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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Rob Roy, Complete + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: December 2004 [EBook #7025] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 24, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROB ROY BY COMPLETE *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + + + + + ROB ROY + + BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART + + + + + For why? Because the good old rule + Sufficeth them; the simple plan, + That they should take who have the power, + And they should keep who can. + + _Rob Roy's Grave_--Wordsworth + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION + +When the Editor of the following volumes published, about two years +since, the work called the "Antiquary," he announced that he was, for the +last time, intruding upon the public in his present capacity. He might +shelter himself under the plea that every anonymous writer is, like the +celebrated Junius, only a phantom, and that therefore, although an +apparition, of a more benign, as well as much meaner description, he +cannot be bound to plead to a charge of inconsistency. A better apology +may be found in the imitating the confession of honest Benedict, that, +when he said he would die a bachelor, he did not think he should live to +be married. The best of all would be, if, as has eminently happened in +the case of some distinguished contemporaries, the merit of the work +should, in the reader's estimation, form an excuse for the Author's +breach of promise. Without presuming to hope that this may prove the +case, it is only further necessary to mention, that his resolution, like +that of Benedict, fell a sacrifice, to temptation at least, if not to +stratagem. + +It is now about six months since the Author, through the medium of his +respectable Publishers, received a parcel of Papers, containing the +Outlines of this narrative, with a permission, or rather with a request, +couched in highly flattering terms, that they might be given to the +Public, with such alterations as should be found suitable.* + +* As it maybe necessary, in the present Edition(1829), to speak upon the +square, the Author thinks it proper to own, that the communication +alluded to is entirely imaginary. + +These were of course so numerous, that, besides the suppression of names, +and of incidents approaching too much to reality, the work may in a great +measure be, said to be new written. Several anachronisms have probably +crept in during the course of these changes; and the mottoes for the +Chapters have been selected without any reference to the supposed date of +the incidents. For these, of course, the Editor is responsible. Some +others occurred in the original materials, but they are of little +consequence. In point of minute accuracy, it may be stated, that the +bridge over the Forth, or rather the Avondhu (or Black River), near the +hamlet of Aberfoil, had not an existence thirty years ago. It does not, +however, become the Editor to be the first to point out these errors; and +he takes this public opportunity to thank the unknown and nameless +correspondent, to whom the reader will owe the principal share of any +amusement which he may derive from the following pages. + +1st December 1817. + + + + + INTRODUCTION---(1829) + +When the author projected this further encroachment on the patience of an +indulgent public, he was at some loss for a title; a good name being very +nearly of as much consequence in literature as in life. The title of _Rob +Roy_ was suggested by the late Mr. Constable, whose sagacity and +experience foresaw the germ of popularity which it included. + +No introduction can be more appropriate to the work than some account of +the singular character whose name is given to the title-page, and who, +through good report and bad report, has maintained a wonderful degree of +importance in popular recollection. This cannot be ascribed to the +distinction of his birth, which, though that of a gentleman, had in it +nothing of high destination, and gave him little right to command in his +clan. Neither, though he lived a busy, restless, and enterprising life, +were his feats equal to those of other freebooters, who have been less +distinguished. He owed his fame in a great measure to his residing on the +very verge of the Highlands, and playing such pranks in the beginning of +the 18th century, as are usually ascribed to Robin Hood in the middle +ages,--- and that within forty miles of Glasgow, a great commercial city, +the seat of a learned university. Thus a character like his, blending the +wild virtues, the subtle policy, and unrestrained license of an American +Indian, was flourishing in Scotland during the Augustan age of Queen Anne +and George I. Addison, it is probable, or Pope, would have been +considerably surprised if they had known that there, existed in the same +island with them a personage of Rob Roy's peculiar habits and profession. +It is this strong contrast betwixt the civilised and cultivated mode of +life on the one side of the Highland line, and the wild and lawless +adventures which were habitually undertaken and achieved by one who dwelt +on the opposite side of that ideal boundary, which creates the interest +attached to his name. Hence it is that even yet, + + + Far and near, through vale and hill, + Are faces that attest the same, + And kindle like a fire new stirr'd, + At sound of Rob Roy's name. + +There were several advantages which Rob Roy enjoyed for sustaining to +advantage the character which he assumed. + +The most prominent of these was his descent from, and connection with, +the clan MacGregor, so famous for their misfortunes, and the indomitable +spirit with which they maintained themselves as a clan, linked and banded +together in spite of the most severe laws, executed with unheard-of +rigour against those who bore this forbidden surname. Their history was +that of several others of the original Highland clans, who were +suppressed by more powerful neighbours, and either extirpated, or forced +to secure themselves by renouncing their own family appellation, and +assuming that of the conquerors. The peculiarity in the story of the +MacGregors, is their retaining, with such tenacity, their separate +existence and union as a clan under circumstances of the utmost urgency. +The history of the tribe is briefly as follows--But we must premise that +the tale depends in some degree on tradition; therefore, excepting when +written documents are, quoted, it must be considered as in some degree +dubious. + +The sept of MacGregor claimed a descent from Gregor, or Gregorius, third +son, it is said, of Alpin King of Scots, who flourished about 787. Hence +their original patronymic is MacAlpine, and they are usually termed the +Clan Alpine. An individual tribe of them retains the same name. They are +accounted one of the most ancient clans in the Highlands, and it is +certain they were a people of original Celtic descent, and occupied at +one period very extensive possessions in Perthshire and Argyleshire, +which they imprudently continued to hold by the _coir a glaive,_ that is, +the right of the sword. Their neighbours, the Earls of Argyle and +Breadalbane, in the meanwhile, managed to leave the lands occupied by the +MacGregors engrossed in those charters which they easily obtained from +the Crown; and thus constituted a legal right in their own favour, +without much regard to its justice. As opportunity occurred of annoying +or extirpating their neighbours, they gradually extended their own +domains, by usurping, under the pretext of such royal grants, those of +their more uncivilised neighbours. A Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow, known +in the Highlands by the name of _Donacha Dhu nan Churraichd,_ that is, +Black Duncan with the Cowl, it being his pleasure to wear such a +head-gear, is said to have been peculiarly successful in those acts of +spoliation upon the clan MacGregor. + +The devoted sept, ever finding themselves iniquitously driven from their +possessions, defended themselves by force, and occasionally gained +advantages, which they used cruelly enough. This conduct, though natural, +considering the country and time, was studiously represented at the +capital as arising from an untameable and innate ferocity, which nothing, +it was said, could remedy, save cutting off the tribe of MacGregor root +and branch. + +In an act of Privy Council at Stirling, 22d September 1563, in the reign +of Queen Mary, commission is granted to the most powerful nobles, and +chiefs of the clans, to pursue the clan Gregor with fire and sword. A +similar warrant in 1563, not only grants the like powers to Sir John +Campbell of Glenorchy, the descendant of Duncan with the Cowl, but +discharges the lieges to receive or assist any of the clan Gregor, or +afford them, under any colour whatever, meat, drink, or clothes. + +An atrocity which the clan Gregor committed in 1589, by the murder of +John Drummond of Drummond-ernoch, a forester of the royal forest of +Glenartney, is elsewhere given, with all its horrid circumstances. The +clan swore upon the severed head of the murdered man, that they would +make common cause in avowing the deed. This led to an act of the Privy +Council, directing another crusade against the "wicked clan Gregor, so +long continuing in blood, slaughter, theft, and robbery," in which +letters of fire and sword are denounced against them for the space of +three years. The reader will find this particular fact illustrated in the +Introduction to the Legend of Montrose in the present edition of these +Novels. + +Other occasions frequently occurred, in which the MacGregors testified +contempt for the laws, from which they had often experienced severity, +but never protection. Though they were gradually deprived of their +possessions, and of all ordinary means of procuring subsistence, they +could not, nevertheless, be supposed likely to starve for famine, while +they had the means of taking from strangers what they considered as +rightfully their own. Hence they became versed in predatory forays, and +accustomed to bloodshed. Their passions were eager, and, with a little +management on the part of some of their most powerful neighbours, they +could easily be _hounded out,_ to use an expressive Scottish phrase, to +commit violence, of which the wily instigators took the advantage, and +left the ignorant MacGregors an undivided portion of blame and +punishment. This policy of pushing on the fierce clans of the Highlands +and Borders to break the peace of the country, is accounted by the +historian one of the most dangerous practices of his own period, in which +the MacGregors were considered as ready agents. + +Notwithstanding these severe denunciations,---which were acted upon in +the same spirit in which they were conceived, some of the clan still +possessed property, and the chief of the name in 1592 is designed +Allaster MacGregor of Glenstrae. He is said to have been a brave and +active man; but, from the tenor of his confession at his death, appears +to have been engaged in many and desperate feuds, one of which finally +proved fatal to himself and many of his followers. This was the +celebrated conflict at Glenfruin, near the southwestern extremity of Loch +Lomond, in the vicinity of which the MacGregors continued to exercise +much authority by the _coir a glaive,_ or right of the strongest, which +we have already mentioned. + +There had been a long and bloody feud betwixt the MacGregors and the +Laird of Luss, head of the family of Colquhoun, a powerful race on the +lower part of Loch Lomond. The MacGregors' tradition affirms that the +quarrel began on a very trifling subject. Two of the MacGregors being +benighted, asked shelter in a house belonging to a dependant of the +Colquhouns, and were refused. They then retreated to an out-house, took a +wedder from the fold, killed it, and supped off the carcass, for which +(it is said) they offered payment to the proprietor. The Laird of Luss +seized on the offenders, and, by the summary process which feudal barons +had at their command, had them both condemned and executed. The +MacGregors verify this account of the feud by appealing to a proverb +current amongst them, execrating the hour _(Mult dhu an Carbail ghil)_ +that the black wedder with the white tail was ever lambed. To avenge this +quarrel, the Laird of MacGregor assembled his clan, to the number of +three or four hundred men, and marched towards Luss from the banks of +Loch Long, by a pass called _Raid na Gael,_ or the Highlandman's Pass. + +Sir Humphrey Colquhoun received early notice of this incursion, and +collected a strong force, more than twice the number of that of the +invaders. He had with him the gentlemen of the name of Buchanan, with the +Grahams, and other gentry of the Lennox, and a party of the citizens of +Dumbarton, under command of Tobias Smollett, a magistrate, or bailie, of +that town, and ancestor of the celebrated author. + +The parties met in the valley of Glenfruin, which signifies the Glen of +Sorrow---a name that seemed to anticipate the event of the day, which, +fatal to the conquered party, was at least equally so to the victors, the +"babe unborn" of Clan Alpine having reason to repent it. The MacGregors, +somewhat discouraged by the appearance of a force much superior to their +own, were cheered on to the attack by a Seer, or second-sighted person, +who professed that he saw the shrouds of the dead wrapt around their +principal opponents. The clan charged with great fury on the front of the +enemy, while John MacGregor, with a strong party, made an unexpected +attack on the flank. A great part of the Colquhouns' force consisted in +cavalry, which could not act in the boggy ground. They were said to have +disputed the field manfully, but were at length completely routed, and a +merciless slaughter was exercised on the fugitives, of whom betwixt two +and three hundred fell on the field and in the pursuit. If the MacGregors +lost, as is averred, only two men slain in the action, they had slight +provocation for an indiscriminate massacre. It is said that their fury +extended itself to a party of students for clerical orders, who had +imprudently come to see the battle. Some doubt is thrown on this fact, +from the indictment against the chief of the clan Gregor being silent on +the subject, as is the historian Johnston, and a Professor Ross, who +wrote an account of the battle twenty-nine years after it was fought. It +is, however, constantly averred by the tradition of the country, and a +stone where the deed was done is called _Leck-a-Mhinisteir,_ the Minister +or Clerk's Flagstone. The MacGregors, by a tradition which is now found +to be inaccurate, impute this cruel action to the ferocity of a single +man of their tribe, renowned for size and strength, called Dugald, _Ciar +Mhor,_ or the great Mouse-coloured Man. He was MacGregor's +foster-brother, and the chief committed the youths to his charge, with +directions to keep them safely till the affray was over. Whether fearful +of their escape, or incensed by some sarcasms which they threw on his +tribe, or whether out of mere thirst of blood, this savage, while the +other MacGregors were engaged in the pursuit, poniarded his helpless and +defenceless prisoners. When the chieftain, on his return, demanded where +the youths were, the _Ciar_ (pronounced Kiar) _Mhor_ drew out his bloody +dirk, saying in Gaelic, "Ask that, and God save me!" The latter words +allude to the exclamation which his victims used when he was murdering +them. It would seem, therefore, that this horrible part of the story is +founded on fact, though the number of the youths so slain is probably +exaggerated in the Lowland accounts. The common people say that the blood +of the Ciar Mhor's victims can never be washed off the stone. When +MacGregor learnt their fate, he expressed the utmost horror at the deed, +and upbraided his foster-brother with having done that which would +occasion the destruction of him and his clan. This supposed homicide was +the ancestor of Rob Roy, and the tribe from which he was descended. He +lies buried at the church of Fortingal, where his sepulchre, covered with +a large stone,* is still shown, and where his great strength and courage +are the theme of many traditions.* + +* Note A. The Grey Stone of MacGregor. + +** Note B. Dugald Ciar Mhor. + +MacGregor's brother was one of the very few of the tribe who was slain. +He was buried near the field of battle, and the place is marked by a rude +stone, called the Grey Stone of MacGregor. + +Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, being well mounted, escaped for the time to the +castle of Banochar, or Benechra. It proved no sure defence, however, for +he was shortly after murdered in a vault of the castle,---the family +annals say by the MacGregors, though other accounts charge the deed upon +the MacFarlanes. + +This battle of Glenfruin, and the severity which the victors exercised in +the pursuit, was reported to King James VI. in a manner the most +unfavourable to the clan Gregor, whose general character, being that of +lawless though brave men, could not much avail them in such a case. That +James might fully understand the extent of the slaughter, the widows of +the slain, to the number of eleven score, in deep mourning, riding upon +white palfreys, and each bearing her husband's bloody shirt on a spear, +appeared at Stirling, in presence of a monarch peculiarly accessible to +such sights of fear and sorrow, to demand vengeance for the death of +their husbands, upon those by whom they had been made desolate. + +The remedy resorted to was at least as severe as the cruelties which it +was designed to punish. By an Act of the Privy Council, dated 3d April +1603, the name of MacGregor was expressly abolished, and those who had +hitherto borne it were commanded to change it for other surnames, the +pain of death being denounced against those who should call themselves +Gregor or MacGregor, the names of their fathers. Under the same penalty, +all who had been at the conflict of Glenfruin, or accessory to other +marauding parties charged in the act, were prohibited from carrying +weapons, except a pointless knife to eat their victuals. By a subsequent +act of Council, 24th June 1613, death was denounced against any persons +of the tribe formerly called MacGregor, who should presume to assemble in +greater numbers than four. Again, by an Act of Parliament, 1617, chap. +26, these laws were continued, and extended to the rising generation, in +respect that great numbers of the children of those against whom the acts +of Privy Council had been directed, were stated to be then approaching to +maturity, who, if permitted to resume the name of their parents, would +render the clan as strong as it was before. + +The execution of those severe acts was chiefly intrusted in the west to +the Earl of Argyle and the powerful clan of Campbell, and to the Earl of +Athole and his followers in the more eastern Highlands of Perthshire. The +MacGregors failed not to resist with the most determined courage; and +many a valley in the West and North Highlands retains memory of the +severe conflicts, in which the proscribed clan sometimes obtained +transient advantages, and always sold their lives dearly. At length the +pride of Allaster MacGregor, the chief of the clan, was so much lowered +by the sufferings of his people, that he resolved to surrender himself to +the Earl of Argyle, with his principal followers, on condition that they +should be sent out of Scotland. If the unfortunate chief's own account be +true, he had more reasons than one for expecting some favour from the +Earl, who had in secret advised and encouraged him to many of the +desperate actions for which he was now called to so severe a reckoning. +But Argyle, as old Birrell expresses himself, kept a Highlandman's +promise with them, fulfilling it to the ear, and breaking it to the +sense. MacGregor was sent under a strong guard to the frontier of +England, and being thus, in the literal sense, sent out of Scotland, +Argyle was judged to have kept faith with him, though the same party +which took him there brought him back to Edinburgh in custody. + +MacGregor of Glenstrae was tried before the Court of Justiciary, 20th +January 1604, and found guilty. He appears to have been instantly +conveyed from the bar to the gallows; for Birrell, of the same date, +reports that he was hanged at the Cross, and, for distinction sake, was +suspended higher by his own height than two of his kindred and friends. + +On the 18th of February following, more men of the MacGregors were +executed, after a long imprisonment, and several others in the beginning +of March. + +The Earl of Argyle's service, in conducting to the surrender of the +insolent and wicked race and name of MacGregor, notorious common +malefactors, and in the in-bringing of MacGregor, with a great many of +the leading men of the clan, worthily executed to death for their +offences, is thankfully acknowledged by an Act of Parliament, 1607, chap. +16, and rewarded with a grant of twenty chalders of victual out of the +lands of Kintire. + +The MacGregors, notwithstanding the letters of fire and sword, and orders +for military execution repeatedly directed against them by the Scottish +legislature, who apparently lost all the calmness of conscious dignity +and security, and could not even name the outlawed clan without +vituperation, showed no inclination to be blotted out of the roll of +clanship. They submitted to the law, indeed, so far as to take the names +of the neighbouring families amongst whom they happened to live, +nominally becoming, as the case might render it most convenient, +Drummonds, Campbells, Grahams, Buchanans, Stewarts, and the like; but to +all intents and purposes of combination and mutual attachment, they +remained the clan Gregor, united together for right or wrong, and +menacing with the general vengeance of their race, all who committed +aggressions against any individual of their number. + +They continued to take and give offence with as little hesitation as +before the legislative dispersion which had been attempted, as appears +from the preamble to statute 1633, chapter 30, setting forth, that the +clan Gregor, which had been suppressed and reduced to quietness by the +great care of the late King James of eternal memory, had nevertheless +broken out again, in the counties of Perth, Stirling, Clackmannan, +Monteith, Lennox, Angus, and Mearns; for which reason the statute +re-establishes the disabilities attached to the clan, and, grants a new +commission for enforcing the laws against that wicked and rebellious +race. + +Notwithstanding the extreme severities of King James I. and Charles I. +against this unfortunate people, who were rendered furious by +proscription, and then punished for yielding to the passions which had +been wilfully irritated, the MacGregors to a man attached themselves +during the civil war to the cause of the latter monarch. Their bards have +ascribed this to the native respect of the MacGregors for the crown of +Scotland, which their ancestors once wore, and have appealed to their +armorial bearings, which display a pine-tree crossed saltire wise with a +naked sword, the point of which supports a royal crown. But, without +denying that such motives may have had their weight, we are disposed to +think, that a war which opened the low country to the raids of the clan +Gregor would have more charms for them than any inducement to espouse the +cause of the Covenanters, which would have brought them into contact with +Highlanders as fierce as themselves, and having as little to lose. +Patrick MacGregor, their leader, was the son of a distinguished chief, +named Duncan Abbarach, to whom Montrose wrote letters as to his trusty +and special friend, expressing his reliance on his devoted loyalty, with +an assurance, that when once his Majesty's affairs were placed upon a +permanent footing, the grievances of the clan MacGregor should be +redressed. + +At a subsequent period of these melancholy times, we find the clan Gregor +claiming the immunities of other tribes, when summoned by the Scottish +Parliament to resist the invasion of the Commonwealth's army, in 1651. On +the last day of March in that year, a supplication to the King and +Parliament, from Calum MacCondachie Vich Euen, and Euen MacCondachie +Euen, in their own name, and that of the whole name of MacGregor, set +forth, that while, in obedience to the orders of Parliament, enjoining +all clans to come out in the present service under their chieftains, for +the defence of religion, king, and kingdoms, the petitioners were drawing +their men to guard the passes at the head of the river Forth, they were +interfered with by the Earl of Athole and the Laird of Buchanan, who had +required the attendance of many of the clan Gregor upon their arrays. +This interference was, doubtless, owing to the change of name, which +seems to have given rise to the claim of the Earl of Athole and the Laird +of Buchanan to muster the MacGregors under their banners, as Murrays or +Buchanans. It does not appear that the petition of the MacGregors, to be +permitted to come out in a body, as other clans, received any answer. But +upon the Restoration, King Charles, in the first Scottish Parliament of +his reign (statute 1661, chap. 195), annulled the various acts against +the clan Gregor, and restored them to the full use of their family name, +and the other privileges of liege subjects, setting forth, as a reason +for this lenity, that those who were formerly designed MacGregors had, +during the late troubles, conducted themselves with such loyalty and +affection to his Majesty, as might justly wipe off all memory of former +miscarriages, and take away all marks of reproach for the same. + +It is singular enough, that it seems to have aggravated the feelings of +the non-conforming Presbyterians, when the penalties which were most +unjustly imposed upon themselves were relaxed towards the poor +MacGregors;--so little are the best men, any more than the worst, able to +judge with impartiality of the same measures, as applied to themselves, +or to others. Upon the Restoration, an influence inimical to this +unfortunate clan, said to be the same with that which afterwards dictated +the massacre of Glencoe, occasioned the re-enaction of the penal statutes +against the MacGregors. There are no reasons given why these highly penal +acts should have been renewed; nor is it alleged that the clan had been +guilty of late irregularities. Indeed, there is some reason to think that +the clause was formed of set purpose, in a shape which should elude +observation; for, though containing conclusions fatal to the rights of so +many Scottish subjects, it is neither mentioned in the title nor the +rubric of the Act of Parliament in which it occurs, and is thrown briefly +in at the close of the statute 1693, chap. 61, entitled, an Act for the +Justiciary in the Highlands. + +It does not, however, appear that after the Revolution the acts against +the clan were severely enforced; and in the latter half of the eighteenth +century, they were not enforced at all. Commissioners of supply were +named in Parliament by the proscribed title of MacGregor, and decrees of +courts of justice were pronounced, and legal deeds entered into, under +the same appellative. The MacGregors, however, while the laws continued +in the statute-book, still suffered under the deprivation of the name +which was their birthright, and some attempts were made for the purpose +of adopting another, MacAlpine or Grant being proposed as the title of +the whole clan in future. No agreement, however, could be entered into; +and the evil was submitted to as a matter of necessity, until full +redress was obtained from the British Parliament, by an act abolishing +for ever the penal statutes which had been so long imposed upon this +ancient race. This statute, well merited by the services of many a +gentleman of the clan in behalf of their King and country, was passed, +and the clan proceeded to act upon it with the same spirit of ancient +times, which had made them suffer severely under a deprivation that would +have been deemed of little consequence by a great part of their +fellow-subjects. + +They entered into a deed recognising John Murray of Lanrick, Esq. +(afterwards Sir John MacGregor, Baronet), representative of the family of +Glencarnock, as lawfully descended from the ancient stock and blood of +the Lairds and Lords of MacGregor, and therefore acknowledged him as +their chief on all lawful occasions and causes whatsoever. The deed was +subscribed by eight hundred and twenty-six persons of the name of +MacGregor, capable of bearing arms. A great many of the clan during the +last war formed themselves into what was called the Clan Alpine Regiment, +raised in 1799, under the command of their Chief and his brother Colonel +MacGregor. + +Having briefly noticed the history of this clan, which presents a rare +and interesting example of the indelible character of the patriarchal +system, the author must now offer some notices of the individual who +gives name to these volumes. + +In giving an account of a Highlander, his pedigree is first to be +considered. That of Rob Roy was deduced from Ciar Mhor, the great +mouse-coloured man, who is accused by tradition of having slain the young +students at the battle of Glenfruin. + +Without puzzling ourselves and our readers with the intricacies of +Highland genealogy, it is enough to say, that after the death of Allaster +MacGregor of Glenstrae, the clan, discouraged by the unremitting +persecution of their enemies, seem not to have had the means of placing +themselves under the command of a single chief. According to their places +of residence and immediate descent, the several families were led and +directed by _Chieftains,_ which, in the Highland acceptation, signifies +the head of a particular branch of a tribe, in opposition to _Chief,_ who +is the leader and commander of the whole name. + +The family and descendants of Dugald Ciar Mhor lived chiefly in the +mountains between Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine, and occupied a good deal +of property there--whether by sufferance, by the right of the sword, +which it was never safe to dispute with them, or by legal titles of +various kinds, it would be useless to inquire and unnecessary to detail. +Enough;--there they certainly were--a people whom their most powerful +neighbours were desirous to conciliate, their friendship in peace being +very necessary to the quiet of the vicinage, and their assistance in war +equally prompt and effectual. + +Rob Roy MacGregor Campbell, which last name he bore in consequence of the +Acts of Parliament abolishing his own, was the younger son of Donald +MacGregor of Glengyle, said to have been a Lieutenant-Colonel (probably +in the service of James II.), by his wife, a daughter of Campbell of +Glenfalloch. Rob's own designation was of Inversnaid; but he appears to +have acquired a right of some kind or other to the property or possession +of Craig Royston, a domain of rock and forest, lying on the east side of +Loch Lomond, where that beautiful lake stretches into the dusky mountains +of Glenfalloch. + +The time of his birth is uncertain. But he is said to have been active in +the scenes of war and plunder which succeeded the Revolution; and +tradition affirms him to have been the leader in a predatory incursion +into the parish of Kippen, in the Lennox, which took place in the year +1691. It was of almost a bloodless character, only one person losing his +life; but from the extent of the depredation, it was long distinguished +by the name of the Her'-ship, or devastation, of Kippen.* The time of his +death is also uncertain, but as he is said to have survived the year +1733, and died an aged man, it is probable he may have been twenty-five +about the time of the Her'-ship of Kippen, which would assign his birth +to the middle of the 17th century. + +* See _Statistcal Account of Scotland,_ 1st edition, vol. xviii. p. 332. +Parish of * Kippen. + +In the more quiet times which succeeded the Revolution, Rob Roy, or Red +Robert, seems to have exerted his active talents, which were of no mean +order, as a drover, or trader in cattle, to a great extent. It may well +be supposed that in those days no Lowland, much less English drovers, +ventured to enter the Highlands. The cattle, which were the staple +commodity of the mountains, were escorted down to fairs, on the borders +of the Lowlands, by a party of Highlanders, with their arms rattling +around them; and who dealt, however, in all honour and good faith with +their Southern customers. A fray, indeed, would sometimes arise, when the +Lowlandmen, chiefly Borderers, who had to supply the English market, used +to dip their bonnets in the next brook, and wrapping them round their +hands, oppose their cudgels to the naked broadswords, which had not +always the superiority. I have heard from aged persons who had been +engaged in such affrays, that the Highlanders used remarkably fair play, +never using the point of the sword, far less their pistols or daggers; so +that + + With many a stiff thwack and many a bang, + Hard crabtree and cold iron rang. + +A slash or two, or a broken head, was easily accommodated, and as the +trade was of benefit to both parties, trifling skirmishes were not +allowed to interrupt its harmony. Indeed it was of vital interest to the +Highlanders, whose income, so far as derived from their estates, depended +entirely on the sale of black cattle; and a sagacious and experienced +dealer benefited not only himself, but his friends and neighbours, by his +speculations. Those of Rob Roy were for several years so successful as to +inspire general confidence, and raise him in the estimation of the +country in which he resided. + +His importance was increased by the death of his father, in consequence +of which he succeeded to the management of his nephew Gregor MacGregor of +Glengyle's property, and, as his tutor, to such influence with the clan +and following as was due to the representative of Dugald Ciar. Such +influence was the more uncontrolled, that this family of the MacGregors +seemed to have refused adherence to MacGregor of Glencarnock, the +ancestor of the present Sir Ewan MacGregor, and asserted a kind of +independence. + +It was at this time that Rob Roy acquired an interest by purchase, +wadset, or otherwise, to the property of Craig Royston already mentioned. +He was in particular favour, during this prosperous period of his life, +with his nearest and most powerful neighbour, James, first Duke of +Montrose, from whom he received many marks of regard. His Grace consented +to give his nephew and himself a right of property on the estates of +Glengyle and Inversnaid, which they had till then only held as kindly +tenants. The Duke also, with a view to the interest of the country and +his own estate, supported our adventurer by loans of money to a +considerable amount, to enable him to carry on his speculations in the +cattle trade. + +Unfortunately that species of commerce was and is liable to sudden +fluctuations; and Rob Roy was, by a sudden depression of markets, and, as +a friendly tradition adds, by the bad faith of a partner named MacDonald, +whom he had imprudently received into his confidence, and intrusted with +a considerable sum of money, rendered totally insolvent. He absconded, of +course--not empty-handed, if it be true, as stated in an advertisement +for his apprehension, that he had in his possession sums to the amount of +L1000 sterling, obtained from several noblemen and gentlemen under +pretence of purchasing cows for them in the Highlands. This advertisement +appeared in June 1712, and was several times repeated. It fixes the +period when Rob Roy exchanged his commercial adventures for speculations +of a very different complexion.* + +* See Appendix, No. I. + +He appears at this period first to have removed from his ordinary +dwelling at Inversnaid, ten or twelve Scots miles (which is double the +number of English) farther into the Highlands, and commenced the lawless +sort of life which he afterwards followed. The Duke of Montrose, who +conceived himself deceived and cheated by MacGregor's conduct, employed +legal means to recover the money lent to him. Rob Roy's landed property +was attached by the regular form of legal procedure, and his stock and +furniture made the subject of arrest and sale. + +It is said that this diligence of the law, as it is called in Scotland, +which the English more bluntly term distress, was used in this case with +uncommon severity, and that the legal satellites, not usually the +gentlest persons in the world, had insulted MacGregor's wife, in a manner +which would have aroused a milder man than he to thoughts of unbounded +vengeance. She was a woman of fierce and haughty temper, and is not +unlikely to have disturbed the officers in the execution of their duty, +and thus to have incurred ill treatment, though, for the sake of +humanity, it is to be hoped that the story sometimes told is a popular +exaggeration. It is certain that she felt extreme anguish at being +expelled from the banks of Loch Lomond, and gave vent to her feelings in +a fine piece of pipe-music, still well known to amateurs by the name of +"Rob Roy's Lament." + +The fugitive is thought to have found his first place of refuge in Glen +Dochart, under the Earl of Breadalbane's protection; for, though that +family had been active agents in the destruction of the MacGregors in +former times, they had of late years sheltered a great many of the name +in their old possessions. The Duke of Argyle was also one of Rob Roy's +protectors, so far as to afford him, according to the Highland phrase, +wood and water--the shelter, namely, that is afforded by the forests and +lakes of an inaccessible country. + +The great men of the Highlands in that time, besides being anxiously +ambitious to keep up what was called their Following, or military +retainers, were also desirous to have at their disposal men of resolute +character, to whom the world and the world's law were no friends, and who +might at times ravage the lands or destroy the tenants of a feudal enemy, +without bringing responsibility on their patrons. The strife between the +names of Campbell and Graham, during the civil wars of the seventeenth +century, had been stamped with mutual loss and inveterate enmity. The +death of the great Marquis of Montrose on the one side, the defeat at +Inverlochy, and cruel plundering of Lorn, on the other, were reciprocal +injuries not likely to be forgotten. Rob Roy was, therefore, sure of +refuge in the country of the Campbells, both as having assumed their +name, as connected by his mother with the family of Glenfalloch, and as +an enemy to the rival house of Montrose. The extent of Argyle's +possessions, and the power of retreating thither in any emergency, gave +great encouragement to the bold schemes of revenge which he had adopted. + +This was nothing short of the maintenance of a predatory war against the +Duke of Montrose, whom he considered as the author of his exclusion from +civil society, and of the outlawry to which he had been sentenced by +letters of horning and caption (legal writs so called), as well as the +seizure of his goods, and adjudication of his landed property. Against +his Grace, therefore, his tenants, friends, allies, and relatives, he +disposed himself to employ every means of annoyance in his power; and +though this was a circle sufficiently extensive for active depredation, +Rob, who professed himself a Jacobite, took the liberty of extending his +sphere of operations against all whom he chose to consider as friendly to +the revolutionary government, or to that most obnoxious of measures--the +Union of the Kingdoms. Under one or other of these pretexts, all his +neighbours of the Lowlands who had anything to lose, or were unwilling to +compound for security by paying him an annual sum for protection or +forbearance, were exposed to his ravages. + +The country in which this private warfare, or system of depredation, was +to be carried on, was, until opened up by roads, in the highest degree +favourable for his purpose. It was broken up into narrow valleys, the +habitable part of which bore no proportion to the huge wildernesses of +forest, rocks, and precipices by which they were encircled, and which +was, moreover, full of inextricable passes, morasses, and natural +strengths, unknown to any but the inhabitants themselves, where a few men +acquainted with the ground were capable, with ordinary address, of +baffling the pursuit of numbers. + +The opinions and habits of the nearest neighbours to the Highland line +were also highly favourable to Rob Roy's purpose. A large proportion of +them were of his own clan of MacGregor, who claimed the property of +Balquhidder, and other Highland districts, as having been part of the +ancient possessions of their tribe; though the harsh laws, under the +severity of which they had suffered so deeply, had assigned the ownership +to other families. The civil wars of the seventeenth century had +accustomed these men to the use of arms, and they were peculiarly brave +and fierce from remembrance of their sufferings. The vicinity of a +comparatively rich Lowland district gave also great temptations to +incursion. Many belonging to other clans, habituated to contempt of +industry, and to the use of arms, drew towards an unprotected frontier +which promised facility of plunder; and the state of the country, now so +peaceable and quiet, verified at that time the opinion which Dr. Johnson +heard with doubt and suspicion, that the most disorderly and lawless +districts of the Highlands were those which lay nearest to the Lowland +line. There was, therefore, no difficulty in Rob Roy, descended of a +tribe which was widely dispersed in the country we have described, +collecting any number of followers whom he might be able to keep in +action, and to maintain by his proposed operations. + +He himself appears to have been singularly adapted for the profession +which he proposed to exercise. His stature was not of the tallest, but +his person was uncommonly strong and compact. The greatest peculiarities +of his frame were the breadth of his shoulders, and the great and almost +disproportionate length of his arms; so remarkable, indeed, that it was +said he could, without stooping, tie the garters of his Highland hose, +which are placed two inches below the knee. His countenance was open, +manly, stern at periods of danger, but frank and cheerful in his hours of +festivity. His hair was dark red, thick, and frizzled, and curled short +around the face. His fashion of dress showed, of course, the knees and +upper part of the leg, which was described to me, as resembling that of a +Highland bull, hirsute, with red hair, and evincing muscular strength +similar to that animal. To these personal qualifications must be added a +masterly use of the Highland sword, in which his length of arm gave him +great advantage--and a perfect and intimate knowledge of all the recesses +of the wild country in which he harboured, and the character of the +various individuals, whether friendly or hostile, with whom he might come +in contact. + +His mental qualities seem to have been no less adapted to the +circumstances in which he was placed. Though the descendant of the +blood-thirsty Ciar Mhor, he inherited none of his ancestor's ferocity. On +the contrary, Rob Roy avoided every appearance of cruelty, and it is not +averred that he was ever the means of unnecessary bloodshed, or the actor +in any deed which could lead the way to it. His schemes of plunder were +contrived and executed with equal boldness and sagacity, and were almost +universally successful, from the skill with which they were laid, and the +secrecy and rapidity with which they were executed. Like Robin Hood of +England, he was a kind and gentle robber,--and, while he took from the +rich, was liberal in relieving the poor. This might in part be policy; +but the universal tradition of the country speaks it to have arisen from +a better motive. All whom I have conversed with, and I have in my youth +seen some who knew Rob Roy personally, give him the character of a +benevolent and humane man "in his way." + +His ideas of morality were those of an Arab chief, being such as +naturally arose out of his wild education. Supposing Rob Roy to have +argued on the tendency of the life which he pursued, whether from choice +or from necessity, he would doubtless have assumed to himself the +character of a brave man, who, deprived of his natural rights by the +partiality of laws, endeavoured to assert them by the strong hand of +natural power; and he is most felicitously described as reasoning thus, +in the high-toned poetry of my gifted friend Wordsworth: + + + Say, then, that he was wise as brave, + As wise in thought as bold in deed; + For in the principles of things + _He_ sought his moral creed. + + Said generous Rob, "What need of Books? + Burn all the statutes and their shelves! + They stir us up against our kind, + And worse, against ourselves. + + "We have a passion, make a law, + Too false to guide us or control; + And for the law itself we fight + In bitterness of soul. + + "And puzzled, blinded, then we lose + Distinctions that are plain and few; + These find I graven on my heart, + That tells me what to do. + + "The creatures see of flood and field, + And those that travel on the wind + With them no strife can last; they live + In peace, and peace of mind. + + "For why? Because the good old rule + Sufficeth them; the simple plan, + That they should take who have the power, + And they should keep who can. + + "A lesson which is quickly learn'd, + A signal through which all can see; + Thus, nothing here provokes the strong + To wanton cruelty. + + "And freakishness of mind is check'd, + He tamed who foolishly aspires, + While to the measure of his might + Each fashions his desires. + + "All kinds and creatures stand and fall + By strength of prowess or of wit; + 'Tis God's appointment who must sway, + And who is to submit. + + "Since then," said Robin, "right is plain, + And longest life is but a day, + To have my ends, maintain my rights, + I'll take the shortest way." + + And thus among these rocks he lived, + Through summer's heat and winter's snow + + The eagle, he was lord above, + And Rob was lord below. + +We are not, however, to suppose the character of this distinguished +outlaw to be that of an actual hero, acting uniformly and consistently on +such moral principles as the illustrious bard who, standing by his grave, +has vindicated his fame. On the contrary, as is common with barbarous +chiefs, Rob Roy appears to have mixed his professions of principle with a +large alloy of craft and dissimulation, of which his conduct during the +civil war is sufficient proof. It is also said, and truly, that although +his courtesy was one of his strongest characteristics, yet sometimes he +assumed an arrogance of manner which was not easily endured by the +high-spirited men to whom it was addressed, and drew the daring outlaw +into frequent disputes, from which he did not always come off with +credit. From this it has been inferred, that Rob Roy w as more of a bully +than a hero, or at least that he had, according to the common phrase, his +fighting days. Some aged men who knew him well, have described him also +as better at a _taich-tulzie,_ or scuffle within doors, than in mortal +combat. The tenor of his life may be quoted to repel this charge; while, +at the same time, it must be allowed, that the situation in which he was +placed rendered him prudently averse to maintaining quarrels, where +nothing was to be had save blows, and where success would have raised up +against him new and powerful enemies, in a country where revenge was +still considered as a duty rather than a crime. The power of commanding +his passions on such occasions, far from being inconsistent with the part +which MacGregor had to perform, was essentially necessary, at the period +when he lived, to prevent his career from being cut short. + +I may here mention one or two occasions on which Rob Roy appears to have +given way in the manner alluded to. My late venerable friend, John Ramsay +of Ochtertyre, alike eminent as a classical scholar and as an authentic +register of the ancient history and manners of Scotland, informed me, +that on occasion of a public meeting at a bonfire in the town of Doune, +Rob Roy gave some offence to James Edmondstone of Newton, the same +gentleman who was unfortunately concerned in the slaughter of Lord Rollo +(see Maclaurin's Criminal Trials, No. IX.), when Edmondstone compelled +MacGregor to quit the town on pain of being thrown by him into the +bonfire. "I broke one off your ribs on a former occasion," said he, "and +now, Rob, if you provoke me farther, I will break your neck." But it must +be remembered that Edmondstone was a man of consequence in the Jacobite +party, as he carried the royal standard of James VII. at the battle of +Sheriffmuir, and also, that he was near the door of his own +mansion-house, and probably surrounded by his friends and adherents. Rob +Roy, however, suffered in reputation for retiring under such a threat. + +Another well-vouched case is that of Cunningham of Boquhan. + +Henry Cunningham, Esq. of Boquhan, was a gentleman of Stirlingshire, who, +like many _exquisites_ of our own time, united a natural high spirit and +daring character with an affectation of delicacy of address and manners +amounting to foppery.* + +* His courage and affectation of foppery were united, which is less +frequently the case, with a spirit of innate modesty. He is thus +described in Lord Binning's satirical verses, entitled "Argyle's Levee:" + + "Six times had Harry bowed unseen, + Before he dared advance; + The Duke then, turning round well pleased, + Said, 'Sure you've been in France! + A more polite and jaunty man + I never saw before:' + Then Harry bowed, and blushed, and bowed, + And strutted to the door." + +See a Collection of original Poems, by Scotch Gentlemen, vol. ii. p. 125. + +He chanced to be in company with Rob Roy, who, either in contempt of +Boquhan's supposed effeminacy, or because he thought him a safe person to +fix a quarrel on (a point which Rob's enemies alleged he was wont to +consider), insulted him so grossly that a challenge passed between them. +The goodwife of the clachan had hidden Cunningham's sword, and while he +rummaged the house in quest of his own or some other, Rob Roy went to the +Shieling Hill, the appointed place of combat, and paraded there with +great majesty, waiting for his antagonist. In the meantime, Cunningham +had rummaged out an old sword, and, entering the ground of contest in all +haste, rushed on the outlaw with such unexpected fury that he fairly +drove him off the field, nor did he show himself in the village again for +some time. Mr. MacGregor Stirling has a softened account of this anecdote +in his new edition of Nimmo's Stirlingshire; still he records Rob Roy's +discomfiture. + +Occasionally Rob Roy suffered disasters, and incurred great personal +danger. On one remarkable occasion he was saved by the coolness of his +lieutenant, Macanaleister or Fletcher, the _Little John_ of his band--a +fine active fellow, of course, and celebrated as a marksman. It happened +that MacGregor and his party had been surprised and dispersed by a +superior force of horse and foot, and the word was given to "split and +squander." Each shifted for himself, but a bold dragoon attached himself +to pursuit of Rob, and overtaking him, struck at him with his broadsword. +A plate of iron in his bonnet saved the MacGregor from being cut down to +the teeth; but the blow was heavy enough to bear him to the ground, +crying as he fell, "Oh, Macanaleister, is there naething in her?" (_i.e._ +in the gun). The trooper, at the same time, exclaiming, "D--n ye, your +mother never wrought your night-cap!" had his arm raised for a second +blow, when Macanaleister fired, and the ball pierced the dragoon's heart. + +Such as he was, Rob Roy's progress in his occupation is thus described by +a gentleman of sense and talent, who resided within the circle of his +predatory wars, had probably felt their effects, and speaks of them, as +might be expected, with little of the forbearance with which, from their +peculiar and romantic character, they are now regarded. + +"This man (Rob Roy MacGregor) was a person of sagacity, and neither +wanted stratagem nor address; and having abandoned himself to all +licentiousness, set himself at the head of all the loose, vagrant, and +desperate people of that clan, in the west end of Perth and Stirling +shires, and infested those whole countries with thefts, robberies, and +depredations. Very few who lived within his reach (that is, within the +distance of a nocturnal expedition) could promise to themselves security, +either for their persons or effects, without subjecting themselves to pay +him a heavy and shameful tax of _black-mail._ He at last proceeded to +such a degree of audaciousness that he committed robberies, raised +contributions, and resented quarrels, at the head of a very considerable +body of armed men, in open day, and in the face of the government."* + +* Mr. Grahame of Gartmore's Causes of the Disturbances in the Highlands. +See Jamieson's edition of Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland, +Appendix, vol. ii. p. 348. + +The extent and success of these depredations cannot be surprising, when +we consider that the scene of them was laid in a country where the +general law was neither enforced nor respected. + +Having recorded that the general habit of cattle-stealing had blinded +even those of the better classes to the infamy of the practice, and that +as men's property consisted entirely in herds, it was rendered in the +highest degree precarious, Mr. Grahame adds-- + +"On these accounts there is no culture of ground, no improvement of +pastures, and from the same reasons, no manufactures, no trade; in short, +no industry. The people are extremely prolific, and therefore so +numerous, that there is not business in that country, according to its +present order and economy, for the one-half of them. Every place is full +of idle people, accustomed to arms, and lazy in everything but rapines +and depredations. As _buddel_ or _aquavitae_ houses are to be found +everywhere through the country, so in these they saunter away their time, +and frequently consume there the returns of their illegal purchases. Here +the laws have never been executed, nor the authority of the magistrate +ever established. Here the officer of the law neither dare nor can +execute his duty, and several places are about thirty miles from lawful +persons. In short, here is no order, no authority, no government." + +The period of the rebellion, 1715, approached soon after Rob Roy had +attained celebrity. His Jacobite partialities were now placed in +opposition to his sense of the obligations which he owed to the indirect +protection of the Duke of Argyle. But the desire of "drowning his +sounding steps amid the din of general war" induced him to join the +forces of the Earl of Mar, although his patron the Duke of Argyle was at +the head of the army opposed to the Highland insurgents. + +The MacGregors, a large sept of them at least, that of Ciar Mhor, on this +occasion were not commanded by Rob Roy, but by his nephew already +mentioned, Gregor MacGregor, otherwise called James Grahame of Glengyle, +and still better remembered by the Gaelic epithet of _Ghlune Dhu, i.e._ +Black Knee, from a black spot on one of his knees, which his Highland +garb rendered visible. There can be no question, however, that being then +very young, Glengyle must have acted on most occasions by the advice and +direction of so experienced a leader as his uncle. + +The MacGregors assembled in numbers at that period, and began even to +threaten the Lowlands towards the lower extremity of Loch Lomond. They +suddenly seized all the boats which were upon the lake, and, probably +with a view to some enterprise of their own, drew them overland to +Inversnaid, in order to intercept the progress of a large body of +west-country whigs who were in arms for the government, and moving in +that direction. + +The whigs made an excursion for the recovery of the boats. Their forces +consisted of volunteers from Paisley, Kilpatrick, and elsewhere, who, +with the assistance of a body of seamen, were towed up the river Leven in +long-boats belonging to the ships of war then lying in the Clyde. At Luss +they were joined by the forces of Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, and James +Grant, his son-in-law, with their followers, attired in the Highland +dress of the period, which is picturesquely described.* The whole party +crossed to Craig-Royston, but the MacGregors did not offer combat. + +* "At night they arrived at Luss, where they were joined by Sir Humphrey +Colquhoun of Luss, and James Grant of Plascander, his son-in-law, +followed by forty or fifty stately fellows in their short hose and belted +plaids, armed each of them with a well-fixed gun on his shoulder, a +strong handsome target, with a sharp-pointed steel of above half an ell +in length screwed into the navel of it, on his left arm, a sturdy +claymore by his side, and a pistol or two, with a dirk and knife, in his +belt."--_Rae's History of the Rebellion,_ 4to, p. 287. + +If we are to believe the account of the expedition given by the historian +Rae, they leapt on shore at Craig-Royston with the utmost intrepidity, no +enemy appearing to oppose them, and by the noise of their drums, which +they beat incessantly, and the discharge of their artillery and small +arms, terrified the MacGregors, whom they appear never to have seen, out +of their fastnesses, and caused them to fly in a panic to the general +camp of the Highlanders at Strath-Fillan.* The low-country men succeeded +in getting possession of the boats at a great expenditure of noise and +courage, and little risk of danger. + +* Note C. The Loch Lomond Expedition. + +After this temporary removal from his old haunts, Rob Roy was sent by the +Earl of Mar to Aberdeen, to raise, it is believed, a part of the clan +Gregor, which is settled in that country. These men were of his own +family (the race of the Ciar Mhor). They were the descendants of about +three hundred MacGregors whom the Earl of Murray, about the year 1624, +transported from his estates in Menteith to oppose against his enemies +the MacIntoshes, a race as hardy and restless as they were themselves. + +But while in the city of Aberdeen, Rob Roy met a relation of a very +different class and character from those whom he was sent to summon to +arms. This was Dr. James Gregory (by descent a MacGregor), the patriarch +of a dynasty of professors distinguished for literary and scientific +talent, and the grandfather of the late eminent physician and +accomplished scholar, Professor Gregory of Edinburgh. This gentleman was +at the time Professor of Medicine in King's College, Aberdeen, and son of +Dr. James Gregory, distinguished in science as the inventor of the +reflecting telescope. With such a family it may seem our friend Rob could +have had little communion. But civil war is a species of misery which +introduces men to strange bed-fellows. Dr. Gregory thought it a point of +prudence to claim kindred, at so critical a period, with a man so +formidable and influential. He invited Rob Roy to his house, and treated +him with so much kindness, that he produced in his generous bosom a +degree of gratitude which seemed likely to occasion very inconvenient +effects. + +The Professor had a son about eight or nine years old,--a lively, stout +boy of his age,--with whose appearance our Highland Robin Hood was much +taken. On the day before his departure from the house of his learned +relative, Rob Roy, who had pondered deeply how he might requite his +cousin's kindness, took Dr. Gregory aside, and addressed him to this +purport:--"My dear kinsman, I have been thinking what I could do to show +my sense of your hospitality. Now, here you have a fine spirited boy of a +son, whom you are ruining by cramming him with your useless +book-learning, and I am determined, by way of manifesting my great +good-will to you and yours, to take him with me and make a man of him." +The learned Professor was utterly overwhelmed when his warlike kinsman +announced his kind purpose in language which implied no doubt of its +being a proposal which, would be, and ought to be, accepted with the +utmost gratitude. The task of apology or explanation was of a most +delicate description; and there might have been considerable danger in +suffering Rob Roy to perceive that the promotion with which he threatened +the son was, in the father's eyes, the ready road to the gallows. Indeed, +every excuse which he could at first think of--such as regret for putting +his friend to trouble with a youth who had been educated in the Lowlands, +and so on--only strengthened the chieftain's inclination to patronise his +young kinsman, as he supposed they arose entirely from the modesty of the +father. He would for a long time take no apology, and even spoke of +carrying off the youth by a certain degree of kindly violence, whether +his father consented, or not. At length the perplexed Professor pleaded +that his son was very young, and in an infirm state of health, and not +yet able to endure the hardships of a mountain life; but that in another +year or two he hoped his health would be firmly established, and he would +be in a fitting condition to attend on his brave kinsman, and follow out +the splendid destinies to which he opened the way. This agreement being +made, the cousins parted,--Rob Roy pledging his honour to carry his young +relation to the hills with him on his next return to Aberdeenshire, and +Dr. Gregory, doubtless, praying in his secret soul that he might never +see Rob's Highland face again. + +James Gregory, who thus escaped being his kinsman's recruit, and in all +probability his henchman, was afterwards Professor of Medicine in the +College, and, like most of his family, distinguished by his scientific +acquirements. He was rather of an irritable and pertinacious disposition; +and his friends were wont to remark, when he showed any symptom of these +foibles, "Ah! this comes of not having been educated by Rob Roy." + +The connection between Rob Roy and his classical kinsman did not end with +the period of Rob's transient power. At a period considerably subsequent +to the year 1715, he was walking in the Castle Street of Aberdeen, arm in +arm with his host, Dr. James Gregory, when the drums in the barracks +suddenly beat to arms, and soldiers were seen issuing from the barracks. +"If these lads are turning out," said Rob, taking leave of his cousin +with great composure, "it is time for me to look after my safety." So +saying, he dived down a close, and, as John Bunyan says, "went upon his +way and was seen no more."* + +* The first of these anecdotes, which brings the highest pitch of +civilisation so closely in contact with the half-savage state of +society, I have heard told by the late distinguished Dr. Gregory; and the +members of his family have had the kindness to collate the story with +their recollections and family documents, and furnish the authentic +particulars. The second rests on the recollection of an old man, who was +present when Rob took French leave of his literary cousin on hearing the +drums beat, and communicated the circumstance to Mr. Alexander Forbes, a +connection of Dr. Gregory by marriage, who is still alive. + +We have already stated that Rob Roy's conduct during the insurrection of +1715 was very equivocal. His person and followers were in the Highland +army, but his heart seems to have been with the Duke of Argyle's. Yet the +insurgents were constrained to trust to him as their only guide, when +they marched from Perth towards Dunblane, with the view of crossing the +Forth at what are called the Fords of Frew, and when they themselves said +he could not be relied upon. + +This movement to the westward, on the part of the insurgents, brought on +the battle of Sheriffmuir--indecisive, indeed, in its immediate results, +but of which the Duke of Argyle reaped the whole advantage. In this +action, it will be recollected that the right wing of the Highlanders +broke and cut to pieces Argyle's left wing, while the clans on the left +of Mar's army, though consisting of Stewarts, Mackenzies, and Camerons, +were completely routed. During this medley of flight and pursuit, Rob Roy +retained his station on a hill in the centre of the Highland position; +and though it is said his attack might have decided the day, he could not +be prevailed upon to charge. This was the more unfortunate for the +insurgents, as the leading of a party of the Macphersons had been +committed to MacGregor. This, it is said, was owing to the age and +infirmity of the chief of that name, who, unable to lead his clan in +person, objected to his heir-apparent, Macpherson of Nord, discharging +his duty on that occasion; so that the tribe, or a part of them, were +brigaded with their allies the MacGregors. While the favourable moment +for action was gliding away unemployed, Mar's positive orders reached Rob +Roy that he should presently attack. To which he coolly replied, "No, no! +if they cannot do it without me, they cannot do it with me." One of the +Macphersons, named Alexander, one of Rob's original profession, +_videlicet,_ a drover, but a man of great strength and spirit, was so +incensed at the inactivity of this temporary leader, that he threw off +his plaid, drew his sword, and called out to his clansmen, "Let us endure +this no longer! if he will not lead you I will." Rob Roy replied, with +great coolness, "Were the question about driving Highland stots or +kyloes, Sandie, I would yield to your superior skill; but as it respects +the leading of men, I must be allowed to be the better judge."--"Did the +matter respect driving Glen-Eigas stots," answered the Macpherson, "the +question with Rob would not be, which was to be last, but which was to be +foremost." Incensed at this sarcasm, MacGregor drew his sword, and they +would have fought upon the spot if their friends on both sides had not +interfered. But the moment of attack was completely lost. Rob did not, +however, neglect his own private interest on the occasion. In the +confusion of an undecided field of battle, he enriched his followers by +plundering the baggage and the dead on both sides. + +The fine old satirical ballad on the battle of Sheriffmuir does not +forget to stigmatise our hero's conduct on this memorable occasion-- + + Rob Roy he stood watch + On a hill for to catch + The booty for aught that I saw, man; + For he ne'er advanced + From the place where he stanced, + Till nae mair was to do there at a', man. + +Notwithstanding the sort of neutrality which Rob Roy had continued to +observe during the progress of the Rebellion, he did not escape some of +its penalties. He was included in the act of attainder, and the house in +Breadalbane, which was his place of retreat, was burned by General Lord +Cadogan, when, after the conclusion of the insurrection, he marched +through the Highlands to disarm and punish the offending clans. But upon +going to Inverary with about forty or fifty of his followers, Rob +obtained favour, by an apparent surrender of their arms to Colonel +Patrick Campbell of Finnah, who furnished them and their leader with +protections under his hand. Being thus in a great measure secured from +the resentment of government, Rob Roy established his residence at +Craig-Royston, near Loch Lomond, in the midst of his own kinsmen, and +lost no time in resuming his private quarrel with the Duke of Montrose. +For this purpose he soon got on foot as many men, and well armed too, as +he had yet commanded. He never stirred without a body-guard of ten or +twelve picked followers, and without much effort could increase them to +fifty or sixty. + +The Duke was not wanting in efforts to destroy this troublesome +adversary. His Grace applied to General Carpenter, commanding the forces +in Scotland, and by his orders three parties of soldiers were directed +from the three different points of Glasgow, Stirling, and Finlarig near +Killin. Mr. Graham of Killearn, the Duke of Montrose's relation and +factor, Sheriff-depute also of Dumbartonshire, accompanied the troops, +that they might act under the civil authority, and have the assistance of +a trusty guide well acquainted with the hills. It was the object of these +several columns to arrive about the same time in the neighbourhood of Rob +Roy's residence, and surprise him and his followers. But heavy rains, the +difficulties of the country, and the good intelligence which the Outlaw +was always supplied with, disappointed their well-concerted combination. +The troops, finding the birds were flown, avenged themselves by +destroying the nest. They burned Rob Roy's house,--though not with +impunity; for the MacGregors, concealed among the thickets and cliffs, +fired on them, and killed a grenadier. + +Rob Roy avenged himself for the loss which he sustained on this occasion +by an act of singular audacity. About the middle of November 1716, John +Graham of Killearn, already mentioned as factor of the Montrose family, +went to a place called Chapel Errock, where the tenants of the Duke were +summoned to appear with their termly rents. They appeared accordingly, +and the factor had received ready money to the amount of about L300, when +Rob Roy entered the room at the head of an armed party. The Steward +endeavoured to protect the Duke's property by throwing the books of +accounts and money into a garret, trusting they might escape notice. But +the experienced freebooter was not to be baffled where such a prize was +at stake. He recovered the books and cash, placed himself calmly in the +receipt of custom, examined the accounts, pocketed the money, and gave +receipts on the Duke's part, saying he would hold reckoning with the Duke +of Montrose out of the damages which he had sustained by his Grace's +means, in which he included the losses he had suffered, as well by the +burning of his house by General Cadogan, as by the later expedition +against Craig-Royston. He then requested Mr. Graham to attend him; nor +does it appear that he treated him with any personal violence, or even +rudeness, although he informed him he regarded him as a hostage, and +menaced rough usage in case he should be pursued, or in danger of being +overtaken. Few more audacious feats have been performed. After some rapid +changes of place (the fatigue attending which was the only annoyance that +Mr. Graham seems to have complained of), he carried his prisoner to an +island on Loch Katrine, and caused him to write to the Duke, to state +that his ransom was fixed at L3400 merks, being the balance which +MacGregor pretended remained due to him, after deducting all that he owed +to the Duke of Montrose. + +However, after detaining Mr. Graham five or six days in custody on the +island, which is still called Rob Roy's Prison, and could be no +comfortable dwelling for November nights, the Outlaw seems to have +despaired of attaining further advantage from his bold attempt, and +suffered his prisoner to depart uninjured, with the account-books, and +bills granted by the tenants, taking especial care to retain the cash.* + +* The reader will find two original letters of the Duke of Montrose, with +that which Mr. Graham of Killearn despatched from his prison-house by the +Outlaw's command, in the Appendix, No. II. + +About 1717, our Chieftain had the dangerous adventure of falling into the +hands of the Duke of Athole, almost as much his enemy as the Duke of +Montrose himself; but his cunning and dexterity again freed him from +certain death. See a contemporary account of this curious affair in the +Appendix, No. V. + +Other pranks are told of Rob, which argue the same boldness and sagacity +as the seizure of Killearn. The Duke of Montrose, weary of his insolence, +procured a quantity of arms, and distributed them among his tenantry, in +order that they might defend themselves against future violences. But +they fell into different hands from those they were intended for. The +MacGregors made separate attacks on the houses of the tenants, and +disarmed them all one after another, not, as was supposed, without the +consent of many of the persons so disarmed. + +As a great part of the Duke's rents were payable in kind, there were +girnels (granaries) established for storing up the corn at Moulin, and +elsewhere on the Buchanan estate. To these storehouses Rob Roy used to +repair with a sufficient force, and of course when he was least expected, +and insist upon the delivery of quantities of grain--sometimes for his +own use, and sometimes for the assistance of the country people; always +giving regular receipts in his own name, and pretending to reckon with +the Duke for what sums he received. + +In the meanwhile a garrison was established by Government, the ruins of +which may be still seen about half-way betwixt Loch Lomond and Loch +Katrine, upon Rob Roy's original property of Inversnaid. Even this +military establishment could not bridle the restless MacGregor. He +contrived to surprise the little fort, disarm the soldiers, and destroy +the fortification. It was afterwards re-established, and again taken by +the MacGregors under Rob Roy's nephew Ghlune Dhu, previous to the +insurrection of 1745-6. Finally, the fort of Inversnaid was a third time +repaired after the extinction of civil discord; and when we find the +celebrated General Wolfe commanding in it, the imagination is strongly +affected by the variety of time and events which the circumstance brings +simultaneously to recollection. It is now totally dismantled.* + +* About 1792, when the author chanced to pass that way while on a tour +through the Highlands, a garrison, consisting of a single veteran, was +still maintained at Inversnaid. The venerable warder was reaping his +barley croft in all peace and tranquillity and when we asked admittance +to repose ourselves, he told us we would find the key of the Fort under +the door. + +It was not, strictly speaking, as a professed depredator that Rob Roy now +conducted his operations, but as a sort of contractor for the police; in +Scottish phrase, a lifter of black-mail. The nature of this contract has +been described in the Novel of Waverley, and in the notes on that work. +Mr. Grahame of Gartmore's description of the character may be here +transcribed:-- + +"The confusion and disorders of the country were so great, and the +Government go absolutely neglected it, that the sober people were obliged +to purchase some security to their effects by shameful and ignominious +contracts of _black-mail._ A person who had the greatest correspondence +with the thieves was agreed with to preserve the lands contracted for +from thefts, for certain sums to be paid yearly. Upon this fund he +employed one half of the thieves to recover stolen cattle, and the other +half of them to steal, in order to make this agreement and black-mail +contract necessary. The estates of those gentlemen who refused to +contract, or give countenance to that pernicious practice, are plundered +by the thieving part of the watch, in order to force them to purchase +their protection. Their leader calls himself the _Captain_ of the +_Watch,_ and his banditti go by that name. And as this gives them a kind +of authority to traverse the country, so it makes them capable of doing +any mischief. These corps through the Highlands make altogether a very +considerable body of men, inured from their infancy to the greatest +fatigues, and very capable, to act in a military way when occasion +offers. + +"People who are ignorant and enthusiastic, who are in absolute dependence +upon their chief or landlord, who are directed in their consciences by +Roman Catholic priests, or nonjuring clergymen, and who are not masters +of any property, may easily be formed into any mould. They fear no +dangers, as they have nothing to lose, and so can with ease be induced to +attempt anything. Nothing can make their condition worse: confusions and +troubles do commonly indulge them in such licentiousness, that by these +they better it."* + +* Letters from the North of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 344, 345. + +As the practice of contracting for black-mail was an obvious +encouragement to rapine, and a great obstacle to the course of justice, +it was, by the statute 1567, chap. 21, declared a capital crime both on +the part of him who levied and him who paid this sort of tax. But the +necessity of the case prevented the execution of this severe law, I +believe, in any one instance; and men went on submitting to a certain +unlawful imposition rather than run the risk of utter ruin--just as it is +now found difficult or impossible to prevent those who have lost a very +large sum of money by robbery, from compounding with the felons for +restoration of a part of their booty. + +At what rate Rob Roy levied black-mail I never heard stated; but there is +a formal contract by which his nephew, in 1741, agreed with various +landholders of estates in the counties of Perth, Stirling, and Dumbarton, +to recover cattle stolen from them, or to pay the value within six months +of the loss being intimated, if such intimation were made to him with +sufficient despatch, in consideration of a payment of L5 on each L100 of +valued rent, which was not a very heavy insurance. Petty thefts were not +included in the contract; but the theft of one horse, or one head of +black cattle, or of sheep exceeding the number of six, fell under the +agreement. + +Rob Roy's profits upon such contracts brought him in a considerable +revenue in money or cattle, of which he made a popular use; for he was +publicly liberal as well as privately beneficent. The minister of the +parish of Balquhidder, whose name was Robertson, was at one time +threatening to pursue the parish for an augmentation of his stipend. Rob +Roy took an opportunity to assure him that he would do well to abstain +from this new exaction--a hint which the minister did not fail to +understand. But to make him some indemnification, MacGregor presented him +every year with a cow and a fat sheep; and no scruples as to the mode in +which the donor came by them are said to have affected the reverend +gentleman's conscience. + +The following amount of the proceedings of Rob Roy, on an application to +him from one of his contractors, had in it something very interesting to +me, as told by an old countryman in the Lennox who was present on the +expedition. But as there is no point or marked incident in the story, and +as it must necessarily be without the half-frightened, half-bewildered +look with which the narrator accompanied his recollections, it may +possibly lose, its effect when transferred to paper. + +My informant stated himself to have been a lad of fifteen, living with +his father on the estate of a gentleman in the Lennox, whose name I have +forgotten, in the capacity of herd. On a fine morning in the end of +October, the period when such calamities were almost always to be +apprehended, they found the Highland thieves had been down upon them, and +swept away ten or twelve head of cattle. Rob Roy was sent for, and came +with a party of seven or eight armed men. He heard with great gravity all +that could be told him of the circumstances of the _creagh,_ and +expressed his confidence that the _herd-widdiefows_* could not have +carried their booty far, and that he should be able to recover them. + +* Mad herdsmen--a name given to cattle-stealers [properly one who +deserves to fill a _widdie,_ or halter]. + +He desired that two Lowlanders should be sent on the party, as it was not +to be expected that any of his gentlemen would take the trouble of +driving the cattle when he should recover possession of them. My +informant and his father were despatched on the expedition. They had no +good will to the journey; nevertheless, provided with a little food, and +with a dog to help them to manage the cattle, they set off with +MacGregor. They travelled a long day's journey in the direction of the +mountain Benvoirlich, and slept for the night in a ruinous hut or bothy. +The next morning they resumed their journey among the hills, Rob Roy +directing their course by signs and marks on the heath which my informant +did not understand. + +About noon Rob commanded the armed party to halt, and to lie couched in +the heather where it was thickest. "Do you and your son," he said to the +oldest Lowlander, "go boldly over the hill;--you will see beneath you, in +a glen on the other side, your master's cattle, feeding, it may be, with +others; gather your own together, taking care to disturb no one else, and +drive them to this place. If any one speak to or threaten you, tell them +that I am here, at the head of twenty men."--"But what if they abuse us, +or kill us?" said the Lowland, peasant, by no means delighted at finding +the embassy imposed on him and his son. "If they do you any wrong," said +Rob, "I will never forgive them as long as I live." The Lowlander was by +no means content with this security, but did not think it safe to dispute +Rob's injunctions. + +He and his son climbed the hill therefore, found a deep valley, where +there grazed, as Rob had predicted, a large herd of cattle. They +cautiously selected those which their master had lost, and took measures +to drive them over the hill. As soon as they began to remove them, they +were surprised by hearing cries and screams; and looking around in fear +and trembling they saw a woman seeming to have started out of the earth, +who _flyted_ at them, that is, scolded them, in Gaelic. When they +contrived, however, in the best Gaelic they could muster, to deliver the +message Rob Roy told them, she became silent, and disappeared without +offering them any further annoyance. The chief heard their story on their +return, and spoke with great complacency of the art which he possessed of +putting such things to rights without any unpleasant bustle. The party +were now on their road home, and the danger, though not the fatigue, of +the expedition was at an end. + +They drove on the cattle with little repose until it was nearly dark, +when Rob proposed to halt for the night upon a wide moor, across which a +cold north-east wind, with frost on its wing, was whistling to the tune +of the Pipers of Strath-Dearn.* + +* The winds which sweep a wild glen in Badenoch are so called. + +The Highlanders, sheltered by their plaids, lay down on the heath +comfortably enough, but the Lowlanders had no protection whatever. Rob +Roy observing this, directed one of his followers to afford the old man a +portion of his plaid; "for the callant (boy), he may," said the +freebooter, "keep himself warm by walking about and watching the cattle." +My informant heard this sentence with no small distress; and as the frost +wind grew more and more cutting, it seemed to freeze the very blood in +his young veins. He had been exposed to weather all his life, he said, +but never could forget the cold of that night; insomuch that, in the +bitterness of his heart, he cursed the bright moon for giving no heat +with so much light. At length the sense of cold and weariness became so +intolerable that he resolved to desert his watch to seek some repose and +shelter. With that purpose he couched himself down behind one of the most +bulky of the Highlanders, who acted as lieutenant to the party. Not +satisfied with having secured the shelter of the man's large person, he +coveted a share of his plaid, and by imperceptible degrees drew a corner +of it round him. He was now comparatively in paradise, and slept sound +till daybreak, when he awoke, and was terribly afraid on observing that +his nocturnal operations had altogether uncovered the dhuiniewassell's +neck and shoulders, which, lacking the plaid which should have protected +them, were covered with _cranreuch_ (_i.e._ hoar frost). The lad rose in +great dread of a beating, at least, when it should be found how +luxuriously he had been accommodated at the expense of a principal person +of the party. Good Mr. Lieutenant, however, got up and shook himself, +rubbing off the hoar frost with his plaid, and muttering something of a +_cauld neight._ They then drove on the cattle, which were restored to +their owner without farther adventure--The above can hardly be termed a +tale, but yet it contains materials both for the poet and artist. + +It was perhaps about the same time that, by a rapid march into the +Balquhidder hills at the head of a body of his own tenantry, the Duke of +Montrose actually surprised Rob Roy, and made him prisoner. He was +mounted behind one of the Duke's followers, named James Stewart, and made +fast to him by a horse-girth. The person who had him thus in charge was +grandfather of the intelligent man of the same name, now deceased, who +lately kept the inn in the vicinity of Loch Katrine, and acted as a guide +to visitors through that beautiful scenery. From him I learned the story +many years before he was either a publican, or a guide, except to +moorfowl shooters.--It was evening (to resume the story), and the Duke +was pressing on to lodge his prisoner, so long sought after in vain, in +some place of security, when, in crossing the Teith or Forth, I forget +which, MacGregor took an opportunity to conjure Stewart, by all the ties +of old acquaintance and good neighbourhood, to give him some chance of an +escape from an assured doom. Stewart was moved with compassion, perhaps +with fear. He slipt the girth-buckle, and Rob, dropping down from behind +the horse's croupe, dived, swam, and escaped, pretty much as described in +the Novel. When James Stewart came on shore, the Duke hastily demanded +where his prisoner was; and as no distinct answer was returned, instantly +suspected Stewart's connivance at the escape of the Outlaw; and, drawing +a steel pistol from his belt, struck him down with a blow on the head, +from the effects of which, his descendant said, he never completely +recovered. + +In the success of his repeated escapes from the pursuit of his powerful +enemy, Rob Roy at length became wanton and facetious. He wrote a mock +challenge to the Duke, which he circulated among his friends to amuse +them over a bottle. The reader will find this document in the Appendix.* +It is written in a good hand, and not particularly deficient in grammar +or spelling. + +* Appendix, No. III. + +Our Southern readers must be given to understand that it was a piece of +humour,--a _quiz,_ in short,--on the part of the Outlaw, who was too +sagacious to propose such a rencontre in reality. This letter was written +in the year 1719. + +In the following year Rob Roy composed another epistle, very little to +his own reputation, as he therein confesses having played booty during +the civil war of 1715. It is addressed to General Wade, at that time +engaged in disarming the Highland clans, and making military roads +through the country. The letter is a singular composition. It sets out +the writer's real and unfeigned desire to have offered his service to +King George, but for his liability to be thrown into jail for a civil +debt, at the instance of the Duke of Montrose. Being thus debarred from +taking the right side, he acknowledged he embraced the wrong one, upon +Falstaff's principle, that since the King wanted men and the rebels +soldiers, it were worse shame to be idle in such a stirring world, than +to embrace the worst side, were it as black as rebellion could make it. +The impossibility of his being neutral in such a debate, Rob seems to lay +down as an undeniable proposition. At the same time, while he +acknowledges having been forced into an unnatural rebellion against King +George, he pleads that he not only avoided acting offensively against his +Majesty's forces on all occasions, but, on the contrary, sent to them +what intelligence he could collect from time to time; for the truth of +which he refers to his Grace the Duke of Argyle. What influence this plea +had on General Wade, we have no means of knowing. + +Rob Roy appears to have continued to live very much as usual. His fame, +in the meanwhile, passed beyond the narrow limits of the country in which +he resided. A pretended history of him appeared in London during his +lifetime, under the title of the Highland Rogue. It is a catch-penny +publication, bearing in front the effigy of a species of ogre, with a +beard of a foot in length; and his actions are as much exaggerated as his +personal appearance. Some few of the best known adventures of the hero +are told, though with little accuracy; but the greater part of the +pamphlet is entirely fictitious. It is great pity so excellent a theme +for a narrative of the kind had not fallen into the hands of De Foe, who +was engaged at the time on subjects somewhat similar, though inferior in +dignity and interest. + +As Rob Roy advanced in years, he became more peaceable in his habits, and +his nephew Ghlune Dhu, with most of his tribe, renounced those peculiar +quarrels with the Duke of Montrose, by which his uncle had been +distinguished. The policy of that great family had latterly been rather +to attach this wild tribe by kindness than to follow the mode of violence +which had been hitherto ineffectually resorted to. Leases at a low rent +were granted to many of the MacGregors, who had heretofore held +possessions in the Duke's Highland property merely by occupancy; and +Glengyle (or Black-knee), who continued to act as collector of +black-mail, managed his police, as a commander of the Highland watch +arrayed at the charge of Government. He is said to have strictly +abstained from the open and lawless depredations which his kinsman had +practised, + +It was probably after this state of temporary quiet had been obtained, +that Rob Roy began to think of the concerns of his future state. He had +been bred, and long professed himself, a Protestant; but in his later +years he embraced the Roman Catholic faith,--perhaps on Mrs. Cole's +principle, that it was a comfortable religion for one of his calling. He +is said to have alleged as the cause of his conversion, a desire to +gratify the noble family of Perth, who were then strict Catholics. +Having, as he observed, assumed the name of the Duke of Argyle, his first +protector, he could pay no compliment worth the Earl of Perth's +acceptance save complying with his mode of religion. Rob did not pretend, +when pressed closely on the subject, to justify all the tenets of +Catholicism, and acknowledged that extreme unction always appeared to him +a great waste of _ulzie,_ or oil.* + +* Such an admission is ascribed to the robber Donald Bean Lean in +Waverley, chap. lxii, + + In the last years of Rob Roy's life, his clan was involved in a dispute +with one more powerful than themselves. Stewart of Appin, a chief of the +tribe so named, was proprietor of a hill-farm in the Braes of +Balquhidder, called Invernenty. The MacGregors of Rob Roy's tribe claimed +a right to it by ancient occupancy, and declared they would oppose to the +uttermost the settlement of any person upon the farm not being of their +own name. The Stewarts came down with two hundred men, well armed, to do +themselves justice by main force. The MacGregors took the field, but were +unable to muster an equal strength. Rob Roy, fending himself the weaker +party, asked a parley, in which he represented that both clans were +friends to the _King,_ and, that he was unwilling they should be weakened +by mutual conflict, and thus made a merit of surrendering to Appin the +disputed territory of Invernenty. Appin, accordingly, settled as tenants +there, at an easy quit-rent, the MacLarens, a family dependent on the +Stewarts, and from whose character for strength and bravery, it was +expected that they would make their right good if annoyed by the +MacGregors. When all this had been amicably adjusted, in presence of the +two clans drawn up in arms near the Kirk of Balquhidder, Rob Roy, +apparently fearing his tribe might be thought to have conceded too much +upon the occasion, stepped forward and said, that where so many gallant +men were met in arms, it would be shameful to part without it trial of +skill, and therefore he took the freedom to invite any gentleman of the +Stewarts present to exchange a few blows with him for the honour of their +respective clans. The brother-in-law of Appin, and second chieftain of +the clan, Alaster Stewart of Invernahyle, accepted the challenge, and +they encountered with broadsword and target before their respective +kinsmen.* + +* Some accounts state that Appin himself was Rob Roy's antagonist on this +occasion. My recollection, from the account of Invernahyle himself, was +as stated in the text. But the period when I received the information is +now so distant, that it is possible I may be mistaken. Invernahyle was +rather of low stature, but very well made, athletic, and an excellent +swordsman. + +The combat lasted till Rob received a slight wound in the arm, which was +the usual termination of such a combat when fought for honour only, and +not with a mortal purpose. Rob Roy dropped his point, and congratulated +his adversary on having been the first man who ever drew blood from him. +The victor generously acknowledged, that without the advantage of youth, +and the agility accompanying it, he probably could not have come off with +advantage. + +This was probably one of Rob Roy's last exploits in arms. The time of his +death is not known with certainty, but he is generally said to have +survived 1738, and to have died an aged man. When he found himself +approaching his final change, he expressed some contrition for particular +parts of his life. His wife laughed at these scruples of conscience, and +exhorted him to die like a man, as he had lived. In reply, he rebuked her +for her violent passions, and the counsels she had given him. "You have +put strife," he said, "betwixt me and the best men of the country, and +now you would place enmity between me and my God." + +There is a tradition, no way inconsistent with the former, if the +character of Rob Roy be justly considered, that while on his deathbed, he +learned that a person with whom he was at enmity proposed to visit him. +"Raise me from my bed," said the invalid; "throw my plaid around me, and +bring me my claymore, dirk, and pistols--it shall never be said that a +foeman saw Rob Roy MacGregor defenceless and unarmed." His foeman, +conjectured to be one of the MacLarens before and after mentioned, +entered and paid his compliments, inquiring after the health of his +formidable neighbour. Rob Roy maintained a cold haughty civility during +their short conference, and so soon as he had left the house. "Now," he +said, "all is over--let the piper play, _Ha til mi tulidh_" (we return no +more); and he is said to have expired before the dirge was finished. + +This singular man died in bed in his own house, in the parish of +Balquhidder. He was buried in the churchyard of the same parish, where +his tombstone is only distinguished by a rude attempt at the figure of a +broadsword. + +The character of Rob Roy is, of course, a mixed one. His sagacity, +boldness, and prudence, qualities so highly necessary to success in war, +became in some degree vices, from the manner in which they were employed. +The circumstances of his education, however, must be admitted as some +extenuation of his habitual transgressions against the law; and for his +political tergiversations, he might in that distracted period plead the +example of men far more powerful, and less excusable in becoming the +sport of circumstances, than the poor and desperate outlaw. On the other +hand, he was in the constant exercise of virtues, the more meritorious as +they seem inconsistent with his general character. Pursuing the +occupation of a predatory chieftain,--in modern phrase a captain of +banditti,--Rob Roy was moderate in his revenge, and humane in his +successes. No charge of cruelty or bloodshed, unless in battle, is +brought against his memory. In like manner, the formidable outlaw was the +friend of the poor, and, to the utmost of his ability, the support of the +widow and the orphan--kept his word when pledged--and died lamented in +his own wild country, where there were hearts grateful for his +beneficence, though their minds were not sufficiently instructed to +appreciate his errors. + +The author perhaps ought to stop here; but the fate of a part of Rob +Roy's family was so extraordinary, as to call for a continuation of this +somewhat prolix account, as affording an interesting chapter, not on +Highland manners alone, but on every stage of society in which the people +of a primitive and half-civilised tribe are brought into close contact +with a nation, in which civilisation and polity have attained a complete +superiority. + +Rob had five sons,--Coll, Ronald, James, Duncan, and Robert. Nothing +occurs worth notice concerning three of them; but James, who was a very +handsome man, seems to have had a good deal of his father's spirit, and +the mantle of Dougal Ciar Mhor had apparently descended on the shoulders +of Robin Oig, that is, young Robin. Shortly after Rob Roy's death, the +ill-will which the MacGregors entertained against the MacLarens again +broke out, at the instigation, it was said, of Rob's widow, who seems +thus far to have deserved the character given to her by her husband, as +an Ate' stirring up to blood and strife. Robin Oig, under her +instigation, swore that as soon as he could get back a certain gun which +had belonged to his father, and had been lately at Doune to be repaired, +he would shoot MacLaren, for having presumed to settle on his mother's +land.* + +* This fatal piece was taken from Robin Oig, when he was seized many +years afterwards. It remained in possession of the magistrates before +whom he was brought for examination, and now makes part of a small +collection of arms belonging to the Author. It is a Spanish-barrelled +gun, marked with the letters R. M. C., for Robert MacGregor Campbell. + +He was as good as his word, and shot MacLaren when between the stilts of +his plough, wounding him mortally. + +The aid of a Highland leech was procured, who probed the wound with a +probe made out of a castock; _i.e._, the stalk of a colewort or cabbage. +This learned gentleman declared he would not venture to prescribe, not +knowing with what shot the patient had been wounded. MacLaren died, and +about the same time his cattle were houghed, and his live stock destroyed +in a barbarous manner. + +Robin Oig, after this feat--which one of his biographers represents as +the unhappy discharge of a gun--retired to his mother's house, to boast +that he had drawn the first blood in the quarrel aforesaid. On the +approach of troops, and a body of the Stewarts, who were bound to take up +the cause of their tenant, Robin Oig absconded, and escaped all search. + +The doctor already mentioned, by name Callam MacInleister, with James and +Ronald, brothers to the actual perpetrator of the murder, were brought to +trial. But as they contrived to represent the action as a rash deed +committed by "the daft callant Rob," to which they were not accessory, +the jury found their accession to the crime was Not Proven. The alleged +acts of spoil and violence on the MacLarens' cattle, were also found to +be unsupported by evidence. As it was proved, however, that the two +brothers, Ronald and James, were held and reputed thieves, they were +appointed to find caution to the extent of L200, for their good behaviour +for seven years.* + +* Note D. Author's expedition against the MacLarens. + +The spirit of clanship was at that time, so strong--to which must be +added the wish to secure the adherence of stout, able-bodied, and, as the +Scotch phrase then went, _pretty_ men--that the representative of the +noble family of Perth condescended to act openly as patron of the +MacGregors, and appeared as such upon their trial. So at least the author +was informed by the late Robert MacIntosh, Esq., advocate. The +circumstance may, however, have occurred later than 1736--the year in +which this first trial took place. + +Robin Oig served for a time in the 42d regiment, and was present at the +battle of Fontenoy, where he was made prisoner and wounded. He was +exchanged, returned to Scotland, and obtained his discharge. He +afterwards appeared openly in the MacGregor's country; and, +notwithstanding his outlawry, married a daughter of Graham of Drunkie, a +gentleman of some property. His wife died a few years afterwards. + +The insurrection of 1745 soon afterwards called the MacGregors to arms. +Robert MacGregor of Glencarnoch, generally regarded as the chief of the +whole name, and grandfather of Sir John, whom the clan received in that +character, raised a MacGregor regiment, with which he joined the standard +of the Chevalier. The race of Ciar Mhor, however, affecting independence, +and commanded by Glengyle and his cousin James Roy MacGregor, did not +join this kindred corps, but united themselves to the levies of the +titular Duke of Perth, until William MacGregor Drummond of Bolhaldie, +whom they regarded as head of their branch, of Clan Alpine, should come +over from France. To cement the union after the Highland fashion, James +laid down the name of Campbell, and assumed that of Drummond, in +compliment to Lord Perth. He was also called James Roy, after his father, +and James Mhor, or Big James, from his height. His corps, the relics of +his father Rob's band, behaved with great activity; with only twelve men +he succeeded in surprising and burning, for the second time, the fort at +Inversnaid, constructed for the express purpose of bridling the country +of the MacGregors. + +What rank or command James MacGregor had, is uncertain. He calls himself +Major; and Chevalier Johnstone calls him Captain. He must have held rank +under Ghlune Dhu, his kinsman, but his active and audacious character +placed him above the rest of his brethren. Many of his followers were +unarmed; he supplied the want of guns and swords with scythe-blades set +straight upon their handles. + +At the battle of Prestonpans, James Roy distinguished himself. "His +company," says Chevalier Johnstone, "did great execution with their +scythes." They cut the legs of the horses in two--the riders through the +middle of their bodies. MacGregor was brave and intrepid, but at the same +time, somewhat whimsical and singular. When advancing to the charge with +his company, he received five wounds, two of them from balls that pierced +his body through and through. Stretched on the ground, with his head +resting on his hand, he called out loudly to the Highlanders of his +company, "My lads, I am not dead. By G--, I shall see if any of you does +not do his duty." The victory, as is well known, was instantly obtained. + +In some curious letters of James Roy,* it appears that his thigh-bone was +broken on this occasion, and that he, nevertheless, rejoined the army +with six companies, and was present at the battle of Culloden. + +* Published in Blackwood's Magazine, vol. ii. p. 228. + +After that defeat, the clan MacGregor kept together in a body, and did +not disperse till they had returned into their own country. They brought +James Roy with them in a litter; and, without being particularly +molested, he was permitted to reside in the MacGregor's country along +with his brothers. + +James MacGregor Drummond was attainted for high treason with persons of +more importance. But it appears he had entered into some communication +with Government, as, in the letters quoted, he mentions having obtained a +pass from the Lord Justice-Clerk in 1747, which was a sufficient +protection to him from the military. The circumstance is obscurely stated +in one of the letters already quoted, but may perhaps, joined to +subsequent incidents, authorise the suspicion that James, like his +father, could look at both sides of the cards. As the confusion of the +country subsided, the MacGregors, like foxes which had baffled the +hounds, drew back to their old haunts, and lived unmolested. But an +atrocious outrage, in which the sons of Rob Roy were concerned, brought +at length on the family the full vengeance of the law. + +James Roy was a married man, and had fourteen children. But his brother, +Robin Oig, was now a widower; and it was resolved, if possible, that he +should make his fortune by carrying off and marrying, by force if +necessary, some woman of fortune from the Lowlands. + +The imagination of the half-civilised Highlanders was less shocked at the +idea of this particular species of violence, than might be expected from +their general kindness to the weaker sex when they make part of their own +families. But all their views were tinged with the idea that they lived +in a state of war; and in such a state, from the time of the siege of +Troy to "the moment when Previsa fell,"* the female captives are, to +uncivilised victors, the most valuable part of the booty-- + +* Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto II. + + "The wealthy are slaughtered, the lovely are spared." + +We need not refer to the rape of the Sabines, or to a similar instance in +the Book of Judges, for evidence that such deeds of violence have been +committed upon a large scale. Indeed, this sort of enterprise was so +common along the Highland line as to give rise to a variety of songs and +ballads.* + +* See Appendix, No. VI. + +The annals of Ireland, as well as those of Scotland, prove the crime to +have been common in the more lawless parts of both countries; and any +woman who happened to please a man of spirit who came of a good house, +and possessed a few chosen friends, and a retreat in the mountains, was +not permitted the alternative of saying him nay. What is more, it would +seem that the women themselves, most interested in the immunities of +their sex, were, among the lower classes, accustomed to regard such +marriages as that which is presently to be detailed as "pretty Fanny's +way," or rather, the way of Donald with pretty Fanny. It is not a great +many years since a respectable woman, above the lower rank of life, +expressed herself very warmly to the author on his taking the freedom to +censure the behaviour of the MacGregors on the occasion in question. She +said "that there was no use in giving a bride too much choice upon such +occasions; that the marriages were the happiest long syne which had been +done offhand." Finally, she averred that her "own mother had never seen +her father till the night he brought her up from the Lennox, with ten +head of black cattle, and there had not been a happier couple in the +country." + +James Drummond and his brethren having similar opinions with the author's +old acquaintance, and debating how they might raise the fallen fortunes +of their clan, formed a resolution to settle their brother's fortune by +striking up an advantageous marriage betwixt Robin Oig and one Jean Key, +or Wright, a young woman scarce twenty years old, and who had been left +about two months a widow by the death of her husband. Her property was +estimated at only from 16,000 to 18,000 merks, but it seems to have been +sufficient temptation to these men to join in the commission of a great +crime. + +This poor young victim lived with her mother in her own house at +Edinbilly, in the parish of Balfron and shire of Stirling. At this place, +in the night of 3d December 1750, the sons of Rob Roy, and particularly +James Mhor and Robin Oig, rushed into the house where the object of their +attack was resident, presented guns, swords, and pistols to the males of +the family, and terrified the women by threatening to break open the +doors if Jean Key was not surrendered, as, said James Roy, "his brother +was a young fellow determined to make his fortune." Having, at length, +dragged the object of their lawless purpose from her place of +concealment, they tore her from her mother's arms, mounted her on a horse +before one of the gang, and carried her off in spite, of her screams and +cries, which were long heard after the terrified spectators of the +outrage could no longer see the party retreat through the darkness. In +her attempts to escape, the poor young woman threw herself from the horse +on which they had placed her, and in so doing wrenched her side. They +then laid her double over the pummel of the saddle, and transported her +through the mosses and moors till the pain of the injury she had suffered +in her side, augmented by the uneasiness of her posture, made her consent +to sit upright. In the execution of this crime they stopped at more +houses than one, but none of the inhabitants dared interrupt their +proceedings. Amongst others who saw them was that classical and +accomplished scholar the late Professor William Richardson of Glasgow, +who used to describe as a terrible dream their violent and noisy entrance +into the house where he was then residing. The Highlanders filled the +little kitchen, brandishing their arms, demanding what they pleased, and +receiving whatever they demanded. James Mhor, he said, was a tall, stern, +and soldier-like man. Robin Oig looked more gentle; dark, but yet ruddy +in complexion--a good-looking young savage. Their victim was so +dishevelled in her dress, and forlorn in her appearance and demeanour, +that he could hardly tell whether she was alive or dead. + +The gang carried the unfortunate woman to Rowardennan, where they had a +priest unscrupulous enough to read the marriage service, while James Mhor +forcibly held the bride up before him; and the priest declared the couple +man and wife, even while she protested against the infamy of his conduct. +Under the same threats of violence, which had been all along used to +enforce their scheme, the poor victim was compelled to reside with the +pretended husband who was thus forced upon her. They even dared to carry +her to the public church of Balquhidder, where the officiating clergyman +(the same who had been Rob Roy's pensioner) only asked them if they were +married persons. Robert MacGregor answered in the affirmative; the +terrified female was silent. + +The country was now too effectually subjected to the law for this vile +outrage to be followed by the advantages proposed by the actors, Military +parties were sent out in every direction to seize the MacGregors, who +were for two or three weeks compelled to shift from one place to another +in the mountains, bearing the unfortunate Jean Key along with them. In +the meanwhile, the Supreme Civil Court issued a warrant, sequestrating +the property of Jean Key, or Wright, which removed out of the reach of +the actors in the violence the prize which they expected. They had, +however, adopted a belief of the poor woman's spirit being so far broken +that she would prefer submitting to her condition, and adhering to Robin +Oig as her husband, rather than incur the disgrace, of appearing in such +a cause in an open court. It was, indeed, a delicate experiment; but +their kinsman Glengyle, chief of their immediate family, was of a temper +averse to lawless proceedings;* and the captive's friends having had +recourse to his advice, they feared that he would withdraw his protection +if they refused to place the prisoner at liberty. + +* Such, at least, was his general character; for when James Mhor, while +perpetrating the violence at Edinbilly, called out, in order to overawe +opposition, that Glengyle was lying in the moor with a hundred men to +patronise his enterprise, Jean Key told him he lied, since she was +confident Glengyle would never countenance so scoundrelly a business. + +The brethren resolved, therefore, to liberate the unhappy woman, but +previously had recourse to every measure which should oblige her, either +from fear or otherwise, to own her marriage with Robin Oig. The +cailliachs (old Highland hags) administered drugs, which were designed to +have the effect of philtres, but were probably deleterious. James Mhor at +one time threatened, that if she did not acquiesce in the match she would +find that there were enough of men in the Highlands to bring the heads of +two of her uncles who were pursuing the civil lawsuit. At another time he +fell down on his knees, and confessed he had been accessory to wronging +her, but begged she would not ruin his innocent wife and large family. +She was made to swear she would not prosecute the brethren for the +offence they had committed; and she was obliged by threats to subscribe +papers which were tendered to her, intimating that she was carried off in +consequence of her own previous request. + +James Mhor Drummond accordingly brought his pretended sister-in-law to +Edinburgh, where, for some little time, she was carried about from one +house to another, watched by those with whom she was lodged, and never +permitted to go out alone, or even to approach the window. The Court of +Session, considering the peculiarity of the case, and regarding Jean Key +as being still under some forcible restraint, took her person under their +own special charge, and appointed her to reside in the family of Mr. +Wightman of Mauldsley, a gentleman of respectability, who was married to +one of her near relatives. Two sentinels kept guard on the house day and +night--a precaution not deemed superfluous when the MacGregors were in +question. She was allowed to go out whenever she chose, and to see +whomsoever she had a mind, as well as the men of law employed in the +civil suit on either side. When she first came to Mr. Wightman's house +she seemed broken down with affright and suffering, so changed in +features that her mother hardly knew her, and so shaken in mind that she +scarce could recognise her parent. It was long before she could be +assured that she was in perfect safely. But when she at length received +confidence in her situation, she made a judicial declaration, or +affidavit, telling the full history of her wrongs, imputing to fear her +former silence on the subject, and expressing her resolution not to +prosecute those who had injured her, in respect of the oath she had been +compelled to take. From the possible breach of such an oath, though a +compulsory one, she was relieved by the forms of Scottish jurisprudence, +in that respect more equitable than those of England, prosecutions for +crimes being always conducted at the expense and charge of the King, +without inconvenience or cost to the private party who has sustained the +wrong. But the unhappy sufferer did not live to be either accuser or +witness against those who had so deeply injured her. + +James Mhor Drummond had left Edinburgh so soon as his half-dead prey had +been taken from his clutches. Mrs. Key, or Wright, was released from her +species of confinement there, and removed to Glasgow, under the escort of +Mr. Wightman. As they passed the Hill of Shotts, her escort chanced to +say, "this is a very wild spot; what if the MacGregors should come upon +us?"--"God forbid!" was her immediate answer, "the very sight of them +would kill me." She continued to reside at Glasgow, without venturing to +return to her own house at Edinbilly. Her pretended husband made some +attempts to obtain an interview with her, which she steadily rejected. +She died on the 4th October 1751. The information for the Crown hints +that her decease might be the consequence of the usage she received. But +there is a general report that she died of the small-pox. In the +meantime, James Mhor, or Drummond, fell into the hands of justice. He was +considered as the instigator of the whole affair. Nay, the deceased had +informed her friends that on the night of her being carried off, Robin +Oig, moved by her cries and tears, had partly consented to let her +return, when James came up with a pistol in his hand, and, asking whether +he was such a coward as to relinquish an enterprise in which he had +risked everything to procure him a fortune, in a manner compelled his +brother to persevere. James's trial took place on 13th July 1752, and was +conducted with the utmost fairness and impartiality. Several witnesses, +all of the MacGregor family, swore that the marriage was performed with +every appearance of acquiescence on the woman's part; and three or four +witnesses, one of them sheriff-substitute of the county, swore she might +have made her escape if she wished, and the magistrate stated that he +offered her assistance if she felt desirous to do so. But when asked why +he, in his official capacity, did not arrest the MacGregors, he could +only answer, that he had not force sufficient to make the attempt. + +The judicial declarations of Jean Key, or Wright, stated the violent +manner in which she had been carried off, and they were confirmed by many +of her friends, from her private communications with them, which the +event of her death rendered good evidence. Indeed, the fact of her +abduction (to use a Scottish law term) was completely proved by impartial +witnesses. The unhappy woman admitted that she had pretended acquiescence +in her fate on several occasions, because she dared not trust such as +offered to assist her to escape, not even the sheriff-substitute. + +The jury brought in a special verdict, finding that Jean Key, or Wright, +had been forcibly carried off from her house, as charged in the +indictment, and that the accused had failed to show that she was herself +privy and consenting to this act of outrage. But they found the forcible +marriage, and subsequent violence, was not proved; and also found, in +alleviation of the panel's guilt in the premises, that Jean Key did +afterwards acquiesce in her condition. Eleven of the jury, using the +names of other four who were absent, subscribed a letter to the Court, +stating it was their purpose and desire, by such special verdict, to take +the panel's case out of the class of capital crimes. + +Learned informations (written arguments) on the import of the verdict, +which must be allowed a very mild one in the circumstances, were laid +before the High Court of Justiciary. This point is very learnedly debated +in these pleadings by Mr. Grant, Solicitor for the Crown, and the +celebrated Mr. Lockhart, on the part of the prisoner; but James Mhor did +not wait the event of the Court's decision. + +He had been committed to the Castle of Edinburgh on some reports that an +escape would be attempted. Yet he contrived to achieve his liberty even +from that fortress. His daughter had the address to enter the prison, +disguised as a cobbler, bringing home work, as she pretended. In this +cobbler's dress her father quickly arrayed himself. The wife and daughter +of the prisoner were heard by the sentinels scolding the supposed cobbler +for having done his work ill, and the man came out with his hat slouched +over his eyes, and grumbling, as if at the manner in which they had +treated him. In this way the prisoner passed all the guards without +suspicion, and made his escape to France. He was afterwards outlawed by +the Court of Justiciary, which proceeded to the trial of Duncan +MacGregor, or Drummond, his brother, 15th January 1753. The accused had +unquestionably been with the party which carried off Jean Key; but no +evidence being brought which applied to him individually and directly, +the jury found him not guilty--and nothing more is known of his fate. + +That of James MacGregor, who, from talent and activity, if not by +seniority, may be considered as head of the family, has been long +misrepresented; as it has been generally averred in Law Reports, as well +as elsewhere, that his outlawry was reversed, and that he returned and +died in Scotland. But the curious letters published in Blackwood's +Magazine for December 1817, show this to be an error. The first of these +documents is a petition to Charles Edward. It is dated 20th September +1753, and pleads his service to the cause of the Stuarts, ascribing his +exile to the persecution of the Hanoverian Government, without any +allusion to the affair of Jean Key, or the Court of Justiciary. It is +stated to be forwarded by MacGregor Drummond of Bohaldie, whom, as before +mentioned, James Mhor acknowledged as his chief. + +The effect which this petition produced does not appear. Some temporary +relief was perhaps obtained. But, soon after, this daring adventurer was +engaged in a very dark intrigue against an exile of his own country, and +placed pretty nearly in his own circumstances. A remarkable Highland +story must be here briefly alluded to. Mr. Campbell of Glenure, who had +been named factor for Government on the forfeited estates of Stewart of +Ardshiel, was shot dead by an assassin as he passed through the wood of +Lettermore, after crossing the ferry of Ballachulish. A gentleman, named +James Stewart, a natural brother of Ardshiel, the forfeited person, was +tried as being accessory to the murder, and condemned and executed upon +very doubtful evidence; the heaviest part of which only amounted to the +accused person having assisted a nephew of his own, called Allan Breck +Stewart, with money to escape after the deed was done. Not satisfied with +this vengeance, which was obtained in a manner little to the honour of +the dispensation of justice at the time, the friends of the deceased +Glenure were equally desirous to obtain possession of the person of Allan +Breck Stewart, supposed to be the actual homicide. James Mhor Drummond +was secretly applied to to trepan Stewart to the sea-coast, and bring him +over to Britain, to almost certain death. Drummond MacGregor had kindred +connections with the slain Glenure; and, besides, the MacGregors and +Campbells had been friends of late, while the former clan and the +Stewarts had, as we have seen, been recently at feud; lastly, Robert Oig +was now in custody at Edinburgh, and James was desirous to do some +service by which his brother might be saved. The joint force of these +motives may, in James's estimation of right and wrong, have been some +vindication for engaging in such an enterprise, although, as must be +necessarily supposed, it could only be executed by treachery of a gross +description. MacGregor stipulated for a license to return to England, +promising to bring Allan Breck thither along with him. But the intended +victim was put upon his guard by two countrymen, who suspected James's +intentions towards him. He escaped from his kidnapper, after, as +MacGregor alleged, robbing his portmanteau of some clothes and four +snuff-boxes. Such a charge, it may be observed, could scarce have been +made unless the parties had been living on a footing of intimacy, and had +access to each other's baggage. + +Although James Drummond had thus missed his blow in the matter of Allan +Breck Stewart, he used his license to make a journey to London, and had +an interview, as he avers, with Lord Holdernesse. His Lordship, and the +Under-Secretary, put many puzzling questions to him; and, as he says, +offered him a situation, which would bring him bread, in the Government's +service. This office was advantageous as to emolument; but in the opinion +of James Drummond, his acceptance of it would have been a disgrace to his +birth, and have rendered him a scourge to his country. If such a tempting +offer and sturdy rejection had any foundation in fact, it probably +relates to some plan of espionage on the Jacobites, which the Government +might hope to carry on by means of a man who, in the matter of Allan +Breck Stewart, had shown no great nicety of feeling. Drummond MacGregor +was so far accommodating as to intimate his willingness to act in any +station in which other gentlemen of honour served, but not otherwise;--an +answer which, compared with some passages of his past life, may remind +the reader of Ancient Pistol standing upon his reputation. + +Having thus proved intractable, as he tells the story, to the proposals +of Lord Holdernesse, James Drummond was ordered instantly to quit +England. + +On his return to France, his condition seems to have been utterly +disastrous. He was seized with fever and gravel--ill, consequently, in +body, and weakened and dispirited in mind. Allan Breck Stewart threatened +to put him to death in revenge of the designs he had harboured against +him.* + +* Note E. Allan Breck Stewart. + +The Stewart clan were in the highest degree unfriendly to him: and his +late expedition to London had been attended with many suspicious +circumstances, amongst which it was not the slightest that he had kept +his purpose secret from his chief Bohaldie. His intercourse with Lord +Holdernesse was suspicious. The Jacobites were probably, like Don Bernard +de Castel Blaze, in Gil Blas, little disposed to like those who kept +company with Alguazils. Mac-Donnell of Lochgarry, a man of unquestioned +honour, lodged an information against James Drummond before the High +Bailie of Dunkirk, accusing him of being a spy, so that he found himself +obliged to leave that town and come to Paris, with only the sum of +thirteen livres for his immediate subsistence, and with absolute beggary +staring him in the face. + +We do not offer the convicted common thief, the accomplice in MacLaren's +assassination, or the manager of the outrage against Jean Key, as an +object of sympathy; but it is melancholy to look on the dying struggles +even of a wolf or a tiger, creatures of a species directly hostile to our +own; and, in like manner, the utter distress of this man, whose faults +may have sprung from a wild system of education, working on a haughty +temper, will not be perused without some pity. In his last letter to +Bohaldie, dated Paris, 25th September 1754, he describes his state of +destitution as absolute, and expresses himself willing to exercise his +talents in breaking or breeding horses, or as a hunter or fowler, if he +could only procure employment in such an inferior capacity till something +better should occur. An Englishman may smile, but a Scotchman will sigh +at the postscript, in which the poor starving exile asks the loan of his +patron's bagpipes that he might play over some of the melancholy tunes of +his own land. But the effect of music arises, in a great degree, from +association; and sounds which might jar the nerves of a Londoner or +Parisian, bring back to the Highlander his lofty mountain, wild lake, and +the deeds of his fathers of the glen. To prove MacGregor's claim to our +reader's compassion, we here insert the last part of the letter alluded +to. + +"By all appearance I am born to suffer crosses, and it seems they're not +at an end; for such is my wretched case at present, that I do not know +earthly where to go or what to do, as I have no subsistence to keep body +and soul together. All that I have carried here is about 13 livres, and +have taken a room at my old quarters in Hotel St. Pierre, Rue de Cordier. +I send you the bearer, begging of you to let me know if you are to be in +town soon, that I may have the pleasure of seeing you, for I have none to +make application to but you alone; and all I want is, if it was possible +you could contrive where I could be employed without going to entire +beggary. This probably is a difficult point, yet unless it's attended +with some difficulty, you might think nothing of it, as your long head +can bring about matters of much more difficulty and consequence than +this. If you'd disclose this matter to your friend Mr. Butler, it's +possible he might have some employ wherein I could be of use, as I +pretend to know as much of breiding and riding of horse as any in France, +besides that I am a good hunter either on horseback or by footing. You +may judge my reduction, as I propose the meanest things to lend a turn +till better cast up. I am sorry that I am obliged to give you so much +trouble, but I hope you are very well assured that I am grateful for what +you have done for me, and I leave you to judge of my present wretched +case. I am, and shall for ever continue, dear Chief, your own to command, +Jas. MacGregor. + +"P. S.--If you'd send your pipes by the bearer, and all the other little +trinkims belonging to it, I would put them in order, and play some +melancholy tunes, which I may now with safety, and in real truth. Forgive +my not going directly to you, for if I could have borne the seeing of +yourself, I could not choose to be seen by my friends in my wretchedness, +nor by any of my acquaintance." + +While MacGregor wrote in this disconsolate manner, Death, the sad but +sure remedy for mortal evils, and decider of all doubts and +uncertainties, was hovering near him. A memorandum on the back of the +letter says the writer died about a week after, in October 1754. + +It now remains to mention the fate of Robin Oig--for the other sons of +Rob Roy seem to have been no way distinguished. Robin was apprehended by +a party of military from the fort of Inversnaid, at the foot of Gartmore, +and was conveyed to Edinburgh 26th May 1753. After a delay, which may +have been protracted by the negotiations of James for delivering up Allan +Breck Stewart upon promise of his brother's life, Robin Oig, on the 24th +of December 1753, was brought to the bar of the High Court of Justiciary, +and indicted by the name of Robert MacGregor, alias Campbell, alias +Drummond, alias Robert Oig; and the evidence led against him resembled +exactly that which was brought by the Crown on the former trial. Robert's +case was in some degree more favourable than his brother's;--for, though +the principal in the forcible marriage, he had yet to plead that he had +shown symptoms of relenting while they were carrying Jean Key off, which +were silenced by the remonstrances and threats of his harder natured +brother James. A considerable space of time had also elapsed since the +poor woman died, which is always a strong circumstance in favour of the +accused; for there is a sort of perspective in guilt, and crimes of an +old date seem less odious than those of recent occurrence. But +notwithstanding these considerations, the jury, in Robert's case, did not +express any solicitude to save his life as they had done that of James. +They found him guilty of being art and part in the forcible abduction of +Jean Key from her own dwelling.* + +* The Trials of the Sons of Rob Roy, with anecdotes of Himself and his +Family, were published at Edinburgh, 1818, in 12mo. + +Robin Oig was condemned to death, and executed on the 14th February 1754. +At the place of execution he behaved with great decency; and professing +himself a Catholic, imputed all his misfortunes to his swerving from the +true church two or three years before. He confessed the violent methods +he had used to gain Mrs. Key, or Wright, and hoped his fate would stop +further proceedings against his brother James.* + +* James died near three months before, but his family might easily remain +a long time without the news of that event. + +The newspapers observed that his body, after hanging the usual time, was +delivered to his friends to be carried to the Highlands. To this the +recollection of a venerable friend, recently taken from us in the fulness +of years, then a schoolboy at Linlithgow, enables the author to add, that +a much larger body of MacGregors than had cared to advance to Edinburgh +received the corpse at that place with the coronach and other wild +emblems of Highland mourning, and so escorted it to Balquhidder. Thus we +may conclude this long account of Rob Roy and his family with the classic +phrase, + + Ite. Conclamatum est. + +I have only to add, that I have selected the above from many anecdotes of +Rob Roy which were, and may still be, current among the mountains where +he flourished; but I am far from warranting their exact authenticity. +Clannish partialities were very apt to guide the tongue and pen, as well +as the pistol and claymore, and the features of an anecdote are +wonderfully softened or exaggerated as the story is told by a MacGregor +or a Campbell. + + + + + + APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. + + +No. I.--ADVERTISEMENT +FOR THE APPREHENSION OF ROB ROY. + +(From the Edinburgh Evening Courant, June 18 to June 21, A.D. 1732. No. +1058.) + +"That Robert Campbell, commonly known by the name of Rob Roy MacGregor, +being lately intrusted by several noblemen and gentlemen with +considerable sums for buying cows for them in the Highlands, has +treacherously gone off with the money, to the value of L1000 sterling, +which he carries along with him. All Magistrates and Officers of his +Majesty's forces are intreated to seize upon the said Rob Roy, and the +money which he carries with him, until the persons concerned in the money +be heard against him; and that notice be given, when he is apprehended, +to the keepers of the Exchange Coffee-house at Edinburgh, and the keeper +of the Coffee-house at Glasgow, where the parties concerned will be +advertised, and the seizers shall be very reasonably rewarded for their +pains." + +It is unfortunate that this Hue and Cry, which is afterwards repeated in +the same paper, contains no description of Rob Roy's person, which, of +course, we must suppose to have been pretty generally known. As it is +directed against Rob Roy personally, it would seem to exclude the idea of +the cattle being carried off by his partner, MacDonald, who would +certainly have been mentioned in the advertisement, if the creditors +concerned had supposed him to be in possession of the money. + + + +No. II.--LETTERS +FROM AND TO THE DUKE OF MONTROSE +RESPECTING ROB ROY'S ARREST OF MR. GRAHAME OF KILLEARN. + +_The Duke of Montrose to--_* + +* It does not appear to whom this letter was addressed. Certainly, from +its style and tenor, It was designed for some person high in rank and +office--perhaps the King's Advocate for the time. + + +"Glasgow, the 21st November, 1716. + +"My Lord,--I was surprised last night with the account of a very +remarkable instance of the insolence of that very notorious rogue Rob +Roy, whom your lordship has often heard named. The honour of his +Majesty's Government being concerned in it, I thought it my duty to +acquaint your lordship of the particulars by an express. + +"Mr. Grahame of Killearn (whom I have had occasion to mention frequently +to you, for the good service he did last winter during the rebellion) +having the charge of my Highland estate, went to Monteath, which is a +part of it, on Monday last, to bring in my rents, it being usual for him +to be there for two or three nights together at this time of the year, in +a country house, for the conveniency of meeting the tenants, upon that +account. The same night, about 9 of the clock, Rob Roy, with a party of +those ruffians whom he has still kept about him since the late rebellion, +surrounded the house where Mr. Grahame was with some of my tenants doing +his business, ordered his men to present their guns in att the windows of +the room where he was sitting, while he himself at the same time with +others entered at the door, with cocked pistols, and made Mr. Grahame +prisoner, carreing him away to the hills with the money he had got, his +books and papers, and my tenants' bonds for their fines, amounting to +above a thousand pounds sterling, whereof the one-half had been paid last +year, and the other was to have been paid now; and att the same time had +the insolence to cause him to write a letter to me (the copy of which is +enclosed) offering me terms of a treaty. + +"That your Lordship may have the better view of this matter, it will be +necessary that I should inform you, that this fellow has now, of a long +time, put himself at the head of the Clan M'Gregor, a race of people who +in all ages have distinguished themselves beyond others, by robberies, +depredations, and murders, and have been the constant harbourers and +entertainers of vagabonds and loose people. From the time of the +Revolution he has taken every opportunity to appear against the +Government, acting rather as a robber than doing any real service to +those whom he pretended to appear for, and has really done more mischief +to the countrie than all the other Highlanders have done. + +"Some three or four years before the last rebellion broke out, being +overburdened with debts, he quitted his ordinary residence, and removed +some twelve or sixteen miles farther into the Highlands, putting himself +under the protection of the Earl of Bredalbin. When my Lord Cadogan was +in the Highlands, he ordered his house att this place to be burnt, which +your Lordship sees he now places to my account. + +"This obliges him to return to the same countrie he went from, being a +most rugged inaccessible place, where he took up his residence anew +amongst his own friends and relations; but well judging that it was +possible to surprise him, he, with about forty-five of his followers, +went to Inverary, and made a sham surrender of their arms to Coll. +Campbell of Finab, Commander of one of the Independent Companies, and +returned home with his men, each of them having the Coll.'s protection. +This happened in the beginning of summer last; yet not long after he +appeared with his men twice in arms, in opposition to the King's troops: +and one of those times attackt them, rescued a prisoner from them, and +all this while sent abroad his party through the countrie, plundering the +countrie people, and amongst the rest some of my tenants. + +"Being informed of these disorders after I came to Scotland, I applied to +Lieut.