +added, "my father has this day lost that which will make him hold +light the loss of all the gear he has left." + +Struck with the accents of remorseful sorrow in which his companion +uttered these few words, the English knight felt himself bound both in +honour and conscience to expostulate with her as strongly as he could, +on the risk of the step which she had now taken, and on the propriety +of her returning to her father's house. The matter of his discourse, +though adorned with many unnecessary flourishes, was honourable both +to his head and heart. + +The Maid of the Mill listened to his flowing periods with her head +sunk on her bosom as she rode, like one in deep thought or deeper +sorrow. When he had finished, she raised up her countenance, looked +full on the knight, and replied with great firmness--"If you are weary +of my company, Sir Piercie Shafton, you have but to say so, and the +Miller's daughter will be no farther cumber to you. And do not think I +will be a burden to you, if we travel together to Edinburgh; I have +wit enough and pride enough to be a willing burden to no man. But if +you reject not my company at present, and fear not it will be +burdensome to you hereafter, speak no more to me of returning back. +All that you can say to me I have said to myself; and that I am now +here, is a sign that I have said it to no purpose. Let this subject, +therefore, be forever ended betwixt us. I have already, in some small +fashion, been useful to you, and the time may come I may be more so; +for this is not your land of England, where men say justice is done +with little fear or favour to great and to small; but it is a land +where men do by the strong hand, and defend by the ready wit, and I +know better than you the perils you are exposed to." + +Sir Piercie Shafton was somewhat mortified to find that the damsel +conceived her presence useful to him as a protectress as well as +guide, and said something of seeking protection of nought save his own +arm and his good sword. Mysie answered very quietly, that she nothing +doubted his bravery; but it was that very quality of bravery which was +most likely to involve him in danger. Sir Piercie Shafton, whose head +never kept very long in any continued train of thinking, acquiesced +without much reply, resolving in his own mind that the maiden only +used this apology to disguise her real motive, of affection to his +person. The romance of the situation flattered his vanity and elevated +his imagination, as placing him in the situation of one of those +romantic heroes of whom he had read the histories, where similar +transformations made a distinguished figure. + +He took many a sidelong glance at his page, whose habits of country +sport and country exercise had rendered her quite adequate to sustain +the character she had assumed. She managed the little nag with +dexterity, and even with grace; nor did any thing appear that could +have betrayed her disguise, except when a bashful consciousness of her +companion's eye being fixed on her, gave her an appearance of +temporary embarrassment, which greatly added to her beauty. + +The couple rode forward as in the morning, pleased with themselves and +with each other, until they arrived at the village where they were to +repose for the night, and where all the inhabitants of the little inn, +both male and female, joined in extolling the good grace and handsome +countenance of the English knight, and the uncommon beauty of his +youthful attendant. + +It was here that Mysie Happer first made Sir Piercie Shafton sensible +of the reserved manner in which she proposed to live with him. She +announced him as her master, and, waiting upon him with the reverent +demeanour of an actual domestic, permitted not the least approach to +familiarity, not even such as the knight might with the utmost +innocence have ventured upon. For example, Sir Piercie, who, as we +know, was a great connoisseur in dress, was detailing to her the +advantageous change which he proposed to make in her attire as soon as +they should reach Edinburgh, by arraying her in his own colours of +pink and carnation. Mysie Happer listened with great complacency to +the unction with which he dilated upon welts, laces, slashes, and +trimmings, until, carried away by the enthusiasm with which he was +asserting the superiority of the falling band over the Spanish ruff, +he approached his hand, in the way of illustration, towards the collar +of his page's doublet. She instantly stepped back and gravely reminded +him that she was alone and under his protection. + +"You cannot but remember the cause which has brought me here," she +continued; "make the least approach to any familiarity which you would +not offer to a princess surrounded by her court, and you have seen the +last of the Miller's daughter--She will vanish as the chaff disappears +from the shieling-hill [Footnote: The place where corn was winnowed, +while that operation was performed by the hand, was called in Scotland +the Shieling-hill.] when the west wind blows." + +"I do protest, fair Molinara," said Sir Piercie Shafton--but the fair +Molinara had disappeared before his protest could be uttered. "A most +singular wench," said he to himself; "and by this hand, as discreet as +she is fair-featured--Certes, shame it were to offer her scathe or +dishonour! She makes similes too, though somewhat savouring of her +condition. Had she but read Euphues, and forgotten that accursed mill +and shieling-hill, it is my thought that her converse would be +broidered with as many and as choice pearls of compliment, as that of +the most rhetorical lady in the court of Feliciana. I trust she means +to return to bear me company." + +But that was no part of Mysie's prudential scheme. It was then drawing +to dusk, and he saw her not again until the next morning, when the +horses were brought to the door that they might prosecute their +journey. + +But our story here necessarily leaves the English knight and his page, +to return to the Tower of Glendearg. + + + + +Chapter the Thirtieth. + + + You call it an ill angel it may be so, + But sure I am, among the ranks which fell, + 'Tis the first fiend e'er counsell'd man to rise, + And win the bliss the sprite himself had forfeited. + OLD PLAY. + +We must resume our narrative at the period when Mary Avenel was +conveyed to the apartment which had been formerly occupied by the two +Glendinnings, and when her faithful attendant, Tibbie, had exhausted +herself in useless attempts to compose and to comfort her. Father +Eustace also dealt forth with well-meant kindness those apophthegms +and dogmata of consolation, which friendship almost always offers to +grief, though they are uniformly offered in vain. She was at length +left to indulge in the desolation of her own sorrowful feelings. She +felt as those who, loving for the first time, have lost what they +loved, before time and repeated calamity have taught them that every +loss is to a certain extent reparable or endurable. + +Such grief may be conceived better than it can be described, as is +well known to those who have experienced it. But Mary Avenel had been +taught by the peculiarity of her situation, to regard herself as the +Child of Destiny; and the melancholy and reflecting turn of her +disposition gave to her sorrows a depth and breadth peculiar to her +character. The grave--and it was a bloody grave--had closed, as she +believed, over the youth to whom she was secretly, but most warmly +attached; the force and ardour of Halbert's character bearing a +singular correspondence to the energy of which her own was capable. +Her sorrow did not exhaust itself in sighs and tears, but when the +first shock had passed away, concentrated itself with deep and steady +meditation, to collect and calculate, like a bankrupt debtor, the full +amount of her loss. It seemed as if all that connected her with earth, +had vanished with this broken tie. She had never dared to anticipate +the probability of an ultimate union with Halbert, yet now his +supposed fall seemed that of the only tree which was to shelter her +from the storm. She respected the more gentle character, and more +peaceful attainments, of the younger Glendinning; but it had not +escaped her (what never indeed escaped woman in such circumstances) +that he was disposed to place himself in competition with what she, +the daughter of a proud and warlike race, deemed the more manly +qualities of his elder brother; and there is no time when a woman does +so little justice to the character of a surviving lover, as when +comparing him with the preferred rival of whom she has been recently +deprived. + +The motherly, but coarse kindness of Dame Glendinning, and the doating +fondness of her old domestic, seemed now the only kind feeling of +which she formed the object; and she could not but reflect how little +these were to be compared with the devoted attachment of a high-souled +youth, whom the least glance of her eye could command, as the +high-mettled steed is governed by the bridle of the rider. It was when +plunged among these desolating reflections, that Mary Avenel felt the +void of mind, arising from the narrow and bigoted ignorance in which +Rome then educated the children of her church. Their whole religion +was a ritual, and their prayers were the formal iteration of unknown +words, which, in the hour of affliction, could yield but little +consolation to those who from habit resorted to them. Unused to the +practice of mental devotion, and of personal approach to the Divine +Presence by prayer, she could not help exclaiming in her distress, +"There is no aid for me on earth, and I know not how to ask it from +Heaven!" + +As she spoke thus in an agony of sorrow, she cast her eyes into the +apartment, and saw the mysterious Spirit, which waited upon the +fortunes of her house, standing in the moonlight in the midst of the +room. The same form, as the reader knows, had more than once offered +itself to her sight; and either her native boldness of mind, or some +peculiarity attached to her from her birth, made her now look upon it +without shrinking. But the White Lady of Avenel was now more +distinctly visible, and more closely present, than she had ever before +seemed to be, and Mary was appalled by her presence. She would, +however, have spoken; but there ran a tradition, that though others +who had seen the White Lady had asked questions and received answers, +yet those of the house of Avenel who had ventured to speak to her, had +never long survived the colloquy. The figure, besides, as sitting up +in her bed, Mary Avenel gazed on it intently, seemed by its gestures +to caution her to keep silence, and at the same time to bespeak +attention. + +The White Lady then seemed to press one of the planks of the floor +with her foot, while, in her usual low, melancholy, and musical chant, +she repeated the following verses: + + "Maiden, whose sorrows wail the Living Dead, + Whose eyes shall commune with the Dead Alive, + Maiden, attend! Beneath my foot lies hid + The Word, the Law, the Path, which thou dost strive + To find and canst not find.--Could spirits shed + Tears for their lot, it were my lot to weep, + Showing the road which I shall never tread, + Though my foot points it.--Sleep, eternal sleep, + Dark, long, and cold forgetfulness my lot!-- + But do not thou at human ills repine, + Secure there lies full guerdon in this spot + For all the woes that wait frail Adam's line-- + Stoop, then, and make it yours--I may not make it mine!" + +The phantom stooped towards the floor as she concluded, as if with the +intention of laying her hand on the board on which she stood. But ere +she had completed that gesture, her form became indistinct, was +presently only like the shade of a fleecy cloud, which passed betwixt +earth and the moon, and was soon altogether invisible. + +A strong impression of fear, the first which she had experienced in +her life to any agitating extent, seized upon the mind of Mary Avenel, +and for a minute she felt a disposition to faint. She repelled it, +however, mustered her courage, and addressed herself to saints and +angels, as her church recommended. Broken slumbers at length stole on +her exhausted mind and frame, and she slept until the dawn was about +to rise, when she was awakened by the cry of "Treason! treason! +follow, follow!" which arose in the tower, when it was found that +Piercie Shafton had made his escape. + +Apprehensive of some new misfortune, Mary Avenel hastily arranged the +dress which she had not laid aside, and, venturing to quit her +chamber, learned from Tibb, who, with her gray hairs dishevelled like +those of a sibyl, was flying from room to room, that the bloody +Southron villain had made his escape, and that Halbert Glendinning, +poor bairn, would sleep unrevenged and unquiet in his bloody grave. In +the lower apartments, the young men were roaring like thunder, and +venting in oaths and exclamations against the fugitives the rage which +they experienced in finding themselves locked up within the tower, and +debarred from their vindictive pursuit by the wily precautions of +Mysie Happer. The authoritative voice of the Sub-Prior commanding +silence was next heard; upon which Mary Avenel, whose tone of feeling +did not lead her to enter into counsel or society with the rest of the +party, again retired to her solitary chamber. + +The rest of the family held counsel in the spence, Edward almost +beside himself with rage, and the Sub-Prior in no small degree +offended at the effrontery of Mysie Happer in attempting such a +scheme, as well as at the mingled boldness and dexterity with which it +had been executed. But neither surprise nor anger availed aught. The +windows, well secured with iron bars for keeping assailants out, +proved now as effectual for detaining the inhabitants within. The +battlements were open, indeed; but without ladder or ropes to act as a +substitute for wings, there was no possibility of descending from +them. They easily succeeded in alarming the inhabitants of the +cottages beyond the precincts of the court; but the men had been +called in to strengthen the guard for the night, and only women and +children remained who could contribute nothing in the emergency, +except their useless exclamations of surprise, and there were no +neighbours for miles around. Dame Elspeth, however, though drowned in +tears, was not so unmindful of external affairs, but that she could +find voice enough to tell the women and children without, to "leave +their skirling, and look after the cows that she couldna get minded, +what wi' the awfu' distraction of her mind, what wi' that fause slut +having locked them up in their ain tower as fast as if they had been +in the Jeddart tolbooth." + +Meanwhile, the men finding other modes of exit impossible, unanimously +concluded to force the doors with such tools as the house afforded for +the purpose. These were not very proper for the occasion, and the +strength of the doors was great. The interior one, formed of oak, +occupied them for three mortal hours, and there was little prospect of +the iron door being forced in double the time. + +While they were engaged in this ungrateful toil, Mary Avenel had with +much less labour acquired exact knowledge of what the Spirit had +intimated in her mystic rhyme. On examining the spot which the phantom +had indicated by her gestures, it was not difficult to discover that a +board had been loosened, which might be raised at pleasure. On +removing this piece of plank, Mary Avenel was astonished to find the +Black Book, well remembered by her as her mother's favourite study, of +which she immediately took possession, with as much joy as her present +situation rendered her capable of feeling. + +Ignorant in a great measure of its contents, Mary Avenel had been +taught from her infancy to hold this volume in sacred veneration. It +is probable that the deceased Lady of Walter Avenel only postponed +initiating her daughter into the mysteries of the Divine Word, until +she should be better able to comprehend both the lessons which it +taught, and the risk at which, in those times, they were studied. +Death interposed, and removed her before the times became favourable +to the reformers, and before her daughter was so far advanced in age +as to be fit to receive religious instruction of this deep import. But +the affectionate mother had made preparations for the earthly work +which she had most at heart. There were slips of paper inserted in the +volume, in which, by an appeal to, and a comparison of, various +passages in holy writ, the errors and human inventions with which the +Church of Rome had defaced the simple edifice of Christianity, as +erected by its divine architect, were pointed out. These controversial +topics were treated with a spirit of calmness and Christian charity, +which might have been an example to the theologians of the period; but +they were clearly, fairly, and plainly argued, and supported by the +necessary proofs and references. Other papers there were which had no +reference whatever to polemics, but were the simple effusions of a +devout mind communing with itself. Among these was one frequently +used, as it seemed from the state of the manuscript, on which the +mother of Mary had transcribed and placed together those affecting +texts to which the heart has recourse, in affliction, and which +assures us at once of the sympathy and protection afforded to the +children of the promise. In Mary Avenel's state of mind, these +attracted her above all the other lessons, which, coming from a hand +so dear, had reached her at a time so critical, and in a manner so +touching. She read the affecting promise, "I will never leave thee +nor forsake thee," and the consoling exhortation, "Call upon me in the +day of trouble, and I will deliver thee." She read them, and her heart +acquiesced in the conclusion. Surely this is the word of God! + +There are those to whom a sense of religion has come in storm and +tempest; there are those whom it has summoned amid scenes of revelry +and idle vanity; there are those, too, who have heard its "still small +voice" amid rural leisure and placid contentment. But perhaps the +knowledge which causeth not to err, is most frequently impressed upon +the mind during seasons of affliction; and tears are the softened +showers which cause the seed of Heaven to spring and take root in the +human breast. At least it was thus with Mary Avenel. She was +insensible to the discordant noise which rang below, the clang of bars +and the jarring symphony of the levers which they used to force them, +the measured shouts of the labouring inmates as they combined their +strength for each heave, and gave time with their voices to the +exertion of their arms, and their deeply muttered vows of revenge on +the fugitives who had bequeathed them at their departure a task so +toilsome and difficult. Not all this din, combined in hideous concert, +and expressive of aught but peace, love, and forgiveness, could divert +Mary Avenel from the new course of study on which she had so +singularly entered. "The serenity of Heaven," she said, "is above me; +the sounds which are around are but those of earth and earthly +passion." + +Meanwhile the noon was passed, and little impression was made on the +iron grate, when they who laboured at it received a sudden +reinforcement by the unexpected arrival of Christie of the Clinthill. +He came at the head of a small party, consisting of four horsemen, who +bore in their caps the sprig of holly, which was the badge of Avenel. + +"What, ho !--my masters," he said, "I bring you a prisoner." + +"You had better have brought us liberty," said Dan of the +Howlet-hirst. + +Christie looked at the state of affairs with great surprise. "An I +were to be hanged for it," he said, "as I may for as little a matter, +I could not forbear laughing at seeing men peeping through their own +bars like so many rats in a rat-trap, and he with the beard behind, +like the oldest rat in the cellar." + +"Hush, thou unmannered knave," said Edward, "it is the Sub-Prior; +and this is neither time, place, nor company, for your ruffian jests." + +"What, ho! is my young master malapert?" said Christie; "why, man, +were he my own carnal father, instead of being father to half the +world, I would have my laugh out. And now it is over, I must assist +you, I reckon, for you are setting very greenly about this gear--put +the pinch nearer the staple, man, and hand me an iron crow through the +grate, for that's the fowl to fly away with a wicket on its shoulders. +I have broke into as many grates as you have teeth in your young +head--ay, and broke out of them too, as the captain of the Castle of +Lochmaben knows full well." + +Christie did not boast more skill than he really possessed; for, +applying their combined strength, under the direction of that +experienced engineer, bolt and staple gave way before them, and in +less than half an hour, the grate, which had so long repelled their +force, stood open before them. + +"And now," said Edward, "to horse, my mates, and pursue the villain +Shafton!" + +"Halt, there," said Christie of the Clinthill; "pursue your guest, my +master's friend and my own?--there go two words to that bargain. What +the foul fiend would you pursue him for?" + +"Let me pass," said Edward, vehemently, "I will be staid by no +man--the villain has murdered my brother!" + +"What says he?" said Christie, turning to the others; "murdered? who +is murdered, and by whom?" + +"The Englishman, Sir Piercie Shafton," said Dan of the Howlet-hirst, +"has murdered young Halbert Glendinning yesterday morning, and we +have all risen to the fray." + +"It is a bedlam business, I think," said Christie. "First I find you +all locked up in your own tower, and next I am come to prevent you +revenging a murder that was never committed!" + +"I tell you," said Edward, "that my brother was slain and buried +yesterday morning by this false Englishman." + +"And I tell you," answered Christie, "that I saw him alive and well +last night. I would I knew his trick of getting out of the grave; most +men find it more hard to break through a green sod than a grated +door." + +Every body now paused, and looked on Christie in astonishment, until the +Sub-Prior, who had hitherto avoided communication with him, came up and +required earnestly to know, whether he meant really to maintain that +Halbert Glendinning lived. + +"Father," he said, with, more respect than he usually showed to any +one save his master, "I confess I may sometimes jest with those of +your coat, but not with you; because, as you may partly recollect, I +owe you a life. It is certain as the sun is in heaven, that Halbert +Glendinning supped at the house of my master the Baron of Avenel last +night, and that he came thither in company with an old man, of whom +more anon." + +"And where is he now?" + +"The devil only can answer that question," replied Christie, "for the +devil has possessed the whole family, I think. He took fright, the +foolish lad, at something or other which our Baron did in his moody +humour, and so he jumped into the lake and swam ashore like a +wild-duck. Robin of Redcastle spoiled a good gelding in chasing him +this morning." + +"And why did he chase the youth?" said the Sub-Prior; "what harm +had he done?" + +"None that I know of," said Christie; "but such was the Baron's order, +being in his mood, and all the world having gone mad, as I have said +before." + +"Whither away so fast, Edward?" said the monk. + +"To Corri-nan-shian, Father," answered the youth.--"Martin and Dan, +take pickaxe and mattock, and follow me if you be men!" + +"Right," said the monk, "and fail not to give us instant notice what +you find." + +"If you find aught there like Halbert Glendinning," said Christie, +hallooing after Edward, "I will be bound to eat him unsalted.--'T is a +sight to see how that fellow takes the bent!--It is in the time of +action men see what lads are made of. Halbert was aye skipping up and +down like a roo, and his brother used to sit in the chimney nook with +his book and sic-like trash--But the lad was like a loaded hackbut, +which will stand in the corner as quiet as an old crutch until ye draw +the trigger, and then there is nothing but flash and smoke.