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diff --git a/7003.txt b/7003.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..517a090 --- /dev/null +++ b/7003.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9675 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Antiquary, Volume 1, by Sir Walter +Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost +no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use +it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Antiquary, Volume 1 + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: August 16, 2004 [EBook #7003] +Last Updated: February 22, 2010 +[Last Updated: March 17, 2012] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANTIQUARY, VOLUME 1 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + +Bookcover + +Spines + + + + +THE ANTIQUARY + + +BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. + + +Titlepage + + +Frontispiece + + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME ONE + +INTRODUCTION + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + +CHAPTER FIRST. + +CHAPTER SECOND. + +CHAPTER THIRD. + +CHAPTER FOURTH. + +CHAPTER FIFTH. + +CHAPTER SIXTH. + +CHAPTER SEVENTH. + +CHAPTER EIGHTH. + +CHAPTER NINTH. + +CHAPTER TENTH. + +CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + +CHAPTER TWELFTH. + +CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. + +CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. + +CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. + +CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. + +CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. + +CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. + +CHAPTER NINETEENTH. + +CHAPTER TWENTIETH. + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Bookcover + +Spines + +Titlepage + +Frontispiece + +The Antiquary and Lovel—the Sanctum + +Sir Arthur and Miss Wardour + +The Rescue of Sir Arthur and Miss Wardour + +Eddie Ochiltree Visits Miss Wardour + +Mrs. Heukbane and Mrs. Shortcake + +St. Ruth (arbroath Abbey) + +The Ruins of St. Ruth + + + + + +VOLUME ONE + + I knew Anselmo. He was shrewd and prudent, + Wisdom and cunning had their shares of him; + But he was shrewish as a wayward child, + And pleased again by toys which childhood please; + As—-book of fables, graced with print of wood, + Or else the jingling of a rusty medal, + Or the rare melody of some old ditty, + That first was sung to please King Pepin's cradle + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +The present work completes a series of fictitious narratives, intended +to illustrate the manners of Scotland at three different periods. +Waverley embraced the age of our fathers, Guy Mannering that of our own +youth, and the Antiquary refers to the last ten years of the eighteenth +century. I have, in the two last narratives especially, sought my +principal personages in the class of society who are the last to feel +the influence of that general polish which assimilates to each other the +manners of different nations. Among the same class I have placed some +of the scenes in which I have endeavoured to illustrate the operation of +the higher and more violent passions; both because the lower orders are +less restrained by the habit of suppressing their feelings, and because +I agree, with my friend Wordsworth, that they seldom fail to express +them in the strongest and most powerful language. This is, I think, +peculiarly the case with the peasantry of my own country, a class with +whom I have long been familiar. The antique force and simplicity +of their language, often tinctured with the Oriental eloquence of +Scripture, in the mouths of those of an elevated understanding, give +pathos to their grief, and dignity to their resentment. + +I have been more solicitous to describe manners minutely than to arrange +in any case an artificial and combined narrative, and have but to regret +that I felt myself unable to unite these two requisites of a good Novel. + +The knavery of the adept in the following sheets may appear forced +and improbable; but we have had very late instances of the force of +superstitious credulity to a much greater extent, and the reader may be +assured, that this part of the narrative is founded on a fact of actual +occurrence. + +I have now only to express my gratitude to the Public for the +distinguished reception which, they have given to works, that have +little more than some truth of colouring to recommend them, and to take +my respectful leave, as one who is not likely again to solicit their +favour. + + +To the above advertisement, which was prefixed to the first edition +of the Antiquary, it is necessary in the present edition to add a +few words, transferred from the Introduction to the Chronicles of the +Canongate, respecting the character of Jonathan Oldbuck. + +"I may here state generally, that although I have deemed historical +personages free subjects of delineation, I have never on any occasion +violated the respect due to private life. It was indeed impossible that +traits proper to persons, both living and dead, with whom I have had +intercourse in society, should not have risen to my pen in such works +as Waverley, and those which, followed it. But I have always studied to +generalise the portraits, so that they should still seem, on the whole, +the productions of fancy, though possessing some resemblance to real +individuals. Yet I must own my attempts have not in this last particular +been uniformly successful. There are men whose characters are so +peculiarly marked, that the delineation of some leading and principal +feature, inevitably places the whole person before you in his +individuality. Thus the character of Jonathan Oldbuck in the Antiquary, +was partly founded on that of an old friend of my youth, to whom I am +indebted for introducing me to Shakspeare, and other invaluable favours; +but I thought I had so completely disguised the likeness, that it could +not be recognised by any one now alive. I was mistaken, however, and +indeed had endangered what I desired should be considered as a secret; +for I afterwards learned that a highly respectable gentleman, one of the +few surviving friends of my father, and an acute critic, had said, upon +the appearance of the work, that he was now convinced who was the author +of it, as he recognised, in the Antiquary, traces of the character of a +very intimate friend* of my father's family." + +* [The late George Constable of Wallace Craigie, near Dundee.] + +I have only farther to request the reader not to suppose that my late +respected friend resembled Mr. Oldbuck, either in his pedigree, or the +history imputed to the ideal personage. There is not a single incident +in the Novel which is borrowed from his real circumstances, excepting +the fact that he resided in an old house near a flourishing seaport, and +that the author chanced to witness a scene betwixt him and the female +proprietor of a stage-coach, very similar to that which commences the +history of the Antiquary. An excellent temper, with a slight degree of +subacid humour; learning, wit, and drollery, the more poignant that +they were a little marked by the peculiarities of an old bachelor; a +soundness of thought, rendered more forcible by an occasional quaintness +of expression, were, the author conceives, the only qualities in which +the creature of his imagination resembled his benevolent and excellent +old friend. + +The prominent part performed by the Beggar in the following narrative, +induces the author to prefix a few remarks of that character, as it +formerly existed in Scotland, though it is now scarcely to be traced. + +Many of the old Scottish mendicants were by no means to be confounded +with the utterly degraded class of beings who now practise that +wandering trade. Such of them as were in the habit of travelling through +a particular district, were usually well received both in the farmer's +ha', and in the kitchens of the country gentlemen. Martin, author of +the Reliquiae Divi Sancti Andreae, written in 1683, gives the following +account of one class of this order of men in the seventeenth century, +in terms which would induce an antiquary like Mr. Oldbuck to regret its +extinction. He conceives them to be descended from the ancient bards, +and proceeds:—-"They are called by others, and by themselves, +Jockies, who go about begging; and use still to recite the Sloggorne +(gathering-words or war-cries) of most of the true ancient surnames +of Scotland, from old experience and observation. Some of them I have +discoursed, and found to have reason and discretion. One of them told +me there were not now above twelve of them in the whole isle; but he +remembered when they abounded, so as at one time he was one of five that +usually met at St. Andrews." + +The race of Jockies (of the above description) has, I suppose, been long +extinct in Scotland; but the old remembered beggar, even in my own time, +like the Baccoch, or travelling cripple of Ireland, was expected to +merit his quarters by something beyond an exposition of his distresses. +He was often a talkative, facetious fellow, prompt at repartee, and not +withheld from exercising his powers that way by any respect of persons, +his patched cloak giving him the privilege of the ancient jester. To +be a gude crack, that is, to possess talents for conversation, was +essential to the trade of a "puir body" of the more esteemed class; and +Burns, who delighted in the amusement their discourse afforded, seems to +have looked forward with gloomy firmness to the possibility of himself +becoming one day or other a member of their itinerant society. In his +poetical works, it is alluded to so often, as perhaps to indicate that +he considered the consummation as not utterly impossible. Thus in the +fine dedication of his works to Gavin Hamilton, he says,— + + And when I downa yoke a naig, + Then, Lord be thankit, I can beg. + +Again, in his Epistle to Davie, a brother Poet, he states, that in their +closing career— + + The last o't, the warst o't, + Is only just to beg. + +And after having remarked, that + + To lie in kilns and barns at e'en, + When banes are crazed and blude is thin, + +Is doubtless great distress; the bard reckons up, with true poetical +spirit, the free enjoyment of the beauties of nature, which might +counterbalance the hardship and uncertainty of the life, even of +a mendicant. In one of his prose letters, to which I have lost the +reference, he details this idea yet more seriously, and dwells upon it, +as not ill adapted to his habits and powers. + +As the life of a Scottish mendicant of the eighteenth century seems to +have been contemplated without much horror by Robert Burns, the author +can hardly have erred in giving to Edie Ochiltree something of poetical +character and personal dignity, above the more abject of his miserable +calling. The class had, intact, some privileges. A lodging, such as +it was, was readily granted to them in some of the out-houses, and the +usual awmous (alms) of a handful of meal (called a gowpen) was scarce +denied by the poorest cottager. The mendicant disposed these, according +to their different quality, in various bags around his person, and thus +carried about with him the principal part of his sustenance, which he +literally received for the asking. At the houses of the gentry, his +cheer was mended by scraps of broken meat, and perhaps a Scottish +"twalpenny," or English penny, which was expended in snuff or whiskey. +In fact, these indolent peripatetics suffered much less real hardship +and want of food, than the poor peasants from whom they received alms. + +If, in addition to his personal qualifications, the mendicant chanced to +be a King's Bedesman, or Blue-Gown, he belonged, in virtue thereof, +to the aristocracy of his order, and was esteemed a parson of great +importance. + +These Bedesmen are an order of paupers to whom the Kings of Scotland +were in the custom of distributing a certain alms, in conformity with +the ordinances of the Catholic Church, and who where expected in return +to pray for the royal welfare and that of the state. This order is still +kept up. Their number is equal to the number of years which his Majesty +has lived; and one Blue-Gown additional is put on the roll for every +returning royal birth-day. On the same auspicious era, each Bedesman +receives a new cloak, or gown of coarse cloth, the colour light blue, +with a pewter badge, which confers on them the general privilege of +asking alms through all Scotland,—all laws against sorning, masterful +beggary, and every other species of mendicity, being suspended in favour +of this privileged class. With his cloak, each receives a leathern +purse, containing as many shillings Scots (videlicet, pennies sterling) +as the sovereign is years old; the zeal of their intercession for the +king's long life receiving, it is to be supposed, a great stimulus +from their own present and increasing interest in the object of their +prayers. On the same occasion one of the Royal Chaplains preaches a +sermon to the Bedesmen, who (as one of the reverend gentlemen expressed +himself) are the most impatient and inattentive audience in the world. +Something of this may arise from a feeling on the part of the Bedesmen, +that they are paid for their own devotions, not for listening to those +of others. Or, more probably, it arises from impatience, natural, though +indecorous in men bearing so venerable a character, to arrive at the +conclusion of the ceremonial of the royal birth-day, which, so far as +they are concerned, ends in a lusty breakfast of bread and ale; the +whole moral and religious exhibition terminating in the advice of +Johnson's "Hermit hoar" to his proselyte, + + Come, my lad, and drink some beer. + +Of the charity bestowed on these aged Bedesmen in money and clothing, +there are many records in the Treasurer's accompts. The following +extract, kindly supplied by Mr. Macdonald of the Register House, may +interest those whose taste is akin to that of Jonathan Oldbuck of +Monkbarns. BLEW GOWNIS. + + In the Account of Sir Robert Melvill of Murdocarney, + Treasurer-Depute of King James VI., there are the following Payments:— + + "Junij 1590. + + "Item, to Mr. Peter Young, Elimosinar, twentie four gownis of blew + clayth, to be gevin to xxiiij auld men, according to the yeiris of his + hienes age, extending to viii xx viii elnis clayth; price of the elne + xxiiij s. Inde, ij cj li. xij s. + + "Item, for sextene elnis bukrum to the saidis gownis, price of the elne x + s. Inde,viij li. + + "Item, twentie four pursis, and in ilk purse twentie four schelling + Inde, xxciij li. xvj s. + "Item, the price of ilk purse iiij d. Inde, viij s. + + "Item, for making of the saidis gownis viij li. " + + In the Account of John, Earl of Mar, Great Treasurer of Scotland, and of + Sir Gideon Murray of Enbank, Treasurer-Depute, the Blue-Gowns also appear + thus:— + + + "Junij 1617. + + "Item, to James Murray, merchant, for fyftene scoir sex elnis and aine + half elne of blew claith to be gownis to fyftie ane aigeit men, according + to the yeiris of his Majesteis age, at xl s. the elne + Inde,vj c xiij li. + + "Item, to workmen for careing the blewis to James Aikman, tailyeour, his + hous xiij s. iiij d. + + "Item, for sex elnis and ane half of harden to the saidis gownis, at vj + s. viij d. the elne Inde,xliij s. iiij d. + + "Item, to the said workmen for careing of the gownis fra the said James + Aikman's hous to the palace of Halyrudehous xviij s. + + "Item, for making the saidis fyftie ane gownis, at xij s. the peice + Inde,xxx li. xij s. + + "Item, for fyftie ane pursis to the said puire menlj s. + + "Item, to Sir Peter Young,li s. to be put in everie ane of the saidis + ljpursis to the said poore men j cxxxl jj s. + + "Item, to the said Sir Peter, to buy breid and drink to the said puir men + vj li. xiij s. iiij d. + + "Item, to the said Sir Peter, to be delt amang uther puire folk j cli. + + "Item, upoun the last day of Junii to Doctor Young, Deane of Winchester, + Elimozinar Deput to his Majestic, twentie fyve pund sterling, to be gevin + to the puir be the way in his Majesteis progress Inde,iij c li. " + +I have only to add, that although the institution of King's Bedesmen +still subsists, they are now seldom to be seen on the streets +of Edinburgh, of which their peculiar dress made them rather a +characteristic feature. + +Having thus given an account of the genus and species to which Edie +Ochiltree appertains, the author may add, that the individual he had +in his eye was Andrew Gemmells, an old mendicant of the character +described, who was many years since well known, and must still be +remembered, in the vales of Gala, Tweed, Ettrick, Yarrow, and the +adjoining country. + +The author has in his youth repeatedly seen and conversed with Andrew, +but cannot recollect whether he held the rank of Blue-Gown. He was a +remarkably fine old figure, very tall, and maintaining a soldierlike +or military manner and address. His features were intelligent, with a +powerful expression of sarcasm. His motions were always so graceful, +that he might almost have been suspected of having studied them; for +he might, on any occasion, have, served as a model for an artist, so +remarkably striking were his ordinary attitudes. Andrew Gemmells had +little of the cant of his calling; his wants were food and shelter, or +a trifle of money, which he always claimed, and seemed to receive as his +due. He, sung a good song, told a good story, and could crack a severe +jest with all the acumen of Shakespeare's jesters, though without using, +like them, the cloak of insanity. It was some fear of Andrew's satire, +as much as a feeling of kindness or charity, which secured him the +general good reception which he enjoyed everywhere. In fact, a jest of +Andrew Gemmells, especially at the expense of a person of consequence, +flew round the circle which he frequented, as surely as the bon-mot of +a man of established character for wit glides through the fashionable +world, Many of his good things are held in remembrance, but are +generally too local and personal to be introduced here. + +Andrew had a character peculiar to himself among his tribe for aught I +ever heard. He was ready and willing to play at cards or dice with any +one who desired such amusement. This was more in the character of the +Irish itinerant gambler, called in that country a "carrow," than of the +Scottish beggar. But the late Reverend Doctor Robert Douglas, minister +of Galashiels, assured the author, that the last time he saw Andrew +Gemmells, he was engaged in a game at brag with a gentleman of fortune, +distinction, and birth. To preserve the due gradations of rank, the +party was made at an open window of the chateau, the laird sitting on +his chair in the inside, the beggar on a stool in the yard; and they +played on the window-sill. The stake was a considerable parcel of +silver. The author expressing some surprise, Dr. Douglas observed, that +the laird was no doubt a humourist or original; but that many decent +persons in those times would, like him, have thought there was +nothing extraordinary in passing an hour, either in card-playing or +conversation, with Andrew Gemmells. + +This singular mendicant had generally, or was supposed to have, much +money about his person, as would have been thought the value of his life +among modern foot-pads. On one occasion, a country gentleman, generally +esteemed a very narrow man, happening to meet Andrew, expressed great +regret that he had no silver in his pocket, or he would have given him +sixpence.—"I can give you change for a note, laird," replied Andrew. + +Like most who have arisen to the head of their profession, the modern +degradation which mendicity has undergone was often the subject of +Andrew's lamentations. As a trade, he said, it was forty pounds a-year +worse since he had first practised it. On another occasion he observed, +begging was in modern times scarcely the profession of a gentleman; and +that, if he had twenty sons, he would not easily be induced to breed one +of them up in his own line. When or where this laudator temporis acti +closed his wanderings, the author never heard with certainty; but most +probably, as Burns says, + + —he died a cadger-powny's death, + At some dike side. + +The author may add another picture of the same kind as Edie Ochiltree +and Andrew Gemmells; considering these illustrations as a sort of +gallery, open to the reception of anything which may elucidate former +manners, or amuse the reader. + +The author's contemporaries at the university of Edinburgh will probably +remember the thin, wasted form of a venerable old Bedesman, who stood +by the Potterrow-Port, now demolished, and, without speaking a syllable, +gently inclined his head, and offered his hat, but with the least +possible degree of urgency, towards each individual who passed. This man +gained, by silence and the extenuated and wasted appearance of a palmer +from a remote country, the same tribute which was yielded to Andrew +Gemmells' sarcastic humour and stately deportment. He was understood to +be able to maintain a son a student in the theological classes of the +University, at the gate of which the father was a mendicant. The young +man was modest and inclined to learning, so that a student of the same +age, and whose parents where rather of the lower order, moved by seeing +him excluded from the society of other scholars when the secret of his +birth was suspected, endeavoured to console him by offering him some +occasional civilities. The old mendicant was grateful for this attention +to his son, and one day, as the friendly student passed, he stooped +forward more than usual, as if to intercept his passage. The scholar +drew out a halfpenny, which he concluded was the beggar's object, when +he was surprised to receive his thanks for the kindness he had shown to +Jemmie, and at the same time a cordial invitation to dine with them next +Saturday, "on a shoulder of mutton and potatoes," adding, "ye'll put on +your clean sark, as I have company." The student was strongly tempted +to accept this hospitable proposal, as many in his place would +probably have done; but, as the motive might have been capable of +misrepresentation, he thought it most prudent, considering the character +and circumstances of the old man, to decline the invitation. + +Such are a few traits of Scottish mendicity, designed to throw light on +a Novel in which a character of that description plays a prominent +part. We conclude, that we have vindicated Edie Ochiltree's right to the +importance assigned him; and have shown, that we have known one beggar +take a hand at cards with a person of distinction, and another give +dinner parties. + +I know not if it be worth while to observe, that the Antiquary,* was not +so well received on its first appearance as either of its predecessors, +though in course of time it rose to equal, and, with some readers, +superior popularity. + +* Note A. Mottoes. + + + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE ANTIQUARY. + +"THE ANTIQUARY" was begun in 1815; the bargain for its publication by +Constable was made in the October of that year. On December 22 Scott +wrote to Morritt: "I shall set myself seriously to 'The Antiquary,' of +which I have only a very general sketch at present; but when once I get +my pen to the paper it will walk fast enough. I am sometimes tempted to +leave it alone, and try whether it will not write as well without the +assistance of my head as with it,—a hopeful prospect for the reader!'" +It is amazing enough that he even constructed "a general sketch," for +to such sketches he confesses that he never could keep constant. "I have +generally written to the middle of one of these novels without having +the least idea how it was to end,—in short, in the hab nab at a venture +style of composition" (Journal, Feb. 24, 1828). Yet it is almost +impossible but that the plot of "The Antiquary" should have been duly +considered. Scott must have known from the first who Lovel was to +turn out to be, and must have recognised in the hapless bride of +Lord Glenallan the object of the Antiquary's solitary and unfortunate +passion. To introduce another Wandering Heir immediately after the Harry +Bertram of "Guy Mannering" was rather audacious. But that old favourite, +the Lost Heir, is nearly certain to be popular. For the Antiquary's +immortal sorrow Scott had a model in his own experience. "What a romance +to tell!—and told, I fear, it will one day be. And then my three years +of dreaming and my two years of wakening will be chronicled doubtless. +But the dead will feel no pain." The dead, as Aristotle says, if they +care for such things at all, care no more than we do for what has passed +in a dream. + +The general sketch probably began to take full shape about the last day +of 1815. On December 29 Scott wrote to Ballantyne:— + + DEAR JAMES,— + I've done, thank'God, with the long yarns + Of the most prosy of Apostles—Paul,1 + And now advance, sweet heathen of Monkbarns, + Step out, old quizz, as fast as I can scrawl. + +In "The Antiquary" Scott had a subject thoroughly to his mind. He +had been an antiquary from his childhood. His earliest pence had +been devoted to that collection of printed ballads which is still +at Abbotsford. These he mentions in the unfinished fragment of his +"Reliquiae Trotcosienses," in much the same words as in his manuscript +note on one of the seven volumes. + +"This little collection of Stall tracts and ballads was formed by me, +when a boy, from the baskets of the travelling pedlars. Until put into +its present decent binding it had such charms for the servants that it +was repeatedly, and with difficulty, recovered from their clutches. It +contains most of the pieces that were popular about thirty years since, +and, I dare say, many that could not now be procured for any price +(1810)." + +Nor did he collect only— + + "The rare melody of some old ditties + That first were sung to please King Pepin's cradle. + +"Walter had soon begun to gather out-of-the-way things of all sorts. He +had more books than shelves [sic]; a small painted cabinet with Scotch +and Roman coins in it, and so forth. A claymore and Lochaber axe, +given him by old Invernahyle, mounted guard on a little print of Prince +Charlie; and Broughton's Saucer was hooked up on the wall below it." He +had entered literature through the ruined gateway of archleology, in the +"Border Minstrelsy," and his last project was an edition of Perrault's +"Contes de Ma Mere l'Oie." As pleasant to him as the purchase of new +lands like Turn Again, bought dearly, as in Monkbarns's case, from +"bonnet lauds," was a fresh acquisition of an old book or of old armour. +Yet, with all his enthusiasm, he did not please the antiquaries of his +own day. George Chalmers, in Constable's "Life and Correspondence" +(i. 431), sneers at his want of learning. "His notes are loose and +unlearned, as they generally are." Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, his +friend in life, disported himself in jealous and ribald mockery of +Scott's archaeological knowledge, when Scott was dead. In a letter of +the enigmatic Thomas Allen, or James Stuart Hay, father of John Sobieski +and Charles Edward Stuart, this mysterious person avers that he never +knew Scott's opinion to be held as of any value by antiquaries (1829). +They probably missed in him "a sort of pettifogging intimacy with dates, +names, and trifling matters of fact,—a tiresome and frivolous accuracy +of memory" which Sir Arthur Wardour reproves in Monkbarns. Scott, in +brief, was not as Dry-as-dust; all the dead bones that he touches come +to life. He was as great an archeologist as a poet can be, and, with +Virgil, was the greatest antiquary among poets. Like Monkbarns, he was +not incapable of being beguiled. As Oldbuck bought the bodle from the +pedlar at the price of a rare coin, so Scott took Surtees's "Barthram's +Dirge," and his Latin legend of the tourney with the spectre knight, for +genuine antiquities. No Edie Ochiltree ever revealed to him the truth +about these forgeries, and the spectre knight, with the ballad of +"Anthony Featherstonhaugh," hold their own in "Marmion," to assure the +world that this antiquary was gullible when the sleight was practised by +a friend. "Non est tanti," he would have said, had he learned the truth; +for he was ever conscious of the humorous side of the study of the +mouldering past. "I do not know anything which relieves the mind so much +from the sullens as a trifling discourse about antiquarian oldwomanries. +It is like knitting a stocking,—diverting the mind without occupying +it." ("Journal," March 9, 1828). + +Begun about Jan. 1, 1816, "The Antiquary" was published before May 16, +1816, when Scott writes to say that he has sent Mr. Morritt the novel +"some time since." "It is not so interesting as its predecessors; the +period does not admit of so much romantic situation. But it has been +more fortunate than any of them in the sale, for six thousand went off +in the first six days, and it is now at press again." The Preface of the +first edition ends with the melancholy statement that the author "takes +his respectful leave, as one who is not likely again to solicit favour." +Apparently Scott had already determined not to announce his next novels +("The Black Dwarf" and "Old Mortality") as "by the Author of Waverley." +Mr. Constable, in the biography of his father, says (iii. 84): "Even +before the publication of 'The Antiquary,' John Ballantyne had been +impowered by the Author to negotiate with Mr. Murray and Mr. Blackwood +for the first series of the 'Tales of my Landlord.'" The note of +withdrawal from the stage, in the first edition of "The Antiquary," +was probably only a part of another experiment on public sagacity. As +Lockhart says, Mr. Murray and Mr. Blackwood thought that the consequent +absence of the Author of "Waverley's" name from the "Tales of my +Landlord" would "check very much the first success of the book;" but +they risked this, "to disturb Constable's tenure." + +Scott's temporary desertion of Constable in the "Tales of my Landlord" +may have had various motives. There was a slight grudge against +Constable, born of some complications of the Ballantynes' affairs. +Perhaps the mere amusement of the experiment on public sagacity was one +of the more powerful reasons for the change. In our day Lord Lytton and +Mr. Trollope made similar trials of their popularity when anonymous, the +former author with the greater success. The idea of these masquerades +and veils of the incognito appears to have bewitched Constable. William +Godwin was writing for him his novel "Mandeville," and Godwin had +obviously been counselled to try a disguise. He says (Jan. 30, 1816) "I +have amused my imagination a thousand times since last we parted with +the masquerade you devised for me. The world is full of wonder. An old +favourite is always reviewed with coldness. . . . 'Pooh,' they say; +'Godwin has worn his pen to the stump!' . . . But let me once be +equipped with a significant mask and an unknown character from your +masquerade shop, and admitted to figure in with the 'Last Minstrel,' the +'Lady of the Lake,' and 'Guy Mannering' in the Scottish carnival, Gods! +how the boys and girls will admire me! 'Here is a new wonder!' they +will say. 'Ah, this is something like! Here is Godwin beaten on his own +ground. . . Here is for once a Scottish writer that they cannot say has +anything of the Scotchman about him.'" + +However, Mr. Godwin did not don the mask and domino. "Mandeville" came +out about the same time as "Rob Roy;" but the "craziness of the public" +for the Author of "Waverley" was not changed into a passion for the +father-in-law of Shelley. + +"'The Antiquary,' after a little pause of hesitation, attained +popularity not inferior to 'Guy Mannering,' and though the author +appears for a moment to have shared the doubts which he read in the +countenance of James Ballantyne, it certainly was, in the sequel, his +chief favourite among all his novels.'" + +As Scott said to Terry, "If a man will paint from nature, he will be +likely to amuse those who are daily looking at it." The years which saw +the first appearance of "Guy Mannering" also witnessed that of "Emma." +By the singular chance, or law, which links great authors closely +in time, giving us novelists in pairs, Miss Austen was "drawing from +nature" at the very moment when Scott was wedding nature with romance. +How generously and wisely he admired her is familiar, and it may, to +some, seem curious that he never deliberately set himself to a picture +of ordinary life, free from the intrusion of the unusual, of the heroic. +Once, looking down at the village which lies on the Tweed, opposite +Melrose, he remarked that under its roofs tragedies and tales were +doubtless being lived. 'I undertake to say there is some real romance at +this moment going on down there, that, if it could have justice done to +it, would be well worth all the fiction that was ever spun out of human +brains.' But the example he gave was terrible,—"anything more dreadful +was never conceived by Crabbe;" yet, adds Lockhart, "it would never have +entered into his head to elaborate such a tale." He could not dwell in +the unbroken gloom dear to some modern malingerers. But he could +easily have made a tale of common Scotch life, dark with the sorrow of +Mucklebackit, and bright with the mirth of Cuddie Headrigg. There was, +however, this difficulty,—that Scott cared not to write a story of a +single class. "From the peer to the ploughman," all society mingles in +each of his novels. A fiction of middle-class life did not allure him, +and he was not at the best, but at his worst, as Sydney Smith observed, +in the light talk of society. He could admire Miss Austen, and read her +novels again and again; but had he attempted to follow her, by way of +variety, then inevitably wild as well as disciplined humour would have +kept breaking in, and his fancy would have wandered like the old knights +of Arthur's Court, "at adventure." "St. Ronan's Well" proved the truth +of all this. Thus it happens that, in "The Antiquary," with all his +sympathy for the people, with all his knowledge of them, he does not +confine himself to their cottages. As Lockhart says, in his admirable +piece of criticism, he preferred to choose topics in which he could +display "his highest art, that of skilful contrast." + +Even the tragic romance of "Waverley" does not set off its Macwheebles +and Callum Begs better than the oddities of Jonathan Oldbuck and +his circle are relieved, on the one hand by the stately gloom of the +Glenallans, on the other by the stern affliction of the poor fisherman, +who, when discovered repairing "the auld black bitch of a boat," in +which his boy had been lost, and congratulated by his visitors on being +capable of the exertion, makes answer, "And what would you have me to +do, unless I wanted to see four children starve, because one is drowned? +It 's weel with you gentles, that can sit in the house with handkerchers +at your een, when ye lose a friend; but the like o' us maun to our work +again, if our hearts were beating as hard as ony hammer." And to his +work again Scott had to go when he lost the partner of his life. + +The simple unsought charm which Lockhart notes in "The Antiquary" may +have passed away in later works, when what had been the amusement of +happy days became the task of sadness. But this magic "The Antiquary" +keeps perhaps beyond all its companions,—the magic of pleasant memories +and friendly associations. The sketches of the epoch of expected +invasion, with its patriotic musters and volunteer drillings, are +pictures out of that part in the author's life which, with his early +Highland wanderings ("Waverley") and his Liddesdale raids ("Guy +Mannering"), was most dear to him. In "Redgauntlet," again, he makes, as +Alan Fairford, a return on his youth and his home, and in "Rob Roy" he +revives his Highland recollections, his Highland lairds of "the blawing, +bleezing stories." None of the rest of the tales are so intimate in +their connection with Scott's own personal history. "The Antiquary" has +always, therefore, been held in the very first rank of his novels. + +As far as plot goes, though Godwin denied that it had any story, "The +Antiquary" may be placed among the most careful. The underplot of the +Glenallans, gloomy almost beyond endurance, is very ingeniously made +to unravel the mystery of Lovel. The other side-narrative, that of +Dousterswivel, is the weak point of the whole; but this Scott justifies +by "very late instances of the force of superstitious credulity, to a +much greater extent." Some occurrence of the hour may have suggested the +knavish adept with his divining-rod. But facts are never a real excuse +for the morally incredible, or all but incredible, in fiction. On the +wealth and vraisemblance and variety of character it were superfluous to +dilate. As in Shakspeare, there is not even a minor person but lives +and is of flesh and blood, if we except, perhaps, Dousterswivel and Sir +Arthur Wardour. Sir Arthur is only Sir Robert Hazlewood over again, with +a slightly different folly and a somewhat more amiable nature. Lovel's +place, as usual, is among the shades of heroes, and his love-affair is +far less moving, far more summarily treated, than that of Jenny Caxon. +The skilful contrasts are perhaps most remarkable when we compare +Elspeth of the Burnfoot with the gossiping old women in the post-office +at Fairport,—a town studied perhaps from Arbroath. It was the opinion +of Sydney Smith that every one of the novels, before "The Fortunes of +Nigel," contained a Meg Merrilies and a Dominie Sampson. He may have +recognized a male Meg in Edie Ochiltree,—the invaluable character who is +always behind a wall, always overhears everything, and holds the threads +of the plot. Or he may have been hypercritical enough to think that +Elspeth of the Burnfoot is the Meg of the romance. Few will agree with +him that Meg Merrilies, in either of these cases, is "good, but good too +often." + +The supposed "originals" of certain persons in the tale have been +topics of discussion. The character of Oldbuck, like most characters in +fiction, is a combination of traits observed in various persons. Scott +says, in a note to the Ashiestiel fragment of Autobiography, that Mr. +George Constable, an old friend of his father's, "had many of those +peculiarities of character which long afterwards I tried to develop in +the character of Jonathan Oldbuck." Sir Walter, when a child, made Mr. +Constable's acquaintance at Prestonpans in 1777, where he explored the +battle-field "under the learned guidance of Dalgetty." Mr. Constable +first introduced him to Shakspeare's plays, and gave him his first +German dictionary. Other traits may have been suggested by John Clerk +of Eldin, whose grandfather was the hero of the story "Praetorian here, +Praetorian there, I made it wi' a flaughter spade." Lockhart is no +doubt right in thinking that Oldbuck is partly a caricature of Oldbuck's +creator,—Sir Walter indeed frankly accepted the kinship; and the book +which he began on his own collection he proposed to style "Reliquim +Trotcosienses; or, the Gabions of Jonathan Oldbuck." + +Another person who added a few points to Oldbuck was "Sandy Gordon," +author of the "Itinerarium Septentrionale" (1726), the very folio which +Monkbarns carried in the dilatory coach to Queensferry. Gordon had been +a student in the University of Aberdeen; he was an amateur in many arts, +but antiquarianism was his favourite hobby. He was an acquaintance of +Sir John Clerk of Eldin, the hero of the Praetorium. The words of Gordon +in his "Itinerarium," where he describes the battle of the Grampians, +have supplied, or suggested, the speech of Monkbarns at the Kaim +of Kinprunes. The great question was, Where is the Mons Grampius of +Tacitus? Dismissing Camden's Grantsbain, because he does not know where +it is, Gordon says, "As for our Scotch Antiquaries, they are so divided +that some will have it to be in the shire of Angus, or in the Mearns, +some at the Blair of Athol in Perthshire, or Ardoch in Strathallan, and +others at Inverpeffery." Gordon votes for Strathern, "half a mile short +of the Kirk of Comrie." This spot is both at the foot of the Montes +Grampii, "and boasts a Roman camp capable of holding an army fit to +encounter so formidable a number as thirty thousand Caledonians. . . . +Here is the Porta Decumana, opposite the Prcetoria, together with the +dextra and sinistra gates," all discovered by Sandy Gordon. "Moreover, +the situation of the ground is so very exact with the description +given by Tacitus, that in all my travels through Britain I never beheld +anything with more pleasure. . . . Nor is it difficult, in viewing this +ground, to say where the Covinarii, or Charioteers, stood. In fine, to +an Antiquary, this is a ravishing scene." He adds the argument "that +Galgacus's name still remains on this ground, for the moor on which the +camp stood is called to this day Galdachan, or Galgachan Rosmoor." +All this lore Gordon illustrates by an immense chart of a camp, and a +picture of very small Montes Grampii, about the size and shape of buns. +The plate is dedicated to his excellency General Wade. + +In another point Monkbapns borrows from Gordon. Sandy has a plate (page +20) of "The Roman Sacellum of Mars Signifer, vulgarly called 'Arthur's +Oon.' With regard to its shape, it is not unlike the famous Pantheon at +Rome before the noble Portico was added to it by Marcus Agrippa." Gordon +agrees with Stukeley in attributing Arthur's Oon to Agricola, and +here Monkbarns and Lovel adopt almost his words. "Time has left Julius +Agricola's very name on the place; . . . and if ever those initial +letters J. A. M. P. M. P. T., mentioned by Sir Robert Sibbald, were +engraven on a stone in this building, it may not be reckoned altogether +absurd that they should bear this reading, JULIUS AGRICOLA MAGNUS +PIETATIS MONUMENTUM POSUIT TEMPLUM; but this my reader may either accept +or reject as he pleases. However, I think it may be as probably received +as that inscription on Caligula's Pharos in Holland, which having these +following letters, C. C. P. F., is read Caius Caligula Pharum Fecit." +"This," Monkbarns adds, "has ever been recorded as a sound exposition." + +The character of Edie Ochiltree, Scott himself avers to have been +suggested by Andrew Gemmells, pleasantly described in the Introduction. +Mr. Chambers, in "Illustrations of the Author of 'Waverley," clears up +a point doubtful in Scott's memory, by saying that Geimells really was a +Blue-Gown. He rode a horse of his own, and at races was a bookmaker. +He once dropped at Rutherford, in Teviotdale, a clue of yarn containing +twenty guineas. Like Edie Ochiltree, he had served at Fontenoy. He +died at Roxburgh Newton in 1793, at the age of one hundred and five, +according to his own reckoning. "His wealth was the means of enriching +a nephew in Ayrshire, who is now (1825) a considerable landholder there, +and belongs to a respectable class of society." + +An old Irus of similar character patrolled Teviotdale, while Andrew +Gemmells was attached to Ettrick and Yarrow. This was Blind Willie Craw. +Willie was the Society Journal of Hawick, and levied blackmail on the +inhabitants. He is thus described by Mr. Grieve, in the Diary already +quoted: "He lived at Branxholme Town, in a free house set apart for the +gamekeeper, and for many a year carried all the bread from Hawick used +in my father's family. He came in that way at breakfast-time, and got a +wallet which he put it in, and returned at dinner-time with the 'bawbee +rows' and two loaves. He laid the town of Hawick under contribution for +bawbees, and he knew the history of every individual, and went rhyming +through the town from door to door; and as he knew something against +every one which they would rather wish should not be rehearsed, a bawbee +put a stop to the paragraph which they wished suppressed. Willie Craw +was the son of a gamekeeper of the duke's, and enjoyed a free house at +Branxholme Town as long as he lived." + +Had Burns ever betaken himself to the gaberlunzie's life, which he +speaks of in one of his poems as "the last o't, the worst o't," he would +have proved a much more formidable satirist than poor Willie Craw, the +last of the "blind crowders." Burns wrote, of course, in a spirit of +reckless humour; but he could not, even in sport, have alluded to the +life as "suited to his habits and powers," had gaberlunzies been mere +mendicants. In Herd's collection of Ballads is one on the ancient +Scottish beggar:— + + In Scotland there lived a humble beggar, + He had nor house, nor hald, nor hame; + But he was well liked by ilk a body, + And they gave him sunkets to rax his wame. + + A sieve fu' o' meal, a handfu' o' groats, + A dad o' a bannock, or pudding bree, + Cauld porridge, or the lickings o' plates, + Wad make him as blythe as a body could be. + +The dress and trade of the beggar are said to have been adopted by +James V. in his adventures, and tradition attributes to him a song, "The +Gaberlunzie Man." + +One of Edie's most charming traits is his readiness to "fight for his +dish, like the laird for his land," when a French invasion was expected. +Scott places the date of "The False Alarm," when he himself rode a +hundred miles to join his regiment, on Feb. 2, 1804. + +Lockhart gives it as an event of 1805 (vol. ii. p. 275). The occasion +gave great pleasure to Scott, on account of the patriotism and courage +displayed by all classes. "Me no muckle to fight for?" says Edie. "Isna +there the country to fight for, and the burns I gang dandering beside, +and the hearths o' the gudewives that gie me my bit bread, and the bits +o' weans that come toddling to play wi' me when I come about a landward +town?" Edie had fought at Fontenoy, and was of the old school. Scott +would have been less pleased with a recruit from St. Boswells, on the +Tweed. This man was a shoemaker, John Younger, a very intelligent and +worthy person, famous as an angler and writer on angling, who has left +an account of the "False Alarm" in his memoirs. His view was that the +people, unlike Edie, had nothing to fight for, that only the rich had +any reason to be patriotic, that the French had no quarrel with the +poor. In fact, Mr. Younger was a cosmopolitan democrat, and sneered at +the old Border glories of the warlike days. Probably, however, he would +have done his duty, had the enemy landed, and, like Edie, might have +remembered the "burns he dandered beside," always with a fishingrod in +his hand. + + The Editor cannot resist the temptation to add that the patriotic + lady mentioned in Scott's note, who "would rather have seen her son + dead on that hearth than hear that he had been a horse's length + behind his companions," was his paternal great-grandmother, Mrs. + John Lang. Her husband, who died shortly afterwards, so that she was + a widow when Scott conversed with her, chanced to be chief + magistrate of Selkirk. His family was aroused late one night by the + sound of a carriage hurrying down the steep and narrow street. Lord + Napier was bringing, probably from Hawick, the tidings that the + beacons were ablaze. The town-bell was instantly rung, the + inhabitants met in the marketplace, where Scott's statue now stands, + and the whole force, with one solitary exception, armed and marched + to Dalkeith. According to the gentleman whose horse and arms were + sent on to meet him, it was intended, if the French proved + victorious, that the population of the Border towns should abandon + their homes and retire to the hills. + +No characters in the "Antiquary," except Monkbarns and Edie Ochiltree, +seem to have been borrowed from notable originals. The frauds of +Dousterswivel, Scott says, are rendered plausible by "very late +instances of the force of superstitious credulity to a much greater +extent." He can hardly be referring to the career of Cagliostro, but +he may have had in his memory some unsuccessful mining speculations by +Charles Earl of Traquair, who sought for lead and found little or none +in Traquair hills. The old "Statistical Account of Scotland" (vol. xii. +p. 370) says nothing about imposture, and merely remarks that "the noble +family of Traquair have made several attempts to discover lead mines, +and have found quantities of the ore of that metal, though not adequate +to indemnify the expenses of working, and have therefore given up the +attempt." This was published in 1794, so twenty years had passed +when "The Antiquary" was written. If there was here an "instance +of superstitious credulity," it was not "a very late instance." The +divining, or "dowsing," rod of Dousterswivel still keeps its place in +mining superstition and in the search for wells. + +With "The Antiquary" most contemporary reviews of the novels lose their +interest. Their author had firmly established his position, at least +till "The Monastery" caused some murmurings. Even the "Quarterly Review" +was infinitely more genial in its reception of "The Antiquary" than of +"Guy Mannering." The critic only grumbled at Lovel's feverish dreams, +which, he thought, showed an intention to introduce the marvellous. He +complained of "the dark dialect of Anglified Erse," but found comfort in +the glossary appended. The "Edinburgh Review" pronounced the chapter on +the escape from the tide to be "I the very best description we have ever +met, inverse or in prose, in ancient or in modern writing." No reviewer +seems to have noticed that the sun is made to set in the sea, on the +east coast of Scotland. The "Edinburgh," however, declared that the +Antiquary, "at least in so far as he is an Antiquary," was the chief +blemish on the book. The "sweet heathen of Monkbarns" has not suffered +from this disparagement. The "British Critic" pledged its reputation +that Scott was the author. If an argument were wanted, "it would be that +which has been applied to prove the authenticity of the last book of +the Iliad,—that Homer must have written it, because no one else could." +Alas! that argument does not convince German critics. + + ANDREW LANG. + + + + + +CHAPTER FIRST. + + Go call a coach, and let a coach be called, + And let the man who calleth be the caller; + And in his calling let him nothing call, + But Coach! Coach! Coach! O for a coach, ye gods! + Chrononhotonthologos. + +It was early on a fine summer's day, near the end of the eighteenth +century, when a young man, of genteel appearance, journeying towards the +north-east of Scotland, provided himself with a ticket in one of those +public carriages which travel between Edinburgh and the Queensferry, +at which place, as the name implies, and as is well known to all my +northern readers, there is a passage-boat for crossing the Firth of +Forth. The coach was calculated to carry six regular passengers, besides +such interlopers as the coachman could pick up by the way, and intrude +upon those who were legally in possession. The tickets, which conferred +right to a seat in this vehicle, of little ease, were dispensed by a +sharp-looking old dame, with a pair of spectacles on a very thin nose, +who inhabited a "laigh shop," anglice, a cellar, opening to the High +Street by a straight and steep stair, at the bottom of which she sold +tape, thread, needles, skeins of worsted, coarse linen cloth, and such +feminine gear, to those who had the courage and skill to descend to +the profundity of her dwelling, without falling headlong themselves, or +throwing down any of the numerous articles which, piled on each side of +the descent, indicated the profession of the trader below. + +The written hand-bill, which, pasted on a projecting board, announced +that the Queensferry Diligence, or Hawes Fly, departed precisely at +twelve o'clock on Tuesday, the fifteenth July 17—, in order to secure +for travellers the opportunity of passing the Firth with the flood-tide, +lied on the present occasion like a bulletin; for although that hour was +pealed from Saint Giles's steeple, and repeated by the Tron, no coach +appeared upon the appointed stand. It is true, only two tickets had been +taken out, and possibly the lady of the subterranean mansion might have +an understanding with her Automedon, that, in such cases, a little space +was to be allowed for the chance of filling up the vacant places—or the +said Automedon might have been attending a funeral, and be delayed by +the necessity of stripping his vehicle of its lugubrious trappings—or +he might have staid to take a half-mutchkin extraordinary with his crony +the hostler—or—in short, he did not make his appearance. + +The young gentleman, who began to grow somewhat impatient, was now +joined by a companion in this petty misery of human life—the person who +had taken out the other place. He who is bent upon a journey is usually +easily to be distinguished from his fellow-citizens. The boots, the +great-coat, the umbrella, the little bundle in his hand, the hat pulled +over his resolved brows, the determined importance of his pace, his +brief answers to the salutations of lounging acquaintances, are all +marks by which the experienced traveller in mail-coach or diligence can +distinguish, at a distance, the companion of his future journey, as he +pushes onward to the place of rendezvous. It is then that, with worldly +wisdom, the first comer hastens to secure the best berth in the coach +for himself, and to make the most convenient arrangement for his baggage +before the arrival of his competitors. Our youth, who was gifted with +little prudence, of any sort, and who was, moreover, by the absence of +the coach, deprived of the power of availing himself of his priority of +choice, amused himself, instead, by speculating upon the occupation and +character of the personage who was now come to the coach office. + +He was a good-looking man of the age of sixty, perhaps older,—but his +hale complexion and firm step announced that years had not impaired +his strength or health. His countenance was of the true Scottish +cast, strongly marked, and rather harsh in features, with a shrewd +and penetrating eye, and a countenance in which habitual gravity was +enlivened by a cast of ironical humour. His dress was uniform, and of a +colour becoming his age and gravity; a wig, well dressed and powdered, +surmounted by a slouched hat, had something of a professional air. He +might be a clergyman, yet his appearance was more that of a man of +the world than usually belongs to the kirk of Scotland, and his first +ejaculation put the matter beyond question. + +He arrived with a hurried pace, and, casting an alarmed glance towards +the dial-plate of the church, then looking at the place where the coach +should have been, exclaimed, "Deil's in it—I am too late after all!" + +The young man relieved his anxiety, by telling him the coach had not +yet appeared. The old gentleman, apparently conscious of his own want of +punctuality, did not at first feel courageous enough to censure that +of the coachman. He took a parcel, containing apparently a large folio, +from a little boy who followed him, and, patting him on the head, bid +him go back and tell Mr. B——, that if he had known he was to have had so +much time, he would have put another word or two to their bargain,—then +told the boy to mind his business, and he would be as thriving a lad as +ever dusted a duodecimo. The boy lingered, perhaps in hopes of a penny +to buy marbles; but none was forthcoming. Our senior leaned his little +bundle upon one of the posts at the head of the staircase, and, facing +the traveller who had first arrived, waited in silence for about five +minutes the arrival of the expected diligence. + +At length, after one or two impatient glances at the progress of the +minute-hand of the clock, having compared it with his own watch, a huge +and antique gold repeater, and having twitched about his features to +give due emphasis to one or two peevish pshaws, he hailed the old lady +of the cavern. + +"Good woman,—what the d—l is her name?—Mrs. Macleuchar!" + +Mrs. Macleuchar, aware that she had a defensive part to sustain in the +encounter which was to follow, was in no hurry to hasten the discussion +by returning a ready answer. + +"Mrs. Macleuchar,—Good woman" (with an elevated voice)—then apart, "Old +doited hag, she's as deaf as a post—I say, Mrs. Macleuchar!" + +"I am just serving a customer.—Indeed, hinny, it will no be a bodle +cheaper than I tell ye." + +"Woman," reiterated the traveller, "do you think we can stand here all +day till you have cheated that poor servant wench out of her half-year's +fee and bountith?" + +"Cheated!" retorted Mrs. Macleuchar, eager to take up the quarrel upon a +defensible ground; "I scorn your words, sir: you are an uncivil +person, and I desire you will not stand there, to slander me at my ain +stair-head." + +"The woman," said the senior, looking with an arch glance at his +destined travelling companion, "does not understand the words of +action.—Woman," again turning to the vault, "I arraign not thy +character, but I desire to know what is become of thy coach?" + +"What's your wull?" answered Mrs. Macleuchar, relapsing into deafness. + +"We have taken places, ma'am," said the younger stranger, "in your +diligence for Queensferry"——"Which should have been half-way on the road +before now," continued the elder and more impatient traveller, rising +in wrath as he spoke: "and now in all likelihood we shall miss the tide, +and I have business of importance on the other side—and your cursed +coach"— + +"The coach?—Gude guide us, gentlemen, is it no on the stand yet?" +answered the old lady, her shrill tone of expostulation sinking into a +kind of apologetic whine. "Is it the coach ye hae been waiting for?" + +"What else could have kept us broiling in the sun by the side of the +gutter here, you—you faithless woman, eh?" + +Mrs. Macleuchar now ascended her trap stair (for such it might be +called, though constructed of stone), until her nose came upon a level +with the pavement; then, after wiping her spectacles to look for +that which she well knew was not to be found, she exclaimed, with +well-feigned astonishment, "Gude guide us—saw ever onybody the like o' +that?" + +"Yes, you abominable woman," vociferated the traveller, "many have seen +the like of it, and all will see the like of it that have anything to do +with your trolloping sex;" then pacing with great indignation before +the door of the shop, still as he passed and repassed, like a vessel who +gives her broadside as she comes abreast of a hostile fortress, he +shot down complaints, threats, and reproaches, on the embarrassed Mrs. +Macleuchar. He would take a post-chaise—he would call a hackney coach—he +would take four horses—he must—he would be on the north side, +to-day—and all the expense of his journey, besides damages, direct and +consequential, arising from delay, should be accumulated on the devoted +head of Mrs. Macleuchar. + +There, was something so comic in his pettish resentment, that the +younger traveller, who was in no such pressing hurry to depart, could +not help being amused with it, especially as it was obvious, that +every now and then the old gentleman, though very angry, could not help +laughing at his own vehemence. But when Mrs. Macleuchar began also to +join in the laughter, he quickly put a stop to her ill-timed merriment. + +"Woman," said he, "is that advertisement thine?" showing a bit of +crumpled printed paper: "Does it not set forth, that, God willing, as +you hypocritically express it, the Hawes Fly, or Queensferry Diligence, +would set forth to-day at twelve o'clock; and is it not, thou falsest of +creatures, now a quarter past twelve, and no such fly or diligence to +be seen?—Dost thou know the consequence of seducing the lieges by +false reports?—dost thou know it might be brought under the statute of +leasing-making? Answer—and for once in thy long, useless, and evil +life, let it be in the words of truth and sincerity,—hast thou such +a coach?—is it in rerum natura?—or is this base annunciation a mere +swindle on the incautious to beguile them of their time, their patience, +and three shillings of sterling money of this realm?—Hast thou, I say, +such a coach? ay or no?" + +"O dear, yes, sir; the neighbours ken the diligence weel, green picked +oat wi' red—three yellow wheels and a black ane." + +"Woman, thy special description will not serve—it may be only a lie with +a circumstance." + +"O, man, man!" said the overwhelmed Mrs. Macleuchar, totally exhausted +at having been so long the butt of his rhetoric, "take back your three +shillings, and make me quit o' ye." + +"Not so fast, not so fast, woman—Will three shillings transport me to +Queensferry, agreeably to thy treacherous program?—or will it requite +the damage I may sustain by leaving my business undone, or repay the +expenses which I must disburse if I am obliged to tarry a day at the +South Ferry for lack of tide?