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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..243c302 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66500 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66500) diff --git a/old/66500-0.txt b/old/66500-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f0249e7..0000000 --- a/old/66500-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7786 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Illustrations of the Author of -Waverley, by Robert Chambers - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Illustrations of the Author of Waverley - Being Notices and Anecdotes of Real Characters, Scenes, and - Incidents Supposed to be Described in his Works - -Author: Robert Chambers - -Release Date: October 13, 2021 [eBook #66500] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AUTHOR -OF WAVERLEY *** - - - - - -[Illustration: _Originally Eng^d. by A. Wilson Edin^r._ - - “EO MAGIS PRÆFULGIT, QUOD NON VIDETUR” - _Tacit_ - - -PUBLISHED BY JOHN ANDERSON JUN^R. 55, NORTH BRIDGE STREET &c. EDIN^R. -AND SUBSEQUENTLY BY W. & R. CHAMBERS, 339, HIGH STREET, EDIN^R.] - - - - -Illustrations - -OF THE - -AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY - -BEING - -_Notices and Anecdotes_ - -OF - -REAL CHARACTERS, SCENES, AND INCIDENTS - -Supposed to be described in his Works. - - -BY - -ROBERT CHAMBERS. - - -Third Edition. - - -W. & R. CHAMBERS, -_LONDON AND EDINBURGH._ - -1884. - - - - -[Illustration] - -YE LEADENHALLE PRESSE, LONDON, E.C. -T. 3253. - -[Illustration] - - - - -_Preface by Author._ - - -This Work first appeared in November, 1822. It was a juvenile -production, and, of course, deformed with all the faults and -extravagances of nineteen. The Public, however, received it with -some degree of encouragement; and, a second edition being now called -for, I have gladly seized the opportunity of repairing early errors, -by greater correctness of language and more copious information. -The present volume will be found to contain thrice the quantity of -letterpress, and a much greater variety of interesting details. - - R. C. - -_EDINBURGH, INDIA PLACE, 8th March, 1825._ - -[Illustration] - - - - -_Addendum_ - -BY AUTHOR’S SON. - - -In the belief that there are many admirers of Sir Walter Scott who -would gladly welcome the reappearance of a work which many years ago -was, in connection with his novels, eagerly perused, the “Illustrations -of the Author of Waverley” have been again printed. - - R. C. (Secundus). - -EDINBURGH, 339, HIGH STREET, 1884. - -[Illustration] - - - - -_Contents._ - - -Waverley. - PAGE - -HIGHLAND FAITH AND HONOUR 1 - -BRADWARDINE 4 - -SCOTTISH FOOLS (DAVIE GELLATLEY) 6 - -RORY DALL, THE HARPER 23 - -“CLAW FOR CLAW, AS CONAN SAID TO SATAN” 23 - -TULLY-VEOLAN (TRAQUAIR HOUSE) 24 - -THE BODACH GLAS 25 - - -Guy Mannering. - -CURIOUS PARTICULARS OF SIR ROBERT MAXWELL OF ORCHARDSTON 29 - -ANDREW CROSBIE, ESQ. (COUNSELLOR PLEYDELL) 32 - -DRIVER 41 - -SOUTH COUNTRY FARMERS (DANDIE DINMONT) 50 - -A SCOTTISH PROBATIONER (DOMINIE SAMPSON) 53 - -JEAN GORDON (MEG MERRILIES) 55 - - -The Antiquary. - -ANDREW GEMMELS (EDIE OCHILTREE) 60 - - -Rob Roy. - -ANECDOTES OF ROBERT MACGREGOR (ROB ROY) 65 - -PARALLEL PASSAGES 73 - - -The Black Dwarf. - -LANG SHEEP AND SHORT SHEEP 76 - -DAVID RITCHIE (ELSHENDER THE RECLUSE) 77 - - -Old Mortality. - -DESERTED BURYING-GROUND 88 - -VALE OF GANDERCLEUGH 89 - -HISTORY OF THE PERIOD 90 - -ADDITIONAL NOTICES RELATIVE TO THE INSURRECTION OF 1679 103 - - -The Heart of Mid-Lothian. - -THE PORTEOUS MOB 109 - -THE CITY GUARD 113 - -JEANIE DEANS 117 - -PATRICK WALKER 119 - -PARTICULARS REGARDING SCENERY, ETC. 124 - - -Bride of Lammermoor. - -THE PLOT, AND CHIEF CHARACTERS OF THE TALE 128 - -LUCY ASHTON AND BUCKLAW 133 - -A COUNTRY INNKEEPER (CALEB BALDERSTONE) 136 - - -Legend of Montrose. - -PLOT OF THE TALE 139 - -THE GREAT MONTROSE 142 - - * * * * * - -PHILIPHAUGH 154 - -CUSTOMER-WARK 158 - - -The Monastery. - -A VILLAGE ANTIQUARY (CAPT. CLUTTERBUCK) 164 - -SCENERY 170 - -HILLSLOP TOWER 173 - -SMAILHOLM TOWER 174 - - -The Romances. - -MATCH OF ARCHERY AT ASHBY—IVANHOE 179 - -KENILWORTH CASTLE—KENILWORTH 180 - -DAVID RAMSAY—NIGEL 182 - -THE REDGAUNTLET FAMILY—REDGAUNTLET 182 - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -Illustrations - -OF - -The Author of Waverley. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -=Waverley.= - - -HIGHLAND FAITH AND HONOUR. - -(_The Plot of the Novel._) - -“When the Highlanders, upon the morning of the battle of Prestonpans, -made their memorable attack, a battery of four field-pieces was -stormed and carried by the Camerons and Stuarts of Appine. The late -Alexander Stuart of Invernahyle was one of the foremost in the charge, -and observed an officer of the king’s forces, who, scorning to join -the flight of all around, remained with his sword in his hand, as -if determined to the very last to defend the post assigned to him. -The Highland gentleman commanded him to surrender, and received for -reply a thrust, which he caught in his target. The officer was now -defenceless, and the battle-axe of a gigantic Highlander (the miller -of Invernahyle’s mill), was uplifted to dash his brains out, when -Mr. Stuart with difficulty prevailed on him to surrender. He took -charge of his enemy’s property, protected his person, and finally -obtained him liberty on parole. The officer proved to be Colonel Allan -Whiteford, of Ballochmyle, in Ayrshire, a man of high character and -influence, and warmly attached to the House of Hanover; yet such was -the confidence existing between these two honourable men, though of -different political principles, that, while the civil war was raging, -and straggling officers from the Highland army were executed without -mercy, Invernahyle hesitated not to pay his late captive a visit, as -he went back to the Highlands to raise fresh recruits, when he spent a -few days among Colonel Whiteford’s whig friends as pleasantly and good -humouredly as if all had been at peace around him. - -“After the battle of Culloden, it was Colonel Whiteford’s turn to -strain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stuart’s pardon. He went to the Lord -Justice Clerk, to the Lord Advocate, and to all the officers of State, -and each application was answered by the production of a list, in which -the name of Invernahyle appeared ‘marked with the sign of the beast!’ -At length Colonel Whiteford went to the Duke of Cumberland. From him -also he received a positive refusal. He then limited his request, -for the present, to a protection for Stuart’s house, wife, children, -and property. This was also refused by the Duke; on which Colonel -Whiteford, taking his commission from his bosom, laid it on the table -before his Royal Highness, and asked permission to retire from the -service of a king who did not know how to spare a vanquished enemy. -The Duke was struck, and even affected. He bade the Colonel take up -his commission, and granted the protection he requested with so much -earnestness. It was issued just in time to save the house, corn, and -cattle at Invernahyle from the troops who were engaged in laying waste -what it was the fashion to call ‘the country of the enemy.’ A small -encampment was formed on Invernahyle’s property, which they spared -while plundering the country around, and searching in every direction -for the leaders of the insurrection, and for Stuart in particular. -He was much nearer them than they suspected; for, hidden in a cave, -(like the Baron of Bradwardine,) he lay for many days within hearing -of the sentinels as they called their watchword. His food was brought -him by one of his daughters, a child of eight years old, whom Mrs. -Stuart was under the necessity of trusting with this commission, for -her own motions and those of all her inmates were closely watched. -With ingenuity beyond her years, the child used to stray out among the -soldiers, who were rather kind to her, and watch the moment when she -was unobserved, to steal into the thicket, when she deposited whatever -small store of provisions she had in charge, at some marked spot, where -her father might find it. Invernahyle supported life for several weeks -by means of these precarious supplies; and, as he had been wounded in -the battle of Culloden, the hardships which he endured were aggravated -by great bodily pain. After the soldiers had removed their quarters, -he had another remarkable escape. As he now ventured to the house at -night, and left it in the morning, he was espied during the dawn by a -party who pursued and fired at him. The fugitive being fortunate enough -to escape their search, they returned to the house, and charged the -family with harbouring one of the proscribed traitors. An old woman -had presence of mind enough to maintain that the man they had seen was -the shepherd. “Why did he not stop when we called to him?” said the -soldiers. “He is as deaf, poor man, as a peat-stack,” answered the -ready-witted domestic. “Let him be sent for directly.” The real -shepherd accordingly was brought from the hill, and, as there was time -to tutor him by the way, he was as deaf, when he made his appearance, -as was necessary to maintain his character. Stuart of Invernahyle was -afterwards pardoned under the act of indemnity. - -“He was a noble specimen of the old Highlander, far-descended, gallant, -courteous, and brave even to chivalry. He had been _out_ in 1715 and -1745; was an active partaker in all the stirring scenes which passed in -the Highlands between these memorable eras; and was remarkable, among -other exploits, for having fought with and vanquished Rob Roy, in a -trial of skill at the broadsword, a short time previous to the death of -that celebrated hero, at the clachan of Balquhidder. He chanced to be -in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came into the Firth of Forth, and, though -then an old man, appeared in arms, and was heard to exult (to use his -own words) in the prospect of ‘drawing his claymore once more before he -died.’” - -This pleasing anecdote is given in a critique upon the first series -of the “Tales of my Landlord,” (supposed to be written by Sir Walter -Scott,) in the thirty-second number of the _Quarterly Review_; and we -heartily concur with the learned Baronet in thinking it the groundwork -of “Waverley.” - -Yet it is somewhat remarkable that the name of a Major Talbot, as -well as that of Lieutenant-Colonel Whiteford, occurs in the list of -prisoners published by the Highland army, after their victory at -Prestonpans. - -The late Alexander Campbell, author of the “History of Poetry in -Scotland,” and editor of “Albyn’s Anthology,” a gentleman whose -knowledge of his native Highlands was at once extensive and accurate, -used to assert that it was the _younger sister_, not the _daughter_ -of Mr. Stuart, that brought his food. He had heard an account of the -affecting circumstance from her own mouth. - -Stuart of Invernahyle marked his attachment to the cause of the exiled -Prince by the composition of a beautiful song, which is to be found in -Mr. Hogg’s “Jacobite Relics.” - - -BRADWARDINE. - -Of the genus of Bradwardine, Colonel Stewart gives the following -account:— - -“The armies of Sweden, Holland, and France gave employment to the -younger sons of the Highland gentry, who were educated abroad in the -seminaries of Leyden and Douay. Many of these returned with a competent -knowledge of modern languages added to their classical education—often -speaking Latin with more purity than Scotch, which, in many cases, -they only learned after leaving their native homes. The race of -Bradwardine is not long extinct. In my own time, several veterans might -have sat for the picture of that most honourable, brave, learned, and -kind-hearted personage. These gentlemen returned from the continent -full of warlike Latin, French phrases, and inveterate broad Scotch. -One of the last of these, Colonel Alexander Robertson, of the Scotch -Brigade, uncle of the present” (now late) “Strowan, I well remember. - -“Another of the Bradwardine character is still remembered by the -Highlanders with a degree of admiration bordering on enthusiasm. This -was John Stewart, of the family of Kincardine, in Strathspey, known to -the country by the name of John Roy Stewart, an accomplished gentleman, -an elegant scholar, a good poet, and a brave officer. He composed -with equal facility in English, Latin and Gaelic; but it was chiefly -by his songs, epigrams, and descriptive pieces, that he attracted the -admiration of his countrymen. He was an active leader in the rebellion -of 1745, and, during his ‘hiding’ of many months, he had more leisure -to indulge his taste for poetry and song. The country traditions are -full of his descriptive pieces, eulogies and laments on friends, or in -allusion to the events of that unfortunate period. He had been long -in the service of France and Portugal, and had risen to the rank of -colonel. He was in Scotland in 1745, and commanded a regiment, composed -of the tenants of his family and a considerable number of the followers -of Sir George Stewart of Grandtully, who had been placed under him. -With these, amounting in all to 400 men, he joined the rebel army, and -proved one of its ablest partizans.”—_Sketches, vol._ ii. _notes_. - -Diligent research, however, has enabled us to point out a much nearer -original. - -The person who held the situation in the rebel army which in the -novel has been assigned to the Baron, namely, the command of their -few cavalry, was Alexander, fourth Lord Forbes of Pitsligo. This -nobleman, who possessed but a moderate fortune, was so much esteemed -for his excellent qualities of temper and understanding, that when, -after the battle of Prestonpans, he declared his purpose of joining -Prince Charles, most of the gentlemen in that part of the country put -themselves under his command, thinking they could not follow a better -or safer example than the conduct of Lord Pitsligo. He thus commanded -a body of 150 well mounted gentlemen in the subsequent scenes of the -rebellion, at the fatal close of which he escaped to France, and was -attainted, in the following month, by the title of _Lord Pitsligo_, -his estate and honours being of course forfeited to the crown. After -this he claimed the estate before the Court of Session, on account of -the misnomer, his title being properly _Lord Forbes of Pitsligo_; and -that Court gave judgment in his favour, 16th November, 1749; but on an -appeal it was reversed by the House of Lords, 1750. - -Like Bradwardine, Lord Pitsligo had been _out_ in 1715 also—though it -does not appear that much notice was then taken of his defection. His -opposition to the whiggery of modern times had been equally constant, -and of long standing; for he was one of those staunch and honourable -though mistaken patriots of the last Scottish Parliament, who had -opposed the Union. - -He could also boast of a smattering of the _belles lettres_; and -probably plumed himself upon his literary attainments as much as the -grim old pedant, his counterpart. In 1734, he published “Essays, Moral -and Philosophical;” and something of the same sort appeared in 1761, -when he seems to have been in the near prospect of a conclusion to his -earthly trials. He died at Auchiries, in Aberdeenshire, December 21, -1762, at an advanced age, after having possessed his title, counting -from his accession in 1691, during a period of seventy-one years. - -It is not unworthy of remark, that the supporters of Lord Pitsligo’s -arms were two bears proper; which circumstance, connected with the -great favour in which these animals were held by Bradwardine, brings -the relation between the real and the fictitious personages very close. - - -SCOTTISH FOOLS. - -(_Davie Gellatley._) - -It appears that licensed fools were customary appendages of the -Scottish Court at a very early period; and the time is not long gone by -when such beings were retained at the table and in the halls of various -respectable noblemen. The absence of more refined amusements made them -become as necessary a part of a baronial establishment as horses and -hounds still continue to be in the mansions of many modern squires. -When as yet the pursuits of literature were not, and ere gaming had -become vicious enough to be fashionable, the rude humours of the jester -could entertain a pick-tooth hour; and, what walnuts now are to wine, -and enlightened conversation to the amusements of the drawing-room, -the boisterous bacchanalianism of our ancestors once found in coarse -buffooneries and the alternate darkness and radiance of a foolish mind. - -In later times, when all taste for such diversion had gone out, the -madman of the country-side frequently found shelter and patronage under -the roofs of neighbouring gentlemen; but though the _good things_ of -_Daft Jamie_ and _Daft Wattie_ were regularly listened to by the laird, -and preserved in the traditions of the household, the encouragement -given to them was rather extended out of a benevolent compassion for -their helpless condition than from any desire to make their talents -a source of entertainment. Such was the motive of Bradwardine in -protecting Davie Gellatley; and such was also that of the late Earl of -Wemyss, in the support which he gave to the renowned Willie Howison, -a personage of whom many anecdotes are yet told in Haddingtonshire, -and whose services at Gosford House were not unlike those of Davie at -Tully-Veolan. - -Till within the last few years, these unfortunate persons were more -frequently to be found in their respective villages throughout the -country than now; and it is not long since even Edinburgh could boast -of her “_Daft Laird_,” her “_Bailie Duff_,” and her “_Madam Bouzie_.” -Numerous charitable institutions now seclude most of them from the -world. Yet, in many retired districts, where delicacy is not apt to be -shocked by sights so common, the blind, the dumb, and the insane are -still permitted to mix indiscriminately with their fellow-creatures. -Poverty compels many parents to take the easiest method of supporting -their unfortunate offspring—that of bringing them up with the rest -of the family; the decent pride of the Scottish peasant also makes -an application to charity, even in such a case as this, a matter of -very rare occurrence; and while superstition points out that those -whom God has sent into the world with less than the full share of -mental faculties are always made most peculiarly the objects of this -care, thus rendering the possession of such a child rather a medium -through which the blessings of heaven are diffused than a burden or -a curse, the affectionate desire of administering to them all those -tender offices which their unhappy situation so peculiarly requires, -of tending them with their own eyes, and nursing them with their own -hands, that large and overflowing, but not supererogatory share of -tenderness with which the darkened and destitute objects are constantly -regarded by parents—altogether make their domestication a matter of -strong, and happily not unpleasing necessity. - -The rustic idiots of Scotland are also in general blessed with a few -peculiarities, which seldom fail to make them objects of popular esteem -and affection. Many of them exhibit a degree of sagacity or cunning, -bearing the same relation to the rest of their intellectual faculties -which, in the ruins of a Grecian temple, the coarse and entire -foundations bear to the few and scattered but beautiful fragments of -the superstructure. This humble qualification, joined sometimes to the -more agreeable one of a shrewd and sly humour, while it enables them -to keep their own part, and occasionally to baffle sounder judgments, -proves an engaging subject of amusement and wonder to the cottage -fireside. A wild and wayward fancy, powers of song singularly great, -together with a full share of the above qualifications, formed the -chief characteristics of Daft Jock Gray of Gilmanscleugh, whom we are -about to introduce to the reader as the counterpart of Davie Gellatley. - -JOHN GRAY is a native of Gilmanscleugh, a farm in the parish of -Ettrick, of which his father was formerly the shepherd, and from which, -according to Border custom, he derives his popular designation or title -“OF GILMANSCLEUGH.” Jock is now above forty years of age, and still -wanders through the neighbouring counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk, and -Peebles, in a half minstrel, half mendicant manner, finding, even after -the fervour of youth is past, no pleasure in a sedentary or domestic -life. - -Many months, many weeks, had not elapsed after Jock came into the -world, before all the old women of the _Faculty_ in the parish -discovered that “he had a want.” As he grew up, it was found that he -had no capacity for the learning taught at the parish school, though, -in receiving various other sorts of lore, he showed an aptitude far -surpassing that of more highly gifted children. Thus, though he had not -steadiness of mind to comprehend the alphabet, and Barrie’s smallest -primer was to him as a fountain closed and a book sealed, he caught, at -a wonderfully early age, and with a rapidity almost incredible, many -fragments of Border song, which he could repeat, with the music, in the -precise manner of those who instructed him; and indeed he discovered -an almost miraculous power of giving utterance to sounds, in all their -extensive and intricate varieties. - -All endeavours on the part of his parents to communicate to his mind -the seeds of written knowledge having failed, Jock was abandoned to the -oral lore he loved so much; and of this he soon possessed himself of an -immense stock. His boyhood was passed in perfect idleness; yet if it -could have been proved upon him that he had the smallest glimmering of -sense, his days would not have been so easy. In Jock’s native district -there are just two ways for a boy to spend his time; either he must -go to school, or he must tend the cows; and it generally happens that -he goes to school in summer and tends the cows in winter. But Jock’s -idiocy, like Caleb Balderstone’s “fire,” was an excuse for every duty. -As to the first employment, his friend the Dominie bore him out with -flying colours; for the second, the question was set for ever at rest -by a _coup de main_ achieved by the rascal’s own happy fancy. “John,” -says the minister of Yarrow to him one day, “you are the idlest boy in -the parish; you do nothing all day but go about from house to house; -you might at least herd a few cows.” “Me, sir!” says Jock, with the -most stolid stare imaginable, “how could I herd the kye? Losh, sir, -_I disna ken corn by garse_!”—This happy bit was enough to keep Jock -comfortable all the rest of his life. - -Yet though Jock did not like to be tied down to any regular task, and -heartily detested both learning and herding, it could never be said -of him that he was sunk in what the country people call _even-down -idleset_. He sometimes condescended to be useful in running errands, -and would not grudge the tear and wear of his legs upon a seven-mile -journey, when he had the prospect of a halfpenny for his pains; for, -like all madmen, he was not insensible, however stupid in every other -thing, to the value of money, and knew a bawbee from a button with the -sharpest boy in the clachan. It is recorded to his credit, that in all -his errands he was ever found scrupulously honest. He was sometimes -sent to no less a distance than Innerleithen, which must be at least -seven miles from Gilmanscleugh, to procure small grocery articles for -his neighbours. Here an old woman, named Nelly Bathgate, kept the -metropolitan grocery shop of the parish, forming a sort of cynosure to -a district extending nearly from Selkirk to Peebles. This was in the -days before _St. Ronan’s Well_ had drawn so many fashionables around -that retired spot; and as yet Nelly flourished in her little shop, -undisturbed by opposition, like the moon just before the creation -of the stars. Rivals innumerable have now sprung up around honest -Nelly; and her ancient and respectable, but unpretending sign-board, -simply importing, “N. BATHGATE, GROCER,” quails under the glowing and -gilt-lettered rubrics of “—— ——, FROM EDINBURGH,” etc., etc., etc., -who specify that they import their own teas and wines, and deal both -_en gros et en petit_. - -For a good while Jock continued to do business with Nelly Bathgate, -unannoyed, as the honest dame herself, by any other grocery shop; and -indeed how there could be such a thing as another grocery shop in the -whole world besides Nelly’s, was quite incomprehensible to Jock. But at -length the distracting object arose. A larger shop than Nelly’s, with -larger windows, and a larger sign-board, was opened; the proprietor had -a son in Edinburgh with a great wholesale grocer in Nicolson Street; -and was supplied with a great quantity of goods, at cheap prices, -of a more flashy nature than any that had ever before been dreamt -of, smelt, or eaten in the village. Here a strange grocery article, -called pearl ashes, was sold; and being the first time that such a -thing was ever heard of, Innerleithen was just in a ferment about it. -Jock was strongly tempted to give his custom, or rather the custom of -his employers, to this shop; for really Nelly’s customary _snap_ was -growing stale upon his appetite, and he longed to taste the comfits of -the new establishment. This Nelly saw and appreciated; and, to prevent -the defection she feared, Jock’s allowance was forthwith doubled, and, -moreover, occasionally varied by a guerdon of a sweeter sort. But still -Jock hankered after the sweets of that strange forbidden shop; and, as -he passed towards Nelly’s, after a long hungry journey, could almost -have wished himself transformed into one of those yellow bees which -buzzed about in noisy enjoyment within the window and show-glasses -of the new grocer,—creatures which, to his mind, appeared to pass -the most delightful and enviable life. It is certainly much to Jock’s -credit, that, even under all these temptations, and though he had -frequently a whole sixpence to dispose of in eight or ten different -small articles, and, no less, though he had no security engaged for -intromissions, so that the whole business was nothing but a question -of character,—yea, in not so much as a farthing was he ever found -wanting. - -Nelly continued to be a good friend to Jock, and Jock adhered as -stoutly to Nelly; but it was frequently observed by those who -were curious in his mad humours, that his happy conquest over the -love of comfits was not accomplished and preserved without many -struggles between his instinctive honesty and the old Adam of his -inner man. For instance, after having made all his purchases at Mrs. -Bathgate’s, when he found only a single solitary farthing remain -in his hand, which was to be his faithful companion all the way -back to Gilmanscleugh, how forcibly it must have struck his foolish -mind, that, by means of the new grocer, he had it in his power to -improve his society a thousand-fold, by the simple and easy, though -almost-as-good-as-alchymical process of converting its base brazen -form into a mass of gilt gingerbread. Such a temptation might have -staggered St. Anthony himself, and was certainly far too much for -poor Jock’s humble powers of self-denial. In this dreadful emergency, -his only means of safety lay in flight; and so it was observed by his -rustic friends, on such occasions, that, as soon as he was fairly -clear of Nelly’s door, he commenced a sort of headlong trot, as if for -the purpose of confounding all dishonourable thoughts in his mind, -and ran with all his might out of the village, without looking once -aside; for if he had trusted his eye with but one glance at that neat -whitewashed window of four panes, where two biscuits, four gingerbread -cakes, a small blue bottle of white caraways, and a variety of other -nondescript articles of village confectionery displayed their modest -yet irresistible allurements, he had been gone! - -There is one species of employment in which Jock always displays the -utmost willingness to be engaged. It must be understood, that, like -many sounder men, he is a great admirer of the fair sex. He exhibits -an almost chivalrous devotion to their cause, and takes great pleasure -in serving them. Any little commission with which they may please to -honour him, he executes with alacrity, and his own expression is that -he would “jump Tweed, or dive the Wheel (a deep eddy in Tweed), for -their sakes.” He requires no reward for his services, but, like a -true knight, begs only to kiss the hand of his fair employer, and is -satisfied. It may be observed, that he is at all times fond of saluting -the hands of ladies that will permit him. - -The author of “Waverley” has described Davie Gellatley as dressed in -a grey jerkin, with scarlet cuffs, and slashed sleeves, showing a -scarlet lining, a livery with which the Baron of Bradwardine indued -him, in consideration of his services and character. Daft Jock Grey has -at no period of his life exhibited so much personal magnificence. His -usual dress is a rather shabby suit of hodden grey, with _ridge and -furrow_[1] stockings; and the utmost extent of his finery is a pair of -broad red garters, bound neatly below the knee-strings of his nether -garments, of which, however, he is probably more vain than ever belted -knight was of the royal garter. But waiving the matter of dress, their -discrepance in which is purely accidental, the resemblance is complete -in every other respect. The face, mien, and gestures are exactly -the same. Jock walks with all that swing of the body and arms, that -abstracted air and sauntering pace, which figure in the description of -Davie (“Waverley,” vol i. chap. ix.), and which, it may indeed be said, -are peculiar to the whole genus and body of Scottish madmen. Jock’s -face is equally handsome in its outline with that given to the fool of -Tully-Veolan, and is no less distinguished by “that wild, unsettled, -and irregular expression, which indicated neither idiocy nor insanity, -but something resembling a compound of both, where the simplicity of -the fool was mixed with the extravagance of a crazed imagination.” Add -to this happy picture the prosaic and somewhat unromantic circumstance -of a pair of buck-teeth, and the reader has our friend Jock to a single -feature. - -The Highland madman is described by his pedantic patron, to be “a poor -simpleton, neither _fatuus nec naturaliter idiota_, as is expressed in -the brieves of furiosity, but simply a cracked-brained knave, who could -execute any commission that jumped with his own humour, and made his -folly a plea for avoiding every other.” This entirely agrees with the -character of Jock, who is thought by many to possess much good common -sense, and whose talents of music and mimicry point him out as at -least ingenious. Yet to us it appears, that all Jock’s qualifications, -ingenious as they may be, are nothing but indications of a weak mind. -His great musical and mimetic powers, his talent and willingness of -errand-going, his cunning and his excessive devotion to the humours and -fancies of the fair sex, are mere caricatures of the same dispositions -and talents in other men, and point out all such qualifications, when -found in the best and wisest characters, as marks of fatuity and -weakness. Where, for instance, was the perfection of musical genius -ever found accompanied with a good understanding? Are not porters and -chairman the smallest-minded among mankind? Is not cunning the lowest -of the human faculties, and always found most active in the illiberal -mind? And what lady’s man, what _cavaliere serviente_, what squire of -dames, what man of drawing-rooms and boudoirs, ever yet exhibited the -least trace of greatness or nobility of intellect? Jock, who has all -these qualifications in himself, may be considered as outweighing at -least four other men who severally possess them. - -Like Davie Gellatley, Jock “is in good earnest the half-crazed -simpleton which he appears to be, and incapable of any steady exertion. -He has just so much wild wit as saves him from the imputation of -insanity, warm affections, a prodigious memory, and an ear for music.” -This latter quality is a point of resemblance which puts all question -of their identity past the possibility of doubt. Davie it must be -well remembered by the readers of “Waverley,” is there represented as -constantly singing wild scraps of ancient songs and ballads, which, -by a beautiful fiction of the author, he is said to have received -in legacy from a poetical brother who died in a decline some years -before. His conversation was in general carried on by means of these, -to the great annoyance of young Waverley, and such as, like him, did -not comprehend the strange metaphorical meaning of his replies and -allusions. Now, Jock’s principal talent and means of subsistence -are vested in his singular and minstrel-like powers of song, there -being few of our national melodies of which he cannot chaunt forth a -verse, as the occasion may suggest to his memory. He never fails to -be a welcome guest with all the farmers he may chance to visit,[2] -on account of his faculties of entertaining them with the tender or -warlike ditties of the Border, or the more smart and vulgar songs of -the modern world. It is to be remarked, that his style of singing, -like the styles of all other great geniuses in the fine arts, is -entirely his own. Sometimes his voice soars to the ecstasy of the -highest, and sometimes descends to the melancholious grunt of the -lowest pitch; while ever and anon he throws certain wild and beautiful -variations into both the words and the music, _ad libitum_, which -altogether stamp his performances with a character of the most perfect -originality. He generally sings very much through his nose, especially -in humorous songs; and, from his making a curious hiss, or twang, on -setting off into a melody, one might almost think that he employs -his notorious buck-teeth in the capacity of what musicians term a -_pitchfork_. - -Jock, by means of his singing powers, was one of the first who -circulated the rising fame of his countryman, the Ettrick Shepherd, -many of whose early songs he committed to memory, and sung publicly -over all the country round. One beginning, “Oh Shepherd, the weather -is misty and changing,” and the well known lyric of “Love is like a -dizziness,” besides being the first poetical efforts of their ingenious -and wonderful author, were the earliest of Jock Gray’s favourite songs, -and perhaps became the chief means of setting him up in the trade of a -wandering minstrel. We have seen him standing upon a _dees stane_ in -the street of Peebles, entertaining upwards of a hundred people with -the latter ludicrous ditty; and many a well-told penny has he made it -squeeze from the iron purses of the inhabitants of that worthy town, -“albeit unused to the _opening_ mood.” - -In singing the “Ewe-buchts, Marion,” it is remarkable that he adds a -chorus which is not found in any printed edition of the song: - - “Come round about the Merry-knowes, my Marion, - Come round about the Merry-knowes wi’ me; - Come round about the Merry-knowes, my Marion, - For Whitsled is lying lea.” - -Whitsled is a farm in the parish of Ashkirk, county of Selkirk, lying -upon the water of Ale; and Merry-knowes is the name of a particular -spot in the farm. This circumstance is certainly important enough to -deserve the attention of those who make Scottish song a study and -object of collection; as the verse, if authentic, would go far to prove -the locality of the “Ewe-buchts.” - -In addition to his talent as a musician, Jock can also boast of a -supplementary one, by means of which, whenever memory fails in his -songs, he can supply, _currente voce_, all incidental deficiencies. He -is not only a wit and a musician, but also a _poet_! He has composed -several songs, which by no means want admirers in the country, though -the most of them scarcely deserve the praise of even mediocrity. Indeed -his poetical talents are of no higher order than what the author of -an excellent article in the “Edinburgh Annual Register” happily terms -“wonderfully well considering”; and seem to be admired by his rustic -friends only on the benevolent principle of “where little has been -given, let little be required.” - -He has, however, another most remarkable gift, which the author -of “Waverley” has entirely rejected in conceiving the revised and -enlarged edition of his character,—a wonderful turn for _mimicry_. -His powers in this art are far, far indeed, from contemptible, though -it unfortunately happens that, like almost all rustic Scottish -humorists, he makes ministers and sacred things his chief and favourite -objects. He attends the preachings of all the ministers that fall -within the scope of his peregrinations, and sometimes brings away -whole _tenthlies_ of their several sermons, which he lays off to any -person that desires him, with a faithfulness of imitation, in tone and -gesture, which never fails to convulse his audience with laughter. -He has made himself master of all the twangs, _soughs_, wheezes, -coughs, _snirtles_, and bleatings, peculiar to the various parish -ministers twenty miles round; and being himself of no particular sect, -he feels not the least delicacy or compunction for any single class -of divines—all are indiscriminately familiar to the powers of the -universal Jock! - -It is remarkable, that though the Scottish peasantry are almost without -exception pious, they never express, so far as we have been able to -discover, the least demur respecting the profanity and irreverence of -this exhibition. The character of the nation may appear anomalous on -this account. But we believe the mystery may be solved by supposing -them so sincerely and unaffectedly devout, in all that concerns -the sentiment of piety, that they do not suspect themselves of any -remissness, when they make the outward circumstances, and even the -ordinances of religion, the subject of wit. It is on this account, -that in no country, even the most lax in religious feeling, have the -matters of the church been discussed so freely as in Scotland; and -nowhere are there so many jokes and good things about ministers and -priests. In this case the very ministers themselves have been known -to listen to Daft Jock’s mimicries of their neighbours with unqualmed -delight,—never thinking, good souls, that the impartial rascal has -just as little mercy on themselves at the next manse he visits. It is -also to be remarked, that, in thus quizzing the worthy ministers, he -does not forget to practise what the country-people consider a piece -of exquisite satire on the habits of such as _read_ their sermons. -Whenever he imitates any of these degenerate divines, who, by their -unpopularity, form quite a sect by themselves in the country, and -are not nearly so much respected as extempore preachers,[3] he must -have either a book or a piece of paper open before him, from which he -gravely affects to read the subject of discourse; and his audience -are always trebly delighted with this species of exhibition. He was -once amusing Mrs. C——, the minister’s wife of Selkirk, with some -imitations of the neighbouring clergymen, when she at last requested -him to give her a few words in the manner of Dr. C——, who being -a notorious _reader_, “Ou, Mem,” says Jock, “ye maun bring me the -Doctor’s Bible, then, and I’ll gie ye him _in style_.” She brought the -Bible, little suspecting the purpose for which the wag intended it, -when, with the greatest effrontery, he proceeded to burlesque this -unhappy peculiarity of the worthy doctor in the presence of his own -wife. - -Jock was always a privileged character in attending all sorts of -kirks, though many ministers, who dreaded a future sufferance under -his relentless caricaturing powers, would have been glad to exclude -him. He never seems to pay any attention to the sermon, or even deigns -to sit down, like other decent Christians, but wanders constantly -about from gallery to gallery, upstairs and downstairs. His erratic -habit is not altogether without its use. When he observes any person -sleeping during the sermon, he reaches over to the place, and taps him -gently on the head with his _kent_ till he awake; should he in any of -his future rounds (for he parades as regularly about as a policeman in -a large city) observe the drowsy person repeating the offence, he gives -him a tremendous thwack over the pate; and he increases the punishment -so much at every subsequent offence, that, like the military punishment -for desertion, the third infliction almost amounts to death itself. A -most laughable incident once occurred in —— church, on a drowsy summer -afternoon, when the windows were let down, admitting and emitting -a thousand flies, whose monotonous buzz, joined to the somniferous -snuffle of Dr. ——, would have been fit music for the bedchamber of -Morpheus, even though that honest god was lying ill of the toothache, -the gout, or any other equally _woukrife_ disorder. A bailie, who had -dined, as is usual in most country towns, between sermons, could not -resist the propensity of his nature, and, fairly overpowered, at last -was under the necessity of affronting the preacher to his very face, -by laying down his head upon the book-board; when his capacious, bald -round crown might have been mistaken, at first sight, for the face of -the clock placed in the front of the gallery immediately below. Jock -was soon at him with his stick, and, with great difficulty, succeeded -in rousing him. But the indulgence was too great to be long resisted, -and down again went the bailie’s head. This was not to be borne. Jock -considered his authority sacred, and feared not either the frowns of -elders, nor the more threatening scowls of kirk-officers, when his -duty was to be done. So his arm went forth, and the _kent_ descended -a second time with little reverence upon the offending sconce; upon -which the magistrate started up with an astonished stare, in which the -sentiment of surprise was as completely concentrated as in the face -of the inimitable Mackay, when he cries out, “Hang a magistrate! My -conscience!” The contrast between the bailie’s stupid and drowsy face, -smarting and writhing from the blow, which Jock had laid on pretty -soundly, and the aspect of the _natural_ himself, who still stood at -the head of the pew, shaking his stick, and looking at the magistrate -with an air in which authority, admonition, and a threat of further -punishment, were strangely mingled, altogether formed a scene of -striking and irresistible burlesque; and while the Doctor’s customary -snuffle was increased to a perfect whimper of distress, the whole -congregation showed in their faces evident symptoms of everything but -the demureness proper to a place of worship. - -Sometimes, when in a sitting mood, Jock takes a modest seat on the -pulpit stairs, where there likewise usually roost a number of deaf -old women, who cannot hear in any other part of the church. These -old ladies, whom the reader will remember as the unfortunate persons -that Dominie Sampson sprawled over, in his premature descent from the -pulpit, when he _stickit_ his first preaching, our waggish friend would -endeavour to torment by every means which his knavish humour could -invent. He would tread upon their corns, lean amorously upon their -laps, purloin their _specks_ (spectacles), set them on a false scent -after the psalm, and, sometimes getting behind them, plant his longest -and most serious face over their black cathedral-looking bonnets, like -an owl looking over an ivied wall, while few of the audience could -contain their gravity at the extreme humour of the scene. The fun was -sometimes, as we ourselves have witnessed, not a little enhanced by -the old lady upon whom Jock was practising, turning round, in holy -dudgeon, and dealing the unlucky wag a vengeful thwack across the face -with her heavy _octavo_ Bible. We have also seen a very ludicrous scene -take place, when, on the occasion of a baptism, he refused to come -down from his citadel, and defied all the efforts which James Kerr, -the kirk-officer, made to dislodge him; while the father of the child, -waiting below to present it, stood in the most awkward predicament -imaginable, not daring to venture upon the stairs while Jock kept -possession of them. It is not probable, however, that he would have -been so obstinate on that occasion, if he had not had an ill-will at -the preserver of the peace, for his interrupting him that day in his -laudable endeavours to break the slumbers of certain persons, whose -peace (or _rest_) it was the peculiar interest of that official to -preserve. - -We will conclude this sketch of _Daft Jock Gray_ with a stupendous -anecdote, which we fear, however, is not strictly canonical. Jock once -received an affront from his mother, who refused to gratify him with -an extra allowance of bannocks, at a time when he meditated a long -journey to a New Year’s Day junketing. Whereupon he seems to have felt -the yearnings of a hermit and a misanthrope within his breast, and -longed to testify to the world how much he both detested and despised -it. He withdrew himself from the society of the cottage,—was seen to -reject the addresses of his old companion and friend the cat,—and -finally, next morning, after tossing an offered cogue of _Scotia’s -halesome food_ into the fire, and breaking two of his mother’s best and -blackest _cutty pipes_, articles which she held almost in the esteem -of _penates_ or household gods,—off he went, and ascended to the top -of the highest Eildon Hill, at that time covered with deep snow. There -he wreaked out his vengeance in a tremendous and truly astonishing -exploit. He rolled a huge snow-ball, till, in its accumulation, it -became too large for his strength, and then taking it to the edge of -the declivity, - - “From Eildon’s proud vermilioned brow - He dashed upon the plains below”[4] - -the ponderous mass; which, increasing rapidly in its descent, became a -perfect avalanche before it reached the plain, and, when there, seemed -like a younger brother of the three Eildons, so that people thought -Michael Scott had resumed his old pranks, and added another hill to -that which he formerly “split in three.” This enormous conglomeration -of snow was found, when it fully melted away through the course of next -summer, to have licked up with its mountain tongue thirty-five clumps -of withered whin bushes, nineteen hares, three ruined cottages, and a -whole encampment of peat-stacks! - -The _Naturals_, or Idiots, of Scotland, of whom the Davie Gellatley of -_fictitious_, and the Daft Jock Gray of _real_ life, may be considered -as good specimens, form a class of our countrymen which it is our -anxious desire should be kept in remembrance. Many of the anecdotes -told of them are extremely laughable, and we are inclined to prize -such things, on account of the just exhibitions they sometimes afford -of genuine human nature. The sketch we have given, and the anecdotes -which we are about to give, may perhaps be considered valuable on this -account, and also from their connection, moreover, with the manners of -rustic life in the Lowlands of Scotland. - -_Daft Willie Law_[5] of Kirkaldy was a regular attendant on -_tent-preachings_, and would scour the country thirty miles round in -order to be present at “_an occasion_.”[6] One warm summer day he was -attending the preaching at Abbots Hall, when, being very near-sighted, -and having a very short neck, he stood quite close to “_the tent_” -gaping in the minister’s face, who, greatly irritated at a number of -his hearers being fast asleep, bawled out, “For shame, Christians, to -lie sleeping there, while the glad tidings of the gospel are sounding -in your ears; and here is Willie Law, a poor idiot, hearing me with -great attention!” “Eh go! sir, that’s true,” says Willie; “but if I -hadna been a puir idiot, I would have been sleeping too!” - -The late John Berry, Esq., of Wester Bogie, was married to a distant -relation of Daft Willie, upon which account the poor fellow used a -little more freedom with that gentleman than with any other who was -in the habit of noticing him. Meeting Mr. Berry one day in Kirkaldy, -he cries, “God bless you, Mr. Berry! gie’s a bawbee! gie’s a bawbee!” -“There, Willie,” says Mr. Berry, giving him what he thought a -halfpenny, but which he immediately saw was a shilling. “That’s no a -gude bawbee, Willie,” continues he; “gie me’t back, and I’ll gie ye -anither ane for’t.” “Na, na,” quoth Willie, “it sets Daft Willie Law -far better to put away an ill bawbee than it wad do you, Mr. Berry.” -“Ay, but Willie, if ye dinna gie me’t back, I’ll never gie ye anither -ane.” “Deil ma care,” says the wag, “it’ll be lang or I get ither -four-and-twenty frae ye!” - -Willie was descended from an ancient Scottish family, and nearly -related to John Law of Lauriston, the celebrated financier of France. -On that account he was often spoken to and noticed by gentlemen of -distinction; and he wished always to appear on the most intimate terms -with the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood. Posting one day -through Kirkcaldy with more than ordinary speed, he was met by Mr. -Oswald of Dunnikier, who asked him where he was going in such a hurry. -“I’m gaun to my cousin Lord Elgin’s burial.” “Your cousin Lord Elgin’s -burial, you fool! Lord Elgin’s not dead!” “Ah, deil may care,” quoth -Willie; “there’s sax doctors out o’ Embro’ at him, and they’ll hae him -dead afore I win forat!” - -Of _Matthew Cathie_, an East Lothian idiot, numerous characteristic -anecdotes are related. He lives by begging in the town of North -Berwick, and is well treated by the people there, on account of his -extreme inoffensiveness. Like Daft Jock Gray, he is fond of going -into churches, where his appearance does not fail to set the people -a-staring. On one occasion the minister, pointing to Matthew, said, -“That person must be put out before we can proceed.” Matthew, hearing -this, exclaimed, “Put him out wha likes, I’ll hae nae hand in’t!” -Another time, the minister said, “Matthew must be put out!” when -Matthew got up and replied, “Oh! Geordie, man, ye needna fash—Matthew -can gang out himsel’!” - -The Earl of Wemyss, walking one day, found his fool, Willie Howison, -asleep upon the ground, and, rousing him, asked what he had been -dreaming about. “Ou, my lord,” says Willie, “I dreamed that I was in -hell!” “Ay, Willie, and pray what did ye observe there?” “Ou, my lord, -it’s just there as it’s here—the grit folk’s ta’en _farrest ben_!” - -Selkirkshire boasts of several highly amusing idiots, all of whom -John Gray once made the subject of a song, in which each of them -received some complimentary mention. Himself, _Davie o’ the Inch_, -_Caleb and Robbie Scott_, and _Jamie Renwick_, are the chief heroes. -Caleb, a very stupid natural, was once engaged by a troop of wandering -showfolks to personate the character of an orang-outang at a Melrose -fair; the regular orang-outang of the establishment having recently -left his keepers in the lurch, by marrying a widow in Berwick, which -enabled him to give up business, and retire to the shades of domestic -privity. Caleb performed very well, and, being appropriately tarred and -feathered, looked the part to perfection. Amateurship alone would have -soon reconciled him to be an orang-outang all the rest of his life, and -to have left Selkirkshire behind; for, according to his own account, -he had nothing to do but hold his tongue, and sit munching apples all -day long. But his stars had not destined him for so enviable a life -of enjoyment. A drunken farmer coming in to see “the wild man of the -woods,” out of pure mischief gave Caleb a lash across the shoulders -with his whip, when the poor fellow, roaring out in his natural voice, -a mortifying _denouement_ took place; the showfolks were affronted and -hissed out of the town, and Caleb was turned off at a moment’s notice, -with all his blushing honours thick upon him! - -_Jamie Renwick_ has more sense and better perceptions than Caleb -Scott, but he is much more intractable and mischievous. He is a -tall, stout, wild-looking fellow, and might perhaps make as good a -hyena as Caleb made an orang-outang. Once, being upon an excursion -along with Jock Gray, they came to a farmhouse, and, in default of -better accommodation, were lodged in the barn. They did not like this -treatment at all, and Jock, in particular, was so irritated, that he -would not rest, but got up and walked about, amusing himself with some -of his wildest and most sonorous melodies. This, of course, annoyed his -companion, who, being inclined to sleep, was making the best he could -of a blanket and a bundle of straw. “Come to your bed, ye skirlin’ -deevil!” cries Jamie; “I canna get a wink o’ sleep for ye: I daursay -the folk will think us daft! Od, if ye dinna come and lie down this -instant, I’ll rise and _bring ye to your senses_ wi’ my rung!” “Faith,” -says Jock, “if ye do _that_, it will be mair than ony ither body has -ever been able to do!” It will be remembered that even the minister of -Yarrow himself failed in accomplishing this consummation so devoutly to -be wished. - -The following anecdote, from Colonel Stewart’s work on the Highlands, -displays a strange instance of mingled sagacity and fidelity in a -Celtic madman; and has, we have no doubt, been made use of in the -author of “Waverley’s” examples of the fidelity of Davie Gellatley, as -exerted in behalf of his unfortunate patron on similar occasions. - -“In the years 1746 and 1747, some of the gentlemen ‘_who had been out_’ -in the rebellion were occasionally concealed in a deep woody den near -my grandfather’s house. A poor half-witted creature, brought up about -the house, was, along with many others, intrusted with the secret of -their concealment, and employed in supplying them with necessaries. It -was supposed that when the troops came round on their usual searches, -they would not imagine that he could be intrusted with so important a -secret, and, consequently, no questions would be asked. One day two -ladies, friends of the gentlemen, wished to visit them in their cave, -and asked Jamie Forbes to show them the way. Seeing that they came from -the house, and judging from their manner that they were friends, he did -not object to their request, and walked away before them. When they had -proceeded a short way, one of the ladies offered him five shillings. -The instant he saw the money, he put his hands behind his back, and -seemed to lose all recollection. ‘He did not know what they wanted: he -never saw the gentlemen, and knew nothing of them;’ and, turning away, -walked in a quite contrary direction. When questioned afterwards why -he ran away from the ladies, he answered, that when they had offered -him such a sum (five shillings was of some value seventy years ago, and -would have bought two sheep in the Highlands), he suspected they had no -good intention, and that their fine clothes and fair words were meant -to entrap the gentlemen.” - - -RORY DALL, THE HARPER.[7] - -An allusion is made to this celebrated musician in the description of -Flora Mac-Ivor’s performance upon the harp in the Highland glen. “Two -paces back stood Cathleen, holding a small Scottish harp, the use of -which had been taught her by Rory Dall, one of the last harpers of the -Western Islands.” (“Wav.,” vol. i. p. 338.) _Roderick Morison_, called -_Dall_ on account of his blindness, lived in Queen Anne’s time, in the -double capacity of harper and bard to the family of Macleod of Macleod. -Many of his songs and poems are still repeated by his countrymen. - - -“CLAW FOR CLAW, AS CONAN SAID TO SATAN.” - -When the Highlanders prepared for Prestonpans (“Wav.,” vol. ii. p. -289), Mrs. Flockhart, in great distress about the departure of her -lodgers, asks Ensign Maccombich if he would “actually face thae -tearing, swearing chields, the dragoons?” “Claw for claw,” cries the -courageous Highlander, “and the devil take the shortest nails!” This -is an old Gaelic proverb. _Conan_ was one of Fingal’s heroes—rash, -turbulent, and brave. One of his unearthly exploits is said to have -led him to Iurna, or Cold Island (similar to the Den of Hela of -Scandinavian mythology), a place only inhabited by infernal beings. On -Conan’s departure from the island, one of its demons struck him a blow, -which he instantly returned. This outrage upon immortals was fearfully -retaliated, by a whole legion setting upon poor Conan. But the warrior -was not daunted; and exclaiming, “Claw for claw, and the devil take the -shortest nails!” fought out the battle, and, it is said, ultimately -came off victorious. - - -TULLY-VEOLAN. - -(_Traquair House._) - -TULLY-VEOLAN finds a striking counterpart in Traquair House, in -Peebles-shire, the seat of the noble family whose name it bears. The -aspect of the gateway, avenue, and house itself, is precisely that of -the semi-Gothic, bear-guarded mansion of Bradwardine. It is true that, -in place of the multitudinous representations of the bear, so profusely -scattered around Tully-Veolan, we have here only a single pair, which -adorn the gate at the head of the avenue: and that the avenue itself -cannot pretend to match the broad continuous shade through which -Waverley approached the Highland castle; and also that several other -important features are wanting to complete the resemblance;—yet, -if we be not altogether imposed upon by fancy, there is a likeness -sufficiently strong to support the idea that this scene formed the -original _study_ of the more finished and bold-featured picture of -the novelist. Traquair House was finished in the reign of Charles I. -by the first Earl, who was lord high treasurer of Scotland at that -period. This date corresponds with that assigned to Tully-Veolan, -which, says the author, was built when architects had not yet abandoned -the castellated style peculiar to the preceding warlike ages, nor yet -acquired the art of constructing a baronial mansion without a view to -defence. - -It is worthy of remark, that the Earl of Traquair is the only Scottish -nobleman, besides the Earl of Newburgh, who still adheres to the -Romish faith:[8] and that his antique and interesting house strongly -resembles, in its _internal economy and appearance_, Glenallan Castle, -described in the “Antiquary.” - -Among the illustrative vignettes prefixed to a late edition of -the author of “Waverley’s” works, a view of Craig Crook Castle, -near Edinburgh, is given for Tully-Veolan; and, to complete the -_vraisemblance_, several bears have been added to the scene. It is -only necessary to assert, in general, that these bears only exist in -the imagination of the artist, and that no place has less resemblance -to the Tully-Veolan of “Waverley” than Craig Crook, which is a small -_single_ house, in a bare situation, more like the mansion of poor -Laird Dumbiedykes than the castle of a powerful feudal baron. - - -THE BODACH GLAS. - -The original of the _Bodach Glas_, whose appearance proved so -portentous to the family of the Mac-Ivors, may probably be traced to -a legend current in the ancient family of Maclaine of Lochbuy, in the -island of Mull, noticed by Sir Walter Scott in a note to his “Lady -of the Lake.”[9] The popular tradition is, that whenever any person -descended of that family is near death, the spirit of one of them, -who was slain in battle, gives notice of the approaching event. There -is this difference between the _Bodach Glas_ and him, that the former -appeared on these solemn occasions only to the chief of the house of -Mac-Ivor, whereas the latter never misses an individual descended of -the family of Lochbuy, however obscure, or in whatever part of the -world he may be. - -The manner of his showing himself is sometimes different, but he -uniformly appears on horseback. Both the horse and himself seem to be -of a very diminutive size, particularly the head of the rider, from -which circumstance he goes under the appellation of “_Eoghan a chinn -bhig_,” or “_Hugh of the little head_.” Sometimes he is heard riding -furiously round the house where the person is about to die, with an -extraordinary noise, like the rattling of iron chains. At other times -he is discovered with his horse’s head nearly thrust in at a door or -window; and, on such occasions, whenever observed, he gallops off in -the manner already described, the hooves of his steed striking fire -from the flinty rocks. The effects of such a visit on the inmates of -the dwelling may be easily conceived when it is considered that it was -viewed as an infallible prognostication of approaching death—an event -at which the stoutest heart must recoil, when the certainty is placed -before him of his hours being numbered. Like his brother spirits, -he seems destined to perform his melancholy rounds amidst nocturnal -darkness, the horrors of which have a natural tendency to increase the -consternation of a scene in itself sufficiently appalling. - -The origin of the tradition is involved in the obscurity of antiquity. -It is related of him that, on the eve of a battle in which he was to -be engaged, a weird woman prophesied to him, that if his wife (who was -a daughter of Macdougall of Lorn), on the morning when he was to set -out on his expedition, had his breakfast prepared before he was ready -for it, good fortune would betide him; if, on the other hand, he had -to call for his breakfast, he would lose his life in the conflict. -It seems he was not blest with an affectionate spouse; for, on the -morning in question, after waiting a considerable time, he had at last -to call for his breakfast, not, however, without upbraiding his wife, -by informing her of what was to be the consequence of her want of -attention. The presentiment that he was to fall may have contributed to -the fulfilment of the prophecy, which was accomplished as a matter of -course. This part of the story probably refers to one of the Maclaines -of Lochbuy, who was married to a daughter of Macdougall of Lorn, -and who, with his two eldest sons, was killed in a feud with their -neighbours, the Macleans of Duart, which had nearly proved fatal to the -family of Lochbuy. This happened in the reign of King James IV. - -It has not come to our knowledge for what cause the penance was imposed -on _Eoghan a chinn bhig_ of giving warning to all his clan of their -latter end—whether for deeds done in this life, or whether (as some -people imagine that departed spirits act as guardian angels to the -living) he is thus permitted to show his regard for his friends by -visiting them in their last moments, to prepare them for another -world. The latter would appear to be the most probable, from a -circumstance reported of him, which seems rather at variance with the -general character of a harbinger of death. It is said that he took a -great fancy to a near relation of the family of Lochbuy (called, by -way of patronymic, John M‘Charles), to whom he paid frequent visits, -and communicated several particulars respecting the future fate of the -family. Whenever he wished an interview with his favourite, he would -come to his door, from which he would not stir till John M‘Charles came -out; when he would pull him up behind him on his Pegasus, and ride all -night over hills, rocks, woods, and wilds, at the same time conversing -with him familiarly of several events that were to happen in the -Lochbuy family, one of which is said to have been accomplished, about -forty years ago, according to his prediction. - -This tiny personage, though light of limb, has the reputation of being, -like all other unearthly beings, endued with supernatural strength, of -which his exploits with John M‘Charles afford an instance. Not many -years ago, a man in Mull, when returning home about dusk, perceived -a person on horseback coming towards him. Supposing it might be some -person whom he knew, he went up to speak to him; but the horseman -seemed determined to pass on without noticing him. Thinking he observed -something remarkable in the appearance of the rider, he approached -close to him, when he was unexpectedly seized by the collar, and -forcibly dragged about a quarter of a mile by the stranger, who at -last abandoned his hold, after several ineffectual attempts to place -his terrified victim behind him, which, being a powerful man, he -successfully resisted. He was, however, so much bruised in the scuffle, -that it was with difficulty he could make his way home, although he had -only about half a mile to go. He immediately took to his bed, which he -did not leave for some days, his friends wondering all the time what -could be the matter with him. It was not until he told the story, as -we have related it, that the adventure was known. And as, after the -strictest inquiry, it could not be ascertained that any person on -horseback had passed that way on the evening on which it took place, -it was, by the unanimous voice of all the seers and old wives in the -neighbourhood, laid down as an incontrovertible proposition, that the -equestrian stranger could be no other than “_Eoghan a chinn bhig_.” - -In whatever way the tradition originated, certain it is that, at one -time, it was very generally, if not universally, received over the -island of Mull and adjacent parts. Like other superstitions of a -similar nature, it has gradually given way to the more enlightened -ideas of modern times, and the belief is now confined to the vulgar. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] See introduction to “Peveril,” where the Scottish Novelist -describes himself as wearing such old-fashioned habiliments. - -[2] While Sir Walter Scott resided at Ashesteil, Jock frequently -visited him, and was much noticed, on account of his strange humours -and entertaining qualities. - -[3] A respectable clergyman of our acquaintance, who is in the habit -of preaching his elegant discourses with the help of M.S., was once -extremely amused with the declaration of a hearer, who professed -himself repugnant to that practice. “Doctor,” says he, “ye’re just a -slave to the bit paper, and nane o’ us ha’e that respect for ye that -we ought to ha’e; but to do ye justice, I maun confess, that since I -changed my seat in the loft, and ha’na ye now sae fair atween my een, -so that I can _hear_ without _seeing_ ye, fient a bit but I think ye’re -just as good as auld _Threshin’ Willy_ himsel’!” - -[4] The Russiade, a poem, by James Hogg. - -[5] We are indebted for this and the two succeeding anecdotes to the -“Scotch Haggis,” a curious collection of the pure native wit of our -country, published in 1822. - -[6] The country people call a dispensation of the greater Sacrament -“_an occasion_.” It is also scoffingly termed “_the Holy Fair_.” -In Edinburgh it is called “_the Preachings_.” But, it must be -observed, these phrases are only applied in reference to the outward -circumstances, and not to the holy ceremony itself. - -[7] We are indebted for this and the succeeding illustration to the -late Alexander Campbell’s edition of Macintosh’s Gaelic Proverbs. - -[8] Charles, fifth Earl of Traquair, was implicated in the proceedings -of the year 1745, though he did not appear openly. See the evidence of -Secretary Murray on the trial of Lord Lovat, _Scots Magazine_ for 1747, -p. 105. - -[9] Note 7 to Canto III. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -=Guy Mannering.= - - -CURIOUS PARTICULARS OF SIR ROBERT MAXWELL OF ORCHARDSTON. - -(_Groundwork of the Novel._) - -“Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardston, in the county of Galloway, was -the descendant of an ancient Roman Catholic family of title in the -south of Scotland. He was the only child of a religious and bigoted -recluse, who sent him, while yet very young, to a college of Jesuits in -Flanders, for education—the paternal estate being, in the meantime, -wholly managed by the boy’s uncle, the brother of the devotee, to -whom he resigned the guardianship of the property, in order that -he might employ the remainder of his days exclusively in acts of -devotion. In the family of Orchardston, as, indeed, in most great -families of that day, the younger branches were but ill provided for, -and looked to the inheritor of the family estate alone for the means -of supporting their rank in society: the liberal professions and the -employments of trade were still considered somewhat dishonourable; and -the unfortunate junior, nursed with inflated ideas of consequence and -rank, was doomed in after-life to exercise the servility and experience -the mortification of an humble dependant. In this case, the culpable -negligence of the father had transferred the entire management of -a large estate to his younger brother, who was so delighted in the -possession, that he resolved to retain it, to the exclusion of the -rightful heir. He consequently circulated a report that the boy was -dead; and on the death of the old baronet, which took place about -this period, he laid claim to the title and estate. In the meantime, -our young hero was suffering (very reluctantly) the severe discipline -of the Jesuits’ college, his expenses being defrayed by occasional -supplies sent him by his uncle, which were represented to him as the -bounties of the college—a story which he could not discredit, as he -had been placed there at an age too young to know distinctly either who -he was or whence he came. He was intelligent and docile; and was deemed -of sufficient capacity to become hereafter one of their own learned -body, with which view he was educated. When at the age of sixteen, he -found the discipline and austerities of a monastic life so ill suited -to his inclination, that, on a trivial dispute with the superior of -his college, he ran away, and enlisted himself in a French marching -regiment. In this situation he sustained all the hardships of hunger, -long marches, and incessant alarms; and, as it was in the hottest part -of the war between France and England, about the year 1743, it may -easily be imagined that his situation was by no means enviable. He -fought as a foot-soldier at the battle of Dettingen; he was also at -the battle of Fontenoy; and landed, as an ensign in the French troops, -at Murray Frith, during the rebellion of 1745. He joined the rebels a -little before the battle of Prestonpans, marched with them to Derby, -and retreated with them to Scotland. He was wounded at the battle of -Culloden, and fled with a few friends to the woods of Lochaber, where -he remained the greater part of the summer 1746, living upon the roots -of trees, goats’ milk, and the oatmeal and water of such peasants as -he durst confide in. Knowing, however, that it would be impossible to -continue this course of life during the winter, he began to devise -means of effecting his return to France—perfectly unconscious that, -in the country where he was suffering all the miseries of an outcast -criminal, he was entitled to the possession of an ample estate and -title. His scheme was to gain the coast of Galloway, where he hoped -to get on board some smuggling vessel to the Isle of Man, and from -thence to France. The hardships which he suffered in the prosecution -of this plan would require a volume in their description. He crept -through by-ways by night, and was forced to lie concealed among rocks -and woods during the day. He was reduced almost to a state of nudity, -and his food was obtained from the poorest peasants, in whom only he -could confide. Of this scanty subsistence he was sometimes for days -deprived; and, to complete his misfortunes, he was, after having walked -barefooted over rocks, briars, and unfrequented places, at length -discovered, seized, and carried before a magistrate near Dumfries. As -his name was Maxwell, which he did not attempt to conceal, he would -have suffered as a rebel, had not his commission as a French officer -been found in the lining of his tattered coat, which entitled him to -the treatment of a prisoner of war. This privilege, however, only -extended to the preservation of his life. He was confined in a paved -stone dungeon so long, that he had amused himself by giving names to -each stone which composed the pavement, and which, in after-life, -he took great pleasure in relating and pointing out to his friends. -An old woman, who had been his nurse in childhood, was at this time -living in Dumfries, where he was a prisoner; and having accidentally -seen him, and becoming acquainted with his name, apparent age, etc., -felt an assurance that he was the rightful Sir Robert Maxwell. The -indissoluble attachment of the lower orders in Scotland to their chiefs -is well known; and, impelled by this feeling, this old and faithful -domestic attended him with almost maternal affection, administering -liberally to his distresses. After an interview of some weeks, she -made him acquainted with her suspicion, and begged leave to examine a -mark which she remembered upon his body. This proof also concurring, -she became outrageous with joy, and ran about the streets proclaiming -the discovery she had made. This rumour reaching the ears of the -magistrates, inquiry was made, the proofs were examined, and it soon -became the general opinion that he was the son of the old baronet of -Orchardston. The estate lay but a few miles from Dumfries; and the -unlawful possessor being a man of considerable power, and of a most -vindictive disposition, most people, whatever might be their private -opinion, were cautious in espousing the cause of this disinherited -and distressed orphan. One gentleman, however, was found, who, to -his eternal honour, took him by the hand. A Mr. Gowdy procured his -release from prison, took him to his own house, clothed him agreeably -to his rank, and enabled him to commence an action against his uncle. -The latter was not inactive in the defence of his crime, and took -every pains to prove his nephew to be an impostor. Chagrin and a -consciousness of guilt, however, put an end to his existence before -the cause came to a hearing; and Sir Robert was at length put into -possession of an estate worth upwards of ten thousand pounds a year. -He now began to display those qualities and abilities which had been -but faintly perceptible in his former station. He now discovered an -ingenuous mind, an intellect at once vigorous and refined, and manners -the most elegant and polished. His society was courted by all the -neighbouring gentry; and, in the course of time he married a Miss -Maclellan, a near relation of the family of Lord Kirkcudbright; with -this lady he lived in the most perfect happiness for many years. He -joined in the prevalent practice of farming his own estate, and built -a very elegant house on an eminence overlooking the Nith. An imprudent -speculation in the bank of Ayr, however, compelled him to abandon the -seat of his ancestors. He had reserved a small pittance, on which he -and his lady lived the latter part of their days. This calamity he -bore as became a man familiar with misfortune; and he continued the -same worthy open-hearted character he had ever been. The reduction of -his fortune served only to redouble the kindness and cordiality of his -friends. He died suddenly in September, 1786, whilst on the road to -visit one of them—the Earl of Selkirk. He left behind him no issue; -but his name is still remembered with ardent attachment.”—_New Monthly -Magazine, June, 1819._ - - -ANDREW CROSBIE, ESQ. - -(_Counsellor Pleydell._) - -We feel no little pleasure in presenting the original of a character -so important as the facetious Pleydell. He is understood to be the -representative of Mr. Andrew Crosbie, who flourished at the head of -the Scottish bar about the period referred to in the novel. Many -circumstances conspire to identify him with the lawyer of the novel. -Their eminence in their profession was equally respectable; their -habits of frequenting taverns and High Jinks parties on Saturday nights -was the same, and both were remarkable for that antique politeness of -manner so characteristic of old Scottish gentlemen. It may be allowed -that Pleydell is one of the characters most nearly approaching to -_generic_ that we have attempted to identify with real life; but it is -nevertheless so strenuously asserted by all who have any recollection -of Mr. Crosbie, that Pleydell resembles _him in particular_, that we -feel no hesitation in assigning him as the only true specific original. -We therefore lay the following simple facts before the public, and -leave the judicious reader to his own discrimination. - -Mr. Crosbie was in the prime of life about the middle of the last -century, and, from that period till the year 1780, enjoyed the highest -reputation in his profession. He came of a respectable family in the -county of Galloway—the district, the reader will remember, in which -the principal scenes of the novel are laid, and probably the shire of -which Paulus Pleydell, Esq., is represented (vol. ii. chap, xvi.) as -having been, at an early period of his life, the sheriff-depute. - -The residence of Mr. Crosbie, in the early periods of his practice, -exactly coincides with that of Pleydell, whom, if we recollect rightly, -Colonel Mannering found in a dark close on the north side of the High -Street, several storeys up a narrow common stair. Mr. Crosbie lived -first in Lady Stair’s Close, a steep alley on the north side of the -Lawnmarket; afterwards in the Advocate’s Close, in the Luckenbooths; -and finally in a self-contained and well-built house of his own, at -the foot of Allan’s Close, still standing, and lately inhabited by -Richard Cleghorn, Esq., Solicitor before the Supreme Courts. All these -various residences are upon the north side of the High Street, and the -two first answer particularly to the description in the novel. The -last is otherwise remarkable as being situated exactly behind and in -view of the innermost penetralia of Mr. Constable’s great publishing -warehouse,[10]—the _sanctum sanctorum_ in which Captain Clutterbuck -found the _Eidolon_ of the Author of “Waverley,” so well described in -the introduction to “Nigel.” - -At the period when Mr. Crosbie flourished, all the advocates and judges -of the day dwelt in those obscure _wynds_ or alleys leading down -from the High Street, which, since the erection of the New Town, have -been chiefly inhabited by the lower classes of society. The greater -part, for the sake of convenience, lived in the lanes nearest to the -Parliament House—such as the Advocate’s Close, Writer’s Court, Lady -Stair’s Close, the West Bow, the _Back Stairs_, the President’s Stairs -in the Parliament Close, and the tenements around the Mealmarket. In -these dense and insalubrious obscurities they possessed what were -then the best houses in Edinburgh, and which were considered as such -till the erection of Brown’s Square and the contiguous suburbs, about -the beginning of the last king’s reign, when the lawyers were found -the first to remove to better and more extensive accommodations, -being then, as now, the leading and most opulent class of Edinburgh -population. This change is fully pointed out in “Redgauntlet,” where a -writer to the signet is represented as removing from the Luckenbooths -to Brown’s Square about the time specified—which personage, disguised -under the name of Saunders Fairford, we have no doubt was designed for -Sir Walter Scott’s own father, a practitioner of the same rank, who -then removed from the Old Town to a house at the head of the College -Wynd, in which his distinguished son, the _Alan Fairford_ of the -romance, was born and educated. - -Living as they did so near the Parliament House, it was the custom of -both advocates and senators to have their wigs dressed at home, and to -go to court with their gowns indued, their wigs in full puff, and each -with his cocked hat under his arm.[11] About nine in the morning, the -various avenues to the Parliament Square used to be crowded with such -figures. In particular, Mr. Crosbie was remarkable for the elegance of -his figure, as, like his brethren, he emerged from the profundity of -his alley into the open street. While he walked at a deliberate pace -across the way, there could not be seen among all the throng a more -elegant figure. He exhibited at once the dignity of the counsellor high -at the bar and the gracefulness of the perfect gentleman. He frequently -walked without a gown, when the fineness of his personal appearance -was the more remarkable. His dress was usually a black suit, silk -stockings, clear shoes, with gold or silver buckles. Sometimes the suit -was of rich black velvet. - -Mr. Crosbie, with all the advantages of a pleasing exterior, possessed -the more solid qualifications of a vigorous intellect, a refined taste, -and an eloquence that has never since been equalled at the bar. His -integrity as a counsel could only be surpassed by his abilities as a -pleader. In the first capacity, his acute judgment and great legal -knowledge had long placed him in the highest rank. In the second, -his thorough and confident acquaintance with the law of his case, -his beautiful style of language, all “the pomp and circumstance” -of matchless eloquence, commanded the attention of the bench in no -ordinary degree; and while his talents did all that could be done -in respect of moving the court, the excelling beauty of his oratory -attracted immense crowds of admirers, whose sole disinterested object -was to hear him. - -It is recorded of him that he was one day particularly brilliant—so -brilliant as even to surprise his usual audience, the imperturbable -Lords themselves. What rendered the circumstance more wonderful -was, that the case happened to be extremely dull, common-place and -uninteresting. The secret history of the matter was to the following -effect:—A facetious contemporary, and intimate friend of Mr. -Crosbie, the celebrated Lord Gardenstone, in the course of a walk -from Morningside, where he resided, fell into conversation with a -farmer, who was going to Edinburgh in order to hear his cause pled that -forenoon by Mr. Crosbie. The senator, who was a very homely and rather -eccentric personage, on being made acquainted with the man’s business, -directed him to procure a dozen or two farthings at a snuff-shop in -the Grassmarket—to wrap them separately up in white paper, under the -disguise of guineas—and to present them to his counsel as fees, when -occasion served. The case was called: Mr. Crosbie rose; but his heart -not happening to be particularly engaged, he did not by any means exert -the utmost of his powers. The treacherous client, however, kept close -behind his back, and ever and anon, as he perceived Mr. C. bringing his -voice to a cadence, for the purpose of closing the argument, slipped -the other farthing into his hand. The repeated application of this -silent encouragement so far stimulated the advocate, that, in the -end, he became truly eloquent—strained every nerve of his soul in -grateful zeal for the interests of so good a client—and, precisely -at the fourteenth farthing, gained the cause. The _denouement_ of the -conspiracy took place immediately after, in John’s Coffee-house, over -a bottle of wine, with which Mr. Crosbie treated Lord Gardenstone from -the profits of his pleading; and the surprise and mortification of the -barrister, when, on putting his hand into his pocket in order to pay -the reckoning, he discovered the real extent of his fee, can only be -imagined. - -Within the last forty years, a curious custom prevailed among the -gentlemen of the long robe in Edinburgh—a custom which, however -little it might be thought of then, would certainly make nine modern -advocates out of ten shudder at every curl just to think of it. This -was the practice of doing all their business, except what required to -be done in the court, in taverns and coffee-houses. Plunged in these -subterranean haunts, the great lawyers of the day were to be found, -surrounded with their myrmidons, throughout the whole afternoon and -evening of the day. It was next to impossible to find a lawyer at -his own abode, and, indeed, such a thing was never thought of. The -whole matter was to find out his tavern, which the cadies upon the -street—those men of universal knowledge—could always tell, and then -seek the oracle in his own proper _hell_, as Æneas sought the sibyl. At -that time a Directory was seldom applied to; and even though a stranger -could have consulted the celebrated Peter Williamson’s (supposing it -then to have been published), he might, perhaps, by dint of research, -have found out where Lucky Robertson lived, who, in the simple words of -that intelligencer, “_sold the best twopenny_;” or he might have been -accommodated, more to his satisfaction, with the information of who, -through all the city, “_sett lodgings_” and “_kept rooms for single -men_;” but he would have found the Directory of little use to him in -pointing out where he might meet a legal friend. The cadies, who, at -that time, wont to be completely _au fait_ with every hole and bore in -the town, were the only directories to whom a client from the country, -such as Colonel Mannering or Dandie Dinmont, could in such a case apply. - -The peculiar haunt of Mr. Crosbie was Douglas’s tavern in the Anchor -Close, then a respectable and flourishing house, now deserted and shut -up. Here many revelries, similar to those described in the novel, -took place; and here the game of High Jinks was played by a party of -convivial lawyers every Saturday night. The situation of the house -resembles that of Clerihugh, described in “Guy Mannering,” being the -second floor down a steep _close_, upon the north side of the High -Street. Here a club, called the _Crochallan Corps_, of which Robert -Burns was a member when in Edinburgh, assembled periodically, and held -bacchanalian orgies, famous for their fierceness and duration. - -There was also a tavern in Writer’s Court, kept by a real person, named -Clerihugh, the peculiarities of which do not resemble those ascribed -to the tavern of the novel, nearly so much as do those of Douglas’s. -Clerihugh’s was, however, a respectable house. There the magistrates of -the city always gave their civic dinners, and, what may perhaps endear -it more in our recollections, it was once the favourite resort of a -Boswell, a Gardenstone, and a Home. We may suppose that such a house as -Douglas’s gave the idea of the tavern described by our author, while -_Clerihugh_ being a more striking name, and better adapted for his -purpose, he adopted it in preference to the real one. - -The custom of doing all business in taverns gave that generation of -lawyers a very dissipated habit, and to it we are to attribute the -ruin of Mr. Crosbie. That gentleman being held in universal esteem and -admiration, his company was much sought after; and, while his celibacy -gave every opportunity that could be desired, his own disposition to -social enjoyments tended to confirm the evil. An anecdote is told of -him, which displays in a striking manner the extent to which he was -wont to go in his debaucheries. He had been engaged to plead a cause, -and had partially studied the _pros_ and _cons_ of the case, after -which he set off and plunged headlong into those convivialities with -which he usually closed the evening. His debauch was a fierce one, and -he did not get home till within an hour of the time when the court -was to open. It was then too late for sleep, and all other efforts to -cool the effervescence of his spirits, by applying wet cloths to his -temples, etc., were vain; so that when the case was called, reason had -scarcely reassumed her deserted throne. Nevertheless, he opened up with -his usually brilliancy, and soon got warm into the argument; but not -far did he get leave to proceed with his speech, when the agent came -up behind, with horror and alarm in his face, pulled him by the gown, -and whispered into his ear, “What the deevil! Mr. Crosbie! ye’ll ruin -a’! ye’re on the wrang side; the very Lords are winking at it; and the -client is gi’en’ a’ up for lost.” The crapulous barrister gave a single -glance at the _exordia_ of his papers, and instantly comprehended his -mistake. However, not at all abashed, he rose again, and “Such my -lords,” says he, “are probably the weak and intemperate arguments of -the defender, concerning which, as I have endeavoured to state them, -you can only entertain one opinion, namely, that they are utterly -false, groundless, and absurd.” He then turned to upon the right side -of the question, pulled to pieces all that he had said before, and -represented the case in an entirely different light; and so much and so -earnestly did he exert himself in order to repair his error, that he -actually gained the cause. - -Some allusion is made to Mr. Crosbie’s propensity to wine, in a -birthday ode, written in his honour by his friend, Mr. Maclaurin -(afterwards Lord Dreghorn), and set to music by the celebrated Earl of -Kelly. We there learn that, at his birth, Venus, Bacchus, and Astrea, -came and contended for the possession of his future affections, and -that Jove gave a decision to this effect:— - - “’Tis ordered, boy, Love, Law, and Wine, - Shall thy strange cup of life compose; - But, though the three are all divine, - The last shall be thy _favourite dose_.” - -It was indeed his favourite dose, and proved at last a fatal one. But, -before we relate the history of his end, it will be necessary to notice -a few particulars respecting his life. - -Towards the conclusion of the American war, when Edinburgh raised a -defensive band, and offered its services to government, Mr. Crosbie -interested himself very much in the patriotic scheme, and was -appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. About the same period, -he also interested himself very deeply in a business of a different -description, namely, the institution of the Scottish Antiquarian -Society, which was first projected by the Earl of Buchan. Mr. Crosbie -was one of the original members, and had the honour to be appointed -a censor. Honourable mention is made of him in his friend Boswell’s -Tour to the Hebrides, being one of the northern literati who were -introduced to Dr. Johnson when he passed through Edinburgh. In the life -of Johnson, also, it will be found that the barrister visited the great -lexicographer in London, shortly after the Doctor had returned from his -northern excursion. The conversations which took place on both these -occasions are curious, but not sufficiently interesting to be extracted -into this work. - -In the course of a long successful practice, the original of Pleydell -acquired some wealth; and, at the time when the New Town of Edinburgh -began to be built, with an enthusiasm prevalent at the period, he -conceived the best way of laying out his money to be in the erection -of houses in that noble and prosperous extension of the city. He -therefore spent all he had, and ran himself into considerable debt, in -raising a structure which was to surpass all the edifices yet erected, -for making the design of which he employed that celebrated architect, -Mr. James Craig, the nephew of Mr. Thomson, who planned the New Town -on its projection in 1767. The house which Mr. Crosbie erected was to -the north of the splendid mansion built by Sir Lawrence Dundas, which -subsequent times have seen converted into an excise-office; and as -the beauty of Mr. C.’s house was in a great measure subservient to -the decoration of Sir Lawrence’s, that gentleman, with his accustomed -liberality, made his tasteful neighbour a present of five hundred -pounds. Yet this _bonus_ proved, after all, but an insufficient -compensation for the expense which Mr. Crosbie had incurred in his -sumptuous speculation; and the unfortunate barrister, who, by his -taste, had attracted the wonder and envy of all ranks, was thought to -have made himself a considerable loser in the end. While it was yet -unfinished, he removed from Allan’s Close, and, establishing himself -in one of its corners, realized Knickerbocker’s fable of the snail -in the lobster’s shell. He lived in it for some time, in a style -of extravagance appropriate to the splendour of his mansion; till, -becoming embarrassed by his numerous debts, and beginning to feel -the effects of other imprudencies, he was at last obliged to resort -to Allan’s Close, and take up with his old abode and his diminished -fortunes. About this period his constitution appeared much injured by -his habits of life, and he was of course unable to attend to business -with his former alacrity. An incipient passion for dogs, horses, and -cocks, was another strong symptom of decay. To crown all, he made a low -marriage with a woman who had formerly been his menial, and (some said) -his mistress; and as this tended very much to take away the esteem of -the world, his practice began to forsake, and his friends to neglect -him. - -It was particularly unfortunate that, about this time, he lost the -habit of frequenting one particular tavern, as he had been accustomed -to do in his earlier and better years. The irregularity consequent -upon visiting four or five of a night, in which he drank liquors of -different sorts and qualities, was sufficient to produce the worst -effects. Had he always steadily adhered to Clerihugh’s or Douglas’s, -he might have been equally fortunate with many of his companions, who -had frequented particular taverns, through several generations of -possessors, seldom missing a night’s attendance, during the course of -fifty years, from ill health or any other cause. - -It is a melancholy task to relate the end of Mr. Crosbie. From one -depth he floundered down to another, every step in his conduct -tending towards a climax of ruin. Infatuation and despair led him on, -disrespect and degradation followed him. When he had reached what -might be called the goal of his fate, he found himself deserted by -all whom he had ever loved or cherished, and almost destitute of a -single attendant to administer to him the necessaries of life. Bound by -weakness and disease to an uneasy pallet, in the garret of his former -mansion, he lingered out the last weeks of life in pain, want, and -sickness. So completely was he forsaken by every friend, that not one -was by at the last scene to close his eyes or carry him to the grave. -Though almost incredible, it is absolutely true, that he was buried -by a few unconcerned strangers, gathered from the street; and this -happened in the very spot where he had been known all his life, in the -immediate neighbourhood of hundreds who had known, loved, and admired -him for many years. He died on the 25th of February, 1785. - - -DRIVER. - -MR. CROSBIE’S clerk was a person named ROBERT H——, whose character -and propensities agreed singularly well with those of Mr. Pleydell’s -dependant, Driver. He was himself a practitioner before the courts, of -the meaner description, and is remembered by many who were acquainted -with the public characters of Edinburgh, towards the end of last -century. He was frequently to be seen in the forenoon, scouring the -closes of the High Street, or parading the Parliament Square; sometimes -seizing his legal friends by the button, and dragging them about in the -capacity of listeners, with an air and manner of as great importance as -if he had been up to the very pen in his ear in business. - -He was a pimpled, ill-shaven, smart-speaking, clever-looking fellow, -usually dressed in grey under-garments, an old hat nearly brushed to -death, and a black coat, of a fashion at least in the seventh year of -its age, scrupulously buttoned up to his chin. It was in his latter -and more unfortunate years that he had become thus slovenly. A legal -gentleman, who gives us information concerning him, recollects when he -was nearly the greatest fop in Edinburgh—being powdered in the highest -style of fashion, wearing two gold watches, and having the collar of -his coat adorned with a beautiful loop of the same metal. After losing -the protection of Mr. Crosbie, he had fallen out of all regular means -of livelihood; and unfortunately acquiring an uncontrollable propensity -for social enjoyments, like the ill-fated Robert Fergusson, with whom -he had been intimately acquainted, he became quite unsettled—sometimes -did not change his apparel for weeks—sat night and day in particular -taverns—and, in short, realized what Pleydell asserted of Driver, -that “sheer ale supported him under everything; was meat, drink, and -cloth—bed, board, and washing.” In his earlier years he had been -very regular in his irregularities, and was a “complete fixture” at -John Baxter’s tavern, in Craig’s Close, High Street, where he was the -_Falstaff_ of a convivial society, termed the “_Eastcheap Club_.” But -his dignity of conduct becoming gradually dissipated and relaxed, and -there being also, perhaps, many a landlady who might have said with -Dame Quickly, “I warrant you he’s an infinite thing upon my score,” -he had become unfortunately migrative and unsteady in his taproom -affections. One night he would get drunk at the sign of the _Sautwife_, -in the Abbeyhill, and next morning be found tipping off a corrective -dram at a porter-house in Rose Street. Sometimes, after having made a -midnight tumble into “the Finish” in the Covenant Close, he would, by -next afternoon, have found his way (the Lord and the policeman only -knew how) to a pie-office in the Castlehill. It was absolutely true -that he could write his papers as well drunk as sober, asleep as awake; -and the anecdote which the facetious Pleydell narrated to Colonel -Mannering, in confirmation of this miraculous faculty, is also, we -are able to inform the reader, strictly consistent in truth with an -incident of real occurrence. - -Poor H—— was one of those happy, thoughtless, and imprudent -mortals, whose idea of existence lies all in to-day, or to-morrow at -farthest,—whose whole life is only a series of random exertions and -chance efforts at subsistence—a sort of constant _Maroon war_ with -starvation. His life had been altogether passed in Edinburgh. All he -knew, besides his professional lore, was of _Edinburgh_; but then he -knew _all_ of that. There did not exist a tavern in the capital of -which he could not have winked you the characters of both the waiters -and the beefsteaks at a moment’s notice. He was at once the annalist -of the history, the mobs, the manners, and the jokes of Edinburgh—a -human phial, containing its whole essential spirit, corked with wit and -labelled with pimples. - -H—— was a man rich in all sorts of humour and fine sayings. His -conversation was dangerously delightful. Had he not unhappily fallen -into debauched habits, he possessed abilities that might have entitled -him to the most enviable situations about the Court; but, from the -nature of his peculiar habits, his wit was the only faculty he ever -displayed in its full extent—pity it was the only one that could not -be exerted for his own benefit! To have seen him set down “for a night -of it” in Lucky F——’s, with a few cronies as _drowthie_ as himself, -and his _Shadow_ (a person who shall hereafter be brought to light), -was in itself a most exquisite treat. By the time that the injunction -of “another half-mutchkin, mistress,” had been six times repeated, -his lips, his eyes, and his nose, spoke, looked, and burned wit—pure -wit! “He could not ope his mouth, but out there flew a trope.” The -very sound of his voice was in itself a waggery; the twinkle of his -eye might have toppled a whole theatre over into convulsions. He could -not even spit but he was suspected of a witticism, and received the -congratulation of a roar accordingly. Nay, at the height of such a tide -as this, he would sometimes get the credit of Butler himself for an -accidental scratch of his head. - -His practice as a writer (for so he is styled in Peter Williamson’s -Directory) lay chiefly among the very dregs of desperation and poverty, -and was withal of such a nature as to afford him the humblest means -of subsistence. Being naturally damned, as he himself used to say, -with the utmost goodness of heart, he never hesitated at taking any -poverty-struck case by the hand that could hold forth the slightest -hope of success, and was perfectly incapable of resisting any appeal to -his sense of justice, if made in _forma pauperis_. The greater part of -his clients were poor debtors in the Heart of Midlothian, and he was -most frequently employed in cases of _cessio_, for the accomplishment -of which he was, from long practice, peculiarly qualified. He had -himself a sort of instinctive hatred of the name of creditor, and would -have been at any time perfectly willing to fight _gratis_ upon the -debtor’s side out of pure amateurship. His idle and debauched habits, -also, laid him constantly open to the company of the lowest litigants, -who purchased his advice or his opinion, and, in some cases, even his -services as an agent, for the paltriest considerations in the shape of -liquor; and, unfortunately, he did not possess sufficient resolution to -withstand such temptations—his propensity for social enjoyments, which -latterly became quite ungovernable, disposing him to make the greatest -sacrifices for its gratification. - -Yet this man, wretched as he eventually was, possessed a perfect -knowledge of the law of Scotland, besides a great degree of -professional cleverness; and, what with his experience under Mr. -Crosbie, and his having been so long a hanger-on of the Court, was -considered one of the best agents that could be employed in almost any -class of cases. It is thought by many of his survivors that, if his -talents had been backed by steadiness of application, he might have -attained to very considerable eminence. At least, it has been observed, -that many of his contemporaries, who had not half of his abilities, -by means of better conduct and greater perseverence, have risen to -enviable distinction. Mr. Crosbie always put great reliance in him, and -sometimes intrusted him with important business; and H—— has even -been seen to destroy a paper of Mr. Crosbie’s writing, and draw up a -better himself, without incurring the displeasure which such an act of -disrespect seemed to deserve. The highest compliment, however, that -could be paid to Mr. H——’s abilities, was the saying of an old man, -named Nicol,[12] a native of that litigious kingdom, Fife, who, for a -long course of years, pestered the Court, _in forma pauperis_, with a -process about a dunghill, and who at length died in Cupar jail—where -he had been disposed, for some small debt, by a friend, just, as was -asserted, to keep him out of harm’s way. Old John used to treat H—— -in Johnnie Dowie’s, and get, as he said, _the law out o’ him_ for the -matter of a dram. He declared that “he would not give H——’s drunken -glour at a paper for the serious opinions of the haill bench!” - -Sunday was wont to be a very precious day to H——,—far too good -to be lost in idle dram-drinking at home. On Saturday nights he -generally made a point of insuring stock to the amount of half-a-crown -in his landlady’s hands, and proposed a tour of jollity for next -morning to a few of his companions. These were, for the most part, -poor devils like himself, who, with few lucid intervals of sobriety -or affluence—equally destitute of industry, prudence, and care for -the opinion of the world—contrive to fight, drink, and roar their -way through a desperate existence, in spite of the devil, their -washerwoman, and the small-debt-court—perhaps even receiving Christian -burial at last like the rest of their species. With one or two such -companions as these, H—— would issue of a Sunday morning through the -Watergate, on an expedition to Newhaven, Duddingstone, Portobello, or -some such guzzling retreat,[13]—the termination of their walk being -generally determined by the consideration of where they might have -the best drink, the longest credit, or where they had already least -debt. Then was it most delightful to observe by what a special act of -Providence they would alight upon “the last rizzer’d haddock in the -house,” or “the only hundred oysters that was to be got in the town;” -and how gloriously they would bouse away their money, their credit, and -their senses, till, finally, after uttering, for the thousand and first -time, all their standard Parliament-House jokes—after quarrelling with -the landlord, and flattering the more susceptible landlady up to the -sticking-place of “a last gill,”—they would reel away home, in full -enjoyment of that glory which, according to Robert Burns, is superior -to the glory of even kings! - -Nevertheless, H—— was not utterly given up to Sunday debauches, -nor was he destitute of a sense of religion. He made a point of -always going to church on rainy Sundays—that is to say, when his -neckcloth happened to be in its honey-moon, and the button-moulds -of his vestments did not chance to be beyond their first phase. He -was not, therefore, very consistent in his devotional sentiments and -observances; for the weather shared with his tailor the credit of -determining him in all such matters. He was like Berwick smacks of -old, which only sailed, “wind and weather permitting.” When, however, -the day was favourably bad, he would proceed to the High Church of -St. Giles (where, excepting on days of _General Assembly_, there are -usually enow of empty seats for an army), and, on observing that the -Lords of Session had not chosen to hold any _sederunt_ that day, he -would pop into their pew. In this conspicuous seat, which he perhaps -considered a sort of common property of the College of Justice, he -would look wonderfully at his ease, with one threadbare arm lolling -carelessly over the velvet-cushioned gallery, while in the other hand -he held his mother’s old black pocket Bible—a relic which he had -contrived to preserve for an incredible number of years, through a -thousand miraculous escapades from lodgings where he was insolvent, -in memory of a venerable relation, whom he had never forgot, though -oblivious of every other earthly regard besides. - -Mr. H——’s _Shadow_, whom we mentioned a few pages back, however -unsubstantial he may seem from his _sobriquet_, was a real person, -and more properly entitled Mr. NIMMO. He had long been a dependant -of H——’s, whence he derived this strange designation. Little more -than the shadow of a recollection of him remains as _materiel_ for -description. He bore somewhat of the same relation to his principal -which Silence bears to Shallow, in Henry IV.,—that is, he was -an exaggerated specimen of the same species, and exhibited the -peculiarities of H——’s habits and character in a more advanced stage. -He was a prospective indication of what H—— was to become. H——, -like Mr. Thomas Campbell’s “coming events,” cast his “shadow before;” -and Nimmo was this shadow. When H—— got new clothes, Nimmo got the -_exuviæ_ or cast-off garments, which he wore on and on, as long as -his principal continued without a new supply. Therefore, when H—— -became shabby, Nimmo was threadbare; when H—— became threadbare, -Nimmo was almost denuded; and when H—— became almost denuded, Nimmo -was quite naked! Thus, also, when H——, after a successful course of -practice, got florid and in good case, Nimmo followed and exhibited a -little colour upon the wonted pale of his cheeks; when H—— began to -fade, Nimmo withered before him; by the time H—— was _looking thin_, -Nimmo was _thin indeed_; and when H—— was attenuated and sickly, -poor Nimmo was as slender and airy as a moonbeam. Nimmo was in all -things beyond, before, ahead of H——. If H—— was elevated, Nimmo was -tipsy; if H—— was tipsy, Nimmo was _fou_; if H—— was _fou_, Nimmo -was dead-drunk; and if H—— persevered and got dead-drunk also, Nimmo -was sure still to be beyond him, and was perhaps packed up and laid -to sleep underneath his principal’s chair. Nimmo, as it were, cleared -the way for H——’s progress towards destruction—was his pioneer, his -vidette, his harbinger, his avant-courier—the aurora of his rising, -the twilight of his decline. - -Nimmo naturally, and to speak of him without relation to the person of -whom he was part and parcel, was altogether so inarticulate, so empty, -so meagre, so inane a being, that he could scarcely be reckoned more -than a mere thread of the vesture of humanity—a whisper of Nature’s -voice. Nobody knew where he lived at night: he seemed then to disappear -from the face of the earth, just as other shadows disappear on the -abstraction of the light which casts them. He was quite a casual -being—appeared by chance, spoke by chance, seemed even to exist only -by chance, as a mere occasional exhalation of chaos, and at last -evaporated from the world to sleep with the shadows of death,—all -by chance. To have seen him, one would have thought it by no means -impossible for him to dissolve himself and go into a phial, like -Asmodeus in the laboratory at Madrid. His figure was in fact a libel -on the human form divine. It was perfectly unimaginable what he would -have been like _in puris naturalibus_, had the wind suddenly blown him -out of his clothes some day—an accident of which he seemed in constant -danger. It is related of him, that he was once mistaken, when found -dead-drunk in a gutter, on the morning after a king’s birth-day, for -the defunct corpse of _Johnnie Wilkes_,[14] which had been so loyally -kicked about the streets by the mob on the preceding evening; but, on -a scavenger proceeding to sweep him down the channel, he presently -sunk from the exalted character imputed to him, by rousing himself, -and calling lustily, “Another bottle—just another bottle, and then -we’ll go!” upon which the deceived officer of police left him to the -management of the stream. - -Besides serving Mr. H—— in the character of clerk or amanuensis, -he used to dangle at his elbow on all occasions, swear religiously -to all his charges, and show the way in laughing at all his jokes. -He was so clever in the use of his pen in transcription, that his -hand could travel over a sheet at the rate of eleven knots an hour, -and this whether drunk or sober, asleep or awake. Death itself could -scarcely have chilled his energies, and it was one of his favourite -jokes, in vaunting of the latter miraculous faculty, to declare that -he intended to delay writing his will till after his decease, when he -would guide himself in the disposal of his legacies by the behaviour of -his relations. We do not question his abilities for such a task; but -one might have had a pretty good guess, from Nimmo’s appearance, that -he would scarcely ever find occasion, either before or after death, to -exercise them. - -These sketches, from the quaint flippancy of their style, may be -suspected of fancifulness and exaggeration; yet certain it is, that -out of the ten thousand persons said to be employed in this legal -metropolis in the solicitation, distribution, and execution of justice, -many individuals may even yet be found, in whom it would be possible to -trace the lineaments we have described. Such persons as H—— and Nimmo -dangle at the elbows of The Law, and can no more be said to belong to -its proper body than so many rats in a castle appertain to the garrison. - -H—— continued in the course of life which we have attempted to -describe till the year 1808, when his constitution became so shattered, -that he was in a great measure unfitted for business or for intercourse -with society. Towards the end of his life, his habits had become still -more irregular than before, and he seemed to hasten faster and faster -as he went on to destruction, like the meteor, whose motion across -the sky seems to increase in rapidity the moment before extinction. -After the incontestable character of the greatest wit and the utmost -cleverness had been awarded to him,—after he had spent so much money -and constitution in endeavouring to render his companions happy, -that some of them, more grateful or more drunken than the rest, -actually confessed him to be “a devilish good-natured foolish sort -of fellow,”—after he had, like certain Scottish poets, almost drunk -himself into the character of a genius,—it came to pass that—he died. -A mere pot-house reveller like him is no more missed in the world of -life than a sparrow or a bishop. There was no one to sorrow for his -loss—no one to regret his absence—save those whose friendship is -worse than indifference. It never was very distinctly known how or -where he died. It was alone recorded of him, as of the antediluvian -patriarchs, that _he died_. As his life had become of no importance, so -his death produced little remark and less sorrow. On the announcement -of the event to a party of his old drinking friends, who, of course, -were all decently surprised, etc., one of them in the midst of the _Is -it possibles? Not-possibles!