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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of
+Scotland, Volume I, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume I
+       Historical, Traditionary, and Imaginative
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Alexander Leighton
+
+Release Date: June 17, 2010 [EBook #32862]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILSON'S TALES OF SCOTLAND, VOL I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Clarke, David J. Cole and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         Wilson's
+
+                   Tales of the Borders
+
+                     AND OF SCOTLAND.
+
+
+          HISTORICAL, TRADITIONARY, & IMAGINATIVE.
+
+
+                      WITH A GLOSSARY.
+
+
+                       REVISED BY
+                    ALEXANDER LEIGHTON,
+       ONE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
+
+
+
+
+                         LONDON:
+             WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE,
+                AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.
+                          1887.
+
+
+
+
+                         CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+THE VACANT CHAIR               (_John Mackay Wilson_)      1
+
+THE FAA'S REVENGE              (_John Mackay Wilson_)     18
+
+KATE KENNEDY                   (_Alexander Leighton_)     50
+
+RECOLLECTIONS OF FERGUSON             (_Hugh Miller_)     83
+
+THE DISASTERS
+       OF JOHNNY ARMSTRONG     (_Alexander Campbell_)    128
+
+THE PROFESSOR'S TALES--(_Professor Thomas Gillespie_):--
+
+     THE MOUNTAIN STORM                                  160
+
+     THE FAIR MAID OF CELLARDYKES                        172
+
+PRESCRIPTION;
+      OR, THE 29TH OF SEPTEMBER     (_Alex. Leighton_)   193
+
+THE COUNTESS OF WISTONBURY      (_Alexander Campbell_)   225
+
+MIDSIDE MAGGIE; OR, THE BANNOCK O' TOLLISHILL--
+                                (_John Mackay Wilson_)   257
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This series of Tales, now so well known in this country and also in
+America, was begun by JOHN MACKAY WILSON, originally a printer, and who
+subsequently betook himself to literature. In the beginning of the
+undertaking he was inspired by a success probably greater than he had
+ever anticipated, and a sudden and wide-spread reputation induced him to
+overtask his energies, in a manner inconsistent with the care due to a
+delicate constitution. After having carried on the work, almost
+single-handed, for a period of more than a year--furnishing a tale every
+week--he took ill, and died. Subsequently, the charge of conducting the
+work devolved upon the present Editor, who was fortunate enough to
+secure the assistance of certain writers well qualified to sustain the
+reputation which the first part of the series had acquired. Among these
+were the late Hugh Miller, the late Professor Thomas Gillespie of St.
+Andrew's, Alexander Campbell, Alexander and John Bethune, and John
+Howell, all of whom possessed those natural gifts, enabling them to
+succeed in a species of literature which, while in one sense it may be
+called the most easy, is, in another, perhaps among the most difficult
+of any.
+
+The only condition by which the natural promptings of their genius might
+have been restrained was, that the contributions should be genuine
+stories, not the ordinary mixture of narrative, didactic essay, and
+fanciful prolusion, but tales in the proper every-day sense, with such
+an objectiveness as would portray, graphically and naturally, the men
+and women of the times, acting on the stage where they were destined to
+perform their strange parts, and would exclude all false colourings of a
+sentimental fiction, belonging to mere subjective moods of the writer's
+fancy or feeling. The greatest care was also taken with the moral aspect
+of the Tales, with the view that parents and guardians might feel a
+confidence that, in committing them into the hands of their children and
+wards, they would be imparting the means of instruction, and at the same
+time securing a guarantee for the growth of moral convictions. By such
+means, the Tales were kept true to history, legend, morality, and man's
+nature, and, at the same time, made acceptable to the great class of
+readers who had declared their predilection in favour of the manner of
+the early examples.
+
+The Tales in this series have been carefully selected and revised; and
+the reader will be pleased to be informed that, in the course of the
+publication, there will, for the purpose of imparting to it a fresh
+interest, be inserted New Tales, written by authors deemed capable of
+attaining the mark of the Original Series.
+
+YORK LODGE, TRINITY,
+    _March_, 1857.
+
+
+
+
+                               WILSON'S
+
+                         TALES OF THE BORDERS,
+
+                           AND OF SCOTLAND.
+
+
+
+
+THE VACANT CHAIR.[1]
+
+[1] Our commencement with "The Vacant Chair"--the first written of the
+Tales of the Borders--is not inconsistent with our principle of
+selection in this edition, which is to distribute the contributions of
+the authors, so as to secure variety without any view to an early
+exhaustion of the best of the Tales.--_Ed._
+
+
+You have all heard of the Cheviot mountains. They are a rough, rugged,
+majestic chain of hills, which a poet might term the Roman wall of
+nature; crowned with snow, belted with storms, surrounded by pastures
+and fruitful fields, and still dividing the northern portion of Great
+Britain from the southern. With their proud summits piercing the clouds,
+and their dark rocky declivities frowning upon the glens below, they
+appear symbolical of the wild and untamable spirits of the Borderers who
+once inhabited their sides. We say, you have all heard of the Cheviots,
+and know them to be very high hills, like a huge clasp riveting England
+and Scotland together; but we are not aware that you may have heard of
+Marchlaw, an old, gray-looking farm-house, substantial as a modern
+fortress, recently, and, for aught we know to the contrary, still
+inhabited by Peter Elliot, the proprietor of some five hundred
+surrounding acres. The boundaries of Peter's farm, indeed, were defined
+neither by fields, hedges, nor stone walls. A wooden stake here, and a
+stone there, at considerable distances from each other, were the general
+landmarks; but neither Peter nor his neighbours considered a few acres
+worth quarrelling about; and their sheep frequently visited each other's
+pastures in a friendly way, harmoniously sharing a family dinner, in the
+same spirit as their masters made themselves free at each other's
+tables.
+
+Peter was placed in very unpleasant circumstances, owing to the
+situation of Marchlaw House, which, unfortunately, was built immediately
+across the "ideal line," dividing the two kingdoms; and his misfortune
+was, that, being born within it, he knew not whether he was an
+Englishman or a Scotchman. He could trace his ancestral line no farther
+back than his great-grandfather, who, it appeared from the family Bible,
+had, together with his grandfather and father, claimed Marchlaw as their
+birth-place. They, however, were not involved in the same perplexities
+as their descendant. The parlour was distinctly acknowledged to be in
+Scotland, and two-thirds of the kitchen were as certainly allowed to be
+in England: his three ancestors were born in the room over the parlour,
+and, therefore, were Scotchmen beyond question; but Peter, unluckily,
+being brought into the world before the death of his grandfather, his
+parents occupied a room immediately over the debatable boundary line
+which crossed the kitchen. The room, though scarcely eight feet square,
+was evidently situated between the two countries; but, no one being able
+to ascertain what portion belonged to each, Peter, after many arguments
+and altercations upon the subject, was driven to the disagreeable
+alternative of confessing he knew not what countryman he was. What
+rendered the confession the more painful was, that it was Peter's
+highest ambition to be thought a Scotchman. All his arable land lay on
+the Scotch side; his mother was collaterally related to the Stuarts; and
+few families were more ancient or respectable than the Elliots. Peter's
+speech, indeed, betrayed him to be a walking partition between the two
+kingdoms, a living representation of the Union; for in one word he
+pronounced the letter _r_ with the broad, masculine sound of the North
+Briton, and in the next with the liquid _burr_ of the Northumbrians.
+
+Peter, or, if you prefer it, Peter Elliot, Esquire of Marchlaw, in the
+counties of Northumberland and Roxburgh, was, for many years, the best
+runner, leaper, and wrestler between Wooler and Jedburgh. Whirled from
+his hand, the ponderous bullet whizzed through the air like a pigeon on
+the wing; and the best putter on the Borders quailed from competition.
+As a feather in his grasp, he seized the unwieldy hammer, swept it round
+and round his head, accompanying with agile limb its evolutions, swiftly
+as swallows play around a circle, and hurled it from his hands like a
+shot from a rifle, till antagonists shrunk back, and the spectators
+burst into a shout. "Well done, Squire! the Squire for ever!" once
+exclaimed a servile observer of titles. "Squire! wha are ye squiring
+at?" returned Peter. "Confound ye! where was ye when I was christened
+Squire? My name's Peter Elliot--your man, or onybody's man, at whatever
+they like!"
+
+Peter's soul was free, bounding, and buoyant, as the wind that carolled
+in a zephyr, or shouted in a hurricane, upon his native hills; and his
+body was thirteen stone of healthy substantial flesh, steeped in the
+spirits of life. He had been long married, but marriage had wrought no
+change upon him. They who suppose that wedlock transforms the lark into
+an owl, offer an insult to the lovely beings who, brightening our
+darkest hours with the smiles of affection, teach us that that only is
+unbecoming in the husband which is disgraceful in the man. Nearly twenty
+years had passed over them; but Janet was still as kind, and, in his
+eyes, as beautiful as when, bestowing on him her hand, she blushed her
+vows at the altar; and he was still as happy, as generous, and as free.
+Nine fair children sat around their domestic hearth, and one, the
+youngling of the flock, smiled upon its mother's knee. Peter had never
+known sorrow; he was blest in his wife, in his children, in his flocks.
+He had become richer than his fathers. He was beloved by his neighbours,
+the tillers of his ground, and his herdsmen; yea, no man envied his
+prosperity. But a blight passed over the harvest of his joys, and gall
+was rained into the cup of his felicity.
+
+It was Christmas-day, and a more melancholy-looking sun never rose on
+the 25th of December. One vast, sable cloud, like a universal pall,
+overspread the heavens. For weeks, the ground had been covered with
+clear, dazzling snow; and as, throughout the day, the rain continued its
+unwearied and monotonous drizzle, the earth assumed a character and
+appearance melancholy and troubled as the heavens. Like a mastiff that
+has lost its owner, the wind howled dolefully down the glens, and was
+re-echoed from the caves of the mountains, as the lamentations of a
+legion of invisible spirits. The frowning, snow-clad precipices were
+instinct with motion, as avalanche upon avalanche, the larger burying
+the less, crowded downward in their tremendous journey to the plain. The
+simple mountain rills had assumed the majesty of rivers; the broader
+streams were swollen into the wild torrent, and, gushing forth as
+cataracts, in fury and in foam, enveloped the valleys in an angry flood.
+But, at Marchlaw, the fire blazed blithely; the kitchen groaned beneath
+the load of preparations for a joyful feast; and glad faces glided from
+room to room.
+
+Peter Elliot kept Christmas, not so much because it was Christmas, as in
+honour of its being the birthday of Thomas, his first-born, who, that
+day, entered his nineteenth year. With a father's love, his heart
+yearned for all his children; but Thomas was the pride of his eyes.
+Cards of apology had not then found their way among our Border hills;
+and as all knew that, although Peter admitted no spirits within his
+threshold, nor a drunkard at his table, he was, nevertheless, no
+niggard in his hospitality, his invitations were accepted without
+ceremony. The guests were assembled; and the kitchen being the only
+apartment in the building large enough to contain them, the cloth was
+spread upon a long, clear, oaken table, stretching from England into
+Scotland. On the English end of the board were placed a ponderous
+plum-pudding, studded with temptation, and a smoking sirloin; on
+Scotland, a savoury and well-seasoned haggis, with a sheep's-head and
+trotters; while the intermediate space was filled with the good things
+of this life, common to both kingdoms and to the season.
+
+The guests from the north and from the south were arranged
+promiscuously. Every seat was filled--save one. The chair by Peter's
+right hand remained unoccupied. He had raised his hands before his eyes,
+and besought a blessing on what was placed before them, and was
+preparing to carve for his visitors, when his eyes fell upon the vacant
+chair. The knife dropped upon the table. Anxiety flashed across his
+countenance, like an arrow from an unseen hand.
+
+"Janet, where is Thomas?" he inquired; "hae nane o' ye seen him?" and,
+without waiting an answer, he continued--"How is it possible he can be
+absent at a time like this? And on such a day, too? Excuse me a minute,
+friends, till I just step out and see if I can find him. Since ever I
+kept this day, as mony o' ye ken, he has always been at my right hand,
+in that very chair; and I canna think o' beginning our dinner while I
+see it empty."
+
+"If the filling of the chair be all," said a pert young sheep-farmer,
+named Johnson, "I will step into it till Master Thomas arrive."
+
+"Ye're not a faither, young man," said Peter, and walked out of the
+room.
+
+Minute succeeded minute, but Peter returned not. The guests became
+hungry, peevish, and gloomy, while an excellent dinner continued
+spoiling before them. Mrs. Elliot, whose good-nature was the most
+prominent feature in her character, strove, by every possible effort, to
+beguile the unpleasant impressions she perceived gathering upon their
+countenances.
+
+"Peter is just as bad as him," she remarked, "to hae gane to seek him
+when he kenned the dinner wouldna keep. And I'm sure Thomas kenned it
+would be ready at one o'clock to a minute. It's sae unthinking and
+unfriendly like to keep folk waiting." And, endeavouring to smile upon a
+beautiful black-haired girl of seventeen, who sat by her elbow, she
+continued in an anxious whisper--"Did ye see naething o' him, Elizabeth,
+hinny?"
+
+The maiden blushed deeply; the question evidently gave freedom to a
+tear, which had, for some time, been an unwilling prisoner in the
+brightest eyes in the room; and the monosyllable, "No," that trembled
+from her lips, was audible only to the ear of the inquirer. In vain Mrs.
+Elliot despatched one of her children after another, in quest of their
+father and brother; they came and went, but brought no tidings more
+cheering than the moaning of the hollow wind. Minutes rolled into hours,
+yet neither came. She perceived the prouder of her guests preparing to
+withdraw, and, observing that "Thomas's absence was so singular and
+unaccountable, and so unlike either him or his father, she didna ken
+what apology to make to her friends for such treatment; but it was
+needless waiting, and begged they would use no ceremony, but just
+begin."
+
+No second invitation was necessary. Good humour appeared to be restored,
+and sirloins, pies, pasties, and moor-fowl began to disappear like the
+lost son. For a moment, Mrs. Elliot apparently partook in the
+restoration of cheerfulness; but a low sigh at her elbow again drove the
+colour from her rosy cheeks. Her eye wandered to the farther end of the
+table, and rested on the unoccupied seat of her husband, and the vacant
+chair of her first-born. Her heart fell heavily within her; all the
+mother gushed into her bosom; and, rising from the table, "What in the
+world can be the meaning o' this?" said she, as she hurried, with a
+troubled countenance, towards the door. Her husband met her on the
+threshold.
+
+"Where hae ye been, Peter?" said she, eagerly; "hae ye seen naething o'
+him?"
+
+"Naething! naething!" replied he; "is he no cast up yet?" And, with a
+melancholy glance, his eyes sought an answer in the deserted chair. His
+lips quivered, his tongue faltered.
+
+"Gude forgie me!" said he; "and such a day for even an enemy to be out
+in! I've been up and doun every way that I can think on, but not a
+living creature has seen or heard tell o' him. Ye'll excuse me,
+neebors," he added, leaving the house; "I must awa again, for I canna
+rest."
+
+"I ken by mysel', friends," said Adam Bell, a decent-looking
+Northumbrian, "that a faither's heart is as sensitive as the apple o'
+his e'e; and I think we would show a want o' natural sympathy and
+respect for our worthy neighbour, if we didna every one get his foot
+into the stirrup without loss o' time, and assist him in his search.
+For, in my rough, country way o' thinking, it must be something
+particularly out o' the common that would tempt Thomas to be amissing.
+Indeed, I needna say _tempt_, for there could be no inclination in the
+way. And our hills," he concluded, in a lower tone, "are not ower chancy
+in other respects, besides the breaking up o' the storm."
+
+"Oh!" said Mrs. Elliot, wringing her hands, "I have had the coming o'
+this about me for days and days. My head was growing dizzy with
+happiness, but thoughts came stealing upon me like ghosts, and I felt a
+lonely soughing about my heart, without being able to tell the cause;
+but the cause is come at last! And my dear Thomas--the very pride and
+staff o' my life--is lost!--lost to me for ever!"
+
+"I ken, Mrs. Elliot," replied the Northumbrian, "it is an easy matter to
+say compose yourself, for them that dinna ken what it is to feel. But,
+at the same time, in our plain, country way o' thinking, we are always
+ready to believe the worst. I've often heard my father say, and I've as
+often remarked it myself, that, before anything happens to a body, there
+is _a something_ comes ower them, like a cloud before the face o' the
+sun; a sort o' dumb whispering about the breast from the other world.
+And though I trust there is naething o' the kind in your case, yet, as
+you observe, when I find myself growing dizzy, as it were, with
+happiness, it makes good a saying o' my mother's, poor body! 'Bairns,
+bairns,' she used to say, 'there is ower muckle singing in your heads
+to-night; we will have a shower before bedtime.' And I never, in my born
+days, saw it fail."
+
+At any other period, Mr. Bell's dissertation on presentiments would have
+been found a fitting text on which to hang all the dreams, wraiths,
+warnings, and marvellous circumstances, that had been handed down to the
+company from the days of their grandfathers; but, in the present
+instance, they were too much occupied in consultation regarding the
+different routes to be taken in their search.
+
+Twelve horsemen, and some half-dozen pedestrians, were seen hurrying in
+divers directions from Marchlaw, as the last faint lights of a
+melancholy day were yielding to the heavy darkness which appeared
+pressing in solid masses down the sides of the mountains. The wives and
+daughters of the party were alone left with the disconsolate mother, who
+alternately pressed her weeping children to her heart, and told them to
+weep not, for their brother would soon return; while the tears stole
+down her own cheeks, and the infant in her arms wept because its mother
+wept. Her friends strove with each other to inspire hope, and poured
+upon her ear their mingled and loquacious consolation. But one remained
+silent. The daughter of Adam Bell, who sat by Mrs. Elliot's elbow at
+table, had shrunk into an obscure corner of the room. Before her face
+she held a handkerchief wet with tears. Her bosom throbbed convulsively;
+and, as occasionally her broken sighs burst from their prison-house, a
+significant whisper passed among the younger part of the company.
+
+Mrs. Elliot approached her, and taking her hand tenderly within both of
+hers--"O hinny! hinny!" said she, "yer sighs gae through my heart like a
+knife! An' what can I do to comfort ye? Come, Elizabeth, my bonny love,
+let us hope for the best. Ye see before ye a sorrowin' mother!--a mother
+that fondly hoped to see you an'--I canna say it!--an' am ill qualified
+to gie comfort, when my own heart is like a furnace! But, oh! let us try
+and remember the blessed portion, 'Whom the LORD loveth HE chasteneth,'
+an' inwardly pray for strength to say, 'His will be done!'"
+
+Time stole on towards midnight, and one by one the unsuccessful party
+returned. As foot after foot approached, every breath was held to
+listen. "No, no, no!" cried the mother again and again, with increasing
+anguish, "it's no the foot o' my ain bairn;" while her keen gaze still
+remained riveted upon the door, and was not withdrawn, nor the hope of
+despair relinquished, till the individual entered, and, with a silent
+and ominous shake of his head, betokened his fruitless efforts. The
+clock had struck twelve; all were returned save the father. The wind
+howled more wildly; the rain poured upon the windows in ceaseless
+torrents; and the roaring of the mountain rivers gave a character of
+deeper ghostliness to their sepulchral silence; for they sat, each wrapt
+in forebodings, listening to the storm; and no sounds were heard, save
+the groans of the mother, the weeping of her children, and the bitter
+and broken sobs of the bereaved maiden, who leaned her head upon her
+father's bosom, refusing to be comforted.
+
+At length the barking of the farm-dog announced footsteps at a distance.
+Every ear was raised to listen, every eye turned to the door; but,
+before the tread was yet audible to the listeners--"Oh! it is only
+Peter's foot!" said the miserable mother, and, weeping, rose to meet
+him.
+
+"Janet, Janet!" he exclaimed, as he entered, and threw his arms around
+her neck, "what's this come upon us at last?"
+
+He cast an inquisitive glance around his dwelling, and a convulsive
+shiver passed over his manly frame, as his eye again fell on the vacant
+chair, which no one had ventured to occupy. Hour succeeded hour, but the
+company separated not; and low, sorrowful whispers mingled with the
+lamentations of the parents.
+
+"Neighbours," said Adam Bell, "the morn is a new day, and we will wait
+to see what it may bring forth; but, in the meantime, let us read a
+portion o' the Divine word, an' kneel together in prayer, that, whether
+or not the day-dawn cause light to shine upon this singular bereavement,
+the Sun o' Righteousness may arise wi' healing on his wings, upon the
+hearts o' this afflicted family, an' upon the hearts o' all present."
+
+"Amen!" responded Peter, wringing his hands; and his friend, taking down
+the Ha' Bible, read the chapter wherein it is written--"It is better to
+be in the house of mourning than in the house of feasting;" and again
+the portion which sayeth--"It is well for me that I have been afflicted,
+for before I was afflicted I went astray."
+
+The morning came, but brought no tidings of the lost son. After a solemn
+farewell, all the visitants, save Adam Bell and his daughter, returned
+every one to their own house; and the disconsolate father, with his
+servants, again renewed their search among the hills and surrounding
+villages.
+
+Days, weeks, months, and years rolled on. Time had subdued the anguish
+of the parents into a holy calm; but their lost first-born was not
+forgotten, although no trace of his fate had been discovered. The
+general belief was, that he had perished on the breaking up of the snow;
+and the few in whose remembrance he still lived, merely spoke of his
+death as a "very extraordinary circumstance," remarking that "he was a
+wild, venturesome sort o' lad."
+
+Christmas had succeeded Christmas, and Peter Elliot still kept it in
+commemoration of the birthday of him who was not. For the first few
+years after the loss of their son, sadness and silence characterized the
+party who sat down to dinner at Marchlaw, and still at Peter's right
+hand was placed the vacant chair. But, as the younger branches of the
+family advanced in years, the remembrance of their brother became less
+poignant. Christmas was, with all around them, a day of rejoicing, and
+they began to make merry with their friends; while their parents partook
+in their enjoyment, with a smile, half of approval and half of sorrow.
+
+Twelve years had passed away; Christmas had again come. It was the
+counterpart of its fatal predecessor. The hills had not yet cast off
+their summer verdure; the sun, although shorn of its heat, had lost none
+of its brightness or glory, and looked down upon the earth as though
+participating in its gladness; and the clear blue sky was tranquil as
+the sea sleeping beneath the moon. Many visitors had again assembled at
+Marchlaw. The sons of Mr. Elliot, and the young men of the party, were
+assembled upon a level green near the house, amusing themselves with
+throwing the hammer, and other Border games, while himself and the elder
+guests stood by as spectators, recounting the deeds of their youth.
+Johnson, the sheep-farmer, whom we have already mentioned, now a brawny
+and gigantic fellow of two-and-thirty, bore away in every game the palm
+from all competitors. More than once, as Peter beheld his sons defeated,
+he felt the spirit of youth glowing in his veins, and, "Oh!" muttered
+he, in bitterness, "had my Thomas been spared to me, he would hae thrown
+his heart's bluid after the hammer, before he would hae been beat by
+e'er a Johnson in the country!"
+
+While he thus soliloquized, and with difficulty restrained an impulse to
+compete with the victor himself, a dark, foreign-looking, strong-built
+seaman, unceremoniously approached, and, with his arms folded, cast a
+look of contempt upon the boasting conqueror. Every eye was turned with
+a scrutinizing glance upon the stranger. In height he could not exceed
+five feet nine, but his whole frame was the model of muscular strength;
+his features open and manly, but deeply sunburnt and weather-beaten; his
+long, glossy, black hair, curled into ringlets by the breeze and the
+billow, fell thickly over his temples and forehead; and whiskers of a
+similar hue, more conspicuous for size than elegance, gave a character
+of fierceness to a countenance otherwise possessing a striking impress
+of manly beauty. Without asking permission, he stepped forward, lifted
+the hammer, and, swinging it around his head, hurled it upwards of five
+yards beyond Johnson's most successful throw. "Well done!" shouted the
+astonished spectators. The heart of Peter Elliot warmed within him, and
+he was hurrying forward to grasp the stranger by the hand, when the
+words groaned in his throat, "It was just such a throw as my Thomas
+would have made!--my own lost Thomas!" The tears burst into his eyes,
+and, without speaking, he turned back, and hurried towards the house to
+conceal his emotion.
+
+Successively, at every game, the stranger had defeated all who ventured
+to oppose him, when a messenger announced that dinner waited their
+arrival. Some of the guests were already seated, others entering; and,
+as heretofore, placed beside Mrs. Elliot was Elizabeth Bell, still in
+the noontide of her beauty; but sorrow had passed over her features,
+like a veil before the countenance of an angel. Johnson, crest-fallen
+and out of humour at his defeat, seated himself by her side. In early
+life he had regarded Thomas Elliot as a rival for her affections; and,
+stimulated by the knowledge that Adam Bell would be able to bestow
+several thousands upon his daughter for a dowry, he yet prosecuted his
+attentions with unabated assiduity, in despite of the daughter's
+aversion and the coldness of her father. Peter had taken his place at
+the table; and still by his side, unoccupied and sacred, appeared the
+vacant chair, the chair of his first-born, whereon none had sat since
+his mysterious death or disappearance.
+
+"Bairns," said he, "did nane o' ye ask the sailor to come up and tak a
+bit o' dinner wi' us?"
+
+"We were afraid it might lead to a quarrel with Mr. Johnson," whispered
+one of the sons.
+
+"He is come without asking," replied the stranger, entering; "and the
+wind shall blow from a new point if I destroy the mirth or happiness of
+the company."
+
+"Ye're a stranger, young man," said Peter, "or ye would ken this is no a
+meeting o' mirth-makers. But, I assure ye, ye are welcome, heartily
+welcome. Haste ye, lasses," he added to the servants; "some o' ye get a
+chair for the gentleman."
+
+"Gentleman, indeed!" muttered Johnson between his teeth.
+
+"Never mind about a chair, my hearties," said the seaman; "this will
+do!" And, before Peter could speak to withhold him, he had thrown
+himself carelessly into the hallowed, the venerated, the
+twelve-years-unoccupied chair! The spirit of sacrilege uttering
+blasphemies from a pulpit could not have smitten a congregation of pious
+worshippers with deeper horror and consternation, than did this filling
+of the vacant chair the inhabitants of Marchlaw.
+
+"Excuse me, sir! excuse me, sir!" said Peter, the words trembling upon
+his tongue; "but ye cannot--ye cannot sit there!"
+
+"O man! man!" cried Mrs. Elliot, "get out o' that! get out o'
+that!--take my chair!--take ony chair i' the house!--but dinna, dinna
+sit there! It has never been sat in by mortal being since the death o'
+my dear bairn!--and to see it filled by another is a thing I canna
+endure!"
+
+"Sir! sir!" continued the father, "ye have done it through ignorance,
+and we excuse ye. But that was my Thomas's seat! Twelve years this very
+day--his birthday--he perished, Heaven kens how! He went out from our
+sight, like the cloud that passes over the hills--never--never to
+return. And, O sir, spare a father's feelings! for to see it filled
+wrings the blood from my heart!"
+
+"Give me your hand, my worthy soul!" exclaimed the seaman; "I
+revere--nay, hang it! I would die for your feelings! But Tom Elliot was
+my friend, and I cast anchor in this chair by special commission. I know
+that a sudden broadside of joy is a bad thing; but, as I don't know how
+to preach a sermon before telling you, all I have to say is--that Tom
+an't dead."
+
+"Not dead!" said Peter, grasping the hand of the stranger, and speaking
+with an eagerness that almost choked his utterance: "O sir! sir! tell me
+how!--how!--Did ye say, living?--Is my ain Thomas living?"
+
+"Not dead, do ye say?" cried Mrs. Elliot, hurrying towards him and
+grasping his other hand--"not dead! And shall I see my bairn again? Oh!
+may the blessing o' Heaven, and the blessing o' a broken-hearted mother
+be upon the bearer o' the gracious tidings! But tell me--tell me, how is
+it possible! As ye would expect happiness here or hereafter, dinna,
+dinna deceive me!"
+
+"Deceive you!" returned the stranger, grasping, with impassioned
+earnestness, their hands in his--"Never!--never! and all I can say
+is--Tom Elliot is alive and hearty."
+
+"No, no!" said Elizabeth, rising from her seat, "he does not deceive us;
+there is that in his countenance which bespeaks a falsehood impossible."
+And she also endeavoured to move towards him, when Johnson threw his arm
+around her to withhold her.
+
+"Hands off, you land-lubber!" exclaimed the seaman, springing towards
+them, "or, shiver me! I'll show daylight through your timbers in the
+turning of a hand-spike!" And, clasping the lovely girl in his arms,
+"Betty! Betty, my love!" he cried, "don't you know your own Tom? Father,
+mother, don't you know me? Have you really forgot your own son? If
+twelve years have made some change on his face, his heart is sound as
+ever."
+
+His father, his mother, and his brothers, clung around him, weeping,
+smiling, and mingling a hundred questions together. He threw his arms
+around the neck of each, and in answer to their inquiries,
+replied--"Well! well! there is time enough to answer questions, but not
+to-day--not to-day!"
+
+"No, my bairn," said his mother, "we'll ask you no questions--nobody
+shall ask you any! But how--how were ye torn away from us, my love? And,
+O hinny! where--where hae you been?"
+
+"It's a long story, mother," said he, "and would take a week to tell it.
+But, howsoever, to make a long story short, you remember when the
+smugglers were pursued, and wished to conceal their brandy in our house,
+my father prevented them; they left muttering revenge--and they have
+been revenged. This day twelve years, I went out with the intention of
+meeting Elizabeth and her father, when I came upon a party of the gang
+concealed in Hell's Hole. In a moment half a dozen pistols were held to
+my breast, and, tying my hands to my sides, they dragged me into the
+cavern. Here I had not been long their prisoner, when the snow, rolling
+down the mountains, almost totally blocked up its mouth. On the second
+night they cut through the snow, and, hurrying me along with them, I was
+bound to a horse between two, and, before daylight, found myself stowed,
+like a piece of old junk, in the hold of a smuggling lugger. Within a
+week I was shipped on board a Dutch man-of-war, and for six years was
+kept dodging about on different stations, till our old yawning hulk
+received orders to join the fleet, which was to fight against the
+gallant Duncan at Camperdown. To think of fighting against my own
+countrymen, my own flesh and blood, was worse than to be cut to pieces
+by a cat-o'-nine tails; and, under cover of the smoke of the first
+broadside, I sprang upon the gunwale, plunged into the sea, and swam for
+the English fleet. Never, never shall I forget the moment that my feet
+first trode upon the deck of a British frigate! My nerves felt as firm
+as her oak, and my heart, free as the pennant that waved defiance from
+her masthead! I was as active as any one during the battle; and when it
+was over, and I found myself again among my own countrymen, and all
+speaking my own language, I fancied--nay, hang it! I almost believed--I
+should meet my father, my mother, or my dear Bess, on board of the
+British frigate. I expected to see you all again in a few weeks at
+farthest; but, instead of returning to Old England, before I was aware,
+I found it was helm about with us. As to writing, I never had an
+opportunity but once. We were anchored before a French fort; a packet
+was lying alongside ready to sail; I had half a side written, and was
+scratching my head to think how I should come over writing about you,
+Bess, my love, when, as bad luck would have it, our lieutenant comes to
+me, and says he, 'Elliot,' says he,' I know you like a little smart
+service; come, my lad, take the head oar, while we board some of those
+French bumb-boats under the batteries!' I couldn't say no. We pulled
+ashore, made a bonfire of one of their craft, and were setting fire to a
+second, when a deadly shower of small shot from the garrison scuttled
+our boat, killed our commanding officer with half of the crew, and the
+few who were left of us were made prisoners. It is of no use bothering
+you by telling how we escaped from French prison. We did escape; and Tom
+will once more fill his vacant chair."
+
+Should any of our readers wish farther acquaintance with our friends,
+all we can say is, the new year was still young when Adam Bell bestowed
+his daughter's hand upon the heir of Marchlaw, and Peter beheld the once
+vacant chair again occupied, and a namesake of the third generation
+prattling on his knee!
+
+
+
+
+THE FAA'S REVENGE.
+
+A TALE OF THE BORDER GIPSIES.
+
+
+Brown October was drawing to a close--the breeze had acquired a degree
+of sharpness too strong to be merely termed bracing--and the fire, as
+the saying is, was becoming the best flower in the garden--for the
+hardiest and the latest plants had either shed their leaves, or their
+flowers had shrivelled at the breath of approaching winter--when a
+stranger drew his seat towards the parlour fire of the Three-Half-Moons
+inn, in Rothbury. He had sat for the space of half an hour when a party
+entered, who, like himself (as appeared from their conversation), were
+strangers, or rather visitors of the scenery, curiosities, and
+antiquities in the vicinity. One of them having ordered the waiter to
+bring each of them a glass of brandy and warm water, without appearing
+to notice the presence of the first mentioned stranger, after a few
+remarks on the objects of interest in the neighbourhood, the following
+conversation took place amongst them:--
+
+"Why," said one, "but even Rothbury here, secluded as it is from the
+world, and shut out from the daily intercourse of men, is a noted place.
+It was here that the ancient and famous northern bard and unrivalled
+ballad writer, Bernard Rumney, was born, bred, and died. Here, too, was
+born Dr. Brown, who, like Young and Home, united the characters of
+divine and dramatist, and was the author of '_Barbarossa_,' '_The Cure
+of Saul_,' and other works, of which posterity and his country are
+proud. The immediate neighbourhood, also, was the birth-place of the
+inspired boy, the heaven-taught mathematician, George Coughran, who
+knew no rival, and who bade fair to eclipse the glory of Newton, but
+whom death struck down ere he had reached the years of manhood."
+
+"Why, I can't tell," said another; "I don't know much about what you've
+been talking of; but I know, for one thing, that Rothbury was a famous
+place for every sort of games; and, at Fastren's E'en times, the rule
+was, every male inhabitant above eight years of age to pay a shilling,
+or out to the foot-ball. It was noted for its game-cocks, too--they were
+the best breed on the Borders."
+
+"May be so," said the first speaker; "but though I should be loath to
+see the foot-ball, or any other innocent game which keeps up a manly
+spirit, put down, yet I do trust that the brutal practice of
+cock-fighting will be abolished, not only on the Borders, but throughout
+every country which professes the name of Christian; and I rejoice that
+the practice is falling into disrepute. But, although my hairs are not
+yet honoured with the silver tints of age, I am old enough to remember,
+that, when a boy at school on the Scottish side of the Border, at every
+Fastren's E'en which you have spoken of, every schoolboy was expected to
+provide a cock for the battle, or main, and the teacher or his deputy
+presided as umpire. The same practice prevailed on the southern Border.
+It is a very old, savage amusement, even in this country; and perhaps
+the preceptors of youth, in former days, considered it _classical_, and
+that it would instil into their pupils sentiments of emulation; inasmuch
+as the practice is said to have taken rise from Themistocles perceiving
+two cocks tearing at and fighting with each other, while marching his
+army against the Persians, when he called upon his soldiers to observe
+them, and remarked that they neither fought for territory, defence of
+country, nor for glory, but they fought because the one would not yield
+to, or be defeated by the other; and he desired his soldiers to take a
+_moral_ lesson from the barn-door fowls. Cock-fighting thus became among
+the heathen Greeks a political precept and a religious observance--and
+the _Christian_ inhabitants of Britain, disregarding the _religious and
+political moral_, kept up the practice, adding to it more disgusting
+barbarity, for _their amusement_."
+
+"Coom," said a third, who, from his tongue, appeared to be a thorough
+Northumbrian, "we wur talking about Rothbury, but you are goin' to give
+us a regular sarmin on cock-fighting. Let's hae none o' that. You was
+saying what clever chaps had been born here--but none o' ye mentioned
+Jamie Allan, the gipsy and Northumberland piper, who was born here as
+weel as the best o' them. But I hae heard that Rothbury, as weel as
+Yetholm and Tweedmouth Moor, was a great resort for the Faa or gipsy
+gangs in former times. Now, I understand that thae folk were a sort o'
+bastard Egyptians; and though I am nae scholar, it strikes me forcibly
+that the meaning o' the word _gipsies_, is just _Egypts_, or
+_Gypties_--a contraction and corruption o' _Gyptian_!"
+
+"Gipsies," said he who spoke of Rumney and Brown, and abused the
+practice of cock-fighting, "still do in some degree, and formerly did in
+great numbers, infest this county; and I will tell you a story
+concerning them."
+
+"Do so," said the thorough Northumbrian; "I like a story when it's weel
+put thegither. The gipsies were queer folk. I've heard my faither tell
+many a funny thing about them, when he used to whistle 'Felton Loanin,'
+which was made by awd piper Allan--Jamie's faither." And here the
+speaker struck up a lively air, which, to the stranger by the fire,
+seemed a sort of parody on the well-known tune of "Johnny Cope."
+
+The other then proceeded with his tale, thus:--
+
+You have all heard of the celebrated Johnny Faa, the Lord and Earl of
+Little Egypt, who penetrated into Scotland in the reign of James IV.,
+and with whom that gallant monarch was glad to conclude a treaty. Johnny
+was not only the king, but the first of the Faa gang of whom we have
+mention. I am not aware that gipsies get the name of Faas anywhere but
+upon the Borders; and though it is difficult to account for the name
+satisfactorily, it is said to have had its origin from a family of the
+name of _Fall_ or _Fa'_, who resided here (in Rothbury), and that their
+superiority in their cunning and desperate profession, gave the same
+cognomen to all and sundry who followed the same mode of life upon the
+Borders. One thing is certain, that the name _Faa_ not only was given to
+individuals whose surname might be _Fall_, but to the _Winters_ and
+_Clarkes_--_id genus omne_--gipsy families well known on the Borders.
+Since waste lands, which were their hiding-places and resorts, began to
+be cultivated, and especially since the sun of knowledge snuffed out the
+taper of superstition and credulity, most of them are beginning to form
+a part of society, to learn trades of industry, and live with men. Those
+who still prefer their fathers' vagabond mode of life--finding that, in
+the northern counties, their old trade of fortune-telling is at a
+discount, and that thieving has thinned their tribe and is
+dangerous--now follow the more useful and respectable callings of
+muggers, besom-makers, and tinkers. I do not know whether, in etiquette,
+I ought to give precedence to the besom-maker or tinker; though, as
+compared with them, I should certainly suppose that the "muggers" of the
+present day belong to the Faa aristocracy; if it be not that they, like
+others, derive their nobility from descent of blood rather than weight
+of pocket--and that, after all, the mugger with his encampment, his
+caravans, horses, crystal, and crockery, is but a mere wealthy plebeian
+or _bourgeois_ in the vagrant community.--But to my tale.
+
+On a dark and tempestuous night in the December of 1628, a Faa gang
+requested shelter in the out-houses of the laird of Clennel. The laird
+himself had retired to rest; and his domestics being fewer in number
+than the Faas, feared to refuse them their request.
+
+"Ye shall have up-putting for the night, good neighbours," said Andrew
+Smith, who was a sort of major-domo in the laird's household, and he
+spoke in a tone of mingled authority and terror. "But, sir," added he,
+addressing the chief of the tribe--"I will trust to your honour that ye
+will allow none o' your folk to be making free with the kye, or the
+sheep, or the poultry--that is, that ye will not allow them to mistake
+ony o' them for your own, lest it bring me into trouble. For the laird
+has been in a fearful rage at some o' your people lately; and if
+onything were to be amissing in the morning, or he kenned that ye had
+been here, it might be as meikle as my life is worth."
+
+"Tush, man!" said Willie Faa, the king of the tribe, "ye dree the death
+ye'll never die. Willie Faa and his folk maun live as weel as the laird
+o' Clennel. But, there's my thumb, not a four-footed thing, nor the
+feather o' a bird, shall be touched by me or mine. But I see the light
+is out in the laird's chamber window--he is asleep and high up amang the
+turrets--and wherefore should ye set human bodies in byres and stables
+in a night like this, when your Ha' fire is bleezing bonnily, and there
+is room eneugh around it for us a'? Gie us a seat by the cheek o' your
+hearth, and ye shall be nae loser; and I promise ye that we shall be
+off, bag and baggage, before the skreigh o' day, or the laird kens where
+his head lies."
+
+Andrew would fain have refused this request, but he knew that it
+amounted to a command; and, moreover, while he had been speaking with
+the chief of the tribe, the maid-servants of the household, who had
+followed him and the other men-servants to the door, had divers of them
+been solicited by the females of the gang to have futurity revealed to
+them. And whether it indeed be that curiosity is more powerful in woman
+than in man (as it is generally said to be), I do not profess to
+determine; but certain it is, that the laird of Clennel's maid-servants,
+immediately on the hint being given by the gipsies, felt a very ardent
+desire to have a page or two from the sybilline leaves read to them--at
+least that part of them which related to their future husbands, and the
+time when they should obtain them. Therefore, they backed the petition
+or command of King Willie, and said to Andrew--
+
+"Really, Mr. Smith, it would be very unchristian-like to put poor
+wandering folk into cauld out-houses on a night like this; and, as
+Willie says, there is room enough in the Ha'."
+
+"That may be a' very true, lasses," returned Andrew, "but only ye think
+what a dirdum there would be if the laird were to waken or get wit o't!"
+
+"Fearna the laird," said Elspeth, the wife of King Willie--"I will lay a
+spell on him that he canna be roused frae sleep, till I, at sunrise,
+wash my hands in Darden Lough."
+
+The sybil then raised her arms and waved them fantastically in the air,
+uttering, as she waved them, the following uncouth rhymes by way of
+incantation--
+
+    "Bonny Queen Mab, bonny Queen Mab,
+      Wave ye your wee bits o' poppy wings
+    Ower Clennel's laird, that he may sleep
+      Till I hae washed where Darden springs."
+
+Thus assured, Andrew yielded to his fears and the wishes of his
+fellow-servants, and ushered the Faas into his master's hall for the
+night. But scarce had they taken their seats upon the oaken forms around
+the fire, when--
+
+"Come," said the Faa king, "the night is cold, pinching cold, Mr. Smith:
+and, while the fire warms without, is there naething in the cellar that
+will warm within? See to it, Andrew, man--thou art no churl, or they
+face is fause."
+
+"Really, sir," replied Andrew--and, in spite of all his efforts to
+appear at ease, his tongue faultered as he spoke--"I'm not altogether
+certain what to say upon that subject; for ye observe that our laird is
+really a very singular man; ye might as weel put your head in the fire
+there as displease him in the smallest; and though Heaven kens that I
+would gie to you just as freely as I would tak to mysel, yet ye'll
+observe that the liquor in the cellars is not mine, but his--and they
+are never sae weel plenished but I believe he would miss a thimblefu'.
+But there is some excellent cold beef in the pantry, if ye could put up
+wi' the like o' it, and the home-brewed which we servants use."
+
+"Andrew," returned the Faa king, proudly--"castle have I none, flocks
+and herds have I none, neither have I haughs where the wheat, and the
+oats, and the barley grow--but, like Ishmael, my great forefather, every
+man's hand is against me, and mine against them--yet, when I am hungry,
+I never lack the flesh-pots o' my native land, where the moorfowl and
+the venison make brown broo together. Cauld meat agrees nae wi' my
+stomach, and servants' drink was never brewed for the lord o' Little
+Egypt. Ye comprehend me, Andrew?"
+
+"Oh, I daresay I do, sir," said the chief domestic of the house of
+Clennel; "but only, as I have said, ye will recollect that the drink is
+not mine to give; and if I venture upon a jug, I hope ye winna think o'
+asking for another."
+
+"We shall try it," said the royal vagrant.
+
+Andrew, with trembling and reluctance, proceeded to the cellar, and
+returned with a large earthen vessel filled with the choicest
+home-brewed, which he placed upon a table in the midst of them.
+
+      "Then each took a smack
+       Of the old black jack,
+    While the fire burned in the hall."
+
+The Faa king pronounced the liquor to be palatable, and drank to his
+better acquaintance with the cellars of the laird of Clennel; and his
+gang followed his example.
+
+Now, I should remark that Willie Faa, the chief of his tribe, was a man
+of gigantic stature; the colour of his skin was the dingy brown peculiar
+to his race; his arms were of remarkable length, and his limbs a union
+of strength and lightness; his raven hair was mingled with grey; while,
+in his dark eyes, the impetuosity of youth and the cunning of age seemed
+blended together. It is in vain to speak of his dress, for it was
+changed daily as his circumstances or avocations directed. He was ever
+ready to assume all characters, from the courtier down to the mendicant.
+Like his wife, he was skilled in the reading of no book but the book of
+fate. Now, Elspeth was a less agreeable personage to look upon than even
+her husband. The hue of her skin was as dark as his. She was also of his
+age--a woman of full fifty. She was the tallest female in her tribe; but
+her stoutness took away from her stature. Her eyes were small and
+piercing, her nose aquiline, and her upper lip was "bearded like the
+pard."
+
+While her husband sat at his carousals, and handing the beverage to his
+followers and the domestics of the house, Elspeth sat examining the
+lines upon the palms of the hands of the maid-servants--pursuing her
+calling as a spaewife. And ever as she traced the lines of matrimony,
+the sybil would pause and exclaim--
+
+"Ha!--money!--money!--cross my loof again, hinny. There is fortune
+before ye! Let me see! A spur!--a sword!--a shield!--a gowden purse!
+Heaven bless ye! They are there!--there, as plain as a pikestaff; they
+are a' in your path. But cross my loof again, hinny, for until siller
+again cross it, I canna see whether they are to be yours or no."
+
+Thus did Elspeth go on until her "loof had been crossed" by the last
+coin amongst the domestics of the house of Clennel; and when these were
+exhausted, their trinkets were demanded and given to assist the spell of
+the prophetess. Good fortune was prognosticated to the most of them, and
+especially to those who crossed the loof of the reader of futurity most
+freely; but to others, perils, and sudden deaths, and disappointments in
+love, and grief in wedlock, were hinted, though to all and each of these
+forebodings, a something like hope--an undefined way of escape--was
+pended.
+
+Now, as the voice of Elspeth rose in solemn tones, and as the mystery of
+her manner increased, not only were the maid-servants stricken with awe
+and reverence for the wondrous woman, but the men-servants also began to
+inquire into their fate. And as they extended their hands, and Elspeth
+traced the lines of the past upon them, ever and anon she spoke strange
+words, which intimated secret facts; and she spoke also of love-makings
+and likings; and ever, as she spoke, she would raise her head and grin a
+ghastly smile, now at the individual whose hand she was examining, and
+again at a maid-servant whose fortune she had read; while the former
+would smile and the latter blush, and their fellow domestics exclaim--
+
+"That's wonderfu'!--that dings a'!--ye are queer folk! hoo in the world
+do ye ken?"
+
+Even the curiosity of Mr. Andrew Smith was raised, and his wonder
+excited; and, after he had quaffed his third cup with the gipsy king,
+he, too, reverentially approached the bearded princess, extending his
+hand, and begging to know what futurity had in store for him.
+
+She raised it before her eyes, she rubbed hers over it.
+
+"It is a dark and a difficult hand," muttered she: "here are ships and
+the sea, and crossing the sea, and great danger, and a way to avoid
+it--but the gowd!--the gowd that's there! And yet ye may lose it a'!
+Cross my loof, sir--yours is an ill hand to spae--for it's set wi'
+fortune, and danger and adventure."
+
+Andrew gave her all the money in his possession. Now it was understood
+that she was to return the money and the trinkets with which her loof
+had been crossed; and Andrew's curiosity overcoming his fears, he
+ventured to intrust his property in her keeping; for, as he thought, it
+was not every day that people could have everything that was to happen
+unto them revealed. But when she had again looked upon his hand--
+
+"It winna do," said she--"I canna see ower the danger ye hae to
+encounter, the seas ye hae to cross, and the mountains o' gowd that lie
+before ye yet--ye maun cross my loof again." And when, with a woful
+countenance, he stated that he had crossed it with his last coin--
+
+"Ye hae a chronometer, man," said she--"it tells you the minutes now, it
+may enable me to show ye those that are to come!"
+
+Andrew hesitated, and, with doubt and unwillingness, placed the
+chronometer in her hand.
+
+Elspeth wore a short cloak of faded crimson; and in a sort of pouch in
+it, every coin, trinket, and other article of value which was put into
+her hands were deposited, in order, as she stated, to forward her mystic
+operations. Now, the chronometer had just disappeared in the general
+receptacle of offerings to the oracle, when heavy footsteps were heard
+descending the staircase leading to the hall. Poor Andrew, the ruler of
+the household, gasped--the blood forsook his cheeks, his knees
+involuntarily knocked one against another, and he stammered out--
+
+"For Heaven's sake, gie me my chronometer!--Oh, gie me it!--we are a'
+ruined!"
+
+"It canna be returned till the spell's completed," rejoined Elspeth, in
+a solemn and determined tone--and her countenance betrayed nothing of
+her dupe's uneasiness; while her husband deliberately placed his right
+hand upon a sort of dagger which he wore beneath a large coarse jacket
+that was loosely flung over his shoulders. The males in his retinue,
+who were eight in number, followed his example.
+
+In another moment, the laird, with wrath upon his countenance, burst
+into the hall.
+
+"Andrew Smith," cried he, sternly, and stamping his foot fiercely on the
+floor, "what scene is this I see? Answer me, ye robber, answer me;--ye
+shall hang for it!"
+
+"O sir! sir!" groaned Andrew, "mercy!--mercy!--O sir!" and he wrung his
+hands together and shook exceedingly.
+
+"Ye fause knave!" continued the laird, grasping him by the neck--and
+dashing him from him, Andrew fell flat upon the floor, and his terror
+had almost shook him from his feet before--"Speak, ye fause knave!"
+resumed the laird; "what means your carousin' wi' sic a gang? Ye robber,
+speak!" And he kicked him with his foot as he lay upon the ground.
+
+"O sir!--mercy, sir!" vociferated Andrew, in the stupor and wildness of
+terror; "I canna speak!--ye hae killed me outright! I am dead--stone
+dead! But it wasna my blame--they'll a' say that, if they speak the
+truth."
+
+"Out! out, ye thieves!--ye gang o' plunderers, born to the gallows!--out
+o' my house!" added the laird, addressing Willie Faa and his followers.
+
+"Thieves! ye acred loon!" exclaimed the Faa king, starting to his feet,
+and drawing himself up to his full height--"wha does the worm that
+burrows in the lands o' Clennel ca' thieves? Thieves, say ye!--speak
+such words to your equals, but no to me. Your forebears came ower wi'
+the Norman, invaded the nation, and seized upon land--mine invaded it
+also, and only laid a tax upon the flocks, the cattle, and the
+poultry--and wha ca' ye thieves?--or wi' what grace do ye speak the
+word?"
+
+"Away, ye audacious vagrant!" continued the laird; "ken ye not that the
+king's authority is in my hands?--and for your former plunderings, if I
+again find you setting foot upon ground o' mine, on the nearest tree ye
+shall find a gibbet."
+
+"Boast awa--boast awa, man," said Willie; "ye are safe here, for me and
+mine winna harm ye; and it is a fougie cock indeed that darena craw in
+its ain barn-yard. But wait until the day when we may meet upon the wide
+moor, wi' only twa bits o' steel between us, and see wha shall brag
+then."
+
+"Away!--instantly away!" exclaimed Clennel, drawing his sword, and
+waving it threateningly over the head of the gipsy.
+
+"Proud, cauld-hearted, and unfeeling mortal," said Elspeth, "will ye
+turn fellow-beings from beneath your roof in a night like this, when the
+fox darena creep frae its hole, and the raven trembles on the tree?"
+
+"Out! out! ye witch!" rejoined the laird.
+
+"Farewell, Clennel," said the Faa king; "we will leave your roof, and
+seek the shelter o' the hill-side. But ye shall rue! As I speak, man, ye
+shall rue it!"
+
+"Rue it!" screamed Elspeth, rising--and her small dark eyes flashed with
+indignation--"he shall rue it--the bairn unborn shall rue it--and the
+bann o' Elspeth Faa shall be on Clennel and his kin, until his hearth be
+desolate and his spirit howl within him like the tempest which this
+night rages in the heavens!"
+
+The servants shrank together into a corner of the hall, to avoid the
+rage of their master; and they shook the more at the threatening words
+of the weird woman, lest she should involve them in his doom; but he
+laughed with scorn at her words.
+
+"Proud, pitiless fool," resumed Elspeth, more bitterly than before,
+"repress your scorn. Whom, think ye, ye treat wi' contempt? Ken ye not
+that the humble adder which ye tread upon can destroy ye--that the very
+wasp can sting ye, and there is poison in its sting? Ye laugh, but for
+your want of humanity this night, sorrow shall turn your head grey, lang
+before age sit down upon your brow."
+
+"Off! off! ye wretches!" added the laird; "vent your threats on the
+wind, if it will hear ye, for I regard them as little as it will. But
+keep out o' my way for the future, as ye would escape the honours o' a
+hempen cravat, and the hereditary exaltation o' your race."
+
+Willie Faa made a sign to his followers, and without speaking they
+instantly rose and departed; but, as he himself reached the door, he
+turned round, and significantly striking the hilt of his dagger,
+exclaimed--
+
+"Clennel! ye shall rue it!"
+
+And the hoarse voice of Elspeth without, as the sound was borne away on
+the storm, was heard crying--"He shall rue it!" and repeating her
+imprecations.
+
+Until now, poor Andrew Smith had lain groaning upon the floor more dead
+than alive, though not exactly "stone dead" as he expressed it; and
+ever, as he heard his master's angry voice, he groaned the more, until
+in his agony he doubted his existence. When, therefore, on the departure
+of the Faas, the laird dragged him to his feet, and feeling some pity
+for his terror, spoke to him more mildly, Andrew gazed vacantly around
+him, his teeth chattering together, and he first placed his hands upon
+his sides, to feel whether he was still indeed the identical flesh,
+blood, and bones of Andrew Smith, or his disembodied spirit; and being
+assured that he was still a man, he put down his hand to feel for his
+chronometer, and again he groaned bitterly--and although he now knew he
+was not dead, he almost wished he were so. The other servants thought
+also of their money and their trinkets, which, as well as poor Andrew's
+chronometer, Elspeth, in the hurry in which she was rudely driven from
+the house, had, by a slip of memory, neglected to return to their lawful
+owners.
+
+It is unnecessary to dwell upon the laird's anger at his domestics, or
+farther to describe Andrew's agitation; but I may say that the laird was
+not wroth against the Faa gang without reason. They had committed
+ravages on his flocks--they had carried off the choicest of his
+oxen--they destroyed his deer--they plundered him of his poultry--and
+they even made free with the grain that he reared, and which he could
+spare least of all. But Willie Faa considered every landed proprietor as
+his enemy, and thought it his duty to quarter on them. Moreover, it was
+his boisterous laugh, as he pushed round the tankard, which aroused the
+laird from his slumbers, and broke Elspeth's spell. And the destruction
+of the charm, by the appearance of their master, before she had washed
+her hands in Darden Lough, caused those who had parted with their money
+and trinkets to grieve for them the more, and to doubt the promises of
+the prophetess, or to
+
+             "Take all for gospel that the spaefolk say."
+
+Many weeks, however, had not passed until the laird of Clennel found
+that Elspeth the gipsy's threat, that he should "_rue it_," meant more
+than idle words. His cattle sickened and died in their stalls, or the
+choicest of them disappeared; his favourite horses were found maimed in
+the mornings, wounded and bleeding in the fields; and, notwithstanding
+the vigilance of his shepherds, the depredations on his flocks augmented
+tenfold. He doubted not but that Willie Faa and his tribe were the
+authors of all the evils which were besetting him: but he knew also
+their power and their matchless craft, which rendered it almost
+impossible either to detect or punish them. He had a favourite steed,
+which had borne him in boyhood, and in battle when he served in foreign
+wars, and one morning when he went into his park, he found it lying
+bleeding upon the ground. Grief and indignation strove together in
+arousing revenge within his bosom. He ordered his sluthhound to be
+brought, and his dependants to be summoned together, and to bring arms
+with them. He had previously observed foot-prints on the ground, and he
+exclaimed--
+
+"Now the fiend take the Faas, they shall find whose turn it is to rue
+before the sun gae down."
+
+The gong was pealed on the turrets of Clennel Hall, and the kempers with
+their poles bounded in every direction, with the fleetness of mountain
+stags, to summon all capable of bearing arms to the presence of the
+laird. The mandate was readily obeyed; and within two hours thirty armed
+men appeared in the park. The sluthhound was led to the footprint; and
+after following it for many a weary mile over moss, moor, and mountain,
+it stood and howled, and lashed its lips with its tongue, and again ran
+as though its prey were at hand, as it approached what might be called a
+gap in the wilderness between Keyheugh and Clovencrag.
+
+Now, in the space between these desolate crags stood some score of
+peels, or rather half hovels, half encampments--and this primitive city
+in the wilderness was the capital of the Faa king's people.
+
+"Now for vengeance!" exclaimed Clennel; and his desire of revenge was
+excited the more from perceiving several of the choicest of his cattle,
+which had disappeared, grazing before the doors or holes of the gipsy
+village.
+
+"Bring whins and heather," he continued--"pile them around it, and burn
+the den of thieves to the ground."
+
+His order was speedily obeyed, and when he commanded the trumpet to be
+sounded, that the inmates might defend themselves if they dared, only
+two or three men and women of extreme age, and some half-dozen children,
+crawled upon their hands and knees from the huts--for it was impossible
+to stand upright in them.