-Genll. Carpenter, who ordered three parties from Glasgow, +Stirling, and Finlarig, to march in the night by different routes, in +order to surprise him and his men in their houses, which would have its +effect certainly, if the great rains that happened to fall that verie +night had not retarded the march of the troops, so as some of the parties +came too late to the stations that they were ordered for. All that could +be done upon the occasion was to burn a countrie house, where Rob Roy +then resided, after some of his clan had, from the rocks, fired upon the +king's troops, by which a grenadier was killed. + +"Mr. Grahame of Killearn, being my deputy-sheriff in that countrie, went +along with the party that marched from Stirling; and doubtless will now +meet with the worse treatment from that barbarous people on that account. +Besides, that he is my relation, and that they know how active he has +been in the service of the Government--all which, your Lordship may +believe, puts me under very great concern for the gentleman, while, at +the same time, I can foresee no manner of way how to relieve him, other +than to leave him to chance and his own management. + +"I had my thoughts before of proposing to Government the building of some +barracks as the only expedient for suppressing these rebels, and securing +the peace of the countrie; and in that view I spoke to Genll. Carpenter, +who has now a scheme of it in his hands; and I am persuaded that will be +the true method for restraining them effectually; but, in the meantime, +it will be necessary to lodge some of the troops in those places, upon +which I intend to write to the Generall. + +"I am sensible I have troubled your Lordship with a very long letter, +which I should be ashamed of, were I myself singly concerned; but where +the honour of the King's Government is touched, I need make no apologie, +and I shall only beg leave to add, that I am, with great respect, and +truth, + +"My Lord, +"yr. Lords. most humble and obedient servant, +"MONTROSE" + + + + +COPY OF GRAHAME OF KILLEARN'S LETTER, ENCLOSED IN THE PRECEDING. + +"Chappellarroch, Nov. 19th, 1716. + +"May it please your Grace,--I am obliged to give your Grace the trouble +of this, by Robert Roy's commands, being so unfortunate at present as to +be his prisoner. I refer the way and manner I was apprehended, to the +bearer, and shall only, in short, acquaint your Grace with the demands, +which are, that your Grace shall discharge him of all soumes he owes your +Grace, and give him the soume of 3400 merks for his loss and damages +sustained by him, both at Craigrostown and at his house, Auchinchisallen; +and that your Grace shall give your word not to trouble or prosecute him +afterwards; till which time he carries me, all the money I received this +day, my books and bonds for entress, not yet paid, along with him, with +assurance of hard usage, if any party are sent after him. The soume I +received this day, conform to the nearest computation I can make before +several of the gentlemen, is 3227L. 2sh. 8d. Scots, of which I gave them +notes. I shall wait your Grace's return, and ever am, + +"Your Grace's most obedient, faithful, +"humble servant, +_Sic subscribitur,_ +"John Grahame." + + + +THE DUKE OF MONTROSE TO-- + +28_th Nov._ 1716--_Killearn's Release._ + +"Glasgow, 28th Nov. 1716. + +"Sir,--Having acquainted you by my last, of the 21st instant, of what had +happened to my friend, Mr. Grahame of Killearn, I'm very glad now to tell +you, that last night I was very agreeably surprised with Mr. Grahame's +coming here himself, and giving me the first account I had had of him +from the time of his being carried away. It seems Rob Roy, when he came +to consider a little better of it, found that, he could not mend his +matters by retaining Killearn his prisoner, which could only expose him +still the more to the justice of the Government; and therefore thought +fit to dismiss him on Sunday evening last, having kept him from the +Monday night before, under a very uneasy kind of restraint, being obliged +to change continually from place to place. He gave him back the books, +papers, and bonds, but kept the money. + +"I am, with great truth, Sir, +"your most humble servant, +"MONTROSE." + +[Some papers connected with Rob Roy Macgregor, signed "Ro. Campbell," in +1711, were lately presented to the Society of Antiquaries. One of these +is a kind of contract between the Duke of Montrose and Rob Roy, by which +the latter undertakes to deliver within a given time "Sixtie good and +sufficient Kintaill highland Cowes, betwixt the age of five and nine +years, at fourtene pounds Scotts per peice, with ane bull to the bargane, +and that at the head dykes of Buchanan upon the twenty-eight day of May +next."--Dated December 1711.--See _Proceedings,_ vol. vii. p. 253.] + + + +No. III.--CHALLENGE BY ROB ROY. + +"Rob Roy _to ain hie and mighty Prince,_ James Duke of Montrose. + +"In charity to your Grace's couradge and conduct, please know, the only +way to retrive both is to treat Rob Roy like himself, in appointing tyme, +place, and choice of arms, that at once you may extirpate your inveterate +enemy, or put a period to your punny (puny?) life in falling gloriously +by his hands. That impertinent criticks or flatterers may not brand me +for challenging a man that's repute of a poor dastardly soul, let such +know that I admit of the two great supporters of his character and the +captain of his bands to joyne with him in the combat. Then sure your +Grace wont have the impudence to clamour att court for multitudes to hunt +me like a fox, under pretence that I am not to be found above ground. +This saves your Grace and the troops any further trouble of searching; +that is, if your ambition of glory press you to embrace this unequald +venture offerd of Rob's head. But if your Grace's piety, prudence, and +cowardice, forbids hazarding this gentlemanly expedient, then let your +desire of peace restore what you have robed from me by the tyranny of +your present cituation, otherwise your overthrow as a man is determined; +and advertise your friends never more to look for the frequent civility +payed them, of sending them home without their arms only. Even their +former cravings wont purchase that favour; so your Grace by this has +peace in your offer, if the sound of wax be frightful, and chuse you +whilk, your good friend or mortal enemy." + +This singular rhodomontade is enclosed in a letter to a friend of Rob +Roy, probably a retainer of the Duke of Argyle in Isle, which is in these +words:-- + +"Sir,--Receive the enclosd paper, qn you are takeing yor Botle it will +divert yorself and comrad's. I gote noe news since I seed you, only qt +wee had before about the Spainyard's is like to continue. If I'll get any +further account about them I'll be sure to let you know of it, and till +then I will not write any more till I'll have more sure account, and I am + +"Sir, your most affectionate Cn [cousin], +"and most humble servant, +"Ro: Roy." + + +"_Apryle_ 16_th,_ 1719. + +"To Mr. Patrick Anderson, at Hay--These.' + +The seal, _a stag_--no bad emblem of a wild cateran. + +It appears from the envelope that Rob Roy still continued to act as +Intelligencer to the Duke of Argyle, and his agents. The war he alludes +to is probably some vague report of invasion from Spain. Such rumours +were likely enough to be afloat, in consequence of the disembarkation of +the troops who were taken at Glensheal in the preceding year, 1718. + + + + +No. IV.--LETTER + +FROM ROBERT CAMPBELL, _alias_ M'GREGOR, +COMMONLY CALLED ROB ROY, TO FIELD-MARSHAL WADE, + +Then receiving the submission of disaffected Chieftains and Clans.* + +* This curious epistle is copied from an authentic narrative of Marshal +Wade's proceedings in the Highlands, communicated by the late eminent +antiquary, George Chalmers, Esq., to Mr. Robert Jamieson, of the Register +House, Edinburgh, and published in the Appendix to an Edition of Burt's +Letters from the North of Scotland, 2 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1818. + +Sir,--The great humanity with which you have constantly acted in the +discharge of the trust reposed in you, and your ever having made use of +the great powers with which you were vested as the means of doing good +and charitable offices to such as ye found proper objects of compassion, +will, I hope, excuse my importunity in endeavouring to approve myself not +absolutely unworthy of that mercy and favour which your Excellency has so +generously procured from his Majesty for others in my unfortunate +circumstances. I am very sensible nothing can be alledged sufficient to +excuse so great a crime as I have been guilty of it, that of Rebellion. +But I humbly beg leave to lay before your Excellency some particulars in +the circumstance of my guilt, which, I hope, will extenuate it in some +measure. It was my misfortune, at the time the Rebellion broke out, to be +liable to legal diligence and caption, at the Duke of Montrose's +instance, for debt alledged due to him. To avoid being flung into prison, +as I must certainly have been, had I followed my real inclinations in +joining the King's troops at Stirling, I was forced to take party with +the adherents of the Pretender; for the country being all in arms, it was +neither safe nor indeed possible for me to stand neuter. I should not, +however, plead my being forced into that unnatural rebellion against his +Majesty, King George, if I could not at the same time assure your +Excellency, that I not only avoided acting offensively against his +Majesty's forces upon all occasions, but on the contrary, sent his Grace +the Duke of Argyle all the intelligence I could from time to time, of the +strength and situation of the rebels; which I hope his Grace will do me +the justice to acknowledge. As to the debt to the Duke of Montrose, I +have discharged it to the utmost farthing. I beg your Excellency would be +persuaded that, had it been in my power, as it was in my inclination, I +should always have acted for the service of his Majesty King George, and +that one reason of my begging the favour of your intercession with his +Majesty for the pardon of my life, is the earnest desire I have to employ +it in his service, whose goodness, justice, and humanity, are so +conspicuous to all mankind.--I am, with all duty and respect, your +Excellency's most, &c., + +"Robert Campbell." + + + +No. IVa.--LETTER. + +ESCAPE OF ROB ROY FROM THE DUKE OF ATHOLE. + +The following copy of a letter which passed from one clergyman of the +Church of Scotland to another, was communicated to me by John Gregorson, +Esq. of Ardtornish. The escape of Rob Roy is mentioned, like other +interesting news of the time with which it is intermingled. The +disagreement between the Dukes of Athole and Argyle seems to have +animated the former against Rob Roy, as one of Argyle's partisans. + +"Rev. and dear Brother, + +Yrs of the 28th Jun I had by the bearer. Im pleased yo have got back +again yr Delinquent which may probably safe you of the trouble of her +child. I'm sory I've yet very little of certain news to give you from +Court tho' I've seen all the last weekes prints, only I find in them a +pasage which is all the account I can give you of the Indemnity yt when +the estates of forfaulted Rebells Comes to be sold all Just debts +Documented are to be preferred to Officers of the Court of enquiry. The +Bill in favours of that Court against the Lords of Session in Scotland in +past the house of Commons and Come before the Lords which is thought to +be considerably more ample yn formerly wt respect to the Disposeing of +estates Canvassing and paying of Debts. It's said yt the examinations of +Cadugans accounts is droped but it wants Confirmations here as yet. +Oxford's tryals should be entered upon Saturday last. We hear that the +Duchess of Argyle is wt child. I doe not hear yt the Divisions at Court +are any thing abated or of any appearance of the Dukes having any thing +of his Maj: favour. I heartily wish the present humours at Court may not +prove an encouragmt to watchfull and restles enemies. + +My accounts of Rob Roy his escape are yt after severall Embassies between +his Grace (who I hear did Correspond wt some at Court about it) and Rob +he at length upon promise of protectione Came to waite upon the Duke & +being presently secured his Grace sent post to Edr to acquent the Court +of his being aprehended & call his friends at Edr and to desire a party +from Gen Carpinter to receive and bring him to Edr which party came the +length of Kenross in Fife, he was to be delivered to them by a party his +Grace had demanded from the Governour at Perth, who when upon their march +towards Dunkell to receive him, were mete wt and returned by his Grace +having resolved to deliver him by a party of his own men and left Rob at +Logierate under a strong guard till yt party should be ready to receive +him. This space of time Rob had Imployed in taking the other dram +heartily wt the Guard & qn all were pretty hearty, Rob is delivering a +letter for his wife to a servant to whom he most needs deliver some +private instructions at the Door (for his wife) where he's attended wt on +the Guard. When serious in this privat Conversations he is making some +few steps carelessly from the Door about the house till he comes close by +this horse which he soon mounted and made off. This is no small +mortifican to the guard because of the delay it give to there hopes of a +Considerable additionall charge agt John Roy.* my wife was upon Thursday +last delivered of a Son after sore travell of which she still continues +very weak. + +* _i.e._ John the Red--John Duke of Argyle, so called from his +complexion, more commonly styled "Red John the Warriour." + +I give yl Lady hearty thanks for the Highland plaid. It's good cloath but +it does not answer the sett I sent some time agae wt McArthur & tho it +had I told in my last yt my wife was obliged to provid herself to finish +her bed before she was lighted but I know yt letr came not timely to yr +hand--I'm sory I had not mony to send by the bearer having no thought of +it & being exposed to some little expenses last week but I expect some +sure occasion when order by a letter to receive it excuse this freedom +from &c. + +"_Manse of Comrie, July_ 2_d,_ 1717. +"I salute yr lady I wish my ............ her Daughter much Joy." + + + + +No. V.--HIGHLAND WOOING. + +There are many productions of the Scottish Ballad Poets upon the +lion-like mode of wooing practised by the ancient Highlanders when they +had a fancy for the person (or property) of a Lowland damsel. One example +is found in Mr. Robert Jamieson's Popular Scottish Songs:-- + + Bonny Babby Livingstone + Gaed out to see the kye, + And she has met with Glenlyon, + Who has stolen her away. + + He took free her her sattin coat, + But an her silken gown, + Syne roud her in his tartan plaid, + And happd her round and roun'. + +In another ballad we are told how-- + + Four-and-twenty Hieland men, + Came doun by Fiddoch Bide, + And they have sworn a deadly aith, + Jean Muir suld be a bride: + + And they have sworn a deadly aith, + Ilke man upon his durke, + That she should wed with Duncan Ger, + Or they'd make bloody works. + +This last we have from tradition, but there are many others in the +collections of Scottish Ballads to the same purpose. + +The achievement of Robert Oig, or young Rob Roy, as the Lowlanders called +him, was celebrated in a ballad, of which there are twenty different and +various editions. The tune is lively and wild, and we select the fol- +lowing words from memory:-- + + Rob Roy is frae the Hielands come, + Down to the Lowland border; + And he has stolen that lady away, + To haud his house in order. + + He set her on a milk-white steed, + Of none he stood in awe; + Untill they reached the Hieland hills, + Aboon the Balmaha'!* + +* A pass on the eastern margin of Loch Lomond, and an entrance to the +Highlands. + + + Saying, Be content, be content, + Be content with me, lady; + Where will ye find in Lennox land, + Sae braw a man as me, lady? + + Rob Roy he was my father called, + MacGregor was his name, lady; + A' the country, far and near, + Have heard MacGregor's fame, lady. + + He was a hedge about his friends, + A heckle to his foes, lady; + If any man did him gainsay, + He felt his deadly blows, lady. + + I am as bold, I am as bold, + I am as bold and more, lady; + Any man that doubts my word, + May try my gude claymore, lady. + + Then be content, be content. + Be content with me, lady; + For now you are my wedded wife, + Until the day you die, lady. + + + + +No. VI--GHLUNE DHU. + +The following notices concerning this Chief fell under the Author's eye +while the sheets were in the act of going through the press. They occur +in manuscript memoirs, written by a person intimately acquainted with the +incidents of 1745. + +This Chief had the important task intrusted to him of defending the +Castle of Doune, in which the Chevalier placed a garrison to protect his +communication with the Highlands, and to repel any sallies which might be +made from Stirling Castle--Ghlune Dhu distinguished himself by his good +conduct in this charge. + +Ghlune Dhu is thus described:--"Glengyle is, in person, a tall handsome +man, and has more of the mien of the ancient heroes than our modern fine +gentlemen are possessed of. He is honest and disinterested to a proverb-- +extremely modest--brave and intrepid--and born one of the best partisans +in Europe. In short, the whole people of that country declared that never +did men live under so mild a government as Glengyle's, not a man having +so much as lost a chicken while he continued there." + +It would appear from this curious passage, that Glengyle--not Stewart of +Balloch, as averred in a note on Waverley--commanded the garrison of +Doune. Balloch might, no doubt, succeed MacGregor in the situation. + + + + + EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + TO + ROB ROY + +In the magnum opus, the author's final edition of the Waverley Novels, +"Rob Roy" appears out of its chronological order, and comes next after +"The Antiquary." In this, as in other matters, the present edition +follows that of 1829. "The Antiquary," as we said, contained in its +preface the author's farewell to his art. This valediction was meant as +prelude to a fresh appearance in a new disguise. Constable, who had +brought out the earlier works, did not publish the "Tales of my Landlord" +("The Black Dwarf" and "Old Mortality "), which Scott had nearly finished +by November 12, 1816. The four volumes appeared from the houses of Mr. +Murray and Mr. Blackwood, on December 1, 1816. Within less than a month +came out "Harold the Dauntless," by the author of "The Bridal of +Triermain." Scott's work on the historical part of the "Annual Register" +had also been unusually arduous. At Abbotsford, or at Ashiestiel, his +mode of life was particularly healthy; in Edinburgh, between the claims +of the courts, of literature, and of society, he was scarcely ever in the +open air. Thus hard sedentary work caused, between the publication +of "Old Mortality" and that of "Rob Roy," the first of those alarming +illnesses which overshadowed the last fifteen years of his life. The +earliest attack of cramp in the stomach occurred on March 5, 1817, when +he "retired from the room with a scream of agony which electrified his +guests." + +Living on "parritch," as he tells Miss Baillie (for his national spirit +rejected arrowroot), Scott had yet energy enough to plan a dramatic piece +for Terry, "The Doom of Devorgoil." But in April he announced to John +Ballantyne "a good subject" for a novel, and on May 6, John, after a +visit to Abbotsford with Constable, proclaimed to James Ballantyne the +advent of "Rob Roy." + +The anecdote about the title is well known. Constable suggested it, and +Scott was at first wisely reluctant to "write up to a title." Names like +Rob Roy, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Cleopatra, and so forth, tell the +reader too much, and, Scott imagined, often excite hopes which cannot be +fulfilled. However, in the geniality of an after-dinner hour in the +gardens of Abbotsford, Scott allowed Constable to be sponsor. Many things +had lately brought Rob into his mind. In 1812 Scott had acquired Rob +Roy's gun--"a long Spanish-barrelled piece, with his initials R. M. C.," +C standing for Campbell, a name assumed in compliment to the Argyll +family. + +Rob's spleuchan had also been presented by Mr. Train to Sir Walter, in +1816, and may have directed his thoughts to this popular freebooter. +Though Rob flourished in the '15, he was really a character very near +Scott, whose friend Invernahyle had fought Rob with broadsword and target +--a courteous combat like that between Ajax and Hector. + +At Tullibody Scott had met, in 1793, a gentleman who once visited Rob, +and arranged to pay him blackmail. + +Mr. William Adam had mentioned to Scott in 1816 the use of the word +"curlie-wurlies" for highly decorated architecture, and recognised the +phrase, next year, in the mouth of Andrew Fairservice. + +In the meeting at Abbotsford (May 2, 1817) Scott was very communicative, +sketched Bailie Nicol Jarvie, and improvised a dialogue between Rob and +the magistrate. A week later he quoted to Southey, Swift's lines-- +Too bad for a blessing, too good for a curse,--which probably suggested +Andrew Fairservice's final estimate of Scott's hero,--"over bad for +blessing, and ower gude for banning." + +These are the trifles which show the bent of Scott's mind at this period. +The summer of 1817 he spent in working at the "Annual Register" and at +the "Border Antiquities." When the courts rose, he visited Rob's cave at +the head of Loch Lomond; and this visit seems to have been gossiped +about, as literary people, hearing of the new novel, expected the cave to +be a very prominent feature. He also went to Glasgow, and refreshed his +memory of the cathedral; nor did he neglect old books, such as "A Tour +through Great Britain, by a Gentleman" (4th Edition, 1748). This yielded +him the Bailie's account of Glasgow commerce "in Musselburgh stuffs and +Edinburgh shalloons," and the phrase "sortable cargoes." + +Hence, too, Scott took the description of the rise of Glasgow. Thus Scott +was taking pains with his preparations. The book was not written in +post-haste. Announced to Constable early in May, the last sheet was not +corrected till about December 21, when Scott wrote to Ballantyne:-- + +DEAR JAMES,-- + + With great joy I send you Roy. + 'T was a tough job, + But we're done with Rob. + +"Rob Roy" was published on the last day of 1817. The toughness of the job +was caused by constant pain, and by struggles with "the lassitude of +opium." So seldom sentimental, so rarely given to expressing his +melancholy moods in verse, Scott, while composing "Rob Roy," wrote the +beautiful poem "The sun upon the Weirdlaw Hill," in which, for this once, +"pity of self through all makes broken moan." + +Some stress may be laid on the state of Sir Walter's health at this +moment, because a living critic has tried to show that, in his case, +"every pang of the stomach paralyses the brain;" that he "never had a fit +of the cramp without spoiling a chapter."--[Mr. Ruskin's "Fiction Fair +and Foul," "Nineteenth Century," 1880, p. 955.]--"Rob Roy" is a +sufficient answer to these theories. The mind of Scott was no slave to +his body. + +The success of the story is pleasantly proved by a sentence in a review +of the day: "It is an event unprecedented in the annals either of +literature or of the custom-house that the entire cargo of a packet, or +smack, bound from Leith to London, should be the impression of a novel, +for which the public curiosity was so much upon the alert as to require +this immense importation to satisfy." + +Ten thousand copies of a three-volume novel are certainly a ponderous +cargo, and Constable printed no fewer in his first edition. Scott was +assured of his own triumph in February 1819, when a dramatised version of +his novel was acted in Edinburgh by the company of Mr. William Murray, a +descendant of the traitor Murray of Broughton. Mr. Charles Mackay made a +capital Bailie, and the piece remains a favourite with Scotch audiences. +It is plain, from the reviews, that in one respect "Rob Roy" rather +disappointed the world. They had expected Rob to be a much more imposing +and majestic cateran, and complained that his foot was set too late on +his native heather. They found too much of the drover and intriguer, too +little of the traditional driver of the spoil. This was what Scott +foresaw when he objected to "writing up to a title." In fact, he did not +write up to, it, and, as the "Scots Magazine" said, "shaped his story in +such a manner as to throw busybodies out in their chase, with a slight +degree of malicious finesse." "All the expeditions to the wonderful cave +have been thrown away, for the said cave is not once, we think, mentioned +from beginning to end." + +"Rob Roy" equals "Waverley" in its pictures of Highland and Lowland +society and character. Scott had clearly set himself to state his +opinions about the Highlands as they were under the patriarchal system of +government. The Highlanders were then a people, not lawless, indeed, but +all their law was the will of their chief. Bailie Nicol Jarvie makes a +statement of their economic and military condition as accurate as it is +humorous. The modern "Highland Question" may be studied as well in the +Bailie's words as in volumes of history and wildernesses of blue-books. +A people patriarchal and military as the Arabs of the desert were +suddenly dragged into modern commercial and industrial society. All old +bonds were snapped in a moment; emigration (at first opposed by some of +the chiefs) and the French wars depleted the country of its "lang-leggit +callants, gaun wanting the breeks." Cattle took the place of men, sheep +of cattle, deer of sheep, and, in the long peace, a population grew up +again--a population destitute of employment even more than of old, +because war and robbery had ceased to be outlets for its energy. Some +chiefs, as Dr. Johnson said, treated their lands as an attorney treats +his row of cheap houses in a town. Hence the Highland Question,--a +question in which Scott's sympathies were with the Highlanders. +"Rob Roy," naturally, is no mere "novel with a purpose," no economic +tract in disguise. Among Scott's novels it stands alone as regards its +pictures of passionate love. The love of Diana Vernon is no less +passionate for its admirable restraint. Here Scott displays, without +affectation, a truly Greek reserve in his art. The deep and strong +affection of Diana Vernon would not have been otherwise handled by him +who drew the not more immortal picture of Antigone. Unlike modern +novelists, Sir Walter deals neither in analysis nor in rapturous +effusions. We can, unfortunately, imagine but too easily how some writers +would peep and pry into the concealed emotions of that maiden heart; how +others would revel in tears, kisses, and caresses. In place of all these +Scott writes:-- + + She extended her hand, but I clasped her to my bosom. She sighed as + she extricated herself from the embrace which she permitted, escaped + to the door which led to her own apartment, and I saw her no more. + +Months pass, in a mist of danger and intrigue, before the lovers meet +again in the dusk and the solitude. + + "Mr. Francis Osbaldistone," cries the girl's voice through the + moonlight, "should not whistle his favourite airs when he wishes to + remain undiscovered." + + And Diana Vernon--for she, wrapped in a horseman's cloak, was the + last speaker--whistled in playful mimicry the second part of the + tune, which was on my lips when they came up. + +Surely there was never, in story or in song, a lady so loving and so +light of heart, save Rosalind alone. Her face touches Frank's, as she +says goodbye for ever "It was a moment never to be forgotten, +inexpressibly bitter, yet mixed with a sensation of pleasure so deeply +soothing and affecting as at once to unlock all the floodgates of the +heart." + +She rides into the night, her lover knows the _hysterica passio_ of poor +Lear, but "I had scarce given vent to my feelings in this paroxysm ere I +was ashamed of my weakness." + +These were men and women who knew how to love, and how to live. +All men who read "Rob Roy" are innocent rivals of Frank Osbaldistone. +Di Vernon holds her place in our hearts with Rosalind, and these airy +affections, like the actual emotions which they mimic, are not matters +for words. This lady, so gay, so brave, so witty and fearless, so tender +and true, who "endured trials which might have dignified the history of a +martyr, . . . who spent the day in darkness and the night in vigil, and +never breathed a murmur of weakness or complaint," is as immortal in +men's memories as the actual heroine of the White Rose, Flora Macdonald. +Her place is with Helen and Antigone, with Rosalind and Imogen, the +deathless daughters of dreams. She brightens the world as she passes, and +our own hearts tell us all the story when Osbaldistone says, "You know +how I lamented her." + +In the central interest, which, for once, is the interest of love, "Rob +Roy" attains the nobility, the reserve, the grave dignity of the highest +art. It is not easy to believe that Frank Osbaldistone is worthy of his +lady; but here no man is a fair judge. In the four novels--"Waverley," +"Guy Mannering," "The Antiquary," and "Rob Roy"--which we have studied, +the hero has always been a young poet. Waverley versified; so did +Mannering; Lovel "had attempted a few lyrical pieces;" and, in +Osbaldistone's rhymes, Scott parodied his own + + blast of that dread horn + On Fontarabian echoes borne. + +All the heroes, then, have been poets, and Osbaldistone's youth may have +been suggested by Scott's memories of his own, and of the father who +"feared that he would never be better than a gangrel scrapegut." Like +Henry Morton, in "Old Mortality," Frank Osbaldistone is on the political +side taken by Scott's judgment, not by his emotions. To make Di Vernon +convert him to Jacobitism would have been to repeat the story of +Waverley. Still, he would have been more sympathetic if he had been +converted. He certainly does not lack spirit, as a sportsman, or "on an +occasion," as Sir William Hope says in "The Scots' Fencing Master," when +he encounters Rashleigh in the college gardens. Frank, in short, is all +that a hero should be, and is glorified by his affection. + +Of the other characters, perhaps Rob Roy is too sympathetically drawn. +The materials for a judgment are afforded by Scott's own admirable +historical introduction. The Rob Roy who so calmly "played booty," and +kept a foot in either camp, certainly falls below the heroic. His +language has been criticised in late years, and it has been insisted that +the Highlanders never talked Lowland Scotch. But Scott has anticipated +these cavils in the eighteenth chapter of the second volume. Certainly no +Lowlander knew the Highlanders better than he did, and his ear for +dialect was as keen as his musical ear was confessedly obtuse. +Scott had the best means of knowing whether Helen MacGregor would be +likely to soar into heroics as she is apt to do. In fact, here "we may +trust the artist." + +The novel is as rich as any in subordinate characters full of life and +humour. Morris is one of the few utter cowards in Scott. He has none of +the passionate impulses towards courage of the hapless hero in "The Fair +Maid of Perth." The various Osbaldistones are nicely discriminated by +Diana Vernon, in one of those "Beatrix moods" which Scott did not always +admire, when they were displayed by "Lady Anne" and other girls of flesh +and blood. Rashleigh is of a nature unusual in Scott. He is, perhaps, Sir +Walter's nearest approach, for malignant egotism, to an Iago. Of Bailie +Nicol Jarvie commendation were impertinent. All Scotland arose, called +him hers, laughed at and applauded her civic child. Concerning Andrew +Fairservice, the first edition tells us what the final edition leaves us +to guess--that Tresham "may recollect him as gardener at Osbaldistone +Hall." Andrew was not a friend who could be shaken off. Diana may have +ruled the hall, but Andrew must have remained absolute in the gardens, +with "something to maw that he would like to see mawn, or something to +saw that he would like to see sawn, or something to ripe that he would +like to see ripen, and sae he e'en daikered on wi' the family frae year's +end to year's end," and life's end. His master "needed some carefu' body +to look after him." + +Only Shakspeare and Scott could have given us medicines to make us like +this cowardly, conceited "jimp honest" fellow, Andrew Fairservice, who +just escapes being a hypocrite by dint of some sincere old Covenanting +leaven in his veins. We make bold to say that the creator of Parolles and +Lucie, and many another lax and lovable knave, would, had he been a Scot, +have drawn Andrew Fairservice thus, and not otherwise. + +The critics of the hour censured, as they were certain to censure, the +construction, and especially the conclusion, of "Rob Roy." No doubt the +critics were right. In both Scott and Shakspeare there is often seen a +perfect disregard of the denouement. Any moderately intelligent person +can remark on the huddled-up ends and hasty marriages in many of +Shakspeare's comedies; Moliere has been charged with the same offence; +and, if blame there be, Scott is almost always to blame. Thackeray is +little better. There must be some reason that explains why men of genius +go wrong where every newspaper critic, every milliner's girl acquainted +with circulating libraries, can detect the offence. + +In the closing remarks of "Old Mortality" Scott expresses himself +humorously on this matter of the denouement. His schoolmaster author +takes his proofsheets to Miss Martha Buskbody, who was the literary set +in Gandercleugh, having read through the whole stock of three circulating +libraries. Miss Buskbody criticises the Dominic as Lady Louisa Stuart +habitually criticised Sir Walter. "Your plan of omitting a formal +conclusion will never do!" The Dominie replies, "Really, madam, you must +be aware that every volume of a narrative turns less and less interesting +as the author draws to a conclusion,--just like your tea, which, though +excellent hyson, is necessarily weaker and more insipid in the last cup." +He compares the orthodox happy ending to "the luscious lump of +half-dissolved sugar" usually found at the bottom of the cup. This topic +might be discussed, and indeed has been discussed, endlessly. In our +actual lives it is probable that most of us have found ourselves living +for a year, or a month, or a week, in a chapter or half a volume of a +novel, and these have been our least happy experiences. But we have also +found that the romance vanishes away like a ghost, dwindles out, closes +with ragged ends, has no denouement. Then the question presents itself, +As art is imitation, should not novels, as a rule, close thus? The +experiment has frequently been tried, especially by the modern geniuses +who do not conceal their belief that their art is altogether finer than +Scott's, or, perhaps, than Shakspeare's. + +In his practice, and in his Dominie's critical remarks, Sir Walter +appears inclined to agree with them. He was just as well aware as his +reviewers, or as Lady Louisa Stuart, that the conclusion of "Rob Roy" is +"huddled up," that the sudden demise of all the young Baldistones is a +high-handed measure. He knew that, in real life, Frank and Di Vernon +would never have met again after that farewell on the moonlit road. But +he yielded to Miss Buskbody's demand for "a glimpse of sunshine in the +last chapter;" he understood the human liking for the final lump of +sugar. After all, fiction is not, any more than any other art, a mere +imitation of life: it is an arrangement, a selection. Scott was too kind, +too humane, to disappoint us, the crowd of human beings who find much of +our happiness in dreams. He could not keep up his own interest in his +characters after he had developed them; he could take pleasure in giving +them life,--he had little pleasure in ushering them into an earthly +paradise; so that part of his business he did carelessly, as his only +rivals in literature have also done it. + +The critics censured, not unjustly, the "machinery" of the story,--these +mysterious "assets" of Osbaldistone and Tresham, whose absence was to +precipitate the Rising of 1715. The "Edinburgh Review" lost its heart +(Jeffrey's heart was always being lost) to Di Vernon. But it pronounces +that "a king with legs of marble, or a youth with an ivory shoulder," +heroes of the "Arabian Nights" and of Pindar, was probable, compared with +the wit and accomplishments of Diana. This is hypercriticism. Diana's +education, under Rashleigh, had been elaborate; her acquaintance with +Shakspeare, her main strength, is unusual in women, but not beyond the +limits of belief. Here she is in agreeable contrast to Rose Bradwardine, +who had never heard of "Romeo and Juliet." In any case, Diana compels +belief as well as wins affection, while we are fortunate enough to be in +her delightful company. + +As long as we believe in her, it is not of moment to consider whether her +charms are incompatible with probability. + +"Rob Roy" was finished in spite of "a very bad touch of the cramp for +about three weeks in November, which, with its natural attendants of +dulness and, weakness, made me unable to get our matters forward till +last week," says Scott to Constable. "But," adds the unconquerable +author, "I am resting myself here a few days before commencing my new +labours, which will be untrodden ground, and, I think, pretty likely to +succeed." The "new labours" were "The Heart of Mid-Lothian." + +ANDREW LANG. + + + + + + ROB ROY + + + + CHAPTER FIRST. + + How have I sinn'd, that this affliction + Should light so heavy on me? I have no more sons, + And this no more mine own.--My grand curse + Hang o'er his head that thus transformed thee!-- + Travel? I'll send my horse to travel next. + Monsieur Thomas. + +You have requested me, my dear friend, to bestow some of that leisure, +with which Providence has blessed the decline of my life, in registering +the hazards and difficulties which attended its commencement. The +recollection of those adventures, as you are pleased to term them, has +indeed left upon my mind a chequered and varied feeling of pleasure and +of pain, mingled, I trust, with no slight gratitude and veneration to the +Disposer of human events, who guided my early course through much risk +and labour, that the ease with which he has blessed my prolonged life +might seem softer from remembrance and contrast. Neither is it possible +for me to doubt, what you have often affirmed, that the incidents which +befell me among a people singularly primitive in their government and +manners, have something interesting and attractive for those who love to +hear an old man's stories of a past age. + +Still, however, you must remember, that the tale told by one friend, and +listened to by another, loses half its charms when committed to paper; +and that the narratives to which you have attended with interest, as +heard from the voice of him to whom they occurred, will appear less +deserving of attention when perused in the seclusion of your study. But +your greener age and robust constitution promise longer life than will, +in all human probability, be the lot of your friend. Throw, then, these +sheets into some secret drawer of your escritoire till we are separated +from each other's society by an event which may happen at any moment, and +which must happen within the course of a few--a very few years. When we +are parted in this world, to meet, I hope, in a better, you will, I am +well aware, cherish more than it deserves the memory of your departed +friend, and will find in those details which I am now to commit to paper, +matter for melancholy, but not unpleasing reflection. Others bequeath to +the confidants of their bosom portraits of their external features--I put +into your hands a faithful transcript of my thoughts and feelings, of my +virtues and of my failings, with the assured hope, that the follies and +headstrong impetuosity of my youth will meet the same kind construction +and forgiveness which have so often attended the faults of my matured +age. + +One advantage, among the many, of addressing my Memoirs (if I may give +these sheets a name so imposing) to a dear and intimate friend, is, that +I may spare some of the details, in this case unnecessary, with which I +must needs have detained a stranger from what I have to say of greater +interest. Why should I bestow all my tediousness upon you, because I have +you in my power, and have ink, paper, and time before me? At the same +time, I dare not promise that I may not abuse the opportunity so +temptingly offered me, to treat of myself and my own concerns, even +though I speak of circumstances as well known to you as to myself. The +seductive love of narrative, when we ourselves are the heroes of the +events which we tell, often disregards the attention due to the time and +patience of the audience, and the best and wisest have yielded to its +fascination. I need only remind you of the singular instance evinced by +the form of that rare and original edition of Sully's Memoirs, which you +(with the fond vanity of a book-collector) insist upon preferring to that +which is reduced to the useful and ordinary form of Memoirs, but which I +think curious, solely as illustrating how far so great a man as the +author was accessible to the foible of self-importance. If I recollect +rightly, that venerable peer and great statesman had appointed no fewer +than four gentlemen of his household to draw up the events of his life, +under the title of Memorials of the Sage and Royal Affairs of State, +Domestic, Political, and Military, transacted by Henry IV., and so forth. +These grave recorders, having made their compilation, reduced the Memoirs +containing all the remarkable events of their master's life into a +narrative, addressed to himself in _propria persona._ And thus, instead +of telling his own story, in the third person, like Julius Caesar, or in +the first person, like most who, in the hall, or the study, undertake to +be the heroes of their own tale, Sully enjoyed the refined, though +whimsical pleasure, of having the events of his life told over to him by +his secretaries, being himself the auditor, as he was also the hero, and +probably the author, of the whole book. It must have been a great sight +to have seen the ex-minister, as bolt upright as a starched ruff and +laced cassock could make him, seated in state beneath his canopy, and +listening to the recitation of his compilers, while, standing bare in his +presence, they informed him gravely, "Thus said the duke--so did the duke +infer--such were your grace's sentiments upon this important point--such +were your secret counsels to the king on that other emergency,"-- +circumstances, all of which must have been much better known to their +hearer than to themselves, and most of which could only be derived from +his own special communication. + +My situation is not quite so ludicrous as that of the great Sully, and +yet there would be something whimsical in Frank Osbaldistone giving Will +Tresham a formal account of his birth, education, and connections in the +world. I will, therefore, wrestle with the tempting spirit of P. P., +Clerk of our Parish, as I best may, and endeavour to tell you nothing +that is familiar to you already. Some things, however, I must recall to +your memory, because, though formerly well known to you, they may have +been forgotten through lapse of time, and they afford the ground-work of +my destiny. + +You must remember my father well; for, as your own was a member of the +mercantile house, you knew him from infancy. Yet you hardly saw him in +his best days, before age and infirmity had quenched his ardent spirit of +enterprise and speculation. He would have been a poorer man, indeed, but +perhaps as happy, had he devoted to the extension of science those active +energies, and acute powers of observation, for which commercial pursuits +found occupation. Yet, in the fluctuations of mercantile speculation, +there is something captivating to the adventurer, even independent of the +hope of gain. He who embarks on that fickle sea, requires to possess the +skill of the pilot and the fortitude of the navigator, and after all may +be wrecked and lost, unless the gales of fortune breathe in his favour. +This mixture of necessary attention and inevitable hazard,--the frequent +and awful uncertainty whether prudence shall overcome fortune, or fortune +baffle the schemes of prudence, affords full occupation for the powers, +as well as for the feelings of the mind, and trade has all the +fascination of gambling without its moral guilt. + +Early in the 18th century, when I (Heaven help me) was a youth of some +twenty years old, I was summoned suddenly from Bourdeaux to attend my +father on business of importance. I shall never forget our first +interview. You recollect the brief, abrupt, and somewhat stern mode in +which he was wont to communicate his pleasure to those around him. +Methinks I see him even now in my mind's eye;--the firm and upright +figure,--the step, quick and determined,--the eye, which shot so keen and +so penetrating a glance,--the features, on which care had already planted +wrinkles,--and hear his language, in which he never wasted word in vain, +expressed in a voice which had sometimes an occasional harshness, far +from the intention of the speaker. + +When I dismounted from my post-horse, I hastened to my father's +apartment. He was traversing it with an air of composed and steady +deliberation, which even my arrival, although an only son unseen for four +years, was unable to discompose. I threw myself into his arms. He was a +kind, though not a fond father, and the tear twinkled in his dark eye, +but it was only for a moment. + +"Dubourg writes to me that he is satisfied with you, Frank." + +"I am happy, sir"-- + +"But I have less reason to be so" he added, sitting down at his bureau. + +"I am sorry, sir"-- + +"Sorry and happy, Frank, are words that, on most occasions, signify +little or nothing--Here is your last letter." + +He took it out from a number of others tied up in a parcel of red tape, +and curiously labelled and filed. There lay my poor epistle, written on +the subject the nearest to my heart at the time, and couched in words +which I had thought would work compassion if not conviction,--there, I +say, it lay, squeezed up among the letters on miscellaneous business in +which my father's daily affairs had engaged him. I cannot help smiling +internally when I recollect the mixture of hurt vanity, and wounded +feeling, with which I regarded my remonstrance, to the penning of which +there had gone, I promise you, some trouble, as I beheld it extracted +from amongst letters of advice, of credit, and all the commonplace +lumber, as I then thought them, of a merchant's correspondence. Surely, +thought I, a letter of such importance (I dared not say, even to myself, +so well written) deserved a separate place, as well as more anxious +consideration, than those on the ordinary business of the counting-house. + +But my father did not observe my dissatisfaction, and would not have +minded it if he had. He proceeded, with the letter in his hand. "This, +Frank, is yours of the 21st ultimo, in which you advise me (reading from +my letter), that in the most important business of forming a plan, and +adopting a profession for life, you trust my paternal goodness will hold +you entitled to at least a negative voice; that you have insuperable--ay, +insuperable is the word--I wish, by the way, you would write a more +distinct current hand--draw a score through the tops of your t's, and +open the loops of your l's--insuperable objections to the arrangements +which I have proposed to you. There is much more to the same effect, +occupying four good pages of paper, which a little attention to +perspicuity and distinctness of expression might have comprised within as +many lines. For, after all, Frank, it amounts but to this, that you will +not do as I would have you." + +"That I cannot, sir, in the present instance, not that I will not." + +"Words avail very little with me, young man," said my father, whose +inflexibility always possessed the air of the most perfect calmness of +self-possession. "_Can not_ may be a more civil phrase than _will not,_ +but the expressions are synonymous where there is no moral impossibility. +But I am not a friend to doing business hastily; we will talk this matter +over after dinner.--Owen!" + +Owen appeared, not with the silver locks which you were used to venerate, +for he was then little more than fifty; but he had the same, or an +exactly similar uniform suit of light-brown clothes,--the same pearl-grey +silk stockings,--the same stock, with its silver buckle,--the same +plaited cambric ruffles, drawn down over his knuckles in the parlour, but +in the counting-house carefully folded back under the sleeves, that they +might remain unstained by the ink which he daily consumed;--in a word, +the same grave, formal, yet benevolent cast of features, which continued +to his death to distinguish the head clerk of the great house of +Osbaldistone and Tresham. + +"Owen," said my father, as the kind old man shook me affectionately by +the hand, "you must dine with us to-day, and hear the news Frank has +brought us from our friends in Bourdeaux." + +Owen made one of his stiff bows of respectful gratitude; for, in those +days, when the distance between superiors and inferiors was enforced in a +manner to which the present times are strangers, such an invitation was a +favour of some little consequence. + +I shall long remember that dinner-party. Deeply affected by feelings of +anxiety, not unmingled with displeasure, I was unable to take that active +share in the conversation which my father seemed to expect from me; and I +too frequently gave unsatisfactory answers to the questions with which he +assailed me. Owen, hovering betwixt his respect for his patron, and his +love for the youth he had dandled on his knee in childhood, like the +timorous, yet anxious ally of an invaded nation, endeavoured at every +blunder I made to explain my no-meaning, and to cover my retreat; +manoeuvres which added to my father's pettish displeasure, and brought a +share of it upon my kind advocate, instead of protecting me. I had not, +while residing in the house of Dubourg, absolutely conducted myself like + + A clerk condemn'd his father's soul to cross, + Who penn'd a stanza when he should engross;-- + +but, to say truth, I had frequented the counting-house no more than I had +thought absolutely necessary to secure the good report of the Frenchman, +long a correspondent of our firm, to whom my father had trusted for +initiating me into the mysteries of commerce. In fact, my principal +attention had been dedicated to literature and manly exercises. My father +did not altogether discourage such acquirements, whether mental or +personal. He had too much good sense not to perceive, that they sate +gracefully upon every man, and he was sensible that they relieved and +dignified the character to which he wished me to aspire. But his chief +ambition was, that I should succeed not merely to his fortune, but to the +views and plans by which he imagined he could extend and perpetuate the +wealthy inheritance which he designed for me. + +Love of his profession was the motive which he chose should be most +ostensible, when he urged me to tread the same path; but he had others +with which I only became acquainted at a later period. Impetuous in his +schemes, as well as skilful and daring, each new adventure, when +successful, became at once the incentive, and furnished the means, for +farther speculation. It seemed to be necessary to him, as to an ambitious +conqueror, to push on from achievement to achievement, without stopping +to secure, far less to enjoy, the acquisitions which he made. Accustomed +to see his whole fortune trembling in the scales of chance, and dexterous +at adopting expedients for casting the balance in his favour, his health +and spirits and activity seemed ever to increase with the animating +hazards on which he staked his wealth; and he resembled a sailor, +accustomed to brave the billows and the foe, whose confidence rises on +the eve of tempest or of battle. He was not, however, insensible to the +changes which increasing age or supervening malady might make in his own +constitution; and was anxious in good time to secure in me an assistant, +who might take the helm when his hand grew weary, and keep the vessel's +way according to his counsel and instruction. Paternal affection, as well +as the furtherance of his own plans, determined him to the same +conclusion. Your father, though his fortune was vested in the house, was +only a sleeping partner, as the commercial phrase goes; and Owen, whose +probity and skill in the details of arithmetic rendered his services +invaluable as a head clerk, was not possessed either of information or +talents sufficient to conduct the mysteries of the principal management. +If my father were suddenly summoned from life, what would become of the +world of schemes which he had formed, unless his son were moulded into a +commercial Hercules, fit to sustain the weight when relinquished by the +falling Atlas? and what would become of that son himself, if, a stranger +to business of this description, he found himself at once involved in the +labyrinth of mercantile concerns, without the clew of knowledge necessary +for his extraction? For all these reasons, avowed and secret, my father +was determined I should embrace his profession; and when he was +determined, the resolution of no man was more immovable. I, however, was +also a party to be consulted, and, with something of his own pertinacity, +I had formed a determination precisely contrary. It may, I hope, be some +palliative for the resistance which, on this occasion, I offered to my +father's wishes, that I did not fully understand upon what they were +founded, or how deeply his happiness was involved in them. Imagining +myself certain of a large succession in future, and ample maintenance in +the meanwhile, it never occurred to me that it might be necessary, in +order to secure these blessings, to submit to labour and limitations +unpleasant to my taste and temper. I only saw in my father's proposal for +my engaging in business, a desire that I should add to those heaps of +wealth which he had himself acquired; and imagining myself the best judge +of the path to my own happiness, I did not conceive that I should +increase that happiness by augmenting a fortune which I believed was +already sufficient, and more than sufficient, for every use, comfort, and +elegant enjoyment. + +Accordingly, I am compelled to repeat, that my time at Bourdeaux had not +been spent as my father had proposed to himself. What he considered as +the chief end of my residence in that city, I had postponed for every +other, and would (had I dared) have neglected altogether. Dubourg, a +favoured and benefited correspondent of our mercantile house, was too +much of a shrewd politician to make such reports to the head of the firm +concerning his only child, as would excite the displeasure of both; and +he might also, as you will presently hear, have views of selfish +advantage in suffering me to neglect the purposes for which I was placed +under his charge. My conduct was regulated by the bounds of decency and +good order, and thus far he had no evil report to make, supposing him so +disposed; but, perhaps, the crafty Frenchman would have been equally +complaisant, had I been in the habit of indulging worse feelings than +those of indolence and aversion to mercantile business. As it was, while +I gave a decent portion of my time to the commercial studies he +recommended, he was by no means envious of the hours which I dedicated to +other and more classical attainments, nor did he ever find fault with me +for dwelling upon Corneille and Boileau, in preference to Postlethwayte +(supposing his folio to have then existed, and Monsieur Dubourg able to +have pronounced his name), or Savary, or any other writer on commercial +economy. He had picked up somewhere a convenient expression, with which +he rounded off every letter to his correspondent,--"I was all," he said, +"that a father could wish." + +My father never quarrelled with a phrase, however frequently repeated, +provided it seemed to him distinct and expressive; and Addison himself +could not have found expressions so satisfactory to him as, "Yours +received, and duly honoured the bills enclosed, as per margin." + +Knowing, therefore, very well what he desired me to, be, Mr. Osbaldistone +made no doubt, from the frequent repetition of Dubourg's favourite +phrase, that I was the very thing he wished to see me; when, in an evil +hour, he received my letter, containing my eloquent and detailed apology +for declining a place in the firm, and a desk and stool in the corner of +the dark counting-house in Crane Alley, surmounting in height those of +Owen, and the other clerks, and only inferior to the tripod of my father +himself. All was wrong from that moment. Dubourg's reports became as +suspicious as if his bills had been noted for dishonour. I was summoned +home in all haste, and received in the manner I have already communicated +to you. + + + + + CHAPTER SECOND. + + I begin shrewdly to suspect the young man of a terrible taint-- + Poetry; with which idle disease if he be infected, there's no hope + of him in astate course. _Actum est_ of him for a commonwealth's + man, if he goto't in rhyme once. + Ben Jonson's _Bartholomew Fair._ + +My father had, generally speaking, his temper under complete self- +command, and his anger rarely indicated itself by words, except in a sort +of dry testy manner, to those who had displeased him. He never used +threats, or expressions of loud resentment. All was arranged with him on +system, and it was his practice to do "the needful" on every occasion, +without wasting words about it. It was, therefore, with a bitter smile +that he listened to my imperfect answers concerning the state of commerce +in France, and unmercifully permitted me to involve myself deeper and +deeper in the mysteries of agio, tariffs, tare and tret; nor can I charge +my memory with his having looked positively angry, until he found me +unable to explain the exact effect which the depreciation of the louis +d'or had produced on the negotiation of bills of exchange. "The most +remarkable national occurrence in my time," said my father (who +nevertheless had seen the Revolution)--"and he knows no more of it than a +post on the quay!" + +"Mr. Francis," suggested Owen, in his timid and conciliatory manner, +"cannot have forgotten, that by an _arret_ of the King of France, dated +1st May 1700, it was provided that the _porteur,_ within ten days after +due, must make demand"-- + +"Mr. Francis," said my father, interrupting him, "will, I dare say, +recollect for the moment anything you are so kind as hint to him. But, +body o' me! how Dubourg could permit him! Hark ye, Owen, what sort of a +youth is Clement Dubourg, his nephew there, in the office, the +black-haired lad?" + +"One of the cleverest clerks, sir, in the house; a prodigious young man +for his time," answered Owen; for the gaiety and civility of the young +Frenchman had won his heart. + +"Ay, ay, I suppose _he_ knows something of the nature of exchange. +Dubourg was determined I should have one youngster at least about my hand +who understood business. But I see his drift, and he shall find that I do +so when he looks at the balance-sheet. Owen, let Clement's salary be paid +up to next quarter-day, and let him ship himself back to Bourdeaux in his +father's ship, which is clearing out yonder." + +"Dismiss Clement Dubourg, sir?" said Owen, with a faltering voice. + +"Yes, sir, dismiss him instantly; it is enough to have a stupid +Englishman in the counting-house to make blunders, without keeping a +sharp Frenchman there to profit by them." + +I had lived long enough in the territories of the _Grand Monarque_ to +contract a hearty aversion to arbitrary exertion of authority, even if it +had not been instilled into me with my earliest breeding; and I could not +refrain from interposing, to prevent an innocent and meritorious young +man from paying the penalty of having acquired that proficiency which my +father had desired for me. + +"I beg pardon, sir," when Mr. Osbaldistone had done speaking; "but I +think it but just, that if I have been negligent of my studies, I should +pay the forfeit myself. I have no reason to charge Monsieur Dubourg with +having neglected to give me opportunities of improvement, however little +I may have profited by them; and with respect to Monsieur Clement +Dubourg"-- + +"With respect to him, and to you, I shall take the measures which I see +needful," replied my father; "but it is fair in you, Frank, to take your +own blame on your own shoulders--very fair, that cannot be denied.--I +cannot acquit old Dubourg," he said, looking to Owen, "for having merely +afforded Frank the means of useful knowledge, without either seeing that +he took advantage of them or reporting to me if he did not. You see, +Owen, he has natural notions of equity becoming a British merchant." + +"Mr. Francis," said the head-clerk, with his usual formal inclination of +the head, and a slight elevation of his right hand, which he had acquired +by a habit of sticking his pen behind his ear before he spoke--"Mr. +Francis seems to understand the fundamental principle of all moral +accounting, the great ethic rule of three. Let A do to B, as he would +have B do to him; the product will give the rule of conduct required." + +My father smiled at this reduction of the golden rule to arithmetical +form, but instantly proceeded. + +"All this signifies nothing, Frank; you have been throwing away your time +like a boy, and in future you must learn to live like a man. I shall put +you under Owen's care for a few months, to recover the lost ground." + +I was about to reply, but Owen looked at me with such a supplicatory and +warning gesture, that I was involuntarily silent. + +"We will then," continued my father, "resume the subject of mine of the +1st ultimo, to which you sent me an answer which was unadvised and +unsatisfactory. So now, fill your glass, and push the bottle to Owen." + +Want of courage--of audacity if you will--was never my failing. I +answered firmly, "I was sorry that my letter was unsatisfactory, +unadvised it was not; for I had given the proposal his goodness had made +me, my instant and anxious attention, and it was with no small pain that +I found myself obliged to decline it." + +My father bent his keen eye for a moment on me, and instantly withdrew +it. As he made no answer, I thought myself obliged to proceed, though +with some hesitation, and he only interrupted me by monosyllables.--"It +is impossible, sir, for me to have higher respect for any character than +I have for the commercial, even were it not yours." + +"Indeed!" + +"It connects nation with nation, relieves the wants, and contributes to +the wealth of all; and is to the general commonwealth of the civilised +world what the daily intercourse of ordinary life is to private society, +or rather, what air and food are to our bodies." + +"Well, sir?" + +"And yet, sir, I find myself compelled to persist in declining to adopt a +character which I am so ill qualified to support." + +"I will take care that you acquire the qualifications necessary. You are +no longer the guest and pupil of Dubourg." + +"But, my dear sir, it is no defect of teaching which I plead, but my own +inability to profit by instruction." + +"Nonsense.--Have you kept your journal in the terms I desired?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Be pleased to bring it here." + +The volume thus required was a sort of commonplace book, kept by my +father's recommendation, in which I had been directed to enter notes of +the miscellaneous information which I had acquired in the course of my +studies. Foreseeing that he would demand inspection of this record, I had +been attentive to transcribe such particulars of information as he would +most likely be pleased with, but too often the pen had discharged the +task without much correspondence with the head. And it had also happened, +that, the book being the receptacle nearest to my hand, I had +occasionally jotted down memoranda which had little regard to traffic. I +now put it into my father's hand, devoutly hoping he might light on +nothing that would increase his displeasure against me. Owen's face, +which had looked something blank when the question was put, cleared up at +my ready answer, and wore a smile of hope, when I brought from my +apartment, and placed before my father, a commercial-looking volume, +rather broader than it was long, having brazen clasps and a binding of +rough calf. This looked business-like, and was encouraging to my +benevolent well-wisher. But he actually smiled with pleasure as he heard +my father run over some part of the contents, muttering his critical +remarks as he went on. + +"_--Brandies--Barils and barricants, also tonneaux.--At Nantz 29--Velles +to the barique at Cognac and Rochelle 27--At Bourdeaux 32_--Very right, +Frank--_Duties on tonnage and custom-house, see Saxby's Tables_--That's +not well; you should have transcribed the passage; it fixes the thing in +the memory--_Reports outward and inward--Corn debentures--Over-sea +Cockets--Linens--Isingham--Gentish--Stock-fish--Titling--Cropling-- +Lub-fish._ You should have noted that they are all, nevertheless to be +entered as titlings.--How many inches long is a titling?" + +Owen, seeing me at fault, hazarded a whisper, of which I fortunately +caught the import. + +"Eighteen inches, sir."-- + +"And a lub-fish is twenty-four--very right. It is important to remember +this, on account of the Portuguese trade--But what have we here?-- +_Bourdeaux founded in the year--Castle of the Trompette--Palace of +Gallienus_--Well, well, that's very right too.--This is a kind of +waste-book, Owen, in which all the transactions of the day,--emptions, +orders, payments, receipts, acceptances, draughts, commissions, and +advices,--are entered miscellaneously." + +"That they may be regularly transferred to the day-book and ledger," +answered Owen: "I am glad Mr. Francis is so methodical." + +I perceived myself getting so fast into favour, that I began to fear the +consequence would be my father's more obstinate perseverance in his +resolution that I must become a merchant; and as I was determined on the +contrary, I began to wish I had not, to use my friend Mr. Owen's phrase, +been so methodical. But I had no reason for apprehension on that score; +for a blotted piece of paper dropped out of the book, and, being taken up +by my father, he interrupted a hint from Owen, on the propriety of +securing loose memoranda with a little paste, by exclaiming, "To the +memory of Edward the Black Prince--What's all this?--verses!--By Heaven, +Frank, you are a greater blockhead than I supposed you!" + +My father, you must recollect, as a man of business, looked upon the +labour of poets with contempt; and as a religious man, and of the +dissenting persuasion, he considered all such pursuits as equally trivial +and profane. Before you condemn him, you must recall to remembrance how +too many of the poets in the end of the seventeenth century had led their +lives and employed their talents. The sect also to which my father +belonged, felt, or perhaps affected, a puritanical aversion to the +lighter exertions of literature. So that many causes contributed to +augment the unpleasant surprise occasioned by the ill-timed discovery of +this unfortunate copy of verses. As for poor Owen, could the bob-wig +which he then wore have uncurled itself, and stood on end with horror, I +am convinced the morning's labour of the friseur would have been undone, +merely by the excess of his astonishment at this enormity. An inroad on +the strong-box, or an erasure in the ledger, or a mis-summation in a +fitted account, could hardly have surprised him more disagreeably. My +father read the lines sometimes with an affectation of not being able to +understand the sense--sometimes in a mouthing tone of mock heroic--always +with an emphasis of the most bitter irony, most irritating to the nerves +of an author. + + "O for the voice of that wild horn, + On Fontarabian echoes borne, + The dying hero's call, + That told imperial Charlemagne, + How Paynim sons of swarthy Spain + Had wrought his champion's fall. + +"_Fontarabian echoes!_" continued my father, interrupting himself; "the +Fontarabian Fair would have been more to the purpose--_Paynim!_--What's +Paynim?--Could you not say Pagan as well, and write English at least, if +you must needs write nonsense?-- + + + "Sad over earth and ocean sounding. + And England's distant cliffs astounding. + Such are the notes should say + How Britain's hope, and France's fear, + Victor of Cressy and Poitier, + In Bordeaux dying lay." + +"Poitiers, by the way, is always spelt with an _s,_ and I know no reason +why orthography should give place to rhyme.-- + + + "'Raise my faint head, my squires,' he said, + 'And let the casement be display'd, + That I may see once more + The splendour of the setting sun + Gleam on thy mirrored wave, Garonne, + And Blaye's empurpled shore. + +"_Garonne_ and _sun_ is a bad rhyme. Why, Frank, you do not even +understand the beggarly trade you have chosen. + + "'Like me, he sinks to Glory's sleep, + His fall the dews of evening steep, + As if in sorrow shed, + So soft shall fall the trickling tear, + When England's maids and matrons hear + Of their Black Edward dead. + + "'And though my sun of glory set, + Nor France, nor England, shall forget + The terror of my name; + And oft shall Britain's heroes rise, + New planets in these southern skies, + Through clouds of blood and flame.' + +"A cloud of flame is something new--Good-morrow, my masters all, and a +merry Christmas to you!--Why, the bellman writes better lines." He then +tossed the paper from him with an air of superlative contempt, and +concluded--"Upon my credit, Frank, you are a greater blockhead than I +took you for." + +What could I say, my dear Tresham? There I stood, swelling with indignant +mortification, while my father regarded me with a calm but stern look of +scorn and pity; and poor Owen, with uplifted hands and eyes, looked as +striking a picture of horror as if he had just read his patron's name in +the Gazette. At length I took courage to speak, endeavouring that my tone +of voice should betray my feelings as little as possible. + +"I am quite aware, sir, how ill qualified I am to play the conspicuous +part in society you have destined for me; and, luckily, I am not +ambitious of the wealth I might acquire. Mr. Owen would be a much more +effective assistant." I said this in some malice, for I considered Owen +as having deserted my cause a little too soon. + +"Owen!" said my father--"The boy is mad--actually insane. And, pray, sir, +if I may presume to inquire, having coolly turned me over to Mr. Owen +(although I may expect more attention from any one than from my son), +what may your own sage projects be?" + +"I should wish, sir," I replied, summoning up my courage, "to travel for +two or three years, should that consist with your pleasure; otherwise, +although late, I would willingly spend the same time at Oxford or +Cambridge." + +"In the name of common sense! was the like ever heard?--to put yourself +to school among pedants and Jacobites, when you might be pushing your +fortune in the world! Why not go to Westminster or Eton at once, man, and +take to Lilly's Grammar and Accidence, and to the birch, too, if you like +it?" + +"Then, sir, if you think my plan of improvement too late, I would +willingly return to the Continent." + +"You have already spent too much time there to little purpose, Mr. +Francis." + +"Then I would choose the army, sir, in preference to any other active +line of life." + +"Choose the d--l!" answered my father, hastily, and then checking +himself--"I profess you make me as great a fool as you are yourself. Is +he not enough to drive one mad, Owen?"--Poor Owen shook his head, and +looked down. "Hark ye, Frank," continued my father, "I will cut all this +matter very short. I was at your age when my father turned me out of +doors, and settled my legal inheritance on my younger brother. I left +Osbaldistone Hall on the back of a broken-down hunter, with ten guineas +in my purse. I have never crossed the threshold again, and I never will. +I know not, and I care not, if my fox-hunting brother is alive, or has +broken his neck; but he has children, Frank, and one of them shall be my +son if you cross me farther in this matter." + +"You will do your pleasure," I answered--rather, I fear, with more sullen +indifference than respect, "with what is your own." + +"Yes, Frank, what I have _is_ my own, if labour in getting, and care in +augmenting, can make a right of property; and no drone shall feed on my +honeycomb. Think on it well: what I have said is not without reflection, +and what I resolve upon I will execute." + +"Honoured sir!--dear sir!" exclaimed Owen, tears rushing into his eyes, +"you are not wont to be in such a hurry in transacting business of +importance. Let Mr. Francis run up the balance before you shut the +account; he loves you, I am sure; and when he puts down his filial +obedience to the _per contra,_ I am sure his objections will disappear." + +"Do you think I will ask him twice," said my father, sternly, "to be my +friend, my assistant, and my confidant?--to be a partner of my cares and +of my fortune?--Owen, I thought you had known me better." + +He looked at me as if he meant to add something more, but turned +instantly away, and left the room abruptly. I was, I own, affected by +this view of the case, which had not occurred to me; and my father would +probably have had little reason to complain of me, had he commenced the +discussion with this argument. + +But it was too late. I had much of his own obduracy of resolution, and +Heaven had decreed that my sin should be my punishment, though not to the +extent which my transgression merited. Owen, when we were left alone, +continued to look at me with eyes which tears from time to time +moistened, as if to discover, before attempting the task of intercessor, +upon what point my obstinacy was most assailable. At length he began, +with broken and disconcerted accents,--"O L--d, Mr. Francis!--Good +Heavens, sir!--My stars, Mr. Osbaldistone!--that I should ever have seen +this day--and you so young a gentleman, sir!--For the love of Heaven! +look at both sides of the account--think what you are going to lose--a +noble fortune, sir--one of the finest houses in the City, even under the +old firm of Tresham and Trent, and now Osbaldistone and Tresham--You +might roll in gold, Mr. Francis--And, my dear young Mr. Frank, if there +was any particular thing in the business of the house which you disliked, +I would" (sinking his voice to a whisper) "put it in order for you +termly, or weekly, or daily, if you will--Do, my dear Mr. Francis, think +of the honour due to your father, that your days may be long in the +land." + +"I am much obliged to you, Mr. Owen," said I--"very much obliged indeed; +but my father is best judge how to bestow his money. He talks of one of +my cousins: let him dispose of his wealth as he pleases--I will never +sell my liberty for gold." + +"Gold, sir?--I wish you saw the balance-sheet of profits at last term--It +was in five figures--five figures to each partner's sum total, Mr. Frank +--And all this is to go to a Papist, and a north-country booby, and a +disaffected person besides--It will break my heart, Mr. Francis, that +have been toiling more like a dog than a man, and all for love of the +firm. Think how it will sound, Osbaldistone, Tresham, and Osbaldistone-- +or perhaps, who knows" (again lowering his voice), "Osbaldistone, +Osbaldistone, and Tresham, for our Mr. Osbaldistone can buy them all +out." + +"But, Mr. Owen, my cousin's name being also Osbaldistone, the name of the +company will sound every bit as well in your ears." + +"O fie upon you, Mr. Francis, when you know how well I love you--Your +cousin, indeed!--a Papist, no doubt, like his father, and a disaffected +person to the Protestant succession--that's another item, doubtless." + +"There are many very good men Catholics, Mr. Owen," rejoined I. + +As Owen was about to answer with unusual animation, my father re-entered +the apartment. + +"You were right," he said, "Owen, and I was wrong; we will take more time +to think over this matter.--Young man, you will prepare to give me an +answer on this important subject this day month." + +I bowed in silence, sufficiently glad of a reprieve, and trusting it +might indicate some relaxation in my father's determination. + +The time of probation passed slowly, unmarked by any accident whatever. I +went and came, and disposed of my time as I pleased, without question or +criticism on the part of my father. Indeed, I rarely saw him, save at +meal-times, when he studiously avoided a discussion which you may well +suppose I was in no hurry to press onward. Our conversation was of the +news of the day, or on such general topics as strangers discourse upon to +each other; nor could any one have guessed, from its tenor, that there +remained undecided betwixt us a dispute of such importance. It haunted +me, however, more than once, like the nightmare. Was it possible he would +keep his word, and disinherit his only son in favour of a nephew whose +very existence he was not perhaps quite certain of? My grandfather's +conduct, in similar circumstances, boded me no good, had I considered the +matter rightly. But I had formed an erroneous idea of my father's +character, from the importance which I recollected I maintained with him +and his whole family before I went to France. I was not aware that there +are men who indulge their children at an early age, because to do so +interests and amuses them, and who can yet be sufficiently severe when +the same children cross their expectations at a more advanced period. On +the contrary, I persuaded myself, that all I had to apprehend was some +temporary alienation of affection--perhaps a rustication of a few weeks, +which I thought would rather please me than otherwise, since it would +give me an opportunity of setting about my unfinished version of Orlando +Furioso, a poem which I longed to render into English verse. I suffered +this belief to get such absolute possession of my mind, that I had +resumed my blotted papers, and was busy in meditation on the +oft-recurring rhymes of the Spenserian stanza, when I heard a low and +cautious tap at the door of my apartment. "Come in," I said, and Mr. Owen +entered. So regular were the motions and habits of this worthy man, that +in all probability this was the first time he had ever been in the second +story of his patron's house, however conversant with the first; and I am +still at a loss to know in what manner he discovered my apartment. + +"Mr. Francis," he said, interrupting my expression of surprise and +pleasure at seeing, him, "I do not know if I am doing well in what I am +about to say--it is not right to speak of what passes in the +compting-house out of doors--one should not tell, as they say, to the +post in the warehouse, how many lines there are in the ledger. But young +Twineall has been absent from the house for a fortnight and more, until +two days since." + +"Very well, my dear sir, and how does that concern us?" + +"Stay, Mr. Francis;--your father gave him a private commission; and I am +sure he did not go down to Falmouth about the pilchard affair; and the +Exeter business with Blackwell and Company has been settled; and the +mining people in Cornwall, Trevanion and Treguilliam, have paid all they +are likely to pay; and any other matter of business must have been put +through my books:--in short, it's my faithful belief that Twineall has +been down in the north." + +"Do you really suppose?" so said I, somewhat startled. + +"He has spoken about nothing, sir, since he returned, but his new boots, +and his Ripon spurs, and a cockfight at York--it's as true as the +multiplication-table. Do, Heaven bless you, my dear child, make up your +mind to please your father, and to be a man and a merchant at once." + +I felt at that instant a strong inclination to submit, and to make Owen +happy by requesting him to tell my father that I resigned myself to his +disposal. But pride--pride, the source of so much that is good and so +much that is evil in our course of life, prevented me. My acquiescence +stuck in my throat; and while I was coughing to get it up, my father's +voice summoned Owen. He hastily left the room, and the opportunity was +lost. + +My father was methodical in everything. At the very same time of the day, +in the same apartment, and with the same tone and manner which he had +employed an exact month before, he recapitulated the proposal he had made +for taking me into partnership, and assigning me a department in the +counting-house, and requested to have my final decision. I thought at the +time there was something unkind in this; and I still think that my +father's conduct was injudicious. A more conciliatory treatment would, in +all probability, have gained his purpose. As it was, I stood fast, and, +as respectfully as I could, declined the proposal he made to me. Perhaps +--for who can judge of their own heart?--I felt it unmanly to yield on +the first summons, and expected farther solicitation, as at least a +pretext for changing my mind. If so, I was disappointed; for my father +turned coolly to Owen, and only said, "You see it is as I told you.-- +Well, Frank" (addressing me), "you are nearly of age, and as well +qualified to judge of what will constitute your own happiness as you ever +are like to be; therefore, I say no more. But as I am not bound to give +in to your plans, any more than you are compelled to submit to mine, may +I ask to know if you have formed any which depend on my assistance?" + +I answered, not a little abashed, "That being bred to no profession, and +having no funds of my own, it was obviously impossible for me to subsist +without some allowance from my father; that my wishes were very moderate; +and that I hoped my aversion for the profession to which he had designed +me, would not occasion his altogether withdrawing his paternal support +and protection." + +"That is to say, you wish to lean on my arm, and yet to walk your own +way? That can hardly be, Frank;--however, I suppose you mean to obey my +directions, so far as they do not cross your own humour?" + +I was about to speak--"Silence, if you please," he continued. "Supposing +this to be the case, you will instantly set out for the north of England, +to pay your uncle a visit, and see the state of his family. I have chosen +from among his sons (he has six, I believe) one who, I understand, is +most worthy to fill the place I intended for you in the counting-house. +But some farther arrangements may be necessary, and for these your +presence may be requisite. You shall have farther instructions at +Osbaldistone Hall, where you will please to remain until you hear from +me. Everything will be ready for your departure to-morrow morning." + +With these words my father left the apartment. + +"What does all this mean, Mr. Owen?" said I to my sympathetic friend, +whose countenance wore a cast of the deepest dejection. + +"You have ruined yourself, Mr. Frank, that's all. When your father talks +in that quiet determined manner, there will be no more change in him than +in a fitted account." + +And so it proved; for the next morning, at five o'clock, I found myself +on the road to York, mounted on a reasonably good horse, and with fifty +guineas in my pocket; travelling, as it would seem, for the purpose of +assisting in the adoption of a successor to myself in my father's house +and favour, and, for aught I knew, eventually in his fortune also. + + + + + CHAPTER THIRD. + + + The slack sail shifts from side to side, + The boat, untrimm'd, admits the tide, + Borne down, adrift, at random tost, + The oar breaks short, the rudder's lost. + Gay's _Fables._ + +I have tagged with rhyme and blank verse the subdivisions of this +important narrative, in order to seduce your continued attention by +powers of composition of stronger attraction than my own. The preceding +lines refer to an unfortunate navigator, who daringly unloosed from its +moorings a boat, which he was unable to manage, and thrust it off into +the full tide of a navigable river. No schoolboy, who, betwixt frolic and +defiance, has executed a similar rash attempt, could feel himself, when +adrift in a strong current, in a situation more awkward than mine, when I +found myself driving, without a compass, on the ocean of human life. +There had been such unexpected ease in the manner in which my father +slipt a knot, usually esteemed the strongest which binds society +together, and suffered me to depart as a sort of outcast from his family, +that it strangely lessened the confidence in my own personal +accomplishments, which had hitherto sustained me. Prince Prettyman, now a +prince, and now a fisher's son, had not a more awkward sense of his +degradation. We are so apt, in our engrossing egotism, to consider all +those accessories which are drawn around us by prosperity, as pertaining +and belonging to our own persons, that the discovery of our unimportance, +when left to our own proper resources, becomes inexpressibly mortifying. +As the hum of London died away on my ear, the distant peal of her +steeples more than once sounded to my ears the admonitory "Turn again," +erst heard by her future Lord Mayor; and when I looked back from Highgate +on her dusky magnificence, I felt as if I were leaving behind me comfort, +opulence, the charms of society, and all the pleasures of cultivated +life. + +But the die was cast. It was, indeed, by no means probable that a late +and ungracious compliance with my father's wishes would have reinstated +me in the situation which I had lost. On the contrary, firm and strong of +purpose as he himself was, he might rather have been disgusted than +conciliated by my tardy and compulsory acquiescence in his desire that I +should engage in commerce. My constitutional obstinacy came also to my +aid, and pride whispered how poor a figure I should make, when an airing +of four miles from London had blown away resolutions formed during a +month's serious deliberation. Hope, too, that never forsakes the young +and hardy, lent her lustre to my future prospects. My father could not be +serious in the sentence of foris-familiation, which he had so +unhesitatingly pronounced. It must be but a trial of my disposition, +which, endured with patience and steadiness on my part, would raise me in +his estimation, and lead to an amicable accommodation of the point in +dispute between us. I even settled in my own mind how far I would concede +to him, and on what articles of our supposed treaty I would make a firm +stand; and the result was, according to my computation, that I was to be +reinstated in my full rights of filiation, paying the easy penalty of +some ostensible compliances to atone for my past rebellion. + +In the meanwhile, I was lord of my person, and experienced that feeling +of independence which the youthful bosom receives with a thrilling +mixture of pleasure and apprehension. My purse, though by no means amply +replenished, was in a situation to supply all the wants and wishes of a +traveller. I had been accustomed, while at Bourdeaux, to act as my own +valet; my horse was fresh, young, and active, and the buoyancy of my +spirits soon surmounted the melancholy reflections with which my journey +commenced. + +I should have been glad to have journeyed upon a line of road better +calculated to afford reasonable objects of curiosity, or a more +interesting country, to the traveller. But the north road was then, and +perhaps still is, singularly deficient in these respects; nor do I +believe you can travel so far through Britain in any other direction +without meeting more of what is worthy to engage the attention. My mental +ruminations, notwithstanding my assumed confidence, were not always of an +unchequered nature. The Muse too,--the very coquette who had led me into +this wilderness,--like others of her sex, deserted me in my utmost need, +and I should have been reduced to rather an uncomfortable state of +dulness, had it not been for the occasional conversation of strangers who +chanced to pass the same way. But the characters whom I met with were of +a uniform and uninteresting description. Country parsons, jogging +homewards after a visitation; farmers, or graziers, returning from a +distant market; clerks of traders, travelling to collect what was due to +their masters, in provincial towns; with now and then an officer going +down into the country upon the recruiting service, were, at this period, +the persons by whom the turnpikes and tapsters were kept in exercise. Our +speech, therefore, was of tithes and creeds, of beeves and grain, of +commodities wet and dry, and the solvency of the retail dealers, +occasionally varied by the description of a siege, or battle, in +Flanders, which, perhaps, the narrator only gave me at second hand. +Robbers, a fertile and alarming theme, filled up every vacancy; and the +names of the Golden Farmer, the Flying Highwayman, Jack Needham, and +other Beggars' Opera heroes, were familiar in our mouths as household +words. At such tales, like children closing their circle round the fire +when the ghost story draws to its climax, the riders drew near to each +other, looked before and behind them, examined the priming of their +pistols, and vowed to stand by each other in case of danger; an +engagement which, like other offensive and defensive alliances, sometimes +glided out of remembrance when there was an appearance of actual peril. + +Of all the fellows whom I ever saw haunted by terrors of this nature, one +poor man, with whom I travelled a day and a half, afforded me most +amusement. He had upon his pillion a very small, but apparently a very +weighty portmanteau, about the safety of which he seemed particularly +solicitous; never trusting it out of his own immediate care, and +uniformly repressing the officious zeal of the waiters and ostlers, who +offered their services to carry it into the house. With the same +precaution he laboured to conceal, not only the purpose of his journey, +and his ultimate place of destination, but even the direction of each +day's route. Nothing embarrassed him more than to be asked by any one, +whether he was travelling upwards or downwards, or at what stage he +intended to bait. His place of rest for the night he scrutinised with the +most anxious care, alike avoiding solitude, and what he considered as bad +neighbourhood; and at Grantham, I believe, he sate up all night to avoid +sleeping in the next room to a thick-set squinting fellow, in a black +wig, and a tarnished gold-laced waistcoat. With all these cares on his +mind, my fellow traveller, to judge by his thews and sinews, was a man +who might have set danger at defiance with as much impunity as most men. +He was strong and well built; and, judging from his gold-laced hat and +cockade, seemed to have served in the army, or, at least, to belong to +the military profession in one capacity or other. His conversation also, +though always sufficiently vulgar, was that of a man of sense, when the +terrible bugbears which haunted his imagination for a moment ceased to +occupy his attention. But every accidental association recalled them. An +open heath, a close plantation, were alike subjects of apprehension; and +the whistle of a shepherd lad was instantly converted into the signal of +a depredator. Even the sight of a gibbet, if it assured him that one +robber was safely disposed of by justice, never failed to remind him how +many remained still unhanged. + +I should have wearied of this fellow's company, had I not been still more +tired of my own thoughts. Some of the marvellous stories, however, which +he related, had in themselves a cast of interest, and another whimsical +point of his peculiarities afforded me the occasional opportunity of +amusing myself at his expense. Among his tales, several of the +unfortunate travellers who fell among thieves, incurred that calamity +from associating themselves on the road with a well-dressed and +entertaining stranger, in whose company they trusted to find protection +as well as amusement; who cheered their journey with tale and song, +protected them against the evils of over-charges and false reckonings, +until at length, under pretext of showing a near path over a desolate +common, he seduced his unsuspicious victims from the public road into +some dismal glen, where, suddenly blowing his whistle, he assembled his +comrades from their lurking-place, and displayed himself in his true +colours--the captain, namely, of the band of robbers to whom his unwary +fellow-travellers had forfeited their purses, and perhaps their lives. +Towards the conclusion of such a tale, and when my companion had wrought +himself into a fever of apprehension by the progress of his own +narrative, I observed that he usually eyed me with a glance of doubt and +suspicion, as if the possibility occurred to him, that he might, at that +very moment, be in company with a character as dangerous as that which +his tale described. And ever and anon, when such suggestions pressed +themselves on the mind of this ingenious self-tormentor, he drew off from +me to the opposite side of the high-road, looked before, behind, and +around him, examined his arms, and seemed to prepare himself for flight +or defence, as circumstances might require. + +The suspicion implied on such occasions seemed to me only momentary, and +too ludicrous to be offensive. There was, in fact, no particular +reflection on my dress or address, although I was thus mistaken for a +robber. A man in those days might have all the external appearance of a +gentleman, and yet turn out to be a highwayman. For the division of +labour in every department not having then taken place so fully as since +that period, the profession of the polite and accomplished adventurer, +who nicked you out of your money at White's, or bowled you out of it at +Marylebone, was often united with that of the professed ruffian, who on +Bagshot Heath, or Finchley Common, commanded his brother beau to stand +and deliver. There was also a touch of coarseness and hardness about the +manners of the times, which has since, in a great degree, been softened +and shaded away. It seems to me, on recollection, as if desperate men had +less reluctance then than now to embrace the most desperate means of +retrieving their fortune. The times were indeed past, when Anthony-a-Wood +mourned over the execution of two men, goodly in person, and of +undisputed courage and honour, who were hanged without mercy at Oxford, +merely because their distress had driven them to raise contributions on +the highway. We were still farther removed from the days of "the mad +Prince and Poins." And yet, from the number of unenclosed and extensive +heaths in the vicinity of the metropolis, and from the less populous +state of remote districts, both were frequented by that species of +mounted highwaymen, that may possibly become one day unknown, who carried +on their trade with something like courtesy; and, like Gibbet in the +Beaux Stratagem, piqued themselves on being the best behaved men on the +road, and on conducting themselves with all appropriate civility in the +exercise of their vocation. A young man, therefore, in my circumstances +was not entitled to be highly indignant at the mistake which confounded +him with this worshipful class of depredators. + +Neither was I offended. On the contrary, I found amusement in alternately +exciting, and lulling to sleep, the suspicions of my timorous companion, +and in purposely so acting as still farther to puzzle a brain which +nature and apprehension had combined to render none of the clearest. When +my free conversation had lulled him into complete security, it required +only a passing inquiry concerning the direction of his journey, or the +nature of the business which occasioned it, to put his suspicions once +more in arms. For example, a conversation on the comparative strength and +activity of our horses, took such a turn as follows:-- + +"O sir," said my companion, "for the gallop I grant you; but allow me to +say, your horse (although he is a very handsome gelding--that must be +owned,) has too little bone to be a good roadster. The trot, sir" +(striking his Bucephalus with his spurs),--"the trot is the true pace for +a hackney; and, were we near a town, I should like to try that +daisy-cutter of yours upon a piece of level road (barring canter) for a +quart of claret at the next inn." + +"Content, sir," replied I; "and here is a stretch of ground very +favourable." + +"Hem, ahem," answered my friend with hesitation; "I make it a rule of +travelling never to blow my horse between stages; one never knows what +occasion he may have to put him to his mettle: and besides, sir, when I +said I would match you, I meant with even weight; you ride four stone +lighter than I." + +"Very well; but I am content to carry weight. Pray, what may that +portmanteau of yours weigh?" + +"My p-p-portmanteau?" replied he, hesitating--"O very little--a feather-- +just a few shirts and stockings." + +"I should think it heavier, from its appearance. I'll hold you the quart +of claret it makes the odds betwixt our weight." + +"You're mistaken, sir, I assure you--quite mistaken," replied my friend, +edging off to the side of the road, as was his wont on these alarming +occasions. + +"Well, I am willing to venture the wine; or, I will bet you ten pieces to +five, that I carry your portmanteau on my croupe, and out-trot you into +the bargain." + +This proposal raised my friend's alarm to the uttermost. His nose changed +from the natural copper hue which it had acquired from many a comfortable +cup of claret or sack, into a palish brassy tint, and his teeth chattered +with apprehension at the unveiled audacity of my proposal, which seemed +to place the barefaced plunderer before him in full atrocity. As he +faltered for an answer, I relieved him in some degree by a question +concerning a steeple, which now became visible, and an observation that +we were now so near the village as to run no risk from interruption on +the road. At this his countenance cleared up: but I easily perceived that +it was long ere he forgot a proposal which seemed to him so fraught with +suspicion as that which I had now hazarded. I trouble you with this +detail of the man's disposition, and the manner in which I practised upon +it, because, however trivial in themselves, these particulars were +attended by an important influence on future incidents which will occur +in this narrative. At the time, this person's conduct only inspired me +with contempt, and confirmed me in an opinion which I already +entertained, that of all the propensities which teach mankind to torment +themselves, that of causeless fear is the most irritating, busy, painful, +and pitiable. + + + + + CHAPTER FOURTH. + + + The Scots are poor, cries surly English pride. + True is the charge; nor by themselves denied. + Are they not, then, in strictest reason clear, + Who wisely come to mend their fortunes here? + Churchill. + +There was, in the days of which I write, an old-fashioned custom on the +English road, which I suspect is now obsolete, or practised only by the +vulgar. Journeys of length being made on horseback, and, of course, by +brief stages, it was usual always to make a halt on the Sunday in some +town where the traveller might attend divine service, and his horse have +the benefit of the day of rest, the institution of which is as humane to +our brute labourers as profitable to ourselves. A counterpart to this +decent practice, and a remnant of old English hospitality, was, that the +landlord of a principal inn laid aside his character of a publican on the +seventh day, and invited the guests who chanced to be within his walls to +take a part of his family beef and pudding. This invitation was usually +complied with by all whose distinguished rank did not induce them to +think compliance a derogation; and the proposal of a bottle of wine after +dinner, to drink the landlord's health, was the only recompense ever +offered or accepted. + +I was born a citizen of the world, and my inclination led me into all +scenes where my knowledge of mankind could be enlarged; I had, besides, +no pretensions to sequester myself on the score of superior dignity, and +therefore seldom failed to accept of the Sunday's hospitality of mine +host, whether of the Garter, Lion, or Bear. The honest publican, dilated +into additional consequence by a sense of his own importance, while +presiding among the guests on whom it was his ordinary duty to attend, +was in himself an entertaining, spectacle; and around his genial orbit, +other planets of inferior consequence performed their revolutions. The +wits and humorists, the distinguished worthies of the town or village, +the apothecary, the attorney, even the curate himself, did not disdain to +partake of this hebdomadal festivity. The guests, assembled from +different quarters, and following different professions, formed, in +language, manners, and sentiments, a curious contrast to each other, not +indifferent to those who desired to possess a knowledge of mankind in its +varieties. + +It was on such a day, and such an occasion, that my timorous acquaintance +and I were about to grace the board of the ruddy-faced host of the Black +Bear, in the town of Darlington, and bishopric of Durham, when our +landlord informed us, with a sort of apologetic tone, that there was a +Scotch gentleman to dine with us. + +"A gentleman!--what sort of a gentleman?" said my companion somewhat +hastily--his mind, I suppose, running on gentlemen of the pad, as they +were then termed. + +"Why, a Scotch sort of a gentleman, as I said before," returned mine +host; "they are all gentle, ye mun know, though they ha' narra shirt to +back; but this is a decentish hallion--a canny North Briton as e'er +cross'd Berwick Bridge--I trow he's a dealer in cattle." + +"Let us have his company, by all means," answered my companion; and then, +turning to me, he gave vent to the tenor of his own reflections. "I +respect the Scotch, sir; I love and honour the nation for their sense of +morality. Men talk of their filth and their poverty: but commend me to +sterling honesty, though clad in rags, as the poet saith. I have been +credibly assured, sir, by men on whom I can depend, that there was never +known such a thing in Scotland as a highway robbery." + +"That's because they have nothing to lose," said mine host, with the +chuckle of a self-applauding wit. + +"No, no, landlord," answered a strong deep voice behind him, "it's e'en +because your English gaugers and supervisors,* that you have sent down +benorth the Tweed, have taen up the trade of thievery over the heads of +the native professors." + +* The introduction of gaugers, supervisors, and examiners, was one of the +great complaints of the Scottish nation, though a natural consequence of +the Union. + +"Well said, Mr. Campbell," answered the landlord; "I did not think +thoud'st been sae near us, mon. But thou kens I'm an outspoken Yorkshire +tyke. And how go markets in the south?" + +"Even in the ordinar," replied Mr. Campbell; "wise folks buy and sell, +and fools are bought and sold." + +"But wise men and fools both eat their dinner," answered our jolly +entertainer; "and here a comes--as prime a buttock of beef as e'er hungry +men stuck fork in." + +So saying, he eagerly whetted his knife, assumed his seat of empire at +the head of the board, and loaded the plates of his sundry guests with +his good cheer. + +This was the first time I had heard the Scottish accent, or, indeed, that +I had familiarly met with an individual of the ancient nation by whom it +was spoken. Yet, from an early period, they had occupied and interested +my imagination. My father, as is well known to you, was of an ancient +family in Northumberland, from whose seat I was, while eating the +aforesaid dinner, not very many miles distant. The quarrel betwixt him +and his relatives was such, that he scarcely ever mentioned the race from +which he sprung, and held as the most contemptible species of vanity, the +weakness which is commonly termed family pride. His ambition was only to +be distinguished as William Osbaldistone, the first, at least one of the +first, merchants on Change; and to have proved him the lineal +representative of William the Conqueror would have far less flattered his +vanity than the hum and bustle which his approach was wont to produce +among the bulls, bears, and brokers of Stock-alley. He wished, no doubt, +that I should remain in such ignorance of my relatives and descent as +might insure a correspondence between my feelings and his own on this +subject. But his designs, as will happen occasionally to the wisest, +were, in some degree at least, counteracted by a being whom his pride +would never have supposed of importance adequate to influence them in any +way. His nurse, an old Northumbrian woman, attached to him from his +infancy, was the only person connected with his native province for whom +he retained any regard; and when fortune dawned upon him, one of the +first uses which he made of her favours, was to give Mabel Rickets a +place of residence within his household. After the death of my mother, +the care of nursing me during my childish illnesses, and of rendering all +those tender attentions which infancy exacts from female affection, +devolved on old Mabel. Interdicted by her master from speaking to him on +the subject of the heaths, glades, and dales of her beloved +Northumberland, she poured herself forth to my infant ear in descriptions +of the scenes of her youth, and long narratives of the events which +tradition declared to have passed amongst them. To these I inclined my +ear much more seriously than to graver, but less animated instructors. +Even yet, methinks I see old Mabel, her head slightly agitated by the +palsy of age, and shaded by a close cap, as white as the driven snow,-- +her face wrinkled, but still retaining the healthy tinge which it had +acquired in rural labour--I think I see her look around on the brick +walls and narrow street which presented themselves before our windows, as +she concluded with a sigh the favourite old ditty, which I then +preferred, and--why should I not tell the truth?--which I still prefer to +all the opera airs ever minted by the capricious brain of an Italian Mus. +D.-- + + Oh, the oak, the ash, and the bonny ivy tree, + They flourish best at home in the North Countrie! + +Now, in the legends of Mabel, the Scottish nation was ever freshly +remembered, with all the embittered declamation of which the narrator was +capable. The inhabitants of the opposite frontier served in her +narratives to fill up the parts which ogres and giants with seven-leagued +boots occupy in the ordinary nursery tales. And how could it be +otherwise? Was it not the Black Douglas who slew with his own hand the +heir of the Osbaldistone family the day after he took possession of his +estate, surprising him and his vassals while solemnizing a feast suited +to the occasion? Was it not Wat the Devil, who drove all the year-old +hogs off the braes of Lanthorn-side, in the very recent days of my +grandfather's father? And had we not many a trophy, but, according to old +Mabel's version of history, far more honourably gained, to mark our +revenge of these wrongs? Did not Sir Henry Osbaldistone, fifth baron of +the name, carry off the fair maid of Fairnington, as Achilles did his +Chryseis and Briseis of old, and detain her in his fortress against all +the power of her friends, supported by the most mighty Scottish chiefs of +warlike fame? And had not our swords shone foremost at most of those +fields in which England was victorious over her rival? All our family +renown was acquired--all our family misfortunes were occasioned--by the +northern wars. + +Warmed by such tales, I looked upon the Scottish people during my +childhood, as a race hostile by nature to the more southern inhabitants +of this realm; and this view of the matter was not much corrected by the +language which my father sometimes held with respect to them. He had +engaged in some large speculations concerning oak-woods, the property of +Highland proprietors, and alleged, that he found them much more ready to +make bargains, and extort earnest of the purchase-money, than punctual in +complying on their side with the terms of the engagements. The Scottish +mercantile men, whom he was under the necessity of employing as a sort of +middle-men on these occasions, were also suspected by my father of having +secured, by one means or other, more than their own share of the profit +which ought to have accrued. In short, if Mabel complained of the +Scottish arms in ancient times, Mr. Osbaldistone inveighed no less +against the arts of these modern Sinons; and between them, though without +any fixed purpose of doing so, they impressed my youthful mind with a +sincere aversion to the northern inhabitants of Britain, as a people +bloodthirsty in time of war, treacherous during truce, interested, +selfish, avaricious, and tricky in the business of peaceful life, and +having few good qualities, unless there should be accounted such, a +ferocity which resembled courage in martial affairs, and a sort of wily +craft which supplied the place of wisdom in the ordinary commerce of +mankind. In justification, or apology, for those who entertained such +prejudices, I must remark, that the Scotch of that period were guilty of +similar injustice to the English, whom they branded universally as a race +of purse-proud arrogant epicures. Such seeds of national dislike remained +between the two countries, the natural consequences of their existence as +separate and rival states. We have seen recently the breath of a +demagogue blow these sparks into a temporary flame, which I sincerely +hope is now extinguished in its own ashes. * + +* This seems to have been written about the time of Wilkes and Liberty. + +It was, then, with an impression of dislike, that I contemplated the +first Scotchman I chanced to meet in society. There was much about him +that coincided with my previous conceptions. He had the hard features and +athletic form said to be peculiar to his country, together with the +national intonation and slow pedantic mode of expression, arising from a +desire to avoid peculiarities of idiom or dialect. I could also observe +the caution and shrewdness of his country in many of the observations +which he made, and the answers which he returned. But I was not prepared +for the air of easy self-possession and superiority with which he seemed +to predominate over the company into which he was thrown, as it were by +accident. His dress was as coarse as it could be, being still decent; +and, at a time when great expense was lavished upon the wardrobe, even of +the lowest who pretended to the character of gentleman, this indicated +mediocrity of circumstances, if not poverty. His conversation intimated +that he was engaged in the cattle trade, no very dignified professional +pursuit. And yet, under these disadvantages, he seemed, as a matter of +course, to treat the rest of the company with the cool and condescending +politeness which implies a real, or imagined, superiority over those +towards whom it is used. When he gave his opinion on any point, it was +with that easy tone of confidence used by those superior to their society +in rank or information, as if what he said could not be doubted, and was +not to be questioned. Mine host and his Sunday guests, after an effort or +two to support their consequence by noise and bold averment, sunk +gradually under the authority of Mr. Campbell, who thus fairly possessed +himself of the lead in the conversation. I was tempted, from curiosity, +to dispute the ground with him myself, confiding in my knowledge of the +world, extended as it was by my residence abroad, and in the stores with +which a tolerable education had possessed my mind. In the latter respect +he offered no competition, and it was easy to see that his natural powers +had never been cultivated by education. But I found him much better +acquainted than I was myself with the present state of France, the +character of the Duke of Orleans, who had just succeeded to the regency +of that kingdom, and that of the statesmen by whom he was surrounded; and +his shrewd, caustic, and somewhat satirical remarks, were those of a man +who had been a close observer of the affairs of that country. + +On the subject of politics, Campbell observed a silence and moderation +which might arise from caution. The divisions of Whig and Tory then shook +England to her very centre, and a powerful party, engaged in the Jacobite +interest, menaced the dynasty of Hanover, which had been just established +on the throne. Every alehouse resounded with the brawls of contending +politicians, and as mine host's politics were of that liberal description +which quarrelled with no good customer, his hebdomadal visitants were +often divided in their opinion as irreconcilably as if he had feasted the +Common Council. The curate and the apothecary, with a little man, who +made no boast of his vocation, but who, from the flourish and snap of his +fingers, I believe to have been the barber, strongly espoused the cause +of high church and the Stuart line. The excise-man, as in duty bound, and +the attorney, who looked to some petty office under the Crown, together +with my fellow-traveller, who seemed to enter keenly into the contest, +staunchly supported the cause of King George and the Protestant +succession. Dire was the screaming--deep the oaths! Each party appealed +to Mr. Campbell, anxious, it seemed, to elicit his approbation. + +"You are a Scotchman, sir; a gentleman of your country must stand up for +hereditary right," cried one party. + +"You are a Presbyterian," assumed the other class of disputants; "you +cannot be a friend to arbitrary power." + +"Gentlemen," said our Scotch oracle, after having gained, with some +difficulty, a moment's pause, "I havena much dubitation that King George +weel deserves the predilection of his friends; and if he can haud the +grip he has gotten, why, doubtless, he may made the gauger, here, a +commissioner of the revenue, and confer on our friend, Mr. Quitam, the +preferment of solicitor-general; and he may also grant some good deed or +reward to this honest gentleman who is sitting upon his portmanteau, +which he prefers to a chair: And, questionless, King James is also a +grateful person, and when he gets his hand in play, he may, if he be so +minded, make this reverend gentleman archprelate of Canterbury, and Dr. +Mixit chief physician to his household, and commit his royal beard to the +care of my friend Latherum. But as I doubt mickle whether any of the +competing sovereigns would give Rob Campbell a tass of aquavitae, if he +lacked it, I give my vote and interest to Jonathan Brown, our landlord, +to be the King and Prince of Skinkers, conditionally that he fetches us +another bottle as good as the last." + +This sally was received with general applause, in which the landlord +cordially joined; and when he had given orders for fulfilling the +condition on which his preferment was to depend, he failed not to +acquaint them, "that, for as peaceable a gentleman as Mr. Campbell was, +he was, moreover, as bold as a lion--seven highwaymen had he defeated +with his single arm, that beset him as he came from Whitson-Tryste." + +"Thou art deceived, friend Jonathan," said Campbell, interrupting him; +"they were but barely two, and two cowardly loons as man could wish to +meet withal." + +"And did you, sir, really," said my fellow-traveller, edging his chair (I +should have said his portmanteau) nearer to Mr. Campbell, "really and +actually beat two highwaymen yourself alone?" + +"In troth did I, sir," replied Campbell; "and I think it nae great thing +to make a sang about." + +"Upon my word, sir," replied my acquaintance, "I should be happy to have +the pleasure of your company on my journey--I go northward, sir." + +This piece of gratuitous information concerning the route he proposed to +himself, the first I had heard my companion bestow upon any one, failed +to excite the corresponding confidence of the Scotchman. + +"We can scarce travel together," he replied, drily. "You, sir, doubtless, +are well mounted, and I for the present travel on foot, or on a Highland +shelty, that does not help me much faster forward." + +So saying, he called for a reckoning for the wine, and throwing down the +price of the additional bottle which he had himself introduced, rose as +if to take leave of us. My companion made up to him, and taking him by +the button, drew him aside into one of the windows. I could not help +overhearing him pressing something--I supposed his company upon the +journey, which Mr. Campbell seemed to decline. + +"I will pay your charges, sir," said the traveller, in a tone as if he +thought the argument should bear down all opposition. + +"It is quite impossible," said Campbell, somewhat contemptuously; "I have +business at Rothbury." + +"But I am in no great hurry; I can ride out of the way, and never miss a +day or so for good company." + +"Upon my faith, sir," said Campbell, "I cannot render you the service you +seem to desiderate. I am," he added, drawing himself up haughtily, +"travelling on my own private affairs, and if ye will act by my +advisement, sir, ye will neither unite yourself with an absolute stranger +on the road, nor communicate your line of journey to those who are asking +ye no questions about it." He then extricated his button, not very +ceremoniously, from the hold which detained him, and coming up to me as +the company were dispersing, observed, "Your friend, sir, is too +communicative, considering the nature of his trust." + +"That gentleman," I replied, looking towards the traveller, "is no friend +of mine, but an acquaintance whom I picked up on the road. I know neither +his name nor business, and you seem to be deeper in his confidence than I +am." + +"I only meant," he replied hastily, "that he seems a thought rash in +conferring the honour of his company on those who desire it not." + +"The gentleman," replied I, "knows his own affairs best, and I should be +sorry to constitute myself a judge of them in any respect." + +Mr. Campbell made no farther observation, but merely wished me a good +journey, and the party dispersed for the evening. + +Next day I parted company with my timid companion, as I left the great +northern road to turn more westerly in the direction of Osbaldistone +Manor, my uncle's seat. I cannot tell whether he felt relieved or +embarrassed by my departure, considering the dubious light in which he +seemed to regard me. For my own part, his tremors ceased to amuse me, +and, to say the truth, I was heartily glad to get rid of him. + + + + + CHAPTER FIFTH. + + + How melts my beating heart as I behold + Each lovely nymph, our island's boast and pride, + Push on the generous steed, that sweeps along + O'er rough, o'er smooth, nor heeds the steepy hill, + Nor falters in the extended vale below! + The Chase. + +I approached my native north, for such I esteemed it, with that +enthusiasm which romantic and wild scenery inspires in the lovers of +nature. No longer interrupted by the babble of my companion, I could now +remark the difference which the country exhibited from that through which +I had hitherto travelled. The streams now more properly deserved the +name, for, instead of slumbering stagnant among reeds and willows, they +brawled along beneath the shade of natural copsewood; were now hurried +down declivities, and now purled more leisurely, but still in active +motion, through little lonely valleys, which, opening on the road from +time to time, seemed to invite the traveller to explore their recesses. +The Cheviots rose before me in frowning majesty; not, indeed, with the +sublime variety of rock and cliff which characterizes mountains of the +primary class but huge, round-headed, and clothed with a dark robe of +russet, gaining, by their extent and desolate appearance, an influence +upon the imagination, as a desert district possessing a character of its +own. + +The abode of my fathers, which I was now approaching, was situated in a +glen, or narrow valley, which ran up among those hills. Extensive +estates, which once belonged to the family of Osbaldistone, had been long +dissipated by the misfortunes or misconduct of my ancestors; but enough +was still attached to the old mansion, to give my uncle the title of a +man of large property. This he employed (as I was given to understand by +some inquiries which I made on the road) in maintaining the prodigal +hospitality of a northern squire of the period, which he deemed essential +to his family dignity. + +From the summit of an eminence I had already had a distant view of +Osbaldistone Hall, a large and antiquated edifice, peeping out from a +Druidical grove of huge oaks; and I was directing my course towards it, +as straightly and as speedily as the windings of a very indifferent road +would permit, when my horse, tired as he was, pricked up his ears at the +enlivening notes of a pack of hounds in full cry, cheered by the +occasional bursts of a French horn, which in those days was a constant +accompaniment to the chase. I made no doubt that the pack was my uncle's, +and drew up my horse with the purpose of suffering the hunters to pass +without notice, aware that a hunting-field was not the proper scene to +introduce myself to a keen sportsman, and determined when they had passed +on, to proceed to the mansion-house at my own pace, and there to await +the return of the proprietor from his sport. I paused, therefore, on a +rising ground, and, not unmoved by the sense of interest which that +species of silvan sport is so much calculated to inspire (although my +mind was not at the moment very accessible to impressions of this +nature), I expected with some eagerness the appearance of the huntsmen. + +The fox, hard run, and nearly spent, first made his appearance from the +copse which clothed the right-hand side of the valley. His drooping +brush, his soiled appearance, and jaded trot, proclaimed his fate +impending; and the carrion crow, which hovered over him, already +considered poor Reynard as soon to be his prey. He crossed the stream +which divides the little valley, and was dragging himself up a ravine on +the other side of its wild banks, when the headmost hounds, followed by +the rest of the pack in full cry, burst from the coppice, followed by the +huntsman and three or four riders. The dogs pursued the trace of Reynard +with unerring instinct; and the hunters followed with reckless haste, +regardless of the broken and difficult nature of the ground. They were +tall, stout young men, well mounted, and dressed in green and red, the +uniform of a sporting association, formed under the auspices of old Sir +Hildebrand Osbaldistone.--"My cousins!" thought I, as they swept past me. +The next reflection was, what is my reception likely to be among these +worthy successors of Nimrod? and how improbable is it that I, knowing +little or nothing of rural sports, shall find myself at ease, or happy, +in my uncle's family. A vision that passed me interrupted these +reflections. + +It was a young lady, the loveliness of whose very striking features was +enhanced by the animation of the chase and the glow of the exercise, +mounted on a beautiful horse, jet black, unless where he was flecked by +spots of the snow-white foam which embossed his bridle. She wore, what +was then somewhat unusual, a coat, vest, and hat, resembling those of a +man, which fashion has since called a riding habit. The mode had been +introduced while I was in France, and was perfectly new to me. Her long +black hair streamed on the breeze, having in the hurry of the chase +escaped from the ribbon which bound it. Some very broken ground, through +which she guided her horse with the most admirable address and presence +of mind, retarded her course, and brought her closer to me than any of +the other riders had passed. I had, therefore, a full view of her +uncommonly fine face and person, to which an inexpressible charm was +added by the wild gaiety of the scene, and the romance of her singular +dress and unexpected appearance. As she passed me, her horse made, in his +impetuosity, an irregular movement, just while, coming once more upon +open ground, she was again putting him to his speed. It served as an +apology for me to ride close up to her, as if to her assistance. There +was, however, no cause for alarm; it was not a stumble, nor a false step; +and, if it had, the fair Amazon had too much self-possession to have been +deranged by it. She thanked my good intentions, however, by a smile, and +I felt encouraged to put my horse to the same pace, and to keep in her +immediate neighbourhood. The clamour of "Whoop! dead! dead!"--and the +corresponding flourish of the French horn, soon announced to us that +there was no more occasion for haste, since the chase was at a close. One +of the young men whom we had seen approached us, waving the brush of the +fox in triumph, as if to upbraid my fair companion, + +"I see," she replied,--"I see; but make no noise about it: if Phoebe," +she said, patting the neck of the beautiful animal on which she rode, +"had not got among the cliffs, you would have had little cause for +boasting." + +They met as she spoke, and I observed them both look at me, and converse +a moment in an under-tone, the young lady apparently pressing the +sportsman to do something which he declined shyly, and with a sort of +sheepish sullenness. She instantly turned her horse's head towards me, +saying,--"Well, well, Thornie, if you won't, I must, that's all.--Sir," +she continued, addressing me, "I have been endeavouring to persuade this +cultivated young gentleman to make inquiry of you whether, in the course +of your travels in these parts, you have heard anything of a friend of +ours, one Mr. Francis Osbaldistone, who has been for some days expected +at Osbaldistone Hall?" + +I was too happy to acknowledge myself to be the party inquired after, and +to express my thanks for the obliging inquiries of the young lady. + +"In that case, sir," she rejoined, "as my kinsman's politeness seems to +be still slumbering, you will permit me (though I suppose it is highly +improper) to stand mistress of ceremonies, and to present to you young +Squire Thorncliff Osbaldistone, your cousin, and Die Vernon, who has also +the honour to be your accomplished cousin's poor kinswoman." + +There was a mixture of boldness, satire, and simplicity in the manner in +which Miss Vernon pronounced these words. My knowledge of life was +sufficient to enable me to take up a corresponding tone as I expressed my +gratitude to her for her condescension, and my extreme pleasure at having +met with them. To say the truth, the compliment was so expressed, that +the lady might easily appropriate the greater share of it, for Thorncliff +seemed an arrant country bumpkin, awkward, shy, and somewhat sulky +withal. He shook hands with me, however, and then intimated his intention +of leaving me that he might help the huntsman and his brothers to couple +up the hounds,--a purpose which he rather communicated by way of +information to Miss Vernon than as apology to me. + +"There he goes," said the young lady, following him with eyes in which +disdain was admirably painted--"the prince of grooms and cock-fighters, +and blackguard horse-coursers. But there is not one of them to mend +another.--Have you read Markham?" said Miss Vernon. + +"Read whom, ma'am?--I do not even remember the author's name." + +"O lud! on what a strand are you wrecked!" replied the young lady. "A +poor forlorn and ignorant stranger, unacquainted with the very Alcoran of +the savage tribe whom you are come to reside among--Never to have heard +of Markham, the most celebrated author on farriery! then I fear you are +equally a stranger to the more modern names of Gibson and Bartlett?" + +"I am, indeed, Miss Vernon." + +"And do you not blush to own it?" said Miss Vernon. "Why, we must +forswear your alliance. Then, I suppose, you can neither give a ball, nor +a mash, nor a horn!" + +"I confess I trust all these matters to an ostler, or to my groom." + +"Incredible carelessness!--And you cannot shoe a horse, or cut his mane +and tail; or worm a dog, or crop his ears, or cut his dew-claws; or +reclaim a hawk, or give him his casting-stones, or direct his diet when +he is sealed; or"-- + +"To sum up my insignificance in one word," replied I, "I am profoundly +ignorant in all these rural accomplishments." + +"Then, in the name of Heaven, Mr. Francis Osbaldistone, what _can_ you +do?" + +"Very little to the purpose, Miss Vernon; something, however, I can +pretend to--When my groom has dressed my horse I can ride him, and when +my hawk is in the field, I can fly him." + +"Can you do this?" said the young lady, putting her horse to a canter. + +There was a sort of rude overgrown fence crossed the path before us, with +a gate composed of pieces of wood rough from the forest; I was about to +move forward to open it, when Miss Vernon cleared the obstruction at a +flying leap. I was bound in point of honour to follow, and was in a +moment again at her side. "There are hopes of you yet," she said. "I was +afraid you had been a very degenerate Osbaldistone. But what on earth +brings you to Cub-Castle?--for so the neighbours have christened this +hunting-hall of ours. You might have stayed away, I suppose, if you +would?" + +I felt I was by this time on a very intimate footing with my beautiful +apparition, and therefore replied, in a confidential under-tone--"Indeed, +my dear Miss Vernon, I might have considered it as a sacrifice to be a +temporary resident in Osbaldistone Hall, the inmates being such as you +describe them; but I am convinced there is one exception that will make +amends for all deficiencies." + +"O, you mean Rashleigh?" said Miss Vernon. + +"Indeed I do not; I was thinking--forgive me--of some person much nearer +me." + +"I suppose it would be proper not to understand your civility?--But that +is not my way--I don't make a courtesy for it because I am sitting on +horseback. But, seriously, I deserve your exception, for I am the only +conversable being about the Hall, except the old priest and Rashleigh." + +"And who is Rashleigh, for Heaven's sake?" + +"Rashleigh is one who would fain have every one like him for his own +sake. He is Sir Hildebrand's youngest son--about your own age, but not +so--not well looking, in short. But nature has given him a mouthful of +common sense, and the priest has added a bushelful of learning; he is +what we call a very clever man in this country, where clever men are +scarce. Bred to the church, but in no hurry to take orders." + +"To the Catholic Church?" + +"The Catholic Church? what Church else?" said the young lady. "But I +forgot--they told me you are a heretic. Is that true, Mr. Osbaldistone?" + +"I must not deny the charge." + +"And yet you have been abroad, and in Catholic countries?" + +"For nearly four years." + +"You have seen convents?" + +"Often; but I have not seen much in them which recommended the Catholic +religion." + +"Are not the inhabitants happy?" + +"Some are unquestionably so, whom either a profound sense of devotion, or +an experience of the persecutions and misfortunes of the world, or a +natural apathy of temper, has led into retirement. Those who have adopted +a life of seclusion from sudden and overstrained enthusiasm, or in hasty +resentment of some disappointment or mortification, are very miserable. +The quickness of sensation soon returns, and like the wilder animals in a +menagerie, they are restless under confinement, while others muse or +fatten in cells of no larger dimensions than theirs." + +"And what," continued Miss Vernon, "becomes of those victims who are +condemned to a convent by the will of others? what do they resemble? +especially, what do they resemble, if they are born to enjoy life, and +feel its blessings?" + +"They are like imprisoned singing-birds," replied I, "condemned to wear +out their lives in confinement, which they try to beguile by the exercise +of accomplishments which would have adorned society had they been left at +large." + +"I shall be," returned Miss Vernon--"that is," said she, correcting +herself--"I should be rather like the wild hawk, who, barred the free +exercise of his soar through heaven, will dash himself to pieces against +the bars of his cage. But to return to Rashleigh," said she, in a more +lively tone, "you will think him the pleasantest man you ever saw in your +life, Mr. Osbaldistone,--that is, for a week at least. If he could find +out a blind mistress, never man would be so secure of conquest; but the +eye breaks the spell that enchants the ear.--But here we are in the court +of the old hall, which looks as wild and old-fashioned as any of its +inmates. There is no great toilette kept at Osbaldistone Hall, you must +know; but I must take off these things, they are so unpleasantly warm,-- +and the hat hurts my forehead, too," continued the lively girl, taking it +off, and shaking down a profusion of sable ringlets, which, half +laughing, half blushing, she separated with her white slender fingers, in +order to clear them away from her beautiful face and piercing hazel eyes. +If there was any coquetry in the action, it was well disguised by the +careless indifference of her manner. I could not help saying, "that, +judging of the family from what I saw, I should suppose the toilette a +very unnecessary care." + +"That's very politely said--though, perhaps, I ought not to understand in +what sense it was meant," replied Miss Vernon; "but you will see a better +apology for a little negligence when you meet the Orsons you are to live +amongst, whose forms no toilette could improve. But, as I said before, +the old dinner-bell will clang, or rather clank, in a few minutes--it +cracked of its own accord on the day of the landing of King Willie, and +my uncle, respecting its prophetic talent, would never permit it to be +mended. So do you hold my palfrey, like a duteous knight, until I send +some more humble squire to relieve you of the charge." + +She threw me the rein as if we had been acquainted from our childhood, +jumped from her saddle, tripped across the courtyard, and entered at a +side-door, leaving me in admiration of her beauty, and astonished with +the over-frankness of her manners, which seemed the more extraordinary at +a time when the dictates of politeness, flowing from the court of the +Grand Monarque Louis XIV., prescribed to the fair sex an unusual severity +of decorum. I was left awkwardly enough stationed in the centre of the +court of the old hall, mounted on one horse, and holding another in my +hand. + +The building afforded little to interest a stranger, had I been disposed +to consider it attentively; the sides of the quadrangle were of various +architecture, and with their stone-shafted latticed windows, projecting +turrets, and massive architraves, resembled the inside of a convent, or +of one of the older and less splendid colleges of Oxford. I called for a +domestic, but was for some time totally unattended to; which was the more +provoking, as I could perceive I was the object of curiosity to several +servants, both male and female, from different parts of the building, who +popped out their heads and withdrew them, like rabbits in a warren, +before I could make a direct appeal to the attention of any individual. +The return of the huntsmen and hounds relieved me from my embarrassment, +and with some difficulty I got one down to relieve me of the charge of +the horses, and another stupid boor to guide me to the presence of Sir +Hildebrand. This service he performed with much such grace and good-will, +as a peasant who is compelled to act as guide to a hostile patrol; and in +the same manner I was obliged to guard against his deserting me in the +labyrinth of low vaulted passages which conducted to "Stun Hall," as he +called it, where I was to be introduced to the gracious presence of my +uncle. + +We did, however, at length reach a long vaulted room, floored with stone, +where a range of oaken tables, of a weight and size too massive ever to +be moved aside, were already covered for dinner. This venerable +apartment, which had witnessed the feasts of several generations of the +Osbaldistone family, bore also evidence of their success in field sports. +Huge antlers of deer, which might have been trophies of the hunting of +Chevy Chace, were ranged around the walls, interspersed with the stuffed +skins of badgers, otters, martins, and other animals of the chase. Amidst +some remnants of old armour, which had, perhaps, served against the +Scotch, hung the more valued weapons of silvan war, cross-bows, guns of +various device and construction, nets, fishing-rods, otter-spears, +hunting-poles, with many other singular devices, and engines for taking +or killing game. A few old pictures, dimmed with smoke, and stained with +March beer, hung on the walls, representing knights and ladies, honoured, +doubtless, and renowned in their day; those frowning fearfully from huge +bushes of wig and of beard; and these looking delightfully with all their +might at the roses which they brandished in their hands. + +I had just time to give a glance at these matters, when about twelve +blue-coated servants burst into the hall with much tumult and talk, each +rather employed in directing his comrades than in discharging his own +duty. Some brought blocks and billets to the fire, which roared, blazed, +and ascended, half in smoke, half in flame, up a huge tunnel, with an +opening wide enough to accommodate a stone seat within its ample vault, +and which was fronted, by way of chimney-piece, with a huge piece of +heavy architecture, where the monsters of heraldry, embodied by the art +of some Northumbrian chisel, grinned and ramped in red free-stone, now +japanned by the smoke of centuries. Others of these old-fashioned +serving-men bore huge smoking dishes, loaded with substantial fare; +others brought in cups, flagons, bottles, yea barrels of liquor. All +tramped, kicked, plunged, shouldered, and jostled, doing as little +service with as much tumult as could well be imagined. At length, while +the dinner was, after various efforts, in the act of being arranged upon +the board, "the clamour much of men and dogs," the cracking of whips, +calculated for the intimidation of the latter, voices loud and high, +steps which, impressed by the heavy-heeled boots of the period, clattered +like those in the statue of the _Festin de Pierre,_* announced the +arrival of those for whose benefit the preparations were made. + +* Now called Don Juan. + +The hubbub among the servants rather increased than diminished as this +crisis approached. Some called to make haste,--others to take time,--some +exhorted to stand out of the way, and make room for Sir Hildebrand and +the young squires,--some to close round the table and be _in_ the way,-- +some bawled to open, some to shut, a pair of folding-doors which divided +the hall from a sort of gallery, as I afterwards learned, or +withdrawing-room, fitted up with black wainscot. Opened the doors were at +length, and in rushed curs and men,--eight dogs, the domestic chaplain, +the village doctor, my six cousins, and my uncle. + + + + + CHAPTER SIXTH. + + + The rude hall rocks--they come, they come,-- + The din of voices shakes the dome;-- + In stalk the various forms, and, drest + In varying morion, varying vest, + All march with haughty step--all proudly shake the crest. + Penrose. + +If Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone was in no hurry to greet his nephew, of +whose arrival he must have been informed for some time, he had important +avocations to allege in excuse. "Had seen thee sooner, lad," he +exclaimed, after a rough shake of the hand, and a hearty welcome to +Osbaldistone Hall, "but had to see the hounds kennelled first. Thou art +welcome to the Hall, lad--here is thy cousin Percie, thy cousin Thornie, +and thy cousin John--your cousin Dick, your cousin Wilfred, and--stay, +where's Rashleigh?