—Will it hire, I say, a pinnace, for which +alone the regular price is five shillings?" + +Here his argument was cut short by a lumbering noise, which proved to +be the advance of the expected vehicle, pressing forward with all the +dispatch to which the broken-winded jades that drew it could possibly +be urged. With ineffable pleasure, Mrs. Macleuchar saw her tormentor +deposited in the leathern convenience; but still, as it was driving off, +his head thrust out of the window reminded her, in words drowned amid +the rumbling of the wheels, that, if the diligence did not attain the +Ferry in time to save the flood-tide, she, Mrs. Macleuchar, should be +held responsible for all the consequences that might ensue. + +The coach had continued in motion for a mile or two before the stranger +had completely repossessed himself of his equanimity, as was manifested +by the doleful ejaculations, which he made from time to time, on the too +great probability, or even certainty, of their missing the flood-tide. +By degrees, however, his wrath subsided; he wiped his brows, relaxed his +frown, and, undoing the parcel in his hand, produced his folio, on which +he gazed from time to time with the knowing look of an amateur, admiring +its height and condition, and ascertaining, by a minute and individual +inspection of each leaf, that the, volume was uninjured and entire +from title-page to colophon. His fellow-traveller took the liberty +of inquiring the subject of his studies. He lifted up his eyes with +something of a sarcastic glance, as if he supposed the young querist +would not relish, or perhaps understand, his answer, and pronounced +the book to be Sandy Gordon's Itinerarium Septentrionale,* a book +illustrative of the Roman remains in Scotland. + +* Note B. Sandy Gordon's Itinerarium. + +The querist, unappalled by this learned title, proceeded to put +several questions, which indicated that he had made good use of a good +education, and, although not possessed of minute information on the +subject of antiquities, had yet acquaintance enough with the classics to +render him an interested and intelligent auditor when they were enlarged +upon. The elder traveller, observing with pleasure the capacity of +his temporary companion to understand and answer him, plunged, nothing +loath, into a sea of discussion concerning urns, vases, votive, altars, +Roman camps, and the rules of castrametation. + +The pleasure of this discourse had such a dulcifying tendency, that, +although two causes of delay occurred, each of much more serious +duration than that which had drawn down his wrath upon the unlucky Mrs. +Macleuchar, our =Antiquary= only bestowed on the delay the honour of +a few episodical poohs and pshaws, which rather seemed to regard the +interruption of his disquisition than the retardation of his journey. + +The first of these stops was occasioned by the breaking of a spring, +which half an hour's labour hardly repaired. To the second, the +Antiquary was himself accessory, if not the principal cause of it; for, +observing that one of the horses had cast a fore-foot shoe, he apprized +the coachman of this important deficiency. "It's Jamie Martingale that +furnishes the naigs on contract, and uphauds them," answered John, "and +I am not entitled to make any stop, or to suffer prejudice by the like +of these accidents." + +"And when you go to—I mean to the place you deserve to go to, you +scoundrel,—who do you think will uphold you on contract? If you don't +stop directly and carry the poor brute, to the next smithy, I'll have +you punished, if there's a justice of peace in Mid-Lothian;" and, +opening the coach-door, out he jumped, while the coachman obeyed his +orders, muttering, that "if the gentlemen lost the tide now, they could +not say but it was their ain fault, since he was willing to get on." + +I like so little to analyze the complication of the causes which +influence actions, that I will not venture to ascertain whether our +Antiquary's humanity to the poor horse was not in some degree aided by +his desire of showing his companion a Pict's camp, or Round-about, +a subject which he had been elaborately discussing, and of which a +specimen, "very curious and perfect indeed," happened to exist about a +hundred yards distant from the spot where this interruption took place. +But were I compelled to decompose the motives of my worthy friend (for +such was the gentleman in the sober suit, with powdered wig and slouched +hat), I should say, that, although he certainly would not in any case +have suffered the coachman to proceed while the horse was unfit for +service, and likely to suffer by being urged forward, yet the man of +whipcord escaped some severe abuse and reproach by the agreeable mode +which the traveller found out to pass the interval of delay. + +So much time was consumed by these interruptions of their journey, that +when they descended the hill above the Hawes (for so the inn on the +southern side of the Queensferry is denominated), the experienced eye +of the Antiquary at once discerned, from the extent of wet sand, and +the number of black stones and rocks, covered with sea-weed, which were +visible along the skirts of the shore, that the hour of tide was past. +The young traveller expected a burst of indignation; but whether, as +Croaker says in "The Good-natured Man," our hero had exhausted himself +in fretting away his misfortunes beforehand, so that he did not feel +them when they actually arrived, or whether he found the company in +which he was placed too congenial to lead him to repine at anything +which delayed his journey, it is certain that he submitted to his lot +with much resignation. + +"The d—l's in the diligence and the old hag, it belongs to!—Diligence, +quoth I? Thou shouldst have called it the Sloth—Fly, quoth she? why, it +moves like a fly through a glue-pot, as the Irishman says. But, however, +time and tide tarry for no man, and so, my young friend, we'll have a +snack here at the Hawes, which is a very decent sort of a place, +and I'll be very happy to finish the account I was giving you of the +difference between the mode of entrenching castra stativa and castra +aestiva, things confounded by too many of our historians. Lack-a-day, if +they had ta'en the pains to satisfy their own eyes, instead of following +each other's blind guidance!—Well! we shall be pretty comfortable at the +Hawes; and besides, after all, we must have dined somewhere, and it will +be pleasanter sailing with the tide of ebb and the evening breeze." + +In this Christian temper of making the best of all occurrences, our +travellers alighted at the Hawes. + + + + +CHAPTER SECOND. + + Sir, they do scandal me upon the road here! + A poor quotidian rack of mutton roasted + Dry to be grated! and that driven down + With beer and butter-milk, mingled together. + It is against my freehold, my inheritance. + Wine is the word that glads the heart of man, + And mine's the house of wine. Sack, says my bush, + Be merry and drink Sherry, that's my posie. + Ben Jonson's New Inn. + +As the senior traveller descended the crazy steps of the diligence at +the inn, he was greeted by the fat, gouty, pursy landlord, with that +mixture of familiarity and respect which the Scotch innkeepers of the +old school used to assume towards their more valued customers. + +"Have a care o' us, Monkbarns (distinguishing him by his territorial +epithet, always most agreeable to the ear of a Scottish proprietor), is +this you? I little thought to have seen your honour here till the summer +session was ower." + +"Ye donnard auld deevil," answered his guest, his Scottish accent +predominating when in anger though otherwise not particularly +remarkable,—"ye donnard auld crippled idiot, what have I to do with the +session, or the geese that flock to it, or the hawks that pick their +pinions for them?" + +"Troth, and that's true," said mine host, who, in fact, only spoke upon +a very general recollection of the stranger's original education, yet +would have been sorry not to have been supposed accurate as to the +station and profession of him, or any other occasional guest—"That's +very true,—but I thought ye had some law affair of your ain to look +after—I have ane mysell—a ganging plea that my father left me, and his +father afore left to him. It's about our back-yard—ye'll maybe hae heard +of it in the Parliament-house, Hutchison against Mackitchinson—it's a +weel-kenn'd plea—its been four times in afore the fifteen, and deil ony +thing the wisest o' them could make o't, but just to send it out again +to the outer-house.—O it's a beautiful thing to see how lang and how +carefully justice is considered in this country!" + +"Hold your tongue, you fool," said the traveller, but in great +good-humour, "and tell us what you can give this young gentleman and me +for dinner." + +"Ou, there's fish, nae doubt,—that's sea-trout and caller haddocks," +said Mackitchinson, twisting his napkin; "and ye'll be for a +mutton-chop, and there's cranberry tarts, very weel preserved, and—and +there's just ony thing else ye like." + +"Which is to say, there is nothing else whatever? Well, well, the fish +and the chop, and the tarts, will do very well. But don't imitate the +cautious delay that you praise in the courts of justice. Let there be no +remits from the inner to the outer house, hear ye me?" + +"Na, na," said Mackitchinson, whose long and heedful perusal of +volumes of printed session papers had made him acquainted with some law +phrases—"the denner shall be served quam primum and that peremptorie." +And with the flattering laugh of a promising host, he left them in his +sanded parlour, hung with prints of the Four Seasons. + +As, notwithstanding his pledge to the contrary, the glorious delays of +the law were not without their parallel in the kitchen of the inn, our +younger traveller had an opportunity to step out and make some inquiry +of the people of the house concerning the rank and station of his +companion. The information which he received was of a general and less +authentic nature, but quite sufficient to make him acquainted with +the name, history, and circumstances of the gentleman, whom we shall +endeavour, in a few words, to introduce more accurately to our readers. + +Jonathan Oldenbuck, or Oldinbuck, by popular contraction Oldbuck, +of Monkbarns, was the second son of a gentleman possessed of a small +property in the neighbourhood of a thriving seaport town on the +north-eastern coast of Scotland, which, for various reasons, we shall +denominate Fairport. They had been established for several generations, +as landholders in the county, and in most shires of England would have +been accounted a family of some standing But the shire of——was filled +with gentlemen of more ancient descent and larger fortune. In the last +generation, also, the neighbouring gentry had been almost uniformly +Jacobites, while the proprietors of Monkbarns, like the burghers of +the town near which they were settled, were steady assertors of the +Protestant succession. The latter had, however, a pedigree of their +own, on which they prided themselves as much as those who despised them +valued their respective Saxon, Norman, or Celtic genealogies. The first +Oldenbuck, who had settled in their family mansion shortly after the +Reformation, was, they asserted, descended from one of the original +printers of Germany, and had left his country in consequence of the +persecutions directed against the professors of the Reformed religion. +He had found a refuge in the town near which his posterity dwelt, +the more readily that he was a sufferer in the Protestant cause, and +certainly not the less so, that he brought with him money enough to +purchase the small estate of Monkbarns, then sold by a dissipated laird, +to whose father it had been gifted, with other church lands, on the +dissolution of the great and wealthy monastery to which it had belonged. +The Oldenbucks were therefore, loyal subjects on all occasions of +insurrection; and, as they kept up a good intelligence with the borough, +it chanced that the Laird of Monkbarns, who flourished in 1745, was +provost of the town during that ill-fated year, and had exerted himself +with much spirit in favour of King George, and even been put to expenses +on that score, which, according to the liberal conduct of the existing +government towards their friends, had never been repaid him. By dint +of solicitation, however, and borough interest, he contrived to gain +a place in the customs, and, being a frugal, careful man, had found +himself enabled to add considerably to his paternal fortune. He had only +two sons, of whom, as we have hinted, the present laird was the younger, +and two daughters, one of whom still flourished in single blessedness, +and the other, who was greatly more juvenile, made a love-match with a +captain in the Forty-twa, who had no other fortune but his commission +and a Highland pedigree. Poverty disturbed a union which love would +otherwise have made happy, and Captain M'Intyre, in justice to his wife +and two children, a boy and girl, had found himself obliged to seek his +fortune in the East Indies. Being ordered upon an expedition against +Hyder Ally, the detachment to which he belonged was cut off, and no news +ever reached his unfortunate wife, whether he fell in battle, or was +murdered in prison, or survived in what the habits of the Indian tyrant +rendered a hopeless captivity. She sunk under the accumulated load of +grief and uncertainty, and left a son and daughter to the charge of her +brother, the existing Laird of Monkbarns. + +The history of that proprietor himself is soon told. Being, as we have +said, a second son, his father destined him to a share in a substantial +mercantile concern, carried on by some of his maternal relations. From +this Jonathan's mind revolted in the most irreconcilable manner. He was +then put apprentice to the profession of a writer, or attorney, in which +he profited so far, that he made himself master of the whole forms +of feudal investitures, and showed such pleasure in reconciling their +incongruities, and tracing their origin, that his master had great +hope he would one day be an able conveyancer. But he halted upon the +threshold, and, though he acquired some knowledge of the origin and +system of the law of his country, he could never be persuaded to +apply it to lucrative and practical purposes. It was not from any +inconsiderate neglect of the advantages attending the possession +of money that he thus deceived the hopes of his master. "Were he +thoughtless or light-headed, or rei suae prodigus," said his instructor, +"I would know what to make of him. But he never pays away a shilling +without looking anxiously after the change, makes his sixpence go +farther than another lad's half-crown, and wilt ponder over an old +black-letter copy of the acts of parliament for days, rather than go to +the golf or the change-house; and yet he will not bestow one of these +days on a little business of routine, that would put twenty shillings +in his pocket—a strange mixture of frugality and industry, and negligent +indolence—I don't know what to make of him." + +But in process of time his pupil gained the means of making what he +pleased of himself; for his father having died, was not long survived by +his eldest son, an arrant fisher and fowler, who departed this life, in +consequence of a cold caught in his vocation, while shooting ducks in +the swamp called Kittlefittingmoss, notwithstanding his having drunk a +bottle of brandy that very night to keep the cold out of his stomach. +Jonathan, therefore, succeeded to the estate, and with it to the means +of subsisting without the hated drudgery of the law. His wishes were +very moderate; and as the rent of his small property rose with the +improvement of the country, it soon greatly exceeded his wants and +expenditure; and though too indolent to make money, he was by no means +insensible to the pleasure of beholding it accumulate. The burghers of +the town near which he lived regarded him with a sort of envy, as one +who affected to divide himself from their rank in society, and whose +studies and pleasures seemed to them alike incomprehensible. Still, +however, a sort of hereditary respect for the Laird of Monkbarns, +augmented by the knowledge of his being a ready-money man, kept up his +consequence with this class of his neighbours. The country gentlemen +were generally above him in fortune, and beneath him in intellect, +and, excepting one with whom he lived in habits of intimacy, had little +intercourse with Mr. Oldbuck of Monkbarns. He, had, however, the usual +resources, the company of the clergyman, and of the doctor, when he +chose to request it, and also his own pursuits and pleasures, being in +correspondence with most of the virtuosi of his time, who, like himself, +measured decayed entrenchments, made plans of ruined castles, read +illegible inscriptions, and wrote essays on medals in the proportion +of twelve pages to each letter of the legend. Some habits of hasty +irritation he had contracted, partly, it was said in the borough of +Fairport, from an early disappointment in love in virtue of which he had +commenced misogynist, as he called it, but yet more by the obsequious +attention paid to him by his maiden sister and his orphan niece, whom he +had trained to consider him as the greatest man upon earth, and whom he +used to boast of as the only women he had ever seen who were well +broke in and bitted to obedience; though, it must be owned, Miss Grizzy +Oldbuck was sometimes apt to jibb when he pulled the reins too tight. +The rest of his character must be gathered from the story, and we +dismiss with pleasure the tiresome task of recapitulation. + +During the time of dinner, Mr. Oldbuck, actuated by the same curiosity +which his fellow-traveller had entertained on his account, made some +advances, which his age and station entitled him to do in a more direct +manner, towards ascertaining the name, destination, and quality of his +young companion. + +His name, the young gentleman said, was Lovel. + +"What! the cat, the rat, and Lovel our dog? Was he descended from King +Richard's favourite?" + +"He had no pretensions," he said, "to call himself a whelp of that +litter; his father was a north-of-England gentleman. He was at present +travelling to Fairport (the town near to which Monkbarns was situated), +and, if he found the place agreeable, might perhaps remain there for +some weeks." + +"Was Mr. Lovel's excursion solely for pleasure?" + +"Not entirely." + +"Perhaps on business with some of the commercial people of Fairport?" + +"It was partly on business, but had no reference to commerce." + +Here he paused; and Mr. Oldbuck, having pushed his inquiries as far +as good manners permitted, was obliged to change the conversation. The +Antiquary, though by no means an enemy to good cheer, was a determined +foe to all unnecessary expense on a journey; and upon his companion +giving a hint concerning a bottle of port wine, he drew a direful +picture of the mixture, which, he said, was usually sold under that +denomination, and affirming that a little punch was more genuine and +better suited for the season, he laid his hand upon the bell to order +the materials. But Mackitchinson had, in his own mind, settled their +beverage otherwise, and appeared bearing in his hand an immense double +quart bottle, or magnum, as it is called in Scotland, covered with +saw-dust and cobwebs, the warrants of its antiquity. + +"Punch!" said he, catching that generous sound as he entered the +parlour, "the deil a drap punch ye'se get here the day, Monkbarns, and +that ye may lay your account wi'." + +"What do you mean, you impudent rascal?" + +"Ay, ay, it's nae matter for that—but do you mind the trick ye served me +the last time ye were here!" + +"I trick you!" + +"Ay, just yoursell, Monkbarns. The Laird o' Tamlowrie and Sir Gilbert +Grizzlecleuch, and Auld Rossballoh, and the Bailie, were just setting in +to make an afternoon o't, and you, wi' some o' your auld-warld stories, +that the mind o' man canna resist, whirl'd them to the back o' beyont to +look at the auld Roman camp—Ah, sir!" turning to Lovel, "he wad wile the +bird aff the tree wi' the tales he tells about folk lang syne—and did +not I lose the drinking o' sax pints o' gude claret, for the deil ane +wad hae stirred till he had seen that out at the least?" + +"D'ye hear the impudent scoundrel!" said Monkbarns, but laughing at +the same time; for the worthy landlord, as he used to boast, know the +measure of a guest's foot as well as e'er a souter on this side Solway; +"well, well, you may send us in a bottle of port." + +"Port! na, na! ye maun leave port and punch to the like o' us, it's +claret that's fit for you lairds; and, I dare say, nane of the folk ye +speak so much o' ever drank either of the twa." + +"Do you hear how absolute the knave is? Well, my young friend, we must +for once prefer the Falernian to the vile Sabinum." + +The ready landlord had the cork instantly extracted, decanted the wine +into a vessel of suitable capaciousness, and, declaring it parfumed the +very room, left his guests to make the most of it. + +Mackitchinson's wine was really good, and had its effect upon the +spirits of the elder guest, who told some good stories, cut some sly +jokes, and at length entered into a learned discussion concerning the +ancient dramatists; a ground on which he found his new acquaintance +so strong, that at length he began to suspect he had made them his +professional study. "A traveller partly for business and partly for +pleasure?—why, the stage partakes of both; it is a labour to the +performers, and affords, or is meant to afford, pleasure to the +spectators. He seems, in manner and rank, above the class of young men +who take that turn; but I remember hearing them say, that the little +theatre at Fairport was to open with the performance of a young +gentleman, being his first appearance on any stage.—If this should be +thee, Lovel!—Lovel? yes, Lovel or Belville are just the names which +youngsters are apt to assume on such occasions—on my life, I am sorry +for the lad." + +Mr. Oldbuck was habitually parsimonious, but in no respects mean; his +first thought was to save his fellow-traveller any part of the expense +of the entertainment, which he supposed must be in his situation more +or less inconvenient. He therefore took an opportunity of settling +privately with Mr. Mackitchinson. The young traveller remonstrated +against his liberality, and only acquiesced in deference to his years +and respectability. + +The mutual satisfaction which they found in each other's society induced +Mr. Oldbuck to propose, and Lovel willingly to accept, a scheme for +travelling together to the end of their journey. Mr. Oldbuck intimated +a wish to pay two-thirds of the hire of a post-chaise, saying, that a +proportional quantity of room was necessary to his accommodation; but +this Mr. Lovel resolutely declined. Their expense then was mutual, +unless when Lovel occasionally slipt a shilling into the hand of a +growling postilion; for Oldbuck, tenacious of ancient customs, never +extended his guerdon beyond eighteen-pence a stage. In this manner they +travelled, until they arrived at Fairport* about two o'clock on the +following day. + +* [The "Fairport" of this novel is supposed to refer to the town of * +Arbroath, in Forfarshire, and "Musselcrag," post, to the fishing village +of * Auchmithie, in the same county.] + +Lovel probably expected that his travelling companion would have invited +him to dinner on his arrival; but his consciousness of a want of ready +preparation for unexpected guests, and perhaps some other reasons, +prevented Oldbuck from paying him that attention. He only begged to +see him as early as he could make it convenient to call in a forenoon, +recommended him to a widow who had apartments to let, and to a person +who kept a decent ordinary; cautioning both of them apart, that he only +knew Mr. Lovel as a pleasant companion in a post-chaise, and did not +mean to guarantee any bills which he might contract while residing at +Fairport. The young gentleman's figure and manners; not to mention +a well-furnished trunk, which soon arrived by sea, to his address +at Fairport, probably went as far in his favour as the limited +recommendation of his fellow-traveller. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRD. + + He had a routh o' auld nick-nackets, + Rusty airn caps, and jinglin-jackets, + Would held the Loudons three in tackets, + A towmond gude; + And parritch-pats, and auld sayt-backets, + Afore the flude. + Burns. + +After he had settled himself in his new apartments at Fairport, +Mr. Lovel bethought him of paying the requested visit to his +fellow-traveller. He did not make it earlier, because, with all the old +gentleman's good-humour and information, there had sometimes glanced +forth in his language and manner towards him an air of superiority, +which his companion considered as being fully beyond what the difference +of age warranted. He therefore waited the arrival of his baggage from +Edinburgh, that he might arrange his dress according to the fashion +of the day, and make his exterior corresponding to the rank in society +which he supposed or felt himself entitled to hold. + +It was the fifth day after his arrival, that, having made the necessary +inquiries concerning the road, he went forth to pay his respects at +Monkbarns. A footpath leading over a heathy hill, and through two +or three meadows, conducted him to this mansion, which stood on the +opposite side of the hill aforesaid, and commanded a fine prospect of +the bay and shipping. Secluded from the town by the rising ground, which +also screened it from the north-west wind, the house had a solitary, and +sheltered appearance. The exterior had little to recommend it. It was an +irregular old-fashioned building, some part of which had belonged to a +grange, or solitary farm-house, inhabited by the bailiff, or steward, +of the monastery, when the place was in possession of the monks. It +was here that the community stored up the grain, which they received +as ground-rent from their vassals; for, with the prudence belonging to +their order, all their conventional revenues were made payable in kind, +and hence, as the present proprietor loved to tell, came the name of +Monkbarns. To the remains of the bailiff's house, the succeeding +lay inhabitants had made various additions in proportion to the +accommodation required by their families; and, as this was done with +an equal contempt of convenience within and architectural regularity +without, the whole bore the appearance of a hamlet which had suddenly +stood still when in the act of leading down one of Amphion's, or +Orpheus's, country dances. It was surrounded by tall clipped hedges of +yew and holly, some of which still exhibited the skill of the topiarian +artist,* and presented curious arm-chairs, towers, and the figures of +Saint George and the Dragon. + +* Ars Topiaria, the art of clipping yew-hedges into fantastic figures. +A Latin poem, entitled Ars Topiaria, contains a curious account of the +process. + +The taste of Mr. Oldbuck did not disturb these monuments of an art now +unknown, and he was the less tempted so to do, as it must necessarily +have broken the heart of the old gardener. One tall embowering holly +was, however, sacred from the shears; and, on a garden seat beneath its +shade, Lovel beheld his old friend with spectacles on nose, and pouch on +side, busily employed in perusing the London Chronicle, soothed by the +summer breeze through the rustling leaves, and the distant dash of the +waves as they rippled upon the sand. + +Mr. Oldbuck immediately rose, and advanced to greet his travelling +acquaintance with a hearty shake of the hand. "By my faith," said he, "I +began to think you had changed your mind, and found the stupid people of +Fairport so tiresome, that you judged them unworthy of your talents, and +had taken French leave, as my old friend and brother-antiquary Mac-Cribb +did, when he went off with one of my Syrian medals." + +"I hope, my good sir, I should have fallen under no such imputation." + +"Quite as bad, let me tell you, if you had stolen yourself away without +giving me the pleasure of seeing you again. I had rather you had taken +my copper Otho himself.—But come, let me show you the way into my +sanctum sanctorum—my cell I may call it, for, except two idle hussies +of womankind," (by this contemptuous phrase, borrowed from his +brother-antiquary, the cynic Anthony a-Wood, Mr. Oldbuck was used to +denote the fair sex in general, and his sister and niece in particular), +"that, on some idle pretext of relationship, have established themselves +in my premises, I live here as much a Coenobite as my predecessor, John +o' the Girnell, whose grave I will show you by and by." + +Thus speaking the old gentleman led the way through a low door; but +before entrance, suddenly stopped short to point out some vestiges of +what he called an inscription, and, shaking his head as he pronounced it +totally illegible, "Ah! if you but knew, Mr. Lovel, the time and trouble +that these mouldering traces of letters have cost me! No mother ever +travailed so for a child—and all to no purpose—although I am almost +positive that these two last marks imply the figures, or letters, LV, +and may give us a good guess at the real date of the building, since we +know, aliunde, that it was founded by Abbot Waldimir about the middle +of the fourteenth century—and, I profess, I think that centre ornament +might be made out by better eyes than mine." + +"I think," answered Lovel, willing to humour the old man, "it has +something the appearance of a mitre." + +"I protest you are right! you are right! it never struck me before—see +what it is to have younger eyes—A mitre—a mitre—it corresponds in every +respect." + +The resemblance was not much nearer than that of Polonius's cloud to a +whale, or an owzel; it was sufficient, however, to set the Antiquary's +brains to work. "A mitre, my dear sir," continued he, as he led the way +through a labyrinth of inconvenient and dark passages, and accompanied +his disquisition with certain necessary cautions to his guest—"A mitre, +my dear sir, will suit our abbot as well as a bishop—he was a mitred +abbot, and at the very top of the roll—take care of these three steps—I +know Mac-Cribb denies this, but it is as certain as that he took away my +Antigonus, no leave asked—you'll see the name of the Abbot of Trotcosey, +Abbas Trottocosiensis, at the head of the rolls of parliament in the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—there is very little light here, and +these cursed womankind always leave their tubs in the passage—now take, +care of the corner—ascend twelve steps, and ye are safe!" The Antiquary +and Lovel--the Sanctum + +Mr. Oldbuck had by this time attained the top of the winding stair which +led to his own apartment, and opening a door, and pushing aside a piece +of tapestry with which it was covered, his first exclamation was, "What +are you about here, you sluts?" A dirty barefooted chambermaid threw +down her duster, detected in the heinous fact of arranging the sanctum +sanctorum, and fled out of an opposite door from the face of her +incensed master. A genteel-looking young woman, who was superintending +the operation, stood her ground, but with some timidity. + +"Indeed, uncle, your room was not fit to be seen, and I just came to see +that Jenny laid everything down where she took it up." + +"And how dare you, or Jenny either, presume to meddle with my private +matters?" (Mr. Oldbuck hated puttting to rights as much as Dr. Orkborne, +or any other professed student.) "Go, sew your sampler, you monkey, and +do not let me find you here again, as you value your ears.—I assure +you, Mr. Lovel, that the last inroad of these pretended friends to +cleanliness was almost as fatal to my collection as Hudibras's visit to +that of Sidrophel; and I have ever since missed + + My copperplate, with almanacks + Engraved upon't and other knacks + My moon-dial, with Napier's bones, + And several constellation Stones; + My flea, my morpeon, and punaise, + I purchased for my proper ease. + +And so forth, as old Butler has it." + +The young lady, after courtesying to Lovel, had taken the opportunity to +make her escape during this enumeration of losses. "You'll be poisoned +here with the volumes of dust they have raised," continued the +Antiquary; "but I assure you the dust was very ancient, peaceful, quiet +dust, about an hour ago, and would have remained so for a hundred years, +had not these gipsies disturbed it, as they do everything else in the +world." + +It was indeed some time before Lovel could, through the thick +atmosphere, perceive in what sort of den his friend had constructed his +retreat. It was a lofty room of middling size, obscurely lighted by high +narrow latticed windows. One end was entirely occupied by book-shelves, +greatly too limited in space for the number of volumes placed upon them, +which were, therefore, drawn up in ranks of two or three files deep, +while numberless others littered the floor and the tables, amid a chaos +of maps, engraving, scraps of parchment, bundles of papers, pieces of +old armour, swords, dirks, helmets, and Highland targets. Behind Mr. +Oldbuck's seat (which was an ancient leathern-covered easy-chair, worn +smooth by constant use) was a huge oaken cabinet, decorated at each +corner with Dutch cherubs, having their little duck-wings displayed, and +great jolter-headed visages placed between them. The top of this cabinet +was covered with busts, and Roman lamps and paterae, intermingled +with one or two bronze figures. The walls of the apartment were partly +clothed with grim old tapestry, representing the memorable story of Sir +Gawaine's wedding, in which full justice was done to the ugliness of the +Lothely Lady; although, to judge from his own looks, the gentle knight +had less reason to be disgusted with the match on account of disparity +of outward favour, than the romancer has given us to understand. The +rest of the room was panelled, or wainscotted, with black oak, against +which hung two or three portraits in armour, being characters in +Scottish history, favourites of Mr. Oldbuck, and as many in tie-wigs +and laced coats, staring representatives of his own ancestors. A large +old-fashioned oaken table was covered with a profusion of papers, +parchments, books, and nondescript trinkets and gewgaws, which seemed to +have little to recommend them, besides rust and the antiquity which it +indicates. In the midst of this wreck of ancient books and utensils, +with a gravity equal to Marius among the ruins of Carthage, sat a large +black cat, which, to a superstitious eye, might have presented the +genius loci, the tutelar demon of the apartment. The floor, as well +as the table and chairs, was overflowed by the same mare magnum of +miscellaneous trumpery, where it would have been as impossible to find +any individual article wanted, as to put it to any use when discovered. + +Amid this medley, it was no easy matter to find one's way to a chair, +without stumbling over a prostrate folio, or the still more awkward +mischance of overturning some piece of Roman or ancient British pottery. +And, when the chair was attained, it had to be disencumbered, with a +careful hand, of engravings which might have received damage, and of +antique spurs and buckles, which would certainly have occasioned it +to any sudden occupant. Of this the Antiquary made Lovel particularly +aware, adding, that his friend, the Rev. Doctor Heavysterne from the +Low Countries, had sustained much injury by sitting down suddenly and +incautiously on three ancient calthrops, or craw-taes, which had been +lately dug up in the bog near Bannockburn, and which, dispersed by +Robert Bruce to lacerate the feet of the English chargers, came thus in +process of time to endamage the sitting part of a learned professor of +Utrecht. + +Having at length fairly settled himself, and being nothing loath to make +inquiry concerning the strange objects around him, which his host was +equally ready, as far as possible, to explain, Lovel was introduced to a +large club, or bludgeon, with an iron spike at the end of it, which, +it seems, had been lately found in a field on the Monkbarns property, +adjacent to an old burying-ground. It had mightily the air of such +a stick as the Highland reapers use to walk with on their annual +peregrinations from their mountains; but Mr. Oldbuck was strongly +tempted to believe, that, as its shape was singular, it might have been +one of the clubs with which the monks armed their peasants in lieu of +more martial weapons,—whence, he observed, the villains were called +Colve-carles, or Kolb-kerls, that is, Clavigeri, or club-bearers. For +the truth of this custom, he quoted the chronicle of Antwerp and that +of St. Martin; against which authorities Lovel had nothing to oppose, +having never heard of them till that moment. + +Mr. Oldbuck next exhibited thumb-screws, which had given the Covenanters +of former days the cramp in their joints, and a collar with the name of +a fellow convicted of theft, whose services, as the inscription bore, +had been adjudged to a neighbouring baron, in lieu of the modern +Scottish punishment, which, as Oldbuck said, sends such culprits to +enrich England by their labour, and themselves by their dexterity. +Many and various were the other curiosities which he showed;—but it +was chiefly upon his books that he prided himself, repeating, with a +complacent air, as he led the way to the crowded and dusty shelves, the +verses of old Chaucer— + + For he would rather have, at his bed-head, + A twenty books, clothed in black or red, + Of Aristotle, or his philosophy, + Than robes rich, rebeck, or saltery. + +This pithy motto he delivered, shaking his head, and giving each +guttural the true Anglo-Saxon enunciation, which is now forgotten in the +southern parts of this realm. + +The collection was indeed a curious one, and might well be envied by +an amateur. Yet it was not collected at the enormous prices of modern +times, which are sufficient to have appalled the most determined as well +as earliest bibliomaniac upon record, whom we take to have been none +else than the renowned Don Quixote de la Mancha, as, among other slight +indications of an infirm understanding, he is stated, by his veracious +historian, Cid Hamet Benengeli, to have exchanged fields and farms for +folios and quartos of chivalry. In this species of exploit, the good +knight-errant has been imitated by lords, knights, and squires of our +own day, though we have not yet heard of any that has mistaken an inn +for a castle, or laid his lance in rest against a windmill. Mr. Oldbuck +did not follow these collectors in such excess of expenditure; but, +taking a pleasure in the personal labour of forming his library, saved +his purse at the expense of his time and toil, He was no encourager of +that ingenious race of peripatetic middle-men, who, trafficking between +the obscure keeper of a stall and the eager amateur, make their profit +at once of the ignorance of the former, and the dear-bought skill and +taste of the latter. When such were mentioned in his hearing, he seldom +failed to point out how necessary it was to arrest the object of your +curiosity in its first transit, and to tell his favourite story of +Snuffy Davie and Caxton's Game at Chess.—"Davy Wilson," he said, +"commonly called Snuffy Davy, from his inveterate addiction to black +rappee, was the very prince of scouts for searching blind alleys, +cellars, and stalls for rare volumes. He had the scent of a slow-hound, +sir, and the snap of a bull-dog. He would detect you an old black-letter +ballad among the leaves of a law-paper, and find an editio princeps +under the mask of a school Corderius. Snuffy Davy bought the Game of +Chess, 1474, the first book ever printed in England, from a stall in +Holland, for about two groschen, or twopence of our money. He sold it +to Osborne for twenty pounds, and as many books as came to twenty pounds +more. Osborne resold this inimitable windfall to Dr. Askew for sixty +guineas. At Dr. Askew's sale," continued the old gentleman, kindling as +he spoke, "this inestimable treasure blazed forth in its full value, +and was purchased by Royalty itself for one hundred and seventy +pounds!—Could a copy now occur, Lord only knows," he ejaculated, with a +deep sigh and lifted-up hands—"Lord only knows what would be its ransom; +and yet it was originally secured, by skill and research, for the +easy equivalent of two-pence sterling. * Happy, thrice happy, Snuffy +Davie!—and blessed were the times when thy industry could be so +rewarded! + +* This bibliomaniacal anecdote is literally true; and David Wilson, the +author need not tell his brethren of the Roxburghe and Bannatyne Clubs, +was a real personage. + +"Even I, sir," he went on, "though far inferior in industry and +discernment and presence of mind, to that great man, can show you a +few—a very few things, which I have collected, not by force of money, +as any wealthy man might,—although, as my friend Lucian says, he might +chance to throw away his coin only to illustrate his ignorance,—but +gained in a manner that shows I know something of the matter. See this +bundle of ballads, not one of them later than 1700, and some of them +an hundred years older. I wheedled an old woman out of these, who loved +them better than her psalm-book. Tobacco, sir, snuff, and the Complete +Syren, were the equivalent! For that, mutilated copy of the Complaynt of +Scotland, I sat out the drinking of two dozen bottles of strong ale with +the late learned proprietor, who, in gratitude, bequeathed it to me by +his last will. These little Elzevirs are the memoranda and trophies of +many a walk by night and morning through the Cowgate, the Canongate, the +Bow, St. Mary's Wynd,—wherever, in fine, there were to be found brokers +and trokers, those miscellaneous dealers in things rare and curious. +How often have I stood haggling on a halfpenny, lest, by a too ready +acquiescence in the dealer's first price, he should be led to suspect +the value I set upon the article!—how have I trembled, lest some passing +stranger should chop in between me and the prize, and regarded each poor +student of divinity that stopped to turn over the books at the stall, +as a rival amateur, or prowling bookseller in disguise!—And then, Mr. +Lovel, the sly satisfaction with which one pays the consideration, and +pockets the article, affecting a cold indifference, while the hand is +trembling with pleasure!—Then to dazzle the eyes of our wealthier and +emulous rivals by showing them such a treasure as this" (displaying a +little black smoked book about the size of a primer); "to enjoy their +surprise and envy, shrouding meanwhile, under a veil of mysterious +consciousness, our own superior knowledge and dexterity these, my young +friend, these are the white moments of life, that repay the toil, and +pains, and sedulous attention, which our profession, above all others, +so peculiarly demands!" + +Lovel was not a little amused at hearing the old gentleman run on in +this manner, and, however incapable of entering into the full merits +of what he beheld, he admired, as much as could have been expected, the +various treasures which Oldbuck exhibited. Here were editions esteemed +as being the first, and there stood those scarcely less regarded as +being the last and best; here was a book valued because it had the +author's final improvements, and there another which (strange to tell!) +was in request because it had them not. One was precious because it +was a folio, another because it was a duodecimo; some because they +were tall, some because they were short; the merit of this lay in the +title-page—of that in the arrangement of the letters in the word Finis. +There was, it seemed, no peculiar distinction, however trifling +or minute, which might not give value to a volume, providing the +indispensable quality of scarcity, or rare occurrence, was attached to +it. + +Not the least fascinating was the original broadside,—the Dying Speech, +Bloody Murder, or Wonderful Wonder of Wonders,—in its primary tattered +guise, as it was hawked through the streets, and sold for the cheap and +easy price of one penny, though now worth the weight of that penny in +gold. On these the Antiquary dilated with transport, and read, with a +rapturous voice, the elaborate titles, which bore the same proportion to +the contents that the painted signs without a showman's booth do to the +animals within. Mr. Oldbuck, for example, piqued himself especially +in possessing an unique broadside, entitled and called "Strange and +Wonderful News from Chipping-Norton, in the County of Oxon, of certain +dreadful Apparitions which were seen in the Air on the 26th of July +1610, at Half an Hour after Nine o'Clock at Noon, and continued till +Eleven, in which Time was seen Appearances of several flaming Swords, +strange Motions of the superior Orbs; with the unusual Sparkling of +the Stars, with their dreadful Continuations; With the Account of the +Opening of the Heavens, and strange Appearances therein disclosing +themselves, with several other prodigious Circumstances not heard of in +any Age, to the great Amazement of the Beholders, as it was communicated +in a Letter to one Mr. Colley, living in West Smithfield, and attested +by Thomas Brown, Elizabeth Greenaway, and Anne Gutheridge, who were +Spectators of the dreadful Apparitions: And if any one would be +further satisfied of the Truth of this Relation, let them repair to +Mr. Nightingale's at the Bear Inn, in West Smithfield, and they may be +satisfied."* + +* Of this thrice and four times rare broadside, the author possesses an +exemplar. + +"You laugh at this," said the proprietor of the collection, "and I +forgive you. I do acknowledge that the charms on which we doat are not +so obvious to the eyes of youth as those of a fair lady; but you will +grow wiser, and see more justly, when you come to wear spectacles.—Yet +stay, I have one piece of antiquity, which you, perhaps, will prize more +highly." + +So saying, Mr. Oldbuck unlocked a drawer, and took out a bundle of keys, +then pulled aside a piece of the tapestry which concealed the door of +a small closet, into which he descended by four stone steps, and, +after some tinkling among bottles and cans, produced two long-stalked +wine-glasses with bell mouths, such as are seen in Teniers' pieces, and +a small bottle of what he called rich racy canary, with a little bit +of diet cake, on a small silver server of exquisite old workmanship. "I +will say nothing of the server," he remarked, "though it is said to +have been wrought by the old mad Florentine, Benvenuto Cellini. But, Mr. +Lovel, our ancestors drank sack—you, who admire the drama, know where +that's to be found.—Here's success to your exertions at Fairport, sir!" + +"And to you, sir, and an ample increase to your treasure, with no more +trouble on your part than is just necessary to make the acquisitions +valuable." + +After a libation so suitable to the amusement in which they had been +engaged, Lovel rose to take his leave, and Mr. Oldbuck prepared to give +him his company a part of the way, and show him something worthy of his +curiosity on his return to Fairport. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTH. + + The pawkie auld carle cam ower the lea, + Wi' mony good-e'ens and good-morrows to me, + Saying, Kind Sir, for your courtesy, + Will ye lodge a silly puir man? + The Gaberlunzie Man. + +Our two friends moved through a little orchard, where the aged +apple-trees, well loaded with fruit, showed, as is usual in the +neighbourhood of monastic buildings, that the days of the monks had not +always been spent in indolence, but often dedicated to horticulture +and gardening. Mr. Oldbuck failed not to make Lovel remark, that the +planters of those days were possessed of the modern secret of preventing +the roots of the fruit-trees from penetrating the till, and compelling +them to spread in a lateral direction, by placing paving-stones beneath +the trees when first planted, so as to interpose between their fibres +and the subsoil. "This old fellow," he said, "which was blown down last +summer, and still, though half reclined on the ground, is covered +with fruit, has been, as you may see, accommodated with such a +barrier between his roots and the unkindly till. That other tree has a +story:—the fruit is called the Abbot's Apple; the lady of a neighbouring +baron was so fond of it, that she would often pay a visit to Monkbarns, +to have the pleasure of gathering it from the tree. The husband, a +jealous man, belike, suspected that a taste so nearly resembling that +of Mother Eve prognosticated a similar fall. As the honour of a noble +family is concerned, I will say no more on the subject, only that the +lands of Lochard and Cringlecut still pay a fine of six bolls of barley +annually, to atone the guilt of their audacious owner, who intruded +himself and his worldly suspicions upon the seclusion of the Abbot and +his penitent.—Admire the little belfry rising above the ivy-mantled +porch—there was here a hospitium, hospitale, or hospitamentum (for it +is written all these various ways in the old writings and evidents), in +which the monks received pilgrims. I know our minister has said, in the +Statistical Account, that the hospitium was situated either in the lands +of Haltweary or upon those of Half-starvet; but he is incorrect, Mr. +Lovel—that is the gate called still the Palmer's Port, and my gardener +found many hewn stones, when he was trenching the ground for winter +celery, several of which I have sent as specimens to my learned friends, +and to the various antiquarian societies of which I am an unworthy +member. But I will say no more at present; I reserve something for +another visit, and we have an object of real curiosity before us." + +While he was thus speaking, he led the way briskly through one or two +rich pasture-meadows, to an open heath or common, and so to the top of +a gentle eminence. "Here," he said, "Mr. Lovel, is a truly remarkable +spot." + +"It commands a fine view," said his companion, looking around him. + +"True: but it is not for the prospect I brought you hither; do you see +nothing else remarkable?—nothing on the surface of the ground?" + +"Why, yes; I do see something like a ditch, indistinctly marked." + +"Indistinctly!—pardon me, sir, but the indistinctness must be in your +powers of vision. Nothing can be more plainly traced—a proper agger or +vallum, with its corresponding ditch or fossa. Indistinctly! why, Heaven +help you, the lassie, my niece, as light-headed a goose as womankind +affords, saw the traces of the ditch at once. Indistinct!—why, the great +station at Ardoch, or that at Burnswark in Annandale, may be clearer, +doubtless, because they are stative forts, whereas this was only an +occasional encampment. Indistinct!—why, you must suppose that fools, +boors, and idiots, have ploughed up the land, and, like beasts and +ignorant savages, have thereby obliterated two sides of the square, and +greatly injured the third; but you see, yourself, the fourth side is +quite entire!" + +Lovel endeavoured to apologize, and to explain away his ill-timed +phrase, and pleaded his inexperience. But he was not at once quite +successful. His first expression had come too frankly and naturally not +to alarm the Antiquary, and he could not easily get over the shock it +had given him. + +"My dear sir," continued the senior, "your eyes are not inexperienced: +you know a ditch from level ground, I presume, when you see them? +Indistinct! why, the very common people, the very least boy that can +herd a cow, calls it the Kaim of Kinprunes; and if that does not imply +an ancient camp, I am ignorant what does." + +Lovel having again acquiesced, and at length lulled to sleep the +irritated and suspicious vanity of the Antiquary, he proceeded in his +task of cicerone. "You must know," he said, "our Scottish antiquaries +have been greatly divided about the local situation of the final +conflict between Agricola and the Caledonians; some contend for Ardoch +in Strathallan, some for Innerpeffry, some for the Raedykes in the +Mearns, and some are for carrying the scene of action as far north as +Blair in Athole. Now, after all this discussion," continued the old +gentleman, with one of his slyest and most complacent looks, "what would +you think, Mr. Lovel,—I say, what would you think,—if the memorable +scene of conflict should happen to be on the very spot called the Kaim +of Kinprunes, the property of the obscure and humble individual who now +speaks to you?" Then, having paused a little, to suffer his guest to +digest a communication so important, he resumed his disquisition in a +higher tone. "Yes, my good friend, I am indeed greatly deceived if this +place does not correspond with all the marks of that celebrated place +of action. It was near to the Grampian mountains—lo! yonder they are, +mixing and contending with the sky on the skirts of the horizon! It was +in conspectu classis—in sight of the Roman fleet; and would any admiral, +Roman or British, wish a fairer bay to ride in than that on your right +hand? It is astonishing how blind we professed antiquaries sometimes +are! Sir Robert Sibbald, Saunders Gordon, General Roy, Dr. Stokely,—why, +it escaped all of them. I was unwilling to say a word about it till +I had secured the ground, for it belonged to auld Johnnie Howie, a +bonnet-laird* hard by, and many a communing we had before he and I could +agree. + +* A bonnet-laird signifies a petty proprietor, wearing the dress, along +with the habits of a yeoman. + +At length—I am almost ashamed to say it—but I even brought my mind to +give acre for acre of my good corn-land for this barren spot. But then +it was a national concern; and when the scene of so celebrated an event +became my own, I was overpaid.—Whose patriotism would not grow warmer, +as old Johnson says, on the plains of Marathon? I began to trench the +ground, to see what might be discovered; and the third day, sir, we +found a stone, which I have transported to Monkbarns, in order to have +the sculpture taken off with plaster of Paris; it bears a sacrificing +vessel, and the letters A. D. L. L. which may stand, without much +violence, for Agricola Dicavit Libens Lubens." + +"Certainly, sir; for the Dutch Antiquaries claim Caligula as the founder +of a light-house, on the sole authority of the letters C. C. P. F., +which they interpret Caius Caligula Pharum Fecit." + +"True, and it has ever been recorded as a sound exposition. I see +we shall make something of you even before you wear spectacles, +notwithstanding you thought the traces of this beautiful camp indistinct +when you first observed them." + +"In time, sir, and by good instruction"— + +"—You will become more apt—I doubt it not. You shall peruse, upon your +next visit to Monkbarns, my trivial Essay upon Castrametation, with some +particular Remarks upon the Vestiges of Ancient Fortifications lately +discovered by the Author at the Kaim of Kinprunes. I think I have +pointed out the infallible touchstone of supposed antiquity. I premise a +few general rules on that point, on the nature, namely, of the evidence +to be received in such cases. Meanwhile be pleased to observe, for +example, that I could press into my service Claudian's famous line, + + Ille Caledoniis posuit qui castra pruinis. + +For pruinis, though interpreted to mean hoar frosts, to which I own we +are somewhat subject in this north-eastern sea-coast, may also signify +a locality, namely, Prunes; the Castra Pruinis posita would therefore be +the Kaim of Kinprunes. But I waive this, for I am sensible it might +be laid hold of by cavillers as carrying down my Castra to the time of +Theodosius, sent by Valentinian into Britain as late as the year 367, or +thereabout. No, my good friend, I appeal to people's eye-sight. Is +not here the Decuman gate? and there, but for the ravage of the horrid +plough, as a learned friend calls it, would be the Praetorian gate. On +the left hand you may see some slight vestiges of the porta sinistra, +and on the right, one side of the porta dextra wellnigh entire. Here, +then, let us take our stand, on this tumulus, exhibiting the foundation +of ruined buildings,—the central point—the praetorium, doubtless, of the +camp. From this place, now scarce to be distinguished but by its slight +elevation and its greener turf from the rest of the fortification, +we may suppose Agricola to have looked forth on the immense army +of Caledonians, occupying the declivities of yon opposite hill,—the +infantry rising rank over rank, as the form of ground displayed their +array to its utmost advantage,—the cavalry and covinarii, by which I +understand the charioteers—another guise of folks from your Bond-street +four-in-hand men, I trow—scouring the more level space below— + + —See, then, Lovel—See— + See that huge battle moving from the mountains! + Their gilt coats shine like dragon scales;—their march + Like a rough tumbling storm.—See them, and view them, + And then see Rome no more!— + +Yes, my dear friend, from this stance it is probable—nay, it is nearly +certain, that Julius Agricola beheld what our Beaumont has so admirably +described!—From this very Praetorium"— + +A voice from behind interrupted his ecstatic description—"Praetorian +here, Praetorian there, I mind the bigging o't." + +Both at once turned round, Lovel with surprise, and Oldbuck with mingled +surprise and indignation, at so uncivil an interruption. An auditor had +stolen upon them, unseen and unheard, amid the energy of the Antiquary's +enthusiastic declamation, and the attentive civility of Lovel. He +had the exterior appearance of a mendicant. A slouched hat of huge +dimensions; a long white beard which mingled with his grizzled hair; +an aged but strongly marked and expressive countenance, hardened, by +climate and exposure, to a right brick-dust complexion; a long blue +gown, with a pewter badge on the right arm; two or three wallets, or +bags, slung across his shoulder, for holding the different kinds of +meal, when he received his charity in kind from those who were but +a degree richer than himself:—all these marked at once a beggar by +profession, and one of that privileged class which are called in +Scotland the King's Bedesmen, or, vulgarly, Blue-Gowns. + +"What is that you say, Edie?" said Oldbuck, hoping, perhaps, that his +ears had betrayed their duty—"what were you speaking about!" + +"About this bit bourock, your honour," answered the undaunted Edie; "I +mind the bigging o't." + +"The devil you do! Why, you old fool, it was here before you were born, +and will be after you are hanged, man!" + +"Hanged or drowned, here or awa, dead or alive, I mind the bigging o't." + +"You—you—you—," said the Antiquary, stammering between confusion and +anger, "you strolling old vagabond, what the devil do you know about +it?" + +"Ou, I ken this about it, Monkbarns—and what profit have I for telling +ye a lie?—l just ken this about it, that about twenty years syne, I, +and a wheen hallenshakers like mysell, and the mason-lads that built the +lang dike that gaes down the loaning, and twa or three herds maybe, +just set to wark, and built this bit thing here that ye ca' +the—the—Praetorian, and a' just for a bield at auld Aiken Drum's bridal, +and a bit blithe gae-down wi' had in't, some sair rainy weather. Mair by +token, Monkbarns, if ye howk up the bourock, as ye seem to have began, +yell find, if ye hae not fund it already, a stane that ane o' the +mason-callants cut a ladle on to have a bourd at the bridegroom, and he +put four letters on't, that's A. D. L. L.—Aiken Drum's Lang Ladle—for +Aiken was ane o' the kale-suppers o' Fife." + +"This," thought Lovel to himself, "is a famous counterpart to the +story of Keip on this syde." He then ventured to steal a glance at our +Antiquary, but quickly withdrew it in sheer compassion. For, gentle +reader, if thou hast ever beheld the visage of a damsel of sixteen, +whose romance of true love has been blown up by an untimely discovery, +or of a child of ten years, whose castle of cards has been blown down by +a malicious companion, I can safely aver to you, that Jonathan Oldbuck +of Monkbarns looked neither more wise nor less disconcerted. + +"There is some mistake about this," he said, abruptly turning away from +the mendicant. + +"Deil a bit on my side o' the wa'," answered the sturdy beggar; "I never +deal in mistakes, they aye bring mischances.—Now, Monkbarns, that young +gentleman, that's wi' your honour, thinks little of a carle like me; and +yet, I'll wager I'll tell him whar he was yestreen at the gloamin, only +he maybe wadna like to hae't spoken o' in company." + +Lovel's soul rushed to his cheeks, with the vivid blush of +two-and-twenty. + +"Never mind the old rogue," said Mr. Oldbuck; "don't suppose I think +the worse of you for your profession; they are only prejudiced fools and +coxcombs that do so. You remember what old Tully says in his oration, +pro Archia poeta, concerning one of your confraternity—quis nostrum +tam anino agresti ac duro fuit—ut—ut—I forget the Latin—the meaning is, +which of us was so rude and barbarous as to remain unmoved at the death +of the great Roscius, whose advanced age was so far from preparing us +for his death, that we rather hoped one so graceful, so excellent in +his art, ought to be exempted from the common lot of mortality? So the +Prince of Orators spoke of the stage and its professor." + +The words of the old man fell upon Lovel's ears, but without conveying +any precise idea to his mind, which was then occupied in thinking by +what means the old beggar, who still continued to regard him with a +countenance provokingly sly and intelligent, had contrived to thrust +himself into any knowledge of his affairs. He put his hand in his pocket +as the readiest mode of intimating his desire of secrecy, and securing +the concurrence of the person whom he addressed; and while he bestowed +on him an alms, the amount of which rather bore proportion to his fears +than to his charity, looked at him with a marked expression, which +the mendicant, a physiognomist by profession, seemed perfectly to +understand.—"Never mind me, sir—I am no tale-pyet; but there are mair +een in the warld than mine," answered he as he pocketed Lovel's bounty, +but in a tone to be heard by him alone, and with an expression which +amply filled up what was left unspoken. Then turning to Oldbuck—"I am +awa' to the manse, your honour. Has your honour ony word there, or to +Sir Arthur, for I'll come in by Knockwinnock Castle again e'en?" + +Oldbuck started as from a dream; and, in a hurried tone, where vexation +strove with a wish to conceal it, paying, at the same time, a tribute +to Edie's smooth, greasy, unlined hat, he said, "Go down, go down to +Monkbarns—let them give you some dinner—Or stay; if you do go to the +manse, or to Knockwinnock, ye need say nothing about that foolish story +of yours." + +"Who, I?" said the mendicant—"Lord bless your honour, naebody sall ken a +word about it frae me, mair than if the bit bourock had been there since +Noah's flood. But, Lord, they tell me your honour has gien Johnnie Howie +acre for acre of the laigh crofts for this heathery knowe! Now, if he +has really imposed the bourock on ye for an ancient wark, it's my real +opinion the bargain will never haud gude, if you would just bring down +your heart to try it at the law, and say that he beguiled ye." + +"Provoking scoundrel!" muttered the indignant Antiquary between his +teeths—"I'll have the hangman's lash and his back acquainted for this." +And then, in a louder tone,—"Never mind, Edie—it is all a mistake." + +"Troth, I am thinking sae," continued his tormentor, who seemed to have +pleasure in rubbing the galled wound, "troth, I aye thought sae; and +it's no sae lang since I said to Luckie Gemmers, Never think you, +luckie' said I, that his honour Monkbarns would hae done sic a daft-like +thing as to gie grund weel worth fifty shillings an acre, for a mailing +that would be dear o'a pund Scots. Na, na,' quo' I, depend upon't the +lard's been imposed upon wi that wily do-little deevil, Johnnie Howie.' +But Lord haud a care o' us, sirs, how can that be,' quo' she again, when +the laird's sae book-learned, there's no the like o' him in the country +side, and Johnnie Howie has hardly sense eneugh to ca' the cows out o' +his kale-yard?' Aweel, aweel,' quo' I, but ye'll hear he's circumvented +him with some of his auld-warld stories,'—for ye ken, laird, yon other +time about the bodle that ye thought was an auld coin"— + +"Go to the devil!" said Oldbuck; and then in a more mild tone, as one +that was conscious his reputation lay at the mercy of his antagonist, he +added—"Away with you down to Monkbarns, and when I come back, I'll send +ye a bottle of ale to the kitchen." + +"Heaven reward your honour!" This was uttered with the true mendicant +whine, as, setting his pike-staff before him, he began to move in the +direction of Monkbarns.—"But did your honour," turning round, "ever get +back the siller ye gae to the travelling packman for the bodle?" + +"Curse thee, go about thy business!" + +"Aweel, aweel, sir, God bless your honour! I hope ye'll ding Johnnie +Howie yet, and that I'll live to see it." And so saying, the old beggar +moved off, relieving Mr. Oldbuck of recollections which were anything +rather than agreeable. + +"Who is this familiar old gentleman?" said Lovel, when the mendicant was +out of hearing. + +"O, one of the plagues of the country—I have been always against +poor's-rates and a work-house—I think I'll vote for them now, to have +that scoundrel shut up. O, your old-remembered guest of a beggar becomes +as well acquainted with you as he is with his dish—as intimate as one +of the beasts familiar to man which signify love, and with which his own +trade is especially conversant. Who is he?