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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1. + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: November 2004 [EBook #6942] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 16, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN, BY SCOTT, V1 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger, widger@cecomet.net + + + + + + THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN + + By Walter Scott + + TALES OF MY LANDLORD + + COLLECTED AND ARRANGED + + BY JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM, + + SCHOOLMASTER AND PARISH CLERK OF GANDERCLEUGH. + + + + SECOND SERIES. + + THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. + + + Hear, Land o' Cakes and brither Scots, + Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groat's, + If there's a hole in a' your coats, + I rede ye tent it; + A chiel's amang you takin' notes, + An' faith he'll prent it! + Burns. + + + + + EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + TO + THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. + +SCOTT began to work on "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" almost before he had +completed "Rob Roy." On Nov. 10, 1817, he writes to Archibald Constable +announcing that the negotiations for the sale of the story to Messrs. +Longman have fallen through, their firm declining to relieve the +Ballantynes of their worthless "stock." "So you have the staff in your +own hands, and, as you are on the spot, can manage it your own way. +Depend on it that, barring unforeseen illness or death, these will be the +best volumes which have appeared. I pique myself on the first tale, which +is called 'The Heart of Mid-Lothian.'" Sir Walter had thought of adding a +romance, "The Regalia," on the Scotch royal insignia, which had been +rediscovered in the Castle of Edinburgh. This story he never wrote. Mr. +Cadell was greatly pleased at ousting the Longmans--"they have themselves +to blame for the want of the Tales, and may grumble as they choose: we +have Taggy by the tail, and, if we have influence to keep the best author +of the day, we ought to do it."--[Archibald Constable, iii. 104.] + +Though contemplated and arranged for, "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" was not +actually taken in hand till shortly after Jan. 15, 1818, when Cadell +writes that the tracts and pamphlets on the affair of Porteous are to be +collected for Scott. "The author was in great glee . . . he says that he +feels very strong with what he has now in hand." But there was much +anxiety concerning Scott's health. "I do not at all like this illness of +Scott's," said James Ballantyne to Hogg. "I have eften seen him look +jaded of late, and am afraid it is serious." "Hand your tongue, or I'll +gar you measure your length on the pavement," replied Hogg. "You fause, +down-hearted loon, that ye are, you daur to speak as if Scott were on his +death-bed! It cannot be, it must not be! I will not suffer you to speak +that gait." Scott himself complains to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe of +"these damned spasms. The merchant Abudah's hag was a henwife to them +when they give me a real night of it." + +"The Heart of Mid-Lothian," in spite of the author's malady, was +published in June 1818. As to its reception, and the criticism which it +received, Lockhart has left nothing to be gleaned. Contrary to his +custom, he has published, but without the writer's name, a letter from +Lady Louisa Stuart, which really exhausts what criticism can find to say +about the new novel. "I have not only read it myself," says Lady Louisa, +"but am in a house where everybody is tearing it out of each other's +hands, and talking of nothing else." She preferred it to all but +"Waverley," and congratulates him on having made "the perfectly good +character the most interesting. . . . Had this very story been conducted +by a common hand, Effie would have attracted all our concern and +sympathy, Jeanie only cold approbation. Whereas Jeanie, without youth, +beauty, genius, warns passions, or any other novel-perfection, is here +our object from beginning to end." Lady Louisa, with her usual frankness, +finds the Edinburgh lawyers tedious, in the introduction, and thinks that +Mr. Saddletree "will not entertain English readers." The conclusion +"flags"; "but the chief fault I have to find relates to the reappearance +and shocking fate of the boy. I hear on all sides 'Oh, I do not like +that!' I cannot say what I would have had instead, but I do not like it +either; it is a lame, huddled conclusion. I know you so well in it, +by-the-by! You grow tired yourself, want to get rid of the story, and +hardly care how." Lady Lousia adds that Sir George Staunton would never +have hazarded himself in the streets of Edinburgh. "The end of poor Madge +Wildfire is most pathetic. The meeting at Muschat's Cairn tremendous. +Dumbiedikes and Rory Beau are delightful. . . . I dare swear many of your +readers never heard of the Duke of Argyle before." She ends: "If I had +known nothing, and the whole world had told me the contrary, I should +have found you out in that one parenthesis, 'for the man was mortal, and +had been a schoolmaster.'" + +Lady Louisa omits a character who was probably as essential to Scott's +scheme as any--Douce Davie Deans, the old Cameronian. He had almost been +annoyed by the criticism of his Covenanters in "Old Mortality," "the +heavy artillery out of the Christian Instructor or some such obscure +field work," and was determined to "tickle off" another. There are signs +of a war between literary Cavaliers and literary Covenanters at this +time, after the discharge of Dr. McCrie's "heavy artillery." Charles +Kirkpatrick Sharpe was presented by Surtees of Mainsforth with a +manuscript of Kirkton's unprinted "History of the Church of Scotland." +This he set forth to edite, with the determination not to "let the Whig +dogs have the best of it." Every Covenanting scandal and absurdity, such +as the old story of Mess David Williamson--"Dainty Davie"--and his +remarkable prowess, and presence of mind at Cherrytrees, was raked up, +and inserted in notes to Kirkton. Scott was Sharpe's ally in this +enterprise. "I had in the persons of my forbears a full share, you see, +of religious persecution . . . for all my greatgrandfathers were under +the ban, and I think there were hardly two of them out of jail at once." +"I think it would be most scandalous to let the godly carry it oft thus." +"It" seems to have been the editing of Kirkton. "It is very odd the +volume of Wodrow, containing the memoir of Russell concerning the murder, +is positively vanished from the library" (the Advocates' Library). +"Neither book nor receipt is to be found: surely they have stolen it in +the fear of the Lord." The truth seems to have been that Cavaliers and +Covenanters were racing for the manuscripts wherein they found smooth +stones of the brook to pelt their opponents withal. Soon after Scott +writes: "It was not without exertion and trouble that I this day detected +Russell's manuscript (the account of the murder of Sharpe by one of the +murderers), also Kirkton and one or two others, which Mr. McCrie had +removed from their place in the library and deposited in a snug and +secret corner." The Covenanters had made a raid on the ammunition of the +Cavaliers. "I have given," adds Sir Walter, "an infernal row on the +subject of hiding books in this manner." Sharpe replies that the +"villainous biographer of John Knox" (Dr. McCrie), "that canting rogue," +is about to edite Kirkton. Sharpe therefore advertised his own edition at +once, and edited Kirkton by forced marches as it were. Scott reviewed the +book in the Quarterly (Jan. 1818). He remarked that Sharpe "had not +escaped the censure of these industrious literary gentlemen of opposite +principles, who have suffered a work always relied upon as one of their +chief authorities to lie dormant for a hundred and forty years." Their +"querulous outcries" (probably from the field-work of the Christian +Instructor) he disregards. Among the passions of this literary "bicker," +which Scott allowed to amuse him, was Davie Deans conceived. Scott was +not going to be driven by querulous outcries off the Covenanting field, +where he erected another trophy. This time he was more friendly to the +"True Blue Presbyterians." His Scotch patriotism was one of his most +earnest feelings, the Covenanters, at worst, were essentially Scotch, and +he introduced a new Cameronian, with all the sterling honesty, the +Puritanism, the impracticable ideas of the Covenant, in contact with +changed times, and compelled to compromise. + +He possessed a curious pamphlet, Haldane's "Active Testimony of the true +blue Presbyterians" (12mo, 1749). It is a most impartial work, +"containing a declaration and testimony against the late unjust invasion +of Scotland by Charles, Pretended Prince of Wales, and William, Pretended +Duke of Cumberland." Everything and everybody not Covenanted, the House +of Stuart, the House of Brunswick, the House of Hapsburg, Papists, +Prelatists and Turks, are cursed up hill and down dale, by these worthy +survivors of the Auld Leaven. Everybody except the authors, Haldane and +Leslie, "has broken the everlasting Covenant." The very Confession of +Westminster is arraigned for its laxity. "The whole Civil and Judicial +Law of God," as given to the Jews (except the ritual, polygamy, divorce, +slavery, and so forth), is to be maintained in the law of Scotland. Sins +are acknowledged, and since the Covenant every political step-- +Cromwell's Protectorate, the Restoration, the Revolution, the accession +of the "Dukes of Hanover"--has been a sin. A Court of Elders is to be +established to put in execution the Law of Moses. All offenders against +the Kirk are to be "capitally punished." Stage plays are to be suppressed +by the successors of the famous convention at Lanark, Anno 1682. +Toleration of all religions is "sinful," and "contrary to the word of +God." Charles Edward and the Duke of Cumberland are cursed. "Also we +reckon it a great vice in Charles, his foolish Pity and Lenity, in +sparing these profane, blasphemous Redcoats, that Providence delivered +into his hand, when, by putting them to death, this poor land might have +been eased of the heavy burden of these vermin of Hell." The Auld Leaven +swore terribly in Scotland. The atrocious cruelties of Cumberland after +Culloden are stated with much frankness and power. The German soldiers +are said to have carried off "a vast deal of Spoil and Plunder into +Germany," and the Redcoats had Plays and Diversions (cricket, probably) +on the Inch of Perth, on a Sabbath. "The Hellish, Pagan, Juggler plays +are set up and frequented with more impudence and audacity than ever." +Only the Jews, "our elder Brethren," are exempted from the curses of +Haldane and Leslie, who promise to recover for them the Holy Land. "The +Massacre in Edinburgh" in 1736, by wicked Porteous, calls for vengeance +upon the authors and abettors thereof. The army and navy are "the most +wicked and flagitious in the Universe." In fact, the True Blue Testimony +is very active indeed, and could be delivered, thanks to hellish +Toleration, with perfect safety, by Leslie and Haldane. The candour of +their eloquence assuredly proves that Davie Deans is not overdrawn; +indeed, he is much less truculent than those who actually were testifying +even after his decease. + +In "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" Scott set himself to draw his own people at +their best. He had a heroine to his hand in Helen Walker, "a character so +distinguished for her undaunted love of virtue," who, unlike Jeanie +Deans, "lived and died in poverty, if not want." In 1831 he erected a +pillar over her grave in the old Covenanting stronghold of Irongray. The +inscription ends-- + + Respect the Grave of Poverty, + When combined with Love of Truth + And Dear Affection. + +The sweetness, the courage, the spirit, the integrity of Jeanie Deans +have made her, of all Scott's characters, the dearest to her countrymen, +and the name of Jeanie was given to many children, in pious memory of the +blameless heroine. The foil to her, in the person of Effie, is not less +admirable. Among Scott's qualities was one rare among modern authors: he +had an affectionate toleration for his characters. If we compare Effie +with Hetty in "Adam Bede," this charming and genial quality of Scott's +becomes especially striking. Hetty and Dinah are in very much the same +situation and condition as Effie and Jeanie Deans. But Hetty is a +frivolous little animal, in whom vanity and silliness do duty for +passion: she has no heart: she is only a butterfly broken on the wheel of +the world. Doubtless there are such women in plenty, yet we feel that her +creator persecutes her, and has a kind of spite against her. This was +impossible to Scott. Effie has heart, sincerity, passion, loyalty, +despite her flightiness, and her readiness, when her chance comes, to +play the fine lady. It was distasteful to Scott to create a character not +human and sympathetic on one side or another. Thus his robber "of milder +mood," on Jeanie's journey to England, is comparatively a good fellow, +and the scoundrel Ratcliffe is not a scoundrel utterly. "'To make a Lang +tale short, I canna undertake the job. It gangs against my conscience.' +'Your conscience, Rat?' said Sharpitlaw, with a sneer, which the reader +will probably think very natural upon the occasion. 'Ou ay, sir,' +answered Ratcliffe, calmly, 'just my conscience; a body has a conscience, +though it may be ill wunnin at it. I think mine's as weel out o' the gate +as maist folk's are; and yet it's just like the noop of my elbow, it +whiles gets a bit dirl on a corner.'" Scott insists on leaving his worst +people in possession of something likeable, just as he cannot dismiss +even Captain Craigengelt without assuring us that Bucklaw made a +provision for his necessities. This is certainly a more humane way of +writing fiction than that to which we are accustomed in an age of +humanitarianism. Nor does Scott's art suffer from his kindliness, and +Effie in prison, with a heart to be broken, is not less pathetic than the +heartless Hetty, in the same condemnation. + +As to her lover, Robertson, or Sir George Staunton, he certainly verges +on the melodramatic. Perhaps we know too much about the real George +Robertson, who was no heir to a title in disguise, but merely a "stabler +in Bristol" accused "at the instance of Duncan Forbes, Esq. of Culloden, +his Majesty's advocate, for the crimes of Stouthrieff, Housebreaking, and +Robbery." Robertson "kept an inn in Bristo, at Edinburgh, where the +Newcastle carrier commonly did put up," and is believed to have been a +married man. It is not very clear that the novel gains much by the +elevation of the Bristo innkeeper to a baronetcy, except in so far as +Effie's appearance in the character of a great lady is entertaining and +characteristic, and Jeanie's conquest of her own envy is exemplary. The +change in social rank calls for the tragic conclusion, about which almost +every reader agrees with the criticism of Lady Louisa Stuart and her +friends. Thus the novel "filled more pages" than Mr. Jedediah +Cleishbotham had "opined," and hence comes a languor which does not beset +the story of "Old Mortality." Scott's own love of adventure and of +stirring incidents at any cost is an excellent quality in a novelist, but +it does, in this instance, cause him somewhat to dilute those immortal +studies of Scotch character which are the strength of his genius. +The reader feels a lack of reality in the conclusion, the fatal encounter +of the father and the lost son, an incident as old as the legend of +Odysseus. But this is more than atoned for by the admirable part of Madge +Wildfire, flitting like a /feu follet/ up and down among the douce +Scotch, and the dour rioters. Madge Wildfire is no repetition of Meg +Merrilies, though both are unrestrained natural things, rebels against +the settled life, musical voices out of the past, singing forgotten songs +of nameless minstrels. Nowhere but in Shakspeare can we find such a +distraught woman as Madge Wildfire, so near akin to nature and to the +moods of "the bonny lady Moon." Only he who created Ophelia could have +conceived or rivalled the scene where Madge accompanies the hunters of +Staunton on the moonlit hill and sings her warnings to the fugitive. + + When the glede's in the blue cloud, + The lavrock lies still; + When the hound's in the green-wood, + The hind keeps the hill. + There's a bloodhound ranging Tinwald wood, + There's harness glancing sheen; + There's a maiden sits on Tinwald brae, + And she sings loud between. + O sleep ye sound, Sir James, she said, + When ye suld rise and ride? + There's twenty men, wi' bow and blade, + Are seeking where ye hide. + +The madness of Madge Wildfire has its parallel in the wildness of +Goethe's Marguerite, both of them lamenting the lost child, which, to +Madge's fancy, is now dead, now living in a dream. But the gloom that +hangs about Muschat's Cairn, the ghastly vision of "crying up Ailie +Muschat, and she and I will hae a grand bouking-washing, and bleach our +claise in the beams of the bonny Lady Moon," have a terror beyond the +German, and are unexcelled by Webster or by Ford. "But the moon, and the +dew, and the night-wind, they are just like a caller kail-blade laid on +my brow; and whiles I think the moon just shines on purpose to pleasure +me, when naebody sees her but mysell." Scott did not deal much in the +facile pathos of the death-bed, but that of Madge Wildfire has a grace of +poetry, and her latest song is the sweetest and wildest of his lyrics, +the most appropriate in its setting. When we think of the contrasts to +her--the honest, dull good-nature of Dumbiedikes; the common-sense and +humour of Mrs. Saddletree; the pragmatic pedantry of her husband; the +Highland pride, courage, and absurdity of the Captain of Knockdander-- +when we consider all these so various and perfect creations, we need not +wonder that Scott was "in high glee" over "The Heart of Mid-Lothian," +"felt himself very strong," and thought that these would be "the best +volumes that have appeared." The difficulty, as usual, is to understand +how, in all this strength, he permitted himself to be so careless over +what is really by far the easiest part of the novelist's task--the +construction. But so it was; about "The Monastery" he said, "it was +written with as much care as the rest, that is, with no care at all." +His genius flowed free in its own unconscious abundance: where conscious +deliberate workmanship was needed, "the forthright craftsman's hand," +there alone he was lax and irresponsible. In Shakspeare's case we can +often account for similar incongruities by the constraint of the old plot +which he was using; but Scott was making his own plots, or letting them +make themselves. "I never could lay down a plan, or, having laid it down, +I never could adhere to it; the action of composition always diluted some +passages and abridged or omitted others; and personages were rendered +important or insignificant, not according to their agency in the original +conception of the plan, but according to the success or otherwise with +which I was able to bring them out. I only tried to make that which I was +actually writing diverting and interesting, leaving the rest to fate. . . +When I chain my mind to ideas which are purely imaginative--for argument +is a different thing--it seems to me that the sun leaves the landscape, +that I think away the whole vivacity and spirit of my original +conception, and that the results are cold, tame, and spiritless." + +In fact, Sir Walter was like the Magician who can raise spirits that, +once raised, dominate him. Probably this must ever be the case, when an +author's characters are not puppets but real creations. They then have a +will and a way of their own; a free-will which their creator cannot +predetermine and correct. Something like this appears to have been +Scott's own theory of his lack of constructive power. No one was so +assured of its absence, no one criticised it more severely than he did +himself. The Edinburgh Review about this time counselled the "Author of +Waverley" to attempt a drama, doubting only his powers of compression. +Possibly work at a drama might have been of advantage to the genius of +Scott. He was unskilled in selection and rejection, which the drama +especially demands. But he detested the idea of writing for actors, whom +he regarded as ignorant, dull, and conceited. "I shall not fine and renew +a lease of popularity upon the theatre. To write for low, ill-informed, +and conceited actors, whom you must please, for your success is +necessarily at their mercy, I cannot away with," he wrote to Southey. +"Avowedly, I will never write for the stage; if I do, 'call me horse,'" +he remarks to Terry. He wanted "neither the profit nor the shame of it." +"I do not think that the character of the audience in London is such that +one could have the least pleasure in pleasing them." He liked helping +Terry to "Terryfy" "The Heart of Mid-Lothian," and his other novels, but +he had no more desire than a senator of Rome would have had to see his +name become famous by the Theatre. This confirmed repulsion in one so +learned in the dramatic poets is a curious trait in Scott's character. +He could not accommodate his genius to the needs of the stage, and that +crown which has most potently allured most men of genius he would have +thrust away, had it been offered to him, with none of Caesar's +reluctance. At the bottom of all this lay probably the secret conviction +that his genius was his master, that it must take him where it would, on +paths where he was compelled to follow. Terse and concentrated, of set +purpose, he could not be. A notable instance of this inability occurs in +the Introductory Chapter to "The Heart of Mid-Lothian," which has +probably frightened away many modern readers. The Advocate and the Writer +to the Signet and the poor Client are persons quite uncalled for, and +their little adventure at Gandercleugh is unreal. Oddly enough, part of +their conversation is absolutely in the manner of Dickens. + +"'I think,' said I, . . . 'the metropolitan county may, in that case, be +said to have a sad heart.' + +"'Right as my glove, Mr. Pattieson,' added Mr. Hardie; 'and a close +heart, and a hard heart--Keep it up, Jack.' + +"'And a wicked heart, and a poor heart,' answered Halkit, doing his best. + +"'And yet it may be called in some sort a strong heart, and a high +heart,' rejoined the advocate. 'You see I can put you both out of +heart.'" + +Fortunately we have no more of this easy writing, which makes such very +melancholy reading. + +The narrative of the Porteous mob, as given by the novelist, is not, it +seems, entirely accurate. Like most artists, Sir Walter took the liberty +of "composing" his picture. In his "Illustrations of the Author of +Waverley" (1825) Mr. Robert Chambers records the changes in facts made by +Scott. In the first place, Wilson did not attack his guard, and enable +Robertson to escape, after the sermon, but as soon as the criminals took +their seats in the pew. When fleeing out, Robertson tripped over "the +plate," set on a stand to receive alms and oblations, whereby he hurt +himself, and was seen to stagger and fall in running down the stairs +leading to the Cowgate. Mr. McQueen, Minister of the New Kirk, was coming +up the stairs. He conceived it to be his duty to set Robertson on his +feet again, "and covered his retreat as much as possible from the pursuit +of the guard." Robertson ran up the Horse Wynd, out at Potter Row Port, +got into the King's Park, and headed for the village of Duddingston, +beside the loch on the south-east of Arthur's Seat. He fainted after +jumping a dyke, but was picked up and given some refreshment. He lay in +hiding till he could escape to Holland. + +The conspiracy to hang Porteous did not, in fact, develop in a few hours, +after his failure to appear on the scaffold. The Queen's pardon (or a +reprieve) reached Edinburgh on Thursday, Sept. 2; the Riot occurred on +the night of Sept. 7. The council had been informed that lynching was +intended, thirty-six hours before the fatal evening, but pronounced the +reports to be "caddies' clatters." Their negligence, of course, must have +increased the indignation of the Queen. The riot, according to a very old +man, consulted by Mr. Chambers, was headed by two butchers, named +Cumming, "tall, strong, and exceedingly handsome men, who dressed in +women's clothes as a disguise." The rope was tossed out of a window in a +"small wares shop" by a woman, who received a piece of gold in exchange. +This extravagance is one of the very few points which suggest that people +of some wealth may have been concerned in the affair. Tradition, +according to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, believed in noble leaders of the +riot. It is certain that several witnesses of good birth and position +testified very strongly against Porteous, at his trial. + +According to Hogg, Scott's "fame was now so firmly established that he +cared not a fig for the opinion of his literary friends beforehand." He +was pleased, however, by the notice of "Ivanhoe," "The Heart of Mid- +Lothian," and "The Bride of Lammermoor" in the Edinburgh Review of 1820, +as he showed by quoting part of its remarks. The Reviewer frankly +observed "that, when we began with one of these works, we were conscious +that we never knew how to leave off. The Porteous mob is rather heavily +described, and the whole part of George Robertson, or Staunton, is +extravagant and displeasing. The final catastrophe is needlessly +improbable and startling." The critic felt that he must be critical, but +his praise of Effie and Jeanie Deans obviously comes from his heart. +Jeanie's character "is superior to anything we can recollect in the +history of invention . . . a remarkable triumph over the greatest of all +difficulties in the conduct of a fictitious narrative." The critique ends +with "an earnest wish that the Author would try his hand in the lore of +Shakspeare"; but, wiser than the woers of Penelope, Scott refused to make +that perilous adventure. + ANDREW LANG. + + +An essay by Mr. George Ormond, based on manuscripts in the Edinburgh +Record office (Scottish Review, July, 1892), adds little to what is known +about the Porteous Riot. It is said that Porteous was let down alive, and +hanged again, more than once, that his arm was broken by a Lochaber axe, +and that a torch was applied to the foot from which the shoe had fallen. +A pamphlet of 1787 says that Robertson became a spy on smugglers in +Holland, returned to London, procured a pardon through the Butcher +Cumberland, and "at last died in misery in London." It is plain that +Colonel Moyle might have rescued Porteous, but he was naturally cautious +about entering the city gates without a written warrant from the civil +authorities. + + + + + + TO THE BEST OF PATRONS, + A PLEASED AND INDULGENT READER + + + JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM + WISHES HEALTH, AND INCREASE, AND CONTENTMENT. + +Courteous Reader, + +If ingratitude comprehendeth every vice, surely so foul a stain worst of +all beseemeth him whose life has been devoted to instructing youth in +virtue and in humane letters. Therefore have I chosen, in this +prolegomenon, to unload my burden of thanks at thy feet, for the favour +with which thou last kindly entertained the Tales of my Landlord. Certes, +if thou hast chuckled over their factious and festivous descriptions, or +hadst thy mind filled with pleasure at the strange and pleasant turns of +fortune which they record, verily, I have also simpered when I beheld a +second storey with attics, that has arisen on the basis of my small +domicile at Gandercleugh, the walls having been aforehand pronounced by +Deacon Barrow to be capable of enduring such an elevation. Nor has it +been without delectation that I have endued a new coat (snuff-brown, and +with metal buttons), having all nether garments corresponding thereto. We +do therefore lie, in respect of each other, under a reciprocation of +benefits, whereof those received by me being the most solid (in respect +that a new house and a new coat are better than a new tale and an old +song), it is meet that my gratitude should be expressed with the louder +voice and more preponderating vehemence. And how should it be so +expressed?--Certainly not in words only, but in act and deed. It is with +this sole purpose, and disclaiming all intention of purchasing that +pendicle or poffle of land called the Carlinescroft, lying adjacent to my +garden, and measuring seven acres, three roods, and four perches, that I +have committed to the eyes of those who thought well of the former tomes, +these four additional volumes of the Tales of my Landlord. Not the less, +if Peter Prayfort be minded to sell the said poffle, it is at his own +choice to say so; and, peradventure, he may meet with a purchaser: unless +(gentle reader) the pleasing pourtraictures of Peter Pattieson, now given +unto thee in particular, and unto the public in general, shall have lost +their favour in thine eyes, whereof I am no way distrustful. And so much +confidence do I repose in thy continued favour, that, should thy lawful +occasions call thee to the town of Gandercleugh, a place frequented by +most at one time or other in their lives, I will enrich thine eyes with a +sight of those precious manuscripts whence thou hast derived so much +delectation, thy nose with a snuff from my mull, and thy palate with a +dram from my bottle of strong waters, called by the learned of +Gandercleugh, the Dominie's Dribble o' Drink. + +It is there, O highly esteemed and beloved reader, thou wilt be able to +bear testimony, through the medium of thine own senses, against the +children of vanity, who have sought to identify thy friend and servant +with I know not what inditer of vain fables; who hath cumbered the world +with his devices, but shrunken from the responsibility thereof. Truly, +this hath been well termed a generation hard of faith; since what can a +man do to assert his property in a printed tome, saving to put his name +in the title-page thereof, with his description, or designation, as the +lawyers term it, and place of abode? Of a surety I would have such +sceptics consider how they themselves would brook to have their works +ascribed to others, their names and professions imputed as forgeries, and +their very existence brought into question; even although, peradventure, +it may be it is of little consequence to any but themselves, not only +whether they are living or dead, but even whether they ever lived or no. +Yet have my maligners carried their uncharitable censures still farther. + +These cavillers have not only doubted mine identity, although thus +plainly proved, but they have impeached my veracity and the authenticity +of my historical narratives! Verily, I can only say in answer, that I +have been cautelous in quoting mine authorities. It is true, indeed, that +if I had hearkened with only one ear, I might have rehearsed my tale with +more acceptation from those who love to hear but half the truth. It is, +it may hap, not altogether to the discredit of our kindly nation of +Scotland, that we are apt to take an interest, warm, yea partial, in the +deeds and sentiments of our forefathers. He whom his adversaries describe +as a perjured Prelatist, is desirous that his predecessors should be held +moderate in their power, and just in their execution of its privileges, +when truly, the unimpassioned peruser of the annals of those times shall +deem them sanguinary, violent, and tyrannical. Again, the representatives +of the suffering Nonconformists desire that their ancestors, the +Cameronians, shall be represented not simply as honest enthusiasts, +oppressed for conscience' sake, but persons of fine breeding, and valiant +heroes. Truly, the historian cannot gratify these predilections. He must +needs describethe cavaliers as proud and high-spirited, cruel, +remorseless, and vindictive; the suffering party as honourably tenacious +of their opinions under persecution; their own tempers being, however, +sullen, fierce, and rude; their opinions absurd and extravagant; and +their whole course of conduct that of persons whom hellebore would better +have suited than prosecutions unto death for high-treason. Natheless, +while such and so preposterous were the opinions on either side, there +were, it cannot be doubted, men of virtue and worth on both, to entitle +either party to claim merit from its martyrs. It has been demanded of me, +Jedediah Cleishbotham, by what right I am entitled to constitute myself +an impartial judge of their discrepancies of opinions, seeing (as it is +stated) that I must necessarily have descended from one or other of the +contending parties, and be, of course, wedded for better or for worse, +according to the reasonable practice of Scotland, to its dogmata, or +opinions, and bound, as it were, by the tie matrimonial, or, to speak +without metaphor, /ex jure sanguinis,/ to maintain them in preference to +all others. + +But, nothing denying the rationality of the rule, which calls on all now +living to rule their political and religious opinions by those of their +great-grandfathers, and inevitable as seems the one or the other horn of +the dilemma betwixt which my adversaries conceive they have pinned me to +the wall, I yet spy some means of refuge, and claim a privilege to write +and speak of both parties with impartiality. For, O ye powers of logic! +when the Prelatists and Presbyterians of old times went together by the +ears in this unlucky country, my ancestor (venerated be his memory!) was +one of the people called Quakers, and suffered severe handling from +either side, even to the extenuation of his purse and the incarceration +of his person. + +Craving thy pardon, gentle Reader, for these few words concerning me and +mine, I rest, as above expressed, thy sure and obligated friend,* + +J. C. +GANDERCLEUGH, +this 1st of April, 1818. + +* Note A. Author's connection with Quakerism. + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN--(1830). + +The author has stated, in the preface to the Chronicles of the Canongate, +1827, that he received from an anonymous correspondent an account of the +incident upon which the following story is founded. He is now at liberty +to say, that the information was conveyed to him by a late amiable and +ingenious lady, whose wit and power of remarking and judging of character +still survive in the memory of her friends. Her maiden name was Miss +Helen Lawson, of Girthhead, and she was wife of Thomas Goldie, Esq. of +Craigmuie, Commissary of Dumfries. + +Her communication was in these words:-- + +"I had taken for summer lodgings a cottage near the old Abbey of +Lincluden. It had formerly been inhabited by a lady who had pleasure in +embellishing cottages, which she found perhaps homely and even poor +enough; mine, therefore, possessed many marks of taste and elegance +unusual in this species of habitation in Scotland, where a cottage is +literally what its name declares. + +"From my cottage door I had a partial view of the old Abbey before +mentioned; some of the highest arches were seen over, and some through, +the trees scattered along a lane which led down to the ruin, and the +strange fantastic shapes of almost all those old ashes accorded +wonderfully well with the building they at once shaded and ornamented. + +"The Abbey itself from my door was almost on a level with the cottage; +but on coming to the end of the lane, it was discovered to be situated on +a high perpendicular bank, at the foot of which run the clear waters of +the Cluden, where they hasten to join the sweeping Nith, + + 'Whose distant roaring swells and fa's.' + +As my kitchen and parlour were not very far distant, I one day went in to +purchase some chickens from a person I heard offering them for sale. It +was a little, rather stout-looking woman, who seemed to be between +seventy and eighty years of age; she was almost covered with a tartan +plaid, and her cap had over it a black silk hood, tied under the chin, a +piece of dress still much in use among elderly women of that rank of life +in Scotland; her eyes were dark, and remarkably lively and intelligent; I +entered into conversation with her, and began by asking how she +maintained herself, etc. + +"She said that in winter she footed stockings, that is, knit feet to +country-people's stockings, which bears about the same relation to +stocking-knitting that cobbling does to shoe-making, and is of course +both less profitable and less dignified; she likewise taught a few +children to read, and in summer she whiles reared a few chickens. + +"I said I could venture to guess from her face she had never been +married. She laughed heartily at this, and said, 'I maun hae the queerest +face that ever was seen, that ye could guess that. Now, do tell me, +madam, how ye cam to think sae?' I told her it was from her cheerful +disengaged countenance. She said, 'Mem, have ye na far mair reason to be +happy than me, wi' a gude husband and a fine family o' bairns, and plenty +o' everything? for me, I'm the puirest o' a' puir bodies, and can hardly +contrive to keep mysell alive in a' the wee bits o' ways I hae tell't +ye.' After some more conversation, during which I was more and more +pleased with the old womans sensible conversation, and the /naivete/ of +her remarks, she rose to go away, when I asked her name. Her countenance +suddenly clouded, and she said gravely, rather colouring, 'My name is +Helen Walker; but your husband kens weel about me.' + +"In the evening I related how much I had been pleased, and inquired what +was extraordinary in the history of the poor woman. Mr.---- said, there +were perhaps few more remarkable people than Helen Walker. She had been +left an orphan, with the charge of a sister considerably younger than +herself, and who was educated and maintained by her exertions. Attached +to herby so many ties, therefore, it will not be easy to conceive her +feelings, when she found that this only sister must be tried by the laws +of her country for child-murder, and upon being called as principal +witness against her. The counsel for the prisoner told Helen, that if she +could declare that her sister had made any preparations, however slight, +or had given her any intimation on the subject, that such a statement +would save her sister's life, as she was the principal witness against +her. Helen said, 'It is impossible for me to swear to a falsehood; and, +whatever may be the consequence, I will give my oath according to my +conscience.' + +"The trial came on, and the sister was found guilty and condemned; but in +Scotland six weeks must elapse between the sentence and the execution, +and Helen Walker availed herself of it. The very day of her sister's +condemnation she got a petition drawn, stating the peculiar circumstances +of the case, and that very night set out on foot to London. + +"Without introduction or recommendation, with her simple (perhaps +ill-expressed) petition, drawn up by some inferior clerk of the court, +she presented herself, in her tartan plaid and country attire, to the +late Duke of Argyle, who immediately procured the pardon she petitioned +for, and Helen returned with it on foot just in time to save her sister. + +"I was so strongly interested by this narrative, that I determined +immediately to prosecute my acquaintance with Helen Walker; but as I was +to leave the country next day, I was obliged to defer it till my return +in spring, when the first walk I took was to Helen Walker's cottage. + +"She had died a short time before. My regret was extreme, and I +endeavoured to obtain some account of Helen from an old woman who +inhabited the other end of her cottage. I inquired if Helen ever spoke of +her past history--her journey to London, etc., 'Na,' the old woman said, +'Helen was a wily body, and whene'er ony o' the neebors asked anything +about it, she aye turned the conversation.' + +"In short, every answer I received only tended to increase my regret, and +raise my opinion of Helen Walker, who could unite so much prudence with +so much heroic virtue." + +This narrative was inclosed in the following letter to the author, +without date or signature-- + +"Sir,--The occurrence just related happened to me twenty-six years ago. +Helen Walker lies buried in the churchyard of Irongray, about six miles +from Dumfries. I once proposed that a small monument should have been +erected to commemorate so remarkable a character, but I now prefer +leaving it to you to perpetuate her memory in a more durable manner." + +The reader is now able to judge how far the author has improved upon, or +fallen short of, the pleasing and interesting sketch of high principle +and steady affection displayed by Helen Walker, the prototype of the +fictitious Jeanie Deans. Mrs. Goldie was unfortunately dead before the +author had given his name to these volumes, so he lost all opportunity of +thanking that lady for her highly valuable communication. But her +daughter, Miss Goldie, obliged him with the following additional +information:-- + +"Mrs. Goldie endeavoured to collect further particulars of Helen Walker, +particularly concerning her journey to London, but found this nearly +impossible; as the natural dignity of her character, and a high sense of +family respectability, made her so indissolubly connect her sister's +disgrace with her own exertions, that none of her neighbours durst ever +question her upon the subject. One old woman, a distant relation of +Helen's, and who is still living, says she worked an harvest with her, +but that she never ventured to ask her about her sister's trial, or her +journey to London; 'Helen,' she added, 'was a lofty body, and used a high +style o' language.' The same old woman says, that every year Helen +received a cheese from her sister, who lived at Whitehaven, and that she +always sent a liberal portion of it to herself, or to her father's +family. This fact, though trivial in itself, strongly marks the affection +subsisting between the two sisters, and the complete conviction on the +mind of the criminal that her sister had acted solely from high +principle, not from any want of feeling, which another small but +characteristic trait will further illustrate. A gentleman, a relation of +Mrs. Goldie's, who happened to be travelling in the North of England, on +coming to a small inn, was shown into the parlour by a female servant, +who, after cautiously shutting the door, said, 'Sir, I'm Nelly Walker's +sister.' Thus practically showing that she considered her sister as +better known by her high conduct than even herself by a different kind of +celebrity. + +"Mrs. Goldie was extremely anxious to have a tombstone and an inscription +upon it erected in Irongray Churchyard; and if Sir Walter Scott will +condescend to write the last, a little subscription could be easily +raised in the immediate neighbourhood, and Mrs. Goldie's wish be thus +fulfilled." + +It is scarcely necessary to add that the request of Miss Goldie will be +most willingly complied with, and without the necessity of any tax on the +public.* Nor is there much occasion to repeat how much the author +conceives himself obliged to his unknown correspondent, who thus supplied +him with a theme affording such a pleasing view of the moral dignity of +virtue, though unaided by birth, beauty, or talent. If the picture has +suffered in the execution, it is from the failure of the author's powers +to present in detail the same simple and striking portrait exhibited in +Mrs. Goldie's letter. + +Abbotsford, April 1, 1830. + +* [Note B. Tombstone to Helen Walker.] + + + + + POSTSCRIPT. + +Although it would be impossible to add much to Mrs. Goldie's picturesque +and most interesting account of Helen Walker, the prototype of the +imaginary Jeanie Deans, the Editor may be pardoned for introducing two or +three anecdotes respecting that excellent person, which he has collected +from a volume entitled, /Sketches from Nature,/ by John M'Diarmid, a +gentleman who conducts an able provincial paper in the town of Dumfries. + +Helen was the daughter of a small farmer in a place called Dalwhairn, in +the parish of Irongray; where, after the death of her father, she +continued, with the unassuming piety of a Scottish peasant, to support +her mother by her own unremitted labour and privations; a case so common, +that even yet, I am proud to say, few of my countrywomen would shrink +from the duty. + +Helen Walker was held among her equals /pensy,/ that is, proud or +conceited; but the facts brought to prove this accusation seem only to +evince a strength of character superior to those around her. Thus it was +remarked, that when it thundered, she went with her work and her Bible to +the front of the cottage, alleging that the Almighty could smite in the +city as well as in the field. + +Mr. M'Diarmid mentions more particularly the misfortune of her sister, +which he supposes to have taken place previous to 1736. Helen Walker, +declining every proposal of saving her relation's life at the expense of +truth, borrowed a sum of money sufficient for her journey, walked the +whole distance to London barefoot, and made her way to John Duke of +Argyle. She was heard to say, that, by the Almighty strength, she had +been enabled to meet the Duke at the most critical moment, which, if +lost, would have caused the inevitable forfeiture of her sister's life. + +Isabella, or Tibby Walker, saved from the fate which impended over her, +was married by the person who had wronged her (named Waugh), and lived +happily for great part of a century, uniformly acknowledging the +extraordinary affection to which she owed her preservation. + +Helen Walker died about the end of the year 1791, and her remains are +interred in the churchyard of her native parish of Irongray, in a +romantic cemetery on the banks of the Cairn. That a character so +distinguished for her undaunted love of virtue, lived and died in +poverty, if not want, serves only to show us how insignificant, in the +sight of Heaven, are our principal objects of ambition upon earth. + + + + + + INTRODUCTORY + + So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourn, glides + The Derby dilly, carrying six insides. + Frere. + +The times have changed in nothing more (we follow as we were wont the +manuscript of Peter Pattieson) than in the rapid conveyance of +intelligence and communication betwixt one part of Scotland and another. +It is not above twenty or thirty years, according to the evidence of many +credible witnesses now alive, since a little miserable horse-cart, +performing with difficulty a journey of thirty miles /per diem,/ carried +our mails from the capital of Scotland to its extremity. Nor was Scotland +much more deficient in these accommodations than our rich sister had been +about eighty years before. Fielding, in his Tom Jones, and Farquhar, in a +little farce called the Stage-Coach, have ridiculed the slowness of these +vehicles of public accommodation. According to the latter authority, the +highest bribe could only induce the coachman to promise to anticipate by +half-an-hour the usual time of his arrival at the Bull and Mouth. + +But in both countries these ancient, slow, and sure modes of conveyance +are now alike unknown; mail-coach races against mail-coach, and +high-flyer against high-flyer, through the most remote districts of +Britain. And in our village alone, three post-coaches, and four coaches +with men armed, and in scarlet cassocks, thunder through the streets each +day, and rival in brilliancy and noise the invention of the celebrated +tyrant:-- + + Demens, qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen, + AEre et cornipedum pulsu, simularat, equorum. + +Now and then, to complete the resemblance, and to correct the presumption +of the venturous charioteers, it does happen that the career of these +dashing rivals of Salmoneus meets with as undesirable and violent a +termination as that of their prototype. It is on such occasions that the +Insides and Outsides, to use the appropriate vehicular phrases, have +reason to rue the exchange of the slow and safe motion of the ancient +Fly-coaches, which, compared with the chariots of Mr. Palmer, so ill +deserve the name. The ancient vehicle used to settle quietly down, like a +ship scuttled and left to sink by the gradual influx of the waters, while +the modern is smashed to pieces with the velocity of the same vessel +hurled against breakers, or rather with the fury of a bomb bursting at +the conclusion of its career through the air. The late ingenious Mr. +Pennant, whose humour it was to set his face in stern opposition to these +speedy conveyances, had collected, I have heard, a formidable list of +such casualties, which, joined to the imposition of innkeepers, whose +charges the passengers had no time to dispute, the sauciness of the +coachman, and the uncontrolled and despotic authority of the tyrant +called the guard, held forth a picture of horror, to which murder, theft, +fraud, and peculation, lent all their dark colouring. But that which +gratifies the impatience of the human disposition will be practised in +the teeth of danger, and in defiance of admonition; and, in despite of +the Cambrian antiquary, mail-coaches not only roll their thunders round +the base of Penman-Maur and Cader-Idris, but + + Frighted Skiddaw hears afar + The rattling of the unscythed car. + +And perhaps the echoes of Ben Nevis may soon be awakened by the bugle, +not of a warlike chieftain, but of the guard of a mail-coach. + +It was a fine summer day, and our little school had obtained a +half-holiday, by the intercession of a good-humoured visitor.* + +* His honour Gilbert Goslinn of Gandercleugh; for I love to be precise in +matters of importance.--J. C. + +I expected by the coach a new number of an interesting periodical +publication, and walked forward on the highway to meet it, with the +impatience which Cowper has described as actuating the resident in the +country when longing for intelligence from the mart of news.-- + + The grand debate, + The popular harangue,--the tart reply,-- + The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit, + And the loud laugh,--I long to know them all;-- + I burn to set the imprisoned wranglers free, + And give them voice and utterance again. + +It was with such feelings that I eyed the approach of the new coach, +lately established on our road, and known by the name of the Somerset, +which, to say truth, possesses some interest for me, even when it conveys +no such important information. The distant tremulous sound of its wheels +was heard just as I gained the summit of the gentle ascent, called the +Goslin-brae, from which you command an extensive view down the valley of +the river Gander. The public road, which comes up the side of that +stream, and crosses it at a bridge about a quarter of a mile from the +place where I was standing, runs partly through enclosures and +plantations, and partly through open pasture land. It is a childish +amusement perhaps,--but my life has been spent with children, and why +should not my pleasures be like theirs?