+
+The aged men and women howled when they beheld the work of destruction
+that was in preparation, and the children screamed when they heard them
+howl. But the laird of Clennel had been injured, and he turned a deaf
+ear to their misery. A light was struck, and a dozen torches applied at
+once. The whins crackled, the heather blazed, and the flames overtopped
+the hovels which they surrounded, and which within an hour became a heap
+of smouldering ashes.
+
+Clennel and his dependants returned home, driving the cattle which had
+been stolen from him before them, and rejoicing in what they had done.
+On the following day, Willie Faa and a part of his tribe returned to the
+place of rendezvous--their city and home in the mountains--and they
+found it a heap of smoking ruins, and the old men and the old women of
+the tribe--their fathers and their mothers--sitting wailing upon the
+ruins, and warming over them their shivering limbs, while the children
+wept around them for food.
+
+"Whose work is this?" inquired Willie, while anxiety and anger flashed
+in his eyes.
+
+"The Laird o' Clennel!--the Laird o' Clennel!" answered every voice at
+the same instant.
+
+"By this I swear!" exclaimed the king of the Faas, drawing his dagger
+from beneath his coat, "from this night henceforth he is laird nor man
+nae langer." And he turned hastily from the ruins, as if to put his
+threat in execution.
+
+"Stay, ye madcap!" cried Elspeth, following him, "would ye fling away
+revenge for half a minute's satisfaction?"
+
+"No, wife," cried he, "nae mair than I would sacrifice living a free and
+a fu' life for half an hour's hangin'."
+
+"Stop, then," returned she, "and let our vengeance fa' upon him, so that
+it may wring his life away, drap by drap, until his heart be dry; and
+grief, shame, and sorrow burn him up, as he has here burned house and
+home o' Elspeth Faa and her kindred."
+
+"What mean ye, woman?" said Willie, hastily; "if I thought ye would come
+between me and my revenge, I would drive this bit steel through you wi'
+as goodwill as I shall drive it through him."
+
+"And ye shall be welcome," said Elspeth. She drew him aside, and
+whispered a few minutes in his ear. He listened attentively. At times he
+seemed to start, and at length, sheathing his dagger and grasping her
+hand, he exclaimed--"Excellent, Elspeth!--ye have it!--ye have it!"
+
+At this period, the laird of Clennel was about thirty years of age, and
+two years before he had been married to Eleanor de Vere, a lady alike
+distinguished for her beauty and accomplishments. They had an infant
+son, who was the delight of his mother, and his father's pride. Now, for
+two years after the conflagration of their little town, Clennel heard
+nothing of his old enemies the Faas, neither did they molest him, nor
+had they been seen in the neighbourhood, and he rejoiced in having
+cleared his estate of such dangerous visitors. But the Faa king,
+listening to the advice of his wife, only "nursed his wrath to keep it
+warm," and retired from the neighbourhood, that he might accomplish, in
+its proper season, his design of vengeance more effectually, and with
+greater cruelty.
+
+The infant heir of the house of Clennel had been named Henry, and he was
+about completing his third year--an age at which children are, perhaps,
+most interesting, and when their fondling and their prattling sink
+deepest into a parent's heart--for all is then beheld on childhood's
+sunny side, and all is innocence and love. Now, it was in a lovely day
+in April, when every bird had begun its annual song, and flowers were
+bursting into beauty, buds into leaves, and the earth resuming its green
+mantle, when Lady Clennel and her infant son, who then, as I have said,
+was about three years of age, went forth to enjoy the loveliness and the
+luxuries of nature, in the woods which surrounded their mansion, and
+Andrew Smith accompanied them as their guide and protector. They had
+proceeded somewhat more than a mile from the house, and the child, at
+intervals breaking away from them, sometimes ran before his mother, and
+at others sauntered behind her, pulling the wild flowers that strewed
+their path, when a man, springing from a dark thicket, seized the child
+in his arms, and again darted into the wood. Lady Clennel screamed
+aloud, and rushed after him. Andrew, who was coming dreaming behind, got
+but a glance of the ruffian stranger--but that glance was enough to
+reveal to him the tall, terrible figure of Willie Faa, the Gipsy king.
+
+There are moments when, and circumstances under which even cowards
+become courageous, and this was one of those moments and circumstances
+which suddenly inspired Andrew (who was naturally no hero) with courage.
+He, indeed, loved the child as though he had been his own; and following
+the example of Lady Clennel, he drew his sword and rushed into the wood.
+He possessed considerable speed of foot, and he soon passed the wretched
+mother, and came in sight of the pursued. The unhappy lady, who ran
+panting and screaming as she rushed along, unable to keep pace with
+them, lost all trace of where the robber of her child had fled, and her
+cries of agony and bereavement rang through the woods.
+
+Andrew, however, though he did not gain ground upon the gipsy, still
+kept within sight of him, and shouted to him as he ran, saying that all
+the dependants of Clennel would soon be on horseback at his heels, and
+trusting that every moment he would drop the child upon the ground.
+Still Faa flew forward, bearing the boy in his arm, and disregarding the
+cries and threats of his pursuer. He knew that Andrew's was not what
+could be called a heart of steel, but he was aware that he had a
+powerful arm, and could use a sword as well as a better man; and he knew
+also that cowards will fight as desperately, when their life is at
+stake, as the brave.
+
+The desperate chase continued for four hours, and till after the sun had
+set, and the gloaming was falling thick on the hills. Andrew, being
+younger and unencumbered, had at length gained ground upon the gipsy,
+and was within ten yards of him when he reached the Coquet side, about a
+mile below this town, at the hideous Thrumb, where the deep river, for
+many yards, rushes through a mere chasm in the rock. The Faa, with the
+child beneath his arm, leaped across the fearful gulf, and the dark
+flood gushed between him and his pursuer. He turned round, and, with a
+horrid laugh, looked towards Andrew and unsheathed his dagger. But even
+at this moment the unwonted courage of the chief servant of Clennel did
+not fail him, and as he rushed up and down upon one side of the gulf,
+that he might spring across and avoid the dagger of the gipsy, the other
+ran in like manner on the other side; and when Andrew stood as if ready
+to leap, the Faa king, pointing with his dagger to the dark flood that
+rolled between them, cried--
+
+"See, fool! eternity divides us!"
+
+"And for that bairn's sake, ye wretch, I'll brave it!" exclaimed Andrew,
+while his teeth gnashed together; and he stepped back, in order that he
+might spring across with the greater force and safety.
+
+"Hold man!" cried the Faa; "attempt to cross to me, and I will plunge
+this bonny heir o' Clennel into the flood below."
+
+"Oh, gracious! gracious!" cried Andrew, and his resolution and courage
+forsook him; "ye monster!--ye barbarian!--oh, what shall I do now!"
+
+"Go back whence you came," said the gipsy, "or follow me another step
+and the child dies."
+
+"Oh, ye butcher!--ye murderer!" continued the other--and he tore his
+hair in agony--"hae ye nae mercy?"
+
+"Sic mercy as your maister had," returned the Faa, "when he burned our
+dwellings about the ears o' the aged and infirm, and o' my helpless
+bairns! Ye shall find in me the mercy o' the fasting wolf, o' the tiger
+when it laps blood!"
+
+Andrew perceived that to rescue the child was now impossible, and with a
+heavy heart he returned to his master's house, in which there was no
+sound save that of lamentation.
+
+For many weeks, yea months, the laird of Clennel, his friends and his
+servants, sought anxiously throughout every part of the country to
+obtain tidings of his child, but their search was vain. It was long ere
+his lady was expected to recover the shock, and the affliction sat heavy
+on his soul, while in his misery he vowed revenge upon all of the gipsy
+race. But neither Willie Faa nor any of his tribe were again seen upon
+his estates, or heard of in their neighbourhood.
+
+Four years were passed from the time that their son was stolen from
+them, and an infant daughter smiled upon the knee of Lady Clennel; and
+oft as it smiled in her face, and stretched its little hands towards
+her, she would burst into tears, as the smile and the infantine fondness
+of her little daughter reminded her of her lost Henry. They had had
+other children, but they had died while but a few weeks old.
+
+For two years there had been a maiden in the household named Susan, and
+to her care, when the child was not in her own arms, Lady Clennel
+intrusted her infant daughter; for every one loved Susan, because of her
+affectionate nature and docile manners--she was, moreover, an orphan,
+and they pitied while they loved her. But one evening, when Lady Clennel
+desired that her daughter might be brought her in order that she might
+present her to a company who had come to visit them (an excusable,
+though not always a pleasant vanity in mothers), neither Susan nor the
+child were to be found. Wild fears seized the bosom of the already
+bereaved mother, and her husband felt his heart throb within him. They
+sought the woods, the hills, the cottages around; they wandered by the
+sides of the rivers and the mountain burns, but no one had seen, no
+trace could be discovered of either the girl or the child.
+
+I will not, because I cannot, describe the overwhelming misery of the
+afflicted parents. Lady Clennel spent her days in tears and her nights
+in dreams of her children, and her husband sank into a settled
+melancholy, while his hatred of the Faa race became more implacable, and
+he burst into frequent exclamations of vengeance against them.
+
+More than fifteen years had passed, and though the poignancy of their
+grief had abated, yet their sadness was not removed, for they had been
+able to hear nothing that could throw light upon the fate of their
+children. About this period, sheep were again missed from the flocks,
+and, in one night, the hen-roosts were emptied. There needed no other
+proof that a Faa gang was again in the neighbourhood. Now,
+Northumberland at that period was still thickly covered with wood, and
+abounded with places where thieves might conceal themselves in security.
+Partly from a desire of vengeance, and partly from the hope of being
+able to extort from some of the tribe information respecting his
+children, Clennel armed his servants, and taking his hounds with him,
+set out in quest of the plunderers.
+
+For two days their search was unsuccessful, but on the third the dogs
+raised their savage cry, and rushed into a thicket in a deep glen
+amongst the mountains. Clennel and his followers hurried forward, and in
+a few minutes perceived the fires of the Faa encampment. The hounds had
+already alarmed the vagrant colony, they had sprung upon many of them
+and torn their flesh with their tusks; but the Faas defended themselves
+against them with their poniards, and, before Clennel's approach, more
+than half his hounds lay dead upon the ground, and his enemies fled.
+Yet there was one poor girl amongst them, who had been attacked by a
+fierce hound, and whom no one attempted to rescue, as she strove to
+defend herself against it with her bare hands. Her screams for
+assistance rose louder and more loud; and as Clennel and his followers
+drew near, and her companions fled, they turned round, and, with a
+fiendish laugh, cried--
+
+"Rue it now!"
+
+Maddened more keenly by the words, he was following on in pursuit,
+without rescuing the screaming girl from the teeth of the hound, or
+seeming to perceive her, when a woman, suddenly turning round from
+amongst the flying gypsies, exclaimed--
+
+"For your sake!--for Heaven's sake! Laird Clennel! save my bairn!"
+
+He turned hastily aside, and, seizing the hound by the throat, tore it
+from the lacerated girl, who sank, bleeding, terrified, and exhausted,
+upon the ground. Her features were beautiful, and her yellow hair
+contrasted ill with the tawny hue of her countenance and the snowy
+whiteness of her bosom, which in the struggle had been revealed. The
+elder gipsy woman approached. She knelt by the side of the wounded girl.
+
+"O my bairn!" she exclaimed, "what has this day brought upon me!--they
+have murdered you! This is rueing, indeed; and I rue too!"
+
+"Susan!" exclaimed Clennel, as he listened to her words, and his eyes
+had been for several seconds fixed upon her countenance.
+
+"Yes!--Susan!--guilty Susan!" cried the gipsy.
+
+"Wretch!" he exclaimed, "my child!--where is my child?--is
+_this_"----and he gazed on the poor girl, his voice failed him, and he
+burst into tears.
+
+"Yes!--yes!" replied she bitterly, "it is her--there lies your
+daughter--look upon her face."
+
+He needed, indeed, but to look upon her countenance--disfigured as it
+was, and dyed with weeds to give it a sallow hue--to behold in it every
+lineament of her mother's, lovely as when they first met his eye and
+entered his heart. He flung himself on the ground by her side, he raised
+her head, he kissed her cheek, he exclaimed, "My child!--my child!--my
+lost one! I have destroyed thee!"
+
+He bound up her lacerated arms, and applied a flask of wine, which he
+carried with him, to her lips, and he supported her on his knee, and
+again kissing her cheek, sobbed, "My child!--my own!"
+
+Andrew Smith also bent over her and said, "Oh, it is her! there isna the
+smallest doubt o' that. I could swear to her among a thousand. She's her
+mother's very picture." And, turning to Susan, he added, "O Susan,
+woman, but ye hae been a terrible hypocrite!"
+
+Clennel having placed his daughter on horseback before him, supporting
+her with his arm, Susan was set between two of his followers, and
+conducted to the Hall.
+
+Before the tidings were made known to Lady Clennel, the wounds of her
+daughter were carefully dressed, the dye that changed the colour of her
+countenance was removed, and her gipsy garb was exchanged for more
+seemly apparel.
+
+Clennel anxiously entered the apartment of his lady, to reveal to her
+the tale of joy; but when he entered, he wist not how to introduce it.
+He knew that excess of sudden joy was not less dangerous than excess of
+grief, and his countenance was troubled, though its expression was less
+sad than it had been for many years.
+
+"Eleanor," he at length began, "cheer up."
+
+"Why, I am not sadder than usual, dear," replied she, in her wonted
+gentle manner; "and to be more cheerful would ill become one who has
+endured my sorrows."
+
+"True, true," said he, "but our affliction may not be so severe as we
+have thought--there may be hope--there may be joy for us yet."
+
+"What mean ye, husband?" inquired she, eagerly; "have ye heard
+aught--aught of my children?--you have!--you have!--your countenance
+speaks it."
+
+"Yes, dear Eleanor," returned he, "I have heard of our daughter."
+
+"And she lives?--she lives?--tell me that she lives!"
+
+"Yes, she lives."
+
+"And I shall see her--I shall embrace my child again?"
+
+"Yes, love, yes," replied he, and burst into tears.
+
+"When--oh, when?" she exclaimed, "can you take me to her now?"
+
+"Be calm, my sweet one. You shall see our child--our long-lost child.
+You shall see her now--she is here."
+
+"Here!--my child!" she exclaimed, and sank back upon her seat.
+
+Words would fail to paint the tender interview--the mother's joy--the
+daughter's wonder--the long, the passionate embrace--the tears of
+all--the looks--the words--the moments of unutterable feeling.
+
+I shall next notice the confession of Susan. Clennel promised her
+forgiveness if she would confess the whole truth; and he doubted not,
+that from her he would also obtain tidings of his son, and learn where
+he might find him, if he yet lived. I shall give her story in her own
+words.
+
+"When I came amongst you," she began, "I said that I was an orphan, and
+I told ye truly, so far as I knew myself. I have been reared amongst the
+people ye call gipsies from infancy. They fed me before I could provide
+for myself. I have wandered with them through many lands. They taught me
+many things; and, while young, sent me as a servant into families, that
+I might gather information to assist them in upholding their mysteries
+of fortune-telling, I dared not to disobey them--they kept me as their
+slave--and I knew that they would destroy my life for an act of
+disobedience. I was in London when ye cruelly burned down the bit town
+between the Keyheugh and Clovencrag. That night would have been your
+last, but Elspeth Faa vowed more cruel vengeance than death on you and
+yours. After our king had carried away your son, I was ordered from
+London to assist in the plot o' revenge. I at length succeeded in
+getting into your family, and the rest ye know. When ye were a' busy wi'
+your company, I slipped into the woods wi' the bairn in my arms, where
+others were ready to meet us; and long before ye missed us, we were
+miles across the hills, and frae that day to this your daughter has
+passed as mine."
+
+"But tell me all, woman," cried Clennel, "as you hope for either pardon
+or protection--where is my son, my little Harry? Does he live?--where
+shall I find him?"
+
+"As I live," replied Susan, "I cannot tell. There are but two know
+concerning him--and that is the king and his wife Elspeth; and there is
+but one way of discovering anything respecting him, which is by crossing
+Elspeth's loof, that she may betray her husband: and she would do it for
+revenge's sake, for an ill husband has he been to her, and in her old
+days he has discarded her for another."
+
+"And where may she be found?" inquired Clennel, earnestly.
+
+"That," added Susan, "is a question I cannot answer. She was with the
+people in the glen to-day, and was first to raise the laugh when your
+dog fastened its teeth in the flesh of your ain bairn. But she may be
+far to seek and ill to find now--for she is wi' those that travel fast
+and far, and that will not see her hindmost."
+
+Deep was the disappointment of the laird when he found he could obtain
+no tidings of his son. But, at the intercession of his daughter (whose
+untutored mind her fond mother had begun to instruct), Susan was freely
+pardoned, promised protection from her tribe, and again admitted as one
+of the household.
+
+I might describe the anxious care of the fond mother, as, day by day,
+she sat by her new-found and lovely daughter's side, teaching her, and
+telling her of a hundred things of which she had never heard before,
+while her father sat gazing and listening near them, rejoicing over
+both.
+
+But the ray of sunshine which had penetrated the house of Clennel was
+not destined to be of long duration. At that period a fearful cloud
+overhung the whole land, and the fury of civil war seemed about to burst
+forth.
+
+The threatening storm did explode; a bigoted king overstepped his
+prerogative, set at nought the rights and the liberties of the subject,
+and an indignant people stained their hands with blood. A political
+convulsion shook the empire to its centre. Families and individuals
+became involved in the general catastrophe; and the house of Clennel did
+not escape. In common with the majority of the English gentry of that
+period, Clennel was a stanch loyalist, and if not exactly a lover of the
+king, or an ardent admirer of his acts, yet one who would fight for the
+crown though it should (as it was expressed about the time) "hang by a
+bush." When, therefore, the parliament declared war against the king,
+and the name of Cromwell spread awe throughout the country, and when
+some said that a prophet and deliverer had risen amongst them, and
+others an ambitious hypocrite and a tyrant, Clennel armed a body of his
+dependants, and hastened to the assistance of his sovereign, leaving his
+wife and his newly-found daughter with the promise of a speedy return.
+
+It is unnecessary to describe all that he did or encountered during the
+civil wars. He had been a zealous partizan of the first Charles, and he
+fought for the fortunes of his son to the last. He was present at the
+battle of Worcester, which Cromwell calls his "crowning mercy," in the
+September of 1651, where the already dispirited royalists were finally
+routed; and he fought by the side of the king until the streets were
+heaped with dead; and when Charles fled, he, with others, accompanied
+him to the borders of Staffordshire.
+
+Having bid the young prince an affectionate farewell, Clennel turned
+back, with the intention of proceeding on his journey, on the following
+day, to Northumberland, though he was aware, that, from the part which
+he had taken in the royal cause, even his person was in danger. Yet the
+desire again to behold his wife and daughter overcame his fears, and the
+thought of meeting them in some degree consoled him for the fate of his
+prince, and the result of the struggle in which he had been engaged.
+
+But he had not proceeded far when he was met by two men dressed as
+soldiers of the Parliamentary army--the one a veteran with grey hairs,
+and the other a youth. The shades of night had set in; but the latter he
+instantly recognized as a young soldier whom he had that day wounded in
+the streets of Worcester.
+
+"Stand!" said the old man, as they met him; and the younger drew his
+sword.
+
+"If I stand!" exclaimed Clennel, "it shall not be when an old man and a
+boy command me." And, following their example, he unsheathed his sword.
+
+"Boy!" exclaimed the youth; "whom call ye boy?--think ye, because ye
+wounded me this morn, that fortune shall aye sit on your arm?--yield or
+try."
+
+They made several thrusts at each other, and the old man, as an
+indifferent spectator, stood looking on. But the youth, by a dexterous
+blow, shivered the sword in Clennel's hand, and left him at his mercy.
+
+"Now yield ye," he exclaimed; "the chance is mine now--in the morning it
+was thine."
+
+"Ye seem a fair foe," replied Clennel, "and loath am I to yield, but
+that I am weaponless."
+
+"Despatch him at once!" growled the old man. "If he spilled your blood
+in the morning, there can be no harm in spilling his the night--and
+especially after giein' him a fair chance."
+
+"Father," returned the youth, "would ye have me to kill a man in cold
+blood?"
+
+"Let him submit to be bound then, hands and eyes, or I will," cried the
+senior.
+
+The younger obeyed, and Clennel, finding himself disarmed, submitted to
+his fate; and his hands were bound, and his eyes tied up, so that he
+knew not where they led him.
+
+After wandering many miles, and having lain upon what appeared the cold
+earth for a lodging, he was aroused from a comfortless and troubled
+sleep, by a person tearing the bandage from his eyes, and ordering him
+to prepare for his trial. He started to his feet. He looked around, and
+beheld that he stood in the midst of a gipsy encampment. He was not a
+man given to fear, but a sickness came over his heart when he thought of
+his wife and daughter, and that, knowing the character of the people in
+whose power he was, he should never behold them again.
+
+The males of the Faa tribe began to assemble in a sort of half circle in
+the area of the encampment, and in the midst of them, towering over the
+heads of all, he immediately distinguished the tall figure of Willie
+Faa, in whom he also discovered the grey-haired Parliamentary soldier of
+the previous night. But the youth with whom he had twice contended and
+once wounded, and by whom he had been made prisoner, he was unable to
+single out amongst them.
+
+He was rudely dragged before them, and Willie Faa cried--"Ken ye the
+culprit?"
+
+"Clennel o' Northumberland!--our enemy!" exclaimed twenty voices.
+
+"Yes," continued Willie, "Clennel our enemy--the burner o' our humble
+habitations--that left the auld, the sick, the infirm, and the helpless,
+and the infants o' our kindred, to perish in the flaming ruins. Had we
+burned his house, the punishment would have been death; and shall we do
+less to him than he would do to us?"
+
+"No! no!" they exclaimed with one voice.
+
+"But," added Willie, "though he would have disgraced us wi' a gallows,
+as he has been a soldier, I propose that he hae the honour o' a
+soldier's death, and that Harry Faa be appointed to shoot him."
+
+"All! all! all!" was the cry.
+
+"He shall die with the setting sun," said Willie, and again they cried,
+"Agreed!"
+
+Such was the form of trial which Clennel underwent, when he was again
+rudely dragged away, and placed in a tent round which four strong Faas
+kept guard. He had not been alone an hour, when his judge, the Faa king,
+entered, and addressed him--
+
+"Now, Laird Clennel, say ye that I haena lived to see day about wi' ye?
+When ye turned me frae beneath your roof, when the drift was fierce and
+the wind howled in the moors, was it not tauld to ye that _ye would rue
+it_!--but ye mocked the admonition and the threat, and, after that,
+cruelly burned us out o' house and ha'. When I came hame, I saw my auld
+mother, that was within three years o' a hunder, couring ower the
+reeking ruins, without a wa' to shelter her, and crooning curses on the
+doer o' the black deed. There were my youngest bairns, too, crouching by
+their granny's side, starving wi' hunger as weel as wi' cauld, for ye
+had burned a', and haudin' their bits o' hands before the burnin' ruins
+o' the house that they were born in, to warm them! That night I vowed
+vengeance on you; and even on that night I would have executed it, but I
+was prevented; and glad am I now that I was prevented, for my vengeance
+has been complete--or a' but complete. Wi' my ain hand I snatched your
+son and heir from his mother's side, and a terrible chase I had for it;
+but revenge lent me baith strength and speed. And when ye had anither
+bairn that was like to live, I forced a lassie, that some o' our folk
+had stolen when an infant, to bring it to us. Ye have got your daughter
+back again, but no before she has cost ye mony a sad heart and mony a
+saut tear; and that was some revenge. But the substance o' my
+satisfaction and revenge lies in what I hae to tell ye. Ye die this
+night as the sun gaes down; and, hearken to me now--the young soldier
+whom ye wounded on the streets o' Worcester, and who last night made you
+prisoner, was your son--your heir--your lost son! Ha! ha!--Clennel, am I
+revenged?"
+
+"My son!" screamed the prisoner--"monster, what is it that ye say?
+Strike me dead, now I am in your power--but torment me not!"
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" again laughed the grey-haired savage--"man, ye are about
+to die, and ye know not ye are born. Ye have not heard half I have to
+tell. I heard that ye had joined the standard o' King Charles. I, a king
+in my ain right, care for neither your king nor parliament; but I
+resolved to wear, for a time, the cloth o' old Noll, and to make your
+son do the same, that I might hae an opportunity o' meeting you as an
+enemy, and seeing _him_ strike you to the heart. That satisfaction I had
+not; but I had its equivalent. Yesterday, I saw you shed his blood on
+the streets o' Worcester, and in the evening he gave you a prisoner into
+my hands that desired you."
+
+"Grey-haired monster!" exclaimed Clennel. "Have ye no feeling--no heart?
+Speak ye to torment me, or tell me truly, have I seen my son?"
+
+"Patience, man!" said the Faa, with a smile of sardonic triumph--"my
+story is but half finished. It was the blood o' your son ye shed
+yesterday at Worcester--it was your son who disarmed ye, and gave ye
+into my power; and, best o' a'!--now, hear me! hear me! lose not a
+word!--it is the hand o' your son that this night, at sunset, shall send
+you to eternity! Now, tell me, Clennel, am I no revenged? Do ye no rue
+it?"
+
+"Wretch! wretch!" cried the miserable parent, "in mercy strike me dead.
+If I have raised my sword against my son, let that suffice ye!--but
+spare, oh, spare my child from being an involuntary parricide!"
+
+"Hush, fool!" said the Faa; "I have waited for this consummation o' my
+revenge for twenty years, and think ye that I will be deprived o' it now
+by a few whining words? Remember, sunset!" he added, and left the tent.
+
+Evening came, and the disk of the sun began to disappear behind the
+western hills. Men and women, the old and the young, amongst the Faas,
+came out from their encampment to behold the death of their enemy.
+Clennel was brought forth between two, his hands fastened to his sides,
+and a bandage round his mouth, to prevent him making himself known to
+his executioner. A rope was also brought round his body, and he was tied
+to the trunk of an old ash tree. The women of the tribe began a sort of
+yell or coronach; and their king, stepping forward, and smiling savagely
+in the face of his victim, cried aloud--
+
+"Harry Faa! stand forth and perform the duty your tribe have imposed on
+you."
+
+A young man, reluctantly, and with a slow and trembling step, issued
+from one of the tents. He carried a musket in his hand, and placed
+himself in front of the prisoner, at about twenty yards from him.
+
+"Make ready!" cried Willie Faa, in a voice like thunder. And the youth,
+though his hands shook, levelled the musket at his victim.
+
+But, at that moment, one who, to appearance, seemed a maniac, sprang
+from a clump of whins behind the ash tree where the prisoner was bound,
+and, throwing herself before him, she cried--"Hold!--would you murder
+your own father? Harry Clennel!--would you murder your father? Mind ye
+not when ye was stolen frae your mother's side, as ye gathered wild
+flowers in the wood?"
+
+It was Elspeth Faa.
+
+The musket dropped from the hands of the intended executioner--a
+thousand recollections, that he had often fancied dreams, rushed across
+his memory. He again seized the musket, he rushed forward to his father,
+but, ere he reached, Elspeth had cut the cords that bound the laird, and
+placed a dagger in his hand for his defence, and, with extended arms, he
+flew to meet the youth, crying--"My son!--my son!"
+
+The old Faa king shook with rage and disappointment, and his first
+impulse was to poniard his wife--but he feared to do so; for although he
+had injured her, and had not seen her for years, her influence was
+greater with the tribe than his.
+
+"Now, Willie," cried she, addressing him, "wha rues it now? Fareweel for
+ance and a'--and the bairn I brought up will find a shelter for my auld
+head."
+
+It were vain to tell how Clennel and his son wept on each other's neck,
+and how they exchanged forgiveness. But such was the influence of
+Elspeth, that they departed from the midst of the Faas unmolested, and
+she accompanied them.
+
+Imagination must picture the scene when the long-lost son flung himself
+upon the bosom of his mother, and pressed his sister's hand in his.
+Clennel Hall rang with the sounds of joy for many days; and, ere they
+were ended, Andrew Smith placed a ring upon the finger of Susan, and
+they became one flesh--she a respectable woman. And old Elspeth lived to
+the age of ninety and seven years beneath its roof.
+
+
+
+
+KATE KENNEDY;
+
+OR, THE MAID OF INNERKEPPLE.
+
+
+Innerkepple was, some three hundred years ago, as complete a
+fortification as could be seen along the Borders--presenting its
+bastions, its turrets and donjon, and all the appurtenances of a
+military strength, in the face of a Border riever, with that solemn air
+of defiance that belongs to the style of the old castles. Many a blow of
+a mangonel it had received; and Scotch and English engines of war had,
+with equal force and address, poured into its old grey ribs their
+destructive bolts; every wound was an acquisition of glory; and, unless
+where a breach demanded a repair for the sake of security, the scars on
+the old warrior were allowed to remain as a proof of his prowess.
+Indeed, these very wounds appearing on the walls had their names--being
+christened after the leaders of the sieges that had been in vain
+directed against it; and, among the number, the kings of England might
+have been seen indicated by the futile instruments of vengeance they had
+flung into the rough ribs of old Innerkepple. But let us proceed. The
+proprietor, good Walter Kennedy, better known by the appellative of
+Innerkepple, was not unlike the old strength which he inhabited; being
+an old, rough, burly baron, on whose face Time had succeeded in making
+many impressions, notwithstanding of all the opposing energies of a soul
+that gloried, in all manner of ways, of cheating the old greybeard of
+his rights and clearing off _his scores_. As a good spirit is said to be
+like good old wine, getting softer and more balmy as it increases in
+age, old Innerkepple proved, by his good humour and jovial manners, the
+sterling qualities of his heart, which seemed, as he progressed in
+years, to swell in proportion as that organ in others shrivelled and
+decreased. He saw nothing in age but the necessity it imposes of having
+more frequent recourse to its great enemy, the grape; and that power he
+delighted to bow to, as he bent his head to empty the flagon which his
+forebear, Kenneth, got from the first King James, as a reward for his
+services against the house of Albany. Yet the good humour of the old
+baron was not that of the toper, which, produced by the bowl, would not
+exist but for its inspiring draught; the feeling of happiness and
+universal good-will lay at the bottom of the heart itself, and was only
+swelled into a state of glorious ebullition by the charm of the magic of
+the vine branch--the true Mercurial _caduceus_, the only true magic wand
+upon earth.
+
+Though the spirit of antiquarianism is seldom associated with the
+swelling affections of the heart that is dedicated to Momus, old
+Innerkepple had, notwithstanding, been able to combine the two qualities
+or powers. Sitting in his old wainscotted hall, over a goblet of spiced
+Tokay, there were three old subjects he loved to speculate upon; and
+these were--his old castle, with its chronicled wounds, where the Genius
+of War sat alongside of the "auld carle" Time, in grim companionship;
+secondly, the family tree of the Innerkepples--with himself, a good old
+branch, kept green by good humour and Tokay, at the further verge; and a
+small green twig, as slender as a lily stalk, issuing from the old
+branch--no other than the daughter of Innerkepple, the fair Kate
+Kennedy, a buxom damsel, of goodly proportions, and as merry, with the
+aid of health and young sparkling blood, as the old baron was with the
+spiced wine of Tokay; and, in the third place, there was the true
+legitimate study of the antiquary, the ancient wine itself, the mortal
+years of which he counted with an eye as bright as Cocker's over a
+triumphant solution. As this last subject grew upon him, he became
+inspired, like the old poet of Teos, and the rafters of Innerkepple rang
+to the sound of his voice, tuned to the air of "The Guidwife o'
+Tullybody," and fraught with the deeds, active and passive, of the
+barons of Innerkepple and their castle.
+
+The fair Katherine Kennedy inherited her father's good humour, and,
+maugre all the polishing and freezing influences of high birth, retained
+her inborn freedom of thought and action, heedless whether the
+contortion of the _buccĉ_ in a broad laugh were consistent with the
+placidity of beauty, or the scream of the heart-excited risibility were
+in accordance with the formula of high breeding. Buxom in her person,
+and gay in her manners, she formed the most enchanting baggage of all
+the care-killing damsels of her day--the most exquisite ronion that ever
+chased Melancholy from her yellow throne on the face of Hypochondria, or
+threw the cracker of her persiflage into the midst of the crew of blue
+devils that bind down care-worn mortals by the bonds of _ennui_. She was
+no antiquary, even in the limited sense of her father's study of the
+science of cobwebs; being rather given to _neoterics_, or the science
+which teaches the qualities of things of to-day or yesterday. Age in all
+things she hated with a very good feminine spirit of detestation; and,
+following up her principles, she arrived at the conclusion that youth
+and beauty were two of the very best qualities that could be possessed
+by a lover. Her father's impassioned praises of the old branches of the
+tree of the Innerkepples--comprehending the brave Ludovick, who fell at
+Homildon, and the memorable Walter, who sold his life at the price of a
+score of fat Englishmen at the red Flodden--produced only her best and
+loudest laugh, as she figured to herself the folly of preferring the
+rugged trunk to the green branches that suspend at their points the
+red-cheeked apple full of sweetness and juice. Neither cared the
+hilarious damsel much for the reverend turrets of Innerkepple. Her
+father's description, full of good humour as it was, of the various
+perils they had passed, and the service they had done their country,
+seemed to her, as she stood on the old walls, listening to the
+narrative, like the croak of the old corbies that sat on the pinnacles;
+and her laugh came again full of glee through the loopholes, or echoed
+from the battered curtain or recesses of the ballium.
+
+That such a person as merry old Innerkepple should have a bitter and
+relentless foe in the proprietor of the old strength called Otterstone,
+in the neighbourhood, is one of the most instructive facts connected
+with the system of war and pillage that prevailed on the Borders,
+principally during the reign of Henry VIII. of England and James V. of
+Scotland, when the spirit of religion furnished a cause of aggression
+that could not have been afforded by the pugnacious temperaments of the
+victims of attack. Magnus Fotheringham of Otterstone had had a deadly
+feud with Kenneth Kennedy, the father of the good old Innerkepple, and
+ever since had nourished against his neighbour a deadly spite, which he
+had taken many means of gratifying. His opponent had acted merely on the
+defensive; but his plea had been so well vindicated by his retainers,
+who loved him with the affection of children, that the splenetic
+aggressor had been twice repulsed with great slaughter. Most readily
+would the jovial baron, who had never given any cause of offence, have
+seized upon the demon of Enmity, and, _obtorto collo_, forced the fiend
+into the smoking flagon of spiced wine, while he held out the hand of
+friendship to his hereditary foe; but such was Otterstone's inveteracy,
+that he would not meet him but with arms in his hands, so that all the
+endeavours of the warm-hearted and jolly Innerkepple to overcome the
+hostility of his neighbour, were looked upon as secret modes of wishing
+to entrap him, and take vengeance on him for his repeated attacks upon
+the old castle.
+
+Some short time previous to the period about which we shall become more
+interested, Innerkepple, with twenty rangers, was riding the marches of
+his property, when he was set upon by his enemy, who had nearly twice
+that number of retainers. Taking up with great spirit the plea of their
+lord, the men who were attacked rallied round the old chief, and fought
+for him like lions, drowning (perhaps purposely) in the noise of the
+battle the cries of Innerkepple, who roared, at the top of his voice--
+
+"Otterstone, man--hear me!--A pint o' my auld Canary will do baith you
+and me mair guid than a' that bluid o' your men and mine. Stop the
+fecht, man. I hae nae feud against you, an' I'm no answerable for the
+wrangs o' thy father Kenneth."
+
+These peaceful words were lost amidst the sounds of the battle, and
+Otterstone construed the contortions of the peacemaker into indications
+of revenge, and his bawling was set down as his mode of inspiriting his
+followers. The fight accordingly progressed, old Innerkepple at
+intervals holding up a white handkerchief as a sign of peace; but which,
+having been used by him in stopping the wounds of one of his men, was
+received with its blood-marks as a signal of revenge, both by his men
+and those of the aggressor. The strife accordingly increased, and all
+was soon mixed up in the confusion of the melée.
+
+"Has feud ran awa wi' yer senses, Otterstone?" again roared the good old
+baron. "I'll gie yer son, wha's at St. Omers, the hand o' my dochter
+Kate. Do you hear me, man? If you will mix the bluids o' oor twa houses,
+let it be dune by Haly Kirk."
+
+His words never reached Otterstone; but his own men who adored and
+idolized their beautiful young mistress, whose unvaried cheerfulness and
+kindness had won their hearts, heard the proposition of their master
+with astonishment and dissatisfaction. They were still sorely pressed by
+their enemy, who, seeing the stained handkerchief in the hands of
+Innerkepple, were roused to stronger efforts. At this moment an
+extraordinary vision met their eyes. A detachment of retainers from the
+castle came forward in the most regular warlike array, having at their
+head their young mistress, armed with a helmet and a light jerkin, and
+bearing in her hand a sword of suitable proportions. A loud shout from
+the worsted combatants expressed their satisfaction and surprise, and in
+a moment the assistant corps joined their friends, and commenced to
+fight. The unusual vision relaxed for a moment the energies of
+Otterstone's men; but a cry from their chief, that they would that day
+be ten times vanquished if they were defeated by a female leader, again
+inspired them, and instigated them to the fight.
+
+"Press forward, brave vassals of Innerkepple!" cried Katherine. "Your
+foes have no fair damsel to inspire them; and who shall resist those
+whose arms are nerved in defence of an old chief and a young mistress?
+He who kills the greatest number of Otterstone's men shall have the
+privilege of demanding a woman's guerdon from Katherine Kennedy. If this
+be not enough to make ye fight like lions, ye deserve to be hung in
+chains on the towers of Otterstone."
+
+Smiling as she uttered her strange speech, she hurried to her father,
+who was still making all the efforts in his power to bring about a
+parley. He had got within a few yards of Otterstone, and it required all
+the energies of Katherine to keep him back and defend him from insidious
+blows--an office she executed with great agility, by keeping her light
+sword whirling round her head, and inflicting wounds--not perhaps of
+great depth--on those who were ungallant and temerarious enough to
+approach her parent.
+
+"See, Otterstone, man," cried the laird, still intent on peace, and
+sorry for the deadly work that was going on around him. "Is she no fit
+to mak heirs to Otterstone? Up wi' yer helm, Kate, and show him yer fair
+face. Ha! man, stop this bluidy work, and let us mend a' by a carousal.
+Deil's in the heart and stamack o' the man that prefers warring to
+wassailing!"
+
+"He does not hear you, father," cried Kate. "We must defend ourselves.
+On, brave followers! Ye know your guerdon. Gallant knights have kneeled
+for it and been refused it. You are to fight for it, and to receive it.
+Hurrah for Innerkepple!" And she swung her light falchion round her
+head, while the war-cry of the family, "_Festina lente!_" arose in
+answer to her inspiriting appeal, and the men rushed forward with new
+ardour on their foes.
+
+"You are as bluid-thirsty as he is, Kate," cried the baron. "What mean
+ye, woman? Haste ye up to Otterstone, and fling yer arms round his neck,
+and greet a guid greet, according to the fashion o' womankind. Awa!
+haste ye, and say, mairower, that ye'll be the wife o' his son, and join
+the twa baronies that are gaping for ane anither. Quick, woman; tears
+are mere water--thin aneuch, Gude kens!--but thae men's bluid is thicker
+than my vintage o' the year '90."
+
+"Katherine Kennedy never yet wept either to friend or foe, unless in the
+wild glee of her frolics," replied the maiden. "By the bones of Camilla!
+I thought I was only fit for sewing battle scenes on satin, and laughing
+as I killed a knight with my needle; but I find I have the Innerkepple
+blood in my veins, and my cheek is glowing like a blood-red rose. Take
+care of yourself, good father, and leave the affair to me. A single
+glance of my eye has more power in it than the command of the proudest
+baron of the Borders. On, good hearts!" And she again rode among the
+men, and inspired them with her voice and looks.
+
+The effect of the silvery tones of the voice of Katherine on the hearts
+of her father's retainers was electric; they fought like lions, and it
+soon became apparent to Otterstone that a woman is a more dangerous
+enemy than a man. The cry, "For the fair maid of Innerkepple!" resounded
+among the combatants, and soon exhibited greater virtue than the war-cry
+of the house. Against men actuated by the chivalrous feelings that
+naturally arose out of the defence of a beautiful woman, all resistance
+was vain; the ranks of Otterstone's men were broken, and this advantage
+having been seized by their opponents, whose energies were rising every
+moment, as the sound of Katherine's voice saluted their ears, a route
+ensued, and the usual consequences of that last resource of the
+vanquished--flight--were soon apparent in the wounded victims, who fell
+ingloriously with wounds on their backs. The pursuers were inclined to
+continue the pursuit even to the walls of Otterstone, but Katherine
+called them back.
+
+"To slay the flying," said she, with a laugh, as the usual hilarity of
+her spirits returned upon her, "is what I call effeminate warfare. When
+men flee, women pursue; and what get they for their pains more than the
+wench got from Theseus, whom she hunted for his heart, and got, as our
+hunters do, the kick of his heel? Away, and carry in our disabled, that
+I may, with woman's art, cure the wounds that have been received in
+defence of a woman."
+
+The men obeyed with alacrity, and Innerkepple himself stared in
+amazement at his daughter, who had always before appeared to him as a
+wild romp, fit only for killing men with her beauty, or tormenting them
+with the elfin tricks or bewitching waggeries of her restless salient
+spirit.
+
+"I'll hae ye in the wainscotted ha', Kate," said the father, as he
+entered his private chamber, leaning on the arm of his daughter,
+"painted wi' helm, habergeon, and halberd, and placed alongside o' Lewie
+o' Homildon and Watt o' Flodden."
+
+"I care not, father," replied Katherine, "if you give the painter
+instructions to paint me laughing at those famous progenitors of our
+house, who were foolish enough to give their lives for that glory I can
+purchase for nothing, and get the lives of my enemies to boot; but I
+must go and minister to the gallant men who have been wounded."
+
+"Minister first to your father, Kate," replied Innerkepple, with a
+knowing look.
+
+"And to your father's daughter, you would add," replied she, with a
+smile. "A bridal and a battle lack wine." And, hastening to a cupboard,
+she took out and placed on the table a flagon and two cups, the latter
+of which she filled.
+
+"Rest to the souls of the men I have slain!" said she, laughing, as she
+lifted the wine cup to her head, while her father was performing the
+same act.
+
+"What! did ye kill ony o' Otterstone's men?" said Innerkepple.
+
+"Every time I lifted up my visor," replied she, "I scattered death
+around me. Ha! ha! what fools men are! Their bodies are tenantless; we
+women are the souls that live outside of them, and take up our residence
+within their clayey precincts only when we have an object to serve. The
+tourney has taught me the power of our sex; and there I have thrown my
+spirit into the man I hated, to gratify my humour by seeing him, poor
+caitiff! as he caught my hazel eye, writhe and wring, and contort
+himself into all the attitudes of Proteus."
+
+"Wicked imp!" said Innerkepple, laughing.
+
+"And when he had sufficiently twisted himself," continued she, "I have,
+with a grave face given the same hazel eye to his opponent, and set his
+body in motion in the same way. The serpent-charmer is nothing to a
+woman. By this art, I to-day gained the victory; and I'll stake my
+auburn toupée against thy grey wig, that I beat, in the same way, the
+boldest baron of the Borders."
+
+"By the faith o' Innerkepple, ye're no blate, Kate!" said the old baron,
+still laughing; "but come, let us see our wounded men"--taking his
+daughter's arm.
+
+"Leave their wounds to me, father," said she. "The sting of the
+tarantula is cured by an old song. We women are the true leeches;
+doctors are quacks and medicasters to us. We kill and cure like the
+Delphic sword, which makes wounds and heals them by alternate strokes."
+
+"Ever at your quips, roisterer," said Innerkepple, as they arrived at
+the court.
+
+The wounded men had been brought in, and were consigned to the care of
+one of the retainers, skilled in medicine, Katherine's medicaments--her
+looks and tones--being reserved for a balsamic application, after the
+wounds were cicatrized. The other retainers were, meanwhile, busy in
+consultation, as might have been seen by their congregating into
+parties, talking low, and throwing looks at Innerkepple and his fair
+daughter, as they stood on the steps of the inner door of the castle.
+
+"The guerdon! the guerdon!" at last said one of the vassals, advancing
+and throwing himself at the feet of Kate.
+
+"Ha! ha! I forgot," replied she laughing; "but turn up thy face--art
+thou the man?"
+
+"So say my companions, fair leddy," replied he. "I brocht doon wi' this
+arm five o' Otterstone's men."
+
+"With that arm!" replied she, "and what spirit nerved the dead lumber,
+thinkest thou?"
+
+"Dootless yours, fair leddy," answered he, smiling knowingly; "but,
+though the spirit was borrowed, I'm no the less entitled to my reward."
+
+"A good stickler for the rights of your sex," answered she, keeping up
+the humour; "but what guerdon demandest thou?"
+
+"That whilk knights hae sued in vain for at your fair feet," answered
+the man, smiling, as he uttered nearly the words she had used at the
+battle.
+
+"Caught in my own snare," replied she, laughing loudly.
+
+"Ah, Kate, Kate!" said the baron, joining in the humour, "hoo mony
+gallant barons, and knights, and gentlemen hae ye tormented by thae fair
+lips o' yours, which carry in their cunnin' words a defence o' themsels
+sae weel contrived that nane daur approach them! Ye're caught at last.
+Stand to yer richts, man. A kiss was promised ye, and by the honour o'
+Innerkepple, a kiss ye'll hae, if I should haud her head by a grip o'
+her bonny auburn locks."
+
+"Hold! hold!" cried Katherine; "this matter dependeth on the answer to a
+question. Art thou married, sirrah?"
+
+The man hesitated, fearful of being caught by his clever adversary.
+
+"Have a care o' yoursel, Gregory," said Innerkepple, "ye're on dangerous
+ground."
+
+"What if I am or am not?" said the man, cautiously, turning up his eye
+into the face of the wicked querist.
+
+"If thou art not," said she, "then would a kiss of so fair a damsel be
+to thee beyond the value of a croft of the best land o' the barony o'
+Innerkepple; but if thou art, then would the guerdon be as nothing to
+the kiss of thy wife, and as the weight of a feather in the scale
+against an oxengate of good land."
+
+"I'm no married," replied the man; "but, an't please yer leddyship, I'll
+take the oxengate."
+
+"Audacious varlet!" cried Kate, rejoicing in the adroitness she
+exhibited; "wouldst thou prefer a piece of earth to a kiss of Kate
+Kennedy--a boon which the gayest knights of the Borders have sued for in
+vain! But 'tis well--thou hast refused the guerdon. Ha! ha! Men of
+Innerkepple, ye are witnesses to the fact. This man hath spurned my
+guerdon, and sought dull earth for my rosy lips."
+
+"We are witnesses," cried the retainers; and the court-yard rang with the
+laugh which the cleverness of their fair mistress had elicited from
+those who envied Gregory of his privilege.
+
+"Kate, Kate!" said the old baron, joining in the laugh, "will ever
+mortal be able to seize what are sae weel guarded? I believe ye will be
+able to argue yer husband oot o' his richts o' proving whether thae
+little traitors be made of mortal flesh or ripe cherries. But wine is
+better than women's lips; and since Kate has sae cleverly got quit o'
+her obligation, I'll mak amends by gieing ye a _surrogatum_."
+
+Several measures of good old wine were served out to the men by the
+hands of Katherine, who rejoiced in the contradiction of refusing one
+thing to give a better. Her health, and that of Innerkepple, were drunk
+with loud shouts of approbation; and the wassail was kept up till a late
+hour of the night.
+
+Meanwhile, Otterstone was struggling with his disappointment, and
+nourishing a deep spirit of revenge. The shame of his defeat,
+accomplished by a girl, was insufferable; and the gnawing pain of the
+loss of honour and men, in a cause where he had calculated securely on
+crushing his supposed enemy, affected him so severely, that he sent, it
+was reported, for his son, who had lived from his infancy at St. Omers,
+to come over to administer to him consolation. When Innerkepple heard of
+these things, he marvelled greatly at the stubbornness of his neighbour,
+whom he wished, above all things, to drag, _nolente volente_, into a
+deep wassail in the old wainscotted hall of his castle, whereby he
+might drown, with reason itself, all their hereditary grudges, and
+transform a foe into a friend. These feelings were also participated in
+by the warlike Kate, who acknowledged that she did not, on that
+memorable day, fight for anything on earth that she knew of, but the
+safety of her father, and the sheer glory of victory. She entertained
+the best possible feelings towards Otterstone, though she admitted, with
+a laugh, that if his men had not that day run for their lives, she would
+have fought till they and their lord lay all dead upon the field, and
+the glory of Otterstone was extinguished for ever.
+
+A considerable period that passed in quietness, seemed to indicate that
+the anger of the vanquished baron had escaped by the valves appointed by
+nature for freeing the liver of its redundant bile. Meanwhile,
+Innerkepple's universal love of mankind increased, as his friendship for
+the juice of the grape grew stronger and stronger, and his potations
+waxed deeper and deeper; so that he was represented, all over the
+Borders, as being the most jovial baron of his time. The fame of Kate
+also went abroad like fire-flaughts; but no one knew what to make of
+her--whether to set her down as a beautiful virago, or as a merry imp of
+sportive devilry, who fought her father's enemy with the same good-will
+she felt towards the lovers whom she delighted with her beauty and
+gaiety, and tormented by her cruel waggeries and wiles.
+
+This apparent quietness, and the consequent freedom from all danger,
+induced the old baron to comply with a request made to him by King
+James, to lend him forty of his followers, to aid in suppressing some
+disturbances caused by a number of outlawed reivers at that time
+ravaging the Borders. Katherine gave her consent to the measure; but she
+wisely exacted the condition that the men should not be removed to a
+greater distance from the castle than ten miles. When James' emissary
+asked her why she adjected this condition to her father's agreement, she
+answered, with that waggish mystery in which she often loved to indulge,
+that she had such a universal love for his--the emissary's--sex, that
+she could not suffer the idea of her gallant men being further removed
+from her than the distance on which she had condescended. A question for
+explanation only produced another wicked _quodlibet_; so that the royal
+messenger was obliged to be contented with a reason that sounded in his
+ears very like a contempt of royal authority--a circumstance for which
+she cared no more than she did for the mute expression of admiration of
+her beauty, that her quick eye detected on the face of the deputy.
+
+The men having been detached from the castle for the service of the
+king, there remained only a small number, not more than sufficient for
+occupying the more important stations on the walls of the strength.
+There was, however, no cause for alarm; and old Innerkepple continued to
+speculate over his spiced Tokay, on his three grand subjects of
+antiquarian research; while Katherine followed her various occupations
+of listening to and laughing at his reveries, sewing battle scenes on
+satin, and killing her knights with her needle, in as many grotesque
+ways as her inventive fancy could devise. One day the sound of a horn
+cut right through the middle a long pull of Canary in the act of being
+perfected by the old baron's powers of swallow; and, in a short time,
+the warder came in and said that a wine merchant, with sumpter mules and
+panniers, was at the end of the drawbridge, and had expressed a strong
+desire to submit his commodity to the test of such a famous judge of the
+spirit of the grape as the baron of Innerkepple, whose name had gone
+forth as transcending that of all modern wine-drinkers.
+
+"A wine merchant!" ejaculated Innerkepple, smacking his lips after his
+interrupted draught of vintage '90. "What species o' sma' potation does
+he deal in? Ha! ha! It suits my humour to see the quack's een reel, as
+he finds his tongue and palate glued thegither wi' what I ca' wine, and
+gets them loosed again by his ain coloured water. Show him in, George."
+
+"Whar is my leddy, yer Honour?" said the seneschal, looking bluntly.
+"Will she consent to the drawbridge bein' raised at a time when the
+castle's nearly empty?"
+
+"She has just gane into the green parlour in the west tower," said the
+baron. "But I'll tak Kate in my ain hands. She likes fun as weel as her
+auld father, and will laugh to see this quack beaten wi' his ain bowls."
+
+The seneschal withdrew, though reluctantly, and casting his eyes about
+for the indispensable Katherine; but she was not within his reach, and
+he felt himself compelled, by the impatience of the old baron, to admit
+the merchant. The creaking hinges of the bridge resounded through the
+castle and the merchant and his mules were seen by Katherine, looking
+through a loophole, slowly making their way into the castle. It was too
+late for her now to consider of the propriety of the permission to
+enter; so she leant her chin on her hand, and quietly scanned the
+stranger, as he crossed the bridge, driving his mules before him with a
+large stick, which he brought down with a loud thwack on their
+backs--accompanying his act with a loud "Whoop, ho!" and occasionally
+throwing his eyes over the walls as he proceeded.
+
+"Whom have we here?" said she, as she communed with herself, and nodded
+her head, still apparent through the loophole. "By'r Lady! neither
+Gascon nor Fleming, or my eyes are no better than my father's, when he
+looks at _antiques_ through the red medium of his vintage of '90.
+Perchance, a lover come to run away with Kate Kennedy. Hey! the thought
+tickles my wild wits, and sends me on the wings of fancy into the
+regions of romance. Yet I have not read that the catching and carrying
+off of _Tartars_ hath anything to do with the themes of romantic
+love-errantry. I'm witty at the expense of this poor packman; but,
+seriously, Katherine Kennedy must carry off her lover. True to the
+difference that opposes me to the rest of my sex, I could not love a man
+whom I did not vanquish and abduct, as a riever does the chattels of the
+farmer."
+
+Continuing her gaze, as she laughed at her own strange thoughts, she saw
+the merchant bind his mules to a ring fixed in the inside of the wall,
+and take out of his panniers a vessel, with which he proceeded in the
+direction of the door that led to the hall. When the merchant had
+disappeared, she saw one of the retainers of the castle examining
+intently the mules and their panniers. He looked up and caught her eye;
+and placing his finger on his forehead, made a sign for her to come
+down. She obeyed with her usual alacrity, and in a moment was at the
+side of the retainer, who, slipping gently under the shade of the
+castle, so as to be out of the view of those within the hall,
+communicated to the ear of Katherine some intelligence of an important
+nature. The man looked grave; Kate snapped her fingers; the fire of her
+eyes glanced from the balls like the sparks of struck flint, and the
+expression of her countenance indicated that she had formed a purpose
+which she gloried in executing.
+
+"Hark ye, Gregory," said she; "I am still your debtor, but I require
+again your services." And, looking carefully around her, she whispered
+some words into the ear of the man; and, upon receiving his nod of
+intelligence and assent, sprung up the steps that led to the hall.
+
+The wine merchant was, as she entered, sitting at the oaken table,
+opposite to the old baron, who was holding up in his hand a species of
+glass jug, and looking through it with that peculiar expression which is
+only to be found in the face of a luxurious wine-toper in the act of
+passing sentence.
+
+"Wha, in God's name, are ye, man?" cried the baron, under the cover of
+whose speech Kate slipped cleverly up to the window, and sat down, with
+her cheek resting on her hand, in apparent listlessness, but eyeing
+intently the stranger. "I could have wad the picture o' my ancestor,
+Watt o' Flodden, or King Henry's turret, in the east wing o'
+Innerkepple, wi' its twenty wounds, mair precious than goold, that there
+wasna a cup o' vintage '90 in Scotland except what I had mysel. Whar got
+ye't, man? Are ye the Devil? Hae ye brocht it frae my ain cellars?
+Speak, Satan!"
+
+"Vy, _mon cher_ Innerkepple," replied the merchant, "did I not know that
+you were one grand biberon--I mean drinker of vin? It is known all over
+the marches--I mean the Bordures. Aha! no one Frenchman could cheat the
+famous Innerkepple; so I brought the best that was in all my celliers.
+Is it not grand and magnifique?"
+
+"Grand an' magnifique, man!" replied Innerkepple, as he sipped the wine
+with the gravity of a judge. "It's mair than a' that, man, if my tongue
+could coin a word to express its ain sense o' what it is at this moment
+enjoying. But the organ's stupified wi' sheer delight, and forgets its
+very mither's tongue; an' nae wonder, for my very een, that didna taste
+it, reel and get drunk wi' the sight." And the delighted baron took
+another pull of the goblet.
+
+"Aha! Innerkepple, you are von of the grandest biberons I have ever seen
+in all this contrée," said the merchant. "It is one great pleasir to
+trafique vit von so learned in the science of _bon gout_. That grand
+smack of your lips would tempt me to ruin myself, and drink mine own
+commodity."
+
+"Hae ye a stock o' the treasure?" said the baron; "I canna suppose it."
+
+"Just five barrils in my celliers at Berwick," answered the merchant,
+"containing quatre hundred pints de Paris in each one of them."
+
+"I could walk on my bare feet to Berwick to see it and taste it," said
+the baron; "but what clatter o' a horse's feet is that in the court,
+Kate?"
+
+"Ha! sure it is my mules," said the Frenchman, starting to his feet in
+alarm.
+
+"Oh! keep your seat, Monsieur Merchant," cried Kate, laughing and
+looking out of the window. "Can a lady not despatch her servitor to
+Selkirk for a pair of sandals, that should this day have been on my feet
+in place of in Gilbert Skinner's hands, without raising folks from their
+wine?"
+
+The Frenchman was satisfied, and retook his seat; but the baron looked
+at Kate, as if at a loss to know what freak had now come into her
+inventive head. The letting down of the drawbridge, and the sound of the
+horse's feet passing along the sounding wood, verified her statement,
+but carried no conviction to the mind of Innerkepple. He had long
+ceased, however, the vain effort to understand the workings of his
+daughter's mind, and on the present occasion he was occupied about too
+important a subject to be interested in the vagaries of a madcap wench.
+
+"By the Virgin!" she said again, "my jennet will lose her own sandals in
+going for mine, if Gregory thus strikes the rowels into her sides."