—why, he has gone the vole— +has been soldier, ballad-singer, travelling tinker, and is now a +beggar. He is spoiled by our foolish gentry, who laugh at his jokes, and +rehearse Edie Ochiltree's good thing's as regularly as Joe Miller's." + +"Why, he uses freedom apparently, which is the, soul of wit," answered +Lovel. + +"O ay, freedom enough," said the Antiquary; "he generally invents some +damned improbable lie or another to provoke you, like that nonsense he +talked just now—not that I'll publish my tract till I have examined the +thing to the bottom." + +"In England," said Lovel, "such a mendicant would get a speedy check." + +"Yes, your churchwardens and dog-whips would make slender allowance +for his vein of humour! But here, curse him! he is a sort of privileged +nuisance—one of the last specimens of the old fashioned Scottish +mendicant, who kept his rounds within a particular space, and was the +news-carrier, the minstrel, and sometimes the historian of the district. +That rascal, now, knows more old ballads and traditions than any other +man in this and the four next parishes. And after all," continued he, +softening as he went on describing Edie's good gifts, "the dog has some +good humour. He has borne his hard fate with unbroken spirits, and it's +cruel to deny him the comfort of a laugh at his betters. The pleasure of +having quizzed me, as you gay folk would call it, will be meat and drink +to him for a day or two. But I must go back and look after him, or he +will spread his d—d nonsensical story over half the country."* + +* Note C. Praetorium. + +So saying our heroes parted, Mr. Oldbuck to return to his hospitium at +Monkbarns, and Lovel to pursue his way to Fairport, where he arrived +without farther adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTH. + + Launcelot Gobbo. Mark me now: + Now will I raise the waters. + Merchant of Venice. + +The theatre at Fairport had opened, but no Mr. Lovel appeared on the +boards, nor was there anything in the habits or deportment of the young +gentleman so named, which authorised Mr. Oldbuck's conjecture that his +fellow-traveller was a candidate for the public favour. Regular were the +Antiquary's inquiries at an old-fashioned barber who dressed the only +three wigs in the parish which, in defiance of taxes and times, were +still subjected to the operation of powdering and frizzling, and who for +that purpose divided his time among the three employers whom fashion +had yet left him; regular, I say, were Mr. Oldbuck's inquiries at +this personage concerning the news of the little theatre at Fairport, +expecting every day to hear of Mr. Lovel's appearance; on which occasion +the old gentleman had determined to put himself to charges in honour of +his young friend, and not only to go to the play himself, but to +carry his womankind along with him. But old Jacob Caxon conveyed no +information which warranted his taking so decisive a step as that of +securing a box. + +He brought information, on the contrary, that there was a young man +residing at Fairport, of whom the town (by which he meant all the +gossips, who, having no business of their own, fill up their leisure +moments by attending to that of other people) could make nothing. He +sought no society, but rather avoided that which the apparent gentleness +of his manners, and some degree of curiosity, induced many to offer him. +Nothing could be more regular, or less resembling an adventurer, than +his mode of living, which was simple, but so completely well arranged, +that all who had any transactions with him were loud in their +approbation. + +"These are not the virtues of a stage-struck hero," thought Oldbuck to +himself; and, however habitually pertinacious in his opinions, he must +have been compelled to abandon that which he had formed in the +present instance, but for a part of Caxon's communication. "The young +gentleman," he said, "was sometimes heard speaking to himsell, and +rampauging about in his room, just as if he was ane o' the player folk." + +Nothing, however, excepting this single circumstance, occurred to +confirm Mr. Oldbuck's supposition; and it remained a high and doubtful +question, what a well-informed young man, without friends, connections, +or employment of any kind, could have to do as a resident at Fairport. +Neither port wine nor whist had apparently any charms for him. He +declined dining with the mess of the volunteer cohort which had been +lately embodied, and shunned joining the convivialities of either of +the two parties which then divided Fairport, as they did more important +places. He was too little of an aristocrat to join the club of +Royal True Blues, and too little of a democrat to fraternise with an +affiliated society of the soi-disant Friends of the People, which the +borough had also the happiness of possessing. A coffee-room was his +detestation; and, I grieve to say it, he had as few sympathies with the +tea-table.—In short, since the name was fashionable in novel-writing, +and that is a great while agone, there was never a Master Lovel of whom +so little positive was known, and who was so universally described by +negatives. + +One negative, however, was important—nobody knew any harm of Lovel. +Indeed, had such existed, it would have been speedily made public; for +the natural desire of speaking evil of our neighbour could in his case +have been checked by no feelings of sympathy for a being so unsocial. On +one account alone he fell somewhat under suspicion. As he made free use +of his pencil in his solitary walks, and had drawn several views of the +harbour, in which the signal tower, and even the four-gun battery, were +introduced, some zealous friends of the public sent abroad a whisper, +that this mysterious stranger must certainly be a French spy. The +Sheriff paid his respects to Mr. Lovel accordingly; but in the interview +which followed, it would seem that he had entirely removed that +magistrate's suspicions, since he not only suffered him to remain +undisturbed in his retirement, but it was credibly reported, sent him +two invitations to dinner-parties, both which were civilly declined. But +what the nature of the explanation was, the magistrate kept a profound +secret, not only from the public at large, but from his substitute, his +clerk, his wife and his two daughters, who formed his privy council on +all questions of official duty. + +All these particulars being faithfully reported by Mr. Caxon to his +patron at Monkbarns, tended much to raise Lovel in the opinion of his +former fellow-traveller. "A decent sensible lad," said he to himself, +"who scorns to enter into the fooleries and nonsense of these idiot +people at Fairport—I must do something for him—I must give him a +dinner;—and I will write Sir Arthur to come to Monkbarns to meet him. I +must consult my womankind." + +Accordingly, such consultation having been previously held, a special +messenger, being no other than Caxon himself, was ordered to prepare +for a walk to Knockwinnock Castle with a letter, "For the honoured Sir +Arthur Wardour, of Knockwinnock, Bart." The contents ran thus: + +"Dear Sir Arthur, + +"On Tuesday the 17th curt.stilo novo, I hold a coenobitical symposion at +Monkbarns, and pray you to assist thereat, at four o'clock precisely. If +my fair enemy, Miss Isabel, can and will honour us by accompanying you, +my womankind will be but too proud to have the aid of such an auxiliary +in the cause of resistance to awful rule and right supremacy. If not, +I will send the womankind to the manse for the day. I have a young +acquaintance to make known to you, who is touched with some strain of +a better spirit than belongs to these giddy-paced times—reveres his +elders, and has a pretty notion of the classics—and, as such a youth +must have a natural contempt for the people about Fairport, I wish to +show him some rational as well as worshipful society.—I am, Dear Sir +Arthur, etc. etc. etc." + +"Fly with this letter, Caxon," said the senior, holding out his missive, +signatum atque sigillatum, "fly to Knockwinnock, and bring me back an +answer. Go as fast as if the town-council were met and waiting for the +provost, and the provost was waiting for his new-powdered wig." + +"Ah sir," answered the messenger, with a deep sigh, "thae days hae lang +gane by. Deil a wig has a provost of Fairport worn sin' auld Provost +Jervie's time—and he had a quean of a servant-lass that dressed it +herself, wi' the doup o' a candle and a drudging-box. But I hae seen the +day, Monkbarns, when the town-council of Fairport wad hae as soon wanted +their town-clerk, or their gill of brandy ower-head after the haddies, +as they wad hae wanted ilk ane a weel-favoured, sonsy, decent periwig on +his pow. Hegh, sirs! nae wonder the commons will be discontent and rise +against the law, when they see magistrates and bailies, and deacons, and +the provost himsell, wi' heads as bald and as bare as ane o' my blocks!" + +"And as well furnished within, Caxon. But away with you!—you have an +excellent view of public affairs, and, I dare say, have touched the +cause of our popular discontent as closely as the provost could have +done himself. But away with you, Caxon!" + +And off went Caxon upon his walk of three miles— + + He hobbled—but his heart was good! + Could he go faster than he could?— + +While he is engaged in his journey and return, it may not be impertinent +to inform the reader to whose mansion he was bearing his embassy. + +We have said that Mr. Oldbuck kept little company with the surrounding +gentlemen, excepting with one person only. This was Sir Arthur Wardour, +a baronet of ancient descent, and of a large but embarrassed fortune. +His father, Sir Anthony, had been a Jacobite, and had displayed all the +enthusiasm of that party, while it could be served with words only. No +man squeezed the orange with more significant gesture; no one could more +dexterously intimate a dangerous health without coming under the penal +statutes; and, above all, none drank success to the cause more deeply +and devoutly. But, on the approach of the Highland army in 1745, +it would appear that the worthy baronet's zeal became a little more +moderate just when its warmth was of most consequence. He talked much, +indeed, of taking the field for the rights of Scotland and Charles +Stuart; but his demi-pique saddle would suit only one of his horses; +and that horse could by no means be brought to stand fire. Perhaps +the worshipful owner sympathized in the scruples of this sagacious +quadruped, and began to think, that what was so much dreaded by the +horse could not be very wholesome for the rider. At any rate, while Sir +Anthony Wardour talked, and drank, and hesitated, the Sturdy provost of +Fairport (who, as we before noticed, was the father of our Antiquary) +sallied from his ancient burgh, heading a body of whig-burghers, +and seized at once, in the name of George II., upon the Castle of +Knockwinnock, and on the four carriage-horses, and person of the +proprietor. Sir Anthony was shortly after sent off to the Tower of +London by a secretary of state's warrant, and with him went his son, +Arthur, then a youth. But as nothing appeared like an overt act of +treason, both father and son were soon set at liberty, and returned to +their own mansion of Knockwinnock, to drink healths five fathoms deep, +and talk of their sufferings in the royal cause. This became so much a +matter of habit with Sir Arthur, that, even after his father's death, +the non-juring chaplain used to pray regularly for the restoration +of the rightful sovereign, for the downfall of the usurper, and for +deliverance from their cruel and bloodthirsty enemies; although all idea +of serious opposition to the House of Hanover had long mouldered away, +and this treasonable liturgy was kept up rather as a matter of form +than as conveying any distinct meaning. So much was this the case, that, +about the year 1770, upon a disputed election occurring in the county, +the worthy knight fairly gulped down the oaths of abjuration +and allegiance, in order to serve a candidate in whom he was +interested;—thus renouncing the heir for whose restoration he weekly +petitioned Heaven, and acknowledging the usurper whose dethronement he +had never ceased to pray for. And to add to this melancholy instance +of human inconsistency, Sir Arthur continued to pray for the House +of Stuart even after the family had been extinct, and when, in truth, +though in his theoretical loyalty he was pleased to regard them as +alive, yet, in all actual service and practical exertion, he was a most +zealous and devoted subject of George III. + +In other respects, Sir Arthur Wardour lived like most country gentlemen +in Scotland, hunted and fished—gave and received dinners—attended races +and county meetings—was a deputy-lieutenant and trustee upon turnpike +acts. But, in his more advanced years, as he became too lazy or unwieldy +for field-sports, he supplied them by now and then reading Scottish +history; and, having gradually acquired a taste for antiquities, though +neither very deep nor very correct, he became a crony of his neighbour, +Mr. Oldbuck of Monkbarns, and a joint-labourer with him in his +antiquarian pursuits. + +There were, however, points of difference between these two humourists, +which sometimes occasioned discord. The faith of Sir Arthur, as an +antiquary, was boundless, and Mr. Oldbuck (notwithstanding the affair +of the Praetorium at the Kaim of Kinprunes) was much more scrupulous in +receiving legends as current and authentic coin. Sir Arthur would have +deemed himself guilty of the crime of leze-majesty had he doubted the +existence of any single individual of that formidable head-roll of one +hundred and four kings of Scotland, received by Boethius, and rendered +classical by Buchanan, in virtue of whom James VI. claimed to rule his +ancient kingdom, and whose portraits still frown grimly upon the walls +of the gallery of Holyrood. Now Oldbuck, a shrewd and suspicious man, +and no respecter of divine hereditary right, was apt to cavil at this +sacred list, and to affirm, that the procession of the posterity +of Fergus through the pages of Scottish history, was as vain and +unsubstantial as the gleamy pageant of the descendants of Banquo through +the cavern of Hecate. + +Another tender topic was the good fame of Queen Mary, of which the +knight was a most chivalrous assertor, while the esquire impugned it, +in spite both of her beauty and misfortunes. When, unhappily, their +conversation turned on yet later times, motives of discord occurred in +almost every page of history. Oldbuck was, upon principle, a staunch +Presbyterian, a ruling elder of the kirk, and a friend to revolution +principles and Protestant succession, while Sir Arthur was the very +reverse of all this. They agreed, it is true, in dutiful love and +allegiance to the sovereign who now fills* the throne; but this was +their only point of union. + +* The reader will understand that this refers to the reign of our late +gracious Sovereign, George the Third. + +It therefore often happened, that bickerings hot broke out between them, +in which Oldbuck was not always able to suppress his caustic humour, +while it would sometimes occur to the Baronet that the descendant of a +German printer, whose sires had "sought the base fellowship of paltry +burghers," forgot himself, and took an unlicensed freedom of debate, +considering the rank and ancient descent of his antagonist. This, with +the old feud of the coach-horses, and the seizure of his manor-place and +tower of strength by Mr. Oldbuck's father, would at times rush upon his +mind, and inflame at once his cheeks and his arguments. And, lastly, as +Mr. Oldbuck thought his worthy friend and compeer was in some respects +little better than a fool, he was apt to come more near communicating +to him that unfavourable opinion, than the rules of modern politeness +warrant. In such cases they often parted in deep dudgeon, and with +something like a resolution to forbear each other's company in future: + +But with the morning calm reflection came; and as each was sensible that +the society of the other had become, through habit, essential to +his comfort, the breach was speedily made up between them. On such +occasions, Oldbuck, considering that the Baronet's pettishness resembled +that of a child, usually showed his superior sense by compassionately +making the first advances to reconciliation. But it once or twice +happened that the aristocratic pride of the far-descended knight took +a flight too offensive to the feelings of the representative of the +typographer. In these cases, the breach between these two originals +might have been immortal, but for the kind exertion and interposition +of the Baronet's daughter, Miss Isabella Wardour, who, with a son, now +absent upon foreign and military service, formed his whole surviving +family. She was well aware how necessary Mr. Oldbuck was to her father's +amusement and comfort, and seldom failed to interpose with effect, when +the office of a mediator between them was rendered necessary by the +satirical shrewdness of the one, or the assumed superiority of the +other. Under Isabella's mild influence, the wrongs of Queen Mary were +forgotten by her father, and Mr. Oldbuck forgave the blasphemy which +reviled the memory of King William. However, as she used in general to +take her father's part playfully in these disputes, Oldbuck was wont to +call Isabella his fair enemy, though in fact he made more account of her +than any other of her sex, of whom, as we have seen, he, was no admirer. + +There existed another connection betwixt these worthies, which had +alternately a repelling and attractive influence upon their intimacy. +Sir Arthur always wished to borrow; Mr. Oldbuck was not always willing +to lend. Mr. Oldbuck, per contra, always wished to be repaid with +regularity; Sir Arthur was not always, nor indeed often, prepared to +gratify this reasonable desire; and, in accomplishing an arrangement +between tendencies so opposite, little miffs would occasionally take +place. Still there was a spirit of mutual accommodation upon the whole, +and they dragged on like dogs in couples, with some difficulty and +occasional snarling, but without absolutely coming to a stand-still or +throttling each other. + +Some little disagreement, such as we have mentioned, arising out of +business, or politics, had divided the houses of Knockwinnock and +Monkbarns, when the emissary of the latter arrived to discharge his +errand. In his ancient Gothic parlour, whose windows on one side looked +out upon the restless ocean, and, on the other, upon the long straight +avenue, was the Baronet seated, now turning over the leaves of a folio, +now casting a weary glance where the sun quivered on the dark-green +foliage and smooth trunks of the large and branching limes with which +the avenue was planted. At length, sight of joy! a moving object is +seen, and it gives rise to the usual inquiries, Who is it? and what can +be his errand? The old whitish-grey coat, the hobbling gait, the hat +half-slouched, half-cocked, announced the forlorn maker of periwigs, and +left for investigation only the second query. This was soon solved by a +servant entering the parlour,—"A letter from Monkbarns, Sir Arthur." + +Sir Arthur took the epistle with a due assumption of consequential +dignity. + +"Take the old man into the kitchen, and let him get some refreshment," +said the young lady, whose compassionate eye had remarked his thin grey +hair and wearied gait. + +"Mr. Oldbuck, my love, invites us to dinner on Tuesday the 17th," said +the Baronet, pausing;—"he really seems to forget that he has not of late +conducted himself so civilly towards me as might have been expected." + +"Dear sir, you have so many advantages over poor Mr. Oldbuck, that no +wonder it should put him a little out of humour; but I know he has much +respect for your person and your conversation;—nothing would give him +more pain than to be wanting in any real attention." + +"True, true, Isabella; and one must allow for the original +descent;—something of the German boorishness still flows in the blood; +something of the whiggish and perverse opposition to established rank +and privilege. You may observe that he never has any advantage of me +in dispute, unless when he avails himself of a sort of pettifogging +intimacy with dates, names, and trifling matters of fact—a tiresome and +frivolous accuracy of memory, which is entirely owing to his mechanical +descent." + +"He must find it convenient in historical investigation, I should think, +sir?" said the young lady. + +"It leads to an uncivil and positive mode of disputing; and nothing +seems more unreasonable than to hear him impugn even Bellenden's rare +translation of Hector Boece, which I have the satisfaction to possess, +and which is a black-letter folio of great value, upon the authority of +some old scrap of parchment which he has saved from its deserved destiny +of being cut up into tailor's measures. And besides, that habit of +minute and troublesome accuracy leads to a mercantile manner of doing +business, which ought to be beneath a landed proprietor whose family has +stood two or three generations. I question if there's a dealer's clerk +in Fairport that can sum an account of interest better than Monkbarns." + +"But you'll accept his invitation, sir?" + +"Why, ye—yes; we have no other engagement on hand, I think. Who can the +young man be he talks of?—he seldom picks up new acquaintance; and he +has no relation that I ever heard of." + +"Probably some relation of his brother-in-law Captain M'Intyre." + +"Very possibly—yes, we will accept—the M'Intyres are of a very ancient +Highland family. You may answer his card in the affirmative, Isabella; I +believe I have, no leisure to be Dear Sirring myself." + +So this important matter being adjusted, Miss Wardour intimated "her +own and Sir Arthur's compliments, and that they would have the honour of +waiting upon Mr. Oldbuck. Miss Wardour takes this opportunity to renew +her hostility with Mr. Oldbuck, on account of his late long absence from +Knockwinnock, where his visits give so much pleasure." With this placebo +she concluded her note, with which old Caxon, now refreshed in limbs and +wind, set out on his return to the Antiquary's mansion. + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTH. + + Moth. By Woden, God of Saxons, + From whence comes Wensday, that is, Wodnesday, + Truth is a thing that I will ever keep + Unto thylke day in which I creep into + My sepulcre— + Cartwright's Ordinary. + +Our young friend Lovel, who had received a corresponding invitation, +punctual to the hour of appointment, arrived at Monkbarns about five +minutes before four o'clock on the 17th of July. The day had been +remarkably sultry, and large drops of rain had occasionally fallen, +though the threatened showers had as yet passed away. + +Mr. Oldbuck received him at the Palmer's-port in his complete brown +suit, grey silk stockings, and wig powdered with all the skill of the +veteran Caxon, who having smelt out the dinner, had taken care not to +finish his job till the hour of eating approached. + +"You are welcome to my symposion, Mr. Lovel. And now let me introduce +you to my Clogdogdo's, as Tom Otter calls them—my unlucky and +good-for-nothing womankind—malae bestiae, Mr. Lovel." + +"I shall be disappointed, sir, if I do not find the ladies very +undeserving of your satire." + +"Tilley-valley, Mr. Lovel,—which, by the way, one commentator derives +from tittivillitium, and another from talley-ho—but tilley-valley, I +say—a truce with your politeness. You will find them but samples of +womankind—But here they be, Mr. Lovel. I present to you in due order, my +most discreet sister Griselda, who disdains the simplicity, as well as +patience annexed to the poor old name of Grizzel; and my most exquisite +niece Maria, whose mother was called Mary, and sometimes Molly." + +The elderly lady rustled in silks and satins, and bore upon her head a +structure resembling the fashion in the ladies' memorandum-book for the +year 1770—a superb piece of architecture, not much less than a modern +Gothic castle, of which the curls might represent the turrets, the black +pins the chevaux de frise, and the lappets the banners. + +The face, which, like that of the ancient statues of Vesta, was thus +crowned with towers, was large and long, and peaked at nose and chin, +and bore, in other respects, such a ludicrous resemblance to the +physiognomy of Mr. Jonathan Oldbuck, that Lovel, had they not appeared +at once, like Sebastian and Viola in the last scene of the "Twelfth +Night," might have supposed that the figure before him was his old +friend masquerading in female attire. An antique flowered silk gown +graced the extraordinary person to whom belonged this unparalleled tete, +which her brother was wont to say was fitter for a turban for Mahound +or Termagant, than a head-gear for a reasonable creature, or Christian +gentlewoman. Two long and bony arms were terminated at the elbows by +triple blond ruffles, and being, folded saltire-ways in front of her +person, and decorated with long gloves of a bright vermilion colour, +presented no bad resemblance to a pair of gigantic lobsters. High-heeled +shoes, and a short silk cloak, thrown in easy negligence over her +shoulders, completed the exterior of Miss Griselda Oldbuck. + +Her niece, the same whom Lovel had seen transiently during his first +visit, was a pretty young woman, genteelly dressed according to the +fashion of the day, with an air of espieglerie which became her very +well, and which was perhaps derived from the caustic humour peculiar to +her uncle's family, though softened by transmission. + +Mr. Lovel paid his respects to both ladies, and was answered by the +elder with the prolonged courtesy of 1760, drawn from the righteous +period, + + When folks conceived a grace + Of half an hour's space, + And rejoiced in a Friday's capon, + +and by the younger with a modern reverence, which, like the festive +benediction of a modern divine, was of much shorter duration. + +While this salutation was exchanging, Sir Arthur, with his fair daughter +hanging upon his arm, having dismissed his chariot, appeared at the +garden door, and in all due form paid his respects to the ladies. + +"Sir Arthur," said the Antiquary, "and you, my fair foe, let me make +known to you my young friend Mr. Lovel, a gentleman who, during the +scarlet-fever which is epidemic at present in this our island, has the +virtue and decency to appear in a coat of a civil complexion. You see, +however, that the fashionable colour has mustered in his cheeks which +appears not in his garments. Sir Arthur, let me present to you a young +gentleman, whom your farther knowledge will find grave, wise, courtly, +and scholar-like, well seen, deeply read, and thoroughly grounded in all +the hidden mysteries of the green-room and stage, from the days of Davie +Lindsay down to those of Dibdin—he blushes again, which is a sign of +grace." + +"My brother," said Miss Griselda, addressing Lovel, "has a humorous way +of expressing himself, sir; nobody thinks anything of what Monkbarns +says—so I beg you will not be so confused for the matter of his +nonsense; but you must have had a warm walk beneath this broiling +sun—would you take anything?—a glass of balm-wine?" + +Ere Lovel could answer, the Antiquary interposed. "Aroint thee, witch! +wouldst thou poison my guests with thy infernal decoctions? Dost thou +not remember how it fared with the clergyman whom you seduced to partake +of that deceitful beverage?" + +"O fy, fy, brother!—Sir Arthur, did you ever hear the like?—he must have +everything his ain way, or he will invent such stories—But there goes +Jenny to ring the old bell to tell us that the dinner is ready." + +Rigid in his economy, Mr. Oldbuck kept no male servant. This he +disguised under the pretext that the masculine sex was too noble to +be employed in those acts of personal servitude, which, in all early +periods of society, were uniformly imposed on the female. "Why," +would he say, "did the boy, Tam Rintherout, whom, at my wise sister's +instigation, I, with equal wisdom, took upon trial—why did he pilfer +apples, take birds' nests, break glasses, and ultimately steal my +spectacles, except that he felt that noble emulation which swells in the +bosom of the masculine sex, which has conducted him to Flanders with +a musket on his shoulder, and doubtless will promote him to a glorious +halbert, or even to the gallows? And why does this girl, his full +sister, Jenny Rintherout, move in the same vocation with safe and +noiseless step—shod, or unshod—soft as the pace of a cat, and docile as +a spaniel—Why? but because she is in her vocation. Let them minister to +us, Sir Arthur,—let them minister, I say,—it's the only thing they are +fit for. All ancient legislators, from Lycurgus to Mahommed, corruptly +called Mahomet, agree in putting them in their proper and subordinate +rank, and it is only the crazy heads of our old chivalrous ancestors +that erected their Dulcineas into despotic princesses." + +Miss Wardour protested loudly against this ungallant doctrine; but the +bell now rung for dinner. + +"Let me do all the offices of fair courtesy to so fair an antagonist," +said the old gentleman, offering his arm. "I remember, Miss Wardour, +Mahommed (vulgarly Mahomet) had some hesitation about the mode +of summoning his Moslemah to prayer. He rejected bells as used by +Christians, trumpets as the summons of the Guebres, and finally adopted +the human voice. I have had equal doubt concerning my dinner-call. +Gongs, now in present use, seemed a newfangled and heathenish invention, +and the voice of the female womankind I rejected as equally shrill and +dissonant; wherefore, contrary to the said Mahommed, or Mahomet, I have +resumed the bell. It has a local propriety, since it was the conventual +signal for spreading the repast in their refectory, and it has the +advantage over the tongue of my sister's prime minister, Jenny, that, +though not quite so loud and shrill, it ceases ringing the instant you +drop the bell-rope: whereas we know, by sad experience, that any attempt +to silence Jenny, only wakes the sympathetic chime of Miss Oldbuck and +Mary M'Intyre to join in chorus." + +With this discourse he led the way to his dining-parlour, which Lovel +had not yet seen;—it was wainscotted, and contained some curious +paintings. The dining-table was attended by Jenny; but an old +superintendent, a sort of female butler, stood by the sideboard, and +underwent the burden of bearing several reproofs from Mr. Oldbuck, and +inuendos, not so much marked, but not less cutting, from his sister. + +The dinner was such as suited a professed antiquary, comprehending many +savoury specimens of Scottish viands, now disused at the tables of those +who affect elegance. There was the relishing Solan goose, whose smell is +so powerful that he is never cooked within doors. Blood-raw he proved to +be on this occasion, so that Oldbuck half threatened to throw the +greasy sea-fowl at the head of the negligent housekeeper, who acted as +priestess in presenting this odoriferous offering. But, by good-hap, +she had been most fortunate in the hotch-potch, which was unanimously +pronounced to be inimitable. "I knew we should succeed here," said +Oldbuck exultingly, "for Davie Dibble, the gardener (an old bachelor +like myself), takes care the rascally women do not dishonour our +vegetables. And here is fish and sauce, and crappit-heads—I acknowledge +our womankind excel in that dish—it procures them the pleasure of +scolding, for half an hour at least, twice a-week, with auld Maggy +Mucklebackit, our fish-wife. The chicken-pie, Mr. Lovel, is made after +a recipe bequeathed to me by my departed grandmother of happy memory—And +if you will venture on a glass of wine, you will find it worthy of +one who professes the maxim of King Alphonso of Castile,—Old wood to +burn—old books to read—old wine to drink—and old friends, Sir Arthur—ay, +Mr. Lovel, and young friends too, to converse with." + +"And what news do you bring us from Edinburgh, Monkbarns?" said Sir +Arthur; "how wags the world in Auld Reekie?" + +"Mad, Sir Arthur, mad—irretrievably frantic—far beyond dipping in the +sea, shaving the crown, or drinking hellebore. The worst sort of frenzy, +a military frenzy, hath possessed man, woman, and child." + +"And high time, I think," said Miss Wardour, "when we are threatened +with invasion from abroad and insurrection at home." + +"O, I did not doubt you would join the scarlet host against me—women, +like turkeys, are always subdued by a red rag—But what says Sir Arthur, +whose dreams are of standing armies and German oppression?" + +"Why, I say, Mr. Oldbuck," replied the knight, "that so far as I am +capable of judging, we ought to resist cum toto corpore regni—as the +phrase is, unless I have altogether forgotten my Latin—an enemy who +comes to propose to us a Whiggish sort of government, a republican +system, and who is aided and abetted by a sort of fanatics of the worst +kind in our own bowels. I have taken some measures, I assure you, such +as become my rank in the community; for I have directed the constables +to take up that old scoundrelly beggar, Edie Ochiltree, for spreading +disaffection against church and state through the whole parish. He said +plainly to old Caxon, that Willie Howie's Kilmarnock cowl covered more +sense than all the three wigs in the parish—I think it is easy to make +out that inuendo—But the rogue shall be taught better manners." + +"O no, my dear sir," exclaimed Miss Wardour, "not old Edie, that we have +known so long;—I assure you no constable shall have my good graces that +executes such a warrant." + +"Ay, there it goes," said the Antiquary; "you, to be a staunch Tory, Sir +Arthur, have nourished a fine sprig of Whiggery in your bosom—Why, +Miss Wardour is alone sufficient to control a whole quarter-session—a +quarter-session? ay, a general assembly or convocation to boot—a +Boadicea she—an Amazon, a Zenobia." + +"And yet, with all my courage, Mr. Oldbuck, I am glad to hear our people +are getting under arms." + +"Under arms, Lord love thee! didst thou ever read the history of Sister +Margaret, which flowed from a head, that, though now old and somedele +grey, has more sense and political intelligence than you find now-a-days +in the whole synod? Dost thou remember the Nurse's dream in that +exquisite work, which she recounts in such agony to Hubble Bubble?—When +she would have taken up a piece of broad-cloth in her vision, lo! it +exploded like a great iron cannon; when she put out her hand to save a +pirn, it perked up in her face in the form of a pistol. My own vision in +Edinburgh has been something similar. I called to consult my lawyer; he +was clothed in a dragoon's dress, belted and casqued, and about to mount +a charger, which his writing-clerk (habited as a sharp-shooter) walked +to and fro before his door. I went to scold my agent for having sent me +to advise with a madman; he had stuck into his head the plume, which +in more sober days he wielded between his fingers, and figured as an +artillery officer. My mercer had his spontoon in his hand, as if he +measured his cloth by that implement, instead of a legitimate yard. The, +banker's clerk, who was directed to sum my cash-account, blundered +it three times, being disordered by the recollection of his military +tellings-off at the morning-drill. I was ill, and sent for a surgeon— + + He came—but valour so had fired his eye, + And such a falchion glittered on his thigh, + That, by the gods, with such a load of steel, + I thought he came to murder,—not to heal. + +I had recourse to a physician, but he also was practising a more +wholesale mode of slaughter than that which his profession had been +supposed at all times to open to him. And now, since I have returned +here, even our wise neighbours of Fairport have caught the same valiant +humour. I hate a gun like a hurt wild duck—I detest a drum like a +quaker;—and they thunder and rattle out yonder upon the town's common, +so that every volley and roll goes to my very heart." + +"Dear brother, dinna speak that gate o' the gentlemen volunteers—I am +sure they have a most becoming uniform—Weel I wot they have been wet to +the very skin twice last week—I met them marching in terribly doukit, an +mony a sair hoast was amang them—And the trouble they take, I am sure it +claims our gratitude." + +"And I am sure," said Miss M'Intyre, "that my uncle sent twenty guineas +to help out their equipments." + +"It was to buy liquorice and sugar-candy," said the cynic, "to encourage +the trade of the place, and to refresh the throats of the officers who +had bawled themselves hoarse in the service of their country." + +"Take care, Monkbarns! we shall set you down among the black-nebs by and +by." + +"No Sir Arthur—a tame grumbler I. I only claim the privilege of croaking +in my own corner here, without uniting my throat to the grand chorus of +the marsh—Ni quito Rey, ni pongo Rey—I neither make king nor mar king, +as Sancho says, but pray heartily for our own sovereign, pay scot and +lot, and grumble at the exciseman—But here comes the ewe-milk cheese in +good time; it is a better digestive than politics." + +When dinner was over, and the decanters placed on the table, Mr. Oldbuck +proposed the King's health in a bumper, which was readily acceded to +both by Lovel and the Baronet, the Jacobitism of the latter being now a +sort of speculative opinion merely,—the shadow of a shade. + +After the ladies had left the apartment, the landlord and Sir Arthur +entered into several exquisite discussions, in which the younger guest, +either on account of the abstruse erudition which they involved, or +for some other reason, took but a slender share, till at length he was +suddenly started out of a profound reverie by an unexpected appeal to +his judgment. + +"I will stand by what Mr. Lovel says; he was born in the north of +England, and may know the very spot." + +Sir Arthur thought it unlikely that so young a gentleman should have +paid much attention to matters of that sort. + +"I am avised of the contrary," said Oldbuck. + +"How say you, Mr. Lovel?—speak up for your own credit, man." + +Lovel was obliged to confess himself in the ridiculous situation of one +alike ignorant of the subject of conversation and controversy which had +engaged the company for an hour. + +"Lord help the lad, his head has been wool-gathering!—I thought how it +would be when the womankind were admitted—no getting a word of sense out +of a young fellow for six hours after.—Why, man, there was once a people +called the Piks"— + +"More properly Picts," interrupted the Baronet. + +"I say the Pikar, Pihar, Piochtar, Piaghter, or Peughtar," vociferated +Oldbuck; "they spoke a Gothic dialect"— + +"Genuine Celtic," again asseverated the knight. + +"Gothic! Gothic! I'll go to death upon it!" counter-asseverated the +squire. + +"Why, gentlemen," sad Lovel, "I conceive that is a dispute which may +be easily settled by philologists, if there are any remains of the +language." + +"There is but one word," said the Baronet, "but, in spite of Mr. +Oldbuck's pertinacity, it is decisive of the question." + +"Yes, in my favour," said Oldbuck: "Mr. Lovel, you shall be judge—I have +the learned Pinkerton on my side." + +"I, on mine, the indefatigable and erudite Chalmers." + +"Gordon comes into my opinion." + +"Sir Robert Sibbald holds mine." + +"Innes is with me!" vociferated Oldbuck. + +"Riston has no doubt!" shouted the Baronet. + +"Truly, gentlemen," said Lovel, "before you muster your forces and +overwhelm me with authorities, I should like to know the word in +dispute." + +"Benval" said both the disputants at once. + +"Which signifies caput valli," said Sir Arthur. + +"The head of the wall," echoed Oldbuck. + +There was a deep pause.—"It is rather a narrow foundation to build a +hypothesis upon," observed the arbiter. + +"Not a whit, not a whit," said Oldbuck; "men fight best in a narrow +ring—an inch is as good as a mile for a home-thrust." + +"It is decidedly Celtic," said the Baronet; "every hill in the Highlands +begins with Ben." + +"But what say you to Val, Sir Arthur; is it not decidedly the Saxon +wall?" + +"It is the Roman vallum," said Sir Arthur;—"the Picts borrowed that part +of the word." + +"No such thing; if they borrowed anything, it must have been your Ben, +which they might have from the neighbouring Britons of Strath Cluyd." + +"The Piks, or Picts," said Lovel, "must have been singularly poor in +dialect, since, in the only remaining word of their vocabulary, and that +consisting only of two syllables, they have been confessedly obliged to +borrow one of them from another language; and, methinks, gentlemen, with +submission, the controversy is not unlike that which the two knights +fought, concerning the shield that had one side white and the other +black. Each of you claim one-half of the word, and seem to resign the +other. But what strikes me most, is the poverty of the language which +has left such slight vestiges behind it." + +"You are in an error," said Sir Arthur; "it was a copious language, +and they were a great and powerful people; built two steeples—one at +Brechin, one at Abernethy. The Pictish maidens of the blood-royal were +kept in Edinburgh Castle, thence called Castrum Puellarum." + +"A childish legend," said Oldbuck, "invented to give consequence to +trumpery womankind. It was called the Maiden Castle, quasi lucus a non +lucendo, because it resisted every attack, and women never do." + +"There is a list of the Pictish kings," persisted Sir Arthur, "well +authenticated from Crentheminachcryme (the, date of whose reign is +somewhat uncertain) down to Drusterstone, whose death concluded their +dynasty. Half of them have the Celtic patronymic Mac prefixed—Mac, +id est filius;—what do you say to that, Mr. Oldbuck? There is Drust +Macmorachin, Trynel Maclachlin (first of that ancient clan, as it may +be judged), and Gormach Macdonald, Alpin Macmetegus, Drust Mactallargam" +(here he was interrupted by a fit of coughing)—"ugh, ugh, ugh—Golarge +Macchan—ugh, ugh—Macchanan—ugh—Macchananail, Kenneth—ugh—ugh— +Macferedith, Eachan Macfungus—and twenty more, decidedly Celtic names, +which I could repeat, if this damned cough would let me." + +"Take a glass of wine, Sir Arthur, and drink down that bead-roll of +unbaptized jargon, that would choke the devil—why, that last fellow has +the only intelligible name you have repeated—they are all of the tribe +of Macfungus—mushroom monarchs every one of them; sprung up from the +fumes of conceit, folly, and falsehood, fermenting in the brains of some +mad Highland seannachie." + +"I am surprised to hear you, Mr. Oldbuck: you know, or ought to know, +that the list of these potentates was copied by Henry Maule of Melguin, +from the Chronicles of Loch Leven and St. Andrews, and put forth by him +in his short but satisfactory history of the Picts, printed by Robert +Freebairn of Edinburgh, and sold by him at his shop in the Parliament +Close, in the, year of God seventeen hundred and five, or six, I am not +precisely certain which—but I have a copy at home that stands next to my +twelvemo copy of the Scots Acts, and ranges on the shelf with them very +well. What say you to that, Mr. Oldbuck?" + +"Say?—why, I laugh at Harry Maule and his history," answered Oldbuck, +"and thereby comply with his request, of giving it entertainment +according to its merits." + +"Do not laugh at a better man than yourself," said Sir Arthur, somewhat +scornfully. + +"I do not conceive I do, Sir Arthur, in laughing either at him or his +history," + +"Henry Maule of Melgum was a gentleman, Mr. Oldbuck." + +"I presume he had no advantage of me in that particular," replied the +Antiquary, somewhat tartly. + +"Permit me, Mr. Oldbuck—he was a gentleman of high family, and ancient +descent, and therefore"— + +"The descendant of a Westphalian printer should speak of him with +deference? Such may be your opinion, Sir Arthur—it is not mine. I +conceive that my descent from that painful and industrious typographer, +Wolfbrand Oldenbuck, who, in the month of December 1493, under the +patronage, as the colophon tells us, of Sebaldus Scheyter and Sebastian +Kammermaister, accomplished the printing of the great Chronicle of +Nuremberg—I conceive, I say, that my descent from that great restorer +of learning is more creditable to me as a man of letters, than if I had +numbered in my genealogy all the brawling, bullet-headed, iron-fisted, +old Gothic barons since the days of Crentheminachcryme—not one of whom, +I suppose, could write his own name." + +"If you mean the observation as a sneer at my ancestry," said the +knight, with an assumption of dignified superiority and composure, "I +have the pleasure to inform you, that the name of my ancestor, Gamelyn +de Guardover, Miles, is written fairly with his own hand in the earliest +copy of the Ragman-roll." + +"Which only serves to show that he was one of the earliest who set the +mean example of submitting to Edward I. What have, you to say for the +stainless loyalty of your family, Sir Arthur, after such a backsliding +as that?" + +"It's enough, sir," said Sir Arthur, starting up fiercely, and pushing +back his chair; "I shall hereafter take care how I honour with my +company one who shows himself so ungrateful for my condescension." + +"In that you will do as you find most agreeable, Sir Arthur;—I hope, +that as I was not aware of the extent of the obligation which you have +done me by visiting my poor house, I may be excused for not having +carried my gratitude to the extent of servility." + +"Mighty well—mighty well, Mr. Oldbuck—I wish you a good evening—Mr. +a—a—a—Shovel—I wish you a very good evening." + +Out of the parlour door flounced the incensed Sir Arthur, as if the +spirit of the whole Round Table inflamed his single bosom, and traversed +with long strides the labyrinth of passages which conducted to the +drawing-room. + +"Did you ever hear such an old tup-headed ass?" said Oldbuck, briefly +apostrophizing Lovel. "But I must not let him go in this mad-like way +neither." + +So saying, he pushed off after the retreating Baronet, whom he traced +by the clang of several doors which he opened in search of the apartment +for tea, and slammed with force behind him at every disappointment. +"You'll do yourself a mischief," roared the Antiquary; "Qui ambulat in +tenebris, nescit quo vadit—You'll tumble down the back-stair." + +Sir Arthur had now got involved in darkness, of which the sedative +effect is well known to nurses and governesses who have to deal with +pettish children. It retarded the pace of the irritated Baronet, if it +did not abate his resentment, and Mr. Oldbuck, better acquainted with +the locale, got up with him as he had got his grasp upon the handle of +the drawing-room door. + +"Stay a minute, Sir Arthur," said Oldbuck, opposing his abrupt entrance; +"don't be quite so hasty, my good old friend. I was a little too rude +with you about Sir Gamelyn—why, he is an old acquaintance of mine, man, +and a favourite; he kept company with Bruce and Wallace—and, I'll be +sworn on a black-letter Bible, only subscribed the Ragman-roll with +the legitimate and justifiable intention of circumventing the false +Southern—'twas right Scottish craft, my good knight—hundreds did it. +Come, come, forget and forgive—confess we have given the young fellow +here a right to think us two testy old fools." + +"Speak for yourself, Mr. Jonathan Oldbuck," said Sir Arthur with much +majesty. + +"A-well, a-well—a wilful man must have his way." + +With that the door opened, and into the drawing-room marched the +tall gaunt form of Sir Arthur, followed by Lovel and Mr. Oldbuck, the +countenances of all the three a little discomposed. + +"I have been waiting for you, sir," said Miss Wardour, "to propose we +should walk forward to meet the carriage, as the evening is so fine." + +Sir Arthur readily assented to this proposal, which suited the angry +mood in which he found himself; and having, agreeable to the established +custom in cases of pet, refused the refreshment of tea and coffee, he +tucked his daughter under his arm; and after taking a ceremonious leave +of the ladies, and a very dry one of Oldbuck—off he marched. + +"I think Sir Arthur has got the black dog on his back again," said Miss +Oldbuck. + +"Black dog!—black devil!—he's more absurd than womankind—What say you, +Lovel?—Why, the lad's gone too." + +"He took his leave, uncle, while Miss Wardour was putting on her things; +but I don't think you observed him." + +"The devil's in the people! This is all one gets by fussing and +bustling, and putting one's self out of one's way in order to give +dinners, besides all the charges they are put to!—O Seged, Emperor of +Ethiopia!" said he, taking up a cup of tea in the one hand, and a volume +of the Rambler in the other,—for it was his regular custom to read while +he was eating or drinking in presence of his sister, being a practice +which served at once to evince his contempt for the society of +womankind, and his resolution to lose no moment of instruction,—"O +Seged, Emperor of Ethiopia! well hast thou spoken—No man should presume +to say, This shall be a day of happiness." + +Oldbuck proceeded in his studies for the best part of an hour, +uninterrupted by the ladies, who each, in profound silence, pursued some +female employment. At length, a light and modest tap was heard at the +parlour door. "Is that you, Caxon?—come in, come in, man." + +The old man opened the door, and thrusting in his meagre face, thatched +with thin grey locks, and one sleeve of his white coat, said in a +subdued and mysterious tone of voice, "I was wanting to speak to you, +sir." + +"Come in then, you old fool, and say what you have got to say." + +"I'll maybe frighten the ladies," said the ex-friseur. + +"Frighten!" answered the Antiquary,—"what do you mean?—never mind the +ladies. Have you seen another ghaist at the Humlock-knowe?" + +"Na, sir—it's no a ghaist this turn," replied Caxton;—"but I'm no easy +in my mind." + +"Did you ever hear of any body that was?" answered Oldbuck;—"what reason +has an old battered powder-puff like you to be easy in your mind, more +than all the rest of the world besides?" + +"It's no for mysell, sir; but it threatens an awfu' night; and Sir +Arthur, and Miss Wardour, poor thing"— + +"Why, man, they must have met the carriage at the head of the loaning, +or thereabouts; they must be home long ago." + +"Na, sir; they didna gang the road by the turnpike to meet the carriage, +they gaed by the sands." + +The word operated like electricity on Oldbuck. "The sands!" he +exclaimed; "impossible!" + +"Ou, sir, that's what I said to the gardener; but he says he saw them +turn down by the Mussel-craig. In troth, says I to him, an that be the +case, Davie, I am misdoubting"— + +"An almanac! an almanac!" said Oldbuck, starting up in great alarm—"not +that bauble!" flinging away a little pocket almanac which his niece +offered him.—"Great God! my poor dear Miss Isabella!—Fetch me instantly +the Fairport Almanac."—It was brought, consulted, and added greatly to +his agitation. "I'll go myself—call the gardener and ploughman—bid them +bring ropes and ladders—bid them raise more help as they come along—keep +the top of the cliffs, and halloo down to them—I'll go myself." + +"What is the matter?" inquired Miss Oldbuck and Miss M'Intyre. + +"The tide!—the tide!" answered the alarmed Antiquary. + +"Had not Jenny better—but no, I'll run myself," said the younger lady, +partaking in all her uncle's terrors—"I'll run myself to Saunders +Mucklebackit, and make him get out his boat." + +"Thank you, my dear, that's the wisest word that has been spoken +yet—Run! run!—To go by the sands!" seizing his hat and cane; "was there +ever such madness heard of!" + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTH. + + —Pleased awhile to view + The watery waste, the prospect wild and new; + The now receding waters gave them space, + On either side, the growing shores to trace + And then returning, they contract the scene, + Till small and smaller grows the walk between. + Crabbe. + +The information of Davie Dibble, which had spread such general alarm at +Monkbarns, proved to be strictly correct. Sir Arthur and his +daughter had set out, according to their first proposal, to return to +Knockwinnock by the turnpike road; but when they reached the head of the +loaning, as it was called, or great lane, which on one side made a sort +of avenue to the house of Monkbarns, they discerned, a little way +before them, Lovel, who seemed to linger on the way as if to give him +an opportunity to join them. Miss Wardour immediately proposed to her +father that they should take another direction; and, as the weather +was fine, walk home by the sands, which, stretching below a picturesque +ridge of rocks, afforded at almost all times a pleasanter passage +between Knockwinnock and Monkbarns than the high-road. Sir Arthur and +Miss Wardour + +Sir Arthur acquiesced willingly. "It would be unpleasant," he said, "to +be joined by that young fellow, whom Mr. Oldbuck had taken the freedom +to introduce them to." And his old-fashioned politeness had none of the +ease of the present day which permits you, if you have a mind, to cut +the person you have associated with for a week, the instant you feel or +suppose yourself in a situation which makes it disagreeable to own him. +Sir Arthur only stipulated, that a little ragged boy, for the guerdon +of one penny sterling, should run to meet his coachman, and turn his +equipage back to Knockwinnock. + +When this was arranged, and the emissary despatched, the knight and his +daughter left the high-road, and following a wandering path among sandy +hillocks, partly grown over with furze and the long grass called bent, +soon attained the side of the ocean. The tide was by no means so far out +as they had computed but this gave them no alarm;—there were seldom ten +days in the year when it approached so near the cliffs as not to leave a +dry passage. But, nevertheless, at periods of spring-tide, or even +when the ordinary flood was accelerated by high winds, this road was +altogether covered by the sea; and tradition had recorded several fatal +accidents which had happened on such occasions. Still, such dangers +were considered as remote and improbable; and rather served, with other +legends, to amuse the hamlet fireside, than to prevent any one from +going between Knockwinnock and Monkbarns by the sands. + +As Sir Arthur and Miss Wardour paced along, enjoying the pleasant +footing afforded by the cool moist hard sand, Miss Wardour could not +help observing that the last tide had risen considerably above the +usual water-mark. Sir Arthur made the same observation, but without its +occurring to either of them to be alarmed at the circumstance. The sun +was now resting his huge disk upon the edge of the level ocean, +and gilded the accumulation of towering clouds through which he had +travelled the livelong day, and which now assembled on all sides, like +misfortunes and disasters around a sinking empire and falling monarch. +Still, however, his dying splendour gave a sombre magnificence to the +massive congregation of vapours, forming out of their unsubstantial +gloom the show of pyramids and towers, some touched with gold, some with +purple, some with a hue of deep and dark red. The distant sea, stretched +beneath this varied and gorgeous canopy, lay almost portentously still, +reflecting back the dazzling and level beams of the descending luminary, +and the splendid colouring of the clouds amidst which he was setting. +Nearer to the beach the tide rippled onward in waves of sparkling +silver, that imperceptibly, yet rapidly, gained upon the sand. + +With a mind employed in admiration of the romantic scene, or perhaps +on some more agitating topic, Miss Wardour advanced in silence by her +father's side, whose recently offended dignity did not stoop to open +any conversation. Following the windings of the beach, they passed +one projecting point of headland or rock after another, and now found +themselves under a huge and continued extent of the precipices by which +that iron-bound coast is in most places defended. Long projecting reefs +of rock, extending under water and only evincing their existence by here +and there a peak entirely bare, or by the breakers which foamed over +those that were partially covered, rendered Knockwinnock bay dreaded by +pilots and ship-masters. The crags which rose between the beach and the +mainland, to the height of two or three hundred feet, afforded in +their crevices shelter for unnumbered sea-fowl, in situations seemingly +secured by their dizzy height from the rapacity of man. Many of these +wild tribes, with the instinct which sends them to seek the land before +a storm arises, were now winging towards their nests with the shrill and +dissonant clang which announces disquietude and fear. The disk of the +sun became almost totally obscured ere he had altogether sunk below the +horizon, and an early and lurid shade of darkness blotted the serene +twilight of a summer evening. The wind began next to arise; but its +wild and moaning sound was heard for some time, and its effects became +visible on the bosom of the sea, before the gale was felt on shore. The +mass of waters, now dark and threatening, began to lift itself in larger +ridges, and sink in deeper furrows, forming waves that rose high in +foam upon the breakers, or burst upon the beach with a sound resembling +distant thunder. + +Appalled by this sudden change of weather, Miss Wardour drew close to +her father, and held his arm fast. "I wish," at length she said, +but almost in a whisper, as if ashamed to express her increasing +apprehensions, "I wish we had kept the road we intended, or waited at +Monkbarns for the carriage." + +Sir Arthur looked round, but did not see, or would not acknowledge, any +signs of an immediate storm. They would reach Knockwinnock, he said, +long before the tempest began. But the speed with which he walked, and +with which Isabella could hardly keep pace, indicated a feeling that +some exertion was necessary to accomplish his consolatory prediction. + +They were now near the centre of a deep but narrow bay or recess, formed +by two projecting capes of high and inaccessible rock, which shot out +into the sea like the horns of a crescent;—and neither durst communicate +the apprehension which each began to entertain, that, from the unusually +rapid advance of the tide, they might be deprived of the power of +proceeding by doubling the promontory which lay before them, or of +retreating by the road which brought them thither. + +As they thus pressed forward, longing doubtless to exchange the easy +curving line, which the sinuosities of the bay compelled them to adopt, +for a straighter and more expeditious path, Sir Arthur observed a human +figure on the beach advancing to meet them. "Thank God," he exclaimed, +"we shall get round Halket-head!—that person must have passed it;" thus +giving vent to the feeling of hope, though he had suppressed that of +apprehension. + +"Thank God, indeed!" echoed his daughter, half audibly, half internally, +as expressing the gratitude which she strongly felt. + +The figure which advanced to meet them made many signs, which the +haze of the atmosphere, now disturbed by wind and by a drizzling rain, +prevented them from seeing or comprehending distinctly.—Some time before +they met, Sir Arthur could recognise the old blue-gowned beggar, Edie +Ochiltree. It is said that even the brute creation lay aside their +animosities and antipathies when pressed by an instant and common +danger. The beach under Halket-head, rapidly diminishing in extent by +the encroachments of a spring-tide and a north-west wind, was in like +manner a neutral field, where even a justice of peace and a strolling +mendicant might meet upon terms of mutual forbearance. + +"Turn back! turn back!" exclaimed the vagrant; "why did ye not turn when +I waved to you?" + +"We thought," replied Sir Arthur, in great agitation, "we thought we +could get round Halket-head." + +"Halket-head!—the tide will be running on Halket-head by this time like +the Fall of Fyers!—it was a' I could do to get round it twenty minutes +since—it was coming in three feet abreast. We will maybe get back by +Bally-burgh Ness Point yet. The Lord help us!—it's our only chance. We +can but try." + +"My God, my child!"—"My father! my dear father!" exclaimed the parent +and daughter, as, fear lending them strength and speed, they turned to +retrace their steps, and endeavoured to double the point, the projection +of which formed the southern extremity of the bay. + +"I heard ye were here frae the bit callant ye sent to meet your +carriage," said the beggar, as he trudged stoutly on a step or two +behind Miss Wardour; "and I couldna bide to think o' the dainty young +leddy's peril, that has aye been kind to ilka forlorn heart that cam +near her. Sae I lookit at the lift and the rin o' the tide, till I +settled it that if I could get down time eneugh to gie you warning, we +wad do weel yet. But I doubt, I doubt, I have been beguiled! for what +mortal ee ever saw sic a race as the tide is risening e'en now? See, +yonder's the Ratton's Skerry—he aye held his neb abune the water in my +day—but he's aneath it now." + +Sir Arthur cast a look in the direction in which the old man pointed. A +huge rock, which in general, even in spring-tides, displayed a hulk like +the keel of a large vessel, was now quite under water, and its place +only indicated by the boiling and breaking of the eddying waves which +encountered its submarine resistance. + +"Mak haste, mak haste, my bonny leddy," continued the old man—"mak +haste, and we may do yet! Take haud o' my arm—an auld and frail arm it's +now, but it's been in as sair stress as this is yet. Take haud o' my +arm, my winsome leddy! D'ye see yon wee black speck amang the wallowing +waves yonder? This morning it was as high as the mast o' a brig—it's +sma' eneugh now—but, while I see as muckle black about it as the crown +o' my hat, I winna believe but we'll get round the Ballyburgh Ness, for +a' that's come and gane yet." + +Isabella, in silence, accepted from the old man the assistance which Sir +Arthur was less able to afford her. The waves had now encroached so much +upon the beach, that the firm and smooth footing which they had hitherto +had on the sand must be exchanged for a rougher path close to the foot +of the precipice, and in some places even raised upon its lower ledges. +It would have been utterly impossible for Sir Arthur Wardour, or his +daughter, to have found their way along these shelves without the +guidance and encouragement of the beggar, who had been there before in +high tides, though never, he acknowledged, "in sae awsome a night as +this." + +It was indeed a dreadful evening. The howling of the storm mingled with +the shrieks of the sea-fowl, and sounded like the dirge of the three +devoted beings, who, pent between two of the most magnificent, yet +most dreadful objects of nature—a raging tide and an insurmountable +precipice—toiled along their painful and dangerous path, often lashed by +the spray of some giant billow, which threw itself higher on the beach +than those that had preceded it. Each minute did their enemy gain ground +perceptibly upon them! Still, however, loth to relinquish the last +hopes of life, they bent their eyes on the black rock pointed out +by Ochiltree. It was yet distinctly visible among the breakers, and +continued to be so, until they came to a turn in their precarious +path, where an intervening projection of rock hid it from their sight. +Deprived of the view of the beacon on which they had relied, they now +experienced the double agony of terror and suspense. They struggled +forward, however; but, when they arrived at the point from which they +ought to have seen the crag, it was no longer visible: the signal of +safety was lost among a thousand white breakers, which, dashing upon +the point of the promontory, rose in prodigious sheets of snowy foam, +as high as the mast of a first-rate man-of-war, against the dark brow of +the precipice. + +The countenance of the old man fell. Isabella gave a faint shriek, +and, "God have mercy upon us!" which her guide solemnly uttered, was +piteously echoed by Sir Arthur—"My child! my child!