--ay, here's Rashleigh--take thy long body aside +Thornie, and let's see thy brother a bit--your cousin Rashleigh. So, thy +father has thought on the old Hall, and old Sir Hildebrand at last-- +better late than never--Thou art welcome, lad, and there's enough. +Where's my little Die?--ay, here she comes--this is my niece Die, my +wife's brother's daughter--the prettiest girl in our dales, be the other +who she may--and so now let's to the sirloin."-- + +To gain some idea of the person who held this language, you must suppose, +my dear Tresham, a man aged about sixty, in a hunting suit which had once +been richly laced, but whose splendour had been tarnished by many a +November and December storm. Sir Hildebrand, notwithstanding the +abruptness of his present manner, had, at one period of his life, known +courts and camps; had held a commission in the army which encamped on +Hounslow Heath previous to the Revolution--and, recommended perhaps by +his religion, had been knighted about the same period by the unfortunate +and ill-advised James II. But the Knight's dreams of further preferment, +if he ever entertained any, had died away at the crisis which drove his +patron from the throne, and since that period he had spent a sequestered +life upon his native domains. Notwithstanding his rusticity, however, Sir +Hildebrand retained much of the exterior of a gentleman, and appeared +among his sons as the remains of a Corinthian pillar, defaced and +overgrown with moss and lichen, might have looked, if contrasted with the +rough unhewn masses of upright stones in Stonhenge, or any other +Druidical temple. The sons were, indeed, heavy unadorned blocks as the +eye would desire to look upon. Tall, stout, and comely, all and each of +the five eldest seemed to want alike the Promethean fire of intellect, +and the exterior grace and manner, which, in the polished world, +sometimes supply mental deficiency. Their most valuable moral quality +seemed to be the good-humour and content which was expressed in their +heavy features, and their only pretence to accomplishment was their +dexterity in field sports, for which alone they lived. The strong Gyas, +and the strong Cloanthus, are not less distinguished by the poet, than +the strong Percival, the strong Thorncliff, the strong John, Richard, and +Wilfred Osbaldistones, were by outward appearance. + +But, as if to indemnify herself for a uniformity so uncommon in her +productions, Dame Nature had rendered Rashleigh Osbaldistone a striking +contrast in person and manner, and, as I afterwards learned, in temper +and talents, not only to his brothers, but to most men whom I had +hitherto met with. When Percie, Thornie, and Co. had respectively nodded, +grinned, and presented their shoulder rather than their hand, as their +father named them to their new kinsman, Rashleigh stepped forward, and +welcomed me to Osbaldistone Hall, with the air and manner of a man of the +world. His appearance was not in itself prepossessing. He was of low +stature, whereas all his brethren seemed to be descendants of Anak; and +while they were handsomely formed, Rashleigh, though strong in person, +was bull-necked and cross-made, and from some early injury in his youth +had an imperfection in his gait, so much resembling an absolute halt, +that many alleged that it formed the obstacle to his taking orders; the +Church of Rome, as is well known, admitting none to the clerical +profession who labours under any personal deformity. Others, however, +ascribed this unsightly defect to a mere awkward habit, and contended +that it did not amount to a personal disqualification from holy orders. + +The features of Rashleigh were such, as, having looked upon, we in vain +wish to banish from our memory, to which they recur as objects of painful +curiosity, although we dwell upon them with a feeling of dislike, and +even of disgust. It was not the actual plainness of his face, taken +separately from the meaning, which made this strong impression. His +features were, indeed, irregular, but they were by no means vulgar; and +his keen dark eyes, and shaggy eyebrows, redeemed his face from the +charge of commonplace ugliness. But there was in these eyes an expression +of art and design, and, on provocation, a ferocity tempered by caution, +which nature had made obvious to the most ordinary physiognomist, perhaps +with the same intention that she has given the rattle to the poisonous +snake. As if to compensate him for these disadvantages of exterior, +Rashleigh Osbaldistone was possessed of a voice the most soft, mellow, +and rich in its tones that I ever heard, and was at no loss for language +of every sort suited to so fine an organ. His first sentence of welcome +was hardly ended, ere I internally agreed with Miss Vernon, that my new +kinsman would make an instant conquest of a mistress whose ears alone +were to judge his cause. He was about to place himself beside me at +dinner, but Miss Vernon, who, as the only female in the family, arranged +all such matters according to her own pleasure, contrived that I should +sit betwixt Thorncliff and herself; and it can scarce be doubted that I +favoured this more advantageous arrangement. + +"I want to speak with you," she said, "and I have placed honest Thornie +betwixt Rashleigh and you on purpose. He will be like-- + + Feather-bed 'twixt castle wall + And heavy brunt of cannon ball, + +while I, your earliest acquaintance in this intellectual family, ask of +you how you like us all?" + +"A very comprehensive question, Miss Vernon, considering how short while +I have been at Osbaldistone Hall." + +"Oh, the philosophy of our family lies on the surface--there are minute +shades distinguishing the individuals, which require the eye of an +intelligent observer; but the species, as naturalists I believe call it, +may be distinguished and characterized at once." + +"My five elder cousins, then, are I presume of pretty nearly the same +character." + +"Yes, they form a happy compound of sot, gamekeeper, bully, horse-jockey, +and fool; but as they say there cannot be found two leaves on the same +tree exactly alike, so these happy ingredients, being mingled in somewhat +various proportions in each individual, make an agreeable variety for +those who like to study character." + +"Give me a sketch, if you please, Miss Vernon." + +"You shall have them all in a family-piece, at full length--the favour is +too easily granted to be refused. Percie, the son and heir, has more of +the sot than of the gamekeeper, bully, horse-jockey, or fool--My precious +Thornie is more of the bully than the sot, gamekeeper, jockey, or fool-- +John, who sleeps whole weeks amongst the hills, has most of the +gamekeeper--The jockey is powerful with Dickon, who rides two hundred +miles by day and night to be bought and sold at a horse-race--And the +fool predominates so much over Wilfred's other qualities, that he may be +termed a fool positive." + +"A goodly collection, Miss Vernon, and the individual varieties belong to +a most interesting species. But is there no room on the canvas for Sir +Hildebrand?" + +"I love my uncle," was her reply: "I owe him some kindness (such it was +meant for at least), and I will leave you to draw his picture yourself, +when you know him better." + +"Come," thought I to myself, "I am glad there is some forbearance. After +all, who would have looked for such bitter satire from a creature so +young, and so exquisitely beautiful?" + +"You are thinking of me," she said, bending her dark eyes on me, as if +she meant to pierce through my very soul. + +"I certainly was," I replied, with some embarrassment at the determined +suddenness of the question, and then, endeavouring to give a +complimentary turn to my frank avowal--"How is it possible I should think +of anything else, seated as I have the happiness to be?" + +She smiled with such an expression of concentrated haughtiness as she +alone could have thrown into her countenance. "I must inform you at once, +Mr. Osbaldistone, that compliments are entirely lost upon me; do not, +therefore, throw away your pretty sayings--they serve fine gentlemen who +travel in the country, instead of the toys, beads, and bracelets, which +navigators carry to propitiate the savage inhabitants of newly-discovered +lands. Do not exhaust your stock in trade;--you will find natives in +Northumberland to whom your fine things will recommend you--on me they +would be utterly thrown away, for I happen to know their real value." + +I was silenced and confounded. + +"You remind me at this moment," said the young lady, resuming her lively +and indifferent manner, "of the fairy tale, where the man finds all the +money which he had carried to market suddenly changed into pieces of +slate. I have cried down and ruined your whole stock of complimentary +discourse by one unlucky observation. But come, never mind it--You are +belied, Mr. Osbaldistone, unless you have much better conversation than +these _fadeurs,_ which every gentleman with a toupet thinks himself +obliged to recite to an unfortunate girl, merely because she is dressed +in silk and gauze, while he wears superfine cloth with embroidery. Your +natural paces, as any of my five cousins might say, are far preferable to +your complimentary amble. Endeavour to forget my unlucky sex; call me Tom +Vernon, if you have a mind, but speak to me as you would to a friend and +companion; you have no idea how much I shall like you." + +"That would be a bribe indeed," returned I. + +"Again!" replied Miss Vernon, holding up her finger; "I told you I would +not bear the shadow of a compliment. And now, when you have pledged my +uncle, who threatens you with what he calls a brimmer, I will tell you +what you think of me." + +The bumper being pledged by me, as a dutiful nephew, and some other +general intercourse of the table having taken place, the continued and +business-like clang of knives and forks, and the devotion of cousin +Thorncliff on my right hand, and cousin Dickon, who sate on Miss Vernon's +left, to the huge quantities of meat with which they heaped their plates, +made them serve as two occasional partitions, separating us from the rest +of the company, and leaving us to our _te^te-a'-te^te._ "And now," said +I, "give me leave to ask you frankly, Miss Vernon, what you suppose I am +thinking of you!--I could tell you what I really _do_ think, but you have +interdicted praise." + +"I do not want your assistance. I am conjuror enough to tell your +thoughts without it. You need not open the casement of your bosom; I see +through it. You think me a strange bold girl, half coquette, half romp; +desirous of attracting attention by the freedom of her manners and +loudness of her conversation, because she is ignorant of what the +Spectator calls the softer graces of the sex; and perhaps you think I +have some particular plan of storming you into admiration. I should be +sorry to shock your self-opinion, but you were never more mistaken. All +the confidence I have reposed in you, I would have given as readily to +your father, if I thought he could have understood me. I am in this happy +family as much secluded from intelligent listeners as Sancho in the +Sierra Morena, and when opportunity offers, I must speak or die. I assure +you I would not have told you a word of all this curious intelligence, +had I cared a pin who knew it or knew it not." + +"It is very cruel in you, Miss Vernon, to take away all particular marks +of favour from your communications, but I must receive them on your own +terms.--You have not included Mr. Rashleigh Osbaldistone in your domestic +sketches." + +She shrunk, I thought, at this remark, and hastily answered, in a much +lower tone, "Not a word of Rashleigh! His ears are so acute when his +selfishness is interested, that the sounds would reach him even through +the mass of Thorncliff's person, stuffed as it is with beef, +venison-pasty, and pudding." + +"Yes," I replied; "but peeping past the living screen which divides us, +before I put the question, I perceived that Mr. Rashleigh's chair was +empty--he has left the table." + +"I would not have you be too sure of that," Miss Vernon replied. "Take my +advice, and when you speak of Rashleigh, get up to the top of +Otterscope-hill, where you can see for twenty miles round you in every +direction--stand on the very peak, and speak in whispers; and, after all, +don't be too sure that the bird of the air will not carry the matter, +Rashleigh has been my tutor for four years; we are mutually tired of each +other, and we shall heartily rejoice at our approaching separation." + +"Mr. Rashleigh leaves Osbaldistone Hall, then?" + +"Yes, in a few days;--did you not know that?--your father must keep his +resolutions much more secret than Sir Hildebrand. Why, when my uncle was +informed that you were to be his guest for some time, and that your +father desired to have one of his hopeful sons to fill up the lucrative +situation in his counting-house which was vacant by your obstinacy, Mr. +Francis, the good knight held a _cour ple'nie're_ of all his family, +including the butler, housekeeper, and gamekeeper. This reverend assembly +of the peers and household officers of Osbaldistone Hall was not +convoked, as you may suppose, to elect your substitute, because, as +Rashleigh alone possessed more arithmetic than was necessary to calculate +the odds on a fighting cock, none but he could be supposed qualified for +the situation. But some solemn sanction was necessary for transforming +Rashleigh's destination from starving as a Catholic priest to thriving as +a wealthy banker; and it was not without some reluctance that the +acquiescence of the assembly was obtained to such an act of degradation." + +"I can conceive the scruples--but how were they got over?" + +"By the general wish, I believe, to get Rashleigh out of the house," +replied Miss Vernon. "Although youngest of the family, he has somehow or +other got the entire management of all the others; and every one is +sensible of the subjection, though they cannot shake it off. If any one +opposes him, he is sure to rue having done so before the year goes about; +and if you do him a very important service, you may rue it still more." + +"At that rate," answered I, smiling, "I should look about me; for I have +been the cause, however unintentionally, of his change of situation." + +"Yes; and whether he regards it as an advantage or disadvantage, he will +owe you a grudge for it--But here comes cheese, radishes, and a bumper to +church and king, the hint for chaplains and ladies to disappear; and I, +the sole representative of womanhood at Osbaldistone Hall, retreat, as in +duty bound." + +She vanished as she spoke, leaving me in astonishment at the mingled +character of shrewdness, audacity, and frankness, which her conversation +displayed. I despair conveying to you the least idea of her manner, +although I have, as nearly as I can remember, imitated her language. In +fact, there was a mixture of untaught simplicity, as well as native +shrewdness and haughty boldness, in her manner, and all were modified and +recommended by the play of the most beautiful features I had ever beheld. +It is not to be thought that, however strange and uncommon I might think +her liberal and unreserved communications, a young man of two-and-twenty +was likely to be severely critical on a beautiful girl of eighteen, for +not observing a proper distance towards him. On the contrary, I was +equally diverted and flattered by Miss Vernon's confidence, and that +notwithstanding her declaration of its being conferred on me solely +because I was the first auditor who occurred, of intelligence enough to +comprehend it. With the presumption of my age, certainly not diminished +by my residence in France, I imagined that well-formed features, and a +handsome person, both which I conceived myself to possess, were not +unsuitable qualifications for the confidant of a young beauty. My vanity +thus enlisted in Miss Vernon's behalf, I was far from judging her with +severity, merely for a frankness which I supposed was in some degree +justified by my own personal merit; and the feelings of partiality, which +her beauty, and the singularity of her situation, were of themselves +calculated to excite, were enhanced by my opinion of her penetration and +judgment in her choice of a friend. + +After Miss Vernon quitted the apartment, the bottle circulated, or rather +flew, around the table in unceasing revolution. My foreign education had +given me a distaste to intemperance, then and yet too common a vice among +my countrymen. The conversation which seasoned such orgies was as little +to my taste, and if anything could render it more disgusting, it was the +relationship of the company. I therefore seized a lucky opportunity, and +made my escape through a side door, leading I knew not whither, rather +than endure any longer the sight of father and sons practising the same +degrading intemperance, and holding the same coarse and disgusting +conversation. I was pursued, of course, as I had expected, to be +reclaimed by force, as a deserter from the shrine of Bacchus. When I +heard the whoop and hollo, and the tramp of the heavy boots of my +pursuers on the winding stair which I was descending, I plainly foresaw I +should be overtaken unless I could get into the open air. I therefore +threw open a casement in the staircase, which looked into an +old-fashioned garden, and as the height did not exceed six feet, I jumped +out without hesitation, and soon heard far behind the "hey whoop! stole +away! stole away!" of my baffled pursuers. I ran down one alley, walked +fast up another; and then, conceiving myself out of all danger of +pursuit, I slackened my pace into a quiet stroll, enjoying the cool air +which the heat of the wine I had been obliged to swallow, as well as that +of my rapid retreat, rendered doubly grateful. + +As I sauntered on, I found the gardener hard at his evening employment, +and saluted him, as I paused to look at his work. + +"Good even, my friend." + +"Gude e'en--gude e'en t'ye," answered the man, without looking up, and in +a tone which at once indicated his northern extraction. + +"Fine weather for your work, my friend." + +"It's no that muckle to be compleened o'," answered the man, with that +limited degree of praise which gardeners and farmers usually bestow on +the very best weather. Then raising his head, as if to see who spoke to +him, he touched his Scotch bonnet with an air of respect, as he observed, +"Eh, gude safe us!--it's a sight for sair een, to see a gold-laced +jeistiecor in the Ha'garden sae late at e'en." + +"A gold-laced what, my good friend?" + +"Ou, a jeistiecor*--that's a jacket like your ain, there. They + +* Perhaps from the French _Juste-au-corps._ + +hae other things to do wi' them up yonder--unbuttoning them to make room +for the beef and the bag-puddings, and the claret-wine, nae doubt--that's +the ordinary for evening lecture on this side the border." + +"There's no such plenty of good cheer in your country, my good friend," I +replied, "as to tempt you to sit so late at it." + +"Hout, sir, ye ken little about Scotland; it's no for want of gude +vivers--the best of fish, flesh, and fowl hae we, by sybos, ingans, +turneeps, and other garden fruit. But we hae mense and discretion, and +are moderate of our mouths;--but here, frae the kitchen to the ha', it's +fill and fetch mair, frae the tae end of the four-and-twenty till the +tother. Even their fast days--they ca' it fasting when they hae the best +o' sea-fish frae Hartlepool and Sunderland by land carriage, forbye +trouts, grilses, salmon, and a' the lave o't, and so they make their very +fasting a kind of luxury and abomination; and then the awfu' masses and +matins of the puir deceived souls--But I shouldna speak about them, for +your honour will be a Roman, I'se warrant, like the lave." + +"Not I, my friend; I was bred an English presbyterian, or dissenter." + +"The right hand of fellowship to your honour, then," quoth the gardener, +with as much alacrity as his hard features were capable of expressing, +and, as if to show that his good-will did not rest on words, he plucked +forth a huge horn snuff-box, or mull, as he called it, and proffered a +pinch with a most fraternal grin. + +Having accepted his courtesy, I asked him if he had been long a domestic +at Osbaldistone Hall. + +"I have been fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus," said he, looking +towards the building, "for the best part of these four-and-twenty years, +as sure as my name's Andrew Fairservice." + +"But, my excellent friend, Andrew Fairservice, if your religion and your +temperance are so much offended by Roman rituals and southern +hospitality, it seems to me that you must have been putting yourself to +an unnecessary penance all this while, and that you might have found a +service where they eat less, and are more orthodox in their worship. I +dare say it cannot be want of skill which prevented your being placed +more to your satisfaction." + +"It disna become me to speak to the point of my qualifications," said +Andrew, looking round him with great complacency; "but nae doubt I should +understand my trade of horticulture, seeing I was bred in the parish of +Dreepdaily, where they raise lang-kale under glass, and force the early +nettles for their spring kale. And, to speak truth, I hae been flitting +every term these four-and-twenty years; but when the time comes, there's +aye something to saw that I would like to see sawn,--or something to maw +that I would like to see mawn,--or something to ripe that I would like to +see ripen,--and sae I e'en daiker on wi' the family frae year's end to +year's end. And I wad say for certain, that I am gaun to quit at +Cannlemas, only I was just as positive on it twenty years syne, and I +find mysell still turning up the mouls here, for a' that. Forbye that, to +tell your honour the evendown truth, there's nae better place ever +offered to Andrew. But if your honour wad wush me to ony place where I +wad hear pure doctrine, and hae a free cow's grass, and a cot, and a +yard, and mair than ten punds of annual fee, and where there's nae leddy +about the town to count the apples, I'se hold mysell muckle indebted +t'ye." + +"Bravo, Andrew! I perceive you'll lose no preferment for want of asking +patronage." + +"I canna see what for I should," replied Andrew; "it's no a generation to +wait till ane's worth's discovered, I trow." + +"But you are no friend, I observe, to the ladies." + +"Na, by my troth, I keep up the first gardener's quarrel to them. They're +fasheous bargains--aye crying for apricocks, pears, plums, and apples, +summer and winter, without distinction o' seasons; but we hae nae slices +o' the spare rib here, be praised for't! except auld Martha, and she's +weel eneugh pleased wi' the freedom o' the berry-bushes to her sister's +weans, when they come to drink tea in a holiday in the housekeeper's +room, and wi' a wheen codlings now and then for her ain private supper." + +"You forget your young mistress." + +"What mistress do I forget?--whae's that?" + +"Your young mistress, Miss Vernon." + +"What! the lassie Vernon?--She's nae mistress o' mine, man. I wish she +was her ain mistress; and I wish she mayna be some other body's mistress +or it's lang--She's a wild slip that." + +"Indeed!" said I, more interested than I cared to own to myself, or to +show to the fellow--"why, Andrew, you know all the secrets of this +family." + +"If I ken them, I can keep them," said Andrew; "they winna work in my +wame like harm in a barrel, I'se warrant ye. Miss Die is--but it's +neither beef nor brose o' mine." + +And he began to dig with a great semblance of assiduity. + +"What is Miss Vernon, Andrew? I am a friend of the family, and should +like to know." + +"Other than a gude ane, I'm fearing," said Andrew, closing one eye hard, +and shaking his head with a grave and mysterious look--"something glee'd +--your honour understands me?" + +"I cannot say I do," said I, "Andrew; but I should like to hear you +explain yourself;" and therewithal I slipped a crown-piece into Andrew's +horn-hard hand. The touch of the silver made him grin a ghastly smile, as +he nodded slowly, and thrust it into his breeches pocket; and then, like +a man who well understood that there was value to be returned, stood up, +and rested his arms on his spade, with his features composed into the +most important gravity, as for some serious communication. + +"Ye maun ken, then, young gentleman, since it imports you to know, that +Miss Vernon is"-- + +Here breaking off, he sucked in both his cheeks, till his lantern jaws +and long chin assumed the appearance of a pair of nut-crackers; winked +hard once more, frowned, shook his head, and seemed to think his +physiognomy had completed the information which his tongue had not fully +told. + +"Good God!" said I--"so young, so beautiful, so early lost!" + +"Troth ye may say sae--she's in a manner lost, body and saul; forby being +a Papist, I'se uphaud her for"--and his northern caution prevailed, and +he was again silent. + +"For what, sir?" said I sternly. "I insist on knowing the plain meaning +of all this." + +"On, just for the bitterest Jacobite in the haill shire." + +"Pshaw! a Jacobite?--is that all?" + +Andrew looked at me with some astonishment, at hearing his information +treated so lightly; and then muttering, "Aweel, it's the warst thing I +ken aboot the lassie, howsoe'er," he resumed his spade, like the king of +the Vandals, in Marmontel's late novel. + + + + + CHAPTER SEVENTH. + + _Bardolph._--The sheriff, with a monstrous watch, is at the door. + Henry IV. _First Part._ + +I found out with some difficulty the apartment which was destined for my +accommodation; and having secured myself the necessary good-will and +attention from my uncle's domestics, by using the means they were most +capable of comprehending, I secluded myself there for the remainder of +the evening, conjecturing, from the fair way in which I had left my new +relatives, as well as from the distant noise which continued to echo from +the stone-hall (as their banqueting-room was called), that they were not +likely to be fitting company for a sober man. + +"What could my father mean by sending me to be an inmate in this strange +family?" was my first and most natural reflection. My uncle, it was +plain, received me as one who was to make some stay with him, and his +rude hospitality rendered him as indifferent as King Hal to the number of +those who fed at his cost. But it was plain my presence or absence would +be of as little importance in his eyes as that of one of his blue-coated +serving-men. My cousins were mere cubs, in whose company I might, if I +liked it, unlearn whatever decent manners, or elegant accomplishments, I +had acquired, but where I could attain no information beyond what +regarded worming dogs, rowelling horses, and following foxes. I could +only imagine one reason, which was probably the true one. My father +considered the life which was led at Osbaldistone Hall as the natural and +inevitable pursuits of all country gentlemen, and he was desirous, by +giving me an opportunity of seeing that with which he knew I should be +disgusted, to reconcile me, if possible, to take an active share in his +own business. In the meantime, he would take Rashleigh Osbaldistone into +the counting-house. But he had an hundred modes of providing for him, and +that advantageously, whenever he chose to get rid of him. So that, +although I did feel a certain qualm of conscience at having been the +means of introducing Rashleigh, being such as he was described by Miss +Vernon, into my father's business--perhaps into his confidence--I subdued +it by the reflection that my father was complete master of his own +affairs--a man not to be imposed upon, or influenced by any one--and that +all I knew to the young gentleman's prejudice was through the medium of a +singular and giddy girl, whose communications were made with an +injudicious frankness, which might warrant me in supposing her +conclusions had been hastily or inaccurately formed. Then my mind +naturally turned to Miss Vernon herself; her extreme beauty; her very +peculiar situation, relying solely upon her reflections, and her own +spirit, for guidance and protection; and her whole character offering +that variety and spirit which piques our curiosity, and engages our +attention in spite of ourselves. I had sense enough to consider the +neighbourhood of this singular young lady, and the chance of our being +thrown into very close and frequent intercourse, as adding to the +dangers, while it relieved the dulness, of Osbaldistone Hall; but I could +not, with the fullest exertion of my prudence, prevail upon myself to +regret excessively this new and particular hazard to which I was to be +exposed. This scruple I also settled as young men settle most +difficulties of the kind--I would be very cautious, always on my guard, +consider Miss Vernon rather as a companion than an intimate; and all +would do well enough. With these reflections I fell asleep, Miss Vernon, +of course, forming the last subject of my contemplation. + +Whether I dreamed of her or not, I cannot satisfy you, for I was tired +and slept soundly. But she was the first person I thought of in the +morning, when waked at dawn by the cheerful notes of the hunting horn. To +start up, and direct my horse to be saddled, was my first movement; and +in a few minutes I was in the court-yard, where men, dogs, and horses, +were in full preparation. My uncle, who, perhaps, was not entitled to +expect a very alert sportsman in his nephew, bred as he had been in +foreign parts, seemed rather surprised to see me, and I thought his +morning salutation wanted something of the hearty and hospitable tone +which distinguished his first welcome. "Art there, lad?--ay, youth's aye +rathe--but look to thysell--mind the old song, lad-- + + He that gallops his horse on Blackstone edge + May chance to catch a fall." + +I believe there are few young men, and those very sturdy moralists, who +would not rather be taxed with some moral peccadillo than with want of +knowledge in horsemanship. As I was by no means deficient either in skill +or courage, I resented my uncle's insinuation accordingly, and assured +him he would find me up with the hounds. + +"I doubtna, lad," was his reply; "thou'rt a rank rider, I'se warrant +thee--but take heed. Thy father sent thee here to me to be bitted, and I +doubt I must ride thee on the curb, or we'll hae some one to ride thee on +the halter, if I takena the better heed." + +As this speech was totally unintelligible to me--as, besides, it did not +seem to be delivered for my use, or benefit, but was spoken as it were +aside, and as if expressing aloud something which was passing through the +mind of my much-honoured uncle, I concluded it must either refer to my +desertion of the bottle on the preceding evening, or that my uncle's +morning hours being a little discomposed by the revels of the night +before, his temper had suffered in proportion. I only made the passing +reflection, that if he played the ungracious landlord, I would remain the +shorter while his guest, and then hastened to salute Miss Vernon, who +advanced cordially to meet me. Some show of greeting also passed between +my cousins and me; but as I saw them maliciously bent upon criticising my +dress and accoutrements, from the cap to the stirrup-irons, and sneering +at whatever had a new or foreign appearance, I exempted myself from the +task of paying them much attention; and assuming, in requital of their +grins and whispers, an air of the utmost indifference and contempt, I +attached myself to Miss Vernon, as the only person in the party whom I +could regard as a suitable companion. By her side, therefore, we sallied +forth to the destined cover, which was a dingle or copse on the side of +an extensive common. As we rode thither, I observed to Diana, "that I did +not see my cousin Rashleigh in the field;" to which she replied,--"O no-- +he's a mighty hunter, but it's after the fashion of Nimrod, and his game +is man." + +The dogs now brushed into the cover, with the appropriate encouragement +from the hunters--all was business, bustle, and activity. My cousins were +soon too much interested in the business of the morning to take any +further notice of me, unless that I overheard Dickon the horse-jockey +whisper to Wilfred the fool--"Look thou, an our French cousin be nat off +a' first burst." + +To which Wilfred answered, "Like enow, for he has a queer outlandish +binding on's castor." + +Thorncliff, however, who in his rude way seemed not absolutely insensible +to the beauty of his kinswoman, appeared determined to keep us company +more closely than his brothers,--perhaps to watch what passed betwixt +Miss Vernon and me--perhaps to enjoy my expected mishaps in the chase. In +the last particular he was disappointed. After beating in vain for the +greater part of the morning, a fox was at length found, who led us a +chase of two hours, in the course of which, notwithstanding the +ill-omened French binding upon my hat, I sustained my character as a +horseman to the admiration of my uncle and Miss Vernon, and the secret +disappointment of those who expected me to disgrace it. Reynard, however, +proved too wily for his pursuers, and the hounds were at fault. I could +at this time observe in Miss Vernon's manner an impatience of the close +attendance which we received from Thorncliff Osbaldistone; and, as that +active-spirited young lady never hesitated at taking the readiest means +to gratify any wish of the moment, she said to him, in a tone of +reproach--"I wonder, Thornie, what keeps you dangling at my horse's +crupper all this morning, when you know the earths above Woolverton-mill +are not stopt." + +"I know no such an thing then, Miss Die, for the miller swore himself as +black as night, that he stopt them at twelve o'clock midnight that was." + +"O fie upon you, Thornie! would you trust to a miller's word?--and these +earths, too, where we lost the fox three times this season! and you on +your grey mare, that can gallop there and back in ten minutes!" + +"Well, Miss Die, I'se go to Woolverton then, and if the earths are not +stopt, I'se raddle Dick the miller's bones for him." + +"Do, my dear Thornie; horsewhip the rascal to purpose--via--fly away, and +about it;"--Thorncliff went off at the gallop--"or get horsewhipt +yourself, which will serve my purpose just as well.--I must teach them +all discipline and obedience to the word of command. I am raising a +regiment, you must know. Thornie shall be my sergeant-major, Dickon my +riding-master, and Wilfred, with his deep dub-a-dub tones, that speak but +three syllables at a time, my kettle-drummer." + +"And Rashleigh?" + +"Rashleigh shall be my scout-master." "And will you find no employment +for me, most lovely colonel?" + +"You shall have the choice of being pay-master, or plunder-master, to the +corps. But see how the dogs puzzle about there. Come, Mr. Frank, the +scent's cold; they won't recover it there this while; follow me, I have a +view to show you." + +And in fact, she cantered up to the top of a gentle hill, commanding an +extensive prospect. Casting her eyes around, to see that no one was near +us, she drew up her horse beneath a few birch-trees, which screened us +from the rest of the hunting-field--"Do you see yon peaked, brown, heathy +hill, having something like a whitish speck upon the side?" + +"Terminating that long ridge of broken moorish uplands?--I see it +distinctly." + +"That whitish speck is a rock called Hawkesmore-crag, and Hawkesmore-crag +is in Scotland." + +"Indeed! I did not think we had been so near Scotland." + +"It is so, I assure you, and your horse will carry you there in two +hours." + +"I shall hardly give him the trouble; why, the distance must be eighteen +miles as the crow flies." + +"You may have my mare, if you think her less blown--I say, that in two +hours you may be in Scotland." + +"And I say, that I have so little desire to be there, that if my horse's +head were over the Border, I would not give his tail the trouble of +following. What should I do in Scotland?" + +"Provide for your safety, if I must speak plainly. Do you understand me +now, Mr. Frank?" + +"Not a whit; you are more and more oracular." + +"Then, on my word, you either mistrust me most unjustly, and are a better +dissembler than Rashleigh Osbaldistone himself, or you know nothing of +what is imputed to you; and then no wonder you stare at me in that grave +manner, which I can scarce see without laughing." + +"Upon my word of honour, Miss Vernon," said I, with an impatient feeling +of her childish disposition to mirth, "I have not the most distant +conception of what you mean. I am happy to afford you any subject of +amusement, but I am quite ignorant in what it consists." + +"Nay, there's no sound jest after all," said the young lady, composing +herself; "only one looks so very ridiculous when he is fairly perplexed. +But the matter is serious enough. Do you know one Moray, or Morris, or +some such name?" + +"Not that I can at present recollect." + +"Think a moment. Did you not lately travel with somebody of such a name?" + +"The only man with whom I travelled for any length of time was a fellow +whose soul seemed to lie in his portmanteau." + +"Then it was like the soul of the licentiate Pedro Garcias, which lay +among the ducats in his leathern purse. That man has been robbed, and he +has lodged an information against you, as connected with the violence +done to him." + +"You jest, Miss Vernon!" + +"I do not, I assure you--the thing is an absolute fact." + +"And do you," said I, with strong indignation, which I did not attempt to +suppress, "do you suppose me capable of meriting such a charge?" + +"You would call me out for it, I suppose, had I the advantage of being a +man--You may do so as it is, if you like it--I can shoot flying, as well +as leap a five-barred gate." + +"And are colonel of a regiment of horse besides," replied I, reflecting +how idle it was to be angry with her--"But do explain the present jest to +me." + +"There's no jest whatever," said Diana; "you are accused of robbing this +man, and my uncle believes it as well as I did." + +"Upon my honour, I am greatly obliged to my friends for their good +opinion!" + +"Now do not, if you can help it, snort, and stare, and snuff the wind, +and look so exceedingly like a startled horse--There's no such offence as +you suppose--you are not charged with any petty larceny or vulgar felony +--by no means. This fellow was carrying money from Government, both +specie and bills, to pay the troops in the north; and it is said he has +been also robbed of some despatches of great consequence." + +"And so it is high treason, then, and not simple robbery, of which I am +accused!" + +"Certainly--which, you know, has been in all ages accounted the crime of +a gentleman. You will find plenty in this country, and one not far from +your elbow, who think it a merit to distress the Hanoverian government by +every means possible." + +"Neither my politics nor my morals, Miss Vernon, are of a description so +accommodating." + +"I really begin to believe that you are a Presbyterian and Hanoverian in +good earnest. But what do you propose to do?" + +"Instantly to refute this atrocious calumny.--Before whom," I asked, "was +this extraordinary accusation laid." + +"Before old Squire Inglewood, who had sufficient unwillingness to receive +it. He sent tidings to my uncle, I suppose, that he might smuggle you +away into Scotland, out of reach of the warrant. But my uncle is sensible +that his religion and old predilections render him obnoxious to +Government, and that, were he caught playing booty, he would be disarmed, +and probably dismounted (which would be the worse evil of the two), as a +Jacobite, papist, and suspected person."* + +* On occasions of public alarm, in the beginning of the eighteenth +century, the horses of the Catholics were often seized upon, as they were +always supposed to be on the eve of rising in rebellion. + +"I can conceive that, sooner than lose his hunters, he would give up his +nephew." + +"His nephew, nieces, sons--daughters, if he had them, and whole +generation," said Diana;--"therefore trust not to him, even for a single +moment, but make the best of your way before they can serve the warrant." + +"That I shall certainly do; but it shall be to the house of this Squire +Inglewood--Which way does it lie?" + +"About five miles off, in the low ground, behind yonder plantations--you +may see the tower of the clock-house." + +"I will be there in a few minutes," said I, putting my horse in motion. + +"And I will go with you, and show you the way," said Diana, putting her +palfrey also to the trot. + +"Do not think of it, Miss Vernon," I replied. "It is not--permit me the +freedom of a friend--it is not proper, scarcely even delicate, in you to +go with me on such an errand as I am now upon." + +"I understand your meaning," said Miss Vernon, a slight blush crossing +her haughty brow;--"it is plainly spoken;" and after a moment's pause she +added, "and I believe kindly meant." + +"It is indeed, Miss Vernon. Can you think me insensible of the interest +you show me, or ungrateful for it?" said I, with even more earnestness +than I could have wished to express. "Yours is meant for true kindness, +shown best at the hour of need. But I must not, for your own sake--for +the chance of misconstruction--suffer you to pursue the dictates of your +generosity; this is so public an occasion--it is almost like venturing +into an open court of justice." + +"And if it were not almost, but altogether entering into an open court of +justice, do you think I would not go there if I thought it right, and +wished to protect a friend? You have no one to stand by you--you are a +stranger; and here, in the outskirts of the kingdom, country justices do +odd things. My uncle has no desire to embroil himself in your affair; +Rashleigh is absent, and were he here, there is no knowing which side he +might take; the rest are all more stupid and brutal one than another. I +will go with you, and I do not fear being able to serve you. I am no fine +lady, to be terrified to death with law-books, hard words, or big wigs." + +"But my dear Miss Vernon"-- + +"But my dear Mr. Francis, be patient and quiet, and let me take my own +way; for when I take the bit between my teeth, there is no bridle will +stop me." + +Flattered with the interest so lovely a creature seemed to take in my +fate, yet vexed at the ridiculous appearance I should make, by carrying a +girl of eighteen along with me as an advocate, and seriously concerned +for the misconstruction to which her motives might be exposed, I +endeavoured to combat her resolution to accompany me to Squire +Inglewood's. The self-willed girl told me roundly, that my dissuasions +were absolutely in vain; that she was a true Vernon, whom no +consideration, not even that of being able to do but little to assist +him, should induce to abandon a friend in distress; and that all I could +say on the subject might be very well for pretty, well-educated, +well-behaved misses from a town boarding-school, but did not apply to +her, who was accustomed to mind nobody's opinion but her own. + +While she spoke thus, we were advancing hastily towards Inglewood Place, +while, as if to divert me from the task of further remonstrance, she drew +a ludicrous picture of the magistrate and his clerk.--Inglewood was-- +according to her description--a white-washed Jacobite; that is, one who, +having been long a non-juror, like most of the other gentlemen of the +country, had lately qualified himself to act as a justice, by taking the +oaths to Government. "He had done so," she said, "in compliance with the +urgent request of most of his brother squires, who saw, with regret, that +the palladium of silvan sport, the game-laws, were likely to fall into +disuse for want of a magistrate who would enforce them; the nearest +acting justice being the Mayor of Newcastle, and he, as being rather +inclined to the consumption of the game when properly dressed, than to +its preservation when alive, was more partial, of course, to the cause of +the poacher than of the sportsman. Resolving, therefore, that it was +expedient some one of their number should sacrifice the scruples of +Jacobitical loyalty to the good of the community, the Northumbrian +country gentlemen imposed the duty on Inglewood, who, being very inert in +most of his feelings and sentiments, might, they thought, comply with any +political creed without much repugnance. Having thus procured the body of +justice, they proceeded," continued Miss Vernon, "to attach to it a +clerk, by way of soul, to direct and animate its movements. Accordingly +they got a sharp Newcastle attorney, called Jobson, who, to vary my +metaphor, finds it a good thing enough to retail justice at the sign of +Squire Inglewood, and, as his own emoluments depend on the quantity of +business which he transacts, he hooks in his principal for a great deal +more employment in the justice line than the honest squire had ever +bargained for; so that no apple-wife within the circuit of ten miles can +settle her account with a costermonger without an audience of the +reluctant Justice and his alert clerk, Mr. Joseph Jobson. But the most +ridiculous scenes occur when affairs come before him, like our business +of to-day, having any colouring of politics. Mr. Joseph Jobson (for +which, no doubt, he has his own very sufficient reasons) is a prodigious +zealot for the Protestant religion, and a great friend to the present +establishment in church and state. Now, his principal, retaining a sort +of instinctive attachment to the opinions which he professed openly until +he relaxed his political creed with the patriotic view of enforcing the +law against unauthorized destroyers of black-game, grouse, partridges, +and hares, is peculiarly embarrassed when the zeal of his assistant +involves him in judicial proceedings connected with his earlier faith; +and, instead of seconding his zeal, he seldom fails to oppose to it a +double dose of indolence and lack of exertion. And this inactivity does +not by any means arise from actual stupidity. On the contrary, for one +whose principal delight is in eating and drinking, he is an alert, +joyous, and lively old soul, which makes his assumed dulness the more +diverting. So you may see Jobson on such occasions, like a bit of a +broken down blood-tit condemned to drag an overloaded cart, puffing, +strutting, and spluttering, to get the Justice put in motion, while, +though the wheels groan, creak, and revolve slowly, the great and +preponderating weight of the vehicle fairly frustrates the efforts of the +willing quadruped, and prevents its being brought into a state of actual +progression. Nay more, the unfortunate pony, I understand, has been heard +to complain that this same car of justice, which he finds it so hard to +put in motion on some occasions, can on others run fast enough down hill +of its own accord, dragging his reluctant self backwards along with it, +when anything can be done of service to Squire Inglewood's quondam +friends. And then Mr. Jobson talks big about reporting his principal to +the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if it were not for his +particular regard and friendship for Mr. Inglewood and his family." + +As Miss Vernon concluded this whimsical description, we found ourselves +in front of Inglewood Place, a handsome, though old-fashioned building. +which showed the consequence of the family. + + + + + CHAPTER EIGHTH. + + + "Sir," quoth the Lawyer, "not to flatter ye, + You have as good and fair a battery + As heart could wish, and need not shame + The proudest man alive to claim." + Butler. + +Our horses were taken by a servant in Sir Hildebrand's livery, whom we +found in the court-yard, and we entered the house. In the entrance-hall I +was somewhat surprised, and my fair companion still more so, when we met +Rashleigh Osbaldistone, who could not help showing equal wonder at our +rencontre. + +"Rashleigh," said Miss Vernon, without giving him time to ask any +question, "you have heard of Mr. Francis Osbaldistone's affair, and you +have been talking to the Justice about it?" + +"Certainly," said Rashleigh, composedly--"it has been my business here.-- +I have been endeavouring," he said, with a bow to me, "to render my +cousin what service I can. But I am sorry to meet him here." + +"As a friend and relation, Mr. Osbaldistone, you ought to have been sorry +to have met me anywhere else, at a time when the charge of my reputation +required me to be on this spot as soon as possible." + +"True; but judging from what my father said, I should have supposed a +short retreat into Scotland--just till matters should be smoothed over in +a quiet way"-- + +I answered with warmth, "That I had no prudential measures to observe, +and desired to have nothing smoothed over;--on the contrary, I was come +to inquire into a rascally calumny, which I was determined to probe to +the bottom." + +"Mr. Francis Osbaldistone is an innocent man, Rashleigh," said Miss +Vernon, "and he demands an investigation of the charge against him, and I +intend to support him in it." + +"You do, my pretty cousin?--I should think, now, Mr. Francis Osbaldistone +was likely to be as effectually, and rather more delicately, supported by +my presence than by yours." + +"Oh, certainly; but two heads are better than one, you know." + +"Especially such a head as yours, my pretty Die," advancing and taking +her hand with a familiar fondness, which made me think him fifty times +uglier than nature had made him. She led him, however, a few steps aside; +they conversed in an under voice, and she appeared to insist upon some +request which he was unwilling or unable to comply with. I never saw so +strong a contrast betwixt the expression of two faces. Miss Vernon's, +from being earnest, became angry; her eyes and cheeks became more +animated, her colour mounted, she clenched her little hand, and stamping +on the ground with her tiny foot, seemed to listen with a mixture of +contempt and indignation to the apologies, which, from his look of civil +deference, his composed and respectful smile, his body rather drawing +back than advanced, and other signs of look and person, I concluded him +to be pouring out at her feet. At length she flung away from him, with "I +_will_ have it so." + +"It is not in my power--there is no possibility of it.--Would you think +it, Mr. Osbaldistone?" said he, addressing me-- + +"You are not mad?" said she, interrupting him. + +"Would you think it?" said he, without attending to her hint--"Miss +Vernon insists, not only that I know your innocence (of which, indeed, it +is impossible for any one to be more convinced), but that I must also be +acquainted with the real perpetrators of the outrage on this fellow--if +indeed such an outrage has been committed. Is this reasonable, Mr. +Osbaldistone?" + +"I will not allow any appeal to Mr. Osbaldistone, Rashleigh," said the +young lady; "he does not know, as I do, the incredible extent and +accuracy of your information on all points." + +"As I am a gentleman, you do me more honour than I deserve." + +"Justice, Rashleigh--only justice:--and it is only justice which I expect +at your hands." + +"You are a tyrant, Diana," he answered, with a sort of sigh--"a +capricious tyrant, and rule your friends with a rod of iron. Still, +however, it shall be as you desire. But you ought not to be here--you +know you ought not;--you must return with me." + +Then turning from Diana, who seemed to stand undecided, he came up to me +in the most friendly manner, and said, "Do not doubt my interest in what +regards you, Mr. Osbaldistone. If I leave you just at this moment, it is +only to act for your advantage. But you must use your influence with your +cousin to return; her presence cannot serve you, and must prejudice +herself." + +"I assure you, sir," I replied, "you cannot be more convinced of this +than I; I have urged Miss Vernon's return as anxiously as she would +permit me to do." + + "I have thought on it," said Miss Vernon after a pause, "and I will not +go till I see you safe out of the hands of the Philistines. Cousin +Rashleigh, I dare say, means well; but he and I know each other well. +Rashleigh, I will not go;--I know," she added, in a more soothing tone, +"my being here will give you more motive for speed and exertion." + +"Stay then, rash, obstinate girl," said Rashleigh; "you know but too well +to whom you trust;" and hastening out of the hall, we heard his horse's +feet a minute afterwards in rapid motion. + +"Thank Heaven he is gone!" said Diana. "And now let us seek out the +Justice." + +"Had we not better call a servant?" + +"Oh, by no means; I know the way to his den--we must burst on him +suddenly--follow me." + +I did follow her accordingly, as she tripped up a few gloomy steps, +traversed a twilight passage, and entered a sort of ante-room, hung round +with old maps, architectural elevations, and genealogical trees. A pair +of folding-doors opened from this into Mr. Inglewood's sitting apartment, +from which was heard the fag-end of an old ditty, chanted by a voice +which had been in its day fit for a jolly bottle-song. + + "O, in Skipton-in-Craven + Is never a haven, + But many a day foul weather; + And he that would say + A pretty girl nay, + I wish for his cravat a tether." + +"Heyday!" said Miss Vernon, "the genial Justice must have dined already-- +I did not think it had been so late." + +It was even so. Mr. Inglewood's appetite having been sharpened by his +official investigations, he had antedated his meridian repast, having +dined at twelve instead of one o'clock, then the general dining hour in +England. The various occurrences of the morning occasioned our arriving +some time after this hour, to the Justice the most important of the +four-and-twenty, and he had not neglected the interval. + +"Stay you here," said Diana. "I know the house, and I will call a +servant; your sudden appearance might startle the old gentleman even to +choking;" and she escaped from me, leaving me uncertain whether I ought +to advance or retreat. It was impossible for me not to hear some part of +what passed within the dinner apartment, and particularly several +apologies for declining to sing, expressed in a dejected croaking voice, +the tones of which, I conceived, were not entirely new to me. + +"Not sing, sir? by our Lady! but you must--What! you have cracked my +silver-mounted cocoa-nut of sack, and tell me that you cannot sing!--Sir, +sack will make a cat sing, and speak too; so up with a merry stave, or +trundle yourself out of my doors!--Do you think you are to take up all my +valuable time with your d-d declarations, and then tell me you cannot +sing?" + +"Your worship is perfectly in rule," said another voice, which, from its +pert conceited accent, might be that of the cleric, "and the party must +be conformable; he hath _canet_ written on his face in court hand." + +"Up with it then," said the Justice, "or by St. Christopher, you shall +crack the cocoa-nut full of salt-and-water, according to the statute for +such effect made and provided." + +Thus exhorted and threatened, my quondam fellow-traveller, for I could no +longer doubt that he was the recusant in question, uplifted, with a voice +similar to that of a criminal singing his last psalm on the scaffold, a +most doleful stave to the following effect:-- + + "Good people all, I pray give ear, + A woeful story you shall hear, + 'Tis of a robber as stout as ever + Bade a true man stand and deliver. + With his foodle doo fa loodle loo. + + "This knave, most worthy of a cord, + Being armed with pistol and with sword, + 'Twixt Kensington and Brentford then + Did boldly stop six honest men. + With his foodle doo, etc. + + "These honest men did at Brentford dine, + Having drank each man his pint of wine, + When this bold thief, with many curses, + Did say, You dogs, your lives or purses. + With his foodle doo," etc. + +I question if the honest men, whose misfortune is commemorated in this +pathetic ditty, were more startled at the appearance of the bold thief +than the songster was at mine; for, tired of waiting for some one to +announce me, and finding my situation as a listener rather awkward, I +presented myself to the company just as my friend Mr. Morris, for such, +it seems, was his name, was uplifting the fifth stave of his doleful +ballad. The high tone with which the tune started died away in a quaver +of consternation on finding himself so near one whose character he +supposed to be little less suspicious than that of the hero of his +madrigal, and he remained silent, with a mouth gaping as if I had brought +the Gorgon's head in my hand. + +The Justice, whose eyes had closed under the influence of the somniferous +lullaby of the song, started up in his chair as it suddenly ceased, and +stared with wonder at the unexpected addition which the company had +received while his organs of sight were in abeyance. The clerk, as I +conjectured him to be from his appearance, was also commoved; for, +sitting opposite to Mr. Morris, that honest gentleman's terror +communicated itself to him, though he wotted not why. + +I broke the silence of surprise occasioned by my abrupt entrance.--"My +name, Mr. Inglewood, is Francis Osbaldistone; I understand that some +scoundrel has brought a complaint before you, charging me with being +concerned in a loss which he says he has sustained." + +"Sir," said the Justice, somewhat peevishly, "these are matters I never +enter upon after dinner;--there is a time for everything, and a justice +of peace must eat as well as other folks." + +The goodly person of Mr. Inglewood, by the way, seemed by no means to +have suffered by any fasts, whether in the service of the law or of +religion. + +"I beg pardon for an ill-timed visit, sir; but as my reputation is +concerned, and as the dinner appears to be concluded"--- + +"It is not concluded, sir," replied the magistrate; "man requires +digestion as well as food, and I protest I cannot have benefit from my +victuals unless I am allowed two hours of quiet leisure, intermixed with +harmless mirth, and a moderate circulation of the bottle." + +"If your honour will forgive me," said Mr. Jobson, who had produced and +arranged his writing implements in the brief space that our conversation +afforded; "as this is a case of felony, and the gentleman seems something +impatient, the charge is _contra pacem domini regis_"-- + +"D--n _dominie regis!_" said the impatient Justice--"I hope it's no +treason to say so; but it's enough to made one mad to be worried in this +way. Have I a moment of my life quiet for warrants, orders, directions, +acts, bails, bonds, and recognisances?--I pronounce to you, Mr. Jobson, +that I shall send you and the justiceship to the devil one of these +days." + +"Your honour will consider the dignity of the office one of the quorum +and custos rotulorum, an office of which Sir Edward Coke wisely saith, +The whole Christian world hath not the like of it, so it be duly +executed." + +"Well," said the Justice, partly reconciled by this eulogium on the +dignity of his situation, and gulping down the rest of his +dissatisfaction in a huge bumper of claret, "let us to this gear then, +and get rid of it as fast as we can.--Here you, sir--you, Morris--you, +knight of the sorrowful countenance--is this Mr. Francis Osbaldistone the +gentleman whom you charge with being art and part of felony?" + +"I, sir?" replied Morris, whose scattered wits had hardly yet reassembled +themselves; "I charge nothing--I say nothing against the gentleman," + +"Then we dismiss your complaint, sir, that's all, and a good riddance-- +Push about the bottle--Mr. Osbaldistone, help yourself." + +Jobson, however, was determined that Morris should not back out of the +scrape so easily. "What do you mean, Mr. Morris?--Here is your own +declaration--the ink scarce dried--and you would retract it in this +scandalous manner!" + +"How do I know," whispered the other in a tremulous tone, "how many +rogues are in the house to back him? I have read of such things in +Johnson's Lives of the Highwaymen. I protest the door opens"-- + +And it did open, and Diana Vernon entered--"You keep fine order here, +Justice--not a servant to be seen or heard of." + +"Ah!" said the Justice, starting up with an alacrity which showed that he +was not so engrossed by his devotions to Themis or Comus, as to forget +what was due to beauty--"Ah, ha! Die Vernon, the heath-bell of Cheviot, +and the blossom of the Border, come to see how the old bachelor keeps +house? Art welcome, girl, as flowers in May." + +"A fine, open, hospitable house you do keep, Justice, that must be +allowed--not a soul to answer a visitor." + +"Ah, the knaves! they reckoned themselves secure of me for a couple of +hours--But why did you not come earlier?--Your cousin Rashleigh dined +here, and ran away like a poltroon after the first bottle was out--But +you have not dined--we'll have something nice and ladylike--sweet and +pretty like yourself, tossed up in a trice." + +"I may eat a crust in the ante-room before I set out," answered Miss +Vernon--"I have had a long ride this morning; but I can't stay long, +Justice--I came with my cousin, Frank Osbaldistone, there, and I must +show him the way back again to the Hall, or he'll lose himself in the +wolds." + +"Whew! sits the wind in that quarter?" inquired the Justice-- + + "She showed him the way, she showed him the way, + She showed him the way to woo. + +What! no luck for old fellows, then, my sweet bud of the wilderness?" + +"None whatever, Squire Inglewood; but if you will be a good kind Justice, +and despatch young Frank's business, and let us canter home again, I'll +bring my uncle to dine with you next week, and we'll expect merry +doings." + +"And you shall find them, my pearl of the Tyne--Zookers, lass, I never +envy these young fellows their rides and scampers, unless when you come +across me. But I must not keep you just now, I suppose?--I am quite +satisfied with Mr. Francis Osbaldistone's explanation--here has been some +mistake, which can be cleared at greater leisure." + +"Pardon me, sir," said I; "but I have not heard the nature of the +accusation yet." + +"Yes, sir," said the clerk, who, at the appearance of Miss Vernon, had +given up the matter in despair, but who picked up courage to press +farther investigation on finding himself supported from a quarter whence +assuredly he expected no backing--"Yes, sir, and Dalton saith, That he +who is apprehended as a felon shall not be discharged upon any man's +discretion, but shall be held either to bail or commitment, paying to the +clerk of the peace the usual fees for recognisance or commitment." + +The Justice, thus goaded on, gave me at length a few words of +explanation. + +It seems the tricks which I had played to this man Morris had made a +strong impression on his imagination; for I found they had been arrayed +against me in his evidence, with all the exaggerations which a timorous +and heated imagination could suggest. It appeared also, that on the day +he parted from me, he had been stopped on a solitary spot and eased of +his beloved travelling-companion, the portmanteau, by two men, well +mounted and armed, having their faces covered with vizards. + +One of them, he conceived, had much of my shape and air, and in a +whispering conversation which took place betwixt the freebooters, he +heard the other apply to him the name of Osbaldistone. The declaration +farther set forth, that upon inquiring into the principles of the family +so named, he, the said declarant, was informed that they were of the +worst description, the family, in all its members, having been Papists +and Jacobites, as he was given to understand by the dissenting clergyman +at whose house he stopped after his rencontre, since the days of William +the Conqueror. + +Upon all and each of these weighty reasons, he charged me with being +accessory to the felony committed upon his person; he, the said +declarant, then travelling in the special employment of Government, and +having charge of certain important papers, and also a large sum in +specie, to be paid over, according to his instructions, to certain +persons of official trust and importance in Scotland. + +Having heard this extraordinary accusation, I replied to it, that the +circumstances on which it was founded were such as could warrant no +justice, or magistrate, in any attempt on my personal liberty. I admitted +that I had practised a little upon the terrors of Mr. Morris, while we +travelled together, but in such trifling particulars as could have +excited apprehension in no one who was one whit less timorous and jealous +than himself. But I added, that I had never seen him since we parted, and +if that which he feared had really come upon him, I was in nowise +accessory to an action so unworthy of my character and station in life. +That one of the robbers was called Osbaldistone, or that such a name was +mentioned in the course of the conversation betwixt them, was a trifling +circumstance, to which no weight was due. And concerning the disaffection +alleged against me, I was willing to prove, to the satisfaction of the +Justice, the clerk, and even the witness himself, that I was of the same +persuasion as his friend the dissenting clergyman; had been educated as a +good subject in the principles of the Revolution, and as such now +demanded the personal protection of the laws which had been assured by +that great event. + +The Justice fidgeted, took snuff, and seemed considerably embarrassed, +while Mr. Attorney Jobson, with all the volubility of his profession, ran +over the statute of the 34 Edward III., by which justices of the peace +are allowed to arrest all those whom they find by indictment or +suspicion, and to put them into prison. The rogue even turned my own +admissions against me, alleging, "that since I had confessedly, upon my +own showing, assumed the bearing or deportment of a robber or malefactor, +I had voluntarily subjected myself to the suspicions of which I +complained, and brought myself within the compass of the act, having +wilfully clothed my conduct with all the colour and livery of guilt." + +I combated both his arguments and his jargon with much indignation and +scorn, and observed, "That I should, if necessary, produce the bail of my +relations, which I conceived could not be refused, without subjecting the +magistrate in a misdemeanour." + +"Pardon me, my good sir--pardon me," said the insatiable clerk; "this is +a case in which neither bail nor mainprize can be received, the felon who +is liable to be committed on heavy grounds of suspicion, not being +replevisable under the statute of the 3d of King Edward, there being in +that act an express exception of such as be charged of commandment, or +force, and aid of felony done;" and he hinted that his worship would do +well to remember that such were no way replevisable by common writ, nor +without writ. + +At this period of the conversation a servant entered, and delivered a +letter to Mr. Jobson. He had no sooner run it hastily over, than he +exclaimed, with the air of one who wished to appear much vexed at the +interruption, and felt the consequence attached to a man of multifarious +avocations--"Good God!--why, at this rate, I shall have neither time to +attend to the public concerns nor my own--no rest--no quiet--I wish to +Heaven another gentleman in our line would settle here!" + +"God forbid!" said the Justice in a tone of _sotto-voce_ deprecation; +"some of us have enough of one of the tribe." + +"This is a matter of life and death, if your worship pleases." + +"In God's name! no more justice business, I hope," said the alarmed +magistrate. + +"No--no," replied Mr. Jobson, very consequentially; "old Gaffer Rutledge +of Grime's-hill is subpoenaed for the next world; he has sent an express +for Dr. Kill-down to put in bail--another for me to arrange his worldly +affairs." + +"Away with you, then," said Mr. Inglewood, hastily; "his may not be a +replevisable case under the statute, you know, or Mr. Justice Death may +not like the doctor for a _main pernor,_ or bailsman." + +"And yet," said Jobson, lingering as he moved towards the door, "if my +presence here be necessary--I could make out the warrant for committal in +a moment, and the constable is below--And you have heard," he said, +lowering his voice, "Mr. Rashleigh's opinion"--the rest was lost in a +whisper. + +The Justice replied aloud, "I tell thee no, man, no--we'll do nought till +thou return, man; 'tis but a four-mile ride--Come, push the bottle, Mr. +Morris--Don't be cast down, Mr. Osbaldistone--And you, my rose of the +wilderness--one cup of claret to refresh the bloom of your cheeks." + +Diana started, as if from a reverie, in which she appeared to have been +plunged while we held this discussion. "No, Justice--I should be afraid +of transferring the bloom to a part of my face where it would show to +little advantage; but I will pledge you in a cooler beverage;" and +filling a glass with water, she drank it hastily, while her hurried +manner belied her assumed gaiety. + +I had not much leisure to make remarks upon her demeanour, however, being +full of vexation at the interference of fresh obstacles to an instant +examination of the disgraceful and impertinent charge which was brought +against me. But there was no moving the Justice to take the matter up in +absence of his clerk, an incident which gave him apparently as much +pleasure as a holiday to a schoolboy. He persisted in his endeavours to +inspire jollity into a company, the individuals of which, whether +considered with reference to each other, or to their respective +situations, were by no means inclined to mirth. "Come, Master Morris, +you're not the first man that's been robbed, I trow--grieving ne'er +brought back loss, man. And you, Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, are not the +first bully-boy that has said stand to a true man. There was Jack +Winterfield, in my young days, kept the best company in the land--at +horse-races and cock-fights who but he--hand and glove was I with Jack. +Push the bottle, Mr. Morris, it's dry talking--Many quart bumpers have I +cracked, and thrown many a merry main with poor Jack--good family--ready +wit--quick eye--as honest a fellow, barring the deed he died for--we'll +drink to his memory, gentlemen--Poor Jack Winterfield--And since we talk +of him, and of those sort of things, and since that d--d clerk of mine +has taken his gibberish elsewhere, and since we're snug among ourselves, +Mr. Osbaldistone, if you will have my best advice, I would take up this +matter--the law's hard--very severe--hanged poor Jack Winterfield at +York, despite family connections and great interest, all for easing a fat +west-country grazier of the price of a few beasts--Now, here is honest +Mr. Morris, has been frightened, and so forth--D--n it, man, let the poor +fellow have back his portmanteau, and end the frolic at once." + +Morris's eyes brightened up at this suggestion, and he began to hesitate +forth an assurance that he thirsted for no man's blood, when I cut the +proposed accommodation short, by resenting the Justice's suggestion as an +insult, that went directly to suppose me guilty of the very crime which I +had come to his house with the express intention of disavowing. We were +in this awkward predicament when a servant, opening the door, announced, +"A strange gentleman to wait upon his honour;" and the party whom he thus +described entered the room without farther ceremony. + + + + + CHAPTER NINTH. + + One of the thieves come back again! I'll stand close, + He dares not wrong me now, so near the house, + And call in vain 'tis, till I see him offer it. + The Widow. + +"A stranger!" echoed the Justice--"not upon business, I trust, for I'll +be"-- + +His protestation was cut short by the answer of the man himself. "My +business is of a nature somewhat onerous and particular," said my +acquaintance, Mr. Campbell--for it was he, the very Scotchman whom I had +seen at Northallerton--"and I must solicit your honour to give instant +and heedful consideration to it.--I believe, Mr. Morris," he added, +fixing his eye on that person with a look of peculiar firmness and almost +ferocity--"I believe ye ken brawly what I am--I believe ye cannot have +forgotten what passed at our last meeting on the road?" Morris's jaw +dropped--his countenance became the colour of tallow--his teeth +chattered, and he gave visible signs of the utmost consternation. "Take +heart of grace, man," said Campbell, "and dinna sit clattering your jaws +there like a pair of castanets! I think there can be nae difficulty in +your telling Mr. Justice, that ye have seen me of yore, and ken me to be +a cavalier of fortune, and a man of honour. Ye ken fu' weel ye will be +some time resident in my vicinity, when I may have the power, as I will +possess the inclination, to do you as good a turn." + +"Sir--sir--I believe you to be a man of honour, and, as you say, a man of +fortune. Yes, Mr. Inglewood," he added, clearing his voice, "I really +believe this gentleman to be so." + +"And what are this gentleman's commands with me?" said the Justice, +somewhat peevishly. "One man introduces another, like the rhymes in the +'house that Jack built,' and I get company without either peace or +conversation!" + +"Both shall be yours, sir," answered Campbell, "in a brief period of +time. I come to release your mind from a piece of troublesome duty, not +to make increment to it." + +"Body o' me! then you are welcome as ever Scot was to England, and that's +not saying much. But get on, man--let's hear what you have got to say at +once." + +"I presume, this gentleman," continued the North Briton, "told you there +was a person of the name of Campbell with him, when he had the mischance +to lose his valise?" + +"He has not mentioned such a name, from beginning to end of the matter," +said the Justice. + +"Ah! I conceive--I conceive," replied Mr. Campbell;--"Mr. Morris was +kindly afeared of committing a stranger into collision wi' the judicial +forms of the country; but as I understand my evidence is necessary to the +compurgation of one honest gentleman here, Mr. Francis Osbaldistone, wha +has been most unjustly suspected, I will dispense with the precaution. Ye +will therefore" (he added addressing Morris with the same determined look +and accent) "please tell Mr. Justice Inglewood, whether we did not travel +several miles together on the road, in consequence of your own anxious +request and suggestion, reiterated ance and again, baith on the evening +that we were at Northallerton, and there declined by me, but afterwards +accepted, when I overtook ye on the road near Cloberry Allers, and was +prevailed on by you to resign my ain intentions of proceeding to +Rothbury; and, for my misfortune, to accompany you on your proposed +route." + +"It's a melancholy truth," answered Morris, holding down his head, as he +gave this general assent to the long and leading question which Campbell +put to him, and seemed to acquiesce in the statement it contained with +rueful docility. + +"And I presume you can also asseverate to his worship, that no man is +better qualified than I am to bear testimony in this case, seeing that I +was by you, and near you, constantly during the whole occurrence." + +"No man better qualified, certainly," said Morris, with a deep and +embarrassed sigh. + +"And why the devil did you not assist him, then," said the Justice, +"since, by Mr. Morris's account, there were but two robbers; so you were +two to two, and you are both stout likely men?" + +"Sir, if it please your worship," said Campbell, "I have been all my life +a man of peace and quietness, noways given to broils or batteries. Mr. +Morris, who belongs, as I understand, or hath belonged, to his Majesty's +army, might have used his pleasure in resistance, he travelling, as I +also understand, with a great charge of treasure; but, for me, who had +but my own small peculiar to defend, and who am, moreover, a man of a +pacific occupation, I was unwilling to commit myself to hazard in the +matter." + +I looked at Campbell as he muttered these words, and never recollect to +have seen a more singular contrast than that between the strong daring +sternness expressed in his harsh features, and the air of composed +meekness and simplicity which his language assumed. There was even a +slight ironical smile lurking about the corners of his mouth, which +seemed, involuntarily as it were, to intimate his disdain of the quiet +and peaceful character which he thought proper to assume, and which led +me to entertain strange suspicions that his concern in the violence done +to Morris had been something very different from that of a +fellow-sufferer, or even of a mere spectator. + +Perhaps some suspicious crossed the Justice's mind at the moment, for he +exclaimed, as if by way of ejaculation, "Body o' me! but this is a +strange story." + +The North Briton seemed to guess at what was passing in his mind; for he +went on, with a change of manner and tone, dismissing from his +countenance some part of the hypocritical affectation of humility which +had made him obnoxious to suspicion, and saying, with a more frank and +unconstrained air, "To say the truth, I am just ane o' those canny folks +wha care not to fight but when they hae gotten something to fight for, +which did not chance to be my predicament when I fell in wi' these loons. +But that your worship may know that I am a person of good fame and +character, please to cast your eye over that billet." + +Mr. Inglewood took the paper from his hand, and read, half aloud, "These +are to certify, that the bearer, Robert Campbell of--of some place which +I cannot pronounce," interjected the Justice--"is a person of good +lineage, and peaceable demeanour, travelling towards England on his own +proper affairs, &c. &c. &c. Given under our hand, at our Castle of Inver +--Invera--rara--Argyle." + +"A slight testimonial, sir, which I thought fit to impetrate from that +worthy nobleman" (here he raised his hand to his head, as if to touch his +hat), "MacCallum More." + +"MacCallum who, sir?" said the Justice. + +"Whom the Southern call the Duke of Argyle." + +"I know the Duke of Argyle very well to be a nobleman of great worth and +distinction, and a true lover of his country. I was one of those that +stood by him in 1714, when he unhorsed the Duke of Marlborough out of his +command. I wish we had more noblemen like him. He was an honest Tory in +those days, and hand and glove with Ormond. And he has acceded to the +present Government, as I have done myself, for the peace and quiet of his +country; for I cannot presume that great man to have been actuated, as +violent folks pretend, with the fear of losing his places and regiment. +His testimonial, as you call it, Mr. Campbell, is perfectly satisfactory; +and now, what have you got to say to this matter of the robbery?" + +"Briefly this, if it please your worship,--that Mr. Morris might as weel +charge it against the babe yet to be born, or against myself even, as +against this young gentleman, Mr. Osbaldistone; for I am not only free to +depone that the person whom he took for him was a shorter man, and a +thicker man, but also, for I chanced to obtain a glisk of his visage, as +his fause-face slipped aside, that he was a man of other features and +complexion than those of this young gentleman, Mr. Osbaldistone. And I +believe," he added, turning round with a natural, yet somewhat sterner +air, to Mr. Morris, "that the gentleman will allow I had better +opportunity to take cognisance wha were present on that occasion than he, +being, I believe, much the cooler o' the twa." + +"I agree to it, sir--I agree to it perfectly," said Morris, shrinking +back as Campbell moved his chair towards him to fortify his appeal--"And +I incline, sir," he added, addressing Mr. Inglewood, "to retract my +information as to Mr. Osbaldistone; and I request, sir, you will permit +him, sir, to go about his business, and me to go about mine also; your +worship may have business to settle with Mr. Campbell, and I am rather in +haste to be gone." + +"Then, there go the declarations," said the Justice, throwing them into +the fire--"And now you are at perfect liberty, Mr Osbaldistone. And you, +Mr. Morris, are set quite at your ease." + +"Ay," said Campbell, eyeing Morris as he assented with a rueful grin to +the Justice's observations, "much like the ease of a tod under a pair of +harrows--But fear nothing, Mr. Morris; you and I maun leave the house +thegither. I will see you safe--I hope you will not doubt my honour, when +I say sae--to the next highway, and then we part company; and if we do +not meet as friends in Scotland, it will be your ain fault." + +With such a lingering look of terror as the condemned criminal throws, +when he is informed that the cart awaits him, Morris arose; but when on +his legs, appeared to hesitate. "I tell thee, man, fear nothing," +reiterated Campbell; "I will keep my word with you--Why, thou sheep's +heart, how do ye ken but we may can pick up some speerings of your +valise, if ye will be amenable to gude counsel?--Our horses are ready. +Bid the Justice fareweel, man, and show your Southern breeding." + +Morris, thus exhorted and encouraged, took his leave, under the escort of +Mr. Campbell; but, apparently, new scruples and terrors had struck him +before they left the house, for I heard Campbell reiterating assurances +of safety and protection as they left the ante-room--"By the soul of my +body, man, thou'rt as safe as in thy father's kailyard--Zounds! that a +chield wi' sic a black beard should hae nae mair heart than a +hen-partridge!--Come on wi' ye, like a frank fallow, anes and for aye." + +The voices died away, and the subsequent trampling of their horses +announced to us that they had left the mansion of Justice Inglewood. + +The joy which that worthy magistrate received at this easy conclusion of +a matter which threatened him with some trouble in his judicial capacity, +was somewhat damped by reflection on what his clerk's views of the +transaction might be at his return. "Now, I shall have Jobson on my +shoulders about these d--d papers--I doubt I should not have destroyed +them, after all--But hang it! it is only paying his fees, and that will +make all smooth--And now, Miss Die Vernon, though I have liberated all +the others, I intend to sign a writ for committing you to the custody of +Mother Blakes, my old housekeeper, for the evening, and we will send for +my neighbour Mrs. Musgrave, and the Miss Dawkins, and your cousins, and +have old Cobs the fiddler, and be as merry as the maids; and Frank +Osbaldistone and I will have a carouse that will make us fit company for +you in half-an-hour." + +"Thanks, most worshipful," returned Miss Vernon; "but, as matters stand, +we must return instantly to Osbaldistone Hall, where they do not know +what has become of us, and relieve my uncle of his anxiety on my cousin's +account, which is just the same as if one of his own sons were +concerned." + +"I believe it truly," said the Justice; "for when his eldest son, Archie, +came to a bad end, in that unlucky affair of Sir John Fenwick's, old +Hildebrand used to hollo out his name as readily as any of the remaining +six, and then complain that he could not recollect which of his sons had +been hanged. So, pray hasten home, and relieve his paternal solicitude, +since go you must. But hark thee hither, heath-blossom," he said, pulling +her towards him by the hand, and in a good-humoured tone of admonition, +"another time let the law take its course, without putting your pretty +finger into her old musty pie, all full of fragments of law gibberish-- +French and dog-Latin--And, Die, my beauty, let young fellows show each +other the way through the moors, in case you should lose your own road, +while you are pointing out theirs, my pretty Will o' the Wisp." + +With this admonition, he saluted and dismissed Miss Vernon, and took an +equally kind farewell of me. + +"Thou seems to be a good tight lad, Mr. Frank, and I remember thy father +too--he was my playfellow at school. Hark thee, lad,--ride early at +night, and don't swagger with chance passengers on the king's highway. +What, man! all the king's liege subjects are not bound to understand +joking, and it's ill cracking jests on matters of felony. And here's poor +Die Vernon too--in a manner alone and deserted on the face of this wide +earth, and left to ride, and run, and scamper, at her own silly pleasure. +Thou must be careful of Die, or, egad, I will turn a young fellow again +on purpose, and fight thee myself, although I must own it would be a +great deal of trouble. And now, get ye both gone, and leave me to my pipe +of tobacco, and my meditations; for what says the song-- + + The Indian leaf doth briefly burn; + So doth man's strength to weakness turn + The fire of youth extinguished quite, + Comes age, like embers, dry and white. + Think of this as you take tobacco."* + +* [The lines here quoted belong to or were altered from a set of verses +at one time very popular in England, beginning, _Tobacco that is withered +quite._ In Scotland, the celebrated Ralph Erskine, author of the _Gospel +Sonnets,_ published what he called "_Smoking Spiritualized,_ in two +parts. The first part being an Old Meditation upon Smoking Tobacco." It +begins--* + + This Indian weed now withered quite, + Tho' green at noon, cut down at night, + Shows thy decay; + All flesh is hay. + Thus thank, and smoke tobacco.] + +I was much pleased with the gleams of sense and feeling which escaped +from the Justice through the vapours of sloth and self-indulgence, +assured him of my respect to his admonitions, and took a friendly +farewell of the honest magistrate and his hospitable mansion. + +We found a repast prepared for us in the ante-room, which we partook of +slightly, and rejoined the same servant of Sir Hildebrand who had taken +our horses at our entrance, and who had been directed, as he informed +Miss Vernon, by Mr. Rashleigh, to wait and attend upon us home. We rode a +little way in silence, for, to say truth, my mind was too much bewildered +with the events of the morning, to permit me to be the first to break it. +At length Miss Vernon exclaimed, as if giving vent to her own +reflections, "Well, Rashleigh is a man to be feared and wondered at, and +all but loved; he does whatever he pleases, and makes all others his +puppets--has a player ready to perform every part which he imagines, and +an invention and readiness which supply expedients for every emergency." + +"You think, then," said I, answering rather to her meaning, than to the +express words she made use of, "that this Mr. Campbell, whose appearance +was so opportune, and who trussed up and carried off my accuser as a +falcon trusses a partridge, was an agent of Mr. Rashleigh +Osbaldistone's?" + +"I do guess as much," replied Diana; "and shrewdly suspect, moreover, +that he would hardly have appeared so very much in the nick of time, if I +had not happened to meet Rashleigh in the hall at the Justice's." + +"In that case, my thanks are chiefly due to you, my fair preserver." + +"To be sure they are," returned Diana; "and pray, suppose them paid, and +accepted with a gracious smile, for I do not care to be troubled with +hearing them in good earnest, and am much more likely to yawn than to +behave becoming. In short, Mr. Frank, I wished to serve you, and I have +fortunately been able to do so, and have only one favour to ask in +return, and that is, that you will say no more about it.--But who comes +here to meet us, 'bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste?' It is the +subordinate man of law, I think--no less than Mr. Joseph Jobson." + +And Mr. Joseph Jobson it proved to be, in great haste, and, as it +speedily appeared, in most extreme bad humour. He came up to us, and +stopped his horse, as we were about to pass with a slight salutation. + +"So, sir--so, Miss Vernon--ay, I see well enough how it is--bail put in +during my absence, I suppose--I should like to know who drew the +recognisance, that's all. If his worship uses this form of procedure +often, I advise him to get another clerk, that's all, for I shall +certainly demit." + +"Or suppose he get this present clerk stitched to his sleeve, Mr. +Jobson," said Diana; "would not that do as well? And pray, how does +Farmer Rutledge, Mr. Jobson? I hope you found him able to sign, seal, and +deliver?" + +This question seemed greatly to increase the wrath of the man of law. He +looked at Miss Vernon with such an air of spite and resentment, as laid +me under a strong temptation to knock him off his horse with the butt-end +of my whip, which I only suppressed in consideration of his +insignificance. + +"Farmer Rutledge, ma'am?" said the clerk, as soon as his indignation +permitted him to articulate, "Farmer Rutledge is in as handsome enjoyment +of his health as you are--it's all a bam, ma'am--all a bamboozle and a +bite, that affair of his illness; and if you did not know as much before, +you know it now, ma'am." + +"La you there now!" replied Miss Vernon, with an affectation of extreme +and simple wonder, "sure you don't say so, Mr. Jobson?" + +"But I _do_ say so, ma'am," rejoined the incensed scribe; "and moreover I +say, that the old miserly clod-breaker called me pettifogger-- +pettifogger, ma'am--and said I came to hunt for a job, ma'am--which I +have no more right to have said to me than any other gentleman of my +profession, ma'am--especially as I am clerk to the peace, having and +holding said office under _Trigesimo Septimo Henrici Octavi_ and _Primo +Gulielmi,_ the first of King William, ma'am, of glorious and immortal +memory--our immortal deliverer from papists and pretenders, and wooden +shoes and warming pans, Miss Vernon." + +"Sad things, these wooden shoes and warming pans," retorted the young +lady, who seemed to take pleasure in augmenting his wrath;--"and it is a +comfort you don't seem to want a warming pan at present, Mr. Jobson. I am +afraid Gaffer Rutledge has not confined his incivility to language--Are +you sure he did not give you a beating?" + +"Beating, ma'am!--no"--(very shortly)--"no man alive shall beat me, I +promise you, ma'am." + +"That is according as you happen to merit, sir," said I: "for your mode +of speaking to this young lady is so unbecoming, that, if you do not +change your tone, I shall think it worth while to chastise you myself." + +"Chastise, sir? and--me, sir?--Do you know whom you speak to, sir?" + +"Yes, sir," I replied; "you say yourself you are clerk of peace to the +county; and Gaffer Rutledge says you are a pettifogger; and in neither +capacity are you entitled to be impertinent to a young lady of fashion." + +Miss Vernon laid her hand on my arm, and exclaimed, "Come, Mr. +Osbaldistone, I will have no assaults and battery on Mr. Jobson; I am not +in sufficient charity with him to permit a single touch of your whip-- +why, he would live on it for a term at least. Besides, you have already +hurt his feelings sufficiently--you have called him impertinent." + +"I don't value his language, Miss," said the clerk, somewhat crestfallen: +"besides, impertinent is not an actionable word; but pettifogger is +slander in the highest degree, and that I will make Gaffer Rutledge know +to his cost, and all who maliciously repeat the same, to the breach of +the public peace, and the taking away of my private good name." + +"Never mind that, Mr. Jobson," said Miss Vernon; "you know, where there +is nothing, your own law allows that the king himself must lose his +rights; and for the taking away of your good name, I pity the poor fellow +who gets it, and wish you joy of losing it with all my heart." + +"Very well, ma'am--good evening, ma'am--I have no more to say--only there +are laws against papists, which it would be well for the land were they +better executed. There's third and fourth Edward VI., of antiphoners, +missals, grailes, professionals, manuals, legends, pies, portuasses, and +those that have such trinkets in their possession, Miss Vernon--and +there's summoning of papists to take the oaths--and there are popish +recusant convicts under the first of his present Majesty--ay, and there +are penalties for hearing mass--See twenty-third of Queen Elizabeth, and +third James First, chapter twenty-fifth. And there are estates to be +registered, and deeds and wills to be enrolled, and double taxes to be +made, according to the acts in that case made and provided"---- + +"See the new edition of the Statutes at Large, published under the +careful revision of Joseph Jobson, Gent., Clerk of the Peace," said Miss +Vernon. + +"Also, and above all," continued Jobson,--"for I speak to your warning-- +you, Diana Vernon, spinstress, not being a _femme couverte,_ and being a +convict popish recusant, are bound to repair to your own dwelling, and +that by the nearest way, under penalty of being held felon to the king-- +and diligently to seek for passage at common ferries, and to tarry there +but one ebb and flood; and unless you can have it in such places, to walk +every day into the water up to the knees, assaying to pass over." + +"A sort of Protestant penance for my Catholic errors, I suppose," said +Miss Vernon, laughing.--"Well, I thank you for the information, Mr. +Jobson, and will hie me home as fast as I can, and be a better +housekeeper in time coming. Good-night, my dear Mr. Jobson, thou mirror +of clerical courtesy." + +"Good-night, ma'am, and remember the law is not to be trifled with." + +And we rode on our separate ways. + +"There he goes for a troublesome mischief-making tool," said Miss Vernon, +as she gave a glance after him; it is hard that persons of birth and rank +and estate should be subjected to the official impertinence of such a +paltry pickthank as that, merely for believing as the whole world +believed not much above a hundred years ago--for certainly our Catholic +Faith has the advantage of antiquity at least." + +"I was much tempted to have broken the rascal's head," I replied. + +"You would have acted very like a hasty young man," said Miss Vernon; +"and yet, had my own hand been an ounce heavier than it is, I think I +should have laid its weight upon him. Well, it does not signify +complaining, but there are three things for which I am much to be pitied, +if any one thought it worth while to waste any compassion upon me." + +"And what are these three things, Miss Vernon, may I ask?" + +"Will you promise me your deepest sympathy, if I tell you?" + +"Certainly;--can you doubt it?" I replied, closing my horse nearer to +hers as I spoke, with an expression of interest which I did not attempt +to disguise. + +"Well, it is very seducing to be pitied, after all; so here are my three +grievances: In the first place, I am a girl, and not a young fellow, and +would be shut up in a mad-house if I did half the things that I have a +mind to;--and that, if I had your happy prerogative of acting as you +list, would make all the world mad with imitating and applauding me." + +"I can't quite afford you the sympathy you expect upon this score," I +replied; "the misfortune is so general, that it belongs to one half of +the species; and the other half"-- + +"Are so much better cared for, that they are jealous of their +prerogatives," interrupted Miss Vernon--"I forgot you were a party +interested. Nay," she said, as I was going to speak, "that soft smile is +intended to be the preface of a very pretty compliment respecting the +peculiar advantages which Die Vernon's friends and kinsmen enjoy, by her +being born one of their Helots; but spare me the utterance, my good +friend, and let us try whether we shall agree better on the second count +of my indictment against fortune, as that quill-driving puppy would call +it. I belong to an oppressed sect and antiquated religion, and, instead +of getting credit for my devotion, as is due to all good girls beside, my +kind friend, Justice Inglewood, may send me to the house of correction, +merely for worshipping God in the way of my ancestors, and say, as old +Pembroke did to the Abbess of Wilton,* when he usurped her convent and +establishment, 'Go spin, you jade,--Go spin.'" + +* Note F. The Abbess of Wilton. + +"This is not a cureless evil," said I gravely. "Consult some of our +learned divines, or consult your own excellent understanding, Miss +Vernon; and surely the particulars in which our religious creed differs +from that in which you have been educated"-- + +"Hush!" said Diana, placing her fore-finger on her mouth,--"Hush! no more +of that. Forsake the faith of my gallant fathers! I would as soon, were I +a man, forsake their banner when the tide of battle pressed hardest +against it, and turn, like a hireling recreant, to join the victorious +enemy." + +"I honour your spirit, Miss Vernon; and as to the inconveniences to which +it exposes you, I can only say, that wounds sustained for the sake of +conscience carry their own balsam with the blow." + +"Ay; but they are fretful and irritating, for all that. But I see, hard +of heart as you are, my chance of beating hemp, or drawing out flax into +marvellous coarse thread, affects you as little as my condemnation to +coif and pinners, instead of beaver and cockade; so I will spare myself +the fruitless pains of telling my third cause of vexation." + +"Nay, my dear Miss Vernon, do not withdraw your confidence, and I will +promise you, that the threefold sympathy due to your very unusual causes +of distress shall be all duly and truly paid to account of the third, +providing you assure me, that it is one which you neither share with all +womankind, nor even with every Catholic in England, who, God bless you, +are still a sect more numerous than we Protestants, in our zeal for +church and state, would desire them to be." + +"It is indeed," said Diana, with a manner greatly altered, and more +serious than I had yet seen her assume, "a misfortune that well merits +compassion. I am by nature, as you may easily observe, of a frank and +unreserved disposition--a plain true-hearted girl, who would willingly +act openly and honestly by the whole world, and yet fate has involved me +in such a series of nets and toils, and entanglements, that I dare hardly +speak a word for fear of consequences--not to myself, but to others." + +"That is indeed a misfortune, Miss Vernon, which I do most sincerely +compassionate, but which I should hardly have anticipated." + +"O, Mr. Osbaldistone, if you but knew--if any one knew, what difficulty I +sometimes find in hiding an aching heart with a smooth brow, you would +indeed pity me. I do wrong, perhaps, in speaking to you even thus far on +my own situation; but you are a young man of sense and penetration--you +cannot but long to ask me a hundred questions on the events of this day-- +on the share which Rashleigh has in your deliverance from this petty +scrape--upon many other points which cannot but excite your attention; +and I cannot bring myself to answer with the necessary falsehood and +finesse--I should do it awkwardly, and lose your good opinion, if I have +any share of it, as well as my own. It is best to say at once, Ask me no +questions,--I have it not in my power to reply to them." + +Miss Vernon spoke these words with a tone of feeling which could not but +make a corresponding impression upon me. I assured her she had neither to +fear my urging her with impertinent questions, nor my misconstruing her +declining to answer those which might in themselves be reasonable, or at +least natural. + +"I was too much obliged," I said, "by the interest she had taken in my +affairs, to misuse the opportunity her goodness had afforded me of prying +into hers--I only trusted and entreated, that if my services could at any +time be useful, she would command them without doubt or hesitation." + +"Thank you--thank you," she replied; "your voice does not ring the cuckoo +chime of compliment, but speaks like that of one who knows to what he +pledges himself. If--but it is impossible--but yet, if an opportunity +should occur, I will ask you if you remember this promise; and I assure +you, I shall not be angry if I find you have forgotten it, for it is +enough that you are sincere in your intentions just now--much may occur +to alter them ere I call upon you, should that moment ever come, to +assist Die Vernon, as if you were Die Vernon's brother." + +"And if I were Die Vernon's brother," said I, "there could not be less +chance that I should refuse my assistance--And now I am afraid I must not +ask whether Rashleigh was willingly accessory to my deliverance?" + +"Not of me; but you may ask it of himself, and depend upon it, he will +say _yes;_ for rather than any good action should walk through the world +like an unappropriated adjective in an ill-arranged sentence, he is +always willing to stand noun substantive to it himself." + +"And I must not ask whether this Campbell be himself the party who eased +Mr. Morris of his portmanteau,--or whether the letter, which our friend +the attorney received, was not a finesse to withdraw him from the scene +of action, lest he should have marred the happy event of my deliverance? +And I must not ask"-- + +"You must ask nothing of me," said Miss Vernon; "so it is quite in vain +to go on putting cases. You are to think just as well of me as if I had +answered all these queries, and twenty others besides, as glibly as +Rashleigh could have done; and observe, whenever I touch my chin just so, +it is a sign that I cannot speak upon the topic which happens to occupy +your attention. I must settle signals of correspondence with you, because +you are to be my confidant and my counsellor, only you are to know +nothing whatever of my affairs." + +"Nothing can be more reasonable," I replied, laughing; "and the extent of +your confidence will, you may rely upon it, only be equalled by the +sagacity of my counsels." + +This sort of conversation brought us, in the highest good-humour with +each other, to Osbaldistone Hall, where we found the family far advanced +in the revels of the evening. + +"Get some dinner for Mr. Osbaldistone and me in the library," said Miss +Vernon to a servant.--"I must have some compassion upon you," she added, +turning to me, "and provide against your starving in this mansion of +brutal abundance; otherwise I am not sure that I should show you my +private haunts. This same library is my den--the only corner of the +Hall-house where I am safe from the Ourang-Outangs, my cousins. They +never venture there, I suppose for fear the folios should fall down and +crack their skulls; for they will never affect their heads in any other +way--So follow me." + +And I followed through hall and bower, vaulted passage and winding stair, +until we reached the room where she had ordered our refreshments. + + + + + CHAPTER TENTH. + + + In the wide pile, by others heeded not, + Hers was one sacred solitary spot, + Whose gloomy aisles and bending shelves contain + For moral hunger food, and cures for moral pain. + Anonymous. + +The library at Osbaldistone Hall was a gloomy room, whose antique oaken +shelves bent beneath the weight of the ponderous folios so dear to the +seventeenth century, from which, under favour be it spoken, we have +distilled matter for our quartos and octavos, and which, once more +subjected to the alembic, may, should our sons be yet more frivolous than +ourselves, be still farther reduced into duodecimos and pamphlets. The +collection was chiefly of the classics, as well foreign as ancient +history, and, above all, divinity. It was in wretched order. The priests, +who in succession had acted as chaplains at the Hall, were, for many +years, the only persons who entered its precincts, until Rashleigh's +thirst for reading had led him to disturb the venerable spiders, who had +muffled the fronts of the presses with their tapestry. His destination +for the church rendered his conduct less absurd in his father's eyes, +than if any of his other descendants had betrayed so strange a +propensity, and Sir Hildebrand acquiesced in the library receiving some +repairs, so as to fit it for a sitting-room. Still an air of +dilapidation, as obvious as it was uncomfortable, pervaded the large +apartment, and announced the neglect from which the knowledge which its +walls contained had not been able to exempt it. The tattered tapestry, +the worm-eaten shelves, the huge and clumsy, yet tottering, tables, +desks, and chairs, the rusty grate, seldom gladdened by either sea-coal +or faggots, intimated the contempt of the lords of Osbaldistone Hall for +learning, and for the volumes which record its treasures. + +"You think this place somewhat disconsolate, I suppose?" said Diana, as I +glanced my eye round the forlorn apartment; "but to me it seems like a +little paradise, for I call it my own, and fear no intrusion. Rashleigh +was joint proprietor with me, while we were friends." + +"And are you no longer so?" was my natural question. Her fore-finger +immediately touched her dimpled chin, with an arch look of prohibition. + +"We are still _allies,_" she continued, "bound, like other confederate +powers, by circumstances of mutual interest; but I am afraid, as will +happen in other cases, the treaty of alliance has survived the amicable +dispositions in which it had its origin. At any rate, we live less +together; and when he comes through that door there, I vanish through +this door here; and so, having made the discovery that we two were one +too many for this apartment, as large as it seems, Rashleigh, whose +occasions frequently call him elsewhere, has generously made a cession of +his rights in my favour; so that I now endeavour to prosecute alone the +studies in which he used formerly to be my guide." + +"And what are those studies, if I may presume to ask?" + +"Indeed you may, without the least fear of seeing my fore-finger raised +to my chin. Science and history are my principal favourites; but I also +study poetry and the classics." + +"And the classics? Do you read them in the original?" + +"Unquestionably. Rashleigh, who is no contemptible scholar, taught me +Greek and Latin, as well as most of the languages of modern Europe. I +assure you there has been some pains taken in my education, although I +can neither sew a tucker, nor work cross-stitch, nor make a pudding, nor +--as the vicar's fat wife, with as much truth as elegance, good-will, and +politeness, was pleased to say in my behalf--do any other useful thing in +the varsal world." + +"And was this selection of studies Rashleigh's choice, or your own, Miss +Vernon?" I asked. + +"Um!" said she, as if hesitating to answer my question,--"It's not worth +while lifting my finger about, after all. Why, partly his and partly +mine. As I learned out of doors to ride a horse, and bridle and saddle +him in cue of necessity, and to clear a five-barred gate, and fire a gun +without winking, and all other of those masculine accomplishments that my +brute cousins run mad after, I wanted, like my rational cousin, to read +Greek and Latin within doors, and make my complete approach to the tree +of knowledge, which you men-scholars would engross to yourselves, in +revenge, I suppose, for our common mother's share in the great original +transgression." + +"And Rashleigh indulged your propensity to learning?" + +"Why, he wished to have me for his scholar, and he could but teach me +that which he knew himself--he was not likely to instruct me in the +mysteries of washing lace-ruffles, or hemming cambric handkerchiefs, I +suppose." + +"I admit the temptation of getting such a scholar, and have no doubt that +it made a weighty consideration on the tutor's part." + +"Oh, if you begin to investigate Rashleigh's motives, my finger touches +my chin once more. I can only be frank where my own are inquired into. +But to resume--he has resigned the library in my favour, and never enters +without leave had and obtained; and so I have taken the liberty to make +it the place of deposit for some of my own goods and chattels, as you may +see by looking round you." + +"I beg pardon, Miss Vernon, but I really see nothing around these walls +which I can distinguish as likely to claim you as mistress." + +"That is, I suppose, because you neither see a shepherd or shepherdess +wrought in worsted, and handsomely framed in black ebony, or a stuffed +parrot,--or a breeding-cage, full of canary birds,--or a housewife-case, +broidered with tarnished silver,--or a toilet-table with a nest of +japanned boxes, with as many angles as Christmas minced-pies,--or a +broken-backed spinet,--or a lute with three strings,--or rock-work,--or +shell-work,--or needle-work, or work of any kind,--or a lap-dog with a +litter of blind puppies--None of these treasures do I possess," she +continued, after a pause, in order to recover the breath she had lost in +enumerating them--"But there stands the sword of my ancestor Sir Richard +Vernon, slain at Shrewsbury, and sorely slandered by a sad fellow called +Will Shakspeare, whose Lancastrian partialities, and a certain knack at +embodying them, has turned history upside down, or rather inside out;-- +and by that redoubted weapon hangs the mail of the still older Vernon, +squire to the Black Prince, whose fate is the reverse of his +descendant's, since he is more indebted to the bard who took the trouble +to celebrate him, for good-will than for talents,-- + + Amiddes the route you may discern one + Brave knight, with pipes on shield, ycleped Vernon + Like a borne fiend along the plain he thundered, + Prest to be carving throtes, while others plundered. + +"Then there is a model of a new martingale, which I invented myself--a +great improvement on the Duke of Newcastle's; and there are the hood and +bells of my falcon Cheviot, who spitted himself on a heron's bill at +Horsely-moss--poor Cheviot, there is not a bird on the perches below, but +are kites and riflers compared to him; and there is my own light +fowling-piece, with an improved firelock; with twenty other treasures, +each more valuable than another--And there, that speaks for itself." + +She pointed to the carved oak frame of a full-length portrait by Vandyke, +on which were inscribed, in Gothic letters, the words _Vernon semper +viret._ I looked at her for explanation. "Do you not know," said she, +with some surprise, "our motto--the Vernon motto, where, + + Like the solemn vice iniquity, + We moralise two meanings in one word + +And do you not know our cognisance, the pipes?" pointing to the armorial +bearings sculptured on the oaken scutcheon, around which the legend was +displayed. + +"Pipes!--they look more like penny-whistles--But, pray, do not be angry +with my ignorance," I continued, observing the colour mount to her +cheeks, "I can mean no affront to your armorial bearings, for I do not +even know my own." + +"You an Osbaldistone, and confess so much!" she exclaimed. "Why, Percie, +Thornie, John, Dickon--Wilfred himself, might be your instructor. Even +ignorance itself is a plummet over you." + +"With shame I confess it, my dear Miss Vernon, the mysteries couched +under the grim hieroglyphics of heraldry are to me as unintelligible as +those of the pyramids of Egypt." + +"What! is it possible?--Why, even my uncle reads Gwillym sometimes of a +winter night--Not know the figures of heraldry!--of what could your +father be thinking?" + +"Of the figures of arithmetic," I answered; "the most insignificant unit +of which he holds more highly than all the blazonry of chivalry. But, +though I am ignorant to this inexpressible degree, I have knowledge and +taste enough to admire that splendid picture, in which I think I can +discover a family likeness to you. What ease and dignity in the +attitude!--what richness of colouring--what breadth and depth of shade!" + +"Is it really a fine painting?" she asked. + +"I have seen many works of the renowned artist," I replied, "but never +beheld one more to my liking!" + +"Well, I know as little of pictures as you do of heraldry," replied Miss +Vernon; "yet I have the advantage of you, because I have always admired +the painting without understanding its value." + +"While I have neglected pipes and tabors, and all the whimsical +combinations of chivalry, still I am informed that they floated in the +fields of ancient fame. But you will allow their exterior appearance is +not so peculiarly interesting to the uninformed spectator as that of a +fine painting.--Who is the person here represented?" + +"My grandfather. He shared the misfortunes of Charles I., and, I am sorry +to add, the excesses of his son. Our patrimonial estate was greatly +impaired by his prodigality, and was altogether lost by his successor, my +unfortunate father. But peace be with them who have got it!--it was lost +in the cause of loyalty." + +"Your father, I presume, suffered in the political dissensions of the +period?" + +"He did indeed;--he lost his all. And hence is his child a dependent +orphan--eating the bread of others--subjected to their caprices, and +compelled to study their inclinations; yet prouder of having had such a +father, than if, playing a more prudent but less upright part, he had +left me possessor of all the rich and fair baronies which his family once +possessed." + +As she thus spoke, the entrance of the servants with dinner cut off all +conversation but that of a general nature. + +When our hasty meal was concluded, and the wine placed on the table, the +domestic informed us, "that Mr. Rashleigh had desired to be told when our +dinner was removed." + +"Tell him," said Miss Vernon, "we shall be happy to see him if he will +step this way--place another wineglass and chair, and leave the room.-- +You must retire with him when he goes away, she continued, addressing +herself to me; "even _my_ liberality cannot spare a gentleman above eight +hours out of the twenty-four; and I think we have been together for at +least that length of time." + +"The old scythe-man has moved so rapidly," I answered, "that I could not +count his strides." + +"Hush!" said Miss Vernon, "here comes Rashleigh;" and she drew off her +chair, to which I had approached mine rather closely, so as to place a +greater distance between us. A modest tap at the door,--a gentle manner +of opening when invited to enter,--a studied softness and humility of +step and deportment, announced that the education of Rashleigh +Osbaldistone at the College of St. Omers accorded well with the ideas I +entertained of the manners of an accomplished Jesuit. I need not add, +that, as a sound Protestant, these ideas were not the most favourable. +"Why should you use the ceremony of knocking," said Miss Vernon, "when +you knew that I was not alone?" + +This was spoken with a burst of impatience, as if she had felt that +Rashleigh's air of caution and reserve covered some insinuation of +impertinent suspicion. "You have taught me the form of knocking at this +door so perfectly, my fair cousin," answered Rashleigh, without change of +voice or manner, "that habit has become a second nature." + +"I prize sincerity more than courtesy, sir, and you know I do," was Miss +Vernon's reply. + +"Courtesy is a gallant gay, a courtier by name and by profession," +replied Rashleigh, "and therefore most fit for a lady's bower." + +"But Sincerity is the true knight," retorted Miss Vernon, "and therefore +much more welcome, cousin. But to end a debate not over amusing to your +stranger kinsman, sit down, Rashleigh, and give Mr. Francis Osbaldistone +your countenance to his glass of wine. I have done the honours of the +dinner, for the credit of Osbaldistone Hall." + +Rashleigh sate down, and filled his glass, glancing his eye from Diana to +me, with an embarrassment which his utmost efforts could not entirely +disguise. I thought he appeared to be uncertain concerning the extent of +confidence she might have reposed in me, and hastened to lead the +conversation into a channel which should sweep away his suspicion that +Diana might have betrayed any secrets which rested between them. "Miss +Vernon," I said, "Mr. Rashleigh, has recommended me to return my thanks +to you for my speedy disengagement from the ridiculous accusation of +Morris; and, unjustly fearing my gratitude might not be warm enough to +remind me of this duty, she has put my curiosity on its side, by +referring me to you for an account, or rather explanation, of the events +of the day." + +"Indeed?" answered Rashleigh; "I should have thought" (looking keenly at +Miss Vernon) "that the lady herself might have stood interpreter;" and +his eye, reverting from her face, sought mine, as if to search, from the +expression of my features, whether Diana's communication had been as +narrowly limited as my words had intimated. Miss Vernon retorted his +inquisitorial glance with one of decided scorn; while I, uncertain +whether to deprecate or resent his obvious suspicion, replied, "If it is +your pleasure, Mr. Rashleigh, as it has been Miss Vernon's, to leave me +in ignorance, I must necessarily submit; but, pray, do not withhold your +information from me on the ground of imagining that I have already +obtained any on the subject. For I tell you, as a man of honour, I am as +ignorant as that picture of anything relating to the events I have +witnessed to-day, excepting that I understand from Miss Vernon, that you +have been kindly active in my favour." + +"Miss Vernon has overrated my humble efforts," said Rashleigh, "though I +claim full credit for my zeal. The truth is, that as I galloped back to +get some one of our family to join me in becoming your bail, which was +the most obvious, or, indeed, I may say, the only way of serving you +which occurred to my stupidity, I met the man Cawmil--Colville--Campbell, +or whatsoever they call him. I had understood from Morris that he was +present when the robbery took place, and had the good fortune to prevail +on him (with some difficulty, I confess) to tender his evidence in your +exculpation--which I presume was the means of your being released from an +unpleasant situation." + +"Indeed?--I am much your debtor for procuring such a seasonable evidence +in my behalf. But I cannot see why (having been, as he said, a +fellow-sufferer with Morris) it should have required much trouble to +persuade him to step forth and bear evidence, whether to convict the +actual robber, or free an innocent person." + +"You do not know the genius of that man's country, sir," answered +Rashleigh;--"discretion, prudence, and foresight, are their leading +qualities; these are only modified by a narrow-spirited, but yet ardent +patriotism, which forms as it were the outmost of the concentric bulwarks +with which a Scotchman fortifies himself against all the attacks of a +generous philanthropical principle. Surmount this mound, you find an +inner and still dearer barrier--the love of his province, his village, +or, most probably, his clan; storm this second obstacle, you have a +third--his attachment to his own family--his father, mother, sons, +daughters, uncles, aunts, and cousins, to the ninth generation. It is +within these limits that a Scotchman's social affection expands itself, +never reaching those which are outermost, till all means of discharging +itself in the interior circles have been exhausted. It is within these +circles that his heart throbs, each pulsation being fainter and fainter, +till, beyond the widest boundary, it is almost unfelt. And what is worst +of all, could you surmount all these concentric outworks, you have an +inner citadel, deeper, higher, and more efficient than them all--a +Scotchman's love for himself." + +"All this is extremely eloquent and metaphorical, Rashleigh," said Miss +Vernon, who listened with unrepressed impatience; "there are only two +objections to it: first, it is _not_ true; secondly, if true, it is +nothing to the purpose." + +"It _is_ true, my fairest Diana," returned Rashleigh; "and moreover, it +is most instantly to the purpose. It is true, because you cannot deny +that I know the country and people intimately, and the character is drawn +from deep and accurate consideration--and it is to the purpose, because +it answers Mr. Francis Osbaldistone's question, and shows why this same +wary Scotchman, considering our kinsman to be neither his countryman, nor +a Campbell, nor his cousin in any of the inextricable combinations by +which they extend their pedigree; and, above all, seeing no prospect of +personal advantage, but, on the contrary, much hazard of loss of time and +delay of business"-- + +"With other inconveniences, perhaps, of a nature yet more formidable," +interrupted Miss Vernon. + +"Of which, doubtless, there might be many," said Rashleigh, continuing in +the same tone--"In short, my theory shows why this man, hoping for no +advantage, and afraid of some inconvenience, might require a degree of +persuasion ere he could be prevailed on to give his testimony in favour +of Mr. Osbaldistone." + +"It seems surprising to me," I observed, "that during the glance I cast +over the declaration, or whatever it is termed, of Mr. Morris, he should +never have mentioned that Campbell was in his company when he met the +marauders." + +"I understood from Campbell, that he had taken his solemn promise not to +mention that circumstance," replied Rashleigh: "his reason for exacting +such an engagement you may guess from what I have hinted--he wished to +get back to his own country, undelayed and unembarrassed by any of the +judicial inquiries which he would have been under the necessity of +attending, had the fact of his being present at the robbery taken air +while he was on this side of the Border. But let him once be as distant +as the Forth, Morris will, I warrant you, come forth with all he knows +about him, and, it may be, a good deal more. Besides, Campbell is a very +extensive dealer in cattle, and has often occasion to send great droves +into Northumberland; and, when driving such a trade, he would be a great +fool to embroil himself with our Northumbrian thieves, than whom no men +who live are more vindictive." + +"I dare be sworn of that," said Miss Vernon, with a tone which implied +something more than a simple acquiescence in the proposition. + +"Still," said I, resuming the subject, "allowing the force of the reasons +which Campbell might have for desiring that Morris should be silent with +regard to his promise when the robbery was committed, I cannot yet see +how he could attain such an influence over the man, as to make him +suppress his evidence in that particular, at the manifest risk of +subjecting his story to discredit." + +Rashleigh agreed with me, that it was very extraordinary, and seemed to +regret that he had not questioned the Scotchman more closely on that +subject, which he allowed looked extremely mysterious. "But," he asked, +immediately after this acquiescence, "are you very sure the circumstance +of Morris's being accompanied by Campbell is really not alluded to in his +examination?" + +"I read the paper over hastily," said I; "but it is my strong impression +that no such circumstance is mentioned;--at least, it must have been +touched on very slightly, since it failed to catch my attention." + +"True, true," answered Rashleigh, forming his own inference while he +adopted my words; "I incline to think with you, that the circumstance +must in reality have been mentioned, but so slightly that it failed to +attract your attention. And then, as to Campbell's interest with Morris, +I incline to suppose that it must have been gained by playing upon his +fears. This chicken-hearted fellow, Morris, is bound, I understand, for +Scotland, destined for some little employment under Government; and, +possessing the courage of the wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse, +he may have been afraid to encounter the ill-will of such a kill-cow as +Campbell, whose very appearance would be enough to fright him out of his +little wits. You observed that Mr. Campbell has at times a keen and +animated manner--something of a martial cast in his tone and bearing." + +"I own," I replied, "that his expression struck me as being occasionally +fierce and sinister, and little adapted to his peaceable professions. Has +he served in the army?" + +"Yes--no--not, strictly speaking, _served;_ but he has been, I believe, +like most of his countrymen, trained to arms. Indeed, among the hills, +they carry them from boyhood to the grave. So, if you know anything of +your fellow-traveller, you will easily judge, that, going to such a +country, he will take cue to avoid a quarrel, if he can help it, with any +of the natives. But, come, I see you decline your wine--and I too am a +degenerate Osbaldistone, so far as respects the circulation of the +bottle. If you will go to my room, I will hold you a hand at piquet." + +We rose to take leave of Miss Vernon, who had from time to time +suppressed, apparently with difficulty, a strong temptation to break in +upon Rashleigh's details. As we were about to leave the room, the +smothered fire broke forth. + +"Mr. Osbaldistone," she said, "your own observation will enable you to +verify the justice, or injustice, of Rashleigh's suggestions concerning +such individuals as Mr. Campbell and Mr. Morris. But, in slandering +Scotland, he has borne false witness against a whole country; and I +request you will allow no weight to his evidence." + +"Perhaps," I answered, "I may find it somewhat difficult to obey your +injunction, Miss Vernon; for I must own I was bred up with no very +favourable idea of our northern neighbours." + +"Distrust that part of your education, sir," she replied, "and let the +daughter of a Scotchwoman pray you to respect the land which gave her +parent birth, until your own observation has proved them to be unworthy +of your good opinion. Preserve your hatred and contempt for +dissimulation, baseness, and falsehood, wheresoever they are to be met +with. You will find enough of all without leaving England.--Adieu, +gentlemen, I wish you good evening." + +And she signed to the door, with the manner of a princess dismissing her +train. + +We retired to Rashleigh's apartment, where a servant brought us coffee +and cards. I had formed my resolution to press Rashleigh no farther on +the events of the day. A mystery, and, as I thought, not of a favourable +complexion, appeared to hang over his conduct; but to ascertain if my +suspicions were just, it was necessary to throw him off his guard. We cut +for the deal, and were soon earnestly engaged in our play. I thought I +perceived in this trifling for amusement (for the stake which Rashleigh +proposed was a mere trifle) something of a fierce and ambitious temper. +He seemed perfectly to understand the beautiful game at which he played, +but preferred, as it were on principle, the risking bold and precarious +strokes to the ordinary rules of play; and neglecting the minor and +better-balanced chances of the game, he hazarded everything for the +chance of piqueing, repiqueing, or capoting his adversary. So soon as the +intervention of a game or two at piquet, like the music between the acts +of a drama, had completely interrupted our previous course of +conversation, Rashleigh appeared to tire of the game, and the cards were +superseded by discourse, in which he assumed the lead. + +More learned than soundly wise--better acquainted with men's minds than +with the moral principles that ought to regulate them, he had still +powers of conversation which I have rarely seen equalled, never excelled. +Of this his manner implied some consciousness; at least, it appeared to +me that he had studied hard to improve his natural advantages of a +melodious voice, fluent and happy expression, apt language, and fervid +imagination. He was never loud, never overbearing, never so much occupied +with his own thoughts as to outrun either the patience or the +comprehension of those he conversed with. His ideas succeeded each other +with the gentle but unintermitting flow of a plentiful and bounteous +spring; while I have heard those of others, who aimed at distinction in +conversation, rush along like the turbid gush from the sluice of a +mill-pond, as hurried, and as easily exhausted. It was late at night ere +I could part from a companion so fascinating; and, when I gained my own +apartment, it cost me no small effort to recall to my mind the character +of Rashleigh, such as I had pictured him previous to this +_te^te-a'-te^te._ + +So effectual, my dear Tresham, does the sense of being pleased and amused +blunt our faculties of perception and discrimination of character, that I +can only compare it to the taste of certain fruits, at once luscious and +poignant, which renders our palate totally unfit for relishing or +distinguishing the viands which are subsequently subjected to its +criticism. + + + + + CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + + What gars ye gaunt, my merrymen a'? + What gars ye look sae dreary? + What gars ye hing your head sae sair + In the castle of Balwearie? + Old Scotch Ballad. + +The next morning chanced to be Sunday, a day peculiarly hard to be got +rid of at Osbaldistone Hall; for after the formal religious service of +the morning had been performed, at which all the family regularly +attended, it was hard to say upon which individual, Rashleigh and Miss +Vernon excepted, the fiend of ennui descended with the most abundant +outpouring of his spirit. To speak of my yesterday's embarrassment amused +Sir Hildebrand for several minutes, and he congratulated me on my +deliverance from Morpeth or Hexham jail, as he would have done if I had +fallen in attempting to clear a five-barred gate, and got up without +hurting myself. + +"Hast had a lucky turn, lad; but do na be over venturous again. What, +man! the king's road is free to all men, be they Whigs, be they Tories." + +"On my word, sir, I am innocent of interrupting it; and it is the most +provoking thing on earth, that every person will take it for granted that +I am accessory to a crime which I despise and detest, and which would, +moreover, deservedly forfeit my life to the laws of my country." + +"Well, well, lad; even so be it; I ask no questions--no man bound to tell +on himsell--that's fair play, or the devil's in't." + +Rashleigh here came to my assistance; but I could not help thinking that +his arguments were calculated rather as hints to his father to put on a +show of acquiescence in my declaration of innocence, than fully to +establish it. + +"In your own house, my dear sir--and your own nephew--you will not surely +persist in hurting his feelings by seeming to discredit what he is so +strongly interested in affirming. No doubt, you are fully deserving of +all his confidence, and I am sure, were there anything you could do to +assist him in this strange affair, he would have recourse to your +goodness. But my cousin Frank has been dismissed as an innocent man, and +no one is entitled to suppose him otherwise. For my part, I have not the +least doubt of his innocence; and our family honour, I conceive, requires +that we should maintain it with tongue and sword against the whole +country." + +"Rashleigh," said his father, looking fixedly at him, "thou art a sly +loon--thou hast ever been too cunning for me, and too cunning for most +folks. Have a care thou provena too cunning for thysell--two faces under +one hood is no true heraldry. And since we talk of heraldry, I'll go and +read Gwillym." + +This resolution he intimated with a yawn, resistless as that of the +Goddess in the Dunciad, which was responsively echoed by his giant sons, +as they dispersed in quest of the pastimes to which their minds severally +inclined them--Percie to discuss a pot of March beer with the steward in +the buttery,--Thorncliff to cut a pair of cudgels, and fix them in their +wicker hilts,--John to dress May-flies,--Dickon to play at pitch and toss +by himself, his right hand against his left,--and Wilfred to bite his +thumbs and hum himself into a slumber which should last till dinner-time, +if possible. Miss Vernon had retired to the library. + +Rashleigh and I were left alone in the old hall, from which the servants, +with their usual bustle and awkwardness, had at length contrived to hurry +the remains of our substantial breakfast. I took the opportunity to +upbraid him with the manner in which he had spoken of my affair to his +father, which I frankly stated was highly offensive to me, as it seemed +rather to exhort Sir Hildebrand to conceal his suspicions, than to root +them out. + +"Why, what can I do, my dear friend?" replied Rashleigh "my father's +disposition is so tenacious of suspicions of all kinds, when once they +take root (which, to do him justice, does not easily happen), that I have +always found it the best way to silence him upon such subjects, instead +of arguing with him. Thus I get the better of the weeds which I cannot +eradicate, by cutting them over as often as they appear, until at length +they die away of themselves. There is neither wisdom nor profit in +disputing with such a mind as Sir Hildebrand's, which hardens itself +against conviction, and believes in its own inspirations as firmly as we +good Catholics do in those of the Holy Father of Rome." + +"It is very hard, though, that I should live in the house of a man, and +he a near relation too, who will persist in believing me guilty of a +highway robbery." + +"My father's foolish opinion, if one may give that epithet to any opinion +of a father's, does not affect your real innocence; and as to the +disgrace of the fact, depend on it, that, considered in all its bearings, +political as well as moral, Sir Hildebrand regards it as a meritorious +action--a weakening of the enemy--a spoiling of the Amalekites; and you +will stand the higher in his regard for your supposed accession to it." + +"I desire no man's regard, Mr. Rashleigh, on such terms as must sink me +in my own; and I think these injurious suspicions will afford a very good +reason for quitting Osbaldistone Hall, which I shall do whenever I can +communicate on the subject with my father." + +The dark countenance of Rashleigh, though little accustomed to betray its +master's feelings, exhibited a suppressed smile, which he instantly +chastened by a sigh. "You are a happy man, Frank--you go and come, as the +wind bloweth where it listeth. With your address, taste, and talents, you +will soon find circles where they will be more valued, than amid the dull +inmates of this mansion; while I--" he paused. + +"And what is there in your lot that can make you or any one envy mine,-- +an outcast, as I may almost term myself, from my father's house and +favour?" + +"Ay, but," answered Rashleigh, "consider the gratified sense of +independence which you must have attained by a very temporary sacrifice, +--for such I am sure yours will prove to be; consider the power of acting +as a free agent, of cultivating your own talents in the way to which your +taste determines you, and in which you are well qualified to distinguish +yourself. Fame and freedom are cheaply purchased by a few weeks' +residence in the North, even though your place of exile be Osbaldistone +Hall. A second Ovid in Thrace, you have not his reasons for writing +Tristia." + +"I do not know," said I, blushing as became a young scribbler, "how you +should be so well acquainted with my truant studies." + +"There was an emissary of your father's here some time since, a young +coxcomb, one Twineall, who informed me concerning your secret sacrifices +to the muses, and added, that some of your verses had been greatly +admired by the best judges." + +Tresham, I believe you are guiltless of having ever essayed to build the +lofty rhyme; but you must have known in your day many an apprentice and +fellow-craft, if not some of the master-masons, in the temple of Apollo. +Vanity is their universal foible, from him who decorated the shades of +Twickenham, to the veriest scribbler whom he has lashed in his Dunciad. I +had my own share of this common failing, and without considering how +little likely this young fellow Twineall was, by taste and habits, either +to be acquainted with one or two little pieces of poetry, which I had at +times insinuated into Button's coffee-house, or to report the opinion of +the critics who frequented that resort of wit and literature, I almost +instantly gorged the bait; which Rashleigh perceiving, improved his +opportunity by a diffident, yet apparently very anxious request to be +permitted to see some of my manuscript productions. + +"You shall give me an evening in my own apartment," he continued; "for I +must soon lose the charms of literary society for the drudgery of +commerce, and the coarse every-day avocations of the world. I repeat it, +that my compliance with my father's wishes for the advantage of my +family, is indeed a sacrifice, especially considering the calm and +peaceful profession to which my education destined me." + +I was vain, but not a fool, and this hypocrisy was too strong for me to +swallow. "You would not persuade me," I replied, "that you really regret +to exchange the situation of an obscure Catholic priest, with all its +privations, for wealth and society, and the pleasures of the world?" + +Rashleigh saw that he had coloured his affectation of moderation too +highly, and, after a second's pause, during which, I suppose, he +calculated the degree of candour which it was necessary to use with me +(that being a quality of which he was never needlessly profuse), he +answered, with a smile--"At my age, to be condemned, as you say, to +wealth and the world, does not, indeed, sound so alarming as perhaps it +ought to do. But, with pardon be it spoken, you have mistaken my +destination--a Catholic priest, if you will, but not an obscure one. No, +sir,--Rashleigh Osbaldistone will be more obscure, should he rise to be +the richest citizen in London, than he might have been as a member of a +church, whose ministers, as some one says, 'set their sandall'd feet on +princes.' My family interest at a certain exiled court is high, and the +weight which that court ought to possess, and does possess, at Rome is +yet higher--my talents not altogether inferior to the education I have +received. In sober judgment, I might have looked forward to high eminence +in the church--in the dream of fancy, to the very highest. Why might +not"--(he added, laughing, for it was part of his manner to keep much of +his discourse apparently betwixt jest and earnest)--"why might not +Cardinal Osbaldistone have swayed the fortunes of empires, well-born and +well-connected, as well as the low-born Mazarin, or Alberoni, the son of +an Italian gardener?" + +"Nay, I can give you no reason to the contrary; but in your place I +should not much regret losing the chance of such precarious and invidious +elevation." + +"Neither would I," he replied, "were I sure that my present establishment +was more certain; but that must depend upon circumstances which I can +only learn by experience--the disposition of your father, for example." + +"Confess the truth without finesse, Rashleigh; you would willingly know +something of him from me?" + +"Since, like Die Vernon, you make a point of following the banner of the +good knight Sincerity, I reply--certainly." + +"Well, then, you will find in my father a man who has followed the paths +of thriving more for the exercise they afforded to his talents, than for +the love of the gold with which they are strewed. His active mind would +have been happy in any situation which gave it scope for exertion, though +that exertion had been its sole reward. But his wealth has accumulated, +because, moderate and frugal in his habits, no new sources of expense +have occurred to dispose of his increasing income. He is a man who hates +dissimulation in others; never practises it himself; and is peculiarly +alert in discovering motives through the colouring of language. Himself +silent by habit, he is readily disgusted by great talkers; the rather, +that the circumstances by which he is most interested, afford no great +scope for conversation. He is severely strict in the duties of religion; +but you have no reason to fear his interference with yours, for he +regards toleration as a sacred principle of political economy. But if you +have any Jacobitical partialities, as is naturally to be supposed, you +will do well to suppress them in his presence, as well as the least +tendency to the highflying or Tory principles; for he holds both in utter +detestation. For the rest, his word is his own bond, and must be the law +of all who act under him. He will fail in his duty to no one, and will +permit no one to fail towards him; to cultivate his favour, you must +execute his commands, instead of echoing his sentiments. His greatest +failings arise out of prejudices connected with his own profession, or +rather his exclusive devotion to it, which makes him see little worthy of +praise or attention, unless it be in some measure connected with +commerce." + +"O rare-painted portrait!" exclaimed Rashleigh, when I was silent-- +"Vandyke was a dauber to you, Frank. I see thy sire before me in all his +strength and weakness; loving and honouring the King as a sort of lord +mayor of the empire, or chief of the board of trade--venerating the +Commons, for the acts regulating the export trade--and respecting the +Peers, because the Lord Chancellor sits on a woolsack." + +"Mine was a likeness, Rashleigh; yours is a caricature. But in return for +the _carte du pays_ which I have unfolded to you, give me some lights on +the geography of the unknown lands"-- + +"On which you are wrecked," said Rashleigh. "It is not worth while; it is +no Isle of Calypso, umbrageous with shade and intricate with silvan +labyrinth--but a bare ragged Northumbrian moor, with as little to +interest curiosity as to delight the eye; you may descry it in all its +nakedness in half an hour's survey, as well as if I were to lay it down +before you by line and compass." + +"O, but something there is, worthy a more attentive survey--What say you +to Miss Vernon? Does not she form an interesting object in the landscape, +were all round as rude as Iceland's coast?" + +I could plainly perceive that Rashleigh disliked the topic now presented +to him; but my frank communication had given me the advantageous title to +make inquiries in my turn. Rashleigh felt this, and found himself obliged +to follow my lead, however difficult he might find it to play his cards +successfully. "I have known less of Miss Vernon," he said, "for some +time, than I was wont to do formerly. In early age I was her tutor; but +as she advanced towards womanhood, my various avocations,--the gravity of +the profession to which I was destined,--the peculiar nature of her +engagements,--our mutual situation, in short, rendered a close and +constant intimacy dangerous and improper. I believe Miss Vernon might +consider my reserve as unkindness, but it was my duty; I felt as much as +she seemed to do, when compelled to give way to prudence. But where was +the safety in cultivating an intimacy with a beautiful and susceptible +girl, whose heart, you are aware, must be given either to the cloister or +to a betrothed husband?" + +"The cloister or a betrothed husband?" I echoed--"Is that the alternative +destined for Miss Vernon?" + +"It is indeed," said Rashleigh, with a sigh. "I need not, I suppose, +caution you against the danger of cultivating too closely the friendship +of Miss Vernon;--you are a man of the world, and know how far you can +indulge yourself in her society with safety to yourself, and justice to +her. But I warn you, that, considering her ardent temper, you must let +your experience keep guard over her as well as yourself, for the specimen +of yesterday may serve to show her extreme thoughtlessness and neglect of +decorum." + +There was something, I was sensible, of truth, as well as good sense, in +all this; it seemed to be given as a friendly warning, and I had no right +to take it amiss; yet I felt I could with pleasure have run Rashleigh +Osbaldistone through the body all the time he was speaking. + +"The deuce take his insolence!" was my internal meditation. "Would he +wish me to infer that Miss Vernon had fallen in love with that +hatchet-face of his, and become degraded so low as to require his shyness +to cure her of an imprudent passion? I will have his meaning from him," +was my resolution, "if I should drag it out with cart-ropes." + +For this purpose, I placed my temper under as accurate a guard as I +could, and observed, "That, for a lady of her good sense and acquired +accomplishments, it was to be regretted that Miss Vernon's manners were +rather blunt and rustic." + +"Frank and unreserved, at least, to the extreme," replied Rashleigh: +"yet, trust me, she has an excellent heart. To tell you the truth, should +she continue her extreme aversion to the cloister, and to her destined +husband, and should my own labours in the mine of Plutus promise to +secure me a decent independence, I shall think of reviewing our +acquaintance and sharing it with Miss Vernon." + +"With all his fine voice, and well-turned periods," thought I, "this same +Rashleigh Osbaldistone is the ugliest and most conceited coxcomb I ever +met with!" + +"But," continued Rashleigh, as if thinking aloud, "I should not like to +supplant Thorncliff." + +"Supplant Thorncliff!