--But here +comes my prisoner; and, setting other matters aside, I must pray a +word with you, Sir Sub-Prior, respecting him. I came on before to +treat about him, but I was interrupted with this fasherie." + +As he spoke, two more of Avenel's troopers rode into the court-yard, +leading betwixt them a horse, on which, with his hands bound to his +side, sate the reformed preacher, Henry Warden. + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-First. + + + At school I knew him--a sharp-witted youth, + Grave, thoughtful, and reserved among his mates, + Turning the hours of sport and food to labour, + Starving his body to inform his mind. + OLD PLAY. + +The Sub-Prior, at the Borderer's request, had not failed to +return to the tower, into which he was followed by Christie of +the Clinthill, who, shutting the door of the apartment, drew near, +and began his discourse with great confidence and familiarity. + +"My master," he said, "sends me with his commendations to you, Sir +Sub-Prior, above all the community of Saint Mary's, and more specially +than even to the Abbot himself; for though he be termed my lord, and +so forth, all the world knows that you are the tongue of the trump." + +"If you have aught to say to me concerning the community," said the +Sub-Prior, "it were well you proceeded in it without farther delay. +Time presses, and the fate of young Glendinnning dwells on my mind." + +"I will be caution for him, body for body," said Christie. "I do +protest to you, as sure as I am a living man, so surely is he one." + +"Should I not tell his unhappy mother the joyful tidings?" said Father +Eustace,--"and yet better wait till they return from searching the +grave. Well, Sir Jackman, your message to me from your master?" + +"My lord and master," said Christie, "hath good reason to believe +that, from the information of certain back friends, whom he will +reward at more leisure, your reverend community hath been led to deem +him ill attached to Holy Church, allied with heretics and those who +favour heresy, and a hungerer after the spoils of your Abbey." + +"Be brief, good henchman," said the Sub-Prior, "for the devil is ever +most to be feared when he preacheth." + +"Briefly, then--my master desires your friendship; and to excuse +himself from the maligner's calumnies, he sends to your Abbot that +Henry Warden, whose sermons have turned the world upside down, to be +dealt with as Holy Church directs, and as the Abbot's pleasure may +determine." + +The Sub-Prior's eyes sparkled at the intelligence; for it had been +accounted a matter of great importance that this man should be +arrested, possessed, as he was known to be, of so much zeal and +popularity, that scarcely the preaching of Knox himself had been more +awakening to the people, and more formidable to the Church of Rome. + +In fact, that ancient system, which so well accommodated its doctrines +to the wants and wishes of a barbarous age, had, since the art of +printing, and the gradual diffusion of knowledge, lain floating like +some huge Leviathan, into which ten thousand reforming fishers were +darting their harpoons. The Roman Church of Scotland, in particular, +was at her last gasp, actually blowing blood and water, yet still with +unremitted, though animal exertions, maintaining the conflict with the +assailants, who on every side were plunging their weapons into her +bulky body. In many large towns, the monasteries had been suppressed +by the fury of the populace; in other places, their possessions had +been usurped by the power of the reformed nobles; but still the +hierarchy made a part of the common law of the realm, and might claim +both its property and its privileges wherever it had the means of +asserting them. The community of Saint Mary's of Kennaquhair was +considered as being particularly in this situation. They had retained, +undiminished, their territorial power and influence; and the great +barons in the neighbourhood, partly from their attachment to the party +in the state who still upheld the old system of religion, partly +because each grudged the share of the prey which the others must +necessarily claim, had as yet abstained from despoiling the Halidome. +The Community was also understood to be protected by the powerful +Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, whose zealous attachment to +the Catholic faith caused at a later period the great rebellion of the +tenth of Elizabeth. + +Thus happily placed, it was supposed by the friends of the decaying +cause of the Roman Catholic faith, that some determined example of +courage and resolution, exercised where the franchises of the church +were yet entire, and her jurisdiction undisputed, might awe the +progress of the new opinions into activity; and, protected by the laws +which still existed, and by the favour of the sovereign, might be the +means of securing the territory which Rome yet preserved in Scotland, +and perhaps of recovering that which she had lost. + +The matter had been considered more than once by the northern +Catholics of Scotland, and they had held communication with those of +the south. Father Eustace, devoted by his public and private vows, +had caught the flame, and had eagerly advised that they should execute +the doom of heresy on the first reformed preacher, or, according to +his sense, on the first heretic of eminence, who should venture within +the precincts of the Halidome. A heart, naturally kind and noble, was, +in this instance, as it has been in many more, deceived by its own +generosity. Father Eustace would have been a bad administrator of the +inquisitorial power of Spain, where that power was omnipotent, and +where judgment was exercised without danger to those who inflicted it. +In such a situation his rigour might have relented in favour of the +criminal, whom it was at his pleasure to crush or to place at freedom. +But in Scotland, during this crisis, the case was entirely different. +The question was, whether one of the spirituality dared, at the hazard +of his own life, to step forward to assert and exercise the rights of +the church. Was there any who would venture to wield the thunder in +her cause, or must it remain like that in the hand of a painted +Jupiter, the object of derision instead of terror? The crisis was +calculated to awake the soul of Eustace; for it comprised the +question, whether he dared, at all hazards to himself, to execute with +stoical severity a measure which, according to the general opinion, +was to be advantageous to the church, and, according to ancient law, +and to his firm belief, was not only justifiable but meritorious. + +While such resolutions were agitated amongst the Catholics, chance +placed a victim within their grasp. Henry Warden had, with the +animation proper to the enthusiastic reformers of the age, +transgressed, in the vehemence of his zeal, the bounds of the +discretional liberty allowed to his sect so far, that it was thought +the Queen's personal dignity was concerned in bringing him to justice. +He fled from Edinburgh, with recommendations, however, from Lord James +Stewart, afterwards the celebrated Earl of Murray, to some of the +Border chieftains of inferior rank, who were privately conjured to +procure him safe passage into England. One of the principal persons to +whom such recommendation was addressed, was Julian Avenel; for as yet, +and for a considerable time afterwards, the correspondence and +interest of Lord James lay rather with the subordinate leaders than +with the chiefs of great power, and men of distinguished influence +upon the Border. Julian Avenel had intrigued without scruple with both +parties--yet bad as he was, he certainly would not have practised +aught against the guest whom Lord James had recommended to his +hospitality, had it not been for what he termed the preacher's +officious inter-meddling in his family affairs. But when he had +determined to make Warden rue the lecture he had read him, and the +scene of public scandal which he had caused in his hall, Julian +resolved, with the constitutional shrewdness of his disposition, to +combine his vengeance with his interest. And therefore, instead of +doing violence on the person of Henry Warden within his own castle, he +determined to deliver him up to the Community of Saint Mary's, and at +once make them the instruments of his own revenge, and found a claim +of personal recompense, either in money, or in a grant of Abbey lands +at a low quit-rent, which last began now to be the established form in +which the temporal nobles plundered the spirituality. + +The Sub-Prior, therefore, of Saint Mary's, unexpectedly saw the +steadfast, active, and inflexible enemy of the church delivered into +his hand, and felt himself called upon to make good his promises to +the friends of the Catholic faith, by quenching heresy in the blood of +one of its most zealous professors. + +To the honour more of Father Eustace's heart than of his consistency, +the communication that Henry Warden was placed within his power, +struck him with more sorrow than triumph; but his next feelings were +those of exultation. "It is sad," he said to himself, "to cause human +suffering; it is awful to cause human blood to be spilled; but the +judge to whom the sword of Saint Paul, as well as the keys of Saint +Peter, are confided, must not flinch from his task. Our weapon returns +into our own bosom, if not wielded with a steady and unrelenting hand +against the irreconcilable enemies of the Holy Church. _Pereat +iste!_ It is the doom he has incurred, and were all the heretics in +Scotland armed and at his back, they should not prevent its being +pronounced, and, if possible, enforced.--Bring the heretic before me," +he said, issuing his commands aloud, and in a tone of authority. + +Henry Warden was led in, his hands still bound, but his feet at liberty. + +"Clear the apartment," said the Sub-Prior, "of all but the necessary +guard on the prisoner." + +All retired except Christie of the Clinthill, who, having dismissed +the inferior troopers whom he commanded, unsheathed his sword, and +placed himself beside the door, as if taking upon him the character of +sentinel. + +The judge and the accused met face to face, and in that of both was +enthroned the noble confidence of rectitude. The monk was about, at +the utmost risk to himself and his community, to exercise what in his +ignorance he conceived to be his duty. The preacher, actuated by a +better-informed, yet not a more ardent zeal, was prompt to submit to +execution for God's sake, and to seal, were it necessary, his mission +with his blood. Placed at such a distance of time as better enables us +to appreciate the tendency of the principles on which they severally +acted, we cannot doubt to which the palm ought to be awarded. But the +zeal of Father Eustace was as free from passion and personal views as +if it had been exerted in a better cause. + +They approached each other, armed each and prepared for intellectual +conflict, and each intently regarding his opponent, as if either hoped +to spy out some defect, some chasm in the armour of his antagonist.-- +As they gazed on each other, old recollections began to awake in +either bosom, at the sight of features long unseen and much altered, +but not forgotten. The brow of the Sub-Prior dismissed by degrees its +frown of command, the look of calm yet stern defiance gradually +vanished from that of Warden, and both lost for an instant that of +gloomy solemnity. They had been ancient and intimate friends in youth +at a foreign university, but had been long separated from each other; +and the change of name, which the preacher had adopted from motives of +safety, and the monk from the common custom of the convent, had +prevented the possibility of their hitherto recognizing each other in +the opposite parts which they had been playing in the great polemical +and political drama. But now the Sub-Prior exclaimed, "Henry +Wellwood!" and the preacher replied, "William Allan!"--and, stirred by +the old familiar names, and never-to-be-forgotten recollections of +college studies and college intimacy, their hands were for a moment +locked in each other. + +"Remove his bonds," said the Sub-Prior, and assisted Christie in +performing that office with his own hands, although the prisoner +scarcely would consent to be unbound, repeating with emphasis, that he +rejoiced in the cause for which he suffered shame. When his hands were +at liberty, however, he showed his sense of the kindness by again +exchanging a grasp and a look of affection with the Sub-Prior. + +The salute was frank and generous on either side, yet it was but the +friendly recognition and greeting which are wont to take place betwixt +adverse champions, who do nothing in hate but all in honour. As each +felt the pressure of the situation in which they stood, he quitted the +grasp of the other's hand, and fell back, confronting each other with +looks more calm and sorrowful than expressive of any other passion. +The Sub-Prior was the first to speak. + +"And is this, then, the end of that restless activity of mind, that +bold and indefatigable love of truth that urged investigation to its +utmost limits, and seemed to take heaven itself by storm--is this the +termination of Wellwood's career?--And having known and loved him +during the best years of our youth, do we meet in our old age as judge +and criminal?" + +"Not as judge and criminal," said Henry Warden,--for to avoid +confusion we describe him by his later and best known name--"Not as +judge and criminal do we meet, but as a misguided oppressor and his +ready and devoted victim. I, too, may ask, are these the harvest of +the rich hopes excited by the classical learning, acute logical +powers, and varied knowledge of William Allan, that he should sink to +be the solitary drone of a cell, graced only above the swarm with the +high commission of executing Roman malice on all who oppose Roman +imposture?" + +"Not to thee," answered the Sub-Prior, "be assured--not unto thee, nor +unto mortal man, will I render an account of the power with which the +church may have invested me. It was granted but as a deposit for her +welfare--for her welfare it shall at every risk be exercised, without +fear and without favour." + +"I expected no less from your misguided zeal," answered the preacher; +"and in me have you met one on whom you may fearlessly exercise your +authority, secure that his mind at least will defy your influence, as +the snows of that Mont Blanc which we saw together, shrink not under +the heat of the hottest summer sun." + +"I do believe thee," said the Sub-Prior, "I do believe that thine is +indeed metal unmalleable by force. Let it yield then to persuasion. +Let us debate these matters of faith, as we once were wont to conduct +our scholastic disputes, when hours, nay, days, glided past in the +mutual exercise of our intellectual powers. It may be thou mayest yet +hear the voice of the shepherd, and return to the universal fold." + +"No, Allan," replied the prisoner, "this is no vain question, devised +by dreaming scholiasts, on which they may whet their intellectual +faculties until the very metal be wasted away. The errors which I +combat are like those fiends which are only cast out by fasting and +prayer. Alas! not many wise, not many learned are chosen; the cottage +and the hamlet shall in our days bear witness against the schools and +their disciples. Thy very wisdom, which is foolishness, hath made +thee, as the Greeks of old, hold as foolishness that which is the only +true wisdom." + +"This," said the Sub-Prior, sternly, "is the mere cant of ignorant +enthusiasm, which appealeth from learning and from authority, from the +sure guidance of that lamp which God hath afforded us in the Councils +and in the Fathers of the Church, to a rash, self-willed, and +arbitrary interpretation of the Scriptures, wrested according to the +private opinion of each speculating heretic." + +"I disdain to reply to the charge," replied Warden. "The question at +issue between your Church and mine, is, whether we will be judged by +the Holy Scriptures, or by the devices and decisions of men not less +subject to error than ourselves, and who have defaced our holy +religion with vain devices, reared up idols of stone and wood, in form +of those, who, when they lived, were but sinful creatures, to share +the worship due only to the Creator--established a toll-house betwixt +heaven and hell, that profitable purgatory of which the Pope keeps the +keys, like an iniquitous judge commutes punishment for bribes, +and----" + +"Silence, blasphemer," said the Sub-Prior, sternly, "or I will have thy +blatant obloquy stopped with a gag!" + +"Ay," replied Warden, "such is the freedom of the Christian conference +to which Rome's priests so kindly invite us!--the gag--the rack--the +axe--is the _ratio ultima Romae_. But know thou, mine ancient +friend, that the character of thy former companion is not so changed +by age, but that he still dares to endure for the cause of truth all +that thy proud hierarchy shall dare to inflict." + +"Of that," said the monk, "I nothing doubt--Thou wert ever a lion to +turn against the spear of the hunter, not a stag to be dismayed at the +sound of his bugle."--He walked through the room in silence. +"Wellwood," he said at length, "we can no longer be friends. Our +faith, our hope, our anchor on futurity, is no longer the same." + +"Deep is my sorrow that thou speakest truth. May God so judge me," +said the Reformer, "as I would buy the conversion of a soul like thine +with my dearest heart's blood." + +"To thee, and with better reason, do I return the wish," replied the +Sub-Prior; "it is such an arm as thine that should defend the bulwarks +of the Church, and it is now directing the battering-ram against them, +and rendering practicable the breach through which all that is greedy, +and all that is base, and all that is mutable and hot-headed in this +innovating age, already hope to advance to destruction and to spoil. +But since such is our fate, that we can no longer fight side by side +as friends, let us at least act as generous enemies. You cannot have +forgotten, + + 'O gran bonta dei caralieri antiqui! + Erano nemici, eran' de fede diversa'-- + +Although, perhaps," he added, stopping short in his quotation, "your new +faith forbids you to reserve a place in your memory, even for what high +poets have recorded of loyal faith and generous sentiment." + +"The faith of Buchanan," replied the preacher, "the faith of Buchanan +and of Beza, cannot be unfriendly to literature. But the poet you have +quoted affords strains fitter for a dissolute court than for a convent." + +"I might retort on your Theodore Beza," said the Sub-Prior, smiling; +"but I hate the judgment that, like the flesh-fly, skims over whatever +is sound, to detect and settle upon some spot which is tainted. But to +the purpose. If I conduct thee or send thee a prisoner to St. Mary's, +thou art to-night a tenant of the dungeon, to-morrow a burden to the +gibbet-tree. If I were to let thee go hence at large, I were thereby +wronging the Holy Church, and breaking mine own solemn vow. Other +resolutions may be adopted in the capital, or better times may +speedily ensue. Wilt thou remain a true prisoner upon thy parole, +rescue or no rescue, as is the phrase amongst the warriors of this +country? Wilt thou solemnly promise that thou wilt do so, and at my +summons thou wilt present thyself before the Abbot and Chapter at +Saint Mary's, and that thou wilt not stir from this house above a +quarter of a mile in any direction? Wilt thou, I say, engage me thy +word for this? and such is the sure trust which I repose in thy good +faith, that thou shalt remain here unharmed and unsecured, a prisoner +at large, subject only to appear before our court when called upon." + +The preacher paused--"I am unwilling," he said, "to fetter my native +liberty by any self-adopted engagement. But I am already in your +power, and you may bind me to my answer. By such promise, to abide +within a certain limit, and to appear when called upon, I renounce not +any liberty which I at present possess, and am free to exercise; but, +on the contrary, being in bonds, and at your mercy, I acquire thereby +a liberty which I at present possess not. I will therefore accept of +thy proffer, as what is courteously offered on thy part, and may be +honourably accepted on mine." + +"Stay yet," said the Sub-Prior; "one important part of thy engagement +is forgotten--thou art farther to promise, that while thus left at +liberty, thou wilt not preach or teach, directly or indirectly, any of +those pestilent heresies by which so many souls have been in this our +day won over from the kingdom of light to the kingdom of darkness." + +"There we break off our treaty," said Warden, firmly--"Wo unto me if +I preach not the Gospel!" + +The Sub-Prior's countenance became clouded, and he again paced the +apartment, and muttered, "A plague upon the self-willed fool!" then +stopped short in his walk, and proceeded in his argument.--"Why, by +thine own reasoning, Henry, thy refusal here is but peevish obstinacy. +It is in my power to place you where your preaching can reach no human +ear; in promising therefore to abstain from it, you grant nothing +which you have it in your power to refuse." + +"I know not that," replied Henry Warden; "thou mayest indeed cast me +into a dungeon, but can I foretell that my Master hath not task-work +for me to perform even in that dreary mansion? The chains of saints +have, ere now, been the means of breaking the bonds of Satan. In a +prison, holy Paul found the jailor whom he brought to believe the word +of salvation, he and all his house." + +"Nay," said the Sub-Prior, in a tone betwixt anger and scorn, "if you +match yourself with the blessed Apostle, it were time we had done-- +prepare to endure what thy folly, as well as thy heresy, +deserves.--Bind him, soldier." + +With proud submission to his fate, and regarding the Sub-Prior with +something which almost amounted to a smile of superiority, the preacher +placed his arms so that the bonds could be again fastened round him. + +"Spare me not," he said to Christie; for even that ruffian hesitated +to draw the cord straitly. + +The Sub-Prior, meanwhile, looked at him from under his cowl, which he +had drawn over his head, and partly over his face, as if he wished to +shade his own emotions. They were those of a huntsman within +point-blank shot of a noble stag, who is yet too much struck with his +majesty of front and of antler to take aim at him. They were those of +a fowler, who, levelling his gun at a magnificent eagle, is yet +reluctant to use his advantage when he sees the noble sovereign of the +birds pruning himself in proud defiance of whatever may be attempted +against him. The heart of the Sub-Prior (bigoted as he was) relented, +and he doubted if he ought to purchase, by a rigorous discharge of +what he deemed his duty, the remorse he might afterwards feel for the +death of one so nobly independent in thought and character, the +friend, besides, of his own happiest years, during which they had, +side by side, striven in the noble race of knowledge, and indulged +their intervals of repose in the lighter studies of classical and +general letters. + +The Sub-Prior's hand pressed his half-o'ershadowed cheek, and his eye, +more completely obscured, was bent on the ground, as if to hide the +workings of his relenting nature. + +"Were but Edward safe from the infection," he thought to +himself--"Edward, whose eager and enthusiastic mind presses forward in +the chase of all that hath even the shadow of knowledge, I might trust +this enthusiast with the women, after due caution to them that they +cannot, without guilt, attend to his reveries." + +As the Sub-Prior revolved these thoughts, and delayed the definitive +order which was to determine the fate of the prisoner, a sudden noise +at the entrance of the tower diverted his attention for an instant, +and, his cheek and brow inflamed with all the glow of heat and +determination, Edward Glendinning rushed into the room. + + * * * * * + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Second. + + + Then in my gown of sober gray + Along the mountain path I'll wander, + And wind my solitary way + To the sad shrine that courts me yonder. + + There, in the calm monastic shade, + All injuries may be forgiven; + And there for thee, obdurate maid, + My orisons shall rise to heaven. + THE CRUEL LADY OF THE MOUNTAINS. + +The first words which Edward uttered were,--"My brother is safe, +reverend father--he is safe, thank God, and lives!--There is not in +Corri-nan-shian a grave, nor a vestige of a grave. The turf around +the fountain has neither been disturbed by pick-axe, spade, nor +mattock, since the deer's-hair first sprang there. He lives as surely +as I live!" + +The earnestness of the youth--the vivacity with which he looked and +moved--the springy step, outstretched hand, and ardent eye, reminded +Henry Warden of Halbert, so lately his guide. The brothers had indeed +a strong family resemblance, though Halbert was far more athletic and +active in his person, taller and better knit in the limbs, and though +Edward had, on ordinary occasions, a look of more habitual acuteness +and more profound reflection. The preacher was interested as well as +the Sub-Prior. + +"Of whom do you speak, my son?" he said, in a tone as unconcerned as +if his own fate had not been at the same instant trembling in the +balance, and as if a dungeon and death did not appear to be his +instant doom--"Of whom, I say, speak you? If of a youth somewhat older +than you seem to be--brown-haired, open-featured, taller and stronger +than you appear, yet having much of the same air and of the same tone +of voice--if such a one is the brother whom you seek, it may be I can +tell you news of him." + +"Speak, then, for Heaven's sake," said Edward--"life or death lies on +thy tongue!" + +The Sub-Prior joined eagerly in the same request, and, without waiting +to be urged, the preacher gave so minute an account of the +circumstances under which he met the elder Glendinning, with so exact +a description of his person, that there remained no doubt as to his +identity. When he mentioned that Halbert Glendinning had conducted him +to a dell in which they found the grass bloody, and a grave newly +closed, and told how the youth accused himself of the slaughter of Sir +Piercie Shafton, the Sub-Prior looked on Edward with astonishment. + +"Didst thou not say, even now," he said, "that there was no vestige of a +grave in that spot?" + +"No more vestige of the earth having been removed than if the turf had +grown there since the days of Adam," replied Edward Glendinning. "It is +true," he added, "that the adjacent grass was trampled and bloody." + +"These are delusions of the Enemy," said the Sub-Prior, crossing +himself.--"Christian men may no longer doubt of it." + +"But an it be so," said Warden, "Christian men might better guard +themselves by the sword of prayer than by the idle form of a +cabalistical spell." + +"The badge of our salvation," said the Sub-Prior, "cannot be so +termed--the sign of the cross disarmeth all evil spirits." + +"Ay," answered Henry Warden, apt and armed for controversy, "but it +should be borne in the heart, not scored with the fingers in the air. +That very impassive air, through which your hand passes, shall as soon +bear the imprint of your action, as the external action shall avail +the fond bigot who substitutes vain motions of the body, idle +genuflections, and signs of the cross, for the living and heart-born +duties of faith and good works." + +"I pity thee," said the Sub-Prior, as actively ready for polemics as +himself,--"I pity thee, Henry, and reply not to thee. Thou mayest as +well winnow forth and measure the ocean with a sieve, as mete out the +power of holy words, deeds, and signs, by the erring gauge of thine +own reason." + +"Not by mine own reason would I mete them," said Warden; "but by +His holy Word, that unfading and unerring lamp of our paths, compared to +which human reason is but as a glimmering and fading taper, and your +boasted tradition only a misleading wildfire. Show me your Scripture +warrant for ascribing virtue to such vain signs and motions!" + +"I offered thee a fair field of debate," said the Sub-Prior, "which +thou didst refuse. I will not at present resume the controversy." + +"Were these my last accents," said the reformer, "and were they +uttered at the stake, half-choked with smoke, and as the fagots +kindled into a blaze around me, with that last utterance I would +testify against the superstitious devices of Rome." + +The Sub-Prior suppressed with pain the controversial answer which +arose to his lips, and, turning to Edward Glendinning, he said, "there +could be now no doubt that his mother ought presently to be informed +that her son lived." + +"I told you that two hours since," said Christie of the Clinthill, "an +you would have believed me. But it seems you are more willing to take +the word of an old gray sorner, whose life has been spent in pattering +heresy, than mine, though I never rode a foray in my life without duly +saying my paternoster." + +"Go then," said Father Eustace to Edward; "let thy sorrowing mother +know that her son is restored to her from the grave, like the child of +the widow of Zarephath; at the intercession," he added, looking at +Henry Warden, "of the blessed Saint whom I invoked in his behalf." + +"Deceived thyself," said Warden, instantly, "thou art a deceiver of +others. It was no dead man, no creature of clay, whom the blessed +Tishbite invoked, when, stung by the reproach of the Shunamite woman, +he prayed that her son's soul might come into him again." + +"It was by his intercession, however," repeated the Sub-Prior; "for +what says the Vulgate? Thus it is written: '_Et exaudivit Dominus +vocem Helie; et reversa est anima pueri intra cum, et +revixit_;'--and thinkest thou the intercession of a glorified saint +is more feeble than when he walks on earth, shrouded in a tabernacle +of clay, and seeing but with the eye of flesh?" + +During this controversy Edward Glendinning appeared restless and +impatient, agitated by some internal feeling, but whether of joy, +grief, or expectation, his countenance did not expressly declare. He +took now the unusual freedom to break in upon the discourse of the +Sub-Prior, who, notwithstanding his resolution to the contrary, was +obviously kindling in the spirit of controversy, which Edward diverted +by conjuring his reverence to allow him to speak a few words with him +in private. + +"Remove the prisoner," said the Sub-Prior to Christie; "look to him +carefully that he escape not; but for thy life do him no injury." + +His commands being obeyed, Edward and the monk were left alone, when +the Sub-Prior thus addressed him: + +"What hath come over thee, Edward, that thy eye kindles so wildly, and +thy cheek is thus changing from scarlet to pale? Why didst thou break +in so hastily and unadvisedly upon the argument with which I was +prostrating yonder heretic? And wherefore dost thou not tell thy +mother that her son is restored to her by the intercession, as Holy +Church well warrants us to believe, of Blessed Saint Benedict, the +patron of our Order? For if ever my prayers were put forth to him with +zeal, it hath been in behalf of this house, and thine eyes have seen +the result--go tell it to thy mother." + +"I must tell her then," said Edward, "that if she has regained one son, +another is lost to her." + +"What meanest thou, Edward? what language is this?" said the Sub-Prior. + +"Father," said the youth, kneeling down to him, "my sin and my shame +shall be told thee, and thou shalt witness my penance with thine own +eyes." + +"I comprehend thee not," said the Sub-Prior. "What canst thou have +done to deserve such self-accusation?--Hast thou too listened," he +added, knitting his brows, "to the demon of heresy, ever most +effectual tempter of those, who, like yonder unhappy man, are +distinguished by their love of knowledge?" + +"I am guiltless in that matter," answered Glendinning, "nor have +presumed to think otherwise than thou, my kind father, hast taught me, +and than the Church allows." + +"And what is it then, my son," said the Sub-Prior, kindly, "which thus +afflicts thy conscience? speak it to me, that I may answer thee in the +words of comfort; for the Church's mercy is great to those obedient +children who doubt not her power." + +"My confession will require her mercy," replied Edward. "My brother +Halbert--so kind, so brave, so gentle, who spoke not, thought not, +acted not, but in love to me, whose hand had aided me in every +difficulty, whose eye watched over me like the eagle's over her +nestlings, when they prove their first flight from the eyry--this +brother, so kind, so gently affectionate--I heard of his sudden, his +bloody, his violent death, and I rejoiced--I heard of his unexpected +restoration, and I sorrowed!" + +"Edward," said the father, "thou art beside thyself--what could urge +thee to such odious ingratitude?