--childish as it is then, I must +own I have had great pleasure in watching the approach of the carriage, +where the openings of the road permit it to be seen. The gay glancing of +the equipage, its diminished and toy-like appearance at a distance, +contrasted with the rapidity of its motion, its appearance and +disappearance at intervals, and the progressively increasing sounds that +announce its nearer approach, have all to the idle and listless +spectator, who has nothing more important to attend to, something of +awakening interest. The ridicule may attach to me, which is flung upon +many an honest citizen, who watches from the window of his villa the +passage of the stage-coach; but it is a very natural source of amusement +notwithstanding, and many of those who join in the laugh are perhaps not +unused to resort to it in secret. + +On the present occasion, however, fate had decreed that I should not +enjoy the consummation of the amusement by seeing the coach rattle past +me as I sat on the turf, and hearing the hoarse grating voice of the +guard as he skimmed forth for my grasp the expected packet, without the +carriage checking its course for an instant. I had seen the vehicle +thunder down the hill that leads to the bridge with more than its usual +impetuosity, glittering all the while by flashes from a cloudy tabernacle +of the dust which it had raised, and leaving a train behind it on the +road resembling a wreath of summer mist. But it did not appear on the top +of the nearer bank within the usual space of three minutes, which +frequent observation had enabled me to ascertain was the medium time for +crossing the bridge and mounting the ascent. When double that space had +elapsed, I became alarmed, and walked hastily forward. As I came in sight +of the bridge, the cause of delay was too manifest, for the Somerset had +made a summerset in good earnest, and overturned so completely, that it +was literally resting upon the ground, with the roof undermost, and the +four wheels in the air. The "exertions of the guard and coachman," both +of whom were gratefully commemorated in the newspapers, having succeeded +in disentangling the horses by cutting the harness, were now proceeding +to extricate the insides by a sort of summary and Caesarean process of +delivery, forcing the hinges from one of the doors which they could not +open otherwise. In this manner were two disconsolate damsels set at +liberty from the womb of the leathern conveniency. As they immediately +began to settle their clothes, which were a little deranged, as may be +presumed, I concluded they had received no injury, and did not venture to +obtrude my services at their toilette, for which, I understand, I have +since been reflected upon by the fair sufferers. The /outsides,/ who must +have been discharged from their elevated situation by a shock resembling +the springing of a mine, escaped, nevertheless, with the usual allowance +of scratches and bruises, excepting three, who, having been pitched into +the river Gander, were dimly seen contending with the tide like the +relics of AEneas's shipwreck,-- + + Rari apparent mantes in gurgite vasto. + +I applied my poor exertions where they seemed to be most needed, and with +the assistance of one or two of the company who had escaped unhurt, +easily succeeded in fishing out two of the unfortunate passengers, who +were stout active young fellows; and, but for the preposterous length of +their greatcoats, and the equally fashionable latitude and longitude of +their Wellington trousers, would have required little assistance from any +one. The third was sickly and elderly, and might have perished but for +the efforts used to preserve him. + +When the two greatcoated gentlemen had extricated themselves from the +river, and shaken their ears like huge water-dogs, a violent altercation +ensued betwixt them and the coachman and guard, concerning the cause of +their overthrow. In the course of the squabble, I observed that both my +new acquaintances belonged to the law, and that their professional +sharpness was likely to prove an overmatch for the surly and official +tone of the guardians of the vehicle. The dispute ended in the guard +assuring the passengers that they should have seats in a heavy coach +which would pass that spot in less than half-an-hour, provided it were +not full. Chance seemed to favour this arrangement, for when the expected +vehicle, arrived, there were only two places occupied in a carriage which +professed to carry six. The two ladies who had been disinterred out of +the fallen vehicle were readily admitted, but positive objections were +stated by those previously in possession to the admittance of the two +lawyers, whose wetted garments being much of the nature of well-soaked +sponges, there was every reason to believe they would refund a +considerable part of the water they had collected, to the inconvenience +of their fellow-passengers. On the other hand, the lawyers rejected a +seat on the roof, alleging that they had only taken that station for +pleasure for one stage, but were entitled in all respects to free egress +and regress from the interior, to which their contract positively +referred. After some altercation, in which something was said upon the +edict /Nautae caupones stabularii,/ the coach went off, leaving the +learned gentlemen to abide by their action of damages. + +They immediately applied to me to guide them to the next village and the +best inn; and from the account I gave them of the Wallace Head, declared +they were much better pleased to stop there than to go forward upon the +terms of that impudent scoundrel the guard of the Somerset. All that they +now wanted was a lad to carry their travelling bags, who was easily +procured from an adjoining cottage; and they prepared to walk forward, +when they found there was another passenger in the same deserted +situation with themselves. This was the elderly and sickly-looking +person, who had been precipitated into the river along with the two young +lawyers. He, it seems, had been too modest to push his own plea against +the coachman when he saw that of his betters rejected, and now remained +behind with a look of timid anxiety, plainly intimating that he was +deficient in those means of recommendation which are necessary passports +to the hospitality of an inn. + +I ventured to call the attention of the two dashing young blades, for +such they seemed, to the desolate condition of their fellow-traveller. +They took the hint with ready good-nature. + +"O, true, Mr. Dunover," said one of the youngsters, "you must not remain +on the pave' here; you must go and have some dinner with us--Halkit and I +must have a post-chaise to go on, at all events, and we will set you down +wherever suits you best." + +The poor man, for such his dress, as well as his diffidence, bespoke him, +made the sort of acknowledging bow by which says a Scotsman, "It's too +much honour for the like of me;" and followed humbly behind his gay +patrons, all three besprinkling the dusty road as they walked along with +the moisture of their drenched garments, and exhibiting the singular and +somewhat ridiculous appearance of three persons suffering from the +opposite extreme of humidity, while the summer sun was at its height, and +everything else around them had the expression of heat and drought. The +ridicule did not escape the young gentlemen themselves, and they had made +what might be received as one or two tolerable jests on the subject +before they had advanced far on their peregrination. + +"We cannot complain, like Cowley," said one of them, "that Gideon's +fleece remains dry, while all around is moist; this is the reverse of the +miracle." + +"We ought to be received with gratitude in this good town; we bring a +supply of what they seem to need most," said Halkit. + +"And distribute it with unparalleled generosity," replied his companion; +"performing the part of three water-carts for the benefit of their dusty +roads." + +"We come before them, too," said Halkit, "in full professional force-- +counsel and agent"-- + +"And client," said the young advocate, looking behind him; and then +added, lowering his voice, "that looks as if he had kept such dangerous +company too long." + +It was, indeed, too true, that the humble follower of the gay young men +had the threadbare appearance of a worn-out litigant, and I could not but +smile at the conceit, though anxious to conceal my mirth from the object +of it. + +When we arrived at the Wallace Inn, the elder of the Edinburgh gentlemen, +and whom I understood to be a barrister, insisted that I should remain +and take part of their dinner; and their inquiries and demands speedily +put my landlord and his whole family in motion to produce the best cheer +which the larder and cellar afforded, and proceed to cook it to the best +advantage, a science in which our entertainers seemed to be admirably +skilled. In other respects they were lively young men, in the hey-day of +youth and good spirits, playing the part which is common to the higher +classes of the law at Edinburgh, and which nearly resembles that of the +young Templars in the days of Steele and Addison. An air of giddy gaiety +mingled with the good sense, taste, and information which their +conversation exhibited; and it seemed to be their object to unite the +character of men of fashion and lovers of the polite arts. A fine +gentleman, bred up in the thorough idleness and inanity of pursuit, which +I understand is absolutely necessary to the character in perfection, +might in all probability have traced a tinge of professional pedantry +which marked the barrister in spite of his efforts, and something of +active bustle in his companion, and would certainly have detected more +than a fashionable mixture of information and animated interest in the +language of both. But to me, who had no pretensions to be so critical, my +companions seemed to form a very happy mixture of good-breeding and +liberal information, with a disposition to lively rattle, pun, and jest, +amusing to a grave man, because it is what he himself can least easily +command. + +The thin pale-faced man, whom their good-nature had brought into their +society, looked out of place as well as out of spirits; sate on the edge +of his seat, and kept the chair at two feet distance from the table; thus +incommoding himself considerably in conveying the victuals to his mouth, +as if by way of penance for partaking of them in the company of his +superiors. A short time after dinner, declining all entreaty to partake +of the wine, which circulated freely round, he informed himself of the +hour when the chaise had been ordered to attend; and saying he would be +in readiness, modestly withdrew from the apartment. + +"Jack," said the barrister to his companion, "I remember that poor +fellow's face; you spoke more truly than you were aware of; he really is +one of my clients, poor man." + +"Poor man!" echoed Halkit--"I suppose you mean he is your one and only +client?" + +"That's not my fault, Jack," replied the other, whose name I discovered +was Hardie. "You are to give me all your business, you know; and if you +have none, the learned gentleman here knows nothing can come of nothing." + +"You seem to have brought something to nothing though, in the case of +that honest man. He looks as if he were just about to honour with his +residence the Heart of Mid-Lothian." + +"You are mistaken--he is just delivered from it.--Our friend here looks +for an explanation. Pray, Mr. Pattieson, have you been in Edinburgh?" + +I answered in the affirmative. + +"Then you must have passed, occasionally at least, though probably not so +faithfully as I am doomed to do, through a narrow intricate passage, +leading out of the north-west corner of the Parliament Square, and +passing by a high and antique building with turrets and iron grates, + + Making good the saying odd, + 'Near the church and far from God'"-- + +Mr. Halkit broke in upon his learned counsel, to contribute his moiety to +the riddle--"Having at the door the sign of the Red man"-- + +"And being on the whole," resumed the counsellor interrupting his friend +in his turn, "a sort of place where misfortune is happily confounded with +guilt, where all who are in wish to get out"-- + +"And where none who have the good luck to be out, wish to get in," added +his companion. + +"I conceive you, gentlemen," replied I; "you mean the prison." + +"The prison," added the young lawyer--"You have hit it--the very reverend +Tolbooth itself; and let me tell you, you are obliged to us for +describing it with so much modesty and brevity; for with whatever +amplifications we might have chosen to decorate the subject, you lay +entirely at our mercy, since the Fathers Conscript of our city have +decreed that the venerable edifice itself shall not remain in existence +to confirm or to confute its." + +"Then the Tolbooth of Edinburgh is called the Heart of Mid-Lothian?" said +I. + +"So termed and reputed, I assure you." + +"I think," said I, with the bashful diffidence with which a man lets slip +a pun in presence of his superiors, "the metropolitan county may, in that +case, be said to have a sad heart." + +"Right as my glove, Mr. Pattieson," added Mr. Hardie; "and a close heart, +and a hard heart--Keep it up, Jack." + +"And a wicked heart, and a poor heart," answered Halkit, doing his best. + +"And yet it may be called in some sort a strong heart, and a high heart," +rejoined the advocate. "You see I can put you both out of heart." + +"I have played all my hearts," said the younger gentleman. + +"Then we'll have another lead," answered his companion.--"And as to the +old and condemned Tolbooth, what pity the same honour cannot be done to +it as has been done to many of its inmates. Why should not the Tolbooth +have its 'Last Speech, Confession, and Dying Words?' The old stones would +be just as conscious of the honour as many a poor devil who has dangled +like a tassel at the west end of it, while the hawkers were shouting a +confession the culprit had never heard of." + +"I am afraid," said I, "if I might presume to give my opinion, it would +be a tale of unvaried sorrow and guilt." + +"Not entirely, my friend," said Hardie; "a prison is a world within +itself, and has its own business, griefs, and joys, peculiar to its +circle. Its inmates are sometimes short-lived, but so are soldiers on +service; they are poor relatively to the world without, but there are +degrees of wealth and poverty among them, and so some are relatively rich +also. They cannot stir abroad, but neither can the garrison of a besieged +fort, or the crew of a ship at sea; and they are not under a dispensation +quite so desperate as either, for they may have as much food as they have +money to buy, and are not obliged to work, whether they have food or +not." + +"But what variety of incident," said I (not without a secret view to my +present task), "could possibly be derived from such a work as you are +pleased to talk of?" + +"Infinite," replied the young advocate. "Whatever of guilt, crime, +imposture, folly, unheard-of misfortunes, and unlooked-for change of +fortune, can be found to chequer life, my Last Speech of the Tolbooth +should illustrate with examples sufficient to gorge even the public's +all-devouring appetite for the wonderful and horrible. The inventor of +fictitious narratives has to rack his brains for means to diversify his +tale, and after all can hardly hit upon characters or incidents which +have not been used again and again, until they are familiar to the eye of +the reader, so that the development, /enle'vement,/ the desperate wound +of which the hero never dies, the burning fever from which the heroine is +sure to recover, become a mere matter of course. I join with my honest +friend Crabbe, and have an unlucky propensity to hope, when hope is lost, +and to rely upon the cork-jacket, which carries the heroes of romance +safe through all the billows of affliction." He then declaimed the +following passage, rather with too much than too little emphasis:-- + + + Much have I feared, but am no more afraid, + When some chaste beauty by some wretch betrayed, + Is drawn away with such distracted speed, + That she anticipates a dreadful deed. + Not so do I--Let solid walls impound + The captive fair, and dig a moat around; + Let there be brazen locks and bars of steel, + And keepers cruel, such as never feel; + With not a single note the purse supply, + And when she begs, let men and maids deny; + Be windows there from which she dare not fall, + And help so distant, 'tis in vain to call; + Still means of freedom will some Power devise, + And from the baffled ruffian snatch his prize. + +"The end of uncertainty," he concluded, "is the death of interest; and +hence it happens that no one now reads novels." + +"Hear him, ye gods!" returned his companion. "I assure you, Mr. +Pattieson, you will hardly visit this learned gentleman, but you are +likely to find the new novel most in repute lying on his table,--snugly +intrenched, however, beneath Stair's Institutes, or an open volume of +Morrison's Decisions." + +"Do I deny it?" said the hopeful jurisconsult, "or wherefore should I, +since it is well known these Delilahs seduce my wisers and my betters? +May they not be found lurking amidst the multiplied memorials of our most +distinguished counsel, and even peeping from under the cushion of a +judge's arm-chair? Our seniors at the bar, within the bar, and even on +the bench, read novels; and, if not belied, some of them have written +novels into the bargain. I only say, that I read from habit and from +indolence, not from real interest; that, like ancient Pistol devouring +his leek, I read and swear till I get to the end of the narrative. But +not so in the real records of human vagaries--not so in the State Trials, +or in the Books of Adjournal, where every now and then you read new pages +of the human heart, and turns of fortune far beyond what the boldest +novelist ever attempted to produce from the coinage of his brain." + +"And for such narratives," I asked, "you suppose the History of the +Prison of Edinburgh might afford appropriate materials?" + +"In a degree unusually ample, my dear sir," said Hardie--"Fill your +glass, however, in the meanwhile. Was it not for many years the place in +which the Scottish parliament met? Was it not James's place of refuge, +when the mob, inflamed by a seditious preacher, broke, forth, on him with +the cries of 'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon--bring forth the wicked +Haman?' Since that time how many hearts have throbbed within these walls, +as the tolling of the neighbouring bell announced to them how fast the +sands of their life were ebbing; how many must have sunk at the sound-- +how many were supported by stubborn pride and dogged resolution--how many +by the consolations of religion? Have there not been some, who, looking +back on the motives of their crimes, were scarce able to understand how +they should have had such temptation as to seduce them from virtue; and +have there not, perhaps, been others, who, sensible of their innocence, +were divided between indignation at the undeserved doom which they were +to undergo, consciousness that they had not deserved it, and racking +anxiety to discover some way in which they might yet vindicate +themselves? Do you suppose any of these deep, powerful, and agitating +feelings, can be recorded and perused without exciting a corresponding +depth of deep, powerful, and agitating interest?--Oh! do but wait till I +publish the /Causes Ce'le'bres/ of Caledonia, and you will find no want +of a novel or a tragedy for some time to come. The true thing will +triumph over the brightest inventions of the most ardent imagination. +/Magna est veritas, et praevalebit./" + +"I have understood," said I, encouraged by the affability of my rattling +entertainer, "that less of this interest must attach to Scottish +jurisprudence than to that of any other country. The general morality of +our people, their sober and prudent habits"---- + +"Secure them," said the barrister, "against any great increase of +professional thieves and depredators, but not against wild and wayward +starts of fancy and passion, producing crimes of an extraordinary +description, which are precisely those to the detail of which we listen +with thrilling interest. England has been much longer a highly civilised +country; her subjects have been very strictly amenable to laws +administered without fear or favour, a complete division of labour has +taken place among her subjects, and the very thieves and robbers form a +distinct class in society, subdivided among themselves according to the +subject of the depredations, and the mode in which they carry them on, +acting upon regular habits and principles, which can be calculated and +anticipated at Bow Street, Hatton Garden, or the Old Bailey. Our sister +kingdom is like a cultivated field,--the farmer expects that, in spite of +all his care, a certain number of weeds will rise with the corn, and can +tell you beforehand their names and appearance. But Scotland is like one +of her own Highland glens, and the moralist who reads the records of her +criminal jurisprudence, will find as many curious anomalous facts in the +history of mind, as the botanist will detect rare specimens among her +dingles and cliffs." + +"And that's all the good you have obtained from three perusals of the +Commentaries on Scottish Criminal Jurisprudence?" said his companion. "I +suppose the learned author very little thinks that the facts which his +erudition and acuteness have accumulated for the illustration of legal +doctrines, might be so arranged as to form a sort of appendix to the +half-bound and slip-shod volumes of the circulating library." + +"I'll bet you a pint of claret," said the elder lawyer, "that he will not +feel sore at the comparison. But as we say at the bar, 'I beg I may not +be interrupted;' I have much more to say, upon my Scottish collection of +/Causes Ce'le'bres./ You will please recollect the scope and motive given +for the contrivance and execution of many extraordinary and daring +crimes, by the long civil dissensions of Scotland--by the hereditary +jurisdictions, which, until 1748, rested the investigation of crises in +judges, ignorant, partial, or interested--by the habits of the gentry, +shut up in their distant and solitary mansion-houses, nursing their +revengeful Passions just to keep their blood from stagnating--not to +mention that amiable national qualification, called the /perfervidum +ingenium Scotorum,/ which our lawyers join in alleging as a reason for +the severity of some of our enactments. When I come to treat of matters +so mysterious, deep, and dangerous, as these circumstances have given +rise to, the blood of each reader shall be curdled, and his epidermis +crisped into goose skin.--But, hist!--here comes the landlord, with +tidings, I suppose, that the chaise is ready." + +It was no such thing--the tidings bore, that no chaise could be had that +evening, for Sir Peter Plyem had carried forward my landlord's two pairs +of horses that morning to the ancient royal borough of Bubbleburgh, to +look after his interest there. But as Bubbleburgh is only one of a set of +five boroughs which club their shares for a member of parliament, Sir +Peter's adversary had judiciously watched his departure, in order to +commence a canvass in the no less royal borough of Bitem, which, as all +the world knows, lies at the very termination of Sir Peter's avenue, and +has been held in leading-strings by him and his ancestors for time +immemorial. Now Sir Peter was thus placed in the situation of an +ambitious monarch, who, after having commenced a daring inroad into his +enemy's territories, is suddenly recalled by an invasion of his own +hereditary dominions. He was obliged in consequence to return from the +half-won borough of Bubbleburgh, to look after the half-lost borough of +Bitem, and the two pairs of horses which had carried him that morning to +Bubbleburgh were now forcibly detained to transport him, his agent, his +valet, his jester, and his hard-drinker, across the country to Bitem. The +cause of this detention, which to me was of as little consequence as it +may be to the reader, was important enough to my companions to reconcile +them to the delay. Like eagles, they smelled the battle afar off, ordered +a magnum of claret and beds at the Wallace, and entered at full career +into the Bubbleburgh and Bitem politics, with all the probable "Petitions +and complaints" to which they were likely to give rise. + +In the midst of an anxious, animated, and, to me, most unintelligible +discussion, concerning provosts, bailies, deacons, sets of boroughs, +leets, town-clerks, burgesses resident and non-resident, all of a sudden +the lawyer recollected himself. "Poor Dunover, we must not forget him;" +and the landlord was despatched in quest of the /pauvre honteux,/ with an +earnestly civil invitation to him for the rest of the evening. I could +not help asking the young gentlemen if they knew the history of this poor +man; and the counsellor applied himself to his pocket to recover the +memorial or brief from which he had stated his cause. + +"He has been a candidate for our /remedium miserabile,/" said Mr. Hardie, +"commonly called a /cessio bonorum./ As there are divines who have +doubted the eternity of future punishments, so the Scotch lawyers seem to +have thought that the crime of poverty might be atoned for by something +short of perpetual imprisonment. After a month's confinement, you must +know, a prisoner for debt is entitled, on a sufficient statement to our +Supreme Court, setting forth the amount of his funds, and the nature of +his misfortunes, and surrendering all his effects to his creditors, to +claim to be discharged from prison." + +"I had heard," I replied, "of such a humane regulation." + +"Yes," said Halkit, "and the beauty of it is, as the foreign fellow said, +you may get the /cessio,/ when the /bonorums/ are all spent--But what, +are you puzzling in your pockets to seek your only memorial among old +play-bills, letters requesting a meeting of the Faculty, rules of the +Speculative Society,* syllabus' of lectures--all the miscellaneous +contents of a young advocate's pocket, which contains everything but +briefs and bank-notes? + +* [A well-known debating club in Edinburgh.] + +Can you not state a case of /cessio/ without your memorial? Why, it is +done every Saturday. The events follow each other as regularly as +clock-work, and one form of condescendence might suit every one of them." + +"This is very unlike the variety of distress which this gentleman stated +to fall under the consideration of your judges," said I. + +"True," replied Halkit; "but Hardie spoke of criminal jurisprudence, and +this business is purely civil. I could plead a /cessio/ myself without +the inspiring honours of a gown and three-tailed periwig--Listen.--My +client was bred a journeyman weaver--made some little money--took a farm +--(for conducting a farm, like driving a gig, comes by nature)--late +severe times--induced to sign bills with a friend, for which he received +no value--landlord sequestrates--creditors accept a composition--pursuer +sets up a public-house--fails a second time--is incarcerated for a debt +of ten pounds seven shillings and sixpence--his debts amount to blank-- +his losses to blank--his funds to blank--leaving a balance of blank in +his favour. There is no opposition; your lordships will please grant +commission to take his oath." + +Hardie now renounced this ineffectual search, in which there was perhaps +a little affectation, and told us the tale of poor Dunover's distresses, +with a tone in which a degree of feeling, which he seemed ashamed of as +unprofessional, mingled with his attempts at wit, and did him more +honour. It was one of those tales which seem to argue a sort of ill-luck +or fatality attached to the hero. A well-informed, industrious, and +blameless, but poor and bashful man, had in vain essayed all the usual +means by which others acquire independence, yet had never succeeded +beyond the attainment of bare subsistence. During a brief gleam of hope, +rather than of actual prosperity, he had added a wife and family to his +cares, but the dawn was speedily overcast. Everything retrograded with +him towards the verge of the miry Slough of Despond, which yawns for +insolvent debtors; and after catching at each twig, and experiencing the +protracted agony of feeling them one by one elude his grasp, he actually +sunk into the miry pit whence he had been extricated by the professional +exertions of Hardie. + +"And, I suppose, now you have dragged this poor devil ashore, you will +leave him half naked on the beach to provide for himself?" said Halkit. +"Hark ye,"--and he whispered something in his ear, of which the +penetrating and insinuating words, "Interest with my Lord," alone reached +mine. + +"It is /pessimi exempli,/" said Hardie, laughing, "to provide for a +ruined client; but I was thinking of what you mention, provided it can be +managed--But hush! here he comes." + +The recent relation of the poor man's misfortunes had given him, I was +pleased to observe, a claim to the attention and respect of the young +men, who treated him with great civility, and gradually engaged him in a +conversation, which, much to my satisfaction, again turned upon the +/Causes Ce'le'bres/ of Scotland. Imboldened by the kindness with which he +was treated, Mr. Dunover began to contribute his share to the amusement +of the evening. Jails, like other places, have their ancient traditions, +known only to the inhabitants, and handed down from one set of the +melancholy lodgers to the next who occupy their cells. Some of these, +which Dunover mentioned, were interesting, and served to illustrate the +narratives of remarkable trials, which Hardie had at his finger-ends, and +which his companion was also well skilled in. This sort of conversation +passed away the evening till the early hour when Mr. Dunover chose to +retire to rest, and I also retreated to take down memorandums of what I +had learned, in order to add another narrative to those which it had been +my chief amusement to collect, and to write out in detail. The two young +men ordered a broiled bone, Madeira negus, and a pack of cards, and +commenced a game at picquet. + +Next morning the travellers left Gandercleugh. I afterwards learned from +the papers that both have been since engaged in the great political cause +of Bubbleburgh and Bitem, a summary case, and entitled to particular +despatch; but which, it is thought, nevertheless, may outlast the +duration of the parliament to which the contest refers. Mr. Halkit, as +the newspapers informed me, acts as agent or solicitor; and Mr. Hardie +opened for Sir Peter Plyem with singular ability, and to such good +purpose, that I understand he has since had fewer play-bills and more +briefs in his pocket. And both the young gentlemen deserve their good +fortune; for I learned from Dunover, who called on me some weeks +afterwards, and communicated the intelligence with tears in his eyes, +that their interest had availed to obtain him a small office for the +decent maintenance of his family; and that, after a train of constant and +uninterrupted misfortune, he could trace a dawn of prosperity to his +having the good fortune to be flung from the top of a mail-coach into the +river Gander, in company with an advocate and a writer to the Signet. The +reader will not perhaps deem himself equally obliged to the accident, +since it brings upon him the following narrative, founded upon the +conversation of the evening. + + + + THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN + + + + CHAPTER FIRST. + + + Whoe'er's been at Paris must needs know the Gre've, + The fatal retreat of the unfortunate brave, + Where honour and justice most oddly contribute, + To ease heroes' pains by an halter and gibbet. + + There death breaks the shackles which force had put on, + And the hangman completes what the judge but began; + There the squire of the poet, and knight of the post, + Find their pains no more baulked, and their hopes no more + crossed. + Prior. + +In former times, England had her Tyburn, to which the devoted victims of +justice were conducted in solemn procession up what is now called Oxford +Street. In Edinburgh, a large open street, or rather oblong square, +surrounded by high houses, called the Grassmarket, was used for the same +melancholy purpose. It was not ill chosen for such a scene, being of +considerable extent, and therefore fit to accommodate a great number of +spectators, such as are usually assembled by this melancholy spectacle. +On the other hand, few of the houses which surround it were, even in +early times, inhabited by persons of fashion; so that those likely to be +offended or over deeply affected by such unpleasant exhibitions were not +in the way of having their quiet disturbed by them. The houses in the +Grassmarket are, generally speaking, of a mean description; yet the place +is not without some features of grandeur, being overhung by the southern +side of the huge rock on which the Castle stands, and by the moss-grown +battlements and turreted walls of that ancient fortress. + +It was the custom, until within these thirty years or thereabouts, to use +this esplanade for the scene of public executions. The fatal day was +announced to the public by the appearance of a huge black gallows-tree +towards the eastern end of the Grassmarket. This ill-omened apparition +was of great height, with a scaffold surrounding it, and a double ladder +placed against it, for the ascent of the unhappy criminal and +executioner. As this apparatus was always arranged before dawn, it seemed +as if the gallows had grown out of the earth in the course of one night, +like the production of some foul demon; and I well remember the fright +with which the schoolboys, when I was one of their number, used to regard +these ominous signs of deadly preparation. On the night after the +execution the gallows again disappeared, and was conveyed in silence and +darkness to the place where it was usually deposited, which was one of +the vaults under the Parliament House, or courts of justice. This mode of +execution is now exchanged for one similar to that in front of Newgate,-- +with what beneficial effect is uncertain. The mental sufferings of the +convict are indeed shortened. He no longer stalks between the attendant +clergymen, dressed in his grave-clothes, through a considerable part of +the city, looking like a moving and walking corpse, while yet an +inhabitant of this world; but, as the ultimate purpose of punishment has +in view the prevention of crimes, it may at least be doubted, whether, in +abridging the melancholy ceremony, we have not in part diminished that +appalling effect upon the spectators which is the useful end of all such +inflictions, and in consideration of which alone, unless in very +particular cases, capital sentences can be altogether justified. + +On the 7th day of September 1736, these ominous preparations for +execution were descried in the place we have described, and at an early +hour the space around began to be occupied by several groups, who gazed +on the scaffold and gibbet with a stern and vindictive show of +satisfaction very seldom testified by the populace, whose good nature, in +most cases, forgets the crime of the condemned person, and dwells only on +his misery. But the act of which the expected culprit had been convicted +was of a description calculated nearly and closely to awaken and irritate +the resentful feelings of the multitude. The tale is well known; yet it +is necessary to recapitulate its leading circumstances, for the better +understanding what is to follow; and the narrative may prove long, but I +trust not uninteresting even to those who have heard its general issue. +At any rate, some detail is necessary, in order to render intelligible +the subsequent events of our narrative. + +Contraband trade, though it strikes at the root of legitimate government, +by encroaching on its revenues,--though it injures the fair trader, and +debauches the mind of those engaged in it,--is not usually looked upon, +either by the vulgar or by their betters, in a very heinous point of +view. On the contrary, in those countries where it prevails, the +cleverest, boldest, and most intelligent of the peasantry, are uniformly +engaged in illicit transactions, and very often with the sanction of the +farmers and inferior gentry. Smuggling was almost universal in Scotland +in the reigns of George I. and II.; for the people, unaccustomed to +imposts, and regarding them as an unjust aggression upon their ancient +liberties, made no scruple to elude them whenever it was possible to do +so. + +The county of Fife, bounded by two firths on the south and north, and by +the sea on the east, and having a number of small seaports, was long +famed for maintaining successfully a contraband trade; and, as there were +many seafaring men residing there, who had been pirates and buccaneers in +their youth, there were not wanting a sufficient number of daring men to +carry it on. Among these, a fellow called Andrew Wilson, originally a +baker in the village of Pathhead, was particularly obnoxious to the +revenue officers. He was possessed of great personal strength, courage, +and cunning,--was perfectly acquainted with the coast, and capable of +conducting the most desperate enterprises. On several occasions he +succeeded in baffling the pursuit and researches of the king's officers; +but he became so much the object of their suspicions and watchful +attention, that at length he was totally ruined by repeated seizures. The +man became desperate. He considered himself as robbed and plundered; and +took it into his head that he had a right to make reprisals, as he could +find opportunity. Where the heart is prepared for evil, opportunity is +seldom long wanting. This Wilson learned that the Collector of the +Customs at Kirkcaldy had come to Pittenweem, in the course of his +official round of duty, with a considerable sum of public money in his +custody. As the amount was greatly within the value of the goods which +had been seized from him, Wilson felt no scruple of conscience in +resolving to reimburse himself for his losses, at the expense of the +Collector and the revenue. He associated with himself one Robertson, and +two other idle young men, whom, having been concerned in the same illicit +trade, he persuaded to view the transaction in the same justifiable light +in which he himself considered it. They watched the motions of the +Collector; they broke forcibly into the house where he lodged,--Wilson, +with two of his associates, entering the Collector's apartment, while +Robertson, the fourth, kept watch at the door with a drawn cutlass in his +hand. The officer of the customs, conceiving his life in danger, escaped +out of his bedroom window, and fled in his shirt, so that the plunderers, +with much ease, possessed themselves of about two hundred pounds of +public money. The robbery was committed in a very audacious manner, for +several persons were passing in the street at the time. But Robertson, +representing the noise they heard as a dispute or fray betwixt the +Collector and the people of the house, the worthy citizens of Pittenweem +felt themselves no way called on to interfere in behalf of the obnoxious +revenue officer; so, satisfying themselves with this very superficial +account of the matter, like the Levite in the parable, they passed on the +opposite side of the way. An alarm was at length given, military were +called in, the depredators were pursued, the booty recovered, and Wilson +and Robertson tried and condemned to death, chiefly on the evidence of an +accomplice. + +Many thought that, in consideration of the men's erroneous opinion of the +nature of the action they had committed, justice might have been +satisfied with a less forfeiture than that of two lives. On the other +hand, from the audacity of the fact, a severe example was judged +necessary; and such was the opinion of the Government. When it became +apparent that the sentence of death was to be executed, files, and other +implements necessary for their escape, were transmitted secretly to the +culprits by a friend from without. By these means they sawed a bar out of +one of the prison-windows, and might have made their escape, but for the +obstinacy of Wilson, who, as he was daringly resolute, was doggedly +pertinacious of his opinion. His comrade, Robertson, a young and slender +man, proposed to make the experiment of passing the foremost through the +gap they had made, and enlarging it from the outside, if necessary, to +allow Wilson free passage. Wilson, however, insisted on making the first +experiment, and being a robust and lusty man, he not only found it +impossible to get through betwixt the bars, but, by his struggles, he +jammed himself so fast, that he was unable to draw his body back again. +In these circumstances discovery became unavoidable, and sufficient +precautions were taken by the jailor to prevent any repetition of the +same attempt. Robertson uttered not a word of reflection on his companion +for the consequences of his obstinacy; but it appeared from the sequel, +that Wilson's mind was deeply impressed with the recollection that, but +for him, his comrade, over whose mind he exercised considerable +influence, would not have engaged in the criminal enterprise which had +terminated thus fatally; and that now he had become his destroyer a +second time, since, but for his obstinacy, Robertson might have effected +his escape. Minds like Wilson's, even when exercised in evil practices, +sometimes retain the power of thinking and resolving with enthusiastic +generosity. His whole thoughts were now bent on the possibility of saving +Robertson's life, without the least respect to his own. The resolution +which he adopted, and the manner in which he carried it into effect, were +striking and unusual. + +Adjacent to the tolbooth or city jail of Edinburgh, is one of three +churches into which the cathedral of St. Giles is now divided, called, +from its vicinity, the Tolbooth Church. It was the custom that criminals +under sentence of death were brought to this church, with a sufficient +guard, to hear and join in public worship on the Sabbath before +execution. It was supposed that the hearts of these unfortunate persons, +however hardened before against feelings of devotion, could not but be +accessible to them upon uniting their thoughts and voices, for the last +time, along with their fellow-mortals, in addressing their Creator. And +to the rest of the congregation, it was thought it could not but be +impressive and affecting, to find their devotions mingling with those, +who, sent by the doom of an earthly tribunal to appear where the whole +earth is judged, might be considered as beings trembling on the verge of +eternity. The practice, however edifying, has been discontinued, in +consequence of the incident we are about to detail. + +The clergyman, whose duty it was to officiate in the Tolbooth Church, had +concluded an affecting discourse, part of which was particularly directed +to the unfortunate men, Wilson and Robertson, who were in the pew set +apart for the persons in their unhappy situation, each secured betwixt +two soldiers of the city guard. The clergyman had reminded them, that the +next congregation they must join would be that of the just, or of the +unjust; that the psalms they now heard must be exchanged, in the space of +two brief days, for eternal hallelujahs, or eternal lamentations; and +that this fearful alternative must depend upon the state to which they +might be able to bring their minds before the moment of awful +preparation: that they should not despair on account of the suddenness of +the summons, but rather to feel this comfort in their misery, that, +though all who now lifted the voice, or bent the knee in conjunction with +them, lay under the same sentence of certain death, /they/ only had the +advantage of knowing the precise moment at which it should be executed +upon them. "Therefore," urged the good man, his voice trembling with +emotion, "redeem the time, my unhappy brethren, which is yet left; and +remember, that, with the grace of Him to whom space and time are but as +nothing, salvation may yet be assured, even in the pittance of delay +which the laws of your country afford you." + +Robertson was observed to weep at these words; but Wilson seemed as one +whose brain had not entirely received their meaning, or whose thoughts +were deeply impressed with some different subject;--an expression so +natural to a person in his situation, that it excited neither suspicion +nor surprise. + +The benediction was pronounced as usual, and the congregation was +dismissed, many lingering to indulge their curiosity with a more fixed +look at the two criminals, who now, as well as their guards, rose up, as +if to depart when the crowd should permit them. A murmur of compassion +was heard to pervade the spectators, the more general, perhaps, on +account of the alleviating circumstances of the case; when all at once, +Wilson, who, as we have already noticed, was a very strong man, seized +two of the soldiers, one with each hand, and calling at the same time to +his companion, "Run, Geordie, run!" threw himself on a third, and +fastened his teeth on the collar of his coat. Robertson stood for a +second as if thunderstruck, and unable to avail himself of the +opportunity of escape; but the cry of "Run, run!" being echoed from many +around, whose feelings surprised them into a very natural interest in his +behalf, he shook off the grasp of the remaining soldier, threw himself +over the pew, mixed with the dispersing congregation, none of whom felt +inclined to stop a poor wretch taking his last chance for his life, +gained the door of the church, and was lost to all pursuit. + +The generous intrepidity which Wilson had displayed on this occasion +augmented the feeling of compassion which attended his fate. The public, +where their own prejudices are not concerned, are easily engaged on the +side of disinterestedness and humanity, admired Wilson's behaviour, and +rejoiced in Robertson's escape. This general feeling was so great, that +it excited a vague report that Wilson would be rescued at the place of +execution, either by the mob or by some of his old associates, or by some +second extraordinary and unexpected exertion of strength and courage on +his own part. The magistrates thought it their duty to provide against +the possibility of disturbance. They ordered out, for protection of the +execution of the sentence, the greater part of their own City Guard, +under the command of Captain Porteous, a man whose name became too +memorable from the melancholy circumstances of the day, and subsequent +events. It may be necessary to say a word about this person, and the +corps which he commanded. But the subject is of importance sufficient to +deserve another chapter. + + + + + CHAPTER SECOND. + + + And thou, great god of aquavitae! + Wha sways the empire of this city + (When fou we're sometimes capernoity), + + Be thou prepared, + To save us frae that black banditti, + + The City Guard! + Fergusson's /Daft Days./ + +Captain John Porteous, a name memorable in the traditions of Edinburgh, +as well as in the records of criminal jurisprudence, was the son of a +citizen of Edinburgh, who endeavoured to breed him up to his own +mechanical trade of a tailor. The youth, however, had a wild and +irreclaimable propensity to dissipation, which finally sent him to serve +in the corps long maintained in the service of the States of Holland, and +called the Scotch Dutch. Here he learned military discipline; and, +returning afterwards, in the course of an idle and wandering life, to his +native city, his services were required by the magistrates of Edinburgh +in the disturbed year 1715, for disciplining their City Guard, in which +he shortly afterwards received a captain's commission. It was only by his +military skill and an alert and resolute character as an officer of +police, that he merited this promotion, for he is said to have been a man +of profligate habits, an unnatural son, and a brutal husband. He was, +however, useful in his station, and his harsh and fierce habits rendered +him formidable to rioters or disturbers of the public peace. + +The corps in which he held his command is, or perhaps we should rather +say /was,/ a body of about one hundred and twenty soldiers divided into +three companies, and regularly armed, clothed, and embodied. They were +chiefly veterans who enlisted in this cogs, having the benefit of working +at their trades when they were off duty. These men had the charge of +preserving public order, repressing riots and street robberies, acting, +in short, as an armed police, and attending on all public occasions where +confusion or popular disturbance might be expected.* + +* The Lord Provost was ex-officio commander and colonel of the corps, +which might be increased to three hundred men when the times required it. +No other drum but theirs was allowed to sound on the High Street between +the Luckenbooths and the Netherbow. + +Poor Fergusson, whose irregularities sometimes led him into unpleasant +rencontres with these military conservators of public order, and who +mentions them so often that he may be termed their poet laureate,* thus +admonishes his readers, warned doubtless by his own experience:-- + +* [Robert Fergusson, the Scottish Poet, born 1750, died 1774.] + + "Gude folk, as ye come frae the fair, + Bide yont frae this black squad: + There's nae sic savages elsewhere + Allowed to wear cockad." + +In fact, the soldiers of the City Guard, being, as we have said, in +general discharged veterans, who had strength enough remaining for this +municipal duty, and being, moreover, for the greater part, Highlanders, +were neither by birth, education, nor former habits, trained to endure +with much patience the insults of the rabble, or the provoking petulance +of truant schoolboys, and idle debauchees of all descriptions, with whom +their occupation brought them into contact. On the contrary, the tempers +of the poor old fellows were soured by the indignities with which the mob +distinguished them on many occasions, and frequently might have required +the soothing strains of the poet we have just quoted-- + + "O soldiers! for your ain dear sakes, + For Scotland's love, the Land o' Cakes, + Gie not her bairns sic deadly paiks, + Nor be sae rude, + Wi' firelock or Lochaber-axe, + As spill their bluid!" + +On all occasions when a holiday licensed some riot and irregularity, a +skirmish with these veterans was a favourite recreation with the rabble +of Edinburgh. These pages may perhaps see the light when many have in +fresh recollection such onsets as we allude to. But the venerable corps, +with whom the contention was held, may now be considered as totally +extinct. Of late the gradual diminution of these civic soldiers reminds +one of the abatement of King Lear's hundred knights. The edicts of each +succeeding set of magistrates have, like those of Goneril and Regan, +diminished this venerable band with the similar question, "What need we +five-and-twenty?--ten?--or five?" And it is now nearly come to, "What +need one?" A spectre may indeed here and there still be seen, of an old +grey-headed and grey-bearded Highlander, with war-worn features, but bent +double by age; dressed in an old fashioned cocked-hat, bound with white +tape instead of silver lace; and in coat, waistcoat, and breeches, of a +muddy-coloured red, bearing in his withered hand an ancient weapon, +called a Lochaber-axe; a long pole, namely, with an axe at the extremity, +and a hook at the back of the hatchet.* + +* This hook was to enable the bearer of the Lochaber-axe to scale a +gateway, by grappling the top of the door, and swinging himself up by the +staff of his weapon. + +Such a phantom of former days still creeps, I have been informed, round +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; and one or two others are supposed to glide around the door of +the guardhouse assigned to them in the Luckenbooths, when their ancient +refuge in the High Street was laid low.* + +* This ancient corps is now entirely disbanded. Their last march to do +duty at Hallowfair had something in it affecting. Their drums and fifes +had been wont on better days to play, on this joyous occasion, the lively +tune of "Jockey to the fair;" but on his final occasion the afflicted +veterans moved slowly to the dirge of + +"The last time I came ower the muir." + +But the fate of manuscripts bequeathed to friends and executors is so +uncertain, that the narrative containing these frail memorials of the old +Town Guard of Edinburgh, who, with their grim and valiant corporal, John +Dhu (the fiercest-looking fellow I ever saw), were, in my boyhood, the +alternate terror and derision of the petulant brood of the High School, +may, perhaps, only come to light when all memory of the institution has +faded away, and then serve as an illustration of Kay's caricatures, who +has preserved the features of some of their heroes. In the preceding +generation, when there was a perpetual alarm for the plots and activity +of the Jacobites, some pains were taken by the magistrates of Edinburgh +to keep this corps, though composed always of such materials as we have +noticed, in a more effective state than was afterwards judged necessary, +when their most dangerous service was to skirmish with the rabble on the +king's birthday. They were, therefore, more the objects of hatred, and +less that of scorn, than they were afterwards accounted. + +To Captain John Porteous, the honour of his command and of his corps +seems to have been a matter of high interest and importance. He was +exceedingly incensed against Wilson for the affront which he construed +him to have put upon his soldiers, in the effort he made for the +liberation of his companion, and expressed himself most ardently on the +subject. He was no less indignant at the report, that there was an +intention to rescue Wilson himself from the gallows, and uttered many +threats and imprecations upon that subject, which were afterwards +remembered to his disadvantage. In fact, if a good deal of determination +and promptitude rendered Porteous, in one respect, fit to command guards +designed to suppress popular commotion, he seems, on the other, to have +been disqualified for a charge so delicate, by a hot and surly temper, +always too ready to come to blows and violence; a character void of +principle; and a disposition to regard the rabble, who seldom failed to +regale him and his soldiers with some marks of their displeasure, as +declared enemies, upon whom it was natural and justifiable that he should +seek opportunities of vengeance. Being, however, the most active and +trustworthy among the captains of the City Guard, he was the person to +whom the magistrates confided the command of the soldiers appointed to +keep the peace at the time of Wilson's execution. He was ordered to guard +the gallows and scaffold, with about eighty men, all the disposable force +that could be spare for that duty. + +But the magistrates took farther precautions, which affected Porteous's +pride very deeply. They requested the assistance of part of a regular +infantry regiment, not to attend upon the execution, but to remain drawn +up on the principal street of the city, during the time that it went +forward, in order to intimidate the multitude, in case they should be +disposed to be unruly, with a display of force which could not be +resisted without desperation. It may sound ridiculous in our ears, +considering the fallen state of this ancient civic corps, that its +officer should have felt punctiliously jealous of its honour. Yet so it +was. Captain Porteous resented, as an indignity, the introducing the +Welsh Fusileers within the city, and drawing them up in the street where +no drums but his own were allowed to be sounded without the special +command or permission of the magistrates. As he could not show his +ill-humour to his patrons the magistrates, it increased his indignation +and his desire to be revenged on the unfortunate criminal Wilson, and all +who favoured him. These internal emotions of jealousy and rage wrought a +change on the man's mien and bearing, visible to all who saw him on the +fatal morning when Wilson was appointed to suffer. Porteous's ordinary +appearance was rather favourable. He was about the middle size, stout, +and well made, having a military air, and yet rather a gentle and mild +countenance. His complexion was brown, his face somewhat fretted with the +sears of the smallpox, his eyes rather languid than keen or fierce. On +the present occasion, however, it seemed to those who saw him as if he +were agitated by some evil demon. His step was irregular, his voice +hollow and broken, his countenance pale, his eyes staring and wild, his +speech imperfect and confused, and his whole appearance so disordered, +that many remarked he seemed to be /fey,/ a Scottish expression, meaning +the state of those who are driven on to their impending fate by the +strong impulse of some irresistible necessity. + +One part of his conduct was truly diabolical, if indeed it has not been +exaggerated by the general prejudice entertained against his memory. When +Wilson, the unhappy criminal, was delivered to him by the keeper of the +prison, in order that he might be conducted to the place of execution, +Porteous, not satisfied with the usual precautions to prevent escape, +ordered him to be manacled. This might be justifiable from the character +and bodily strength of the malefactor, as well as from the apprehensions +so generally entertained of an expected rescue. But the handcuffs which +were produced being found too small for the wrists of a man so big-boned +as Wilson, Porteous proceeded with his own hands, and by great exertion +of strength, to force them till they clasped together, to the exquisite +torture of the unhappy criminal. Wilson remonstrated against such +barbarous usage, declaring that the pain distracted his thoughts from the +subjects of meditation proper to his unhappy condition. + +"It signifies little," replied Captain Porteous; "your pain will soon be +at an end." + +"Your cruelty is great," answered the sufferer. "You know not how soon +you yourself may have occasion to ask the mercy which you are now +refusing to a fellow-creature. May God forgive you!" + +These words, long afterwards quoted and remembered, were all that passed +between Porteous and his prisoner; but as they took air, and became known +to the people, they greatly increased the popular compassion for Wilson, +and excited a proportionate degree of indignation against Porteous; +against whom, as strict, and even violent in the discharge of his +unpopular office, the common people had some real, and many imaginary +causes of complaint. + +When the painful procession was completed, and Wilson, with the escort, +had arrived at the scaffold in the Grassmarket, there appeared no signs +of that attempt to rescue him which had occasioned such precautions. The +multitude, in general, looked on with deeper interest than at ordinary +executions; and there might be seen, on the countenances of many, a stern +and indignant expression, like that with which the ancient Cameronians +might be supposed to witness the execution of their brethren, who +glorified the Covenant on the same occasion, and at the same spot. But +there was no attempt at violence. Wilson himself seemed disposed to +hasten over the space that divided time from eternity. The devotions +proper and usual on such occasions were no sooner finished than he +submitted to his fate, and the sentence of the law was fulfilled. + +He had been suspended on the gibbet so long as to be totally deprived of +life, when at once, as if occasioned by some newly received impulse, +there arose a tumult among the multitude. Many stones were thrown at +Porteous and his guards; some mischief was done; and the mob continued to +press forward with whoops, shrieks, howls, and exclamations. A young +fellow, with a sailor's cap slouched over his face, sprung on the +scaffold, and cut the rope by which the criminal was suspended. Others +approached to carry off the body, either to secure for it a decent grave, +or to try, perhaps, some means of resuscitation. Captain Porteous was +wrought, by this appearance of insurrection against his authority, into a +rage so headlong as made him forget, that, the sentence having been fully +executed, it was his duty not to engage in hostilities with the misguided +multitude, but to draw off his men as fast as possible. He sprung from +the scaffold, snatched a musket from one of his soldiers, commanded the +party to give fire, and, as several eye-witnesses concurred in swearing, +set them the example, by discharging his piece, and shooting a man dead +on the spot. Several soldiers obeyed his command or followed his example; +six or seven persons were slain, and a great many were hurt and wounded. + +After this act of violence, the Captain proceeded to withdraw his men +towards their guard-house in the High Street. The mob were not so much +intimidated as incensed by what had been done. They pursued the soldiers +with execrations, accompanied by volleys of stones. As they pressed on +them, the rearmost soldiers turned, and again fired with fatal aim and +execution. It is not accurately known whether Porteous commanded this +second act of violence; but of course the odium of the whole transactions +of the fatal day attached to him, and to him alone. He arrived at the +guard-house, dismissed his soldiers, and went to make his report to the +magistrates concerning the unfortunate events of the day. + +Apparently by this time Captain Porteous had began to doubt the propriety +of his own conduct, and the reception he met with from the magistrates +was such as to make him still more anxious to gloss it over. He denied +that he had given orders to fire; he denied he had fired with his own +hand; he even produced the fusee which he carried as an officer for +examination; it was found still loaded. Of three cartridges which he was +seen to put in his pouch that morning, two were still there; a white +handkerchief was thrust into the muzzle of the piece, and re-turned +unsoiled or blackened. To the defence founded on these circumstances it +was answered, that Porteous had not used his own piece, but had been seen +to take one from a soldier. Among the many who had been killed and +wounded by the unhappy fire, there were several of better rank; for even +the humanity of such soldiers as fired over the heads of the mere rabble +around the scaffold, proved in some instances fatal to persons who were +stationed in windows, or observed the melancholy scene from a distance. +The voice of public indignation was loud and general; and, ere men's +tempers had time to cool, the trial of Captain Porteous took place before +the High Court of Justiciary. After a long and patient hearing, the jury +had the difficult duty of balancing the positive evidence of many +persons, and those of respectability, who deposed positively to the +prisoner's commanding his soldiers to fire, and himself firing his piece, +of which some swore that they saw the smoke and flash, and beheld a man +drop at whom it was pointed, with the negative testimony of others, who, +though well stationed for seeing what had passed, neither heard Porteous +give orders to fire, nor saw him fire himself; but, on the contrary, +averred that the first shot was fired by a soldier who stood close by +him. A great part of his defence was also founded on the turbulence of +the mob, which witnesses, according to their feelings, their +predilections, and their opportunities of observation, represented +differently; some describing as a formidable riot, what others +represented as a trifling disturbance such as always used to take place +on the like occasions, when the executioner of the law, and the men +commissioned to protect him in his task, were generally exposed to some +indignities. The verdict of the jury sufficiently shows how the evidence +preponderated in their minds. It declared that John Porteous fired a gun +among the people assembled at the execution; that he gave orders to his +soldiers to fire, by which many persons were killed and wounded; but, at +the same time, that the prisoner and his guard had been wounded and +beaten, by stones thrown at them by the multitude. Upon this verdict, the +Lords of Justiciary passed sentence of death against Captain John +Porteous, adjudging him, in the common form, to be hanged on a gibbet at +the common place of execution, on Wednesday, 8th September 1736, and all +his movable property to be forfeited to the king's use, according to the +Scottish law in cases of wilful murder.