--Is your brother Thorncliff," I inquired, with +great surprise, "the destined husband of Diana Vernon?" + +"Why, ay, her father's commands, and a certain family-contract, destined +her to marry one of Sir Hildebrand's sons. A dispensation has been +obtained from Rome to Diana Vernon to marry _Blank_ Osbaldistone, Esq., +son of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, of Osbaldistone Hall, Bart., and so +forth; and it only remains to pitch upon the happy man whose name shall +fill the gap in the manuscript. Now, as Percie is seldom sober, my father +pitched on Thorncliff, as the second prop of the family, and therefore +most proper to carry on the line of the Osbaldistones." + +"The young lady," said I, forcing myself to assume an air of pleasantry, +which, I believe, became me extremely ill, "would perhaps have been +inclined to look a little lower on the family-tree, for the branch to +which she was desirous of clinging." + +"I cannot say," he replied. "There is room for little choice in our +family; Dick is a gambler, John a boor, and Wilfred an ass. I believe my +father really made the best selection for poor Die, after all." + +"The present company," said I, "being always excepted." + +"Oh, my destination to the church placed me out of the question; +otherwise I will not affect to say, that, qualified by my education both +to instruct and guide Miss Vernon, I might not have been a more +creditable choice than any of my elders." + +"And so thought the young lady, doubtless?" + +"You are not to suppose so," answered Rashleigh, with an affectation of +denial which was contrived to convey the strongest affirmation the case +admitted of: "friendship--only friendship--formed the tie betwixt us, and +the tender affection of an opening mind to its only instructor--Love came +not near us--I told you I was wise in time." + +I felt little inclination to pursue this conversation any farther, and +shaking myself clear of Rashleigh, withdrew to my own apartment, which I +recollect I traversed with much vehemence of agitation, repeating aloud +the expressions which had most offended me.--"Susceptible--ardent--tender +affection--Love--Diana Vernon, the most beautiful creature I ever beheld, +in love with him, the bandy-legged, bull-necked, limping scoundrel! +Richard the Third in all but his hump-back!--And yet the opportunities he +must have had during his cursed course of lectures; and the fellow's +flowing and easy strain of sentiment; and her extreme seclusion from +every one who spoke and acted with common sense; ay, and her obvious +pique at him, mixed with admiration of his talents, which looked as like +the result of neglected attachment as anything else--Well, and what is it +to me, that I should storm and rage at it? Is Diana Vernon the first +pretty girl that has loved and married an ugly fellow? And if she were +free of every Osbaldistone of them, what concern is it of mine?--a +Catholic--a Jacobite--a termagant into the boot--for me to look that way +were utter madness." + +By throwing such reflections on the flame of my displeasure, I subdued it +into a sort of smouldering heart-burning, and appeared at the +dinner-table in as sulky a humour as could well be imagined. + + + + + CHAPTER TWELFTH. + + Drunk?--and speak parrot?--and squabble?--swagger?-- + Swear?--and discourse fustian with one's own shadow? + Othello. + +I have already told you, my dear Tresham, what probably was no news to +you, that my principal fault was an unconquerable pitch of pride, which +exposed me to frequent mortification. I had not even whispered to myself +that I loved Diana Vernon; yet no sooner did I hear Rashleigh talk of her +as a prize which he might stoop to carry off, or neglect, at his +pleasure, than every step which the poor girl had taken, in the innocence +and openness of her heart, to form a sort of friendship with me, seemed +in my eyes the most insulting coquetry.--"Soh! she would secure me as a +_pis aller,_ I suppose, in case Mr. Rashleigh Osbaldistone should not +take compassion upon her! But I will satisfy her that I am not a person +to be trepanned in that manner--I will make her sensible that I see +through her arts, and that I scorn them." + +I did not reflect for a moment, that all this indignation, which I had no +right whatever to entertain, proved that I was anything but indifferent +to Miss Vernon's charms; and I sate down to table in high ill-humour with +her and all the daughters of Eve. + +Miss Vernon heard me, with surprise, return ungracious answers to one or +two playful strokes of satire which she threw out with her usual freedom +of speech; but, having no suspicion that offence was meant, she only +replied to my rude repartees with jests somewhat similar, but polished by +her good temper, though pointed by her wit. At length she perceived I was +really out of humour, and answered one of my rude speeches thus:-- + +"They say, Mr. Frank, that one may gather sense from fools--I heard +cousin Wilfred refuse to play any longer at cudgels the other day with +cousin Thornie, because cousin Thornie got angry, and struck harder than +the rules of amicable combat, it seems, permitted. 'Were I to break your +head in good earnest,' quoth honest Wilfred, 'I care not how angry you +are, for I should do it so much the more easily but it's hard I should +get raps over the costard, and only pay you back in make-believes'--Do +you understand the moral of this, Frank?" + +"I have never felt myself under the necessity, madam, of studying how to +extract the slender portion of sense with which this family season their +conversation." + +"Necessity! and madam!--You surprise me, Mr. Osbaldistone." + +"I am unfortunate in doing so." + +"Am I to suppose that this capricious tone is serious? or is it only +assumed, to make your good-humour more valuable?" + +"You have a right to the attention of so many gentlemen in this family, +Miss Vernon, that it cannot be worth your while to inquire into the cause +of my stupidity and bad spirits." + +"What!" she said, "am I to understand, then, that you have deserted my +faction, and gone over to the enemy?" + +Then, looking across the table, and observing that Rashleigh, who was +seated opposite, was watching us with a singular expression of interest +on his harsh features, she continued-- + + "Horrible thought!--Ay, now I see 'tis true, + For the grim-visaged Rashleigh smiles on me, + And points at thee for his!-- + +Well, thank Heaven, and the unprotected state which has taught me +endurance, I do not take offence easily; and that I may not be forced to +quarrel, whether I like it or no, I have the honour, earlier than usual, +to wish you a happy digestion of your dinner and your bad humour." + +And she left the table accordingly. + +Upon Miss Vernon's departure, I found myself very little satisfied with +my own conduct. I had hurled back offered kindness, of which +circumstances had but lately pointed out the honest sincerity, and I had +but just stopped short of insulting the beautiful, and, as she had said +with some emphasis, the unprotected being by whom it was proffered. My +conduct seemed brutal in my own eyes. To combat or drown these painful +reflections, I applied myself more frequently than usual to the wine +which circulated on the table. + +The agitated state of my feelings combined with my habits of temperance +to give rapid effect to the beverage. Habitual topers, I believe, acquire +the power of soaking themselves with a quantity of liquor that does +little more than muddy those intellects which in their sober state are +none of the clearest; but men who are strangers to the vice of +drunkenness as a habit, are more powerfully acted upon by intoxicating +liquors. My spirits, once aroused, became extravagant; I talked a great +deal, argued upon what I knew nothing of, told stories of which I forgot +the point, then laughed immoderately at my own forgetfulness; I accepted +several bets without having the least judgment; I challenged the giant +John to wrestle with me, although he had kept the ring at Hexham for a +year, and I never tried so much as a single fall. + +My uncle had the goodness to interpose and prevent this consummation of +drunken folly, which, I suppose, would have otherwise ended in my neck +being broken. + +It has even been reported by maligners, that I sung a song while under +this vinous influence; but, as I remember nothing of it, and never +attempted to turn a tune in all my life before or since, I would +willingly hope there is no actual foundation for the calumny. I was +absurd enough without this exaggeration. Without positively losing my +senses, I speedily lost all command of my temper, and my impetuous +passions whirled me onward at their pleasure. I had sate down sulky and +discontented, and disposed to be silent--the wine rendered me loquacious, +disputatious, and quarrelsome. I contradicted whatever was asserted, and +attacked, without any respect to my uncle's table, both his politics and +his religion. The affected moderation of Rashleigh, which he well knew +how to qualify with irritating ingredients, was even more provoking to me +than the noisy and bullying language of his obstreperous brothers. My +uncle, to do him justice, endeavoured to bring us to order; but his +authority was lost amidst the tumult of wine and passion. At length, +frantic at some real or supposed injurious insinuation, I actually struck +Rashleigh with my fist. No Stoic philosopher, superior to his own passion +and that of others, could have received an insult with a higher degree of +scorn. What he himself did not think it apparently worth while to resent, +Thorncliff resented for him. Swords were drawn, and we exchanged one or +two passes, when the other brothers separated us by main force; and I +shall never forget the diabolical sneer which writhed Rashleigh's wayward +features, as I was forced from the apartment by the main strength of two +of these youthful Titans. They secured me in my apartment by locking the +door, and I heard them, to my inexpressible rage, laugh heartily as they +descended the stairs. I essayed in my fury to break out; but the +window-grates, and the strength of a door clenched with iron, resisted my +efforts. At length I threw myself on my bed, and fell asleep amidst vows +of dire revenge to be taken in the ensuing day. + +But with the morning cool repentance came. I felt, in the keenest manner, +the violence and absurdity of my conduct, and was obliged to confess that +wine and passion had lowered my intellects even below those of Wilfred +Osbaldistone, whom I held in so much contempt. My uncomfortable +reflections were by no means soothed by meditating the necessity of an +apology for my improper behaviour, and recollecting that Miss Vernon must +be a witness of my submission. The impropriety and unkindness of my +conduct to her personally, added not a little to these galling +considerations, and for this I could not even plead the miserable excuse +of intoxication. + +Under all these aggravating feelings of shame and degradation, I +descended to the breakfast hall, like a criminal to receive sentence. It +chanced that a hard frost had rendered it impossible to take out the +hounds, so that I had the additional mortification to meet the family, +excepting only Rashleigh and Miss Vernon, in full divan, surrounding the +cold venison pasty and chine of beef. They were in high glee as I +entered, and I could easily imagine that the jests were furnished at my +expense. In fact, what I was disposed to consider with serious pain, was +regarded as an excellent good joke by my uncle, and the greater part of +my cousins. Sir Hildebrand, while he rallied me on the exploits of the +preceding evening, swore he thought a young fellow had better be thrice +drunk in one day, than sneak sober to bed like a Presbyterian, and leave +a batch of honest fellows, and a double quart of claret. And to back this +consolatory speech, he poured out a large bumper of brandy, exhorting me +to swallow "a hair of the dog that had bit me." + +"Never mind these lads laughing, nevoy," he continued; "they would have +been all as great milksops as yourself, had I not nursed them, as one may +say, on the toast and tankard." + +Ill-nature was not the fault of my cousins in general; they saw I was +vexed and hurt at the recollections of the preceding evening, and +endeavoured, with clumsy kindness, to remove the painful impression they +had made on me. Thorncliff alone looked sullen and unreconciled. This +young man had never liked me from the beginning; and in the marks of +attention occasionally shown me by his brothers, awkward as they were, he +alone had never joined. If it was true, of which, however, I began to +have my doubts, that he was considered by the family, or regarded +himself, as the destined husband of Miss Vernon, a sentiment of jealousy +might have sprung up in his mind from the marked predilection which it +was that young lady's pleasure to show for one whom Thorncliff might, +perhaps, think likely to become a dangerous rival. + +Rashleigh at last entered, his visage as dark as mourning weed--brooding, +I could not but doubt, over the unjustifiable and disgraceful insult I +had offered to him. I had already settled in my own mind how I was to +behave on the occasion, and had schooled myself to believe, that true +honour consisted not in defending, but in apologising for, an injury so +much disproportioned to any provocation I might have to allege. + +I therefore hastened to meet Rashleigh, and to express myself in the +highest degree sorry for the violence with which I had acted on the +preceding evening. "No circumstances," I said, "could have wrung from me +a single word of apology, save my own consciousness of the impropriety of +my behaviour. I hoped my cousin would accept of my regrets so sincerely +offered, and consider how much of my misconduct was owing to the +excessive hospitality of Osbaldistone Hall." + +"He shall be friends with thee, lad," cried the honest knight, in the +full effusion of his heart; "or d--n me, if I call him son more!--Why, +Rashie, dost stand there like a log? _Sorry for it_ is all a gentleman +can say, if he happens to do anything awry, especially over his claret. I +served in Hounslow, and should know something, I think, of affairs of +honour. Let me hear no more of this, and we'll go in a body and rummage +out the badger in Birkenwood-bank." + +Rashleigh's face resembled, as I have already noticed, no other +countenance that I ever saw. But this singularity lay not only in the +features, but in the mode of changing their expression. Other +countenances, in altering from grief to joy, or from anger to +satisfaction, pass through some brief interval, ere the expression of the +predominant passion supersedes entirely that of its predecessor. There is +a sort of twilight, like that between the clearing up of the darkness and +the rising of the sun, while the swollen muscles subside, the dark eye +clears, the forehead relaxes and expands itself, and the whole +countenance loses its sterner shades, and becomes serene and placid. +Rashleigh's face exhibited none of these gradations, but changed almost +instantaneously from the expression of one passion to that of the +contrary. I can compare it to nothing but the sudden shifting of a scene +in the theatre, where, at the whistle of the prompter, a cavern +disappears, and a grove arises. + +My attention was strongly arrested by this peculiarity on the present +occasion. At Rashleigh's first entrance, "black he stood as night!" With +the same inflexible countenance he heard my excuse and his father's +exhortation; and it was not until Sir Hildebrand had done speaking, that +the cloud cleared away at once, and he expressed, in the kindest and most +civil terms, his perfect satisfaction with the very handsome apology I +had offered. + +"Indeed," he said, "I have so poor a brain myself, when I impose on it +the least burden beyond my usual three glasses, that I have only, like +honest Cassio, a very vague recollection of the confusion of last night-- +remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly--a quarrel, but nothing +wherefore--So, my dear Cousin," he continued, shaking me kindly by the +hand, "conceive how much I am relieved by finding that I have to receive +an apology, instead of having to make one--I will not have a word said +upon the subject more; I should be very foolish to institute any scrutiny +into an account, when the balance, which I expected to be against me, has +been so unexpectedly and agreeably struck in my favour. You see, Mr. +Osbaldistone, I am practising the language of Lombard Street, and +qualifying myself for my new calling." + +As I was about to answer, and raised my eyes for the purpose, they +encountered those of Miss Vernon, who, having entered the room unobserved +during the conversation, had given it her close attention. Abashed and +confounded, I fixed my eyes on the ground, and made my escape to the +breakfast-table, where I herded among my busy cousins. + +My uncle, that the events of the preceding day might not pass out of our +memory without a practical moral lesson, took occasion to give Rashleigh +and me his serious advice to correct our milksop habits, as he termed +them, and gradually to inure our brains to bear a gentlemanlike quantity +of liquor, without brawls or breaking of heads. He recommended that we +should begin piddling with a regular quart of claret per day, which, with +the aid of March beer and brandy, made a handsome competence for a +beginner in the art of toping. And for our encouragement, he assured us +that he had known many a man who had lived to our years without having +drunk a pint of wine at a sitting, who yet, by falling into honest +company, and following hearty example, had afterwards been numbered among +the best good fellows of the time, and could carry off their six bottles +under their belt quietly and comfortably, without brawling or babbling, +and be neither sick nor sorry the next morning. + +Sage as this advice was, and comfortable as was the prospect it held out +to me, I profited but little by the exhortation--partly, perhaps, +because, as often as I raised my eyes from the table, I observed Miss +Vernon's looks fixed on me, in which I thought I could read grave +compassion blended with regret and displeasure. I began to consider how I +should seek a scene of explanation and apology with her also, when she +gave me to understand she was determined to save me the trouble of +soliciting an interview. "Cousin Francis," she said, addressing me by the +same title she used to give to the other Osbaldistones, although I had, +properly speaking, no title to be called her kinsman, "I have encountered +this morning a difficult passage in the Divina Comme'dia of Dante; will +you have the goodness to step to the library and give me your assistance? +and when you have unearthed for me the meaning of the obscure Florentine, +we will join the rest at Birkenwood-bank, and see their luck at +unearthing the badger." + +I signified, of course, my readiness to wait upon her. Rashleigh made an +offer to accompany us. "I am something better skilled," he said, "at +tracking the sense of Dante through the metaphors and elisions of his +wild and gloomy poem, than at hunting the poor inoffensive hermit yonder +out of his cave." + +"Pardon me, Rashleigh," said Miss Vernon, "but as you are to occupy Mr. +Francis's place in the counting-house, you must surrender to him the +charge of your pupil's education at Osbaldistone Hall. We shall call you +in, however, if there is any occasion; so pray do not look so grave upon +it. Besides, it is a shame to you not to understand field-sports--What +will you do should our uncle in Crane-Alley ask you the signs by which +you track a badger?" + +"Ay, true, Die,--true," said Sir Hildebrand, with a sigh, "I misdoubt +Rashleigh will be found short at the leap when he is put to the trial. An +he would ha' learned useful knowledge like his brothers, he was bred up +where it grew, I wuss; but French antics, and book-learning, with the new +turnips, and the rats, and the Hanoverians, ha' changed the world that I +ha' known in Old England--But come along with us, Rashie, and carry my +hunting-staff, man; thy cousin lacks none of thy company as now, and I +wonna ha' Die crossed--It's ne'er be said there was but one woman in +Osbaldistone Hall, and she died for lack of her will." + +Rashleigh followed his father, as he commanded, not, however, ere he had +whispered to Diana, "I suppose I must in discretion bring the courtier, +Ceremony, in my company, and knock when I approach the door of the +library?" + +"No, no, Rashleigh," said Miss Vernon; "dismiss from your company the +false archimage Dissimulation, and it will better ensure your free access +to our classical consultations." + +So saying, she led the way to the library, and I followed--like a +criminal, I was going to say, to execution; but, as I bethink me, I have +used the simile once, if not twice before. Without any simile at all, +then, I followed, with a sense of awkward and conscious embarrassment, +which I would have given a great deal to shake off. I thought it a +degrading and unworthy feeling to attend one on such an occasion, having +breathed the air of the Continent long enough to have imbibed the notion +that lightness, gallantry, and something approaching to well-bred +self-assurance, should distinguish the gentleman whom a fair lady selects +for her companion in a _tete-a-tete._ + +My English feelings, however, were too many for my French education, and +I made, I believe, a very pitiful figure, when Miss Vernon, seating +herself majestically in a huge elbow-chair in the library, like a judge +about to hear a cause of importance, signed to me to take a chair +opposite to her (which I did, much like the poor fellow who is going to +be tried), and entered upon conversation in a tone of bitter irony. + + + + + CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. + + + Dire was his thought, who first in poison steeped + The weapon formed for slaughter--direr his, + And worthier of damnation, who instilled + The mortal venom in the social cup, + To fill the veins with death instead of life. + Anonymous. + +"Upon my Word, Mr. Francis Osbaldistone," said Miss Vernon, with the air +of one who thought herself fully entitled to assume the privilege of +ironical reproach, which she was pleased to exert, "your character +improves upon us, sir--I could not have thought that it was in you. +Yesterday might be considered as your assay-piece, to prove yourself +entitled to be free of the corporation of Osbaldistone Hall. But it was a +masterpiece." + +"I am quite sensible of my ill-breeding, Miss Vernon, and I can only say +for myself that I had received some communications by which my spirits +were unusually agitated. I am conscious I was impertinent and absurd." + +"You do yourself great injustice," said the merciless monitor--"you have +contrived, by what I saw and have since heard, to exhibit in the course +of one evening a happy display of all the various masterly qualifications +which distinguish your several cousins;--the gentle and generous temper +of the benevolent Rashleigh,--the temperance of Percie,--the cool courage +of Thorncliff,--John's skill in dog-breaking,--Dickon's aptitude to +betting,--all exhibited by the single individual, Mr. Francis, and that +with a selection of time, place, and circumstance, worthy the taste and +sagacity of the sapient Wilfred." + +"Have a little mercy, Miss Vernon," said I; for I confess I thought the +schooling as severe as the case merited, especially considering from what +quarter it came, "and forgive me if I suggest, as an excuse for follies I +am not usually guilty of, the custom of this house and country. I am far +from approving of it; but we have Shakspeare's authority for saying, that +good wine is a good familiar creature, and that any man living may be +overtaken at some time." + +"Ay, Mr. Francis, but he places the panegyric and the apology in the +mouth of the greatest villain his pencil has drawn. I will not, however, +abuse the advantage your quotation has given me, by overwhelming you with +the refutation with which the victim Cassio replies to the tempter Iago. +I only wish you to know, that there is one person at least sorry to see a +youth of talents and expectations sink into the slough in which the +inhabitants of this house are nightly wallowing." + +"I have but wet my shoe, I assure you, Miss Vernon, and am too sensible +of the filth of the puddle to step farther in." + +"If such be your resolution," she replied, "it is a wise one. But I was +so much vexed at what I heard, that your concerns have pressed before my +own,--You behaved to me yesterday, during dinner, as if something had +been told you which lessened or lowered me in your opinion--I beg leave +to ask you what it was?" + +I was stupified. The direct bluntness of the demand was much in the style +one gentleman uses to another, when requesting explanation of any part of +his conduct in a good-humoured yet determined manner, and was totally +devoid of the circumlocutions, shadings, softenings, and periphrasis, +which usually accompany explanations betwixt persons of different sexes +in the higher orders of society. + +I remained completely embarrassed; for it pressed on my recollection, +that Rashleigh's communications, supposing them to be correct, ought to +have rendered Miss Vernon rather an object of my compassion than of my +pettish resentment; and had they furnished the best apology possible for +my own conduct, still I must have had the utmost difficulty in detailing +what inferred such necessary and natural offence to Miss Vernon's +feelings. She observed my hesitation, and proceeded, in a tone somewhat +more peremptory, but still temperate and civil--"I hope Mr. Osbaldistone +does not dispute my title to request this explanation. I have no relative +who can protect me; it is, therefore, just that I be permitted to protect +myself." + +I endeavoured with hesitation to throw the blame of my rude behaviour +upon indisposition--upon disagreeable letters from London. She suffered +me to exhaust my apologies, and fairly to run myself aground, listening +all the while with a smile of absolute incredulity. + +"And now, Mr. Francis, having gone through your prologue of excuses, with +the same bad grace with which all prologues are delivered, please to draw +the curtain, and show me that which I desire to see. In a word, let me +know what Rashleigh says of me; for he is the grand engineer and first +mover of all the machinery of Osbaldistone Hall." + +"But, supposing there was anything to tell, Miss Vernon, what does he +deserve that betrays the secrets of one ally to another?--Rashleigh, you +yourself told me, remained your ally, though no longer your friend." + +"I have neither patience for evasion, nor inclination for jesting, on the +present subject. Rashleigh cannot--ought not--dare not, hold any language +respecting me, Diana Vernon, but what I may demand to hear repeated. That +there are subjects of secrecy and confidence between us, is most certain; +but to such, his communications to you could have no relation; and with +such, I, as an individual, have no concern." + +I had by this time recovered my presence of mind, and hastily determined +to avoid making any disclosure of what Rashleigh had told me in a sort of +confidence. There was something unworthy in retailing private +conversation; it could, I thought, do no good, and must necessarily give +Miss Vernon great pain. I therefore replied, gravely, "that nothing but +frivolous talk had passed between Mr. Rashleigh Osbaldistone and me on +the state of the family at the Hall; and I protested, that nothing had +been said which left a serious impression to her disadvantage. As a +gentleman," I said, "I could not be more explicit in reporting private +conversation." + +She started up with the animation of a Camilla about to advance into +battle. "This shall not serve your turn, sir,--I must have another answer +from you." Her features kindled--her brow became flushed--her eye glanced +wild-fire as she proceeded--"I demand such an explanation, as a woman +basely slandered has a right to demand from every man who calls himself a +gentleman--as a creature, motherless, friendless, alone in the world, +left to her own guidance and protection, has a right to require from +every being having a happier lot, in the name of that God who sent _them_ +into the world to enjoy, and _her_ to suffer. You shall not deny me--or," +she added, looking solemnly upwards, "you will rue your denial, if there +is justice for wrong either on earth or in heaven." + +I was utterly astonished at her vehemence, but felt, thus conjured, that +it became my duty to lay aside scrupulous delicacy, and gave her briefly, +but distinctly, the heads of the information which Rashleigh had conveyed +to me. + +She sate down and resumed her composure, as soon as I entered upon the +subject, and when I stopped to seek for the most delicate turn of +expression, she repeatedly interrupted me with "Go on--pray, go on; the +first word which occurs to you is the plainest, and must be the best. Do +not think of my feelings, but speak as you would to an unconcerned third +party." + +Thus urged and encouraged, I stammered through all the account which +Rashleigh had given of her early contract to marry an Osbaldistone, and +of the uncertainty and difficulty of her choice; and there I would +willingly have paused. But her penetration discovered that there was +still something behind, and even guessed to what it related. + +"Well, it was ill-natured of Rashleigh to tell this tale on me. I am like +the poor girl in the fairy tale, who was betrothed in her cradle to the +Black Bear of Norway, but complained chiefly of being called Bruin's +bride by her companions at school. But besides all this, Rashleigh said +something of himself with relation to me--Did he not?" + +"He certainly hinted, that were it not for the idea of supplanting his +brother, he would now, in consequence of his change of profession, be +desirous that the word Rashleigh should fill up the blank in the +dispensation, instead of the word Thorncliff." + +"Ay? indeed?" she replied--"was he so very condescending?--Too much +honour for his humble handmaid, Diana Vernon--And she, I suppose, was to +be enraptured with joy could such a substitute be effected?" + +"To confess the truth, he intimated as much, and even farther +insinuated"-- + +"What?--Let me hear it all!" she exclaimed, hastily. + +"That he had broken off your mutual intimacy, lest it should have given +rise to an affection by which his destination to the church would not +permit him to profit." + +"I am obliged to him for his consideration," replied Miss Vernon, every +feature of her fine countenance taxed to express the most supreme degree +of scorn and contempt. She paused a moment, and then said, with her usual +composure, "There is but little I have heard from you which I did not +expect to hear, and which I ought not to have expected; because, bating +one circumstance, it is all very true. But as there are some poisons so +active, that a few drops, it is said, will infect a whole fountain, so +there is one falsehood in Rashleigh's communication, powerful enough to +corrupt the whole well in which Truth herself is said to have dwelt. It +is the leading and foul falsehood, that, knowing Rashleigh as I have +reason too well to know him, any circumstance on earth could make me +think of sharing my lot with him. No," she continued with a sort of +inward shuddering that seemed to express involuntary horror, "any lot +rather than that--the sot, the gambler, the bully, the jockey, the +insensate fool, were a thousand times preferable to Rashleigh:--the +convent--the jail--the grave, shall be welcome before them all." + +There was a sad and melancholy cadence in her voice, corresponding with +the strange and interesting romance of her situation. So young, so +beautiful, so untaught, so much abandoned to herself, and deprived of all +the support which her sex derives from the countenance and protection of +female friends, and even of that degree of defence which arises from the +forms with which the sex are approached in civilised life,--it is scarce +metaphorical to say, that my heart bled for her. Yet there was an +expression of dignity in her contempt of ceremony--of upright feeling in +her disdain of falsehood--of firm resolution in the manner in which she +contemplated the dangers by which she was surrounded, which blended my +pity with the warmest admiration. She seemed a princess deserted by her +subjects, and deprived of her power, yet still scorning those formal +regulations of society which are created for persons of an inferior rank; +and, amid her difficulties, relying boldly and confidently on the justice +of Heaven, and the unshaken constancy of her own mind. + +I offered to express the mingled feelings of sympathy and admiration with +which her unfortunate situation and her high spirit combined to impress +me, but she imposed silence on me at once. + +"I told you in jest," she said, "that I disliked compliments--I now tell +you in earnest, that I do not ask sympathy, and that I despise +consolation. What I have borne, I have borne--What I am to bear I will +sustain as I may; no word of commiseration can make a burden feel one +feather's weight lighter to the slave who must carry it. There is only +one human being who could have assisted me, and that is he who has rather +chosen to add to my embarrassment--Rashleigh Osbaldistone.--Yes! the time +once was that I might have learned to love that man--But, great God! the +purpose for which he insinuated himself into the confidence of one +already so forlorn--the undeviating and continued assiduity with which he +pursued that purpose from year to year, without one single momentary +pause of remorse or compassion--the purpose for which he would have +converted into poison the food he administered to my mind--Gracious +Providence! what should I have been in this world, and the next, in body +and soul, had I fallen under the arts of this accomplished villain!" + +I was so much struck with the scene of perfidious treachery which these +words disclosed, that I rose from my chair hardly knowing what I did, +laid my hand on the hilt of my sword, and was about to leave the +apartment in search of him on whom I might discharge my just indignation. +Almost breathless, and with eyes and looks in which scorn and indignation +had given way to the most lively alarm, Miss Vernon threw herself between +me and the door of the apartment. + +"Stay!" she said--"stay!--however just your resentment, you do not know +half the secrets of this fearful prison-house." She then glanced her eyes +anxiously round the room, and sunk her voice almost to a whisper--"He +bears a charmed life; you cannot assail him without endangering other +lives, and wider destruction. Had it been otherwise, in some hour of +justice he had hardly been safe, even from this weak hand. I told you," +she said, motioning me back to my seat, "that I needed no comforter. I +now tell you I need no avenger." + +I resumed my seat mechanically, musing on what she said, and recollecting +also, what had escaped me in my first glow of resentment, that I had no +title whatever to constitute myself Miss Vernon's champion. She paused to +let her own emotions and mine subside, and then addressed me with more +composure. + +"I have already said that there is a mystery connected with Rashleigh, of +a dangerous and fatal nature. Villain as he is, and as he knows he stands +convicted in my eyes, I cannot--dare not, openly break with or defy him. +You also, Mr. Osbaldistone, must bear with him with patience, foil his +artifices by opposing to them prudence, not violence; and, above all, you +must avoid such scenes as that of last night, which cannot but give him +perilous advantages over you. This caution I designed to give you, and it +was the object with which I desired this interview; but I have extended +my confidence farther than I proposed." + +I assured her it was not misplaced. + +"I do not believe that it is," she replied. "You have that in your face +and manners which authorises trust. Let us continue to be friends. You +need not fear," she said, laughing, while she blushed a little, yet +speaking with a free and unembarrassed voice, "that friendship with us +should prove only a specious name, as the poet says, for another feeling. +I belong, in habits of thinking and acting, rather to your sex, with +which I have always been brought up, than to my own. Besides, the fatal +veil was wrapt round me in my cradle; for you may easily believe I have +never thought of the detestable condition under which I may remove it. +The time," she added, "for expressing my final determination is not +arrived, and I would fain have the freedom of wild heath and open air +with the other commoners of nature, as long as I can be permitted to +enjoy them. And now that the passage in Dante is made so clear, pray go +and see what has become of the badger-baiters. My head aches so much that +I cannot join the party." + +I left the library, but not to join the hunters. I felt that a solitary +walk was necessary to compose my spirits before I again trusted myself in +Rashleigh's company, whose depth of calculating villany had been so +strikingly exposed to me. In Dubourg's family (as he was of the reformed +persuasion) I had heard many a tale of Romish priests who gratified, at +the expense of friendship, hospitality, and the most sacred ties of +social life, those passions, the blameless indulgence of which is denied +by the rules of their order. But the deliberate system of undertaking the +education of a deserted orphan of noble birth, and so intimately allied +to his own family, with the perfidious purpose of ultimately seducing +her, detailed as it was by the intended victim with all the glow of +virtuous resentment, seemed more atrocious to me than the worst of the +tales I had heard at Bourdeaux, and I felt it would be extremely +difficult for me to meet Rashleigh, and yet to suppress the abhorrence +with which he impressed me. Yet this was absolutely necessary, not only +on account of the mysterious charge which Diana had given me, but because +I had, in reality, no ostensible ground for quarrelling with him. + +I therefore resolved, as far as possible, to meet Rashleigh's +dissimulation with equal caution on my part during our residence in the +same family; and when he should depart for London, I resolved to give +Owen at least such a hint of his character as might keep him on his guard +over my father's interests. Avarice or ambition, I thought, might have as +great, or greater charms, for a mind constituted like Rashleigh's, than +unlawful pleasure; the energy of his character, and his power of assuming +all seeming good qualities, were likely to procure him a high degree of +confidence, and it was not to be hoped that either good faith or +gratitude would prevent him from abusing it. The task was somewhat +difficult, especially in my circumstances, since the caution which I +threw out might be imputed to jealousy of my rival, or rather my +successor, in my father's favour. Yet I thought it absolutely necessary +to frame such a letter, leaving it to Owen, who, in his own line, was +wary, prudent, and circumspect, to make the necessary use of his +knowledge of Rashleigh's true character. Such a letter, therefore, I +indited, and despatched to the post-house by the first opportunity. + +At my meeting with Rashleigh, he, as well as I, appeared to have taken up +distant ground, and to be disposed to avoid all pretext for collision. He +was probably conscious that Miss Vernon's communications had been +unfavourable to him, though he could not know that they extended to +discovering his meditated villany towards her. Our intercourse, +therefore, was reserved on both sides, and turned on subjects of little +interest. Indeed, his stay at Osbaldistone Hall did not exceed a few days +after this period, during which I only remarked two circumstances +respecting him. The first was the rapid and almost intuitive manner in +which his powerful and active mind seized upon and arranged the +elementary principles necessary to his new profession, which he now +studied hard, and occasionally made parade of his progress, as if to show +me how light it was for him to lift the burden which I had flung down +from very weariness and inability to carry it. The other remarkable +circumstance was, that, notwithstanding the injuries with which Miss +Vernon charged Rashleigh, they had several private interviews together of +considerable length, although their bearing towards each other in public +did not seem more cordial than usual. + +When the day of Rashleigh's departure arrived, his father bade him +farewell with indifference; his brothers with the ill-concealed glee of +school-boys who see their task-master depart for a season, and feel a joy +which they dare not express; and I myself with cold politeness. When he +approached Miss Vernon, and would have saluted her she drew back with a +look of haughty disdain; but said, as she extended her hand to him, +"Farewell, Rashleigh; God reward you for the good you have done, and +forgive you for the evil you have meditated." + +"Amen, my fair cousin," he replied, with an air of sanctity, which +belonged, I thought, to the seminary of Saint Omers; "happy is he whose +good intentions have borne fruit in deeds, and whose evil thoughts have +perished in the blossom." + +These were his parting words. "Accomplished hypocrite!" said Miss Vernon +to me, as the door closed behind him--"how nearly can what we most +despise and hate, approach in outward manner to that which we most +venerate!" + +I had written to my father by Rashleigh, and also a few lines to Owen, +besides the confidential letter which I have already mentioned, and which +I thought it more proper and prudent to despatch by another conveyance. +In these epistles, it would have been natural for me to have pointed out +to my father and my friend, that I was at present in a situation where I +could improve myself in no respect, unless in the mysteries of hunting +and hawking; and where I was not unlikely to forget, in the company of +rude grooms and horse-boys, any useful knowledge or elegant +accomplishments which I had hitherto acquired. It would also have been +natural that I should have expressed the disgust and tedium which I was +likely to feel among beings whose whole souls were centred in +field-sports or more degrading pastimes--that I should have complained of +the habitual intemperance of the family in which I was a guest, and the +difficulty and almost resentment with which my uncle, Sir Hildebrand, +received any apology for deserting the bottle. This last, indeed, was a +topic on which my father, himself a man of severe temperance, was likely +to be easily alarmed, and to have touched upon this spring would to a +certainty have opened the doors of my prison-house, and would either have +been the means of abridging my exile, or at least would have procured me +a change of residence during my rustication. + +I say, my dear Tresham, that, considering how very unpleasant a prolonged +residence at Osbaldistone Hall must have been to a young man of my age, +and with my habits, it might have seemed very natural that I should have +pointed out all these disadvantages to my father, in order to obtain his +consent for leaving my uncle's mansion. Nothing, however, is more +certain, than that I did not say a single word to this purpose in my +letters to my father and Owen. If Osbaldistone Hall had been Athens in +all its pristine glory of learning, and inhabited by sages, heroes, and +poets, I could not have expressed less inclination to leave it. + +If thou hast any of the salt of youth left in thee, Tresham, thou wilt be +at no loss to account for my silence on a topic seemingly so obvious. +Miss Vernon's extreme beauty, of which she herself seemed so little +conscious--her romantic and mysterious situation--the evils to which she +was exposed--the courage with which she seemed to face them--her manners, +more frank than belonged to her sex, yet, as it seemed to me, exceeding +in frankness only from the dauntless consciousness of her innocence,-- +above all, the obvious and flattering distinction which she made in my +favour over all other persons, were at once calculated to interest my +best feelings, to excite my curiosity, awaken my imagination, and gratify +my vanity. I dared not, indeed, confess to myself the depth of the +interest with which Miss Vernon inspired me, or the large share which she +occupied in my thoughts. We read together, walked together, rode +together, and sate together. The studies which she had broken off upon +her quarrel with Rashleigh, she now resumed, under the auspices of a +tutor whose views were more sincere, though his capacity was far more +limited. + +In truth, I was by no means qualified to assist her in the prosecution of +several profound studies which she had commenced with Rashleigh, and +which appeared to me more fitted for a churchman than for a beautiful +female. Neither can I conceive with what view he should have engaged +Diana in the gloomy maze of casuistry which schoolmen called philosophy, +or in the equally abstruse though more certain sciences of mathematics +and astronomy; unless it were to break down and confound in her mind the +difference and distinction between the sexes, and to habituate her to +trains of subtle reasoning, by which he might at his own time invest that +which is wrong with the colour of that which is right. It was in the same +spirit, though in the latter case the evil purpose was more obvious, that +the lessons of Rashleigh had encouraged Miss Vernon in setting at nought +and despising the forms and ceremonial limits which are drawn round +females in modern society. It is true, she was sequestrated from all +female company, and could not learn the usual rules of decorum, either +from example or precept; yet such was her innate modesty, and accurate +sense of what was right and wrong, that she would not of herself have +adopted the bold uncompromising manner which struck me with so much +surprise on our first acquaintance, had she not been led to conceive that +a contempt of ceremony indicated at once superiority of understanding and +the confidence of conscious innocence. Her wily instructor had, no doubt, +his own views in levelling those outworks which reserve and caution erect +around virtue. But for these, and for his other crimes, he has long since +answered at a higher tribunal. + +Besides the progress which Miss Vernon, whose powerful mind readily +adopted every means of information offered to it, had made in more +abstract science, I found her no contemptible linguist, and well +acquainted both with ancient and modern literature. Were it not that +strong talents will often go farthest when they seem to have least +assistance, it would be almost incredible to tell the rapidity of Miss +Vernon's progress in knowledge; and it was still more extraordinary, when +her stock of mental acquisitions from books was compared with her total +ignorance of actual life. It seemed as if she saw and knew everything, +except what passed in the world around her;--and I believe it was this +very ignorance and simplicity of thinking upon ordinary subjects, so +strikingly contrasted with her fund of general knowledge and information, +which rendered her conversation so irresistibly fascinating, and rivetted +the attention to whatever she said or did; since it was absolutely +impossible to anticipate whether her next word or action was to display +the most acute perception, or the most profound simplicity. The degree of +danger which necessarily attended a youth of my age and keen feelings +from remaining in close and constant intimacy with an object so amiable, +and so peculiarly interesting, all who remember their own sentiments at +my age may easily estimate. + + + + + CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. + + + Yon lamp its line of quivering light + Shoots from my lady's bower; + But why should Beauty's lamp be bright + At midnight's lonely hour? + OLD BALLAD. + +The mode of life at Osbaldistone Hall was too uniform to admit of +description. Diana Vernon and I enjoyed much of our time in our mutual +studies; the rest of the family killed theirs in such sports and pastimes +as suited the seasons, in which we also took a share. My uncle was a man +of habits, and by habit became so much accustomed to my presence and mode +of life, that, upon the whole, he was rather fond of me than otherwise. I +might probably have risen yet higher in his good graces, had I employed +the same arts for that purpose which were used by Rashleigh, who, +availing himself of his father's disinclination to business, had +gradually insinuated himself into the management of his property. But +although I readily gave my uncle the advantage of my pen and my +arithmetic so often as he desired to correspond with a neighbour, or +settle with a tenant, and was, in so far, a more useful inmate in his +family than any of his sons, yet I was not willing to oblige Sir +Hildebrand by relieving him entirely from the management of his own +affairs; so that, while the good knight admitted that nevoy Frank was a +steady, handy lad, he seldom failed to remark in the same breath, that he +did not think he should ha' missed Rashleigh so much as he was like to +do. + +As it is particularly unpleasant to reside in a family where we are at +variance with any part of it, I made some efforts to overcome the +ill-will which my cousins entertained against me. I exchanged my laced +hat for a jockey-cap, and made some progress in their opinion; I broke a +young colt in a manner which carried me further into their good graces. A +bet or two opportunely lost to Dickon, and an extra health pledged with +Percie, placed me on an easy and familiar footing with all the young +squires, except Thorncliff. + +I have already noticed the dislike entertained against me by this young +fellow, who, as he had rather more sense, had also a much worse temper, +than any of his brethren. Sullen, dogged, and quarrelsome, he regarded my +residence at Osbaldistone Hall as an intrusion, and viewed with envious +and jealous eyes my intimacy with Diana Vernon, whom the effect proposed +to be given to a certain family-compact assigned to him as an intended +spouse. That he loved her, could scarcely be said, at least without much +misapplication of the word; but he regarded her as something appropriated +to himself, and resented internally the interference which he knew not +how to prevent or interrupt. I attempted a tone of conciliation towards +Thorncliff on several occasions; but he rejected my advances with a +manner about as gracious as that of a growling mastiff, when the animal +shuns and resents a stranger's attempts to caress him. I therefore +abandoned him to his ill-humour, and gave myself no further trouble about +the matter. + +Such was the footing upon which I stood with the family at Osbaldistone +Hall; but I ought to mention another of its inmates with whom I +occasionally held some discourse. This was Andrew Fairservice, the +gardener who (since he had discovered that I was a Protestant) rarely +suffered me to pass him without proffering his Scotch mull for a social +pinch. There were several advantages attending this courtesy. In the +first place, it was made at no expense, for I never took snuff; and +secondly, it afforded an excellent apology to Andrew (who was not +particularly fond of hard labour) for laying aside his spade for several +minutes. But, above all, these brief interviews gave Andrew an +opportunity of venting the news he had collected, or the satirical +remarks which his shrewd northern humour suggested. + +"I am saying, sir," he said to me one evening, with a face obviously +charged with intelligence, "I hae been down at the Trinlay-knowe." + +"Well, Andrew, and I suppose you heard some news at the alehouse?" + +"Na, sir; I never gang to the yillhouse--that is unless ony neighbour was +to gie me a pint, or the like o' that; but to gang there on ane's ain +coat-tail, is a waste o' precious time and hard-won siller.--But I was +doun at the Trinlay-knowe, as I was saying, about a wee bit business o' +my ain wi' Mattie Simpson, that wants a forpit or twa o' peers that will +never be missed in the Ha'-house--and when we were at the thrangest o' +our bargain, wha suld come in but Pate Macready the travelling merchant?" + +"Pedlar, I suppose you mean?" + +"E'en as your honour likes to ca' him; but it's a creditable calling and +a gainfu', and has been lang in use wi' our folk. Pate's a far-awa cousin +o' mine, and we were blythe to meet wi' ane anither." + +"And you went and had a jug of ale together, I suppose, Andrew?--For +Heaven's sake, cut short your story." + +"Bide a wee--bide a wee; you southrons are aye in sic a hurry, and this +is something concerns yourself, an ye wad tak patience to hear't--Yill?-- +deil a drap o' yill did Pate offer me; but Mattie gae us baith a drap +skimmed milk, and ane o' her thick ait jannocks, that was as wat and raw +as a divot. O for the bonnie girdle cakes o' the north!--and sae we sat +doun and took out our clavers." + +"I wish you would take them out just now. Pray, tell me the news, if you +have got any worth telling, for I can't stop here all night." + +"Than, if ye maun hae't, the folk in Lunnun are a' clean wud about this +bit job in the north here." + +"Clean wood! what's that?" + +"Ou, just real daft--neither to haud nor to bind--a' hirdy-girdy--clean +through ither--the deil's ower Jock Wabster." + +"But what does all this mean? or what business have I with the devil or +Jack Webster?" + +"Umph!" said Andrew, looking extremely knowing, "it's just because--just +that the dirdum's a' about yon man's pokmanty." + +"Whose portmanteau? or what do you mean?" + +"Ou, just the man Morris's, that he said he lost yonder: but if it's no +your honour's affair, as little is it mine; and I mauna lose this +gracious evening." + +And, as if suddenly seized with a violent fit of industry, Andrew began +to labour most diligently. + +My attention, as the crafty knave had foreseen, was now arrested, and +unwilling, at the same time, to acknowledge any particular interest in +that affair, by asking direct questions, I stood waiting till the spirit +of voluntary communication should again prompt him to resume his story. +Andrew dug on manfully, and spoke at intervals, but nothing to the +purpose of Mr. Macready's news; and I stood and listened, cursing him in +my heart, and desirous at the same time to see how long his humour of +contradiction would prevail over his desire of speaking upon the subject +which was obviously uppermost in his mind. + +"Am trenching up the sparry-grass, and am gaun to saw some Misegun beans; +they winna want them to their swine's flesh, I'se warrant--muckle gude +may it do them. And siclike dung as the grieve has gien me!--it should be +wheat-strae, or aiten at the warst o't, and it's pease dirt, as +fizzenless as chuckie-stanes. But the huntsman guides a' as he likes +about the stable-yard, and he's selled the best o' the litter, I'se +warrant. But, howsoever, we mauna lose a turn o' this Saturday at e'en, +for the wather's sair broken, and if there's a fair day in seven, +Sunday's sure to come and lick it up--Howsomever, I'm no denying that it +may settle, if it be Heaven's will, till Monday morning,--and what's the +use o' my breaking my back at this rate?--I think, I'll e'en awa' hame, +for yon's the curfew, as they ca' their jowing-in bell." + +Accordingly, applying both his hands to his spade, he pitched it upright +in the trench which he had been digging and, looking at me with the air +of superiority of one who knows himself possessed of important +information, which he may communicate or refuse at his pleasure, pulled +down the sleeves of his shirt, and walked slowly towards his coat, which +lay carefully folded up upon a neighbouring garden-seat. + +"I must pay the penalty of having interrupted the tiresome rascal," +thought I to myself, "and even gratify Mr. Fairservice by taking his +communication on his own terms." Then raising my voice, I addressed him, +--"And after all, Andrew, what are these London news you had from your +kinsman, the travelling merchant?" + +"The pedlar, your honour means?" retorted Andrew--"but ca' him what ye +wull, they're a great convenience in a country-side that's scant o' +borough-towns like this Northumberland--That's no the case, now, in +Scotland;--there's the kingdom of Fife, frae Culross to the East Nuik, +it's just like a great combined city--sae mony royal boroughs yoked on +end to end, like ropes of ingans, with their hie-streets and their +booths, nae doubt, and their kraemes, and houses of stane and lime and +fore-stairs--Kirkcaldy, the sell o't, is langer than ony town in +England." + +"I daresay it is all very splendid and very fine--but you were talking of +the London news a little while ago, Andrew." + +"Ay," replied Andrew; "but I dinna think your honour cared to hear about +them--Howsoever" (he continued, grinning a ghastly smile), "Pate Macready +does say, that they are sair mistrysted yonder in their Parliament House +about this rubbery o' Mr. Morris, or whatever they ca' the chiel." + +"In the House of Parliament, Andrew!--how came they to mention it there?" + +"Ou, that's just what I said to Pate; if it like your honour, I'll tell +you the very words; it's no worth making a lie for the matter--'Pate,' +said I, 'what ado had the lords and lairds and gentles at Lunnun wi' the +carle and his walise?--When we had a Scotch Parliament, Pate,' says I +(and deil rax their thrapples that reft us o't!) 'they sate dousely down +and made laws for a haill country and kinrick, and never fashed their +beards about things that were competent to the judge ordinar o' the +bounds; but I think,' said I, 'that if ae kailwife pou'd aff her +neighbour's mutch they wad hae the twasome o' them into the Parliament +House o' Lunnun. It's just,' said I, 'amaist as silly as our auld daft +laird here and his gomerils o' sons, wi' his huntsmen and his hounds, and +his hunting cattle and horns, riding haill days after a bit beast that +winna weigh sax punds when they hae catched it.'" + +"You argued most admirably, Andrew," said I, willing to encourage him to +get into the marrow of his intelligence; "and what said Pate?" + +"Ou," he said, "what better could be expected of a wheen pock-pudding +English folk?--But as to the robbery, it's like that when they're a' at +the thrang o' their Whig and Tory wark, and ca'ing ane anither, like +unhanged blackguards--up gets ae lang-tongued chield, and he says, that +a' the north of England were rank Jacobites (and, quietly, he wasna far +wrang maybe), and that they had levied amaist open war, and a king's +messenger had been stoppit and rubbit on the highway, and that the best +bluid o' Northumberland had been at the doing o't--and mickle gowd ta'en +aff him, and mony valuable papers; and that there was nae redress to be +gotten by remeed of law for the first justice o' the peace that the +rubbit man gaed to, he had fund the twa loons that did the deed birling +and drinking wi' him, wha but they; and the justice took the word o' the +tane for the compearance o' the tither; and that they e'en gae him +leg-bail, and the honest man that had lost his siller was fain to leave +the country for fear that waur had come of it." + +"Can this be really true?" said I. + +"Pate swears it's as true as that his ellwand is a yard lang--(and so it +is, just bating an inch, that it may meet the English measure)--And when +the chield had said his warst, there was a terrible cry for names, and +out comes he wi' this man Morris's name, and your uncle's, and Squire +Inglewood's, and other folk's beside" (looking sly at me)--"And then +another dragon o' a chield got up on the other side, and said, wad they +accuse the best gentleman in the land on the oath of a broken coward?-- +for it's like that Morris had been drummed out o' the army for rinning +awa in Flanders; and he said, it was like the story had been made up +between the minister and him or ever he had left Lunnun; and that, if +there was to be a search-warrant granted, he thought the siller wad be +fund some gate near to St. James's Palace. Aweel, they trailed up Morris +to their bar, as they ca't, to see what he could say to the job; but the +folk that were again him, gae him sic an awfu' throughgaun about his +rinnin' awa, and about a' the ill he had ever dune or said for a' the +forepart o' his life, that Patie says he looked mair like ane dead than +living; and they cou'dna get a word o' sense out o' him, for downright +fright at their growling and routing. He maun be a saft sap, wi' a head +nae better than a fozy frosted turnip--it wad hae ta'en a hantle o' them +to scaur Andrew Fairservice out o' his tale." + +"And how did it all end, Andrew? did your friend happen to learn?" + +"Ou, ay; for as his walk is in this country, Pate put aff his journey for +the space of a week or thereby, because it wad be acceptable to his +customers to bring down the news. It's just a' gaed aft like moonshine in +water. The fallow that began it drew in his horns, and said, that though +he believed the man had been rubbit, yet he acknowledged he might hae +been mista'en about the particulars. And then the other chield got up, +and said, he caredna whether Morris was rubbed or no, provided it wasna +to become a stain on ony gentleman's honour and reputation, especially in +the north of England; for, said he before them, I come frae the north +mysell, and I carena a boddle wha kens it. And this is what they ca' +explaining--the tane gies up a bit, and the tither gies up a bit, and a' +friends again. Aweel, after the Commons' Parliament had tuggit, and +rived, and rugged at Morris and his rubbery till they were tired o't, the +Lords' Parliament they behoved to hae their spell o't. In puir auld +Scotland's Parliament they a' sate thegither, cheek by choul, and than +they didna need to hae the same blethers twice ower again. But till't +their lordships went wi' as muckle teeth and gude-will, as if the matter +had been a' speck and span new. Forbye, there was something said about +ane Campbell, that suld hae been concerned in the rubbery, mair or less, +and that he suld hae had a warrant frae the Duke of Argyle, as a +testimonial o' his character. And this put MacCallum More's beard in a +bleize, as gude reason there was; and he gat up wi' an unco bang, and +garr'd them a' look about them, and wad ram it even doun their throats, +there was never ane o' the Campbells but was as wight, wise, warlike, and +worthy trust, as auld Sir John the Graeme. Now, if your honour's sure ye +arena a drap's bluid a-kin to a Campbell, as I am nane mysell, sae far as +I can count my kin, or hae had it counted to me, I'll gie ye my mind on +that matter." + +"You may be assured I have no connection whatever with any gentleman of +the name." + +"Ou, than we may speak it quietly amang oursells. There's baith gude and +bad o' the Campbells, like other names, But this MacCallum More has an +unco sway and say baith, amang the grit folk at Lunnun even now; for he +canna preceesely be said to belang to ony o' the twa sides o' them, sae +deil any o' them likes to quarrel wi' him; sae they e'en voted Morris's +tale a fause calumnious libel, as they ca't, and if he hadna gien them +leg-bail, he was likely to hae ta'en the air on the pillory for +leasing-making." + +So speaking, honest Andrew collected his dibbles, spades, and hoes, and +threw them into a wheel-barrow,--leisurely, however, and allowing me full +time to put any further questions which might occur to me before he +trundled them off to the tool-house, there to repose during the ensuing +day. I thought it best to speak out at once, lest this meddling fellow +should suppose there were more weighty reasons for my silence than +actually existed. + +"I should like to see this countryman of yours, Andrew and to hear his +news from himself directly. You have probably heard that I had some +trouble from the impertinent folly of this man Morris" (Andrew grinned a +most significant grin), "and I should wish to see your cousin the +merchant, to ask him the particulars of what he heard in London, if it +could be done without much trouble." + +"Naething mair easy," Andrew observed; "he had but to hint to his cousin +that I wanted a pair or twa o' hose, and he wad be wi' me as fast as he +could lay leg to the grund." + +"O yes, assure him I shall be a customer; and as the night is, as you +say, settled and fair, I shall walk in the garden until he comes; the +moon will soon rise over the fells. You may bring him to the little +back-gate; and I shall have pleasure, in the meanwhile, in looking on the +bushes and evergreens by the bright frosty moonlight." + +"Vara right, vara right--that's what I hae aften said; a kail-blade, or a +colliflour, glances sae glegly by moonlight, it's like a leddy in her +diamonds." + +So saying, off went Andrew Fairservice with great glee. He had to walk +about two miles, a labour he undertook with the greatest pleasure, in +order to secure to his kinsman the sale of some articles of his trade, +though it is probable he would not have given him sixpence to treat him +to a quart of ale. "The good will of an Englishman would have displayed +itself in a manner exactly the reverse of Andrew's," thought I, as I +paced along the smooth-cut velvet walks, which, embowered with high, +hedges of yew and of holly, intersected the ancient garden of +Osbaldistone Hall. + +As I turned to retrace my steps, it was natural that I should lift up my +eyes to the windows of the old library; which, small in size, but several +in number, stretched along the second story of that side of the house +which now faced me. Light glanced from their casements. I was not +surprised at this, for I knew Miss Vernon often sat there of an evening, +though from motives of delicacy I put a strong restraint upon myself, and +never sought to join her at a time when I knew, all the rest of the +family being engaged for the evening, our interviews must necessarily +have been strictly _tete-a'-tete._ In the mornings we usually read +together in the same room; but then it often happened that one or other +of our cousins entered to seek some parchment duodecimo that could be +converted into a fishing-book, despite its gildings and illumination, or +to tell us of some "sport toward," or from mere want of knowing where +else to dispose of themselves. In short, in the mornings the library was +a sort of public room, where man and woman might meet as on neutral +ground. In the evening it was very different and bred in a country where +much attention is paid, or was at least then paid, to _biense'ance,_ I +was desirous to think for Miss Vernon concerning those points of +propriety where her experience did not afford her the means of thinking +for herself. I made her therefore comprehend, as delicately as I could, +that when we had evening lessons, the presence of a third party was +proper. + +Miss Vernon first laughed, then blushed, and was disposed to be +displeased; and then, suddenly checking herself, said, "I believe you are +very right; and when I feel inclined to be a very busy scholar, I will +bribe old Martha with a cup of tea to sit by me and be my screen." + +Martha, the old housekeeper, partook of the taste of the family at the +Hall. A toast and tankard would have pleased her better than all the tea +in China. However, as the use of this beverage was then confined to the +higher ranks, Martha felt some vanity in being asked to partake of it; +and by dint of a great deal of sugar, many words scarce less sweet, and +abundance of toast and butter, she was sometimes prevailed upon to give +us her countenance. On other occasions, the servants almost unanimously +shunned the library after nightfall, because it was their foolish +pleasure to believe that it lay on the haunted side of the house. The +more timorous had seen sights and heard sounds there when all the rest of +the house was quiet; and even the young squires were far from having any +wish to enter these formidable precincts after nightfall without +necessity. + +That the library had at one time been a favourite resource of Rashleigh-- +that a private door out of one side of it communicated with the +sequestered and remote apartment which he chose for himself, rather +increased than disarmed the terrors which the household had for the +dreaded library of Osbaldistone Hall. His extensive information as to +what passed in the world--his profound knowledge of science of every +kind--a few physical experiments which he occasionally showed off, were, +in a house of so much ignorance and bigotry, esteemed good reasons for +supposing him endowed with powers over the spiritual world. He understood +Greek, Latin, and Hebrew; and, therefore, according to the apprehension, +and in the phrase of his brother Wilfred, needed not to care "for ghaist +or bar-ghaist, devil or dobbie." Yea, the servants persisted that they +had heard him hold conversations in the library, when every varsal soul +in the family were gone to bed; and that he spent the night in watching +for bogles, and the morning in sleeping in his bed, when he should have +been heading the hounds like a true Osbaldistone. + +All these absurd rumours I had heard in broken hints and imperfect +sentences, from which I was left to draw the inference; and, as easily +may be supposed, I laughed them to scorn. But the extreme solitude to +which this chamber of evil fame was committed every night after curfew +time, was an additional reason why I should not intrude on Miss Vernon +when she chose to sit there in the evening. + +To resume what I was saying,--I was not surprised to see a glimmering of +light from the library windows: but I was a little struck when I +distinctly perceived the shadows of two persons pass along and intercept +the light from the first of the windows, throwing the casement for a +moment into shade. "It must be old Martha," thought I, "whom Diana has +engaged to be her companion for the evening; or I must have been +mistaken, and taken Diana's shadow for a second person. No, by Heaven! it +appears on the second window,--two figures distinctly traced; and now it +is lost again--it is seen on the third--on the fourth--the darkened forms +of two persons distinctly seen in each window as they pass along the +room, betwixt the windows and the lights. Whom can Diana have got for a +companion?"--The passage of the shadows between the lights and the +casements was twice repeated, as if to satisfy me that my observation +served me truly; after which the lights were extinguished, and the +shades, of course, were seen no more. + +Trifling as this circumstance was, it occupied my mind for a considerable +time. I did not allow myself to suppose that my friendship for Miss +Vernon had any directly selfish view; yet it is incredible the +displeasure I felt at the idea of her admitting any one to private +interviews, at a time, and in a place, where, for her own sake, I had +been at some trouble to show her that it was improper for me to meet with +her. + +"Silly, romping, incorrigible girl!" said I to myself, "on whom all good +advice and delicacy are thrown away! I have been cheated by the +simplicity of her manner, which I suppose she can assume just as she +could a straw bonnet, were it the fashion, for the mere sake of +celebrity. I suppose, notwithstanding the excellence of her +understanding, the society of half a dozen of clowns to play at whisk and +swabbers would give her more pleasure than if Ariosto himself were to +awake from the dead." + +This reflection came the more powerfully across my mind, because, having +mustered up courage to show to Diana my version of the first books of +Ariosto, I had requested her to invite Martha to a tea-party in the +library that evening, to which arrangement Miss Vernon had refused her +consent, alleging some apology which I thought frivolous at the time. I +had not long speculated on this disagreeable subject, when the back +garden-door opened, and the figures of Andrew and his country-man-- +bending under his pack--crossed the moonlight alley, and called my +attention elsewhere. + +I found Mr. Macready, as I expected, a tough, sagacious, long-headed +Scotchman, and a collector of news both from choice and profession. He +was able to give me a distinct account of what had passed in the House of +Commons and House of Lords on the affair of Morris, which, it appears, +had been made by both parties a touchstone to ascertain the temper of the +Parliament. It appeared also, that, as I had learned from Andrew, by +second hand, the ministry had proved too weak to support a story +involving the character of men of rank and importance, and resting upon +the credit of a person of such indifferent fame as Morris, who was, +moreover, confused and contradictory in his mode of telling the story. +Macready was even able to supply me with a copy of a printed journal, or +News-Letter, seldom extending beyond the capital, in which the substance +of the debate was mentioned; and with a copy of the Duke of Argyle's +speech, printed upon a broadside, of which he had purchased several from +the hawkers, because, he said, it would be a saleable article on the +north of the Tweed. The first was a meagre statement, full of blanks and +asterisks, and which added little or nothing to the information I had +from the Scotchman; and the Duke's speech, though spirited and eloquent, +contained chiefly a panegyric on his country, his family, and his clan, +with a few compliments, equally sincere, perhaps, though less glowing, +which he took so favourable an opportunity of paying to himself. I could +not learn whether my own reputation had been directly implicated, +although I perceived that the honour of my uncle's family had been +impeached, and that this person Campbell, stated by Morris to have been +the most active robber of the two by whom he was assailed, was said by +him to have appeared in the behalf of a Mr. Osbaldistone, and by the +connivance of the Justice procured his liberation. In this particular, +Morris's story jumped with my own suspicions, which had attached to +Campbell from the moment I saw him appear at Justice Inglewood's. Vexed +upon the whole, as well as perplexed, with this extraordinary story, I +dismissed the two Scotchmen, after making some purchases from Macready, +and a small compliment to Fairservice, and retired to my own apartment to +consider what I ought to do in defence of my character thus publicly +attacked. + + + + + CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. + + Whence, and what art you? + Milton. + +After exhausting a sleepless night in meditating on the intelligence I +had received, I was at first inclined to think that I ought, as speedily +as possible, to return to London, and by my open appearance repel the +calumny which had been spread against me. But I hesitated to take this +course on recollection of my father's disposition, singularly absolute in +his decisions as to all that concerned his family. He was most able, +certainly, from experience, to direct what I ought to do, and from his +acquaintance with the most distinguished Whigs then in power, had +influence enough to obtain a hearing for my cause. So, upon the whole, I +judged it most safe to state my whole story in the shape of a narrative, +addressed to my father; and as the ordinary opportunities of intercourse +between the Hall and the post-town recurred rarely, I determined to ride +to the town, which was about ten miles' distance, and deposit my letter +in the post-office with my own hands. + +Indeed I began to think it strange that though several weeks had elapsed +since my departure from home, I had received no letter, either from my +father or Owen, although Rashleigh had written to Sir Hildebrand of his +safe arrival in London, and of the kind reception he had met with from +his uncle. Admitting that I might have been to blame, I did not deserve, +in my own opinion at least, to be so totally forgotten by my father; and +I thought my present excursion might have the effect of bringing a letter +from him to hand more early than it would otherwise have reached me. But +before concluding my letter concerning the affair of Morris, I failed not +to express my earnest hope and wish that my father would honour me with a +few lines, were it but to express his advice and commands in an affair of +some difficulty, and where my knowledge of life could not be supposed +adequate to my own guidance. I found it impossible to prevail on myself +to urge my actual return to London as a place of residence, and I +disguised my unwillingness to do so under apparent submission to my +father's will, which, as I imposed it on myself as a sufficient reason +for not urging my final departure from Osbaldistone Hall, would, I +doubted not, be received as such by my parent. But I begged permission to +come to London, for a short time at least, to meet and refute the +infamous calumnies which had been circulated concerning me in so public a +manner. Having made up my packet, in which my earnest desire to vindicate +my character was strangely blended with reluctance to quit my present +place of residence, I rode over to the post-town, and deposited my letter +in the office. By doing so, I obtained possession, somewhat earlier than +I should otherwise have done, of the following letter from my friend Mr. +Owen:-- + +"Dear Mr. Francis, + +"Yours received per favour of Mr. R. Osbaldistone, and note the contents. +Shall do Mr. R. O. such civilities as are in my power, and have taken him +to see the Bank and Custom-house. He seems a sober, steady young +gentleman, and takes to business; so will be of service to the firm. +Could have wished another person had turned his mind that way; but God's +will be done. As cash may be scarce in those parts, have to trust you +will excuse my enclosing a goldsmith's bill at six days' sight, on +Messrs. Hooper and Girder of Newcastle, for L100, which I doubt not will +be duly honoured.--I remain, as in duty bound, dear Mr. Frank, your very +respectful and obedient servant, + +"Joseph Owen. + +"_Postscriptum._--Hope you will advise the above coming safe to hand. Am +sorry we have so few of yours. Your father says he is as usual, but looks +poorly." + + +From this epistle, written in old Owen's formal style, I was rather +surprised to observe that he made no acknowledgment of that private +letter which I had written to him, with a view to possess him of +Rashleigh's real character, although, from the course of post, it seemed +certain that he ought to have received it. Yet I had sent it by the usual +conveyance from the Hall, and had no reason to suspect that it could +miscarry upon the road. As it comprised matters of great importance both +to my father and to myself, I sat down in the post-office and again wrote +to Owen, recapitulating the heads of my former letter, and requesting to +know, in course of post, if it had reached him in safety. I also +acknowledged the receipt of the bill, and promised to make use of the +contents if I should have any occasion for money. I thought, indeed, it +was odd that my father should leave the care of supplying my necessities +to his clerk; but I concluded it was a matter arranged between them. At +any rate, Owen was a bachelor, rich in his way, and passionately attached +to me, so that I had no hesitation in being obliged to him for a small +sum, which I resolved to consider as a loan, to be returned with my +earliest ability, in case it was not previously repaid by my father; and +I expressed myself to this purpose to Mr. Owen. A shopkeeper in a little +town, to whom the post-master directed me, readily gave me in gold the +amount of my bill on Messrs. Hooper and Girder, so that I returned to +Osbaldistone Hall a good deal richer than I had set forth. This recruit +to my finances was not a matter of indifference to me, as I was +necessarily involved in some expenses at Osbaldistone Hall; and I had +seen, with some uneasy impatience, that the sum which my travelling +expenses had left unexhausted at my arrival there was imperceptibly +diminishing. This source of anxiety was for the present removed. On my +arrival at the Hall I found that Sir Hildebrand and all his offspring had +gone down to the little hamlet, called Trinlay-knowes, "to see," as +Andrew Fairservice expressed it, "a wheen midden cocks pike ilk ither's +barns out." + +"It is indeed a brutal amusement, Andrew; I suppose you have none such in +Scotland?" + +"Na, na," answered Andrew boldly; then shaded away his negative with, +"unless it be on Fastern's-e'en, or the like o' that--But indeed it's no +muckle matter what the folk do to the midden pootry, for they had siccan +a skarting and scraping in the yard, that there's nae getting a bean or +pea keepit for them.--But I am wondering what it is that leaves that +turret-door open;--now that Mr. Rashleigh's away, it canna be him, I +trow." + +The turret-door to which he alluded opened to the garden at the bottom of +a winding stair, leading down from Mr. Rashleigh's apartment. This, as I +have already mentioned, was situated in a sequestered part of the house, +communicating with the library by a private entrance, and by another +intricate and dark vaulted passage with the rest of the house. A long +narrow turf walk led, between two high holly hedges, from the turret-door +to a little postern in the wall of the garden. By means of these +communications Rashleigh, whose movements were very independent of those +of the rest of his family, could leave the Hall or return to it at +pleasure, without his absence or presence attracting any observation. But +during his absence the stair and the turret-door were entirely disused, +and this made Andrew's observation somewhat remarkable. + +"Have you often observed that door open?" was my question. + +"No just that often neither; but I hae noticed it ance or twice. I'm +thinking it maun hae been the priest, Father Vaughan, as they ca' him. +Ye'll no catch ane o' the servants gauging up that stair, puir frightened +heathens that they are, for fear of bogles and brownies, and lang-nebbit +things frae the neist warld. But Father Vaughan thinks himself a +privileged person--set him up and lay him down!--I'se be caution the +warst stibbler that ever stickit a sermon out ower the Tweed yonder, wad +lay a ghaist twice as fast as him, wi' his holy water and his idolatrous +trinkets. I dinna believe he speaks gude Latin neither; at least he disna +take me up when I tell him the learned names o' the plants." + +Of Father Vaughan, who divided his time and his ghostly care between +Osbaldistone Hall and about half a dozen mansions of Catholic gentlemen +in the neighbourhood, I have as yet said nothing, for I had seen but +little. He was aged about sixty--of a good family, as I was given to +understand, in the north--of a striking and imposing presence, grave in +his exterior, and much respected among the Catholics of Northumberland as +a worthy and upright man. Yet Father Vaughan did not altogether lack +those peculiarities which distinguish his order. There hung about him an +air of mystery, which, in Protestant eyes, savoured of priestcraft. The +natives (such they might be well termed) of Osbaldistone Hall looked up +to him with much more fear, or at least more awe, than affection. His +condemnation of their revels was evident, from their being discontinued +in some measure when the priest was a resident at the Hall. Even Sir +Hildebrand himself put some restraint upon his conduct at such times, +which, perhaps, rendered Father Vaughan's presence rather irksome than +otherwise. He had the well-bred, insinuating, and almost flattering +address peculiar to the clergy of his persuasion, especially in England, +where the lay Catholic, hemmed in by penal laws, and by the restrictions +of his sect and recommendation of his pastor, often exhibits a reserved, +and almost a timid manner in the society of Protestants; while the +priest, privileged by his order to mingle with persons of all creeds, is +open, alert, and liberal in his intercourse with them, desirous of +popularity, and usually skilful in the mode of obtaining it. + +Father Vaughan was a particular acquaintance of Rashleigh's, otherwise, +in all probability, he would scarce have been able to maintain his +footing at Osbaldistone Hall. This gave me no desire to cultivate his +intimacy, nor did he seem to make any advances towards mine; so our +occasional intercourse was confined to the exchange of mere civility. I +considered it as extremely probable that Mr. Vaughan might occupy +Rashleigh's apartment during his occasional residence at the Hall; and +his profession rendered it likely that he should occasionally be a tenant +of the library. Nothing was more probable than that it might have been +his candle which had excited my attention on a preceding evening. This +led me involuntarily to recollect that the intercourse between Miss +Vernon and the priest was marked with something like the same mystery +which characterised her communications with Rashleigh. I had never heard +her mention Vaughan's name, or even allude to him, excepting on the +occasion of our first meeting, when she mentioned the old priest and +Rashleigh as the only conversable beings, besides herself, in +Osbaldistone Hall. Yet although silent with respect to Father Vaughan, +his arrival at the Hall never failed to impress Miss Vernon with an +anxious and fluttering tremor, which lasted until they had exchanged one +or two significant glances. + +Whatever the mystery might be which overclouded the destinies of this +beautiful and interesting female, it was clear that Father Vaughan was +implicated in it; unless, indeed, I could suppose that he was the agent +employed to procure her settlement in the cloister, in the event of her +rejecting a union with either of my cousins,--an office which would +sufficiently account for her obvious emotion at his appearance. As to the +rest, they did not seem to converse much together, or even to seek each +other's society. Their league, if any subsisted between them, was of a +tacit and understood nature, operating on their actions without any +necessity of speech. I recollected, however, on reflection, that I had +once or twice discovered signs pass betwixt them, which I had at the time +supposed to bear reference to some hint concerning Miss Vernon's +religious observances, knowing how artfully the Catholic clergy maintain, +at all times and seasons, their influence over the minds of their +followers. But now I was disposed to assign to these communications a +deeper and more mysterious import. Did he hold private meetings with Miss +Vernon in the library? was a question which occupied my thoughts; and if +so, for what purpose? And why should she have admitted an intimate of the +deceitful Rashleigh to such close confidence? + +These questions and difficulties pressed on my mind with an interest +which was greatly increased by the impossibility of resolving them. I had +already begun to suspect that my friendship for Diana Vernon was not +altogether so disinterested as in wisdom it ought to have been. I had +already felt myself becoming jealous of the contemptible lout Thorncliff, +and taking more notice, than in prudence or dignity of feeling I ought to +have done, of his silly attempts to provoke me. And now I was +scrutinising the conduct of Miss Vernon with the most close and eager +observation, which I in vain endeavoured to palm on myself as the +offspring of idle curiosity. All these, like Benedick's brushing his hat +of a morning, were signs that the sweet youth was in love; and while my +judgment still denied that I had been guilty of forming an attachment so +imprudent, she resembled those ignorant guides, who, when they have led +the traveller and themselves into irretrievable error, persist in +obstinately affirming it to be impossible that they can have missed the +way. + + + + + CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. + + It happened one day about noon, going to my boat, I was exceedingly + surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, which + was very plain to be seen on the sand. + Robinson Crusoe. + +With the blended feelings of interest and jealousy which were engendered +by Miss Vernon's singular situation, my observations of her looks and +actions became acutely sharpened, and that to a degree which, +notwithstanding my efforts to conceal it, could not escape her +penetration. The sense that she was observed, or, more properly speaking, +that she was watched by my looks, seemed to give Diana a mixture of +embarrassment, pain, and pettishness. At times it seemed that she sought +an opportunity of resenting a conduct which she could not but feel as +offensive, considering the frankness with which she had mentioned the +difficulties that surrounded her. At other times she seemed prepared to +expostulate upon the subject. But either her courage failed, or some +other sentiment impeded her seeking an _e'claircissement._ Her +displeasure evaporated in repartee, and her expostulations died on her +lips. We stood in a singular relation to each other,--spending, and by +mutual choice, much of our time in close society with each other, yet +disguising our mutual sentiments, and jealous of, or offended by, each +other's actions. There was betwixt us intimacy without confidence;--on +one side, love without hope or purpose, and curiosity without any +rational or justifiable motive; and on the other, embarrassment and +doubt, occasionally mingled with displeasure. Yet I believe that this +agitation of the passions (such is the nature of the human bosom), as it +continued by a thousand irritating and interesting, though petty +circumstances, to render Miss Vernon and me the constant objects of each +other's thoughts, tended, upon the whole, to increase the attachment with +which we were naturally disposed to regard each other. But although my +vanity early discovered that my presence at Osbaldistone Hall had given +Diana some additional reason for disliking the cloister, I could by no +means confide in an affection which seemed completely subordinate to the +mysteries of her singular situation. Miss Vernon was of a character far +too formed and determined, to permit her love for me to overpower either +her sense of duty or of prudence, and she gave me a proof of this in a +conversation which we had together about this period. + +We were sitting together in the library. Miss Vernon, in turning over a +copy of the Orlando Furioso, which belonged to me, shook a piece of +writing paper from between the leaves. I hastened to lift it, but she +prevented me.--"It is verse," she said, on glancing at the paper; and +then unfolding it, but as if to wait my answer before proceeding--"May I +take the liberty?--Nay, nay, if you blush and stammer, I must do violence +to your modesty, and suppose that permission is granted." + +"It is not worthy your perusal--a scrap of a translation--My dear Miss +Vernon, it would be too severe a trial, that you, who understand the +original so well, should sit in judgment." + +"Mine honest friend," replied Diana, "do not, if you will be guided by my +advice, bait your hook with too much humility; for, ten to one, it will +not catch a single compliment. You know I belong to the unpopular family +of Tell-truths, and would not flatter Apollo for his lyre." + +She proceeded to read the first stanza, which was nearly to the following +purpose:-- + + "Ladies, and knights, and arms, and love's fair flame, + Deeds of emprize and courtesy, I sing; + What time the Moors from sultry Africk came, + Led on by Agramant, their youthful king-- + He whom revenge and hasty ire did bring + O'er the broad wave, in France to waste and war; + Such ills from old Trojano's death did spring, + Which to avenge he came from realms afar, + And menaced Christian Charles, the Roman Emperor. + Of dauntless Roland, too, my strain shall sound, + In import never known in prose or rhyme, + How He, the chief, of judgment deemed profound, + For luckless love was crazed upon a time"-- + +"There is a great deal of it," said she, glancing along the paper, and +interrupting the sweetest sounds which mortal ears can drink in,--those +of a youthful poet's verses, namely, read by the lips which are dearest +to him. + +"Much more than ought to engage your attention, Miss Vernon," I replied, +something mortified; and I took the verses from her unreluctant hand-- +"And yet," I continued, "shut up as I am in this retired situation, I +have felt sometimes I could not amuse myself better than by carrying on-- +merely for my own amusement, you will of course understand--the version +of this fascinating author, which I began some months since when I was on +the banks of the Garonne." + +"The question would only be," said Diana, gravely, "whether you could not +spend your time to better purpose?" + +"You mean in original composition?" said I, greatly flattered--"But, to +say truth, my genius rather lies in finding words and rhymes than ideas; +and therefore I am happy to use those which Ariosto has prepared to my +hand. However, Miss Vernon, with the encouragement you give"-- + +"Pardon me, Frank--it is encouragement not of my giving, but of your +taking. I meant neither original composition nor translation, since I +think you might employ your time to far better purpose than in either. +You are mortified," she continued, "and I am sorry to be the cause." + +"Not mortified,--certainly not mortified," said I, with the best grace I +could muster, and it was but indifferently assumed; "I am too much +obliged by the interest you take in me." + +"Nay, but," resumed the relentless Diana, "there is both mortification +and a little grain of anger in that constrained tone of voice; do not be +angry if I probe your feelings to the bottom--perhaps what I am about to +say will affect them still more." + +I felt the childishness of my own conduct, and the superior manliness of +Miss Vernon's, and assured her, that she need not fear my wincing under +criticism which I knew to be kindly meant. + +"That was honestly meant and said," she replied; "I knew full well that +the fiend of poetical irritability flew away with the little preluding +cough which ushered in the declaration. And now I must be serious--Have +you heard from your father lately?" + +"Not a word," I replied; "he has not honoured me with a single line +during the several months of my residence here." + +"That is strange!--you are a singular race, you bold Osbaldistones. Then +you are not aware that he has gone to Holland, to arrange some pressing +affairs which required his own immediate presence?" + +"I never heard a word of it until this moment." + +"And farther, it must be news to you, and I presume scarcely the most +agreeable, that he has left Rashleigh in the almost uncontrolled +management of his affairs until his return." + +I started, and could not suppress my surprise and apprehension. + +"You have reason for alarm," said Miss Vernon, very gravely; "and were I +you, I would endeavour to meet and obviate the dangers which arise from +so undesirable an arrangement." + +"And how is it possible for me to do so?" + +"Everything is possible for him who possesses courage and activity," she +said, with a look resembling one of those heroines of the age of +chivalry, whose encouragement was wont to give champions double valour at +the hour of need; "and to the timid and hesitating, everything is +impossible, because it seems so." + +"And what would you advise, Miss Vernon?" I replied, wishing, yet +dreading, to hear her answer. + +She paused a moment, then answered firmly--"That you instantly leave +Osbaldistone Hall, and return to London. You have perhaps already," she +continued, in a softer tone, "been here too long; that fault was not +yours. Every succeeding moment you waste here will be a crime. Yes, a +crime: for I tell you plainly, that if Rashleigh long manages your +father's affairs, you may consider his ruin as consummated." + +"How is this possible?" + +"Ask no questions," she said; "but believe me, Rashleigh's views extend +far beyond the possession or increase of commercial wealth: he will only +make the command of Mr. Osbaldistone's revenues and property the means of +putting in motion his own ambitious and extensive schemes. While your +father was in Britain this was impossible; during his absence, Rashleigh +will possess many opportunities, and he will not neglect to use them." + +"But how can I, in disgrace with my father, and divested of all control +over his affairs, prevent this danger by my mere presence in London?" + +"That presence alone will do much. Your claim to interfere is a part of +your birthright, and it is inalienable. You will have the countenance, +doubtless, of your father's head-clerk, and confidential friends and +partners. Above all, Rashleigh's schemes are of a nature that"--(she +stopped abruptly, as if fearful of saying too much)--"are, in short," she +resumed, "of the nature of all selfish and unconscientious plans, which +are speedily abandoned as soon as those who frame them perceive their +arts are discovered and watched. Therefore, in the language of your +favourite poet-- + + To horse! to horse! Urge doubts to those that fear." + +A feeling, irresistible in its impulse, induced me to reply--"Ah! Diana, +can _you_ give me advice to leave Osbaldistone Hall?--then indeed I have +already been a resident here too long!" + +Miss Vernon coloured, but proceeded with great firmness--"Indeed, I do +give you this advice--not only to quit Osbaldistone Hall, but never to +return to it more. You have only one friend to regret here," she +continued, forcing a smile, "and she has been long accustomed to +sacrifice her friendships and her comforts to the welfare of others. In +the world you will meet a hundred whose friendship will be as +disinterested--more useful--less encumbered by untoward circumstances-- +less influenced by evil tongues and evil times." + +"Never!" I exclaimed, "never!--the world can afford me nothing to repay +what I must leave behind me." Here I took her hand, and pressed it to my +lips. + +"This is folly!" she exclaimed--"this is madness!" and she struggled to +withdraw her hand from my grasp, but not so stubbornly as actually to +succeed until I had held it for nearly a minute. "Hear me, sir!" she +said, "and curb this unmanly burst of passion. I am, by a solemn +contract, the bride of Heaven, unless I could prefer being wedded to +villany in the person of Rashleigh Osbaldistone, or brutality in that of +his brother. I am, therefore, the bride of Heaven,--betrothed to the +convent from the cradle. To me, therefore, these raptures are misapplied +--they only serve to prove a farther necessity for your departure, and +that without delay." At these words she broke suddenly off, and said, but +in a suppressed tone of voice, "Leave me instantly--we will meet here +again, but it must be for the last time." + +My eyes followed the direction of hers as she spoke, and I thought I saw +the tapestry shake, which covered the door of the secret passage from +Rashleigh's room to the library. I conceived we were observed, and turned +an inquiring glance on Miss Vernon. + +"It is nothing," said she, faintly; "a rat behind the arras." + +"Dead for a ducat," would have been my reply, had I dared to give way to +the feelings which rose indignant at the idea of being subjected to an +eaves-dropper on such an occasion. Prudence, and the necessity of +suppressing my passion, and obeying Diana's reiterated command of "Leave +me! leave me!" came in time to prevent my rash action. I left the +apartment in a wild whirl and giddiness of mind, which I in vain +attempted to compose when I returned to my own. + +A chaos of thoughts intruded themselves on me at once, passing hastily +through my brain, intercepting and overshadowing each other, and +resembling those fogs which in mountainous countries are wont to descend +in obscure volumes, and disfigure or obliterate the usual marks by which +the traveller steers his course through the wilds. The dark and undefined +idea of danger arising to my father from the machinations of such a man +as Rashleigh Osbaldistone--the half declaration of love that I had +offered to Miss Vernon's acceptance--the acknowledged difficulties of her +situation, bound by a previous contract to sacrifice herself to a +cloister or to an ill-assorted marriage,--all pressed themselves at once +upon my recollection, while my judgment was unable deliberately to +consider any of them in their just light and bearings. But chiefly and +above all the rest, I was perplexed by the manner in which Miss Vernon +had received my tender of affection, and by her manner, which, +fluctuating betwixt sympathy and firmness, seemed to intimate that I +possessed an interest in her bosom, but not of force sufficient to +counterbalance the obstacles to her avowing a mutual affection. The +glance of fear, rather than surprise, with which she had watched the +motion of the tapestry over the concealed door, implied an apprehension +of danger which I could not but suppose well grounded; for Diana Vernon +was little subject to the nervous emotions of her sex, and totally unapt +to fear without actual and rational cause. Of what nature could those +mysteries be, with which she was surrounded as with an enchanter's spell, +and which seemed continually to exert an active influence over her +thoughts and actions, though their agents were never visible? On this +subject of doubt my mind finally rested, as if glad to shake itself free +from investigating the propriety or prudence of my own conduct, by +transferring the inquiry to what concerned Miss Vernon. I will be +resolved, I concluded, ere I leave Osbaldistone Hall, concerning the +light in which I must in future regard this fascinating being, over whose +life frankness and mystery seem to have divided their reign,--the former +inspiring her words and sentiments--the latter spreading in misty +influence over all her actions. + +Joined to the obvious interests which arose from curiosity and anxious +passion, there mingled in my feelings a strong, though unavowed and +undefined, infusion of jealousy. This sentiment, which springs up with +love as naturally as the tares with the wheat, was excited by the degree +of influence which Diana appeared to concede to those unseen beings by +whom her actions were limited. The more I reflected upon her character, +the more I was internally though unwillingly convinced, that she was +formed to set at defiance all control, excepting that which arose from +affection; and I felt a strong, bitter, and gnawing suspicion, that such +was the foundation of that influence by which she was overawed. + +These tormenting doubts strengthened my desire to penetrate into the +secret of Miss Vernon's conduct, and in the prosecution of this sage +adventure, I formed a resolution, of which, if you are not weary of these +details, you will find the result in the next chapter. + + + + + CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. + + + I hear a voice you cannot hear, + Which says, I must not stay; + I see a hand you cannot see, + Which beckons me awry. + Tickell. + +I have already told you, Tresham, if you deign to bear it in remembrance, +that my evening visits to the library had seldom been made except by +appointment, and under the sanction of old Dame Martha's presence. This, +however, was entirely a tacit conventional arrangement of my own +instituting. Of late, as the embarrassments of our relative situation had +increased, Miss Vernon and I had never met in the evening at all. She had +therefore no reason to suppose that I was likely to seek a renewal of +these interviews, and especially without some previous notice or +appointment betwixt us, that Martha might, as usual, be placed upon duty; +but, on the other hand, this cautionary provision was a matter of +understanding, not of express enactment. The library was open to me, as +to the other members of the family, at all hours of the day and night, +and I could not be accused of intrusion, however suddenly and +unexpectedly I might made my appearance in it. My belief was strong, that +in this apartment Miss Vernon occasionally received Vaughan, or some +other person, by whose opinion she was accustomed to regulate her +conduct, and that at the times when she could do so with least chance of +interruption. The lights which gleamed in the library at unusual hours-- +the passing shadows which I had myself remarked--the footsteps which +might be traced in the morning-dew from the turret-door to the +postern-gate in the garden--sounds and sights which some of the servants, +and Andrew Fairservice in particular, had observed, and accounted for in +their own way,--all tended to show that the place was visited by some one +different from the ordinary inmates of the hall. Connected as this +visitant probably must be with the fates of Diana Vernon, I did not +hesitate to form a plan of discovering who or what he was,--how far his +influence was likely to produce good or evil consequences to her on whom +he acted;--above all, though I endeavoured to persuade myself that this +was a mere subordinate consideration, I desired to know by what means +this person had acquired or maintained his influence over Diana, and +whether he ruled over her by fear or by affection. The proof that this +jealous curiosity was uppermost in my mind, arose from my imagination +always ascribing Miss Vernon's conduct to the influence of some one +individual agent, although, for aught I knew about the matter, her +advisers might be as numerous am Legion. I remarked this over and over to +myself; but I found that my mind still settled back in my original +conviction, that one single individual, of the masculine sex, and in all +probability young and handsome, was at the bottom of Miss Vernon's +conduct; and it was with a burning desire of discovering, or rather of +detecting, such a rival, that I stationed myself in the garden to watch +the moment when the lights should appear in the library windows. + +So eager, however, was my impatience, that I commenced my watch for a +phenomenon, which could not appear until darkness, a full hour before the +daylight disappeared, on a July evening. It was Sabbath, and all the +walks were still and solitary. I walked up and down for some time, +enjoying the refreshing coolness of a summer evening, and meditating on +the probable consequences of my enterprise. The fresh and balmy air of +the garden, impregnated with fragrance, produced its usual sedative +effects on my over-heated and feverish blood. As these took place, the +turmoil of my mind began proportionally to abate, and I was led to +question the right I had to interfere with Miss Vernon's secrets, or with +those of my uncle's family. What was it to me whom my uncle might choose +to conceal in his house, where I was myself a guest only by tolerance? +And what title had I to pry into the affairs of Miss Vernon, fraught, as +she had avowed them to be, with mystery, into which she desired no +scrutiny? + +Passion and self-will were ready with their answers to these questions. +In detecting this secret, I was in all probability about to do service to +Sir Hildebrand, who was probably ignorant of the intrigues carried on in +his family--and a still more important service to Miss Vernon, whose +frank simplicity of character exposed her to so many risks in maintaining +a private correspondence, perhaps with a person of doubtful or dangerous +character. If I seemed to intrude myself on her confidence, it was with +the generous and disinterested (yes, I even ventured to call it the +_disinterested_) intention of guiding, defending, and protecting her +against craft--against malice,--above all, against the secret counsellor +whom she had chosen for her confidant. Such were the arguments which my +will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be +current, and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented +to accept, rather than come to an open breach with a customer, though +more than doubting that the tender was spurious. + +While I paced the green alleys, debating these things _pro_ and _con,_ I +suddenly alighted upon Andrew Fairservice, perched up like a statue by a +range of bee-hives, in an attitude of devout contemplation--one eye, +however, watching the motions of the little irritable citizens, who were +settling in their straw-thatched mansion for the evening, and the other +fixed on a book of devotion, which much attrition had deprived of its +corners, and worn into an oval shape; a circumstance which, with the +close print and dingy colour of the volume in question, gave it an air of +most respectable antiquity. + +"I was e'en taking a spell o' worthy Mess John Quackleben's Flower of a +Sweet Savour sawn on the Middenstead of this World," said Andrew, closing +his book at my appearance, and putting his horn spectacles, by way of +mark, at the place where he had been reading. + +"And the bees, I observe, were dividing your attention, Andrew, with the +learned author?" + +"They are a contumacious generation," replied the gardener; "they hae sax +days in the week to hive on, and yet it's a common observe that they will +aye swarm on the Sabbath-day, and keep folk at hame frae hearing the +word--But there's nae preaching at Graneagain chapel the e'en--that's aye +ae mercy." + +"You might have gone to the parish church as I did, Andrew, and heard an +excellent discourse." + +"Clauts o' cauld parritch--clauts o' cauld parritch," replied Andrew, +with a most supercilious sneer,--"gude aneueh for dogs, begging your +honour's pardon--Ay! I might nae doubt hae heard the curate linking awa +at it in his white sark yonder, and the musicians playing on whistles, +mair like a penny-wedding than a sermon--and to the boot of that, I might +hae gaen to even-song, and heard Daddie Docharty mumbling his mass-- +muckle the better I wad hae been o' that!" + +"Docharty!" said I (this was the name of an old priest, an Irishman, I +think, who sometimes officiated at Osbaldistone Hall)--"I thought Father +Vaughan had been at the Hall. He was here yesterday." + +"Ay," replied Andrew; "but he left it yestreen, to gang to Greystock, or +some o' thae west-country haulds. There's an unco stir among them a' +e'enow. They are as busy as my bees are--God sain them! that I suld even +the puir things to the like o' papists. Ye see this is the second swarm, +and whiles they will swarm off in the afternoon. The first swarm set off +sune in the morning.--But I am thinking they are settled in their skeps +for the night; sae I wuss your honour good-night, and grace, and muckle +o't." + +So saying, Andrew retreated, but often cast a parting glance upon the +_skeps,_ as he called the bee-hives. + +I had indirectly gained from him an important piece of information, that +Father Vaughan, namely, was not supposed to be at the Hall. If, +therefore, there appeared light in the windows of the library this +evening, it either could not be his, or he was observing a very secret +and suspicious line of conduct. I waited with impatience the time of +sunset and of twilight. It had hardly arrived, ere a gleam from the +windows of the library was seen, dimly distinguishable amidst the still +enduring light of the evening. I marked its first glimpse, however, as +speedily as the benighted sailor descries the first distant twinkle of +the lighthouse which marks his course. The feelings of doubt and +propriety, which had hitherto contended with my curiosity and jealousy, +vanished when an opportunity of gratifying the former was presented to +me. I re-entered the house, and avoiding the more frequented apartments +with the consciousness of one who wishes to keep his purpose secret, I +reached the door of the library--hesitated for a moment as my hand was +upon the latch--heard a suppressed step within--opened the door--and +found Miss Vernon alone. + +Diana appeared surprised,--whether at my sudden entrance, or from some +other cause, I could not guess; but there was in her appearance a degree +of flutter, which I had never before remarked, and which I knew could +only be produced by unusual emotion. Yet she was calm in a moment; and +such is the force of conscience, that I, who studied to surprise her, +seemed myself the surprised, and was certainly the embarrassed person. + +"Has anything happened?" said Miss Vernon--"has any one arrived at the +Hall?" + +"No one that I know of," I answered, in some confusion; "I only sought +the Orlando." + +"It lies there," said Miss Vernon, pointing to the table. In removing one +or two books to get at that which I pretended to seek, I was, in truth, +meditating to make a handsome retreat from an investigation to which I +felt my assurance inadequate, when I perceived a man's glove lying upon +the table. My eyes encountered those of Miss Vernon, who blushed deeply. + +"It is one of my relics," she said with hesitation, replying not to my +words but to my looks; "it is one of the gloves of my grandfather, the +original of the superb Vandyke which you admire." + +As if she thought something more than her bare assertion was necessary to +prove her statement true, she opened a drawer of the large oaken table, +and taking out another glove, threw it towards me.--When a temper +naturally ingenuous stoops to equivocate, or to dissemble, the anxious +pain with which the unwonted task is laboured, often induces the hearer +to doubt the authenticity of the tale. I cast a hasty glance on both +gloves, and then replied gravely--"The gloves resemble each other, +doubtless, in form and embroidery; but they cannot form a pair, since +they both belong to the right hand." + +She bit her lip with anger, and again coloured deeply. + +"You do right to expose me," she replied, with bitterness: "some friends +would have only judged from what I said, that I chose to give no +particular explanation of a circumstance which calls for none--at least +to a stranger. You have judged better, and have made me feel, not only +the meanness of duplicity, but my own inadequacy to sustain the task of a +dissembler. I now tell you distinctly, that that glove is not the fellow, +as you have acutely discerned, to the one which I just now produced;--it +belongs to a friend yet dearer to me than the original of Vandyke's +picture--a friend by whose counsels I have been, and will be, guided-- +whom I honour--whom I"--she paused. + +I was irritated at her manner, and filled up the blank in my own way-- +"Whom she _loves_, Miss Vernon would say." + +"And if I do say so," she replied haughtily, "by whom shall my affection +be called to account?" + +"Not by me, Miss Vernon, assuredly--I entreat you to hold me acquitted of +such presumption.--_But,_" I continued, with some emphasis, for I was now +piqued in return, "I hope Miss Vernon will pardon a friend, from whom she +seems disposed to withdraw the title, for observing"-- + +"Observe nothing, sir," she interrupted with some vehemence, except that +I will neither be doubted nor questioned. There does not exist one by +whom I will be either interrogated or judged; and if you sought this +unusual time of presenting yourself in order to spy upon my privacy, the +friendship or interest with which you pretend to regard me, is a poor +excuse for your uncivil curiosity." + +"I relieve you of my presence," said I, with pride equal to her own; for +my temper has ever been a stranger to stooping, even in cases where my +feelings were most deeply interested--"I relieve you of my presence. I +awake from a pleasant, but a most delusive dream; and--but we understand +each other." + +I had reached the door of the apartment, when Miss Vernon, whose +movements were sometimes so rapid as to seem almost instinctive, overtook +me, and, catching hold of my arm, stopped me with that air of authority +which she could so whimsically assume, and which, from the _naivete_ and +simplicity of her manner, had an effect so peculiarly interesting. + +"Stop, Mr. Frank," she said, "you are not to leave me in that way +neither; I am not so amply provided with friends, that I can afford to +throw away even the ungrateful and the selfish. Mark what I say, Mr. +Francis Osbaldistone. You shall know nothing of this mysterious glove," +and she held it up as she spoke--"nothing--no, not a single iota more +than you know already; and yet I will not permit it to be a gauntlet of +strife and defiance betwixt us. My time here," she said, sinking into a +tone somewhat softer, "must necessarily be very short; yours must be +still shorter: we are soon to part never to meet again; do not let us +quarrel, or make any mysterious miseries the pretext for farther +embittering the few hours we shall ever pass together on this side of +eternity." + +I do not know, Tresham, by what witchery this fascinating creature +obtained such complete management over a temper which I cannot at all +times manage myself. I had determined on entering the library, to seek a +complete explanation with Miss Vernon. I had found that she refused it +with indignant defiance, and avowed to my face the preference of a rival; +for what other construction could I put on her declared preference of her +mysterious confidant? And yet, while I was on the point of leaving the +apartment, and breaking with her for ever, it cost her but a change of +look and tone, from that of real and haughty resentment to that of kind +and playful despotism, again shaded off into melancholy and serious +feeling, to lead me back to my seat, her willing subject, on her own hard +terms. + +"What does this avail?" said I, as I sate down. "What can this avail, +Miss Vernon? Why should I witness embarrassments which I cannot relieve, +and mysteries which I offend you even by attempting to penetrate? +Inexperienced as you are in the world, you must still be aware that a +beautiful young woman can have but one male friend. Even in a male friend +I will be jealous of a confidence shared with a third party unknown and +concealed; but with _you,_ Miss Vernon"-- + +"You are, of course, jealous, in all the tenses and moods of that amiable +passion? But, my good friend, you have all this time spoke nothing but +the paltry gossip which simpletons repeat from play-books and romances, +till they give mere cant a real and powerful influence over their minds. +Boys and girls prate themselves into love; and when their love is like to +fall asleep, they prate and tease themselves into jealousy. But you and +I, Frank, are rational beings, and neither silly nor idle enough to talk +ourselves into any other relation than that of plain honest disinterested +friendship. Any other union is as far out of our reach as if I were man, +or you woman--To speak truth," she added, after a moment's hesitation, +"even though I am so complaisant to the decorum of my sex as to blush a +little at my own plain dealing, we cannot marry if we would; and we ought +not if we could." + +And certainly, Tresham, she did blush most angelically, as she made this +cruel declaration. I was about to attack both her positions, entirely +forgetting those very suspicions which had been confirmed in the course +of the evening, but she proceeded with a cold firmness which approached +to severity--"What I say is sober and indisputable truth, on which I will +neither hear question nor explanation. We are therefore friends, Mr. +Osbaldistone--are we not?" She held out her hand, and taking mine, added +--"And nothing to each other now, or henceforward, except as friends." + +She let go my hand. I sunk it and my head at once, fairly _overcrowed,_ +as Spenser would have termed it, by the mingled kindness and firmness of +her manner. She hastened to change the subject. + +"Here is a letter," she said, "directed for you, Mr. Osbaldistone, very +duly and distinctly; but which, notwithstanding the caution of the person +who wrote and addressed it, might perhaps never have reached your hands, +had it not fallen into the possession of a certain Pacolet, or enchanted +dwarf of mine, whom, like all distressed damsels of romance, I retain in +my secret service." + +I opened the letter and glanced over the contents. The unfolded sheet of +paper dropped from my hands, with the involuntary exclamation of +"Gracious Heaven! my folly and disobedience have ruined my father!" + +Miss Vernon rose with looks of real and affectionate alarm--"You grow +pale--you are ill--shall I bring you a glass of water? Be a man, Mr. +Osbaldistone, and a firm one. Is your father--is he no more?" + +"He lives," said I, "thank God! but to what distress and difficulty"-- + +"If that be all, despair not, May I read this letter?" she said, taking +it up. + +I assented, hardly knowing what I said. She read it with great attention. + +"Who is this Mr. Tresham, who signs the letter?" + +"My father's partner"--(your own good father, Will)--"but he is little in +the habit of acting personally in the business of the house." + +"He writes here," said Miss Vernon, "of various letters sent to you +previously." + +"I have received none of them," I replied. + +"And it appears," she continued, "that Rashleigh, who has taken the full +management of affairs during your father's absence in Holland, has some +time since left London for Scotland, with effects and remittances to take +up large bills granted by your father to persons in that country, and +that he has not since been heard of." + +"It is but too true." + +"And here has been," she added, looking at the letter, "a head-clerk, or +some such person,--Owenson--Owen--despatched to Glasgow, to find out +Rashleigh, if possible, and you are entreated to repair to the same +place, and assist him in his researches." + +"It is even so, and I must depart instantly." + +"Stay but one moment," said Miss Vernon. "It seems to me that the worst +which can come of this matter, will be the loss of a certain sum of +money;--and can that bring tears into your eyes? For shame, Mr. +Osbaldistone!" + +"You do me injustice, Miss Vernon," I answered. "I grieve not for the +loss of the money, but for the effect which I know it will produce on the +spirits and health of my father, to whom mercantile credit is as honour; +and who, if declared insolvent, would sink into the grave, oppressed by a +sense of grief, remorse, and despair, like that of a soldier convicted of +cowardice or a man of honour who had lost his rank and character in +society. All this I might have prevented by a trifling sacrifice of the +foolish pride and indolence which recoiled from sharing the labours of +his honourable and useful profession. Good Heaven! how shall I redeem the +consequences of my error?" + +"By instantly repairing to Glasgow, as you are conjured to do by the +friend who writes this letter." + +"But if Rashleigh," said I, "has really formed this base and +unconscientious scheme of plundering his benefactor, what prospect is +there that I can find means of frustrating a plan so deeply laid?' + +"The prospect," she replied, "indeed, may be uncertain; but, on the other +hand, there is no possibility of your doing any service to your father by +remaining here. Remember, had you been on the post destined for you, this +disaster could not have happened: hasten to that which is now pointed +out, and it may possibly be retrieved.--Yet stay--do not leave this room +until I return." + + She left me in confusion and amazement; amid which, however, I could +find a lucid interval to admire the firmness, composure, and presence of +mind which Miss Vernon seemed to possess on every crisis, however sudden. + +In a few minutes she returned with a sheet of paper in her hand, folded +and sealed like a letter, but without address. "I trust you," she said, +"with this proof of my friendship, because I have the most perfect +confidence in your honour. If I understand the nature of your distress +rightly, the funds in Rashleigh's possession must be recovered by a +certain day--the 12th of September, I think is named--in order that they +may be applied to pay the bills in question; and, consequently, that if +adequate funds be provided before that period, your father's credit is +safe from the apprehended calamity." + +"Certainly--I so understand Mr. Tresham"--I looked at your father's +letter again, and added, "There cannot be a doubt of it." + +"Well," said Diana, "in that case my little Pacolet may be of use to you. +You have heard of a spell contained in a letter. Take this packet; do not +open it until other and ordinary means have failed. If you succeed by +your own exertions, I trust to your honour for destroying it without +opening or suffering it to be opened;--but if not, you may break the seal +within ten days of the fated day, and you will find directions which may +possibly be of service to you. Adieu, Frank; we never meet more--but +sometimes think of your friend Die Vernon." + +She extended her hand, but I clasped her to my bosom. She sighed as she +extricated herself from the embrace which she permitted--escaped to the +door which led to her own apartment--and I saw her no more. + + + + + ROB ROY + + By Sir Walter Scott + + + + VOLUME TWO + + + + CHAPTER FIRST + + And hurry, hurry, off they rode, + As fast as fast might be; + Hurra, hurra, the dead can ride, + Dost fear to ride with me? + Burger. + +There is one advantage in an accumulation of evils, differing in cause +and character, that the distraction which they afford by their +contradictory operation prevents the patient from being overwhelmed under +either. I was deeply grieved at my separation from Miss Vernon, yet not +so much so as I should have been, had not my father's apprehended +distresses forced themselves on my attention; and I was distressed by the +news of Mr. Tresham, yet less so than if they had fully occupied my mind. +I was neither a false lover nor an unfeeling son; but man can give but a +certain portion of distressful emotions to the causes which demand them; +and if two operate at once, our sympathy, like the funds of a compounding +bankrupt, can only be divided between them. Such were my reflections when +I gained my apartment--it seems, from the illustration, they already +began to have a twang of commerce in them. + +I set myself seriously to consider your father's letter. It was not very +distinct, and referred for several particulars to Owen, whom I was +entreated to meet with as soon as possible at a Scotch town called +Glasgow; being informed, moreover, that my old friend was to be heard of +at Messrs. MacVittie, MacFin, and Company, merchants in the Gallowgate of +the said town. It likewise alluded to several letters,--which, as it +appeared to me, must have miscarried or have been intercepted, and +complained of my obdurate silence, in terms which would have, been highly +unjust, had my letters reached their purposed destination. I was amazed +as I read. That the spirit of Rashleigh walked around me, and conjured up +these doubts and difficulties by which I was surrounded, I could not +doubt for one instant; yet it was frightful to conceive the extent of +combined villany and power which he must have employed in the +perpetration of his designs. Let me do myself justice in one respect. The +evil of parting from Miss Vernon, however distressing it might in other +respects and at another time have appeared to me, sunk into a subordinate +consideration when I thought of the dangers impending over my father. I +did not myself set a high estimation on wealth, and had the affectation +of most young men of lively imagination, who suppose that they can better +dispense with the possession of money, than resign their time and +faculties to the labour necessary to acquire it. But in my father's case, +I knew that bankruptcy would be considered as an utter and irretrievable +disgrace, to which life would afford no comfort, and death the speediest +and sole relief. + +My mind, therefore, was bent on averting this catastrophe, with an +intensity which the interest could not have produced had it referred to +my own fortunes; and the result of my deliberation was a firm resolution +to depart from Osbaldistone Hall the next day and wend my way without +loss of time to meet Owen at Glasgow. I did not hold it expedient to +intimate my departure to my uncle, otherwise than by leaving a letter of +thanks for his hospitality, assuring him that sudden and important +business prevented my offering them in person. I knew the blunt old +knight would readily excuse ceremony; and I had such a belief in the +extent and decided character of Rashleigh's machinations, that I had some +apprehension of his having provided means to intercept a journey which +was undertaken with a view to disconcert them, if my departure were +publicly announced at Osbaldistone Hall. + +I therefore determined to set off on my journey with daylight on the +ensuing morning, and to gain the neighbouring kingdom of Scotland before +any idea of my departure was entertained at the Hall. But one impediment +of consequence was likely to prevent that speed which was the soul of my +expedition. I did not know the shortest, nor indeed any road to Glasgow; +and as, in the circumstances in which I stood, despatch was of the +greatest consequence, I determined to consult Andrew Fairservice on the +subject, as the nearest and most authentic authority within my reach. +Late as it was, I set off with the intention of ascertaining this +important point, and after a few minutes' walk reached the dwelling of +the gardener. + +Andrew's dwelling was situated at no great distance from the exterior +wall of the garden--a snug comfortable Northumbrian cottage, built of +stones roughly dressed with the hammer, and having the windows and doors +decorated with huge heavy architraves, or lintels, as they are called, of +hewn stone, and its roof covered with broad grey flags, instead of +slates, thatch, or tiles. A jargonelle pear-tree at one end of the +cottage, a rivulet and flower-plot of a rood in extent in front, and a +kitchen-garden behind; a paddock for a cow, and a small field, cultivated +with several crops of grain, rather for the benefit of the cottager than +for sale, announced the warm and cordial comforts which Old England, even +at her most northern extremity, extends to her meanest inhabitants. + +As I approached the mansion of the sapient Andrew, I heard a noise, +which, being of a nature peculiarly solemn, nasal, and prolonged, led me +to think that Andrew, according to the decent and meritorious custom of +his countrymen, had assembled some of his neighbours to join in family +exercise, as he called evening devotion. Andrew had indeed neither wife, +child, nor female inmate in his family. "The first of his trade," he +said, "had had eneugh o'thae cattle." But, notwithstanding, he sometimes +contrived to form an audience for himself out of the neighbouring Papists +and Church-of-Englandmen--brands, as he expressed it, snatched out of the +burning, on whom he used to exercise his spiritual gifts, in defiance +alike of Father Vaughan, Father Docharty, Rashleigh, and all the world of +Catholics around him, who deemed his interference on such occasions an +act of heretical interloping. I conceived it likely, therefore, that the +well-disposed neighbours might have assembled to hold some chapel of ease +of this nature. The noise, however, when I listened to it more +accurately, seemed to proceed entirely from the lungs of the said Andrew; +and when I interrupted it by entering the house, I found Fairservice +alone, combating as he best could, with long words and hard names, and +reading aloud, for the purpose of his own edification, a volume of +controversial divinity. + +"I was just taking a spell," said he, laying aside the huge folio volume +as I entered, "of the worthy Doctor Lightfoot." + +"Lightfoot!" I replied, looking at the ponderous volume with some +surprise; "surely your author was unhappily named." + +"Lightfoot was his name, sir; a divine he was, and another kind of a +divine than they hae now-adays. Always, I crave your pardon for keeping +ye standing at the door, but having been mistrysted (gude preserve us!) +with ae bogle the night already, I was dubious o' opening the yett till I +had gaen through the e'ening worship; and I had just finished the fifth +chapter of Nehemiah--if that winna gar them keep their distance, I wotna +what will." + +"Trysted with a bogle!" said I; "what do you mean by that, Andrew?" + +"I said mistrysted," replied Andrew; "that is as muckle as to say, fley'd +wi' a ghaist--Gude preserve us, I say again!" + +"Flay'd by a ghost, Andrew! how am I to understand that?" + +"I did not say flay'd," replied Andrew, "but _fley'd,_--that is, I got a +fleg, and was ready to jump out o' my skin, though naebody offered to +whirl it aff my body as a man wad bark a tree." + +"I beg a truce to your terrors in the present case, Andrew, and I wish to +know whether you can direct me the nearest way to a town in your country +of Scotland, called Glasgow?" + +"A town ca'd Glasgow!" echoed Andrew Fairservice. "Glasgow's a ceety, +man.--And is't the way to Glasgow ye were speering if I ken'd?--What suld +ail me to ken it?