—to die such a +death!" + +"My father! my dear father!" his daughter exclaimed, clinging to +him—"and you too, who have lost your own life in endeavouring to save +ours!" + +"That's not worth the counting," said the old man. "I hae lived to be +weary o' life; and here or yonder—at the back o' a dyke, in a wreath o' +snaw, or in the wame o' a wave, what signifies how the auld gaberlunzie +dies?" + +"Good man," said Sir Arthur, "can you think of nothing?—of no help?—I'll +make you rich—I'll give you a farm—I'll"— + +"Our riches will be soon equal," said the beggar, looking out upon the +strife of the waters—"they are sae already; for I hae nae land, and you +would give your fair bounds and barony for a square yard of rock that +would be dry for twal hours." + +While they exchanged these words, they paused upon the highest ledge of +rock to which they could attain; for it seemed that any further attempt +to move forward could only serve to anticipate their fate. Here, then, +they were to await the sure though slow progress of the raging element, +something in the situation of the martyrs of the early church, who, +exposed by heathen tyrants to be slain by wild beasts, were compelled +for a time to witness the impatience and rage by which the animals +were agitated, while awaiting the signal for undoing their grates, and +letting them loose upon the victims. + +Yet even this fearful pause gave Isabella time to collect the powers of +a mind naturally strong and courageous, and which rallied itself at this +terrible juncture. "Must we yield life," she said, "without a struggle? +Is there no path, however dreadful, by which we could climb the crag, or +at least attain some height above the tide, where we could remain till +morning, or till help comes? They must be aware of our situation, and +will raise the country to relieve us." + +Sir Arthur, who heard, but scarcely comprehended, his daughter's +question, turned, nevertheless, instinctively and eagerly to the old +man, as if their lives were in his gift. Ochiltree paused—"I was a +bauld craigsman," he said, "ance in my life, and mony a kittywake's and +lungie's nest hae I harried up amang thae very black rocks; but it's +lang, lang syne, and nae mortal could speel them without a rope—and if +I had ane, my ee-sight, and my footstep, and my hand-grip, hae a' failed +mony a day sinsyne—And then, how could I save you? But there was a path +here ance, though maybe, if we could see it, ye would rather bide where +we are—His name be praised!" he ejaculated suddenly, "there's ane coming +down the crag e'en now!"—Then, exalting his voice, he hilloa'd out to +the daring adventurer such instructions as his former practice, and +the remembrance of local circumstances, suddenly forced upon his +mind:—"Ye're right!—ye're right!—that gate—that gate!—fasten the rope +weel round Crummies-horn, that's the muckle black stane—cast twa plies +round it—that's it!—now, weize yoursell a wee easel-ward—a wee mair yet +to that ither stane—we ca'd it the Cat's-lug—there used to be the root +o' an aik tree there—that will do!—canny now, lad—canny now—tak tent and +tak time—Lord bless ye, tak time—Vera weel!—Now ye maun get to Bessy's +apron, that's the muckle braid flat blue stane—and then, I think, wi' +your help and the tow thegither, I'll win at ye, and then we'll be able +to get up the young leddy and Sir Arthur." + +The adventurer, following the directions of old Edie, flung him down +the end of the rope, which he secured around Miss Wardour, wrapping her +previously in his own blue gown, to preserve her as much as possible +from injury. Then, availing himself of the rope, which was made fast at +the other end, he began to ascend the face of the crag—a most precarious +and dizzy undertaking, which, however, after one or two perilous +escapes, placed him safe on the broad flat stone beside our friend +Lovel. Their joint strength was able to raise Isabella to the place of +safety which they had attained. Lovel then descended in order to assist +Sir Arthur, around whom he adjusted the rope; and again mounting to +their place of refuge, with the assistance of old Ochiltree, and such +aid as Sir Arthur himself could afford, he raised himself beyond the +reach of the billows. The Rescue of Sir Arthur and Miss Wardour + +The sense of reprieve from approaching and apparently inevitable death, +had its usual effect. The father and daughter threw themselves into +each other's arms, kissed and wept for joy, although their escape +was connected with the prospect of passing a tempestuous night upon a +precipitous ledge of rock, which scarce afforded footing for the four +shivering beings, who now, like the sea-fowl around them, clung there +in hopes of some shelter from the devouring element which raged beneath. +The spray of the billows, which attained in fearful succession the foot +of the precipice, overflowing the beach on which they so lately stood, +flew as high as their place of temporary refuge; and the stunning sound +with which they dashed against the rocks beneath, seemed as if they +still demanded the fugitives in accents of thunder as their destined +prey. It was a summer night, doubtless; yet the probability was slender, +that a frame so delicate as that of Miss Wardour should survive till +morning the drenching of the spray; and the dashing of the rain, which +now burst in full violence, accompanied with deep and heavy gusts of +wind, added to the constrained and perilous circumstances of their +situation. + +"The lassie!—the puir sweet, lassie!" said the old man: "mony such a +night have I weathered at hame and abroad, but, God guide us, how can +she ever win through it!" + +His apprehension was communicated in smothered accents to Lovel; for +with the sort of freemasonry by which bold and ready spirits correspond +in moments of danger, and become almost instinctively known to each +other, they had established a mutual confidence.—"I'll climb up the +cliff again," said Lovel—there's daylight enough left to see my footing; +I'll climb up, and call for more assistance." + +"Do so, do so, for Heaven's sake!" said Sir Arthur eagerly. + +"Are ye mad?" said the mendicant: "Francie o' Fowlsheugh, and he was the +best craigsman that ever speel'd heugh (mair by token, he brake his neck +upon the Dunbuy of Slaines), wodna hae ventured upon the Halket-head +craigs after sun-down—It's God's grace, and a great wonder besides, +that ye are not in the middle o' that roaring sea wi' what ye hae done +already—I didna think there was the man left alive would hae come down +the craigs as ye did. I question an I could hae done it mysell, at this +hoar and in this weather, in the youngest and yaldest of my strength—But +to venture up again—it's a mere and a clear tempting o' Providence," + +"I have no fear," answered Lovel; "I marked all the stations perfectly +as I came down, and there is still light enough left to see them quite +well—I am sure I can do it with perfect safety. Stay here, my good +friend, by Sir Arthur and the young lady." + +"Dell be in my feet then," answered the bedesman sturdily; "if ye gang, +I'll gang too; for between the twa o' us, we'll hae mair than wark +eneugh to get to the tap o' the heugh." + +"No, no—stay you here and attend to Miss Wardour—you see Sir Arthur is +quite exhausted." + +"Stay yoursell then, and I'll gae," said the old man;—"let death spare +the green corn and take the ripe." + +"Stay both of you, I charge you," said Isabella, faintly; "I am well, +and can spend the night very well here—I feel quite refreshed." So +saying, her voice failed her—she sunk down, and would have fallen from +the crag, had she not been supported by Lovel and Ochiltree, who placed +her in a posture half sitting, half reclining, beside her father, +who, exhausted by fatigue of body and mind so extreme and unusual, had +already sat down on a stone in a sort of stupor. + +"It is impossible to leave them," said Lovel—"What is to be done?—Hark! +hark!—did I not hear a halloo?" + +"The skreigh of a Tammie Norie," answered Ochiltree—"I ken the skirl +weel." + +"No, by Heaven!" replied Lovel, "it was a human voice." + +A distant hail was repeated, the sound plainly distinguishable among the +various elemental noises, and the clang of the sea-mews by which they +were surrounded. The mendicant and Lovel exerted their voices in a loud +halloo, the former waving Miss Wardour's handkerchief on the end of +his staff to make them conspicuous from above. Though the shouts were +repeated, it was some time before they were in exact response to +their own, leaving the unfortunate sufferers uncertain whether, in the +darkening twilight and increasing storm, they had made the persons who +apparently were traversing the verge of the precipice to bring them +assistance, sensible of the place in which they had found refuge. At +length their halloo was regularly and distinctly answered, and their +courage confirmed, by the assurance that they were within hearing, if +not within reach, of friendly assistance. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTH. + + There is a cliff, whose high and bending head + Looks fearfully on the confined deep; + Bring me but to the very brim of it, + And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear. + King Lear. + +The shout of human voices from above was soon augmented, and the gleam +of torches mingled with those lights of evening which still remained +amidst the darkness of the storm. Some attempt was made to hold +communication between the assistants above and the sufferers beneath, +who were still clinging to their precarious place of safety; but +the howling of the tempest limited their intercourse to cries as +inarticulate as those of the winged denizens of the crag, which shrieked +in chorus, alarmed by the reiterated sound of human voices, where they +had seldom been heard. + +On the verge of the precipice an anxious group had now assembled. +Oldbuck was the foremost and most earnest, pressing forward with +unwonted desperation to the very brink of the crag, and extending his +head (his hat and wig secured by a handkerchief under his chin) over the +dizzy height, with an air of determination which made his more timorous +assistants tremble. + +"Haud a care, haud a care, Monkbarns!" cried Caxon, clinging to the +skirts of his patron, and withholding him from danger as far as his +strength permitted—"God's sake, haud a care!—Sir Arthur's drowned +already, and an ye fa' over the cleugh too, there will be but ae wig +left in the parish, and that's the minister's." + +"Mind the peak there," cried Mucklebackit, an old fisherman and +smuggler—"mind the peak—Steenie, Steenie Wilks, bring up the tackle—I'se +warrant we'll sune heave them on board, Monkbarns, wad ye but stand out +o' the gate." + +"I see them," said Oldbuck—"I see them low down on that flat +stone—Hilli-hilloa, hilli-ho-a!" + +"I see them mysell weel eneugh," said Mucklebackit; "they are sitting +down yonder like hoodie-craws in a mist; but d'yo think ye'll help +them wi' skirling that gate like an auld skart before a flaw o' +weather?—Steenie, lad, bring up the mast—Od, I'se hae them up as we used +to bouse up the kegs o' gin and brandy lang syne—Get up the pickaxe, +make a step for the mast—make the chair fast with the rattlin—haul +taught and belay!" + +The fishers had brought with them the mast of a boat, and as half of the +country fellows about had now appeared, either out of zeal or curiosity, +it was soon sunk in the ground, and sufficiently secured. A yard across +the upright mast, and a rope stretched along it, and reeved through a +block at each end, formed an extempore crane, which afforded the means +of lowering an arm-chair, well secured and fastened, down to the flat +shelf on which the sufferers had roosted. Their joy at hearing the +preparations going on for their deliverance was considerably qualified +when they beheld the precarious vehicle by means of which they were to +be conveyed to upper air. It swung about a yard free of the spot which +they occupied, obeying each impulse of the tempest, the empty air all +around it, and depending upon the security of a rope, which, in the +increasing darkness, had dwindled to an almost imperceptible thread. +Besides the hazard of committing a human being to the vacant atmosphere +in such a slight means of conveyance, there was the fearful danger +of the chair and its occupant being dashed, either by the wind or the +vibrations of the cord, against the rugged face of the precipice. But +to diminish the risk as much as possible, the experienced seaman had let +down with the chair another line, which, being attached to it, and +held by the persons beneath, might serve by way of gy, as Mucklebackit +expressed it, to render its descent in some measure steady and regular. +Still, to commit one's self in such a vehicle, through a howling tempest +of wind and rain, with a beetling precipice above and a raging abyss +below, required that courage which despair alone can inspire. Yet, +wild as the sounds and sights of danger were, both above, beneath, and +around, and doubtful and dangerous as the mode of escaping appeared to +be, Lovel and the old mendicant agreed, after a moment's consultation, +and after the former, by a sudden strong pull, had, at his own imminent +risk, ascertained the security of the rope, that it would be best to +secure Miss Wardour in the chair, and trust to the tenderness and care +of those above for her being safely craned up to the top of the crag. + +"Let my father go first," exclaimed Isabella; "for God's sake, my +friends, place him first in safety!" + +"It cannot be, Miss Wardour," said Lovel;—"your life must be first +secured—the rope which bears your weight may"— + +"I will not listen to a reason so selfish!" + +"But ye maun listen to it, my bonnie lassie," said Ochiltree, "for a' +our lives depend on it—besides, when ye get on the tap o' the heugh +yonder, ye can gie them a round guess o' what's ganging on in this +Patmos o' ours—and Sir Arthur's far by that, as I'm thinking." + +Struck with the truth of this reasoning, she exclaimed, "True, most +true; I am ready and willing to undertake the first risk—What shall I +say to our friends above?" + +"Just to look that their tackle does not graze on the face o' the crag, +and to let the chair down and draw it up hooly and fairly;—we will +halloo when we are ready." + +With the sedulous attention of a parent to a child, Lovel bound Miss +Wardour with his handkerchief, neckcloth, and the mendicant's leathern +belt, to the back and arms of the chair, ascertaining accurately the +security of each knot, while Ochiltree kept Sir Arthur quiet. "What are +ye doing wi' my bairn?—what are ye doing?—She shall not be separated +from me—Isabel, stay with me, I command you!" + +"Lordsake, Sir Arthur, haud your tongue, and be thankful to God that +there's wiser folk than you to manage this job," cried the beggar, worn +out by the unreasonable exclamations of the poor Baronet. + +"Farewell, my father!" murmured Isabella—"farewell, my—my friends!" and +shutting her eyes, as Edie's experience recommended, she gave the signal +to Lovel, and he to those who were above. She rose, while the chair in +which she sate was kept steady by the line which Lovel managed beneath. +With a beating heart he watched the flutter of her white dress, until +the vehicle was on a level with the brink of the precipice. + +"Canny now, lads, canny now!" exclaimed old Mucklebackit, who acted as +commodore; "swerve the yard a bit—Now—there! there she sits safe on dry +land." + +A loud shout announced the successful experiment to her fellow-sufferers +beneath, who replied with a ready and cheerful halloo. Monkbarns, in his +ecstasy of joy, stripped his great-coat to wrap up the young lady, and +would have pulled off his coat and waistcoat for the same purpose, had +he not been withheld by the cautious Caxon. "Haud a care o' us! your +honour will be killed wi' the hoast—ye'll no get out o'your night-cowl +this fortnight—and that will suit us unco ill.—Na, na—there's the +chariot down by; let twa o' the folk carry the young leddy there." + +"You're right," said the Antiquary, readjusting the sleeves and collar +of his coat, "you're right, Caxon; this is a naughty night to swim +in.—Miss Wardour, let me convey you to the chariot." + +"Not for worlds till I see my father safe." + +In a few distinct words, evincing how much her resolution had surmounted +even the mortal fear of so agitating a hazard, she explained the nature +of the situation beneath, and the wishes of Lovel and Ochiltree. + +"Right, right, that's right too—I should like to see the son of Sir +Gamelyn de Guardover on dry land myself—I have a notion he would sign +the abjuration oath, and the Ragman-roll to boot, and acknowledge Queen +Mary to be nothing better than she should be, to get alongside my bottle +of old port that he ran away from, and left scarce begun. But he's safe +now, and here a' comes"—(for the chair was again lowered, and Sir Arthur +made fast in it, without much consciousness on his own part)—"here a' +comes—Bowse away, my boys! canny wi' him—a pedigree of a hundred links +is hanging on a tenpenny tow—the whole barony of Knockwinnock depends on +three plies of hemp—respice finem, respice funem—look to your end—look +to a rope's end.—Welcome, welcome, my good old friend, to firm land, +though I cannot say to warm land or to dry land. A cord for ever against +fifty fathom of water, though not in the sense of the base proverb—a +fico for the phrase,—better sus. per funem, than sus. per coll." + +While Oldbuck ran on in this way, Sir Arthur was safely wrapped in the +close embraces of his daughter, who, assuming that authority which the +circumstances demanded, ordered some of the assistants to convey him to +the chariot, promising to follow in a few minutes, She lingered on the +cliff, holding an old countryman's arm, to witness probably the safety +of those whose dangers she had shared. + +"What have we here?" said Oldbuck, as the vehicle once more +ascended—"what patched and weather-beaten matter is this?" Then as the +torches illumed the rough face and grey hairs of old Ochiltree,—"What! +is it thou?—Come, old Mocker, I must needs be friends with thee—but who +the devil makes up your party besides?" + +"Ane that's weel worth ony twa o' us, Monkbarns;—it's the young stranger +lad they ca' Lovel—and he's behaved this blessed night as if he had +three lives to rely on, and was willing to waste them a' rather than +endanger ither folk's. Ca' hooly, sirs, as ye, wad win an auld man's +blessing!—mind there's naebody below now to haud the gy—Hae a care o' +the Cat's-lug corner—bide weel aff Crummie's-horn!" + +"Have a care indeed," echoed Oldbuck. "What! is it my rara avis—my +black swan—my phoenix of companions in a post-chaise?—take care of him, +Mucklebackit." + +"As muckle care as if he were a graybeard o' brandy; and I canna take +mair if his hair were like John Harlowe's.—Yo ho, my hearts! bowse away +with him!" + +Lovel did, in fact, run a much greater risk than any of his precursors. +His weight was not sufficient to render his ascent steady amid such a +storm of wind, and he swung like an agitated pendulum at the mortal risk +of being dashed against the rocks. But he was young, bold, and active, +and, with the assistance of the beggar's stout piked staff, which he had +retained by advice of the proprietor, contrived to bear himself from +the face of the precipice, and the yet more hazardous projecting cliffs +which varied its surface. Tossed in empty space, like an idle and +unsubstantial feather, with a motion that agitated the brain at once +with fear and with dizziness, he retained his alertness of exertion and +presence of mind; and it was not until he was safely grounded upon the +summit of the cliff, that he felt temporary and giddy sickness. As he +recovered from a sort of half swoon, he cast his eyes eagerly around. +The object which they would most willingly have sought, was already +in the act of vanishing. Her white garment was just discernible as she +followed on the path which her father had taken. She had lingered till +she saw the last of their company rescued from danger, and until she had +been assured by the hoarse voice of Mucklebackit, that "the callant had +come off wi' unbrizzed banes, and that he was but in a kind of dwam." +But Lovel was not aware that she had expressed in his fate even this +degree of interest,—which, though nothing more than was due to a +stranger who had assisted her in such an hour of peril, he would have +gladly purchased by braving even more imminent danger than he had that +evening been exposed to. The beggar she had already commanded to come to +Knockwinnock that night. He made an excuse.—"Then to-morrow let me see +you." + +The old man promised to obey. Oldbuck thrust something into his +hand—Ochiltree looked at it by the torchlight, and returned it—"Na, +na! I never tak gowd—besides, Monkbarns, ye wad maybe be rueing it the +morn." Then turning to the group of fishermen and peasants—"Now, sirs, +wha will gie me a supper and some clean pease-strae?" + +"I," "and I," "and I," answered many a ready voice. + +"Aweel, since sae it is, and I can only sleep in ae barn at ance, I'll +gae down with Saunders Mucklebackit—he has aye a soup o' something +comfortable about his begging—and, bairns, I'll maybe live to put ilka +ane o' ye in mind some ither night that ye hae promised me quarters and +my awmous;" and away he went with the fisherman. + +Oldbuck laid the band of strong possession on Lovel—"Deil a stride +ye's go to Fairport this night, young man—you must go home with me to +Monkbarns. Why, man, you have been a hero—a perfect Sir William Wallace, +by all accounts. Come, my good lad, take hold of my arm;—I am not a +prime support in such a wind—but Caxon shall help us out—Here, you old +idiot, come on the other side of me.—And how the deil got you down to +that infernal Bessy's-apron, as they call it? Bess, said they? Why, +curse her, she has spread out that vile pennon or banner of womankind, +like all the rest of her sex, to allure her votaries to death and +headlong ruin." + +"I have been pretty well accustomed to climbing, and I have long +observed fowlers practise that pass down the cliff." + +"But how, in the name of all that is wonderful, came you to discover the +danger of the pettish Baronet and his far more deserving daughter?" + +"I saw them from the verge of the precipice." + +"From the verge!—umph—And what possessed you dumosa pendere procul de +rupe?—though dumosa is not the appropriate epithet—what the deil, man, +tempted ye to the verge of the craig?" + +"Why—I like to see the gathering and growling of a coming storm—or, +in your own classical language, Mr. Oldbuck, suave mari magno—and +so forth—but here we reach the turn to Fairport. I must wish you +good-night." + +"Not a step, not a pace, not an inch, not a shathmont, as I may +say,—the meaning of which word has puzzled many that think +themselves antiquaries. I am clear we should read salmon-length for +shathmont's-length. You are aware that the space allotted for the +passage of a salmon through a dam, dike, or weir, by statute, is the +length within which a full-grown pig can turn himself round. Now I have +a scheme to prove, that, as terrestrial objects were thus appealed to +for ascertaining submarine measurement, so it must be supposed that the +productions of the water were established as gauges of the extent of +land.—Shathmont— salmont—you see the close alliance of the sounds; +dropping out two h's, and a t, and assuming an l, makes the whole +difference—I wish to heaven no antiquarian derivation had demanded +heavier concessions." + +"But, my dear sir, I really must go home—I am wet to the skin." + +"Shalt have my night-gown, man, and slippers, and catch the antiquarian +fever as men do the plague, by wearing infected garments. Nay, I know +what you would be at—you are afraid to put the old bachelor to charges. +But is there not the remains of that glorious chicken-pie—which, meo +arbitrio, is better cold than hot—and that bottle of my oldest port, out +of which the silly brain-sick Baronet (whom I cannot pardon, since he +has escaped breaking his neck) had just taken one glass, when his infirm +noddle went a wool-gathering after Gamelyn de Guardover?" + +So saying he dragged Lovel forward, till the Palmer's-port of Monkbarns +received them. Never, perhaps, had it admitted two pedestrians more +needing rest for Monkbarns's fatigue had been in a degree very contrary +to his usual habits, and his more young and robust companion had that +evening undergone agitation of mind which had harassed and wearied him +even more than his extraordinary exertions of body. + + + + +CHAPTER NINTH. + + "Be brave," she cried, "you yet may be our guest, + Our haunted room was ever held the best. + If, then, your valour can the sight sustain + Of rustling curtains and the clinking chain + If your courageous tongue have powers to talk, + When round your bed the horrid ghost shall walk + If you dare ask it why it leaves its tomb, + I'll see your sheets well air'd, and show the Room." + True Story. + +They reached the room in which they had dined, and were clamorously +welcomed by Miss Oldbuck. + +"Where's the younger womankind?" said the Antiquary. + +"Indeed, brother, amang a' the steery, Maria wadna be guided by me she +set away to the Halket-craig-head—I wonder ye didna see her." + +"Eh!—what—what's that you say, sister?—did the girl go out in a night +like this to the Halket-head?—Good God! the misery of the night is not +ended yet!" + +"But ye winna wait, Monkbarns—ye are so imperative and impatient"— + +"Tittle-tattle, woman," said the impatient and agitated Antiquary, +"where is my dear Mary?" + +"Just where ye suld be yoursell, Monkbarns—up-stairs, and in her warm +bed." + +"I could have sworn it," said Oldbuck laughing, but obviously much +relieved—"I could have sworn it;—the lazy monkey did not care if we were +all drowned together. Why did you say she went out?" + +"But ye wadna wait to hear out my tale, Monkbarns—she gaed out, and she +came in again with the gardener sae sune as she saw that nane o' ye were +clodded ower the Craig, and that Miss Wardour was safe in the chariot; +she was hame a quarter of an hour syne, for it's now ganging ten—sair +droukit was she, puir thing, sae I e'en put a glass o' sherry in her +water-gruel." + +"Right, Grizel, right—let womankind alone for coddling each other. But +hear me, my venerable sister—start not at the word venerable; it implies +many praiseworthy qualities besides age; though that too is honourable, +albeit it is the last quality for which womankind would wish to be +honoured—But perpend my words: let Lovel and me have forthwith the +relics of the chicken-pie, and the reversion of the port." + +"The chicken-pie! the port!—ou dear! brother—there was but a wheen +banes, and scarce a drap o' the wine." + +The Antiquary's countenance became clouded, though he was too well bred +to give way, in the presence of a stranger, to his displeased surprise +at the, disappearance of the viands on which he had reckoned with +absolute certainty. But his sister understood these looks of ire. "Ou +dear! Monkbarns, what's the use of making a wark?" + +"I make no wark, as ye call it, woman." + +"But what's the use o' looking sae glum and glunch about a pickle +banes?—an ye will hae the truth, ye maun ken the minister came in, +worthy man—sair distressed he was, nae doubt, about your precarious +situation, as he ca'd it (for ye ken how weel he's gifted wi' words), +and here he wad bide till he could hear wi' certainty how the matter was +likely to gang wi' ye a'—He said fine things on the duty of resignation +to Providence's will, worthy man! that did he." + +Oldbuck replied, catching the same tone, "Worthy man!—he cared not how +soon Monkbarns had devolved on an heir-female, I've a notion;—and +while he was occupied in this Christian office of consolation against +impending evil, I reckon that the chicken-pie and my good port +disappeared?" + +"Dear brother, how can you speak of sic frivolities, when you have had +sic an escape from the craig?" + +"Better than my supper has had from the minister's craig, Grizzle—it's +all discussed, I suppose?" + +"Hout, Monkbarns, ye speak as if there was nae mair meat in the +house—wad ye not have had me offer the honest man some slight +refreshment after his walk frae the manse?" + +Oldbuck half-whistled, half-hummed, the end of the old Scottish ditty, + + O, first they eated the white puddings, + And then they eated the black, O, + And thought the gudeman unto himsell, + The deil clink down wi' that, O! + +His sister hastened to silence his murmurs, by proposing some of +the relies of the dinner. He spoke of another bottle of wine, but +recommended in preference a glass of brandy which was really excellent. +As no entreaties could prevail on Lovel to indue the velvet night-cap +and branched morning-gown of his host, Oldbuck, who pretended to a +little knowledge of the medical art, insisted on his going to bed +as soon as possible, and proposed to despatch a messenger (the +indefatigable Caxon) to Fairport early in the morning, to procure him a +change of clothes. + +This was the first intimation Miss Oldbuck had received that the young +stranger was to be their guest for the night; and such was the surprise +with which she was struck by a proposal so uncommon, that, had the +superincumbent weight of her head-dress, such as we before described, +been less preponderant, her grey locks must have started up on end, and +hurled it from its position. + +"Lord haud a care o' us!" exclaimed the astounded maiden. + +"What's the matter now, Grizel?" + +"Wad ye but just speak a moment, Monkbarns?" + +"Speak!—what should I speak about? I want to get to my bed—and this poor +young fellow—let a bed be made ready for him instantly." + +"A bed?—The Lord preserve us!" again ejaculated Grizel. + +"Why, what's the matter now?—are there not beds and rooms enough in the +house?—was it not an ancient hospitium, in which, I am warranted to say, +beds were nightly made down for a score of pilgrims?" + +"O dear, Monkbarns! wha kens what they might do lang syne?—but in our +time—beds—ay, troth, there's beds enow sic as they are—and rooms enow +too—but ye ken yoursell the beds haena been sleepit in, Lord kens the +time, nor the rooms aired.—If I had kenn'd, Mary and me might hae gaen +down to the manse—Miss Beckie is aye fond to see us—(and sae is the +minister, brother)—But now, gude save us!"— + +"Is there not the Green Room, Grizel?" + +"Troth is there, and it is in decent order too, though naebody has +sleepit there since Dr. Heavysterne, and"— + +"And what?" + +"And what! I am sure ye ken yoursell what a night he had—ye wadna expose +the young gentleman to the like o' that, wad ye?" + +Lovel interfered upon hearing this altercation, and protested he would +far rather walk home than put them to the least inconvenience—that the +exercise would be of service to him—that he knew the road perfectly, +by night or day, to Fairport—that the storm was abating, and so +forth—adding all that civility could suggest as an excuse for escaping +from a hospitality which seemed more inconvenient to his host than he +could possibly have anticipated. But the howling of the wind, and the +pattering of the rain against the windows, with his knowledge of the +preceding fatigues of the evening, must have prohibited Oldbuck, even +had he entertained less regard for his young friend than he really felt, +from permitting him to depart. Besides, he was piqued in honour to show +that he himself was not governed by womankind—"Sit ye down, sit ye down, +sit ye down, man," he reiterated;—"an ye part so, I would I might never +draw a cork again, and here comes out one from a prime bottle of—strong +ale—right anno domini—none of your Wassia Quassia decoctions, but brewed +of Monkbarns barley—John of the Girnel never drew a better flagon to +entertain a wandering minstrel, or palmer, with the freshest news from +Palestine.—And to remove from your mind the slightest wish to depart, +know, that if you do so, your character as a gallant knight is gone +for ever. Why, 'tis an adventure, man, to sleep in the Green Room +at Monkbarns.—Sister, pray see it got ready—And, although the bold +adventurer, Heavysterne, dree'd pain and dolour in that charmed +apartment, it is no reason why a gallant knight like you, nearly twice +as tall, and not half so heavy, should not encounter and break the +spell." + +"What! a haunted apartment, I suppose?" + +"To be sure, to be sure—every mansion in this country of the slightest +antiquity has its ghosts and its haunted chamber, and you must not +suppose us worse off than our neighbours. They are going, indeed, +somewhat out of fashion. I have seen the day, when if you had doubted +the reality of a ghost in an old manor-house you ran the risk of being +made a ghost yourself, as Hamlet says.—Yes, if you had challenged +the existence of Redcowl in the Castle of Glenstirym, old Sir Peter +Pepperbrand would have had ye out to his court-yard, made you betake +yourself to your weapon, and if your trick of fence were not the better, +would have sticked you like a paddock, on his own baronial midden-stead. +I once narrowly escaped such an affray—but I humbled myself, and +apologised to Redcowl; for, even in my younger days, I was no friend to +the monomachia, or duel, and would rather walk with Sir Priest than with +Sir Knight—I care not who knows so much of my valour. Thank God, I am +old now, and can indulge my irritabilities without the necessity of +supporting them by cold steel." + +Here Miss Oldbuck re-entered, with a singularly sage expression of +countenance.—"Mr. Lovel's bed's ready, brother—clean sheets—weel aired—a +spunk of fire in the chimney—I am sure, Mr. Lovel," (addressing him), +"it's no for the trouble—and I hope you will have a good night's +rest—But"— + +"You are resolved," said the Antiquary, "to do what you can to prevent +it." + +"Me?—I am sure I have said naething, Monkbarns." + +"My dear madam," said Lovel, "allow me to ask you the meaning of your +obliging anxiety on my account." + +"Ou, Monkbarns does not like to hear of it—but he kens himsell that the +room has an ill name. It's weel minded that it was there auld Rab Tull +the town-clerk was sleeping when he had that marvellous communication +about the grand law-plea between us and the feuars at the Mussel-craig. +—It had cost a hantle siller, Mr. Lovel; for law-pleas were no carried +on without siller lang syne mair than they are now—and the Monkbarns of +that day—our gudesire, Mr. Lovel, as I said before—was like to be waured +afore the Session for want of a paper—Monkbarns there kens weel what +paper it was, but I'se warrant he'll no help me out wi' my tale—but it +was a paper of great significance to the plea, and we were to be waured +for want o't. Aweel, the cause was to come on before the fifteen —in +presence, as they ca't—and auld Rab Tull, the town-clerk, he cam ower to +make a last search for the paper that was wanting, before our gudesire +gaed into Edinburgh to look after his plea—so there was little time to +come and gang on. He was but a doited snuffy body, Rab, as I've heard +—but then he was the town-clerk of Fairport, and the Monkbarns heritors +aye employed him on account of their connection wi' the burgh, ye ken." + +"Sister Grizel, this is abominable," interrupted Oldbuck; "I vow to +Heaven ye might have raised the ghosts of every abbot of Trotcosey, +since the days of Waldimir, in the time you have been detailing the +introduction to this single spectre.—Learn to be succinct in your +narrative.—Imitate the concise style of old Aubrey, an experienced +ghost-seer, who entered his memoranda on these subjects in a terse +business-like manner; exempli gratia—At Cirencester, 5th March, 1670, +was an apparition.—Being demanded whether good spirit or bad, made +no answer, but instantly disappeared with a curious perfume, and a +melodious twang'—Vide his Miscellanies, p. eighteen, as well as I can +remember, and near the middle of the page." + +"O, Monkbarns, man! do ye think everybody is as book-learned as +yoursell?—But ye like to gar folk look like fools—ye can do that to Sir +Arthur, and the minister his very sell." + +"Nature has been beforehand with me, Grizel, in both these instances, +and in another which shall be nameless—but take a glass of ale, Grizel, +and proceed with your story, for it waxes late." + +"Jenny's just warming your bed, Monkbarns, and ye maun e'en wait till +she's done.—Weel, I was at the search that our gudesire, Monkbarns that +then was, made wi' auld Rab Tull's assistance;—but ne'er-be-licket could +they find that was to their purpose. Aud sae, after they bad touzled out +mony a leather poke-full o' papers, the town-clerk had his drap punch at +e'en to wash the dust out of his throat—we never were glass-breakers in +this house, Mr. Lovel, but the body bad got sic a trick of sippling and +tippling wi' the bailies and deacons when they met (which was amaist +ilka night) concerning the common gude o' the burgh, that he couldna +weel sleep without it—But his punch he gat, and to bed he gaed; and in +the middle of the night he got a fearfu' wakening!—he was never just +himsell after it, and he was strucken wi' the dead palsy that very day +four years. He thought, Mr. Lovel, that he heard the curtains o' his +bed fissil, and out he lookit, fancying, puir man, it might hae been the +cat—But he saw—God hae a care o' us! it gars my flesh aye creep, though +I hae tauld the story twenty times—he saw a weel-fa'ard auld gentleman +standing by his bedside, in the moonlight, in a queer-fashioned dress, +wi' mony a button and band-string about it, and that part o' his +garments which it does not become a leddy to particulareeze, was baith +side and wide, and as mony plies o't as of ony Hamburgh skipper's—He had +a beard too, and whiskers turned upwards on his upper-lip, as lang as +baudrons'—and mony mair particulars there were that Rab Tull tauld +o', but they are forgotten now—it's an auld story. Aweel, Rab was a +just-living man for a country writer—and he was less feared than maybe +might just hae been expected; and he asked in the name o' goodness what +the apparition wanted—and the spirit answered in an unknown tongue. Then +Rab said he tried him wi' Erse, for he cam in his youth frae the braes +of Glenlivat—but it wadna do. Aweel, in this strait, he bethought him +of the twa or three words o' Latin that he used in making out the town's +deeds, and he had nae sooner tried the spirit wi' that, than out cam sic +a blatter o' Latin about his lugs, that poor Rab Tull, wha was nae great +scholar, was clean overwhelmed. Od, but he was a bauld body, and he +minded the Latin name for the deed that he was wanting. It was something +about a cart, I fancy, for the ghaist cried aye, Carter, carter—" + +"Carta, you transformer of languages!" cried Oldbuck;—"if my ancestor +had learned no other language in the other world, at least he would not +forget the Latinity for which he was so famous while in this." + +"Weel, weel, carta be it then, but they ca'd it carter that tell'd me +the story. It cried aye carta, if sae be that it was carta, and made a +sign to Rab to follow it. Rab Tull keepit a Highland heart, and banged +out o' bed, and till some of his readiest claes—and he did follow the +thing up stairs and down stairs to the place we ca' the high dow-cot—(a +sort of a little tower in the corner of the auld house, where there was +a Rickle o' useless boxes and trunks)—and there the ghaist gae Rab a +kick wi' the tae foot, and a kick wi' the tother, to that very auld +east-country tabernacle of a cabinet that my brother has standing beside +his library table, and then disappeared like a fuff o' tobacco, leaving +Rab in a very pitiful condition." + +"Tenues secessit in auras," quoth Oldbuck. "Marry, sir, mansit odor—But, +sure enough, the deed was there found in a drawer of this forgotten +repository, which contained many other curious old papers, now properly +labelled and arranged, and which seemed to have belonged to my ancestor, +the first possessor of Monkbarns. The deed, thus strangely recovered, +was the original Charter of Erection of the Abbey, Abbey Lands, and so +forth, of Trotcosey, comprehending Monkbarns and others, into a Lordship +of Regality in favour of the first Earl of Glengibber, a favourite +of James the Sixth. It is subscribed by the King at Westminster, +the seventeenth day of January, A. D. one thousand six hundred and +twelve—thirteen. It's not worth while to repeat the witnesses' names." + +"I would rather," said Lovel with awakened curiosity, "I would rather +hear your opinion of the way in which the deed was discovered." + +"Why, if I wanted a patron for my legend, I could find no less a one +than Saint Augustine, who tells the story of a deceased person appearing +to his son, when sued for a debt which had been paid, and directing him +where, to find the discharge.* + +*Note D. Mr. Rutherford's dream. + +But I rather opine with Lord Bacon, who says that imagination is much +akin to miracle-working faith. There was always some idle story of +the room being haunted by the spirit of Aldobrand Oldenbuck, my +great-great-great-grandfather—it's a shame to the English language that, +we have not a less clumsy way of expressing a relationship of which we +have occasion to think and speak so frequently. He was a foreigner, and +wore his national dress, of which tradition had preserved an accurate +description; and indeed there is a print of him, supposed to be by +Reginald Elstracke, pulling the press with his own hand, as it works off +the sheets of his scarce edition of the Augsburg Confession. He was a +chemist as well as a good mechanic, and either of these qualities in +this country was at that time sufficient to constitute a white witch at +least. This superstitious old writer had heard all this, and probably +believed it, and in his sleep the image and idea of my ancestor recalled +that of his cabinet, which, with the grateful attention to antiquities +and the memory of our ancestors not unusually met with, had been pushed +into the pigeon-house to be out of the way—Add a quantum sufficit of +exaggeration, and you have a key to the whole mystery." + +"O brother! brother! but Dr. Heavysterne, brother—whose sleep was so +sore broken, that he declared he wadna pass another night in the Green +Room to get all Monkbarns, so that Mary and I were forced to yield our"— + +"Why, Grizel, the doctor is a good, honest, pudding-headed German, of +much merit in his own way, but fond of the mystical, like many of his +countrymen. You and he had a traffic the whole evening in which you +received tales of Mesmer, Shropfer, Cagliostro, and other modern +pretenders to the mystery of raising spirits, discovering hidden +treasure, and so forth, in exchange for your legends of the green +bedchamber;—and considering that the Illustrissimus ate a pound and a +half of Scotch collops to supper, smoked six pipes, and drank ale and +brandy in proportion, I am not surprised at his having a fit of the +night-mare. But everything is now ready. Permit me to light you to your +apartment, Mr. Lovel—I am sure you have need of rest—and I trust my +ancestor is too sensible of the duties of hospitality to interfere with +the repose which you have so well merited by your manly and gallant +behaviour." + +So saying, the Antiquary took up a bedroom candlestick of massive silver +and antique form, which, he observed, was wrought out of the silver +found in the mines of the Harz mountains, and had been the property +of the very personage who had supplied them with a subject for +conversation. And having so said, he led the way through many a dusky +and winding passage, now ascending, and anon descending again, until he +came to the apartment destined for his young guest. + + + + +CHAPTER TENTH. + + When midnight o'er the moonless skies + Her pall of transient death has spread, + When mortals sleep, when spectres rise, + And none are wakeful but the dead; + No bloodless shape my way pursues, + No sheeted ghost my couch annoys, + Visions more sad my fancy views,— + Visions of long departed joys. + W. R. Spenser. + +When they reached the Green Room, as it was called, Oldbuck placed the +candle on the toilet table, before a huge mirror with a black japanned +frame, surrounded by dressing-boxes of the same, and looked around him +with something of a disturbed expression of countenance. "I am seldom +in this apartment," he said, "and never without yielding to a melancholy +feeling—not, of course, on account of the childish nonsense that Grizel +was telling you, but owing to circumstances of an early and unhappy +attachment. It is at such moments as these, Mr. Lovel, that we feel the +changes of time. The, same objects are before us—those inanimate things +which we have gazed on in wayward infancy and impetuous youth, in +anxious and scheming manhood—they are permanent and the same; but when +we look upon them in cold unfeeling old age, can we, changed in our +temper, our pursuits, our feelings—changed in our form, our limbs, and +our strength,—can we be ourselves called the same? or do we not rather +look back with a sort of wonder upon our former selves, as being +separate and distinct from what we now are? The philosopher who appealed +from Philip inflamed with wine to Philip in his hours of sobriety, did +not choose a judge so different, as if he had appealed from Philip in +his youth to Philip in his old age. I cannot but be touched with the +feeling so beautifully expressed in a poem which I have heard repeated:* + +*Probably Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads had not as yet been published. + + My eyes are dim with childish tears, + My heart is idly stirred, + For the same sound is in my ears + Which in those days I heard. + + Thus fares it still in our decay; + And yet the wiser mind + Mourns less for what time takes away, + Than what he leaves behind. + +Well, time cures every wound, and though the scar may remain and +occasionally ache, yet the earliest agony of its recent infliction is +felt no more."—So saying, he shook Lovel cordially by the hand, wished +him good-night, and took his leave. + +Step after step Lovel could trace his host's retreat along the various +passages, and each door which he closed behind him fell with a sound +more distant and dead. The guest, thus separated from the living world, +took up the candle and surveyed the apartment. + +The fire blazed cheerfully. Mrs. Grizel's attention had left some +fresh wood, should he choose to continue it, and the apartment had a +comfortable, though not a lively appearance. It was hung with tapestry, +which the looms of Arras had produced in the sixteenth century, and +which the learned typographer, so often mentioned, had brought with +him as a sample of the arts of the Continent. The subject was a +hunting-piece; and as the leafy boughs of the forest-trees, branching +over the tapestry, formed the predominant colour, the apartment had +thence acquired its name of the Green Chamber. Grim figures in the +old Flemish dress, with slashed doublets covered with ribbands, +short cloaks, and trunk-hose, were engaged in holding grey-hounds, or +stag-hounds, in the leash, or cheering them upon the objects of their +game. Others, with boar-spears, swords, and old-fashioned guns, were +attacking stags or boars whom they had brought to bay. The branches of +the woven forest were crowded with fowls of various kinds, each depicted +with its proper plumage. It seemed as if the prolific and rich invention +of old Chaucer had animated the Flemish artist with its profusion, and +Oldbuck had accordingly caused the following verses, from that ancient +and excellent poet, to be embroidered in Gothic letters, on a sort of +border which he had added to the tapestry:- + + Lo! here be oakis grete, streight as a line, + Under the which the grass, so fresh of line, + Be'th newly sprung—at eight foot or nine. + Everich tree well from his fellow grew, + With branches broad laden with leaves new, + That sprongen out against the sonne sheene, + Some golden red and some a glad bright green. + +And in another canton was the following similar legend:— + + And many an hart and many an hind, + Was both before me, and behind. + Of fawns, sownders, bucks and does, + Was full the wood and many roes, + And many squirrels that ysate + High on the trees and nuts ate. + +The bed was of a dark and faded green, wrought to correspond with the +tapestry, but by a more modern and less skilful hand. The large and +heavy stuff-bottomed chairs, with black ebony backs, were embroidered +after the same pattern, and a lofty mirror, over the antique +chimney-piece, corresponded in its mounting with that on the +old-fashioned toilet. + +"I have heard," muttered Lovel, as he took a cursory view of the room +and its furniture, "that ghosts often chose the best room in the mansion +to which they attached themselves; and I cannot disapprove of the taste +of the disembodied printer of the Augsburg Confession." But he found it +so difficult to fix his mind upon the stories which had been told him of +an apartment with which they seemed so singularly to correspond, that he +almost regretted the absence of those agitated feelings, half fear half +curiosity, which sympathise with the old legends of awe and wonder, +from which the anxious reality of his own hopeless passion at present +detached him. For he now only felt emotions like those expressed in the +lines,— + + Ah! cruel maid, how hast thou changed + The temper of my mind! + My heart, by thee from all estranged, + Becomes like thee unkind. + +He endeavoured to conjure up something like the feelings which would, at +another time, have been congenial to his situation, but his heart had +no room for these vagaries of imagination. The recollection of Miss +Wardour, determined not to acknowledge him when compelled to endure his +society, and evincing her purpose to escape from it, would have +alone occupied his imagination exclusively. But with this were +united recollections more agitating if less painful,—her hair-breadth +escape—the fortunate assistance which he had been able to render +her—Yet what was his requital? She left the cliff while his fate was yet +doubtful—while it was uncertain whether her preserver had not lost the +life which he had exposed for her so freely. Surely gratitude, at least, +called for some little interest in his fate—But no—she could not be +selfish or unjust—it was no part of her nature. She only desired to shut +the door against hope, and, even in compassion to him, to extinguish a +passion which she could never return. + +But this lover-like mode of reasoning was not likely to reconcile him to +his fate, since the more amiable his imagination presented Miss Wardour, +the more inconsolable he felt he should be rendered by the extinction of +his hopes. He was, indeed, conscious of possessing the power of removing +her prejudices on some points; but, even in extremity, he determined +to keep the original determination which he had formed, of ascertaining +that she desired an explanation, ere he intruded one upon her. And, turn +the matter as he would, he could not regard his suit as desperate. There +was something of embarrassment as well as of grave surprise in her look +when Oldbuck presented him—and, perhaps, upon second thoughts, the one +was assumed to cover the other. He would not relinquish a pursuit which +had already cost him such pains. Plans, suiting the romantic temper of +the brain that entertained them, chased each other through his head, +thick and irregular as the motes of the sun-beam, and, long after he had +laid himself to rest, continued to prevent the repose which he greatly +needed. Then, wearied by the uncertainty and difficulties with which +each scheme appeared to be attended, he bent up his mind to the strong +effort of shaking off his love, "like dew-drops from the lion's mane," +and resuming those studies and that career of life which his unrequited +affection had so long and so fruitlessly interrupted. In this last +resolution he endeavoured to fortify himself by every argument which +pride, as well as reason, could suggest. "She shall not suppose," he +said, "that, presuming on an accidental service to her or to her father, +I am desirous to intrude myself upon that notice, to which, personally, +she considered me as having no title. I will see her no more. I will +return to the land which, if it affords none fairer, has at least many +as fair, and less haughty than Miss Wardour. Tomorrow I will bid adieu +to these northern shores, and to her who is as cold and relentless +as her climate." When he had for some time brooded over this sturdy +resolution, exhausted nature at length gave way, and, despite of wrath, +doubt, and anxiety, he sank into slumber. + +It is seldom that sleep, after such violent agitation, is either sound +or refreshing. Lovel's was disturbed by a thousand baseless and confused +visions. He was a bird—he was a fish—or he flew like the one, and swam +like the other,—qualities which would have been very essential to his +safety a few hours before. Then Miss Wardour was a syren, or a bird of +Paradise; her father a triton, or a sea-gull; and Oldbuck alternately +a porpoise and a cormorant. These agreeable imaginations were varied by +all the usual vagaries of a feverish dream;—the air refused to bear the +visionary, the water seemed to burn him—the rocks felt like down pillows +as he was dashed against them—whatever he undertook, failed in some +strange and unexpected manner—and whatever attracted his attention, +underwent, as he attempted to investigate it, some wild and wonderful +metamorphosis, while his mind continued all the while in some degree +conscious of the delusion, from which it in vain struggled to free +itself by awaking;—feverish symptoms all, with which those who are +haunted by the night-hag, whom the learned call Ephialtes, are but too +well acquainted. At length these crude phantasmata arranged themselves +into something more regular, if indeed the imagination of Lovel, after +he awoke (for it was by no means the faculty in which his mind was least +rich), did not gradually, insensibly, and unintentionally, arrange in +better order the scene of which his sleep presented, it may be, a less +distinct outline. Or it is possible that his feverish agitation may have +assisted him in forming the vision. + +Leaving this discussion to the learned, we will say, that after a +succession of wild images, such as we have above described, our hero, +for such we must acknowledge him, so far regained a consciousness of +locality as to remember where he was, and the whole furniture of the +Green Chamber was depicted to his slumbering eye. And here, once more, +let me protest, that if there should be so much old-fashioned faith +left among this shrewd and sceptical generation, as to suppose that +what follows was an impression conveyed rather by the eye than by the +imagination, I do not impugn their doctrine. He was, then, or imagined +himself, broad awake in the Green Chamber, gazing upon the flickering +and occasional flame which the unconsumed remnants of the faggots sent +forth, as, one by one, they fell down upon the red embers, into which +the principal part of the boughs to which they belonged had crumbled +away. Insensibly the legend of Aldobrand Oldenbuck, and his mysterious +visits to the inmates of the chamber, awoke in his mind, and with it, +as we often feel in dreams, an anxious and fearful expectation, which +seldom fails instantly to summon up before our mind's eye the object of +our fear. Brighter sparkles of light flashed from the chimney, with +such intense brilliancy as to enlighten all the room. The tapestry waved +wildly on the wall, till its dusky forms seemed to become animated. The +hunters blew their horns—the stag seemed to fly, the boar to resist, +and the hounds to assail the one and pursue the other; the cry of deer, +mangled by throttling dogs—the shouts of men, and the clatter of horses' +hoofs, seemed at once to surround him—while every group pursued, with +all the fury of the chase, the employment in which the artist had +represented them as engaged. Lovel looked on this strange scene devoid +of wonder (which seldom intrudes itself upon the sleeping fancy), but +with an anxious sensation of awful fear. At length an individual figure +among the tissued huntsmen, as he gazed upon them more fixedly, seemed +to leave the arras and to approach the bed of the slumberer. As he +drew near, his figure appeared to alter. His bugle-horn became a brazen +clasped volume; his hunting-cap changed to such a furred head-gear as +graces the burgomasters of Rembrandt; his Flemish garb remained but his +features, no longer agitated with the fury of the chase, were changed +to such a state of awful and stern composure, as might best portray the +first proprietor of Monkbarns, such as he had been described to Lovel +by his descendants in the course of the preceding evening. As this +metamorphosis took place, the hubbub among the other personages in the +arras disappeared from the imagination of the dreamer, which was now +exclusively bent on the single figure before him. Lovel strove to +interrogate this awful person in the form of exorcism proper for the +occasion; but his tongue, as is usual in frightful dreams, refused its +office, and clung, palsied, to the roof of his mouth. Aldobrand held up +his finger, as if to impose silence upon the guest who had intruded on +his apartment, and began deliberately to unclasp the venerable, volume +which occupied his left hand. When it was unfolded, he turned over the +leaves hastily for a short space, and then raising his figure to its +full dimensions, and holding the book aloft in his left hand, pointed to +a passage in the page which he thus displayed. Although the language was +unknown to our dreamer, his eye and attention were both strongly caught +by the line which the figure seemed thus to press upon his notice, the +words of which appeared to blaze with a supernatural light, and remained +riveted upon his memory. As the vision shut his volume, a strain of +delightful music seemed to fill the apartment—Lovel started, and became +completely awake. The music, however, was still in his ears, nor ceased +till he could distinctly follow the measure of an old Scottish tune. + +He sate up in bed, and endeavoured to clear his brain of the phantoms +which had disturbed it during this weary night. The beams of the morning +sun streamed through the half-closed shutters, and admitted a distinct +light into the apartment. He looked round upon the hangings,—but the +mixed groups of silken and worsted huntsmen were as stationary as +tenter-hooks could make them, and only trembled slightly as the early +breeze, which found its way through an open crevice of the latticed +window, glided along their surface. Lovel leapt out of bed, and, +wrapping himself in a morning-gown, that had been considerately laid by +his bedside, stepped towards the window, which commanded a view of the +sea, the roar of whose billows announced it still disquieted by the +storm of the preceding evening, although the morning was fair and +serene. The window of a turret, which projected at an angle with the +wall, and thus came to be very near Lovel's apartment, was half-open, +and from that quarter he heard again the same music which had probably +broken short his dream. With its visionary character it had lost much +of its charms—it was now nothing more than an air on the harpsichord, +tolerably well performed—such is the caprice of imagination as +affecting the fine arts. A female voice sung, with some taste and +great simplicity, something between a song and a hymn, in words to the +following effect:— + + "Why sitt'st thou by that ruin'd hall, + Thou aged carle so stern and grey? + Dost thou its former pride recall, + Or ponder how it passed away? + + "Know'st thou not me!" the Deep Voice cried, + "So long enjoyed, so oft misused— + Alternate, in thy fickle pride, + Desired, neglected, and accused? + + "Before my breath, like, blazing flax, + Man and his marvels pass away; + And changing empires wane and wax, + Are founded, flourish and decay. + + "Redeem mine hours—the space is brief— + While in my glass the sand-grains shiver, + And measureless thy joy or grief, + When Time and thou shalt part for ever!" + +While the verses were yet singing, Lovel had returned to his bed; the +train of ideas which they awakened was romantic and pleasing, such as +his soul delighted in, and, willingly adjourning till more broad day the +doubtful task of determining on his future line of conduct, he abandoned +himself to the pleasing languor inspired by the music, and fell into a +sound and refreshing sleep, from which he was only awakened at a late +hour by old Caxon, who came creeping into the room to render the offices +of a valet-de-chambre. + +"I have brushed your coat, sir," said the old man, when he perceived +Lovel was awake; "the callant brought it frae Fairport this morning, for +that ye had on yesterday is scantly feasibly dry, though it's been a' +night at the kitchen fire; and I hae cleaned your shoon. I doubt ye'll +no be wanting me to tie your hair, for" (with a gentle sigh) "a' the +young gentlemen wear crops now; but I hae the curling tangs here to +gie it a bit turn ower the brow, if ye like, before ye gae down to the +leddies." + +Lovel, who was by this time once more on his legs, declined the old +man's professional offices, but accompanied the refusal with such a +douceur as completely sweetened Caxon's mortification. + +"It's a pity he disna get his hair tied and pouthered," said the ancient +friseur, when he had got once more into the kitchen, in which, on one +pretence or other, he spent three parts of his idle time—that is to +say, of his whole time—"it's a great pity, for he's a comely young +gentleman." + +"Hout awa, ye auld gowk," said Jenny Rintherout, "would ye creesh his +bonny brown hair wi' your nasty ulyie, and then moust it like the auld +minister's wig? Ye'll be for your breakfast, I'se warrant?—hae, there's +a soup parritch for ye—it will set ye better tae be slaistering at them +and the lapper-milk than meddling wi' Mr. Lovel's head—ye wad spoil the +maist natural and beautifaest head o' hair in a' Fairport, baith burgh +and county." + +The poor barber sighed over the disrespect into which his art had so +universally fallen, but Jenny was a person too important to offend by +contradiction; so, sitting quietly down in the kitchen, he digested at +once his humiliation, and the contents of a bicker which held a Scotch +pint of substantial oatmeal porridge. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + + Sometimes he thinks that Heaven this pageant sent, + And ordered all the pageants as they went; + Sometimes that only 'twas wild Fancy's play,— + The loose and scattered relics of the day. + +We must now request our readers to adjourn to the breakfast parlour +of Mr. Oldbuck, who, despising the modern slops of tea and coffee, was +substantially regaling himself, more majorum, with cold roast-beef, and +a glass of a sort of beverage called mum—a species of fat ale, brewed +from wheat and bitter herbs, of which the present generation only know +the name by its occurrence in revenue acts of parliament, coupled with +cider, perry, and other excisable commodities. Lovel, who was seduced to +taste it, with difficulty refrained from pronouncing it detestable, but +did refrain, as he saw he should otherwise give great offence to his +host, who had the liquor annually prepared with peculiar care, according +to the approved recipe bequeathed to him by the so-often mentioned +Aldobrand Oldenbuck. The hospitality of the ladies offered Lovel a +breakfast more suited to modern taste, and while he was engaged in +partaking of it, he was assailed by indirect inquiries concerning the +manner in which he had passed the night. + +"We canna compliment Mr. Lovel on his looks this morning, brother—but +he winna condescend on any ground of disturbance he has had in the night +time. I am certain he looks very pale, and when he came here he was as +fresh as a rose." + +"Why, sister, consider this rose of yours has been knocked about by sea +and wind all yesterday evening, as if he had been a bunch of kelp or +tangle, and how the devil would you have him retain his colour?" + +"I certainly do still feel somewhat fatigued," said Lovel, +"notwithstanding the excellent accommodations with which your +hospitality so amply supplied me." + +"Ah, sir!" said Miss Oldbuck looking at him with a knowing smile, or +what was meant to be one, "ye'll not allow of ony inconvenience, out of +civility to us." + +"Really, madam," replied Lovel, "I had no disturbance; for I cannot term +such the music with which some kind fairy favoured me." + +"I doubted Mary wad waken you wi' her skreighing; she dinna ken I had +left open a chink of your window, for, forbye the ghaist, the Green +Room disna vent weel in a high wind—But I am judging ye heard mair +than Mary's lilts yestreen. Weel, men are hardy creatures—they can gae +through wi' a' thing. I am sure, had I been to undergo ony thing of that +nature,—that's to say that's beyond nature—I would hae skreigh'd out at +once, and raised the house, be the consequence what liket—and, I dare +say, the minister wad hae done as mickle, and sae I hae tauld him,—I ken +naebody but my brother, Monkbarns himsell, wad gae through the like o't, +if, indeed, it binna you, Mr. Lovel." + +"A man of Mr. Oldbuck's learning, madam," answered the questioned party, +"would not be exposed to the inconvenience sustained by the Highland +gentleman you mentioned last night." + +"Ay, ay—ye understand now where the difficulty lies. Language? he has +ways o' his ain wad banish a' thae sort o' worricows as far as +the hindermost parts of Gideon" (meaning possibly Midian), "as Mr. +Blattergowl says—only ane widna be uncivil to ane's forbear, though he +be a ghaist. I am sure I will try that receipt of yours, brother, that +ye showed me in a book, if onybody is to sleep in that room again, +though I think, in Christian charity, ye should rather fit up the +matted-room—it's a wee damp and dark, to be sure, but then we hae sae +seldom occasion for a spare bed." + +"No, no, sister;—dampness and darkness are worse than spectres—ours are +spirits of light, and I would rather have you try the spell." + +"I will do that blythely, Monkbarns, an I had the ingredients, as my +cookery book ca's them—There was vervain and dill—I mind that—Davie +Dibble will ken about them, though, maybe, he'll gie them Latin +names—and Peppercorn, we hae walth o' them, for"— + +"Hypericon, thou foolish woman!" thundered Oldbuck; "d'ye suppose you're +making a haggis—or do you think that a spirit, though he be formed of +air, can be expelled by a receipt against wind?—This wise Grizel of +mine, Mr. Lovel, recollects (with what accuracy you may judge) a +charm which I once mentioned to her, and which, happening to hit her +superstitious noddle, she remembers better than anything tending to a +useful purpose, I may chance to have said for this ten years. But many +an old woman besides herself"— + +"Auld woman, Monkbarns!" said Miss Oldbuck, roused something above her +usual submissive tone; "ye really are less than civil to me." + +"Not less than just, Grizel: however, I include in the same class many +a sounding name, from Jamblichus down to Aubrey, who have wasted their +time in devising imaginary remedies for non-existing diseases.—But I +hope, my young friend, that, charmed or uncharmed—secured by the potency +of Hypericon, + + With vervain and with dill, + That hinder witches of their will, + +or left disarmed and defenceless to the inroads of the invisible world, +you will give another night to the terrors of the haunted apartment, and +another day to your faithful and feal friends." + +"I heartily wish I could, but"— + +"Nay, but me no buts—I have set my heart upon it." + +"I am greatly obliged, my dear sir, but"— + +"Look ye there, now—but again!—I hate but; I know no form of expression +in which he can appear, that is amiable, excepting as a butt of sack. +But is to me a more detestable combination of letters than no itself.No +is a surly, honest fellow—speaks his mind rough and round at once.But is +a sneaking, evasive, half-bred, exceptuous sort of a conjunction, which +comes to pull away the cup just when it is at your lips— + + —it does allay + The good precedent—fie upon but yet! + But yet is as a jailor to bring forth + Some monstrous malefactor." + +"Well, then," answered Lovel, whose motions were really undetermined at +the moment, "you shall not connect the recollection of my name with +so churlish a particle. I must soon think of leaving Fairport, I am +afraid—and I will, since you are good enough to wish it, take this +opportunity of spending another day here." + +"And you shall be rewarded, my boy. First, you shall see John o' the +Girnel's grave, and then we'll walk gently along the sands, the state +of the tide being first ascertained (for we will have no more +Peter Wilkins' adventures, no more Glum and Gawrie work), as far as +Knockwinnock Castle, and inquire after the old knight and my fair +foe—which will but be barely civil, and then"— + +"I beg pardon, my dear sir; but, perhaps, you had better adjourn your +visit till to-morrow—I am a stranger, you know." + +"And are, therefore, the more bound to show civility, I should suppose. +But I beg your pardon for mentioning a word that perhaps belongs only to +a collector of antiquities—I am one of the old school, + + When courtiers galloped o'er four counties + The ball's fair partner to behold, + And humbly hope she caught no cold." + +"Why, if—if—if you thought it would be expected—but I believe I had +better stay." + +"Nay, nay, my good friend, I am not so old-fashioned as to press you to +what is disagreeable, neither—it is sufficient that I see there is some +remora, some cause of delay, some mid impediment, which I have no title +to inquire into. Or you are still somewhat tired, perhaps;—I warrant I +find means to entertain your intellects without fatiguing your limbs—I +am no friend to violent exertion myself—a walk in the garden once +a-day is exercise, enough for any thinking being—none but a fool or a +fox-hunter would require more. Well, what shall we set about?—my Essay +on Castrametation—but I have that in petto for our afternoon cordial;—or +I will show you the controversy upon Ossian's Poems between Mac-Cribb +and me. I hold with the acute Orcadian—he with the defenders of the +authenticity;—the controversy began in smooth, oily, lady-like terms, +but is now waxing more sour and eager as we get on—it already partakes +somewhat of old Scaliger's style. I fear the rogue will get some scent +of that story of Ochiltree's—but at worst, I have a hard repartee for +him on the affair of the abstracted Antigonus—I will show you his last +epistle and the scroll of my answer—egad, it is a trimmer!" + +So saying, the Antiquary opened a drawer, and began rummaging among a +quantity of miscellaneous papers, ancient and modern. But it was the +misfortune of this learned gentleman, as it may be that of many learned +and unlearned, that he frequently experienced, on such occasions, what +Harlequin calls l'embarras des richesses; in other words, the abundance +of his collection often prevented him from finding the article he sought +for. "Curse the papers!—I believe," said Oldbuck, as he shuffled them to +and fro—"I believe they make themselves wings like grasshoppers, and fly +away bodily—but here, in the meanwhile, look at that little treasure." +So saying, he put into his hand a case made of oak, fenced at the corner +with silver roses and studs—"Pr'ythee, undo this button," said he, as +he observed Lovel fumbling at the clasp. He did so,—the lid opened, and +discovered a thin quarto, curiously bound in black shagreen—"There, Mr. +Lovel—there is the work I mentioned to you last night—the rare quarto of +the Augsburg Confession, the foundation at once and the bulwark of the +Reformation drawn up by the learned and venerable Melancthon, defended +by the Elector of Saxony, and the other valiant hearts who stood up +for their faith, even against the front of a powerful and victorious +emperor, and imprinted by the scarcely less venerable and praiseworthy +Aldobrand Oldenbuck, my happy progenitor, during the yet more tyrannical +attempts of Philip II. to suppress at once civil and religious liberty. +Yes, sir—for printing this work, that eminent man was expelled from his +ungrateful country, and driven to establish his household gods even here +at Monkbarns, among the ruins of papal superstition and domination.—Look +upon his venerable effigies, Mr. Lovel, and respect the honourable +occupation in which it presents him, as labouring personally at the +press for the diffusion of Christian and political knowledge.—And see +here his favourite motto, expressive of his independence and self- +reliance, which scorned to owe anything to patronage that was not earned +by desert—expressive also of that firmness of mind and tenacity of +purpose recommended by Horace. He was indeed a man who would have stood +firm, had his whole printing-house, presses, fonts, forms, great +and small pica, been shivered to pieces around him—Read, I say, his +motto,—for each printer had his motto, or device, when that illustrious +art was first practised. My ancestor's was expressed, as you see, in +the Teutonic phrase, Kunst macht Gunst—that is, skill, or prudence, in +availing ourselves of our natural talents and advantages, will compel +favour and patronage, even where it is withheld from prejudice or +ignorance." + +"And that," said Lovel, after a moment's thoughtful silence—"that, then, +is the meaning of these German words?" + +"Unquestionably. You perceive the appropriate application to a +consciousness of inward worth, and of eminence in a useful and +honourable art.—Each printer in those days, as I have already informed +you, had his device, his impresa, as I may call it, in the same manner +as the doughty chivalry of the age, who frequented tilt and tournament. +My ancestor boasted as much in his, as if he had displayed it over +a conquered field of battle, though it betokened the diffusion of +knowledge, not the effusion of blood. And yet there is a family +tradition which affirms him to have chosen it from a more romantic +circumstance." + +"And what is that said to have been, my good sir?" inquired his young +friend. + +"Why, it rather encroaches on my respected predecessor's fame for +prudence and wisdom—Sed semel insanivimus omnes—everybody has played the +fool in their turn. It is said, my ancestor, during his apprenticeship +with the descendant of old Faust, whom popular tradition hath sent to +the devil under the name of Faustus, was attracted by a paltry slip of +womankind, his master's daughter, called Bertha—they broke rings, or +went through some idiotical ceremony, as is usual on such idle occasions +as the plighting of a true-love troth, and Aldobrand set out on his +journey through Germany, as became an honest hand-werker; for such was +the custom of mechanics at that time, to make a tour through the empire, +and work at their trade for a time in each of the most eminent towns, +before they finally settled themselves for life. It was a wise custom; +for, as such travellers were received like brethren in each town by +those of their own handicraft, they were sure, in every case, to have +the means either of gaining or communicating knowledge. When my ancestor +returned to Nuremburg, he is said to have found his old master newly +dead, and two or three gallant young suitors, some of them half-starved +sprigs of nobility forsooth, in pursuit of the Yung-fraw Bertha, whose +father was understood to have bequeathed her a dowry which might weigh +against sixteen armorial quarters. But Bertha, not a bad sample of +womankind, had made a vow she would only marry that man who would work +her father's press. The skill, at that time, was as rare as wonderful; +besides that the expedient rid her at once of most of her gentle +suitors, who would have as soon wielded a conjuring wand as a composing +stick. Some of the more ordinary typographers made the attempt: but none +were sufficiently possessed of the mystery—But I tire you." + +"By no means; pray, proceed, Mr. Oldbuck—I listen with uncommon +interest." + +"Ah! it is all folly. However—Aldobrand arrived in the ordinary dress, +as we would say, of a journeyman printer—the same in which he had +traversed Germany, and conversed with Luther, Melancthon, Erasmus, and +other learned men, who disdained not his knowledge, and the power he +possessed of diffusing it, though hid under a garb so homely. But what +appeared respectable in the eyes of wisdom, religion, learning, and +philosophy, seemed mean, as might readily be supposed, and disgusting, +in those of silly and affected womankind, and Bertha refused to +acknowledge her former lover, in the torn doublet, skin cap, clouted +shoes, and leathern apron, of a travelling handicraftsman or mechanic. +He claimed his privilege, however, of being admitted to a trial; and +when the rest of the suitors had either declined the contest, or made +such work as the devil could not read if his pardon depended on it, all +eyes were bent on the stranger. Aldobrand stepped gracefully forward, +arranged the types without omission of a single letter, hyphen, or +comma, imposed them without deranging a single space, and pulled off the +first proof as clear and free from errors, as if it had been a triple +revise! All applauded the worthy successor of the immortal Faustus—the +blushing maiden acknowledged her error in trusting to the eye more than +the intellect—and the elected bridegroom thenceforward chose for his +impress or device the appropriate words, Skill wins favour.'—But what is +the matter with you?—you are in a brown study! Come, I told you this was +but trumpery conversation for thinking people—and now I have my hand on +the Ossianic Controversy." + +"I beg your pardon," said Lovel; "I am going to appear very silly and +changeable in your eyes, Mr. Oldbuck—but you seemed to think Sir Arthur +might in civility expect a call from me?" + +"Psha! psha! I can make your apology; and if you must leave us so soon +as you say, what signifies how you stand in his honours good graces?—And +I warn you that the Essay on Castrametation is something prolix, and +will occupy the time we can spare after dinner, so you may lose the +Ossianic Controversy if we do not dedicate this morning to it. We will +go out to my ever-green bower, my sacred holly-tree yonder, and have it +fronde super viridi. + + Sing heigh-ho! heigh-ho! for the green holly, + Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. + +But, egad," continued the old gentleman, "when I look closer at you, +I begin to think you may be of a different opinion. Amen with all +my heart—I quarrel with no man's hobby, if he does not run it a tilt +against mine, and if he does—let him beware his eyes. What say you?—in +the language of the world and worldlings base, if you can condescend to +so mean a sphere, shall we stay or go?" + +"In the language of selfishness, then, which is of course the language +of the world—let us go by all means." + +"Amen, amen, quo' the Earl Marshall," answered Oldbuck, as he exchanged +his slippers for a pair of stout walking shoes, with cutikins, as he +called them, of black cloth. He only interrupted the walk by a slight +deviation to the tomb of John o' the Girnel, remembered as the last +bailiff of the abbey who had resided at Monkbarns. Beneath an old +oak-tree upon a hillock, sloping pleasantly to the south, and catching +a distant view of the sea over two or three rich enclosures, and the +Mussel-crag, lay a moss-grown stone, and, in memory of the departed +worthy, it bore an inscription, of which, as Mr. Oldbuck affirmed +(though many doubted), the defaced characters could be distinctly traced +to the following effect:— + + Here lyeth John o' ye Girnell; + Erth has ye nit, and heuen ye kirnell. + In hys tyme ilk wyfe's hennis clokit, + Ilka gud mannis herth wi' bairnis was stokit. + He deled a boll o' bear in firlottis fyve, + Four for ye halie kirke, and ane for puir mennis wyvis. + +"You see how modest the author of this sepulchral commendation was;—he +tells us that honest John could make five firlots, or quarters, as you +would say, out of the boll, instead of four,—that he gave the fifth to +the wives of the parish, and accounted for the other four to the abbot +and CHAPTER—that in his time the wives' hens always laid eggs—and devil +thank them, if they got one-fifth of the abbey rents; and that honest +men's hearths were never unblest with offspring—an addition to the +miracle, which they, as well as I, must have considered as perfectly +unaccountable. But come on—leave we Jock o' the Girnel, and let us jog +on to the yellow sands, where the sea, like a repulsed enemy, is now +retreating from the ground on which he gave us battle last night." + +Thus saying, he led the way to the sands. Upon the links or downs close +to them, were seen four or five huts inhabited by fishers, whose boats, +drawn high upon the beach, lent the odoriferous vapours of pitch melting +under a burning sun, to contend with those of the offals of fish and +other nuisances usually collected round Scottish cottages. Undisturbed +by these complicated steams of abomination, a middle-aged woman, with a +face which had defied a thousand storms, sat mending a net at the door +of one of the cottages. A handkerchief close bound about her head, and +a coat which had formerly been that of a man, gave her a masculine air, +which was increased by her strength, uncommon stature, and harsh voice. +"What are ye for the day, your honour?" she said, or rather screamed, +to Oldbuck; "caller haddocks and whitings—a bannock-fluke and a +cock-padle." + +"How much for the bannock-fluke and cock-padle?" demanded the Antiquary. + +"Four white shillings and saxpence," answered the Naiad. + +"Four devils and six of their imps!" retorted the Antiquary; "do you +think I am mad, Maggie?" + +"And div ye think," rejoined the virago, setting her arms akimbo, "that +my man and my sons are to gae to the sea in weather like yestreen and +the day—sic a sea as it's yet outby—and get naething for their fish, and +be misca'd into the bargain, Monkbarns? It's no fish ye're buying—it's +men's lives." + +"Well, Maggie, I'll bid you fair—I'll bid you a shilling for the fluke +and the cock-padle, or sixpence separately—and if all your fish are as +well paid, I think your man, as you call him, and your sons, will make a +good voyage." + +"Deil gin their boat were knockit against the Bell-Rock rather! it wad +be better, and the bonnier voyage o' the twa. A shilling for thae twa +bonnie fish! Od, that's ane indeed!" + +"Well, well, you old beldam, carry your fish up to Monkbarns, and see +what my sister will give you for them." + +"Na, na, Monkbarns, deil a fit—I'll rather deal wi' yoursell; for though +you're near enough, yet Miss Grizel has an unco close grip—I'll gie ye +them" (in a softened tone) "for three-and-saxpence." + +"Eighteen-pence, or nothing!" + +"Eighteen-pence!!!" (in a loud tone of astonishment, which declined into +a sort of rueful whine, when the dealer turned as if to walk away)—"Yell +no be for the fish then?"—(then louder, as she saw him moving off)—"I'll +gie ye them—and—and—and a half-a-dozen o' partans to make the sauce, for +three shillings and a dram." + +"Half-a-crown then, Maggie, and a dram." + +"Aweel, your honour maun hae't your ain gate, nae doubt; but a dram's +worth siller now—the distilleries is no working." + +"And I hope they'll never work again in my time," said Oldbuck. + +"Ay, ay—it's easy for your honour, and the like o' you gentle-folks to +say sae, that hae stouth and routh, and fire and fending and meat and +claith, and sit dry and canny by the fireside—but an ye wanted fire, +and meat, and dry claes, and were deeing o' cauld, and had a sair heart, +whilk is warst ava', wi' just tippence in your pouch, wadna ye be glad +to buy a dram wi't, to be eilding and claes, and a supper and heart's +ease into the bargain, till the morn's morning?" + +"It's even too true an apology, Maggie. Is your goodman off to sea this +morning, after his exertions last night?" + +"In troth is he, Monkbarns; he was awa this morning by four o'clock, +when the sea was working like barm wi' yestreen's wind, and our bit +coble dancing in't like a cork." + +"Well, he's an industrious fellow. Carry the fish up to Monkbarns." + +"That I will—or I'll send little Jenny, she'll rin faster; but I'll ca' +on Miss Grizzy for the dram mysell, and say ye sent me." + +A nondescript animal, which might have passed for a mermaid, as it was +paddling in a pool among the rocks, was summoned ashore by the shrill +screams of its dam; and having been made decent, as her mother called +it, which was performed by adding a short red cloak to a petticoat, +which was at first her sole covering, and which reached scantily below +her knee, the child was dismissed with the fish in a basket, and a +request on the part of Monkbarns that they might be prepared for dinner. +"It would have been long," said Oldbuck, with much self-complacency, +"ere my womankind could have made such a reasonable bargain with that +old skin-flint, though they sometimes wrangle with her for an hour +together under my study window, like three sea-gulls screaming +and sputtering in a gale of wind. But come, wend we on our way to +Knockwinnock." + + + + +CHAPTER TWELFTH. + + Beggar?—the only freeman of your commonwealth; + Free above Scot-free, that observe no laws, + Obey no governor, use no religion + But what they draw from their own ancient custom, + Or constitute themselves, yet they are no rebels. + Brome. + +With our reader's permission, we will outstep the slow, though sturdy +pace of the Antiquary, whose halts, as he, turned round to his companion +at every moment to point out something remarkable in the landscape, or +to enforce some favourite topic more emphatically than the exercise of +walking permitted, delayed their progress considerably. + +Notwithstanding the fatigues and dangers of the preceding evening, Miss +Wardour was able to rise at her usual hour, and to apply herself to her +usual occupations, after she had first satisfied her anxiety concerning +her father's state of health. Sir Arthur was no farther indisposed than +by the effects of great agitation and unusual fatigue, but these were +sufficient to induce him to keep his bedchamber. + +To look back on the events of the preceding day, was, to Isabella, a +very unpleasing retrospect. She owed her life, and that of her father, +to the very person by whom, of all others, she wished least to be +obliged, because she could hardly even express common gratitude towards +him without encouraging hopes which might be injurious to them both. +"Why should it be my fate to receive such benefits, and conferred at +so much personal risk, from one whose romantic passion I have so +unceasingly laboured to discourage? Why should chance have given him +this advantage over me? and why, oh why, should a half-subdued feeling +in my own bosom, in spite of my sober reason, almost rejoice that he has +attained it?" + +While Miss Wardour thus taxed herself with wayward caprice, she, beheld +advancing down the avenue, not her younger and more dreaded preserver, +but the old beggar who had made such a capital figure in the melodrama +of the preceding evening. + +She rang the bell for her maid-servant. "Bring the old man up stairs." + +The servant returned in a minute or two—"He will come up at no rate, +madam;—he says his clouted shoes never were on a carpet in his life, and +that, please God, they never shall.—Must I take him into the servants' +hall?" + +"No; stay, I want to speak with him—Where is he?" for she had lost sight +of him as he approached the house. + +"Sitting in the sun on the stone-bench in the court, beside the window +of the flagged parlour." Eddie Ochiltree Visits Miss Wardour + +"Bid him stay there—I'll come down to the parlour, and speak with him at +the window." + +She came down accordingly, and found the mendicant half-seated, +half-reclining, upon the bench beside the window. Edie Ochiltree, old +man and beggar as he was, had apparently some internal consciousness +of the favourable, impressions connected with his tall form, commanding +features, and long white beard and hair. It used to be remarked of him, +that he was seldom seen but in a posture which showed these personal +attributes to advantage. At present, as he lay half-reclined, with his +wrinkled yet ruddy cheek, and keen grey eye turned up towards the sky, +his staff and bag laid beside him, and a cast of homely wisdom and +sarcastic irony in the expression of his countenance, while he gazed for +a moment around the court-yard, and then resumed his former look upward, +he might have been taken by an artist as the model of an old philosopher +of the Cynic school, musing upon the frivolity of mortal pursuits, and +the precarious tenure of human possessions, and looking up to the source +from which aught permanently good can alone be derived. The young lady, +as she presented her tall and elegant figure at the open window, but +divided from the court-yard by a grating, with which, according to the +fashion of ancient times, the lower windows of the castle were secured, +gave an interest of a different kind, and might be supposed, by a +romantic imagination, an imprisoned damsel communicating a tale of her +durance to a palmer, in order that he might call upon the gallantry of +every knight whom he should meet in his wanderings, to rescue her from +her oppressive thraldom. + +After Miss Wardour had offered, in the terms she thought would be most +acceptable, those thanks which the beggar declined as far beyond his +merit, she began to express herself in a manner which she supposed would +speak more feelingly to his apprehension. "She did not know," she said, +"what her father intended particularly to do for their preserver, but +certainly it would be something that would make him easy for life; if he +chose to reside at the castle, she would give orders"— + +The old man smiled, and shook his head. "I wad be baith a grievance +and a disgrace to your fine servants, my leddy, and I have never been a +disgrace to onybody yet, that I ken of." + +"Sir Arthur would give strict orders"— + +"Ye're very kind—I doubtna, I doubtna; but there are some things a +master can command, and some he canna—I daresay he wad gar them keep +hands aff me—(and troth, I think they wad hardly venture on that ony +gate)—and he wad gar them gie me my soup parritch and bit meat. But trow +ye that Sir Arthur's command could forbid the gibe o' the tongue or the +blink o' the ee, or gar them gie me my food wi' the look o' kindness +that gars it digest sae weel, or that he could make them forbear a' +the slights and taunts that hurt ane's spirit mair nor downright +misca'ing?—Besides, I am the idlest auld carle that ever lived; I downa +be bound down to hours o' eating and sleeping; and, to speak the honest +truth, I wad be a very bad example in ony weel regulated family." + +"Well, then, Edie, what do you think of a neat cottage and a garden, and +a daily dole, and nothing to do but to dig a little in your garden when +you pleased yourself?" + +"And how often wad that be, trow ye, my leddy? maybe no ance atween +Candlemas and Yule and if a' thing were done to my hand, as if I was Sir +Arthur himsell, I could never bide the staying still in ae place, +and just seeing the same joists and couples aboon my head night after +night.- -And then I have a queer humour o' my ain, that sets a strolling +beggar weel eneugh, whase word naebody minds—but ye ken Sir Arthur has +odd sort o' ways—and I wad be jesting or scorning at them—and ye wad be +angry, and then I wad be just fit to hang mysell." + +"O, you are a licensed man," said Isabella; "we shall give you all +reasonable scope: So you had better be ruled, and remember your age." + +"But I am no that sair failed yet," replied the mendicant. "Od, ance I +gat a wee soupled yestreen, I was as yauld as an eel. And then what wad +a' the country about do for want o' auld Edie Ochiltree, that +brings news and country cracks frae ae farm-steading to anither, and +gingerbread to the lasses, and helps the lads to mend their fiddles, and +the gudewives to clout their pans, and plaits rush-swords and grenadier +caps for the weans, and busks the laird's flees, and has skill o' +cow-ills and horse-ills, and kens mair auld sangs and tales than a' the +barony besides, and gars ilka body laugh wherever he comes? Troth, my +leddy, I canna lay down my vocation; it would be a public loss." + +"Well, Edie, if your idea of your importance is so strong as not to be +shaken by the prospect of independence"— + +"Na, na, Miss—it's because I am mair independent as I am," answered the +old man; "I beg nae mair at ony single house than a meal o' meat, +or maybe but a mouthfou o't—if it's refused at ae place, I get it at +anither—sae I canna be said to depend on onybody in particular, but just +on the country at large." + +"Well, then, only promise me that you will let me know should you ever +wish to settle as you turn old, and more incapable of making your usual +rounds; and, in the meantime, take this." + +"Na, na, my leddy: I downa take muckle siller at ance—it's against +our rule; and—though it's maybe no civil to be repeating the like o' +that—they say that siller's like to be scarce wi' Sir Arthur himsell, +and that he's run himsell out o' thought wi' his honkings and minings +for lead and copper yonder." + +Isabella had some anxious anticipations to the same effect, but was +shocked to hear that her father's embarrassments were such public talk; +as if scandal ever failed to stoop upon so acceptable a quarry as the +failings of the good man, the decline of the powerful, or the decay of +the prosperous.—Miss Wardour sighed deeply—"Well, Edie, we have enough +to pay our debts, let folks say what they will, and requiting you is one +of the foremost—let me press this sum upon you." + +"That I might be robbed and murdered some night between town and town? +or, what's as bad, that I might live in constant apprehension o't?—I am +no"—(lowering his voice to a whisper, and looking keenly around him)—"I +am no that clean unprovided for neither; and though I should die at the +back of a dyke, they'll find as muckle quilted in this auld blue gown +as will bury me like a Christian, and gie the lads and lasses a blythe +lykewake too; sae there's the gaberlunzie's burial provided for, and I +need nae mair. Were the like o' me ever to change a note, wha the deil +d'ye think wad be sic fules as to gie me charity after that?—it wad flee +through the country like wildfire, that auld Edie suld hae done siccan +a like thing, and then, I'se warrant, I might grane my heart out or +onybody wad gie me either a bane or a bodle." + +"Is there nothing, then, that I can do for you?" + +"Ou ay—I'll aye come for my awmous as usual,—and whiles I wad be fain o' +a pickle sneeshin, and ye maun speak to the constable and ground-officer +just to owerlook me; and maybe ye'll gie a gude word for me to Sandie +Netherstanes, the miller, that he may chain up his muckle dog—I wadna +hae him to hurt the puir beast, for it just does its office in barking +at a gaberlunzie like me. And there's ae thing maybe mair,—but ye'll +think it's very bald o' the like o' me to speak o't." + +"What is it, Edie?—if it respects you it shall be done if it is in my +power." + +"It respects yoursell, and it is in your power, and I maun come +out wi't. Ye are a bonny young leddy, and a gude ane, and maybe a +weel-tochered ane—but dinna ye sneer awa the lad Lovel, as ye did a +while sinsyne on the walk beneath the Briery-bank, when I saw ye baith, +and heard ye too, though ye saw nae me. Be canny wi' the lad, for he +loes ye weel, and it's to him, and no to anything I could have done for +you, that Sir Arthur and you wan ower yestreen." + +He uttered these words in a low but distinct tone of voice; and without +waiting for an answer, walked towards a low door which led to the +apartments of the servants, and so entered the house. + +Miss Wardour remained for a moment or two in the situation in which +she had heard the old man's last extraordinary speech, leaning, namely, +against the bars of the window; nor could she determine upon saying even +a single word, relative to a subject so delicate, until the beggar was +out of sight. It was, indeed, difficult to determine what to do. That +her having had an interview and private conversation with this young and +unknown stranger, should be a secret possessed by a person of the last +class in which a young lady would seek a confidant, and at the mercy +of one who was by profession gossip-general to the whole neighbourhood, +gave her acute agony. She had no reason, indeed, to suppose that the old +man would wilfully do anything to hurt her feelings, much less to +injure her; but the mere freedom of speaking to her upon such a subject, +showed, as might have been expected, a total absence of delicacy; and +what he might take it into his head to do or say next, that she was +pretty sure so professed an admirer of liberty would not hesitate to do +or say without scruple. This idea so much hurt and vexed her, that she +half-wished the officious assistance of Lovel and Ochiltree had been +absent upon the preceding evening. + +While she was in this agitation of spirits, she suddenly observed +Oldbuck and Lovel entering the court. She drew instantly so far back +from the window, that she could without being seen, observe how the +Antiquary paused in front of the building, and pointing to the various +scutcheons of its former owners, seemed in the act of bestowing upon +Lovel much curious and erudite information, which, from the absent look +of his auditor, Isabella might shrewdly guess was entirely thrown away. +The necessity that she should take some resolution became instant and +pressing;—she rang, therefore, for a servant, and ordered him to show +the visitors to the drawing-room, while she, by another staircase, +gained her own apartment, to consider, ere she made her appearance, what +line of conduct were fittest for her to pursue. The guests, agreeably +to her instructions, were introduced into the room where company was +usually received. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. + + —The time was that I hated thee, + And yet it is not that I bear thee love. + Thy company, which erst was irksome to me, + I will endure— + But do not look for further recompense. + As You Like It. + +Miss Isabella Wardour's complexion was considerably heightened, when, +after the delay necessary to arrange her ideas, she presented herself in +the drawing-room. + +"I am glad you are come, my fair foe," said the Antiquary greeting +her with much kindness, "for I have had a most refractory, or at least +negligent auditor, in my young friend here, while I endeavoured to make +him acquainted with the history of Knockwinnock Castle. I think the +danger of last night has mazed the poor lad. But you, Miss Isabel,—why, +you look as if flying through the night air had been your natural and +most congenial occupation; your colour is even better than when you +honoured my hospitium yesterday. And Sir Arthur—how fares my good old +friend?" + +"Indifferently well, Mr. Oldbuck; but I am afraid, not quite able to +receive your congratulations, or to pay—to pay—Mr. Lovel his thanks for +his unparalleled exertions." + +"I dare say not—A good down pillow for his good white head were more +meet than a couch so churlish as Bessy's-apron, plague on her!" + +"I had no thought of intruding," said Lovel, looking upon the ground, +and speaking with hesitation and suppressed emotion; "I did not—did +not mean to intrude upon Sir Arthur or Miss Wardour the presence of +one who—who must necessarily be unwelcome—as associated, I mean, with +painful reflections." + +"Do not think my father so unjust and ungrateful," said Miss Wardour. "I +dare say," she continued, participating in Lovel's embarrassment—"I dare +say—I am certain—that my father would be happy to show his gratitude—in +any way—that is, which Mr. Lovel could consider it as proper to point +out." + +"Why the deuce," interrupted Oldbuck, "what sort of a qualification is +that?—On my word, it reminds me of our minister, who, choosing, like a +formal old fop as he is, to drink to my sister's inclinations, thought +it necessary to add the saving clause, Provided, madam, they be +virtuous. Come, let us have no more of this nonsense—I dare say Sir +Arthur will bid us welcome on some future day. And what news from the +kingdom of subterranean darkness and airy hope?—What says the swart +spirit of the mine? Has Sir Arthur had any good intelligence of his +adventure lately in Glen-Withershins?" + +Miss Wardour shook her head—"But indifferent, I fear, Mr. Oldbuck; but +there lie some specimens which have lately been sent down." + +"Ah! my poor dear hundred pounds, which Sir Arthur persuaded me to give +for a share in that hopeful scheme, would have bought a porter's load of +mineralogy—But let me see them." + +And so saying, he sat down at the table in the recess, on which the +mineral productions were lying, and proceeded to examine them, grumbling +and pshawing at each which he took up and laid aside. + +In the meantime, Lovel, forced as it were by this secession of Oldbuck, +into a sort of tete-a'-tete with Miss Wardour, took an opportunity of +addressing her in a low and interrupted tone of voice. "I trust +Miss Wardour will impute, to circumstances almost irresistible, this +intrusion of a person who has reason to think himself—so unacceptable a +visitor." + +"Mr. Lovel," answered Miss Wardour, observing the same tone of caution, +"I trust you will not—I am sure you are incapable of abusing the +advantages given to you by the services you have rendered us, which, as +they affect my father, can never be sufficiently acknowledged or repaid. +Could Mr. Lovel see me without his own peace being affected—could he +see me as a friend—as a sister—no man will be—and, from all I have ever +heard of Mr. Lovel, ought to be, more welcome but"— + +Oldbuck's anathema against the preposition but was internally echoed by +Lovel. "Forgive me if I interrupt you, Miss Wardour; you need not +fear my intruding upon a subject where I have been already severely +repressed;—but do not add to the severity of repelling my sentiments the +rigour of obliging me to disavow them." + +"I am much embarrassed, Mr. Lovel," replied the young lady, "by your—I +would not willingly use a strong word—your romantic and hopeless +pertinacity. It is for yourself I plead, that you would consider the +calls which your country has upon your talents—that you will not waste, +in an idle and fanciful indulgence of an ill-placed predilection, time, +which, well redeemed by active exertion, should lay the foundation +of future distinction. Let me entreat that you would form a manly +resolution"— + +"It is enough, Miss Wardour;—I see plainly that"— + +"Mr. Lovel, you are hurt—and, believe me, I sympathize in the pain +which I inflict; but can I, in justice to myself, in fairness to you, +do otherwise? Without my father's consent, I never will entertain the +addresses of any one, and how totally impossible it is that he should +countenance the partiality with which you honour me, you are yourself +fully aware; and, indeed"— + +"No, Miss Wardour," answered Lovel, in a tone of passionate entreaty; +"do not go farther—is it not enough to crush every hope in our present +relative situation?—do not carry your resolutions farther—why urge what +would be your conduct if Sir Arthur's objections could be removed?" + +"It is indeed vain, Mr. Lovel," said Miss Wardour, "because their +removal is impossible; and I only wish, as your friend, and as one who +is obliged to you for her own and her father's life, to entreat you to +suppress this unfortunate attachment—to leave a country which affords +no scope for your talents, and to resume the honourable line of the +profession which you seem to have abandoned." + +"Well, Miss Wardour, your wishes shall be obeyed;—have patience with me +one little month, and if, in the course of that space, I cannot show you +such reasons for continuing my residence at Fairport, as even you shall +approve of, I will bid adieu to its vicinity, and, with the same breath, +to all my hopes of happiness." + +"Not so, Mr. Lovel; many years of deserved happiness, founded on a more +rational basis than your present wishes, are, I trust, before, you. +But it is full time, to finish this conversation. I cannot force you to +adopt my advice—I cannot shut the door of my father's house against the +preserver of his life and mine; but the sooner Mr. Lovel can teach his +mind to submit to the inevitable disappointment of wishes which have +been so rashly formed, the more highly he will rise in my esteem—and, in +the meanwhile, for his sake as well as mine, he must excuse my putting +an interdict upon conversation on a subject so painful." + +A servant at this moment announced that Sir Arthur desired to speak to +Mr. Oldbuck in his dressing-room. + +"Let me show you the way," said Miss Wardour, who apparently dreaded +a continuation of her tete-a-tete with Lovel, and she conducted the +Antiquary accordingly to her father's apartment. + +Sir Arthur, his legs swathed in flannel, was stretched on the couch. +"Welcome, Mr. Oldbuck," he said; "I trust you have come better off than +I have done from the inclemency of yesterday evening?" + +"Truly, Sir Arthur, I was not so much exposed to it—I kept terra +firma—you fairly committed yourself to the cold night-air in the most +literal of all senses. But such adventures become a gallant knight +better than a humble esquire,—to rise on the wings of the night-wind—to +dive into the bowels of the earth. What news from our subterranean Good +Hope!—the terra incognita of Glen-Withershins?" + +"Nothing good as yet," said the Baronet, turning himself hastily, as if +stung by a pang of the gout; "but Dousterswivel does not despair." + +"Does he not?" quoth Oldbuck; "I do though, under his favour. Why, old +Dr. H—n* told me, when I was in Edinburgh, that we should never find +copper enough, judging from the specimens I showed him, to make a pair +of sixpenny knee-buckles—and I cannot see that those samples on the +table below differ much in quality." + +* Probably Dr. Hutton, the celebrated geologist. + +"The learned doctor is not infallible, I presume?" + +"No; but he is one of our first chemists; and this tramping philosopher +of yours—this Dousterswivel—is, I have a notion, one, of those learned +adventurers described by Kirchner, Artem habent sine arte, partem sine +parte, quorum medium est mentiri, vita eorum mendicatum ire; that is to +say, Miss Wardour"— + +"It is unnecessary to translate," said Miss Wardour—"I comprehend your +general meaning; but I hope Mr. Dousterswivel will turn out a more +trustworthy character." + +"I doubt it not a little," said the Antiquary,—"and we are a foul way +out if we cannot discover this infernal vein that he has prophesied +about these two years." + +"You have no great interest in the matter, Mr. Oldbuck," said the +Baronet. + +"Too much, too much, Sir Arthur; and yet, for the sake of my fair foe +here, I would consent to lose it all so you had no more on the venture." + +There was a painful silence of a few moments, for Sir Arthur was too +proud to acknowledge the downfall of his golden dreams, though he could +no longer disguise to himself that such was likely to be the termination +of the adventure. "I understand," he at length said, "that the young +gentleman, to whose gallantry and presence of mind we were so much +indebted last night, has favoured me with a visit—I am distressed that I +am unable to see him, or indeed any one, but an old friend like you, Mr. +Oldbuck." + +A declination of the Antiquary's stiff backbone acknowledged the +preference. + +"You made acquaintance with this young gentleman in Edinburgh, I +suppose?" + +Oldbuck told the circumstances of their becoming known to each other. + +"Why, then, my daughter is an older acquaintance, of Mr. Lovel than you +are," said the Baronet. + +"Indeed! I was not aware of that," answered Oldbuck somewhat surprised. + +"I met Mr. Lovel," said Isabella, slightly colouring, "when I resided +this last spring with my aunt, Mrs. Wilmot." + +"In Yorkshire?—and what character did he bear then, or how was he +engaged?" said Oldbuck,—"and why did not you recognise him when I +introduced you?" + +Isabella answered the least difficult question, and passed over the +other—"He had a commission in the army, and had, I believe, served with +reputation; he was much respected, as an amiable and promising young +man." + +"And pray, such being the case," replied the Antiquary, not disposed +to take one reply in answer to two distinct questions, "why did you not +speak to the lad at once when you met him at my house? I thought you had +less of the paltry pride of womankind about you, Miss Wardour." + +"There was a reason for it," said Sir Arthur with dignity; "you know the +opinions—prejudices, perhaps you will call them—of our house concerning +purity of birth. This young gentleman is, it seems, the illegitimate +son of a man of fortune; my daughter did not choose to renew their +acquaintance till she should know whether I approved of her holding any +intercourse with him." + +"If it had been with his mother instead of himself," answered Oldbuck, +with his usual dry causticity of humour, "I could see an excellent +reason for it. Ah, poor lad! that was the cause, then, that he seemed so +absent and confused while I explained to him the reason of the bend of +bastardy upon the shield yonder under the corner turret!" + +"True," said the Baronet, with complacency—"it is the shield of Malcolm +the Usurper, as he is called. The tower which he built is termed, after +him, Malcolm's Tower, but more frequently Misticot's Tower, which I +conceive to be a corruption for Misbegot. He is denominated, in the +Latin pedigree of our family, Milcolumbus Nothus; and his temporary +seizure of our property, and most unjust attempt to establish his own +illegitimate line in the estate of Knockwinnock, gave rise to such +family feuds and misfortunes, as strongly to found us in that horror and +antipathy to defiled blood and illegitimacy which has been handed down +to me from my respected ancestry." + +"I know the story," said Oldbuck, "and I was telling it to Lovel this +moment, with some of the wise maxims and consequences which it has +engrafted on your family politics. Poor fellow! he must have been much +hurt: I took the wavering of his attention for negligence, and was +something piqued at it, and it proves to be only an excess of feeling. +I hope, Sir Arthur, you will not think the less of your life because it +has been preserved by such assistance?" + +"Nor the less of my assistant either," said the Baronet; "my doors and +table shall be equally open to him as if he had descended of the most +unblemished lineage." + +"Come, I am glad of that—he'll know where he can get a dinner, then, if +he wants one. But what views can he have in this neighbourhood? I must +catechise him; and if I find he wants it—or, indeed, whether he does or +not—he shall have my best advice." As the Antiquary made this liberal +promise, he took his leave of Miss Wardour and her father, eager to +commence operations upon Mr. Lovel. He informed him abruptly that Miss +Wardour sent her compliments, and remained in attendance on her father, +and then, taking him by the arm, he led him out of the castle. + +Knockwinnock still preserved much of the external attributes of a +baronial castle. It had its drawbridge, though now never drawn up, and +its dry moat, the sides of which had been planted with shrubs, chiefly +of the evergreen tribes. Above these rose the old building, partly from +a foundation of red rock scarped down to the sea-beach, and partly from +the steep green verge of the moat. The trees of the avenue have been +already mentioned, and many others rose around of large size,—as if to +confute the prejudice that timber cannot be raised near to the ocean. +Our walkers paused, and looked back upon the castle, as they attained +the height of a small knoll, over which lay their homeward road; for it +is to be supposed they did not tempt the risk of the tide by returning +along the sands. The building flung its broad shadow upon the tufted +foliage of the shrubs beneath it, while the front windows sparkled in +the sun. They were viewed by the gazers with very different feelings. +Lovel, with the fond eagerness of that passion which derives its food +and nourishment from trifles, as the chameleon is said to live on the +air, or upon the invisible insects which it contains, endeavoured to +conjecture which of the numerous windows belonged to the apartment now +graced by Miss Wardour's presence. The speculations of the Antiquary +were of a more melancholy cast, and were partly indicated by the +ejaculation of cito peritura! as he turned away from the prospect. +Lovel, roused from his reverie, looked at him as if to inquire the +meaning of an exclamation so ominous. The old man shook his head. "Yes, +my young friend," said he, "I doubt greatly—and it wrings my heart to +say it—this ancient family is going fast to the ground!" + +"Indeed!" answered Lovel—"you surprise me greatly." + +"We harden ourselves in vain," continued the Antiquary, pursuing his own +train of thought and feeling—"we harden ourselves in vain to treat with +the indifference they deserve, the changes of this trumpery whirligig +world. We strive ineffectually to be the self-sufficing invulnerable +being, the teres atque rotundus of the poet;—the stoical exemption which +philosophy affects to give us over the pains and vexations of human +life, is as imaginary as the state of mystical quietism and perfection +aimed at by some crazy enthusiasts." + +"And Heaven forbid that it should be otherwise!" said Lovel, +warmly—"Heaven forbid that any process of philosophy were capable so +to sear and indurate our feelings, that nothing should agitate them but +what arose instantly and immediately out of our own selfish interests! +I would as soon wish my hand to be as callous as horn, that it might +escape an occasional cut or scratch, as I would be ambitious of the +stoicism which should render my heart like a piece of the nether +millstone." + +The Antiquary regarded his youthful companion with a look half of pity, +half of sympathy, and shrugged up his shoulders as he replied—"Wait, +young man—wait till your bark has been battered by the storm of sixty +years of mortal vicissitude: you will learn by that time, to reef your +sails, that she may obey the helm;—or, in the language of this world, +you will find distresses enough, endured and to endure, to keep your +feelings and sympathies in full exercise, without concerning yourself +more in the fate of others than you cannot possibly avoid." + +"Well, Mr. Oldbuck, it may be so;—but as yet I resemble you more in your +practice than in your theory, for I cannot help being deeply interested +in the fate of the family we have just left." + +"And well you may," replied Oldbuck. "Sir Arthur's embarrassments have +of late become so many and so pressing, that I am surprised you have not +heard of them. And then his absurd and expensive operations carried on +by this High-German landlouper, Dousterswivel"— + +"I think I have seen that person, when, by some rare chance, I +happened to be in the coffee-room at Fairport;—a tall, beetle-browed, +awkward-built man, who entered upon scientific subjects, as it appeared +to my ignorance at least, with more assurance than knowledge—was very +arbitrary in laying down and asserting his opinions, and mixed the terms +of science with a strange jargon of mysticism. A simple youth whispered +me that he was an Illumine', and carried on an intercourse with the +invisible world." + +"O, the same—the same. He has enough of practical knowledge to speak +scholarly and wisely to those of whose intelligence he stands in awe; +and, to say the truth, this faculty, joined to his matchless impudence, +imposed upon me for some time when I first knew him. But I have since +understood, that when he is among fools and womankind, he exhibits +himself as a perfect charlatan—talks of the magisterium—of sympathies +and antipathies—of the cabala—of the divining-rod—and all the trumpery +with which the Rosicrucians cheated a darker age, and which, to our +eternal disgrace, has in some degree revived in our own. My friend +Heavysterne knew this fellow abroad, and unintentionally (for he, you +must know, is, God bless the mark! a sort of believer) let me into a +good deal of his real character. Ah! were I caliph for a day, as Honest +Abon Hassan wished to be, I would scourge me these jugglers out of the +commonwealth with rods of scorpions. They debauch the spirit of the +ignorant and credulous with mystical trash, as effectually as if they +had besotted their brains with gin, and then pick their pockets with the +same facility. And now has this strolling blackguard and mountebank put +the finishing blow to the ruin of an ancient and honourable family!" + +"But how could he impose upon Sir Arthur to any ruinous extent?" + +"Why, I don't know. Sir Arthur is a good honourable gentleman; but, as +you may see from his loose ideas concerning the Pikish language, he is +by no means very strong in the understanding. His estate is strictly +entailed, and he has been always an embarrassed man. This rapparee +promised him mountains of wealth, and an English company was found +to advance large sums of money—I fear on Sir Arthur's guarantee. Some +gentlemen—I was ass enough to be one—took small shares in the concern, +and Sir Arthur himself made great outlay; we were trained on by specious +appearances and more specious lies; and now, like John Bunyan, we awake, +and behold it is a dream!" + +"I am surprised that you, Mr. Oldbuck, should have encouraged Sir Arthur +by your example." + +"Why," said Oldbuck, dropping his large grizzled eyebrow, "I am +something surprised and ashamed at it myself; it was not the lucre of +gain—nobody cares less for money (to be a prudent man) than I do—but I +thought I might risk this small sum. It will be expected (though I am +sure I cannot see why) that I should give something to any one who +will be kind enough to rid me of that slip of womankind, my niece, Mary +M'Intyre; and perhaps it may be thought I should do something to get +that jackanapes, her brother, on in the army. In either case, to treble +my venture, would have helped me out. And besides, I had some idea that +the Phoenicians had in former times wrought copper in that very spot. +That cunning scoundrel, Dousterswivel, found out my blunt side, and +brought strange tales (d—n him) of appearances of old shafts, and +vestiges of mining operations, conducted in a manner quite different +from those of modern times; and I—in short, I was a fool, and there +is an end. My loss is not much worth speaking about; but Sir Arthur's +engagements are, I understand, very deep, and my heart aches for him and +the poor young lady who must share his distress." + +Here the conversation paused, until renewed in the next CHAPTER. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. + + If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep, + My dreams presage some joyful news at hand: + My bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne, + And all this day, an unaccustomed spirit + Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. + Romeo and Juliet. + +The account of Sir Arthur's unhappy adventure had led Oldbuck somewhat +aside from his purpose of catechising Lovel concerning the cause of +his residence at Fairport. He was now, however, resolved to open the +subject. "Miss Wardour was formerly known to you, she tells me, Mr. +Lovel?" + +"He had had the pleasure," Lovel answered, to see her at Mrs. Wilmot's, +in Yorkshire." + +"Indeed! you never mentioned that to me before, and you did not accost +her as an old acquaintance." + +"I—I did not know," said Lovel, a good deal embarrassed, "it was the +same lady, till we met; and then it was my duty to wait till she should +recognise me." + +"I am aware of your delicacy: the knight's a punctilious old fool, but +I promise you his daughter is above all nonsensical ceremony and +prejudice. And now, since you have, found a new set of friends here, may +I ask if you intend to leave Fairport as soon as you proposed?" + +"What if I should answer your question by another," replied Lovel, "and +ask you what is your opinion of dreams?" + +"Of dreams, you foolish lad!—why, what should I think of them but as +the deceptions of imagination when reason drops the reins? I know no +difference betwixt them and the hallucinations of madness—the unguided +horses run away with the carriage in both cases, only in the one the +coachman is drunk, and in the other he slumbers. What says our +Marcus Tullius—Si insanorum visis fides non est habenda, cur credatur +somnientium visis, quae multo etiam perturbatiora sunt, non intelligo." + +"Yes, sir; but Cicero also tells us, that as he who passes the whole day +in darting the javelin must sometimes hit the mark, so, amid the cloud +of nightly dreams, some may occur consonant to future events." + +"Ay—that is to say, you have hit the mark in your own sage opinion? +Lord! Lord! how this world is given to folly! Well, I will allow for +once the Oneirocritical science—I will give faith to the exposition of +dreams, and say a Daniel hath arisen to interpret them, if you can +prove to me that that dream of yours has pointed to a prudent line of +conduct." + +"Tell me, then," answered Lovel, "why when I was hesitating whether to +abandon an enterprise, which I have perhaps rashly undertaken, I +should last night dream I saw your ancestor pointing to a motto which +encouraged me to perseverance?—why should I have thought of those words +which I cannot remember to have heard before, which are in a language +unknown to me, and which yet conveyed, when translated, a lesson which I +could so plainly apply to my own circumstances?" + +The Antiquary burst into a fit of laughing. "Excuse me, my young +friend—but it is thus we silly mortals deceive ourselves, and look out +of doors for motives which originate in our own wilful will. I think I +can help out the cause of your vision. You were so abstracted in your +contemplations yesterday after dinner, as to pay little attention to the +discourse between Sir Arthur and me, until we fell upon the controversy +concerning the Piks, which terminated so abruptly;—but I remember +producing to Sir Arthur a book printed by my ancestor, and making +him observe the motto; your mind was bent elsewhere, but your ear had +mechanically received and retained the sounds, and your busy fancy, +stirred by Grizel's legend I presume, had introduced this scrap of +German into your dream. As for the waking wisdom which seized on so +frivolous a circumstance as an apology for persevering in some course +which it could find no better reason to justify, it is exactly one of +those juggling tricks which the sagest of us play off now and then, to +gratify our inclination at the expense of our understanding." + +"I own it," said Lovel, blushing deeply;—"I believe you are right, Mr. +Oldbuck, and I ought to sink in your esteem for attaching a moment's +consequence to such a frivolity;—but I was tossed by contradictory +wishes and resolutions, and you know how slight a line will tow a boat +when afloat on the billows, though a cable would hardly move her when +pulled up on the beach." + +"Right, right," exclaimed the Antiquary. "Fall in my opinion!—not a +whit—I love thee the better, man;—why, we have story for story against +each other, and I can think with less shame on having exposed myself +about that cursed Praetorium—though I am still convinced Agricola's camp +must have been somewhere in this neighbourhood. And now, Lovel, my good +lad, be sincere with me—What make you from Wittenberg?—why have you left +your own country and professional pursuits, for an idle residence in +such a place as Fairport? A truant disposition, I fear." + +"Even so," replied Lovel, patiently submitting to an interrogatory which +he could not well evade. "Yet I am so detached from all the world, have +so few in whom I am interested, or who are interested in me, that my +very state of destitution gives me independence. He whose good or evil +fortune affects himself alone, has the best right to pursue it according +to his own fancy." + +"Pardon me, young man," said Oldbuck, laying his hand kindly on his +shoulder, and making a full halt—"sufflamina—a little patience, if you +please. I will suppose that you have no friends to share or rejoice in +your success in life—that you cannot look back to those to whom you owe +gratitude, or forward to those to whom you ought to afford protection; +but it is no less incumbent on you to move steadily in the path of +duty—for your active exertions are due not only to society, but in +humble gratitude to the Being who made you a member of it, with powers +to serve yourself and others." + +"But I am unconscious of possessing such powers," said Lovel, somewhat +impatiently. "I ask nothing of society but the permission of walking +innoxiously through the path of life, without jostling others, or +permitting myself to be jostled. I owe no man anything—I have the means +of maintaining, myself with complete independence; and so moderate +are my wishes in this respect, that even these means, however limited, +rather exceed than fall short of them." + +"Nay, then," said Oldbuck, removing his hand, and turning again to +the road, "if you are so true a philosopher as to think you have money +enough, there's no more to be said—I cannot pretend to be entitled to +advise you;—you have attained the acme'—the summit of perfection. And +how came Fairport to be the selected abode of so much self-denying +philosophy? It is as if a worshipper of the true religion had set up his +staff by choice among the multifarious idolaters of the land of Egypt. +There is not a man in Fairport who is not a devoted worshipper of the +Golden Calf—the mammon of unrighteousness. Why, even I, man, am so +infected by the bad neighbourhood, that I feel inclined occasionally to +become an idolater myself." + +"My principal amusements being literary," answered Lovel, "and +circumstances which I cannot mention having induced me, for a time at +least, to relinquish the military service, I have pitched on Fairport +as a place where I might follow my pursuits without any of those +temptations to society which a more elegant circle might have presented +to me." + +"Aha!" replied Oldbuck, knowingly,—"I begin to understand your +application of my ancestor's motto. You are a candidate for public +favour, though not in the way I first suspected,—you are ambitious to +shine as a literary character, and you hope to merit favour by labour +and perseverance?" + +Lovel, who was rather closely pressed by the inquisitiveness of the old +gentleman, concluded it would be best to let him remain in the error +which he had gratuitously adopted. + +"I have been at times foolish enough," he replied, "to nourish some +thoughts of the kind." + +"Ah, poor fellow! nothing can be more melancholy; unless, as young +men sometimes do, you had fancied yourself in love with some trumpery +specimen of womankind, which is indeed, as Shakspeare truly says, +pressing to death, whipping, and hanging all at once." + +He then proceeded with inquiries, which he was sometimes kind enough to +answer himself. For this good old gentleman had, from his antiquarian +researches, acquired a delight in building theories out of premises +which were often far from affording sufficient ground for them; and +being, as the reader must have remarked, sufficiently opinionative, +he did not readily brook being corrected, either in matter of fact or +judgment, even by those who were principally interested in the subjects +on which he speculated. He went on, therefore, chalking out Lovel's +literary career for him. + +"And with what do you propose to commence your debut as a man of +letters?