* + +* The signatures affixed to the death-warrant of Captain Porteous were-- +Andrew Fletcher of Milton, Lord Justice-Clerk. +Sir James Mackenzie, Lord Royston. +David Erskine, Lord Dun. +Sir Walter Pringle, Lord Newhall. +Sir Gilbert Elliot, Lord Minto. + + + + + + CHAPTER THIRD. + + + "The hour's come, but not the man."* + +* There is a tradition, that while a little stream was swollen into a +torrent by recent showers, the discontented voice of the Water Spirit was +heard to pronounce these words. At the some moment a man, urged on by his +fate, or, in Scottish language, /fey,/ arrived at a gallop, and prepared +to cross the water. No remonstrance from the bystanders was of power to +stop him--he plunged into the stream, and perished. + + +Kelpie. + +On the day when the unhappy Porteous was expected to suffer the sentence +of the law, the place of execution, extensive as it is, was crowded +almost to suffocation. There was not a window in all the lofty tenements +around it, or in the steep and crooked street called the Bow, by which +the fatal procession was to descend from the High Street, that was not +absolutely filled with spectators. The uncommon height and antique +appearance of these houses, some of which were formerly the property of +the Knights Templars, and the Knights of St. John, and still exhibit on +their fronts and gables the iron cross of these orders, gave additional +effect to a scene in itself so striking. The area of the Grassmarket +resembled a huge dark lake or sea of human heads, in the centre of which +arose the fatal tree, tall, black, and ominous, from which dangled the +deadly halter. Every object takes interest from its uses and +associations, and the erect beam and empty noose, things so simple in +themselves, became, on such an occasion, objects of terror and of solemn +interest. + +Amid so numerous an assembly there was scarcely a word spoken, save in +whispers. The thirst of vengeance was in some degree allayed by its +supposed certainty; and even the populace, with deeper feeling than they +are wont to entertain, suppressed all clamorous exultation, and prepared +to enjoy the scene of retaliation in triumph, silent and decent, though +stern and relentless. It seemed as if the depth of their hatred to the +unfortunate criminal scorned to display itself in anything resembling the +more noisy current of their ordinary feelings. Had a stranger consulted +only the evidence of his ears, he might have supposed that so vast a +multitude were assembled for some purpose which affected them with the +deepest sorrow, and stilled those noises which, on all ordinary +occasions, arise from such a concourse; but if he had gazed upon their +faces, he would have been instantly undeceived. The compressed lip, the +bent brow, the stern and flashing eye of almost everyone on whom he +looked, conveyed the expression of men come to glut their sight with +triumphant revenge. It is probable that the appearance of the criminal +might have somewhat changed the temper of the populace in his favour, and +that they might in the moment of death have forgiven the man against whom +their resentment had been so fiercely heated. It had, however, been +destined, that the mutability of their sentiments was not to be exposed +to this trial. + +The usual hour for producing the criminal had been past for many minutes, +yet the spectators observed no symptom of his appearance. "Would they +venture to defraud public justice?" was the question which men began +anxiously to ask at each other. The first answer in every case was bold +and positive,--"They dare not." But when the point was further canvassed, +other opinions were entertained, and various causes of doubt were +suggested. Porteous had been a favourite officer of the magistracy of the +city, which, being a numerous and fluctuating body, requires for its +support a degree of energy in its functionaries, which the individuals +who compose it cannot at all times alike be supposed to possess in their +own persons. It was remembered, that in the Information for Porteous (the +paper, namely, in which his case was stated to the Judges of the criminal +court), he had been described by his counsel as the person on whom the +magistrates chiefly relied in all emergencies of uncommon difficulty. It +was argued, too, that his conduct, on the unhappy occasion of Wilson's +execution, was capable of being attributed to an imprudent excess of zeal +in the execution of his duty, a motive for which those under whose +authority he acted might be supposed to have great sympathy. And as these +considerations might move the magistrates to make a favourable +representation of Porteous's case, there were not wanting others in the +higher departments of Government, which would make such suggestions +favourably listened to. + +The mob of Edinburgh, when thoroughly excited, had been at all times one +of the fiercest which could be found in Europe; and of late years they +had risen repeatedly against the Government, and sometimes not without +temporary success. They were conscious, therefore, that they were no +favourites with the rulers of the period, and that, if Captain Porteous's +violence was not altogether regarded as good service, it might certainly +be thought, that to visit it with a capital punishment would render it +both delicate and dangerous for future officers, in the same +circumstances, to act with effect in repressing tumults. There is also a +natural feeling, on the part of all members of Government, for the +general maintenance of authority; and it seemed not unlikely, that what +to the relatives of the sufferers appeared a wanton and unprovoked +massacre, should be otherwise viewed in the cabinet of St. James's. It +might be there supposed, that upon the whole matter, Captain Porteous was +in the exercise of a trust delegated to him by the lawful civil +authority; that he had been assaulted by the populace, and several of his +men hurt; and that, in finally repelling force by force, his conduct +could be fairly imputed to no other motive than self-defence in the +discharge of his duty. + +These considerations, of themselves very powerful, induced the spectators +to apprehend the possibility of a reprieve; and to the various causes +which might interest the rulers in his favour, the lower part of the +rabble added one which was peculiarly well adapted to their +comprehension. It was averred, in order to increase the odium against +Porteous, that while he repressed with the utmost severity the slightest +excesses of the poor, he not only overlooked the license of the young +nobles and gentry, but was very willing to lend them the countenance of +his official authority, in execution of such loose pranks as it was +chiefly his duty to have restrained. This suspicion, which was perhaps +much exaggerated, made a deep impression on the minds of the populace; +and when several of the higher rank joined in a petition, recommending +Porteous to the mercy of the Crown, it was generally supposed he owed +their favour not to any conviction of the hardship of his case, but to +the fear of losing a convenient accomplice in their debaucheries. It is +scarcely necessary to say how much this suspicion augmented the people's +detestation of this obnoxious criminal, as well as their fear of his +escaping the sentence pronounced against him. + +While these arguments were stated and replied to, and canvassed and +supported, the hitherto silent expectation of the people became changed +into that deep and agitating murmur, which is sent forth by the ocean +before the tempest begins to howl. The crowded populace, as if their +motions had corresponded with the unsettled state of their minds, +fluctuated to and fro without any visible cause of impulse, like the +agitation of the waters, called by sailors the ground-swell. The news, +which the magistrates had almost hesitated to communicate to them, were +at length announced, and spread among the spectators with a rapidity like +lightning. A reprieve from the Secretary of State's office, under the +hand of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, had arrived, intimating the +pleasure of Queen Caroline (regent of the kingdom during the absence of +George II. on the Continent), that the execution of the sentence of death +pronounced against John Porteous, late Captain-Lieutenant of the City +Guard of Edinburgh, present prisoner in the Tolbooth of that city, be +respited for six weeks from the time appointed for his execution. + +The assembled spectators of almost all degrees, whose minds had been +wound up to the pitch which we have described, uttered a groan, or rather +a roar of indignation and disappointed revenge, similar to that of a +tiger from whom his meal has been rent by his keeper when he was just +about to devour it. This fierce exclamation seemed to forbode some +immediate explosion of popular resentment, and, in fact, such had been +expected by the magistrates, and the necessary measures had been taken to +repress it. But the shout was not repeated, nor did any sudden tumult +ensue, such as it appeared to announce. The populace seemed to be ashamed +of having expressed their disappointment in a vain clamour, and the sound +changed, not into the silence which had preceded the arrival of these +stunning news, but into stifled mutterings, which each group maintained +among themselves, and which were blended into one deep and hoarse murmur +which floated above the assembly. + +Yet still, though all expectation of the execution was over, the mob +remained assembled, stationary, as it were, through very resentment, +gazing on the preparations for death, which had now been made in vain, +and stimulating their feelings, by recalling the various claims which +Wilson might have had on royal mercy, from the mistaken motives on which +he acted, as well as from the generosity he had displayed towards his +accomplice. "This man," they said,--"the brave, the resolute, the +generous, was executed to death without mercy for stealing a purse of +gold, which in some sense he might consider as a fair reprisal; while the +profligate satellite, who took advantage of a trifling tumult, +inseparable from such occasions, to shed the blood of twenty of his +fellow-citizens, is deemed a fitting object for the exercise of the royal +prerogative of mercy. Is this to be borne?--would our fathers have borne +it? Are not we, like them, Scotsmen and burghers of Edinburgh?" + +The officers of justice began now to remove the scaffold, and other +preparations which had been made for the execution, in hopes, by doing +so, to accelerate the dispersion of the multitude. The measure had the +desired effect; for no sooner had the fatal tree been unfixed from the +large stone pedestal or socket in which it was secured, and sunk slowly +down upon the wain intended to remove it to the place where it was +usually deposited, than the populace, after giving vent to their feelings +in a second shout of rage and mortification, began slowly to disperse to +their usual abodes and occupations. + +The windows were in like manner gradually deserted, and groups of the +more decent class of citizens formed themselves, as if waiting to return +homewards when the streets should be cleared of the rabble. Contrary to +what is frequently the case, this description of persons agreed in +general with the sentiments of their inferiors, and considered the cause +as common to all ranks. Indeed, as we have already noticed, it was by no +means amongst the lowest class of the spectators, or those most likely to +be engaged in the riot at Wilson's execution, that the fatal fire of +Porteous's soldiers had taken effect. Several persons were killed who +were looking out at windows at the scene, who could not of course belong +to the rioters, and were persons of decent rank and condition. The +burghers, therefore, resenting the loss which had fallen on their own +body, and proud and tenacious of their rights, as the citizens of +Edinburgh have at all times been, were greatly exasperated at the +unexpected respite of Captain Porteous. + +It was noticed at the time, and afterwards more particularly remembered, +that, while the mob were in the act of dispersing, several individuals +were seen busily passing from one place and one group of people to +another, remaining long with none, but whispering for a little time with +those who appeared to be declaiming most violently against the conduct of +Government. These active agents had the appearance of men from the +country, and were generally supposed to be old friends and confederates +of Wilson, whose minds were of course highly excited against Porteous. + +If, however, it was the intention of these men to stir the multitude to +any sudden act of mutiny, it seemed for the time to be fruitless. The +rabble, as well as the more decent part of the assembly, dispersed, and +went home peaceably; and it was only by observing the moody discontent on +their brows, or catching the tenor of the conversation they held with +each other, that a stranger could estimate the state of their minds. We +will give the reader this advantage, by associating ourselves with one of +the numerous groups who were painfully ascending the steep declivity of +the West Bow, to return to their dwellings in the Lawnmarket. + +"An unco thing this, Mrs. Howden," said old Peter Plumdamas to his +neighbour the rouping-wife, or saleswoman, as he offered her his arm to +assist her in the toilsome ascent, "to see the grit folk at Lunnon set +their face against law and gospel, and let loose sic a reprobate as +Porteous upon a peaceable town!" + +"And to think o' the weary walk they hae gien us," answered Mrs. Howden, +with a groan; "and sic a comfortable window as I had gotten, too, just +within a penny-stane-cast of the scaffold--I could hae heard every word +the minister said--and to pay twalpennies for my stand, and a' for +naething!" + +"I am judging," said Mr. Plumdamas, "that this reprieve wadna stand gude +in the auld Scots law, when the kingdom was a kingdom." + +"I dinna ken muckle about the law," answered Mrs. Howden; "but I ken, +when we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament men o' our ain, we +could aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns--But +naebody's nails can reach the length o' Lunnon." + +"Weary on Lunnon, and a' that e'er came out o't!" said Miss Grizel +Damahoy, an ancient seamstress; "they hae taen away our parliament, and +they hae oppressed our trade. Our gentles will hardly allow that a Scots +needle can sew ruffles on a sark, or lace on an owerlay." + +"Ye may say that--Miss Damahoy, and I ken o' them that hae gotten raisins +frae Lunnon by forpits at ance," responded Plumdamas; "and then sic an +host of idle English gaugers and excisemen as hae come down to vex and +torment us, that an honest man canna fetch sae muckle as a bit anker o' +brandy frae Leith to the Lawnmarket, but he's like to be rubbit o' the +very gudes he's bought and paid for.--Weel, I winna justify Andrew Wilson +for pitting hands on what wasna his; but if he took nae mair than his +ain, there's an awfu' difference between that and the fact this man +stands for." + +"If ye speak about the law," said Mrs. Howden, "here comes Mr. +Saddletree, that can settle it as weel as ony on the bench." + +The party she mentioned, a grave elderly person, with a superb periwig, +dressed in a decent suit of sad-coloured clothes, came up as she spoke, +and courteously gave his arm to Miss Grizel Damahoy. + +It may be necessary to mention, that Mr. Bartoline Saddletree kept an +excellent and highly-esteemed shop for harness, saddles, &c. &c., at the +sign of the Golden Nag, at the head of Bess Wynd.* + +* [Maitland calls it Best's Wynd, and later writers Beth's Wynd. As the +name implies, it was an open thoroughfare or alley leading from the +Lawnmarket, and extended in a direct line between the old Tolbooth to +near the head of the Cowgate. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1786, +and was totally removed in 1809, preparatory to the building of the new +libraries of the Faculty of Advocates and writers to the Signet.] + +His genius, however (as he himself and most of his neighbours conceived), +lay towards the weightier matters of the law, and he failed not to give +frequent attendance upon the pleadings and arguments of the lawyers and +judges in the neighbouring square, where, to say the truth, he was +oftener to be found than would have consisted with his own emolument; but +that his wife, an active painstaking person, could, in his absence, make +an admirable shift to please the customers and scold the journeymen. This +good lady was in the habit of letting her husband take his way, and go on +improving his stock of legal knowledge without interruption; but, as if +in requital, she insisted upon having her own will in the domestic and +commercial departments which he abandoned to her. Now, as Bartoline +Saddletree had a considerable gift of words, which he mistook for +eloquence, and conferred more liberally upon the society in which he +lived than was at all times gracious and acceptable, there went forth a +saying, with which wags used sometimes to interrupt his rhetoric, that, +as he had a golden nag at his door, so he had a grey mare in his shop. +This reproach induced Mr. Saddletree, on all occasions, to assume rather +a haughty and stately tone towards his good woman, a circumstance by +which she seemed very little affected, unless he attempted to exercise +any real authority, when she never failed to fly into open rebellion. But +such extremes Bartoline seldom provoked; for, like the gentle King Jamie, +he was fonder of talking of authority than really exercising it. This +turn of mind was, on the whole, lucky for him; since his substance was +increased without any trouble on his part, or any interruption of his +favourite studies. + +This word in explanation has been thrown in to the reader, while +Saddletree was laying down, with great precision, the law upon Porteous's +case, by which he arrived at this conclusion, that, if Porteous had fired +five minutes sooner, before Wilson was cut down, he would have been +/versans in licito;/ engaged, that is, in a lawful act, and only liable +to be punished /propter excessum,/ or for lack of discretion, which might +have mitigated the punishment to /poena ordinaria./ + +"Discretion!" echoed Mrs. Howden, on whom, it may well be supposed, the +fineness of this distinction was entirely thrown away,--"whan had Jock +Porteous either grace, discretion, or gude manners?--I mind when his +father" + +"But, Mrs. Howden," said Saddletree-- + +"And I," said Miss Damahoy, "mind when his mother" + +"Miss Damahoy," entreated the interrupted orator + +"And I," said Plumdamas, "mind when his wife" + +"Mr. Plumdamas--Mrs. Howden--Miss Damahoy," again implored the orator,-- +"Mind the distinction, as Counsellor Crossmyloof says--'I,' says he, +'take a distinction.' Now, the body of the criminal being cut down, and +the execution ended, Porteous was no longer official; the act which he +came to protect and guard, being done and ended, he was no better than +/cuivis ex populo./" + +"/Quivis--quivis,/ Mr. Saddletree, craving your pardon," said (with a +prolonged emphasis on the first syllable) Mr. Butler, the +deputy-schoolmaster of a parish near Edinburgh, who at that moment came +up behind them as the false Latin was uttered. + +"What signifies interrupting me, Mr. Butler?--but I am glad to see ye +notwithstanding--I speak after Counsellor Crossmyloof, and he said +/cuivis./" + +"If Counsellor Crossmyloof used the dative for the nominative, I would +have crossed his loof with a tight leathern strap, Mr. Saddletree; there +is not a boy on the booby form but should have been scourged for such a +solecism in grammar." + +"I speak Latin like a lawyer, Mr. Butler, and not like a schoolmaster," +retorted Saddletree. + +"Scarce like a schoolboy, I think," rejoined Butler. + +"It matters little," said Bartoline; "all I mean to say is, that Porteous +has become liable to the /poena extra ordinem,/ or capital punishment-- +which is to say, in plain Scotch, the gallows--simply because he did not +fire when he was in office, but waited till the body was cut down, the +execution whilk he had in charge to guard implemented, and he himself +exonered of the public trust imposed on him." + +"But, Mr. Saddletree," said Plumdamas, "do ye really think John +Porteous's case wad hae been better if he had begun firing before ony +stanes were flung at a'?" + +"Indeed do I, neighbour Plumdamas," replied Bartoline, confidently, "he +being then in point of trust and in point of power, the execution being +but inchoat, or, at least, not implemented, or finally ended; but after +Wilson was cut down it was a' ower--he was clean exauctorate, and had nae +mair ado but to get awa wi' his guard up this West Bow as fast as if +there had been a caption after him--And this is law, for I heard it laid +down by Lord Vincovincentem." + +"Vincovincentem?--Is he a lord of state, or a lord of seat?" inquired +Mrs. Howden.* + +* A nobleman was called a Lord of State. The Senators of the College * of +Justice were termed Lords of Seat, or of the Session. + +"A lord of seat--a lord of session.--I fash mysell little wi' lords o' +state; they vex me wi' a wheen idle questions about their saddles, and +curpels, and holsters and horse-furniture, and what they'll cost, and +whan they'll be ready--a wheen galloping geese--my wife may serve the +like o' them." + +"And so might she, in her day, hae served the best lord in the land, for +as little as ye think o' her, Mr. Saddletree," said Mrs. Howden, somewhat +indignant at the contemptuous way in which her gossip was mentioned; +"when she and I were twa gilpies, we little thought to hae sitten doun +wi' the like o' my auld Davie Howden, or you either, Mr. Saddletree." + +While Saddletree, who was not bright at a reply, was cudgelling his +brains for an answer to this homethrust, Miss Damahoy broke in on him. + +"And as for the lords of state," said Miss Damahoy, "ye suld mind the +riding o' the parliament, Mr. Saddletree, in the gude auld time before +the Union,--a year's rent o' mony a gude estate gaed for horse-graith and +harnessing, forby broidered robes and foot-mantles, that wad hae stude by +their lane wi' gold brocade, and that were muckle in my ain line." + +"Ay, and then the lusty banqueting, with sweetmeats and comfits wet and +dry, and dried fruits of divers sorts," said Plumdamas. "But Scotland was +Scotland in these days." + +"I'll tell ye what it is, neighbours," said Mrs. Howden, "I'll ne'er +believe Scotland is Scotland ony mair, if our kindly Scots sit doun with +the affront they hae gien us this day. It's not only the blude that /is/ +shed, but the blude that might hae been shed, that's required at our +hands; there was my daughter's wean, little Eppie Daidle--my oe, ye ken, +Miss Grizel--had played the truant frae the school, as bairns will do, ye +ken, Mr. Butler" + +"And for which," interjected Mr. Butler, "they should be soundly scourged +by their well-wishers." + +"And had just cruppen to the gallows' foot to see the hanging, as was +natural for a wean; and what for mightna she hae been shot as weel as the +rest o' them, and where wad we a' hae been then? I wonder how Queen +Carline (if her name be Carline) wad hae liked to hae had ane o' her ain +bairns in sic a venture?" + +"Report says," answered Butler, "that such a circumstance would not have +distressed her majesty beyond endurance." + +"Aweel," said Mrs. Howden, "the sum o' the matter is, that, were I a man, +I wad hae amends o' Jock Porteous, be the upshot what like o't, if a' the +carles and carlines in England had sworn to the nay-say." + +"I would claw down the Tolbooth door wi' my nails," said Miss Grizel, +"but I wad be at him." + +"Ye may be very right, ladies," said Butler, "but I would not advise you +to speak so loud." + +"Speak!" exclaimed both the ladies together, "there will be naething else +spoken about frae the Weigh-house to the Water-gate, till this is either +ended or mended." + +The females now departed to their respective places of abode. Plumdamas +joined the other two gentlemen in drinking their /meridian/ (a +bumper-dram of brandy), as they passed the well-known low-browed shop in +the Lawnmarket, where they were wont to take that refreshment. Mr. +Plumdamas then departed towards his shop, and Mr. Butler, who happened to +have some particular occasion for the rein of an old bridle (the truants +of that busy day could have anticipated its application), walked down the +Lawnmarket with Mr. Saddletree, each talking as he could get a word +thrust in, the one on the laws of Scotland, the other on those of syntax, +and neither listening to a word which his companion uttered. + + + + + CHAPTER FOURTH. + + + Elswhair he colde right weel lay down the law, + But in his house was meek as is a daw. + Davie Lindsay. + +"There has been Jock Driver the carrier here, speering about his new +graith," said Mrs. Saddletree to her husband, as he crossed his +threshold, not with the purpose, by any means, of consulting him upon his +own affairs, but merely to intimate, by a gentle recapitulation, how much +duty she had gone through in his absence. + +"Weel," replied Bartoline, and deigned not a word more. + +"And the laird of Girdingburst has had his running footman here, and ca'd +himsell (he's a civil pleasant young gentleman), to see when the +broidered saddle-cloth for his sorrel horse will be ready, for he wants +it agane the Kelso races." + +"Weel, aweel," replied Bartoline, as laconically as before. + +"And his lordship, the Earl of Blazonbury, Lord Flash and Flame, is like +to be clean daft, that the harness for the six Flanders mears, wi' the +crests, coronets, housings, and mountings conform, are no sent hame +according to promise gien." + +"Weel, weel, weel--weel, weel, gudewife," said Saddletree, "if he gangs +daft, we'll hae him cognosced--it's a' very weel." + +"It's weel that ye think sae, Mr. Saddletree," answered his helpmate, +rather nettled at the indifference with which her report was received; +"there's mony ane wad hae thought themselves affronted, if sae mony +customers had ca'd and naebody to answer them but women-folk; for a' the +lads were aff, as soon as your back was turned, to see Porteous hanged, +that might be counted upon; and sae, you no being at hame" + +"Houts, Mrs. Saddletree," said Bartoline, with an air of consequence, +"dinna deave me wi' your nonsense; I was under the necessity of being +elsewhere--/non omnia/--as Mr. Crossmyloof said, when he was called by +two macers at once--/non omnia possumus--pessimus--possimis/--I ken our +law-latin offends Mr. Butler's ears, but it means, Naebody, an it were +the Lord President himsell, can do twa turns at ance." + +"Very right, Mr. Saddletree," answered his careful helpmate, with a +sarcastic smile; "and nae doubt it's a decent thing to leave your wife to +look after young gentlemen's saddles and bridles, when ye gang to see a +man, that never did ye nae ill, raxing a halter." + +"Woman," said Saddletree, assuming an elevated tone, to which the +/meridian/ had somewhat contributed, "desist,--I say forbear, from +intromitting with affairs thou canst not understand. D'ye think I was +born to sit here brogging an elshin through bend-leather, when sic men as +Duncan Forbes, and that other Arniston chield there, without muckle +greater parts, if the close-head speak true, than mysell maun be +presidents and king's advocates, nae doubt, and wha but they? Whereas, +were favour equally distribute, as in the days of the wight Wallace" + +"I ken naething we wad hae gotten by the wight Wallace," said Mrs. +Saddletree, "unless, as I hae heard the auld folk tell, they fought in +thae days wi' bend-leather guns, and then it's a chance but what, if he +had bought them, he might have forgot to pay for them. And as for the +greatness of your parts, Bartley, the folk in the close-head* maun ken +mair about them than I do, if they make sic a report of them." + +* [/Close-head,/ the entrance of a blind alley.] + +"I tell ye, woman," said Saddletree, in high dudgeon, "that ye ken +naething about these matters. In Sir William Wallace's days there was nae +man pinned down to sic a slavish wark as a saddler's, for they got ony +leather graith that they had use for ready-made out of Holland." + +"Well," said Butler, who was, like many of his profession, something of a +humorist and dry joker, "if that be the case, Mr. Saddletree, I think we +have changed for the better; since we make our own harness, and only +import our lawyers from Holland." + +"It's ower true, Mr. Butler," answered Bartoline, with a sigh; "if I had +had the luck--or rather, if my father had had the sense to send me to +Leyden and Utrecht to learn the Substitutes and Pandex" + +"You mean the Institutes--Justinian's Institutes, Mr. Saddletree?" said +Butler. + +"Institutes and substitutes are synonymous words, Mr. Butler, and used +indifferently as such in deeds of tailzie, as you may see in Balfour's +Practiques, or Dallas of St. Martin's Styles. I understand these things +pretty weel, I thank God but I own I should have studied in Holland." + +"To comfort you, you might not have been farther forward than you are +now, Mr. Saddletree," replied Mr. Butler; "for our Scottish advocates are +an aristocratic race. Their brass is of the right Corinthian quality, and +/Non cuivis contigit adire Corinthum/--Aha, Mr. Saddletree?" + +"And aha, Mr. Butler," rejoined Bartoline, upon whom, as may be well +supposed, the jest was lost, and all but the sound of the words, "ye said +a gliff syne it was /quivis,/ and now I heard ye say /cuivis/ with my ain +ears, as plain as ever I heard a word at the fore-bar." + +"Give me your patience, Mr. Saddletree, and I'll explain the discrepancy +in three words," said Butler, as pedantic in his own department, though +with infinitely more judgment and learning, as Bartoline was in his +self-assumed profession of the law--"Give me your patience for a moment +--You'll grant that the nominative case is that by which a person or +thing is nominated or designed, and which may be called the primary case, +all others being formed from it by alterations of the termination in the +learned languages, and by prepositions in our modern Babylonian jargons-- +You'll grant me that, I suppose, Mr. Saddletree?" + +"I dinna ken whether I will or no--/ad avisandum,/ ye ken--naebody should +be in a hurry to make admissions, either in point of law, or in point of +fact," said Saddletree, looking, or endeavouring to look, as if he +understood what was said. + +"And the dative case," continued Butler + +"I ken what a tutor dative is," said Saddletree, "readily enough." + +"The dative case," resumed the grammarian, "is that in which anything is +given or assigned as properly belonging to a person or thing--You cannot +deny that, I am sure." + +"I am sure I'll no grant it, though," said Saddletree. + +"Then, what the /deevil/ d'ye take the nominative and the dative cases to +be?" said Butler, hastily, and surprised at once out of his decency of +expression and accuracy of pronunciation. + +"I'll tell you that at leisure, Mr. Butler," said Saddletree, with a very +knowing look; "I'll take a day to see and answer every article of your +condescendence, and then I'll hold you to confess or deny as accords." + +"Come, come, Mr. Saddletree," said his wife, "we'll hae nae confessions +and condescendences here; let them deal in thae sort o' wares that are +paid for them--they suit the like o' us as all as a demipique saddle +would suit a draught ox." + +"Aha!" said Mr. Butler, "/Optat ephippia bos piger,/ nothing new under +the sun--But it was a fair hit of Mrs. Saddletree, however." + +"And it wad far better become ye, Mr. Saddletree," continued his +helpmate, "since ye say ye hae skeel o' the law, to try if ye can do +onything for Effie Deans, puir thing, that's lying up in the tolbooth +yonder, cauld, and hungry, and comfortless--A servant lass of ours, Mr. +Butler, and as innocent a lass, to my thinking, and as usefu' in the +shop--When Mr. Saddletree gangs out,--and ye're aware he's seldom at hame +when there's ony o' the plea-houses open,--poor Effie used to help me to +tumble the bundles o' barkened leather up and down, and range out the +gudes, and suit a' body's humours--And troth, she could aye please the +customers wi' her answers, for she was aye civil, and a bonnier lass +wasna in Auld Reekie. And when folk were hasty and unreasonable, she +could serve them better than me, that am no sae young as I hae been, Mr. +Butler, and a wee bit short in the temper into the bargain. For when +there's ower mony folks crying on me at anes, and nane but ae tongue to +answer them, folk maun speak hastily, or they'll ne'er get through their +wark--Sae I miss Effie daily." + +"/De die in diem,/" added Saddletree. + +"I think," said Butler, after a good deal of hesitation, "I have seen the +girl in the shop--a modest-looking, fair-haired girl?" + +"Ay, ay, that's just puir Effie," said her mistress. "How she was +abandoned to hersell, or whether she was sackless o' the sinful deed, God +in Heaven knows; but if she's been guilty, she's been sair tempted, and I +wad amaist take my Bible-aith she hasna been hersell at the time." + +Butler had by this time become much agitated; he fidgeted up and down the +shop, and showed the greatest agitation that a person of such strict +decorum could be supposed to give way to. "Was not this girl," he said, +"the daughter of David Deans, that had the parks at St. Leonard's taken? +and has she not a sister?" + +"In troth has she,--puir Jeanie Deans, ten years aulder than hersell; she +was here greeting a wee while syne about her tittie. And what could I say +to her, but that she behoved to come and speak to Mr. Saddletree when he +was at hame? It wasna that I thought Mr. Saddletree could do her or ony +ither body muckle good or ill, but it wad aye serve to keep the puir +thing's heart up for a wee while; and let sorrow come when sorrow maun." + +"Ye're mistaen though, gudewife," said Saddletree scornfully, "for I +could hae gien her great satisfaction; I could hae proved to her that her +sister was indicted upon the statute saxteen hundred and ninety, chapter +one--For the mair ready prevention of child-murder--for concealing her +pregnancy, and giving no account of the child which she had borne." + +"I hope," said Butler,--"I trust in a gracious God, that she can clear +herself." + +"And sae do I, Mr. Butler," replied Mrs. Saddletree. "I am sure I wad hae +answered for her as my ain daughter; but wae's my heart, I had been +tender a' the simmer, and scarce ower the door o' my room for twal weeks. +And as for Mr. Saddletree, he might be in a lying-in hospital, and ne'er +find out what the women cam there for. Sae I could see little or naething +o' her, or I wad hae had the truth o' her situation out o' her, I'se +warrant ye--But we a' think her sister maun be able to speak something to +clear her." + +"The haill Parliament House," said Saddletree, "was speaking o' naething +else, till this job o' Porteous's put it out o' head--It's a beautiful +point of presumptive murder, and there's been nane like it in the +Justiciar Court since the case of Luckie Smith the howdie, that suffered +in the year saxteen hundred and seventy-nine." + +"But what's the matter wi' you, Mr. Butler?" said the good woman; "ye are +looking as white as a sheet; will ye tak a dram?" + +"By no means," said Butler, compelling himself to speak. "I walked in +from Dumfries yesterday, and this is a warm day." + +"Sit down," said Mrs. Saddletree, laying hands on him kindly, "and rest +ye--yell kill yoursell, man, at that rate.--And are we to wish you joy o' +getting the scule, Mr. Butler?" + +"Yes--no--I do not know," answered the young man vaguely. But Mrs. +Saddletree kept him to point, partly out of real interest, partly from +curiosity. + +"Ye dinna ken whether ye are to get the free scule o' Dumfries or no, +after hinging on and teaching it a' the simmer?" + +"No, Mrs. Saddletree--I am not to have it," replied Butler, more +collectedly. "The Laird of Black-at-the-Bane had a natural son bred to +the kirk, that the Presbytery could not be prevailed upon to license; and +so" + +"Ay, ye need say nae mair about it; if there was a laird that had a puir +kinsman or a bastard that it wad suit, there's enough said.--And ye're +e'en come back to Liberton to wait for dead men's shoon?--and for as +frail as Mr. Whackbairn is, he may live as lang as you, that are his +assistant and successor." + +"Very like," replied Butler, with a sigh; "I do not know if I should wish +it otherwise." + +"Nae doubt, it's a very vexing thing," continued the good lady, "to be in +that dependent station; and you that hae right and title to sae muckle +better, I wonder how ye bear these crosses." + +"/Quos diligit castigat,/" answered Butler; "even the pagan Seneca could +see an advantage in affliction, The Heathens had their philosophy, and +the Jews their revelation, Mrs. Saddletree, and they endured their +distresses in their day. Christians have a better dispensation than +either--but doubtless" + +He stopped and sighed. + +"I ken what ye mean," said Mrs. Saddletree, looking toward her husband; +"there's whiles we lose patience in spite of baith book and Bible--But ye +are no gaun awa, and looking sae poorly--ye'll stay and take some kale +wi' us?" + +Mr. Saddletree laid aside Balfour's Practiques (his favourite study, and +much good may it do him), to join in his wife's hospitable importunity. +But the teacher declined all entreaty, and took his leave upon the spot. + +"There's something in a' this," said Mrs. Saddletree, looking after him +as he walked up the street; "I wonder what makes Mr. Butler sae +distressed about Effie's misfortune--there was nae acquaintance atween +them that ever I saw or heard of; but they were neighbours when David +Deans was on the Laird o' Dumbiedikes' land. Mr. Butler wad ken her +father, or some o' her folk.--Get up, Mr. Saddletree--ye have set +yoursell down on the very brecham that wants stitching--and here's little +Willie, the prentice.--Ye little rin-there-out deil that ye are, what +takes you raking through the gutters to see folk hangit?--how wad ye like +when it comes to be your ain chance, as I winna ensure ye, if ye dinna +mend your manners?--And what are ye maundering and greeting for, as if a +word were breaking your banes?--Gang in by, and be a better bairn another +time, and tell Peggy to gie ye a bicker o' broth, for ye'll be as gleg as +a gled, I'se warrant ye.--It's a fatherless bairn, Mr. Saddletree, and +motherless, whilk in some cases may be waur, and ane would take care o' +him if they could--it's a Christian duty." + +"Very true, gudewife," said Saddletree in reply, "we are /in loco +parentis/ to him during his years of pupillarity, and I hae had thoughts +of applying to the Court for a commission as factor /loco tutoris,/ +seeing there is nae tutor nominate, and the tutor-at-law declines to act; +but only I fear the expense of the procedure wad not be /in rem versam,/ +for I am not aware if Willie has ony effects whereof to assume the +administration." + +He concluded this sentence with a self-important cough, as one who has +laid down the law in an indisputable manner. + +"Effects!" said Mrs. Saddletree, "what effects has the puir wean?--he was +in rags when his mother died; and the blue polonie that Effie made for +him out of an auld mantle of my ain, was the first decent dress the bairn +ever had on. Poor Effie! can ye tell me now really, wi' a' your law, will +her life be in danger, Mr. Saddletree, when they arena able to prove that +ever there was a bairn ava?" + +"Whoy," said Mr. Saddletree, delighted at having for once in his life +seen his wife's attention arrested by a topic of legal discussion--"Whoy, +there are two sorts of /murdrum/ or /murdragium,/ or what you +/populariter et vulgariser/ call murther. I mean there are many sorts; +for there's your /murthrum per vigilias et insidias,/ and your /murthrum/ +under trust." + +"I am sure," replied his moiety, "that murther by trust is the way that +the gentry murther us merchants, and whiles make us shut the booth up-- +but that has naething to do wi' Effie's misfortune." + +"The case of Effie (or Euphemia) Deans," resumed Saddletree, "is one of +those cases of murder presumptive, that is, a murder of the law's +inferring or construction, being derived from certain /indicia/ or +grounds of suspicion." + +"So that," said the good woman, "unless poor Effie has communicated her +situation, she'll be hanged by the neck, if the bairn was still-born, or +if it be alive at this moment?" + +"Assuredly," said Saddletree, "it being a statute made by our Sovereign +Lord and Lady, to prevent the horrid delict of bringing forth children in +secret--The crime is rather a favourite of the law, this species of +murther being one of its ain creation." + +"Then, if the law makes murders," said Mrs. Saddletree, "the law should +be hanged for them; or if they wad hang a lawyer instead, the country wad +find nae faut." + +A summons to their frugal dinner interrupted the farther progress of the +conversation, which was otherwise like to take a turn much less +favourable to the science of jurisprudence and its professors, than Mr. +Bartoline Saddletree, the fond admirer of both, had at its opening +anticipated. + + + + + CHAPTER FIFTH. + + + But up then raise all Edinburgh. + They all rose up by thousands three. + Johnnie Armstrang's /Goodnight./ + +Butler, on his departure from the sign of the Golden Nag, went in quest +of a friend of his connected with the law, of whom he wished to make +particular inquiries concerning the circumstances in which the +unfortunate young woman mentioned in the last chapter was placed, having, +as the reader has probably already conjectured, reasons much deeper than +those dictated by mere humanity for interesting himself in her fate. He +found the person he sought absent from home, and was equally unfortunate +in one or two other calls which he made upon acquaintances whom he hoped +to interest in her story. But everybody was, for the moment, stark-mad on +the subject of Porteous, and engaged busily in attacking or defending the +measures of Government in reprieving him; and the ardour of dispute had +excited such universal thirst, that half the young lawyers and writers, +together with their very clerks, the class whom Butler was looking after, +had adjourned the debate to some favourite tavern. It was computed by an +experienced arithmetician, that there was as much twopenny ale consumed +on the discussion as would have floated a first-rate man-of-war. + +Butler wandered about until it was dusk, resolving to take that +opportunity of visiting the unfortunate young woman, when his doing so +might be least observed; for he had his own reasons for avoiding the +remarks of Mrs. Saddletree, whose shop-door opened at no great distance +from that of the jail, though on the opposite or south side of the +street, and a little higher up. He passed, therefore, through the narrow +and partly covered passage leading from the north-west end of the +Parliament Square. + +He stood now before the Gothic entrance of the ancient prison, which, as +is well known to all men, rears its ancient front in the very middle of +the High Street, forming, as it were, the termination to a huge pile of +buildings called the Luckenbooths, which, for some inconceivable reason, +our ancestors had jammed into the midst of the principal street of the +town, leaving for passage a narrow street on the north; and on the south, +into which the prison opens, a narrow crooked lane, winding betwixt the +high and sombre walls of the Tolbooth and the adjacent houses on the one +side, and the butresses and projections of the old Cathedral upon the +other. To give some gaiety to this sombre passage (well known by the name +of the Krames), a number of little booths, or shops, after the fashion of +cobblers' stalls, are plastered, as it were, against the Gothic +projections and abutments, so that it seemed as if the traders had +occupied with nests, bearing the same proportion to the building, every +buttress and coign of vantage, as the martlett did in Macbeth's Castle. +Of later years these booths have degenerated into mere toy-shops, where +the little loiterers chiefly interested in such wares are tempted to +linger, enchanted by the rich display of hobby-horses, babies, and Dutch +toys, arranged in artful and gay confusion; yet half-scared by the cross +looks of the withered pantaloon, or spectacled old lady, by whom these +tempting stores are watched and superintended. But, in the times we write +of, the hosiers, the glovers, the hatters, the mercers, the milliners, +and all who dealt in the miscellaneous wares now termed haberdasher's +goods, were to be found in this narrow alley. + +To return from our digression. Butler found the outer turnkey, a tall +thin old man, with long silver hair, in the act of locking the outward +door of the jail. He addressed himself to this person, and asked +admittance to Effie Deans, confined upon accusation of child-murder. The +turnkey looked at him earnestly, and, civilly touching his hat out of +respect to Butler's black coat and clerical appearance, replied, "It was +impossible any one could be admitted at present." + +"You shut up earlier than usual, probably on account of Captain +Porteous's affair?" said Butler. + +The turnkey, with the true mystery of a person in office, gave two grave +nods, and withdrawing from the wards a ponderous key of about two feet in +length, he proceeded to shut a strong plate of steel, which folded down +above the keyhole, and was secured by a steel spring and catch. Butler +stood still instinctively while the door was made fast, and then looking +at his watch, walked briskly up the street, muttering to himself, almost +unconsciously-- + + Porta adversa, ingens, solidoque adamante columnae; + Vis ut nulla virum, non ipsi exscindere ferro + Coelicolae valeant--Stat ferrea turris ad auras--etc.