--it's no that dooms far frae my ain parish of +Dreepdaily, that lies a bittock farther to the west. But what may your +honour be gaun to Glasgow for?" + +"Particular business," replied I. + +"That's as muckle as to say, Speer nae questions, and I'll tell ye nae +lees.--To Glasgow?"--he made a short pause--"I am thinking ye wad be the +better o' some ane to show you the road." + +"Certainly, if I could meet with any person going that way." + +"And your honour, doubtless, wad consider the time and trouble?" + +"Unquestionably--my business is pressing, and if you can find any guide +to accompany me, I'll pay him handsomely." + +"This is no a day to speak o' carnal matters," said Andrew, casting his +eyes upwards; "but if it werena Sabbath at e'en, I wad speer what ye wad +be content to gie to ane that wad bear ye pleasant company on the road, +and tell ye the names of the gentlemen's and noblemen's seats and +castles, and count their kin to ye?" + +"I tell you, all I want to know is the road I must travel; I will pay the +fellow to his satisfaction--I will give him anything in reason." + +"Onything," replied Andrew, "is naething; and this lad that I am speaking +o' kens a' the short cuts and queer by-paths through the hills, and"-- + +"I have no time to talk about it, Andrew; do you make the bargain for me +your own way." + +"Aha! that's speaking to the purpose," answered Andrew.--"I am thinking, +since sae be that sae it is, I'll be the lad that will guide you mysell." + +"You, Andrew?--how will you get away from your employment?" + +"I tell'd your honour a while syne, that it was lang that I hae been +thinking o' flitting, maybe as lang as frae the first year I came to +Osbaldistone Hall; and now I am o' the mind to gang in gude earnest-- +better soon as syne--better a finger aff as aye wagging." + +"You leave your service, then?--but will you not lose your wages?" + +"Nae doubt there will be a certain loss; but then I hae siller o' the +laird's in my hands that I took for the apples in the auld orchyard--and +a sair bargain the folk had that bought them--a wheen green trash--and +yet Sir Hildebrand's as keen to hae the siller (that is, the steward is +as pressing about it) as if they had been a' gowden pippins--and then +there's the siller for the seeds--I'm thinking the wage will be in a +manner decently made up.--But doubtless your honour will consider my risk +of loss when we win to Glasgow--and ye'll be for setting out forthwith?" + +"By day-break in the morning," I answered. + +"That's something o' the suddenest--whare am I to find a naig?--Stay--I +ken just the beast that will answer me." + +"At five in the morning, then, Andrew, you will meet me at the head of +the avenue." + +"Deil a fear o' me (that I suld say sae) missing my tryste," replied +Andrew, very briskly; "and if I might advise, we wad be aff twa hours +earlier. I ken the way, dark or light, as weel as blind Ralph Ronaldson, +that's travelled ower every moor in the country-side, and disna ken the +colour of a heather-cowe when a's dune." + +I highly approved of Andrew's amendment on my original proposal, and we +agreed to meet at the place appointed at three in the morning. At once, +however, a reflection came across the mind of my intended travelling +companion. + +"The bogle! the bogle! what if it should come out upon us?--I downa +forgather wi' thae things twice in the four-and-twenty hours." + +"Pooh! pooh!" I exclaimed, breaking away from him, "fear nothing from the +next world--the earth contains living fiends, who can act for themselves +without assistance, were the whole host that fell with Lucifer to return +to aid and abet them." + +With these words, the import of which was suggested by my own situation, +I left Andrew's habitation, and returned to the Hall. + +I made the few preparations which were necessary for my proposed journey, +examined and loaded my pistols, and then threw myself on my bed, to +obtain, if possible, a brief sleep before the fatigue of a long and +anxious journey. Nature, exhausted by the tumultuous agitations of the +day, was kinder to me than I expected, and I stink into a deep and +profound slumber, from which, however, I started as the old clock struck +two from a turret adjoining to my bedchamber. I instantly arose, struck a +light, wrote the letter I proposed to leave for my uncle, and leaving +behind me such articles of dress as were cumbrous in carriage, I +deposited the rest of my wardrobe in my valise, glided down stairs, and +gained the stable without impediment. Without being quite such a groom as +any of my cousins, I had learned at Osbaldistone Hall to dress and saddle +my own horse, and in a few minutes I was mounted and ready for my sally. + +As I paced up the old avenue, on which the waning moon threw its light +with a pale and whitish tinge, I looked back with a deep and boding sigh +towards the walls which contained Diana Vernon, under the despondent +impression that we had probably parted to meet no more. It was +impossible, among the long and irregular lines of Gothic casements, which +now looked ghastly white in the moonlight, to distinguish that of the +apartment which she inhabited. "She is lost to me already," thought I, as +my eye wandered over the dim and indistinguishable intricacies of +architecture offered by the moonlight view of Osbaldistone Hall--"She is +lost to me already, ere I have left the place which she inhabits! What +hope is there of my maintaining any correspondence with her, when leagues +shall lie between?" + +While I paused in a reverie of no very pleasing nature, the "iron tongue +of time told three upon the drowsy ear of night," and reminded me of the +necessity of keeping my appointment with a person of a less interesting +description and appearance--Andrew Fairservice. + +At the gate of the avenue I found a horseman stationed in the shadow of +the wall, but it was not until I had coughed twice, and then called +"Andrew," that the horticulturist replied, "I'se warrant it's Andrew." + +"Lead the way, then," said I, "and be silent if you can, till we are past +the hamlet in the valley." + +Andrew led the way accordingly, and at a much brisker pace than I would +have recommended.--and so well did he obey my injunctions of keeping +silence, that he would return no answer to my repeated inquiries into the +cause of such unnecessary haste. Extricating ourselves by short cuts, +known to Andrew, from the numerous stony lanes and by-paths which +intersected each other in the vicinity of the Hall, we reached the open +heath and riding swiftly across it, took our course among the barren +hills which divide England from Scotland on what are called the Middle +Marches. The way, or rather the broken track which we occupied, was a +happy interchange of bog and shingles; nevertheless, Andrew relented +nothing of his speed, but trotted manfully forward at the rate of eight +or ten miles an hour. I was both surprised and provoked at the fellow's +obstinate persistence, for we made abrupt ascents and descents over +ground of a very break-neck character, and traversed the edge of +precipices, where a slip of the horse's feet would have consigned the +rider to certain death. The moon, at best, afforded a dubious and +imperfect light; but in some places we were so much under the shade of +the mountain as to be in total darkness, and then I could only trace +Andrew by the clatter of his horse's feet, and the fire which they struck +from the flints. At first, this rapid motion, and the attention which, +for the sake of personal safety, I was compelled to give to the conduct +of my horse, was of service, by forcibly diverting my thoughts from the +various painful reflections which must otherwise have pressed on my mind. +But at length, after hallooing repeatedly to Andrew to ride slower, I +became seriously incensed at his impudent perseverance in refusing either +to obey or to reply to me. My anger was, however, quite impotent. I +attempted once or twice to get up alongside of my self-willed guide, with +the purpose of knocking him off his horse with the butt-end of my whip; +but Andrew was better mounted than I, and either the spirit of the animal +which he bestrode, or more probably some presentiment of my kind +intentions towards him, induced him to quicken his pace whenever I +attempted to make up to him. On the other hand, I was compelled to exert +my spurs to keep him in sight, for without his guidance I was too well +aware that I should never find my way through the howling wilderness +which we now traversed at such an unwonted pace. I was so angry at +length, that I threatened to have recourse to my pistols, and send a +bullet after the Hotspur Andrew, which should stop his fiery-footed +career, if he did not abate it of his own accord. Apparently this threat +made some impression on the tympanum of his ear, however deaf to all my +milder entreaties; for he relaxed his pace upon hearing it, and, +suffering me to close up to him, observed, "There wasna muckle sense in +riding at sic a daft-like gate." + +"And what did you mean by doing so at all, you self-willed scoundrel?" +replied I; for I was in a towering passion,--to which, by the way, +nothing contributes more than the having recently undergone a spice of +personal fear, which, like a few drops of water flung on a glowing fire, +is sure to inflame the ardour which it is insufficient to quench. + +"What's your honour's wull?" replied Andrew, with impenetrable gravity. + +"My will, you rascal?--I have been roaring to you this hour to ride +slower, and you have never so much as answered me--Are you drunk or mad +to behave so?" + +"An it like your honour, I am something dull o' hearing; and I'll no deny +but I might have maybe taen a stirrup-cup at parting frae the auld +bigging whare I hae dwelt sae lang; and having naebody to pledge, nae +doubt I was obliged to do mysell reason, or else leave the end o' the +brandy stoup to thae papists--and that wad be a waste, as your honour +kens." + +This might be all very true,--and my circumstances required that I should +be on good terms with my guide; I therefore satisfied myself with +requiring of him to take his directions from me in future concerning the +rate of travelling. + +Andrew, emboldened by the mildness of my tone, elevated his own into the +pedantic, conceited octave, which was familiar to him on most occasions. + +"Your honour winna persuade me, and naebody shall persuade me, that it's +either halesome or prudent to tak the night air on thae moors without a +cordial o' clow-gilliflower water, or a tass of brandy or aquavitae, or +sic-like creature-comfort. I hae taen the bent ower the Otterscrape-rigg +a hundred times, day and night, and never could find the way unless I had +taen my morning; mair by token that I had whiles twa bits o' ankers o' +brandy on ilk side o' me."-- + +"In other words, Andrew," said I, "you were a smuggler--how does a man of +your strict principles reconcile yourself to cheat the revenue?" + +"It's a mere spoiling o' the Egyptians," replied Andrew; "puir auld +Scotland suffers eneugh by thae blackguard loons o' excisemen and +gaugers, that hae come down on her like locusts since the sad and +sorrowfu' Union; it's the part of a kind son to bring her a soup o' +something that will keep up her auld heart,--and that will they nill +they, the ill-fa'ard thieves!" + +Upon more particular inquiry, I found Andrew had frequently travelled +these mountain-paths as a smuggler, both before and after his +establishment at Osbaldistone Hall--a circumstance which was so far of +importance to me, as it proved his capacity as a guide, notwithstanding +the escapade of which he had been guilty at his outset, Even now, though +travelling at a more moderate pace, the stirrup-cup, or whatever else had +such an effect in stimulating Andrew's motions, seemed not totally to +have lost its influence. He often cast a nervous and startled look behind +him; and whenever the road seemed at all practicable, showed symptoms of +a desire to accelerate his pace, as if he feared some pursuit from the +rear. These appearances of alarm gradually diminished as we reached the +top of a high bleak ridge, which ran nearly east and west for about a +mile, with a very steep descent on either side. The pale beams of the +morning were now enlightening the horizon, when Andrew cast a look behind +him, and not seeing the appearance of a living being on the moors which +he had travelled, his hard features gradually unbent, as he first +whistled, then sung, with much glee and little melody, the end of one of +his native songs-- + + "Jenny, lass! I think I hae her + Ower the muir amang the heather, + All their clan shall never get her." + +He patted at the same time the neck of the horse which had carried him so +gallantly; and my attention being directed by that action to the animal, +I instantly recognised a favourite mare of Thorncliff Osbaldistone. "How +is this, sir?" said I sternly; "that is Mr. Thorncliff's mare!" + +"I'll no say but she may aiblins hae been his honour's Squire +Thorncliff's in her day--but she's mine now." + +"You have stolen her, you rascal." + +"Na, na, sir--nae man can wyte me wi' theft. The thing stands this gate, +ye see. Squire Thorncliff borrowed ten punds o' me to gang to York Races +--deil a boddle wad he pay me back again, and spake o' raddling my banes, +as he ca'd it, when I asked him but for my ain back again;--now I think +it will riddle him or he gets his horse ower the Border again--unless he +pays me plack and bawbee, he sall never see a hair o' her tail. I ken a +canny chield at Loughmaben, a bit writer lad, that will put me in the way +to sort him. Steal the mear! na, na, far be the sin o' theft frae Andrew +Fairservice--I have just arrested her _jurisdictionis fandandy causey._ +Thae are bonny writer words--amaist like the language o' huz gardeners +and other learned men--it's a pity they're sae dear;--thae three words +were a' that Andrew got for a lang law-plea and four ankers o' as gude +brandy as was e'er coupit ower craig--Hech, sirs! but law's a dear +thing." + +"You are likely to find it much dearer than you suppose, Andrew, if you +proceed in this mode of paying yourself, without legal authority." + +"Hout tout, we're in Scotland now (be praised for't!) and I can find +baith friends and lawyers, and judges too, as weel as ony Osbaldistone o' +them a'. My mither's mither's third cousin was cousin to the Provost o' +Dumfries, and he winna see a drap o' her blude wranged. Hout awa! the +laws are indifferently administered here to a' men alike; it's no like on +yon side, when a chield may be whuppit awa' wi' ane o' Clerk Jobson's +warrants, afore he kens where he is. But they will hae little enough law +amang them by and by, and that is ae grand reason that I hae gi'en them +gude-day." + +I was highly provoked at the achievement of Andrew, and considered it as +a hard fate, which a second time threw me into collision with a person of +such irregular practices. I determined, however, to buy the mare of him, +when he should reach the end of our journey, and send her back to my +cousin at Osbaldistone Hall; and with this purpose of reparation I +resolved to make my uncle acquainted from the next post-town. It was +needless, I thought, to quarrel with Andrew in the meantime, who had, +after all, acted not very unnaturally for a person in his circumstances. +I therefore smothered my resentment, and asked him what he meant by his +last expressions, that there would be little law in Northumberland by and +by? + +"Law!" said Andrew, "hout, ay--there will be club-law eneugh. The priests +and the Irish officers, and thae papist cattle that hae been sodgering +abroad, because they durstna bide at hame, are a' fleeing thick in +Northumberland e'enow; and thae corbies dinna gather without they smell +carrion. As sure as ye live, his honour Sir Hildebrand is gaun to stick +his horn in the bog--there's naething but gun and pistol, sword and +dagger, amang them--and they'll be laying on, I'se warrant; for they're +fearless fules the young Osbaldistone squires, aye craving your honour's +pardon." + +This speech recalled to my memory some suspicions that I myself had +entertained, that the Jacobites were on the eve of some desperate +enterprise. But, conscious it did not become me to be a spy on my uncle's +words and actions, I had rather avoided than availed myself of any +opportunity which occurred of remarking upon the signs of the times.-- +Andrew Fairservice felt no such restraint, and doubtless spoke very truly +in stating his conviction that some desperate plots were in agitation, as +a reason which determined his resolution to leave the Hall. + +"The servants," he stated, "with the tenantry and others, had been all +regularly enrolled and mustered, and they wanted me to take arms also. +But I'll ride in nae siccan troop--they little ken'd Andrew that asked +him. I'll fight when I like mysell, but it sall neither be for the hure +o' Babylon, nor any hure in England." + + + + + CHAPTER SECOND. + + + Where longs to fall yon rifted spire, + As weary of the insulting air,-- + The poet's thoughts, the warrior's fire, + The lover's sighs, are sleeping there. + Langhorne. + +At the first Scotch town which we reached, my guide sought out his friend +and counsellor, to consult upon the proper and legal means of converting +into his own lawful property the "bonny creature," which was at present +his own only by one of those sleight-of-hand arrangements which still +sometimes took place in that once lawless district. I was somewhat +diverted with the dejection of his looks on his return. He had, it seems, +been rather too communicative to his confidential friend, the attorney; +and learned with great dismay, in return for his unsuspecting frankness, +that Mr. Touthope had, during his absence, been appointed clerk to the +peace of the county, and was bound to communicate to justice all such +achievements as that of his friend Mr. Andrew Fairservice. There was a +necessity, this alert member of the police stated, for arresting the +horse, and placing him in Bailie Trumbull's stable, therein to remain at +livery, at the rate of twelve shillings (Scotch) per diem, until the +question of property was duly tried and debated. He even talked as if, in +strict and rigorous execution of his duty, he ought to detain honest +Andrew himself; but on my guide's most piteously entreating his +forbearance, he not only desisted from this proposal, but made a present +to Andrew of a broken-winded and spavined pony, in order to enable him to +pursue his journey. It is true, he qualified this act of generosity by +exacting from poor Andrew an absolute cession of his right and interest +in the gallant palfrey of Thorncliff Osbaldistone--a transference which +Mr. Touthope represented as of very little consequence, since his +unfortunate friend, as he facetiously observed, was likely to get nothing +of the mare excepting the halter. + +Andrew seemed woeful and disconcerted, as I screwed out of him these +particulars; for his northern pride was cruelly pinched by being +compelled to admit that attorneys were attorneys on both sides of the +Tweed; and that Mr. Clerk Touthope was not a farthing more sterling coin +than Mr. Clerk Jobson. + +"It wadna hae vexed him half sae muckle to hae been cheated out o' what +might amaist be said to be won with the peril o' his craig, had it +happened amang the Inglishers; but it was an unco thing to see hawks pike +out hawks' e'en, or ae kindly Scot cheat anither. But nae doubt things +were strangely changed in his country sin' the sad and sorrowfu' Union;" +an event to which Andrew referred every symptom of depravity or +degeneracy which he remarked among his countrymen, more especially the +inflammation of reckonings, the diminished size of pint-stoups, and other +grievances, which he pointed out to me during our journey. + +For my own part, I held myself, as things had turned out, acquitted of +all charge of the mare, and wrote to my uncle the circumstances under +which she was carried into Scotland, concluding with informing him that +she was in the hands of justice, and her worthy representatives, Bailie +Trumbull and Mr. Clerk Touthope, to whom I referred him for farther +particulars. Whether the property returned to the Northumbrian +fox-hunter, or continued to bear the person of the Scottish attorney, it +is unnecessary for me at present to say. + +We now pursued our journey to the north-westward, at a rate much slower +than that at which we had achieved our nocturnal retreat from England. +One chain of barren and uninteresting hills succeeded another, until the +more fertile vale of Clyde opened upon us; and, with such despatch as we +might, we gained the town, or, as my guide pertinaciously termed it, the +city, of Glasgow. Of late years, I understand, it has fully deserved the +name, which, by a sort of political second sight, my guide assigned to +it. An extensive and increasing trade with the West Indies and American +colonies, has, if I am rightly informed, laid the foundation of wealth +and prosperity, which, if carefully strengthened and built upon, may one +day support an immense fabric of commercial prosperity; but in the +earlier time of which I speak, the dawn of this splendour had not arisen. +The Union had, indeed, opened to Scotland the trade of the English +colonies; but, betwixt want of capital, and the national jealousy of the +English, the merchants of Scotland were as yet excluded, in a great +measure, from the exercise of the privileges which that memorable treaty +conferred on them. Glasgow lay on the wrong side of the island for +participating in the east country or continental trade, by which the +trifling commerce as yet possessed by Scotland chiefly supported itself. +Yet, though she then gave small promise of the commercial eminence to +which, I am informed, she seems now likely one day to attain, Glasgow, as +the principal central town of the western district of Scotland, was a +place of considerable rank and importance. The broad and brimming Clyde, +which flows so near its walls, gave the means of an inland navigation of +some importance. Not only the fertile plains in its immediate +neighbourhood, but the districts of Ayr and Dumfries regarded Glasgow as +their capital, to which they transmitted their produce, and received in +return such necessaries and luxuries as their consumption required. + +The dusky mountains of the western Highlands often sent forth wilder +tribes to frequent the marts of St. Mungo's favourite city. Hordes of +wild shaggy, dwarfish cattle and ponies, conducted by Highlanders, as +wild, as shaggy, and sometimes as dwarfish, as the animals they had in +charge, often traversed the streets of Glasgow. Strangers gazed with +surprise on the antique and fantastic dress, and listened to the unknown +and dissonant sounds of their language, while the mountaineers, armed, +even while engaged in this peaceful occupation, with musket and pistol, +sword, dagger, and target, stared with astonishment on the articles of +luxury of which they knew not the use, and with an avidity which seemed +somewhat alarming on the articles which they knew and valued. It is +always with unwillingness that the Highlander quits his deserts, and at +this early period it was like tearing a pine from its rock, to plant him +elsewhere. Yet even then the mountain glens were over-peopled, although +thinned occasionally by famine or by the sword, and many of their +inhabitants strayed down to Glasgow--there formed settlements--there +sought and found employment, although different, indeed, from that of +their native hills. This supply of a hardy and useful population was of +consequence to the prosperity of the place, furnished the means of +carrying on the few manufactures which the town already boasted, and laid +the foundation of its future prosperity. + +The exterior of the city corresponded with these promising circumstances. +The principal street was broad and important, decorated with public +buildings, of an architecture rather striking than correct in point of +taste, and running between rows of tall houses, built of stone, the +fronts of which were occasionally richly ornamented with mason-work--a +circumstance which gave the street an imposing air of dignity and +grandeur, of which most English towns are in some measure deprived, by +the slight, insubstantial, and perishable quality and appearance of the +bricks with which they are constructed. + +In the western metropolis of Scotland, my guide and I arrived on a +Saturday evening, too late to entertain thoughts of business of any kind. +We alighted at the door of a jolly hostler-wife, as Andrew called her,-- +the Ostelere of old father Chaucer,--by whom we were civilly received. + +On the following morning the bells pealed from every steeple, announcing +the sanctity of the day. Notwithstanding, however, what I had heard of +the severity with which the Sabbath is observed in Scotland, my first +impulse, not unnaturally, was to seek out Owen; but on inquiry I found +that my attempt would be in vain, "until kirk time was ower." Not only +did my landlady and guide jointly assure me that "there wadna be a living +soul either in the counting-house or dwelling-house of Messrs. MacVittie, +MacFin, and Company," to which Owen's letter referred me, but, moreover, +"far less would I find any of the partners there. They were serious men, +and wad be where a' gude Christians ought to be at sic a time, and that +was in the Barony Laigh Kirk."* + +* [The Laigh Kirk or Crypt of the Cathedral of Glasgow served for more * +than two centuries as the church of the Barony Parish, and, for a time, +was * converted into a burial-place. In the restorations of this grand +building * the crypt was cleared out, and is now admired as one of the +richest specimens * of Early English architecture existing in Scotland.] + +Andrew Fairservice, whose disgust at the law of his country had +fortunately not extended itself to the other learned professions of his +native land, now sung forth the praises of the preacher who was to +perform the duty, to which my hostess replied with many loud amens. The +result was, that I determined to go to this popular place of worship, as +much with the purpose of learning, if possible, whether Owen had arrived +in Glasgow, as with any great expectation of edification. My hopes were +exalted by the assurance, that if Mr. Ephraim MacVittie (worthy man) were +in the land of life, he would surely honour the Barony Kirk that day with +his presence; and if he chanced to have a stranger within his gates, +doubtless he would bring him to the duty along with him. This probability +determined my motions, and under the escort of my faithful Andrew, I set +forth for the Barony Kirk. + +On this occasion, however, I had little need of his guidance; for the +crowd, which forced its way up a steep and rough-paved street, to hear +the most popular preacher in the west of Scotland, would of itself have +swept me along with it. On attaining the summit of the hill, we turned to +the left, and a large pair of folding doors admitted us, amongst others, +into the open and extensive burying-place which surrounds the Minster or +Cathedral Church of Glasgow. The pile is of a gloomy and massive, rather +than of an elegant, style of Gothic architecture; but its peculiar +character is so strongly preserved, and so well suited with the +accompaniments that surround it, that the impression of the first view +was awful and solemn in the extreme. I was indeed so much struck, that I +resisted for a few minutes all Andrew's efforts to drag me into the +interior of the building, so deeply was I engaged in surveying its +outward character. + +Situated in a populous and considerable town, this ancient and massive +pile has the appearance of the most sequestered solitude. High walls +divide it from the buildings of the city on one side; on the other it is +bounded by a ravine, at the bottom of which, and invisible to the eye, +murmurs a wandering rivulet, adding, by its gentle noise, to the imposing +solemnity of the scene. On the opposite side of the ravine rises a steep +bank, covered with fir-trees closely planted, whose dusky shade extends +itself over the cemetery with an appropriate and gloomy effect. The +churchyard itself had a peculiar character; for though in reality +extensive, it is small in proportion to the number of respectable +inhabitants who are interred within it, and whose graves are almost all +covered with tombstones. There is therefore no room for the long rank +grass, which, in most cases, partially clothes the surface of those +retreats where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at +rest. The broad flat monumental stones are placed so close to each other, +that the precincts appear to be flagged with them, and, though roofed +only by the heavens, resemble the floor of one of our old English +churches, where the pavement is covered with sepulchral inscriptions. The +contents of these sad records of mortality, the vain sorrows which they +preserve, the stern lesson which they teach of the nothingness of +humanity, the extent of ground which they so closely cover, and their +uniform and melancholy tenor, reminded me of the roll of the prophet, +which was "written within and without, and there was written therein +lamentations and mourning and woe." + +The Cathedral itself corresponds in impressive majesty with these +accompaniments. We feel that its appearance is heavy, yet that the effect +produced would be destroyed were it lighter or more ornamental. It is the +only metropolitan church in Scotland, excepting, as I am informed, the +Cathedral of Kirkwall, in the Orkneys, which remained uninjured at the +Reformation; and Andrew Fairservice, who saw with great pride the effect +which it produced upon my mind, thus accounted for its preservation--"Ah! +it's a brave kirk--nane o' yere whig-maleeries and curliewurlies and +opensteek hems about it--a' solid, weel-jointed mason-wark, that will +stand as lang as the warld, keep hands and gunpowther aff it. It had +amaist a douncome lang syne at the Reformation, when they pu'd doun the +kirks of St. Andrews and Perth, and thereawa', to cleanse them o' Papery, +and idolatry, and image worship, and surplices, and sic like rags o' the +muckle hure that sitteth on seven hills, as if ane wasna braid eneugh for +her auld hinder end. Sae the commons o' Renfrew, and o' the Barony, and +the Gorbals and a' about, they behoved to come into Glasgow no fair +morning, to try their hand on purging the High Kirk o' Popish +nick-nackets. But the townsmen o' Glasgow, they were feared their auld +edifice might slip the girths in gaun through siccan rough physic, sae +they rang the common bell, and assembled the train-bands wi' took o' +drum. By good luck, the worthy James Rabat was Dean o' Guild that year-- +(and a gude mason he was himself, made him the keener to keep up the auld +bigging)--and the trades assembled, and offered downright battle to the +commons, rather than their kirk should coup the crans as others had done +elsewhere. It wasna for luve o' Paperie--na, na!--nane could ever say +that o' the trades o' Glasgow--Sae they sune came to an agreement to take +a' the idolatrous statues of sants (sorrow be on them) out o' their +neuks--and sae the bits o' stane idols were broken in pieces by Scripture +warrant, and flung into the Molendinar burn, and the auld kirk stood as +crouse as a cat when the flaes are kaimed aff her, and a' body was alike +pleased. And I hae heard wise folk say, that if the same had been done in +ilka kirk in Scotland, the Reform wad just hae been as pure as it is e'en +now, and we wad hae mair Christian-like kirks; for I hae been sae lang in +England, that naething will drived out o' my head, that the dog-kennel at +Osbaldistone Hall is better than mony a house o' God in Scotland." + +Thus saying, Andrew led the way into the place of worship. + + + + + CHAPTER THIRD. + + --It strikes an awe + And terror on my aching sight; the tombs + And monumental caves of death look cold, + And shoot a chillness to the trembling heart. + Mourning Bride. + +Notwithstanding the impatience of my conductor, I could not forbear to +pause and gaze for some minutes on the exterior of the building, rendered +more impressively dignified by the solitude which ensued when its +hitherto open gates were closed, after having, as it were, devoured the +multitude which had lately crowded the churchyard, but now, enclosed +within the building, were engaged, as the choral swell of voices from +within announced to us, in the solemn exercises of devotion. The sound of +so many voices united by the distance into one harmony, and freed from +those harsh discordances which jar the ear when heard more near, +combining with the murmuring brook, and the wind which sung among the old +firs, affected me with a sense of sublimity. All nature, as invoked by +the Psalmist whose verses they chanted, seemed united in offering that +solemn praise in which trembling is mixed with joy as she addressed her +Maker. I had heard the service of high mass in France, celebrated with +all the _e'clat_ which the choicest music, the richest dresses, the most +imposing ceremonies, could confer on it; yet it fell short in effect of +the simplicity of the Presbyterian worship. The devotion in which every +one took a share seemed so superior to that which was recited by +musicians as a lesson which they had learned by rote, that it gave the +Scottish worship all the advantage of reality over acting. + +As I lingered to catch more of the solemn sound, Andrew, whose impatience +became ungovernable, pulled me by the sleeve--"Come awa', sir--come awa'; +we maunna be late o' gaun in to disturb the worship; if we bide here the +searchers will be on us, and carry us to the guard-house for being idlers +in kirk-time." + +Thus admonished, I followed my guide, but not, as I had supposed, into +the body of the cathedral. "This gate--this gate, sir," he exclaimed, +dragging me off as I made towards the main entrance of the building-- +"There's but cauldrife law-work gaun on yonder--carnal morality, as dow'd +and as fusionless as rue leaves at Yule--Here's the real savour of +doctrine." + +So saying, we entered a small low-arched door, secured by a wicket, which +a grave-looking person seemed on the point of closing, and descended +several steps as if into the funeral vaults beneath the church. It was +even so; for in these subterranean precincts,--why chosen for such a +purpose I knew not,--was established a very singular place of worship. + +Conceive, Tresham, an extensive range of low-browed, dark, and twilight +vaults, such as are used for sepulchres in other countries, and had long +been dedicated to the same purpose in this, a portion of which was seated +with pews, and used as a church. The part of the vaults thus occupied, +though capable of containing a congregation of many hundreds, bore a +small proportion to the darker and more extensive caverns which yawned +around what may be termed the inhabited space. In those waste regions of +oblivion, dusky banners and tattered escutcheons indicated the graves of +those who were once, doubtless, "princes in Israel." Inscriptions, which +could only be read by the painful antiquary, in language as obsolete as +the act of devotional charity which they employed, invited the passengers +to pray for the souls of those whose bodies rested beneath. Surrounded by +these receptacles of the last remains of mortality, I found a numerous +congregation engaged in the act of prayer. The Scotch perform this duty +in a standing instead of a kneeling posture--more, perhaps, to take as +broad a distinction as possible from the ritual of Rome than for any +better reason; since I have observed, that in their family worship, as +doubtless in their private devotions, they adopt, in their immediate +address to the Deity, that posture which other Christians use as the +humblest and most reverential. Standing, therefore, the men being +uncovered, a crowd of several hundreds of both sexes, and all ages, +listened with great reverence and attention to the extempore, at least +the unwritten, prayer of an aged clergyman,* who was very popular in the +city. + +* I have in vain laboured to discover this gentleman's name, and the +period of his incumbency. I do not, however, despair to see these points, +with some others which may elude my sagacity, satisfactorily elucidated +by one or other of the periodical publications which have devoted their +pages to explanatory commentaries on my former volumes; and whose +research and ingenuity claim my peculiar gratitude, for having discovered +many persons and circumstances connected with my narratives, of which I +myself never so much as dreamed. + +Educated in the same religious persuasion, I seriously bent my mind to +join in the devotion of the day; and it was not till the congregation +resumed their seats, that my attention was diverted to the consideration +of the appearance of all around me. + +At the conclusion of the prayer, most of the men put on their hats or +bonnets, and all who had the happiness to have seats sate down. Andrew +and I were not of this number, having been too late of entering the +church to secure such accommodation. We stood among a number of other +persons in the same situation, forming a sort of ring around the seated +part of the congregation. Behind and around us were the vaults I have +already described; before us the devout audience, dimly shown by the +light which streamed on their faces through one or two low Gothic +windows, such as give air and light to charnel-houses. By this were seen +the usual variety of countenances which are generally turned towards a +Scotch pastor on such occasions, almost all composed to attention, unless +where a father or mother here and there recalls the wandering eyes of a +lively child, or disturbs the slumbers of a dull one. The high-boned and +harsh countenance of the nation, with the expression of intelligence and +shrewdness which it frequently exhibits, is seen to more advantage in the +act of devotion, or in the ranks of war, than on lighter and more +cheerful occasions of assemblage. The discourse of the preacher was well +qualified to call forth the various feelings and faculties of his +audience. + +Age and infirmities had impaired the powers of a voice originally strong +and sonorous. He read his text with a pronunciation somewhat +inarticulate; but when he closed the Bible, and commenced his sermon, his +tones gradually strengthened, as he entered with vehemence into the +arguments which he maintained. They related chiefly to the abstract +points of the Christian faith,--subjects grave, deep, and fathomless by +mere human reason, but for which, with equal ingenuity and propriety, he +sought a key in liberal quotations from the inspired writings. My mind +was unprepared to coincide in all his reasoning, nor was I sure that in +some instances I rightly comprehended his positions. But nothing could be +more impressive than the eager enthusiastic manner of the good old man, +and nothing more ingenious than his mode of reasoning. The Scotch, it is +well known, are more remarkable for the exercise of their intellectual +powers, than for the keenness of their feelings; they are, therefore, +more moved by logic than by rhetoric, and more attracted by acute and +argumentative reasoning on doctrinal points, than influenced by the +enthusiastic appeals to the heart and to the passions, by which popular +preachers in other countries win the favour of their hearers. + +Among the attentive group which I now saw, might be distinguished various +expressions similar to those of the audience in the famous cartoon of +Paul preaching at Athens. Here sat a zealous and intelligent Calvinist, +with brows bent just as much as to indicate profound attention; lips +slightly compressed; eyes fixed on the minister with an expression of +decent pride, as if sharing the triumph of his argument; the forefinger +of the right hand touching successively those of the left, as the +preacher, from argument to argument, ascended towards his conclusion. +Another, with fiercer and sterner look, intimated at once his contempt of +all who doubted the creed of his pastor, and his joy at the appropriate +punishment denounced against them. A third, perhaps belonging to a +different congregation, and present only by accident or curiosity, had +the appearance of internally impeaching some link of the reasoning; and +you might plainly read, in the slight motion of his head, his doubts as +to the soundness of the preacher's argument. The greater part listened +with a calm, satisfied countenance, expressive of a conscious merit in +being present, and in listening to such an ingenious discourse, although +perhaps unable entirely to comprehend it. The women in general belonged +to this last division of the audience; the old, however, seeming more +grimly intent upon the abstract doctrines laid before them; while the +younger females permitted their eyes occasionally to make a modest +circuit around the congregation; and some of them, Tresham (if my vanity +did not greatly deceive me), contrived to distinguish your friend and +servant, as a handsome young stranger and an Englishman. As to the rest +of the congregation, the stupid gaped, yawned, or slept, till awakened by +the application of their more zealous neighbours' heels to their shins; +and the idle indicated their inattention by the wandering of their eyes, +but dared give no more decided token of weariness. Amid the Lowland +costume of coat and cloak, I could here and there discern a Highland +plaid, the wearer of which, resting on his basket-hilt, sent his eyes +among the audience with the unrestrained curiosity of savage wonder; and +who, in all probability, was inattentive to the sermon for a very +pardonable reason--because he did not understand the language in which it +was delivered. The martial and wild look, however, of these stragglers, +added a kind of character which the congregation could not have exhibited +without them. They were more numerous, Andrew afterwards observed, owing +to some cattle-fair in the neighbourhood. + +Such was the group of countenances, rising tier on tier, discovered to my +critical inspection by such sunbeams as forced their way through the +narrow Gothic lattices of the Laigh Kirk of Glasgow; and, having +illuminated the attentive congregation, lost themselves in the vacuity of +the vaults behind, giving to the nearer part of their labyrinth a sort of +imperfect twilight, and leaving their recesses in an utter darkness, +which gave them the appearance of being interminable. + +I have already said that I stood with others in the exterior circle, with +my face to the preacher, and my back to those vaults which I have so +often mentioned. My position rendered me particularly obnoxious to any +interruption which arose from any slight noise occurring amongst these +retiring arches, where the least sound was multiplied by a thousand +echoes. The occasional sound of rain-drops, which, admitted through some +cranny in the ruined roof, fell successively, and splashed upon the +pavement beneath, caused me to turn my head more than once to the place +from whence it seemed to proceed, and when my eyes took that direction, I +found it difficult to withdraw them; such is the pleasure our imagination +receives from the attempt to penetrate as far as possible into an +intricate labyrinth, imperfectly lighted, and exhibiting objects which +irritate our curiosity, only because they acquire a mysterious interest +from being undefined and dubious. My eyes became habituated to the gloomy +atmosphere to which I directed them, and insensibly my mind became more +interested in their discoveries than in the metaphysical subtleties which +the preacher was enforcing. + +My father had often checked me for this wandering mood of mind, arising +perhaps from an excitability of imagination to which he was a stranger; +and the finding myself at present solicited by these temptations to +inattention, recalled the time when I used to walk, led by his hand, to +Mr. Shower's chapel, and the earnest injunctions which he then laid on me +to redeem the time, because the days were evil. At present, the picture +which my thoughts suggested, far from fixing my attention, destroyed the +portion I had yet left, by conjuring up to my recollection the peril in +which his affairs now stood. I endeavoured, in the lowest whisper I could +frame, to request Andrew to obtain information, whether any of the +gentlemen of the firm of MacVittie & Co. were at present in the +congregation. But Andrew, wrapped in profound attention to the sermon, +only replied to my suggestion by hard punches with his elbow, as signals +to me to remain silent. I next strained my eyes, with equally bad +success, to see if, among the sea of up-turned faces which bent their +eyes on the pulpit as a common centre, I could discover the sober and +business-like physiognomy of Owen. But not among the broad beavers of the +Glasgow citizens, or the yet broader brimmed Lowland bonnets of the +peasants of Lanarkshire, could I see anything resembling the decent +periwig, starched ruffles, or the uniform suit of light-brown garments +appertaining to the head-clerk of the establishment of Osbaldistone and +Tresham. My anxiety now returned on me with such violence as to overpower +not only the novelty of the scene around me, by which it had hitherto +been diverted, but moreover my sense of decorum. I pulled Andrew hard by +the sleeve, and intimated my wish to leave the church, and pursue my +investigation as I could. Andrew, obdurate in the Laigh Kirk of Glasgow +as on the mountains of Cheviot, for some time deigned me no answer; and +it was only when he found I could not otherwise be kept quiet, that he +condescended to inform me, that, being once in the church, we could not +leave it till service was over, because the doors were locked so soon as +the prayers began. Having thus spoken in a brief and peevish whisper, +Andrew again assumed the air of intelligent and critical importance, and +attention to the preacher's discourse. + +While I endeavoured to make a virtue of necessity, and recall my +attention to the sermon, I was again disturbed by a singular +interruption. A voice from behind whispered distinctly in my ear, "You +are in danger in this city."--I turned round, as if mechanically. + +One or two starched and ordinary-looking mechanics stood beside and +behind me,--stragglers, who, like ourselves, had been too late in +obtaining entrance. But a glance at their faces satisfied me, though I +could hardly say why, that none of these was the person who had spoken to +me. Their countenances seemed all composed to attention to the sermon, +and not one of them returned any glance of intelligence to the +inquisitive and startled look with which I surveyed them. A massive round +pillar, which was close behind us, might have concealed the speaker the +instant he uttered his mysterious caution; but wherefore it was given in +such a place, or to what species of danger it directed my attention, or +by whom the warning was uttered, were points on which my imagination lost +itself in conjecture. It would, however, I concluded, be repeated, and I +resolved to keep my countenance turned towards the clergyman, that the +whisperer might be tempted to renew his communication under the idea that +the first had passed unobserved. + +My plan succeeded. I had not resumed the appearance of attention to the +preacher for five minutes, when the same voice whispered, "Listen, but do +not look back." I kept my face in the same direction. "You are in danger +in this place," the voice proceeded; "so am I--meet me to-night on the +Brigg, at twelve preceesely--keep at home till the gloaming, and avoid +observation." + +Here the voice ceased, and I instantly turned my head. But the speaker +had, with still greater promptitude, glided behind the pillar, and +escaped my observation. I was determined to catch a sight of him, if +possible, and extricating myself from the outer circle of hearers, I also +stepped behind the column. All there was empty; and I could only see a +figure wrapped in a mantle, whether a Lowland cloak, or Highland plaid, I +could not distinguish, which traversed, like a phantom, the dreary +vacuity of vaults which I have described. + +I made a mechanical attempt to pursue the mysterious form, which glided +away and vanished in the vaulted cemetery, like the spectre of one of the +numerous dead who rested within its precincts. I had little chance of +arresting the course of one obviously determined not to be spoken with; +but that little chance was lost by my stumbling and falling before I had +made three steps from the column. The obscurity which occasioned my +misfortune, covered my disgrace; which I accounted rather lucky, for the +preacher, with that stern authority which the Scottish ministers assume +for the purpose of keeping order in their congregations, interrupted his +discourse, to desire the "proper officer" to take into custody the causer +of this disturbance in the place of worship. As the noise, however, was +not repeated, the beadle, or whatever else he was called, did not think +it necessary to be rigorous in searching out the offender, so that I was +enabled, without attracting farther observation, to place myself by +Andrew's side in my original position. The service proceeded, and closed +without the occurrence of anything else worthy of notice. + +As the congregation departed and dispersed, my friend Andrew exclaimed, +"See, yonder is worthy Mr. MacVittie, and Mrs. MacVittie, and Miss Alison +MacVittie, and Mr. Thamas MacFin, that they say is to marry Miss Alison, +if a' bowls row right--she'll hae a hantle siller, if she's no that +bonny." + +My eyes took the direction he pointed out. Mr. MacVittie was a tall, +thin, elderly man, with hard features, thick grey eyebrows, light eyes, +and, as I imagined, a sinister expression of countenance, from which my +heart recoiled. I remembered the warning I had received in the church, +and hesitated to address this person, though I could not allege to myself +any rational ground of dislike or suspicion. + +I was yet in suspense, when Andrew, who mistook my hesitation for +bashfulness, proceeded to exhort me to lay it aside. "Speak till him-- +speak till him, Mr. Francis--he's no provost yet, though they say he'll +be my lord neist year. Speak till him, then--he'll gie ye a decent answer +for as rich as he is, unless ye were wanting siller frae him--they say +he's dour to draw his purse." + +It immediately occurred to me, that if this merchant were really of the +churlish and avaricious disposition which Andrew intimated, there might +be some caution necessary in making myself known, as I could not tell how +accounts might stand between my father and him. This consideration came +in aid of the mysterious hint which I had received, and the dislike which +I had conceived at the man's countenance. Instead of addressing myself +directly to him, as I had designed to have done, I contented myself with +desiring Andrew to inquire at Mr. MacVittie's house the address of Mr. +Owen, an English gentleman; and I charged him not to mention the person +from whom he received the commission, but to bring me the result to the +small inn where we lodged. This Andrew promised to do. He said something +of the duty of my attending the evening service; but added with a +causticity natural to him, that "in troth, if folk couldna keep their +legs still, but wad needs be couping the creels ower through-stanes, as +if they wad raise the very dead folk wi' the clatter, a kirk wi' a +chimley in't was fittest for them." + + + + + CHAPTER FOURTH. + + On the Rialto, every night at twelve, + I take my evening's walk of meditation: + There we two will meet. + Venice Preserved. + +Full of sinister augury, for which, however, I could assign no +satisfactory cause, I shut myself up in my apartment at the inn, and +having dismissed Andrew, after resisting his importunity to accompany him +to St. Enoch's Kirk,* where, he said,"a soul-searching divine was to haud +forth," I set myself seriously to consider what were best to be done. + +* This I believe to be an anachronism, as Saint Enoch's Church was not +built at the date of the story. [It was founded in 1780, and has since +been rebuilt.] + +I never was what is properly called superstitious; but I suppose that all +men, in situations of peculiar doubt and difficulty, when they have +exercised their reason to little purpose, are apt, in a sort of despair, +to abandon the reins to their imagination, and be guided altogether by +chance, or by those whimsical impressions which take possession of the +mind, and to which we give way as if to involuntary impulses. There was +something so singularly repulsive in the hard features of the Scotch +trader, that I could not resolve to put myself into his hands without +transgressing every caution which could be derived from the rules of +physiognomy; while, at the same time, the warning voice, the form which +flitted away like a vanishing shadow through those vaults, which might be +termed "the valley of the shadow of death," had something captivating for +the imagination of a young man, who, you will farther please to remember, +was also a young poet. + +If danger was around me, as the mysterious communication intimated, how +could I learn its nature, or the means of averting it, but by meeting my +unknown counsellor, to whom I could see no reason for imputing any other +than kind intentions. Rashleigh and his machinations occurred more than +once to my remembrance;--but so rapid had my journey been, that I could +not suppose him apprised of my arrival in Glasgow, much less prepared to +play off any stratagem against my person. In my temper also I was bold +and confident, strong and active in person, and in some measure +accustomed to the use of arms, in which the French youth of all kinds +were then initiated. I did not fear any single opponent; assassination +was neither the vice of the age nor of the country; the place selected +for our meeting was too public to admit any suspicion of meditated +violence. In a word, I resolved to meet my mysterious counsellor on the +bridge, as he had requested, and to be afterwards guided by +circumstances. Let me not conceal from you, Tresham, what at the time I +endeavoured to conceal from myself--the subdued, yet secretly-cherished +hope, that Diana Vernon might--by what chance I knew not--through what +means I could not guess--have some connection with this strange and +dubious intimation conveyed at a time and place, and in a manner so +surprising. She alone--whispered this insidious thought--she alone knew +of my journey; from her own account, she possessed friends and influence +in Scotland; she had furnished me with a talisman, whose power I was to +invoke when all other aid failed me; who then but Diana Vernon possessed +either means, knowledge, or inclination, for averting the dangers, by +which, as it seemed, my steps were surrounded? This flattering view of my +very doubtful case pressed itself upon me again and again. It insinuated +itself into my thoughts, though very bashfully, before the hour of +dinner; it displayed its attractions more boldly during the course of my +frugal meal, and became so courageously intrusive during the succeeding +half-hour (aided perhaps by the flavour of a few glasses of most +excellent claret), that, with a sort of desperate attempt to escape from +a delusive seduction, to which I felt the danger of yielding, I pushed my +glass from me, threw aside my dinner, seized my hat, and rushed into the +open air with the feeling of one who would fly from his own thoughts. Yet +perhaps I yielded to the very feelings from which I seemed to fly, since +my steps insensibly led me to the bridge over the Clyde, the place +assigned for the rendezvous by my mysterious monitor. + +Although I had not partaken of my repast until the hours of evening +church-service were over,--in which, by the way, I complied with the +religious scruples of my landlady, who hesitated to dress a hot dinner +between sermons, and also with the admonition of my unknown friend, to +keep my apartment till twilight,--several hours had still to pass away +betwixt the time of my appointment and that at which I reached the +assigned place of meeting. The interval, as you will readily credit, was +wearisome enough; and I can hardly explain to you how it passed away. +Various groups of persons, all of whom, young and old, seemed impressed +with a reverential feeling of the sanctity of the day, passed along the +large open meadow which lies on the northern bank of the Clyde, and +serves at once as a bleaching-field and pleasure-walk for the +inhabitants, or paced with slow steps the long bridge which communicates +with the southern district of the county. All that I remember of them was +the general, yet not unpleasing, intimation of a devotional character +impressed on each little party--formally assumed perhaps by some, but +sincerely characterising the greater number--which hushed the petulant +gaiety of the young into a tone of more quiet, yet more interesting, +interchange of sentiments, and suppressed the vehement argument and +protracted disputes of those of more advanced age. Notwithstanding the +numbers who passed me, no general sound of the human voice was heard; few +turned again to take some minutes' voluntary exercise, to which the +leisure of the evening, and the beauty of the surrounding scenery, seemed +to invite them: all hurried to their homes and resting-places. To one +accustomed to the mode of spending Sunday evenings abroad, even among the +French Calvinists, there seemed something Judaical, yet, at the same time +striking and affecting, in this mode of keeping the Sabbath holy. +Insensibly I felt my mode of sauntering by the side of the river, and +crossing successively the various persons who were passing homeward, and +without tarrying or delay, must expose me to observation at least, if not +to censure; and I slunk out of the frequented path, and found a trivial +occupation for my mind in marshalling my revolving walk in such a manner +as should least render me obnoxious to observation. The different alleys +lined out through this extensive meadow, and which are planted with +trees, like the Park of St. James's in London, gave me facilities for +carrying into effect these childish manoeuvres. + +As I walked down one of these avenues, I heard, to my surprise, the sharp +and conceited voice of Andrew Fairservice, raised by a sense of +self-consequence to a pitch somewhat higher than others seemed to think +consistent with the solemnity of the day. To slip behind the row of trees +under which I walked was perhaps no very dignified proceeding; but it was +the easiest mode of escaping his observation, and perhaps his impertinent +assiduity, and still more intrusive curiosity. As he passed, I heard him +communicate to a grave-looking man, in a black coat, a slouched hat, and +Geneva cloak, the following sketch of a character, which my self-love, +while revolting against it as a caricature, could not, nevertheless, +refuse to recognise as a likeness. + +"Ay, ay, Mr. Hammorgaw, it's e'en as I tell ye. He's no a'thegither sae +void o' sense neither; he has a gloaming sight o' what's reasonable--that +is anes and awa'--a glisk and nae mair; but he's crack-brained and +cockle-headed about his nipperty-tipperty poetry nonsense--He'll glowr at +an auld-warld barkit aik-snag as if it were a queezmaddam in full +bearing; and a naked craig, wi' a bum jawing ower't, is unto him as a +garden garnisht with flowering knots and choice pot-herbs. Then he wad +rather claver wi' a daft quean they ca' Diana Vernon (weel I wet they +might ca' her Diana of the Ephesians, for she's little better than a +heathen--better? she's waur--a Roman, a mere Roman)--he'll claver wi' +her, or any ither idle slut, rather than hear what might do him gude a' +the days of his life, frae you or me, Mr. Hammorgaw, or ony ither sober +and sponsible person. Reason, sir, is what he canna endure--he's a' for +your vanities and volubilities; and he ance tell'd me (puir blinded +creature!) that the Psalms of David were excellent poetry! as if the holy +Psalmist thought o' rattling rhymes in a blether, like his ain silly +clinkum-clankum things that he ca's verse. Gude help him!--twa lines o' +Davie Lindsay would ding a' he ever clerkit." + +While listening to this perverted account of my temper and studies, you +will not be surprised if I meditated for Mr. Fairservice the unpleasant +surprise of a broken pate on the first decent opportunity. His friend +only intimated his attention by "Ay, ay!" and "Is't e'en sae?" and +suchlike expressions of interest, at the proper breaks in Mr. +Fairservice's harangue, until at length, in answer to some observation of +greater length, the import of which I only collected from my trusty +guide's reply, honest Andrew answered, "Tell him a bit o'my mind, quoth +ye? Wha wad be fule then but Andrew? He's a red-wad deevil, man--He's +like Giles Heathertap's auld boar;--ye need but shake a clout at him to +make him turn and gore. Bide wi' him, say ye?--Troth, I kenna what for I +bide wi' him mysell. But the lad's no a bad lad after a'; and he needs +some carefu' body to look after him. He hasna the right grip o' his hand +--the gowd slips through't like water, man; and it's no that ill a thing +to be near him when his purse is in his hand, and it's seldom out o't. +And then he's come o' guid kith and kin--My heart warms to the poor +thoughtless callant, Mr. Hammorgaw--and then the penny fee"-- + +In the latter part of this instructive communication, Mr. Fairservice +lowered his voice to a tone better beseeming the conversation in a place +of public resort on a Sabbath evening, and his companion and he were soon +beyond my hearing. My feelings of hasty resentment soon subsided, under +the conviction that, as Andrew himself might have said, "A harkener +always hears a bad tale of himself," and that whoever should happen to +overhear their character discussed in their own servants'-hall, must +prepare to undergo the scalpel of some such anatomist as Mr. Fairservice. +The incident was so far useful, as, including the feelings to which it +gave rise, it sped away a part of the time which hung so heavily on my +hand. + +Evening had now closed, and the growing darkness gave to the broad, +still, and deep expanse of the brimful river, first a hue sombre and +uniform--then a dismal and turbid appearance, partially lighted by a +waning and pallid moon. The massive and ancient bridge which stretches +across the Clyde was now but dimly visible, and resembled that which +Mirza, in his unequalled vision, has described as traversing the valley +of Bagdad. The low-browed arches, seen as imperfectly as the dusky +current which they bestrode, seemed rather caverns which swallowed up the +gloomy waters of the river, than apertures contrived for their passage. +With the advancing night the stillness of the scene increased. There was +yet a twinkling light occasionally seen to glide along by the stream, +which conducted home one or two of the small parties, who, after the +abstinence and religious duties of the day, had partaken of a social +supper--the only meal at which the rigid Presbyterians made some advance +to sociality on the Sabbath. Occasionally, also, the hoofs of a horse +were heard, whose rider, after spending the Sunday in Glasgow, was +directing his steps towards his residence in the country. These sounds +and sights became gradually of more rare occurrence; at length they +altogether ceased, and I was left to enjoy my solitary walk on the shores +of the Clyde in solemn silence, broken only by the tolling of the +successive hours from the steeples of the churches. + +But as the night advanced my impatience at the uncertainty of the +situation in which I was placed increased every moment, and became nearly +ungovernable. I began to question whether I had been imposed upon by the +trick of a fool, the raving of a madman, or the studied machinations of a +villain, and paced the little quay or pier adjoining the entrance to the +bridge, in a state of incredible anxiety and vexation. At length the hour +of twelve o'clock swung its summons over the city from the belfry of the +metropolitan church of St. Mungo, and was answered and vouched by all the +others like dutiful diocesans. The echoes had scarcely ceased to repeat +the last sound, when a human form--the first I had seen for two hours-- +appeared passing along the bridge from the southern shore of the river. I +advanced to meet him with a feeling as if my fate depended on the result +of the interview, so much had my anxiety been wound up by protracted +expectation. All that I could remark of the passenger as we advanced +towards each other, was that his frame was rather beneath than above the +middle size, but apparently strong, thick-set, and muscular; his dress a +horseman's wrapping coat. I slackened my pace, and almost paused as I +advanced in expectation that he would address me. But to my inexpressible +disappointment he passed without speaking, and I had no pretence for +being the first to address one who, notwithstanding his appearance at the +very hour of appointment, might nevertheless be an absolute stranger. I +stopped when he had passed me, and looked after him, uncertain whether I +ought not to follow him. The stranger walked on till near the northern +end of the bridge, then paused, looked back, and turning round, again +advanced towards me. I resolved that this time he should not have the +apology for silence proper to apparitions, who, it is vulgarly supposed, +cannot speak until they are spoken to. "You walk late, sir," said I, as +we met a second time. + +"I bide tryste," was the reply; "and so I think do you, Mr. +Osbaldistone." + +"You are then the person who requested to meet me here at this unusual +hour?" + +"I am," he replied. "Follow me, and you shall know my reasons." + +"Before following you, I must know your name and purpose," I answered. + +"I am a man," was the reply; "and my purpose is friendly to you." + +"A man!" I repeated;--"that is a very brief description." + +"It will serve for one who has no other to give," said the stranger. "He +that is without name, without friends, without coin, without country, is +still at least a man; and he that has all these is no more." + +"Yet this is still too general an account of yourself, to say the least +of it, to establish your credit with a stranger." + +"It is all I mean to give, howsoe'er; you may choose to follow me, or to +remain without the information I desire to afford you." + +"Can you not give me that information here?" I demanded. + +"You must receive it from your eyes, not from my tongue--you must follow +me, or remain in ignorance of the information which I have to give you." + +There was something short, determined, and even stern, in the man's +manner, not certainly well calculated to conciliate undoubting +confidence. + +"What is it you fear?" he said impatiently. "To whom, think ye, is your +life of such consequence, that they should seek to bereave ye of it?" + +"I fear nothing," I replied firmly, though somewhat hastily. "Walk on--I +attend you." + +We proceeded, contrary to my expectation, to re-enter the town, and +glided like mute spectres, side by side, up its empty and silent streets. +The high and gloomy stone fronts, with the variegated ornaments and +pediments of the windows, looked yet taller and more sable by the +imperfect moonshine. Our walk was for some minutes in perfect silence. At +length my conductor spoke. + +"Are you afraid?" + +"I retort your own words," I replied: "wherefore should I fear?" + +"Because you are with a stranger--perhaps an enemy, in a place where you +have no friends and many enemies." + +"I neither fear you nor them; I am young, active, and armed." + +"I am not armed," replied my conductor: "but no matter, a willing hand +never lacked weapon. You say you fear nothing; but if you knew who was by +your side, perhaps you might underlie a tremor." + +"And why should I?" replied I. "I again repeat, I fear nought that you +can do." + +"Nought that I can do?--Be it so. But do you not fear the consequences of +being found with one whose very name whispered in this lonely street +would make the stones themselves rise up to apprehend him--on whose head +half the men in Glasgow would build their fortune as on a found treasure, +had they the luck to grip him by the collar--the sound of whose +apprehension were as welcome at the Cross of Edinburgh as ever the news +of a field stricken and won in Flanders?" + +"And who then are you, whose name should create so deep a feeling of +terror?" I replied. + +"No enemy of yours, since I am conveying you to a place, where, were I +myself recognised and identified, iron to the heels and hemp to the craig +would be my brief dooming." + +I paused and stood still on the pavement, drawing back so as to have the +most perfect view of my companion which the light afforded me, and which +was sufficient to guard against any sudden motion of assault. + +"You have said," I answered, "either too much or too little--too much to +induce me to confide in you as a mere stranger, since you avow yourself a +person amenable to the laws of the country in which we are--and too +little, unless you could show that you are unjustly subjected to their +rigour." + +As I ceased to speak, he made a step towards me. I drew back +instinctively, and laid my hand on the hilt of my sword. + +"What!" said he--"on an unarmed man, and your friend?" + +"I am yet ignorant if you are either the one or the other," I replied; +"and to say the truth, your language and manner might well entitle me to +doubt both." + +"It is manfully spoken," replied my conductor; "and I respect him whose +hand can keep his head.--I will be frank and free with you--I am +conveying you to prison." + +"To prison!" I exclaimed--"by what warrant or for what offence?--You +shall have my life sooner than my liberty--I defy you, and I will not +follow you a step farther." + +"I do not," he said, "carry you there as a prisoner; I am," he added, +drawing himself haughtily up, "neither a messenger nor sheriff's officer. +I carry you to see a prisoner from whose lips you will learn the risk in +which you presently stand. Your liberty is little risked by the visit; +mine is in some peril; but that I readily encounter on your account, for +I care not for risk, and I love a free young blood, that kens no +protector but the cross o' the sword." + +While he spoke thus, we had reached the principal street, and were +pausing before a large building of hewn stone, garnished, as I thought I +could perceive, with gratings of iron before the windows. + +"Muckle," said the stranger, whose language became more broadly national +as he assumed a tone of colloquial freedom--"Muckle wad the provost and +bailies o' Glasgow gie to hae him sitting with iron garters to his hose +within their tolbooth that now stands wi' his legs as free as the +red-deer's on the outside on't. And little wad it avail them; for an if +they had me there wi' a stane's weight o' iron at every ankle, I would +show them a toom room and a lost lodger before to-morrow--But come on, +what stint ye for?" + +As he spoke thus, he tapped at a low wicket, and was answered by a sharp +voice, as of one awakened from a dream or reverie,--"Fa's tat?--Wha's +that, I wad say?--and fat a deil want ye at this hour at e'en?--Clean +again rules--clean again rules, as they ca' them." + +The protracted tone in which the last words were uttered, betokened that +the speaker was again composing himself to slumber. But my guide spoke in +a loud whisper--"Dougal, man! hae ye forgotten Ha nun Gregarach?" + +"Deil a bit, deil a bit," was the ready and lively response, and I heard +the internal guardian of the prison-gate bustle up with great alacrity. A +few words were exchanged between my conductor and the turnkey in a +language to which I was an absolute stranger. The bolts revolved, but +with a caution which marked the apprehension that the noise might be +overheard, and we stood within the vestibule of the prison of Glasgow,--a +small, but strong guard-room, from which a narrow staircase led upwards, +and one or two low entrances conducted to apartments on the same level +with the outward gate, all secured with the jealous strength of wickets, +bolts, and bars. The walls, otherwise naked, were not unsuitably +garnished with iron fetters, and other uncouth implements, which might be +designed for purposes still more inhuman, interspersed with partisans, +guns, pistols of antique manufacture, and other weapons of defence and +offence. + +At finding myself so unexpectedly, fortuitously, and, as it were, by +stealth, introduced within one of the legal fortresses of Scotland, I +could not help recollecting my adventure in Northumberland, and fretting +at the strange incidents which again, without any demerits of my own, +threatened to place me in a dangerous and disagreeable collision with the +laws of a country which I visited only in the capacity of a stranger. + + + + + CHAPTER FIFTH. + + + Look round thee, young Astolpho: Here's the place + Which men (for being poor) are sent to starve in; + Rude remedy, I trow, for sore disease. + Within these walls, stifled by damp and stench, + Doth Hope's fair torch expire; and at the snuff, + Ere yet 'tis quite extinct, rude, wild, and way-ward, + The desperate revelries of wild despair, + Kindling their hell-born cressets, light to deeds + That the poor captive would have died ere practised, + Till bondage sunk his soul to his condition. + The Prison, _Scene III. Act I._ + +At my first entrance I turned an eager glance towards my conductor; but +the lamp in the vestibule was too low in flame to give my curiosity any +satisfaction by affording a distinct perusal of his features. As the +turnkey held the light in his hand, the beams fell more full on his own +scarce less interesting figure. He was a wild shock-headed looking +animal, whose profusion of red hair covered and obscured his features, +which were otherwise only characterised by the extravagant joy that +affected him at the sight of my guide. In my experience I have met +nothing so absolutely resembling my idea of a very uncouth, wild, and +ugly savage, adoring the idol of his tribe. He grinned, he shivered, he +laughed, he was near crying, if he did not actually cry. He had a "Where +shall I go?--What can I do for you?" expression of face; the complete, +surrendered, and anxious subservience and devotion of which it is +difficult to describe, otherwise than by the awkward combination which I +have attempted. The fellow's voice seemed choking in his ecstasy, and +only could express itself in such interjections as "Oigh! oigh!--Ay! ay! +--it's lang since she's seen ye!" and other exclamations equally brief, +expressed in the same unknown tongue in which he had communicated with my +conductor while we were on the outside of the jail door. My guide +received all this excess of joyful gratulation much like a prince too +early accustomed to the homage of those around him to be much moved by +it, yet willing to requite it by the usual forms of royal courtesy. He +extended his hand graciously towards the turnkey, with a civil inquiry of +"How's a' wi' you, Dougal?" + +"Oigh! oigh!" exclaimed Dougal, softening the sharp exclamations of his +surprise as he looked around with an eye of watchful alarm--"Oigh! to see +you here--to see you here!--Oigh!--what will come o' ye gin the bailies +suld come to get witting--ta filthy, gutty hallions, tat they are?" + +My guide placed his finger on his lip, and said, "Fear nothing, Dougal; +your hands shall never draw a bolt on me." + +"Tat sall they no," said Dougal; "she suld--she wad--that is, she wishes +them hacked aff by the elbows first--But when are ye gaun yonder again? +and ye'll no forget to let her ken--she's your puir cousin, God kens, +only seven times removed." + +"I will let you ken, Dougal, as soon as my plans are settled." + +"And, by her sooth, when you do, an it were twal o' the Sunday at e'en, +she'll fling her keys at the provost's head or she gie them anither turn, +and that or ever Monday morning begins--see if she winna." + +My mysterious stranger cut his acquaintance's ecstasies short by again +addressing him, in what I afterwards understood to be the Irish, Earse, +or Gaelic, explaining, probably, the services which he required at his +hand. The answer, "Wi' a' her heart--wi' a' her soul," with a good deal +of indistinct muttering in a similar tone, intimated the turnkey's +acquiescence in what he proposed. The fellow trimmed his dying lamp, and +made a sign to me to follow him. + +"Do you not go with us?" said I, looking to my conductor. + +"It is unnecessary," he replied; "my company may be inconvenient for you, +and I had better remain to secure our retreat." + +"I do not suppose you mean to betray me to danger," said I. + +"To none but what I partake in doubly," answered the stranger, with a +voice of assurance which it was impossible to mistrust. + +I followed the turnkey, who, leaving the inner wicket unlocked behind +him, led me up a _turnpike_ (so the Scotch call a winding stair), then +along a narrow gallery--then opening one of several doors which led into +the passage, he ushered me into a small apartment, and casting his eye on +the pallet-bed which occupied one corner, said with an under voice, as he +placed the lamp on a little deal table, "She's sleeping." + +"She!--who?--can it be Diana Vernon in this abode of misery?" + +I turned my eye to the bed, and it was with a mixture of disappointment +oddly mingled with pleasure, that I saw my first suspicion had deceived +me. I saw a head neither young nor beautiful, garnished with a grey beard +of two days' growth, and accommodated with a red nightcap. The first +glance put me at ease on the score of Diana Vernon; the second, as the +slumberer awoke from a heavy sleep, yawned, and rubbed his eyes, +presented me with features very different indeed--even those of my poor +friend Owen. I drew back out of view an instant, that he might have time +to recover himself; fortunately recollecting that I was but an intruder +on these cells of sorrow, and that any alarm might be attended with +unhappy consequences. + +Meantime, the unfortunate formalist, raising himself from the pallet-bed +with the assistance of one hand, and scratching his cap with the other, +exclaimed in a voice in which as much peevishness as he was capable of +feeling, contended with drowsiness, "I'll tell you what, Mr. Dug-well, or +whatever your name may be, the sum-total of the matter is, that if my +natural rest is to be broken in this manner, I must complain to the lord +mayor." + +"Shentlemans to speak wi' her," replied Dougal, resuming the true dogged +sullen tone of a turnkey, in exchange for the shrill clang of Highland +congratulation with which he had welcomed my mysterious guide; and, +turning on his heel, he left the apartment. + +It was some time before I could prevail upon the unfortunate sleeper +awakening to recognise me; and when he did so, the distress of the worthy +creature was extreme, at supposing, which he naturally did, that I had +been sent thither as a partner of his captivity. + +"O, Mr. Frank, what have you brought yourself and the house to?--I think +nothing of myself, that am a mere cipher, so to speak; but you, that was +your father's sum-total--his omnium,--you that might have been the first +man in the first house in the first city, to be shut up in a nasty Scotch +jail, where one cannot even get the dirt brushed off their clothes!" + +He rubbed, with an air of peevish irritation, the once stainless brown +coat, which had now shared some of the impurities of the floor of his +prison-house,--his habits of extreme punctilious neatness acting +mechanically to increase his distress.--"O Heaven be gracious to us!" he +continued. "What news this will be on 'Change! There has not the like +come there since the battle of Almanza, where the total of the British +loss was summed up to five thousand men killed and wounded, besides a +floating balance of missing--but what will that be to the news that +Osbaldistone and Tresham have stopped!" + +I broke in on his lamentations to acquaint him that I was no prisoner, +though scarce able to account for my being in that place at such an hour. +I could only silence his inquiries by persisting in those which his own +situation suggested; and at length obtained from him such information as +he was able to give me. It was none of the most distinct; for, however +clear-headed in his own routine of commercial business, Owen, you are +well aware, was not very acute in comprehending what lay beyond that +sphere. + +The sum of his information was, that of two correspondents of my father's +firm at Glasgow, where, owing to engagements in Scotland formerly alluded +to, he transacted a great deal of business, both my father and Owen had +found the house of MacVittie, MacFin, and Company, the most obliging and +accommodating. They had deferred to the great English house on every +possible occasion; and in their bargains and transactions acted, without +repining, the part of the jackall, who only claims what the lion is +pleased to leave him. However small the share of profit allotted to them, +it was always, as they expressed it, "enough for the like of them;" +however large the portion of trouble, "they were sensible they could not +do too much to deserve the continued patronage and good opinion of their +honoured friends in Crane Alley." + +The dictates of my father were to MacVittie and MacFin the laws of the +Medes and Persians, not to be altered, innovated, or even discussed; and +the punctilios exacted by Owen in their business transactions, for he was +a great lover of form, more especially when he could dictate it _ex +cathedra,_ seemed scarce less sanctimonious in their eyes. This tone of +deep and respectful observance went all currently down with Owen; but my +father looked a little closer into men's bosoms, and whether suspicious +of this excess of deference, or, as a lover of brevity and simplicity in +business, tired with these gentlemen's long-winded professions of regard, +he had uniformly resisted their desire to become his sole agents in +Scotland. On the contrary, he transacted many affairs through a +correspondent of a character perfectly different--a man whose good +opinion of himself amounted to self-conceit, and who, disliking the +English in general as much as my father did the Scotch, would hold no +communication but on a footing of absolute equality; jealous, moreover; +captious occasionally; as tenacious of his own opinions in point of form +as Owen could be of his; and totally indifferent though the authority of +all Lombard Street had stood against his own private opinion. + +As these peculiarities of temper rendered it difficult to transact +business with Mr. Nicol Jarvie,--as they occasioned at times disputes and +coldness between the English house and their correspondent, which were +only got over by a sense of mutual interest,--as, moreover, Owen's +personal vanity sometimes suffered a little in the discussions to which +they gave rise, you cannot be surprised, Tresham, that our old friend +threw at all times the weight of his influence in favour of the civil, +discreet, accommodating concern of MacVittie and MacFin, and spoke of +Jarvie as a petulant, conceited Scotch pedlar, with whom there was no +dealing. + +It was also not surprising, that in these circumstances, which I only +learned in detail some time afterwards, Owen, in the difficulties to +which the house was reduced by the absence of my father, and the +disappearance of Rashleigh, should, on his arrival in Scotland, which +took place two days before mine, have recourse to the friendship of those +correspondents, who had always professed themselves obliged, gratified, +and devoted to the service of his principal. He was received at Messrs. +MacVittie and MacFin's counting-house in the Gallowgate, with something +like the devotion a Catholic would pay to his tutelar saint. But, alas! +this sunshine was soon overclouded, when, encouraged by the fair hopes +which it inspired, he opened the difficulties of the house to his +friendly correspondents, and requested their counsel and assistance. +MacVittie was almost stunned by the communication; and MacFin, ere it was +completed, was already at the ledger of their firm, and deeply engaged in +the very bowels of the multitudinous accounts between their house and +that of Osbaldistone and Tresham, for the purpose of discovering on which +side the balance lay. Alas! the scale depressed considerably against the +English firm; and the faces of MacVittie and MacFin, hitherto only blank +and doubtful, became now ominous, grim, and lowering. They met Mr. Owen's +request of countenance and assistance with a counter-demand of instant +security against imminent hazard of eventual loss; and at length, +speaking more plainly, required that a deposit of assets, destined for +other purposes, should be placed in their hands for that purpose. Owen +repelled this demand with great indignation, as dishonourable to his +constituents, unjust to the other creditors of Osbaldistone and Tresham, +and very ungrateful on the part of those by whom it was made. + +The Scotch partners gained, in the course of this controversy, what is +very convenient to persons who are in the wrong, an opportunity and +pretext for putting themselves in a violent passion, and for taking, +under the pretext of the provocation they had received, measures to which +some sense of decency, if not of conscience, might otherwise have +deterred them from resorting. + +Owen had a small share, as I believe is usual, in the house to which he +acted as head-clerk, and was therefore personally liable for all its +obligations. This was known to Messrs. MacVittie and MacFin; and, with a +view of making him feel their power, or rather in order to force him, at +this emergency, into those measures in their favour, to which he had +expressed himself so repugnant, they had recourse to a summary process of +arrest and imprisonment,--which it seems the law of Scotland (therein +surely liable to much abuse) allows to a creditor, who finds his +conscience at liberty to make oath that the debtor meditates departing +from the realm. Under such a warrant had poor Owen been confined to +durance on the day preceding that when I was so strangely guided to his +prison-house. + +Thus possessed of the alarming outline of facts, the question remained, +what was to be done and it was not of easy determination. I plainly +perceived the perils with which we were surrounded, but it was more +difficult to suggest any remedy. The warning which I had already received +seemed to intimate, that my own personal liberty might be endangered by +an open appearance in Owen's behalf. Owen entertained the same +apprehension, and, in the exaggeration of his terror, assured me that a +Scotchman, rather than run the risk of losing a farthing by an +Englishman, would find law for arresting his wife, children, man-servant, +maidservant, and stranger within his household. The laws concerning debt, +in most countries, are so unmercifully severe, that I could not +altogether disbelieve his statement; and my arrest, in the present +circumstances, would have been a _coup-de-grace_ to my father's affairs. +In this dilemma, I asked Owen if he had not thought of having recourse to +my father's other correspondent in Glasgow, Mr. Nicol Jarvie? + +"He had sent him a letter," he replied, "that morning; but if the +smooth-tongued and civil house in the Gallowgate* had used him thus, what +was to be expected from the cross-grained crab-stock in the Salt-Market? + +* [A street in the old town of Glasgow.] + +You might as well ask a broker to give up his percentage, as expect a +favour from him without the _per contra._ He had not even," Owen said, +"answered his letter though it was put into his hand that morning as he +went to church." And here the despairing man-of-figures threw himself +down on his pallet, exclaiming,--"My poor dear master! My poor dear +master! O Mr. Frank, Mr. Frank, this is all your obstinacy!--But God +forgive me for saying so to you in your distress! It's God's disposing, +and man must submit." + +My philosophy, Tresham, could not prevent my sharing in the honest +creature's distress, and we mingled our tears,--the more bitter on my +part, as the perverse opposition to my father's will, with which the +kind-hearted Owen forbore to upbraid me, rose up to my conscience as the +cause of all this affliction. + +In the midst of our mingled sorrow, we were disturbed and surprised by a +loud knocking at the outward door of the prison. I ran to the top of the +staircase to listen, but could only hear the voice of the turnkey, +alternately in a high tone, answering to some person without, and in a +whisper, addressed to the person who had guided me hither--"She's coming +--she's coming," aloud; then in a low key, "O hon-a-ri! O hon-a-ri! +what'll she do now?--Gang up ta stair, and hide yourself ahint ta +Sassenach shentleman's ped.--She's coming as fast as she can.--Ahellanay! +it's my lord provosts, and ta pailies, and ta guard--and ta captain's +coming toon stairs too--Got press her! gang up or he meets her.--She's +coming--she's coming--ta lock's sair roosted." + +While Dougal, unwillingly, and with as much delay as possible, undid the +various fastenings to give admittance to those without, whose impatience +became clamorous, my guide ascended the winding stair, and sprang into +Owen's apartment, into which I followed him. He cast his eyes hastily +round, as if looking for a place of concealment; then said to me, "Lend +me your pistols--yet it's no matter, I can do without them--Whatever you +see, take no heed, and do not mix your hand in another man's feud--This +gear's mine, and I must manage it as I dow; but I have been as hard +bested, and worse, than I am even now." + +As the stranger spoke these words, he stripped from his person the +cumbrous upper coat in which he was wrapt, confronted the door of the +apartment, on which he fixed a keen and determined glance, drawing his +person a little back to concentrate his force, like a fine horse brought +up to the leaping-bar. I had not a moment's doubt that he meant to +extricate himself from his embarrassment, whatever might be the cause of +it, by springing full upon those who should appear when the doors opened, +and forcing his way through all opposition into the street;--and such was +the appearance of strength and agility displayed in his frame, and of +determination in his look and manner, that I did not doubt a moment but +that he might get clear through his opponents, unless they employed fatal +means to stop his purpose. It was a period of awful suspense betwixt the +opening of the outward gate and that of the door of the apartment, when +there appeared--no guard with bayonets fixed, or watch with clubs, bills, +or partisans, but a good-looking young woman, with grogram petticoats, +tucked up for trudging through the streets, and holding a lantern in her +hand. This female ushered in a more important personage, in form, stout, +short, and somewhat corpulent; and by dignity, as it soon appeared, a +magistrate, bob-wigged, bustling, and breathless with peevish impatience. +My conductor, at his appearance, drew back as if to escape observation; +but he could not elude the penetrating twinkle with which this dignitary +reconnoitered the whole apartment. + +"A bonny thing it is, and a beseeming, that I should be kept at the door +half an hour, Captain Stanchells," said he, addressing the principal +jailor, who now showed himself at the door as if in attendance on the +great man, "knocking as hard to get into the tolbooth as onybody else wad +to get out of it, could that avail them, poor fallen creatures!--And +how's this?--how's this?--strangers in the jail after lock-up hours, and +on the Sabbath evening!--I shall look after this, Stanchells, you may +depend on't--Keep the door locked, and I'll speak to these gentlemen in a +gliffing--But first I maun hae a crack wi' an auld acquaintance here.-- +Mr. Owen, Mr. Owen, how's a' wi' ye, man?" + +"Pretty well in body, I thank you, Mr. Jarvie," drawled out poor Owen, +"but sore afflicted in spirit." + +"Nae doubt, nae doubt--ay, ay--it's an awfu' whummle--and for ane that +held his head sae high too--human nature, human nature--Ay ay, we're a' +subject to a downcome. Mr. Osbaldistone is a gude honest gentleman; but I +aye said he was ane o' them wad make a spune or spoil a horn, as my +father the worthy deacon used to say. The deacon used to say to me, +'Nick--young Nick' (his name was Nicol as weel as mine; sae folk ca'd us +in their daffin', young Nick and auld Nick)--'Nick,' said he, 'never put +out your arm farther than ye can draw it easily back again.' I hae said +sae to Mr. Osbaldistone, and he didna seem to take it a'thegither sae +kind as I wished--but it was weel meant--weel meant." + +This discourse, delivered with prodigious volubility, and a great +appearance of self-complacency, as he recollected his own advice and +predictions, gave little promise of assistance at the hands of Mr. +Jarvie. Yet it soon appeared rather to proceed from a total want of +delicacy than any deficiency of real kindness; for when Owen expressed +himself somewhat hurt that these things should be recalled to memory in +his present situation, the Glaswegian took him by the hand, and bade him +"Cheer up a gliff! D'ye think I wad hae comed out at twal o'clock at +night, and amaist broken the Lord's day, just to tell a fa'en man o' his +backslidings? Na, na, that's no Bailie Jarvie's gate, nor was't his +worthy father's the deacon afore him. Why, man! it's my rule never to +think on warldly business on the Sabbath, and though I did a' I could to +keep your note that I gat this morning out o' my head, yet I thought mair +on it a' day, than on the preaching--And it's my rule to gang to my bed +wi' the yellow curtains preceesely at ten o'clock--unless I were eating a +haddock wi' a neighbour, or a neighbour wi' me--ask the lass-quean there, +if it isna a fundamental rule in my household; and here hae I sitten up +reading gude books, and gaping as if I wad swallow St. Enox Kirk, till it +chappit twal, whilk was a lawfu' hour to gie a look at my ledger, just to +see how things stood between us; and then, as time and tide wait for no +man, I made the lass get the lantern, and came slipping my ways here to +see what can be dune anent your affairs. Bailie Jarvie can command +entrance into the tolbooth at ony hour, day or night;--sae could my +father the deacon in his time, honest man, praise to his memory." + +Although Owen groaned at the mention of the ledger, leading me grievously +to fear that here also the balance stood in the wrong column; and +although the worthy magistrate's speech expressed much self-complacency, +and some ominous triumph in his own superior judgment, yet it was blended +with a sort of frank and blunt good-nature, from which I could not help +deriving some hopes. He requested to see some papers he mentioned, +snatched them hastily from Owen's hand, and sitting on the bed, to "rest +his shanks," as he was pleased to express the accommodation which that +posture afforded him, his servant girl held up the lantern to him, while, +pshawing, muttering, and sputtering, now at the imperfect light, now at +the contents of the packet, he ran over the writings it contained. + +Seeing him fairly engaged in this course of study, the guide who had +brought me hither seemed disposed to take an unceremonious leave. He made +a sign to me to say nothing, and intimated, by his change of posture, an +intention to glide towards the door in such a manner as to attract the +least possible observation. But the alert magistrate (very different from +my old acquaintance, Mr. Justice Inglewood) instantly detected and +interrupted his purposes. "I say, look to the door, Stanchells--shut and +lock it, and keep watch on the outside." + +The stranger's brow darkened, and he seemed for an instant again to +meditate the effecting his retreat by violence; but ere he had +determined, the door closed, and the ponderous bolt revolved. He muttered +an exclamation in Gaelic, strode across the floor, and then, with an air +of dogged resolution, as if fixed and prepared to see the scene to an +end, sate himself down on the oak table, and whistled a strathspey. + +Mr. Jarvie, who seemed very alert and expeditious in going through +business, soon showed himself master of that which he had been +considering, and addressed himself to Mr. Owen in the following strain:-- +"Weel, Mr. Owen, weel--your house are awin' certain sums to Messrs. +MacVittie and MacFin (shame fa' their souple snouts! they made that and +mair out o' a bargain about the aik-woods at Glen-Cailziechat, that they +took out atween my teeth--wi' help o' your gude word, I maun needs say, +Mr. Owen--but that makes nae odds now)--Weel, sir, your house awes them +this siller; and for this, and relief of other engagements they stand in +for you, they hae putten a double turn o' Stanchells' muckle key on ye.-- +Weel, sir, ye awe this siller--and maybe ye awe some mair to some other +body too--maybe ye awe some to myself, Bailie Nicol Jarvie." + +"I cannot deny, sir, but the balance may of this date be brought out +against us, Mr. Jarvie," said Owen; "but you'll please to consider"-- + +"I hae nae time to consider e'enow, Mr. Owen--Sae near Sabbath at e'en, +and out o' ane's warm bed at this time o' night, and a sort o' drow in +the air besides--there's nae time for considering--But, sir, as I was +saying, ye awe me money--it winna deny--ye awe me money, less or mair, +I'll stand by it. But then, Mr. Owen, I canna see how you, an active man +that understands business, can redd out the business ye're come down +about, and clear us a' aff--as I have gritt hope ye will--if ye're keepit +lying here in the tolbooth of Glasgow. Now, sir, if you can find caution +_judicio sisti,_--that is, that ye winna flee the country, but appear and +relieve your caution when ca'd for in our legal courts, ye may be set at +liberty this very morning." + +"Mr. Jarvie," said Owen, "if any friend would become surety for me to +that effect, my liberty might be usefully employed, doubtless, both for +the house and all connected with it." + +"Aweel, sir," continued Jarvie, "and doubtless such a friend wad expect +ye to appear when ca'd on, and relieve him o' his engagement." + +"And I should do so as certainly, bating sickness or death, as that two +and two make four." + +"Aweel, Mr. Owen," resumed the citizen of Glasgow, "I dinna misdoubt ye, +and I'll prove it, sir--I'll prove it. I am a carefu' man, as is weel +ken'd, and industrious, as the hale town can testify; and I can win my +crowns, and keep my crowns, and count my crowns, wi' onybody in the Saut +Market, or it may be in the Gallowgate. And I'm a prudent man, as my +father the deacon was before me;--but rather than an honest civil +gentleman, that understands business, and is willing to do justice to all +men, should lie by the heels this gate, unable to help himsell or onybody +else--why, conscience, man! I'll be your bail myself--But ye'll mind it's +a bail _judicio sisti,_ as our town-clerk says, not _judicatum solvi;_ +ye'll mind that, for there's muckle difference." + +Mr. Owen assured him, that as matters then stood, he could not expect any +one to become surety for the actual payment of the debt, but that there +was not the most distant cause for apprehending loss from his failing to +present himself when lawfully called upon. + +"I believe ye--I believe ye. Eneugh said--eneugh said. We'se hae your +legs loose by breakfast-time.--And now let's hear what thir chamber +chiels o' yours hae to say for themselves, or how, in the name of unrule, +they got here at this time o' night." + + + + + CHAPTER SIXTH. + + Hame came our gudeman at e'en, + And hame came he, + And there he saw a man + Where a man suldna be. + "How's this now, kimmer? + How's this?" quo he,-- + "How came this carle here + Without the leave o' me?" + Old Song. + +The magistrate took the light out of the servant-maid's hand, and +advanced to his scrutiny, like Diogenes in the street of Athens, +lantern-in-hand, and probably with as little expectation as that of the +cynic, that he was likely to encounter any especial treasure in the +course of his researches. The first whom he approached was my mysterious +guide, who, seated on a table as I have already described him, with his +eyes firmly fixed on the wall, his features arranged into the utmost +inflexibility of expression, his hands folded on his breast with an air +betwixt carelessness and defiance, his heel patting against the foot of +the table, to keep time with the tune which he continued to whistle, +submitted to Mr. Jarvie's investigation with an air of absolute +confidence and assurance which, for a moment, placed at fault the memory +and sagacity of the acute investigator. + +"Ah!--Eh!--Oh!" exclaimed the Bailie. "My conscience!--it's impossible!-- +and yet--no!--Conscience!--it canna be!--and yet again--Deil hae me, that +I suld say sae!--Ye robber--ye cateran--ye born deevil that ye are, to a' +bad ends and nae gude ane!--can this be you?" + +"E'en as ye see, Bailie," was the laconic answer. + +"Conscience! if I am na clean bumbaized--_you_, ye cheat-the-wuddy rogue +--_you_ here on your venture in the tolbooth o' Glasgow?--What d'ye +think's the value o' your head?" + +"Umph!--why, fairly weighed, and Dutch weight, it might weigh down one +provost's, four bailies', a town-clerk's, six deacons', besides +stent-masters' "-- + +"Ah, ye reiving villain!" interrupted Mr. Jarvie. "But tell ower your +sins, and prepare ye, for if I say the word"-- + +"True, Bailie," said he who was thus addressed, folding his hands behind +him with the utmost _nonchalance,_ "but ye will never say that word." + +"And why suld I not, sir?" exclaimed the magistrate--"Why suld I not? +Answer me that--why suld I not?" + +"For three sufficient reasons, Bailie Jarvie.--First, for auld langsyne; +second, for the sake of the auld wife ayont the fire at Stuckavrallachan, +that made some mixture of our bluids, to my own proper shame be it +spoken! that has a cousin wi' accounts, and yarn winnles, and looms and +shuttles, like a mere mechanical person; and lastly, Bailie, because if I +saw a sign o' your betraying me, I would plaster that wa' with your harns +ere the hand of man could rescue you!" + +"Ye're a bauld desperate villain, sir," retorted the undaunted Bailie; +"and ye ken that I ken ye to be sae, and that I wadna stand a moment for +my ain risk." + +"I ken weel," said the other, "ye hae gentle bluid in your veins, and I +wad be laith to hurt my ain kinsman. But I'll gang out here as free as I +came in, or the very wa's o' Glasgow tolbooth shall tell o't these ten +years to come." + +"Weel, weel," said Mr. Jarvie, "bluid's thicker than water; and it liesna +in kith, kin, and ally, to see motes in ilka other's een if other een see +them no. It wad be sair news to the auld wife below the Ben of +Stuckavrallachan, that you, ye Hieland limmer, had knockit out my harns, +or that I had kilted you up in a tow. But ye'll own, ye dour deevil, that +were it no your very sell, I wad hae grippit the best man in the +Hielands." + +"Ye wad hae tried, cousin," answered my guide, "that I wot weel; but I +doubt ye wad hae come aff wi' the short measure; for we gang-there-out +Hieland bodies are an unchancy generation when you speak to us o' +bondage. We downa bide the coercion of gude braid-claith about our +hinderlans, let a be breeks o' free-stone, and garters o' iron." + +"Ye'll find the stane breeks and the airn garters--ay, and the hemp +cravat, for a' that, neighbour," replied the Bailie. + +"Nae man in a civilised country ever played the pliskies ye hae done--but +e'en pickle in your ain pock-neuk--I hae gi'en ye wanting." + +"Well, cousin," said the other, "ye'll wear black at my burial." + +"Deil a black cloak will be there, Robin, but the corbies and the +hoodie-craws, I'se gie ye my hand on that. But whar's the gude thousand +pund Scots that I lent ye, man, and when am I to see it again?" + +"Where it is," replied my guide, after the affectation of considering for +a moment, "I cannot justly tell--probably where last year's snaw is." + +"And that's on the tap of Schehallion, ye Hieland dog," said Mr. Jarvie; +"and I look for payment frae you where ye stand." + +"Ay," replied the Highlander, "but I keep neither snaw nor dollars in my +sporran. And as to when you'll see it--why, just when the king enjoys his +ain again, as the auld sang says." + +"Warst of a', Robin," retorted the Glaswegian,--"I mean, ye disloyal +traitor--Warst of a'!--Wad ye bring popery in on us, and arbitrary power, +and a foist and a warming-pan, and the set forms, and the curates, and +the auld enormities o' surplices and cerements? Ye had better stick to +your auld trade o' theft-boot, black-mail, spreaghs, and gillravaging-- +better stealing nowte than ruining nations." + +"Hout, man--whisht wi' your whiggery," answered the Celt; "we hae ken'd +ane anither mony a lang day. I'se take care your counting-room is no +cleaned out when the Gillon-a-naillie* come to redd up the Glasgow +buiths, and clear them o' their auld shop-wares. + +* The lads with the kilts or petticoats. + +And, unless it just fa' in the preceese way o' your duty, ye maunna see +me oftener, Nicol, than I am disposed to be seen." + +"Ye are a dauring villain, Rob," answered the Bailie; "and ye will be +hanged, that will be seen and heard tell o'; but I'se ne'er be the ill +bird and foul my nest, set apart strong necessity and the skreigh of +duty, which no man should hear and be inobedient. And wha the deevil's +this?" he continued, turning to me--"Some gillravager that ye hae listed, +I daur say. He looks as if he had a bauld heart to the highway, and a +lang craig for the gibbet." + +"This, good Mr. Jarvie," said Owen, who, like myself, had been struck +dumb during this strange recognition, and no less strange dialogue, which +took place betwixt these extraordinary kinsmen--"This, good Mr. Jarvie, +is young Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, only child of the head of our house, who +should have been taken into our firm at the time Mr. Rashleigh +Osbaldistone, his cousin, had the luck to be taken into it"--(Here Owen +could not suppress a groan)--"But howsoever"-- + +"Oh, I have heard of that smaik," said the Scotch merchant, interrupting +him; "it is he whom your principal, like an obstinate auld fule, wad make +a merchant o', wad he or wad he no,--and the lad turned a strolling +stage-player, in pure dislike to the labour an honest man should live by. +Weel, sir, what say you to your handiwork? Will Hamlet the Dane, or +Hamlet's ghost, be good security for Mr. Owen, sir?" + +"I don't deserve your taunt," I replied, "though I respect your motive, +and am too grateful for the assistance you have afforded Mr. Owen, to +resent it. My only business here was to do what I could (it is perhaps +very little) to aid Mr. Owen in the management of my father's affairs. My +dislike of the commercial profession is a feeling of which I am the best +and sole judge." + +"I protest," said the Highlander, "I had some respect for this callant +even before I ken'd what was in him; but now I honour him for his +contempt of weavers and spinners, and sic-like mechanical persons and +their pursuits." + +"Ye're mad, Rob," said the Bailie--"mad as a March hare--though wherefore +a hare suld be mad at March mair than at Martinmas, is mair than I can +weel say. Weavers! Deil shake ye out o' the web the weaver craft made. +Spinners! ye'll spin and wind yourself a bonny pirn. And this young +birkie here, that ye're hoying and hounding on the shortest road to the +gallows and the deevil, will his stage-plays and his poetries help him +here, dye think, ony mair than your deep oaths and drawn dirks, ye +reprobate that ye are?--Will _Tityre tu patulae,_ as they ca' it, tell +him where Rashleigh Osbaldistone is? or Macbeth, and all his kernes and +galla-glasses, and your awn to boot, Rob, procure him five thousand +pounds to answer the bills which fall due ten days hence, were they a' +rouped at the Cross,--basket-hilts, Andra-Ferraras, leather targets, +brogues, brochan, and sporrans?" + +"Ten days," I answered, and instinctively drew out Diana Vernon's packet; +and the time being elapsed during which I was to keep the seal sacred, I +hastily broke it open. A sealed letter fell from a blank enclosure, owing +to the trepidation with which I opened the parcel. A slight current of +wind, which found its way through a broken pane of the window, wafted the +letter to Mr. Jarvie's feet, who lifted it, examined the address with +unceremonious curiosity, and, to my astonishment, handed itto his +Highland kinsman, saying, "Here's a wind has blown a letter to its right +owner, though there were ten thousand chances against its coming to +hand." + +The Highlander, having examined the address, broke the letter open +without the least ceremony. I endeavoured to interrupt his proceeding. + +"You must satisfy me, sir," said I, "that the letter is intended for you +before I can permit you to peruse it." + +"Make yourself quite easy, Mr. Osbaldistone," replied the mountaineer +with great composure.--"remember Justice Inglewood, Clerk Jobson, Mr. +Morris--above all, remember your vera humble servant, Robert Cawmil, and +the beautiful Diana Vernon. Remember all this, and doubt no longer that +the letter is for me." + +I remained astonished at my own stupidity.--Through the whole night, the +voice, and even the features of this man, though imperfectly seen, +haunted me with recollections to which I could assign no exact local or +personal associations. But now the light dawned on me at once; this man +was Campbell himself. His whole peculiarities flashed on me at once,--the +deep strong voice--the inflexible, stern, yet considerate cast of +features--the Scottish brogue, with its corresponding dialect and +imagery, which, although he possessed the power at times of laying them +aside, recurred at every moment of emotion, and gave pith to his sarcasm, +or vehemence to his expostulation. Rather beneath the middle size than +above it, his limbs were formed upon the very strongest model that is +consistent with agility, while from the remarkable ease and freedom of +his movements, you could not doubt his possessing the latter quality in a +high degree of perfection. Two points in his person interfered with the +rules of symmetry; his shoulders were so broad in proportion to his +height, as, notwithstanding the lean and lathy appearance of his frame, +gave him something the air of being too square in respect to his stature; +and his arms, though round, sinewy, and strong, were so very long as to +be rather a deformity. I afterwards heard that this length of arm was a +circumstance on which he prided himself; that when he wore his native +Highland garb, he could tie the garters of his hose without stooping; and +that it gave him great advantage in the use of the broad-sword, at which +he was very dexterous. But certainly this want of symmetry destroyed the +claim he might otherwise have set up, to be accounted a very handsome +man; it gave something wild, irregular, and, as it were, unearthly, to +his appearance, and reminded me involuntarily of the tales which Mabel +used to tell of the old Picts who ravaged Northumberland in ancient +times, who, according to her tradition, were a sort of half-goblin +half-human beings, distinguished, like this man, for courage, cunning, +ferocity, the length of their arms, and the squareness of their +shoulders. + +When, however, I recollected the circumstances in which we formerly met, +I could not doubt that the billet was most probably designed for him. He +had made a marked figure among those mysterious personages over whom +Diana seemed to exercise an influence, and from whom she experienced an +influence in her turn. It was painful to think that the fate of a being +so amiable was involved in that of desperadoes of this man's +description;--yet it seemed impossible to doubt it. Of what use, however, +could this person be to my father's affairs?--I could think only of one. +Rashleigh Osbaldistone had, at the instigation of Miss Vernon, certainly +found means to produce Mr. Campbell when his presence was necessary to +exculpate me from Morris's accusation--Was it not possible that her +influence, in like manner, might prevail on Campbell to produce +Rashleigh? Speaking on this supposition, I requested to know where my +dangerous kinsman was, and when Mr. Campbell had seen him. The answer was +indirect. + +"It's a kittle cast she has gien me to play; but yet it's fair play, and +I winna baulk her. Mr. Osbaldistone, I dwell not very far from hence--my +kinsman can show you the way--Leave Mr. Owen to do the best he can in +Glasgow--do you come and see me in the glens, and it's like I may +pleasure you, and stead your father in his extremity. I am but a poor +man; but wit's better than wealth--and, cousin" (turning from me to +address Mr. Jarvie), "if ye daur venture sae muckle as to eat a dish of +Scotch collops, and a leg o' red-deer venison wi' me, come ye wi' this +Sassenach gentleman as far as Drymen or Bucklivie,--or the Clachan of +Aberfoil will be better than ony o' them,--and I'll hae somebody waiting +to weise ye the gate to the place where I may be for the time--What say +ye, man? There's my thumb, I'll ne'er beguile thee." + +"Na, na, Robin," said the cautious burgher, "I seldom like to leave the +Gorbals;* I have nae freedom to gang among your wild hills, Robin, and +your kilted red-shanks--it disna become my place, man." + +* [The _Gorbals_ or "suburbs" are situate on the south side of the +River.] + +"The devil damn your place and you baith!" reiterated Campbell. "The only +drap o' gentle bluid that's in your body was our great-grand-uncle's that +was justified* at Dumbarton, and you set yourself up to say ye wad +derogate frae your place to visit me! + +* [Executed for treason.] + +Hark thee, man--I owe thee a day in harst--I'll pay up your thousan pund +Scots, plack and bawbee, gin ye'll be an honest fallow for anes, and just +daiker up the gate wi' this Sassenach." + +"Hout awa' wi' your gentility," replied the Bailie; "carry your gentle +bluid to the Cross, and see what ye'll buy wi't. But, if I _were_ to +come, wad ye really and soothfastly pay me the siller?" + +"I swear to ye," said the Highlander, "upon the halidome of him that +sleeps beneath the grey stane at Inch-Cailleach."* + +* Inch-Cailleach is an island in Lochlomond, where the clan of MacGregor +were wont to be interred, and where their sepulchres may still be seen. +It formerly contained a nunnery: hence the name of Inch-Cailleach, or the +island of Old Women. + +"Say nae mair, Robin--say nae mair--We'll see what may be dune. But ye +maunna expect me to gang ower the Highland line--I'll gae beyond the line +at no rate. Ye maun meet me about Bucklivie or the Clachan of Aberfoil,-- +and dinna forget the needful." + +"Nae fear--nae fear," said Campbell; "I'll be as true as the steel blade +that never failed its master. But I must be budging, cousin, for the air +o' Glasgow tolbooth is no that ower salutary to a Highlander's +constitution." + +"Troth," replied the merchant, "and if my duty were to be dune, ye +couldna change your atmosphere, as the minister ca's it, this ae wee +while.--Ochon, that I sud ever be concerned in aiding and abetting an +escape frae justice! it will be a shame and disgrace to me and mine, and +my very father's memory, for ever." + +"Hout tout, man! let that flee stick in the wa'," answered his kinsman; +"when the dirt's dry it will rub out--Your father, honest man, could look +ower a friend's fault as weel as anither." + +"Ye may be right, Robin," replied the Bailie, after a moment's +reflection; "he was a considerate man the deacon; he ken'd we had a' our +frailties, and he lo'ed his friends--Ye'll no hae forgotten him, Robin?" +This question he put in a softened tone, conveying as much at least of +the ludicrous as the pathetic. + +"Forgotten him!" replied his kinsman--"what suld ail me to forget him?--a +wapping weaver he was, and wrought my first pair o' hose.--But come awa', +kinsman, + + Come fill up my cap, come fill up my cann, + Come saddle my horses, and call up my man; + Come open your gates, and let me gae free, + I daurna stay langer in bonny Dundee." + +"Whisht, sir!" said the magistrate, in an authoritative tone--"lilting +and singing sae near the latter end o' the Sabbath! This house may hear +ye sing anither tune yet--Aweel, we hae a' backslidings to answer for-- +Stanchells, open the door." + +The jailor obeyed, and we all sallied forth. Stanchells looked with some +surprise at the two strangers, wondering, doubtless, how they came into +these premises without his knowledge; but Mr. Jarvie's "Friends o' mine, +Stanchells--friends o' mine," silenced all disposition to inquiries. We +now descended into the lower vestibule, and hallooed more than once for +Dougal, to which summons no answer was returned; when Campbell observed +with a sardonic smile, "That if Dougal was the lad he kent him, he would +scarce wait to get thanks for his ain share of the night's wark, but was +in all probability on the full trot to the pass of Ballamaha"-- + +"And left us--and, abune a', me, mysell, locked up in the tolbooth a' +night!" exclaimed the Bailie, in ire and perturbation. "Ca' for +forehammers, sledge-hammers, pinches, and coulters; send for Deacon +Yettlin, the smith, an let him ken that Bailie Jarvie's shut up in the +tolbooth by a Highland blackguard, whom he'll hang up as high as Haman"-- + +"When ye catch him," said Campbell, gravely; "but stay--the door is +surely not locked." + +Indeed, on examination, we found that the door was not only left open, +but that Dougal in his retreat had, by carrying off the keys along with +him, taken care that no one should exercise his office of porter in a +hurry. + +"He has glimmerings o' common sense now, that creature Dougal," said +Campbell.--"he ken'd an open door might hae served me at a pinch." + +We were by this time in the street. + +"I tell you, Robin," said the magistrate, "in my puir mind, if ye live +the life ye do, ye suld hae ane o' your gillies door-keeper in every jail +in Scotland, in case o' the warst." + +"Ane o' my kinsmen a bailie in ilka burgh will just do as weel, cousin +Nicol--So, gude-night or gude-morning to ye; and forget not the Clachan +of Aberfoil." + +And without waiting for an answer, he sprung to the other side of the +street, and was lost in darkness. Immediately on his disappearance, we +heard him give a low whistle of peculiar modulation, which was instantly +replied to. + +"Hear to the Hieland deevils," said Mr. Jarvie; "they think themselves on +the skirts of Benlomond already, where they may gang whewingand whistling +about without minding Sunday or Saturday." Here he was interrupted by +something which fell with a heavy clash on the street before us--"Gude +guide us what's this mair o't?--Mattie, haud up the lantern--Conscience +if it isna the keys!--Weel, that's just as weel--they cost the burgh +siller, and there might hae been some clavers about the loss o' them. O, +an Bailie Grahame were to get word o' this night's job, it would be a +sair hair in my neck!" + +As we were still but a few steps from the tolbooth door, we carried back +these implements of office, and consigned them to the head jailor, who, +in lieu of the usual mode of making good his post by turning the keys, +was keeping sentry in the vestibule till the arrival of some assistant, +whom he had summoned in order to replace the Celtic fugitive Dougal. + +Having discharged this piece of duty to the burgh, and my road lying the +same way with the honest magistrate's, I profited by the light of his +lantern, and he by my arm, to find our way through the streets, which, +whatever they may now be, were then dark, uneven, and ill-paved. Age is +easily propitiated by attentions from the young. The Bailie expressed +himself interested in me, and added, "That since I was nane o' that +play-acting and play-ganging generation, whom his saul hated, he wad be +glad if I wad eat a reisted haddock or a fresh herring, at breakfast wi' +him the morn, and meet my friend, Mr. Owen, whom, by that time, he would +place at liberty." + +"My dear sir," said I, when I had accepted of the invitation with thanks, +"how could you possibly connect me with the stage?" + +"I watna," replied Mr. Jarvie;--"it was a bletherin' phrasin' chield they +ca' Fairservice, that cam at e'en to get an order to send the crier +through the toun for ye at skreigh o' day the morn. He tell't me whae ye +were, and how ye were sent frae your father's house because ye wadna be a +dealer, and that ye mightna disgrace your family wi' ganging on the +stage. Ane Hammorgaw, our precentor, brought him here, and said he was an +auld acquaintance; but I sent them both away wi' a flae in their lug for +bringing me sic an errand, on sic a night. But I see he's a fule-creature +a'thegither, and clean mistaen about ye. I like ye, man," he continued; +"I like a lad that will stand by his friends in trouble--I aye did it +mysell, and sae did the deacon my father, rest and bless him! But ye +suldna keep ower muckle company wi' Hielandmen and thae wild cattle. Can +a man touch pitch and no be defiled?--aye mind that. Nae doubt, the best +and wisest may err--Once, twice, and thrice have I backslidden, man, and +dune three things this night--my father wadna hae believed his een if he +could hae looked up and seen me do them." + +He was by this time arrived at the door of his own dwelling. He paused, +however, on the threshold, and went on in a solemn tone of deep +contrition,--"Firstly, I hae thought my ain thoughts on the Sabbath-- +secondly, I hae gi'en security for an Englishman--and, in the third and +last place, well-a-day! I hae let an ill-doer escape from the place of +imprisonment--But there's balm in Gilead, Mr. Osbaldistone--Mattie, I can +let mysell in--see Mr. Osbaldistone to Luckie Flyter's, at the corner o' +the wynd.--Mr. Osbaldistone"--in a whisper--"ye'll offer nae incivility +to Mattie--she's an honest man's daughter, and a near cousin o' the Laird +o' Limmerfield's." + + + + + CHAPTER SEVENTH. + + "Will it please your worship to accept of my poor service? I beseech + that I may feed upon your bread, though it be the brownest, and + drink of your drink, though it be of the smallest; for I will do + your Worship as much service for forty shillings as another man + shall for three pounds." + Greene's _Tu Quoque._ + +I remembered the honest Bailie's parting charge, but did not conceive +there was any incivility in adding a kiss to the half-crown with which I +remunerated Mattie's attendance;--nor did her "Fie for shame, sir!" +express any very deadly resentment of the affront. Repeated knocking at +Mrs. Flyter's gate awakened in due order, first, one or two stray dogs, +who began to bark with all their might; next two or three night-capped +heads, which were thrust out of the neighbouring windows to reprehend me +for disturbing the solemnity of the Sunday night by that untimely noise. +While I trembled lest the thunders of their wrath might dissolve in +showers like that of Xantippe, Mrs. Flyter herself awoke, and began, in a +tone of objurgation not unbecoming the philosophical spouse of Socrates, +to scold one or two loiterers in her kitchen, for not hastening to the +door to prevent a repetition of my noisy summons. + +These worthies were, indeed, nearly concerned in the fracas which their +laziness occasioned, being no other than the faithful Mr. Fairservice, +with his friend Mr. Hammorgaw, and another person, whom I afterwards +found to be the town-crier, who were sitting over a cog of ale, as they +called it (at my expense, as my bill afterwards informed me), in order to +devise the terms and style of a proclamation to be made through the +streets the next day, in order that "the unfortunate young gentleman," as +they had the impudence to qualify me, might be restored to his friends +without farther delay. It may be supposed that I did not suppress my +displeasure at this impertinent interference with my affairs; but Andrew +set up such ejaculations of transport at my arrival, as fairly drowned my +expressions of resentment. His raptures, perchance, were partly +political; and the tears of joy which he shed had certainly their source +in that noble fountain of emotion, the tankard. However, the tumultuous +glee which he felt, or pretended to feel, at my return, saved Andrew the +broken head which I had twice destined him;--first, on account of the +colloquy he had held with the precentor on my affairs; and secondly, for +the impertinent history he had thought proper to give of me to Mr. +Jarvie. I however contented myself with slapping the door of my bedroom +in his face as he followed me, praising Heaven for my safe return, and +mixing his joy with admonitions to me to take care how I walked my own +ways in future. I then went to bed, resolving my first business in the +morning should be to discharge this troublesome, pedantic, self-conceited +coxcomb, who seemed so much disposed to constitute himself rather a +preceptor than a domestic. + +Accordingly in the morning I resumed my purpose, and calling Andrew into +my, apartment, requested to know his charge for guiding and attending me +as far as Glasgow. Mr. Fairservice looked very blank at this demand, +justly considering it as a presage to approaching dismission. + +"Your honour," he said, after some hesitation, "wunna think--wunna +think"-- + +"Speak out, you rascal, or I'll break your head," said I, as Andrew, +between the double risk of losing all by asking too much, or a part, by +stating his demand lower than what I might be willing to pay, stood +gasping in the agony of doubt and calculation. + +Out it came with a bolt, however, at my threat; as the kind violence of a +blow on the back sometimes delivers the windpipe from an intrusive +morsel.--"Aughteen pennies sterling per diem--that is, by the day--your +honour wadna think unconscionable." + +"It is double what is usual, and treble what you merit, Andrew; but +there's a guinea for you, and get about your business." + +"The Lord forgi'e us! Is your honour mad?" exclaimed Andrew. + +"No; but I think you mean to make me so--I give you a third above your +demand, and you stand staring and expostulating there as if I were +cheating you. Take your money, and go about your business." + +"Gude safe us!" continued Andrew, "in what can I hae offended your +honour? Certainly a' flesh is but as the flowers of the field; but if a +bed of camomile hath value in medicine, of a surety the use of Andrew +Fairservice to your honour is nothing less evident--it's as muckle as +your life's worth to part wi' me." + +"Upon my honour," replied I, "it is difficult to say whether you are more +knave or fool. So you intend then to remain with me whether I like it or +no?" + +"Troth, I was e'en thinking sae," replied Andrew, dogmatically; "for if +your honour disna ken when ye hae a gude servant, I ken when I hae a gude +master, and the deil be in my feet gin I leave ye--and there's the brief +and the lang o't besides I hae received nae regular warning to quit my +place." + +"Your place, sir!" said I;--"why, you are no hired servant of mine,--you +are merely a guide, whose knowledge of the country I availed myself of on +my road." + +"I am no just a common servant, I admit, sir," remonstrated Mr. +Fairservice; "but your honour kens I quitted a gude place at an hour's +notice, to comply wi' your honour's solicitations. A man might make +honestly, and wi' a clear conscience, twenty sterling pounds per annum, +weel counted siller, o' the garden at Osbaldistone Hall, and I wasna +likely to gi'e up a' that for a guinea, I trow--I reckoned on staying wi' +your honour to the term's end at the least o't; and I account my wage, +board-wage, fee and bountith,--ay, to that length o't at the least." + +"Come, come, sir," replied I, "these impudent pretensions won't serve +your turn; and if I hear any more of them, I shall convince you that +Squire Thorncliff is not the only one of my name that can use his +fingers." + +While I spoke thus, the whole matter struck me as so ridiculous, that, +though really angry, I had some difficulty to forbear laughing at the +gravity with which Andrew supported a plea so utterly extravagant. The +rascal, aware of the impression he had made on my muscles, was encouraged +to perseverance. He judged it safer, however, to take his pretensions a +peg lower, in case of overstraining at the same time both his plea and my +patience. + +"Admitting that my honour could part with a faithful servant, that had +served me and mine by day and night for twenty years, in a strange place, +and at a moment's warning, he was weel assured," he said, "it wasna in my +heart, nor in no true gentleman's, to pit a puir lad like himself, that +had come forty or fifty, or say a hundred miles out o' his road purely to +bear my honour company, and that had nae handing but his penny-fee, to +sic a hardship as this comes to." + +I think it was you, Will, who once told me, that, to be an obstinate man, +I am in certain things the most gullable and malleable of mortals. The +fact is, that it is only contradiction which makes me peremptory, and +when I do not feel myself called on to give battle to any proposition, I +am always willing to grant it, rather than give myself much trouble. I +knew this fellow to be a greedy, tiresome, meddling coxcomb; still, +however, I must have some one about me in the quality of guide and +domestic, and I was so much used to Andrew's humour, that on some +occasions it was rather amusing. In the state of indecision to which +these reflections led me, I asked Fairservice if he knew the roads, +towns, etc., in the north of Scotland, to which my father's concerns with +the proprietors of Highland forests were likely to lead me. I believe if +I had asked him the road to the terrestrial paradise, he would have at +that moment undertaken to guide me to it; so that I had reason afterwards +to think myself fortunate in finding that his actual knowledge did not +fall very much short of that which he asserted himself to possess. I +fixed the amount of his wages, and reserved to myself the privilege of +dismissing him when I chose, on paying him a week in advance. I gave him +finally a severe lecture on his conduct of the preceding day, and then +dismissed him rejoicing at heart, though somewhat crestfallen in +countenance, to rehearse to his friend the precentor, who was taking his +morning draught in the kitchen, the mode in which he had "cuitled up the +daft young English squire." + +Agreeable to appointment, I went next to Bailie Nicol Jarvie's, where a +comfortable morning's repast was arranged in the parlour, which served as +an apartment of all hours, and almost all work, to that honest gentleman. +The bustling and benevolent magistrate had been as good as his word. I +found my friend Owen at liberty, and, conscious of the refreshments and +purification of brush and basin, was of course a very different person +from Owen a prisoner, squalid, heart-broken, and hopeless. Yet the sense +of pecuniary difficulties arising behind, before, and around him, had +depressed his spirit, and the almost paternal embrace which the good man +gave me, was embittered by a sigh of the deepest anxiety. And when he +sate down, the heaviness in his eye and manner, so different from the +quiet composed satisfaction which they usually exhibited, indicated that +he was employing his arithmetic in mentally numbering up the days, the +hours, the minutes, which yet remained as an interval between the +dishonour of bills and the downfall of the great commercial establishment +of Osbaldistone and Tresham. It was left to me, therefore, to do honour +to our landlord's hospitable cheer--to his tea, right from China, which +he got in a present from some eminent ship's-husband at Wapping--to his +coffee, from a snug plantation of his own, as he informed us with a wink, +called Saltmarket Grove, in the island of Jamaica--to his English toast +and ale, his Scotch dried salmon, his Lochfine herrings, and even to the +double-damask table-cloth, "wrought by no hand, as you may guess," save +that of his deceased father the worthy Deacon Jarvie. + +Having conciliated our good-humoured host by those little attentions +which are great to most men, I endeavoured in my turn to gain from him +some information which might be useful for my guidance, as well as for +the satisfaction of my curiosity. We had not hitherto made the least +allusion to the transactions of the preceding night, a circumstance which +made my question sound somewhat abrupt, when, without any previous +introduction of the subject, I took advantage of a pause when the history +of the table-cloth ended, and that of the napkins was about to commence, +to inquire, "Pray, by the by, Mr. Jarvie, who may this Mr. Robert +Campbell be, whom we met with last night?" + +The interrogatory seemed to strike the honest magistrate, to use the +vulgar phrase, "all of a heap," and instead of answering, he returned the +question--"Whae's Mr. Robert Campbell?--ahem! ahay! Whae's Mr. Robert +Campbell, quo' he?" + +"Yes," said I, "I mean who and what is he?" + +"Why, he's--ahay!--he's--ahem!--Where did ye meet with Mr. Robert +Campbell, as ye ca' him?" + +"I met him by chance," I replied, "some months ago in the north of +England." + +"Ou then, Mr. Osbaldistone," said the Bailie, doggedly, "ye'll ken as +muckle about him as I do." + +"I should suppose not, Mr. Jarvie," I replied;--"you are his relation, it +seems, and his friend." + +"There is some cousin-red between us, doubtless," said the Bailie +reluctantly; "but we hae seen little o' ilk other since Rob gae tip the +cattle-line o' dealing, poor fallow! he was hardly guided by them might +hae used him better--and they haena made their plack a bawbee o't +neither. There's mony ane this day wad rather they had never chased puir +Robin frae the Cross o' Glasgow--there's mony ane wad rather see him +again at the tale o' three hundred kyloes, than at the head o' thirty +waur cattle." + +"All this explains nothing to me, Mr. Jarvie, of Mr. Campbell's rank, +habits of life, and means of subsistence," I replied. + +"Rank?" said Mr. Jarvie; "he's a Hieland gentleman, nae doubt--better +rank need nane to be;--and for habit, I judge he wears the Hieland habit +amang the hills, though he has breeks on when he comes to Glasgow;--and +as for his subsistence, what needs we care about his subsistence, sae +lang as he asks naething frae us, ye ken? But I hae nae time for +clavering about him e'en now, because we maun look into your father's +concerns wi' all speed." + +So saying, he put on his spectacles, and sate down to examine Mr. Owen's +states, which the other thought it most prudent to communicate to him +without reserve. I knew enough of business to be aware that nothing could +be more acute and sagacious than the views which Mr. Jarvie entertained +of the matters submitted to his examination; and, to do him justice, it +was marked by much fairness, and even liberality. He scratched his ear +indeed repeatedly on observing the balance which stood at the debit of +Osbaldistone and Tresham in account with himself personally. + +"It may be a dead loss," he observed; "and, conscience! whate'er ane o' +your Lombard Street goldsmiths may say to it, it's a snell ane in the +Saut-Market* o' Glasgow. It will be a heavy deficit--a staff out o' my +bicker, I trow. + +* [The Saltmarket. This ancient street, situate in the heart of Glasgow, +has of late been almost entirely renovated.] + +But what then?--I trust the house wunna coup the crane for a' that's come +and gane yet; and if it does, I'll never bear sae base a mind as thae +corbies in the Gallowgate--an I am to lose by ye, I'se ne'er deny I hae +won by ye mony a fair pund sterling--Sae, an it come to the warst, I'se +een lay the head o' the sow to the tail o' the grice."