_ and _Can it be possibles?_ incidental -to the occasion, summed up his elegy, by trivially exclaiming, “Lord! -is Rab dead at last! Weel, that’s strange indeed!—not a week since I -drank six half-mutchkins wi’ him down at _Amos’s_! Ah! he was a good -bitch! (Then raising his voice) Bring us in a biscuit wi’ the next -gill, mistress! Rab was ay fond o’ bakes!” And they ate a biscuit to -his memory! - -It is somewhat remarkable that the deaths of Crosbie and H—— should -have been produced by causes and attended by circumstances nearly the -same, though a period of full twenty years had intervened between the -events. Both were men of great learning and abilities,—they were drawn -down from the height in which their talents entitled them to shine by -the same unfortunate propensities,—and while, in their latter days, -both experienced the reverse of fortune invariably attendant upon -imprudence, they at length left the scene of their notoriety, equally -despised, deserted, and miserable. - -Both cases are well calculated to illustrate the lesson so strenuously -inculcated by Johnson,—that to have friends we must first be virtuous, -as there is no friendship among the profligate. - -Mr. Crosbie’s death presents the more trite moral of the two—for -in it we see little more than the world forsaking an unfortunate -man, as crowds fly from the falling temple, to avoid being crushed -in the ruins. But the moral of Mr. H——’s death is striking and -valuable. In him we see a man of the brightest genius gradually -losing that self-respect, so necessary, even when it amounts to -pride, for the cultivation and proper enjoyment of superior mental -powers,—becoming in time unsettled in his habits, and careless of -public estimation,—losing the attachment of friends of his own rank, -and compensating the loss by mixing with associates of the lowest -order:—next, become incapable of business, we see him dejected and -forlorn as poverty itself, by turns assuming every colour and every -aspect of which the human countenance and figure is susceptible, till -the whole was worn down to a degree of indiscriminate ruin—the _ne -plus ultra_ of change:—at length, when every vulgar mode of enjoyment -had been exhausted, and when even the fiercest stimulants had grown -insipid, we see him lost at once to sensibility and to sensation, -encountering the last evils of mortality in wretchedness and obscurity, -unpitied by the very persons for whom he had sacrificed so much, and -leaving a name for which he expected to acquire the fame of either -talent or misfortune, - - “To point a moral and adorn a tale!”[15] - - -SOUTH COUNTRY FARMERS. - -(_Dandie Dinmont._) - -Perhaps the Author of “Waverley” has nowhere so completely given the -effect of reality to his portraiture as in the case of honest Dandie -Dinmont, the renowned yeoman of Charlieshope. This personage seems to -be quite familiar to his mind, present to his eye, domesticated in the -chambers of his fancy. The minutest motions of the farmer’s body, and -the most trivial workings of his mind, are alike bright in his eye; and -so faithful a representation has been produced, that one might almost -think the author had taken his sketch by some species of mental _camera -obscura_, which brought the figure beneath his pencil in all its native -colours and proportions. - -It is impossible to point out any individual of real life as the -original of this happy production. It appears to be entirely -generic—that is to say, the whole class of Liddisdale farmers is here -represented, and little more than a single thread is taken from any -single person to form the web of the character. Three various persons -have been popularly mentioned as furnishing the author with his most -distinguished traits, each of whom have their followers and believers -among the country people. It will perhaps be possible to prove that -Dandie Dinmont is a sort of compound of all three, the ingredients -being leavened and wrought up with the general characteristic qualities -of the “Lads of Liddisdale.” - -Mr. ARCHIBALD PARK, late of Lewinshope, near Selkirk, brother of the -celebrated Mungo Park, was the person always most strongly insisted on -as being the original of Dandie. He was a man of prodigious strength, -in stature upwards of six feet, and every member of his body was in -perfect accordance with his great height. He completely realized -the most extravagant ideas that the poets of his country formerly -entertained of the stalwart borderers; and his achievements “by flood -and field,” in the violent exercises and sports of his profession, -came fully up to those of the most distinguished heroes of border -song. He had all the careless humour and boisterous hospitality of -the Liddisdale farmer. On the appearance of the novel, his neighbours -at once put him down as the Dandie Dinmont of real life, and he was -generally addressed by the name of his supposed archetype by his -familiar associates, so long as he remained in that part of the -country, which, however, was not long. His circumstances requiring him -to relinquish his farm, he obtained, by the interest of some friends, -the situation of collector of customs at Tobermory, to which place he -removed in 1815. Soon after he had settled there, he was attacked by a -paralytic affection, from which he never thoroughly recovered, and he -died in 1821, aged about fifty years. - -Mr. JOHN THORBURN, of Juniper Bank, the person whom we consider to have -stood in the next degree of relationship to Dinmont, was a humorous -good-natured farmer, very fond of hunting and fishing, and a most -agreeable companion over a bottle. He was truly an unsophisticated -worthy man. Many amusing anecdotes are told of him in the south, and -numerous scenes have been witnessed in his hospitable mansion, akin to -that described in the novel as taking place upon the return of Dandie -from “Stagshawbank fair.” The interior economy of Juniper Bank is said -to have more nearly resembled Charlieshope than did that of Lewinshope, -the residence of Mr. Park. Indeed the latter bore no similarity -whatever to Charlieshope, excepting in the hospitality of the master -and the Christian name of the mistress of the house. Mr. Park, like -his fictitious counterpart, was one of the most generous and hearty -landlords alive; and his wife, who was a woman of highly respectable -connections, bore, like Mrs. Dinmont, the familiar abbreviated name of -_Ailie_. - -Thorburn, like Dandie, was once before _the feifteen_. The celebrated -Mr. Jeffrey being retained in his cause, Thorburn went into Court to -hear his pleading. He was delighted with the talents and oratory of -his advocate; and, on coming out, observed to his friends, “Od, he’s -an _awfu’ body_ yon; he said things that I never could hae thought o’ -mysel’.” - -Mr. JAMES DAVIDSON, of Hindlee, another honest south-country farmer, -was pointed out as the prototype of Dandie Dinmont. This gentleman used -to breed numerous families of terriers, to which he gave the names of -Pepper and Mustard, in all their varieties of _Auld_ and Young, Big and -Little; and it was this community of designation in the dogs of the -two personages, rather than any particular similarity in the manners -or characters of themselves, that gave credit to the conjecture of Mr. -Davidson’s friends.[16] - -It will appear, from these notices, that no individual has sat for the -portrait of Dinmont, but that it has been painted from indiscriminate -recollections of various border store-farmers. We cannot do better -than conclude with the words of the author himself, when introducing -this subject to the reader:—“The present store-farmers of the south -of Scotland are a much more refined race than their fathers, and the -manners I am now to describe have either altogether disappeared or are -greatly modified. Without losing their rural simplicity of manners, -they now cultivate arts unknown to the former generation, not only -in the progressive improvement of their possessions, but in all the -comforts of life. Their houses are more commodious, their habits of -life better regulated, so as better to keep pace with those of the -civilized world; and the best of luxuries, the luxury of knowledge, has -gained much ground among the hills during the last thirty years. Deep -drinking, formerly their greatest failing, is now fast losing ground; -and while the frankness of their extensive hospitality continues -the same, it is, generally speaking, refined in its character, and -restrained in its excesses.” - - -A SCOTCH PROBATIONER. - -(_Dominie Sampson._) - -There are few of our _originals_ in whom we can exhibit such precise -points of coincident resemblance between the real and fictitious -character, as in him whom we now assign as the prototype of -Dominie Sampson. The person of _real_ existence also possesses the -singular recommendation of presenting more dignified and admirable -characteristics, in their plain unvarnished detail, than the ridiculous -caricature produced in “Guy Mannering,” though _it_ be drawn by an -author whose elegant imagination has often exalted, but seldom debased, -the materials to which he has condescended to be indebted. - -Mr. JAMES SANSON was the son of James Sanson, tacksman of Birkhillside -Mill, situate in the parish of Legerwood, in Berwickshire. After -getting the rudiments of his education at a country-school, he went to -the University of Edinburgh, and, at a subsequent period, completed -his probationary studies at that of Glasgow. At these colleges he made -great proficiency in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and became -deeply immersed in the depths of philosophy and theology, of which, as -with Dominie Sampson, the more abstruse and neglected branches were his -favourite subjects of application. He was a close, incessant student; -and, in the families where he afterwards resided as a tutor, all his -leisure moments were devoted to the pursuits of literature. Even his -hours of relaxation and walking were not exempted, in the exceeding -earnestness of his solicitude. Then he was seldom seen without a book, -upon which he would be so intent, that a friend might have passed, -and even spoken to him, without Sanson’s being conscious of the -circumstance. After going through his probationary trials before the -presbytery, he became an acceptable, even an admired preacher, and was -frequently employed in assisting the clergymen of the neighbourhood. - -From the narrow circumstances of his father, he was obliged early in -life to become a tutor. Into whose family he first entered is unknown. -However, in this humble situation, owing probably to the parsimonious -economy to which he had been accustomed in his father’s house, he in -a short time saved the sum of twenty-five pounds—a little fortune in -those days to a youth of Mr. Sanson’s habits. - -With this money he determined upon a pedestrian excursion into England, -for which he was excellently qualified, from his uncommon strength -and undaunted resolution. After journeying over a great part of the -sister kingdom, he came to Harwich, where a sight of the passage-boats -to Holland, and the cheapness of the fare, induced him to take a trip -to the continent. How he was supported during his peregrinations was -never certainly discovered; but he actually travelled over the greater -part of the Netherlands, besides a considerable portion of Germany, -and spent only about the third part of his twenty-five pounds. He -always kept a profound silence upon the subject himself; but it is -conjectured, with great probability, that in the Low Countries he had -recourse to convents, were the monks were ever ready to do acts of -kindness to men of such learning as Sanson would appear to them to be. -Perhaps he procured the means of subsistence by the expedients which -the celebrated Goldsmith is said to have practised in his continental -wanderings, and made the disputation of the morning supply the dinner -of the day. - -After his return from the continent, about 1784, he entered the family -of the Rev. Laurence Johnson of Earlston, where he continued some -time, partly employed in the education of his children, and giving -occasional assistance in his public ministerial duty. From this -situation he removed to the house of Mr. Thomas Scott, uncle of the -celebrated Sir Walter, whose family then resided at Ellieston, in the -county of Roxburgh. While superintending this gentleman’s children, he -was appointed to a higher duty—the charge of Carlenridge Chapel, in -the parish of Hawick, which he performed regularly every Sunday, at -the same time that he attended the education of the family through the -week. We may safely conjecture that it was at this particular period of -his life he first was honoured with the title of _Dominie Sanson_. - -He was next employed by the Earl of Hopetoun, as chaplain to that -nobleman’s tenants at Leadhills, where, with an admirable but -unfortunate tenaciousness of duty, he patiently continued to exercise -his honourable calling, to the irreparable destruction of his own -health. The atmosphere being tainted with the natural effluvia of the -noxious mineral which was the staple production of the place, though -incapable of influencing the health of those who had been accustomed -to it from their infancy, had soon a fatal effect upon the life of -poor Sanson. The first calamitous consequence that befel him was the -loss of his teeth; next he became totally blind; and, last of all, to -complete the sacrifice, the insalubrious air extinguished the principle -of life. Thus did this worthy man, though conscious of the fate that -awaited him, choose rather to encounter the last enemy of our nature, -than relinquish what he considered a sacred duty. Strange that one, -whose conduct through life was every way so worthy of the esteem -and gratitude of mankind—whose death would not have disgraced the -devotion of a primitive martyr—should by means of a few less dignified -peculiarities, have eventually conferred the character of perfection -on a work of _humour_, and, in a caricatured exhibition, supplied -attractions, nearly unparalleled, to innumerable theatres! - -Mr. James Sanson was of the greatest stature—near six feet high, and -otherwise proportionately enormous. His person was coarse, his limbs -large, and his manners awkward; so that, while people admired the -simplicity and innocence of his character, they could not help smiling -at the clumsiness of his motions and the rudeness of his address. -His soul was pure and untainted—the seat of many manly and amiable -virtues. He was ever faithful in his duty, both as a preacher and a -tutor, warmly attached to the interests of the family in which he -resided, and gentle in the instruction of his pupils. As a preacher, -though his manner in his public exhibitions, no less than in private -society, was not in his favour, he was well received by every class -of hearers. His discourses were the well-digested productions of a -laborious mind; and his sentiments seldom failed to be expressed with -the utmost beauty and elegance of diction. - - -JEAN GORDON. - -(_Meg Merrilies._) - -The original of this character has been already pointed out and -described in various publications. A desire of presenting, in this -work, as much original matter as possible, will induce us to be very -brief in our notice of Jean Gordon. - -It is impossible to specify the exact date of her nativity, though it -probably was about the year 1670. She was born at Kirk-Yetholm, in -Roxburghshire, the metropolis of the Scottish Gipsies, and was married -to a Gipsy chief, named Patrick Faa, by whom she had ten or twelve -children. - -In the year 1714, one of Jean’s sons, named Alexander Faa, was murdered -by another Gipsy, named Robert Johnston, who escaped the pursuit of -justice for nearly ten years, but was then taken and indicted by his -Majesty’s Advocate for the crime. He was sentenced to be executed, but -escaped from prison. It was easier, however, to escape the grasp of -justice than to elude the wide spread talons of Gipsy vengeance. Jean -Gordon traced the murderer like a blood-hound, followed him to Holland, -and from thence to Ireland, where she had him seized, and brought him -back to Jedburgh. Here she obtained the full reward of her toils, by -having the satisfaction of seeing him hanged on Gallowhill. Some time -afterwards, Jean being at Sourhope, a sheep-farm on Bowmont-water, -the goodman said to her, “Weel, Jean, ye hae got Rob Johnston hanged -at last, and out o’ the way?” “Ay, gudeman,” replied Jean, lifting up -her apron by the two corners, “and a’ that fu’ o’ gowd hasna done’t.” -Jean Gordon’s “apron fu’ o’ gowd” may remind some of our readers of Meg -Merrilies’ poke of jewels; and indeed the whole transaction forcibly -recalls the stern picture of that intrepid heroine. - -The circumstance in “Guy Mannering,” of Brown being indebted to Meg -Merrilies for lodging and protection, when he lost his way near -Derncleugh, finds a remarkably precise counterpart in an anecdote -related of Jean Gordon:—A farmer with whom she had formerly been on -good terms, though their acquaintance had been interrupted for several -years, lost his way, and was benighted among the mountains of Cheviot. -A light glimmering through the hole of a desolate barn, that had -survived the farmhouse to which it once belonged, guided him to a place -of shelter. He knocked at the door, and it was immediately opened by -Jean Gordon. To meet with such a character in so solitary a place, and -probably at no great distance from her clan, was a terrible surprise -to the honest man, whose rent, to lose which would have been ruin to -him, was about his person. Jean set up a shout of joyful recognition, -forced the farmer to dismount, and, in the zeal of her kindness, hauled -him into the barn. Great preparations were making for supper, which the -gudeman of Lochside, to increase his anxiety, observed was calculated -for at least a dozen of guests. Jean soon left him no doubt upon the -subject, but inquired what money he had about him, and made earnest -request to be made his purse-keeper for the night, as the “_bairns_” -would soon be home. The poor farmer made a virtue of necessity, told -his story, and surrendered his gold to Jean’s custody. She made him put -a few shillings in his pocket, observing, it would excite suspicion, -were he found travelling altogether penniless. This arrangement being -made, the farmer lay down on a sort of shake-down, upon some straw, -but, as will easily be believed, slept not. About midnight the gang -returned with various articles of plunder, and talked over their -exploits in language which made the farmer tremble. They were not long -in discovering their guest, and demanded of Jean whom she had there? -“E’en the winsome gudeman o’ Lochside, poor body,” replied Jean; “he’s -been at Newcastle seeking for siller to pay his rent, honest man, -but de’il-be-licket he’s been able to gather in, and sae he’s gaun -e’en hame wi’ a toom purse and a sair heart.” “That may be, Jean,” -said one of the banditti, “but we maun rip his pouches a bit, and see -if it be true or no.” Jean set up her throat in exclamation against -this breach of hospitality, but without producing any change in their -determination. The farmer soon heard their stifled whispers and light -steps by his bed-side, and understood they were rummaging his clothes. -When they found the money which the providence of Jean Gordon had made -him retain, they held a consultation if they should take it or no; but -the smallness of the booty, and the vehemence of Jean’s remonstrances, -determined them in the negative. They caroused and went to rest. So -soon as day dawned, Jean roused her guest, produced his horse, which -she had accommodated behind the _hallan_, and guided him for some miles -till he was on the high-road to Lochside. She then restored his whole -property, nor could his earnest entreaties prevail on her to accept so -much as a single guinea. - -It is related that all Jean’s sons were condemned to die at Jedburgh on -the same day. It is said the jury were equally divided; but a friend to -justice, who had slept during the discussion, waked suddenly, and gave -his word for condemnation, in the emphatic words, “HANG THEM A’.” Jean -was present, and only said, “The Lord help the innocent in a day like -this!” - -Her own death was accompanied with circumstances of brutal outrage, of -which Jean was in many respects wholly undeserving. Jean had, among -other merits or demerits, that of being a staunch Jacobite. She chanced -to be at Carlisle upon a fair or market-day, soon after the year 1746, -where she gave vent to her political partiality, to the great offence -of the rabble of that city. Being zealous of their loyalty, when -there was no danger, in proportion to the tameness with which they -surrendered to the Highlanders in 1745, they inflicted upon poor Jean -Gordon no slighter penalty than that of ducking her to death in the -Eden. It was an operation of some time; for Jean Gordon was a stout -woman, and, struggling hard with her murderers, often got her head -above water, and while she had voice left, continued to exclaim, at -such intervals, “_Charlie yet! Charlie yet!_” - -Her propensities were exactly the same as those of the fictitious -character of Meg Merrilies. She possessed the same virtue of fidelity, -spoke the same language, and in appearance there was little difference; -yet Madge Gordon, her grand-daughter, was said to have had the same -resemblance. She was descended from the Faas by the mother’s side, and -was married to a Young. She had a large aquiline nose; penetrating -eyes, even in her old age; bushy hair, that hung around her shoulders -from beneath a gipsy bonnet of straw; a short cloak, of a peculiar -fashion; and a long staff, nearly as tall as herself. When she spoke -vehemently (for she had many complaints), she used to strike her -staff upon the floor, and throw herself into an attitude which it was -impossible to regard with indifference. - -From these traits of the manners of Jean and Madge Gordon, it may be -perceived that it would be difficult to determine which of the two -Meg Merrilies was intended for; it may therefore, without injustice, -be divided between both. So that if Jean was the prototype of her -_character_, it is very probable that Madge must have sat to the -anonymous author of “Guy Mannering” as the representative of her -_person_. - -To the author whose duty leads him so low in the scale of nature, that -the manners and the miseries of a vicious and insubordinate race, -prominent in hideous circumstances of unvarnished reality, are all he -is permitted to record, it must ever be gratifying to find traits of -such fine enthusiasm, such devoted fidelity, as the conduct of Jean -Gordon exhibits in the foregoing incidents. _They_ stand out with -a delightful and luminous effect from the gloomy canvas of guilt, -atoning for its errors and brightening its darkness. To trace further, -as others have done, the disgusting peculiarities of a people so -abandoned to all sense of moral propriety, would only serve to destroy -the effect already created by the redeeming characters of Jean Gordon -and her nobler sister, and more extensively to disgrace the general -respectability of human nature. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[10] From which all the works of the author of “Waverley,” besides many -other publications of the highest character, have issued. It is perhaps -worth while to record, that “Peveril of the Peak” was the last work of -the author of “Waverley’s” that appeared here—its successor, “Quentin -Durward,” being published (May, 1823) a few days after Constable and -Co. had forsaken the High Street for the genteeler air of the New Town. - -[11] Even when the judges lived in the distant suburb of George’s -Square, they did not give up this practice. Old Braxfield used always -to put on his wig and gown at home, and walk to the Parliament House, -_via_ Bristo Street, Society, Scott’s Close, and the Back Stairs. One -morning his barber, old Kay, since the well-known limner, was rather -late in taking his Lordship’s wig to George’s Square. Braxfield was too -impatient to wait; so he ran off with only his night-cap on his head, -and was fortunate enough to meet his tardy barber in Scott’s Close, -when he seized his wig with one hand, took off his night-cap with the -other, and adjusting the whole matter himself, sent Kay back with the -undignified garment exued. This is a picture of times gone by never -to return; yet, as if to show how long traces of former manners will -survive their general decay, Lord Glenlee, who continues to live in -Brown’s Square, still dresses at home, and walks to court in the style -of his predecessors. - -[12] The _Peter Peebles_ of “Redgauntlet.” - -[13] - - “Newhaven, Leith, and Canonmills - Supply them wi’ their Sunday gills: - There writers aften spend their pence, - And stock their heads wi’ drink and sense.” - - _Robert Fergusson._ - - -[14] The juvenile mob of Edinburgh was in the habit of dressing up -an effigy of this hero of liberty, which they treated in the most -ignominious manner, every 4th of June—a relic of the odium excited by -the publication of the _North Briton_, No. 45. - -[15] H—— died in the month of May, 1808, and was buried on the -Edinburgh fast-day of that year. He was interred in the Calton Hill -burying-ground; but his grave cannot now be pointed out, as the spot -was removed in 1816, along with about half of the ground, when the -great London road was brought through it. - -[16] He died January 2, 1820. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -=The Antiquary.= - - -ANDREW GEMMELS. - -(_Edie Ochiltree._) - -ANDREW GEMMELS or GEMBLE, a wandering _blue-gown_ of the south of -Scotland, is supposed to have been the _original_ of Edie Ochiltree. -The latter, as represented in the novel, bears, it is true, a much more -amiable aspect, and exhibits greater elevation of character, than the -rude old soldier in whom the public has recognised his prototype. Yet, -as we believe there exists a considerable degree of resemblance between -them, a sketch of old Andrew, who was a very singular personage, will -not prove unsatisfactory. - -Andrew Gemmels was well known over all the Border districts as a -wandering beggar, or _gaberlunzie_, for the greater part of half a -century. He had been a soldier in his youth; and the entertaining -stories which he told of his campaigns, and the adventures he had -encountered in foreign countries, united with his shrewdness, drollery, -and other agreeable qualities, rendered him a general favourite, and -secured him a cordial welcome and free quarters at every shepherd’s cot -or farm-steading that lay in the range of his extensive wanderings. -He kept a horse in his latter days; and, so doing, set the proverb at -naught. On arriving at a place of call, he usually put up his horse -in some stable or outhouse, without the ceremony of asking his host’s -permission, and then came into the house, where he stamped and swore -till room was made for him at the fireside. Andrew was not like those -degenerate modern beggars, who implore a coin as for God’s sake, and -shelter themselves in the first hole they can find open to receive -them,—but ordered and commanded, like the master himself, and only -accepted of his alms by way of obliging his friends. He presumed even -to choose his own bed, and was not pleased unless the utmost attention -was shown to his comfort. He preferred sleeping in an outhouse, and, if -possible, in any place where horses and cattle were kept. The reasons -he might be supposed to have for such a preference are obvious. In an -outhouse he was less exposed in undressing to the curious eyes of the -people, who always suspected him of having treasure concealed in his -clothes; and the company of the animals beneath his bed was preferable -to utter solitude, and, moreover, tended to keep the premises -comfortably warm. He used such art in the matters of his toilette that -no person ever saw him undressed, or made any discovery prejudicial to -his character of poverty. - -Andrew was a tall, sturdy, old man, with a face in which the fierceness -and austerity of his character strove for mastery with the expression -of a shrewd and keen intellect. He was usually dressed in the blue -gown or surtout described in “The Antiquary” as the habiliment of Edie -Ochiltree, and his features were shaded with a broad slouched hat, -which had been exchanged at an earlier period for a lowland bonnet. His -feet and ankles were shod with strong iron-soled shoes and _gamashins_, -or _stocking-boots_. He always carried a stout walking-staff, which was -nearly as tall as himself, that is to say, not much less than six feet. - -“Though free and unceremonious,[17] Andrew was never burdensome or -indiscreet in his visits, returning only once or twice a year, and -generally after pretty regular intervals. He evidently seemed to -prosper in his calling; for, though hung around with rags of every -shape and hue, he commonly possessed a good horse, and used to attend -the country fairs and race-courses, where he would bet and dispute -with the farmers and gentry with the most independent and resolute -pertinacity. He allowed that begging had been a good trade in his time, -but used to complain sadly that times were daily growing worse.[18] -A person remembers seeing Gemmels travelling about on a blood-mare, -with a foal after her, and a gold watch in his pocket. On one occasion, -at Rutherford in Tiviotdale, he had dropped a clue of yarn, and Mr. -Mather, his host, finding him searching for it, assisted in the search, -and, having got hold of it, persisted, notwithstanding Andrew’s -opposition, in unrolling the yarn till he came to the _kernel_, which, -much to his surprise and amusement, he found to consist of about twenty -guineas in gold.” - -“My grandfather,” continues this writer, “was exceedingly fond of -Andrew’s company; and, though a devout and strict Cameronian, and -occasionally somewhat scandalized at his rough and irreverent style -of language, was nevertheless so much attracted by his conversation, -that he never failed to spend the evenings of his sojourn in listening -to his entertaining narrations and ‘auld-warld stories,’ with the old -shepherds, hinds, and children seated around them, beside the blazing -turf ingle in ‘the farmer’s ha’.’ These conversations generally took -a polemical turn, and not unfrequently ended in violent disputes—my -ancestor’s hot and impatient temper blazing forth in collision with -the dry and sarcastic humour of his ragged guest. Andrew was never -known to yield his point on these occasions; but he usually had the -address, when matters grew too serious, to give the conversation a more -pleasant turn, by some droll remark or unexpected stroke of humour, -which convulsed the rustic group, and the grave gudeman himself, with -unfailing and irresistible merriment.” - -“Many curious anecdotes of Andrew’s sarcastic wit and eccentric manners -are current in the Borders. I shall for the present content myself with -one specimen, illustrative of Andrew’s resemblance to his celebrated -representative. The following is given as commonly related with much -good humour by the late Mr. Dodds of the War Office, the person to whom -it chiefly refers:—Andrew happened to be present at a fair or market -somewhere in Tiviotdale (St. Boswell’s, if I mistake not), where Dodds, -at that time a non-commissioned officer in his Majesty’s service, -happened also to be with a military party recruiting. It was some -time during the American War, when they were eagerly beating up for -fresh men—to teach passive obedience to the obdurate and ill-mannered -Columbians; and it was then the practice for recruiting sergeants after -parading for a due space, with all the warlike pageantry of drums, -trumpets, ‘glancing blades, and gay cockades,’ to declaim in heroic -strains of the delights of a soldier’s life—of glory, patriotism, -plunder—the prospect of promotion for the bold and the young, and -his Majesty’s munificent pension for the old and the wounded, etc., -etc. Dodds, who was a man of much natural talent, and whose abilities -afterwards raised him to an honourable rank and independent fortune, -had made one of his most brilliant speeches on this occasion. A -crowd of ardent and active rustics were standing round, gaping with -admiration at the imposing mien, and kindling at the heroic eloquence -of the manly soldier, whom many of them had known a few years before -as a rude tailor boy; the sergeant himself, already leading in idea a -score of new recruits, had just concluded, in a strain of more than -usual elevation, his oration in praise of the military profession, -when Gemmels, who, in tattered guise, was standing close behind him, -reared aloft his _meal-pocks_ on the end of his _kent_ or pike-staff, -and exclaimed, with a tone and aspect of the most profound derision, -‘_Behold the end o’t!_’ The contrast was irresistible—the _beau idéal_ -of Sergeant Dodds, and the ragged reality of Andrew Gemmels, were -sufficiently striking; and the former, with his red-coat followers, -beat a retreat in some confusion, amidst the loud and universal -laughter of the surrounding multitude.” - -Andrew Gemmels was remarkable for being perhaps the best player at -draughts in Scotland; and in that amusement, which, we may here -observe, is remarkably well adapted for bringing out and employing -the cool, calculating, and shrewd genius of the Scottish nation, he -frequently spent the long winter nights. Many persons still exist who -were taught the mysteries of the _dambrod_[19] by him, and who were -accustomed to hold a serious contention with him every time he passed -the night in their houses. He was the preceptor of the gudewife of -Newby in Peebles-shire, the grandmother of the present narrator, whose -hospitable mansion was one of his chief resorts. In teaching her, as -he said, he had only “cut a stick to break his ain head”; for she soon -became equally expert with himself, and in the regular _set-to’s_ -which took place between them, did not show either the deference -to his master-skill, or the fear of his resentment, with which he -was usually treated by more timorous competitors. He could never be -brought, however, to acknowledge heartily her rival pretensions, nor -would he, upon any account, come to such a trial as might have decided -the palm of merit either in his favour or hers. Whenever he saw the -tide of success running on her side, he got dreadfully exasperated, and -ordinarily, before the stigma of defeat could be decidedly inflicted -upon him, rose up, seized _the brod_, and threw _the men_ into the -fire,—accompanying the action with some of his most terrific and -blasphemous imprecations. - -The late Lord Elibank, while living at Darnhall, once ordered one of -his cast-off suits to be given to Andrew—the which Andrew thankfully -accepted, and then took his departure. Through the course of the same -day, his lordship, in taking a ride a few miles from home, came up with -Andrew, and was not a little surprised to see him dragging the clothes -behind him along the road, “through dub and mire.” On being asked his -reason for such strange conduct, he replied that he would have “to -trail the duds that way for twa days, to mak them _fit for use_!” - -In one circumstance Andrew coincides with his supposed archetype: -Andrew had been at Fontenoy, and made frequent allusions to that -disastrous field. - -Andrew died in 1793, at Roxburgh-Newton, near Kelso, being, according -to his own account, 105 years of age. His wealth was the means of -enriching a nephew in Ayrshire, who is now a considerable landholder -there, and belongs to a respectable class of society. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[17] From the _Edinburgh Magazine_, 1817. - -[18] His expression was, that “begging was a worse trade by twenty -pounds a year than when he knew it first.” - -[19] This word is of Danish origin. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -=Rob Roy.= - - -ANECDOTES OF ROBERT MACGREGOR. - -(_Rob Roy._) - -We derive the following interesting narrative from Colonel Stewart’s -admirable work on the Highlands. - -“The father of the present Mr. Stewart of Ardvorlich knew Rob Roy -intimately, and attended his funeral in 1736—the last at which a -piper officiated in the Highlands of Perthshire. The late Mr. Stewart -of Bohallie, Mr. M‘Nab of Inchewan, and several gentlemen of my -acquaintance, also knew Rob Roy and his family. Alexander Stewart, -one of his followers, afterwards enlisted in the Black Watch. He was -wounded at Fontenoy, and discharged with a pension in 1748. Some time -after this period he was engaged by my grandmother, then a widow, -as a _grieve_, to direct and take charge of the farm-servants. In -this situation he proved a faithful, trustworthy servant, and was by -my father continued in his situation till his death. He told many -anecdotes of Rob Roy and his party, among whom he was distinguished by -the name of the Bailie, a title which he ever after retained. It was -before him that people were sworn when it was necessary to bind them to -secrecy. - -“Robert Macgregor Campbell was a younger son of Donald Macgregor of -Glengyle, in Perthshire, by a daughter of Campbell of Glenlyon, sister -of the individual who commanded at the massacre of Glenco. He was -born some time between 1657 and 1660, and married Helen Campbell, of -the family of Glenfalloch. As cattle was at that period the principal -marketable produce of the hills, the younger sons of gentlemen had few -other means of procuring an independent subsistence than by engaging -in this sort of traffic. At an early period Rob Roy was one of the -most respectable and successful drovers in his district. Before the -year 1707 he had purchased of the family of Montrose the lands of -Craigrostane, on the banks of Lochlomond, and had relieved some heavy -debts on his nephew’s estate of Glengyle. While in this prosperous -state, he continued respected for his honourable dealings both in -the Lowlands and Highlands. Previous to the Union no cattle had been -permitted to pass the English border. As a boon or encouragement, -however, to conciliate the people to that measure, a free intercourse -was allowed. The Marquis of Montrose, created a Duke the same year, and -one of the most zealous partisans of the Union, was the first to take -advantage of this privilege, and immediately entered into partnership -with Rob Roy, who was to purchase the cattle and drive them to England -for sale—the Duke and he advancing an equal sum, 10,000 merks each -(a large sum in those days, when the price of the best ox or cow was -seldom twenty shillings); all the transactions beyond this amount to -be on credit. The purchases having been completed, Macgregor then went -to England; but so many people had entered into a similar speculation, -that the market was completely overstocked, and the cattle sold for -much less than prime cost. Macgregor returned home, and went to the -Duke to settle the account of their partnership, and to pay the money -advanced, with the deduction of the loss. The Duke, it is said, would -consent to no deduction, but insisted on principal and interest. ‘In -that case, my Lord,’ said Macgregor, ‘if these be your principles, I -shall not make it my principle to pay the interest, nor my interest the -principal; so if your Grace do not stand your share of the loss, you -shall have no money from me.’ On this they separated. No settlement of -accounts followed—the one insisting on retaining the money, unless the -other would consent to bear his share of the loss. Nothing decisive -was done till the rebellion of 1715, when Rob Roy ‘was out,’—his -nephew Glengyle commanding a numerous body of the Macgregors, but under -the control of his uncle’s superior judgment and experience. On this -occasion the Duke of Montrose’s share of the cattle speculation was -expended. The next year his Grace took legal means to recover his -money, and got possession of the lands of Craigrostane on account -of his debt. This rendered Macgregor desperate. Determined that his -Grace should not enjoy his lands with impunity, he collected a band of -about twenty followers, declared open war against him, and gave up his -old course of regular droving—declaring that the estate of Montrose -should in future supply him with cattle, and he would make the Duke -rue the day in which he quarrelled with him. He kept his word, and for -nearly twenty years, that is, till the day of his death, levied regular -contributions on the Duke and his tenants, not by nightly depredations -and robberies, but in broad day, and in a systematic manner—at an -appointed time making a complete sweep of all the cattle of a district, -always passing over those not belonging to the Duke’s estate, as well -as the estates of his friends and adherents; and having previously -given notice where he was to be by a certain day with his cattle, he -was met there by people from all parts of the country, to whom he sold -them publicly. These meetings, or trystes, as they were called, were -held in different parts of the country; sometimes the cattle were -driven south, but oftener to the north-west, where the influence of his -friend the Duke of Argyll protected him. - -“When the cattle were in this manner driven away, the tenants paid no -rent, so that the Duke was the ultimate sufferer. But he was made to -suffer in every way. The rents of the lower farms were partly paid -in grain and meal, which was generally lodged in a storehouse or -granary, called a girnel, near the Loch of Monteith. When Macgregor -wanted a supply of meal, he sent notice to a certain number of the -Duke’s tenants to meet him at the girnel on a certain day, with -their horses, to carry home the meal. They met accordingly, when he -ordered the horses to be loaded, and, giving a regular receipt to the -Duke’s storekeeper for the quantity taken, he marched away—always -entertaining the people very handsomely, and careful never to take the -meal till it had been lodged in the Duke’s storehouse in payment of -rent. When the money rents were paid, Macgregor frequently attended. On -one occasion, when Mr. Graham of Killearn (the factor) had collected -the tenants to pay their rents, all Rob Roy’s men happened to be absent -except Alexander Stewart, ‘the Bailie,’ whom I have already mentioned. -With his single attendant he descended to Chapellairoch, where the -factor and the tenants were assembled. He reached the house after it -was dark, and, looking in at the window, saw Killearn, surrounded -by a number of the tenants, with a bag full of money which he had -received, and was in the act of disposing in a press or cupboard, at -the same time saying that he would cheerfully give all in the bag for -Rob Roy’s head. This notification was not lost on the outside auditor, -who instantly gave orders, in a loud voice, to place two men at each -window, two at each corner, and four at each of the two doors—thus -appearing to have twenty men. Immediately the door opened, and he -walked in with his attendant close behind, each armed with a sword in -his right hand and a pistol in his left, and with dirks and pistols -slung in their belts. - -“The company started up, but he requested them to sit down, as his -business was only with Killearn, whom he ordered to hand down the bag -and put it on the table. When this was done, he desired the money to be -counted, and proper receipts to be drawn out, certifying that he had -received the money from the Duke of Montrose’s agent, as the Duke’s -property, the tenants having paid their rents, so that no after-demand -could be made against them on account of this transaction; and finding -that some of the people had not obtained receipts, he desired the -factor to grant them immediately, ‘to show his Grace,’ said he, ‘that -it is from him I take the money, and not from these honest men who have -paid him.’ After the whole was concluded, he ordered supper, saying, -that as he had got the purse, it was proper he should pay the bill; and -after they had drunk heartily together for several hours, he called his -Bailie to produce his dirk, and lay it naked on the table. Killearn was -then sworn that he would not move, nor direct any one else to move, -from that spot for an hour after the departure of Macgregor, who thus -cautioned him—‘If you break your oath, you know what you are to expect -in the next world—and in this,’ pointing to his dirk. He then walked -away, and was beyond pursuit before the hour expired. - -“At another collecting of rents by the same gentleman, Macgregor made -his appearance, and carried him away, with his servant, to a small -island in the west end of Loch Cathrine, and having kept him there -for several days, entertaining him in the best manner, as a duke’s -representative ought to be, he dismissed him, with the usual receipts -and compliments to his Grace. In this manner did this extraordinary man -live, in open violation and defiance of the laws, and died peaceably -in his bed when nearly eighty years of age. His funeral was attended -by all the country round, high and low—the Duke of Montrose and his -immediate friends only excepted. - -“How such things could happen, at so late a period, must appear -incredible; and this, too, within thirty miles of the garrisons of -Stirling and Dumbarton, and the populous city of Glasgow, and, indeed, -with a small garrison stationed at Inversnaid, in the heart of the -country, and on the estate which belonged to Macgregor, for the -express purpose of checking his depredations. The truth is, the thing -could not have happened had it not been the peculiarity of the man’s -character; for, with all his lawless spoliations and unremitted acts -of vengeance and robbery against the Montrose family, he had not an -enemy in the country beyond the sphere of their influence. He never -hurt or meddled with the property of a poor man, and, as I have stated, -was always careful that his great enemy should be the principal, if -not the only sufferer. Had it been otherwise, it was quite impossible -that, notwithstanding all his enterprise, address, intrepidity, and -vigilance, he could have long escaped in a populous country, with a -warlike people, well qualified to execute any daring exploit, such as -the seizure of this man, had they been his enemies, and willing to -undertake it. Instead of which, he lived socially among them—that is, -as social as an outlaw, always under a certain degree of alarm, could -do—giving the education of gentlemen to his sons, frequenting the most -populous towns, and, whether in Edinburgh, Perth, or Glasgow, equally -safe, at the same time that he displayed great and masterly address in -avoiding or calling for public notice. - -“The instances of his address struck terror into the minds of the -troops, whom he often defeated and out-generalled. One of these -instances occurred in Breadalbane, in the case of an officer and forty -chosen men sent after him. The party crossed through Glenfalloch to -Tyndrum; and Macgregor, who had correct information of all their -movements, was with a party in the immediate neighbourhood. He put -himself in the disguise of a beggar, with a bag of meal on his back -(in those days alms were always bestowed in produce), went to the inn -at Tyndrum, where the party was quartered, walked into the kitchen with -great indifference, and sat down among the soldiers. They soon found -the beggar a lively sarcastic fellow, when they began to attempt some -practical jokes upon him. - -“He pretended to be very angry, and threatened to inform Rob Roy, who -would quickly show them they were not to give with impunity such usage -to a poor and harmless person. He was immediately asked if he knew Rob -Roy, and if he could tell where he was? On his answering that he knew -him well, and where he was, the sergeant informed the officer, who -immediately sent for him. - -“After some conversation, the beggar consented to accompany them to -Creanlarich, a few miles distant, where he said Rob Roy and his men -were, and that he believed their arms were lodged in one house, while -they were sitting in another. He added that Roy was very friendly, -and sometimes joked with him, and put him at the head of the table; -and ‘when it is dark,’ said he, ‘I will go forward—you will follow -in half an hour—and, when near the house, rush on, place your men at -the back of the house, ready to seize on the arms of the Highlanders, -while you shall go round with the sergeant and two men, walk in, and -call out the whole are your prisoners; and don’t be surprised though -you should see me at the head of the company.’ As they marched on they -had to pass a rapid stream at Dabrie, a spot celebrated on account of -the defeat of Robert Bruce by Macdougal of Lorn, in the year 1306. Here -the soldiers asked their merry friend the beggar to carry them through -on his back. This he did, sometimes taking two at a time, till he took -the whole over, demanding a penny from each for his trouble. When it -was dark they pushed on (the beggar having gone before), the officer -following the directions of his guide, and darting into the house with -the sergeant and three soldiers. They had hardly time to look to the -end of the table, where they saw the beggar standing, when the door was -shut behind them, and they were instantly pinioned, two men standing on -each side holding pistols to their ears, and declaring that they were -dead men if they uttered a word. The beggar then went out, and called -in two more men, who were instantly secured, and in the same manner -with the whole party. Having been disarmed, they were placed under a -strong guard till morning, when he gave them a plentiful breakfast and -released them on parole (the Bailie attending with his dirk, over which -the officer gave his parole) to return immediately to their garrison -without attempting anything more at this time. This promise Rob Roy -made secure, by keeping their arms and ammunition as lawful prize of -war. - -“Some time after, the same officer was again sent after this noted -character, probably to retrieve his former mishap. In this expedition -he was more fortunate, for he took three of the freebooters prisoners -in the higher parts of Breadalbane, near the scene of the former -exploit—but the conclusion was nearly similar. He lost no time in -proceeding in the direction of Perth, for the purpose of putting his -prisoners in gaol; but Rob Roy was equally alert in pursuit. His men -marched in a parallel line with the soldiers, who kept along the bottom -of the valley, on the south side of Loch Tay, while the others kept -close up the side of the hill, anxiously looking for an opportunity to -dash down and rescue their comrades, if they saw any remissness or want -of attention on the part of the soldiers. Nothing of this kind offered, -and the party had passed Tay Bridge, near which they halted and slept. -Macgregor now saw that something must soon be done or never, as they -would speedily gain the low country, and be out of his reach. In the -course of the night he procured a number of goat-skins and cords, with -which he dressed himself and his party in the wildest manner possible, -and, pushing forward, before daylight took post near the roadside, -in a thick wood below Grandtully Castle. When the soldiers came in a -line with the party in ambush, the Highlanders, with one leap, darted -down upon them, uttering such yells and shouts as, along with their -frightful appearance, so confounded the soldiers, that they were -overpowered and disarmed without a man being hurt on either side. Rob -Roy kept the arms and ammunition, released the soldiers, and marched -away in triumph with his men. - -“The terror of his name was much increased by exploits like these, -which, perhaps, lost nothing by the telling, as the soldiers would not -probably be inclined to diminish the danger and fatigues of a duty in -which they were so often defeated. But it is unnecessary to repeat the -stories preserved and related of this man and his actions, which were -always daring and well contrived, often successful, but never directed -against the poor, nor prompted by revenge, except against the Duke of -Montrose, and without any instance of murder or bloodshed committed -by any of his party, except in their own defence. In the war against -Montrose he was supported and abetted by the Duke of Argyll, from whom -he always received shelter when hard pressed; or, to use a hunting -term, when he was in danger of being earthed by the troops. These -two powerful families were still rivals, although Montrose had left -the Tories and joined Argyll and the Whig interest. It is said that -Montrose reproached Argyll in the House of Peers with protecting the -robber Rob Roy; when the latter, with his usual eloquence and address, -parried off the accusation (which he could not deny) by jocularly -answering, that if he protected a robber, the other supported him.” - -We can only add to this animated history of Rob Roy one circumstance; -which, though accredited in the Highlands, has never been noticed in -the popular accounts of our hero. In whatever degree his conduct was to -be attributed to his own wrongs, or those of his clan, the disposition -which prompted and carried him through in his daring enterprises, could -be traced to the family temper of his mother, who came of the Campbells -of Glenlyon—a peculiarly wild, bold, and wicked race. - -The mode of escape adopted by Rob Roy in crossing the Avon-dhu, so -finely described in the third volume of the novel, seems to have been -suggested by the following traditionary anecdote, which is preserved -in the neighbourhood of the spot where the exploit took place:—A -Cameronian, in the district of Galloway, flying from two dragoons, who -pursued him hotly, came to a precipice which overhung a lake. Seeing -no other means of eluding his enemies, he plunged into the water, and -attempted to swim to the other side. In the meantime the troopers came -up, and fired at him; when he, with an astonishing presence of mind, -parted with his plaid, and swam below the water to a safe part of the -shore. His enemies fired repeatedly at the plaid, till they supposed -him slain or sunk, and then retired. - - -PARALLEL PASSAGES. - -A resemblance will be discovered between the following passages—one -being part of Bailie Jarvie’s conversation with Owen, in “Rob Roy,” -and the other an extract from a work entitled, “A Tour through Great -Britain, &c., by a Gentleman, 4th ed. 1748”—a curious book, of which -the first edition was written by the celebrated De Foe:— - -“We found the liquor exceedingly palatable, and it led to a long -conversation between Owen and our host, on the opening which the -Union had afforded to trade between Glasgow and the British colonies -in America and the West Indies, and on the facilities which Glasgow -possessed of making up _sortable_ cargoes for that market. Mr. Jarvie -answered some objection which Owen made on the difficulty of sorting -a cargo for America, without buying from England, with vehemence and -volubility. - -“‘Na, na, sir; we stand on our ain bottom—we pickle in our ain -pock-neuk. We ha’e our Stirling serges, Musselburgh stuffs, Aberdeen -hose, Edinburgh shalloons, and the like, for our woollen and worsted -goods, and we ha’e linens of a’ kinds, better and cheaper than you -ha’e in London itsel’; and we can buy your north o’ England wares,—as -Manchester wares, Sheffield wares, and Newcastle earthenware—as cheap -as you can, at Liverpool; and we are making a fair spell at cottons and -muslins.’”—_Rob Roy_, vol. ii., p. 267. - -“Glasgow is a city of business, and has the face of foreign as well as -domestic trade,—nay, I may say it is the only city in Scotland that -apparently increases in both. The Union has indeed answered its end to -them, more than to any other part of the kingdom, their trade being -new-formed by it; for as the Union opened the door to the Scots into -our American colonies, the Glasgow merchants presently embraced the -opportunity; and though, at its first concerting, the rabble of the -city made a formidable attempt to prevent it, yet afterwards they knew -better, when they found the great increase of their trade by it, for -they now send fifty sail of ships every year to Virginia, New England, -and other English colonies in America. - -“The share they have in the herring-fishery is very considerable; and -they cure their herrings so well and so much better than they are done -in any other part of Great Britain, that a Glasgow herring is esteemed -as good as a Dutch one. - -“I have no room to enlarge upon the home-trade of this city, which is -very considerable in many things. I shall, therefore, touch at some few -particulars:— - -“1. Here there are two very handsome sugar-baking houses, carried on by -skilful persons, with large stocks, and to very great perfection. Here -is likewise a large distillery for distilling spirits from the molasses -drawn from sugars, by which they enjoyed a vast advantage for a time, -by a reserved article in the Union, freeing them from English duties. - -“2. Here is a manufacture of plaiding, a stuff crossed with yellow, -red, and other mixtures, for the plaids or veils worn by the women of -Scotland. - -“3. Here is a manufacture of muslins, which they make so good and fine -that great quantities of them are sent into England, and to the British -plantations, where they sell at a good price. They are generally -striped, and are very much used for aprons by the ladies, and sometimes -in head-clothes by the meaner sort of Englishwomen. - -“4. Here is also a linen manufacture; but as that is in common with -all parts of Scotland, which improve in it daily, I will not insist -upon it as a peculiar here, though they make a very great quantity of -it, and send it to the plantations as their principal merchandise. Nor -are the Scots without a supply of goods for sorting their cargoes to -the English colonies, without sending to England for them; and it is -necessary to mention it here, because it has been objected by some that -the Scots could not send a sortable cargo to America without buying -from England, which, coming through many hands, and by a long carriage, -must consequently be so dear, that the English merchants can undersell -them. - -“It is very probable, indeed, that some things cannot be had here -so well as from England, so as to make out such a sortable cargo -as the Virginia merchants in London ship off, whose entries at the -custom-house consist sometimes of two hundred particulars, as tin, -turnery, millinery, upholstery, cutlery, and other _Crooked-Lane_ -wares—in short, somewhat of everything, either for wearing or house -furniture, building houses or ships. - -“But though the Scots cannot do all this, we may reckon up what they -can furnish, which they have not only in sufficient quantities, but -some in greater perfection than England itself. - -“1. They have woollen manufactories of their own,—such as Stirling -serges, Musselburgh stuffs, Aberdeen stockens, Edinburgh shalloons, -blankets, etc. - -“2. Their trade with England being open, they have now all the -Manchester, Sheffield, and Birmingham wares, and likewise the cloths, -kerseys, half-thicks, duffels, stockens and coarse manufactures of the -north of England, brought as cheap or cheaper to them by horse-packs as -they are carried to London, it being at a less distance. - -“3. They have linens of most kinds, especially diapers and -table-linens, damasks, and many other sorts not known in England, and -cheaper than there, because made at their own doors. - -“4. What linens they want from Holland or Hamburgh, they import from -thence as cheap as the English can do; and for muslins, their own are -very acceptable, and cheaper than in England. - -“5. Gloves they make cheaper and better than in England, for they send -great quantities thither. - -“6. * * * * * * - -“I might mention many other particulars, but this is sufficient to show -that the Scots merchants are not at a loss how to make up sortable -cargoes to send to the plantations; and that if we can outdo them in -some things, they are able to outdo us in others.”—_Tour_, vol. iv., -p. 124. - -Though only the latter part of the preceding description of Glasgow -trade refers to the passage from “Rob Roy,” we have extracted it all -for various reasons. First, because it gives, independent of allusion -to the novel, a very distinct and simple account of trade in Scotland -forty years after the Union, when the reaction consequent upon that -event was beginning to be felt in the country. Secondly, because it -details at full length the sketch of the rise and progress of Glasgow, -which Mr. Francis Osbaldistone gives in the sixth chapter of the -second volume of “Rob Roy,” on his approach to the mercantile capital. -Thirdly, for the sake of presenting the reader with a very fair -specimen of the use which the Author of “Waverley” makes of old books -in his fictitious narratives. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -=The Black Dwarf.= - - -LANG SHEEP AND SHORT SHEEP. - -Our readers will readily remember the curious explanation which takes -place between Bauldy, the old-world shepherd, in the Introduction to -this tale, and Mr. Peter Pattieson, respecting the difference between -_lang_ sheep and _short_ sheep. We can attest, from unexceptionable -authority, that a conversation once actually took place between Sir -Walter Scott, James Hogg, and Mr. Laidlaw, the _factor_ of the former, -in which the same disquisition and nearly the same words occurred. -Messrs. H. and L. began the dispute about the various merits of the -different sheep; and many references being made to the respective -_lengths_ of the animals, Sir Walter became quite tired of their -unintelligible technicals, and very simply asked them how sheep came -to be distinguished by longitude, having, he observed, never perceived -any remarkable difference between one sheep and another in that -particular. It was then that an explanation took place, very like that -of Bauldy in the Introduction; and we think there can be no doubt that -the fictitious incident would never have taken place but for the real -circumstance we have related. - -The dispute with Christy Wilson, butcher in Gandercleugh, which it -was the object of Bauldy’s master to settle, and in consequence of -which being amicably adjusted, the convivialities that brought out -from the shepherd the materials of the tale were entered into, has, we -understand, its origin in a process once before the Court of Session, -respecting what is termed a _luck-penny_ on a bargain. - - -DAVID RITCHIE. - -(_Elshender the Recluse._) - -The particulars of David Ritchie’s life, which are in themselves -sufficiently meagre, have been more than once already laid before -the public. In _Blackwood’s Monthly Magazine_ for June, and in the -_Edinburgh Magazine_ for October, 1817, accounts of the supposed -original of the Black Dwarf are given, evidently from no mean -authority, if we may judge from the style in which these narratives are -written. A separate production, also, of a very interesting nature, -embellished with a striking and singularly correct likeness of the -dwarf, appeared in 1820, and comprised every anecdote of this singular -being previously uncollected. It is therefore conceived totally -unnecessary to detail at any length a subject which, independent of -its want of elegance and interest, has been already so completely -exhausted. To give a few sketches of the character and habits of David -Ritchie, and contrast them with those of the more sublime Elshender, -will, it is hoped, prove a more grateful entertainment. - -David Ritchie was a pauper, who lived the greater part of a long life, -and finally died so late as the year 1811, in a solitary cottage -situated in the romantic glen of Manor in Peebles-shire. This vale, now -rendered classic ground by the abode of the Black Dwarf, was otherwise -formerly remarkable as having been the retirement of the illustrious -and venerable Professor Ferguson.[20] - -His person coincided singularly well with the description of the -fictitious recluse. He had been deformed and horrible since his birth -in no ordinary degree, which was probably the cause of the analogous -peculiarities of his temper. His countenance, of the darkest of dark -complexions, was half covered with a long grisly black beard, and bore, -as the centre of its system of terrors, two eyes of piercing black, -which were sometimes, in his excited moments, lighted up with wild and -supernatural lustre. His head was of a singular shape, conical and -oblong, and might now form no unworthy subject for the studies of the -Phrenological Society. To speak in their language, he must have had few -of the moral or intellectual faculties developed in any perfection; for -his brow retreated immediately above the eyebrows, and threw nearly the -whole of his head, which was large, behind the ear, where, it is said, -the meaner organs of the brain are situated—giving immense scope to -cruelty, obstinacy, self-esteem, etc. His nose was long and aquiline; -his mouth wide and contemptuously curled upward; and his chin protruded -from the visage in a long grisly peak. His body, short and muscular, -was thicker than that of most ordinary men, and, with his arms, -which were long and of great power, might have formed the parts of a -giant, had not nature capriciously curtailed his form of other limbs -conformable to these proportions. His arms had the same defect with -those of the celebrated Betterton, and he could not lift them higher -than his breast; yet such was their strength, that he has been known -to tear up a tree by the roots, which had baffled the united efforts -of two labourers, who had striven by digging to eradicate it. His legs -were short, fin-like, and bent outwards, with feet totally inapplicable -to the common purposes of walking. These he constantly endeavoured to -conceal from sight by wrapping them up in immense masses of rags. This -ungainly part of his figure is remarkable as the only one which differs -materially from the description of “Cannie Elshie,” whose “body, thick -and square, was mounted upon two large feet.” - -He was the son of very poor parents, who, at an early period of his -life, endeavoured to place him with a tradesman in the metropolis to -learn the humble art of brushmaking; which purpose he however soon -deserted in disgust, on account of the insupportable notice which -his uncouth form attracted in the streets. His spirit, perhaps, also -panted for the seclusion of his native hills, where he might have ease -to indulge in that solitude so appropriate to the outcast ugliness of -his person, and free from the insulting gaze of vulgar curiosity. Here, -in the valley of his birth, he formed the romantic project of building -a small hut for himself, in which, like the Recluse of the tale, he -might live for ever retired from the race for whose converse he was -unfitted, and give unrestrained scope to the moods of his misanthropy. -He constructed this hermitage in precisely the same manner with the -Black Dwarf of Mucklestane Moor. Huge rocks, which he had rolled down -from the neighbouring hill, formed the foundation and walls, to which -an alternate layer of turf, as is commonly used in cottages, gave -almost the consistency and fully the comfort of mortar. He is said -to have evinced amazing bodily strength in moving and placing these -stones, such as the strongest men, with all the advantages of stature -and muscular proportion, could hardly have equalled. This corporeal -energy, which lay chiefly in his arms, will remind the reader of the -exertions of the Black Dwarf, as witnessed by Hobbie Elliot and young -Earnscliff, on the morning after his first appearance, when employed -in arranging the foundations of his hermitage out of the Grey Geese of -Mucklestane Moor.—_See_ pp. 78, 79. - -When the young hermit had finished his hut, and succeeded in furnishing -it with a few coarse household utensils, framed chiefly by his own -hands, he began to form a garden. In the cultivation and adornment -of this spot, he displayed a degree of natural taste and ingenuity -that might have fitted him for a higher fate than the seclusion of a -hermitage. In a short time he had stocked it with such a profusion -of fruit-trees, herbs, vegetables, and flowers, that it seemed a -little forest of beauty—a shred of Eden, fit to redeem the wilderness -around from its character of desolation—a gem on the swarth brow of -the desert. Not only did it exhibit the finest specimens of flowers -indigenous to this country, but he had also contrived to procure a -number of exotics, whose Linnæan names he would roll forth to the -friends whom he indulged with an admission within its precincts, with -a pomposity of voice that never failed to enhance their admiration. It -soon came to be much resorted to by visitors, being accounted, with -_the genius of the place_, one of the most remarkable curiosities -of the county. Dr. Ferguson used sometimes to visit the eccentric -solitary, as an amusement in that retired spot; and Sir Walter Scott, -who was a frequent guest at the house of that venerable gentleman, is -said to have often held long communings with him; likewise several -other individuals of literary celebrity. - -There is something more peculiarly romantic and poetical in the -circumstance of the Misanthrope’s attachment to his garden than can -be found in any of the other habits and qualities attributed to him. -The care of that beautiful spot was his chief occupation, and may be -said to have been the only pleasure his life was ever permitted to -experience. On it alone he could employ that _faculty_ of affection -with which every heart, even that of the cynic, is endowed. Shut out -from the correspondence and sympathy of his own fellow-creatures by the -insurmountable pale of his own ugliness, there existed, in the whole -circle of nature, no other object that could receive his affections, or -reply to the feelings he had to impart. In flowers alone, those lineal -and undegenerate descendants of Paradise, the Solitary found an object -of attachment that could do equal honour to his feelings and to his -taste. His garden was a perfect seraglio of vegetable beauties, and -_there_ he could commune with a thousand objects of affection, that -never shrunk from the touch which threatened horror and pollution to -all the world beside. - -By the peculiarities of his person, as well as by the other abject -circumstances of his condition, it may be easily supposed that the -Hermit of Manor was entirely excluded from that great solace of the -miseries of man, the sympathy to be derived from the tenderness and -affections of woman. He was irredeemably condemned, as it were, to a -dreary bachelorhood of the heart, which knew that there was for it -no hope, no possibility of enjoyment. Perhaps the constant sense of -loathsomeness in the eyes of the fair part of creation might help to -increase the natural wretchedness of his existence. The misanthropy of -Elshender is pathetically represented in the tale as springing chiefly -from sources of disappointment like this. It happens, also, that his -humble prototype once ventured to express the sensibilities of the -common delirium of man, and that he was rejected by the object of his -affection. This insult, though it sprung from a very natural feeling -on the part of the woman, sunk deep into his heart; and thus was he -debarred from what would have been the only means of sweetening the -bitter lot of solitary poverty and decrepitude,—dashed back with scorn -from the general draught at which even his inferiors were liberally -indulged. This circumstance forms another trait of resemblance between -the Black Dwarf and David Ritchie; and, by a happy consonance never -before discovered, confirms their identity. - -“His habits were, in many respects, singular, and indicated a mind -sufficiently congenial with its uncouth tabernacle. A jealous, -misanthropical, and irritable temper was his most prominent -characteristic. The sense of his deformity haunted him like a phantom; -and the insults and scorn to which this exposed him had poisoned his -heart with fierce and bitter feelings, which, from other traits in -his character, do not appear to have been more largely infused into -his original temperament than that of his fellow-men. He detested -children, on account of their propensity to insult and persecute -him. To strangers he was generally reserved, crabbed, and surly; and -even towards persons who had been his greatest benefactors, and who -possessed the greatest share of his good-will, he frequently betrayed -much caprice and jealousy. A lady, who knew him from his infancy, -says, that, although he showed as much attachment and respect for her -father’s family as it was in his nature to show for any, yet they were -always obliged to be very cautious in their deportment towards him. One -day, having gone to visit him with another lady, he took them through -his garden, and was showing them, with much pride and good-humour, all -his rich and tastefully assorted borders, here picking up with his -long staff some insidious weed, and there turning to digress into the -history of some mysterious exotic, when they happened to stop near a -plot of cabbages, which had been somewhat injured by the caterpillars. -Davie, observing one of the ladies smile, instantly assumed a savage -scowling aspect, rushed among the cabbages, and dashed them to pieces -with his _kent_, exclaiming, ‘I hate the worms, for they mock me!’” - -When he visited the neighbouring metropolis of the county, which -happened very seldom towards the latter part of his life, he was -generally followed by crowds of boys, who hooted and insulted him, -with all that disregard of feeling and insolence of wickedness so often -to be observed in children of the lower ranks in Scottish villages. -On these occasions he was wont to give his persecutors the “length of -his _kent_,” as he called it, when he could reach them; but they being -generally too nimble for his crippled evolutions, he had often to vent -his revenge in the more harmless form of curses. These were frequently -of the most terrific and unusual kind. He is even said to have evinced -something like _genius_ in the invention of his imprecations, some of -which far surpassed Gray’s celebrated - - “Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!” - -He would swear he would “cleave them to the _harn-pans_, if he had but -his _cran_ fingers on them;” that he “could pour seething lead down -their throats;” that “hell would never be full till they were in it;” -and frequently exclaimed that there was nothing he would “like so well -as to see their souls girnin’ for a thousand eternities on the red-het -brander o’ the de’il!” - -Among the traits of his character, there is none reminds us so strongly -of the Misanthrope of the tale as this propensity to execration. The -same style of discourse, and almost the same terms of imprecation, -are common to both. The _Mighty Unknown_ has put expressions into the -mouth of this character which, as specimens of the grand and sublime, -are altogether unequalled in the whole circle of English poetry—not -even excepting the magnificent thunders of Byron’s muse. Now, his -prototype is well remembered, by those who have conversed with him, to -have frequently used language which, sometimes sinking to delicacy and -even elegance, and at others rising to a very tempest of execration -and diabolical expression, might have been deemed almost miraculous -from _his_ mouth, could it not have been attributed partly to the -impassioned inspiration that naturally flowed from his consciousness -of deformity, from keen resentment of insult, and from the despairing, -loveless sterility of his heart. - -The history of his death-bed furnishes us with an anecdote of a -beautiful and atoning character. - -He had always through life expressed the utmost abhorrence of being -buried among what he haughtily termed the “_common brush_” in -the parish churchyard, and pointed out a particular spot, in the -neighbourhood of his cottage, where he had been frequently known to -lie dreaming or reading for long summer days, as a more agreeable -place of interment. It is remarked by a former biographer, that he has -displayed no small portion of taste in the selection of this spot. It -is the summit of a small rising ground, called the Woodhill, situated -nearly in the centre of the parish of Manor, covered with green fern, -and embowered on the top by a circle of _rowan-trees_ planted by the -Dwarf’s own hand, for the double purpose of serving as a mausoleum or -monument to his memory, and keeping away, by the charm of consecration -supposed to be vested in their nature, the influence of witchcraft and -other unhallowed powers from the grave. - -All around this romantic spot the waste features of a mountainous -country bound the horizon, presenting a striking contrast to the -fertile beauty of the intermediate valley, and withal capable of -suggesting to the enthusiastic and imaginative mind of the Solitary, -the idea of _this_ scene being a more desirable grave, sacred as it -was in the grandeur of Nature, than the merely _Christian_ ground of a -country churchyard. “What!” the proud unsocial soul of the misanthrope -might perhaps think— - - “What! to be decently interred - In a churchyard, and mingle my brave dust - With stinking rogues, that rot in winding-sheets, - Surfeit-slain fools, the common dung o’ th’ soil!” - -Nevertheless, whatever might have been his sentiments regarding the -dead among whom, during his days of health, he loathed to be placed, -certain it is, that, when brought within view and feeling of the -awful close of mortal existence, his heart was softened towards his -fellow-men, his antipathies relaxed, and he died with a wish upon his -lips to be buried among his fathers. - -In 1820, the writer of the present narrative visited the deserted hut -of “Bowed Davie,” actuated by a sort of pilgrim-respect for scenes -hallowed by genius. The little mansion at present existing is not -that built by the Dwarf’s own hands, but one of later date, erected -by the charity of a neighbouring gentleman in the year 1802. A small -tablet of freestone, bearing this date below the letters D. R. was -still to be seen in the western gable. The eastern division of the -cottage, separated from the other by a partition of stone and lime, and -entering by a different door, was still inhabited by his sister. It is -remarkable that even with that near relation he was never on terms of -any affection; an almost complete estrangement having subsisted between -these two lonely beings for many years. Agnes had been a servant in -the earlier part of her life; but having of late years become subject -to a degree of mental aberration, she had retired from every sort of -employment to her brother’s habitation, where she subsisted on the -charity of the poor’s funds. - -On entering the cottage with my guide, we found her seated on a low -settle before the fire, her hands reclined upon her lap, and her eyes -gazing unmeaningly on a small turf fire, which died away in a perfect -wilderness of chimney. Her whole figure and situation reminded me -strongly of the inimitable description of the lone Highland woman -in Hogg’s “Winter Evening Tales,” who sat singing by the light of a -moss-lamp in expectation of the apparition of her son. The scene was -nearly as wild and picturesque, the wretched inmate of the hut was as -lonely and helpless, and there was an air of desolate imbecility about -her that rendered her almost as interesting. It seemed surprising, -indeed, how a person apparently so abandoned by her own energies -and the care of her fellow-creatures, could at all exist in such a -solitude. She neither moved nor looked up on our entrance; but a few -minutes after we had seated ourselves, which we did with silence and -awe, she lifted her eyes, and thereby gave us a fuller view of her -countenance. She much resembled her brother in features, but was not -deformed. Her face was dark with age and wretchedness, and her aspect, -otherwise somewhat appalling, was rendered almost unearthly by two -large black eyes, the lustre of which was not the less horrible by the -imbecility of their gaze. I have been thus particular in describing -her person and circumstances, because I do not judge it impossible -that she may have suggested the original idea of Elspeth Cheyne, the -superannuated dependant of Glenallan, in the “Antiquary.” - -Through the medium of my guide, a sagacious country lad, I contrived -to ask her a number of questions concerning her brother; but she was -extremely shy in answering them, and expressed her jealousy of my -intentions by saying, “she wondered why so many grand people had come -from distant parts to inquire after her family—she was sure there was -naething _ill_ anent them.” Little did she, poor soul, understand the -cause of this curiosity, or the honour conferred upon her family by the -attention of the great _hermit-author_, in whose works the very mention -of a name confers immortality. - -She showed us her brother’s Bible. It was of Kincaid’s fine quarto -edition, and had been bought in 1773 by the Dwarf himself. His name was -written with his own hand on a blank leaf, and it was with something -like transport that I drew a fac-simile of the autograph into my -pocket-book, which I still preserve. - -Agnes Ritchie died in December, 1821, ten years after the decease of -her brother, and was buried in the same grave, in Manor churchyard, on -which occasion the deformed bones of Bowed Davie were found, to the -utter disproof of a vulgar report, that they had suffered resurrection -at the hands of certain anatomists in the College of Glasgow. - -I found the part of the house which had been inhabited by the Dwarf -himself deserted as he had left it at his death. Its furniture had been -all dispersed among the curious or the friendly; and a host of poultry -were now suffered to roost on the rafters where only soot formerly -dared to hang. His seat of divination before the door had been suffered -to remain. It was covered very rurally with a ruinous _door of a cart_. -There seemed no precise window in the hut, but it contained numerous -holes and bores all round, some of which were built up with turf. I -drew a pair of rusty nails from a joist near the door, and, wrapping -them up in a piece of paper, brought them away. - -We stole a look at the garden, by climbing up the high wall. Some -care has been taken by the neighbouring peasants to preserve it in -good order; but, alas! it is scarcely the ghost of what it was: “Cum -Troja fuit,” there was not a weed to be seen over its whole surface, -nor durst a single _kail-worm_ intrude its unhallowed nose within the -precincts; an hundred mountain-ashes, displaying their red, sour fruit -to the temptation of the passing urchin, stood around like a guard, to -preserve from the influence of witchcraft the richer treasures that lay -within,— - - “Fair as the gardens of _Gul_ in their bloom”; - -but now weeds and kail-worms were abundant, the rowan-trees had -been all cut down, and Bowed Davie’s garden, that once might have -rivalled Milton’s imagination of Paradise, now lay stale, flat, and -unprofitable—like a buxom cheek deprived of its blushes, or Greece -deserted by the liberty that once, according to Byron, _inspired_ its -beauty. A few _skeps_, however, still remained, which the neighbouring -Hobbie Elliots had _not_ taken away. - -It was a curious trait in the character of David Ritchie, that he was -very superstitious. Not only had he planted his house, his garden, and -even his intended grave, all round with the mountain-ash, but it is -also well authenticated that he never went abroad without a branch of -this singular antidote, tied round with a _red thread_, in his pocket, -to prevent the effects of the _evil eye_. When the _sancta sanctorum_ -of his domicile were so sacrilegiously ransacked after his death, there -was found an elf-stone, or small round pebble, bored in the centre, -hung by a cord of hair passed through the hole to the head of his bed! - -After taking the foregoing view of the Wizard’s fairy bower, I was -next conducted to his grave, which lies in the immediate vicinity. A -slip of his favourite rowan-tree marked the spot. It had been planted -several years after his death by some kindly hand, and, in the absence -of a less perishable monument, seemed a wonderful act of delicacy -and attention. It spoke a pathos to the feelings that the finest -inscription could not have excited,—it was so consonant with the -former desires of “the poor inhabitant below!” - -In allusion to the foregoing circumstances, the following verses were -composed, and inserted in a periodical publication:— - - I sat upon the Wizard’s grave,— - ’Twas on a smiling summer day, - When all around the desert spot - Bloomed in the young delights of May. - In undistinguished lowliness - I found the little mound of earth, - And bitter weeds o’ergrew the place, - As if his heart had given them birth, - And they from thence their nurture drew,— - In such luxuriancy they grew. - - No friendship to his grave had lent - Such rudely-sculptured monument - As marked the peasant’s place of rest; - For he, the latest of his race, - Had left behind no friend to trace - Such frail memorial o’er his breast. - But o’er his head a sapling waved - The honours of its slender form, - And in its loneliness had braved - The autumn’s blast—the winter’s storm. - Some friendly hand the tribute gave, - To mark the undistinguished grave, - That, drooping o’er that sod, it might - Repay a world’s neglectful scorn, - And, catching sorrow from the night, - There weep a thousand tears at morn. - - It was an emblem of himself— - A widowed, solitary thing, - To which no circling season might - An hour of greener gladness bring; - A churchyard desert was its doom, - Its parent soil a darkling tomb; - Such was the Solitary’s fate, - So joyless and so desolate; - For, blasted soon as it was given, - His was the life that knew no hope, - His was the soul that knew no heaven— - Then, stranger, by one pitying drop, - Forgive, forgive the Misanthrope! - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[20] Dr. Ferguson lived for some time at Neidpath Castle, from whence -he removed to Hallyards, in Manor parish. He was a most devoted and -enthusiastic snuff-taker. An amusing anecdote is preserved of the -good old man’s simplicity of character and love of snuff. One day, -on his son’s arrival from Edinburgh, he begged a pinch from young -Adam’s box, which, on receiving, he declared to be exceedingly good, -and, of course, he inquired where that delightful mixture was to be -procured. “I got it from Traquair,” answered his son, alluding to -a tobacconist of that name, who dwelt at the corner of the piazzas -leading into the Parliament Square in Edinburgh. This the old gentleman -did not comprehend, but thought that his son meant Traquair, a little -village about seven miles down Tweed, beyond Peebles: and he actually -despatched a man on horseback to that place to procure some of the -snuff which had so taken his fancy. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -=Old Mortality.= - - -DESERTED BURYING-GROUND. - -There exists, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, a scene nearly -resembling that described in the beautiful preliminary to this Tale, -as the burying-ground of the Covenanters. It is commonly called St. -Catherine’s Kirkyard, and is all that remains of the chapel and -cemetery of the once celebrated _St. Catherine’s in the Hopes_.[21] -The situation is particularly pastoral, beautiful, and interesting. It -is placed where the narrow ravine, down which Glencorse burn descends, -opens up into an expanse considerably wider. Rullion Green, where -the Covenanters were defeated by the troops of Charles II. in 1665, -was in the immediate vicinity; and tradition still points out in St. -Catherine’s the graves of several of the insurgents, who were killed -either in the battle or near this spot in the pursuit. If the latter -be the most probable fact, no other circumstance would be required to -establish the identity of the two scenes. - -St. Catherine’s Churchyard, lying among the wildest solitudes of the -Pentland Hills, is an object of beautiful and interesting desolation, -almost equal to the scene of Peter Pattieson’s meeting with Old -Mortality. There does not now remain the least trace of a place of -worship within its precincts; and it seems to have been long disused as -a place of interment. A slight mark of an inclosure, nearly level with -the sward, and one overgrown gravestone, itself almost in the grave, -are all that point out the spot. - -The ground in which St. Catherine’s is situated agrees in certain -general circumstances with the author’s Vale of Gandercleugh. The -horrific “_dry-stane dike_” projected by “his honour the Laird of -Gusedub,” does not, it is true, appear to have ever substituted its -rectilinear deformity for the graceful winding of the natural boundary, -as the too-poetical Peter Pattieson apprehended. But a circumstance has -taken place by which the romantic has been sacrificed to the useful -as completely as if “his honour” had fulfilled his intention. The -ravine, at the head of which St. Catherine’s is situated, has lately -been embanked, and laid completely under water, as a compensation-pond -for the mills upon the Crawley Burn, of which the more legitimate -supplies were cut off, and turned towards a different direction and -very different purpose, by being carried to Edinburgh for the use of -the inhabitants. - -Besides being _possibly_ the original scene of the Deserted -Burying-Ground, this spot is not otherwise destitute of the -qualification of _classic_. At no great distance stands Logan House, -the supposed mansion of _Sir William Worthy_ of the “Gentle Shepherd”; -and at the head of the glen lies what has generally been considered the -“_Habbie’s How_” of that drama. - -In the leading article of the _Scotsman_, September 3, 1823, the writer -endeavours to trace a similarity between the Vale of Glencorse and the -description of Glendearg in the Monastery. - - -VALE OF GANDERCLEUGH. - -The Vale of Gandercleugh may perhaps have been suggested by Lesmahagow, -a village and parish in the west country, not far from Drumclog. In the -churchyard are interred several of the Covenanters,—in particular, -David Steel, who was slain by Captain Crichton, the cavalier whose life -was written by Swift—in a note to which Sir Walter Scott mentions Old -Mortality as having for a long time preserved Steel’s grave-stone from -decay. - - -HISTORY OF THE PERIOD.[22] - - * * * * * - -“We have observed the early antipathy mutually entertained by the -Scottish Presbyterians and the House of Stuart. It seems to have -glowed in the breast even of the good-natured Charles II. He might -have remembered that, in 1651, the Presbyterians had fought, bled, -and ruined themselves in his cause. But he rather recollected their -early faults than their late repentance; and even their services -were combined with the recollection of the absurd and humiliating -circumstances of personal degradation,[23] to which their pride -had subjected him, while they professed to espouse his cause. As -a man of pleasure, he hated their stern inflexible rigour, which -stigmatized follies even more deeply than crimes; and he whispered to -his confidants, that, ‘therefore, it was not wonderful that, in the -first year of his restoration, he formally re-established prelacy in -Scotland.’ But it is surprising that, with his father’s example before -his eyes, he should not have been satisfied to leave at freedom the -consciences of those who could not reconcile themselves to the new -system. The religious opinions of sectaries have a tendency, like the -water of some springs, to become soft and mild when freely exposed to -open day. Who can recognise, in the decent and industrious Quakers and -Anabaptists, the wild and ferocious tenets which distinguished their -sects while yet they were honoured with the distinction of the scourge -and the pillory? Had the system of coercion against the Presbyterians -been continued until our day, Blair and Robertson would have preached -in the wilderness, and only discovered their powers of eloquence and -composition, by rolling along a deeper torrent of gloomy fanaticism. - -“The western counties distinguished themselves by their opposition to -the prelatic system. Three hundred and fifty ministers, ejected from -their churches and livings, wandered through the mountains, sowing the -seeds of covenanted doctrine, while multitudes of fanatical followers -pursued them, to reap the forbidden crop. These Conventicles, as they -were called, were denounced by the law, and their frequenters dispersed -by military force. The genius of the persecuted became stubborn, -obstinate, and ferocious; and, although Indulgences were tardily -granted to some Presbyterian ministers, few of the true Covenanters, -or Whigs, as they were called, would condescend to compound with a -prelatic government, or to listen even to their own favourite doctrine -under the auspices of the King. From Richard Cameron, their apostle, -this rigid sect acquired the name of Cameronians. They preached and -prayed against the Indulgence, and against the Presbyterians who -availed themselves of it, because their accepting of this royal boon -was a tacit acknowledgment of the King’s supremacy in ecclesiastical -matters. - -“Upon these bigoted and persecuted fanatics, and by no means upon -the Presbyterians at large, are to be charged the wild anarchical -principles of anti-monarchy and assassination which polluted the period -when they flourished. - -“The Conventicles were now attended by armed crowds; and a formidable -insurrection took place in the west, and rolled on towards the capital. -It was terminated by a defeat at the Pentland Hills, where General -Dalziel routed the insurgents with great loss, 28th November, 1666. - -“The Whigs, now become desperate, adopted the most desperate -principles; and retaliating, as far as they could, the intolerating -persecution which they endured, they openly disclaimed allegiance -to any monarch who should not profess presbytery and subscribe the -covenant. These principles were not likely to conciliate the favour -of government, and, as we wade onward in the history of the times, the -scenes become yet darker. At length, one would imagine the parties -had agreed to divide the kingdom of vice between them,—the hunters -assuming to themselves open profligacy and legalized oppression, -and the hunted the opposite attributes of hypocrisy, fanaticism, -disloyalty, and midnight assassination. The troopers and cavaliers -became enthusiasts in the pursuit of the Covenanters. If Messrs. Kid, -King, Cameron, Peden, etc., boasted of prophetic powers, and were often -warned of the approach of the soldiers by supernatural impulse, Captain -John Crichton, on the other side, dreamed dreams and saw visions, -(chiefly, indeed, after having drunk hard,) in which the lurking-holes -of the rebels were discovered to his imagination.[24] - -“Our ears are scarcely more shocked with the profane execration of the -persecutors[25] than with the strange and insolent familiarity used -towards the Deity by the persecuted fanatics. Their indecent modes of -prayer, their extravagant expectations of miraculous assistance, and -their supposed inspirations, might easily furnish out a tale, at which -the good would sigh and the gay would laugh.[26] - -“The militia and standing army soon became unequal to the task of -enforcing conformity and suppressing Conventicles. In their aid, and -to force compliance with a test proposed by government, the Highland -clans were raised, and poured down into Ayrshire; and armed hosts -of undisciplined mountaineers, speaking a different language, and -professing, many of them, another religion, were let loose to ravage -and plunder this unfortunate country; and it is truly astonishing to -find how few acts of cruelty they perpetrated, and how seldom they -added murder to pillage. Additional levies of horse were also raised, -under the name of independent troops, and great part of them placed -under the command of James Grahame of Claverhouse, a man well known -to fame by his subsequent title of Viscount of Dundee, but better -remembered in the western shires under the designation of the bloody -Clavers. - -“In truth, he appears to have combined the virtues and vices of a -savage chief. Fierce, unbending, and rigorous, no emotion of compassion -prevented his commanding and witnessing every detail of military -execution against the Nonconformists. Undoubtedly brave, and steadily -faithful to his prince, he sacrificed himself in the cause of James -when he was deserted by all the world. The Whigs whom he persecuted, -daunted by his ferocity and courage, conceived him to be impassive to -their bullets, and that he had sold himself, for temporal greatness, -to the seducer of mankind. It is still believed, that a cup of wine, -presented to him by his butler, changed into clotted blood; and that, -when he plunged his feet into cold water, their touch caused it to -boil. The steed which bore him was supposed to be the gift of Satan; -and precipices are shown where a fox could hardly keep his feet, down -which the infernal charger conveyed him safely in pursuit of the -wanderers. It is remembered with terror that Claverhouse was successful -in every engagement with the Whigs, except that at Drumclog, or Loudon -Hill. The history of Burly will bring us immediately to the causes and -circumstances of that event. - -“JOHN BALFOUR of Kinloch, commonly called BURLY, was one of the -fiercest of the proscribed sect. A gentleman by birth, he was, says -his biographer, ‘zealous and honest-hearted, courageous in every -enterprise, and a brave soldier—seldom any escaping that came into his -hands.’ - -“Crichton says that he was once chamberlain to Archbishop Sharpe, -and, by negligence or dishonesty, had incurred a large arrear, which -occasioned his being active in his master’s assassination. But of -this I know no other evidence than Crichton’s assertion and a hint in -Wodrow. Burly, for that is his common designation, was brother-in-law -to Hackston of Rathillet, a wild, enthusiastic character, who joined -daring courage and skill in the sword to the fiery zeal of his sect. -Burly himself was less eminent for religious fervour than for the -active and violent share which he had in the most desperate enterprises -of his party. His name does not appear among the Covenanters who -were denounced for the affair at Pentland. But, in 1677, Robert -Hamilton, afterwards commander of the insurgents at Loudon Hill and -Bothwell Bridge, with several other Nonconformists, were assembled -at this Burly’s house, in Fife. There they were attacked by a party -of soldiers, commanded by Captain Carstairs, whom they beat off, and -wounded desperately one of his party. For this resistance to authority -they were declared rebels. - -“The next exploit in which Burly was engaged was of a bloodier -complexion and more dreadful celebrity. It was well known that -James Sharpe, Archbishop of St. Andrew’s, was regarded by the rigid -Presbyterians not only as a renegade, who had turned back from the -spiritual plough, but as the principal author of the rigours exercised -against their sect. He employed, as an agent of his oppression, -one Carmichael, a decayed gentleman. The industry of this man in -procuring information, and in enforcing the severe penalties against -Conventiclers, having excited the resentment of the Cameronians, nine -of their number, of whom Burly and his brother-in-law, Hackston, were -the leaders, assembled, with the purpose of waylaying and murdering -Carmichael; but, while they searched for him in vain, they received -tidings that the Archbishop himself was at hand. The party resorted -to prayer, after which they agreed, unanimously, that the Lord had -delivered the wicked Haman into their hands. In the execution of the -supposed will of heaven, they agreed to put themselves under the -command of a leader, and they requested Hackston of Rathillet to accept -the office; which he declined, alleging, that, should he comply with -their request, the slaughter might be imputed to a private quarrel -which existed betwixt him and the Archbishop. The command was then -offered to Burly, who accepted it without scruple; and they galloped -off in pursuit of the Archbishop’s carriage, which contained himself -and his daughter. Being well mounted, they easily overtook and disarmed -the prelate’s attendants. Burly, crying out, ‘Judas, be taken!’ rode -up to the carriage, wounded the postilion, and hamstrung one of the -horses. He then fired into the coach a piece, charged with several -bullets, so near, that the Archbishop’s gown was set on fire. The rest, -coming up, dismounted, and dragged him out of the carriage, when, -frightened and wounded, he crawled towards Hackston, who still remained -on horseback, and begged for mercy. The stern enthusiast contented -himself with answering, that he would not himself lay a hand on him. -Burly and his men again fired a volley upon the kneeling old man, and -were in the act of riding off, when one, who remained to fasten the -girth of his horse, unfortunately heard the daughter of their victim -call to the servant for help, exclaiming that his master was still -alive. Burly then again dismounted, struck off the prelate’s hat with -his foot, and cleft his skull with his shable, (broadsword,) although -one of the party (probably Rathillet,) exclaimed, ‘Spare these grey -hairs!’ The rest pierced him with repeated wounds. They plundered -the carriage, and rode off, leaving, beside the mangled corpse, the -daughter, who was herself wounded in her pious endeavour to interpose -betwixt her father and his murderers. The murder is accurately -represented in bas-relief, upon a beautiful monument, erected to -the memory of Archbishop Sharpe, in the metropolitan church of St. -Andrew’s. This memorable example of fanatic revenge was acted upon -Magus Muir, near St. Andrew’s, 3rd May, 1679. - -“Burly was of course obliged to leave Fife; and, upon the 25th of -the same month, he arrived in Evandale, in Lanarkshire, along with -Hackston, and a fellow called Dingwall, or Daniel, one of the same -bloody band. Here he joined his old friend Hamilton, already mentioned; -and, as they resolved to take up arms, they were soon at the head of -such a body of the ‘chased-and-tossed western men’ as they thought -equal to keep the field. They resolved to commence their exploits upon -29th May, 1674, being the anniversary of the Restoration, appointed -to be kept a holiday by Act of Parliament—an institution which -they esteemed a presumptuous and unholy solemnity. Accordingly, at -the head of eighty horse, tolerably appointed, Hamilton, Burly, and -Hackston entered the royal burgh of Rutherglen, extinguished the -bonfires made in honour of the day, burned at the cross the Acts of -Parliament in favour of prelacy and suppression of Conventicles, as -well as those acts of council which regulated the Indulgence granted -to Presbyterians. Against all these acts they entered their solemn -protest, or testimony, as they called it; and, having affixed it to the -cross, concluded with prayer and psalms. Being now joined by a large -body of foot, so that their strength seems to have amounted to five or -six hundred men, though very indifferently armed, they encamped upon -Loudon Hill. Claverhouse, who was in the garrison of Glasgow, instantly -marched against the insurgents, at the head of his own troop of cavalry -and others, amounting to about one hundred and fifty men. He arrived -at Hamilton, on the 1st of June, so unexpectedly, as to make prisoner -John King, a famous preacher among the wanderers, and rapidly continued -his march, carrying his captive along with him, till he came to the -village of Drumclog, about a mile east of Loudon Hill, and twelve miles -south-west of Hamilton. At the same distance from this place, the -insurgents were skilfully posted in a boggy strait, almost inaccessible -to cavalry, having a broad ditch in their front. Claverhouse’s dragoons -discharged their carbines, and made an attempt to charge. Burly, who -commanded the handful of horse belonging to the Whigs, instantly led -them down on the disordered squadrons of Claverhouse, who were, at the -same time, vigorously assaulted by the foot, headed by the gallant -Cleland and the enthusiastic Hackston. Claverhouse himself was forced -to fly, and was in the utmost danger of being taken, his horse’s belly -being cut open by the stroke of a scythe, so that the poor animal -trailed his bowels for more than a mile. In this flight he passed King, -the minister, lately his prisoner, but now deserted by his guard in -the general confusion. The preacher hallooed to the flying commander -‘to halt and take his prisoner with him;’ or, as others say, ‘to stay -and take the afternoon’s preaching.’ Claverhouse, at length remounted, -continued his retreat to Glasgow. He lost in the skirmish about twenty -of his troopers, and his own cornet and kinsman, Robert Grahame. Only -four of the other side were killed, among whom was Dingwall, or Daniel, -an associate of Burly in Sharpe’s murder. ‘The rebels,’ says Crichton, -‘finding the cornet’s body, and supposing it to be that of Clavers, -because the name of Grahame was wrought in the shirt-neck, treated -it with the utmost inhumanity—cutting off his nose, picking out his -eyes, and stabbing it through in a hundred places.’ The same charge is -brought by Guild, in his _Bellum Bothwellianum_, in which occurs the -following account of the skirmish at Drumclog:— - -“‘Although Burly was among the most active leaders in the action, -he was not the commander-in-chief. That honour belonged to Robert -Hamilton, brother of Sir William Hamilton of Preston, a gentleman who, -like most of those at Drumclog, had imbibed the very wildest principles -of fanaticism. The Cameronian account of the insurrection states, that -“Mr. Hamilton discovered a great deal of bravery and valour, both -in the conflict with, and pursuit of, the enemy; but when he and some -others were pursuing the enemy, others flew too greedily upon the -spoil, small as it was, instead of pursuing the victory; and some, -without Mr. Hamilton’s knowledge, and against his strict command, gave -five of these bloody enemies quarter, and let them go. This greatly -grieved Mr. Hamilton, when he saw some of Babel’s brats spared, after -the Lord had delivered them into their hands, that they might dash them -against the stones (Psalm cxxxvii. 9). In his own account of this, he -reckons the sparing of these enemies, and letting them go, to be among -their first steppings aside, for which he feared that the Lord would -not honour them to do much more for them, and says that he was neither -for taking favours from, nor giving favours to, the Lord’s enemies.” -Burly was not a likely man to fall into this sort of backsliding. He -disarmed one of the Duke of Hamilton’s servants in the action, and -desired him to tell his master he would keep, till meeting, the pistols -he had taken from him. The man described Burly to the Duke as a little -stout man, squint-eyed, and of a most ferocious aspect; from which it -appears that Burly’s figure corresponded to his manners, and perhaps -gave rise to his nickname, _Burly_ signifying _strong_. He was with -the insurgents till the battle of Bothwell Bridge, and afterwards fled -to Holland. He joined the Prince of Orange, but died at sea during the -passage. The Cameronians still believe he had obtained liberty from the -Prince to be avenged of those who had persecuted the Lord’s people; -but, through his death, the laudable design of purging the land with -their blood is supposed to have fallen to the ground.’ - -“It has often been remarked, that the Scottish, notwithstanding -their national courage, were always unsuccessful when fighting for -their religion. The cause lay not in the principle, but in the mode -of its application. A leader, like Mahomet, who is, at the same time, -the prophet of his tribe, may avail himself of religious enthusiasm, -because it comes to the aid of discipline, and is a powerful means of -attaining the despotic command essential to the success of a general. -But among the insurgents in the reign of the last Stuarts, were mingled -preachers, who taught different shades of the Presbyterian doctrine; -and, minute as these shades sometimes were, neither the several -shepherds nor their flocks could unite in a common cause. This will -appear from the transactions leading to the battle of Bothwell Bridge. - -“We have seen that the party which defeated Claverhouse at Loudon Hill -were Cameronians, whose principles consisted in disowning all temporal -authority which did not flow from and through the Solemn League and -Covenant. This doctrine, which is still retained by a scattered remnant -of the sect in Scotland, is in theory, and would be in practice, -inconsistent with the safety of any well-regulated government, because -the Covenanters deny to their governors that toleration which was -iniquitously refused to themselves. - -“In many respects, therefore, we cannot be surprised at the anxiety -and vigour with which the Cameronians were persecuted, although we may -be of opinion that milder means would have induced a melioration of -their principles. These men, as already noticed, excepted against such -Presbyterians as were contented to exercise their worship under the -Indulgence granted by government, or, in other words, who would have -been satisfied with toleration for themselves, without insisting on a -revolution in the state, or even in the Church government. - -“When, however, the success at Loudon Hill was spread abroad, a number -of preachers, gentlemen, and common people, who had embraced the more -moderate doctrine, joined the army of Hamilton, thinking that the -difference in their opinions ought not to prevent their acting in the -common cause. The insurgents were repulsed in an attack upon the town -of Glasgow, which, however, Claverhouse shortly afterwards thought it -necessary to evacuate. They were now nearly in full possession of the -west of Scotland, and pitched their camp at Hamilton, where, instead of -modelling and disciplining their army, the Cameronians and Erastians -(for so the violent insurgents chose to call the more moderate -Presbyterians) only debated, in council of war, the real cause of their -being in arms. Hamilton, their general, was the leader of the first -party; Mr. John Welsh, a minister, headed the Erastians. The latter so -far prevailed as to get a declaration drawn up, in which they owned the -King’s government; but the publication of it gave rise to new quarrels. -Each faction had its own set of leaders, all of whom aspired to be -officers; and there were actually two councils of war, issuing contrary -orders and declarations, at the same time—the one owning the King, and -the other designating him a malignant, bloody, and perjured tyrant. - -“Meanwhile, their numbers and zeal were magnified at Edinburgh, and -great alarm excited lest they should march eastward. Not only was the -foot militia instantly called out, but proclamations were issued, -directing all the heritors in the eastern, southern, and northern -shires, to repair to the King’s host, with their best horses, arms, -and retainers. In Fife, and other counties, where the Presbyterian -doctrines prevailed, many gentlemen disobeyed this order, and were -afterwards severely fined. Most of them alleged, in excuse, the -apprehension of disquiet from their wives. A respectable force was -soon assembled, and James Duke of Buccleuch and Monmouth, was sent -down by Charles to take the command, furnished with instructions not -unfavourable to the Presbyterians. The royal army now moved slowly -forward towards Hamilton, and reached Bothwell Moor on the 22nd of -June, 1679. The insurgents were encamped, chiefly in the Duke of -Hamilton’s park, along the Clyde, which separated the two armies. -Bothwell Bridge, which is long and narrow, had then a portal in the -middle, with gates, which the Covenanters shut, and barricadoed with -stones and logs of timber. This important post was defended by three -hundred of their best men, under Hackston of Rathillet and Hall of -Haughhead. Early in the morning, this party crossed the bridge and -skirmished with the royal vanguard, now advanced as far as the village -of Bothwell; but Hackston speedily retired to his post at the west end -of Bothwell Bridge. - -“While the dispositions made by the Duke of Monmouth announced his -purpose of assailing the pass, the more moderate of the insurgents -resolved to offer terms. Ferguson of Kaitlock, a gentleman of landed -fortune, and David Hume, a clergyman, carried to the Duke of Monmouth -a supplication, demanding free exercise of their religion, a free -Parliament, and a free general assembly of the Church. The Duke heard -their demands with his natural mildness, and assured them he would -interpose with his Majesty in their behalf, on condition of their -immediately dispersing themselves, and yielding up their arms. Had -the insurgents been all of the moderate opinion, the proposal would -have been accepted, much bloodshed saved, and perhaps some permanent -advantage derived to their party; or had they been all Cameronians, -their defence would have been fierce and desperate. But, while their -motley and misassorted officers were debating upon the Duke’s proposal, -his field-pieces were already planted on the eastern side of the -river, to cover the attack of the footguards, who were led on by Lord -Livingston to force the bridge. Here Hackston maintained his post with -zeal and courage; nor was it till his ammunition was expended, and -every support denied him by the general, that he reluctantly abandoned -the important pass. When his party were drawn back, the Duke’s army -slowly, and with their cannon in front, defiled along the bridge, -and formed in line of battle as they came over the river. The Duke -commanded the foot, and Claverhouse the cavalry. It would seem that -these movements could not have been performed without at least some -loss, had the enemy been serious in opposing them. But the insurgents -were otherwise employed. With the strangest delusion that ever fell -upon devoted beings, they chose these precious moments to cashier -their officers, and elect others in their room. In this important -operation they were at length disturbed by the Duke’s cannon, at the -first discharge of which the horse of the Covenanters wheeled and -rode off, breaking and trampling down the ranks of their infantry in -their flight. The Cameronian account blames Weir of Greenridge, a -commander of the horse, who is termed a sad Achan in the camp. The more -moderate party lay the whole blame on Hamilton, whose conduct, they -say, left the world to debate whether he was most traitor, coward, -or fool. The generous Monmouth was anxious to spare the blood of -his infatuated countrymen, by which he incurred much blame among the -high-flying Royalists. Lucky it was for the insurgents that the battle -did not happen a day later, when old General Dalziel, who divided with -Claverhouse the terror and hatred of the Whigs, arrived in the camp, -with a commission to supersede Monmouth as commander-in-chief. He is -said to have upbraided the Duke publicly with his lenity, and heartily -to have wished his own commission had come a day sooner, when, as he -expressed himself, ‘these rogues should never more have troubled the -King or country.’ But, notwithstanding the merciful orders of the Duke -of Monmouth, the cavalry made great slaughter among the fugitives, of -whom four hundred were slain. - -“There were two Gordons of Earlston, father and son. They were -descended of an ancient family in the west of Scotland, and their -progenitors were believed to have been favourers of the reformed -doctrine, and possessed of a translation of the Bible as early as the -days of Wickliffe. William Gordon, the father, was in 1663 summoned -before the privy council, for keeping Conventicles in his house and -woods. By another act of council he was banished out of Scotland; but -the sentence was never put into execution. In 1667, Earlston was turned -out of his house, which was converted into a garrison for the King’s -soldiers. He was not in the battle of Bothwell Bridge, but he was met -hastening towards it by some English dragoons engaged in the pursuit, -already commenced. As he refused to surrender, he was instantly slain. - -“His son, Alexander Gordon of Earlston, was not a Cameronian, but one -of the more moderate class of Presbyterians, whose sole object was -freedom of conscience and relief from the oppressive laws against -Nonconformists. He joined the insurgents shortly after the skirmish -at Loudon Hill. He appears to have been active in forwarding the -supplication sent to the Duke of Monmouth. After the battle, he escaped -discovery, by flying into a house at Hamilton, belonging to one of -his tenants, and disguising himself in a female attire. His person -was proscribed, and his estate of Earlston was bestowed upon Colonel -Theophilus Ogilthorpe by the crown, first in security for £5000, and -afterwards in perpetuity. - -“The same author mentions a person tried at the circuit-court, -July 10th, 1683, solely for holding intercourse with Earlston, an -intercommuned rebel. As he had been in Holland after the battle of -Bothwell, he was probably accessory to the scheme of invasion which the -unfortunate Earl of Argyll was then meditating. He was apprehended upon -his return to Scotland, tried, convicted of treason, and condemned to -die; but his fate was postponed by a letter from the King, appointing -him to be reprieved for a month, that he might, in the interim, be -tortured for the discovery of his accomplices. The council had the -unusual spirit to remonstrate against this illegal course of severity. -On November 3rd, 1683, he received a further respite, in hopes he would -make some discovery. When brought to the bar to be tortured, (for the -King had reiterated his command,) he, through fear or distraction, -roared like a bull, and laid so stoutly about him, that the hangman -and his assistant could hardly master him. At last he fell into a -swoon, and, on his recovery, charged General Dalziel and Drummond, -(violent tories,) together with the Duke of Hamilton, with being the -leaders of the fanatics. It was generally thought that he affected this -extravagant behaviour to invalidate all that agony might extort from -him concerning his real accomplices. He was sent first to Edinburgh -Castle, and afterwards to a prison upon the Bass island, although the -privy council more than once deliberated upon appointing his immediate -death. On the 22nd August, 1684, Earlston was sent for from the Bass, -and ordered for execution, 4th November, 1684. He endeavoured to -prevent his doom by escape; but was discovered and taken after he had -gained the roof of the prison. The council deliberated, whether, in -consideration of this attempt, he was not liable to instant execution. -Finally, however, they were satisfied to imprison him in Blackness -Castle, where he remained till the Revolution, when he was set at -liberty, and his doom of forfeiture reversed by Act of Parliament.” - - -ADDITIONAL NOTICES RELATIVE TO THE INSURRECTION OF 1679. - -_From “A History of the Rencontre at Drumclog,” etc._ - -_By William Aiton, Esq._ - -“MR. DOUGLAS having agreed to preach at Hairlaw, or Glaisterlaw, about -a mile north-west of Loudon Hill, on Sabbath, June 1, 1679, the Fife -men and Mr. Hamilton, dreading the Conventicle might be attacked by the -military, collected a number of their friends on the Saturday evening, -in a house near Loudon Hill, where they lay under arms all night. -They also sent off an express to Lesmahagow, to bring forward their -friends from that quarter, and who were up just in time to join in the -skirmish. But very few of their friends from Kilmarnock came forward to -that Conventicle. - -“A considerable number of people assembled at that field-meeting, and, -as usual in these times, the greater part of them came armed. Captain -Grahame of Claverhouse was, by Lord Ross, who commanded the military in -Glasgow, sent out with three troops of dragoons to attack and disperse -that Conventicle. He had seized, about two miles from Hamilton, John -King, a field-preacher, and, according to Mr. Wilson’s account, -seventeen other people, whom he bound in pairs, and drove before him -towards Loudon Hill. - -“Captain Grahame and his officers eat their breakfast that day at the -principal inn, Strathaven, then kept by James Young, writer, innkeeper, -and baron-bailie of Avendale, known in that district by the name of -_Scribbie Young_. The house which he then occupied stood opposite the -entry into the churchyard, and, from its having an upper room or second -storey in the one end, with an outside stair of a curious construction, -was denominated ‘the tower.’[27] Having been informed at Strathaven -that the Conventicle was not to meet that day, Captain Grahame set out -towards Glasgow with his prisoners. But, upon obtaining more correct -information about a mile north of Strathaven, he turned round towards -Loudon Hill, by the way of Letham. On being told at Braeburn that the -Covenanters were in great force, he said that he had eleven score of -good guns under his command, and would soon disperse the Whigs. - -“Soon after worship had commenced, the Covenanters were informed, by an -express from their friends at Hamilton, as well as by the watches they -had placed, that the military were approaching them; and they resolved -to fight the troops, in order, if possible, to relieve the prisoners, -or, to use the words of their historian, Dr. Wodrow, to ‘oppose the -hellish fury of their persecutors.’ Their whole force consisted of -about 50 horsemen, ill-provided with arms, 50 footmen with muskets, and -about 150 more with halberts and forks. Mr. Hamilton took the chief -command, and David Hackston, Henry Hall, John Balfour, Robert Fleming, -William Cleland, John Loudon, and John Brown, acted as subalterns under -Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Wilson says, ‘Hamilton gave out the word that no -quarter should be given to the enemy.’ The Covenanters did not wait -the arrival of the military, who could not have reached them but by a -circuitous route; neither did they take shelter in the mosses that lay -near, and into which the cavalry could not have followed them; but they -advanced eastward about two miles, singing psalms all the way. - -“When Grahame reached the height at Drumclog, and saw the Whigs about -half a mile to the north of that place, near to where Stabbyside House -now stands, he placed his prisoners under a guard in the farmyard of -North Drumclog, and, having drawn up his three troops of cavalry, he -advanced to attack the Whigs. Mr. Russel says, Claverhouse gave orders -to his troops to give no quarter to the Covenanters; and that ‘there -was such a spirit given forth from the Lord, that both men and women -who had no arms faced the troops.’ The dragoons had to march down an -arable field of a very slight declivity, at the foot of which a small -piece of marshy ground (provincially termed misk or boggy land) lay -between the hostile parties. As many of the insurgents resided in that -immediate neighbourhood, they could not fail to know that this marshy -place, on the north side of which they had taken their stand, was in -some places too soft to support the feet of horses. But as this swamp -was covered with a sward of green herbage, and was but of a few yards -in breadth, and lying between two fields of arable land, the declivity -of which was on both sides towards the bog, it is evident that Grahame -did not perceive it to be a marsh; and to this, above all other -circumstances, is his defeat to be attributed. - -“This ground, so favourable to the Covenanters, appears to have been -taken up more from accident than design. If it had been their wish to -have taken their station in or behind a bog, they could have found many -of them much nearer to where the congregation first met, and much more -impenetrable to cavalry than that where the rencounter happened. In -advancing from Hairlaw Hill to the place of action, they passed several -deep flow-mosses, some of them of great extent, and into which cavalry -could not have entered. Even when the hostile parties came in sight of -each other, the Covenanters were nearer to a flow-moss than they were -to the marshy ground behind which they placed themselves. Had Captain -Grahame known the ground, he could have easily avoided the marsh, and -passed the extremity of it by a public road, only about two or three -hundred yards to the westward. - -“The troops fired first, and, according to tradition, the Covenanters, -at the suggestion of Balfour, evaded the fire of the military by -prostrating themselves on the ground, with the exception of John -Morton in Broomhall, who, believing in the doctrine of predestination, -refused to stoop, and was shot. The ball entered his mouth, and he -fell backward at the feet of the great-grandfather of the writer of -this account. Grahame ordered the troops to charge; but a number of -the horses having, in advancing to the Covenanters, been entangled in -the marsh, the ranks were broken, and the squadron was thrown into -disorder. The Covenanters, who had no doubt foreseen what was to -happen, seized the favourable opportunity of pouring their fire on -the disordered cavalry, and, following it up with a spirited attack, -soon completed the confusion and defeat of the troops. The commander -of the Whigs cried, ‘O’er the bog, and to them, lads!’ The order was -re-echoed, and obeyed with promptitude; and, from the involved state of -the military, the forks and halberts of the Covenanters were extremely -apt to the occasion. The rout of the cavalry was instantaneous and -complete, and achieved principally by the insurgents who were on foot, -though the horsemen soon passed the bog and joined in the pursuit. Mr. -Wilson says that Balfour and Cleland were the first persons who stepped -into the bog; but the traditionary accounts allege that it was one -Woodburn, from the Mains of Loudon, who set that example of bravery. - -“Thus far the traditionary accounts and that of Mr. Wilson have been -followed. But Mr. Russel says that Claverhouse sent two of his men to -reconnoitre, and afterwards did so himself, before he made the attack. -If he did so, it is surprising that he did not perceive the marsh, -as well as the road by which it might have been evaded. Russel also -says that Captain Grahame sent forward twelve dragoons, who fired -at the Whigs, and that as many of them turned out and fired at the -cavalry. This, he says, was twice repeated, without a person being -hurt on either side. On their firing a third time, one dragoon fell -from his horse, and seemed to rise with difficulty. Claverhouse, he -says, then ordered thirty dragoons to dismount and fire, when William -Cleland, with twelve or sixteen armed footmen, supported by twenty -or twenty-four with halberts and forks, advanced and fired at the -military. But still no one was injured, till Cleland advanced alone, -fired his piece, and killed one dragoon; and when the Whigs were -wheeling, some of the military fired, and killed one man. Claverhouse -next advanced his whole force to the stanck, and fired desperately, -‘and the honest party, having but few guns, was not able to stand, and -being very confused at coming off, one of the last party cried out, -“For the Lord’s sake, go on”; and immediately they ran violently -forward, and Claverhouse was tooming the shot all the time on them; -but the honest party’s right hand of the foot being nearest Cleland, -went on Clavers’s left flank, and all the body went on together against -Clavers’s body, and Cleland stood until the honest party was joined -among them both with pikes and swords, and William Dingwell and Thomas -Weir being on the right hand of the honest party, all the forenamed -who fired thrice before being together, and, louping ower, they got -among the enemies. William Dingwell received his wound, his horse being -dung back by the strength of the enemy, fell over and dang over James -Russel’s horse. James presently rose and mounted and pursued, calling -to a woman to take care of his dear friend William Dingwell, (for -the women ran as fast as the men,) and she did so. Thomas Weir rode -in among them, and took a standard, and he was mortally wounded and -knocked on the head, but pursued as long as he was able, and then fell. -The honest party pursued as long as their horses could trot, being -upwards of two miles. There was of the enemy killed thirty-six dead on -the ground, and by the way in the pursuit, and only five or six of the -honest party.’ - -“Lieutenant Robert Grahame, Cornet John Arnold, and thirty-four -privates of the King’s forces were killed on the field, and several -more wounded. Five of the military were taken prisoners, and afterwards -allowed to escape. Of the Covenanters, John Morton, Thomas Weir in -Cumberhead, William Dingwell, one of the murderers of the Bishop, James -Thomson, Stonehouse, John Gabbie in Fioch, and James Dykes in Loudon, -were all mortally wounded, and died either on the field, or soon after -the skirmish. - -“The Covenanters pursued the troops to Calder Water, about three -miles from the field of action. A person of the name of Finlay, from -Lesmahagow, armed with a pitchfork, came up with Captain Grahame, -at a place called Capernaum, near Coldwakening, and would probably -have killed that officer, had not another of the Covenanters called -to Finlay to strike at the horse, and thereby secure both it and the -rider. The blow intended for the Captain was spent upon his mare, and -the Captain escaped by mounting, with great agility, the horse of his -trumpeter, who was killed by the Whigs. - -“The Covenanters came up with some of the dragoons near Hillhead. The -troopers offered to surrender, and asked quarter, which some of the -Covenanters were disposed to grant; but, when their leaders came up, -they actually killed these men, in spite of every remonstrance. The men -so killed were buried like felons, on the marsh between the farms of -Hillhead and Hookhead, and their graves remained visible till the year -1750, when they were sunk in a march dyke, drawn in that direction. The -late Mr. Dykes of Fieldhead declared to the writer of this narrative, -that his grandfather, Thomas Leiper, of Fieldhead, had often told him -that he was present when these soldiers were killed, and did what he -could to save their lives, but without effect. - - * * * * * - -“When the discomfited dragoons returned through Strathaven, they -were insulted and pursued by the inhabitants, down a lane called the -Hole-close, till one of the soldiers fired upon the crowd, and killed -a man, about 50 yards east from where the relief meeting-house at -Strathaven now stands. - -“Captain Grahame retreated to Glasgow, and he is said to have met at -Cathkin some troops sent out to his aid; but he refused to return to -the charge, observing to his brother officer, that he had been at a -Whig meeting that day, but that he liked the lecture so ill that he -would not return to the afternoon’s service. Another account says, -that when Captain Grahame rode off the field, Mr. King, the preacher, -then a prisoner, called after him, by way of derision, to stop to the -afternoon’s preaching.[28] - -“The relations of the two officers that were killed went to Drumclog -next day after the skirmish, to bury them; but the country people had -cut and mangled the bodies of the slain in such a manner that only one -of the officers could be recognised. The coffin intended for the other -was left at High Drumclog, where it remained many years in a cart-shed, -till it was used in burying a vagrant beggar that died at the Mount, in -that neighbourhood. This fact has been well attested to the writer of -this account from sources of information on which he can rely.” - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[21] The chapel was built in the fourteenth century, by Sir William St. -Clair of Roslin, in consequence of a vow which he made in a curious -emergency. One day, hunting with King Robert I., he wagered his head -that his hounds, _Help_ and _Hold_, would kill a certain beautiful -white deer before it crossed the March burn. On approaching the -boundary, there seemed little chance of his hounds being successful; -but he went aside, and vowed a new chapel to St. Catherine if she would -intercede in his behalf; and she, graciously accepting of his offer, -inspired the hounds with supernatural vigour, so that they caught the -deer just as she was approaching the other side of the burn. - -[22] This spirited article is copied (by express permission of the -Publishers,) from “The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.” - -[23] Among other ridiculous occurrences, it is said that some of -Charles’s gallantries were discovered by a prying neighbour. A wily -old minister was deputed by his brethren to rebuke the King for his -heinous scandal. Being introduced into the royal presence, he limited -his commission to a serious admonition, that, upon such occasions, -his Majesty should always shut the windows. The King is said to have -recompensed this unexpected lenity after the Restoration. He probably -remembered the joke, though he might have forgotten the service. - -[24] See the life of this booted apostle of prelacy, written by Swift, -who had collected all his anecdotes of persecution, and appears to have -enjoyed them accordingly. - -[25] “They raved,” says Peden’s historian, “like fleshly devils, when -the mist shrouded from their pursuit the wandering Whigs. One gentleman -closed a declaration of vengeance against the conventicles with this -strange imprecation, ‘or may the devil make my ribs a gridiron to my -soul.’”—MS. Account of the Presbytery of Penpont. Our armies swore -terribly in Flanders, but nothing of this. - -[26] Peden complained bitterly that, after a heavy struggle with the -devil, he had got above him, spur-galled him hard, and obtained a wind -to carry him from Ireland to Scotland—when, behold! another person had -set sail, and reaped the advantage of his prayer-wind, before he could -embark. - -[27] That part of the novel which represents Claverhouse eating his -_disjeune_ in the hall of Tillietudlem and seat of “his most gracious -Majesty Charles the Second,” must therefore be considered as entirely -unfounded in truth. Could Scribbie Young’s “tower” be the Tillietudlem -of the Tale? Surely not. And, besides, we are given to understand -that a small eminence or knoll in the neighbourhood of Lanark Castle, -which has probably been at some former period surmounted by a ruin, is -popularly termed Tillietudlem. - -[28] Crichton says, “King was a bra muckle carl, with a white hat and a -great bob of ribbons on the back o’t.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -=Heart of Mid-Lothian.= - - -THE PORTEOUS MOB. - -We shall mention a few inaccuracies in the account given of the -Porteous mob in “The Heart of Midlothian,” assigning, at the same time, -precise dates to all the incidents. - -On the morning of the 11th of April, 1736, Wilson and Robertson were -conducted to the Tolbooth Church, for the purpose of hearing their -last sermon, their execution being to happen on Wednesday following. -The custom of conducting criminals under sentence of death to a -place of public worship, and suffering them again to mix with their -fellow-men, from whom they were so shortly to be cut off for ever, was -a beautiful trait of the devotional and merciful feelings of the people -of Scotland, which has since this incident been unhappily disused. In -the Tale, the escape of Robertson is said to have happened after the -sermon; but this statement, evidently made by the novelist for the sake -of effect, is incorrect. The criminals had scarcely seated themselves -in the pew, when Wilson committed the daring deed. Robertson tripped up -the fourth soldier himself, and jumped out of the pew with incredible -agility. In hurrying out at the door of the church, he tumbled over -the collection money, by which he was probably hurt; for, in running -across the Parliament Square, he was observed to stagger much, and, -in going down the stairs which lead to the Cowgate, actually fell. In -this dangerous predicament he was protected by Mr. M‘Queen, minister -of the New Kirk, who was coming up the stair on his way to church at -the moment. This kind-hearted gentleman is said to have set him again -on his feet, and to have covered his retreat as much as possible from -the pursuit of the guard. Robertson passed down to the Cowgate, ran -up the Horse Wynd, and out at the Potterrow Port, the crowd all the -way closing behind him, so that his pursuers could not by any means -overtake him. In the wynd he made up to a saddled horse, and would have -mounted him, but was prevented by the owner. Passing the Crosscauseway, -he got into the King’s Park, and made the way for Duddingstone, -under the basaltic rocks which overhang the path to that village. On -jumping a dyke near Clearburn, he fainted away, but was revived by a -refreshment which he there received. - -Upon Robertson’s escape, Wilson was immediately taken back to prison, -and put in close custody. He was executed, under the dreadful -circumstances so well known, on the 14th of April. The story of a -“young fellow, with a sailor’s cap slouched over his face,” having -cut him down from the gibbet, on the rising of the mob, is perfectly -unfounded. The executioner was at the top of the ladder, performing -that part of his office, at the time Porteous fired. - -Though the author of the Tale has chosen George Robertson for his hero, -and invested him with many attributes worthy of that high character, -historical accuracy obliges us to record that he was merely a stabler; -and, what must at once destroy all romantic feelings concerning him in -the light of a hero, tradition informs us that he was a married man -at the time of his imprisonment. He kept an inn in Bristo Street, and -was a man of rather dissipated habits, though the exculpatory evidence -produced upon his trial represents him as in the habit of being much -intrusted by the carriers who lodged at his house. After his escape, he -was known to have gone to Holland, and to have resided there many years. - -The most flagrant aberration from the truth committed by the novelist, -is in the opening of the Tale, where the crowd is represented as -awaiting the execution of Captain Porteous, in the Grassmarket, on the -7th of September. The whole scene is described in the most admirable -manner; and the interesting objects of the gallows, the filled windows, -and the crowd upon the street, form, I have no doubt, the faithful -outline of what the scene would have been, had it existed.[29] - -But however ably the Author of “Waverley” has delineated this imaginary -scene, it is unfortunate that his account does not agree either with -truth, or, what was to him ten times more important, _vraisemblance_. -He has no doubt handled the fictitious incident of the abortive -preparations for the execution, and the expressions of the disappointed -multitude on the occasion, in his usual masterly manner, and heightened -the _effect_ of his own story not a little by the use he has made of -history; but it must at the same time strike every reader that the -whole affair is extremely improbable. It seems scarcely possible that a -conspiracy of such a deep and well-planned nature as the Porteous mob -could have been laid and brought to issue in a single afternoon. Not -even the most romantic reader of novels, supposing him to understand -the case to its full extent, would deceive himself with so incredible -an absurdity; but would think with us that, according to the natural -course of things, it would take _all the time it did take_, (five -days,) before so well-laid and eventually so successful a scheme could -be projected, organized, and accomplished. - -The plain statement of the facts is to the following effect. - -The Queen’s pardon reached Edinburgh so early as Thursday, the 2nd of -September. The riot happened on the night of Tuesday, the 7th—the -night previous to the day on which the execution was to have taken -place, and after a sufficient time had elapsed for the preparation of -the scheme. Many of the rioters came from counties so distant, that the -news of the reprieve could not have reached them in a less space; and -perhaps the intelligence would not have been so speedily communicated -in those postless and coachless days, had not the popular interest in -the matter been so universal. Taking every thing into consideration, it -may indeed astonish us that the conspiracy was so rapidly matured as -it _was_, not to speak of a single afternoon! It may be noticed, that -some papers have lately come to light, by which it appears the plot -was not of that dark and mysterious character which the accounts of -the times and the Author of “Waverley” make it. Information had been -given to the council at least _thirty-six hours_ before the tumult -burst forth; and at a meeting late on the previous evening, when the -information was taken into consideration, the council pronounced the -reports in circulation to be merely _cadies’ clatters_, (gossip of -street-porters,) unworthy of regard. - -The incidents of the riot, from the mob’s entering the city at the -West Port to Butler’s desertion of the scene at midnight, are all -given very correctly by the novelist. It is said to be absolutely true -that the rioters seized and detained a person of Butler’s profession, -for the purpose related in the novel. This happened, however, when -they had got half way to the gallows, at the head of the West Bow. -Porteous was twice drawn up and let down again before the deed was -accomplished—first, to bind his hands, and secondly, in order to put -something over his face. In the morning his body was found hanging, by -the public functionaries of the city, and was buried the same day in -the neighbouring churchyard of Greyfriars. It was on the south side of -the Grassmarket that he was hanged. - -Arnot observes, after relating the incidents of the Porteous mob, in -his History of Edinburgh, that though it was then forty years after -that occurrence, no person had ever been found out upon whom an -accession to the murder could be charged. Nevertheless, the writer of -the present narrative has been informed by a very old man, who was an -apprentice in the Fleshmarket of Edinburgh about fifty years ago, that -in his younger days it was well known among the butchers, though only -whispered secretly among themselves, that the leaders of this singular -riot were two brothers of the name of Cumming, who were, for many years -after, fleshers in the Low Market, and died unmolested, at advanced -ages. They were tall, strong, and exceedingly handsome men, had been -dressed in women’s clothes on the occasion, and were said to have been -the first to jump through the flames that burnt down the prison-door, -in eagerness to seize their unfortunate victim. - -A few more scraps of private information have also been communicated to -the world by one who was instrumental and active in the riot. We give -them from the authority of “The Beauties of Scotland.” - -“On the day preceding that of Porteous’ death, a whisper went through -the country, upon what information or authority this person knew not, -that an attempt was to be made, on the succeeding evening, to put -Captain Porteous to death. To avenge the blood of a relation who had -been killed at the execution of Wilson, he conceived himself bound in -duty to share the risk of the attempt. Wherefore, upon the following -day, he proceeded to Edinburgh, and towards the evening stopped in the -suburb of Portsburgh, which he found crowded with country people; all -of whom, however, kept aloof from each other, so that there was no -conversation about the purpose of their assembling. At a later hour, -he found the inferior sort of inns in the Grassmarket full of people, -and saw many persons, apparently strangers, lurking in the different -houses. About eleven at night, the streets became crowded with men, -who, having in some measure organized their body, by beating a drum and -marching in order, immediately proceeded to secure the gates and make -for the prison.” - - * * * * * - -“As the multitude proceeded with Porteous down the West Bow, some of -their number knocked at the door of a shop and demanded ropes.[30] -A woman, apparently a maid-servant, thrust a coil of ropes out of a -window, without opening the door, and a person wearing a white apron, -which seemed to be assumed for disguise, gave in return a piece of gold -as the price,” etc. - - -THE CITY GUARD. - -The City Guard, of which so much mention is made in the Tale before -us, was originally instituted in 1648. Previous to that period, the -City had been watched during the night by the personal duty of the -inhabitants, a certain number of whom were obliged to undertake the -office by rotation. In order to relieve the inconveniency of this -service, a body of sixty men was first appointed, with a captain, two -lieutenants, two sergeants, and three corporals; but no regular funds -being provided for the support of the establishment, it was speedily -dissolved. However, about thirty years thereafter, the necessity of a -regular police was again felt; and forty men were raised. These, in the -year 1682, were augmented, at the instigation of the Duke of York, to -108 men; and, to defray the expense of the company, a tax was imposed -upon the citizens. At the Revolution, the Town Council represented -to the Estates of Parliament, that the burden was a grievance to the -City; and their request to have it removed was granted. So speedily, -however, did they repent this second dismissal of their police, that -the very next year they applied to Parliament for authority to raise a -body of no fewer than 126 men, and to assess the inhabitants for the -expense. Since that period the number of the Town Guard had been very -fluctuating, and, before its late final dissolution, amounted only to -about 75 men. For many years previous to this event, they had been -found quite inadequate to the protection of the City. Riots seemed to -be in some measure encouraged by the ridicule in which the venerable -corps was held; and from their infirmities and other circumstances, as -well as from their scantiness, the more distant parts of the rapidly -increasing capital were left defenceless and open to the attacks of -nightly depredators. Their language, their manners, and their tempers, -so uncongenial with those of the citizens whom they protected, were -also found to be almost inapplicable to the purposes for which they -served, and, of course, operated as causes of their being disbanded. -Besides, a few years before their dismissal, a regular police, similar -to that of London, had been established in Edinburgh; which soon -completely set aside all necessity of their services. The Town Guard -were therefore convoked for the last time, we believe, in February, -1817; and, after receiving some small gratuity from the magistrates, -and having a pension settled upon them still more trifling than their -trifling pay, proportioned to the rank they held in the corps, were -finally disbanded. The police of Edinburgh is now almost unrivalled in -Britain for vigilance and activity—how different from the unruly and -intemperate times when magisterial authority could be successfully set -at defiance, when mobs could unite into such a system of co-operation -as even to beard royalty itself, when (in 1812) a scene of violence -could be exhibited that would not have disgraced the middle ages, and -when, still more to be lamented, the protection of property was so -uncertain, that, according to the city-arms, it was but too literally -true that— - - “Unless the _Lord_ the City kept, - The _watchmen_ watched in vain!” - -Another event occurred about the same time in Edinburgh, which -was appropriately contemporaneous with the abolition of the City -Guard,—namely, the demolishment and final removal of the Tolbooth. -This building, which makes so conspicuous a figure in the present Tale, -was originally the Town-house of Edinburgh, and afterwards afforded -accommodation for the Scottish Parliament and Courts of Justice, and -for the confinement of debtors and malefactors. It had been used -solely as a jail since 1640. It was not deficient in other interesting -recollections, besides being the scene of the Porteous mob. Here Queen -Mary delivered, what are termed by John Knox her _Painted Orations_; -and on its dreary summits had been successively displayed the heads of -a Morton, a Gowrie, a Huntly, a Montrose, and an Argyll,—besides those -of many of inferior note. - -A part of this edifice had been devoted to the use of the City Guard, -ever since the removal of their former rendezvous in the High Street. -Many will still remember of seeing a veteran or two leaning over -a half-door in the north side of the Jail. Could their eyes have -penetrated farther into the gloomy interior, a few more indistinct -figures might have been perceived smoking round a fire, or reading -an old newspaper, while the unintelligible language which they spoke -might aid the idea of their resemblance to a convocation of infernals -in some of the cinder-holes of Tartarus. In fine weather, a few of the -venerable corps might be seen crawling about the south front of the -prison, with Lochaber axes over their shoulders, or reposing lazily -on a form with the white-haired keeper of the Tolbooth door, and -basking in the sun, in all the lubber luxury of mental and corporeal -abandonment. But now (_sic transit gloria mundi!_) their ancient -Capitol is levelled with the dust, and they themselves are only to be -ranked among the “things that were.” All trace of their existence is -dispersed over a waste of visioned recollection; and future generations -will think of the City Guard, as they think of _the forty-five_, of -_the Friends of the People_,—or of the last year’s snow! - -It is said, in the “Heart of Midlothian,” that “a phantom of former -days,” in the shape of “an old worn-out Highlander, dressed in a -cocked hat, bound with white tape instead of silver lace, and in coat, -waistcoat and breeches, of a muddy-coloured red,” (the costume of _the -Guard_,) “still creeps around the statue of Charles the Second, in the -Parliament Square, as if the image of a Stuart were the last refuge -for any memorial of our ancient manners.” This venerable spectre is -neither more nor less than the goodly flesh and blood figure of John -Kennedy, who served in the corps ever since the American war, and who -is now employed by Mr. Rae, keeper of the Parliament House, to sweep -the arcade, and to prevent little ragged urchins from disturbing by -their noisy sports the weightier business of the law. John Kennedy was -one of the band; and was well known to the heroes of the High School -forty years ago. Like him, the greater part of his surviving brethren -have changed into new shapes. One or two may be observed now and then, -staggering about the outskirts of the town, or dozing away the last -years of life upon the seats in the Meadow Walk and the King’s Park. -Their old musty coats, in such instances, are dyed in some colour less -military than red, and generally otherwise modernized by abscission of -the skirts. A pair of their original spatterdashers still case their -legs,—but which still less scarcely fend than formerly - - “——to keep - Frae weet and weary plashes - O’ dirt, thir days.” - -We once stumbled upon a veteran snugly bedded in a stall of about three -feet square, crammed into the internal space of an outside stair in -the West Bow. In this den he exercised the calling of a cobbler. Like -all shoemakers, he was an earnest politician, and read the _Scotsman_ -every week in the second month of its age, after it had made the -tour of _the Bow_;—“being determined,” he said, “to _stick by the -nation_!” We have also sometimes found occasion to recognise the nose -of an old acquaintance, under the disguise of a circulator of bills, -at the doors of certain haberdashers on the South Bridge. We have a -peculiar veneration for a puff given forth from the paw of an _old -Town-Guardsman_; and seldom find it in our heart to put such a document -to a death of candle-ends. - -One of the principal reasons which David Deans assigned to Saddletree, -for not employing counsel in the cause of his daughter Effie, was the -notorious Jacobitism of the faculty, who, he said, had received into -their library the medals which that Moabitish woman, the Duchess of -Gordon, had sent to them. This was a true and, moreover, a curious -case. In 1711, the great-grandmother of the present Duke of Gordon -excited no small attention by presenting to the Faculty of Advocates -a silver medal, with a head of the Pretender on one side, and, on the -other, the British isles, with the word _Reddite_.[31] The Dean having -presented the medal to the faculty at the next meeting, a debate ensued -about the propriety of admitting it into their repositories. It was -carried 63 to 12 to admit the medal, and return thanks to the duchess -for her present. Two advocates, delegated for that purpose, waited -upon her grace, and expressed their hopes that she would soon have an -opportunity of complimenting the faculty with a second medal on the -_Restoration_. - -This lady was the wife of George, first Duke of Gordon, who held out -Edinburgh Castle for King James, in 1689. - - -JEANIE DEANS. - -The plot of this tale, besides bearing some resemblance to that of The -Exiles of Siberia, finds a counterpart in the story of Helen Walker. - -When the following account of this person was taken down, in 1786, -she was a little stout-looking woman, between 70 and 80 years of -age, dressed in a long tartan plaid, and having over her white cap, -(_Scottice_, TOY,) a black silk hood tied under her chin. She lived -in the neighbourhood of Dumfries, on the romantic banks of the -immortalized Clouden, a little way above the bridge by which the road -from Dumfries to Sanquhar crosses that beautiful stream. She lived -by the humblest means of subsistence,—working stockings, teaching -a few children, and rearing now and then a small brood of chickens. -Her countenance was remarkably lively and intelligent, her eyes were -dark and expressive, and her conversation was marked by a naïveté and -good sense that seemed to fit her for a higher sphere in life. When -any question was asked concerning her earlier life, her face became -clouded, and she generally contrived to turn the conversation to a -different topic. - -Her story, so far as it was ever known, bore that she had been early -left an orphan, with the charge of a younger sister, named _Tibby_, -(Isabella,) whom she endeavoured to maintain and educate by her own -exertions. It will not be easy to conceive her feelings when her sister -was apprehended on a charge of child-murder, and herself called on as a -principal witness against her. The counsel for the prisoner told Helen, -that if she could declare that her sister had made any preparation, -however slight, or had communicated any notice of her situation, such -a statement would save her sister’s life. But, from the very first, -this high-souled woman determined against such a perjury, and avowed -her resolution to give evidence according to her conscience. Isabella -was of course found guilty and condemned; and, in removing her from the -bar, she was heard to say to her sister, “Oh, Nelly! ye’ve been the -cause of my death!” - -Helen Walker, however, was as remarkable for her dauntless perseverance -in a good cause as for her fortitude in resisting the temptations of a -bad one. She immediately procured a petition to be drawn up, stating -the peculiar circumstances of the case, and that very night of her -sister’s condemnation set out from Dumfries for London. She travelled -on foot, and was neither possessed of introduction nor recommendation. -She presented herself in her tartan plaid and country attire before -John Duke of Argyll, after having watched three days at his door, just -as he was stepping into his carriage, and delivered her petition. -Herself and her story interested him so much, that he immediately -procured the pardon she solicited, which was forwarded to Dumfries, and -Helen returned on foot, having performed her meritorious journey in the -course of a few weeks. - -After her liberation, Isabella was married to the father of her child, -and retired to some distance in the north of England, where Helen used -occasionally to visit her. - -Helen Walker, whom every one will be ready to acknowledge as the -_Original_ of Jeanie Deans, died in the spring of 1787; and her remains -lie in the Churchyard of Irongray, without a stone to mark the place -where they are deposited. - - -PATRICK WALKER. - -The objurgatory exhortation which David Deans delivers to his -daughters, on suddenly overhearing the word “_dance_” pronounced -in their conversation, will be remembered by our readers. He there -“blesses God, (with that singular worthy, Patrick Walker the packman at -Bristo-port,) that ordered his lot in his dancing days, so that fear of -his head and throat, cauld and hunger, wetness and weariness, stopped -the lightness of his head and the wantonness of his feet.” Almost the -whole of David’s speech is to be found at the 59th page of Patrick -Walker’s “Life of Cameron,” with much more curious matter. - -This “Patrick Walker” was a person who had suffered for the good cause -in his youth, along with many others of the “singular worthies” of -the times. After the Revolution, it appears that he exercised the -profession of a pedlar. He probably dealed much in those pamphlets -concerning the sufferings and the doctrines of the “_Martyrs_,” which -were so widely diffused throughout Scotland, in the years subsequent -to the Revolution. In the process of time he set up his staff of rest -in a small shop at the head of Bristo Street, opposite to the entrance -of a court entitled “Society.” Here Patrick flourished about a century -ago, and published several works, now very scarce and curious, of -“Remarkable Passages in the Lives and Deaths of those famous worthies, -signal for piety and zeal, _viz._ Mr. John Semple, Mr. Wellwood, Mr. -Cameron, Mr. Peden, etc.; who were all shining lights in the Land, and -gave light to many, in which they rejoiced for a season.” For this -sort of biography Patrick seems to have been excellently adapted; -for he had not only been witness to many of the incidents which -he describes, but, from his intimate personal friendship with the -subjects of his narratives, he was also a complete adept in all their -intricate polemics and narrow superstitions. These he accordingly -gives in such a style of length, strength, and volubility, as leaves -us weltering in astonishment at the extensive range of expression of -which Cant was susceptible. Take the following, for instance, from the -rhapsodies of Peden. “A bloody sword, a bloody sword, a bloody sword -for thee, O Scotland! Many miles shall ye travel and shall see nothing -but desolation and ruinous wastes in thee, O Scotland! The fertilest -places shall be desert as the mountains in thee, O Scotland! Oh the -Monzies, the Monzies, see how they run! how long will they run? Lord, -cut their houghs and stay their running. The women with child shall be -ript up and dashed in pieces. Many a preaching has God waired (_spent_) -on thee, O Scotland! But now He will come forth with the fiery brand -of His wrath, and then He will preach to thee by conflagration, since -words winna do! O Lord, Thou hast been baith good and kind to auld -Sandy, thorow a long tract of time, and given him many years in Thy -Service which have been but like as many months. But now he is tired -of the warld, and sae let him away with the honesty he has, for he -will gather no more!” We will also extract Patrick’s own account of -an incident which is related upon his authority in the “Heart of -Midlothian,” at the 54th page of the second volume. It is a good -specimen of his style:— - -“One time, among many, he[32] designed to administrate the Sacrament -of the Lord’s Supper; and before the time cam, he assured the people -that the devil would be envious of the good work they were to go -about,—that he was afraid he would be permitted to raise a storm in -the air with a speat of rain, to raise the water, designing to drown -some of them; but it will not be within the compass of his power to -drown any of you, no not so much as a dog. Accordingly it came to pass, -on _Monday_, when they were dismissing, they saw a man all in black, -entering the water to wade, a little above them; they were afraid, the -water being big; immediately he lost his feet, (as they apprehended,) -and came down lying on his back, and waving his hand. The people ran -and got ropes, and threw in to him; and tho’ there were ten or twelve -men upon the ropes, they were in danger of being drowned into the -water: Mr. Semple, looking on, cryed, ‘Quit the ropes and let him go, -(he saw who it was,) ’tis the devil, ’tis the devil; he will burn, but -not drown; and, by drowning you, would have God dishonoured, because -He hath gotten some glory to His free grace, in being kind to mony of -your souls at this time. Oh! he is a subtile wylie devil, that lies -at the catch, waiting his opportunity, that now, when ye have heard -all ye will get at this occasion, his design is to raise a confusion -among you, to get all out of your minds that ye have heard, and off -your spirits that ye have felt.’ He earnestly exhorted them all to -keep in mind what they had heard and seen, and to retain what they had -attained, and to go home blessing God for all, and that the devil was -disappointed of his hellish design. All search was made in the country, -to find out if any man was lost, but none could be heard of; from -whence all concluded that it was the devil.” - -According to Patrick, this same Mr. Semple was remarkable for much -discernment and sagacity, besides that which was necessary for the -detection of devils. From the following “passage,” the reader will -observe that he was equally acute in the detection of witches. “While -a neighbouring minister was distributing tokens before the sacrament, -Mr. Semple standing by, and seeing him reaching a token to a woman, -said, ‘Hold your hand; that Woman hath got too many tokens already, for -she is a witch;’ of which none suspected her then: yet afterwards she -confessed herself to be a witch, and was put to death for the same.” - -We also find John Semple, of Carsphearn, introduced into that -well-known irreverent work, “Scots Presbyterian Eloquence”; where an -humorous burlesque of his style of expression is given in the following -words: “In the day of judgment the Lord will say, ‘Who’s that there?’ -John will answer, ‘It’s e’en poor auld John Semple, Lord.’ ‘Who are -these with you, John?’ ‘It’s a few poor honest bonneted men.’ ‘Strange, -John! where’s all your folks with their hats and silk hoods?’ ‘I -invited them, Lord; but they would not come.’ ‘It’s not your fault, -John; come forward, ye are very welcome, and these few with you!’” - -In the _reekit_ and mutilated volume of “Lives” before us, we have -found a considerable number of passages which are alluded to in the -narratives of My Landlord—more indeed than it would be interesting -to point out. The use which the Author makes of the information he -derives from them is by no means dishonourable, except perhaps in one -instance, vol. iv., page 134, where it must be allowed he is rather -waggish upon Patrick, besides corrupting the truth of his text. This -instance relates to the murder of a trooper named Francis Gordon, said -to have been committed by the Cameronians. Patrick denies the charge -of murder, and calls it only killing in self-defence. His own account -is as follows: “It was then commonly said, that Mr. Francis Gordon was -a Volunteer out of Wickedness of Principles, and could not stay with -the Troops, but must alwaies be raging and ranging to catch hiding -suffering people. Meldrum and Airly’s Troops, lying at Lanark upon the -first Day of March, 1682, Mr. Gordon and another Comrade, with their -two Servants and four Horses, came to Kilcaigow, two Miles from Lanark, -searching for William Caigow and others under Hiding. Mr. Gordon, -rambling thorow the Town, offered to abuse the women. At night they -came a mile further to the Easterseat, to Robert Muir’s, he being also -under hiding. Gordon’s comrade and the two servants went to bed, but -he could sleep none, roaring all the night for women. When day came, -he took his sword in his hand, and came to Moss-Platt; and some men, -(who had been in the fields all night,) seeing him, they fled, and -he pursued. James Wilson, Thomas Young, and myself, having been in a -meeting all night, were lying down in the morning. We were alarmed, -thinking there were many more than one. He pursued hard and overtook -us. Thomas Young said, ‘Sir, what do you pursue us for?’ He said, he -was come to send us to Hell. James Wilson said, ‘That shall not be, for -we will defend ourselves.’ He answered that either he or we should go -to it now, and then ran his sword furiously thorow James Wilson’s coat. -James fired upon him, but missed him. All the time he cried, ‘damn his -soul!’ He got a shot in his head out of a pocket pistol, rather fit -for diverting a boy than for killing such a furious, mad, brisk man; -which notwithstanding killed him dead.” Patrick does not mention who it -was that shot him; and from his obscurity on this point, we are led -to suspect that it was no other than himself; for had it been Thomas -Young, it is probable that he would have mentioned it. In the ‘Tale,’ -David Deans is mentioned as being among them, and half confesses to the -merit of having killed Mr. Gordon; but our venerable biographer is also -made to prefer a sort of a half claim to the honour, while neither of -them dared utterly to avow it; ‘there being some wild cousins of the -deceased about Edinburgh who might have been yet addicted to revenge.’” - -The “worthy John Livingston, a sailor in Borrowstownness,” who is -quoted for a saying at the 37th page of the fourth volume, will be -found at 107th page of Patrick’s “Life of Cameron,” with the words -ascribed to him at full length. Borrowstownness seems to have been a -somewhat holy place in its day; for, besides this worthy, we learn from -the same authority that it also produced “Skipper William Horn, that -singular, solid, serious, old exercised, self-denied, experienced, -confirmed, established, tender Christian,” and another tar of the name -of Alexander Stewart, who “suffered at the Cross” for a cause in which -few of his profession have ever since thought of suffering,—together -with two other worthies named Cuthel, one of whom was beheaded along -with Mr. Cargill. - -At the 40th page of the same fourth volume, David Deans declares -himself to have been the person “of whom there was some sport at -the Revolution, when he noited thegither the heads of the twa false -prophets, their ungracious Graces the Prelates, as they stood on the -High Street, after being expelled from the Convention-parliament.” -The source of this story is also to be found in the works of Patrick -Walker. This sage historian relates the circumstance in a manner rather -too facetious to be altogether consistent with his habitual gravity. -“Fourteen Bishops,” says he, “were expelled at once, and stood in a -cloud, with pale faces, in the Parliament Close. James Wilson, Robert -Neilson, Francis Hislop, and myself, were standing close by them. -Francis Hislop, with force, thrust Robert Neilson upon them, and their -heads went hard upon each other. Their graceless Graces went quickly -off; and in a short time neither Bishop nor Curate were to be seen -in the streets. This was a sudden and surprising change, not to be -forgotten. But some of us would have rejoiced still more to have seen -the whole cabalzie sent legally down the Bow, that they might have -found the weight of their tails in a tow, to dry their stocking-soles, -and let them know what hanging was.”[33] - - -PARTICULARS REGARDING SCENERY, ETC. - -SAINT LEONARD’S CRAGS, the scene of David Deans’s residence, are an -irregular ridge, with a slight vegetation, situated in the south-west -boundary of the King’s Park, at Edinburgh. Adjacent to them, and -bearing their name, there exists a sort of village, now almost inclosed -by the approaching suburbs of the city. The neighbouring extremity -of the Pleasance, with this little place, seem to have formed at -one period the summer residences or villas of the inhabitants of -Edinburgh, some of the houses even yet bearing traces of little garden -plots before the door, and other peculiarities of what is still the -prevailing taste in the fitting up of _boxes_. None of these may, -however, have existed in the time of David Deans. In former times, St. -Leonard’s Crags and the adjoining valley used to be much resorted to by -duellists. This part of their history is, however, to be found at full -length in the “Heart of Midlothian.” There is a case of duel on record, -in which a barber challenged a citizen, and fought him with swords. It -happened in the year 1600. The citizen was slain; and his antagonist, -being instantly apprehended, was tried, and, by the order of the King, -executed, for having presumed to take the revenge of a gentleman.[34] - -MUSCHAT’S CAIRN, so conspicuously introduced into this Tale, was a heap -of stones placed upon the spot where a barbarous murder was committed -in the year 1720. The murderer was descended of a respectable family -in the county of Angus, and had been educated to the profession of a -surgeon. When in Edinburgh, in the course of his education, it appears -that he made an imprudent match with a woman in humble life, named -Margaret Hall. He shortly repented of what he had done, and endeavoured -by every means to shake himself free of his wife. The attempts -which he made to divorce, to forsake, and to poison her, proved all -unsuccessful; till at length he resolved, in the distraction caused -by his frequent disappointments, to rid himself of his incumbrance -by the surest method, that of cutting her throat. The day before the -perpetration of this deed, he pretended a return of affection to the -unfortunate woman, and in the evening took her to walk with him, in -the direction of Duddingston. The unhappy creature was averse to the -expedition, and intreated her husband to remain in Edinburgh; but he -persisted, in spite of her tears, in his desire of taking her with him -to that village. When they had got nearly to the extremity of the path -which is called the Duke’s Walk, (having been the favourite promenade -of the Duke of York, afterwards King James II.,) Muschat threw her -upon the ground, and immediately proceeded to cut her throat. During -her resistance he wounded her hand and chin, which she held down, -endeavouring to intercept the knife; and he declared in his confession, -afterwards taken, that, but for her long hair, with which he pinned her -to the earth, he could not have succeeded in his purpose, her struggles -being so great. Immediately after the murder, he went and informed -some of his accomplices, and took no pains to evade apprehension. He -was tried and found guilty upon his own confession, and, after being -executed in the Grassmarket, was hung in chains upon the Gallowlee.[35] -A cairn of stones was erected upon the spot where the murder took -place, in token of the people’s abhorrence and reprobation of the deed. -It was removed several years since, when the Duke’s Walk was widened -and levelled by Lord Adam Gordon. - -ST. ANTHONY’S CHAPEL, among the ruins of which Robertson found means to -elude the pursuit of Sharpitlaw, is an interesting relic of antiquity, -situated on a level space about half-way up the north-west side of the -mountain called Arthur’s Seat. It lies in a westerly direction from -Muschat’s Cairn, at about the distance of a furlong; and the Hunter’s -Bog, also mentioned in this Tale, occupies a valley which surrounds all -that side of the hill. The chapel was originally a place of worship, -annexed to a hermitage at the distance of a few yards, and both were -subservient to a monastery of the same name, which anciently flourished -on the site of St. Anthony’s Street in Leith. In the times of Maitland -and Arnot the ruin was almost entire; but now there only remain a -broken wall and a few fragments of what has once been building, but -which are now scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding grey -rocks;—so entirely has art in this case relapsed into its primitive -nature, and lost all the characteristics of human handiwork. The -slightest possible traces of a hermitage are also to be observed, -plastered against the side of a hollow rock; and, further down the -hill, there springs from the foot of a precipice the celebrated St. -Anthony’s Well. Queen Mary is said to have visited all these scenes; -and, somehow or other, her name is always associated with them by those -who are accustomed to visit, on a Sunday afternoon, their hallowed -precincts. They are also rendered sacred in song, by their introduction -into one of the most beautiful, most plaintive, and most poetical of -all Scotland’s ancient melodies: - - “I leant my back unto an aik, - I thought it was a trusty tree: - But first it bowed and syne it brak, - Sae my true love’s forsaken me. - - “Oh! Arthur’s Seat shall be my bed, - The sheets shall ne’er be pressed by me: - St. Anton’s well shall be my drink, - Sin’ my true love’s forsaken me,” etc. - -The situation is remarkably well adapted for a hermitage, though in -the immediate neighbourhood of a populous capital. The scene around -is as wild as a Highland desert, and gives an air of seclusion and -peacefulness as complete. If the distant din of the city at all could -reach the eremite’s ears, it would appear as insignificant as the -murmur of the waves around the base of the isolated rock, and would be -as unheeded. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[29] Even the loftiness of the surrounding buildings is taken into -account. “The uncommon height and antique appearance of these houses,” -says the author, “some of which were formerly the property of the -Knights Templars and the Knights of St. John, and still exhibit upon -their fronts and gables the iron cross of these orders, gave additional -effect to a scene in itself so striking.” This sentence, it is somewhat -remarkable, is also used (perhaps I should say _repeated_) by Sir -Walter Scott, when he finds occasion to describe the same scene in his -“Provincial Antiquities of Scotland.” - -[30] The shop from which the rioters procured the rope, was a small -shop in the second or middle division of the West Bow (No. 69). It -was then kept by a Mrs. Jeffrey, but was not a rope-maker’s shop. -It was a shop of _huckstery_ or _small wares_, in which ropes were -then included. It seems yet to be occupied by a person of the same -profession (Mrs. Wilson). - -[31] There is an engraving of this medal in Boyer’s “History of Queen -Anne,” p. 511. - -[32] Mr. John Semple, of Carsphearn. - -[33] We are glad to observe that the biographical works of Patrick -Walker are shortly to be reprinted by Mr. John Stevenson, Bookseller, -Prince’s Street, whose shop is well known, or ought to be so, by all -the true lovers of curious little old smoke-dried volumes. - -[34] Birrel’s account of this matter is as follows:—“[1600.] The 2 of -Apryll, being the Sabbath day, Robert Auchmutie, barber, slew James -Wauchope, at the combat in St. Leonard’s Hill; and, upon the 23, the -said Rt. put in ward in the tolbuith of Edr.; and in the meine time of -his being in ward, he hang ane cloke w’t’out the window of the irone -hous, and anither w’t in the window yr.; and, saying yat he was sick, -and might not see the light, he had aquafortis continuallie seithing -at the irone window, quhill, at the last, the irone window wes eiten -throw; sua, upon a morneing, he caused his prentes boy attend quhen the -towne gaird should have dissolvit, at q’lk tyme the boy waitit one, -and gaif hes Mr ane token yat the said gaird wer gone, be the schewe -or waiff of his hand-curche. The said Robt. hung out an tow, q’ron he -thought to have cumeit doune; the said gairde espyit the waiff of the -hand-curche, and sua the said Robt was disappointit of hes intentione -and devys; and sua, on the 10 day, he wes beheidit at the Cross, upon -ane scaffold.” P. 48, 49. - -[35] The Gallowlee was not the usual place of execution; but the most -flagrant criminals were generally hung there in chains. Many of the -martyrs were exhibited on its summit, which Patrick Walker records with -due horror. It ceased to be employed for any purpose of this kind about -the middle of the last century; since which period with one exception, -no criminals have been hung in chains in Scotland. Its site was a -rising ground immediately below the Botanic Garden, in Leith Walk. -When the New Town was in the progress of building, the sand used for -the composition of the mortar was procured from this spot; on which -account the miracle of a hill turned into a valley has taken place, -and it is at the present day that low beautiful esplanade of which -Eagle and Henderson’s nursery is formed. The Gallowlee turned out a -source of great emolument to the possessor, sixpence being allowed -for every cartful of sand that was taken away. But the proprietor was -never truly benefited by the circumstance. Being addicted to drinking, -he was in the habit of spending every sixpence as he received it. A -tavern was set up near the spot, which was formerly unaccommodated with -such a convenience, for the sole purpose of selling whisky to _Matthew -Richmond_,—and he was its only customer. A fortune was soon acquired of -the profits of the drink alone; and when the source of the affluence -ceased, poor Matthew was left poorer than he had originally been, after -having flung away the proffered chance of immense wealth. Never did -gamester more completely sink the last acre of his estate, than did -_muckle Matthew Richmond_ drink down the last grain of the sand-hill of -the Gallowlee! - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -=Bride of Lammermoor.= - - -(_The Plot, and Chief Characters of the Tale._)[36] - -John Hamilton, second son of Sir Walter Hambledon of Cadzow, ancestor -of the Dukes of Hamilton, married the heiress of Innerwick,[37] in East -Lothian, in the reign of King Robert Bruce, and was the progenitor of -“a race of powerful barons,” who flourished for about three hundred -years, and “intermarried with the Douglasses, Homes,” etc. They -possessed a great many lands on the coast of East Lothian, betwixt -Dunbar and the borders of Berwickshire, and also about Dirleton and -North Berwick. They had their residence at the Castle of Innerwick, -now in ruins. Wolff’s Crag is supposed to be the Castle of Dunglas; -and this supposition is strengthened by the retour[38] of a person of -the name of Wolff, in the year 1647, of some parts of the Barony of -Innerwick, being on record, and the castle having been blown up by -gunpowder in 1640, a circumstance slightly noticed in the Tale, but -too obvious to be mistaken.[39] Of this family the Earls of Haddington -are descended. They began to decline about the beginning of the 17th -century, when they seem to have lost the title of Innerwick[40] and -began to take their designation from other parts of the family -inheritance, such as Fenton, Lawfield, etc. The last of them was a -Colonel Alexander Hamilton, who was in life in 1670, and had been -_abroad_ for some time—thus agreeing with the Story in one particular -which had a material influence on the fortunes of the family. In him -the direct male line became extinct, and, according to the prophecy, -his name was “lost for evermore.” The circumstances of this family, -and the period of their decline, agree so exactly with the Tale, that, -unless the _local_ scene of it be altogether a fiction, it appears, at -first view, scarcely possible to doubt that the Lords of Ravenswood and -the Hamiltons of Innerwick were the same. - -Taking this supposition to be correct, a conjecture might be hazarded, -in the absence of any authentic information on the subject, from the -present possessors of the domains of the family of Innerwick, who Sir -William Ashton was. Sir John Nisbet of Dirleton was Lord Advocate in -the reign of King Charles II., and afterwards a Lord of Session, at the -very time when Colonel Hamilton above mentioned was abroad. He seems -to have been the founder of his family; and in this respect, as well -as his having been a great lawyer, bears a remarkable resemblance to -Sir William Ashton. He died without male issue, (another coincidence,) -and in possession of the very estate which belonged to the Hamiltons -of Innerwick, which his posterity still enjoy. From the want, however, -of written memoirs of the family at Dirleton, or a knowledge of the -manner in which they acquired their estates, any conjecture which can -be founded on these circumstances must be entirely hypothetical. - -Though silent regarding the house of Ravenswood, the subject of the -story has received considerable elucidation from a note[41] annexed -to the Review of it in the _Edinburgh Monthly Review_ for August, -1819, wherein it is stated, that Lucy Ashton was one of the daughters -of the first Lord Stair. This nobleman was certainly the only lawyer -at that period who enjoyed the power and influence said to have been -possessed by Sir William Ashton; and the circumstances mentioned in the -above note, as related in Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe’s edition of “Law’s -Memorialls,” particularly the expression made use of by the bride, -of “Take up your bonnie bridegroom,” may, if well authenticated, be -considered as decisive of the question. It is difficult, however, to -trace any connection between Lord Stair and the family of Innerwick, -or that he ever was in possession of their property. In this view of -the case, the parallel between Ravenswood and Hamilton of Innerwick -does not hold so well. But if the identity of Sir William Ashton with -Lord Stair be considered as established, there was another family in -more immediate contact with him, in the history of which there are -several events which seem to indicate that the Author had it in his -eye in the representation he has given of the Ravenswoods; unless, -as is very probable, he has blended the history of both together in -the manner that best suited his purpose. He indeed admits that he has -disguised facts and incidents, for the obvious purpose of making the -application less pointed to the real personages of the tale. The family -here alluded to is that of Gordon, Viscount Kenmure, in Galloway, -between which and the Lords of Ravenswood there are several points -of resemblance. For instance, the barony of Gordon, in Berwickshire, -where the Gordons had their first settlement in Scotland, and which -continued for a long time in this branch of the name, is in the -immediate vicinity of Lammermoor, and probably suggested the idea of -laying the scene in that neighbourhood. The names of the Castle (or -Barony) and of the Barons themselves, were the same. Their history was -“interwoven with that of the kingdom itself,” a well-known fact. The -Viscount of Kenmure[42] was engaged in the civil wars in the reign -of King Charles I.,[43] and was forfeited by Cromwell for his steady -adherence to that monarch. In him also the direct line of the family -suffered an interruption, the title having at his death devolved on -Gordon of Penninghame, who appears to have been much involved in -debt, and harassed with judicial proceedings against his estate. This -latter again espoused the sinking side in the Revolution of 1688, and -commanded a regiment at the battle of Killiecrankie. These coincidences -are too remarkable to be overlooked. And it may be added, in further -illustration, that Lord Stair, on being advanced to an earldom about -this period, took one of his titles from the barony of Glenluce, which -once belonged to a branch of the house of Kenmure. - -It was formerly mentioned, that the Author admits his having disguised -dates and events, in order to take off the application to the real -personages of the story, which they must otherwise have pointed out. -Of this sort are several anachronisms which appear in the work, such -as a _Marquis_ of A. (evidently Athol, from the letter to Ravenswood -dated at B. or Blair), when the Tory Ministry of Queen Anne got into -power, which was only in 1710, when M. Harley succeeded Lord Godolphin -as Treasurer; whereas the nobleman here alluded to was a _Duke_ so -far back as 1703. The time at which the events really took place must -also have been long prior to this period, for Lord Stair died in 1695; -and the change in administration by which Sir William Ashton lost his -influence probably refers to Lord Stair’s removal from his office in -1682. - -It may here be remarked, that the family of Stair was by no means so -obscure and insignificant as that of Sir William Ashton is represented -to have been. They possessed the barony of Dalrymple[44] in the -reign of King Alexander III.; they acquired the barony of Stair by -marriage in 1450. They made a considerable figure during the reign -of Queen Mary; and took an active part in the Reformation along with -the confederate lords who had associated in defence of the Protestant -religion. It must be admitted, however, that they made a greater figure -at this time, and during a subsequent period, than they ever did before. - - -_Note annexed to the Review of the Bride of Lammermoor, in the - Edinburgh Monthly Review for August, 1819—referred to in the - foregoing Conjectures._ - -“The reader will probably feel the interest of this affecting story -considerably increased, by his being informed that it is founded on -facts. The particulars, which have been variously reported, are given -in a foot-note to Mr. Sharpe’s edition of ‘Law’s Memorialls,’ p. -226; but are understood to have been sometimes told in conversation -by the celebrated Poet to whom public opinion assigns these Tales. -The ingenious author, whoever he is, has adopted that account of the -circumstances which Mr. Sharpe deems less probable. The prototype of -Lucy Ashton was one of the daughters of James, first Lord Stair, by his -wife Margaret, daughter of Ross of Balneil, County of Wigton, a lady -long reputed a witch by the country people in her neighbourhood, and -considered as the cause, _per fas et nefas_, of the prosperous fortunes -of the Dalrymple family. However this may have been, there was also -ascribed to her supposed league with Satan, or her extreme obduracy, -the miserable catastrophe now alluded to. The first version of the -story in Mr. Sharpe’s note decidedly and directly implicates the old -lady and her potent ally in the murder of her daughter on the night -of her marriage, which had been contracted against the mother’s will; -and, according to this account, it is the bridegroom who is found in -the chimney in a state of idiocy. The other edition, which is that of -the Tale, seems to require nothing beyond the agency of human passions -wrought up to derangement. According to it, the young lady, as in the -case of Lucy, was compelled to marry contrary to her inclination, her -heart having been previously engaged elsewhere. After she had retired -with her husband into the nuptial chamber, and the door, as was -customary, had been locked, she attacked him furiously with a knife, -and wounded him severely, before any assistance could be rendered. -When the door was broken open, the youth was found half dead upon the -floor, and his wife in a state of the wildest madness, exclaiming, -‘Take up your bonnie bridegroom.’ It is added, that she never regained -her senses; and that her husband, who recovered of his wound, would -bear no questions on the subject of his marriage, taking even a hint -of that nature as a mortal affront to his honour. The coincidence of -circumstances, and the identity of expression used by the bride, are -much too striking to be purely accidental, and altogether deserved to -be noticed, though at the hazard of making a long note. Lady Stair, -it may not be irrelevant to state, was conspicuous in her time for -what Mr. Sharpe denominates, ‘her violent turn towards Conventicles, -and the fostering of silenced preachers in her house,’—peculiarities -quite of a piece with the attachments and habits of Lady Ashton. Of -the prejudices and malignity of her enemies, we may form some opinion -from the satiric lines upon her long-wished-for and timely death, which -Mr. Sharpe very justly denominates most unchristian. Let the _epitaph_ -contrived for her bear testimony:— - - ‘Here lyes our Auntie’s coffin, I am sure, - But where her bodie is I cannot tell, - Most men affirm they cannot well tell where, - Unless both soul and body be in h——. - It is just if all be true that’s said, - The witch of Endor[45] was a wretched sinner, - And if her coffin in the grave be laid, - Her bodie’s roasted to the D——l’s dinner.’ - -“The author of the ‘Tales of my Landlord,’ it must be allowed, has -never showed any backwardness to join in the cry against people of her -principles, but he has never been so summary in his conclusions as to -their fate.” - - -LUCY ASHTON AND BUCKLAW. - -We derive the following curious notices respecting the Lucy Ashton and -Bucklaw of real life, from a rare volume, entitled “Tripatriarchicon; -or, the Lives of the Three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. -Digested into English Verse, by Mr. Andrew Symson, M.A., late Minister -of Kinkinner. Edinburgh: Printed for the Author. 1705.” The following -Poem is one of thirteen elegies found appended to some rare copies of -the book, which were withdrawn from the greater part of the edition, on -account of the offence taken against them by the Whigs. Symson seems to -have been a sincere and zealous partizan of High Church, and does not -seem to have permitted any great man of his own party to die without an -appropriate elegy, accompanied by a cutting tirade upon his enemies. - - “_On the unexpected death of the vertuous Lady_, Mrs. Janet - Dalrymple, _Lady_ Baldone, _Younger_. - Nupta, _Aug. 12_; Domum ducta, _Aug. 24_; Obiit, _Sept. 12_; - Sepult. _Sept. 30, 1669_. - - -_Dialogus inter advenam et servum domesticum._ - - ‘What means this sudden unexpected change, - This mourning Company? Sure, sure some strange - And uncouth thing hath happen’d. _Phœbus’s_ Head - Hath not been resting on the wat’ry bed - Of _Sea-green Thetis_ fourty times, since I - _In transitu_ did cast my tender Eye - Upon this very place, and here did view - A Troop of Gallants: _Iris_ never knew - The various colours which they did employ - To manifest and represent their Joy. - Yea more; Methinks I saw this very wall - Adorn’d with Emblems Hieroglyphicall. - At first; The glorious _Sun_ in lustre shine: - Next unto it, A young and tender _Vine_ - Surround a stately _Elm_, whose tops were crown’d - With wreaths of _Bay-tree_ reaching to the ground: - And, to be short, methinks I did espy - A pleasant, harmless, joyful Comedy. - But now (sad change, I’m sure,) they all are clad - In deepest Sable, and their Faces sad. - The _Sun’s_ o’erclouded and the _Vine’s_ away, - _The Elm_ is drooping, and the wreaths of Bay - Are chang’d to Cypress, and the Comedie - Is metamorphos’d to a Tragedie. - I do desire you, Friend, for to unfold - This matter to me.’ ‘Sir, ’tis truth you’ve told. - We did enjoy great mirth, but now, ah me! - Our joyful Song’s turned to an Elegie. - A vertuous Lady, not long since a Bride, - Was to a hopeful plant by marriage ty’d, - And brought home hither. We did all rejoyce, - Even for her sake. But presently our voice - Was turned to mourning, for that little time - That she’d enjoy: She wained in her prime - For Atropus, with her impartial knife, - Soon cut her Thread, and therewithall her Life. - And for the time, we may it well remember, - It being in unfortunate September, - Just at the _Æquinox_: She was cut down - In th’ harvest, and this day she’s to be sown, - Where we must leave her till the Resurrection; - ’Tis then the Saints enjoy their full perfection.’” - -One of these curious pieces is “A Funeral Elegie occasioned by the -sad and much lamented Death of that worthily respected and very much -accomplished Gentleman, David Dunbar, Younger of Baldone. He departed -this life on March 21, 1682, having received a bruise by a fall, as he -was ryding the day preceding betwixt Leith and Holyroodhouse; and was -honourably interred, in the Abbey Church of Holyroodhouse, on April -4, 1682.” Symson, though a printer in 1705, had been an episcopal -clergyman: and it is amusing to observe how much of the panegyric -which he bestows upon Dunbar is to be traced to the circumstance of -that gentleman having been almost his only hearer, when, in a Whiggish -parish, his curacy had like to be a perfect sinecure, so far as -regarded that important particular—a congregation. He thus speaks of -him:— - - “He was no Schismatick, he ne’er withdrew - Himself from th’ House of God; he with a few - (Some two or three) came constantly to pray - For such as had withdrawn themselves away, - Nor did he come by fits,—foul day or fair, - I, being in the church, was sure to see him there. - Had he withdrawn, ’tis like these two or three, - Being thus discouraged, had deserted me; - So that my Muse, ’gainst Priscian, avers, - _He_, HE alone, WERE my Parishioners, - Yea, and my constant Hearers. O that I - Had pow’r to eternize his Memory; - Then (though my joy, my glory, and my crown, - By this unhappy fall be thus cast down,) - I’d rear an everlasting monument, - A curious structure, of a large extent,— - A brave and stately pile, that should outbid - Ægyptian Cheops’ costly Pyramid,— - A monument that should outlive the blast - Of Time, and Malice too,—a pile should last - Longer than hardest marble, and surpass - The bright and durable Corinthian brass!”[46] - - -A COUNTRY INNKEEPER. - -(_Caleb Balderston._) - -The prototype of Caleb Balderstone was perhaps _Laird Bour_, a servant -of the Logans of Restalrig, in 1600. It is evident that the _character_ -is just a Scottish edition of “Garrick’s Lying Valet.” We have -discovered, however, a solitary trait of Caleb, in a Scotch innkeeper -of real existence, who lived long in the south country,[47] and died -only a few years ago. We subjoin a very brief notice of this person, -whose name was Andrew Davidson. - -A literary gentleman, who supplies us with information respecting him, -states that he was once possessed of a considerable estate,—that of -Green-house, in the county of Roxburgh. But being a man of great wit -and humour, his society was courted by young men of idle and dissipated -habits, who led him into such expenses as shortly proved prejudicial -to his fortunes. He was then obliged to sell off his estate and betake -himself to a humbler line of life. Keeping a small grocery and spirit -shop always presents itself to men in such circumstances as a means of -subsistence requiring the least instruction and most easily set afloat. -He accordingly commenced that line of business in Jedburgh; but, -being considered as an intruder into the burgh, and opposing certain -ancient residenters, who were supposed to be more lawfully, justly, -and canonically entitled to trade in the town than any new upstart, -he did not meet with that success which he expected. In consequence -of this illiberal treatment, he conceived the most rancorous hatred -for the inhabitants of Jedburgh, and ever after spoke of them in -the most violent terms of hatred and contempt. His common language -was, “that not an individual in the town would be judged at the last -day,—Jedburgh would be at once damned _by the slump!_” - -He again resolved to commence the profession of agriculture, and took -the farm of Habton, in the neighbouring parish of Crailing. This -speculation, however, succeeded no better than the shop. By associating -himself with the opulent farmers and gentlemen of the vicinity, by whom -his company, as a man of wit and jollity, was always much sought after, -his ancient habits of extravagance returned; and, though in poorer -circumstances, being obliged to spend in equal style with these ruinous -friends, the surviving wrecks of his fortune were soon dissipated, and -he was obliged to become a bankrupt. - -When a man who has freely lavished his fortune and his humour in the -entertainment of friends above his own rank becomes incapable of -further sacrifice, it is most natural for such friends to forsake and -neglect him. He is considered as no more entitled to their gratitude -than the superannuated player, after he has ceased to be supported by -the immediate exhibition of his powers. There is no Chelsea provided -for the cripples in the cause of the gay. - -Mr. Davidson was, however, more fortunate in his companions. After -his misfortune, they induced him to open a house of entertainment -at Ancrum Bridge; laid in for him a stock of wines, spirits, etc.; -made parties at his house; and set him fairly a-going. This was a -line in which he was calculated both to shine and to realize profit. -His company was still as attractive as ever; and it was no longer -disgraceful to receive a solid reward for the entertainment which his -facetiousness could afford. Having also learned a little wisdom from -his former miscarriages, he proceeded with more caution, kept up the -respectability of his house, was polite and amusing to his guests, and, -above all, paid infinite attention to his business. - -The peculiarity of character, for which we have placed his name against -that of Caleb Balderstone, here occurs. Whenever there alighted any -stranger of a more splendid appearance than ordinary, he was suddenly -seized with a fit of magniloquency, and, in the identical manner of -Caleb Balderstone, would call _Hostler No. 10_ down from _Hay-loft No. -15_, to conduct the gentleman’s “beast” to one of the best stalls in -the _Stable No. 20_! He would then, with a superabundance of ceremony, -show the stranger into a chamber which he would declare with the -greatest assurance to be _No. 40_; and on his guest asking perhaps -for a glass of rum, would order a waiter, whom he baptized (_nolens -volens_) _No. 15_ for the occasion, to draw it from the cask in the -bar marked 95. Then was the _twelfth_ hen-roost to be ransacked, and a -glorious fowl, the best that could be selected from a stock of about -_one thousand or so_, to be consigned to the hands of the _Head Cook_ -herself, (God knows his house boasted only one, who was _Scullion_ -and _Boots_ besides.) All this rhodomontade was enacted in a style -of such serious effrontery, and was accompanied by such a volubility -of talk, and flights of humour, and bustling activity, that any one -not previously acquainted with his devices, would have given him and -his house credit for ten times the size and respectability they could -actually boast of. - -Mr. Davidson afterwards removed to the inn at Middleton, where he -died, in good circumstances, about sixteen years ago. He was a man of -very brilliant talents, distinguished much by that faculty entitled -by the country people _ready wit_. He had a strong memory, a lively -and fertile imagination, and possessed powers of discourse truly -astonishing. The prevailing tone of his mind was disposed to ridicule. -He had a singularly felicitous knack of giving anything improper in his -own conduct or appearance a bias in his favour, and could at all times, -as we have seen, set off his own circumstances in such a light as made -them splendid and respectable, though in reality they were vulgar and -undignified. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[36] We are indebted for the following ingenious and elaborate article -to the gentleman who supplied the notice respecting the “Bodach Glas,” -at page 25. - -[37] Douglas’s Baronage,—Hamilton of Innerwick. - -[38] A retour is a law term, signifying the report of the verdict of -a jury, which, by the law of Scotland, is the mode of proving the -propinquity of an heir, so as to entitle him to be invested in his -predecessor’s estate. - -[39] Douglas’s Peerage,—Earl of Haddington. - -[40] Douglas’s Baronage,—Hamilton of Innerwick. - -[41] See page 6. - -[42] Douglas’s Peerage,—Viscount Kenmure. - -[43] A principal and conspicuous part of Lord Kenmure’s camp equipage -was a barrel of brandy, which was carried at the head of the regiment. -This was called Kenmure’s Drum. - -[44] Douglas’s Peerage,—Earl of Stair. - -[45] So she was styled. - -[46] We are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe for this -unique copy of the “Tripatriarchicon,” from which the above extracts -were made. - -[47] It is exceedingly remarkable that the greater part of the Author -of “Waverley’s” prototypes were natives of this district. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -=Legend of Montrose.= - - -(_Plot of the Tale._) - -There can be little doubt that the Author of “Waverley” has taken the -grounds of this Tale from the following interesting story, related in -a critique on the “Culloden Papers,” in the _Quarterly Review_, which -is said to have been written by the Great Novelist’s _other self_, Sir -Walter Scott. - -“The family or sept of Macgregor is of genuine Celtic origin, great -antiquity, and, in Churchill’s phrase, - - ‘doubtless springs - From great and glorious, but forgotten kings.’ - -“They were once possessed of Glenurchy, of the castle at the head -of Lochowe, of Glendochart, Glenlyon, Finlarig, Balloch, now called -Taymouth, and of the greater part of Breadalbane. From these -territories they were gradually expelled by the increasing strength -of the Campbells, who, taking advantage of a bloody feud between the -M‘Gregors and M‘Nabs, obtained letters of fire and sword against the -former; and, about the reigns of James III. and IV., dispossessed them -of much of their property. The celebrated M‘Gregor a Rua Rua, the -heir-male of the chief, and a very gallant young man, was surprised and -slain by Colin Campbell, the Knight of Lochowe, and with him fell the -fortunes of his family. From this time, the few lands which remained -not sufficing to support so numerous a clan, the M‘Gregors became -desperate, wild, and lawless, supporting themselves either by actual -depredation, or by the money which they levied as the price of their -forbearance, and retaliating upon the more powerful clans, as well as -upon the Lowlands, the severity with which they were frequently pursued -and slaughtered. A single trait of their history will show what was the -ferocity of feud among the Scottish clans. - -“The remaining settlements of the M‘Gregor tribe were chiefly -in Balquhidder, around Loch Katrine, as far as the borders of -Lochlomond. Even these lands they did not possess in property, but -by some transactions with the family of Buchanan, who were the real -landholders; but the terrors of the M‘Gregors extended far and wide, -for they were at feud with all their neighbours. In the year 1589, -a party of the M‘Gregors, belonging to a tribe called Clan-Duil a -Cheach, _i.e._ the children of Dougal of the Mist, (an appropriate -name for such a character,) met with John Drummond of Drummondernoch, -who had, in his capacity of stewart-depute, or provincial magistrate -of Strathearn, tried and executed two or three of these M‘Gregors, -for depredations committed on his chief Lord Drummond’s lands. The -Children of the Mist seized the opportunity of vengeance, slew the -unfortunate huntsman, and cut off his head. They then went to the -house of John Stewart of Ardvoirlich, whose wife was a sister of the -murdered Drummondernoch. The laird was absent, but the lady received -the unbidden and unwelcome guests with hospitality, and, according to -the Highland custom and phrase, placed before them bread and cheese, -till better food could be made ready. She left the room to superintend -the preparations, and when she returned, beheld, displayed upon the -table, the ghastly head of her brother, with a morsel of bread and -cheese in its mouth. The terrified lady rushed out of the house with -a fearful shriek, and could not be found, though her distracted -husband caused all the woods and wildernesses around to be diligently -searched. To augment the misery of Ardvoirlich, his unfortunate wife -was with child when she disappeared. She did not, however, perish. It -was harvest season, and in the woods and moors the maniac wanderer -probably found berries and other substances capable of sustaining -life; though the vulgar, fond of the marvellous, supposed that the -wild deer had pity on her misery, and submitted to be milked by her. -At length some train of former ideas began to revive in her mind. She -had formerly been very attentive to her domestic duties, and used -commonly to oversee the milking of the cows; and now the women employed -in that office in the remote upland grazings, observed with terror, -that they were regularly watched during the milking by an emaciated, -miserable-looking, female figure, who appeared from among the bushes, -but retired with great swiftness when any one approached her. The story -was told to Ardvoirlich, who, conjecturing the truth, took measures for -intercepting and recovering the unfortunate fugitive. She regained her -senses after the birth of her child; but it was remarkable, that the -son whom she bore seemed affected by the consequences of her terror. -He was of great strength, but of violent passions, under the influence -of which he killed his friend and commander, Lord Kilpont, in a manner -which the reader will find detailed in Wishart’s Memoirs of Montrose. - -“The tragedy of Drummondernoch did not end with the effects of the -murder on the Lady Ardvoirlich. The clan of the M‘Gregors being -convoked in the church of Balquhidder, upon the Sunday after the act, -the bloody head was produced on the altar, when each clansman avowed -the murder to have been perpetrated by his own consent, and, laying -successively his hands on the scalp, swore to defend and protect the -authors of the deed,—‘in ethnic and barbarous manner,’ says an order -of the Lords of the Privy Council, dated 4th February, 1589, ‘in most -proud contempt of our Sovereign Lord and his authority, if this shall -remain unpunished.’ Then follows a commission to search for and pursue -Alaster M‘Gregor of Glenstrae, and all others of his name, with fire -and sword. We have seen a letter upon this subject from Patrick, Lord -Drummond, who was naturally most anxious to avenge his kinsman’s death, -to the Earl of Montrose, appointing a day in which the one shall be ‘at -the bottom of the valley of Balquhidder with his forces, and advance -upward, and the other, with his powers, shall occupy the higher outlet, -and move downwards, for the express purpose of taking _sweet revenge_ -for the death of their cousin.’ Ardvoirlich assisted them with a party, -and it is said they killed thirty-seven of the clan of Dougal of the -Mist upon the single farm of Inverneuty.”—_Quarterly Review_, vol. -xiv., p. 307. - - -THE GREAT MONTROSE. - -The illustrious personage whose fortunes form the ground-work of this -Tale, was the only son of John, fourth Earl of Montrose,[48] by Lady -Margaret Ruthven, daughter of William, first Earl of Gowrie.[49] He was -born in the year 1612, succeeded his father in 1626, and was married -soon after, while yet very young,—a circumstance which is said to -have somewhat marred his education. He travelled into foreign parts, -where he spent some years in study, and in learning the customary -accomplishments of that period, in which he excelled most men; and he -returned home in 1634. - -Meeting with a cold and forbidding reception at Court, his Lordship -joined the supplicants in 1637, and became one of the most zealous -supporters of the Covenant in 1638. Next year he had the command of the -forces sent to the north against the town of Aberdeen, which he obliged -to take the Covenant; and the Marquis of Huntly, who, on his approach, -disbanded the men he had raised, was sent prisoner to Edinburgh. Lord -Aboyne appearing in arms in the north the same year, Montrose was -despatched against him, and totally routed his forces at the Bridge of -Dee. When the pacification of Berwick was concluded, Montrose was one -of the noblemen who paid their respects to Charles I. at that place in -July, 1639. - -Next year, an army being raised to march into England, Montrose had two -regiments given him, one of horse and one of foot. He led the van of -that army through the Tweed on foot, and, totally routing the vanguard -of the King’s cavalry, contributed to the victory at Newburn. But, in -1643, moved with resentment against the Covenanters, who preferred to -his prompt and ardent character the wily and politic Earl of Argyll, or -seeing, perhaps, that the final views of that party were inimical to -the interests of monarchy and of the constitution, Montrose espoused -the falling cause of loyalty, and raised the Highland clans, whom he -united to a small body of Irish, commanded by Alexander Macdonald, -still renowned in the north under the title of Colkitto. With a few -troops collected in Westmoreland, he first raised the royal standard -at Dumfries in April, 1644, but was soon obliged to retire into -England; and he was excommunicated by the commission of the General -Assembly.[50] To atone, however, for so severe a denunciation, the -King, about this time, raised him to the dignity of Marquis; and he -soon after had the pleasure of routing the Parliament army at Morpeth. -He was next successful in throwing provisions into Newcastle. After -the defeat of Prince Rupert at Marston Moor in July, 1644, he left his -men with that general, and went to Scotland. At this period of his -adventures the Author of “Waverley” takes him up in his “Legend of -Montrose.” - -Disguised as a groom, with only two attendants, Montrose arrived in -Strathearn, where he continued till rumour announced the approach of -1500 Irish, who, after ravaging the northern extremity of Argyllshire, -had landed in Skye, and traversed the extensive districts of Lochaber -and Badenoch. On descending into Atholl in August, 1644, they were -surprised with the unexpected appearance of their general, Montrose, -in the garb of a Highlander, with a single attendant; but his name -was sufficient to increase his army to 3000, for commanding whom he -had the King’s warrant. He attacked an army of Covenanters, amounting -to upwards of 6000 foot and horse, at Tippermuir, 1st September, -totally routed them, and took their artillery and baggage, without -losing a man. Perth immediately surrendered to the victor; but, Argyll -approaching, he abandoned that place as untenable, took all the cannon, -ammunition, and spoil of the town with him, and went north. He defeated -the Covenanters a second time at the Bridge of Dee, on the 12th of -September; and, continuing the pursuit to the gates of Aberdeen, -entered the town with the vanquished. The pillage of the ill-fated -burgh was doomed to expiate the principles which Montrose himself had -formerly imposed upon them. - -Argyll came from Stirling to Perth on the 10th of September; and his -army following him in a desultory manner, is said to have taken about -a week in passing through the latter town.[51] He passed the Tay in -boats, which Montrose had left undestroyed, and pursued that general -to the north. Meanwhile, Montrose had left Aberdeen, and sought the -assistance of the Gordons; but finding the Spey well guarded, he -retreated over the mountains to Badenoch, burying his artillery in a -morass. He descended into Atholl and Angus, pursued by Argyll, but by a -sudden march repassed the Grampians, and returned to rouse the Gordons -to arms! At Fyvie, he was almost surprised by Argyll, 27th October, -1644, but maintained a situation, advantageously chosen, against the -reiterated attacks of a superior army, till night, when he made good -his retreat into Badenoch. He immediately proceeded into Argyllshire, -which he ravaged, and sentence of forfeiture was passed against him in -Parliament. - -So extraordinary were the evolutions of Montrose, that on many -occasions the appearance of his army was the first notice the enemy had -of his approach; and of his retreats, the first intelligence was that -he was beyond their reach. Argyll, exasperated with the devastation -of his estates, marched against Montrose; but he, not waiting to be -attacked, marched thirty miles, by an unfrequented route, across the -mountains of Lochaber, during a heavy fall of snow, and came at night -in front of the enemy, when they believed him in a different part -of the country. This was in February, 1645, during a very inclement -season. “The moon shone so clear,” says Bishop Wishart, “that it was -almost as light as day. They lay upon their arms the whole night, and, -with the assistance of the light, so harassed each other with slight -alarms and skirmishes, that neither gave the other time to repose. -They all wished earnestly for day: only Argyll, more intent on his -own safety, conveyed himself away about the middle of the night: and, -having very opportunely got a boat, escaped the hazard of a battle, -choosing rather to be a spectator of the prowess of his men than share -in the danger himself. Nevertheless, the chiefs of the Campbells, who -were indeed a set of very brave men, and worthy of a better chief and -a better cause, began the battle with great courage. But the first -ranks discharging their muskets only once, Montrose’s men fell in upon -them furiously, sword in hand, with a great shout, and advanced with -such great impetuosity, that they routed the whole army, and put them -to flight, and pursued them for about nine miles, making dreadful -slaughter the whole way. There were 1500 of the enemy slain, among whom -were several gentlemen of distinction of the name of Campbell, who led -on the clan, and fell in the field of battle, too gallantly for their -dastardly chief. Montrose, though an enemy, pitied their fate, and used -his authority to save and give quarter to as many as he could. In this -battle Montrose had several wounded, but he had none killed but three -privates, and Sir Thomas Ogilvie, son of the Earl of Airley; whilst -Argyll lost the Lairds of Auchinbreck, Glensaddell, and Lochnell, with -his son and brother, and Barbreck, Inneraw, Lamont, Silvercraigs, and -many other prisoners.” Spalding, in his “History of the Troubles,” -states, that “there came direct from the committee of Edinburgh certain -men to see Argyll’s forwardness in following Montrose, but they saw his -flight, in manner foresaid. It is to be considered that few of this -army could have escaped if Montrose had not marched the day before the -fight thirty-three miles, (Scots miles) on little food, and crossed -sundry waters, wet and weary, and standing in wet and cold the hail -night before the fight.” - -Montrose, flushed with victory, now proceeded to Moray, where -he was joined by the Gordons and Grants. He next marched to the -southward, taking Dundee by storm; but being attacked by a superior -force under Baillie and Hurry, began to retreat. Baillie and Hurry -divided their forces, to prevent his return to the north; but, by a -masterly movement, he passed between their divisions, and regained -the mountains. He defeated Hurry at Meldrum, near Nairn, on the 14th -May, 1645, by a manœuvre similar to that of Epaminondas at Leuctra and -Mantinea. In that battle, the left wing of the Royalists was commanded -by Montrose’s able auxiliary, Alister Macdonell, or Maccoul, (as he is -called in Gaelic) still celebrated in Highland tradition and song for -his chivalry and courage. An elevation of ground separated the wings. -Montrose received a report that Macdonell’s wing had given way, and -was retreating. He instantly ran along the ranks, and called out to -his men that Macdonell was driving the enemy before him, and, unless -they did the same, the other wing would carry away all the glory of the -day. His men instantly rushed forward, and charged the enemy off the -field, while he hastened with his reserve to the relief of his friend, -and recovered the fortune of the day.[52] At this battle, in which -2000 Covenanters fell, Campbell of Lawers, though upwards of seventy -years of age, fought on the Presbyterian side, with a two-handed -broadsword, till himself, and four of his six sons, who were with him, -fell on the ground on which they stood. Such was the enemy which the -genius and courage of Montrose overcame. Pursuing his victory, Montrose -encountered and defeated Baillie at Alford, on the 2nd of July; but on -this occasion his success was embittered by the loss of Lord Gordon, -who fell in the action. His victories attracted reinforcements from all -parts of the country: he marched to the southward at the head of 6000 -men, and fought a bloody and decisive battle near Kilsyth, on the 15th -August, when nearly 5000 Covenanters fell under the Highland claymore. - -This last and greatest of his splendid successes opened the whole -of Scotland to Montrose. He occupied Glasgow and the capital, and -marched forward to the border, not merely to complete the subjection -of the southern provinces, but with the flattering hope of pouring his -victorious army into England, and bringing to the support of Charles -the swords of his paternal tribes. - -Montrose was now, however, destined to endure a reverse of his hitherto -brilliant fortune. After traversing the border counties, and receiving -little assistance or countenance from the chiefs of these districts, he -encamped on Philiphaugh, a level plain near Selkirk, extending about a -mile and a half along the banks of the rivers Tweed and Ettrick. Here -he posted his infantry, amounting to about 1500 men, while he himself -and his cavalry, to the amount of about 1000, took up their quarters in -the town of Selkirk. - -Recalled by the danger[53] of the cause of the Covenant, General David -Lesly came down from England at the head of those iron squadrons -whose force had been proved in the fatal battle of Long Marston Moor. -His army consisted of from 5000 to 6000 men, chiefly cavalry. Lesly’s -first plan seems to have been to occupy the midland counties, so as -to intercept the return of Montrose’s Highlanders, and to force him -to an unequal combat. Accordingly, he marched along the eastern coast -from Berwick to Tranent; but there he suddenly altered his direction, -and, crossing through Midlothian, turned again to the southward, and, -following the course of Gala Water, arrived at Melrose the evening -before the engagement. How it is possible that Montrose should have -received no notice whatever of the march of so considerable an army -seems almost inconceivable, and proves that the country was very -disaffected to his cause or person. Still more extraordinary does it -appear, that, even with the advantage of a thick mist, Lesly should -have, the next morning, advanced towards Montrose’s encampment without -being descried by a single scout. Such, however, was the case, and it -was attended with all the consequences of a complete surprisal. The -first intimation that Montrose received of the march of Lesly was the -noise of the conflict, or rather that which attended the unresisted -slaughter of his infantry, who never formed a line of battle: the -right wing alone, supported by the thickets of Harehead-wood, and by -their entrenchments, stood firm for some time. But Lesly had detached -2000 men, who, crossing the Ettrick still higher up than his main -body, assaulted the rear of Montrose’s right wing. At this moment the -Marquis arrived, and beheld his army dispersed, for the first time, -in irretrievable rout. He had thrown himself upon a horse the instant -he heard the firing, and, followed by such of his disordered cavalry -as had gathered upon the alarm, he galloped from Selkirk, crossed the -Ettrick, and made a bold and desperate attempt to retrieve the fortune -of the day. But all was in vain; and after cutting his way, almost -singly, through a body of Lesly’s troopers, the gallant Montrose graced -by his example the retreat of the fugitives. That retreat he continued -up Yarrow, and over Minchmoor; nor did he stop till he arrived at -Traquair, 16 miles from the field of battle. He lodged the first night -at the town of Peebles.