* + Dryden's /Virgil,/ Book vi. + +* Wide is the fronting gate, and, raised on high, With adamantine columns +threats the sky; Vain is the force of man, and Heaven's as vain, To crush +the pillars which the pile sustain: Sublime on these a tower of steel is +reard. + +Having wasted half-an-hour more in a second fruitless attempt to find his +legal friend and adviser, he thought it time to leave the city and return +to his place of residence, in a small village about two miles and a half +to the southward of Edinburgh. The metropolis was at this time surrounded +by a high wall, with battlements and flanking projections at some +intervals, and the access was through gates, called in the Scottish +language /ports,/ which were regularly shut at night. A small fee to the +keepers would indeed procure egress and ingress at any time, through a +wicket left for that purpose in the large gate; but it was of some +importance, to a man so poor as Butler, to avoid even this slight +pecuniary mulct; and fearing the hour of shutting the gates might be +near, he made for that to which he found himself nearest, although, by +doing so, he somewhat lengthened his walk homewards. Bristo Port was that +by which his direct road lay, but the West Port, which leads out of the +Grassmarket, was the nearest of the city gates to the place where he +found himself, and to that, therefore, he directed his course. He reached +the port in ample time to pass the circuit of the walls, and entered a +suburb called Portsburgh, chiefly inhabited by the lower order of +citizens and mechanics. Here he was unexpectedly interrupted. + +He had not gone far from the gate before he heard the sound of a drum, +and, to his great surprise, met a number of persons, sufficient to occupy +the whole front of the street, and form a considerable mass behind, +moving with great speed towards the gate he had just come from, and +having in front of them a drum beating to arms. While he considered how +he should escape a party, assembled, as it might be presumed, for no +lawful purpose, they came full on him and stopped him. + +"Are you a clergyman?" one questioned him. + +Butler replied that "he was in orders, but was not a placed minister." + +"It's Mr. Butler from Liberton," said a voice from behind, "he'll +discharge the duty as weel as ony man." + +"You must turn back with us, sir," said the first speaker, in a tone +civil but peremptory. + +"For what purpose, gentlemen?" said Mr. Butler. "I live at some distance +from town--the roads are unsafe by night--you will do me a serious injury +by stopping me." + +"You shall be sent safely home--no man shall touch a hair of your head-- +but you must and shall come along with us." + +"But to what purpose or end, gentlemen?" said Butler. "I hope you will be +so civil as to explain that to me." + +"You shall know that in good time. Come along--for come you must, by +force or fair means; and I warn you to look neither to the right hand nor +the left, and to take no notice of any man's face, but consider all that +is passing before you as a dream." + +"I would it were a dream I could awaken from," said Butler to himself; +but having no means to oppose the violence with which he was threatened, +he was compelled to turn round and march in front of the rioters, two men +partly supporting and partly holding him. During this parley the +insurgents had made themselves masters of the West Port, rushing upon the +Waiters (so the people were called who had the charge of the gates), and +possessing themselves of the keys. They bolted and barred the folding +doors, and commanded the person, whose duty it usually was, to secure the +wicket, of which they did not understand the fastenings. The man, +terrified at an incident so totally unexpected, was unable to perform his +usual office, and gave the matter up, after several attempts. The +rioters, who seemed to have come prepared for every emergency, called for +torches, by the light of which they nailed up the wicket with long nails, +which, it seemed probable, they had provided on purpose. + +While this was going on, Butler could not, even if he had been willing, +avoid making remarks on the individuals who seemed to lead this singular +mob. The torch-light, while it fell on their forms and left him in the +shade, gave him an opportunity to do so without their observing him. +Several of those who seemed most active were dressed in sailors' jackets, +trousers, and sea-caps; others in large loose-bodied greatcoats, and +slouched hats; and there were several who, judging from their dress, +should have been called women, whose rough deep voices, uncommon size, +and masculine, deportment and mode of walking, forbade them being so +interpreted. They moved as if by some well-concerted plan of arrangement. +They had signals by which they knew, and nicknames by which they +distinguished each other. Butler remarked, that the name of Wildfire was +used among them, to which one stout Amazon seemed to reply. + +The rioters left a small party to observe the West Port, and directed the +Waiters, as they valued their lives, to remain within their lodge, and +make no attempt for that night to repossess themselves of the gate. They +then moved with rapidity along the low street called the Cowgate, the mob +of the city everywhere rising at the sound of their drum, and joining +them. When the multitude arrived at the Cowgate Port, they secured it +with as little opposition as the former, made it fast, and left a small +party to observe it. It was afterwards remarked, as a striking instance +of prudence and precaution, singularly combined with audacity, that the +parties left to guard those gates did not remain stationary on their +posts, but flitted to and fro, keeping so near the gates as to see that +no efforts were made to open them, yet not remaining so long as to have +their persons closely observed. The mob, at first only about one hundred +strong, now amounted to thousands, and were increasing every moment. They +divided themselves so as to ascend with more speed the various narrow +lanes which lead up from the Cowgate to the High Street; and still +beating to arms as they went, an calling on all true Scotsmen to join +them, they now filled the principal street of the city. + +The Netherbow Port might be called the Temple Bar of Edinburgh, as, +intersecting the High Street at its termination, it divided Edinburgh, +properly so called, from the suburb named the Canongate, as Temple Bar +separates London from Westminster. It was of the utmost importance to the +rioters to possess themselves of this pass, because there was quartered +in the Canongate at that time a regiment of infantry, commanded by +Colonel Moyle, which might have occupied the city by advancing through +this gate, and would possess the power of totally defeating their +purpose. The leaders therefore hastened to the Netherbow Port, which they +secured in the same manner, and with as little trouble, as the other +gates, leaving a party to watch it, strong in proportion to the +importance of the post. + +The next object of these hardy insurgents was at once to disarm the City +Guard, and to procure arms for themselves; for scarce any weapons but +staves and bludgeons had been yet seen among them. The Guard-house was a +long, low, ugly building (removed in 1787), which to a fanciful +imagination might have suggested the idea of a long black snail crawling +up the middle of the High Street, and deforming its beautiful esplanade. +This formidable insurrection had been so unexpected, that there were no +more than the ordinary sergeant's guard of the city-corps upon duty; even +these were without any supply of powder and ball; and sensible enough +what had raised the storm, and which way it was rolling, could hardly be +supposed very desirous to expose themselves by a valiant defence to the +animosity of so numerous and desperate a mob, to whom they were on the +present occasion much more than usually obnoxious. + +There was a sentinel upon guard, who (that one town-guard soldier might +do his duty on that eventful evening) presented his piece, and desired +the foremost of the rioters to stand off. The young Amazon, whom Butler +had observed particularly active, sprung upon the soldier, seized his +musket, and after a struggle succeeded in wrenching it from him, and +throwing him down on the causeway. One or two soldiers, who endeavoured +to turn out to the support of their sentinel, were in the same manner +seized and disarmed, and the mob without difficulty possessed themselves +of the Guard-house, disarming and turning out of doors the rest of the +men on duty. It was remarked, that, notwithstanding the city soldiers had +been the instruments of the slaughter which this riot was designed to +revenge, no ill usage or even insult was offered to them. It seemed as if +the vengeance of the people disdained to stoop at any head meaner than +that which they considered as the source and origin of their injuries. + +On possessing themselves of the guard, the first act of the multitude was +to destroy the drums, by which they supposed an alarm might be conveyed +to the garrison in the castle; for the same reason they now silenced +their own, which was beaten by a young fellow, son to the drummer of +Portsburgh, whom they had forced upon that service. Their next business +was to distribute among the boldest of the rioters the guns, bayonets, +partisans, halberts, and battle or Lochaber axes. Until this period the +principal rioters had preserved silence on the ultimate object of their +rising, as being that which all knew, but none expressed. Now, however, +having accomplished all the preliminary parts of their design, they +raised a tremendous shout of "Porteous! Porteous! To the Tolbooth! To the +Tolbooth!" + +They proceeded with the same prudence when the object seemed to be nearly +in their grasp, as they had done hitherto when success was more dubious. +A strong party of the rioters, drawn up in front of the Luckenbooths, and +facing down the street, prevented all access from the eastward, and the +west end of the defile formed by the Luckenbooths was secured in the same +manner; so that the Tolbooth was completely surrounded, and those who +undertook the task of breaking it open effectually secured against the +risk of interruption. + +The magistrates, in the meanwhile, had taken the alarm, and assembled in +a tavern, with the purpose of raising some strength to subdue the +rioters. The deacons, or presidents of the trades, were applied to, but +declared there was little chance of their authority being respected by +the craftsmen, where it was the object to save a man so obnoxious. Mr. +Lindsay, member of parliament for the city, volunteered the perilous task +of carrying a verbal message, from the Lord Provost to Colonel Moyle, the +commander of the regiment lying in the Canongate, requesting him to force +the Netherbow Port, and enter the city to put down the tumult. But Mr. +Lindsay declined to charge himself with any written order, which, if +found on his person by an enraged mob, might have cost him his life; and +the issue, of the application was, that Colonel Moyle having no written +requisition from the civil authorities, and having the fate of Porteous +before his eyes as an example of the severe construction put by a jury on +the proceedings of military men acting on their own responsibility, +declined to encounter the risk to which the Provost's verbal +communication invited him. + +More than one messenger was despatched by different ways to the Castle, +to require the commanding officer to march down his troops, to fire a few +cannon-shot, or even to throw a shell among the mob, for the purpose of +clearing the streets. But so strict and watchful were the various patrols +whom the rioters had established in different parts of the streets, that +none of the emissaries of the magistrates could reach the gate of the +Castle. They were, however, turned back without either injury or insult, +and with nothing more of menace than was necessary to deter them from +again attempting to accomplish their errand. + +The same vigilance was used to prevent everybody of the higher, and those +which, in this case, might be deemed the more suspicious orders of +society, from appearing in the street, and observing the movements, or +distinguishing the persons, of the rioters. Every person in the garb of a +gentleman was stopped by small parties of two or three of the mob, who +partly exhorted, partly required of them, that they should return to the +place from whence they came. Many a quadrille table was spoilt that +memorable evening; for the sedan chairs of ladies; even of the highest +rank, were interrupted in their passage from one point to another, in +spite of the laced footmen and blazing flambeaux. This was uniformly done +with a deference and attention to the feelings of the terrified females, +which could hardly have been expected from the videttes of a mob so +desperate. Those who stopped the chair usually made the excuse, that +there was much disturbance on the streets, and that it was absolutely +necessary for the lady's safety that the chair should turn back. They +offered themselves to escort the vehicles which they had thus interrupted +in their progress, from the apprehension, probably, that some of those +who had casually united themselves to the riot might disgrace their +systematic and determined plan of vengeance, by those acts of general +insult and license which are common on similar occasions. + +Persons are yet living who remember to have heard from the mouths of +ladies thus interrupted on their journey in the manner we have described, +that they were escorted to their lodgings by the young men who stopped +them, and even handed out of their chairs, with a polite attention far +beyond what was consistent with their dress, which was apparently that of +journeymen mechanics.* + +* A near relation of the author's used to tell of having been stopped by +the rioters, and escorted home in the manner described. On reaching her +own home one of her attendants, in the appearance a /baxter/, a baker's +lad, handed her out of her chair, and took leave with a bow, which, in +the lady's opinion, argued breeding that could hardly be learned at the +oven's mouth. + +It seemed as if the conspirators, like those who assassinated Cardinal +Beatoun in former days, had entertained the opinion, that the work about +which they went was a judgment of Heaven, which, though unsanctioned by +the usual authorities, ought to be proceeded in with order and gravity. + +While their outposts continued thus vigilant, and suffered themselves +neither from fear nor curiosity to neglect that part of the duty assigned +to them, and while the main guards to the east and west secured them +against interruption, a select body of the rioters thundered at the door +of the jail, and demanded instant admission. No one answered, for the +outer keeper had prudently made his escape with the keys at the +commencement of the riot, and was nowhere to be found. The door was +instantly assailed with sledge-hammers, iron crows, and the coulters of +ploughs, ready provided for the purpose, with which they prized, heaved, +and battered for some time with little effect; for the door, besides +being of double oak planks, clenched, both endlong and athwart, with +broad-headed nails, was so hung and secured as to yield to no means of +forcing, without the expenditure of much time. The rioters, however, +appeared determined to gain admittance. Gang after gang relieved each +other at the exercise, for, of course, only a few could work at once; but +gang after gang retired, exhausted with their violent exertions, without +making much progress in forcing the prison door. Butler had been led up +near to this the principal scene of action; so near, indeed, that he was +almost deafened by the unceasing clang of the heavy fore-hammers against +the iron-bound portal of the prison. He began to entertain hopes, as the +task seemed protracted, that the populace might give it over in despair, +or that some rescue might arrive to disperse them. There was a moment at +which the latter seemed probable. + +The magistrates, having assembled their officers, and some of the +citizens who were willing to hazard themselves for the public +tranquillity, now sallied forth from the tavern where they held their +sitting, and approached the point of danger. Their officers went before +them with links and torches, with a herald to read the riot-act, if +necessary. They easily drove before them the outposts and videttes of the +rioters; but when they approached the line of guard which the mob, or +rather, we should say, the conspirators, had drawn across the street in +the front of the Luckenbooths, they were received with an unintermitted +volley of stones, and, on their nearer approach, the pikes, bayonets, and +Lochaber-axes, of which the populace had possessed themselves, were +presented against them. One of their ordinary officers, a strong resolute +fellow, went forward, seized a rioter, and took from him a musket; but, +being unsupported, he was instantly thrown on his back in the street, and +disarmed in his turn. The officer was too happy to be permitted to rise +and run away without receiving any farther injury; which afforded another +remarkable instance of the mode in which these men had united a sort of +moderation towards all others, with the most inflexible inveteracy +against the object of their resentment. The magistrates, after vain +attempts to make themselves heard and obeyed, possessing no means of +enforcing their authority, were constrained to abandon the field to the +rioters, and retreat in all speed from the showers of missiles that +whistled around their ears. + +The passive resistance of the Tolbooth gate promised to do more to baffle +the purpose of the mob than the active interference of the magistrates. +The heavy sledge-hammers continued to din against it without +intermission, and with a noise which, echoed from the lofty buildings +around the spot, seemed enough to have alarmed the garrison in the +Castle. It was circulated among the rioters, that the troops would march +down to disperse them, unless they could execute their purpose without +loss of time; or that, even without quitting the fortress, the garrison +might obtain the same end by throwing a bomb or two upon the street. + +Urged by such motives for apprehension, they eagerly relieved each other +at the labour of assailing the Tolbooth door: yet such was its strength, +that it still defied their efforts. At length, a voice was heard to +pronounce the words, "Try it with fire." The rioters, with an unanimous +shout, called for combustibles, and as all their wishes seemed to be +instantly supplied, they were soon in possession of two or three empty +tar-barrels. A huge red glaring bonfire speedily arose close to the door +of the prison, sending up a tall column of smoke and flame against its +antique turrets and strongly-grated windows, and illuminating the +ferocious and wild gestures of the rioters, who surrounded the place, as +well as the pale and anxious groups of those, who, from windows in the +vicinage, watched the progress of this alarming scene. The mob fed the +fire with whatever they could find fit for the purpose. The flames roared +and crackled among the heaps of nourishment piled on the fire, and a +terrible shout soon announced that the door had kindled, and was in the +act of being destroyed. The fire was suffered to decay, but, long ere it +was quite extinguished, the most forward of the rioters rushed, in their +impatience, one after another, over its yet smouldering remains. Thick +showers of sparkles rose high in the air, as man after man bounded over +the glowing embers, and disturbed them in their passage. It was now +obvious to Butler, and all others who were present, that the rioters +would be instantly in possession of their victim, and have it in their +power to work their pleasure upon him, whatever that might be.* + +* Note C. The Old Tolbooth. + + + + + CHAPTER SIXTH. + + + The evil you teach us, + We will execute; and it shall go hard, but we will + Better the instruction. + Merchant of Venice. + +The unhappy object of this remarkable disturbance had been that day +delivered from the apprehension of public execution, and his joy was the +greater, as he had some reason to question whether Government would have +run the risk of unpopularity by interfering in his favour, after he had +been legally convicted by the verdict of a jury, of a crime so very +obnoxious. Relieved from this doubtful state of mind, his heart was merry +within him, and he thought, in the emphatic words of Scripture on a +similar occasion, that surely the bitterness of death was past. Some of +his friends, however, who had watched the manner and behaviour of the +crowd when they were made acquainted with the reprieve, were of a +different opinion. They augured, from the unusual sternness and silence +with which they bore their disappointment, that the populace nourished +some scheme of sudden and desperate vengeance; and they advised Porteous +to lose no time in petitioning the proper authorities, that he might be +conveyed to the Castle under a sufficient guard, to remain there in +security until his ultimate fate should be determined. Habituated, +however, by his office, to overawe the rabble of the city, Porteous could +not suspect them of an attempt so audacious as to storm a strong and +defensible prison; and, despising the advice by which he might have been +saved, he spent the afternoon of the eventful day in giving an +entertainment to some friends who visited him in jail, several of whom, +by the indulgence of the Captain of the Tolbooth, with whom he had an old +intimacy, arising from their official connection, were even permitted to +remain to supper with him, though contrary to the rules of the jail. + +It was, therefore, in the hour of unalloyed mirth, when this unfortunate +wretch was "full of bread," hot with wine, and high in mistimed and +ill-grounded confidence, and alas! with all his sins full blown, when the +first distant' shouts of the rioters mingled with the song of merriment +and intemperance. The hurried call of the jailor to the guests, requiring +them instantly to depart, and his yet more hasty intimation that a +dreadful and determined mob had possessed themselves of the city gates +and guard-house, were the first explanation of these fearful clamours. + +Porteous might, however, have eluded the fury from which the force of +authority could not protect him, had he thought of slipping on some +disguise, and leaving the prison along with his guests. It is probable +that the jailor might have connived at his escape, or even that in the +hurry of this alarming contingency, he might not have observed it. But +Porteous and his friends alike wanted presence of mind to suggest or +execute such a plan of escape. The former hastily fled from a place where +their own safety seemed compromised, and the latter, in a state +resembling stupefaction, awaited in his apartment the termination of the +enterprise of the rioters. The cessation of the clang of the instruments +with which they had at first attempted to force the door, gave him +momentary relief. The flattering hopes, that the military had marched +into the city, either from the Castle or from the suburbs, and that the +rioters were intimidated, and dispersing, were soon destroyed by the +broad and glaring light of the flames, which, illuminating through the +grated window every corner of his apartment, plainly showed that the mob, +determined on their fatal purpose, had adopted a means of forcing +entrance equally desperate and certain. + +The sudden glare of light suggested to the stupified and astonished +object of popular hatred the possibility of concealment or escape. To +rush to the chimney, to ascend it at the risk of suffocation, were the +only means which seemed to have occurred to him; but his progress was +speedily stopped by one of those iron gratings, which are, for the sake +of security, usually placed across the vents of buildings designed for +imprisonment. The bars, however, which impeded his farther progress, +served to support him in the situation which he had gained, and he seized +them with the tenacious grasp of one who esteemed himself clinging to his +last hope of existence. The lurid light which had filled the apartment, +lowered and died away; the sound of shouts was heard within the walls, +and on the narrow and winding stair, which, eased within one of the +turrets, gave access to the upper apartments of the prison. The huzza of +the rioters was answered by a shout wild and desperate as their own, the +cry, namely, of the imprisoned felons, who, expecting to be liberated in +the general confusion, welcomed the mob as their deliverers. By some of +these the apartment of Porteous was pointed out to his enemies. The +obstacle of the lock and bolts was soon overcome, and from his hiding +place the unfortunate man heard his enemies search every corner of the +apartment, with oaths and maledictions, which would but shock the reader +if we recorded them, but which served to prove, could it have admitted of +doubt, the settled purpose of soul with which they sought his +destruction. + +A place of concealment so obvious to suspicion and scrutiny as that which +Porteous had chosen, could not long screen him from detection. He was +dragged from his lurking-place, with a violence which seemed to argue an +intention to put him to death on the spot. More than one weapon was +directed towards him, when one of the rioters, the same whose female +disguise had been particularly noticed by Butler, interfered in an +authoritative tone. "Are ye mad?" he said, "or would ye execute an act of +justice as if it were a crime and a cruelty? This sacrifice will lose +half its savour if we do not offer it at the very horns of the altar. We +will have him die where a murderer should die, on the common gibbet--We +will have him die where he spilled the blood of so many innocents!" + +A loud shout of applause followed the proposal, and the cry, "To the +gallows with the murderer!--to the Grassmarket with him!" echoed on all +hands. + +"Let no man hurt him," continued the speaker; "let him make his peace +with God, if he can; we will not kill both his soul and body." + +"What time did he give better folk for preparing their account?" answered +several voices. "Let us mete to him with the same measure he measured to +them." + +But the opinion of the spokesman better suited the temper of those he +addressed, a temper rather stubborn than impetuous, sedate though +ferocious, and desirous of colouring their cruel and revengeful action +with a show of justice and moderation. + +For an instant this man quitted the prisoner, whom he consigned to a +selected guard, with instructions to permit him to give his money and +property to whomsoever he pleased. A person confined in the jail for debt +received this last deposit from the trembling hand of the victim, who was +at the same time permitted to make some other brief arrangements to meet +his approaching fate. The felons, and all others who, wished to leave the +jail, were now at full liberty to do so; not that their liberation made +any part of the settled purpose of the rioters, but it followed as almost +a necessary consequence of forcing the jail doors. With wild cries of +jubilee they joined the mob, or disappeared among the narrow lanes to +seek out the hidden receptacles of vice and infamy, where they were +accustomed to lurk and conceal themselves from justice. + +Two persons, a man about fifty years old and a girl about eighteen, were +all who continued within the fatal walls, excepting two or three debtors, +who probably saw no advantage in attempting their escape. The persons we +have mentioned remained in the strong room of the prison, now deserted by +all others. One of their late companions in misfortune called out to the +man to make his escape, in the tone of an acquaintance. "Rin for it, +Ratcliffe--the road's clear." + +"It may be sae, Willie," answered Ratcliffe, composedly, "but I have taen +a fancy to leave aff trade, and set up for an honest man." + +"Stay there, and be hanged, then, for a donnard auld deevil!" said the +other, and ran down the prison stair. + +The person in female attire whom we have distinguished as one of the most +active rioters, was about the same time at the ear of the young woman. +"Flee, Effie, flee!" was all he had time to whisper. She turned towards +him an eye of mingled fear, affection, and upbraiding, all contending +with a sort of stupified surprise. He again repeated, "Flee, Effie, flee! +for the sake of all that's good and dear to you!" Again she gazed on him, +but was unable to answer. A loud noise was now heard, and the name of +Madge Wildfire was repeatedly called from the bottom of the staircase. + +"I am coming,--I am coming," said the person who answered to that +appellative; and then reiterating hastily, "For God's sake--for your own +sake--for my sake, flee, or they'll take your life!" he left the strong +room. + +The girl gazed after him for a moment, and then, faintly muttering, +"Better tyne life, since tint is gude fame," she sunk her head upon her +hand, and remained, seemingly, unconscious as a statue of the noise and +tumult which passed around her. + +That tumult was now transferred from the inside to the outside of the +Tolbooth. The mob had brought their destined victim forth, and were about +to conduct him to the common place of execution, which they had fixed as +the scene of his death. The leader, whom they distinguished by the name +of Madge Wildfire, had been summoned to assist at the procession by the +impatient shouts of his confederates. + +"I will insure you five hundred pounds," said the unhappy man, grasping +Wildfire's hand,--"five hundred pounds for to save my life." + +The other answered in the same undertone, and returning his grasp with +one equally convulsive, "Five hundredweight of coined gold should not +save you.--Remember Wilson!" + +A deep pause of a minute ensued, when Wildfire added, in a more composed +tone, "Make your peace with Heaven.--Where is the clergyman?" + +Butler, who in great terror and anxiety, had been detained within a few +yards of the Tolbooth door, to wait the event of the search after +Porteous, was now brought forward, and commanded to walk by the +prisoner's side, and to prepare him for immediate death. His answer was a +supplication that the rioters would consider what they did. "You are +neither judges nor jury," said he. "You cannot have, by the laws of God +or man, power to take away the life of a human creature, however +deserving he may be of death. If it is murder even in a lawful magistrate +to execute an offender otherwise than in the place, time, and manner +which the judges' sentence prescribes, what must it be in you, who have +no warrant for interference but your own wills? In the name of Him who is +all mercy, show mercy to this unhappy man, and do not dip your hands in +his blood, nor rush into the very crime which you are desirous of +avenging!" + +"Cut your sermon short--you are not in your pulpit," answered one of the +rioters. + +"If we hear more of your clavers," said another, "we are like to hang you +up beside him." + +"Peace--hush!" said Wildfire. "Do the good man no harm--he discharges his +conscience, and I like him the better." + +He then addressed Butler. "Now, sir, we have patiently heard you, and we +just wish you to understand, in the way of answer, that you may as well +argue to the ashlar-work and iron stanchels of the Tolbooth as think to +change our purpose--Blood must have blood. We have sworn to each other by +the deepest oaths ever were pledged, that Porteous shall die the death he +deserves so richly; therefore, speak no more to us, but prepare him for +death as well as the briefness of his change will permit." + +They had suffered the unfortunate Porteous to put on his night-gown and +slippers, as he had thrown off his coat and shoes, in order to facilitate +his attempted escape up the chimney. In this garb he was now mounted on +the hands of two of the rioters, clasped together, so as to form what is +called in Scotland, "The King's Cushion." Butler was placed close to his +side, and repeatedly urged to perform a duty always the most painful +which can be imposed on a clergyman deserving of the name, and now +rendered more so by the peculiar and horrid circumstances of the +criminal's case. Porteous at first uttered some supplications for mercy, +but when he found that there was no chance that these would be attended +to, his military education, and the natural stubbornness of his +disposition, combined to support his spirits. + +"Are you prepared for this dreadful end?" said Butler, in a faltering +voice. "O turn to Him, in whose eyes time and space have no existence, +and to whom a few minutes are as a lifetime, and a lifetime as a minute." + +"I believe I know what you would say," answered Porteous sullenly. "I was +bred a soldier; if they will murder me without time, let my sins as well +as my blood lie at their door." + +"Who was it," said the stern voice of Wildfire, "that said to Wilson at +this very spot, when he could not pray, owing to the galling agony of his +fetters, that his pains would soon be over?--I say to you to take your +own tale home; and if you cannot profit by the good man's lessons, blame +not them that are still more merciful to you than you were to others." + +The procession now moved forward with a slow and determined pace. It was +enlightened by many blazing, links and torches; for the actors of this +work were so far from affecting any secrecy on the occasion, that they +seemed even to court observation. Their principal leaders kept close to +the person of the prisoner, whose pallid yet stubborn features were seen +distinctly by the torch-light, as his person was raised considerably +above the concourse which thronged around him. Those who bore swords, +muskets, and battle-axes, marched on each side, as if forming a regular +guard to the procession. The windows, as they went along, were filled +with the inhabitants, whose slumbers had been broken by this unusual +disturbance. Some of the spectators muttered accents of encouragement; +but in general they were so much appalled by a sight so strange and +audacious, that they looked on with a sort of stupified astonishment. No +one offered, by act or word, the slightest interruption. + +The rioters, on their part, continued to act with the same air of +deliberate confidence and security which had marked all their +proceedings. When the object of their resentment dropped one of his +slippers, they stopped, sought for it, and replaced it upon his foot with +great deliberation.* + +* This little incident, characteristic of the extreme composure of this +extraordinary mob, was witnessed by a lady, who, disturbed like others +from her slumbers, had gone to the window. It was told to the Author by +the lady's daughter. + +As they descended the Bow towards the fatal spot where they designed to +complete their purpose, it was suggested that there should be a rope kept +in readiness. For this purpose the booth of a man who dealt in cordage +was forced open, a coil of rope fit for their purpose was selected to +serve as a halter, and the dealer next morning found that a guinea had +been left on his counter in exchange; so anxious were the perpetrators of +this daring action to show that they meditated not the slightest wrong or +infraction of law, excepting so far as Porteous was himself concerned. + +Leading, or carrying along with them, in this determined and regular +manner, the object of their vengeance, they at length reached the place +of common execution, the scene of his crime, and destined spot of his +sufferings. Several of the rioters (if they should not rather be +described as conspirators) endeavoured to remove the stone which filled +up the socket in which the end of the fatal tree was sunk when it was +erected for its fatal purpose; others sought for the means of +constructing a temporary gibbet, the place in which the gallows itself +was deposited being reported too secure to be forced, without much loss +of time. Butler endeavoured to avail himself of the delay afforded by +these circumstances, to turn the people from their desperate design. "For +God's sake," he exclaimed, "remember it is the image of your Creator +which you are about to deface in the person of this unfortunate man! +Wretched as he is, and wicked as he may be, he has a share in every +promise of Scripture, and you cannot destroy him in impenitence without +blotting his name from the Book of Life--Do not destroy soul and body; +give time for preparation." + +"What time had they," returned a stern voice, "whom he murdered on this +very spot?--The laws both of God and man call for his death." + +"But what, my friends," insisted Butler, with a generous disregard to his +own safety--"what hath constituted you his judges?" + +"We are not his judges," replied the same person; "he has been already +judged and condemned by lawful authority. We are those whom Heaven, and +our righteous anger, have stirred up to execute judgment, when a corrupt +Government would have protected a murderer." + +"I am none," said the unfortunate Porteous; "that which you charge upon +me fell out in self-defence, in the lawful exercise of my duty." + +"Away with him--away with him!" was the general cry. + +"Why do you trifle away time in making a gallows?--that dyester's pole is +good enough for the homicide." + +The unhappy man was forced to his fate with remorseless rapidity. Butler, +separated from him by the press, escaped the last horrors of his +struggles. Unnoticed by those who had hitherto detained him as a +prisoner,--he fled from the fatal spot, without much caring in what +direction his course lay. A loud shout proclaimed the stern delight with +which the agents of this deed regarded its completion. Butler, then, at +the opening into the low street called the Cowgate, cast back a terrified +glance, and, by the red and dusky light of the torches, he could discern +a figure wavering and struggling as it hung suspended above the heads of +the multitude, and could even observe men striking at it with their +Lochaber-axes and partisans. The sight was of a nature to double his +horror, and to add wings to his flight. + +The street down which the fugitive ran opens to one of the eastern ports +or gates of the city. Butler did not stop till he reached it, but found +it still shut. He waited nearly an hour, walking up and down in +inexpressible perturbation of mind. At length he ventured to call out, +and rouse the attention of the terrified keepers of the gate, who now +found themselves at liberty to resume their office without interruption. +Butler requested them to open the gate. They hesitated. He told them his +name and occupation. + +"He is a preacher," said one; "I have heard him preach in Haddo's-hole." + +"A fine preaching has he been at the night," said another "but maybe +least said is sunest mended." + +Opening then the wicket of the main gate, the keepers suffered Butler to +depart, who hastened to carry his horror and fear beyond the walls of +Edinburgh. His first purpose was instantly to take the road homeward; but +other fears and cares, connected with the news he had learned in that +remarkable day, induced him to linger in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh +until daybreak. More than one group of persons passed him as he was +whiling away the hours of darkness that yet remained, whom, from the +stifled tones of their discourse, the unwonted hour when they travelled, +and the hasty pace at which they walked, he conjectured to have been +engaged in the late fatal transaction. + +Certain it was, that the sudden and total dispersion of the rioters, when +their vindictive purpose was accomplished, seemed not the least +remarkable feature of this singular affair. In general, whatever may be +the impelling motive by which a mob is at first raised, the attainment of +their object has usually been only found to lead the way to farther +excesses. But not so in the present case. They seemed completely satiated +with the vengeance they had prosecuted with such stanch and sagacious +activity. When they were fully satisfied that life had abandoned their +victim, they dispersed in every direction, throwing down the weapons +which they had only assumed to enable them to carry through their +purpose. At daybreak there remained not the least token of the events of +the night, excepting the corpse of Porteous, which still hung suspended +in the place where he had suffered, and the arms of various kinds which +the rioters had taken from the city guard-house, which were found +scattered about the streets as they had thrown them from their hands when +the purpose for which they had seized them was accomplished. + +The ordinary magistrates of the city resumed their power, not without +trembling at the late experience of the fragility of its tenure. To march +troops into the city, and commence a severe inquiry into the transactions +of the preceding night, were the first marks of returning energy which +they displayed. But these events had been conducted on so secure and +well-calculated a plan of safety and secrecy, that there was little or +nothing learned to throw light upon the authors or principal actors in a +scheme so audacious. An express was despatched to London with the +tidings, where they excited great indignation and surprise in the council +of regency, and particularly in the bosom of Queen Caroline, who +considered her own authority as exposed to contempt by the success of +this singular conspiracy. Nothing was spoke of for some time save the +measure of vengeance which should be taken, not only on the actors of +this tragedy, so soon as they should be discovered, but upon the +magistrates who had suffered it to take place, and upon the city which +had been the scene where it was exhibited. On this occasion, it is still +recorded in popular tradition, that her Majesty, in the height of her +displeasure, told the celebrated John Duke of Argyle, that, sooner than +submit to such an insult, she would make Scotland a hunting-field. "In +that case, Madam," answered that high-spirited nobleman, with a profound +bow, "I will take leave of your Majesty, and go down to my own country to +get my hounds ready." + +The import of the reply had more than met the ear; and as most of the +Scottish nobility and gentry seemed actuated by the same national spirit, +the royal displeasure was necessarily checked in mid-volley, and milder +courses were recommended and adopted, to some of which we may hereafter +have occasion to advert.* + +* Note D. Memorial concerning the murder of Captain Porteous. + + + + + CHAPTER SEVENTH + + + 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. + Old Song. + +If I were to choose a spot from which the rising or setting sun could be +seen to the greatest possible advantage, it would be that wild path +winding around the foot of the high belt of semicircular rocks, called +Salisbury Crags, and marking the verge of the steep descent which slopes +down into the glen on the south-eastern side of the city of Edinburgh. +The prospect, in its general outline, commands a close-built, high-piled +city, stretching itself out beneath in a form, which, to a romantic +imagination, may be supposed to represent that of a dragon; now, a noble +arm of the sea, with its rocks, isles, distant shores, and boundary of +mountains; and now, a fair and fertile champaign country, varied with +hill, dale, and rock, and skirted by the picturesque ridge of the +Pentland mountains. But as the path gently circles around the base of the +cliffs, the prospect, composed as it is of these enchanting and sublime +objects, changes at every step, and presents them blended with, or +divided from, each other, in every possible variety which can gratify the +eye and the imagination. When a piece of scenery so beautiful, yet so +varied,--so exciting by its intricacy, and yet so sublime,--is lighted up +by the tints of morning or of evening, and displays all that variety of +shadowy depth, exchanged with partial brilliancy, which gives character +even to the tamest of landscapes, the effect approaches near to +enchantment. This path used to be my favourite evening and morning +resort, when engaged with a favourite author, or new subject of study. It +is, I am informed, now become totally impassable; a circumstance which, +if true, reflects little credit on the taste of the Good Town or its +leaders.* + +* A beautiful and solid pathway has, within a few years, been formed +around these romantic rocks; and the Author has the pleasure to think, +that the passage in the text gave rise to the undertaking. + + It was from this fascinating path--the scene to me of so much delicious +musing, when life was young and promised to be happy, that I have been +unable to pass it over without an episodical description--it was, I say, +from this romantic path that Butler saw the morning arise the day after +the murder of Porteous. It was possible for him with ease to have found a +much shorter road to the house to which he was directing his course, and, +in fact, that which he chose was extremely circuitous. But to compose his +own spirits, as well as to while away the time, until a proper hour for +visiting the family without surprise or disturbance, he was induced to +extend his circuit by the foot of the rocks, and to linger upon his way +until the morning should be considerably advanced. While, now standing +with his arms across, and waiting the slow progress of the sun above the +horizon, now sitting upon one of the numerous fragments which storms had +detached from the rocks above him, he is meditating, alternately upon the +horrible catastrophe which he had witnessed, and upon the melancholy, and +to him most interesting, news which he had learned at Saddletree's, we +will give the reader to understand who Butler was, and how his fate was +connected with that of Effie Deans, the unfortunate handmaiden of the +careful Mrs. Saddletree. + +Reuben Butler was of English extraction, though born in Scotland. His +grandfather was a trooper in Monk's army, and one of the party of +dismounted dragoons which formed the forlorn hope at the storming of +Dundee in 1651. Stephen Butler (called from his talents in reading and +expounding, Scripture Stephen, and Bible Butler) was a stanch +Independent, and received in its fullest comprehension the promise that +the saints should inherit the earth. As hard knocks were what had chiefly +fallen to his share hitherto in the division of this common property, he +lost not the opportunity which the storm and plunder of a commercial +place afforded him, to appropriate as large a share of the better things +of this world as he could possibly compass. It would seem that he had +succeeded indifferently well, for his exterior circumstances appeared, in +consequence of this event, to have been much mended. + +The troop to which he belonged was quartered at the village of Dalkeith, +as forming the bodyguard of Monk, who, in the capacity of general for the +Commonwealth, resided in the neighbouring castle. When, on the eve of the +Restoration, the general commenced his march from Scotland, a measure +pregnant with such important consequences, he new-modelled his troops, +and more especially those immediately about his person, in order that +they might consist entirely of individuals devoted to himself. On this +occasion Scripture Stephen was weighed in the balance, and found wanting. +It was supposed he felt no call to any expedition which might endanger +the reign of the military sainthood, and that he did not consider himself +as free in conscience to join with any party which might be likely +ultimately to acknowledge the interest of Charles Stuart, the son of "the +last man," as Charles I. was familiarly and irreverently termed by them +in their common discourse, as well as in their more elaborate +predications and harangues. As the time did not admit of cashiering such +dissidents, Stephen Butler was only advised in a friendly way to give up +his horse and accoutrements to one of Middleton's old troopers who +possessed an accommodating conscience of a military stamp, and which +squared itself chiefly upon those of the colonel and paymaster. As this +hint came recommended by a certain sum of arrears presently payable, +Stephen had carnal wisdom enough to embrace the proposal, and with great +indifference saw his old corps depart for Coldstream, on their route for +the south, to establish the tottering Government of England on a new +basis. + +The /zone/ of the ex-trooper, to use Horace's phrase, was weighty enough +to purchase a cottage and two or three fields (still known by the name of +Beersheba), within about a Scottish mile of Dalkeith; and there did +Stephen establish himself with a youthful helpmate, chosen out of the +said village, whose disposition to a comfortable settlement on this side +of the grave reconciled her to the gruff manners, serious temper, and +weather-beaten features of the martial enthusiast. Stephen did not long +survive the falling on "evil days and evil tongues," of which Milton, in +the same predicament, so mournfully complains. At his death his consort +remained an early widow, with a male child of three years old, which, in +the sobriety wherewith it demeaned itself, in the old-fashioned and even +grim cast of its features, and in its sententious mode of expressing +itself, would sufficiently have vindicated the honour of the widow of +Beersheba, had any one thought proper to challenge the babe's descent +from Bible Butler. + +Butler's principles had not descended to his family, or extended +themselves among his neighbours. The air of Scotland was alien to the +growth of independency, however favourable to fanaticism under other +colours. But, nevertheless, they were not forgotten; and a certain +neighbouring Laird, who piqued himself upon the loyalty of his principles +"in the worst of times" (though I never heard they exposed him to more +peril than that of a broken head, or a night's lodging in the main guard, +when wine and cavalierism predominated in his upper storey), had found it +a convenient thing to rake up all matter of accusation against the +deceased Stephen. In this enumeration his religious principles made no +small figure, as, indeed, they must have seemed of the most exaggerated +enormity to one whose own were so small and so faintly traced, as to be +well nigh imperceptible. In these circumstances, poor widow Butler was +supplied with her full proportion of fines for nonconformity, and all the +other oppressions of the time, until Beersheba was fairly wrenched out of +her hands, and became the property of the Laird who had so wantonly, as +it had hitherto appeared, persecuted this poor forlorn woman. When his +purpose was fairly achieved, he showed some remorse or moderation, of +whatever the reader may please to term it, in permitting her to occupy +her husband's cottage, and cultivate, on no very heavy terms, a croft of +land adjacent. Her son, Benjamin, in the meanwhile, grew up to mass +estate, and, moved by that impulse which makes men seek marriage, even +when its end can only be the perpetuation of misery, he wedded and +brought a wife, and, eventually, a son, Reuben, to share the poverty of +Beersheba. + +The Laird of Dumbiedikes* had hitherto been moderate in his exactions, +perhaps because he was ashamed to tax too highly the miserable means of +support which remained to the widow Butler. + +* Dumbiedikes, selected as descriptive of the taciturn character of the +imaginary owner, is really the name of a house bordering on the King's +Park, so called because the late Mr. Braidwood, an instructor of the deaf +and dumb, resided there with his pupils. The situation of the real house +is different from that assigned to the ideal mansion. + +But when a stout active young fellow appeared as the labourer of the +croft in question, Dumbiedikes began to think so broad a pair of +shoulders might bear an additional burden. He regulated, indeed, his +management of his dependants (who fortunately were but few in number) +much upon the principle of the carters whom he observed loading their +carts at a neighbouring coal-hill, and who never failed to clap an +additional brace of hundredweights on their burden, so soon as by any +means they had compassed a new horse of somewhat superior strength to +that which had broken down the day before. However reasonable this +practice appeared to the Laird of Dumbiedikes, he ought to have observed, +that it may be overdone, and that it infers, as a matter of course, the +destruction and loss of both horse, and cart, and loading. Even so it +befell when the additional "prestations" came to be demanded of Benjamin +Butler. A man of few words, and few ideas, but attached to Beersheba with +a feeling like that which a vegetable entertains to the spot in which it +chances to be planted, he neither remonstrated with the Laird, nor +endeavoured to escape from him, but, toiling night and day to accomplish +the terms of his taskmaster, fell into a burning fever and died. His wife +did not long survive him; and, as if it had been the fate of this family +to be left orphans, our Reuben Butler was, about the year 1704-5, left in +the same circumstances in which his father had been placed, and under the +same guardianship, being that of his grandmother, the widow of Monk's old +trooper. + +The same prospect of misery hung over the head of another tenant of this +hardhearted lord of the soil. This was a tough true-blue Presbyterian, +called Deans, who, though most obnoxious to the Laird on account of +principles in church and state, contrived to maintain his ground upon the +estate by regular payment of mail-duties, kain, arriage, carriage, dry +multure, lock, gowpen, and knaveship, and all the various exactions now +commuted for money, and summed up in the emphatic word rent. But the +years 1700 and 1701, long remembered in Scotland for dearth and general +distress, subdued the stout heart of the agricultural whig. Citations by +the ground-officer, decreets of the Baron Court, sequestrations, +poindings of outside and inside plenishing, flew about his ears as fast +as the tory bullets whistled around those of the Covenanters at Pentland, +Bothwell Brigg, or Airsmoss. Struggle as he might, and he struggled +gallantly, "Douce David Deans" was routed horse and foot, and lay at the +mercy of his grasping landlord just at the time that Benjamin Butler +died. The fate of each family was anticipated; but they who prophesied +their expulsion to beggary and ruin were disappointed by an accidental +circumstance. + +On the very term-day when their ejection should have taken place, when +all their neighbours were prepared to pity, and not one to assist them, +the minister of the parish, as well as a doctor from Edinburgh, received +a hasty summons to attend the Laird of Dumbiedikes. Both were surprised, +for his contempt for both faculties had been pretty commonly his theme +over an extra bottle, that is to say, at least once every day. The leech +for the soul, and he for the body, alighted in the court of the little +old manor-house at almost the same time; and when they had gazed a moment +at each other with some surprise, they in the same breath expressed their +conviction that Dumbiedikes must needs be very ill indeed, since he +summoned them both to his presence at once. Ere the servant could usher +them to his apartment, the party was augmented by a man of law, Nichil +Novit, writing himself procurator before the sheriff-court, for in those +days there were no solicitors. This latter personage was first summoned +to the apartment of the Laird, where, after some short space, the +soul-curer and the body-curer were invited to join him. + +Dumbiedikes had been by this time transported into the best bedroom, used +only upon occasions of death and marriage, and called, from the former of +these occupations, the Dead-Room. There were in this apartment, besides +the sick person himself and Mr. Novit, the son and heir of the patient, a +tall gawky silly-looking boy of fourteen or fifteen, and a housekeeper, a +good buxom figure of a woman, betwixt forty and fifty, who had kept the +keys and managed matters at Dumbiedikes since the lady's death. It was to +these attendants that Dumbiedikes addressed himself pretty nearly in the +following words; temporal and spiritual matters, the care of his health +and his affairs, being strangely jumbled in a head which was never one of +the clearest. + +"These are sair times wi' me, gentlemen and neighbours! amaist as ill as +at the aughty-nine, when I was rabbled by the collegeaners.* + +* Immediately previous to the Revolution, the students at the Edinburgh +College were violent anti-catholics. They were strongly suspected of +burning the house of Prestonfield, belonging to Sir James Dick, the Lord +Provost; and certainly were guilty of creating considerable riots in +1688-9. + +--They mistook me muckle--they ca'd me a papist, but there was never a +papist bit about me, minister.--Jock, ye'll take warning--it's a debt we +maun a' pay, and there stands Nichil Novit that will tell ye I was never +gude at paying debts in my life.--Mr. Novit, ye'll no forget to draw the +annual rent that's due on the yerl's band--if I pay debt to other folk, I +think they suld pay it to me--that equals aquals.--Jock, when ye hae +naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be +growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping.* + +* The Author has been flattered by the assurance, that this /naive/ mode +of recommending arboriculture (which was actually delivered in these very +words by a Highland laird, while on his death-bed, to his son) had so +much weight with a Scottish earl as to lead to his planting a large tract +of country. + +"My father tauld me sae forty years sin', but I ne'er fand time to mind +him--Jock, ne'er drink brandy in the morning, it files the stamach sair; +gin ye take a morning's draught, let it be aqua mirabilis; Jenny there +makes it weel--Doctor, my breath is growing as scant as a broken-winded +piper's, when he has played for four-and-twenty hours at a penny wedding +--Jenny, pit the cod aneath my head--but it's a' needless!--Mass John, +could ye think o' rattling ower some bit short prayer, it wad do me gude +maybe, and keep some queer thoughts out o' my head, Say something, man." + +"I cannot use a prayer like a rat-rhyme," answered the honest clergyman; +"and if you would have your soul redeemed like a prey from the fowler, +Laird, you must needs show me your state of mind." + +"And shouldna ye ken that without my telling you?" answered the patient. +"What have I been paying stipend and teind, parsonage and vicarage, for, +ever sin' the aughty-nine, and I canna get a spell of a prayer for't, the +only time I ever asked for ane in my life?--Gang awa wi' your whiggery, +if that's a' ye can do; auld Curate Kilstoup wad hae read half the +prayer-book to me by this time--Awa wi' ye!--Doctor, let's see if ye can +do onything better for me." + +The doctor, who had obtained some information in the meanwhile from the +housekeeper on the state of his complaints, assured him the medical art +could not prolong his life many hours. + +"Then damn Mass John and you baith!" cried the furious and intractable +patient. "Did ye come here for naething but to tell me that ye canna help +me at the pinch? Out wi' them, Jenny--out o' the house! and, Jock, my +curse, and the curse of Cromwell, go wi' ye, if ye gie them either fee or +bountith, or sae muckle as a black pair o' cheverons!"* + +*/Cheverons/--gloves. + +The clergyman and doctor made a speedy retreat out of the apartment, +while Dumbiedikes fell into one of those transports of violent and +profane language, which had procured him the surname of Damn-me-dikes. +"Bring me the brandy bottle, Jenny, ye b--," he cried, with a voice in +which passion contended with pain. "I can die as I have lived, without +fashing ony o' them. But there's ae thing," he said, sinking his voice-- +"there's ae fearful thing hings about my heart, and an anker of brandy +winna wash it away.--The Deanses at Woodend!--I sequestrated them in the +dear years, and now they are to flit, they'll starve--and that Beersheba, +and that auld trooper's wife and her oe, they'll starve--they'll starve! +--Look out, Jock; what kind o' night is't?" + +"On-ding o' snaw, father," answered Jock, after having opened the window, +and looked out with great composure. + +"They'll perish in the drifts!" said the expiring sinner--"they'll perish +wi' cauld!