* + +* _Anglice,_ the head of the sow to the tail of the pig. + +I did not altogether understand the proverbial arrangement with which Mr. +Jarvie consoled himself, but I could easily see that he took a kind and +friendly interest in the arrangement of my father's affairs, suggested +several expedients, approved several plans proposed by Owen, and by his +countenance and counsel greatly abated the gloom upon the brow of that +afflicted delegate of my father's establishment. + +As I was an idle spectator on this occasion, and, perhaps, as I showed +some inclination more than once to return to the prohibited, and +apparently the puzzling subject of Mr. Campbell, Mr. Jarvie dismissed me +with little formality, with an advice to "gang up the gate to the +college, where I wad find some chields could speak Greek and Latin weel-- +at least they got plenty o' siller for doing deil haet else, if they +didna do that; and where I might read a spell o' the worthy Mr. Zachary +Boyd's translation o' the Scriptures--better poetry need nane to be, as +he had been tell'd by them that ken'd or suld hae ken'd about sic +things." But he seasoned this dismission with a kind and hospitable +invitation "to come back and take part o' his family-chack at ane +preceesely--there wad be a leg o' mutton, and, it might be, a tup's head, +for they were in season;" but above all, I was to return at "ane o'clock +preceesely--it was the hour he and the deacon his father aye dined at-- +they pat it off for naething nor for naebody." + + + + + CHAPTER EIGHTH. + + + So stands the Thracian herdsman with his spear + Full in the gap, and hopes the hunted bear; + And hears him in the rustling wood, and sees + His course at distance by the bending trees, + And thinks--Here comes my mortal enemy, + And either he must fall in fight, or I. + Palamon and Arcite. + +I took the route towards the college, as recommended by Mr. Jarvie, less +with the intention of seeking for any object of interest or amusement, +than to arrange my own ideas, and meditate on my future conduct. I +wandered from one quadrangle of old-fashioned buildings to another, and +from thence to the College-yards, or walking ground, where, pleased with +the solitude of the place, most of the students being engaged in their +classes, I took several turns, pondering on the waywardness of my own +destiny. + +I could not doubt, from the circumstances attending my first meeting with +this person Campbell, that he was engaged in some strangely desperate +courses; and the reluctance with which Mr. Jarvie alluded to his person +or pursuits, as well as all the scene of the preceding night, tended to +confirm these suspicions. Yet to this man Diana Vernon had not, it would +seem, hesitated to address herself in my behalf; and the conduct of the +magistrate himself towards him showed an odd mixture of kindness, and +even respect, with pity and censure. Something there must be uncommon in +Campbell's situation and character; and what was still more +extraordinary, it seemed that his fate was doomed to have influence over, +and connection with, my own. I resolved to bring Mr. Jarvie to close +quarters on the first proper opportunity, and learn as much as was +possible on the subject of this mysterious person, in order that I might +judge whether it was possible for me, without prejudice to my reputation, +to hold that degree of farther correspondence with him to which he seemed +to invite. + +While I was musing on these subjects, my attention was attracted by three +persons who appeared at the upper end of the walk through which I was +sauntering, seemingly engaged in very earnest conversation. That +intuitive impression which announces to us the approach of whomsoever we +love or hate with intense vehemence, long before a more indifferent eye +can recognise their persons, flashed upon my mind the sure conviction +that the midmost of these three men was Rashleigh Osbaldistone. To +address him was my first impulse;--my second was, to watch him until he +was alone, or at least to reconnoitre his companions before confronting +him. The party was still at such distance, and engaged in such deep +discourse, that I had time to step unobserved to the other side of a +small hedge, which imperfectly screened the alley in which I was walking. +It was at this period the fashion of the young and gay to wear, in their +morning walks, a scarlet cloak, often laced and embroidered, above their +other dress, and it was the trick of the time for gallants occasionally +to dispose it so as to muffle a part of the face. The imitating this +fashion, with the degree of shelter which I received from the hedge, +enabled me to meet my cousin, unobserved by him or the others, except +perhaps as a passing stranger. I was not a little startled at recognising +in his companions that very Morris on whose account I had been summoned +before Justice Inglewood, and Mr. MacVittie the merchant, from whose +starched and severe aspect I had recoiled on the preceding day. + +A more ominous conjunction to my own affairs, and those of my father, +could scarce have been formed. I remembered Morris's false accusation +against me, which he might be as easily induced to renew as he had been +intimidated to withdraw; I recollected the inauspicious influence of +MacVittie over my father's affairs, testified by the imprisonment of +Owen;--and I now saw both these men combined with one, whose talent for +mischief I deemed little inferior to those of the great author of all +ill, and my abhorrence of whom almost amounted to dread. + +When they had passed me for some paces, I turned and followed them +unobserved. At the end of the walk they separated, Morris and MacVittie +leaving the gardens, and Rashleigh returning alone through the walks. I +was now determined to confront him, and demand reparation for the +injuries he had done my father, though in what form redress was likely to +be rendered remained to be known. This, however, I trusted to chance; and +flinging back the cloak in which I was muffled, I passed through a gap of +the low hedge, and presented myself before Rashleigh, as, in a deep +reverie, he paced down the avenue. + +Rashleigh was no man to be surprised or thrown off his guard by sudden +occurrences. Yet he did not find me thus close to him, wearing +undoubtedly in my face the marks of that indignation which was glowing in +my bosom, without visibly starting at an apparition so sudden and +menacing. + +"You are well met, sir," was my commencement; "I was about to take a long +and doubtful journey in quest of you." + +"You know little of him you sought then," replied Rashleigh, with his +usual undaunted composure. "I am easily found by my friends--still more +easily by my foes;--your manner compels me to ask in which class I must +rank Mr. Francis Osbaldistone?" + +"In that of your foes, sir," I answered--"in that of your mortal foes, +unless you instantly do justice to your benefactor, my father, by +accounting for his property." + +"And to whom, Mr. Osbaldistone," answered Rashleigh, "am I, a member of +your father's commercial establishment, to be compelled to give any +account of my proceedings in those concerns, which are in every respect +identified with my own?--Surely not to a young gentleman whose exquisite +taste for literature would render such discussions disgusting and +unintelligible." + +"Your sneer, sir, is no answer; I will not part with you until I have +full satisfaction concerning the fraud you meditate--you shall go with me +before a magistrate." + +"Be it so," said Rashleigh, and made a step or two as if to accompany me; +then pausing, proceeded--"Were I inclined to do so as you would have me, +you should soon feel which of us had most reason to dread the presence of +a magistrate. But I have no wish to accelerate your fate. Go, young man! +amuse yourself in your world of poetical imaginations, and leave the +business of life to those who understand and can conduct it." + +His intention, I believe, was to provoke me, and he succeeded. "Mr. +Osbaldistone," I said, "this tone of calm insolence shall not avail you. +You ought to be aware that the name we both bear never submitted to +insult, and shall not in my person be exposed to it." + +"You remind me," said Rashleigh, with one of his blackest looks, "that it +was dishonoured in my person!--and you remind me also by whom! Do you +think I have forgotten the evening at Osbaldistone Hall when you cheaply +and with impunity played the bully at my expense? For that insult--never +to be washed out but by blood!--for the various times you have crossed my +path, and always to my prejudice--for the persevering folly with which +you seek to traverse schemes, the importance of which you neither know +nor are capable of estimating,--for all these, sir, you owe me a long +account, for which there shall come an early day of reckoning." + +"Let it come when it will," I replied, "I shall be willing and ready to +meet it. Yet you seem to have forgotten the heaviest article--that I had +the pleasure to aid Miss Vernon's good sense and virtuous feeling in +extricating her from your infamous toils." + +I think his dark eyes flashed actual fire at this home-taunt, and yet his +voice retained the same calm expressive tone with which he had hitherto +conducted the conversation. + +"I had other views with respect to you, young man," was his answer: "less +hazardous for you, and more suitable to my present character and former +education. But I see you will draw on yourself the personal chastisement +your boyish insolence so well merits.Follow me to a more remote spot, +where we are less likely to be interrupted." + +I followed him accordingly, keeping a strict eye on his motions, for I +believed him capable of the very worst actions. We reached an open spot +in a sort of wilderness, laid out in the Dutch taste, with clipped +hedges, and one or two statues. I was on my guard, and it was well with +me that I was so; for Rashleigh's sword was out and at my breast ere I +could throw down my cloak, or get my weapon unsheathed, so that I only +saved my life by springing a pace or two backwards. He had some advantage +in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was +longer than mine, and had one of those bayonet or three-cornered blades +which are now generally worn; whereas mine was what we then called a +Saxon blade--narrow, flat, and two-edged, and scarcely so manageable as +that of my enemy. In other respects we were pretty equally matched: for +what advantage I might possess in superior address and agility, was fully +counterbalanced by Rashleigh's great strength and coolness. He fought, +indeed, more like a fiend than a man--with concentrated spite and desire +of blood, only allayed by that cool consideration which made his worst +actions appear yet worse from the air of deliberate premeditation which +seemed to accompany them. His obvious malignity of purpose never for a +moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and +stratagem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he +meditated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter. + +On my part, the combat was at first sustained with more moderation. My +passions, though hasty, were not malevolent; and the walk of two or three +minutes' space gave me time to reflect that Rashleigh was my father's +nephew, the son of an uncle, who after his fashion had been kind to me, +and that his falling by my hand could not but occasion much family +distress. My first resolution, therefore, was to attempt to disarm my +antagonist--a manoeuvre in which, confiding in my superiority of skill +and practice, I anticipated little difficulty. I found, however, I had +met my match; and one or two foils which I received, and from the +consequences of which I narrowly escaped, obliged me to observe more +caution in my mode of fighting. By degrees I became exasperated at the +rancour with which Rashleigh sought my life, and returned his passes with +an inveteracy resembling in some degree his own; so that the combat had +all the appearance of being destined to have a tragic issue. That issue +had nearly taken place at my expense. My foot slipped in a full lounge +which I made at my adversary, and I could not so far recover myself as +completely to parry the thrust with which my pass was repaid. Yet it took +but partial effect, running through my waistcoat, grazing my ribs, and +passing through my coat behind. The hilt of Rashleigh's sword, so great +was the vigour of his thrust, struck against my breast with such force as +to give me great pain, and confirm me in the momentary belief that I was +mortally wounded. Eager for revenge, I grappled with my enemy, seizing +with my left hand the hilt of his sword, and shortening my own with the +purpose of running him through the body. Our death-grapple was +interrupted by a man who forcibly threw himself between us, and pushing +us separate from each other, exclaimed, in a loud and commanding voice, +"What! the sons of those fathers who sucked the same breast shedding each +others bluid as it were strangers'!--By the hand of my father, I will +cleave to the brisket the first man that mints another stroke!" + +I looked up in astonishment. The speaker was no other than Campbell. He +had a basket-hilted broadsword drawn in his hand, which he made to +whistle around his head as he spoke, as if for the purpose of enforcing +his mediation. Rashleigh and I stared in silence at this unexpected +intruder, who proceeded to exhort us alternately:--"Do you, Maister +Francis, opine that ye will re-establish your father's credit by cutting +your kinsman's thrapple, or getting your ain sneckit instead thereof in +the College-yards of Glasgow?--Or do you, Mr Rashleigh, think men will +trust their lives and fortunes wi' ane, that, when in point of trust and +in point of confidence wi' a great political interest, gangs about +brawling like a drunken gillie?--Nay, never look gash or grim at me, man +--if ye're angry, ye ken how to turn the buckle o' your belt behind you." + +"You presume on my present situation," replied Rashleigh, "or you would +have hardly dared to interfere where my honour is concerned." + +"Hout! tout! tout!--Presume? And what for should it be presuming?--Ye may +be the richer man, Mr. Osbaldistone, as is maist likely; and ye may be +the mair learned man, whilk I dispute not: but I reckon ye are neither a +prettier man nor a better gentleman than mysell--and it will be news to +me when I hear ye are as gude. And _dare_ too? Muckle daring there's +about it--I trow, here I stand, that hae slashed as het a haggis as ony +o' the twa o' ye, and thought nae muckle o' my morning's wark when it was +dune. If my foot were on the heather as it's on the causeway, or this +pickle gravel, that's little better, I hae been waur mistrysted than if I +were set to gie ye baith your ser'ing o't." + +Rashleigh had by this time recovered his temper completely. "My kinsman," +he said, "will acknowledge he forced this quarrel on me. It was none of +my seeking. I am glad we are interrupted before I chastised his +forwardness more severely." + +"Are ye hurt, lad?" inquired Campbell of me, with some appearance of +interest. + +"A very slight scratch," I answered, "which my kind cousin would not long +have boasted of had not you come between us." + +"In troth, and that's true, Maister Rashleigh," said Campbell; "for the +cauld iron and your best bluid were like to hae become acquaint when I +mastered Mr. Frank's right hand. But never look like a sow playing upon a +trump for the luve of that, man--come and walk wi' me. I hae news to tell +ye, and ye'll cool and come to yourself, like MacGibbon's crowdy, when he +set it out at the window-bole." + +"Pardon me, sir," said I. "Your intentions have seemed friendly to me on +more occasions than one; but I must not, and will not, quit sight of this +person until he yields up to me those means of doing justice to my +father's engagements, of which he has treacherously possessed himself." + +"Ye're daft, man," replied Campbell; "it will serve ye naething to follow +us e'enow; ye hae just enow o' ae man--wad ye bring twa on your head, and +might bide quiet?" + +"Twenty," I replied, "if it be necessary." + +I laid my hand on Rashleigh's collar, who made no resistance, but said, +with a sort of scornful smile, "You hear him, MacGregor! he rushes on his +fate--will it be my fault if he falls into it?--The warrants are by this +time ready, and all is prepared." + +The Scotchman was obviously embarrassed. He looked around, and before, +and behind him, and then said--"The ne'er a bit will I yield my consent +to his being ill-guided for standing up for the father that got him--and +I gie God's malison and mine to a' sort o' magistrates, justices, +bailies., sheriffs, sheriff-officers, constables, and sic-like black +cattle, that hae been the plagues o' puir auld Scotland this hunder +year.--it was a merry warld when every man held his ain gear wi' his ain +grip, and when the country side wasna fashed wi' warrants and poindings +and apprizings, and a' that cheatry craft. And ance mair I say it, my +conscience winna see this puir thoughtless lad ill-guided, and especially +wi' that sort o' trade. I wad rather ye fell till't again, and fought it +out like douce honest men." + +"Your conscience, MacGregor!" said Rashleigh; "you forget how long you +and I have known each other." + +"Yes, my conscience," reiterated Campbell, or MacGregor, or whatever was +his name; "I hae such a thing about me, Maister Osbaldistone; and therein +it may weel chance that I hae the better o' you. As to our knowledge of +each other,--if ye ken what I am, ye ken what usage it was made me what I +am; and, whatever you may think, I would not change states with the +proudest of the oppressors that hae driven me to tak the heather-bush for +a beild. What _you_ are, Maister Rashleigh, and what excuse ye hae for +being _what_ you are, is between your ain heart and the lang day.--And +now, Maister Francis, let go his collar; for he says truly, that ye are +in mair danger from a magistrate than he is, and were your cause as +straight as an arrow, he wad find a way to put you wrang--So let go his +craig, as I was saying." + +He seconded his words with an effort so sudden and unexpected, that he +freed Rashleigh from my hold, and securing me, notwithstanding my +struggles, in his own Herculean gripe, he called out--"Take the bent, Mr. +Rashleigh--Make ae pair o' legs worth twa pair o' hands; ye hae dune that +before now." + +"You may thank this gentleman, kinsman," said Rashleigh, "if I leave any +part of my debt to you unpaid; and if I quit you now, it is only in the +hope we shall soon meet again without the possibility of interruption." + +He took up his sword, wiped it, sheathed it, and was lost among the +bushes. + +The Scotchman, partly by force, partly by remonstrance, prevented my +following him; indeed I began to be of opinion my doing so would be to +little purpose. + +"As I live by bread," said Campbell, when, after one or two struggles in +which he used much forbearance towards me, he perceived me inclined to +stand quiet, "I never saw sae daft a callant! I wad hae gien the best man +in the country the breadth o' his back gin he had gien me sic a kemping +as ye hae dune. What wad ye do?--Wad ye follow the wolf to his den? I +tell ye, man, he has the auld trap set for ye--He has got the +collector-creature Morris to bring up a' the auld story again, and ye +maun look for nae help frae me here, as ye got at Justice Inglewood's;-- +it isna good for my health to come in the gate o' the whigamore bailie +bodies. Now gang your ways hame, like a gude bairn--jouk and let the jaw +gae by--Keep out o' sight o' Rashleigh, and Morris, and that MacVittie +animal--Mind the Clachan of Aberfoil, as I said before, and by the word +of a gentleman, I wunna see ye wranged. But keep a calm sough till we +meet again--I maun gae and get Rashleigh out o' the town afore waur comes +o't, for the neb o' him's never out o' mischief--Mind the Clachan of +Aberfoil." + +He turned upon his heel, and left me to meditate on the singular events +which had befallen me. My first care was to adjust my dress and reassume +my cloak, disposing it so as to conceal the blood which flowed down my +right side. I had scarcely accomplished this, when, the classes of the +college being dismissed, the gardens began to be filled with parties of +the students. I therefore left them as soon as possible; and in my way +towards Mr. Jarvie's, whose dinner hour was now approaching, I stopped at +a small unpretending shop, the sign of which intimated the indweller to +be Christopher Neilson, surgeon and apothecary. I requested of a little +boy who was pounding some stuff in a mortar, that he would procure me an +audience of this learned pharmacopolist. He opened the door of the back +shop, where I found a lively elderly man, who shook his head +incredulously at some idle account I gave him of having been wounded +accidentally by the button breaking off my antagonist's foil while I was +engaged in a fencing match. When he had applied some lint and somewhat +else he thought proper to the trifling wound I had received, he observed +--"There never was button on the foil that made this hurt. Ah! young +blood! young blood!--But we surgeons are a secret generation--If it +werena for hot blood and ill blood, what wad become of the twa learned +faculties?" + +With which moral reflection he dismissed me; and I experienced very +little pain or inconvenience afterwards from the scratch I had received. + + + + + + CHAPTER NINTH. + + + An iron race the mountain-cliffs maintain, + Foes to the gentler genius of the plain. + ******* + Who while their rocky ramparts round they see, + The rough abode of want and liberty, + As lawless force from confidence will grow, + Insult the plenty of the vales below. + Gray. + +"What made ye sae late?" said Mr. Jarvie, as I entered the dining-parlour +of that honest gentleman; "it is chappit ane the best feek o' five +minutes by-gane. Mattie has been twice at the door wi' the dinner, and +weel for you it was a tup's head, for that canna suffer by delay. A +sheep's head ower muckle boiled is rank poison, as my worthy father used +to say--he likit the lug o' ane weel, honest man." + +I made a suitable apology for my breach of punctuality, and was soon +seated at table, where Mr. Jarvie presided with great glee and +hospitality, compelling, however, Owen and myself to do rather more +justice to the Scottish dainties with which his board was charged, than +was quite agreeable to our southern palates. I escaped pretty well, from +having those habits of society which enable one to elude this species of +well-meant persecution. But it was ridiculous enough to see Owen, whose +ideas of politeness were more rigorous and formal, and who was willing, +in all acts of lawful compliance, to evince his respect for the friend of +the firm, eating with rueful complaisance mouthful after mouthful of +singed wool, and pronouncing it excellent, in a tone in which disgust +almost overpowered civility. + +When the cloth was removed, Mr. Jarvie compounded with his own hands a +very small bowl of brandy-punch, the first which I had ever the fortune +to see. + +"The limes," he assured us, "were from his own little farm yonder-awa" +(indicating the West Indies with a knowing shrug of his shoulders), "and +he had learned the art of composing the liquor from auld Captain +Coffinkey, who acquired it," he added in a whisper, "'as maist folk +thought, among the Buccaniers. But it's excellent liquor," said he, +helping us round; "and good ware has aften come frae a wicked market. And +as for Captain Coffinkey, he was a decent man when I kent him, only he +used to swear awfully--But he's dead, and gaen to his account, and I +trust he's accepted--I trust he's accepted." + +We found the liquor exceedingly palatable, and it led to a long +conversation between Owen and our host on the opening which the Union had +afforded to trade between Glasgow and the British Colonies in America and +the West Indies, and on the facilities which Glasgow possessed of making +up sortable cargoes for that market. Mr. Jarvie answered some objection +which Owen made on the difficulty of sorting a cargo for America, without +buying from England, with vehemence and volubility. + +"Na, na, sir, we stand on our ain bottom--we pickle in our ain pock-neuk +--We hae our Stirling serges, Musselburgh stuffs, Aberdeen hose, +Edinburgh shalloons, and the like, for our woollen or worsted goods--and +we hae linens of a' kinds better and cheaper than you hae in Lunnon +itsell--and we can buy your north o' England wares, as Manchester wares, +Sheffield wares, and Newcastle earthenware, as cheap as you can at +Liverpool--And we are making a fair spell at cottons and muslins--Na, na! +let every herring hing by its ain head, and every sheep by its ain shank, +and ye'll find, sir, us Glasgow folk no sae far ahint but what we may +follow.--This is but poor entertainment for you, Mr. Osbaldistone" +(observing that I had been for some time silent); "but ye ken cadgers +maun aye be speaking about cart-saddles." + +I apologised, alleging the painful circumstances of my own situation, and +the singular adventures of the morning, as the causes of my abstraction +and absence of mind. In this manner I gained what I sought--an +opportunity of telling my story distinctly and without interruption. I +only omitted mentioning the wound I had received, which I did not think +worthy of notice. Mr. Jarvie listened with great attention and apparent +interest, twinkling his little grey eyes, taking snuff, and only +interrupting me by brief interjections. When I came to the account of the +rencounter, at which Owen folded his hands and cast up his eyes to +Heaven, the very image of woeful surprise, Mr. Jarvie broke in upon the +narration with "Wrang now--clean wrang--to draw a sword on your kinsman +is inhibited by the laws o' God and man; and to draw a sword on the +streets of a royal burgh is punishable by fine and imprisonment--and the +College-yards are nae better privileged--they should be a place of peace +and quietness, I trow. The College didna get gude L600 a year out o' +bishops' rents (sorrow fa' the brood o' bishops and their rents too!), +nor yet a lease o' the archbishopric o' Glasgow the sell o't, that they +suld let folk tuilzie in their yards, or the wild callants bicker there +wi' snaw-ba's as they whiles do, that when Mattie and I gae through, we +are fain to make a baik and a bow, or run the risk o' our harns being +knocked out--it suld be looked to.*--But come awa'wi' your tale--what +fell neist?" + +* The boys in Scotland used formerly to make a sort of Saturnalia in a +snow-storm, by pelting passengers with snowballs. But those exposed to +that annoyance were excused from it on the easy penalty of a baik +(courtesy) from a female, or a bow from a man. It was only the refractory +who underwent the storm. + +On my mentioning the appearance of Mr. Campbell, Jarvie arose in great +surprise, and paced the room, exclaiming, "Robin again!--Robert's mad-- +clean wud, and waur--Rob will be hanged, and disgrace a' his kindred, and +that will be seen and heard tell o'. My father the deacon wrought him his +first hose--Od, I am thinking Deacon Threeplie, the rape-spinner, will be +twisting his last cravat. Ay, ay, puir Robin is in a fair way o' being +hanged--But come awa', come awa'--let's hear the lave o't." + +I told the whole story as pointedly as I could; but Mr. Jarvie still +found something lacking to make it clear, until I went back, though with +considerable reluctance, on the whole story of Morris, and of my meeting +with Campbell at the house of Justice Inglewood. Mr. Jarvie inclined a +serious ear to all this, and remained silent for some time after I had +finished my narrative. + +"Upon all these matters I am now to ask your advice, Mr. Jarvie, which, I +have no doubt, will point out the best way to act for my father's +advantage and my own honour." + +"Ye're right, young man--ye're right," said the Bailie. "Aye take the +counsel of those who are aulder and wiser than yourself, and binna like +the godless Rehoboam, who took the advice o' a wheen beardless callants, +neglecting the auld counsellors who had sate at the feet o' his father +Solomon, and, as it was weel put by Mr. Meiklejohn, in his lecture on the +chapter, were doubtless partakers of his sapience. But I maun hear +naething about honour--we ken naething here but about credit. Honour is a +homicide and a bloodspiller, that gangs about making frays in the street; +but Credit is a decent honest man, that sits at hame and makes the pat +play." + +"Assuredly, Mr. Jarvie," said our friend Owen, "credit is the sum total; +and if we can but save that, at whatever discount"-- + +"Ye are right, Mr. Owen--ye are right; ye speak weel and wisely; and I +trust bowls will row right, though they are a wee ajee e'enow. But +touching Robin, I am of opinion he will befriend this young man if it is +in his power. He has a gude heart, puir Robin; and though I lost a matter +o' twa hundred punds wi' his former engagements, and haena muckle +expectation ever to see back my thousand punds Scots that he promises me +e'enow, yet I will never say but what Robin means fair by men." + +"I am then to consider him," I replied, "as an honest man?" + +"Umph!" replied Jarvie, with a precautionary sort of cough--"Ay, he has a +kind o' Hieland honesty--he's honest after a sort, as they say. My father +the deacon used aye to laugh when he tauld me how that by-word came up. +Ane Captain Costlett was cracking crouse about his loyalty to King +Charles, and Clerk Pettigrew (ye'll hae heard mony a tale about him) +asked him after what manner he served the king, when he was fighting +again him at Wor'ster in Cromwell's army; and Captain Costlett was a +ready body, and said that he served him _after a sort._ My honest father +used to laugh weel at that sport--and sae the by-word came up." + +"But do you think," I said, "that this man will be able to serve me after +a sort, or should I trust myself to this place of rendezvous which he has +given me?" + +"Frankly and fairly, it's worth trying. Ye see yourself there's some risk +in your staying here. This bit body Morris has gotten a custom-house +place doun at Greenock--that's a port on the Firth doun by here; and tho' +a' the world kens him to be but a twa-leggit creature, wi' a goose's head +and a hen's heart, that goes about on the quay plaguing folk about +permits, and cockits, and dockits, and a' that vexatious trade, yet if he +lodge an information--ou, nae doubt a man in magisterial duty maun attend +to it, and ye might come to be clapped up between four wa's, whilk wad be +ill-convenient to your father's affairs." + +"True," I observed; "yet what service am I likely to render him by +leaving Glasgow, which, it is probable, will be the principal scene of +Rashleigh's machinations, and committing myself to the doubtful faith of +a man of whom I know little but that he fears justice, and has doubtless +good reasons for doing so; and that, for some secret, and probably +dangerous purpose, he is in close league and alliance with the very +person who is like to be the author of our ruin?" + +"Ah, but ye judge Rob hardly," said the Bailie, "ye judge him hardly, +puir chield; and the truth is, that ye ken naething about our hill +country, or Hielands, as we ca' them. They are clean anither set frae the +like o' huz;--there's nae bailie-courts amang them--nae magistrates that +dinna bear the sword in vain, like the worthy deacon that's awa', and, I +may say't, like mysell and other present magistrates in this city--But +it's just the laird's command, and the loon maun loup; and the never +another law hae they but the length o' their dirks--the broadsword's +pursuer, or plaintiff, as you Englishers ca' it, and the target is +defender; the stoutest head bears langest out;--and there's a Hieland +plea for ye." + +Owen groaned deeply; and I allow that the description did not greatly +increase my desire to trust myself in a country so lawless as he +described these Scottish mountains. + +"Now, sir," said Jarvie, "we speak little o' thae things, because they +are familiar to oursells; and where's the use o' vilifying ane's country, +and bringing a discredit on ane's kin, before southrons and strangers? +It's an ill bird that files its ain nest." + +"Well, sir, but as it is no impertinent curiosity of mine, but real +necessity, that obliges me to make these inquiries, I hope you will not +be offended at my pressing for a little farther information. I have to +deal, on my father's account, with several gentlemen of these wild +countries, and I must trust your good sense and experience for the +requisite lights upon the subject." + +This little morsel of flattery was not thrown out in vain. "Experience!" +said the Bailie--"I hae had experience, nae doubt, and I hae made some +calculations--Ay, and to speak quietly amang oursells, I hae made some +perquisitions through Andrew Wylie, my auld clerk; he's wi' MacVittie & +Co. now--but he whiles drinks a gill on the Saturday afternoons wi' his +auld master. And since ye say ye are willing to be guided by the Glasgow +weaver-body's advice, I am no the man that will refuse it to the son of +an auld correspondent, and my father the deacon was nane sic afore me. I +have whiles thought o' letting my lights burn before the Duke of Argyle, +or his brother Lord Ilay (for wherefore should they be hidden under a +bushel?), but the like o' thae grit men wadna mind the like o' me, a puir +wabster body--they think mair o' wha says a thing, than o' what the thing +is that's said. The mair's the pity--mair's the pity. Not that I wad +speak ony ill of this MacCallum More--'Curse not the rich in your +bedchamber,' saith the son of Sirach, 'for a bird of the air shall carry +the clatter, and pint-stoups hae lang lugs.'" + +I interrupted these prolegomena, in which Mr. Jarvie was apt to be +somewhat diffuse, by praying him to rely upon Mr. Owen and myself as +perfectly secret and safe confidants. + +"It's no for that," he replied, "for I fear nae man--what for suld I?--I +speak nae treason--Only thae Hielandmen hae lang grips, and I whiles gang +a wee bit up the glens to see some auld kinsfolks, and I wadna willingly +be in bad blude wi' ony o' their clans. Howsumever, to proceed--ye maun +understand I found my remarks on figures, whilk as Mr. Owen here weel +kens, is the only true demonstrable root of human knowledge." + +Owen readily assented to a proposition so much in his own way, and our +orator proceeded. + +"These Hielands of ours, as we ca' them, gentlemen, are but a wild kind +of warld by themsells, full of heights and howes, woods, caverns, lochs, +rivers, and mountains, that it wad tire the very deevil's wings to flee +to the tap o' them. And in this country, and in the isles, whilk are +little better, or, to speak the truth, rather waur than the mainland, +there are about twa hunder and thirty parochines, including the Orkneys, +where, whether they speak Gaelic or no I wotna, but they are an +uncivilised people. Now, sirs, I sall haud ilk parochine at the moderate +estimate of eight hunder examinable persons, deducting children under +nine years of age, and then adding one-fifth to stand for bairns of nine +years auld, and under, the whole population will reach to the sum of--let +us add one-fifth to 800 to be the multiplier, and 230 being the +multiplicand"-- + +"The product," said Mr. Owen, who entered delightedly into these +statistics of Mr. Jarvie, "will be 230,000." + +"Right, sir--perfectly right; and the military array of this Hieland +country, were a' the men-folk between aughteen and fifty-six brought out +that could bear arms, couldna come weel short of fifty-seven thousand +five hundred men. Now, sir, it's a sad and awfu' truth, that there is +neither wark, nor the very fashion nor appearance of wark, for the tae +half of thae puir creatures; that is to say, that the agriculture, the +pasturage, the fisheries, and every species of honest industry about the +country, cannot employ the one moiety of the population, let them work as +lazily as they like, and they do work as if a pleugh or a spade burnt +their fingers. Aweel, sir, this moiety of unemployed bodies, amounting +to"-- + +"To one hundred and fifteen thousand souls," said Owen, "being the half +of the above product." + +"Ye hae't, Mr. Owen--ye hae't--whereof there may be twenty-eight thousand +seven hundred able-bodied gillies fit to bear arms, and that do bear +arms, and will touch or look at nae honest means of livelihood even if +they could get it--which, lack-a-day! they cannot." + +"But is it possible," said I, "Mr. Jarvie, that this can be a just +picture of so large a portion of the island of Britain?" + +"Sir, I'll make it as plain as Peter Pasley's pike-staff. I will allow +that ilk parochine, on an average, employs fifty pleughs, whilk is a +great proportion in sic miserable soil as thae creatures hae to labour, +and that there may be pasture enough for pleugh-horses, and owsen, and +forty or fifty cows; now, to take care o' the pleughs and cattle, we'se +allow seventy-five families of six lives in ilk family, and we'se add +fifty mair to make even numbers, and ye hae five hundred souls, the tae +half o' the population, employed and maintained in a sort o' fashion, wi' +some chance of sour-milk and crowdie; but I wad be glad to ken what the +other five hunder are to do?" + +"In the name of God!" said I, "what _do_ they do, Mr. Jarvie? It makes me +shudder to think of their situation." + +"Sir," replied the Bailie, "ye wad maybe shudder mair if ye were living +near hand them. For, admitting that the tae half of them may make some +little thing for themsells honestly in the Lowlands by shearing in harst, +droving, hay-making, and the like; ye hae still mony hundreds and +thousands o' lang-legged Hieland gillies that will neither work nor want, +and maun gang thigging and sorning* about on their acquaintance, or live +by doing the laird's bidding, be't right or be't wrang. + +* _Thigging_ and _sorning_ was a kind of genteel begging, or rather +something between begging and robbing, by which the needy in Scotland +used to extort cattle, or the means of subsistence, from those who had +any to give. + +And mair especially, mony hundreds o' them come down to the borders of +the low country, where there's gear to grip, and live by stealing, +reiving, lifting cows, and the like depredations--a thing deplorable in +ony Christian country!--the mair especially, that they take pride in it, +and reckon driving a spreagh (whilk is, in plain Scotch, stealing a herd +of nowte) a gallant, manly action, and mair befitting of pretty* men (as +sic reivers will ca' themselves), than to win a day's wage by ony honest +thrift. + +* The word _pretty_ is or was used in Scotch, in the sense of the German +_prachtig,_ and meant a gallant, alert fellow, prompt and ready at his +weapons. + +And the lairds are as bad as the loons; for if they dinna bid them gae +reive and harry, the deil a bit they forbid them; and they shelter them, +or let them shelter themselves, in their woods and mountains, and +strongholds, whenever the thing's dune. And every ane o' them will +maintain as mony o' his ane name, or his clan, as we say, as he can rap +and rend means for; or, whilk's the same thing, as mony as can in ony +fashion, fair or foul, mainteen themsells. And there they are wi' gun and +pistol, dirk and dourlach, ready to disturb the peace o' the country +whenever the laird likes; and that's the grievance of the Hielands, whilk +are, and hae been for this thousand years by-past, a bike o' the maist +lawless unchristian limmers that ever disturbed a douce, quiet, +God-fearing neighbourhood, like this o' ours in the west here." + +"And this kinsman of yours, and friend of mine, is he one of those great +proprietors who maintain the household troops you speak of?" I inquired. + +"Na, na," said Bailie Jarvie; "he's nane o' your great grandees o' +chiefs, as they ca' them, neither. Though he is weel born, and lineally +descended frae auld Glenstrae--I ken his lineage--indeed he is a near +kinsman, and, as I said, of gude gentle Hieland blude, though ye may +think weel that I care little about that nonsense--it's a' moonshine in +water--waste threads and thrums, as we say--But I could show ye letters +frae his father, that was the third aff Glenstrae, to my father Deacon +Jarvie (peace be wi' his memory!) beginning, Dear Deacon, and ending, +your loving kinsman to command,--they are amaist a' about borrowed +siller, sae the gude deacon, that's dead and gane, keepit them as +documents and evidents--He was a carefu' man." + +"But if he is not," I resumed, "one of their chiefs or patriarchal +leaders, whom I have heard my father talk of, this kinsman of yours has, +at least, much to say in the Highlands, I presume?" + +"Ye may say that--nae name better ken'd between the Lennox and +Breadalbane. Robin was ance a weel-doing, painstaking drover, as ye wad +see amang ten thousand--It was a pleasure to see him in his belted plaid +and brogues, wi' his target at his back, and claymore and dirk at his +belt, following a hundred Highland stots, and a dozen o' the gillies, as +rough and ragged as the beasts they drave. And he was baith civil and +just in his dealings; and if he thought his chapman had made a hard +bargain, he wad gie him a luck-penny to the mends. I hae ken'd him gie +back five shillings out o' the pund sterling." + +"Twenty-five per cent," said Owen--"a heavy discount." + +"He wad gie it though, sir, as I tell ye; mair especially if he thought +the buyer was a puir man, and couldna stand by a loss. But the times cam +hard, and Rob was venturesome. It wasna my faut--it wasna my faut; he +canna wyte me--I aye tauld him o't--And the creditors, mair especially +some grit neighbours o' his, gripped to his living and land; and they say +his wife was turned out o' the house to the hill-side, and sair misguided +to the boot. Shamefu'! shamefu'!--I am a peacefu' man and a magistrate, +but if ony ane had guided sae muckle as my servant quean, Mattie, as it's +like they guided Rob's wife, I think it suld hae set the shabble* that my +father the deacon had at Bothwell brig a-walking again. + +* Cutlass. + +Weel, Rob cam hame, and fand desolation, God pity us! where he left +plenty; he looked east, west, south, north, and saw neither hauld nor +hope--neither beild nor shelter; sae he e'en pu'd the bonnet ower his +brow, belted the broadsword to his side, took to the brae-side, and +became a broken man."* + +* An outlaw. + +The voice of the good citizen was broken by his contending feelings. He +obviously, while he professed to contemn the pedigree of his Highland +kinsman, attached a secret feeling of consequence to the connection, and +he spoke of his friend in his prosperity with an overflow of affection, +which deepened his sympathy for his misfortunes, and his regret for their +consequences. + +"Thus tempted and urged by despair," said I, seeing Mr. Jarvie did not +proceed in his narrative, "I suppose your kinsman became one of those +depredators you have described to us?" + +"No sae bad as that," said the Glaswegian,--"no a'thegither and outright +sae bad as that; but he became a levier of black-mail, wider and farther +than ever it was raised in our day, a through the Lennox and Menteith, +and up to the gates o' Stirling Castle." + +"Black-mail?--I do not understand the phrase," I remarked. + +"Ou, ye see, Rob soon gathered an unco band o' blue-bonnets at his back, +for he comes o' a rough name when he's kent by his ain, and a name that's +held its ain for mony a lang year, baith again king and parliament, and +kirk too, for aught I ken--an auld and honourable name, for as sair as it +has been worried and hadden down and oppressed. My mother was a +MacGregor--I carena wha kens it--And Rob had soon a gallant band; and as +it grieved him (he said) to see sic _hership_ and waste and depredation +to the south o' the Hieland line, why, if ony heritor or farmer wad pay +him four punds Scots out of each hundred punds of valued rent, whilk was +doubtless a moderate consideration, Rob engaged to keep them scaithless; +--let them send to him if they lost sae muckle as a single cloot by +thieving, and Rob engaged to get them again, or pay the value--and he aye +keepit his word--I canna deny but he keepit his word--a' men allow Rob +keeps his word." + +"This is a very singular contract of assurance," said Mr. Owen. + +"It's clean again our statute law, that must be owned," said Jarvie, +"clean again law; the levying and the paying black-mail are baith +punishable: but if the law canna protect my barn and byre, whatfor suld I +no engage wi' a Hieland gentleman that can?--answer me that." + +"But," said I, "Mr. Jarvie, is this contract of black-mail, as you call +it, completely voluntary on the part of the landlord or farmer who pays +the insurance? or what usually happens, in case any one refuses payment +of this tribute?" + +"Aha, lad!" said the Bailie, laughing, and putting his finger to his +nose, "ye think ye hae me there. Troth, I wad advise ony friends o' mine +to gree wi' Rob; for, watch as they like, and do what they like, they are +sair apt to be harried* when the lang nights come on. + +* Plundered. + +Some o' the Grahame and Cohoon gentry stood out; but what then?--they +lost their haill stock the first winter; sae maist folks now think it +best to come into Rob's terms. He's easy wi' a' body that will be easy +wi' him; but if ye thraw him, ye had better thraw the deevil." + +"And by his exploits in these vocations," I continued, "I suppose he has +rendered himself amenable to the laws of the country?" + +"Amenable?--ye may say that; his craig wad ken the weight o' his hurdies +if they could get haud o' Rob. But he has gude friends amang the grit +folks; and I could tell ye o' ae grit family that keeps him up as far as +they decently can, to be a them in the side of another. And then he's sic +an auld-farran lang-headed chield as never took up the trade o' cateran +in our time; mony a daft reik he has played--mair than wad fill a book, +and a queer ane it wad be--as gude as Robin Hood, or William Wallace--a' +fu' o' venturesome deeds and escapes, sic as folk tell ower at a winter +ingle in the daft days. It's a queer thing o' me, gentlemen, that am a +man o' peace mysell, and a peacefu man's son--for the deacon my father +quarrelled wi' nane out o the town-council--it's a queer thing, I say, +but I think the Hieland blude o' me warms at thae daft tales, and whiles +I like better to hear them than a word o' profit, gude forgie me! But +they are vanities--sinfu' vanities--and, moreover, again the statute law +--again the statute and gospel law." + +I now followed up my investigation, by inquiring what means of influence +this Mr. Robert Campbell could possibly possess over my affairs, or those +of my father. + +"Why, ye are to understand," said Mr. Jarvie in a very subdued tone--"I +speak amang friends, and under the rose--Ye are to understand, that the +Hielands hae been keepit quiet since the year aughty-nine--that was +Killiecrankie year. But how hae they been keepit quiet, think ye? By +siller, Mr. Owen--by siller, Mr. Osbaldistone. King William caused +Breadalbane distribute twenty thousand oude punds sterling amang them, +and it's said the auld Hieland Earl keepit a lang lug o't in his ain +sporran. And then Queen Anne, that's dead, gae the chiefs bits o' +pensions, sae they had wherewith to support their gillies and caterans +that work nae wark, as I said afore; and they lay by quiet eneugh, saying +some spreagherie on the Lowlands, whilk is their use and wont, and some +cutting o' thrapples amang themsells, that nae civilised body kens or +cares onything anent.--Weel, but there's a new warld come up wi' this +King George (I say, God bless him, for ane)--there's neither like to be +siller nor pensions gaun amang them; they haena the means o' mainteening +the clans that eat them up, as ye may guess frae what I said before; +their credit's gane in the Lowlands; and a man that can whistle ye up a +thousand or feifteen hundred linking lads to do his will, wad hardly get +fifty punds on his band at the Cross o' Glasgow--This canna stand lang-- +there will be an outbreak for the Stuarts--there will be an outbreak-- +they will come down on the low country like a flood, as they did in the +waefu' wars o' Montrose, and that will be seen and heard tell o' ere a +twalmonth gangs round." + +"Yet still," I said, "I do not see how this concerns Mr. Campbell, much +less my father's affairs." + +"Rob can levy five hundred men, sir, and therefore war suld concern him +as muckle as maist folk," replied the Bailie; "for it is a faculty that +is far less profitable in time o' peace. Then, to tell ye the truth, I +doubt he has been the prime agent between some o' our Hieland chiefs and +the gentlemen in the north o' England. We a' heard o' the public money +that was taen frae the chield Morris somewhere about the fit o' Cheviot +by Rob and ane o' the Osbaldistone lads; and, to tell ye the truth, word +gaed that it was yoursell Mr. Francis,--and sorry was I that your +father's son suld hae taen to sic practices--Na, ye needna say a word +about it--I see weel I was mistaen; but I wad believe onything o' a +stage-player, whilk I concluded ye to be. But now, I doubtna, it has been +Rashleigh himself or some other o' your cousins--they are a' tarred wi' +the same stick--rank Jacobites and papists, and wad think the government +siller and government papers lawfu' prize. And the creature Morris is sic +a cowardly caitiff, that to this hour he daurna say that it was Rob took +the portmanteau aff him; and troth he's right, for your custom-house and +excise cattle are ill liket on a' sides, and Rob might get a back-handed +lick at him, before the Board, as they ca't, could help him." + +"I have long suspected this, Mr. Jarvie," said I, "and perfectly agree +with you. But as to my father's affairs"-- + +"Suspected it?--it's certain--it's certain--I ken them that saw some of +the papers that were taen aff Morris--it's needless to say where. But to +your father's affairs--Ye maun think that in thae twenty years by-gane, +some o' the Hieland lairds and chiefs hae come to some sma' sense o' +their ain interest--your father and others hae bought the woods of +Glen-Disseries, Glen Kissoch, Tober-na-Kippoch, and mony mair besides, +and your father's house has granted large bills in payment,--and as the +credit o' Osbaldistone and Tresham was gude--for I'll say before Mr. +Owen's face, as I wad behind his back, that, bating misfortunes o' the +Lord's sending, nae men could be mair honourable in business--the Hieland +gentlemen, holders o' thae bills, hae found credit in Glasgow and +Edinburgh--(I might amaist say in Glasgow wholly, for it's little the +pridefu' Edinburgh folk do in real business)--for all, or the greater +part of the contents o' thae bills. So that--Aha! d'ye see me now?" + +I confessed I could not quite follow his drift. + +"Why," said he, "if these bills are not paid, the Glasgow merchant comes +on the Hieland lairds, whae hae deil a boddle o' siller, and will like +ill to spew up what is item a' spent--They will turn desperate--five +hundred will rise that might hae sitten at hame--the deil will gae ower +Jock Wabster--and the stopping of your father's house will hasten the +outbreak that's been sae lang biding us." + +"You think, then," said I, surprised at this singular view of the case, +"that Rashleigh Osbaldistone has done this injury to my father, merely to +accelerate a rising in the Highlands, by distressingthe gentlemen to whom +these bills were originally granted?" + +"Doubtless--doubtless--it has been one main reason, Mr. Osbaldistone. I +doubtna but what the ready money he carried off wi' him might be another. +But that makes comparatively but a sma' part o' your father's loss, +though it might make the maist part o' Rashleigh's direct gain. The +assets he carried off are of nae mair use to him than if he were to light +his pipe wi' them. He tried if MacVittie & Co. wad gie him siller on +them--that I ken by Andro Wylie--but they were ower auld cats to draw +that strae afore them--they keepit aff, and gae fair words. Rashleigh +Osbaldistone is better ken'd than trusted in Glasgow, for he was here +about some jacobitical papistical troking in seventeen hundred and seven, +and left debt ahint him. Na, na--he canna pit aff the paper here; folk +will misdoubt him how he came by it. Na, na--he'll hae the stuff safe at +some o' their haulds in the Hielands, and I daur say my cousin Rob could +get at it gin he liked." + +"But would he be disposed to serve us in this pinch, Mr. Jarvie?" said I. +"You have described him as an agent of the Jacobite party, and deeply +connected in their intrigues: will he be disposed for my sake, or, if you +please, for the sake of justice, to make an act of restitution, which, +supposing it in his power, would, according to your view of the case, +materially interfere with their plans?" + +"I canna preceesely speak to that: the grandees among them are doubtfu' +o' Rob, and he's doubtfu' o' them.--And he's been weel friended wi' the +Argyle family, wha stand for the present model of government. If he was +freed o' his hornings and captions, he would rather be on Argyle's side +than he wad be on Breadalbane's, for there's auld ill-will between the +Breadalbane family and his kin and name. The truth is, that Rob is for +his ain hand, as Henry Wynd feught*--he'll take the side that suits him +best; if the deil was laird, Rob wad be for being tenant; and ye canna +blame him, puir fallow, considering his circumstances. + +* Two great clans fought out a quarrel with thirty men of a side, in +presence ot the king, on the North Inch of Perth, on or about the year +1392; a man was amissing on one side, whose room was filled by a little +bandy-legged citizen of Perth. This substitute, Henry Wynd--or, as the +Highlanders called him, _Gow Chrom,_ that is, the bandy-legged smith-- +fought well, and contributed greatly to the fate of the battle, without +knowing which side he fought on;--so, "To fight for your own hand, like +Henry Wynd," passed into a proverb. [This incident forms a conspicuous +part of the subsequent novel, "The Fair Maid of Perth."] + +But there's ae thing sair again ye--Rob has a grey mear in his stable at +hame." + +"A grey mare?" said I. "What is that to the purpose?" + +"The wife, man--the wife,--an awfu' wife she is. She downa bide the sight +o' a kindly Scot, if he come frae the Lowlands, far less of an Inglisher, +and she'll be keen for a' that can set up King James, and ding down King +George." + +"It is very singular," I replied, "that the mercantile transactions of +London citizens should become involved with revolutions and rebellions." + +"Not at a', man--not at a'," returned Mr. Jarvie; "that's a' your silly +prejudications. I read whiles in the lang dark nights, and I hae read in +Baker's Chronicle* that the merchants o'London could gar the Bank of +Genoa break their promise to advance a mighty sum to the King o' Spain, +whereby the sailing of the Grand Spanish Armada was put aff for a haill +year--What think you of that, sir?" + +* [_The Chronicle of the Kings of England,_ by Sir Richard Baker, with +continuations, passed through several editions between 1641 and 1733. +Whether any of them contain the passage alluded to is doubtful.] + +"That the merchants did their country golden service, which ought to be +honourably remembered in our histories." + +"I think sae too; and they wad do weel, and deserve weal baith o' the +state and o' humanity, that wad save three or four honest Hieland +gentlemen frae louping heads ower heels into destruction, wi' a' their +puir sackless* followers, just because they canna pay back the siller +they had reason to count upon as their ain--and save your father's +credit--and my ain gude siller that Osbaldistone and Tresham awes me into +the bargain. + +* Sackless, that is, innocent. + +I say, if ane could manage a' this, I think it suld be done and said unto +him, even if he were a puir ca'-the-shuttle body, as unto one whom the +king delighteth to honour." + +"I cannot pretend to estimate the extent of public gratitude," I replied; +"but our own thankfulness, Mr. Jarvie, would be commensurate with the +extent of the obligation." + +"Which," added Mr. Owen, "we would endeavour to balance with a _per +contra,_ the instant our Mr. Osbaldistone returns from Holland." + +"I doubtna--I doubtna--he is a very worthy gentleman, and a sponsible, +and wi' some o' my lights might do muckle business in Scotland--Weel, +sir, if these assets could be redeemed out o' the hands o' the +Philistines, they are gude paper--they are the right stuff when they are +in the right hands, and that's yours, Mr. Owen. And I'se find ye three +men in Glasgow, for as little as ye may think o' us, Mr. Owen--that's +Sandie Steenson in the Trade's-Land, and John Pirie in Candleriggs, and +another that sall be nameless at this present, sall advance what soums +are sufficient to secure the credit of your house, and seek nae better +security." + +Owen's eyes sparkled at this prospect of extrication; but his countenance +instantly fell on recollecting how improbable it was that the recovery of +the assets, as he technically called them, should be successfully +achieved. + +"Dinna despair, sir--dinna despair," said Mr. Jarvie; "I hae taen sae +muckle concern wi' your affairs already, that it maun een be ower shoon +ower boots wi' me now. I am just like my father the deacon (praise be wi' +him!) I canna meddle wi' a friend's business, but I aye end wi' making it +my ain--Sae, I'll e'en pit on my boots the morn, and be jogging ower +Drymen Muir wi' Mr. Frank here; and if I canna mak Rob hear reason, and +his wife too, I dinna ken wha can--I hae been a kind freend to them afore +now, to say naething o' ower-looking him last night, when naming his name +wad hae cost him his life--I'll be hearing o' this in the council maybe +frae Bailie Grahame. and MacVittie, and some o' them. They hae coost up +my kindred to Rob to me already--set up their nashgabs! I tauld them I +wad vindicate nae man's faults; but set apart what he had done again the +law o' the country, and the hership o' the Lennox, and the misfortune o' +some folk losing life by him, he was an honester man than stood on ony o' +their shanks--And whatfor suld I mind their clavers? If Rob is an outlaw, +to himsell be it said--there is nae laws now about reset of +inter-communed persons, as there was in the ill times o' the last +Stuarts--I trow I hae a Scotch tongue in my head--if they speak, I'se +answer." + +It was with great pleasure that I saw the Bailie gradually surmount the +barriers of caution, under the united influence of public spirit and +good-natured interest in our affairs, together with his natural wish to +avoid loss and acquire gain, and not a little harmless vanity. Through +the combined operation of these motives, he at length arrived at the +doughty resolution of taking the field in person, to aid in the recovery +of my father's property. His whole information led me to believe, that if +the papers were in possession of this Highland adventurer, it might be +possible to induce him to surrender what he could not keep with any +prospect of personal advantage; and I was conscious that the presence of +his kinsman was likely to have considerable weight with him. I therefore +cheerfully acquiesced in Mr. Jarvie's proposal that we should set out +early next morning. + +That honest gentleman was indeed as vivacious and alert in preparing to +carry his purpose into execution, as he had been slow and cautious in +forming it. He roared to Mattie to "air his trot-cosey, to have his +jack-boots greased and set before the kitchen-fire all night, and to see +that his beast be corned, and a' his riding gear in order." Having agreed +to meet him at five o'clock next morning, and having settled that Owen, +whose presence could be of no use to us upon this expedition, should +await our return at Glasgow, we took a kind farewell of this unexpectedly +zealous friend. I installed Owen in an apartment in my lodgings, +contiguous to my own, and, giving orders to Andrew Fairservice to attend +me next morning at the hour appointed, I retired to rest with better +hopes than it had lately been my fortune to entertain. + + + + + CHAPTER TENTH. + + Far as the eye could reach no tree was seen, + Earth, clad in russet, scorned the lively green; + No birds, except as birds of passage flew; + No bee was heard to hum, no dove to coo; + No streams, as amber smooth-as amber clear, + Were seen to glide, or heard to warble here. + Prophecy of Famine. + +It was in the bracing atmosphere of a harvest morning, that I met by +appointment Fairservice, with the horses, at the door of Mr. Jarvie's +house, which was but little space distant from Mrs. Flyter's hotel. The +first matter which caught my attention was, that whatever were the +deficiencies of the pony which Mr. Fairservice's legal adviser, Clerk +Touthope, generously bestowed upon him in exchange for Thorncliff's mare, +he had contrived to part with it, and procure in its stead an animal with +so curious and complete a lameness, that it seemed only to make use of +three legs for the purpose of progression, while the fourth appeared as +if meant to be flourished in the air by way of accompaniment. "What do +you mean by bringing such a creature as that here, sir? and where is the +pony you rode to Glasgow upon?" were my very natural and impatient +inquiries. + +"I sell't it, sir. It was a slink beast, and wad hae eaten its head aff, +standing at Luckie Flyter's at livery. And I hae bought this on your +honour's account. It's a grand bargain--cost but a pund sterling the +foot--that's four a'thegither. The stringhalt will gae aff when it's gaen +a mile; it's a weel-ken'd ganger; they call it Souple Tam." + +"On my soul, sir," said I, "you will never rest till my supple-jack and +your shoulders become acquainted, If you do not go instantly and procure +the other brute, you shall pay the penalty of your ingenuity." + +Andrew, notwithstanding my threats, continued to battle the point, as he +said it would cost him a guinea of rue-bargain to the man who had bought +his pony, before he could get it back again. Like a true Englishman, +though sensible I was duped by the rascal, I was about to pay his +exaction rather than lose time, when forth sallied Mr. Jarvie, cloaked, +mantled, hooded, and booted, as if for a Siberian winter, while two +apprentices, under the immediate direction of Mattie, led forth the +decent ambling steed which had the honour on such occasions to support +the person of the Glasgow magistrate. Ere he "clombe to the saddle," an +expression more descriptive of the Bailie's mode of mounting than that of +the knights-errant to whom Spenser applies it, he inquired the cause of +the dispute betwixt my servant and me. Having learned the nature of +honest Andrew's manoeuvre he instantly cut short all debate, by +pronouncing, that if Fairservice did not forthwith return the +three-legged palfrey, and produce the more useful quadruped which he had +discarded, he would send him to prison, and amerce him in half his wages. +"Mr. Osbaldistone," said he, "contracted for the service of both your +horse and you--twa brutes at ance--ye unconscionable rascal!--but I'se +look weel after you during this journey." + +"It will be nonsense fining me," said Andrew, doughtily, "that hasna a +grey groat to pay a fine wi'--it's ill taking the breeks aff a +Hielandman." + +"If ye hae nae purse to fine, ye hae flesh to pine," replied the Bailie, +"and I will look weel to ye getting your deserts the tae way or the +tither." + +To the commands of Mr. Jarvie, therefore, Andrew was compelled to submit, +only muttering between his teeth, "Ower mony maisters,--ower mony +maisters, as the paddock said to the harrow, when every tooth gae her a +tig." + +Apparently he found no difficulty in getting rid of Supple Tam, and +recovering possession of his former Bucephalus, for he accomplished the +exchange without being many minutes absent; nor did I hear further of his +having paid any smart-money for breach of bargain. + +We now set forward, but had not reached the top of the street in which +Mr. Jarvie dwelt, when a loud hallooing and breathless call of "Stop, +stop!" was heard behind us. We stopped accordingly, and were overtaken by +Mr. Jarvie's two lads, who bore two parting tokens of Mattie's care for +her master. The first was conveyed in the form of a voluminous silk +handkerchief, like the mainsail of one of his own West-Indiamen, which +Mrs. Mattie particularly desired he would put about his neck, and which, +thus entreated, he added to his other integuments. The second youngster +brought only a verbal charge (I thought I saw the rogue disposed to laugh +as he delivered it) on the part of the housekeeper, that her master would +take care of the waters. "Pooh! pooh! silly hussy," answered Mr. Jarvie; +but added, turning to me, "it shows a kind heart though--it shows a kind +heart in sae young a quean--Mattie's a carefu' lass." So speaking, he +pricked the sides of his palfrey, and we left the town without farther +interruption. + +While we paced easily forward, by a road which conducted us +north-eastward from the town, I had an opportunity to estimate and admire +the good qualities of my new friend. Although, like my father, he +considered commercial transactions the most important objects of human +life, he was not wedded to them so as to undervalue more general +knowledge. On the contrary, with much oddity and vulgarity of manner,-- +with a vanity which he made much more ridiculous by disguising it now and +then under a thin veil of humility, and devoid as he was of all the +advantages of a learned education, Mr. Jarvie's conversation showed +tokens of a shrewd, observing, liberal, and, to the extent of its +opportunities, a well-improved mind. He was a good local antiquary, and +entertained me, as we passed along, with an account of remarkable events +which had formerly taken place in the scenes through which we passed. And +as he was well acquainted with the ancient history of his district, he +saw with the prospective eye of an enlightened patriot, the buds of many +of those future advantages which have only blossomed and ripened within +these few years. I remarked also, and with great pleasure, that although +a keen Scotchman, and abundantly zealous for the honour of his country, +he was disposed to think liberally of the sister kingdom. When Andrew +Fairservice (whom, by the way, the Bailie could not abide) chose to +impute the accident of one of the horses casting his shoe to the +deteriorating influence of the Union, he incurred a severe rebuke from +Mr. Jarvie. + +"Whisht, sir!--whisht! it's ill-scraped tongues like yours, that make +mischief atween neighbourhoods and nations. There's naething sae gude on +this side o' time but it might hae been better, and that may be said o' +the Union. Nane were keener against it than the Glasgow folk, wi' their +rabblings and their risings, and their mobs, as they ca' them now-a-days. +But it's an ill wind blaws naebody gude--Let ilka ane roose the ford as +they find it--I say let Glasgow flourish! whilk is judiciously and +elegantly putten round the town's arms, by way of by-word.--Now, since +St. Mungo catched herrings in the Clyde, what was ever like to gar us +flourish like the sugar and tobacco trade? Will onybody tell me that, and +grumble at the treaty that opened us a road west-awa' yonder?" + +Andrew Fairservice was far from acquiescing in these arguments of +expedience, and even ventured to enter a grumbling protest, "That it was +an unco change to hae Scotland's laws made in England; and that, for his +share, he wadna for a' the herring-barrels in Glasgow, and a' the +tobacco-casks to boot, hae gien up the riding o' the Scots Parliament, or +sent awa' our crown, and our sword, and our sceptre, and Mons Meg,* to be +keepit by thae English pock-puddings in the Tower o' Lunnon. + +* Note G. Mons Meg. + +What wad Sir William Wallace, or auld Davie Lindsay, hae said to the +Union, or them that made it?" + +The road which we travelled, while diverting the way with these +discussions, had become wild and open, as soon as we had left Glasgow a +mile or two behind us, and was growing more dreary as we advanced. Huge +continuous heaths spread before, behind, and around us, in hopeless +barrenness--now level and interspersed with swamps, green with +treacherous verdure, or sable with turf, or, as they call them in +Scotland, peat-bogs,--and now swelling into huge heavy ascents, which +wanted the dignity and form of hills, while they were still more toilsome +to the passenger. There were neither trees nor bushes to relieve the eye +from the russet livery of absolute sterility. The very heath was of that +stinted imperfect kind which has little or no flower, and affords the +coarsest and meanest covering, which, as far as my experience enables me +to judge, mother Earth is ever arrayed in. Living thing we saw none, +except occasionally a few straggling sheep of a strange diversity of +colours, as black, bluish, and orange. The sable hue predominated, +however, in their faces and legs. The very birds seemed to shun these +wastes, and no wonder, since they had an easy method of escaping from +them;--at least I only heard the monotonous and plaintive cries of the +lapwing and curlew, which my companions denominated the peasweep and +whaup. + +At dinner, however, which we took about noon, at a most miserable +alehouse, we had the good fortune to find that these tiresome screamers +of the morass were not the only inhabitants of the moors. The goodwife +told us, that "the gudeman had been at the hill;" and well for us that he +had been so, for we enjoyed the produce of his _chasse_ in the shape of +some broiled moor-game,--a dish which gallantly eked out the ewe-milk +cheese, dried salmon, and oaten bread, being all besides that the house +afforded. Some very indifferent two-penny ale, and a glass of excellent +brandy, crowned our repast; and as our horses had, in the meantime, +discussed their corn, we resumed our journey with renovated vigour. + +I had need of all the spirits a good dinner could give, to resist the +dejection which crept insensibly on my mind, when I combined the strange +uncertainty of my errand with the disconsolate aspect of the country +through which it was leading me. Our road continued to be, if possible, +more waste and wild than that we had travelled in the forenoon. The few +miserable hovels that showed some marks of human habitation, were now of +still rarer occurrence; and at length, as we began to ascend an +uninterrupted swell of moorland, they totally disappeared. The only +exercise which my imagination received was, when some particular turn of +the road gave us a partial view, to the left, of a large assemblage of +dark-blue mountains stretching to the north and north-west, which +promised to include within their recesses a country as wild perhaps, but +certainly differing greatly in point of interest, from that which we now +travelled. The peaks of this screen of mountains were as wildly varied +and distinguished, as the hills which we had seen on the right were tame +and lumpish; and while I gazed on this Alpine region, I felt a longing to +explore its recesses, though accompanied with toil and danger, similar to +that which a sailor feels when he wishes for the risks and animation of a +battle or a gale, in exchange for the insupportable monotony of a +protracted calm. I made various inquiries of my friend Mr. Jarvie +respecting the names and positions of these remarkable mountains; but it +was a subject on which he had no information, or did not choose to be +communicative. "They're the Hieland hills--the Hieland hills--Ye'll see +and hear eneugh about them before ye see Glasgow Cross again--I downa +look at them--I never see them but they gar me grew. It's no for fear--no +for fear, but just for grief, for the puir blinded half-starved creatures +that inhabit them--but say nae mair about it--it's ill speaking o' +Hielandmen sae near the line. I hae ken'd mony an honest man wadna hae +ventured this length without he had made his last will and testament-- +Mattie had ill-will to see me set awa' on this ride, and grat awee, the +sillie tawpie; but it's nae mair ferlie to see a woman greet than to see +a goose gang barefit." + +I next attempted to lead the discourse on the character and history of +the person whom we were going to visit; but on this topic Mr. Jarvie was +totally inaccessible, owing perhaps in part to the attendance of Mr. +Andrew Fairservice, who chose to keep so close in our rear that his ears +could not fail to catch every word which was spoken, while his tongue +assumed the freedom of mingling in our conversation as often as he saw an +opportunity. For this he occasionally incurred Mr. Jarvie's reproof. + +"Keep back, sir, as best sets ye," said the Bailie, as Andrew pressed +forward to catch the answer to some question I had asked about Campbell. +--"ye wad fain ride the fore-horse, an ye wist how.--That chield's aye +for being out o' the cheese-fat he was moulded in.--Now, as for your +questions, Mr. Osbaldistone, now that chield's out of ear-shot, I'll just +tell you it's free to you to speer, and it's free to me to answer, or no +--Gude I canna say muckle o' Rob, puir chield; ill I winna say o' him, +for, forby that he's my cousin, we're coming near his ain country, and +there may be ane o' his gillies ahint every whin-bush, for what I ken-- +And if ye'll be guided by my advice, the less ye speak about him, or +where we are gaun, or what we are gaun to do, we'll be the mair likely to +speed us in our errand. For it's like we may fa' in wi' some o' his +unfreends--there are e'en ower mony o' them about--and his bonnet sits +even on his brow yet for a' that; but I doubt they'll be upsides wi' Rob +at the last--air day or late day, the fox's hide finds aye the flaying +knife." + +"I will certainly," I replied, "be entirely guided by your experience." + +"Right, Mr. Osbaldistone--right. But I maun speak to this gabbling skyte +too, for bairns and fules speak at the Cross what they hear at the +ingle-side.--D'ye hear, you, Andrew--what's your name?--Fairservice!" + +Andrew, who at the last rebuff had fallen a good way behind, did not +choose to acknowledge the summons. + +"Andrew, ye scoundrel!" repeated Mr. Jarvie; "here, sir here!" + +"Here is for the dog." said Andrew, coming up sulkily. + +"I'll gie you dog's wages, ye rascal, if ye dinna attend to what I say +t'ye--We are gaun into the Hielands a bit"-- + +"I judged as muckle," said Andrew. + +"Haud your peace, ye knave, and hear what I have to say till ye--We are +gaun a bit into the Hielands"-- + +"Ye tauld me sae already," replied the incorrigible Andrew. + +"I'll break your head," said the Bailie, rising in wrath, "if ye dinna +haud your tongue." + +"A hadden tongue," replied Andrew, "makes a slabbered mouth." + +It was now necessary I should interfere, which I did by commanding +Andrew, with an authoritative tone, to be silent at his peril. + +"I am silent," said Andrew. "I'se do a' your lawfu' bidding without a +nay-say. My puir mother used aye to tell me, + + Be it better, be it worse, + Be ruled by him that has the purse. + +Sae ye may e'en speak as lang as ye like, baith the tane and the tither +o' you, for Andrew." + +Mr. Jarvie took the advantage of his stopping after quoting the above +proverb, to give him the requisite instructions. "Now, sir, it's as +muckle as your life's worth--that wad be dear o' little siller, to be +sure--but it is as muckle as a' our lives are worth, if ye dinna mind +what I sae to ye. In this public whar we are gaun to, and whar it is like +we may hae to stay a' night, men o' a' clans and kindred--Hieland and +Lawland--tak up their quarters--And whiles there are mair drawn dirks +than open Bibles amang them, when the usquebaugh gets uppermost. See ye +neither meddle nor mak, nor gie nae offence wi' that clavering tongue o' +yours, but keep a calm sough, and let ilka cock fight his ain battle." + +"Muckle needs to tell me that," said Andrew, contemptuously, "as if I had +never seen a Hielandman before, and ken'd nae how to manage them. Nae man +alive can cuitle up Donald better than mysell--I hae bought wi' them, +sauld wi' them, eaten wi' them, drucken wi' them"-- + +"Did ye ever fight wi' them?" said Mr. Jarvie. + +"Na, na," answered Andrew, "I took care o' that: it wad ill hae set me, +that am an artist and half a scholar to my trade, to be fighting amang a +wheen kilted loons that dinna ken the name o' a single herb or flower in +braid Scots, let abee in the Latin tongue." + +"Then," said Mr. Jarvie, "as ye wad keep either your tongue in your +mouth, or your lugs in your head (and ye might miss them, for as saucy +members as they are), I charge ye to say nae word, gude or bad, that ye +can weel get by, to onybody that may be in the Clachan. And ye'll +specially understand that ye're no to be bleezing and blasting about your +master's name and mine, or saying that this is Mr. Bailie Nicol Jarvie o' +the Saut Market, son o' the worthy Deacon Nicol Jarvie, that a' body has +heard about; and this is Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, son of the managing +partner of the great house of Osbaldistone and Tresham, in the City." + +"Eneueh said," answered Andrew--"eneueh said. What need ye think I wad be +speaking about your names for?--I hae mony things o' mair importance to +speak about, I trow." + +"It's thae very things of importance that I am feared for, ye blethering +goose; ye maunna speak ony thing, gude or bad, that ye can by any +possibility help." + +"If ye dinna think me fit," replied Andrew, in a huff, "to speak like +ither folk, gie me my wages and my board-wages, and I'se gae back to +Glasgow--There's sma' sorrow at our parting, as the auld mear said to the +broken cart." + +Finding Andrew's perverseness again rising to a point which threatened to +occasion me inconvenience, I was under the necessity of explaining to +him, that he might return if he thought proper, but that in that case I +would not pay him a single farthing for his past services. The argument +_ad crumenam,_ as it has been called by jocular logicians, has weight +with the greater part of mankind, and Andrew was in that particular far +from affecting any trick of singularity. He "drew in his horns," to use +the Bailie's phrase, on the instant, professed no intention whatever to +disoblige, and a resolution to be guided by my commands, whatever they +might be. + +Concord being thus happily restored to our small party, we continued to +pursue our journey. The road, which had ascended for six or seven English +miles, began now to descend for about the same space, through a country +which neither in fertility nor interest could boast any advantage over +that which we had passed already, and which afforded no variety, unless +when some tremendous peak of a Highland mountain appeared at a distance. +We continued, however, to ride on without pause and even when night fell +and overshadowed the desolate wilds which we traversed, we were, as I +understood from Mr. Jarvie, still three miles and a bittock distant from +the place where we were to spend the night. + + + + + CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + + Baron of Bucklivie, + May the foul fiend drive ye, + And a' to pieces rive ye, + For building sic a town, + Where there's neither horse meat, + Nor man's meat, + Nor a chair to sit down. + Scottish Popular Rhymes on a bad Inn. + +The night was pleasant, and the moon afforded us good light for our +journey. Under her rays, the ground over which we passed assumed a more +interesting appearance than during the broad daylight, which discovered +the extent of its wasteness. The mingled light and shadows gave it an +interest which naturally did not belong to it; and, like the effect of a +veil flung over a plain woman, irritated our curiosity on a subject which +had in itself nothing gratifying. + +The descent, however, still continued, turned, winded, left the more open +heaths, and got into steeper ravines, which promised soon to lead us to +the banks of some brook or river, and ultimately made good their presage. +We found ourselves at length on the bank of a stream, which rather +resembled one of my native English rivers than those I had hitherto seen +in Scotland. It was narrow, deep, still, and silent; although the +imperfect light, as it gleamed on its placid waters, showed also that we +were now among the lofty mountains which formed its cradle. "That's the +Forth," said the Bailie, with an air of reverence, which I have observed +the Scotch usually pay to their distinguished rivers. The Clyde, the +Tweed, the Forth, the Spey, are usually named by those who dwell on their +banks with a sort of respect and pride, and I have known duels occasioned +by any word of disparagement. I cannot say I have the least quarrel with +this sort of harmless enthusiasm. I received my friend's communication +with the importance which he seemed to think appertained to it. In fact, +I was not a little pleased, after so long and dull a journey, to approach +a region which promised to engage the imagination. My faithful squire, +Andrew, did not seem to be quite of the same opinion, for he received the +solemn information, "That is the Forth," with a "Umph!--an he had said +that's the public-house, it wad hae been mair to the purpose." + +The Forth, however, as far as the imperfect light permitted me to judge, +seemed to merit the admiration of those who claimed an interest in its +stream. A beautiful eminence of the most regular round shape, and clothed +with copsewood of hazels, mountain-ash, and dwarf-oak, intermixed with a +few magnificent old trees, which, rising above the underwood, exposed +their forked and bared branches to the silver moonshine, seemed to +protect the sources from which the river sprung. If I could trust the +tale of my companion, which, while professing to disbelieve every word of +it, he told under his breath, and with an air of something like +intimidation, this hill, so regularly formed, so richly verdant, and +garlanded with such a beautiful variety of ancient trees and thriving +copsewood, was held by the neighbourhood to contain, within its unseen +caverns, the palaces of the fairies--a race of airy beings, who formed an +intermediate class between men and demons, and who, if not positively +malignant to humanity, were yet to be avoided and feared, on account of +their capricious, vindictive, and irritable disposition.* + +* Note H. Fairy Superstition. + +"They ca' them," said Mr. Jarvie, in a whisper, "_Daoine Schie,_--whilk +signifies, as I understand, men of peace; meaning thereby to make their +gudewill. And we may e'en as weel ca' them that too, Mr. Osbaldistone, +for there's nae gude in speaking ill o' the laird within his ain bounds." +But he added presently after, on seeing one or two lights which twinkled +before us, "It's deceits o' Satan, after a', and I fearna to say it--for +we are near the manse now, and yonder are the lights in the Clachan of +Aberfoil." + +I own I was well pleased at the circumstance to which Mr. Jarvie alluded; +not so much that it set his tongue at liberty, in his opinion, with all +safety to declare his real sentiments with respect to the _Daoine Schie,_ +or fairies, as that it promised some hours' repose to ourselves and our +horses, of which, after a ride of fifty miles and upwards, both stood in +some need. + +We crossed the infant Forth by an old-fashioned stone bridge, very high +and very narrow. My conductor, however, informed me, that to get through +this deep and important stream, and to clear all its tributary +dependencies, the general pass from the Highlands to the southward lay by +what was called the Fords of Frew, at all times deep and difficult of +passage, and often altogether unfordable. Beneath these fords, there was +no pass of general resort until so far east as the bridge of Stirling; so +that the river of Forth forms a defensible line between the Highlands and +Lowlands of Scotland, from its source nearly to the Firth, or inlet of +the ocean, in which it terminates. The subsequent events which we +witnessed led me to recall with attention what the shrewdness of Bailie +Jarvie suggested in his proverbial expression, that "Forth bridles the +wild Highlandman." + +About half a mile's riding, after we crossed the bridge, placed us at the +door of the public-house where we were to pass the evening. It was a +hovel rather worse than better than that in which we had dined; but its +little windows were lighted up, voices were heard from within, and all +intimated a prospect of food and shelter, to which we were by no means +indifferent. Andrew was the first to observe that there was a peeled +willow-wand placed across the half-open door of the little inn. He hung +back and advised us not to enter. "For," said Andrew, "some of their +chiefs and grit men are birling at the usquebaugh in by there, and dinna +want to be disturbed; and the least we'll get, if we gang ramstam in on +them, will be a broken head, to learn us better havings, if we dinna come +by the length of a cauld dirk in our wame, whilk is just as likely." + +I looked at the Bailie, who acknowledged, in a whisper, "that the gowk +had some reason for singing, ance in the year." + +Meantime a staring half-clad wench or two came out of the inn and the +neighbouring cottages, on hearing the sound of our horses' feet. No one +bade us welcome, nor did any one offer to take our horses, from which we +had alighted; and to our various inquiries, the hopeless response of "Ha +niel Sassenach," was the only answer we could extract. The Bailie, +however, found (in his experience) a way to make them speak English. "If +I gie ye a bawbee," said he to an urchin of about ten years old, with a +fragment of a tattered plaid about him, "will you understand Sassenach?" + +"Ay, ay, that will I," replied the brat, in very decent English. "Then +gang and tell your mammy, my man, there's twa Sassenach gentlemen come to +speak wi' her." + +The landlady presently appeared, with a lighted piece of split fir +blazing in her hand. The turpentine in this species of torch (which is +generally dug from out the turf-bogs) makes it blaze and sparkle readily, +so that it is often used in the Highlands in lieu of candles. On this +occasion such a torch illuminated the wild and anxious features of a +female, pale, thin, and rather above the usual size, whose soiled and +ragged dress, though aided by a plaid or tartan screen, barely served the +purposes of decency, and certainly not those of comfort. Her black hair, +which escaped in uncombed elf-locks from under her coif, as well as the +strange and embarrassed look with which she regarded us, gave me the idea +of a witch disturbed in the midst of her unlawful rites. She plainly +refused to admit us into the house. We remonstrated anxiously, and +pleaded the length of our journey, the state of our horses, and the +certainty that there was not another place where we could be received +nearer than Callander, which the Bailie stated to be seven Scots miles +distant. How many these may exactly amount to in English measurement, I +have never been able to ascertain, but I think the double _ratio_ may be +pretty safely taken as a medium computation. The obdurate hostess treated +our expostulation with contempt." Better gang farther than fare waur," +she said, speaking the Scottish Lowland dialect, and being indeed a +native of the Lennox district--"Her house was taen up wi' them wadna like +to be intruded on wi' strangers. She didna ken wha mair might be there-- +red-coats, it might be, frae the garrison." (These last words she spoke +under her breath, and with very strong emphasis.) "The night," she said, +"was fair abune head--a night amang the heather wad caller our bloods--we +might sleep in our claes, as mony a gude blade does in the scabbard-- +there wasna muckle flowmoss in the shaw, if we took up our quarters +right, and we might pit up our horses to the hill, naebody wad say +naething against it." + +"But, my good woman," said I, while the Bailie groaned and remained +undecided, "it is six hours since we dined, and we have not taken a +morsel since. I am positively dying with hunger, and I have no taste for +taking up my abode supperless among these mountains of yours. I +positively must enter; and make the best apology you can to your guests +for adding a stranger or two to their number. Andrew, you will see the +horses put up." + +The Hecate looked at me with surprise, and then ejaculated--"A wilfu' man +will hae his way--them that will to Cupar maun to Cupar!--To see thae +English belly-gods! he has had ae fu' meal the day already, and he'll +venture life and liberty, rather than he'll want a het supper! Set +roasted beef and pudding on the opposite side o' the pit o' Tophet, and +an Englishman will mak a spang at it--But I wash my hands o't--Follow me +sir" (to Andrew), "and I'se show ye where to pit the beasts." + +I own I was somewhat dismayed at my landlady's expressions, which seemed +to be ominous of some approaching danger. I did not, however, choose to +shrink back after having declared my resolution, and accordingly I boldly +entered the house; and after narrowly escaping breaking my shins over a +turf back and a salting tub, which stood on either side of the narrow +exterior passage, I opened a crazy half-decayed door, constructed not of +plank, but of wicker, and, followed by the Bailie, entered into the +principal apartment of this Scottish caravansary. + +The interior presented a view which seemed singular enough to southern +eyes. The fire, fed with blazing turf and branches of dried wood, blazed +merrily in the centre; but the smoke, having no means to escape but +through a hole in the roof, eddied round the rafters of the cottage, and +hung in sable folds at the height of about five feet from the floor. The +space beneath was kept pretty clear by innumerable currents of air which +rushed towards the fire from the broken panel of basket-work which served +as a door--from two square holes, designed as ostensible windows, through +one of which was thrust a plaid, and through the other a tattered +great-coat--and moreover, through various less distinguishable apertures +in the walls of the tenement, which, being built of round stones and +turf, cemented by mud, let in the atmosphere at innumerable crevices. + +At an old oaken table, adjoining to the fire, sat three men, guests +apparently, whom it was impossible to regard with indifference. Two were +in the Highland dress; the one, a little dark-complexioned man, with a +lively, quick, and irritable expression of features, wore the trews, or +close pantaloons wove out of a sort of chequered stocking stuff. The +Bailie whispered me, that "he behoved to be a man of some consequence, +for that naebody but their Duinhe'wassels wore the trews--they were ill +to weave exactly to their Highland pleasure." + +The other mountaineer was a very tall, strong man, with a quantity of +reddish hair, freckled face, high cheek-bones, and long chin--a sort of +caricature of the national features of Scotland. The tartan which he wore +differed from that of his companion, as it had much more scarlet in it, +whereas the shades of black and dark-green predominated in the chequers +of the other. The third, who sate at the same table, was in the Lowland +dress,--a bold, stout-looking man, with a cast of military daring in his +eye and manner, his riding-dress showily and profusely laced, and his +cocked hat of formidable dimensions. His hanger and a pair of pistols lay +on the table before him. Each of the Highlanders had their naked dirks +stuck upright in the board beside him,--an emblem, I was afterwards +informed, but surely a strange one, that their computation was not to be +interrupted by any brawl. A mighty pewter measure, containing about an +English quart of usquebaugh, a liquor nearly as strong as brandy, which +the Highlanders distil from malt, and drink undiluted in excessive +quantities, was placed before these worthies. A broken glass, with a +wooden foot, served as a drinking cup to the whole party, and circulated +with a rapidity, which, considering the potency of the liquor, seemed +absolutely marvellous. These men spoke loudly and eagerly together, +sometimes in Gaelic, at other times in English. Another Highlander, wrapt +in his plaid, reclined on the floor, his head resting on a stone, from +which it was only separated by a wisp of straw, and slept or seemed to +sleep, without attending to what was going on around him, He also was +probably a stranger, for he lay in full dress, and accoutred with the +sword and target, the usual arms of his countrymen when on a journey. +Cribs there were of different dimensions beside the walls, formed, some +of fractured boards, some of shattered wicker-work or plaited boughs, in +which slumbered the family of the house, men, women, and children, their +places of repose only concealed by the dusky wreaths of vapour which +arose above, below, and around them. + +Our entrance was made so quietly, and the carousers I have described were +so eagerly engaged in their discussions, that we escaped their notice for +a minute or two. But I observed the Highlander who lay beside the fire +raise himself on his elbow as we entered, and, drawing his plaid over the +lower part of his face, fix his look on us for a few seconds, after which +he resumed his recumbent posture, and seemed again to betake himself to +the repose which our entrance had interrupted, + +We advanced to the fire, which was an agreeable spectacle after our late +ride, during the chillness of an autumn evening among the mountains, and +first attracted the attention of the guests who had preceded us, by +calling for the landlady. She approached, looking doubtfully and timidly, +now at us, now at the other party, and returned a hesitating and doubtful +answer to our request to have something to eat. + +"She didna ken," she said, "she wasna sure there was onything in the +house," and then modified her refusal with the qualification--"that is, +onything fit for the like of us." + +I assured her we were indifferent to the quality of our supper; and +looking round for the means of accommodation, which were not easily to be +found, I arranged an old hen-coop as a seat for Mr. Jarvie, and turned +down a broken tub to serve for my own. Andrew Fairservice entered +presently afterwards, and took a place in silence behind our backs. The +natives, as I may call them, continued staring at us with an air as if +confounded by our assurance, and we, at least I myself, disguised as well +as we could, under an appearance of indifference, any secret anxiety we +might feel concerning the mode in which we were to be received by those +whose privacy we had disturbed. + +At length, the lesser Highlander, addressing himself to me said, in very +good English, and in a tone of great haughtiness, "Ye make yourself at +home, sir, I see." + +"I usually do so," I replied, "when I come into a house of public +entertainment." + +"And did she na see," said the taller man, "by the white wand at the +door, that gentlemans had taken up the public-house on their ain +business?" + +"I do not pretend to understand the customs of this country but I am yet +to learn," I replied, "how three persons should be entitled to exclude +all other travellers from the only place of shelter and refreshment for +miles round." + +"There's nae reason for't, gentlemen," said the Bailie; "we mean nae +offence--but there's neither law nor reason for't; but as far as a stoup +o' gude brandy wad make up the quarrel, we, being peaceable folk, wad be +willing." + +"Damn your brandy, sir!" said the Lowlander, adjusting his cocked hat +fiercely upon his head; "we desire neither your brandy nor your company," +and up he rose from his seat. His companions also arose, muttering to +each other, drawing up their plaids, and snorting and snuffing the air +after the mariner of their countrymen when working themselves into a +passion. + +"I tauld ye what wad come, gentlemen," said the landlady, "an ye wad hae +been tauld:--get awa' wi' ye out o' my house, and make nae disturbance +here--there's nae gentleman be disturbed at Jeanie MacAlpine's an she can +hinder. A wheen idle English loons, gaun about the country under cloud o' +night, and disturbing honest peaceable gentlemen that are drinking their +drap drink at the fireside!" + +At another time I should have thought of the old Latin adage, + + +"Dat veniam corvis, vexat censure columbas"-- + +But I had not any time for classical quotation, for there was obviously a +fray about to ensue, at which, feeling myself indiginant at the +inhospitable insolence with which I was treated, I was totally +indifferent, unless on the Bailie's account, whose person and qualities +were ill qualified for such an adventure. I started up, however, on +seeing the others rise, and dropped my. cloak from my shoulders, that I +might be ready to stand on the defensive. + +"We are three to three," said the lesser Highlander, glancing his eyes at +our party: "if ye be pretty men, draw!" and unsheathing his broadsword, +he advanced on me. I put myself in a posture of defence, and aware of the +superiority of my weapon, a rapier or small-sword, was little afraid of +the issue of the contest. The Bailie behaved with unexpected mettle. As +he saw the gigantic Highlander confront him with his weapon drawn, he +tugged for a second or two at the hilt of his _shabble,_ as he called it; +but finding it loth to quit the sheath, to which it had long been secured +by rust and disuse, he seized, as a substitute, on the red-hot coulter of +a plough which had been employed in arranging the fire by way of a poker, +and brandished it with such effect, that at the first pass he set the +Highlander's plaid on fire, and compelled him to keep a respectful +distance till he could get it extinguished. Andrew, on the contrary, who +ought to have faced the Lowland champion, had, I grieve to say it, +vanished at the very commencement of the fray. But his antagonist, crying +"Fair play, fair play!" seemed courteously disposed to take no share in +the scuffle. Thus we commenced our rencontre on fair terms as to numbers. +My own aim was, to possess myself, if possible, of my antagonist's +weapon; but I was deterred from closing, for fear of the dirk which he +held in his left hand, and used in parrying the thrusts of my rapier. +Meantime the Bailie, notwithstanding the success of his first onset, was +sorely bested. The weight of his weapon, the corpulence of his person, +the very effervescence of his own passions, were rapidly exhausting both +his strength and his breath, and he was almost at the mercy of his +antagonist, when up started the sleeping Highlander from the floor on +which he reclined, with his naked sword and target in his hand, and threw +himself between the discomfited magistrate and his assailant, exclaiming, +"Her nainsell has eaten the town pread at the Cross o' Glasgow, and py +her troth she'll fight for Bailie Sharvie at the Clachan of Aberfoil--tat +will she e'en!" And seconding his words with deeds, this unexpected +auxiliary made his sword whistle about the ears of his tall countryman, +who, nothing abashed, returned his blows with interest. But being both +accoutred with round targets made of wood, studded with brass, and +covered with leather, with which they readily parried each other's +strokes, their combat was attended with much more noise and clatter than +serious risk of damage. It appeared, indeed, that there was more of +bravado than of serious attempt to do us any injury; for the Lowland +gentleman, who, as I mentioned, had stood aside for want of an antagonist +when the brawl commenced, was now pleased to act the part of moderator +and peacemaker. + +"Hand your hands! haud your hands!--eneugh done!--eneugh done! the +quarrel's no mortal. The strange gentlemen have shown themselves men of +honour, and gien reasonable satisfaction. I'll stand on mine honour as +kittle as ony man, but I hate unnecessary bloodshed." + +It was not, of course, my wish to protract the fray--my adversary seemed +equally disposed to sheathe his sword--the Bailie, gasping for breath, +might be considered as _hors de combat,_ and our two sword-and-buckler +men gave up their contest with as much indifference as they had entered +into it. + +"And now," said the worthy gentleman who acted as umpire, "let us drink +and gree like honest fellows--The house will haud us a'. I propose that +this good little gentleman, that seems sair forfoughen, as I may say, in +this tuilzie, shall send for a tass o' brandy and I'll pay for another, +by way of archilowe,* and then we'll birl our bawbees a' round about, +like brethren." + +"And fa's to pay my new ponnie plaid," said the larger Highlander, "wi' a +hole burnt in't ane might put a kail-pat through? Saw ever onybody a +decent gentleman fight wi' a firebrand before?" + +"Let that be nae hinderance," said the Bailie, who had now recovered his +breath, and was at once disposed to enjoy the triumph of having behaved +with spirit, and avoid the necessity of again resorting to such hard and +doubtful arbitrament--"Gin I hae broken the head," he said, "I sall find +the plaister. A new plaid sall ye hae, and o' the best--your ain +clan-colours, man,--an ye will tell me where it can be sent t'ye frae +Glasco." + +"I needna name my clan--I am of a king's clan, as is weel ken'd," said +the Highlander; "but ye may tak a bit o' the plaid--figh! she smells like +a singit sheep's head!--and that'll learn ye the sett--and a gentleman, +that's a cousin o' my ain, that carries eggs doun frae Glencroe, will ca' +for't about Martimas, an ye will tell her where ye bide. But, honest +gentleman, neist time ye fight, an ye hae ony respect for your +athversary, let it be wi' your sword, man, since ye wear ane, and no wi' +thae het culters and fireprands, like a wild Indian." + +"Conscience!" replied the Bailie, "every man maun do as he dow. My sword +hasna seen the light since Bothwell Brigg, when my father that's dead and +gane, ware it; and I kenna weel if it was forthcoming then either, for +the battle was o' the briefest--At ony rate, it's glued to the scabbard +now beyond my power to part them; and, finding that, I e'en grippit at +the first thing I could make a fend wi'. I trow my fighting days is done, +though I like ill to take the scorn, for a' that.--But where's the honest +lad that tuik my quarrel on himself sae frankly?--I'se bestow a gill o' +aquavitae on him, an I suld never ca' for anither." + +* Archilowe, of unknown derivation, signifies a peace-offering. + +The champion for whom he looked around was, however, no longer to be +seen. He had escaped unobserved by the Bailie, immediately when the brawl +was ended, yet not before I had recognised, in his wild features and +shaggy red hair, our acquaintance Dougal, the fugitive turnkey of the +Glasgow jail. I communicated this observation in a whisper to the Bailie, +who answered in the same tone, "Weel, weel,--I see that him that ye ken +o' said very right; there _is_ some glimmering o' common sense about that +creature Dougal; I maun see and think o' something will do him some +gude." + +Thus saying, he sat down, and fetching one or two deep aspirations, by +way of recovering his breath, called to the landlady--"I think, Luckie, +now that I find that there's nae hole in my wame, whilk I had muckle +reason to doubt frae the doings o' your house, I wad be the better o' +something to pit intill't." + +The dame, who was all officiousness so soon as the storm had blown over, +immediately undertook to broil something comfortable for our supper. +Indeed, nothing surprised me more, in the course of the whole matter, +than the extreme calmness with which she and her household seemed to +regard the martial tumult that had taken place. The good woman was only +heard to call to some of her assistants--"Steek the door! steek the door! +kill or be killed, let naebody pass out till they hae paid the lawin." +And as for the slumberers in those lairs by the wall, which served the +family for beds, they only raised their shirtless bodies to look at the +fray, ejaculated, "Oigh! oigh!" in the tone suitable to their respective +sex and ages, and were, I believe, fast asleep again, ere our swords were +well returned to their scabbards. + +Our landlady, however, now made a great bustle to get some victuals +ready, and, to my surprise, very soon began to prepare for us in the +frying-pan a savoury mess of venison collops, which she dressed in a +manner that might well satisfy hungry men, if not epicures. In the +meantime the brandy was placed on the table, to which the Highlanders, +however partial to their native strong waters, showed no objection, but +much the contrary; and the Lowland gentleman, after the first cup had +passed round, became desirous to know our profession, and the object of +our journey. + +"We are bits o' Glasgow bodies, if it please your honour," said the +Bailie, with an affectation of great humility, "travelling to Stirling to +get in some siller that is awing us." + +I was so silly as to feel a little disconcerted at the unassuming account +which he chose to give of us; but I recollected my promise to be silent, +and allow the Bailie to manage the matter his own way. And really, when I +recollected, Will, that I had not only brought the honest man a long +journey from home, which even in itself had been some inconvenience (if I +were to judge from the obvious pain and reluctance with which he took his +seat, or arose from it), but had also put him within a hair's-breadth of +the loss of his life, I could hardly refuse him such a compliment. The +spokesman of the other party, snuffing up his breath through his nose, +repeated the words with a sort of sneer;--"You Glasgow tradesfolks hae +naething to do but to gang frae the tae end o' the west o' Scotland to +the ither, to plague honest folks that may chance to be awee ahint the +hand, like me." + +"If our debtors were a' sic honest gentlemen as I believe you to be, +Garschattachin," replied the Bailie, "conscience! we might save ourselves +a labour, for they wad come to seek us." + +"Eh! what! how!" exclaimed the person whom he had addressed,--"as I shall +live by bread (not forgetting beef and brandy), it's my auld friend Nicol +Jarvie, the best man that ever counted doun merks on a band till a +distressed gentleman. Were ye na coming up my way?--were ye na coming up +the Endrick to Garschattachin?" + +"Troth no, Maister Galbraith," replied the Bailie, "I had other eggs on +the spit--and I thought ye wad be saying I cam to look about the annual +rent that's due on the bit heritable band that's between us." + +"Damn the annual rent!" said the laird, with an appearance of great +heartiness--"Deil a word o' business will you or I speak, now that ye're +so near my country. To see how a trot-cosey and a joseph can disguise a +man--that I suldna ken my auld feal friend the deacon!" + +"The Bailie, if ye please," resumed my companion; "but I ken what gars ye +mistak--the band was granted to my father that's happy, and he was +deacon; but his name was Nicol as weel as mine. I dinna mind that there's +been a payment of principal sum or annual rent on it in myday, and +doubtless that has made the mistake." + +"Weel, the devil take the mistake and all that occasioned it!" replied +Mr. Galbraith. "But I am glad ye are a bailie. Gentlemen, fill a brimmer +--this is my excellent friend, Bailie Nicol Jarvie's health--I ken'd him +and his father these twenty years. Are ye a' cleared kelty aff?--Fill +anither. Here's to his being sune provost--I say provost--Lord Provost +Nicol Jarvie!--and them that affirms there's a man walks the Hie-street +o' Glasgow that's fitter for the office, they will do weel not to let me, +Duncan Galbraith of Garschattachin, hear them say sae--that's all." And +therewith Duncan Galbraith martially cocked his hat, and placed it on one +side of his head with an air of defiance. + +The brandy was probably the best recommendation of there complimentary +toasts to the two Highlanders, who drank them without appearing anxious +to comprehend their purport. They commenced a conversation with Mr. +Galbraith in Gaelic, which he talked with perfect fluency, being, as I +afterwards learned, a near neighbour to the Highlands. + +"I ken'd that Scant-o'-grace weel eneugh frae the very outset," said the +Bailie, in a whisper to me; "but when blude was warm, and swords were out +at ony rate, wha kens what way he might hae thought o' paying his debts? +it will be lang or he does it in common form. But he's an honest lad, and +has a warm heart too; he disna come often to the Cross o' Glasgow, but +mony a buck and blackcock he sends us doun frae the hills. And I can want +my siller weel eneugh. My father the deacon had a great regard for the +family of Garschattachin." + +Supper being now nearly ready, I looked round for Andrew Fairservice; but +that trusty follower had not been seen by any one since the beginning of +the rencontre. The hostess, however, said that she believed our servant +had gone into the stable, and offered to light me to the place, saying +that "no entreaties of the bairns or hers could make him give any answer; +and that truly she caredna to gang into the stable herself at this hour. +She was a lone woman, and it was weel ken'd how the Brownie of +Ben-ye-gask guided the gudewife of Ardnagowan; and it was aye judged +there was a Brownie in our stable, which was just what garr'd me gie ower +keeping an hostler." + +As, however, she lighted me towards the miserable hovel into which they +had crammed our unlucky steeds, to regale themselves on hay, every fibre +of which was as thick as an ordinary goose-quill, she plainly showed me +that she had another reason for drawing me aside from the company than +that which her words implied. "Read that," she said, slipping a piece of +paper into my hand, as we arrived at the door of the shed; "I bless God I +am rid o't. Between sogers and Saxons, and caterans and cattle-lifters, +and hership and bluidshed, an honest woman wad live quieter in hell than +on the Hieland line." + +So saying, she put the pine-torch into my hand, and returned into the +house, + + + + CHAPTER TWELFTH. + + + Bagpipes, not lyres, the Highland hills adorn, + MacLean's loud hollo, and MacGregor's horn. + John Cooper's Reply to Allan Ramsay. + +I stopped in the entrance of the stable, if indeed a place be entitled to +that name where horses were stowed away along with goats, poultry, pigs, +and cows, under the same roof with the mansion-house; although, by a +degree of refinement unknown to the rest of the hamlet, and which I +afterwards heard was imputed to an overpride on the part of Jeanie +MacAlpine, our landlady, the apartment was accommodated with an entrance +different from that used by her biped customers. By the light of my +torch, I deciphered the following billet, written on a wet, crumpled, and +dirty piece of paper, and addressed--"For the honoured hands of Mr. F. +O., a Saxon young gentleman--These." The contents were as follows:-- + +"Sir, + +"There are night-hawks abroad, so that I cannot give you and my respected +kinsman, B. N. J., the meeting at the Clachan of Aberfoil, whilk was my +purpose. I pray you to avoid unnecessary communication with those you may +find there, as it may give future trouble. The person who gives you this +is faithful and may be trusted, and will guide you to a place where, God +willing, I may safely give you the meeting, when I trust my kinsman and +you will visit my poor house, where, in despite of my enemies, I can +still promise sic cheer as ane Hielandman may gie his friends, and where +we will drink a solemn health to a certain D. V., and look to certain +affairs whilk I hope to be your aidance in; and I rest, as is wont among +gentlemen, + +your servant to command, +R. M. C." + + +I was a good deal mortified at the purport of this letter, which seemed +to adjourn to a more distant place and date the service which I had hoped +to receive from this man Campbell. Still, however, it was some comfort to +know that he continued to be in my interest, since without him I could +have no hope of recovering my father's papers. I resolved, therefore, to +obey his instructions; and, observing all caution before the guests, to +take the first good opportunity I could find to procure from the landlady +directions how I was to obtain a meeting with this mysterious person. + +My next business was to seek out Andrew Fairservice, whom I called +several times by name, without receiving any answer, surveying the stable +all round, at the same time, not without risk of setting the premises on +fire, had not the quantity of wet litter and mud so greatly +counterbalanced two or three bunches of straw and hay. At length my +repeated cries of "Andrew Fairservice! Andrew! fool!--ass! where are +you?" produced a doleful "Here," in a groaning tone, which might have +been that of the Brownie itself. Guided by this sound, I advanced to the +corner of a shed, where, ensconced in the angle of the wall, behind a +barrel full of the feathers of all the fowls which had died in the cause +of the public for a month past, I found the manful Andrew; and partly by +force, partly by command and exhortation, compelled him forth into the +open air. The first words he spoke were, "I am an honest lad, sir." + +"Who the devil questions your honesty?" said I, "or what have we to do +with it at present? I desire you to come and attend us at supper." + +"Yes," reiterated Andrew, without apparently understanding what I said to +him, "I am an honest lad, whatever the Bailie may say to the contrary. I +grant the warld and the warld's gear sits ower near my heart whiles, as +it does to mony a ane--But I am an honest lad; and, though I spak o' +leaving ye in the muir, yet God knows it was far frae my purpose, but +just like idle things folk says when they're driving a bargain, to get it +as far to their ain side as they can--And I like your honour weel for sae +young a lad, and I wadna part wi' ye lightly." + +"What the deuce are you driving at now?" I replied. "Has not everything +been settled again and again to your satisfaction? And are you to talk of +leaving me every hour, without either rhyme or reason?" + +"Ay,--but I was only making fashion before," replied Andrew; "but it's +come on me in sair earnest now--Lose or win, I daur gae nae farther wi' +your honour; and if ye'll tak my foolish advice, ye'll bide by a broken +tryste, rather than gang forward yoursell. I hae a sincere regard for ye, +and I'm sure ye'll be a credit to your friends if ye live to saw out your +wild aits, and get some mair sense and steadiness--But I can follow ye +nae farther, even if ye suld founder and perish from the way for lack of +guidance and counsel. To gang into Rob Roy's country is a mere tempting +o' Providence." + +"Rob Roy?" said I, in some surprise; "I know no such person. What new +trick is this, Andrew?" + +"It's hard," said Andrew--"very hard, that a man canna be believed when +he speaks Heaven's truth, just because he's whiles owercome, and tells +lees a little when there is necessary occasion. Ye needna ask whae Rob +Roy is, the reiving lifter that he is--God forgie me! I hope naebody +hears us--when ye hae a letter frae him in your pouch. I heard ane o' his +gillies bid that auld rudas jaud of a gudewife gie ye that. They thought +I didna understand their gibberish; but, though I canna speak it muckle, +I can gie a gude guess at what I hear them say--I never thought to hae +tauld ye that, but in a fright a' things come out that suld be keepit in. +O, Maister Frank! a' your uncle's follies, and a' your cousin's pliskies, +were naething to this! Drink clean cap out, like Sir Hildebrand; begin +the blessed morning with brandy sops, like Squire Percy; swagger, like +Squire Thorncliff; rin wud amang the lasses, like Squire John; gamble, +like Richard; win souls to the Pope and the deevil, like Rashleigh; rive, +rant, break the Sabbath, and do the Pope's bidding, like them a' put +thegither--But, merciful Providence! take care o' your young bluid, and +gang nae near Rob Roy!" + +Andrew's alarm was too sincere to permit me to suppose he counterfeited. +I contented myself, however, with telling him, that I meant to remain in +the alehouse that night, and desired to have the horses well looked +after. As to the rest, I charged him to observe the strictest silence +upon the subject of his alarm, and he might rely upon it I would not +incur any serious danger without due precaution. He followed me with a +dejected air into the house, observing between his teeth, "Man suld be +served afore beast--I haena had a morsel in my mouth, but the rough legs +o' that auld muircock, this haill blessed day." + +The harmony of the company seemed to have suffered some interruption +since my departure, for I found Mr. Galbraith and my friend the Bailie +high in dispute. + +"I'll hear nae sic language," said Mr. Jarvie, as I entered, "respecting +the Duke o' Argyle and the name o' Campbell. He's a worthy +public-spirited nobleman, and a credit to the country, and a friend and +benefactor to the trade o' Glasgow." + +"I'll sae naething against MacCallum More and the Slioch-nan-Diarmid," +said the lesser Highlander, laughing. "I live on the wrang side of +Glencroe to quarrel with Inverara." + +"Our loch ne'er saw the Cawmil lymphads,"* said the bigger Highlander. + +* _Lymphads._ The galley which the family of Argyle and others of the * +Clan Campbell carry in their arms. + +"She'll speak her mind and fear naebody--She doesna value a Cawmil mair +as a Cowan, and ye may tell MacCallum More that Allan Iverach said sae-- +It's a far cry to Lochow."* + +* Lochow and the adjacent districts formed the original seat of the * +Campbells. The expression of a "far cry to Lochow" was proverbial. + +Mr. Galbraith, on whom the repeated pledges which he had quaffed had +produced some influence, slapped his hand on the table with great force, +and said, in a stern voice, "There's a bloody debt due by that family, +and they will pay it one day--The banes of a loyal and a gallant Grahame +hae lang rattled in their coffin for vengeance on thae Dukes of Guile and +Lords for Lorn. There ne'er was treason in Scotland but a Cawmil was at +the bottom o't; and now that the wrang side's uppermost, wha but the +Cawmils for keeping down the right? But this warld winna last lang, and +it will be time to sharp the maiden* for shearing o' craigs and +thrapples. I hope to see the auld rusty lass linking at a bluidy harst +again." + +* A rude kind of guillotine formerly used in Scotland. + +"For shame, Garschattachin!" exclaimed the Bailie; "fy for shame, sir! +Wad ye say sic things before a magistrate, and bring yoursell into +trouble?--How d'ye think to mainteen your family and satisfy your +creditors (mysell and others), if ye gang on in that wild way, which +cannot but bring you under the law, to the prejudice of a' that's +connected wi' ye?" + +"D--n my creditors!" retorted the gallant Galbraith, "and you if ye be +ane o' them! I say there will be a new warld sune--And we shall hae nae +Cawmils cocking their bonnet sae hie, and hounding their dogs where they +daurna come themsells, nor protecting thieves, nor murderers, and +oppressors, to harry and spoil better men and mair loyal clans than +themsells." + +The Bailie had a great mind to have continued the dispute, when the +savoury vapour of the broiled venison, which our landlady now placed +before us, proved so powerful a mediator, that he betook himself to his +trencher with great eagerness, leaving the strangers to carry on the +dispute among themselves. + +"And tat's true," said the taller Highlander--whose name I found was +Stewart--"for we suldna be plagued and worried here wi' meetings to pit +down Rob Roy, if the Cawmils didna gie him refutch. I was ane o' thirty +o' my ain name--part Glenfinlas, and part men that came down frae Appine. +We shased the MacGregors as ye wad shase rae-deer, till we came into +Glenfalloch's country, and the Cawmils raise, and wadna let us pursue nae +farder, and sae we lost our labour; but her wad gie twa and a plack to be +as near Rob as she was tat day." + +It seemed to happen very unfortunately, that in every topic of discourse +which these warlike gentlemen introduced, my friend the Bailie found some +matter of offence. "Ye'll forgie me speaking my mind, sir; but ye wad +maybe hae gien the best bowl in your bonnet to hae been as far awae frae +Rob as ye are e'en now--Od! my het pleugh-culter wad hae been naething to +his claymore." + +"She had better speak nae mair about her culter, or, by G--! her will gar +her eat her words, and twa handfuls o' cauld steel to drive them ower +wi'!" And, with a most inauspicious and menacing look, the mountaineer +laid his hand on his dagger. + +"We'll hae nae quarrelling, Allan," said his shorter companion; "and if +the Glasgow gentleman has ony regard for Rob Roy, he'll maybe see him in +cauld irons the night, and playing tricks on a tow the morn; for this +country has been owre lang plagued wi' him, and his race is near-hand +run--And it's time, Allan, we were ganging to our lads." + +"Hout awa, Inverashalloch," said Galbraith;--"Mind the auld saw, man-- +It's a bauld moon, quoth Bennygask--another pint, quoth Lesley;--we'll no +start for another chappin." + +"I hae had chappins eneugh," said Inverashalloch; "I'll drink my quart of +usquebaugh or brandy wi' ony honest fellow, but the deil a drap mair when +I hae wark to do in the morning. And, in my puir thinking, +Garschattachin, ye had better be thinking to bring up your horsemen to +the Clachan before day, that we may ay start fair." + +"What the deevil are ye in sic a hurry for?" said Garschattachin; "meat +and mass never hindered wark. An it had been my directing, deil a bit o' +me wad hae fashed ye to come down the glens to help us. The garrison and +our ain horse could hae taen Rob Roy easily enough. There's the hand," he +said, holding up his own, "should lay him on the green, and never ask a +Hielandman o' ye a' for his help." + +"Ye might hae loot us bide still where we were, then," said +Inverashalloch. "I didna come sixty miles without being sent for. But an +ye'll hae my opinion, I redd ye keep your mouth better steekit, if ye +hope to speed. Shored folk live lang, and sae may him ye ken o'. The way +to catch a bird is no to fling your bannet at her. And also thae +gentlemen hae heard some things they suldna hae heard, an the brandy +hadna been ower bauld for your brain, Major Galbraith. Ye needna cock +your hat and bully wi' me, man, for I will not bear it." + +"I hae said it," said Galbraith, with a solemn air of drunken gravity, +"that I will quarrel no more this night either with broadcloth or tartan. +When I am off duty I'll quarrel with you or ony man in the Hielands or +Lowlands, but not on duty--no--no. I wish we heard o' these red-coats. If +it had been to do onything against King James, we wad hae seen them lang +syne--but when it's to keep the peace o' the country they can lie as +lound as their neighbours." + +As he spoke we heard the measured footsteps of a body of infantry on the +march; and an officer, followed by two or three files of soldiers, +entered the apartment. He spoke in an English accent, which was very +pleasant to my ears, now so long accustomed to the varying brogue of the +Highland and Lowland Scotch.--"You are, I suppose, Major Galbraith, of +the squadron of Lennox Militia, and these are the two Highland gentlemen +with whom I was appointed to meet in this place?" + +They assented, and invited the officer to take some refreshments, which +he declined.--"I have been too late, gentlemen, and am desirous to make +up time. I have orders to search for and arrest two persons guilty of +treasonable practices." + +"We'll wash our hands o' that," said Inverashalloch. "I came here wi' my +men to fight against the red MacGregor that killed my cousin, seven times +removed, Duncan MacLaren, in Invernenty;* but I will hae nothing to do +touching honest gentlemen that may be gaun through the country on their +ain business." + +* This, as appears from the introductory matter to this Tale, is an +anachronism. The slaughter of MacLaren, a retainer of the chief of +Appine, by the MacGregors, did not take place till after Rob Roy's death, +since it happened in 1736. + +"Nor I neither," said Iverach. + +Major Galbraith took up the matter more solemnly, and, premising his +oration with a hiccup, spoke to the following purpose:-- + +"I shall say nothing against King George, Captain, because, as it +happens, my commission may rin in his name--But one commission being +good, sir, does not make another bad; and some think that James may be +just as good a name as George. There's the king that is--and there's the +king that suld of right be--I say, an honest man may and suld be loyal to +them both, Captain. But I am of the Lord Lieutenant's opinion for the +time, as it becomes a militia officer and a depute-lieutenant--and about +treason and all that, it's lost time to speak of it--least said is sunest +mended." + +"I am sorry to see how you have been employing your time, sir," replied +the English officer--as indeed the honest gentleman's reasoning had a +strong relish of the liquor he had been drinking--"and I could wish, sir, +it had been otherwise on an occasion of this consequence. I would +recommend to you to try to sleep for an hour.--Do these gentlemen belong +to your party?"--looking at the Bailie and me, who, engaged in eating our +supper, had paid little attention to the officer on his entrance. + +"Travellers, sir," said Galbraith--"lawful travellers by sea and land, as +the prayer-book hath it." + +"My instructions." said the Captain, taking a light to survey us closer, +"are to place under arrest an elderly and a young person--and I think +these gentlemen answer nearly the description." + +"Take care what you say, sir," said Mr. Jarvie; "it shall not be your red +coat nor your laced hat shall protect you, if you put any affront on me. +I'se convene ye baith in an action of scandal and false imprisonment--I +am a free burgess and a magistrate o' Glasgow; Nicol Jarvie is my name, +sae was my father's afore me--I am a bailie, be praised for the honour, +and my father was a deacon." + +"He was a prick-eared cur," said Major Galbraith, "and fought agane the +King at Bothwell Brigg." + +"He paid what he ought and what he bought, Mr. Galbraith," said the +Bailie, "and was an honester man than ever stude on your shanks." + +"I have no time to attend to all this," said the officer; "I must +positively detain you, gentlemen, unless you can produce some respectable +security that you are loyal subjects." + +"I desire to be carried before some civil magistrate," said the Bailie-- +"the sherra or the judge of the bounds;--I am not obliged to answer every +red-coat that speers questions at me." + +"Well, sir, I shall know how to manage you if you are silent--And you, +sir" (to me), "what may your name be?" + +"Francis Osbaldistone, sir." + +"What, a son of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone of Northumberland?" + +"No, sir," interrupted the Bailie; "a son of the great William +Osbaldistone of the House of Osbaldistone and Tresham, Crane-Alley, +London." + +"I am afraid, sir," said the officer, "your name only increases the +suspicions against you, and lays me under the necessity of requesting +that you will give up what papers you have in charge." + +I observed the Highlanders look anxiously at each other when this +proposal was made. + +"I had none," I replied, "to surrender." + +The officer commanded me to be disarmed and searched. To have resisted +would have been madness. I accordingly gave up my arms, and submitted to +a search, which was conducted as civilly as an operation of the kind well +could. They found nothing except the note which I had received that night +through the hand of the landlady. + +"This is different from what I expected," said the officer; "but it +affords us good grounds for detaining you. Here I find you in written +communication with the outlawed robber, Robert MacGregor Campbell, who +has been so long the plague of this district--How do you account for +that?" + +"Spies of Rob!" said Inverashalloch. "We wad serve them right to strap +them up till the neist tree." + +"We are gaun to see after some gear o' our ain, gentlemen," said the +Bailie, "that's fa'en into his hands by accident--there's nae law agane a +man looking after his ain, I hope?" + +"How did you come by this letter?" said the officer, addressing himself +to me. + +I could not think of betraying the poor woman who had given it to me, and +remained silent. + +"Do you know anything of it, fellow?" said the officer, looking at +Andrew, whose jaws were chattering like a pair of castanets at the +threats thrown out by the Highlander. + +"O ay, I ken a' about it--it was a Hieland loon gied the letter to that +lang-tongued jaud the gudewife there; I'll be sworn my maister ken'd +naething about it. But he's wilfu' to gang up the hills and speak wi' +Rob; and oh, sir, it wad be a charity just to send a wheen o' your +red-coats to see him safe back to Glasgow again whether he will or no-- +And ye can keep Mr. Jarvie as lang as ye like--He's responsible enough +for ony fine ye may lay on him--and so's my master for that matter; for +me, I'm just a puir gardener lad, and no worth your steering." + +"I believe," said the officer, "the best thing I can do is to send these +persons to the garrison under an escort. They seem to be in immediate +correspondence with the enemy, and I shall be in no respect answerable +for suffering them to be at liberty. Gentlemen, you will consider +yourselves as my prisoners. So soon as dawn approaches, I will send you +to a place of security. If you be the persons you describe yourselves, it +will soon appear, and you will sustain no great inconvenience from being +detained a day or two. I can hear no remonstrances," he continued, +turning away from the Bailie, whose mouth was open to address him; "the +service I am on gives me no time for idle discussions." + +"Aweel, aweel, sir," said the Bailie, "you're welcome to a tune on your +ain fiddle; but see if I dinna gar ye dance till't afore a's dune." + +An anxious consultation now took place between the officer and the +Highlanders, but carried on in so low a tone, that it was impossible to +catch the sense. So soon as it was concluded they all left the house. At +their departure, the Bailie thus expressed himself:--"Thae Hielandmen are +o' the westland clans, and just as light-handed as their neighbours, an +a' tales be true, and yet ye see they hae brought them frae the head o' +Argyleshire to make war wi' puir Rob for some auld ill-will that they hae +at him and his sirname. And there's the Grahames, and the Buchanans, and +the Lennox gentry, a' mounted and in order--It's weel ken'd their +quarrel; and I dinna blame them--naebody likes to lose his kye. And then +there's sodgers, puir things, hoyed out frae the garrison at a' body's +bidding--Puir Rob will hae his hands fu' by the time the sun comes ower +the hill. Weel--it's wrang for a magistrate to be wishing onything agane +the course o' justice, but deil o' me an I wad break my heart to hear +that Rob had gien them a' their paiks!" + + + + CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + + + + --General, + Hear me, and mark me well, and look upon me + Directly in my face--my woman's face-- + See if one fear, one shadow of a terror, + One paleness dare appear, but from my anger, + To lay hold on your mercies. + Bonduca. + +We were permitted to slumber out the remainder of the night in the best +manner that the miserable accommodations of the alehouse permitted. The +Bailie, fatigued with his journey and the subsequent scenes--less +interested also in the event of our arrest, which to him could only be a +matter of temporary inconvenience--perhaps less nice than habit had +rendered me about the cleanliness or decency of his couch,--tumbled +himself into one of the cribs which I have already described, and soon +was heard to snore soundly. A broken sleep, snatched by intervals, while +I rested my head upon the table, was my only refreshment. In the course +of the night I had occasion to observe that there seemed to be some doubt +and hesitation in the motions of the soldiery. Men were sent out, as if +to obtain intelligence, and returned apparently without bringing any +satisfactory information to their commanding officer. He was obviously +eager and anxious, and again despatched small parties of two or three +men, some of whom, as I could understand from what the others whispered +to each other, did not return again to the Clachan. + +The morning had broken, when a corporal and two men rushed into the hut, +dragging after them, in a sort of triumph, a Highlander, whom I +immediately recognised as my acquaintance the ex-turnkey. The Bailie, who +started up at the noise with which they entered, immediately made the +same discovery, and exclaimed--"Mercy on us! they hae grippit the puir +creature Dougal.--Captain, I will put in bail--sufficient bail, for that +Dougal creature." + +To this offer, dictated undoubtedly by a grateful recollection of the +late interference of the Highlander in his behalf, the Captain only +answered by requesting Mr. Jarvie to "mind his own affairs, and remember +that he was himself for the present a prisoner." + +"I take you to witness, Mr. Osbaldistone," said the Bailie, who was +probably better acquainted with the process in civil than in military +cases, "that he has refused sufficient bail. It's my opinion that the +creature Dougal will have a good action of wrongous imprisonment and +damages agane him, under the Act seventeen hundred and one, and I'll see +the creature righted." + +The officer, whose name I understood was Thornton, paying no attention to +the Bailie's threats or expostulations, instituted a very close inquiry +into Dougal's life and conversation, and compelled him to admit, though +with apparent reluctance, the successive facts,--that he knew Rob Roy +MacGregor--that he had seen him within these twelve months--within these +six months--within this month--within this week; in fine, that he had +parted from him only an hour ago. All this detail came like drops of +blood from the prisoner, and was, to all appearance, only extorted by the +threat of a halter and the next tree, which Captain Thornton assured him +should be his doom, if he did not give direct and special information. + +"And now, my friend," said the officer, "you will please inform me how +many men your master has with him at present." + +Dougal looked in every direction except at the querist, and began to +answer, "She canna just be sure about that." + +"Look at me, you Highland dog," said the officer, "and remember your life +depends on your answer. How many rogues had that outlawed scoundrel with +him when you left him?" + +"Ou, no aboon sax rogues when I was gane." + +"And where are the rest of his banditti?" + +"Gane wi' the Lieutenant agane ta westland carles." + +"Against the westland clans?" said the Captain. "Umph--that is likely +enough; and what rogue's errand were you despatched upon?" + +"Just to see what your honour and ta gentlemen red-coats were doing doun +here at ta Clachan." + +"The creature will prove fause-hearted, after a'," said the Bailie, who +by this time had planted himself close behind me; "it's lucky I didna pit +mysell to expenses anent him." + +"And now, my friend," said the Captain, "let us understand each other. +You have confessed yourself a spy, and should string up to the next tree +--But come, if you will do me one good turn, I will do you another. You, +Donald--you shall just, in the way of kindness, carry me and a small +party to the place where you left your master, as I wish to speak a few +words with him on serious affairs; and I'll let you go about your +business, and give you five guineas to boot." + +"Oigh! oigh!" exclaimed Dougal, in the extremity of distress and +perplexity; "she canna do tat--she canna do tat; she'll rather be +hanged." + +"Hanged, then, you shall be, my friend" said the officer; "and your blood +be upon your own head. Corporal Cramp, do you play Provost-Marshal--away +with him!" + +The corporal had confronted poor Dougal for some time, ostentatiously +twisting a piece of cord which he had found in the house into the form of +a halter. He now threw it about the culprit's neck, and, with the +assistance of two soldiers, had dragged Dougal as far as the door, when, +overcome with the terror of immediate death, he exclaimed, "Shentlemans, +stops--stops! She'll do his honour's bidding--stops!" + +"Awa' wi' the creature!" said the Bailie, "he deserves hanging mair now +than ever; awa' wi' him, corporal. Why dinna ye tak him awa'?" + +"It's my belief and opinion, honest gentleman," said the corporal, "that +if you were going to be hanged yourself, you would be in no such d--d +hurry." + +This by-dialogue prevented my hearing what passed between the prisoner +and Captain Thornton; but I heard the former snivel out, in a very +subdued tone, "And ye'll ask her to gang nae farther than just to show ye +where the MacGregor is?--Ohon! ohon!" + +"Silence your howling, you rascal--No; I give you my word I will ask you +to go no farther.--Corporal, make the men fall in, in front of the +houses. Get out these gentlemen's horses; we must carry them with us. I +cannot spare any men to guard them here. Come, my lads, get under arms." + +The soldiers bustled about, and were ready to move. We were led out, +along with Dougal, in the capacity of prisoners. As we left the hut, I +heard our companion in captivity remind the Captain of "ta foive +kuineas." + +"Here they are for you," said the officer, putting gold into his hand; +"but observe, that if you attempt to mislead me, I will blow your brains +out with my own hand." + +"The creature," said the Bailie, "is waur than I judged him--it is a +warldly and a perfidious creature. O the filthy lucre of gain that men +gies themsells up to! My father the deacon used to say, the penny siller +slew mair souls than the naked sword slew bodies." + +The landlady now approached, and demanded payment of her reckoning, +including all that had been quaffed by Major Galbraith and his Highland +friends. The English officer remonstrated, but Mrs. MacAlpine declared, +if "she hadna trusted to his honour's name being used in their company, +she wad never hae drawn them a stoup o' liquor; for Mr. Galbraith, she +might see him again, or she might no, but weel did she wot she had sma' +chance of seeing her siller--and she was a puir widow, had naething but +her custom to rely on." + +Captain Thornton put a stop to her remonstrances by paying the charge, +which was only a few English shillings, though the amount sounded very +formidable in Scottish denominations. The generous officer would have +included Mr. Jarvie and me in this general acquittance; but the Bailie, +disregarding an intimation from the landlady to "make as muckle of the +Inglishers as we could, for they were sure to gie us plague eneugh," went +into a formal accounting respecting our share of the reckoning, and paid +it accordingly. The Captain took the opportunity to make us some slight +apology for detaining us. "If we were loyal and peaceable subjects," he +said, "we would not regret being stopt for a day, when it was essential +to the king's service; if otherwise, he was acting according to his +duty." + +We were compelled to accept an apology which it would have served no +purpose to refuse, and we sallied out to attend him on his march. + +I shall never forget the delightful sensation with which I exchanged the +dark, smoky, smothering atmosphere of the Highland hut, in which we had +passed the night so uncomfortably, for the refreshing fragrance of the +morning air, and the glorious beams of the rising sun, which, from a +tabernacle of purple and golden clouds, were darted full on such a scene +of natural romance and beauty as had never before greeted my eyes. To the +left lay the valley, down which the Forth wandered on its easterly +course, surrounding the beautiful detached hill, with all its garland of +woods. On the right, amid a profusion of thickets, knolls, and crags, lay +the bed of a broad mountain lake, lightly curled into tiny waves by the +breath of the morning breeze, each glittering in its course under the +influence of the sunbeams. High hills, rocks, and banks, waving with +natural forests of birch and oak, formed the borders of this enchanting +sheet of water; and, as their leaves rustled to the wind and twinkled in +the sun, gave to the depth of solitude a sort of life and vivacity. Man +alone seemed to be placed in a state of inferiority, in a scene where all +the ordinary features of nature were raised and exalted. The miserable +little _bourocks,_ as the Bailie termed them, of which about a dozen +formed the village called the Clachan of Aberfoil, were composed of loose +stones, cemented by clay instead of mortar, and thatched by turfs, laid +rudely upon rafters formed of native and unhewn birches and oaks from the +woods around. The roofs approached the ground so nearly, that Andrew +Fairservice observed we might have ridden over the village the night +before, and never found out we were near it, unless our horses' feet had +"gane through the riggin'." + +From all we could see, Mrs. MacAlpine's house, miserable as were the +quarters it afforded, was still by far the best in the hamlet; and I dare +say (if my description gives you any curiosity to see it) you will hardly +find it much improved at the present day, for the Scotch are not a people +who speedily admit innovation, even when it comes in the shape of +improvement.