[54] Upon Philiphaugh he lost, in one defeat, -the fruit of six splendid victories; nor was he again able effectually -to make head in Scotland against the covenanted cause. The number -slain in the field did not exceed 300 or 400; for the fugitives found -refuge in the mountains, which had often been the retreat of vanquished -armies, and were impervious to the pursuer’s cavalry. Lesly abused his -victory, and disgraced his arms, by slaughtering in cold blood many of -the prisoners whom he had taken; and the court-yard of Newark Castle is -said to have been the spot upon which they were shot by his command. -Many others are said by Wishart to have been precipitated from a high -bridge over the Tweed,—a circumstance considered doubtful by Laing, as -there was then no bridge over the Tweed between Peebles and Berwick, -though the massacre might have taken place at either of the old bridges -over the Ettrick and Yarrow, which lay in the very line of flight and -pursuit. It is too certain that several of the Royalists were executed -by the Covenanters, as traitors to the King and Parliament.[55] - -After this reverse of fortune,[56] Montrose retired into the north. -In 1646, he formed an association with the Earls of Sutherland and -Seaforth, and other Highland chieftains, and they laid siege to -Inverness; but General Middleton forced Montrose to retreat, with -considerable loss. Charles I. now sending orders to Montrose to disband -his forces and leave the kingdom, he capitulated with Middleton, -July, 1646, and an indemnity was granted to his followers, and he was -permitted to retire to the continent. The capitulation was ratified by -Parliament, and Montrose was permitted to remain unmolested in Scotland -for a month to settle his affairs. - -He now proceeded to France, where he resided two years. He had -the offer of the appointments of general of the Scots in France, -lieutenant-general of the French army, captain of the _gens -d’armes_,[57] with an annual pension of 12,000 crowns, and a promise -of being promoted to the rank of _maréchal_, and to the captaincy of -the King’s guards, all which preferments he declined, as he wished -only to be of service to his own King. He retired privately from Paris, -in May, 1648, and went to Germany, from thence to Brussels, where he -was, at the period of the King’s execution, in 1649. He then repaired -to the Hague, where Charles II. resided, and offered to establish him -on the throne of Scotland by force. The King gave him a commission -accordingly, and invested him with the order of the garter. Montrose, -with arms supplied by the court of Sweden, and money by Denmark, -embarked at Hamburg, with 600 Germans, and landed in Orkney in spring -1650, where he got some recruits, and crossed over to Caithness with -an army of about 1400 men; and he was joined by several Royalists as -he traversed the wilds of Sutherland. But, advancing into Ross-shire, -he was surprised, and totally defeated, at Invercharron, by Colonel -Strachan, an officer of the Scottish Parliament, who afterwards became -a decided Cromwellian. Montrose’s horse was shot under him; but he was -generously remounted by his friend, Lord Frendraught. After a fruitless -resistance, he at length fled from the field, threw away his ribbon -and George, changed clothes with a countryman, and thus escaped to the -house of M‘Leod of Assint,[58] by whom he was betrayed to General Lesly. - -Whatsoever indignities the bitterness of party rage or religious -hatred could suggest, were accumulated on a fallen, illustrious -enemy, formerly terrible, and still detested. He was slowly and -ostentatiously conducted through the north by the ungenerous Lesly, -in the same mean habit in which he was taken. His devastations were -not forgotten,—his splendid victories never forgiven,—and he was -exposed, by excommunication, to the abhorrence and insults of a -fanatical people. His sentence was already pronounced in Parliament, on -his former attainder, under every aggravation which brutal minds can -delight to inflict. He was received by the magistrates of Edinburgh at -the Watergate, 18th May, 1650, placed on an elevated seat in a cart, -to which he was pinioned with cords, and, preceded by his officers, -coupled together, was conducted, bareheaded, by the public executioner, -to the common jail. But his magnanimity was superior to every insult. -When produced to receive his sentence in Parliament, he was upbraided -by the Chancellor with his violation of the Covenant, the introduction -of Irish insurgents, his invasion of Scotland during a treaty with -the King; and the temperate dignity which he had hitherto sustained, -seemed, at first, to yield to indignant contempt. He vindicated his -dereliction of the Covenant, by their rebellion,—his appearance in -arms, by the commission of his Sovereign,—and declared, that as he -had formerly deposited, so he again resumed his arms, by his Majesty’s -command, to accelerate the treaty commenced with the States. A -barbarous sentence, which he received with an undaunted countenance, -was then pronounced by a Parliament who acknowledged Charles to be -their King, and whom, on that account only, Montrose acknowledged to be -a Parliament,—that he should be hanged for three hours, on a gibbet -30 feet high; that his head should be affixed to the common jail, his -limbs to the gates of the principal towns, and his body interred at the -place of execution, unless his excommunication were taken off, and then -it might be buried in consecrated ground. With dignified magnanimity, -he replied, that he was prouder to have his head affixed to the prison -walls than his picture placed in the King’s bedchamber; “and, far from -being troubled that my limbs are to be sent to your principal towns, I -wish I had flesh enough to be dispersed through Christendom, to attest -my dying attachment to my King.” It was the calm employment of his mind -that night to reduce this extravagant sentiment to verse. He appeared -next day on the scaffold, in a rich habit, with the same serene and -undaunted countenance, and addressed the people, to vindicate his dying -unabsolved by the Church, rather than to justify an invasion of the -kingdom during a treaty with the Estates. The insults of his enemies -were not yet exhausted. The history of his exploits, which had been -written in Latin by Bishop Wishart, and published all over Europe, -was attached to his neck by the executioner; but he smiled at their -inventive malice, declared that he wore it with more pride than he had -done the garter, and when his devotions were finished, demanding if any -more indignities were to be practised, submitted calmly to an unmerited -fate.[59] - -Thus perished, at the age of thirty-eight, the gallant Marquis of -Montrose, with the reputation of one of the first commanders that the -civil wars had produced. He excelled in the stratagems of war; but his -talents were rather those of an active, enterprising partisan, than of -a great commander,—better fitted to excite and manage a desultory war, -than to direct the complicated operations of a regular campaign. He may -be admired for his genius, but he cannot be praised for his wisdom. -Though he excelled in the performance of rapid movements, and had the -quick eye of a serpent approaching its prey, he had not the firmness, -perseverance, and vigilance which form the necessary qualifications -of a great general. Most of his victories were gained by the celerity -of his approaches and the impetuosity of his attacks, yet he did not -prove himself any better qualified to avert the fatal consequences -of surprise than those whom his manœuvres had so often defeated. His -genius was great and romantic, in the opinion of Cardinal de Retz, no -mean judge of human nature, approaching the nearest to the ancient -heroes of Greece and Rome. But his heroism was wild and extravagant, -and was less conspicuous during his life than from the fortitude with -which he sustained an ignominious death. - -Montrose’s sentence, in all circumstances, was executed _ad literam_. -His head was stuck upon the tolbooth of Edinburgh, where it remained, -blackening in the sun, when his master, Charles II., soon thereafter -arrived in the Scottish metropolis. His limbs were dispersed to Perth, -Glasgow, Stirling, and Aberdeen, and his body was buried at the place -of execution, from whence it was afterwards removed to the common -moor,[60] whence it was lifted at the Restoration. On this event, when -Charles found opportunity for testifying his respect for Montrose, -his scattered remains were collected. There was a scaffold erected -at the tolbooth, and some ceremony was used in taking down his head -from its ignominious situation. According to Kirkton,[61] some bowed -and some knelt while that relic was removed from the spike, which was -done by Montrose’s kinsman, the Laird of Gorthie, who, according to -the covenanting account, died _in consequence_, after performing his -triumphant but melancholy duty. The Laird of Pitcurre, too, who in -his joy had drunk a little too much on the occasion, was, by the same -account, found dead in his bed next morning; though we find little -hesitation in giving the brandy more of the credit due to that event -than what the Presbyterian annalist is pleased to call “the pleasure of -Heaven.” Montrose’s remains were deposited in Holyroodhouse, where they -remained some time in state; and, on the 14th of May, 1651, they were -buried, with great pomp and ceremony, in the cathedral church of St. -Giles. - - * * * * * - -Such is a brief but correct historical detail of the events which the -Author of “Waverley” has confounded and misrepresented, for his own -purposes, in the “Legend of Montrose.” We have given at best but a -meagre outline of the events, but as they run in their proper series, -our narrative will serve to correct the irregularity into which the -Great Novelist has thrown them. It may here be observed, that the -last event in the Tale is the attempted murder of Lord Menteith, -which our Author has placed after the battle of Inverlochy. Now this -circumstance, which was of real occurrence, took place on the 6th of -September, 1644, a few days after the battle of Tippermuir, whereas the -battle of Inverlochy happened on the 1st of February, 1645, five months -after. We have made some collections respecting the assassination, and -give the result. - -John, Lord Kinpont, the Lord Menteith of the “Legend of Montrose,” -was the eldest son of William, seventh Earl of Menteith, and first -Earl of Airth, who rendered himself remarkable in the reign of Charles -I. by saying that he had “the reddest blood in Scotland,” alluding -to his descent from Euphemia Ross, then supposed the first wife of -Robert II.,—in consequence of which expression he was disgraced and -imprisoned by his offended Sovereign. Lord Kinpont married, in 1632, -Lady Mary Keith, a daughter of Earl Marishal; consequently he could -not be the hero and lover which he is represented to have been in the -fiction, and the story of Allan Macaulay’s rivalry, which prompted -him to the wicked deed, must be entirely groundless. Kinpont joined -Montrose in August, 1644, with recruits to the amount of 400 men, and -was present at the battle of Tippermuir, immediately following. A -few days thereafter, James Stewart, of Ardvoirlich, basely murdered -his Lordship at Colace, in Perthshire. A different colour is given -to this circumstance by different narrators. A citizen of Perth, -who wrote a manuscript giving an account of some remarkable events -in his own time, (quoted in “_The Muse’s Threnodie_,”) says simply -that Stewart committed the murder “because Lord Kinpont had joined -Montrose.” But, in Guthrie’s Memoirs, we find, that “Stewart having -proposed to his Lordship a plan to assassinate Montrose, of which Lord -Kinpont signified his abhorrence, as disgraceful and devilish, the -other, without more ado, lest he should discover him, stabbed him to -the heart, and immediately fled to the Covenanters, by whom he was -pardoned and promoted.[62] The Marquis of Montrose, deeply affected -with the loss of so noble a friend, gave orders for conveying his -body in an honourable manner to Menteith, where he was interred.” In -the “Staggering State of Scots Statesmen,”[63] we find the following -passage:—“The Lord Kinpont, being with James Graham in the time of -the late troubles, was stabbed with a dirk by one Alexander Stewart, -and his lady, daughter of the Earl of Marishal, was distracted in her -wits four years after.” Here a remarkable discrepancy is observable. -The assassin is termed _Alexander_, whereas every other authority -gives _James_ as his Christian name. Yet this discordance in names is -not more worthy of remark than another of the same description, which -we are about to point out to the amateurs of the Scotch Novels, as -occurring in the Tale before us. In the first edition of this Tale -(1819) at the 321st page of the third volume, the Great Unknown, for -once, forgets the fictitious appellation Macaulay, and terms the -visionary brother Allen _Stuart_, which, we think, completely serves to -identify the above story with the dreadful one in the “Tale.” - -Wishart says, that such was the friendship and familiarity of Kinpont -with his murderer, that they had slept in the same bed the night -previous to the horrid deed, which took place, it appears, in the grey -of the morning. It is true that he killed also “the centinel who stood -at the entry of the camp, it being so dark that those who pursued -him could not see the length of their pikes. Montrose was very much -afflicted with the untimely fate of this nobleman, who had been his own -special friend, and most faithful and loyal to the King his master, and -who, besides his knowledge in polite literature, philosophy, divinity, -and law, was eminent for his probity and fortitude.”—_Memoirs_, p. 84. - - * * * * * - - -PHILIPHAUGH.[64] - -Selkirk lies on the face of a long range of hills stretching from north -to south. The Ettrick water, a pretty little river, runs at their base. -A bridge of four arches crosses the stream, and carries the road from -the low, flat, and swampy plain of Philiphaugh, up the eminence, in a -gracefully winding direction, to the town. A mountain streamlet, called -the Shawburn, disembogues itself at the bridge. This in summer is -quite dry, but in winter, or during wet weather, descends in torrents, -and assists the Ettrick in overflowing the field of Philiphaugh. This -celebrated field is now partly inclosed, and bears a few patches of -turnips; but the chief produce seems to be rushes, a species of crop -which may perhaps yield little comfort to the agriculturist, but which -will give a more than proportionable pleasure to the amateur, assuring -him that the ground has lost little of its original character, and is -much the same now as when it was trod by Montrose. - -The hill on which Selkirk stands is studded round with neat gentlemen’s -seats, and forms a striking contrast with those on the opposite side -of Philiphaugh, which are uniformly dark, bleak, and unproductive. -Sheltered by one of these, and situated directly south from Selkirk, -there stands, in the ravine formed by the Shawburn, a little cottage -thatched in the Scottish fashion, with the usual accompaniments of -a _kail-yard_, a _midden_[65] before the door, and a _jaw-hole_. The -inhabitants of this humble tenement, if, like us, you be driven in -by stress of weather, will be very obliging in telling all they know -about Philiphaugh, and how Montrose galloped “up the burn and away -over Minchmoor,” in his retreat before Lesly’s victorious army. They -will likewise tell an indistinct story about a division of Lesly’s -troops, which, led by a countryman, came down this way in order to cut -off his retreat. This evidently alludes to the circumstance of Lesly -despatching a body of his horse across the river to attack Montrose’s -right wing in the rear, upon which the unfortunate general, finding -himself hemmed in on all sides, cut his way through his foes, and -abandoned the field.[66] In corroboration of what we suppose, the -inhabitant of the cottage points out several _tumuli_ or mounds[67] on -a little peninsula formed by a sweep of the stream, where the conflict -had been greatest. He also speaks of having now and then dug up in his -potato-field the remains of human bones. - -This _cicerone_ of Philiphaugh is a very singular-looking man, and well -merits the little attention which you may feel disposed to pay him. He -is what is called a country weaver—that is, a person who converts into -cloth the thread and yarn spun by the industrious female peasantry of -his neighbourhood. It is not perhaps generally known—at least among -our southern neighbours—that the common people of Scotland in general -manufacture their own clothes, and that from the first carding of the -wool to the induing of the garment. The assistance of the weaver and -the dyer is indeed required; but every other department of the business -they are themselves fit to undertake,[68] and sometimes the aid of the -dyer is entirely dispensed with, when the cloth, bearing the natural -colour of the wool, is termed _hodden-grey_, an expression to which -Burns has given a more than ordinary interest. The weaver is usually -a person of no little importance in a rural district; for his talents -are in universal request. The specimen of the craft now before us was -unusually poor, and, not being free of the Selkirk incorporation, was, -like the Paria of the Indian tale, obliged to fly from the customary -haunts of his brethren, and seek an asylum in this solitary place. -According to his own account of his affairs, he “daikers on here in a -very sma’ way,” but when he can get _customer-wark_, has no occasion to -complain. _Customer-wark_ is the species of employment which we have -described, and he says that he can make eighteen-pence a day by it, -which seems to him to constitute a superlative degree of prosperity. -We visited his loom, which we found half embedded in the damp earth -in a low-roofed part of the cottage, and separated from the domestic -establishment by two large wooden beds. Here he seemed engaged upon -a piece of woollen cloth at least half an inch thick, the surface of -which appeared fully as rough and unequal as the map of Selkirkshire -in our good friend Mr. John Thomson’s Scottish Atlas. One peculiarity -in his method of working is worthy of remark. Instead of impelling -the shuttle in the improved modern manner, by means of a simple piece -of mechanism, he sent it through the web by his hands, throwing it -from the right and receiving it into the left, and _vice versa_, -while the hand immediately unemployed with the shuttle, was employed -for the instant in drawing the _lay_ in upon the thread. This old -fashion, which formerly prevailed in every species of weaving, is now -disused by all the Glasgow manufacturers and others who work upon -fine materials, and is only kept up in remote parts by the coarse -country weavers. We entered into a discussion of the various merits and -demerits of different sorts of work; and found that Glasgow was blessed -with no share of the goodwill of our friend the weaver. Jaconets, -blunks, ginghams, and cambrics were alternately brought up, and each -successively declared stale, flat, and unprofitable, in comparison -with the coarse stuff upon which he was now employed. _Customer-wark_ -was superior to every other work; and customer-wark was, indeed, -the very god of his divinity. _Customer-wark_ seemed to give a sort -of _character_ to his conversation, for the phrase was generally -introduced three or four times into, and formed the termination -of, every sentence. When he paused for breath, he recommenced -with “customer-wark;” and this ludicrous technical accented every -cadence. The world was to the weaver all a desert, wherein only one -resting-place existed—_customer-wark_! - -The poor weaver’s workshop is a miserable-looking place, and so damp -that the walls have a yellow tinge, which also affects the three-paned -window, through which the light finds its way with difficulty. The -family pig is disposed in the same place,—an unusual mark of squalor -and poverty. The weaver tells that his loom now occupies the precise -spot on which the tent of Montrose formerly stood; but this can -scarcely be correct, as, by all accounts, the general resided, with all -his horse, in the town of Selkirk. - -When we visited Philiphaugh, in September, 1824, we entered fully -into the spirit of the weaver, and on that occasion extended our -observations to his wife, who is a tall, hollow woman, with dark -eyes, and who speaks and smokes with equal assiduity. The result of -our investigation was the following versified sketch, in which we -have endeavoured to give the reader a complete idea of that hitherto -nondescript animal, a country weaver: his feelings, fortunes, family, -domestic economy, and—above all—his _customer-wark!_ - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[48] “19th January, 1595, the young Earl of Montrose fought a combat -with Sir James Sandilands, at the salt trone of Edinburgh, thinking -to have revenged the slaughter of his cousin, Mr. John Graham, who -was slain with the shot of a pistol, and four of his men slain with -swords.”—_Birrel’s Diary_, p. 34. - -[49] It was reported that Montrose, while a child, swallowed a toad, -by the command and direction of his mother, in order to render -himself invulnerable. As Mr. Sharpe says, in his amusing work, “Law’s -Memorialls,” he swallowed in after-life something worse,—the Covenant. - -[50] Wood’s Peerage, vol. ii. - -[51] “The Muse’s Threnodie.” - -[52] Stewart’s “Sketches of the Highlands,” vol. ii. - -[53] “Border Minstrelsy,” vol. iii. - -[54] Wishart. - -[55] A covenanted minister, present at the execution of these -gentlemen, observed,—“This wark gaes bonnily on!”[A] an amiable -exclamation, equivalent to the modern _ça ira_, so often used on -similar occasions. - -[A] Wishart, “Memoirs of Montrose.” - -[56] Wood’s Peerage. - -[57] Letter of Archibald, Lord Napier, Brussels, 14th June, 1648, -_penes_ D. Napier. - -[58] M‘Leod got 400 bolls of meal from the Covenanters for his -treachery. - -[59] Laing’s History, vol. i. - -[60] “Law’s Memorialls.” - -[61] “History of the Church of Scotland,” p. 126. In the “Mercurius -Caledonius” the place of this inhumation was “under the public gibbet, -half a mile from town.” - -[62] The rescinded acts, January, 1645, contain a ratification of James -Stewart’s pardon for killing Lord Kinpont. He was made major of the -Marquis of Argyll’s regiment of foot, 24th October, 1648.—_Nisbet’s -Heraldry_, vol. ii., _App._ 77. - -[63] Scott of Scottstarvet’s “Staggering State of Scots Statesmen” is a -curious memoir, written shortly after the Restoration, but not printed -till early in the year 1754, after the death of the persons whose -characters and actions are mentioned with so little respect in the -course of its satirical details. It is adverted to, as in a condition -of manuscript, at the 25th page of the 2nd volume of the “Bride of -Lammermoor”; and the Author appears to have made some use of its -informations in the construction of the subsequent Tale. - -[64] This article forms part of a work which I have recently projected, -to be entitled, “Pilgrimages to the most remarkable Scenes celebrated -in Scottish History.” - -[65] This ungainly word is from the Danish; and it is somewhat -remarkable, that it is also used in the county of Northumberland, the -population of which is supposed to partake with the Scotch in a Danish -extraction. - -[66] Wishart, p. 200. - -[67] These are the remains of the trenches which Montrose threw up to -defend the flanks of his infantry. - -[68] It ought to be mentioned that the tailor is also called in. In -former times this craftsman used to visit a farmer’s or cottager’s -house, with all his train of callow apprentices, once a year; and he -lived in a family way with the inhabitants till his work was finished, -when he received twopence a-day for what he had done, and went away to -mis-shape human garments at some other house. About sixty years ago, -there was a sort of _strike_ among the tailors, for a groat instead of -twopence a day; and this mighty wage continued without further increase -till the practice of taking tailors into the family has been nearly -discontinued everywhere. It was not the wages, however, but the food -of the tailor, which constituted his chief guerdon. The tailor was -always well-fed, and if there were anything better than another in the -house it was reserved for him. When, in spring time, the gudewife’s -_mart-barrel_ was getting nearly exhausted of its savoury contents, -she would put off the family with something less substantial for a few -weeks in expectation of her annual visitors—“We maun hain a bit for the -tailyeours, ye ken!” she would say. - -In support of what we advance in the text, we may observe that it -is not more than half a century since house-spinning was nearly as -prevalent in the city of Edinburgh as in the country, and it will yet -be in the recollection of the most aged of our readers, that signs were -prevalent in the streets, bearing that “Lint was given out to spin—in -here,—down this close,—through this entry,” etc., etc. In these days -the Netherbow, a mean range of buildings at the eastern extremity -of the High Street, was entirely occupied by weavers who “took in -_customer-wark_,”—in proof of which fact we may cite the multiplicity -of the windows in those houses, which are still permitted to exist. -Now, alas! the shuttles of this busy neighbourhood, are as silent as -the wheels of the spinsters, in whose hands pianofortes and Brookman’s -pencils supply the place of “rocks and reels.” - - - - -CUSTOMER-WARK. - -A POETICAL SKETCH. - -_With a Marginal Commentary._ - - -=Part First.= - - -I. - -[Sidenote: On the celebrated field of Philiphaugh, where Montrose -fought his last battle in the cause of Charles the First, there now -resides a poor weaver, who tells to strangers that his loom stands upon -the very spot which the tent of the great Marquis once occupied. The -scene of so many cares and councils has become the home of a contented -and humble mechanic, who has only to battle with poverty, and whose -whole ambition is to get a regular supply of] - - Near Selkrit, where Leslie ance met wi’ Montrose, - And ga’e the King’s army its last bloody nose, - There lives an auld wabster, within an auld shiel, - As lang, and as ugly, and black as the de’il. - He works e’en and morn for his wife and his weans, - Till the very flesh seems to be wrought frae his banes; - Yet canty the wabster, and blyth as a lark, - Whene’er he gets what he ca’s customer-wark! - - -II. - -[Sidenote: _Customer-wark_—that is, the employment of weaving the -homespun linens and woollens of the industrious country wives and -maidens, which yields a much better scale of profits than the staple -commodities of Glasgow. The superiority of customer-wark over that sent -out to the country villages by Glasgow manufacturers,—which is just -the preference of straitened poverty over utter starvation,—forms the -theme of this poem.] - - This customer-wark’s the delight o’ his soul, - Whether blanket, or sheetin, or sarkin, or towel. - Nae trashtrie o’ cottons frae Glasgow he cares for,— - Their tippence the ell is a very gude wherefore;— - But God bless the wives, wi’ their wheels and their thrift, - That help the puir wabster to fend and mak’ shift; - Himsel’, and his wife, and his weans might been stark, - An it hadna been them and their customer-wark. - - -III. - -[Sidenote: Description of the weaver’s house, which, having two -apartments, belongs to the aristocracy of country cottages.] - -[Sidenote: The weaver’s neglect of cleanliness and order, not to be -attributed to laziness, but to the want of leisure, all his time being -engrossed by the important business—_customer-wark!_] - - The wabster’s auld house—it’s an unco like den, - (Though, atweel, like its neebors, it has a ben-en’!) - It’s roof’s just a hotter o’ divots and thack, - Wi’ a chimley dressed up maist as big’s a wheat-stack. - There’s a peat-ruck behind, and a midden before, - And a jaw-hole would tak a mile race to jump o’er! - Ye may think him negleckfu’ and lazy,—but, hark, - He’s better employed on his customer-wark! - - -IV. - -[Sidenote: Furniture of the cottage.] - -[Sidenote: The poor weaver has to work sixteen hours a day, in order to -provide food for his children.] - - Whate’er ye may think him,—the wabster’s auld hut - Has twa looms i’ the ben, and twa beds i’ the butt, - A table, twa creepies, three chyres, and a kist, - And a settle to rest on, whene’er that ye list; - The ben has a winnock, the butt has a bole, - Where the bairns’ parritch-luggies are set out to cool, - In providin’ o’ whilk he has mony a day’s darque, - O’ saxteen lang hours at the _customer-wark_! - - -V. - -[Sidenote: The weaver’s wife a noisy scold, and appropriately named -_Bell_.] - -[Sidenote: The children _wind_ the pirns.] - -[Sidenote: The wife’s tongue rivals the weaver’s shuttle both in sound -and swiftness.] - -[Sidenote: Worse than that, she occasionally _lays on_!] - - The wabster’s auld madam—her name it is Bell— - Lang, ugly, and black, like the wabster himsel— - She does nought the hale day but keeps skelpin the bairns, - And hauds three or four o’ them tight at the pirns. - Her tongue is as gleg and as sharp as a shuttle, - Whilk seldom but gi’es her the best o’ the battle; - And sometimes her neive lends the wabster a yerk, - That he likes na sae weel as his customer-wark! - - -VI. - -[Sidenote: The weaver given to prosing upon his traditions of the -battle.] - -[Sidenote: How the inhabitants of Selkirk stood off during the -fight, not knowing, as they pretended, whether the battle was “_in -daffin_” or in earnest, till they saw Montrose’s army fly, when they -enthusiastically joined in the pursuit!!!] - -[Sidenote: The wife, who has heard the story till she is sick of it, -bids him mind his work, and not take up his head with things that do -not put a penny in his purse.] - - The wabster whiles jaunders a lang winter night, - On his ae single story—_Montrose and the fight_— - And tells how “_the Sutors_” stood aff up the brae, - Preservin’ their hides till the end o’ the play. - The wife she breaks in wi’—“Dear Jamie, what ken ye - ’Bout feghts? ’Twill be lang or they bring you a penny! - Sic auld-warld nonsense is far frae the mark— - I wish ye wad mind just the customer-wark!” - - -VII. - -[Sidenote: The weaver was once told that great encouragement was given -at New Lanark to weavers with large families, and for a long time -_craiked_ to be there. But the wife, who, with all her tongue, fists, -etc., has some good sense, would not hear of removing to any such -faraway country, and at last frightened him out of the humour he had -taken, by saying that she had heard there was _nae customer-wark to be -got_ in Mr. Owen’s Utopia.] - - The wabster has heard about ane they ca’ Owen, - That keeps twa-three toons in the wast-kintry growin’, - Where there’s weavers that live just like beass in their sta’s, - Without kirks or taxes, debts, hunger, or laws! - And he whyles thinks he’d like to be there;—but the wife - Knocks him down wi’—“Dear Jamie, man, ne’er fash your life! - Do ye think Mr. Owen, or ony sic clerk, - Could e’er gie ye ought like the customer-wark?” - - -=Part Second.= - - -I. - -[Sidenote: Improvident domestic habits, in time of plenty,] - - The black cutty-pipe, that lies by the fireside, - Weel kens it the day when a wab has been paid, - For then wi’ tobacco it’s filled to the ee,— - And the wabster sits happy as happy can be; - For hours at a time it’s ne’er out o’ his cheek, - Till maist feck o’ his winnings ha’e vanished in reek: - He says that o’ life he could ne’er keep the spark, - An it werena the pipe and the customer-wark! - - -II. - - Then the wife, that’s as fond o’ her pleasure as he, - Brings out a black tea-pot and maks a drap tea; - And they sit, and they soss, and they haud a cabal, - And ye’d think that their slaistrie wad never divaul. - By their wee spunk o’ ingle they keep up the bother, - Each jeerin’, misca’in’, and scauldin’ the tother; - While the bairns sit out by, wi cauld kale, i’ the dark— - Nae gude comes to them o’ the customer-wark! - - -III. - -[Sidenote: produce proportionate want and misery in the exhaustion of -their resources.] - -[Sidenote: In the absence of _customer-wark_, the weaver flies to his -_dernier resort_, the loom of reserve, on which he works a web for -private sale, but which his funds will scarce allow him to carry on -upon his own foundation.] - -[Sidenote: The implements of luxury thrown by neglected.] - - When the siller grows scarce and the spleuchan gets toom, - The wabster gangs back to his treddles and loom, - Where he jows the day lang on some wab o’ his ain, - That’ll bring in nae cash for a twalmonth or twain; - Then the pipe lies exhaustit o’ a but its stink, - And the pourie is washed and set by on the bink; - There neglected they’ll lie, like auld yads in a park, - Till Heaven shall neist send some customer-wark! - - -IV. - -[Sidenote: Description of a process of starvation, which reduces -the weaver from his natural and customary meagreness to a perfect -anatomization.] - -[Sidenote: A simile picked up in trout fishing.] - -[Sidenote: The weaver saved, in his extremity, by a supply of his -darling _customer-wark_.] - - Then the puir starvin’ wabster grows thinner and thinner, - On a ’tatoe for breakfast, a ’tatoe for dinner, - And vanishes veesibly, day after day, - Just like the auld moon whan she eelies away. - Clean purged out he looks, like a worm amang fog, - And his face is the colour o’ sweens in a cogue. - At last, when grown hungry and gaunt as a shark, - He revives wi’ a mouthfu’ o’ customer-wark. - - -V. - -[Sidenote: Arrival of a customer.] - -[Sidenote: Familiar condescension of a farmer’s wife in visiting a -weaver’s.] - -[Sidenote: Disappointment on finding the hopeless state of the _cutty_.] - -[Sidenote: Trait of the excitement produced in the household by the -arrival of _customer-wark_.] - - A branksome gudewife, frae the neist farmer toon, - Comes in wi’ a bundle, and clanks hersel’ down, - “How’s a’ wi’ ye the day, Bell? Ha’ ye ought i’ the pipe? - Come rax me a stapper? the cutty I’ll rype! - I maun see the gudeman—bring him ben, hinney Jess! - Tut!! the pipe’s fu’ o’ naithing but fusionless asse!” - The wife ne’er lets on that she hears the remark, - But cries, “Jess! do ye hear, deme?—_It’s customer-wark!!!_” - - -VI. - -[Sidenote: Transport of the weaver himself at hearing the news.] - -[Sidenote: His behaviour towards the customer.] - -[Sidenote: Politeness and flattery.] - -[Sidenote: Affected solicitude about his customer’s domestic welfare, -while his whole soul is in reality entranced in the contemplation of -_customer-wark_.] - - Having gotten her lick i’ the lug, Jess gangs ben, - And tells her toom father about the God-sen’; - Transported, he through the shop-door pops his head, - Like a ghaist glowrin’ out frae the gates o’ the dead. - Then, wi’ a great fraise he salutes the gudewife,— - Says he ne’er saw her lookin’ sae weel i’ his life,— - Spiers for the gudeman and the bairns at Glendeark,— - While his thoughts a’ the time are on customer-wark! - - -VII. - -[Sidenote: Makes himself immediately very busy in the delightful -details prefatory to his employment.] - -[Sidenote: Praises the wife’s handiwork, for courtesy’s sake, but does -not approve of the bounds which her niggardliness has imposed upon the -possibility of _cabbage_.] - -[Sidenote: Rapture of the children, which is much more disinterested, -and not less heartfelt, than the weaver’s own.] - - Then, wi’ the gudewife, he claps down on the floor, - And they turn and they count the hale yarn o’er and o’er: - He rooses her spinning, but canyells like daft - ’Bout the length o’ her warp and the scrimp o’ her waft. - At last it’s a’ settled, and promised bedeen - To be ready on Friday or Fursday at e’en; - And the bairns they rin out, wi’ a great skirlin’ bark, - To tell that their dad’s got some customer-wark! - - -VIII. - -[Sidenote: Recovery from starvation.] - -[Sidenote: Revival of former domestic comfort.] - - Then it’s pleasant to see, by the vera neist ouk, - How the wabster thowes out to his natural bouk, - How he freshens a thought on his diet o’ brose, - And a wee tait o’ colour comes back to his nose! - The cutty’s new-mountit, and everything’s snug, - And Bell’s tongue disna sing half sae loud i’ his lug; - Abstracted and happy, and jum as a Turk, - He sits thinking on nothing but customer-wark! - - -IX. - -[Sidenote: Concluding benediction upon customer-wark, and -recapitulation of its virtues.] - - Oh, customer-wark! thou sublime movin’ spring! - It’s you gars the heart o’ the wabster to sing! - An ’twerena for you, how puir were his cheer, - Ae meltith a day, and twa blasts i’ the year: - It’s you that provides him the bit, brat, and beet, - And maks the twa ends o’ the year sweetly meet, - That pits meat in his barrel and meal in his ark! - My blessings gang wi’ ye, dear customer-wark! - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -=The Monastery.= - - -A VILLAGE ANTIQUARY. - -(_Captain Clutterbuck._) - -Captain Clutterbuck, the amusing personage who introduces “The -Monastery” and “Nigel,” and who employed himself so agreeably during -the half-pay part of his life in showing off the ruins of St. Mary’s, -finds a happy counterpart in Mr., _vulgo_ Captain O——n, a gentleman -well known in Melrose as an amateur cicerone of “_the Abbey_.” His -peculiarities and pursuits very nearly resemble those of the fictitious -Clutterbuck. He differs from him in this,—that he never was engaged -in foreign service, having merely held some rank in a provincial -corps of volunteers; but in every other respect he bears a striking -resemblance. He is a staid, elderly person, about fifty, dresses like a -gentleman,—that is, a Melrose gentleman,—and parades about his native -village with a swagger of military gentility in his air, such as the -possession of a walking-cane and the title of _Captain_ seems alone -capable of inspiring in the legs of mankind. - -He possesses as much property in the neighbourhood of Melrose as would -entitle him to the honourable appellation, _Laird_; but in his case -that enviable title is merged in the more romantic and splendid one of -_Captain_, of which he is, perhaps, ambitious. He has his property in -his own hands, and by its means contrives to keep himself independent. -He thus wavers between the species of the half-pay officer and the -cock-laird, and has no particular claims upon a distinct classification -with either. He is chiefly genteel and idle, and associates a good deal -with that regular hanger-on in all country villages, the exciseman. -Having by some chance got the title of Captain affixed to his name, -(in truth, he was only sergeant of a local militia corps,) he persists -in retaining, by abstinence from personal labour, what otherwise he -would have forfeited. The dignity which he contrives to maintain in -his native town is scarcely wonderful, when we consider how few are -ever independent in such a community, and to what a degree the respect -of the illiterate is calculated to be excited by the possession of -a very little knowledge,—such as Captain O. would easily acquire -in the course of his unoccupied life, and which the opportunities -of ease did not fail to confer upon even David Ritchie. Besides, to -speak in the deferential words of Captain Clutterbuck’s Kennaquhair -Club, “The Captain has something in him after a’—few folk ken sae -mickle about the Abbey.” O.’s knowledge upon this point is indeed well -calculated to excite the astonishment and veneration of the natives. -He has not only driven the grave-digger fairly off the field, who, in -the reality of Melrose, as well as in the ideality of Kennaquhair, -was the former cicerone of the ruins,—but he is even a formidable -rival to the ingenious John Bower himself. Old David Kyle, who kept -the head inn at Melrose, and who is the _David_ of the Introduction -here illustrated, was in the frequent practice of calling upon Captain -O. for the purpose there so humorously described, namely, to press -his knowledge into the service of his guests. Upon such occasions of -importance, the Captain would, and still does, march away, with great -pomposity, at the head of his company, like a peripatetic philosopher -declaiming to a troop of disciples, and by the way _lays off_, as he -terms it, all he has ever been able to discover respecting the valuable -remains of St. Mary’s,—and sometimes more than all! How, then, will -his eloquence expand over crypts and chancels, naves and arches! With -what an important sound will the point of his walking cane ring against -the tomb of Michael Scott! And, above all, how will the surrounding -cockneys stare in admiration, when, in the course of his lecture, he -chances to emit some such grandly unintelligible word as _architrave_ -or _transept_. - -Captain O.’s intelligence chiefly lies among the vulgar traditionary -opinions which are entertained regarding the ruins by the country -people; and he knows comparatively little of the lore with which -written records and authentic treatises instruct the general -antiquary. Mr. Bower is a person of better authority than the Captain, -and has even published descriptions of the Abbey; but, notwithstanding, -the Captain is not without his party in the town, and it is generally -remarked that his anecdotes, if not so true, are at least as -entertaining. A sort of jealousy sometimes is observable between these -rival Ciceroni, a remarkable anecdote of which is recorded. Upon the -opening of some ancient grave within the ruins, a noseless bust of St. -Peter happened to be found, which it pleased Captain O. to take under -his immediate protection. Bower had found some other remarkable idol -in another part of the Abbey, to which he endeavoured to collect as -many votaries of curiosity as possible; but the rival statue, which the -Captain had already christened by the _taking_ name of Michael Scott, -drew off a sweeping sect from the more legitimate shrine. Bower then -endeavoured to prove that this was no statue of the wizard at all, but -merely one of the common herd of saints, who had formerly figured in -the niches of the building. Of this he at last succeeded in convincing -all concerned, to the discomfiture of his rival. But, nevertheless, -the Captain would not give up his point. He continued pertinacious in -maintaining the authenticity of his noseless _protégé_, in spite of all -detractions, in spite of all heresies; till at last finding the whole -world against him, he gave up his argument, and turned off the whole -as a joke, with the facetious observation, that “It was just as good a -Michael Scott as could have been found among the whole ruins, if they -would only have held with it!” - -Sometimes, in the course of exhibition, there occur distresses nearly -resembling that which happened to Captain Clutterbuck, in the company -of the Benedictine,—that is to say, he “finds himself a scholar -when he came to teach,” by the strangers actually knowing more of -his favourite study than himself. This happens most frequently in -the case of “gentlemen from Edinburgh,”—elderly persons with black -coats and low-crowned hats, which may be called the costume of terror -to our antiquary. To these habiliments, if we add the circumstance -of hair-powder, O——n would as soon face a hyena as any person so -clothed. He is said to fly from a wig as from a pestilence. - -Yet, even in these predicaments, the Captain is never entirely at a -loss. Repulsed from one stone, he can retreat to another; refuted in -any part of his intelligence, he can make an honourable stand at -another, of which his visitors had not been aware; and, even when -found to be wholly fabulous and absurd in his anecdotes, he can, as a -_dernier resort_, turn them off with some pleasantry or other, which -is, of course, irrefragable. Besides, even when he catches a complete, -resolute, ANTIQUARIAN Tartar, he generally contrives to profit by the -encounter, by picking up some new intelligence, which he adds to his -own former stock. - -In describing this part of the character of a local antiquary, with all -his ignorance and all his fables, it is forced upon our observation, -how little certain information is commonly to be found, concerning -the relics of antiquity, among those who dwell in their immediate -neighbourhood. They know that there is an “_auld abbey_” or a “_queer -sort o’ stane_,” near them; but for any more particular notice of their -history, you might as well inquire in a different quarter of the globe. -We have known instances of people, whose playground in infancy, and -whose daily walks in manhood, had been among the ruins of an ancient -Collegiate Church, (not the least interesting in the kingdom,) being -yet quite ignorant of every circumstance connected with it, except that -it was “_just the auld Kirk_.” - -“It not unfrequently happened,” says Captain Clutterbuck, in his -amusing account of himself, “that an acquaintance which commenced in -the Abbey concluded in the Inn, which served to relieve the solitude -as well as the monotony of my landlady’s shoulder of mutton, whether -hot, cold, or hashed.” This happened not more frequently in the case -of Captain Clutterbuck than it does in that of Captain O——n. The -latter personage, indeed, makes a constant practice of living entirely -with his _eleves_ during their stay in Melrose; and, as they have been -guests at the hospitable board of his learning and entertainment, so -he in turn becomes a guest at the parade of their “bottle of sherry, -minced collops, and fowl,” or whatever else the order upon David Kyle -may be. He is thus always ready at the elbows of their ignorance, to -explain and to exhibit the various petty curiosities of the place, -of which it is probable they might otherwise be obliged to remain -perfectly unknowing, but for the condescending attention of Captain O. -He is not destitute of other means of entertainment, besides showing -the Abbey. He can tell a good story, after a few glasses, and is an -excellent hand at a song. “The Broom of the Cowdenknows” is his -favourite and his best; but we are also tenderly attached to “The -Flowers of the Forest,” which he gives in the milkmaid style, with -much pathos. When his company is agreeable, he can (about the tenth -tumbler,) treat them with “Willie brewed a peck o’ Maut,” or “Auld Lang -Syne,” or “For a’ that and a’ that.” These infatuating lyrics he gives -in such a style of appropriate enthusiasm, that if his companions have -at all a spark of Burns’s fire in their composition, they will rise -up and join hands round the table, and, at the conclusion of every -stanza, drink down immense cups of kindness, till, in the springtide -of their glory, they imagine themselves the most jolly, patriotic, and -independent Scotsmen upon the face of the earth. Such is the deceiving -effect of a national song upon the spirits of men of sober reason when -prepared for the excitement by previous intoxication. This trait is -also not without its parallel in Clutterbuck. The reader will remember -how, in the Introduction to Nigel, he pathetically laments that since -Catalani visited the ruins, his “Poortith Cauld” has been received both -poorly and coldly, and his “Banks of Doon” been fairly coughed down, -at the Club. May the vocal exertions of Captain O——n, however, never -meet with such a scurvy reception among the cognoscenti of Melrose! - -Such are the characteristics of the prototype of Captain Clutterbuck, -as we have gathered them from persons who have been acquainted with -him, natives of the same town. We learn that there is another person of -the same description in Melrose, named Captain T——t, who was really -a Captain, but of a man-of-war, instead of a regiment. May he not have -been the _Captain Doolittle_ of “The Monastery”? The grave-digger of -Kennaquhair, who has the honour of speaking a few words in that work, -must have been John Martin, who was professor of the same trade in -Melrose. He is now dead. Mr. David Kyle, a very respectable and worthy -man, who kept the Cross Keys Inn at Melrose, is also dead. He was in -the custom of keeping an album in his house, for the amusement of his -guests; though we cannot say as to the truth of his having had a copy -of the “great Dr. Samuel Johnson’s _Tower_ to the Hebrides, in his -parlour window, wi’ the twa boards torn aff.” In the album, to which -we had access, is the following very curious document, among much -nonsense:— - - -EPITAPH ON MR. LITTLE, - -A JOLLY FELLOW. - - “Alas! how chop-fallen now!”—_Blair._ - - “Little’s the man lies buried here, - For little was his soul; - His belly was the warehouse vat - Of many a flowing bowl. - - O Satan, if to thy domains - His little soul has hoppit, - Be sure ye guard your whiskey casks, - Or faith, they will be toppit! - - Chain, chain him fast, the drucken loon, - For, Satan, ye’ve nae notion - O’ Jockey’s drouth;—if he get loose, - By Jove! he’ll drink the ocean!” - -The character of Captain Clutterbuck, taken abstractedly from all -consideration of its prototype, may be said to represent a certain -species of men to be found in almost every Scottish village of any -extent. Sergeant M‘Alpine, in the Legend of Montrose, is another -picture of them, and perhaps a more complete one than Clutterbuck. They -are the scattered wrecks of war, drifted upon the beach of retirement, -and left to waste away. They chiefly roost about little towns in -remote parts of the country, where society is not expensive, and where -half-pay procures the necessaries of life in the best possible style. -Here there always exist one or two of these individuals, rendering -the place respectable by their presence, and receiving a sort of -spontaneous homage from the people, in virtue of their independence, -their gentility, and their scars. Like the fading relics of the -City Guard, they change the most warlike of their habiliments for -others more consonant with the costumes of peace; but yet, though the -scarlet be gone from the coat and the sword from the hand, they do not -altogether shake off the airs of war. There is still something of the -parade to be observed in the small-ruffled shirt, the blue-necked coat, -and the shoe-buckles; while the starched and powdered rigidity in the -cheek is as military as before, and the walking cane is but a slight -defalcation, in either dignity or ferocity, from its predecessor, -the sword. The walk, proud, portly, and erect, is another relic of -military habit that can never be abandoned: and every other little -punctuality of life and manners, such as soldiers are accustomed to, -is equally pertinacious in clinging to the person of the disbanded -officer. Such persons have long-winded stories about Ticonderago and -Mount Abraham, which every one of their acquaintance has known by heart -these twenty years; and yet such is the respect paid to the good old -gentleman, that amazement as naturally follows the unfolding of the -story, and the laugh comes as ready on the catastrophe of the joke, as -ever. No one could be uncivil to _the Captain_. An excellent sketch -of this description of persons is to be found in the xxxth number of -_Blackwood’s Magazine_, under the title of “Lament for Captain Paton.” -To this poem we refer the reader for further particulars respecting the -character represented in Captain Clutterbuck. - - -SCENERY. - -The first and most prominent object of attention, in the scenery of -this Romance, is the Monastery itself, which every one knows to be the -renowned Abbey of Melrose, situated upwards of thirty-five miles from -Edinburgh to the south. It is the most beautiful and correct specimen -of Gothic architecture in Scotland; and has been universally admired -for the elegance and variety of its sculpture, the beauty of its stone, -the multiplicity of its statues, and the symmetry of its parts. It -was founded, as is well known, in 1136, by the pious David I., who -dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. To attempt a minute description of it -would be unnecessary, as we presume the great bulk of our readers have -seen the venerable pile itself, and those who have not, know the many -excellent sources from which this want can be supplied. Any remarks of -ours would give no additional lustre to the magnificent ruins, or to -the knowledge of the vicissitudes which it underwent in the course of -several ages. - -Less than a quarter of a mile to the west of the Abbey, there is a -green bank which reaches to the height of some hundred feet above the -level of the Tweed. It is termed the Weird Hill, from a dim tradition -of the fairy tribe having haunted the spot, and held high conclave -touching the whimsies to be practised on the wights who came under -their ire. Immediately below this bank is the weird or dam-dyke where -it is believed the poor Sacristan was ducked by the White Lady,—a -lineal descendant of the ancient inhabitants of the hill. - -Following the course of the Tweed upwards—that is, towards the -west, about a mile and a half—we arrive at the ruins of the Old -Bridge, which once formed the regular communication to the Monastery. -It appears to have been constructed of timber, in the form of a -drawbridge, with three pillars, the middle pillar containing a wooden -house for the bridge-keeper. From this bridge there was a plain way to -Soutra Hill, along the northern bank of the Tweed, which was named the -_Girth-gate_,[69] from an hospital, having the privileges of Sanctuary, -which was founded at Soutra by Malcolm IV., for the relief of pilgrims -and of poor and infirm persons who journeyed southwards. This way was -so good and easy, that, as a learned divine remarked, it might strongly -remind the traveller of the paths to the cities of refuge. There were -also two hostelries or inns at that place, which could well afford, -from their stores, an elegant _dejeune_ to Sir Piercie Shafton and his -“fair Molindinara.” - -A few yards from the bridge alluded to, the Elevand or Allan water -discharges itself into the Tweed. It is this little mountain brook -(rising from Allan-shaws on the boundary of Melrose parish towards the -north,) that forms the beautiful valley of Glendearg, described in -the romance. Advancing from the strath of the river in the northern -direction from Melrose, we discern the stream meandering in crystal -beauty through Langlee Wood, the property of Lord Somerville. The -serpentine turns of its course oblige the traveller frequently to pass -and repass it, in the line of the foot-track; but this is attended with -no inconvenience, from the number of rustic bridges which are thrown -over it. Emerging from the wood, the glen opens to the view. On one -side of it (to the east,) rises a precipitous bank or _scaur_,[70] of -a reddish colour, with here and there small patches of green sward. -On the opposite side the eminences do not swell so high, but form a -perfect contrast to the other. They have yielded their bosom to the -industry of man, and repay his labour with the rich fruits of autumn. -This improvement, however, is recent, as thirty years have scarcely -elapsed since they displayed an aspect almost as barren as the opposite -ridge. The little brook which runs below is not perceptible from either -height, so deeply is its channel embosomed in the narrow dell. As we -proceed onwards under a shade of alders, the glen gradually widens, -and, about 400 yards from whence it opens, a singular amphitheatre -meets the eye. It is somewhat in the shape of a crescent, through -which the water passes, leaving a pretty large channel. The opposing -precipices are thickly belted with copse-wood and several mountain -shrubs, which entwine with the branches of the beech and birch -trees. This place is called the Fairy or Nameless Dean, from some -curiously-shaped stones, which are said to be found after great falls -of rain.[71] But perhaps a better reason for the appellation arises -from the situation itself, which afforded a hidden rendezvous for the -elfin race, with which superstition peopled many parts of this district -during the grandeur of the Abbacy. No one, however, will deny that the -White Lady of Avenel might here have fixed her residence, and delivered -her responses to young Glendinning, or that it might have served as -a secluded corner for deadly strife. Though the holly bush cannot be -discovered, yet the spring of water may easily be conjectured, by the -curious observer, in the swampiness of portions of the ground now -covered with sward. - -The scenery of the remainder of the glen is extremely picturesque, but -unmarked by any striking varieties. The brook, like - - “Streamlet of the mountain north, - Now in a torrent racing forth,” - -often dashes and foams over small interjecting rocks, and forms some -beautiful cascades. At other times, - - “Winding slow its silver train, - And almost slumbering o’er the plain,” - -it sends a puny rill into some of the deep recesses or ravines which -have found their way between the hills. As the top of the glen is -neared, the hills show a greater slope, till we arrive at the green -mount, on which stands - - -HILLSLOP TOWER, - -On the property of Borthwick of Crookston, from which there is no doubt -Glendearg has been depicted. The outward walls are still entire, and, -from their thickness and oblong form, with the port-holes with which -they abound, show it to have been formerly a place of some strength. -This seems also probable from the bleakness and wildness of the -surrounding scenery. High mountainous ridges, the castles of nature, -tower on every side, whose bosoms sometimes display the naked grey rock -encircled with fern and heath, and, at other times, excellent verdure. -But no cultivated field greets the eye, and the solemn stillness which -reigns around is only broken by the gentle murmuring of the rivulet. -The situation of the old tower is well chosen, as, from the direction -in which the hills run, a sort of circle is formed, which not only -screens it from the north and east winds, but could easily debar all -intercourse with the neighbouring country. - -The date of the old tower, if a sculpture on the lintel of the entrance -can be credited, is 1585; and its inhabitants seem to have been of some -consequence from its interior appearance. At the foot of the stair, -which projects almost to the door, there is a long, narrow apartment, -with an arched roof lighted by a loophole-window, which, in the olden -times, formed the pen for the proprietor’s cattle when danger was -apprehended. It would suit well for the place of concealment suggested -by the miller’s daughter for Sir Piercie, before the unbarring of the -door. The decayed stone staircase leads to a common-sized hall, with -a large chimney-piece; but from the height of the walls, and other -circumstances, there must have been another room of equal dimensions -above it. There are also the remains of some small rooms, which -complete the accommodations of the mansion. - -At a little distance from the foot of the tower, the straggling ruins -of small outhouses are discerned, which have been once connected with -the principal building. A short way farther, to the north, stand the -ruins of Colmsley and Langshaw, the former of which places is alluded -to by its name in the Romance. - -Leaving Glendearg, it is necessary to follow the progress of the -romance towards the Castle of Avenel, _alias_ Smailholm Tower. The -distance between the two places is nearly seven miles. There is no -regular road, but a track can be discovered, which runs eastward from -Hillslop, through the base of the Gattonside, a small chain which -runs from E. to W., in the direction of Melrose. The path is a most -unenviable one; for, besides the obstacles of ditch and furze, it is -intersected by deep morasses, which often render it quite impassable. -In threading it, we pass Threepwood and Blainslie Mosses, the favourite -resort of the Moss-troopers, who kept the peaceful inhabitants in -continual alarm. Their ravages were particularly extensive during -the usurpation of Cromwell, who allowed these depredators to scourge -Scotland unpunished. - - -SMAILHOLM TOWER. - -We hope to be able to show, from the description of this ancient -fortress, that it agrees in the leading features with Avenel Castle; -and if the reader will carry back his imagination for two centuries, -he will be better able to minute the resemblance. Smailholm tower, -distant about seven miles from Melrose to the east, and eight from -Kelso to the west, is the most perfect relic of the feudal keep in the -south of Scotland. It stands upon a rock of considerable height, in -the centre of an amphitheatre of craggy hills, which rise many hundred -feet above the level of the fertile plains of the Merse. Between the -hills there appear ravines of some depth, which, being covered with -straggling clumps of mountain shrubs, afford an agreeable relief to -the rocks which are continually starting upon the eye. Nature indeed -seems to have destined this isolated spot for a bulwark against the -border marauders; but its strength and security was not confined to -the encircling eminences. It chiefly lay in a deep and dangerous loch, -which completely environed the castle, and extended on every side -to the hills. Of this loch only a small portion remains, it having -been drained, many years ago, for the convenience of the farmer on -whose estate it was thought a nuisance. But the fact is evident, not -only from the swampiness of the ground, which only a few years since -created a dangerous morass, but from the appearance of the remaining -pool, which has hitherto defied the efforts of the numerous drain-beds -which surround it in every direction. Some people in the neighbourhood -recollect and can mark out the extent of the large sheet of water which -gave so romantic an air to this shred of antiquity. - -We cannot omit giving the following animated picture of the local -beauties, from the pencil of Sir Walter Scott. - - “—Then rise those crags, that mountain tower, - Which charmed my fancy’s wakening hour. - - * * * * * - - It was a barren scene and wild, - Where naked cliffs were rudely piled: - But ever and anon between - Lay velvet tufts of loveliest green; - And well the lonely infant knew - Recesses where the wall-flower grew, - And honeysuckle loved to crawl - Up the low crag and ruined wall: - I deemed such nooks the sweetest shade - The sun in all his round surveyed; - And still I thought that shattered tower[72] - The mightiest work of human power; - And marvelled, as the aged hind - With some strange tale bewitched my mind, - Of forayers who, with headlong force, - Down from that strength had spurred their horse, - Their southern rapine to renew, - Far in the distant Cheviots blue, - And, home-returning, filled the hall - With revel, wassail-rout, and ball.” - -There is much feeling in this description; and so might there be, for -the early years of the bard were passed in the farmhouse of Sandy-knowe -(about a bow-shot from the tower,) with a maternal aunt, whose mind was -stored with border legends, which she related to her youthful charge. -With this instructress, and by poring incessantly for many years on -the relics of antiquity which are to be found in the neighbourhood, it -is probable that he first received the impressions that afterwards came -forward to such an illustrious maturity, and stored his imagination -with those splendid images of chivalry that have since been embodied in -imperishable song. - -The external appearance of the tower may be briefly described. The -walls are of a quadrangular shape, and about nine feet in thickness. -They have none of the decorations of buttress or turret; and if -there were any ornamental carving, time has swept it away. A ruined -bartizan, which runs across three angles of the building, near the -top, is the only outward addition to the naked square _donjon_. The -tower has been entered on the _west_ side, as all the other quarters -rise perpendicularly from the lake. Accordingly, there we discern the -fragments of a causeway, and the ruins of a broad portal, whence a -drawbridge seems to have communicated with an eminence about a hundred -yards distant. On this quarter also there may be traced the site of -several small booths which contained the retainers or men-at-arms of -the feudal lord. - -On the west side,[73] at a little distance from the Castle, is the -Watch Crag, a massive rock, on the top of which a fire was lit to -announce the approach of the English forayers to the neighbourhood. It -is thus described in the ballad of the Eve of St. John: - - “The bittern clamoured from the moss, - The wind blew loud and shrill; - Yet the craggy pathway she did cross - To the airy beacon hill. - - * * * * * - - I watched her steps, and silent came, - Where she sat her all alone; - No watchman stood by the dreary flame, - It burnèd all alone.” - -The interior of the castle bespeaks the mansion of the lesser -Scottish Baron. The sunk-floor, or keep, seems, from its structure, -to have contained the cattle of the Baron during seasons of alarm -and invasion. It is vaulted in the roof, and the light is admitted -by a small outshot. Some have conjectured that this apartment was -occupied as a dungeon, or _Massy More_, where the captives taken in -war were confined; but this idea is improbable, not only from the -comfortable appearance it exhibits, but from the circumstance of every -border fortress having a place of the description formerly alluded to. -Ascending a narrow winding staircase, we arrive at a spacious hall, -with the customary distinction of a huge chimney-piece. The roof is -gone, but the stone props of it, which were of course the support of -another floor, remain. This latter would seem to have been the grand -banqueting-room, where the prodigal hospitality of our ancestors was -displayed in its usual style of extravagance. There also remain the -marks of a higher floor, thus making three storeys in all. The highest -opens by a few steps to the bartizan we have already mentioned, whence -we ascend to a grass-grown battlement, which commands a magnificent -prospect. To the east the spires of Berwick are descried, terminating -an extensive plain, beautified by the windings of the Tweed; to the -south, the conical summits of the Eildon Hills; to the north, the -Lammermoors rear their barren heads above the verdant hills of the -Merse; and on the south, the blue Cheviots are seen stretching through -a lengthened vista of smaller hills. Besides this grand outline, the -eye can take in a smaller range, beyond the rocky barrier of the -Castle,—a most cultivated dale, varied with peaceful hamlets, crystal -streams, and towering forests. - -The history of the ancient possessors of the tower is involved in -obscurity. We only know that there were Barons of Smailholm, but no -memorable qualities are recorded of them. They were, as we already -observed, in the rank of the _lesser_ Barons—that is, those who had -not the patent of peerage, but who were dignified only by the extent of -their possessions. But we know that the present proprietor, Mr. Scott, -of Harden, is not a descendant of that ancient family, as we believe he -acquired the estate by purchase. This gentleman cares so little for the -antique pile within his domains, that it is not long since he intimated -his intention to raze it to the ground, and from its materials to erect -a steading to the farm of Sandy-knowe. This would have certainly taken -place, had not his poetic kinsman, Sir Walter Scott, interfered, and -averted the sacrilegious intent; and to prevent the recurrence of the -resolution, he composed the admired ballad of the Eve of St. John, -which ranks among the best in the Border Minstrelsy. - -Tradition bears that it was inhabited by an aged lady at the beginning -of the last century, and several old people still alive remember of -the joists and window-frames being entire. A more interesting legend -exists, of which the purport is, that there was once a human skull -within this tower, possessed of the miraculous faculty of self-motion -to such a degree, that, if taken away to any distance, it was always -sure to have found its way back to its post by the next morning.[74] -This may perhaps remind the reader of the strange journeys performed -by the “black volume” in the Monastery, whose rambling disposition was -such a source of terror and amazement to the monks of St. Mary’s. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[69] _Girth_ signifies a Sanctuary or place of refuge. - -[70] Broken mountain ground, without vegetation. - -[71] These are found in several fantastic shapes, such as guns, -cradles, boots, etc., and are justly supposed to be the petrifactions -of some mineral spring hard by. - -[72] Smailholm Tower. - -[73] The entrance of Avenel was also from the west. - -[74] This story is told in the _Border Antiquities_. Since we copied -it, information has been communicated, deriving the report from a -ridiculous and most unromantic incident. The skull was moved from its -place in the castle by a rat, which had found a lodgment in its cavity, -and contrived to take it back to a particular apartment on finding it -removed to any other. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -=The Romances.= - - -MATCH OF ARCHERY AT ASHBY. - -“IVANHOE.” - -The match in which the yeoman Locksley overcomes all the antagonists -whom Prince John brings up against him, finds a parallel, and indeed we -may say foundation, in the ballad of “Adam Bell, Clym o’ the Cleugh, -and William of Cloudeslea.” The story of the ballad bears, that these -three “perilous outlaws,” having wrought great devastation among the -“foresters of the fee” and liege burghers of Carlisle, while in the act -of rescuing one of their companions from prison, “fure up to London -Town” to crave of their Sovereign a charter of peace. This, by the -intercession of the Queen, he grants them; but no sooner is the royal -word passed for their pardon, than messengers arrive from the “North -Countrye,” with the tidings of the deadly havoc. The King happens to -be quietly engaged in eating his dinner at the time, and is completely -thunderstruck at the intelligence, so that,— - - “Take up the table,” then said he, - “For I can eat no mo’.” - -He straightway assures the three offenders, that if they do not prevail -over every one of his own bowmen, their lives shall be forfeited. - - “Then they all bent their good yew bows, - _Looked that their strings were rownd_, - And twice or thrice they shot their shafts - Full deftly in that stound. - - “Then out spoke William of Cloudeslea, - ‘By him that for me died, - I hold him not a good archer - That shoots at butt so wide.’ - - “‘Whereat, I crave,’ then said the King, - ‘That thou wilt tell to me?’ - ‘At such a butt, sire, as we wont - To use in our countrye.’ - - “Then William, with his brethren twain, - Stept forth upon the green, - And there set up two hazel rods, - Twenty score pace between.” - -The reader will recollect that Locksley upbraids his adversary, after -his unsuccessful shot, for not having made an allowance for the -pressure of the breeze. Cloudeslea gives a caution to the spectators no -less minute: - - “He prayed the people that were there - That they would all still stand; - ‘He that for such a wager shoots, - Has need of steady hand;’” - -and, having chosen a “bearing flane,” splits the wand. - - -KENILWORTH CASTLE. - -“KENILWORTH.” - -KENILWORTH CASTLE was in former times one of the most magnificent piles -in England. In the days of its prosperity it took a military part, and -it still retains traces of a warlike character,—though the foliage -which overspreads its remains, has softened down the ruins into the -appearance of a peaceful mansion. It was first destroyed by Cromwell, -in revenge of its possessor having favoured the royal cause. Since then -it has been gradually decaying, and another century will probably bring -it to the ground. - -History mentions Kenilworth so early as the reign of Henry I. At that -time it was private property, but afterwards fell into the hands of -the Crown, in which it continued till Elizabeth bestowed it upon her -favourite, Leicester. This nobleman, profuse and extravagant to the -last degree, is said to have expended upon it no less than £60,000. - -One of the most remarkable events in the history of this castle is -the entertainment given by the latter proprietor to Elizabeth, which -forms the groundwork of the beautiful romance of “Kenilworth.” The -traditionary recollection of this grand festivity still lives in the -country, such having been the impression made upon the minds of the -country people by the grandeur of the occasion, that, in a lapse of 250 -years, it has not decayed in their remembrance. The following is an -account, given by an eye-witness, of her Majesty’s reception:— - -“On the 9th of July, 1575, in the evening, the Queen approached the -first gate of the castle. The porter, a man tall in person, and of -stern countenance, with a club and keys, accosted her Majesty in a -rough speech, full of passion, in metre, aptly made for the purpose, -and demanded the cause of all this din, and noise, and reeling about, -within the charge of his office. But upon seeing the Queen, as if he -had been struck instantaneously, and pierced, at the presence of a -personage so evidently expressing heroical sovereignty, he fell down on -his knees, humbly prays pardon for his ignorance, yields up his club -and keys, and proclaims open gates and free passage to all. - -“Immediately the trumpeters, who stood on the wall, being six in -number, each eight feet high, with their silvery trumpets of five feet -long, sounded up a tune of welcome. - -“Those harmonious blasters maintained their delectable music while the -Queen rode through the tilt-yard to the grand entrance of the castle, -which was washed by the lake. - -“As she passed, a movable island approached, on which sat the Lady of -the Lake, who offered up her dominion to her Majesty, which she had -held since the days of King Arthur. - -“This scene ended by a delectable harmony of hautbois, shalms, cornets, -with other loud musical instruments, playing while her Majesty passed -into the castle gate. - -“When she entered the castle, a new scene was presented to -her.—Several of the heathen gods brought their gifts before -her—Sylvanus, god of the woods, Pomona with fruit, Ceres with corn, -Bacchus with grapes, Neptune with his trident, Mars with his arms, -Apollo with musical instruments,—all presented themselves to welcome -her Majesty in this singular place. An inscription over the gate -explained the whole. - -“Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept the gifts of these -divinities, when was struck up a concert of flutes and other soft -music. When, alighting from her palfrey, she was conveyed into her -chamber, when her arrival was announced through the country by a peal -of cannon from the ramparts, and fireworks at night.” - -Here the Queen was entertained for nineteen days, at an expense of -£1000 a day. The Queen’s genius seems to have been greatly consulted -in the pomp and solemnity of the whole, to which some have added the -entertainment of bear-baiting, etc. - -The great clock was stopped during her Majesty’s continuance in the -castle, as if time had stood still, waiting on the Queen, and seeing -her subjects enjoy themselves. - - -DAVID RAMSAY. - -“NIGEL.” - -“In the year 1634, Davy Ramsay, his Majesty’s clockmaker, made an -attempt to discover a precious deposit supposed to be concealed in the -cloister of Westminster Abbey, but a violent storm of wind put a stop -to his operations.”—_Lilly’s Life_, p. 47. This Ramsay, according to -Osborne, in his _Traditional Memorials_, used to deliver money and -watches, to be recompensed, with profit, when King James should sit -on the King’s chair at Rome, so near did he apprehend (by astrology, -doubtless,) the downfall of the papal power. His son wrote several -books on astrological subjects, of which his _Astrologia Restaurata_ -is very entertaining. In the preface he says that his father was of an -ancient Scottish family, viz. of Eighterhouse, (Auchterhouse,) “which -had flourished in great glory for 1500 years, till these latter days,” -and derives the clan from Egypt, (it is wonderful that the idea of -gipsies did not startle him,) where the word Ramsay signifies joy and -delight. But he is extremely indignant that the world should call his -father “no better than a watchmaker,” asserting that he was, in fact, -page of the bedchamber, groom of the privy chamber, and _keeper of all -his Majestie’s clocks and watches_. “Now, how this,” quoth he to the -reader, “should prove him a watchmaker, and no other, more than the -late Earles of Pembroke ordinary chamberlains, because they bore this -office in the King’s house, do thou judge.”—_Mr. Sharp’s Notes to -Law’s Memorialls._ - - -THE REDGAUNTLET FAMILY. - -“REDGAUNTLET.” - -It is supposed that the characters, if not the fortunes, of the -Redgauntlet family, are founded upon those of the Griersons of Lagg. -This celebrated, or rather notorious family, is of considerable -antiquity in Galloway,[75]—a district abounding, to a greater degree -than either Wales or the Highlands of Scotland, in families of remote -origin and honourable descent. Grierson of Lagg was one of those -border barons, whose fame and wealth the politic James V. endeavoured -to impair, by lodging himself and his whole retinue upon them during -a progress, to the irreparable ruin of their numerous flocks, and the -alienation of their broad lands. The Grierson family never recovered -the ground then lost; and has continued, down even to the present -day, to struggle with many difficulties in supporting its dignity. -Sir Robert Grierson, grandfather of the present Laird, made himself -conspicuous in the reigns of the latter Stuarts, by the high hand which -he carried in persecuting the recusant people of his own districts, and -by the oppression which the spirit of those unhappy times empowered -him to exercise upon his tenants and immediate dependants. He was -but a youth when these unhappy transactions took place, and survived -the Restoration nearly fifty years. His death, which took place in -1736, was in the remembrance of people lately alive. Many strange -traditionary stories are told about him in Dumfriesshire, and, in -particular, the groundwork of “Wandering Willie’s Tale” is quite well -known and accredited among the common people thereabouts. The popular -account of his last illness, death, and burial, are exceedingly absurd -and amusing, and we willingly give them a place in our motley record. - -Sir Robert Grierson died in the town of Dumfries. The house where this -memorable incident took place is still pointed out. It is now occupied -by a decent baker, and is a house of singular construction, having a -spiral or _turnpike_ stair, like the old houses of Edinburgh, on which -account it is termed _the Turnpike House_. It is at a distance of about -two hundred yards from the river Nith; and it is said that when Sir -Robert’s feet were in their torment of heat, and caused the cold water -in which they were placed to boil, relays of men were placed between -the house and the river, to run with pails of water to supply his -bath; and still, as one pail was handed in, the preceding one was at -the height of boiling-heat, and quite intolerable to the old Laird’s -unfortunate extremities. Sir Robert at length died, and was laid in a -hearse to be taken to the churchyard, which was some miles off. But, oh -the mysterious interferences of the evil one! though six stout horses -essayed their utmost might, they could not draw the wicked persecutor’s -body along; and there stood, fixed to the spot, as though they had been -yoked to the stedfast Criffel instead of an old family hearse! In this -emergency, when the funeral company were beginning to have their own -thoughts, Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, an old friend of the -Laird’s, happened to come up, with two beautiful Spanish horses, and, -seeing the distress they were in, swore an oath, and declared that he -would drive old Legg, though the devil were in him. So saying, he yoked -his Spanish barbs to the hearse, mounted the box himself, and drove -away at a gallop towards the place of interment. The horses ran with -such swiftness that their master could not restrain them, and they -stopped at the churchyard gate, not by any management or direction on -his part, but by some miraculous and supernatural agency. The company -came slowly up in the course of an hour thereafter, and Sir Robert -Grierson was, after all, properly interred, though not without the loss -of Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick’s beautiful horses, which died in consequence -of their exertions. - - * * * * * - -The story of the Redgauntlet horse-shoe seems to have its foundation in -the following:— - -“Major Weir’s mother appears to have set the example of witchcraft to -her children, as Jean Weir, while in prison, declared that ‘she was -persuaded that her mother was a witch; for the secretest thing that -either I myself, or any of the family, could do, when once a mark -appeared upon her brow, she could tell it them, though done at a great -distance.’ Being demanded what sort of a mark it was, she answered, -‘I have some such like mark myself, when I please, upon my forehead.’ -Whereupon she offered to uncover her head, for visible satisfaction. -The minister refusing to behold it, and forbidding any discovery, -was earnestly requested by some spectators to allow the freedom. He -yielded: she put back her head-dress, and, seeming to frown, there -was an exact horse-shoe, shaped for nails, in her wrinkles, terrific -enough, I assure you, to the stoutest beholder.”—_Sinclair’s Satan’s -Invisible World Discovered._ - - -THE END. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[75] “The family of Grierson is descended from Gilbert, the second son -of Malcolm, Laird of M‘Gregor, who died in 1374. His son obtained a -charter from the Douglas family of the lands and barony of Lagg, in -Nithsdale, and Little Dalton, in Annandale; since which his descendants -have continued in Nithsdale, and married into the best families in that -part of the country, namely those of Lord Maxwell, the Kirkpatricks of -Closeburn, the Charterises of Amisfield, the Fergusons of Craigdarroch, -and of the Duke of Queensberry.”—_Grose’s Antiquities of Scotland._ - - * * * * * - -[Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text. - -Frontispiece: SUBSEQUANTLY to SUBSEQUENTLY—“AND SUBSEQUENTLY BY”. - -Page vi: BALDERSTON to BALDERSTONE—“(CALEB BALDERSTONE)”. - -Page 6: stiil to still—“still continue to be”. - -Page 17: dittograph “during during” corrected—“during the sermon”. - -Page 31: boronet to baronet—“baronet of Orchardston”. - -Page 56: imimmediately to immediately—“it was immediately opened”. - -Page 58: Here to Her—“Her propensities”. - -Page 93: Burley to Burly—“history of Burly”. - -Page 118: nïaveté to naïveté—“marked by a naïveté”. - -Page 120, note: Carpshearn to Carsphearn—“Semple, of Carsphearn.” - -Page 136, note: Tripatiarchicon to Tripatriarchicon—“copy of the -Tripatriarchicon”. - -Page 144: thefirst to the first—“the first intelligence”. - -Page 147: Trament to Tranent—“Berwick to Tranent”. - -Page 149, note: ca to ça—“_ça ira_”. - -Page 182: decendants to descendants—“his descendants have continued”.] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AUTHOR OF -WAVERLEY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Illustrations of the Author of Waverley, by Robert Chambers</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Illustrations of the Author of Waverley</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>Being Notices and Anecdotes of Real Characters, Scenes, and Incidents Supposed to be Described in his Works</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Robert Chambers</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: October 13, 2021 [eBook #66500]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY ***</div> - -<h1 class="faux">Illustrations of the Author of Waverley</h1> - -<div class="figcenter illowp57" id="frontis" > - <img style="max-width: 28.125em;" src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="center smalltext"><i>Originally Eng<sup>d</sup>. by A. Wilson Edin<sup>r</sup>.</i></p> - -<p class="center">“EO MAGIS PRÆFULGIT, QUOD NON VIDETUR”</p> - -<p class="right"><i>Tacit</i></p></div> -</div> - - -<p class="center">PUBLISHED BY JOHN ANDERSON JUN<sup>R</sup>. 55, NORTH BRIDGE STREET &c. EDIN<sup>R</sup>.<br /> -AND SUBSEQUENTLY BY W. & R. CHAMBERS, 339, HIGH STREET, EDIN<sup>R</sup>. -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"><span class="xxlargetext">Illustrations</span><br /> -<br /> -OF THE<br /> -<br /> -<span class="xxlargetext">AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY</span><br /> -<br /> -BEING<br /> -<br /> -<span class="xlargetext"><i>Notices and Anecdotes</i></span><br /> -<br /> -OF<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap largetext">Real Characters, Scenes, and Incidents</span><br /> -<br /> -Supposed to be described in his Works.</p> -</div> - - -<p class="center p2">BY<br /> -<span class="xlargetext">ROBERT CHAMBERS.</span></p> - - -<p class="center p2">Third Edition.</p> - - -<p class="center p2">W. & R. CHAMBERS,<br /> -<i>LONDON AND EDINBURGH.</i></p> - -<hr class="small" /> -<p class="center">1884.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter illowp68" id="colophon"> -<img style="max-width: 12.5em;" class="" src="images/colophon.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="center"> -YE LEADENHALLE PRESSE, LONDON, E.C.<br /> -T. 3253.<br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">{iii}</span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="preface" > - <img style="max-width: 25em;" src="images/preface.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Preface_by_Author"><i>Preface by Author.</i></h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="addendum_b" > - <img style="max-width: 6.25em;" src="images/addendum_b.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>This Work first appeared in November, 1822. -It was a juvenile production, and, of course, -deformed with all the faults and extravagances of -nineteen. The Public, however, received it with -some degree of encouragement; and, a second -edition being now called for, I have gladly seized -the opportunity of repairing early errors, by greater -correctness of language and more copious information. -The present volume will be found to contain -thrice the quantity of letterpress, and a much greater -variety of interesting details.</p> - -<p class="right"> -R. C. -</p> - -<p><i><span class="smcap">Edinburgh, India Place</span>, 8th March, 1825.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">{iv}</span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="addendum_a" > - <img style="max-width: 25em;" src="images/addendum_a.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Addendum"><i>Addendum</i></h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3">BY AUTHOR’S SON.</p> - - -<p>In the belief that there are many admirers of Sir -Walter Scott who would gladly welcome the reappearance -of a work which many years ago was, -in connection with his novels, eagerly perused, the -“Illustrations of the Author of Waverley” have been -again printed.</p> - -<p class="right"> -R. C. (Secundus). -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Edinburgh, 339, High Street, 1884.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">{v}</span></span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="contents_a" > - <img style="max-width: 17.1875em;" src="images/contents_a.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak xxlargetext" id="Contents"><i>Contents.</i></h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="contents_b" > - <img style="max-width: 4.6875em;" src="images/contents_b.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">Waverley.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"></td> -<td class="tdr">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Highland Faith and Honour</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bradwardine</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Scottish Fools</span> (<span class="smcap">Davie Gellatley</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Rory Dall, the Harper</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">“<span class="smcap">Claw for Claw, as Conan said to Satan</span>”</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Tully-Veolan</span> (<span class="smcap">Traquair House</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Bodach Glas</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">Guy Mannering.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Curious Particulars of Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardston</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Andrew Crosbie, Esq.</span> (<span class="smcap">Counsellor Pleydell</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Driver</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">South Country Farmers</span> (<span class="smcap">Dandie Dinmont</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Scottish Probationer</span> (<span class="smcap">Dominie Sampson</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Jean Gordon</span> (<span class="smcap">Meg Merrilies</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">The Antiquary.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Andrew Gemmels</span> (<span class="smcap">Edie Ochiltree</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">Rob Roy.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Anecdotes of Robert Macgregor</span> (<span class="smcap">Rob Roy</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Parallel Passages</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_73">73</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">{vi}</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">The Black Dwarf.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lang Sheep and Short Sheep</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">David Ritchie</span> (<span class="smcap">Elshender the Recluse</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">Old Mortality.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Deserted Burying-Ground</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Vale of Gandercleugh</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">History of the Period</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Additional Notices Relative to the Insurrection of 1679</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">The Heart of Mid-Lothian.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Porteous Mob</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The City Guard</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Jeanie Deans</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Patrick Walker</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Particulars regarding Scenery, etc.</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">Bride of Lammermoor.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Plot, and Chief Characters of the Tale</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lucy Ashton and Bucklaw</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Country Innkeeper</span> (<span class="smcap">Caleb Balderstone</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">Legend of Montrose.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Plot of the Tale</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Great Montrose</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><hr class="tb" /></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Philiphaugh</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Customer-Wark</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_158">158</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">{vii}</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">The Monastery.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Village Antiquary</span> (<span class="smcap">Capt. Clutterbuck</span>)</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Scenery</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Hillslop Tower</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Smailholm Tower</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc ptop2" colspan="2"><span class="largetext">The Romances.</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Match of Archery at Ashby—Ivanhoe</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Kenilworth Castle—Kenilworth</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">David Ramsay—Nigel</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Redgauntlet Family—Redgauntlet</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_p_vii" > - <img style="max-width: 25em;" src="images/i_p_vii.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_p_viii" > - <img style="max-width: 25em;" src="images/i_p_viii.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">{1}</span></p> - -<p class="nobreak center" id="CHAPTER_I"><span class="xlargetext">Illustrations</span><br /> -<br /> -OF<br /> -<br /> -<span class="xlargetext">The Author of Waverley.</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_p_001a" > - <img style="max-width: 14.5em;" src="images/i_p_001a.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" title="Waverley.">CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>Waverley.</b></p> - - -<h3>HIGHLAND FAITH AND HONOUR.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>The Plot of the Novel.</i>)</p> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe9_5" id="i_p_001b"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_001b.jpg" alt="“W" /> -</div> -<p><span class="uppercase">hen</span> the Highlanders, upon the morning of the battle of Prestonpans, -made their memorable attack, a battery of four -field-pieces was stormed and carried by the Camerons and Stuarts of -Appine. The late Alexander Stuart of Invernahyle was one of the -foremost in the charge, and observed an officer of the king’s forces, -who, scorning to join the flight of all around, remained with his -sword in his hand, as if determined to the very last to defend the post -assigned to him. The Highland gentleman commanded him to surrender, -and received for reply a thrust, which he caught in his target. -The officer was now defenceless, and the battle-axe of a gigantic -Highlander (the miller of Invernahyle’s mill), was uplifted to dash -his brains out, when Mr. Stuart with difficulty prevailed on him -to surrender. He took charge of his enemy’s property, protected -his person, and finally obtained him liberty on parole. The officer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">{2}</span> -proved to be Colonel Allan Whiteford, of Ballochmyle, in Ayrshire, a -man of high character and influence, and warmly attached to the House -of Hanover; yet such was the confidence existing between these two -honourable men, though of different political principles, that, while -the civil war was raging, and straggling officers from the Highland -army were executed without mercy, Invernahyle hesitated not to pay -his late captive a visit, as he went back to the Highlands to raise fresh -recruits, when he spent a few days among Colonel Whiteford’s whig -friends as pleasantly and good humouredly as if all had been at peace -around him.</p> - -<p>“After the battle of Culloden, it was Colonel Whiteford’s turn to -strain every nerve to obtain Mr. Stuart’s pardon. He went to the -Lord Justice Clerk, to the Lord Advocate, and to all the officers of -State, and each application was answered by the production of a list, -in which the name of Invernahyle appeared ‘marked with the sign -of the beast!’ At length Colonel Whiteford went to the Duke of -Cumberland. From him also he received a positive refusal. He then -limited his request, for the present, to a protection for Stuart’s house, -wife, children, and property. This was also refused by the Duke; on -which Colonel Whiteford, taking his commission from his bosom, laid -it on the table before his Royal Highness, and asked permission to -retire from the service of a king who did not know how to spare a -vanquished enemy. The Duke was struck, and even affected. He -bade the Colonel take up his commission, and granted the protection -he requested with so much earnestness. It was issued just in time to -save the house, corn, and cattle at Invernahyle from the troops who -were engaged in laying waste what it was the fashion to call ‘the country -of the enemy.’ A small encampment was formed on Invernahyle’s -property, which they spared while plundering the country around, and -searching in every direction for the leaders of the insurrection, and for -Stuart in particular. He was much nearer them than they suspected; -for, hidden in a cave, (like the Baron of Bradwardine,) he lay for many -days within hearing of the sentinels as they called their watchword. -His food was brought him by one of his daughters, a child of eight -years old, whom Mrs. Stuart was under the necessity of trusting with -this commission, for her own motions and those of all her inmates<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">{3}</span> -were closely watched. With ingenuity beyond her years, the child -used to stray out among the soldiers, who were rather kind to her, and -watch the moment when she was unobserved, to steal into the thicket, -when she deposited whatever small store of provisions she had in -charge, at some marked spot, where her father might find it. Invernahyle -supported life for several weeks by means of these precarious -supplies; and, as he had been wounded in the battle of Culloden, -the hardships which he endured were aggravated by great bodily pain. -After the soldiers had removed their quarters, he had another remarkable -escape. As he now ventured to the house at night, and left it in -the morning, he was espied during the dawn by a party who pursued -and fired at him. The fugitive being fortunate enough to escape their -search, they returned to the house, and charged the family with -harbouring one of the proscribed traitors. An old woman had presence -of mind enough to maintain that the man they had seen was the -shepherd. “Why did he not stop when we called to him?” said the -soldiers. “He is as deaf, poor man, as a peat-stack,” answered the -ready-witted domestic. “Let him be sent for directly.” The real -shepherd accordingly was brought from the hill, and, as there was -time to tutor him by the way, he was as deaf, when he made his -appearance, as was necessary to maintain his character. Stuart of -Invernahyle was afterwards pardoned under the act of indemnity.</p> - -<p>“He was a noble specimen of the old Highlander, far-descended, -gallant, courteous, and brave even to chivalry. He had been <i>out</i> in -1715 and 1745; was an active partaker in all the stirring scenes which -passed in the Highlands between these memorable eras; and was -remarkable, among other exploits, for having fought with and -vanquished Rob Roy, in a trial of skill at the broadsword, a short -time previous to the death of that celebrated hero, at the clachan of -Balquhidder. He chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came -into the Firth of Forth, and, though then an old man, appeared in -arms, and was heard to exult (to use his own words) in the prospect -of ‘drawing his claymore once more before he died.’”</p> - -<p>This pleasing anecdote is given in a critique upon the first series of -the “Tales of my Landlord,” (supposed to be written by Sir Walter -Scott,) in the thirty-second number of the <i>Quarterly Review</i>; and we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">{4}</span> -heartily concur with the learned Baronet in thinking it the groundwork -of “Waverley.”</p> - -<p>Yet it is somewhat remarkable that the name of a Major Talbot, -as well as that of Lieutenant-Colonel Whiteford, occurs in the list -of prisoners published by the Highland army, after their victory at -Prestonpans.</p> - -<p>The late Alexander Campbell, author of the “History of Poetry in -Scotland,” and editor of “Albyn’s Anthology,” a gentleman whose -knowledge of his native Highlands was at once extensive and accurate, -used to assert that it was the <i>younger sister</i>, not the <i>daughter</i> of Mr. -Stuart, that brought his food. He had heard an account of the -affecting circumstance from her own mouth.</p> - -<p>Stuart of Invernahyle marked his attachment to the cause of the -exiled Prince by the composition of a beautiful song, which is to be -found in Mr. Hogg’s “Jacobite Relics.”</p> - - -<h3>BRADWARDINE.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Of</span> the genus of Bradwardine, Colonel Stewart gives the following -account:—</p> - -<p>“The armies of Sweden, Holland, and France gave employment -to the younger sons of the Highland gentry, who were educated -abroad in the seminaries of Leyden and Douay. Many of these -returned with a competent knowledge of modern languages added to -their classical education—often speaking Latin with more purity than -Scotch, which, in many cases, they only learned after leaving their -native homes. The race of Bradwardine is not long extinct. In my -own time, several veterans might have sat for the picture of that most -honourable, brave, learned, and kind-hearted personage. These -gentlemen returned from the continent full of warlike Latin, French -phrases, and inveterate broad Scotch. One of the last of these, -Colonel Alexander Robertson, of the Scotch Brigade, uncle of the -present” (now late) “Strowan, I well remember.</p> - -<p>“Another of the Bradwardine character is still remembered by the -Highlanders with a degree of admiration bordering on enthusiasm. -This was John Stewart, of the family of Kincardine, in Strathspey,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">{5}</span> -known to the country by the name of John Roy Stewart, an accomplished -gentleman, an elegant scholar, a good poet, and a brave -officer. He composed with equal facility in English, Latin and Gaelic; -but it was chiefly by his songs, epigrams, and descriptive pieces, that -he attracted the admiration of his countrymen. He was an active -leader in the rebellion of 1745, and, during his ‘hiding’ of many -months, he had more leisure to indulge his taste for poetry and song. -The country traditions are full of his descriptive pieces, eulogies and -laments on friends, or in allusion to the events of that unfortunate -period. He had been long in the service of France and Portugal, and -had risen to the rank of colonel. He was in Scotland in 1745, and -commanded a regiment, composed of the tenants of his family and a -considerable number of the followers of Sir George Stewart of Grandtully, -who had been placed under him. With these, amounting in -all to 400 men, he joined the rebel army, and proved one of its ablest -partizans.”—<i>Sketches, vol.</i> ii. <i>notes</i>.</p> - -<p>Diligent research, however, has enabled us to point out a much -nearer original.</p> - -<p>The person who held the situation in the rebel army which in the -novel has been assigned to the Baron, namely, the command of their -few cavalry, was Alexander, fourth Lord Forbes of Pitsligo. This -nobleman, who possessed but a moderate fortune, was so much -esteemed for his excellent qualities of temper and understanding, that -when, after the battle of Prestonpans, he declared his purpose of -joining Prince Charles, most of the gentlemen in that part of the -country put themselves under his command, thinking they could not -follow a better or safer example than the conduct of Lord Pitsligo. -He thus commanded a body of 150 well mounted gentlemen in the -subsequent scenes of the rebellion, at the fatal close of which he -escaped to France, and was attainted, in the following month, by the -title of <i>Lord Pitsligo</i>, his estate and honours being of course forfeited -to the crown. After this he claimed the estate before the Court of -Session, on account of the misnomer, his title being properly <i>Lord -Forbes of Pitsligo</i>; and that Court gave judgment in his favour, 16th -November, 1749; but on an appeal it was reversed by the House of -Lords, 1750.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">{6}</span></p> - -<p>Like Bradwardine, Lord Pitsligo had been <i>out</i> in 1715 also—though -it does not appear that much notice was then taken of his defection. -His opposition to the whiggery of modern times had been equally -constant, and of long standing; for he was one of those staunch and -honourable though mistaken patriots of the last Scottish Parliament, -who had opposed the Union.</p> - -<p>He could also boast of a smattering of the <i>belles lettres</i>; and probably -plumed himself upon his literary attainments as much as the grim old -pedant, his counterpart. In 1734, he published “Essays, Moral and -Philosophical;” and something of the same sort appeared in 1761, -when he seems to have been in the near prospect of a conclusion to -his earthly trials. He died at Auchiries, in Aberdeenshire, December -21, 1762, at an advanced age, after having possessed his title, counting -from his accession in 1691, during a period of seventy-one years.</p> - -<p>It is not unworthy of remark, that the supporters of Lord Pitsligo’s -arms were two bears proper; which circumstance, connected with the -great favour in which these animals were held by Bradwardine, brings -the relation between the real and the fictitious personages very close.</p> - - -<h3>SCOTTISH FOOLS.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Davie Gellatley.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> appears that licensed fools were customary appendages of the -Scottish Court at a very early period; and the time is not long gone -by when such beings were retained at the table and in the halls of -various respectable noblemen. The absence of more refined amusements -made them become as necessary a part of a baronial establishment -as horses and hounds still continue to be in the mansions of many -modern squires. When as yet the pursuits of literature were not, and -ere gaming had become vicious enough to be fashionable, the rude -humours of the jester could entertain a pick-tooth hour; and, what -walnuts now are to wine, and enlightened conversation to the amusements -of the drawing-room, the boisterous bacchanalianism of our -ancestors once found in coarse buffooneries and the alternate darkness -and radiance of a foolish mind.</p> - -<p>In later times, when all taste for such diversion had gone out, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">{7}</span> -madman of the country-side frequently found shelter and patronage -under the roofs of neighbouring gentlemen; but though the <i>good things</i> -of <i>Daft Jamie</i> and <i>Daft Wattie</i> were regularly listened to by the laird, -and preserved in the traditions of the household, the encouragement -given to them was rather extended out of a benevolent compassion for -their helpless condition than from any desire to make their talents a -source of entertainment. Such was the motive of Bradwardine in -protecting Davie Gellatley; and such was also that of the late Earl -of Wemyss, in the support which he gave to the renowned Willie -Howison, a personage of whom many anecdotes are yet told in Haddingtonshire, -and whose services at Gosford House were not unlike -those of Davie at Tully-Veolan.</p> - -<p>Till within the last few years, these unfortunate persons were more -frequently to be found in their respective villages throughout the -country than now; and it is not long since even Edinburgh could -boast of her “<i>Daft Laird</i>,” her “<i>Bailie Duff</i>,” and her “<i>Madam -Bouzie</i>.” Numerous charitable institutions now seclude most of them -from the world. Yet, in many retired districts, where delicacy is not -apt to be shocked by sights so common, the blind, the dumb, and the -insane are still permitted to mix indiscriminately with their fellow-creatures. -Poverty compels many parents to take the easiest method -of supporting their unfortunate offspring—that of bringing them up -with the rest of the family; the decent pride of the Scottish peasant -also makes an application to charity, even in such a case as this, a -matter of very rare occurrence; and while superstition points out that -those whom God has sent into the world with less than the full share -of mental faculties are always made most peculiarly the objects of this -care, thus rendering the possession of such a child rather a medium -through which the blessings of heaven are diffused than a burden or a -curse, the affectionate desire of administering to them all those tender -offices which their unhappy situation so peculiarly requires, of tending -them with their own eyes, and nursing them with their own hands, that -large and overflowing, but not supererogatory share of tenderness with -which the darkened and destitute objects are constantly regarded by -parents—altogether make their domestication a matter of strong, and -happily not unpleasing necessity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">{8}</span></p> - -<p>The rustic idiots of Scotland are also in general blessed with a few -peculiarities, which seldom fail to make them objects of popular esteem -and affection. Many of them exhibit a degree of sagacity or cunning, -bearing the same relation to the rest of their intellectual faculties which, -in the ruins of a Grecian temple, the coarse and entire foundations -bear to the few and scattered but beautiful fragments of the superstructure. -This humble qualification, joined sometimes to the more -agreeable one of a shrewd and sly humour, while it enables them to -keep their own part, and occasionally to baffle sounder judgments, -proves an engaging subject of amusement and wonder to the cottage -fireside. A wild and wayward fancy, powers of song singularly great, -together with a full share of the above qualifications, formed the chief -characteristics of Daft Jock Gray of Gilmanscleugh, whom we are -about to introduce to the reader as the counterpart of Davie Gellatley.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">John Gray</span> is a native of Gilmanscleugh, a farm in the parish of -Ettrick, of which his father was formerly the shepherd, and from -which, according to Border custom, he derives his popular designation -or title “<span class="smcap">of Gilmanscleugh</span>.” Jock is now above forty years of -age, and still wanders through the neighbouring counties of Roxburgh, -Selkirk, and Peebles, in a half minstrel, half mendicant manner, finding, -even after the fervour of youth is past, no pleasure in a sedentary -or domestic life.</p> - -<p>Many months, many weeks, had not elapsed after Jock came into -the world, before all the old women of the <i>Faculty</i> in the parish discovered -that “he had a want.” As he grew up, it was found that he -had no capacity for the learning taught at the parish school, though, in -receiving various other sorts of lore, he showed an aptitude far surpassing -that of more highly gifted children. Thus, though he had not -steadiness of mind to comprehend the alphabet, and Barrie’s smallest -primer was to him as a fountain closed and a book sealed, he caught, -at a wonderfully early age, and with a rapidity almost incredible, many -fragments of Border song, which he could repeat, with the music, in -the precise manner of those who instructed him; and indeed he discovered -an almost miraculous power of giving utterance to sounds, in -all their extensive and intricate varieties.