+
+Covering, by these words, the rapid departure of the messenger, she
+turned her eyes to continue the study of the merchant, whom she watched
+with feline assiduity. The conversation was again resumed.
+
+"Five barrels, said ye, Monsieur?" resumed Innerkepple. "Let me
+see--that, wi' what I hae mysel, may see me out; but it will be a guid
+heir-loom to Kate's husband. What is the price?"
+
+"One merk the gallon of four pints de Paris," answered the merchant.
+
+("Yet I see no marks of Otterstone about him," muttered Kate to herself.
+"How beautiful he is, maugre his disguise! Had he come on a message of
+love, in place of war, I would have taken him prisoner, and bound him
+with the rays of light that come from my languishing eyes.")
+
+"That's dear, man," said Innerkepple. "But ye're a cunning rogue; if I
+keep drinking at this rate, the price will sink as the flavour rises,
+and ye'll catch me, as men do gudgeons, by the tongue."
+
+"Aha! _mon cher_ Innerkepple," said the merchant, "you have von
+excellent humour of fun about ye. If I vere not _un pauvre merchand_, I
+would have one grand plaisir in getting _mouillé_--I mean drunk--vit
+you."
+
+("Ha! my treacherous Adonis, art on that tack, with a foul wind in thy
+fair face?" was Kate's mental ejaculation. "If thou nearest thy haven, I
+am a worse pilot than Palinurus.")
+
+"Wi' wine like that before ane," responded the baron, "the topers
+alongside o' ye may be Frenchmen or Dutchmen, warriors or warlocks,
+wraiths or wassailers, merchants or mahouns--a's alike. It will put a
+soul into a ghaist, a yearning heart into a gowl, and a spirit o'
+nobility in the breast o' ane wha never quartered arms but wi' the fair
+anes o' flesh an' bluid that belang to his wife. I'll be oblivious o' a'
+warldly things before Kate's sandals come frae Selkirk; but yer price,
+man, I fear, will stick to me to the end."
+
+"I cannot make one deduction," said the merchant, "but I vill give to
+the men in the base-court one jolly debauch of very good vin, vich is in
+my hampers."
+
+("The kaim of chanticleer is in the wind's eye," muttered Katherine.
+"Thou pointest nobly for the direction of treachery; but my sandals
+will be back from Selkirk long before I am obliged to march with thee to
+the prison of Otterstone.")
+
+"Weel, mak it a merk," said Innerkepple, "for five pints, an' a bouse to
+my retainers, wha are as muckle beloved by me as if they were my bairns;
+an' I will close wi' ye."
+
+"Vell, that is one covenant _inter nous_," said the merchant; "but I
+cannot return to Berwick until _demain_--I mean the morrow; and we vill
+have the long night for one jolly carousal. I vill go _sans delai_, and
+give the poor fellows, in the meantime, one leetle tasting of the grand
+cheer."
+
+("Then I am too long here," muttered Kate. "Alexander told his men that
+the Persian stream was poisonous, to prevent them from stopping to
+drink, whereby they would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. One
+not less than he--ha! ha!--will save her men, by telling them there is
+treachery in the cup.")
+
+She descended instantly to the base-court, and, passing from one guard
+to another, she whispered in their ears certain instructions, which, by
+the nodding of their heads, they seemed to understand, while those she
+had not time to visit received from their neighbours the communication
+at second-hand, and thus, in a short space of time, she prepared the
+whole retainers for the part they were destined to play. She had
+scarcely finished this part of her operations, and got out of the court,
+when the wine merchant made his appearance on the steps leading to the
+hall. He nodded pleasantly to the men, and, proceeding to his mules,
+took out of one of the panniers a large vessel filled with wine. This he
+laid on the flagstones of the base-court, and alongside of it he placed
+a large cup. He then called out to the retainers to approach, and seemed
+pleased with the readiness with which they complied with his request.
+
+"Mine very good fellows," said he, "I have sold your master,
+Innerkepple, one grand quantity of vine; and he says I am under one
+obligation to treat you vit a hamper, for the sake of the grand
+affection he bears to you. You may drink as much as ever you vill
+please; and ven this is brought to one termination, I will supply you
+vit more."
+
+"We're a' under a suitable obligation to ye, sir," replied the oldest of
+the retainers, a sly, pawky Scotchman--"and winna fail to do credit to
+the present ye've sae nobly presented to us; but do ye no hear
+Innerkepple callin' for ye frae the ha'? Awa, sir, to the guid baron,
+and leave us to our carouse."
+
+"Ay," said another; "we'll inform ye when this is finished."
+
+"Finished!" said a third; "we'll be a' on oor backs before we see the
+end o't."
+
+"Aha! excellent jolly troup!" cried the merchant, delighted with this
+company.
+
+The voice of Katherine, who appeared on the steps leading to the hall,
+now arrested their attention.
+
+"My father is impatient for thee, good merchant," said she.
+
+"_Ma chere_ leddy," replied he, "I will be there _a present_." And,
+looking up to see that she had again disappeared--"Drink, my jolly
+mates," he continued. "It is the grand matiere, the _bon_ stuff, the
+excellent good liqueur. Aha! you will be so merry, and you know you have
+the consent of Innerkepple."
+
+"We'll be a' as drunk as bats," said he who spoke first, with a sly
+leer.
+
+"The Deil tak him wha has the beddin' o' us!" said another.
+
+"So say I," added half-a-dozen of voices.
+
+"Then I am the Deil's property," said the warder, "unless I am saved by
+the power o' the wine; and, by my faith, I'll no spare't."
+
+"Aha! very good! excellent joke!" cried the delighted merchant. "Drink,
+and shame the Diable, as we say in France. Wine comes from the gods, and
+is the grand poison of Beelzebub."
+
+And, after enjoying deep potations, the merchant returned to the hall,
+amidst the laughter and pretended applause of the men. The moment he had
+disappeared, Katherine got carried to the spot a measure filled with
+wine and water; and, having emptied in another vessel the contents of
+the merchant's hamper, the thin and innocuous potation was poured in to
+supply its place. The men assisted in the operation; and, all being
+finished, they began to carouse with great glee and jollity.
+
+"I said, my leddy, to the merchant, that we would be a' as drunk as
+bats," said one of the humorists; "and sure this is a fair beginning;
+for wha could stand drink o' this fearfu' strength?"
+
+"The Deil tak him wha has the beddin' o' us!" said the other, laughing,
+as he drank off a glass of the thin mixture.
+
+"Then I am the Deil's property," said the warder, "unless I am saved by
+the power o' this strong drink."
+
+And thus the men, encouraged by the smiles of Kate, who was, with great
+activity, conducting the ceremonies, seemed to be getting boisterous on
+the strength of the merchant's wine. Their jokes raised real laughter;
+and the noise of their mirth went up and entered into the hall, falling
+like incense on the heart of the merchant. Katherine, meanwhile, again
+betook herself to her station at the hall window, using assiduously both
+her eyes and ears; the former being directed to a dark fir plantation
+that stood to the left of the castle, and the latter occupied by the
+conversations of her father and the merchant.
+
+"My men," said Innerkepple, "seem to be following the example o' their
+master. They are gettin' noisy. I hope, Monsieur, ye were moderate in
+yer present. A castle-fu' o' drunk men is as bad as a headfu' o'
+intoxicated notions."
+
+("Hurrah for the French merchant! Long life to him! May he continue as
+strong as his liquor!")
+
+"Aha! the jolly good fellows are feeling the sting of the spirit," said
+the merchant, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"Ungratefu' dogs!" rejoined Innerkepple; "I treat them as if they were
+my sons, and hear hoo they praise a stranger for a bellyfu' o' wine! My
+beer never produced sae muckle froth o' flattery. But this wine o'
+yours, Monsieur, drowns a' my indignation."
+
+("Long life to Innerkepple and the fair Katherine!")
+
+"Now you are getting the grand adulation," said the Frenchman. "Ha! they
+are a jovial troup of good chaps, and deserve one grand potation; but I
+gave them only one leetle hamper, for fear they should get _mouillé_."
+
+"Very considerate, Monsieur, very prudent and kind," said the baron;
+"for twa-thirds o' my men are fechtin fer Jamie, and we hae a kittle
+neebor in Otterstone, whase son I hear has come hame frae St. Omers.
+By-the-by, saw ye the callant in France? They say he's sair ashamed o'
+the defeat o' his father by the generalship o' my dochter Kate."
+
+"Ha! did _ma chere_ leddy combattre Otterstone?" ejaculated the
+Frenchman, laughing. "Very good! ha! ha! ha! I did not know that, ven I
+sold him one quantity of vin yesterday; but I assure you, _mon cher_
+Innerkepple, he is not at all your enemy, and his son did praise _ma
+chere_ leddy as the most magnificent vench in all the contrée."
+
+("Excellently sustained," muttered Katherine to herself. "How I do love
+the roll of that dark eye, and the curl of that lip covered with the
+black moustache! Can so much beauty conceal a deadly purpose? But the
+'magnificent vench' shall earn yet a better title to the soubriquet out
+of thy discomfiture, fair, deceitful, sweet devil.")
+
+"I only wish I had Otterstone whar you are, man," said Innerkepple, "wi'
+the liquor as sweet an' my bile nae bitterer. I would conquer him in
+better style than did my dochter, though, I confess, she man[oe]uvred
+him beautifully."
+
+("Perdition to the faes o' Innerkepple! and, chief o' them, the fause
+Otterstone, the leddy-licked loon!")
+
+"Helas! The master and the men have the very different creeds," said the
+Frenchman, shrugging his shoulders; "but my vin is making the _bon_
+companions choleric. Ha! ha!"
+
+("It is--it is!" muttered Katherine, as she strained her eyes to catch
+the signal of a white handkerchief, that floated on the top of one of
+the trees in the fir-wood.)
+
+She now abruptly left the hall, and proceeded to the place in the court
+occupied by those who were wassailing on the coloured water she had
+brewed for them with her fair hands. They were busily occupied by the
+manifestations of their mirth, which was not altogether simulated. A
+cessation of the noise evinced the effect of her presence among those
+who deified her.
+
+"Up with the merry strain, my jolly revellers!" said she, smiling, and
+immediately "Bertram the Archer," in loud notes, rung in the ballium:--
+
+    "And Bertram held aloft the horn,
+      Filled wi' the bluid-red wyne,
+    And three times has he loudly sworn
+      His luve he winna tyne.
+
+    "My Anne sits on yon eastern tower,
+      An' greets baith day and night,
+    An' sorrows for her luver lost,
+      An' right turned into might.
+
+    "'Then hie ye all, my merry men,
+      To yonder lordly ha'!
+    An if they winna ope the gate,
+      We'll scale the burly wa'.
+
+    "'Hurra!' then shouted Bertram's men,
+      And loudly they hae sworn,
+    That they will right their gallant knigh
+      Before the opening morn."[2]
+
+[2] Pinkerton gives only one verse of "Bertram the Archer," but
+Innerkepple's men did not require to be antiquaries.
+
+Under the cover of the noise of the song, which was sung with
+bacchanalian glee, Katherine communicated her farther instructions to
+the man who had assumed the principal direction; and, retreating
+quickly, lest the wine merchant should come out and surprise her, she
+left the revellers to continue their work. She was soon again at her
+post at the window. The boon companions within the hall were still busy
+with their conversation and their wine; and by this time the shades of
+evening had begun to darken the view from the castle, and envelop the
+towers in gloom; the rooks had retired to rest, the owls had taken up
+the screech note which pains the sensitive ear of night, and the bats
+were beginning to flap their leathern wings on the rough sides of the
+old walls.
+
+The sounds of the revellers in the court-yard began gradually to die
+away, and the strains of "Bertram the Archer" were limited to a weak
+repetition of the last lines, somewhat curtailed of their legitimate
+syllables:--
+
+    "And we will right our gallant knight
+      Before the opening morn."
+
+These indications of the effect of the wine increased, till, by-and-by,
+all seemed to be muffled up in silence. The circumstance seemed to be
+noticed at once by the wine merchant; but he took no notice of it to
+Innerkepple whom he still continued to ply with the rich vintage. Kate's
+senses were all on the alert, and she watched every scene of the acting
+drama, set agoing by her own master mind. A noise was now heard at the
+door of the hall, as if some one wished to get in, but could not effect
+an opening.
+
+"Who's there?" cried Kate, as she proceeded to open the door.
+
+"It's me, your Leddyship's Honour," answered George, the seneschal, as
+he staggered, apparently in the last stage of drunkenness, into the
+hall.
+
+"What means this?" cried Innerkepple, rising up, and not very well able
+to stand himself. "The warder o' my castle in that condition, an' a' our
+lives dependin' on his prudence!"
+
+"Your Honour's maist forgiving pardon," said the warder. "I am come
+here, maist lordly Innerkepple"--hiccup--"to inform your Highness that
+a' the men o' the castle are lying in the base-court like swine. I am
+the only sober man in the hale menyie"--hic--hic. "But whar's the ferly?
+The strength o' the Frenchman's wine would have floored the strongest
+hensure o' the Borders"--hiccup--"an' I would hae been like the rest, if
+I hadna been the keeper o' the keys o' Innerkepple."
+
+("As well as Roscius, George," muttered Kate, as she, with a smile,
+contemplated the actor.)
+
+"George, George, man," said the baron, "ye're just as bad as the rest.
+You've been ower guid to them, Monsieur; but this _mooliness_, as ye ca'
+it, has a' its dangers in thae times, when castles are surprised an'
+taen like sleepin' mawkins in bushes o' broom. Awa to yer bed ahint the
+gratin', man, an' sleep aff the wine, as fast as it is possible for a
+drunk man to do."
+
+George bowed, and staggered out of the hall, to betake himself to his
+couch.
+
+"Aha! this is one sad misadventure," said the merchant. "I did not know
+there vas half so much strength in this vin. Let us see the jolly
+topers, mon noble Innerkepple. It is one grand vision to a vendeur of
+good vin to see the biberons lying on the ground, all _mouillé_. Helas!
+I was very wrong; but mon noble baron will forgive the grand fault of
+liberality."
+
+The merchant rose, and, giving his arm to Innerkepple, who had some
+difficulty in steadying himself, proceeded towards the court, where they
+saw verified the report of the warder. The men were lying about the
+yard, apparently in a state of perfect insensibility. The wine measure
+was empty and overturned; several drinking horns lay scattered around;
+and everything betokened a deep debauch.
+
+"This maun hae been potent liquor," said the baron, taking up one of the
+cups, in which a few drops remained, and drinking it. "Ha! man, puir
+gear after a'. A man micht drink three gallons o't, and dance to the
+tune o' Gilquhisker after he has finished. What's the meaning o' this?"
+
+"Aha! your tongue is _mouillé_, mon noble Innerkepple," said the
+merchant.
+
+"It may be sae," replied the baron; "but it wasna made mooly, as ye
+denominate it, by drink like that. I canna understand it, Monsieur."
+
+As he stood musing on the strange circumstance, he caught, by the light
+of a torch, the eye of Kate at the window, and felt his bewilderment
+increased by a leer in that dark bewitching orb, whose language appeared
+to him often--and never more so than at present--like Greek. His
+attention was next claimed by the merchant, who proposed that the men
+should be allowed to sleep out their inebriety where they lay. This
+proposition was reasonable; and it would, besides, operate as a proper
+punishment for their exceeding the limits of that prudence which their
+duty to their master required them to observe. The baron agreed to it,
+and, seeking again the support of the Frenchman's arm, he returned to
+the hall.
+
+The night was now fast closing in. An old female domestic had placed
+lamps in the hall, and some supper was served up to the baron and the
+merchant. Kate retired, as she said, to her couch; but it may be
+surmised that an antechamber received her fair person, where she had
+something else to do than to sleep. The loud snoring of the men in the
+court-yard was heard distinctly, mixing with the screams of the owls
+that perched on the turrets. The two biberons sat down to partake of the
+supper, and prepare their stomachs, as Innerkepple said, for another
+bouse of the grand liquor. The conduct of the two carousers now assumed
+aspects very different from each other. The baron was gradually getting
+more easy and comfortable, while the merchant displayed an extreme
+restlessness and anxiety. The praises of his wine fell dead upon his
+ear, and the jokes of the good Innerkepple seemed to have become vapid
+and tiresome to him.
+
+"That's a grand chorus in the court-yard, Monsieur," said the baron.
+"Singing, snoring, groaning, are the three successive acts o' the
+wassailers. They would have been better engaged eating their supper.
+Yah! I'm gettin' sleepy, Monsieur."
+
+"Helas! helas!" ejaculated the merchant. "You prick my memory, mon noble
+Innerkepple. My poor mules! They have got no souper. Ah! cruel master
+that I am to forget the _pauvre_ animals that have got no language to
+tell their wants."
+
+("So, so--the time approaches," ejaculated Kate, mentally, as she
+watched behind the door.)
+
+"Pardon me, _mon cher_ baron," he continued, "I vill go and give them
+one leetle feed, and return to you _a present_. I have got beans in my
+hampers."
+
+"Humanity needs nae pardon, man," replied the baron, nodding with sleep.
+"Awa and feed the puir creatures; but tak care an' no tramp on an' kill
+ony o' my brave men in yer effort to save the lives o' yer mules."
+
+"Never fear," said the other, taking from his pocket a small lantern,
+which he lighted. "Travellers stand in grand need of this machine," he
+continued. "I will return on the instant."
+
+He now left the baron to his sleep, and crept stealthily along the
+passage to the door leading to the court. He was followed, unseen, by
+Katherine, who watched every motion. He felt some difficulty in avoiding
+the men, who still lay on the ground; but with careful steps he reached
+the wall, and suddenly sprung on the parapet.
+
+"Prepare!" whispered Katherine into the ears of the prostrate retainers;
+"the time approaches."
+
+While thus engaged, she kept her eye upon the dark shadow of the
+merchant, and saw with surprise a blue light flash up from the top of
+the wall, and throw its ominous glare on the surrounding objects. A
+scream of the birds on the castle walls announced their wonder at the
+strange vision, and Katherine concluded that the merchant had thus
+produced his signal from some phosphorescent mixture, which he had
+ignited by the aid of the lantern. The light was followed instantly by a
+shrill blast of a horn. With a bound he reached the floor of the court,
+and, hastening to the warder's post, threw off the guard of the wheel,
+and, with all the art and rapidity of a seneschal, prepared for letting
+down the bridge. All was still as death; there seemed to be no
+interruption to his proceedings; but he started as he saw the rays of a
+lamp thrown from a loophole over his head, upon that part of the moat
+which the bridge covered. He had gone too far to recede, the creaking of
+the hinges grated, and down came the bridge with a hollow sound. A rush
+was now heard as of a body of men pressing forward to take possession
+of the passage; and tramp, tramp came the sounds of the marching
+invaders over the hollow-sounding wood. All was still silent within the
+castle, and the sound of the procession continued. In an instant, a
+dense, dark body issued from the fir-wood, and rushed with heavy
+impetuous force on the rear of the corps that were passing into the
+castle; and, simultaneously with that movement, the whole body of the
+men within the castle pressed forward to the end of the bridge, and met
+the front of the intruders, who were thus hedged in by two forces that
+had taken them by surprise, in both front and rear.
+
+"Caught in our own snare!" cried the voice of old Otterstone.
+
+"Disarm them," sounded shrilly from the lips of Katherine Kennedy.
+
+And a scuffle of wrestling men sent its fearful, deathlike sound through
+the dark ballium. The strife was short and comparatively silent. The men
+who had rushed from the wood, and who were no other than the absent
+retainers of Innerkepple, coming from behind, and those within the
+strength meeting them in front, produced such an alarm in the enclosed
+troops, that the arms were taken from their hands as if they had been
+struck with palsy. Every two men seized their prisoner, while some
+holding burning torches came running forward, to show the revengeful
+baron the full extent of his shame. Ranged along the court, the
+spectacle presented by the prisoners was striking and grotesque. Their
+eyes sought in surprise the form of a female, who, with a sword in one
+hand and a torch in the other, stood in front of them, as the genius of
+their misfortune.
+
+The hall door was now opened, where the old baron still sat sound asleep
+in his chair, unconscious of all these proceedings. The prisoners were
+led into the spacious apartment, and ranged along the sides in long
+ranks. Innerkepple rubbed his eyes, stared, rubbed them again, and
+seemed lost in perfect bewilderment. All was conducted in dumb show. The
+proud and revengeful Otterstone was placed alongside of the good baron,
+his enemy; and Kate smiled as she contemplated the strange looks which
+the two rivals threw upon each other.
+
+"Right happy am I," said Katherine, coming forward in the midst of the
+assembly, "to meet my good friends, the noble Otterstone and his men, in
+my father's hall, under the auspices of a healing friendship. Father, I
+offer thee the hand of Otterstone. Otterstone, I offer thee the hand of
+Innerkepple. Ye have long been separated by strife and war, though, on
+the one side, there was always a good feeling of generous kindliness,
+opposed to a bitterness that had no cause, and a revenge that knew no
+excuse. Born nobles and neighbours, educated civilized men, and baptized
+Christians, why should ye be foes? but, above all, why should the one
+strike with the sword of war the hand that has held out to him the
+wine-cup? My father has ever been thy friend, noble Otterstone, and thou
+hast ever been his foe. How is this? Ah! I know it. Thou wert ignorant,
+noble guest, of my good father's generous and friendly feelings, and I
+have taken this opportunity of introducing you to each other, that ye
+may mutually come to the knowledge of each other's better qualities and
+intentions."
+
+"What, in the name o' heaven, means a' this, Kate?" ejaculated
+Innerkepple, in still unsubdued amazement. "Am I dreamin', or am I
+betrayed? Whar is the wine merchant? Hoo cam ye here, Otterstone? Am I a
+prisoner in my ain castle, and my ain men and dochter laughing at my
+misfortune? But ye spoke o' friendship, Kate. Is it possible,
+Otterstone, ye hae repented o' yer ill will, and come to mak amends for
+past grievances?"
+
+"Thou hast heard him, Otterstone," said Kate. "Wilt thou still refuse
+the hand?"
+
+The chief hesitated; but the good-humoured looks of Innerkepple melted
+him, and he held out the right hand of good-fellowship to the old baron,
+who seized it cordially, and shook it heartily.
+
+"Now," said Kate, "we must seal this friendship with a cup of wine.
+Bring in the wine merchant."
+
+The Frenchman was produced by the warder, along with the remaining
+hampers of the wine that had been left in the court-yard. As may have
+been already surmised, he was no other than the son of old Otterstone.
+Surprised and confounded by all these proceedings, he stood in the midst
+of the company, looking first at his father, and then at Innerkepple,
+without forgetting Kate, who stood like a majestic queen, enjoying the
+triumph of her spirit and ingenuity. Above all things, he wondered at
+the smile of good humour in the face of his father; and his surprise
+knew no bounds when he saw every one around as well pleased as if they
+had been convened for the ends of friendship.
+
+"Hector," said old Otterstone, looking at his son, "the game is up. This
+maiden has outwitted us, and we are caught in our own snare. Off with
+thy disguise, and show this noble damsel that thou art worthy of her
+best smiles."
+
+Hector obeyed, and took off his wig, and the clumsy habiliments that
+covered his armour, and stood in the midst of the assembly, a young man
+of exquisite beauty.
+
+"The wine merchant, Hector Fotheringham!" cried Innerkepple. "Ah, Kate,
+Kate! is this the way ye bring yer lovers to Innerkepple ha'?--in the
+shape o' a wine merchant--the only form o' the Deevil I wad like to see
+on this earth? Ha! ye baggage, weel do ye ken hoo to get at the heart o'
+your faither. But whar was the use o' secresy, woman? And you, Hector,
+man, I needed nae bribe o' Tokay to be friendly to the lover o' my
+dochter. A fine youth--a fine youth. Surely, surely, this man was made
+for my dochter Kate."
+
+"And thy daughter Kate was made for him," cried Otterstone.
+
+The retainers of both houses shouted applause, and the hall rang with
+the noise. The wine, which was intended for deception and treachery, was
+circulated freely, and opened the hearts of the company. Innerkepple was
+ready again for his Tokay, and, lifting a large goblet to his head--
+
+"To the union o' the twa hooses!" cried he. "And I wish I had twenty
+dochters, and Otterstone as mony sons, that they micht a' be married
+thegither; but, on this condition, that the bridegrooms should a' come
+in the shape o' wine merchants."
+
+"Hurra, hurra!" shouted the retainers. The night was spent in good
+humour and revelry. All was restored; and, in a short time, the two
+houses were united by the marriage of Hector Fotheringham and Katherine
+Kennedy.
+
+
+
+
+RECOLLECTIONS OF FERGUSON.[3]
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+    "Of Ferguson, the bauld and slee."--BURNS.
+
+[3] The perusal of this paper, written at an early period by the
+lamented Hugh Miller, cannot fail to suggest some reflections on the
+fate of the author himself and that of the poet he describes. It would
+be simply fanciful to draw from his choice of subject, and the sympathy
+he manifests for the victim of insanity, any conclusion of a felt
+affinity of mental type on his part. We would presently get into the
+obscure subject of presentiments. It is true that Hugh Miller wrote
+poetry, and was thus subject to the Nemesis; but we insist for no more
+than a case of coincidence, leaving to psychologists to settle the
+question of the alleged connection between certain poetical types of
+mind and eventual madness--cases of which are so plentifully recorded in
+Germany.--_Ed._
+
+
+I have, I believe, as little of the egotist in my composition as most
+men; nor would I deem the story of my life, though by no means unvaried
+by incident, of interest enough to repay the trouble of either writing
+or perusing it, were it the story of my own life only; but, though an
+obscure man myself, I have been singularly fortunate in my friends. The
+party-coloured tissue of my recollections is strangely interwoven, if I
+may so speak, with pieces of the domestic history of men whose names
+have become as familiar to our ears as that of our country itself; and I
+have been induced to struggle with the delicacy which renders one
+unwilling to speak much of one's self, and to overcome the dread of
+exertion natural to a period of life greatly advanced, through a desire
+of preserving to my countrymen a few notices, which would otherwise be
+lost to them, of two of their greatest favourites. I could once reckon
+among my dearest and most familiar friends, Robert Burns and Robert
+Ferguson.
+
+It is now rather more than sixty years since I studied for a few weeks
+at the University of St. Andrew's. I was the son of very poor parents,
+who resided in a seaport town on the western coast of Scotland. My
+father was a house-carpenter, a quiet, serious man, of industrious
+habits and great simplicity of character, but miserably depressed in his
+circumstances, through a sickly habit of body: my mother was a
+warm-hearted, excellent woman, endowed with no ordinary share of shrewd
+good sense and sound feeling, and indefatigable in her exertions for my
+father and the family. I was taught to read at a very early age, by an
+old woman in the neighbourhood--such a person as Shenstone describes in
+his "Schoolmistress;" and, being naturally of a reflective turn, I had
+begun, long ere I had attained my tenth year, to derive almost my sole
+amusement from books. I read incessantly; and after exhausting the
+shelves of all the neighbours, and reading every variety of work that
+fell in my way--from "The Pilgrim's Progress" of Bunyan, and the Gospel
+Sonnets of Erskine, to a treatise on fortification by Vauban, and the
+"History of the Heavens" by the Abbé Pluche--I would have pined away for
+lack of my accustomed exercise, had not a benevolent baronet in the
+neighbourhood, for whom my father occasionally wrought, taken a fancy to
+me, and thrown open to my perusal a large and well-selected library. Nor
+did his kindness terminate until, after having secured to me all of
+learning that the parish school afforded, he had settled me, now in my
+seventeenth year, at the University.
+
+Youth is the season of warm friendships and romantic wishes and hopes.
+We say of the child, in its first attempts to totter along the wall, or
+when it has first learned to rise beside its mother's knee, that it is
+yet too weak to stand alone; and we may employ the same language in
+describing a young and ardent mind. It is, like the child, too weak to
+stand alone, and anxiously seeks out some kindred mind on which to lean.
+I had had my intimates at school, who, though of no very superior cast,
+had served me, if I may so speak, as resting-places, when wearied with
+my studies, or when I had exhausted my lighter reading; and now, at St.
+Andrew's, where I knew no one, I began to experience the unhappiness of
+an unsatisfied sociality. My schoolfellows were mostly stiff, illiterate
+lads, who, with a little bad Latin and worse Greek, plumed themselves
+mightily on their scholarship; and I had little inducement to form any
+intimacies among them; for, of all men, the ignorant scholar is the
+least amusing. Among the students of the upper classes, however, there
+was at least one individual with whom I longed to be acquainted. He was
+apparently much about my own age, rather below than above the middle
+size, and rather delicately than robustly formed; but I have rarely seen
+a more elegant figure or more interesting face. His features were small,
+and there was what might perhaps be deemed a too feminine delicacy in
+the whole contour; but there was a broad and very high expansion of
+forehead, which, even in those days, when we were acquainted with only
+the phrenology taught by Plato, might be regarded as the index of a
+capacious and powerful mind; and the brilliant light of his large black
+eyes, seemed to give earnest of its activity.
+
+"Who, in the name of wonder, is that?" I inquired of a class-fellow, as
+this interesting-looking young man passed me for the first time.
+
+"A clever, but very unsettled fellow from Edinburgh," replied the lad;
+"a capital linguist, for he gained our first bursary three years ago;
+but our Professor says he is certain he will never do any good. He cares
+nothing for the company of scholars like himself; and employs
+himself--though he excels, I believe, in English composition--in writing
+vulgar Scotch rhymes, like Allan Ramsay. His name is Robert Ferguson."
+
+I felt, from this moment, a strong desire to rank among the friends of
+one who cared nothing for the company of such men as my class-fellow,
+and who, though acquainted with the literature of England and Rome,
+could dwell with interest on the simple poetry of his native country.
+
+There is no place in the neighbourhood of St. Andrew's where a leisure
+hour may be spent more agreeably than among the ruins of the Cathedral.
+I was not slow in discovering the eligibilities of the spot; and it soon
+became one of my favourite haunts. One evening, a few weeks after I had
+entered on my course at college, I had seated myself among the ruins in
+a little ivied nook fronting the setting sun, and was deeply engaged
+with the melancholy Jaques in the forest of Ardennes, when, on hearing a
+light footstep, I looked up, and saw the Edinburgh student whose
+appearance had so interested me, not four yards away. He was busied with
+his pencil and his tablets, and muttering, as he went, in a half audible
+voice, what, from the inflection of the tones, seemed to be verse. On
+seeing me, he started, and apologizing, in a few hurried but courteous
+words, for what he termed the involuntary intrusion, would have passed;
+but, on my rising and stepping up to him, he stood.
+
+"I am afraid, Mr. Ferguson," I said, "'tis I who owe _you_ an apology;
+the ruins have long been yours, and I am but an intruder. But you must
+pardon me; I have often heard of them in the west, where they are
+hallowed, even more than they are here, from their connection with the
+history of some of our noblest Reformers; and, besides, I see no place
+in the neighbourhood where Shakspeare can be read to more advantage."
+
+"Ah," said he, taking the volume out of my hand, "a reader of Shakspeare
+and an admirer of Knox. I question whether the heresiarch and the poet
+had much in common."
+
+"Nay, now, Mr. Ferguson," I replied, "you are too true a Scot to
+question that. They had much, very much in common. Knox was no rude
+Jack Cade, but a great and powerful-minded man; decidedly as much so as
+any of the nobler conceptions of the dramatist--his Cĉsars, Brutuses, or
+Othellos. Buchanan could have told you that he had even much of the
+spirit of the poet in him, and wanted only the art; and just remember
+how Milton speaks of him in his "Areopagitica." Had the poet of
+"Paradise Lost" thought regarding him as it has become fashionable to
+think and speak now, he would hardly have apostrophized him as--_Knox,
+the reformer of a nation--a great man animated by the spirit of God_."
+
+"Pardon me," said the young man, "I am little acquainted with the prose
+writings of Milton; and have, indeed, picked up most of my opinions of
+Knox at second-hand. But I have read his _merry_ account of the murder
+of Beaton, and found nothing to alter my preconceived notions of him,
+from either the matter or manner of the narrative. Now that I think of
+it, however, my opinion of Bacon would be no very adequate one, were it
+formed solely from the extract of his history of Henry VII., given by
+Kaimes in his late publication.--Will you not extend your walk?"
+
+We quitted the ruins together, and went sauntering along the shore.
+There was a rich sunset glow on the water, and the hills that rise on
+the opposite side of the Frith stretched their undulating line of azure
+under a gorgeous canopy of crimson and gold. My companion pointed to the
+scene:--"These glorious clouds," he said, "are but wreaths of vapour;
+and these lovely hills, accumulations of earth and stone. And it is thus
+with all the past--with the past of our own little histories, that
+borrows so much of its golden beauty from the medium through which we
+survey it--with the past, too, of all history. There is poetry in the
+remote--the bleak hill seems a darker firmament, and the chill wreath of
+vapour a river of fire. And you, sir, seem to have contemplated the
+history of our stern Reformers through this poetical medium, till you
+forget that the poetry was not in them, but in that through which you
+surveyed them."
+
+"Ah, Mr. Ferguson," I replied, "you must permit me to make a
+distinction. I acquiesce fully in the justice of your remark; the
+analogy, too, is nice and striking, but I would fain carry it a little
+further. Every eye can see the beauty of the remote; but there is a
+beauty in the near--an interest, at least--which every eye cannot see.
+Each of the thousand little plants that spring up at our feet, has an
+interest and beauty to the botanist; the mineralogist would find
+something to engage him in every little stone. And it is thus with the
+poetry of life--all have a sense of it in the remote and the distant;
+but it is only the men who stand high in the art--its men of profound
+science--that can discover it in the near. The _mediocre_ poet shares
+but the commoner gift, and so he seeks his themes in ages or countries
+far removed from his own; while the man of nobler powers, knowing that
+all nature is instinct with poetry, seeks and finds it in the men and
+scenes in his immediate neighbourhood. As to our Reformers"----
+
+"Pardon me," said the young poet; "the remark strikes me, and, ere we
+lose it in something else, I must furnish you with an illustration.
+There is an acquaintance of mine, a lad much about my own age, greatly
+addicted to the study of poetry. He has been making verses all his
+life-long; he began ere he had learned to write them even; and his
+judgment has been gradually overgrowing his earlier compositions, as you
+see the advancing tide rising on the beach and obliterating the prints
+on the sand. Now, I have observed, that, in all his earlier
+compositions, he went far from home; he could not attempt a pastoral
+without first transporting himself to the vales of Arcady; or an ode to
+Pity or Hope, without losing the warm living sentiment in the dead,
+cold, personifications of the Greek. The Hope and Pity he addressed
+were, not the undying attendants of human nature, but the shadowy
+spectres of a remote age. Now, however, I feel that a change has come
+over me. I seek for poetry among the fields and cottages of my own land.
+I--a--a--the friend of whom I speak----But I interrupted your remark on
+the Reformers."
+
+"Nay," I replied, "if you go on so, I would much rather listen than
+speak. I only meant to say that the Knoxes and Melvilles of our country
+have been robbed of the admiration and sympathy of many a kindred
+spirit, by the strangely erroneous notions that have been abroad
+regarding them for at least the last two ages. Knox, I am convinced,
+would have been as great as Jeremy Taylor, had he not been greater."
+
+We sauntered along the shore till the evening had darkened into night,
+lost in an agreeable interchange of thought, "Ah!" at length exclaimed
+my companion, "I had almost forgotten my engagement, Mr. Lindsay; but it
+must not part us. You are a stranger here, and I must introduce you to
+some of my acquaintance. There are a few of us--choice spirits, of
+course--who meet every Saturday evening at John Hogg's; and I must just
+bring you to see them. There may be much less wit than mirth among us;
+but you will find us all sober when at the gayest; and old John will be
+quite a study for you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+    "Say, ye red gowns that aften here,
+    Hae toasted cakes to Katie's beer,
+    Gin e'er thir days hae had their peer,
+                      Sae blythe, sae daft!
+    Ye'll ne'er again in life's career,
+                      Sit half sae saft."
+                                    _Elegy on John Hogg._
+
+We returned to town; and, after threading a few of the narrower lanes,
+entered by a low door into a long dark room, dimly lighted by a fire. A
+tall thin woman was employed in skinning a bundle of dried fish at a
+table in a corner.
+
+"Where's the guidman, Kate?" said my companion, changing the sweet pure
+English in which he had hitherto spoken for his mother tongue.
+
+"John's ben in the spence," replied the woman. "Little Andrew, the
+wratch, has been makin' a totum wi' his faither's ae razor, an' the puir
+man's trying to shave himsel yonder, an' girnan like a sheep's head on
+the tangs."
+
+"Oh, the wratch! the ill-deedie wratch!" said John, stalking into the
+room in a towering passion, his face covered with suds and scratches--"I
+might as weel shave mysel wi' a mussel shillet. Rob Ferguson, man, is
+that you!"
+
+"Wearie warld, John," said the poet, "for a' oor philosophy."
+
+"Philosophy!--it's but a snare, Rob--just vanity an' vexation o'
+speerit, as Solomon says. An' isna it clear heterodox besides? Ye study
+an' study till your brains gang about like a whirligig; an' then, like
+bairns in a boat that see the land sailin', ye think it's the solid
+yearth that's turnin' roun'. An' this ye ca' philosophy; as if David
+hadna tauld us that the warld sits coshly on the waters, an' canna be
+moved."
+
+"Hoot, John," rejoined my companion, "it's no me, but Jamie Brown, that
+differs wi' you on these matters. I'm a Hoggonian, ye ken. The auld Jews
+were, doubtless, gran' Christians, an' wherefore no guid philosophers
+too? But it was cruel o' you to unkennel me this mornin' afore six, an'
+I up sae lang at my studies the nicht afore."
+
+"Ah, Rob, Rob!" said John--"studying in _Tam Dun's_ kirk. Ye'll be a
+minister, like a' the lave."
+
+"Mendin' fast, John," rejoined the poet. "I was in your kirk on Sabbath
+last, hearing worthy Mr. Corkindale; whatever else he may hae to fear,
+he's in nae danger o' '_thinking his ain thoughts_,' honest man."
+
+"In oor kirk!" said John; "ye're dune, then, wi' precentin' in yer
+ain--an' troth nae wonder. What could hae possessed ye to gie up the
+puir chield's name i' the prayer, an' him sittin' at yer lug?"
+
+I was unacquainted with the circumstance to which he alluded, and
+requested an explanation. "Oh, ye see," said John, "Rob, amang a' the
+ither gifts that he misguides, has the gift o' a sweet voice; an'
+naething else would ser' some o' oor Professors than to hae him for
+their precentor. They micht as weel hae thocht o' an organ--it wad be
+just as devout; but the soun's everything now, laddie, ye ken, an' the
+heart naething. Weel, Rob, as ye may think, was less than pleased wi'
+the job, an' tauld them he could whistle better than sing; but it wasna
+that they wanted, and sae it behoved him to tak his seat in the box. An'
+lest the folk should no be pleased wi' ae key to ae tune, he gied them,
+for the first twa or three days, a hale bunch to each; an' there was
+never sic singing in St. Andrew's afore. Weel, but for a' that it
+behoved him still to precent, though he has got rid o' it at last--for
+what did he do twa Sabbaths agone, but put up drucken Tarn Moffat's name
+in the prayer--the very chield that was sittin' at his elbow, though
+the minister couldna see him. An' when the puir stibbler was prayin' for
+the reprobate as weel's he could, ae half o' the kirk was needcessitated
+to come oot, that they micht keep decent, an' the ither half to swallow
+their pocket napkins. But what think ye"----
+
+"Hoot, John, now, leave oot the moral," said the poet. "Here's a' the
+lads."
+
+Half a dozen young students entered as he spoke; and, after a hearty
+greeting, and when he had introduced me to them one by one, as a choice
+fellow of immense reading, the door was barred, and we sat down to half
+a dozen of home brewed, and a huge platter of dried fish. There was much
+mirth and no little humour. Ferguson sat at the head of the table, and
+old John Hogg at the foot. I thought of Eastcheap, and the revels of
+Prince Henry; but our Falstaff was an old Scotch Seceder, and our Prince
+a gifted young fellow, who owed all his influence over his fellows to
+the force of his genius alone.
+
+"Prithee, Hal," I said, "let us drink to Sir John."
+
+"Why, yes," said the poet, "with all my heart. Not quite so fine a
+fellow, though, 'bating his Scotch honesty. Half Sir John's genius would
+have served for an epic poet--half his courage for a hero."
+
+"His courage!" exclaimed one of the lads.
+
+"Yes, Willie, his courage, man. Do you think a coward could have run
+away with half the coolness? With a tithe of the courage necessary for
+such a retreat, a man would have stood and fought till he died. Sir John
+must have been a fine fellow in his youth."
+
+"In mony a droll way may a man fa' on the drap drink," remarked John;
+"an' meikle ill, dootless, does it do in takin' aff the edge o' the
+speerit--the mair if the edge be a fine razor edge, an' no the edge o' a
+whittle. I mind about fifty years ago, when I was a slip o' a
+callant,"----
+
+"Losh, John!" exclaimed one of the lads, "hae ye been fechtin wi' the
+cats? sic a scrapit face!"
+
+"Wheesht," said Ferguson; "we owe the illustration to that, but dinna
+interrupt the story."
+
+"Fifty years ago, when I was a slip o' a callant," continued John, "unco
+curious, an' fond o' kennin everything, as callants will be,"----
+
+"Hoot, John," said one of the students, interrupting him, "can ye no cut
+short, man? Rob promised last Saturday to gie us, 'Fie, let us a' to the
+bridal,' an' ye see the ale an' the nicht's baith wearin' dune."
+
+"The song, Rob, the song!" exclaimed half a dozen voices at once; and
+John's story was lost in the clamour.
+
+"Nay, now," said the good-natured poet, "that's less than kind; the auld
+man's stories are aye worth the hearing, an' he can relish the
+auld-warld fisher-sang wi' the best o' ye. But we maun hae the story
+yet."
+
+He struck up the old Scotch ditty, "Fie let us a' to the bridal," which
+he sung with great power and brilliancy; for his voice was a richly
+modulated one, and there was a fulness of meaning imparted to the words
+which wonderfully heightened the effect. "How strange it is," he
+remarked to me when he had finished, "that our English neighbours deny
+us humour! The songs of no country equal our Scotch ones in that
+quality. Are you acquainted with 'The Guidwife of Auchtermuchty?'"
+
+"Well," I replied; "but so are not the English. It strikes me that, with
+the exception of Smollet's novels, all our Scotch humour is locked up in
+our native tongue. No man can employ in works of humour any language of
+which he is not a thorough master; and few of our Scotch writers, with
+all their elegance, have attained the necessary command of that
+colloquial English which Addison and Swift employed when they were
+merry."
+
+"A braw redd delivery," said John, addressing me. "Are ye gaun to be a
+minister tae?"
+
+"Not quite sure yet," I replied.
+
+"Ah," rejoined the old man, "'twas better for the Kirk when the minister
+just made himsel ready for it, an' then waited till he kent whether it
+wanted him. There's young Rob Ferguson beside you,"--
+
+"Setting oot for the Kirk," said the young poet, interrupting him, "an'
+yet drinkin' ale on Saturday at e'en wi' old John Hogg."
+
+"Weel, weel, laddie, it's easier for the best o' us to find fault wi'
+ithers than to mend oorsels. Ye have the head, onyhow; but Jamie Brown
+tells me it's a doctor ye're gaun to be, after a'."
+
+"Nonsense, John Hogg--I wonder how a man o' your standing"----
+
+"Nonsense, I grant you," said one of the students; "but true enough for
+a' that, Bob. Ye see, John, Bob an' I were at the King's Muirs last
+Saturday, an ca'ed at the _pendicle_, in the passing, for a cup o' whey;
+when the guidwife tellt us there was ane o' the callants, who had broken
+into the milk-house twa nichts afore, lyin' ill o' a surfeit. 'Dangerous
+case,' said Bob; 'but let me see him; I have studied to small purpose if
+I know nothing o' medicine, my good woman.' Weel, the woman was just
+glad enough to bring him to the bedside; an' no wonder--ye never saw a
+wiser phiz in your lives--Dr. Dumpie's was naething till't; an', after
+he had sucked the head o' his stick for ten minutes, an' fand the loon's
+pulse, an' asked mair questions than the guidwife liked to answer, he
+prescribed. But, losh! sic a prescription! A day's fasting an' twa
+ladles o' nettle kail was the gist o't; but then there went mair Latin
+to the tail o' that, than oor neebor the Doctor ever had to lose."
+
+But I dwell too long on the conversation of this evening. I feel,
+however, a deep interest in recalling it to memory. The education of
+Ferguson was of a twofold character--he studied in the schools and among
+the people; but it was in the latter tract alone that he acquired the
+materials of all his better poetry; and I feel as if, for at least one
+brief evening, I was admitted to the privileges of a class-fellow, and
+sat with him on the same form. The company broke up a little after ten;
+and I did not again hear of John Hogg till I read his elegy, about four
+years after, among the poems of my friend. It is by no means one of the
+happiest pieces in the volume, nor, it strikes me, highly
+characteristic; but I have often perused it with an interest very
+independent of its merits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+    "But he is weak--both man and boy
+     Has been an idler in the land."--WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+I was attempting to listen, on the evening of the following Sunday, to a
+dull, listless discourse--one of the discourses so common at this
+period, in which there was fine writing without genius, and fine
+religion without Christianity--when a person who had just taken his
+place beside me, tapped me on the shoulder, and thrust a letter into my
+hand. It was my newly-acquired friend of the previous evening; and we
+shook hands heartily under the pew.
+
+"That letter has just been handed me by an acquaintance from your part
+of the country," he whispered; "I trust it contains nothing unpleasant."
+
+I raised it to the light, and on ascertaining that it was sealed and
+edged with black, rose and quitted the church, followed by my friend. It
+intimated, in two brief lines that my patron, the baronet, had been
+killed by a fall from his horse a few evenings before; and that, dying
+intestate the allowance which had hitherto enabled me to prosecute my
+studies necessarily dropped. I crumpled up the paper in my hand.
+
+"You have learned something very unpleasant," said Ferguson. "Pardon
+me--I have no wish to intrude; but, if at all agreeable, I would fain
+spend the evening with you."
+
+My heart filled, and grasping his hand, I briefly intimated the purport
+of the communication, and we walked out together in the direction of the
+ruins.
+
+"It is, perhaps, as hard, Mr. Ferguson," I said, "to fall from one's
+hopes as from the place to which they pointed. I was ambitious--too
+ambitious, it may be--to rise from that level on which man acts the part
+of a machine, and tasks merely his body, to that higher level on which
+he performs the proper part of a rational creature, and employs only his
+mind. But that ambition need influence me no longer. My poor mother,
+too--I had trusted to be of use to her."
+
+"Ah, my friend," said Ferguson, "I can tell you of a case quite as
+hopeless as your own--perhaps more so. But it will make you deem my
+sympathy the result of mere selfishness. In scarce any respect do our
+circumstances differ."
+
+We had reached the ruins: the evening was calm and mild as when I had
+walked out on the preceding one; but the hour was earlier, and the sun
+hung higher over the hill. A newly-formed grave occupied the level spot
+in front of the little ivied corner.
+
+"Let us seat ourselves here," said my companion, "and I will tell you a
+story--I am afraid a rather tame one; for there is nothing of adventure
+in it, and nothing of incident; but it may at least show you that I am
+not unfitted to be your friend. It is now nearly two years since I lost
+my father. He was no common man--common neither in intellect nor in
+sentiment; but though he once fondly hoped it should be otherwise--for
+in early youth he indulged in all the dreams of the poet--he now fills a
+grave as nameless as the one before us. He was a native of
+Aberdeenshire; but held, latterly, an inferior situation in the office
+of the British Linen Company in Edinburgh, where I was born. Ever since
+I remember him, he had awakened too fully to the realities of life, and
+they pressed too hard on his spirits, to leave him space for the
+indulgence of his earlier fancies; but he could dream for his children,
+though not for himself; or, as I should perhaps rather say, his children
+fell heir to all his more juvenile hopes of fortune, and influence, and
+space in the world's eye;--and, for himself, he indulged in hopes of a
+later growth and firmer texture, which pointed from the present scene of
+things to the future. I have an only brother, my senior by several
+years, a lad of much energy, both physical and mental; in brief, one of
+those mixtures of reflection and activity which seem best formed for
+rising in the world. My father deemed him most fitted for commerce, and
+had influence enough to get him introduced into the counting-house of a
+respectable Edinburgh merchant. I was always of a graver turn--in part,
+perhaps, the effect of less robust health--and me he intended for the
+Church. I have been a dreamer, Mr. Lindsay, from my earliest
+years--prone to melancholy, and fond of books and of solitude; and the
+peculiarities of this temperament the sanguine old man, though no mean
+judge of character, had mistaken for a serious and reflective
+disposition. You are acquainted with literature, and know something,
+from books at least, of the lives of literary men. Judge, then, of his
+prospect of usefulness in any profession, who has lived, ever since he
+knew himself, among the poets. My hopes, from my earliest years, have
+been hopes of celebrity as a writer--not of wealth, or of influence, or
+of accomplishing any of the thousand aims which furnish the great bulk
+of mankind with motives. You will laugh at me. There is something so
+emphatically shadowy and unreal in the object of this ambition, that
+even the full attainment of it provokes a smile. For who does not know
+
+    'How vain that second life in others' breath,
+     The estate which wits inherit after death!'
+
+And what can be more fraught with the ludicrous than a union of this
+shadowy ambition with _mediocre_ parts and attainments! But I digress.
+
+"It is now rather more than three years since I entered the classes
+here. I competed for a bursary, and was fortunate enough to secure one.
+Believe me, Mr. Lindsay, I am little ambitious of the fame of mere
+scholarship, and yet I cannot express to you the triumph of that day. I
+had seen my poor father labouring, far, far beyond his strength, for my
+brother and myself--closely engaged during the day with his duties in
+the bank, and copying at night in a lawyer's office. I had seen, with a
+throbbing heart, his tall wasted frame becoming tremulous and bent, and
+the grey hair thinning on his temples; and I now felt that I could ease
+him of at least part of the burden. In the excitement of the moment, I
+could hope that I was destined to rise in the world--to gain a name in
+it, and something more. You know how a slight success grows in
+importance when we can deem it the earnest of future good fortune. I
+met, too, with a kind and influential friend in one of the professors,
+the late Dr. Wilkie. Alas! good, benevolent man! you may see his tomb
+yonder beside the wall; and, on my return from St. Andrew's, at the
+close of the session, I found my father on his deathbed. My brother
+Henry--who had been unfortunate, and, I am afraid, something worse--had
+quitted the counting-house and entered aboard of a man-of-war as a
+common sailor; and the poor old man, whose heart had been bound up in
+him, never held up his head after.
+
+"On the evening of my father's funeral, I could have lain down and died.
+I never before felt how thoroughly I am unfitted for the world--how
+totally I want strength. My father, I have said, had intended me for the
+Church; and, in my progress onward from class to class, and from school
+to college, I had thought but little of each particular step, as it
+engaged me for the time, and nothing of the ultimate objects to which it
+led. All my more vigorous aspirations were directed to a remote future
+and an unsubstantial shadow. But I had witnessed, beside my father's
+bed, what had led me seriously to reflect on the ostensible aim for
+which I lived and studied; and the more carefully I weighed myself in
+the balance, the more did I find myself awanting. You have heard of Mr.
+Brown of the Secession, the author of the "Dictionary of the Bible." He
+was an old acquaintance of my father's; and, on hearing of his illness,
+had come all the way from Haddington to see him. I felt, for the first
+time, as kneeling beside his bed, I heard my father's breathings
+becoming every moment shorter and more difficult, and listened to the
+prayers of the clergyman, that I had no business in the Church. And thus
+I still continue to feel. 'Twere an easy matter to produce such things
+as pass for sermons among us, and to go respectably enough through the
+mere routine of the profession; but I cannot help feeling that, though I
+might do all this and more, my duty, as a clergyman, would be still left
+undone. I want singleness of aim--I want earnestness of heart. I cannot
+teach men effectually how to live well; I cannot show them, with aught
+of confidence, how they may die safe. I cannot enter the Church without
+acting the part of a hypocrite; and the miserable part of the hypocrite
+it shall never be mine to act. Heaven help me! I am too little a
+practical moralist myself to attempt teaching morals to others.
+
+"But I must conclude my story, if story it may be called:--I saw my
+poor mother and my little sister deprived, by my father's death, of
+their sole stay, and strove to exert myself in their behalf. In the
+daytime I copied in a lawyer's office; my nights were spent among the
+poets. You will deem it the very madness of vanity, Mr. Lindsay; but I
+could not live without my dreams of literary eminence. I felt that life
+would be a blank waste without them; and I feel so still. Do not laugh
+at my weakness, when I say I would rather live in the memory of my
+country than enjoy her fairest lands--that I dread a nameless grave many
+times more than the grave itself. But, I am afraid, the life of the
+literary aspirant is rarely a happy one; and I, alas! am one of the
+weakest of the class. It is of importance that the means of living be
+not disjoined from the end for which we live; and I feel that, in my
+case, the disunion is complete. The wants and evils of life are around
+me; but the energies through which those should be provided for, and
+these warded off, are otherwise employed. I am like a man pressing
+onward through a hot and bloody fight, his breast open to every blow,
+and tremblingly alive to the sense of injury and the feeling of pain,
+but totally unprepared either to attack or defend. And then those
+miserable depressions of spirits to which all men who draw largely on
+their imagination are so subject; and that wavering irregularity of
+effort which seems so unavoidably the effect of pursuing a distant and
+doubtful aim, and which proves so hostile to the formation of every
+better habit--alas! to a steady morality itself. But I weary you, Mr.
+Lindsay; besides, my story is told. I am groping onward, I know not
+whither; and, in a few months hence, when my last session shall have
+closed, I shall be exactly where you are at present."
+
+He ceased speaking, and there was a pause of several minutes. I felt
+soothed and gratified. There was a sweet melancholy music in the tones
+of his voice, that sunk to my very heart; and the confidence he reposed
+in me flattered my pride. "How was it," I at length said, "that you were
+the gayest in the party of last night?"
+
+"I do not know that I can better answer you," he replied, "than by
+telling you a singular dream which I had about the time of my father's
+death. I dreamed that I had suddenly quitted the world, and was
+journeying, by a long and dreary passage, to the place of final
+punishment. A blue, dismal light glimmered along the lower wall of the
+vault; and, from the darkness above, where there flickered a thousand
+undefined shapes--things without form or outline--I could hear
+deeply-drawn sighs, and long hollow groans and convulsive sobbings, and
+the prolonged moanings of an unceasing anguish. I was aware, however,
+though I knew not how, that these were but the expressions of a lesser
+misery, and that the seats of severer torment were still before me. I
+went on and on, and the vault widened, and the light increased, and the
+sounds changed. There were loud laughters and low mutterings, in the
+tone of ridicule; and shouts of triumph and exultation; and, in brief,
+all the thousand mingled tones of a gay and joyous revel. Can these, I
+exclaimed, be the sounds of misery when at the deepest? 'Bethink thee,'
+said a shadowy form beside me--'bethink thee if it be not so on earth.'
+And as I remembered that it was so, and bethought me of the mad revels
+of shipwrecked seamen and of plague-stricken cities, I awoke. But on
+this subject you must spare me."
+
+"Forgive me," I said; "to-morrow I leave college, and not with the less
+reluctance that I must part from you. But I shall yet find you occupying
+a place among the _literati_ of our country, and shall remember, with
+pride, that you were my friend."
+
+He sighed deeply. "My hopes rise and fall with my spirits," he said;
+"and to-night I am melancholy. Do you ever go to buffets with yourself,
+Mr. Lindsay? Do you ever mock, in your sadder moods, the hopes which
+render you happiest when you are gay? Ah! 'tis bitter warfare when a man
+contends with Hope!--when he sees her, with little aid from the
+personifying influence, as a thing distinct from himself--a lying spirit
+that comes to flatter and deceive him. It is thus I see her to-night.
+
+   "See'st thou that grave?--does mortal know
+    Aught of the dust that lies below?
+    'Tis foul, 'tis damp, 'tis void of form--
+    A bed where winds the loathsome worm;
+    A little heap, mouldering and brown,
+    Like that on flowerless meadow thrown
+    By mossy stream, when winter reigns
+    O'er leafless woods and wasted plains:
+    And yet that brown, damp, formless heap
+    Once glowed with feelings keen and deep;
+    Once eyed the light, once heard each sound
+    Of earth, air, wave, that murmurs round.
+    But now, ah! now, the name it bore,
+    Sex, age, or form, is known no more.
+    This, this alone, O Hope! I know,
+    That once the dust that lies below,
+    Was, like myself, of human race,
+    And made this world its dwelling-place.
+    Ah! this, when death has swept away
+    The myriads of life's present day,
+    Though bright the visions raised by thee,
+    Will all my fame, my history be!"
+
+We quitted the ruins and returned to town.
+
+"Have you yet formed," inquired my companion, "any plan for the future?"
+
+"I quit St. Andrew's," I replied, "to-morrow morning. I have an uncle,
+the master of a West Indiaman, now in the Clyde. Some years ago I had a
+fancy for the life of a sailor, which has evaporated, however, with many
+of my other boyish fancies and predilections; but I am strong and
+active, and it strikes me there is less competition on sea at present
+than on land. A man of tolerable steadiness and intelligence has a
+better chance of rising as a sailor than as a mechanic. I shall set out,
+therefore, with my uncle on his first voyage."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+   "At first, I thought the swankie didna ill--
+    Again I glowr'd, to hear him better still;
+    Bauld, slee, an' sweet, his lines mair glorious grew,
+    Glow'd round the heart, an' glanc'd the soul out through."