--In your hurry of spirits you have +mistaken the confused tenor of your feelings--Go, my son, pray and +compose thy mind--we will speak of this another time." + +"No, father, no," said Edward, vehemently, "now or never!--I will find +the means to tame this rebellious heart of mine, or I will tear it out +of my bosom--Mistake its passions?--No, father, grief can ill be +mistaken for joy--All wept, all shrieked around me--my mother--the +menials--she too, the cause of my crime--all wept--and I--I could +hardly disguise my brutal and insane joy under the appearance of +revenge--Brother, I said, I cannot give thee tears, but I will give +thee blood--Yes, father, as I counted hour after hour, while I kept +watch upon the English prisoner, and said, I am an hour nearer to hope +and to happiness----" + +"I understand thee not, Edward," said the monk, "nor can I conceive in +what way thy brother's supposed murder should have affected thee with +such unnatural joy--Surely the sordid desire to succeed him in his +small possessions----" + +"Perish the paltry trash!" said Edward, with the same emotion. "No, +father, it was rivalry--it was jealous rage--it was the love of Mary +Avenel, that rendered me the unnatural wretch I confess myself!" + +"Of Mary Avenel!" said the Priest--"of a lady so high above either of +you in name and in rank? How dared Halbert--how dared you, to presume +to lift your eye to her but in honour and respect, as a superior of +another degree from yours?" + +"When did love wait for the sanction of heraldry?" replied Edward; +"and in what but a line of dead ancestors was Mary, our mother's guest +and foster-child, different from us, with whom she was brought up?-- +Enough, we loved--we both loved her! But the passion of Halbert was +requited. He knew it not, he saw it not--but I was sharper-eyed. I saw +that even when I was more approved, Halbert was more beloved. With me +she would sit for hours at our common task with the cold simplicity +and indifference of a sister, but with Halbert she trusted not +herself. She changed colour, she was fluttered when he approached her; +and when he left her, she was sad, pensive, and solitary. I bore all +this--I saw my rival's advancing progress in her affections--I bore +it, father, and yet I hated him not--I could not hate him!" + +"And well for thee that thou didst not," said the father; "wild and +headstrong as thou art, wouldst thou hate thy brother for partaking in +thine own folly?" + +"Father," replied Edward, "the world esteems thee wise, and holds thy +knowledge of mankind high; but thy question shows that thou hast never +loved. It was by an effort that I saved myself from hating my kind and +affectionate brother, who, all unsuspicious of my rivalry, was +perpetually loading me with kindness. Nay, there were moods of my +mind, in which I could return that kindness for a time with energetic +enthusiasm. Never did I feel this so strongly as on the night which +parted us. But I could not help rejoicing when he was swept from my +path--could not help sorrowing when he was again restored to be a +stumbling-block in my paths." + +"May God be gracious to thee, my son!" said the monk; "this is an +awful state of mind. Even in such evil mood did the first murderer +rise up against his brother, because Abel's was the more acceptable +sacrifice." + +"I will wrestle with the demon which has haunted me, father," replied +the youth, firmly--"I will wrestle with him, and I will subdue him. +But first I must remove from the scenes which are to follow here. I +cannot endure that I should see Mary Avenel's eyes again flash with +joy at the restoration of her lover. It were a sight to make indeed a +second Cain of me! My fierce, turbid, and transitory joy discharged +itself in a thirst to commit homicide, and how can I estimate the +frenzy of my despair?" + +"Madman!" said the Sub-Prior, "at what dreadful crime does thy fury +drive?" + +"My lot is determined, father," said Edward, in a resolute tone; "I +will embrace the spiritual state which you have so oft recommended. It +is my purpose to return with you to Saint Mary's, and, with the +permission of the Holy Virgin and of Saint Benedict, to offer my +profession to the Abbot." + +"Not now, my son," said the Sub-Prior, "not in this distemperature of +mind. The wise and good accept not gifts which are made in heat of +blood, and which may be after repented of; and shall we make our +offerings to wisdom and to goodness itself with less of solemn +resolution and deep devotion of mind, than is necessary to make them +acceptable to our own frail companions in this valley of darkness? +This I say to thee, my son, not as meaning to deter thee from the good +path thou art now inclined to prefer, but that thou mayst make thy +vocation and thine election sure." + +"There are actions, father," returned Edward, "which brook no delay, +and this is one. It must be done this very _now_; or it may never +be done. Let me go with you; let me not behold the return of Halbert +into this house. Shame, and the sense of the injustice I have already +done him, will join with these dreadful passions which urge me to do +him yet farther wrong. Let me then go with you." + +"With me, my son," said the Sub-Prior, "thou shalt surely go; but our +rule, as well as reason and good order, require that you should dwell +a space with us as a probationer, or novice, before taking upon thee +those final vows, which, sequestering thee for ever from the world, +dedicate thee to the service of Heaven." + +"And when shall we set forth, father?" said the youth, as eagerly as +if the journey which he was now undertaking led to the pleasures of a +summer holiday. + +"Even now, if thou wilt," said the Sub-Prior, yielding to his +impetuosity--"go, then, and command them to prepare for our +departure.--Yet stay," he said, as Edward, with all the awakened +enthusiasm of his character, hastened from his presence, "come hither, +my son, and kneel down." + +Edward obeyed, and kneeled down before him. Notwithstanding his slight +figure and thin features, the Sub-Prior could, from the energy of his +tone, and the earnestness of his devotional manner, impress his pupils +and his penitents with no ordinary feelings of personal reverence. His +heart always was, as well as seemed to be, in the duty which he was +immediately performing; and the spiritual guide who thus shows a deep +conviction of the importance of his office, seldom fails to impress a +similar feeling upon his hearers. Upon such occasions as the present, +his puny body seemed to assume more majestic stature--his spare and +emaciated countenance bore a bolder, loftier, and more commanding +port--his voice, always beautiful, trembled as labouring under the +immediate impulse of the Divinity--and his whole demeanour seemed to +bespeak, not the mere ordinary man, but the organ of the Church in +which she had vested her high power for delivering sinners from their +load of iniquity. + +"Hast thou, my fair son," said he, "faithfully recounted the +circumstances which have thus suddenly determined thee to a religious +life?" + +"The sins I have confessed, my father," answered Edward, "but I have +not yet told of a strange appearance, which, acting in my mind, hath, I +think, aided to determine my resolution." + +"Tell it, then, now," returned the Sub-Prior; "it is thy duty to leave +me uninstructed in nought, so that thereby I may understand the +temptation that besets thee." + +"I tell it with unwillingness," said Edward; "for although, God wot, I +speak but the mere truth, yet even while my tongue speaks it as truth, +my own ears receive it as fable." + +"Yet say the whole," said Father Eustace; "neither fear rebuke from +me, seeing I may know reasons for receiving as true that which others +might regard as fabulous." + +"Know, then, father," replied Edward, "that betwixt hope and +despair--and, heavens! what a hope!--the hope to find the corpse +mangled and crushed hastily in amongst the bloody clay which the foot +of the scornful victor had trod down upon my good, my gentle, my +courageous brother,--I sped to the glen called Corri-nan-shian; but, +as your reverence has been already informed, neither the grave, which +my unhallowed wishes had in spite of my better self longed to see, nor +any appearance of the earth having been opened, was visible in the +solitary spot where Martin had, at morning yesterday, seen the fatal +hillock. You know your dalesmen, father. The place hath an evil name, +and this deception of the sight inclined them to leave it. My +companions became affrighted, and hastened down the glen as men caught +in trespass. My hopes were too much blighted, my mind too much +agitated, to fear either the living or the dead. I descended the glen +more slowly than they, often looking back, and not ill pleased with +the poltroonery of my companions, which left me to my own perplexed +and moody humour, and induced them to hasten into the broader dale. +They were already out of sight, and lost amongst the windings of the +glen, when, looking back, I saw a female form standing beside the +fountain----" + +"How, my fair son?" said the Sub-Prior, "beware you jest not with your +present situation!" + +"I jest not, father," answered the youth; "it may be I shall never +jest again--surely not for many a day. I saw, I say, the form of a +female clad in white, such as the Spirit which haunts the house of +Avenel is supposed to be. Believe me, my father, for, by heaven and +earth, I say nought but what I saw with these eyes!" + +"I believe thee, my son," said the monk; "proceed in thy strange +story." + +"The apparition," said Edward Glendinning, "sung, and thus ran her +lay; for, strange as it may seem to you, her words abide by my +remembrance as if they had been sung to me from infancy upward:-- + + 'Thou who seek'st my fountain lone, + With thoughts and hopes thou dar'st not own; + Whose heart within leap'd wildly glad + When most his brow seem'd dark and sad; + Hie thee back, thou find'st not here + Corpse or coffin, grave or bier; + The Dead Alive is gone and fled-- + Go thou, and join the Living Dead! + + 'The Living Dead, whose sober brow + Oft shrouds such thoughts as thou hast now, + Whose hearts within are seldom cured + Of passions by their vows abjured; + Where, under sad and solemn show, + Vain hopes are nursed, wild wishes glow. + Seek the convent's vaulted room, + Prayer and vigil be thy doom; + Doff the green, and don the gray, + To the cloister hence away!'" + +"'Tis a wild lay," said the Sub-Prior, "and chanted, I fear me, with +no good end. But we have power to turn the machinations of Satan to +his shame. Edward, thou shalt go with me as thou desirest; thou shalt +prove the life for which I have long thought thee best fitted--thou +shalt aid, my son, this trembling hand of mine to sustain the Holy +Ark, which bold unhallowed men press rashly forward to touch and to +profane.--Wilt thou not first see thy mother?" + +"I will see no one," said Edward, hastily; "I will risk nothing that +may shake the purpose of my heart. From Saint Mary's they shall learn +my destination--all of them shall learn it. My mother--Mary Avenel--my +restored and happy brother--they shall all know that Edward lives no +longer to the world to be a clog on their happiness. Mary shall no +longer need to constrain her looks and expressions to coldness because +I am nigh. She shall no longer----" + +"My son," said the Sub-Prior, interrupting him, "it is not by looking +back on the vanities and vexations of this world, that we fit +ourselves for the discharge of duties which are not of it. Go, get our +horses ready, and, as we descend the glen together, I will teach thee +the truths through which the fathers and wise men of old had that +precious alchemy, which can convert suffering into happiness." + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Third. + + + Now, on my faith, this gear is all entangled, + Like to the yarn-clew of the drowsy knitter, + Dragg'd by the frolic kitten through the cabin, + While the good dame sits nodding o'er the fire! + Masters, attend; 'twill crave some skill to clear it. + OLD PLAY. + +Edward, with the speed of one who doubts the steadiness of his own +resolution, hastened to prepare the horses for their departure, and at +the same time thanked and dismissed the neighbours who had come to his +assistance, and who were not a little surprised both at the suddenness +of his proposed departure, and at the turn affairs had taken. + +"Here's cold hospitality," quoth Dan of the Howlet-hirst to his +comrades; "I trow the Glendinnings may die and come alive right oft, +ere I put foot in stirrup again for the matter." + +Martin soothed them by placing food and liquor before them. They ate +sullenly, however, and departed in bad humour. + +The joyful news that Halbert Glendinning lived, was quickly +communicated through the sorrowing family. The mother wept and thanked +Heaven alternately; until her habits of domestic economy awakening as +her feelings became calmer, she observed, "It would be an unco task to +mend the yetts, and what were they to do while they were broken in +that fashion? At open doors dogs come in." + +Tibb remarked, "She aye thought Halbert was ower gleg at his weapon to +be killed sae easily by ony Sir Piercie of them a'. They might say of +these Southrons as they liked; but they had not the pith and wind of a +canny Scot, when it came to close grips." + +On Mary Avenel the impression was inconceivably deeper. She had but +newly learned to pray, and it seemed to her that her prayers had been +instantly answered--that the compassion of Heaven, which she had +learned to implore in the words of Scripture, had descended upon her +after a manner almost miraculous, and recalled the dead from the grave +at the sound of her lamentations. There was a dangerous degree of +enthusiasm in this strain of feeling, but it originated in the purest +devotion. + +A silken and embroidered muffler, one of the few articles of more +costly attire which she possessed, was devoted to the purpose of +wrapping up and concealing the sacred volume, which henceforth she was +to regard as her chiefest treasure, lamenting only that, for want of a +fitting interpreter, much must remain to her a book closed and a +fountain sealed. She was unaware of the yet greater danger she +incurred, of putting an imperfect or even false sense upon some of the +doctrines which appeared most comprehensible. But Heaven had provided +against both these hazards. + +While Edward was preparing the horses, Christie of the Clinthill again +solicited his orders respecting the reformed preacher, Henry Warden, +and again the worthy monk laboured to reconcile in his own mind the +compassion and esteem which, almost in spite of him, he could not help +feeling for his former companion, with the duty which he owed to the +Church. The unexpected resolution of Edward had removed, he thought, +the chief objection to his being left at Glendearg. + +"If I carry this Well-wood, or Warden, to the Monastery." he thought, +"he must die--die in his heresy--perish body and soul. And though such +a measure was once thought advisable, to strike terror into the +heretics, yet such is now their daily increasing strength, that it may +rather rouse them to fury and to revenge. True, he refuses to pledge +himself to abstain from sowing his tares among the wheat; but the +ground here is too barren to receive them. I fear not his making +impression on these poor women, the vassals of the Church, and bred up +in due obedience to her behests. The keen, searching, inquiring, and +bold disposition of Edward, might have afforded fuel to the fire; but +that is removed, and there is nothing left which the flame may catch +to.--Thus shall he have no power to spread his evil doctrines abroad, +and yet his life shall be preserved, and it may be his soul rescued as +a prey from the fowler's net. I will myself contend with him in +argument; for when we studied in common, I yielded not to him, and +surely the cause for which I struggle will support me, were I yet more +weak than I deem myself. Were this man reclaimed from his errors, an +hundred-fold more advantage would arise to the Church from his +spiritual regeneration, than from his temporal death." + +Having finished these meditations, in which there was at once goodness +of disposition and narrowness of principle, a considerable portion of +self-opinion, and no small degree of self-delusion, the Sub-Prior +commanded the prisoner to be brought into his presence. + +"Henry," he said, "whatever a rigid sense of duty may demand of me, +ancient friendship and Christian compassion forbid me to lead thee to +assured death. Thou wert wont to be generous, though stern and +stubborn in thy resolves; let not thy sense of what thine own thoughts +term duty, draw thee farther than mine have done. Remember, that every +sheep whom thou shalt here lead astray from the fold, will be demanded +in time and through eternity of him who hath left thee the liberty of +doing such evil. I ask no engagement of thee, save that thou remain a +prisoner on thy word at this tower, and wilt appear when summoned." + +"Thou hast found an invention to bind my hands," replied the preacher, +"more sure than would have been the heaviest shackles in the prison of +thy convent. I will not rashly do what may endanger thee with thy +unhappy superiors, and I will be the more cautious, because, if we had +farther opportunity of conference, I trust thine own soul may yet be +rescued as a brand from the burning, and that, casting from thee the +livery of Anti-Christ, that trader in human sins and human souls, I +may yet assist thee to lay hold on the Rock of Ages." + +The Sub-Prior heard the sentiment, so similar to that which had +occurred to himself, with the same kindly feelings with which the +game-cock hears and replies to the challenge of his rival. + +"I bless God and Our Lady," said he, drawing himself up, "that my +faith is already anchored on that Rock on which Saint Peter founded +his Church." + +"It is a perversion of the text," said the eager Henry Warden, +"grounded on a vain play upon words--a most idle paronomasia." + +The controversy would have been rekindled, and in all probability--for +what can insure the good temper and moderation of polemics?--might +have ended in the preacher's being transported a captive to the +Monastery, had not Christie of the Clinthill observed that it was +growing late, and that he, having to descend the glen, which had no +good reputation, cared not greatly for travelling there after sunset. +The Sub-Prior, therefore, stifled his desire of argument, and again +telling the preacher, that he trusted to his gratitude and generosity, +he bade him farewell. + +"Be assured, my old friend," replied Warden, "that no willing act of +mine shall be to thy prejudice. But if my Master shall place work +before me, I must obey God rather than man." + +These two men, both excellent from natural disposition and acquired +knowledge, had more points of similarity than they themselves would +have admitted. In truth, the chief distinction betwixt them was, that +the Catholic, defending a religion which afforded little interest to +the feelings, had, in his devotion to the cause he espoused, more of +the head than of the heart, and was politic, cautious, and artful; +while the Protestant, acting under the strong impulse of more +lately-adopted conviction, and feeling, as he justly might, a more +animated confidence in his cause, was enthusiastic, eager, and +precipitate in his desire to advance it. The priest would have been +contented to defend, the preacher aspired to conquer; and, of course, +the impulse by which the latter was governed, was more active and more +decisive. They could not part from each other without a second +pressure of hands, and each looked in the face of his old companion, +as he bade him adieu, with a countenance strongly expressive of +sorrow, affection, and pity. + +Father Eustace then explained briefly to Dame Glendinning, that this +person was to be her guest for some days, forbidding her and her whole +household, under high spiritual censures, to hold any conversation +with him on religious subjects, but commanding her to attend to his +wants in all other particulars. + +"May Our Lady forgive me, reverend father," said Dame Glendinning, +somewhat dismayed at this intelligence, "but I must needs say, that +ower mony guests have been the ruin of mony a house, and I trow they +will bring down Glendearg. First came the Lady of Avenel--(her soul be +at rest--she meant nae ill)--but she brought with her as mony bogles +and fairies, as hae kept the house in care ever since, sae that we +have been living as it were in a dream. And then came that English +knight, if it please you, and if he hasna killed my son outright, he +has chased him aff the gate, and it may be lang eneugh ere I see him +again--forby the damage done to outer door and inner door. And now +your reverence has given me the charge of a heretic, who, it is like, +may bring the great horned devil himself down upon us all; and they +say that it is neither door nor window will serve him, but he will +take away the side of the auld tower along with him. Nevertheless, +reverend father, your pleasure is doubtless to be done to our power." + +"Go to, woman," said the Sub-Prior; "send for workmen from the +clachan, and let them charge the expense of their repairs to the +Community, and I will give the treasurer warrant to allow them. +Moreover, in settling the rental mails, and feu-duties, thou shalt +have allowance for the trouble and charges to which thou art now put, +and I will cause strict search to be made after thy son." + +The dame curtsied deep and low at each favourable expression; and when +the Sub-Prior had done speaking, she added her farther hope that the +Sub-Prior would hold some communing with her gossip the Miller, +concerning the fate of his daughter, and expound to him that the +chance had by no means happened through any negligence on her part. + +"I sair doubt me, father," she said, "whether Mysie finds her way back +to the Mill in a hurry; but it was all her father's own fault that let +her run lamping about the country, riding on bare-backed naigs, and +never settling to do a turn of wark within doors, unless it were to +dress dainties at dinner-time for his ain kyte." + +"You remind me, dame, of another matter of urgency," said Father +Eustace; "and, God knows, too many of them press on me at this moment. +This English knight must be sought out, and explanation given to him +of these most strange chances. The giddy girl must also be recovered. +If she hath suffered in reputation by this unhappy mistake, I will not +hold myself innocent of the disgrace. Yet how to find them out I know +not." + +"So please you," said Christie of the Clinthill, "I am willing to take +the chase, and bring them back by fair means or foul; for though you +have always looked as black as night at me, whenever we have +forgathered, yet I have not forgotten that had it not been for you, my +neck would have kend the weight of my four quarters. If any man can +track the tread of them, I will say in the face of both Merse and +Teviotdale, and take the Forest to boot, I am that man. But first I +have matters to treat of on my master's score, if you will permit me +to ride down the glen with you." + +"Nay, but my friend," said the Sub-Prior, "thou shouldst remember I +have but slender cause to trust thee for a companion through a place +so solitary." + +"Tush! tush!" said the Jackman, "fear me not; I had the worst too +surely to begin that sport again. Besides, have I not said a dozen of +times, I owe you a life? and when I owe a man either a good turn or a +bad, I never fail to pay it sooner or later. Moreover, beshrew me if I +care to go alone down the glen, or even with my troopers, who are, +every loon of them, as much devil's bairns as myself; whereas, if your +reverence, since that is the word, take beads and psalter, and I come +along with jack and spear, you will make the devils take the air, and +I will make all human enemies take the earth." + +Edward here entered, and told his reverence that his horse was +prepared. At this instant his eye caught his mother's, and the +resolution which he had so strongly formed was staggered when he +recollected the necessity of bidding her farewell. The Sub-Prior saw +his embarrassment, and came to his relief. + +"Dame," said he, "I forgot to mention that your son Edward goes with +me to Saint Mary's, and will not return for two or three days." + +"You'll be wishing to help him to recover his brother? May the saints +reward your kindness!" + +The Sub-Prior returned the benediction which, in this instance, he had +not very well deserved, and he and Edward set forth on their route. +They were presently followed by Christie, who came up with his +followers at such a speedy pace, as intimated sufficiently that his +wish to obtain spiritual convoy through the glen, was extremely +sincere. He had, however, other matters to stimulate his speed, for he +was desirous to communicate to the Sub-Prior a message from his master +Julian, connected with the delivery of the prisoner Warden; and having +requested the Sub-Prior to ride with him a few yards before Edward, +and the troopers of his own party, he thus addressed him, sometimes +interrupting his discourse in a manner testifying that his fear of +supernatural beings was not altogether lulled to rest by his +confidence in the sanctity of his fellow-traveller. + +"My master," said the rider, "deemed he had sent you an acceptable +gift in that old heretic preacher; but it seems, from the slight care +you have taken of him, that you make small account of the boon." + +"Nay," said the Sub-Prior, "do not thus judge of it. The Community +must account highly of the service, and will reward it to thy master in +goodly fashion. But this man and I are old friends, and I trust to bring +him back from the paths of perdition." + +"Nay," said the moss-trooper, "when I saw you shake hands at the +beginning I counted that you would fight it all out in love and +honour, and that there would be no extreme dealings betwixt ye-- +however it is all one to my master--Saint Mary! what call you yon, Sir +Monk?" + +"The branch of a willow streaming across the path betwixt us and the +sky." + +"Beshrew me," said Christie, "if it looked not like a man's hand +holding a sword.