—But I guess—poetry—poetry—the soft seducer of youth. Yes! there +is an acknowledging modesty of confusion in your eye and manner. And +where lies your vein?—are you inclined to soar to the, higher regions of +Parnassus, or to flutter around the base of the hill?" + +"I have hitherto attempted only a few lyrical pieces," said Lovel. + +"Just as I supposed—pruning your wing, and hopping from spray to spray. +But I trust you intend a bolder flight. Observe, I would by no means +recommend your persevering in this unprofitable pursuit—but you say you +are quite independent of the public caprice?" + +"Entirely so," replied Lovel. + +"And that you are determined not to adopt a more active course of life?" + +"For the present, such is my resolution," replied the young man. + +"Why, then, it only remains for me to give you my best advice and +assistance in the object of your pursuit. I have myself published two +essays in the Antiquarian Repository,—and therefore am an author of +experience, There was my Remarks on Hearne's edition of Robert of +Gloucester, signed Scrutator; and the other signed Indagator, upon a +passage in Tacitus. I might add, what attracted considerable notice at +the time, and that is my paper in the Gentleman's Magazine, upon the +inscription of OElia Lelia, which I subscribed OEdipus.So you see I am +not an apprentice in the mysteries of author-craft, and must necessarily +understand the taste and temper of the times. And now, once more, what +do you intend to commence with?" + +"I have no instant thoughts of publishing." + +"Ah! that will never do; you must have the fear of the public before +your eyes in all your undertakings. Let us see now: A collection of +fugitive pieces; but no—your fugitive poetry is apt to become +stationary with the bookseller. It should be something at once solid and +attractive—none of your romances or anomalous novelties—I would have you +take high ground at once. Let me see: What think you of a real epic?—the +grand old-fashioned historical poem which moved through twelve or +twenty-four books. We'll have it so—I'll supply you with a subject—The +battle between the Caledonians and Romans—The Caledoniad; or, Invasion +Repelled;—let that be the title—it will suit the present taste, and you +may throw in a touch of the times." + +"But the invasion of Agricola was not repelled." + +"No; but you are a poet—free of the corporation, and as little bound +down to truth or probability as Virgil himself—You may defeat the Romans +in spite of Tacitus." + +"And pitch Agricola's camp at the Kaim of—what do you call it," answered +Lovel, "in defiance of Edie Ochiltree?" + +"No more of that, an thou lovest me—And yet, I dare say, ye may +unwittingly speak most correct truth in both instances, in despite of +the toga of the historian and the blue gown of the mendicant." + +"Gallantly counselled!—Well, I will do my best—your kindness will assist +me with local information." + +"Will I not, man?—why, I will write the critical and historical notes on +each canto, and draw out the plan of the story myself. I pretend to some +poetical genius, Mr. Lovel, only I was never able to write verses." + +"It is a pity, sir, that you should have failed in a qualification +somewhat essential to the art." + +"Essential?—not a whit—it is the mere mechanical department. A man may +be a poet without measuring spondees and dactyls like the ancients, or +clashing the ends of lines into rhyme like the moderns, as one may be an +architect though unable to labour like a stone-mason—Dost think Palladio +or Vitruvius ever carried a hod?" + +"In that case, there should be two authors to each poem—one to think and +plan, another to execute." + +"Why, it would not be amiss; at any rate, we'll make the experiment;—not +that I would wish to give my name to the public—assistance from a +learned friend might be acknowledged in the preface after what flourish +your nature will—I am a total stranger to authorial vanity." + +Lovel was much entertained by a declaration not very consistent with +the eagerness wherewith his friend seemed to catch at an opportunity +of coming before the public, though in a manner which rather resembled +stepping up behind a carriage than getting into one. The Antiquary was +indeed uncommonly delighted; for, like many other men who spend their +lives in obscure literary research, he had a secret ambition to +appear in print, which was checked by cold fits of diffidence, fear of +criticism, and habits of indolence and procrastination. "But," thought +he, "I may, like a second Teucer, discharge my shafts from behind +the shield of my ally; and, admit that he should not prove to be a +first-rate poet, I am in no shape answerable for his deficiencies, and +the good notes may very probably help off an indifferent text. But he +is—he must be a good poet; he has the real Parnassian abstraction—seldom +answers a question till it is twice repeated—drinks his tea scalding, +and eats without knowing what he is putting into his mouth. This is +the real aestus, the awen of the Welsh bards, the divinus afflatus that +transports the poet beyond the limits of sublunary things. His visions, +too, are very symptomatical of poetic fury—I must recollect to send +Caxon to see he puts out his candle to-night—poets and visionaries are +apt to be negligent in that respect." Then, turning to his companion, he +expressed himself aloud in continuation— + +"Yes, my dear Lovel, you shall have full notes; and, indeed, think +we may introduce the whole of the Essay on Castrametation into the +appendix—it will give great value to the work. Then we will revive the +good old forms so disgracefully neglected in modern times. You shall +invoke the Muse—and certainly she ought to be propitious to an author +who, in an apostatizing age, adheres with the faith of Abdiel to the +ancient form of adoration.—Then we must have a vision—in which the +Genius of Caledonia shall appear to Galgacus, and show him a procession +of the real Scottish monarchs:—and in the notes I will have a hit at +Boethius—No; I must not touch that topic, now that Sir Arthur is likely +to have vexation enough besides—but I'll annihilate Ossian, Macpherson, +and Mac-Cribb." + +"But we must consider the expense of publication," said Lovel, willing +to try whether this hint would fall like cold water on the blazing zeal +of his self-elected coadjutor. + +"Expense!" said Mr. Oldbuck, pausing, and mechanically fumbling in his +pocket—"that is true;—I would wish to do something—but you would not +like to publish by subscription?" + +"By no means," answered Lovel. + +"No, no!" gladly acquiesced the Antiquary—"it is not respectable. I'll +tell you what: I believe I know a bookseller who has a value for my +opinion, and will risk print and paper, and I will get as many copies +sold for you as I can." + +"O, I am no mercenary author," answered Lovel, smiling; "I only wish to +be out of risk of loss." + +"Hush! hush! we'll take care of that—throw it all on the publishers. +I do long to see your labours commenced. You will choose blank verse, +doubtless?—it is more grand and magnificent for an historical subject; +and, what concerneth you, my friend, it is, I have an idea, more easily +written." + +This conversation brought them to Monkbarns, where the Antiquary had +to undergo a chiding from his sister, who, though no philosopher, +was waiting to deliver a lecture to him in the portico. "Guide us, +Monkbarns! are things no dear eneugh already, but ye maun be raising the +very fish on us, by giving that randy, Luckie Mucklebackit, just what +she likes to ask?" + +"Why, Grizel," said the sage, somewhat abashed at this unexpected +attack, "I thought I made a very fair bargain." + +"A fair bargain! when ye gied the limmer a full half o' what she +seekit!—An ye will be a wife-carle, and buy fish at your ain hands, ye +suld never bid muckle mair than a quarter. And the impudent quean had +the assurance to come up and seek a dram—But I trow, Jenny and I sorted +her!" + +"Truly," said Oldbuck (with a sly look to his companion), "I think +our estate was gracious that kept us out of hearing of that +controversy.—Well, well, Grizel, I was wrong for once in my life ultra +crepidam—I fairly admit. But hang expenses!—care killed a cat—we'll eat +the fish, cost what it will.—And then, Lovel, you must know I pressed +you to stay here to-day, the rather because our cheer will be better +than usual, yesterday having been a gaude' day—I love the reversion of +a feast better than the feast itself. I delight in the analecta, the +collectanea, as I may call them, of the preceding day's dinner, which +appear on such occasions—And see, there is Jenny going to ring the +dinner-bell." + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. + + Be this letter delivered with haste—haste—post-haste! + Ride, villain, ride,—for thy life—for thy life—for thy life. + Ancient Indorsation of Letters of Importance. + +Leaving Mr. Oldbuck and his friend to enjoy their hard bargain of +fish, we beg leave to transport the reader to the back-parlour of +the post-master's house at Fairport, where his wife, he himself being +absent, was employed in assorting for delivery the letters which had +come by the Edinburgh post. This is very often in country towns the +period of the day when gossips find it particularly agreeable to call on +the man or woman of letters, in order, from the outside of the epistles, +and, if they are not belied, occasionally from the inside also, to amuse +themselves with gleaning information, or forming conjectures about the +correspondence and affairs of their neighbours. Two females of this +description were, at the time we mention, assisting, or impeding, Mrs. +Mailsetter in her official duty. + +"Eh, preserve us, sirs!" said the butcher's wife, "there's ten— +eleven—twall letters to Tennant and Co.—thae folk do mair business than +a' the rest o' the burgh." + +"Ay; but see, lass," answered the baker's lady, "there's twa o' them +faulded unco square, and sealed at the tae side—I doubt there will be +protested bills in them." + +"Is there ony letters come yet for Jenny Caxon?" inquired the woman of +joints and giblets; "the lieutenant's been awa three weeks." + +"Just ane on Tuesday was a week," answered the dame of letters. + +"Wast a ship-letter?" asked the Fornerina. + +"In troth wast." + +"It wad be frae the lieutenant then," replied the mistress of the +rolls, somewhat disappointed—"I never thought he wad hae lookit ower his +shouther after her." + +"Od, here's another," quoth Mrs. Mailsetter. "A ship-letter—post-mark, +Sunderland." All rushed to seize it.—"Na, na, leddies," said Mrs. +Mailsetter, interfering; "I hae had eneugh o' that wark—Ken ye that Mr. +Mailsetter got an unco rebuke frae the secretary at Edinburgh, for +a complaint that was made about the letter of Aily Bisset's that ye +opened, Mrs. Shortcake?" + +"Me opened!" answered the spouse of the chief baker of Fairport; "ye ken +yoursell, madam, it just cam open o' free will in my hand—what could I +help it?—folk suld seal wi' better wax." + +"Weel I wot that's true, too," said Mrs. Mailsetter, who kept a shop of +small wares, "and we have got some that I can honestly recommend, if ye +ken onybody wanting it. But the short and the lang o't is, that we'll +lose the place gin there's ony mair complaints o' the kind." + +"Hout, lass—the provost will take care o' that." + +"Na, na, I'll neither trust to provost nor bailier" said the +postmistress,—"but I wad aye be obliging and neighbourly, and I'm no +again your looking at the outside of a letter neither—See, the seal has +an anchor on't—he's done't wi' ane o' his buttons, I'm thinking." + +"Show me! show me!" quoth the wives of the chief butcher and chief +baker; and threw themselves on the supposed love-letter, like the weird +sisters in Macbeth upon the pilot's thumb, with curiosity as eager and +scarcely less malignant. Mrs. Heukbane was a tall woman—she held the +precious epistle up between her eyes and the window. Mrs. Shortcake, a +little squat personage, strained and stood on tiptoe to have her share +of the investigation. + +"Ay, it's frae him, sure eneugh," said the butcher's lady;—"I can read +Richard Taffril on the corner, and it's written, like John Thomson's +wallet, frae end to end." + +"Haud it lower down, madam," exclaimed Mrs. Shortcake, in a tone above +the prudential whisper which their occupation required—"haud it lower +down—Div ye think naebody can read hand o' writ but yoursell?" + +"Whist, whist, sirs, for God's sake!" said Mrs. Mailsetter, "there's +somebody in the shop,"—then aloud—"Look to the customers, Baby!"—Baby +answered from without in a shrill tone—"It's naebody but Jenny Caxon, +ma'am, to see if there's ony letters to her." + +"Tell her," said the faithful postmistress, winking to her compeers, "to +come back the morn at ten o'clock, and I'll let her ken—we havena had +time to sort the mail letters yet—she's aye in sic a hurry, as if her +letters were o' mair consequence than the best merchant's o' the town." + +Poor Jenny, a girl of uncommon beauty and modesty, could only draw her +cloak about her to hide the sigh of disappointment and return meekly +home to endure for another night the sickness of the heart occasioned by +hope delayed. + +"There's something about a needle and a pole," said Mrs. Shortcake, to +whom her taller rival in gossiping had at length yielded a peep at the +subject of their curiosity. + +"Now, that's downright shamefu'," said Mrs. Heukbane, "to scorn the poor +silly gait of a lassie after he's keepit company wi' her sae lang, and +had his will o' her, as I make nae doubt he has." + +"It's but ower muckle to be doubted," echoed Mrs. Shortcake;—"to cast up +to her that her father's a barber and has a pole at his door, and that +she's but a manty-maker hersell! Hout fy for shame!" + +"Hout tout, leddies," cried Mrs. Mailsetter, "ye're clean wrang—It's a +line out o' ane o' his sailors' sangs that I have heard him sing, about +being true like the needle to the pole." + +"Weel, weel, I wish it may be sae," said the charitable Dame +Heukbane,—"but it disna look weel for a lassie like her to keep up a +correspondence wi' ane o' the king's officers." + +"I'm no denying that," said Mrs. Mailsetter; "but it's a great advantage +to the revenue of the post-office thae love-letters. See, here's five or +six letters to Sir Arthur Wardour—maist o' them sealed wi' wafers, and +no wi' wax. There will be a downcome, there, believe me." + +"Ay; they will be business letters, and no frae ony o' his grand +friends, that seals wi' their coats of arms, as they ca' them," said +Mrs. Heukbane;—"pride will hae a fa'—he hasna settled his account wi' my +gudeman, the deacon, for this twalmonth—he's but slink, I doubt." + +"Nor wi' huz for sax months," echoed Mrs. Shortcake—"He's but a brunt +crust." + +"There's a letter," interrupted the trusty postmistress, "from his +son, the captain, I'm thinking—the seal has the same things wi' the +Knockwinnock carriage. He'll be coming hame to see what he can save out +o' the fire." + +The baronet thus dismissed, they took up the esquire—"Twa letters for +Monkbarns—they're frae some o' his learned friends now; see sae close as +they're written, down to the very seal—and a' to save sending a double +letter—that's just like Monkbarns himsell. When he gets a frank he fills +it up exact to the weight of an unce, that a carvy-seed would sink the +scale—but he's neer a grain abune it. Weel I wot I wad be broken if +I were to gie sic weight to the folk that come to buy our pepper and +brimstone, and suchlike sweetmeats." + +"He's a shabby body the laird o' Monkbarns," said Mrs. Heukbane; "he'll +make as muckle about buying a forequarter o' lamb in August as about a +back sey o' beef. Let's taste another drop of the sinning" (perhaps she +meant cinnamon) "waters, Mrs. Mailsetter, my dear. Ah, lasses! an ye +had kend his brother as I did—mony a time he wad slip in to see me wi' a +brace o' wild deukes in his pouch, when my first gudeman was awa at the +Falkirk tryst—weel, weel—we'se no speak o' that e'enow." + +"I winna say ony ill o'this Monkbarns," said Mrs. Shortcake; "his +brother neer brought me ony wild-deukes, and this is a douce honest man; +we serve the family wi' bread, and he settles wi' huz ilka week—only +he was in an unco kippage when we sent him a book instead o' the +nick-sticks,* whilk, he said, were the true ancient way o' counting +between tradesmen and customers; and sae they are, nae doubt." + +* Note E. Nick-sticks. + +"But look here, lasses," interrupted Mrs. Mailsetter, "here's a sight +for sair e'en! What wad ye gie to ken what's in the inside o' this +letter? This is new corn—I haena seen the like o' this—For William +Lovel, Esquire, at Mrs. Hadoway's, High Street, Fairport, by Edinburgh, +N. B. This is just the second letter he has had since he was here." + +"Lord's sake, let's see, lass!—Lord's sake, let's see!—that's him that +the hale town kens naething about—and a weel-fa'ard lad he is; let's +see, let's see!" Thus ejaculated the two worthy representatives of +mother Eve. + +"Na, na, sirs," exclaimed Mrs. Mailsetter; "haud awa—bide aff, I tell +you; this is nane o' your fourpenny cuts that we might make up the +value to the post-office amang ourselves if ony mischance befell it;—the +postage is five-and-twenty shillings—and here's an order frae the +Secretary to forward it to the young gentleman by express, if he's no at +hame. Na, na, sirs, bide aff;—this maunna be roughly guided." + +"But just let's look at the outside o't, woman." + +Nothing could be gathered from the outside, except remarks on the +various properties which philosophers ascribe to matter,—length, +breadth, depth, and weight, The packet was composed of strong thick +paper, imperviable by the curious eyes of the gossips, though they +stared as if they would burst from their sockets. The seal was a deep +and well-cut impression of arms, which defied all tampering. + +"Od, lass," said Mrs. Shortcake, weighing it in her hand, and wishing, +doubtless, that the too, too solid wax would melt and dissolve itself, +"I wad like to ken what's in the inside o' this, for that Lovel dings a' +that ever set foot on the plainstanes o' Fairport—naebody kens what to +make o' him." Mrs. Heukbane and Mrs. Shortcake + +"Weel, weel, leddies," said the postmistress, "we'se sit down and crack +about it.—Baby, bring ben the tea-water—Muckle obliged to ye for your +cookies, Mrs. Shortcake—and we'll steek the shop, and cry ben Baby, and +take a hand at the cartes till the gudeman comes hame—and then we'll +try your braw veal sweetbread that ye were so kind as send me, Mrs. +Heukbane." + +"But winna ye first send awa Mr. Lovel's letter?" said Mrs. Heukbane. + +"Troth I kenna wha to send wi't till the gudeman comes hame, for auld +Caxon tell'd me that Mr. Lovel stays a' the day at Monkbarns—he's in a +high fever, wi' pu'ing the laird and Sir Arthur out o' the sea." + +"Silly auld doited carles!" said Mrs. Shortcake; "what gar'd them gang +to the douking in a night like yestreen!" + +"I was gi'en to understand it was auld Edie that saved them," said Mrs. +Heukbane—"Edie Ochiltree, the Blue-Gown, ye ken; and that he pu'd the +hale three out of the auld fish-pound, for Monkbarns had threepit on +them to gang in till't to see the wark o' the monks lang syne." + +"Hout, lass, nonsense!" answered the postmistress; "I'll tell ye, a' +about it, as Caxon tell'd it to me. Ye see, Sir Arthur and Miss Wardour, +and Mr. Lovel, suld hae dined at Monkbarns"— + +"But, Mrs. Mailsetter," again interrupted Mrs. Heukbane, "will ye no +be for sending awa this letter by express?—there's our powny and our +callant hae gane express for the office or now, and the powny hasna gane +abune thirty mile the day;—Jock was sorting him up as I came ower by." + +"Why, Mrs. Heukbane," said the woman of letters, pursing up her mouth, +"ye ken my gudeman likes to ride the expresses himsell—we maun gie our +ain fish-guts to our ain sea-maws—it's a red half-guinea to him every +time he munts his mear; and I dare say he'll be in sune—or I dare to +say, it's the same thing whether the gentleman gets the express this +night or early next morning." + +"Only that Mr. Lovel will be in town before the express gaes aff," said +Mrs. Heukbane; "and where are ye then, lass? But ye ken yere ain ways +best." + +"Weel, weel, Mrs. Heukbane," answered Mrs. Mailsetter, a little out of +humour, and even out of countenance, "I am sure I am never against being +neighbour-like, and living and letting live, as they say; and since I +hae been sic a fule as to show you the post-office order—ou, nae doubt, +it maun be obeyed. But I'll no need your callant, mony thanks to +ye—I'll send little Davie on your powny, and that will be just five-and- +threepence to ilka ane o' us, ye ken." + +"Davie! the Lord help ye, the bairn's no ten year auld; and, to be plain +wi' ye, our powny reists a bit, and it's dooms sweer to the road, and +naebody can manage him but our Jock." + +"I'm sorry for that," answered the postmistress, gravely; "it's like we +maun wait then till the gudeman comes hame, after a'—for I wadna like to +be responsible in trusting the letter to sic a callant as Jock—our Davie +belangs in a manner to the office." + +"Aweel, aweel, Mrs. Mailsetter, I see what ye wad be at—but an ye like +to risk the bairn, I'll risk the beast." + +Orders were accordingly given. The unwilling pony was brought out of his +bed of straw, and again equipped for service—Davie (a leathern post-bag +strapped across his shoulders) was perched upon the saddle, with a tear +in his eye, and a switch in his hand. Jock good-naturedly led the animal +out of town, and, by the crack of his whip, and the whoop and halloo +of his too well-known voice, compelled it to take the road towards +Monkbarns. + +Meanwhile the gossips, like the sibyls after consulting their leaves, +arranged and combined the information of the evening, which flew next +morning through a hundred channels, and in a hundred varieties, through +the world of Fairport. Many, strange, and inconsistent, were the rumours +to which their communications and conjectures gave rise. Some said +Tennant and Co. were broken, and that all their bills had come back +protested—others that they had got a great contract from Government, and +letters from the principal merchants at Glasgow, desiring to have +shares upon a premium. One report stated, that Lieutenant Taffril had +acknowledged a private marriage with Jenny Caxon—another, that he had +sent her a letter upbraiding her with the lowness of her birth and +education, and bidding her an eternal adieu. It was generally rumoured +that Sir Arthur Wardour's affairs had fallen into irretrievable +confusion, and this report was only doubted by the wise, because it +was traced to Mrs. Mailsetter's shop,—a source more famous for the +circulation of news than for their accuracy. But all agreed that a +packet from the Secretary of State's office, had arrived, directed +for Mr. Lovel, and that it had been forwarded by an orderly dragoon, +despatched from the head-quarters at Edinburgh, who had galloped through +Fairport without stopping, except just to inquire the way to Monkbarns. +The reason of such an extraordinary mission to a very peaceful and +retired individual, was variously explained. Some said Lovel was an +emigrant noble, summoned to head an insurrection that had broken out +in La Vende'e—others that he was a spy—others that he was a general +officer, who was visiting the coast privately—others that he was a +prince of the blood, who was travelling incognito. + +Meanwhile the progress of the packet which occasioned so much +speculation, towards its destined owner at Monkbarns, had been perilous +and interrupted. The bearer, Davie Mailsetter, as little resembling +a bold dragoon as could well be imagined, was carried onwards towards +Monkbarns by the pony, so long as the animal had in his recollection +the crack of his usual instrument of chastisement, and the shout of the +butcher's boy. But feeling how Davie, whose short legs were unequal to +maintain his balance, swung to and fro upon his back, the pony began to +disdain furthur compliance with the intimations he had received. First, +then, he slackened his pace to a walk This was no point of quarrel +between him and his rider, who had been considerably discomposed by the +rapidity of his former motion, and who now took the opportunity of his +abated pace to gnaw a piece of gingerbread, which had been thrust into +his hand by his mother in order to reconcile this youthful emissary of +the post-office to the discharge of his duty. By and by, the crafty pony +availed himself of this surcease of discipline to twitch the rein out of +Davies hands, and applied himself to browse on the grass by the side of +the lane. Sorely astounded by these symptoms of self-willed rebellion, +and afraid alike to sit or to fall, poor Davie lifted up his voice +and wept aloud. The pony, hearing this pudder over his head, began +apparently to think it would be best both for himself and Davie to +return from whence they came, and accordingly commenced a retrograde +movement towards Fairport. But, as all retreats are apt to end in utter +rout, so the steed, alarmed by the boy's cries, and by the flapping of +the reins, which dangled about his forefeet—finding also his nose turned +homeward, began to set off at a rate which, if Davie kept the saddle (a +matter extremely dubious), would soon have presented him at Heukbane's +stable-door,—when, at a turn of the road, an intervening auxiliary, in +the shape of old Edie Ochiltree, caught hold of the rein, and stopped +his farther proceeding. "Wha's aught ye, callant? whaten a gate's that +to ride?" + +"I canna help it!" blubbered the express; "they ca' me little Davie." + +"And where are ye gaun?" + +"I'm gaun to Monkbarns wi' a letter." + +"Stirra, this is no the road to Monkbarns." + +But Davie could oinly answer the expostulation with sighs and tears. + +Old Edie was easily moved to compassion where childhood was in the +case.- -"I wasna gaun that gate," he thought, "but it's the best o' my +way o' life that I canna be weel out o' my road. They'll gie me quarters +at Monkbarns readily eneugh, and I'll e'en hirple awa there wi' the +wean, for it will knock its hams out, puir thing, if there's no somebody +to guide the pony.—Sae ye hae a letter, hinney? will ye let me see't?" + +"I'm no gaun to let naebody see the letter," sobbed the boy, "till I +gie't to Mr. Lovel, for I am a faithfu' servant o' the office—if it +werena for the powny." + +"Very right, my little man," said Ochiltree, turning the reluctant +pony's head towards Monkbarns; "but we'll guide him atween us, if he's +no a' the sweerer." + +Upon the very height of Kinprunes, to which Monkbarns had invited Lovel +after their dinner, the Antiquary, again reconciled to the once degraded +spot, was expatiating upon the topics the scenery afforded for a +description of Agricola's camp at the dawn of morning, when his eye was +caught by the appearance of the mendicant and his protegee. "What the +devil!—here comes Old Edie, bag and baggage, I think." + +The beggar explained his errand, and Davie, who insisted upon a +literal execution of his commission by going on to Monkbarns, was with +difficulty prevailed upon to surrender the packet to its proper owner, +although he met him a mile nearer than the place he bad been directed +to. "But my minnie said, I maun be sure to get twenty shillings and +five shillings for the postage, and ten shillings and sixpence for the +express—there's the paper." + +"Let me see—let me see," said Oldbuck, putting on his spectacles, and +examining the crumpled copy of regulations to which Davie appealed. +"Express, per man and horse, one day, not to exceed ten shillings and +sixpence. One day? why, it's not an hour—Man and horse? why, 'tis a +monkey on a starved cat!" + +"Father wad hae come himsell," said Davie, "on the muckle red mear, an +ye wad hae bidden till the morn's night." + +"Four-and-twenty hours after the regular date of delivery! You little +cockatrice egg, do you understand the art of imposition so early?" + +"Hout Monkbarns! dinna set your wit against a bairn," said the beggar; +"mind the butcher risked his beast, and the wife her wean, and I am sure +ten and sixpence isna ower muckle. Ye didna gang sae near wi' Johnnie +Howie, when"— + +Lovel, who, sitting on the supposed Praetorium, had glanced over the +contents of the packet, now put an end to the altercation by paying +Davies demand; and then turning to Mr. Oldbuck, with a look of much +agitation, he excused himself from returning with him to Monkbarns' that +evening.—"I must instantly go to Fairport, and perhaps leave it on a +moment's notice;—your kindness, Mr. Oldbuck, I can never forget." + +"No bad news, I hope?" said the Antiquary. + +"Of a very chequered complexion," answered his friend. "Farewell—in good +or bad fortune I will not forget your regard." + +"Nay, nay—stop a moment. If—if—" (making an effort)—"if there be any +pecuniary inconvenience—I have fifty—or a hundred guineas at your +service—till—till Whitsunday—or indeed as long as you please." + +"I am much obliged, Mr. Oldbuck, but I am amply provided," said his +mysterious young friend. "Excuse me—I really cannot sustain further +conversation at present. I will write or see you, before I leave +Fairport—that is, if I find myself obliged to go." + +So saying, he shook the Antiquary's hand warmly, turned from him, and +walked rapidly towards the town, "staying no longer question." + +"Very extraordinary indeed!" said Oldbuck;—"but there's something about +this lad I can never fathom; and yet I cannot for my heart think ill of +him neither. I must go home and take off the fire in the Green Room, for +none of my womankind will venture into it after twilight." + +"And how am I to win hame?" blubbered the disconsolate express. + +"It's a fine night," said the Blue-Gown, looking up to the skies; "I had +as gude gang back to the town, and take care o' the wean." + +"Do so, do so, Edie;" and rummaging for some time in his huge waistcoat +pocket till he found the object of his search, the Antiquary added, +"there's sixpence to ye to buy sneeshin." + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. + + "I am bewitched with the rogue's company. If the rascal has not + given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged; it could + not be else. I have drunk medicines." + Second Part of Henry IV. + +Regular for a fortnight were the inquiries of the Antiquary at the +veteran Caxon, whether he had heard what Mr. Lovel was about; and as +regular were Caxon's answers, "that the town could learn naething about +him whatever, except that he had received anither muckle letter or twa +frae the south, and that he was never seen on the plainstanes at a'." + +"How does he live, Caxon?" + +"Ou, Mrs. Hadoway just dresses him a beefsteak or a muttonchop, or makes +him some Friar's chicken, or just what she likes hersell, and he eats it +in the little red parlour off his bedroom. She canna get him to say +that he likes ae thing better than anither; and she makes him tea in a +morning, and he settles honourably wi' her every week." + +"But does he never stir abroad?" + +"He has clean gi'en up walking, and he sits a' day in his room reading +or writing; a hantle letters he has written, but he wadna put them into +our post-house, though Mrs. Hadoway offered to carry them hersell, but +sent them a' under ae cover to the sheriff; and it's Mrs. Mailsetter's +belief, that the sheriff sent his groom to put them into the post-office +at Tannonburgh; it's my puir thought, that he jaloused their looking +into his letters at Fairport; and weel had he need, for my puir daughter +Jenny"— + +"Tut, don't plague me with your womankind, Caxon. About this poor young +lad.—Does he write nothing but letters?" + +"Ou, ay—hale sheets o' other things, Mrs. Hadoway says. She wishes +muckle he could be gotten to take a walk; she thinks he's but looking +very puirly, and his appetite's clean gane; but he'll no hear o' ganging +ower the door-stane—him that used to walk sae muckle too." + +"That's wrong—I have a guess what he's busy about; but he must not +work too hard neither. I'll go and see him this very day—he's deep, +doubtless, in the Caledoniad." + +Having formed this manful resolution, Mr. Oldbuck equipped himself +for the expedition with his thick walking-shoes and gold-headed cane, +muttering the while the words of Falstaff which we have chosen for the +motto of this CHAPTER; for the Antiquary was himself rather surprised +at the degree of attachment which he could not but acknowledge be +entertained for this stranger. The riddle was notwithstanding easily +solved. Lovel had many attractive qualities, but he won our Antiquary's +heart by being on most occasions an excellent listener. + +A walk to Fairport had become somewhat of an adventure with Mr. Oldbuck, +and one which he did not often care to undertake. He hated greetings in +the market-place; and there were generally loiterers in the streets to +persecute him, either about the news of the day, or about some petty +pieces of business. So, on this occasion, he had no sooner entered the +streets of Fairport, than it was "Good-morrow, Mr. Oldbuck—a sight o' +you's gude, for sair een: what d'ye think of the news in the Sun the +day?—they say the great attempt will be made in a fortnight." + +"I wish to the Lord it were made and over, that I might hear no more +about it." + +"Monkbarns, your honour," said the nursery and seedsman, "I hope the +plants gied satisfaction?—and if ye wanted ony flower-roots fresh frae +Holland, or" (this in a lower key) "an anker or twa o' Cologne gin, ane +o' our brigs cam in yestreen." + +"Thank ye, thank ye,—no occasion at present, Mr. Crabtree," said the +Antiquary, pushing resolutely onward. + +"Mr. Oldbuck," said the town-clerk (a more important person, who came +in front and ventured to stop the old gentleman), "the provost, +understanding you were in town, begs on no account that you'll quit it +without seeing him; he wants to speak to ye about bringing the water +frae the Fairwell-spring through a part o' your lands." + +"What the deuce!—have they nobody's land but mine to cut and carve on?—I +won't consent, tell them." + +"And the provost," said the clerk, going on, without noticing the +rebuff, "and the council, wad be agreeable that you should hae the auld +stones at Donagild's chapel, that ye was wussing to hae." + +"Eh!—what?—Oho! that's another story—Well, well, I'll call upon the +provost, and we'll talk about it." + +"But ye maun speak your mind on't forthwith, Monkbarns, if ye want the +stones; for Deacon Harlewalls thinks the carved through-stanes might be +put with advantage on the front of the new council-house—that is, the +twa cross-legged figures that the callants used to ca' Robin and Bobbin, +ane on ilka door-cheek; and the other stane, that they ca'd Ailie +Dailie, abune the door. It will be very tastefu', the Deacon says, and +just in the style of modern Gothic." + +"Lord deliver me from this Gothic generation!" exclaimed the +Antiquary,—"A monument of a knight-templar on each side of a Grecian +porch, and a Madonna on the top of it!—O crimini!—Well, tell the provost +I wish to have the stones, and we'll not differ about the water-course. +It's lucky I happened to come this way to-day." + +They parted mutually satisfied; but the wily clerk had most reason to +exult in the dexterity he had displayed, since the whole proposal of +an exchange between the monuments (which the council had determined to +remove as a nuisance, because they encroached three feet upon the public +road), and the privilege of conveying the water to the burgh through the +estate of Monkbarns, was an idea which had originated with himself upon +the pressure of the moment. + +Through these various entanglements, Monkbarns (to use the phrase by +which he was distinguished in the country) made his way at length to +Mrs. Hadoway's. This good woman was the widow of a late clergyman at +Fairport, who had been reduced by her husband's untimely death, to that +state of straitened and embarrassed circumstances in which the widows of +the Scotch clergy are too often found. The tenement which she occupied, +and the furniture of which she was possessed, gave her the means of +letting a part of her house; and as Lovel had been a quiet, regular, +and profitable lodger, and had qualified the necessary intercourse which +they had together with a great deal of gentleness and courtesy, Mrs. +Hadoway, not, perhaps, much used to such kindly treatment, had become +greatly attached to her lodger, and was profuse in every sort of +personal attention which circumstances permitted her to render him. +To cook a dish somewhat better than ordinary for "the poor young +gentleman's dinner;" to exert her interest with those who remembered +her husband, or loved her for her own sake and his, in order to procure +scarce vegetables, or something which her simplicity supposed might +tempt her lodger's appetite, was a labour in which she delighted, +although she anxiously concealed it from the person who was its object. +She did not adopt this secrecy of benevolence to avoid the laugh of +those who might suppose that an oval face and dark eyes, with a clear +brown complexion, though belonging to a woman of five-and-forty, and +enclosed within a widow's close-drawn pinners, might possibly still +aim at making conquests; for, to say truth, such a ridiculous suspicion +having never entered into her own head, she could not anticipate its +having birth in that of any one else. But she concealed her attentions +solely out of delicacy to her guest, whose power of repaying them she +doubted as much as she believed in his inclination to do so, and in +his being likely to feel extreme pain at leaving any of her civilities +unrequited. She now opened the door to Mr. Oldbuck, and her surprise at +seeing him brought tears into her eyes, which she could hardly restrain. + +"I am glad to see you, sir—I am very glad to see you. My poor gentleman +is, I am afraid, very unwell; and oh, Mr. Oldbuck, he'll see neither +doctor, nor minister, nor writer! And think what it would be, if, as +my poor Mr. Hadoway used to say, a man was to die without advice of the +three learned faculties!" + +"Greatly better than with them," grumbled the cynical Antiquary. "I tell +you, Mrs. Hadoway, the clergy live by our sins, the medical faculty by +our diseases, and the law gentry by our misfortunes." + +"O fie, Monkbarns!—to hear the like o' that frae you!—But yell walk up +and see the poor young lad?—Hegh sirs? sae young and weel-favoured—and +day by day he has eat less and less, and now he hardly touches onything, +only just pits a bit on the plate to make fashion—and his poor cheek has +turned every day thinner and paler, sae that he now really looks as auld +as me, that might be his mother—no that I might be just that neither, +but something very near it." + +"Why does he not take some exercise?" said Oldbuck. + +"I think we have persuaded him to do that, for he has bought a horse +from Gibbie Golightly, the galloping groom. A gude judge o' horse-flesh +Gibbie tauld our lass that he was—for he offered him a beast he thought +wad answer him weel eneugh, as he was a bookish man, but Mr. Lovel wadna +look at it, and bought ane might serve the Master o' Morphie—they keep +it at the Graeme's Arms, ower the street;—and he rode out yesterday +morning and this morning before breakfast—But winna ye walk up to his +room?" + +"Presently, presently. But has he no visitors?" + +"O dear, Mr. Oldbuck, not ane; if he wadna receive them when he was weel +and sprightly, what chance is there of onybody in Fairport looking in +upon him now?" + +"Ay, ay, very true,—I should have been surprised had it been +otherwise—Come, show me up stairs, Mrs. Hadoway, lest I make a blunder, +and go where I should not." + +The good landlady showed Mr. Oldbuck up her narrow staircase, warning +him of every turn, and lamenting all the while that he was laid under +the necessity of mounting up so high. At length she gently tapped at +the door of her guest's parlour. "Come in," said Lovel; and Mrs. Hadoway +ushered in the Laird of Monkbarns. + +The little apartment was neat and clean, and decently +furnished—ornamented, too, by such relics of her youthful arts of +sempstress-ship as Mrs. Hadoway had retained; but it was close, +overheated, and, as it appeared to Oldbuck, an unwholesome situation +for a young person in delicate health,—an observation which ripened +his resolution touching a project that had already occurred to him in +Lovel's behalf. With a writing-table before him, on which lay a quantity +of books and papers, Lovel was seated on a couch, in his night-gown and +slippers. Oldbuck was shocked at the change which had taken place in +his personal appearance. His cheek and brow had assumed a ghastly white, +except where a round bright spot of hectic red formed a strong and +painful contrast, totally different from the general cast of hale and +hardy complexion which had formerly overspread and somewhat embrowned +his countenance. Oldbuck observed, that the dress he wore belonged to a +deep mourning suit, and a coat of the same colour hung on a chair +near to him. As the Antiquary entered, Lovel arose and came forward to +welcome him. + +"This is very kind," he said, shaking him by the hand, and thanking him +warmly for his visit—"this is very kind, and has anticipated a visit +with which I intended to trouble you. You must know I have become a +horseman lately." + +"I understand as much from Mrs. Hadoway—I only hope, my good young +friend, you have been fortunate in a quiet horse. I myself inadvertently +bought one from the said Gibbie Golightly, which brute ran two miles on +end with me after a pack of hounds, with which I had no more to do than +the last year's snow; and after affording infinite amusement, I suppose, +to the whole hunting field, he was so good as to deposit me in a dry +ditch—I hope yours is a more peaceful beast?" + +"I hope, at least, we shall make our excursions on a better plan of +mutual understanding." + +"That is to say, you think yourself a good horseman?" + +"I would not willingly," answered Lovel, "confess myself a very bad +one." + +"No—all you young fellows think that would be equal to calling +yourselves tailors at once—But have you had experience? for, crede +experto, a horse in a passion is no joker." + +"Why, I should be sorry to boast myself as a great horseman; but when +I acted as aide-de-camp to Sir——in the cavalry action at—, last year, I +saw many better cavaliers than myself dismounted." + +"Ah! you have looked in the face of the grisly god of arms then?—you are +acquainted with the frowns of Mars armipotent? That experience fills up +the measure of your qualifications for the epopea! The Britons, however, +you will remember, fought in chariots—covinarii is the phrase of +Tacitus;—you recollect the fine description of their dashing among the +Roman infantry, although the historian tells us how ill the rugged face +of the ground was calculated for equestrian combat; and truly, upon the +whole, what sort of chariots could be driven in Scotland anywhere but +on turnpike roads, has been to me always matter of amazement. And well +now—has the Muse visited you?—have you got anything to show me?" + +"My time," said Lovel, with a glance at his black dress, "has been less +pleasantly employed." + +"The death of a friend?" said the Antiquary. + +"Yes, Mr. Oldbuck—of almost the only friend I could ever boast of +possessing." + +"Indeed? Well, young man," replied his visitor, in a tone of seriousness +very different from his affected gravity, "be comforted. To have lost a +friend by death while your mutual regard was warm and unchilled, while +the tear can drop unembittered by any painful recollection of coldness +or distrust or treachery, is perhaps an escape from a more heavy +dispensation. Look round you—how few do you see grow old in the +affections of those with whom their early friendships were formed! Our +sources of common pleasure gradually dry up as we journey on through the +vale of Bacha, and we hew out to ourselves other reservoirs, from +which the first companions of our pilgrimage are excluded;—jealousies, +rivalries, envy, intervene to separate others from our side, until +none remain but those who are connected with us rather by habit than +predilection, or who, allied more in blood than in disposition, only +keep the old man company in his life, that they may not be forgotten at +his death— + + Haec data poena diu viventibus. + +Ah, Mr. Lovel! if it be your lot to reach the chill, cloudy, and +comfortless evening of life, you will remember the sorrows of your youth +as the light shadowy clouds that intercepted for a moment the beams +of the sun when it was rising. But I cram these words into your ears +against the stomach of your sense." + +"I am sensible of your kindness," answered the youth; "but the wound +that is of recent infliction must always smart severely, and I should be +little comforted under my present calamity—forgive me for saying so—by +the conviction that life had nothing in reserve for me but a train of +successive sorrows. And permit me to add, you, Mr. Oldbuck, have +least reason of many men to take so gloomy a view of life. You have +a competent and easy fortune—are generally respected—may, in your own +phrase, vacare musis, indulge yourself in the researches to which your +taste addicts you; you may form your own society without doors—and +within you have the affectionate and sedulous attention of the nearest +relatives." + +"Why, yes—the womankind, for womankind, are, thanks to my training, very +civil and tractable—do not disturb me in my morning studies—creep across +the floor with the stealthy pace of a cat, when it suits me to take a +nap in my easy-chair after dinner or tea. All this is very well; but I +want something to exchange ideas with—something to talk to." + +"Then why do you not invite your nephew, Captain M'Intyre, who is +mentioned by every one as a fine spirited young fellow, to become a +member of your family?" + +"Who?" exclaimed Monkbarns, "my nephew Hector?—the Hotspur of the +North? Why, Heaven love you, I would as soon invite a firebrand into my +stackyard. He's an Almanzor, a Chamont—has a Highland pedigree as long +as his claymore, and a claymore as long as the High Street of Fairport, +which he unsheathed upon the surgeon the last time he was at Fairport. I +expect him here one of these days; but I will keep him at staff's end, I +promise you. He an inmate of my house! to make my very chairs and tables +tremble at his brawls. No, no—I'll none of Hector M'Intyre. But hark ye, +Lovel;—you are a quiet, gentle-tempered lad; had not you better set up +your staff at Monkbarns for a month or two, since I conclude you do not +immediately intend to leave this country?—I will have a door opened out +to the garden—it will cost but a trifle—there is the space for an old +one which was condemned long ago—by which said door you may pass and +repass into the Green Chamber at pleasure, so you will not interfere +with the old man, nor he with you. As for your fare, Mrs. Hadoway tells +me you are, as she terms it, very moderate of your mouth, so you will +not quarrel with my humble table. Your washing"— + +"Hold, my dear Mr. Oldbuck," interposed Lovel, unable to repress a +smile; "and before your hospitality settles all my accommodations, let +me thank you most sincerely for so kind an offer—it is not at present +in my power to accept of it; but very likely, before I bid adieu +to Scotland, I shall find an opportunity to pay you a visit of some +length." + +Mr. Oldbuck's countenance fell. "Why, I thought I had hit on the very +arrangement that would suit us both,—and who knows what might happen +in the long run, and whether we might ever part? Why, I am master of my +acres, man—there is the advantage of being descended from a man of more +sense than pride—they cannot oblige me to transmit my goods chattels, +and heritages, any way but as I please. No string of substitute heirs of +entail, as empty and unsubstantial as the morsels of paper strung to +the train of a boy's kite, to cumber my flights of inclination, and my +humours of predilection. Well,—I see you won't be tempted at present—but +Caledonia goes on I hope?" + +"O certainly," said Lovel; "I cannot think of relinquishing a plan so +hopeful." + +"It is indeed," said the Antiquary, looking gravely upward,—for, though +shrewd and acute enough in estimating the variety of plans formed +by others, he had a very natural, though rather disproportioned good +opinion of the importance of those which originated with himself—"it is +indeed one of those undertakings which, if achieved with spirit equal +to that which dictates its conception, may redeem from the charge of +frivolity the literature of the present generation." + +Here he was interrupted by a knock at the room door, which introduced +a letter for Mr. Lovel. The servant waited, Mrs. Hadoway said, for an +answer. "You are concerned in this matter, Mr. Oldbuck," said Lovel, +after glancing over the billet, and handing it to the Antiquary as he +spoke. + +It was a letter from Sir Arthur Wardour, couched in extremely civil +language, regetting that a fit of the gout had prevented his hitherto +showing Mr. Lovel the attentions to which his conduct during a late +perilous occasion had so well entitled him—apologizing for not paying +his respects in person, but hoping Mr. Lovel would dispense with that +ceremony, and be a member of a small party which proposed to visit the +ruins of Saint Ruth's priory on the following day, and afterwards to +dine and spend the evening at Knockwinnock Castle. Sir Arthur concluded +with saying, that he had sent to request the Monkbarns family to join +the party of pleasure which he thus proposed. The place of rendezvous +was fixed at a turnpike-gate, which was about an equal distance from all +the points from which the company were to assemble. + +"What shall we do?" said Lovel, looking at the Antiquary, but pretty +certain of the part he would take. + +"Go, man—we'll go, by all means. Let me see—it will cost a post-chaise +though, which will hold you and me, and Mary M'Intyre, very well—and the +other womankind may go to the manse—and you can come out in the chaise +to Monkbarns, as I will take it for the day." + +"Why, I rather think I had better ride." + +"True, true, I forgot your Bucephalus. You are a foolish lad, by the by, +for purchasing the brute outright; you should stick to eighteenpence a +side, if you will trust any creature's legs in preference to your own." + +"Why, as the horse's have the advantage of moving considerably faster, +and are, besides, two pair to one, I own I incline"— + +"Enough said—enough said—do as you please. Well then, I'll bring either +Grizel or the minister, for I love to have my full pennyworth out of +post-horses—and we meet at Tirlingen turnpike on Friday, at twelve +o'clock precisely. "—And with this ageement the friends separated. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. + + Of seats they tell, where priests, 'mid tapers dim, + Breathed the warm prayer, or tuned the midnight hymn + To scenes like these the fainting soul retired; + Revenge and Anger in these cells expired: + By Pity soothed, Remorse lost half her fears, + And softened Pride dropped penitential tears. + Crabbe's Borough. + +The morning of Friday was as serene and beautiful as if no pleasure +party had been intended; and that is a rare event, whether in +novel-writing or real life. Lovel, who felt the genial influence of the +weather, and rejoiced at the prospect of once more meeting with Miss +Wardour, trotted forward to the place of rendezvous with better spirits +than he had for some time enjoyed. His prospects seemed in many respects +to open and brighten before him—and hope, although breaking like the +morning sun through clouds and showers, appeared now about to illuminate +the path before him. He was, as might have been expected from this state +of spirits, first at the place of meeting,—and, as might also have been +anticipated, his looks were so intently directed towards the road from +Knockwinnock Castles that he was only apprized of the arrival of +the Monkbarns division by the gee-hupping of the postilion, as the +post-chaise lumbered up behind him. In this vehicle were pent up, first, +the stately figure of Mr. Oldbuck himself; secondly, the scarce less +portly person of the Reverend Mr. Blattergowl, minister of Trotcosey, +the parish in which Monkbarns and Knockwinnock were both situated. The +reverend gentleman was equipped in a buzz wig, upon the top of which +was an equilateral cocked hat. This was the paragon of the three yet +remaining wigs of the parish, which differed, as Monkbarns used to +remark, like the three degrees of comparison—Sir Arthur's ramilies being +the positive, his own bob-wig the comparative, and the overwhelming +grizzle of the worthy clergyman figuring as the superlative. The +superintendent of these antique garnitures, deeming, or affecting to +deem, that he could not well be absent on an occasion which assembled +all three together, had seated himself on the board behind the carriage, +"just to be in the way in case they wanted a touch before the gentlemen +sat down to dinner." Between the two massive figures of Monkbarns +and the clergyman was stuck, by way of bodkin, the slim form of Mary +M'Intyre, her aunt having preferred a visit to the manse, and a social +chat with Miss Beckie Blattergowl, to investigating the ruins of the +priory of Saint Ruth. + +As greetings passed between the members of the Monkbarns party and Mr. +Lovel, the Baronet's carriage, an open barouche, swept onward to the +place of appointment, making, with its smoking bays, smart drivers, +arms, blazoned panels, and a brace of outriders, a strong contrast with +the battered vehicle and broken-winded hacks which had brought thither +the Antiquary and his followers. The principal seat of the carriage +was occupied by Sir Arthur and his daughter. At the first glance which +passed betwixt Miss Wardour and Lovel, her colour rose considerably;—but +she had apparently made up her mind to receive him as a friend, and only +as such, and there was equal composure and courtesy in the mode of her +reply to his fluttered salutation. Sir Arthur halted the barouche to +shake his preserver kindly by the hand, and intimate the pleasure he had +on this opportunity of returning him his personal thanks; then mentioned +to him, in a tone of slight introduction, "Mr. Dousterswivel, Mr. +Lovel." + +Lovel took the necessary notice of the German adept, who occupied the +front seat of the carriage, which is usually conferred upon dependants +or inferiors. The ready grin and supple inclination with which his +salutation, though slight, was answered by the foreigner, increased the +internal dislike which Lovel had already conceived towards him; and it +was plain, from the lower of the Antiquary's shaggy eye-brow, that he +too looked with displeasure on this addition to the company. Little +more than distant greeting passed among the members of the party, until, +having rolled on for about three miles beyond the place at which +they met, the carriages at length stopped at the sign of the Four +Horse-shoes, a small hedge inn, where Caxon humbly opened the door, and +let down the step of the hack-chaise, while the inmates of the barouche +were, by their more courtly attendants, assisted to leave their +equipage. + +Here renewed greetings passed: the young ladies shook hands; and +Oldbuck, completely in his element, placed himself as guide and cicerone +at the head of the party, who were now to advance on foot towards the +object of their curiosity. He took care to detain Lovel close beside him +as the best listener of the party, and occasionally glanced a word +of explanation and instruction to Miss Wardour and Mary M'Intyre, who +followed next in order. The Baronet and the clergyman he rather avoided, +as he was aware both of them conceived they understood such matters as +well, or better than he did; and Dousterswivel, besides that he looked +on him as a charlatan, was so nearly connected with his apprehended loss +in the stock of the mining company, that he could not abide the sight +of him. These two latter satellites, therefore, attended upon the orb +of Sir Arthur, to whom, moreover, as the most important person of the +society, they were naturally induced to attach themselves. + +It frequently happens that the most beautiful points of Scottish scenery +lie hidden in some sequestered dell, and that you may travel through the +country in every direction without being aware of your vicinity to what +is well worth seeing, unless intention or accident carry you to the +very spot. This is particularly the case in the country around Fairport, +which is, generally speaking, open, unenclosed, and bare. But here and +there the progress of rills, or small rivers, has formed dells, glens, +or as they are provincially termed, dens, on whose high and rocky banks +trees and shrubs of all kinds find a shelter, and grow with a luxuriant +profusion, which is the more gratifying, as it forms an unexpected +contrast with the general face of the country. This was eminently the +case with the approach to the ruins of Saint Ruth, which was for some +time merely a sheep-track, along the side of a steep and bare hill. By +degrees, however, as this path descended, and winded round the hillside, +trees began to appear, at first singly, stunted, and blighted, with +locks of wool upon their trunks, and their roots hollowed out into +recesses, in which the sheep love to repose themselves—a sight much more +gratifying to the eye of an admirer of the picturesque than to that of +a planter or forester. By and by the trees formed groups, fringed on the +edges, and filled up in the middle, by thorns and hazel bushes; and at +length these groups closed so much together, that although a broad glade +opened here and there under their boughs, or a small patch of bog or +heath occurred which had refused nourishment to the seed which they +sprinkled round, and consequently remained open and waste, the scene +might on the whole be termed decidedly woodland. The sides of the valley +began to approach each other more closely; the rush of a brook was heard +below, and between the intervals afforded by openings in the natural +wood, its waters were seen hurling clear and rapid under their silvan +canopy. + +Oldbuck now took upon himself the full authority of cicerone, and +anxiously directed the company not to go a foot-breadth off the track +which he pointed out to them, if they wished to enjoy in full perfection +what they came to see. "You are happy in me for a guide, Miss Wardour," +exclaimed the veteran, waving his hand and head in cadence as he +repeated with emphasis, + + I know each lane, and every alley green, + Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood, + And every bosky bower from side to side. * + +* (Milton's Comus.) + +Ah! deuce take it!—that spray of a bramble has demolished all +Caxon's labours, and nearly canted my wig into the stream—so much for +recitations, hors de propos." + +"Never mind, my dear sir," said Miss Wardour; "you have your faithful +attendant ready to repair such a disaster when it happens, and when you +appear with it as restored to its original splendour, I will carry on +the quotation: + + So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, + And yet anon repairs his drooping head, + And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore + Flames on the forehead"—* + +* (Lycidas.) + +"O! enough, enough!" answered Oldbuck; "I ought to have known what it +was to give you advantage over me—But here is what will stop your career +of satire, for you are an admirer of nature, I know." In fact, when they +had followed him through a breach in a low, ancient, and ruinous wall, +they came suddenly upon a scene equally unexpected and interesting. + +They stood pretty high upon the side of the glen, which had suddenly +opened into a sort of amphitheatre to give room for a pure and profound +lake of a few acres extent, and a space of level ground around it. The +banks then arose everywhere steeply, and in some places were varied by +rocks—in others covered with the copse, which run up, feathering their +sides lightly and irregularly, and breaking the uniformity of the green +pasture-ground.