--but I'll be het eneugh, gin a' tales be true." + +This last observation was made under breath, and in a tone which made the +very attorney shudder. He tried his hand at ghostly advice, probably for +the first time in his life, and recommended as an opiate for the agonised +conscience of the Laird, reparation of the injuries he had done to these +distressed families, which, he observed by the way, the civil law called +/restitutio in integrum./ But Mammon was struggling with Remorse for +retaining his place in a bosom he had so long possessed; and he partly +succeeded, as an old tyrant proves often too strong for his insurgent +rebels. + +"I canna do't," he answered, with a voice of despair. "It would kill me +to do't--how can ye bid me pay back siller, when ye ken how I want it? or +dispone Beersheba, when it lies sae weel into my ain plaid-nuik? Nature +made Dumbiedikes and Beersheba to be ae man's land--She did, by Nichil, +it wad kill me to part them." + +"But ye maun die whether or no, Laird," said Mr. Novit; "and maybe ye wad +die easier--it's but trying. I'll scroll the disposition in nae time." + +"Dinna speak o't, sir," replied Dumbiedikes, "or I'll fling the stoup at +your head.--But, Jock, lad, ye see how the warld warstles wi' me on my +deathbed--be kind to the puir creatures, the Deanses and the Butlers--be +kind to them, Jock. Dinna let the warld get a grip o' ye, Jock--but keep +the gear thegither! and whate'er ye do, dispone Beersheba at no rate. Let +the creatures stay at a moderate mailing, and hae bite and soup; it will +maybe be the better wi' your father whare he's gaun, lad." + +After these contradictory instructions, the Laird felt his mind so much +at ease, that he drank three bumpers of brandy continuously, and "soughed +awa," as Jenny expressed it, in an attempt to sing "Deil stick the +Minister." + +His death made a revolution in favour of the distressed families. John +Dumbie, now of Dumbiedikes, in his own right, seemed to be close and +selfish enough, but wanted the grasping spirit and active mind of his +father; and his guardian happened to agree with him in opinion, that his +father's dying recommendation should be attended to. The tenants, +therefore, were not actually turned out of doors among the snow-wreaths, +and were allowed wherewith to procure butter-milk and peas-bannocks, +which they ate under the full force of the original malediction. The +cottage of Deans, called Woodend, was not very distant from that at +Beersheba. Formerly there had been but little intercourse between the +families. Deans was a sturdy Scotsman, with all sort of prejudices +against the southern, and the spawn of the southern. Moreover, Deans was, +as we have said, a stanch Presbyterian, of the most rigid and unbending +adherence to what he conceived to be the only possible straight line, as +he was wont to express himself, between right-hand heats and extremes and +left-hand defections; and, therefore, he held in high dread and horror +all Independents, and whomsoever he supposed allied to them. + +But, notwithstanding these national prejudices and religious professions, +Deans and the widow Butler were placed in such a situation, as naturally +and at length created some intimacy between the families. They had shared +a common danger and a mutual deliverance. They needed each other's +assistance, like a company, who, crossing a mountain stream, are +compelled to cling close together, lest the current should be too +powerful for any who are not thus supported. + +On nearer acquaintance, too, Deans abated some of his prejudices. He +found old Mrs. Butler, though not thoroughly grounded in the extent and +bearing of the real testimony against the defections of the times, had no +opinions in favour of the Independent party; neither was she an +Englishwoman. Therefore, it was to be hoped, that, though she was the +widow of an enthusiastic corporal of Cromwell's dragoons, her grandson +might be neither schismatic nor anti-national, two qualities concerning +which Goodman Deans had as wholesome a terror as against papists and +malignants, Above all (for Douce Davie Deans had his weak side), he +perceived that widow Butler looked up to him with reverence, listened to +his advice, and compounded for an occasional fling at the doctrines of +her deceased husbands to which, as we have seen, she was by no means +warmly attached, in consideration of the valuable counsels which the +Presbyterian afforded her for the management of her little farm. These +usually concluded with "they may do otherwise in England, neighbour +Butler, for aught I ken;" or, "it may be different in foreign parts;" or, +"they wha think differently on the great foundation of our covenanted +reformation, overturning and mishguggling the government and discipline +of the kirk, and breaking down the carved work of our Zion, might be for +sawing the craft wi' aits; but I say peace, peace." And as his advice was +shrewd and sensible, though conceitedly given, it was received with +gratitude, and followed with respect. + +The intercourse which took place betwixt the families at Beersheba and +Woodend became strict and intimate, at a very early period, betwixt +Reuben Butler, with whom the reader is already in some degree acquainted, +and Jeanie Deans, the only child of Douce Davie Deans by his first wife, +"that singular Christian woman," as he was wont to express himself, +"whose name was savoury to all that knew her for a desirable professor, +Christian Menzies in Hochmagirdle." The manner of which intimacy, and the +consequences thereof, we now proceed to relate. + + + + + CHAPTER EIGHTH. + + + Reuben and Rachel, though as fond as doves, + Were yet discreet and cautious in their loves, + Nor would attend to Cupid's wild commands, + Till cool reflection bade them join their hands; + When both were poor, they thought it argued ill + Of hasty love to make them poorer still. + Crabbe's /Parish Register./ + +While widow Butler and widower Deans struggled with poverty, and the hard +and sterile soil of "those parts and portions" of the lands of +Dumbiedikes which it was their lot to occupy, it became gradually +apparent that Deans was to gain the strife, and his ally in the conflict +was to lose it. The former was a Man, and not much past the prime of +life--Mrs. Butler a woman, and declined into the vale of years, This, +indeed, ought in time to have been balanced by the circumstance, that +Reuben was growing up to assist his grandmothers labours, and that Jeanie +Deans, as a girl, could be only supposed to add to her father's burdens. +But Douce Davie Deans know better things, and so schooled and trained the +young minion, as he called her, that from the time she could walk, +upwards, she was daily employed in some task or other, suitable to her +age and capacity; a circumstance which, added to her father's daily +instructions and lectures, tended to give her mind, even when a child, a +grave, serious, firm, and reflecting cast. An uncommonly strong and +healthy temperament, free from all nervous affection and every other +irregularity, which, attacking the body in its more noble functions, so +often influences the mind, tended greatly to establish this fortitude, +simplicity, and decision of character. + +On the other hand, Reuben was weak in constitution, and, though not timid +in temper might be safely pronounced anxious, doubtful, and apprehensive. +He partook of the temperament of his mother, who had died of a +consumption in early age. He was a pale, thin, feeble, sickly boy, and +somewhat lame, from an accident in early youth. He was, besides, the +child of a doting grandmother, whose too solicitous attention to him soon +taught him a sort of diffidence in himself, with a disposition to +overrate his own importance, which is one of the very worst consequences +that children deduce from over-indulgence. + +Still, however, the two children clung to each other's society, not more +from habit than from taste. They herded together the handful of sheep, +with the two or three cows, which their parents turned out rather to seek +food than actually to feed upon the unenclosed common of Dumbiedikes. It +was there that the two urchins might be seen seated beneath a blooming +bush of whin, their little faces laid close together under the shadow of +the same plaid drawn over both their heads, while the landscape around +was embrowned by an overshadowing cloud, big with the shower which had +driven the children to shelter. On other occasions they went together to +school, the boy receiving that encouragement and example from his +companion, in crossing the little brooks which intersected their path, +and encountering cattle, dogs, and other perils, upon their journey, +which the male sex in such cases usually consider it as their prerogative +to extend to the weaker. But when, seated on the benches of the +school-house, they began to con their lessons together, Reuben, who was +as much superior to Jeanie Deans in acuteness of intellect, as inferior +to her in firmness of constitution, and in that insensibility to fatigue +and danger which depends on the conformation of the nerves, was able +fully to requite the kindness and countenance with which, in other +circumstances, she used to regard him. He was decidedly the best scholar +at the little parish school; and so gentle was his temper and +disposition, that he was rather admired than envied by the little mob who +occupied the noisy mansion, although he was the declared favourite of the +master. Several girls, in particular (for in Scotland they are taught +with the boys), longed to be kind to and comfort the sickly lad, who was +so much cleverer than his companions. The character of Reuben Butler was +so calculated as to offer scope both for their sympathy and their +admiration, the feelings, perhaps, through which the female sex (the more +deserving part of them at least) is more easily attached. + +But Reuben, naturally reserved and distant, improved none of these +advantages; and only became more attached to Jeanie Deans, as the +enthusiastic approbation of his master assured him of fair prospects in +future life, and awakened his ambition. In the meantime, every advance +that Reuben made in learning (and, considering his opportunities, they +were uncommonly great) rendered him less capable of attending to the +domestic duties of his grandmother's farm. While studying the /pons +asinorum/ in Euclid, he suffered every /cuddie/ upon the common to +trespass upon a large field of peas belonging to the Laird, and nothing +but the active exertions of Jeanie Deans, with her little dog Dustiefoot, +could have saved great loss and consequent punishment. Similar +miscarriages marked his progress in his classical studies. He read +Virgil's Georgics till he did not know bere from barley; and had nearly +destroyed the crofts of Beersheba while attempting to cultivate them +according to the practice of Columella and Cato the Censor. + +These blunders occasioned grief to his grand-dame, and disconcerted the +good opinion which her neighbour, Davie Deans, had for some time +entertained of Reuben. + +"I see naething ye can make of that silly callant, neighbour Butler," +said he to the old lady, "unless ye train him to the wark o' the +ministry. And ne'er was there mair need of poorfu' preachers than e'en +now in these cauld Gallio days, when men's hearts are hardened like the +nether mill-stone, till they come to regard none of these things. It's +evident this puir callant of yours will never be able to do an usefu' +day's wark, unless it be as an ambassador from our Master; and I will +make it my business to procure a license when he is fit for the same, +trusting he will be a shaft cleanly polished, and meet to be used in the +body of the kirk; and that he shall not turn again, like the sow, to +wallow in the mire of heretical extremes and defections, but shall have +the wings of a dove, though he hath lain among the pots." + +The poor widow gulped down the affront to her husband's principles, +implied in this caution, and hastened to take Butler from the High +School, and encourage him in the pursuit of mathematics and divinity, the +only physics and ethics that chanced to be in fashion at the time. + +Jeanie Deans was now compelled to part from the companion of her labour, +her study, and her pastime, and it was with more than childish feeling +that both children regarded the separation. But they were young, and hope +was high, and they separated like those who hope to meet again at a more +auspicious hour. While Reuben Butler was acquiring at the University of +St. Andrews the knowledge necessary for a clergyman, and macerating his +body with the privations which were necessary in seeking food for his +mind, his grand-dame became daily less able to struggle with her little +farm, and was at length obliged to throw it up to the new Laird of +Dumbiedikes. That great personage was no absolute Jew, and did not cheat +her in making the bargain more than was tolerable. He even gave her +permission to tenant the house in which she had lived with her husband, +as long as it should be "tenantable;" only he protested against paying +for a farthing of repairs, any benevolence which he possessed being of +the passive, but by no means of the active mood. + +In the meanwhile, from superior shrewdness, skill, and other +circumstances, some of them purely accidental, Davie Deans gained a +footing in the world, the possession of some wealth, the reputation of +more, and a growing disposition to preserve and increase his store; for +which, when he thought upon it seriously, he was inclined to blame +himself. From his knowledge in agriculture, as it was then practised, he +became a sort of favourite with the Laird, who had no great pleasure +either in active sports or in society, and was wont to end his daily +saunter by calling at the cottage of Woodend. + +Being himself a man of slow ideas and confused utterance, Dumbiedikes +used to sit or stand for half-an-hour with an old laced hat of his +father's upon his head, and an empty tobacco-pipe in his mouth, with his +eyes following Jeanie Deans, or "the lassie" as he called her, through +the course of her daily domestic labour; while her father, after +exhausting the subject of bestial, of ploughs, and of harrows, often took +an opportunity of going full-sail into controversial subjects, to which +discussions the dignitary listened with much seeming patience, but +without making any reply, or, indeed, as most people thought, without +understanding a single word of what the orator was saying. Deans, indeed, +denied this stoutly, as an insult at once to his own talents for +expounding hidden truths, of which he was a little vain, and to the +Laird's capacity of understanding them. He said, "Dumbiedikes was nane of +these flashy gentles, wi' lace on their skirts and swords at their tails, +that were rather for riding on horseback to hell than gauging barefooted +to heaven. He wasna like his father--nae profane company-keeper--nae +swearer--nae drinker--nae frequenter of play-house, or music-house, or +dancing-house--nae Sabbath-breaker--nae imposer of aiths, or bonds, or +denier of liberty to the flock.--He clave to the warld, and the warld's +gear, a wee ower muckle, but then there was some breathing of a gale upon +his spirit," etc. etc. All this honest Davie said and believed. + +It is not to be supposed, that, by a father and a man of sense and +observation, the constant direction of the Laird's eyes towards Jeanie +was altogether unnoticed. This circumstance, however, made a much greater +impression upon another member of his family, a second helpmate, to wit, +whom he had chosen to take to his bosom ten years after the death of his +first. Some people were of opinion, that Douce Davie had been rather +surprised into this step, for, in general, he was no friend to marriages +or giving in marriage, and seemed rather to regard that state of society +as a necessary evil,--a thing lawful, and to be tolerated in the +imperfect state of our nature, but which clipped the wings with which we +ought to soar upwards, and tethered the soul to its mansion of clay, and +the creature-comforts of wife and bairns. His own practice, however, had +in this material point varied from his principles, since, as we have +seen, he twice knitted for himself this dangerous and ensnaring +entanglement. + +Rebecca, his spouse, had by no means the same horror of matrimony, and as +she made marriages in imagination for every neighbour round, she failed +not to indicate a match betwixt Dumbiedikes and her step-daughter Jeanie. +The goodman used regularly to frown and pshaw whenever this topic was +touched upon, but usually ended by taking his bonnet and walking out of +the house, to conceal a certain gleam of satisfaction, which, at such a +suggestion, involuntarily diffused itself over his austere features. + +The more youthful part of my readers may naturally ask, whether Jeanie +Deans was deserving of this mute attention of the Laird of Dumbiedikes; +and the historian, with due regard to veracity, is compelled to answer, +that her personal attractions were of no uncommon description. She was +short, and rather too stoutly made for her size, had grey eyes, light +coloured hair, a round good-humoured face, much tanned with the sun, and +her only peculiar charm was an air of inexpressible serenity, which a +good conscience, kind feelings, contented temper, and the regular +discharge of all her duties, spread over her features. There was nothing, +it may be supposed, very appalling in the form or manners of this rustic +heroine; yet, whether from sheepish bashfulness, or from want of decision +and imperfect knowledge of his own mind on the subject, the Laird of +Dumbiedikes, with his old laced hat and empty tobacco-pipe, came and +enjoyed the beatific vision of Jeanie Deans day after day, week after +week, year after year, without proposing to accomplish any of the +prophecies of the stepmother. + +This good lady began to grow doubly impatient on the subject, when, after +having been some years married, she herself presented Douce Davie with +another daughter, who was named Euphemia, by corruption, Effie. It was +then that Rebecca began to turn impatient with the slow pace at which the +Laird's wooing proceeded, judiciously arguing, that, as Lady Dumbiedikes +would have but little occasion for tocher, the principal part of her +gudeman's substance would naturally descend to the child by the second +marriage. Other step-dames have tried less laudable means for clearing +the way to the succession of their own children; but Rebecca, to do her +justice, only sought little Effie's advantage through the promotion, or +which must have generally been accounted such, of her elder sister. She +therefore tried every female art within the compass of her simple skill, +to bring the Laird to a point; but had the mortification to perceive that +her efforts, like those of an unskilful angler, only scared the trout she +meant to catch. Upon one occasion, in particular, when she joked with the +Laird on the propriety of giving a mistress to the house of Dumbiedikes, +he was so effectually startled, that neither laced hat, tobacco-pipe, nor +the intelligent proprietor of these movables, visited Woodend for a +fortnight. Rebecca was therefore compelled to leave the Laird to proceed +at his own snail's pace, convinced, by experience, of the grave-digger's +aphorism, that your dull ass will not mend his pace for beating. + +Reuben, in the meantime, pursued his studies at the university, supplying +his wants by teaching the younger lads the knowledge he himself acquired, +and thus at once gaining the means of maintaining himself at the seat of +learning, and fixing in his mind the elements of what he had already +obtained. In this manner, as is usual among the poorer students of +divinity at Scottish universities, he contrived not only to maintain +himself according to his simple wants, but even to send considerable +assistance to his sole remaining parent, a sacred duty, of which the +Scotch are seldom negligent. His progress in knowledge of a general kind, +as well as in the studies proper to his profession, was very +considerable, but was little remarked, owing to the retired modesty of +his disposition, which in no respect qualified him to set off his +learning to the best advantage. And thus, had Butler been a man given to +make complaints, he had his tale to tell, like others, of unjust +preferences, bad luck, and hard usage. On these subjects, however, he was +habitually silent, perhaps from modesty, perhaps from a touch of pride, +or perhaps from a conjunction of both. + +He obtained his license as a preacher of the gospel, with some +compliments from the Presbytery by whom it was bestowed; but this did not +lead to any preferment, and he found it necessary to make the cottage at +Beersheba his residence for some months, with no other income than was +afforded by the precarious occupation of teaching in one or other of the +neighbouring families. After having greeted his aged grandmother, his +first visit was to Woodend, where he was received by Jeanie with warm +cordiality, arising from recollections which had never been dismissed +from her mind, by Rebecca with good-humoured hospitality, and by old +Deans in a mode peculiar to himself. + +Highly as Douce Davie honoured the clergy, it was not upon each +individual of the cloth that he bestowed his approbation; and, a little +jealous, perhaps, at seeing his youthful acquaintance erected into the +dignity of a teacher and preacher, he instantly attacked him upon various +points of controversy, in order to discover whether he might not have +fallen into some of the snares, defections, and desertions of the time. +Butler was not only a man of stanch Presbyterian principles, but was also +willing to avoid giving pain to his old friend by disputing upon points +of little importance; and therefore he might have hoped to have come like +fine gold out of the furnace of Davie's interrogatories. But the result +on the mind of that strict investigator was not altogether so favourable +as might have been hoped and anticipated. Old Judith Butler, who had +hobbled that evening as far as Woodend, in order to enjoy the +congratulations of her neighbours upon Reuben's return, and upon his high +attainments, of which she was herself not a little proud, was somewhat +mortified to find that her old friend Deans did not enter into the +subject with the warmth she expected. At first, in he seemed rather +silent than dissatisfied; and it was not till Judith had essayed the +subject more than once that it led to the following dialogue. + +"Aweel, neibor Deans, I thought ye wad hae been glad to see Reuben amang +us again, poor fellow." + +"I /am/ glad, Mrs. Butler," was the neighbour's concise answer. + +"Since he has lost his grandfather and his father (praised be Him that +giveth and taketh!), I ken nae friend he has in the world that's been sae +like a father to him as the sell o'ye, neibor Deans." + +"God is the only father of the fatherless," said Deans, touching his +bonnet and looking upwards. "Give honour where it is due, gudewife, and +not to an unworthy instrument." + +"Aweel, that's your way o' turning it, and nae doubt ye ken best; but I +hae ken'd ye, Davie, send a forpit o' meal to Beersheba when there wasna +a bow left in the meal-ark at Woodend; ay, and I hae ken'd ye" + +"Gudewife," said Davie, interrupting her, "these are but idle tales to +tell me; fit for naething but to puff up our inward man wi' our ain vain +acts. I stude beside blessed Alexander Peden, when I heard him call the +death and testimony of our happy martyrs but draps of blude and scarts of +ink in respect of fitting discharge of our duty; and what suld I think of +ony thing the like of me can do?" + +"Weel, neibor Deans, ye ken best; but I maun say that, I am sure you are +glad to see my bairn again--the halt's gane now, unless he has to walk +ower mony miles at a stretch; and he has a wee bit colour in his cheek, +that glads my auld een to see it; and he has as decent a black coat as +the minister; and" + +"I am very heartily glad he is weel and thriving," said Mr. Deans, with a +gravity that seemed intended to cut short the subject; but a woman who is +bent upon a point is not easily pushed aside from it. + +"And," continued Mrs. Butler, "he can wag his head in a pulpit now, +neibor Deans, think but of that--my ain oe--and a'body maun sit still and +listen to him, as if he were the Paip of Rome." + +"The what?--the who?--woman!" said Deans, with a sternness far beyond his +usual gravity, as soon as these offensive words had struck upon the +tympanum of his ear. + +"Eh, guide us!" said the poor woman; "I had forgot what an ill will ye +had aye at the Paip, and sae had my puir gudeman, Stephen Butler. Mony an +afternoon he wad sit and take up his testimony again the Paip, and again +baptizing of bairns, and the like." + +"Woman!" reiterated Deans, "either speak about what ye ken something o', +or be silent; I say that independency is a foul heresy, and anabaptism a +damnable and deceiving error, whilk suld be rooted out of the land wi' +the fire o' the spiritual, and the sword o' the civil magistrate." + +"Weel, weel, neibor, I'll no say that ye mayna be right," answered the +submissive Judith. "I am sure ye are right about the sawing and the +mawing, the shearing and the leading, and what for suld ye no be right +about kirkwark, too?--But concerning my oe, Reuben Butler" + +"Reuben Butler, gudewife," said David, with solemnity, "is a lad I wish +heartily weel to, even as if he were mine ain son--but I doubt there will +be outs and ins in the track of his walk. I muckle fear his gifts will +get the heels of his grace. He has ower muckle human wit and learning, +and thinks as muckle about the form of the bicker as he does about the +healsomeness of the food--he maun broider the marriage-garment with lace +and passments, or it's no gude eneugh for him. And it's like he's +something proud o' his human gifts and learning, whilk enables him to +dress up his doctrine in that fine airy dress. But," added he, at seeing +the old woman's uneasiness at his discourse, "affliction may gie him a +jagg, and let the wind out o' him, as out o' a cow that's eaten wet +clover, and the lad may do weel, and be a burning and a shining light; +and I trust it will be yours to see, and his to feel it, and that soon." + +Widow Butler was obliged to retire, unable to make anything more of her +neighbour, whose discourse, though she did not comprehend it, filled her +with undefined apprehensions on her grandson's account, and greatly +depressed the joy with which she had welcomed him on his return. And it +must not be concealed, in justice to Mr. Deans's discernment, that +Butler, in their conference, had made a greater display of his learning +than the occasion called for, or than was likely to be acceptable to the +old man, who, accustomed to consider himself as a person preeminently +entitled to dictate upon theological subjects of controversy, felt rather +humbled and mortified when learned authorities were placed in array +against him. In fact, Butler had not escaped the tinge of pedantry which +naturally flowed from his education, and was apt, on many occasions, to +make parade of his knowledge, when there was no need of such vanity. + +Jeanie Deans, however, found no fault with this display of learning, but, +on the contrary, admired it; perhaps on the same score that her sex are +said to admire men of courage, on account of their own deficiency in that +qualification. The circumstances of their families threw the young people +constantly together; their old intimacy was renewed, though upon a +footing better adapted to their age; and it became at length understood +betwixt them, that their union should be deferred no longer than until +Butler should obtain some steady means of support, however humble. This, +however, was not a matter speedily to be accomplished. Plan after plan +was formed, and plan after plan failed. The good-humoured cheek of Jeanie +lost the first flush of juvenile freshness; Reuben's brow assumed the +gravity of manhood, yet the means of obtaining a settlement seemed remote +as ever. Fortunately for the lovers, their passion was of no ardent or +enthusiastic cast; and a sense of duty on both sides induced them to +bear, with patient fortitude, the protracted interval which divided them +from each other. + +In the meanwhile, time did not roll on without effecting his usual +changes. The widow of Stephen Butler, so long the prop of the family of +Beersheba, was gathered to her fathers; and Rebecca, the careful spouse +of our friend Davie Deans, wa's also summoned from her plans of +matrimonial and domestic economy. The morning after her death, Reuben +Butler went to offer his mite of consolation to his old friend and +benefactor. He witnessed, on this occasion, a remarkable struggle betwixt +the force of natural affection and the religious stoicism which the +sufferer thought it was incumbent upon him to maintain under each earthly +dispensation, whether of weal or woe. + +On his arrival at the cottage, Jeanie, with her eyes overflowing with +tears, pointed to the little orchard, "in which," she whispered with +broken accents, "my poor father has been since his misfortune." Somewhat +alarmed at this account, Butler entered the orchard, and advanced slowly +towards his old friend, who, seated in a small rude arbour, appeared to +be sunk in the extremity of his affliction. He lifted his eyes somewhat +sternly as Butler approached, as if offended at the interruption; but as +the young man hesitated whether he ought to retreat or advance, he arose, +and came forward to meet him with a self-possessed, and even dignified +air. + +"Young man," said the sufferer, "lay it not to heart, though the +righteous perish, and the merciful are removed, seeing, it may well be +said, that they are taken away from the evils to come. Woe to me were I +to shed a tear for the wife of my bosom, when I might weep rivers of +water for this afflicted Church, cursed as it is with carnal seekers, and +with the dead of heart." + +"I am happy," said Butler, "that you can forget your private affliction +in your regard for public duty." + +"Forget, Reuben?" said poor Deans, putting his handkerchief to his eyes-- +"She's not to be forgotten on this side of time; but He that gives the +wound can send the ointment. I declare there have been times during this +night when my meditation hae been so rapt, that I knew not of my heavy +loss. It has been with me as with the worthy John Semple, called +Carspharn John,* upon a like trial--I have been this night on the banks +of Ulai, plucking an apple here and there!" + +* Note E. Carspharn John. + +Notwithstanding the assumed fortitude of Deans, which he conceived to be +the discharge of a great Christian duty, he had too good a heart not to +suffer deeply under this heavy loss. Woodend became altogether +distasteful to him; and as he had obtained both substance and experience +by his management of that little farm, he resolved to employ them as a +dairy-farmer, or cowfeeder, as they are called in Scotland. The situation +he chose for his new settlement was at a place called Saint Leonard's +Crags, lying betwixt Edinburgh and the mountain called Arthur's Seat, and +adjoining to the extensive sheep pasture still named the King's Park, +from its having been formerly dedicated to the preservation of the royal +game. Here he rented a small lonely house, about half-a-mile distant from +the nearest point of the city, but the site of which, with all the +adjacent ground, is now occupied by the buildings which form the +southeastern suburb. An extensive pasture-ground adjoining, which Deans +rented from the keeper of the Royal Park, enabled him to feed his +milk-cows; and the unceasing industry and activity of Jeanie, his oldest +daughter, were exerted in making the most of their produce. + +She had now less frequent opportunities of seeing Reuben, who had been +obliged, after various disappointments, to accept the subordinate +situation of assistant in a parochial school of some eminence, at three +or four miles' distance from the city. Here he distinguished himself, and +became acquainted with several respectable burgesses, who, on account of +health, or other reasons, chose that their children should commence their +education in this little village. His prospects were thus gradually +brightening, and upon each visit which he paid at Saint Leonard's he had +an opportunity of gliding a hint to this purpose into Jeanie's ear. These +visits were necessarily very rare, on account of the demands which the +duties of the school made upon Butler's time. Nor did he dare to make +them even altogether so frequent as these avocations would permit. Deans +received him with civility indeed, and even with kindness; but Reuben, as +is usual in such cases, imagined that he read his purpose in his eyes, +and was afraid too premature an explanation on the subject would draw +down his positive disapproval. Upon the whole, therefore, he judged it +prudent to call at Saint Leonard's just so frequently as old acquaintance +and neighbourhood seemed to authorise, and no oftener. There was another +person who was more regular in his visits. + +When Davie Deans intimated to the Laird of Dumbiedikes his purpose of +"quitting wi' the land and house at Woodend," the Laird stared and said +nothing. He made his usual visits at the usual hour without remark, until +the day before the term, when, observing the bustle of moving furniture +already commenced, the great east-country /awmrie/ dragged out of its +nook, and standing with its shoulder to the company, like an awkward +booby about to leave the room, the Laird again stared mightily, and was +heard to ejaculate,--"Hegh, sirs!" Even after the day of departure was +past and gone, the Laird of Dumbiedikes, at his usual hour, which was +that at which David Deans was wont to "loose the pleugh," presented +himself before the closed door of the cottage at Woodend, and seemed as +much astonished at finding it shut against his approach as if it was not +exactly what he had to expect. On this occasion he was heard to +ejaculate, "Gude guide us!" which, by those who knew him, was considered +as a very unusual mark of emotion. From that moment forward Dumbiedikes +became an altered man, and the regularity of his movements, hitherto so +exemplary, was as totally disconcerted as those of a boy's watch when he +has broken the main-spring. Like the index of the said watch did +Dumbiedikes spin round the whole bounds of his little property, which may +be likened unto the dial of the timepiece, with unwonted velocity. There +was not a cottage into which he did not enter, nor scarce a maiden on +whom he did not stare. But so it was, that although there were better +farm-houses on the land than Woodend, and certainly much prettier girls +than Jeanie Deans, yet it did somehow befall that the blank in the +Laird's time was not so pleasantly filled up as it had been. There was no +seat accommodated him so well as the "bunker" at Woodend, and no face he +loved so much to gaze on as Jeanie Deans's. So, after spinning round and +round his little orbit, and then remaining stationary for a week, it +seems to have occurred to him that he was not pinned down to circulate on +a pivot, like the hands of the watch, but possessed the power of shifting +his central point, and extending his circle if he thought proper. To +realise which privilege of change of place, he bought a pony from a +Highland drover, and with its assistance and company stepped, or rather +stumbled, as far as Saint Leonard's Crags. + +Jeanie Deans, though so much accustomed to the Laird's staring that she +was sometimes scarce conscious of his presence, had nevertheless some +occasional fears lest he should call in the organ of speech to back those +expressions of admiration which he bestowed on her through his eyes. +Should this happen, farewell, she thought, to all chance of a union with +Butler. For her father, however stouthearted and independent in civil and +religious principles, was not without that respect for the laird of the +land, so deeply imprinted on the Scottish tenantry of the period. +Moreover, if he did not positively dislike Butler, yet his fund of carnal +learning was often the object of sarcasms on David's part, which were +perhaps founded in jealousy, and which certainly indicated no partiality +for the party against whom they were launched. And lastly, the match with +Dumbiedikes would have presented irresistible charms to one who used to +complain that he felt himself apt to take "ower grit an armfu' o' the +warld." So that, upon the whole, the Laird's diurnal visits were +disagreeable to Jeanie from apprehension of future consequences, and it +served much to console her, upon removing from the spot where she was +bred and born, that she had seen the last of Dumbiedikes, his laced hat, +and tobacco-pipe. The poor girl no more expected he could muster courage +to follow her to Saint Leonard's Crags than that any of her apple-trees +or cabbages which she had left rooted in the "yard" at Woodend, would +spontaneously, and unaided, have undertaken the same journey. It was +therefore with much more surprise than pleasure that, on the sixth day +after their removal to Saint Leonard's, she beheld Dumbiedikes arrive, +laced hat, tobacco-pipe, and all, and, with the self-same greeting of +"How's a' wi' ye, Jeanie?--Whare's the gudeman?" assume as nearly as he +could the same position in the cottage at Saint Leonard's which he had so +long and so regularly occupied at Woodend. He was no sooner, however, +seated, than with an unusual exertion of his powers of conversation, he +added, "Jeanie--I say, Jeanie, woman"--here he extended his hand towards +her shoulder with all the fingers spread out as if to clutch it, but in +so bashful and awkward a manner, that when she whisked herself beyond its +reach, the paw remained suspended in the air with the palm open, like the +claw of a heraldic griffin--"Jeanie," continued the swain in this moment +of inspiration--"I say, Jeanie, it's a braw day out-by, and the roads are +no that ill for boot-hose." + +"The deil's in the daidling body," muttered Jeanie between her teeth; +"wha wad hae thought o' his daikering out this length?" And she +afterwards confessed that she threw a little of this ungracious sentiment +into her accent and manner; for her father being abroad, and the "body," +as she irreverently termed the landed proprietor, "looking unco gleg and +canty, she didna ken what he might be coming out wi' next." + +Her frowns, however, acted as a complete sedative, and the Laird relapsed +from that day into his former taciturn habits, visiting the cowfeeder's +cottage three or four times every week, when the weather permitted, with +apparently no other purpose than to stare at Jeanie Deans, while Douce +Davie poured forth his eloquence upon the controversies and testimonies +of the day. + + + + + + CHAPTER NINTH. + + + Her air, her manners, all who saw admired, + Courteous, though coy, and gentle, though retired; + The joy of youth and health her eyes displayed; + And ease of heart her every look conveyed. + Crabbe. + +The visits of the Laird thus again sunk into matters of ordinary course, +from which nothing was to be expected or apprehended. If a lover could +have gained a fair one as a snake is said to fascinate a bird, by +pertinaciously gazing on her with great stupid greenish eyes, which began +now to be occasionally aided by spectacles, unquestionably Dumbiedikes +would have been the person to perform the feat. But the art of +fascination seems among the /artes perditae,/ and I cannot learn that +this most pertinacious of starers produced any effect by his attentions +beyond an occasional yawn. + +In the meanwhile, the object of his gaze was gradually attaining the +verge of youth, and approaching to what is called in females the middle +age, which is impolitely held to begin a few years earlier with their +more fragile sex than with men. Many people would have been of opinion, +that the Laird would have done better to have transferred his glances to +an object possessed of far superior charms to Jeanie's, even when +Jeanie's were in their bloom, who began now to be distinguished by all +who visited the cottage at St. Leonard's Crags. + +Effie Deans, under the tender and affectionate care of her sister, had +now shot up into a beautiful and blooming girl. Her Grecian shaped head +was profusely rich in waving ringlets of brown hair, which, confined by a +blue snood of silk, and shading a laughing Hebe countenance, seemed the +picture of health, pleasure, and contentment. Her brown russet short-gown +set off a shape, which time, perhaps, might be expected to render too +robust, the frequent objection to Scottish beauty, but which, in her +present early age, was slender and taper, with that graceful and easy +sweep of outline which at once indicates health and beautiful proportion +of parts. + +These growing charms, in all their juvenile profusion, had no power to +shake the steadfast mind, or divert the fixed gaze of the constant Laird +of Dumbiedikes. But there was scarce another eye that could behold this +living picture of health and beauty, without pausing on it with pleasure. +The traveller stopped his weary horse on the eve of entering the city +which was the end of his journey, to gaze at the sylph-like form that +tripped by him, with her milk-pail poised on her head, bearing herself so +erect, and stepping so light and free under her burden, that it seemed +rather an ornament than an encumbrance. The lads of the neighbouring +suburb, who held their evening rendezvous for putting the stone, casting +the hammer, playing at long bowls, and other athletic exercises, watched +the motions of Effie Deans, and contended with each other which should +have the good fortune to attract her attention. Even the rigid +Presbyterians of her father's persuasion, who held each indulgence of the +eye and sense to be a snare at least if not a crime, were surprised into +a moment's delight while gazing on a creature so exquisite,--instantly +checked by a sigh, reproaching at once their own weakness, and mourning +that a creature so fair should share in the common and hereditary guilt +and imperfection of our nature, which she deserved as much by her +guileless purity of thought, speech, and action, as by her uncommon +loveliness of face and person. + +Yet there were points in Effie's character which gave rise not only to +strange doubt and anxiety on the part of Douce David Deans, whose ideas +were rigid, as may easily be supposed, upon the subject of youthful +amusements, but even of serious apprehension to her more indulgent +sister. The children of the Scotch of the inferior classes are usually +spoiled by the early indulgence of their parents; how, wherefore, and to +what degree, the lively and instructive narrative of the amiable and +accomplished authoress of "Glenburnie"* has saved me and all future +scribblers the trouble of recording. + +* [The late Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton.] + +Effie had had a double share of this inconsiderate and misjudged +kindness. Even the strictness of her father's principles could not +condemn the sports of infancy and childhood; and to the good old man, his +younger daughter, the child of his old age, seemed a child for some years +after she attained the years of womanhood, was still called the "bit +lassie," and "little Effie," and was permitted to run up and down +uncontrolled, unless upon the Sabbath, or at the times of family worship. +Her sister, with all the love and care of a mother, could not be supposed +to possess the same authoritative influence; and that which she had +hitherto exercised became gradually limited and diminished as Effie's +advancing years entitled her, in her own conceit at least, to the right +of independence and free agency. With all the innocence and goodness of +disposition, therefore, which we have described, the Lily of St. +Leonard's possessed a little fund of self-conceit and obstinacy, and some +warmth and irritability of temper, partly natural perhaps, but certainly +much increased by the unrestrained freedom of her childhood. Her +character will be best illustrated by a cottage evening scene. + +The careful father was absent in his well-stocked byre, foddering those +useful and patient animals on whose produce his living depended, and the +summer evening was beginning to close in, when Jeanie Deans began to be +very anxious for the appearance of her sister, and to fear that she would +not reach home before her father returned from the labour of the evening, +when it was his custom to have "family exercise," and when she knew that +Effie's absence would give him the most serious displeasure. These +apprehensions hung heavier upon her mind, because, for several preceding +evenings, Effie had disappeared about the same time, and her stay, at +first so brief as scarce to be noticed, had been gradually protracted to +half-an-hour, and an hour, and on the present occasion had considerably +exceeded even this last limit. And now, Jeanie stood at the door, with +her hand before her eyes to avoid the rays of the level sun, and looked +alternately along the various tracks which led towards their dwelling, to +see if she could descry the nymph-like form of her sister. There was a +wall and a stile which separated the royal domain, or King's Park, as it +is called, from the public road; to this pass she frequently directed her +attention, when she saw two persons appear there somewhat suddenly, as if +they had walked close by the side of the wall to screen themselves from +observation. One of them, a man, drew back hastily; the other, a female, +crossed the stile, and advanced towards her--It was Effie. She met her +sister with that affected liveliness of manner, which, in her rank, and +sometimes in those above it, females occasionally assume to hide surprise +or confusion; and she carolled as she came-- + + "The elfin knight sate on the brae, + The broom grows bonny, the broom grows fair; + And by there came lilting a lady so gay, + And we daurna gang down to the broom nae mair." + +"Whisht, Effie," said her sister; "our father's coming out o' the byre." +--The damsel stinted in her song.--"Whare hae ye been sae late at e'en?" + +"It's no late, lass," answered Effie. + +"It's chappit eight on every clock o' the town, and the sun's gaun down +ahint the Corstorphine hills--Whare can ye hae been sae late?" + +"Nae gate," answered Effie. + +"And wha was that parted wi' you at the stile?" + +"Naebody," replied Effie once more. + +"Nae gate?--Naebody?--I wish it may be a right gate, and a right body, +that keeps folk out sae late at e'en, Effie." + +"What needs ye be aye speering then at folk?" retorted Effie. "I'm sure, +if ye'll ask nae questions, I'll tell ye nae lees. I never ask what +brings the Laird of Dumbiedikes glowering here like a wull-cat (only his +een's greener, and no sae gleg), day after day, till we are a' like to +gaunt our charts aft." + +"Because ye ken very weel he comes to see our father," said Jeanie, in +answer to this pert remark. + +"And Dominie Butler--Does he come to see our father, that's sae taen wi' +his Latin words?" said Effie, delighted to find that by carrying the war +into the enemy's country, she could divert the threatened attack upon +herself, and with the petulance of youth she pursued her triumph over her +prudent elder sister. She looked at her with a sly air, in which there +was something like irony, as she chanted, in a low but marked tone, a +scrap of an old Scotch song-- + + "Through the kirkyard + I met wi' the Laird, + The silly puir body he said me nae harm; + But just ere 'twas dark, + I met wi' the clerk" + +Here the songstress stopped, looked full at her sister, and, observing +the tears gather in her eyes, she suddenly flung her arms round her neck, +and kissed them away. Jeanie, though hurt and displeased, was unable to +resist the caresses of this untaught child of nature, whose good and evil +seemed to flow rather from impulse than from reflection. But as she +returned the sisterly kiss, in token of perfect reconciliation, she could +not suppress the gentle reproof--"Effie, if ye will learn fule sangs, ye +might make a kinder use of them." + +"And so I might, Jeanie," continued the girl, clinging to her sister's +neck; "and I wish I had never learned ane o' them--and I wish we had +never come here--and I wish my tongue had been blistered or I had vexed +ye." + +"Never mind that, Effie," replied the affectionate sister; "I canna be +muckle vexed wi' ony thing ye say to me--but O, dinna vex our father!" + +"I will not--I will not," replied Effie; "and if there were as mony +dances the morn's night as there are merry dancers in the north firmament +on a frosty e'en, I winna budge an inch to gang near ane o' them." + +"Dance!" echoed Jeanie Deans in astonishment. "O Effie, what could take +ye to a dance?" + +It is very possible, that, in the communicative mood into which the Lily +of St. Leonard's was now surprised, she might have given her sister her +unreserved confidence, and saved me the pain of telling a melancholy +tale; but at the moment the word dance was uttered, it reached the ear of +old David Deans, who had turned the corner of the house, and came upon +his daughters ere they were aware of his presence. The word /prelate,/ or +even the word /pope,/ could hardly have produced so appalling an effect +upon David's ear; for, of all exercises, that of dancing, which he termed +a voluntary and regular fit of distraction, he deemed most destructive of +serious thoughts, and the readiest inlet to all sorts of licentiousness; +and he accounted the encouraging, and even permitting, assemblies or +meetings, whether among those of high or low degree, for this fantastic +and absurd purpose, or for that of dramatic representations, as one of +the most flagrant proofs of defection and causes of wrath. The +pronouncing of the word /dance/ by his own daughters, and at his own +door, now drove him beyond the verge of patience. "Dance!" he exclaimed. +"Dance!