+                                            ALEXANDER WILSON.
+
+
+I had seen both the Indies and traversed the wide Pacific, ere I again
+set foot on the Eastern coast of Scotland. My uncle, the shipmaster, was
+dead, and I was still a common sailor; but I was light-hearted and
+skilful in my profession, and as much inclined to hope as ever. Besides,
+I had begun to doubt, and there cannot be a more consoling doubt when
+one is unfortunate, whether a man may not enjoy as much happiness in the
+lower walks of life as in the upper. In one of my later voyages, the
+vessel in which I sailed had lain for several weeks at Boston in North
+America--then a scene of those fierce and angry contentions which
+eventually separated the colonies from the mother country; and when in
+this place, I had become acquainted, by the merest accident in the
+world, with the brother of my friend the poet. I was passing through one
+of the meaner lanes, when I saw my old college friend, as I thought,
+looking out at me from the window of a crazy wooden building--a sort of
+fencing academy, much frequented, I was told, by the Federalists of
+Boston. I crossed the lane in two huge strides.
+
+"Mr. Ferguson," I said--"Mr. Ferguson," for he was withdrawing his head,
+"do you not remember me?"
+
+"Not quite sure," he replied; "I have met with many sailors in my time;
+but I must just see."
+
+He had stepped down to the door ere I had discovered my mistake. He was
+a taller and stronger-looking man than my friend, and his senior
+apparently by six or eight years; but nothing could be more striking
+than the resemblance which he bore to him, both in face and figure. I
+apologized.
+
+"But have you not a brother, a native of Edinburgh," I inquired, "who
+studied at St. Andrew's about four years ago?--never before, certainly,
+did I see so remarkable a likeness."
+
+--"As that which I bear to Robert?" he said. "Happy to hear it. Robert
+is a brother of whom a man may well be proud, and I am glad to resemble
+him in any way. But you must go in with me, and tell me all you know
+regarding him. He was a thin pale slip of a boy when I left Scotland--a
+mighty reader, and fond of sauntering into by-holes and corners; I
+scarcely knew what to make of him; but he has made much of himself. His
+name has been blown far and wide within the last two years."
+
+He showed me through a large waste apartment, furnished with a few deal
+seats, and with here and there a fencing foil leaning against the wall,
+into a sort of closet at the upper end, separated from the main room by
+a partition of undressed slabs. There was a charcoal stove in the one
+corner, and a truckle bed in the other; a few shelves laden with books
+ran along the wall; there was a small chest raised on a stool
+immediately below the window, to serve as a writing desk, and another
+stool standing beside it. A few cooking utensils scattered round the
+room, and a corner cupboard, completed the entire furniture of the
+place.
+
+"There is a certain limited number born to be rich, Jack," said my new
+companion, "and I just don't happen to be among them; but I have one
+stool for myself, you see, and, now that I have unshipped my desk,
+another for a visitor, and so get on well enough."
+
+I related briefly the story of my intimacy with his brother; and we were
+soon on such terms as to be in a fair way of emptying a bottle of rum
+together.
+
+"You remind me of old times," said my new acquaintance. "I am weary of
+these illiterate, boisterous, longsided Americans, who talk only of
+politics and dollars. And yet there are first-rate men among them too. I
+met, some years since, with a Philadelphia printer, whom I cannot help
+regarding as one of the ablest, best-informed men I ever conversed with.
+But there is nothing like general knowledge among the average class; a
+mighty privilege of conceit, however."
+
+"They are just in that stage," I remarked, "in which it needs all the
+vigour of an able man to bring his mind into anything like cultivation.
+There must be many more facilities of improvement ere the mediocritist
+can develop himself. He is in the egg still in America, and must sleep
+there till the next age.--But when last heard you of your brother?"
+
+"Why," he replied, "when all the world heard of him--with the last
+number of _Ruddiman's Magazine_. Where can you have been bottled up from
+literature of late? Why, man, Robert stands first among our Scotch
+poets."
+
+"Ah! 'tis long since I have anticipated something like that for him," I
+said; "but, for the last two years, I have seen only two books,
+Shakspeare and 'The Spectator.' Pray, do show me some of the magazines."
+
+The magazines were produced; and I heard, for the first time, in a
+foreign land and from the recitation of the poet's brother, some of the
+most national and most highly-finished of his productions. My eyes
+filled and my heart wandered to Scotland and her cottage homes, as,
+shutting the book, he repeated to me, in a voice faltering with emotion,
+stanza after stanza of the "Farmer's Ingle."
+
+"Do you not see it?--do you not see it all?" exclaimed my companion;
+"the wide smoky room, with the bright turf fire, the blackened rafters
+shining above, the straw-wrought settle below, the farmer and the
+farmer's wife, and auld grannie and the bairns. Never was there truer
+painting; and, oh, how it works on a Scotch heart! But hear this other
+piece."
+
+He read "Sandy and Willie."
+
+"Far, far ahead of Ramsay," I exclaimed. "More imagination, more spirit,
+more intellect, and as much truth and nature. Robert has gained his end
+already. Hurra for poor old Scotland!--these pieces must live for ever.
+But do repeat to me the 'Farmer's Ingle' once more."
+
+We read, one by one, all the poems in the magazine, dwelling on each
+stanza, and expatiating on every recollection of home which the images
+awakened. My companion was, like his brother, a kind, open-hearted man,
+of superior intellect; much less prone to despondency, however, and of a
+more equal temperament. Ere we parted, which was not until next morning,
+he had communicated to me all his plans for the future, and all his
+fondly cherished hopes of returning to Scotland with wealth enough to be
+of use to his friends. He seemed to be one of those universal geniuses
+who do a thousand things well, but want steadiness enough to turn any of
+them to good account. He showed me a treatise on the use of the sword,
+which he had just prepared for the press; and a series of letters on the
+stamp act, which had appeared, from time to time, in one of the Boston
+newspapers, and in which he had taken part with the Americans.
+
+"I make a good many dollars in these stirring times," he said. "All the
+Yankees seem to be of opinion that they will be best heard across the
+water when they have got arms in their hands, and have learned how to
+use them; and I know a little of both the sword and the musket. But the
+warlike spirit is frightfully thirsty, somehow, and consumes a world of
+rum; and so I have not yet begun to make rich."
+
+He shared with me his supper and bed for the night; and, after rising in
+the morning ere I awoke, and writing a long letter for Robert, which he
+gave me in the hope I might soon meet with him, he accompanied me to the
+vessel, then on the eve of sailing, and we parted, as it proved, for
+ever. I know nothing of his after life, or how or where it terminated;
+but I have learned that, shortly before the death of his gifted brother,
+his circumstances enabled him to send his mother a small remittance for
+the use of the family. He was evidently one of the kind-hearted,
+improvident few, who can share a very little, and whose destiny it is to
+have only a very little to share.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+   "O Ferguson! thy glorious parts
+    Ill suited law's dry, musty arts!
+    My curse upon your whunstane hearts,
+      Ye Embrugh gentry!
+    The tithe o' what ye waste at cartes
+      Wad stow'd his pantry!"
+                                     BURNS.
+
+
+I visited Edinburgh, for the first time, in the latter part of the
+autumn of 1773, about two months after I had sailed from Boston. It was
+on a fine calm morning--one of those clear sunshiny mornings of October,
+when the gossamer goes sailing about in long cottony threads, so light
+and fleecy that they seem the skeleton remains of extinct cloudlets; and
+when the distant hills, with their covering of grey frost rime, seem,
+through the clear cold atmosphere, as if chiselled in marble. The sun
+was rising over the town through a deep blood-coloured haze--the smoke
+of a thousand fires; and the huge fantastic piles of masonry that
+stretched along the ridge, looked dim and spectral through the cloud,
+like the ghosts of an army of giants. I felt half a foot taller as I
+strode on towards the town. It was Edinburgh I was approaching--the
+scene of so many proud associations to a lover of Scotland; and I was
+going to meet as an early friend one of the first of Scottish poets. I
+entered the town. There was a book stall in a corner of the street; and
+I turned aside for half a minute to glance my eye over the books.
+
+"Ferguson's Poems!" I exclaimed, taking up a little volume. "I was not
+aware they had appeared in a separate form. How do you sell this?"
+
+"Just like a' the ither booksellers," said the man who kept the
+stall--"that's nane o' the buiks that come doun in a hurry--just for the
+marked selling price." I threw down the money.
+
+"Could you tell me anything of the writer?" I said. "I have a letter for
+him from America."
+
+"Oh, that'll be frae his brither Henry, I'll wad; a clever cheild too,
+but ower fond o' the drap drink, maybe, like Rob himsel'. Baith o' them
+fine humane chields, though, without a grain o' pride. Rob takes a stan'
+wi' me sometimes o' half an hour at a time, an' we clatter ower the
+buiks; an', if I'm no mista'en, yon's him just yonder--the thin, pale
+slip o' a lad wi' the broad brow. Ay, an' he's just comin' this way."
+
+"Anything new to-day, Thomas?" said the young man, coming up to the
+stall. "I want a cheap second-hand copy of Ramsay's 'Evergreen;' and,
+like a good man as you are, you must just try and find it for me."
+
+Though considerably altered--for he was taller and thinner than when at
+college, and his complexion had assumed a deep sallow hue--I recognised
+him at once, and presented him with the letter.
+
+"Ah! from brother Henry," said he, breaking it open, and glancing his
+eye over the contents. "What--_old college chum, Mr. Lindsay_!" he
+exclaimed, turning to me. "Yes, sure enough; how happy I am we should
+have met! Come this way--let us get out of the streets."
+
+We passed hurriedly through the Canongate and along the front of
+Holyrood-house, and were soon in the King's Park, which seemed this
+morning as if left to ourselves.
+
+"Dear me, and this is you yourself!--and we have again met, Mr.
+Lindsay!" said Ferguson; "I thought we were never to meet more. Nothing,
+for a long time, has made me half so glad. And so you have been a sailor
+for the last four years. Do let us sit down here in the warm sunshine,
+beside St. Anthony's Well, and tell me all your story, and how you
+happened to meet with brother Henry."
+
+We sat down, and I briefly related, at his bidding, all that had
+befallen me since we had parted at St. Andrew's, and how I was still a
+common sailor, but, in the main, perhaps, not less happy than many who
+commanded a fleet.
+
+"Ah, you have been a fortunate fellow," he said; "you have seen much and
+enjoyed much; and I have been rusting in unhappiness at home. Would that
+I had gone to sea along with you!"
+
+"Nay, now, that won't do," I replied. "But you are merely taking Bacon's
+method of blunting the edge of envy. You have scarcely yet attained the
+years of mature manhood, and yet your name has gone abroad over the
+whole length and breadth of the land, and over many other lands besides.
+I have cried over your poems three thousand miles away, and felt all the
+prouder of my country for the sake of my friend. And yet you would fain
+persuade me that you wish the charm reversed, and that you were just
+such an obscure salt-water man as myself!"
+
+"You remember," said my companion, "the story of the half-man,
+half-marble prince of the Arabian tale. One part was a living creature,
+one part a stone; but the parts were incorporated, and the mixture was
+misery. I am just such a poor unhappy creature as the enchanted prince
+of the story."
+
+"You surprise and distress me," I rejoined. "Have you not accomplished
+all you so fondly purposed--realized even your warmest wishes? And this,
+too, in early life. Your most sanguine hopes pointed but to a name,
+which you yourself perhaps was never to hear, but which was to dwell on
+men's tongues when the grave had closed over you. And now the name is
+gained, and you live to enjoy it. I see the _living_ part of your lot,
+and it seems instinct with happiness; but in what does the _dead_, the
+stony part, consist?"
+
+He shook his head, and looked up mournfully in my face; there was a
+pause of a few seconds. "You, Mr. Lindsay," he at length replied, "you
+who are of an equable steady temperament, can know little, from
+experience, of the unhappiness of the man who lives only in extremes,
+who is either madly gay or miserably depressed. Try and realize the
+feelings of one whose mind is like a broken harp--all the medium tones
+gone, and only the higher and lower left; of one, too, whose
+circumstances seem of a piece with his mind, who can enjoy the exercise
+of his better powers, and yet can only live by the monotonous drudgery
+of copying page after page in a clerk's office; of one who is
+continually either groping his way amid a chill melancholy fog of
+nervous depression, or carried headlong, by a wild gaiety, to all which
+his better judgment would instruct him to avoid; of one who, when he
+indulges most in the pride of superior intellect, cannot away with the
+thought that that intellect is on the eve of breaking up, and that he
+must yet rate infinitely lower in the scale of rationality than any of
+the nameless thousands who carry on the ordinary concerns of life around
+him."
+
+I was grieved and astonished, and knew not what to answer. "You are in a
+gloomy mood to-day," I at length said; "you are immersed in one of the
+fogs you describe; and all the surrounding objects take a tinge of
+darkness from the medium through which you survey them. Come, now, you
+must make an exertion, and shake off your melancholy. I have told you
+all my story, as I best could, and you must tell me all yours in
+return."
+
+"Well," he replied, "I shall, though it mayn't be the best way in the
+world of dissipating my melancholy. I think I must have told you, when
+at college, that I had a maternal uncle of considerable wealth, and, as
+the world goes, respectability, who resided in Aberdeenshire. He was
+placed on what one may term the table-land of society; and my poor
+mother, whose recollections of him were limited to a period when there
+is warmth in the feelings of the most ordinary minds, had hoped that he
+would willingly exert his influence in my behalf. Much, doubtless,
+depends on one's setting out in life; and it would have been something
+to have been enabled to step into it from a level like that occupied by
+my relative. I paid him a visit shortly after leaving college, and met
+with apparent kindness. But I can see beyond the surface, Mr. Lindsay,
+and I soon saw that my uncle was entirely a different man from the
+brother whom my mother remembered. He had risen, by a course of slow
+industry, from comparative poverty, and his feelings had worn out in the
+process. The character was case-hardened all over; and the polish it
+bore--for I have rarely met a smoother man--seemed no improvement. He
+was, in brief, one of the class content to dwell for ever in mere
+decencies, with consciences made up of the conventional moralities, who
+think by precedent, bow to public opinion as their god, and estimate
+merit by its weight in guineas."
+
+"And so your visit," I said, "was a very brief one?"
+
+"You distress me," he replied. "It should have been so; but it was not.
+But what could I do? Ever since my father's death I had been taught to
+consider this man as my natural guardian, and I was now unwilling to
+part with my last hope. But this is not all. Under much apparent
+activity, my friend, there is a substratum of apathetical indolence in
+my disposition: I move rapidly when in motion, but when at rest there is
+a dull inertness in the character, which the will, when unassisted by
+passion, is too feeble to overcome. Poor, weak creature that I am! I had
+sitten down by my uncle's fireside, and felt unwilling to rise. Pity me,
+my friend--I deserve your pity--but, oh, do not despise me!"
+
+"Forgive me, Mr. Ferguson," I said; "I have given you pain--but surely
+most unwittingly."
+
+"I am ever a fool," he continued; "but my story lags; and, surely, there
+is little in it on which it were pleasure to dwell. I sat at this man's
+table for six months, and saw, day after day, his manner towards me
+becoming more constrained and his politeness more cold; and yet I staid
+on, till at last my clothes were worn threadbare, and he began to feel
+that the shabbiness of the nephew affected the respectability of the
+uncle. His friend the soap-boiler, and his friend the oil-merchant, and
+his friend the manager of the hemp manufactory, with their wives and
+daughters--all people of high standing in the world--occasionally
+honoured his table with their presence, and how could he be other than
+ashamed of mine? It vexes me that I cannot even yet be cool on the
+subject--it vexes me that a creature so sordid should have so much the
+power to move me--but I cannot, I cannot master my feelings. He--he told
+me--and with whom should the blame rest, but with the weak, spiritless
+thing who lingered on in mean, bitter dependence, to hear what he had to
+tell?--he told me that all his friends were respectable, and that my
+appearance was no longer that of a person whom he could wish to see at
+his table, or introduce to any one as his nephew. And I had staid to
+hear all this!
+
+"I can hardly tell you how I got home. I travelled, stage after stage,
+along the rough dusty roads, with a weak and feverish body, and almost
+despairing mind. On meeting with my mother, I could have laid my head on
+her bosom and cried like a child. I took to my bed in a high fever, and
+trusted that all my troubles were soon to terminate; but, when the die
+was cast, it turned up life. I resumed my old miserable employments--for
+what could I else?--and, that I might be less unhappy in the prosecution
+of them, my old amusements too. I copied during the day in a clerk's
+office that I might live, and wrote during the night that I might be
+known. And I have in part, perhaps, attained my object. I have pursued
+and caught hold of the shadow on which my heart had been so long set;
+and if it prove empty, and untangible, and unsatisfactory, like every
+other shadow, the blame surely must rest with the pursuer, not with the
+thing pursued. I weary you, Mr. Lindsay; but one word more. There are
+hours when the mind, weakened by exertion, or by the teazing monotony of
+an employment which tasks without exercising it, can no longer exert its
+powers, and when, feeling that sociality is a law of our nature, we seek
+the society of our fellow-men. With a creature so much the sport of
+impulse as I am, it is of these hours of weakness that conscience takes
+most note. God help me! I have been told that life is short; but it
+stretches on, and on, and on before me; and I know not how it is to be
+passed through."
+
+My spirits had so sunk during this singular conversation, that I had no
+heart to reply.
+
+"You are silent, Mr. Lindsay," said the poet; "I have made you as
+melancholy as myself; but look around you, and say if ever you have seen
+a lovelier spot. See how richly the yellow sunshine slants along the
+green sides of Arthur's Seat, and how the thin blue smoke, that has come
+floating from the town, fills the bottom of yonder grassy dell, as if it
+were a little lake. Mark, too, how boldly the cliffs stand out along its
+sides, each with its little patch of shadow. And here, beside us, is St.
+Anthony's Well, so famous in song, coming gushing out to the sunshine,
+and then gliding away through the grass like a snake. Had the Deity
+purposed that man should be miserable, he would surely never have placed
+him in so fair a world. Perhaps much of our unhappiness originates in
+our mistaking our proper scope, and thus setting out from the first with
+a false aim."
+
+"Unquestionably," I replied, "there is no man who has not some part to
+perform; and, if it be a great and uncommon part, and the powers which
+fit him for it proportionably great and uncommon, nature would be in
+error could he slight it with impunity. See, there is a wild bee bending
+the flower beside you. Even that little creature has a capacity of
+happiness and misery; it derives its sense of pleasure from whatever
+runs in the line of its instincts, its experience of unhappiness from
+whatever thwarts and opposes them; and can it be supposed that so wise a
+law should regulate the instincts of only inferior creatures? No, my
+friend, it is surely a law of our nature also."
+
+"And have you not something else to infer?" said the poet.
+
+"Yes," I replied, "that you are occupied differently from what the scope
+and constitution of your mind demand; differently both in your hours of
+employment and of relaxation. But do take heart, you will yet find your
+proper place, and all shall be well."
+
+"Alas! no, my friend," said he, rising from the sward. "I could once
+entertain such a hope; but I cannot now. My mind is no longer what it
+was to me in my happier days, a sort of _terra incognita_, without
+bounds or limits. I can see over and beyond it, and have fallen from all
+my hopes regarding it. It is not so much the gloom of present
+circumstances that disheartens me, as a depressing knowledge of myself,
+an abiding conviction that I am a weak dreamer, unfitted for every
+occupation of life, and not less so for the greater employments of
+literature than for any of the others. I feel that I am a little man and
+a little poet, with barely vigour enough to make one half effort at a
+time, but wholly devoid of the sustaining will, that highest faculty of
+the highest order of minds, which can direct a thousand vigorous efforts
+to the accomplishment of one important object. Would that I could
+exchange my half celebrity--and it can never be other than a half
+celebrity--for a temper as equable and a fortitude as unshrinking as
+yours! But I weary you with my complaints; I am a very coward; and you
+will deem me as selfish as I am weak."
+
+We parted. The poet, sadly and unwillingly, went to copy deeds in the
+office of the commissary clerk, and I, almost reconciled to obscurity
+and hard labour, to assist in unloading a Baltic trader in the harbour
+of Leith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+         "Speech without aim and without end employ."--CRABBE.
+
+
+After the lapse of nine months, I again returned to Edinburgh. During
+that period, I had been so shut out from literature and the world, that
+I had heard nothing of my friend the poet; and it was with a beating
+heart I left the vessel, on my first leisure evening, to pay him a
+visit. It was about the middle of July; the day had been close and
+sultry, and the heavens overcharged with grey ponderous clouds; and, as
+I passed hurriedly along the walk which leads from Leith to Edinburgh, I
+could hear the newly awakened thunder, bellowing far in the south, peal
+after peal, like the artillery of two hostile armies. I reached the door
+of the poet's humble domicile, and had raised my hand to the knocker,
+when I heard some one singing from within, in a voice by far the most
+touchingly mournful I had ever listened to. The tones struck on my
+heart; and a frightful suspicion crossed my mind, as I set down the
+knocker, that the singer was no other than my friend. But in what
+wretched circumstances! what fearful state of mind! I shuddered as I
+listened, and heard the strain waxing louder and yet more mournful, and
+could distinguish that the words were those of a simple old ballad:--
+
+   "O Marti'mas wind, when wilt thou blaw,
+      An' shake the green leaves aff the tree?
+    O gentle death, when wilt thou come,
+      An' tak a life that wearies me?"
+
+I could listen no longer, but raised the latch and went in. The evening
+was gloomy, and the apartment ill lighted; but I could see the singer, a
+spectral-looking figure, sitting on a bed in the corner, with the
+bedclothes wrapped round his shoulders, and a napkin deeply stained
+with blood on his head. An elderly female, who stood beside him, was
+striving to soothe him, and busied from time to time in adjusting the
+clothes, which were ever and anon falling off, as he nodded his head in
+time to the music. A young girl of great beauty sat weeping at the
+bedfoot.
+
+"O dearest Robert," said the woman, "you will destroy your poor head;
+and Margaret your sister, whom you used to love so much, will break her
+heart. Do lie down, dearest, and take a little rest. Your head is
+fearfully gashed, and if the bandages loose a second time, you will
+bleed to death. Do, dearest Robert, for your poor old mother, to whom
+you were always so kind and dutiful a son till now--for your poor old
+mother's sake, do lie down."
+
+The song ceased for a moment, and the tears came bursting from my eyes
+as the tune changed, and he again sang:--
+
+   "O mither dear, make ye my bed,
+      For my heart it's flichterin' sair;
+    An' oh, gin I've vexed ye, mither dear,
+      I'll never vex ye mair.
+    I've staid ar'out the lang dark nicht,
+      I' the sleet an' the plashy rain;
+    But, mither dear, make ye my bed,
+      An' I'll ne'er gang out again."
+
+"Dearest, dearest Robert," continued the poor, heart-broken woman, "do
+lie down; for your poor old mother's sake, do lie down."
+
+"No, no," he exclaimed, in a hurried voice, "not just now, mother, not
+just now. Here is my friend, Mr. Lindsay, come to see me--my true
+friend, Mr. Lindsay, the sailor, who has sailed all round and round the
+world; and I have much, much to ask him. A chair, Margaret, for Mr.
+Lindsay. I must be a preacher like John Knox, you know--like the great
+John Knox, the reformer of a nation--and Mr. Lindsay knows all about
+him. A chair, Margaret, for Mr. Lindsay."
+
+I am not ashamed to say it was with tears, and in a voice faltering with
+emotion, that I apologized to the poor woman for my intrusion at such a
+time. Were it otherwise, I might well conclude my heart had grown hard
+as a piece of the nether millstone.
+
+"I had known Robert at College," I said--"had loved and respected him;
+and had now come to pay him a visit, after an absence of several months,
+wholly unprepared for finding him in his present condition." And it
+would seem that my tears pled for me, and proved to the poor afflicted
+woman and her daughter, by far the most efficient part of my apology.
+
+"All my friends have left me now, Mr. Lindsay," said the unfortunate
+poet--"they have all left me now; they love this present world. We were
+all going down, down, down; there was the roll of a river behind us; it
+came bursting over the high rocks, roaring, rolling, foaming down upon
+us; and though the fog was thick and dark below--far below, in the place
+to which we were going--I could see the red fire shining through--the
+red, hot, unquenchable fire; and we were all going down, down, down.
+Mother, mother, tell Mr. Lindsay I am going to be put on my trials
+to-morrow. Careless creature that I am--life is short, and I have lost
+much time; but I am going to be put on my trials to-morrow, and shall
+come forth a preacher of the word."
+
+The thunder which had hitherto been muttering at a distance--each peal,
+however, nearer and louder than the preceding one--now began to roll
+overhead, and the lightning, as it passed the window, to illumine every
+object within. The hapless poet stretched out his thin wasted arm, as if
+addressing a congregation from the pulpit:--
+
+"There were the flashings of lightning," he said, "and the roll of
+thunder; and the trumpet waxed louder and louder. And around the summit
+of the mountain were the foldings of thick clouds, and the shadow fell
+brown and dark over the wide expanse of the desert. And the wild beasts
+lay trembling in their dens. But, lo! where the sun breaks through the
+opening of the cloud, there is the glitter of tents--the glitter of ten
+thousand tents that rise over the sandy waste, thick as waves of the
+sea. And there, there is the voice of the dance and of the revel, and
+the winding of horns and the clash of cymbals. Oh, sit nearer me,
+dearest mother, for the room is growing dark, dark; and, oh, my poor
+head!
+
+   'The lady sat on the castle wa',
+      Look'd ower baith dale and down,
+    And then she spied Gil-Morice head
+      Come steering through the town.'
+
+Do, dearest mother, put your cool hand on my brow, and do hold it fast
+ere it part. How fearfully--oh, how fearfully it aches!--and oh, how it
+thunders!" He sunk backward on the pillow, apparently exhausted. "Gone,
+gone, gone," he muttered; "my mind gone for ever. But God's will be
+done."
+
+I rose to leave the room; for I could restrain my feelings no longer.
+
+"Stay, Mr. Lindsay," said the poet, in a feeble voice; "I hear the rain
+dashing on the pavement; you must not go till it abates. Would that you
+could pray beside me!--but, no--you are not like the dissolute
+companions who have now all left me, but you are not yet fitted for
+that; and, alas! I cannot pray for myself. Mother, mother, see that
+there be prayers at my lykewake; for--
+
+   'Her lykewake, it was piously spent
+      In social prayer and praise,
+    Performed by judicious men,
+      Who stricken were in days.
+   'And many a heavy, heavy heart
+      Was in that mournful place;
+    And many a weary, weary thought
+      On her who slept in peace.'
+
+They will come all to my lykewake, mother, won't they?--yes, all, though
+they have left me now. Yes, and they will come far to see my grave. I
+was poor, very poor, you know, and they looked down upon me; and I was
+no son or cousin of theirs, and so they could do nothing for me. Oh, but
+they might have looked less coldly! But they will all come to my grave,
+mother; they will come all to my grave; and they will say--'Would he
+were living now to know how kind we are!' But they will look as coldly
+as ever on the living poet beside them--yes, till they have broken his
+heart; and then they will go to his grave too. O dearest mother, do lay
+your cool hand on my brow."
+
+He lay silent and exhausted, and, in a few minutes, I could hope, from
+the hardness of his breathing, that he had fallen asleep.
+
+"How long," I inquired of his sister, in a low whisper, "has Mr.
+Ferguson been so unwell, and what has injured his head?"
+
+"Alas!" said the girl, "my brother has been unsettled in mind for nearly
+the last six months. We first knew it one evening on his coming home
+from the country, where he had been for a few days with a friend. He
+burnt a large heap of papers that he had been employed on for weeks
+before--songs and poems that his friends say were the finest things he
+ever wrote; but he burnt them all, for he was going to be a preacher of
+the word, he said, and it did not become a preacher of the word to be a
+writer of light rhymes. And, O sir! his mind has been carried ever
+since; but he has been always gentle and affectionate, and his sole
+delight has lain in reading the Bible. Good Dr. Erskine, of the
+Greyfriars, often comes to our house, and sits with him for hours
+together; for there are times when his mind seems stronger than ever,
+and he says wonderful things, that seem to hover, the minister says,
+between the extravagance natural to his present sad condition, and the
+higher flights of a philosophic genius. And we had hoped that he was
+getting better; but, O sir, our hopes have had a sad ending. He went
+out, a few evenings ago, to call on an old acquaintance; and, in
+descending a stair, missed footing, and fell to the bottom; and his head
+has been fearfully injured by the stones. He has been just as you have
+seen him ever since; and, oh! I much fear he cannot now recover. Alas!
+my poor brother!--never, never was there a more affectionate heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+                        "A lowly muse!
+    She sings of reptiles yet in song unknown."
+
+
+I returned to the vessel with a heavy heart; and it was nearly three
+months from this time ere I again set foot in Edinburgh. Alas! for my
+unfortunate friend! He was now an inmate of the asylum, and on the verge
+of dissolution. I was thrown, by accident, shortly after my arrival at
+this time, into the company of one of his boon companions. I had gone
+into a tavern with a brother sailor--a shrewd, honest skipper, from the
+north country; and, finding the place occupied by half a dozen young
+fellows, who were growing noisy over their liquor, I would have
+immediately gone out again, had I not caught, in the passing, a few
+words regarding my friend. And so, drawing to a side-table, I sat down.
+
+"Believe me," said one of the topers, a dissolute-looking young man,
+"it's all over with Bob Ferguson--all over; and I knew it from the
+moment he grew religious. Had old Brown tried to convert me, I would
+have broken his face."
+
+"What Brown?" inquired one of his companions.
+
+"Is that all you know?" rejoined the other. "Why, John Brown of
+Haddington, the Seceder. Bob was at Haddington last year, at the
+election; and, one morning, when in the horrors, after holding a rum
+night of it, who should he meet in the churchyard but old John
+Brown?--he writes, you know, a big book on the Bible. Well, he lectured
+Bob at a pretty rate, about election and the call, I suppose; and the
+poor fellow has been mad ever since. Your health, Jamie. For my own
+part, I'm a freewill man, and detest all cant and humbug."
+
+"And what has come of Ferguson now?" asked one of the others.
+
+"Oh, mad, sir, mad," rejoined the toper--"reading the Bible all day, and
+cooped up in the asylum yonder. 'Twas I who brought him to it.--But,
+lads, the glass has been standing for the last half-hour.--'Twas I and
+Jack Robinson who brought him to it, as I say. He was getting wild; and
+so we got a sedan for him, and trumped up a story of an invitation for
+tea from a lady, and he came with us as quietly as a lamb. But, if you
+could have heard the shriek he gave when the chair stopped, and he saw
+where we had brought him! I never heard anything half so horrible--it
+rang in my ears for a week after; and then, how the mad people in the
+upper rooms howled and gibbered in reply, till the very roof echoed!
+People say he is getting better; but, when I last saw him, he was as
+religious as ever, and spoke so much about heaven, that it was
+uncomfortable to hear him. Great loss to his friends, after all the
+expense they have been at with his education."
+
+"You seem to have been intimate with Mr. Ferguson," I said.
+
+"Oh, intimate with Bob!" he rejoined; "we were hand and glove, man. I
+have sat with him in Lucky Middlemass's, almost every evening, for two
+years; and I have given him hints for some of the best things in his
+book. 'Twas I who tumbled down the cage in the Meadows, and began
+breaking the lamps.
+
+   'Ye who oft finish care in Lethe's cup,
+    Who love to swear and roar, and _keep it up_,
+    List to a brother's voice, whose sole delight
+    Is sleep all day, and riot all the night.'
+
+There's spirit for you! But Bob was never sound at bottom; and I have
+told him so. 'Bob,' I have said, 'Bob, you're but a hypocrite after all,
+man--without half the spunk you pretend to. Why don't you take a pattern
+by me, who fear nothing, and believe only the agreeable? But, poor
+fellow, he had weak nerves, and a church-going propensity that did him
+no good; and you see the effects. 'Twas all nonsense, Tom, of his
+throwing the squib into the Glassite meeting-house. Between you and I,
+that was a cut far beyond him in his best days, poet as he was. 'Twas I
+who did it, man, and never was there a cleaner row in auld Reekie."
+
+"Heartless, contemptible puppy!" said my comrade, the sailor, as we left
+the room. "Your poor friend must be ill, indeed, if he be but half as
+insane as his quondam companion. But he cannot: there is no madness like
+that of the heart. What could have induced a man of genius to associate
+with a thing so thoroughly despicable?"
+
+"The same misery, Miller," I said, "that brings a man _acquainted with
+strange bedfellows_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+   "O thou, my elder brother in misfortune,
+    By far my elder brother in the muses,
+    With tears I pity thy unhappy fate!"--BURNS.
+
+
+The asylum in which my unfortunate friend was confined, at this time the
+only one in Edinburgh, was situated in an angle of the city wall. It was
+a dismal-looking mansion, shut in on every side, by the neighbouring
+houses, from the view of the surrounding country; and so effectually
+covered up from the nearer street, by a large building in front, that it
+seemed possible enough to pass a lifetime in Edinburgh without coming to
+the knowledge of its existence. I shuddered as I looked up to its
+blackened walls, thinly sprinkled with miserable-looking windows, barred
+with iron, and thought of it as a sort of burial-place of dead minds.
+But it was a Golgotha, which, with more than the horrors of the grave,
+had neither its rest nor its silence. I was startled, as I entered the
+cell of the hapless poet, by a shout of laughter from a neighbouring
+room, which was answered from a dark recess behind me, by a fearfully
+prolonged shriek, and the clanking of chains. The mother and sister of
+Ferguson were sitting beside his pallet, on a sort of stone settle which
+stood out from the wall; and the poet himself, weak and exhausted, and
+worn to a shadow, but apparently in his right mind, lay extended on the
+straw. He made an attempt to rise as I entered; but the effort was above
+his strength, and, again lying down, he extended his hand.
+
+"This is kind, Mr. Lindsay," he said; "it is ill for me to be alone in
+these days; and yet I have few visitors, save my poor old mother and
+Margaret. But who cares for the unhappy?"
+
+I sat down on the settle beside him, still retaining his hand. "I have
+been at sea, and in foreign countries," I said, "since I last saw you,
+Mr. Ferguson, and it was only this morning I returned; but believe me
+there are many, many of your countrymen who sympathize sincerely in your
+affliction, and take a warm interest in your recovery."
+
+He sighed deeply. "Ah," he replied, "I know too well the nature of that
+sympathy. You never find it at the bedside of the sufferer--it
+evaporates in a few barren expressions of idle pity; and yet, after all,
+it is but a paying the poet in kind. He calls so often on the world to
+sympathize over fictitious misfortune, that the feeling wears out, and
+becomes a mere mood of the imagination; and, with this light, attenuated
+pity of his own weaving, it regards his own real sorrows. Dearest
+mother, the evening is damp and chill--do gather the bedclothes round
+me, and sit on my feet; they are so very cold and so dead, that they
+cannot be colder a week hence."
+
+"O Robert, why do you speak so?" said the poor woman, as she gathered
+the clothes round him, and sat on his feet. "You know you are coming
+home to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow!" he said--"if I see to-morrow, I shall have completed my
+twenty-fourth year--a small part, surely, of the threescore and ten; but
+what matters it when 'tis past?"
+
+"You were ever, my friend, of a melancholy temperament," I said, "and
+too little disposed to hope. Indulge in brighter views of the future,
+and all shall yet be well."
+
+"I can now hope that it shall," he said. "Yes, all shall be well with
+me--and that very soon. But, oh, how this nature of ours shrinks from
+dissolution!--yes, and all the lower natures too. You remember, mother,
+the poor starling that was killed in the room beside us? Oh, how it
+struggled with its ruthless enemy, and filled the whole place with its
+shrieks of terror and agony. And yet, poor little thing! it had been
+true, all life long, to the laws of its nature, and had no sins to
+account for, and no judge to meet. There is a shrinking of heart as I
+look before me, and yet I can hope that all shall yet be well with
+me--and that very soon. Would that I had been wise in time! Would that I
+had thought more and earlier of the things which pertain to my eternal
+peace! more of a living soul, and less of a dying name! But, oh, 'tis a
+glorious provision, through which a way of return is opened up even at
+the eleventh hour!"
+
+We sat round him in silence; an indescribable feeling of awe pervaded my
+whole mind, and his sister was affected to tears.
+
+"Margaret," he said, in a feeble voice--"Margaret, you will find my
+Bible in yonder little recess; 'tis all I have to leave you; but keep
+it, dearest sister, and use it, and, in times of sorrow and suffering
+that come to all, you will know how to prize the legacy of your poor
+brother. Many, many books do well enough for life; but there is only one
+of any value when we come to die.
+
+"You have been a voyager of late, Mr. Lindsay," he continued, "and I
+have been a voyager too. I have been journeying in darkness and
+discomfort, amid strange unearthly shapes of dread and horror, with no
+reason to direct and no will to govern. Oh, the unspeakable unhappiness
+of these wanderings!--these dreams of suspicion, and fear, and hatred,
+in which shadow and substance, the true and the false, were so wrought
+up and mingled together, that they formed but one fantastic and
+miserable whole. And, oh! the unutterable horror of every momentary
+return to a recollection of what I had been once, and a sense of what I
+had become! Oh, when I awoke amid the terrors of the night--when I
+turned me on the rustling straw, and heard the wild wail and yet wilder
+laugh--when I heard and shuddered, and then felt the demon in all his
+might coming over me, till I laughed and wailed with the others--oh the
+misery! the utter misery!--But 'tis over, my friend--'tis all over; a
+few, few tedious days, a few, few weary nights, and all my sufferings
+shall be over."
+
+I had covered my face with my hands, but the tears came bursting through
+my fingers; the mother and sister of the poet sobbed aloud.
+
+"Why sorrow for me, sirs?" he said; "why grieve for me? I am well, quite
+well, and want for nothing. But 'tis cold; oh, 'tis very cold, and the
+blood seems freezing at my heart. Ah, but there is neither pain nor cold
+where I am going, and I trust it shall be well with my soul. Dearest,
+dearest mother, I always told you it would come to this at last."
+
+The keeper had entered to intimate to us that the hour for locking up
+the cells was already past, and we now rose to leave the place. I
+stretched out my hand to my unfortunate friend; he took it in silence,
+and his thin attenuated fingers felt cold within my grasp, like those of
+a corpse. His mother stooped down to embrace him.
+
+"Oh, do not go yet, mother," he said--"do not go yet--do not leave me;
+but it must be so, and I only distress you. Pray for me, dearest mother,
+and, oh, forgive me; I have been a grief and a burden to you all
+life-long; but I ever loved you, mother; and, oh, you have been kind,
+kind and forgiving--and now your task is over. May God bless and reward
+you! Margaret, dearest Margaret, farewell!"
+
+We parted, and, as it proved, for ever. Robert Ferguson expired during
+the night; and when the keeper entered the cell next morning, to prepare
+him for quitting the asylum, all that remained of this most hapless of
+the children of genius, was a pallid and wasted corpse, that lay
+stiffening on the straw. I am now a very old man, and the feelings wear
+out; but I find that my heart is even yet susceptible of emotion, and
+that the source of tears is not yet dried up.
+
+
+
+
+THE DISASTERS
+OF JOHNNY ARMSTRONG.
+
+
+Johnny Armstrong, the hero of our tale, was, and, for aught we know to
+the contrary, still is, an inhabitant of the town of Carlisle. He was a
+stout, thickset, little man, with a round, good-humoured, ruddy
+countenance, and somewhere about fifty years of age at the period to
+which our story refers. Although possessed of a good deal of natural
+shrewdness, Johnny was, on the whole, rather a simple sort of person.
+His character, in short, was that of an honest, well-meaning,
+inoffensive man, but with parts that certainly did not shine with a very
+dazzling lustre. Johnny was, to business, an ironmonger, and had, by
+patient industry and upright dealing, acquired a small independency. He
+had stuck to the counter of his little dingy shop for upwards of twenty
+years, and used to boast that, during all that time, he had opened and
+shut his shop with his own hands every day, not even excepting one. The
+result of this steadiness and attention to business was, as has been
+already said, a competency.
+
+Fortunately for Johnny, this propensity to stick fast--which he did like
+a limpet--was natural to him. It was a part of his constitution. He had
+no desire whatever to travel, or, rather, he had a positive dislike to
+it--a dislike, indeed, which was so great that, for an entire quarter of
+a century, he had never been three miles out of Carlisle. But when
+Johnny had waxed pretty rich, somewhat corpulent, and rather oldish, he
+was suddenly struck, one fine summer afternoon, as he stood at the door
+of his shop with his hands in his breeches pockets, (a favourite
+attitude,) with an amiable and ardent desire to see certain of his
+relations who lived at Brechin, in the north of Scotland; and--there is
+no accounting for these things--on that afternoon Johnny came to the
+extraordinary resolution of paying them a visit--of performing a journey
+of upwards of a hundred miles, even as the crow flies. It was a strange
+and a desperate resolution for a man of Johnny's peculiar temperament
+and habits; but so it was. Travel he would, and travel he did. On the
+third day after the doughty determination just alluded to had been
+formed, Johnny, swathed in an ample brown greatcoat, with a red
+comforter about his neck, appeared in the stable yard of the inn where
+most of the stage coaches that passed through Carlisle put up. Of these
+there were three: one for Dumfries, one for Glasgow, and one for
+Edinburgh--the latter being Johnny's coach; for his route was by the
+metropolis. We had almost forgotten to say that Johnny, who was a
+widower, was accompanied on this occasion by his son, Johnny junior, an
+only child, whom it was his intention to take along with him. The boy
+was about fourteen years of age, and though, upon the whole, a shrewd
+enough lad for his time of life, did not promise to be a much brighter
+genius than his father. In fact he was rather lumpish.
+
+On arriving at the inn yard--it was about eight o'clock at night, and
+pretty dark, being the latter end of September--Johnny Armstrong found
+the coach apparently about to start, the horses being all yoked; but the
+vehicle happened, at the moment he entered the yard, to be in charge of
+an ostler--not of either the guard or driver, who had both gone out of
+the way for an instant. Desirous of securing a good seat for his son,
+Johnny Armstrong opened the coach door, thrust the lad in, and was about
+to follow himself, when he discovered that he had forgotten his watch.
+On making this discovery, he banged too the coach door without saying a
+word, and hurried home as fast as his little, thick, short legs would
+allow him, to recover his time-piece. On his return, which was in less
+than five minutes, Johnny himself stepped into the vehicle, which was
+now crowded with passengers, and, in a few seconds, was rattling away at
+a rapid rate towards Edinburgh. The night was pitch dark, not a star
+twinkled; and it was not until Johnny arrived at his journey's end--that
+is, at Edinburgh--that he discovered his son was not in the coach, and
+had never been there at all. We will not attempt to describe Johnny's
+amazement and distress of mind on making this most extraordinary and
+most alarming discovery. They were dreadful. In great agitation, he
+inquired at every one of the passengers if they had not seen his son,
+and one and all denied they ever had. The thing was mysterious and
+perfectly inexplicable.
+
+"I put the boy into the coach with my own hands," said Johnny Armstrong,
+in great perturbation, to the guard and half crying as he spoke.
+
+"Very odd," said the guard.
+
+"Very odd, indeed," said Johnny.
+
+"Are you sure it was _our_ coach, Mr. Armstrong?" inquired the guard.
+
+The emphasis on the word _our_ was startling. It evidently meant more
+than met the ear; and Johnny felt that it did so, and he was startled
+accordingly.
+
+"_Your_ coach?" he replied, but now with some hesitation of manner. "It
+surely was. What other coach could it be?"
+
+"Why, it may have been the Glasgow coach," said the guard; "and I rather
+think it _must_ have been. You have made a mistake, sir, be assured, and
+put the boy into the wrong coach. We start from the same place, and at
+the same hour, five minutes or so in or over."
+
+The mention of this possibility, nay certainty--for Johnny had actually
+dispatched the boy to Glasgow--instantly struck him dumb. It relieved
+him, indeed, from the misery arising from a dread of some terrible
+accident having happened the lad, but threw him into great tribulation
+as to his fate in Glasgow, without money or friends. But this being,
+after all, comparatively but a small affair, Johnny was now, what he had
+not been before, able to pay attention to minor things.
+
+"Be sae guid," said Johnny to the guard, who was on the top of the
+coach, busy unloosing packages, "as haun me doun my trunk."
+
+"No trunk of yours here, sir," said the guard. "You'll have sent it away
+to Glasgow with the boy."
+
+"No, no," replied Johnny, sadly perplexed by this new misfortune. "I
+sent it wi' the lass to the inn half an hour before I gaed mysel."
+
+"Oh, then, in that case," said the guard, "ten to one it's away to
+Dumfries, and not to Glasgow."
+
+And truly such was the fact. The girl, a fresh-caught country lass, had
+thrown it on the first coach she found, saying her master would
+immediately follow--and that happened to be the Dumfries one. Here,
+then, was Johnny safely arrived himself, indeed, at Edinburgh; but his
+son was gone to Glasgow, and his trunk to Dumfries--all with the
+greatest precision imaginable. Next day, Johnny Armstrong, being
+extremely uneasy about his boy, started for Glasgow on board of one of
+the canal passage boats; while the lad, being equally uneasy about his
+father, and, moreover, ill at ease on sundry other accounts, did
+precisely the same thing with the difference of direction--that is, he
+started for Edinburgh by a similar conveyance; and so well timed had
+each of their respective departures been, that, without knowing it, they
+passed each other exactly halfway between the two cities. On arriving at
+Glasgow, Johnny Armstrong could not, for a long while, discover any
+trace of his son; but at length succeeded in tracking him to the canal
+boat--which led him rightly to conclude that he had proceeded to
+Edinburgh. On coming to this conclusion, Johnny again started for the
+metropolis, where he safely arrived about two hours after his son had
+left it for home, whither, finding no trace of his father in Edinburgh,
+he had wisely directed his steps. Johnny Armstrong, now greatly
+distressed about the object of his paternal solicitude, whom he vainly
+sought up and down the city, at last also bent his way homewards,
+thinking, what was true, that the boy might have gone home; and there
+indeed he found him. Thus nearly a week had been spent, and that in
+almost constant travel, and Johnny found himself precisely at the point
+from which he had set out. However, in three days, after having, in the
+meantime, recovered his trunk, he again set out on his travels to
+Brechin; for his courage was not in the least abated by what had
+happened; but on this occasion unaccompanied by his son, as he would not
+again run the risk of losing him, or of exposing himself to that
+distress of mind on his account, of which he had been before a victim.
+In the case of Johnny's second progress, there was "no mistake"
+whatever, of any kind--at least at starting. Both himself and his trunk
+arrived in perfect safety, and in due time, at Edinburgh.
+
+Johnny's next route was to steam it to Kirkaldy from Newhaven. The boat
+started at six a.m.; and, having informed himself of this particular, he
+determined to be at the point of embarkation in good time. But he was
+rather late, and, on finding this, he ran every foot of the way from
+Edinburgh to the steam-boat, and was in a dreadful state of exhaustion
+when he reached it; but, by his exertions, he saved his distance,
+thereby exhibiting another proof that all is not lost that's in danger.
+An instant longer, however, and he would have been too late, for the
+vessel was just on the eve of starting. Johnny leapt on board, or rather
+was bundled on board; for Johnny, as already hinted, was in what is
+called good bodily condition--rather extra, indeed--and was, moreover,
+waxing a little stiff about the joints; so that he could not get over
+the side of the boat so cleverly as he would have done some twenty years
+before. Over and above all this, he was quite exhausted with the race
+against time which he had just run. Seeing his distressed condition, and
+that the boat was on the point of sailing, two of the hands leapt on the
+pier, when the one seizing him by the waistband of the breeches, and the
+other by the breast, they fairly pitched him into the vessel, throwing
+his trunk after him. As it was pouring rain, Johnny, on recovering his
+perpendicular, immediately descended into the cabin, and, in the next
+instant, the boat was ploughing her way through the deep. For two hours
+after he had embarked, it continued to rain without intermission; and
+for these two hours he remained snug below without stirring. At the end
+of this period, however, it cleared up a little, and, in a short while
+thereafter, became perfectly fair. Having discovered this he ascended to
+the deck, to see what was going on. The captain of the vessel was
+himself at the helm; he, therefore, sidled towards him, and, after
+making some remarks on the weather and the scenery, asked the captain,
+in the blandest and civilest tones imaginable, when he expected they
+would be at Kirkaldy. The man stared at Johnny with a look of
+astonishment, not unmingled with displeasure; but at length said--
+
+"Kirkaldy, sir! What do you mean by asking me that question? I don't
+know when _you_ expect to be at Kirkaldy, but _I_ don't expect to be
+there for a twelvemonth at least."
+
+"No!--od, that's queer!" quoth Johnny, amazed in his turn; but thinking,
+after a moment, that the captain meant to be facetious, he merely
+added--"I wad think, captain, that we wad be there much about the same
+time."
+
+"Ay, ay, may be; but, I say, none of your gammon, friend," said the
+latter, gruffly, and now getting really angry at what he conceived to be
+some attempt to play upon him, though he could not see the drift of the
+joke. "Mind your own business, friend, and I'll mind mine."
+
+This he said with an air that conveyed very plainly a hint that Johnny
+should take himself off, which, without saying any more, he accordingly
+did. Much perplexed by the captain's conduct, he now sauntered towards
+the fore part of the vessel, where he caught the engineer just as he was
+about to descend into the engine-room. Johnny tapped him gently on the
+shoulder, and the man, wiping his dripping face with a handful of tow,
+looked up to him, while Johnny, afraid to put the question, but anxious
+to know when he really would be at Kirkaldy, lowered himself down, by
+placing his hands on his knees, so as to bring his face on a level with
+the person he was addressing, and, in the mildest accents, and with a
+countenance beaming with gentleness, he popped the question in a low,
+soft whisper, as if to deprecate the man's wrath. On the fatal inquiry
+being made at him, the engineer, as the captain had done before him,
+stared at Johnny Armstrong, in amazement, for a second or two, then
+burst into a hoarse laugh, and, without vouchsafing any other reply,
+plunged down into his den.
+
+"What in a' the earth can be the meanin' o' this?" quoth Johnny to
+himself, now ten times more perplexed than ever. "What can there be in
+my simple, natural, and reasonable question, to astonish folk sae
+muckle?"
+
+This was an inquiry which Johnny might put to himself, but it was one
+which he could by no means answer. Being, however, an easy, good-natured
+man, and seeing how much offence in one instance, and subject for mirth
+in another, he had unwittingly given, by putting it, he resolved to make
+no further inquiries into the matter, but to await in patience the
+arrival of the boat at her destination--an event which he had the sense
+to perceive would be neither forwarded nor retarded by his obtaining or
+being refused the information he had desired to be possessed of. The
+boat arrived in due time at the wished-for haven, and Johnny landed with
+the other passengers; the captain giving him a wipe, as he stepped on
+the plank that was to convey him ashore, about his Kirkaldy inquiries,
+by asking him, though now in perfect good humour, if he knew the precise
+length of that celebrated town; but Johnny merely smiled and passed on.
+
+On landing, Johnny Armstrong proceeded to what had the appearance of,
+and really was, a respectable inn. Here, as it was now pretty far in the
+day, he had some dinner, and afterwards treated himself to a tumbler of
+toddy and a peep at the papers. While thus comfortably enjoying himself,
+the waiter having chanced to pop into the room, Johnny raised his eye
+from the paper he was reading, and, looking the lad in the face--
+
+"Can ye tell me, friend," he said, "when the coach for Dundee starts?"
+
+"There's no coach at all from this to Dundee, sir," replied the waiter.
+
+"No!" said Johnny, a little nonplused by this information. "That's odd."
+The waiter saw nothing odd in it.
+
+"I was told," continued Johnny, "that there were twa or three coaches
+daily from this to Dundee."
+
+"Oh, no, sir," said the lad, coolly, "you have been misinformed; but if
+you wish to go to Dundee, sir," he added--desirous of being as obliging
+as possible--"your best way is to go by steam from this to Newhaven, and
+from that cross over to Kirkaldy!!!"
+
+At this fatal word, which seemed doomed to work Johnny much wo, the
+glass which he was about to raise to his lips fell on the floor, and
+went into a thousand pieces.
+
+"Kirkaldy, laddie!" exclaimed Johnny Armstrong, with an expression of
+consternation in his face which it would require Cruikshank's art and
+skill to do justice to--"Gude hae a care o' me, is _this_ no Kirkaldy?"
+
+"Kirkaldy, sir!" replied the waiter, no less amazed than Johnny, though
+in his case it was at the absurdity of the inquiry--"oh, no, sir," with
+a smile--"this is Alloa!!!"
+
+Alloa it was, to be sure; for Johnny had taken the wrong boat, and that
+was all. On embarking, he had made no inquiries at those belonging to
+the vessel, and, of course, those in the vessel had put none to him--and
+this was the result. He was comfortably planted at Alloa, instead of
+Kirkaldy, which all our readers know lies in a very different direction;
+and this denouement also explains the captain's displeasure with his
+passenger, and the engineer's mirth. At the moment this extraordinary
+_eclaircissement_ took place between Johnny Armstrong and the waiter of
+the King's Arms, there happened to be a ship captain in the room--for it
+was the public one; and this person, who was a good-natured fellow, at
+once amused by, and pitying Johnny's dilemma, turned towards him, and
+inquired if it was his intention to go any further than Dundee.
+
+Johnny said that it was--he intended going to Brechin.
+
+"Oh, in that case," said the captain, "you had better just go with me.
+In an hour after this I sail for Montrose, which is within eight miles
+of Brechin, and I'll be very glad to give you a cast so far, and we
+shan't differ about the terms. Fine, smart little vessel mine, and, with
+a spanking breeze from the west or sou'-west, which we'll very likely
+catch about Queensferry, I'll land you in a jiffey within a trifle of
+your journey's end--a devilish sight cleverer, I warrant you, than your
+round-about way of steaming and coaching it, and at half the money too."
+
+Johnny Armstrong was all gratitude for this very opportune piece of
+kindness, and gladly closed with the offer--the captain and he taking a
+couple of additional tumblers each, on the head of it, to begin with. We
+say to begin with; for it by no means ended with the quantity named. The
+captain was a jolly dog, and loved his liquor, and was, withal, so
+facetious a companion, that he prevailed on his new friend to swallow a
+great deal more than did him any good. To tell a truth, which, however,
+we would not have known at Carlisle, Johnny Armstrong, who had the
+character of a sober man, got, on this occasion, into a rather
+discreditable condition, and, in this state, he was escorted by the
+captain--who stood liquor like a water-cask--to the vessel, and was once
+more embarked; but it was now on board the _Fifteen Sisters_ of
+Skatehaven. On getting him on board, the captain, seeing the state he
+was in, prudently bundled him down into the cabin, and thrust him into
+his own bed, where he immediately fell into a profound sleep that
+extended over twelve mortal hours. At the end of this period, however,
+Johnny awoke; but it was not by any means of his own accord, for he was
+awakened by a variety of stimulants, or _rousers_, if we may be allowed
+to coin a word for the occasion, all operating at once. These were, a
+tremendous uproar on the deck, a fearful rolling of the vessel, the
+roaring of wind, and the splashing, dashing, and gurling of waves; and,
+to crown all, a feeling of deadly sickness. When he first opened his
+eyes, he could not conceive where he was, or what was the meaning of the
+furious motion that he felt, and of the tremendous sounds that he heard.
+A few minutes' cogitation with himself, however, solved the mystery, and
+exposed to him his true position. In great alarm--for he thought the
+vessel was on the eve of going down--Johnny Armstrong rolled himself out
+of his bed, and crawled in his shirt up the cabin ladder. On gaining the
+summit, he found himself confronted by the captain, who, with a very
+serious face, was standing by the helm.
+
+"Are--are--are--we--near--Mon--trose, captain?" inquired Johnny, in a
+voice rendered so feeble by sickness and terror, that it was impossible
+to hear him a yard off, amidst the roaring of the winds and waves; for
+we suppose we need not more explicitly state, that he was in the midst
+of a storm, and as pretty a one it was as the most devoted admirer of
+the picturesque could desire to see.
+
+"What?" roared the captain, in a voice of thunder, at the same time
+stooping down to catch his feeble interrogatory. Johnny repeated it;
+but, ere he could obtain an answer, a raking wave, which came in at the
+stern, took him full on the breast as he stood on the companion ladder,
+with his bust just above the level of the deck, sent him down, heels
+over head, into the cabin, and, in a twinkling, buried him in a foot and
+a half of water on the floor, where he lay for some time at full length,
+sprawling and floundering amidst the wreck which the sudden and violent
+influx of water had occasioned. On recovering from the stunning effects
+of his descent--for he had, amongst other small matters, received a
+violent contusion on the head--Johnny for an instant imagined that he
+had somehow or other got to the bottom of the sea. Finding, however, at
+length, that this was not precisely the case, he arose, though dripping
+with wet, yet not very like a sea god, and having denuded himself of his
+only garment, his shirt, crawled into his bed, where he now determined
+to await quietly and patiently the fate that might be intended for him;
+and this fate, he had no doubt, was suffocation by drowning.
+
+"Very extraordinar this," said Johnny Armstrong to himself, as he lay
+musing in bed on the perilous situation into which he had so simply and
+innocently got--"very extraordinar, that I couldna get the length o'
+Brechin without a' this uproar, and confusion, and difficulty, and
+danger; this knocking about frae place to place, half drooned and half
+murdered. Here have I been now for mair than a week at it, and it's my
+opinion I'm no twenty mile nearer't yet than I was, for a' this kick up.