—Beneath, the lake discharged itself into the huddling +and tumultuous brook, which had been their companion since they had +entered the glen. At the point at which it issued from "its parent +lake," stood the ruins which they had come to visit. They were not +of great extent; but the singular beauty, as well as the wild and +sequestered character of the spot on which they were situated, gave them +an interest and importance superior to that which attaches itself +to architectural remains of greater consequence, but placed near to +ordinary houses, and possessing less romantic accompaniments. The +eastern window of the church remained entire, with all its ornaments +and tracery work; and the sides, upheld by flying buttresses whose airy +support, detached from the wall against which they were placed, and +ornamented with pinnacles and carved work, gave a variety and lightness +to the building. The roof and western end of the church were completely +ruinous; but the latter appeared to have made one side of a square, of +which the ruins of the conventual buildings formed other two, and the +gardens a fourth. The side of these buildings which overhung the brook, +was partly founded on a steep and precipitous rock; for the place had +been occasionally turned to military purposes, and had been taken with +great slaughter during Montrose's wars. The ground formerly occupied +by the garden was still marked by a few orchard trees. At a greater +distance from the buildings were detached oaks and elms and chestnuts, +growing singly, which had attained great size. The rest of the space +between the ruins and the hill was a close-cropt sward, which the +daily pasture of the sheep kept in much finer order than if it had been +subjected to the scythe and broom. The whole scene had a repose, which +was still and affecting without being monotonous. The dark, deep basin, +in which the clear blue lake reposed, reflecting the water lilies which +grew on its surface, and the trees which here and there threw their arms +from the banks, was finely contrasted with the haste and tumult of the +brook which broke away from the outlet, as if escaping from confinement +and hurried down the glen, wheeling around the base of the rock on which +the ruins were situated, and brawling in foam and fury with every shelve +and stone which obstructed its passage. A similar contrast was seen +between the level green meadow, in which the ruins were situated, and +the large timber-trees which were scattered over it, compared with the +precipitous banks which arose at a short distance around, partly fringed +with light and feathery underwood, partly rising in steeps clothed with +purple heath, and partly more abruptly elevated into fronts of grey +rock, chequered with lichen, and with those hardy plants which find root +even in the most arid crevices of the crags. + +"There was the retreat of learning in the days of darkness, Mr. Lovel!" +said Oldbuck,—around whom the company had now grouped themselves while +they admired the unexpected opening of a prospect so romantic;—"there +reposed the sages who were aweary of the world, and devoted either to +that which was to come, or to the service of the generations who should +follow them in this. I will show you presently the library;—see that +stretch of wall with square-shafted windows—there it existed, stored, +as an old manuscript in my possession assures me, with five thousand +volumes. And here I might well take up the lamentation of the learned +Leland, who, regretting the downfall of the conventual libraries, +exclaims, like Rachel weeping for her children, that if the Papal laws, +decrees, decretals, clementines, and other such drugs of the devil—yea, +if Heytesburg's sophisms, Porphyry's universals, Aristotle's logic, +and Dunse's divinity, with such other lousy legerdemains (begging your +pardon, Miss Wardour) and fruits of the bottomless pit,—had leaped +out of our libraries, for the accommodation of grocers, candlemakers, +soapsellers, and other worldly occupiers, we might have been therewith +contented. But to put our ancient chronicles, our noble histories, +our learned commentaries, and national muniments, to such offices of +contempt and subjection, has greatly degraded our nation, and showed +ourselves dishonoured in the eyes of posterity to the utmost stretch of +time—O negligence most unfriendly to our land!" + +"And, O John Knox" said the Baronet, "through whose influence, and under +whose auspices, the patriotic task was accomplished!" + +The Antiquary, somewhat in the situation of a woodcock caught in his own +springe, turned short round and coughed, to excuse a slight blush as he +mustered his answer—"as to the Apostle of the Scottish Reformation"— + +But Miss Wardour broke in to interrupt a conversation so dangerous. +"Pray, who was the author you quoted, Mr. Oldbuck?" + +"The learned Leland, Miss Wardour, who lost his senses on witnessing the +destruction of the conventual libraries in England." + +"Now, I think," replied the young lady, "his misfortune may have saved +the rationality of some modern antiquaries, which would certainly have +been drowned if so vast a lake of learning had not been diminished by +draining." + +"Well, thank Heaven, there is no danger now—they have hardly left us a +spoonful in which to perform the dire feat." + +So saying, Mr. Oldbuck led the way down the bank, by a steep but secure +path, which soon placed them on the verdant meadow where the ruins +stood. "There they lived," continued the Antiquary, "with nought to do +but to spend their time in investigating points of remote antiquity, +transcribing manuscripts, and composing new works for the information of +posterity." + +"And," added the Baronet, "in exercising the rites of devotion with a +pomp and ceremonial worthy of the office of the priesthood." + +"And if Sir Arthur's excellence will permit," said the German, with a +low bow, "the monksh might also make de vary curious experiment in deir +laboraties, both in chemistry and magia naturalis." + +"I think," said the clergyman, "they would have enough to do in +collecting the teinds of the parsonage and vicarage of three good +parishes." + +"And all," added Miss Wardour, nodding to the Antiquary, "without +interruption from womankind." + +"True, my fair foe," said Oldbuck; "this was a paradise where no Eve was +admitted, and we may wonder the rather by what chance the good fathers +came to lose it." + +With such criticisms on the occupations of those by whom the ruins had +been formerly possessed, they wandered for some time from one moss-grown +shrine to another, under the guidance of Oldbuck, who explained, +with much plausibility, the ground-plan of the edifice, and read and +expounded to the company the various mouldering inscriptions which yet +were to be traced upon the tombs of the dead, or under the vacant niches +of the sainted images. + +"What is the reason," at length Miss Wardour asked the Antiquary, "why +tradition has preserved to us such meagre accounts of the inmates of +these stately edifices, raised with such expense of labour and taste, +and whose owners were in their times personages of such awful power and +importance? The meanest tower of a freebooting baron or squire who lived +by his lance and broadsword, is consecrated by its appropriate legend, +and the shepherd will tell you with accuracy the names and feats of +its inhabitants;—but ask a countryman concerning these beautiful and +extensive remains—these towers, these arches, and buttresses, +and shafted windows, reared at such cost,—three words fill up his +answer—they were made up by the monks lang syne.'" + +The question was somewhat puzzling. Sir Arthur looked upward, as if +hoping to be inspired with an answer—Oldbuck shoved back his wig—the +clergyman was of opinion that his parishioners were too deeply impressed +with the true presbyterian doctrine to preserve any records concerning +the papistical cumberers of the land, offshoots as they were of the +great overshadowing tree of iniquity, whose roots are in the bowels +of the seven hills of abomination—Lovel thought the question was best +resolved by considering what are the events which leave the deepest +impression on the minds of the common people—"These," he contended, +"were not such as resemble the gradual progress of a fertilizing river, +but the headlong and precipitous fury of some portentous flood. The eras +by which the vulgar compute time, have always reference to some period +of fear and tribulation, and they date by a tempest, an earthquake, or +burst of civil commotion. When such are the facts most alive, in the +memory of the common people, we cannot wonder," he concluded, "that the +ferocious warrior is remembered, and the peaceful abbots are abandoned +to forgetfulness and oblivion." + +"If you pleashe, gentlemans and ladies, and ashking pardon of Sir Arthur +and Miss Wardour, and this worthy clergymansh, and my goot friend Mr. +Oldenbuck, who is my countrymansh, and of goot young Mr. Lofel also, I +think it is all owing to de hand of glory." + +"The hand of what?" exclaimed Oldbuck. + +"De hand of glory, my goot Master Oldenbuck, which is a vary great and +terrible secrets—which de monksh used to conceal their treasures when +they were triven from their cloisters by what you call de Reform." + +"Ay, indeed! tell us about that," said Oldbuck, "for these are secrets +worth knowing." + +"Why, my goot Master Oldenbuck, you will only laugh at me—But de hand of +glory is vary well known in de countries where your worthy progenitors +did live—and it is hand cut off from a dead man, as has been hanged for +murther, and dried very nice in de shmoke of juniper wood; and if you +put a little of what you call yew wid your juniper, it will not be any +better—that is, it will not be no worse—then you do take something of de +fatsh of de bear, and of de badger, and of de great eber, as you call +de grand boar, and of de little sucking child as has not been christened +(for dat is very essentials), and you do make a candle, and put it +into de hand of glory at de proper hour and minute, with de proper +ceremonish, and he who seeksh for treasuresh shall never find none at +all," + +"I dare take my corporal oath of that conclusion," said the Antiquary. +"And was it the custom, Mr. Dousterswivel, in Westphalia, to make use of +this elegant candelabrum?" + +"Alwaysh, Mr. Oldenbuck, when you did not want nobody to talk of nothing +you wash doing about—And the monksh alwaysh did this when they did hide +their church-plates, and their great chalices, and de rings, wid very +preshious shtones and jewels." + +"But, notwithstanding, you knights of the Rosy Cross have means, no +doubt, of breaking the spell, and discovering what the poor monks have +put themselves to so much trouble to conceal?" + +"Ah! goot Mr. Oldenbuck," replied the adept, shaking his head +mysteriously, "you was very hard to believe; but if you had seen de +great huge pieces of de plate so massive, Sir Arthur,—so fine fashion, +Miss Wardour—and de silver cross dat we did find (dat was Schroepfer and +my ownself) for de Herr Freygraf, as you call de Baron Von Blunderhaus, +I do believe you would have believed then." + +"Seeing is believing indeed. But what was your art—what was your +mystery, Mr. Dousterswivel?" + +"Aha, Mr. Oldenbuck! dat is my little secret, mine goot sir—you sall +forgife me that I not tell that. But I will tell you dere are various +ways—yes, indeed, dere is de dream dat you dream tree times—dat is a +vary goot way." + +"I am glad of that," said Oldbuck; "I have a friend" (with a side-glance +to Lovel) "who is peculiarly favoured by the visits of Queen Mab." + +"Den dere is de sympathies, and de antipathies, and de strange +properties and virtues natural of divers herb, and of de little +divining-rod." + +"I would gladly rather see some of these wonders than hear of them," +said Miss Wardour. + +"Ah, but, my much-honoured young lady, this is not de time or de way to +do de great wonder of finding all de church's plate and treasure; but +to oblige you, and Sir Arthur my patron, and de reverend clergymans, +and goot Mr. Oldenbuck, and young Mr. Lofel, who is a very goot young +gentleman also, I will show you dat it is possible, a vary possible, +to discover de spring, of water, and de little fountain hidden in de +ground, without any mattock, or spade, or dig at all." + +"Umph!" quoth the Antiquary, "I have heard of that conundrum. That will +be no very productive art in our country;—you should carry that property +to Spain or Portugal, and turn it to good account." + +"Ah! my goot Master Oldenbuck, dere is de Inquisition and de +Auto-da-fe—they would burn me, who am but a simple philosopher, for one +great conjurer." + +"They would cast away their coals then," said Oldbuck; "but," continued +he, in a whisper to Lovel, "were they to pillory him for one of the +most impudent rascals that ever wagged a tongue, they would square the +punishment more accurately with his deserts. But let us see: I think he +is about to show us some of his legerdemain." + +In truth, the German was now got to a little copse-thicket at some +distance from the ruins, where he affected busily to search for such +a wand as would suit the purpose of his mystery: and after cutting and +examining, and rejecting several, he at length provided himself with a +small twig of hazel terminating in a forked end, which he pronounced +to possess the virtue proper for the experiment that he was about to +exhibit. Holding the forked ends of the wand, each between a finger and +thumb, and thus keeping the rod upright, he proceeded to pace the ruined +aisles and cloisters, followed by the rest of the company in admiring +procession. "I believe dere was no waters here," said the adept, when he +had made the round of several of the buildings, without perceiving +any of those indications which he pretended to expect—"I believe those +Scotch monksh did find de water too cool for de climate, and alwaysh +drank de goot comfortable, Rhinewine. But, aha!—see there!" Accordingly, +the assistants observed the rod to turn in his fingers, although +he pretended to hold it very tight.—"Dere is water here about, sure +enough," and, turning this way and that way, as the agitation of the +divining-rod seemed to increase or diminish, he at length advanced into +the midst of a vacant and roofless enclosure which had been the kitchen +of the priory, when the rod twisted itself so as to point almost +straight downwards. "Here is de place," said the adept, "and if you do +not find de water here, I will give you all leave to call me an impudent +knave." + +"I shall take that license," whispered the Antiquary to Lovel, "whether +the water is discovered or no." + +A servant, who had come up with a basket of cold refreshments, was now +despatched to a neighbouring forester's hut for a mattock and pick-axe. +The loose stones and rubbish being removed from the spot indicated by +the German, they soon came to the sides of a regularly-built well; and +when a few feet of rubbish were cleared out by the assistance of the +forester and his sons, the water began to rise rapidly, to the delight +of the philosopher, the astonishment of the ladies, Mr. Blattergowl, and +Sir Arthur, the surprise of Lovel, and the confusion of the incredulous +Antiquary. He did not fail, however, to enter his protest in Lovers ear +against the miracle. "This is a mere trick," he said; "the rascal had +made himself sure of the existence of this old well, by some means or +other, before he played off this mystical piece of jugglery. Mark +what he talks of next. I am much mistaken if this is not intended as +a prelude to some more serious fraud. See how the rascal assumes +consequence, and plumes himself upon the credit of his success, and how +poor Sir Arthur takes in the tide of nonsense which he is delivering to +him as principles of occult science!" + +"You do see, my goot patron, you do see, my goot ladies, you do see, +worthy Dr. Bladderhowl, and even Mr. Lofel and Mr. Oldenbuck may see, if +they do will to see, how art has no enemy at all but ignorance. Look at +this little slip of hazel nuts—it is fit for nothing at all but to +whip de little child"—("I would choose a cat and nine tails for your +occasions," whispered Oldbuck apart)—"and you put it in the hands of a +philosopher—paf! it makes de grand discovery. But this is nothing, +Sir Arthur,—nothing at all, worthy Dr. Botherhowl—nothing at all, +ladies—nothing at all, young Mr. Lofel and goot Mr. Oldenbuck, to what +art can do. Ah! if dere was any man that had de spirit and de courage, I +would show him better things than de well of water—I would show him"— + +"And a little money would be necessary also, would it not?" said the +Antiquary. + +"Bah! one trifle, not worth talking about, maight be necessaries," +answered the adept. + +"I thought as much," rejoined the Antiquary, drily; "and I, in the +meanwhile, without any divining-rod, will show you an excellent venison +pasty, and a bottle of London particular Madeira, and I think that will +match all that Mr. Dousterswivel's art is like to exhibit." + +The feast was spread fronde super viridi, as Oldbuck expressed himself, +under a huge old tree called the Prior's Oak, and the company, sitting +down around it, did ample honour to the, contents of the basket. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. + + As when a Gryphon through the wilderness, + With winged course, o'er hill and moory dale, + Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth + Had from his wakeful custody purloined + The guarded gold: So eagerly the Fiend— + Paradise Lost. + +When their collation was ended, Sir Arthur resumed the account of the +mysteries of the divining-rod, as a subject on which he had formerly +conversed with Dousterswivel. "My friend Mr. Oldbuck will now be +prepared, Mr. Dousterswivel, to listen with more respect to the stories +you have told us of the late discoveries in Germany by the brethren of +your association." + +"Ah, Sir Arthur, that was not a thing to speak to those gentlemans, +because it is want of credulity—what you call faith—that spoils the +great enterprise." + +"At least, however, let my daughter read the narrative she has taken +down of the story of Martin Waldeck." + +"Ah! that was vary true story—but Miss Wardour, she is so sly and so +witty, that she has made it just like one romance—as well as Goethe or +Wieland could have done it, by mine honest wort." + +"To say the truth, Mr. Dousterswivel," answered Miss Wardour, "the +romantic predominated in the legend so much above the probable, that it +was impossible for a lover of fairyland like me to avoid lending a few +touches to make it perfect in its kind. But here it is, and if you do +not incline to leave this shade till the heat of the day has somewhat +declined, and will have sympathy with my bad composition, perhaps Sir +Arthur or Mr. Oldbuck will read it to us." + +"Not I," said Sir Arthur; "I was never fond of reading aloud." + +"Nor I," said Oldbuck, "for I have forgot my spectacles. But here is +Lovel, with sharp eyes and a good voice; for Mr. Blattergowl, I know, +never reads anything, lest he should be suspected of reading his +sermons." + +The task was therefore imposed upon Lovel, who received, with some +trepidation, as Miss Wardour delivered, with a little embarrassment, a +paper containing the lines traced by that fair hand, the possession of +which he coveted as the highest blessing the earth could offer to +him. But there was a necessity of suppressing his emotions; and after +glancing over the manuscript, as if to become acquainted with the +character, he collected himself, and read the company the following +tale:— The Fortunes of Martin Waldeck. + +The solitudes of the Harz forest in Germany, but especially the +mountains called Blocksberg, or rather Brockenberg, are the chosen +scenes for tales of witches, demons, and apparitions. + +[The outline of this story is taken from the German, though the Author +is at present unable to say in which of the various collections of the +popular legends in that language the original is to be found.] + +The occupation of the inhabitants, who are either miners or foresters, +is of a kind that renders them peculiarly prone to superstition, and +the natural phenomena which they witness in pursuit of their solitary or +subterraneous profession, are often set down by them to the interference +of goblins or the power of magic. Among the various legends current in +that wild country, there is a favourite one, which supposes the Harz to +be haunted by a sort of tutelar demon, in the shape of a wild man, +of huge stature, his head wreathed with oak leaves, and his middle +cinctured with the same, bearing in his hand a pine torn up by the +roots. It is certain that many persons profess to have seen such a form +traversing, with huge strides, in a line parallel to their own course, +the opposite ridge of a mountain, when divided from it by a narrow glen; +and indeed the fact of the apparition is so generally admitted, that +modern scepticism has only found refuge by ascribing it to optical +deception. * + +*The shadow of the person who sees the phantom, being reflected upon a +cloud of mist, like the image of the magic lantern upon a white sheet, +is supposed to have formed the apparition. + +In elder times, the intercourse of the demon with the inhabitants was +more familiar, and, according to the traditions of the Harz, he was +wont, with the caprice usually ascribed to these earth-born powers, +to interfere with the affairs of mortals, sometimes for their weal, +sometimes for their wo. But it was observed that even his gifts often +turned out, in the long run, fatal to those on whom they were bestowed, +and it was no uncommon thing for the pastors, in their care of their +flocks, to compose long sermons, the burden whereof was a warning +against having any intercourse, direct or indirect, with the Harz demon. +The fortunes of Martin Waldeck have been often quoted by the aged to +their giddy children, when they were heard to scoff at a danger which +appeared visionary. + +A travelling capuchin had possessed himself of the pulpit of the +thatched church at a little hamlet called Morgenbrodt, lying in the +Harz district, from which he declaimed against the wickedness of the +inhabitants, their communication with fiends, witches, and fairies, and, +in particular, with the woodland goblin of the Harz. The doctrines of +Luther had already begun to spread among the peasantry (for the incident +is placed under the reign of Charles V. ), and they laughed to scorn the +zeal with which the venerable man insisted upon his topic. At length, +as his vehemence increased with opposition, so their opposition rose +in proportion to his vehemence. The inhabitants did not like to hear an +accustomed quiet demon, who had inhabited the Brockenberg for so many +ages, summarily confounded with Baal-peor, Ashtaroth, and Beelzebub +himself, and condemned without reprieve to the bottomless Tophet. The +apprehensions that the spirit might avenge himself on them for listening +to such an illiberal sentence, added to their national interest in his +behalf. A travelling friar, they said, that is here to-day and away +to-morrow, may say what he pleases: but it is we, the ancient and +constant inhabitants of the country, that are left at the mercy of the +insulted demon, and must, of course, pay for all. Under the irritation +occasioned by these reflections, the peasants from injurious language +betook themselves to stones, and having pebbled the priest pretty +handsomely, they drove him out of the parish to preach against demons +elsewhere. + +Three young men, who had been present and assisting on this occasion +were upon their return to the hut where they carried on the laborious +and mean occupation of preparing charcoal for the smelting furnaces. On +the way, their conversation naturally turned upon the demon of the Harz +and the doctrine of the capuchin. Max and George Waldeck, the two elder +brothers, although they allowed the language of the capuchin to have +been indiscreet and worthy of censure, as presuming to determine upon +the precise character and abode of the spirit, yet contended it was +dangerous, in the highest degree, to accept of his gifts, or hold any +communication with him, He was powerful, they allowed, but wayward and +capricious, and those who had intercourse with him seldom came to a good +end. Did he not give the brave knight, Ecbert of Rabenwald, that famous +black steed, by means of which he vanquished all the champions at +the great tournament at Bremen? and did not the same steed afterwards +precipitate itself with its rider into an abyss so steep and fearful, +that neither horse nor man were ever seen more? Had he not given to Dame +Gertrude Trodden a curious spell for making butter come? and was she not +burnt for a witch by the grand criminal judge of the Electorate, because +she availed herself of his gift? But these, and many other instances +which they quoted, of mischance and ill-luck ultimately attending on +the apparent benefits conferred by the Harz spirit, failed to make any +impression upon Martin Waldeck, the youngest of the brothers. + +Martin was youthful, rash, and impetuous; excelling in all the exercises +which distinguish a mountaineer, and brave and undaunted from his +familiar intercourse with the dangers that attend them. He laughed at +the timidity of his brothers. "Tell me not of such folly," he said; "the +demon is a good demon—he lives among us as if he were a peasant like +ourselves—haunts the lonely crags and recesses of the mountains like +a huntsman or goatherd—and he who loves the Harz forest and its wild +scenes cannot be indifferent to the fate of the hardy children of the +soil. But, if the demon were as malicious as you would make him, how +should he derive power over mortals, who barely avail themselves of his +gifts, without binding themselves to submit to his pleasure? When you +carry your charcoal to the furnace, is not the money as good that is +paid you by blaspheming Blaize, the old reprobate overseer, as if you +got it from the pastor himself? It is not the goblins gifts which can +endanger you, then, but it is the use you shall make of them that you +must account for. And were the demon to appear to me at this moment, +and indicate to me a gold or silver mine, I would begin to dig away +even before his back were turned,—and I would consider myself as under +protection of a much Greater than he, while I made a good use of the +wealth he pointed out to me." + +To this the elder brother replied, that wealth ill won was seldom well +spent; while Martin presumptuously declared, that the possession of all +the treasures of the Harz would not make the slightest alteration on his +habits, morals, or character. + +His brother entreated Martin to talk less wildly upon the subject, and +with some difficulty contrived to withdraw his attention, by calling it +to the consideration of the approaching boar-chase. This talk brought +them to their hut, a wretched wigwam, situated upon one side of a wild, +narrow, and romantic dell, in the recesses of the Brockenberg. They +released their sister from attending upon the operation of charring the +wood, which requires constant attention, and divided among themselves +the duty of watching it by night, according to their custom, one always +waking, while his brothers slept. + +Max Waldeck, the eldest, watched during the first two hours of the +night, and was considerably alarmed by observing, upon the opposite +bank of the glen, or valley, a huge fire surrounded by some figures that +appeared to wheel around it with antic gestures. Max at first bethought +him of calling up his brothers; but recollecting the daring character of +the youngest, and finding it impossible to wake the elder without also +disturbing Martin—conceiving also what he saw to be an illusion of the +demon, sent perhaps in consequence of the venturous expressions used by +Martin on the preceding evening, he thought it best to betake himself to +the safeguard of such prayers as he could murmur over, and to watch in +great terror and annoyance this strange and alarming apparition. After +blazing for some time, the fire faded gradually away into darkness, and +the rest of Max's watch was only disturbed by the remembrance of its +terrors. + +George now occupied the place of Max, who had retired to rest. The +phenomenon of a huge blazing fire, upon the opposite bank of the glen, +again presented itself to the eye of the watchman. It was surrounded +as before by figures, which, distinguished by their opaque forms, being +between the spectator and the red glaring light, moved and fluctuated +around it as if engaged in some mystical ceremony. George, though +equally cautious, was of a bolder character than his elder brother. +He resolved to examine more nearly the object of his wonder; and, +accordingly after crossing the rivulet which divided the glen, he +climbed up the opposite bank, and approached within an arrow's flight +of the fire, which blazed apparently with the same fury as when he first +witnessed it. + +The appearance, of the assistants who surrounded it resembled those +phantoms which are seen in a troubled dream, and at once confirmed the +idea he had entertained from the first, that they did not belong to +the human world. Amongst these strange unearthly forms, George Waldeck +distinguished that of a giant overgrown with hair, holding an uprooted +fir in his hand, with which, from time to time, he seemed to stir the +blazing fire, and having no other clothing than a wreath of oak leaves +around his forehead and loins. George's heart sunk within him at +recognising the well-known apparition of the Harz demon, as he had been +often described to him by the ancient shepherds and huntsmen who had +seen his form traversing the mountains. He turned, and was about to fly; +but upon second thoughts, blaming his own cowardice, he recited mentally +the verse of the Psalmist, "All good angels, praise the Lord!" which +is in that country supposed powerful as an exorcism, and turned himself +once more towards the place where he had seen the fire. But it was no +longer visible. + +The pale moon alone enlightened the side of the valley; and when George, +with trembling steps, a moist brow, and hair bristling upright under +his collier's cap, came to the spot on which the fire had been so lately +visible, marked as it was by a scathed oak-tree, there appeared not on +the heath the slightest vestiges of what he had seen. The moss and wild +flowers were unscorched, and the branches of the oak-tree, which had so +lately appeared enveloped in wreaths of flame and smoke, were moist with +the dews of midnight. + +George returned to his hut with trembling steps, and, arguing like his +elder brother, resolved to say nothing of what he had seen, lest he +should awake in Martin that daring curiosity which he almost deemed to +be allied with impiety. + +It was now Martin's turn to watch. The household cock had given his +first summons, and the night was well-nigh spent. Upon examining the +state of the furnace in which the wood was deposited in order to its +being coked or charred, he was surprised to find that the fire had not +been sufficiently maintained; for in his excursion and its consequences, +George had forgot the principal object of his watch. Martin's first +thought was to call up the slumberers; but observing that both his +brothers slept unwontedly deep and heavily, he respected their repose, +and set himself to supply the furnace with fuel without requiring +their aid. What he heaped upon it was apparently damp and unfit for the +purpose, for the fire seemed rather to decay than revive. Martin next +went to collect some boughs from a stack which had been carefully cut +and dried for this purpose; but, when he returned, he found the fire +totally extinguished. This was a serious evil, and threatened them +with loss of their trade for more than one day. The vexed and mortified +watchman set about to strike a light in order to rekindle the fire +but the tinder was moist, and his labour proved in this respect also +ineffectual. He was now about to call up his brothers, for circumstances +seemed to be pressing, when flashes of light glimmered not only through +the window, but through every crevice of the rudely built hut, and +summoned him to behold the same apparition which had before alarmed +the successive watches of his brethren. His first idea was, that the +Muhllerhaussers, their rivals in trade, and with whom they had had many +quarrels, might have encroached upon their bounds for the purpose of +pirating their wood; and he resolved to awake his brothers, and +be revenged on them for their audacity. But a short reflection and +observation on the gestures and manner of those who seemed to "work +in the fire," induced him to dismiss this belief, and although +rather sceptical in such matters, to conclude that what he saw was a +supernatural phenomenon. "But be they men or fiends," said the undaunted +forester, "that busy themselves yonder with such fantastical rites and +gestures, I will go and demand a light to rekindle our furnace." He, +relinquished at the same time the idea of awaking his brethren. There +was a belief that such adventures as he was about to undertake were +accessible only to one person at a time; he feared also that his +brothers, in their scrupulous timidity, might interfere to prevent his +pursuing the investigation he had resolved to commence; and, therefore, +snatching his boar-spear from the wall, the undaunted Martin Waldeck set +forth on the adventure alone. + +With the same success as his brother George, but with courage far +superior, Martin crossed the brook, ascended the hill, and approached +so near the ghostly assembly, that he could recognise, in the presiding +figure, the attributes of the Harz demon. A cold shuddering assailed him +for the first time in his life; but the recollection that he had at a +distance dared and even courted the intercourse which was now about to +take place, confirmed his staggering courage; and pride supplying what +he wanted in resolution, he advanced with tolerable firmness towards +the fire, the figures which surrounded it appearing still more wild, +fantastical, and supernatural, the more near he approached to the +assembly. He was received with a loud shout of discordant and unnatural +laughter, which, to his stunned ears, seemed more alarming than a +combination of the most dismal and melancholy sounds that could be +imagined. "Who art thou?" said the giant, compressing his savage and +exaggerated features into a sort of forced gravity, while they were +occasionally agitated by the convulsion of the laughter which he seemed +to suppress. + +"Martin Waldeck, the forester," answered the hardy youth;—"and who are +you?" + +"The King of the Waste and of the Mine," answered the spectre;—"and why +hast thou dared to encroach on my mysteries?" + +"I came in search of light to rekindle my fire," answered Martin, +hardily, and then resolutely asked in his turn, "What mysteries are +those that you celebrate here?" + +"We celebrate," answered the complaisant demon, "the wedding of Hermes +with the Black Dragon—But take thy fire that thou camest to seek, and +begone! no mortal may look upon us and live." + +The peasant struck his spear-point into a large piece of blazing wood, +which he heaved up with some difficulty, and then turned round to regain +his hut, the, shouts of laughter being renewed behind him with treble +violence, and ringing far down the narrow valley. When Martin returned +to the hut, his first care, however much astonished with what he had +seen, was to dispose the kindled coal among the fuel so as might best +light the fire of his furnace; but after many efforts, and all exertions +of bellows and fire-prong, the coal he had brought from the demon's fire +became totally extinct without kindling any of the others. He turned +about, and observed the fire still blazing on the hill, although those +who had been busied around it had disappeared. As he conceived the +spectre had been jesting with him, he gave way to the natural hardihood +of his temper, and, determining to see the adventure to an end, resumed +the road to the fire, from which, unopposed by the demon, he brought off +in the same manner a blazing piece of charcoal, but still without being +able to succeed in lighting his fire. Impunity having increased his +rashness, he resolved upon a third experiment, and was as successful as +before in reaching the fire; but when he had again appropriated a +piece of burning coal, and had turned to depart, he heard the harsh and +supernatural voice which had before accosted him, pronounce these words, +"Dare not return hither a fourth time!" + +The attempt to kindle the fire with this last coal having proved as +ineffectual as on the former occasions, Martin relinquished the hopeless +attempt, and flung himself on his bed of leaves, resolving to delay till +the next morning the communication of his supernatural adventure to his +brothers. He was awakened from a heavy sleep into which he had sunk, +from fatigue of body and agitation of mind, by loud exclamations +of surprise and joy. His brothers, astonished at finding the fire +extinguished when they awoke, had proceeded to arrange the fuel in order +to renew it, when they found in the ashes three huge metallic masses, +which their skill (for most of the peasants in the Harz are practical +mineralogists) immediately ascertained to be pure gold. + +It was some damp upon their joyful congratulations when they learned +from Martin the mode in which he had obtained this treasure, to which +their own experience of the nocturnal vision induced them to give full +credit. But they were unable to resist the temptation of sharing in +their brother's wealth. Taking now upon him as head of the house, Martin +Waldeck bought lands and forests, built a castle, obtained a patent of +nobility, and, greatly to the indignation of the ancient aristocracy +of the neighbourhood, was invested with all the privileges of a man of +family. His courage in public war, as well as in private feuds, together +with the number of retainers whom he kept in pay, sustained him for some +time against the odium which was excited by his sudden elevation, and +the arrogance of his pretensions. + +And now it was seen in the instance of Martin Waldeck, as it has been in +that of many others, how little mortals can foresee the effect of +sudden prosperity on their own disposition. The evil propensities in his +nature, which poverty had checked and repressed, ripened and bore their +unhallowed fruit under the influence of temptation and the means of +indulgence. As Deep calls unto Deep, one bad passion awakened another +the fiend of avarice invoked that of pride, and pride was to be +supported by cruelty and oppression. Waldeck's character, always bold +and daring but rendered harsh and assuming by prosperity, soon made him +odious, not to the nobles only, but likewise to the lower ranks, who +saw, with double dislike, the oppressive rights of the feudal nobility +of the empire so remorselessly exercised by one who had risen from the +very dregs of the people. His adventure, although carefully concealed, +began likewise to be whispered abroad, and the clergy already +stigmatized as a wizard and accomplice of fiends, the wretch, who, +having acquired so huge a treasure in so strange a manner, had not +sought to sanctify it by dedicating a considerable portion to the use +of the church. Surrounded by enemies, public and private, tormented by +a thousand feuds, and threatened by the church with excommunication, +Martin Waldeck, or, as we must now call him, the Baron von Waldeck, +often regretted bitterly the labours and sports of his unenvied poverty. +But his courage failed him not under all these difficulties, and seemed +rather to augment in proportion to the danger which darkened around him, +until an accident precipitated his fall. + +A proclamation by the reigning Duke of Brunswick had invited to a solemn +tournament all German nobles of free and honourable descent; and Martin +Waldeck, splendidly armed, accompanied by his two brothers, and a +gallantly-equipped retinue, had the arrogance to appear among the +chivalry of the province, and demand permission to enter the lists. This +was considered as filling up the measure of his presumption. A thousand +voices exclaimed, "We will have no cinder-sifter mingle in our games of +chivalry." Irritated to frenzy, Martin drew his sword and hewed down the +herald, who, in compliance with the general outcry, opposed his entry +into the lists. An hundred swords were unsheathed to avenge what was in +those days regarded as a crime only inferior to sacrilege or regicide. +Waldeck, after defending himself like a lion, was seized, tried on +the spot by the judges of the lists, and condemned, as the appropriate +punishment for breaking the peace of his sovereign, and violating the +sacred person of a herald-at-arms, to have his right hand struck from +his body, to be ignominiously deprived of the honour of nobility, of +which he was unworthy, and to be expelled from the city. When he had +been stripped of his arms, and sustained the mutilation imposed by this +severe sentence, the unhappy victim of ambition was abandoned to the +rabble, who followed him with threats and outcries levelled alternately +against the necromancer and oppressor, which at length ended in +violence. His brothers (for his retinue were fled and dispersed) at +length succeeded in rescuing him from the hands of the populace, when, +satiated with cruelty, they had left him half dead through loss +of blood, and through the outrages he had sustained. They were not +permitted, such was the ingenious cruelty of their enemies, to make use +of any other means of removing him, excepting such a collier's cart as +they had themselves formerly used, in which they deposited their brother +on a truss of straw, scarcely expecting to reach any place of shelter +ere death should release him from his misery. + +When the Waldecks, journeying in this miserable manner, had approached +the verge of their native country, in a hollow way, between two +mountains, they perceived a figure advancing towards them, which at +first sight seemed to be an aged man. But as he approached, his limbs +and stature increased, the cloak fell from his shoulders, his pilgrim's +staff was changed into an uprooted pine-tree, and the gigantic figure of +the Harz demon passed before them in his terrors. When he came opposite +to the cart which contained the miserable Waldeck, his huge features +dilated into a grin of unutterable contempt and malignity, as he asked +the sufferer, "How like you the fire my coals have kindled?" The power +of motion, which terror suspended in his two brothers, seemed to be +restored to Martin by the energy of his courage. He raised himself +on the cart, bent his brows, and, clenching his fist, shook it at the +spectre with a ghastly look of hate and defiance. The goblin vanished +with his usual tremendous and explosive laugh, and left Waldeck +exhausted with this effort of expiring nature. + +The terrified brethren turned their vehicle toward the towers of a +convent, which arose in a wood of pine-trees beside the road. They were +charitably received by a bare-footed and long-bearded capuchin, and +Martin survived only to complete the first confession he had made since +the day of his sudden prosperity, and to receive absolution from the +very priest whom, precisely on that day three years, he had assisted +to pelt out of the hamlet of Morgenbrodt. The three years of precarious +prosperity were supposed to have a mysterious correspondence with the +number of his visits to the spectral fire upon the bill. + +The body of Martin Waldeck was interred in the convent where he expired, +in which his brothers, having assumed the habit of the order, lived and +died in the performance of acts of charity and devotion. His lands, to +which no one asserted any claim, lay waste until they were reassumed by +the emperor as a lapsed fief, and the ruins of the castle, which Waldeck +had called by his own name, are still shunned by the miner and forester +as haunted by evil spirits. Thus were the miseries attendant upon +wealth, hastily attained and ill employed, exemplified in the fortunes +of Martin Waldeck. + + + + +CHAPTER NINETEENTH. + + Here has been such a stormy encounter + Betwixt my cousin Captain, and this soldier, + About I know not what!—nothing, indeed; + Competitions, degrees, and comparatives + Of soldiership!— + A Faire Qurrell. + +The attentive audience gave the fair transcriber of the foregoing legend +the thanks which politeness required. Oldbuck alone curled up his nose, +and observed, that Miss Wardour's skill was something like that of the +alchemists, for she had contrived to extract a sound and valuable moral +out of a very trumpery and ridiculous legend. "It is the fashion, as I +am given to understand, to admire those extravagant fictions—for me, + + —I bear an English heart, + Unused at ghosts and rattling bones to start." + +"Under your favour, my goot Mr. Oldenbuck," said the German, "Miss +Wardour has turned de story, as she does every thing as she touches, +very pretty indeed; but all the history of de Harz goblin, and how he +walks among de desolate mountains wid a great fir-tree for his walking +cane, and wid de great green bush around his head and his waist—that is +as true as I am an honest man." + +"There is no disputing any proposition so well guaranteed," answered +the Antiquary, drily. But at this moment the approach of a stranger cut +short the conversation. + +The new comer was a handsome young man, about five-and-twenty, in a +military undress, and bearing, in his look and manner, a good deal +of the, martial profession—nay, perhaps a little more than is quite +consistent with the ease of a man of perfect good-breeding, in whom no +professional habit ought to predominate. He was at once greeted by the +greater part of the company. "My dear Hector!" said Miss M'Intyre, as +she rose to take his hand— + +"Hector, son of Priam, whence comest thou?" said the Antiquary. + +"From Fife, my liege," answered the young soldier, and continued, when +he had politely saluted the rest of the company, and particularly Sir +Arthur and his daughter—"I learned from one of the servants, as I rode +towards Monkbarns to pay my respects to you, that I should find the +present company in this place, and I willingly embrace the opportunity +to pay my respects to so many of my friends at once." + +"And to a new one also, my trusty Trojan," said Oldbuck. "Mr. Lovel, +this is my nephew, Captain M'Intyre—Hector, I recommend Mr. Lovel to +your acquaintance." + +The young soldier fixed his keen eye upon Lovel, and paid his compliment +with more reserve than cordiality and as our acquaintance thought his +coldness almost supercilious, he was equally frigid and haughty in +making the necessary return to it; and thus a prejudice seemed to arise +between them at the very commencement of their acquaintance. + +The observations which Lovel made during the remainder of this pleasure +party did not tend to reconcile him with this addition to their society. +Captain M'Intyre, with the gallantry to be expected from his age and +profession, attached himself to the service of Miss Wardour, and offered +her, on every possible opportunity, those marks of attention which Lovel +would have given the world to have rendered, and was only deterred from +offering by the fear of her displeasure. With forlorn dejection at +one moment, and with irritated susceptibility at another, he saw this +handsome young soldier assume and exercise all the privileges of a +cavaliere servente. He handed Miss Wardour's gloves, he assisted her +in putting on her shawl, he attached himself to her in the walks, had a +hand ready to remove every impediment in her path, and an arm to support +her where it was rugged or difficult; his conversation was addressed +chiefly to her, and, where circumstances permitted, it was exclusively +so. All this, Lovel well knew, might be only that sort of egotistical +gallantry which induces some young men of the present day to give +themselves the air of engrossing the attention of the prettiest women in +company, as if the others were unworthy of their notice. But he thought +he observed in the conduct of Captain M'Intyre something of marked and +peculiar tenderness, which was calculated to alarm the jealousy of +a lover. Miss Wardour also received his attentions; and although his +candour allowed they were of a kind which could not be repelled without +some strain of affectation, yet it galled him to the heart to witness +that she did so. + +The heart-burning which these reflections occasioned proved very +indifferent seasoning to the dry antiquarian discussions with which +Oldbuck, who continued to demand his particular attention, was +unremittingly persecuting him; and he underwent, with fits of impatience +that amounted almost to loathing, a course of lectures upon monastic +architecture, in all its styles, from the massive Saxon to the florid +Gothic, and from that to the mixed and composite architecture of +James the First's time, when, according to Oldbuck, all orders were +confounded, and columns of various descriptions arose side by side, or +were piled above each other, as if symmetry had been forgotten, and the +elemental principles of art resolved into their primitive confusion. +"What can be more cutting to the heart than the sight of evils," said +Oldbuck, in rapturous enthusiasm, "which we are compelled to behold, +while we do not possess the power of remedying them?" Lovel answered by +an involulatary groan. "I see, my dear young friend, and most congenial +spirit, that you feel these enormities almost as much as I do. Have you +ever approached them, or met them, without longing to tear, to deface, +what is so dishonourable?" + +"Dishonourable!" echoed Lovel—"in what respect dishonourable?" + +"I mean, disgraceful to the arts." + +"Where? how?" + +"Upon the portico, for example, of the schools of Oxford, where, at +immense expense, the barbarous, fantastic, and ignorant architect has +chosen to represent the whole five orders of architecture on the front +of one building." + +By such attacks as these, Oldbuck, unconscious of the torture he was +giving, compelled Lovel to give him a share of his attention,—as a +skilful angler, by means of his line, maintains an influence over the +most frantic movements of his agonized prey. + +They were now on their return to the spot where they had left the +carriages; and it is inconceivable how often, in the course of that +short walk, Lovel, exhausted by the unceasing prosing of his worthy +companion, mentally bestowed on the devil, or any one else that would +have rid him of hearing more of them, all the orders and disorders of +architecture which had been invented or combined from the building of +Solomon's temple downwards. A slight incident occurred, however, which +sprinkled a little patience on the heat of his distemperature. + +Miss Wardour, and her self-elected knight companion, rather preceded +the others in the narrow path, when the young lady apparently became +desirous to unite herself with the rest of the party, and, to break off +her tete-a-tete with the young officer, fairly made a pause until +Mr. Oldbuck came up. "I wished to ask you a question, Mr. Oldbuck, +concerning the date of these interesting ruins." + +It would be doing injustice to Miss Wardour's savoir faire, to suppose +she was not aware that such a question would lead to an answer of no +limited length. The Antiquary, starting like a war-horse at the trumpet +sound, plunged at once into the various arguments for and against the +date of 1273, which had been assigned to the priory of St. Ruth by a +late publication on Scottish architectural antiquities. He raked up the +names of all the priors who had ruled the institution, of the nobles who +had bestowed lands upon it, and of the monarchs who had slept their last +sleep among its roofless courts. As a train which takes fire is sure to +light another, if there be such in the vicinity, the Baronet, catching +at the name of one of his ancestors which occurred in Oldbuck's +disquisition, entered upon an account of his wars, his conquests, and +his trophies; and worthy Dr. Blattergowl was induced, from the mention +of a grant of lands, cum decimis inclusis tam vicariis quam garbalibus, +et nunquan antea separatis, to enter into a long explanation concerning +the interpretation given by the Teind Court in the consideration of +such a clause, which had occurred in a process for localling his last +augmentation of stipend. The orators, like three racers, each pressed +forward to the goal, without much regarding how each crossed and jostled +his competitors. Mr. Oldbuck harangued, the Baronet declaimed, Mr. +Blattergowl prosed and laid down the law, while the Latin forms of +feudal grants were mingled with the jargon of blazonry, and the yet +more barbarous phraseology of the Teind Court of Scotland. "He was," +exclaimed Oldbuck, speaking of the Prior Adhemar, "indeed an exemplary +prelate; and, from his strictness of morals, rigid execution of penance, +joined to the charitable disposition of his mind, and the infirmities +endured by his great age and ascetic habits"— + +Here he chanced to cough, and Sir Arthur burst in, or rather +continued—"was called popularly Hell-in-Harness; he carried a shield, +gules with a sable fess, which we have since disused, and was slain at +the battle of Vernoil, in France, after killing six of the English with +his own"— + +"Decreet of certification," proceeded the clergyman, in that prolonged, +steady, prosing tone, which, however overpowered at first by the +vehemence of competition, promised, in the long run, to obtain the +ascendancy in this strife of narrators;—"Decreet of certification having +gone out, and parties being held as confessed, the proof seemed to be +held as concluded, when their lawyer moved to have it opened up, on the +allegation that they had witnesses to bring forward, that they had been +in the habit of carrying the ewes to lamb on the teind-free land; which +was a mere evasion, for"— + +But here the, Baronet and Mr. Oldbuck having recovered their wind, +and continued their respective harangues, the three strands of the +conversation, to speak the language of a rope-work, were again twined +together into one undistinguishable string of confusion. + +Yet, howsoever uninteresting this piebald jargon might seem, it was +obviously Miss Wardour's purpose to give it her attention, in preference +to yielding Captain M'Intyre an opportunity of renewing their private +conversation. So that, after waiting for a little time with displeasure, +ill concealed by his haughty features, he left her to enjoy her bad +taste, and taking his sister by the arm, detained her a little behind +the rest of the party. + +"So I find, Mary, that your neighbour has neither become more lively nor +less learned during my absence." + +"We lacked your patience and wisdom to instruct us, Hector." + +"Thank you, my dear sister. But you have got a wiser, if not so lively +an addition to your society, than your unworthy brother—Pray, who is +this Mr. Lovel, whom our old uncle has at once placed so high in his +good graces?—he does not use to be so accessible to strangers." + +"Mr. Lovel, Hector, is a very gentleman-like young man." + +"Ay,—that is to say, he bows when he comes into a room, and wears a coat +that is whole at the elbows." + +"No, brother; it says a great deal more. It says that his manners and +discourse express the feelings and education of the higher class." + +"But I desire to know what is his birth and his rank in society, and +what is his title to be in the circle in which I find him domesticated?" + +"If you mean, how he comes to visit at Monkbarns, you must ask my uncle, +who will probably reply, that he invites to his own house such company +as he pleases; and if you mean to ask Sir Arthur, you must know that +Mr. Lovel rendered Miss Wardour and him a service of the most important +kind." + +"What! that romantic story is true, then?—And pray, does the valorous +knight aspire, as is befitting on such occasions, to the hand of the +young lady whom he redeemed from peril? It is quite in the rule of +romance, I am aware; and I did think that she was uncommonly dry to me +as we walked together, and seemed from time to time as if she watched +whether she was not giving offence to her gallant cavalier." + +"Dear Hector," said his sister, "if you really continue to nourish any +affection for Miss Wardour"— + +"If, Mary?—what an if was there!" + +"—I own I consider your perseverance as hopeless." + +"And why hopeless, my sage sister?" asked Captain M'Intyre: "Miss +Wardour, in the state of her father's affairs, cannot pretend to much +fortune;—and, as to family, I trust that of Mlntyre is not inferior." + +"But, Hector," continued his sister, "Sir Arthur always considers us as +members of the Monkbarns family." + +"Sir Arthur may consider what he pleases," answered the Highlander +scornfully; "but any one with common sense will consider that the wife +takes rank from the husband, and that my father's pedigree of fifteen +unblemished descents must have ennobled my mother, if her veins had been +filled with printer's ink." + +"For God's sake, Hector," replied his anxious sister, "take care of +yourself! a single expression of that kind, repeated to my uncle by an +indiscreet or interested eavesdropper, would lose you his favour for +ever, and destroy all chance of your succeeding to his estate." + +"Be it so," answered the heedless young man; "I am one of a profession +which the world has never been able to do without, and will far less +endure to want for half a century to come; and my good old uncle may +tack his good estate and his plebeian name to your apron-string if he +pleases, Mary, and you may wed this new favourite of his if you please, +and you may both of you live quiet, peaceable, well-regulated lives, +if it pleases Heaven. My part is taken—I'll fawn on no man for an +inheritance which should be mine by birth." + +Miss M'Intyre laid her hand on her brother's arm, and entreated him to +suppress his vehemence. "Who," she said, "injures or seeks to injure +you, but your own hasty temper?—what dangers are you defying, but those +you have yourself conjured up?—Our uncle has hitherto been all that is +kind and paternal in his conduct to us, and why should you suppose he +will in future be otherwise than what he has ever been, since we were +left as orphans to his care?" + +"He is an excellent old gentleman, I must own," replied M'Intyre, "and +I am enraged at myself when I chance to offend him; but then his eternal +harangues upon topics not worth the spark of a flint—his investigations +about invalided pots and pans and tobacco-stoppers past service—all +these things put me out of patience. I have something of Hotspur in me, +sister, I must confess." + +"Too much, too much, my dear brother! Into how many risks, and, forgive +me for saying, some of them little creditable, has this absolute and +violent temper led you! Do not let such clouds darken the time you are +now to pass in our neighbourhood, but let our old benefactor see +his kinsman as he is—generous, kind, and lively, without being rude, +headstrong, and impetuous." + +"Well," answered Captain M'Intyre, "I am schooled—good-manners be my +speed! I'll do the civil thing by your new friend—I'll have some talk +with this Mr. Lovel." + +With this determination, in which he was for the time perfectly +sincere, he joined the party who were walking before them. The treble +disquisition was by this time ended; and Sir Arthur was speaking on the +subject of foreign news, and the political and military situation of the +country, themes upon which every man thinks himself qualified to give +an opinion. An action of the preceding year having come upon the tapis, +Lovel, accidentally mingling in the conversation, made some assertion +concerning it, of the accuracy of which Captain M'Intyre seemed not to +be convinced, although his doubts were politely expressed. + +"You must confess yourself in the wrong here, Hector," said his uncle, +"although I know no man less willing to give up an argument; but you +were in England at the time, and Mr. Lovel was probably concerned in the +affair." + +"I am speaking to a military man, then?" said M'Intyre; "may I inquire +to what regiment Mr. Lovel belongs?"—Mr. Lovel gave him the number +of the regiment. "It happens strangely that we should never have met +before, Mr. Lovel. I know your regiment very well, and have served along +with them at different times." + +A blush crossed Lovel's countenance. "I have not lately been with my +regiment," he replied; "I served the last campaign upon the staff of +General Sir——." + +"Indeed! that is more wonderful than the other circumstance!—for +although I did not serve with General Sir——, yet I had an opportunity of +knowing the names of the officers who held situations in his family, and +I cannot recollect that of Lovel." + +At this observation Lovel again blushed so deeply as to attract the +attention of the whole company, while, a scornful laugh seemed to +indicate Captain M'Intyre's triumph. "There is something strange in +this," said Oldbuck to himself; "but I will not readily give up my +phoenix of post-chaise companions—all his actions, language, and +bearing, are those of a gentleman." + +Lovel in the meanwhile had taken out his pocket-book, and selecting a +letter, from which he took off the envelope, he handed it to Mlntyre. +"You know the General's hand, in all probability—I own I ought not to +show these exaggerated expressions of his regard and esteem for me." The +letter contained a very handsome compliment from the officer in question +for some military service lately performed. Captain M'Intyre, as he +glanced his eye over it, could not deny that it was written in the +General's hand, but drily observed, as he returned it, that the address +was wanting. "The address, Captain M'Intyre," answered Lovel, in the +same tone, "shall be at your service whenever you choose to inquire +after it!" + +"I certainly shall not fail to do so," rejoined the soldier. + +"Come, come," exclaimed Oldbuck, "what is the meaning of all this? Have +we got Hiren here?—We'll have no swaggering youngsters. Are you come +from the wars abroad, to stir up domestic strife in our peaceful land? +Are you like bull-dog puppies, forsooth, that when the bull, poor +fellow, is removed from the ring, fall to brawl among themselves, worry +each other, and bite honest folk's shins that are standing by?" + +Sir Arthur trusted, he said, the young gentlemen would not so far forget +themselves as to grow warm upon such a trifling subject as the back of a +letter. + +Both the disputants disclaimed any such intention, and, with high colour +and flashing eyes, protested they were never so cool in their lives. But +an obvious damp was cast over the party;—they talked in future too much +by the rule to be sociable, and Lovel, conceiving himself the object +of cold and suspicious looks from the rest of the company, and sensible +that his indirect replies had given them permission to entertain strange +opinions respecting him, made a gallant determination to sacrifice the +pleasure he had proposed in spending the day at Knockwinnock. + +He affected, therefore, to complain of a violent headache, occasioned by +the heat of the day, to which he had not been exposed since his illness, +and made a formal apology to Sir Arthur, who, listening more to recent +suspicion than to the gratitude due for former services, did not press +him to keep his engagement more than good-breeding exactly demanded. + +When Lovel took leave of the ladies, Miss Wardour's manner seemed more +anxious than he had hitherto remarked it. She indicated by a glance of +her eye towards Captain M'Intyre, perceptible only by Lovel, the subject +of her alarm, and hoped, in a voice greatly under her usual tone, it was +not a less pleasant engagement which deprived them of the pleasure of +Mr. Lovel's company. "No engagement had intervened," he assured her; "it +was only the return of a complaint by which he had been for some time +occasionally attacked." + +"The best remedy in such a case is prudence, and I—every friend of Mr. +Lovel's will expect him to employ it." + +Lovel bowed low and coloured deeply, and Miss Wardour, as if she felt +that she had said too much, turned and got into the carriage. Lovel had +next to part with Oldbuck, who, during this interval, had, with Caxon's +assistance, been arranging his disordered periwig, and brushing his +coat, which exhibited some marks of the rude path they had traversed. +"What, man!" said Oldbuck, "you are not going to leave us on account of +that foolish Hector's indiscreet curiosity and vehemence? Why, he is +a thoughtless boy—a spoiled child from the time he was in the nurse's +arms—he threw his coral and bells at my head for refusing him a bit of +sugar; and you have too much sense to mind such a shrewish boy: aequam +servare mentem is the motto of our friend Horace. I'll school Hector by +and by, and put it all to rights." But Lovel persisted in his design of +returning to Fairport. + +The Antiquary then assumed a graver tone.