--But touching my master, he, like a prudent man, hath +kept himself aloof in these broken times, until he could see with +precision what footing he was to stand upon. Right tempting offers he +hath had from the Lords of Congregation, whom you call heretics; and +at one time he was minded, to be plain with you, to have taken their +way--for he was assured that the Lord James [Footnote: Lord James +Stewart, afterwards the Regent Murray.] was coming this road at the +head of a round body of cavalry. And accordingly Lord James did so far +reckon upon him, that he sent this man Warden, or whatsoever be his +name, to my master's protection, as an assured friend; and, moreover, +with tidings that he himself was marching hitherward at the head of a +strong body of horse." + +"Now, Our Lady forfend!" said the Sub-Prior. + +"Amen!" answered Christie, in some trepidation, "did your reverence +see aught?" + +"Nothing whatever," replied the monk; "it was thy tale which wrested +from me that exclamation." + +"And it was some cause," replied he of the Clinthill, "for if Lord +James should come hither, your Halidome would smoke for it. But be of +good cheer--that expedition is ended before it was begun. The Baron of +Avenel had sure news that Lord James has been fain to march westward +with his merry-men, to protect Lord Semple against Cassilis and the +Kennedies. By my faith, it will cost him a brush; for wot ye what +they say of that name,-- + + "Twixt Wigton and the town of Ayr, + Portpatrick and the cruives of Cree, + No man need think for to bide there, + Unless he court Saint Kennedie.'" + +"Then," said the Sub-Prior, "the Lord James's purpose of coming +southwards being broken, cost this person, Henry Warden, a cold +reception at Avenel Castle." + +"It would not have been altogether so rough a one," said the +mosstrooper; "for my master was in heavy thought what to do in these +unsettled times, and would scarce have hazarded misusing a man sent to +him by so terrible a leader as the Lord James. But, to speak the +truth, some busy devil tempted the old man to meddle with my master's +Christian liberty of hand-fasting with Catherine of Newport. So that +broke the wand of peace between them, and now ye may have my master, +and all the force he can make, at your devotion, for Lord James never +forgave wrong done to him; and if he come by the upper hand, he will +have Julian's head if there were never another of the name, as it is +like there is not, excepting the bit slip of a lassie yonder. And now +I have told you more of my master's affairs than he would thank me +for; but you have done me a frank turn once, and I may need one at +your hands again." + +"Thy frankness," said the Sub-Prior, "shall surely advantage thee; for +much it concerns the Church in these broken times to know the purposes +and motives of those around us. But what is it that thy master expects +from us in reward of good service? for I esteem him one of those who are +not willing to work without their hire." + +"Nay, that I can tell you flatly; for Lord James had promised him, in +case he would be of his faction in these parts, an easy tack of the +teindsheaves of his own Barony of Avenel, together with the lands of +Cranberry-moor, which lie intersected with his own. And he will look +for no less at your hand." + +"But there is old Gilbert of Cranberry-moor," said the Sub-Prior; +"what are we to make of him? The heretic Lord James may take on him to +dispone upon the goods and lands of the Halidome at his pleasure, +because, doubtless, but for the protection of God, and the baronage +which yet remain faithful to their creed, he may despoil us of them by +force; but while they are the property of the Community, we may not +take steadings from ancient and faithful vassals, to gratify the +covetousness of those who serve God only from the lucre of gain." + +"By the mass," said Christie, "it is well talking, Sir Priest; but +when ye consider that Gilbert has but two half-starved cowardly +peasants to follow him, and only an auld jaded aver to ride upon, +fitter for the plough than for manly service; and that the Baron of +Avenel never rides with fewer than. ten jackmen at his back, and +oftener with fifty, bodin in all that effeirs to war as if they were +to do battle for a kingdom, and mounted on nags that nicker at the +clash of the sword as if it were the clank of the lid of a +corn-chest--I say, when ye have computed all this, ye may guess what +course will best serve your Monastery." + +"Friend," said the monk, "I would willingly purchase thy master's +assistance on his own terms, since times leave us no better means of +defence against sacrilegious spoliation of heresy; but to take from a +poor man his patrimony--" + +"For that matter," said the rider, "his seat would scarce be a soft +one, if my master thought that Gilbert's interest stood betwixt him +and what he wishes. The Halidome has land enough, and Gilbert may be +quartered elsewhere." + +"We will consider the possibility of so disposing the matter," said +the monk, "and will expect in consequence your master's most active +assistance, with all the followers he can make, to join in the defence +of the Halidome, against any force by which it may be threatened." + +"A man's hand and a mailed glove on that," said the jackman. "They + +[Footnote: As some atonement for their laxity of morals on most +occasions, the Borderers were severe observers of the faith which they +had pledged, even to an enemy. If any person broke his word so +plighted, the individual to whom faith had not been observed, used to +bring to the next Border-meeting a glove hung on the point of a spear, +and proclaim to Scots and English the name of the defaulter. This was +accounted so great a disgrace to all connected with him, that his own +clansmen sometimes destroyed him, to escape the infamy he had brought +on them. + +Constable, a spy engaged by Sir Ralph Sadler, talks of two Border +thieves, whom he used as his guides:--"That they would not care to +steal, and yet that they would not betray any man that trusts in them, +for all the gold in Scotland or in France. They are my guides and +outlaws. If they would betray me they might get their pardons, and +cause me to be hanged; but I have tried them ere this."--_Sadler's +letters during the Northern Insurrection._] + +call us marauders, thieves, and what not; but the side we take we hold +by.--And I will be blithe when my Baron comes to a point which side he +will take, for the castle is a kind of hell, (Our Lady forgive me for +naming such a word in this place!) while he is in his mood, studying +how he may best advantage himself. And now, Heaven be praised, we are +in the open valley, and I may swear a round oath, should aught happen +to provoke it." + +"My friend," said the Sub-Prior, "thou hast little merit in abstaining +from oaths or blasphemy, if it be only out of fear of evil spirits." + +"Nay, I am not quite a Church vassal yet," said the jackman, "and if +you link the curb too tight on a young horse, I promise you he will +rear--Why, it is much for me to forbear old customs on any account +whatever." + +The night being fine, they forded the river at the spot where the +Sacristan met with his unhappy encounter with the spirit. As soon as +they arrived at the gate of the Monastery, the porter in waiting +eagerly exclaimed, "Reverend father, the Lord Abbot is most anxious +for your presence." + +"Let these strangers be carried to the great hall," said the Sub-Prior, +"and be treated with the best by the cellarer; reminding them, however, +of that modesty and decency of conduct which becometh guests in a house +like this." + +"But the Lord Abbot demands you instantly, my venerable brother," said +Father Philip, arriving in great haste. "I have not seen him more +discouraged or desolate of counsel since the field of Pinkie-cleugh +was stricken," + +"I come, my good brother, I come," said Father Eustace. "I pray thee, +good brother, let this youth, Edward Glendinning, be conveyed to the +Chamber of the Novices, and placed under their instructor. God hath +touched his heart, and he proposeth laying aside the vanities of the +world, to become a brother of our holy order; which, if his good parts +be matched with fitting docility and humility, he may one day live to +adorn." + +"My very venerable brother," exclaimed old Father Nicholas, who came +hobbling with a third summons to the Sub-Prior, "I pray thee to hasten +to our worshipful Lord Abbot. The holy patroness be with us! never saw +I Abbot of the House of St. Mary's in such consternation; and yet I +remember me well when Father Ingelram had the news of Flodden-field." + +"I come, I come, venerable brother," said Father Eustace--And having +repeatedly ejaculated "I come!" he at last went to the Abbot in good +earnest. + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Fourth. + + + It is not texts will do it--Church artillery + Are silenced soon by real ordnance, + And canons are but vain opposed to cannon. + Go, coin your crosier, melt your church plate down + Bid the starved soldier banquet in your halls, + And quaff your long-saved hogsheads--Turn them out + Thus primed with your good cheer, to guard your wall, + And they will venture for't.-- + OLD PLAY. + +The Abbot received his counsellor with a tremulous eagerness of +welcome, which announced to the Sub-Prior an extreme agitation of +spirits, and the utmost need of good counsel. There was neither +mazer-dish nor standing-cup upon the little table, at the elbow of his +huge chair of state; his beads alone lay there, and it seemed as if he +had been telling them in his extremity of distress. Beside the beads +was placed the mitre of the Abbot, of an antique form, and blazing +with precious stones, and the rich and highly-embossed crosier rested +against the same table. + +The Sacristan and old Father Nicholas had followed the Sub-Prior into +the Abbot's apartment, perhaps with the hope of learning something of +the important matter which seemed to be in hand.--They were not +mistaken; for, after having ushered in the Sub-Prior, and being +themselves in the act of retiring, the Abbot made them a signal to +remain. + +"My brethren," he said, "it is well known to you with what painful +zeal we have overseen the weighty affairs of this house committed to +our unworthy hand--your bread hath been given to you, and your water +hath been sure--I have not wasted the revenues of the Convent on vain +pleasures, as hunting or hawking, or in change of rich cope or alb, or +in feasting idle bards and jesters, saving those who, according to old +wont, were received in time of Christmas and Easter. Neither have I +enriched either mine own relations nor strange women, at the expense +of the Patrimony." + +"There hath not been such a Lord Abbot," said Father Nicholas, "to +my knowledge, since the days of Abbot Ingelram, who----" + +At that portentous word, which always preluded a long story, the Abbot +broke in. + +"May God have mercy on his soul!--we talk not of him now.--What I +would know of ye, my brethren, is, whether I have, in your mind, +faithfully discharged the duties of mine office?" + +"There has never been subject of complaint," answered the Sub-Prior. + +The Sacristan, more diffuse, enumerated the various acts of indulgence +and kindness which the mild government of Abbot Boniface had conferred +on the brotherhood of Saint Mary's--the _indulgentiae_--the +_gratias_--the _biberes_-the weekly mess of boiled +almonds--the enlarged accommodation of the refectory--the better +arrangement of the cellarage--the improvement of the revenue of the +Monastery--the diminution of the privations of the brethren. + +"You might have added, my brother," said the Abbot, listening with +melancholy acquiescence to the detail of his own merits, "that I +caused to be built that curious screen, which secureth the cloisters +from the north-east wind.--But all these things avail nothing--As we +read in holy Maccabee, _Capta est civitas per voluntatem Dei_. It +hath cost me no little thought, no common toil, to keep these weighty +matters in such order as you have seen them--there was both barn and +binn to be kept full--Infirmary, dormitory, guest-hall, and refectory, +to be looked to--processions to be made, confessions to be heard, +strangers to be entertained, _veniae_ to be granted or refused; +and I warrant me, when every one of you was asleep in your cell, the +Abbot hath lain awake for a full hour by the bell, thinking how these +matters might be ordered seemly and suitably." + +"May we ask, reverend my lord," said the Sub-Prior, "what additional +care has now been thrown upon you, since your discourse seems to point +that way?" + +"Marry, this it is," said the Abbot. "The talk is not now of _biberes_, + +[Footnote: The _biberes, caritas_, and boiled almonds, of which +Abbot Boniface speaks, were special occasions for enjoying luxuries, +afforded to the monks by grants from different sovereigns, or from +other benefactors to the convent. There is one of these charters +called _De Pitancia Centum Librarum_ By this charter, which is +very curious, our Robert Bruce, on the 10th January, and in the +twelfth year of his reign, assigns, out of the customs of Berwick, and +failing them, out of the customs of Edinburgh or Haddington, the sum +of one hundred pounds, at the half-yearly terms of Pentecost and Saint +Martin's in winter, to the abbot and community of the monks of +Melrose. The precise purpose of this annuity is to furnish to each of +the monks of the said monastery, while placed at food in the +refectory, an extra mess of rice boiled with milk, or of almonds, or +peas, or other pulse of that kind which could be procured in the +country. This addition to their commons is to be entitled the King's +Mess. And it is declared, that although any monk should, from some +honest apology, want appetite or inclination to eat of the king's +mess, his share should, nevertheless, be placed on the table with +those of his brethren, and afterwards carried to the gate and given to +the poor. "Neither is it our pleasure," continues the bountiful +sovereign, "that the dinner, which is or ought to be served up to the +said monks according to their ancient rule, should be diminished in +quantity, or rendered inferior in quality, on account of this our +mess, so furnished as aforesaid." It is, moreover, provided, that the +abbot, with the consent of the most sage of his brethren, shall name a +prudent and decent monk for receiving, directing, and expending, all +matters concerning this annuity for the benefit of the community, +agreeably to the royal desire and intention, rendering a faithful +account thereof to the abbot and superiors of the same convent. And +the same charter declares the king's farther pleasure, that the said +men of religion should be bound yearly and for ever, in acknowledgment +of the above donation, to clothe fifteen poor men at the feast of +Saint Martin in winter, and to feed them on the same day, delivering +to each of them four ells of large or broad, or six ells of narrow +cloth, and to each also a new pair of shoes or sandals, according to +their order; and if the said monks shall fail in their engagements or +any of them, it is the king's will that the fault shall be redeemed by +a double performance of what has been omitted, to be executed at the +sight of the chief forester of Ettrick for the time being, and before +the return of Saint Martin's day succeeding that on which the omission +has taken place. + +Of this charter, respecting the pittance of 100_l_ assigned to +furnish the monks of Melrose with a daily mess of boiled rice, +almonds, or other pulse, to mend their commons, the antiquarian reader +will be pleased, doubtless, to see the original. + +CARTA REGIS ROBERTI I. ABBATI ET CONVENTUI DE MELROSS. + +_Carta de Pitancia Centum Librarum._ + +Robertus Dei gracia Rex Scottorum omnibus probis hominibus tocius +terre sue Salutem. Sciatis nos pro salute anime nostre et pro salute +animarum antecessorum et suocessorum nostrorum Regum Scocie Dedisse +Concessisse et hac presenti Carta nostra confirmasse Deo et Beate +Marie virgini et Religiosis viris Abbati et Conventui de Melross et +eorum successoribus in perpetuum Centum Libras Sterlingorum Annui +Redditus singulis annis percipiendas de firmis nostris Burgi Berwici +super. Twedam ad terminos Pentecostis et Sancti Martini in hyeme pro +equali portione vel de nova Custuma nostra Burgi predicti si firme +nostre predicte ad dictam summam pecunie sufficere non poterunt vel de +nova Custuma nostra Burgorum nostrorum de Edenburg et de Hadington Si +firme nostre et Custuma nostra ville Berwici aliquo casu contingente +ad hoc forte non sufficiant. Ita quod dicta summa pecunie Centum +Librarum eis annuatim integre et absque contradictione aliqua plenarie +persolvatur pre cunctis aliis quibuscunque assignacionibus per nos +factis seu faciendis ad inveniendum in perpetunm singulis diebus +cuilibet monacho monasterii predicti comedenti in Refectorio unum +sufficiens ferculum risarum factarum cum lacte, amigdalarum vel +pisarum sive aliorum ciborum consimilis condicionis inventornm in +patria et illud ferculum ferculum Regis vocabitur in eternum. Et si +aliquis monachus ex aliqua causa honesta de dicto ferculo comedere +noluerit vel refici non poterit non minus attamen sibi de dicto +ferculo ministretur et ad portam pro pauperibus deportetur. Nec +volumus quod occasione ferculi nostri predicti prandium dicti +Conventus de quo antiquitus communiter eis deserviri sive ministrari +solebat in aliquo pejoretur seu diminuatur. Volum us insuper et +ordinamus quod Abbas ejusdem monasterii qui pro tempore fuerit de +cousensu saniorum de Conventu specialiter constituat unum monachum +providum et discretum ad recipiendum ordinandum et expendendum totam +summam pecunie memorate pro utilitate conventus secundum votum et +intencionem mentis nostre superius annotatum et ad reddendum fidele +compotum coram Abbate et Maioribus de Conventu singulis annis de +pecunia sic recepta. Et volumus quod dicti religiosi teneantur +annuatim in perpetuum pro predicta donacione nostra ad perpetuam +nostri memoriam vestire quindecim pauperes ad festum Sancti Martini in +hieme et eosdem cibare eodem die liberando eorum cuilibet quatuor +ulnas panni grossi et lati vel sex ulnas panni stricti et eorum +cuilibet unum novum par sotularium de ordine suo. Et si dicti +religiosi in premissis vel aliquo premissorum aliquo anno defecerint +volumus quod illud quod minus perimpletum fuerit dupplicetur diebus +magis necessariis per visum capitalis forestarii nostri de Selkirk, +qui pro tempore fuerit. Et quod dicta dupplicatio fiat ante natale +domini proximo sequens festum Sancti Martini predictum. In cujus rei +testimonium presenti Carte nostre sigillum nostrum precipimus apponi. +Testibus venerabilibus in Christo patribus Willielmo, Johanne, +Willielmo et David Sancti Andree, Glasguensis, Dunkeldensis et +Moraviensis ecclesiarum dei gracia episcopis Bernardo Abbate de +Abirbrothock Cancellario, Duncano, Malisio, et Hugone de Fyf de +Strathin et de Ross, Comitibus Waltero Senescallo Scocie, Jacobo +domini de Duglas et Alexandro Fraser Camerario nostro Socie militibus. +Apud Abirbrothock, decimo die Januarij. Anno Regni nostri vicesimo.] + +or of _caritas_, or of boiled almonds, but of an English band +coming against us from Hexham, commanded by Sir John Foster; nor is it +of the screening us from the east wind, but how to escape Lord James +Stewart, who cometh to lay waste and destroy with his heretic +soldiers." + +"I thought that purpose had been broken by the feud between Semple and +the Kennedies," said the Sub-Prior, hastily. + +"They have accorded that matter at the expense of the church as +usual," said the Abbot; "the Earl of Cassilis is to have the +teind-sheaves of his lands, which were given to the house of +Crossraguel, and he has stricken hands with Stewart, who is now called +Murray.--_Principes convenerunt unum adversus Dominum._--There +are the letters." + +The Sub-Prior took the letters, which had come by an express messenger +from the Primate of Scotland, who still laboured to uphold the +tottering fabric of the system under which he was at length buried, +and, stepping towards the lamp, read them with an air of deep and +settled attention--the Sacristan and Father Nicholas looked as +helplessly at each other, as the denizens of the poultry-yard when the +hawk soars over it. The Abbot seemed bowed down with the extremity of +sorrowful apprehension, but kept his eye timorously fixed on the +Sub-Prior, as if striving to catch some comfort from the expression of +his countenance. When at length he beheld that, after a second intent +perusal of the letters, he remained still silent and full of thought, +he asked him in an anxious tone, "What is to be done?" + +"Our duty must be done," answered the Sub-Prior, "and the rest is in +the hands of God." + +"Our duty--our duty?" answered the Abbot, impatiently; "doubtless we +are to do our duty; but what is that duty? or how will it serve +us?--Will bell, book, and candle, drive back the English heretics? or +will Murray care for psalms and antiphonars? or can I fight for the +Halidome, like Judas Maccabeus, against those profane Nicanors? or +send the Sacristan against this new Holofernes, to bring back his head +in a basket?" + +"True, my Lord Abbot," said the Sub-Prior, "we cannot fight with +carnal weapons, it is alike contrary to our habit and vow; but we can +die for our Convent and for our Order. Besides, we can arm those who +will and can fight. The English are but few in number, trusting, as it +would seem, that they will be joined by Murray, whose march has been +interrupted. If Foster, with his Cumberland and Hexham bandits, +ventures to march into Scotland, to pillage and despoil our House, we +will levy our vassals, and, I trust, shall be found strong enough to +give him battle." + +"In the blessed name of Our Lady," said the Abbot, "think you that I +am Petrus Eremita, to go forth the leader of an host?" + +"Nay," said the Sub-Prior, "let some man skilled in war lead our +people--there is Julian Avenel, an approved soldier." + +"But a scoffer, a debauched person, and, in brief, a man of Belial," +quoth the Abbot. + +"Still," said the monk, "we must use his ministry in that to which he +has been brought up. We can guerdon him richly, and indeed I already +know the price of his service. The English, it is expected, will +presently set forth, hoping here to seize upon Piercie Shafton, whose +refuge being taken with us, they make the pretext of this unheard-of +inroad." + +"Is it even so?" said the Abbot; "I never judged that his body of satin +and his brain of feathers boded us much good." + +"Yet we must have his assistance, if possible," said the Sub-Prior; +"he may interest in our behalf the great Piercie, of whose friendship +he boasts, and that good and faithful Lord may break Foster's purpose. +I will despatch the jackman after him with all speed.--Chiefly, +however, I trust to the military spirit of the land, which will not +suffer peace to be easily broken on the frontier. Credit me, my lord, +it will bring to our side the hands of many, whose hearts may have +gone astray after strange doctrines. The great chiefs and barons will +be ashamed to let the vassals of peaceful monks fight unaided against +the old enemies of Scotland." + +"It may be," said the Abbot, "that Foster will wait for Murray, whose +purpose hitherward is but delayed for a short space." + +"By the rood, he will not," said the Sub-Prior; "we know this Sir John +Foster--a pestilent heretic, he will long to destroy the church--born +a Borderer, he will thirst to plunder her of her wealth--a +Border-warden, he will be eager to ride in Scotland. There are too +many causes to urge him on. If he joins with Murray, he will have at +best but an auxiliary's share of the spoil--if he comes hither before +him, he will reckon on the whole harvest of depredation as his own. +Julian Avenel also has, as I have heard, some spite against Sir John +Foster; they will fight, when they meet, with double determination.-- +Sacristan, send for our bailiff.--Where is the roll of fencible men +liable to do suit and service to the Halidome?--Send off to the Baron +of Meigallot; he can raise threescore horse and better--Say to him the +Monastery will compound with him for the customs of his bridge, which +have been in controversy, if he will show himself a friend at such a +point.--And now, my lord, let us compute our possible numbers, and +those of the enemy, that human blood be not spilled in vain--Let us +therefore calculate----" + +"My brain is dizzied with the emergency," said the poor Abbot--"I am +not, I think, more a coward than others, so far as my own person is +concerned; but speak to me of marching and collecting soldiers, and +calculating forces, and you may as well tell of it to the youngest +novice of a nunnery. But my resolution is taken.--Brethren," he said, +rising up, and coming forward with that dignity which his comely +person enabled him to assume, "hear for the last time the voice of +your Abbot Boniface. I have done for you the best that I could; in +quieter times I had perhaps done better, for it was for quiet that I +sought the cloister, which has been to me a place of turmoil, as much +as if I had sate in the receipt of custom, or ridden forth as leader +of an armed host. But now matters turn worse and worse, and I, as I +grow old, am less able to struggle with them. Also, it becomes me not +to hold a place, whereof the duties, through my default or misfortune, +may be but imperfectly filled by me. Wherefore I have resolved to +demit this mine high office, so that the order of these matters may +presently devolve upon Father Eustatius here present, our well-beloved +Sub-Prior; and I now rejoice that he hath not been provided according +to his merits elsewhere, seeing that I well hope he will succeed to +the mitre and staff which it is my present purpose to lay down." + +"In the name of Our Lady, do nothing hastily, my lord!" said Father +Nicholas--"I do remember that when the worthy Abbot Ingelram, being in +his ninetieth year--for I warrant you he could remember when Benedict +the Thirteenth was deposed--and being ill at ease and bed-rid, the +brethren rounded in his ear that he were better resign his office. And +what said he, being a pleasant man? marry, that while he could crook +his little finger he would keep hold of the crosier with it." + +The Sacristan also strongly remonstrated against the resolution of his +Superior, and set down the insufficiency he pleaded to the native +modesty of his disposition. The Abbot listened in downcast silence; +even flattery could not win his ear. + +Father Eustace took a nobler tone with his disconcerted and dejected +Superior. "My Lord Abbot," he said, "if I have been silent concerning +the virtues with which you have governed this house, do not think that +I am unaware of them. I know that no man ever brought to your high +office a more sincere wish to do well to all mankind; and if your rule +has not been marked with the bold lines which sometimes distinguished +your spiritual predecessors, their faults have equally been strangers +to your character." + +"I did not believe," said the Abbot, turning his looks to Father +Eustace with some surprise, "that you, father, of all men, would have +done me this justice." + +"In your absence," said the Sub-Prior, "I have even done it more +fully. Do not lose the good opinion which all men entertain of you, +by renouncing your office when your care is most needed." + +"But, my brother," said the Abbot, "I leave a more able in my place." + +"That you do not," said Eustace; "because it is not necessary you +should resign, in order to possess the use of whatever experience or +talent I may be accounted master of. I have been long enough in this +profession to know that the individual qualities which any of us may +have, are not his own, but the property of the Community, and only so +far useful when they promote the general advantage. If you care not in +person, my lord, to deal with this troublesome matter, let me implore +you to go instantly to Edinburgh, and make what friends you can in our +behalf, while I in your absence will, as Sub-Prior, do my duty in +defence of the Halidome. If I succeed, may the honour and praise be +yours, and if I fail, let the disgrace and shame be mine own." + +The Abbot mused for a space, and then replied,--"No, Father Eustatius, +you shall not conquer me by your generosity. In times like these, this +house must have a stronger pilotage than my weak hands afford; and he +who steers the vessel must be chief of the crew. Shame were it to +accept the praise of other men's labours; and, in my poor mind, all +the praise which can be bestowed on him who undertakes a task so +perilous and perplexing, is a meed beneath his merits. Misfortune to +him would deprive him of an iota of it! Assume, therefore, your +authority to-night, and proceed in the preparations you judge +necessary. Let the Chapter be summoned to-morrow after we have heard +mass, and all shall be ordered as I have told you. Benedicite, my +brethren!