--dance, said ye? I daur ye, limmers that ye are, to name sic a +word at my door-cheek! It's a dissolute profane pastime, practised by the +Israelites only at their base and brutal worship of the Golden Calf at +Bethel, and by the unhappy lass wha danced aff the head of John the +Baptist, upon whilk chapter I will exercise this night for your farther +instruction, since ye need it sae muckle, nothing doubting that she has +cause to rue the day, lang or this time, that e'er she suld hae shook a +limb on sic an errand. Better for her to hae been born a cripple, and +carried frae door to door, like auld Bessie Bowie, begging bawbees, than +to be a king's daughter, fiddling and flinging the gate she did. I hae +often wondered that ony ane that ever bent a knee for the right purpose, +should ever daur to crook a hough to fyke and fling at piper's wind and +fiddler's squealing. And I bless God (with that singular worthy, Peter +Walker the packman at Bristo-Port),* that ordered my lot in my dancing +days, so that fear of my head and throat, dread of bloody rope and swift +bullet, and trenchant swords and pain of boots and thumkins, cauld and +hunger, wetness and weariness, stopped the lightness of my head, and the +wantonness of my feet. + +* Note F. Peter Walker. + +And now, if I hear ye, quean lassies, sae muckle as name dancing, or +think there's sic a thing in this warld as flinging to fiddler's sounds, +and piper's springs, as sure as my father's spirit is with the just, ye +shall be no more either charge or concern of mine! Gang in, then--gang +in, then, hinnies," he added, in a softer tone, for the tears of both +daughters, but especially those of Effie, began to flow very fast,--"Gang +in, dears, and we'll seek grace to preserve us frae all, manner of +profane folly, whilk causeth to sin, and promoteth the kingdom of +darkness, warring with the kingdom of light." + +The objurgation of David Deans, however well meant, was unhappily timed. +It created a division of feelings in Effie's bosom, and deterred her from +her intended confidence in her sister. "She wad hand me nae better than +the dirt below her feet," said Effie to herself, "were I to confess I hae +danced wi' him four times on the green down by, and ance at Maggie +Macqueens's; and she'll maybe hing it ower my head that she'll tell my +father, and then she wad be mistress and mair. But I'll no gang back +there again. I'm resolved I'll no gang back. I'll lay in a leaf of my +Bible,* and that's very near as if I had made an aith, that I winna gang +back." + +* This custom of making a mark by folding a leaf in the party's Bible, +when a solemn resolution is formed, is still held to be, in some sense, +an appeal to Heaven for his or her sincerity. + +And she kept her vow for a week, during which she was unusually cross and +fretful, blemishes which had never before been observed in her temper, +except during a moment of contradiction. + +There was something in all this so mysterious as considerably to alarm +the prudent and affectionate Jeanie, the more so as she judged it unkind +to her sister to mention to their father grounds of anxiety which might +arise from her own imagination. Besides, her respect for the good old man +did not prevent her from being aware that he was both hot-tempered and +positive, and she sometimes suspected that he carried his dislike to +youthful amusements beyond the verge that religion and reason demanded. +Jeanie had sense enough to see that a sudden and severe curb upon her +sister's hitherto unrestrained freedom might be rather productive of harm +than good, and that Effie, in the headstrong wilfulness of youth, was +likely to make what might be overstrained in her father's precepts an +excuse to herself for neglecting them altogether. In the higher classes, +a damsel, however giddy, is still under the dominion of etiquette, and +subject to the surveillance of mammas and chaperons; but the country +girl, who snatches her moment of gaiety during the intervals of labour, +is under no such guardianship or restraint, and her amusement becomes so +much the more hazardous. Jeanie saw all this with much distress of mind, +when a circumstance occurred which appeared calculated to relieve her +anxiety. + +Mrs. Saddletree, with whom our readers have already been made acquainted, +chanced to be a distant relation of Douce David Deans, and as she was a +woman orderly in her life and conversation, and, moreover, of good +substance, a sort of acquaintance was formally kept up between the +families. Now, this careful dame, about a year and a half before our +story commences, chanced to need, in the line of her profession, a better +sort of servant, or rather shop-woman. "Mr. Saddletree," she said, "was +never in the shop when he could get his nose within the Parliament House, +and it was an awkward thing for a woman-body to be standing among bundles +o' barkened leather her lane, selling saddles and bridles; and she had +cast her eyes upon her far-awa cousin Effie Deans, as just the very sort +of lassie she would want to keep her in countenance on such occasions." + +In this proposal there was much that pleased old David,--there was bed, +board, and bountith--it was a decent situation--the lassie would be under +Mrs. Saddletree's eye, who had an upright walk, and lived close by the +Tolbooth Kirk, in which might still be heard the comforting doctrines of +one of those few ministers of the Kirk of Scotland who had not bent the +knee unto Baal, according to David's expression, or become accessory to +the course of national defections,--union, toleration, patronages, and a +bundle of prelatical Erastian oaths which had been imposed on the church +since the Revolution, and particularly in the reign of "the late woman" +(as he called Queen Anne), the last of that unhappy race of Stuarts. In +the good man's security concerning the soundness of the theological +doctrine which his daughter was to hear, he was nothing disturbed on +account of the snares of a different kind, to which a creature so +beautiful, young, and wilful, might be exposed in the centre of a +populous and corrupted city. The fact is, that he thought with so much +horror on all approaches to irregularities of the nature most to be +dreaded in such cases, that he would as soon have suspected and guarded +against Effie's being induced to become guilty of the crime of murder. He +only regretted that she should live under the same roof with such a +worldly-wise man as Bartoline Saddletree, whom David never suspected of +being an ass as he was, but considered as one really endowed with all the +legal knowledge to which he made pretension, and only liked him the worse +for possessing it. The lawyers, especially those amongst them who sate as +ruling elders in the General Assembly of the Kirk, had been forward in +promoting the measures of patronage, of the abjuration oath, and others, +which, in the opinion of David Deans, were a breaking down of the carved +work of the sanctuary, and an intrusion upon the liberties of the kirk. +Upon the dangers of listening to the doctrines of a legalised formalist, +such as Saddletree, David gave his daughter many lectures; so much so, +that he had time to touch but slightly on the dangers of chambering, +company-keeping, and promiscuous dancing, to which, at her time of life, +most people would have thought Effie more exposed, than to the risk of +theoretical error in her religious faith. + +Jeanie parted from her sister with a mixed feeling of regret, and +apprehension, and hope. She could not be so confident concerning Effie's +prudence as her father, for she had observed her more narrowly, had more +sympathy with her feelings, and could better estimate the temptations to +which she was exposed. On the other hand, Mrs. Saddletree was an +observing, shrewd, notable woman, entitled to exercise over Effie the +full authority of a mistress, and likely to do so strictly, yet with +kindness. Her removal to Saddletree's, it was most probable, would also +serve to break off some idle acquaintances, which Jeanie suspected her +sister to have formed in the neighbouring suburb. Upon the whole, then, +she viewed her departure from Saint Leonard's with pleasure, and it was +not until the very moment of their parting for the first time in their +lives, that she felt the full force of sisterly sorrow. While they +repeatedly kissed each other's cheeks, and wrung each other's hands, +Jeanie took that moment of affectionate sympathy, to press upon her +sister the necessity of the utmost caution in her conduct while residing +in Edinburgh. Effie listened, without once raising her large dark +eyelashes, from which the drops fell so fast as almost to resemble a +fountain. At the conclusion she sobbed again, kissed her sister, promised +to recollect all the good counsel she had given her, and they parted. + +During the first weeks, Effie was all that her kinswoman expected, and +even more. But with time there came a relaxation of that early zeal which +she manifested in Mrs. Saddletree's service. To borrow once again from +the poet, who so correctly and beautifully describes living manners:-- + + + Something there was,--what, none presumed to say,-- + Clouds lightly passing on a summer's day; + Whispers and hints, which went from ear to ear, + And mixed reports no judge on earth could clear. + +During this interval, Mrs. Saddletree was sometimes displeased by Effie's +lingering when she was sent upon errands about the shop business, and +sometimes by a little degree of impatience which she manifested at being +rebuked on such occasions. But she good-naturedly allowed, that the first +was very natural to a girl to whom everything in Edinburgh was new and +the other was only the petulance of a spoiled child, when subjected to +the yoke of domestic discipline for the first time. Attention and +submission could not be learned at once--Holyrood was not built in a day +--use would make perfect. + +It seemed as if the considerate old lady had presaged truly. Ere many +months had passed, Effie became almost wedded to her duties, though she +no longer discharged them with the laughing cheek and light step, which +had at first attracted every customer. Her mistress sometimes observed +her in tears, but they were signs of secret sorrow, which she concealed +as often as she saw them attract notice. Time wore on, her cheek grew +pale, and her step heavy. The cause of these changes could not have +escaped the matronly eye of Mrs. Saddletree, but she was chiefly confined +by indisposition to her bedroom for a considerable time during the latter +part of Effie's service. This interval was marked by symptoms of anguish +almost amounting to despair. The utmost efforts of the poor girl to +command her fits of hysterical agony were, often totally unavailing, and +the mistakes which she made in the shop the while, were so numerous and +so provoking that Bartoline Saddletree, who, during his wife's illness, +was obliged to take closer charge of the business than consisted with his +study of the weightier matters of the law, lost all patience with the +girl, who, in his law Latin, and without much respect to gender, he +declared ought to be cognosced by inquest of a jury, as /fatuus, +furiosus,/ and /naturaliter idiota./ Neighbours, also, and +fellow-servants, remarked with malicious curiosity or degrading pity, the +disfigured shape, loose dress, and pale cheeks, of the once beautiful and +still interesting girl. But to no one would she grant her confidence, +answering all taunts with bitter sarcasm, and all serious expostulation +with sullen denial, or with floods of tears. + +At length, when Mrs. Saddletree's recovery was likely to permit her +wonted attention to the regulation of her household, Effie Deans, as if +unwilling to face an investigation made by the authority of her mistress, +asked permission of Bartoline to go home for a week or two, assigning +indisposition, and the wish of trying the benefit of repose and the +change of air, as the motives of her request. Sharp-eyed as a lynx (or +conceiving himself to be so) in the nice sharp quillits of legal +discussion, Bartoline was as dull at drawing inferences from the +occurrences of common life as any Dutch professor of mathematics. He +suffered Effie to depart without much suspicion, and without any inquiry. + +It was afterwards found that a period of a week intervened betwixt her +leaving her master's house and arriving at St. Leonard's. She made her +appearance before her sister in a state rather resembling the spectre +than the living substance of the gay and beautiful girl, who had left her +father's cottage for the first time scarce seventeen months before. The +lingering illness of her mistress had, for the last few months, given her +a plea for confining herself entirely to the dusky precincts of the shop +in the Lawnmarket, and Jeanie was so much occupied, during the same +period, with the concerns of her father's household, that she had rarely +found leisure for a walk in the city, and a brief and hurried visit to +her sister. The young women, therefore, had scarcely seen each other for +several months, nor had a single scandalous surmise reached the ears of +the secluded inhabitants of the cottage at St. Leonard's. Jeanie, +therefore, terrified to death at her sister's appearance, at first +overwhelmed her with inquiries, to which the unfortunate young woman +returned for a time incoherent and rambling answers, and finally fell +into a hysterical fit. Rendered too certain of her sister's misfortune, +Jeanie had now the dreadful alternative of communicating her ruin to her +father, or of endeavouring to conceal it from him. To all questions +concerning the name or rank of her seducer, and the fate of the being to +whom her fall had given birth, Effie remained as mute as the grave, to +which she seemed hastening; and indeed the least allusion to either +seemed to drive her to distraction. Her sister, in distress and in +despair, was about to repair to Mrs. Saddletree to consult her +experience, and at the same time to obtain what lights she could upon +this most unhappy affair, when she was saved that trouble by a new stroke +of fate, which seemed to carry misfortune to the uttermost. + +David Deans had been alarmed at the state of health in which his daughter +had returned to her paternal residence; but Jeanie had contrived to +divert him from particular and specific inquiry. It was therefore like a +clap of thunder to the poor old man, when, just as the hour of noon had +brought the visit of the Laird of Dumbiedikes as usual, other and +sterner, as well as most unexpected guests, arrived at the cottage of St. +Leonard's. These were the officers of justice, with a warrant of +justiciary to search for and apprehend Euphemia, or Effie Deans, accused +of the crime of child-murder. The stunning weight of a blow so totally +unexpected bore down the old man, who had in his early youth resisted the +brow of military and civil tyranny, though backed with swords and guns, +tortures and gibbets. He fell extended and senseless upon his own hearth; +and the men, happy to escape from the scene of his awakening, raised, +with rude humanity, the object of their warrant from her bed, and placed +her in a coach, which they had brought with them. The hasty remedies +which Jeanie had applied to bring back her father's senses were scarce +begun to operate, when the noise of the wheels in motion recalled her +attention to her miserable sister. To ran shrieking after the carriage +was the first vain effort of her distraction, but she was stopped by one +or two female neighbours, assembled by the extraordinary appearance of a +coach in that sequestered place, who almost forced her back to her +father's house. The deep and sympathetic affliction of these poor people, +by whom the little family at St. Leonard's were held in high regard, +filled the house with lamentation. Even Dumbiedikes was moved from his +wonted apathy, and, groping for his purse as he spoke, ejaculated, +"Jeanie, woman!--Jeanie, woman! dinna greet--it's sad wark, but siller +will help it;" and he drew out his purse as he spoke. + +The old man had now raised himself from the ground, and, looking about +him as if he missed something, seemed gradually to recover the sense of +his wretchedness. "Where," he said, with a voice that made the roof ring, +"where is the vile harlot, that has disgraced the blood of an honest +man?--Where is she, that has no place among us, but has come foul with +her sins, like the Evil One, among the children of God?--Where is she, +Jeanie?--Bring her before me, that I may kill her with a word and a +look!" + +All hastened around him with their appropriate sources of consolation-- +the Laird with his purse, Jeanie with burnt feathers and strong waters, +and the women with their exhortations. "O neighbour--O Mr. Deans, it's a +sair trial, doubtless--but think of the Rock of Ages, neighbour--think of +the promise!" + +"And I do think of it, neighbours--and I bless God that I can think of +it, even in the wrack and ruin of a' that's nearest and dearest to me-- +But to be the father of a castaway--a profligate--a bloody Zipporah--a +mere murderess!--O, how will the wicked exult in the high places of their +wickedness!--the prelatists, and the latitudinarians, and the hand-waled +murderers, whose hands are hard as horn wi' handing the slaughter- +weapons--they will push out the lip, and say that we are even such as +themselves. Sair, sair I am grieved, neighbours, for the poor castaway-- +for the child of mine old age--but sairer for the stumbling-block and +scandal it will be to all tender and honest souls!" + +"Davie--winna siller do't?" insinuated the laird, still proffering his +green purse, which was full of guineas. + +"I tell ye, Dumbiedikes," said Deans, "that if telling down my haill +substance could hae saved her frae this black snare, I wad hae walked out +wi' naething but my bonnet and my staff to beg an awmous for God's sake, +and ca'd mysell an happy man--But if a dollar, or a plack, or the +nineteenth part of a boddle, wad save her open guilt and open shame frae +open punishment, that purchase wad David Deans never make!--Na, na; an +eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, life for life, blood for blood--it's +the law of man, and it's the law of God.--Leave me, sirs--leave me--I +maun warstle wi' this trial in privacy and on my knees." + +Jeanie, now in some degree restored to the power of thought, joined in +the same request. The next day found the father and daughter still in the +depth of affliction, but the father sternly supporting his load of ill +through a proud sense of religious duty, and the daughter anxiously +suppressing her own feelings to avoid again awakening his. Thus was it +with the afflicted family until the morning after Porteous's death, a +period at which we are now arrived. + + + + + CHAPTER TENTH. + + + Is all the counsel that we two have shared, + The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent + When we have chid the hasty-footed time + For parting us--Oh!--and is all forgot? + Midsummer Night's Dream. + +We have been a long while in conducting Butler to the door of the cottage +at St. Leonard's; yet the space which we have occupied in the preceding +narrative does not exceed in length that which he actually spent on +Salisbury Crags on the morning which succeeded the execution done upon +Porteous by the rioters. For this delay he had his own motives. He wished +to collect his thoughts, strangely agitated as they were, first by the +melancholy news of Effie Deans's situation, and afterwards by the +frightful scene which he had witnessed. In the situation also in which he +stood with respect to Jeanie and her father, some ceremony, at least some +choice of fitting time and season, was necessary to wait upon them. Eight +in the morning was then the ordinary hour for breakfast, and he resolved +that it should arrive before he made his appearance in their cottage. + +Never did hours pass so heavily. Butler shifted his place and enlarged +his circle to while away the time, and heard the huge bell of St. Giles's +toll each successive hour in swelling tones, which were instantly +attested by those of the other steeples in succession. He had heard seven +struck in this manner, when he began to think he might venture to +approach nearer to St. Leonard's, from which he was still a mile distant. +Accordingly he descended from his lofty station as low as the bottom of +the valley, which divides Salisbury Crags from those small rocks which +take their name from Saint Leonard. It is, as many of my readers may +know, a deep, wild, grassy valley, scattered with huge rocks and +fragments which have descended from the cliffs and steep ascent to the +east. + +This sequestered dell, as well as other places of the open pasturage of +the King's Park, was, about this time, often the resort of the gallants +of the time who had affairs of honour to discuss with the sword. Duels +were then very common in Scotland, for the gentry were at once idle, +haughty, fierce, divided by faction, and addicted to intemperance, so +that there lacked neither provocation, nor inclination to resent it when +given; and the sword, which was part of every gentleman's dress, was the +only weapon used for the decision of such differences. When, therefore, +Butler observed a young man, skulking, apparently to avoid observation, +among the scattered rocks at some distance from the footpath, he was +naturally led to suppose that he had sought this lonely spot upon that +evil errand. He was so strongly impressed with this, that, +notwithstanding his own distress of mind, he could not, according to his +sense of duty as a clergyman, pass this person without speaking to him. +There are times, thought he to himself, when the slightest interference +may avert a great calamity--when a word spoken in season may do more for +prevention than the eloquence of Tully could do for remedying evil--And +for my own griefs, be they as they may, I shall feel them the lighter, if +they divert me not from the prosecution of my duty. + +Thus thinking and feeling, he quitted the ordinary path, and advanced +nearer the object he had noticed. The man at first directed his course +towards the hill, in order, as it appeared, to avoid him; but when he saw +that Butler seemed disposed to follow him, he adjusted his hat fiercely, +turned round, and came forward, as if to meet and defy scrutiny. + +Butler had an opportunity of accurately studying his features as they +advanced slowly to meet each other. The stranger seemed about twenty-five +years old. His dress was of a kind which could hardly be said to indicate +his rank with certainty, for it was such as young gentlemen sometimes +wore while on active exercise in the morning, and which, therefore, was +imitated by those of the inferior ranks, as young clerks and tradesmen, +because its cheapness rendered it attainable, while it approached more +nearly to the apparel of youths of fashion than any other which the +manners of the times permitted them to wear. If his air and manner could +be trusted, however, this person seemed rather to be dressed under than +above his rank; for his carriage was bold and somewhat supercilious, his +step easy and free, his manner daring and unconstrained. His stature was +of the middle size, or rather above it, his limbs well-proportioned, yet +not so strong as to infer the reproach of clumsiness. His features were +uncommonly handsome, and all about him would have been interesting and +prepossessing but for that indescribable expression which habitual +dissipation gives to the countenance, joined with a certain audacity in +look and manner, of that kind which is often assumed as a mask for +confusion and apprehension. + +Butler and the stranger met--surveyed each other--when, as the latter, +slightly touching his hat, was about to pass by him, Butler, while he +returned the salutation, observed, "A fine morning, sir--You are on the +hill early." + +"I have business here," said the young man, in a tone meant to repress +farther inquiry. + +"I do not doubt it, sir," said Butler. "I trust you will forgive my +hoping that it is of a lawful kind?" + +"Sir," said the other, with marked surprise, "I never forgive +impertinence, nor can I conceive what title you have to hope anything +about what no way concerns you." + +"I am a soldier, sir," said Butler, "and have a charge to arrest +evil-doers in the name of my Master." + +"A soldier!" said the young man, stepping back, and fiercely laying his +hand on his sword--"A soldier, and arrest me! Did you reckon what your +life was worth, before you took the commission upon you?" + +"You mistake me, sir," said Butler, gravely; "neither my warfare nor my +warrant are of this world. I am a preacher of the gospel, and have power, +in my Master's name, to command the peace upon earth and good-will +towards men, which was proclaimed with the gospel." + +"A minister!" said the stranger, carelessly, and with an expression +approaching to scorn. "I know the gentlemen of your cloth in Scotland +claim a strange right of intermeddling with men's private affairs. But I +have been abroad, and know better than to be priest-ridden." + +"Sir, if it be true that any of my cloth, or, it might be more decently +said, of my calling, interfere with men's private affairs, for the +gratification either of idle curiosity, or for worse motives, you cannot +have learned a better lesson abroad than to contemn such practices. But +in my Master's work, I am called to be busy in season and out of season; +and, conscious as I am of a pure motive, it were better for me to incur +your contempt for speaking, than the correction of my own conscience for +being silent." + +"In the name of the devil!" said the young man impatiently, "say what you +have to say, then; though whom you take me for, or what earthly concern +you have with me, a stranger to you, or with my actions and motives, of +which you can know nothing, I cannot conjecture for an instant." + +"You are about," said Butler, "to violate one of your country's wisest +laws--you are about, which is much more dreadful, to violate a law, which +God himself has implanted within our nature, and written as it were, in +the table of our hearts, to which every thrill of our nerves is +responsive." + +"And what is the law you speak of?" said the stranger, in a hollow and +somewhat disturbed accent. + +"Thou shalt do no murder," said Butler, with a deep and solemn voice. + +The young man visibly started, and looked considerably appalled. Butler +perceived he had made a favourable impression, and resolved to follow it +up. "Think," he said, "young man," laying his hand kindly upon the +stranger's shoulder, "what an awful alternative you voluntarily choose +for yourself, to kill or be killed. Think what it is to rush uncalled +into the presence of an offended Deity, your heart fermenting with evil +passions, your hand hot from the steel you had been urging, with your +best skill and malice, against the breast of a fellow-creature. Or, +suppose yourself the scarce less wretched survivor, with the guilt of +Cain, the first murderer, in your heart, with the stamp upon your brow-- +that stamp which struck all who gazed on him with unutterable horror, and +by which the murderer is made manifest to all who look upon him. Think" + +The stranger gradually withdrew himself from under the hand of his +monitor; and, pulling his hat over his brows, thus interrupted him. "Your +meaning, sir, I dare say, is excellent, but you are throwing your advice +away. I am not in this place with violent intentions against any one. I +may be bad enough--you priests say all men are so--but I am here for the +purpose of saving life, not of taking it away. If you wish to spend your +time rather in doing a good action than in talking about you know not +what, I will give you an opportunity. Do you see yonder crag to the +right, over which appears the chimney of a lone house? Go thither, +inquire for one Jeanie Deans, the daughter of the goodman; let her know +that he she wots of remained here from daybreak till this hour, expecting +to see her, and that he can abide no longer. Tell her, she /must/ meet me +at the Hunter's Bog to-night, as the moon rises behind St. Anthony's +Hill, or that she will make a desperate man of me." + +"Who or what are you," replied Butler, exceedingly and most unpleasantly +surprised, "who charge me with such an errand?" + +"I am the devil!"--answered the young man hastily. + +Butler stepped instinctively back, and commanded himself internally to +Heaven; for, though a wise and strong-minded man, he was neither wiser +nor more strong-minded than those of his age and education, with whom, to +disbelieve witchcraft or spectres, was held an undeniable proof of +atheism. + +The stranger went on without observing his emotion. "Yes! call me +Apollyon, Abaddon, whatever name you shall choose, as a clergyman +acquainted with the upper and lower circles of spiritual denomination, to +call me by, you shall not find an appellation more odious to him that +bears it, than is mine own." + +This sentence was spoken with the bitterness of self-upbraiding, and a +contortion of visage absolutely demoniacal. Butler, though a man brave by +principle, if not by constitution, was overawed; for intensity of mental +distress has in it a sort of sublimity which repels and overawes all men, +but especially those of kind and sympathetic dispositions. The stranger +turned abruptly from Butler as he spoke, but instantly returned, and, +coming up to him closely and boldly, said, in a fierce, determined tone, +"I have told you who and what I am--who and what are you? What is your +name?" + +"Butler," answered the person to whom this abrupt question was addressed, +surprised into answering it by the sudden and fierce manner of the +querist--"Reuben Butler, a preacher of the gospel." + +At this answer, the stranger again plucked more deep over his brows the +hat which he had thrown back in his former agitation. "Butler!" he +repeated--"the assistant of the schoolmaster at Liberton?" + +"The same," answered Butler composedly. + +The stranger covered his face with his hand, as if on sudden reflection, +and then turned away, but stopped when he had walked a few paces; and +seeing Butler follow him with his eyes, called out in a stern yet +suppressed tone, just as if he had exactly calculated that his accents +should not be heard a yard beyond the spot on which Butler stood. "Go +your way, and do mine errand. Do not look after me. I will neither +descend through the bowels of these rocks, nor vanish in a flash of fire; +and yet the eye that seeks to trace my motions shall have reason to curse +it was ever shrouded by eyelid or eyelash. Begone, and look not behind +you. Tell Jeanie Deans, that when the moon rises I shall expect to meet +her at Nicol Muschat's Cairn, beneath Saint Anthony's Chapel." + +As he uttered these words, he turned and took the road against the hill, +with a haste that seemed as peremptory as his tone of authority. + +Dreading he knew not what of additional misery to a lot which seemed +little capable of receiving augmentation, and desperate at the idea that +any living man should dare to send so extraordinary a request, couched in +terms so imperious, to the half-betrothed object of his early and only +affection, Butler strode hastily towards the cottage, in order to +ascertain how far this daring and rude gallant was actually entitled to +press on Jeanie Deans a request, which no prudent, and scarce any modest +young woman, was likely to comply with. + +Butler was by nature neither jealous nor superstitious; yet the feelings +which lead to those moods of the mind were rooted in his heart, as a +portion derived from the common stock of humanity. It was maddening to +think that a profligate gallant, such as the manner and tone of the +stranger evinced him to be, should have it in his power to command forth +his future bride and plighted true love, at a place so improper, and an +hour so unseasonable. Yet the tone in which the stranger spoke had +nothing of the soft half-breathed voice proper to the seducer who +solicits an assignation; it was bold, fierce, and imperative, and had +less of love in it than of menace and intimidation. + +The suggestions of superstition seemed more plausible, had Butler's mind +been very accessible to them. Was this indeed the Roaring Lion, who goeth +about seeking whom he may devour? This was a question which pressed +itself on Butler's mind with an earnestness that cannot be conceived by +those who live in the present day. The fiery eye, the abrupt demeanour, +the occasionally harsh, yet studiously subdued tone of voice,--the +features, handsome, but now clouded with pride, now disturbed by +suspicion, now inflamed with passion--those dark hazel eyes which he +sometimes shaded with his cap, as if he were averse to have them seen +while they were occupied with keenly observing the motions and bearing of +others--those eyes that were now turbid with melancholy, now gleaming +with scorn, and now sparkling with fury--was it the passions of a mere +mortal they expressed, or the emotions of a fiend, who seeks, and seeks +in vain, to conceal his fiendish designs under the borrowed mask of manly +beauty? The whole partook of the mien, language, and port of the ruined +archangel; and, imperfectly as we have been able to describe it, the +effect of the interview upon Butler's nerves, shaken as they were at the +time by the horrors of the preceding night, were greater than his +understanding warranted, or his pride cared to submit to. The very place +where he had met this singular person was desecrated, as it were, and +unhallowed, owing to many violent deaths, both in duels and by suicide, +which had in former times taken place there; and the place which he had +named as a rendezvous at so late an hour, was held in general to be +accursed, from a frightful and cruel murder which had been there +committed by the wretch from whom the place took its name, upon the +person of his own wife.* + +* Note G. Muschat's Cairn. + +It was in such places, according to the belief of that period (when the +laws against witchcraft were still in fresh observance, and had even +lately been acted upon), that evil spirits had power to make themselves +visible to human eyes, and to practise upon the feelings and senses of +mankind. Suspicions, founded on such circumstances, rushed on Butler's +mind, unprepared as it was by any previous course of reasoning, to deny +that which all of his time, country, and profession believed; but common +sense rejected these vain ideas as inconsistent, if not with possibility, +at least with the general rules by which the universe is governed,--a +deviation from which, as Butler well argued with himself, ought not to be +admitted as probable, upon any but the plainest and most incontrovertible +evidence. An earthly lover, however, or a young man, who, from whatever +cause, had the right of exercising such summary and unceremonious +authority over the object of his long-settled, and apparently sincerely +returned affection, was an object scarce less appalling to his mind, than +those which superstition suggested. + +His limbs exhausted with fatigue, his mind harassed with anxiety, and +with painful doubts and recollections, Butler dragged himself up the +ascent from the valley to St. Leonard's Crags, and presented himself at +the door of Deans's habitation, with feelings much akin to the miserable +reflections and fears of its inhabitants. + + + + + CHAPTER ELEVENTH. + + + Then she stretched out her lily hand, + And for to do her best; + "Hae back thy faith and troth, Willie, + God gie thy soul good rest!" + Old Ballad. + +"Come in," answered the low and sweet-toned voice he loved best to hear, +as Butler tapped at the door of the cottage. He lifted the latch, and +found himself under the roof of affliction. Jeanie was unable to trust +herself with more than one glance towards her lover, whom she now met +under circumstances so agonising to her feelings, and at the same time so +humbling to her honest pride. It is well known, that much, both of what +is good and bad in the Scottish national character, arises out of the +intimacy of their family connections. "To be come of honest folk," that +is, of people who have borne a fair and unstained reputation, is an +advantage as highly prized among the lower Scotch, as the emphatic +counterpart, "to be of a good family," is valued among their gentry. The +worth and respectability of one member of a peasant's family is always +accounted by themselves and others, not only a matter of honest pride, +but a guarantee for the good conduct of the whole. On the contrary, such +a melancholy stain as was now flung on one of the children of Deans, +extended its disgrace to all connected with him, and Jeanie felt herself +lowered at once, in her own eyes, and in those of her lover. It was in +vain that she repressed this feeling, as far subordinate and too selfish +to be mingled with her sorrow for her sister's calamity. Nature +prevailed; and while she shed tears for her sister's distress and danger, +there mingled with them bitter drops of grief for her own degradation. + +As Butler entered, the old man was seated by the fire with his well-worn +pocket Bible in his hands, the companion of the wanderings and dangers of +his youth, and bequeathed to him on the scaffold by one of those, who, in +the year 1686, sealed their enthusiastic principles with their blood. The +sun sent its rays through a small window at the old man's back, and, +"shining motty through the reek," to use the expression of a bard of that +time and country, illumined the grey hairs of the old man, and the sacred +page which he studied. His features, far from handsome, and rather harsh +and severe, had yet from their expression of habitual gravity, and +contempt for earthly things, an expression of stoical dignity amidst +their sternness. He boasted, in no small degree, the attributes which +Southey ascribes to the ancient Scandinavians, whom he terms "firm to +inflict, and stubborn to endure." The whole formed a picture, of which +the lights might have been given by Rembrandt, but the outline would have +required the force and vigour of Michael Angelo. + +Deans lifted his eye as Butler entered, and instantly withdrew it, as +from an object which gave him at once surprise and sudden pain. He had +assumed such high ground with this carnal-witted scholar, as he had in +his pride termed Butler, that to meet him, of all men, under feelings of +humiliation, aggravated his misfortune, and was a consummation like that +of the dying chief in the old ballad--"Earl Percy sees my fall!" + +Deans raised the Bible with his left hand, so as partly to screen his +face, and putting back his right as far as he could, held it towards +Butler in that position, at the same time turning his body from, him, as +if to prevent his seeing the working of his countenance. Butler clasped +the extended hand which had supported his orphan infancy, wept over it, +and in vain endeavoured to say more than the words--"God comfort you--God +comfort you!" + +"He will--he doth, my friend," said Deans, assuming firmness as he +discovered the agitation of his guest; "he doth now, and he will yet more +in his own gude time. I have been ower proud of my sufferings in a gude +cause, Reuben, and now I am to be tried with those whilk will turn my +pride and glory into a reproach and a hissing. How muckle better I hae +thought mysell than them that lay saft, fed sweet, and drank deep, when I +was in the moss-haggs and moors, wi' precious Donald Cameron, and worthy +Mr. Blackadder, called Guess-again; and how proud I was o' being made a +spectacle to men and angels, having stood on their pillory at the +Canongate afore I was fifteen years old, for the cause of a National +Covenant! To think, Reuben, that I, wha hae been sae honoured and exalted +in my youth, nay, when I was but a hafflins callant, and that hae borne +testimony again the defections o' the times yearly, monthly, daily, +hourly, minutely, striving and testifying with uplifted hand and voice, +crying aloud, and sparing not, against all great national snares, as the +nation-wasting and church-sinking abomination of union, toleration, and +patronage, imposed by the last woman of that unhappy race of Stuarts; +also against the infringements and invasions of the just powers of +eldership, whereanent, I uttered my paper, called a 'Cry of an Howl in +the Desert,' printed at the Bow-head, and sold by all flying stationers +in town and country--and /now/" + +Here he paused. It may well be supposed that Butler, though not +absolutely coinciding in all the good old man's ideas about church +government, had too much consideration and humanity to interrupt him, +while he reckoned up with conscious pride his sufferings, and the +constancy of his testimony. On the contrary, when he paused under the +influence of the bitter recollections of the moment, Butler instantly +threw in his mite of encouragement. + +"You have been well known, my old and revered friend, a true and tried +follower of the Cross; one who, as Saint Jerome hath it, '/per infamiam +et bonam famam grassari ad immortalitatem,/' which may be freely +rendered, 'who rusheth on to immortal life, through bad report and good +report.' You have been one of those to whom the tender and fearful souls +cry during the midnight solitude--'Watchman, what of the night?-- +Watchman, what of the night?'--And, assuredly, this heavy dispensation, +as it comes not without divine permission, so it comes not without its +special commission and use." + +"I do receive it as such," said poor Deans, returning the grasp of +Butler's hand; "and if I have not been taught to read the Scripture in +any other tongue but my native Scottish" (even in his distress Butler's +Latin quotation had not escaped his notice), "I have nevertheless so +learned them, that I trust to bear even this crook in my lot with +submission. But, oh! Reuben Butler, the kirk, of whilk, though unworthy, +I have yet been thought a polished shaft, and meet to be a pillar, +holding, from my youth upward, the place of ruling elder--what will the +lightsome and profane think of the guide that cannot keep his own family +from stumbling? How will they take up their song and their reproach, when +they see that the children of professors are liable to as foul +backsliding as the offspring of Belial! But I will bear my cross with the +comfort, that whatever showed like goodness in me or mine, was but like +the light that shines frae creeping insects, on the brae-side, in a dark +night--it kythes bright to the ee, because all is dark around it; but +when the morn comes on the mountains, it is, but a puir crawling +kail-worm after a'. And sae it shows, wi' ony rag of human righteousness, +or formal law-work, that we may pit round us to cover our shame." + +As he pronounced these words, the door again opened, and Mr. Bartoline +Saddletree entered, his three-pointed hat set far back on his head, with +a silk handkerchief beneath it to keep it in that cool position, his +gold-headed cane in his hand, and his whole deportment that of a wealthy +burgher, who might one day look to have a share in the magistracy, if not +actually to hold the curule chair itself. + +Rochefoucault, who has torn the veil from so many foul gangrenes of the +human heart, says, we find something not altogether unpleasant to us in +the misfortunes of our best friends. Mr. Saddletree would have been very +angry had any one told him that he felt pleasure in the disaster of poor +Effie Deans, and the disgrace of her family; and yet there is great +question whether the gratification of playing the person of importance, +inquiring, investigating, and laying down the law on the whole affair, +did not offer, to say the least, full consolation for the pain which pure +sympathy gave him on account of his wife's kinswoman. He had now got a +piece of real judicial business by the end, instead of being obliged, as +was his common case, to intrude his opinion where it was neither wished +nor wanted; and felt as happy in the exchange as a boy when he gets his +first new watch, which actually goes when wound up, and has real hands +and a true dial-plate. But besides this subject for legal disquisition, +Bartoline's brains were also overloaded with the affair of Porteous, his +violent death, and all its probable consequences to the city and +community. It was what the French call /l'embarras des richesses,/ the +confusion arising from too much mental wealth. He walked in with a +consciousness of double importance, full fraught with the superiority of +one who possesses more information than the company into which he enters, +and who feels a right to discharge his learning on them without mercy. +"Good morning, Mr. Deans,--good-morrow to you, Mr. Butler,--I was not +aware that you were acquainted with Mr. Deans." + +Butler made some slight answer; his reasons may be readily imagined for +not making his connection with the family, which, in his eyes, had +something of tender mystery, a frequent subject of conversation with +indifferent persons, such as Saddletree. + +The worthy burgher, in the plenitude of self-importance, now sate down +upon a chair, wiped his brow, collected his breath, and made the first +experiment of the resolved pith of his lungs, in a deep and dignified +sigh, resembling a groan in sound and intonation--"Awfu' times these, +neighbour Deans, awfu' times!" + +"Sinfu', shamefu', heaven-daring times!" answered Deans, in a lower and +more subdued tone. + +"For my part," continued Saddletree, swelling with importance, "what +between the distress of my friends, and my poor auld country, ony wit +that ever I had may be said to have abandoned me, sae that I sometimes +think myself as ignorant as if I were /inter rusticos./ Here when I arise +in the morning, wi' my mind just arranged touching what's to be done in +puir Effie's misfortune, and hae gotten the haill statute at my +finger-ends, the mob maun get up and string Jock Porteous to a dyester's +beam, and ding a' thing out of my head again." + +Deeply as he was distressed with his own domestic calamity, Deans could +not help expressing some interest in the news. Saddletree immediately +entered on details of the insurrection and its consequences, while Butler +took the occasion to seek some private conversation with Jeanie Deans. +She gave him the opportunity he sought, by leaving the room, as if in +prosecution of some part of her morning labour. Butler followed her in a +few minutes, leaving Deans so closely engaged by his busy visitor, that +there was little chance of his observing their absence. + +The scene of their interview was an outer apartment, where Jeanie was +used to busy herself in arranging the productions of her dairy. When +Butler found an opportunity of stealing after her into this place, he +found her silent, dejected, and ready to burst into tears. Instead of the +active industry with which she had been accustomed, even while in the act +of speaking, to employ her hands in some useful branch of household +business, she was seated listless in a corner, sinking apparently under +the weight of her own thoughts. Yet the instant he entered, she dried her +eyes, and, with the simplicity and openness of her character, immediately +entered on conversation. + +"I am glad you have come in, Mr. Butler," said she, "for--for--for I +wished to tell ye, that all maun be ended between you and me--it's best +for baith our sakes." + +"Ended!" said Butler, in surprise; "and for what should it be ended?--I +grant this is a heavy dispensation, but it lies neither at your door nor +mine--it's an evil of God's sending, and it must be borne; but it cannot +break plighted troth, Jeanie, while they that plighted their word wish to +keep it." + +"But, Reuben," said the young woman, looking at him affectionately, "I +ken weel that ye think mair of me than yourself; and, Reuben, I can only +in requital think mair of your weal than of my ain. Ye are a man of +spotless name, bred to God's ministry, and a' men say that ye will some +day rise high in the kirk, though poverty keep ye doun e'en now. Poverty +is a bad back-friend, Reuben, and that ye ken ower weel; but ill-fame is +a waur ane, and that is a truth ye sall never learn through my means." + +"What do you mean?" said Butler, eagerly and impatiently; "or how do you +connect your sister's guilt, if guilt there be, which, I trust in God, +may yet be disproved, with our engagement?--how can that affect you or +me?" + +"How can you ask me that, Mr. Butler? Will this stain, d'ye think, ever +be forgotten, as lang as our heads are abune the grund? Will it not stick +to us, and to our bairns, and to their very bairns' bairns? To hae been +the child of an honest man, might hae been saying something for me and +mine; but to be the sister of aO my God!"--With this exclamation her +resolution failed, and she burst into a passionate fit of tears. + +The lover used every effort to induce her to compose herself, and at +length succeeded; but she only resumed her composure to express herself +with the same positiveness as before. "No, Reuben, I'll bring disgrace +hame to nae man's hearth; my ain distresses I can bear, and I maun bear, +but there is nae occasion for buckling them on other folk's shouthers. I +will bear my load alone--the back is made for the burden." + +A lover is by charter wayward and suspicious; and Jeanie's readiness to +renounce their engagement, under pretence of zeal for his peace of mind +and respectability of character, seemed to poor Butler to form a +portentous combination with the commission of the stranger he had met +with that morning. His voice faltered as he asked, "whether nothing but a +sense of her sister's present distress occasioned her to talk in that +manner?" + +"And what else can do sae?" she replied with simplicity. "Is it not ten +long years since we spoke together in this way?" + +"Ten years!" said Butler. "It's a long time--sufficient perhaps for a +woman to weary" + +"To weary of her auld gown," said Jeanie, "and to wish for a new ane if +she likes to be brave, but not long enough to weary of a friend--The eye +may wish change, but the heart never." + +"Never!" said Reuben,--"that's a bold promise." + +"But not more bauld than true," said Jeanie, with the same quiet +simplicity which attended her manner in joy and grief in ordinary +affairs, and in those which most interested her feelings. + +Butler paused, and looking at her fixedly--"I am charged," he said, "with +a message to you, Jeanie." + +"Indeed! From whom? Or what can ony ane have to say to me?" + +"It is from a stranger," said Butler, affecting to speak with an +indifference which his voice belied--"A young man whom I met this morning +in the Park." + +"Mercy!" said Jeanie, eagerly; "and what did he say?" + +"That he did not see you at the hour he expected, but required you should +meet him alone at Muschat's Cairn this night, so soon as the moon rises." + +"Tell him," said Jeanie, hastily, "I shall certainly come." + +"May I ask," said Butler, his suspicions increasing at the ready alacrity +of the answer, "who this man is to whom you are so willing to give the +meeting at a place and hour so uncommon?" + +"Folk maun do muckle they have little will to do, in this world," replied +Jeanie. + +"Granted," said her lover; "but what compels you to this?--who is this +person? What I saw of him was not very favourable--who, or what is he?" + +"I do not know," replied Jeanie, composedly. + +"You do not know!" said Butler, stepping impatiently through the +apartment--"You purpose to meet a young man whom you do not know, at such +a time, and in a place so lonely--you say you are compelled to do this-- +and yet you say you do not know the person who exercises such an +influence over you!--Jeanie, what am I to think of this?" + +"Think only, Reuben, that I speak truth, as if I were to answer at the +last day.--I do not ken this man--I do not even ken that I ever saw him; +and yet I must give him the meeting he asks--there's life and death upon +it." + +"Will you not tell your father, or take him with you?" said Butler. + +"I cannot," said Jeanie; "I have no permission." + +"Will you let /me/ go with you? I will wait in the Park till nightfall, +and join you when you set out." + +"It is impossible," said Jeanie; "there maunna be mortal creature within +hearing of our conference." + +"Have you considered well the nature of what you are going to do?--the +time--the place--an unknown and suspicious character?--Why, if he had +asked to see you in this house, your father sitting in the next room, and +within call, at such an hour, you should have refused to see him." + +"My weird maun be fulfilled, Mr. Butler; my life and my safety are in +God's hands, but I'll not spare to risk either of them on the errand I am +gaun to do." + +"Then, Jeanie," said Butler, much displeased, "we must indeed break short +off, and bid farewell. When there can be no confidence betwixt a man and +his plighted wife on such a momentous topic, it is a sign that she has no +longer the regard for him that makes their engagement safe and suitable." + +Jeanie looked at him and sighed. "I thought," she said, "that I had +brought myself to bear this parting--but--but--I did not ken that we were +to part in unkindness. But I am a woman and you are a man--it may be +different wi' you--if your mind is made easier by thinking sae hardly of +me, I would not ask you to think otherwise." + +"You are," said Butler, "what you have always been--wiser, better, and +less selfish in your native feelings, than I can be, with all the helps +philosophy can give to a Christian--But why--why will you persevere in an +undertaking so desperate? Why will you not let me be your assistant--your +protector, or at least your adviser?" + +"Just because I cannot, and I dare not," answered Jeanie.--"But hark, +what's that? Surely my father is no weel?" + +In fact, the voices in the next room became obstreperously loud of a +sudden, the cause of which vociferation it is necessary to explain before +we go farther. + +When Jeanie and Butler retired, Mr. Saddletree entered upon the business +which chiefly interested the family. In the commencement of their +conversation he found old Deans, who in his usual state of mind, was no +granter of propositions, so much subdued by a deep sense of his +daughter's danger and disgrace, that he heard without replying to, or +perhaps without understanding, one or two learned disquisitions on the +nature of the crime imputed to her charge, and on the steps which ought +to be taken in consequence. His only answer at each pause was, "I am no +misdoubting that you wuss us weel--your wife's our far-awa cousin." + +Encouraged by these symptoms of acquiescence, Saddletree, who, as an +amateur of the law, had a supreme deference for all constituted +authorities, again recurred to his other topic of interest, the murder, +namely, of Porteous, and pronounced a severe censure on the parties +concerned. + +"These are kittle times--kittle times, Mr. Deans, when the people take +the power of life and death out of the hands of the rightful magistrate +into their ain rough grip. I am of opinion, and so I believe will Mr. +Crossmyloof and the Privy Council, that this rising in effeir of war, to +take away the life of a reprieved man, will prove little better than +perduellion." + +"If I hadna that on my mind whilk is ill to bear, Mr. Saddletree," said +Deans, "I wad make bold to dispute that point wi' you." + +"How could you dispute what's plain law, man?" said Saddletree, somewhat +contemptuously; "there's no a callant that e'er carried a pock wi' a +process in't, but will tell you that perduellion is the warst and maist +virulent kind of treason, being an open convocating of the king's lieges +against his authority (mair especially in arms, and by touk of drum, to +baith whilk accessories my een and lugs bore witness), and muckle worse +than lese-majesty, or the concealment of a treasonable purpose--It winna +bear a dispute, neighbour." + +"But it will, though," retorted Douce Davie Deans; "I tell ye it will +bear a disputer never like your cauld, legal, formal doctrines, neighbour +Saddletree. I haud unco little by the Parliament House, since the awfu' +downfall of the hopes of honest folk that followed the Revolution." + +"But what wad ye hae had, Mr. Deans?" said Saddletree, impatiently; +"didna ye get baith liberty and conscience made fast, and settled by +tailzie on you and your heirs for ever?" + +"Mr. Saddletree," retorted Deans, "I ken ye are one of those that are +wise after the manner of this world, and that ye hand your part, and cast +in your portion, wi' the lang heads and lang gowns, and keep with the +smart witty-pated lawyers of this our land--Weary on the dark and dolefu' +cast that they hae gien this unhappy kingdom, when their black hands of +defection were clasped in the red hands of our sworn murtherers: when +those who had numbered the towers of our Zion, and marked the bulwarks of +Reformation, saw their hope turn into a snare, and their rejoicing into +weeping." + +"I canna understand this, neighbour," answered Saddletree. "I am an +honest Presbyterian of the Kirk of Scotland, and stand by her and the +General Assembly, and the due administration of justice by the fifteen +Lords o' Session and the five Lords o' Justiciary." + +"Out upon ye, Mr. Saddletree!" exclaimed David, who, in an opportunity of +giving his testimony on the offences and backslidings of the land, forgot +for a moment his own domestic calamity--"out upon your General Assembly, +and the back of my hand to your Court o' Session!--What is the tane but a +waefu' bunch o' cauldrife professors and ministers, that sate bien and +warm when the persecuted remnant were warstling wi' hunger, and cauld, +and fear of death, and danger of fire and sword upon wet brae-sides, +peat-haggs, and flow-mosses, and that now creep out of their holes, like +bluebottle flees in a blink of sunshine, to take the pu'pits and places +of better folk--of them that witnessed, and testified, and fought, and +endured pit, prison-house, and transportation beyond seas?--A bonny bike +there's o' them!--And for your Court o' Session" + +"Ye may say what ye will o' the General Assembly," said Saddletree, +interrupting him, "and let them clear them that kens them; but as for the +Lords o' Session, forby that they are my next-door neighbours, I would +have ye ken, for your ain regulation, that to raise scandal anent them, +whilk is termed to /murmur/ again them, is a crime /sui generis,/--/sui +generis,/ Mr. Deans--ken ye what that amounts to?" + +"I ken little o' the language of Antichrist," said Deans; "and I care +less than little what carnal courts may call the speeches of honest men. +And as to murmur again them, it's what a' the folk that loses their +pleas, and nine-tenths o' them that win them, will be gey sure to be +guilty in. Sae I wad hae ye ken that I hand a' your gleg-tongued +advocates, that sell their knowledge for pieces of silver--and your +worldly-wise judges, that will gie three days of hearing in presence to a +debate about the peeling of an ingan, and no ae half-hour to the gospel +testimony--as legalists and formalists, countenancing by sentences, and +quirks, and cunning terms of law, the late begun courses of national +defections--union, toleration, patronages, and Yerastian prelatic oaths. +As for the soul and body-killing Court o' Justiciary" + +The habit of considering his life as dedicated to bear testimony in +behalf of what he deemed the suffering and deserted cause of true +religion, had swept honest David along with it thus far; but with the +mention of the criminal court, the recollection of the disastrous +condition of his daughter rushed at once on his mind; he stopped short in +the midst of his triumphant declamation, pressed his hands against his +forehead, and remained silent. + +Saddletree was somewhat moved, but apparently not so much so as to induce +him to relinquish the privilege of prosing in his turn afforded him by +David's sudden silence. "Nae doubt, neighbour," he said, "it's a sair +thing to hae to do wi' courts of law, unless it be to improve ane's +knowledge and practique, by waiting on as a hearer; and touching this +unhappy affair of Effie--ye'll hae seen the dittay, doubtless? He dragged +out of his pocket a bundle of papers, and began to turn them over. "This +is no it--this is the information of Mungo Marsport, of that ilk, against +Captain Lackland, for coming on his lands of Marsport with hawks, hounds, +lying-dogs, nets, guns, cross-bows, hagbuts of found, or other engines +more or less for destruction of game, sic as red-deer, fallow-deer, +cappercailzies, grey-fowl, moor-fowl, paitricks, herons, and sic like; +he, the said defender not being ane qualified person, in terms of the +statute sixteen hundred and twenty-ane; that is, not having ane +plough-gate of land. Now, the defences proponed say, that /non constat/ +at this present what is a plough-gate of land, whilk uncertainty is +sufficient to elide the conclusions of the libel. But then the answers to +the defences (they are signed by Mr. Crossmyloof, but Mr. Younglad drew +them), they propone, that it signifies naething, /in hoc statu,/ what or +how muckle a plough-gate of land may be, in respect the defender has nae +lands whatsoever, less or mair. 'Sae grant a plough-gate'" (here +Saddletree read from the paper in his hand) "'to be less than the +nineteenth part of a guse's grass'--(I trow Mr. Crossmyloof put in that-- +I ken his style),--'of a guse's grass, what the better will the defender +be, seeing he hasna a divot-cast of land in Scotland?