—"Take heed, young man, to your +present feelings. Your life has been given you for useful and valuable +purposes, and should be reserved to illustrate the literature of your +country, when you are not called upon to expose it in her defence, or +in the rescue of the innocent. Private war, a practice unknown to the +civilised ancients, is, of all the absurdities introduced by the Gothic +tribes, the most gross, impious, and cruel. Let me hear no more of these +absurd quarrels, and I will show you the treatise upon the duello, which +I composed when the town-clerk and provost Mucklewhame chose to assume +the privileges of gentlemen, and challenged each other. I thought of +printing my Essay, which is signed Pacificator; but there was no need, +as the matter was taken up by the town-council of the borough." + +"But I assure you, my dear sir, there is nothing between Captain +M'Intyre and me that can render such respectable interference +necessary." + +"See it be so; for otherwise, I will stand second to both parties." + +So saying, the old gentleman got into the chaise, close to which Miss +M'Intyre had detained her brother, upon the same principle that +the owner of a quarrelsome dog keeps him by his side to prevent his +fastening upon another. But Hector contrived to give her precaution +the slip, for, as he was on horseback, he lingered behind the carriages +until they had fairly turned the corner in the road to Knockwinnock, and +then, wheeling his horse's head round, gave him the spur in the opposite +direction. + +A very few minutes brought him up with Lovel, who, perhaps anticipating +his intention, had not put his horse beyond a slow walk, when the +clatter of hoofs behind him announced Captain Mlntyre. The young +soldier, his natural heat of temper exasperated by the rapidity of +motion, reined his horse up suddenly and violently by Lovel's side, and +touching his hat slightly, inquired, in a very haughty tone of voice, +"What am I to understand, sir, by your telling me that your address was +at my service?" + +"Simply, sir," replied Lovel, "that my name is Lovel, and that my +residence is, for the present, Fairport, as you will see by this card." + +"And is this all the information you are disposed to give me?" + +"I see no right you have to require more." + +"I find you, sir, in company with my sister," said the young soldier, +"and I have a right to know who is admitted into Miss M'Intyre's +society." + +"I shall take the liberty of disputing that right," replied Lovel, +with a manner as haughty as that of the young soldier;—"you find me in +society who are satisfied with the degree of information on my affairs +which I have thought proper to communicate, and you, a mere stranger, +have no right to inquire further." + +"Mr. Lovel, if you served as you say you have"— + +"If!" interrupted Lovel,—"if I have served as I say I have?" + +"Yes, sir, such is my expression—if you have so served, you must know +that you owe me satisfaction either in one way or other." + +"If that be your opinion, I shall be proud to give it to you, Captain +M'Intyre, in the way in which the word is generally used among +gentlemen." + +"Very well, sir," rejoined Hector, and, turning his horse round, +galloped off to overtake his party. + +His absence had already alarmed them, and his sister, having stopped the +carriage, had her neck stretched out of the window to see where he was. + +"What is the matter with you now?" said the Antiquary, "riding to and +fro as your neck were upon the wager—why do you not keep up with the +carriage?" + +"I forgot my glove, sir," said Hector. + +"Forgot your glove!—I presume you meant to say you went to throw it +down—But I will take order with you, my young gentleman—you shall return +with me this night to Monkbarns." So saying, he bid the postilion go on. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTIETH. + + —If you fail Honour here, + Never presume to serve her any more; + Bid farewell to the integrity of armes; + And the honourable name of soldier + Fall from you, like a shivered wreath of laurel + By thunder struck from a desertlesse forehead. + A Faire Quarrell. + +Early the next morning, a gentleman came to wait upon Mr. Lovel, who was +up and ready to receive him. He was a military gentleman, a friend of +Captain M'Intyre's, at present in Fairport on the recruiting service. +Lovel and he were slightly known to each other. "I presume, sir," said +Mr. Lesley (such was the name of the visitor), "that you guess the +occasion of my troubling you so early?" + +"A message from Captain M'Intyre, I presume?" + +"The same. He holds himself injured by the manner in which you declined +yesterday to answer certain inquiries which he conceived himself +entitled to make respecting a gentleman whom he found in intimate +society with his family." + +"May I ask, if you, Mr. Lesley, would have inclined to satisfy +interrogatories so haughtily and unceremoniously put to you?" + +"Perhaps not;—and therefore, as I know the warmth of my friend M'Intyre +on such occasions, I feel very desirous of acting as peacemaker. From +Mr. Lovel's very gentleman-like manners, every one must strongly wish to +see him repel all that sort of dubious calumny which will attach itself +to one whose situation is not fully explained. If he will permit me, in +friendly conciliation, to inform Captain M'Intyre of his real name, for +we are led to conclude that of Lovel is assumed"— + +"I beg your pardon, sir, but I cannot admit that inference." + +"—Or at least," said Lesley, proceeding, "that it is not the name by +which Mr. Lovel has been at all times distinguished—if Mr. Lovel will +have the goodness to explain this circumstance, which, in my opinion, +he should do in justice to his own character, I will answer for the +amicable arrangement of this unpleasant business." + +"Which is to say, Mr. Lesley, that if I condescend to answer questions +which no man has a right to ask, and which are now put to me under +penalty of Captain M'Intyre's resentment, Captain MIntyre will +condescend to rest satisfied? Mr. Lesley, I have just one word to say +on this subject—I have no doubt my secret, if I had one, might be safely +entrusted to your honour, but I do not feel called upon to satisfy the +curiosity of any one. Captain M'Intyre met me in society which of itself +was a warrant to all the world, and particularly ought to be such to +him, that I was a gentleman. He has, in my opinion, no right to go +any further, or to inquire the pedigree, rank, or circumstances, of a +stranger, who, without seeking any intimate connection with him, or his, +chances to dine with his uncle, or walk in company with his sister." + +"In that case, Captain M'Intyre requests you to be informed, that your +farther visits at Monkbarns, and all connection with Miss M'Intyre, must +be dropt, as disagreeable to him." + +"I shall certainly," said Lovel, "visit Mr. Oldbuck when it suits me, +without paying the least respect to his nephew's threats or irritable +feelings. I respect the young lady's name too much (though nothing +can be slighter than our acquaintance) to introduce it into such a +discussion." + +"Since that is your resolution, sir," answered Lesley, "Captain M'Intyre +requests that Mr. Lovel, unless he wishes to be announced as a very +dubious character, will favour him with a meeting this evening, at +seven, at the thorn-tree in the little valley close by the ruins of St. +Ruth." + +"Most unquestionably, I will wait upon him. There is only one +difficulty—I must find a friend to accompany me, and where to seek one +on this short notice, as I have no acquaintance in Fairport—I will be on +the spot, however—Captain M'Intyre may be assured of that." + +Lesley had taken his hat, and was as far as the door of the apartment, +when, as if moved by the peculiarity of Lovel's situation, he returned, +and thus addressed him: "Mr. Lovel, there is something so singular in +all this, that I cannot help again resuming the argument. You must be +yourself aware at this moment of the inconvenience of your preserving +an incognito, for which, I am convinced, there can be no dishonourable +reason. Still, this mystery renders it difficult for you to procure the +assistance of a friend in a crisis so delicate—nay, let me add, that +many persons will even consider it as a piece of Quixotry in M'Intyre to +give you a meeting, while your character and circumstances are involved +in such obscurity." + +"I understand your innuendo, Mr. Lesley," rejoined Lovel; and though +I might be offended at its severity, I am not so, because it is meant +kindly. But, in my opinion, he is entitled to all the privileges of a +gentleman, to whose charge, during the time he has been known in the +society where he happens to move, nothing can be laid that is unhandsome +or unbecoming. For a friend, I dare say I shall find some one or other +who will do me that good turn; and if his experience be less than I +could wish, I am certain not to suffer through that circumstance when +you are in the field for my antagonist." + +"I trust you will not," said Lesley; "but as I must, for my own sake, +be anxious to divide so heavy a responsibility with a capable assistant, +allow me to say, that Lieutenant Taffril's gun-brig is come into the +roadstead, and he himself is now at old Caxon's, where he lodges. I +think you have the same degree of acquaintance with him as with me, and, +as I am sure I should willingly have rendered you such a service were +I not engaged on the other side, I am convinced he will do so at your +first request." + +"At the thorn-tree, then, Mr. Lesley, at seven this evening—the arms, I +presume, are pistols?" + +"Exactly. M'Intyre has chosen the hour at which he can best escape from +Monkbarns—he was with me this morning by five, in order to return +and present himself before his uncle was up. Good-morning to you, Mr. +Lovel." And Lesley left the apartment. + +Lovel was as brave as most men; but none can internally regard such a +crisis as now approached, without deep feelings of awe and uncertainty. +In a few hours he might be in another world to answer for an action +which his calmer thought told him was unjustifiable in a religious point +of view, or he might be wandering about in the present like Cain, with +the blood of his brother on his head. And all this might be saved by +speaking a single word. Yet pride whispered, that to speak that word +now, would be ascribed to a motive which would degrade him more low than +even the most injurious reasons that could be assigned for his silence. +Every one, Miss Wardour included, must then, he thought, account him +a mean dishonoured poltroon, who gave to the fear of meeting Captain +M'Intyre the explanation he had refused to the calm and handsome +expostulations of Mr. Lesley. M'Intyre's insolent behaviour to himself +personally, the air of pretension which he assumed towards Miss Wardour, +and the extreme injustice, arrogance, and incivility of his demands +upon a perfect stranger, seemed to justify him in repelling his rude +investigation. In short, he formed the resolution which might have been +expected from so young a man,—to shut the eyes, namely, of his calmer +reason, and follow the dictates of his offended pride. With this purpose +he sought Lieutenant Taffril. + +The lieutenant received him with the good breeding of a gentleman and +the frankness of a sailor, and listened with no small surprise to the +detail which preceded his request that he might be favoured with his +company at his meeting with Captain M'Intyre. When he had finished, +Taffril rose up and walked through his apartment once or twice. "This is +a most singular circumstance," he said, "and really"— + +"I am conscious, Mr. Taffril, how little I am entitled to make my +present request, but the urgency of circumstances hardly leaves me an +alternative." + +"Permit me to ask you one question," asked the sailor;—"is there +anything of which you are ashamed in the circumstances which you have +declined to communicate." + +"Upon my honour, no; there is nothing but what, in a very short time, I +trust I may publish to the whole world." + +"I hope the mystery arises from no false shame at the lowness of your +friends perhaps, or connections?" + +"No, on my word," replied Lovel. + +"I have little sympathy for that folly," said Taffril—"indeed I cannot +be supposed to have any; for, speaking of my relations, I may be said to +have come myself from before the mast, and I believe I shall very soon +form a connection, which the world will think low enough, with a very +amiable girl, to whom I have been attached since we were next-door +neighbours, at a time when I little thought of the good fortune which +has brought me forward in the service." + +"I assure you, Mr. Taffril," replied Lovel, "whatever were the rank of +my parents, I should never think of concealing it from a spirit of +petty pride. But I am so situated at present, that I cannot enter on the +subject of my family with any propriety." + +"It is quite enough," said the honest sailor—"give me your hand; I'll +see you as well through this business as I can, though it is but an +unpleasant one after all—But what of that? our own honour has the next +call on us after our country;—you are a lad of spirit, and I own I think +Mr. Hector M'Intyre, with his long pedigree and his airs of family, +very much of a jackanapes. His father was a soldier of fortune as I am a +sailor—he himself, I suppose, is little better, unless just as his uncle +pleases; and whether one pursues fortune by land, or sea, makes no great +difference, I should fancy." + +"None in the universe, certainly," answered Lovel. + +"Well," said his new ally, "we will dine together and arrange matters +for this rencounter. I hope you understand the use of the weapon?" + +"Not particularly," Lovel replied. + +"I am sorry for that—M'Intyre is said to be a marksman." + +"I am sorry for it also," said Lovel, "both for his sake and my own: I +must then, in self-defence, take my aim as well as I can." + +"Well," added Taffril, "I will have our surgeon's mate on the field—a +good clever young fellow at caulking a shot-hole. I will let Lesley, who +is an honest fellow for a landsman, know that he attends for the benefit +of either party. Is there anything I can do for you in case of an +accident?" + +"I have but little occasion to trouble you," said Lovel. "This small +billet contains the key of my escritoir, and my very brief secret. There +is one letter in the escritoir" (digesting a temporary swelling of the +heart as he spoke), "which I beg the favour of you to deliver with your +own hand." + +"I understand," said the sailor. "Nay, my friend, never be ashamed for +the matter—an affectionate heart may overflow for an instant at the +eyes, if the ship were clearing for action; and, depend on it, whatever +your injunctions are, Dan Taffril will regard them like the bequest of a +dying brother. But this is all stuff;—we must get our things in fighting +order, and you will dine with me and my little surgeon's mate, at the +Graeme's-Arms over the way, at four o'clock." + +"Agreed," said Lovel. + +"Agreed," said Taffril; and the whole affair was arranged. + +It was a beautiful summer evening, and the shadow of the solitary +thorn-tree was lengthening upon the short greensward of the narrow +valley, which was skirted by the woods that closed around the ruins of +St. Ruth. * + +* [Supposed to have been suggested by the old Abbey of Arbroath in * +Forfarshire.] St. Ruth (arbroath Abbey) + +Lovel and Lieutenant Taffril, with the surgeon, came upon the ground +with a purpose of a nature very uncongenial to the soft, mild, and +pacific character of the hour and scene. The sheep, which during the +ardent heat of the day had sheltered in the breaches and hollows of the +gravelly bank, or under the roots of the aged and stunted trees, had +now spread themselves upon the face of the hill to enjoy their evening's +pasture, and bleated, to each other with that melancholy sound which +at once gives life to a landscape, and marks its solitude.—Taffril and +Lovel came on in deep conference, having, for fear of discovery, sent +their horses back to the town by the Lieutenant's servant. The opposite +party had not yet appeared on the field. But when they came upon the +ground, there sat upon the roots of the old thorn a figure as vigorous +in his decay as the moss-grown but strong and contorted boughs which +served him for a canopy. It was old Ochiltree. "This is embarrassing +enough," said Lovel:—"How shall we get rid of this old fellow?" + +"Here, father Adam," cried Taffril, who knew the mendicant of +yore—"here's half-a-crown for you. You must go to the Four Horse-shoes +yonder—the little inn, you know, and inquire for a servant with blue and +yellow livery. If he is not come, you'll wait for him, and tell him +we shall be with his master in about an hour's time. At any rate, wait +there till we come back,—and—Get off with you—Come, come, weigh anchor." + +"I thank ye for your awmous," said Ochiltree, pocketing the piece of +money; "but I beg your pardon, Mr. Taffril—I canna gang your errand e'en +now." + +"Why not, man? what can hinder you?" + +"I wad speak a word wi' young Mr. Lovel." + +"With me?" answered Lovel: "what would you say with me? Come, say on, +and be brief." + +The mendicant led him a few paces aside. "Are ye indebted onything to +the Laird o' Monkbarns?" + +"Indebted!—no, not I—what of that?—what makes you think so?" + +"Ye maun ken I was at the shirra's the day; for, God help me, I gang +about a' gates like the troubled spirit; and wha suld come whirling +there in a post-chaise, but Monkbarns in an unco carfuffle—now, it's no +a little thing that will make his honour take a chaise and post-horse +twa days rinnin'." + +"Well, well; but what is all this to me?" + +"Ou, ye'se hear, ye'se hear. Weel, Monkbarns is closeted wi' the +shirra whatever puir folk may be left thereout—ye needna doubt that—the +gentlemen are aye unco civil amang themsells." + +"For heaven's sake, my old friend"— + +"Canna ye bid me gang to the deevil at ance, Mr. Lovel? it wad be mair +purpose fa'ard than to speak o' heaven in that impatient gate." + +"But I have private business with Lieutenant Taffril here." + +"Weel, weel, a' in gude time," said the beggar—"I can use a little +wee bit freedom wi' Mr. Daniel Taffril;—mony's the peery and the tap +I worked for him langsyne, for I was a worker in wood as weel as a +tinkler." + +"You are either mad, Adam, or have a mind to drive me mad." + +"Nane o' the twa," said Edie, suddenly changing his manner from the +protracted drawl of the mendicant to a brief and decided tone. "The +shirra sent for his clerk, and as the lad is rather light o' the tongue, +I fand it was for drawing a warrant to apprehend you—I thought it had +been on a fugie warrant for debt; for a' body kens the laird likes +naebody to pit his hand in his pouch—But now I may haud my tongue, for +I see the M'Intyre lad and Mr. Lesley coming up, and I guess that +Monkbarns's purpose was very kind, and that yours is muckle waur than it +should be." + +The antagonist now approached, and saluted with the stern civility +which befitted the occasion. "What has this old fellow to do here?" said +M'Intyre. + +"I am an auld fallow," said Edie, "but I am also an auld soldier o' your +father's, for I served wi' him in the 42d." + +"Serve where you please, you have no title to intrude on us," said +M'Intyre, "or"—and he lifted his cane in terrorem, though without the +idea of touching the old man. + +But Ochiltree's courage was roused by the insult. "Haud down your +switch, Captain M'Intyre! I am an auld soldier, as I said before, and +I'll take muckle frae your father's son; but no a touch o' the wand +while my pike-staff will haud thegither." + +"Well, well, I was wrong—I was wrong," said M'Intyre; "here's a crown +for you—go your ways—what's the matter now?" + +The old man drew himself up to the full advantage of his uncommon +height, and in despite of his dress, which indeed had more of the +pilgrim than the ordinary beggar, looked from height, manner, and +emphasis of voice and gesture, rather like a grey palmer or eremite +preacher, the ghostly counsellor of the young men who were around him, +than the object of their charity. His speech, indeed, was as homely +as his habit, but as bold and unceremonious as his erect and dignified +demeanour. "What are ye come here for, young men?" he said, addressing +himself to the surprised audience; "are ye come amongst the most lovely +works of God to break his laws? Have ye left the works of man, the +houses and the cities that are but clay and dust, like those that built +them—and are ye come here among the peaceful hills, and by the quiet +waters, that will last whiles aught earthly shall endure, to destroy +each other's lives, that will have but an unco short time, by the course +of nature, to make up a lang account at the close o't? O sirs! hae ye +brothers, sisters, fathers, that hae tended ye, and mothers that hae +travailed for ye, friends that hae ca'd ye like a piece o' their ain +heart? and is this the way ye tak to make them childless and brotherless +and friendless? Ohon! it's an ill feight whar he that wins has the warst +o't. Think on't, bairns. I'm a puir man—but I'm an auld man too—and what +my poverty takes awa frae the weight o' my counsel, grey hairs and a +truthfu' heart should add it twenty times. Gang hame, gang hame, like +gude lads—the French will be ower to harry us ane o' thae days, and +ye'll hae feighting eneugh, and maybe auld Edie will hirple out himsell +if he can get a feal-dyke to lay his gun ower, and may live to tell you +whilk o' ye does the best where there's a good cause afore ye." + +There was something in the undaunted and independent manner, hardy +sentiment, and manly rude elocution of the old man, that had its +effect upon the party, and particularly on the seconds, whose pride was +uninterested in bringing the dispute to a bloody arbitrament, and +who, on the contrary, eagerly watched for an opportunity to recommend +reconciliation. + +"Upon my word, Mr. Lesley," said Taffril, "old Adam speaks like an +oracle. Our friends here were very angry yesterday, and of course very +foolish;—today they should be cool, or at least we must be so in +their behalf. I think the word should be forget and forgive on both +sides,—that we should all shake hands, fire these foolish crackers in +the air, and go home to sup in a body at the Graeme's-Arms." + +"I would heartily recommend it," said Lesley; "for, amidst a great +deal of heat and irritation on both sides, I confess myself unable to +discover any rational ground of quarrel." + +"Gentlemen," said M'Intyre, very coldly, "all this should have been +thought of before. In my opinion, persons that have carried this matter +so far as we have done, and who should part without carrying it any +farther, might go to supper at the Graeme's-Arms very joyously, but +would rise the next morning with reputations as ragged as our friend +here, who has obliged us with a rather unnecessary display of his +oratory. I speak for myself, that I find myself bound to call upon you +to proceed without more delay." + +"And I," said Lovel, "as I never desired any, have also to request these +gentlemen to arrange preliminaries as fast as possible." + +"Bairns! bairns!" cried old Ochiltree; but perceiving he was no longer +attended to—"Madmen, I should say—but your blood be on your heads!" And +the old man drew off from the ground, which was now measured out by +the seconds, and continued muttering and talking to himself in sullen +indignation, mixed with anxiety, and with a strong feeling of painful +curiosity. Without paying farther attention to his presence or +remonstrances, Mr. Lesley and the Lieutenant made the necessary +arrangements for the duel, and it was agreed that both parties should +fire when Mr. Lesley dropped his handkerchief. + +The fatal sign was given, and both fired almost in the same moment. +Captain M'Intyre's ball grazed the side of his opponent, but did not +draw blood. That of Lovel was more true to the aim; M'Intyre reeled +and fell. Raising himself on his arm, his first exclamation was, "It is +nothing—it is nothing—give us the other pistols." But in an instant he +said, in a lower tone, "I believe I have enough—and what's worse, I +fear I deserve it. Mr. Lovel, or whatever your name is, fly and save +yourself—Bear all witness, I provoked this matter." Then raising himself +again on his arm, he added, "Shake hands, Lovel—I believe you to be +a gentleman—forgive my rudeness, and I forgive you my death—My poor +sister!" + +The surgeon came up to perform his part of the tragedy, and Lovel stood +gazing on the evil of which he had been the active, though unwilling +cause, with a dizzy and bewildered eye. He was roused from his trance by +the grasp of the mendicant. "Why stand you gazing on your deed?—What's +doomed is doomed—what's done is past recalling. But awa, awa, if ye wad +save your young blood from a shamefu' death—I see the men out by yonder +that are come ower late to part ye—but, out and alack! sune eneugh, and +ower sune, to drag ye to prison." + +"He is right—he is right," exclaimed Taffril; "you must not attempt to +get on the high-road—get into the wood till night. My brig will be +under sail by that time, and at three in the morning, when the tide +will serve, I shall have the boat waiting for you at the Mussel-crag. +Away-away, for Heaven's sake!" + +"O yes! fly, fly!" repeated the wounded man, his words faltering with +convulsive sobs. + +"Come with me," said the mendicant, almost dragging him off; "the +Captain's plan is the best—I'll carry ye to a place where ye might be +concealed in the meantime, were they to seek ye 'wi' sleuth-hounds." + +"Go, go," again urged Lieutenant Taffril—"to stay here is mere madness." + +"It was worse madness to have come hither," said Lovel, pressing his +hand—"But farewell!" And he followed Ochiltree into the recesses of the +wood. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. + + —The Lord Abbot had a soul + Subtile and quick, and searching as the fire; + By magic stairs he went as deep as hell, + And if in devils' possession gold be kept, + He brought some sure from thence—'tis hid in caves, + Known, save to me, to none.— + The Wonder of a Kingdome. + +Lovel almost mechanically followed the beggar, who led the way with a +hasty and steady pace, through bush and bramble, avoiding the beaten +path, and often turning to listen whether there were any sounds of +pursuit behind them. They sometimes descended into the very bed of the +torrent, sometimes kept a narrow and precarious path, that the sheep +(which, with the sluttish negligence towards property of that sort +universal in Scotland, were allowed to stray in the copse) had made +along the very verge of its overhanging banks. From time to time Lovel +had a glance of the path which he had traversed the day before in +company with Sir Arthur, the Antiquary, and the young ladies. Dejected, +embarrassed, and occupied by a thousand inquietudes, as he then was, +what would he now have given to regain the sense of innocence which +alone can counter-balance a thousand evils! "Yet, then," such was his +hasty and involuntary reflection, "even then, guiltless and valued by +all around me, I thought myself unhappy. What am I now, with this young +man's blood upon my hands?—the feeling of pride which urged me to the +deed has now deserted me, as the actual fiend himself is said to do +those whom he has tempted to guilt." Even his affection for Miss Wardour +sunk for the time before the first pangs of remorse, and he thought +he could have encountered every agony of slighted love to have had +the conscious freedom from blood-guiltiness which he possessed in the +morning. + +These painful reflections were not interrupted by any conversation on +the part of his guide, who threaded the thicket before him, now holding +back the sprays to make his path easy, now exhorting him to make haste, +now muttering to himself, after the custom of solitary and neglected old +age, words which might have escaped Lovel's ear even had he listened to +them, or which, apprehended and retained, were too isolated to convey +any connected meaning,—a habit which may be often observed among people +of the old man's age and calling. + +At length, as Lovel, exhausted by his late indisposition, the harrowing +feelings by which he was agitated, and the exertion necessary to keep up +with his guide in a path so rugged, began to flag and fall behind, two +or three very precarious steps placed him on the front of a precipice +overhung with brushwood and copse. Here a cave, as narrow in its +entrance as a fox-earth, was indicated by a small fissure in the rock, +screened by the boughs of an aged oak, which, anchored by its thick and +twisted roots in the upper part of the cleft, flung its branches almost +straight outward from the cliff, concealing it effectually from all +observation. It might indeed have escaped the attention even of those +who had stood at its very opening, so uninviting was the portal at which +the beggar entered. But within, the cavern was higher and more roomy, +cut into two separate branches, which, intersecting each other at right +angles, formed an emblem of the cross, and indicated the abode of an +anchoret of former times. There are many caves of the same kind in +different parts of Scotland. I need only instance those of Gorton, near +Rosslyn, in a scene well known to the admirers of romantic nature. + +The light within the eave was a dusky twilight at the entrance, which +failed altogether in the inner recesses. "Few folks ken o' this place," +said the old man; "to the best o'my knowledge, there's just twa living +by mysell, and that's Jingling Jock and the Lang Linker. I have had mony +a thought, that when I fand mysell auld and forfairn, and no able to +enjoy God's blessed air ony langer, I wad drag mysell here wi' a pickle +ait-meal; and see, there's a bit bonny dropping well that popples that +self-same gate simmer and winter;—and I wad e'en streek mysell out here, +and abide my removal, like an auld dog that trails its useless ugsome +carcass into some bush or bracken no to gie living things a scunner wi' +the sight o't when it's dead—Ay, and then, when the dogs barked at the +lone farm-stead, the gudewife wad cry, Whisht, stirra, that'll be auld +Edie,' and the bits o' weans wad up, puir things, and toddle to the door +to pu' in the auld Blue-Gown that mends a' their bonny-dies—But there +wad be nae mair word o' Edie, I trow." + +He then led Lovel, who followed him unresistingly, into one of the +interior branches of the cave. "Here," he said, "is a bit turnpike-stair +that gaes up to the auld kirk abune. Some folks say this place was +howkit out by the monks lang syne to hide their treasure in, and some +said that they used to bring things into the abbey this gate by night, +that they durstna sae weel hae brought in by the main port and in open +day—And some said that ane o' them turned a saint (or aiblins wad hae +had folk think sae), and settled him down in this Saint Ruth's cell, as +the auld folks aye ca'd it, and garr'd big the stair, that he might +gang up to the kirk when they were at the divine service. The Laird +o' Monkbarns wad hae a hantle to say about it, as he has about maist +things, if he ken'd only about the place. But whether it was made for +man's devices or God's service, I have seen ower muckle sin done in it +in my day, and far ower muckle have I been partaker of—ay, even here in +this dark cove. Mony a gudewife's been wondering what for the red cock +didna craw her up in the morning, when he's been roasting, puir fallow, +in this dark hole—And, ohon! I wish that and the like o' that had been +the warst o't! Whiles they wad hae heard the din we were making in the +very bowels o' the earth, when Sanders Aikwood, that was forester in +thae days, the father o' Ringan that now is, was gaun daundering about +the wood at e'en, to see after the Laird's game and whiles he wad hae +seen a glance o' the light frae the door o' the cave, flaughtering +against the hazels on the other bank;—and then siccan stories as Sanders +had about the worricows and gyre-carlins that haunted about the auld +wa's at e'en, and the lights that he had seen, and the cries that he had +heard, when there was nae mortal e'e open but his ain; and eh! as he wad +thrum them ower and ower to the like o' me ayont the ingle at e'en, and +as I wad gie the auld silly carle grane for grane, and tale for tale, +though I ken'd muckle better about it than ever he did. Ay, ay—they were +daft days thae;—but they were a' vanity, and waur,—and it's fitting that +they wha hae led a light and evil life, and abused charity when they +were young, suld aiblins come to lack it when they are auld." + +While Ochiltree was thus recounting the exploits and tricks of his +earlier life, with a tone in which glee and compunction alternately +predominated, his unfortunate auditor had sat down upon the hermit's +seat, hewn out of the solid rock, and abandoned himself to that +lassitude, both of mind and body, which generally follows a course of +events that have agitated both, The effect of his late indisposition, +which had much weakened his system, contributed to this lethargic +despondency. "The puir bairn!" said auld Edie, "an he sleeps in this +damp hole, he'll maybe wauken nae mair, or catch some sair disease. It's +no the same to him as to the like o' us, that can sleep ony gate an anes +our wames are fu'. Sit up, Maister Lovel, lad! After a's come and gane, +I dare say the captain-lad will do weel eneugh—and, after a', ye are no +the first that has had this misfortune. I hae seen mony a man killed, +and helped to kill them mysell, though there was nae quarrel between +us—and if it isna wrang to kill folk we have nae quarrel wi', just +because they wear another sort of a cockade, and speak a foreign +language, I canna see but a man may have excuse for killing his ain +mortal foe, that comes armed to the fair field to kill him. I dinna say +it's right—God forbid—or that it isna sinfu' to take away what ye canna +restore, and that's the breath of man, whilk is in his nostrils; but I +say it is a sin to be forgiven if it's repented of. Sinfu' men are we +a'; but if ye wad believe an auld grey sinner that has seen the evil +o' his ways, there is as much promise atween the twa boards o' the +Testament as wad save the warst o' us, could we but think sae." + +With such scraps of comfort and of divinity as he possessed, the +mendicant thus continued to solicit and compel the attention of Lovel, +until the twilight began to fade into night. "Now," said Ochiltree, "I +will carry ye to a mair convenient place, where I hae sat mony a time to +hear the howlit crying out of the ivy tod, and to see the moonlight come +through the auld windows o' the ruins. There can be naebody come +here after this time o' night; and if they hae made ony search, thae +blackguard shirra'-officers and constables, it will hae been ower lang +syne. Od, they are as great cowards as ither folk, wi' a' their warrants +and king's keys*—I hae gien some o' them a gliff in my day, when they +were coming rather ower near me—But, lauded be grace for it! they canna +stir me now for ony waur than an auld man and a beggar, and my badge +is a gude protection; and then Miss Isabella Wardour is a tower o' +strength, ye ken"—(Lovel sighed)—"Aweel, dinna be cast down—bowls may a' +row right yet—gie the lassie time to ken her mind. She's the wale o' the +country for beauty, and a gude friend o' mine—I gang by the bridewell +as safe as by the kirk on a Sabbath—deil ony o' them daur hurt a hair o' +auld Edie's head now; I keep the crown o' the causey when I gae to the +borough, and rub shouthers wi' a bailie wi' as little concern as an he +were a brock." + +* The king's keys are, in law phrase, the crow-bars and hammers used to +force doors and locks, in execution of the king's warrant. + +While the mendicant spoke thus, he was busied in removing a few loose +stones in one angle of the eave, which obscured the entrance of the +staircase of which he had spoken, and led the way into it, followed by +Lovel in passive silence. + +"The air's free eneugh," said the old man; "the monks took care o' that, +for they werena a lang-breathed generation, I reckon; they hae contrived +queer tirlie-wirlie holes, that gang out to the open air, and keep the +stair as caller as a kail-blade." + +Lovel accordingly found the staircase well aired, and, though narrow, it +was neither ruinous nor long, but speedily admitted them into a narrow +gallery contrived to run within the side wall of the chancel, from which +it received air and light through apertures ingeniously hidden amid the +florid ornaments of the Gothic architecture. + +"This secret passage ance gaed round great part o' the biggin," said the +beggar, "and through the wa' o' the place I've heard Monkbarns ca' the +Refractory" [meaning probably Refectory], "and so awa to the Prior's ain +house. It's like he could use it to listen what the monks were saying at +meal-time,—and then he might come ben here and see that they were busy +skreighing awa wi' the psalms doun below there; and then, when he saw a' +was right and tight, he might step awa and fetch in a bonnie lass at +the cove yonder—for they were queer hands the monks, unless mony lees is +made on them. But our folk were at great pains lang syne to big up +the passage in some parts, and pu' it down in others, for fear o' some +uncanny body getting into it, and finding their way down to the cove: it +wad hae been a fashious job that—by my certie, some o' our necks wad hae +been ewking." + +They now came to a place where the gallery was enlarged into a small +circle, sufficient to contain a stone seat. A niche, constructed exactly +before it, projected forward into the chancel, and as its sides were +latticed, as it were, with perforated stone-work, it commanded a full +view of the chancel in every direction, and was probably constructed, as +Edie intimated, to be a convenient watch-tower, from which the superior +priest, himself unseen, might watch the behaviour of his monks, and +ascertain, by personal inspection, their punctual attendance upon those +rites of devotion which his rank exempted him from sharing with them. As +this niche made one of a regular series which stretched along the wall +of the chancel, and in no respect differed from the rest when seen from +below, the secret station, screened as it was by the stone figure of +St. Michael and the dragon, and the open tracery around the niche, was +completely hid from observation. The private passage, confined to its +pristine breadth, had originally continued beyond this seat; but the +jealous precautions of the vagabonds who frequented the cave of St. Ruth +had caused them to build it carefully up with hewn stones from the ruin. + +"We shall be better here," said Edie, seating himself on the stone +bench, and stretching the lappet of his blue gown upon the spot, when he +motioned Lovel to sit down beside him—"we shall be better here than doun +below; the air's free and mild, and the savour of the wallflowers, and +siccan shrubs as grow on thae ruined wa's, is far mair refreshing than +the damp smell doun below yonder. They smell sweetest by night-time thae +flowers, and they're maist aye seen about rained buildings. Now, Maister +Lovel, can ony o' you scholars gie a gude reason for that?" + +Lovel replied in the negative. + +"I am thinking," resumed the beggar, "that they'll be, like mony folk's +gude gifts, that often seem maist gracious in adversity—or maybe it's a +parable, to teach us no to slight them that are in the darkness of sin +and the decay of tribulation, since God sends odours to refresh the +mirkest hour, and flowers and pleasant bushes to clothe the ruined +buildings. And now I wad like a wise man to tell me whether Heaven is +maist pleased wi' the sight we are looking upon—thae pleasant and quiet +lang streaks o' moonlight that are lying sae still on the floor o' this +auld kirk, and glancing through the great pillars and stanchions o' the +carved windows, and just dancing like on the leaves o' the dark ivy as +the breath o' wind shakes it—I wonder whether this is mair pleasing to +Heaven than when it was lighted up wi' lamps, and candles nae doubt, and +roughies,* and wi' the mirth and the frankincent that they speak of in +the Holy Scripture, and wi' organs assuredly, and men and women singers, +and sackbuts, and dulcimers, and a' instruments o' music—I wonder +if that was acceptable, or whether it is of these grand parafle o' +ceremonies that holy writ says, It is an abomination to me. + +* Links, or torches. + +I am thinking, Maister Lovel, if twa puir contrite spirits like yours +and mine fand grace to make our petition"— + +Here Lovel laid his hand eagerly on the mendicant's arm, saying,—"Hush! +I heard some one speak." + +"I am dull o' hearing," answered Edie, in a whisper, "but we're surely +safe here—where was the sound?" + +Lovel pointed to the door of the chancel, which, highly ornamented, +occupied the west end of the building, surmounted by the carved window, +which let in a flood of moonlight over it. + +"They can be nane o' our folk," said Edie in the same low and cautious +tone; "there's but twa o' them kens o' the place, and they're mony a +mile off, if they are still bound on their weary pilgrimage. I'll never +think it's the officers here at this time o' night. I am nae believer in +auld wives' stories about ghaists, though this is gey like a place for +them—But mortal, or of the other world, here they come!—twa men and a +light." + +And in very truth, while the mendicant spoke, two human figures darkened +with their shadows the entrance of the chancel—which had before opened +to the moon-lit meadow beyond, and the small lantern which one of them +displayed, glimmered pale in the clear and strong beams of the moon, as +the evening star does among the lights of the departing day. The first +and most obvious idea was, that, despite the asseverations of Edie +Ochiltree, the persons who approached the ruins at an hour so uncommon +must be the officers of justice in quest of Lovel. But no part of their +conduct confirmed the suspicion. A touch and a whisper from the old man +warned Lovel that his best course was to remain quiet, and watch their +motions from their present place of concealment. Should anything appear +to render retreat necessary, they had behind them the private stair-case +and cavern, by means of which they could escape into the wood long +before any danger of close pursuit. They kept themselves, therefore, as +still as possible, and observed with eager and anxious curiosity every +accent and motion of these nocturnal wanderers. + +After conversing together some time in whispers, the two figures +advanced into the middle of the chancel; and a voice, which Lovel at +once recognised, from its tone and dialect, to be that of Dousterswivel, +pronounced in a louder but still a smothered tone, "Indeed, mine goot +sir, dere cannot be one finer hour nor season for dis great purpose. +You shall see, mine goot sir, dat it is all one bibble-babble dat Mr. +Oldenbuck says, and dat he knows no more of what he speaks than one +little child. Mine soul! he expects to get as rich as one Jew for his +poor dirty one hundred pounds, which I care no more about, by mine +honest wort, than I care for an hundred stivers. But to you, my most +munificent and reverend patron, I will show all de secrets dat art can +show—ay, de secret of de great Pymander." The Ruins of St. Ruth + +"That other ane," whispered Edie, "maun be, according to a' likelihood, +Sir Arthur Wardour—I ken naebody but himsell wad come here at this time +at e'en wi' that German blackguard;—ane wad think he's bewitched him—he +gars him e'en trow that chalk is cheese. Let's see what they can be +doing." + +This interruption, and the low tone in which Sir Arthur spoke, made +Lovel lose all Sir Arthur's answer to the adept, excepting the last +three emphatic words, "Very great expense;" to which Dousterswivel at +once replied—"Expenses!—to be sure—dere must be de great expenses. +You do not expect to reap before you do sow de seed: de expense is de +seed—de riches and de mine of goot metal, and now de great big chests +of plate, they are de crop—vary goot crop too, on mine wort. Now, Sir +Arthur, you have sowed this night one little seed of ten guineas +like one pinch of snuff, or so big; and if you do not reap de great +harvest—dat is, de great harvest for de little pinch of seed, for it +must be proportions, you must know—then never call one honest man, +Herman Dousterswivel. Now you see, mine patron—for I will not conceal +mine secret from you at all—you see this little plate of silver; you +know de moon measureth de whole zodiack in de space of twenty-eight +day—every shild knows dat. Well, I take a silver plate when she is +in her fifteenth mansion, which mansion is in de head of Libra, and I +engrave upon one side de worts, [Shedbarschemoth Schartachan]—dat is, +de Emblems of de Intelligence of de moon—and I make this picture like a +flying serpent with a turkey- cock's head—vary well. Then upon this side +I make de table of de moon, which is a square of nine, multiplied into +itself, with eighty-one numbers on every side, and diameter nine—dere it +is done very proper. Now I will make dis avail me at de change of every +quarter-moon dat I shall find by de same proportions of expenses I lay +out in de suffumigations, as nine, to de product of nine multiplied +into itself—But I shall find no more to-night as maybe two or dree times +nine, because dere is a thwarting power in de house of ascendency." + +"But, Dousterswivel," said the simple Baronet, "does not this look like +magic?—I am a true though unworthy son of the Episcopal church, and I +will have nothing to do with the foul fiend." + +"Bah! bah!—not a bit magic in it at all—not a bit—It is all founded on +de planetary influence, and de sympathy and force of numbers. I will +show you much finer dan dis. I do not say dere is not de spirit in it, +because of de suffumigation; but, if you are not afraid, he shall not be +invisible." + +"I have no curiosity to see him at all," said the Baronet, whose courage +seemed, from a certain quaver in his accent, to have taken a fit of the +ague. + +"Dat is great pity," said Dousterswivel; "I should have liked to show +you de spirit dat guard dis treasure like one fierce watchdog—but I know +how to manage him;—you would not care to see him?" + +"Not at all," answered the Baronet, in a tone of feigned indifference; +"I think we have but little time." + +"You shall pardon me, my patron; it is not yet twelve, and twelve +precise is just our planetary hours; and I could show you de spirit +vary well, in de meanwhile, just for pleasure. You see I would draw +a pentagon within a circle, which is no trouble at all, and make my +suffumigation within it, and dere we would be like in one strong castle, +and you would hold de sword while I did say de needful worts. Den you +should see de solid wall open like de gate of ane city, and den—let me +see—ay, you should see first one stag pursued by three black greyhounds, +and they should pull him down as they do at de elector's great +hunting-match; and den one ugly, little, nasty black negro should appear +and take de stag from them—and paf—all should be gone; den you should +hear horns winded dat all de ruins should ring—mine wort, they should +play fine hunting piece, as goot as him you call'd Fischer with his +oboi; vary well—den comes one herald, as we call Ernhold, winding his +horn—and den come de great Peolphan, called de mighty Hunter of de +North, mounted on hims black steed. But you would not care to see all +this?"* + +* Note F. Witchcraft. + + "Why, I am not afraid," answered the poor Baronet,—"if—that is—does +anything—any great mischiefs, happen on such occasions?" + +"Bah! mischiefs? no!—sometimes if de circle be no quite just, or +de beholder be de frightened coward, and not hold de sword firm and +straight towards him, de Great Hunter will take his advantage, and drag +him exorcist out of de circle and throttle him. Dat does happens." + +"Well then, Dousterswivel, with every confidence in my courage and your +skill, we will dispense with this apparition, and go on to the business +of the night." + +"With all mine heart—it is just one thing to me—and now it is de +time—hold you de sword till I kindle de little what you call chip." + +Dousterswivel accordingly set fire to a little pile of chips, touched +and prepared with some bituminous substance to make them burn fiercely; +and when the flame was at the highest, and lightened, with its +shortlived glare, all the ruins around, the German flung in a handful of +perfumes which produced a strong and pungent odour. The exorcist and his +pupil both were so much affected as to cough and sneeze heartily; and, +as the vapour floated around the pillars of the building, and penetrated +every crevice, it produced the same effect on the beggar and Lovel. + +"Was that an echo?" said the Baronet, astonished at the sternutation +which resounded from above; "or"—drawing close to the adept, "can it +be the spirit you talked of, ridiculing our attempt upon his hidden +treasures?" + +"N—n—no," muttered the German, who began to partake of his pupil's +terrors, "I hope not." + +Here a violent of sneezing, which the mendicant was unable to suppress, +and which could not be considered by any means as the dying fall of an +echo, accompanied by a grunting half-smothered cough, confounded the two +treasure-seekers. "Lord have mercy on us!" said the Baronet. + +"Alle guten Geistern loben den Herrn!" ejaculated the terrified adept. +"I was begun to think," he continued, after a moment's silence, "that +this would be de bestermost done in de day-light—we was bestermost to go +away just now." + +"You juggling villain!" said the Baronet, in whom these expressions +awakened a suspicion that overcame his terrors, connected as it was +with the sense of desperation arising from the apprehension of impending +ruin—"you juggling mountebank! this is some legerdemain trick of yours +to get off from the performance of your promise, as you have so often +done before. But, before Heaven! I will this night know what I have +trusted to when I suffered you to fool me on to my ruin! Go on, +then—come fairy, come fiend, you shall show me that treasure, or confess +yourself a knave and an impostor, or, by the faith of a desperate and +ruined man, I'll send you where you shall see spirits enough." + +The treasure-finder, trembling between his terror for the supernatural +beings by whom he supposed himself to be surrounded, and for his life, +which seemed to be at the mercy of a desperate man, could only bring +out, "Mine patron, this is not the allerbestmost usage. Consider, mine +honoured sir, that de spirits"— + +Here Edie, who began to enter into the humour of the scene, uttered an +extraordinary howl, being an exaltation and a prolongation of the most +deplorable whine in which he was accustomed to solicit charity. + +Dousterswivel flung himself on his knees—"Dear Sir Arthurs, let us go, +or let me go!" + +"No, you cheating scoundrel!" said the knight, unsheathing the sword +which he had brought for the purposes of the exorcism, "that shift shall +not serve you—Monkbarns warned me long since of your juggling pranks—I +will see this treasure before you leave this place, or I will have you +confess yourself an impostor, or, by Heaven, I'll run this sword through +you, though all the spirits of the dead should rise around us!" + +"For de lofe of Heaven be patient, mine honoured patron, and you shall +hafe all de treasure as I knows of—yes, you shall indeed—But do not +speak about de spirits—it makes dem angry." + +Edie Ochiltree here prepared himself to throw in another groan, but was +restrained by Lovel, who began to take a more serious interest, as +he observed the earnest and almost desperate demeanour of Sir Arthur. +Dousterswivel, having at once before his eyes the fear of the foul +fiend, and the violence of Sir Arthur, played his part of a conjuror +extremely ill, hesitating to assume the degree of confidence necessary +to deceive the latter, lest it should give offence to the invisible +cause of his alarm. However, after rolling his eyes, muttering and +sputtering German exorcisms, with contortions of his face and person, +rather flowing from the impulse of terror than of meditated fraud, he at +length proceeded to a corner of the building where a flat stone lay upon +the ground, bearing upon its surface the effigy of an armed warrior in a +recumbent posture carved in bas-relief. He muttered to Sir Arthur, "Mine +patrons, it is here—Got save us all!" + +Sir Arthur, who, after the first moment of his superstitious fear +was over, seemed to have bent up all his faculties to the pitch of +resolution necessary to carry on the adventure, lent the adept his +assistance to turn over the stone, which, by means of a lever that +the adept had provided, their joint force with difficulty effected. No +supernatural light burst forth from below to indicate the subterranean +treasury, nor was there any apparition of spirits, earthly or infernal. +But when Dousterswivel had, with great trepidation, struck a few strokes +with a mattock, and as hastily thrown out a shovelful or two of earth +(for they came provided with the tools necessary for digging), something +was heard to ring like the sound of a falling piece of metal, and +Dousterswivel, hastily catching up the substance which produced it, and +which his shovel had thrown out along with the earth, exclaimed, "On +mine dear wort, mine patrons, dis is all—it is indeed; I mean all we can +do to-night;"—and he gazed round him with a cowering and fearful glance, +as if to see from what comer the avenger of his imposture was to start +forth. + +"Let me see it," said Sir Arthur; and then repeated, still more sternly, +"I will be satisfied—I will judge by mine own eyes." He accordingly +held the object to the light of the lantern. It was a small case, or +casket,—for Lovel could not at the distance exactly discern its shape, +which, from the Baronet's exclamation as he opened it, he concluded was +filled with coin. "Ay," said the Baronet, "this is being indeed in good +luck! and if it omens proportional success upon a larger venture, the +venture shall be made. That six hundred of Goldieword's, added to the +other incumbent claims, must have been ruin indeed. If you think we +can parry it by repeating this experiment—suppose when the moon next +changes,—I will hazard the necessary advance, come by it how I may." + +"Oh, mine good patrons, do not speak about all dat," said Dousterswivel, +"as just now, but help me to put de shtone to de rights, and let +us begone our own ways." And accordingly, so soon as the stone was +replaced, he hurried Sir Arthur, who was now resigned once more to his +guidance, away from a spot, where the German's guilty conscience and +superstitious fears represented goblins as lurking behind each pillar +with the purpose of punishing his treachery. + +"Saw onybody e'er the like o' that!" said Edie, when they had +disappeared like shadows through the gate by which they had entered—"saw +ony creature living e'er the like o' that!—But what can we do for that +puir doited deevil of a knight-baronet? Od, he showed muckle mair spunk, +too, than I thought had been in him—I thought he wad hae sent cauld iron +through the vagabond—Sir Arthur wasna half sae bauld at Bessie's-apron +yon night—but then, his blood was up even now, and that makes an unco +difference. I hae seen mony a man wad hae felled another an anger him, +that wadna muckle hae liked a clink against Crummies-horn yon time. But +what's to be done?" + +"I suppose," said Lovel, "his faith in this fellow is entirely restored +by this deception, which, unquestionably, he had arranged beforehand." + +"What! the siller?—Ay, ay—trust him for that—they that hide ken best +where to find. He wants to wile him out o' his last guinea, and then +escape to his ain country, the land-louper. I wad likeit weel just +to hae come in at the clipping-time, and gien him a lounder wi' my +pike-staff; he wad hae taen it for a bennison frae some o' the auld dead +abbots. But it's best no to be rash; sticking disna gang by strength, +but by the guiding o' the gally. I'se be upsides wi' him ae day." + +"What if you should inform Mr. Oldbuck?" said Lovel. + +"Ou, I dinna ken—Monkbarns and Sir Arthur are like, and yet they're no +like neither. Monkbarns has whiles influence wi' him, and whiles Sir +Arthur cares as little about him as about the like o' me. Monkbarns is +no that ower wise himsell, in some things;—he wad believe a bodle to +be an auld Roman coin, as he ca's it, or a ditch to be a camp, upon ony +leasing that idle folk made about it. I hae garr'd him trow mony a +queer tale mysell, gude forgie me. But wi' a' that, he has unco little +sympathy wi' ither folks; and he's snell and dure eneugh in casting up +their nonsense to them, as if he had nane o' his ain. He'll listen the +hale day, an yell tell him about tales o' Wallace, and Blind Harry, and +Davie Lindsay; but ye maunna speak to him about ghaists or fairies, or +spirits walking the earth, or the like o' that;—he had amaist flung auld +Caxon out o' the window (and he might just as weel hae flung awa +his best wig after him), for threeping he had seen a ghaist at the +humlock-knowe. Now, if he was taking it up in this way, he wad set up +the tother's birse, and maybe do mair ill nor gude—he's done that +twice or thrice about thae mine-warks; ye wad thought Sir Arthur had a +pleasure in gaun on wi' them the deeper, the mair he was warned against +it by Monkbarns." + +"What say you then," said Lovel, "to letting Miss Wardour know the +circumstance?" + +"Ou, puir thing, how could she stop her father doing his pleasure?—and, +besides, what wad it help? There's a sough in the country about that +six hundred pounds, and there's a writer chield in Edinburgh has been +driving the spur-rowels o' the law up to the head into Sir Arthur's +sides to gar him pay it, and if he canna, he maun gang to jail or flee +the country. He's like a desperate man, and just catches at this chance +as a' he has left, to escape utter perdition; so what signifies plaguing +the puir lassie about what canna be helped? And besides, to say +the truth, I wadna like to tell the secret o' this place. It's unco +convenient, ye see yoursell, to hae a hiding-hole o' ane's ain; and +though I be out o' the line o' needing ane e'en now, and trust in the +power o' grace that I'll neer do onything to need ane again, yet naebody +kens what temptation ane may be gien ower to—and, to be brief, I downa +bide the thought of anybody kennin about the place;—they say, keep a +thing seven year, an' yell aye find a use for't—and maybe I may need the +cove, either for mysell, or for some ither body." + +This argument, in which Edie Ochiltree, notwithstanding his scraps of +morality and of divinity, seemed to take, perhaps from old habit, a +personal interest, could not be handsomely controverted by Lovel, who +was at that moment reaping the benefit of the secret of which the old +man appeared to be so jealous. + +This incident, however, was of great service to Lovel, as diverting +his mind from the unhappy occurrence of the evening, and considerably +rousing the energies which had been stupefied by the first view of his +calamity. He reflected that it by no means necessarily followed that a +dangerous wound must be a fatal one—that he had been hurried from +the spot even before the surgeon had expressed any opinion of Captain +M'Intyre's situation—and that he had duties on earth to perform, even +should the very worst be true, which, if they could not restore his +peace of mind or sense of innocence, would furnish a motive for +enduring existence, and at the same time render it a course of active +benevolence.—Such were Lovel's feelings, when the hour arrived when, +according to Edie's calculation—who, by some train or process of his own +in observing the heavenly bodies, stood independent of the assistance +of a watch or time-keeper—it was fitting they should leave their +hiding-place, and betake themselves to the seashore, in order to meet +Lieutenant Taffril's boat according to appointment. + +They retreated by the same passage which had admitted them to the +prior's secret seat of observation, and when they issued from the +grotto into the wood, the birds which began to chirp, and even to sing, +announced that the dawn was advanced. This was confirmed by the light +and amber clouds that appeared over the sea, as soon as their exit +from the copse permitted them to view the horizon.—Morning, said to be +friendly to the muses, has probably obtained this character from its +effect upon the fancy and feelings of mankind. Even to those who, like +Lovel, have spent a sleepless and anxious night, the breeze of the dawn +brings strength and quickening both of mind and body. It was, therefore, +with renewed health and vigour that Lovel, guided by the trusty +mendicant, brushed away the dew as he traversed the downs which divided +the Den of St. Ruth, as the woods surrounding the ruins were popularly +called, from the sea-shore. + +The first level beam of the sun, as his brilliant disk began to emerge +from the ocean, shot full upon the little gun-brig which was lying-to +in the offing—close to the shore the boat was already waiting, Taffril +himself, with his naval cloak wrapped about him, seated in the stern. He +jumped ashore when he saw the mendicant and Lovel approach, and, +shaking the latter heartily by the hand, begged him not to be cast down. +"M'Intyre's wound," he said, "was doubtful, but far from desperate." +His attention had got Lovel's baggage privately sent on board the +brig; "and," he said, "he trusted that, if Lovel chose to stay with the +vessel, the penalty of a short cruise would be the only disagreeable +consequence of his rencontre. As for himself, his time and motions +were a good deal at his own disposal, he said, excepting the necessary +obligation of remaining on his station." + +"We will talk of our farther motions," said Lovel, "as we go on board." + +Then turning to Edie, he endeavoured to put money into his hand. "I +think," said Edie, as he tendered it back again, "the hale folk here +have either gane daft, or they hae made a vow to rain my trade, as they +say ower muckle water drowns the miller. I hae had mair gowd offered me +within this twa or three weeks than I ever saw in my life afore. Keep +the siller, lad—yell hae need o't, I'se warrant ye, and I hae nane my +claes is nae great things, and I get a blue gown every year, and as mony +siller groats as the king, God bless him, is years auld—you and I serve +the same master, ye ken, Captain Taffril; there's rigging provided +for—and my meat and drink I get for the asking in my rounds, or, at an +orra time, I can gang a day without it, for I make it a rule never to +pay for nane;—so that a' the siller I need is just to buy tobacco and +sneeshin, and maybe a dram at a time in a cauld day, though I am nae +dram-drinker to be a gaberlunzie;—sae take back your gowd, and just gie +me a lily-white shilling." + +Upon these whims, which he imagined intimately connected with the honour +of his vagabond profession, Edie was flint and adamant, not to be moved +by rhetoric or entreaty; and therefore Lovel was under the necessity of +again pocketing his intended bounty, and taking a friendly leave of the +mendicant by shaking him by the hand, and assuring him of his cordial +gratitude for the very important services which he had rendered him, +recommending, at the same time, secrecy as to what they had that night +witnessed.—"Ye needna doubt that," said Ochiltree; "I never tell'd tales +out o' yon cove in my life, though mony a queer thing I hae seen in't." + +The boat now put off. The old man remained looking after it as it made +rapidly towards the brig under the impulse of six stout rowers, and +Lovel beheld him again wave his blue bonnet as a token of farewell ere +he turned from his fixed posture, and began to move slowly along the +sands as if resuming his customary perambulations. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Antiquary, Volume 1, by Sir Walter Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANTIQUARY, VOLUME 1 *** + +***** This file should be named 7003-h.htm or 7003-h.zip ***** This and +all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/0/7003/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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