</p> - -<p>All endeavours on the part of his parents to communicate to his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">{9}</span> -mind the seeds of written knowledge having failed, Jock was abandoned -to the oral lore he loved so much; and of this he soon possessed -himself of an immense stock. His boyhood was passed in perfect -idleness; yet if it could have been proved upon him that he had the -smallest glimmering of sense, his days would not have been so easy. -In Jock’s native district there are just two ways for a boy to spend his -time; either he must go to school, or he must tend the cows; and it -generally happens that he goes to school in summer and tends the -cows in winter. But Jock’s idiocy, like Caleb Balderstone’s “fire,” -was an excuse for every duty. As to the first employment, his friend -the Dominie bore him out with flying colours; for the second, the -question was set for ever at rest by a <i>coup de main</i> achieved by the -rascal’s own happy fancy. “John,” says the minister of Yarrow to -him one day, “you are the idlest boy in the parish; you do nothing -all day but go about from house to house; you might at least herd a -few cows.” “Me, sir!” says Jock, with the most stolid stare imaginable, -“how could I herd the kye? Losh, sir, <i>I disna ken corn by -garse</i>!”—This happy bit was enough to keep Jock comfortable all the -rest of his life.</p> - -<p>Yet though Jock did not like to be tied down to any regular task, -and heartily detested both learning and herding, it could never be said -of him that he was sunk in what the country people call <i>even-down -idleset</i>. He sometimes condescended to be useful in running errands, -and would not grudge the tear and wear of his legs upon a seven-mile -journey, when he had the prospect of a halfpenny for his pains; for, -like all madmen, he was not insensible, however stupid in every other -thing, to the value of money, and knew a bawbee from a button with -the sharpest boy in the clachan. It is recorded to his credit, that in all -his errands he was ever found scrupulously honest. He was sometimes -sent to no less a distance than Innerleithen, which must be at least -seven miles from Gilmanscleugh, to procure small grocery articles for -his neighbours. Here an old woman, named Nelly Bathgate, kept -the metropolitan grocery shop of the parish, forming a sort of cynosure -to a district extending nearly from Selkirk to Peebles. This was in -the days before <i>St. Ronan’s Well</i> had drawn so many fashionables -around that retired spot; and as yet Nelly flourished in her little shop,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">{10}</span> -undisturbed by opposition, like the moon just before the creation of the -stars. Rivals innumerable have now sprung up around honest Nelly; -and her ancient and respectable, but unpretending sign-board, simply -importing, “<span class="smcap">N. Bathgate, Grocer</span>,” quails under the glowing and -gilt-lettered rubrics of “—— ——, <span class="smcap">from Edinburgh</span>,” etc., etc., -etc., who specify that they import their own teas and wines, and deal -both <i>en gros et en petit</i>.</p> - -<p>For a good while Jock continued to do business with Nelly Bathgate, -unannoyed, as the honest dame herself, by any other grocery -shop; and indeed how there could be such a thing as another grocery -shop in the whole world besides Nelly’s, was quite incomprehensible to -Jock. But at length the distracting object arose. A larger shop than -Nelly’s, with larger windows, and a larger sign-board, was opened; -the proprietor had a son in Edinburgh with a great wholesale grocer in -Nicolson Street; and was supplied with a great quantity of goods, at -cheap prices, of a more flashy nature than any that had ever before -been dreamt of, smelt, or eaten in the village. Here a strange grocery -article, called pearl ashes, was sold; and being the first time that such -a thing was ever heard of, Innerleithen was just in a ferment about it. -Jock was strongly tempted to give his custom, or rather the custom of -his employers, to this shop; for really Nelly’s customary <i>snap</i> was -growing stale upon his appetite, and he longed to taste the comfits of -the new establishment. This Nelly saw and appreciated; and, to -prevent the defection she feared, Jock’s allowance was forthwith -doubled, and, moreover, occasionally varied by a guerdon of a sweeter -sort. But still Jock hankered after the sweets of that strange forbidden -shop; and, as he passed towards Nelly’s, after a long hungry journey, -could almost have wished himself transformed into one of those yellow -bees which buzzed about in noisy enjoyment within the window and -show-glasses of the new grocer,—creatures which, to his mind, appeared -to pass the most delightful and enviable life. It is certainly -much to Jock’s credit, that, even under all these temptations, and -though he had frequently a whole sixpence to dispose of in eight or ten -different small articles, and, no less, though he had no security engaged -for intromissions, so that the whole business was nothing but a question -of character,—yea, in not so much as a farthing was he ever found -wanting.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">{11}</span></p> - -<p>Nelly continued to be a good friend to Jock, and Jock adhered as -stoutly to Nelly; but it was frequently observed by those who were -curious in his mad humours, that his happy conquest over the love of -comfits was not accomplished and preserved without many struggles -between his instinctive honesty and the old Adam of his inner man. -For instance, after having made all his purchases at Mrs. Bathgate’s, -when he found only a single solitary farthing remain in his hand, -which was to be his faithful companion all the way back to Gilmanscleugh, -how forcibly it must have struck his foolish mind, that, by -means of the new grocer, he had it in his power to improve his -society a thousand-fold, by the simple and easy, though almost-as-good-as-alchymical -process of converting its base brazen form into a -mass of gilt gingerbread. Such a temptation might have staggered -St. Anthony himself, and was certainly far too much for poor Jock’s -humble powers of self-denial. In this dreadful emergency, his only -means of safety lay in flight; and so it was observed by his rustic -friends, on such occasions, that, as soon as he was fairly clear of Nelly’s -door, he commenced a sort of headlong trot, as if for the purpose of -confounding all dishonourable thoughts in his mind, and ran with all -his might out of the village, without looking once aside; for if he had -trusted his eye with but one glance at that neat whitewashed window -of four panes, where two biscuits, four gingerbread cakes, a small blue -bottle of white caraways, and a variety of other nondescript articles -of village confectionery displayed their modest yet irresistible allurements, -he had been gone!</p> - -<p>There is one species of employment in which Jock always displays -the utmost willingness to be engaged. It must be understood, that, -like many sounder men, he is a great admirer of the fair sex. He -exhibits an almost chivalrous devotion to their cause, and takes great -pleasure in serving them. Any little commission with which they may -please to honour him, he executes with alacrity, and his own expression -is that he would “jump Tweed, or dive the Wheel (a deep eddy in -Tweed), for their sakes.” He requires no reward for his services, but, -like a true knight, begs only to kiss the hand of his fair employer, and -is satisfied. It may be observed, that he is at all times fond of saluting -the hands of ladies that will permit him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">{12}</span></p> - -<p>The author of “Waverley” has described Davie Gellatley as dressed -in a grey jerkin, with scarlet cuffs, and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet -lining, a livery with which the Baron of Bradwardine indued him, in -consideration of his services and character. Daft Jock Grey has at no -period of his life exhibited so much personal magnificence. His usual -dress is a rather shabby suit of hodden grey, with <i>ridge and furrow</i><a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> -stockings; and the utmost extent of his finery is a pair of broad red -garters, bound neatly below the knee-strings of his nether garments, of -which, however, he is probably more vain than ever belted knight was -of the royal garter. But waiving the matter of dress, their discrepance -in which is purely accidental, the resemblance is complete in every other -respect. The face, mien, and gestures are exactly the same. Jock -walks with all that swing of the body and arms, that abstracted air and -sauntering pace, which figure in the description of Davie (“Waverley,” -vol i. chap. ix.), and which, it may indeed be said, are peculiar to the -whole genus and body of Scottish madmen. Jock’s face is equally -handsome in its outline with that given to the fool of Tully-Veolan, -and is no less distinguished by “that wild, unsettled, and irregular expression, -which indicated neither idiocy nor insanity, but something -resembling a compound of both, where the simplicity of the fool was -mixed with the extravagance of a crazed imagination.” Add to this -happy picture the prosaic and somewhat unromantic circumstance of a -pair of buck-teeth, and the reader has our friend Jock to a single -feature.</p> - -<p>The Highland madman is described by his pedantic patron, to be -“a poor simpleton, neither <i>fatuus nec naturaliter idiota</i>, as is expressed -in the brieves of furiosity, but simply a cracked-brained knave, who -could execute any commission that jumped with his own humour, and -made his folly a plea for avoiding every other.” This entirely agrees -with the character of Jock, who is thought by many to possess much -good common sense, and whose talents of music and mimicry point -him out as at least ingenious. Yet to us it appears, that all Jock’s -qualifications, ingenious as they may be, are nothing but indications of -a weak mind. His great musical and mimetic powers, his talent and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">{13}</span> -willingness of errand-going, his cunning and his excessive devotion to -the humours and fancies of the fair sex, are mere caricatures of the -same dispositions and talents in other men, and point out all such -qualifications, when found in the best and wisest characters, as marks -of fatuity and weakness. Where, for instance, was the perfection of -musical genius ever found accompanied with a good understanding? -Are not porters and chairman the smallest-minded among mankind? -Is not cunning the lowest of the human faculties, and always found -most active in the illiberal mind? And what lady’s man, what <i>cavaliere -serviente</i>, what squire of dames, what man of drawing-rooms and -boudoirs, ever yet exhibited the least trace of greatness or nobility of -intellect? Jock, who has all these qualifications in himself, may be -considered as outweighing at least four other men who severally possess -them.</p> - -<p>Like Davie Gellatley, Jock “is in good earnest the half-crazed -simpleton which he appears to be, and incapable of any steady -exertion. He has just so much wild wit as saves him from the imputation -of insanity, warm affections, a prodigious memory, and an ear for -music.” This latter quality is a point of resemblance which puts all -question of their identity past the possibility of doubt. Davie it must be -well remembered by the readers of “Waverley,” is there represented as -constantly singing wild scraps of ancient songs and ballads, which, by a -beautiful fiction of the author, he is said to have received in legacy from -a poetical brother who died in a decline some years before. His conversation -was in general carried on by means of these, to the great annoyance -of young Waverley, and such as, like him, did not comprehend the -strange metaphorical meaning of his replies and allusions. Now, Jock’s -principal talent and means of subsistence are vested in his singular and -minstrel-like powers of song, there being few of our national melodies -of which he cannot chaunt forth a verse, as the occasion may suggest to -his memory. He never fails to be a welcome guest with all the farmers -he may chance to visit,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> on account of his faculties of entertaining them -with the tender or warlike ditties of the Border, or the more smart and -vulgar songs of the modern world. It is to be remarked, that his style<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">{14}</span> -of singing, like the styles of all other great geniuses in the fine arts, is -entirely his own. Sometimes his voice soars to the ecstasy of the -highest, and sometimes descends to the melancholious grunt of the -lowest pitch; while ever and anon he throws certain wild and beautiful -variations into both the words and the music, <i>ad libitum</i>, which -altogether stamp his performances with a character of the most perfect -originality. He generally sings very much through his nose, especially -in humorous songs; and, from his making a curious hiss, or twang, -on setting off into a melody, one might almost think that he employs -his notorious buck-teeth in the capacity of what musicians term a <i>pitchfork</i>.</p> - -<p>Jock, by means of his singing powers, was one of the first who circulated -the rising fame of his countryman, the Ettrick Shepherd, many -of whose early songs he committed to memory, and sung publicly over -all the country round. One beginning, “Oh Shepherd, the weather -is misty and changing,” and the well known lyric of “Love is like a -dizziness,” besides being the first poetical efforts of their ingenious and -wonderful author, were the earliest of Jock Gray’s favourite songs, and -perhaps became the chief means of setting him up in the trade of a -wandering minstrel. We have seen him standing upon a <i>dees stane</i> in -the street of Peebles, entertaining upwards of a hundred people with -the latter ludicrous ditty; and many a well-told penny has he made it -squeeze from the iron purses of the inhabitants of that worthy town, -“albeit unused to the <i>opening</i> mood.”</p> - -<p>In singing the “Ewe-buchts, Marion,” it is remarkable that he adds -a chorus which is not found in any printed edition of the song:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come round about the Merry-knowes, my Marion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Come round about the Merry-knowes wi’ me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Come round about the Merry-knowes, my Marion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For Whitsled is lying lea.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Whitsled is a farm in the parish of Ashkirk, county of Selkirk, lying -upon the water of Ale; and Merry-knowes is the name of a particular -spot in the farm. This circumstance is certainly important enough to -deserve the attention of those who make Scottish song a study and -object of collection; as the verse, if authentic, would go far to prove -the locality of the “Ewe-buchts.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">{15}</span></p> - -<p>In addition to his talent as a musician, Jock can also boast of a -supplementary one, by means of which, whenever memory fails in his -songs, he can supply, <i>currente voce</i>, all incidental deficiencies. He is -not only a wit and a musician, but also a <i>poet</i>! He has composed -several songs, which by no means want admirers in the country, -though the most of them scarcely deserve the praise of even mediocrity. -Indeed his poetical talents are of no higher order than what the author -of an excellent article in the “Edinburgh Annual Register” happily -terms “wonderfully well considering”; and seem to be admired by his -rustic friends only on the benevolent principle of “where little has -been given, let little be required.”</p> - -<p>He has, however, another most remarkable gift, which the author of -“Waverley” has entirely rejected in conceiving the revised and enlarged -edition of his character,—a wonderful turn for <i>mimicry</i>. His powers -in this art are far, far indeed, from contemptible, though it unfortunately -happens that, like almost all rustic Scottish humorists, he -makes ministers and sacred things his chief and favourite objects. He -attends the preachings of all the ministers that fall within the scope of -his peregrinations, and sometimes brings away whole <i>tenthlies</i> of their -several sermons, which he lays off to any person that desires him, with -a faithfulness of imitation, in tone and gesture, which never fails to convulse -his audience with laughter. He has made himself master of all -the twangs, <i>soughs</i>, wheezes, coughs, <i>snirtles</i>, and bleatings, peculiar to -the various parish ministers twenty miles round; and being himself of -no particular sect, he feels not the least delicacy or compunction for any -single class of divines—all are indiscriminately familiar to the powers -of the universal Jock!</p> - -<p>It is remarkable, that though the Scottish peasantry are almost without -exception pious, they never express, so far as we have been able to -discover, the least demur respecting the profanity and irreverence of -this exhibition. The character of the nation may appear anomalous on -this account. But we believe the mystery may be solved by supposing -them so sincerely and unaffectedly devout, in all that concerns the -sentiment of piety, that they do not suspect themselves of any remissness, -when they make the outward circumstances, and even the -ordinances of religion, the subject of wit. It is on this account, that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">{16}</span> -in no country, even the most lax in religious feeling, have the matters -of the church been discussed so freely as in Scotland; and nowhere are -there so many jokes and good things about ministers and priests. In -this case the very ministers themselves have been known to listen to -Daft Jock’s mimicries of their neighbours with unqualmed delight,—never -thinking, good souls, that the impartial rascal has just as little -mercy on themselves at the next manse he visits. It is also to be remarked, -that, in thus quizzing the worthy ministers, he does not forget -to practise what the country-people consider a piece of exquisite satire -on the habits of such as <i>read</i> their sermons. Whenever he imitates -any of these degenerate divines, who, by their unpopularity, form quite -a sect by themselves in the country, and are not nearly so much -respected as extempore preachers,<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> he must have either a book or a -piece of paper open before him, from which he gravely affects to read -the subject of discourse; and his audience are always trebly delighted -with this species of exhibition. He was once amusing Mrs. C——, the -minister’s wife of Selkirk, with some imitations of the neighbouring -clergymen, when she at last requested him to give her a few words in -the manner of Dr. C——, who being a notorious <i>reader</i>, “Ou, Mem,” -says Jock, “ye maun bring me the Doctor’s Bible, then, and I’ll gie -ye him <i>in style</i>.” She brought the Bible, little suspecting the purpose -for which the wag intended it, when, with the greatest effrontery, he -proceeded to burlesque this unhappy peculiarity of the worthy doctor -in the presence of his own wife.</p> - -<p>Jock was always a privileged character in attending all sorts of kirks, -though many ministers, who dreaded a future sufferance under his -relentless caricaturing powers, would have been glad to exclude him. -He never seems to pay any attention to the sermon, or even deigns to -sit down, like other decent Christians, but wanders constantly about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">{17}</span> -from gallery to gallery, upstairs and downstairs. His erratic habit -is not altogether without its use. When he observes any person sleeping -during the sermon, he reaches over to the place, and taps -him gently on the head with his <i>kent</i> till he awake; should he in any -of his future rounds (for he parades as regularly about as a policeman -in a large city) observe the drowsy person repeating the offence, he -gives him a tremendous thwack over the pate; and he increases the -punishment so much at every subsequent offence, that, like the military -punishment for desertion, the third infliction almost amounts to death -itself. A most laughable incident once occurred in —— church, on a -drowsy summer afternoon, when the windows were let down, admitting -and emitting a thousand flies, whose monotonous buzz, joined to the -somniferous snuffle of Dr. ——, would have been fit music for the bedchamber -of Morpheus, even though that honest god was lying ill of the -toothache, the gout, or any other equally <i>woukrife</i> disorder. A bailie, -who had dined, as is usual in most country towns, between sermons, -could not resist the propensity of his nature, and, fairly overpowered, -at last was under the necessity of affronting the preacher to his very -face, by laying down his head upon the book-board; when his capacious, -bald round crown might have been mistaken, at first sight, for -the face of the clock placed in the front of the gallery immediately -below. Jock was soon at him with his stick, and, with great difficulty, -succeeded in rousing him. But the indulgence was too great to be -long resisted, and down again went the bailie’s head. This was not -to be borne. Jock considered his authority sacred, and feared not -either the frowns of elders, nor the more threatening scowls of kirk-officers, -when his duty was to be done. So his arm went forth, and -the <i>kent</i> descended a second time with little reverence upon the offending -sconce; upon which the magistrate started up with an astonished -stare, in which the sentiment of surprise was as completely concentrated -as in the face of the inimitable Mackay, when he cries out, -“Hang a magistrate! My conscience!” The contrast between the -bailie’s stupid and drowsy face, smarting and writhing from the blow, -which Jock had laid on pretty soundly, and the aspect of the <i>natural</i> -himself, who still stood at the head of the pew, shaking his stick, and -looking at the magistrate with an air in which authority, admonition,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">{18}</span> -and a threat of further punishment, were strangely mingled, altogether -formed a scene of striking and irresistible burlesque; and while the -Doctor’s customary snuffle was increased to a perfect whimper of -distress, the whole congregation showed in their faces evident symptoms -of everything but the demureness proper to a place of worship.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, when in a sitting mood, Jock takes a modest seat on -the pulpit stairs, where there likewise usually roost a number of deaf -old women, who cannot hear in any other part of the church. These -old ladies, whom the reader will remember as the unfortunate persons -that Dominie Sampson sprawled over, in his premature descent from -the pulpit, when he <i>stickit</i> his first preaching, our waggish friend would -endeavour to torment by every means which his knavish humour could -invent. He would tread upon their corns, lean amorously upon their -laps, purloin their <i>specks</i> (spectacles), set them on a false scent after -the psalm, and, sometimes getting behind them, plant his longest and -most serious face over their black cathedral-looking bonnets, like an -owl looking over an ivied wall, while few of the audience could contain -their gravity at the extreme humour of the scene. The fun was sometimes, -as we ourselves have witnessed, not a little enhanced by the old -lady upon whom Jock was practising, turning round, in holy dudgeon, -and dealing the unlucky wag a vengeful thwack across the face with -her heavy <i>octavo</i> Bible. We have also seen a very ludicrous scene take -place, when, on the occasion of a baptism, he refused to come down -from his citadel, and defied all the efforts which James Kerr, the kirk-officer, -made to dislodge him; while the father of the child, waiting -below to present it, stood in the most awkward predicament imaginable, -not daring to venture upon the stairs while Jock kept possession -of them. It is not probable, however, that he would have been so -obstinate on that occasion, if he had not had an ill-will at the preserver -of the peace, for his interrupting him that day in his laudable endeavours -to break the slumbers of certain persons, whose peace (or <i>rest</i>) it -was the peculiar interest of that official to preserve.</p> - -<p>We will conclude this sketch of <i>Daft Jock Gray</i> with a stupendous -anecdote, which we fear, however, is not strictly canonical. Jock -once received an affront from his mother, who refused to gratify him -with an extra allowance of bannocks, at a time when he meditated a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">{19}</span> -long journey to a New Year’s Day junketing. Whereupon he seems -to have felt the yearnings of a hermit and a misanthrope within his -breast, and longed to testify to the world how much he both detested -and despised it. He withdrew himself from the society of the cottage,—was -seen to reject the addresses of his old companion and friend the -cat,—and finally, next morning, after tossing an offered cogue of -<i>Scotia’s halesome food</i> into the fire, and breaking two of his mother’s -best and blackest <i>cutty pipes</i>, articles which she held almost in the -esteem of <i>penates</i> or household gods,—off he went, and ascended to -the top of the highest Eildon Hill, at that time covered with deep -snow. There he wreaked out his vengeance in a tremendous and truly -astonishing exploit. He rolled a huge snow-ball, till, in its accumulation, -it became too large for his strength, and then taking it to the -edge of the declivity,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“From Eildon’s proud vermilioned brow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He dashed upon the plains below”<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>the ponderous mass; which, increasing rapidly in its descent, became -a perfect avalanche before it reached the plain, and, when there, -seemed like a younger brother of the three Eildons, so that people -thought Michael Scott had resumed his old pranks, and added another -hill to that which he formerly “split in three.” This enormous -conglomeration of snow was found, when it fully melted away through -the course of next summer, to have licked up with its mountain tongue -thirty-five clumps of withered whin bushes, nineteen hares, three -ruined cottages, and a whole encampment of peat-stacks!</p> - -<p>The <i>Naturals</i>, or Idiots, of Scotland, of whom the Davie Gellatley -of <i>fictitious</i>, and the Daft Jock Gray of <i>real</i> life, may be considered as -good specimens, form a class of our countrymen which it is our anxious -desire should be kept in remembrance. Many of the anecdotes told of -them are extremely laughable, and we are inclined to prize such things, -on account of the just exhibitions they sometimes afford of genuine -human nature. The sketch we have given, and the anecdotes which -we are about to give, may perhaps be considered valuable on this -account, and also from their connection, moreover, with the manners -of rustic life in the Lowlands of Scotland.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">{20}</span></p> -<p><i>Daft Willie Law</i><a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> of Kirkaldy was a regular attendant on <i>tent-preachings</i>, -and would scour the country thirty miles round in order to -be present at “<i>an occasion</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> One warm summer day he was attending -the preaching at Abbots Hall, when, being very near-sighted, and -having a very short neck, he stood quite close to “<i>the tent</i>” gaping in -the minister’s face, who, greatly irritated at a number of his hearers -being fast asleep, bawled out, “For shame, Christians, to lie sleeping -there, while the glad tidings of the gospel are sounding in your ears; -and here is Willie Law, a poor idiot, hearing me with great attention!” -“Eh go! sir, that’s true,” says Willie; “but if I hadna been -a puir idiot, I would have been sleeping too!”</p> - -<p>The late John Berry, Esq., of Wester Bogie, was married to a -distant relation of Daft Willie, upon which account the poor fellow -used a little more freedom with that gentleman than with any other -who was in the habit of noticing him. Meeting Mr. Berry one day in -Kirkaldy, he cries, “God bless you, Mr. Berry! gie’s a bawbee! gie’s -a bawbee!” “There, Willie,” says Mr. Berry, giving him what he -thought a halfpenny, but which he immediately saw was a shilling. -“That’s no a gude bawbee, Willie,” continues he; “gie me’t back, -and I’ll gie ye anither ane for’t.” “Na, na,” quoth Willie, “it sets -Daft Willie Law far better to put away an ill bawbee than it wad do -you, Mr. Berry.” “Ay, but Willie, if ye dinna gie me’t back, I’ll -never gie ye anither ane.” “Deil ma care,” says the wag, “it’ll be -lang or I get ither four-and-twenty frae ye!”</p> - -<p>Willie was descended from an ancient Scottish family, and nearly -related to John Law of Lauriston, the celebrated financier of France. -On that account he was often spoken to and noticed by gentlemen of -distinction; and he wished always to appear on the most intimate -terms with the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood. Posting one -day through Kirkcaldy with more than ordinary speed, he was met by -Mr. Oswald of Dunnikier, who asked him where he was going in such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">{21}</span> -a hurry. “I’m gaun to my cousin Lord Elgin’s burial.” “Your -cousin Lord Elgin’s burial, you fool! Lord Elgin’s not dead!” “Ah, -deil may care,” quoth Willie; “there’s sax doctors out o’ Embro’ at -him, and they’ll hae him dead afore I win forat!”</p> - -<p>Of <i>Matthew Cathie</i>, an East Lothian idiot, numerous characteristic -anecdotes are related. He lives by begging in the town of North -Berwick, and is well treated by the people there, on account of his -extreme inoffensiveness. Like Daft Jock Gray, he is fond of going -into churches, where his appearance does not fail to set the people -a-staring. On one occasion the minister, pointing to Matthew, said, -“That person must be put out before we can proceed.” Matthew, -hearing this, exclaimed, “Put him out wha likes, I’ll hae nae hand -in’t!” Another time, the minister said, “Matthew must be put out!” -when Matthew got up and replied, “Oh! Geordie, man, ye needna -fash—Matthew can gang out himsel’!”</p> - -<p>The Earl of Wemyss, walking one day, found his fool, Willie -Howison, asleep upon the ground, and, rousing him, asked what he -had been dreaming about. “Ou, my lord,” says Willie, “I dreamed -that I was in hell!” “Ay, Willie, and pray what did ye observe -there?” “Ou, my lord, it’s just there as it’s here—the grit folk’s -ta’en <i>farrest ben</i>!”</p> - -<p>Selkirkshire boasts of several highly amusing idiots, all of whom -John Gray once made the subject of a song, in which each of them -received some complimentary mention. Himself, <i>Davie o’ the Inch</i>, -<i>Caleb and Robbie Scott</i>, and <i>Jamie Renwick</i>, are the chief heroes. -Caleb, a very stupid natural, was once engaged by a troop of wandering -showfolks to personate the character of an orang-outang at a -Melrose fair; the regular orang-outang of the establishment having -recently left his keepers in the lurch, by marrying a widow in Berwick, -which enabled him to give up business, and retire to the shades of -domestic privity. Caleb performed very well, and, being appropriately -tarred and feathered, looked the part to perfection. Amateurship -alone would have soon reconciled him to be an orang-outang all the -rest of his life, and to have left Selkirkshire behind; for, according to -his own account, he had nothing to do but hold his tongue, and sit -munching apples all day long. But his stars had not destined him for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">{22}</span> -so enviable a life of enjoyment. A drunken farmer coming in to see -“the wild man of the woods,” out of pure mischief gave Caleb a lash -across the shoulders with his whip, when the poor fellow, roaring out -in his natural voice, a mortifying <i>denouement</i> took place; the showfolks -were affronted and hissed out of the town, and Caleb was turned -off at a moment’s notice, with all his blushing honours thick upon -him!</p> - -<p><i>Jamie Renwick</i> has more sense and better perceptions than Caleb -Scott, but he is much more intractable and mischievous. He is a tall, -stout, wild-looking fellow, and might perhaps make as good a hyena -as Caleb made an orang-outang. Once, being upon an excursion along -with Jock Gray, they came to a farmhouse, and, in default of better -accommodation, were lodged in the barn. They did not like this -treatment at all, and Jock, in particular, was so irritated, that he -would not rest, but got up and walked about, amusing himself with -some of his wildest and most sonorous melodies. This, of course, -annoyed his companion, who, being inclined to sleep, was making the -best he could of a blanket and a bundle of straw. “Come to your -bed, ye skirlin’ deevil!” cries Jamie; “I canna get a wink o’ sleep -for ye: I daursay the folk will think us daft! Od, if ye dinna come -and lie down this instant, I’ll rise and <i>bring ye to your senses</i> wi’ my -rung!” “Faith,” says Jock, “if ye do <i>that</i>, it will be mair than ony -ither body has ever been able to do!” It will be remembered that -even the minister of Yarrow himself failed in accomplishing this consummation -so devoutly to be wished.</p> - -<p>The following anecdote, from Colonel Stewart’s work on the Highlands, -displays a strange instance of mingled sagacity and fidelity in a -Celtic madman; and has, we have no doubt, been made use of in the -author of “Waverley’s” examples of the fidelity of Davie Gellatley, -as exerted in behalf of his unfortunate patron on similar occasions.</p> - -<p>“In the years 1746 and 1747, some of the gentlemen ‘<i>who had been -out</i>’ in the rebellion were occasionally concealed in a deep woody den -near my grandfather’s house. A poor half-witted creature, brought up -about the house, was, along with many others, intrusted with the secret -of their concealment, and employed in supplying them with necessaries. -It was supposed that when the troops came round on their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">{23}</span> -usual searches, they would not imagine that he could be intrusted with -so important a secret, and, consequently, no questions would be asked. -One day two ladies, friends of the gentlemen, wished to visit them in -their cave, and asked Jamie Forbes to show them the way. Seeing -that they came from the house, and judging from their manner that -they were friends, he did not object to their request, and walked away -before them. When they had proceeded a short way, one of the -ladies offered him five shillings. The instant he saw the money, he -put his hands behind his back, and seemed to lose all recollection. -‘He did not know what they wanted: he never saw the gentlemen, -and knew nothing of them;’ and, turning away, walked in a quite -contrary direction. When questioned afterwards why he ran away -from the ladies, he answered, that when they had offered him such a -sum (five shillings was of some value seventy years ago, and would -have bought two sheep in the Highlands), he suspected they had no -good intention, and that their fine clothes and fair words were meant -to entrap the gentlemen.”</p> - - -<h3 title="RORY DALL, THE HARPER.">RORY DALL, THE HARPER.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">An</span> allusion is made to this celebrated musician in the description of -Flora Mac-Ivor’s performance upon the harp in the Highland glen. -“Two paces back stood Cathleen, holding a small Scottish harp, the -use of which had been taught her by Rory Dall, one of the last -harpers of the Western Islands.” (“Wav.,” vol. i. p. 338.) <i>Roderick -Morison</i>, called <i>Dall</i> on account of his blindness, lived in Queen -Anne’s time, in the double capacity of harper and bard to the family -of Macleod of Macleod. Many of his songs and poems are still -repeated by his countrymen.</p> - - -<h3>“CLAW FOR CLAW, AS CONAN SAID TO SATAN.”</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> the Highlanders prepared for Prestonpans (“Wav.,” vol. ii. -p. 289), Mrs. Flockhart, in great distress about the departure of her -lodgers, asks Ensign Maccombich if he would “actually face thae<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">{24}</span> -tearing, swearing chields, the dragoons?” “Claw for claw,” cries -the courageous Highlander, “and the devil take the shortest nails!” -This is an old Gaelic proverb. <i>Conan</i> was one of Fingal’s heroes—rash, -turbulent, and brave. One of his unearthly exploits is said to -have led him to Iurna, or Cold Island (similar to the Den of Hela of -Scandinavian mythology), a place only inhabited by infernal beings. -On Conan’s departure from the island, one of its demons struck him a -blow, which he instantly returned. This outrage upon immortals was -fearfully retaliated, by a whole legion setting upon poor Conan. But -the warrior was not daunted; and exclaiming, “Claw for claw, and -the devil take the shortest nails!” fought out the battle, and, it is -said, ultimately came off victorious.</p> - - -<h3>TULLY-VEOLAN.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Traquair House.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Tully-Veolan</span> finds a striking counterpart in Traquair House, in -Peebles-shire, the seat of the noble family whose name it bears. The -aspect of the gateway, avenue, and house itself, is precisely that of the -semi-Gothic, bear-guarded mansion of Bradwardine. It is true that, in -place of the multitudinous representations of the bear, so profusely -scattered around Tully-Veolan, we have here only a single pair, which -adorn the gate at the head of the avenue: and that the avenue itself -cannot pretend to match the broad continuous shade through which -Waverley approached the Highland castle; and also that several other -important features are wanting to complete the resemblance;—yet, if -we be not altogether imposed upon by fancy, there is a likeness sufficiently -strong to support the idea that this scene formed the original -<i>study</i> of the more finished and bold-featured picture of the novelist. -Traquair House was finished in the reign of Charles I. by the first -Earl, who was lord high treasurer of Scotland at that period. This -date corresponds with that assigned to Tully-Veolan, which, says the -author, was built when architects had not yet abandoned the castellated -style peculiar to the preceding warlike ages, nor yet acquired the art of -constructing a baronial mansion without a view to defence.</p> - -<p>It is worthy of remark, that the Earl of Traquair is the only Scottish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">{25}</span> -nobleman, besides the Earl of Newburgh, who still adheres to the -Romish faith:<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and that his antique and interesting house strongly -resembles, in its <i>internal economy and appearance</i>, Glenallan Castle, -described in the “Antiquary.”</p> - -<p>Among the illustrative vignettes prefixed to a late edition of the -author of “Waverley’s” works, a view of Craig Crook Castle, near -Edinburgh, is given for Tully-Veolan; and, to complete the <i>vraisemblance</i>, -several bears have been added to the scene. It is only -necessary to assert, in general, that these bears only exist in the imagination -of the artist, and that no place has less resemblance to the -Tully-Veolan of “Waverley” than Craig Crook, which is a small <i>single</i> -house, in a bare situation, more like the mansion of poor Laird Dumbiedykes -than the castle of a powerful feudal baron.</p> - - -<h3>THE BODACH GLAS.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> original of the <i>Bodach Glas</i>, whose appearance proved so portentous -to the family of the Mac-Ivors, may probably be traced to a -legend current in the ancient family of Maclaine of Lochbuy, in the -island of Mull, noticed by Sir Walter Scott in a note to his “Lady of -the Lake.”<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The popular tradition is, that whenever any person -descended of that family is near death, the spirit of one of them, who -was slain in battle, gives notice of the approaching event. There is -this difference between the <i>Bodach Glas</i> and him, that the former -appeared on these solemn occasions only to the chief of the house of -Mac-Ivor, whereas the latter never misses an individual descended of -the family of Lochbuy, however obscure, or in whatever part of the -world he may be.</p> - -<p>The manner of his showing himself is sometimes different, but he -uniformly appears on horseback. Both the horse and himself seem to -be of a very diminutive size, particularly the head of the rider, from -which circumstance he goes under the appellation of “<i>Eoghan a chinn -bhig</i>,” or “<i>Hugh of the little head</i>.” Sometimes he is heard riding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">{26}</span> -furiously round the house where the person is about to die, with an -extraordinary noise, like the rattling of iron chains. At other times -he is discovered with his horse’s head nearly thrust in at a door or -window; and, on such occasions, whenever observed, he gallops off in -the manner already described, the hooves of his steed striking fire from -the flinty rocks. The effects of such a visit on the inmates of the -dwelling may be easily conceived when it is considered that it was -viewed as an infallible prognostication of approaching death—an event -at which the stoutest heart must recoil, when the certainty is placed -before him of his hours being numbered. Like his brother spirits, he -seems destined to perform his melancholy rounds amidst nocturnal -darkness, the horrors of which have a natural tendency to increase the -consternation of a scene in itself sufficiently appalling.</p> - -<p>The origin of the tradition is involved in the obscurity of antiquity. -It is related of him that, on the eve of a battle in which he was to be -engaged, a weird woman prophesied to him, that if his wife (who was -a daughter of Macdougall of Lorn), on the morning when he was to set -out on his expedition, had his breakfast prepared before he was ready -for it, good fortune would betide him; if, on the other hand, he had to -call for his breakfast, he would lose his life in the conflict. It seems -he was not blest with an affectionate spouse; for, on the morning in -question, after waiting a considerable time, he had at last to call for -his breakfast, not, however, without upbraiding his wife, by informing -her of what was to be the consequence of her want of attention. The -presentiment that he was to fall may have contributed to the fulfilment -of the prophecy, which was accomplished as a matter of course. This -part of the story probably refers to one of the Maclaines of Lochbuy, -who was married to a daughter of Macdougall of Lorn, and who, with -his two eldest sons, was killed in a feud with their neighbours, the -Macleans of Duart, which had nearly proved fatal to the family of -Lochbuy. This happened in the reign of King James IV.</p> - -<p>It has not come to our knowledge for what cause the penance was -imposed on <i>Eoghan a chinn bhig</i> of giving warning to all his clan of -their latter end—whether for deeds done in this life, or whether (as -some people imagine that departed spirits act as guardian angels to the -living) he is thus permitted to show his regard for his friends by visiting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">{27}</span> -them in their last moments, to prepare them for another world. The -latter would appear to be the most probable, from a circumstance -reported of him, which seems rather at variance with the general -character of a harbinger of death. It is said that he took a great fancy -to a near relation of the family of Lochbuy (called, by way of patronymic, -John M‘Charles), to whom he paid frequent visits, and communicated -several particulars respecting the future fate of the family. -Whenever he wished an interview with his favourite, he would come to -his door, from which he would not stir till John M‘Charles came out; -when he would pull him up behind him on his Pegasus, and ride all -night over hills, rocks, woods, and wilds, at the same time conversing -with him familiarly of several events that were to happen in the -Lochbuy family, one of which is said to have been accomplished, about -forty years ago, according to his prediction.</p> - -<p>This tiny personage, though light of limb, has the reputation of -being, like all other unearthly beings, endued with supernatural -strength, of which his exploits with John M‘Charles afford an instance. -Not many years ago, a man in Mull, when returning home about dusk, -perceived a person on horseback coming towards him. Supposing it -might be some person whom he knew, he went up to speak to him; -but the horseman seemed determined to pass on without noticing him. -Thinking he observed something remarkable in the appearance of the -rider, he approached close to him, when he was unexpectedly seized by -the collar, and forcibly dragged about a quarter of a mile by the -stranger, who at last abandoned his hold, after several ineffectual -attempts to place his terrified victim behind him, which, being a powerful -man, he successfully resisted. He was, however, so much bruised -in the scuffle, that it was with difficulty he could make his way home, -although he had only about half a mile to go. He immediately took to -his bed, which he did not leave for some days, his friends wondering -all the time what could be the matter with him. It was not until he -told the story, as we have related it, that the adventure was known. -And as, after the strictest inquiry, it could not be ascertained that any -person on horseback had passed that way on the evening on which it -took place, it was, by the unanimous voice of all the seers and old -wives in the neighbourhood, laid down as an incontrovertible proposition,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">{28}</span> -that the equestrian stranger could be no other than “<i>Eoghan a -chinn bhig</i>.”</p> - -<p>In whatever way the tradition originated, certain it is that, at one -time, it was very generally, if not universally, received over the island -of Mull and adjacent parts. Like other superstitions of a similar -nature, it has gradually given way to the more enlightened ideas of -modern times, and the belief is now confined to the vulgar.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">{29}</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II" title="Guy Mannering.">CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>Guy Mannering.</b></p> - - -<h3>CURIOUS PARTICULARS OF SIR ROBERT MAXWELL OF ORCHARDSTON.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Groundwork of the Novel.</i>)</p> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe7_1875" id="i_p_029"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_029.jpg" alt="“S" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">ir</span> Robert Maxwell of Orchardston, in the county of -Galloway, was the descendant of an ancient Roman Catholic -family of title in the south of Scotland. He was the only child of a -religious and bigoted recluse, who sent him, while yet very young, to a -college of Jesuits in Flanders, for education—the paternal estate being, -in the meantime, wholly managed by the boy’s uncle, the brother of the -devotee, to whom he resigned the guardianship of the property, in -order that he might employ the remainder of his days exclusively in acts -of devotion. In the family of Orchardston, as, indeed, in most great -families of that day, the younger branches were but ill provided for, -and looked to the inheritor of the family estate alone for the means -of supporting their rank in society: the liberal professions and the -employments of trade were still considered somewhat dishonourable; -and the unfortunate junior, nursed with inflated ideas of consequence -and rank, was doomed in after-life to exercise the servility and -experience the mortification of an humble dependant. In this case, -the culpable negligence of the father had transferred the entire management -of a large estate to his younger brother, who was so delighted in -the possession, that he resolved to retain it, to the exclusion of the -rightful heir. He consequently circulated a report that the boy was -dead; and on the death of the old baronet, which took place about this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">{30}</span> -period, he laid claim to the title and estate. In the meantime, our -young hero was suffering (very reluctantly) the severe discipline of the -Jesuits’ college, his expenses being defrayed by occasional supplies -sent him by his uncle, which were represented to him as the bounties -of the college—a story which he could not discredit, as he had been -placed there at an age too young to know distinctly either who he was -or whence he came. He was intelligent and docile; and was deemed -of sufficient capacity to become hereafter one of their own learned -body, with which view he was educated. When at the age of sixteen, -he found the discipline and austerities of a monastic life so ill suited to -his inclination, that, on a trivial dispute with the superior of his college, -he ran away, and enlisted himself in a French marching regiment. In -this situation he sustained all the hardships of hunger, long marches, -and incessant alarms; and, as it was in the hottest part of the war -between France and England, about the year 1743, it may easily be -imagined that his situation was by no means enviable. He fought as a -foot-soldier at the battle of Dettingen; he was also at the battle of -Fontenoy; and landed, as an ensign in the French troops, at Murray -Frith, during the rebellion of 1745. He joined the rebels a little before -the battle of Prestonpans, marched with them to Derby, and retreated -with them to Scotland. He was wounded at the battle of Culloden, -and fled with a few friends to the woods of Lochaber, where he remained -the greater part of the summer 1746, living upon the roots of -trees, goats’ milk, and the oatmeal and water of such peasants as he -durst confide in. Knowing, however, that it would be impossible to -continue this course of life during the winter, he began to devise means -of effecting his return to France—perfectly unconscious that, in the -country where he was suffering all the miseries of an outcast criminal, -he was entitled to the possession of an ample estate and title. His -scheme was to gain the coast of Galloway, where he hoped to get on -board some smuggling vessel to the Isle of Man, and from thence to -France. The hardships which he suffered in the prosecution of this -plan would require a volume in their description. He crept through -by-ways by night, and was forced to lie concealed among rocks and -woods during the day. He was reduced almost to a state of nudity, -and his food was obtained from the poorest peasants, in whom only he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">{31}</span> -could confide. Of this scanty subsistence he was sometimes for days -deprived; and, to complete his misfortunes, he was, after having -walked barefooted over rocks, briars, and unfrequented places, at -length discovered, seized, and carried before a magistrate near Dumfries. -As his name was Maxwell, which he did not attempt to conceal, -he would have suffered as a rebel, had not his commission as a French -officer been found in the lining of his tattered coat, which entitled him -to the treatment of a prisoner of war. This privilege, however, only -extended to the preservation of his life. He was confined in a paved -stone dungeon so long, that he had amused himself by giving names to -each stone which composed the pavement, and which, in after-life, -he took great pleasure in relating and pointing out to his friends. An -old woman, who had been his nurse in childhood, was at this time -living in Dumfries, where he was a prisoner; and having accidentally -seen him, and becoming acquainted with his name, apparent age, etc., -felt an assurance that he was the rightful Sir Robert Maxwell. The -indissoluble attachment of the lower orders in Scotland to their chiefs -is well known; and, impelled by this feeling, this old and faithful -domestic attended him with almost maternal affection, administering -liberally to his distresses. After an interview of some weeks, she made -him acquainted with her suspicion, and begged leave to examine a -mark which she remembered upon his body. This proof also concurring, -she became outrageous with joy, and ran about the streets proclaiming -the discovery she had made. This rumour reaching the ears -of the magistrates, inquiry was made, the proofs were examined, and -it soon became the general opinion that he was the son of the old -baronet of Orchardston. The estate lay but a few miles from Dumfries; -and the unlawful possessor being a man of considerable power, -and of a most vindictive disposition, most people, whatever might be -their private opinion, were cautious in espousing the cause of this disinherited -and distressed orphan. One gentleman, however, was found, -who, to his eternal honour, took him by the hand. A Mr. Gowdy -procured his release from prison, took him to his own house, clothed -him agreeably to his rank, and enabled him to commence an action -against his uncle. The latter was not inactive in the defence of his -crime, and took every pains to prove his nephew to be an impostor.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">{32}</span> -Chagrin and a consciousness of guilt, however, put an end to his -existence before the cause came to a hearing; and Sir Robert was at -length put into possession of an estate worth upwards of ten thousand -pounds a year. He now began to display those qualities and abilities -which had been but faintly perceptible in his former station. He now -discovered an ingenuous mind, an intellect at once vigorous and refined, -and manners the most elegant and polished. His society was courted -by all the neighbouring gentry; and, in the course of time he married -a Miss Maclellan, a near relation of the family of Lord Kirkcudbright; -with this lady he lived in the most perfect happiness for many years. -He joined in the prevalent practice of farming his own estate, and built -a very elegant house on an eminence overlooking the Nith. An imprudent -speculation in the bank of Ayr, however, compelled him to -abandon the seat of his ancestors. He had reserved a small pittance, -on which he and his lady lived the latter part of their days. This -calamity he bore as became a man familiar with misfortune; and he -continued the same worthy open-hearted character he had ever been. -The reduction of his fortune served only to redouble the kindness and -cordiality of his friends. He died suddenly in September, 1786, whilst -on the road to visit one of them—the Earl of Selkirk. He left behind -him no issue; but his name is still remembered with ardent attachment.”—<i>New -Monthly Magazine, June, 1819.</i></p> - - -<h3>ANDREW CROSBIE, ESQ.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Counsellor Pleydell.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">We</span> feel no little pleasure in presenting the original of a character so -important as the facetious Pleydell. He is understood to be the representative -of Mr. Andrew Crosbie, who flourished at the head of the -Scottish bar about the period referred to in the novel. Many circumstances -conspire to identify him with the lawyer of the novel. Their -eminence in their profession was equally respectable; their habits of -frequenting taverns and High Jinks parties on Saturday nights was the -same, and both were remarkable for that antique politeness of manner -so characteristic of old Scottish gentlemen. It may be allowed that -Pleydell is one of the characters most nearly approaching to <i>generic</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">{33}</span> -that we have attempted to identify with real life; but it is nevertheless -so strenuously asserted by all who have any recollection of Mr. Crosbie, -that Pleydell resembles <i>him in particular</i>, that we feel no hesitation in -assigning him as the only true specific original. We therefore lay the -following simple facts before the public, and leave the judicious reader -to his own discrimination.</p> - -<p>Mr. Crosbie was in the prime of life about the middle of the last -century, and, from that period till the year 1780, enjoyed the highest -reputation in his profession. He came of a respectable family in the -county of Galloway—the district, the reader will remember, in which -the principal scenes of the novel are laid, and probably the shire -of which Paulus Pleydell, Esq., is represented (vol. ii. chap, xvi.) as -having been, at an early period of his life, the sheriff-depute.</p> - -<p>The residence of Mr. Crosbie, in the early periods of his practice, -exactly coincides with that of Pleydell, whom, if we recollect rightly, -Colonel Mannering found in a dark close on the north side of the High -Street, several storeys up a narrow common stair. Mr. Crosbie lived -first in Lady Stair’s Close, a steep alley on the north side of the Lawnmarket; -afterwards in the Advocate’s Close, in the Luckenbooths; -and finally in a self-contained and well-built house of his own, at the -foot of Allan’s Close, still standing, and lately inhabited by Richard -Cleghorn, Esq., Solicitor before the Supreme Courts. All these -various residences are upon the north side of the High Street, and the -two first answer particularly to the description in the novel. The last -is otherwise remarkable as being situated exactly behind and in view of -the innermost penetralia of Mr. Constable’s great publishing warehouse,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>—the -<i>sanctum sanctorum</i> in which Captain Clutterbuck found -the <i>Eidolon</i> of the Author of “Waverley,” so well described in the introduction -to “Nigel.”</p> - -<p>At the period when Mr. Crosbie flourished, all the advocates and -judges of the day dwelt in those obscure <i>wynds</i> or alleys leading down<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">{34}</span> -from the High Street, which, since the erection of the New Town, have -been chiefly inhabited by the lower classes of society. The greater -part, for the sake of convenience, lived in the lanes nearest to the -Parliament House—such as the Advocate’s Close, Writer’s Court, -Lady Stair’s Close, the West Bow, the <i>Back Stairs</i>, the President’s -Stairs in the Parliament Close, and the tenements around the Mealmarket. -In these dense and insalubrious obscurities they possessed -what were then the best houses in Edinburgh, and which were considered -as such till the erection of Brown’s Square and the contiguous -suburbs, about the beginning of the last king’s reign, when the lawyers -were found the first to remove to better and more extensive accommodations, -being then, as now, the leading and most opulent class of -Edinburgh population. This change is fully pointed out in “Redgauntlet,” -where a writer to the signet is represented as removing from -the Luckenbooths to Brown’s Square about the time specified—which -personage, disguised under the name of Saunders Fairford, we have no -doubt was designed for Sir Walter Scott’s own father, a practitioner of -the same rank, who then removed from the Old Town to a house at -the head of the College Wynd, in which his distinguished son, the -<i>Alan Fairford</i> of the romance, was born and educated.</p> - -<p>Living as they did so near the Parliament House, it was the custom -of both advocates and senators to have their wigs dressed at home, and -to go to court with their gowns indued, their wigs in full puff, and -each with his cocked hat under his arm.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> About nine in the morning, -the various avenues to the Parliament Square used to be crowded with -such figures. In particular, Mr. Crosbie was remarkable for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">{35}</span> -elegance of his figure, as, like his brethren, he emerged from the -profundity of his alley into the open street. While he walked at a -deliberate pace across the way, there could not be seen among all the -throng a more elegant figure. He exhibited at once the dignity of the -counsellor high at the bar and the gracefulness of the perfect gentleman. -He frequently walked without a gown, when the fineness of -his personal appearance was the more remarkable. His dress was -usually a black suit, silk stockings, clear shoes, with gold or silver -buckles. Sometimes the suit was of rich black velvet.</p> - -<p>Mr. Crosbie, with all the advantages of a pleasing exterior, possessed -the more solid qualifications of a vigorous intellect, a refined taste, and -an eloquence that has never since been equalled at the bar. His -integrity as a counsel could only be surpassed by his abilities as a -pleader. In the first capacity, his acute judgment and great legal -knowledge had long placed him in the highest rank. In the second, -his thorough and confident acquaintance with the law of his case, his -beautiful style of language, all “the pomp and circumstance” of -matchless eloquence, commanded the attention of the bench in no -ordinary degree; and while his talents did all that could be done in -respect of moving the court, the excelling beauty of his oratory attracted -immense crowds of admirers, whose sole disinterested object was to -hear him.</p> - -<p>It is recorded of him that he was one day particularly brilliant—so -brilliant as even to surprise his usual audience, the imperturbable Lords -themselves. What rendered the circumstance more wonderful was, -that the case happened to be extremely dull, common-place and -uninteresting. The secret history of the matter was to the following -effect:—A facetious contemporary, and intimate friend of Mr. Crosbie, -the celebrated Lord Gardenstone, in the course of a walk from Morningside, -where he resided, fell into conversation with a farmer, who was -going to Edinburgh in order to hear his cause pled that forenoon by -Mr. Crosbie. The senator, who was a very homely and rather eccentric -personage, on being made acquainted with the man’s business, -directed him to procure a dozen or two farthings at a snuff-shop in the -Grassmarket—to wrap them separately up in white paper, under the -disguise of guineas—and to present them to his counsel as fees, when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">{36}</span> -occasion served. The case was called: Mr. Crosbie rose; but his -heart not happening to be particularly engaged, he did not by any -means exert the utmost of his powers. The treacherous client, however, -kept close behind his back, and ever and anon, as he perceived -Mr. C. bringing his voice to a cadence, for the purpose of closing the -argument, slipped the other farthing into his hand. The repeated -application of this silent encouragement so far stimulated the advocate, -that, in the end, he became truly eloquent—strained every nerve of his -soul in grateful zeal for the interests of so good a client—and, precisely -at the fourteenth farthing, gained the cause. The <i>denouement</i> of the -conspiracy took place immediately after, in John’s Coffee-house, over -a bottle of wine, with which Mr. Crosbie treated Lord Gardenstone -from the profits of his pleading; and the surprise and mortification of -the barrister, when, on putting his hand into his pocket in order to pay -the reckoning, he discovered the real extent of his fee, can only be -imagined.</p> - -<p>Within the last forty years, a curious custom prevailed among the -gentlemen of the long robe in Edinburgh—a custom which, however -little it might be thought of then, would certainly make nine modern -advocates out of ten shudder at every curl just to think of it. This -was the practice of doing all their business, except what required to be -done in the court, in taverns and coffee-houses. Plunged in these -subterranean haunts, the great lawyers of the day were to be found, -surrounded with their myrmidons, throughout the whole afternoon and -evening of the day. It was next to impossible to find a lawyer at his -own abode, and, indeed, such a thing was never thought of. The -whole matter was to find out his tavern, which the cadies upon the -street—those men of universal knowledge—could always tell, and then -seek the oracle in his own proper <i>hell</i>, as Æneas sought the sibyl. At -that time a Directory was seldom applied to; and even though a -stranger could have consulted the celebrated Peter Williamson’s (supposing -it then to have been published), he might, perhaps, by dint of -research, have found out where Lucky Robertson lived, who, in the -simple words of that intelligencer, “<i>sold the best twopenny</i>;” or he -might have been accommodated, more to his satisfaction, with the -information of who, through all the city, “<i>sett lodgings</i>” and “<i>kept<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">{37}</span> -rooms for single men</i>;” but he would have found the Directory of -little use to him in pointing out where he might meet a legal friend. -The cadies, who, at that time, wont to be completely <i>au fait</i> with every -hole and bore in the town, were the only directories to whom a client -from the country, such as Colonel Mannering or Dandie Dinmont, -could in such a case apply.</p> - -<p>The peculiar haunt of Mr. Crosbie was Douglas’s tavern in the -Anchor Close, then a respectable and flourishing house, now deserted -and shut up. Here many revelries, similar to those described in the -novel, took place; and here the game of High Jinks was played by a -party of convivial lawyers every Saturday night. The situation of the -house resembles that of Clerihugh, described in “Guy Mannering,” -being the second floor down a steep <i>close</i>, upon the north side of the -High Street. Here a club, called the <i>Crochallan Corps</i>, of which -Robert Burns was a member when in Edinburgh, assembled periodically, -and held bacchanalian orgies, famous for their fierceness and -duration.</p> - -<p>There was also a tavern in Writer’s Court, kept by a real person, -named Clerihugh, the peculiarities of which do not resemble those -ascribed to the tavern of the novel, nearly so much as do those of -Douglas’s. Clerihugh’s was, however, a respectable house. There the -magistrates of the city always gave their civic dinners, and, what may -perhaps endear it more in our recollections, it was once the favourite -resort of a Boswell, a Gardenstone, and a Home. We may suppose -that such a house as Douglas’s gave the idea of the tavern described by -our author, while <i>Clerihugh</i> being a more striking name, and better -adapted for his purpose, he adopted it in preference to the real one.</p> - -<p>The custom of doing all business in taverns gave that generation of -lawyers a very dissipated habit, and to it we are to attribute the ruin -of Mr. Crosbie. That gentleman being held in universal esteem and -admiration, his company was much sought after; and, while his -celibacy gave every opportunity that could be desired, his own disposition -to social enjoyments tended to confirm the evil. An anecdote -is told of him, which displays in a striking manner the extent to which -he was wont to go in his debaucheries. He had been engaged to -plead a cause, and had partially studied the <i>pros</i> and <i>cons</i> of the case,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">{38}</span> -after which he set off and plunged headlong into those convivialities -with which he usually closed the evening. His debauch was a fierce -one, and he did not get home till within an hour of the time when the -court was to open. It was then too late for sleep, and all other efforts -to cool the effervescence of his spirits, by applying wet cloths to his -temples, etc., were vain; so that when the case was called, reason had -scarcely reassumed her deserted throne. Nevertheless, he opened up -with his usually brilliancy, and soon got warm into the argument; but -not far did he get leave to proceed with his speech, when the agent -came up behind, with horror and alarm in his face, pulled him by the -gown, and whispered into his ear, “What the deevil! Mr. Crosbie! -ye’ll ruin a’! ye’re on the wrang side; the very Lords are winking at it; -and the client is gi’en’ a’ up for lost.” The crapulous barrister gave a -single glance at the <i>exordia</i> of his papers, and instantly comprehended -his mistake. However, not at all abashed, he rose again, and “Such -my lords,” says he, “are probably the weak and intemperate arguments -of the defender, concerning which, as I have endeavoured to state -them, you can only entertain one opinion, namely, that they are utterly -false, groundless, and absurd.” He then turned to upon the right side -of the question, pulled to pieces all that he had said before, and represented -the case in an entirely different light; and so much and so -earnestly did he exert himself in order to repair his error, that he -actually gained the cause.</p> - -<p>Some allusion is made to Mr. Crosbie’s propensity to wine, in a -birthday ode, written in his honour by his friend, Mr. Maclaurin (afterwards -Lord Dreghorn), and set to music by the celebrated Earl of -Kelly. We there learn that, at his birth, Venus, Bacchus, and Astrea, -came and contended for the possession of his future affections, and that -Jove gave a decision to this effect:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis ordered, boy, Love, Law, and Wine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall thy strange cup of life compose;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, though the three are all divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The last shall be thy <i>favourite dose</i>.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It was indeed his favourite dose, and proved at last a fatal one. But, -before we relate the history of his end, it will be necessary to notice a -few particulars respecting his life.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">{39}</span></p> - -<p>Towards the conclusion of the American war, when Edinburgh raised -a defensive band, and offered its services to government, Mr. Crosbie -interested himself very much in the patriotic scheme, and was appointed -lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. About the same period, he also -interested himself very deeply in a business of a different description, -namely, the institution of the Scottish Antiquarian Society, which was -first projected by the Earl of Buchan. Mr. Crosbie was one of the -original members, and had the honour to be appointed a censor. -Honourable mention is made of him in his friend Boswell’s Tour to the -Hebrides, being one of the northern literati who were introduced to -Dr. Johnson when he passed through Edinburgh. In the life of Johnson, -also, it will be found that the barrister visited the great lexicographer -in London, shortly after the Doctor had returned from his -northern excursion. The conversations which took place on both these -occasions are curious, but not sufficiently interesting to be extracted -into this work.</p> - -<p>In the course of a long successful practice, the original of Pleydell -acquired some wealth; and, at the time when the New Town of -Edinburgh began to be built, with an enthusiasm prevalent at the -period, he conceived the best way of laying out his money to be in the -erection of houses in that noble and prosperous extension of the city. -He therefore spent all he had, and ran himself into considerable debt, -in raising a structure which was to surpass all the edifices yet erected, -for making the design of which he employed that celebrated architect, -Mr. James Craig, the nephew of Mr. Thomson, who planned the New -Town on its projection in 1767. The house which Mr. Crosbie erected -was to the north of the splendid mansion built by Sir Lawrence -Dundas, which subsequent times have seen converted into an excise-office; -and as the beauty of Mr. C.’s house was in a great measure -subservient to the decoration of Sir Lawrence’s, that gentleman, with -his accustomed liberality, made his tasteful neighbour a present of five -hundred pounds. Yet this <i>bonus</i> proved, after all, but an insufficient -compensation for the expense which Mr. Crosbie had incurred in his -sumptuous speculation; and the unfortunate barrister, who, by his -taste, had attracted the wonder and envy of all ranks, was thought to -have made himself a considerable loser in the end. While it was yet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">{40}</span> -unfinished, he removed from Allan’s Close, and, establishing himself in -one of its corners, realized Knickerbocker’s fable of the snail in the -lobster’s shell. He lived in it for some time, in a style of extravagance -appropriate to the splendour of his mansion; till, becoming embarrassed -by his numerous debts, and beginning to feel the effects of other -imprudencies, he was at last obliged to resort to Allan’s Close, and -take up with his old abode and his diminished fortunes. About this -period his constitution appeared much injured by his habits of life, and -he was of course unable to attend to business with his former alacrity. -An incipient passion for dogs, horses, and cocks, was another strong -symptom of decay. To crown all, he made a low marriage with a -woman who had formerly been his menial, and (some said) his -mistress; and as this tended very much to take away the esteem of -the world, his practice began to forsake, and his friends to neglect -him.</p> - -<p>It was particularly unfortunate that, about this time, he lost the habit -of frequenting one particular tavern, as he had been accustomed to do -in his earlier and better years. The irregularity consequent upon -visiting four or five of a night, in which he drank liquors of different -sorts and qualities, was sufficient to produce the worst effects. Had he -always steadily adhered to Clerihugh’s or Douglas’s, he might have -been equally fortunate with many of his companions, who had -frequented particular taverns, through several generations of possessors, -seldom missing a night’s attendance, during the course of fifty years, -from ill health or any other cause.</p> - -<p>It is a melancholy task to relate the end of Mr. Crosbie. From one -depth he floundered down to another, every step in his conduct tending -towards a climax of ruin. Infatuation and despair led him on, disrespect -and degradation followed him. When he had reached what -might be called the goal of his fate, he found himself deserted by all -whom he had ever loved or cherished, and almost destitute of a single -attendant to administer to him the necessaries of life. Bound by -weakness and disease to an uneasy pallet, in the garret of his former -mansion, he lingered out the last weeks of life in pain, want, and -sickness. So completely was he forsaken by every friend, that not one -was by at the last scene to close his eyes or carry him to the grave.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">{41}</span> -Though almost incredible, it is absolutely true, that he was buried by -a few unconcerned strangers, gathered from the street; and this -happened in the very spot where he had been known all his life, in -the immediate neighbourhood of hundreds who had known, loved, and -admired him for many years. He died on the 25th of February, 1785.</p> - - -<h3>DRIVER.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Crosbie’s</span> clerk was a person named <span class="smcap">Robert H——</span>, whose -character and propensities agreed singularly well with those of Mr. -Pleydell’s dependant, Driver. He was himself a practitioner before the -courts, of the meaner description, and is remembered by many who -were acquainted with the public characters of Edinburgh, towards the -end of last century. He was frequently to be seen in the forenoon, -scouring the closes of the High Street, or parading the Parliament -Square; sometimes seizing his legal friends by the button, and -dragging them about in the capacity of listeners, with an air and -manner of as great importance as if he had been up to the very pen in -his ear in business.</p> - -<p>He was a pimpled, ill-shaven, smart-speaking, clever-looking fellow, -usually dressed in grey under-garments, an old hat nearly brushed to -death, and a black coat, of a fashion at least in the seventh year of its -age, scrupulously buttoned up to his chin. It was in his latter and -more unfortunate years that he had become thus slovenly. A legal -gentleman, who gives us information concerning him, recollects when -he was nearly the greatest fop in Edinburgh—being powdered in the -highest style of fashion, wearing two gold watches, and having the -collar of his coat adorned with a beautiful loop of the same metal. -After losing the protection of Mr. Crosbie, he had fallen out of all -regular means of livelihood; and unfortunately acquiring an uncontrollable -propensity for social enjoyments, like the ill-fated Robert -Fergusson, with whom he had been intimately acquainted, he became -quite unsettled—sometimes did not change his apparel for weeks—sat -night and day in particular taverns—and, in short, realized what -Pleydell asserted of Driver, that “sheer ale supported him under -everything; was meat, drink, and cloth—bed, board, and washing.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">{42}</span> -In his earlier years he had been very regular in his irregularities, and -was a “complete fixture” at John Baxter’s tavern, in Craig’s Close, -High Street, where he was the <i>Falstaff</i> of a convivial society, termed -the “<i>Eastcheap Club</i>.” But his dignity of conduct becoming gradually -dissipated and relaxed, and there being also, perhaps, many a landlady -who might have said with Dame Quickly, “I warrant you he’s an -infinite thing upon my score,” he had become unfortunately migrative -and unsteady in his taproom affections. One night he would get -drunk at the sign of the <i>Sautwife</i>, in the Abbeyhill, and next morning -be found tipping off a corrective dram at a porter-house in Rose Street. -Sometimes, after having made a midnight tumble into “the Finish” -in the Covenant Close, he would, by next afternoon, have found his -way (the Lord and the policeman only knew how) to a pie-office in the -Castlehill. It was absolutely true that he could write his papers as -well drunk as sober, asleep as awake; and the anecdote which the -facetious Pleydell narrated to Colonel Mannering, in confirmation of -this miraculous faculty, is also, we are able to inform the reader, strictly -consistent in truth with an incident of real occurrence.</p> - -<p>Poor H—— was one of those happy, thoughtless, and imprudent -mortals, whose idea of existence lies all in to-day, or to-morrow at -farthest,—whose whole life is only a series of random exertions and -chance efforts at subsistence—a sort of constant <i>Maroon war</i> with -starvation. His life had been altogether passed in Edinburgh. All he -knew, besides his professional lore, was of <i>Edinburgh</i>; but then he -knew <i>all</i> of that. There did not exist a tavern in the capital of which -he could not have winked you the characters of both the waiters and -the beefsteaks at a moment’s notice. He was at once the annalist of -the history, the mobs, the manners, and the jokes of Edinburgh—a -human phial, containing its whole essential spirit, corked with wit and -labelled with pimples.</p> - -<p>H—— was a man rich in all sorts of humour and fine sayings. His -conversation was dangerously delightful. Had he not unhappily -fallen into debauched habits, he possessed abilities that might have -entitled him to the most enviable situations about the Court; but, from -the nature of his peculiar habits, his wit was the only faculty he ever -displayed in its full extent—pity it was the only one that could not be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">{43}</span> -exerted for his own benefit! To have seen him set down “for a night -of it” in Lucky F——’s, with a few cronies as <i>drowthie</i> as himself, -and his <i>Shadow</i> (a person who shall hereafter be brought to light), was -in itself a most exquisite treat. By the time that the injunction of -“another half-mutchkin, mistress,” had been six times repeated, his -lips, his eyes, and his nose, spoke, looked, and burned wit—pure wit! -“He could not ope his mouth, but out there flew a trope.” The very -sound of his voice was in itself a waggery; the twinkle of his eye -might have toppled a whole theatre over into convulsions. He could -not even spit but he was suspected of a witticism, and received the -congratulation of a roar accordingly. Nay, at the height of such a tide -as this, he would sometimes get the credit of Butler himself for an -accidental scratch of his head.</p> - -<p>His practice as a writer (for so he is styled in Peter Williamson’s -Directory) lay chiefly among the very dregs of desperation and -poverty, and was withal of such a nature as to afford him the humblest -means of subsistence. Being naturally damned, as he himself used to -say, with the utmost goodness of heart, he never hesitated at taking -any poverty-struck case by the hand that could hold forth the slightest -hope of success, and was perfectly incapable of resisting any appeal to -his sense of justice, if made in <i>forma pauperis</i>. The greater part of -his clients were poor debtors in the Heart of Midlothian, and he was -most frequently employed in cases of <i>cessio</i>, for the accomplishment of -which he was, from long practice, peculiarly qualified. He had -himself a sort of instinctive hatred of the name of creditor, and would -have been at any time perfectly willing to fight <i>gratis</i> upon the debtor’s -side out of pure amateurship. His idle and debauched habits, also, -laid him constantly open to the company of the lowest litigants, who -purchased his advice or his opinion, and, in some cases, even his services -as an agent, for the paltriest considerations in the shape of liquor; and, -unfortunately, he did not possess sufficient resolution to withstand -such temptations—his propensity for social enjoyments, which latterly -became quite ungovernable, disposing him to make the greatest -sacrifices for its gratification.</p> - -<p>Yet this man, wretched as he eventually was, possessed a perfect -knowledge of the law of Scotland, besides a great degree of professional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">{44}</span> -cleverness; and, what with his experience under Mr. Crosbie, -and his having been so long a hanger-on of the Court, was considered -one of the best agents that could be employed in almost any class of -cases. It is thought by many of his survivors that, if his talents had -been backed by steadiness of application, he might have attained to -very considerable eminence. At least, it has been observed, that many -of his contemporaries, who had not half of his abilities, by means of -better conduct and greater perseverence, have risen to enviable distinction. -Mr. Crosbie always put great reliance in him, and sometimes -intrusted him with important business; and H—— has even been seen -to destroy a paper of Mr. Crosbie’s writing, and draw up a better -himself, without incurring the displeasure which such an act of -disrespect seemed to deserve. The highest compliment, however, that -could be paid to Mr. H——’s abilities, was the saying of an old man, -named Nicol,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> a native of that litigious kingdom, Fife, who, for a -long course of years, pestered the Court, <i>in forma pauperis</i>, with a -process about a dunghill, and who at length died in Cupar jail—where -he had been disposed, for some small debt, by a friend, just, as was -asserted, to keep him out of harm’s way. Old John used to treat -H—— in Johnnie Dowie’s, and get, as he said, <i>the law out o’ him</i> for -the matter of a dram. He declared that “he would not give H——’s -drunken glour at a paper for the serious opinions of the haill bench!”</p> - -<p>Sunday was wont to be a very precious day to H——,—far too -good to be lost in idle dram-drinking at home. On Saturday nights -he generally made a point of insuring stock to the amount of half-a-crown -in his landlady’s hands, and proposed a tour of jollity for next -morning to a few of his companions. These were, for the most part, -poor devils like himself, who, with few lucid intervals of sobriety or -affluence—equally destitute of industry, prudence, and care for the -opinion of the world—contrive to fight, drink, and roar their way -through a desperate existence, in spite of the devil, their washerwoman, -and the small-debt-court—perhaps even receiving Christian burial at -last like the rest of their species. With one or two such companions -as these, H—— would issue of a Sunday morning through the Watergate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">{45}</span> -on an expedition to Newhaven, Duddingstone, Portobello, or -some such guzzling retreat,<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>—the termination of their walk being -generally determined by the consideration of where they might have -the best drink, the longest credit, or where they had already least -debt. Then was it most delightful to observe by what a special act -of Providence they would alight upon “the last rizzer’d haddock in -the house,” or “the only hundred oysters that was to be got in the -town;” and how gloriously they would bouse away their money, their -credit, and their senses, till, finally, after uttering, for the thousand -and first time, all their standard Parliament-House jokes—after -quarrelling with the landlord, and flattering the more susceptible landlady -up to the sticking-place of “a last gill,”—they would reel away -home, in full enjoyment of that glory which, according to Robert -Burns, is superior to the glory of even kings!</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, H—— was not utterly given up to Sunday debauches, -nor was he destitute of a sense of religion. He made a point of always -going to church on rainy Sundays—that is to say, when his neckcloth -happened to be in its honey-moon, and the button-moulds of his -vestments did not chance to be beyond their first phase. He was not, -therefore, very consistent in his devotional sentiments and observances; -for the weather shared with his tailor the credit of determining him in -all such matters. He was like Berwick smacks of old, which only -sailed, “wind and weather permitting.” When, however, the day -was favourably bad, he would proceed to the High Church of St. Giles -(where, excepting on days of <i>General Assembly</i>, there are usually -enow of empty seats for an army), and, on observing that the Lords -of Session had not chosen to hold any <i>sederunt</i> that day, he would pop -into their pew. In this conspicuous seat, which he perhaps considered -a sort of common property of the College of Justice, he would -look wonderfully at his ease, with one threadbare arm lolling -carelessly over the velvet-cushioned gallery, while in the other hand he -held his mother’s old black pocket Bible—a relic which he had contrived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">{46}</span> -to preserve for an incredible number of years, through a -thousand miraculous escapades from lodgings where he was insolvent, -in memory of a venerable relation, whom he had never forgot, though -oblivious of every other earthly regard besides.</p> - -<p>Mr. H——’s <i>Shadow</i>, whom we mentioned a few pages back, -however unsubstantial he may seem from his <i>sobriquet</i>, was a real -person, and more properly entitled Mr. <span class="smcap">Nimmo</span>. He had long been -a dependant of H——’s, whence he derived this strange designation. -Little more than the shadow of a recollection of him remains as -<i>materiel</i> for description. He bore somewhat of the same relation to -his principal which Silence bears to Shallow, in Henry IV.,—that is, -he was an exaggerated specimen of the same species, and exhibited -the peculiarities of H——’s habits and character in a more advanced -stage. He was a prospective indication of what H—— was to -become. H——, like Mr. Thomas Campbell’s “coming events,” cast -his “shadow before;” and Nimmo was this shadow. When H—— -got new clothes, Nimmo got the <i>exuviæ</i> or cast-off garments, which -he wore on and on, as long as his principal continued without a new -supply. Therefore, when H—— became shabby, Nimmo was -threadbare; when H—— became threadbare, Nimmo was almost -denuded; and when H—— became almost denuded, Nimmo was -quite naked! Thus, also, when H——, after a successful course of -practice, got florid and in good case, Nimmo followed and exhibited -a little colour upon the wonted pale of his cheeks; when H—— -began to fade, Nimmo withered before him; by the time H—— was -<i>looking thin</i>, Nimmo was <i>thin indeed</i>; and when H—— was -attenuated and sickly, poor Nimmo was as slender and airy as a -moonbeam. Nimmo was in all things beyond, before, ahead of -H——. If H—— was elevated, Nimmo was tipsy; if H—— was -tipsy, Nimmo was <i>fou</i>; if H—— was <i>fou</i>, Nimmo was dead-drunk; -and if H—— persevered and got dead-drunk also, Nimmo was sure -still to be beyond him, and was perhaps packed up and laid to sleep -underneath his principal’s chair. Nimmo, as it were, cleared the way -for H——’s progress towards destruction—was his pioneer, his vidette, -his harbinger, his avant-courier—the aurora of his rising, the twilight -of his decline.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">{47}</span></p> - -<p>Nimmo naturally, and to speak of him without relation to the person -of whom he was part and parcel, was altogether so inarticulate, so -empty, so meagre, so inane a being, that he could scarcely be -reckoned more than a mere thread of the vesture of humanity—a -whisper of Nature’s voice. Nobody knew where he lived at night: he -seemed then to disappear from the face of the earth, just as other -shadows disappear on the abstraction of the light which casts them. -He was quite a casual being—appeared by chance, spoke by chance, -seemed even to exist only by chance, as a mere occasional exhalation -of chaos, and at last evaporated from the world to sleep with the -shadows of death,—all by chance. To have seen him, one would have -thought it by no means impossible for him to dissolve himself and go -into a phial, like Asmodeus in the laboratory at Madrid. His figure -was in fact a libel on the human form divine. It was perfectly -unimaginable what he would have been like <i>in puris naturalibus</i>, had -the wind suddenly blown him out of his clothes some day—an accident -of which he seemed in constant danger. It is related of him, that he -was once mistaken, when found dead-drunk in a gutter, on the -morning after a king’s birth-day, for the defunct corpse of <i>Johnnie -Wilkes</i>,<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> which had been so loyally kicked about the streets by the -mob on the preceding evening; but, on a scavenger proceeding to -sweep him down the channel, he presently sunk from the exalted -character imputed to him, by rousing himself, and calling lustily, -“Another bottle—just another bottle, and then we’ll go!” upon -which the deceived officer of police left him to the management of the -stream.</p> - -<p>Besides serving Mr. H—— in the character of clerk or amanuensis, -he used to dangle at his elbow on all occasions, swear religiously to -all his charges, and show the way in laughing at all his jokes. He -was so clever in the use of his pen in transcription, that his hand -could travel over a sheet at the rate of eleven knots an hour, and -this whether drunk or sober, asleep or awake. Death itself could -scarcely have chilled his energies, and it was one of his favourite jokes,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">{48}</span> -in vaunting of the latter miraculous faculty, to declare that he intended -to delay writing his will till after his decease, when he would guide -himself in the disposal of his legacies by the behaviour of his relations. -We do not question his abilities for such a task; but one might have -had a pretty good guess, from Nimmo’s appearance, that he would -scarcely ever find occasion, either before or after death, to exercise -them.</p> - -<p>These sketches, from the quaint flippancy of their style, may be suspected -of fancifulness and exaggeration; yet certain it is, that out of -the ten thousand persons said to be employed in this legal metropolis in -the solicitation, distribution, and execution of justice, many individuals -may even yet be found, in whom it would be possible to trace the -lineaments we have described. Such persons as H—— and Nimmo -dangle at the elbows of The Law, and can no more be said to belong -to its proper body than so many rats in a castle appertain to the -garrison.</p> - -<p>H—— continued in the course of life which we have attempted to -describe till the year 1808, when his constitution became so shattered, -that he was in a great measure unfitted for business or for intercourse -with society. Towards the end of his life, his habits had become still -more irregular than before, and he seemed to hasten faster and faster as -he went on to destruction, like the meteor, whose motion across the sky -seems to increase in rapidity the moment before extinction. After the -incontestable character of the greatest wit and the utmost cleverness -had been awarded to him,—after he had spent so much money and -constitution in endeavouring to render his companions happy, that -some of them, more grateful or more drunken than the rest, actually -confessed him to be “a devilish good-natured foolish sort of fellow,”—after -he had, like certain Scottish poets, almost drunk himself into -the character of a genius,—it came to pass that—he died. A mere -pot-house reveller like him is no more missed in the world of life than -a sparrow or a bishop. There was no one to sorrow for his loss—no -one to regret his absence—save those whose friendship is worse than -indifference. It never was very distinctly known how or where he -died. It was alone recorded of him, as of the antediluvian patriarchs, -that <i>he died</i>. As his life had become of no importance, so his death<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">{49}</span> -produced little remark and less sorrow. On the announcement of the -event to a party of his old drinking friends, who, of course, were all -decently surprised, etc., one of them in the midst of the <i>Is it -possibles? Not-possibles!</i> and <i>Can it be possibles?</i> incidental to the -occasion, summed up his elegy, by trivially exclaiming, “Lord! is Rab -dead at last! Weel, that’s strange indeed!—not a week since I drank -six half-mutchkins wi’ him down at <i>Amos’s</i>! Ah! he was a good -bitch! (Then raising his voice) Bring us in a biscuit wi’ the next gill, -mistress! Rab was ay fond o’ bakes!” And they ate a biscuit to his -memory!</p> - -<p>It is somewhat remarkable that the deaths of Crosbie and H—— -should have been produced by causes and attended by circumstances -nearly the same, though a period of full twenty years had intervened -between the events. Both were men of great learning and abilities,—they -were drawn down from the height in which their talents entitled -them to shine by the same unfortunate propensities,—and while, in -their latter days, both experienced the reverse of fortune invariably -attendant upon imprudence, they at length left the scene of their -notoriety, equally despised, deserted, and miserable.</p> - -<p>Both cases are well calculated to illustrate the lesson so strenuously -inculcated by Johnson,—that to have friends we must first be virtuous, -as there is no friendship among the profligate.</p> - -<p>Mr. Crosbie’s death presents the more trite moral of the two—for in -it we see little more than the world forsaking an unfortunate man, as -crowds fly from the falling temple, to avoid being crushed in the ruins. -But the moral of Mr. H——’s death is striking and valuable. In him -we see a man of the brightest genius gradually losing that self-respect, -so necessary, even when it amounts to pride, for the cultivation and -proper enjoyment of superior mental powers,—becoming in time unsettled -in his habits, and careless of public estimation,—losing the -attachment of friends of his own rank, and compensating the loss by -mixing with associates of the lowest order:—next, become incapable of -business, we see him dejected and forlorn as poverty itself, by turns -assuming every colour and every aspect of which the human countenance -and figure is susceptible, till the whole was worn down to a degree -of indiscriminate ruin—the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of change:—at length, when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">{50}</span> -every vulgar mode of enjoyment had been exhausted, and when even -the fiercest stimulants had grown insipid, we see him lost at once to -sensibility and to sensation, encountering the last evils of mortality in -wretchedness and obscurity, unpitied by the very persons for whom he -had sacrificed so much, and leaving a name for which he expected to -acquire the fame of either talent or misfortune,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To point a moral and adorn a tale!”<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<h3>SOUTH COUNTRY FARMERS.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Dandie Dinmont.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Perhaps</span> the Author of “Waverley” has nowhere so completely given -the effect of reality to his portraiture as in the case of honest Dandie -Dinmont, the renowned yeoman of Charlieshope. This personage -seems to be quite familiar to his mind, present to his eye, domesticated -in the chambers of his fancy. The minutest motions of the farmer’s -body, and the most trivial workings of his mind, are alike bright in -his eye; and so faithful a representation has been produced, that one -might almost think the author had taken his sketch by some species of -mental <i>camera obscura</i>, which brought the figure beneath his pencil in -all its native colours and proportions.</p> - -<p>It is impossible to point out any individual of real life as the original -of this happy production. It appears to be entirely generic—that is to -say, the whole class of Liddisdale farmers is here represented, and -little more than a single thread is taken from any single person to form -the web of the character. Three various persons have been popularly -mentioned as furnishing the author with his most distinguished traits, -each of whom have their followers and believers among the country -people. It will perhaps be possible to prove that Dandie Dinmont is -a sort of compound of all three, the ingredients being leavened and -wrought up with the general characteristic qualities of the “Lads of -Liddisdale.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">{51}</span></p> -<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Archibald Park</span>, late of Lewinshope, near Selkirk, brother -of the celebrated Mungo Park, was the person always most strongly -insisted on as being the original of Dandie. He was a man of prodigious -strength, in stature upwards of six feet, and every member of -his body was in perfect accordance with his great height. He completely -realized the most extravagant ideas that the poets of his country -formerly entertained of the stalwart borderers; and his achievements -“by flood and field,” in the violent exercises and sports of his profession, -came fully up to those of the most distinguished heroes of -border song. He had all the careless humour and boisterous hospitality -of the Liddisdale farmer. On the appearance of the novel, his -neighbours at once put him down as the Dandie Dinmont of real life, -and he was generally addressed by the name of his supposed archetype -by his familiar associates, so long as he remained in that part of the -country, which, however, was not long. His circumstances requiring -him to relinquish his farm, he obtained, by the interest of some friends, -the situation of collector of customs at Tobermory, to which place he -removed in 1815. Soon after he had settled there, he was attacked by -a paralytic affection, from which he never thoroughly recovered, and he -died in 1821, aged about fifty years.</p> - -<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">John Thorburn</span>, of Juniper Bank, the person whom we -consider to have stood in the next degree of relationship to Dinmont, -was a humorous good-natured farmer, very fond of hunting and -fishing, and a most agreeable companion over a bottle. He was truly -an unsophisticated worthy man. Many amusing anecdotes are told of -him in the south, and numerous scenes have been witnessed in his -hospitable mansion, akin to that described in the novel as taking -place upon the return of Dandie from “Stagshawbank fair.” The -interior economy of Juniper Bank is said to have more nearly resembled -Charlieshope than did that of Lewinshope, the residence of -Mr. Park. Indeed the latter bore no similarity whatever to Charlieshope, -excepting in the hospitality of the master and the Christian name -of the mistress of the house. Mr. Park, like his fictitious counterpart, -was one of the most generous and hearty landlords alive; and his -wife, who was a woman of highly respectable connections, bore, like -Mrs. Dinmont, the familiar abbreviated name of <i>Ailie</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">{52}</span></p> - -<p>Thorburn, like Dandie, was once before <i>the feifteen</i>. The celebrated -Mr. Jeffrey being retained in his cause, Thorburn went into Court to -hear his pleading. He was delighted with the talents and oratory of -his advocate; and, on coming out, observed to his friends, “Od, he’s -an <i>awfu’ body</i> yon; he said things that I never could hae thought o’ -mysel’.”</p> - -<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">James Davidson</span>, of Hindlee, another honest south-country -farmer, was pointed out as the prototype of Dandie Dinmont. This -gentleman used to breed numerous families of terriers, to which he -gave the names of Pepper and Mustard, in all their varieties of <i>Auld</i> -and Young, Big and Little; and it was this community of designation -in the dogs of the two personages, rather than any particular similarity -in the manners or characters of themselves, that gave credit to the -conjecture of Mr. Davidson’s friends.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> - -<p>It will appear, from these notices, that no individual has sat for the -portrait of Dinmont, but that it has been painted from indiscriminate -recollections of various border store-farmers. We cannot do better -than conclude with the words of the author himself, when introducing -this subject to the reader:—“The present store-farmers of the south of -Scotland are a much more refined race than their fathers, and the -manners I am now to describe have either altogether disappeared -or are greatly modified. Without losing their rural simplicity of -manners, they now cultivate arts unknown to the former generation, not -only in the progressive improvement of their possessions, but in all -the comforts of life. Their houses are more commodious, their habits -of life better regulated, so as better to keep pace with those of the -civilized world; and the best of luxuries, the luxury of knowledge, -has gained much ground among the hills during the last thirty years. -Deep drinking, formerly their greatest failing, is now fast losing -ground; and while the frankness of their extensive hospitality continues -the same, it is, generally speaking, refined in its character, and -restrained in its excesses.”</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">{53}</span></p> - -<h3>A SCOTCH PROBATIONER.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Dominie Sampson.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">There</span> are few of our <i>originals</i> in whom we can exhibit such precise -points of coincident resemblance between the real and fictitious -character, as in him whom we now assign as the prototype of Dominie -Sampson. The person of <i>real</i> existence also possesses the singular -recommendation of presenting more dignified and admirable characteristics, -in their plain unvarnished detail, than the ridiculous caricature -produced in “Guy Mannering,” though <i>it</i> be drawn by an author -whose elegant imagination has often exalted, but seldom debased, the -materials to which he has condescended to be indebted.</p> - -<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">James Sanson</span> was the son of James Sanson, tacksman of -Birkhillside Mill, situate in the parish of Legerwood, in Berwickshire. -After getting the rudiments of his education at a country-school, he -went to the University of Edinburgh, and, at a subsequent period, -completed his probationary studies at that of Glasgow. At these -colleges he made great proficiency in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew -languages, and became deeply immersed in the depths of philosophy -and theology, of which, as with Dominie Sampson, the more abstruse -and neglected branches were his favourite subjects of application. He -was a close, incessant student; and, in the families where he afterwards -resided as a tutor, all his leisure moments were devoted to the -pursuits of literature. Even his hours of relaxation and walking were -not exempted, in the exceeding earnestness of his solicitude. Then he -was seldom seen without a book, upon which he would be so intent, -that a friend might have passed, and even spoken to him, without -Sanson’s being conscious of the circumstance. After going through -his probationary trials before the presbytery, he became an acceptable, -even an admired preacher, and was frequently employed in assisting -the clergymen of the neighbourhood.</p> - -<p>From the narrow circumstances of his father, he was obliged early in -life to become a tutor. Into whose family he first entered is unknown. -However, in this humble situation, owing probably to the parsimonious -economy to which he had been accustomed in his father’s house, he in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">{54}</span> -a short time saved the sum of twenty-five pounds—a little fortune in -those days to a youth of Mr. Sanson’s habits.</p> - -<p>With this money he determined upon a pedestrian excursion into -England, for which he was excellently qualified, from his uncommon -strength and undaunted resolution. After journeying over a great part -of the sister kingdom, he came to Harwich, where a sight of the -passage-boats to Holland, and the cheapness of the fare, induced him -to take a trip to the continent. How he was supported during his -peregrinations was never certainly discovered; but he actually travelled -over the greater part of the Netherlands, besides a considerable portion -of Germany, and spent only about the third part of his twenty-five -pounds. He always kept a profound silence upon the subject himself; -but it is conjectured, with great probability, that in the Low Countries -he had recourse to convents, were the monks were ever ready to do acts -of kindness to men of such learning as Sanson would appear to them -to be. Perhaps he procured the means of subsistence by the expedients -which the celebrated Goldsmith is said to have practised in -his continental wanderings, and made the disputation of the morning -supply the dinner of the day.</p> - -<p>After his return from the continent, about 1784, he entered the -family of the Rev. Laurence Johnson of Earlston, where he continued -some time, partly employed in the education of his children, and -giving occasional assistance in his public ministerial duty. From this -situation he removed to the house of Mr. Thomas Scott, uncle of the -celebrated Sir Walter, whose family then resided at Ellieston, in the -county of Roxburgh. While superintending this gentleman’s children, -he was appointed to a higher duty—the charge of Carlenridge Chapel, -in the parish of Hawick, which he performed regularly every Sunday, -at the same time that he attended the education of the family through -the week. We may safely conjecture that it was at this particular -period of his life he first was honoured with the title of <i>Dominie -Sanson</i>.</p> - -<p>He was next employed by the Earl of Hopetoun, as chaplain to that -nobleman’s tenants at Leadhills, where, with an admirable but unfortunate -tenaciousness of duty, he patiently continued to exercise his -honourable calling, to the irreparable destruction of his own health.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">{55}</span> -The atmosphere being tainted with the natural effluvia of the noxious -mineral which was the staple production of the place, though incapable -of influencing the health of those who had been accustomed to it from -their infancy, had soon a fatal effect upon the life of poor Sanson. -The first calamitous consequence that befel him was the loss of his -teeth; next he became totally blind; and, last of all, to complete the -sacrifice, the insalubrious air extinguished the principle of life. Thus -did this worthy man, though conscious of the fate that awaited him, -choose rather to encounter the last enemy of our nature, than relinquish -what he considered a sacred duty. Strange that one, whose -conduct through life was every way so worthy of the esteem and -gratitude of mankind—whose death would not have disgraced the -devotion of a primitive martyr—should by means of a few less -dignified peculiarities, have eventually conferred the character of perfection -on a work of <i>humour</i>, and, in a caricatured exhibition, supplied -attractions, nearly unparalleled, to innumerable theatres!</p> - -<p>Mr. James Sanson was of the greatest stature—near six feet high, -and otherwise proportionately enormous. His person was coarse, his -limbs large, and his manners awkward; so that, while people admired -the simplicity and innocence of his character, they could not help -smiling at the clumsiness of his motions and the rudeness of his -address. His soul was pure and untainted—the seat of many manly -and amiable virtues. He was ever faithful in his duty, both as a -preacher and a tutor, warmly attached to the interests of the family in -which he resided, and gentle in the instruction of his pupils. As a -preacher, though his manner in his public exhibitions, no less than in -private society, was not in his favour, he was well received by every -class of hearers. His discourses were the well-digested productions of -a laborious mind; and his sentiments seldom failed to be expressed -with the utmost beauty and elegance of diction.