--/Advocatus/ for +Lackland duplies, that /nihil interest de possessione,/ the pursuer must +put his case under the statute'--(now, this is worth your notice, +neighbour),--'and must show, /formaliter et specialiter,/ as well as +/generaliter,/ what is the qualification that defender Lackland does +/not/ possess--let him tell me what a plough-gate of land is, and I'll +tell him if I have one or no. Surely the pursuer is bound to understand +his own libel, and his own statute that he founds upon. /Titius/ pursues +/Maevius/ for recovery of ane /black/ horse lent to Maevius--surely he +shall have judgment; but if Titius pursue Maevius for ane /scarlet/ or +/crimson/ horse, doubtless he shall be bound to show that there is sic +ane animal /in rerum natura./ No man can be bound to plead to nonsense-- +that is to say, to a charge which cannot be explained or understood'-- +(he's wrang there--the better the pleadings the fewer understand them),-- +'and so the reference unto this undefined and unintelligible measure of +land is, as if a penalty was inflicted by statute for any man who suld +hunt or hawk, or use lying-dogs, and wearing a sky-blue pair of breeches, +without having'But I am wearying you, Mr. Deans,--we'll pass to your ain +business,--though this cue of Marsport against Lackland has made an unco +din in the Outer House. Weel, here's the dittay against puir Effie: +'Whereas it is humbly meant and shown to us,' etc. (they are words of +mere style), 'that whereas, by the laws of this and every other +well-regulated realm, the murder of any one, more especially of an infant +child, is a crime of ane high nature, and severely punishable: And +whereas, without prejudice to the foresaid generality, it was, by ane act +made in the second session of the First Parliament of our most High and +Dread Sovereigns William and Mary, especially enacted, that ane woman who +shall have concealed her condition, and shall not be able to show that +she hath called for help at the birth in case that the child shall be +found dead or amissing, shall be deemed and held guilty of the murder +thereof; and the said facts of concealment and pregnancy being found +proven or confessed, shall sustain the pains of law accordingly; yet, +nevertheless, you, Effie, or Euphemia Deans'" + +"Read no farther!" said Deans, raising his head up; "I would rather ye +thrust a sword into my heart than read a word farther!" + +"Weel, neighbour," said Saddletree, "I thought it wad hae comforted ye to +ken the best and the warst o't. But the question is, what's to be dune?" + +"Nothing," answered Deans firmly, "but to abide the dispensation that the +Lord sees meet to send us. Oh, if it had been His will to take the grey +head to rest before this awful visitation on my house and name! But His +will be done. I can say that yet, though I can say little mair." + +"But, neighbour," said Saddletree, "ye'll retain advocates for the puir +lassie? it's a thing maun needs be thought of." + +"If there was ae man of them," answered Deans, "that held fast his +integrity--but I ken them weel, they are a' carnal, crafty, and +warld-hunting self-seekers, Yerastians, and Arminians, every ane o' +them." + +"Hout tout, neighbour, ye mauna take the warld at its word," said +Saddletree; "the very deil is no sae ill as he's ca'd; and I ken mair +than ae advocate that may be said to hae some integrity as weel as their +neighbours; that is, after a sort o' fashion' o' their ain." + +"It is indeed but a fashion of integrity that ye will find amang them," +replied David Deans, "and a fashion of wisdom, and fashion of carnal +learning--gazing, glancing-glasses they are, fit only to fling the glaiks +in folk's een, wi' their pawky policy, and earthly ingine, their flights +and refinements, and periods of eloquence, frae heathen emperors and +popish canons. They canna, in that daft trash ye were reading to me, sae +muckle as ca' men that are sae ill-starred as to be amang their hands, by +ony name o' the dispensation o' grace, but maun new baptize them by the +names of the accursed Titus, wha was made the instrument of burning the +holy Temple, and other sic like heathens!" + +"It's Tishius," interrupted Saddletree, "and no Titus. Mr. Crossmyloof +cares as little about Titus or the Latin as ye do.--But it's a case of +necessity--she maun hae counsel. Now, I could speak to Mr. Crossmyloof-- +he's weel ken'd for a round-spun Presbyterian, and a ruling elder to +boot." + +"He's a rank Yerastian," replied Deans; "one of the public and +polititious warldly-wise men that stude up to prevent ane general owning +of the cause in the day of power!" + +"What say ye to the auld Laird of Cuffabout?" said Saddletree; "he whiles +thumps the dust out of a case gey and well." + +"He? the fause loon!" answered Deans--"he was in his bandaliers to hae +joined the ungracious Highlanders in 1715, an they had ever had the luck +to cross the Firth." + +"Weel, Arniston? there's a clever chield for ye!" said Bartoline, +triumphantly. + +"Ay, to bring popish medals in till their very library from that +schismatic woman in the north, the Duchess of Gordon."* + +* [James Dundas younger of Arniston was tried in the year 1711 upon +charge of leasing-making, in having presented, from the Duchess of +Gordon, medal of the Pretender, for the purpose, it was said, of +affronting Queen Anne.] + + "Weel, weel, but somebody ye maun hae--What think ye o' Kittlepunt?" + +"He's an Arminian." + +"Woodsetter?" + +"He's, I doubt, a Cocceian." + +"Auld Whilliewhaw?" + +"He's ony thing ye like." + +"Young Naemmo?" + +"He's naething at a'." + +"Ye're ill to please, neighbour," said Saddletree: "I hae run ower the +pick o' them for you, ye maun e'en choose for yoursell; but bethink ye +that in the multitude of counsellors there's safety--What say ye to try +young Mackenyie? he has a' his uncle's Practiques at the tongue's end." + +"What, sir, wad ye speak to me," exclaimed the sturdy Presbyterian in +excessive wrath, "about a man that has the blood of the saints at his +fingers' ends? Did na his eme [Uncle] die and gang to his place wi' the +name of the Bluidy Mackenyie? and winna he be kend by that name sae lang +as there's a Scots tongue to speak the word? If the life of the dear +bairn that's under a suffering dispensation, and Jeanie's, and my ain, +and a' mankind's, depended on my asking sic a slave o' Satan to speak a +word for me or them, they should a' gae doun the water thegither for +Davie Deans!" + +It was the exalted tone in which he spoke this last sentence that broke +up the conversation between Butler and Jeanie, and brought them both "ben +the house," to use the language of the country. Here they found the poor +old man half frantic between grief and zealous ire against Saddletree's +proposed measures, his cheek inflamed, his hand clenched, and his voice +raised, while the tear in his eye, and the occasional quiver of his +accents, showed that his utmost efforts were inadequate to shaking off +the consciousness of his misery. Butler, apprehensive of the consequences +of his agitation to an aged and feeble frame, ventured to utter to him a +recommendation to patience. + +"I /am/ patient," returned the old man sternly,--"more patient than any +one who is alive to the woeful backslidings of a miserable time can be +patient; and in so much, that I need neither sectarians, nor sons nor +grandsons of sectarians, to instruct my grey hairs how to bear my cross." + +"But, sir," continued Butler, taking no offence at the slur cast on his +grandfather's faith, "we must use human means. When you call in a +physician, you would not, I suppose, question him on the nature of his +religious principles!" + +"Wad I /no?/" answered David--"but I wad, though; and if he didna satisfy +me that he had a right sense of the right hand and left hand defections +of the day, not a goutte of his physic should gang through my father's +son." + +It is a dangerous thing to trust to an illustration. Butler had done so +and miscarried; but, like a gallant soldier when his musket misses fire, +he stood his ground, and charged with the bayonet.--"This is too rigid an +interpretation of your duty, sir. The sun shines, and the rain descends, +on the just and unjust, and they are placed together in life in +circumstances which frequently render intercourse between them +indispensable, perhaps that the evil may have an opportunity of being +converted by the good, and perhaps, also, that the righteous might, among +other trials, be subjected to that of occasional converse with the +profane." + +"Ye're a silly callant, Reuben," answered Deans, "with your bits of +argument. Can a man touch pitch and not be defiled? Or what think ye of +the brave and worthy champions of the Covenant, that wadna sae muckle as +hear a minister speak, be his gifts and graces as they would, that hadna +witnessed against the enormities of the day? Nae lawyer shall ever speak +for me and mine that hasna concurred in the testimony of the scattered, +yet lovely remnant, which abode in the clifts of the rocks." + +So saying, and as if fatigued, both with the arguments and presence of +his guests, the old man arose, and seeming to bid them adieu with a +motion of his head and hand, went to shut himself up in his sleeping +apartment. + +"It's thrawing his daughter's life awa," said Saddletree to Butler, "to +hear him speak in that daft gate. Where will he ever get a Cameronian +advocate? Or wha ever heard of a lawyer's suffering either for ae +religion or another? The lassie's life is clean flung awa." + +During the latter part of this debate, Dumbiedikes had arrived at the +door, dismounted, hung the pony's bridle on the usual hook, and sunk down +on his ordinary settle. His eyes, with more than their usual animation, +followed first one speaker then another, till he caught the melancholy +sense of the whole from Saddletree's last words. He rose from his seat, +stumped slowly across the room, and, coming close up to Saddletree's ear, +said in a tremulous anxious voice, "Will--will siller do naething for +them, Mr. Saddletree?" + +"Umph!" said Saddletree, looking grave,--"siller will certainly do it in +the Parliament House, if ony thing /can/ do it; but where's the siller to +come frae? Mr. Deans, ye see, will do naething; and though Mrs. +Saddletree's their far-awa friend, and right good weel-wisher, and is +weel disposed to assist, yet she wadna like to stand to be bound /singuli +in solidum/ to such an expensive wark. An ilka friend wad bear a share o' +the burden, something might be dune--ilka ane to be liable for their ain +input--I wadna like to see the case fa' through without being pled--it +wadna be creditable, for a' that daft whig body says." + +"I'll--I will--yes" (assuming fortitude), "I will be answerable," said +Dumbiedikes, "for a score of punds sterling."--And he was silent, staring +in astonishment at finding himself capable of such unwonted resolution +and excessive generosity. + +"God Almighty bless ye, Laird!" said Jeanie, in a transport of gratitude. + +"Ye may ca' the twenty punds thretty," said Dumbiedikes, looking +bashfully away from her, and towards Saddletree. + +"That will do bravely," said Saddletree, rubbing his hands; and ye sall +hae a' my skill and knowledge to gar the siller gang far--I'll tape it +out weel--I ken how to gar the birkies tak short fees, and be glad o' +them too--it's only garring them trow ye hae twa or three cases of +importance coming on, and they'll work cheap to get custom. Let me alane +for whilly-whaing an advocate:--it's nae sin to get as muckle flue them +for our siller as we can--after a', it's but the wind o' their mouth--it +costs them naething; whereas, in my wretched occupation of a saddler, +horse milliner, and harness maker, we are out unconscionable sums just +for barkened hides and leather." + +"Can I be of no use?" said Butler. "My means, alas! are only worth the +black coat I wear; but I am young--I owe much to the family--Can I do +nothing?" + +"Ye can help to collect evidence, sir," said Saddletree; "if we could but +find ony ane to say she had gien the least hint o' her condition, she wad +be brought aft wi' a wat finger--Mr. Crossmyloof tell'd me sae. The +crown, says he, canna be craved to prove a positive--was't a positive or +a negative they couldna be ca'd to prove?--it was the tane or the tither +o' them, I am sure, and it maksna muckle matter whilk. Wherefore, says +he, the libel maun be redargued by the panel proving her defences. And it +canna be done otherwise." + +"But the fact, sir," argued Butler, "the fact that this poor girl has +borne a child; surely the crown lawyers must prove that?" said Butler. + +Saddletree paused a moment, while the visage of Dumbiedikes, which +traversed, as if it had been placed on a pivot, from the one spokesman to +the other, assumed a more blithe expression. + +"Ye--ye--ye--es," said Saddletree, after some grave hesitation; +"unquestionably that is a thing to be proved, as the court will more +fully declare by an interlocutor of relevancy in common form; but I fancy +that job's done already, for she has confessed her guilt." + +"Confessed the murder?" exclaimed Jeanie, with a scream that made them +all start. + +"No, I didna say that," replied Bartoline. "But she confessed bearing the +babe." + +"And what became of it, then?" said Jeanie, "for not a word could I get +from her but bitter sighs and tears." + +"She says it was taken away from her by the woman in whose house it was +born, and who assisted her at the time." + +"And who was that woman?" said Butler. "Surely by her means the truth +might be discovered.--Who was she? I will fly to her directly." + +"I wish," said Dumbiedikes, "I were as young and as supple as you, and +had the gift of the gab as weel." + +"Who is she?" again reiterated Butler impatiently.--"Who could that woman +be?" + +"Ay, wha kens that but herself?" said Saddletree; "she deponed farther, +and declined to answer that interrogatory." + +"Then to herself will I instantly go," said Butler; "farewell, Jeanie;" +then coming close up to her--"Take no /rash steps/ till you hear from me. +Farewell!" and he immediately left the cottage. + +"I wad gang too," said the landed proprietor, in an anxious, jealous, and +repining tone, "but my powny winna for the life o' me gang ony other road +than just frae Dumbiedikes to this house-end, and sae straight back +again." + +"Yell do better for them," said Saddletree, as they left the house +together, "by sending me the thretty punds." + +"Thretty punds!" hesitated Dumbiedikes, who was now out of the reach of +those eyes which had inflamed his generosity; "I only said /twenty/ +punds." + +"Ay; but," said Saddletree, "that was under protestation to add and eik; +and so ye craved leave to amend your libel, and made it thretty." + +"Did I? I dinna mind that I did," answered Dumbiedikes. "But whatever I +said I'll stand to." Then bestriding his steed with some difficulty, he +added, "Dinna ye think poor Jeanie's een wi' the tears in them glanced +like lamour beads, Mr. Saddletree?" + +"I kenna muckle about women's een, Laird," replied the insensible +Bartoline; "and I care just as little. I wuss I were as weel free o' +their tongues; though few wives," he added, recollecting the necessity of +keeping up his character for domestic rule, "are under better command +than mine, Laird. I allow neither perduellion nor lese-majesty against my +sovereign authority." + +The Laird saw nothing so important in this observation as to call for a +rejoinder, and when they had exchanged a mute salutation, they parted in +peace upon their different errands. + + + + + CHAPTER TWELFTH. + + + I'll warrant that fellow from drowning, + were the ship no stronger than a nut-shell. + + The Tempest. + +Butler felt neither fatigue nor want of refreshment, although, from the +mode in which he had spent the night, he might well have been overcome +with either. But in the earnestness with which he hastened to the +assistance of the sister of Jeanie Deans, he forgot both. + +In his first progress he walked with so rapid a pace as almost approached +to running, when he was surprised to hear behind him a call upon his +name, contending with an asthmatic cough, and half-drowned amid the +resounding trot of a Highland pony. He looked behind, and saw the Laird +of Dumbiedikes making after him with what speed he might, for it +happened, fortunately for the Laird's purpose of conversing with Butler, +that his own road homeward was for about two hundred yards the same with +that which led by the nearest way to the city. Butler stopped when he +heard himself thus summoned, internally wishing no good to the panting +equestrian who thus retarded his journey. + +"Uh! uh! uh!" ejaculated Dumbiedikes, as he checked the hobbling pace of +the pony by our friend Butler. "Uh! uh! it's a hard-set willyard beast +this o' mine." He had in fact just overtaken the object of his chase at +the very point beyond which it would have been absolutely impossible for +him to have continued the pursuit, since there Butler's road parted from +that leading to Dumbiedikes, and no means of influence or compulsion +which the rider could possibly have used towards his Bucephalus could +have induced the Celtic obstinacy of Rory Bean (such was the pony's name) +to have diverged a yard from the path that conducted him to his own +paddock. + +Even when he had recovered from the shortness of breath occasioned by a +trot much more rapid than Rory or he were accustomed to, the high purpose +of Dumbiedikes seemed to stick as it were in his throat, and impede his +utterance, so that Butler stood for nearly three minutes ere he could +utter a syllable; and when he did find voice, it was only to say, after +one or two efforts, "Uh! uh! uhm! I say, Mr.--Mr. Butler, it's a braw day +for the har'st." + +"Fine day, indeed," said Butler. "I wish you good morning, sir." + +"Stay--stay a bit," rejoined Dumbiedikes; "that was no what I had gotten +to say." + +"Then, pray be quick, and let me have your commands," rejoined Butler; "I +crave your pardon, but I am in haste, and /Tempus nemini/--you know the +proverb." + +Dumbiedikes did not know the proverb, nor did he even take the trouble to +endeavour to look as if he did, as others in his place might have done. +He was concentrating all his intellects for one grand proposition, and +could not afford any detachment to defend outposts. "I say, Mr. Butler," +said he, "ken ye if Mr. Saddletree's a great lawyer?" + +"I have no person's word for it but his own," answered Butler, drily; +"but undoubtedly he best understands his own qualities." + +"Umph!" replied the taciturn Dumbiedikes, in a tone which seemed to say, +"Mr. Butler, I take your meaning." "In that case," he pursued, "I'll +employ my ain man o' business, Nichil Novit (auld Nichil's son, and +amaist as gleg as his father), to agent Effie's plea." + +And having thus displayed more sagacity than Butler expected from him, he +courteously touched his gold-laced cocked hat, and by a punch on the +ribs, conveyed to Rory Bean, it was his rider's pleasure that he should +forthwith proceed homewards; a hint which the quadruped obeyed with that +degree of alacrity with which men and animals interpret and obey +suggestions that entirely correspond with their own inclinations. + +Butler resumed his pace, not without a momentary revival of that jealousy +which the honest Laird's attention to the family of Deans had at +different times excited in his bosom. But he was too generous long to +nurse any feeling which was allied to selfishness. "He is," said Butler +to himself, "rich in what I want; why should I feel vexed that he has the +heart to dedicate some of his pelf to render them services, which I can +only form the empty wish of executing? In God's name, let us each do what +we can. May she be but happy!--saved from the misery and disgrace that +seems impending--Let me but find the means of preventing the fearful +experiment of this evening, and farewell to other thoughts, though my +heart-strings break in parting with them!" + +He redoubled his pace, and soon stood before the door of the Tolbooth, or +rather before the entrance where the door had formerly been placed. His +interview with the mysterious stranger, the message to Jeanie, his +agitating conversation with her on the subject of breaking off their +mutual engagements, and the interesting scene with old Deans, had so +entirely occupied his mind as to drown even recollection of the tragical +event which he had witnessed the preceding evening. His attention was not +recalled to it by the groups who stood scattered on the street in +conversation, which they hushed when strangers approached, or by the +bustling search of the agents of the city police, supported by small +parties of the military, or by the appearance of the Guard-House, before +which were treble sentinels, or, finally, by the subdued and intimidated +looks of the lower orders of society, who, conscious that they were +liable to suspicion, if they were not guilty of accession to a riot +likely to be strictly inquired into, glided about with an humble and +dismayed aspect, like men whose spirits being exhausted in the revel and +the dangers of a desperate debauch over-night, are nerve-shaken, +timorous, and unenterprising on the succeeding day. + +None of these symptoms of alarm and trepidation struck Butler, whose mind +was occupied with a different, and to him still more interesting subject, +until he stood before the entrance to the prison, and saw it defended by +a double file of grenadiers, instead of bolts and bars. Their "Stand, +stand!" the blackened appearance of the doorless gateway, and the winding +staircase and apartments of the Tolbooth, now open to the public eye, +recalled the whole proceedings of the eventful night. Upon his requesting +to speak with Effie Deans, the same tall, thin, silver-haired turnkey, +whom he had seen on the preceding evening, made his appearance, + +"I think," he replied to Butler's request of admission, with true +Scottish indirectness, "ye will be the same lad that was for in to see +her yestreen?" + +Butler admitted he was the same person. + +"And I am thinking," pursued the turnkey, "that ye speered at me when we +locked up, and if we locked up earlier on account of Porteous?" + +"Very likely I might make some such observation," said Butler; "but the +question now is, can I see Effie Deans?" + +"I dinna ken--gang in by, and up the turnpike stair, and turn till the +ward on the left hand." + +The old man followed close behind him, with his keys in his hand, not +forgetting even that huge one which had once opened and shut the outward +gate of his dominions, though at present it was but an idle and useless +burden. No sooner had Butler entered the room to which he was directed, +than the experienced hand of the warder selected the proper key, and +locked it on Rthe outside. At first Butler conceived this manoeuvre was +only an effect of the man's habitual and official caution and jealousy. +But when he heard the hoarse command, "Turn out the guard!" and +immediately afterwards heard the clash of a sentinel's arms, as he was +posted at the door of his apartment, he again called out to the turnkey, +"My good friend, I have business of some consequence with Effie Deans, +and I beg to see her as soon as possible." No answer was returned. "If it +be against your rules to admit me," repeated Butler, in a still louder +tone, "to see the prisoner, I beg you will tell me so, and let me go +about my business.--/Fugit irrevocabile tempus!/" muttered he to himself. + +"If ye had business to do, ye suld hae dune it before ye cam here," +replied the man of keys from the outside; "yell find it's easier wunnin +in than wunnin out here--there's sma' likelihood o' another Porteous mob +coming to rabble us again--the law will haud her ain now, neighbour, and +that yell find to your cost." + +"What do you mean by that, sir?" retorted Butler. "You must mistake me +for some other person. My name is Reuben Butler, preacher of the gospel." + +"I ken that weel eneugh," said the turnkey. + +"Well, then, if you know me, I have a right to know from you in return, +what warrant you have for detaining me; that, I know, is the right of +every British subject." + +"Warrant!" said the jailor,--"the warrant's awa to Libberton wi' twa +sheriff officers seeking ye. If ye had staid at hame, as honest men +should do, ye wad hae seen the warrant; but if ye come to be incarcerated +of your ain accord, wha can help it, my jo?" + +"'So I cannot see Effie Deans, then," said Butler; "and you are +determined not to let me out?" + +"Troth will I no, neighbour," answered the old man, doggedly; "as for +Effie Deans, ye'll hae eneuch ado to mind your ain business, and let her +mind hers; and for letting you out, that maun be as the magistrate will +determine. And fare ye weel for a bit, for I maun see Deacon Sawyers put +on ane or twa o' the doors that your quiet folk broke down yesternight, +Mr. Butler." + +There was something in this exquisitely provoking, but there was also +something darkly alarming. To be imprisoned, even on a false accusation, +has something in it disagreeable and menacing even to men of more +constitutional courage than Butler had to boast; for although he had much +of that resolution which arises from a sense of duty and an honourable +desire to discharge it, yet, as his imagination was lively, and his frame +of body delicate, he was far from possessing that cool insensibility to +danger which is the happy portion of men of stronger health, more firm +nerves, and less acute sensibility. An indistinct idea of peril, which he +could neither understand nor ward off, seemed to float before his eyes. +He tried to think over the events of the preceding night, in hopes of +discovering some means of explaining or vindicating his conduct for +appearing among the mob, since it immediately occurred to him that his +detention must be founded on that circumstance. And it was with anxiety +that he found he could not recollect to have been under the observation +of any disinterested witness in the attempts that he made from time to +time to expostulate with the rioters, and to prevail on them to release +him. The distress of Deans's family, the dangerous rendezvous which +Jeanie had formed, and which he could not now hope to interrupt, had also +their share in his unpleasant reflections. Yet, impatient as he was to +receive an /e'claircissement/ upon the cause of his confinement, and if +possible to obtain his liberty, he was affected with a trepidation which +seemed no good omen; when, after remaining an hour in this solitary +apartment, he received a summons to attend the sitting magistrate. He was +conducted from prison strongly guarded by a party of soldiers, with a +parade of precaution, that, however ill-timed and unnecessary, is +generally displayed /after/ an event, which such precaution, if used in +time, might have prevented. + +He was introduced into the Council Chamber, as the place is called where +the magistrates hold their sittings, and which was then at a little +distance from the prison. One or two of the senators of the city were +present, and seemed about to engage in the examination of an individual +who was brought forward to the foot of the long green-covered table round +which the council usually assembled. "Is that the preacher?" said one of +the magistrates, as the city officer in attendance introduced Butler. The +man answered in the affirmative. "Let him sit down there for an instant; +we will finish this man's business very briefly." + +"Shall we remove Mr. Butler?" queried the assistant. + +"It is not necessary--Let him remain where he is." + +Butler accordingly sate down on a bench at the bottom of the apartment, +attended by one of his keepers. + +It was a large room, partially and imperfectly lighted; but by chance, or +the skill of the architect, who might happen to remember the advantage +which might occasionally be derived from such an arrangement, one window +was so placed as to throw a strong light at the foot of the table at +which prisoners were usually posted for examination, while the upper end, +where the examinants sate, was thrown into shadow. Butler's eyes were +instantly fixed on the person whose examination was at present +proceeding, in the idea that he might recognise some one of the +conspirators of the former night. But though the features of this man +were sufficiently marked and striking, he could not recollect that he had +ever seen them before. + +The complexion of this person was dark, and his age somewhat advanced. He +wore his own hair, combed smooth down, and cut very short. It was jet +black, slightly curled by nature, and already mottled with grey. The +man's face expressed rather knavery than vice, and a disposition to +sharpness, cunning, and roguery, more than the traces of stormy and +indulged passions. His sharp quick black eyes, acute features, ready +sardonic smile, promptitude and effrontery, gave him altogether what is +called among the vulgar a /knowing/ look, which generally implies a +tendency to knavery. At a fair or market, you could not for a moment have +doubted that he was a horse-jockey, intimate with all the tricks of his +trade; yet, had you met him on a moor, you would not have apprehended any +violence from him. His dress was also that of a horse-dealer--a +close-buttoned jockey-coat, or wrap-rascal, as it was then termed, with +huge metal buttons, coarse blue upper stockings, called boot-hose because +supplying the place of boots, and a slouched hat. He only wanted a loaded +whip under his arm and a spur upon one heel, to complete the dress of the +character he seemed to represent. + +"Your name is James Ratcliffe?" said the magistrate. + +"Ay--always wi' your honour's leave." + +"That is to say, you could find me another name if I did not like that +one?" + +"Twenty to pick and choose upon, always with your honour's leave," +resumed the respondent. + +"But James Ratcliffe is your present name?--what is your trade?" + +"I canna just say, distinctly, that I have what ye wad ca' preceesely a +trade." + +"But," repeated the magistrate, "what are your means of living--your +occupation?" + +"Hout tout--your honour, wi' your leave, kens that as weel as I do," +replied the examined. + +"No matter, I want to hear you describe it," said the examinant. + +"Me describe!--and to your honour!--far be it from Jemmie Ratcliffe," +responded the prisoner. + +"Come, sir, no trifling--I insist on an answer." + +"Weel, sir," replied the declarant, "I maun make a clean breast, for ye +see, wi' your leave, I am looking for favour--Describe my occupation, +quo' ye?--troth it will be ill to do that, in a feasible way, in a place +like this--but what is't again that the aught command says?" + +"Thou shalt not steal," answered the magistrate. + +"Are you sure o' that?" replied the accused.--"Troth, then, my +occupation, and that command, are sair at odds, for I read it, thou +/shalt/ steal; and that makes an unco difference, though there's but a +wee bit word left out." + +"To cut the matter short, Ratcliffe, you have been a most notorious +thief," said the examinant. + +"I believe Highlands and Lowlands ken that, sir, forby England and +Holland," replied Ratcliffe, with the greatest composure and effrontery. + +"And what d'ye think the end of your calling will be?" said the +magistrate. + +"I could have gien a braw guess yesterday--but I dinna ken sae weel the +day," answered the prisoner. + +"And what would you have said would have been your end, had you been +asked the question yesterday?" + +"Just the gallows," replied Ratcliffe, with the same composure. + +"You are a daring rascal, sir," said the magistrate; "and how dare you +hope times are mended with you to-day?" + +"Dear, your honour," answered Ratcliffe, "there's muckle difference +between lying in prison under sentence of death, and staying there of +ane's ain proper accord, when it would have cost a man naething to get up +and rin awa--what was to hinder me from stepping out quietly, when the +rabble walked awa wi' Jock Porteous yestreen?--and does your honour +really think I staid on purpose to be hanged?" + +"I do not know what you may have proposed to yourself; but I know," said +the magistrate, "what the law proposes for you, and that is, to hang you +next Wednesday eight days." + +"Na, na, your honour," said Ratcliffe firmly, "craving your honour's +pardon, I'll ne'er believe that till I see it. I have kend the law this +mony a year, and mony a thrawart job I hae had wi' her first and last; +but the auld jaud is no sae ill as that comes to--I aye fand her bark +waur than her bite." + +"And if you do not expect the gallows, to which you are condemned (for +the fourth time to my knowledge), may I beg the favour to know," said the +magistrate, "what it is you /do/ expect, in consideration of your not +having taken your flight with the rest of the jail-birds, which I will +admit was a line of conduct little to have been expected?" + +"I would never have thought for a moment of staying in that auld gousty +toom house," answered Ratcliffe, "but that use and wont had just gien me +a fancy to the place, and I'm just expecting a bit post in't." + +"A post!" exclaimed the magistrate; "a whipping-post, I suppose, you +mean?" + +"Na, na, sir, I had nae thoughts o' a whuppin-post. After having been +four times doomed to hang by the neck till I was dead, I think I am far +beyond being whuppit." + +"Then, in Heaven's name, what /did/ you expect?" + +"Just the post of under-turnkey, for I understand there's a vacancy," +said the prisoner; "I wadna think of asking the lockman's* place ower his +head; it wadna suit me sae weel as ither folk, for I never could put a +beast out o' the way, much less deal wi' a man." + +* Note H. Hangman, or Lockman. + +"That's something in your favour," said the magistrate, making exactly +the inference to which Ratcliffe was desirous to lead him, though he +mantled his art with an affectation of oddity. + +"But," continued the magistrate, "how do you think you can be trusted +with a charge in the prison, when you have broken at your own hand half +the jails in Scotland?" + +"Wi' your honour's leave," said Ratcliffe, "if I kend sae weel how to wun +out mysell, it's like I wad be a' the better a hand to keep other folk +in. I think they wad ken their business weel that held me in when I +wanted to be out, or wan out when I wanted to hand them in." + +The remark seemed to strike the magistrate, but he made no further +immediate observation, only desired Ratcliffe to be removed. + +When this daring and yet sly freebooter was out of hearing, the +magistrate asked the city clerk, "what he thought of the fellow's +assurance?" + +"It's no for me to say, sir," replied the clerk; "but if James Ratcliffe +be inclined to turn to good, there is not a man e'er came within the +ports of the burgh could be of sae muckle use to the Good Town in the +thief and lock-up line of business. I'll speak to Mr. Sharpitlaw about +him." + +Upon Ratcliffe's retreat, Butler was placed at the table for examination. +The magistrate conducted his inquiry civilly, but yet in a manner which +gave him to understand that he laboured under strong suspicion. With a +frankness which at once became his calling and character, Butler avowed +his involuntary presence at the murder of Porteous, and, at the request +of the magistrate, entered into a minute detail of the circumstances +which attended that unhappy affair. All the particulars, such as we have +narrated, were taken minutely down by the clerk from Butler's dictation. + +When the narrative was concluded, the cross-examination commenced, which +it is a painful task even for the most candid witness to undergo, since a +story, especially if connected with agitating and alarming incidents, can +scarce be so clearly and distinctly told, but that some ambiguity and +doubt may be thrown upon it by a string of successive and minute +interrogatories. + +The magistrate commenced by observing, that Butler had said his object +was to return to the village of Libberton, but that he was interrupted by +the mob at the West Port. "Is the West Port your usual way of leaving +town when you go to Libberton?" said the magistrate, with a sneer. + +"No, certainly," answered Butler, with the haste of a man anxious to +vindicate the accuracy of his evidence; "but I chanced to be nearer that +port than any other, and the hour of shutting the gates was on the point +of striking." + +"That was unlucky," said the magistrate, drily. "Pray, being, as you say, +under coercion and fear of the lawless multitude, and compelled to +accompany them through scenes disagreeable to all men of humanity, and +more especially irreconcilable to the profession of a minister, did you +not attempt to struggle, resist, or escape from their violence?" + +Butler replied, "that their numbers prevented him from attempting +resistance, and their vigilance from effecting his escape." + +"That was unlucky," again repeated the magistrate, in the same dry +inacquiescent tone of voice and manner. He proceeded with decency and +politeness, but with a stiffness which argued his continued suspicion, to +ask many questions concerning the behaviour of the mob, the manners and +dress of the ringleaders; and when he conceived that the caution of +Butler, if he was deceiving him, must be lulled asleep, the magistrate +suddenly and artfully returned to former parts of his declaration, and +required a new recapitulation of the circumstances, to the minutest and +most trivial point, which attended each part of the melancholy scene. No +confusion or contradiction, however, occurred, that could countenance the +suspicion which he seemed to have adopted against Butler. At length the +train of his interrogatories reached Madge Wildfire, at whose name the +magistrate and town-clerk exchanged significant glances. If the fate of +the Good Town had depended on her careful magistrate's knowing the +features and dress of this personage, his inquiries could not have been +more particular. But Butler could say almost nothing of this person's +features, which were disguised apparently with red paint and soot, like +an Indian going to battle, besides the projecting shade of a curch, or +coif, which muffled the hair of the supposed female. He declared that he +thought he could not know this Madge Wildfire, if placed before him in a +different dress, but that he believed he might recognise her voice. + +The magistrate requested him again to state by what gate he left the +city. + +"By the Cowgate Port," replied Butler. + +"Was that the nearest road to Libberton?" + +"No," answered Butler, with embarrassment; "but it was the nearest way to +extricate myself from the mob." + +The clerk and magistrate again exchanged glances. + +"Is the Cowgate Port a nearer way to Libberton from the Grassmarket than +Bristo Port?" + +"No," replied Butler; "but I had to visit a friend." + +"Indeed!" said the interrogator--"You were in a hurry to tell the sight +you had witnessed, I suppose?" + +"Indeed I was not," replied Butler; "nor did I speak on the subject the +whole time I was at St. Leonard's Crags." + +"Which road did you take to St. Leonard's Crags?" + +"By the foot of Salisbury Crags," was the reply. + +"Indeed? you seem partial to circuitous routes," again said the +magistrate. "Whom did you see after you left the city?" + +One by one he obtained a description of every one of the groups who had +passed Butler, as already noticed, their number, demeanour, and +appearance; and, at length, came to the circumstance of the mysterious +stranger in the King's Park. On this subject Butler would fain have +remained silent, But the magistrate had no sooner got a slight hint +concerning the incident, than he seemed bent to possess himself of the +most minute particulars. + +"Look ye, Mr. Butler," said he, "you are a young man, and bear an +excellent character; so much I will myself testify in your favour. But we +are aware there has been, at times, a sort of bastard and fiery zeal in +some of your order, and those, men irreproachable in other points, which +has led them into doing and countenancing great irregularities, by which +the peace of the country is liable to be shaken.--I will deal plainly +with you. I am not at all satisfied with this story, of your setting out +again and again to seek your dwelling by two several roads, which were +both circuitous. And, to be frank, no one whom we have examined on this +unhappy affair could trace in your appearance any thing like your acting +under compulsion. Moreover, the waiters at the Cowgate Port observed +something like the trepidation of guilt in your conduct, and declare that +you were the first to command them to open the gate, in a tone of +authority, as if still presiding over the guards and out-posts of the +rabble, who had besieged them the whole night." + +"God forgive them!" said Butler; "I only asked free passage for myself; +they must have much misunderstood, if they did not wilfully misrepresent +me." + +"Well, Mr. Butler," resumed the magistrate, "I am inclined to judge the +best and hope the best, as I am sure I wish the best; but you must be +frank with me, if you wish to secure my good opinion, and lessen the risk +of inconvenience to yourself. You have allowed you saw another individual +in your passage through the King's Park to Saint Leonard's Crags--I must +know every word which passed betwixt you." + +Thus closely pressed, Butler, who had no reason for concealing what +passed at that meeting, unless because Jeanie Deans was concerned in it, +thought it best to tell the whole truth from beginning to end. + +"Do you suppose," said the magistrate, pausing, "that the young woman +will accept an invitation so mysterious?" + +"I fear she will," replied Butler. + +"Why do you use the word /fear/ it?" said the magistrate. + +"Because I am apprehensive for her safety, in meeting at such a time and +place, one who had something of the manner of a desperado, and whose +message was of a character so inexplicable." + +"Her safety shall be cared for," said the magistrate. "Mr. Butler, I am +concerned I cannot immediately discharge you from confinement, but I hope +you will not be long detained.--Remove Mr. Butler, and let him be +provided with decent accommodation in all respects." + +He was conducted back to the prison accordingly; but, in the food offered +to him, as well as in the apartment in which he was lodged, the +recommendation of the magistrate was strictly attended to. + + + + + + CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. + + + Dark and eerie was the night, + And lonely was the way, + As Janet, wi' her green mantell, + To Miles' Cross she did gae. + Old Ballad. + +Leaving Butler to all the uncomfortable thoughts attached to his new +situation, among which the most predominant was his feeling that he was, +by his confinement, deprived of all possibility of assisting the family +at St. Leonard's in their greatest need, we return to Jeanie Deans, who +had seen him depart, without an opportunity of farther explanation, in +all that agony of mind with which the female heart bids adieu to the +complicated sensations so well described by Coleridge,-- + + + Hopes, and fears that kindle hope, + An undistinguishable throng; + And gentle wishes long subdued-- + Subdued and cherished long. + +It is not the firmest heart (and Jeanie, under her russet rokelay, had +one that would not have disgraced Cato's daughter) that can most easily +bid adieu to these soft and mingled emotions. She wept for a few minutes +bitterly, and without attempting to refrain from this indulgence of +passion. But a moment's recollection induced her to check herself for a +grief selfish and proper to her own affections, while her father and +sister were plunged into such deep and irretrievable affliction. She drew +from her pocket the letter which had been that morning flung into her +apartment through an open window, and the contents of which were as +singular as the expression was violent and energetic. "If she would save +a human being from the most damning guilt, and all its desperate +consequences,--if she desired the life an honour of her sister to be +saved from the bloody fangs of an unjust law,--if she desired not to +forfeit peace of mind here, and happiness hereafter," such was the +frantic style of the conjuration, "she was entreated to give a sure, +secret, and solitary meeting to the writer. She alone could rescue him," +so ran the letter, "and he only could rescue her." He was in such +circumstances, the billet farther informed her, that an attempt to bring +any witness of their conference, or even to mention to her father, or any +other person whatsoever, the letter which requested it, would inevitably +prevent its taking place, and ensure the destruction of her sister. The +letter concluded with incoherent but violent protestations, that in +obeying this summons she had nothing to fear personally. + +The message delivered to her by Butler from the stranger in the Park +tallied exactly with the contents of the letter, but assigned a later +hour and a different place of meeting. Apparently the writer of the +letter had been compelled to let Butler so far into his confidence, for +the sake of announcing this change to Jeanie. She was more than once on +the point of producing the billet, in vindication of herself from her +lover's half-hinted suspicions. But there is something in stooping to +justification which the pride of innocence does not at all times +willingly submit to; besides that the threats contained in the letter, in +case of her betraying the secret, hung heavy on her heart. It is +probable, however, that had they remained longer together, she might have +taken the resolution to submit the whole matter to Butler, and be guided +by him as to the line of conduct which she should adopt. And when, by the +sudden interruption of their conference, she lost the opportunity of +doing so, she felt as if she had been unjust to a friend, whose advice +might have been highly useful, and whose attachment deserved her full and +unreserved confidence. + +To have recourse to her father upon this occasion, she considered as +highly imprudent. There was no possibility of conjecturing in what light +the matter might strike old David, whose manner of acting and thinking in +extraordinary circumstances depended upon feelings and principles +peculiar to himself, the operation of which could not be calculated upon +even by those best acquainted with him. To have requested some female +friend to have accompanied her to the place of rendezvous, would perhaps +have been the most eligible expedient; but the threats of the writer, +that betraying his secret would prevent their meeting (on which her +sister's safety was said to depend) from taking place at all, would have +deterred her from making such a confidence, even had she known a person +in whom she thought it could with safety have been reposed. But she knew +none such. Their acquaintance with the cottagers in the vicinity had been +very slight, and limited to trifling acts of good neighbourhood. Jeanie +knew little of them, and what she knew did not greatly incline her to +trust any of them. They were of the order of loquacious good-humoured +gossips usually found in their situation of life; and their conversation +had at all times few charms for a young woman, to whom nature and the +circumstance of a solitary life had given a depth of thought and force of +character superior to the frivolous part of her sex, whether in high or +low degree. + +Left alone and separated from all earthly counsel, she had recourse to a +friend and adviser, whose ear is open to the cry of the poorest and most +afflicted of his people. She knelt, and prayed with fervent sincerity, +that God would please to direct her what course to follow in her arduous +and distressing situation. It was the belief of the time and sect to +which she belonged, that special answers to prayer, differing little in +their character from divine inspiration, were, as they expressed it, +"borne in upon their minds" in answer to their earnest petitions in a +crisis of difficulty. Without entering into an abstruse point of +divinity, one thing is plain;--namely, that the person who lays open his +doubts and distresses in prayer, with feeling and sincerity, must +necessarily, in the act of doing so, purify his mind from the dross of +worldly passions and interests, and bring it into that state, when the +resolutions adopted are likely to be selected rather from a sense of +duty, than from any inferior motive. Jeanie arose from her devotions, +with her heart fortified to endure affliction, and encouraged to face +difficulties. + +"I will meet this unhappy man," she said to herself--"unhappy he must be, +since I doubt he has been the cause of poor Effie's misfortune--but I +will meet him, be it for good or ill. My mind shall never cast up to me, +that, for fear of what might be said or done to myself, I left that +undone that might even yet be the rescue of her." + +With a mind greatly composed since the adoption of this resolution, she +went to attend her father. The old man, firm in the principles of his +youth, did not, in outward appearance at least, permit a thought of hit +family distress to interfere with the stoical reserve of his countenance +and manners. He even chid his daughter for having neglected, in the +distress of the morning, some trifling domestic duties which fell under +her department. + +"Why, what meaneth this, Jeanie?" said the old man--"The brown +four-year-auld's milk is not seiled yet, nor the bowies put up on the +bink. If ye neglect your warldly duties in the day of affliction, what +confidence have I that ye mind the greater matters that concern +salvation? God knows, our bowies, and our pipkins, and our draps o' milk, +and our bits o' bread, are nearer and dearer to us than the bread of +life!" + +Jeanie, not unpleased to hear her father's thoughts thus expand +themselves beyond the sphere of his immediate distress, obeyed him, and +proceeded to put her household matters in order; while old David moved +from place to place about his ordinary employments, scarce showing, +unless by a nervous impatience at remaining long stationary, an +occasional convulsive sigh, or twinkle of the eyelid, that he was +labouring under the yoke of such bitter affliction. + +The hour of noon came on, and the father and child sat down to their +homely repast. In his petition for a blessing on the meal, the poor old +man added to his supplication, a prayer that the bread eaten in sadness +of heart, and the bitter waters of Marah, might be made as nourishing as +those which had been poured forth from a full cup and a plentiful basket +and store; and having concluded his benediction, and resumed the bonnet +which he had laid "reverently aside," he proceeded to exhort his daughter +to eat, not by example indeed, but at least by precept. + +"The man after God's own heart," he said, "washed and anointed himself, +and did eat bread, in order to express his submission under a +dispensation of suffering, and it did not become a Christian man or woman +so to cling to creature-comforts of wife or bairns"--(here the words +became too great, as it were, for his utterance),--"as to forget the fist +duty,--submission to the Divine will." + +To add force to his precept, he took a morsel on his plate, but nature +proved too strong even for the powerful feelings with which he +endeavoured to bridle it. Ashamed of his weakness, he started up, and ran +out of the house, with haste very unlike the deliberation of his usual +movements. In less than five minutes he returned, having successfully +struggled to recover his ordinary composure of mind and countenance, and +affected to colour over his late retreat, by muttering that he thought he +heard the "young staig loose in the byre." + +He did not again trust himself with the subject of his former +conversation, and his daughter was glad to see that he seemed to avoid +farther discourse on that agitating topic. The hours glided on, as on +they must and do pass, whether winged with joy or laden with affliction. +The sun set beyond the dusky eminence of the Castle and the screen of +western hills, and the close of evening summoned David Deans and his +daughter to the family duty of the night. It came bitterly upon Jeanie's +recollection, how often, when the hour of worship approached, she used to +watch the lengthening shadows, and look out from the door of the house, +to see if she could spy her sister's return homeward. Alas! this idle and +thoughtless waste of time, to what evils had it not finally led? and was +she altogether guiltless, who, noticing Effie's turn to idle and light +society, had not called in her father's authority to restrain her?