+Dear me," he went on soliloquizing, "I'm sure Brechin's no sic an out o'
+the way place. The road's straught, and the distance no great. Then,
+how, in the name o' wonder, is it that I canna mak' it out like ither
+folk, let me do as I like?"
+
+Thus cogitated Johnny Armstrong as he lay on his bed of sickness,
+sorrow, and danger. But his cogitations could in no way mend the matter,
+nor, though they could, was he long permitted to indulge in them; for
+that mortal sickness under which he had been before suffering, but which
+the little incident of the visit from the wave, with its consequences,
+had temporarily banished, again returned with tenfold vigour, making him
+regardless of all sublunary things--even of life itself. In this state
+of supineness and suffering did Johnny lie for three entire days and
+nights--for so long did the storm continue with unabated fury--the
+vessel having, for some four-and-twenty hours previously, been quite
+unmanageable, and driving at the mercy of the winds and waves. A
+dreadful crash, however, at length announced that some horrible crisis
+was at hand. The vessel had struck, and, in a few seconds more, she was
+in a thousand pieces, and her unfortunate crew, including Johnny
+Armstrong, were struggling in the waves. From this instant he lost all
+consciousness; and, when he again awoke to life, he found himself lying
+on the sea-beach; but how he had come there he never could tell, nor
+could he at all conjecture by what accident his life had been saved,
+when all the rest in the ill-fated vessel had perished; for Johnny was
+indeed the only person that had escaped. On coming to himself he started
+to his feet, and gazed around him, with a bewildered look, to see if any
+object would present itself that might help him to guess where he was.
+But his survey affording him no such aid to recognition, he began to
+move inland, in the hope of meeting with somebody who could give him
+the information desired; and in this he was not disappointed, that is,
+he did meet somebody; but the appearance of that somebody surprised
+Johnny "pretty considerably." He had a high-crowned hat on, such as
+Johnny had never seen in his life before; an enormous pair of breeches;
+and a pipe a yard long in his mouth. His _tout ensemble_, in short, was
+exceeding strange in Johnny Armstrong's eyes. Nevertheless, he accosted
+him.
+
+"Can ye tell me, freen, how far I may be frae Brechin?" he inquired.
+
+The stranger shook his head, but made no reply.
+
+"I'm sayin', freen," repeated Johnny, in a louder tone, thinking that
+his friend, as he called him, might possibly be dull of hearing, "can ye
+tell me if I'm onything near Brechin?"
+
+The stranger again shook his head, but still said nothing. Johnny was
+confounded. At length, however, after puffing away for some seconds with
+a suddenly-increased energy, he slowly withdrew his pipe from his mouth,
+and delivered himself of what sounded to Johnny's ears very much like
+this, spoken with great rapidity.
+
+"Futra butara rap a ruara dutera muttera purra murra footra den,
+Preekin, humph."
+
+Of this Johnny of course could make nothing, no more than the reader
+can, further than recognising in the word "Preekin" a resemblance to the
+name of the town he so anxiously inquired after; and he was sorely
+perplexed thereat. Neither could he at all comprehend what sort of a
+being he had fallen in with.
+
+"I dinna understan' a word o' what ye say, freen," at length said
+Johnny, staring hard at the stranger with open mouth.
+
+"Umph!" said the latter; and he again withdrew his pipe from his mouth,
+and again sent a volley of his "dutera mutteras" about Johnny's ears,
+to precisely the same purpose as before.
+
+Finding that it was of no use making any further attempt at
+conversation, Johnny passed on, not doubting that he had met either with
+a _dummy_ or a madman. But what was Johnny's amazement when, shortly
+afterwards, meeting a woman, whose dress, in its own way, was equally
+odd and strange with that of the person he had just left, he was
+answered (that is, to his queries again about Brechin), in the same
+gibberish in which the former had responded to him.
+
+"What can be the meanin' o' this?" said Johnny to himself, in great
+perplexity of mind, as he jogged on, after leaving the lady in the same
+unsatisfactory way as he had left the gentleman. "Whar in a' the earth
+can I hae gotten to, that naebody I meet wi' can understan' a word o'
+plain English, or can speak themsels onything like an intelligible
+language?"
+
+He now began to think that he had probably got into the Highlands; but,
+although this supposition might account for the strangeness of the
+language he had heard, it would not, he perceived, tally very well with
+the enormous breeches which the gentleman he had met with wore, and
+which he had seen from a distance others wearing, knowing, as he did
+very well, that the national dress of the Highlanders was the kilt, of
+which the trousers in question were the very antipodes. There was
+another circumstance, too, that appeared to Johnny at variance with his
+first conjecture, namely, that he might have got into the Highlands.
+Where he was there were no high lands, not an eminence the height of a
+mole-hill. On the contrary, the whole country, as far as his eye could
+reach, seemed one vast plain. Though greatly puzzled by these
+reflections, Johnny jogged on, and his progress at length brought him to
+a respectable-looking farm-house.
+
+"'Od," said Johnny, "I'll surely get a mouthfu' o' sense frae somebody
+here, an' fin' out whar I am."
+
+In this Johnny certainly did succeed; but not much to his comfort, as
+the sequel will show. The first person he addressed, on approaching the
+house, was a little girl, who, when he spoke, stared at him in the
+greatest amazement, then rushed screaming into the house. This
+proceeding brought out several young men and women, to whom Johnny now
+addressed himself; but the only answer he obtained was a stare of
+astonishment similar to the child's, and then a general burst of
+laughter. At length one of the girls went into the house and brought out
+a jolly-looking elderly man, who, from certain parts of his dress,
+seemed to be in the seafaring way.
+
+"Vell, mine freend, vat you vant?" said this person, who spoke broken
+English--"vere you come from?"
+
+"I cam last frae Alloa," said Johnny, "and I want to ken, sir, if I'm
+onything near to Brechin?"
+
+"Preekin! Vere dat?"
+
+"'Od, I thocht everbody in Scotland kent that," said Johnny, smiling.
+
+"Ah! maybe Scotlan', mine freend, but no Hollands," replied he of the
+broken English.
+
+"I dinna ken whether they ken't it in Holland or no," said Johnny,
+"that's a country I'm no in the least acquaint wi'; but I'm sure it's
+weel aneuch kent in Scotland."
+
+"Ah! maybe Scotlan', but no Hollands, my freend," repeated the man,
+smiling in his turn; "but you vas in Hollands."
+
+"Never in my life," said Johnny, earnestly.
+
+"No, no," replied the man, impatiently, "you vas no in Hollands--but you
+vas in Hollands."
+
+Johnny could make nothing of this; but it was soon cleared up by the
+person adding, "You vas in Hollands _now_--dis moment."
+
+We will not even attempt to describe Johnny's amazement, horror, and
+consternation, on this announcement being made to him, for we feel how
+vain it would be, and how far short any idea we could convey would be of
+the reality.
+
+"Holland!" said Johnny. "Heaven hae a care o' me! Ye surely dinna mean
+to say that I'm in Holland the noo?"
+
+"To be sure I vas," said the Dutchman, smiling at Johnny's ludicrous
+perturbation. "Mine Got, did you not know you vas in Hollands? Vere you
+come from, in all de vorlds, you not know dat?"
+
+"I tell't ye already," replied Johnny, with a most rueful countenance,
+"that I cam last frae Alloa. But ye're surely no in earnest, freen," he
+added, in a desperate hope that it might, after all, be but a joke,
+"when ye say that I'm in Holland?"
+
+"Ah! sure earneest--no doubt--true," said the Dutchman, now laughing
+outright at Johnny's perplexity.
+
+As in the former case, we presume we need not be more explicit in saying
+that Johnny had actually been wrecked on the coast of Holland.
+
+"Weel, weel," said the Brechin voyager, with an air expressive of more
+calmness and resignation than might have been expected, "this does cowe
+the gowan! How, in Heaven's name, am I ever to fin' my way hame again?
+Little did I think I was ever to be landed this way amang savages."
+
+Johnny Armstrong, it will be here observed, could have been no great
+reader--otherwise, he never would have applied the term savages to so
+decent, industrious, and civilized a people as the Dutch. The Dutchman,
+who was a kind, good-natured fellow--taking no offence whatever at
+Johnny's unbecoming expression, because probably he did not understand
+it, and compassionating his situation--now invited him into the house,
+where Johnny, having succeeded in conveying to the whole household,
+through the medium of the speaker of broken English, the story of his
+misfortunes, was treated with much hospitality. With these kind people
+Johnny Armstrong remained for about a week--for they would not allow him
+to go sooner--when, having entirely recovered from the effects of his
+sea voyage and shipwreck, he proceeded to Rotterdam; being accompanied
+and assisted in all his movements by his benevolent host, Dunder Vander
+Dunder, of Slootzsloykin. On arriving at Rotterdam, a passage was
+engaged for Johnny on board one of the Leith packets, or regular
+traders, in which he was next day snugly deposited; and, in an hour
+after, he was again braving the dangers of the ocean. For some time all
+went on well on this occasion with him, and he was beginning to feel
+comfortable, and even happy, from the prospect of being soon again in
+his native land, and from the superior accommodations of the vessel in
+which he was embarked--far surpassing, as they did, those of the
+unfortunate _Sisters_ of Skatehaven. His present ship was, in truth, a
+remarkably fine one, and altogether seemed well adapted for encountering
+the elements. The weather, too, was moderate, and the wind fair; so that
+a quick and pleasant passage was confidently anticipated by all on
+board, including Johnny Armstrong. All these agreeable circumstances
+combined, made him feel extremely comfortable and happy; and, in the
+exuberance of his feelings, and from the exciting sense of having at
+length triumphed over his misfortunes--it might almost be said his
+fate--Johnny even began to joke and laugh with those whom he found
+willing to joke and laugh with him. It was while in this happy frame of
+mind, and as he stood luxuriously leaning over the bulwark of the
+vessel, that the captain suddenly espied a little, smart, cutter-looking
+craft, sailing exactly in the same course with themselves, and
+evidently endeavouring to make up with them.
+
+"What can the folk be wantin'?" quoth Johnny Armstrong, taking an
+interest in the approaching barge. His question was one which nobody
+could answer. In the meantime, the little vessel, moving with great
+velocity, was fast nearing them, when the captain, now convinced that
+those in her desired to have some communication with him, arrested his
+own vessel's way, and awaited their coming. In a very few minutes, the
+little cutter was alongside, and two men leapt from her to the deck of
+the packet, when one of them, approaching the captain, told him that
+they were messengers, that they had a warrant against John Jones, a
+native of Britain, for debt, and that they had reason to believe he was
+in the vessel. The captain said he did not believe he had any such
+passenger on board, but informed them that they were perfectly at
+liberty to search the ship. During this conversation, the other officer
+kept his eye fixed on Johnny Armstrong, and when rejoined by his
+comrade, seemed to inform him--for their language was not
+understood--that there was something about that person well worthy of
+his attention. They now both looked at Johnny, and appeared both
+convinced that he was a fit subject for further inquiry. Accordingly one
+of them addressed him:--
+
+"Your name vas John Jones, mynheer?"
+
+"No, sir," said Johnny; "my name's John Armstrong."
+
+"Ah, a small shange--dat is all. You vas John, and he vas John, and you
+be both John togidder; so, you must come to de shore wid us."
+
+"Catch me there, lads," quoth Johnny. "The deil a shore I'll gang to,
+please Providence, but Leith shore. Na, na; I've had aneuch o' this
+wark, and I'm determined to bring't till an' end noo."
+
+"Donner and blitzen!" shouted out one of the men, passionately, "but
+you must go!"--at the same time seizing Johnny by the collar, and
+drawing a pistol from his bosom.
+
+In utter amazement at this extraordinary treatment, Johnny Armstrong
+imploringly called on the captain and the other passengers for
+protection; but, as none of them were in the least acquainted with him,
+and therefore did not know whether he was John Jones or not, they all
+declined interfering--the captain saying that it would be more than his
+ship and situation were worth to aid any one in resisting the laws of
+the country--that he could not, dare not do it. His appeals, therefore,
+to those around him being vain, he was eventually bundled into the
+cutter and conveyed on shore, placed in a temporary place of confinement
+for the night, and next day carried before a magistrate to be
+identified. To effect this, several witnesses were called, when one and
+all of them, after examining Johnny pretty narrowly, pronounced, to the
+great disappointment of the officers who had apprehended him, that he
+was _not_ the man! They, however, asserted that the resemblance between
+the real and supposed John Jones was very remarkable. On the discovery
+being made that the prisoner was not Jones, the magistrate apologized to
+Johnny in the most polite terms for the trouble he had been put to, and
+expressed great regret for the mistake of the officers; but said that,
+as the witnesses had stated there was a strong resemblance--an
+unfortunate one, he must call it--between him and the real defaulter,
+and seeing, moreover, that they were both natives of Britain, the
+officers were perfectly justified in doing what they had done, however
+much the hardship of the case might be matter of regret. The magistrate
+having thus delivered himself, Johnny Armstrong was dismissed with great
+civility, and wished, by all present, safe home to his own country--a
+wish in which he most heartily concurred, but which seemed to him more
+easily entertained than gratified. On regaining his liberty, the first
+thing he did was to endeavour to find out when the next ship sailed for
+Scotland; he having, of course, lost that in which he had first
+embarked, and, to his great consternation and dismay, learned that there
+would be no vessel for a fortnight. This was sad intelligence to Johnny;
+for, to add to his other distresses, his funds were now waxing low, and
+he felt that it would require the utmost economy to enable him to spin
+out the time and leave sufficient to pay his passage to his native land.
+This economy he could very easily have practised at home, for he had a
+natural tendency that way; but he did not know how to set about it in a
+foreign country. His unhappiness and anxiety, therefore, on this point
+were very great. In this dilemma, he bethought him of again seeking out
+and quartering on his friend Vander Dunder, of Slootzsloykin, till the
+vessel should sail; but not having, of course, a word of Dutch, he could
+make no inquiries on the subject of his route, or indeed of anything
+regarding his friend at all. This idea, therefore, he ultimately
+abandoned, principally through a fear that he should, by some mistake,
+be despatched upon a wrong scent, a species of disaster to which he was
+now so sensitively alive, that he would neither turn to the right nor to
+the left without having made himself perfectly sure that he was about to
+take the right course; and, as to conveyances of all kinds, of which he
+now entertained an especial suspicion, he had prudently determined that
+he would know every particular about them and their destinations before
+he would put a foot in one of them, for he had found, from dear-bought
+experience, that if he did not take this precaution, the chance was that
+he would never reach the place he desired to get at, and might be
+whisked away to some unknown country, where he would never more be heard
+of.
+
+Under this wholesome terror, Johnny made no attempt to find out his
+friend Vander Dunder; but chance effected, in part at least, what his
+limited knowledge of Dutch put it out of his power, with set purpose, to
+accomplish. On turning the corner of a street, who should he have the
+good fortune to meet with but Vander Dunder. The astonishment of the
+good Dutchman on seeing Johnny was great, so great, indeed, as to
+overcome the natural phlegm of his constitution. Holding up his hands in
+amazement--
+
+"Mine Got, my freend! are you shipwrack agen?" he exclaimed.
+
+"No, no," quoth Johnny--"bad aneuch, but no just sae bad as that." And
+he proceeded to inform his friend of the real state of the case.
+
+The good-natured Dutchman was shocked at the recital, and felt ten times
+more than ever for Johnny's unhappy situation and complicated
+misfortunes. When he had concluded his affecting story--
+
+"I tell you what you do, mine goot freend," said Vander Dunder--"you go
+vith me to Slootzsloykin, and you remain vith me dere till your ship
+sail. You do dat, mine goot freend."
+
+"Wi' a' my heart," said Johnny, "and muckle obleeged to ye for yer
+kindness."
+
+"No, no--no obleege at all," replied the kind-hearted Dutchman,
+impatiently. "Yo do the same to me in your coontry if I was shipwrack
+and in misfortune, and put to trooble for an innocent thief."
+
+"Aweel, maybe I wad; but, nevertheless, its kind o' you to offer me the
+shelter o' yer roof," replied Johnny.
+
+Dunder Vander Dunder now took his friend into a tavern, and treated him
+to a glass of schnaps. Shortly thereafter the two embarked in a canal
+boat for Slootzsloykin, where they finally arrived in safety. Here
+Johnny met with the same kind treatment as before; and of that kindness
+there was no abatement during the whole fortnight of his sojourn. At the
+end of this period, Johnny Armstrong once more set out for Rotterdam, on
+the day previous to the sailing of the vessel in which he now hoped to
+reach his native land, without further molestation or interruption. And,
+certainly, everything had the appearance of going right on this
+occasion. The vessel, with Johnny on board, sailed at the appointed
+time, and, before embarking, he had read distinctly on the ticket--a
+large black board, with yellow letters, which was fastened to the
+shrouds--that she was bound for Leith, and was the identical vessel he
+had had in his eye. So far as this went, there could be no mistake
+whatever. There was, indeed, one little circumstance that startled
+Johnny, but which he had not discovered till the vessel had been some
+time at sea. This was, that all the crew were Dutchmen, there not being
+a Scotchman amongst them. The circumstance did not, indeed, greatly
+alarm Johnny, but he certainly did think it a little odd; for he
+naturally expected that, as she was a Leith vessel, her crew would be,
+for the most part, at any rate, natives of Britain. However, he made no
+remarks on the subject, thinking it, as it really was, a matter of
+perfect indifference whether they were Scotchmen or Dutchmen. There were
+two or three passengers in the vessel besides himself; but they were all
+foreigners too, so that he could hold no converse with any of them; and
+thus debarred from intercourse with his fellow voyagers, he sat by
+himself, gazing from the deck of the vessel on the waste of waters with
+which he was surrounded, and musing on the strange series of mishaps of
+which he had so simply and innocently become the victim. It was while
+thus employed--the vessel having been now a good many hours at sea, and
+at the moment scudding away before a fine fresh breeze--that the captain
+approached Johnny, and in very polite and civil terms, demanded his
+passage money. As he spoke in Dutch, however, the latter did not
+understand him. The captain observing this, and now guessing what
+countryman he was, addressed him in very good English, and in that
+language repeated his demand. With this demand, Johnny instantly
+complied; and, finding that he was a civil, good-natured fellow, began
+to open up a little conversation with him. His first remark was, that he
+hoped they would have good weather. The captain hoped so too. His second
+remark was, that they had a fine breeze. The captain agreed with
+him--said it was a delightful breeze--and added that, if it continued to
+blow as it then blew for four-and-twenty hours, he expected they would
+be all safe at _Rouen_!
+
+"At whar?" shouted out Johnny, looking aghast at the speaker.
+
+"At Rouen, to be sure," repeated the captain, wondering at Johnny's
+amazement.
+
+"Gude's mercy!" exclaimed Johnny, with dreadful energy, "are ye no gaun
+to Leith?--is this no a Leith boat?"
+
+"Oh, no," said the captain smiling; "this is the Rouen packet. Were ye
+not aware of that, sir? You have got into a sad scrape, my friend, if
+you were not," he added, and now laughing outright at the dismal
+expression of Johnny's countenance.
+
+"Heaven hae a care o' me!" said Johnny despairingly. "Did I no read
+distinctly on the ticket that was fastened to yer shroods, that ye were
+bound for Leith?"
+
+"Yes, yes," replied the captain, "you may have seen such a ticket as you
+speak of, and there was certainly such a ticket on our shrouds as you
+say, but it did not refer to this ship, but to the vessel outside of us.
+We allowed the board to be exhibited on our shrouds merely to
+accommodate our neighbour, as it could not be read from his--he being on
+the outside, and we next the quay. That, my friend, is a piece of
+civility very commonly practised at seaports by one vessel to another,
+when similarly situated as we and they were. You will see it at all
+quays and wharfs."
+
+Johnny Armstrong groaned, but said nothing. At length, however, he
+muttered, in a tone of Christian-like resignation--
+
+"The Lord's will be dune! I see it's settled that I am never to get hame
+again; but to be keepit gaun frae place to place ower the face o' the
+earth, like anither wanderin' Jew. Gude hae a care o' me, but this is
+awfu'! Its judgment like."
+
+It certainly was very remarkable, but not in the least mysterious. This
+new mistake of Johnny, like all the rest, was a perfectly simple
+occurrence; and, like them, too, arose as plainly and naturally out of
+circumstances as it was possible for any effect to do from a cause. But,
+however, this may be, the captain--although he could not help laughing
+at the awkward predicament of his passenger--really felt for him, seeing
+the distress he was in, and was so much influenced by this feeling as to
+offer to convey him back to Rotterdam, to which, he said, he would
+return in two days, free of any charge; adding, with a smile, and with
+the kind intention of reconciling Johnny to what could not now be
+helped, that it was nothing, after all--that it would make a difference
+of only a few days--and that it would be always showing him a little
+more of the world.
+
+"Mony thanks to ye," said Johnny, perceiving and appreciating the
+friendly purpose of the captain; "and I'll e'en tak advantage o' yer
+kind offer; but as to seein' the world, by my faith, I've seen now about
+just as muckle o't as I want to see, and maybe a trifle mair--a hantle
+mair, at ony rate, than I ever expected to see." Then, in a
+soliloquizing tone and manner--"God keep me, whar's Brechin noo! A' that
+I wanted, and a' that I intended, was to get to that bit paltry place;
+and, instead o' that, here am I within a stane-cast o' the north pole,
+for aught I ken to the contrar, and, to a' appearances, no half dune
+wi't yet. Heaven kens whar I'll be sent niest!--maybe be landed on
+Owhyhee, or on some desert island, like another Robinson Crusoe. Na,
+it's certain, if things gang on muckle langer this way."
+
+Of the drift or scope of these remarks, or, at any rate, of the feelings
+that dictated them, the captain could make nothing, not knowing Johnny's
+precise circumstances; nor did he seek to have them explained, but
+contented himself with repeating his offer of conveying Johnny back to
+Rotterdam, and renewing his well-meant efforts to reconcile him to his
+fate, in so far as his present voyage was concerned. In the meantime,
+the wind continued to blow in a manner perfectly satisfactory in every
+respect to all on board the _Jungfrau_ of Rotterdam and Rouen; and, in
+about the space of time mentioned by the captain, the vessel reached her
+destination in safety. Johnny Armstrong, whose whole mind was absorbed
+by anxiety to reach that home which he yet seemed destined never again
+to see, took no interest whatever in the scenes presented to him in the
+part of the world he was now in. Indeed, he never left the vessel at
+all, for fear she would slip through his fingers; for, if he was afraid
+of accidents of this kind before, he was ten times more so now; and,
+with this fear upon him, that the packet might, by some chance or other,
+escape him, he determined to stick by her--never to lose sight of her
+for a moment, till she had conveyed him back to Rotterdam; and his
+vigilance ultimately secured the end he had in view. The _Jungfrau_
+sailed from Rouen with Johnny on board, and, in due time, deposited him
+once more at Rotterdam. But what was Johnny's surprise, what Dunder
+Vander Dunder's amazement, when they again encountered one another, and
+that within ten minutes of the former's landing! The amazement of the
+latter, however, was, on this occasion, evidently mingled with a degree
+of suspicion of the perfect uprightness of Johnny's character. He began
+now to think, in short, that there had been more in the circumstance of
+Johnny's apprehension than he had been informed of. He did not like
+these frequent reappearances; he thought them very odd--and he did not
+hesitate to say so.
+
+"Mine Got! vat you here again for, man? Vat is de meaning of all dis,
+mine goot freend?" he exclaimed, with a somewhat dry and doubtful
+manner, quite at variance with the cordial tone of his former greetings.
+
+Johnny Armstrong explained to him, but seemingly without obtaining
+implicit credence for all he said. When he had done--
+
+"'Tis veree odd," said Vander Dunder, coldly; "veree straunge. But, you
+really vant to go to Scotlan, dere is vessel going to sail for Leet now,
+and I vill see you on board mineself."
+
+It was very questionable whether Vander's civility, in this case,
+proceeded from a desire really to serve Johnny, or from a wish to get
+fairly rid of him. However this might be, Johnny readily accepted his
+offer, and at once accompanied him to the vessel he alluded to, which
+was, indeed, on the point of sailing. Vander, taking care that there
+should be no mistake in this case, conducted him down into the cabin,
+and waited on the quay till he saw the vessel fairly under weigh.
+
+Having brought the disasters of Johnny Armstrong to this point, we
+proceed now to finish what we assure our readers, is an "ower true
+tale."
+
+As we were strolling down the pier of Leith, with a friend, one
+afternoon in the year 18--, we saw a vessel making for the harbour. It
+was high water, and the scene altogether was a very pleasing and a very
+stirring one. But, amongst the various objects of interest that
+presented themselves, there was none that attracted so much of our
+attention as the stately vessel that, with outspread canvas, was rapidly
+nearing the pier. We asked a seaman who stood beside us, where she was
+from. He replied--"Rotterdam."
+
+On approaching the pier, the vessel shortened sail, and, by this
+process, enabled us deliberately to scan her decks from our elevated
+position, as she glided gently along with us. During this scrutiny, we
+observed amongst the passengers a stout little man in a brown greatcoat,
+with a large red comforter about his neck, and his hat secured on his
+head--for it was blowing pretty hard--by a blue pocket-handkerchief,
+which was passed beneath his chin, and gave him, in a very particular
+manner, the peculiar air of a traveller or _vóyageur_. There was nothing
+whatever in the appearance of the little man in the brown greatcoat
+which would have led any one to suppose, _à priori_, that there possibly
+could be anything remarkable or extraordinary in his history; but I was
+induced suddenly to change my opinion, or at least to take some interest
+in him, by my friend's exclaiming, in the utmost amazement, and, at the
+same time, pointing to him with the red comforter--
+
+"Gracious Heaven, if there is not Johnny Armstrong! Or it is his ghost!"
+
+"No ghost at all, we warrant you," said we; "ghosts do not generally
+wear greatcoats and red comforters. But who in all the world is Johnny
+Armstrong?"
+
+"Johnny Armstrong," replied our friend, greatly excited, "is a person, a
+particular acquaintance of mine, who has been missing these six weeks;
+and who was supposed, by everybody who knew him, to have perished by
+some accident or other, but of what nature could never be ascertained,
+on his way to Brechin, where he had gone to visit some relations."
+
+We felt interested in Johnny, by this brief sketch of his mysterious
+story; and, not a little curious to know where on earth he could
+possibly have been all the time, we readily closed with our friend's
+proposal to run round to the berth for which we saw the vessel was
+making, and to await his coming on shore.
+
+"But how, in all the world," said our friend, communing with himself
+during this interval, "has he got into a vessel from Rotterdam? He could
+not have been there, surely? It's impossible."
+
+As to this we could say nothing, not knowing at the time anything at all
+of Johnny's adventures; but of these we were not now long kept in
+ignorance. On his stepping on shore, our friend seized him joyously by
+the hand, and expressed great satisfaction at seeing him again. This
+satisfaction appeared to be mutual; for Johnny returned his friend's
+grasp with great cordiality and warmth. The first salutations over--
+
+"But where on all the earth, Mr. Armstrong," said our friend, "have you
+been for these three months back?"
+
+Johnny smiled, and said it was "ower lang a tale" to tell where we then
+were; but, as he meant to stop either in Leith or Edinburgh for the
+night, it being now pretty far in the evening, if my friend and I would
+adjourn with him to some respectable house, where he could get a night's
+quarters, he would give us the whole story of his adventures. With this
+proposal we readily closed; and on Johnny asking if we could point out
+such a house as he alluded to, we at once named the New Ship Tavern.
+Thither we accordingly repaired; and, in less than two hours thereafter,
+we were put, good reader, in possession, by Johnny himself, of that part
+of his story to which the preceding pages have been devoted. What
+follows--for Johnny's misfortunes had not yet terminated--we learned
+afterwards from another quarter.
+
+On the next day--we mean the day succeeding the evening we spent with
+Johnny--the latter proceeded to Edinburgh, with the view of taking
+coach there for Carlisle. But, in making his way up Catherine Street,
+and when precisely opposite No. 12, Calton Street--we like to be
+particular--Johnny found himself suddenly accosted by one of his oldest
+and most intimate friends. This was a Mr. James Stevenson, a
+fellow-townsman and fellow-shopkeeper of his own.
+
+The astonishment of the latter, on meeting with Johnny, and, indeed, of
+finding him at all in the land of the living, was very great; and he
+sufficiently expressed this feeling by the lively and highly excited
+manner in which he addressed him.
+
+Having put the usual queries, with that air of intense interest which
+they naturally excited, as to where Johnny had been, what he had been
+about, &c. &c., and having obtained a brief sketch of his adventures,
+with the promise of a fuller one afterwards, Mr. Stevenson, in reply,
+asked Johnny what course he was now steering.
+
+"Hame, to be sure," said Johnny, with a smile. "It's time noo, I
+think--I'm just sae far on my way to tak' oot a ticket for the coach."
+
+"Ye needna do that unless ye like," replied Johnny's friend. "Ye may
+save your siller, and no be abune an hour langer tarried, by takin' a
+seat wi' me in the gig I hae in wi' me. I'm sure ye're welcome, and I'll
+be blythe o' your company."
+
+"Hae ye a gig in wi' ye?" said Johnny, looking pleased by the
+intelligence.
+
+"'Deed hae I, Mr. Armstrong, and ye'll just clink down beside me in't."
+
+"I'll do that wi' great thankfu'ness," replied Johnny, "and muckle
+obleeged by the offer."
+
+The friends now walked away, arm in arm together; and in about two hours
+afterwards--Mr. Stevenson having, in the meantime, despatched what
+business he had to do in the city--they were both, seated in the gig,
+and birring it on merrily towards Carlisle.
+
+Neither Mr. Stevenson nor Johnny, however, were great whips--a
+deficiency which was by no means compensated for by the circumstance of
+their having a rather spirited horse, although blind of an eye. He was,
+in truth, a very troublesome animal; boggling and shying at everything
+that presented itself to his solitary optic. Notwithstanding this, the
+travellers got on very well for a time, and were whirling over the
+ground at a rapid rate, when an unlucky cart of hay came in their way at
+a narrow turn of the road. How this simple occurrence should have
+operated so unfavourably as it did for them, we shall explain.
+
+A cart of hay is not a very alarming object to rational creatures like
+ourselves, but to the one-eyed horse of the travellers it appeared a
+very serious affair; for it had no sooner presented itself to his
+solitary organ of vision than he pricked up his ears, snorted furiously,
+and began to exhibit sundry other symptoms of disquietude. By dint,
+however, of some well-directed punishment from Jamie Stevenson's whip,
+which Johnny increased by an energetic application of his stick, the
+restive animal was brought _up_ to the waggon of hay; but, for some
+time, the inducements just mentioned failed to prevail on him to _pass_
+it.
+
+At length, however, Johnny having added greatly to the vigour of his
+blows with his stick, and his neighbour to that of his strokes with the
+whip, the horse _did_ pass the waggon, and that with a vengeance. Taking
+heart, or rather becoming desperate, he bolted past it with the rapidity
+of a cannon shot; and not only this, but when he had cleared it,
+continued the velocity of his movements with unabated energy, to the
+great discomfort and no small terror of both Johnny and his companion,
+who now found themselves going at a rate which they had neither
+anticipated nor desired. Indeed, this was so very great that both
+directly saw that something was wrong. Both saw, in short, what was,
+indeed, too true, that the horse had fairly run away with them; for he
+was now going like the wind, with fury and distraction in his looks. It
+was a shocking and most dreadfully alarming affair; and so Johnny and
+his friend felt it to be, as might be distinctly seen by their
+horror-stricken faces.
+
+On discovering the predicament they were in, both the travellers--the
+one dropping his whip, and the other his stick--seized on the reins, and
+began pulling with all their might, in the desperate hope of checking
+the animal's speed by main force; Johnny, in his terror, exclaiming the
+while, distractedly--
+
+"Mair o't yet, mair o't yet! Lord have a care o' me, but this is awfu'!
+This is waur than onything I hae met wi' yet. Waur than the _Fifteen
+Sisters_, Dutchmen, and a'. God be wi' us! are my misfortunes never to
+hae an end, till they hae finished me outricht? Am I never to get safe
+to either ae place or anither?--either to hame or to Brechin? Surely ane
+o' them might be permitted to me. O, Jamie, see hoo he's gaun! He doesna
+seem to fin' us at his hurdies, nae mair than if we war a pair o'
+preencushions."
+
+This was true enough. The horse in his fury did not indeed seem to feel
+either them or the vehicle they were seated in, but pushed madly
+onwards, till he came to where the road divided itself into two distinct
+roads--the one being the right one, and the other, of course, the
+wrong--when, as if inspired by Johnny's evil genius, he at once took the
+latter, and in little more than twenty minutes, had him and his friend
+fully half as many miles out of their way. Now, however, the catastrophe
+was to be wound up. A milestone caught one of the wheels of the gig,
+canted it over, and threw Johnny sprawling on the road with a broken
+leg; his friend, although also thrown, escaping wholly unhurt.
+
+"Aweel, here it's at last," said Johnny, sitting up in the mud amongst
+which he had been planted, and fully believing that his injuries were
+fatal. "Here it's at last. I'm clean dune for noo, after a' my escapes.
+It may be noo plainly seen, I think," he went on, "that some evil spirit
+has had me in its power, for these six weeks past at ony rate, and has
+been gowfin' me about the world like a fitba', to kill me wi' a gig at
+last."
+
+Luckily, Johnny's injuries did not prove so serious as he had feared
+they would do; and no less fortunate was it that the accident to which
+they were owing happened not far from a small country town in which
+there was a resident surgeon. To the latter place Johnny was immediately
+removed on a temporary bier, hastily constructed for the purpose by some
+labouring men who chanced to be near the spot where the accident
+happened, and there he lay for six entire weeks, when the surgeon above
+alluded to, and who had attended him all that time, intimated to him
+that he might now venture to return home. Delighted with the
+intelligence, Johnny instantly acted on it, and next day entered
+Carlisle triumphantly in a post-chaise--not looking, nor really being,
+after all, much the worse for his unprecedented adventures, save and
+except a lameness in the injured limb, which ever after imparted to his
+movements the graceful up-and-down motion produced by that peculiar
+longitudinal proportion of the nether limbs, designated by the
+descriptive definition of "a short leg and a shorter." Having, with this
+last occurrence, concluded the story of Johnny's disasters, we have only
+to add that Johnny has never, to this good hour, got the length of
+Brechin--nor will, he says, ever again make the attempt.
+
+
+
+
+THE PROFESSOR'S TALES.[4]
+THE MOUNTAIN STORM.
+
+[4] The author of these stories (to be continued), the well-known
+Professor Thomas Gillespie, was one of the principal writers in
+_Blackwood_ during the "storm and stress" period of that magazine. As an
+author, his peculiarity consisted in vivid descriptions of scenery and
+incidents coming within the range of a very eccentric experience, all
+given with a versatility and _abandon_ which he could not restrain, and
+which, being the reflex of a poetical enthusiasm, formed the charm of
+his writings.--_Ed._
+
+
+Packman _loquitur_.--For several days the wind had been easterly, with
+an intense frost. At last, however, the weather subsided into a calm and
+dense fog, under which, at mid-day, it was difficult to find one's way
+amidst those mountain tracks along which, in general, my route lay. The
+grass and heath were absolutely loaded with hoar-frost. My cheeks became
+encompassed by a powdered covering; my breath was intensely visible, and
+floated and lingered about my face with an oppressive and almost
+suffocating density. No sun, moon, or star had appeared for upwards of
+forty-eight hours; when, according to my preconcerted plan, I reached
+the farm town of Burnfoot. I was now in the centre of Queensberry Hills,
+the most notable sheep-pasturage in the south of Scotland. It was about
+three o'clock of the fifteenth day of January, when, under a cheerful
+welcome from the guidwife, I rested my pack (for, be it known, I belong
+to this class of peripatetic merchants) upon the meal ark, disengaged my
+arms from the leather straps by which the pack was suspended from my
+shoulders, and proceeded to light my pipe at the blazing peat-fire.
+Refreshments, such as are best suited to the _packman's drouth_, were
+soon and amply supplied, and I had the happiness of seeing my old
+acquaintances (for I visited Burnfoot twice a year, on my going and
+coming from Glasgow to Manchester) drop _in_ from their several
+avocations, one after another, and all truly rejoiced to behold my face,
+and still more delighted to inspect the treasure and the wonders of "the
+pack." At last the guidman himself suspended his plaid from the mid-door
+head, put off his shoes and leggings, assumed his slippers, along with
+his prescriptive seat at the head or upper end of the lang-settle. The
+guidwife, returning _butt_ from bedding the youngest of some half-score
+of children, welcomed her husband with a look of the most genuine
+affection. She put a little creepie stool under his feet, felt that his
+clothes were not wet, scolded the dogs to a respectful distance, and
+inspired the peats into a double blaze. The oldest daughter, now "woman
+grown," sat combing the hoar-frost from her raven locks, and looking out
+from beneath beautifully arched and bushy eyebrows upon the interesting
+addition which had been made to the meal-ark. Some half-a-score of
+healthy lads and lasses occupied the bench ayont the fire, o'er-canopied
+by sheep-skins, aprons, stockings, and footless hose. The dogs, after
+various and somewhat noisy differences had been adjusted, fell into
+order and position around the hearth, enjoying the warmth, and licking,
+peacefully and carefully, the wet from their sides. The cat, by this
+time, had made a returning motion from the cupboard head, from which she
+had been watching the arrangements and movements beneath. As this
+appeared to "Help" to be an infringement of the terms of armistice and
+of the frontier laws, he sprang with eagerness over the hearth. Pussy,
+finding it dangerous, under this sudden and somewhat unexpected
+movement, "_dare terga_," instantly drew up her whole body into an
+attitude not only of defence, but defiance; curving herself into a
+bristling crescent, with the head of a dragon attached to it, and, with
+one horrid hiss and sputter, compelled Help first to hesitate and then
+to retreat.
+
+   "Three paces back the youth retired,
+      And saved himself from harm."
+
+The guidwife, however,--who seemed not unaccustomed to such
+demonstrations, and who manifestly acted on the humane principle of
+assisting the weaker by assailing the stronger combatant--gave Help such
+demonstrations of her intentions, as at once reduced matters to the
+_status quo ante bellum_. (I have as good a right to scholarship as my
+brother packman, Plato, who carried oil to Egypt.) Thus peace and good
+order being restored, the treasures of my burden became an immediate and
+a universal subject of inquiry. I was compelled, nothing loath, to
+unstrap my various packages, and disclose to view all the varied
+treasures of the spindle and loom. Shawls were spread out into enormous
+display, with central, and corner, and border ornaments, the most
+amazing and the most fashionable; waistcoat pieces of every stripe and
+figure, from the straight line to the circle, of every hue and colouring
+which the rainbow exhibits, were unfolded in the presence and under the
+scrutinizing thumb of many purchasers. The guidwife herself half coaxed
+and half scolded a fine remnant of Flanders lace, of most tempting
+aspect, out of the guidman's reluctant pocket. The very dogs seemed
+anxious to be accommodated, and applied their noses to some unopened
+bales, with a knowing look of inquiry. Things were proceeding in this
+manner, when the door opened, and there entered a young man of the most
+prepossessing appearance; in fact, what Burns terms a "strapping youth."
+I could observe that, at his entrance, the daughter's eye (of whom I
+have formerly made mention) immediately kindled into an expression of
+the most universal kindness and benevolence. Hitherto she had taken but
+a limited interest in what was going on; but now she became the most
+prominent figure in the group--whilst the mother dusted a chair for the
+welcome stranger with her apron, and the guidman welcomed him with a--
+
+"Come awa, Willie Wilson, an' tak a seat. The nicht's gay dark an'
+dreary. I wonder how ye cleared the Whitstane Cleugh and the Side Scaur,
+man, on sic an eerie nicht."
+
+"Indeed," responded the stranger, casting a look, in the meantime,
+towards the guidman's buxom, and, indeed, lovely daughter--"indeed, it's
+an unco fearfu' nicht--sic a mist and sic a cauld I hae seldom if ever
+encountered; but I dinna ken hoo it was--I coulda rest at hame till I
+had tellt ye a' the news o' the last Langhom market."
+
+"Ay, ay," interrupted the guidwife; "the last Langhom market, man, is an
+auld tale noo, I trow. Na, na, yer mither's son camna here on sic a
+nicht, and at sic an hour, on sic an unmeaning errand"--finishing her
+sentence, however, by a whisper into Willie's ear, which brought a
+deeper red into his cheek, and seemed to operate in a similar manner on
+the apparently deeply engaged daughter.
+
+"But, Watty," continued my fair purchaser, "you _must_ give me this
+Bible a little cheaper--it's ower dear, man--heard ever onybody o' five
+white shillings gien for a Bible, and it only a New Testament, after
+a'?--it's baith a sin an' a shame, Watty."
+
+After some suitable reluctance, I was on the point of reducing the price
+by a single sixpence, when Willie Wilson advanced towards the pack, and
+at once taking up the book and the conversation--
+
+"Ower dear, Jessie, my dear!--it's the word o' God, ye ken--his ain
+precious word; and I'll e'en mak ye a present o' the book at Watty's ain
+price. Ye ken he maun live, as we a' do, by his trade."
+
+The money was instantly paid down from a purse pretty will filled; for
+William Wilson was the son of a wealthy and much respected sheep-farmer
+in the neighbourhood, and had had his name _once_ called in the kirk,
+along with that of "Janet Harkness of Burnfoot, both in this parish."
+
+"Hoot noo, bairns," rejoined the mother; "ye're baith wrang--that Bible
+winna do ava. Ye maun hae a big ha' Bible to take the buik wi', and
+worship the God o' yer fathers nicht and morning, as they hae dune afore
+ye; and Watty will bring ye ane frae Glasgow the next time he comes
+roun'; and it will, maybe, be usefu', ye ken, in _anither way_."
+
+"Tout, mither, wi' yer nonsense," interrupted the conscious bride; "I
+never liked to see my name and age marked and pointed out to onybody on
+oor muckle Bible; sae just haud yer tongue, mither, and tak a present
+frae William and _me_," added she, blushing deeply, "o' that big printed
+Testament. The minister, ye ken, seldom meddles wi' the auld Bible,
+unless it be a bit o' the Psalms; and yer een noo are no sae gleg as
+they were whan ye were married to my father there."
+
+The father, overcome by this well-timed and well-directed evidence of
+goodness, piety, and filial affection, rose from his seat on the
+long-settle, and, with tears in his eyes, pronounced a most fervent
+benediction over the shoulders of his child.
+
+"O God in heaven, bless and preserve my dear Jessie!" said he--his
+child's tears now falling fast and faster. "Oh, may the God of thy
+fathers make thee happy--thee and thine--him there and his!--and when
+thy mother's grey hairs and mine are laid and hid in the dust, mayest
+thou have children, such as thy fond and dutiful self, to bless and
+comfort, to rejoice and support thy heart!"
+
+There was not, by this time, a dry eye in the family; and, as a painful
+silence was on the point of succeeding to this outbreaking of nature,
+the venerable parent slowly and deliberately took down the big ha' Bible
+from its bole in the wall, and, placing it on the lang-settle table, he
+proceeded to family worship with the usual solemn prefatory
+annunciation--"Let us worship God."
+
+Love, filial affection, and piety--what a noble, what a beautiful
+triumvirate! By means of these, Scotland has rendered herself
+comparatively great, independent, and happy. These are the graces which,
+in beautiful union, have protected her liberties, sweetened her
+enjoyments, and exalted her head amongst the nations, and which, over
+all, have cast an expression and a feature irresistibly winning and
+nationally characteristic. It is over such scenes as the kitchen
+fireside of Burnfoot now presented, that the soul hovers with
+ever-awakening and ever-intenser delight; that even amidst the coldness,
+and unconcern, and irreligion of an iron age, the mind, at least at
+intervals, is redeemed into ecstasy, and feels, in spite of habit, and
+example, and deadened apprehensions, that there is a beauty in pure and
+virgin love, a depth in genuine and spontaneous filial regard, and an
+impulse in communion with Him that is most high, which, even when taken
+separately, are hallowing, sacred, and elevating; but which, when
+blended and softened down into one great and leading feature, prove
+incontestably that man is, in his origin and unalloyed nature, but a
+little lower than the angels.
+
+Such was the aspect of matters in this sequestered and sanctified
+dwelling, when the house seemed, all at once, to be smitten, like Job's,
+at the four corners. The soot fell in showers into the grate; the
+rafters creaked; the dust descended; every door in the house rattled on
+its sneck and hinges; and the very dogs sprung at once from their
+slumbers and barked. There was something so awful in the suddenness and
+violence of the commotion, that the prayer was abruptly and suddenly
+brought to a conclusion.
+
+"Ay, fearfu', sirs!" were John Harkness' first words when springing to
+his feet; "but there's an awfu' nicht. Open the outer door, Jamie, and
+let us see what it is like." The outer door was opened; but the drift
+burst in with such a suffocating swirl, that a strong lad who
+encountered it, reeled and gasped for breath.
+
+"The hogs!" exclaimed the guidman, "and the gimmers!--where did ye leave
+them, Jamie?"
+
+"In Capleslacks," was the answer, "by east the Dod. The wind has set in
+frae the nor'-east, and fifty score o' sheep, if this continue, will
+never see the mornin'."
+
+But what was to be done?
+
+    "The wind blew as 'twould blawn its last,"
+
+and the whole atmosphere was one almost solid wreath of penetrating
+snow; when you thrust forth your hand into the open air, it was as if
+you had perforated an iceberg. Burnfoot stands at the convergence of two
+mountain glens, adown one of which the tempest came as from a
+funnel--collected, compressed, irresistible. There was a momentary look
+of suspense--every one eying the rest with an expression of indecision
+and utter helplessness. The young couple, by some law of affinity, stood
+together in a corner. The shepherd lads, with Jamie Hogg at their head,
+were employed in adjusting plaids to their persons. The guidman had
+already resumed his leggings, and the dogs were all exceedingly
+excited--amazed at this unexpected movement, but perfectly resolved to
+do their duty.
+
+"Jamie," said the guidman, "you and I will try to mak oor way by the
+Head Scaur to Capleyetts, where the main hirsel was left; and Will, Tam,
+and Geordie will see after the hogs and gimmers ayont the Dod."
+
+"I, too," exclaimed a voice from the corner, over which, however, a fair
+hand was pressed, and which was therefore but indistinctly heard--"I
+will--(canna ye let me speak, Jessie!)--I will not, I shall not be left
+behind--I will accompany the guidman, and do what I can to seek and to
+save."
+
+"Indeed and indeed, my dear William, ye can do nae guid--ye dinna ken
+the grun' like my faither; and there's mony a kittle step forbye the
+Head Scaur; and, the Lord be wi' us! on sic a nicht too." So saying, she
+clasped her betrothed firmly around the neck, and absolutely compelled
+him to relinquish his purpose. Having gained this one object, the fair
+and affectionate bride rushed across the room to her father, and falling
+down on her knees, grasped him by the legs, and exclaimed--
+
+"O mither, mither! come and help me--come and help me! faither, my dear
+faither, let Jamie Hogg gang, and the rest; they are young, ye ken, and
+as weel acquant as yersel' wi' the ly o' the glens! but this is no a
+nicht for the faither o' a family to risk his life to save his
+substance. O faither, faither! I am soon, ye ken, to leave you and bonny
+Burnfoot--grant me, oh, grant me this one, this last request!"
+
+The mother sat all this while wringing her hands and exclaiming--
+
+"Ay, ay, Jenny, get him to stay, get him to stay!"
+
+The father answered not a word, but, making a sign to Hogg, and
+whistling on Help, and at the same time kissing his _now_ all but
+fainting child, he rushed out of the door (as Mrs. Harkness said) "like
+a fey man," and he and his companion, with a suitable accompaniment of
+dogs, were almost instantly invisible. The three other lads, suitably
+armed and accompanied, followed the example set to them, and the
+guidwife, the two lovers, five or six younger branches, and the female
+servants of the family, with myself, remained at home in a state of
+anxiety and suspense which can be better conceived than expressed.
+
+    "The varnished clock that clicked behind the door,"
+
+with a force and a stroke loud and painful in the extreme, struck first
+ten, then eleven, then twelve; but there was no return. Again and again
+were voices heard commingling with the tempest's rush; again and again
+did the outer door seem to move backwards on its hinges; but nothing
+entered save the shrill pipe of the blast, accompanied by the comminuted
+drift, which penetrated through every seam and cranny. This state of
+uncertainty was awful; even the ascertained reality of death, partial or
+universal, had perhaps less of soul-benumbing cold in it than this
+inconceivable suspense. It required Willie Wilson's utmost efforts and
+mine to keep the frantic woman from madly rushing into the drift; and
+the voice of lamentation was sad and loud amongst the children and the
+servant lasses--each of the latter class lamented, indeed, the fate of
+all, but there was always an under prayer offered up for the safety of
+Geordie, or Will, or Jamie, in particular. At last the three lads who
+had encompassed the Dod arrived--alive, indeed, but almost breathless
+and frozen to death. They had, however, surmounted incredible
+difficulties, and had succeeded in placing their hirsel in a position of
+comparative security; but where were Jamie Hogg and the guidman? The
+violence of the storm had nothing abated, the snow was every moment
+accumulating, and the danger and difficulty increasing tenfold. Spirits,
+heat, and friction gradually restored the three lads to their senses,
+and to the kind attentions of their several favourites of the female
+order; but _there_ sat the mother and the daughter, whilst the father
+was either, in all probability, dead or dying. The very thought was
+distracting; and, accordingly, the young bride, now turning to her lover
+with a look of inexpressible anguish, exclaimed--
+
+"O Willie! my ain dear Willie, ye maun gang, after a', ye maun gang this
+instant," (Willie was on his feet and plaided whilst yet the sentence
+was unfinished,) "and try to rescue my dear, dear faither from this
+awfu' and untimely end; but tak care, oh tak care o' the big Scaur, and
+keep far west by Caplecleuch, and maybe ye'll meet them coming back that
+way." These last words were lost in the drift, whilst Willie Wilson,
+with his faithful follower, Rover, were penetrating, and flouncing, and
+floundering their way towards the place pointed out.
+
+In about half an hour after this, the howl and scratch of a dog were
+heard at the door-back, and Help immediately rushed in, the welcome
+forerunner of his master and Hogg. They had, indeed, had a fearful
+struggle, and fearful wanderings; but, in endeavouring to avoid the
+dangerous, because precipitous, Head Scaur, they had wandered from the
+track, and from the object of their travel; and, after having been
+inclined once or twice to lie down and take a rest (the deceitful
+messenger of death), they had at last got upon the track of Caple Water;
+and, by keeping to its windings--which they had often traced at the risk
+of being drowned--they had at last weathered the old cham'er, the byre,
+and peat-stack, and were now, thank God! within "bigget wa's."
+
+But where, alas! was Willie Wilson? Him, in consequence of their
+deviations, they had missed; and over him, thus exposed, the tempest was
+still renewing at intervals its hurricane gusts. There was one scream
+heard, such as would have penetrated the heart of a tiger, and all was
+still. There she lay, the beauteous, but now marble bride; her head
+reposing on her mother's lap, her lips pale as the snowdrop, her eyes
+fixed and soulless, her cheek without a tint, and her mouth half-open
+and breathless. Long, long was the withdrawment--again and again was the
+dram-glass applied to the mouth, to catch the first expiration of
+returning breath--ere the frame began to quiver, the hands to move, the
+lips and cheeks to colour, and the eyes to indicate the approaching
+return to reason and perception.
+
+"I have killed him! I have killed him!" were the first frantic accents.
+"I have murdered, murdered my dear Willie! It was me that sent
+him--forced him--compelled him out--out into the drift--the cold, cold
+drift. Away!" added the maniac--"away! I'll go after him--I'll perish
+with him--where he lies, there will I lie, and there will I be buried.
+What! is there none of ye that will make an effort to save a
+perishing--a choking--oh, my God! a suffocating man?"
+
+Hereupon she again sank backwards, and was prevented from falling by the
+arms of a father.
+
+"O my child!" said parental love and affection--"O my dear wean!--oh, be
+patient!--God is guid--He has preserved _us_ all--He will not desert
+_him_ in the hour of his need--He neither slumbers nor sleeps--His hand
+is not shortened that He cannot save--and what He can, He will--He never
+deserted any that trusted in Him. O my child! my bairn!--my
+first-born!--be patient--be patient. There--there--there is a scratch at
+the door-back--it is Rover."
+
+And to be sure Rover it was--but Rover in despair. His faithful
+companion and friend only entered the house to solicit immediate aid--he
+ran round and round, looking up into the face of every one with an
+expression of the most imploring anxiety. The poor frantic girl sprung
+from her father's embrace, and clung to the neck of the well-known
+cur--she absolutely kissed him--(oh, to what will not love, omnipotent,
+virtuous love, descend!)--then rising, in renewed recollection, she sat
+herself down on the long-settle beside her father, and burst into loud
+and passionate grief.
+
+It was now manifest to all that something must be attempted, else the
+young farmer must perish. Hogg, though awfully exhausted, was the first
+to volunteer a new excursion. The whole band were at once on their
+feet; but Jessie now clung to her father, as she had formerly done to
+her lover, and would not let him go--indeed, the guidman was in no
+danger of putting his purpose into effect, for he could scarcely stand
+on his feet. He sat, or rather fell down, consequently, beside his
+daughter, and continued in constant prayer and supplication at the
+throne of grace. The daughter listened, and said she was comforted--the
+voyagers were again on their way--the tempest had somewhat abated--the
+moon had once or twice shone out--and there was now a greater chance of
+success in their undertaking.
+
+How we all contrived to exist during an interval of about two hours, I
+cannot say; but this I know, that the endurance of this second trial was
+worse than the first, to all but the sweet bride herself. Her mind had
+now taken a more calm and religious view of the case. She repeated, at
+intervals and pauses in her father's ejaculatory prayer--
+
+"Yes--oh, yes--_His_ will--His holy will be done! The Lord giveth and
+the Lord taketh away--blessed be the name of the Lord for ever! We shall
+meet again--oh, yes--where the weary are at rest.
+
+   'A few short years of evil past,
+      We reach the happy shore
+    Where death-divided friends at last
+      Shall meet, to part no more.'
+
+O father, is not that a gracious saying, and worthy of all acceptation!"
+
+At length the door opened, and in walked William Wilson.
+
+The reader need scarcely to be told that the sagacious dog had left his
+master floundered, and unable to extricate himself in a snow wreath;
+that the same faithful guide had taken the searchers to the spot, where
+they found Wilson just in the act of falling into a sleep--from which,
+indeed, but for the providential sagacity of his dog, he had never
+wakened; and that, by means of some spirits which they had taken in a
+bottle, they completely restored and conducted him home.
+
+    "Lives there one with soul so dead"
+
+as not now to image the happy meeting betwixt bride and bridegroom, and,
+above all, the influence which this trial had upon the happiness and
+religious character of their future married and prosperous lot?
+
+It is, indeed, long since I have laid aside the pack--to which, after a
+good education, I had taken, from a wandering propensity--and taken up
+my residence in the flourishing village of Thornhill, Dumfriesshire;
+living, at first, on the profits of my shop, and now retired on my
+little, but, to me, ample competency; but I still have great pleasure in
+paying a yearly visit to my friends of Mitchelslacks, and in recalling
+with them, over a comfortable meal, the interesting incidents of the
+snow storm 1794.
+
+
+
+
+THE FAIR MAID OF CELLARDYKES.
+
+
+I did not like the idea of having all the specimens of the fine arts in
+Europe collected into one "bonne bouche" at the Louvre. It was like
+collecting, while a boy, a handful of strawberries, and devouring them
+at one indiscriminating gulp. I do not like floral exhibitions, for the
+same reason. I had rather a thousand times meet my old and my new
+friends in my solitary walks, or in my country rambles. All museums in
+this way confound and bewilder me; and had the Turk not been master of
+Greece, I should have preferred a view of the Elgin marbles in the land
+of their nativity. And it is for a similar reason that my mind still
+reverts, with a kind of dreamy delight, to the time when I viewed
+mankind in detail, and in all their individual and natural
+peculiarities, rather than _en masse_, and in one regimental uniform.
+Educate up! Educate up! Invent machinery--discover agencies--saddle
+nature with the panniers of labour--and, at last, stand alongside of
+her, clothed, from the peasant to the prince, in the wonders of her
+manufacture, and merrily whistling, in idle unconcern, to the tune of
+her unerring despatch! But what have we gained? One mass of
+similarities: the housemaid, the housekeeper, the lady, and the
+princess, speaking the same language, clothed in the same habiliments,
+and enjoying the same immunities from corporeal labour--the colours of
+the rainbow whirled and blended into one glare of white! Towards this
+_ultimatum_ we are now fast hastening. Where is the shepherd
+stocking-weaver, with his wires and his fingers moving invisibly? Where
+the "wee and the muckle wheel," with the aged dames, in pletted toys,
+singing "Tarry woo?" Where the hodden-grey clad patriarch, sitting in
+the midst of his family, and mixing familiarly, and in perfect equality
+with all the household--servant and child? My heart constantly warms to
+these recollections; and I feel as if wandering over a landscape
+variegated by pleasant and contrasting colouring, and overshadowed with
+associations which have long been a part of myself. One exception to the
+general progression and assimilation still happily remains to gratify, I
+must confess, my liking for things as they were. The fisher population
+of Newhaven, Buckhaven, and Cellardykes--(my observation extends no
+farther, and I limit my remarks accordingly)--are, in fact, the Scottish
+highlanders, the Irish, the Welsh, and the Manks of Fisherdom. Differing
+each somewhat from the other, they are united by one common bond of
+character--they are varieties of the same animal--the different species
+under one genus. I like this. I am always in high spirits when I pass
+through a fishing village or a fisher street. No accumulation of filth
+in every hue--of shell, and gill, and fish-tail--can disgust me. I even
+smell a sweet savour from their empty baskets, as they exhale themselves
+dry in the sunbeam. And then there is a hue of robust health over all.