</p> - - -<h3>JEAN GORDON.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Meg Merrilies.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> original of this character has been already pointed out and -described in various publications. A desire of presenting, in this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">{56}</span> -work, as much original matter as possible, will induce us to be very brief -in our notice of Jean Gordon.</p> - -<p>It is impossible to specify the exact date of her nativity, though it -probably was about the year 1670. She was born at Kirk-Yetholm, in -Roxburghshire, the metropolis of the Scottish Gipsies, and was -married to a Gipsy chief, named Patrick Faa, by whom she had ten or -twelve children.</p> - -<p>In the year 1714, one of Jean’s sons, named Alexander Faa, was -murdered by another Gipsy, named Robert Johnston, who escaped the -pursuit of justice for nearly ten years, but was then taken and indicted -by his Majesty’s Advocate for the crime. He was sentenced to be -executed, but escaped from prison. It was easier, however, to escape -the grasp of justice than to elude the wide spread talons of Gipsy -vengeance. Jean Gordon traced the murderer like a blood-hound, -followed him to Holland, and from thence to Ireland, where she had -him seized, and brought him back to Jedburgh. Here she obtained -the full reward of her toils, by having the satisfaction of seeing him -hanged on Gallowhill. Some time afterwards, Jean being at Sourhope, -a sheep-farm on Bowmont-water, the goodman said to her, “Weel, -Jean, ye hae got Rob Johnston hanged at last, and out o’ the way?” -“Ay, gudeman,” replied Jean, lifting up her apron by the two corners, -“and a’ that fu’ o’ gowd hasna done’t.” Jean Gordon’s “apron fu’ o’ -gowd” may remind some of our readers of Meg Merrilies’ poke of -jewels; and indeed the whole transaction forcibly recalls the stern -picture of that intrepid heroine.</p> - -<p>The circumstance in “Guy Mannering,” of Brown being indebted -to Meg Merrilies for lodging and protection, when he lost his way near -Derncleugh, finds a remarkably precise counterpart in an anecdote -related of Jean Gordon:—A farmer with whom she had formerly been -on good terms, though their acquaintance had been interrupted for -several years, lost his way, and was benighted among the mountains -of Cheviot. A light glimmering through the hole of a desolate barn, -that had survived the farmhouse to which it once belonged, guided -him to a place of shelter. He knocked at the door, and it was immediately -opened by Jean Gordon. To meet with such a character -in so solitary a place, and probably at no great distance from her clan,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">{57}</span> -was a terrible surprise to the honest man, whose rent, to lose which -would have been ruin to him, was about his person. Jean set up a -shout of joyful recognition, forced the farmer to dismount, and, in the -zeal of her kindness, hauled him into the barn. Great preparations -were making for supper, which the gudeman of Lochside, to increase -his anxiety, observed was calculated for at least a dozen of guests. -Jean soon left him no doubt upon the subject, but inquired what money -he had about him, and made earnest request to be made his purse-keeper -for the night, as the “<i>bairns</i>” would soon be home. The poor -farmer made a virtue of necessity, told his story, and surrendered his -gold to Jean’s custody. She made him put a few shillings in his -pocket, observing, it would excite suspicion, were he found travelling -altogether penniless. This arrangement being made, the farmer lay -down on a sort of shake-down, upon some straw, but, as will easily be -believed, slept not. About midnight the gang returned with various -articles of plunder, and talked over their exploits in language which made -the farmer tremble. They were not long in discovering their guest, and -demanded of Jean whom she had there? “E’en the winsome gudeman -o’ Lochside, poor body,” replied Jean; “he’s been at Newcastle -seeking for siller to pay his rent, honest man, but de’il-be-licket he’s -been able to gather in, and sae he’s gaun e’en hame wi’ a toom purse -and a sair heart.” “That may be, Jean,” said one of the banditti, -“but we maun rip his pouches a bit, and see if it be true or no.” -Jean set up her throat in exclamation against this breach of hospitality, -but without producing any change in their determination. The farmer -soon heard their stifled whispers and light steps by his bed-side, and -understood they were rummaging his clothes. When they found the -money which the providence of Jean Gordon had made him retain, they -held a consultation if they should take it or no; but the smallness of -the booty, and the vehemence of Jean’s remonstrances, determined them -in the negative. They caroused and went to rest. So soon as day -dawned, Jean roused her guest, produced his horse, which she had -accommodated behind the <i>hallan</i>, and guided him for some miles till -he was on the high-road to Lochside. She then restored his whole -property, nor could his earnest entreaties prevail on her to accept -so much as a single guinea.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">{58}</span></p> - -<p>It is related that all Jean’s sons were condemned to die at Jedburgh -on the same day. It is said the jury were equally divided; but a -friend to justice, who had slept during the discussion, waked suddenly, -and gave his word for condemnation, in the emphatic words, “<span class="smcap">Hang -them a’</span>.” Jean was present, and only said, “The Lord help the -innocent in a day like this!”</p> - -<p>Her own death was accompanied with circumstances of brutal -outrage, of which Jean was in many respects wholly undeserving. Jean -had, among other merits or demerits, that of being a staunch Jacobite. -She chanced to be at Carlisle upon a fair or market-day, soon after -the year 1746, where she gave vent to her political partiality, to the -great offence of the rabble of that city. Being zealous of their loyalty, -when there was no danger, in proportion to the tameness with which -they surrendered to the Highlanders in 1745, they inflicted upon poor -Jean Gordon no slighter penalty than that of ducking her to death in -the Eden. It was an operation of some time; for Jean Gordon was a -stout woman, and, struggling hard with her murderers, often got her -head above water, and while she had voice left, continued to exclaim, -at such intervals, “<i>Charlie yet! Charlie yet!</i>”</p> - -<p>Her propensities were exactly the same as those of the fictitious -character of Meg Merrilies. She possessed the same virtue of fidelity, -spoke the same language, and in appearance there was little -difference; yet Madge Gordon, her grand-daughter, was said to have -had the same resemblance. She was descended from the Faas by the -mother’s side, and was married to a Young. She had a large aquiline -nose; penetrating eyes, even in her old age; bushy hair, that hung -around her shoulders from beneath a gipsy bonnet of straw; a short -cloak, of a peculiar fashion; and a long staff, nearly as tall as herself. -When she spoke vehemently (for she had many complaints), she used to -strike her staff upon the floor, and throw herself into an attitude which -it was impossible to regard with indifference.</p> - -<p>From these traits of the manners of Jean and Madge Gordon, it -may be perceived that it would be difficult to determine which of the -two Meg Merrilies was intended for; it may therefore, without injustice, -be divided between both. So that if Jean was the prototype -of her <i>character</i>, it is very probable that Madge must have sat to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">{59}</span> -anonymous author of “Guy Mannering” as the representative of her -<i>person</i>.</p> - -<p>To the author whose duty leads him so low in the scale of nature, -that the manners and the miseries of a vicious and insubordinate race, -prominent in hideous circumstances of unvarnished reality, are all he -is permitted to record, it must ever be gratifying to find traits of such -fine enthusiasm, such devoted fidelity, as the conduct of Jean Gordon -exhibits in the foregoing incidents. <i>They</i> stand out with a delightful -and luminous effect from the gloomy canvas of guilt, atoning for its -errors and brightening its darkness. To trace further, as others have -done, the disgusting peculiarities of a people so abandoned to all sense -of moral propriety, would only serve to destroy the effect already -created by the redeeming characters of Jean Gordon and her nobler -sister, and more extensively to disgrace the general respectability of -human nature.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">{60}</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III" title="The Antiquary.">CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>The Antiquary.</b></p> - - -<h3>ANDREW GEMMELS.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Edie Ochiltree.</i>)</p> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe4_75" id="i_p_060"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_060.jpg" alt="A" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">ndrew Gemmels</span> or <span class="smcap">Gemble</span>, a wandering <i>blue-gown</i> of the -south of Scotland, is supposed to have been the <i>original</i> of Edie -Ochiltree. The latter, as represented in the novel, bears, it is true, a -much more amiable aspect, and exhibits greater elevation of character, -than the rude old soldier in whom the public has recognised his prototype. -Yet, as we believe there exists a considerable degree of resemblance -between them, a sketch of old Andrew, who was a very singular -personage, will not prove unsatisfactory.</p> - -<p>Andrew Gemmels was well known over all the Border districts as a -wandering beggar, or <i>gaberlunzie</i>, for the greater part of half a century. -He had been a soldier in his youth; and the entertaining stories which -he told of his campaigns, and the adventures he had encountered in -foreign countries, united with his shrewdness, drollery, and other agreeable -qualities, rendered him a general favourite, and secured him a -cordial welcome and free quarters at every shepherd’s cot or farm-steading -that lay in the range of his extensive wanderings. He kept a -horse in his latter days; and, so doing, set the proverb at naught. On -arriving at a place of call, he usually put up his horse in some stable -or outhouse, without the ceremony of asking his host’s permission, and -then came into the house, where he stamped and swore till room was -made for him at the fireside. Andrew was not like those degenerate -modern beggars, who implore a coin as for God’s sake, and shelter -themselves in the first hole they can find open to receive them,—but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">{61}</span> -ordered and commanded, like the master himself, and only accepted of -his alms by way of obliging his friends. He presumed even to choose -his own bed, and was not pleased unless the utmost attention was -shown to his comfort. He preferred sleeping in an outhouse, and, if -possible, in any place where horses and cattle were kept. The reasons -he might be supposed to have for such a preference are obvious. In an -outhouse he was less exposed in undressing to the curious eyes of the -people, who always suspected him of having treasure concealed in his -clothes; and the company of the animals beneath his bed was preferable -to utter solitude, and, moreover, tended to keep the premises -comfortably warm. He used such art in the matters of his toilette -that no person ever saw him undressed, or made any discovery prejudicial -to his character of poverty.</p> - -<p>Andrew was a tall, sturdy, old man, with a face in which the fierceness -and austerity of his character strove for mastery with the expression -of a shrewd and keen intellect. He was usually dressed in the -blue gown or surtout described in “The Antiquary” as the habiliment -of Edie Ochiltree, and his features were shaded with a broad slouched -hat, which had been exchanged at an earlier period for a lowland -bonnet. His feet and ankles were shod with strong iron-soled shoes -and <i>gamashins</i>, or <i>stocking-boots</i>. He always carried a stout walking-staff, -which was nearly as tall as himself, that is to say, not much less -than six feet.</p> - -<p>“Though free and unceremonious,<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Andrew was never burdensome -or indiscreet in his visits, returning only once or twice a year, -and generally after pretty regular intervals. He evidently seemed to -prosper in his calling; for, though hung around with rags of every -shape and hue, he commonly possessed a good horse, and used to -attend the country fairs and race-courses, where he would bet and -dispute with the farmers and gentry with the most independent and -resolute pertinacity. He allowed that begging had been a good trade -in his time, but used to complain sadly that times were daily growing -worse.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> A person remembers seeing Gemmels travelling about on a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">{62}</span> -blood-mare, with a foal after her, and a gold watch in his pocket. On -one occasion, at Rutherford in Tiviotdale, he had dropped a clue of -yarn, and Mr. Mather, his host, finding him searching for it, assisted -in the search, and, having got hold of it, persisted, notwithstanding -Andrew’s opposition, in unrolling the yarn till he came to the <i>kernel</i>, -which, much to his surprise and amusement, he found to consist of -about twenty guineas in gold.”</p> - -<p>“My grandfather,” continues this writer, “was exceedingly fond of -Andrew’s company; and, though a devout and strict Cameronian, and -occasionally somewhat scandalized at his rough and irreverent style of -language, was nevertheless so much attracted by his conversation, that -he never failed to spend the evenings of his sojourn in listening to his -entertaining narrations and ‘auld-warld stories,’ with the old shepherds, -hinds, and children seated around them, beside the blazing turf ingle in -‘the farmer’s ha’.’ These conversations generally took a polemical -turn, and not unfrequently ended in violent disputes—my ancestor’s hot -and impatient temper blazing forth in collision with the dry and -sarcastic humour of his ragged guest. Andrew was never known to -yield his point on these occasions; but he usually had the address, -when matters grew too serious, to give the conversation a more pleasant -turn, by some droll remark or unexpected stroke of humour, which -convulsed the rustic group, and the grave gudeman himself, with unfailing -and irresistible merriment.”</p> - -<p>“Many curious anecdotes of Andrew’s sarcastic wit and eccentric -manners are current in the Borders. I shall for the present content -myself with one specimen, illustrative of Andrew’s resemblance to his -celebrated representative. The following is given as commonly related -with much good humour by the late Mr. Dodds of the War Office, the -person to whom it chiefly refers:—Andrew happened to be present at a -fair or market somewhere in Tiviotdale (St. Boswell’s, if I mistake not), -where Dodds, at that time a non-commissioned officer in his Majesty’s -service, happened also to be with a military party recruiting. It was -some time during the American War, when they were eagerly beating -up for fresh men—to teach passive obedience to the obdurate and ill-mannered -Columbians; and it was then the practice for recruiting -sergeants after parading for a due space, with all the warlike<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">{63}</span> -pageantry of drums, trumpets, ‘glancing blades, and gay cockades,’ to -declaim in heroic strains of the delights of a soldier’s life—of glory, -patriotism, plunder—the prospect of promotion for the bold and the -young, and his Majesty’s munificent pension for the old and the -wounded, etc., etc. Dodds, who was a man of much natural talent, -and whose abilities afterwards raised him to an honourable rank and -independent fortune, had made one of his most brilliant speeches on -this occasion. A crowd of ardent and active rustics were standing -round, gaping with admiration at the imposing mien, and kindling at -the heroic eloquence of the manly soldier, whom many of them had -known a few years before as a rude tailor boy; the sergeant himself, -already leading in idea a score of new recruits, had just concluded, in -a strain of more than usual elevation, his oration in praise of the -military profession, when Gemmels, who, in tattered guise, was standing -close behind him, reared aloft his <i>meal-pocks</i> on the end of -his <i>kent</i> or pike-staff, and exclaimed, with a tone and aspect of the -most profound derision, ‘<i>Behold the end o’t!</i>’ The contrast was irresistible—the -<i>beau idéal</i> of Sergeant Dodds, and the ragged reality of -Andrew Gemmels, were sufficiently striking; and the former, with his -red-coat followers, beat a retreat in some confusion, amidst the loud -and universal laughter of the surrounding multitude.”</p> - -<p>Andrew Gemmels was remarkable for being perhaps the best player -at draughts in Scotland; and in that amusement, which, we may here -observe, is remarkably well adapted for bringing out and employing the -cool, calculating, and shrewd genius of the Scottish nation, he frequently -spent the long winter nights. Many persons still exist who were -taught the mysteries of the <i>dambrod</i><a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> by him, and who were accustomed -to hold a serious contention with him every time he passed the night -in their houses. He was the preceptor of the gudewife of Newby in -Peebles-shire, the grandmother of the present narrator, whose hospitable -mansion was one of his chief resorts. In teaching her, as he said, -he had only “cut a stick to break his ain head”; for she soon became -equally expert with himself, and in the regular <i>set-to’s</i> which took place -between them, did not show either the deference to his master-skill, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">{64}</span> -the fear of his resentment, with which he was usually treated by more -timorous competitors. He could never be brought, however, to acknowledge -heartily her rival pretensions, nor would he, upon any -account, come to such a trial as might have decided the palm of merit -either in his favour or hers. Whenever he saw the tide of success running -on her side, he got dreadfully exasperated, and ordinarily, before -the stigma of defeat could be decidedly inflicted upon him, rose up, -seized <i>the brod</i>, and threw <i>the men</i> into the fire,—accompanying the -action with some of his most terrific and blasphemous imprecations.</p> - -<p>The late Lord Elibank, while living at Darnhall, once ordered one -of his cast-off suits to be given to Andrew—the which Andrew thankfully -accepted, and then took his departure. Through the course of the -same day, his lordship, in taking a ride a few miles from home, came -up with Andrew, and was not a little surprised to see him dragging -the clothes behind him along the road, “through dub and mire.” On -being asked his reason for such strange conduct, he replied that he -would have “to trail the duds that way for twa days, to mak them <i>fit -for use</i>!”</p> - -<p>In one circumstance Andrew coincides with his supposed archetype: -Andrew had been at Fontenoy, and made frequent allusions to that -disastrous field.</p> - -<p>Andrew died in 1793, at Roxburgh-Newton, near Kelso, being, according -to his own account, 105 years of age. His wealth was the -means of enriching a nephew in Ayrshire, who is now a considerable -landholder there, and belongs to a respectable class of society.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">{65}</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV" title="Rob Roy.">CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>Rob Roy.</b></p> - - -<h3>ANECDOTES OF ROBERT MACGREGOR.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Rob Roy.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">We</span> derive the following interesting narrative from Colonel Stewart’s -admirable work on the Highlands.</p> - -<p>“The father of the present Mr. Stewart of Ardvorlich knew Rob -Roy intimately, and attended his funeral in 1736—the last at which a -piper officiated in the Highlands of Perthshire. The late Mr. Stewart -of Bohallie, Mr. M‘Nab of Inchewan, and several gentlemen of my -acquaintance, also knew Rob Roy and his family. Alexander Stewart, -one of his followers, afterwards enlisted in the Black Watch. He was -wounded at Fontenoy, and discharged with a pension in 1748. Some -time after this period he was engaged by my grandmother, then a -widow, as a <i>grieve</i>, to direct and take charge of the farm-servants. In -this situation he proved a faithful, trustworthy servant, and was by my -father continued in his situation till his death. He told many anecdotes -of Rob Roy and his party, among whom he was distinguished by the -name of the Bailie, a title which he ever after retained. It was before -him that people were sworn when it was necessary to bind them to -secrecy.</p> - -<p>“Robert Macgregor Campbell was a younger son of Donald Macgregor -of Glengyle, in Perthshire, by a daughter of Campbell of Glenlyon, -sister of the individual who commanded at the massacre of -Glenco. He was born some time between 1657 and 1660, and married -Helen Campbell, of the family of Glenfalloch. As cattle was at that -period the principal marketable produce of the hills, the younger sons<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">{66}</span> -of gentlemen had few other means of procuring an independent subsistence -than by engaging in this sort of traffic. At an early period -Rob Roy was one of the most respectable and successful drovers in his -district. Before the year 1707 he had purchased of the family of Montrose -the lands of Craigrostane, on the banks of Lochlomond, and had -relieved some heavy debts on his nephew’s estate of Glengyle. While -in this prosperous state, he continued respected for his honourable -dealings both in the Lowlands and Highlands. Previous to the Union -no cattle had been permitted to pass the English border. As a boon -or encouragement, however, to conciliate the people to that measure, -a free intercourse was allowed. The Marquis of Montrose, created a -Duke the same year, and one of the most zealous partisans of the -Union, was the first to take advantage of this privilege, and immediately -entered into partnership with Rob Roy, who was to purchase -the cattle and drive them to England for sale—the Duke and he -advancing an equal sum, 10,000 merks each (a large sum in those days, -when the price of the best ox or cow was seldom twenty shillings); all -the transactions beyond this amount to be on credit. The purchases -having been completed, Macgregor then went to England; but so -many people had entered into a similar speculation, that the market -was completely overstocked, and the cattle sold for much less than -prime cost. Macgregor returned home, and went to the Duke to settle -the account of their partnership, and to pay the money advanced, with -the deduction of the loss. The Duke, it is said, would consent to no -deduction, but insisted on principal and interest. ‘In that case, my -Lord,’ said Macgregor, ‘if these be your principles, I shall not make it -my principle to pay the interest, nor my interest the principal; so if -your Grace do not stand your share of the loss, you shall have no -money from me.’ On this they separated. No settlement of accounts -followed—the one insisting on retaining the money, unless the other -would consent to bear his share of the loss. Nothing decisive was done -till the rebellion of 1715, when Rob Roy ‘was out,’—his nephew Glengyle -commanding a numerous body of the Macgregors, but under the -control of his uncle’s superior judgment and experience. On this -occasion the Duke of Montrose’s share of the cattle speculation was -expended. The next year his Grace took legal means to recover his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">{67}</span> -money, and got possession of the lands of Craigrostane on account of -his debt. This rendered Macgregor desperate. Determined that his -Grace should not enjoy his lands with impunity, he collected a band of -about twenty followers, declared open war against him, and gave up -his old course of regular droving—declaring that the estate of Montrose -should in future supply him with cattle, and he would make the Duke -rue the day in which he quarrelled with him. He kept his word, and -for nearly twenty years, that is, till the day of his death, levied regular -contributions on the Duke and his tenants, not by nightly depredations -and robberies, but in broad day, and in a systematic manner—at an -appointed time making a complete sweep of all the cattle of a district, -always passing over those not belonging to the Duke’s estate, as well -as the estates of his friends and adherents; and having previously given -notice where he was to be by a certain day with his cattle, he was met -there by people from all parts of the country, to whom he sold them -publicly. These meetings, or trystes, as they were called, were held in -different parts of the country; sometimes the cattle were driven south, -but oftener to the north-west, where the influence of his friend the -Duke of Argyll protected him.</p> - -<p>“When the cattle were in this manner driven away, the tenants paid -no rent, so that the Duke was the ultimate sufferer. But he was made -to suffer in every way. The rents of the lower farms were partly paid -in grain and meal, which was generally lodged in a storehouse or -granary, called a girnel, near the Loch of Monteith. When Macgregor -wanted a supply of meal, he sent notice to a certain number of the -Duke’s tenants to meet him at the girnel on a certain day, with their -horses, to carry home the meal. They met accordingly, when he -ordered the horses to be loaded, and, giving a regular receipt to the -Duke’s storekeeper for the quantity taken, he marched away—always -entertaining the people very handsomely, and careful never to take the -meal till it had been lodged in the Duke’s storehouse in payment of -rent. When the money rents were paid, Macgregor frequently -attended. On one occasion, when Mr. Graham of Killearn (the factor) -had collected the tenants to pay their rents, all Rob Roy’s men happened -to be absent except Alexander Stewart, ‘the Bailie,’ whom I -have already mentioned. With his single attendant he descended to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">{68}</span> -Chapellairoch, where the factor and the tenants were assembled. He -reached the house after it was dark, and, looking in at the window, -saw Killearn, surrounded by a number of the tenants, with a bag full of -money which he had received, and was in the act of disposing in a -press or cupboard, at the same time saying that he would cheerfully -give all in the bag for Rob Roy’s head. This notification was not lost -on the outside auditor, who instantly gave orders, in a loud voice, to -place two men at each window, two at each corner, and four at each -of the two doors—thus appearing to have twenty men. Immediately -the door opened, and he walked in with his attendant close behind, -each armed with a sword in his right hand and a pistol in his left, and -with dirks and pistols slung in their belts.</p> - -<p>“The company started up, but he requested them to sit down, as his -business was only with Killearn, whom he ordered to hand down the -bag and put it on the table. When this was done, he desired the -money to be counted, and proper receipts to be drawn out, certifying -that he had received the money from the Duke of Montrose’s agent, as -the Duke’s property, the tenants having paid their rents, so that no -after-demand could be made against them on account of this transaction; -and finding that some of the people had not obtained receipts, he -desired the factor to grant them immediately, ‘to show his Grace,’ -said he, ‘that it is from him I take the money, and not from these -honest men who have paid him.’ After the whole was concluded, he -ordered supper, saying, that as he had got the purse, it was proper -he should pay the bill; and after they had drunk heartily together for -several hours, he called his Bailie to produce his dirk, and lay it naked -on the table. Killearn was then sworn that he would not move, nor -direct any one else to move, from that spot for an hour after the -departure of Macgregor, who thus cautioned him—‘If you break your -oath, you know what you are to expect in the next world—and in this,’ -pointing to his dirk. He then walked away, and was beyond pursuit -before the hour expired.</p> - -<p>“At another collecting of rents by the same gentleman, Macgregor -made his appearance, and carried him away, with his servant, to a small -island in the west end of Loch Cathrine, and having kept him there -for several days, entertaining him in the best manner, as a duke’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">{69}</span> -representative ought to be, he dismissed him, with the usual receipts -and compliments to his Grace. In this manner did this extraordinary -man live, in open violation and defiance of the laws, and died peaceably -in his bed when nearly eighty years of age. His funeral was attended -by all the country round, high and low—the Duke of Montrose and -his immediate friends only excepted.</p> - -<p>“How such things could happen, at so late a period, must appear -incredible; and this, too, within thirty miles of the garrisons of Stirling -and Dumbarton, and the populous city of Glasgow, and, indeed, with -a small garrison stationed at Inversnaid, in the heart of the country, -and on the estate which belonged to Macgregor, for the express purpose -of checking his depredations. The truth is, the thing could -not have happened had it not been the peculiarity of the man’s -character; for, with all his lawless spoliations and unremitted acts of -vengeance and robbery against the Montrose family, he had not an -enemy in the country beyond the sphere of their influence. He never -hurt or meddled with the property of a poor man, and, as I have -stated, was always careful that his great enemy should be the principal, -if not the only sufferer. Had it been otherwise, it was quite impossible -that, notwithstanding all his enterprise, address, intrepidity, and vigilance, -he could have long escaped in a populous country, with a -warlike people, well qualified to execute any daring exploit, such as -the seizure of this man, had they been his enemies, and willing to -undertake it. Instead of which, he lived socially among them—that is, -as social as an outlaw, always under a certain degree of alarm, could -do—giving the education of gentlemen to his sons, frequenting the -most populous towns, and, whether in Edinburgh, Perth, or Glasgow, -equally safe, at the same time that he displayed great and masterly -address in avoiding or calling for public notice.</p> - -<p>“The instances of his address struck terror into the minds of the -troops, whom he often defeated and out-generalled. One of these -instances occurred in Breadalbane, in the case of an officer and forty -chosen men sent after him. The party crossed through Glenfalloch to -Tyndrum; and Macgregor, who had correct information of all their -movements, was with a party in the immediate neighbourhood. He -put himself in the disguise of a beggar, with a bag of meal on his back<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">{70}</span> -(in those days alms were always bestowed in produce), went to the inn -at Tyndrum, where the party was quartered, walked into the kitchen -with great indifference, and sat down among the soldiers. They soon -found the beggar a lively sarcastic fellow, when they began to attempt -some practical jokes upon him.</p> - -<p>“He pretended to be very angry, and threatened to inform Rob -Roy, who would quickly show them they were not to give with impunity -such usage to a poor and harmless person. He was immediately -asked if he knew Rob Roy, and if he could tell where he was? On -his answering that he knew him well, and where he was, the sergeant -informed the officer, who immediately sent for him.</p> - -<p>“After some conversation, the beggar consented to accompany them -to Creanlarich, a few miles distant, where he said Rob Roy and his -men were, and that he believed their arms were lodged in one house, -while they were sitting in another. He added that Roy was very -friendly, and sometimes joked with him, and put him at the head of -the table; and ‘when it is dark,’ said he, ‘I will go forward—you -will follow in half an hour—and, when near the house, rush on, place -your men at the back of the house, ready to seize on the arms of the -Highlanders, while you shall go round with the sergeant and two men, -walk in, and call out the whole are your prisoners; and don’t be surprised -though you should see me at the head of the company.’ As they -marched on they had to pass a rapid stream at Dabrie, a spot celebrated -on account of the defeat of Robert Bruce by Macdougal of -Lorn, in the year 1306. Here the soldiers asked their merry friend the -beggar to carry them through on his back. This he did, sometimes -taking two at a time, till he took the whole over, demanding a penny -from each for his trouble. When it was dark they pushed on (the -beggar having gone before), the officer following the directions of his -guide, and darting into the house with the sergeant and three soldiers. -They had hardly time to look to the end of the table, where they saw -the beggar standing, when the door was shut behind them, and they -were instantly pinioned, two men standing on each side holding pistols -to their ears, and declaring that they were dead men if they uttered a -word. The beggar then went out, and called in two more men, who -were instantly secured, and in the same manner with the whole party.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">{71}</span> -Having been disarmed, they were placed under a strong guard till -morning, when he gave them a plentiful breakfast and released them on -parole (the Bailie attending with his dirk, over which the officer gave -his parole) to return immediately to their garrison without attempting -anything more at this time. This promise Rob Roy made secure, by -keeping their arms and ammunition as lawful prize of war.</p> - -<p>“Some time after, the same officer was again sent after this noted -character, probably to retrieve his former mishap. In this expedition -he was more fortunate, for he took three of the freebooters prisoners in -the higher parts of Breadalbane, near the scene of the former exploit—but -the conclusion was nearly similar. He lost no time in proceeding -in the direction of Perth, for the purpose of putting his prisoners in -gaol; but Rob Roy was equally alert in pursuit. His men marched in -a parallel line with the soldiers, who kept along the bottom of the -valley, on the south side of Loch Tay, while the others kept close up -the side of the hill, anxiously looking for an opportunity to dash down -and rescue their comrades, if they saw any remissness or want of attention -on the part of the soldiers. Nothing of this kind offered, and the -party had passed Tay Bridge, near which they halted and slept. Macgregor -now saw that something must soon be done or never, as they -would speedily gain the low country, and be out of his reach. In the -course of the night he procured a number of goat-skins and cords, with -which he dressed himself and his party in the wildest manner possible, -and, pushing forward, before daylight took post near the roadside, in a -thick wood below Grandtully Castle. When the soldiers came in a -line with the party in ambush, the Highlanders, with one leap, darted -down upon them, uttering such yells and shouts as, along with their -frightful appearance, so confounded the soldiers, that they were overpowered -and disarmed without a man being hurt on either side. Rob -Roy kept the arms and ammunition, released the soldiers, and marched -away in triumph with his men.</p> - -<p>“The terror of his name was much increased by exploits like these, -which, perhaps, lost nothing by the telling, as the soldiers would not -probably be inclined to diminish the danger and fatigues of a duty in -which they were so often defeated. But it is unnecessary to repeat the -stories preserved and related of this man and his actions, which were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">{72}</span> -always daring and well contrived, often successful, but never directed -against the poor, nor prompted by revenge, except against the Duke of -Montrose, and without any instance of murder or bloodshed committed -by any of his party, except in their own defence. In the war against -Montrose he was supported and abetted by the Duke of Argyll, from -whom he always received shelter when hard pressed; or, to use a hunting -term, when he was in danger of being earthed by the troops. -These two powerful families were still rivals, although Montrose had -left the Tories and joined Argyll and the Whig interest. It is said that -Montrose reproached Argyll in the House of Peers with protecting the -robber Rob Roy; when the latter, with his usual eloquence and -address, parried off the accusation (which he could not deny) by -jocularly answering, that if he protected a robber, the other supported -him.”</p> - -<p>We can only add to this animated history of Rob Roy one circumstance; -which, though accredited in the Highlands, has never been -noticed in the popular accounts of our hero. In whatever degree his -conduct was to be attributed to his own wrongs, or those of his clan, -the disposition which prompted and carried him through in his daring -enterprises, could be traced to the family temper of his mother, who -came of the Campbells of Glenlyon—a peculiarly wild, bold, and -wicked race.</p> - -<p>The mode of escape adopted by Rob Roy in crossing the Avon-dhu, -so finely described in the third volume of the novel, seems to have -been suggested by the following traditionary anecdote, which is -preserved in the neighbourhood of the spot where the exploit took -place:—A Cameronian, in the district of Galloway, flying from two -dragoons, who pursued him hotly, came to a precipice which overhung -a lake. Seeing no other means of eluding his enemies, he -plunged into the water, and attempted to swim to the other side. In -the meantime the troopers came up, and fired at him; when he, with -an astonishing presence of mind, parted with his plaid, and swam below -the water to a safe part of the shore. His enemies fired repeatedly at -the plaid, till they supposed him slain or sunk, and then retired.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">{73}</span></p> - - -<h3>PARALLEL PASSAGES.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">A resemblance</span> will be discovered between the following passages—one -being part of Bailie Jarvie’s conversation with Owen, in “Rob -Roy,” and the other an extract from a work entitled, “A Tour through -Great Britain, &c., by a Gentleman, 4th ed. 1748”—a curious book, of -which the first edition was written by the celebrated De Foe:—</p> - -<p>“We found the liquor exceedingly palatable, and it led to a long -conversation between Owen and our host, on the opening which the -Union had afforded to trade between Glasgow and the British colonies -in America and the West Indies, and on the facilities which Glasgow -possessed of making up <i>sortable</i> cargoes for that market. Mr. Jarvie -answered some objection which Owen made on the difficulty of sorting -a cargo for America, without buying from England, with vehemence -and volubility.</p> - -<p>“‘Na, na, sir; we stand on our ain bottom—we pickle in our ain -pock-neuk. We ha’e our Stirling serges, Musselburgh stuffs, Aberdeen -hose, Edinburgh shalloons, and the like, for our woollen and worsted -goods, and we ha’e linens of a’ kinds, better and cheaper than you -ha’e in London itsel’; and we can buy your north o’ England wares,—as -Manchester wares, Sheffield wares, and Newcastle earthenware—as -cheap as you can, at Liverpool; and we are making a fair spell at -cottons and muslins.’”—<i>Rob Roy</i>, vol. ii., p. 267.</p> - -<p>“Glasgow is a city of business, and has the face of foreign as well -as domestic trade,—nay, I may say it is the only city in Scotland that -apparently increases in both. The Union has indeed answered its end -to them, more than to any other part of the kingdom, their trade being -new-formed by it; for as the Union opened the door to the Scots into -our American colonies, the Glasgow merchants presently embraced the -opportunity; and though, at its first concerting, the rabble of the city -made a formidable attempt to prevent it, yet afterwards they knew -better, when they found the great increase of their trade by it, for they -now send fifty sail of ships every year to Virginia, New England, and -other English colonies in America.</p> - -<p>“The share they have in the herring-fishery is very considerable; -and they cure their herrings so well and so much better than they are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">{74}</span> -done in any other part of Great Britain, that a Glasgow herring is -esteemed as good as a Dutch one.</p> - -<p>“I have no room to enlarge upon the home-trade of this city, which -is very considerable in many things. I shall, therefore, touch at some -few particulars:—</p> - -<p>“1. Here there are two very handsome sugar-baking houses, carried -on by skilful persons, with large stocks, and to very great perfection. -Here is likewise a large distillery for distilling spirits from the molasses -drawn from sugars, by which they enjoyed a vast advantage for a time, -by a reserved article in the Union, freeing them from English duties.</p> - -<p>“2. Here is a manufacture of plaiding, a stuff crossed with yellow, -red, and other mixtures, for the plaids or veils worn by the women of -Scotland.</p> - -<p>“3. Here is a manufacture of muslins, which they make so good -and fine that great quantities of them are sent into England, and to the -British plantations, where they sell at a good price. They are generally -striped, and are very much used for aprons by the ladies, and -sometimes in head-clothes by the meaner sort of Englishwomen.</p> - -<p>“4. Here is also a linen manufacture; but as that is in common with -all parts of Scotland, which improve in it daily, I will not insist upon -it as a peculiar here, though they make a very great quantity of it, and -send it to the plantations as their principal merchandise. Nor are the -Scots without a supply of goods for sorting their cargoes to the English -colonies, without sending to England for them; and it is necessary to -mention it here, because it has been objected by some that the Scots -could not send a sortable cargo to America without buying from England, -which, coming through many hands, and by a long carriage, must -consequently be so dear, that the English merchants can undersell them.</p> - -<p>“It is very probable, indeed, that some things cannot be had here -so well as from England, so as to make out such a sortable cargo as -the Virginia merchants in London ship off, whose entries at the custom-house -consist sometimes of two hundred particulars, as tin, turnery, -millinery, upholstery, cutlery, and other <i>Crooked-Lane</i> wares—in short, -somewhat of everything, either for wearing or house furniture, building -houses or ships.</p> - -<p>“But though the Scots cannot do all this, we may reckon up what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">{75}</span> -they can furnish, which they have not only in sufficient quantities, but -some in greater perfection than England itself.</p> - -<p>“1. They have woollen manufactories of their own,—such as Stirling -serges, Musselburgh stuffs, Aberdeen stockens, Edinburgh shalloons, -blankets, etc.</p> - -<p>“2. Their trade with England being open, they have now all the -Manchester, Sheffield, and Birmingham wares, and likewise the cloths, -kerseys, half-thicks, duffels, stockens and coarse manufactures of the -north of England, brought as cheap or cheaper to them by horse-packs -as they are carried to London, it being at a less distance.</p> - -<p>“3. They have linens of most kinds, especially diapers and table-linens, -damasks, and many other sorts not known in England, and -cheaper than there, because made at their own doors.</p> - -<p>“4. What linens they want from Holland or Hamburgh, they -import from thence as cheap as the English can do; and for muslins, -their own are very acceptable, and cheaper than in England.</p> - -<p>“5. Gloves they make cheaper and better than in England, for they -send great quantities thither.</p> - -<p>“6. * * * * * *</p> - -<p>“I might mention many other particulars, but this is sufficient to -show that the Scots merchants are not at a loss how to make up sortable -cargoes to send to the plantations; and that if we can outdo them in -some things, they are able to outdo us in others.”—<i>Tour</i>, vol. iv., -p. 124.</p> - -<p>Though only the latter part of the preceding description of Glasgow -trade refers to the passage from “Rob Roy,” we have extracted it all -for various reasons. First, because it gives, independent of allusion to -the novel, a very distinct and simple account of trade in Scotland forty -years after the Union, when the reaction consequent upon that event -was beginning to be felt in the country. Secondly, because it details -at full length the sketch of the rise and progress of Glasgow, which -Mr. Francis Osbaldistone gives in the sixth chapter of the second -volume of “Rob Roy,” on his approach to the mercantile capital. -Thirdly, for the sake of presenting the reader with a very fair specimen -of the use which the Author of “Waverley” makes of old books in his -fictitious narratives.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">{76}</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V" title="The Black Dwarf.">CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>The Black Dwarf.</b></p> - - -<h3>LANG SHEEP AND SHORT SHEEP.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Our</span> readers will readily remember the curious explanation which takes -place between Bauldy, the old-world shepherd, in the Introduction to -this tale, and Mr. Peter Pattieson, respecting the difference between -<i>lang</i> sheep and <i>short</i> sheep. We can attest, from unexceptionable -authority, that a conversation once actually took place between Sir -Walter Scott, James Hogg, and Mr. Laidlaw, the <i>factor</i> of the former, -in which the same disquisition and nearly the same words occurred. -Messrs. H. and L. began the dispute about the various merits of the -different sheep; and many references being made to the respective -<i>lengths</i> of the animals, Sir Walter became quite tired of their unintelligible -technicals, and very simply asked them how sheep came to -be distinguished by longitude, having, he observed, never perceived -any remarkable difference between one sheep and another in that -particular. It was then that an explanation took place, very like that -of Bauldy in the Introduction; and we think there can be no doubt -that the fictitious incident would never have taken place but for the -real circumstance we have related.</p> - -<p>The dispute with Christy Wilson, butcher in Gandercleugh, which it -was the object of Bauldy’s master to settle, and in consequence of -which being amicably adjusted, the convivialities that brought out from -the shepherd the materials of the tale were entered into, has, we understand, -its origin in a process once before the Court of Session, respecting -what is termed a <i>luck-penny</i> on a bargain.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">{77}</span></p> - - -<h3>DAVID RITCHIE.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Elshender the Recluse.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> particulars of David Ritchie’s life, which are in themselves -sufficiently meagre, have been more than once already laid before -the public. In <i>Blackwood’s Monthly Magazine</i> for June, and in the -<i>Edinburgh Magazine</i> for October, 1817, accounts of the supposed -original of the Black Dwarf are given, evidently from no mean -authority, if we may judge from the style in which these narratives -are written. A separate production, also, of a very interesting nature, -embellished with a striking and singularly correct likeness of the -dwarf, appeared in 1820, and comprised every anecdote of this -singular being previously uncollected. It is therefore conceived totally -unnecessary to detail at any length a subject which, independent of -its want of elegance and interest, has been already so completely -exhausted. To give a few sketches of the character and habits of -David Ritchie, and contrast them with those of the more sublime -Elshender, will, it is hoped, prove a more grateful entertainment.</p> - -<p>David Ritchie was a pauper, who lived the greater part of a long -life, and finally died so late as the year 1811, in a solitary cottage -situated in the romantic glen of Manor in Peebles-shire. This vale, -now rendered classic ground by the abode of the Black Dwarf, was -otherwise formerly remarkable as having been the retirement of the -illustrious and venerable Professor Ferguson.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p>His person coincided singularly well with the description of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">{78}</span> -fictitious recluse. He had been deformed and horrible since his birth -in no ordinary degree, which was probably the cause of the analogous -peculiarities of his temper. His countenance, of the darkest of dark -complexions, was half covered with a long grisly black beard, and -bore, as the centre of its system of terrors, two eyes of piercing black, -which were sometimes, in his excited moments, lighted up with wild -and supernatural lustre. His head was of a singular shape, conical -and oblong, and might now form no unworthy subject for the studies -of the Phrenological Society. To speak in their language, he must -have had few of the moral or intellectual faculties developed in any -perfection; for his brow retreated immediately above the eyebrows, -and threw nearly the whole of his head, which was large, behind the -ear, where, it is said, the meaner organs of the brain are situated—giving -immense scope to cruelty, obstinacy, self-esteem, etc. His nose -was long and aquiline; his mouth wide and contemptuously curled -upward; and his chin protruded from the visage in a long grisly peak. -His body, short and muscular, was thicker than that of most ordinary -men, and, with his arms, which were long and of great power, might -have formed the parts of a giant, had not nature capriciously curtailed -his form of other limbs conformable to these proportions. His arms -had the same defect with those of the celebrated Betterton, and he -could not lift them higher than his breast; yet such was their strength, -that he has been known to tear up a tree by the roots, which had -baffled the united efforts of two labourers, who had striven by digging -to eradicate it. His legs were short, fin-like, and bent outwards, with -feet totally inapplicable to the common purposes of walking. These -he constantly endeavoured to conceal from sight by wrapping them up -in immense masses of rags. This ungainly part of his figure is remarkable -as the only one which differs materially from the description of -“Cannie Elshie,” whose “body, thick and square, was mounted upon -two large feet.”</p> - -<p>He was the son of very poor parents, who, at an early period of his -life, endeavoured to place him with a tradesman in the metropolis to -learn the humble art of brushmaking; which purpose he however soon -deserted in disgust, on account of the insupportable notice which his -uncouth form attracted in the streets. His spirit, perhaps, also panted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">{79}</span> -for the seclusion of his native hills, where he might have ease to indulge -in that solitude so appropriate to the outcast ugliness of his person, and -free from the insulting gaze of vulgar curiosity. Here, in the valley of -his birth, he formed the romantic project of building a small hut for -himself, in which, like the Recluse of the tale, he might live for ever -retired from the race for whose converse he was unfitted, and give -unrestrained scope to the moods of his misanthropy. He constructed -this hermitage in precisely the same manner with the Black Dwarf of -Mucklestane Moor. Huge rocks, which he had rolled down from the -neighbouring hill, formed the foundation and walls, to which an -alternate layer of turf, as is commonly used in cottages, gave almost -the consistency and fully the comfort of mortar. He is said to have -evinced amazing bodily strength in moving and placing these stones, -such as the strongest men, with all the advantages of stature and -muscular proportion, could hardly have equalled. This corporeal -energy, which lay chiefly in his arms, will remind the reader of the -exertions of the Black Dwarf, as witnessed by Hobbie Elliot and -young Earnscliff, on the morning after his first appearance, when -employed in arranging the foundations of his hermitage out of the Grey -Geese of Mucklestane Moor.—<i>See</i> pp. 78, 79.</p> - -<p>When the young hermit had finished his hut, and succeeded in -furnishing it with a few coarse household utensils, framed chiefly by his -own hands, he began to form a garden. In the cultivation and adornment -of this spot, he displayed a degree of natural taste and ingenuity -that might have fitted him for a higher fate than the seclusion of a -hermitage. In a short time he had stocked it with such a profusion of -fruit-trees, herbs, vegetables, and flowers, that it seemed a little forest -of beauty—a shred of Eden, fit to redeem the wilderness around from -its character of desolation—a gem on the swarth brow of the desert. -Not only did it exhibit the finest specimens of flowers indigenous to this -country, but he had also contrived to procure a number of exotics, -whose Linnæan names he would roll forth to the friends whom he indulged -with an admission within its precincts, with a pomposity of -voice that never failed to enhance their admiration. It soon came to -be much resorted to by visitors, being accounted, with <i>the genius of -the place</i>, one of the most remarkable curiosities of the county. Dr.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">{80}</span> -Ferguson used sometimes to visit the eccentric solitary, as an amusement -in that retired spot; and Sir Walter Scott, who was a frequent -guest at the house of that venerable gentleman, is said to have often -held long communings with him; likewise several other individuals of -literary celebrity.</p> - -<p>There is something more peculiarly romantic and poetical in the -circumstance of the Misanthrope’s attachment to his garden than can -be found in any of the other habits and qualities attributed to him. -The care of that beautiful spot was his chief occupation, and may be -said to have been the only pleasure his life was ever permitted to experience. -On it alone he could employ that <i>faculty</i> of affection with -which every heart, even that of the cynic, is endowed. Shut out from -the correspondence and sympathy of his own fellow-creatures by the -insurmountable pale of his own ugliness, there existed, in the whole -circle of nature, no other object that could receive his affections, or -reply to the feelings he had to impart. In flowers alone, those lineal -and undegenerate descendants of Paradise, the Solitary found an object -of attachment that could do equal honour to his feelings and to his -taste. His garden was a perfect seraglio of vegetable beauties, and -<i>there</i> he could commune with a thousand objects of affection, that never -shrunk from the touch which threatened horror and pollution to all the -world beside.</p> - -<p>By the peculiarities of his person, as well as by the other abject circumstances -of his condition, it may be easily supposed that the Hermit -of Manor was entirely excluded from that great solace of the miseries of -man, the sympathy to be derived from the tenderness and affections of -woman. He was irredeemably condemned, as it were, to a dreary -bachelorhood of the heart, which knew that there was for it no hope, -no possibility of enjoyment. Perhaps the constant sense of loathsomeness -in the eyes of the fair part of creation might help to increase the -natural wretchedness of his existence. The misanthropy of Elshender -is pathetically represented in the tale as springing chiefly from sources -of disappointment like this. It happens, also, that his humble prototype -once ventured to express the sensibilities of the common delirium -of man, and that he was rejected by the object of his affection. This -insult, though it sprung from a very natural feeling on the part of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">{81}</span> -woman, sunk deep into his heart; and thus was he debarred from what -would have been the only means of sweetening the bitter lot of solitary -poverty and decrepitude,—dashed back with scorn from the general -draught at which even his inferiors were liberally indulged. This circumstance -forms another trait of resemblance between the Black Dwarf -and David Ritchie; and, by a happy consonance never before discovered, -confirms their identity.</p> - -<p>“His habits were, in many respects, singular, and indicated a mind -sufficiently congenial with its uncouth tabernacle. A jealous, misanthropical, -and irritable temper was his most prominent characteristic. -The sense of his deformity haunted him like a phantom; and the -insults and scorn to which this exposed him had poisoned his heart -with fierce and bitter feelings, which, from other traits in his character, -do not appear to have been more largely infused into his original temperament -than that of his fellow-men. He detested children, on -account of their propensity to insult and persecute him. To strangers -he was generally reserved, crabbed, and surly; and even towards persons -who had been his greatest benefactors, and who possessed the -greatest share of his good-will, he frequently betrayed much caprice -and jealousy. A lady, who knew him from his infancy, says, that, -although he showed as much attachment and respect for her father’s -family as it was in his nature to show for any, yet they were always -obliged to be very cautious in their deportment towards him. -One day, having gone to visit him with another lady, he took them -through his garden, and was showing them, with much pride and -good-humour, all his rich and tastefully assorted borders, here picking -up with his long staff some insidious weed, and there turning to digress -into the history of some mysterious exotic, when they happened to stop -near a plot of cabbages, which had been somewhat injured by the -caterpillars. Davie, observing one of the ladies smile, instantly assumed -a savage scowling aspect, rushed among the cabbages, and -dashed them to pieces with his <i>kent</i>, exclaiming, ‘I hate the worms, -for they mock me!’”</p> - -<p>When he visited the neighbouring metropolis of the county, which -happened very seldom towards the latter part of his life, he was -generally followed by crowds of boys, who hooted and insulted him,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">{82}</span> -with all that disregard of feeling and insolence of wickedness so often -to be observed in children of the lower ranks in Scottish villages. On -these occasions he was wont to give his persecutors the “length of his -<i>kent</i>,” as he called it, when he could reach them; but they being -generally too nimble for his crippled evolutions, he had often to vent -his revenge in the more harmless form of curses. These were frequently -of the most terrific and unusual kind. He is even said to have -evinced something like <i>genius</i> in the invention of his imprecations, -some of which far surpassed Gray’s celebrated</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>He would swear he would “cleave them to the <i>harn-pans</i>, if he had -but his <i>cran</i> fingers on them;” that he “could pour seething lead -down their throats;” that “hell would never be full till they were in -it;” and frequently exclaimed that there was nothing he would “like -so well as to see their souls girnin’ for a thousand eternities on the red-het -brander o’ the de’il!”</p> - -<p>Among the traits of his character, there is none reminds us so -strongly of the Misanthrope of the tale as this propensity to execration. -The same style of discourse, and almost the same terms of -imprecation, are common to both. The <i>Mighty Unknown</i> has put -expressions into the mouth of this character which, as specimens of -the grand and sublime, are altogether unequalled in the whole circle -of English poetry—not even excepting the magnificent thunders of -Byron’s muse. Now, his prototype is well remembered, by those who -have conversed with him, to have frequently used language which, -sometimes sinking to delicacy and even elegance, and at others rising -to a very tempest of execration and diabolical expression, might have -been deemed almost miraculous from <i>his</i> mouth, could it not have been -attributed partly to the impassioned inspiration that naturally flowed -from his consciousness of deformity, from keen resentment of insult, -and from the despairing, loveless sterility of his heart.</p> - -<p>The history of his death-bed furnishes us with an anecdote of a -beautiful and atoning character.</p> - -<p>He had always through life expressed the utmost abhorrence of being -buried among what he haughtily termed the “<i>common brush</i>” in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">{83}</span> -parish churchyard, and pointed out a particular spot, in the neighbourhood -of his cottage, where he had been frequently known to lie -dreaming or reading for long summer days, as a more agreeable place -of interment. It is remarked by a former biographer, that he has displayed -no small portion of taste in the selection of this spot. It is the -summit of a small rising ground, called the Woodhill, situated nearly in -the centre of the parish of Manor, covered with green fern, and embowered -on the top by a circle of <i>rowan-trees</i> planted by the Dwarf’s -own hand, for the double purpose of serving as a mausoleum or monument -to his memory, and keeping away, by the charm of consecration -supposed to be vested in their nature, the influence of witchcraft and -other unhallowed powers from the grave.</p> - -<p>All around this romantic spot the waste features of a mountainous -country bound the horizon, presenting a striking contrast to the fertile -beauty of the intermediate valley, and withal capable of suggesting to -the enthusiastic and imaginative mind of the Solitary, the idea of <i>this</i> -scene being a more desirable grave, sacred as it was in the grandeur of -Nature, than the merely <i>Christian</i> ground of a country churchyard. -“What!” the proud unsocial soul of the misanthrope might perhaps -think—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10">“What! to be decently interred</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In a churchyard, and mingle my brave dust</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With stinking rogues, that rot in winding-sheets,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Surfeit-slain fools, the common dung o’ th’ soil!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Nevertheless, whatever might have been his sentiments regarding the -dead among whom, during his days of health, he loathed to be placed, -certain it is, that, when brought within view and feeling of the awful -close of mortal existence, his heart was softened towards his fellow-men, -his antipathies relaxed, and he died with a wish upon his lips to be -buried among his fathers.</p> - -<p>In 1820, the writer of the present narrative visited the deserted hut -of “Bowed Davie,” actuated by a sort of pilgrim-respect for scenes -hallowed by genius. The little mansion at present existing is not that -built by the Dwarf’s own hands, but one of later date, erected by the -charity of a neighbouring gentleman in the year 1802. A small tablet -of freestone, bearing this date below the letters D. R. was still to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">{84}</span> -seen in the western gable. The eastern division of the cottage, -separated from the other by a partition of stone and lime, and entering -by a different door, was still inhabited by his sister. It is remarkable -that even with that near relation he was never on terms of any affection; -an almost complete estrangement having subsisted between these -two lonely beings for many years. Agnes had been a servant in the -earlier part of her life; but having of late years become subject to a -degree of mental aberration, she had retired from every sort of employment -to her brother’s habitation, where she subsisted on the charity of -the poor’s funds.</p> - -<p>On entering the cottage with my guide, we found her seated on a low -settle before the fire, her hands reclined upon her lap, and her eyes -gazing unmeaningly on a small turf fire, which died away in a perfect -wilderness of chimney. Her whole figure and situation reminded me -strongly of the inimitable description of the lone Highland woman in -Hogg’s “Winter Evening Tales,” who sat singing by the light of a -moss-lamp in expectation of the apparition of her son. The scene was -nearly as wild and picturesque, the wretched inmate of the hut was as -lonely and helpless, and there was an air of desolate imbecility about -her that rendered her almost as interesting. It seemed surprising, indeed, -how a person apparently so abandoned by her own energies and -the care of her fellow-creatures, could at all exist in such a solitude. -She neither moved nor looked up on our entrance; but a few minutes -after we had seated ourselves, which we did with silence and awe, she -lifted her eyes, and thereby gave us a fuller view of her countenance. -She much resembled her brother in features, but was not deformed. -Her face was dark with age and wretchedness, and her aspect, otherwise -somewhat appalling, was rendered almost unearthly by two large -black eyes, the lustre of which was not the less horrible by the imbecility -of their gaze. I have been thus particular in describing her -person and circumstances, because I do not judge it impossible that she -may have suggested the original idea of Elspeth Cheyne, the superannuated -dependant of Glenallan, in the “Antiquary.”</p> - -<p>Through the medium of my guide, a sagacious country lad, I -contrived to ask her a number of questions concerning her brother; -but she was extremely shy in answering them, and expressed her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">{85}</span> -jealousy of my intentions by saying, “she wondered why so many -grand people had come from distant parts to inquire after her family—she -was sure there was naething <i>ill</i> anent them.” Little did she, -poor soul, understand the cause of this curiosity, or the honour conferred -upon her family by the attention of the great <i>hermit-author</i>, -in whose works the very mention of a name confers immortality.</p> - -<p>She showed us her brother’s Bible. It was of Kincaid’s fine quarto -edition, and had been bought in 1773 by the Dwarf himself. His -name was written with his own hand on a blank leaf, and it was with -something like transport that I drew a fac-simile of the autograph -into my pocket-book, which I still preserve.</p> - -<p>Agnes Ritchie died in December, 1821, ten years after the decease -of her brother, and was buried in the same grave, in Manor churchyard, -on which occasion the deformed bones of Bowed Davie were found, -to the utter disproof of a vulgar report, that they had suffered resurrection -at the hands of certain anatomists in the College of Glasgow.</p> - -<p>I found the part of the house which had been inhabited by the -Dwarf himself deserted as he had left it at his death. Its furniture -had been all dispersed among the curious or the friendly; and a host -of poultry were now suffered to roost on the rafters where only soot -formerly dared to hang. His seat of divination before the door had -been suffered to remain. It was covered very rurally with a ruinous -<i>door of a cart</i>. There seemed no precise window in the hut, but it -contained numerous holes and bores all round, some of which were -built up with turf. I drew a pair of rusty nails from a joist near the -door, and, wrapping them up in a piece of paper, brought them away.</p> - -<p>We stole a look at the garden, by climbing up the high wall. -Some care has been taken by the neighbouring peasants to preserve -it in good order; but, alas! it is scarcely the ghost of what it was: -“Cum Troja fuit,” there was not a weed to be seen over its whole -surface, nor durst a single <i>kail-worm</i> intrude its unhallowed nose -within the precincts; an hundred mountain-ashes, displaying their red, -sour fruit to the temptation of the passing urchin, stood around like a -guard, to preserve from the influence of witchcraft the richer treasures -that lay within,—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fair as the gardens of <i>Gul</i> in their bloom”;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">{86}</span></p> -<p>but now weeds and kail-worms were abundant, the rowan-trees had -been all cut down, and Bowed Davie’s garden, that once might have -rivalled Milton’s imagination of Paradise, now lay stale, flat, and -unprofitable—like a buxom cheek deprived of its blushes, or Greece -deserted by the liberty that once, according to Byron, <i>inspired</i> its -beauty. A few <i>skeps</i>, however, still remained, which the neighbouring -Hobbie Elliots had <i>not</i> taken away.</p> - -<p>It was a curious trait in the character of David Ritchie, that he was -very superstitious. Not only had he planted his house, his garden, -and even his intended grave, all round with the mountain-ash, but it -is also well authenticated that he never went abroad without a branch -of this singular antidote, tied round with a <i>red thread</i>, in his pocket, to -prevent the effects of the <i>evil eye</i>. When the <i>sancta sanctorum</i> of his -domicile were so sacrilegiously ransacked after his death, there was -found an elf-stone, or small round pebble, bored in the centre, hung -by a cord of hair passed through the hole to the head of his bed!</p> - -<p>After taking the foregoing view of the Wizard’s fairy bower, I was -next conducted to his grave, which lies in the immediate vicinity. A -slip of his favourite rowan-tree marked the spot. It had been planted -several years after his death by some kindly hand, and, in the absence -of a less perishable monument, seemed a wonderful act of delicacy and -attention. It spoke a pathos to the feelings that the finest inscription -could not have excited,—it was so consonant with the former desires of -“the poor inhabitant below!”</p> - -<p>In allusion to the foregoing circumstances, the following verses were -composed, and inserted in a periodical publication:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I sat upon the Wizard’s grave,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas on a smiling summer day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When all around the desert spot</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bloomed in the young delights of May.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In undistinguished lowliness</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I found the little mound of earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bitter weeds o’ergrew the place,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As if his heart had given them birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they from thence their nurture drew,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In such luxuriancy they grew.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">{87}</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No friendship to his grave had lent</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such rudely-sculptured monument</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As marked the peasant’s place of rest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For he, the latest of his race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had left behind no friend to trace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such frail memorial o’er his breast.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But o’er his head a sapling waved</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The honours of its slender form,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in its loneliness had braved</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The autumn’s blast—the winter’s storm.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some friendly hand the tribute gave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To mark the undistinguished grave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, drooping o’er that sod, it might</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Repay a world’s neglectful scorn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, catching sorrow from the night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There weep a thousand tears at morn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It was an emblem of himself—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A widowed, solitary thing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To which no circling season might</div> - <div class="verse indent2">An hour of greener gladness bring;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A churchyard desert was its doom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its parent soil a darkling tomb;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such was the Solitary’s fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So joyless and so desolate;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For, blasted soon as it was given,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His was the life that knew no hope,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His was the soul that knew no heaven—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then, stranger, by one pitying drop,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Forgive, forgive the Misanthrope!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">{88}</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI" title="Old Mortality.">CHAPTER VI.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>Old Mortality.</b></p> - - -<h3>DESERTED BURYING-GROUND.</h3> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe4_4375" id="i_p_088"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_088.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">here</span> exists, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, a scene nearly -resembling that described in the beautiful preliminary to this Tale, -as the burying-ground of the Covenanters. It is commonly called -St. Catherine’s Kirkyard, and is all that remains of the chapel and -cemetery of the once celebrated <i>St. Catherine’s in the Hopes</i>.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The -situation is particularly pastoral, beautiful, and interesting. It is -placed where the narrow ravine, down which Glencorse burn descends, -opens up into an expanse considerably wider. Rullion Green, where -the Covenanters were defeated by the troops of Charles II. in 1665, -was in the immediate vicinity; and tradition still points out in St. -Catherine’s the graves of several of the insurgents, who were killed -either in the battle or near this spot in the pursuit. If the latter be -the most probable fact, no other circumstance would be required to -establish the identity of the two scenes.</p> - -<p>St. Catherine’s Churchyard, lying among the wildest solitudes of the -Pentland Hills, is an object of beautiful and interesting desolation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">{89}</span> -almost equal to the scene of Peter Pattieson’s meeting with Old Mortality. -There does not now remain the least trace of a place of -worship within its precincts; and it seems to have been long disused as -a place of interment. A slight mark of an inclosure, nearly level with -the sward, and one overgrown gravestone, itself almost in the grave, -are all that point out the spot.</p> - -<p>The ground in which St. Catherine’s is situated agrees in certain -general circumstances with the author’s Vale of Gandercleugh. The -horrific “<i>dry-stane dike</i>” projected by “his honour the Laird of -Gusedub,” does not, it is true, appear to have ever substituted its -rectilinear deformity for the graceful winding of the natural boundary, -as the too-poetical Peter Pattieson apprehended. But a circumstance -has taken place by which the romantic has been sacrificed to the useful -as completely as if “his honour” had fulfilled his intention. The -ravine, at the head of which St. Catherine’s is situated, has lately been -embanked, and laid completely under water, as a compensation-pond -for the mills upon the Crawley Burn, of which the more legitimate -supplies were cut off, and turned towards a different direction and very -different purpose, by being carried to Edinburgh for the use of the -inhabitants.</p> - -<p>Besides being <i>possibly</i> the original scene of the Deserted Burying-Ground, -this spot is not otherwise destitute of the qualification of -<i>classic</i>. At no great distance stands Logan House, the supposed mansion -of <i>Sir William Worthy</i> of the “Gentle Shepherd”; and at the -head of the glen lies what has generally been considered the “<i>Habbie’s -How</i>” of that drama.</p> - -<p>In the leading article of the <i>Scotsman</i>, September 3, 1823, the writer -endeavours to trace a similarity between the Vale of Glencorse and the -description of Glendearg in the Monastery.</p> - - -<h3>VALE OF GANDERCLEUGH.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Vale of Gandercleugh may perhaps have been suggested by Lesmahagow, -a village and parish in the west country, not far from Drumclog. -In the churchyard are interred several of the Covenanters,—in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">{90}</span> -particular, David Steel, who was slain by Captain Crichton, the -cavalier whose life was written by Swift—in a note to which Sir -Walter Scott mentions Old Mortality as having for a long time preserved -Steel’s grave-stone from decay.</p> - - -<h3 title="HISTORY OF THE PERIOD.">HISTORY OF THE PERIOD.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></h3> - -<p class="center">* * * * * * *</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">We</span> have observed the early antipathy mutually entertained by the -Scottish Presbyterians and the House of Stuart. It seems to have -glowed in the breast even of the good-natured Charles II. He might -have remembered that, in 1651, the Presbyterians had fought, bled, -and ruined themselves in his cause. But he rather recollected their -early faults than their late repentance; and even their services were -combined with the recollection of the absurd and humiliating circumstances -of personal degradation,<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> to which their pride had subjected -him, while they professed to espouse his cause. As a man of pleasure, -he hated their stern inflexible rigour, which stigmatized follies even -more deeply than crimes; and he whispered to his confidants, that, -‘therefore, it was not wonderful that, in the first year of his restoration, -he formally re-established prelacy in Scotland.’ But it is surprising -that, with his father’s example before his eyes, he should not -have been satisfied to leave at freedom the consciences of those who -could not reconcile themselves to the new system. The religious -opinions of sectaries have a tendency, like the water of some springs, -to become soft and mild when freely exposed to open day. Who can -recognise, in the decent and industrious Quakers and Anabaptists, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">{91}</span> -wild and ferocious tenets which distinguished their sects while yet they -were honoured with the distinction of the scourge and the pillory? -Had the system of coercion against the Presbyterians been continued -until our day, Blair and Robertson would have preached in the wilderness, -and only discovered their powers of eloquence and composition, -by rolling along a deeper torrent of gloomy fanaticism.</p> - -<p>“The western counties distinguished themselves by their opposition -to the prelatic system. Three hundred and fifty ministers, ejected from -their churches and livings, wandered through the mountains, sowing -the seeds of covenanted doctrine, while multitudes of fanatical followers -pursued them, to reap the forbidden crop. These Conventicles, as they -were called, were denounced by the law, and their frequenters dispersed -by military force. The genius of the persecuted became stubborn, -obstinate, and ferocious; and, although Indulgences were tardily -granted to some Presbyterian ministers, few of the true Covenanters, -or Whigs, as they were called, would condescend to compound with -a prelatic government, or to listen even to their own favourite doctrine -under the auspices of the King. From Richard Cameron, their -apostle, this rigid sect acquired the name of Cameronians. They -preached and prayed against the Indulgence, and against the Presbyterians -who availed themselves of it, because their accepting of this -royal boon was a tacit acknowledgment of the King’s supremacy in -ecclesiastical matters.</p> - -<p>“Upon these bigoted and persecuted fanatics, and by no means -upon the Presbyterians at large, are to be charged the wild anarchical -principles of anti-monarchy and assassination which polluted the period -when they flourished.</p> - -<p>“The Conventicles were now attended by armed crowds; and a -formidable insurrection took place in the west, and rolled on towards -the capital. It was terminated by a defeat at the Pentland Hills, -where General Dalziel routed the insurgents with great loss, 28th -November, 1666.</p> - -<p>“The Whigs, now become desperate, adopted the most desperate -principles; and retaliating, as far as they could, the intolerating persecution -which they endured, they openly disclaimed allegiance to any -monarch who should not profess presbytery and subscribe the covenant.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">{92}</span> -These principles were not likely to conciliate the favour of government, -and, as we wade onward in the history of the times, the scenes -become yet darker. At length, one would imagine the parties had -agreed to divide the kingdom of vice between them,—the hunters assuming -to themselves open profligacy and legalized oppression, and the -hunted the opposite attributes of hypocrisy, fanaticism, disloyalty, and -midnight assassination. The troopers and cavaliers became enthusiasts -in the pursuit of the Covenanters. If Messrs. Kid, King, Cameron, -Peden, etc., boasted of prophetic powers, and were often warned of -the approach of the soldiers by supernatural impulse, Captain John -Crichton, on the other side, dreamed dreams and saw visions, (chiefly, -indeed, after having drunk hard,) in which the lurking-holes of the -rebels were discovered to his imagination.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> - -<p>“Our ears are scarcely more shocked with the profane execration -of the persecutors<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> than with the strange and insolent familiarity used -towards the Deity by the persecuted fanatics. Their indecent modes -of prayer, their extravagant expectations of miraculous assistance, and -their supposed inspirations, might easily furnish out a tale, at which -the good would sigh and the gay would laugh.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> - -<p>“The militia and standing army soon became unequal to the task -of enforcing conformity and suppressing Conventicles. In their aid, -and to force compliance with a test proposed by government, the -Highland clans were raised, and poured down into Ayrshire; and armed -hosts of undisciplined mountaineers, speaking a different language, -and professing, many of them, another religion, were let loose to -ravage and plunder this unfortunate country; and it is truly astonishing -to find how few acts of cruelty they perpetrated, and how seldom<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">{93}</span> -they added murder to pillage. Additional levies of horse were also -raised, under the name of independent troops, and great part of them -placed under the command of James Grahame of Claverhouse, a man -well known to fame by his subsequent title of Viscount of Dundee, but -better remembered in the western shires under the designation of the -bloody Clavers.</p> - -<p>“In truth, he appears to have combined the virtues and vices of -a savage chief. Fierce, unbending, and rigorous, no emotion of compassion -prevented his commanding and witnessing every detail of -military execution against the Nonconformists. Undoubtedly brave, -and steadily faithful to his prince, he sacrificed himself in the cause of -James when he was deserted by all the world. The Whigs whom he -persecuted, daunted by his ferocity and courage, conceived him to be -impassive to their bullets, and that he had sold himself, for temporal -greatness, to the seducer of mankind. It is still believed, that a cup of -wine, presented to him by his butler, changed into clotted blood; and -that, when he plunged his feet into cold water, their touch caused it to -boil. The steed which bore him was supposed to be the gift of Satan; -and precipices are shown where a fox could hardly keep his feet, down -which the infernal charger conveyed him safely in pursuit of the -wanderers. It is remembered with terror that Claverhouse was successful -in every engagement with the Whigs, except that at Drumclog, -or Loudon Hill. The history of Burly will bring us immediately to -the causes and circumstances of that event.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">John Balfour</span> of Kinloch, commonly called <span class="smcap">Burly</span>, was one of -the fiercest of the proscribed sect. A gentleman by birth, he was, -says his biographer, ‘zealous and honest-hearted, courageous in every -enterprise, and a brave soldier—seldom any escaping that came into -his hands.’</p> - -<p>“Crichton says that he was once chamberlain to Archbishop -Sharpe, and, by negligence or dishonesty, had incurred a large arrear, -which occasioned his being active in his master’s assassination. But -of this I know no other evidence than Crichton’s assertion and a hint -in Wodrow. Burly, for that is his common designation, was brother-in-law -to Hackston of Rathillet, a wild, enthusiastic character, who -joined daring courage and skill in the sword to the fiery zeal of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">{94}</span> -sect. Burly himself was less eminent for religious fervour than for -the active and violent share which he had in the most desperate -enterprises of his party. His name does not appear among the -Covenanters who were denounced for the affair at Pentland. But, in -1677, Robert Hamilton, afterwards commander of the insurgents -at Loudon Hill and Bothwell Bridge, with several other Nonconformists, -were assembled at this Burly’s house, in Fife. There they -were attacked by a party of soldiers, commanded by Captain Carstairs, -whom they beat off, and wounded desperately one of his party. For -this resistance to authority they were declared rebels.</p> - -<p>“The next exploit in which Burly was engaged was of a bloodier -complexion and more dreadful celebrity. It was well known that -James Sharpe, Archbishop of St. Andrew’s, was regarded by the -rigid Presbyterians not only as a renegade, who had turned back from -the spiritual plough, but as the principal author of the rigours exercised -against their sect. He employed, as an agent of his oppression, one -Carmichael, a decayed gentleman. The industry of this man in procuring -information, and in enforcing the severe penalties against -Conventiclers, having excited the resentment of the Cameronians, nine -of their number, of whom Burly and his brother-in-law, Hackston, -were the leaders, assembled, with the purpose of waylaying and -murdering Carmichael; but, while they searched for him in vain, they -received tidings that the Archbishop himself was at hand. The party -resorted to prayer, after which they agreed, unanimously, that the -Lord had delivered the wicked Haman into their hands. In the -execution of the supposed will of heaven, they agreed to put themselves -under the command of a leader, and they requested Hackston -of Rathillet to accept the office; which he declined, alleging, that, -should he comply with their request, the slaughter might be imputed -to a private quarrel which existed betwixt him and the Archbishop. -The command was then offered to Burly, who accepted it without -scruple; and they galloped off in pursuit of the Archbishop’s carriage, -which contained himself and his daughter. Being well mounted, they -easily overtook and disarmed the prelate’s attendants. Burly, crying -out, ‘Judas, be taken!’ rode up to the carriage, wounded the postilion, -and hamstrung one of the horses. He then fired into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">{95}</span> -coach a piece, charged with several bullets, so near, that the Archbishop’s -gown was set on fire. The rest, coming up, dismounted, -and dragged him out of the carriage, when, frightened and wounded, -he crawled towards Hackston, who still remained on horseback, and -begged for mercy. The stern enthusiast contented himself with -answering, that he would not himself lay a hand on him. Burly and -his men again fired a volley upon the kneeling old man, and were in -the act of riding off, when one, who remained to fasten the girth of -his horse, unfortunately heard the daughter of their victim call to the -servant for help, exclaiming that his master was still alive. Burly -then again dismounted, struck off the prelate’s hat with his foot, and -cleft his skull with his shable, (broadsword,) although one of the party -(probably Rathillet,) exclaimed, ‘Spare these grey hairs!’ The rest -pierced him with repeated wounds. They plundered the carriage, and -rode off, leaving, beside the mangled corpse, the daughter, who was -herself wounded in her pious endeavour to interpose betwixt her father -and his murderers. The murder is accurately represented in bas-relief, -upon a beautiful monument, erected to the memory of Archbishop -Sharpe, in the metropolitan church of St. Andrew’s. This memorable -example of fanatic revenge was acted upon Magus Muir, near St. -Andrew’s, 3rd May, 1679.</p> - -<p>“Burly was of course obliged to leave Fife; and, upon the 25th of -the same month, he arrived in Evandale, in Lanarkshire, along with -Hackston, and a fellow called Dingwall, or Daniel, one of the same -bloody band. Here he joined his old friend Hamilton, already mentioned; -and, as they resolved to take up arms, they were soon at the -head of such a body of the ‘chased-and-tossed western men’ as they -thought equal to keep the field. They resolved to commence their -exploits upon 29th May, 1674, being the anniversary of the Restoration, -appointed to be kept a holiday by Act of Parliament—an -institution which they esteemed a presumptuous and unholy solemnity. -Accordingly, at the head of eighty horse, tolerably appointed, -Hamilton, Burly, and Hackston entered the royal burgh of Rutherglen, -extinguished the bonfires made in honour of the day, burned at the -cross the Acts of Parliament in favour of prelacy and suppression -of Conventicles, as well as those acts of council which regulated the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">{96}</span> -Indulgence granted to Presbyterians. Against all these acts they -entered their solemn protest, or testimony, as they called it; and, -having affixed it to the cross, concluded with prayer and psalms. Being -now joined by a large body of foot, so that their strength seems to -have amounted to five or six hundred men, though very indifferently -armed, they encamped upon Loudon Hill. Claverhouse, who was -in the garrison of Glasgow, instantly marched against the insurgents, -at the head of his own troop of cavalry and others, amounting to about -one hundred and fifty men. He arrived at Hamilton, on the 1st of -June, so unexpectedly, as to make prisoner John King, a famous -preacher among the wanderers, and rapidly continued his march, -carrying his captive along with him, till he came to the village of -Drumclog, about a mile east of Loudon Hill, and twelve miles south-west -of Hamilton. At the same distance from this place, the insurgents -were skilfully posted in a boggy strait, almost inaccessible to cavalry, -having a broad ditch in their front. Claverhouse’s dragoons discharged -their carbines, and made an attempt to charge. Burly, who commanded -the handful of horse belonging to the Whigs, instantly led -them down on the disordered squadrons of Claverhouse, who were, at -the same time, vigorously assaulted by the foot, headed by the gallant -Cleland and the enthusiastic Hackston. Claverhouse himself was -forced to fly, and was in the utmost danger of being taken, his horse’s -belly being cut open by the stroke of a scythe, so that the poor animal -trailed his bowels for more than a mile. In this flight he passed King, -the minister, lately his prisoner, but now deserted by his guard in the -general confusion. The preacher hallooed to the flying commander -‘to halt and take his prisoner with him;’ or, as others say, ‘to stay -and take the afternoon’s preaching.’ Claverhouse, at length remounted, -continued his retreat to Glasgow. He lost in the skirmish -about twenty of his troopers, and his own cornet and kinsman, Robert -Grahame. Only four of the other side were killed, among whom was -Dingwall, or Daniel, an associate of Burly in Sharpe’s murder. ‘The -rebels,’ says Crichton, ‘finding the cornet’s body, and supposing it -to be that of Clavers, because the name of Grahame was wrought in -the shirt-neck, treated it with the utmost inhumanity—cutting off -his nose, picking out his eyes, and stabbing it through in a hundred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">{97}</span> -places.’ The same charge is brought by Guild, in his <i>Bellum Bothwellianum</i>, -in which occurs the following account of the skirmish at -Drumclog:—</p> - -<p>“‘Although Burly was among the most active leaders in the action, -he was not the commander-in-chief. That honour belonged to Robert -Hamilton, brother of Sir William Hamilton of Preston, a gentleman -who, like most of those at Drumclog, had imbibed the very wildest -principles of fanaticism. The Cameronian account of the insurrection -states, that “Mr. Hamilton discovered a great deal of bravery and -valour, both in the conflict with, and pursuit of, the enemy; but when -he and some others were pursuing the enemy, others flew too greedily -upon the spoil, small as it was, instead of pursuing the victory; and -some, without Mr. Hamilton’s knowledge, and against his strict command, -gave five of these bloody enemies quarter, and let them go. -This greatly grieved Mr. Hamilton, when he saw some of Babel’s brats -spared, after the Lord had delivered them into their hands, that they -might dash them against the stones (Psalm cxxxvii. 9). In his own -account of this, he reckons the sparing of these enemies, and letting -them go, to be among their first steppings aside, for which he feared -that the Lord would not honour them to do much more for them, and -says that he was neither for taking favours from, nor giving favours to, -the Lord’s enemies.” Burly was not a likely man to fall into this sort -of backsliding. He disarmed one of the Duke of Hamilton’s servants -in the action, and desired him to tell his master he would keep, till -meeting, the pistols he had taken from him. The man described -Burly to the Duke as a little stout man, squint-eyed, and of a most -ferocious aspect; from which it appears that Burly’s figure corresponded -to his manners, and perhaps gave rise to his nickname, <i>Burly</i> -signifying <i>strong</i>. He was with the insurgents till the battle of -Bothwell Bridge, and afterwards fled to Holland. He joined the -Prince of Orange, but died at sea during the passage. The Cameronians -still believe he had obtained liberty from the Prince to be -avenged of those who had persecuted the Lord’s people; but, through -his death, the laudable design of purging the land with their blood is -supposed to have fallen to the ground.’</p> - -<p>“It has often been remarked, that the Scottish, notwithstanding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">{98}</span> -their national courage, were always unsuccessful when fighting for -their religion. The cause lay not in the principle, but in the mode of -its application. A leader, like Mahomet, who is, at the same time, -the prophet of his tribe, may avail himself of religious enthusiasm, -because it comes to the aid of discipline, and is a powerful means of -attaining the despotic command essential to the success of a general. -But among the insurgents in the reign of the last Stuarts, were mingled -preachers, who taught different shades of the Presbyterian doctrine; -and, minute as these shades sometimes were, neither the several -shepherds nor their flocks could unite in a common cause. This will -appear from the transactions leading to the battle of Bothwell -Bridge.</p> - -<p>“We have seen that the party which defeated Claverhouse at Loudon -Hill were Cameronians, whose principles consisted in disowning -all temporal authority which did not flow from and through the Solemn -League and Covenant. This doctrine, which is still retained by a -scattered remnant of the sect in Scotland, is in theory, and would be -in practice, inconsistent with the safety of any well-regulated government, -because the Covenanters deny to their governors that toleration -which was iniquitously refused to themselves.</p> - -<p>“In many respects, therefore, we cannot be surprised at the anxiety -and vigour with which the Cameronians were persecuted, although we -may be of opinion that milder means would have induced a melioration -of their principles. These men, as already noticed, excepted -against such Presbyterians as were contented to exercise their worship -under the Indulgence granted by government, or, in other words, who -would have been satisfied with toleration for themselves, without -insisting on a revolution in the state, or even in the Church government.</p> - -<p>“When, however, the success at Loudon Hill was spread abroad, a -number of preachers, gentlemen, and common people, who had -embraced the more moderate doctrine, joined the army of Hamilton, -thinking that the difference in their opinions ought not to prevent -their acting in the common cause. The insurgents were repulsed in -an attack upon the town of Glasgow, which, however, Claverhouse -shortly afterwards thought it necessary to evacuate. They were now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">{99}</span> -nearly in full possession of the west of Scotland, and pitched their camp -at Hamilton, where, instead of modelling and disciplining their army, -the Cameronians and Erastians (for so the violent insurgents chose to -call the more moderate Presbyterians) only debated, in council of -war, the real cause of their being in arms. Hamilton, their general, -was the leader of the first party; Mr. John Welsh, a minister, headed -the Erastians. The latter so far prevailed as to get a declaration drawn -up, in which they owned the King’s government; but the publication -of it gave rise to new quarrels. Each faction had its own set of -leaders, all of whom aspired to be officers; and there were actually -two councils of war, issuing contrary orders and declarations, at the -same time—the one owning the King, and the other designating him a -malignant, bloody, and perjured tyrant.</p> - -<p>“Meanwhile, their numbers and zeal were magnified at Edinburgh, -and great alarm excited lest they should march eastward. Not only -was the foot militia instantly called out, but proclamations were issued, -directing all the heritors in the eastern, southern, and northern shires, -to repair to the King’s host, with their best horses, arms, and retainers. -In Fife, and other counties, where the Presbyterian doctrines prevailed, -many gentlemen disobeyed this order, and were afterwards severely -fined. Most of them alleged, in excuse, the apprehension of disquiet -from their wives. A respectable force was soon assembled, and James -Duke of Buccleuch and Monmouth, was sent down by Charles to take -the command, furnished with instructions not unfavourable to the -Presbyterians. The royal army now moved slowly forward towards -Hamilton, and reached Bothwell Moor on the 22nd of June, 1679. -The insurgents were encamped, chiefly in the Duke of Hamilton’s -park, along the Clyde, which separated the two armies. Bothwell -Bridge, which is long and narrow, had then a portal in the middle, -with gates, which the Covenanters shut, and barricadoed with stones -and logs of timber. This important post was defended by three -hundred of their best men, under Hackston of Rathillet and Hall of -Haughhead. Early in the morning, this party crossed the bridge and -skirmished with the royal vanguard, now advanced as far as the village -of Bothwell; but Hackston speedily retired to his post at the west end -of Bothwell Bridge.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">{100}</span></p> - -<p>“While the dispositions made by the Duke of Monmouth announced -his purpose of assailing the pass, the more moderate of the insurgents -resolved to offer terms. Ferguson of Kaitlock, a gentleman of landed -fortune, and David Hume, a clergyman, carried to the Duke of Monmouth -a supplication, demanding free exercise of their religion, a free -Parliament, and a free general assembly of the Church. The Duke -heard their demands with his natural mildness, and assured them he -would interpose with his Majesty in their behalf, on condition of their -immediately dispersing themselves, and yielding up their arms. Had -the insurgents been all of the moderate opinion, the proposal would -have been accepted, much bloodshed saved, and perhaps some permanent -advantage derived to their party; or had they been all Cameronians, -their defence would have been fierce and desperate. But, while -their motley and misassorted officers were debating upon the Duke’s -proposal, his field-pieces were already planted on the eastern side of -the river, to cover the attack of the footguards, who were led on by -Lord Livingston to force the bridge. Here Hackston maintained his -post with zeal and courage; nor was it till his ammunition was -expended, and every support denied him by the general, that he reluctantly -abandoned the important pass. When his party were drawn -back, the Duke’s army slowly, and with their cannon in front, defiled -along the bridge, and formed in line of battle as they came over the -river. The Duke commanded the foot, and Claverhouse the cavalry. -It would seem that these movements could not have been performed -without at least some loss, had the enemy been serious in opposing -them. But the insurgents were otherwise employed. With the -strangest delusion that ever fell upon devoted beings, they chose these -precious moments to cashier their officers, and elect others in their -room. In this important operation they were at length disturbed by -the Duke’s cannon, at the first discharge of which the horse of the -Covenanters wheeled and rode off, breaking and trampling down the -ranks of their infantry in their flight. The Cameronian account blames -Weir of Greenridge, a commander of the horse, who is termed a sad -Achan in the camp. The more moderate party lay the whole blame -on Hamilton, whose conduct, they say, left the world to debate -whether he was most traitor, coward, or fool. The generous Monmouth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">{101}</span> -was anxious to spare the blood of his infatuated countrymen, by which -he incurred much blame among the high-flying Royalists. Lucky it -was for the insurgents that the battle did not happen a day later, when -old General Dalziel, who divided with Claverhouse the terror and -hatred of the Whigs, arrived in the camp, with a commission to -supersede Monmouth as commander-in-chief. He is said to have upbraided -the Duke publicly with his lenity, and heartily to have wished -his own commission had come a day sooner, when, as he expressed -himself, ‘these rogues should never more have troubled the King or -country.’ But, notwithstanding the merciful orders of the Duke of -Monmouth, the cavalry made great slaughter among the fugitives, of -whom four hundred were slain.</p> - -<p>“There were two Gordons of Earlston, father and son. They were -descended of an ancient family in the west of Scotland, and their -progenitors were believed to have been favourers of the reformed -doctrine, and possessed of a translation of the Bible as early as the -days of Wickliffe. William Gordon, the father, was in 1663 summoned -before the privy council, for keeping Conventicles in his house and -woods. By another act of council he was banished out of Scotland; -but the sentence was never put into execution. In 1667, Earlston was -turned out of his house, which was converted into a garrison for the -King’s soldiers. He was not in the battle of Bothwell Bridge, but he -was met hastening towards it by some English dragoons engaged in the -pursuit, already commenced. As he refused to surrender, he was -instantly slain.</p> - -<p>“His son, Alexander Gordon of Earlston, was not a Cameronian, but -one of the more moderate class of Presbyterians, whose sole object was -freedom of conscience and relief from the oppressive laws against Nonconformists. -He joined the insurgents shortly after the skirmish at -Loudon Hill. He appears to have been active in forwarding the -supplication sent to the Duke of Monmouth. After the battle, he -escaped discovery, by flying into a house at Hamilton, belonging to -one of his tenants, and disguising himself in a female attire. His -person was proscribed, and his estate of Earlston was bestowed upon -Colonel Theophilus Ogilthorpe by the crown, first in security for -£5000, and afterwards in perpetuity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">{102}</span></p> - -<p>“The same author mentions a person tried at the circuit-court, July -10th, 1683, solely for holding intercourse with Earlston, an intercommuned -rebel. As he had been in Holland after the battle of Bothwell, -he was probably accessory to the scheme of invasion which the unfortunate -Earl of Argyll was then meditating. He was apprehended -upon his return to Scotland, tried, convicted of treason, and condemned -to die; but his fate was postponed by a letter from the King, appointing -him to be reprieved for a month, that he might, in the interim, -be tortured for the discovery of his accomplices. The council had the -unusual spirit to remonstrate against this illegal course of severity. -On November 3rd, 1683, he received a further respite, in hopes he -would make some discovery. When brought to the bar to be tortured, -(for the King had reiterated his command,) he, through fear or distraction, -roared like a bull, and laid so stoutly about him, that the -hangman and his assistant could hardly master him. At last he fell -into a swoon, and, on his recovery, charged General Dalziel and -Drummond, (violent tories,) together with the Duke of Hamilton, with -being the leaders of the fanatics. It was generally thought that he -affected this extravagant behaviour to invalidate all that agony might -extort from him concerning his real accomplices. He was sent first to -Edinburgh Castle, and afterwards to a prison upon the Bass island, -although the privy council more than once deliberated upon appointing -his immediate death. On the 22nd August, 1684, Earlston was sent -for from the Bass, and ordered for execution, 4th November, 1684. -He endeavoured to prevent his doom by escape; but was discovered -and taken after he had gained the roof of the prison. The council -deliberated, whether, in consideration of this attempt, he was not -liable to instant execution. Finally, however, they were satisfied to -imprison him in Blackness Castle, where he remained till the Revolution, -when he was set at liberty, and his doom of forfeiture reversed -by Act of Parliament.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">{103}</span></p> - - -<h3>ADDITIONAL NOTICES RELATIVE TO THE INSURRECTION OF 1679.</h3> - -<p class="center"><i>From “A History of the Rencontre at Drumclog,” etc.</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>By William Aiton, Esq.</i></p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Mr. Douglas</span> having agreed to preach at Hairlaw, or Glaisterlaw, -about a mile north-west of Loudon Hill, on Sabbath, June 1, 1679, -the Fife men and Mr. Hamilton, dreading the Conventicle might be -attacked by the military, collected a number of their friends on the -Saturday evening, in a house near Loudon Hill, where they lay under -arms all night. They also sent off an express to Lesmahagow, to -bring forward their friends from that quarter, and who were up just in -time to join in the skirmish. But very few of their friends from Kilmarnock -came forward to that Conventicle.</p> - -<p>“A considerable number of people assembled at that field-meeting, -and, as usual in these times, the greater part of them came armed. -Captain Grahame of Claverhouse was, by Lord Ross, who commanded -the military in Glasgow, sent out with three troops of dragoons to -attack and disperse that Conventicle. He had seized, about two miles -from Hamilton, John King, a field-preacher, and, according to Mr. -Wilson’s account, seventeen other people, whom he bound in pairs, -and drove before him towards Loudon Hill.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grahame and his officers eat their breakfast that day at -the principal inn, Strathaven, then kept by James Young, writer, innkeeper, -and baron-bailie of Avendale, known in that district by the -name of <i>Scribbie Young</i>. The house which he then occupied stood -opposite the entry into the churchyard, and, from its having an upper -room or second storey in the one end, with an outside stair of a curious -construction, was denominated ‘the tower.’