* + +* Note I. Clachan of Aberfoil. + +The inhabitants of these miserable dwellings were disturbed by the noise +of our departure; and as our party of about twenty soldiers drew up in +rank before marching off, we were reconnoitred by many a beldam from the +half-opened door of her cottage. As these sibyls thrust forth their grey +heads, imperfectly covered with close caps of flannel, and showed their +shrivelled brows, and long skinny arms, with various gestures, shrugs, +and muttered expressions in Gaelic addressed to each other, my +imagination recurred to the witches of Macbeth, and I imagined I read in +the features of these crones the malevolence of the weird sisters. The +little children also, who began to crawl forth, some quite naked, and +others very imperfectly covered with tatters of tartan stuff, clapped +their tiny hands, and grinned at the English soldiers, with an expression +of national hate and malignity which seemed beyond their years. I +remarked particularly that there were no men, nor so much as a boy of ten +or twelve years old, to be seen among the inhabitants of a village which +seemed populous in proportion to its extent; and the idea certainly +occurred to me, that we were likely to receive from them, in the course +of our journey, more effectual tokens of ill-will than those which +lowered on the visages, and dictated the murmurs, of the women and +children. It was not until we commenced our march that the malignity of +the elder persons of the community broke forth into expressions. The last +file of men had left the village, to pursue a small broken track, formed +by the sledges in which the natives transported their peats and turfs, +and which led through the woods that fringed the lower end of the lake, +when a shrilly sound of female exclamation broke forth, mixed with the +screams of children, the whooping of boys, and the clapping of hands, +with which the Highland dames enforce their notes, whether of rage or +lamentation. I asked Andrew, who looked as pale as death, what all this +meant. + +"I doubt we'll ken that ower sune," said he. "Means? It means that the +Highland wives are cursing and banning the red-coats, and wishing +ill-luck to them, and ilka ane that ever spoke the Saxon tongue. I have +heard wives flyte in England and Scotland--it's nae marvel to hear them +flyte ony gate; but sic ill-scrapit tongues as thae Highland carlines'-- +and sic grewsome wishes, that men should be slaughtered like sheep--and +that they may lapper their hands to the elbows in their heart's blude-- +and that they suld dee the death of Walter Cuming of Guiyock,* wha hadna +as muckle o' him left thegither as would supper a messan-dog--sic awsome +language as that I ne'er heard out o' a human thrapple;--and, unless the +deil wad rise amang them to gie them a lesson, I thinkna that their +talent at cursing could be amended. + +* A great feudal oppressor, who, riding on some cruel purpose through the +forest of Guiyock, was thrown from his horse, and his foot being caught +in the stirrup, was dragged along by the frightened animal till he was +torn to pieces. The expression, "Walter of Guiyock's curse," is +proverbial. + +The warst o't is, they bid us aye gang up the loch, and see what we'll +land in." + +Adding Andrew's information to what I had myself observed, I could scarce +doubt that some attack was meditated upon our party. The road, as we +advanced, seemed to afford every facility for such an unpleasant +interruption. At first it winded apart from the lake through marshy +meadow ground, overgrown with copsewood, now traversing dark and close +thickets which would have admitted an ambuscade to be sheltered within a +few yards of our line of march, and frequently crossing rough mountain +torrents, some of which took the soldiers up to the knees, and ran with +such violence, that their force could only be stemmed by the strength of +two or three men holding fast by each other's arms. It certainly appeared +to me, though altogether unacquainted with military affairs, that a sort +of half-savage warriors, as I had heard the Highlanders asserted to be, +might, in such passes as these, attack a party of regular forces with +great advantage. The Bailie's good sense and shrewd observation had led +him to the same conclusion, as I understood from his requesting to speak +with the captain, whom he addressed nearly in the following terms:-- +"Captain, it's no to fleech ony favour out o' ye, for I scorn it--and +it's under protest that I reserve my action and pleas of oppression and +wrongous imprisonment;--but, being a friend to King George and his army, +I take the liberty to speer--Dinna ye think ye might tak a better time to +gang up this glen? If ye are seeking Rob Roy, he's ken'd to be better +than half a hunder men strong when he's at the fewest; an if he brings in +the Glengyle folk, and the Glenfinlas and Balquhidder lads, he may come +to gie you your kail through the reek; and it's my sincere advice, as a +king's friend, ye had better tak back again to the Clachan, for thae +women at Aberfoil are like the scarts and seamaws at the Cumries--there's +aye foul weather follows their skirting." + +"Make yourself easy, sir," replied Captain Thornton; "I am in the +execution of my orders. And as you say you are a friend to King George, +you will be glad to learn that it is impossible that this gang of +ruffians, whose license has disturbed the country so long, can escape the +measures now taken to suppress them. The horse squadron of militia, +commanded by Major Galbraith, is already joined by two or more troops of +cavalry, which will occupy all the lower passes of this wild country; +three hundred Highlanders, under the two gentlemen you saw at the inn, +are in possession of the upper part, and various strong parties from the +garrison are securing the hills and glens in different directions. Our +last accounts of Rob Roy correspond with what this fellow has confessed, +that, finding himself surrounded on all sides, he had dismissed the +greater part of his followers, with the purpose either of lying +concealed, or of making his escape through his superior knowledge of the +passes." + +"I dinna ken," said the Bailie; "there's mair brandy than brains in +Garschattachin's head this morning--And I wadna, an I were you, Captain, +rest my main dependence on the Hielandmen--hawks winna pike out hawks' +een. They may quarrel among themsells, and gie ilk ither ill names, and +maybe a slash wi' a claymore; but they are sure to join in the lang run, +against a' civilised folk, that wear breeks on their hinder ends, and hae +purses in their pouches." + +Apparently these admonitions were not altogether thrown away on Captain +Thornton. He reformed his line of march, commanded his soldiers to +unsling their firelocks and fix their bayonets, and formed an advanced +and rear-guard, each consisting of a non-commissioned officer and two +soldiers, who received strict orders to keep an alert look-out. Dougal +underwent another and very close examination, in which he steadfastly +asserted the truth of what he had before affirmed; and being rebuked on +account of the suspicious and dangerous appearance of the route by which +he was guiding them, he answered with a sort of testiness that seemed +very natural, "Her nainsell didna mak ta road; an shentlemans likit grand +roads, she suld hae pided at Glasco." + +All this passed off well enough, and we resumed our progress. + +Our route, though leading towards the lake, had hitherto been so much +shaded by wood, that we only from time to time obtained a glimpse of that +beautiful sheet of water. But the road now suddenly emerged from the +forest ground, and, winding close by the margin of the loch, afforded us +a full view of its spacious mirror, which now, the breeze having totally +subsided, reflected in still magnificence the high dark heathy mountains, +huge grey rocks, and shaggy banks, by which it is encircled. The hills +now sunk on its margin so closely, and were so broken and precipitous, as +to afford no passage except just upon the narrow line of the track which +we occupied, and which was overhung with rocks, from which we might have +been destroyed merely by rolling down stones, without much possibility of +offering resistance. Add to this, that, as the road winded round every +promontory and bay which indented the lake, there was rarely a +possibility of seeing a hundred yards before us. Our commander appeared +to take some alarm at the nature of the pass in which he was engaged, +which displayed itself in repeated orders to his soldiers to be on the +alert, and in many threats of instant death to Dougal, if he should be +found to have led them into danger. Dougal received these threats with an +air of stupid impenetrability, which might arise either from conscious +innocence, or from dogged resolution. + +"If shentlemans were seeking ta Red Gregarach," he said, "to be sure they +couldna expect to find her without some wee danger." + +Just as the Highlander uttered these words, a halt was made by the +corporal commanding the advance, who sent back one of the file who formed +it, to tell the Captain that the path in front was occupied by +Highlanders, stationed on a commanding point of particular difficulty. +Almost at the same instant a soldier from the rear came to say, that they +heard the sound of a bagpipe in the woods through which we had just +passed. Captain Thornton, a man of conduct as well as courage, instantly +resolved to force the pass in front, without waiting till he was assailed +from the rear; and, assuring his soldiers that the bagpipes which they +heard were those of the friendly Highlanders who were advancing to their +assistance, he stated to them the importance of advancing and securing +Rob Roy, if possible, before these auxiliaries should come up to divide +with them the honour, as well as the reward which was placed on the head +of this celebrated freebooter. He therefore ordered the rearguard to join +the centre, and both to close up to the advance, doubling his files so as +to occupy with his column the whole practicable part of the road, and to +present such a front as its breadth admitted. Dougal, to whom he said in +a whisper, "You dog, if you have deceived me, you shall die for it!" was +placed in the centre, between two grenadiers, with positive orders to +shoot him if he attempted an escape. The same situation was assigned to +us, as being the safest, and Captain Thornton, taking his half-pike from +the soldier who carried it, placed himself at the head of his little +detachment, and gave the word to march forward. + +The party advanced with the firmness of English soldiers. Not so Andrew +Fairservice, who was frightened out of his wits; and not so, if truth +must be told, either the Bailie or I myself, who, without feeling the +same degree of trepidation, could not with stoical indifference see our +lives exposed to hazard in a quarrel with which we had no concern. But +there was neither time for remonstrance nor remedy. + +We approached within about twenty yards of the spot where the advanced +guard had seen some appearance of an enemy. It was one of those +promontories which run into the lake, and round the base of which the +road had hitherto winded in the manner I have described. In the present +case, however, the path, instead of keeping the water's edge, sealed the +promontory by one or two rapid zigzags, carried in a broken track along +the precipitous face of a slaty grey rock, which would otherwise have +been absolutely inaccessible. On the top of this rock, only to be +approached by a road so broken, so narrow, and so precarious, the +corporal declared he had seen the bonnets and long-barrelled guns of +several mountaineers, apparently couched among the long heath and +brushwood which crested the eminence. Captain Thornton ordered him to +move forward with three files, to dislodge the supposed ambuscade, while, +at a more slow but steady pace, he advanced to his support with the rest +of his party. + +The attack which he meditated was prevented by the unexpected apparition +of a female upon the summit of the rock. + +"Stand!" she said, with a commanding tone, "and tell me what ye seek in +MacGregor's country?" + +I have seldom seen a finer or more commanding form than this woman. She +might be between the term of forty and fifty years, and had a countenance +which must once have been of a masculine cast of beauty; though now, +imprinted with deep lines by exposure to rough weather, and perhaps by +the wasting influence of grief and passion, its features were only +strong, harsh, and expressive. She wore her plaid, not drawn around her +head and shoulders, as is the fashion of the women in Scotland, but +disposed around her body as the Highland soldiers wear theirs. She had a +man's bonnet, with a feather in it, an unsheathed sword in her hand, and +a pair of pistols at her girdle. + +"It's Helen Campbell, Rob's wife," said the Bailie, in a whisper of +considerable alarm; "and there will be broken heads amang us or it's +lang." + +"What seek ye here?" she asked again of Captain Thornton, who had himself +advanced to reconnoitre. + +"We seek the outlaw, Rob Roy MacGregor Campbell," answered the officer, +"and make no war on women; therefore offer no vain opposition to the +king's troops, and assure yourself of civil treatment." + +"Ay," retorted the Amazon, "I am no stranger to your tender mercies. Ye +have left me neither name nor fame--my mother's bones will shrink aside +in their grave when mine are laid beside them--Ye have left me neither +house nor hold, blanket nor bedding, cattle to feed us, or flocks to +clothe us--Ye have taken from us all--all!--The very name of our +ancestors have ye taken away, and now ye come for our lives." + +"I seek no man's life," replied the Captain; "I only execute my orders. +If you are alone, good woman, you have nought to fear--if there are any +with you so rash as to offer useless resistance, their own blood be on +their own heads. Move forward, sergeant." + +"Forward! march!" said the non-commissioned officer. "Huzza, my boys, for +Rob Roy's head and a purse of gold." + +He quickened his pace into a run, followed by the six soldiers; but as +they attained the first traverse of the ascent, the flash of a dozen of +firelocks from various parts of the pass parted in quick succession and +deliberate aim. The sergeant, shot through the body, still struggled to +gain the ascent, raised himself by his hands to clamber up the face of +the rock, but relaxed his grasp, after a desperate effort, and falling, +rolled from the face of the cliff into the deep lake, where he perished. +Of the soldiers, three fell, slain or disabled; the others retreated on +their main body, all more or less wounded. + +"Grenadiers, to the front!" said Captain Thornton.--You are to recollect, +that in those days this description of soldiers actually carried that +destructive species of firework from which they derive their name. The +four grenadiers moved to the front accordingly. The officer commanded the +rest of the party to be ready to support them, and only saying to us, +"Look to your safety, gentlemen," gave, in rapid succession, the word to +the grenadiers--"Open your pouches--handle your grenades--blow your +matches--fall on." + +The whole advanced with a shout, headed by Captain Thornton,--the +grenadiers preparing to throw their grenades among the bushes where the +ambuscade lay, and the musketeers to support them by an instant and close +assault. Dougal, forgotten in the scuffle, wisely crept into the thicket +which overhung that part of the road where we had first halted, which he +ascended with the activity of a wild cat. I followed his example, +instinctively recollecting that the fire of the Highlanders would sweep +the open track. I clambered until out of breath; for a continued +spattering fire, in which every shot was multiplied by a thousand echoes, +the hissing of the kindled fusees of the grenades, and the successive +explosion of those missiles, mingled with the huzzas of the soldiers, and +the yells and cries of their Highland antagonists, formed a contrast +which added--I do not shame to own it--wings to my desire to reach a +place of safety. The difficulties of the ascent soon increased so much, +that I despaired of reaching Dougal, who seemed to swing himself from +rock to rock, and stump to stump, with the facility of a squirrel, and I +turned down my eyes to see what had become of my other companions. Both +were brought to a very awkward standstill. + +The Bailie, to whom I suppose fear had given a temporary share of +agility, had ascended about twenty feet from the path, when his foot +slipping, as he straddled from one huge fragment of rock to another, he +would have slumbered with his father the deacon, whose acts and words he +was so fond of quoting, but for a projecting branch of a ragged thorn, +which, catching hold of the skirts of his riding-coat, supported him in +mid-air, where he dangled not unlike to the sign of the Golden Fleece +over the door of a mercer in the Trongate of his native city. + +As for Andrew Fairservice, he had advanced with better success, until he +had attained the top of a bare cliff, which, rising above the wood, +exposed him, at least in his own opinion, to all the dangers of the +neighbouring skirmish, while, at the same time, it was of such a +precipitous and impracticable nature, that he dared neither to advance +nor retreat. Footing it up and down upon the narrow space which the top +of the cliff afforded (very like a fellow at a country-fair dancing upon +a trencher), he roared for mercy in Gaelic and English alternately, +according to the side on which the scale of victory seemed to +predominate, while his exclamations were only answered by the groans of +the Bailie, who suffered much, not only from apprehension, but from the +pendulous posture in which he hung suspended by the loins. + +On perceiving the Bailie's precarious situation, my first idea was to +attempt to render him assistance; but this was impossible without the +concurrence of Andrew, whom neither sign, nor entreaty, nor command, nor +expostulation, could inspire with courage to adventure the descent from +his painful elevation, where, like an unskilful and obnoxious minister of +state, unable to escape from the eminence to which he had presumptuously +ascended, he continued to pour forth piteous prayers for mercy, which no +one heard, and to skip to and fro, writhing his body into all possible +antic shapes to avoid the balls which he conceived to be whistling around +him. + +In a few minutes this cause of terror ceased, for the fire, at first so +well sustained, now sunk at once--a sure sign that the conflict was +concluded. To gain some spot from which I could see how the day had gone +was now my object, in order to appeal to the mercy of the victors, who, I +trusted (whichever side might be gainers), would not suffer the honest +Bailie to remain suspended, like the coffin of Mahomet, between heaven +and earth, without lending a hand to disengage him. At length, by dint of +scrambling, I found a spot which commanded a view of the field of battle. +It was indeed ended; and, as my mind already augured, from the place and +circumstances attending the contest, it had terminated in the defeat of +Captain Thornton. I saw a party of Highlanders in the act of disarming +that officer, and the scanty remainder of his party. They consisted of +about twelve men most of whom were wounded, who, surrounded by treble +their number, and without the power either to advance or retreat, exposed +to a murderous and well-aimed fire, which they had no means of returning +with effect, had at length laid down their arms by the order of their +officer, when he saw that the road in his rear was occupied, and that +protracted resistance would be only wasting the lives of his brave +followers. By the Highlanders, who fought under cover, the victory was +cheaply bought, at the expense of one man slain and two wounded by the +grenades. All this I learned afterwards. At present I only comprehended +the general result of the day, from seeing the English officer, whose +face was covered with blood, stripped of his hat and arms, and his men, +with sullen and dejected countenances which marked their deep regret, +enduring, from the wild and martial figures who surrounded them, the +severe measures to which the laws of war subject the vanquished for +security of the victors. + + + + + CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + + "Woe to the vanquished!" was stern Brenno's word, + When sunk proud Rome beneath the Gallic sword-- + "Woe to the vanquished!" when his massive blade + Bore down the scale against her ransom weigh'd; + And on the field of foughten battle still, + Woe knows no limits save the victor's will. + The Gaulliad. + +I anxiously endeavoured to distinguish Dougal among the victors. I had +little doubt that the part he had played was assumed, on purpose to lead +the English officer into the defile, and I could not help admiring the +address with which the ignorant, and apparently half-brutal savage, had +veiled his purpose, and the affected reluctance with which he had +suffered to be extracted from him the false information which it must +have been his purpose from the beginning to communicate. I foresaw we +should incur some danger on approaching the victors in the first flush of +their success, which was not unstained with cruelty; for one or two of +the soldiers, whose wounds prevented them from rising, were poniarded by +the victors, or rather by some ragged Highland boys who had mingled with +them. I concluded, therefore, it would be unsafe to present ourselves +without some mediator; and as Campbell, whom I now could not but identify +with the celebrated freebooter Rob Roy, was nowhere to be seen, I +resolved to claim the protection of his emissary, Dougal. + +After gazing everywhere in vain, I at length retraced my steps to see +what assistance I could individually render to my unlucky friend, when, +to my great joy, I saw Mr. Jarvie delivered from his state of suspense; +and though very black in the face, and much deranged in the garments, +safely seated beneath the rock, in front of which he had been so lately +suspended. I hastened to join him and offer my congratulations, which he +was at first far from receiving in the spirit of cordiality with which +they were offered. A heavy fit of coughing scarce permitted him breath +enough to express the broken hints which he threw out against my +sincerity. + +"Uh! uh! uh! uh!--they say a friend--uh! uh!--a friend sticketh closer +than a brither--uh! uh! uh! When I came up here, Maister Osbaldistone, to +this country, cursed of God and man--uh! uh--Heaven forgie me for +swearing--on nae man's errand but yours, d'ye think it was fair--uh! uh! +uh!--to leave me, first, to be shot or drowned atween red-wad Highlanders +and red-coats; and next to be hung up between heaven and earth, like an +auld potato-bogle, without sae muckle as trying--uh! uh!--sae muckle as +trying to relieve me?" + +I made a thousand apologies, and laboured so hard to represent the +impossibility of my affording him relief by my own unassisted exertions, +that at length I succeeded, and the Bailie, who was as placable as hasty +in his temper, extended his favour to me once more. I next took the +liberty of asking him how he had contrived to extricate himself. + +"Me extricate! I might hae hung there till the day of judgment or I could +hae helped mysell, wi' my head hinging down on the tae side, and my heels +on the tother, like the yarn-scales in the weigh-house. It was the +creature Dougal that extricated me, as he did yestreen; he cuttit aff the +tails o' my coat wi' his durk, and another gillie and him set me on my +legs as cleverly as if I had never been aff them. But to see what a thing +gude braid claith is! Had I been in ony o' your rotten French camlets +now, or your drab-de-berries, it would hae screeded like an auld rag wi' +sic a weight as mine. But fair fa' the weaver that wrought the weft o't-- +I swung and bobbit yonder as safe as a gabbart* that's moored by a +three-ply cable at the Broomielaw." + +* A kind of lighter used in the river Clyde,--probably from the French * +_abare._ + +I now inquired what had become of his preserver. + +"The creature," so he continued to call the Highlandman, "contrived to +let me ken there wad be danger in gaun near the leddy till he came back, +and bade me stay here. I am o' the mind," he continued, "that he's +seeking after you--it's a considerate creature--and troth, I wad swear he +was right about the leddy, as he ca's her, too--Helen Campbell was nane +o' the maist douce maidens, nor meekest wives neither, and folk say that +Rob himsell stands in awe o' her. I doubt she winna ken me, for it's mony +years since we met--I am clear for waiting for the Dougal creature or we +gang near her." + +I signified my acquiescence in this reasoning; but it was not the will of +fate that day that the Bailie's prudence should profit himself or any one +else. + +Andrew Fairservice, though he had ceased to caper on the pinnacle upon +the cessation of the firing, which had given occasion for his whimsical +exercise, continued, as perched on the top of an exposed cliff, too +conspicuous an object to escape the sharp eyes of the Highlanders, when +they had time to look a little around them. We were apprized he was +discovered, by a wild and loud halloo set up among the assembled victors, +three or four of whom instantly plunged into the copsewood, and ascended +the rocky side of the hill in different directions towards the place +where they had discovered this whimsical apparition. + +Those who arrived first within gunshot of poor Andrew, did not trouble +themselves to offer him any assistance in the ticklish posture of his +affairs, but levelling their long Spanish-barrelled guns, gave him to +understand, by signs which admitted of no misconstruction, that he must +contrive to come down and submit himself to their mercy, or to be marked +at from beneath, like a regimental target set up for ball-practice. With +such a formidable hint for venturous exertion, Andrew Fairservice could +no longer hesitate; the more imminent peril overcame his sense of that +which seemed less inevitable, and he began to descend the cliff at all +risks, clutching to the ivy and oak stumps, and projecting fragments of +rock, with an almost feverish anxiety, and never failing, as +circumstances left him a hand at liberty, to extend it to the plaided +gentry below in an attitude of supplication, as if to deprecate the +discharge of their levelled firearms. In a word, the fellow, under the +influence of a counteracting motive for terror, achieved a safe descent +from his perilous eminence, which, I verily believe, nothing but the fear +of instant death could have moved him to attempt. The awkward mode of +Andrew's descent greatly amused the Highlanders below, who fired a shot +or two while he was engaged in it, without the purpose of injuring him, +as I believe, but merely to enhance the amusement they derived from his +extreme terror, and the superlative exertions of agility to which it +excited him. + +At length he attained firm and comparatively level ground--or rather, to +speak more correctly, his foot slipping at the last point of descent, he +fell on the earth at his full length, and was raised by the assistance of +the Highlanders, who stood to receive him, and who, ere he gained his +legs, stripped him not only of the whole contents of his pockets, but of +periwig, hat, coat, doublet, stockings, and shoes, performing the feat +with such admirable celerity, that, although he fell on his back a +well-clothed and decent burgher-seeming serving-man, he arose a forked, +uncased, bald-pated, beggarly-looking scarecrow. Without respect to the +pain which his undefended toes experienced from the sharp encounter of +the rocks over which they hurried him, those who had detected Andrew +proceeded to drag him downward towards the road through all the +intervening obstacles. + +In the course of their descent, Mr. Jarvie and I became exposed to their +lynx-eyed observation, and instantly half-a-dozen of armed Highlanders +thronged around us, with drawn dirks and swords pointed at our faces and +throats, and cocked pistols presented against our bodies. To have offered +resistance would have been madness, especially as we had no weapons +capable of supporting such a demonstration. We therefore submitted to our +fate; and with great roughness on the part of those who assisted at our +toilette, were in the act of being reduced to as unsophisticated a state +(to use King Lear's phrase) as the plume-less biped Andrew Fairservice, +who stood shivering between fear and cold at a few yards' distance. Good +chance, however, saved us from this extremity of wretchedness; for, just +as I had yielded up my cravat (a smart Steinkirk, by the way, and richly +laced), and the Bailie had been disrobed of the fragments of his +riding-coat--enter Dougal, and the scene was changed. By a high tone of +expostulation, mixed with oaths and threats, as far as I could conjecture +the tenor of his language from the violence of his gestures, he compelled +the plunderers, however reluctant, not only to give up their further +depredations on our property, but to restore the spoil they had already +appropriated. He snatched my cravat from the fellow who had seized it, +and twisted it (in the zeal of his restitution) around my neck with such +suffocating energy as made me think that he had not only been, during his +residence at Glasgow, a substitute of the jailor, but must moreover have +taken lessons as an apprentice of the hangman. He flung the tattered +remnants of Mr. Jarvie's coat around his shoulders, and as more +Highlanders began to flock towards us from the high road, he led the way +downwards, directing and commanding the others to afford us, but +particularly the Bailie, the assistance necessary to our descending with +comparative ease and safety. It was, however, in vain that Andrew +Fairservice employed his lungs in obsecrating a share of Dougal's +protection, or at least his interference to procure restoration of his +shoes. + +"Na, na," said Dougal in reply, "she's nae gentle pody, I trow; her +petters hae ganged parefoot, or she's muckle mista'en." And, leaving +Andrew to follow at his leisure, or rather at such leisure as the +surrounding crowd were pleased to indulge him with, he hurried us down to +the pathway in which the skirmish had been fought, and hastened to +present us as additional captives to the female leader of his band. + +We were dragged before her accordingly, Dougal fighting, struggling, +screaming, as if he were the party most apprehensive of hurt, and +repulsing, by threats and efforts, all those who attempted to take a +nearer interest in our capture than he seemed to do himself. At length we +were placed before the heroine of the day, whose appearance, as well as +those of the savage, uncouth, yet martial figures who surrounded us, +struck me, to own the truth, with considerable apprehension. I do not +know if Helen MacGregor had personally mingled in the fray, and indeed I +was afterwards given to understand the contrary; but the specks of blood +on her brow, her hands and naked arms, as well as on the blade of her +sword which she continued to hold in her hand--her flushed countenance, +and the disordered state of the raven locks which escaped from under the +red bonnet and plume that formed her head-dress, seemed all to intimate +that she had taken an immediate share in the conflict. Her keen black +eyes and features expressed an imagination inflamed by the pride of +gratified revenge, and the triumph of victory. Yet there was nothing +positively sanguinary, or cruel, in her deportment; and she reminded me, +when the immediate alarm of the interview was over, of some of the +paintings I had seen of the inspired heroines in the Catholic churches of +France. She was not, indeed, sufficiently beautiful for a Judith, nor had +she the inspired expression of features which painters have given to +Deborah, or to the wife of Heber the Kenite, at whose feet the strong +oppressor of Israel, who dwelled in Harosheth of the Gentiles, bowed +down, fell, and lay a dead man. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm by which she +was agitated gave her countenance and deportment, wildly dignified in +themselves, an air which made her approach nearly to the ideas of those +wonderful artists who gave to the eye the heroines of Scripture history. + +I was uncertain in what terms to accost a personage so uncommon, when Mr. +Jarvie, breaking the ice with a preparatory cough (for the speed with +which he had been brought into her presence had again impeded his +respiration), addressed her as follows:--"Uh! uh! &c. &c. I am very happy +to have this _joyful_ opportunity" (a quaver in his voice strongly belied +the emphasis which he studiously laid on the word joyful)--"this joyful +occasion," he resumed, trying to give the adjective a more suitable +accentuation, "to wish my kinsman Robin's wife a very good morning--Uh! +uh!--How's a' wi' ye?" (by this time he had talked himself into his usual +jog-trot manner, which exhibited a mixture of familiarity and +self-importance)--"How's a' wi' ye this lang time? Ye'll hae forgotten +me, Mrs. MacGregor Campbell, as your cousin--uh! uh!--but ye'll mind my +father, Deacon Nicol Jarvie, in the Saut Market o' Glasgow?--an honest +man he was, and a sponsible, and respectit you and yours. Sae, as I said +before, I am right glad to see you, Mrs. MacGregor Campbell, as my +kinsman's wife. I wad crave the liberty of a kinsman to salute you, but +that your gillies keep such a dolefu' fast haud o' my arms, and, to speak +Heaven's truth and a magistrate's, ye wadna be the waur of a cogfu' o' +water before ye welcomed your friends." + +There was something in the familiarity of this introduction which ill +suited the exalted state of temper of the person to whom it was +addressed, then busied with distributing dooms of death, and warm from +conquest in a perilous encounter. + +"What fellow are you," she said, "that dare to claim kindred with the +MacGregor, and neither wear his dress nor speak his language?--What are +you, that have the tongue and the habit of the hound, and yet seek to lie +down with the deer?" + +"I dinna ken," said the undaunted Bailie, "if the kindred has ever been +weel redd out to you yet, cousin--but it's ken'd, and can be prov'd. My +mother, Elspeth MacFarlane, was the wife of my father, Deacon Nicol +Jarvie--peace be wi' them baith!--and Elspeth was the daughter of Parlane +MacFarlane, at the Sheeling o' Loch Sloy. Now, this Parlane MacFarlane, +as his surviving daughter Maggy MacFarlane, _alias_ MacNab, wha married +Duncan MacNab o' Stuckavrallachan, can testify, stood as near to your +gudeman, Robert MacGregor, as in the fourth degree of kindred, for"-- + +The virago lopped the genealogical tree, by demanding haughtily, "If a +stream of rushing water acknowledged any relation with the portion +withdrawn from it for the mean domestic uses of those who dwelt on its +banks?" + +"Vera true, kinswoman," said the Bailie; "but for a' that, the burn wad +be glad to hae the milldam back again in simmer, when the chuckie-stanes +are white in the sun. I ken weel eneugh you Hieland folk haud us Glasgow +people light and cheap for our language and our claes;--but everybody +speaks their native tongue that they learned in infancy; and it would be +a daft-like thing to see me wi' my fat wame in a short Hieland coat, and +my puir short houghs gartered below the knee, like ane o' your +lang-legged gillies. Mair by token, kinswoman," he continued, in defiance +of various intimations by which Dougal seemed to recommend silence, as +well as of the marks of impatience which the Amazon evinced at his +loquacity, "I wad hae ye to mind that the king's errand whiles comes in +the cadger's gate, and that, for as high as ye may think o' the gudeman, +as it's right every wife should honour her husband--there's Scripture +warrant for that--yet as high as ye haud him, as I was saying, I hae been +serviceable to Rob ere now;--forbye a set o' pearlins I sent yourself +when ye was gaun to be married, and when Rob was an honest weel-doing +drover, and nane o' this unlawfu' wark, wi' fighting, and flashes, and +fluff-gibs, disturbing the king's peace and disarming his soldiers." + +He had apparently touched on a key which his kinswoman could not brook. +She drew herself up to her full height, and betrayed the acuteness of her +feelings by a laugh of mingled scorn and bitterness. + +"Yes," she said, "you, and such as you, might claim a relation to us, +when we stooped to be the paltry wretches fit to exist under your +dominion, as your hewers of wood and drawers of water--to find cattle for +your banquets, and subjects for your laws to oppress and trample on. But +now we are free--free by the very act which left us neither house nor +hearth, food nor covering--which bereaved me of all--of all--and makes me +groan when I think I must still cumber the earth for other purposes than +those of vengeance. And I will carry on the work, this day has so well +commenced, by a deed that shall break all bands between MacGregor and the +Lowland churls. Here Allan--Dougal--bind these Sassenachs neck and heel +together, and throw them into the Highland Loch to seek for their +Highland kinsfolk." + +The Bailie, alarmed at this mandate, was commencing an expostulation, +which probably would have only inflamed the violent passions of the +person whom he addressed, when Dougal threw himself between them, and in +his own language, which he spoke with a fluency and rapidity strongly +contrasted by the slow, imperfect, and idiot-like manner in which he +expressed himself in English, poured forth what I doubt not was a very +animated pleading in our behalf. + +His mistress replied to him, or rather cut short his harangue, by +exclaiming in English (as if determined to make us taste in anticipation +the full bitterness of death)--"Base dog, and son of a dog, do you +dispute my commands? Should I tell ye to cut out their tongues and put +them into each other's throats, to try which would there best knap +Southron, or to tear out their hearts and put them into each other's +breasts, to see which would there best plot treason against the +MacGregor--and such things have been done of old in the day of revenge, +when our fathers had wrongs to redress--Should I command you to do this, +would it be your part to dispute my orders?" + +"To be sure, to be sure," Dougal replied, with accents of profound +submission; "her pleasure suld be done--tat's but reason; but an it were +--tat is, an it could be thought the same to her to coup the ill-faured +loon of ta red-coat Captain, and hims corporal Cramp, and twa three o' +the red-coats, into the loch, herself wad do't wi' muckle mair great +satisfaction than to hurt ta honest civil shentlemans as were friends to +the Gregarach, and came up on the Chiefs assurance, and not to do no +treason, as herself could testify." + +The lady was about to reply, when a few wild strains of a pibroch were +heard advancing up the road from Aberfoil, the same probably which had +reached the ears of Captain Thornton's rear-guard, and determined him to +force his way onward rather than return to the village, on finding the +pass occupied. The skirmish being of very short duration, the armed men +who followed this martial melody, had not, although quickening their +march when they heard the firing, been able to arrive in time sufficient +to take any share in the rencontre. The victory, therefore, was complete +without them, and they now arrived only to share in the triumph of their +countrymen. + +There was a marked difference betwixt the appearance of these new comers +and that of the party by which our escort had been defeated--and it was +greatly in favour of the former. Among the Highlanders who surrounded the +Chieftainess, if I may presume to call her so without offence to grammar, +were men in the extremity of age, boys scarce able to bear a sword, and +even women--all, in short, whom the last necessity urges to take up arms; +and it added a shade of bitter shame to the defection which clouded +Thornton's manly countenance, when he found that the numbers and position +of a foe, otherwise so despicable, had enabled them to conquer his brave +veterans. But the thirty or forty Highlanders who now joined the others, +were all men in the prime of youth or manhood, active clean-made fellows, +whose short hose and belted plaids set out their sinewy limbs to the best +advantage. Their arms were as superior to those of the first party as +their dress and appearance. The followers of the female Chief had axes, +scythes, and other antique weapons, in aid of their guns; and some had +only clubs, daggers, and long knives. But of the second party, most had +pistols at the belt, and almost all had dirks hanging at the pouches +which they wore in front. Each had a good gun in his hand, and a +broadsword by his side, besides a stout round target, made of light wood, +covered with leather, and curiously studded with brass, and having a +steel spike screwed into the centre. These hung on their left shoulder +during a march, or while they were engaged in exchanging fire with the +enemy, and were worn on their left arm when they charged with sword in +hand. + +But it was easy to see that this chosen band had not arrived from a +victory such as they found their ill-appointed companions possessed of. +The pibroch sent forth occasionally a few wailing notes expressive of a +very different sentiment from triumph; and when they appeared before the +wife of their Chieftain, it was in silence, and with downcast and +melancholy looks. They paused when they approached her, and the pipes +again sent forth the same wild and melancholy strain. + +Helen rushed towards them with a countenance in which anger was mingled +with apprehension.--"What means this, Alaster?" she said to the minstrel +--"why a lament in the moment of victory?--Robert--Hamish--where's the +MacGregor?--where's your father?" + +Her sons, who led the band, advanced with slow and irresolute steps +towards her, and murmured a few words in Gaelic, at hearing which she set +up a shriek that made the rocks ring again, in which all the women and +boys joined, clapping their hands and yelling as if their lives had been +expiring in the sound. The mountain echoes, silent since the military +sounds of battle had ceased, had now to answer these frantic and +discordant shrieks of sorrow, which drove the very night-birds from their +haunts in the rocks, as if they were startled to hear orgies more hideous +and ill-omened than their own, performed in the face of open day. + +"Taken!" repeated Helen, when the clamour had subsided--"Taken!-- +captive!--and you live to say so?--Coward dogs! did I nurse you for this, +that you should spare your blood on your father's enemies? or see him +prisoner, and come back to tell it?" + +The sons of MacGregor, to whom this expostulation was addressed, were +youths, of whom the eldest had hardly attained his twentieth year. +_Hamish,_ or James, the elder of these youths, was the tallest by a head, +and much handsomer than his brother; his light-blue eyes, with a +profusion of fair hair, which streamed from under his smart blue bonnet, +made his whole appearance a most favourable specimen of the Highland +youth. The younger was called Robert; but, to distinguish him from his +father, the Highlanders added the epithet _Oig,_ or the young. Dark hair, +and dark features, with a ruddy glow of health and animation, and a form +strong and well-set beyond his years, completed the sketch of the young +mountaineer. + +Both now stood before their mother with countenances clouded with grief +and shame, and listened, with the most respectful submission, to the +reproaches with which she loaded them. At length when her resentment +appeared in some degree to subside, the eldest, speaking in English, +probably that he might not be understood by their followers, endeavoured +respectfully to vindicate himself and his brother from his mother's +reproaches. I was so near him as to comprehend much of what he said; and, +as it was of great consequence to me to be possessed of information in +this strange crisis, I failed not to listen as attentively as I could. + +"The MacGregor," his son stated, "had been called out upon a trysting +with a Lowland hallion, who came with a token from"--he muttered the name +very low, but I thought it sounded like my own. "The MacGregor," he said, +"accepted of the invitation, but commanded the Saxon who brought the +message to be detained, as a hostage that good faith should be observed +to him. Accordingly he went to the place of appointment" (which had some +wild Highland name that I cannot remember), "attended only by Angus Breck +and Little Rory, commanding no one to follow him. Within half an hour +Angus Breck came back with the doleful tidings that the MacGregor had +been surprised and made prisoner by a party of Lennox militia, under +Galbraith of Garschattachin." He added, "that Galbraith, on being +threatened by MacGregor, who upon his capture menaced him with +retaliation on the person of the hostage, had treated the threat with +great contempt, replying, 'Let each side hang his man; we'll hang the +thief, and your catherans may hang the gauger, Rob, and the country will +be rid of two damned things at once, a wild Highlander and a revenue +officer.' Angus Breck, less carefully looked to than his master, +contrived to escape from the hands of the captors, after having been in +their custody long enough to hear this discussion, and to bring off the +news." + +"And did you learn this, you false-hearted traitor," said the wife of +MacGregor, "and not instantly rush to your father's rescue, to bring him +off, or leave your body on the place?" + +The young MacGregor modestly replied, by representing the very superior +force of the enemy, and stated, that as they made no preparation for +leaving the country, he had fallen back up the glen with the purpose of +collecting a band sufficient to attempt a rescue with some tolerable +chance of success. At length he said, "the militiamen would quarter, he +understood, in the neighbouring house of Gartartan, or the old castle in +the port of Monteith, or some other stronghold, which, although strong +and defensible, was nevertheless capable of being surprised, could they +but get enough of men assembled for the purpose." + +I understood afterwards that the rest of the freebooter's followers were +divided into two strong bands, one destined to watch the remaining +garrison of Inversnaid, a party of which, under Captain Thornton, had +been defeated; and another to show front to the Highland clans who had +united with the regular troops and Lowlanders in this hostile and +combined invasion of that mountainous and desolate territory, which lying +between the lakes of Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine, and Loch Ard, was at this +time currently called Rob Roy's, or the MacGregor country. Messengers +were despatched in great haste, to concentrate, as I supposed, their +forces, with a view to the purposed attack on the Lowlanders; and the +dejection and despair, at first visible on each countenance, gave place +to the hope of rescuing their leader, and to the thirst of vengeance. It +was under the burning influence of the latter passion that the wife of +MacGregor commanded that the hostage exchanged for his safety should be +brought into her presence. I believe her sons had kept this unfortunate +wretch out of her sight, for fear of the consequences; but if it was so, +their humane precaution only postponed his fate. They dragged forward at +her summons a wretch already half dead with terror, in whose agonised +features I recognised, to my horror and astonishment, my old acquaintance +Morris. + +He fell prostrate before the female Chief with an effort to clasp her +knees, from which she drew back, as if his touch had been pollution, so +that all he could do in token of the extremity of his humiliation, was to +kiss the hem of her plaid. I never heard entreaties for life poured forth +with such agony of spirit. The ecstasy of fear was such, that instead of +paralysing his tongue, as on ordinary occasions, it even rendered him +eloquent; and, with cheeks pale as ashes, hands compressed in agony, eyes +that seemed to be taking their last look of all mortal objects, he +protested, with the deepest oaths, his total ignorance of any design on +the person of Rob Roy, whom he swore he loved and honoured as his own +soul. In the inconsistency of his terror, he said he was but the agent of +others, and he muttered the name of Rashleigh. He prayed but for life-- +for life he would give all he had in the world: it was but life he asked +--life, if it were to be prolonged under tortures and privations: he +asked only breath, though it should be drawn in the damps of the lowest +caverns of their hills. + +It is impossible to describe the scorn, the loathing, and contempt, with +which the wife of MacGregor regarded this wretched petitioner for the +poor boon of existence. + +"I could have bid ye live," she said, "had life been to you the same +weary and wasting burden that it is to me--that it is to every noble and +generous mind. But you--wretch! you could creep through the world +unaffected by its various disgraces, its ineffable miseries, its +constantly accumulating masses of crime and sorrow: you could live and +enjoy yourself, while the noble-minded are betrayed--while nameless and +birthless villains tread on the neck of the brave and the long-descended: +you could enjoy yourself, like a butcher's dog in the shambles, battening +on garbage, while the slaughter of the oldest and best went on around +you! This enjoyment you shall not live to partake of!--you shall die, +base dog! and that before yon cloud has passed over the sun." + +She gave a brief command in Gaelic to her attendants, two of whom seized +upon the prostrate suppliant, and hurried him to the brink of a cliff +which overhung the flood. He set up the most piercing and dreadful cries +that fear ever uttered--I may well term them dreadful, for they haunted +my sleep for years afterwards. As the murderers, or executioners, call +them as you will, dragged him along, he recognised me even in that moment +of horror, and exclaimed, in the last articulate words I ever heard him +utter, "Oh, Mr. Osbaldistone, save me!--save me!" + +I was so much moved by this horrid spectacle, that, although in momentary +expectation of sharing his fate, I did attempt to speak in his behalf, +but, as might have been expected, my interference was sternly +disregarded. The victim was held fast by some, while others, binding a +large heavy stone in a plaid, tied it round his neck, and others again +eagerly stripped him of some part of his dress. Half-naked, and thus +manacled, they hurled him into the lake, there about twelve feet deep, +with a loud halloo of vindictive triumph,--above which, however, his last +death-shriek, the yell of mortal agony, was distinctly heard. The heavy +burden splashed in the dark-blue waters, and the Highlanders, with their +pole-axes and swords, watched an instant to guard, lest, extricating +himself from the load to which he was attached, the victim might have +struggled to regain the shore. But the knot had been securely bound--the +wretched man sunk without effort; the waters, which his fall had +disturbed, settled calmly over him, and the unit of that life for which +he had pleaded so strongly, was for ever withdrawn from the sum of human +existence. + + + + + CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + + + And be he safe restored ere evening set, + Or, if there's vengeance in an injured heart, + And power to wreak it in an armed hand, + Your land shall ache for't. + Old Play. + +I know not why it is that a single deed of violence and cruelty affects +our nerves more than when these are exercised on a more extended scale. I +had seen that day several of my brave countrymen fall in battle: it +seemed to me that they met a lot appropriate to humanity, and my bosom, +though thrilling with interest, was affected with nothing of that +sickening horror with which I beheld the unfortunate Morris put to death +without resistance, and in cold blood. I looked at my companion, Mr. +Jarvie, whose face reflected the feelings which were painted in mine. +Indeed he could not so suppress his horror, but that the words escaped +him in a low and broken whisper,-- + +"I take up my protest against this deed, as a bloody and cruel murder--it +is a cursed deed, and God will avenge it in his due way and time." + +"Then you do not fear to follow?" said the virago, bending on him a look +of death, such as that with which a hawk looks at his prey ere he +pounces. + +"Kinswoman," said the Bailie, "nae man willingly wad cut short his thread +of life before the end o' his pirn was fairly measured off on the +yarn-winles--And I hae muckle to do, an I be spared, in this warld-- +public and private business, as weel that belonging to the magistracy as +to my ain particular; and nae doubt I hae some to depend on me, as puir +Mattie, wha is an orphan--She's a far-awa' cousin o' the Laird o' +Limmerfield. Sae that, laying a' this thegither--skin for skin, yea all +that a man hath, will he give for his life." + +"And were I to set you at liberty," said the imperious dame, "what name +could you give to the drowning of that Saxon dog?" + +"Uh! uh!--hem! hem!" said the Bailie, clearing his throat as well as he +could, "I suld study to say as little on that score as might be--least +said is sunest mended." + +"But if you were called on by the courts, as you term them, of justice," +she again demanded, "what then would be your answer?" + +The Bailie looked this way and that way, like a person who meditates an +escape, and then answered in the tone of one who, seeing no means of +accomplishing a retreat, determines to stand the brunt of battle--"I see +what you are driving me to the wa' about. But I'll tell you't plain, +kinswoman,--I behoved just to speak according to my ain conscience; and +though your ain gudeman, that I wish had been here for his ain sake and +mine, as wool as the puir Hieland creature Dougal, can tell ye that Nicol +Jarvie can wink as hard at a friend's failings as onybody, yet I'se tell +ye, kinswoman, mine's ne'er be the tongue to belie my thought; and sooner +than say that yonder puir wretch was lawfully slaughtered, I wad consent +to be laid beside him--though I think ye are the first Hieland woman wad +mint sic a doom to her husband's kinsman but four times removed." + +It is probable that the tone and firmness assumed by the Bailie in his +last speech was better suited to make an impression on the hard heart of +his kinswoman than the tone of supplication he had hitherto assumed, as +gems can be cut with steel, though they resist softer metals. She +commanded us both to be placed before her. "Your name," she said to me, +"is Osbaldistone?--the dead dog, whose death you have witnessed, called +you so." + +"My name _is_ Osbaldistone," was my answer. + +"Rashleigh, then, I suppose, is your Christian name?" she pursued. + +"No,--my name is Francis." + +"But you know Rashleigh Osbaldistone," she continued. "He is your +brother, if I mistake not,--at least your kinsman and near friend." + +"He is my kinsman," I replied, "but not my friend. We were lately engaged +together in a rencontre, when we were separated by a person whom I +understand to be your husband. My blood is hardly yet dried on his sword, +and the wound on my side is yet green. I have little reason to +acknowledge him as a friend." + +"Then," she replied, "if a stranger to his intrigues, you can go in +safety to Garschattachin and his party without fear of being detained, +and carry them a message from the wife of the MacGregor?" + +I answered that I knew no reasonable cause why the militia gentlemen +should detain me; that I had no reason, on my own account, to fear being +in their hands; and that if my going on her embassy would act as a +protection to my friend and servant, who were here prisoners, "I was +ready to set out directly." I took the opportunity to say, "That I had +come into this country on her husband's invitation, and his assurance +that he would aid me in some important matters in which I was interested; +that my companion, Mr. Jarvie, had accompanied me on the same errand." + +"And I wish Mr. Jarvie's boots had been fu' o' boiling water when he drew +them on for sic a purpose," interrupted the Bailie. + +"You may read your father," said Helen MacGregor, turning to her sons, +"in what this young Saxon tells us--Wise only when the bonnet is on his +head, and the sword is in his hand, he never exchanges the tartan for the +broad-cloth, but he runs himself into the miserable intrigues of the +Lowlanders, and becomes again, after all he has suffered, their agent-- +their tool--their slave." + +"Add, madam," said I, "and their benefactor." + +"Be it so," she said; "for it is the most empty title of them all, since +he has uniformly sown benefits to reap a harvest of the most foul +ingratitude.--But enough of this. I shall cause you to be guided to the +enemy's outposts. Ask for their commander, and deliver him this message +from me, Helen MacGregor;--that if they injure a hair of MacGregor's +head, and if they do not set him at liberty within the space of twelve +hours, there is not a lady in the Lennox but shall before Christmas cry +the coronach for them she will be loath to lose,--there is not a farmer +but shall sing well-a-wa over a burnt barnyard and an empty byre,--there +is not a laird nor heritor shall lay his head on the pillow at night with +the assurance of being a live man in the morning,--and, to begin as we +are to end, so soon as the term is expired, I will send them this Glasgow +Bailie, and this Saxon Captain, and all the rest of my prisoners, each +bundled in a plaid, and chopped into as many pieces as there are checks +in the tartan." + +As she paused in her denunciation, Captain Thornton, who was within +hearing, added, with great coolness, "Present my compliments--Captain +Thornton's of the Royals, compliments--to the commanding officer, and +tell him to do his duty and secure his prisoner, and not waste a thought +upon me. If I have been fool enough to have been led into an ambuscade by +these artful savages, I am wise enough to know how to die for it without +disgracing the service. I am only sorry for my poor fellows," he said, +"that have fallen into such butcherly hands." + +"Whist! whist!" exclaimed the Bailie; "are ye weary o' your life?--Ye'll +gie _my_ service to the commanding officer, Mr. Osbaldistone--Bailie +Nicol Jarvie's service, a magistrate o' Glasgow, as his father the deacon +was before him--and tell him, here are a wheen honest men in great +trouble, and like to come to mair; and the best thing he can do for the +common good, will be just to let Rob come his wa's up the glen, and nae +mair about it. There's been some ill dune here already; but as it has +lighted chiefly on the gauger, it winna be muckle worth making a stir +about." + +With these very opposite injunctions from the parties chiefly interested +in the success of my embassy, and with the reiterated charge of the wife +of MacGregor to remember and detail every word of her injunctions, I was +at length suffered to depart; and Andrew Fairservice, chiefly, I believe, +to get rid of his clamorous supplications, was permitted to attend me. +Doubtful, however, that I might use my horse as a means of escape from my +guides, or desirous to retain a prize of some value, I was given to +understand that I was to perform my journey on foot, escorted by Hamish +MacGregor, the elder brother, who, with two followers, attended, as well +to show me the way, as to reconnoitre the strength and position of the +enemy. Dougal had been at first ordered on this party, but he contrived +to elude the service, with the purpose, as we afterwards understood, of +watching over Mr. Jarvie, whom, according to his wild principles of +fidelity, he considered as entitled to his good offices, from having once +acted in some measure as his patron or master. + +After walking with great rapidity about an hour, we arrived at an +eminence covered with brushwood, which gave us a commanding prospect down +the valley, and a full view of the post which the militia occupied. Being +chiefly cavalry, they had judiciously avoided any attempt to penetrate +the pass which had been so unsuccessfully essayed by Captain Thornton. +They had taken up their situation with some military skill, on a rising +ground in the centre of the little valley of Aberfoil, through which the +river Forth winds its earliest course, and which is formed by two ridges +of hills, faced with barricades of limestone rock, intermixed with huge +masses of breecia, or pebbles imbedded in some softer substance which has +hardened around them like mortar; and surrounded by the more lofty +mountains in the distance. These ridges, however, left the valley of +breadth enough to secure the cavalry from any sudden surprise by the +mountaineers and they had stationed sentinels and outposts at proper +distances from this main body, in every direction, so that they might +secure full time to mount and get under arms upon the least alarm. It was +not, indeed, expected at that time, that Highlanders would attack cavalry +in an open plain, though late events have shown that they may do so with +success.* + +* The affairs of Prestonpans and Falkirk are probably alluded to, which * +marks the time of writing the Memoirs as subsequent to 1745. + +When I first knew the Highlanders, they had almost a superstitious dread +of a mounted trooper, the horse being so much more fierce and imposing in +his appearance than the little shelties of their own hills, and moreover +being trained, as the more ignorant mountaineers believed, to fight with +his feet and his teeth. The appearance of the piequeted horses, feeding +in this little vale--the forms of the soldiers, as they sate, stood, or +walked, in various groups in the vicinity of the beautiful river, and of +the bare yet romantic ranges of rock which hedge in the landscape on +either side,--formed a noble foreground; while far to the eastward the +eye caught a glance of the lake of Menteith; and Stirling Castle, dimly +seen along with the blue and distant line of the Ochil Mountains, closed +the scene. + +After gazing on this landscape with great earnestness, young MacGregor +intimated to me that I was to descend to the station of the militia and +execute my errand to their commander,--enjoining me at the same time, +with a menacing gesture, neither to inform them who had guided me to that +place, nor where I had parted from my escort. Thus tutored, I descended +towards the military post, followed by Andrew, who, only retaining his +breeches and stockings of the English costume, without a hat, +bare-legged, with brogues on his feet, which Dougal had given him out of +compassion, and having a tattered plaid to supply the want of all upper +garments, looked as if he had been playing the part of a Highland +Tom-of-Bedlam. We had not proceeded far before we became visible to one +of the videttes, who, riding towards us, presented his carabine and +commanded me to stand. I obeyed, and when the soldier came up, desired to +be conducted to his commanding-officer. I was immediately brought where a +circle of officers, sitting upon the grass, seemed in attendance upon one +of superior rank. He wore a cuirass of polished steel, over which were +drawn the insignia of the ancient Order of the Thistle. My friend +Garschattachin, and many other gentlemen, some in uniform, others in +their ordinary dress, but all armed and well attended, seemed to receive +their orders from this person of distinction. Many servants in rich +liveries, apparently a part of his household, were also in waiting. + +Having paid to this nobleman the respect which his rank appeared to +demand, I acquainted him that I had been an involuntary witness to the +king's soldiers having suffered a defeat from the Highlanders at the pass +of Loch-Ard (such I had learned was the name of the place where Mr. +Thornton was made prisoner), and that the victors threatened every +species of extremity to those who had fallen into their power, as well as +to the Low Country in general, unless their Chief, who had that morning +been made prisoner, were returned to them uninjured. The Duke (for he +whom I addressed was of no lower rank) listened to me with great +composure, and then replied, that he should be extremely sorry to expose +the unfortunate gentlemen who had been made prisoners to the cruelty of +the barbarians into whose hands they had fallen, but that it was folly to +suppose that he would deliver up the very author of all these disorders +and offences, and so encourage his followers in their license. "You may +return to those who sent you," he proceeded, "and inform them, that I +shall certainly cause Rob Roy Campbell, whom they call MacGregor, to be +executed, by break of day, as an outlaw taken in arms, and deserving +death by a thousand acts of violence; that I should be most justly held +unworthy of my situation and commission did I act otherwise; that I shall +know how to protect the country against their insolent threats of +violence; and that if they injure a hair of the head of any of the +unfortunate gentlemen whom an unlucky accident has thrown into their +power, I will take such ample vengeance, that the very stones of their +glens shall sing woe for it this hundred years to come!" + +I humbly begged leave to remonstrate respecting the honourable mission +imposed on me, and touched upon the obvious danger attending it, when the +noble commander replied, "that such being the case, I might send my +servant." + +"The deil be in my feet," said Andrew, without either having respect to +the presence in which he stood, or waiting till I replied--"the deil be +in my feet, if I gang my tae's length. Do the folk think I hae another +thrapple in my pouch after John Highlandman's sneeked this ane wi' his +joctaleg? or that I can dive doun at the tae side of a Highland loch and +rise at the tother, like a shell-drake? Na, na--ilk ane for himsell, and +God for us a'. Folk may just make a page o' their ain age, and serve +themsells till their bairns grow up, and gang their ain errands for +Andrew. Rob Roy never came near the parish of Dreepdaily, to steal either +pippin or pear frae me or mine." + +Silencing my follower with some difficulty, I represented to the Duke the +great danger Captain Thornton and Mr. Jarvie would certainly be exposed +to, and entreated he would make me the bearer of such modified terms as +might be the means of saving their lives. I assured him I should decline +no danger if I could be of service; but from what I had heard and seen, I +had little doubt they would be instantly murdered should the chief of the +outlaws suffer death. + +The Duke was obviously much affected. "It was a hard case," he said, "and +he felt it as such; but he had a paramount duty to perform to the +country--Rob Roy must die!" + +I own it was not without emotion that I heard this threat of instant +death to my acquaintance Campbell, who had so often testified his +good-will towards me. Nor was I singular in the feeling, for many of +those around the Duke ventured to express themselves in his favour. "It +would be more advisable," they said, "to send him to Stirling Castle, and +there detain him a close prisoner, as a pledge for the submission and +dispersion of his gang. It were a great pity to expose the country to be +plundered, which, now that the long nights approached, it would be found +very difficult to prevent, since it was impossible to guard every point, +and the Highlanders were sure to select those that were left exposed." +They added, that there was great hardship in leaving the unfortunate +prisoners to the almost certain doom of massacre denounced against them, +which no one doubted would be executed in the first burst of revenge. + +Garschattachin ventured yet farther, confiding in the honour of the +nobleman whom he addressed, although he knew he had particular reasons +for disliking their prisoner. "Rob Roy," he said, "though a kittle +neighbour to the Low Country, and particularly obnoxious to his Grace, +and though he maybe carried the catheran trade farther than ony man o' +his day, was an auld-farrand carle, and there might be some means of +making him hear reason; whereas his wife and sons were reckless fiends, +without either fear or mercy about them, and, at the head of a' his +limmer loons, would be a worse plague to the country than ever he had +been." + +"Pooh! pooh!" replied his Grace, "it is the very sense and cunning of +this fellow which has so long maintained his reign--a mere Highland +robber would have been put down in as many weeks as he has flourished +years. His gang, without him, is no more to be dreaded as a permanent +annoyance--it will no longer exist--than a wasp without its head, which +may sting once perhaps, but is instantly crushed into annihilation." + +Garschattachin was not so easily silenced. "I am sure, my Lord Duke," he +replied, "I have no favour for Rob, and he as little for me, seeing he +has twice cleaned out my ain byres, beside skaith amang my tenants; but, +however"-- + +"But, however, Garschattachin," said the Duke, with a smile of peculiar +expression, "I fancy you think such a freedom may be pardoned in a +friend's friend, and Rob's supposed to be no enemy to Major Galbraith's +friends over the water." + +"If it be so, my lord," said Garschattachin, in the same tone of +jocularity, "it's no the warst thing I have heard of him. But I wish we +heard some news from the clans, that we have waited for sae lang. I vow +to God they'll keep a Hielandman's word wi' us--I never ken'd them +better--it's ill drawing boots upon trews." + +"I cannot believe it," said the Duke. "These gentlemen are known to be +men of honour, and I must necessarily suppose they are to keep their +appointment. Send out two more horse-men to look for our friends. We +cannot, till their arrival, pretend to attack the pass where Captain +Thornton has suffered himself to be surprised, and which, to my +knowledge, ten men on foot might make good against a regiment of the best +horse in Europe--Meanwhile let refreshments be given to the men." + +I had the benefit of this last order, the more necessary and acceptable, +as I had tasted nothing since our hasty meal at Aberfoil the evening +before. The videttes who had been despatched returned without tidings of +the expected auxiliaries, and sunset was approaching, when a Highlander +belonging to the clans whose co-operation was expected, appeared as the +bearer of a letter, which he delivered to the Duke with a most profound +conge'. + +"Now will I wad a hogshead of claret," said Garschattachin, "that this is +a message to tell us that these cursed Highlandmen, whom we have fetched +here at the expense of so much plague and vexation, are going to draw +off, and leave us to do our own business if we can." + +"It is even so, gentlemen," said the Duke, reddening with indignation, +after having perused the letter, which was written upon a very dirty +scrap of paper, but most punctiliously addressed, "For the much-honoured +hands of Ane High and Mighty Prince, the Duke," &c. &c. &c. "Our allies," +continued the Duke, "have deserted us, gentlemen, and have made a +separate peace with the enemy." + +"It's just the fate of all alliances," said Garschattachin, "the Dutch +were gaun to serve us the same gate, if we had not got the start of them +at Utrecht." + +"You are facetious, air," said the Duke, with a frown which showed how +little he liked the pleasantry; "but our business is rather of a grave +cut just now.--I suppose no gentleman would advise our attempting to +penetrate farther into the country, unsupported either by friendly +Highlanders, or by infantry from Inversnaid?" + +A general answer announced that the attempt would be perfect madness. + +"Nor would there be great wisdom," the Duke added, "in remaining exposed +to a night-attack in this place. I therefore propose that we should +retreat to the house of Duchray and that of Gartartan, and keep safe and +sure watch and ward until morning. But before we separate, I will examine +Rob Roy before you all, and make you sensible, by your own eyes and ears, +of the extreme unfitness of leaving him space for farther outrage." He +gave orders accordingly, and the prisoner was brought before him, his +arms belted down above the elbow, and secured to his body by a +horse-girth buckled tight behind him. Two non-commissioned officers had +hold of him, one on each side, and two file of men with carabines and +fixed bayonets attended for additional security. + +I had never seen this man in the dress of his country, which set in a +striking point of view the peculiarities of his form. A shock-head of red +hair, which the hat and periwig of the Lowland costume had in a great +measure concealed, was seen beneath the Highland bonnet, and verified the +epithet of _Roy,_ or Red, by which he was much better known in the Low +Country than by any other, and is still, I suppose, best remembered. The +justice of the appellation was also vindicated by the appearance of that +part of his limbs, from the bottom of his kilt to the top of his short +hose, which the fashion of his country dress left bare, and which was +covered with a fell of thick, short, red hair, especially around his +knees, which resembled in this respect, as well as from their sinewy +appearance of extreme strength, the limbs of a red-coloured Highland +bull. Upon the whole, betwixt the effect produced by the change of dress, +and by my having become acquainted with his real and formidable +character, his appearance had acquired to my eyes something so much +wilder and more striking than it before presented, that I could scarce +recognise him to be the same person. + +His manner was bold, unconstrained unless by the actual bonds, haughty, +and even dignified. He bowed to the Duke, nodded to Garschattachin and +others, and showed some surprise at seeing me among the party. + +"It is long since we have met, Mr. Campbell," said the Duke. + +"It is so, my Lord Duke; I could have wished it had been" (looking at the +fastening on his arms) "when I could have better paid the compliments I +owe to your Grace;--but there's a gude time coming." + +"No time like the time present, Mr. Campbell," answered the Duke, "for +the hours are fast flying that must settle your last account with all +mortal affairs. I do not say this to insult your distress; but you must +be aware yourself that you draw near the end of your career. I do not +deny that you may sometimes have done less harm than others of your +unhappy trade, and that you may occasionally have exhibited marks of +talent, and even of a disposition which promised better things. But you +are aware how long you have been the terror and the oppressor of a +peaceful neighbourhood, and by what acts of violence you have maintained +and extended your usurped authority. You know, in short, that you have +deserved death, and that you must prepare for it." + +"My Lord," said Rob Roy, "although I may well lay my misfortunes at your +Grace's door, yet I will never say that you yourself have been the wilful +and witting author of them. My Lord, if I had thought sae, your Grace +would not this day have been sitting in judgment on me; for you have been +three times within good rifle distance of me when you were thinking but +of the red deer, and few people have ken'd me miss my aim. But as for +them that have abused your Grace's ear, and set you up against a man that +was ance as peacefu' a man as ony in the land, and made your name the +warrant for driving me to utter extremity,--I have had some amends of +them, and, for a' that your Grace now says, I expect to live to hae +mair." + +"I know," said the Duke, in rising anger, "that you are a determined and +impudent villain, who will keep his oath if he swears to mischief; but it +shall be my care to prevent you. You have no enemies but your own wicked +actions." + +"Had I called myself Grahame, instead of Campbell, I might have heard +less about them," answered Rob Roy, with dogged resolution. + +"You will do well, sir," said the Duke, "to warn your wife and family and +followers, to beware how they use the gentlemen now in their hands, as I +will requite tenfold on them, and their kin and allies, the slightest +injury done to any of his Majesty's liege subjects." + +"My Lord," said Roy in answer, "none of my enemies will allege that I +have been a bloodthirsty man, and were I now wi' my folk, I could rule +four or five hundred wild Hielanders as easy as your Grace those eight or +ten lackeys and foot-boys--But if your Grace is bent to take the head +away from a house, ye may lay your account there will be misrule amang +the members.--However, come o't what like, there's an honest man, a +kinsman o' my ain, maun come by nae skaith. Is there ony body here wad do +a gude deed for MacGregor?--he may repay it, though his hands be now +tied." + +The Highlander who had delivered the letter to the Duke replied, "I'll do +your will for you, MacGregor; and I'll gang back up the glen on purpose." + +He advanced, and received from the prisoner a message to his wife, which, +being in Gaelic, I did not understand, but I had little doubt it related +to some measures to be taken for the safety of Mr. Jarvie. + +"Do you hear the fellow's impudence?" said the Duke; "he confides in his +character of a messenger. His conduct is of a piece with his master's, +who invited us to make common cause against these freebooters, and have +deserted us so soon as the MacGregors have agreed to surrender the +Balquhidder lands they were squabbling about. + + No truth in plaids, no faith in tartan trews! + Chameleon-like, they change a thousand hues." + +"Your great ancestor never said so, my Lord," answered Major Galbraith;-- +"and, with submission, neither would your Grace have occasion to say it, +wad ye but be for beginning justice at the well-head--Gie the honest man +his mear again--Let every head wear it's ane bannet, and the distractions +o' the Lennox wad be mended wi' them o' the land." + +"Hush! hush! Garschattachin," said the Duke; "this is language dangerous +for you to talk to any one, and especially to me; but I presume you +reckon yourself a privileged person. Please to draw off your party +towards Gartartan; I shall myself see the prisoner escorted to Duchray, +and send you orders tomorrow. You will please grant no leave of absence +to any of your troopers." + +"Here's auld ordering and counter-ordering," muttered Garschattachin +between his teeth. "But patience! patience!--we may ae day play at change +seats, the king's coming." + +The two troops of cavalry now formed, and prepared to march off the +ground, that they might avail themselves of the remainder of daylight to +get to their evening quarters. I received an intimation, rather than an +invitation, to attend the party; and I perceived, that, though no longer +considered as a prisoner, I was yet under some sort of suspicion. The +times were indeed so dangerous,--the great party questions of Jacobite +and Hanoverian divided the country so effectually,--and the constant +disputes and jealousies between the Highlanders and Lowlanders, besides a +number of inexplicable causes of feud which separated the great leading +families in Scotland from each other, occasioned such general suspicion, +that a solitary and unprotected stranger was almost sure to meet with +something disagreeable in the course of his travels. + +I acquiesced, however, in my destination with the best grace I could, +consoling myself with the hope that I might obtain from the captive +freebooter some information concerning Rashleigh and his machinations. I +should do myself injustice did I not add, that my views were not merely +selfish. I was too much interested in my singular acquaintance not to be +desirous of rendering him such services as his unfortunate situation +might demand, or admit of his receiving. + + + + + CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + + And when he came to broken brigg, + He bent his bow and swam; + And when he came to grass growing, + Set down his feet and ran. + Gil Morrice. + +The echoes of the rocks and ravines, on either side, now rang to the +trumpets of the cavalry, which, forming themselves into two distinct +bodies, began to move down the valley at a slow trot. That commanded by +Major Galbraith soon took to the right hand, and crossed the Forth, for +the purpose of taking up the quarters assigned them for the night, when +they were to occupy, as I understood, an old castle in the vicinity. They +formed a lively object while crossing the stream, but were soon lost in +winding up the bank on the opposite side, which was clothed with wood. + +We continued our march with considerable good order. To ensure the safe +custody of the prisoner, the Duke had caused him to be placed on +horseback behind one of his retainers, called, as I was informed, Ewan of +Brigglands, one of the largest and strongest men who were present. A +horse-belt, passed round the bodies of both, and buckled before the +yeoman's breast, rendered it impossible for Rob Roy to free himself from +his keeper. I was directed to keep close beside them, and accommodated +for the purpose with a troop-horse. We were as closely surrounded by the +soldiers as the width of the road would permit, and had always at least +one, if not two, on each side, with pistol in hand. Andrew Fairservice, +furnished with a Highland pony, of which they had made prey somewhere or +other, was permitted to ride among the other domestics, of whom a great +number attended the line of march, though without falling into the ranks +of the more regularly trained troopers. + +In this manner we travelled for a certain distance, until we arrived at a +place where we also were to cross the river. The Forth, as being the +outlet of a lake, is of considerable depth, even where less important in +point of width, and the descent to the ford was by a broken precipitous +ravine, which only permitted one horseman to descend at once. The rear +and centre of our small body halting on the bank while the front files +passed down in succession, produced a considerable delay, as is usual on +such occasions, and even some confusion; for a number of those riders, +who made no proper part of the squadron, crowded to the ford without +regularity, and made the militia cavalry, although tolerably well +drilled, partake in some degree of their own disorder. + +It was while we were thus huddled together on the bank that I heard Rob +Roy whisper to the man behind whom he was placed on horseback, "Your +father, Ewan, wadna hae carried an auld friend to the shambles, like a +calf, for a' the Dukes in Christendom." + +Ewan returned no answer, but shrugged, as one who would express by that +sign that what he was doing was none of his own choice. + +"And when the MacGregors come down the glen, and ye see toom faulds, a +bluidy hearthstone, and the fire flashing out between the rafters o' your +house, ye may be thinking then, Ewan, that were your friend Rob to the +fore, you would have had that safe which it will make your heart sair to +lose." + +Ewan of Brigglands again shrugged and groaned, but remained silent. + +"It's a sair thing," continued Rob, sliding his insinuations so gently +into Ewan's ear that they reached no other but mine, who certainly saw +myself in no shape called upon to destroy his prospects of escape--"It's +a sair thing, that Ewan of Brigglands, whom Roy MacGregor has helped with +hand, sword, and purse, suld mind a gloom from a great man mair than a +friend's life." + +Ewan seemed sorely agitated, but was silent.--We heard the Duke's voice +from the opposite bank call, "Bring over the prisoner." + +Ewan put his horse in motion, and just as I heard Roy say, "Never weigh a +MacGregor's bluid against a broken whang o' leather, for there will be +another accounting to gie for it baith here and hereafter," they passed +me hastily, and dashing forward rather precipitately, entered the water. + +"Not yet, sir--not yet," said some of the troopers to me, as I was about +to follow, while others pressed forward into the stream. + +I saw the Duke on the other side, by the waning light, engaged in +commanding his people to get into order, as they landed dispersedly, some +higher, some lower. Many had crossed, some were in the water, and the +rest were preparing to follow, when a sudden splash warned me that +MacGregor's eloquence had prevailed on Ewan to give him freedom and a +chance for life. The Duke also heard the sound, and instantly guessed its +meaning. "Dog!" he exclaimed to Ewan as he landed, "where is your +prisoner?" and, without waiting to hear the apology which the terrified +vassal began to falter forth, he fired a pistol at his head, whether +fatally I know not, and exclaimed, "Gentlemen, disperse and pursue the +villain--An hundred guineas for him that secures Rob Roy!" + +All became an instant scene of the most lively confusion. Rob Roy, +disengaged from his bonds, doubtless by Ewan's slipping the buckle of his +belt, had dropped off at the horse's tail, and instantly dived, passing +under the belly of the troop-horse which was on his left hand. But as he +was obliged to come to the surface an instant for air, the glimpse of his +tartan plaid drew the attention of the troopers, some of whom plunged +into the river, with a total disregard to their own safety, rushing, +according to the expression of their country, through pool and stream, +sometimes swimming their horses, sometimes losing them and struggling for +their own lives. Others, less zealous or more prudent, broke off in +different directions, and galloped up and down the banks, to watch the +places at which the fugitive might possibly land. The hollowing, the +whooping, the calls for aid at different points, where they saw, or +conceived they saw, some vestige of him they were seeking,--the frequent +report of pistols and carabines, fired at every object which excited the +least suspicion,--the sight of so many horsemen riding about, in and out +of the river, and striking with their long broadswords at whatever +excited their attention, joined to the vain exertions used by their +officers to restore order and regularity,--and all this in so wild a +scene, and visible only by the imperfect twilight of an autumn evening, +made the most extraordinary hubbub I had hitherto witnessed. I was indeed +left alone to observe it, for our whole cavalcade had dispersed in +pursuit, or at least to see the event of the search. Indeed, as I partly +suspected at the time, and afterwards learned with certainty, many of +those who seemed most active in their attempts to waylay and recover the +fugitive, were, in actual truth, least desirous that he should be taken, +and only joined in the cry to increase the general confusion, and to give +Rob Roy a better opportunity of escaping. + +Escape, indeed, was not difficult for a swimmer so expert as the +freebooter, as soon as he had eluded the first burst of pursuit. At one +time he was closely pressed, and several blows were made which flashed in +the water around him; the scene much resembling one of the otter-hunts +which I had seen at Osbaldistone Hall, where the animal is detected by +the hounds from his being necessitated to put his nose above the stream +to vent or breathe, while he is enabled to elude them by getting under +water again so soon as he has refreshed himself by respiration. +MacGregor, however, had a trick beyond the otter; for he contrived, when +very closely pursued, to disengage himself unobserved from his plaid, and +suffer it to float down the stream, where in its progress it quickly +attracted general attention; many of the horsemen were thus put upon a +false scent, and several shots or stabs were averted from the party for +whom they were designed. + +Once fairly out of view, the recovery of the prisoner became almost +impossible, since, in so many places, the river was rendered inaccessible +by the steepness of its banks, or the thickets of alders, poplars, and +birch, which, overhanging its banks, prevented the approach of horsemen. +Errors and accidents had also happened among the pursuers, whose task the +approaching night rendered every moment more hopeless. Some got +themselves involved in the eddies of the stream, and required the +assistance of their companions to save them from drowning. Others, hurt +by shots or blows in the confused mele'e, implored help or threatened +vengeance, and in one or two instances such accidents led to actual +strife. The trumpets, therefore, sounded the retreat, announcing that the +commanding officer, with whatsoever unwillingness, had for the present +relinquished hopes of the important prize which had thus unexpectedly +escaped his grasp, and the troopers began slowly, reluctantly, and +brawling with each other as they returned, again to assume their ranks. I +could see them darkening, as they formed on the southern bank of the +river,--whose murmurs, long drowned by the louder cries of vengeful +pursuit, were now heard hoarsely mingling with the deep, discontented, +and reproachful voices of the disappointed horsemen. + +Hitherto I had been as it were a mere spectator, though far from an +uninterested one, of the singular scene which had passed. But now I heard +a voice suddenly exclaim, "Where is the English stranger?--It was he gave +Rob Roy the knife to cut the belt." + +"Cleeve the pock-pudding to the chafts!" cried one voice. + +"Weize a brace of balls through his harn-pan!" said a second. + +"Drive three inches of cauld airn into his brisket!" shouted a third. + +And I heard several horses galloping to and fro, with the kind purpose, +doubtless, of executing these denunciations. I was immediately awakened +to the sense of my situation, and to the certainty that armed men, having +no restraint whatever on their irritated and inflamed passions, would +probably begin by shooting or cutting me down, and afterwards investigate +the justice of the action. Impressed by this belief, I leaped from my +horse, and turning him loose, plunged into a bush of alder-trees, where, +considering the advancing obscurity of the night, I thought there was +little chance of my being discovered. Had I been near enough to the Duke +to have invoked his personal protection, I would have done so; but he had +already commenced his retreat, and I saw no officer on the left bank of +the river, of authority sufficient to have afforded protection, in case +of my surrendering myself. I thought there was no point of honour which +could require, in such circumstances, an unnecessary exposure of my life. +My first idea, when the tumult began to be appeased, and the clatter of +the horses' feet was heard less frequently in the immediate vicinity of +my hiding-place, was to seek out the Duke's quarters when all should be +quiet, and give myself up to him, as a liege subject, who had nothing to +fear from his justice, and a stranger, who had every right to expect +protection and hospitality. With this purpose I crept out of my +hiding-place, and looked around me. + +The twilight had now melted nearly into darkness; a few or none of the +troopers were left on my side of the Forth, and of those who were already +across it, I only heard the distant trample of the horses' feet, and the +wailing and prolonged sound of their trumpets, which rung through the +woods to recall stragglers, Here, therefore, I was left in a situation of +considerable difficulty. I had no horse, and the deep and wheeling stream +of the river, rendered turbid by the late tumult of which its channel had +been the scene, and seeming yet more so under the doubtful influence of +an imperfect moonlight, had no inviting influence for a pedestrian by no +means accustomed to wade rivers, and who had lately seen horsemen +weltering, in this dangerous passage, up to the very saddle-laps. At the +same time, my prospect, if I remained on the side of the river on which I +then stood, could be no other than of concluding the various fatigues of +this day and the preceding night, by passing that which was now closing +in, _al fresco_ on the side of a Highland hill. + +After a moment's reflection, I began to consider that Fairservice, who +had doubtless crossed the river with the other domestics, according to +his forward and impertinent custom of putting himself always among the +foremost, could not fail to satisfy the Duke, or the competent +authorities, respecting my rank and situation; and that, therefore, my +character did not require my immediate appearance, at the risk of being +drowned in the river--of being unable to trace the march of the squadron +in case of my reaching the other side in safety--or, finally, of being +cut down, right or wrong, by some straggler, who might think such a piece +of good service a convenient excuse for not sooner rejoining his ranks. I +therefore resolved to measure my steps back to the little inn, where I +had passed the preceding night. I had nothing to apprehend from Rob Roy. +He was now at liberty, and I was certain, in case of my falling in with +any of his people, the news of his escape would ensure me protection. I +might thus also show, that I had no intention to desert Mr. Jarvie in the +delicate situation in which he had engaged himself chiefly on my account. +And lastly, it was only in this quarter that I could hope to learn +tidings concerning Rashleigh and my father's papers, which had been the +original cause of an expedition so fraught with perilous adventure. I +therefore abandoned all thoughts of crossing the Forth that evening; and, +turning my back on the Fords of Frew, began to retrace my steps towards +the little village of Aberfoil. + +A sharp frost-wind, which made itself heard and felt from time to time, +removed the clouds of mist which might otherwise have slumbered till +morning on the valley; and, though it could not totally disperse the +clouds of vapour, yet threw them in confused and changeful masses, now +hovering round the heads of the mountains, now filling, as with a dense +and voluminous stream of smoke, the various deep gullies where masses of +the composite rock, or breccia, tumbling in fragments from the cliffs, +have rushed to the valley, leaving each behind its course a rent and torn +ravine resembling a deserted water-course. The moon, which was now high, +and twinkled with all the vivacity of a frosty atmosphere, silvered the +windings of the river and the peaks and precipices which the mist left +visible, while her beams seemed as it were absorbed by the fleecy +whiteness of the mist, where it lay thick and condensed; and gave to the +more light and vapoury specks, which were elsewhere visible, a sort of +filmy transparency resembling the lightest veil of silver gauze. Despite +the uncertainty of my situation, a view so romantic, joined to the active +and inspiring influence of the frosty atmosphere, elevated my spirits +while it braced my nerves. I felt an inclination to cast care away, and +bid defiance to danger, and involuntarily whistled, by way of cadence to +my steps, which my feeling of the cold led me to accelerate, and I felt +the pulse of existence beat prouder and higher in proportion as I felt +confidence in my own strength, courage, and resources. I was so much lost +in these thoughts, and in the feelings which they excited, that two +horsemen came up behind me without my hearing their approach, until one +was on each side of me, when the left-hand rider, pulling up his horse, +addressed me in the English tongue--"So ho, friend! whither so late?" + +"To my supper and bed at Aberfoil," I replied. + +"Are the passes open?" he inquired, with the same commanding tone of +voice. + +"I do not know," I replied; "I shall learn when I get there. But," I +added, the fate of Morris recurring to my recollection, "if you are an +English stranger, I advise you to turn back till daylight; there has been +some disturbance in this neighbourhood, and I should hesitate to say it +is perfectly safe for strangers." + +"The soldiers had the worst?--had they not?" was the reply. + +"They had indeed; and an officer's party were destroyed or made +prisoners." + +"Are you sure of that?" replied the horseman. + +"As sure as that I hear you speak," I replied. "I was an unwilling +spectator of the skirmish." + +"Unwilling!" continued the interrogator. "Were you not engaged in it +then?" + +"Certainly no," I replied; "I was detained by the king's officer." + +"On what suspicion? and who are you? or what is your name?" he continued. + +"I really do not know, sir," said I, "why I should answer so many +questions to an unknown stranger. I have told you enough to convince you +that you are going into a dangerous and distracted country. If you choose +to proceed, it is your own affair; but as I ask you no questions +respecting your name and business, you will oblige me by making no +inquiries after mine." + +"Mr. Francis Osbaldistone," said the other rider, in a voice the tones of +which thrilled through every nerve of my body, "should not whistle his +favourite airs when he wishes to remain undiscovered." + +And Diana Vernon--for she, wrapped in a horseman's cloak, was the last +speaker--whistled in playful mimicry the second part of the tune which +was on my lips when they came up. + +"Good God!" I exclaimed, like one thunderstruck, "can it be you, Miss +Vernon, on such a spot--at such an hour--in such a lawless country--in +such"-- + +"In such a masculine dress, you would say.--But what would you have? The +philosophy of the excellent Corporal Nym is the best after all; things +must be as they may--_pauca verba._" + +While she was thus speaking, I eagerly took advantage of an unusually +bright gleam of moonshine, to study the appearance of her companion; for +it may be easily supposed, that finding Miss Vernon in a place so +solitary, engaged in a journey so dangerous, and under the protection of +one gentleman only, were circumstances to excite every feeling of +jealousy, as well as surprise. The rider did not speak with the deep +melody of Rashleigh's voice; his tones were more high and commanding; he +was taller, moreover, as he sate on horseback, than that first-rate +object of my hate and suspicion. Neither did the stranger's address +resemble that of any of my other cousins; it had that indescribable tone +and manner by which we recognise a man of sense and breeding, even in the +first few sentences he speaks. + +The object of my anxiety seemed desirous to get rid of my investigation. + +"Diana," he said, in a tone of mingled kindness and authority, "give your +cousin his property, and let us not spend time here." + +Miss Vernon had in the meantime taken out a small case, and leaning down +from her horse towards me, she said, in a tone in which an effort at her +usual quaint lightness of expression contended with a deeper and more +grave tone of sentiment, "You see, my dear coz, I was born to be your +better angel. Rashleigh has been compelled to yield up his spoil, and had +we reached this same village of Aberfoil last night, as we purposed, I +should have found some Highland sylph to have wafted to you all these +representatives of commercial wealth. But there were giants and dragons +in the way; and errant-knights and damsels of modern times, bold though +they be, must not, as of yore, run into useless danger--Do not you do so +either, my dear coz." + +"Diana," said her companion, "let me once more warn you that the evening +waxes late, and we are still distant from our home." + +"I am coming, sir, I am coming--Consider," she added, with a sigh, "how +lately I have been subjected to control--besides, I have not yet given my +cousin the packet, and bid him fare-well--for ever. Yes, Frank," she +said, "for ever!--there is a gulf between us--a gulf of absolute +perdition;--where we go, you must not follow--what we do, you must not +share in--Farewell--be happy!" + +In the attitude in which she bent from her horse, which was a Highland +pony, her face, not perhaps altogether unwillingly, touched mine. She +pressed my hand, while the tear that trembled in her eye found its way to +my cheek instead of her own. It was a moment never to be forgotten-- +inexpressibly bitter, yet mixed with a sensation of pleasure so deeply +soothing and affecting, as at once to unlock all the flood-gates of the +heart. It was _but_ a moment, however; for, instantly recovering from the +feeling to which she had involuntarily given way, she intimated to her +companion she was ready to attend him, and putting their horses to a +brisk pace, they were soon far distant from the place where I stood. + +Heaven knows, it was not apathy which loaded my frame and my tongue so +much, that I could neither return Miss Vernon's half embrace, nor even +answer her farewell. The word, though it rose to my tongue, seemed to +choke in my throat like the fatal _guilty,_ which the delinquent who +makes it his plea, knows must be followed by the doom of death. The +surprise--the sorrow, almost stupified me. I remained motionless with the +packet in my hand, gazing after them, as if endeavouring to count the +sparkles which flew from the horses' hoofs. I continued to look after +even these had ceased to be visible, and to listen for their footsteps +long after the last distant trampling had died in my ears. At length, +tears rushed to my eyes, glazed as they were by the exertion of straining +after what was no longer to be seen. I wiped them mechanically, and +almost without being aware that they were flowing--but they came thicker +and thicker; I felt the tightening of the throat and breast--the +_hysterica passio_ of poor Lear; and sitting down by the wayside, I shed +a flood of the first and most bitter tears which had flowed from my eyes +since childhood. + + + + + + CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + + + _Dangle._--Egad, I think the interpreter is the harder to be + understood of the two. + Critic. + +I had scarce given vent to my feelings in this paroxysm, ere was ashamed +of my weakness. I remembered that I had been for some time endeavouring +to regard Diana Vernon, when her idea intruded itself on my remembrance, +as a friend, for whose welfare I should indeed always be anxious, but +with whom I could have little further communication. But the almost +unrepressed tenderness of her manner, joined to the romance of our sudden +meeting where it was so little to have been expected, were circumstances +which threw me entirely off my guard. I recovered, however, sooner than +might have been expected, and without giving myself time accurately to +examine my motives. I resumed the path on which I had been travelling +when overtaken by this strange and unexpected apparition. + +"I am not," was my reflection, "transgressing her injunction so +pathetically given, since I am but pursuing my own journey by the only +open route.--If I have succeeded in recovering my father's property, it +still remains incumbent on me to see my Glasgow friend delivered from the +situation in which he has involved himself on my account; besides, what +other place of rest can I obtain for the night excepting at the little +inn of Aberfoil? They also must stop there, since it is impossible for +travellers on horseback to go farther--Well, then, we shall meet again-- +meet for the last time perhaps--But I shall see and hear her--I shall +learn who this happy man is who exercises over her the authority of a +husband--I shall learn if there remains, in the difficult course in which +she seems engaged, any difficulty which my efforts may remove, or aught +that I can do to express my gratitude for her generosity--for her +disinterested friendship." + +As I reasoned thus with myself, colouring with every plausible pretext +which occurred to my ingenuity my passionate desire once more to see and +converse with my cousin, I was suddenly hailed by a touch on the +shoulder; and the deep voice of a Highlander, who, walking still faster +than I, though I was proceeding at a smart pace, accosted me with, "A +braw night, Maister Osbaldistone--we have met at the mirk hour before +now." + +There was no mistaking the tone of MacGregor; he had escaped the pursuit +of his enemies, and was in full retreat to his own wilds and to his +adherents. He had also contrived to arm himself, probably at the house of +some secret adherent, for he had a musket on his shoulder, and the usual +Highland weapons by his side. To have found myself alone with such a +character in such a situation, and at this late hour in the evening, +might not have been pleasant to me in any ordinary mood of mind; for, +though habituated to think of Rob Roy in rather a friendly point of view, +I will confess frankly that I never heard him speak but that it seemed to +thrill my blood. The intonation of the mountaineers gives a habitual +depth and hollowness to the sound of their words, owing to the guttural +expression so common in their native language, and they usually speak +with a good deal of emphasis. To these national peculiarities Rob Roy +added a sort of hard indifference of accent and manner, expressive of a +mind neither to be daunted, nor surprised, nor affected by what passed +before him, however dreadful, however sudden, however afflicting. +Habitual danger, with unbounded confidence in his own strength and +sagacity, had rendered him indifferent to fear, and the lawless and +precarious life he led had blunted, though its dangers and errors had not +destroyed, his feelings for others. And it was to be remembered that I +had very lately seen the followers of this man commit a cruel slaughter +on an unarmed and suppliant individual. + +Yet such was the state of my mind, that I welcomed the company of the +outlaw leader as a relief to my own overstrained and painful thoughts; +and was not without hopes that through his means I might obtain some clew +of guidance through the maze in which my fate had involved me. I +therefore answered his greeting cordially, and congratulated him on his +late escape in circumstances when escape seemed impossible. + +"Ay," he replied, "there is as much between the craig and the woodie* as +there is between the cup and the lip. But my peril was less than you may +think, being a stranger to this country. + +* _i.e._ The throat and the withy. Twigs of willow, such as bind faggots, +were often used for halters in Scotland and Ireland, being a sage economy +of hemp. + +Of those that were summoned to take me, and to keep me, and to retake me +again, there was a moiety, as cousin Nicol Jarvie calls it, that had nae +will that I suld be either taen, or keepit fast, or retaen; and of tother +moiety, there was as half was feared to stir me; and so I had only like +the fourth part of fifty or sixty men to deal withal." + +"And enough, too, I should think," replied I. + +"I dinna ken that," said he; "but I ken, that turn every ill-willer that +I had amang them out upon the green before the Clachan of Aberfoil, I wad +find them play with broadsword and target, one down and another come on." + +He now inquired into my adventures since we entered his country, and +laughed heartily at my account of the battle we had in the inn, and at +the exploits of the Bailie with the red-hot poker. + +"Let Glasgow Flourish!" he exclaimed. "The curse of Cromwell on me, if I +wad hae wished better sport than to see cousin Nicol Jarvie singe +Iverach's plaid, like a sheep's head between a pair of tongs. But my +cousin Jarvie," he added, more gravely, "has some gentleman's bluid in +his veins, although he has been unhappily bred up to a peaceful and +mechanical craft, which could not but blunt any pretty man's spirit.--Ye +may estimate the reason why I could not receive you at the Clachan of +Aberfoil as I purposed. They had made a fine hosenet for me when I was +absent twa or three days at Glasgow, upon the king's business--But I +think I broke up the league about their lugs--they'll no be able to hound +one clan against another as they hae dune. I hope soon to see the day +when a' Hielandmen will stand shouther to shouther. But what chanced +next?" + +I gave him an account of the arrival of Captain Thornton and his party, +and the arrest of the Bailie and myself under pretext of our being +suspicious persons; and upon his more special inquiry, I recollected the +officer had mentioned that, besides my name sounding suspicious in his +ears, he had orders to secure an old and young person, resembling our +description. This again moved the outlaw's risibility. + +"As man lives by bread," he said, "the buzzards have mistaen my friend +the Bailie for his Excellency, and you for Diana Vernon--O, the most +egregious night-howlets!" + +"Miss Vernon?" said I, with hesitation, and trembling for the answer-- +"Does she still bear that name? She passed but now, along with a +gentleman who seemed to use a style of authority." + +"Ay, ay," answered Rob, "she's under lawfu' authority now; and full time, +for she was a daft hempie--But she's a mettle quean. It's a pity his +Excellency is a thought eldern. The like o' yourself, or my son Hamish, +wad be mair sortable in point of years." + +Here, then, was a complete downfall of those castles of cards which my +fancy had, in despite of my reason, so often amused herself with +building. Although in truth I had scarcely anything else to expect, since +I could not suppose that Diana could be travelling in such a country, at +such an hour, with any but one who had a legal title to protect her, I +did not feel the blow less severely when it came; and MacGregor's voice, +urging me to pursue my story, sounded in my ears without conveying any +exact import to my mind. + +"You are ill," he said at length, after he had spoken twice without +receiving an answer; "this day's wark has been ower muckle for ane +doubtless unused to sic things." + +The tone of kindness in which this was spoken, recalling me to myself, +and to the necessities of my situation, I continued my narrative as well +as I could. Rob Roy expressed great exultation at the successful skirmish +in the pass. + +"They say," he observed, "that king's chaff is better than other folk's +corn; but I think that canna be said o' king's soldiers, if they let +themselves be beaten wi' a wheen auld carles that are past fighting, and +bairns that are no come till't, and wives wi' their rocks and distaffs, +the very wally-draigles o' the countryside. And Dougal Gregor, too--wha +wad hae thought there had been as muckle sense in his tatty-pow, that +ne'er had a better covering than his ain shaggy hassock of hair!--But say +away--though I dread what's to come neist--for my Helen's an incarnate +devil when her bluid's up--puir thing, she has ower muckle reason." + +I observed as much delicacy as I could in communicating to him the usage +we had received, but I obviously saw the detail gave him great pain. + +"I wad rather than a thousand merks," he said, "that I had been at hame! +To misguide strangers, and forbye a', my ain natural cousin, that had +showed me sic kindness--I wad rather they had burned half the Lennox in +their folly! But this comes o' trusting women and their bairns, that have +neither measure nor reason in their dealings. However, it's a' owing to +that dog of a gauger, wha betrayed me by pretending a message from your +cousin Rashleigh, to meet him on the king's affairs, whilk I thought was +very like to be anent Garschattachin and a party of the Lennox declaring +themselves for King James. Faith! but I ken'd I was clean beguiled when I +heard the Duke was there; and when they strapped the horse-girth ower my +arms, I might hae judged what was biding me; for I ken'd your kinsman, +being, wi' pardon, a slippery loon himself, is prone to employ those of +his ain kidney--I wish he mayna hae been at the bottom o' the ploy +himsell--I thought the chield Morris looked devilish queer when I +determined he should remain a wad, or hostage, for my safe back-coming. +But I _am_ come back, nae thanks to him, or them that employed him; and +the question is, how the collector loon is to win back himsell--I promise +him it will not be without a ransom." + +"Morris," said I, "has already paid the last ransom which mortal man can +owe." + +"Eh! What?" exclaimed my companion hastily; "what d'ye say? I trust it +was in the skirmish he was killed?" + +"He was slain in cold blood after the fight was over, Mr. Campbell." + +"Cold blood?--Damnation!" he said, muttering betwixt his teeth--"How fell +that, sir? Speak out, sir, and do not Maister or Campbell me--my foot is +on my native heath, and my name is MacGregor!" + +His passions were obviously irritated; but without noticing the rudeness +of his tone, I gave him a short and distinct account of the death of +Morris. He struck the butt of his gun with great vehemence against the +ground, and broke out--"I vow to God, such a deed might make one forswear +kin, clan, country, wife, and bairns! And yet the villain wrought long +for it. And what is the difference between warsling below the water wi' a +stane about your neck, and wavering in the wind wi' a tether round it?-- +it's but choking after a', and he drees the doom he ettled for me. I +could have wished, though, they had rather putten a ball through him, or +a dirk; for the fashion of removing him will give rise to mony idle +clavers--But every wight has his weird, and we maun a' dee when our day +comes--And naebody will deny that Helen MacGregor has deep wrongs to +avenge." + +So saying, he seemed to dismiss the theme altogether from his mind, and +proceeded to inquire how I got free from the party in whose hands he had +seen me. + +My story was soon told; and I added the episode of my having recovered +the papers of my father, though I dared not trust my voice to name the +name of Diana. + +"I was sure ye wad get them," said MacGregor;--"the letter ye brought me +contained his Excellency's pleasure to that effect and nae doubt it was +my will to have aided in it. And I asked ye up into this glen on the very +errand. But it's like his Excellency has foregathered wi' Rashleigh +sooner than I expected." + +The first part of this answer was what most forcibly struck me. + +"Was the letter I brought you, then, from this person you call his +Excellency? Who is he? and what is his rank and proper name?" + +"I am thinking," said MacGregor, "that since ye dinna ken them already +they canna be o' muckle consequence to you, and sae I shall say naething +on that score. But weel I wot the letter was frae his ain hand, or, +having a sort of business of my ain on my hands, being, as ye weel may +see, just as much as I can fairly manage, I canna say I would hae fashed +mysell sae muckle about the matter." + +I now recollected the lights seen in the library--the various +circumstances which had excited my jealousy--the glove--the agitation of +the tapestry which covered the secret passage from Rashleigh's apartment; +and, above all, I recollected that Diana retired in order to write, as I +then thought, the billet to which I was to have recourse in case of the +last necessity. Her hours, then, were not spent in solitude, but in +listening to the addresses of some desperate agent of Jacobitical +treason, who was a secret resident within the mansion of her uncle! Other +young women have sold themselves for gold, or suffered themselves to be +seduced from their first love from vanity; but Diana had sacrificed my +affections and her own to partake the fortunes of some desperate +adventurer--to seek the haunts of freebooters through midnight deserts, +with no better hopes of rank or fortune than that mimicry of both which +the mock court of the Stuarts at St. Germains had in their power to +bestow. + +"I will see her," I said internally, "if it be possible, once more. I +will argue with her as a friend--as a kinsman--on the risk she is +incurring, and I will facilitate her retreat to France, where she may, +with more comfort and propriety, as well as safety, abide the issue of +the turmoils which the political trepanner, to whom she has united her +fate, is doubtless busied in putting into motion." + +"I conclude, then," I said to MacGregor, after about five minutes' +silence on both sides, "that his Excellency, since you give me no other +name for him, was residing in Osbaldistone Hall at the same time with +myself?" + +"To be sure--to be sure--and in the young lady's apartment, as best +reason was." This gratuitous information was adding gall to bitterness. +"But few," added MacGregor, "ken'd he was derned there, save Rashleigh +and Sir Hildebrand; for you were out o' the question; and the young lads +haena wit eneugh to ca' the cat frae the cream--But it's a bra' +auld-fashioned house, and what I specially admire is the abundance o' +holes and bores and concealments--ye could put twenty or thirty men in ae +corner, and a family might live a week without finding them out--whilk, +nae doubt, may on occasion be a special convenience. I wish we had the +like o' Osbaldistone Hall on the braes o' Craig-Royston--But we maun gar +woods and caves serve the like o' us puir Hieland bodies." + +"I suppose his Excellency," said I, "was privy to the first accident +which befell"-- + +I could not help hesitating a moment. + +"Ye were going to say Morris," said Rob Roy coolly, for he was too much +accustomed to deeds of violence for the agitation he had at first +expressed to be of long continuance. "I used to laugh heartily at that +reik; but I'll hardly hae the heart to do't again, since the ill-far'd +accident at the Loch. Na, na--his Excellency ken'd nought o' that ploy-- +it was a' managed atween Rashleigh and mysell. But the sport that came +after--and Rashleigh's shift o' turning the suspicion aff himself upon +you, that he had nae grit favour to frae the beginning--and then Miss +Die, she maun hae us sweep up a' our spiders' webs again, and set you out +o' the Justice's claws--and then the frightened craven Morris, that was +scared out o' his seven senses by seeing the real man when he was +charging the innocent stranger--and the gowk of a clerk--and the drunken +carle of a justice--Ohon! ohon!--mony a laugh that job's gien me--and +now, a' that I can do for the puir devil is to get some messes said for +his soul." + +"May I ask," said I, "how Miss Vernon came to have so much influence over +Rashleigh and his accomplices as to derange your projected plan?" + +"Mine! it was none of mine. No man can say I ever laid my burden on other +folk's shoulders--it was a' Rashleigh's doings. But, undoubtedly, she had +great influence wi' us baith on account of his Excellency's affection, as +weel as that she ken'd far ower mony secrets to be lightlied in a matter +o' that kind.--Deil tak him," he ejaculated, by way of summing up, "that +gies women either secret to keep or power to abuse--fules shouldna hae +chapping-sticks." + +We were now within a quarter of a mile from the village, when three +Highlanders, springing upon us with presented arms, commanded us to stand +and tell our business. The single word _Gregaragh,_ in the deep and +commanding voice of my companion, was answered by a shout, or rather +yell, of joyful recognition. One, throwing down his firelock, clasped his +leader so fast round the knees, that he was unable to extricate himself, +muttering, at the same time, a torrent of Gaelic gratulation, which every +now and then rose into a sort of scream of gladness. The two others, +after the first howling was over, set off literally with the speed of +deers, contending which should first carry to the village, which a strong +party of the MacGregors now occupied, the joyful news of Rob Roy's escape +and return. The intelligence excited such shouts of jubilation, that the +very hills rung again, and young and old, men, women, and children, +without distinction of sex or age, came running down the vale to meet us, +with all the tumultuous speed and clamour of a mountain torrent. When I +heard the rushing noise and yells of this joyful multitude approach us, I +thought it a fitting precaution to remind MacGregor that I was a +stranger, and under his protection. He accordingly held me fast by the +hand, while the assemblage crowded around him with such shouts of devoted +attachment, and joy at his return, as were really affecting; nor did he +extend to his followers what all eagerly sought, the grasp, namely, of +his hand, until he had made them understand that I was to be kindly and +carefully used. + +The mandate of the Sultan of Delhi could not have been more promptly +obeyed. Indeed, I now sustained nearly as much inconvenience from their +well-meant attentions as formerly from their rudeness. They would hardly +allow the friend of their leader to walk upon his own legs, so earnest +were they in affording me support and assistance upon the way; and at +length, taking advantage of a slight stumble which I made over a stone, +which the press did not permit me to avoid, they fairly seized upon me, +and bore me in their arms in triumph towards Mrs. MacAlpine's. + +On arrival before her hospitable wigwam, I found power and popularity had +its inconveniences in the Highlands, as everywhere else; for, before +MacGregor could be permitted to enter the house where he was to obtain +rest and refreshment, he was obliged to relate the story of his escape at +least a dozen times over, as I was told by an officious old man, who +chose to translate it at least as often for my edification, and to whom I +was in policy obliged to seem to pay a decent degree of attention. The +audience being at length satisfied, group after group departed to take +their bed upon the heath, or in the neighbouring huts, some cursing the +Duke and Garschattachin, some lamenting the probable danger of Ewan of +Brigglands, incurred by his friendship to MacGregor, but all agreeing +that the escape of Rob Roy himself lost nothing in comparison with the +exploit of any one of their chiefs since the days of Dougal Ciar, the +founder of his line. + +The friendly outlaw, now taking me by the arm, conducted me into the +interior of the hut. My eyes roved round its smoky recesses in quest of +Diana and her companion; but they were nowhere to be seen, and I felt as +if to make inquiries might betray some secret motives, which were best +concealed. The only known countenance upon which my eyes rested was that +of the Bailie, who, seated on a stool by the fireside, received with a +sort of reserved dignity, the welcomes of Rob Roy, the apologies which he +made for his indifferent accommodation, and his inquiries after his +health. + +"I am pretty weel, kinsman," said the Bailie--"indifferent weel, I thank +ye; and for accommodations, ane canna expect to carry about the Saut +Market at his tail, as a snail does his caup;--and I am blythe that ye +hae gotten out o' the hands o' your unfreends." + +"Weel, weel, then," answered Roy, "what is't ails ye, man--a's weel that +ends weel!--the warld will last our day--Come, take a cup o' brandy--your +father the deacon could take ane at an orra time." + +"It might be he might do sae, Robin, after fatigue--whilk has been my lot +mair ways than ane this day. But," he continued, slowly filling up a +little wooden stoup which might hold about three glasses, "he was a +moderate man of his bicker, as I am mysell--Here's wussing health to ye, +Robin" (a sip), "and your weelfare here and hereafter" (another taste), +"and also to my cousin Helen--and to your twa hopefu' lads, of whom mair +anon." + +So saying, he drank up the contents of the cup with great gravity and +deliberation, while MacGregor winked aside to me, as if in ridicule of +the air of wisdom and superior authority which the Bailie assumed towards +him in their intercourse, and which he exercised when Rob was at the head +of his armed clan, in full as great, or a greater degree, than when he +was at the Bailie's mercy in the Tolbooth of Glasgow. It seemed to me, +that MacGregor wished me, as a stranger, to understand, that if he +submitted to the tone which his kinsman assumed, it was partly out of +deference to the rights of hospitality, but still more for the jest's +sake. + +As the Bailie set down his cup he recognised me, and giving me a cordial +welcome on my return, he waived farther communication with me for the +present.--"I will speak to your matters anon; I maun begin, as in reason, +wi' those of my kinsman.--I presume, Robin, there's naebody here will +carry aught o' what I am gaun to say, to the town-council or elsewhere, +to my prejudice or to yours?" + +"Make yourself easy on that head, cousin Nicol," answered MacGregor; "the +tae half o' the gillies winna ken what ye say, and the tother winna care +--besides that, I wad stow the tongue out o' the head o' any o' them that +suld presume to say ower again ony speech held wi' me in their presence." + +"Aweel, cousin, sic being the case, and Mr. Osbaldistone here being a +prudent youth, and a safe friend--I'se plainly tell ye, ye are breeding +up your family to gang an ill gate." Then, clearing his voice with a +preliminary hem, he addressed his kinsman, checking, as Malvolio proposed +to do when seated in his state, his familiar smile with an austere regard +of control.--"Ye ken yourself ye haud light by the law--and for my cousin +Helen, forbye that her reception o' me this blessed day--whilk I excuse +on account of perturbation of mind, was muckle on the north side o' +_friendly,_ I say (outputting this personal reason of complaint) I hae +that to say o' your wife"-- + +"Say _nothing_ of her, kinsman," said Rob, in a grave and stern tone, +"but what is befitting a friend to say, and her husband to hear. Of me +you are welcome to say your full pleasure." + +"Aweel, aweel," said the Bailie, somewhat disconcerted, "we'se let that +be a pass-over--I dinna approve of making mischief in families. But here +are your twa sons, Hamish and Robin, whilk signifies, as I'm gien to +understand, James and Robert--I trust ye will call them sae in future-- +there comes nae gude o' Hamishes, and Eachines, and Angusses, except that +they're the names ane aye chances to see in the indictments at the +Western Circuits for cow-lifting, at the instance of his majesty's +advocate for his majesty's interest. Aweel, but the twa lads, as I was +saying, they haena sae muckle as the ordinar grunds, man, of liberal +education--they dinna ken the very multiplication table itself, whilk is +the root of a' usefu' knowledge, and they did naething but laugh and +fleer at me when I tauld them my mind on their ignorance--It's my belief +they can neither read, write, nor cipher, if sic a thing could be +believed o' ane's ain connections in a Christian land." + +"If they could, kinsman," said MacGregor, with great indifference, "their +learning must have come o' free will, for whar the deil was I to get them +a teacher?--wad ye hae had me put on the gate o' your Divinity Hall at +Glasgow College, 'Wanted, a tutor for Rob Roy's bairns?'" + +"Na, kinsman," replied Mr. Jarvie, "but ye might hae sent the lads whar +they could hae learned the fear o' God, and the usages of civilised +creatures. They are as ignorant as the kyloes ye used to drive to market, +or the very English churls that ye sauld them to, and can do naething +whatever to purpose." + +"Umph!" answered Rob; "Hamish can bring doun a black-cock when he's on +the wing wi' a single bullet, and Rob can drive a dirk through a twa-inch +board." + +"Sae muckle the waur for them, cousin!--sae muckle the waur for them +baith!" answered the Glasgow merchant in a tone of great decision; "an +they ken naething better than that, they had better no ken that neither. +Tell me yourself, Rob, what has a' this cutting, and stabbing, and +shooting, and driving of dirks, whether through human flesh or fir deals, +dune for yourself?--and werena ye a happier man at the tail o' your +nowte-bestial, when ye were in an honest calling, than ever ye hae been +since, at the head o' your Hieland kernes and gally-glasses?" + +I observed that MacGregor, while his well-meaning kinsman spoke to him in +this manner, turned and writhed his body like a man who indeed suffers +pain, but is determined no groan shall escape his lips; and I longed for +an opportunity to interrupt the well-meant, but, as it was obvious to me, +quite mistaken strain, in which Jarvie addressed this extraordinary +person. The dialogue, however, came to an end without my interference. + +"And sae," said the Bailie, "I hae been thinking, Rob, that as it may be +ye are ower deep in the black book to win a pardon, and ower auld to mend +yourself, that it wad be a pity to bring up twa hopefu' lads to sic a +godless trade as your ain, and I wad blythely tak them for prentices at +the loom, as I began mysell, and my father the deacon afore me, though, +praise to the Giver, I only trade now as wholesale dealer--And--and"-- + +He saw a storm gathering on Rob's brow, which probably induced him to +throw in, as a sweetener of an obnoxious proposition, what he had +reserved to crown his own generosity, had it been embraced as an +acceptable one;--"and Robin, lad, ye needna look sae glum, for I'll pay +the prentice-fee, and never plague ye for the thousand merks neither." + +"_Ceade millia diaoul,_ hundred thousand devils!" exclaimed Rob, rising +and striding through the hut, "My sons weavers!--_Millia molligheart!_-- +but I wad see every loom in Glasgow, beam, traddles, and shuttles, burnt +in hell-fire sooner!" + +With some difficulty I made the Bailie, who was preparing a reply, +comprehend the risk and impropriety of pressing our host on this topic, +and in a minute he recovered, or reassumed, his serenity of temper. + +"But ye mean weel--ye mean weel," said he; "so gie me your hand, Nicol, +and if ever I put my sons apprentice, I will gie you the refusal o' them. +And, as you say, there's the thousand merks to be settled between us.-- +Here, Eachin MacAnaleister, bring me my sporran." + +The person he addressed, a tall, strong mountaineer, who seemed to act as +MacGregor's lieutenant, brought from some place of safety a large +leathern pouch, such as Highlanders of rank wear before them when in full +dress, made of the skin of the sea-otter, richly garnished with silver +ornaments and studs. + +"I advise no man to attempt opening this sporran till he has my secret," +said Rob Roy; and then twisting one button in one direction, and another +in another, pulling one stud upward, and pressing another downward, the +mouth of the purse, which was bound with massive silver plate, opened and +gave admittance to his hand. He made me remark, as if to break short the +subject on which Bailie Jarvie had spoken, that a small steel pistol was +concealed within the purse, the trigger of which was connected with the +mounting, and made part of the machinery, so that the weapon would +certainly be discharged, and in all probability its contents lodged in +the person of any one, who, being unacquainted with the secret, should +tamper with the lock which secured his treasure. "This," said he touching +the pistol--"this is the keeper of my privy purse." + +The simplicity of the contrivance to secure a furred pouch, which could +have been ripped open without any attempt on the spring, reminded me of +the verses in the Odyssey, where Ulysses, in a yet ruder age, is content +to secure his property by casting a curious and involved complication of +cordage around the sea-chest in which it was deposited. + +The Bailie put on his spectacles to examine the mechanism, and when he +had done, returned it with a smile and a sigh, observing--"Ah! Rob, had +ither folk's purses been as weel guarded, I doubt if your sporran wad hae +been as weel filled as it kythes to be by the weight." + +"Never mind, kinsman," said Rob, laughing; "it will aye open for a +friend's necessity, or to pay a just due--and here," he added, pulling +out a rouleau of gold, "here is your ten hundred merks--count them, and +see that you are full and justly paid." + +Mr. Jarvie took the money in silence, and weighing it in his hand for an +instant, laid it on the table, and replied, "Rob, I canna tak it--I downa +intromit with it--there can nae gude come o't--I hae seen ower weel the +day what sort of a gate your gowd is made in--ill-got gear ne'er +prospered; and, to be plain wi' you, I winna meddle wi't--it looks as +there might be bluid on't." + +"Troutsho!" said the outlaw, affecting an indifference which perhaps he +did not altogether feel; "it's gude French gowd, and ne'er was in +Scotchman's pouch before mine. Look at them, man--they are a' +louis-d'ors, bright and bonnie as the day they were coined." + +"The waur, the waur--just sae muckle the waur, Robin," replied the +Bailie, averting his eyes from the money, though, like Caesar on the +Lupercal, his fingers seemed to itch for it--"Rebellion is waur than +witchcraft, or robbery either; there's gospel warrant for't." + +"Never mind the warrant, kinsman," said the freebooter; "you come by the +gowd honestly, and in payment of a just debt--it came from the one king, +you may gie it to the other, if ye like; and it will just serve for a +weakening of the enemy, and in the point where puir King James is weakest +too, for, God knows, he has hands and hearts eneugh, but I doubt he wants +the siller." + +"He'll no get mony Hielanders then, Robin," said Mr. Jarvie, as, again +replacing his spectacles on his nose, he undid the rouleau, and began to +count its contents. + +"Nor Lowlanders neither," said MacGregor, arching his eyebrow, and, as he +looked at me, directing a glance towards Mr. Jarvie, who, all unconscious +of the ridicule, weighed each piece with habitual scrupulosity; and +having told twice over the sum, which amounted to the discharge of his +debt, principal and interest, he returned three pieces to buy his +kinswoman a gown, as he expressed himself, and a brace more for the twa +bairns, as he called them, requesting they might buy anything they liked +with them except gunpowder. The Highlander stared at his kinsman's +unexpected generosity, but courteously accepted his gift, which he +deposited for the time in his well-secured pouch. + +The Bailie next produced the original bond for the debt, on the back of +which he had written a formal discharge, which, having subscribed +himself, he requested me to sign as a witness. I did so, and Bailie +Jarvie was looking anxiously around for another, the Scottish law +requiring the subscription of two witnesses to validate either a bond or +acquittance. "You will hardly find a man that can write save ourselves +within these three miles," said Rob, "but I'll settle the matter as +easily;" and, taking the paper from before his kinsman, he threw it in +the fire. Bailie Jarvie stared in his turn, but his kinsman continued, +"That's a Hieland settlement of accounts. The time might come, cousin, +were I to keep a' these charges and discharges, that friends might be +brought into trouble for having dealt with me." + +The Bailie attempted no reply to this argument, and our supper now +appeared in a style of abundance, and even delicacy, which, for the +place, might be considered as extraordinary. The greater part of the +provisions were cold, intimating they had been prepared at some distance; +and there were some bottles of good French wine to relish pasties of +various sorts of game, as well as other dishes. I remarked that +MacGregor, while doing the honours of the table with great and anxious +hospitality, prayed us to excuse the circumstance that some particular +dish or pasty had been infringed on before it was presented to us. "You +must know," said he to Mr. Jarvie, but without looking towards me, "you +are not the only guests this night in the MacGregor's country, whilk, +doubtless, ye will believe, since my wife and the twa lads would +otherwise have been maist ready to attend you, as weel beseems them." + +Bailie Jarvie looked as if he felt glad at any circumstance which +occasioned their absence; and I should have been entirely of his opinion, +had it not been that the outlaw's apology seemed to imply they were in +attendance on Diana and her companion, whom even in my thoughts I could +not bear to designate as her husband. + +While the unpleasant ideas arising from this suggestion counteracted the +good effects of appetite, welcome, and good cheer, I remarked that Rob +Roy's attention had extended itself to providing us better bedding than +we had enjoyed the night before. Two of the least fragile of the +bedsteads, which stood by the wall of the hut, had been stuffed with +heath, then in full flower, so artificially arranged, that, the flowers +being uppermost, afforded a mattress at once elastic and fragrant. +Cloaks, and such bedding as could be collected, stretched over this +vegetable couch, made it both soft and warm. The Bailie seemed exhausted +by fatigue. I resolved to adjourn my communication to him until next +morning; and therefore suffered him to betake himself to bed so soon as +he had finished a plentiful supper. Though tired and harassed, I did not +myself feel the same disposition to sleep, but rather a restless and +feverish anxiety, which led to some farther discourse betwixt me and +MacGregor. + + + + + CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. + + A hopeless darkness settles o'er my fate; + I've seen the last look of her heavenly eyes,-- + I've heard the last sound of her blessed voice,-- + I've seen her fair form from my sight depart; + My doom is closed. + Count Basil. + +"I ken not what to make of you, Mr. Osbaldistone," said MacGregor, as he +pushed the flask towards me. "You eat not, you show no wish for rest; and +yet you drink not, though that flask of Bourdeaux might have come out of +Sir Hildebrand's ain cellar. Had you been always as abstinent, you would +have escaped the deadly hatred of your cousin Rashleigh." + +"Had I been always prudent," said I, blushing at the scene he recalled to +my recollection, "I should have escaped a worse evil--the reproach of my +own conscience." + +MacGregor cast a keen and somewhat fierce glance on me, as if to read +whether the reproof, which he evidently felt, had been intentionally +conveyed. He saw that I was thinking of myself, not of him, and turned +his face towards the fire with a deep sigh. I followed his example, and +each remained for a few minutes wrapt in his own painful reverie. All in +the hut were now asleep, or at least silent, excepting ourselves. + +MacGregor first broke silence, in the tone of one who takes up his +determination to enter on a painful subject. "My cousin Nicol Jarvie +means well," he said, "but he presses ower hard on the temper and +situation of a man like me, considering what I have been--what I have +been forced to become--and, above all, that which has forced me to become +what I am." + +He paused; and, though feeling the delicate nature of the discussion in +which the conversation was likely to engage me, I could not help +replying, that I did not doubt his present situation had much which must +be most unpleasant to his feelings. + +"I should be happy to learn," I added, "that there is an honourable +chance of your escaping from it." + +"You speak like a boy," returned MacGregor, in a low tone that growled +like distant thunder--"like a boy, who thinks the auld gnarled oak can be +twisted as easily as the young sapling. Can I forget that I have been +branded as an outlaw--stigmatised as a traitor--a price set on my head as +if I had been a wolf--my family treated as the dam and cubs of the +hill-fox, whom all may torment, vilify, degrade, and insult--the very +name which came to me from a long and noble line of martial ancestors, +denounced, as if it were a spell to conjure up the devil with?" + +As he went on in this manner, I could plainly see, that, by the +enumeration of his wrongs, he was lashing himself up into a rage, in +order to justify in his own eyes the errors they had led him into. In +this he perfectly succeeded; his light grey eyes contracting alternately +and dilating their pupils, until they seemed actually to flash with +flame, while he thrust forward and drew back his foot, grasped the hilt +of his dirk, extended his arm, clenched his fist, and finally rose from +his seat. + +"And they _shall_ find," he said, in the same muttered but deep tone of +stifled passion, "that the name they have dared to proscribe--that the +name of MacGregor--_is_ a spell to raise the wild devil withal. _They_ +shall hear of my vengeance, that would scorn to listen to the story of my +wrongs--The miserable Highland drover, bankrupt, barefooted,--stripped of +all, dishonoured and hunted down, because the avarice of others grasped +at more than that poor all could pay, shall burst on them in an awful +change. They that scoffed at the grovelling worm, and trode upon him, may +cry and howl when they see the stoop of the flying and fiery-mouthed +dragon.