+No mincing of matters. Female arms and legs of the true Tuscan
+order--cheeks and chins where neither the rose nor the bone has been
+stinted. Children of the dub and the mire--all agog in demi-nudity, and
+following nature most vociferously. Snug, comfortable cabins, where
+garish day makes no unhandsome inquiries, and where rousing fires and
+plentiful meals abide from June to January. They have a language, too,
+of their own--the true Mucklebacket dialect; and freely and firmly do
+they throw from them censure, praise, or ribaldry. The men are here but
+men; mere human machines--useful, but not ornamental--necessary
+incumbrances rather than valuable protectors. "Poor creature!" says Meg
+of the Mucklebacket, "she canna maintain a man." Sir Walter saw through
+the character I am labouring to describe; and, in one sentence, put life
+and identity into it. I know he was exceedingly fond of conversing with
+fisherwomen in particular. But, whilst such are the general features,
+each locality I have mentioned has its distinctive lineaments. The
+Newhaven fisherwoman (for the man is unknown) is a bundle of snug
+comfort. Her body, her dress, her countenance, her basket, her voice,
+all partake of the same character of _enbonpointness_. Yet there is
+nothing at all untidy about her. She may ensconce her large limbs in
+more plaiden coverings than the gravedigger in "Hamlet" had waistcoats,
+but still she moves without constraint; and under a burden which would
+press my lady's waiting-maid to the carpet, she moves free, firm,
+elastic. Her tongue is not labour-logged, her feet are not
+creel-retarded; but, altogether unconscious of the presence of hundreds,
+she holds on her way and her discourse as if she were a caravan in the
+desert. She is to be found in every street and alley of Auld Reekie,
+till her work is accomplished. Her voice of call is exceedingly musical,
+and sounds sweetly in the ears of the infirm and bedrid. All night long
+she holds her stand close by the theatre, with her broad knife and her
+opened oyster. In vain does the young spark endeavour to engage her in
+licentious talk. He soon discovers that, wherever her feelings or
+affections tend, they do not point in his favour. Thus, loaded with
+pence, and primed with gin, she returns by midnight to her home--there
+to share a supper-pint with her man and her neighbours, and to prepare,
+by deep repose, for the duties of a new day. Far happier and far more
+useful she, in her day and generation, than that thing of fashion which
+men call a beau or a belle--in whose labours no one rejoices, and in
+whose bosom no sentiment but self finds a place. In Buckhaven, again,
+the Salique law prevails. There men are men, and women mere appendages.
+The sea department is here all in all. The women, indeed, crawl a little
+way, and through a few deserted fields, into the surrounding country;
+but the man drives the cart, and the cart carries the fish; and the fish
+are found in all the larger inland towns eastward. Cellardykes is a
+mixture of the two--a kind of William and Mary government, where, side
+by side, at the same cart, and not unfrequently in the same boat, are to
+be found man and woman, lad and lass. Oh, it is a pretty sight to see
+the Cellardyke fishers leaving the coast for the herring-fishing in the
+north! I witnessed it some years ago, as I passed to Edinburgh; and this
+year I witnessed it again.
+
+Meeting and conversing with my old friend the minister of the parish of
+Kilrenny, we laid us down on the sunny slope of the brae facing the east
+and the Isle of May, whilst he gave me the following narrative:--
+
+Thomas Laing and Sarah Black were born and brought up under the same
+roof--namely, that double-storied tenement which stands somewhat by
+itself, overlooking the harbour. They entered by the same outer door,
+but occupied each a separate story. Thomas Laing was always a stout,
+hardy, fearless boy, better acquainted with every boat on the station
+than with his single questions, and far fonder of little Sarah's company
+than of the schoolmaster's. Sarah was likewise a healthy, stirring
+child, extremely sensitive and easily offended, but capable, at the same
+time, of the deepest feelings of gratitude and attachment. Thomas Laing
+was, in fact, her champion, her Don Quixote, from the time when he could
+square his arms and manage his fists; and much mischief and obloquy did
+he suffer among his companions on account of his chivalrous defence of
+little Sally. One day whilst the fisher boys and girls were playing on
+the pier, whilst the tide was at the full, a mischievous boy, wishing to
+annoy Thomas, pushed little Sall into the harbour, where, but for
+Thomas's timely and skilful aid (for he was an excellent swimmer,) she
+would probably have been drowned. Having placed his favourite in a
+condition and place of safety, Tom felled the offender, with a terrible
+fister, to the earth. The blow had taken place on the pit of the
+stomach, and was mortal. Tom was taken up, imprisoned, and tried for
+manslaughter; but, on account of his youth--being then only thirteen--he
+was merely imprisoned for a certain number of months. Poor Sally, on
+whose account Tom had incurred the punishment of the law, visited him,
+as did many good-natured fishermen, whilst in prison, where he always
+expressed extreme contrition for his rashness. After the expiry of his
+imprisonment, Tom returned to Cellardykes, only to take farewell of his
+parents, and his now more than ever dear Sally. He could not bear, he
+said, to face the parents of the boy whose death he had occasioned. The
+parting was momentary. He promised to spend one night at home; but he
+had no such intention--and, for several years, nobody knew what had
+become of Thomas Laing. The subject was at first a speculation, then a
+wonder, next an occasional recollection; and, in a few months, the place
+which once knew bold Tom Laing, knew him no more. Even his parents,
+engaged as they were in the active pursuits of fishing, and surrounded
+as they were by a large and dependent family, soon learned to forget
+him. One bosom alone retained the image of Tom, more faithfully and
+indelibly than ever did coin the impression of royalty. Meanwhile, Sarah
+grew--for she was a year older than Tom--into womanhood, and fairly took
+her share in all the more laborious parts of a fisher's life. She could
+row a boat, carry a creel, or drive a cart with the best of them; and,
+whilst her frame was thus hardened, her limbs acquired a consistency and
+proportion which bespoke the buxom woman rather than the bonny lass. Her
+eye, however, was large and brown, and her lips had that variety of
+expression which lips only can exhibit. Many a jolly fisher wished and
+attempted to press these lips to his; but was always repulsed. She
+neither spoke of her Thomas, nor did she grieve for him much in secret;
+but her heart revolted from a union with any other person whilst Thomas
+might still be alive. Upon a person differently situated, the passion
+(for passion assuredly it was) which she entertained for her absent
+lover, might and would have produced very different effects. Had Sarah
+been a young boarding-school miss, she would assuredly either have
+eloped with another, or have died in a madhouse; had she been a
+sentimental sprig of gentility, consumption must have followed: but
+Sarah was neither of these. She had a heart to feel, and deeply too; but
+she knew that labour was her destiny, and that when "want came in at the
+door, love escapes by the window." So she just laboured, laughed, ate,
+drank, and slept, very much like other people. Yet few sailors came to
+the place whom she did not question about Thomas; and many a time and
+oft did she retire to the rocks of a Sabbath eve, to think of and pray
+for Thomas Laing. People imagine, from the free and open mariner, and
+talk of the fisherwomen, that they are all or generally people of
+doubtful morality. Never was there a greater mistake. To the public in
+general they are inaccessible; they almost universally intermarry with
+one another; and there are fewer cases (said my reverend informant) of
+public or sessional reproof in Cellardykes, than in any other district
+of my parish. But, from the precarious and somewhat solitary nature of
+their employment, they are exceedingly superstitious; and I had access
+to know, that many a sly sixpence passed from Sally's pocket into old
+Effie the wise woman's, with the view of having the cards cut and cups
+read for poor Thomas.
+
+Time, however, passed on--with time came, but did not pass misfortune.
+Sally's father, who had long been addicted, at intervals, to hard
+drinking, was found one morning dead at the bottom of a cliff, over
+which, in returning home inebriated, he had tumbled. There were now
+three sisters, all below twelve, to provide for, and Sally's mother had
+long been almost bedrid with severe and chronic rheumatism;
+consequently, the burden of supporting this helpless family devolved
+upon Sarah, who was now in the bloom and in the strength of her
+womanhood. Instead of sitting down, however, to lament what could not be
+helped, Sarah immediately redoubled her diligence. She even learned to
+row a boat as well as a man, and contrived, by the help of the men her
+father used to employ, to keep his boat still going. Things prospered
+with her for a while; but, in a sudden storm, wherein five boats
+perished with all on board, she lost her whole resources. They are a
+high-minded people those Cellardyke fishers. The Blacks scorned to come
+upon the session. The young girls salted herrings, and cried haddocks in
+small baskets through the village and the adjoining burghs, and Sarah
+contrived still to keep up a cart for country service. Meanwhile, Sarah
+became the object of attention through the whole neighbourhood. Though
+somewhat larger in feature and limb than the Venus de Medicis, she was,
+notwithstanding, tight, clean, and sunny--her skin white as snow, and
+her frame a well-proportioned Doric--just such a help-mate as a husband
+who has to rough it through life might be disposed to select. Captain
+William M'Guffock, or, as he was commonly called, Big Bill, was the
+commander of a coasting craft, and a man of considerable substance.
+True, he was considerably older than Sally, and a widower, but he had no
+family, and a "bien house to bide in." You see that manse-looking
+tenement there, on the broad head towards the east--that was Captain
+M'Guffock's residence when his seafaring avocations did not demand his
+presence elsewhere. Well, Bill came acourting to Sally; but Sally
+"looked asclent and unco skeich." Someway or other, whenever she thought
+of matrimony--which she did occasionally--she at the same time thought
+of Thomas Laing, and, as she expressed it, her heart _scunnered_ at the
+thought. Consequently, Bill made little progress in his courtship; which
+was likewise liable to be interrupted, for weeks at a time, by his
+professional voyages. At last a letter arrived from on board a king's
+vessel, then lying in Leith Roads, apprising Thomas Laing's relatives
+that he had died of fever on the West India station. This news affected
+Sally more than anything which had hitherto happened to her. She shut
+herself up for two hours in her mother's bedroom, weeping aloud and
+bitterly, exclaiming, from time to time--"Oh! my Thomas!--my own dearest
+Thomas! I shall never love man again. I am thine in life and in
+death--in time and in eternity!" In vain did the poor bedrid woman try
+to comfort her daughter. Nature had her way; and, in less than three
+hours, Sarah Black was again in the streets, following, with a confused
+but a cheerful look, her ordinary occupation. This grief of Sarah's, had
+it been well nursed, might well have lasted a twelvemonth; but, luckily
+for Sarah, and for the labouring classes in general, she had not time to
+nurse her grief to keep it warm. "Give us this day our daily bread,"
+said a poor helpless mother and three somewhat dependent sisters--and
+Sarah's exertions were redoubled.
+
+"Oh, what a feelingless woman!" said Mrs. Paterson to me, as Sarah
+passed her door one day in my presence, absolutely singing--"Oh, what a
+feelingless woman!--and her father dead, and her mother bedrid, and poor
+Thomas Laing, whom she made such a fuss about, gone too--and there is
+she, absolutely singing after all!"
+
+Mrs. Paterson is now Mrs. Robson, having married her second husband just
+six weeks after the death of the first, whom her improper conduct and
+unhappy temper contributed first to render miserable here, and at last
+to convey to the churchyard! Verily (added the worthy clergyman), the
+heart is deceitful above all things. But what, after all, could poor
+Sarah do, but marry Will M'Guffock, and thus amply provide, not only for
+herself, but for her mother and sister? Had Thomas (and her heart heaved
+at the thought) still been alive, she thought, she never would have
+brought herself to think of it in earnest; but now that Thomas had long
+ceased to think of her or of anything earthly, why should she not make a
+man happy who seemed distractedly in love with her, and at the same time
+honourably provide for her poor and dependent relatives? In the
+meantime, the sacramental occasion came round, and I had a private
+meeting previous to the first communion with Sarah Black. To me, in
+secret, she laid open her whole heart as if in the presence of her God;
+and I found her, though not a well-informed Christian by any means on
+doctrinal points, yet well disposed and exceedingly humble; in short, I
+had great pleasure in putting a token into her hand, at which she
+continued to look for an instant, and then returned it to me. I
+expressed surprise, at least by my looks. "I fear," said she, "that I am
+_unworthy_; for I have not told you that I am thinking of marrying a man
+whom I cannot love, merely to provide for our family. Is not this a
+sin?--and can I, with an intention of doing what I know to be wrong,
+safely communicate?" I assured her that, instead of thinking it a sin, I
+thought her resolution commendable, particularly as the object of her
+real affection was beyond its reach; and I mention the circumstance to
+show that there is often much honour, and even delicacy of feeling,
+natural as well as religious, under very uncongenial circumstances and
+appearances. Having satisfied her mind on this subject, I had the
+pleasure to see her at the communion table, conducting herself with much
+seeming seriousness of spirit. I could see her shed tears, and formed
+the very best opinion of her from her conduct throughout.
+
+In a few days or weeks after this, the proclamation lines were put into
+my hands, and I had the pleasure of uniting her to Captain M'Guffock in
+due course. They had, however, only been married a few weeks, when an
+occurrence of a very awkward character threw her and her husband, who
+was, in fact, an ill-tempered, passionate man, into much perplexity. The
+captain was absent on a coasting voyage, as usual; and his wife was
+superintending the washing of some clothes, whilst the sun was setting.
+It was a lovely evening in the month of July, and the fishing boats were
+spread out all over the mouth of the Firth, from the East Neuk to the
+Isle of May, in the same manner in which you see them at present. Mrs.
+M'Guffock's mind assumed, notwithstanding the glorious scenery around
+her, a serious cast, for she could not help recalling many such evenings
+in which she had rejoiced in company and in unison with her beloved
+Thomas. She felt and knew that it was wrong to indulge such emotions;
+but she could not help it. At last, altogether overcome, she threw
+herself forward on the green turf, and prayed audibly--"O my God, give
+me strength and grace to forget my own truly beloved Thomas! Alas! he
+knows not the struggles which I have to exclude him from my sinful
+meditations. Even suppose he were again to arise from the dead, and
+appear in all the reality of his youthful being, I must, and would fly
+from him as from my most dangerous foe." She lifted up her eyes in the
+twilight, and in the next instant felt herself in the arms of a powerful
+person, who pressed her in silence to his breast. Amazed and bewildered,
+she neither screamed nor fainted, but, putting his eager kisses aside,
+calmly inquired who he was who dared thus to insult her. She had no
+sooner pronounced the inquiry, than she heard the words, "Thomas--your
+own Thomas!" pronounced in tones which could not be mistaken. This,
+indeed, overpowered her; and, with a scream of agony, she sank down dead
+on the earth. This brought immediate assistance; but she was found lying
+by herself, and talking wildly about her Thomas Laing. Everybody who
+heard her concluded that she had either actually seen her lover's ghost,
+or that her mind had given way under the pressure of regret for her
+marriage, and that she was now actually a lunatic. For twelve hours she
+continued to evince the most manifest marks of insanity; but sleep at
+last soothed and restored her, and she immediately sent for me. I
+endeavoured to persuade her that it must be all a delusion, and that the
+imagination oftentimes created such fancies. I gave instances from books
+which I had read, as well as from a particular friend of my own who had
+long been subject to such delusive impressions, and at last she became
+actually persuaded that there had been no reality in what she had so
+vividly perceived, and still most distinctly and fearfully recollected.
+I took occasion then to urge upon her the exceeding sinfulness of
+allowing any image to come betwixt her and her lawful married husband;
+and left her restored, if not to her usual serenity, at least to a
+conviction that she had only been disturbed by a vision.
+
+When her husband returned, I took him aside, and explained my views of
+the case, and stated my most decided apprehension that some similar
+impression might return upon her nerves, and that her sisters (her
+mother being now removed by death) should dwell in the same house with
+her. To this, however, the captain objected, on the score that, though
+he was willing to pay a person to take care of them in their own house,
+he did not deem them proper company, in short, for a _captain's wife_. I
+disliked the reasoning, and told him so; but he became passionate, and I
+saw it was useless to contend further. From that day, however, Bill
+M'Guffock seemed to have become an altered man. Jealousy, or something
+nearly resembling it, took possession of his heart; and he even ventured
+to affirm that his wife had a paramour somewhere concealed, with whom,
+in his long and necessary absences, she associated. He alleged, too,
+that in her sleep she would repeat the name of her favourite, and in
+terms of present love and fondness. I now saw that I had not known the
+depth of "a first love," otherwise I should not have advised this
+unhappy marriage, all advantageous as it was in a worldly point of view.
+A sailor's life, however, is one of manifest risk, and in less than a
+twelvemonth Sarah M'Guffock was a young widow, without incumbrance, and
+with her rights to her just share of the captain's effects. Her sorrow
+for the death of her husband was, I believe, sincere; but I observed
+that she took an early opportunity of joining her sisters in her old
+habitation, immediately beneath that still tenanted by the friends of
+Laing.
+
+Matters were in this situation, when I was surprised one evening, whilst
+sitting meditating in the manse of Kilrenny, about dusk, with a visit
+from a tall and well-dressed stranger. He asked me at once if I could
+give him a private interview for a few minutes, as he had something of
+importance to communicate. Having taken him into my study, and shut the
+door, I reached him a chair, and desired him to proceed.
+
+"I had left the parish," said the stranger, "before you were minister of
+Kilrenny, in the time of worthy Mr. Brown, and therefore you will
+probably not know even my name. I am Thomas Laing!"
+
+"I did not indeed," said I, "know you, but I have heard much about you;
+and I know one who has taken but too deep an interest in your fate. But
+how comes it," added I, beginning to think that I was conversing either
+with a vision or an impostor--"how comes it that you are here, seemingly
+alive and well, whilst we have all been assured of your death some years
+ago?"
+
+The stranger started, and immediately exclaimed--"Dead!--dead!--who said
+I was dead?"
+
+"Why," said I, "there was a letter came, I think, to your own father,
+mentioning your death by fever in the West Indies."
+
+"Do I look like a dead man?" said the stranger; but, immediately
+becoming absent and embarrassed, he sat for a while silent, and then
+resumed:--"Some one," said he, "has imposed upon my dear Sarah, and for
+the basest of purposes. I now see it all. My dear girl has been sadly
+used."
+
+"This is, indeed, strange," said I; "but let me hear how it is that I
+have the honour of a visit from you at this time and in this place?"
+
+"Oh," replied Thomas Laing (for it was he in verity), "I will soon give
+you the whole story:--
+
+"When I left this, fourteen years ago come the time, I embarked at
+Greenock, working my way out to New York. As I was an excellent hand at
+a rope and an oar, I early attracted the captain's notice, who made some
+inquiries respecting my place of birth and my views in life. I told him
+that I was literally "at sea," having nothing particularly in view--that
+I had been bred a fisher, and understood sailing and rowing as well as
+any one on board. The captain seemed to have something in his head, for
+he nodded to me, saying, 'Very well, we will see what can be done for
+you when we arrive at New York.' When we were off Newfoundland, we were
+overtaken by a terrible storm, which drove us completely out of our
+latitude, till, at last, we struck on a sandbank--the sea making for
+several hours a complete breach over the deck. Many were swept away into
+the devouring flood; whilst some of us--amongst several others the
+captain and myself--clung to what remained of the ship's masts till the
+storm somewhat abated. We then got the boat launched, and made for land,
+which we could see looming at some distance ahead. We got, however,
+entangled amongst currents and breakers; and, within sight of a boat
+which was making towards us from the shore, we fairly upset--and I
+remember nothing more till I awoke, in dreadful torment, in some
+fishermen's boat. Beside me lay the captain, the rest had perished. When
+we arrived at the land, we were placed in one of the fishermen's huts,
+where we were most kindly treated--assisting, as we did occasionally, in
+the daily labours of the cod fishery. I displayed so much alertness and
+skill in this employment, that the factor on the station made me an
+advantageous offer, if I would remain with them and assist in their
+labours. With this offer, having no other object distinctly in view, I
+complied. But my kind and good-hearted captain, possessing less
+dexterity in this employment, was early shipped at his own request for
+England. The most of the hands, about two hundred in all, on the station
+where I remained, were Scotch and Irish, and a merry, jovial set we
+were. The men had wives and families; and the governor or factor lived
+in a large slated house, very like your manse, upon a gentle eminence, a
+little inland. Towards the coast the land is sandy and flat; but in the
+interior there is much wood, a very rich soil, and excellent fresh
+water. Where we remained the water was brackish, and constituted the
+chief inconvenience of our station. The factor or agent, commonly called
+by the men the governor, used to visit us almost every day, and remained
+much on board when ships were loading for Europe. One fine summer's day
+we were all enjoying the luxury of bathing, when, all on a sudden, the
+shout was raised--'A shark! a shark!' I had just taken my place in the
+boat, and was still undressed, when I observed one man disappear, being
+dragged under the water by the sea monster. The factor, who was swimming
+about in the neighbourhood, seemed to be paralyzed by terror, for he
+made for the boat, plashing like a dog, with his hands and arms
+frequently stretched out of the water. I saw his danger, and immediately
+plunged in to his rescue, which, with some difficulty, I at last
+effected.
+
+"Poor Pat Moonie was seen no more; nor did the devouring monster
+reappear. The factor immediately acknowledged his obligations to me, by
+carrying me home with him, and introducing me to his lady and an only
+daughter--I think I never beheld a more beautiful creature; but I looked
+upon her as a being of a different order from myself, and I still
+thought of my own dear Sally and sweet home at Cellardykes. Through the
+factor's kindness, I got the management of a boat's crew, with
+considerable emolument which belonged to the situation. I then behoved
+to dress better, at least while on land, than I used to do, and I was an
+almost daily visitor at Codfield House, the name of the captain's
+residence. My affairs prospered; I made, and had no way of spending
+money. The factor was my banker, and his fair daughter wrote out the
+acknowledgments for her father to sign. One beautiful Sabbath-day, after
+the factor--who officiated at our small station as clergyman--had read
+us prayers and a sermon, I took a walk into the interior of the country,
+where, with a book in her hand, and an accompaniment of Newfoundland
+dogs, I chanced to meet with Miss Woodburn, the factor's beautiful
+child. She was only fourteen, but quite grown, and as blooming a piece
+of womanhood as ever wore kid gloves or black leather. She seemed
+somewhat embarrassed at my presence, and blushed scarlet, entreating me
+to prevent one of her dogs from running away with her glove, which he
+was playfully tossing about in his mouth. The dog would not surrender
+his charge to any one but to his mistress; and, in the struggle, he bit
+my hand somewhat severely. You may see the marks of his teeth there
+still" (holding out his hand while he spoke). "Poor Miss Woodburn knew
+not what to do first; she immediately dropped the book which she was
+reading--scolded the offending dog to a distance--took up the glove,
+which the dog at her bidding had dropped, and wrapped it close and
+firmly around my bleeding hand; a band of long grass served for thread
+to make all secure, and in a few days my hand was in a fair way of
+recovery--but not so my heart; I felt as if I had been all at once
+transformed into a gentleman--the soft touch of Miss Eliza's fair
+fingers seemed to have transformed me, skin, flesh, and bones, into
+another species of being. I shook like an aspen leaf whenever I thought
+of our interesting interview; and I could observe that Eliza changed
+colour, and looked out of the window whenever I entered the room. But,
+sir, I am too particular, and I will now hasten to a close." I entreated
+him (said the parson) to go on in his own way, and without any reference
+to my leisure. He then proceeded:--"Well, sir, from year to year I
+prospered, and from year to year got more deeply in love with the angel
+which moved about in my presence. At last our attachment became manifest
+to the young lady's parent; and, to my great surprise, it was proposed
+that we should make a voyage to New York, and there be united in
+matrimony. All this while, sir, I thought of my own dear Sally, and the
+thought not unfrequently made me miserable; but what was Sally to me
+now?--perhaps she was dead--perhaps she was married--perhaps--but I
+could scarcely think it--she had forgot me; and then the blooming
+rosebud was ever in my presence, and hallowed me, by its superior purity
+and beauty, into a complete gentleman. Well, married we were at New
+York, and for several months I was the happiest of men, and my dear wife
+(I know it) the happiest of women; but the time of her labour
+approached--and child and mother lie buried in the cemetery at New York,
+where we had now fixed our residence." (Here poor Thomas wept
+plentifully, and, after a pause proceeded.)--"I could not reside longer
+in a place which was so dismally associated in my mind; so, having wound
+up my worldly affairs, and placed my little fortune--about one thousand
+pounds--in the bank, I embarked for Europe, along with my father and
+mother-in-law, who were going home to end their days in the place of
+their nativity, Belfast, in Ireland. I determined upon landing at the
+Cove of Cork, to visit once more my native village, and to have at least
+one interview with Sally. I learned, on my arrival at Largo, that Sally
+was married to the old captain. I resolved, however, ere I went finally
+to settle in Belfast, to have one stolen peep at my first love--my own
+dear Sally. I came upon her whilst repeating my name in her prayers--I
+embraced her convulsively--repeated her name twice in her hearing--heard
+her scream--saw her faint--kissed her fondly again and again--and,
+strangers appearing, I immediately absconded."
+
+"This," said the minister, "explains all;--but go on--I am anxious to
+hear the conclusion of your somewhat eventful history."
+
+"Why, I was off immediately for Belfast, where I at present reside with
+my father-in-law, whose temper, since the loss of his child, has been
+much altered for the worse. But I am here on a particular errand, in
+which your kind offices, sir--for I have heard of your goodness of
+heart--may be of service to me. I observed the death of the old captain
+in the newspaper, and I am here once more to enjoy an interview with his
+widow. I wish you, sir, to break the business to her; meanwhile, I will
+lodge at the Old Inn, Mrs. Laing's, at Anstruther, and await your
+return."
+
+I agreed (continued the parson of Kilrenny) to wait upon the widow; and
+to see, in fact, how the wind set, in regard to "first love." I found
+her, as I expected, neatly clad in her habiliments of widowhood, and
+employed in making some dresses for a sister's marriage. I asked and
+obtained a private interview, when I detailed, as cautiously as I could,
+the particulars of Thomas Laing's history. I could observe that her
+whole frame shook occasionally, and that tears came, again and again,
+into her eyes. I was present, but a fortnight ago, at their first
+interview at the inn; and I never saw two human beings evince more real
+attachment for each other. On their bended knees, and with faces turned
+towards heaven, did they unite in thanking God that he had permitted
+them, to have another interview with each other in this world of
+uncertainty and death. It has been since discovered that the letter
+announcing Laing's death was a forgery of the old captain, which has
+reconciled his widow very much to the idea of shortening her days of
+mourning. In a word, this evening, and in a few hours, I am going to
+unite the widower and the widowed, together with a younger sister and a
+fine young sailor, in the holy bonds of matrimony; and, as a punishment
+for your giving me all this trouble in narrating this story, I shall
+insist upon your eating fresh herring, with the fresh-herring Presbytery
+of St. Andrew's, which meets here at Mrs. Laing's to-day, and afterwards
+witnessing the double ceremony.
+
+To this I assented, and certainly never spent an evening more agreeably
+than that which I divided betwixt the merry lads of St. Andrew's
+Presbytery, and the fair dames and maidens of Cellardykes, who graced
+the marriage ceremony. Such dancing as there was, and such screaming,
+and such music, and such laughing; yet, amidst it all, Mr. and Mrs.
+Laing preserved that decent decorum, which plainly said, "We will not
+mar the happiness of the young; but we feel the goodness and providence
+of our God too deeply, to permit us to join in the noisy part of the
+festivity."
+
+"The fair maid of Cellardykes," with her kind-hearted husband--I may
+mention, for the satisfaction of my fair readers in particular--may now
+be seen daily at their own door, and in their own garden, on the face of
+the steep which overlooks the village. They have already lived three
+years in complete happiness, and have been blessed with two as fine
+healthy children as a Cellardykes sun ever rose upon. Mr. Laing has
+become an elder in the church, and both husband and wife are most
+exemplary in the discharge of their religious, as well as relative
+duties. God has blessed them with an ample competence; and sure is the
+writer of this narrative, that no poor fisherman or woman ever applied
+to this worthy couple without obtaining relief.
+
+One circumstance more, and my narrative closes. As Mr. Laing was one
+evening taking a walk along the seashore, viewing the boats as they
+mustered for the herring fishing, he was shot at from behind one of the
+rocks, and severely wounded in the shoulder--the ball or slug-shot
+having lodged in the clavicle, and refusing, for some days, to be
+extracted. The hue-and-cry was immediately raised; but the guilty person
+was nowhere to be seen. He had escaped in a boat, or had hid himself in
+a crevice of the rock, or in some private and friendly house in the
+village. Poor Thomas Laing was carried home to his distracted wife more
+dead than alive; and Dr. Goodsir being called, disclosed that, in his
+present state, the lead could not be extracted. Poor Sarah was never a
+moment from her husband's side, who fevered, and became occasionally
+delirious--talking incoherently of murder and shipwreck, and Woodburn,
+and love, and marriage, and Sarah Black. All within his brain was one
+mad wheel of mixed and confused colours, such as children make when they
+wheel a stick, dyed white, black, and red, rapidly around. Suspicion,
+from the first, fell upon the brother of the boy Rob Paterson, whom
+Laing had killed many years before. Revenge is the most enduring,
+perhaps, of all the passions, and rather feeds upon itself than decays.
+Like fame, "it acquires strength by time;" and it was suspected that Dan
+Paterson, a reckless and a dissipated man, had done the deed. In
+confirmation of this supposition, Dan was nowhere to be found, and it
+was strongly suspected that his wife and his son, who returned at
+midnight with the boat, had set Dan on shore somewhere on the coast, and
+that he had effected his escape. Death, for some time, seemed every day
+and hour nearer at hand; but at last the symptoms softened, the fever
+mitigated, the swelling subsided, and, after much careful and skilful
+surgery, most admirably conducted by Dr. Goodsir's son, the ball was
+extracted. The wound closed without mortification; and, in a week or
+two, Mr. Laing was not only out of danger, but out of bed, and walking
+about, as he does to this hour, with his arm in a sling. It was about
+the period of his recovery, that Dan Paterson was taken as he was
+skulking about in the west country, apparently looking out for a ship in
+which to sail to America. He was immediately brought back to
+Cellardykes, and lodged in Anstruther prison. Mr. Laing would willingly
+have forborne the prosecution; but the law behoved to have its course.
+Dan was tried for "maiming with the intention of murder," and was
+condemned to fourteen years' transportation. This happened in the year
+1822, the year of the King's visit to Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Laing
+actually waited upon his Majesty King George the Fourth, at the palace
+of Dalkeith, and, backed by the learned judge and counsel, obtained a
+commutation of the punishment, from banishment to imprisonment for a
+limited period. The great argument in his favour was the provocation he
+had received. Dan Paterson now inhabits a neat cottage in the village,
+and Mr. Laing has quite set him up with a boat of his own, ready rigged
+and fitted for use. He has entirely reformed, has become a member of a
+temperance society, and his wife and family are as happy as the day is
+long. Mr. and Mrs. Laing are supplied with the very best of fish, and
+stockings and mittens are manufactured by the Patersons for the little
+Laings, particularly during boisterous weather, when fishing is out of
+the question. Thus has a wise Providence made even the wrath of man to
+praise him. The truth of the above narrative may be tested any day, by
+waiting upon the Rev. Mr. Dickson, or upon the parties themselves at
+Braehead of Cellardykes.
+
+
+
+
+PRESCRIPTION;
+
+OR, THE 29TH OF SEPTEMBER.
+
+
+The serene calmness and holy inspiration of some of our cottage retreats
+in Scotland are often the envy of the town-poet or philosopher, who
+looks upon the sequestered spots as possessing all the beauty and repose
+of the beatific Beulah, where the feet of the pilgrim found repose, and
+his spirit rest. The desire arises out of that discontent which, less or
+more, is the inheritance of man in this sphere; it is the residuum of
+the worldly feelings which, like the clay that, in inspired hands, gave
+the power of sight to the blind, opens the eyes to immortality. The wish
+for retirement belongs to good, if it is not a part of the great
+principle that inclines us to look far away to purer regions for the
+rest which is never disturbed, and the joy that knows no abatement. Yet
+how vain are often our thoughts as we survey the white-washed hut in the
+valley, covered with honeysuckle and white roses; the plot before the
+door; the croonin dame on her tripod; the lass with the lint-white
+locks, singing, in snatches of Nature's own language, her purest
+feelings, like the swelling of a mountain spring! The heart is not still
+there, any more than in the crowded mart. The birds whistle, but they
+die too; the rose blooms, but it is eaten in the heart by the palmer
+worm; the sun shines, but there is a shade at his back. Alas for mortal
+aspirations--there is nothing here of one side. Like the two parties who
+fought for the truth of the two pleas--that the statue was white, or
+that it was black--we find, after all our labour lost, that one side is
+of the one colour, and the other of the opposite. These thoughts arise
+in us at this moment, as we recollect the little cottage of Homestead,
+situated in a collateral valley on the Borders. We were born at a
+stone-cast from it; and, even in the dream of age, see issuing from it,
+or entering it, a creature who might have stood for Wordsworth's
+Highland Girl--a slender, gracile thing, retiring and modest; as
+delicate in her feelings as in the hue of her complexion; her thoughts
+of her glen and waterfall only natural to her--all others, fearful even
+to herself, glenting forth through a flushed medium, which equally
+betrayed the workings of the blood in the transparent veins--a being of
+young life, elasticity, and sensitiveness, such as, like some modest
+flower, we find only in certain recesses of the valleys in
+mountain-lands. Such were you, Alice Scott, when you first darted across
+our path on the hills. We have said that we see you now through the
+dream of age; and, holding to the parallel, there is a change o'er the
+mood of our vision, for we see you again in a form like that of "The
+Ladye Geraldine"--your mountain russets off; the bandeau that bound the
+flying locks laid aside; the irritability and flush of the young spirit
+abated; and, instead of these, the gown of silk, the coif of satin, and
+the slow and dignified step of conscious worth and superiority. And
+whence this change?
+
+The young female we have thus apostrophised, was the daughter of Adam
+Scott, a cottar, who occupied the small cottage of Homestead, under the
+proprietor of Whitecraigs--a fine property, lying to the south of the
+cottage; and the mansion of which is yet to be seen by the traveller who
+seeks the Tweed by the windings of the river Lyne. Old Adam died, and
+left his widow and daughter to the protection of his superior, Mr.
+Hayston, who, recollecting the services and stanch qualities of his
+tenant, did not despise the charge. The small bield was allowed to the
+mother and daughter, rent free; and some assistance, in addition to the
+produce of their hands, enabled them to live as thousands in this
+country live, whose capability of supporting life might be deemed a
+problem difficult of solution by those whose only care is how to destroy
+God's gifts. Nature is as curious in her disposal of qualities as the
+great genius of chance or convention is of the distribution of means.
+Literature has worn out the characteristic and gloomy lines of the
+description of the fair and the good; and the impatience of the mind of
+the nineteenth century--a mind greedy of caricature, and regardless of
+written sentiment--may warn us from the portrayment of what people now
+like better to see than to read or hear of. Away, then, with the usual
+terms, and let old Dame Scott and her daughter be deemed as of those
+beings who have interested you in the quiet recesses of humble poverty,
+where Nature, as if in sport or satire, loves to play fantastic tricks.
+If you have no living models to go by, call up some of the pages of the
+thousand volumes that have been multiplied on a subject which has been
+more spoiled by poetical imagery, than benefited by sober observation.
+
+Within about five years of the death of the husband and father, old
+Hayston died, and left Whitecraigs to his only son, Hector, who was kind
+enough to continue the gift of the father to the inmates of Homestead;
+but he loaded them with a condition, unspoken, yet implied. The young
+laird and the pretty cottage maiden had foregathered often amidst the
+romantic scenes on the Lyne; and that which Nature probably intended as
+a guard and a mean of segregation--the shrinking timidity of her own
+mountain child, when looked upon by the eye of, to her,
+aristocracy--only tended to an opposite effect. A poet has compared love
+to an Eastern bird, which loses all its beauty when it flies, and it is
+as true as it is a pretty conceit; but if there was any feathered
+creature whose wings, reflecting, from its monaul tints, the sun in
+greater splendour, when on the wing, it would supply as applicable and
+not less poetical an emblem of the object of the little god's
+heart-stirrings; and so it seemed to the young laird of Whitecraigs,
+that, as Alice Scott bounded away over the green hills, or down by the
+Lyne banks, at his approach, her flight added to the interest which she
+had already inspired when she had no means of escape. But, as the
+wildest doe may be caught and tamed, so was she, who was as a white one
+removed from the herd. The young man possessed attractions beside those
+of imputed wealth and station; and probably, though we mean not to be
+severe upon the sex, the process by which his affection had been
+increased was reversed in its effects upon her, to whom assiduous
+seeking was as the assiduous retreating had been to him.
+
+Yet all was, we believe, honourable in the intentions of young Hayston;
+and, as for Alice, she was in the primeval condition of a total
+unconsciousness of evil. The "one blossom on earth's tree," as the poet
+has it, was by her yet unplucked, nor knew she how many thousands have
+had cause to sing--
+
+   "I have plucked the one blossom that hangs on earth's tree;
+    I have lived--I have loved, and die."
+
+Her former timidity was the _à priori_ proof of the strength of the
+feeling that followed, when the sensitiveness of fear gave way to
+confidence. Town loves are a thing of sorry account: the best of them
+are a mere preference of the one to the many; and he who is fortunate
+enough to outshine his rivals, may pride himself in the possession of
+some superior recommendations which have achieved a triumph. Were he to
+look better to it, he might detect something, too, in the force of
+resources. At best, a few hundred pounds will turn the scale; for he is
+by all that a better man; and the trained eye of town beauties has a
+strange responsive twinkle in the glare of the one thing needful. In the
+remote and beautiful parts of a romantic country, things are otherwise
+ordered: affection there, is as the mountain flower to the gallipot
+rose; and it is a mockery to tell us that the difference is only
+perceptible to those who are weak enough to be romantic. A doughty
+warrior would recognise and acknowledge the difference, and fight a
+great deal better too, after he had blubbered over a mountain or glen
+born love for a creature who would look upon him as the soul of the
+retreat, and hang on his breast in the outpourings of Nature's feelings.
+That young Whitecraigs appreciated the triumph he had secured, there can
+be no reason to doubt. He had been within the drying atmosphere of
+towns, and had sung and waltzed, probably, with a round hundred of
+creatures who understood the passion, much as Audrey understood
+poetry--deeming it honest enough, but yet a composition made up of the
+elements of side glances, arias, smorzando-sighs, and quadrilles. With
+Alice Scott on his bosom, the quiet glen as their retreat, the green
+umbrageous woods their defence, its birds as their musicians, and the
+wimpling Lyne as the speaking Naiad, he forgot, if he did not despise,
+the scenes he had left. She flew from him now no longer. The fowler had
+succeeded to captivate, not intentionally to kill.
+
+Two years passed over in this intercourse. There was no secret about it.
+The dame was well apprised of their proceeding; and the open frankness
+of the youth dispelled all the fears of wrong which the innocence of the
+daughter, undefended by experience, might have scarcely guaranteed to
+one who, at least, had heard something of the ways of the world. The
+income from Whitecraigs, somewhere about seven hundred a-year, was more
+than sufficient for the expenditure of the older Haystons; and Hector,
+at this time, did not seem inclined to alter the line of life followed
+by his fathers. He had not spoken of marriage to the mother; but he had
+not hesitated to breathe into the ear of Alice all that was necessary to
+lead her to the conclusion, to which her heart jumped, that she was to
+be the lady of the stately white mansion that, at one time, had appeared
+to her as a great temple where humble worshippers of the glen and the
+wood might not lay their sandals at the doorway. She had entered the
+vestibule only as an alms-seeker, and trembled to think she might have
+been observed throwing a side glance into the interior, where
+pier-glasses might have reflected the form of the russet-clad child of
+the valley and hill. The tale has been told a thousand times, and the
+world is not mended by it. The young master pressed her to his bosom,
+imprinted a kiss, and was away into the mazes of life in the metropolis,
+whither some affairs, left unsettled by his father, carried him. Six
+months passed away, and the rents of the succeeding term were collected
+by Mr. Pringle, the agent of the family, in Peebles. There was no word
+for poor Alice, though the small allowance was handed in by the agent,
+who, ignorant of the state of matters between the young couple, informed
+the mother that the master of Whitecraigs was on the eve of being
+married to a young lady of some wealth in the metropolis. The statement
+was heard by the daughter; and what henceforth but that of Thekla's
+song:--
+
+   "The clouds are flying, the woods are sighing--
+    The maiden is walking the grassy shore;
+    And as the wave breaks with might, with might,
+    She singeth aloud through the darksome night;
+    But a tear is in her troubled eye."
+
+Alice Scott was changed; yet, who shall tell what that change was? If
+the slow and even progress of the spirit may defy the eye of the
+metaphysician, who may describe its moods of disturbance? Poetry is
+familiar with these things, and we have fair rhymes to tell us of the
+wanderings, and the lonely musings by mountain streams, and the eye that
+looks and sees not, and the wasting form, and the words that come like
+the sounds from deep caves; yet, after all, they tell us but little,
+and that little is but to tickle us with the resonance of spoken
+sentiment, leaving the sad truth as little understood as before. True it
+was, that Alice Scott did all these things, and more too: the charm of
+the hills and the water banks was gone: the light spirit that carried
+her along, as if borne on the winds, was quenched; the songs by which
+she gladdened the ears of her mother, as she plied her portable handwork
+on the green, was no more heard mingling its notes with the music of the
+Lyne; and the face that shone transparently, like painted alabaster, as
+if part of the light came from within, was as the poet says--
+
+   "Like an April morn
+    Clad in a wintry cloud."
+
+Nor did additional time seem to possess any power save that of
+increasing the pain of the heart-stroke. Most of the griefs of mortals
+have their appointed modes of alleviation--some are complaining griefs,
+some are talkative, and some sorrows are sociable for selfishness. But
+the heart-wound of her who has only those scenes of nature which were
+associated with the image of the unkind one, to wear off the impressions
+of which, under other hues, they form a part, is a silent mourner. There
+is enough of a painful eloquence around her, and her voice would be only
+the small whisper that is lost in the wailings of the storm in the glen.
+Yet painful as the language is, she courts it in silence, even while it
+mixes and blends with the poison which consumes her. It was in vain that
+her mother, who saw with a parental eye the malady which is the best
+understood by those of her class and age, urged her with kindness to
+betake herself to her household duties. She was seldom to be prevailed
+upon to remain within doors; the hill-side, or the bosom of the glen, or
+the back of the willows by the water-side, were her choice. Ordinary
+meal times were forgotten or unheeded, where Nature had renounced her
+cravings, or given all her energies to the heart.
+
+The next intelligence received at Homestead was that of the marriage of
+Hector Hayston, and his departure for France. The servants at
+Whitecraigs were discharged, as if there had been no expectation, for a
+long period, of the return of the young laird. The supply to the two
+females was increased, and paid by Mr. Pringle, who, now probably aware
+of the situation of Alice, delicately avoided any allusion to his
+employer. Report, however, was busy with her tales; and the absence of
+the youth was attributed to the workings of conscience or of shame.
+There was little truth in the report. The object of his first affections
+might easily have been banished from Whitecraigs, and he who had been
+guilty of leaving her maybe supposed capable of removing her from scenes
+which could only add to her sorrow. A true solution of his conduct might
+have been found in the fact, that Hayston was now following his
+pleasures in the society of his wife's friends--a gay and lavish
+circle--and did not wish to detract from his enjoyment by adding
+banishment and destitution to a wrong now irremediable. Little more was
+heard of him for some time, with the exception of a floating report,
+that he had borrowed, through his agent, the sum of ten thousand pounds
+from a Mr. Colville, a neighbouring proprietor, and pledged to him
+Whitecraigs in security. The circumstance interested greatly the
+neighbouring proprietors, who shook their heads in significant augury of
+the probable fate of their young neighbour in the whirlpool of
+continental life. Yet the allowance to Dame Scott at the next term was
+regularly paid; and if there was a tear in her eye, as she looked, first
+at the money, and then at the thin, pallid creature who sat silent at
+the window, it was not that she dreaded its discontinuance from the
+result of the extravagance of the giver. The effect of the act of
+payment of the money had, on a former occasion, been noticed by Pringle
+on the conduct of Alice: it was on this occasion repeated. She rose from
+her seat, looked steadfastly for a moment at the gift as it lay on the
+table, placed her hand on her forehead, and flitted out of the room. The
+eye of the agent followed her from the window: her step was hurried,
+without an object of impulse. She might go--but whither? probably she
+knew not herself; yet on she sped till she was lost among the trees on
+the edge of the glen.
+
+Thus longer time passed, but there seemed no change to Alice, save in
+the continual decrease of the frame, under the pressure of a mind that
+communed with the past, and only looked to the future as containing some
+day that would witness the termination of her sorrows. The anglers on
+the Lyne became familiar with her figure, for they had seen it on the
+heights, with her garments floating in the breeze, and had come up to
+her as she sat by the waterside, but they passed on. At the worst she
+could be but one whose spirit was not settled enough to admit of her
+according with the ways of honest maidens; and they might regret that
+the beauty that still lurked amidst the ravages of the disease of the
+heart, had not been turned to better account. It is thus that one part
+of mankind surveys another: they form their theory of a condition whose
+secret nature is only known to its possessor; draw their moral from
+false premises, formed as a compliment to their own conduct and
+situation, and pass on to their pleasure.
+
+Yet there occurred an important exception to these remarks:--One day
+Alice had taken up her seat on the banks of a small pond in front of the
+house of Whitecraigs. She sat opposite to the front of the dwelling, and
+seemed to survey its closed windows and deserted appearance, with the
+long grass growing up through the gravel of the walks--the broken
+pailings and decayed out-houses; a scene that might be supposed to
+harmonize with the feelings of a mind broken and desolate. There might
+seem even a consanguinity in the causes of the condition of both. The
+scene might have suited the genius of a Danby. There was no living
+creature to disturb the silence. The house of faded white, among the
+dark trees, cheerless and forsaken; the face of Alice Scott emaciated
+and pale, with the lustre of the loch, shining in the sun, reflected on
+it, directed towards the habitation of which she should have been
+mistress; her eyes, which had forgotten the relief of tears, fixed on
+the scene so pregnant with unavailing reminiscences--with these we would
+aid the artist.
+
+But the charm was gone, as a voice sounded behind her. She started, and,
+according to her custom, would have fled as the hare that remembers the
+snare; but she was detained. A man, advanced in years, poorly clad, with
+hair well smitten with snow tints, and a staff in his hand, stood beside
+her, holding her by the skirt of the gown.
+
+"I am weary," said he; "I have walked from Moffat, and would sit here
+for a time, if you would speak to me of the scenes and people of these
+parts." And the application of his hand again to her gown secured a
+compliance, dictated more by fear than inclination. She sat, while she
+trembled. "You are fair," continued he; "but my experience of sorrow
+tells me that grief has been busier with your young heart than years. I
+will not pry into your secrets. To whom does Whitecraigs now belong?"
+
+The name had not been breathed by her to mortal since that day she had
+heard of the intended marriage. She made an effort to pronounce it,
+failed, and fixed her eyes on the pond. The stranger gazed on her,
+waiting for her reply.
+
+"Hector Hayston," she at length muttered.
+
+"And why has he left so fair a retreat to the desolation that has
+overtaken it?" rejoined he again. The question was still more
+unfortunate. She had no power to reply. Her face was turned from him,
+and repressed breathings heaved her bosom. "You may tell me, then, if
+one Dame Scott lives in these parts?" he said again, as he marked her
+strange manner, and probably augured that his prior question was fraught
+with pain.
+
+"Yes--yes," she replied, with a sudden start, as if relieved from pain,
+while she regained her feet; "yonder lives my mother."
+
+The stranger stood with his eyes fixed upon her, as if in deep scrutiny
+of the inexplicable features of her character and appearance; but he
+added not a word, till he saw her move as if she wished to be gone.
+
+"You will go with me?" he said.
+
+But the words were scarcely uttered, when she was away through the
+woods, leaving him to seek his way to the house of her mother, whither,
+accordingly, he directed his steps, from some prior knowledge he
+possessed of the locality about which he had been making inquiries. As
+he went along, he seemed wrapt in meditation--again and again looking
+back, to endeavour to get another sight of the girl, who was now seated
+on the edge of the stream, and again seized by some engrossing thought
+that claimed all the energies of his spirit. On coming up to the door of
+the cottage, he tapped gently with his long staff; and, upon being
+required by the dame to enter, he passed into the middle of the floor,
+and stood and surveyed the house and its inmate.
+
+"I have nothing for you," said the latter; "so you must pass on to those
+whom God has ordained as the distributors of what the needy require.
+Alas! I am myself but a beggar."
+
+The words seemed to have been wrung out of her by the meditative mood in
+which the stranger had found her, and, whether it was that the interest
+which had been excited in him by the appearance of the daughter had
+been increased by the confession of the mother, or that there was some
+secret cause working in his mind, he passed his hand over his eyes, and
+for a moment turned away his head.
+
+"I have been both a beggar and a giver in my day," he replied, as he
+laid down his hat and staff, and took a chair opposite to the dame; "and
+I am weary of the one character and of the other. I have got with a
+curse; and I have given for ingratitude. But I may here give, and you
+may receive, without either. There is an unoccupied bed; I am weary of
+wandering, and have enough to pay for rest."
+
+"That is better than charity," rejoined the dame--"ay, even the charity
+of the stranger."
+
+"And why of the _stranger_, dame?" added he. "I have hitherto thought
+that the charity of _friends_ was that which might be most easily borne.
+And who may be your benefactor?"
+
+"Hector Hayston of Whitecraigs," replied she, hanging her head, and
+drawing a deep breath.
+
+The stranger detected the same symptoms of pain in the mother as those
+he had observed in the daughter.
+
+"Then forgets he not his cottars in his absence," he added. "But why has
+he left a retreat fairer than any I have yet seen throughout a long
+pilgrimage over many lands?"
+
+"We will not speak of that," she replied, rising slowly, and going to
+the window, where she stood for a time in silence.
+
+"You have a daughter, dame," resumed the man, as he watched the
+indications of movement in the heart of the mother. "I saw her sitting
+looking at the mansion of Whitecraigs. I fear she can lend you small
+aid; yet, if her powers of mind and body were equal to the beauty that
+has too clearly faded from her cheeks, methinks you would have had
+small need to have taken the charity of either friends or strangers."
+
+"Ay, poor Alice! poor Alice!" rejoined the mother, turning suddenly, and
+applying her hand to something which required not her care at that
+time--"Ay, poor Alice!" she added.
+
+"Is it a bargain, then," said he, wishing to retreat from a subject that
+so evidently pained her, "that I may remain here for a time, on your own
+terms of remuneration?"
+
+"It may be as you say," replied she, again taking her seat; "but only on
+a condition."
+
+"What is it?" inquired he.
+
+"That you never mention the name of Hector Hayston, or of Whitecraigs,
+while Alice is by. She harms no one; and I would not see her harmed."
+
+"I perceive," said he, muttering to himself, "that I am not the only one
+in the world who carries in his bosom a secret. But," he continued, in a
+louder tone, "your condition, dame, shall be fulfilled; and now I may
+hold myself to be your lodger." And he proceeded to take from the
+stuffed pockets of his coat some night-clothes of a homely character,
+and handed them to the dame. "And now," he said, "you may be, now or
+after, wondering who he may be who has thus come, like a weary bird from
+the waste that seeks refuge among the sere leaves, to live in the
+habitation of sorrow. But you must question me not; and farther than my
+name, which is Wallace, you may know nothing of me till after the 29th
+day of September--ay, ay," he continued, as if calculating, "the 29th
+day of September."
+
+The dame started as she heard the mention of the day, looked steadfastly
+at him, and was silent.
+
+"Yes," he continued, "that day past, and I will once more draw my breath
+freely in the land of my fathers; and my foot, which has only bowed the
+head of the heather-bell in the valley, may yet collect energy enough
+from my unstrung nerves to press fearlessly the sod of the mountain. How
+long is it since your husband died?"
+
+"Seven years," replied she.
+
+"Well, short as our acquaintance has yet been," said he, "our words have
+been only of unpleasant things. Now, I require refreshment; and here is
+some small pay in advance, to remove the ordinary prejudice against
+strangers. We shall be better acquainted by times. I will take, now,
+what is readiest in the house; for you may guess, from my attire, that I
+have been accustomed to that fare by which the poor contrive to spin out
+the weary term of their pilgrimage."
+
+So much being arranged, the dame set about preparing a meal; and Mr.
+Wallace, as he had called himself, proceeded to transform his staff into
+a fishing-rod, and arrange his other small matters connected with his
+future residence. When the humble dish was prepared, the dame went out,
+and, taking her position on a green tumulus that rose between the
+cottage and the Lyne, stood, and, placing her hands over her eyes,
+looked down the water. Her eye, accustomed to the search, detected the
+form of her daughter far down the stream, and, waving her hand to her,
+she beckoned her home. But she came not; and the two inmates sat down to
+their repast.
+
+"This shall be for my poor Alice," said the mother, as she laid aside a
+portion of the frugal fare; "but she will take it at her own time, or
+perhaps not at all."
+
+"And yet how much she needs it," added the stranger, "her wasted form
+and pale face too plainly show."
+
+"There is a sad change there, sir," rejoined she. "There was not a
+fairer or more gentle creature from Tweedscross to Tweedmouth than Alice
+Scott; nor did ever the foot of light-hearted innocence pass swifter
+over the hill or down the glen. You have seen her to-day where she is
+often to be seen--by the pond opposite the closed-up house of
+Whitecraigs--and may wonder to hear how one so wasted may still reach
+the hill-heads; yet there, too, she is sometimes seen. I have struggled
+sore to make her what she once was; but in vain. She will wander and
+wander, and return and wander again; nor will this cease till I some day
+find her dead body among the seggs of the Lyne, or in the lirk of the
+hill. When I know you better, I may tell you more. At present, I am
+eating the bread of one who is more connected with this sad subject than
+I may now confess; and I have never been accounted ungrateful."
+
+The stranger was moved, and ate his meal in meditative silence. In an
+hour afterwards, Alice returned to the house, and, as she entered,
+started as her eye met that of him who had, by his questions, stirred to
+greater activity the feelings that were already too busy with her heart;
+but her fears were removed, by his avoidance of the subject which had
+pained her; and a few hours seemed to have rendered him as indifferent
+to her as seemed the other objects around her. Some days passed, and the
+widow would have been as well satisfied with her lodger as he was with
+her, had it not been that he enjoined secrecy as to his residence in the
+house--retiring to the spence when any one entered; and if at any time
+he went along the Lyne in the morning, he avoided those whom he met; and
+betook himself to private acts in the inner apartment during the day. At
+times he left the cottage in the evening, and did not return for two
+days; but whither he went, the inmates knew not. The dame conjectured he
+had been as far as Peebles; but her reason was merely that he brought
+newspapers with him, and intelligence of matters transacting there. The
+secrecy was not suited to the open and simple manners to which she had
+been accustomed; but she recollected his words, that on the 29th of
+September, she would know all concerning him. Now these words were
+connected by a chain of associations that startled her. The 29th of
+September had been set apart by her deceased husband as a day of prayer.
+He had never allowed it to pass without an offering of the contrite
+heart to God; this practice he had continued till his death, and she had
+witnessed the act repeated for fifteen years. She was no more
+superstitious than the rest of her class; she was, indeed, probably less
+so; and her theories, formed for an adequate explanation of the
+startling coincidence, were probably as philosophical as if they had
+been formed by reason acting under the astute direction of scepticism.
+Yet where is the mind, untutored or learned, that can throw away at all
+times, at all hours--when the heart is in the sunshine of the cheerful
+day of worldly intercourse, or in the deep shadow of the wing of
+eternity--all thoughts of all powers save those of natural causes, which
+are themselves a mystery? We may sport with the subject; but it comes
+again back on the heart, and we sigh in whispering words of fear, that
+in the hands of God we are nothing.
+
+One day Mr. Wallace was seated at breakfast; he had been away for two
+nights; Alice was sitting by the side of the fire, looking into the
+heart of the red embers, and the mother was superintending the
+breakfast; he took out a newspaper from his pocket, and, without a word
+of premonition, read a paragraph in a deep, solemn voice.
+
+"Died at ---- Street, London, Maria Knight, wife of Hector Hayston,
+Esq., of Whitecraigs, in the county of Peebles, in Scotland."
+
+A peculiar sound struggled in the throat of Alice; but it passed, and
+she was silent. The mother sat and looked Wallace in the face, to
+ascertain what construction to put upon the occurrence which he had thus
+read with an emphasis betokening a greater interest than it might
+demand from one, as yet, all but ignorant, as she thought, of the true
+circumstances of the condition of her daughter. He made no commentary on
+what he had read; but looking again at the paper, and turning it over,
+as if searching for some other news, he fixed his eyes on an
+advertisement in the fourth page. He then read--
+
+"On the 1st day of October next, there will be exposed to public roup
+and sale, within the Town-Hall of Peebles, by virtue of the powers of
+sale contained in a mortgage granted by Hector Hayston, Esq., of
+Whitecraigs, in favour of George Colville of Haughton, all and hail the
+lands and estate of Whitecraigs, situated in the parish of ----, and
+shire of Peebles, with the mansion-house, offices, &c."