--peace be with you! May the new Abbot-expectant sleep as +sound as he who is about to resign his mitre." + +They retired, affected even to tears. The good Abbot had shown a point +of his character to which they were strangers. Even Father Eustace had +held his spiritual Superior hitherto as a good-humoured, indolent, +self-indulgent man, whose chief merit was the absence of gross faults; +so that this sacrifice of power to a sense of duty, even if a little +alloyed by the meaner motives of fear and apprehended difficulties, +raised him considerably in the Sub-Prior's estimation. He even felt an +aversion to profit by the resignation of the Abbot Boniface, and in a +manner to rise on his ruins; but this sentiment did not long contend +with those which led him to recollect higher considerations. It could +not be denied that Boniface was entirely unfit for his situation in +the present crisis; and the Sub-Prior felt that he himself, acting +merely as a delegate, could not well take the decisive measures which +the time required; the weal of the Community therefore demanded his +elevation. If, besides, there crept in a feeling of a high dignity +obtained, and the native exultation of a haughty spirit called to +contend with the imminent dangers attached to a post of such +distinction, these sentiments were so cunningly blended and +amalgamated with others of a more disinterested nature, that, as the +Sub-Prior himself was unconscious of their agency, we, who have a +regard for him, are not solicitous to detect it. + +The Abbot elect carried himself with more dignity than formerly, when +giving such directions as the pressing circumstances of the times +required; and those who approached him could perceive an unusual +kindling of his falcon eye, and an unusual flush upon his pale and +faded cheek. With briefness and precision he wrote and dictated +various letters to different barons, acquainting them with the +meditated invasion of the Halidome by the English, and conjuring them +to lend aid and assistance as in a common cause. The temptation of +advantage was held out to those whom he judged less sensible of the +cause of honour, and all were urged by the motives of patriotism and +ancient animosity to the English. The time had been when no such +exhortations would have been necessary. But so essential was +Elizabeth's aid to the reformed party in Scotland, and so strong was +that party almost every where, that there was reason to believe a +great many would observe neutrality on the present occasion, even if +they did not go the length of uniting with the English against the +Catholics. + +When Father Eustace considered the number of the immediate vassals +of the church whose aid he might legally command, his heart sunk at the +thoughts of ranking them under the banner of the fierce and profligate +Julian Avenel. + +"Were the young enthusiast Halbert Glendinning to be found," thought +Father Eustace in his anxiety, "I would have risked the battle under +his leading, young as he is, and with better hope of God's blessing. +But the bailiff is now too infirm, nor know I a chief of name whom I +might trust in this important matter better than this Avenel."--He +touched a bell which stood on the table, and commanded Christie of the +Clinthill to be brought before him.--"Thou owest me a life," said he +to that person on his entrance, "and I may do thee another good turn +if thou be'st sincere with me." + +Christie had already drained two standing-cups of wine, which would, on +another occasion, have added to the insolence of his familiarity. But at +present there was something in the augmented dignity of manner of Father +Eustace, which imposed a restraint on him. Yet his answers partook of +his usual character of undaunted assurance. He professed himself willing +to return a true answer to all inquiries. + +"Has the Baron (so styled) of Avenel any friendship with Sir John +Foster, Warden of the West Marches of England?" + +"Such friendship as is between the wild-cat and the terrier," replied +the rider. + +"Will he do battle with him should they meet?" + +"As surely," answered Christie, "as ever cock fought on +Shrovetide-even." + +"And would he fight with Foster in the Church's quarrel?" + +"On any quarrel, or upon no quarrel whatever," replied the jackman. + +"We will then write to him, letting him know, that if upon occasion of +an apprehended incursion by Sir John Foster, he will join his force +with ours, he shall lead our men, and be gratified for doing so to the +extent of his wish.--Yet one word more--Thou didst say thou couldst +find out where the English knight Piercie Shafton has this day fled +to?" + +"That I can, and bring him back too, by fair means or force, as best +likes your reverence." + +"No force must be used upon him. Within what time wilt thou find him +out?" + +"Within thirty hours, so he have not crossed the Lothian firth--If it +is to do you a pleasure, I will set off directly, and wind him as a +sleuth-dog tracks the moss-trooper," answered Christie. + +"Bring him hither then, and thou wilt deserve good at our hands, which +I may soon have free means of bestowing on thee." + +"Thanks to your reverence, I put myself in your reverence's hands. We +of the spear and snaffle walk something recklessly through life; but +if a man were worse than he is, your reverence knows he must live, and +that's not to be done without shifting, I trow." + +"Peace, sir, and begone on thine errand--thou shalt have a letter from +us to Sir Piercie." + +Christie made two steps towards the door; then turning back and +hesitating, like one who would make an impertinent pleasantry if he +dared, he asked what he was to do with the wench Mysie Happer whom the +Southron knight had carried off with him. + +"Am I to bring her hither, please your reverence?" + +"Hither, you malapert knave?" said the churchman; "remember you to +whom you speak?" + +"No offence meant," replied Christie; "but if such is not your will, I +would carry her to Avenel Castle, where a well-favoured wench was +never unwelcome. + +"Bring the unfortunate girl to her father's and break no scurril jests +here," said the Sub-Prior--"See that thou guide her in all safety and +honour." + +"In safety, surely," said the rider, "and in such honour as her +outbreak has left her.--I bid your reverence farewell, I must be on +horse before cock-crow." + +"What, in the dark!--how knowest thou which way to go?" + +"I tracked the knight's horse-tread as far as near to the ford, as we +rode along together," said Christie, "and I observed the track turn to +the north-ward. He is for Edinburgh, I will warrant you--so soon as +daylight comes I will be on the road again. It is a kenspeckle +hoof-mark, for the shoe was made by old Eckie of Cannobie--I would +swear to the curve of the caulker." So saying, he departed. + +"Hateful necessity," said Father Eustace, looking after him, "that +obliges us to use such implements as these! But assailed as we are on +all sides, and by all conditions of men, what alternative is left +us?--But now let me to my most needful task." + +The Abbot elect accordingly sate down to write letters, arrange +orders, and take upon him the whole charge of an institution which +tottered to its fall, with the same spirit of proud and devoted +fortitude wherewith the commander of a fortress, reduced nearly to the +last extremity, calculates what means remain to him to protract the +fatal hour of successful storm. In the meanwhile Abbot Boniface, +having given a few natural sighs to the downfall of the pre-eminence +he had so long enjoyed amongst his brethren, fell fast asleep, leaving +the whole cares and toils of office to his assistant and +[Chapter ending is missing in the original] + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Fifth. + + + And when he came to broken briggs, + He slacked his bow and swam; + And when he came to grass growing, + Set down his feet and ran. + GIL MORRICE. + +We return to Halbert Glendinning, who, as our readers may remember, +took the high road to Edinburgh. His intercourse with the preacher, +Henry Warden, from whom he received a letter at the moment of his +deliverance, had been so brief, that he had not even learned the name +of the nobleman to whose care he was recommended. Something like a +name had been spoken indeed, but he had only comprehended that he was +to meet the chief advancing towards the south, at the head of a party +of horse. When day dawned on his journey he was in the same +uncertainty. A better scholar would have been informed by the address +of the letter, but Halbert had not so far profited by Father Eustace's +lessons as to be able to decipher it. His mother-wit taught him that +he must not, in such uncertain times, be too hasty in asking +information of any one; and when, after a long day's journey, night +surprised him near a little village, he began to be dubious and +anxious concerning the issue of his journey. + +In a poor country, hospitality is generally exercised freely, and +Halbert, when he requested a night's quarters, did nothing either +degrading or extraordinary. The old woman, to whom he made this +request, granted it the more readily, that she thought she saw some +resemblance between Halbert and her son Saunders, who had been killed +in one of the frays so common in the time. It is true, Saunders was a +short square-made fellow, with red hair and a freckled face, and +somewhat bandy-legged, whereas the stranger was of a brown complexion, +tall, and remarkably well-made. Nevertheless, the widow was clear that +there existed a general resemblance betwixt her guest and Saunders, +and kindly pressed him to share of her evening cheer. A pedlar, a man +of about forty years old, was also her guest, who talked with great +feeling of the misery of pursuing such a profession as his in the time +of war and tumult. + +"We think much of knights and soldiers," said he; "but the +pedder-coffe who travels the land has need of more courage than them +all. I am sure he maun face mair risk, God help him. Here have I come +this length, trusting the godly Earl of Murray would be on his march +to the Borders, for he was to have guestened with the Baron of Avenel; +and instead of that comes news that he has gone westlandways about +some tuilzie in Ayrshire. And what to do I wot not; for if I go to +the south without a safeguard, the next bonny rider I meet might ease +me of sack and pack, and maybe of my life to boot; and then, if I try +to strike across the moors, I may be as ill off before I can join +myself to that good Lord's company." + +No one was quicker at catching a hint than Halbert Glendinning. He +said he himself had a desire to go westward. The pedlar looked at him +with a very doubtful air, when the old dame, who perhaps thought her +young guest resembled the umquhile Saunders, not only in his looks, +but in a certain pretty turn to sleight-of-hand, which the defunct was +supposed to have possessed, tipped him the wink, and assured the +pedlar he need have no doubt that her young cousin was a true man. + +"Cousin!" said the pedlar, "I thought you said this youth had been a +stranger." + +"Ill hearing makes ill rehearsing," said the landlady; "he is a +stranger to me by eye-sight, but that does not make him a stranger to +me by blood, more especially seeing his likeness to my son Saunders, +poor bairn." + +The pedlar's scruples and jealousies being thus removed, or at least +silenced, the travellers agreed that they would proceed in company +together the next morning by daybreak, the pedlar acting as a guide to +Glendinning, and the youth as a guard to the pedlar, until they should +fall in with Murray's detachment of horse. It would appear that the +lady never doubted what was to be the event of this compact, for, +taking Glendinning aside, she charged him, "to be moderate with the +puir body, but at all events, not to forget to take a piece of black +say, to make the auld wife a new rokelay." Halbert laughed and took +his leave. + +It did not a little appal the pedlar, when, in the midst of a black +heath, the young man told him the nature of the commission with which +their hostess had charged him. He took heart, however, upon seeing the +open, frank, and friendly demeanor of the youth, and vented his +exclamations on the ungrateful old traitress. "I gave her," he said, +"yesterday-e'en nae farther gane, a yard of that very black say, to +make her a couvre-chef; but I see it is ill done to teach the cat the +way to the kirn." + +Thus set at ease on the intentions of his companion (for in those +happy days the worst was always to be expected from a stranger), the +pedlar acted as Halbert's guide over moss and moor, over hill and many +a dale, in such a direction as might best lead them towards the route +of Murray's party. At length they arrived upon the side of an +eminence, which commanded a distant prospect over a tract of savage +and desolate moorland, marshy and waste--an alternate change of +shingly hill and level morass, only varied by blue stagnant pools of +water. A road scarcely marked winded like a serpent through the +wilderness, and the pedlar, pointing to it, said--"The road from +Edinburgh to Glasgow. Here we must wait, and if Murray and his train +be not already passed by, we shall soon see trace of them, unless some +new purpose shall have altered their resolution; for in these blessed +days no man, were he the nearest the throne, as the Earl of Murray may +be, knows when he lays his head on his pillow at night where it is to +lie upon the following even." + +They paused accordingly and sat down, the pedlar cautiously using for +a seat the box which contained his treasures, and not concealing from +his companion that he wore under his cloak a pistolet hanging at his +belt in case of need. He was courteous, however, and offered Halbert a +share of the provisions which he carried about him for refreshment. +They were of the coarsest kind--oat-bread baked in cakes, oatmeal +slaked with cold water, an onion or two, and a morsel of smoked ham +completed the feast. But such as it was, no Scotsman of the time, had +his rank been much higher than that of Glendinning, would have refused +to share in it, especially as the pedlar produced, with a mysterious +air, a tup's horn, which he carried slung from his shoulders, and +which, when its contents were examined, produced to each party a +clam-shell-full of excellent usquebaugh--a liquor strange to Halbert, +for the strong waters known in the south of Scotland came from France, +and in fact such were but rarely used. The pedlar recommended it as +excellent, said he had procured it in his last visit to the braes of +Doune, where he had securely traded under the safe-conduct of the +Laird of Buchanan. He also set an example to Halbert, by devoutly +emptying the cup "to the speedy downfall of Anti-Christ." + +Their conviviality was scarce ended, ere a rising dust was seen on the +road of which they commanded the prospect, and half a score of +horsemen were dimly descried advancing at considerable speed, their +casques glancing, and the points of their spears twinkling as they +caught a glimpse of the sun. + +"These," said the pedlar, "must be the out-scourers of Murray's party; +let us lie down in the peat-hag, and keep ourselves out of sight." + +"And why so?" said Halbert; "let us rather go down and make a signal +to them." + +"God forbid!" replied the pedlar; "do you ken so ill the customs of +our Scottish nation? That plump of spears that are spurring on so fast +are doubtless commanded by some wild kinsman of Morton, or some such +daring fear-nothing as neither regards God nor man. It is their +business, if they meet with any enemies, to pick quarrels and clear +the way of them; and the chief knows nothing of what happens, coming +up with his more discreet and moderate friends, it may be a full mile +in the rear. Were we to go near these lads of the laird's belt, your +letter would do you little good, and my pack would do me muckle black +ill; they would tirl every steek of claithes from our back, fling us +into a moss-hag with a stone at our heels, naked as the hour that +brought us into this cumbered and sinful world, and neither Murray nor +any other man ever the wiser. But if he did come to ken of it, what +might he help it?--it would be accounted a mere mistake, and there +were all the moan made. O credit me, youth, that when men draw cold +steel on each other in their native country, they neither can nor may +dwell deeply on the offences of those whose swords are useful to +them." + +They suffered, therefore, the vanguard, as it might be termed, of the +Earl of Murray's host to pass forward; and it was not long until a +denser cloud of dust began to arise to the northward. + +"Now," said the pedlar, "let us hurry down the hill; for to tell the +truth," said he, dragging Halbert along earnestly, "a Scottish noble's +march is like a serpent--the head is furnished with fangs, and the +tail hath its sting; the only harmless point of access is the main +body." + +"I will hasten as fast as you," said the youth; "but tell me why the +rearward of such an army should be as dangerous as the van?" + +"Because, as the vanguard consists of their picked wild desperates, +resolute for mischief, such as neither fear God nor regard their +fellow-creatures, but understand themselves bound to hurry from the +road whatever is displeasing to themselves, so the rear-guard consists +of misproud serving-men, who, being in charge of the baggage, take +care to amend by their exactions upon travelling-merchants and others, +their own thefts on their master's property. You will hear the +advanced _enfans perdus_, as the French call them, and so they +are indeed, namely, children of the fall, singing unclean and fulsome +ballads of sin and harlotrie. And then will come on the middle-ward, +when you will hear the canticles and psalms sung by the reforming +nobles, and the gentry, and honest and pious clergy, by whom they are +accompanied. And last of all, you will find in the rear a legend of +godless lackies, palfreniers, and horse-boys, talking of nothing but +dicing, drinking, and drabbing." + +As the pedlar spoke, they had reached the side of the high-road, and +Murray's main body was in sight, consisting of about three hundred +horse, marching with great regularity, and in a closely compacted +body. Some of the troopers wore the liveries of their masters, but +this was not common. Most of them were dressed in such colours as +chance dictated. But the majority, being clad in blue cloth, and the +whole armed with cuirass and back-plate, with sleeves of mail, +gauntlets, and poldroons, and either mailed hose or strong jack-boots, +they had something of a uniform appearance. + +Many of the leaders were clad in complete armour, and all in a certain +half-military dress, which no man of quality in those disturbed times +ever felt himself sufficiently safe to abandon. + +The foremost of this party immediately rode up to the pedlar and to +Halbert Glendinning, and demanded of them who they were. The pedlar +told his story, the young Glendinning exhibited his letter, which a +gentleman carried to Murray. In an instant after, the word "Halt!" was +given through the squadron, and at once the onward heavy tramp, which +seemed the most distinctive attribute of the body, ceased, and was +heard no more. The command was announced that the troop should halt +here for an hour to refresh themselves and their horses. The pedlar +was assured of safe protection, and accommodated with the use of a +baggage horse. But at the same time he was ordered into the rear; a +command which he reluctantly obeyed, and not without wringing +pathetically the hand of Halbert as he separated from him. + +The young heir of Glendearg was in the meanwhile conducted to a plot +of ground more raised, and therefore drier than the rest of the moor. +Here a carpet was flung on the ground by way of table-cloth, and +around it sat the leaders of the party, partaking of an entertainment +as coarse, with relation to their rank, as that which Glendinning had +so lately shared. Murray himself rose as he came forward, and +advanced a step to meet him. + +This celebrated person had in his appearance, as well as in his mind, +much of the admirable qualities of James V. his father. Had not the +stain of illegitimacy rested upon his birth, he would have filled the +Scottish throne with as much honour as any of the Stewart race. But +History, while she acknowledges his high talents, and much that was +princely, nay, royal, in his conduct, cannot forget that ambition led +him farther than honour or loyalty warranted. Brave amongst the +bravest, fair in presence and in favour, skilful to manage the most +intricate affairs, to attach to himself those who were doubtful, to +stun and overwhelm, by the suddenness and intrepidity of his +enterprises, those who were resolute in resistance, he attained, and +as to personal merit certainly deserved, the highest place in the +kingdom. But he abused, under the influence of strong temptation, the +opportunities which his sister Mary's misfortunes and imprudence threw +in his way; he supplanted his sovereign and benefactress in her power, +and his history affords us one of those mixed characters, in which +principle was so often sacrificed to policy, that we must condemn the +statesman while we pity and regret the individual. Many events in his +life gave likelihood to the charge that he himself aimed at the crown; +and it is too true, that he countenanced the fatal expedient of +establishing an English, that is a foreign and a hostile interest, in +the councils of Scotland. But his death may be received as an +atonement for his offences, and may serve to show how much more safe +is the person of a real patriot, than that of the mere head of a +faction, who is accounted answerable for the offences of his meanest +attendants. + +When Murray approached, the young rustic was naturally abashed at the +dignity of his presence. The commanding form and the countenance to +which high and important thoughts were familiar, the features which +bore the resemblance of Scotland's long line of kings, were well +calculated to impress awe and reverence. His dress had little to +distinguish him from the high-born nobles and barons by whom he was +attended. A buff-coat, richly embroidered with silken lace, supplied +the place of armour; and a massive gold chain, with its medal, hung +round his neck. His black velvet bonnet was decorated with a string of +large and fair pearls, and with a small tufted feather; a long heavy +sword was girt to his side, as the familiar companion of his hand. He +wore gilded spurs on his boots, and these completed his equipment. + +"This letter," he said, "is from the godly preacher of the word, Henry +Warden, young man? is it not so?" Halbert answered in the affirmative. +"And he writes to us, it would seem, in some strait, and refers us to +you for the circumstances. Let us know, I pray you, how things stand +with him." + +In some perturbation Halbert Glendinning gave an account of the +circumstances which had accompanied the preacher's imprisonment. When +he came to the discussion of the _handfasting_ engagement, he was +struck with the ominous and displeased expression of Murray's brows, +and, contrary to all prudential and politic rule, seeing something was +wrong, yet not well aware what that something was, had almost stopped +short in his narrative. + +"What ails the fool?" said the Earl, drawing his dark-red eyebrows +together, while the same dusky glow kindled on his brow--"Hast thou not +learned to tell a true tale without stammering?" + +"So please you," answered Halbert, with considerable address, "I have +never before spoken in such a presence." + +"He seems a modest youth," said Murray, turning to his next attendant, +"and yet one who in a good cause will neither fear friend nor +foe.--Speak on, friend, and speak freely." + +Halbert then gave an account of the quarrel betwixt Julian Avenel and +the preacher, which the Earl, biting his lip the while, compelled +himself to listen to as a thing of indifference. At first he appeared +even to take the part of the Baron. + +"Henry Warden," he said, "is too hot in his zeal. The law both of God +and man maketh allowance for certain alliances, though not strictly +formal, and the issue of such may succeed." + +This general declaration he expressed, accompanying it with a glance +around upon the few followers who were present at this interview. The +most of them answered--"There is no contravening that;" but one or two +looked on the ground, and were silent. Murray then turned again to +Glendinning, commanding him to say what next chanced, and not to omit +any particular. When he mentioned the manner in which Julian had cast +from him his concubine, Murray drew a deep breath, set his teeth hard, +and laid his hand on the hilt of his dagger. Casting his eyes once +more around the circle, which was now augmented by one or two of the +reformed preachers, he seemed to devour his rage in silence, and again +commanded Halbert to proceed. When he came to describe how Warden had +been dragged to a dungeon, the Earl seemed to have found the point at +which he might give vent to his own resentment, secure of the sympathy +and approbation of all who were present. "Judge you," he said, looking +to those around him, "judge you, my peers, and noble gentlemen of +Scotland, betwixt me and this Julian Avenel--he hath broken his own +word, and hath violated my safe-conduct--and judge you also, my +reverend brethren, he hath put his hand forth upon a preacher of the +gospel, and perchance may sell his blood to the worshippers of +Anti-Christ!" + +"Let him die the death of a traitor," said the secular chiefs, "and +let his tongue be struck through with the hangman's fiery iron to +avenge his perjury!" + +"Let him go down to his place with Baal's priests," said the preachers, +"and be his ashes cast into Tophet!" + +Murray heard them with the smile of expected revenge; yet it is +probable that the brutal treatment of the female, whose circumstances +somewhat resembled those of the Earl's own mother, had its share in +the grim smile which curled his sun-burnt cheek and its haughty lip. +To Halbert Glendinning, when his narrative was finished, he spoke with +great kindness. + +"He is a bold and gallant youth," said he to those around, "and formed +of the stuff which becomes a bustling time. There are periods when men's +spirits shine bravely through them. I will know something more of him." + +He questioned him more particularly concerning the Baron of Avenel's +probable forces--the strength of his castle--the dispositions of his +next heir, and this brought necessarily forward the sad history of his +brother's daughter, Mary Avenel, which was told with an embarrassment +that did not escape Murray. + +"Ha! Julian Avenel," he said, "and do you provoke my resentment, when +you have so much more reason to deprecate my justice! I knew Walter +Avenel, a true Scotsman and a good soldier. Our sister, the Queen, +must right his daughter; and were her land restored, she would be a +fitting bride to some brave man who may better merit our favour than +the traitor Julian."--Then looking at Halbert, he said, "Art thou of +gentle blood, young man?" + +Halbert, with a faltering and uncertain voice, began to speak of his +distant pretensions to claim a descent from the ancient Glendonwynes +of Galloway, when Murray interrupted him with a smile. + +"Nay--nay--leave pedigrees to bards and heralds. In our days, each, +man is the son of his own deeds. The glorious light of reformation +hath shone alike on prince and peasant; and peasant as well as prince +may be illustrated by fighting in its defence. It is a stirring world, +where all may advance themselves who have stout hearts and strong +arms. Tell me frankly why thou hast left thy father's house." + +Halbert Glendinning made a frank confession of his duel with Piercie +Shafton, and mentioned his supposed death. + +"By my hand," said Murray, "thou art a bold sparrow-hawk, to match +thee so early with such a kite as Piercie Shafton. Queen Elizabeth +would give her glove filled with gold crowns to know that meddling +coxcomb to be under the sod.--Would she not, Morton?" + +"Ay, by my word, and esteem her glove a better gift than the crowns," +replied Morton, "which few Border lads like this fellow will esteem +just valuation." + +"But what shall we do with this young homicide?" said Murray; "what +will our preachers say?" + +"Tell them of Moses and of Benaiah," said Morton; "it is but the smiting +of an Egyptian when all is said out." + +"Let it be so," said Murray, laughing; "but we will bury the tale, as +the prophet did the body, in the sand. I will take care of this +swankie.--Be near to us, Glendinning, since that is thy name. We +retain thee as a squire of our household. The master of our horse will +see thee fully equipped and armed." + +During the expedition which he was now engaged in, Murray found +several opportunities of putting Glendinning's courage and presence of +mind to the test, and he began to rise so rapidly in his esteem, that +those who knew the Earl considered the youth's fortune as certain. One +step only was wanting to raise him to a still higher degree of +confidence and favour--it was the abjuration of the Popish religion. +The ministers who attended upon Murray and formed his chief support +amongst the people, found an easy convert in Halbert Glendinning, who, +from his earliest days, had never felt much devotion towards the +Catholic faith, and who listened eagerly to more reasonable views of +religion. By thus adopting the faith of his master, he rose higher in +his favour, and was constantly about his person during his prolonged +stay in the west of Scotland, which the intractability of those whom +the Earl had to deal with, protracted from day to day, and week to +week. + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Sixth. + + + Faint the din of battle bray'd + Distant down the hollow wind; + War and terror fled before, + Wounds and death were left behind. + PENROSE. + +The autumn of the year was well advanced, when the Earl of Morton, +one morning, rather unexpectedly, entered the antechamber of Murray, in +which Halbert Glendinning was in waiting. + +"Call your master, Halbert," said the Earl; "I have news for him from +Teviotdale; and for you too, Glendinning.