<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Having been informed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">{104}</span> -at Strathaven that the Conventicle was not to meet that day, Captain -Grahame set out towards Glasgow with his prisoners. But, upon -obtaining more correct information about a mile north of Strathaven, -he turned round towards Loudon Hill, by the way of Letham. On -being told at Braeburn that the Covenanters were in great force, he -said that he had eleven score of good guns under his command, and -would soon disperse the Whigs.</p> - -<p>“Soon after worship had commenced, the Covenanters were -informed, by an express from their friends at Hamilton, as well as by -the watches they had placed, that the military were approaching them; -and they resolved to fight the troops, in order, if possible, to relieve -the prisoners, or, to use the words of their historian, Dr. Wodrow, to -‘oppose the hellish fury of their persecutors.’ Their whole force -consisted of about 50 horsemen, ill-provided with arms, 50 footmen -with muskets, and about 150 more with halberts and forks. Mr. -Hamilton took the chief command, and David Hackston, Henry Hall, -John Balfour, Robert Fleming, William Cleland, John Loudon, and -John Brown, acted as subalterns under Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Wilson -says, ‘Hamilton gave out the word that no quarter should be given to -the enemy.’ The Covenanters did not wait the arrival of the military, -who could not have reached them but by a circuitous route; neither -did they take shelter in the mosses that lay near, and into which the -cavalry could not have followed them; but they advanced eastward -about two miles, singing psalms all the way.</p> - -<p>“When Grahame reached the height at Drumclog, and saw the -Whigs about half a mile to the north of that place, near to where -Stabbyside House now stands, he placed his prisoners under a guard -in the farmyard of North Drumclog, and, having drawn up his three -troops of cavalry, he advanced to attack the Whigs. Mr. Russel -says, Claverhouse gave orders to his troops to give no quarter to the -Covenanters; and that ‘there was such a spirit given forth from the -Lord, that both men and women who had no arms faced the troops.’ -The dragoons had to march down an arable field of a very slight -declivity, at the foot of which a small piece of marshy ground (provincially -termed misk or boggy land) lay between the hostile parties. As -many of the insurgents resided in that immediate neighbourhood, they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">{105}</span> -could not fail to know that this marshy place, on the north side of which -they had taken their stand, was in some places too soft to support the -feet of horses. But as this swamp was covered with a sward of green -herbage, and was but of a few yards in breadth, and lying between -two fields of arable land, the declivity of which was on both sides towards -the bog, it is evident that Grahame did not perceive it to be a -marsh; and to this, above all other circumstances, is his defeat to be -attributed.</p> - -<p>“This ground, so favourable to the Covenanters, appears to have -been taken up more from accident than design. If it had been their -wish to have taken their station in or behind a bog, they could have -found many of them much nearer to where the congregation first met, -and much more impenetrable to cavalry than that where the rencounter -happened. In advancing from Hairlaw Hill to the place of action, -they passed several deep flow-mosses, some of them of great extent, -and into which cavalry could not have entered. Even when the -hostile parties came in sight of each other, the Covenanters were nearer -to a flow-moss than they were to the marshy ground behind which -they placed themselves. Had Captain Grahame known the ground, -he could have easily avoided the marsh, and passed the extremity of it -by a public road, only about two or three hundred yards to the westward.</p> - -<p>“The troops fired first, and, according to tradition, the Covenanters, -at the suggestion of Balfour, evaded the fire of the military by prostrating -themselves on the ground, with the exception of John Morton -in Broomhall, who, believing in the doctrine of predestination, refused -to stoop, and was shot. The ball entered his mouth, and he fell backward -at the feet of the great-grandfather of the writer of this account. -Grahame ordered the troops to charge; but a number of the horses -having, in advancing to the Covenanters, been entangled in the marsh, -the ranks were broken, and the squadron was thrown into disorder. -The Covenanters, who had no doubt foreseen what was to happen, -seized the favourable opportunity of pouring their fire on the disordered -cavalry, and, following it up with a spirited attack, soon -completed the confusion and defeat of the troops. The commander of -the Whigs cried, ‘O’er the bog, and to them, lads!’ The order was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">{106}</span> -re-echoed, and obeyed with promptitude; and, from the involved -state of the military, the forks and halberts of the Covenanters were -extremely apt to the occasion. The rout of the cavalry was instantaneous -and complete, and achieved principally by the insurgents who -were on foot, though the horsemen soon passed the bog and joined in -the pursuit. Mr. Wilson says that Balfour and Cleland were the first -persons who stepped into the bog; but the traditionary accounts allege -that it was one Woodburn, from the Mains of Loudon, who set that -example of bravery.</p> - -<p>“Thus far the traditionary accounts and that of Mr. Wilson have -been followed. But Mr. Russel says that Claverhouse sent two of his -men to reconnoitre, and afterwards did so himself, before he made the -attack. If he did so, it is surprising that he did not perceive the -marsh, as well as the road by which it might have been evaded. -Russel also says that Captain Grahame sent forward twelve dragoons, -who fired at the Whigs, and that as many of them turned out and fired -at the cavalry. This, he says, was twice repeated, without a person -being hurt on either side. On their firing a third time, one dragoon -fell from his horse, and seemed to rise with difficulty. Claverhouse, he -says, then ordered thirty dragoons to dismount and fire, when William -Cleland, with twelve or sixteen armed footmen, supported by twenty or -twenty-four with halberts and forks, advanced and fired at the military. -But still no one was injured, till Cleland advanced alone, fired his -piece, and killed one dragoon; and when the Whigs were wheeling, -some of the military fired, and killed one man. Claverhouse next -advanced his whole force to the stanck, and fired desperately, ‘and the -honest party, having but few guns, was not able to stand, and being -very confused at coming off, one of the last party cried out, “For the -Lord’s sake, go on”; and immediately they ran violently forward, and -Claverhouse was tooming the shot all the time on them; but the -honest party’s right hand of the foot being nearest Cleland, went on -Clavers’s left flank, and all the body went on together against -Clavers’s body, and Cleland stood until the honest party was joined -among them both with pikes and swords, and William Dingwell and -Thomas Weir being on the right hand of the honest party, all the forenamed -who fired thrice before being together, and, louping ower, they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">{107}</span> -got among the enemies. William Dingwell received his wound, his -horse being dung back by the strength of the enemy, fell over and -dang over James Russel’s horse. James presently rose and mounted -and pursued, calling to a woman to take care of his dear friend William -Dingwell, (for the women ran as fast as the men,) and she did so. -Thomas Weir rode in among them, and took a standard, and he was -mortally wounded and knocked on the head, but pursued as long as he -was able, and then fell. The honest party pursued as long as their -horses could trot, being upwards of two miles. There was of the -enemy killed thirty-six dead on the ground, and by the way in the -pursuit, and only five or six of the honest party.’</p> - -<p>“Lieutenant Robert Grahame, Cornet John Arnold, and thirty-four -privates of the King’s forces were killed on the field, and several more -wounded. Five of the military were taken prisoners, and afterwards -allowed to escape. Of the Covenanters, John Morton, Thomas Weir -in Cumberhead, William Dingwell, one of the murderers of the Bishop, -James Thomson, Stonehouse, John Gabbie in Fioch, and James -Dykes in Loudon, were all mortally wounded, and died either on the -field, or soon after the skirmish.</p> - -<p>“The Covenanters pursued the troops to Calder Water, about three -miles from the field of action. A person of the name of Finlay, from -Lesmahagow, armed with a pitchfork, came up with Captain Grahame, -at a place called Capernaum, near Coldwakening, and would probably -have killed that officer, had not another of the Covenanters called to -Finlay to strike at the horse, and thereby secure both it and the rider. -The blow intended for the Captain was spent upon his mare, and the -Captain escaped by mounting, with great agility, the horse of his -trumpeter, who was killed by the Whigs.</p> - -<p>“The Covenanters came up with some of the dragoons near Hillhead. -The troopers offered to surrender, and asked quarter, which -some of the Covenanters were disposed to grant; but, when their -leaders came up, they actually killed these men, in spite of every -remonstrance. The men so killed were buried like felons, on the marsh -between the farms of Hillhead and Hookhead, and their graves -remained visible till the year 1750, when they were sunk in a march -dyke, drawn in that direction. The late Mr. Dykes of Fieldhead<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">{108}</span> -declared to the writer of this narrative, that his grandfather, Thomas -Leiper, of Fieldhead, had often told him that he was present when -these soldiers were killed, and did what he could to save their lives, -but without effect.</p> - -<p class="center">* * * * * * *</p> - -<p>“When the discomfited dragoons returned through Strathaven, they -were insulted and pursued by the inhabitants, down a lane called the -Hole-close, till one of the soldiers fired upon the crowd, and killed a -man, about 50 yards east from where the relief meeting-house at Strathaven -now stands.</p> - -<p>“Captain Grahame retreated to Glasgow, and he is said to have -met at Cathkin some troops sent out to his aid; but he refused to -return to the charge, observing to his brother officer, that he had been -at a Whig meeting that day, but that he liked the lecture so ill that he -would not return to the afternoon’s service. Another account says, -that when Captain Grahame rode off the field, Mr. King, the preacher, -then a prisoner, called after him, by way of derision, to stop to the -afternoon’s preaching.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> - -<p>“The relations of the two officers that were killed went to Drumclog -next day after the skirmish, to bury them; but the country people -had cut and mangled the bodies of the slain in such a manner that only -one of the officers could be recognised. The coffin intended for the -other was left at High Drumclog, where it remained many years in a -cart-shed, till it was used in burying a vagrant beggar that died at the -Mount, in that neighbourhood. This fact has been well attested to the -writer of this account from sources of information on which he can -rely.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">{109}</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII" title="Heart of Mid-Lothian.">CHAPTER VII.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>Heart of Mid-Lothian.</b></p> - - -<h3>THE PORTEOUS MOB.</h3> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe6_8125" id="i_p_109"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_109.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">e</span> shall mention a few inaccuracies in the account given of the -Porteous mob in “The Heart of Midlothian,” assigning, at the -same time, precise dates to all the incidents.</p> - -<p>On the morning of the 11th of April, 1736, Wilson and Robertson -were conducted to the Tolbooth Church, for the purpose of hearing -their last sermon, their execution being to happen on Wednesday -following. The custom of conducting criminals under sentence of -death to a place of public worship, and suffering them again to mix -with their fellow-men, from whom they were so shortly to be cut off -for ever, was a beautiful trait of the devotional and merciful feelings of -the people of Scotland, which has since this incident been unhappily -disused. In the Tale, the escape of Robertson is said to have -happened after the sermon; but this statement, evidently made by the -novelist for the sake of effect, is incorrect. The criminals had scarcely -seated themselves in the pew, when Wilson committed the daring deed. -Robertson tripped up the fourth soldier himself, and jumped out of the -pew with incredible agility. In hurrying out at the door of the church, -he tumbled over the collection money, by which he was probably hurt; -for, in running across the Parliament Square, he was observed to stagger -much, and, in going down the stairs which lead to the Cowgate, -actually fell. In this dangerous predicament he was protected by Mr. -M‘Queen, minister of the New Kirk, who was coming up the stair on -his way to church at the moment. This kind-hearted gentleman is -said to have set him again on his feet, and to have covered his retreat -as much as possible from the pursuit of the guard. Robertson passed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">{110}</span> -down to the Cowgate, ran up the Horse Wynd, and out at the Potterrow -Port, the crowd all the way closing behind him, so that his pursuers -could not by any means overtake him. In the wynd he made up -to a saddled horse, and would have mounted him, but was prevented -by the owner. Passing the Crosscauseway, he got into the King’s -Park, and made the way for Duddingstone, under the basaltic rocks -which overhang the path to that village. On jumping a dyke near -Clearburn, he fainted away, but was revived by a refreshment which he -there received.</p> - -<p>Upon Robertson’s escape, Wilson was immediately taken back to -prison, and put in close custody. He was executed, under the dreadful -circumstances so well known, on the 14th of April. The story of a -“young fellow, with a sailor’s cap slouched over his face,” having cut -him down from the gibbet, on the rising of the mob, is perfectly unfounded. -The executioner was at the top of the ladder, performing -that part of his office, at the time Porteous fired.</p> - -<p>Though the author of the Tale has chosen George Robertson for his -hero, and invested him with many attributes worthy of that high -character, historical accuracy obliges us to record that he was merely a -stabler; and, what must at once destroy all romantic feelings concerning -him in the light of a hero, tradition informs us that he was a -married man at the time of his imprisonment. He kept an inn in -Bristo Street, and was a man of rather dissipated habits, though the -exculpatory evidence produced upon his trial represents him as in the -habit of being much intrusted by the carriers who lodged at his house. -After his escape, he was known to have gone to Holland, and to have -resided there many years.</p> - -<p>The most flagrant aberration from the truth committed by the -novelist, is in the opening of the Tale, where the crowd is represented -as awaiting the execution of Captain Porteous, in the Grassmarket, on -the 7th of September. The whole scene is described in the most -admirable manner; and the interesting objects of the gallows, the filled -windows, and the crowd upon the street, form, I have no doubt, the -faithful outline of what the scene would have been, had it existed.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">{111}</span></p> -<p>But however ably the Author of “Waverley” has delineated this -imaginary scene, it is unfortunate that his account does not agree either -with truth, or, what was to him ten times more important, <i>vraisemblance</i>. -He has no doubt handled the fictitious incident of the abortive -preparations for the execution, and the expressions of the disappointed -multitude on the occasion, in his usual masterly manner, and heightened -the <i>effect</i> of his own story not a little by the use he has made of -history; but it must at the same time strike every reader that the -whole affair is extremely improbable. It seems scarcely possible that -a conspiracy of such a deep and well-planned nature as the Porteous -mob could have been laid and brought to issue in a single afternoon. -Not even the most romantic reader of novels, supposing him to understand -the case to its full extent, would deceive himself with so incredible -an absurdity; but would think with us that, according to the -natural course of things, it would take <i>all the time it did take</i>, (five -days,) before so well-laid and eventually so successful a scheme could -be projected, organized, and accomplished.</p> - -<p>The plain statement of the facts is to the following effect.</p> - -<p>The Queen’s pardon reached Edinburgh so early as Thursday, the -2nd of September. The riot happened on the night of Tuesday, the -7th—the night previous to the day on which the execution was to have -taken place, and after a sufficient time had elapsed for the preparation -of the scheme. Many of the rioters came from counties so distant, that -the news of the reprieve could not have reached them in a less space; -and perhaps the intelligence would not have been so speedily communicated -in those postless and coachless days, had not the popular -interest in the matter been so universal. Taking every thing into -consideration, it may indeed astonish us that the conspiracy was so -rapidly matured as it <i>was</i>, not to speak of a single afternoon! It may -be noticed, that some papers have lately come to light, by which it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">{112}</span> -appears the plot was not of that dark and mysterious character which -the accounts of the times and the Author of “Waverley” make it. Information -had been given to the council at least <i>thirty-six hours</i> before -the tumult burst forth; and at a meeting late on the previous evening, -when the information was taken into consideration, the council pronounced -the reports in circulation to be merely <i>cadies’ clatters</i>, (gossip of -street-porters,) unworthy of regard.</p> - -<p>The incidents of the riot, from the mob’s entering the city at the -West Port to Butler’s desertion of the scene at midnight, are all given -very correctly by the novelist. It is said to be absolutely true that the -rioters seized and detained a person of Butler’s profession, for the purpose -related in the novel. This happened, however, when they had -got half way to the gallows, at the head of the West Bow. Porteous -was twice drawn up and let down again before the deed was accomplished—first, -to bind his hands, and secondly, in order to put something -over his face. In the morning his body was found hanging, by -the public functionaries of the city, and was buried the same day in the -neighbouring churchyard of Greyfriars. It was on the south side of -the Grassmarket that he was hanged.</p> - -<p>Arnot observes, after relating the incidents of the Porteous mob, in -his History of Edinburgh, that though it was then forty years after that -occurrence, no person had ever been found out upon whom an accession -to the murder could be charged. Nevertheless, the writer of the -present narrative has been informed by a very old man, who was an -apprentice in the Fleshmarket of Edinburgh about fifty years ago, that -in his younger days it was well known among the butchers, though -only whispered secretly among themselves, that the leaders of this -singular riot were two brothers of the name of Cumming, who were, -for many years after, fleshers in the Low Market, and died unmolested, -at advanced ages. They were tall, strong, and exceedingly handsome -men, had been dressed in women’s clothes on the occasion, and were -said to have been the first to jump through the flames that burnt down -the prison-door, in eagerness to seize their unfortunate victim.</p> - -<p>A few more scraps of private information have also been communicated -to the world by one who was instrumental and active in the riot. -We give them from the authority of “The Beauties of Scotland.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">{113}</span></p> - -<p>“On the day preceding that of Porteous’ death, a whisper went -through the country, upon what information or authority this person -knew not, that an attempt was to be made, on the succeeding evening, -to put Captain Porteous to death. To avenge the blood of a relation -who had been killed at the execution of Wilson, he conceived himself -bound in duty to share the risk of the attempt. Wherefore, upon -the following day, he proceeded to Edinburgh, and towards the evening -stopped in the suburb of Portsburgh, which he found crowded with -country people; all of whom, however, kept aloof from each other, so -that there was no conversation about the purpose of their assembling. -At a later hour, he found the inferior sort of inns in the Grassmarket -full of people, and saw many persons, apparently strangers, lurking in -the different houses. About eleven at night, the streets became -crowded with men, who, having in some measure organized their body, -by beating a drum and marching in order, immediately proceeded to -secure the gates and make for the prison.”</p> - -<p class="center">* * * * * * *</p> - -<p>“As the multitude proceeded with Porteous down the West Bow, -some of their number knocked at the door of a shop and demanded -ropes.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> A woman, apparently a maid-servant, thrust a coil of ropes -out of a window, without opening the door, and a person wearing a -white apron, which seemed to be assumed for disguise, gave in return -a piece of gold as the price,” etc.</p> - - -<h3>THE CITY GUARD.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> City Guard, of which so much mention is made in the Tale before -us, was originally instituted in 1648. Previous to that period, the City -had been watched during the night by the personal duty of the -inhabitants, a certain number of whom were obliged to undertake -the office by rotation. In order to relieve the inconveniency of this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">{114}</span> -service, a body of sixty men was first appointed, with a captain, two -lieutenants, two sergeants, and three corporals; but no regular funds -being provided for the support of the establishment, it was speedily -dissolved. However, about thirty years thereafter, the necessity of a -regular police was again felt; and forty men were raised. These, in -the year 1682, were augmented, at the instigation of the Duke of York, -to 108 men; and, to defray the expense of the company, a tax was -imposed upon the citizens. At the Revolution, the Town Council -represented to the Estates of Parliament, that the burden was a -grievance to the City; and their request to have it removed was -granted. So speedily, however, did they repent this second dismissal -of their police, that the very next year they applied to Parliament for -authority to raise a body of no fewer than 126 men, and to assess the -inhabitants for the expense. Since that period the number of the -Town Guard had been very fluctuating, and, before its late final dissolution, -amounted only to about 75 men. For many years previous to -this event, they had been found quite inadequate to the protection of -the City. Riots seemed to be in some measure encouraged by the -ridicule in which the venerable corps was held; and from their -infirmities and other circumstances, as well as from their scantiness, the -more distant parts of the rapidly increasing capital were left defenceless -and open to the attacks of nightly depredators. Their language, their -manners, and their tempers, so uncongenial with those of the citizens -whom they protected, were also found to be almost inapplicable to the -purposes for which they served, and, of course, operated as causes of -their being disbanded. Besides, a few years before their dismissal, a -regular police, similar to that of London, had been established in -Edinburgh; which soon completely set aside all necessity of their -services. The Town Guard were therefore convoked for the last time, -we believe, in February, 1817; and, after receiving some small gratuity -from the magistrates, and having a pension settled upon them still more -trifling than their trifling pay, proportioned to the rank they held in -the corps, were finally disbanded. The police of Edinburgh is now -almost unrivalled in Britain for vigilance and activity—how different -from the unruly and intemperate times when magisterial authority -could be successfully set at defiance, when mobs could unite into such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">{115}</span> -a system of co-operation as even to beard royalty itself, when (in 1812) -a scene of violence could be exhibited that would not have disgraced -the middle ages, and when, still more to be lamented, the protection of -property was so uncertain, that, according to the city-arms, it was but -too literally true that—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Unless the <i>Lord</i> the City kept,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The <i>watchmen</i> watched in vain!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Another event occurred about the same time in Edinburgh, which -was appropriately contemporaneous with the abolition of the City -Guard,—namely, the demolishment and final removal of the Tolbooth. -This building, which makes so conspicuous a figure in the present Tale, -was originally the Town-house of Edinburgh, and afterwards afforded -accommodation for the Scottish Parliament and Courts of Justice, and -for the confinement of debtors and malefactors. It had been used -solely as a jail since 1640. It was not deficient in other interesting -recollections, besides being the scene of the Porteous mob. Here -Queen Mary delivered, what are termed by John Knox her <i>Painted -Orations</i>; and on its dreary summits had been successively displayed -the heads of a Morton, a Gowrie, a Huntly, a Montrose, and an -Argyll,—besides those of many of inferior note.</p> - -<p>A part of this edifice had been devoted to the use of the City Guard, -ever since the removal of their former rendezvous in the High Street. -Many will still remember of seeing a veteran or two leaning over a -half-door in the north side of the Jail. Could their eyes have penetrated -farther into the gloomy interior, a few more indistinct figures -might have been perceived smoking round a fire, or reading an old -newspaper, while the unintelligible language which they spoke might -aid the idea of their resemblance to a convocation of infernals in some -of the cinder-holes of Tartarus. In fine weather, a few of the venerable -corps might be seen crawling about the south front of the prison, with -Lochaber axes over their shoulders, or reposing lazily on a form with -the white-haired keeper of the Tolbooth door, and basking in the sun, -in all the lubber luxury of mental and corporeal abandonment. But -now (<i>sic transit gloria mundi!</i>) their ancient Capitol is levelled with -the dust, and they themselves are only to be ranked among the “things<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">{116}</span> -that were.” All trace of their existence is dispersed over a waste of -visioned recollection; and future generations will think of the City -Guard, as they think of <i>the forty-five</i>, of <i>the Friends of the People</i>,—or -of the last year’s snow!</p> - -<p>It is said, in the “Heart of Midlothian,” that “a phantom of former -days,” in the shape of “an old worn-out Highlander, dressed in a -cocked hat, bound with white tape instead of silver lace, and in coat, -waistcoat and breeches, of a muddy-coloured red,” (the costume of <i>the -Guard</i>,) “still creeps around the statue of Charles the Second, in the -Parliament Square, as if the image of a Stuart were the last refuge -for any memorial of our ancient manners.” This venerable spectre -is neither more nor less than the goodly flesh and blood figure of John -Kennedy, who served in the corps ever since the American war, and -who is now employed by Mr. Rae, keeper of the Parliament House, -to sweep the arcade, and to prevent little ragged urchins from disturbing -by their noisy sports the weightier business of the law. John -Kennedy was one of the band; and was well known to the heroes of -the High School forty years ago. Like him, the greater part of his -surviving brethren have changed into new shapes. One or two may -be observed now and then, staggering about the outskirts of the town, -or dozing away the last years of life upon the seats in the Meadow -Walk and the King’s Park. Their old musty coats, in such instances, -are dyed in some colour less military than red, and generally otherwise -modernized by abscission of the skirts. A pair of their original spatterdashers -still case their legs,—but which still less scarcely fend than -formerly</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent12">“——to keep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Frae weet and weary plashes</div> - <div class="verse indent14">O’ dirt, thir days.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>We once stumbled upon a veteran snugly bedded in a stall of about -three feet square, crammed into the internal space of an outside stair -in the West Bow. In this den he exercised the calling of a cobbler. -Like all shoemakers, he was an earnest politician, and read the -<i>Scotsman</i> every week in the second month of its age, after it had made -the tour of <i>the Bow</i>;—“being determined,” he said, “to <i>stick by the -nation</i>!” We have also sometimes found occasion to recognise the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">{117}</span> -nose of an old acquaintance, under the disguise of a circulator of bills, -at the doors of certain haberdashers on the South Bridge. We have -a peculiar veneration for a puff given forth from the paw of an <i>old -Town-Guardsman</i>; and seldom find it in our heart to put such a -document to a death of candle-ends.</p> - -<p>One of the principal reasons which David Deans assigned to Saddletree, -for not employing counsel in the cause of his daughter Effie, was -the notorious Jacobitism of the faculty, who, he said, had received -into their library the medals which that Moabitish woman, the -Duchess of Gordon, had sent to them. This was a true and, moreover, -a curious case. In 1711, the great-grandmother of the present -Duke of Gordon excited no small attention by presenting to the -Faculty of Advocates a silver medal, with a head of the Pretender on -one side, and, on the other, the British isles, with the word <i>Reddite</i>.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> -The Dean having presented the medal to the faculty at the next -meeting, a debate ensued about the propriety of admitting it into their -repositories. It was carried 63 to 12 to admit the medal, and return -thanks to the duchess for her present. Two advocates, delegated for -that purpose, waited upon her grace, and expressed their hopes that -she would soon have an opportunity of complimenting the faculty with -a second medal on the <i>Restoration</i>.</p> - -<p>This lady was the wife of George, first Duke of Gordon, who held -out Edinburgh Castle for King James, in 1689.</p> - - -<h3>JEANIE DEANS.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> plot of this tale, besides bearing some resemblance to that of -The Exiles of Siberia, finds a counterpart in the story of Helen Walker.</p> - -<p>When the following account of this person was taken down, in -1786, she was a little stout-looking woman, between 70 and 80 years -of age, dressed in a long tartan plaid, and having over her white cap, -(<i>Scottice</i>, <span class="allsmcap">TOY</span>,) a black silk hood tied under her chin. She lived in -the neighbourhood of Dumfries, on the romantic banks of the immortalized -Clouden, a little way above the bridge by which the road<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">{118}</span> -from Dumfries to Sanquhar crosses that beautiful stream. She lived -by the humblest means of subsistence,—working stockings, teaching -a few children, and rearing now and then a small brood of chickens. -Her countenance was remarkably lively and intelligent, her eyes were -dark and expressive, and her conversation was marked by a naïveté -and good sense that seemed to fit her for a higher sphere in life. -When any question was asked concerning her earlier life, her face -became clouded, and she generally contrived to turn the conversation -to a different topic.</p> - -<p>Her story, so far as it was ever known, bore that she had been early -left an orphan, with the charge of a younger sister, named <i>Tibby</i>, -(Isabella,) whom she endeavoured to maintain and educate by her -own exertions. It will not be easy to conceive her feelings when her -sister was apprehended on a charge of child-murder, and herself called -on as a principal witness against her. The counsel for the prisoner -told Helen, that if she could declare that her sister had made any -preparation, however slight, or had communicated any notice of her -situation, such a statement would save her sister’s life. But, from the -very first, this high-souled woman determined against such a perjury, -and avowed her resolution to give evidence according to her conscience. -Isabella was of course found guilty and condemned; and, in removing -her from the bar, she was heard to say to her sister, “Oh, Nelly! -ye’ve been the cause of my death!”</p> - -<p>Helen Walker, however, was as remarkable for her dauntless -perseverance in a good cause as for her fortitude in resisting the temptations -of a bad one. She immediately procured a petition to be -drawn up, stating the peculiar circumstances of the case, and that very -night of her sister’s condemnation set out from Dumfries for London. -She travelled on foot, and was neither possessed of introduction nor -recommendation. She presented herself in her tartan plaid and -country attire before John Duke of Argyll, after having watched three -days at his door, just as he was stepping into his carriage, and -delivered her petition. Herself and her story interested him so much, -that he immediately procured the pardon she solicited, which was -forwarded to Dumfries, and Helen returned on foot, having performed -her meritorious journey in the course of a few weeks.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">{119}</span></p> - -<p>After her liberation, Isabella was married to the father of her child, -and retired to some distance in the north of England, where Helen -used occasionally to visit her.</p> - -<p>Helen Walker, whom every one will be ready to acknowledge as -the <i>Original</i> of Jeanie Deans, died in the spring of 1787; and her -remains lie in the Churchyard of Irongray, without a stone to mark -the place where they are deposited.</p> - - -<h3>PATRICK WALKER.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> objurgatory exhortation which David Deans delivers to his -daughters, on suddenly overhearing the word “<i>dance</i>” pronounced in -their conversation, will be remembered by our readers. He there -“blesses God, (with that singular worthy, Patrick Walker the packman -at Bristo-port,) that ordered his lot in his dancing days, so that -fear of his head and throat, cauld and hunger, wetness and weariness, -stopped the lightness of his head and the wantonness of his feet.” -Almost the whole of David’s speech is to be found at the 59th page -of Patrick Walker’s “Life of Cameron,” with much more curious -matter.</p> - -<p>This “Patrick Walker” was a person who had suffered for the good -cause in his youth, along with many others of the “singular worthies” -of the times. After the Revolution, it appears that he exercised the -profession of a pedlar. He probably dealed much in those pamphlets -concerning the sufferings and the doctrines of the “<i>Martyrs</i>,” which -were so widely diffused throughout Scotland, in the years subsequent -to the Revolution. In the process of time he set up his staff of rest -in a small shop at the head of Bristo Street, opposite to the entrance -of a court entitled “Society.” Here Patrick flourished about a century -ago, and published several works, now very scarce and curious, of -“Remarkable Passages in the Lives and Deaths of those famous -worthies, signal for piety and zeal, <i>viz.</i> Mr. John Semple, Mr. Wellwood, -Mr. Cameron, Mr. Peden, etc.; who were all shining lights in -the Land, and gave light to many, in which they rejoiced for a season.” -For this sort of biography Patrick seems to have been excellently -adapted; for he had not only been witness to many of the incidents<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">{120}</span> -which he describes, but, from his intimate personal friendship with the -subjects of his narratives, he was also a complete adept in all their -intricate polemics and narrow superstitions. These he accordingly -gives in such a style of length, strength, and volubility, as leaves us -weltering in astonishment at the extensive range of expression of which -Cant was susceptible. Take the following, for instance, from the -rhapsodies of Peden. “A bloody sword, a bloody sword, a bloody -sword for thee, O Scotland! Many miles shall ye travel and shall see -nothing but desolation and ruinous wastes in thee, O Scotland! The -fertilest places shall be desert as the mountains in thee, O Scotland! Oh -the Monzies, the Monzies, see how they run! how long will they run? -Lord, cut their houghs and stay their running. The women with child -shall be ript up and dashed in pieces. Many a preaching has God -waired (<i>spent</i>) on thee, O Scotland! But now He will come forth with -the fiery brand of His wrath, and then He will preach to thee by conflagration, -since words winna do! O Lord, Thou hast been baith good -and kind to auld Sandy, thorow a long tract of time, and given him -many years in Thy Service which have been but like as many months. -But now he is tired of the warld, and sae let him away with the honesty -he has, for he will gather no more!” We will also extract Patrick’s -own account of an incident which is related upon his authority in the -“Heart of Midlothian,” at the 54th page of the second volume. It is -a good specimen of his style:—</p> - -<p>“One time, among many, he<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> designed to administrate the Sacrament -of the Lord’s Supper; and before the time cam, he assured the -people that the devil would be envious of the good work they were to -go about,—that he was afraid he would be permitted to raise a storm -in the air with a speat of rain, to raise the water, designing to drown -some of them; but it will not be within the compass of his power to -drown any of you, no not so much as a dog. Accordingly it came to -pass, on <i>Monday</i>, when they were dismissing, they saw a man all in -black, entering the water to wade, a little above them; they were -afraid, the water being big; immediately he lost his feet, (as they -apprehended,) and came down lying on his back, and waving his hand.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">{121}</span> -The people ran and got ropes, and threw in to him; and tho’ there -were ten or twelve men upon the ropes, they were in danger of being -drowned into the water: Mr. Semple, looking on, cryed, ‘Quit the ropes -and let him go, (he saw who it was,) ’tis the devil, ’tis the devil; he -will burn, but not drown; and, by drowning you, would have God -dishonoured, because He hath gotten some glory to His free grace, in -being kind to mony of your souls at this time. Oh! he is a subtile -wylie devil, that lies at the catch, waiting his opportunity, that now, -when ye have heard all ye will get at this occasion, his design is to -raise a confusion among you, to get all out of your minds that ye have -heard, and off your spirits that ye have felt.’ He earnestly exhorted -them all to keep in mind what they had heard and seen, and to retain -what they had attained, and to go home blessing God for all, and that -the devil was disappointed of his hellish design. All search was made -in the country, to find out if any man was lost, but none could be heard -of; from whence all concluded that it was the devil.”</p> - -<p>According to Patrick, this same Mr. Semple was remarkable for -much discernment and sagacity, besides that which was necessary for -the detection of devils. From the following “passage,” the reader -will observe that he was equally acute in the detection of witches. -“While a neighbouring minister was distributing tokens before the -sacrament, Mr. Semple standing by, and seeing him reaching a token -to a woman, said, ‘Hold your hand; that Woman hath got too many -tokens already, for she is a witch;’ of which none suspected her then: -yet afterwards she confessed herself to be a witch, and was put to death -for the same.”</p> - -<p>We also find John Semple, of Carsphearn, introduced into that well-known -irreverent work, “Scots Presbyterian Eloquence”; where an -humorous burlesque of his style of expression is given in the following -words: “In the day of judgment the Lord will say, ‘Who’s that -there?’ John will answer, ‘It’s e’en poor auld John Semple, Lord.’ -‘Who are these with you, John?’ ‘It’s a few poor honest bonneted -men.’ ‘Strange, John! where’s all your folks with their hats and -silk hoods?’ ‘I invited them, Lord; but they would not come.’ ‘It’s -not your fault, John; come forward, ye are very welcome, and these -few with you!’”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">{122}</span></p> - -<p>In the <i>reekit</i> and mutilated volume of “Lives” before us, we have -found a considerable number of passages which are alluded to in the -narratives of My Landlord—more indeed than it would be interesting -to point out. The use which the Author makes of the information he -derives from them is by no means dishonourable, except perhaps in -one instance, vol. iv., page 134, where it must be allowed he is rather -waggish upon Patrick, besides corrupting the truth of his text. This -instance relates to the murder of a trooper named Francis Gordon, said -to have been committed by the Cameronians. Patrick denies the -charge of murder, and calls it only killing in self-defence. His own -account is as follows: “It was then commonly said, that Mr. Francis -Gordon was a Volunteer out of Wickedness of Principles, and could -not stay with the Troops, but must alwaies be raging and ranging to -catch hiding suffering people. Meldrum and Airly’s Troops, lying at -Lanark upon the first Day of March, 1682, Mr. Gordon and another -Comrade, with their two Servants and four Horses, came to Kilcaigow, -two Miles from Lanark, searching for William Caigow and others -under Hiding. Mr. Gordon, rambling thorow the Town, offered to -abuse the women. At night they came a mile further to the Easterseat, -to Robert Muir’s, he being also under hiding. Gordon’s comrade -and the two servants went to bed, but he could sleep none, roaring all -the night for women. When day came, he took his sword in his hand, -and came to Moss-Platt; and some men, (who had been in the fields -all night,) seeing him, they fled, and he pursued. James Wilson, -Thomas Young, and myself, having been in a meeting all night, were -lying down in the morning. We were alarmed, thinking there were -many more than one. He pursued hard and overtook us. Thomas -Young said, ‘Sir, what do you pursue us for?’ He said, he was -come to send us to Hell. James Wilson said, ‘That shall not be, for -we will defend ourselves.’ He answered that either he or we should -go to it now, and then ran his sword furiously thorow James Wilson’s -coat. James fired upon him, but missed him. All the time he cried, -‘damn his soul!’ He got a shot in his head out of a pocket pistol, -rather fit for diverting a boy than for killing such a furious, mad, brisk -man; which notwithstanding killed him dead.” Patrick does not -mention who it was that shot him; and from his obscurity on this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">{123}</span> -point, we are led to suspect that it was no other than himself; for had -it been Thomas Young, it is probable that he would have mentioned it. -In the ‘Tale,’ David Deans is mentioned as being among them, and -half confesses to the merit of having killed Mr. Gordon; but our -venerable biographer is also made to prefer a sort of a half claim to -the honour, while neither of them dared utterly to avow it; ‘there -being some wild cousins of the deceased about Edinburgh who might -have been yet addicted to revenge.’”</p> - -<p>The “worthy John Livingston, a sailor in Borrowstownness,” who -is quoted for a saying at the 37th page of the fourth volume, will be -found at 107th page of Patrick’s “Life of Cameron,” with the words -ascribed to him at full length. Borrowstownness seems to have been -a somewhat holy place in its day; for, besides this worthy, we learn -from the same authority that it also produced “Skipper William Horn, -that singular, solid, serious, old exercised, self-denied, experienced, -confirmed, established, tender Christian,” and another tar of the name -of Alexander Stewart, who “suffered at the Cross” for a cause in -which few of his profession have ever since thought of suffering,—together -with two other worthies named Cuthel, one of whom was -beheaded along with Mr. Cargill.</p> - -<p>At the 40th page of the same fourth volume, David Deans declares -himself to have been the person “of whom there was some sport at -the Revolution, when he noited thegither the heads of the twa false -prophets, their ungracious Graces the Prelates, as they stood on the -High Street, after being expelled from the Convention-parliament.” -The source of this story is also to be found in the works of Patrick -Walker. This sage historian relates the circumstance in a manner -rather too facetious to be altogether consistent with his habitual gravity. -“Fourteen Bishops,” says he, “were expelled at once, and stood in -a cloud, with pale faces, in the Parliament Close. James Wilson, -Robert Neilson, Francis Hislop, and myself, were standing close by -them. Francis Hislop, with force, thrust Robert Neilson upon them, -and their heads went hard upon each other. Their graceless Graces -went quickly off; and in a short time neither Bishop nor Curate were -to be seen in the streets. This was a sudden and surprising change, -not to be forgotten. But some of us would have rejoiced still more to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">{124}</span> -have seen the whole cabalzie sent legally down the Bow, that they -might have found the weight of their tails in a tow, to dry their -stocking-soles, and let them know what hanging was.”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> - - -<h3>PARTICULARS REGARDING SCENERY, ETC.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Saint Leonard’s Crags</span>, the scene of David Deans’s residence, are -an irregular ridge, with a slight vegetation, situated in the south-west -boundary of the King’s Park, at Edinburgh. Adjacent to them, and -bearing their name, there exists a sort of village, now almost inclosed -by the approaching suburbs of the city. The neighbouring extremity -of the Pleasance, with this little place, seem to have formed at one -period the summer residences or villas of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, -some of the houses even yet bearing traces of little garden plots before -the door, and other peculiarities of what is still the prevailing taste in -the fitting up of <i>boxes</i>. None of these may, however, have existed in -the time of David Deans. In former times, St. Leonard’s Crags and -the adjoining valley used to be much resorted to by duellists. This -part of their history is, however, to be found at full length in the -“Heart of Midlothian.” There is a case of duel on record, in which -a barber challenged a citizen, and fought him with swords. It happened -in the year 1600. The citizen was slain; and his antagonist, -being instantly apprehended, was tried, and, by the order of the King, -executed, for having presumed to take the revenge of a gentleman.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">{125}</span></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Muschat’s Cairn</span>, so conspicuously introduced into this Tale, was -a heap of stones placed upon the spot where a barbarous murder was -committed in the year 1720. The murderer was descended of a -respectable family in the county of Angus, and had been educated to -the profession of a surgeon. When in Edinburgh, in the course of his -education, it appears that he made an imprudent match with a woman -in humble life, named Margaret Hall. He shortly repented of what -he had done, and endeavoured by every means to shake himself free of -his wife. The attempts which he made to divorce, to forsake, and to -poison her, proved all unsuccessful; till at length he resolved, in the -distraction caused by his frequent disappointments, to rid himself of -his incumbrance by the surest method, that of cutting her throat. The -day before the perpetration of this deed, he pretended a return of -affection to the unfortunate woman, and in the evening took her to -walk with him, in the direction of Duddingston. The unhappy -creature was averse to the expedition, and intreated her husband to -remain in Edinburgh; but he persisted, in spite of her tears, in his -desire of taking her with him to that village. When they had got -nearly to the extremity of the path which is called the Duke’s Walk, -(having been the favourite promenade of the Duke of York, afterwards -King James II.,) Muschat threw her upon the ground, and immediately -proceeded to cut her throat. During her resistance he wounded her -hand and chin, which she held down, endeavouring to intercept the -knife; and he declared in his confession, afterwards taken, that, but -for her long hair, with which he pinned her to the earth, he could not -have succeeded in his purpose, her struggles being so great. Immediately -after the murder, he went and informed some of his -accomplices, and took no pains to evade apprehension. He was tried -and found guilty upon his own confession, and, after being executed -in the Grassmarket, was hung in chains upon the Gallowlee.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> A cairn<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">{126}</span> -of stones was erected upon the spot where the murder took place, in -token of the people’s abhorrence and reprobation of the deed. It was -removed several years since, when the Duke’s Walk was widened and -levelled by Lord Adam Gordon.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">St. Anthony’s Chapel</span>, among the ruins of which Robertson -found means to elude the pursuit of Sharpitlaw, is an interesting relic -of antiquity, situated on a level space about half-way up the north-west -side of the mountain called Arthur’s Seat. It lies in a westerly direction -from Muschat’s Cairn, at about the distance of a furlong; and the -Hunter’s Bog, also mentioned in this Tale, occupies a valley which -surrounds all that side of the hill. The chapel was originally a place -of worship, annexed to a hermitage at the distance of a few yards, and -both were subservient to a monastery of the same name, which -anciently flourished on the site of St. Anthony’s Street in Leith. In -the times of Maitland and Arnot the ruin was almost entire; but now -there only remain a broken wall and a few fragments of what has once -been building, but which are now scarcely to be distinguished from the -surrounding grey rocks;—so entirely has art in this case relapsed into -its primitive nature, and lost all the characteristics of human handiwork. -The slightest possible traces of a hermitage are also to be -observed, plastered against the side of a hollow rock; and, further -down the hill, there springs from the foot of a precipice the celebrated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">{127}</span> -St. Anthony’s Well. Queen Mary is said to have visited all -these scenes; and, somehow or other, her name is always associated -with them by those who are accustomed to visit, on a Sunday afternoon, -their hallowed precincts. They are also rendered sacred in -song, by their introduction into one of the most beautiful, most -plaintive, and most poetical of all Scotland’s ancient melodies:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I leant my back unto an aik,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I thought it was a trusty tree:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But first it bowed and syne it brak,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sae my true love’s forsaken me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh! Arthur’s Seat shall be my bed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sheets shall ne’er be pressed by me:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">St. Anton’s well shall be my drink,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sin’ my true love’s forsaken me,” etc.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The situation is remarkably well adapted for a hermitage, though -in the immediate neighbourhood of a populous capital. The scene -around is as wild as a Highland desert, and gives an air of seclusion -and peacefulness as complete. If the distant din of the city at all -could reach the eremite’s ears, it would appear as insignificant as the -murmur of the waves around the base of the isolated rock, and would -be as unheeded.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">{128}</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII" title="Bride of Lammermoor.">CHAPTER VIII.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>Bride of Lammermoor.</b></p> - - -<h3 title="The Plot, and Chief Characters of the Tale.">(<i>The Plot, and Chief Characters of the Tale.</i>)<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></h3> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe2_375" id="i_p_128"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_128.jpg" alt="J" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">ohn Hamilton</span>, second son of Sir Walter Hambledon of -Cadzow, ancestor of the Dukes of Hamilton, married the heiress of -Innerwick,<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> in East Lothian, in the reign of King Robert Bruce, and -was the progenitor of “a race of powerful barons,” who flourished for -about three hundred years, and “intermarried with the Douglasses, -Homes,” etc. They possessed a great many lands on the coast of -East Lothian, betwixt Dunbar and the borders of Berwickshire, and -also about Dirleton and North Berwick. They had their residence at -the Castle of Innerwick, now in ruins. Wolff’s Crag is supposed to -be the Castle of Dunglas; and this supposition is strengthened by the -retour<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> of a person of the name of Wolff, in the year 1647, of some -parts of the Barony of Innerwick, being on record, and the castle -having been blown up by gunpowder in 1640, a circumstance slightly -noticed in the Tale, but too obvious to be mistaken.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Of this family -the Earls of Haddington are descended. They began to decline about -the beginning of the 17th century, when they seem to have lost the title -of Innerwick<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> and began to take their designation from other parts of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">{129}</span> -the family inheritance, such as Fenton, Lawfield, etc. The last of -them was a Colonel Alexander Hamilton, who was in life in 1670, and -had been <i>abroad</i> for some time—thus agreeing with the Story in one -particular which had a material influence on the fortunes of the family. -In him the direct male line became extinct, and, according to the -prophecy, his name was “lost for evermore.” The circumstances of -this family, and the period of their decline, agree so exactly with the -Tale, that, unless the <i>local</i> scene of it be altogether a fiction, it appears, -at first view, scarcely possible to doubt that the Lords of Ravenswood -and the Hamiltons of Innerwick were the same.</p> - -<p>Taking this supposition to be correct, a conjecture might be -hazarded, in the absence of any authentic information on the subject, -from the present possessors of the domains of the family of Innerwick, -who Sir William Ashton was. Sir John Nisbet of Dirleton was Lord -Advocate in the reign of King Charles II., and afterwards a Lord of -Session, at the very time when Colonel Hamilton above mentioned -was abroad. He seems to have been the founder of his family; and -in this respect, as well as his having been a great lawyer, bears a -remarkable resemblance to Sir William Ashton. He died without -male issue, (another coincidence,) and in possession of the very estate -which belonged to the Hamiltons of Innerwick, which his posterity -still enjoy. From the want, however, of written memoirs of the -family at Dirleton, or a knowledge of the manner in which they -acquired their estates, any conjecture which can be founded on these -circumstances must be entirely hypothetical.</p> - -<p>Though silent regarding the house of Ravenswood, the subject of -the story has received considerable elucidation from a note<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> annexed -to the Review of it in the <i>Edinburgh Monthly Review</i> for August, -1819, wherein it is stated, that Lucy Ashton was one of the daughters -of the first Lord Stair. This nobleman was certainly the only lawyer -at that period who enjoyed the power and influence said to have been -possessed by Sir William Ashton; and the circumstances mentioned -in the above note, as related in Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe’s edition of -“Law’s Memorialls,” particularly the expression made use of by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">{130}</span> -bride, of “Take up your bonnie bridegroom,” may, if well authenticated, -be considered as decisive of the question. It is difficult, however, -to trace any connection between Lord Stair and the family of Innerwick, -or that he ever was in possession of their property. In this -view of the case, the parallel between Ravenswood and Hamilton of -Innerwick does not hold so well. But if the identity of Sir William -Ashton with Lord Stair be considered as established, there was another -family in more immediate contact with him, in the history of which -there are several events which seem to indicate that the Author had -it in his eye in the representation he has given of the Ravenswoods; -unless, as is very probable, he has blended the history of both together -in the manner that best suited his purpose. He indeed admits that he -has disguised facts and incidents, for the obvious purpose of making -the application less pointed to the real personages of the tale. The -family here alluded to is that of Gordon, Viscount Kenmure, in -Galloway, between which and the Lords of Ravenswood there are -several points of resemblance. For instance, the barony of Gordon, -in Berwickshire, where the Gordons had their first settlement in -Scotland, and which continued for a long time in this branch of the -name, is in the immediate vicinity of Lammermoor, and probably -suggested the idea of laying the scene in that neighbourhood. The -names of the Castle (or Barony) and of the Barons themselves, were -the same. Their history was “interwoven with that of the kingdom -itself,” a well-known fact. The Viscount of Kenmure<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> was engaged -in the civil wars in the reign of King Charles I.,<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> and was forfeited by -Cromwell for his steady adherence to that monarch. In him also the -direct line of the family suffered an interruption, the title having at his -death devolved on Gordon of Penninghame, who appears to have -been much involved in debt, and harassed with judicial proceedings -against his estate. This latter again espoused the sinking side in the -Revolution of 1688, and commanded a regiment at the battle of -Killiecrankie. These coincidences are too remarkable to be overlooked.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">{131}</span> -And it may be added, in further illustration, that Lord Stair, on being -advanced to an earldom about this period, took one of his titles from -the barony of Glenluce, which once belonged to a branch of the house -of Kenmure.</p> - -<p>It was formerly mentioned, that the Author admits his having disguised -dates and events, in order to take off the application to the -real personages of the story, which they must otherwise have pointed -out. Of this sort are several anachronisms which appear in the work, -such as a <i>Marquis</i> of A. (evidently Athol, from the letter to Ravenswood -dated at B. or Blair), when the Tory Ministry of Queen Anne -got into power, which was only in 1710, when M. Harley succeeded -Lord Godolphin as Treasurer; whereas the nobleman here alluded to -was a <i>Duke</i> so far back as 1703. The time at which the events really -took place must also have been long prior to this period, for Lord -Stair died in 1695; and the change in administration by which Sir -William Ashton lost his influence probably refers to Lord Stair’s -removal from his office in 1682.</p> - -<p>It may here be remarked, that the family of Stair was by no means -so obscure and insignificant as that of Sir William Ashton is represented -to have been. They possessed the barony of Dalrymple<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> in -the reign of King Alexander III.; they acquired the barony of Stair -by marriage in 1450. They made a considerable figure during the -reign of Queen Mary; and took an active part in the Reformation -along with the confederate lords who had associated in defence of the -Protestant religion. It must be admitted, however, that they made -a greater figure at this time, and during a subsequent period, than -they ever did before.</p> - - -<div class="blockquot_ans p2"> - -<p><i>Note annexed to the Review of the Bride of Lammermoor, in the -Edinburgh Monthly Review for August, 1819—referred to in the -foregoing Conjectures.</i></p> -</div> - -<p>“The reader will probably feel the interest of this affecting story -considerably increased, by his being informed that it is founded on -facts. The particulars, which have been variously reported, are given -in a foot-note to Mr. Sharpe’s edition of ‘Law’s Memorialls,’ p. 226;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">{132}</span> -but are understood to have been sometimes told in conversation by the -celebrated Poet to whom public opinion assigns these Tales. The -ingenious author, whoever he is, has adopted that account of the circumstances -which Mr. Sharpe deems less probable. The prototype -of Lucy Ashton was one of the daughters of James, first Lord Stair, -by his wife Margaret, daughter of Ross of Balneil, County of Wigton, -a lady long reputed a witch by the country people in her neighbourhood, -and considered as the cause, <i>per fas et nefas</i>, of the prosperous -fortunes of the Dalrymple family. However this may have been, there -was also ascribed to her supposed league with Satan, or her extreme -obduracy, the miserable catastrophe now alluded to. The first version -of the story in Mr. Sharpe’s note decidedly and directly implicates -the old lady and her potent ally in the murder of her daughter on the -night of her marriage, which had been contracted against the mother’s -will; and, according to this account, it is the bridegroom who is found -in the chimney in a state of idiocy. The other edition, which is that -of the Tale, seems to require nothing beyond the agency of human -passions wrought up to derangement. According to it, the young -lady, as in the case of Lucy, was compelled to marry contrary to her -inclination, her heart having been previously engaged elsewhere. -After she had retired with her husband into the nuptial chamber, and -the door, as was customary, had been locked, she attacked him -furiously with a knife, and wounded him severely, before any assistance -could be rendered. When the door was broken open, the youth was -found half dead upon the floor, and his wife in a state of the wildest -madness, exclaiming, ‘Take up your bonnie bridegroom.’ It is -added, that she never regained her senses; and that her husband, who -recovered of his wound, would bear no questions on the subject of his -marriage, taking even a hint of that nature as a mortal affront to his -honour. The coincidence of circumstances, and the identity of expression -used by the bride, are much too striking to be purely -accidental, and altogether deserved to be noticed, though at the hazard -of making a long note. Lady Stair, it may not be irrelevant to state, -was conspicuous in her time for what Mr. Sharpe denominates, ‘her -violent turn towards Conventicles, and the fostering of silenced -preachers in her house,’—peculiarities quite of a piece with the attachments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">{133}</span> -and habits of Lady Ashton. Of the prejudices and malignity -of her enemies, we may form some opinion from the satiric lines upon -her long-wished-for and timely death, which Mr. Sharpe very justly -denominates most unchristian. Let the <i>epitaph</i> contrived for her bear -testimony:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Here lyes our Auntie’s coffin, I am sure,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But where her bodie is I cannot tell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Most men affirm they cannot well tell where,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unless both soul and body be in h——.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is just if all be true that’s said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The witch of Endor<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> was a wretched sinner,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if her coffin in the grave be laid,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her bodie’s roasted to the D——l’s dinner.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“The author of the ‘Tales of my Landlord,’ it must be allowed, has -never showed any backwardness to join in the cry against people of -her principles, but he has never been so summary in his conclusions -as to their fate.”</p> - - -<h3>LUCY ASHTON AND BUCKLAW.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">We</span> derive the following curious notices respecting the Lucy Ashton -and Bucklaw of real life, from a rare volume, entitled “Tripatriarchicon; -or, the Lives of the Three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and -Jacob. Digested into English Verse, by Mr. Andrew Symson, M.A., -late Minister of Kinkinner. Edinburgh: Printed for the Author. -1705.” The following Poem is one of thirteen elegies found appended -to some rare copies of the book, which were withdrawn from the -greater part of the edition, on account of the offence taken against them -by the Whigs. Symson seems to have been a sincere and zealous -partizan of High Church, and does not seem to have permitted any -great man of his own party to die without an appropriate elegy, -accompanied by a cutting tirade upon his enemies.</p> - -<p class="ml2"> -“<i>On the unexpected death of the vertuous Lady</i>, Mrs. Janet<br /> -Dalrymple, <i>Lady</i> Baldone, <i>Younger</i>.<br /> -Nupta, <i>Aug. 12</i>; Domum ducta, <i>Aug. 24</i>; Obiit, <i>Sept. 12</i>;<br /> -Sepult. <i>Sept. 30, 1669</i>.<br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">{134}</span></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Dialogus inter advenam et servum domesticum.</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘What means this sudden unexpected change,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This mourning Company? Sure, sure some strange</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And uncouth thing hath happen’d. <i>Phœbus’s</i> Head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hath not been resting on the wat’ry bed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of <i>Sea-green Thetis</i> fourty times, since I</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>In transitu</i> did cast my tender Eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon this very place, and here did view</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A Troop of Gallants: <i>Iris</i> never knew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The various colours which they did employ</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To manifest and represent their Joy.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yea more; Methinks I saw this very wall</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Adorn’d with Emblems Hieroglyphicall.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At first; The glorious <i>Sun</i> in lustre shine:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Next unto it, A young and tender <i>Vine</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Surround a stately <i>Elm</i>, whose tops were crown’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With wreaths of <i>Bay-tree</i> reaching to the ground:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, to be short, methinks I did espy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A pleasant, harmless, joyful Comedy.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now (sad change, I’m sure,) they all are clad</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In deepest Sable, and their Faces sad.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The <i>Sun’s</i> o’erclouded and the <i>Vine’s</i> away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The Elm</i> is drooping, and the wreaths of Bay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are chang’d to Cypress, and the Comedie</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is metamorphos’d to a Tragedie.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I do desire you, Friend, for to unfold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This matter to me.’ ‘Sir, ’tis truth you’ve told.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We did enjoy great mirth, but now, ah me!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our joyful Song’s turned to an Elegie.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A vertuous Lady, not long since a Bride,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was to a hopeful plant by marriage ty’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And brought home hither. We did all rejoyce,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Even for her sake. But presently our voice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was turned to mourning, for that little time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That she’d enjoy: She wained in her prime</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">{135}</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For Atropus, with her impartial knife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon cut her Thread, and therewithall her Life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And for the time, we may it well remember,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It being in unfortunate September,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just at the <i>Æquinox</i>: She was cut down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In th’ harvest, and this day she’s to be sown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where we must leave her till the Resurrection;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis then the Saints enjoy their full perfection.’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>One of these curious pieces is “A Funeral Elegie occasioned by the -sad and much lamented Death of that worthily respected and very -much accomplished Gentleman, David Dunbar, Younger of Baldone. -He departed this life on March 21, 1682, having received a bruise by -a fall, as he was ryding the day preceding betwixt Leith and Holyroodhouse; -and was honourably interred, in the Abbey Church of -Holyroodhouse, on April 4, 1682.” Symson, though a printer in -1705, had been an episcopal clergyman: and it is amusing to observe -how much of the panegyric which he bestows upon Dunbar is to be -traced to the circumstance of that gentleman having been almost his -only hearer, when, in a Whiggish parish, his curacy had like to be a -perfect sinecure, so far as regarded that important particular—a congregation. -He thus speaks of him:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He was no Schismatick, he ne’er withdrew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Himself from th’ House of God; he with a few</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(Some two or three) came constantly to pray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For such as had withdrawn themselves away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor did he come by fits,—foul day or fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I, being in the church, was sure to see him there.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had he withdrawn, ’tis like these two or three,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Being thus discouraged, had deserted me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So that my Muse, ’gainst Priscian, avers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>He</i>, <span class="allsmcap">HE</span> alone, <span class="allsmcap">WERE</span> my Parishioners,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yea, and my constant Hearers. O that I</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had pow’r to eternize his Memory;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then (though my joy, my glory, and my crown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By this unhappy fall be thus cast down,)</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">{136}</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I’d rear an everlasting monument,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A curious structure, of a large extent,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A brave and stately pile, that should outbid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ægyptian Cheops’ costly Pyramid,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A monument that should outlive the blast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Time, and Malice too,—a pile should last</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Longer than hardest marble, and surpass</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bright and durable Corinthian brass!”<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<h3>A COUNTRY INNKEEPER.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Caleb Balderston.</i>)</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> prototype of Caleb Balderstone was perhaps <i>Laird Bour</i>, a -servant of the Logans of Restalrig, in 1600. It is evident that the -<i>character</i> is just a Scottish edition of “Garrick’s Lying Valet.” We -have discovered, however, a solitary trait of Caleb, in a Scotch innkeeper -of real existence, who lived long in the south country,<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> and died -only a few years ago. We subjoin a very brief notice of this person, -whose name was Andrew Davidson.</p> - -<p>A literary gentleman, who supplies us with information respecting -him, states that he was once possessed of a considerable estate,—that of -Green-house, in the county of Roxburgh. But being a man of great -wit and humour, his society was courted by young men of idle and -dissipated habits, who led him into such expenses as shortly proved -prejudicial to his fortunes. He was then obliged to sell off his estate -and betake himself to a humbler line of life. Keeping a small grocery -and spirit shop always presents itself to men in such circumstances as a -means of subsistence requiring the least instruction and most easily set -afloat. He accordingly commenced that line of business in Jedburgh; -but, being considered as an intruder into the burgh, and opposing -certain ancient residenters, who were supposed to be more lawfully, -justly, and canonically entitled to trade in the town than any new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">{137}</span> -upstart, he did not meet with that success which he expected. In consequence -of this illiberal treatment, he conceived the most rancorous -hatred for the inhabitants of Jedburgh, and ever after spoke of them -in the most violent terms of hatred and contempt. His common -language was, “that not an individual in the town would be judged -at the last day,—Jedburgh would be at once damned <i>by the slump!</i>”</p> - -<p>He again resolved to commence the profession of agriculture, and -took the farm of Habton, in the neighbouring parish of Crailing. -This speculation, however, succeeded no better than the shop. By -associating himself with the opulent farmers and gentlemen of the -vicinity, by whom his company, as a man of wit and jollity, was -always much sought after, his ancient habits of extravagance returned; -and, though in poorer circumstances, being obliged to spend in equal -style with these ruinous friends, the surviving wrecks of his fortune -were soon dissipated, and he was obliged to become a bankrupt.</p> - -<p>When a man who has freely lavished his fortune and his humour -in the entertainment of friends above his own rank becomes incapable -of further sacrifice, it is most natural for such friends to forsake and -neglect him. He is considered as no more entitled to their gratitude -than the superannuated player, after he has ceased to be supported by -the immediate exhibition of his powers. There is no Chelsea provided -for the cripples in the cause of the gay.</p> - -<p>Mr. Davidson was, however, more fortunate in his companions. -After his misfortune, they induced him to open a house of entertainment -at Ancrum Bridge; laid in for him a stock of wines, spirits, etc.; -made parties at his house; and set him fairly a-going. This was a -line in which he was calculated both to shine and to realize profit. His -company was still as attractive as ever; and it was no longer disgraceful -to receive a solid reward for the entertainment which his -facetiousness could afford. Having also learned a little wisdom from -his former miscarriages, he proceeded with more caution, kept up the -respectability of his house, was polite and amusing to his guests, and, -above all, paid infinite attention to his business.</p> - -<p>The peculiarity of character, for which we have placed his name -against that of Caleb Balderstone, here occurs. Whenever there -alighted any stranger of a more splendid appearance than ordinary,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">{138}</span> -he was suddenly seized with a fit of magniloquency, and, in the -identical manner of Caleb Balderstone, would call <i>Hostler No. 10</i> down -from <i>Hay-loft No. 15</i>, to conduct the gentleman’s “beast” to one of -the best stalls in the <i>Stable No. 20</i>! He would then, with a superabundance -of ceremony, show the stranger into a chamber which he -would declare with the greatest assurance to be <i>No. 40</i>; and on his -guest asking perhaps for a glass of rum, would order a waiter, whom -he baptized (<i>nolens volens</i>) <i>No. 15</i> for the occasion, to draw it from -the cask in the bar marked 95. Then was the <i>twelfth</i> hen-roost to be -ransacked, and a glorious fowl, the best that could be selected from a -stock of about <i>one thousand or so</i>, to be consigned to the hands of the -<i>Head Cook</i> herself, (God knows his house boasted only one, who -was <i>Scullion</i> and <i>Boots</i> besides.) All this rhodomontade was enacted -in a style of such serious effrontery, and was accompanied by such a -volubility of talk, and flights of humour, and bustling activity, that any -one not previously acquainted with his devices, would have given him -and his house credit for ten times the size and respectability they could -actually boast of.</p> - -<p>Mr. Davidson afterwards removed to the inn at Middleton, where he -died, in good circumstances, about sixteen years ago. He was a man -of very brilliant talents, distinguished much by that faculty entitled -by the country people <i>ready wit</i>. He had a strong memory, a lively -and fertile imagination, and possessed powers of discourse truly astonishing. -The prevailing tone of his mind was disposed to ridicule. -He had a singularly felicitous knack of giving anything improper in -his own conduct or appearance a bias in his favour, and could at all -times, as we have seen, set off his own circumstances in such a light -as made them splendid and respectable, though in reality they were -vulgar and undignified.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">{139}</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX" title="Legend of Montrose.">CHAPTER IX.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>Legend of Montrose.</b></p> - - -<h3 title="Plot of the Tale.">(<i>Plot of the Tale.</i>)</h3> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe4_625" id="i_p_139"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_139.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">here</span> can be little doubt that the Author of “Waverley” has taken -the grounds of this Tale from the following interesting story, related -in a critique on the “Culloden Papers,” in the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, -which is said to have been written by the Great Novelist’s <i>other self</i>, -Sir Walter Scott.</p> - -<p>“The family or sept of Macgregor is of genuine Celtic origin, great -antiquity, and, in Churchill’s phrase,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18">‘doubtless springs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From great and glorious, but forgotten kings.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“They were once possessed of Glenurchy, of the castle at the head -of Lochowe, of Glendochart, Glenlyon, Finlarig, Balloch, now called -Taymouth, and of the greater part of Breadalbane. From these -territories they were gradually expelled by the increasing strength of -the Campbells, who, taking advantage of a bloody feud between the -M‘Gregors and M‘Nabs, obtained letters of fire and sword against the -former; and, about the reigns of James III. and IV., dispossessed them -of much of their property. The celebrated M‘Gregor a Rua Rua, the -heir-male of the chief, and a very gallant young man, was surprised and -slain by Colin Campbell, the Knight of Lochowe, and with him fell -the fortunes of his family. From this time, the few lands which remained -not sufficing to support so numerous a clan, the M‘Gregors -became desperate, wild, and lawless, supporting themselves either by -actual depredation, or by the money which they levied as the price of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">{140}</span> -their forbearance, and retaliating upon the more powerful clans, as well -as upon the Lowlands, the severity with which they were frequently -pursued and slaughtered. A single trait of their history will show what -was the ferocity of feud among the Scottish clans.</p> - -<p>“The remaining settlements of the M‘Gregor tribe were chiefly in -Balquhidder, around Loch Katrine, as far as the borders of Lochlomond. -Even these lands they did not possess in property, but by -some transactions with the family of Buchanan, who were the real -landholders; but the terrors of the M‘Gregors extended far and wide, -for they were at feud with all their neighbours. In the year 1589, a -party of the M‘Gregors, belonging to a tribe called Clan-Duil a Cheach, -<i>i.e.</i> the children of Dougal of the Mist, (an appropriate name for such a -character,) met with John Drummond of Drummondernoch, who had, -in his capacity of stewart-depute, or provincial magistrate of Strathearn, -tried and executed two or three of these M‘Gregors, for depredations -committed on his chief Lord Drummond’s lands. The Children of the -Mist seized the opportunity of vengeance, slew the unfortunate huntsman, -and cut off his head. They then went to the house of John -Stewart of Ardvoirlich, whose wife was a sister of the murdered -Drummondernoch. The laird was absent, but the lady received the -unbidden and unwelcome guests with hospitality, and, according to -the Highland custom and phrase, placed before them bread and cheese, -till better food could be made ready. She left the room to superintend -the preparations, and when she returned, beheld, displayed upon the -table, the ghastly head of her brother, with a morsel of bread and -cheese in its mouth. The terrified lady rushed out of the house with a -fearful shriek, and could not be found, though her distracted husband -caused all the woods and wildernesses around to be diligently searched. -To augment the misery of Ardvoirlich, his unfortunate wife was with -child when she disappeared. She did not, however, perish. It was -harvest season, and in the woods and moors the maniac wanderer -probably found berries and other substances capable of sustaining life; -though the vulgar, fond of the marvellous, supposed that the wild deer -had pity on her misery, and submitted to be milked by her. At -length some train of former ideas began to revive in her mind. She -had formerly been very attentive to her domestic duties, and used<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">{141}</span> -commonly to oversee the milking of the cows; and now the women -employed in that office in the remote upland grazings, observed with -terror, that they were regularly watched during the milking by an -emaciated, miserable-looking, female figure, who appeared from among -the bushes, but retired with great swiftness when any one approached -her. The story was told to Ardvoirlich, who, conjecturing the truth, -took measures for intercepting and recovering the unfortunate fugitive. -She regained her senses after the birth of her child; but it was remarkable, -that the son whom she bore seemed affected by the consequences -of her terror. He was of great strength, but of violent passions, under -the influence of which he killed his friend and commander, Lord -Kilpont, in a manner which the reader will find detailed in Wishart’s -Memoirs of Montrose.</p> - -<p>“The tragedy of Drummondernoch did not end with the effects of -the murder on the Lady Ardvoirlich. The clan of the M‘Gregors -being convoked in the church of Balquhidder, upon the Sunday after -the act, the bloody head was produced on the altar, when each clansman -avowed the murder to have been perpetrated by his own consent, -and, laying successively his hands on the scalp, swore to defend and -protect the authors of the deed,—‘in ethnic and barbarous manner,’ -says an order of the Lords of the Privy Council, dated 4th February, -1589, ‘in most proud contempt of our Sovereign Lord and his -authority, if this shall remain unpunished.’ Then follows a commission -to search for and pursue Alaster M‘Gregor of Glenstrae, and -all others of his name, with fire and sword. We have seen a letter -upon this subject from Patrick, Lord Drummond, who was naturally -most anxious to avenge his kinsman’s death, to the Earl of Montrose, -appointing a day in which the one shall be ‘at the bottom of the valley -of Balquhidder with his forces, and advance upward, and the other, -with his powers, shall occupy the higher outlet, and move downwards, -for the express purpose of taking <i>sweet revenge</i> for the death of their -cousin.’ Ardvoirlich assisted them with a party, and it is said they -killed thirty-seven of the clan of Dougal of the Mist upon the single -farm of Inverneuty.”—<i>Quarterly Review</i>, vol. xiv., p. 307.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">{142}</span></p> - - -<h3>THE GREAT MONTROSE.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> illustrious personage whose fortunes form the ground-work of this -Tale, was the only son of John, fourth Earl of Montrose,<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> by Lady -Margaret Ruthven, daughter of William, first Earl of Gowrie.<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> He -was born in the year 1612, succeeded his father in 1626, and was -married soon after, while yet very young,—a circumstance which is said -to have somewhat marred his education. He travelled into foreign -parts, where he spent some years in study, and in learning the customary -accomplishments of that period, in which he excelled most -men; and he returned home in 1634.</p> - -<p>Meeting with a cold and forbidding reception at Court, his Lordship -joined the supplicants in 1637, and became one of the most zealous -supporters of the Covenant in 1638. Next year he had the command -of the forces sent to the north against the town of Aberdeen, which he -obliged to take the Covenant; and the Marquis of Huntly, who, on -his approach, disbanded the men he had raised, was sent prisoner to -Edinburgh. Lord Aboyne appearing in arms in the north the same -year, Montrose was despatched against him, and totally routed his -forces at the Bridge of Dee. When the pacification of Berwick was -concluded, Montrose was one of the noblemen who paid their respects -to Charles I. at that place in July, 1639.</p> - -<p>Next year, an army being raised to march into England, Montrose -had two regiments given him, one of horse and one of foot. He led -the van of that army through the Tweed on foot, and, totally routing -the vanguard of the King’s cavalry, contributed to the victory at Newburn. -But, in 1643, moved with resentment against the Covenanters, -who preferred to his prompt and ardent character the wily and -politic Earl of Argyll, or seeing, perhaps, that the final views of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">{143}</span> -that party were inimical to the interests of monarchy and of the -constitution, Montrose espoused the falling cause of loyalty, and -raised the Highland clans, whom he united to a small body of Irish, -commanded by Alexander Macdonald, still renowned in the north -under the title of Colkitto. With a few troops collected in Westmoreland, -he first raised the royal standard at Dumfries in April, 1644, but -was soon obliged to retire into England; and he was excommunicated -by the commission of the General Assembly.<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> To atone, however, for -so severe a denunciation, the King, about this time, raised him to the -dignity of Marquis; and he soon after had the pleasure of routing the -Parliament army at Morpeth. He was next successful in throwing -provisions into Newcastle. After the defeat of Prince Rupert at -Marston Moor in July, 1644, he left his men with that general, and -went to Scotland. At this period of his adventures the Author of -“Waverley” takes him up in his “Legend of Montrose.”</p> - -<p>Disguised as a groom, with only two attendants, Montrose arrived in -Strathearn, where he continued till rumour announced the approach of -1500 Irish, who, after ravaging the northern extremity of Argyllshire, -had landed in Skye, and traversed the extensive districts of Lochaber -and Badenoch. On descending into Atholl in August, 1644, they -were surprised with the unexpected appearance of their general, Montrose, -in the garb of a Highlander, with a single attendant; but his -name was sufficient to increase his army to 3000, for commanding -whom he had the King’s warrant. He attacked an army of Covenanters, -amounting to upwards of 6000 foot and horse, at Tippermuir, 1st -September, totally routed them, and took their artillery and baggage, -without losing a man. Perth immediately surrendered to the victor; -but, Argyll approaching, he abandoned that place as untenable, took -all the cannon, ammunition, and spoil of the town with him, and went -north. He defeated the Covenanters a second time at the Bridge of -Dee, on the 12th of September; and, continuing the pursuit to the -gates of Aberdeen, entered the town with the vanquished. The pillage -of the ill-fated burgh was doomed to expiate the principles which Montrose -himself had formerly imposed upon them.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">{144}</span></p> -<p>Argyll came from Stirling to Perth on the 10th of September; and -his army following him in a desultory manner, is said to have taken -about a week in passing through the latter town.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> He passed the Tay -in boats, which Montrose had left undestroyed, and pursued that -general to the north. Meanwhile, Montrose had left Aberdeen, and -sought the assistance of the Gordons; but finding the Spey well -guarded, he retreated over the mountains to Badenoch, burying his -artillery in a morass. He descended into Atholl and Angus, pursued -by Argyll, but by a sudden march repassed the Grampians, and returned -to rouse the Gordons to arms! At Fyvie, he was almost -surprised by Argyll, 27th October, 1644, but maintained a situation, -advantageously chosen, against the reiterated attacks of a superior -army, till night, when he made good his retreat into Badenoch. He -immediately proceeded into Argyllshire, which he ravaged, and sentence -of forfeiture was passed against him in Parliament.</p> - -<p>So extraordinary were the evolutions of Montrose, that on many -occasions the appearance of his army was the first notice the enemy -had of his approach; and of his retreats, the first intelligence was that -he was beyond their reach. Argyll, exasperated with the devastation -of his estates, marched against Montrose; but he, not waiting to be -attacked, marched thirty miles, by an unfrequented route, across the -mountains of Lochaber, during a heavy fall of snow, and came at night -in front of the enemy, when they believed him in a different part of the -country. This was in February, 1645, during a very inclement season. -“The moon shone so clear,” says Bishop Wishart, “that it was almost -as light as day. They lay upon their arms the whole night, and, with -the assistance of the light, so harassed each other with slight alarms -and skirmishes, that neither gave the other time to repose. They all -wished earnestly for day: only Argyll, more intent on his own safety, -conveyed himself away about the middle of the night: and, having very -opportunely got a boat, escaped the hazard of a battle, choosing rather -to be a spectator of the prowess of his men than share in the danger -himself. Nevertheless, the chiefs of the Campbells, who were indeed a -set of very brave men, and worthy of a better chief and a better cause,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">{145}</span> -began the battle with great courage. But the first ranks discharging -their muskets only once, Montrose’s men fell in upon them furiously, -sword in hand, with a great shout, and advanced with such great impetuosity, -that they routed the whole army, and put them to flight, and -pursued them for about nine miles, making dreadful slaughter the -whole way. There were 1500 of the enemy slain, among whom were -several gentlemen of distinction of the name of Campbell, who led on -the clan, and fell in the field of battle, too gallantly for their dastardly -chief. Montrose, though an enemy, pitied their fate, and used his -authority to save and give quarter to as many as he could. In this -battle Montrose had several wounded, but he had none killed but three -privates, and Sir Thomas Ogilvie, son of the Earl of Airley; whilst -Argyll lost the Lairds of Auchinbreck, Glensaddell, and Lochnell, -with his son and brother, and Barbreck, Inneraw, Lamont, Silvercraigs, -and many other prisoners.” Spalding, in his “History of the -Troubles,” states, that “there came direct from the committee of -Edinburgh certain men to see Argyll’s forwardness in following Montrose, -but they saw his flight, in manner foresaid. It is to be considered -that few of this army could have escaped if Montrose had not -marched the day before the fight thirty-three miles, (Scots miles) on -little food, and crossed sundry waters, wet and weary, and standing in -wet and cold the hail night before the fight.”</p> - -<p>Montrose, flushed with victory, now proceeded to Moray, where he -was joined by the Gordons and Grants. He next marched to the -southward, taking Dundee by storm; but being attacked by a superior -force under Baillie and Hurry, began to retreat. Baillie and Hurry -divided their forces, to prevent his return to the north; but, by a -masterly movement, he passed between their divisions, and regained -the mountains. He defeated Hurry at Meldrum, near Nairn, on the -14th May, 1645, by a manœuvre similar to that of Epaminondas at -Leuctra and Mantinea. In that battle, the left wing of the Royalists -was commanded by Montrose’s able auxiliary, Alister Macdonell, or -Maccoul, (as he is called in Gaelic) still celebrated in Highland -tradition and song for his chivalry and courage. An elevation of -ground separated the wings. Montrose received a report that Macdonell’s -wing had given way, and was retreating. He instantly ran<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">{146}</span> -along the ranks, and called out to his men that Macdonell was driving -the enemy before him, and, unless they did the same, the other wing -would carry away all the glory of the day. His men instantly rushed -forward, and charged the enemy off the field, while he hastened with -his reserve to the relief of his friend, and recovered the fortune of the -day.<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> At this battle, in which 2000 Covenanters fell, Campbell of -Lawers, though upwards of seventy years of age, fought on the Presbyterian -side, with a two-handed broadsword, till himself, and four of his -six sons, who were with him, fell on the ground on which they stood. -Such was the enemy which the genius and courage of Montrose overcame. -Pursuing his victory, Montrose encountered and defeated -Baillie at Alford, on the 2nd of July; but on this occasion his success -was embittered by the loss of Lord Gordon, who fell in the action. -His victories attracted reinforcements from all parts of the country: he -marched to the southward at the head of 6000 men, and fought a -bloody and decisive battle near Kilsyth, on the 15th August, when -nearly 5000 Covenanters fell under the Highland claymore.</p> - -<p>This last and greatest of his splendid successes opened the whole of -Scotland to Montrose. He occupied Glasgow and the capital, and -marched forward to the border, not merely to complete the subjection -of the southern provinces, but with the flattering hope of pouring his -victorious army into England, and bringing to the support of Charles -the swords of his paternal tribes.</p> - -<p>Montrose was now, however, destined to endure a reverse of his -hitherto brilliant fortune. After traversing the border counties, and -receiving little assistance or countenance from the chiefs of these districts, -he encamped on Philiphaugh, a level plain near Selkirk, extending -about a mile and a half along the banks of the rivers Tweed and -Ettrick. Here he posted his infantry, amounting to about 1500 men, -while he himself and his cavalry, to the amount of about 1000, took up -their quarters in the town of Selkirk.</p> - -<p>Recalled by the danger<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> of the cause of the Covenant, General David -Lesly came down from England at the head of those iron squadrons<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">{147}</span> -whose force had been proved in the fatal battle of Long Marston Moor. -His army consisted of from 5000 to 6000 men, chiefly cavalry. Lesly’s -first plan seems to have been to occupy the midland counties, so as to -intercept the return of Montrose’s Highlanders, and to force him to an -unequal combat. Accordingly, he marched along the eastern coast -from Berwick to Tranent; but there he suddenly altered his direction, -and, crossing through Midlothian, turned again to the southward, and, -following the course of Gala Water, arrived at Melrose the evening -before the engagement. How it is possible that Montrose should have -received no notice whatever of the march of so considerable an army -seems almost inconceivable, and proves that the country was very -disaffected to his cause or person. Still more extraordinary does it -appear, that, even with the advantage of a thick mist, Lesly should -have, the next morning, advanced towards Montrose’s encampment -without being descried by a single scout. Such, however, was the case, -and it was attended with all the consequences of a complete surprisal. -The first intimation that Montrose received of the march of Lesly was -the noise of the conflict, or rather that which attended the unresisted -slaughter of his infantry, who never formed a line of battle: the right -wing alone, supported by the thickets of Harehead-wood, and by their -entrenchments, stood firm for some time. But Lesly had detached -2000 men, who, crossing the Ettrick still higher up than his main body, -assaulted the rear of Montrose’s right wing. At this moment the -Marquis arrived, and beheld his army dispersed, for the first time, in -irretrievable rout. He had thrown himself upon a horse the instant he -heard the firing, and, followed by such of his disordered cavalry as had -gathered upon the alarm, he galloped from Selkirk, crossed the Ettrick, -and made a bold and desperate attempt to retrieve the fortune of the -day. But all was in vain; and after cutting his way, almost singly, -through a body of Lesly’s troopers, the gallant Montrose graced by his -example the retreat of the fugitives. That retreat he continued up -Yarrow, and over Minchmoor; nor did he stop till he arrived at -Traquair, 16 miles from the field of battle. He lodged the first night -at the town of Peebles.<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Upon Philiphaugh he lost, in one defeat, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">{148}</span> -fruit of six splendid victories; nor was he again able effectually to make -head in Scotland against the covenanted cause. The number slain in -the field did not exceed 300 or 400; for the fugitives found refuge in -the mountains, which had often been the retreat of vanquished armies, -and were impervious to the pursuer’s cavalry. Lesly abused his victory, -and disgraced his arms, by slaughtering in cold blood many of the -prisoners whom he had taken; and the court-yard of Newark Castle is -said to have been the spot upon which they were shot by his command. -Many others are said by Wishart to have been precipitated from a high -bridge over the Tweed,—a circumstance considered doubtful by Laing, -as there was then no bridge over the Tweed between Peebles and -Berwick, though the massacre might have taken place at either of the -old bridges over the Ettrick and Yarrow, which lay in the very line of -flight and pursuit. It is too certain that several of the Royalists were -executed by the Covenanters, as traitors to the King and Parliament.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> - -<p>After this reverse of fortune,<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Montrose retired into the north. In -1646, he formed an association with the Earls of Sutherland and Seaforth, -and other Highland chieftains, and they laid siege to Inverness; -but General Middleton forced Montrose to retreat, with considerable -loss. Charles I. now sending orders to Montrose to disband his forces -and leave the kingdom, he capitulated with Middleton, July, 1646, and -an indemnity was granted to his followers, and he was permitted to -retire to the continent. The capitulation was ratified by Parliament, -and Montrose was permitted to remain unmolested in Scotland for a -month to settle his affairs.</p> - -<p>He now proceeded to France, where he resided two years. He had -the offer of the appointments of general of the Scots in France, lieutenant-general -of the French army, captain of the <i>gens d’armes</i>,<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> with -an annual pension of 12,000 crowns, and a promise of being promoted -to the rank of <i>maréchal</i>, and to the captaincy of the King’s guards, all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">{149}</span> -which preferments he declined, as he wished only to be of service to his -own King. He retired privately from Paris, in May, 1648, and went -to Germany, from thence to Brussels, where he was, at the period of -the King’s execution, in 1649. He then repaired to the Hague, where -Charles II. resided, and offered to establish him on the throne of -Scotland by force. The King gave him a commission accordingly, and -invested him with the order of the garter. Montrose, with arms -supplied by the court of Sweden, and money by Denmark, embarked at -Hamburg, with 600 Germans, and landed in Orkney in spring 1650, -where he got some recruits, and crossed over to Caithness with an army -of about 1400 men; and he was joined by several Royalists as he -traversed the wilds of Sutherland. But, advancing into Ross-shire, he -was surprised, and totally defeated, at Invercharron, by Colonel -Strachan, an officer of the Scottish Parliament, who afterwards became -a decided Cromwellian. Montrose’s horse was shot under him; but he -was generously remounted by his friend, Lord Frendraught. After a -fruitless resistance, he at length fled from the field, threw away his -ribbon and George, changed clothes with a countryman, and thus -escaped to the house of M‘Leod of Assint,<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> by whom he was betrayed -to General Lesly.</p> - -<p>Whatsoever indignities the bitterness of party rage or religious hatred -could suggest, were accumulated on a fallen, illustrious enemy, formerly -terrible, and still detested. He was slowly and ostentatiously conducted -through the north by the ungenerous Lesly, in the same mean habit -in which he was taken. His devastations were not forgotten,—his -splendid victories never forgiven,—and he was exposed, by excommunication, -to the abhorrence and insults of a fanatical people. His -sentence was already pronounced in Parliament, on his former attainder, -under every aggravation which brutal minds can delight to inflict. He -was received by the magistrates of Edinburgh at the Watergate, 18th -May, 1650, placed on an elevated seat in a cart, to which he was -pinioned with cords, and, preceded by his officers, coupled together, -was conducted, bareheaded, by the public executioner, to the common -jail. But his magnanimity was superior to every insult. When produced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">{150}</span> -to receive his sentence in Parliament, he was upbraided by the -Chancellor with his violation of the Covenant, the introduction of Irish -insurgents, his invasion of Scotland during a treaty with the King; and -the temperate dignity which he had hitherto sustained, seemed, at first, -to yield to indignant contempt. He vindicated his dereliction of the -Covenant, by their rebellion,—his appearance in arms, by the commission -of his Sovereign,—and declared, that as he had formerly deposited, -so he again resumed his arms, by his Majesty’s command, to accelerate -the treaty commenced with the States. A barbarous sentence, which -he received with an undaunted countenance, was then pronounced by a -Parliament who acknowledged Charles to be their King, and whom, on -that account only, Montrose acknowledged to be a Parliament,—that -he should be hanged for three hours, on a gibbet 30 feet high; that his -head should be affixed to the common jail, his limbs to the gates of -the principal towns, and his body interred at the place of execution, -unless his excommunication were taken off, and then it might be buried -in consecrated ground. With dignified magnanimity, he replied, that -he was prouder to have his head affixed to the prison walls than his -picture placed in the King’s bedchamber; “and, far from being -troubled that my limbs are to be sent to your principal towns, I wish -I had flesh enough to be dispersed through Christendom, to attest my -dying attachment to my King.” It was the calm employment of his -mind that night to reduce this extravagant sentiment to verse. He -appeared next day on the scaffold, in a rich habit, with the same serene -and undaunted countenance, and addressed the people, to vindicate his -dying unabsolved by the Church, rather than to justify an invasion of -the kingdom during a treaty with the Estates. The insults of his -enemies were not yet exhausted. The history of his exploits, which had -been written in Latin by Bishop Wishart, and published all over -Europe, was attached to his neck by the executioner; but he smiled at -their inventive malice, declared that he wore it with more pride than -he had done the garter, and when his devotions were finished, demanding -if any more indignities were to be practised, submitted calmly to an -unmerited fate.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> - -<p>Thus perished, at the age of thirty-eight, the gallant Marquis of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">{151}</span> -Montrose, with the reputation of one of the first commanders that the -civil wars had produced. He excelled in the stratagems of war; but -his talents were rather those of an active, enterprising partisan, than of -a great commander,—better fitted to excite and manage a desultory -war, than to direct the complicated operations of a regular campaign. -He may be admired for his genius, but he cannot be praised for his -wisdom. Though he excelled in the performance of rapid movements, -and had the quick eye of a serpent approaching its prey, he had not the -firmness, perseverance, and vigilance which form the necessary qualifications -of a great general. Most of his victories were gained by the -celerity of his approaches and the impetuosity of his attacks, yet he did -not prove himself any better qualified to avert the fatal consequences of -surprise than those whom his manœuvres had so often defeated. His -genius was great and romantic, in the opinion of Cardinal de Retz, no -mean judge of human nature, approaching the nearest to the ancient -heroes of Greece and Rome. But his heroism was wild and extravagant, -and was less conspicuous during his life than from the fortitude -with which he sustained an ignominious death.