+
+He then laid down the paper, and, looking the widow full in the face--
+
+"The day of sale of Whitecraigs," said he, "is the _second_ day after
+the 29th of September. It would have been too much had it been on that
+day itself."
+
+No reply was made to his remark. The announcement called up in the mind
+of the dame more than she could express; but that which concerned more
+closely herself, was too apparently veiled with no mystery. The sale of
+Whitecraigs was the ejection of herself and daughter from Homestead; and
+she knew not whither she and her daughter were now to be driven, to seek
+refuge and sustenance from a world from which she had been so long
+estranged.
+
+"All things come to a termination," she said. "For many years I have
+lived here, wife and widow; and if I have felt sorrow, I have also
+enjoyed. The world is wide; and if I may be obliged to ask and to
+receive charity, the God who moves the hand to give it, may not
+again--now that His purpose may be served by my contrition--select that
+of the destroyer of my child. But there is another that must be taken
+from these haunts;" and, turning to Alice, whose face was still
+directed to the fire, she gazed on her hapless daughter, while the tear
+stole down her cheeks.
+
+Wallace's eye was fixed on the couple. He seemed to understand the
+allusion of the mother, which indicated plainly enough, that though the
+hills and glens of Whitecraigs had been the scene of the ruin of her
+daughter's peace, she anticipated still more fatal consequences from
+taking her away from them. Meanwhile, Alice, who had listened to and
+understood all, arose from her seat.
+
+"I will never leave Whitecraigs, mother," she said; and bent her steps
+towards the door.
+
+"Let her follow her fancy," said Wallace. Then relapsing into a fit of
+musing, he added--"the 29th of September of this year will soon be of
+the time that is. For twenty years I have looked forward to that
+day--under a burning sun, far from my native land, I have sighed for
+it--in the midnight hour I have counted the years and days that were
+between. Every anniversary was devoted to the God who has chastened the
+heart of the sinner; and there was need, when that heart was full of the
+thoughts inspired by that day, and penitence came on the wings of
+terror. Now it approaches; and I have not miscalculated the benefits it
+may pour on other heads than mine."
+
+"Alas!" said the widow, as she cast her eye through the window after her
+daughter, "there is no appointed day for the termination of the sorrows
+of that poor creature. To the broken-hearted, one day as another,
+sunshine or shower, is the same. But what hand shall bear Alice Scott
+from Whitecraigs?"
+
+"Perhaps none," replied Wallace, as, taking up the newspaper, he retired
+to an inner apartment, where he usually spent the day. Some hours
+passed; and, in the afternoon, Mr. Pringle, while passing, took occasion
+to call at Homestead, and informed the widow that it would be her duty
+to look out for another habitation, as Whitecraigs was to be sold by the
+creditor, Mr. Colville, whose object in granting the loan was, if
+possible, to take advantage of the difficulties into which extravagance
+had plunged the young proprietor, and to bring the property into the
+market, that he might purchase it as an appanage of the old estate of
+Haughton, from which it had been disjoined. He represented it as a cruel
+proceeding, and that its cruelty was enhanced by the circumstance of the
+sale being advertised in the same paper which contained the intelligence
+of the death of Hector's young wife. Another listener might have replied
+that God's ways are just; but Dame Scott, if she thought at the time of
+her daughter, considered also that Hayston had supported her for many
+years.
+
+"Good dame," added the agent, "it might have been well for my young
+friend if he had remained at Whitecraigs. I never saw the wife he
+married, and has just lost in the bloom of youth; but she must have been
+fair indeed, if she was fairer than she whom he left. Yet Hector's
+better principles did not, I am satisfied, entirely forsake him. The
+disinclination he has shown to visit his paternal property, was the
+result of a clinging remembrance of her he left mourning in the midst of
+its glens; nor do I wonder at it, for even I have turned aside to avoid
+the sight of Alice Scott. Misfortunes, however, are sometimes mercies;
+and the change of residence you will be now driven to, may aid in the
+cure of a disease that is only fed by these scenes of Whitecraigs."
+
+He here paused, and, putting his hand in his pocket, took out some
+money.
+
+"This may be the last gift," he said, as he presented it to her, "that
+Hector Hayston may ever send you. These are his words. His fortunes are
+ruined, his wife is dead, and, worse than all, his peace of mind is
+fled."
+
+"Heaven have mercy on him!" replied the widow. "One word of reproach has
+never escaped the lips of me or my daughter. I have suffered in this
+cottage without murmuring, and the glens and hollows of Whitecraigs have
+alone heard the complainings of Alice Scott. She will cling to these
+places to the last; but were the windows of the deserted house again
+opened, with strange faces there, and maybe the lights of the
+entertainments of the happy shining through them, she might feel less
+pleasure in sitting by the pond from which she now so often surveys the
+deserted mansion. This last gift, sir, moves my tears--yea, for all I
+and mine have suffered from Hector Hayston."
+
+The agent had performed his duty, and departed with the promise that he
+would, of his own accord, endeavour to prevail upon some of his
+employers to grant her a cottage, if the purchaser of Whitecraigs should
+resist an appeal for her to remain. He had no sooner gone, than the
+stranger Wallace, who had heard the conversation, entered. He asked her
+how much money Hector had sent as his last gift; and, on being
+informed--
+
+"That young man," he said, "has fallen a victim to the allurements of a
+town life. The story of your daughter has been known to me; but I have
+avoided the mention of the name of Hayston, which could only have
+yielded pain without an amelioration of its cause. That gift speaks to
+me volumes. Even fashion has not sterilized the heart of that young man.
+He has erred--he may have transgressed--but for all, all, there is a
+29th of September!"
+
+The allusion he thus made was as inscrutable as ever. Again she
+reflected upon her husband's conduct upon that day of the year; and
+again, as she had done a hundred times, searched the face of the
+speaker. But she abstained from question; and the day passed, and others
+came, till the eventful morning was ushered in by sunshine. Wallace was
+up by times; and his prayers were heard directed to the Throne of Mercy,
+in thanks and heart-expressed contrition. In the forenoon he went forth
+with freedom, climbed the hills, and conversed with the anglers he met
+on the Lyne. He seemed as if relieved from some weighty burden; and the
+dame, who had carefully watched his motions, waited anxiously for the
+secret. He had not, however, pledged himself to reveal it on that day.
+He had only said that all would be made known some time after the day
+had passed; and, accordingly, he made no declaration. Yet, at bedtime,
+he was again engaged in prayers, and even during the night he was heard
+muttering expressions of thanksgiving to the Author of the day, and what
+the day bringeth.
+
+On the following morning, he announced his intention of going to
+Peebles, whither he was supposed to have gone before; but now his manner
+of going was changed. He purposed taking the coach, which, as it passed
+within some miles of Whitecraigs, he intended to wait for, and on
+departing--
+
+"You will not hear of me till to-morrow night," he said. "I can now face
+man; would that I could with the same confidence hold up my countenance
+to God. Alice Scott," he continued, as he looked to the girl, "I will
+not forget you in my absence. Your day of sorrow has been long; but
+there may yet be a 29th of September even to you."
+
+And, taking the maiden kindly in his arms, he whispered some words in
+her ear, in which the magic syllables of a name she trembled to hear
+were mixed. Her eyes exhibited a momentary brightness, a deep sigh
+heaved her bosom, and again her head declined, with a whisper on her
+lips--"Never, O never!" In a moment after, he was gone; and the widow
+was left to ascertain from Alice what he had said, to bring again, even
+for a moment, the blood to her cheek.
+
+On the day after, there was a crowd of people in the Town-Hall of
+Peebles, and the auctioneer was reading aloud the articles of roup of
+the lands of Whitecraigs. Mr. Colville was there in high hopes; but
+there were others too, who seemed inclined to disappoint them. The
+property was set up at the price of fifteen thousand pounds, and that
+sum was soon offered by the holder of the mortgage. Other bodes quickly
+followed, and a competition commenced, which soon raised the price to
+eighteen thousand, at which it seemed to be destined to be given to
+Haughton. The other competitors appeared timid; and several declared
+themselves done, one by one, until no one was expected to advance a
+pound higher. All was silence, save for the voice of the auctioneer; and
+he had already begun his ominous once, twice, when a voice which had not
+yet been heard, cried--"Eighteen thousand two hundred." The hammer was
+suspended, and all eyes turned to view the doughty assailant, who would,
+at the end of the day, vanquish the champion who had as yet retained the
+field. Those eyes recognised in the bidder a man poorly clothed, and
+more like an alms-seeker than the purchaser of an estate--no other was
+that man than Mr. Wallace. The auctioneer looked at him; others looked
+and wondered; and Haughton gloomed, as he advanced another hundred; and
+that was soon followed by a hundred more, which led to a competition
+that seemed to be embittered on the one part by pride and contempt, and
+on the other by determination. Hundred upon hundred followed in rapid
+succession, till Haughton gave up in despair, and a shout rung through
+the hall as the hammer fell, and the estate was declared the property of
+the humble stranger, whom no one knew, and whom no one would have
+considered worth more than the clothes he carried on his back. A
+certificate of a banker at Peebles--that he held in his hands funds,
+belonging to the purchaser, of greater amount than the price--satisfied
+the judge of the roup; and the party were divided in circles, conversing
+on the strange turn which had been given to the sale of Whitecraigs.
+
+On the same night, Wallace returned to Homestead, and sat down
+composedly to the humble meal that had been prepared for him by the
+widow. Alice was in her usual seat; and the placidity of manner which
+distinguished them from ordinary sufferers, spoke their usual obedience
+to the Divine will.
+
+"This day the property of Whitecraigs has changed masters!" said he.
+
+"And who has purchased it?" inquired the mother.
+
+"He who is now sitting before you!" replied he.
+
+Alice turned her head to look at him; the mother sat mute with surprise;
+while he rose and fastened the door.
+
+"It is even so," he continued, as he again sat down; "David Scott, the
+brother of your husband, and the uncle of Alice, has this day purchased
+Whitecraigs."
+
+A faint scream from the mother followed this announcement, and,
+recovering herself, she again fixed her eyes on the stranger.
+
+"It is true," continued he; "I am the brother of your deceased husband.
+For two years after you were married to Adam, you would, doubtless, hear
+him speak of me, as then engaged in a calling of which I may now be
+ashamed, for I was one of the most daring smugglers on the Solway. The
+29th of September, 17--, dawned upon me, yet with hands unsullied in the
+blood of man; but the sun of that day set upon me as proscribed by God
+and my country. My name was read on the house walls, and execration
+followed my steps, as I flew from cave to cave. Yet who could have told
+that that day in which my evil spirit wrought its greatest triumph over
+good, was that whose evening shades closed upon a repentant soul!"
+
+He paused, and placed his hand on his brow.
+
+"These things are to me as an old dream," replied the widow, looking
+round her, as if in search of memorials of stationary space. "My husband
+never afterwards mentioned your name, save to inform me that you had
+died in the West Indies; yet now I see the import of his devotion, in
+the coming round of the day that shamed the honest family to whom he
+belonged."
+
+"And it was to save that shame, and to secure my safety under my assumed
+name, that, after I flew to the islands of the west, I got intelligence
+of my death sent to Scotland. What other than the issue of this day must
+have been in the view of the great Disposer of events, when, in addition
+to the grace He poured on the heart of the sinner, He invested the arm
+that had been lifted against His creatures with the prosperity that
+filled my coffers! But, alas! though I may have reason to trust to the
+forgiveness of Heaven, that of man I may never expect."
+
+"And punishment still awaits you?" rejoined she.
+
+"No, no!" he cried, as he rose and placed his foot firmly on the floor.
+"I am free--the heart may hate me, the tongue may scorn me, the hand may
+point at me, but it dare not strike. On the 29th of September I was no
+longer amenable to the laws for the crime which drove me to foreign
+lands: twenty years free the culprit from the vengeance of man; the last
+day of that period was the 29th of September--it is past; and now God is
+my only judge." He again paused. "But I must live still as David
+Wallace. The name of Scott shall not be sullied by me. As David Wallace
+I have made my fortune, and as David Wallace made my supplications to
+Heaven. By the same name I have bought Whitecraigs, and by that name I
+shall make it over to one who may yet retrieve the honour of our humble
+house--to Alice, who should, through other means, have been mistress.
+Come to your natural protector, Alice, and tell him if you will consent
+to be the lady of Whitecraigs."
+
+The girl, on whom the ordinary occurrences of life now seldom made any
+impression, had listened attentively to the extraordinary facts and
+intentions thus evolved; and, at his bidding, rose and stood by his
+side. He took her hand, and looked into her face.
+
+"I knew," said he, "that I was pledged not to mention a certain name
+while you were by; and I kept my word, with the exception of the whisper
+I stole into your ear on the day I set out for Peebles. But things are
+now changed. The rights of Whitecraigs are now in the act of being made
+out in your name. Within a month you will be mistress of that mansion,
+and of those green dells and hills you have loved to wander among in joy
+and in sorrow. Now, will you answer me a question?"
+
+"I will!" she replied.
+
+"What would be your answer to Hector Hayston--who is now no longer a
+husband, and no longer rich--were he to come to Whitecraigs and make
+amends for all that is by and gone? Would you receive him kindly, or
+turn him from the door of the house of his fathers?"
+
+The question was too sudden, or too touchingly devised. She looked for a
+moment in his face, burst into tears, and hid her face in his breast.
+
+"Try her poor heart not thus!" cried the mother. "Time, that as yet has
+done nothing but made ravages, may now, when things are so changed, work
+miracles. Do not press the question. A woman and a mother knows better
+than you can do what are now her feelings. The answer is not
+asked--Alice, your uncle has taken back his question!"
+
+"I have--I have!" replied he, as he pressed her to his breast. "Look up,
+my dear Alice. I have, in my pride and power, been hasty, and thought I
+could rule the heart of woman as I have done my own, even in its
+rebellion against God. I have yet all to learn of those secret workings
+of the spirit, in all save repentance. I never myself knew what it was
+to love, far less what it is to love and be forsaken. No more--no more.
+I will not again touch those strings."
+
+And, rising hurriedly, he consigned the maid to her mother, and went
+out, to afford her time to collect again her thoughts. During the
+following week the furniture of Whitecraigs was disposed of by Mr.
+Pringle, for behoof of the other creditors of Hayston, and purchased by
+the uncle, who took another journey to Peebles, for the purpose of
+negotiating the sale, and making further preparations for obtaining
+entry. In a fortnight after, the keys were sent to Homestead by a
+messenger, while the making up of the titles was in the course of
+progress. It was no part of the intention of Wallace to reside in the
+mansion-house: his object was still secrecy; and, though the form and
+character of the transaction might lead ultimately to a discovery, he
+cared not. By the prescription of the crime he had committed, he was
+free from punishment; while, by retaining his name, and living
+ostensibly in a humble condition, he had a chance of escaping a
+detection of his true character, at the same time that he might, by
+humility and good services, render himself more acceptable to that Great
+Power whose servant he now considered himself to be.
+
+On the twenty-first day of October, the house of Whitecraigs was again
+open. Servants had been procured from Peebles; the fires were again
+burning; the wreaths of smoke again ascended from among the trees; and
+life and living action were taking the place of desertedness. On the
+forenoon of that day, Wallace took the two females from Homestead, and
+conducted them, hanging on his arms, to their new place of residence. To
+speak of feelings, where a change comprehended an entire revolution of
+a life of habit, thought, and sentiment, would be as vain as
+unintelligible. From that day, when the uncle had put the trying
+question to his niece, a change might have been detected working a
+gradual influence on her appearance and conduct. Might we say that hope
+had again lighted her taper within the recesses where all had been so
+long dreary darkness! The change would not authorize an affirmative--it
+would have startled the ear that might have feared and yet loved the
+sounds. One not less versed in human nature might be safer in the
+construction derived from the new objects, new duties, new desires, new
+thoughts, from all the thousand things that act on the mind in this
+wonderful scene of man's existence; but would he be truer to the nature
+of the heart that has once loved? We may be contented with a mean, where
+extremes shoot into the darkness of our mysterious nature. Alice Scott
+took in gradually the interests of her new sphere; did not despise the
+apparel suited to it; did not reject the manners that adorned it; did
+not turn a deaf ear or a dead eye to the eloquent ministers that lay
+around amidst the beauties of Whitecraigs and hailed her as mistress,
+where she was once a servant, if not a beggar.
+
+Meanwhile the house of Homestead was enlarged, to fit it as a residence
+for the uncle. Mr. Pringle was continued agent for the proprietress of
+Whitecraigs; and, while many, doubtless, speculated on a thousand
+theories as to these strange occurrences, we may not deny to Hector
+Hayston, wherever he was, or in whatever circumstances, some interest in
+what concerned him so nearly as the disposal of his estate, and the
+fortune of her by whom his first affections had been awakened. Neither
+shall we say that Wallace and Pringle had not, too, their secret views
+and understandings, and that the latter was not silent where the
+interests of his old employer called for confidence. In all which we
+may be justified by the fact that, one day, the agent of Whitecraigs
+introduced to the bachelor of Homestead a young man: it was the former
+proprietor of Whitecraigs.
+
+"It is natural, Mr. Wallace," said Mr. Pringle, "that one should wish to
+revisit the scenes of his youth--especially," he added, with a smile,
+"when these have been one's own property, come from prior generations,
+and lost by the thoughtlessness of youth."
+
+"It is," replied Wallace, renouncing his usual gravity, "even though
+there should be no one there who might claim the hand of old friendship.
+But this young man has only, as yet, seen the hill-tops of his father's
+lands; and these claim no seclusion from the eye of the traveller. He
+might wish, with greater ardency, to see the bed where his mother lay
+when she bore him, or the cradle (which may still be in the house) where
+she rocked him to sleep."
+
+"God be merciful to me!" replied the youth, as he turned away his head.
+"This man touches strings whose vibrations harrow me. Sir," he added,
+"were you ever yourself in the situation of him whose feelings you have
+thus, from good motives, quickened so painfully?"
+
+"What Whitecraigs and she who lives now in the house yonder were or are
+to you, Scotland and my kindred were to me; but the house where I was
+born knows me not, and the bed and the cradle do not own me. But Alice
+Scott recognised me as a fellow-creature, whatever more I say not; and
+even that, from one so good, and, even yet, so beautiful--is something
+to live for. No more. I know all. Will you risk a meeting?"
+
+"Mr. Pringle will answer for me," replied he, as he turned, with a full
+heart, to the window.
+
+"And I will answer for Mr. Pringle," said Wallace.
+
+"But who will answer for _her_?" rejoined the other.
+
+"Stay there," said Wallace. "I will return in a few minutes."
+
+And, bending his steps to Whitecraigs House, he was, for a time, engaged
+with Alice and her mother. He again returned to Homestead; and, in a few
+minutes after, the three were walking towards the mansion. The eye of
+the young man glanced furtively from side to side, as if to catch
+glimpses of old features which had become strange to him; but in the
+direction of the house he seemed to have no power to look--lagging
+behind, and displaying an anxiety to be concealed, by the bodies of the
+others, from the view of the windows. On arriving at the house, Wallace
+and Pringle went into an apartment where the mother was seated. Hector
+stood in the passage: he feared that Alice was there, and would not
+enter.
+
+"Think you," whispered Wallace, quickly returning to him, "that I, whom
+you accused of touching tender chords, am so little acquainted with
+human nature as to admit of witnesses to your meeting with Alice Scott?
+There, the green parlour in the west wing," he continued, pointing up
+the inside stair to a room well known to the youth. "If you cannot
+effect it, who may try? Go--go!"
+
+"I cannot--I cannot!" he replied, in deep tones. "My feet will not carry
+me. That room was my mother's favourite parlour. A thousand associations
+are busy with me. And now, who sits there?"
+
+"Come, come!" said Pringle, as he came forth, in consequence of hearing
+Hayston's irresolution. "What did you expect on coming here? Alice to
+come and fly to you with open arms?"
+
+"No, sir; to reject me with a wave of disdain!" replied the youth. "I am
+smitten from within, and confidence has left me. Let me see her mother
+first. My cruelty to her has been mixed with kindness, and she may give
+me some heart."
+
+And he turned to the apartment where the mother sat.
+
+"Your confidence will not be restored by anything the mother can say!"
+rejoined Pringle, who was getting alarmed for the success of his
+efforts. "Alice is now mistress here, and must be won by contrition, and
+a prayer for forgiveness."
+
+"Ho!" interjected Wallace. "To what tends this mummery? Must I take you
+by the hand, and lead you to one who, for years, has seen you in every
+flitting shade of the hills, and heard you in every note of the sighing
+winds of the valley?"
+
+"To hate me as I deserve to be hated!" replied Hayston, still
+irresolute. "None of you can give me any ground for hope, and seem to
+push me on to experience a rejection which may seal my misery for ever!"
+
+Wallace smiled in silence, beckoned Pringle into the room beside the
+mother, and taking Hayston by the arm, with a show of humour that
+accorded but indifferently with the real anguish of doubt and dismay by
+which the young man's mind was occupied, forced him on to the first step
+of the inside stair.
+
+"You are now fairly committed!" said he, smiling; "to retreat, is ruin;
+to advance, happiness, and love, and peace."
+
+And he retreated to the room where Pringle was, leaving the youth to the
+strength or weakness of his own resolution. His tread was now heard,
+slow and hesitating, on the stair. Some time elapsed before the sound of
+the opening door was heard; and that it remained for a time open, held
+by the doubtful hand, might also have been observed. At last it was
+shut; and quick steps on the floor indicated that the first look had not
+been fraught with rejection.
+
+The party below were, meanwhile, speculating on the result of the
+meeting. Even the mother was not certain that it would, at first, be
+attended with success. Alice had yielded no consent; and it was only
+from the mother's construction of her looks, that she had given her
+authority for the interview.
+
+"All is now decided, for good or evil," said Wallace. "Go up stairs, and
+bring us a report of the state of affairs."
+
+The mother obeyed; and, after a considerable time, returned, with her
+eyes swimming in tears.
+
+"Is it so?" said her friend. "Is it really so? Has all my labour been
+fruitless?"
+
+"No," replied she; "but I could not stand the sight. I found her lying
+on the breast of Hector, sobbing out the sorrows of years. Her eyes have
+been long dry. The heart is at last opened."
+
+"Too good a sight for me to lose," replied her friend. "For twenty years
+I have only known the tears of penitence: I will now experience those
+that flow from the happiness of others."
+
+And, with these words, he hurried up stairs. We would follow, but that
+we are aware of the danger of treading ground almost forbidden to
+inspiration. Within two hours afterwards, Hector Hayston and Alice Scott
+were again among the glens of Whitecraigs, seeking out those places
+where, before, they used to breathe the accents of a first affection.
+The one had been true to the end; and the other had been false only to
+learn the beauty of truth. We have given these details from a true
+record, and have derived pleasure from the recollections they have
+awakened; but we fairly admit, that we would yield one half of what we
+have experienced of the good, to have marked that day the workings of
+the retrieved spirit in the eyes, and speech, and manners of Alice
+Scott. These are nature's true magic. The drooping flower that is all
+but dead in the dry, parched soil, raises its head, takes on fresh
+colours, and gives forth fresh odours, as the spring showers fall on its
+withered leaves. Oh! there is a magic there that escapes not even the
+eye of dull labour, retiring home sick of all but the repose he needs.
+But the process in the frame that is the temple of beauty, worth,
+intelligence, sensibility, rearing all in loveliness afresh, out of what
+was deemed the ruins only of what is the greatest and best of God's
+works--to see this, and to feel it, is to rejoice that we are placed in
+a world that, with all its elements of vice and sorrow, is yet a place
+where the good and the virtuous may find something analogous to that for
+which the spirit pants in other worlds.
+
+Yet, though we saw it not, we have enough of the conception, through
+fancy, to be thankful for the gift even of the _ideal_ of the good; and
+here we are satisfied that we have more. Hector Hayston and Alice Scott
+were married. David Wallace's history was long concealed, but curiosity
+finally triumphed; yet with no effect calculated to impair the
+equanimity of a mind which repentance, and a reliance on God's grace,
+had long rendered independent of the opinions of men. He had wrought for
+evil, and good came of it; and he lived long to see, in the house of
+Whitecraigs, its master, mistress, and children, the benefits of the
+prescription which the 29th of September effected--a principle of the
+law of Scotland that was long deemed inconsistent with the good of the
+land, but now more properly considered as being no less in unison with
+the feelings of man than it is with divine mercy.
+
+
+
+
+THE COUNTESS OF WISTONBURY.
+
+
+In the summer of 1836 I had occasion to make a journey into Wiltshire,
+in England. As the business that called me there, although of sufficient
+importance to me, would have no interest whatever for the reader, I will
+readily be excused, I dare say, from saying of what nature that business
+was. It will more concern him, from its connection with the sequel, to
+know that my residence, while in England, was in a certain beautiful
+little village at the southern extremity of the shire above named, and
+that mine host, during my stay there, was the worthy landlord of the
+White Hart Inn, as intelligent and well-informed a man as it has often
+been my good fortune to meet with. The nature of the business which made
+me a guest of Michael Jones, left me a great deal more spare time than I
+knew well what to do with. It hung heavy upon my hands; and my good
+host, perceiving this, suggested a little excursion, which, he said, he
+thought would dispose of one day, at any rate, agreeably enough.
+
+"I would recommend you, sir," he said, "to pay a visit to Oxton Hall,
+the seat of the Earl of Wistonbury.[5] It is one of the finest
+residences in England; and, as the family are not there just now, you
+may see the whole house, both inside and outside. If you think of it, I
+will give you a line to the butler, a very old friend of mine, and he
+will be glad to show you all that's worth seeing about the place."
+
+[5] Under this name we choose, for obvious reasons, to conceal the real
+one.--_Ed._
+
+"How far distant is it?" I inquired.
+
+"Oh, not more than three miles and a half--little more than an hour's
+easy walk," replied mine host.
+
+"Excellent!" said I; "thank you for the hint, landlord. Let me have the
+introduction to the butler you spoke about, and I'll set off directly."
+
+In less than five minutes, a card, addressed to Mr. John Grafton,
+butler, Oxton Hall, was put into my hands, and in two minutes more I was
+on my way to the ancient seat of the Earls of Wistonbury. The directions
+given me as to my route, carefully noted on my part, brought me, in
+little more than an hour, to a spacious and noble gateway, secured by a
+magnificent gate of cast-iron. This I at once recognised, from the
+description given me by Mr. Jones, to be the principal entrance to Oxton
+Hall. Satisfied that it was so, I unhesitatingly entered--and the house
+of one of the proudest of England's aristocracy stood before me, in all
+its lordly magnificence. A spacious lawn, of the brightest and most
+beautiful verdure, dotted over with noble oaks, and tenanted by some
+scores of fallow-deer, stretched far and wide on every side. In the
+centre of this splendid park--such a park as England alone can
+exhibit--arose the mansion-house, an ancient and stately pile, of great
+extent and lofty structure.
+
+Having found the person to whose civilities I was recommended by mine
+host of the White Hart--a mild and pleasant-looking old man, of about
+seventy years of age--I put my credentials into his hands. On reading
+it, the old man looked at me smilingly, and said that he would have much
+pleasure in obliging his good friend Mr. Jones, by showing me all that
+was worth seeing both in and about the house; and many things both
+curious and rare, and, I may add, both costly and splendid, did I see
+ere another hour had passed away; but fearing the reader's patience
+would scarcely stand the trial of a description of them, I refrain from
+the experiment, and proceed to say, that, just as our survey of the
+house was concluded, my cicerone, as if suddenly recollecting himself,
+said--
+
+"By-the-by, sir, perhaps you would like to see the picture gallery,
+although it is hardly worth seeing just now--most of the pictures having
+been removed to our house in Grosvenor Square last winter; and, being in
+this denuded state, I never think of showing it to visitors. There are,
+however, a few portraits of different members of the family still left,
+and these you may see if you have any curiosity regarding them."
+
+Such curiosity I avowed I felt, and was immediately conducted into the
+presence of a number of the pictorial ancestry of the illustrious house
+of Wistonbury. The greater part of the pictures had been removed, as my
+conductor had informed me; but a few still remained scattered along the
+lofty walls of the gallery.
+
+"That," said my cicerone, pointing to a grim warrior, clad from head to
+heel in a panoply of steel,--"that is Henry, first Earl of Wistonbury,
+who fell in Palestine during the holy wars; and this," directing my
+attention to another picture, "is the grandfather of the present Earl."
+
+"A very handsome and pleasant-looking young man," said I, struck with
+the forcible representation of these qualities which the painting
+exhibited.
+
+"Ay," replied the old man, "and as good as he was handsome. He is the
+pride of the house; and the country around yet rings with his name,
+associated with all that is kind and charitable."
+
+"And who is this lovely creature?" said I, now pointing in my turn to
+the portrait of a young female of the most exquisite beauty--the face
+strikingly resembling some of the best executed likenesses of the
+unfortunate Queen Mary--which hung beside that of the Good Earl of
+Wistonbury, as the nobleman of whom my cicerone had just spoken was
+called throughout the country.
+
+"That lady, sir," replied the latter, "was his wife--the Countess of
+Wistonbury. She was one of the most beautiful women of her time; and,
+like her husband, was beloved by all around her, for the gentleness of
+her manners and benevolence of her disposition."
+
+"But what's this?" said I, advancing a little nearer the picture, to
+examine something in her attire that puzzled me. "A Scotch plaid!" I
+exclaimed in considerable surprise, on ascertaining that this was the
+article of dress which had perplexed me. "Pray, what has the Scotch
+plaid to do here? How happens it that we find a Countess of Wistonbury
+arrayed in the costume of Caledonia?"
+
+"Why, sir, the reason is good--perfectly satisfactory," replied Mr.
+Grafton, smilingly. "She was a native of that country."
+
+"Indeed!" said I. "A countrywoman of mine! Of what family?" added I.
+
+My conductor smiled.
+
+"Truly," said he, after a pause, "that is a question easier put than
+answered."
+
+"What!" said I, "was she not of some distinguished house?"
+
+"By no means, sir," replied Mr. Grafton. "She was a person of the
+humblest birth and station; but this did not hinder her from becoming
+Countess of Wistonbury, nor from being one of the best as well as most
+beautiful that ever bore the title."
+
+"Ah, ha!" said I to myself, "here's a story for the 'Tales of the
+Borders.'" I did not say this to Mr. Grafton, however; but to him I did
+say--"There must be some interesting story connected with this lady. The
+history of her singular good fortune must be curious, and well worth
+hearing."
+
+"Why, it certainly is," replied my conductor, with the air of one who,
+while he cannot but acknowledge that there is interest in a certain
+piece of information which he possesses, is yet so familiar with it
+himself, has owned it so long, and communicated it so often, that his
+feelings seem to belie his words--the former remaining unmoved by the
+tale which the latter unfolds. "There is certainly something curious in
+the Countess's story," said Mr. Grafton; "and, now that we have seen
+everything that is worth seeing, if you will come with me to my little
+refectory, I will tell you all about it over a tankard of fine old ale
+and a slice of cold round."
+
+Need I say, good reader, that I at once and gladly accepted an
+invitation that so happily combined the intellectual and the sensual?
+You will give me credit for more sense; and the following story will
+prove at once that your good opinion is not misplaced, that I must have
+been an attentive listener, and, lastly, that I must be blessed with a
+pretty retentive memory. I relate the story in my own way, but without
+taking the slightest liberty with any single one of the details given me
+by my informant, who, from having been upwards of forty-five years in
+the service of the Earls of Wistonbury, and, during the greater part of
+that time their principal and most confidential domestic, was minutely
+and accurately informed regarding every remarkable event that had
+occurred in the family for several generations back.
+
+"But, before we leave this part of the house," resumed Mr. Grafton, "be
+so good as step with me a moment into this small room here, till I show
+you a certain little article that cuts some figure in the story which I
+shall shortly tell you."
+
+Saying this, he led the way into the small apartment he alluded to, and,
+conducting me towards a handsome ebony or blackwood cabinet that
+occupied one end of the room, he threw open its little folding doors,
+and exhibited to me, not some rich or rare curiosity, as I had expected,
+but a small, plain, very plain--or I should, perhaps, rather say very
+coarse--country-looking, blue-painted chest.
+
+"Do you see that little chest, sir?" said Mr. Grafton, smilingly.
+
+"I do," said I; "and it seems a very homely article to be so splendidly
+entombed, and so carefully kept."
+
+"Yet," replied Mr. Grafton, "homely as it is, and small as is its
+intrinsic value, that is one of the heir-looms of the family, and one of
+the most fondly-cherished of them all."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, in some surprise. "Then I am very sure it cannot be
+for its marketable worth. It wouldn't bring sixpence."
+
+"I verily believe it would not," replied Mr. Grafton. "Yet the Earl of
+Wistonbury would not part with that little chest for a good round sum, I
+warrant ye."
+
+"Pray, explain, my good sir."
+
+"I will. That little, blue-painted chest contained all the worldly
+wealth--a few articles of female dress--of the lady whose portrait you
+were just now so much admiring, when she became Countess of Wistonbury."
+
+"Why, then," said I, "that is proof that riches, at any rate, had
+nothing to do with her promotion to that high rank."
+
+"They certainly had not," replied my aged friend. "But all this you will
+learn more particularly in the story which I shall tell you presently.
+You will then learn, also, how the little, blue-painted chest comes to
+figure in the history of a countess."
+
+Saying this, Mr. Grafton shut the doors of the cabinet, when we left the
+apartment, and, in a few minutes after, I found myself in what my worthy
+old host called his refectory. This was a snug little room, most
+comfortably furnished, and in which I observed a very large quantity of
+silver plate,--being, I presumed, the depository of that portion of the
+family's wealth. My good old friend now rung his bell, when a female
+servant appeared.
+
+"Let's have summut to eat, Betsy," said the old man; and never was order
+more promptly or more effectively obeyed.
+
+In an instant the table, which occupied the centre of the floor,
+absolutely creaked under the load of good things with which it was
+encumbered. The "slice of cold round," I found, was but a _nomme de
+guerre_ with the old man, and meant everything in the edible way that
+was choice and savoury. To this conclusion I came from seeing the table
+before me covered with a great variety of good things, amongst which
+rose, conspicuous in the centre, a huge venison pasty. When the
+_loading_ of the table was completed, and the servant had retired--
+
+"Now," said the old man, looking at me with a significant smile, and at
+the same time drawing a bunch of small keys from his pocket, from which
+he carefully singled out one, "since Betsy has done her part so well,
+let me see if I can't do mine as creditably."
+
+Saying this, he opened what I thought a sly-looking little cupboard, and
+brought forth from its mysterious recess an aristocratic-looking bottle,
+sealed with black wax, and whose shoulders were still thickly coated
+with sawdust. Handling this venerable bottle with a lightness and
+delicacy of touch which a long practice only could have given, and with
+a degree of reverence which an _à priori_ knowledge of its contents only
+could have inspired, my worthy host tenderly brushed off its coating of
+sawdust, gently inserted the screw, drew the cork, with a calm,
+cautious, steady pull, and, in the next moment, had filled up two
+brimmers of the finest old port that the cellars of Oxton Hall could
+produce. Having done ample justice to the good things before us--
+
+"Now, my good sir, the story, the story, if you please," said I.
+
+"Oh, to be sure," replied my kind host, smiling. "The story you shall
+have. But first let us take another glass of wine, to inspire me with
+fortitude to begin so long a story, and you with patience to listen to
+it."
+
+The procedure thus recommended having been complied with, the good old
+man immediately began:--
+
+"About a hundred and thirteen years since," he said, "there lived in the
+neighbourhood of one of the principal cities in Scotland, a farmer of
+the name of Flowerdew. He was a man of respectable character, and of
+sober and industrious habits. His family consisted only of himself, his
+wife, and an only child--a daughter, named Jessy. Gentle and
+affectionate, of the most winning manners, and surpassingly beautiful in
+form and feature, Jessy was not only the darling of her father, but the
+favourite character of the neighbourhood in which she lived. All yielded
+the homage of admiration to her supreme loveliness, and of the tenderest
+esteem to her worth.
+
+For many years, Jessy's father contrived, notwithstanding of an enormous
+rent, to keep pace with the world, and eventually to raise himself a
+little above it; but, in despite of all his industry and all his
+prudence, reverses came. A succession of bad crops was followed by a
+series of losses of various kinds, and James Flowerdew found himself a
+ruined man.
+
+'It's not for myself I care,' said the honest man, when speaking one day
+with his wife of the misfortunes which had overwhelmed them--'it's for
+our puir bit lassie, guidwife. God help her! I thought to have left her
+independent; but it's been ordained otherwise, and we must submit. But
+what's to become of her I know not. Being brocht up a little abune the
+common, she cannot be asked to enter into the service of ony o' our
+neebors; yet, I see nae other way o't. It must come to that in the lang
+run.'
+
+'I suppose it must, guidman--I suppose it must,' replied his wife,
+raising the corner of her apron to her eye, and then bursting into
+tears. 'My puir, dear, gentle lassie,' she exclaimed, 'it's a sad change
+to her; but I ken she'll meet it cheerfully, and without repining. But,
+guidman, if to service she must go, and I fancy there's little doot o'
+that, wouldna it be better if we could get her into the service of some
+respectable family in the toon, than to put her wi' ony o' our neebors,
+where she might be reminded o' her fall, as they will call it?'
+
+'It's a good thought, Lizzy,' replied her husband, musingly, as he gazed
+in sadness on the fire that burned before him. 'It's a good thought,' he
+said. 'She will be there unknown, and her feelings saved from the taunts
+of callous impertinence. I will think of it,' added Flowerdew. 'In the
+meantime, guidwife, prepare Jessy, the best way you can, for the change
+of situation in life which she is about to meet with. I canna do it. It
+would break my heart a'thegither.'
+
+This painful task Mrs. Flowerdew undertook; and, as she expected, found
+her daughter not only reconciled to the step which was proposed for her,
+but eager and anxious to be put in a way of doing for herself, and, as
+she fondly hoped and affectionately said, of aiding her parents.
+
+Shortly after this, the ruin which had overtaken James Flowerdew began
+to present itself in its most instant and most distressing shapes.
+Arrestments were laid on his funds in all quarters. Visits of messengers
+were frequent, almost daily; and his whole stock and crop were
+sequestrated by the landlord, and a day for the sale fixed. This last
+was a sight from which Flowerdew anxiously wished to save his daughter,
+and he meant to do so, if he could, by finding her 'a place' previous to
+the day of sale.
+
+The duty of looking out for a situation for Jessy in town Flowerdew
+took upon himself, from the circumstance of his having been in the habit
+for many years of supplying a number of respectable families with the
+produce of his farm, which he generally delivered himself, his simple
+character and industrious habits not permitting him to see any
+degradation in driving his own cart on these occasions. Flowerdew had
+thus formed a personal acquaintance with many families of the better
+class, which he thought might be useful to him in his present views.
+
+Amongst the oldest and most respected of his customers was a learned
+professor, whom, to avoid what might be an inconvenient identification
+of circumstances, we shall call Lockerby. With this gentleman Flowerdew
+resolved to begin his inquiries respecting a situation for his daughter.
+He did so, and on being introduced to him, explained the purpose of his
+visit.
+
+'Dear me, Mr. Flowerdew!' said the worthy professor, in surprise at the
+application, 'I thought--I all along thought, that your circumstances
+would entitle your daughter, whose modesty of demeanour and great beauty
+of person I have had frequent opportunities of admiring--she having
+called here frequently, as you know, on various occasions connected with
+our little traffic--I say, I thought your circumstances would entitle
+your daughter to look for something higher than the situation of a
+domestic servant.'
+
+'I once thought so myself, professor,' replied Mr. Flowerdew, with a
+tear standing in his eye; 'but it has turned out otherwise. The truth
+is, that I have lately met with such reverses as have entirely ruined
+me. I am about to be ejected from my farm, and must betake myself to
+daily labour for a subsistence. In this explanation you will see the
+reason why I apply to you for a situation in your family for my
+daughter.'
+
+'Too clearly--too clearly,' replied the worthy professor sincerely
+grieving for the misfortunes of a man whom he had long known, and whose
+uprightness of conduct and character he had long appreciated. 'I am
+seriously distressed, Mr. Flowerdew,' he added, 'to learn all
+this--seriously distressed, indeed; but, in the meantime, let us consult
+Mrs. Lockerby on the subject of your present visit.' And he rang the
+bell, and desired the servant who answered it, to request his wife to
+come to him. She came, and on being informed of Mr. Flowerdew's
+application in behalf of his daughter, at once agreed to receive her
+into her service; adding, that she might, if she chose, enter on her
+duties immediately. It was finally arranged that Jessy should take
+possession of her situation on the following day.
+
+Highly gratified at having got admission for his daughter into so worthy
+and respectable a family, Flowerdew returned home with a lighter heart
+than he had possessed for some time before. He felt that his Jessy was
+now, in a manner, provided for; and that, although the situation was a
+humble one, and far short of what he had once expected for her, it was
+yet a creditable one, and one presenting no mean field for the exercise
+of some of the best qualities which a woman can possess.
+
+Equally pleased with her father at the opening that had been found for
+her, the gentle girl lost no time in making such preparations as the
+impending change in her position in life rendered necessary. Part of
+these preparations, all cheerfully performed, consisted in packing a
+small trunk with her clothes, and in other procedures of a similar kind.
+In this employment her mother endeavoured to assist her, but was too
+much affected by the sadness of the task to afford any very efficient
+aid, although her daughter did all she could, by assuming a
+light-heartedness which she could not altogether feel, to assuage the
+grief to which her mother was every moment giving way.
+
+'Why grieve yourself in that way, mother?' she would say, pausing in her
+operations, and flinging her arms around her parent's neck. 'I assure
+you I am happy at the prospect of being put in a way of doing for
+myself; I consider it no hardship--not in the least. I will take a pride
+in discharging my new duties faithfully and diligently; and I hope that,
+even in the humble sphere in which I am about to move, I shall contrive
+to make myself both esteemed and respected.'
+
+'_That_ I dinna doubt--that I dinna doubt, my dear lassie,' replied her
+mother; 'but, oh, it goes to my heart to see you gaun into the service
+o' ithers. I never expected to see the day. Oh, this is a sad change
+that's come over us a'!' And again the poor woman burst into a paroxysm
+of grief.
+
+'Mother,' said the girl, 'you will dishearten me if you go on in this
+way.' Then smiling through the tears of affection that glistened on her
+eye, and assuming a tone of affected cheerfulness, 'Come now, dear
+mother, do drop this desponding tone. There's better days in store for
+us yet. We'll get above all this by-and-by. In the meantime it is our
+duty, as Christians, to submit to the destiny that has been decreed us
+with patience and resignation. Come, mother, I'll sing you the song you
+used always to like so well to hear me sing.' And, without waiting for
+any remark in reply, or pausing in her employment, the girl immediately
+began, in a voice whose richness of tone and deep pathos possessed the
+most thrilling power:--
+
+   'A cheerfu' heart's been always mine,
+      Whatever might betide me, O!
+    In foul or fair, in shade or shine,
+      I've aye had that to guide me, O!
+
+    When luck cam chappin' at my door,
+      Wi' right goodwill I cheered him, O!
+    And whan misfortune cam, I swore
+      The ne'er a bit I feared him, O!'
+
+'O lassie, lassie!' exclaimed Jessy's mother, here interrupting her, and
+now smiling as she spoke--'how can ye think o' singing at such a time?
+But God lang vouchsafe ye sae light and cheerfu' a heart! It's a great
+blessing, Jessy, and canna be prized too highly.'
+
+'I'm aware of it, mother,' replied her daughter, 'and am, I trust,
+thankful for it. I dinna see, after a', that anything should seriously
+distress us--but guilt. If we keep free o' _that_, what hae we to fear?
+A' ither mischances will mend, or if they dinna, they'll at least smooth
+doon wi' time.'
+
+'But why are ye no puttin' up your silk goun, Jessy?' here interposed
+her mother, abruptly; seeing her daughter laying aside the article of
+dress she referred to, as if she did not intend it should have a place
+in the little chest she was packing.
+
+'The silk gown, mother, I'll no tak wi' me,' replied Jessy, smiling;
+'I'll leave't at hame till better times come roun'. It would hardly
+become my station now, mother, to be gaun flaunting about in silks.'
+
+'Too true, Jessy,' said her mother with a sigh. 'It may be as weel, as
+ye say, to leave't at hame for a wee, till times mend wi' us at ony
+rate, although God only knows when that may be, if ever.'
+
+'I'll keep it for my wedding gown, mother,' said Jessy, laughingly, and
+with an intention of counteracting the depressing tendency of her
+inadvertent remarks on the propriety of her leaving her silk gown
+behind. 'I'll keep it for my wedding dress, mother,' she said, 'although
+it's mair than likely that a plainer attire will be mair suitable for
+that occasion too.'
+
+'Nae sayin', Jessy,' replied her mother. 'Ye'll maybe get a canny laird
+yet, that can ride to market wi' siller spurs on his boots and gowd lace
+on his hat.'
+
+'Far less will please me, mither,' replied Jessy, blushing and laughing
+at the same time. 'I never, even in our best days, looked so high, and
+it would ill become me to do so now.'
+
+With such conversation as this did mother and daughter endeavour to
+divert their minds from dwelling on the painful reflection which the
+latter's occupation was so well calculated to excite.
+
+An early hour of the following morning saw Jessy Flowerdew seated in a
+little cart, well lined with straw by her doting father, who proposed
+driving her himself into the city. A _small, blue-painted chest_, a
+bandbox, and one or two small bundles, formed the whole of her
+travelling accompaniments. She herself was wrapped in a scarlet mantle,
+and wore on her head a light straw bonnet, of tasteful shape, and
+admirably adapted to the complexion and contour of the fine countenance
+which it gracefully enclosed.
+
+After a delay of a few minutes--for the cart in which Jessy was seated
+was still standing at the door--her father, dressed in his Sunday's
+suit, came out of the house, stepped up to the horse's head, took the
+reins in his hand, and gently put in motion the little humble conveyance
+which was to bear his daughter away from the home of her childhood, and
+to place her in the house of the stranger. Unable to sustain the agony
+of a last parting, Jessy's mother had not come out of the house to see
+her daughter start on her journey; but she was seen, when the cart had
+proceeded a little way, standing at the door, with her apron at her
+eyes, looking after it with an expression of the most heartfelt sorrow.
+
+'There's my mother, father,' said Jessy, in a choking voice, on getting
+a sight of the former in the affecting attitude above described--but she
+could add no more. In the next instant her face was buried in her
+handkerchief. Her father turned round on her calling his attention to
+her mother, but instantly, and without saying a word, resumed the
+silent, plodding pace which the circumstance had for a moment
+interrupted.
+
+In little more than an hour the humble equipage, whose progress we have
+been tracing, entered the city. Humble, however, as that equipage was,
+it did not prevent the passers-by from marking the singular beauty of
+her by whom it was occupied. Many were they who looked round, and stood
+and gazed in admiration after the little cart and its occupant, as they
+rattled along the 'stony street.' Their further progress, however, was
+now a short one. In a few minutes Flowerdew and his daughter found
+themselves at the professor's door. The former now tenderly lifted out
+Jessy from the cart--for her sylph-like form, so light and slender, was
+nothing in the arms of the robust farmer--and placed her in safety on
+the flag-stones. Her little trunk and bandbox were next taken out by the
+same friendly hand, and deposited beside her. This done, Flowerdew
+rapped at the professor's door. It was opened. The father and daughter
+entered; and, in an hour after--long before which her father had left
+her--the latter was engaged in the duties of her new situation.
+
+Days, weeks, and months, as they will always do, now passed away, but
+they still found Jessy in the service of her first employers, whose
+esteem she had gained by the gentleness of her nature, the modesty of
+her demeanour, and the extreme propriety of her conduct.
+
+At the time of her first entering into the service of Professor
+Lockerby, Jessy Flowerdew had just completed her sixteenth year. The
+charms of her person had not then attained their full perfection. But
+now that two years more had passed over her head--for this interval must
+be understood to have elapsed before we resume our tale--her face and
+figure had attained the zenith of their beauty, a beauty that struck
+every beholder, and in every beholder excited feelings of unqualified
+admiration.
+
+It was about the end of two years after Jessy's advent into the family
+of the professor, that the latter one morning, raising his head from a
+letter which he had just been reading, and, turning to the former, who
+was in the act of removing the breakfast equipage, said--
+
+'Jessy, my girl, will you be so good as put the little parlour and
+bedroom up stairs in the best order you can, as I expect a young
+gentleman to-morrow, who is to become a boarder with us.'
+
+Jessy courtseyed her acquiescence in the order just given her, and
+retired from the apartment to fulfil it.
+
+On the following day a travelling carriage, whose panels were adorned
+with a coronet, drove up to the door of Professor Lockerby. From this
+carriage descended a young man, apparently between nineteen and twenty
+years of age, of the most prepossessing appearance. His countenance was
+pale, but bore an expression of extreme mildness and benevolence. His
+figure was tall and slender, but handsomely formed; while his whole
+manner and bearing bespoke the man of high birth and breeding.
+
+On descending from his carriage, the young man was received by the
+professor with the most respectful deference--too respectful it seemed
+to be for the taste of him to whom it was addressed, for he instantly
+broke through the cold formality of the meeting, by grasping the
+professor's hand, and shaking it with the heartiest and most cordial
+goodwill, saying while he did so--
+
+'I hope I see you well, professor.'
+
+'In perfect health, I thank you, my lord,' replied the professor. 'I
+hope you left your good lady mother, the countess, well.'
+
+'Quite well--I'm obliged to you, professor--as lively and stirring, and
+active as ever. Hot and hasty, and a little queenly in her style now and
+then, as you know, but still the open heart and the open hand of the
+Wistonburys.'
+
+'I have the honour of knowing the countess well, my lord,' replied the
+professor, 'and can bear testimony to the nobleness of her nature and
+disposition. I have known many, many instances of it.'
+
+With such conversation as this, the professor and his noble boarder--for
+such was the young man whom we have just introduced to the
+reader--entered the house. Who this young man was, and what was his
+object in taking up his abode with Professor Lockerby, we will explain
+in a few words, although such explanation is rendered in part nearly
+unnecessary by the conversation just recorded between him and the
+professor. It may not be amiss, however, to say, in more distinct terms,
+that he was the Earl of Wistonbury, a rank which he had attained just a
+year before, by the sudden and premature death of his father, who died
+in the forty-fifth year of his age. Since his accession to the title of
+his ancestors, the young earl had continued to live in retirement with
+his mother, a woman of a noble, elevated, and generous soul, well
+becoming her high lineage--for she, too, was descended of one of the
+noblest families in England--but in whose temper there was occasionally
+made visible a dash of the leaven of aristocracy.
+
+On her son, the young earl, her only surviving child, she doted with all
+the affection of the fondest and tenderest of mothers; and well worthy
+was that son of all the love she could bestow. His was one of those
+natures which no earthly elevation can corrupt, no factitious system
+deprive of its innate simplicity.
+
+The promotion of the young earl to the head of his illustrious house,
+was, however, a premature one in more respects than one. One of these
+was to be found in the circumstance of the young man's being found
+unprepared--at least so he judged himself--in the matter of education,
+to fill with credit the high station to which he was so unexpectedly
+called. His education, in truth, had been rather neglected; and it was
+to make up for this neglect, to recover his lost ground with all the
+speed possible, that he was now come to reside for a few months with
+Professor Lockerby, who had once acted as tutor in his father's family
+to a brother who had died young.
+
+Such, then, was the professor's boarder, and such was the purpose for
+which he became so.
+
+The favourable impression which the youthful earl's first appearance had
+made, suffered no diminution by length of acquaintance. Mild and
+unpresuming, he won the love of all who came in contact with him. The
+little personal services he required, he always solicited, never
+commanded; and what he could with any propriety do himself, he always
+did, without seeking other assistance.
+
+A quiet and unostentatious inmate of the professor's, time rolled
+rapidly, but gently and imperceptibly, over the head of the young earl,
+until a single week only intervened between the moment referred to, and
+the period fixed on for his return to Oxton Hall.
+
+Thus, nearly six months had elapsed, not a very long period, but one in
+which much may be accomplished, and in which many a change may take
+place. And by such features were the six months marked, which the young
+Earl of Wistonbury had spent in the house of Professor Lockerby. In that
+time, by dint of unrelaxing assiduity and intense application, he had
+acquired a respectable knowledge of both Latin and Greek, and in that
+time, too, he had taken a step which was to affect the whole tenor of
+his after life, and to make him either happy or miserable, as it had
+been fortunately or unfortunately made. What that step was we shall
+divulge, through precisely the same singular process by which it
+actually came to the knowledge of the other parties interested.
+
+One evening, at the period to which we a short while since
+alluded--namely, about a week previous to the expiry of the proposed
+term of the earl's residence with Professor Lockerby--as Jessy Flowerdew
+was about to remove the tea equipage from the table of the little
+parlour in which the professor and his noble pupil usually conducted
+their studies, the latter suddenly rose from his seat, and, looking at
+their fair handmaiden with a serious countenance, said--
+
+'Jessy, my love, you must not perform this service again, nor any other
+of a similar kind. You are now my wife--you are now Countess of
+Wistonbury.'
+
+We leave it to the reader to imagine, after his own surprise has a
+little subsided, what was that of the worthy professor, on hearing his
+noble pupil make so extraordinary, so astounding a declaration--a
+declaration not less remarkable for its import, than for the occasion on
+which, and the manner in which it was made.
+
+On recovering from his astonishment, 'My lord,' said the good professor,
+with a grave and stern countenance, 'be good enough to inform me what
+this extraordinary conduct means? What can have been your motive, my
+lord, for using the highly improper and most unguarded language which I
+have just now heard you utter?'
+
+The young earl, with the greatest calmness and deference of manner,
+approached the professor, laid his hand upon his heart, and, with a
+graceful inclination, said, slowly and emphatically--
+
+'Upon my honour, sir, she _is_ my wife!'
+
+'What, my lord!' exclaimed the still more and more amazed professor--and
+now starting from his chair in his excitation--'do you repeat your most
+unbecoming and incredible assertion?'
+
+'I do, sir,' replied the earl, in the same calm and respectful manner.
+'I do repeat it, and say, before God, that Jessy Flowerdew is the
+lawfully married wife of the Earl of Wistonbury.'
+
+'Well, my lord, well,' said the professor, in angry agitation, 'I know
+what is my duty in this most extraordinary case. It is to give instant
+notice to the countess, your mother, of what I must call, my lord, the
+extremely rash and unadvised step you have taken.'
+
+To this threat and rebuke, the earl replied, with the utmost composure
+and politeness of manner--'I was not unprepared, sir, for your
+resentment on this occasion. Neither do I take it in the least amiss.
+You merely do your duty when you tell me I have forgotten mine. But the
+step I have taken, sir, allow me to say, although it may appear
+unadvised, has not been so in reality. I have weighed well the
+consequences, and am quite prepared to abide them.'
+
+'Be it so, my lord, be it so,' replied the professor. 'I have only now
+to remark that, as you say you were prepared for _my_ resentment, I hope
+you are also prepared for your mother's, my lord--a matter of much more
+serious moment.'
+
+'My mother, sir, I will take in my own hands,' replied the earl; 'she
+can resent, but she can also forgive.'
+
+'I have no more to say, my lord, no more,' rejoined Mr. Lockerby; 'the
+matter must now be put into the hands of those who have a better right
+to judge of its propriety than I have. I shall presume on no further
+remark on the subject.'
+
+'Come, sir,' said the earl, smiling and extending his hand to the
+professor, 'let this, if you please, be no cause for difference between
+us. I propose that we allow the matter to lie in abeyance until my
+mother has been appealed to; she being the only person, you know, who
+has a right to be displeased with my proceeding, or whose wishes I was
+called upon to consult in this matter.'
+
+'Excuse me, my lord,' replied the worthy professor; 'but I must
+positively decline all interchange of courtesies which may, by any
+possibility, be construed into an overlooking of this very extraordinary
+affair.'
+
+'Well, well, my good sir,' said the earl, smiling, and still maintaining
+the equanimity of his temper, 'judge of me as charitably as you can. In
+the morning, we shall meet, I trust, better friends.' Saying this, he
+took up one of the candles which were on the table before him, bade the
+professor a polite and respectful good night, and retired to his own
+apartment.
+
+The earl had no sooner withdrawn than Mr. Lockerby, after collecting
+himself a little, commenced inditing a letter to the Countess Dowager of
+Wistonbury, apprising her of what had just occurred. In speaking,
+however, of the 'degrading' connection which her son had made, the
+honest man's sense of justice compelled him to add a qualifying
+explanation of the term which he had employed--'degrading, I mean,' he
+said, '_in point of wealth, rank, and accomplishments_; for, in all
+other respects, in conduct and character, in temper and disposition,
+and, above all, in personal appearance--for she is certainly eminently
+beautiful--I must admit that her superior may not easily be found.'
+
+The letter that contained these remarks, with the other information
+connected with it, the professor despatched on the same night on which
+it was written; and, having done this, awaited with what composure and
+fortitude he could command, the dreadful explosion of aristocratic wrath
+and indignation, which, he had no doubt, would speedily follow.
+
+Leaving matters in this extraordinary position in the house of Professor
+Lockerby we shall shift the scene, for a moment, to the Countess
+Dowager of Wistonbury's sitting apartment in Oxton Hall; and we shall
+choose the moment when her favourite footman, Jacob Asterley, has
+entered her presence, after his return from a call at the post-office in
+the neighbouring village; the time being the second day after the
+occurrence just previously related--namely, the despatch to Oxton Hall
+of Professor Lockerby's letter.
+
+'Well, Jacob, any letters for me to-day?' said the countess, on the
+entrance of that worthy official.