--News! news! my Lord of +Murray!" he exclaimed at the door of the Earl's bedroom; "come forth +instantly." The Earl appeared, and greeted his ally, demanding eagerly +his tidings. + +"I have had a sure friend with me from the south," said Morton; "he +has been at Saint Mary's Monastery, and brings important tidings." "Of +what complexion?" said Murray, "and can you trust the bearer?" "He is +faithful, on my life," said Morton; "I wish all around your Lordship +may prove equally so." + +"At what, and whom, do you point?" demanded Murray. + +"Here is the Egyptian of trusty Halbert Glendinning, our Southland +Moses, come alive again, and flourishing, gay and bright as ever, in +that Teviotdale Goshen, the Halidome of Kennaquhair." + +"What mean you, my lord?" said Murray. + +"Only that your new henchman has put a false tale upon you. Piercie +Shafton is alive and well; by the same token that the gull is thought +to be detained there by love to a miller's daughter, who roamed the +country with him in disguise." + +"Glendinning," said Murray, bending his brow into his darkest frown, +"thou hast not, I trust, dared to bring me a lie in thy mouth, in +order to win my confidence?" + +"My lord," said Halbert, "I am incapable of a lie. I should choke on +one were my life to require that I pronounced it. I say, that this +sword of my father was through the body--the point came out behind his +back--the hilt pressed upon his breast-bone. And I will plunge it as +deep in the body of any one who shall dare to charge me with +falsehood." + +"How, fellow!" said Morton, "wouldst thou beard a nobleman?" + +"Be silent, Halbert," said Murray, "and you, my Lord of Morton, forbear +him. I see truth written on his brow." + +"I wish the inside of the manuscript may correspond with the +superscription," replied his more suspicious ally. "Look to it, my +lord, you will one day lose your life by too much confidence." + +"And you will lose your friends by being too readily suspicious," +answered Murray. "Enough of this--let me hear thy tidings." + +"Sir John Foster," said Morton, "is about to send a party into Scotland +to waste the Halidome." + +"How! without waiting my presence and permission?" said Murray--"he is +mad--will he come as an enemy into the Queen's country?" + +"He has Elizabeth's express orders," answered Morton, "and they are +not to be trifled with. Indeed, his march has been more than once +projected and laid aside during the time we have been here, and has +caused much alarm at Kennaquhair. Boniface, the old Abbot, has +resigned, and whom think you they have chosen in his place?" + +"No one surely," said Murray; "they would presume to hold no election +until the Queen's pleasure and mine were known?" + +Morton shrugged his shoulders--"They have chosen the pupil of old +Cardinal Beatoun, that wily determined champion of Rome, the +bosom-friend of our busy Primate of Saint Andrews. Eustace, late the +Sub-Prior of Kennaquhair, is now its Abbot, and, like a second Pope +Julius, is levying men and making musters to fight with Foster if he +comes forward." + +"We must prevent that meeting," said Murray, hastily; "whichever +party wins the day, it were a fatal encounter for us--Who commands the +troop of the Abbot?" + +"Our faithful old friend, Julian Avenel, nothing less," answered Morton. + +"Glendinning," said Murray, "sound trumpets to horse directly, and let +all who love us get on horseback without delay--Yes, my lord, this +were indeed a fatal dilemma. If we take part with our English friends, +the country will cry shame on us--the very old wives will attack us +with their rocks and spindles--the very stones of the street will rise +up against us--we cannot set our face to such a deed of infamy. And my +sister, whose confidence I already have such difficulty in preserving, +will altogether withdraw it from me. Then, were we to oppose the +English Warden, Elizabeth would call it a protecting of her enemies +and what not, and we should lose her." + +"The she-dragon," said Morton, "is the best card in our pack; and yet +I would not willingly stand still and see English blades carve Scots +flesh--What say you to loitering by the way, marching far and easy for +fear of spoiling our horses? They might then fight dog fight bull, +fight Abbot fight archer, and no one could blame us for what chanced +when we were not present." + +"All would blame us, James Douglas," replied Murray; "we should lose +both sides--we had better advance with the utmost celerity, and do +what we can to keep the peace betwixt them.--I would the nag that +brought Piercie Shafton hither had broken his neck over the highest +heuch in Northumberland!--He is a proper coxcomb to make all this +bustle about, and to occasion perhaps a national war!" + +"Had we known in time," said Douglas, "we might have had him privily +waited upon as he entered the Borders; there are strapping lads enough +would have rid us of him for the lucre of his spur-whang. [Footnote: +_Spur-whang_--Spur-leather.] But to the saddle, James Stewart, since +so the phrase goes. I hear your trumpets. Bound to horse and away--we +shall soon see which nag is best breathed." + +Followed by a train of about three hundred well-mounted men-at-arms, +these two powerful barons directed their course to Dumfries, and from +thence eastward to Teviotdale, marching at a rate which, as Morton had +foretold, soon disabled a good many of their horses, so that when they +approached the scene of expected action, there were not above two +hundred of their train remaining in a body, and of these most were +mounted on steeds which had been sorely jaded. + +They had hitherto been amused and agitated by various reports +concerning the advance of the English soldiers, and the degree of +resistance which the Abbot was able to oppose to them. But when they +were six or seven miles from Saint Mary's of Kennaquhair, a gentleman +of the country, whom Murray had summoned to attend him, and on whose +intelligence he knew he could rely, arrived at the head of two or +three servants, "bloody with spurring, fiery red with haste." +According to his report, Sir John Foster, after several times +announcing, and as often delaying, his intended incursion, had at last +been so stung with the news that Piercie Shafton was openly residing +within the Halidome, that he determined to execute the commands of his +mistress, which directed him, at every risk, to make himself master of +the Euphuist's person. The Abbot's unceasing exertions had collected a +body of men almost equal in number to those of the English Warden, but +less practised in arms. They were united under the command of Julian +Avenel, and it was apprehended they would join battle upon the banks +of a small stream which forms the verge of the Halidome. + +"Who knows the place?" said Murray. + +"I do, my lord," answered Glendinning. + +"'Tis well," said the Earl; "take a score of the best-mounted +horse--make what haste thou canst, and announce to them that I am +coming up instantly with a strong power, and will cut to pieces, +without mercy, whichever party strikes the first blow.--Davidson," +said he to the gentleman who brought the intelligence, "thou shalt be +my guide.--Hie thee on, Glendinning--Say to Foster, I conjure him, as +he respects his mistress's service, that he will leave the matter in +my hands. Say to the Abbot, I will burn the Monastery over his head, +if he strikes a stroke till I come--Tell the dog, Julian Avenel, that +he hath already one deep score to settle with me--I will set his head +on the top of the highest pinnacle of Saint Mary's, if he presume to +open another. Make haste, and spare not the spur for fear of spoiling +horse-flesh." + +"Your bidding shall be obeyed, my lord," said Glendinning; and +choosing those whose horses were in best plight to be his attendants, +he went off as fast as the jaded state of their cavalry permitted. +Hill and hollow vanished from under the feet of the chargers. + +They had not ridden half the way, when they met stragglers coming off +from the field, whose appearance announced that the conflict was +begun. Two supported in their arms a third, their elder brother, who +was pierced with an arrow through the body. Halbert, who knew them to +belong to the Halidome, called them by their names, and questioned +them of the state of the affray; but just then, in spite of their +efforts to retain him in the saddle, their brother dropped from the +horse, and they dismounted in haste to receive his last breath. From +men thus engaged, no information was to be obtained. Glendinning, +therefore, pushed on with his little troop, the more anxiously, as he +perceived other stragglers, bearing Saint Andrew's cross upon their +caps and corslets, flying apparently from the field of battle. Most +of these, when they were aware of a body of horsemen approaching on +the road, held to the one hand or the other, at such a distance as +precluded coming to speech of them. Others, whose fear was more +intense, kept the onward road, galloping wildly as fast as their +horses could carry them, and when questioned, only glared without +reply on those who spoke to them, and rode on without drawing bridle. +Several of these were also known to Halbert, who had therefore no +doubt, from the circumstances in which he met them, that the men of +the Halidome were defeated. He became now unspeakably anxious +concerning the fate of his brother, who, he could not doubt, must have +been engaged in the affray. He therefore increased the speed of his +horse, so that not above five or six of his followers could keep up +with him. At length he reached a little hill, at the descent of which, +surrounded by a semi-circular sweep of a small stream, lay the plain +which had been the scene of the skirmish. + +It was a melancholy spectacle. War and terror, to use the expression +of the poet, had rushed on to the field, and left only wounds and +death behind them. The battle had been stoutly contested, as was +almost always the case with these Border skirmishes, where ancient +hatred, and mutual injuries, made men stubborn in maintaining the +cause of their conflict. Towards the middle of the plain, there lay +the bodies of several men who had fallen in the very act of grappling +with the enemy; and there were seen countenances which still bore the +stern expression of unextinguishable hate and defiance, hands which +clasped the hilt of the broken falchion, or strove in vain to pluck +the deadly arrow from the wound. Some were wounded, and, cowed of the +courage they had lately shown, were begging aid, and craving water, in +a tone of melancholy depression, while others tried to teach the +faltering tongue to pronounce some half-forgotten prayer, which, even +when first learned, they had but half understood. Halbert, uncertain +what course he was next to pursue, rode through the plain to see if, +among the dead or wounded, he could discover any traces of his brother +Edward. He experienced no interruption from the English. A distant +cloud of dust announced that they were still pursuing the scattered +fugitives, and he guessed, that to approach them with his followers, +until they were again under some command, would be to throw away his +own life, and that of his men, whom the victors would instantly +confound with the Scots, against whom they had been successful. He +resolved, therefore, to pause until Murray came up with his forces, to +which he was the more readily moved, as he heard the trumpets of the +English Warden sounding the retreat, and recalling from the pursuit. +He drew his men together, and made a stand in an advantageous spot of +ground, which had been occupied by the Scots in the beginning of the +action, and most fiercely disputed while the skirmish lasted. + +While he stood here, Halbert's ear was assailed by the feeble moan of +a woman, which he had not expected to hear amid that scene, until the +retreat of the foes had permitted the relations of the slain to +approach, for the purpose of paying them the last duties. He looked +with anxiety, and at length observed, that by the body of a knignt in +bright armour, whose crest, though soiled and broken, still showed the +marks of rank and birth, there sat a female wrapped in a horseman's +cloak, and holding something pressed against her bosom, which he soon +discovered to be a child. He glanced towards the English. They +advanced not, and the continued and prolonged sound of their trumpets, +with the shouts of the leaders, announced that their powers would not +be instantly re-assembled. He had, therefore, a moment to look after +this unfortunate woman. He gave his horse to a spearman as he +dismounted, and, approaching the unhappy female, asked her, in the +most soothing tone he could assume, whether he could assist her in her +distress. The mourner made him no direct answer; but endeavouring, +with a trembling and unskilful hand, to undo the springs of the visor +and gorget, said, in a tone of impatient grief, "Oh, he would recover +instantly could I but give him air--land and living, life and honour, +would I give for the power of undoing these cruel iron platings that +suffocate him!" He that would soothe sorrow must not argue on the +vanity of the most deceitful hopes. The body lay as that of one whose +last draught of vital air had been drawn, and who must never more have +concern with the nether sky. But Halbert Glendinning failed not to +raise the visor and cast loose the gorget, when, to his great +surprise, he recognized the pale face of Julian Avenel. His last fight +was over, the fierce and turbid spirit had departed in the strife in +which it had so long delighted. + +"Alas! he is gone," said Halbert, speaking to the young woman, in whom +he had now no difficulty of knowing the unhappy Catherine. + +"Oh, no, no, no!" she reiterated, "do not say so--he is not dead--he +is but in a swoon. I have lain as long in one myself--and then his +voice would arouse me, when he spoke kindly, and said, Catherine, look +up for my sake--And look up, Julian, for mine!" she said, addressing +the senseless corpse; "I know you do but counterfeit to frighten me, +but I am not frightened," she added, with an hysterical attempt to +laugh; and then instantly changing her tone, entreated him to "speak, +were it but to curse my folly. Oh, the rudest word you ever said to +me would now sound like the dearest you wasted on me before I gave you +all. Lift him up," she said, "lift him up, for God's sake!--have you +no compassion? He promised to wed me if I bore him a boy, and this +child is so like to its father!--How shall he keep his word, if you do +not help me to awaken him?--Christie of the Clinthill, Rowley, +Hutcheon! ye were constant at his feast, but ye fled from him at the +fray, false villains as ye are!" + +"Not I, by Heaven!" said a dying man, who made some shift to raise +himself on his elbow, and discovered to Halbert the well-known +features of Christie; "I fled not a foot, and a man can but fight +while his breath lasts--mine is going fast.--So, youngster," said he, +looking at Glendinning, and seeing his military dress, "thou hast +ta'en the basnet at last? it is a better cap to live in than die in. I +would chance had sent thy brother here instead--there was good in +him--but thou art as wild, and wilt soon be as wicked as myself." + +"God forbid!" said Halbert, hastily. + +"Marry, and amen, with all my heart," said the wounded man, "there +will be company enow without thee where I am going. But God be praised +I had no hand in that wickedness," said he, looking to poor Catherine; +and with some exclamation in his mouth, that sounded betwixt a prayer +and a curse, the soul of Christie of the Clinthill took wing to the +last account. + +Deeply wrapt in the painful interest which these shocking events had +excited, Glendinning forgot for a moment his own situation and duties, +and was first recalled to them by a trampling of horse, and the cry of +Saint George for England, which the English soldiers still continued +to use. His handful of men, for most of the stragglers had waited for +Murray's coming up, remained on horseback, holding their lances +upright, having no command either to submit or resist. + +"There stands our Captain," said one of them, as a strong party of +English came up, the vanguard of Foster's troop. + +"Your Captain! with his sword sheathed, and on foot in the presence of +his enemy? a raw soldier, I warrant him," said the English leader. +"So! ho! young man, is your dream out, and will you now answer me if +you will fight or fly?" + +"Neither," answered Halbert Glendinning, with great tranquillity. + +"Then throw down thy sword and yield thee," answered the Englishman. + +"Not till I can help myself no otherwise," said Halbert, with the same +moderation of tone and manner. + +"Art thou for thine own hand, friend, or to whom dost thou owe +service?" demanded the English Captain. + +"To the noble Earl of Murray." + +"Then thou servest," said the Southron, "the most disloyal nobleman +who breathes--false both to England and Scotland." + +"Thou liest," said Glendinning, regardless of all consequences. + +"Ha! art thou so hot how, and wert so cold but a minute since? I lie, +do I? Wilt thou do battle with me on that quarrel?" + +"With one to one--one to two--or two to five, as you list," said +Halbert Glendinning; "grant me but a fair field." + +"That thou shalt have.--Stand back, my mates," said the brave +Englishman. "If I fall, give him fair play, and let him go off free +with his people." + +"Long life to the noble Captain!" cried the soldiers, as impatient to +see the duel, as if it had been a bull-baiting. + +"He will have a short life of it, though," said the sergeant, "if he, +an old man of sixty, is to fight, for any reason, or for no reason, +with every man he meets, and especially the young fellows he might be +father to.--And here comes the Warden besides to see the sword-play." + +In fact, Sir John Foster came up with a considerable body of his +horsemen, just as his Captain, whose age rendered him unequal to the +combat with so strong and active a youth as Glendinning, was deprived +of his sword. + +"Take it up for shame, old Stawarth Bolton," said the English Warden; +"and thou, young man, tell me who and what thou art?" + +"A follower of the Earl of Murray, who bore his will to your honour," +answered Glendinning,--"but here he comes to say it himself; I see the +van of his horsemen come over the hills." + +"Get into order, my masters," said Sir John Foster to his followers; +"you that have broken your spears, draw your swords. We are something +unprovided for a second field, but if yonder dark cloud on the hill +edge bring us foul weather, we must bear as bravely as our broken +cloaks will bide it. Meanwhile, Stawarth, we have got the deer we +have hunted for--here is Piercie Shafton hard and fast betwixt two +troopers." + +"Who, that lad?" said Bolton; "he is no more Piercie Shafton than I +am. He hath his gay cloak indeed--but Piercie Shafton is a round dozen +of years older than that slip of roguery. I have known him since he +was thus high. Did you never see him in the tilt-yard or in the +presence?" + +"To the devil with such vanities!" said Sir John Foster; "when had I +leisure for them or any thing else? During my whole life has she kept +me to this hangman's office, chasing thieves one day and traitors +another, in daily fear of my life; the lance never hung up in the +hall, the foot never out of the stirrup, the saddles never off my +nags' backs; and now, because I have been mistaken in the person of a +man I never saw, I warrant me, the next letters from the Privy Council +will rate me as I were a dog--a man were better dead than thus slaved +and harassed." + +A trumpet interrupted Foster's complaints, and a Scottish pursuivant +who attended, declared "that the noble Earl of Murray desired, in all +honour and safety, a personal conference with Sir John Foster, midway +between their parties, with six of company in each, and ten free +minutes to come and go." + +"And now," said the Englishman, "comes another plague. I must go speak +with yonder false Scot, and he knows how to frame his devices, to cast +dust in the eyes of a plain man, as well as ever a knave in the north. +I am no match for him in words, and for hard blows we are but too ill +provided.--Pursuivant, we grant the conference--and you, Sir +Swordsman," (speaking to young Glendinning,) "draw off with your +troopers to your own party--march--attend your Earl's +trumpet.--Stawarth Bolton, put our troop in order, and be ready to +move forward at the wagging of a finger.--Get you gone to your own +friends, I tell you, Sir Squire, and loiter not here." + +Notwithstanding this peremptory order, Halbert Glendinning could not +help stopping to cast a look upon the unfortunate Catherine, who lay +insensible of the danger and of the trampling of so many horses around +her, insensible, as the second glance assured him, of all and forever. +Glendinning almost rejoiced when he saw that the last misery of life +was over, and that the hoofs of the war-horses, amongst which he was +compelled to leave her, could only injure and deface a senseless +corpse. He caught the infant from her arms, half ashamed of the shout +of laughter which rose on all sides, at seeing an armed man in such a +situation assume such an unwonted and inconvenient burden. + +"Shoulder your infant!" cried a harquebusier. + +"Port your infant!" said a pikeman. + +"Peace, ye brutes," said Stawarth Bolton, "and respect humanity in +others if you have none yourselves. I pardon the lad having done some +discredit to my gray hairs, when I see him take care of that helpless +creature, which ye would have trampled upon as if ye had been littered +of bitch-wolves, not born of women." + +While this passed, the leaders on either side met in the neutral space +betwixt the forces of either, and the Earl accosted the English +Warden: + +"Is this fair or honest usage, Sir John, or for whom do you hold the +Earl of Morton and myself, that you ride in Scotland with arrayed +banner, fight, slay, and make prisoners at your own pleasure? Is it +well done, think you, to spoil our land and shed our blood, after the +many proofs we have given to your mistress of our devotion due to her +will, saving always the allegiance due to our own sovereign?" + +"My Lord of Murray," answered Foster, "all the world knows you to be a +man of quick ingine and deep wisdom, and these several weeks you have +held me in hand with promising to arrest my sovereign mistress's +rebel, this Piercie Shafton of Wilverton, and you have never kept your +word, alleging turmoils in the west, and I wot not what other causes +of hinderance. Now, since he has had the insolence to return hither, +and live openly within ten miles of England, I could no longer, in +plain duty to my mistress and queen, tarry upon your successive +delays, and therefore I have used her force to take her rebel, by the +strong hand, wherever I can find him." + +"And is Piercie Shafton in your hands, then?" said the Earl of Murray. +"Be aware that I may not, without my own great shame, suffer you to +remove him hence without doing battle." + +"Will you, Lord Earl, after all the advantages you have received at the +hands of the Queen of England, do battle in the cause of her rebel?" said +Sir John Foster. + +"Not so, Sir John," answered the Earl, "but I will fight to the death in +defence of the liberties of our free kingdom of Scotland." + +"By my faith," said Sir John Foster, "I am well content--my sword is +not blunted with all it has done yet this day." + +"By my honour, Sir John," said Sir George Heron of Chipchase, "there +is but little reason we should fight these Scottish Lords e'en now, +for I hold opinion with old Stawarth Bolton, and believe yonder +prisoner to be no more Piercie Shafton than he is the Earl of +Northumberland; and you were but ill advised to break the peace +betwixt the countries for a prisoner of less consequence than that gay +mischief-maker." + +"Sir George," replied Foster, "I have often heard you herons are +afraid of hawks--Nay, lay not hand on sword, man--I did but jest; and +for this prisoner, let him be brought up hither, that we may see who +or what he is--always under assurance, my Lords," he continued, +addressing the Scots. + +"Upon our word and honour," said Morton, "we will offer no violence." + +The laugh turned against Sir John Foster considerably, when the +prisoner, being brought up, proved not only a different person from +Sir Piercie Shafton, but a female in man's attire. + +"Pluck the mantle from the quean's face, and cast her to the horse-boys," +said Foster; "she has kept such company ere now, I warrant." + +Even Murray was moved to laughter, no common thing with him, at the +disappointment of the English Warden; but he would not permit any +violence to be offered to the fair Molinara, who had thus a second +time rescued Sir Piercie Shafton at her own personal risk. + +"You have already done more mischief than you can well answer," said +the Earl to the English Warden, "and it were dishonour to me should I +permit you to harm a hair of this young woman's head." + +"My lord," said Morton, "if Sir John will ride apart with me but for +one moment, I will show him such reasons as shall make him content to +depart, and to refer this unhappy day's work to the judgment of the +Commissioners nominated to try offences on the Border." + +He then led Sir John Foster aside, and spoke to him in this +manner:--"Sir John Foster, I much marvel that a man who knows your +Queen Elizabeth as you do, should not know that, if you hope any thing +from her, it must be for doing her useful service, not for involving +her in quarrels with her neighbours without any advantage. Sir Knight, +I will speak frankly what I know to be true. Had you seized the true +Piercie Shafton by this ill-advised inroad; and had your deed +threatened, as most likely it might, a breach betwixt the countries, +your politic princess and her politic council would rather have +disgraced Sir John Foster than entered into war in his behalf. But now +that you have stricken short of your aim, you may rely on it you will +have little thanks for carrying the matter farther. I will work thus +far on the Earl of Murray, that he will undertake to dismiss Sir +Piercie Shafton from the realm of Scotland.--Be well advised, and let +the matter now pass off--you will gain nothing by farther violence, +for if we fight, you as the fewer and the weaker through your former +action, will needs have the worse." + +Sir John Foster listened with his head declining on his breast-plate. + +"It is a cursed chance," he said, "and I shall have little thanks for +my day's work." + +He then rode up to Murray, and said, that, in deference to his Lordship's +presence and that of my Lord of Morton, he had come to the resolution of +withdrawing himself, with his power, without farther proceedings. + +"Stop there, Sir John Foster," said Murray; "I cannot permit you to +retire in safety, unless you leave some one who may be surety to +Scotland, that the injuries you have at present done us may be fully +accounted for--you will reflect, that by permitting your retreat, I +become accountable to my Sovereign, who will demand a reckoning of me +for the blood of her subjects, if I suffer those who shed it to depart +so easily." + +"It shall never be told in England," said the Warden, "that John +Foster gave pledges like a subdued man, and that on the very field on +which he stands victorious.