--But why do I speak of all this?" he said, sitting down again, +and in a calmer tone--"Only ye may opine it frets my patience, Mr. +Osbaldistone, to be hunted like an otter, or a sealgh, or a salmon upon +the shallows, and that by my very friends and neighbours; and to have as +many sword-cuts made, and pistols flashed at me, as I had this day in the +ford of Avondow, would try a saint's temper, much more a Highlander's, +who are not famous for that gude gift, as ye may hae heard, Mr. +Osbaldistone.--But as thing bides wi' me o' what Nicol said;--I'm vexed +for the bairns--I'm vexed when I think o' Hamish and Robert living their +father's life." And yielding to despondence on account of his sons, which +he felt not upon his own, the father rested his head upon his hand. + +I was much affected, Will. All my life long I have been more melted by +the distress under which a strong, proud, and powerful mind is compelled +to give way, than by the more easily excited sorrows of softer +dispositions. The desire of aiding him rushed strongly on my mind, +notwithstanding the apparent difficulty, and even impossibility, of the +task. + +"We have extensive connections abroad," said I: "might not your sons, +with some assistance--and they are well entitled to what my father's +house can give--find an honourable resource in foreign service?" + +I believe my countenance showed signs of sincere emotion; but my +companion, taking me by the hand, as I was going to speak farther, said-- +"I thank--I thank ye--but let us say nae mair o' this. I did not think +the eye of man would again have seen a tear on MacGregor's eye-lash." He +dashed the moisture from his long gray eye-lash and shaggy red eye-brow +with the back of his hand. "To-morrow morning," he said, "we'll talk of +this, and we will talk, too, of your affairs--for we are early starters +in the dawn, even when we have the luck to have good beds to sleep in. +Will ye not pledge me in a grace cup?" I declined the invitation. + +"Then, by the soul of St. Maronoch! I must pledge myself," and he poured +out and swallowed at least half-a-quart of wine. + +I laid myself down to repose, resolving to delay my own inquiries until +his mind should be in a more composed state. Indeed, so much had this +singular man possessed himself of my imagination, that I felt it +impossible to avoid watching him for some minutes after I had flung +myself on my heath mattress to seeming rest. He walked up and down the +hut, crossed himself from time to time, muttering over some Latin prayer +of the Catholic church; then wrapped himself in his plaid, with his naked +sword on one side, and his pistol on the other, so disposing the folds of +his mantle that he could start up at a moment's warning, with a weapon in +either hand, ready for instant combat. In a few minutes his heavy +breathing announced that he was fast asleep. Overpowered by fatigue, and +stunned by the various unexpected and extraordinary scenes of the day, I, +in my turn, was soon overpowered by a slumber deep and overwhelming, from +which, notwithstanding every cause for watchfulness, I did not awake +until the next morning. + +When I opened my eyes, and recollected my situation, I found that +MacGregor had already left the hut. I awakened the Bailie, who, after +many a snort and groan, and some heavy complaints of the soreness of his +bones, in consequence of the unwonted exertions of the preceding day, was +at length able to comprehend the joyful intelligence, that the assets +carried off by Rashleigh Osbaldistone had been safely recovered. The +instant he understood my meaning, he forgot all his grievances, and, +bustling up in a great hurry, proceeded to compare the contents of the +packet which I put into his hands, with Mr. Owen's memorandums, +muttering, as he went on, "Right, right--the real thing--Bailie and +Whittington--where's Bailie and Whittington?--seven hundred, six, and +eight--exact to a fraction--Pollock and Peelman--twenty-eight, seven-- +exact--Praise be blest!--Grub and Grinder--better men cannot be--three +hundred and seventy--Gliblad--twenty; I doubt Gliblad's ganging-- +Slipprytongue; Slipprytongue's gaen--but they are sma'sums--sma'sums--the +rest's a'right--Praise be blest! we have got the stuff, and may leave +this doleful country. I shall never think on Loch-Ard but the thought +will gar me grew again" + +"I am sorry, cousin," said MacGregor, who entered the hut during the last +observation, "I have not been altogether in the circumstances to make +your reception sic as I could have desired--natheless, if you would +condescend to visit my puir dwelling"-- + +"Muckle obliged, muckle obliged," answered Mr. Jarvie, very hastily--"But +we maun be ganging--we maun be jogging, Mr. Osbaldistone and me--business +canna wait." + +"Aweel, kinsman," replied the Highlander, "ye ken our fashion--foster the +guest that comes--further him that maun gang. But ye cannot return by +Drymen--I must set you on Loch Lomond, and boat ye down to the Ferry o' +Balloch, and send your nags round to meet ye there. It's a maxim of a +wise man never to return by the same road he came, providing another's +free to him." + +"Ay, ay, Rob," said the Bailie, "that's ane o' the maxims ye learned when +ye were a drover;--ye caredna to face the tenants where your beasts had +been taking a rug of their moorland grass in the by-ganging, and I doubt +your road's waur marked now than it was then." + +"The mair need not to travel it ower often, kinsman," replied Rob; "but +I'se send round your nags to the ferry wi' Dougal Gregor, wha is +converted for that purpose into the Bailie's man, coming--not, as ye may +believe, from Aberfoil or Rob Roy's country, but on a quiet jaunt from +Stirling. See, here he is." + +"I wadna hae ken'd the creature," said Mr. Jarvie; nor indeed was it easy +to recognise the wild Highlander, when he appeared before the door of the +cottage, attired in a hat, periwig, and riding-coat, which had once +called Andrew Fairservice master, and mounted on the Bailie's horse, and +leading mine. He received his last orders from his master to avoid +certain places where he might be exposed to suspicion--to collect what +intelligence he could in the course of his journey, and to await our +coming at an appointed place, near the Ferry of Balloch. + +At the same time, MacGregor invited us to accompany him upon our own +road, assuring us that we must necessarily march a few miles before +breakfast, and recommending a dram of brandy as a proper introduction to +the journey, in which he was pledged by the Bailie, who pronounced it "an +unlawful and perilous habit to begin the day wi' spirituous liquors, +except to defend the stomach (whilk was a tender part) against the +morning mist; in whilk case his father the deacon had recommended a dram, +by precept and example." + +"Very true, kinsman," replied Rob, "for which reason we, who are Children +of the Mist, have a right to drink brandy from morning till night." + +The Bailie, thus refreshed, was mounted on a small Highland pony; another +was offered for my use, which, however, I declined; and we resumed, under +very different guidance and auspices, our journey of the preceding day. + +Our escort consisted of MacGregor, and five or six of the handsomest, +best armed, and most athletic mountaineers of his band, and whom he had +generally in immediate attendance upon his own person. + +When we approached the pass, the scene of the skirmish of the preceding +day, and of the still more direful deed which followed it, MacGregor +hastened to speak, as if it were rather to what he knew must be +necessarily passing in my mind, than to any thing I had said--he spoke, +in short, to my thoughts, and not to my words. + +"You must think hardly of us, Mr. Osbaldistone, and it is not natural +that it should be otherwise. But remember, at least, we have not been +unprovoked. We are a rude and an ignorant, and it may be a violent and +passionate, but we are not a cruel people. The land might be at peace and +in law for us, did they allow us to enjoy the blessings of peaceful law. +But we have been a persecuted generation." + +"And persecution," said the Bailie, "maketh wise men mad." + +"What must it do then to men like us, living as our fathers did a +thousand years since, and possessing scarce more lights than they did? +Can we view their bluidy edicts against us--their hanging, heading, +hounding, and hunting down an ancient and honourable name--as deserving +better treatment than that which enemies give to enemies?--Here I stand, +have been in twenty frays, and never hurt man but when I was in het +bluid; and yet they wad betray me and hang me like a masterless dog, at +the gate of ony great man that has an ill will at me." + +I replied, "that the proscription of his name and family sounded in +English ears as a very cruel and arbitrary law;" and having thus far +soothed him, I resumed my propositions of obtaining military employment +for himself, if he chose it, and his sons, in foreign parts. MacGregor +shook me very cordially by the hand, and detaining me, so as to permit +Mr. Jarvie to precede us, a manoeuvre for which the narrowness of the +road served as an excuse, he said to me--"You are a kind-hearted and an +honourable youth, and understand, doubtless, that which is due to the +feelings of a man of honour. But the heather that I have trode upon when +living, must bloom ower me when I am dead--my heart would sink, and my +arm would shrink and wither like fern in the frost, were I to lose sight +of my native hills; nor has the world a scene that would console me for +the loss of the rocks and cairns, wild as they are, that you see around +us.--And Helen--what could become of her, were I to leave her the subject +of new insult and atrocity?--or how could she bear to be removed from +these scenes, where the remembrance of her wrongs is aye sweetened by the +recollection of her revenge?--I was once so hard put at by my Great +enemy, as I may well ca' him, that I was forced e'en to gie way to the +tide, and removed myself and my people and family from our dwellings in +our native land, and to withdraw for a time into MacCallum More's +country--and Helen made a Lament on our departure, as weel as MacRimmon* +himsell could hae framed it--and so piteously sad and waesome, that our +hearts amaist broke as we sate and listened to her--it was like the +wailing of one that mourns for the mother that bore him--the tears came +down the rough faces of our gillies as they hearkened; and I wad not have +the same touch of heartbreak again, no, not to have all the lands that +ever were owned by MacGregor." + +* The MacRimmons or MacCrimonds were hereditary pipers to the chiefs of +MacLeod, and celebrated for their talents. The pibroch said to have been +composed by Helen MacGregor is still in existence. See the Introduction +to this Novel. + + + +"But your sons," I said--"they are at the age when your countrymen have +usually no objection to see the world?" + +"And I should be content," he replied, "that they pushed their fortune in +the French or Spanish service, as is the wont of Scottish cavaliers of +honour; and last night your plan seemed feasible eneugh--But I hae seen +his Excellency this morning before ye were up." + +"Did he then quarter so near us?" said I, my bosom throbbing with +anxiety. + +"Nearer than ye thought," was MacGregor's reply; "but he seemed rather in +some shape to jalouse your speaking to the young leddy; and so you see"-- + +"There was no occasion for jealousy," I answered, with some haughtiness; +--"I should not have intruded on his privacy." + +"But ye must not be offended, or look out from amang your curls then, +like a wildcat out of an ivy-tod, for ye are to understand that he wishes +most sincere weel to you, and has proved it. And it's partly that whilk +has set the heather on fire e'en now." + +"Heather on fire?" said I. "I do not understand you." + +"Why," resumed MacGregor, "ye ken weel eneugh that women and gear are at +the bottom of a' the mischief in this warld. I hae been misdoubting your +cousin Rashleigh since ever he saw that he wasna to get Die Vernon for +his marrow, and I think he took grudge at his Excellency mainly on that +account. But then came the splore about the surrendering your papers--and +we hae now gude evidence, that, sae soon as he was compelled to yield +them up, he rade post to Stirling, and tauld the Government all and mair +than all, that was gaun doucely on amang us hill-folk; and, doubtless, +that was the way that the country was laid to take his Excellency and the +leddy, and to make sic an unexpected raid on me. And I hae as little +doubt that the poor deevil Morris, whom he could gar believe onything, +was egged on by him, and some of the Lowland gentry, to trepan me in the +gate he tried to do. But if Rashleigh Osbaldistone were baith the last +and best of his name, and granting that he and I ever forgather again, +the fiend go down my weasand with a bare blade at his belt, if we part +before my dirk and his best blude are weel acquainted thegither!" + +He pronounced the last threat with an ominous frown, and the appropriate +gesture of his hand upon his dagger. + +"I should almost rejoice at what has happened," said I, "could I hope +that Rashleigh's treachery might prove the means of preventing the +explosion of the rash and desperate intrigues in which I have long +suspected him to be a prime agen." + +"Trow ye na that," said Rob Roy; "traitor's word never yet hurt honest +cause. He was ower deep in our secrets, that's true; and had it not been +so, Stirling and Edinburgh Castles would have been baith in our hands by +this time, or briefly hereafter, whilk is now scarce to be hoped for. But +there are ower mony engaged, and far ower gude a cause to be gien up for +the breath of a traitor's tale, and that will be seen and heard of ere it +be lang. And so, as I was about to say, the best of my thanks to you for +your offer anent my sons, whilk last night I had some thoughts to have +embraced in their behalf. But I see that this villain's treason will +convince our great folks that they must instantly draw to a head, and +make a blow for it, or be taen in their houses, coupled up like hounds, +and driven up to London like the honest noblemen and gentlemen in the +year seventeen hundred and seven. Civil war is like a cockatrice;--we +have sitten hatching the egg that held it for ten years, and might hae +sitten on for ten years mair, when in comes Rashleigh, and chips the +shell, and out bangs the wonder amang us, and cries to fire and sword. +Now in sic a matter I'll hae need o' a' the hands I can mak; and, nae +disparagement to the Kings of France and Spain, whom I wish very weel to, +King James is as gude a man as ony o' them, and has the best right to +Hamish and Rob, being his natural-born subjects." + +I easily comprehended that these words boded a general national +convulsion; and, as it would have been alike useless and dangerous to +have combated the political opinions of my guide, at such a place and +moment, I contented myself with regretting the promiscuous scene of +confusion and distress likely to arise from any general exertion in +favour of the exiled royal family. + +"Let it come, man--let it come," answered MacGregor; "ye never saw dull +weather clear without a shower; and if the world is turned upside down, +why, honest men have the better chance to cut bread out of it." + +I again attempted to bring him back to the subject of Diana; but although +on most occasions and subjects he used a freedom of speech which I had no +great delight in listening to, yet upon that alone which was most +interesting to me, he kept a degree of scrupulous reserve, and contented +himself with intimating, "that he hoped the leddy would be soon in a +quieter country than this was like to be for one while." I was obliged to +be content with this answer, and to proceed in the hope that accident +might, as on a former occasion, stand my friend, and allow me at least +the sad gratification of bidding farewell to the object which had +occupied such a share of my affections, so much beyond even what I had +supposed, till I was about to be separated from her for ever. + +We pursued the margin of the lake for about six English miles, through a +devious and beautifully variegated path, until we attained a sort of +Highland farm, or assembly of hamlets, near the head of that fine sheet +of water, called, if I mistake not, Lediart, or some such name. Here a +numerous party of MacGregor's men were stationed in order to receive us. +The taste as well as the eloquence of tribes in a savage, or, to speak +more properly, in a rude state, is usually just, because it is unfettered +by system and affectation; and of this I had an example in the choice +these mountaineers had made of a place to receive their guests. It has +been said that a British monarch would judge well to receive the embassy +of a rival power in the cabin of a man-of-war; and a Highland leader +acted with some propriety in choosing a situation where the natural +objects of grandeur proper to his country might have their full effect on +the minds of his guests. + +We ascended about two hundred yards from the shores of the lake, guided +by a brawling brook, and left on the right hand four or five Highland +huts, with patches of arable land around them, so small as to show that +they must have been worked with the spade rather than the plough, cut as +it were out of the surrounding copsewood, and waving with crops of barley +and oats. Above this limited space the hill became more steep; and on its +edge we descried the glittering arms and waving drapery of about fifty of +MacGregor's followers. They were stationed on a spot, the recollection of +which yet strikes me with admiration. The brook, hurling its waters +downwards from the mountain, had in this spot encountered a barrier rock, +over which it had made its way by two distinct leaps. The first fall, +across which a magnificent old oak, slanting out from the farther bank, +partly extended itself as if to shroud the dusky stream of the cascade, +might be about twelve feet high; the broken waters were received in a +beautiful stone basin, almost as regular as if hewn by a sculptor; and +after wheeling around its flinty margin, they made a second precipitous +dash, through a dark and narrow chasm, at least fifty feet in depth, and +from thence, in a hurried, but comparatively a more gentle course, +escaped to join the lake. + +With the natural taste which belongs to mountaineers, and especially to +the Scottish Highlanders, whose feelings, I have observed, are often +allied with the romantic and poetical, Rob Roy's wife and followers had +prepared our morning repast in a scene well calculated to impress +strangers with some feelings of awe. They are also naturally a grave and +proud people, and, however rude in our estimation, carry their ideas of +form and politeness to an excess that would appear overstrained, except +from the demonstration of superior force which accompanies the display of +it; for it must be granted that the air of punctilious deference and +rigid etiquette which would seem ridiculous in an ordinary peasant, has, +like the salute of a _corps-de-garde,_ a propriety when tendered by a +Highlander completely armed. There was, accordingly, a good deal of +formality in our approach and reception. + +The Highlanders, who had been dispersed on the side of the hill, drew +themselves together when we came in view, and, standing firm and +motionless, appeared in close column behind three figures, whom I soon +recognised to be Helen MacGregor and her two sons. MacGregor himself +arranged his attendants in the rear, and, requesting Mr. Jarvie to +dismount where the ascent became steep, advanced slowly, marshalling us +forward at the head of the troop. As we advanced, we heard the wild notes +of the bagpipes, which lost their natural discord from being mingled with +the dashing sound of the cascade. When we came close, the wife of +MacGregor came forward to meet us. Her dress was studiously arranged in a +more feminine taste than it had been on the preceding day, but her +features wore the same lofty, unbending, and resolute character; and as +she folded my friend the Bailie in an unexpected and apparently unwelcome +embrace, I could perceive by the agitation of his wig, his back, and the +calves of his legs, that he felt much like to one who feels himself +suddenly in the gripe of a she-bear, without being able to distinguish +whether the animal is in kindness or in wrath. + +"Kinsman," she said, "you are welcome--and you, too, stranger," she +added, releasing my alarmed companion, who instinctively drew back and +settled his wig, and addressing herself to me--"you also are welcome. You +came," she added, "to our unhappy country, when our bloods were chafed, +and our hands were red. Excuse the rudeness that gave you a rough +welcome, and lay it upon the evil times, and not upon us." All this was +said with the manners of a princess, and in the tone and style of a +court. Nor was there the least tincture of that vulgarity, which we +naturally attach to the Lowland Scottish. There was a strong provincial +accentuation, but, otherwise, the language rendered by Helen MacGregor, +out of the native and poetical Gaelic, into English, which she had +acquired as we do learned tongues, but had probably never heard applied +to the mean purposes of ordinary life, was graceful, flowing, and +declamatory. Her husband, who had in his time played many parts, used a +much less elevated and emphatic dialect;--but even _his_ language rose in +purity of expression, as you may have remarked, if I have been accurate +in recording it, when the affairs which he discussed were of an agitating +and important nature; and it appears to me in his case, and in that of +some other Highlanders whom I have known, that, when familiar and +facetious, they used the Lowland Scottish dialect,--when serious and +impassioned, their thoughts arranged themselves in the idiom of their +native language; and in the latter case, as they uttered the +corresponding ideas in English, the expressions sounded wild, elevated, +and poetical. In fact, the language of passion is almost always pure as +well as vehement, and it is no uncommon thing to hear a Scotchman, when +overwhelmed by a countryman with a tone of bitter and fluent upbraiding, +reply by way of taunt to his adversary, "You have gotten to your +English." + +Be this as it may, the wife of MacGregor invited us to a refreshment +spread out on the grass, which abounded with all the good things their +mountains could offer, but was clouded by the dark and undisturbed +gravity which sat on the brow of our hostess, as well as by our deep and +anxious recollection of what had taken place on the preceding day. It was +in vain that the leader exerted himself to excite mirth;--a chill hung +over our minds, as if the feast had been funereal; and every bosom felt +light when it was ended. + +"Adieu, cousin," she said to Mr. Jarvie, as we rose from the +entertainment; "the best wish Helen MacGregor can give to a friend is, +that he may see her no more." + +The Bailie struggled to answer, probably with some commonplace maxim of +morality;--but the calm and melancholy sternness of her countenance bore +down and disconcerted the mechanical and formal importance of the +magistrate. He coughed,--hemmed,--bowed,--and was silent. + +"For you, stranger," she said, "I have a token, from one whom you can +never"-- + +"Helen!" interrupted MacGregor, in a loud and stern voice, "what means +this?--have you forgotten the charge?" + +"MacGregor," she replied, "I have forgotten nought that is fitting for me +to remember. It is not such hands as these," and she stretched forth her +long, sinewy, and bare arm, "that are fitting to convey love-tokens, were +the gift connected with aught but misery. Young man," she said, +presenting me with a ring, which I well remembered as one of the few +ornaments that Miss Vernon sometimes wore, "this comes from one whom you +will never see more. If it is a joyless token, it is well fitted to pass +through the hands of one to whom joy can never be known. Her last words +were--Let him forget me for ever." + +"And can she," I said, almost without being conscious that I spoke, +"suppose that is possible?" + +"All may be forgotten," said the extraordinary female who addressed me,-- +"all--but the sense of dishonour, and the desire of vengeance." + +"_Seid suas!_"* cried the MacGregor, stamping with impatience. + +* "Strike up." + +The bagpipes sounded, and with their thrilling and jarring tones cut +short our conference. Our leave of our hostess was taken by silent +gestures; and we resumed our journey with an additional proof on my part, +that I was beloved by Diana, and was separated from her for ever. + + + + + CHAPTER NINETEENTH. + + Farewell to the land where the clouds love to rest, + Like the shroud of the dead, on the mountain's cold breast + To the cataract's roar where the eagles reply, + And the lake her lone bosom expands to the sky. + +Our route lay through a dreary, yet romantic country, which the distress +of my own mind prevented me from remarking particularly, and which, +therefore, I will not attempt to describe. The lofty peak of Ben Lomond, +here the predominant monarch of the mountains, lay on our right hand, and +served as a striking landmark. I was not awakened from my apathy, until, +after a long and toilsome walk, we emerged through a pass in the hills, +and Loch Lomond opened before us. I will spare you the attempt to +describe what you would hardly comprehend without going to see it. But +certainly this noble lake, boasting innumerable beautiful islands, of +every varying form and outline which fancy can frame,--its northern +extremity narrowing until it is lost among dusky and retreating +mountains,--while, gradually widening as it extends to the southward, it +spreads its base around the indentures and promontories of a fair and +fertile land, affords one of the most surprising, beautiful, and sublime +spectacles in nature. The eastern side, peculiarly rough and rugged, was +at this time the chief seat of MacGregor and his clan,--to curb whom, a +small garrison had been stationed in a central position betwixt Loch +Lomond and another lake. The extreme strength of the country, however, +with the numerous passes, marshes, caverns, and other places of +concealment or defence, made the establishment of this little fort seem +rather an acknowledgment of the danger, than an effectual means of +securing against it. + +On more than one occasion, as well as on that which I witnessed, the +garrison suffered from the adventurous spirit of the outlaw and his +followers. These advantages were never sullied by ferocity when he +himself was in command; for, equally good-tempered and sagacious, he +understood well the danger of incurring unnecessary odium. I learned with +pleasure that he had caused the captives of the preceding day to be +liberated in safety; and many traits of mercy, and even of generosity, +are recorded of this remarkable man on similar occasions. + +A boat waited for us in a creek beneath a huge rock, manned by four lusty +Highland rowers; and our host took leave of us with great cordiality, and +even affection. Betwixt him and Mr. Jarvie, indeed, there seemed to exist +a degree of mutual regard, which formed a strong contrast to their +different occupations and habits. After kissing each other very lovingly, +and when they were just in the act of parting, the Bailie, in the fulness +of his heart, and with a faltering voice, assured his kinsman, "that if +ever an hundred pund, or even twa hundred, would put him or his family in +a settled way, he need but just send a line to the Saut-Market;" and Rob, +grasping his basket-hilt with one hand, and shaking Mr. Jarvie's heartily +with the other, protested, "that if ever anybody should affront his +kinsman, an he would but let him ken, he would stow his lugs out of his +head, were he the best man in Glasgow." + +With these assurances of mutual aid and continued good-will, we bore away +from the shore, and took our course for the south-western angle of the +lake, where it gives birth to the river Leven. Rob Roy remained for some +time standing on the rock from beneath which we had departed, conspicuous +by his long gun, waving tartans, and the single plume in his cap, which +in those days denoted the Highland gentleman and soldier; although I +observe that the present military taste has decorated the Highland bonnet +with a quantity of black plumage resembling that which is borne before +funerals. At length, as the distance increased between us, we saw him +turn and go slowly up the side of the hill, followed by his immediate +attendants or bodyguard. + +We performed our voyage for a long time in silence, interrupted only by +the Gaelic chant which one of the rowers sung in low irregular measure, +rising occasionally into a wild chorus, in which the others joined. + +My own thoughts were sad enough;--yet I felt something soothing in the +magnificent scenery with which I was surrounded; and thought, in the +enthusiasm of the moment, that had my faith been that of Rome, I could +have consented to live and die a lonely hermit in one of the romantic and +beautiful islands amongst which our boat glided. + +The Bailie had also his speculations, but they were of somewhat a +different complexion; as I found when, after about an hour's silence, +during which he had been mentally engaged in the calculations necessary, +he undertook to prove the possibility of draining the lake, and "giving +to plough and harrow many hundred, ay, many a thousand acres, from whilk +no man could get earthly gude e'enow, unless it were a gedd,* or a dish +of perch now and then." + +* A pike. + +Amidst a long discussion, which he "crammed into mine ear against the +stomach of my sense," I only remember, that it was part of his project to +preserve a portion of the lake just deep enough and broad enough for the +purposes of water-carriage, so that coal-barges and gabbards should pass +as easily between Dumbarton and Glenfalloch as between Glasgow and +Greenock. + +At length we neared our distant place of landing, adjoining to the ruins +of an ancient castle, and just where the lake discharges its superfluous +waters into the Leven. There we found Dougal with the horses. The Bailie +had formed a plan with respect to "the creature," as well as upon the +draining of the lake; and, perhaps in both cases, with more regard to the +utility than to the practical possibility of his scheme. "Dougal," he +said, "ye are a kindly creature, and hae the sense and feeling o' what is +due to your betters--and I'm e'en wae for you, Dougal, for it canna be +but that in the life ye lead you suld get a Jeddart cast* ae day suner or +later. I trust, considering my services as a magistrate, and my father +the deacon's afore me, I hae interest eneugh in the council to gar them +wink a wee at a waur faut than yours. + +* ["The memory of Dunbar's legal (?) proceedings at Jedburgh is preserved +in the proverbial phrase _Jeddart Justice,_ which signifies trial _after_ +execution."--_Minstrelsy of the Border,_ Preface, p. lvi.] + +Sae I hae been thinking, that if ye will gang back to Glasgow wi' us, +being a strong-backit creature, ye might be employed in the warehouse +till something better suld cast up." + +"Her nainsell muckle obliged till the Bailie's honour," replied Dougal; +"but teil be in her shanks fan she gangs on a cause-way'd street, unless +she be drawn up the Gallowgate wi' tows, as she was before." + +In fact, I afterwards learned that Dougal had originally come to Glasgow +as a prisoner, from being concerned in some depredation, but had somehow +found such favour in the eyes of the jailor, that, with rather +overweening confidence, he had retained him in his service as one of the +turnkeys; a task which Dougal had discharged with sufficient fidelity, so +far as was known, until overcome by his clannish prejudices on the +unexpected appearance of his old leader. + +Astonished at receiving so round a refusal to so favourable an offer, the +Bailie, turning to me, observed, that the "creature was a natural-born +idiot." I testified my own gratitude in a way which Dougal much better +relished, by slipping a couple of guineas into his hand. He no sooner +felt the touch of the gold, than he sprung twice or thrice from the earth +with the agility of a wild buck, flinging out first one heel and then +another, in a manner which would have astonished a French dancing-master. +He ran to the boatmen to show them the prize, and a small gratuity made +them take part in his raptures. He then, to use a favourite expression of +the dramatic John Bunyan, "went on his way, and I saw him no more." + +The Bailie and I mounted our horses, and proceeded on the road to +Glasgow. When we had lost the view of the lake, and its superb +amphitheatre of mountains, I could not help expressing with enthusiasm, +my sense of its natural beauties, although I was conscious that Mr. +Jarvie was a very uncongenial spirit to communicate with on such a +subject. + +"Ye are a young gentleman," he replied, "and an Englishman, and a' this +may be very fine to you; but for me, wha am a plain man, and ken +something o' the different values of land, I wadna gie the finest sight +we hae seen in the Hielands, for the first keek o' the Gorbals o' +Glasgow; and if I were ance there, it suldna be every fule's errand, +begging your pardon, Mr. Francis, that suld take me out o' sight o' Saint +Mungo's steeple again!" + +The honest man had his wish; for, by dint of travelling very late, we +arrived at his own house that night, or rather on the succeeding morning. +Having seen my worthy fellow-traveller safely consigned to the charge of +the considerate and officious Mattie, I proceeded to Mrs. Flyter's, in +whose house, even at this unwonted hour, light was still burning. The +door was opened by no less a person than Andrew Fairservice himself, who, +upon the first sound of my voice, set up a loud shout of joyful +recognition, and, without uttering a syllable, ran up stairs towards a +parlour on the second floor, from the windows of which the light +proceeded. Justly conceiving that he went to announce my return to the +anxious Owen, I followed him upon the foot. Owen was not alone, there was +another in the apartment--it was my father. + +The first impulse was to preserve the dignity of his usual equanimity,-- +"Francis, I am glad to see you." The next was to embrace me tenderly,-- +"My dear--dear son!"--Owen secured one of my hands, and wetted it with +his tears, while he joined in gratulating my return. These are scenes +which address themselves to the eye and to the heart rather than to the +ear--My old eye-lids still moisten at the recollection of our meeting; +but your kind and affectionate feelings can well imagine what I should +find it impossible to describe. + +When the tumult of our joy was over, I learnt that my father had arrived +from Holland shortly after Owen had set off for Scotland. Determined and +rapid in all his movements, he only stopped to provide the means of +discharging the obligations incumbent on his house. By his extensive +resources, with funds enlarged, and credit fortified, by eminent success +in his continental speculation, he easily accomplished what perhaps his +absence alone rendered difficult, and set out for Scotland to exact +justice from Rashleigh Osbaldistone, as well as to put order to his +affairs in that country. My father's arrival in full credit, and with the +ample means of supporting his engagements honourably, as well as +benefiting his correspondents in future, was a stunning blow to MacVittie +and Company, who had conceived his star set for ever. Highly incensed at +the usage his confidential clerk and agent had received at their hands, +Mr. Osbaldistone refused every tender of apology and accommodation; and +having settled the balance of their account, announced to them that, with +all its numerous contingent advantages, that leaf of their ledger was +closed for ever. + +While he enjoyed this triumph over false friends, he was not a little +alarmed on my account. Owen, good man, had not supposed it possible that +a journey of fifty or sixty miles, which may be made with so much ease +and safety in any direction from London, could be attended with any +particular danger. But he caught alarm, by sympathy, from my father, to +whom the country, and the lawless character of its inhabitants, were +better known. + +These apprehensions were raised to agony, when, a few hours before I +arrived, Andrew Fairservice made his appearance, with a dismal and +exaggerated account of the uncertain state in which he had left me. The +nobleman with whose troops he had been a sort of prisoner, had, after +examination, not only dismissed him, but furnished him with the means of +returning rapidly to Glasgow, in order to announce to my friends my +precarious and unpleasant situation. + +Andrew was one of those persons who have no objection to the sort of +temporary attention and woeful importance which attaches itself to the +bearer of bad tidings, and had therefore by no means smoothed down his +tale in the telling, especially as the rich London merchant himself +proved unexpectedly one of the auditors. He went at great length into an +account of the dangers I had escaped, chiefly, as he insinuated, by means +of his own experience, exertion, and sagacity. + +"What was to come of me now, when my better angel, in his (Andrew's) +person, was removed from my side, it was," he said, "sad and sair to +conjecture; that the Bailie was nae better than just naebody at a pinch, +or something waur, for he was a conceited body--and Andrew hated conceit +--but certainly, atween the pistols and the carabines of the troopers, +that rappit aff the tane after the tother as fast as hail, and the dirks +and claymores o' the Hielanders, and the deep waters and weils o' the +Avondow, it was to be thought there wad be a puir account of the young +gentleman." + +This statement would have driven Owen to despair, had he been alone and +unsupported; but my father's perfect knowledge of mankind enabled him +easily to appreciate the character of Andrew, and the real amount of his +intelligence. Stripped of all exaggeration, however, it was alarming +enough to a parent. He determined to set out in person to obtain my +liberty by ransom or negotiation, and was busied with Owen till a late +hour, in order to get through some necessary correspondence, and devolve +on the latter some business which should be transacted during his +absence; and thus it chanced that I found them watchers. + +It was late ere we separated to rest, and, too impatient long to endure +repose, I was stirring early the next morning. Andrew gave his attendance +at my levee, as in duty bound, and, instead of the scarecrow figure to +which he had been reduced at Aberfoil, now appeared in the attire of an +undertaker, a goodly suit, namely, of the deepest mourning. It was not +till after one or two queries, which the rascal affected as long as he +could to misunderstand, that I found out he "had thought it but decent to +put on mourning, on account of my inexpressible loss; and as the broker +at whose shop he had equipped himself, declined to receive the goods +again, and as his own garments had been destroyed or carried off in my +honour's service, doubtless I and my honourable father, whom Providence +had blessed wi' the means, wadna suffer a puir lad to sit down wi' the +loss; a stand o' claes was nae great matter to an Osbaldistone (be +praised for't!), especially to an old and attached servant o' the house." + +As there was something of justice in Andrew's plea of loss in my service, +his finesse succeeded; and he came by a good suit of mourning, with a +beaver and all things conforming, as the exterior signs of woe for a +master who was alive and merry. + +My father's first care, when he arose, was to visit Mr. Jarvie, for whose +kindness he entertained the most grateful sentiments, which he expressed +in very few, but manly and nervous terms. He explained the altered state +of his affairs, and offered the Bailie, on such terms as could not but be +both advantageous and acceptable, that part in his concerns which had +been hitherto managed by MacVittie and Company. The Bailie heartily +congratulated my father and Owen on the changed posture of their affairs, +and, without affecting to disclaim that he had done his best to serve +them, when matters looked otherwise, he said, "He had only just acted as +he wad be done by--that, as to the extension of their correspondence, he +frankly accepted it with thanks. Had MacVittie's folk behaved like honest +men," he said, "he wad hae liked ill to hae come in ahint them, and out +afore them this gate. But it's otherwise, and they maun e'en stand the +loss." + +The Bailie then pulled me by the sleeve into a corner, and, after again +cordially wishing me joy, proceeded, in rather an embarrassed tone--"I +wad heartily wish, Maister Francis, there suld be as little said as +possible about the queer things we saw up yonder awa. There's nae gude, +unless ane were judicially examinate, to say onything about that awfu' +job o' Morris--and the members o' the council wadna think it creditable +in ane of their body to be fighting wi' a wheen Hielandmen, and singeing +their plaidens--And abune a', though I am a decent sponsible man, when I +am on my right end, I canna but think I maun hae made a queer figure +without my hat and my periwig, hinging by the middle like bawdrons, or a +cloak flung ower a cloak-pin. Bailie Grahame wad hae an unco hair in my +neck an he got that tale by the end." + +I could not suppress a smile when I recollected the Bailie's situation, +although I certainly thought it no laughing matter at the time. The +good-natured merchant was a little confused, but smiled also when he +shook his head--"I see how it is--I see how it is. But say naething about +it--there's a gude callant; and charge that lang-tongued, conceited, +upsetting serving man o' yours, to sae naething neither. I wadna for ever +sae muckle that even the lassock Mattie ken'd onything about it. I wad +never hear an end o't." + +He was obviously relieved from his impending fears of ridicule, when I +told him it was my father's intention to leave Glasgow almost +immediately. Indeed he had now no motive for remaining, since the most +valuable part of the papers carried off by Rashleigh had been recovered. +For that portion which he had converted into cash and expended in his own +or on political intrigues, there was no mode of recovering it but by a +suit at law, which was forthwith commenced, and proceeded, as our +law-agents assured us, with all deliberate speed. + +We spent, accordingly, one hospitable day with the Bailie, and took leave +of him, as this narrative now does. He continued to grow in wealth, +honour, and credit, and actually rose to the highest civic honours in his +native city. About two years after the period I have mentioned, he tired +of his bachelor life, and promoted Mattie from her wheel by the kitchen +fire to the upper end of his table, in the character of Mrs. Jarvie. +Bailie Grahame, the MacVitties, and others (for all men have their +enemies, especially in the council of a royal burgh), ridiculed this +transformation. "But," said Mr. Jarvie, "let them say their say. I'll +ne'er fash mysell, nor lose my liking for sae feckless a matter as a nine +days' clash. My honest father the deacon had a byword, + + Brent brow and lily skin, + A loving heart, and a leal within, + Is better than gowd or gentle kin. + +Besides," as he always concluded, "Mattie was nae ordinary lassock-quean; +she was akin to the Laird o' Limmerfield." + +Whether it was owing to her descent or her good gifts, I do not presume +to decide; but Mattie behaved excellently in her exaltation, and relieved +the apprehensions of some of the Bailie's friends, who had deemed his +experiment somewhat hazardous. I do not know that there was any other +incident of his quiet and useful life worthy of being particularly +recorded. + + + + + CHAPTER TWENTIETH. + + "Come ye hither my 'six' good sons, + Gallant men I trow ye be, + How many of you, my children dear, + Will stand by that good Earl and me?" + + "Five" of them did answer make-- + "Five" of them spoke hastily, + "O father, till the day we die, + We'll stand by that good Earl and thee." + The Rising in the North. + +On the morning when we were to depart from Glasgow, Andrew Fairservice +bounced into my apartment like a madman, jumping up and down, and +singing, with more vehemence than tune, + + The kiln's on fire--the kiln's on fire-- + The kiln's on fire--she's a' in a lowe. + +With some difficulty I prevailed on him to cease his confounded clamour, +and explain to me what the matter was. He was pleased to inform me, as if +he had been bringing the finest news imaginable, "that the Hielands were +clean broken out, every man o' them, and that Rob Roy, and a' his +breekless bands, wad be down upon Glasgow or twenty-four hours o' the +clock gaed round." + +"Hold your tongue," said I, "you rascal! You must be drunk or mad; and if +there is any truth in your news, is it a singing matter, you scoundrel?" + +"Drunk or mad? nae doubt," replied Andrew, dauntlessly; "ane's aye drunk +or mad if he tells what grit folks dinna like to hear--Sing? Od, the +clans will make us sing on the wrang side o' our mouth, if we are sae +drunk or mad as to bide their coming." + +I rose in great haste, and found my father and Owen also on foot, and in +considerable alarm. + +Andrew's news proved but too true in the main. The great rebellion which +agitated Britain in the year 1715 had already broken out, by the +unfortunate Earl of Mar's setting up the standard of the Stuart family in +an ill-omened hour, to the ruin of many honourable families, both in +England and Scotland. The treachery of some of the Jacobite agents +(Rashleigh among the rest), and the arrest of others, had made George the +First's Government acquainted with the extensive ramifications of a +conspiracy long prepared, and which at last exploded prematurely, and in +a part of the kingdom too distant to have any vital effect upon the +country, which, however, was plunged into much confusion. + +This great public event served to confirm and elucidate the obscure +explanations I had received from MacGregor; and I could easily see why +the westland clans, who were brought against him, should have waived +their private quarrel, in consideration that they were all shortly to be +engaged in the same public cause. It was a more melancholy reflection to +my mind, that Diana Vernon was the wife of one of those who were most +active in turning the world upside down, and that she was herself exposed +to all the privations and perils of her husband's hazardous trade. + +We held an immediate consultation on the measures we were to adopt in +this crisis, and acquiesced in my father's plan, that we should instantly +get the necessary passports, and make the best of our way to London. I +acquainted my father with my wish to offer my personal service to the +Government in any volunteer corps, several being already spoken of. He +readily acquiesced in my proposal; for though he disliked war as a +profession, yet, upon principle, no man would have exposed his life more +willingly in defence of civil and religious liberty. + +We travelled in haste and in peril through Dumfriesshire and the +neighbouring counties of England. In this quarter, gentlemen of the Tory +interest were already in motion, mustering men and horses, while the +Whigs assembled themselves in the principal towns, armed the inhabitants, +and prepared for civil war. We narrowly escaped being stopped on more +occasions than one, and were often compelled to take circuitous routes to +avoid the points where forces were assembling. + +When we reached London, we immediately associated with those bankers and +eminent merchants who agreed to support the credit of Government, and to +meet that run upon the funds, on which the conspirators had greatly +founded their hopes of furthering their undertaking, by rendering the +Government, as it were, bankrupt. My father was chosen one of the members +of this formidable body of the monied interest, as all had the greatest +confidence in his zeal, skill, and activity. He was also the organ by +which they communicated with Government, and contrived, from funds +belonging to his own house, or over which he had command, to find +purchasers for a quantity of the national stock, which was suddenly flung +into the market at a depreciated price when the rebellion broke out. I +was not idle myself, but obtained a commission, and levied, at my +father's expense, about two hundred men, with whom I joined General +Carpenter's army. + +The rebellion, in the meantime, had extended itself to England. The +unfortunate Earl of Derwentwater had taken arms in the cause, along with +General Foster. My poor uncle, Sir Hildebrand, whose estate was reduced +to almost nothing by his own carelessness and the expense and debauchery +of his sons and household, was easily persuaded to join that unfortunate +standard. Before doing so, however, he exhibited a degree of precaution +of which no one could have suspected him--he made his will! + +By this document he devised his estates at Osbaldistone Hall, and so +forth, to his sons successively, and their male heirs, until he came to +Rashleigh, whom, on account of the turn he had lately taken in politics, +he detested with all his might,--he cut him off with a shilling, and +settled the estate on me as his next heir. I had always been rather a +favourite of the old gentleman; but it is probable that, confident in the +number of gigantic youths who now armed around him, he considered the +destination as likely to remain a dead letter, which he inserted chiefly +to show his displeasure at Rashleigh's treachery, both public and +domestic. There was an article, by which he, bequeathed to the niece of +his late wife, Diana Vernon, now Lady Diana Vernon Beauchamp, some +diamonds belonging to her late aunt, and a great silver ewer, having the +arms of Vernon and Osbaldistone quarterly engraven upon it. + +But Heaven had decreed a more speedy extinction of his numerous and +healthy lineage, than, most probably, he himself had reckoned on. In the +very first muster of the conspirators, at a place called Green-Rigg, +Thorncliff Osbaldistone quarrelled about precedence with a gentleman of +the Northumbrian border, to the full as fierce and intractable as +himself. In spite of all remonstrances, they gave their commander a +specimen of how far their discipline might be relied upon, by fighting it +out with their rapiers, and my kinsman was killed on the spot. His death +was a great loss to Sir Hildebrand, for, notwithstanding his infernal +temper, he had a grain or two of more sense than belonged to the rest of +the brotherhood, Rashleigh always excepted. + +Perceval, the sot, died also in his calling. He had a wager with another +gentleman (who, from his exploits in that line, had acquired the +formidable epithet of Brandy Swalewell), which should drink the largest +cup of strong liquor when King James was proclaimed by the insurgents at +Morpeth. The exploit was something enormous. I forget the exact quantity +of brandy which Percie swallowed, but it occasioned a fever, of which he +expired at the end of three days, with the word, _water, water,_ +perpetually on his tongue. + +Dickon broke his neck near Warrington Bridge, in an attempt to show off a +foundered blood-mare which he wished to palm upon a Manchester merchant +who had joined the insurgents. He pushed the animal at a five-barred +gate; she fell in the leap, and the unfortunate jockey lost his life. + +Wilfred the fool, as sometimes befalls, had the best fortune of the +family. He was slain at Proud Preston, in Lancashire, on the day that +General Carpenter attacked the barricades, fighting with great bravery, +though I have heard he was never able exactly to comprehend the cause of +quarrel, and did not uniformly remember on which king's side he was +engaged. John also behaved very boldly in the same engagement, and +received several wounds, of which he was not happy enough to die on the +spot. + +Old Sir Hildebrand, entirely brokenhearted by these successive losses, +became, by the next day's surrender, one of the unhappy prisoners, and +was lodged in Newgate with his wounded son John. + +I was now released from my military duty, and lost no time, therefore, in +endeavouring to relieve the distresses of these new relations. My +father's interest with Government, and the general compassion excited by +a parent who had sustained the successive loss of so many sons within so +short a time, would have prevented my uncle and cousin from being brought +to trial for high treason. But their doom was given forth from a greater +tribunal. John died of his wounds in Newgate, recommending to me in his +last breath, a cast of hawks which he had at the Hall, and a black +spaniel bitch called Lucy. + +My poor uncle seemed beaten down to the very earth by his family +calamities, and the circumstances in which he unexpectedly found himself. +He said little, but seemed grateful for such attentions as circumstances +permitted me to show him. I did not witness his meeting with my father +for the first time for so many years, and under circumstances so +melancholy; but, judging from my father's extreme depression of spirits, +it must have been melancholy in the last degree. Sir Hildebrand spoke +with great bitterness against Rashleigh, now his only surviving child; +laid upon him the ruin of his house, and the deaths of all his brethren, +and declared, that neither he nor they would have plunged into political +intrigue, but for that very member of his family, who had been the first +to desert them. He once or twice mentioned Diana, always with great +affection; and once he said, while I sate by his bedside--"Nevoy, since +Thorncliff and all of them are dead, I am sorry you cannot have her." + +The expression affected me much at the time; for it was a usual custom of +the poor old baronet's, when joyously setting forth upon the morning's +chase, to distinguish Thorncliff, who was a favourite, while he summoned +the rest more generally; and the loud jolly tone in which he used to +hollo, "Call Thornie--call all of them," contrasted sadly with the +woebegone and self-abandoning note in which he uttered the disconsolate +words which I have above quoted. He mentioned the contents of his will, +and supplied me with an authenticated copy;--the original he had +deposited with my old acquaintance Mr. Justice Inglewood, who, dreaded by +no one, and confided in by all as a kind of neutral person, had become, +for aught I know, the depositary of half the wills of the fighting men of +both factions in the county of Northumberland. + +The greater part of my uncle's last hours were spent in the discharge of +the religious duties of his church, in which he was directed by the +chaplain of the Sardinian ambassador, for whom, with some difficulty, we +obtained permission to visit him. I could not ascertain by my own +observation, or through the medical attendants, that Sir Hildebrand +Osbaldistone died of any formed complaint bearing a name in the science +of medicine. He seemed to me completely worn out and broken down by +fatigue of body and distress of mind, and rather ceased to exist, than +died of any positive struggle,--just as a vessel, buffeted and tossed by +a succession of tempestuous gales, her timbers overstrained, and her +joints loosened, will sometimes spring a leak and founder, when there are +no apparent causes for her destruction. + +It was a remarkable circumstance that my father, after the last duties +were performed to his brother, appeared suddenly to imbibe a strong +anxiety that I should act upon the will, and represent his father's +house, which had hitherto seemed to be the thing in the world which had +least charms for him. But formerly, he had been like the fox in the +fable, contemning what was beyond his reach; and, moreover, I doubt not +that the excessive dislike which he entertained against Rashleigh (now +Sir Rashleigh) Osbaldistone, who loudly threatened to attack his father +Sir Hildebrand's will and settlement, corroborated my father's desire to +maintain it. + +"He had been most unjustly disinherited," he said, "by his own father-- +his brother's will had repaired the disgrace, if not the injury, by +leaving the wreck of his property to Frank, the natural heir, and he was +determined the bequest should take effect." + +In the meantime, Rashleigh was not altogether a contemptible personage as +an opponent. The information he had given to Government was critically +well-timed, and his extreme plausibility, with the extent of his +intelligence, and the artful manner in which he contrived to assume both +merit and influence, had, to a certain extent, procured him patrons among +Ministers. We were already in the full tide of litigation with him on the +subject of his pillaging the firm of Osbaldistone and Tresham; and, +judging from the progress we made in that comparatively simple lawsuit, +there was a chance that this second course of litigation might be drawn +out beyond the period of all our natural lives. + +To avert these delays as much as possible, my father, by the advice of +his counsel learned in the law, paid off and vested in my person the +rights to certain large mortgages affecting Osbaldistone Hall. Perhaps, +however, the opportunity to convert a great share of the large profits +which accrued from the rapid rise of the funds upon the suppression of +the rebellion, and the experience he had so lately had of the perils of +commerce, encouraged him to realise, in this manner, a considerable part +of his property. At any rate, it so chanced, that, instead of commanding +me to the desk, as I fully expected, having intimated my willingness to +comply with his wishes, however they might destine me, I received his +directions to go down to Osbaldistone Hall, and take possession of it as +the heir and representative of the family. I was directed to apply to +Squire Inglewood for the copy of my uncle's will deposited with him, and +take all necessary measures to secure that possession which sages say +makes nine points of the law. + +At another time I should have been delighted with this change of +destination. But now Osbaldistone Hall was accompanied with many painful +recollections. Still, however, I thought, that in that neighbourhood only +I was likely to acquire some information respecting the fate of Diana +Vernon. I had every reason to fear it must be far different from what I +could have wished it. But I could obtain no precise information on the +subject. + +It was in vain that I endeavoured, by such acts of kindness as their +situation admitted, to conciliate the confidence of some distant +relations who were among the prisoners in Newgate. A pride which I could +not condemn, and a natural suspicion of the Whig Frank Osbaldistone, +cousin to the double-distilled traitor Rashleigh, closed every heart and +tongue, and I only received thanks, cold and extorted, in exchange for +such benefits as I had power to offer. The arm of the law was also +gradually abridging the numbers of those whom I endeavoured to serve, and +the hearts of the survivors became gradually more contracted towards all +whom they conceived to be concerned with the existing Government. As they +were led gradually, and by detachments, to execution, those who survived +lost interest in mankind, and the desire of communicating with them. I +shall long remember what one of them, Ned Shafton by name, replied to my +anxious inquiry, whether there was any indulgence I could procure him? +"Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, I must suppose you mean me kindly, and therefore +I thank you. But, by G--, men cannot be fattened like poultry, when they +see their neighbours carried off day by day to the place of execution, +and know that their own necks are to be twisted round in their turn." + +Upon the whole, therefore, I was glad to escape from London, from +Newgate, and from the scenes which both exhibited, to breathe the free +air of Northumberland. Andrew Fairservice had continued in my service +more from my father's pleasure than my own. At present there seemed a +prospect that his local acquaintance with Osbaldistone Hall and its +vicinity might be useful; and, of course, he accompanied me on my +journey, and I enjoyed the prospect of getting rid of him, by +establishing him in his old quarters. I cannot conceive how he could +prevail upon my father to interest himself in him, unless it were by the +art, which he possessed in no inconsiderable degree, of affecting an +extreme attachment to his master; which theoretical attachment he made +compatible in practice with playing all manner of tricks without scruple, +providing only against his master being cheated by any one but himself. + +We performed our journey to the North without any remarkable adventure, +and we found the country, so lately agitated by rebellion, now peaceful +and in good order. The nearer we approached to Osbaldistone Hall, the +more did my heart sink at the thought of entering that deserted mansion; +so that, in order to postpone the evil day, I resolved first to make my +visit at Mr. Justice Inglewood's. + +That venerable person had been much disturbed with thoughts of what he +had been, and what he now was; and natural recollections of the past had +interfered considerably with the active duty which in his present +situation might have been expected from him. He was fortunate, however, +in one respect; he had got rid of his clerk Jobson, who had finally left +him in dudgeon at his inactivity, and become legal assistant to a certain +Squire Standish, who had lately commenced operations in those parts as a +justice, with a zeal for King George and the Protestant succession, +which, very different from the feelings of his old patron, Mr. Jobson had +more occasion to restrain within the bounds of the law, than to stimulate +to exertion. + +Old Justice Inglewood received me with great courtesy, and readily +exhibited my uncle's will, which seemed to be without a flaw. He was for +some time in obvious distress, how he should speak and act in my +presence; but when he found, that though a supporter of the present +Government upon principle, I was disposed to think with pity on those who +had opposed it on a mistaken feeling of loyalty and duty, his discourse +became a very diverting medley of what he had done, and what he had left +undone,--the pains he had taken to prevent some squires from joining, and +to wink at the escape of others, who had been so unlucky as to engage in +the affair. + +We were _tete-a'-tete,_ and several bumpers had been quaffed by the +Justice's special desire, when, on a sudden, he requested me to fill a +_bona fide_ brimmer to the health of poor dear Die Vernon, the rose of +the wilderness, the heath-bell of Cheviot, and the blossom that's +transplanted to an infernal convent. + +"Is not Miss Vernon married, then?" I exclaimed, in great astonishment. +"I thought his Excellency"-- + +"Pooh! pooh! his Excellency and his Lordship's all a humbug now, you +know--mere St. Germains titles--Earl of Beauchamp, and ambassador +plenipotentiary from France, when the Duke Regent of Orleans scarce knew +that he lived, I dare say. But you must have seen old Sir Frederick +Vernon at the Hall, when he played the part of Father Vaughan?" + +"Good Heavens! then Vaughan was Miss Vernon's father?" + +"To be sure he was," said the Justice coolly;--"there's no use in keeping +the secret now, for he must be out of the country by this time-- +otherwise, no doubt, it would be my duty to apprehend him.--Come, off +with your bumper to my dear lost Die! + + And let her health go round, around, around, + And let her health go round; + For though your stocking be of silk, + Your knees near kiss the ground, aground, aground."* + +* This pithy verse occurs, it is believed, in Shadwell's play of Bury +Fair. + +I was unable, as the reader may easily conceive, to join in the Justice's +jollity. My head swam with the shock I had received. "I never heard," I +said, "that Miss Vernon's father was living." + +"It was not our Government's fault that he is," replied Inglewood, "for +the devil a man there is whose head would have brought more money. He was +condemned to death for Fenwick's plot, and was thought to have had some +hand in the Knightsbridge affair, in King William's time; and as he had +married in Scotland a relation of the house of Breadalbane, he possessed +great influence with all their chiefs. There was a talk of his being +demanded to be given up at the peace of Ryswick, but he shammed ill, and +his death was given publicly out in the French papers. But when he came +back here on the old score, we old cavaliers knew him well,--that is to +say, I knew him, not as being a cavalier myself, but no information being +lodged against the poor gentleman, and my memory being shortened by +frequent attacks of the gout, I could not have sworn to him, you know." + +"Was he, then, not known at Osbaldistone Hall?" I inquired. + +"To none but to his daughter, the old knight, and Rashleigh, who had got +at that secret as he did at every one else, and held it like a twisted +cord about poor Die's neck. I have seen her one hundred times she would +have spit at him, if it had not been fear for her father, whose life +would not have been worth five minutes' purchase if he had been +discovered to the Government.--But don't mistake me, Mr. Osbaldistone; I +say the Government is a good, a gracious, and a just Government; and if +it has hanged one-half of the rebels, poor things, all will acknowledge +they would not have been touched had they staid peaceably at home." + +Waiving the discussion of these political questions, I brought back Mr. +Inglewood to his subject, and I found that Diana, having positively +refused to marry any of the Osbaldistone family, and expressed her +particular detestation of Rashleigh, he had from that time begun to cool +in zeal for the cause of the Pretender; to which, as the youngest of six +brethren, and bold, artful, and able, he had hitherto looked forward as +the means of making his fortune. Probably the compulsion with which he +had been forced to render up the spoils which he had abstracted from my +father's counting-house by the united authority of Sir Frederick Vernon +and the Scottish Chiefs, had determined his resolution to advance his +progress by changing his opinions and betraying his trust. Perhaps also-- +for few men were better judges where his interest was concerned--he +considered their means and talents to be, as they afterwards proved, +greatly inadequate to the important task of overthrowing an established +Government. Sir Frederick Vernon, or, as he was called among the +Jacobites, his Excellency Viscount Beauchamp, had, with his daughter, +some difficulty in escaping the consequences of Rashleigh's information. +Here Mr. Inglewood's information was at fault; but he did not doubt, +since we had not heard of Sir Frederick being in the hands of the +Government, he must be by this time abroad, where, agreeably to the cruel +bond he had entered into with his brother-in-law, Diana, since she had +declined to select a husband out of the Osbaldistone family, must be +confined to a convent. The original cause of this singular agreement Mr. +Inglewood could not perfectly explain; but he understood it was a family +compact, entered into for the purpose of securing to Sir Frederick the +rents of the remnant of his large estates, which had been vested in the +Osbaldistone family by some legal manoeuvre; in short, a family compact, +in which, like many of those undertaken at that time of day, the feelings +of the principal parties interested were no more regarded than if they +had been a part of the live-stock upon the lands. + +I cannot tell,--such is the waywardness of the human heart,--whether this +intelligence gave me joy or sorrow. It seemed to me, that, in the +knowledge that Miss Vernon was eternally divided from me, not by marriage +with another, but by seclusion in a convent, in order to fulfil an absurd +bargain of this kind, my regret for her loss was aggravated rather than +diminished. I became dull, low-spirited, absent, and unable to support +the task of conversing with Justice Inglewood, who in his turn yawned, +and proposed to retire early. I took leave of him overnight, determining +the next day, before breakfast, to ride over to Osbaldistone Hall. + +Mr. Inglewood acquiesced in my proposal. "It would be well," he said, +"that I made my appearance there before I was known to be in the country, +the more especially as Sir Rashleigh Osbaldistone was now, he understood, +at Mr. Jobson's house, hatching some mischief, doubtless. They were fit +company," he added, "for each other, Sir Rashleigh having lost all right +to mingle in the society of men of honour; but it was hardly possible two +such d--d rascals should collogue together without mischief to honest +people." + +He concluded, by earnestly recommending a toast and tankard, and an +attack upon his venison pasty, before I set out in the morning, just to +break the cold air on the words. + + + + + CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. + + His master's gone, and no one now + Dwells in the halls of Ivor; + Men, dogs, and horses, all are dead, + He is the sole survivor. + Wordsworth. + +There are few more melancholy sensations than those with which we regard +scenes of past pleasure when altered and deserted. In my ride to +Osbaldistone Hall, I passed the same objects which I had seen in company +with Miss Vernon on the day of our memorable ride from Inglewood Place. +Her spirit seemed to keep me company on the way; and when I approached +the spot where I had first seen her, I almost listened for the cry of the +hounds and the notes of the horn, and strained my eye on the vacant +space, as if to descry the fair huntress again descend like an apparition +from the hill. But all was silent, and all was solitary. When I reached +the Hall, the closed doors and windows, the grass-grown pavement, the +courts, which were now so silent, presented a strong contrast to the gay +and bustling scene I had so often seen them exhibit, when the merry +hunters were going forth to their morning sport, or returning to the +daily festival. The joyous bark of the fox-hounds as they were uncoupled, +the cries of the huntsmen, the clang of the horses' hoofs, the loud laugh +of the old knight at the head of his strong and numerous descendants, +were all silenced now and for ever. + +While I gazed round the scene of solitude and emptiness, I was +inexpressibly affected, even by recollecting those whom, when alive, I +had no reason to regard with affection. But the thought that so many +youths of goodly presence, warm with life, health, and confidence, were +within so short a time cold in the grave, by various, yet all violent and +unexpected modes of death, afforded a picture of mortality at which the +mind trembled. It was little consolation to me, that I returned a +proprietor to the halls which I had left almost like a fugitive. My mind +was not habituated to regard the scenes around as my property, and I felt +myself an usurper, at least an intruding stranger, and could hardly +divest myself of the idea, that some of the bulky forms of my deceased +kinsmen were, like the gigantic spectres of a romance, to appear in the +gateway, and dispute my entrance. + +While I was engaged in these sad thoughts, my follower Andrew, whose +feelings were of a very different nature, exerted himself in thundering +alternately on every door in the building, calling, at the same time, for +admittance, in a tone so loud as to intimate, that _he,_ at least, was +fully sensible of his newly acquired importance, as squire of the body to +the new lord of the manor. At length, timidly and reluctantly, Anthony +Syddall, my uncle's aged butler and major-domo, presented himself at a +lower window, well fenced with iron bars, and inquired our business. + +"We are come to tak your charge aff your hand, my auld friend," said +Andrew Fairservice; "ye may gie up your keys as sune as ye like--ilka dog +has his day. I'll tak the plate and napery aff your hand. Ye hae had your +ain time o't, Mr. Syddall; but ilka bean has its black, and ilka path has +its puddle; and it will just set you henceforth to sit at the board-end, +as weel as it did Andrew lang syne." + +Checking with some difficulty the forwardness of my follower, I explained +to Syddall the nature of my right, and the title I had to demand +admittance into the Hall, as into my own property. The old man seemed +much agitated and distressed, and testified manifest reluctance to give +me entrance, although it was couched in a humble and submissive tone. I +allowed for the agitation of natural feelings, which really did the old +man honour; but continued peremptory in my demand of admittance, +explaining to him that his refusal would oblige me to apply for Mr. +Inglewood's warrant, and a constable. + +"We are come from Mr. Justice Inglewood's this morning," said Andrew, to +enforce the menace;--"and I saw Archie Rutledge, the constable, as I came +up by;--the country's no to be lawless as it has been, Mr. Syddall, +letting rebels and papists gang on as they best listed." + +The threat of the law sounded dreadful in the old man's ears, conscious +as he was of the suspicion under which he himself lay, from his religion +and his devotion to Sir Hildebrand and his sons. He undid, with fear and +trembling, one of the postern entrances, which was secured with many a +bolt and bar, and humbly hoped that I would excuse him for fidelity in +the discharge of his duty.--I reassured him, and told him I had the +better opinion of him for his caution. + +"Sae have not I," said Andrew; "Syddall is an auld sneck-drawer; he wadna +be looking as white as a sheet, and his knees knocking thegither, unless +it were for something mair than he's like to tell us." + +"Lord forgive you, Mr. Fairservice," replied the butler, "to say such +things of an old friend and fellow-servant!--Where"--following me humbly +along the passage--"where would it be your honour's pleasure to have a +fire lighted? I fear me you will find the house very dull and dreary--But +perhaps you mean to ride back to Inglewood Place to dinner?" + +"Light a fire in the library," I replied. + +"In the library!" answered the old man;--"nobody has sat there this many +a day, and the room smokes, for the daws have built in the chimney this +spring, and there were no young men about the Hall to pull them down." + +"Our ain reekes better than other folk's fire," said Andrew. "His honour +likes the library;--he's nane o' your Papishers, that delight in blinded +ignorance, Mr. Syddall." + +Very reluctantly as it appeared to me, the butler led the way to the +library, and, contrary to what he had given me to expect, the interior of +the apartment looked as if it had been lately arranged, and made more +comfortable than usual. There was a fire in the grate, which burned +clearly, notwithstanding what Syddall had reported of the vent. Taking up +the tongs, as if to arrange the wood, but rather perhaps to conceal his +own confusion, the butler observed, "it was burning clear now, but had +smoked woundily in the morning." + +Wishing to be alone, till I recovered myself from the first painful +sensations which everything around me recalled, I desired old Syddall to +call the land-steward, who lived at about a quarter of a mile from the +Hall. He departed with obvious reluctance. I next ordered Andrew to +procure the attendance of a couple of stout fellows upon whom he could +rely, the population around being Papists, and Sir Rashleigh, who was +capable of any desperate enterprise, being in the neighbourhood. Andrew +Fairservice undertook this task with great cheerfulness, and promised to +bring me up from Trinlay-Knowe, "twa true-blue Presbyterians like +himself, that would face and out-face baith the Pope, the Devil, and the +Pretender--and blythe will I be o' their company mysell, for the very +last night that I was at Osbaldistone Hall, the blight be on ilka blossom +in my bit yard, if I didna see that very picture" (pointing to the +full-length portrait of Miss Vernon's grandfather) "walking by moonlight +in the garden! I tauld your honour I was fleyed wi' a bogle that night, +but ye wadna listen to me--I aye thought there was witchcraft and +deevilry amang the Papishers, but I ne'er saw't wi' bodily een till that +awfu' night." + +"Get along, sir," said I, "and bring the fellows you talk of; and see +they have more sense than yourself, and are not frightened at their own +shadow." + +"I hae been counted as gude a man as my neighbours ere now," said Andrew, +petulantly; "but I dinna pretend to deal wi' evil spirits." And so he +made his exit, as Wardlaw the land-steward made his appearance. + +He was a man of sense and honesty, without whose careful management my +uncle would have found it difficult to have maintained himself a +housekeeper so long as he did. He examined the nature of my right of +possession carefully, and admitted it candidly. To any one else the +succession would have been a poor one, so much was the land encumbered +with debt and mortgage. Most of these, however, were already vested in my +father's person, and he was in a train of acquiring the rest; his large +gains by the recent rise of the funds having made it a matter of ease and +convenience for him to pay off the debt which affected his patrimony. + +I transacted much necessary business with Mr. Wardlaw, and detained him +to dine with me. We preferred taking our repast in the library, although +Syddall strongly recommended our removing to the stone-hall, which he had +put in order for the occasion. Meantime Andrew made his appearance with +his true-blue recruits, whom he recommended in the highest terms, as +"sober decent men, weel founded in doctrinal points, and, above all, as +bold as lions." I ordered them something to drink, and they left the +room. I observed old Syddall shake his head as they went out, and +insisted upon knowing the reason. + +"I maybe cannot expect," he said, "that your honour should put confidence +in what I say, but it is Heaven's truth for all that--Ambrose Wingfield +is as honest a man as lives, but if there is a false knave in the +country, it is his brother Lancie;--the whole country knows him to be a +spy for Clerk Jobson on the poor gentlemen that have been in trouble--But +he's a dissenter, and I suppose that's enough now-a-days." + +Having thus far given vent to his feelings,--to which, however, I was +little disposed to pay attention,--and having placed the wine on the +table, the old butler left the apartment. + +Mr. Wardlaw having remained with me until the evening was somewhat +advanced, at length bundled up his papers, and removed himself to his own +habitation, leaving me in that confused state of mind in which we can +hardly say whether we desire company or solitude. I had not, however, the +choice betwixt them; for I was left alone in the room of all others most +calculated to inspire me with melancholy reflections. + +As twilight was darkening the apartment, Andrew had the sagacity to +advance his head at the door,--not to ask if I wished for lights, but to +recommend them as a measure of precaution against the bogles which still +haunted his imagination. I rejected his proffer somewhat peevishly, +trimmed the wood-fire, and placing myself in one of the large leathern +chairs which flanked the old Gothic chimney, I watched unconsciously the +bickering of the blaze which I had fostered. "And this," said I alone, +"is the progress and the issue of human wishes! Nursed by the merest +trifles, they are first kindled by fancy--nay, are fed upon the vapour of +hope, till they consume the substance which they inflame; and man, and +his hopes, passions, and desires, sink into a worthless heap of embers +and ashes!" + +There was a deep sigh from the opposite side of the room, which seemed to +reply to my reflections. I started up in amazement--Diana Vernon stood +before me, resting on the arm of a figure so strongly resembling that of +the portrait so often mentioned, that I looked hastily at the frame, +expecting to see it empty. My first idea was, either that I had gone +suddenly distracted, or that the spirits of the dead had arisen and been +placed before me. A second glance convinced me of my being in my senses, +and that the forms which stood before me were real and substantial. It +was Diana herself, though paler and thinner than her former self; and it +was no tenant of the grave who stood beside her, but Vaughan, or rather +Sir Frederick Vernon, in a dress made to imitate that of his ancestor, to +whose picture his countenance possessed a family resemblance. He was the +first that spoke, for Diana kept her eyes fast fixed on the ground, and +astonishment actually riveted my tongue to the roof of my mouth. + +"We are your suppliants, Mr. Osbaldistone," he said, "and we claim the +refuge and protection of your roof till we can pursue a journey where +dungeons and death gape for me at every step." + +"Surely," I articulated with great difficulty--"Miss Vernon cannot +suppose--you, sir, cannot believe, that I have forgot your interference +in my difficulties, or that I am capable of betraying any one, much less +you?" + +"I know it," said Sir Frederick; "yet it is with the most inexpressible +reluctance that I impose on you a confidence, disagreeable perhaps-- +certainly dangerous--and which I would have specially wished to have +conferred on some one else. But my fate, which has chased me through a +life of perils and escapes, is now pressing me hard, and I have no +alternative." + +At this moment the door opened, and the voice of the officious Andrew was +heard--"A'm bringin' in the caunles--Ye can light them gin ye like--Can +do is easy carried about wi' ane." + +I ran to the door, which, as I hoped, I reached in time to prevent his +observing who were in the apartment, I turned him out with hasty +violence, shut the door after him, and locked it--then instantly +remembering his two companions below, knowing his talkative humour, and +recollecting Syddall's remark, that one of them was supposed to be a spy, +I followed him as fast as I could to the servants' hall, in which they +were assembled. Andrew's tongue was loud as I opened the door, but my +unexpected appearance silenced him. + +"What is the matter with you, you fool?" said I; "you stare and look +wild, as if you had seen a ghost." + +"N--n--no--nothing," said Andrew.--"but your worship was pleased to be +hasty." + +"Because you disturbed me out of a sound sleep, you fool. Syddall tells +me he cannot find beds for these good fellows tonight, and Mr. Wardlaw +thinks there will be no occasion to detain them. Here is a crown-piece +for them to drink my health, and thanks for their good-will. You will +leave the Hall immediately, my good lads." + +The men thanked me for my bounty, took the silver, and withdrew, +apparently unsuspicious and contented. I watched their departure until I +was sure they could have no further intercourse that night with honest +Andrew. And so instantly had I followed on his heels, that I thought he +could not have had time to speak two words with them before I interrupted +him. But it is wonderful what mischief may be done by only two words. On +this occasion they cost two lives. + +Having made these arrangements, the best which occurred to me upon the +pressure of the moment, to secure privacy for my guests, I returned to +report my proceedings, and added, that I had desired Syddall to answer +every summons, concluding that it was by his connivance they had been +secreted in the Hall. Diana raised her eyes to thank me for the caution. + +"You now understand my mystery," she said;--"you know, doubtless, how +near and dear that relative is, who has so often found shelter here; and +will be no longer surprised that Rashleigh, having such a secret at his +command, should rule me with a rod of iron." + +Her father added, "that it was their intention to trouble me with their +presence as short a time as was possible." + +I entreated the fugitives to waive every consideration but what affected +their safety, and to rely on my utmost exertions to promote it. This led +to an explanation of the circumstances under which they stood. + +"I always suspected Rashleigh Osbaldistone," said Sir Frederick; "but his +conduct towards my unprotected child, which with difficulty I wrung from +her, and his treachery in your father's affairs, made me hate and despise +him. In our last interview I concealed not my sentiments, as I should in +prudence have attempted to do; and in resentment of the scorn with which +I treated him, he added treachery and apostasy to his catalogue of +crimes. I at that time fondly hoped that his defection would be of little +consequence. The Earl of Mar had a gallant army in Scotland, and Lord +Derwentwater, with Forster, Kenmure, Winterton, and others, were +assembling forces on the Border. As my connections with these English +nobility and gentry were extensive, it was judged proper that I should +accompany a detachment of Highlanders, who, under Brigadier MacIntosh of +Borlum, crossed the Firth of Forth, traversed the low country of +Scotland, and united themselves on the Borders with the English +insurgents. My daughter accompanied me through the perils and fatigues of +a march so long and difficult." + +"And she will never leave her dear father!" exclaimed Miss Vernon, +clinging fondly to his arm. + +"I had hardly joined our English friends, when I became sensible that our +cause was lost. Our numbers diminished instead of increasing, nor were we +joined by any except of our own persuasion. The Tories of the High Church +remained in general undecided, and at length we were cooped up by a +superior force in the little town of Preston. We defended ourselves +resolutely for one day. On the next, the hearts of our leaders failed, +and they resolved to surrender at discretion. To yield myself up on such +terms, were to have laid my head on the block. About twenty or thirty +gentlemen were of my mind: we mounted our horses, and placed my daughter, +who insisted on sharing my fate, in the centre of our little party. My +companions, struck with her courage and filial piety, declared that they +would die rather than leave her behind. We rode in a body down a street +called Fishergate, which leads to a marshy ground or meadow, extending to +the river Ribble, through which one of our party promised to show us a +good ford. This marsh had not been strongly invested by the enemy, so +that we had only an affair with a patrol of Honeywood's dragoons, whom we +dispersed and cut to pieces. We crossed the river, gained the high road +to Liverpool, and then dispersed to seek several places of concealment +and safety. My fortune led me to Wales, where there are many gentlemen of +my religious and political opinions. I could not, however, find a safe +opportunity of escaping by sea, and found myself obliged again to draw +towards the North. A well-tried friend has appointed to meet me in this +neighbourhood, and guide me to a seaport on the Solway, where a sloop is +prepared to carry me from my native country for ever. As Osbaldistone +Hall was for the present uninhabited, and under the charge of old +Syddall, who had been our confidant on former occasions, we drew to it as +to a place of known and secure refuge. I resumed a dress which had been +used with good effect to scare the superstitious rustics, or domestics, +who chanced at any time to see me; and we expected from time to time to +hear by Syddall of the arrival of our friendly guide, when your sudden +coming hither, and occupying this apartment, laid us under the necessity +of submitting to your mercy." + +Thus ended Sir Fredericks story, whose tale sounded to me like one told +in a vision; and I could hardly bring myself to believe that I saw his +daughter's form once more before me in flesh and blood, though with +diminished beauty and sunk spirits. The buoyant vivacity with which she +had resisted every touch of adversity, had now assumed the air of +composed and submissive, but dauntless resolution and constancy. Her +father, though aware and jealous of the effect of her praises on my mind, +could not forbear expatiating upon them. + +"She has endured trials," he said, "which might have dignified the +history of a martyr;--she has faced danger and death in various shapes;-- +she has undergone toil and privation, from which men of the strongest +frame would have shrunk;--she has spent the day in darkness, and the +night in vigil, and has never breathed a murmur of weakness or complaint. +In a word, Mr. Osbaldistone," he concluded, "she is a worthy offering to +that God, to whom" (crossing himself) "I shall dedicate her, as all that +is left dear or precious to Frederick Vernon." + +There was a silence after these words, of which I well understood the +mournful import. The father of Diana was still as anxious to destroy my +hopes of being united to her now as he had shown himself during our brief +meeting in Scotland. + +"We will now," said he to his daughter, "intrude no farther on Mr. +Osbaldistone's time, since we have acquainted him with the circumstances +of the miserable guests who claim his protection." + +I requested them to stay, and offered myself to leave the apartment. Sir +Frederick observed, that my doing so could not but excite my attendant's +suspicion; and that the place of their retreat was in every respect +commodious, and furnished by Syddall with all they could possibly want. +"We might perhaps have even contrived to remain there, concealed from +your observation; but it would have been unjust to decline the most +absolute reliance on your honour." + +"You have done me but justice," I replied.--"To you, Sir Frederick, I am +but little known; but Miss Vernon, I am sure, will bear me witness that"- +- + +"I do not want my daughter's evidence," he said, politely, but yet with +an air calculated to prevent my addressing myself to Diana, "since I am +prepared to believe all that is worthy of Mr. Francis Osbaldistone. +Permit us now to retire; we must take repose when we can, since we are +absolutely uncertain when we may be called upon to renew our perilous +journey." + +He drew his daughter's arm within his, and with a profound reverence, +disappeared with her behind the tapestry. + + + + + CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. + + But now the hand of fate is on the curtain, + And gives the scene to light. + Don Sebastian. + +I felt stunned and chilled as they retired. Imagination, dwelling on an +absent object of affection, paints her not only in the fairest light, but +in that in which we most desire to behold her. I had thought of Diana as +she was, when her parting tear dropped on my cheek--when her parting +token, received from the wife of MacGregor, augured her wish to convey +into exile and conventual seclusion the remembrance of my affection. I +saw her; and her cold passive manner, expressive of little except +composed melancholy, disappointed, and, in some degree, almost offended +me. + +In the egotism of my feelings, I accused her of indifference--of +insensibility. I upbraided her father with pride--with cruelty--with +fanaticism,--forgetting that both were sacrificing their interest, and +Diana her inclination, to the discharge of what they regarded as their +duty. + +Sir Frederick Vernon was a rigid Catholic, who thought the path of +salvation too narrow to be trodden by an heretic; and Diana, to whom her +father's safety had been for many years the principal and moving spring +of thoughts, hopes, and actions, felt that she had discharged her duty in +resigning to his will, not alone her property in the world, but the +dearest affections of her heart. But it was not surprising that I could +not, at such a moment, fully appreciate these honourable motives; yet my +spleen sought no ignoble means of discharging itself. + +"I am contemned, then," I said, when left to run over the tenor of Sir +Frederick's communications--"I am contemned, and thought unworthy even to +exchange words with her. Be it so; they shall not at least prevent me +from watching over her safety. Here will I remain as an outpost, and, +while under my roof at least, no danger shall threaten her, if it be such +as the arm of one determined man can avert." + +I summoned Syddall to the library. He came, but came attended by the +eternal Andrew, who, dreaming of great things in consequence of my taking +possession of the Hall and the annexed estates, was resolved to lose +nothing for want of keeping himself in view; and, as often happens to men +who entertain selfish objects, overshot his mark, and rendered his +attentions tedious and inconvenient. + +His unrequired presence prevented me from speaking freely to Syddall, and +I dared not send him away for fear of increasing such suspicions as he +might entertain from his former abrupt dismissal from the library. "I +shall sleep here, sir," I said, giving them directions to wheel nearer to +the fire an old-fashioned day-bed, or settee. "I have much to do, and +shall go late to bed." + +Syddall, who seemed to understand my look, offered to procure me the +accommodation of a mattress and some bedding. I accepted his offer, +dismissed my attendant, lighted a pair of candles, and desired that I +might not be disturbed till seven in the ensuing morning. + +The domestics retired, leaving me to my painful and ill-arranged +reflections, until nature, worn out, should require some repose. + +I endeavoured forcibly to abstract my mind from the singular +circumstances in which I found myself placed. Feelings which I had +gallantly combated while the exciting object was remote, were now +exasperated by my immediate neighbourhood to her whom I was so soon to +part with for ever. Her name was written in every book which I attempted +to peruse; and her image forced itself on me in whatever train of thought +I strove to engage myself. It was like the officious slave of Prior's +Solomon,-- + + Abra was ready ere I named her name, + And when I called another, Abra came. + +I alternately gave way to these thoughts, and struggled against them, +sometimes yielding to a mood of melting tenderness of sorrow which was +scarce natural to me, sometimes arming myself with the hurt pride of one +who had experienced what he esteemed unmerited rejection. I paced the +library until I had chafed myself into a temporary fever. I then threw +myself on the couch, and endeavoured to dispose myself to sleep;--but it +was in vain that I used every effort to compose myself--that I lay +without movement of finger or of muscle, as still as if I had been +already a corpse--that I endeavoured to divert or banish disquieting +thoughts, by fixing my mind on some act of repetition or arithmetical +process. My blood throbbed, to my feverish apprehension, in pulsations +which resembled the deep and regular strokes of a distant fulling-mill, +and tingled in my veins like streams of liquid fire. + +At length I arose, opened the window, and stood by it for some time in +the clear moonlight, receiving, in part at least, that refreshment and +dissipation of ideas from the clear and calm scene, without which they +had become beyond the command of my own volition. I resumed my place on +the couch--with a heart, Heaven knows, not lighter but firmer, and more +resolved for endurance. In a short time a slumber crept over my senses; +still, however, though my senses slumbered, my soul was awake to the +painful feelings of my situation, and my dreams were of mental anguish +and external objects of terror. + +I remember a strange agony, under which I conceived myself and Diana in +the power of MacGregor's wife, and about to be precipitated from a rock +into the lake; the signal was to be the discharge of a cannon, fired by +Sir Frederick Vernon, who, in the dress of a Cardinal, officiated at the +ceremony. Nothing could be more lively than the impression which I +received of this imaginary scene. I could paint, even at this moment, the +mute and courageous submission expressed in Diana's features--the wild +and distorted faces of the executioners, who crowded around us with +"mopping and mowing;" grimaces ever changing, and each more hideous than +that which preceded. I saw the rigid and inflexible fanaticism painted in +the face of the father--I saw him lift the fatal match--the deadly signal +exploded--It was repeated again and again and again, in rival thunders, +by the echoes of the surrounding cliffs, and I awoke from fancied horror +to real apprehension. + +The sounds in my dream were not ideal. They reverberated on my waking +ears, but it was two or three minutes ere I could collect myself so as +distinctly to understand that they proceeded from a violent knocking at +the gate. I leaped from my couch in great apprehension, took my sword +under my arm, and hastened to forbid the admission of any one. But my +route was necessarily circuitous, because the library looked not upon the +quadrangle, but into the gardens. When I had reached a staircase, the +windows of which opened upon the entrance court, I heard the feeble and +intimidated tones of Syddall expostulating with rough voices, which +demanded admittance, by the warrant of Justice Standish, and in the +King's name, and threatened the old domestic with the heaviest penal +consequences if he refused instant obedience. Ere they had ceased, I +heard, to my unspeakable provocation, the voice of Andrew bidding Syddall +stand aside, and let him open the door. + +"If they come in King George's name, we have naething to fear--we hae +spent baith bluid and gowd for him--We dinna need to darn ourselves like +some folks, Mr. Syddall--we are neither Papists nor Jacobites, I trow." + +It was in vain I accelerated my pace down stairs; I heard bolt after bolt +withdrawn by the officious scoundrel, while all the time he was boasting +his own and his master's loyalty to King George; and I could easily +calculate that the party must enter before I could arrive at the door to +replace the bars. Devoting the back of Andrew Fairservice to the cudgel +so soon as I should have time to pay him his deserts, I ran back to the +library, barricaded the door as I best could, and hastened to that by +which Diana and her father entered, and begged for instant admittance. +Diana herself undid the door. She was ready dressed, and betrayed neither +perturbation nor fear. + +"Danger is so familiar to us," she said, "that we are always prepared to +meet it. My father is already up--he is in Rashleigh's apartment. We will +escape into the garden, and thence by the postern-gate (I have the key +from Syddall in case of need.) into the wood--I know its dingles better +than any one now alive. Keep them a few minutes in play. And, dear, dear +Frank, once more fare-thee-well!" + +She vanished like a meteor to join her father, and the intruders were +rapping violently, and attempting to force the library door by the time I +had returned into it. + +"You robber dogs!" I exclaimed, wilfully mistaking the purpose of their +disturbance, "if you do not instantly quit the house I will fire my +blunderbuss through the door." + +"Fire a fule's bauble!" said Andrew Fairservice; "it's Mr. Clerk Jobson, +with a legal warrant"-- + +"To search for, take, and apprehend," said the voice of that execrable +pettifogger, "the bodies of certain persons in my warrant named, charged +of high treason under the 13th of King William, chapter third." + +And the violence on the door was renewed. "I am rising, gentlemen," said +I, desirous to gain as much time as possible--"commit no violence--give +me leave to look at your warrant, and, if it is formal and legal, I shall +not oppose it." + +"God save great George our King!" ejaculated Andrew. "I tauld ye that ye +would find nae Jacobites here." + +Spinning out the time as much as possible, I was at length compelled to +open the door, which they would otherwise have forced. + +Mr. Jobson entered, with several assistants, among whom I discovered the +younger Wingfield, to whom, doubtless, he was obliged for his +information, and exhibited his warrant, directed not only against +Frederick Vernon, an attainted traitor, but also against Diana Vernon, +spinster, and Francis Osbaldistone, gentleman, accused of misprision of +treason. It was a case in which resistance would have been madness; I +therefore, after capitulating for a few minutes' delay, surrendered +myself a prisoner. + +I had next the mortification to see Jobson go straight to the chamber of +Miss Vernon, and I learned that from thence, without hesitation or +difficulty, he went to the room where Sir Frederick had slept. "The hare +has stolen away," said the brute, "but her form is warm--the greyhounds +will have her by the haunches yet." + +A scream from the garden announced that he prophesied too truly. In the +course of five minutes, Rashleigh entered the library with Sir Frederick +Vernon and his daughter as prisoners. + +"The fox," he said, "knew his old earth, but he forgot it could be +stopped by a careful huntsman.--I had not forgot the garden-gate, Sir +Frederick--or, if that title suits you better, most noble Lord +Beauchamp." + +"Rashleigh," said Sir Frederick, "thou art a detestable villain!" + +"I better deserved the name, Sir Knight, or my Lord, when, under the +direction of an able tutor, I sought to introduce civil war into the +bosom of a peaceful country. But I have done my best," said he, looking +upwards, "to atone for my errors." + +I could hold no longer. I had designed to watch their proceedings in +silence, but I felt that I must speak or die. "If hell," I said, "has one +complexion more hideous than another, it is where villany is masked by +hypocrisy." + +"Ha! my gentle cousin," said Rashleigh, holding a candle towards me, and +surveying me from head to foot; "right welcome to Osbaldistone Hall!--I +can forgive your spleen--It is hard to lose an estate and a mistress in +one night; for we shall take possession of this poor manor-house in the +name of the lawful heir, Sir Rashleigh Osbaldistone." + +While Rashleigh braved it out in this manner, I could see that he put a +strong force upon his feelings, both of anger and shame. But his state of +mind was more obvious when Diana Vernon addressed him. "Rashleigh," she +said, "I pity you--for, deep as the evil is which you have laboured to do +me, and the evil you have actually done, I cannot hate you so much as I +scorn and pity you. What you have now done may be the work of an hour, +but will furnish you with reflection for your life--of what nature I +leave to your own conscience, which will not slumber for ever." + +Rashleigh strode once or twice through the room, came up to the +side-table, on which wine was still standing, and poured out a large +glass with a trembling hand; but when he saw that we observed his tremor, +he suppressed it by a strong effort, and, looking at us with fixed and +daring composure, carried the bumper to his head without spilling a drop. +"It is my father's old burgundy," he said, looking to Jobson; "I am glad +there is some of it left.--You will get proper persons to take care of +old butler, and that foolish Scotch rascal. Meanwhile we will convey +these persons to a more proper place of custody. I have provided the old +family coach for your convenience," he said, "though I am not ignorant +that even the lady could brave the night-air on foot or on horseback, +were the errand more to her mind." + +Andrew wrung his hands.--"I only said that my master was surely speaking +to a ghaist in the library--and the villain Lancie to betray an auld +friend, that sang aff the same Psalm-book wi' him every Sabbath for +twenty years!" + +He was turned out of the house, together with Syddall, without being +allowed to conclude his lamentation. His expulsion, however, led to some +singular consequences. Resolving, according to his own story, to go down +for the night where Mother Simpson would give him a lodging for old +acquaintance' sake, he had just got clear of the avenue, and into the old +wood, as it was called, though it was now used as a pasture-ground rather +than woodland, when he suddenly lighted on a drove of Scotch cattle, +which were lying there to repose themselves after the day's journey. At +this Andrew was in no way surprised, it being the well-known custom of +his countrymen, who take care of those droves, to quarter themselves +after night upon the best unenclosed grass-ground they can find, and +depart before day-break to escape paying for their night's lodgings. But +he was both surprised and startled, when a Highlander, springing up, +accused him of disturbing the cattle, and refused him to pass forward +till he had spoken to his master. The mountaineer conducted Andrew into a +thicket, where he found three or four more of his countrymen. "And," said +Andrew, "I saw sune they were ower mony men for the drove; and from the +questions they put to me, I judged they had other tow on their rock." + +They questioned him closely about all that had passed at Osbaldistone +Hall, and seemed surprised and concerned at the report he made to them. + +"And troth," said Andrew, "I tauld them a' I ken'd; for dirks and pistols +were what I could never refuse information to in a' my life." + +They talked in whispers among themselves, and at length collected their +cattle together, and drove them close up to the entrance of the avenue, +which might be half a mile distant from the house. They proceeded to drag +together some felled trees which lay in the vicinity, so as to make a +temporary barricade across the road, about fifteen yards beyond the +avenue. It was now near daybreak, and there was a pale eastern gleam +mingled with the fading moonlight, so that objects could be discovered +with some distinctness. The lumbering sound of a coach drawn by four +horses, and escorted by six men on horseback, was heard coming up the +avenue. The Highlanders listened attentively. The carriage contained Mr. +Jobson and his unfortunate prisoners. The escort consisted of Rashleigh, +and of several horsemen, peace-officers and their assistants. So soon as +we had passed the gate at the head of the avenue, it was shut behind the +cavalcade by a Highland-man, stationed there for that purpose. At the +same time the carriage was impeded in its farther progress by the cattle, +amongst which we were involved, and by the barricade in front. Two of the +escort dismounted to remove the felled trees, which they might think were +left there by accident or carelessness. The others began with their whips +to drive the cattle from the road. + +"Who dare abuse our cattle?" said a rough voice.--"Shoot him, Angus!" + +Rashleigh instantly called out--"A rescue! a rescue!" and, firing a +pistol, wounded the man who spoke. + +"_Claymore!_" cried the leader of the Highlanders, and a scuffle +instantly commenced. The officers of the law, surprised at so sudden an +attack, and not usually possessing the most desperate bravery, made but +an imperfect defence, considering the superiority of their numbers. Some +attempted to ride back to the Hall, but on a pistol being fired from +behind the gate, they conceived themselves surrounded, and at length +galloped of in different directions. Rashleigh, meanwhile, had +dismounted, and on foot had maintained a desperate and single-handed +conflict with the leader of the band. The window of the carriage, on my +side, permitted me to witness it. At length Rashleigh dropped. + +"Will you ask forgiveness for the sake of God, King James, and auld +friendship?" said a voice which I knew right well. + +"No, never!" said Rashleigh, firmly. + +"Then, traitor, die in your treason!" retorted MacGregor, and plunged his +sword in his prostrate antagonist. + +In the next moment he was at the carriage door--handed out Miss Vernon, +assisted her father and me to alight, and dragging out the attorney, head +foremost, threw him under the wheel. + +"Mr. Osbaldistone," he said, in a whisper, "you have nothing to fear--I +must look after those who have--Your friends will soon be in safety-- +Farewell, and forget not the MacGregor." + +He whistled--his band gathered round him, and, hurrying Diana and her +father along with him, they were almost instantly lost in the glades of +the forest. The coachman and postilion had abandoned their horses, and +fled at the first discharge of firearms; but the animals, stopped by the +barricade, remained perfectly still; and well for Jobson that they did +so, for the slightest motion would have dragged the wheel over his body. +My first object was to relieve him, for such was the rascal's terror that +he never could have risen by his own exertions. I next commanded him to +observe, that I had neither taken part in the rescue, nor availed myself +of it to make my escape, and enjoined him to go down to the Hall, and +call some of his party, who had been left there, to assist the wounded.-- +But Jobson's fears had so mastered and controlled every faculty of his +mind, that he was totally incapable of moving. I now resolved to go +myself, but in my way I stumbled over the body of a man, as I thought, +dead or dying. It was, however, Andrew Fairservice, as well and whole as +ever he was in his life, who had only taken this recumbent posture to +avoid the slashes, stabs, and pistol-balls, which for a moment or two +were flying in various directions. I was so glad to find him, that I did +not inquire how he came thither, but instantly commanded his assistance. + +Rashleigh was our first object. He groaned when I approached him, as much +through spite as through pain, and shut his eyes, as if determined, like +Iago, to speak no word more. We lifted him into the carriage, and +performed the same good office to another wounded man of his party, who +had been left on the field. I then with difficulty made Jobson understand +that he must enter the coach also, and support Sir Rashleigh upon the +seat. He obeyed, but with an air as if he but half comprehended my +meaning. Andrew and I turned the horses' heads round, and opening the +gate of the avenue, led them slowly back to Osbaldistone Hall. + +Some fugitives had already reached the Hall by circuitous routes, and +alarmed its garrison by the news that Sir Rashleigh, Clerk Jobson, and +all their escort, save they who escaped to tell the tale, had been cut to +pieces at the head of the avenue by a whole regiment of wild Highlanders. +When we reached the mansion, therefore, we heard such a buzz as arises +when bees are alarmed, and mustering in their hives. Mr. Jobson, however, +who had now in some measure come to his senses, found voice enough to +make himself known. He was the more anxious to be released from the +carriage, as one of his companions (the peace-officer) had, to his +inexpressible terror, expired by his side with a hideous groan. + +Sir Rashleigh Osbaldistone was still alive, but so dreadfully wounded +that the bottom of the coach was filled with his blood, and long traces +of it left from the entrance-door into the stone-hall, where he was +placed in a chair, some attempting to stop the bleeding with cloths, +while others called for a surgeon, and no one seemed willing to go to +fetch one. "Torment me not," said the wounded man--"I know no assistance +can avail me--I am a dying man." He raised himself in his chair, though +the damps and chill of death were already on his brow, and spoke with a +firmness which seemed beyond his strength. "Cousin Francis," he said, +"draw near to me." I approached him as he requested.--"I wish you only to +know that the pangs of death do not alter I one iota of my feelings +towards you. I hate you!" he said, the expression of rage throwing a +hideous glare into the eyes which were soon to be closed for ever--"I +hate you with a hatred as intense, now while I lie bleeding and dying +before you, as if my foot trode on your neck." + +"I have given you no cause, sir," I replied,--"and for your own sake I +could wish your mind in a better temper." + +"You _have_ given me cause," he rejoined. "In love, in ambition, in the +paths of interest, you have crossed and blighted me at every turn. I was +born to be the honour of my father's house--I have been its disgrace--and +all owing to you. My very patrimony has become yours--Take it," he said, +"and may the curse of a dying man cleave to it!" + +In a moment after he had uttered this frightful wish, he fell back in the +chair; his eyes became glazed, his limbs stiffened, but the grin and +glare of mortal hatred survived even the last gasp of life. I will dwell +no longer on so painful a picture, nor say any more of the death of +Rashleigh, than that it gave me access to my rights of inheritance +without farther challenge, and that Jobson found himself compelled to +allow, that the ridiculous charge of misprision of high treason was got +up on an affidavit which he made with the sole purpose of favouring +Rashleigh's views, and removing me from Osbaldistone Hall. The rascal's +name was struck off the list of attorneys, and he was reduced to poverty +and contempt. + +I returned to London when I had put my affairs in order at Osbaldistone +Hall, and felt happy to escape from a place which suggested so many +painful recollections. My anxiety was now acute to learn the fate of +Diana and her father. A French gentleman who came to London on commercial +business, was intrusted with a letter to me from Miss Vernon, which put +my mind at rest respecting their safety. + +It gave me to understand that the opportune appearance of MacGregor and +his party was not fortuitous. The Scottish nobles and gentry engaged in +the insurrection, as well as those of England, were particularly anxious +to further the escape of Sir Frederick Vernon, who, as an old and trusted +agent of the house of Stuart, was possessed of matter enough to have +ruined half Scotland. Rob Roy, of whose sagacity and courage they had +known so many proofs, was the person whom they pitched upon to assist his +escape, and the place of meeting was fixed at Osbaldistone Hall. You have +already heard how nearly the plan had been disconcerted by the unhappy +Rashleigh. It succeeded, however, perfectly; for when once Sir Frederick +and his daughter were again at large, they found horses prepared for +them, and, by MacGregor's knowledge of the country--for every part of +Scotland, and of the north of England, was familiar to him--were +conducted to the western sea-coast, and safely embarked for France. The +same gentleman told me that Sir Frederick was not expected to survive for +many months a lingering disease, the consequence of late hardships and +privations. His daughter was placed in a convent, and although it was her +father's wish she should take the veil, he was understood to refer the +matter entirely to her own inclinations. + +When these news reached me, I frankly told the state of my affections to +my father, who was not a little startled at the idea of my marrying a +Roman Catholic. But he was very desirous to see me "settled in life," as +he called it; and he was sensible that, in joining him with heart and +hand in his commercial labours, I had sacrificed my own inclinations. +After a brief hesitation, and several questions asked and answered to his +satisfaction, he broke out with--"I little thought a son of mine should +have been Lord of Osbaldistone Manor, and far less that he should go to a +French convent for a spouse. But so dutiful a daughter cannot but prove a +good wife. You have worked at the desk to please me, Frank; it is but +fair you should wive to please yourself." + +How I sped in my wooing, Will Tresham, I need not tell you. You know, +too, how long and happily I lived with Diana. You know how I lamented +her; but you do not--cannot know, how much she deserved her husband's +sorrow. + +I have no more of romantic adventure to tell, nor, indeed, anything to +communicate farther, since the latter incidents of my life are so well +known to one who has shared, with the most friendly sympathy, the joys, +as well as the sorrows, by which its scenes have been chequered. I often +visited Scotland, but never again saw the bold Highlander who had such an +influence on the early events of my life. I learned, however, from time +to time, that he continued to maintain his ground among the mountains of +Loch Lomond, in despite of his powerful enemies, and that he even +obtained, to a certain degree, the connivance of Government to his +self-elected office of protector of the Lennox, in virtue of which he +levied black-mail with as much regularity as the proprietors did their +ordinary rents. It seemed impossible that his life should have concluded +without a violent end. Nevertheless he died in old age and by a peaceful +death, some time about the year 1733, and is still remembered in his +country as the Robin Hood of Scotland--the dread of the wealthy, but the +friend of the poor--and possessed of many qualities, both of head and +heart, which would have graced a less equivocal profession than that to +which his fate condemned him. + +Old Andrew Fairservice used to say, that "There were many things ower bad +for blessing, and ower gude for banning, like Rob Roy." + +_Here the original manuscript ends somewhat abruptly. I have reason to +think that what followed related to private a affairs._ + + + + + POSTSCRIPT. + +The second article of the Appendix to the Introduction to Rob Roy +contains two curious letters respecting the arrest of Mr. Grahame of +Killearn by that daring freebooter, while levying the Duke of Montrose's +rents. These were taken from scroll copies in the possession of his Grace +the present Duke, who kindly permitted the use of them in the present +publication.--The Novel had but just passed through the press, when the +Right Honourable Mr. Peel--whose important state avocations do not avert +his attention from the interests of literature--transmitted to the author +copies of the original letters and enclosure, of which he possessed only +the rough draught. The originals were discovered in the State Paper +Office, by the indefatigable researches of Mr. Lemon, who is daily +throwing more light on that valuable collection of records. From the +documents with which the Author has been thus kindly favoured, he is +enabled to fill up the addresses which were wanting in the scrolls. That +of the 21st Nov. 1716 is addressed to Lord Viscount Townshend, and is +accompanied by one of the same date to Robert Pringle, Esquire, +Under-Secretary of State, which is here inserted as relative to so +curious an incident:-- + +_Letter from the Duke of Montrose, to Robert Pringle, Esq., +Under-Secretary to Lord Viscount Townshend._ + +"Sr,_Glasgow,_ 21 _Nov._ 1716. + +"Haveing had so many dispatches to make this night, I hope ye'l excuse me +that I make use of another hand to give yow a short account of the +occasion of this express, by which I have written to my Ld. Duke of +Roxburgh, and my Lord Townshend, which I hope ye'l gett carefully +deleivered. + +"Mr. Graham, younger of Killearn, being on Munday last in Menteith att a +country house, collecting my rents, was about nine o'clock that same +night surprised by Rob Roy with a party of his men in arms, who haveing +surrounded the house and secured the avenues, presented their guns in at +the windows, while he himself entered the room with some others with cokt +pistolls, and seased Killearn with all his money, books, papers, and +bonds, and carryed all away with him to the hills, at the same time +ordering Killearn to write a letter to me (of which ye have the copy +inclosed), proposeing a very honourable treaty to me. I must say this +story was as surprising to me as it was insolent; and it must bring a +very great concern upon me, that this gentleman, my near relation, should +be brought to suffer all the barbaritys and crueltys, which revenge and +mallice may suggest to these miscreants, for his haveing acted a +faithfull part in the service of the Government, and his affection to me +in my concerns. + +"I need not be more particular to you, since I know that my Letter to my +Lord Townshend will come into your hands, so shall only now give you the +assurances of my being, with great sincerity, + +"Sr, yr most humble servant, +(Signed) +"Montrose." + +"I long exceedingly for a return of my former dispatches to the +Secretary's about Methven and Colll Urquhart, and my wife's cousins, +Balnamoon and Phinaven. + +"I must beg yow'll give my humble service to Mr. Secretary Methven, and +tell him that I must referr him to what I have written to My Lord +Townshend in this affair of Rob Roy, believing it was needless to trouble +both with letters." + +Examined, +Robt. Lemon, +_Deputy Keeper of State Papers._ + + + + +STATE PAPER OFFICE, +_Nov._ 4, 1829 + +Note.--The enclosure referred to in the preceding letter is another copy +of the letter which Mr. Grahame of Killearn was compelled by Rob Roy to +write to the Duke of Montrose, and is exactly the same as the one +enclosed in his Grace's letter to Lord Townshend, dated November 21st, +1716. +R. L. + + +The last letter in the Appendix No. II. (28th November), acquainting the +Government with Killearn's being set at liberty, is also addressed to the +Under-Secretary of State, Mr. Pringle. + +The Author may also here remark, that immediately previous to the +insurrection of 1715, he perceives, from some notes of information given +to Government, that Rob Roy appears to have been much employed and +trusted by the Jacobite party, even in the very delicate task of +transporting specie to the Earl of Breadalbane, though it might have +somewhat resembled trusting Don Raphael and Ambrose de Lamela with the +church treasure. + + + + + NOTES TO ROB ROY. + +Note A.--The Grey Stone of MacGregor. + +I have been informed that, at no very remote period, it was proposed to +take this large stone, which marks the grave of Dugald Ciar Mhor, and +convert it to the purpose of the lintel of a window, the threshold of a +door, or some such mean use. A man of the clan MacGregor, who was +somewhat deranged, took fire at this insult; and when the workmen came to +remove the stone, planted himself upon it, with a broad axe in his hand, +swearing he would dash out the brains of any one who should disturb the +monument. Athletic in person, and insane enough to be totally regardless +of consequences, it was thought best to give way to his humour; and the +poor madman kept sentinel on the stone day and night, till the proposal +of removing it was entirely dropped. + + + +Note B.--Dugald Ciar Mhor. + +The above is the account which I find in a manuscript history of the clan +MacGregor, of which I was indulged with a perusal by Donald MacGregor, +Esq., late Major of the 33d regiment, where great pains have been taken +to collect traditions and written documents concerning the family. But an +ancient and constant tradition, preserved among the inhabitants of the +country, and particularly those of the clan MacFarlane, relieves Dugald +Ciar Mhor of the guilt of murdering the youths, and lays the blame on a +certain Donald or Duncan Lean, who performed the act of cruelty, with the +assistance of a gillie who attended him, named Charlioch, or Charlie. +They say that the homicides dared not again join their clan, but that +they resided in a wild and solitary state as outlaws, in an unfrequented +part of the MacFarlanes' territory. Here they lived for some time +undisturbed, till they committed an act of brutal violence on two +defenceless women, a mother and daughter of the MacFarlane clan. In +revenge of this atrocity, the MacFarlanes hunted them down, and shot +them. It is said that the younger ruffian, Charlioch, might have escaped, +being remarkably swift of foot. But his crime became his punishment, for +the female whom he had outraged had defended herself desperately, and had +stabbed him with his own dirk in the thigh. He was lame from the wound, +and was the more easily overtaken and killed. + +I always inclined to think this last the true edition of the story, and +that the guilt was transferred to Dugald Ciar Mhor, as a man of higher +name, but I have learned that Dugald was in truth dead several years +before the battle--my authority being his representative, Mr. Gregorson +of Ardtornish. [See also note to introduction, "Legend of Montrose," vol. +vi.] + + + +Note C.--The Loch Lomond Expedition. + +The Loch Lomond expedition was judged worthy to form a separate pamphlet, +which I have not seen; but, as quoted by the historian Rae, it must be +delectable. + +"On the morrow, being Thursday the 13th, they went on their expedition, +and about noon came to Inversnaid, the place of danger, where the Paisley +men and those of Dumbarton, and several of the other companies, to the +number of an hundred men, with the greatest intrepidity leapt on shore, +got up to the top of the mountains, and stood a considerable time, +beating their drums all the while; but no enemy appearing, they went in +quest of their boats, which the rebels had seized, and having casually +lighted on some ropes and oars hid among the shrubs, at length they found +the boats drawn up a good way on the land, which they hurled down to the +loch. Such of them as were not damaged they carried off with them, and +such as were, they sank and hewed to pieces. That same night they +returned to Luss, and thence next day to Dumbarton, from whence they had +at first set out, bringing along with them the whole boats they found in +their way on either side of the loch, and in the creeks of the isles, and +mooring them under the cannon of the castle. During this expedition, the +pinnaces discharging their patararoes, and the men their small-arms, made +such a thundering noise, through the multiplied rebounding echoes of the +vast mountains on both sides of the loch, that the MacGregors were cowed +and frighted away to the rest of the rebels who were encamped at Strath +Fillan."--_Rae's History of the Rebellion,_ 4to, p. 287. + + + +Note D.--Author's Expedition against the MacLarens. + +The Author is uncertain whether it is worth while to mention, that he had +a personal opportunity of observing, even in his own time, that the +king's writ did not pass quite current in the Brass of Balquhidder. There +were very considerable debts due by Stewart of Appin (chiefly to the +author's family), which were likely to be lost to the creditors, if they +could not be made available out of this same farm of Invernenty, the +scene of the murder done upon MacLaren. + +His family, consisting of several strapping deer-stalkers, still +possessed the farm, by virtue of a long lease, for a trifling rent. There +was no chance of any one buying it with such an encumbrance, and a +transaction was entered into by the MacLarens, who, being desirous to +emigrate to America, agreed to sell their lease to the creditors for +L500, and to remove at the next term of Whitsunday. But whether they +repented their bargain, or desired to make a better, or whether from a +mere point of honour, the MacLarens declared they would not permit a +summons of removal to be executed against them, which was necessary for +the legal completion of the bargain. And such was the general impression +that they were men capable of resisting the legal execution of warning by +very effectual means, no king's messenger would execute the summons +without the support of a military force. An escort of a sergeant and six +men was obtained from a Highland regiment lying in Stirling; and the +Author, then a writer's apprentice, equivalent to the honourable +situation of an attorney's clerk, was invested with the superintendence +of the expedition, with directions to see that the messenger discharged +his duty fully, and that the gallant sergeant did not exceed his part by +committing violence or plunder. And thus it happened, oddly enough, that +the Author first entered the romantic scenery of Loch Katrine, of which +he may perhaps say he has somewhat extended the reputation, riding in all +the dignity of danger, with a front and rear guard, and loaded arms. The +sergeant was absolutely a Highland Sergeant Kite, full of stories of Rob +Roy and of himself, and a very good companion. We experienced no +interruption whatever, and when we came to Invernenty, found the house +deserted. We took up our quarters for the night, and used some of the +victuals which we found there. On the morning we returned as unmolested +as we came. + +The MacLarens, who probably never thought of any serious opposition, +received their money and went to America, where, having had some slight +share in removing them from their _paupera regna,_ I sincerely hope they +prospered. + +The rent of Invernenty instantly rose from L10 to L70 or L80; and when +sold, the farm was purchased (I think by the late Laird of MacNab) at a +price higher in proportion than what even the modern rent authorised the +parties interested to hope for. + + + +Note E.--Allan Breck Stewart. + +Allan Breck Stewart was a man likely in such a matter to keep his word. +James Drummond MacGregor and he, like Katherine and Petruchio, were well +matched "for a couple of quiet ones." Allan Breck lived till the +beginning of the French Revolution. About 1789, a friend of mine, then +residing at Paris, was invited to see some procession which was supposed +likely to interest him, from the windows of an apartment occupied by a +Scottish Benedictine priest. He found, sitting by the fire, a tall, thin, +raw-boned, grim-looking, old man, with the petit croix of St. Louis. His +visage was strongly marked by the irregular projections of the +cheek-bones and chin. His eyes were grey. His grizzled hair exhibited +marks of having been red, and his complexion was weather-beaten, and +remarkably freckled. Some civilities in French passed between the old man +and my friend, in the course of which they talked of the streets and +squares of Paris, till at length the old soldier, for such he seemed, and +such he was, said with a sigh, in a sharp Highland accent, "Deil ane o' +them a' is worth the Hie Street of Edinburgh!" On inquiry, this admirer +of Auld Reekie, which he was never to see again, proved to be Allan Breck +Stewart. He lived decently on his little pension, and had, in no +subsequent period of his life, shown anything of the savage mood in which +he is generally believed to have assassinated the enemy and oppressor, as +he supposed him, of his family and clan. + + + +Note F.--The Abbess of Wilton. + +The nunnery of Wilton was granted to the Earl of Pembroke upon its +dissolution, by the magisterial authority of Henry VIII., or his son +Edward VI. On the accession of Queen Mary, of Catholic memory, the Earl +found it necessary to reinstate the Abbess and her fair recluses, which +he did with many expressions of his remorse, kneeling humbly to the +vestals, and inducting them into the convent and possessions from which +he had expelled them. With the accession of Elizabeth, the accommodating +Earl again resumed his Protestant faith, and a second time drove the nuns +from their sanctuary. The remonstrances of the Abbess, who reminded him +of his penitent expressions on the former occasion, could wring from him +no other answer than that in the text--"Go spin, you jade!--Go spin!" + + + +Note G.--Mons Meg. + +Mons Meg was a large old-fashioned piece of ordnance, a great favourite +with the Scottish common people; she was fabricated at Mons, in Flanders, +in the reign of James IV. or V. of Scotland. This gun figures frequently +in the public accounts of the time, where we find charges for grease, to +grease Meg's mouth withal (to increase, as every schoolboy knows, the +loudness of the report), ribands to deck her carriage, and pipes to play +before her when she was brought from the Castle to accompany the Scottish +army on any distant expedition. After the Union, there was much popular +apprehension that the Regalia of Scotland, and the subordinate Palladium, +Mons Meg, would be carried to England to complete the odious surrender of +national independence. The Regalia, sequestered from the sight of the +public, were generally supposed to have been abstracted in this manner. +As for Mons Meg, she remained in the Castle of Edinburgh, till, by order +of the Board of Ordnance, she was actually removed to Woolwich about +1757. The Regalia, by his Majesty's special command, have been brought +forth from their place of concealment in 1818, and exposed to the view of +the people, by whom they must be looked upon with deep associations; and, +in this very winter of 1828-9, Mons Meg has been restored to the country, +where that, which in every other place or situation was a mere mass of +rusty iron, becomes once more a curious monument of antiquity. + + + +Note H.---Fairy Superstition. + +The lakes and precipices amidst which the Avon-Dhu, or River Forth, has +its birth, are still, according to popular tradition, haunted by the +Elfin people, the most peculiar, but most pleasing, of the creations of +Celtic superstitions. The opinions entertained about these beings are +much the same with those of the Irish, so exquisitely well narrated by +Mr. Crofton Croker. An eminently beautiful little conical hill, near the +eastern extremity of the valley of Aberfoil, is supposed to be one of +their peculiar haunts, and is the scene which awakens, in Andrew +Fairservice, the terror of their power. It is remarkable, that two +successive clergymen of this parish of Aberfoil have employed themselves +in writing about this fairy superstition. The eldest of these was Robert +Kirke, a man of some talents, who translated the Psalms into Gaelic +verse. He had formerly been minister at the neighbouring parish of +Balquhidder, and died at Aberfoil in 1688, at the early age of forty-two. + +He was author of the Secret Commonwealth, which was printed after his +death in 1691--(an edition which I have never seen)--and was reprinted in +Edinburgh, 1815. This is a work concerning the fairy people, in whose +existence Mr. Kirke appears to have been a devout believer. He describes +them with the usual powers and qualities ascribed to such beings in +Highland tradition. + +But what is sufficiently singular, the Rev. Robert Kirke, author of the +said treatise, is believed himself to have been taken away by the +fairies,--in revenge, perhaps, for having let in too much light upon the +secrets of their commonwealth. We learn this catastrophe from the +information of his successor, the late amiable and learned Dr. Patrick +Grahame, also minister at Aberfoil, who, in his Sketches of Perthshire, +has not forgotten to touch upon the _Daoine Schie,_ or men of peace. + +The Rev. Robert Kirke was, it seems, walking upon a little eminence to +the west of the present manse, which is still held a _Dun Shie,_ or fairy +mound, when he sunk down, in what seemed to mortals a fit, and was +supposed to be dead. This, however, was not his real fate. + +"Mr. Kirke was the near relation of Graham of Duchray, the ancestor of +the present General Graham Stirling. Shortly after his funeral, he +appeared, in the dress in which he had sunk down, to a medical relation +of his own, and of Duchray. 'Go,' said he to him, 'to my cousin Duchray, +and tell him that I am not dead. I fell down in a swoon, and was carried +into Fairyland, where I now am. Tell him, that when he and my friends are +assembled at the baptism of my child (for he had left his wife pregnant), +I will appear in the room, and that if he throws the knife which he holds +in his hand over my head, I will be released and restored to human +society.' The man, it seems, neglected, for some time, to deliver the +message. Mr. Kirke appeared to him a second time, threatening to haunt +him night and day till he executed his commission, which at length he +did. The time of the baptism arrived. They were seated at table; the +figure of Mr. Kirke entered, but the Laird of Duchray, by some +unaccountable fatality, neglected to perform the prescribed ceremony. Mr. +Kirke retired by another door, and was seen no wore. It is firmly +believed that he is, at this day, in Fairyland."--(_Sketches of +Perthshire,_ p. 254.) + +[The treatise by Robert Kirke, here mentioned, was written in the year +1691, but not printed till 1815.] + + + +Note I.--Clachan of Aberfoil. + +I do not know how this might stand in Mr. Osbaldistone's day, but I can +assure the reader, whose curiosity may lead him to visit the scenes of +these romantic adventures, that the Clachan of Aberfoil now affords a +very comfortable little inn. If he chances to be a Scottish antiquary, it +will be an additional recommendation to him, that he will find himself in +the vicinity of the Rev. Dr. Patrick Grahame, minister of the gospel at +Aberfoil, whose urbanity in communicating information on the subject of +national antiquities, is scarce exceeded even by the stores of legendary +lore which he has accumulated.--_Original Note._ The respectable +clergyman alluded to has been dead for some years. [See note H.] + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROB ROY COMPLETE *** + +** This file should be named rob3w10.txt or rob3w10.zip *** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, rob3w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, rob3w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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