</p> - -<p>Montrose’s sentence, in all circumstances, was executed <i>ad literam</i>. -His head was stuck upon the tolbooth of Edinburgh, where it remained, -blackening in the sun, when his master, Charles II., soon thereafter -arrived in the Scottish metropolis. His limbs were dispersed to Perth, -Glasgow, Stirling, and Aberdeen, and his body was buried at the place -of execution, from whence it was afterwards removed to the common -moor,<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> whence it was lifted at the Restoration. On this event, when -Charles found opportunity for testifying his respect for Montrose, his -scattered remains were collected. There was a scaffold erected at the -tolbooth, and some ceremony was used in taking down his head from -its ignominious situation. According to Kirkton,<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> some bowed and -some knelt while that relic was removed from the spike, which was -done by Montrose’s kinsman, the Laird of Gorthie, who, according to -the covenanting account, died <i>in consequence</i>, after performing his -triumphant but melancholy duty. The Laird of Pitcurre, too, who in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">{152}</span> -his joy had drunk a little too much on the occasion, was, by the same -account, found dead in his bed next morning; though we find little -hesitation in giving the brandy more of the credit due to that event -than what the Presbyterian annalist is pleased to call “the pleasure -of Heaven.” Montrose’s remains were deposited in Holyroodhouse, -where they remained some time in state; and, on the 14th of May, -1651, they were buried, with great pomp and ceremony, in the cathedral -church of St. Giles.</p> - -<p class="p2">Such is a brief but correct historical detail of the events which the -Author of “Waverley” has confounded and misrepresented, for his own -purposes, in the “Legend of Montrose.” We have given at best but a -meagre outline of the events, but as they run in their proper series, our -narrative will serve to correct the irregularity into which the Great -Novelist has thrown them. It may here be observed, that the last -event in the Tale is the attempted murder of Lord Menteith, which our -Author has placed after the battle of Inverlochy. Now this circumstance, -which was of real occurrence, took place on the 6th of September, -1644, a few days after the battle of Tippermuir, whereas the battle -of Inverlochy happened on the 1st of February, 1645, five months after. -We have made some collections respecting the assassination, and give -the result.</p> - -<p>John, Lord Kinpont, the Lord Menteith of the “Legend of Montrose,” -was the eldest son of William, seventh Earl of Menteith, and -first Earl of Airth, who rendered himself remarkable in the reign of -Charles I. by saying that he had “the reddest blood in Scotland,” -alluding to his descent from Euphemia Ross, then supposed the first -wife of Robert II.,—in consequence of which expression he was disgraced -and imprisoned by his offended Sovereign. Lord Kinpont -married, in 1632, Lady Mary Keith, a daughter of Earl Marishal; consequently -he could not be the hero and lover which he is represented -to have been in the fiction, and the story of Allan Macaulay’s rivalry, -which prompted him to the wicked deed, must be entirely groundless. -Kinpont joined Montrose in August, 1644, with recruits to the amount -of 400 men, and was present at the battle of Tippermuir, immediately -following. A few days thereafter, James Stewart, of Ardvoirlich, basely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">{153}</span> -murdered his Lordship at Colace, in Perthshire. A different colour is -given to this circumstance by different narrators. A citizen of Perth, -who wrote a manuscript giving an account of some remarkable events -in his own time, (quoted in “<i>The Muse’s Threnodie</i>,”) says simply that -Stewart committed the murder “because Lord Kinpont had joined -Montrose.” But, in Guthrie’s Memoirs, we find, that “Stewart having -proposed to his Lordship a plan to assassinate Montrose, of which Lord -Kinpont signified his abhorrence, as disgraceful and devilish, the other, -without more ado, lest he should discover him, stabbed him to the -heart, and immediately fled to the Covenanters, by whom he was -pardoned and promoted.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> The Marquis of Montrose, deeply affected -with the loss of so noble a friend, gave orders for conveying his body -in an honourable manner to Menteith, where he was interred.” In the -“Staggering State of Scots Statesmen,”<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> we find the following passage:—“The -Lord Kinpont, being with James Graham in the time of -the late troubles, was stabbed with a dirk by one Alexander Stewart, -and his lady, daughter of the Earl of Marishal, was distracted in her -wits four years after.” Here a remarkable discrepancy is observable. -The assassin is termed <i>Alexander</i>, whereas every other authority gives -<i>James</i> as his Christian name. Yet this discordance in names is not -more worthy of remark than another of the same description, which we -are about to point out to the amateurs of the Scotch Novels, as occurring -in the Tale before us. In the first edition of this Tale (1819) at -the 321st page of the third volume, the Great Unknown, for once, forgets -the fictitious appellation Macaulay, and terms the visionary brother -Allen <i>Stuart</i>, which, we think, completely serves to identify the above -story with the dreadful one in the “Tale.”</p> - -<p>Wishart says, that such was the friendship and familiarity of Kinpont<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">{154}</span> -with his murderer, that they had slept in the same bed the night -previous to the horrid deed, which took place, it appears, in the grey -of the morning. It is true that he killed also “the centinel who stood -at the entry of the camp, it being so dark that those who pursued him -could not see the length of their pikes. Montrose was very much -afflicted with the untimely fate of this nobleman, who had been his own -special friend, and most faithful and loyal to the King his master, and -who, besides his knowledge in polite literature, philosophy, divinity, -and law, was eminent for his probity and fortitude.”—<i>Memoirs</i>, p. 84.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - - -<h3 title="PHILIPHAUGH.">PHILIPHAUGH.<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></h3> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe4_0625" id="i_p_154"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_154.jpg" alt="S" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">elkirk</span> lies on the face of a long range of hills stretching from -north to south. The Ettrick water, a pretty little river, runs at their -base. A bridge of four arches crosses the stream, and carries the road -from the low, flat, and swampy plain of Philiphaugh, up the eminence, -in a gracefully winding direction, to the town. A mountain streamlet, -called the Shawburn, disembogues itself at the bridge. This in summer -is quite dry, but in winter, or during wet weather, descends in -torrents, and assists the Ettrick in overflowing the field of Philiphaugh. -This celebrated field is now partly inclosed, and bears a few patches of -turnips; but the chief produce seems to be rushes, a species of crop -which may perhaps yield little comfort to the agriculturist, but which -will give a more than proportionable pleasure to the amateur, assuring -him that the ground has lost little of its original character, and is much -the same now as when it was trod by Montrose.</p> - -<p>The hill on which Selkirk stands is studded round with neat gentlemen’s -seats, and forms a striking contrast with those on the opposite -side of Philiphaugh, which are uniformly dark, bleak, and unproductive. -Sheltered by one of these, and situated directly south from -Selkirk, there stands, in the ravine formed by the Shawburn, a little -cottage thatched in the Scottish fashion, with the usual accompaniments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">{155}</span> -of a <i>kail-yard</i>, a <i>midden</i><a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> before the door, and a <i>jaw-hole</i>. The inhabitants -of this humble tenement, if, like us, you be driven in by -stress of weather, will be very obliging in telling all they know about -Philiphaugh, and how Montrose galloped “up the burn and away over -Minchmoor,” in his retreat before Lesly’s victorious army. They will -likewise tell an indistinct story about a division of Lesly’s troops, which, -led by a countryman, came down this way in order to cut off his -retreat. This evidently alludes to the circumstance of Lesly despatching -a body of his horse across the river to attack Montrose’s right -wing in the rear, upon which the unfortunate general, finding himself -hemmed in on all sides, cut his way through his foes, and abandoned -the field.<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> In corroboration of what we suppose, the inhabitant of the -cottage points out several <i>tumuli</i> or mounds<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> on a little peninsula -formed by a sweep of the stream, where the conflict had been greatest. -He also speaks of having now and then dug up in his potato-field the -remains of human bones.</p> - -<p>This <i>cicerone</i> of Philiphaugh is a very singular-looking man, and well -merits the little attention which you may feel disposed to pay him. He -is what is called a country weaver—that is, a person who converts into -cloth the thread and yarn spun by the industrious female peasantry of -his neighbourhood. It is not perhaps generally known—at least among -our southern neighbours—that the common people of Scotland in general -manufacture their own clothes, and that from the first carding of the -wool to the induing of the garment. The assistance of the weaver and -the dyer is indeed required; but every other department of the business -they are themselves fit to undertake,<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> and sometimes the aid of the dyer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">{156}</span> -is entirely dispensed with, when the cloth, bearing the natural colour -of the wool, is termed <i>hodden-grey</i>, an expression to which Burns has -given a more than ordinary interest. The weaver is usually a person -of no little importance in a rural district; for his talents are in universal -request. The specimen of the craft now before us was unusually poor, -and, not being free of the Selkirk incorporation, was, like the Paria of -the Indian tale, obliged to fly from the customary haunts of his brethren, -and seek an asylum in this solitary place. According to his own -account of his affairs, he “daikers on here in a very sma’ way,” but -when he can get <i>customer-wark</i>, has no occasion to complain. <i>Customer-wark</i> -is the species of employment which we have described, and -he says that he can make eighteen-pence a day by it, which seems to -him to constitute a superlative degree of prosperity. We visited his -loom, which we found half embedded in the damp earth in a low-roofed -part of the cottage, and separated from the domestic establishment by -two large wooden beds. Here he seemed engaged upon a piece of -woollen cloth at least half an inch thick, the surface of which appeared -fully as rough and unequal as the map of Selkirkshire in our good friend -Mr. John Thomson’s Scottish Atlas. One peculiarity in his method of -working is worthy of remark. Instead of impelling the shuttle in the -improved modern manner, by means of a simple piece of mechanism,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">{157}</span> -he sent it through the web by his hands, throwing it from the right and -receiving it into the left, and <i>vice versa</i>, while the hand immediately -unemployed with the shuttle, was employed for the instant in drawing -the <i>lay</i> in upon the thread. This old fashion, which formerly prevailed -in every species of weaving, is now disused by all the Glasgow manufacturers -and others who work upon fine materials, and is only kept up -in remote parts by the coarse country weavers. We entered into a -discussion of the various merits and demerits of different sorts of work; -and found that Glasgow was blessed with no share of the goodwill of -our friend the weaver. Jaconets, blunks, ginghams, and cambrics were -alternately brought up, and each successively declared stale, flat, and -unprofitable, in comparison with the coarse stuff upon which he was -now employed. <i>Customer-wark</i> was superior to every other work; -and customer-wark was, indeed, the very god of his divinity. <i>Customer-wark</i> -seemed to give a sort of <i>character</i> to his conversation, for the -phrase was generally introduced three or four times into, and formed -the termination of, every sentence. When he paused for breath, he -recommenced with “customer-wark;” and this ludicrous technical -accented every cadence. The world was to the weaver all a desert, -wherein only one resting-place existed—<i>customer-wark</i>!</p> - -<p>The poor weaver’s workshop is a miserable-looking place, and so -damp that the walls have a yellow tinge, which also affects the three-paned -window, through which the light finds its way with difficulty. -The family pig is disposed in the same place,—an unusual mark of -squalor and poverty. The weaver tells that his loom now occupies the -precise spot on which the tent of Montrose formerly stood; but this -can scarcely be correct, as, by all accounts, the general resided, with all -his horse, in the town of Selkirk.</p> - -<p>When we visited Philiphaugh, in September, 1824, we entered fully -into the spirit of the weaver, and on that occasion extended our observations -to his wife, who is a tall, hollow woman, with dark eyes, and -who speaks and smokes with equal assiduity. The result of our investigation -was the following versified sketch, in which we have endeavoured -to give the reader a complete idea of that hitherto nondescript -animal, a country weaver: his feelings, fortunes, family, -domestic economy, and—above all—his <i>customer-wark!</i></p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">{158}</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="CUSTOMER-WARK">CUSTOMER-WARK.</h3> -</div> -<p class="center">A POETICAL SKETCH.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>With a Marginal Commentary.</i></p> - - -<h4><b>Part First.</b></h4> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>I.</h5></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="w20em"><p class="smalltext">On the celebrated field of -Philiphaugh, where Montrose -fought his last battle in the -cause of Charles the First, -there now resides a poor -weaver, who tells to strangers -that his loom stands upon the -very spot which the tent of the -great Marquis once occupied. -The scene of so many cares -and councils has become the -home of a contented and humble -mechanic, who has only to -battle with poverty, and whose -whole ambition is to get a -regular supply of</p></td> -<td> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza w30em"> -<div class="ddropcapverse" id="i_p_158"> - <img class="idropcap-verse" src="images/i_p_158.jpg" alt="N" /> -</div> - <div class="verse indent0"> <span class="uppercase">ear</span> Selkrit, where Leslie ance met wi’ Montrose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ga’e the King’s army its last bloody nose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There lives an auld wabster, within an auld shiel,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As lang, and as ugly, and black as the de’il.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He works e’en and morn for his wife and his weans,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till the very flesh seems to be wrought frae his banes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet canty the wabster, and blyth as a lark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whene’er he gets what he ca’s customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>II.</h5></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext"><i>Customer-wark</i>—that is, the -employment of weaving the -homespun linens and woollens -of the industrious country -wives and maidens, which -yields a much better scale of -profits than the staple commodities -of Glasgow. The -superiority of customer-wark -over that sent out to the -country villages by Glasgow -manufacturers,—which is just -the preference of straitened poverty -over utter starvation,—forms -the theme of this poem.</p> -</td> -<td> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">This customer-wark’s the delight o’ his soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whether blanket, or sheetin, or sarkin, or towel.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nae trashtrie o’ cottons frae Glasgow he cares for,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their tippence the ell is a very gude wherefore;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But God bless the wives, wi’ their wheels and their thrift,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That help the puir wabster to fend and mak’ shift;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Himsel’, and his wife, and his weans might been stark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An it hadna been them and their customer-wark.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">{159}</span></p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>III.</h5></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> - -<p class="smalltext">Description of the weaver’s -house, which, having two -apartments, belongs to the -aristocracy of country cottages.</p> -</td> -<td rowspan="2"> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The wabster’s auld house—it’s an unco like den,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(Though, atweel, like its neebors, it has a ben-en’!)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It’s roof’s just a hotter o’ divots and thack,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wi’ a chimley dressed up maist as big’s a wheat-stack.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There’s a peat-ruck behind, and a midden before,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And a jaw-hole would tak a mile race to jump o’er!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye may think him negleckfu’ and lazy,—but, hark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He’s better employed on his customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext">The weaver’s neglect of -cleanliness and order, not to -be attributed to laziness, but -to the want of leisure, all his -time being engrossed by the -important business—<i>customer-wark!</i></p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>IV.</h5></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext">Furniture of the cottage.</p> -</td> -<td rowspan="2"> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Whate’er ye may think him,—the wabster’s auld hut</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has twa looms i’ the ben, and twa beds i’ the butt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A table, twa creepies, three chyres, and a kist,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And a settle to rest on, whene’er that ye list;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ben has a winnock, the butt has a bole,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where the bairns’ parritch-luggies are set out to cool,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In providin’ o’ whilk he has mony a day’s darque,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’ saxteen lang hours at the <i>customer-wark</i>!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext">The poor weaver has to work -sixteen hours a day, in order -to provide food for his children.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>V.</h5></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext">The weaver’s wife a noisy -scold, and appropriately -named <i>Bell</i>.</p> -</td> -<td rowspan="4"> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The wabster’s auld madam—her name it is Bell—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lang, ugly, and black, like the wabster himsel—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She does nought the hale day but keeps skelpin the bairns,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hauds three or four o’ them tight at the pirns.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her tongue is as gleg and as sharp as a shuttle,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilk seldom but gi’es her the best o’ the battle;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sometimes her neive lends the wabster a yerk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he likes na sae weel as his customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">{160}</span></p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext">The children <i>wind</i> the pirns.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext">The wife’s tongue rivals the -weaver’s shuttle both in sound -and swiftness.</p> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -<p class="smalltext">Worse than that, she occasionally -<i>lays on</i>!</p> -</td> -</tr> - - - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>VI.</h5></td></tr> - - - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">The weaver given to prosing -upon his traditions of the -battle.</p></td> - -<td rowspan="3"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The wabster whiles jaunders a lang winter night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On his ae single story—<i>Montrose and the fight</i>—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tells how “<i>the Sutors</i>” stood aff up the brae,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Preservin’ their hides till the end o’ the play.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wife she breaks in wi’—“Dear Jamie, what ken ye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Bout feghts? ’Twill be lang or they bring you a penny!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sic auld-warld nonsense is far frae the mark—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I wish ye wad mind just the customer-wark!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td></tr> - - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">How the inhabitants of Selkirk -stood off during the fight, -not knowing, as they pretended, -whether the battle -was “<i>in daffin</i>” or in earnest, -till they saw Montrose’s -army fly, when they enthusiastically -joined in the pursuit!!!</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">The wife, who has heard -the story till she is sick of it, -bids him mind his work, and -not take up his head with -things that do not put a penny -in his purse.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>VII.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr> -<td><p class="smalltext">The weaver was once told -that great encouragement was -given at New Lanark to weavers -with large families, and -for a long time <i>craiked</i> to be -there. But the wife, who, -with all her tongue, fists, etc., -has some good sense, would -not hear of removing to any -such faraway country, and at -last frightened him out of the -humour he had taken, by saying -that she had heard there -was <i>nae customer-wark to be -got</i> in Mr. Owen’s Utopia.</p></td> - -<td><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The wabster has heard about ane they ca’ Owen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That keeps twa-three toons in the wast-kintry growin’,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where there’s weavers that live just like beass in their sta’s,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without kirks or taxes, debts, hunger, or laws!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he whyles thinks he’d like to be there;—but the wife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Knocks him down wi’—“Dear Jamie, man, ne’er fash your life!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do ye think Mr. Owen, or ony sic clerk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could e’er gie ye ought like the customer-wark?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">{161}</span></p></td> -</tr> - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h4><b>Part Second.</b></h4></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>I.</h5></td></tr> - - -<tr> -<td><p class="smalltext">Improvident domestic habits, -in time of plenty,</p></td> - -<td><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The black cutty-pipe, that lies by the fireside,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weel kens it the day when a wab has been paid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For then wi’ tobacco it’s filled to the ee,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the wabster sits happy as happy can be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For hours at a time it’s ne’er out o’ his cheek,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till maist feck o’ his winnings ha’e vanished in reek:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He says that o’ life he could ne’er keep the spark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An it werena the pipe and the customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td></tr> - - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>II.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr> -<td> </td> -<td><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then the wife, that’s as fond o’ her pleasure as he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brings out a black tea-pot and maks a drap tea;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they sit, and they soss, and they haud a cabal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ye’d think that their slaistrie wad never divaul.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By their wee spunk o’ ingle they keep up the bother,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each jeerin’, misca’in’, and scauldin’ the tother;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the bairns sit out by, wi cauld kale, i’ the dark—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nae gude comes to them o’ the customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>III.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">produce proportionate want -and misery in the exhaustion -of their resources.</p></td> - -<td rowspan="3"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When the siller grows scarce and the spleuchan gets toom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wabster gangs back to his treddles and loom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where he jows the day lang on some wab o’ his ain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That’ll bring in nae cash for a twalmonth or twain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then the pipe lies exhaustit o’ a but its stink,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the pourie is washed and set by on the bink;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There neglected they’ll lie, like auld yads in a park,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till Heaven shall neist send some customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">{162}</span></p></td> -</tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">In the absence of <i>customer-wark</i>, -the weaver flies to his -<i>dernier resort</i>, the loom of -reserve, on which he works a -web for private sale, but which -his funds will scarce allow him -to carry on upon his own -foundation.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">The implements of luxury -thrown by neglected.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>IV.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr> -<td><p class="smalltext">Description of a process of -starvation, which reduces the -weaver from his natural and -customary meagreness to a -perfect anatomization.</p></td> - -<td rowspan="3"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then the puir starvin’ wabster grows thinner and thinner,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On a ’tatoe for breakfast, a ’tatoe for dinner,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And vanishes veesibly, day after day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just like the auld moon whan she eelies away.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clean purged out he looks, like a worm amang fog,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And his face is the colour o’ sweens in a cogue.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, when grown hungry and gaunt as a shark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He revives wi’ a mouthfu’ o’ customer-wark.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td> -</tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">A simile picked up in trout -fishing.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">The weaver saved, in his -extremity, by a supply of his -darling <i>customer-wark</i>.</p></td></tr> - - - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>V.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Arrival of a customer.</p></td> - -<td rowspan="4"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A branksome gudewife, frae the neist farmer toon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Comes in wi’ a bundle, and clanks hersel’ down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“How’s a’ wi’ ye the day, Bell? Ha’ ye ought i’ the pipe?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Come rax me a stapper? the cutty I’ll rype!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I maun see the gudeman—bring him ben, hinney Jess!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tut!! the pipe’s fu’ o’ naithing but fusionless asse!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wife ne’er lets on that she hears the remark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But cries, “Jess! do ye hear, deme?—<i>It’s customer-wark!!!</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Familiar condescension of a -farmer’s wife in visiting a -weaver’s.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Disappointment on finding -the hopeless state of the <i>cutty</i>.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Trait of the excitement produced -in the household by the -arrival of <i>customer-wark</i>.</p></td></tr> - - - - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>VI.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Transport of the weaver -himself at hearing the news.</p></td> - -<td rowspan="4"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Having gotten her lick i’ the lug, Jess gangs ben,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tells her toom father about the God-sen’;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Transported, he through the shop-door pops his head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like a ghaist glowrin’ out frae the gates o’ the dead.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, wi’ a great fraise he salutes the gudewife,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Says he ne’er saw her lookin’ sae weel i’ his life,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spiers for the gudeman and the bairns at Glendeark,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While his thoughts a’ the time are on customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">{163}</span></p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">His behaviour towards the -customer.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Politeness and flattery.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Affected solicitude about his -customer’s domestic welfare, -while his whole soul is in -reality entranced in the contemplation -of <i>customer-wark</i>.</p></td></tr> - - - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>VII.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Makes himself immediately -very busy in the delightful details -prefatory to his employment.</p></td> - -<td rowspan="3"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, wi’ the gudewife, he claps down on the floor,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they turn and they count the hale yarn o’er and o’er:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He rooses her spinning, but canyells like daft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Bout the length o’ her warp and the scrimp o’ her waft.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last it’s a’ settled, and promised bedeen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be ready on Friday or Fursday at e’en;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the bairns they rin out, wi’ a great skirlin’ bark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To tell that their dad’s got some customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td> -</tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Praises the wife’s handiwork, -for courtesy’s sake, but -does not approve of the bounds -which her niggardliness has -imposed upon the possibility -of <i>cabbage</i>.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Rapture of the children, -which is much more disinterested, -and not less heartfelt, -than the weaver’s own.</p></td></tr> - - - - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>VIII.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Recovery from starvation.</p></td> - -<td rowspan="2"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then it’s pleasant to see, by the vera neist ouk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How the wabster thowes out to his natural bouk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How he freshens a thought on his diet o’ brose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And a wee tait o’ colour comes back to his nose!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The cutty’s new-mountit, and everything’s snug,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Bell’s tongue disna sing half sae loud i’ his lug;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Abstracted and happy, and jum as a Turk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He sits thinking on nothing but customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td> -</tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Revival of former domestic -comfort.</p></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"><h5>IX.</h5></td></tr> - -<tr><td><p class="smalltext">Concluding benediction upon -customer-wark, and recapitulation -of its virtues.</p></td> - -<td><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, customer-wark! thou sublime movin’ spring!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It’s you gars the heart o’ the wabster to sing!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An ’twerena for you, how puir were his cheer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ae meltith a day, and twa blasts i’ the year:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It’s you that provides him the bit, brat, and beet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And maks the twa ends o’ the year sweetly meet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That pits meat in his barrel and meal in his ark!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My blessings gang wi’ ye, dear customer-wark!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td></tr> - - -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">{164}</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X" title="The Monastery.">CHAPTER X.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>The Monastery.</b></p> - - -<h3>A VILLAGE ANTIQUARY.</h3> - -<p class="center">(<i>Captain Clutterbuck.</i>)</p> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe3_75" id="i_p_164"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_164.jpg" alt="C" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">aptain</span> Clutterbuck, the amusing personage who introduces -“The Monastery” and “Nigel,” and who employed himself so -agreeably during the half-pay part of his life in showing off the ruins of -St. Mary’s, finds a happy counterpart in Mr., <i>vulgo</i> Captain O——n, a -gentleman well known in Melrose as an amateur cicerone of “<i>the -Abbey</i>.” His peculiarities and pursuits very nearly resemble those of -the fictitious Clutterbuck. He differs from him in this,—that he never -was engaged in foreign service, having merely held some rank in a provincial -corps of volunteers; but in every other respect he bears a -striking resemblance. He is a staid, elderly person, about fifty, -dresses like a gentleman,—that is, a Melrose gentleman,—and parades -about his native village with a swagger of military gentility in his air, -such as the possession of a walking-cane and the title of <i>Captain</i> seems -alone capable of inspiring in the legs of mankind.</p> - -<p>He possesses as much property in the neighbourhood of Melrose as -would entitle him to the honourable appellation, <i>Laird</i>; but in his case -that enviable title is merged in the more romantic and splendid one of -<i>Captain</i>, of which he is, perhaps, ambitious. He has his property in -his own hands, and by its means contrives to keep himself independent. -He thus wavers between the species of the half-pay officer and the cock-laird, -and has no particular claims upon a distinct classification with -either. He is chiefly genteel and idle, and associates a good deal with -that regular hanger-on in all country villages, the exciseman. Having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">{165}</span> -by some chance got the title of Captain affixed to his name, (in truth, he -was only sergeant of a local militia corps,) he persists in retaining, by -abstinence from personal labour, what otherwise he would have forfeited. -The dignity which he contrives to maintain in his native town is -scarcely wonderful, when we consider how few are ever independent in -such a community, and to what a degree the respect of the illiterate is -calculated to be excited by the possession of a very little knowledge,—such -as Captain O. would easily acquire in the course of his unoccupied -life, and which the opportunities of ease did not fail to confer upon even -David Ritchie. Besides, to speak in the deferential words of Captain -Clutterbuck’s Kennaquhair Club, “The Captain has something in him -after a’—few folk ken sae mickle about the Abbey.” O.’s knowledge -upon this point is indeed well calculated to excite the astonishment and -veneration of the natives. He has not only driven the grave-digger -fairly off the field, who, in the reality of Melrose, as well as in the -ideality of Kennaquhair, was the former cicerone of the ruins,—but he -is even a formidable rival to the ingenious John Bower himself. Old -David Kyle, who kept the head inn at Melrose, and who is the <i>David</i> -of the Introduction here illustrated, was in the frequent practice of -calling upon Captain O. for the purpose there so humorously described, -namely, to press his knowledge into the service of his guests. Upon -such occasions of importance, the Captain would, and still does, march -away, with great pomposity, at the head of his company, like a peripatetic -philosopher declaiming to a troop of disciples, and by the way -<i>lays off</i>, as he terms it, all he has ever been able to discover respecting -the valuable remains of St. Mary’s,—and sometimes more than all! -How, then, will his eloquence expand over crypts and chancels, naves -and arches! With what an important sound will the point of his -walking cane ring against the tomb of Michael Scott! And, above all, -how will the surrounding cockneys stare in admiration, when, in the -course of his lecture, he chances to emit some such grandly unintelligible -word as <i>architrave</i> or <i>transept</i>.</p> - -<p>Captain O.’s intelligence chiefly lies among the vulgar traditionary -opinions which are entertained regarding the ruins by the country -people; and he knows comparatively little of the lore with which -written records and authentic treatises instruct the general antiquary.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">{166}</span> -Mr. Bower is a person of better authority than the Captain, and has -even published descriptions of the Abbey; but, notwithstanding, the -Captain is not without his party in the town, and it is generally -remarked that his anecdotes, if not so true, are at least as entertaining. -A sort of jealousy sometimes is observable between these rival Ciceroni, -a remarkable anecdote of which is recorded. Upon the opening of -some ancient grave within the ruins, a noseless bust of St. Peter -happened to be found, which it pleased Captain O. to take under his -immediate protection. Bower had found some other remarkable idol in -another part of the Abbey, to which he endeavoured to collect as many -votaries of curiosity as possible; but the rival statue, which the Captain -had already christened by the <i>taking</i> name of Michael Scott, drew off a -sweeping sect from the more legitimate shrine. Bower then endeavoured -to prove that this was no statue of the wizard at all, but merely -one of the common herd of saints, who had formerly figured in the -niches of the building. Of this he at last succeeded in convincing all -concerned, to the discomfiture of his rival. But, nevertheless, the -Captain would not give up his point. He continued pertinacious in -maintaining the authenticity of his noseless <i>protégé</i>, in spite of all -detractions, in spite of all heresies; till at last finding the whole world -against him, he gave up his argument, and turned off the whole as a -joke, with the facetious observation, that “It was just as good a Michael -Scott as could have been found among the whole ruins, if they would -only have held with it!”</p> - -<p>Sometimes, in the course of exhibition, there occur distresses nearly -resembling that which happened to Captain Clutterbuck, in the company -of the Benedictine,—that is to say, he “finds himself a scholar when he -came to teach,” by the strangers actually knowing more of his favourite -study than himself. This happens most frequently in the case of -“gentlemen from Edinburgh,”—elderly persons with black coats and -low-crowned hats, which may be called the costume of terror to our -antiquary. To these habiliments, if we add the circumstance of hair-powder, -O——n would as soon face a hyena as any person so clothed. -He is said to fly from a wig as from a pestilence.</p> - -<p>Yet, even in these predicaments, the Captain is never entirely at a -loss. Repulsed from one stone, he can retreat to another; refuted in any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">{167}</span> -part of his intelligence, he can make an honourable stand at another, -of which his visitors had not been aware; and, even when found to be -wholly fabulous and absurd in his anecdotes, he can, as a <i>dernier resort</i>, -turn them off with some pleasantry or other, which is, of course, irrefragable. -Besides, even when he catches a complete, resolute, <span class="smcap">Antiquarian</span> -Tartar, he generally contrives to profit by the encounter, by picking up -some new intelligence, which he adds to his own former stock.</p> - -<p>In describing this part of the character of a local antiquary, with all -his ignorance and all his fables, it is forced upon our observation, how -little certain information is commonly to be found, concerning the relics -of antiquity, among those who dwell in their immediate neighbourhood. -They know that there is an “<i>auld abbey</i>” or a “<i>queer sort o’ -stane</i>,” near them; but for any more particular notice of their history, -you might as well inquire in a different quarter of the globe. We have -known instances of people, whose playground in infancy, and whose -daily walks in manhood, had been among the ruins of an ancient -Collegiate Church, (not the least interesting in the kingdom,) being yet -quite ignorant of every circumstance connected with it, except that it -was “<i>just the auld Kirk</i>.”</p> - -<p>“It not unfrequently happened,” says Captain Clutterbuck, in his -amusing account of himself, “that an acquaintance which commenced -in the Abbey concluded in the Inn, which served to relieve the solitude -as well as the monotony of my landlady’s shoulder of mutton, whether -hot, cold, or hashed.” This happened not more frequently in the case -of Captain Clutterbuck than it does in that of Captain O——n. The -latter personage, indeed, makes a constant practice of living entirely -with his <i>eleves</i> during their stay in Melrose; and, as they have been -guests at the hospitable board of his learning and entertainment, so he -in turn becomes a guest at the parade of their “bottle of sherry, minced -collops, and fowl,” or whatever else the order upon David Kyle may -be. He is thus always ready at the elbows of their ignorance, to -explain and to exhibit the various petty curiosities of the place, of which -it is probable they might otherwise be obliged to remain perfectly unknowing, -but for the condescending attention of Captain O. He is not -destitute of other means of entertainment, besides showing the Abbey. -He can tell a good story, after a few glasses, and is an excellent hand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">{168}</span> -at a song. “The Broom of the Cowdenknows” is his favourite and his -best; but we are also tenderly attached to “The Flowers of the Forest,” -which he gives in the milkmaid style, with much pathos. When his -company is agreeable, he can (about the tenth tumbler,) treat them with -“Willie brewed a peck o’ Maut,” or “Auld Lang Syne,” or “For a’ -that and a’ that.” These infatuating lyrics he gives in such a style of -appropriate enthusiasm, that if his companions have at all a spark of -Burns’s fire in their composition, they will rise up and join hands round -the table, and, at the conclusion of every stanza, drink down immense -cups of kindness, till, in the springtide of their glory, they imagine -themselves the most jolly, patriotic, and independent Scotsmen upon -the face of the earth. Such is the deceiving effect of a national song -upon the spirits of men of sober reason when prepared for the excitement -by previous intoxication. This trait is also not without its parallel -in Clutterbuck. The reader will remember how, in the Introduction -to Nigel, he pathetically laments that since Catalani visited the ruins, -his “Poortith Cauld” has been received both poorly and coldly, and his -“Banks of Doon” been fairly coughed down, at the Club. May the -vocal exertions of Captain O——n, however, never meet with such a -scurvy reception among the cognoscenti of Melrose!</p> - -<p>Such are the characteristics of the prototype of Captain Clutterbuck, -as we have gathered them from persons who have been acquainted with -him, natives of the same town. We learn that there is another person -of the same description in Melrose, named Captain T——t, who was -really a Captain, but of a man-of-war, instead of a regiment. May he -not have been the <i>Captain Doolittle</i> of “The Monastery”? The grave-digger -of Kennaquhair, who has the honour of speaking a few words in -that work, must have been John Martin, who was professor of the same -trade in Melrose. He is now dead. Mr. David Kyle, a very respectable -and worthy man, who kept the Cross Keys Inn at Melrose, is also -dead. He was in the custom of keeping an album in his house, for the -amusement of his guests; though we cannot say as to the truth of his -having had a copy of the “great Dr. Samuel Johnson’s <i>Tower</i> to the -Hebrides, in his parlour window, wi’ the twa boards torn aff.” In the -album, to which we had access, is the following very curious document, -among much nonsense:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">{169}</span></p> - - -<p class="ph3 p2">EPITAPH ON MR. LITTLE,<br /> -A JOLLY FELLOW.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Alas! how chop-fallen now!”—<i>Blair.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Little’s the man lies buried here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For little was his soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His belly was the warehouse vat</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of many a flowing bowl.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O Satan, if to thy domains</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His little soul has hoppit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be sure ye guard your whiskey casks,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or faith, they will be toppit!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Chain, chain him fast, the drucken loon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For, Satan, ye’ve nae notion</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’ Jockey’s drouth;—if he get loose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By Jove! he’ll drink the ocean!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The character of Captain Clutterbuck, taken abstractedly from all -consideration of its prototype, may be said to represent a certain -species of men to be found in almost every Scottish village of any -extent. Sergeant M‘Alpine, in the Legend of Montrose, is another -picture of them, and perhaps a more complete one than Clutterbuck. -They are the scattered wrecks of war, drifted upon the beach of retirement, -and left to waste away. They chiefly roost about little towns -in remote parts of the country, where society is not expensive, and -where half-pay procures the necessaries of life in the best possible style. -Here there always exist one or two of these individuals, rendering the -place respectable by their presence, and receiving a sort of spontaneous -homage from the people, in virtue of their independence, their gentility, -and their scars. Like the fading relics of the City Guard, they change -the most warlike of their habiliments for others more consonant with -the costumes of peace; but yet, though the scarlet be gone from the -coat and the sword from the hand, they do not altogether shake off the -airs of war. There is still something of the parade to be observed in the -small-ruffled shirt, the blue-necked coat, and the shoe-buckles; while -the starched and powdered rigidity in the cheek is as military as before, -and the walking cane is but a slight defalcation, in either dignity or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">{170}</span> -ferocity, from its predecessor, the sword. The walk, proud, portly, -and erect, is another relic of military habit that can never be -abandoned: and every other little punctuality of life and manners, -such as soldiers are accustomed to, is equally pertinacious in clinging -to the person of the disbanded officer. Such persons have long-winded -stories about Ticonderago and Mount Abraham, which every -one of their acquaintance has known by heart these twenty years; and -yet such is the respect paid to the good old gentleman, that amazement -as naturally follows the unfolding of the story, and the laugh comes as -ready on the catastrophe of the joke, as ever. No one could be uncivil -to <i>the Captain</i>. An excellent sketch of this description of persons is -to be found in the xxxth number of <i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i>, under the -title of “Lament for Captain Paton.” To this poem we refer the -reader for further particulars respecting the character represented in -Captain Clutterbuck.</p> - - -<h3>SCENERY.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first and most prominent object of attention, in the scenery of -this Romance, is the Monastery itself, which every one knows to be -the renowned Abbey of Melrose, situated upwards of thirty-five miles -from Edinburgh to the south. It is the most beautiful and correct -specimen of Gothic architecture in Scotland; and has been universally -admired for the elegance and variety of its sculpture, the beauty of its -stone, the multiplicity of its statues, and the symmetry of its parts. -It was founded, as is well known, in 1136, by the pious David I., who -dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. To attempt a minute description of -it would be unnecessary, as we presume the great bulk of our readers -have seen the venerable pile itself, and those who have not, know the -many excellent sources from which this want can be supplied. Any -remarks of ours would give no additional lustre to the magnificent -ruins, or to the knowledge of the vicissitudes which it underwent in -the course of several ages.</p> - -<p>Less than a quarter of a mile to the west of the Abbey, there is a -green bank which reaches to the height of some hundred feet above -the level of the Tweed. It is termed the Weird Hill, from a dim<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">{171}</span> -tradition of the fairy tribe having haunted the spot, and held high -conclave touching the whimsies to be practised on the wights who -came under their ire. Immediately below this bank is the weird or -dam-dyke where it is believed the poor Sacristan was ducked by the -White Lady,—a lineal descendant of the ancient inhabitants of the -hill.</p> - -<p>Following the course of the Tweed upwards—that is, towards the -west, about a mile and a half—we arrive at the ruins of the Old Bridge, -which once formed the regular communication to the Monastery. It -appears to have been constructed of timber, in the form of a drawbridge, -with three pillars, the middle pillar containing a wooden -house for the bridge-keeper. From this bridge there was a plain -way to Soutra Hill, along the northern bank of the Tweed, which was -named the <i>Girth-gate</i>,<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> from an hospital, having the privileges of -Sanctuary, which was founded at Soutra by Malcolm IV., for the -relief of pilgrims and of poor and infirm persons who journeyed southwards. -This way was so good and easy, that, as a learned divine -remarked, it might strongly remind the traveller of the paths to the -cities of refuge. There were also two hostelries or inns at that place, -which could well afford, from their stores, an elegant <i>dejeune</i> to Sir -Piercie Shafton and his “fair Molindinara.”</p> - -<p>A few yards from the bridge alluded to, the Elevand or Allan water -discharges itself into the Tweed. It is this little mountain brook -(rising from Allan-shaws on the boundary of Melrose parish towards -the north,) that forms the beautiful valley of Glendearg, described in -the romance. Advancing from the strath of the river in the northern -direction from Melrose, we discern the stream meandering in crystal -beauty through Langlee Wood, the property of Lord Somerville. The -serpentine turns of its course oblige the traveller frequently to pass and -repass it, in the line of the foot-track; but this is attended with no -inconvenience, from the number of rustic bridges which are thrown -over it. Emerging from the wood, the glen opens to the view. On one -side of it (to the east,) rises a precipitous bank or <i>scaur</i>,<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> of a reddish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">{172}</span> -colour, with here and there small patches of green sward. On the -opposite side the eminences do not swell so high, but form a perfect -contrast to the other. They have yielded their bosom to the industry -of man, and repay his labour with the rich fruits of autumn. This -improvement, however, is recent, as thirty years have scarcely elapsed -since they displayed an aspect almost as barren as the opposite ridge. -The little brook which runs below is not perceptible from either -height, so deeply is its channel embosomed in the narrow dell. As we -proceed onwards under a shade of alders, the glen gradually widens, -and, about 400 yards from whence it opens, a singular amphitheatre -meets the eye. It is somewhat in the shape of a crescent, through -which the water passes, leaving a pretty large channel. The opposing -precipices are thickly belted with copse-wood and several mountain -shrubs, which entwine with the branches of the beech and birch trees. -This place is called the Fairy or Nameless Dean, from some curiously-shaped -stones, which are said to be found after great falls of rain.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> -But perhaps a better reason for the appellation arises from the situation -itself, which afforded a hidden rendezvous for the elfin race, with which -superstition peopled many parts of this district during the grandeur of -the Abbacy. No one, however, will deny that the White Lady of -Avenel might here have fixed her residence, and delivered her responses -to young Glendinning, or that it might have served as a secluded corner -for deadly strife. Though the holly bush cannot be discovered, yet -the spring of water may easily be conjectured, by the curious observer, -in the swampiness of portions of the ground now covered with sward.</p> - -<p>The scenery of the remainder of the glen is extremely picturesque, -but unmarked by any striking varieties. The brook, like</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Streamlet of the mountain north,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now in a torrent racing forth,”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>often dashes and foams over small interjecting rocks, and forms some -beautiful cascades. At other times,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Winding slow its silver train,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And almost slumbering o’er the plain,”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">{173}</span></p> -<p>it sends a puny rill into some of the deep recesses or ravines which -have found their way between the hills. As the top of the glen is -neared, the hills show a greater slope, till we arrive at the green mount, -on which stands</p> - - -<h3 title="HILLSLOP TOWER.">HILLSLOP TOWER,</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the property of Borthwick of Crookston, from which there is no -doubt Glendearg has been depicted. The outward walls are still -entire, and, from their thickness and oblong form, with the port-holes -with which they abound, show it to have been formerly a place of -some strength. This seems also probable from the bleakness and -wildness of the surrounding scenery. High mountainous ridges, the -castles of nature, tower on every side, whose bosoms sometimes display -the naked grey rock encircled with fern and heath, and, at other times, -excellent verdure. But no cultivated field greets the eye, and the -solemn stillness which reigns around is only broken by the gentle -murmuring of the rivulet. The situation of the old tower is well -chosen, as, from the direction in which the hills run, a sort of circle -is formed, which not only screens it from the north and east winds, -but could easily debar all intercourse with the neighbouring country.</p> - -<p>The date of the old tower, if a sculpture on the lintel of the entrance -can be credited, is 1585; and its inhabitants seem to have been of -some consequence from its interior appearance. At the foot of the -stair, which projects almost to the door, there is a long, narrow apartment, -with an arched roof lighted by a loophole-window, which, in the -olden times, formed the pen for the proprietor’s cattle when danger -was apprehended. It would suit well for the place of concealment -suggested by the miller’s daughter for Sir Piercie, before the unbarring -of the door. The decayed stone staircase leads to a common-sized -hall, with a large chimney-piece; but from the height of the walls, -and other circumstances, there must have been another room of equal -dimensions above it. There are also the remains of some small rooms, -which complete the accommodations of the mansion.</p> - -<p>At a little distance from the foot of the tower, the straggling ruins of -small outhouses are discerned, which have been once connected with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">{174}</span> -the principal building. A short way farther, to the north, stand the -ruins of Colmsley and Langshaw, the former of which places is alluded -to by its name in the Romance.</p> - -<p>Leaving Glendearg, it is necessary to follow the progress of the -romance towards the Castle of Avenel, <i>alias</i> Smailholm Tower. The -distance between the two places is nearly seven miles. There is no -regular road, but a track can be discovered, which runs eastward from -Hillslop, through the base of the Gattonside, a small chain which runs -from E. to W., in the direction of Melrose. The path is a most unenviable -one; for, besides the obstacles of ditch and furze, it is intersected -by deep morasses, which often render it quite impassable. In -threading it, we pass Threepwood and Blainslie Mosses, the favourite -resort of the Moss-troopers, who kept the peaceful inhabitants in continual -alarm. Their ravages were particularly extensive during the -usurpation of Cromwell, who allowed these depredators to scourge -Scotland unpunished.</p> - - -<h3>SMAILHOLM TOWER.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">We</span> hope to be able to show, from the description of this ancient -fortress, that it agrees in the leading features with Avenel Castle; and -if the reader will carry back his imagination for two centuries, he will -be better able to minute the resemblance. Smailholm tower, distant -about seven miles from Melrose to the east, and eight from Kelso to -the west, is the most perfect relic of the feudal keep in the south of -Scotland. It stands upon a rock of considerable height, in the centre -of an amphitheatre of craggy hills, which rise many hundred feet above -the level of the fertile plains of the Merse. Between the hills there -appear ravines of some depth, which, being covered with straggling -clumps of mountain shrubs, afford an agreeable relief to the rocks -which are continually starting upon the eye. Nature indeed seems to -have destined this isolated spot for a bulwark against the border -marauders; but its strength and security was not confined to the -encircling eminences. It chiefly lay in a deep and dangerous loch, -which completely environed the castle, and extended on every side to -the hills. Of this loch only a small portion remains, it having been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">{175}</span> -drained, many years ago, for the convenience of the farmer on whose -estate it was thought a nuisance. But the fact is evident, not only -from the swampiness of the ground, which only a few years since -created a dangerous morass, but from the appearance of the remaining -pool, which has hitherto defied the efforts of the numerous drain-beds -which surround it in every direction. Some people in the neighbourhood -recollect and can mark out the extent of the large sheet of water -which gave so romantic an air to this shred of antiquity.</p> - -<p>We cannot omit giving the following animated picture of the local -beauties, from the pencil of Sir Walter Scott.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“—Then rise those crags, that mountain tower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which charmed my fancy’s wakening hour.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"> -* * * *</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It was a barren scene and wild,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where naked cliffs were rudely piled:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ever and anon between</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay velvet tufts of loveliest green;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And well the lonely infant knew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Recesses where the wall-flower grew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And honeysuckle loved to crawl</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Up the low crag and ruined wall:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I deemed such nooks the sweetest shade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun in all his round surveyed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still I thought that shattered tower<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mightiest work of human power;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And marvelled, as the aged hind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With some strange tale bewitched my mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of forayers who, with headlong force,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down from that strength had spurred their horse,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their southern rapine to renew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far in the distant Cheviots blue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, home-returning, filled the hall</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With revel, wassail-rout, and ball.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>There is much feeling in this description; and so might there be, for -the early years of the bard were passed in the farmhouse of Sandy-knowe -(about a bow-shot from the tower,) with a maternal aunt, whose -mind was stored with border legends, which she related to her youthful -charge. With this instructress, and by poring incessantly for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">{176}</span> -many years on the relics of antiquity which are to be found in the -neighbourhood, it is probable that he first received the impressions -that afterwards came forward to such an illustrious maturity, and stored -his imagination with those splendid images of chivalry that have since -been embodied in imperishable song.</p> - -<p>The external appearance of the tower may be briefly described. -The walls are of a quadrangular shape, and about nine feet in thickness. -They have none of the decorations of buttress or turret; and if -there were any ornamental carving, time has swept it away. A ruined -bartizan, which runs across three angles of the building, near the top, -is the only outward addition to the naked square <i>donjon</i>. The tower -has been entered on the <i>west</i> side, as all the other quarters rise perpendicularly -from the lake. Accordingly, there we discern the fragments -of a causeway, and the ruins of a broad portal, whence a drawbridge -seems to have communicated with an eminence about a hundred yards -distant. On this quarter also there may be traced the site of several -small booths which contained the retainers or men-at-arms of the feudal -lord.</p> - -<p>On the west side,<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> at a little distance from the Castle, is the Watch -Crag, a massive rock, on the top of which a fire was lit to announce -the approach of the English forayers to the neighbourhood. It is thus -described in the ballad of the Eve of St. John:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The bittern clamoured from the moss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wind blew loud and shrill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet the craggy pathway she did cross</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To the airy beacon hill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"> -* * * *</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I watched her steps, and silent came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where she sat her all alone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No watchman stood by the dreary flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It burnèd all alone.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The interior of the castle bespeaks the mansion of the lesser Scottish -Baron. The sunk-floor, or keep, seems, from its structure, to have -contained the cattle of the Baron during seasons of alarm and invasion. -It is vaulted in the roof, and the light is admitted by a small outshot.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">{177}</span> -Some have conjectured that this apartment was occupied as a dungeon, -or <i>Massy More</i>, where the captives taken in war were confined; but -this idea is improbable, not only from the comfortable appearance it -exhibits, but from the circumstance of every border fortress having a -place of the description formerly alluded to. Ascending a narrow -winding staircase, we arrive at a spacious hall, with the customary -distinction of a huge chimney-piece. The roof is gone, but the stone -props of it, which were of course the support of another floor, remain. -This latter would seem to have been the grand banqueting-room, -where the prodigal hospitality of our ancestors was displayed in its -usual style of extravagance. There also remain the marks of a higher -floor, thus making three storeys in all. The highest opens by a few -steps to the bartizan we have already mentioned, whence we ascend to -a grass-grown battlement, which commands a magnificent prospect. -To the east the spires of Berwick are descried, terminating an extensive -plain, beautified by the windings of the Tweed; to the south, the -conical summits of the Eildon Hills; to the north, the Lammermoors -rear their barren heads above the verdant hills of the Merse; and on -the south, the blue Cheviots are seen stretching through a lengthened -vista of smaller hills. Besides this grand outline, the eye can take in -a smaller range, beyond the rocky barrier of the Castle,—a most cultivated -dale, varied with peaceful hamlets, crystal streams, and towering -forests.</p> - -<p>The history of the ancient possessors of the tower is involved in -obscurity. We only know that there were Barons of Smailholm, but -no memorable qualities are recorded of them. They were, as we -already observed, in the rank of the <i>lesser</i> Barons—that is, those who -had not the patent of peerage, but who were dignified only by the -extent of their possessions. But we know that the present proprietor, -Mr. Scott, of Harden, is not a descendant of that ancient family, as we -believe he acquired the estate by purchase. This gentleman cares so -little for the antique pile within his domains, that it is not long since -he intimated his intention to raze it to the ground, and from its -materials to erect a steading to the farm of Sandy-knowe. This would -have certainly taken place, had not his poetic kinsman, Sir Walter -Scott, interfered, and averted the sacrilegious intent; and to prevent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">{178}</span> -the recurrence of the resolution, he composed the admired ballad of -the Eve of St. John, which ranks among the best in the Border -Minstrelsy.</p> - -<p>Tradition bears that it was inhabited by an aged lady at the beginning -of the last century, and several old people still alive remember of -the joists and window-frames being entire. A more interesting legend -exists, of which the purport is, that there was once a human skull -within this tower, possessed of the miraculous faculty of self-motion to -such a degree, that, if taken away to any distance, it was always sure -to have found its way back to its post by the next morning.<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> This -may perhaps remind the reader of the strange journeys performed by -the “black volume” in the Monastery, whose rambling disposition -was such a source of terror and amazement to the monks of St. Mary’s.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">{179}</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI" title="The Romances.">CHAPTER XI.</h2> -</div> -<p class="ph3"><b>The Romances.</b></p> - - -<h3>MATCH OF ARCHERY AT ASHBY.</h3> - -<p class="center">“IVANHOE.”</p> - -<div class="ddropcapbox illowe4_625" id="i_p_179"> - <img class="w100 idropcap" src="images/i_p_179.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div><p><span class="uppercase">he</span> match in which the yeoman Locksley overcomes all the antagonists -whom Prince John brings up against him, finds a parallel, -and indeed we may say foundation, in the ballad of “Adam Bell, Clym -o’ the Cleugh, and William of Cloudeslea.” The story of the ballad -bears, that these three “perilous outlaws,” having wrought great -devastation among the “foresters of the fee” and liege burghers of -Carlisle, while in the act of rescuing one of their companions from -prison, “fure up to London Town” to crave of their Sovereign a -charter of peace. This, by the intercession of the Queen, he grants -them; but no sooner is the royal word passed for their pardon, than -messengers arrive from the “North Countrye,” with the tidings of the -deadly havoc. The King happens to be quietly engaged in eating -his dinner at the time, and is completely thunderstruck at the intelligence, -so that,—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Take up the table,” then said he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“For I can eat no mo’.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>He straightway assures the three offenders, that if they do not prevail -over every one of his own bowmen, their lives shall be forfeited.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then they all bent their good yew bows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Looked that their strings were rownd</i>,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And twice or thrice they shot their shafts</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Full deftly in that stound.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then out spoke William of Cloudeslea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘By him that for me died,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I hold him not a good archer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That shoots at butt so wide.’</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘Whereat, I crave,’ then said the King,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘That thou wilt tell to me?’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘At such a butt, sire, as we wont</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To use in our countrye.’</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">{180}</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then William, with his brethren twain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stept forth upon the green,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there set up two hazel rods,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Twenty score pace between.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The reader will recollect that Locksley upbraids his adversary, after his -unsuccessful shot, for not having made an allowance for the pressure of -the breeze. Cloudeslea gives a caution to the spectators no less minute:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He prayed the people that were there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That they would all still stand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘He that for such a wager shoots,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has need of steady hand;’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>and, having chosen a “bearing flane,” splits the wand.</p> - - -<h3>KENILWORTH CASTLE.</h3> - -<p class="center">“KENILWORTH.”</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Kenilworth Castle</span> was in former times one of the most magnificent -piles in England. In the days of its prosperity it took a military -part, and it still retains traces of a warlike character,—though the -foliage which overspreads its remains, has softened down the ruins -into the appearance of a peaceful mansion. It was first destroyed by -Cromwell, in revenge of its possessor having favoured the royal cause. -Since then it has been gradually decaying, and another century will -probably bring it to the ground.</p> - -<p>History mentions Kenilworth so early as the reign of Henry I. At -that time it was private property, but afterwards fell into the hands of -the Crown, in which it continued till Elizabeth bestowed it upon her -favourite, Leicester. This nobleman, profuse and extravagant to the -last degree, is said to have expended upon it no less than £60,000.</p> - -<p>One of the most remarkable events in the history of this castle is the -entertainment given by the latter proprietor to Elizabeth, which forms -the groundwork of the beautiful romance of “Kenilworth.” The traditionary -recollection of this grand festivity still lives in the country, -such having been the impression made upon the minds of the country -people by the grandeur of the occasion, that, in a lapse of 250 years, it -has not decayed in their remembrance. The following is an account, -given by an eye-witness, of her Majesty’s reception:—</p> - -<p>“On the 9th of July, 1575, in the evening, the Queen approached -the first gate of the castle. The porter, a man tall in person, and of -stern countenance, with a club and keys, accosted her Majesty in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">{181}</span> -rough speech, full of passion, in metre, aptly made for the purpose, -and demanded the cause of all this din, and noise, and reeling about, -within the charge of his office. But upon seeing the Queen, as if he -had been struck instantaneously, and pierced, at the presence of a -personage so evidently expressing heroical sovereignty, he fell down -on his knees, humbly prays pardon for his ignorance, yields up his -club and keys, and proclaims open gates and free passage to all.</p> - -<p>“Immediately the trumpeters, who stood on the wall, being six in -number, each eight feet high, with their silvery trumpets of five feet -long, sounded up a tune of welcome.</p> - -<p>“Those harmonious blasters maintained their delectable music while -the Queen rode through the tilt-yard to the grand entrance of the -castle, which was washed by the lake.</p> - -<p>“As she passed, a movable island approached, on which sat the -Lady of the Lake, who offered up her dominion to her Majesty, which -she had held since the days of King Arthur.</p> - -<p>“This scene ended by a delectable harmony of hautbois, shalms, -cornets, with other loud musical instruments, playing while her -Majesty passed into the castle gate.</p> - -<p>“When she entered the castle, a new scene was presented to her.—Several -of the heathen gods brought their gifts before her—Sylvanus, -god of the woods, Pomona with fruit, Ceres with corn, Bacchus with -grapes, Neptune with his trident, Mars with his arms, Apollo with -musical instruments,—all presented themselves to welcome her Majesty -in this singular place. An inscription over the gate explained the whole.</p> - -<p>“Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept the gifts of these -divinities, when was struck up a concert of flutes and other soft music. -When, alighting from her palfrey, she was conveyed into her chamber, -when her arrival was announced through the country by a peal of -cannon from the ramparts, and fireworks at night.”</p> - -<p>Here the Queen was entertained for nineteen days, at an expense of -£1000 a day. The Queen’s genius seems to have been greatly consulted -in the pomp and solemnity of the whole, to which some have -added the entertainment of bear-baiting, etc.</p> - -<p>The great clock was stopped during her Majesty’s continuance in the -castle, as if time had stood still, waiting on the Queen, and seeing -her subjects enjoy themselves.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">{182}</span></p> - - -<h3>DAVID RAMSAY.</h3> - -<p class="center">“NIGEL.”</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">In</span> the year 1634, Davy Ramsay, his Majesty’s clockmaker, made -an attempt to discover a precious deposit supposed to be concealed -in the cloister of Westminster Abbey, but a violent storm of wind put -a stop to his operations.”—<i>Lilly’s Life</i>, p. 47. This Ramsay, according -to Osborne, in his <i>Traditional Memorials</i>, used to deliver money -and watches, to be recompensed, with profit, when King James should -sit on the King’s chair at Rome, so near did he apprehend (by -astrology, doubtless,) the downfall of the papal power. His son -wrote several books on astrological subjects, of which his <i>Astrologia -Restaurata</i> is very entertaining. In the preface he says that his father -was of an ancient Scottish family, viz. of Eighterhouse, (Auchterhouse,) -“which had flourished in great glory for 1500 years, till these latter -days,” and derives the clan from Egypt, (it is wonderful that the idea -of gipsies did not startle him,) where the word Ramsay signifies joy -and delight. But he is extremely indignant that the world should -call his father “no better than a watchmaker,” asserting that he was, -in fact, page of the bedchamber, groom of the privy chamber, and -<i>keeper of all his Majestie’s clocks and watches</i>. “Now, how this,” quoth -he to the reader, “should prove him a watchmaker, and no other, more -than the late Earles of Pembroke ordinary chamberlains, because they -bore this office in the King’s house, do thou judge.”—<i>Mr. Sharp’s -Notes to Law’s Memorialls.</i></p> - - -<h3>THE REDGAUNTLET FAMILY.</h3> - -<p class="center">“REDGAUNTLET.”</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is supposed that the characters, if not the fortunes, of the Redgauntlet -family, are founded upon those of the Griersons of Lagg. -This celebrated, or rather notorious family, is of considerable antiquity -in Galloway,<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[75]</a>—a district abounding, to a greater degree than either<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">{183}</span> -Wales or the Highlands of Scotland, in families of remote origin and -honourable descent. Grierson of Lagg was one of those border -barons, whose fame and wealth the politic James V. endeavoured to -impair, by lodging himself and his whole retinue upon them during -a progress, to the irreparable ruin of their numerous flocks, and the -alienation of their broad lands. The Grierson family never recovered -the ground then lost; and has continued, down even to the present day, -to struggle with many difficulties in supporting its dignity. Sir Robert -Grierson, grandfather of the present Laird, made himself conspicuous -in the reigns of the latter Stuarts, by the high hand which he carried -in persecuting the recusant people of his own districts, and by the -oppression which the spirit of those unhappy times empowered him -to exercise upon his tenants and immediate dependants. He was but -a youth when these unhappy transactions took place, and survived -the Restoration nearly fifty years. His death, which took place in -1736, was in the remembrance of people lately alive. Many strange -traditionary stories are told about him in Dumfriesshire, and, in -particular, the groundwork of “Wandering Willie’s Tale” is quite -well known and accredited among the common people thereabouts. -The popular account of his last illness, death, and burial, are exceedingly -absurd and amusing, and we willingly give them a place in our -motley record.</p> - -<p>Sir Robert Grierson died in the town of Dumfries. The house -where this memorable incident took place is still pointed out. It -is now occupied by a decent baker, and is a house of singular construction, -having a spiral or <i>turnpike</i> stair, like the old houses of -Edinburgh, on which account it is termed <i>the Turnpike House</i>. It -is at a distance of about two hundred yards from the river Nith; -and it is said that when Sir Robert’s feet were in their torment of -heat, and caused the cold water in which they were placed to boil, -relays of men were placed between the house and the river, to run -with pails of water to supply his bath; and still, as one pail was -handed in, the preceding one was at the height of boiling-heat, and -quite intolerable to the old Laird’s unfortunate extremities. Sir -Robert at length died, and was laid in a hearse to be taken to the -churchyard, which was some miles off. But, oh the mysterious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">{184}</span> -interferences of the evil one! though six stout horses essayed their -utmost might, they could not draw the wicked persecutor’s body -along; and there stood, fixed to the spot, as though they had been -yoked to the stedfast Criffel instead of an old family hearse! In this -emergency, when the funeral company were beginning to have their -own thoughts, Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, an old friend -of the Laird’s, happened to come up, with two beautiful Spanish -horses, and, seeing the distress they were in, swore an oath, and -declared that he would drive old Legg, though the devil were in -him. So saying, he yoked his Spanish barbs to the hearse, mounted -the box himself, and drove away at a gallop towards the place of -interment. The horses ran with such swiftness that their master -could not restrain them, and they stopped at the churchyard gate, not -by any management or direction on his part, but by some miraculous -and supernatural agency. The company came slowly up in the course -of an hour thereafter, and Sir Robert Grierson was, after all, properly -interred, though not without the loss of Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick’s -beautiful horses, which died in consequence of their exertions.</p> - - -<p class="p2">The story of the Redgauntlet horse-shoe seems to have its foundation -in the following:—</p> - -<p>“Major Weir’s mother appears to have set the example of witchcraft -to her children, as Jean Weir, while in prison, declared that -‘she was persuaded that her mother was a witch; for the secretest -thing that either I myself, or any of the family, could do, when once -a mark appeared upon her brow, she could tell it them, though -done at a great distance.’ Being demanded what sort of a mark -it was, she answered, ‘I have some such like mark myself, when -I please, upon my forehead.’ Whereupon she offered to uncover -her head, for visible satisfaction. The minister refusing to behold -it, and forbidding any discovery, was earnestly requested by some -spectators to allow the freedom. He yielded: she put back her head-dress, -and, seeming to frown, there was an exact horse-shoe, shaped -for nails, in her wrinkles, terrific enough, I assure you, to the stoutest -beholder.”—<i>Sinclair’s Satan’s Invisible World Discovered.</i></p> - - -<p class="center">THE END.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> See introduction to “Peveril,” where the Scottish Novelist describes himself as -wearing such old-fashioned habiliments.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> While Sir Walter Scott resided at Ashesteil, Jock frequently visited him, and -was much noticed, on account of his strange humours and entertaining qualities.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> A respectable clergyman of our acquaintance, who is in the habit of preaching -his elegant discourses with the help of M.S., was once extremely amused with -the declaration of a hearer, who professed himself repugnant to that practice. -“Doctor,” says he, “ye’re just a slave to the bit paper, and nane o’ us ha’e that -respect for ye that we ought to ha’e; but to do ye justice, I maun confess, that since -I changed my seat in the loft, and ha’na ye now sae fair atween my een, so that I -can <i>hear</i> without <i>seeing</i> ye, fient a bit but I think ye’re just as good as auld -<i>Threshin’ Willy</i> himsel’!”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Russiade, a poem, by James Hogg.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> We are indebted for this and the two succeeding anecdotes to the “Scotch -Haggis,” a curious collection of the pure native wit of our country, published in 1822.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> The country people call a dispensation of the greater Sacrament “<i>an occasion</i>.” -It is also scoffingly termed “<i>the Holy Fair</i>.” In Edinburgh it is called “<i>the -Preachings</i>.” But, it must be observed, these phrases are only applied in reference -to the outward circumstances, and not to the holy ceremony itself.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> We are indebted for this and the succeeding illustration to the late Alexander -Campbell’s edition of Macintosh’s Gaelic Proverbs.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> Charles, fifth Earl of Traquair, was implicated in the proceedings of the year -1745, though he did not appear openly. See the evidence of Secretary Murray on -the trial of Lord Lovat, <i>Scots Magazine</i> for 1747, p. 105.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Note 7 to Canto III.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> From which all the works of the author of “Waverley,” besides many other -publications of the highest character, have issued. It is perhaps worth while to -record, that “Peveril of the Peak” was the last work of the author of “Waverley’s” -that appeared here—its successor, “Quentin Durward,” being published (May, 1823) -a few days after Constable and Co. had forsaken the High Street for the genteeler -air of the New Town.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> Even when the judges lived in the distant suburb of George’s Square, they did -not give up this practice. Old Braxfield used always to put on his wig and gown at -home, and walk to the Parliament House, <i>via</i> Bristo Street, Society, Scott’s Close, and -the Back Stairs. One morning his barber, old Kay, since the well-known limner, was -rather late in taking his Lordship’s wig to George’s Square. Braxfield was too -impatient to wait; so he ran off with only his night-cap on his head, and was -fortunate enough to meet his tardy barber in Scott’s Close, when he seized his wig -with one hand, took off his night-cap with the other, and adjusting the whole matter -himself, sent Kay back with the undignified garment exued. This is a picture of -times gone by never to return; yet, as if to show how long traces of former manners -will survive their general decay, Lord Glenlee, who continues to live in Brown’s -Square, still dresses at home, and walks to court in the style of his predecessors.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> The <i>Peter Peebles</i> of “Redgauntlet.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Newhaven, Leith, and Canonmills</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Supply them wi’ their Sunday gills:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There writers aften spend their pence,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stock their heads wi’ drink and sense.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><i>Robert Fergusson.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> The juvenile mob of Edinburgh was in the habit of dressing up an effigy of this -hero of liberty, which they treated in the most ignominious manner, every 4th of -June—a relic of the odium excited by the publication of the <i>North Briton</i>, No. 45.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> H—— died in the month of May, 1808, and was buried on the Edinburgh fast-day -of that year. He was interred in the Calton Hill burying-ground; but his -grave cannot now be pointed out, as the spot was removed in 1816, along with about -half of the ground, when the great London road was brought through it.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> He died January 2, 1820.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> From the <i>Edinburgh Magazine</i>, 1817.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> His expression was, that “begging was a worse trade by twenty pounds a year -than when he knew it first.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> This word is of Danish origin.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Dr. Ferguson lived for some time at Neidpath Castle, from whence he removed -to Hallyards, in Manor parish. He was a most devoted and enthusiastic snuff-taker. -An amusing anecdote is preserved of the good old man’s simplicity of -character and love of snuff. One day, on his son’s arrival from Edinburgh, he -begged a pinch from young Adam’s box, which, on receiving, he declared to -be exceedingly good, and, of course, he inquired where that delightful mixture -was to be procured. “I got it from Traquair,” answered his son, alluding to a -tobacconist of that name, who dwelt at the corner of the piazzas leading into the -Parliament Square in Edinburgh. This the old gentleman did not comprehend, but -thought that his son meant Traquair, a little village about seven miles down Tweed, -beyond Peebles: and he actually despatched a man on horseback to that place to -procure some of the snuff which had so taken his fancy.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> The chapel was built in the fourteenth century, by Sir William St. Clair of -Roslin, in consequence of a vow which he made in a curious emergency. One day, -hunting with King Robert I., he wagered his head that his hounds, <i>Help</i> and <i>Hold</i>, -would kill a certain beautiful white deer before it crossed the March burn. On -approaching the boundary, there seemed little chance of his hounds being successful; -but he went aside, and vowed a new chapel to St. Catherine if she would -intercede in his behalf; and she, graciously accepting of his offer, inspired the -hounds with supernatural vigour, so that they caught the deer just as she was -approaching the other side of the burn.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> This spirited article is copied (by express permission of the Publishers,) from “The -Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Among other ridiculous occurrences, it is said that some of Charles’s gallantries -were discovered by a prying neighbour. A wily old minister was deputed by his -brethren to rebuke the King for his heinous scandal. Being introduced into the royal -presence, he limited his commission to a serious admonition, that, upon such occasions, -his Majesty should always shut the windows. The King is said to have -recompensed this unexpected lenity after the Restoration. He probably remembered -the joke, though he might have forgotten the service.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> See the life of this booted apostle of prelacy, written by Swift, who had collected -all his anecdotes of persecution, and appears to have enjoyed them accordingly.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> “They raved,” says Peden’s historian, “like fleshly devils, when the mist -shrouded from their pursuit the wandering Whigs. One gentleman closed a declaration -of vengeance against the conventicles with this strange imprecation, ‘or may -the devil make my ribs a gridiron to my soul.’”—MS. Account of the Presbytery of -Penpont. Our armies swore terribly in Flanders, but nothing of this.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> Peden complained bitterly that, after a heavy struggle with the devil, he had got -above him, spur-galled him hard, and obtained a wind to carry him from Ireland to -Scotland—when, behold! another person had set sail, and reaped the advantage of -his prayer-wind, before he could embark.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> That part of the novel which represents Claverhouse eating his <i>disjeune</i> in the -hall of Tillietudlem and seat of “his most gracious Majesty Charles the Second,” -must therefore be considered as entirely unfounded in truth. Could Scribbie Young’s -“tower” be the Tillietudlem of the Tale? Surely not. And, besides, we are given -to understand that a small eminence or knoll in the neighbourhood of Lanark Castle, -which has probably been at some former period surmounted by a ruin, is popularly -termed Tillietudlem.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> Crichton says, “King was a bra muckle carl, with a white hat and a great bob -of ribbons on the back o’t.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> Even the loftiness of the surrounding buildings is taken into account. “The -uncommon height and antique appearance of these houses,” says the author, “some -of which were formerly the property of the Knights Templars and the Knights of St. -John, and still exhibit upon their fronts and gables the iron cross of these orders, -gave additional effect to a scene in itself so striking.” This sentence, it is somewhat -remarkable, is also used (perhaps I should say <i>repeated</i>) by Sir Walter Scott, when -he finds occasion to describe the same scene in his “Provincial Antiquities of Scotland.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> The shop from which the rioters procured the rope, was a small shop in the second -or middle division of the West Bow (No. 69). It was then kept by a Mrs. Jeffrey, -but was not a rope-maker’s shop. It was a shop of <i>huckstery</i> or <i>small wares</i>, in -which ropes were then included. It seems yet to be occupied by a person of the -same profession (Mrs. Wilson).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> There is an engraving of this medal in Boyer’s “History of Queen Anne,” -p. 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> Mr. John Semple, of Carsphearn.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> We are glad to observe that the biographical works of Patrick Walker are -shortly to be reprinted by Mr. John Stevenson, Bookseller, Prince’s Street, whose -shop is well known, or ought to be so, by all the true lovers of curious little old -smoke-dried volumes.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> Birrel’s account of this matter is as follows:—“[1600.] The 2 of Apryll, being -the Sabbath day, Robert Auchmutie, barber, slew James Wauchope, at the combat -in St. Leonard’s Hill; and, upon the 23, the said Rt. put in ward in the tolbuith -of Edr.; and in the meine time of his being in ward, he hang ane cloke w’t’out the -window of the irone hous, and anither w’t in the window yr.; and, saying yat he -was sick, and might not see the light, he had aquafortis continuallie seithing at the -irone window, quhill, at the last, the irone window wes eiten throw; sua, upon a -morneing, he caused his prentes boy attend quhen the towne gaird should have -dissolvit, at q’lk tyme the boy waitit one, and gaif hes Mr ane token yat the said -gaird wer gone, be the schewe or waiff of his hand-curche. The said Robt. hung -out an tow, q’ron he thought to have cumeit doune; the said gairde espyit the waiff -of the hand-curche, and sua the said Robt was disappointit of hes intentione and -devys; and sua, on the 10 day, he wes beheidit at the Cross, upon ane scaffold.” -P. 48, 49.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> The Gallowlee was not the usual place of execution; but the most flagrant -criminals were generally hung there in chains. Many of the martyrs were exhibited -on its summit, which Patrick Walker records with due horror. It ceased to be -employed for any purpose of this kind about the middle of the last century; since -which period with one exception, no criminals have been hung in chains in Scotland. -Its site was a rising ground immediately below the Botanic Garden, in Leith -Walk. When the New Town was in the progress of building, the sand used for the -composition of the mortar was procured from this spot; on which account the -miracle of a hill turned into a valley has taken place, and it is at the present day -that low beautiful esplanade of which Eagle and Henderson’s nursery is formed. -The Gallowlee turned out a source of great emolument to the possessor, sixpence -being allowed for every cartful of sand that was taken away. But the proprietor -was never truly benefited by the circumstance. Being addicted to drinking, he was -in the habit of spending every sixpence as he received it. A tavern was set up near -the spot, which was formerly unaccommodated with such a convenience, for the sole -purpose of selling whisky to <i>Matthew Richmond</i>,—and he was its only customer. -A fortune was soon acquired of the profits of the drink alone; and when the source -of the affluence ceased, poor Matthew was left poorer than he had originally been, -after having flung away the proffered chance of immense wealth. Never did -gamester more completely sink the last acre of his estate, than did <i>muckle Matthew -Richmond</i> drink down the last grain of the sand-hill of the Gallowlee!</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> We are indebted for the following ingenious and elaborate article to the gentleman -who supplied the notice respecting the “Bodach Glas,” at <a href="#Page_25">page 25</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Douglas’s Baronage,—Hamilton of Innerwick.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> A retour is a law term, signifying the report of the verdict of a jury, which, by -the law of Scotland, is the mode of proving the propinquity of an heir, so as to -entitle him to be invested in his predecessor’s estate.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> Douglas’s Peerage,—Earl of Haddington.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Douglas’s Baronage,—Hamilton of Innerwick.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> See <a href="#Page_6">page 6</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> Douglas’s Peerage,—Viscount Kenmure.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> A principal and conspicuous part of Lord Kenmure’s camp equipage was a -barrel of brandy, which was carried at the head of the regiment. This was called -Kenmure’s Drum.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> Douglas’s Peerage,—Earl of Stair.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> So she was styled.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> We are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe for this unique copy -of the “Tripatriarchicon,” from which the above extracts were made.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> It is exceedingly remarkable that the greater part of the Author of “Waverley’s” -prototypes were natives of this district.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> “19th January, 1595, the young Earl of Montrose fought a combat with Sir James -Sandilands, at the salt trone of Edinburgh, thinking to have revenged the slaughter -of his cousin, Mr. John Graham, who was slain with the shot of a pistol, and four of -his men slain with swords.”—<i>Birrel’s Diary</i>, p. 34.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> It was reported that Montrose, while a child, swallowed a toad, by the command -and direction of his mother, in order to render himself invulnerable. As Mr. Sharpe -says, in his amusing work, “Law’s Memorialls,” he swallowed in after-life something -worse,—the Covenant.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> Wood’s Peerage, vol. ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> “The Muse’s Threnodie.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> Stewart’s “Sketches of the Highlands,” vol. ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> “Border Minstrelsy,” vol. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> Wishart.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> A covenanted minister, present at the execution of these gentlemen, observed,—“This -wark gaes bonnily on!”<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> an amiable exclamation, equivalent to the modern -<i>ça ira</i>, so often used on similar occasions.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[A]</a> Wishart, “Memoirs of Montrose.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[56]</a> Wood’s Peerage.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[57]</a> Letter of Archibald, Lord Napier, Brussels, 14th June, 1648, <i>penes</i> D. Napier.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[58]</a> M‘Leod got 400 bolls of meal from the Covenanters for his treachery.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[59]</a> Laing’s History, vol. i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[60]</a> “Law’s Memorialls.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[61]</a> “History of the Church of Scotland,” p. 126. In the “Mercurius Caledonius” -the place of this inhumation was “under the public gibbet, half a mile from town.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[62]</a> The rescinded acts, January, 1645, contain a ratification of James Stewart’s -pardon for killing Lord Kinpont. He was made major of the Marquis of Argyll’s -regiment of foot, 24th October, 1648.—<i>Nisbet’s Heraldry</i>, vol. ii., <i>App.</i> 77.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[63]</a> Scott of Scottstarvet’s “Staggering State of Scots Statesmen” is a curious memoir, -written shortly after the Restoration, but not printed till early in the year 1754, -after the death of the persons whose characters and actions are mentioned with so -little respect in the course of its satirical details. It is adverted to, as in a condition -of manuscript, at the 25th page of the 2nd volume of the “Bride of Lammermoor”; -and the Author appears to have made some use of its informations in the construction -of the subsequent Tale.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[64]</a> This article forms part of a work which I have recently projected, to be entitled, -“Pilgrimages to the most remarkable Scenes celebrated in Scottish History.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[65]</a> This ungainly word is from the Danish; and it is somewhat remarkable, that it -is also used in the county of Northumberland, the population of which is supposed -to partake with the Scotch in a Danish extraction.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[66]</a> Wishart, p. 200.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[67]</a> These are the remains of the trenches which Montrose threw up to defend the -flanks of his infantry.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[68]</a> It ought to be mentioned that the tailor is also called in. In former times this -craftsman used to visit a farmer’s or cottager’s house, with all his train of callow -apprentices, once a year; and he lived in a family way with the inhabitants till -his work was finished, when he received twopence a-day for what he had done, -and went away to mis-shape human garments at some other house. About sixty -years ago, there was a sort of <i>strike</i> among the tailors, for a groat instead of twopence -a day; and this mighty wage continued without further increase till the -practice of taking tailors into the family has been nearly discontinued everywhere. It -was not the wages, however, but the food of the tailor, which constituted his chief -guerdon. The tailor was always well-fed, and if there were anything better than -another in the house it was reserved for him. When, in spring time, the gudewife’s -<i>mart-barrel</i> was getting nearly exhausted of its savoury contents, she would put off -the family with something less substantial for a few weeks in expectation of her -annual visitors—“We maun hain a bit for the tailyeours, ye ken!” she would say.</p> - -<p>In support of what we advance in the text, we may observe that it is not more -than half a century since house-spinning was nearly as prevalent in the city of -Edinburgh as in the country, and it will yet be in the recollection of the most aged -of our readers, that signs were prevalent in the streets, bearing that “Lint was -given out to spin—in here,—down this close,—through this entry,” etc., etc. In -these days the Netherbow, a mean range of buildings at the eastern extremity of -the High Street, was entirely occupied by weavers who “took in <i>customer-wark</i>,”—in -proof of which fact we may cite the multiplicity of the windows in those houses, -which are still permitted to exist. Now, alas! the shuttles of this busy neighbourhood, -are as silent as the wheels of the spinsters, in whose hands pianofortes and -Brookman’s pencils supply the place of “rocks and reels.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[69]</a> <i>Girth</i> signifies a Sanctuary or place of refuge.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[70]</a> Broken mountain ground, without vegetation.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[71]</a> These are found in several fantastic shapes, such as guns, cradles, boots, etc., -and are justly supposed to be the petrifactions of some mineral spring hard by.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[72]</a> Smailholm Tower.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[73]</a> The entrance of Avenel was also from the west.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[74]</a> This story is told in the <i>Border Antiquities</i>. Since we copied it, information -has been communicated, deriving the report from a ridiculous and most unromantic -incident. The skull was moved from its place in the castle by a rat, which had -found a lodgment in its cavity, and contrived to take it back to a particular apartment -on finding it removed to any other.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[75]</a> “The family of Grierson is descended from Gilbert, the second son of Malcolm, -Laird of M‘Gregor, who died in 1374. His son obtained a charter from the -Douglas family of the lands and barony of Lagg, in Nithsdale, and Little Dalton, -in Annandale; since which his descendants have continued in Nithsdale, and married -into the best families in that part of the country, namely those of Lord Maxwell, -the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn, the Charterises of Amisfield, the Fergusons of -Craigdarroch, and of the Duke of Queensberry.”—<i>Grose’s Antiquities of Scotland.</i></p> - -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p>[Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text.</p> - -<p>Frontispiece: SUBSEQUANTLY to SUBSEQUENTLY—“AND SUBSEQUENTLY BY”.</p> - -<p>Page vi: Balderston to Balderstone—“(<span class="smcap">Caleb Balderstone</span>)”.</p> - -<p>Page 6: stiil to still—“still continue to be”.</p> - -<p>Page 17: dittograph “during during” corrected—“during the sermon”.</p> - -<p>Page 31: boronet to baronet—“baronet of Orchardston”.</p> - -<p>Page 56: imimmediately to immediately—“it was immediately opened”.</p> - -<p>Page 58: Here to Her—“Her propensities”.</p> - -<p>Page 93: Burley to Burly—“history of Burly”.</p> - -<p>Page 118: nïaveté to naïveté—“marked by a naïveté”.</p> - -<p>Page 120, note: Carpshearn to Carsphearn—“Semple, of Carsphearn.”</p> - -<p>Page 136, note: Tripatiarchicon to Tripatriarchicon—“copy of the Tripatriarchicon”.</p> - -<p>Page 144: thefirst to the first—“the first intelligence”.</p> - -<p>Page 147: Trament to Tranent—“Berwick to Tranent”.</p> - -<p>Page 149, note: ca to ça—“<i>ça ira</i>”.</p> - -<p>Page 182: decendants to descendants—“his descendants have continued”.]</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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