--But," he added, after a moment's pause, +"if Stawarth Bolton wills to abide with you on his own free choice, I +will say nothing against it; and, as I bethink me, it were better he +should stay to see the dismissal of this same Piercie Shafton." + +"I receive him as your hostage, nevertheless, and shall treat him as +such," said the Earl of Murray. But Foster, turning away as if to give +directions to Bolton and his men, affected not to hear this +observation. + +"There rides a faithful servant of his most beautiful and Sovereign +Lady," said Murray aside to Morton. "Happy man! he knows not whether +the execution of her commands may not cost him his head; and yet he is +most certain that to leave them unexecuted will bring disgrace and +death without reprieve. Happy are they who are not only subjected to +the caprices of Dame Fortune, but held bound to account and be +responsible for them, and that to a sovereign as moody and fickle as +her humorous ladyship herself!" + +"We also have a female Sovereign, my lord," said Morton. + +"We have so, Douglas," said the Earl,--with a suppressed sigh; "but it +remains to be seen how long a female hand can hold the reins of power +in a realm so wild as ours. We will now go on to Saint Mary's, and see +ourselves after the state of that House.--Glendinning, look to that +woman, and protect her.--What the fiend, man, hast thou got in thine +arms?--an infant as I live!--where couldst thou find such a charge, at +such a place and moment?" + +Halbert Glendinning briefly told the story. The Earl rode forward to +the place where the body of Julian Avenel lay, with his unhappy +companion's arms wrapped around him like the trunk of an uprooted oak +borne down by the tempest with all its ivy garlands. Both were cold +dead. Murray was touched in an unwonted degree, remembering, perhaps, +his own birth. "What have they to answer for, Douglas," he said, "who +thus abuse the sweetest gifts of affection?" + +The Earl of Morton, unhappy in his marriage, was a libertine in his +amours. + +"You must ask that question of Henry Warden, my lord, or of John +Knox--I am but a wild counsellor in women's matters." + +"Forward to Saint Mary's," said the Earl; "pass the word +on--Glendinning, give the infant to this same female cavalier, and let +it be taken charge of. Let no dishonour be done to the dead bodies, +and call on the country to bury or remove them.--Forward, I say, my +masters!" + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Seventh. + + + Gone to be married?--Gone to swear a peace! + +KING JOHN + +The news of the lost battle, so quickly carried by the fugitives to +the village and convent, had spread the greatest alarm among the +inhabitants. The Sacristan and other monks counselled flight; the +Treasurer recommended that the church plate should be offered as a +tribute to bribe the English officer; the Abbot alone was unmoved and +undaunted. + +"My brethren," he said, "since God has not given our people victory in +the combat, it must be because he requires of us, his spiritual +soldiers, to fight the good fight of martyrdom, a conflict in which +nothing but our own faint-hearted cowardice can make us fail of +victory. Let us assume, then, the armour of faith, and prepare, if it +be necessary, to die under the ruin of these shrines, to the service +of which we have devoted ourselves. Highly honoured are we all in this +distinguished summons, from our dear brother Nicholas, whose gray +hairs have been preserved until they should be surrounded by the crown +of martyrdom, down to my beloved son Edward, who, arriving at the +vineyard at the latest hour of the day, is yet permitted to share its +toils with those who have laboured from the morning. Be of good +courage, my children. I dare not, like my sainted predecessors, +promise to you that you shall be preserved by miracle--I and you are +alike unworthy of that especial interposition, which, in earlier +times, turned the sword of sacrilege against the bosom of tyrants by +whom it was wielded, daunted the hardened hearts of heretics with +prodigies, and called down hosts of angels to defend the shrine of God +and of the Virgin. Yet, by heavenly aid, you shall this day see that +your Father and Abbot will not disgrace the mitre which sits upon his +brow. Go to your cells, my children, and exercise your private +devotions. Array yourselves also in alb and cope, as for our most +solemn festivals, and be ready, when the tolling of the largest bell +announces the approach of the enemy, to march forth to meet them in +solemn procession. Let the church be opened to afford such refuge as +may be to those of our vassals, who, from their exertion in this day's +unhappy battle, or the cause, are particularly apprehensive of the +rage of the enemy. Tell Sir Piercie Shafton, if he has escaped the +fight--" + +"I am here, most venerable Abbot," replied Sir Piercie; "and if it so +seemeth meet to you, I will presently assemble such of the men as have +escaped this escaramouche, and will renew the resistance, even unto +the death. Certes, you will learn from all, that I did my part in this +unhappy matter. Had it pleased Julian Avenel to have attended to my +counsel, specially in somewhat withdrawing of his main battle, even as +you may have marked the heron eschew the stoop of the falcon, +receiving him rather upon his beak than upon his wing, affairs, as I +do conceive, might have had a different face, and we might then, in a +more bellacose manner, have maintained that affray. Nevertheless, I +would not be understood to speak any thing in disregard of Julian +Avenel, whom I saw fall fighting manfully with his face to his enemy, +which hath banished from my memory the unseemly term of 'meddling +coxcomb,' with which it pleased him something rashly to qualify my +advice, and for which, had it pleased Heaven and the saints to have +prolonged the life of that excellent person, I had it bound upon my +soul to have put him to death with my own hand." + +"Sir Piercie," said the Abbot, at length interrupting him, "our time +allows brief leisure to speak what might have been." + +"You are right, most venerable Lord and Father," replied the +incorrigible Euphuist; "the preterite, as grammarians have it, +concerns frail mortality less than the future mood, and indeed our +cogitations respect chiefly the present. In a word, I am willing to +head all who will follow me, and offer such opposition as manhood and +mortality may permit, to the advance of the English, though they be my +own countrymen; and be assured, Piercie Shafton will measure his +length, being five feet ten inches, on the ground as he stands, rather +than give two yards in retreat, according to the usual motion in which +we retrograde." + +"I thank you, Sir Knight," said the Abbot, "and I doubt not that you +would make your words good; but it is not the will of Heaven that carnal +weapons should rescue us. We are called to endure, not to resist, and may +not waste the blood of our innocent commons in vain--Fruitless opposition +becomes not men of our profession; they have my commands to resign the +sword and the spear,--God and Our Lady have not blessed our banner." + +"Bethink you, reverend lord," said Piercie Shafton, very eagerly, "ere +you resign the defence that is in your power--there are many posts +near the entry of this village, where brave men might live or die to +the advantage; and I have this additional motive to make defence,--the +safety, namely, of a fair friend, who, I hope, hath escaped the hands +of the heretics." + +"I understand you, Sir Piercie," said the Abbot--"you mean the +daughter of our Convent's miller?" + +"Reverend my lord," said Sir Piercie, not without hesitation, "the +fair Mysinda is, as may be in some sort alleged, the daughter of one +who mechanically prepareth corn to be manipulated into bread, without +which we could not exist, and which is therefore an employment in +itself honourable, nay necessary. Nevertheless, if the purest +sentiments of a generous mind, streaming forth like the rays of the +sun reflected by a diamond, may ennoble one, who is in some sort the +daughter of a molendinary mechanic----" + +"I have no time for all this, Sir Knight," said the Abbot; "be it +enough to answer, that with our will we war no longer with carnal +weapons. We of the spirituality will teach you of the temporality how +to die in cold blood, our hands not clenched for resistance, but +folded for prayer--our minds not filled with jealous hatred, but with +Christian meekness and forgiveness--our ears not deafened, nor our +senses confused, by the sound of clamorous instruments of war; but, on +the contrary, our voices composed to Halleluiah, Kyrie-Eleison, and +Salve Regina, and our blood temperate and cold, as those who think +upon reconciling themselves with God, not of avenging themselves of +their fellow-mortals." + +"Lord Abbot," said Sir Piercie, "this is nothing to the fate of my +Molinara, whom I beseech you to observe, I will not abandon, while +golden hilt and steel blade bide together on my falchion. I commanded +her not to follow us to the field, and yet methought I saw her in her +page's attire amongst the rear of the combatants." + +"You must seek elsewhere for the person in whose fate you are so +deeply interested," said the Abbot; "and at present I will pray of +your knighthood to inquire concerning her at the church, in which all +our more defenceless vassals have taken refuge. It is my advice to +you, that you also abide by the horns of the altar; and, Sir Piercie +Shafton," he added, "be of one thing secure, that if you come to harm, +it will involve the whole of this brotherhood; for never, I trust, +will the meanest of us buy safety at the expense of surrendering a +friend or a guest. Leave us, my son, and may God be your aid!" + +When Sir Piercie Shafton had departed, and the Abbot was about to +betake himself to his own cell, he was surprised by an unknown person +anxiously requiring a conference, who, being admitted, proved to be no +other than Henry Warden. The Abbot started as he entered, and +exclaimed, angrily,--"Ha! are the few hours that fate allows him who +may last wear the mitre of this house, not to be excused from the +intrusion of heresy? Dost thou come," he said, "to enjoy the hopes +which fete holds out to thy demented and accursed sect, to see the +bosom of destruction sweep away the pride of old religion--to deface +our shrines,--to mutilate and lay waste the bodies of our benefactors, +as well as their sepulchres--to destroy the pinnacles and carved work +of God's house, and Our Lady's?" + +"Peace, William Allan!" said the Protestant preacher, with dignified +composure; "for none of these purposes do I come. I would have these +stately shrines deprived of the idols which, no longer simply regarded +as the effigies of the good and of the wise, have become the objects +of foul idolatry. I would otherwise have its ornaments subsist, +unless as they are, or may be, a snare to the souls of men; and +especially do I condemn those ravages which have been made by the +heady fury of the people, stung into zeal against will-worship by +bloody persecution. Against such wanton devastations I lift my +testimony." + +"Idle distinguisher that thou art!" said the Abbot Eustace, interrupting +him; "what signifies the pretext under which thou dost despoil the house +of God? and why at this present emergence will thou insult the master of +it by thy ill-omened presence?" + +"Thou art unjust, William Allan," said Warden; "but I am not the less +settled in my resolution. Thou hast protected me some time since at +the hazard of thy rank, and what I know thou holdest still dearer, at +the risk of thy reputation with thine own sect. Our party is now +uppermost, and, believe me, I have come down the valley, in which thou +didst quarter me for sequestration's sake, simply with the wish to +keep my engagements to thee." + +"Ay," answered the Abbot, "and it may be, that my listening to that +worldly and infirm compassion which pleaded with me for thy life, is now +avenged by this impending judgment. Heaven hath smitten, it may be, +the erring shepherd, and scattered the flock." + +"Think better of the Divine judgments," said Warden. "Not for thy +sins, which are those of thy blended education and circumstances; not for +thine own sins, William Allan, art thou stricken, but for the accumulated +guilt which thy mis-named Church hath accumulated on her head, and those +of her votaries, by the errors and corruption of ages." + +"Now, by my sure belief in the Rock of Peter," said the Abbot, "thou +dost rekindle the last spark of human indignation for which my bosom +has fuel--I thought I might not again have felt the impulse of earthly +passion, and it is thy voice which once more calls me to the +expression of human anger! yes, it is thy voice that comest to insult +me in my hour of sorrow, with these blasphemous accusations of that +church which hath kept the light of Christianity alive from the times +of the Apostles till now." + +"From the times of the Apostles?" said the preacher, eagerly. +"_Negatur, Gulielme Allan_--the primitive church differed as much +from that of Rome, as did light from darkness, which, did time permit, +I should speedily prove. And worse dost thou judge, in saying, I come +to insult thee in thy hour of affliction, being here, God wot, with +the Christian wish of fulfilling an engagement I had made to my host, +and of rendering myself to thy will while it had yet power to exercise +aught upon me, and if it might so be, to mitigate in thy behalf the +rage of the victors whom God hath sent as a scourge to thy obstinacy." + +"I will none of thy intercession," said the Abbot, sternly; "the +dignity to which the church has exalted me, never should have swelled +my bosom more proudly in the time of the highest prosperity, than it +doth at this crisis--I ask nothing of thee, but the assurance that my +lenity to thee hath been the means of perverting no soul to Satan, +that I have not given to the wolf any of the stray lambs whom the +Great Shepherd of souls had intrusted to my charge." + +"William Allan," answered the Protestant, "I will be sincere with +thee. What I promised I have kept--I have withheld my voice from +speaking even good things. But it has pleased Heaven to call the +maiden Mary Avenel to a better sense of faith than thou and all the +disciples of Rome can teach. Her I have aided with my humble power--I +have extricated her from the machinations of evil spirits to which she +and her house were exposed during the blindness of their Romish +superstition, and, praise be to my Master, I have not reason to fear +she will again be caught in thy snares." + +"Wretched man!" said the Abbot, unable to suppress his rising +indignation, "is it to the Abbot of St. Mary's that you boast having +misled the soul of a dweller in Our Lady's Halidome into the paths of +foul error and damning heresy?--Thou dost urge me, Wellwood, beyond +what it becomes me to bear, and movest me to employ the few moments of +power I may yet possess, in removing from the face of the earth one +whose qualities, given by God, have been so utterly perverted as thine +to the service of Satan." + +"Do thy pleasure," said the preacher; "thy vain wrath shall not +prevent my doing my duty to advantage thee, where it may be done +without neglecting my higher call. I go to the Earl of Murray." + +Their conference, which was advancing fast into bitter disputation, +was here interrupted by the deep and sullen toll of the largest and +heaviest bell of the Convent, a sound famous in the chronicles of the +Community, for dispelling of tempests, and putting to flight demons, +but which now only announced danger, without affording any means of +warding against it. Hastily repeating his orders, that all the +brethren should attend in the choir, arrayed for solemn procession, +the Abbot ascended to the battlements of the lofty Monastery, by his +own private staircase, and there met the Sacristan, who had been in +the act of directing the tolling of the huge bell, which fell under +his charge. + +"It is the last time I shall discharge mine office, most venerable +Father and Lord," said he to the Abbot, "for yonder come the +Philistines; but I would not that the large bell of Saint Mary's +should sound for the last time, otherwise than in true and full +tone--I have been a sinful man for one of our holy profession," added +he, looking upward, "yet may I presume to say, not a bell hath sounded +out of tune from the tower of the house, while Father Philip had the +superintendence of the chime and the belfry." + +The Abbot, without reply, cast his eyes towards the path, which, +winding around the mountain, descends upon Kennaquhair, from the +south-east. He beheld at a distance a cloud of dust, and heard the +neighing of many horses, while the occasional sparkle of the long line +of spears, as they came downwards into the valley, announced that the +band came thither in arms. + +"Shame on my weakness!" said Abbot Eustace, dashing the tears from +his eyes; "my sight is too much dimmed to observe their motions--look, +my son Edward," for his favourite novice had again joined him, "and tell +me what ensigns they bear." + +"They are Scottish men, when all is done!" exclaimed Edward--"I see +the white crosses--it may be the Western Borderers, or Fernieherst and +his clan." + +"Look at the banner," said the Abbot; "tell me, what are the blazonries?" + +"The arms of Scotland," said Edward, "the lion and its tressure, +quartered, as I think, with three cushions--Can it be the royal +standard?" + +"Alas! no," said the Abbot, "it is that of the Earl of Murray. He hath +assumed with his new conquest the badge of the valiant Randolph, and +hath dropt from his hereditary coat the bend which indicates his own base +birth--would to God he may not have blotted it also from his memory, and +aim as well at possessing the name, as the power, of a king." + +"At least, my father," said Edward, "he will secure us from the violence +of the Southron." + +"Ay, my son, as the shepherd secures a silly lamb from the wolf, which +he destines in due time to his own banquet. Oh my son, evil days are +on us! A breach has been made in the walls of our sanctuary--thy +brother hath fallen from the faith. Such news brought my last secret +intelligence--Murray hath already spoken of rewarding his services +with the hand of Mary Avenel." + +"Of Mary Avenel!" said the novice, tottering towards and grasping hold +of one of the carved pinnacles which adorned the proud battlement. + +"Ay, of Mary Avenel, my son, who has also abjured the faith of her +fathers. Weep not, my Edward, weep not, my beloved son! or weep for +their apostasy, and not for their union--Bless God, who hath called +thee to himself, out of the tents of wickedness; but for the grace of +Our Lady and Saint Benedict, thou also hadst been a castaway." + +"I endeavour, my father," said Edward, "I endeavour to forget; but what +I would now blot from my memory has been the thought of all my former +life--Murray dare not forward a match so unequal in birth." + +"He dares do what suits his purpose--The Castle of Avenel is strong, +and needs a good castellan, devoted to his service; as for the +difference of their birth, he will mind it no more than he would mind +defacing the natural regularity of the ground, were it necessary he +should erect upon it military lines and intrenchments. But do not +droop for that--awaken thy soul within thee, my son. Think you part +with a vain vision, an idle dream, nursed in solitude and inaction.--I +weep not, yet what am I now like to lose?--Look at these towers, where +saints dwelt, and where heroes have been buried--Think that I, so +briefly called to preside over the pious flock, which has dwelt here +since the first light of Christianity, may be this day written down +the last father of this holy community--Come, let us descend, and meet +our fate. I see them approach near to the village." + +The Abbot descended, the novice cast a glance around him; yet the +sense of the danger impending over the stately structure, with which +he was now united, was unable to banish the recollection of Mary +Ayenel.--"His brother's bride!" he pulled the cowl over his face, and +followed his Superior. + +The whole bells of the Abbey now added their peal to the death-toll of +the largest which had so long sounded. The monks wept and prayed as +they got themselves into the order of their procession for the last +time, as seemed but too probable. + +"It is well our Father Boniface hath retired to the inland," said Father +Philip; "he could never have put over this day--it would have broken +his heart!" + +"God be with the soul of Abbot Ingelram!" said old Father Nicholas, +"there were no such doings in his days.--They say we are to be put +forth of the cloisters; and how I am to live any where else than where +I have lived for these seventy years, I wot not--the best is, that I +have not long to live any where." + +A few moments after this the great gate of the Abbey was flung open, +and the procession moved slowly forward from beneath its huge and +richly-adorned gateway. Cross and banner, pix and chalice, shrines +containing relics, and censers steaming with incense, preceded and +were intermingled with the long and solemn array of the brotherhood, +in their long black gowns and cowls, with their white scapularies +hanging over them, the various officers of the convent each displaying +his proper badge of office. In the centre of the procession came the +Abbot, surrounded and supported by his chief assistants. He was +dressed in his habit of high solemnity, and appeared as much +unconcerned as if he had been taking his usual part in some ordinary +ceremony. After him came the inferior persons of the convent; the +novices in their albs or white dresses, and the lay brethren +distinguished by their beards, which were seldom worn by the Fathers. +Women and children, mixed with a few men, came in the rear, bewailing +the apprehended desolation of their ancient sanctuary. They moved, +however, in order, and restrained the marks of their sorrow to a low +wailing sound, which rather mingled with than interrupted the measured +chant of the monks. + +In this order the procession entered the market-place of the village +of Kennaquhair, which was then, as now, distinguished by an ancient +cross of curious workmanship, the gift of some former monarch of +Scotland. Close by the cross, of much greater antiquity, and scarcely +less honoured, was an immensely large oak-tree, which perhaps had +witnessed the worship of the Druids, ere the stately Monastery to +which it adjoined had raised its spires in honour of the Christian +faith. Like the Bentang-tree of the African villages, or the +Plaistow-oak mentioned in White's Natural History of Selborne, this +tree was the rendezvous of the villagers, and regarded with peculiar +veneration; a feeling common to most nations, and which perhaps may be +traced up to the remote period when the patriarch feasted the angels +under the oak at Mamre. [Footnote: It is scarcely necessary to say, +that in Melrose, the prototype of Kennaquhair, no such oak ever +existed.] + +The monks formed themselves each in their due place around the cross, +while under the ruins of the aged tree crowded the old and the feeble, +with others who felt the common alarm. When they had thus arranged +themselves, there was a deep and solemn pause. The monks stilled their +chant, the lay populace hushed their lamentations, and all awaited in +terror and silence the arrival of those heretical forces, whom they +had been so long taught to regard with fear and trembling. + +A distant trampling was at length heard, and the glance of spears was +seen to shine through the trees above the village. The sounds +increased, and became more thick, one close continuous rushing sound, +in which the tread of hoofs was mingled with the ringing of armour. +The horsemen soon appeared at the principal entrance which leads into +the irregular square or market-place which forms the centre of the +village. They entered two by two, slowly, and in the greatest order. +The van continued to move on, riding round the open spaoe, until they +had attained the utmost point, and then turning their horses' heads to +the street, stood fast; their companions followed in the same order, +until the whole market-place was closely surrounded with soldiers; and +the files who followed, making the same manoeuvre, formed an inner +line within those who had first arrived, until the place was begirt +with a quadruple file of horsemen closely drawn up. There was now a +pause, of which the Abbot availed himself, by commanding the +brotherhood to raise the solemn chant _De profundis clamavi_. He +looked around the armed ranks, to see what impression the solemn +sounds made on them. All were silent, but the brows of some had an +expression of contempt, and almost all the rest bore a look of +indifference; their course had been too long decided to permit past +feelings of enthusiasm to be anew awakened by a procession or by a +hymn. + + +"Their hearts are hardened," said the Abbot to himself in dejection, +but not in despair; "it remains to see whether those of their leaders +are equally obdurate." + +The leaders, in the meanwhile, were advancing slowly, and Murray, with +Morton, rode in deep conversation before a chosen band of their most +distinguished followers, amongst whom came Halbert Glendinning. But +the preacher Henry Warden, who, upon leaving the Monastery, had +instantly joined them, was the only person admitted to their +conference. + +"You are determined, then," said Morton to Murray, "to give the +heiress of Avenel, with all her pretensions, to this nameless and +obscure young man?" + +"Hath not Warden told you," said Murray, "that they have been bred +together, and are lovers from their youth upward?" + +"And that they are both," said Warden, "by means which may be almost +termed miraculous, rescued from the delusions of Rome, and brought +within the pale of the true church. My residence at Glendearg hath +made me well acquainted with these things. Ill would it beseem my +habit and my calling, to thrust myself into match-making and giving in +marriage, but worse were it in me to see your lordships do needless +wrong to the feelings which are proper to our nature, and which, being +indulged honestly and under the restraints of religion, become a +pledge of domestic quiet here, and future happiness in a better world. +I say, that you will do ill to rend those ties asunder, and to give +this maiden to the kinsman of Lord Morton, though Lord Morton's +kinsman he be." + +"These are fair reasons, my Lord of Murray," said Morton, "why you +should refuse me so simple a boon as to bestow this silly damsel upon +young Bennygask. Speak out plainly, my lord; say you would rather see +the Castle of Avenel in the hands of one who owes his name and existence +solely to your favour, than in the power of a Douglas, and of my +kinsman." + +"My Lord of Morton," said Murray, "I have done nothing in this matter +which should aggrieve you. This young man Glendinning has done me good +service, and may do me more. My promise was in some degree passed to +him, and that while Julian Avenel was alive, when aught beside the +maiden's lily hand would have been hard to come by; whereas, you never +thought of such an alliance for your kinsman, till you saw Julian lie +dead yonder on the field, and knew his land to be a waif free to the +first who could seize it. Come, come, my lord, you do less than +justice to your gallant kinsman, in wishing him a bride bred up under +the milk-pail; for this girl is a peasant wench in all but the +accident of birth. I thought you had more deep respect for the honour +of the Douglasses." + +"The honour of the Douglasses is safe in my keeping," answered Morton, +haughtily; "that of other ancient families may suffer as well as the name +of Avenel, if rustics are to be matched with the blood of our ancient +barons." + +"This is but idle talking," answered Lord Murray; "in times like these, +we must look to men and not to pedigrees. Hay was but a rustic before +the battle of Loncarty--the bloody yoke actually dragged the plough ere +it was emblazoned on a crest by the herald. Times of action make princes +into peasants, and boors into barons. All families have sprung from one +mean man; and it is well if they have never degenerated from his virtue +who raised them first from obscurity." + +"My Lord of Murray will please to except the house of Douglas," said +Morton, haughtily; "men have seen it in the tree, but never in the +sapling--have seen it in the stream, but never in the fountain. + +[Footnote: The late excellent and laborious antiquary, Mr. George +Chalmers, has rebuked the vaunt of the House of Douglas, or rather of +Hume of Godscroft, their historian, but with less than his wonted +accuracy. In the first volume of his Caledonia, he quotes the passage +in Godscroft for the purpose of confuting it. + +The historian (of the Douglasses) cries out, "We do not know them in +the fountain, but in the stream; not in the root, but in the stem; for +we know not which is the mean man that did rise above the vulgar." +This assumption Mr. Chalmers conceives ill-timed, and alleges, that if +the historian had attended more to research than to declamation, he +might easily have seen the first mean man of this renowned family. +This he alleges to have been one Theobaldus Flammaticus, or Theobald +the Fleming, to whom Arnold, Abbot of Kelso, between the year 1147 and +1160, granted certain lands on Douglas water, by a deed which Mr. +Chalmers conceives to be the first link of the chain of title-deeds to +Douglasdale. Hence, he says, the family must renounce their family +domain, or acknowledge this obscure Fleming as their ancestor. +Theobald the Fleming, it is acknowledged, did not himself assume the +name of Douglas; "but," says the antiquary, "his son William, who +inherited his estate, called himself, and was named by others, De +Duglas;" and he refers to the deeds in which he is so designed. Mr. +Chalmers' full argument may be found in the first volume of his +Caledonia, p. 579. + +This proposition is one which a Scotsman will admit unwillingly, and +only upon undeniable testimony: and as it is liable to strong grounds +of challenge, the present author, with all the respect to Mr. Chalmers +which his zealous and effectual researches merit, is not unwilling to +take this opportunity to state some plausible grounds for doubting +that Theobaldus Flammaticus was either the father of the first William +de Douglas, or in the slightest degree connected with the Douglas +family. + +It must first be observed, that there is no reason whatever for +concluding Theobaldus Flammaticus to be the father of William de +Douglas, except that they both held lands upon the small river of +Douglas; and that there are two strong presumptions to the contrary. +For, first, the father being named Fleming, there seems no good reason +why the son should have assumed a different designation: secondly, +there does not occur a single instance of the name of Theobald during +the long line of the Douglas pedigree, an omission very unlikely to +take place had the original father of the race been so called. These +are secondary considerations indeed; but they are important, in so far +as they exclude any support of Mr. Chalmers' system, except from the +point which he has rather assumed than proved, namely, that the lands +granted to Theobald the Fleming were the same which were granted to +William de Douglas, and which constituted the original domain of which +we find this powerful family lords. + +Now, it happens, singularly enough, that the lands granted by the +Abbot of Kelso to Theobaldus Flammaticus are not the same of which +William de Douglas was in possession. Nay, it would appear, from +comparing the charter granted to Theobaldus Flammaticus, that, though +situated on the water of Douglas, they never made a part of the barony +of that name, and therefore cannot be the same with those held by +William de Douglas in the succeeding generation. But if William de +Douglas did not succeed Theobaldus Flammaticus, there is no more +reason for holding these two persons to be father and son than if they +had lived in different provinces; and we are still as far from having +discovered the first mean man of the Douglas family as Hume of +Godscroft was in the 16th century. We leave the question to +antiquaries and genealogists.] + +In the earliest of our Scottish annals, the Black Douglas was powerful +and distinguished as now." + +"I bend to the honours of the house of Douglas," said Murray, somewhat +ironically; "I am conscious we of the Royal House have little right to +compete with them in dignity--What though we have worn crowns and +carried sceptres for a few generations, if our genealogy moves no +farther back than to the humble _Alanus Dapifer!"