+
+'One, my lady, from Scotland,' replied the servant, deferentially, and,
+at the same time, opening the bag in which the letters were usually
+carried to and from the post-house.
+
+'Ah! from the earl,' said the countess.
+
+'No, my lady, I rather think not. The address is not in his lordship's
+handwriting.'
+
+'Oh! the good Professor Lockerby,' said the countess, contemplating for
+a moment the address of the letter in question, which was now in her
+ladyship's hands. 'I hope nothing unpleasant has occurred to my son.'
+And while she spoke, she hurriedly broke the seal, and, in the next
+instant, was intently engaged in perusing the intelligence which it had
+secured from the prying curiosity of parties whom it did not concern.
+
+It would take a much abler pen than that now employed in tracing these
+lines, to convey anything like an adequate idea of the mingled
+expression of amazement, indignation, and grief exhibited on the
+countenance, and in every act and attitude of the proud Countess of
+Wistonbury, on reading the story of her son's degradation. The flush of
+haughty resentment was succeeded by the sudden paleness of despair; and
+in frequent alternation did these strong expressions of varied feeling
+flit across the fine countenance--still fine, although it had looked on
+fifty summers--of the heart-stricken mother, as she proceeded in her
+perusal of the fatal document. On completing the perusal, the countess
+threw herself in silent distraction on a sofa, and, still holding the
+open letter in her hand, sank into a maze of wild and wandering
+thoughts. These, however, seemed at length to concentrate in one
+decisive and sudden resolution. Starting from the reclining posture into
+which she had thrown herself, she advanced towards the bell-pull, rung
+furiously, and, when the servant entered to know what were her
+commands--
+
+'Order the travelling carriage instantly, Jacob,' she said--'instantly,
+instantly; and let four of my best horses be put in the harness. What do
+you stare at, fool?' she added, irritated at the look of astonishment
+which the inexplicable violence of her manner had called into the
+countenance of her trusty domestic. 'Do as you are ordered, directly.'
+The man bowed and withdrew; and in pursuance of the commands he had
+received, proceeded to the stables.
+
+'Here's a start, Thomas!' he said, addressing a jolly-looking fellow,
+who was busily employed in brushing up some harness; 'the travelling
+carriage directly, and four of your best horses for my lady.'
+
+'Why, what the devil's the matter now?' replied Thomas, pausing in his
+operations; 'where's the old girl a-going to?'
+
+'Not knowing, can't say,' replied Jacob; 'but she's in a woundy fuss, I
+warrant you. Never seed her in such a quandary in my life. Something's
+wrong somewhere, I guess.'
+
+'Well, well, all's one to me,' said Thomas, with philosophical
+indifference; 'but it looks like a long start, where-ever it may be to;
+so I'll get my traps in order.' And this duty was so expeditiously
+performed, that, in less than fifteen minutes, the very handsome
+travelling carriage of the Earl of Wistonbury, drawn by four spanking
+bays, flashed up to the door of Oxton Hall. In an instant after, it was
+occupied by the dowager countess, and in another, was rattling away for
+Scotland, at the utmost speed of the noble animals by which it was
+drawn.
+
+Changing here, once more, the scene of our story, we return to the house
+of Professor Lockerby. There matters continued in that ominous state of
+quiescence, that significant and portentous calm, that precedes the
+bursting of the storm. Between the professor and the young earl, not a
+word more had passed on the subject of the latter's extraordinary
+declaration. Neither had made the slightest subsequent allusion to it,
+but continued their studies precisely as they had done before; although,
+perhaps, a degree of restraint--a consciousness of some point of
+difference between them--might now be discerned in their correspondence.
+Both, in short, seemed to have tacitly agreed to abide the result of the
+professor's letter to the countess, before taking any other step, or
+expressing any other feeling, on the subject to which that letter
+related. The anticipated crisis which the professor and his noble pupil
+were thus composedly awaiting, soon arrived. On the third day after that
+remarkable one on which the young Earl of Wistonbury had avowed the
+humble daughter of an humble Scotch farmer to be his wife, a carriage
+and four, which, we need scarcely say, was the same we saw start from
+Oxton Hall, drove furiously up to the door of Professor Lockerby. The
+horses' flanks sent forth clouds of smoke; their mouths and
+fore-shoulders were covered with foam; and the carriage itself was
+almost encased in mud. Everything, in short, told of a long and rapid
+journey. And it was so. Night and day, without one hour's intermission,
+had that carriage prosecuted its journey. In an instant after, the
+carriage stopped; its steps were down, and, bridling with high and lofty
+indignation, the Dowager Countess of Wistonbury descended, and, ere any
+one of the professor's family were aware of her arrival, she had entered
+the house, the door being accidentally open, and was calling loudly for
+'her boy.'
+
+'Where is my son?' she exclaimed, as she made her way into the interior
+of the house: 'where is the Earl of Wistonbury?'
+
+In a moment after the Earl of Wistonbury, who had heard and instantly
+recognized his mother's voice, was before her, and was about to rush
+into her arms, when she haughtily thrust him back, saying--
+
+'Degraded, spiritless boy, dare not too approach me! You have blotted
+the noblest, the proudest scutcheon of England. Where is Professor
+Lockerby?'
+
+The professor was by her side before she had completed the sentence,
+when, seeing her agitation--
+
+'My good lady,' he said, in his most persuasive tone, 'do allow me to
+entreat of you to be composed, and to have the honour of conducting you
+up stairs.'
+
+'Anywhere!--anywhere, professor!' exclaimed the countess; 'but, alas! go
+where I will, I cannot escape the misery of my own thoughts, nor the
+disgrace which my unworthy son has brought upon my head.'
+
+Without making any reply to this outburst of passionate feeling, the
+professor took the countess respectfully by the hand, and silently
+conducted her to his drawing-room. With stately step the countess
+entered, and walked slowly to the further end of the apartment; this
+gained, she turned round, and, when she had done so, a sight awaited her
+for which she was but little prepared. This was her son and Jessy
+Flowerdew, kneeling side by side, and, by their attitude, eloquently
+imploring her forgiveness. It was just one of those sights best
+calculated to work on the nobler nature of the Countess of Wistonbury,
+and to call up the finer feelings of her generous heart. For some
+seconds she looked at the kneeling pair in silent astonishment; her eye,
+however, chiefly fixed on the beauteous countenance of Jessy Flowerdew,
+pale with terror and emotion, and wet with tears. Having gazed for some
+time on this extraordinary sight, without betraying the slightest
+symptom of the feelings beyond that of surprise, with which it had
+inspired her, the countess slowly advanced towards the kneeling couple.
+She still, however, uttered no word, and discovered no emotion; but a
+sudden change had come over her proud spirit. That spirit was now laid,
+and its place occupied by all the generous impulses of her nature.
+Keeping her eye steadily fixed on the kneeling fair one before her, she
+approached her, paused a moment, extended her hand, placed it on the
+ivory forehead of Jessy Flowerdew, gently laid back her rich auburn
+hair, and, as she did so, said, in a tremulous, but emphatic voice--
+
+'You _are_, indeed, a lovely girl! God bless you! Alfred, my son, rise,'
+she added, in a low, but calm and solemn tone; 'I forgive you.' And she
+extended her hand towards him. The earl seized it, kissed it
+affectionately, and bathed it with his tears.
+
+'Rise, my lady--rise, my fair Countess of Wistonbury,' she now said, and
+herself aiding in the act she commanded, 'I acknowledge you as my
+daughter, and we must now see to fitting you to the high station to
+which my son's favour has promoted you, and of which, I trust, you will
+prove as worthy in point of conduct as you assuredly already are in that
+of personal beauty. God bless you both! And may every happiness that the
+conjugal state affords, be yours! Professor,' she added, and now turning
+round to that gentleman, 'you will think this weakness--a mother's
+weakness--and perhaps it is so--but I would myself fain attribute it to
+a more worthy feeling, and, if I know my own heart, it is so. But let
+that pass. I _am_ reconciled to the step my son has taken, and
+reverently leave it to God, and fearlessly to man, to judge of the
+motives by which I have been influenced. I trust they are such as to
+merit the approbation of both.'
+
+Surprised, and greatly affected by the unexpected turn which matters had
+taken, so contrary to what he had anticipated, the worthy professor had
+listened to these expressions of the countess with averted head, and
+making the most ingenious use of the handkerchief which he held to his
+face that he could, to conceal the real purpose for which he employed
+it. When she had done--
+
+'Madam,' he said, with great agitation and confusion of manner, and
+still busily plying the handkerchief in its pretended vocation--'Madam,
+I--I--I am surprised--much affected, I assure you--much affected, my
+lady--with this striking instance of what a noble and generous nature is
+capable. I was by no means prepared for it. It does you infinite honour,
+my lady--infinite honour; and will, I trust, in its result, be
+productive of all that happiness to you which your magnanimous conduct
+so eminently deserves.'
+
+'I trust I have acted rightly, professor,' was the brief reply of the
+countess, as she again turned to the young couple, who were now standing
+on the floor beside her, 'I hope I have; and, if my heart does not
+deceive me, I am sure I have.'
+
+'You are warranted, my lady, in the confidence you express in the
+uprightness, the generosity of your conduct on this very remarkable
+occasion--perfectly warranted,' replied the professor. 'It is an
+unexampled instance of greatness, of liberality of mind, and as such I
+must always look on it.'
+
+Thus, then, terminated this extraordinary scene. It was subsequently
+arranged that the marriage of the earl should, in the meantime, be kept
+as secret as possible, and that the young countess should, in the
+interim, be sent for a year or two to one of the most celebrated
+seminaries of female education in England, under an assumed name, and
+that, when she should have acquired the attainments and the polish
+befitting her high station, she should be produced to the world as the
+Countess of Wistonbury.
+
+Acting upon this plan of proceedings, the same carriage that brought
+down the earl's mother, bore away, on the following day, together with
+that lady, the young earl and his bride; the latter, to commence her
+educational noviciate in England; the former, to while away the time as
+he best could until that noviciate should expire, a period which he
+proposed to render less irksome by a tour on the continent.
+
+About two years after the occurrence of the events just related--it
+might be more, perhaps nearly three--Oxton Hall presented a scene of
+prodigious confusion and bustle. Little carts of provender were daily
+seen making frequent visits to the house. Huge old grates, in deserted
+kitchens, that had not been in use for a century before, were cleared of
+their rubbish, and glowing with blazing fires, at which enormous roasts
+were solemnly revolving. Menials were running to and fro in all
+directions, and a crowd of powdered and richly-liveried lackeys bustled
+backwards and forwards through the gorgeous apartments, loaded with
+silver plate, and bearing huge baskets of wine. Everything at Oxton
+Hall, in short, betokened preparations for a splendid fête--and such, in
+truth, was the case. To this fête all the nobility and gentry, within a
+circuit of ten to fifteen miles were invited; and such an affair it
+promised to be, altogether, as had not been seen at Oxton Hall since the
+marriage of the last earl--a period of nearly thirty years. None of
+those invited knew, or could guess, what was the particular reason for
+so extensive a merry-making. Its scale, they learned, was most
+magnificent, and the invitations unprecedentedly numerous.
+
+The whole affair was thus somewhat of a puzzle to the good people who
+were to figure as guests at the impending fête; but they comforted
+themselves with the reflection that they would know all about it by and
+by. In the meantime, the day appointed for the celebration of the
+proposed festival at Oxton Hall arrived; and, amongst the other
+preparations which more markedly characterized it, was the appearance of
+several long tables extended on the lawn in front of the house, and
+which were intended for the accommodation of the earl's tenantry, who
+were also invited to share in the coming festivities. Towards the
+afternoon of the day alluded to, carriages and vehicles of all
+descriptions, and of various degrees of elegance, were seen, in
+seemingly endless numbers, streaming along the spacious and
+well-gravelled walks that led, by many a graceful curve, through the
+surrounding lawn, to the noble portals of Oxton Hall. These, by turns,
+drew up in front of the principal entrance to the house, and delivered
+their several cargoes of lords and ladies, knights and squires, all
+honourable personages, and of high degree. An inferior description of
+equipages, again, and occupied by persons of a different class, sturdy
+yeomen and their wives and daughters, found ther way, or rather were
+guided as they came, to a different destination, but with no difference
+in the hospitality of their reception. All were alike welcome to Oxton
+Hall on this auspicious day. By and by the hour of dinner came, and,
+when it did, it exhibited a splendid scene in the magnificent
+dining-room of the Earl of Wistonbury. In this dining-room were
+assembled a party of at least a hundred-and-fifty ladies and gentlemen,
+all in their best attire. Down the middle of the spacious apartment ran
+a table of ample length and breadth, and capable of accommodating with
+ease even the formidable array by which it was shortly to be
+surrounded. On this spacious board glittered as much wealth, in the
+shape of silver plate, as would have bought a barony, while everything
+around showed that it was still but a small portion of the riches of its
+noble owner. At the further end of the lordly hall, in an elevated
+recess or interior balcony, were stationed a band of musicians, to
+contribute the choicest specimens of the art to the hilarity of the
+evening. Altogether the scene was one of the most imposing that can well
+be conceived, an effect which was not a little heightened by the antique
+character of the noble apartment in which it was exhibited, one of whose
+most striking features was a large oriel window, filled with the most
+beautifully stained glass, which threw its subdued and sombre light on
+the magnificent scene beneath. Hitherto the young earl had not been seen
+by any of the company; his mother, the countess-dowager, having
+discharged the duties of hospitality in receiving the guests. Many were
+the inquiries made for the absent lord of the mansion; but these were
+all answered evasively, although always concluded with the assurance
+that he would appear in good time.
+
+Satisfied with this assurance, the subject was no further pressed at the
+moment; but, as the dinner hour approached, and the earl had not yet
+presented himself, considerable curiosity and impatience began to be
+manifested amongst the assembled guests. These feelings increased every
+moment, and had attained their height, when the party found themselves
+called on to take their seats at table, and yet no earl had appeared.
+The general surprise was further excited on its being observed that the
+countess-dowager did not, as usual, take the chair at the head of the
+table, as was expected, but placed herself on its right. The chair at
+the foot of the table remained also yet unoccupied; and great was the
+wonder what all this could mean. It was now soon to be explained. Just
+as the party had taken their seats, a folding-door, at the further end
+of the hall, flew open, and the young Earl of Wistonbury entered,
+leading by the hand a young female of exceeding beauty, attired in a
+dress of the most dazzling splendour, over which was gracefully thrown a
+Scottish plaid. Bowing slightly, but with a graceful and cordial
+expression, and smiling affably as he advanced, the earl conducted his
+fair charge to the head of the table, where, after a pause of a few
+seconds, which he purposely made in order to afford his guests an
+opportunity of marking the extreme loveliness of the lady whom he had
+thus so unexpectedly introduced to them--an opportunity which was not
+thrown away, as was evident from the murmur of admiration that ran round
+the brilliant assembly--the earl thus shortly addressed his wondering
+guests--
+
+'Permit me, my friends,' he said, 'to introduce to you the Countess of
+Wistonbury!'
+
+A shout of applause from the gentlemen, and a waving of handkerchiefs
+by the ladies, hailed the pleasing and unexpected intelligence--an
+homage whose duration and intensity was increased by the singularly
+graceful manner with which it was received and acknowledged by her to
+whom it was paid. Nothing could be more captivating than the modest,
+winning sweetness of her smile, nothing more pleasing to behold than the
+gentle grace of her every motion. On all present the impression was that
+she was a woman of birth, education, and high breeding, and nothing in
+the part she subsequently acted tended in the slightest degree to affect
+this idea. The young and lovely countess conducted herself throughout
+the whole of this eventful evening, as she did throughout the remainder
+of her life, with the most perfect propriety; and thus evinced that the
+pains taken to fit Jessy Flowerdew for the high station to which a
+singular good fortune had called her, was very far from having been
+taken in vain.
+
+At the conclusion of the banquet, the earl entreated the indulgence of
+the company for an absence for himself and the countess of a quarter of
+an hour. This being of course readily acquiesced in, the earl and his
+beauteous young wife were seen, arm and arm, on the lawn, going towards
+the tables at which his tenantry were enjoying his hospitality. Here he
+went through precisely the same ceremony of introduction with that which
+we have described as having taken place in the banquet-hall; and here it
+was greeted with the same enthusiasm, and acknowledged by the countess
+with the same grace and propriety. This proceeding over, the earl and
+his young bride returned to their party, when one of the most joyous
+evenings followed that the banqueting-room of Oxton Hall had ever
+witnessed. There is only now to add, that Jessy Flowerdew's subsequent
+conduct as Countess of Wistonbury proved her in every respect worthy of
+the high place to which she had been elevated. A mildness and gentleness
+of disposition, and a winning modesty of demeanour, which all the wealth
+and state with which she was surrounded could not in the slightest
+degree impair, distinguished her through life; and no less distinguished
+was she by the generosity and benevolence of her nature, a nature which
+her change of destiny was wholly unable to pervert."
+
+Such, then, good reader, is the history of the lady whose portrait, in
+which she appears habited in a Scottish plaid, adorns, with others, the
+walls of the picture gallery of Oxton Hall, in Wiltshire.
+
+
+
+
+MIDSIDE MAGGY;
+
+OR,
+
+THE BANNOCK O' TOLLISHILL.
+
+    "Every bannock had its maik, but the bannock o' Tollishill."
+                                                _Scottish Proverb._
+
+
+Belike, gentle reader, thou hast often heard the proverb quoted above,
+that "Every bannock had its maik, but the bannock o' Tollishill." The
+saying hath its origin in a romantic tradition of the Lammermoors, which
+I shall relate to thee. Tollishill is the name of a sheep-farm in
+Berwickshire, situated in the parish of Lauder. Formerly, it was divided
+into three farms, which were occupied by different tenants; and, by way
+of distinguishing it from the others, that in which dwelt the subjects
+of our present story was generally called Midside, and our heroine
+obtained the appellation of Midside Maggy. Tollishill was the property
+of John, second Earl, and afterwards Duke of Lauderdale--a personage
+whom I shall more than once, in these tales, have occasion to bring
+before mine readers, and whose character posterity hath small cause to
+hold in veneration. Yet it is a black character, indeed, in which there
+is not to be found one streak of sunshine; and the story of the "Bannock
+of Tollishill" referreth to such a streak in the history of John, the
+Lord of Thirlestane.
+
+Time hath numbered somewhat more than a hundred and ninety years since
+Thomas Hardie became tenant of the principal farm of Tollishill. Now,
+that the reader may picture Thomas Hardie as he was, and as tradition
+hath described him, he or she must imagine a tall, strong, and
+fresh-coloured man of fifty; a few hairs of grey mingling with his brown
+locks; a countenance expressive of much good nature and some
+intelligence; while a Lowland bonnet was drawn over his brow. The other
+parts of his dress were of coarse, grey, homespun cloth, manufactured in
+Earlston; and across his shoulders, in summer as well as in winter, he
+wore the mountain plaid. His principles assimilated to those held by the
+men of the covenant; but Thomas, though a native of the hills, was not
+without the worldly prudence which is considered as being more
+immediately the characteristic of the buying and selling children of
+society. His landlord was no favourer of the Covenant; and, though
+Thomas wished well to the cause, he did not see the necessity for making
+his laird, the Lord of Lauderdale, his enemy for its sake. He,
+therefore, judged it wise to remain a neutral spectator of the religious
+and political struggles of the period.
+
+But Thomas was a bachelor. Half a century had he been in the world, and
+the eyes of no woman had had power to throw a spark into his heart. In
+his single, solitary state, he was happy, or he thought himself happy;
+and that is much the same thing. But an accident occurred which led him
+first to believe, and eventually to feel, that he was but a solitary and
+comfortless moorland farmer, toiling for he knew not what, and laying up
+treasure he knew not for whom. Yea, and while others had their wives
+spinning, carding, knitting, and smiling before them, and their bairns
+running laughing and sporting round about them, he was but a poor
+deserted creature, with nobody to care for, or to care for him. Every
+person had some object to strive for and to make them strive but Thomas
+Hardie; or, to use his own words, he was "just in the situation o' a
+tewhit that has lost its mate--_te-wheet! te-wheet!_ it cried, flapping
+its wings impatiently and forlornly--and _te-wheet! te-wheet!_ answered
+vacant echo frae the dreary glens."
+
+Thomas had been to Morpeth disposing of a part of his hirsels, and he
+had found a much better market for them than he anticipated. He
+returned, therefore, with a heavy purse, which generally hath a tendency
+to create a light and merry heart; and he arrived at Westruther, and
+went into a hostel, where, three or four times in the year, he was in
+the habit of spending a cheerful evening with his friends. He had called
+for a quegh of the landlady's best, and he sat down at his ease with the
+liquor before him, for he had but a short way to travel. He also pulled
+out his tobacco-box and his pipe, and began to inhale the fumes of what,
+up to that period, was almost a forbidden weed. But we question much if
+the royal book of James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England,
+which he published against the use of tobacco, ever found its way into
+the Lammermoors, though the Indian weed did; therefore, Thomas Hardie
+sat enjoying his glass and his pipe, unconscious or regardless of the
+fulminations which he who was king in his boyhood, had published against
+the latter. But he had not sat long, when a fair maiden, an acquaintance
+of "mine hostess," entered the hostelry, and began to assist her in the
+cutting out or fashioning of a crimson kirtle. Her voice fell upon the
+ears of Thomas like the "music of sweet sounds." He had never heard a
+voice before that not only fell softly on his ear, but left a lingering
+murmur in his heart. She, too, was a young thing of not more than
+eighteen. If ever hair might be called "gowden," it was hers. It was a
+light and shining bronze, where the prevalence of the golden hue gave a
+colour to the whole. Her face was a thing of beauty, over which health
+spread its roseate hue, yet softly, as though the westling winds had
+caused the leaves of the blushing rose to kiss her cheeks, and leave
+their delicate hues and impression behind them. She was of a middle
+stature, and her figure was such, although arrayed in homely garments,
+as would have commanded the worship of a connoisseur of grace and
+symmetry. But beyond all that kindled a flame within the hitherto
+obdurate heart of Thomas, was the witching influence of her smile. For a
+full hour he sat with his eyes fixed upon her; save at intervals, when
+he withdrew them to look into the unwonted agitation of his own breast,
+and examine the cause.
+
+"Amongst the daughters of women," thought he unto himself--for he had a
+sprinkling of the language of the age about him--"none have I seen so
+beautiful. Her cheeks bloom bonnier than the heather on Tollishill, and
+her bosom seems saft as the new-shorn fleece. Her smile is like a blink
+o' sunshine, and would mak summer to those on whom it fell a' the year
+round."
+
+He also discovered, for the first time, that "Tollishill was a dull
+place, especially in the winter season." When, therefore, the fair
+damsel had arrayed the fashion of the kirtle and departed, without once
+having seemed to observe Thomas, he said unto the goodwife of the
+hostelry--"And wha, noo, if it be a fair question, may that bonnie
+lassie be?"
+
+"She is indeed a bonnie lassie," answered the landlady, "and a guid
+lassie, too; and I hae nae doot but, as ye are a single man, Maister
+Hardie, yer question is fair enough. Her name is Margaret Lylestone, and
+she is the only bairn o' a puir infirm widow that cam to live here some
+twa or three years syne. They cam frae south owre some way, and I am
+sure they hae seen better days. We thocht at first that the auld woman
+had been a Catholic; but I suppose that isna the case, though they
+certainly are baith o' them strong Episcopawlians, and in nae way
+favourable to the preachers or the word o' the Covenant; but I maun say
+for Maggie, that she is a bonny, sweet-tempered, and obleegin
+lassie--though, puir thing, her mother has brocht her up in a wrang
+way."
+
+Many days had not passed ere Thomas Hardie, arrayed in his Sunday
+habiliments, paid another visit to Westruther; and he cautiously asked
+of the goodwife of the hostel many questions concerning Margaret; and
+although she jeered him, and said that "Maggy would ne'er think o' a
+grey-haired carle like him," he brooded over the fond fancy; and
+although on this visit he saw her not, he returned to Tollishill,
+thinking of her as his bride. It was a difficult thing for a man of
+fifty, who had been the companion of solitude from his youth upwards,
+and who had lived in single blessedness amidst the silence of the hills,
+without feeling the workings of the heart, or being subjected to the
+influence of its passions--I say, it was indeed difficult for such a one
+to declare, in the ear of a blooming maiden of eighteen, the tale of his
+first affections. But an opportunity arrived which enabled him to
+disembosom the burden that pressed upon his heart.
+
+It has been mentioned that Margaret Lylestone and her mother were poor;
+and the latter, who had long been bowed down with infirmities, was
+supported by the industry of her daughter. They had also a cow, which
+was permitted to graze upon the hills without fee or reward; and, with
+the milk which it produced, and the cheese they manufactured, together
+with the poor earnings of Margaret, positive want was long kept from
+them. But the old woman became more and more infirm--the hand of death
+seemed stretching over her. She required nourishment which Margaret
+could not procure for her; and, that it might be procured--that her
+mother might live and not die--the fair maiden sent the cow to Kelso to
+be sold, from whence the seller was to bring with him the restoratives
+that her parent required.
+
+Now, it so was that Thomas Hardie, the tenant of Tollishill, was in
+Kelso market when the cow of Widow Lylestone was offered for sale; and,
+as it possessed the characteristic marks of a good milcher, he inquired
+to whom it belonged. On being answered, he turned round for a few
+moments, and stood thoughtful; but again turning to the individual who
+had been intrusted to dispose of it, he inquired--
+
+"And wherefore is she selling it?"
+
+"Really, Maister Hardie," replied the other, "I could not positively
+say, but I hae little doot it is for want--absolute necessity. The auld
+woman's very frail and very ill--I hae to tak a' sort o' things oot to
+her the nicht frae the doctor's, after selling the cow, and it's no in
+the power o' things that her dochter, industrious as she is, should be
+able to get them for her otherwise."
+
+Thomas again turned aside, and drew his sleeve across his eyes. Having
+inquired the price sought for the cow, he handed the money to the
+seller, and gave the animal in charge to one of his herdsmen. He left
+the market earlier than usual, and directed his servant that the cow
+should be taken to Westruther.
+
+It was drawing towards gloaming before Thomas approached the habitation
+of the widow; and, before he could summon courage to enter it for the
+first time, he sauntered for several minutes, backward and forward on
+the moor, by the side of the Blackadder, which there silently wends its
+way, as a dull and simple burn, through the moss. He felt all the
+awkwardness of an old man struggling beneath the influence of a young
+feeling. He thought of what he should say, how he should act, and how he
+would be received. At length he had composed a short introductory and
+explanatory speech which pleased him. He thought it contained both
+feeling and delicacy (according to his notions of the latter) in their
+proper proportions, and after repeating it three or four times over by
+the side of the Blackadder, he proceeded towards the cottage, still
+repeating it to himself as he went. But, when he raised his hand and
+knocked at the door, his heart gave a similar knock upon his bosom, as
+though it mimicked him; and every idea, every word of the introductory
+speech which he had studied and repeated again and again, short though
+it was, was knocked from his memory. The door was opened by Margaret,
+who invited him to enter. She was beautiful as when he first beheld
+her--he thought more beautiful--for she now spoke to him. Her mother sat
+in an arm-chair, by the side of the peat fire, and was supported by
+pillows. He took off his bonnet, and performed an awkward but his best
+salutation.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said he, hesitatingly, "for the liberty I have
+taken in calling upon you. But--I was in Kelso the day--and"----He
+paused, and turned his bonnet once or twice in his hands. "And," he
+resumed, "I observed, or rather, I should say, I learned that ye
+intended to sell your cow; but I also heard that ye was very ill,
+and"----Here he made another pause. "I say I heard that ye was very ill,
+and I thocht it would be a hardship for ye to part wi' crummie, and
+especially at a time when ye are sure to stand maist in need o' every
+help. So I bought the cow--but, as I say, it would be a very great
+hardship for ye to be without the milk, and what the cheese may bring,
+at a time like this; and, therefore, I hae ordered her to be brocht back
+to ye, and ane o' my men will bring her hame presently. Never consider
+the cow as mine, for a bachelor farmer like me can better afford to want
+the siller, than ye can to want yer cow; and I micht hae spent it far
+mair foolishly, and wi' less satisfaction. Indeed, if ye only but think
+that good I've dune, I'm mair than paid."
+
+"Maister Hardie," said the widow, "what have I, a stranger widow woman,
+done to deserve this kindness at your hands? Or how is it in the power
+o' words for me to thank ye? HE who provideth for the widow and the
+fatherless will not permit you to go unrewarded, though I cannot. O
+Margaret, hinny," added she, "thank our benefactor as we ought to thank
+him, for I cannot."
+
+Fair Margaret's thanks were a flood of tears.
+
+"Oh, dinna greet!" said Thomas; "I would ten times ower rather no hae
+bocht the cow, but hae lost the siller, than I would hae been the cause
+o' a single tear rowin' doun yer bonny cheeks."
+
+"O sir," answered the widow, "but they are tears o' gratitude that
+distress my bairn, and nae tears are mair precious."
+
+I might tell how Thomas sat down by the peat fire between the widow and
+her daughter, and how he took the hand of the latter, and entreated her
+to dry up her tears, saying that his chief happiness would be to be
+thought their friend, and to deserve their esteem. The cow was brought
+back to the widow's, and Thomas returned to Tollishill with his
+herdsman. But, from that night, he became almost a daily visitor at the
+house of Mrs. Lylestone. He provided whatever she required--all that was
+ordered for her. He spoke not of love to Margaret, but he wooed her
+through his kindness to her mother. It was, perhaps, the most direct
+avenue to her affections. Yet it was not because Thomas thought so that
+he pursued this course, but because he wanted confidence to make his
+appeal in a manner more formal or direct.
+
+The widow lingered many months; and all that lay within the power of
+human means he caused to be done for her, to restore her to health and
+strength, or at least to smooth her dying pillow. But the last was all
+that could be done. Where death spreadeth the shadow of his wing, there
+is no escape from sinking beneath the baneful influence of its shade.
+Mrs. Lylestone, finding that the hour of her departure drew near, took
+the hand of her benefactor, and when she had thanked him for all the
+kindness which he had shown towards her, she added--
+
+"But, O sir, there is one thing that makes the hand of death heavy. When
+the sod is cauld upon my breast, who will look after my puir orphan--my
+bonny faitherless and motherless Margaret? Where will she find a hame?"
+
+"O mem," said Thomas, "if the like o' me durst say it, she needna hae
+far to gang, to find a hame and a heart too. Would she only be mine, I
+would be her protector--a' that I have should be hers."
+
+A gleam of joy brightened in the eye of the dying widow.
+
+"Margaret!" she exclaimed, faintly; and Margaret laid her face upon the
+bed, and wept. "O my bairn! my puir bairn!" continued her mother, "shall
+I see ye protected and provided for before I am 'where the wicked cease
+from troubling and the weary are at rest,' which canna be lang noo?"
+
+Thomas groaned--tears glistened in his eyes--he held his breath in
+suspense. The moment of trial, of condemnation or acquittal, of
+happiness or misery, had arrived. With an eager impatience he waited to
+hear her answer. But Margaret's heart was prepared for his proposal. He
+had first touched it with gratitude--he had obtained her esteem; and
+where these sentiments prevail in the bosom of a woman whose affections
+have not been bestowed upon another, love is not far distant--if it be
+not between them, and a part of both.
+
+"Did ever I disobey you, mother?" sobbed Margaret, raising her parent's
+hand to her lips.
+
+"No, my bairn, no!" answered the widow. And raising herself in the bed,
+she took her daughter's hand and placed it in the hand of Thomas Hardie.
+
+"Oh!" said he, "is this possible? Does my bonny Margaret really consent
+to make me the happiest man on earth? Shall I hae a gem at Tollishill
+that I wadna exchange for a monarch's diadem?"
+
+It is sufficient to say that the young and lovely Margaret Lylestone
+became Mrs. Hardie of Tollishill; or, as she was generally called,
+"_Midside Maggie_." Her mother died within three months after their
+marriage, but died in peace, having, as she said, "seen her dear bairn
+blessed wi' a leal and a kind guidman, and ane that was weel to do."
+
+For two years after their marriage, and not a happier couple than Thomas
+and Midside Maggie was to be found on all the long Lammermoors, in the
+Merse, nor yet in the broad Lothians. They saw the broom and the heather
+bloom in their season, and they heard the mavis sing before their
+dwelling; yea, they beheld the snow falling on the mountains, and the
+drift sweeping down the glens; but while the former delighted, the
+latter harmed them not, and from all they drew mutual joy and happiness.
+Thomas said that "Maggy was a matchless wife;" and she that "he was a
+kind, kind husband."
+
+But the third winter was one of terror among the hills. It was near the
+new year; the snow began to fall on a Saturday, and when the following
+Friday came, the storm had not ceased. It was accompanied by frost and a
+fierce wind, and the drift swept and whirled like awful pillars of
+alabaster, down the hills, and along the glens--
+
+                "Sweeping the flocks and herds."
+
+Fearful was the wrath of the tempest on the Lammermoors. Many farmers
+suffered severely, but none more severely than Thomas Hardie of
+Tollishill. Hundreds of his sheep had perished in a single night. He was
+brought from prosperity to the brink of adversity.
+
+But another winter came round. It commenced with a severity scarce
+inferior to that which had preceded it, and again scores of his sheep
+were buried in the snow. But February had not passed, and scarce had the
+sun entered what is represented as the astronomical sign of the _two
+fish_, in the heavens, when the genial influence of spring fell with
+almost summer warmth upon the earth. During the night the dews came
+heavily on the ground, and the sun sucked it up in a vapour. But the
+herbage grew rapidly, and the flocks ate of it greedily, and licked the
+dew ere the sun rose to dry it up. It brought the murrain amongst them;
+they died by hundreds; and those that even fattened, but did not die, no
+man would purchase; or, if purchased, it was only upon the understanding
+that the money should be returned if the animals were found unsound.
+These misfortunes were too much for Thomas Hardie. Within two years he
+found himself a ruined man. But he grieved not for the loss of his
+flocks, nor yet for his own sake, but for that of his fair young wife,
+whom he loved as the apple of his eye. Many, when they heard of his
+misfortunes, said that they were sorry for bonny Midside Maggy.
+
+But, worst of all, the rent-day of Thomas Hardie drew near; and for the
+first time since he had held a farm, he was unable to meet his landlord
+with his money in his hand. Margaret beheld the agony of his spirit, and
+she knew its cause. She put on her Sunday hood and kirtle; and
+professing to her husband that she wished to go to Lauder, she took her
+way to Thirlestane Castle, the residence of their proud landlord, before
+whom every tenant in arrear trembled. With a shaking hand she knocked at
+the hall door, and after much perseverance and entreaty, was admitted
+into the presence of the haughty earl. She curtsied low before him.
+
+"Well, what want ye, my bonny lass?" said Lauderdale, eyeing her
+significantly.
+
+"May it please yer lordship," replied Margaret, "I am the wife o' yer
+tenant, Thomas Hardie o' Tollishill; an' a guid tenant he has been to
+yer lordship for twenty years and mair, as yer lordship maun weel ken."
+
+"He has been my tenant for more than twenty years, say ye?" interrupted
+Lauderdale; "and ye say ye are his wife: why, looking on thy bonny face,
+I should say that the heather hasna bloomed twenty times on the knowes
+o' Tollishill since thy mother bore thee. Yet ye say ye are his wife!
+Beshrew me, but Thomas Hardie is a man o' taste. Arena ye his daughter?"
+
+"No, my lord; his first, his only, an' his lawfu' wife--an' I would only
+say, that to ye an' yer faither before ye, for mair than twenty years,
+he has paid his rent regularly an' faithfully; but the seasons hae
+visited us sairly, very sairly, for twa years successively, my lord, an'
+the drift has destroyed, an' the rot rooted oot oor flocks, sae that we
+are hardly able to haud up oor heads amang oor neebors, and to meet yer
+lordship at yer rent-day is oot o' oor power; therefore hae I come to ye
+to implore ye, that we may hae time to gather oor feet, an' to gie yer
+lordship an' every man his due, when it is in oor power."
+
+"Hear me, guidwife," rejoined the earl; "were I to listen to such
+stories as yours, I might have every farmer's wife on my estates coming
+whimpering and whinging, till I was left to shake a purse with naething
+in't, and allowing others the benefit o' my lands. But it is not every
+day that a face like yours comes in the shape o' sorrow before me; and,
+for ae kiss o' your cherry mou', (and ye may take my compliments to your
+auld man for his taste,) ye shall have a discharge for your half-year's
+rent, and see if that may set your husband on his feet again."
+
+"Na, yer lordship, na!" replied Margaret; "it would ill become ony woman
+in my situation in life, an' especially a married ane, to be daffin with
+sic as yer lordship. I am the wife o' Thomas Hardie, wha is a guid
+guidman to me, an' I cam here this day to entreat ye to deal kindly wi'
+him in the day o' his misfortune."
+
+"Troth," replied Lauderdale--who could feel the force of virtue in
+others, though he did not always practise it in his own person--"I hae
+heard o' the blossom o' Tollishill before, an' a bonny flower ye are to
+blossom in an auld man's bower; but I find ye modest as ye are bonny,
+an' upon one condition will I grant yer request. Ye hae tauld me o' yer
+hirsels being buried wi' the drift, an' that the snaw has covered the
+May primrose on Leader braes; now it is Martinmas, an' if in June ye
+bring me a snowball, not only shall ye be quit o' yer back rent, but ye
+shall sit free in Tollishill till Martinmas next. But see that in June
+ye bring me the snowball or the rent."
+
+Margaret made her obeisance before the earl, and, thanking him,
+withdrew. But she feared the coming of June; for to raise the rent even
+then she well knew would be a thing impossible, and she thought also it
+would be equally so to preserve a snow-ball beneath the melting sun of
+June. Though young, she had too much prudence and honesty to keep a
+secret from her husband; it was her maxim, and it was a good one, that
+"there ought to be no secrets between a man and his wife, which the one
+would conceal from the other." She therefore told him of her journey to
+Thirlestane, and of all that had passed between her and the earl. Thomas
+kissed her cheek, and called her his "bonny, artless Maggy;" but he had
+no more hope of seeing a snowball in June than she had, and he said,
+"the bargain was like the bargain o' a crafty Lauderdale."
+
+Again the winter storms howled upon the Lammermoors, and the snow lay
+deep upon the hills. Thomas and his herdsmen were busied in exertions to
+preserve the remainder of his flocks; but, one day, when the westling
+winds breathed with a thawing influence upon the snow-clad hills,
+Margaret went forth to where there was a small, deep, and shadowed
+ravine by the side of the Leader. In it the rivulet formed a pool, and
+seemed to sleep, and there the grey trout loved to lie at ease; for a
+high dark rock, over which the brushwood grew, overhung it, and the
+rays of the sun fell not upon it. In the rock, and near the side of the
+stream, was a deep cavity, and Margaret formed a snowball on the brae
+top, and she rolled it slowly down into the shadowed glen, till it
+attained the magnitude of an avalanche in miniature. She trode upon it,
+and pressed it firmly together, till it obtained almost the hardness and
+consistency of ice. She rolled it far into the cavity, and blocked up
+the mouth of the aperture, so that neither light nor air might penetrate
+the strange coffer in which she had deposited the equally strange rent
+of Tollishill. Verily, common as ice-houses are in our day, let not
+Midside Maggy be deprived of the merit of their invention.
+
+I have said that it was her maxim to keep no secret from her husband;
+but, as it is said there is no rule without an exception, even so it was
+in the case of Margaret, and there was one secret which she communicated
+not to Thomas, and that was--the secret of the hidden snowball.
+
+But June came, and Thomas Hardie was a sorrowful man. He had in no
+measure overcome the calamities of former seasons, and he was still
+unprepared with his rent. Margaret shared not his sorrow, but strove to
+cheer him, and said--
+
+"We shall hae a snawba' in June, though I climb to the top o' Cheviot
+for it."
+
+"O my bonny lassie," replied he--and he could see the summit of Cheviot
+from his farm--"dinna deceive yersel' wi' what could only be words
+spoken in jest; but, at ony rate, I perceive there has been nae snaw on
+Cheviot for a month past."
+
+Now, not a week had passed, but Margaret had visited the aperture in the
+ravine, where the snowball was concealed, not through idle curiosity, to
+perceive whether it had melted away, but more effectually to stop up
+every crevice that might have been made in the materials with which she
+had blocked up the mouth of the cavity.
+
+But the third day of the dreadful month had not passed, when a messenger
+arrived at Tollishill from Thirlestane with the abrupt mandate--"_June
+has come!_"
+
+"And we shall be at Thirlestane the morn," answered Margaret.
+
+"O my doo," said Thomas, "what nonsense are ye talking!--that isna like
+ye, Margaret; I'll be in Greenlaw Jail the morn; and oor bits o' things
+in the hoose, and oor flocks, will be seized by the harpies o' the
+law--and the only thing that distresses me is, what is to come o' you
+hinny."
+
+"Dinna dree the death ye'll never dee," said Margaret affectionately;
+"we shall see, if we be spared, what the morn will bring."
+
+"The fortitude o' yer mind, Margaret," said Thomas, taking her hand; and
+he intended to have said more, to have finished a sentence in admiration
+of her worth, but his heart filled, and he was silent.
+
+On the following morning, Margaret said unto him--
+
+"Now, Thomas, if ye are ready, we'll gang to Thirlestane. It is aye waur
+to expect or think o' an evil than to face it."
+
+"Margaret, dear," said he, "I canna comprehend ye--wherefore should I
+thrust my head into the lion's den? It will soon enough seek me in my
+path."
+
+Nevertheless, she said unto him, "Come," and bade him be of good heart;
+and he rose and accompanied her. But she conducted him to the deep
+ravine, where the waters seem to sleep and no sunbeam ever falls; and,
+as she removed the earth and the stones, with which she had blocked up
+the mouth of the cavity in the rock, he stood wondering. She entered the
+aperture, and rolled forth the firm mass of snow, which was yet too
+large to be lifted by hands. When Thomas saw this, he smiled and wept
+at the same instant, and he pressed his wife's cheek to his bosom, and
+said--
+
+"Great has been the care o' my poor Margaret; but it is o' no avail;
+for, though ye hae proved mair than a match for the seasons, the
+proposal was but a jest o' Lauderdale."
+
+"What is a man but his word?" replied Margaret; "and him a nobleman
+too."
+
+"Nobility are but men," answered Thomas, "and seldom better men than
+ither folk. Believe me, if we were to gang afore him wi' a snawba' in
+oor hands, we should only get lauched at for our pains."
+
+"It was his ain agreement," added she; "and, at ony rate, we can be
+naething the waur for seeing if he will abide by it."
+
+Breaking the snowy mass, she rolled up a portion of it in a napkin, and
+they went towards Thirlestane together; though often did Thomas stop by
+the way and say--
+
+"Margaret, dear, I'm perfectly ashamed to gang upon this business; as
+sure as I am standing here, as I have tauld ye, we will only get
+oorselves lauched at."
+
+"I would rather be lauched at," added she, "than despised for breaking
+my word; and, if oor laird break his noo, wha wadna despise him?"
+
+Harmonious as their wedded life had hitherto been, there was what might
+well nigh be called bickerings between them on the road; for Thomas felt
+or believed that she was leading him on a fool's errand. But they
+arrived at the castle of Thirlestane, and were ushered into the mansion
+of its proud lord.
+
+"Ha!" said the earl, as they entered, "bonny Midside Maggy and her auld
+guidman! Well, what bring ye?--the rents o' Tollishill, or their
+equivalent?" Thomas looked at his young wife, for he saw nothing to give
+him hope on the countenance of Lauderdale, and he thought that he
+pronounced the word "_equivalent_" with a sneer.
+
+"I bring ye snaw in June, my lord," replied Margaret, "agreeably to the
+terms o' yer bargain; and I'm sorry, for your sake and oors, that it
+hasna yet been in oor power to bring gowd instead o't."
+
+Loud laughed the earl as Margaret unrolled the huge snowball before him;
+and Thomas thought unto himself, "I said how it would be." But
+Lauderdale, calling for his writing materials, sat down and wrote, and
+he placed in the hands of Thomas a discharge, not only for his back
+rent, but for all that should otherwise be due at the ensuing Martinmas.
+
+Thomas Hardie bowed and bowed again before the earl, low and yet lower,
+awkwardly and still more awkwardly, and he endeavoured to thank him, but
+his tongue faltered in the performance of its office. He could have
+taken his hand in his and wrung it fervently, leaving his fingers to
+express what his tongue could not; but his laird was an earl, and there
+was a necessary distance to be observed between an earl and a Lammermoor
+farmer.
+
+"Thank not me, goodman," said Lauderdale, "but thank the modesty and
+discretion o' yer winsome wife."
+
+Margaret was silent; but gratitude for the kindness which the earl had
+shown unto her husband and herself took deep root in her heart.
+Gratitude, indeed, formed the predominating principle in her character,
+and fitted her even for acts of heroism.
+
+The unexpected and unwonted generosity of the earl had enabled Thomas
+Hardie to overcome the losses with which the fury of the seasons had
+overwhelmed him, and he prospered beyond any farmer on the hills. But,
+while he prospered, the Earl of Lauderdale, in his turn, was overtaken
+by adversity. The stormy times of the civil wars raged, and it is well
+known with what devotedness Lauderdale followed the fortunes of the
+king. When the Commonwealth began, he was made prisoner, conveyed to
+London, and confined in the Tower. There, nine years of captivity crept
+slowly and gloomily over him; but they neither taught him mercy to
+others nor to moderate his ambition, as was manifested when power and
+prosperity again cast their beams upon him. But he now lingered in the
+Tower, without prospect or hope of release, living upon the bare
+sustenance of a prisoner, while his tenants dwelt on his estates, and
+did as they pleased with his rents, as though they should not again
+behold the face of a landlord.
+
+But Midside Maggy grieved for the fate of him whose generosity had
+brought prosperity, such as they had never known before, to herself and
+to her husband; and, in the fulness of her gratitude, she was ever
+planning schemes for his deliverance; and she urged upon her husband
+that it was their duty to attempt to deliver their benefactor from
+captivity, as he had delivered them from the iron grasp of ruin, when
+misfortune lay heavily on them. Now, as duly as the rent-day came, from
+the Martinmas to which the snowball had been his discharge, Thomas
+Hardie faithfully and punctually locked away his rent to the last
+farthing, that he might deliver it into the hands of his laird, should
+he again be permitted to claim his own; but he saw not in what way they
+could attempt his deliverance, as his wife proposed.
+
+"Thomas," said she, "there are ten lang years o' rent due, and we hae
+the siller locked away. It is o' nae use to us, for it isna oors; but it
+may be o' use to him. It would enable him to fare better in his prison,
+and maybe to put a handfu' o' gowd into the hands o' his keepers, and
+thereby to escape abroad, and it wad furnish him wi' the means o' living
+when he was abroad. Remember his kindness to us, and think that there is
+nae sin equal to the sin o' ingratitude."
+
+"But," added Thomas, "in what way could we get the money to him? for, if
+we were to send it, it would never reach him, and, as a prisoner, he
+wouldna be allooed to receive it."
+
+"Let us tak it to him oorsels, then," said Margaret.
+
+"Tak it oorsels!" exclaimed Thomas, in amazement, "a' the way to London!
+It is oot o' the question a'thegither, Margaret. We wad be robbed o'
+every plack before we got half-way; or, if we were even there, hoo, in
+a' the world, do ye think we could get it to him, or that we would be
+allooed to see him?"
+
+"Leave that to me," was her reply; "only say ye will gang, and a' that
+shall be accomplished. There is nae obstacle in the way but the want o'
+yer consent. But the debt, and the ingratitude o' it thegither, hang
+heavy upon my heart."
+
+Thomas at length yielded to the importunities of his wife, and agreed
+that they should make a pilgrimage to London, to pay his rent to his
+captive laird; though how they were to carry the gold in safety, through
+an unsettled country, a distance of more than three hundred miles, was a
+difficulty he could not overcome. But Margaret removed his fears; she
+desired him to count out the gold, and place it before her; and when he
+had done so, she went to the meal-tub and took out a quantity of pease
+and of barley meal mixed, sufficient to knead a goodly fadge or bannock;
+and, when she had kneaded it, and rolled it out, she took the golden
+pieces and pressed them into the paste of the embryo bannock, and again
+she doubled it together, and again rolled it out, and kneaded into it
+the remainder of the gold. She then fashioned it into a thick bannock,
+and placing it on the hearth, covered it with the red ashes of the
+peats.
+
+Thomas sat marvelling, as the formation of the singular purse proceeded,
+and when he beheld the operation completed, and the bannock placed upon
+the hearth to bake, he only exclaimed--"Weel, woman's ingenuity dings
+a'! I wadna hae thocht o' the like o' that, had I lived a thoosand
+years! O Margaret, hinny, but ye are a strange ane."
+
+"Hoots," replied she, "I'm sure ye micht easily hae imagined that it was
+the safest plan we could hae thocht upon to carry the siller in safety;
+for I am sure there isna a thief between the Tweed and Lon'on toun, that
+would covet or carry awa a bear bannock."
+
+"Troth, my doo, and I believe ye're richt," replied Thomas; "but wha
+could hae thocht o' sic an expedient? Sure there never was a bannock
+baked like the bannock o' Tollishill."
+
+On the third day after this, an old man and a fair lad, before the sun
+had yet risen, were observed crossing the English Border. They
+alternately carried a wallet across their shoulders, which contained a
+few articles of apparel and a bannock. They were dressed as shepherds,
+and passengers turned and gazed on them as they passed along; for the
+beauty of the youth's countenance excited their admiration. Never had
+Lowland bonnet covered so fair a brow. The elder stranger was Thomas
+Hardie, and the youth none other than his Midside Maggy.
+
+I will not follow them through the stages of their long and weary
+journey, nor dwell upon the perils and adventures they encountered by
+the way. But, on the third week after they had left Tollishill, and when
+they were beyond the town called Stevenage, and almost within sight of
+the metropolis, they were met by an elderly military-looking man, who,
+struck with the lovely countenance of the seeming youth, their dress,
+and way-worn appearance, accosted them, saying--"Good morrow, strangers;
+ye seem to have travelled far. Is this fair youth your son, old man?"
+
+"He is a gay sib freend," answered Thomas.
+
+"And whence come ye?" continued the stranger.
+
+"Frae Leader Haughs, on the bonny Borders o' the north countrie,"
+replied Margaret.
+
+"And whence go ye?" resumed the other.
+
+"First tell me wha ye may be that are sae inquisitive," interrupted
+Thomas, in a tone which betrayed something like impatience.
+
+"Some call me George Monk," replied the stranger mildly, "others, Honest
+George. I am a general in the Parliamentary army." Thomas reverentially
+raised his hand to his bonnet, and bowed his head.
+
+"Then pardon me, sir," added Margaret, "and if ye indeed be the guid and
+gallant general, sma' offence will ye tak at onything that may be said
+amiss by a country laddie. We are tenants o' the Lord o' Lauderdale,
+whom ye now keep in captivity; and, though we mayna think as he thinks,
+yet we never faund him but a guid landlord; and little guid, in my
+opinion, it can do ony body to keep him, as he has been noo for nine
+years, caged up like a bird. Therefore, though oor ain business that has
+brocht us up to London should fail, I winna regret the journey, since it
+has afforded me an opportunity o' seein yer Excellency, and soliciting
+yer interest, which maun be pooerfu' in behalf o' oor laird, and that ye
+would release him frae his prison, and, if he michtna remain in this
+countrie, obtain permission for him to gang abroad."
+
+"Ye plead fairly and honestly for yer laird, fair youth," returned the
+general; "yet, though he is no man to be trusted, I needs say he hath
+had his portion of captivity measured out abundantly; and, since ye have
+minded me of him, ere a week go round I will think of what may be done
+for Lauderdale." Other questions were asked and answered--some truly,
+and some evasively; and Thomas and Margaret blessing Honest George in
+their hearts, went on their way rejoicing at having met him.
+
+On arriving in London, she laid aside the shepherd's garb in which she
+had journeyed, and resumed her wonted apparel. On the second day after
+their arrival, she went out upon Tower-hill, dressed as a Scottish
+peasant girl, with a basket on her arm; and in the basket were a few
+ballads, and the bannock of Tollishill. She affected silliness, and,
+acting the part of a wandering minstrel, went singing her ballads
+towards the gate of the Tower. Thomas followed her at a distance. Her
+appearance interested the guard; and as she stood singing before the
+gate--"What want ye, pretty face?" inquired the officer of the guard.
+"Your alms, if you please," said she, smiling innocently, "and to sing a
+bonny Scotch sang to the Laird o' Lauderdale."
+
+The officer and the sentinels laughed; and, after she had sang them
+another song or two, she was permitted to enter the gate, and a soldier
+pointed out to her the room in which Lauderdale was confined. On
+arriving before the grated windows of his prison, she raised her eyes
+towards them, and began to sing "_Leader Haughs_." The wild, sweet
+melody of his native land, drew Lauderdale to the windows of his
+prison-house, and in the countenance of the minstrel he remembered the
+lovely features of Midside Maggy. He requested permission of the keeper
+that she should be admitted to his presence; and his request was
+complied with.
+
+"Bless thee, sweet face!" said the earl, as she was admitted into his
+prison; "and you have not forgotten the snowball in June?" And he took
+her hand to raise it to his lips.
+
+"Hooly, hooly, my guid lord," said she, withdrawing her hand; "my
+fingers were made for nae sic purpose--Thomas Hardie is here"--and she
+laid her hand upon her fair bosom--"though now standing withoot the yett
+o' the Tower." Lauderdale again wondered, and, with a look of mingled
+curiosity and confusion, inquired--"Wherefore do ye come--and why do ye
+seek me?" "I brocht ye a snaw-ba' before," said she, "for yer rent--I
+bring ye a bannock noo." And she took the bannock from the basket and
+placed it before him.
+
+"Woman," added he, "are ye really as demented as I thocht ye but feigned
+to be, when ye sang before the window."
+
+"The proof o' the bannock," replied Margaret, "will be in the breakin'
+o't."
+
+"Then, goodwife, it will not be easily proved," said he--and he took the
+bannock, and, with some difficulty, broke it over his knee; but, when he
+beheld the golden coins that were kneaded through it, for the first,
+perhaps the last and only time in his existence, the Earl of Lauderdale
+burst into tears and exclaimed--"Well, every bannock has its maik, but
+the bannock o' Tollishill! Yet, kind as ye hae been, the gold is useless
+to ane that groans in hopeless captivity."
+
+"Yours has been a long captivity," said Margaret; "but it is not
+hopeless; and, if honest General Monk is to be trusted, from what he
+tauld me not three days by-gane, before a week gae roond, ye will be at
+liberty to go abroad, and there the bannock o' Tollishill may be o'
+use."
+
+The wonder of Lauderdale increased, and he replied--"Monk will keep his
+word--but what mean ye of him?"
+
+And she related to him the interview they had had with the general by
+the way. Lauderdale took her hand, a ray of hope and joy spread over his
+face, and he added--
+
+"Never shall ye rue the bakin' o' the bannock, if auld times come back
+again."
+
+Margaret left the tower, singing as she had entered it, and joined her
+husband, whom she found leaning over the railing around the moat, and
+anxiously waiting her return. They spent a few days more in London, to
+rest and to gaze upon its wonders, and again set out upon their journey
+to Tollishill. General Monk remembered his promise; within a week, the
+Earl of Lauderdale was liberated, with permission to go abroad, and
+there, as Margaret had intimated, he found the bannock of Tollishill of
+service.
+
+A few more years passed round, during which old Thomas Hardie still
+prospered; but, during those years, the Commonwealth came to an end, the
+king was recalled, and with him, as one of his chief favourites,
+returned the Earl of Lauderdale. And, when he arrived in Scotland,
+clothed with power, whatever else he forgot, he remembered the bannock
+of Tollishill. Arrayed in what might have passed as royal state, and
+attended by fifty of his followers, he rode to the dwelling of Thomas
+Hardie and Midside Maggy; and when they came forth to meet him, he
+dismounted and drew forth a costly silver girdle of strange workmanship,
+and fastened it round her jimp waist, saying--"Wear this, for now it is
+my turn to be grateful, and for your husband's life, and your life, and
+the life of the generation after ye" (for they had children), "ye shall
+sit rent free on the lands ye now farm. For, truly, every bannock had
+its maik but the bannock o' Tollishill."
+
+Thomas and Margaret felt their hearts too full to express their thanks;
+and ere they could speak, the earl, mounting his horse, rode towards
+Thirlestane; and his followers, waving their bonnets, shouted--"Long
+live Midside Maggy, queen of Tollishill."
+
+Such is the story of "The Bannock o' Tollishill;" and it is only
+necessary to add, for the information of the curious, that I believe the
+silver girdle may be seen until this day, in the neighbourhood of
+Tollishill, and in the possession of a descendant of Midside Maggy, to
+whom it was given.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+1. On page 28, last line, page 74, footnote, and page 155, last line,
+missing text has been restored from scans atThe Internet Archive.
+
+A few missing letters or words at the ends of lines have been restored
+from the same source.
+
+2. The French word "mouillé" appears, apparently randomly, both with
+and without the acute accent. Since the accent is clearly required,
+it has been restored where necessary.
+
+3. On page 2, antepenultimate line, "bewrayed" has been corrected to
+"betrayed".
+
+4. In this Latin-1 version, the only substitution effected is that the
+oe-diphthong is indicated by [oe].]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of
+Scotland, Volume I, by Various
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+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILSON'S TALES OF SCOTLAND, VOL I ***
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