_ + +[Footnote: To atone to the memory of the learned and indefatigable +Chalmers for having ventured to impeach his genealogical proposition +concerning the descent of the Douglasses, we are bound to render him +our grateful thanks for the felicitous light which he has thrown on +that of the House of Stewart, still more important to Scottish +history. + +The acute pen of Lord Hailes, which, like the spear of Ithuriel, +conjured so many shadows from Scottish history, had dismissed among +the rest those of Banquo and Fleance, the rejection of which fables +left the illustrious family of Stewart without an ancestor beyond +Walter the son of Allan, who is alluded to in the text. The researches +of our late learned antiquary detected in this Walter, the descendant +of Allan, the son of Flaald, who obtained from William the Conqueror +the Castle of Oswestry in Shropshire, and was the father of an +illustrious line of English nobles, by his first son, William, and by +his second son, Walter, the progenitor of the royal family of +Stewart.] + +Morton's cheek reddened as he was about to reply; but Henry Warden +availed himself of the liberty which the Protestant clergy long +possessed, and exerted it to interrupt a discussion which was becoming +too eager and personal to be friendly. + +"My lords," he said, "I must be bold in discharging the duty of my +Master. It is a shame and scandal to hear two nobles, whose hands have +been so forward in the work of reformation, fall into discord about +such vain follies as now occupy your thoughts. Bethink you how long +you have thought with one mind, seen with one eye, heard with one ear, +confirmed by your union the congregation of the Church, appalled by +your joint authority the congregation of Anti-Christ; and will you now +fall into discord, about an old decayed castle and a few barren hills, +about the loves and likings of an humble spearman, and a damsel bred +in the same obscurity, or about the still vainer questions of idle +genealogy?" + +"The good man hath spoken right, noble Douglas," said Murray, reaching +him his hand, "our union is too essential to the good cause to be +broken off upon such idle terms of dissension. I am fixed to gratify +Glendinning in this matter--my promise is passed. The wars, in which I +have had my share, have made many a family miserable; I will at least +try if I may not make one happy. There are maids and manors enow in +Scotland.--I promise you, my noble ally, that young Bennygask shall be +richly wived." + +"My lord," said Warden, "you speak nobly, and like a Christian. Alas! +this is a land of hatred and bloodshed--let us not chase from thence +the few traces that remain of gentle and domestic love.--And be not +too eager for wealth to thy noble kinsman, my Lord of Morton, seeing +contentment in the marriage state no way depends on it." + +"If you allude to my family misfortune," said Morton, whose Countess, +wedded by him for her estate and honours, was insane in her mind, "the +habit you wear, and the liberty, or rather license, of your profession, +protect you from my resentment." + +"Alas! my lord," replied Warden, "how quick and sensitive is our +self-love! When pressing forward in our high calling, we point out the +errors of the Sovereign, who praises our boldness more than the noble +Morton? But touch we upon his own sore, which most needs lancing, and +he shrinks from the faithful chirurgeon in fear and impatient anger!" + +"Enough of this, good and reverend sir," said Murray; "you transgress +the prudence yourself recommended even now.--We are now close upon the +village, and the proud Abbot is come forth at the head of his hive. Thou +hast pleaded well for him, Warden, otherwise I had taken this occasion to +pull down the nest, and chase away the rooks." + +"Nay, but do not so," said Warden; "this William Allan, whom they call +the Abbot Eustatius, is a man whose misfortunes would more prejudice +our cause than his prosperity. You cannot inflict more than he will +endure; and the more that he is made to bear, the higher will be the +influence of his talents and his courage. In his conventual throne he +will be but coldly looked on--disliked, it may be, and envied. But +turn his crucifix of gold into a crucifix of wood--let him travel +through the land, an oppressed and impoverished man, and his patience, +his eloquence, and learning, will win more hearts from the good cause, +than all the mitred abbots of Scotland have been able to make prey of +during the last hundred years." + +"Tush! tush! man," said Morton, "the revenues of the Halidome will +bring more men, spears, and horses, into the field in one day, than his +preaching in a whole lifetime. These are not the days of Peter the +Hermit, when monks could march armies from England to Jerusalem; but gold +and good deeds will still do as much or more than ever. Had Julian Avenel +had but a score or two more men this morning, Sir John Foster had not +missed a worse welcome. I say, confiscating the monk's revenues is +drawing his fang-teeth." + +"We will surely lay him under contribution," said Murray; "and, +moreover, if he desires to remain in his Abbey, he will do well to +produce Piercie Shafton." + +As he thus spoke, they entered the market-place, distinguished by +their complete armour and their lofty plumes, as well as by the number +of followers bearing their colours and badges. Both these powerful +nobles, but more especially Murray, so nearly allied to the crown, had +at that time a retinue and household not much inferior to that of +Scottish royalty. As they advanced into the market-place, a +pursuivant, pressing forward from their train, addressed the monks in +these words:--"The Abbot of Saint Mary's is commanded to appear before +the Earl of Murray." + +"The Abbot of Saint Mary's," said Eustace, "is, in the patrimony of his +Convent, superior to every temporal lord. Let the Earl of Murray, if he +seeks him, come himself to his presence." + +On receiving this answer, Murray smiled scornfully, and, dismounting +from his lofty saddle, he advanced, accompanied by Morton, and +followed by others, to the body of monks assembled around the cross. +There was an appearance of shrinking among them at the approach of the +heretic lord, so dreaded and so powerful. But the Abbot, casting on +them a glance of rebuke and encouragement, stepped forth from their +ranks like a courageous leader, when he sees that his personal valour +must be displayed to revive the drooping courage of his followers. +"Lord James Stewart," he said, "or Earl of Murray, if that be thy +title, I, Eustatius, Abbot of Saint Mary's, demand by what right you +have filled our peaceful village, and surrounded our brethren, with +these bands of armed men? If hospitality is sought, we have never +refused it to courteous asking--if violence be meant against peaceful +churchmen, let us know at once the pretext and the object?" + +"Sir Abbot," said Murray, "your language would better have become +another age, and a presence inferior to ours. We come not here to +reply to your interrogations, but to demand of you why you have broken +the peace, collecting your vassals in arms, and convocating the +Queen's lieges, whereby many men have been slain, and much trouble, +perchance breach of amity with England, is likely to arise?" + +"_Lupus in fabula_," answered the Abbot, scornfully. "The wolf +accused the sheep of muddying the stream when he drank in it above +her--but it served as a pretext for devouring her. Convocate the +Queen's lieges! I did so to defend the Queen's land against +foreigners. I did but my duty; and I regret I had not the means to do +it more effectually." + +"And was it also a part of your duty to receive and harbour the Queen +of England's rebel and traitor; and to inflame a war betwixt England and +Scotland?" said Murray. + +"In my younger days, my lord," answered the Abbot, with the same +intrepidity, "a war with England was no such dreaded matter; and not +merely a mitred abbot, bound by his rule to show hospitality and +afford sanctuary to all, but the poorest Scottish peasant, would have +been ashamed to have pleaded fear of England as the reason for +shutting his door against a persecuted exile. But in those olden days, +the English seldom saw the face of a Scottish nobleman, save through +the bars of his visor." + +"Monk!" said the Earl of Morton, sternly, "this insolence will little +avail thee; the days are gone by when Rome's priests were permitted to +brave noblemen with impunity. Give us up this Piercie Shafton, or by my +father's crest I will set thy Abbey in a bright flame!" + +"And if thou dost, Lord of Morton, its ruins will tumble above the tombs +of thine own ancestors. Be the issue as God wills, the Abbot of Saint +Mary's gives up no one whom he hath promised to protect." + +"Abbot!" said Murray, "bethink thee ere we are driven to deal roughly +--the hands of these men," he said, pointing to the soldiers, "will make +wild work among shrines and cells, if we are compelled to undertake a +search for this Englishman." + +"Ye shall not need," said a voice from the crowd; and, advancing +gracefully before the Earls, the Euphuist flung from him the mantle in +which he was muffled. "Via the cloud that shadowed Shafton!" said he; +"behold, my lords, the Knight of Wilverton, who spares you the guilt +of violence and sacrilege." + +"I protest before God and man against any infraction of the privileges +of this house," said the Abbot, "by an attempt to impose violent hands +upon the person of this noble knight. If there be yet spirit in a +Scottish Parliament, we will make you hear of this elsewhere, my +lords!" + +"Spare your threats," said Murray; "it may be, my purpose with Sir +Piercie Shafton is not such as thou dost suppose--Attach him, +pursuivant, as our prisoner, rescue or no rescue." + +"I yield myself," said the Euphuist, "reserving my right to defy my +Lord of Murray and my Lord of Morton to single duel, even as one +gentleman may demand satisfaction of another." + +"You shall not want those who will answer your challenge, Sir Knight," +replied Morton, "without aspiring to men above thine own degree." + +"And where am I to find these superlative champions," said the English +knight, "whose blood runs more pure than that of Piercie Shafton?" + +"Here is a flight for you, my lord!" said Murray. + +"As ever was flown by a wild-goose," said Stawarth Bolton, who had +now approached to the front of the party. + +"Who dared to say that word?" said the Euphuist, his face crimson with +rage. + +"Tut! man," said Bolton, "make the best of it, thy mother's father was +but a tailor, old Overstitch of Holderness--Why, what! because thou +art a misproud bird, and despiseth thine own natural lineage, and +rufflest in unpaid silks and velvets, and keepest company with +gallants and cutters, must we lose our memory for that? Thy mother, +Moll Overstitch, was the prettiest wench in those parts--she was +wedded by wild Shafton of Wilverton, who men say, was akin to the +Piercie on the wrong side of the blanket." + +"Help the knight to some strong waters," said Morton; "he hath fallen +from such a height, that he is stunned with the tumble." + +In fact, Sir Piercie Shafton looked like a man stricken by a +thunderbolt, while, notwithstanding the seriousness of the scene +hitherto, no one of those present, not even the Abbot himself, could +refrain from laughing at the rueful and mortified expression of his +face. + +"Laugh on," he said at length, "laugh on, my masters," shrugging his +shoulders; "it is not for me to be offended--yet would I know full +fain from that squire who is laughing with the loudest, how he had +discovered this unhappy blot in an otherwise spotless lineage, and for +what purpose he hath made it known?" + +"_I_ make it known?" said Halbert Glendinning, in +astonishment,--for to him this pathetic appeal was made,--"I never +heard the thing till this moment." + +[Footnote: The contrivance of provoking the irritable vanity of Sir +Piercie Shafton, by presenting him with a bodkin, indicative of his +descent from a tailor, is borrowed from a German romance, by the +celebrated Tieck, called Das Peter Manchem, _i. e._ The Dwarf +Peter. The being who gives name to the tale, is the Burg-geist, or +castle spectre, of a German family, whom he aids with his counsel, as +he defends their castle by his supernatural power. But the Dwarf Peter +is so unfortunate an adviser, that all his counsels, though producing +success in the immediate results, are in the issue attended with +mishap and with guilt. The youthful baron, the owner of the haunted +castle, falls in love with a maiden, the daughter of a neighbouring +count, a man of great pride, who refuses him the hand of the young +lady, on account of his own superiority of descent. The lover, +repulsed and affronted, returns to take counsel with the Dwarf Peter, +how he may silence the count, and obtain the victory in the argument, +the next time they enter on the topic of pedigree. The dwarf gives +his patron or pupil a horse-shoe, instructing him to give it to the +count when he is next giving himself superior airs on the subject of +his family. It has the effect accordingly. The count, understanding it +as an allusion to a misalliance of one of his ancestors with the +daughter of a blacksmith, is thrown into a dreadful passion with the +young lover, the consequences of which are the seduction of the young +lady, and the slaughter of her father. + +If we suppose the dwarf to represent the corrupt part of human +nature,--that "law in our members which wars against the law of our +minds,"--the work forms an ingenious allegory.] + +"Why, did not that old rude soldier learn it from thee?" said the +knight, in increasing amazement. + +"Not I, by Heaven!" said Bolton; "I never saw the youth in my life +before." + +"But you _have_ seen him ere now, my worthy master," said Dame +Glendinning, bursting in her turn from the crowd. "My son, this is +Stawarth Bolton, he to whom we owe life, and the means of preserving +it--if he be a prisoner, as seems most likely, use thine interest with +these noble lords to be kind to the widow's friend." + +"What, my Dame of the Glen!" said Bolton, "thy brow is more withered, +as well as mine, since we met last, but thy tongue holds the touch +better than my arm. This boy of thine gave me the foil sorely this +morning. The Brown Varlet has turned as stout a trooper as I +prophesied; and where is White Head?" + +"Alas!" said the mother, looking down, "Edward has taken orders, and +become a monk of this Abbey." + +"A monk and a soldier!--Evil trades both, my good dame. Better have +made one a good master fashioner, like old Overstitch, of Holderness. +I sighed when I envied you the two bonny children, but I sigh not now +to call either the monk or the soldier mine own. The soldier dies in +the field, the monk scarce lives in the cloister." + +"My dearest mother," said Halbert, "where is Edward--can I not speak +with him?" + +"He has just left us for the present," said Father Philip, "upon a +message from the Lord Abbot." + +"And Mary, my dearest mother?" said Halbert.--Mary Avenel was not far +distant, and the three were soon withdrawn from the crowd, to hear and +relate their various chances of fortune. + +While the subordinate personages thus disposed of themselves, the +Abbot held serious discussion with the two Earls, and, partly yielding +to their demands, partly defending himself with skill and eloquence, +was enabled to make a composition for his Convent, which left it +provisionally in no worse situation than before. The Earls were the +more reluctant to drive matters to extremity, since he protested, that +if urged beyond what his conscience would comply with, he would throw +the whole lands of the Monastery into the Queen of Scotland's hands, +to be disposed of at her pleasure. This would not have answered the +views of the Earls, who were contented, for the time, with a moderate +sacrifice of money and lands. Matters being so far settled, the Abbot +became anxious for the fate of Sir Piercie Shafton, and implored mercy +in his behalf. + +"He is a coxcomb," he said, "my lords, but he is a generous, though a +vain fool; and it is my firm belief you have this day done him more pain +than if you had run a poniard into him." + +"Run a needle into him you mean, Abbot," said the Earl of Morton; +"by mine honour, I thought this grandson of a fashioner of doublets was +descended from a crowned head at least!" + +"I hold with the Abbot," said Murray; "there were little honour in +surrendering him to Elizabeth, but he shall be sent where he can do +her no injury. Our pursuivant and Bolton shall escort him to Dunbar, +and ship him off for Flanders.--But soft, here he comes, and leading a +female, as I think." + +"Lords and others," said the English knight with great solemnity, +"make way for the Lady of Piercie Shafton--a secret which I listed not +to make known, till fate, which hath betrayed what I vainly strove to +conceal, makes me less desirous to hide that which I now announce to +you." + +"It is Mysie Happer, the Miller's daughter, on my life!" said Tibb +Tacket. "I thought the pride of these Piercies would have a fa'." + +"It is indeed the lovely Mysinda," said the knight, "whose merits +towards her devoted servant deserved higher rank than he had to bestow." + +"I suspect, though," said Murray, "that we should not have heard of +the Miller's daughter being made a lady, had not the knight proved to be +the grandson of a tailor." + +"My lord," said Piercie Shafton, "it is poor valour to strike him that +cannot smite again; and I hope you will consider what is due to a +prisoner by the law of arms, and say nothing more on this odious +subject. When I am once more mine own man, I will find a new road to +dignity." + +"_Shape_ one, I presume," said the Earl of Morton. + +"Nay, Douglas, you will drive him mad,"--said Murray; "besides, we +have other matter in hand--I must see Warden wed Glendinning with Mary +Avenel, and put him in possession of his wife's castle without delay. It +will be best done ere our forces leave these parts." + +"And I," said the Miller, "have the like grist to grind; for I hope some +one of the good fathers will wed my wench with her gay bridegroom." + +"It needs not," said Shafton; "the ceremonial hath been solemnly +performed." + +"It will not be the worse of another bolting," said the Miller; "it is +always best to be sure, as I say when I chance to take multure twice +from the same meal-sack." + +"Stave the miller off him," said Murray, "or he will worry him dead. +The Abbot, my lord, offers us the hospitality of the Convent; I move +we should repair hither, Sir Piercie and all of us. I must learn to +know the Maid of Avenel--to-morrow I must act as her father--All +Scotland shall see how Murray can reward a faithful servant." + +Mary Avenel and her lover avoided meeting the Abbot, and took up their +temporary abode in a house of the village, where next day their hands +were united by the Protestant preacher in presence of the two Earls. +On the same day Piercie Shafton and his bride departed, under an +escort which was to conduct him to the sea-side, and see him embark +for the Low Countries. Early on the following morning the bands of +the Earls were under march to the Castle of Avenel, to invest the +young bridegroom with the property of his wife, which was surrendered +to them without opposition. + +But not without those omens which seemed to mark every remarkable +event which befell the fated family, did Mary take possession of the +ancient castle of her forefathers. The same warlike form which had +appeared more than once at Glendearg, was seen by Tibb Tacket and +Martin, who returned with their young mistress to partake her altered +fortunes. It glided before the cavalcade as they advanced upon the +long causeway, paused at each drawbridge, and flourished its hand, as +in triumph, as it disappeared under the gloomy archway, which was +surmounted by the insignia of the house of Avenel. The two trusty +servants made their vision only known to Dame Glendinning, who, with +much pride of heart, had accompanied her son to see him take his rank +among the barons of the land. "Oh, my dear bairn!" she exclaimed, when +she heard the tale, "the castle is a grand place to be sure, but I +wish ye dinna a' desire to be back in the quiet braes of Glendearg +before the play be played out." But this natural reflection, springing +from maternal anxiety, was soon forgotten amid the busy and pleasing +task of examining and admiring the new habitation of her son. + +While these affairs were passing, Edward had hidden himself and his +sorrows in the paternal Tower of Glendearg, where every object was +full of matter for bitter reflection. The Abbot's kindness had +despatched him thither upon pretence of placing some papers belonging +to the Abbey in safety and secrecy; but in reality to prevent his +witnessing the triumph of his brother. Through the deserted +apartments, the scene of so many bitter reflections, the unhappy youth +stalked like a discontented ghost, conjuring up around him at every +step new subjects for sorrow and for self-torment. Impatient, at +length, of the state of irritation and agonized recollection in which +he found himself, he rushed out and walked hastily up the glen, as if +to shake off the load which hung upon his mind. The sun was setting +when he reached the entrance of Corri-nan-shian, and the recollection +of what he had seen when he last visited that haunted ravine, burst on +his mind. He was in a humour, however, rather to seek out danger than +to avoid it. + +"I will face this mystic being," he said; "she foretold the fate which +has wrapt me in this dress,--I will know whether she has aught else to +tell me of a life which cannot but be miserable." + +He failed not to see the White Spirit seated by her accustomed haunt, +and singing in her usual low and sweet tone. While she sung, she +seemed to look with sorrow on her golden zone, which was now +diminished to the fineness of a silken thread. + + "Fare thee well, thou Holly green, + Thou shall seldom now be seen, + With all thy glittering garlands bending, + As to greet my slow descending, + Startling the bewilder'd hind. + Who sees thee wave without a wind. + + "Farewell, Fountain! now not long + Shalt thou murmur to my song, + While thy crystal bubbles glancing, + Keep the time in mystic dancing, + Rise and swell, are burst and lost, + Like mortal schemes by fortune crost. + + "The knot of fate at length is tied, + The Churl is Lord, the Maid is bride. + Vainly did my magic sleight + Send the lover from her sight; + Wither bush, and perish well, + Fall'n is lofty Avenel!" + +The vision seemed to weep while she sung; and the words impressed on +Edward a melancholy belief, that the alliance of Mary with his brother +might be fatal to them both. + + * * * * * + +Here terminates the First Part of the Benedictine's Manuscript. I have +in vain endeavoured to ascertain the precise period of the story, as +the dates cannot be exactly reconciled with those of the most +accredited histories. But it is astonishing how careless the writers +of Utopia are upon these important subjects. I observe that the +learned Mr. Laurence Templeton, in his late publication entitled +IVANHOE, has not only blessed the bed of Edward the Confessor with an +offspring unknown to history, with sundry other solecisms of the same +kind, but has inverted the order of nature, and feasted his swine with +acorns in the midst of summer. All that can be alleged by the warmest +admirer of this author amounts to this,--that the circumstances +objected to are just as true as the rest of the story; which appears +to me (more especially in the matter of the acorns) to be a very +imperfect defence, and that the author will do well to profit by +Captain Absolute's advice to his servant, and never tell him more lies +than are indispensably necessary. + + End of THE MONASTERY. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Monastery, by Sir Walter Scott + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONASTERY *** + +This file should be named mnsry10.txt or mnsry10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, mnsry11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mnsry10a.txt + +Produced by Alan Millar, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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