--But I +acted for the best, she again reflected, and who could have expected such +a growth of evil, from one grain of human leaven, in a disposition so +kind, and candid, and generous? + +As they sate down to the "exercise," as it is called, a chair happened +accidentally to stand in the place which Effie usually occupied. David +Deans saw his daughter's eyes swim in tears as they were directed towards +this object, and pushed it aside, with a gesture of some impatience, as +if desirous to destroy every memorial of earthly interest when about to +address the Deity. The portion of Scripture was read, the psalm was sung, +the prayer was made; and it was remarkable that, in discharging these +duties, the old man avoided all passages and expressions, of which +Scripture affords so many, that might be considered as applicable to his +own domestic misfortune. In doing so it was perhaps his intention to +spare the feelings of his daughter, as well as to maintain, in outward +show at least, that stoical appearance of patient endurance of all the +evil which earth could bring, which was in his opinion essential to the +character of one who rated all earthly things at their just estimate of +nothingness. When he had finished the duty of the evening, he came up to +his daughter, wished her good-night, and, having done so, continued to +hold her by the hands for half-a-minute; then drawing her towards him, +kissed her forehead, and ejaculated, "The God of Israel bless you, even +with the blessings of the promise, my dear bairn!" + +It was not either in the nature or habits of David Deans to seem a fond +father; nor was he often observed to experience, or at least to evince, +that fulness of the heart which seeks to expand itself in tender +expressions or caresses even to those who were dearest to him. On the +contrary, he used to censure this as a degree of weakness in several of +his neighbours, and particularly in poor widow Butler. It followed, +however, from the rarity of such emotions in this self-denied and +reserved man, that his children attached to occasional marks of his +affection and approbation a degree of high interest and solemnity; well +considering them as evidences of feelings which were only expressed when +they became too intense for suppression or concealment. + +With deep emotion, therefore, did he bestow, and his daughter receive, +this benediction and paternal caress. "And you, my dear father," +exclaimed Jeanie, when the door had closed upon the venerable old man, +"may you have purchased and promised blessings multiplied upon you--upon +/you,/ who walk in this world as though you were not of the world, and +hold all that it can give or take away but as the /midges/ that the +sun-blink brings out, and the evening wind sweeps away!" + +She now made preparation for her night-walk. Her father slept in another +part of the dwelling, and, regular in all his habits, seldom or never +left his apartment when he had betaken himself to it for the evening. It +was therefore easy for her to leave the house unobserved, so soon as the +time approached at which she was to keep her appointment. But the step +she was about to take had difficulties and terrors in her own eyes, +though she had no reason to apprehend her father's interference. Her life +had been spent in the quiet, uniform, and regular seclusion of their +peaceful and monotonous household. The very hour which some damsels of +the present day, as well of her own as of higher degree, would consider +as the natural period of commencing an evening of pleasure, brought, in +her opinion, awe and solemnity in it; and the resolution she had taken +had a strange, daring, and adventurous character, to which she could +hardly reconcile herself when the moment approached for putting it into +execution. Her hands trembled as she snooded her fair hair beneath the +riband, then the only ornament or cover which young unmarried women wore +on their head, and as she adjusted the scarlet tartan screen or muffler +made of plaid, which the Scottish women wore, much in the fashion of the +black silk veils still a part of female dress in the Netherlands. A sense +of impropriety as well as of danger pressed upon her, as she lifted the +latch of her paternal mansion to leave it on so wild an expedition, and +at so late an hour, unprotected, and without the knowledge of her natural +guardian. + +When she found herself abroad and in the open fields, additional subjects +of apprehension crowded upon her. The dim cliffs and scattered rocks, +interspersed with greensward, through which she had to pass to the place +of appointment, as they glimmered before her in a clear autumn night, +recalled to her memory many a deed of violence, which, according to +tradition, had been done and suffered among them. In earlier days they +had been the haunt of robbers and assassins, the memory of whose crimes +is preserved in the various edicts which the council of the city, and +even the parliament of Scotland, had passed for dispersing their bands, +and ensuring safety to the lieges, so near the precincts of the city. The +names of these criminals, and, of their atrocities, were still remembered +in traditions of the scattered cottages and the neighbouring suburb. In +latter times, as we have already noticed, the sequestered and broken +character of the ground rendered it a fit theatre for duels and +rencontres among the fiery youth of the period. Two or three of these +incidents, all sanguinary, and one of them fatal in its termination, had +happened since Deans came to live at St. Leonard's. His daughter's +recollections, therefore, were of blood and horror as she pursued the +small scarce-tracked solitary path, every step of which conveyed het to a +greater distance from help, and deeper into the ominous seclusion of +these unhallowed precincts. + +As the moon began to peer forth on the scene with a doubtful, flitting, +and solemn light, Jeanie's apprehensions took another turn, too peculiar +to her rank and country to remain unnoticed. But to trace its origin will +require another chapter. + + + + + + CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. + + + The spirit I have seen + May be the devil. And the devil has power + To assume a pleasing shape. + Hamlet. + +Withcraft and demonology, as we have already had occasion to remark, were +at this period believed in by almost all ranks, but more especially among +the stricter classes of Presbyterians, whose government, when their party +were at the head of the state, had been much sullied by their eagerness +to inquire into and persecute these imaginary crimes. Now, in this point +of view, also, Saint Leonard's Crags and the adjacent Chase were a +dreaded and ill-reputed district. Not only had witches held their +meetings there, but even of very late years the enthusiast or impostor, +mentioned in the /Pandaemonium/ of Richard Bovet, Gentleman,* had, among +the recesses of these romantic cliffs, found his way into the hidden +retreats where the fairies revel in the bowels of the earth. + +* Note I. The Fairy Boy of Leith. + +With all these legends Jeanie Deans was too well acquainted to escape +that strong impression which they usually make on the imagination. +Indeed, relations of this ghostly kind had been familiar to her from her +infancy, for they were the only relief which her father's conversation +afforded from controversial argument, or the gloomy history of the +strivings and testimonies, escapes, captures, tortures, and executions of +those martyrs of the Covenant, with whom it was his chiefest boast to say +he had been acquainted. In the recesses of mountains, in caverns, and in +morasses, to which these persecuted enthusiasts were so ruthlessly +pursued, they conceived they had often to contend with the visible +assaults of the Enemy of mankind, as in the cities, and in the cultivated +fields, they were exposed to those of the tyrannical government and their +soldiery. Such were the terrors which made one of their gifted seers +exclaim, when his companion returned to him, after having left him alone +in a haunted cavern in Sorn in Galloway, "It is hard living in this +world-incarnate devils above the earth, and devils under the earth! Satan +has been here since ye went away, but I have dismissed him by resistance; +we will be no more troubled with him this night." David Deans believed +this, and many other such ghostly encounters and victories, on the faith +of the Ansars, or auxiliaries of the banished prophets. This event was +beyond David's remembrance. But he used to tell with great awe, yet not +without a feeling of proud superiority to his auditors, how he himself +had been present at a field-meeting at Crochmade, when the duty of the +day was interrupted by the apparition of a tall black man, who, in the +act of crossing a ford to join the congregation, lost ground, and was +carried down apparently by the force of the stream. All were instantly at +work to assist him, but with so little success, that ten or twelve stout +men, who had hold of the rope which they had cast in to his aid, were +rather in danger to be dragged into the stream, and lose their own lives, +than likely to save that of the supposed perishing man. "But famous John +Semple of Carspharn," David Deans used to say with exultation, "saw the +whaup in the rape.--'Quit the rope,' he cried to us (for I that was but a +callant had a hand o' the rape mysell), 'it is the Great Enemy! he will +burn, but not drown; his design is to disturb the good wark, by raising +wonder and confusion in your minds; to put off from your spirits all that +ye hae heard and felt.'--Sae we let go the rape," said David, "and he +went adown the water screeching and bullering like a Bull of Bashan, as +he's ca'd in Scripture."* + +* Note J. Intercourse of the Covenanters with the invisible world. + +Trained in these and similar legends, it was no wonder that Jeanie began +to feel an ill-defined apprehension, not merely of the phantoms which +might beset her way, but of the quality, nature, and purpose of the being +who had thus appointed her a meeting, at a place and hour of horror, and +at a time when her mind must be necessarily full of those tempting and +ensnaring thoughts of grief and despair, which were supposed to lay +sufferers particularly open to the temptations of the Evil One. If such +an idea had crossed even Butler's well-informed mind, it was calculated +to make a much stronger impression upon hers. Yet firmly believing the +possibility of an encounter so terrible to flesh and blood, Jeanie, with +a degree of resolution of which we cannot sufficiently estimate the +merit, because the incredulity of the age has rendered us strangers to +the nature and extent of her feelings, persevered in her determination +not to omit an opportunity of doing something towards saving her sister, +although, in the attempt to avail herself of it, she might be exposed to +dangers so dreadful to her imagination. So, like Christiana in the +Pilgrim's Progress, when traversing with a timid yet resolved step the +terrors of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, she glided on by rock and +stone, "now in glimmer and now in gloom," as her path lay through +moonlight or shadow, and endeavoured to overpower the suggestions of +fear, sometimes by fixing her mind upon the distressed condition of her +sister, and the duty she lay under to afford her aid, should that be in +her power; and more frequently by recurring in mental prayer to the +protection of that Being to whom night is as noon-day. + +Thus drowning at one time her fears by fixing her mind on a subject of +overpowering interest, and arguing them down at others by referring +herself to the protection of the Deity, she at length approached the +place assigned for this mysterious conference. + +It was situated in the depth of the valley behind Salisbury Crags, which +has for a background the north-western shoulder of the mountain called +Arthur's Seat, on whose descent still remain the ruins of what was once a +chapel, or hermitage, dedicated to St. Anthony the Eremite. A better site +for such a building could hardly have been selected; for the chapel, +situated among the rude and pathless cliffs, lies in a desert, even in +the immediate vicinity of a rich, populous, and tumultuous capital: and +the hum of the city might mingle with the orisons of the recluses, +conveying as little of worldly interest as if it had been the roar of the +distant ocean. Beneath the steep ascent on which these ruins are still +visible, was, and perhaps is still pointed out, the place where the +wretch Nichol Muschat, who has been already mentioned in these pages, had +closed a long scene of cruelty towards his unfortunate wife, by murdering +her, with circumstances of uncommon barbarity.* + +* See Note G. Muschat's Cairn. + +The execration in which the man's crime was held extended itself to the +place where it was perpetrated, which was marked by a small /cairn,/ or +heap of stones, composed of those which each chance passenger had thrown +there in testimony of abhorrence, and on the principle, it would seem, of +the ancient British malediction, "May you have a cairn for your +burial-place!" + +As our heroine approached this ominous and unhallowed spot, she paused +and looked to the moon, now rising broad in the north-west, and shedding +a more distinct light than it had afforded during her walk thither. +Eyeing the planet for a moment, she then slowly and fearfully turned her +head towards the cairn, from which it was at first averted. She was at +first disappointed. Nothing was visible beside the little pile of stones, +which shone grey in the moonlight. A multitude of confused suggestions +rushed on her mind. Had her correspondent deceived her, and broken his +appointment?--was he too tardy at the appointment he had made?--or had +some strange turn of fate prevented him from appearing as he proposed?-- +or, if he were an unearthly being, as her secret apprehensions suggested, +was it his object merely to delude her with false hopes, and put her to +unnecessary toil and terror, according to the nature, as she had heard, +of those wandering demons?--or did he purpose to blast her with the +sudden horrors of his presence when she had come close to the place of +rendezvous? These anxious reflections did not prevent her approaching to +the cairn with a pace that, though slow, was determined. + +When she was within two yards of the heap of stones, a figure rose +suddenly up from behind it, and Jeanie scarce forbore to scream aloud at +what seemed the realisation of the most frightful of her anticipations. +She constrained herself to silence, however, and, making a dead pause, +suffered the figure to open the conversation, which he did, by asking, in +a voice which agitation rendered tremulous and hollow, "Are you the +sister of that ill-fated young woman?" + +"I am--I am the sister of Effie Deans!" exclaimed Jeanie. "And as ever +you hope God will hear you at your need, tell me, if you can tell, what +can be done to save her!" + +"I do /not/ hope God will hear me at my need," was the singular answer. +"I do not deserve--I do not expect he will." This desperate language he +uttered in a tone calmer than that with which he had at first spoken, +probably because the shook of first addressing her was what he felt most +difficult to overcome. Jeanie remained mute with horror to hear language +expressed so utterly foreign to all which she had ever been acquainted +with, that it sounded in her ears rather like that of a fiend than of a +human being. The stranger pursued his address to her, without seeming to +notice her surprise. "You see before you a wretch, predestined to evil +here and hereafter." + +"For the sake of Heaven, that hears and sees us," said Jeanie, "dinna +speak in this desperate fashion! The gospel is sent to the chief of +sinners--to the most miserable among the miserable." + +"Then should I have my own share therein," said the stranger, "if you +call it sinful to have been the destruction of the mother that bore me-- +of the friend that loved me--of the woman that trusted me--of the +innocent child that was born to me. If to have done all this is to be a +sinner, and survive it is to be miserable, then am I most guilty and most +miserable indeed." + +"Then you are the wicked cause of my sister's ruin?" said Jeanie, with a +natural touch of indignation expressed in her tone of voice. + +"Curse me for it, if you will," said the stranger; "I have well deserved +it at your hand." + +"It is fitter for me," said Jeanie, "to pray to God to forgive you." + +"Do as you will, how you will, or what you will," he replied, with +vehemence; "only promise to obey my directions, and save your sister's +life." + +"I must first know," said Jeanie, "the means you would have me use in her +behalf." + +"No!--you must first swear--solemnly swear, that you will employ them +when I make them known to you." + +"Surely, it is needless to swear that I will do all that is lawful to a +Christian to save the life of my sister?" + +"I will have no reservation!" thundered the stranger; "lawful or +unlawful, Christian or heathen, you shall swear to do my hest, and act by +my counsel, or--you little know whose wrath you provoke!" + +"I will think on what you have said," said Jeanie, who began to get much +alarmed at the frantic vehemence of his manner, and disputed in her own +mind, whether she spoke to a maniac, or an apostate spirit incarnate--"I +will think on what you say, and let you ken to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!" exclaimed the man with a laugh of scorn--"And where will I +be to-morrow?--or, where will you be to-night, unless you swear to walk +by my counsel?--there was one accursed deed done at this spot before now; +and there shall be another to match it, unless you yield up to my +guidance body and soul." + +As he spoke, he offered a pistol at the unfortunate young woman. She +neither fled nor fainted, but sunk on her knees, and asked him to spare +her life. + +"Is that all you have to say?" said the unmoved ruffian. + +"Do not dip your hands in the blood of a defenceless creature that has +trusted to you," said Jeanie, still on her knees. + +"Is that all you can say for your life?--Have you no promise to give?-- +Will you destroy your sister, and compel me to shed more blood?" + +"I can promise nothing," said Jeanie, "which is unlawful for a +Christian." + +He cocked the weapon, and held it towards her. + +"May God forgive you!" she said, pressing her hands forcibly against her +eyes. + +"D--n!" muttered the man; and, turning aside from her, he uncocked the +pistol, and replaced it in his pocket--"I am a villain," he said, +"steeped in guilt and wretchedness, but not wicked enough to do you any +harm! I only wished to terrify you into my measures--She hears me not-- +she is gone!--Great God! what a wretch am I become!" + +As he spoke, she recovered herself from an agony which partook of the +bitterness of death; and, in a minute or two, through the strong exertion +of her natural sense and courage, collected herself sufficiently to +understand he intended her no personal injury. + +"No!" he repeated; "I would not add to the murder of your sister, and of +her child, that of any one belonging to her!--Mad, frantic, as I am, and +unrestrained by either fear or mercy, given up to the possession of an +evil being, and forsaken by all that is good, I would not hurt you, were +the world offered me for a bribe! But, for the sake of all that is dear +to you, swear you will follow my counsel. Take this weapon, shoot me +through the head, and with your own hand revenge your sister's wrong, +only follow the course--the only course, by which her life can be saved." + +"Alas! is she innocent or guilty?" + +"She is guiltless--guiltless of every thing, but of having trusted a +villain!--Yet, had it not been for those that were worse than I am--yes, +worse than I am, though I am bad indeed--this misery had not befallen." + +"And my sister's child--does it live?" said Jeanie. + +"No; it was murdered--the new-born infant was barbarously murdered," he +uttered in a low, yet stern and sustained voice.--"but," he added +hastily, "not by her knowledge or consent." + +"Then, why cannot the guilty be brought to justice, and the innocent +freed?" + +"Torment me not with questions which can serve no purpose," he sternly +replied--"The deed was done by those who are far enough from pursuit, and +safe enough from discovery!--No one can save Effie but yourself." + +"Woe's me! how is it in my power?" asked Jeanie, in despondency. + +"Hearken to me!--You have sense--you can apprehend my meaning--I will +trust you. Your sister is innocent of the crime charged against her" + +"Thank God for that!" said Jeanie. + +"Be still and hearken!--The person who assisted her in her illness +murdered the child; but it was without the mother's knowledge or consent +--She is therefore guiltless, as guiltless as the unhappy innocent, that +but gasped a few minutes in this unhappy world--the better was its hap, +to be so soon at rest. She is innocent as that infant, and yet she must +die--it is impossible to clear her of the law!" + +"Cannot the wretches be discovered, and given up to punishment?" said +Jeanie. + +"Do you think you will persuade those who are hardened in guilt to die to +save another?--Is that the reed you would lean to?" + +"But you said there was a remedy," again gasped out the terrified young +woman. + +"There is," answered the stranger, "and it is in your own hands. The blow +which the law aims cannot be broken by directly encountering it, but it +may be turned aside. You saw your sister during the period preceding the +birth of her child--what is so natural as that she should have mentioned +her condition to you? The doing so would, as their cant goes, take the +case from under the statute, for it removes the quality of concealment. I +know their jargon, and have had sad cause to know it; and the quality of +concealment is essential to this statutory offence.* + +* Note K. Child Murder. + +Nothing is so natural as that Effie should have mentioned her condition +to you--think--reflect--I am positive that she did." + +"Woe's me!" said Jeanie, "she never spoke to me on the subject, but grat +sorely when I spoke to her about her altered looks, and the change on her +spirits." + +"You asked her questions on the subject?" he said eagerly. "You /must/ +remember her answer was, a confession that she had been ruined by a +villain--yes, lay a strong emphasis on that--a cruel false villain call +it--any other name is unnecessary; and that she bore under her bosom the +consequences of his guilt and her folly; and that he had assured her he +would provide safely for her approaching illness.--Well he kept his +word!" These last words he spoke as if it were to himself, and with a +violent gesture of self-accusation, and then calmly proceeded, "You will +remember all this?--That is all that is necessary to be said." + +"But I cannot remember," answered Jeanie, with simplicity, "that which +Effie never told me." + +"Are you so dull--so very dull of apprehension?" he exclaimed, suddenly +grasping her arm, and holding it firm in his hand. "I tell you" (speaking +between his teeth, and under his breath, but with great energy), "you +/must/ remember that she told you all this, whether she ever said a +syllable of it or no. You must repeat this tale, in which there is no +falsehood, except in so far as it was not told to you, before these +Justices--Justiciary--whatever they call their bloodthirsty court, and +save your sister from being murdered, and them from becoming murderers. +Do not hesitate--I pledge life and salvation, that in saying what I have +said, you will only speak thesimple truth." + +"But," replied Jeanie, whose judgment was too accurate not to see the +sophistry of this argument, "I shall be man-sworn in the very thing in +which my testimony is wanted, for it is the concealment for which poor +Effie is blamed, and you would make me tell a falsehood anent it." + +"I see," he said, "my first suspicions of you were right, and that you +will let your sister, innocent, fair, and guiltless, except in trusting a +villain, die the death of a murderess, rather than bestow the breath of +your mouth and the sound of your voice to save her." + +"I wad ware the best blood in my body to keep her skaithless," said +Jeanie, weeping in bitter agony, "but I canna change right into wrang, or +make that true which is false." + +"Foolish, hardhearted girl," said the stranger, "are you afraid of what +they may do to you? I tell you, even the retainers of the law, who course +life as greyhounds do hares, will rejoice at the escape of a creature so +young--so beautiful, that they will not suspect your tale; that, if they +did suspect it, they would consider you as deserving, not only of +forgiveness, but of praise for your natural affection." + +"It is not man I fear," said Jeanie, looking upward; "the God, whose name +I must call on to witness the truth of what I say, he will know the +falsehood." + +"And he will know the motive," said the stranger, eagerly; "he will know +that you are doing this--not for lucre of gain, but to save the life of +the innocent, and prevent the commission of a worse crime than that which +the law seeks to avenge." + +"He has given us a law," said Jeanie, "for the lamp of our path; if we +stray from it we err against knowledge--I may not do evil, even that good +may come out of it. But you--you that ken all this to be true, which I +must take on your word--you that, if I understood what you said e'en now, +promised her shelter and protection in her travail, why do not /you/ step +forward, and bear leal and soothfast evidence in her behalf, as ye may +with a clear conscience?" + +"To whom do you talk of a clear conscience, woman?" said he, with a +sudden fierceness which renewed her terrors,--"to /me?/--I have not known +one for many a year. Bear witness in her behalf?--a proper witness, that +even to speak these few words to a woman of so little consequence as +yourself, must choose such an hour and such a place as this. When you see +owls and bats fly abroad, like larks, in the sunshine, you may expect to +see such as I am in the assemblies of men.--Hush--listen to that." + +A voice was heard to sing one of those wild and monotonous strains so +common in Scotland, and to which the natives of that country chant their +old ballads. The sound ceased--then came nearer, and was renewed; the +stranger listened attentively, still holding Jeanie by the arm (as she +stood by him in motionless terror), as if to prevent her interrupting the +strain by speaking or stirring. When the sounds were renewed, the words +were distinctly audible: + + + "When the glede's in the blue cloud, + The lavrock lies still; + When the hound's in' the green-wood, + The hind keeps the hill." + +The person who sung kept a strained and powerful voice at its highest +pitch, so that it could be heard at a very considerable distance. As the +song ceased, they might hear a stifled sound, as of steps and whispers of +persons approaching them. The song was again raised, but the tune was +changed: + + + "O sleep ye sound, Sir James, she said, + When ye suld rise and ride; + There's twenty men, wi' bow and blade, + Are seeking where ye hide." + +"I dare stay no longer," said the stranger; "return home, or remain till +they come up--you have nothing to fear--but do not tell you saw me--your +sister's fate is in your hands." So saying, he turned from her, and with +a swift, yet cautiously noiseless step, plunged into the darkness on the +side most remote from the sounds which they heard approaching, and was +soon lost to her sight. Jeanie remained by the cairn terrified beyond +expression, and uncertain whether she ought to fly homeward with all the +speed she could exert, or wait the approach of those who were advancing +towards her. This uncertainty detained her so long, that she now +distinctly saw two or three figures already so near to her, that a +precipitate flight would have been equally fruitless and impolitic. + + + + + + CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. + + + + She speaks things in doubt, + That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, + Yet the unshaped use of it doth move + The hearers to collection; they aim at it, + And botch the words up to fit their own thoughts. + Hamlet. + +Like the digressive poet Ariosto, I find myself under the necessity of +connecting the branches of my story, by taking up the adventures of +another of the characters, and bringing them down to the point at which +we have left those of Jeanie Deans. It is not, perhaps, the most +artificial way of telling a story, but it has the advantage of sparing +the necessity of resuming what a knitter (if stocking-looms have left +such a person in the land) might call our "dropped stitches;" a labour in +which the author generally toils much, without getting credit for his +pains. + +"I could risk a sma' wad," said the clerk to the magistrate, "that this +rascal Ratcliffe, if he were insured of his neck's safety, could do more +than ony ten of our police-people and constables to help us to get out of +this scrape of Porteous's. He is weel acquent wi' a' the smugglers, +thieves, and banditti about Edinburgh; and, indeed, he may be called the +father of a' the misdoers in Scotland, for he has passed amang them for +these twenty years by the name of Daddie Rat." + +"A bonny sort of a scoundrel," replied the magistrate, "to expect a place +under the city!" + +"Begging your honour's pardon," said the city's procurator-fiscal, upon +whom the duties of superintendent of police devolved, "Mr. Fairscrieve is +perfectly in the right. It is just sic as Ratcliffe that the town needs +in my department; an' if sae be that he's disposed to turn his knowledge +to the city service, yell no find a better man.--Ye'll get nae saints to +be searchers for uncustomed goods, or for thieves and sic like;--and your +decent sort of men, religious professors, and broken tradesmen, that are +put into the like o' sic trust, can do nae gude ava. They are feared for +this, and they are scrupulous about that, and they arena free to tell a +lie, though it may be for the benefit of the city; and they dinna like to +be out at irregular hours, and in a dark cauld night, and they like a +clout ower the crown far waur; and sae between the fear o' God, and the +fear o' man, and the fear o' getting a sair throat, or sair banes, +there's a dozen o' our city-folk, baith waiters, and officers, and +constables, that can find out naething but a wee bit skulduddery for the +benefit of the Kirk treasurer. Jock Porteous, that's stiff and stark, +puir fallow, was worth a dozen o' them; for he never had ony fears, or +scruples, or doubts, or conscience, about onything your honours bade +him." + +"He was a gude servant o' the town," said the Bailie, "though he was an +ower free-living man. But if you really think this rascal Ratcliffe could +do us ony service in discovering these malefactors, I would insure him +life, reward, and promotion. It's an awsome thing this mischance for the +city, Mr. Fairscrieve. It will be very ill taen wi' abune stairs. Queen +Caroline, God bless her! is a woman--at least I judge sae, and it's nae +treason to speak my mind sae far--and ye maybe ken as weel as I do, for +ye hae a housekeeper, though ye arena a married man, that women are +wilfu', and downa bide a slight. And it will sound ill in her ears, that +sic a confused mistake suld come to pass, and naebody sae muckle as to be +put into the Tolbooth about it." + +"If ye thought that, sir," said the procurator-fiscal, "we could easily +clap into the prison a few blackguards upon suspicion. It will have a +gude active look, and I hae aye plenty on my list, that wadna be a hair +the waur of a week or twa's imprisonment; and if ye thought it no +strictly just, ye could be just the easier wi' them the neist time they +did onything to deserve it; they arena the sort to be lang o' gieing ye +an opportunity to clear scores wi' them on that account." + +"I doubt that will hardly do in this case, Mr. Sharpitlaw," returned the +town-clerk; "they'll run their letters,* and be adrift again, before ye +ken where ye are." + +* A Scottish form of procedure, answering, in some respects, to the +English Habeas Corpus. + +"I will speak to the Lord Provost," said the magistrate, "about +Ratcliffe's business. Mr. Sharpitlaw, you will go with me, and receive +instructions--something may be made too out of this story of Butler's and +his unknown gentleman--I know no business any man has to swagger about in +the King's Park, and call himself the devil, to the terror of honest +folks, who dinna care to hear mair about the devil than is said from the +pulpit on the Sabbath. I cannot think the preacher himsell wad be heading +the mob, though the time has been, they hae been as forward in a bruilzie +as their neighbours." + +"But these times are lang by," said Mr. Sharpitlaw. "In my father's time, +there was mair search for silenced ministers about the Bow-head and the +Covenant Close, and all the tents of Kedar, as they ca'd the dwellings o' +the godly in those days, than there's now for thieves and vagabonds in +the Laigh Calton and the back o' the Canongate. But that time's weel by, +an it bide. And if the Bailie will get me directions and authority from +the Provost, I'll speak wi' Daddie Rat mysell; for I'm thinking I'll make +mair out o' him than ye'll do." + +Mr. Sharpitlaw, being necessarily a man of high trust, was accordingly +empowered, in the course of the day, to make such arrangements as might +seem in the emergency most advantageous for the Good Town. He went to the +jail accordingly, and saw Ratcliffe in private. + +The relative positions of a police-officer and a professed thief bear a +different complexion, according to circumstances. The most obvious simile +of a hawk pouncing upon his prey is often least applicable. Sometimes the +guardian of justice has the air of a cat watching a mouse, and, while he +suspends his purpose of springing upon the pilferer, takes care so to +calculate his motions that he shall not get beyond his power. Sometimes, +more passive still, he uses the art of fascination ascribed to the +rattlesnake, and contents himself with glaring on the victim, through all +his devious flutterings; certain that his terror, confusion, and disorder +of ideas, will bring him into his jaws at last. The interview between +Ratcliffe and Sharpitlaw had an aspect different from all these. They sat +for five minutes silent, on opposite sides of a small table, and looked +fixedly at each other, with a sharp, knowing, and alert cast of +countenance, not unmingled with an inclination to laugh, and resembled +more than anything else, two dogs, who, preparing for a game at romps, +are seen to couch down, and remain in that posture for a little time, +watching each other's movements, and waiting which shall begin the game. + +"So, Mr. Ratcliffe," said the officer, conceiving it suited his dignity +to speak first, "you give up business, I find?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Ratcliffe; "I shall be on that lay nae mair--and I +think that will save your folk some trouble, Mr. Sharpitlaw?" + +"Which Jock DaIgleish" (then finisher of the law* in the Scottish +metropolis) "wad save them as easily," returned the procurator-fiscal. + +* [Among the flying leaves of the period, there is one called +"Sutherland's Lament for the loss of his post,--with his advice, to John +Daglees his successor." He was whipped and banished 25th July 1722. There +is another, called the Speech and dying words of John Dalgleish, lockman +/alias/ hangman of Edinburgh, containing these lines:-- + + Death, I've a Favour for to beg, + That ye wad only gie a Fleg, + And spare my Life; + As I did to ill-hanged Megg, + The Webster's Wife."] + +"Ay; if I waited in the Tolbooth here to have him fit my cravat--but +that's an idle way o' speaking, Mr. Sharpitlaw." + +"Why, I suppose you know you are under sentence of death, Mr. Ratcliffe?" +replied Mr. Sharpitlaw. + +"Aye, so are a', as that worthy minister said in the Tolbooth Kirk the +day Robertson wan off; but naebody kens when it will be executed. Gude +faith, he had better reason to say sae than he dreamed off, before the +play was played out that morning!" + +"This Robertson," said Sharpitlaw, in a lower and something like a +confidential tone, "d'ye ken, Rat--that is, can ye gie us ony inkling +where he is to be heard tell o'?" + +"Troth, Mr. Sharpitlaw, I'll be frank wi' ye; Robertson is rather a cut +abune me--a wild deevil he was, and mony a daft prank he played; but +except the Collector's job that Wilson led him into, and some tuilzies +about run goods wi' the gaugers and the waiters, he never did onything +that came near our line o' business." + +"Umph! that's singular, considering the company he kept." + +"Fact, upon my honour and credit," said Ratcliffe, gravely. "He keepit +out o' our little bits of affairs, and that's mair than Wilson did; I hae +dune business wi' Wilson afore now. But the lad will come on in time; +there's nae fear o' him; naebody will live the life he has led, but what +he'll come to sooner or later." + +"Who or what is he, Ratcliffe? you know, I suppose?" said Sharpitlaw. + +"He's better born, I judge, than he cares to let on; he's been a soldier, +and he has been a play-actor, and I watna what he has been or hasna been, +for as young as he is, sae that it had daffing and nonsense about it." + +"Pretty pranks he has played in his time, I suppose?" + +"Ye may say that," said Ratcliffe, with a sardonic smile; "and" (touching +his nose) "a deevil amang the lasses." + +"Like enough," said Sharpitlaw. "Weel, Ratcliffe, I'll no stand niffering +wi' ye; ye ken the way that favour's gotten in my office; ye maun be +usefu'." + +"Certainly, sir, to the best of my power--naething for naething--I ken +the rule of the office," said the ex-depredator. + +"Now the principal thing in hand e'en now," said the official person, "is +the job of Porteous's; an ye can gie us a lift--why, the inner turnkey's +office to begin wi', and the captainship in time--ye understand my +meaning?" + +"Ay, troth do I, sir; a wink's as gude as a nod to a blind horse; but +Jock Porteous's job--Lord help ye!--I was under sentence the haill time. +God! but I couldna help laughing when I heard Jock skirting for mercy in +the lads' hands. Mony a het skin ye hae gien me, neighbour, thought I, +tak ye what's gaun: time about's fair play; ye'll ken now what hanging's +gude for." + +"Come, come, this is all nonsense, Rat," said the procurator. "Ye canna +creep out at that hole, lad; you must speak to the point--you understand +me--if you want favour; gif-gaf makes gude friends, ye ken." + +"But how can I speak to the point, as your honour ca's it," said +Ratcliffe, demurely, and with an air of great simplicity, "when ye ken I +was under sentence and in the strong room a' the while the job was going +on?" + +"And how can we turn ye loose on the public again, Daddie Rat, unless ye +do or say something to deserve it?" + +"Well, then, d--n it!" answered the criminal, "since it maun be sae, I +saw Geordie Robertson among the boys that brake the jail; I suppose that +will do me some gude?" + +"That's speaking to the purpose, indeed," said the office-bearer; "and +now, Rat, where think ye we'll find him?" + +"Deil haet o' me kens," said Ratcliffe; "he'll no likely gang back to ony +o' his auld howffs; he'll be off the country by this time. He has gude +friends some gate or other, for a' the life he's led; he's been weel +educate." + +"He'll grace the gallows the better," said Mr. Sharpitlaw; "a desperate +dog, to murder an officer of the city for doing his duty! Wha kens wha's +turn it might be next?--But you saw him plainly?" + +"As plainly as I see you." + +"How was he dressed?" said Sharpitlaw. + +"I couldna weel see; something of a woman's bit mutch on his head; but ye +never saw sic a ca'-throw. Ane couldna hae een to a' thing." + +"But did he speak to no one?" said Sharpitlaw. + +"They were a' speaking and gabbling through other," said Ratcliffe, who +was obviously unwilling to carry his evidence farther than he could +possibly help. + +"This will not do, Ratcliffe," said the procurator; "you must speak /out +--out--out,/" tapping the table emphatically, as he repeated that +impressive monosyllable. + +"It's very hard, sir," said the prisoner; "and but for the +under-turnkey's place" + +"And the reversion of the captaincy--the captaincy of the Tolbooth, man-- +that is, in case of gude behaviour." + +"Ay, ay," said Ratcliffe, "gude behaviour!--there's the deevil. And then +it's waiting for dead folk's shoon into the bargain." + +"But Robertson's head will weigh something," said Sharpitlaw; "something +gey and heavy, Rat; the town maun show cause--that's right and reason-- +and then ye'll hae freedom to enjoy your gear honestly." + +"I dinna ken," said Ratcliffe; "it's a queer way of beginning the trade +of honesty--but deil ma care. Weel, then, I heard and saw him speak to +the wench Effie Deans, that's up there for child-murder." + +"The deil ye did? Rat, this is finding a mare's nest wi' a witness.--And +the man that spoke to Butler in the Park, and that was to meet wi' Jeanie +Deans at Muschat's Cairn--whew! lay that and that together? As sure as I +live he's been the father of the lassie's wean." + +"There hae been waur guesses than that, I'm thinking," observed +Ratcliffe, turning his quid of tobacco in his cheek, and squirting out +the juice. "I heard something a while syne about his drawing up wi' a +bonny quean about the Pleasaunts, and that it was a' Wilson could do to +keep him frae marrying her." + +Here a city officer entered, and told Sharpitlaw that they had the woman +in custody whom he had directed them to bring before him. + +"It's little matter now," said he, "the thing is taking another turn; +however, George, ye may bring her in." + +The officer retired, and introduced, upon his return, a tall, strapping +wench of eighteen or twenty, dressed, fantastically, in a sort of blue +riding-jacket, with tarnished lace, her hair clubbed like that of a man, +a Highland bonnet, and a bunch of broken feathers, a riding-skirt (or +petticoat) of scarlet camlet, embroidered with tarnished flowers. Her +features were coarse and masculine, yet at a little distance, by dint of +very bright wild-looking black eyes, an aquiline nose, and a commanding +profile, appeared rather handsome. She flourished the switch she held in +her hand, dropped a courtesy as low as a lady at a birth-night +introduction, recovered herself seemingly according to Touchstone's +directions to Audrey, and opened the conversation without waiting till +any questions were asked. + +"God gie your honour gude-e'en, and mony o' them, bonny Mr. Sharpitlaw!-- +Gude-e'en to ye, Daddie Ratton--they tauld me ye were hanged, man; or did +ye get out o' John Dalgleish's hands like half-hangit Maggie Dickson?" + +"Whisht, ye daft jaud," said Ratcliffe, "and hear what's said to ye." + +"Wi' a' my heart, Ratton. Great preferment for poor Madge to be brought +up the street wi' a grand man, wi' a coat a' passemented wi' worset-lace, +to speak wi' provosts, and bailies, and town-clerks, and prokitors, at +this time o' day--and the haill town looking at me too--This is honour on +earth for ance!" + +"Ay, Madge," said Mr. Sharpitlaw, in a coaxing tone; "and ye're dressed +out in your braws, I see; these are not your every-days' claiths ye have +on." + +"Deil be in my fingers, then!" said Madge--"Eh, sirs!" (observing Butler +come into the apartment), "there's a minister in the Tolbooth--wha will +ca' it a graceless place now?--I'se warrant he's in for the gude auld +cause--but it's be nae cause o' mine," and off she went into a song-- + + +"Hey for cavaliers, ho for cavaliers, +Dub a dub, dub a dub, +Have at old Beelzebub,-- +Oliver's squeaking for fear." + +"Did you ever see that mad woman before?" said Sharpitlaw to Butler. + +"Not to my knowledge, sir," replied Butler. + +"I thought as much," said the procurator-fiscal, looking towards +Ratcliffe, who answered his glance with a nod of acquiescence and +intelligence.-- + +"But that is Madge Wildfire, as she calls herself," said the man of law +to Butler. + +"Ay, that I am," said Madge, "and that I have been ever since I was +something better--Heigh ho"--(and something like melancholy dwelt on her +features for a minute)--"But I canna mind when that was--it was lang +syne, at ony rate, and I'll ne'er fash my thumb about it.-- + + I glance like the wildfire through country and town; + I'm seen on the causeway--I'm seen on the down; + The lightning that flashes so bright and so free, + Is scarcely so blithe or so bonny as me." + +"Hand your tongue, ye skirling limmer!" said the officer who had acted as +master of the ceremonies to this extraordinary performer, and who was +rather scandalised at the freedom of her demeanour before a person of Mr. +Sharpitlaw's importance--"haud your tongue, or I'se gie ye something to +skirl for!" + +"Let her alone, George," said Sharpitlaw, "dinna put her out o' tune; I +hae some questions to ask her--But first, Mr. Butler, take another look +of her." + +"Do sae, minister--do sae," cried Madge; "I am as weel worth looking at +as ony book in your aught.--And I can say the single carritch, and the +double carritch, and justification, and effectual calling, and the +assembly of divines at Westminster, that is" (she added in a low tone), +"I could say them ance--but it's lang syne--and ane forgets, ye ken." And +poor Madge heaved another deep sigh. + +"Weel, sir," said Mr. Sharpitlaw to Butler, "what think ye now?" + +"As I did before," said Butler; "that I never saw the poor demented +creature in my life before." + +"Then she is not the person whom you said the rioters last night +described as Madge Wildfire?" + +"Certainly not," said Butler. "They may be near the same height, for they +are both tall, but I see little other resemblance." + +"Their dress, then, is not alike?" said Sharpitlaw. + +"Not in the least," said Butler. + +"Madge, my bonny woman," said Sharpitlaw, in the same coaxing manner, +"what did ye do wi' your ilka-day's claise yesterday?" + +"I dinna mind," said Madge. + +"Where was ye yesterday at e'en, Madge?" + +"I dinna mind ony thing about yesterday," answered Madge; "ae day is +eneugh for ony body to wun ower wi' at a time, and ower muckle +sometimes." + +"But maybe, Madge, ye wad mind something about it, if I was to gie ye +this half-crown?" said Sharpitlaw, taking out the piece of money. + +"That might gar me laugh, but it couldna gar me mind." + +"But, Madge," continued Sharpitlaw, "were I to send you to the workhouse +in Leith Wynd, and gar Jock Dalgleish lay the tawse on your back" + +"That wad gar me greet," said Madge, sobbing, "but it couldna gar me +mind, ye ken." + +"She is ower far past reasonable folks' motives, sir," said Ratcliffe, +"to mind siller, or John Dalgleish, or the cat-and-nine-tails either; but +I think I could gar her tell us something." + +"Try her, then, Ratcliffe," said Sharpitlaw, "for I am tired of her crazy +pate, and be d--d to her." + +"Madge," said Ratcliffe, "hae ye ony joes now?" + +"An ony body ask ye, say ye dinna ken.--Set him to be speaking of my +joes, auld Daddie Ratton!" + +"I dare say, ye hae deil ane?" + +"See if I haena then," said Madge, with the toss of the head of affronted +beauty--"there's Rob the Ranter, and Will Fleming, and then there's +Geordie Robertson, lad--that's Gentleman Geordie--what think ye o' that?" + +Ratcliffe laughed, and, winking to the procurator-fiscal, pursued the +inquiry in his own way. "But, Madge, the lads only like ye when ye hae on +your braws--they wadna touch you wi' a pair o' tangs when you are in your +auld ilka-day rags." + +"Ye're a leeing auld sorrow then," replied the fair one; "for Gentle +Geordie Robertson put my ilka-day's claise on his ain bonny sell +yestreen, and gaed a' through the town wi' them; and gawsie and grand he +lookit, like ony queen in the land." + +"I dinna believe a word o't," said Ratcliffe, with another wink to the +procurator. "Thae duds were a' o' the colour o' moonshine in the water, +I'm thinking, Madge--The gown wad be a sky-blue scarlet, I'se warrant +ye?" + +"It was nae sic thing," said Madge, whose unretentive memory let out, in +the eagerness of contradiction, all that she would have most wished to +keep concealed, had her judgment been equal to her inclination. "It was +neither scarlet nor sky-blue, but my ain auld brown threshie-coat of a +short-gown, and my mother's auld mutch, and my red rokelay--and he gied +me a croun and a kiss for the use o' them, blessing on his bonny face-- +though it's been a dear ane to me." + +"And where did he change his clothes again, hinnie?" said Sharpitlaw, in +his most conciliatory manner. + +"The procurator's spoiled a'," observed Ratcliffe, drily. And it was even +so; for the question, put in so direct a shape, immediately awakened +Madge to the propriety of being reserved upon those very topics on which +Ratcliffe had indirectly seduced her to become communicative. + +"What was't ye were speering at us, sir?" she resumed, with an appearance +of stolidity so speedily assumed, as showed there was a good deal of +knavery mixed with her folly. + +"I asked you," said the procurator, "at what hour, and to what place, +Robertson brought back your clothes." + +"Robertson?--Lord hand a care o' us! what Robertson?" + +"Why, the fellow we were speaking of, Gentle Geordie, as you call him." + +"Geordie Gentle!" answered Madge, with well-feigned amazement--"I dinna +ken naebody they ca' Geordie Gentle." + +"Come, my jo," said Sharpitlaw, "this will not do; you must tell us what +you did with these clothes of yours." + +Madge Wildfire made no answer, unless the question may seem connected +with the snatch of a song with which she indulged the embarrassed +investigator:-- + + "What did ye wi' the bridal ring--bridal ring--bridal ring? + What did ye wi' your wedding ring, ye little cutty quean, O? + I gied it till a sodger, a sodger, a sodger, + I gied it till a sodger, an auld true love o' mine, O." + +Of all the madwomen who have sung and said, since the days of Hamlet the +Dane, if Ophelia be the most affecting, Madge Wildfire was the most +provoking. + +The procurator-fiscal was in despair. "I'll take some measures with this +d--d Bess of Bedlam," said he, "that shall make her find her tongue." + +"Wi' your favour, sir," said Ratcliffe, "better let her mind settle a +little--Ye have aye made out something." + +"True," said the official person; "a brown short-gown, mutch, red +rokelay--that agrees with your Madge Wildfire, Mr. Butler?" Butler agreed +that it did so. "Yes, there was a sufficient motive for taking this crazy +creature's dress and name, while he was about such a job." + +"And I am free to say /now,/" said Ratcliffe + +"When you see it has come out without you," interrupted Sharpitlaw. + +"Just sae, sir," reiterated Ratcliffe. "I am free to say now, since it's +come out otherwise, that these were the clothes I saw Robertson wearing +last night in the jail, when he was at the head of the rioters." + +"That's direct evidence," said Sharpitlaw; "stick to that, Rat--I will +report favourably of you to the provost, for I have business for you +to-night. It wears late; I must home and get a snack, and I'll be back in +the evening. Keep Madge with you, Ratcliffe, and try to get her into a +good tune again." So saying he left the prison. + + + + + CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. + + + And some they whistled--and some they sang, + And some did loudly say, + Whenever Lord Barnard's horn it blew, + "Away, Musgrave away!" + Ballad of Little Musgrave. + +When the man of office returned to the Heart of Mid-Lothian, he resumed +his conference with Ratcliffe, of whose experience and assistance he now +held himself secure. "You must speak with this wench, Rat--this Effie +Deans--you must sift her a wee bit; for as sure as a tether she will ken +Robertson's haunts--till her, Rat--till her without delay." + +"Craving your pardon, Mr. Sharpitlaw," said the turnkey elect, "that's +what I am not free to do." + +"Free to do, man? what the deil ails ye now?--I thought we had settled a' +that?" + +"I dinna ken, sir," said Ratcliffe; "I hae spoken to this Effie--she's +strange to this place and to its ways, and to a' our ways, Mr. +Sharpitlaw; and she greets, the silly tawpie, and she's breaking her +heart already about this wild chield; and were she the mean's o' taking +him, she wad break it outright." + +"She wunna hae time, lad," said Sharpitlaw; "the woodie will hae it's ain +o' her before that--a woman's heart takes a lang time o' breaking." + +"That's according to the stuff they are made o' sir," replied Ratcliffe-- +"But to make a lang tale short, I canna undertake the job. It gangs +against my conscience." + +"/Your/ conscience, Rat?" said Sharpitlaw, with a sneer, which the reader +will probably think very natural upon the occasion. + +"Ou ay, sir," answered Ratcliffe, calmly, "just my conscience; a'body has +a conscience, though it may be ill wunnin at it. I think mine's as weel +out o' the gate as maist folk's are; and yet it's just like the noop of +my elbow, it whiles gets a bit dirl on a corner." + +"Weel, Rat," replied Sharpitlaw, "since ye are nice, I'll speak to the +hussy mysell." + +Sharpitlaw, accordingly, caused himself to be introduced into the little +dark apartment tenanted by the unfortunate Effie Deans. The poor girl was +seated on her little flock-bed, plunged in a deep reverie. Some food +stood on the table, of a quality better than is usually supplied to +prisoners, but it was untouched. The person under whose care she was more +particularly placed, said, "that sometimes she tasted naething from the +tae end of the four-and-twenty hours to the t'other, except a drink of +water." + +Sharpitlaw took a chair, and, commanding the turnkey to retire, he opened +the conversation, endeavouring to throw into his tone and countenance as +much commiseration as they were capable of expressing, for the one was +sharp and harsh, the other sly, acute, and selfish. + +"How's a' wi' ye, Effie?--How d'ye find yoursell, hinny?" + +A deep sigh was the only answer. + +"Are the folk civil to ye, Effie?--it's my duty to inquire." + +"Very civil, sir," said Effie, compelling herself to answer, yet hardly +knowing what she said. + +"And your victuals," continued Sharpitlaw, in the same condoling tone,-- +"do you get what you like?--or is there onything you would particularly +fancy, as your health seems but silly?" + +"It's a' very weel, sir, I thank ye," said the poor prisoner, in a tone +how different from the sportive vivacity of those of the Lily of St. +Leonard's!--"it's a' very gude--ower gude for me." + +"He must have been a great villain, Effie, who brought you to this pass," +said Sharpitlaw. + +The remark was dictated partly by a natural feeling, of which even he +could not divest himself, though accustomed to practise on the passions +of others, and keep a most heedful guard over his own, and partly by his +wish to introduce the sort of conversation which might, best serve his +immediate purpose. Indeed, upon the present occasion, these mixed motives +of feeling and cunning harmonised together wonderfully; for, said +Sharpitlaw to himself, the greater rogue Robertson is, the more will be +the merit of bringing him to justice. "He must have been a great villain, +indeed," he again reiterated; "and I wish I had the skelping o' him." + +"I may blame mysell mair than him," said Effie; "I was bred up to ken +better; but he, poor fellow,"--(she stopped). + +"Was a thorough blackguard a' his life, I dare say," said Sharpitlaw. "A +stranger he was in this country, and a companion of that lawless +vagabond, Wilson, I think, Effie?" + +"It wad hae been dearly telling him that he had ne'er seen Wilson's +face." + +"That's very true that you are saying, Effie," said Sharpitlaw. "Where +was't that Robertson and you were used to howff thegither? Somegate about +the Laigh Calton, I am thinking." + +The simple and dispirited girl had thus far followed Mr. Sharpitlaw's +lead, because he had artfully adjusted his observations to the thoughts +he was pretty certain must be passing through her own mind, so that her +answers became a kind of thinking aloud, a mood into which those who are +either constitutionally absent in mind, or are rendered so by the +temporary pressure of misfortune, may be easily led by a skilful train of +suggestions. But the last observation of the procurator-fiscal was too +much of the nature of a direct interrogatory, and it broke the charm +accordingly. + +"What was it that I was saying?" said Effie, starting up from her +reclining posture, seating herself upright, and hastily shading her +dishevelled hair back from her wasted but still beautiful countenance. +She fixed her eyes boldly and keenly upon Sharpitlaw--"You are too much +of a gentleman, sir,--too much of an honest man, to take any notice of +what a poor creature like me says, that can hardly ca' my senses my ain-- +God help me!" + +"Advantage!--I would be of some advantage to you if I could," said +Sharpitlaw, in a soothing tone; "and I ken naething sae likely to serve +ye, Effie, as gripping this rascal, Robertson." + +"O dinna misca' him, sir, that never misca'd you!--Robertson?--I am sure +I had naething to say against ony man o' the name, and naething will I +say." + +"But if you do not heed your own misfortune, Effie, you should mind what +distress he has brought on your family," said the man of law. + +"O, Heaven help me!" exclaimed poor Effie--"My poor father--my dear +Jeanie--O, that's sairest to bide of a'! O, sir, if you hae ony kindness +--if ye hae ony touch of compassion--for a' the folk I see here are as +hard as the wa'-stanes--If ye wad but bid them let my sister Jeanie in +the next time she ca's! for when I hear them put her awa frae the door, +and canna climb up to that high window to see sae muckle as her +gown-tail, it's like to pit me out o' my judgment." And she looked on him +with a face of entreaty, so earnest, yet so humble, that she fairly shook +the steadfast purpose of his mind. + +"You shall see your sister," he began, "if you'll tell me,"--then +interrupting himself, he added, in a more hurried tone,--"no, d--n it, +you shall see your sister whether you tell me anything or no." So saying, +he rose up and left the apartment. + +When he had rejoined Ratcliffe, he observed, "You are right, Ratton; +there's no making much of that lassie. But ae thing I have cleared--that +is, that Robertson has been the father of the bairn, and so I will wager +a boddle it will be he that's to meet wi' Jeanie Deans this night at +Muschat's Cairn, and there we'll nail him, Rat, or my name is not Gideon +Sharpitlaw." + +"But," said Ratcliffe, perhaps because he was in no hurry to see anything +which was like to be connected with the discovery and apprehension of +Robertson, "an that were the case, Mr. Butler wad hae kend the man in the +King's Park to be the same person wi' him in Madge Wildfire's claise, +that headed the mob." + +"That makes nae difference, man," replied Sharpitlaw--"the dress, the +light, the confusion, and maybe a touch o' a blackit cork, or a slake o' +paint-hout, Ratton, I have seen ye dress your ainsell, that the deevil ye +belang to durstna hae made oath t'ye." + +"And that's true, too," said Ratcliffe. + +"And besides, ye donnard carle," continued Sharpitlaw, triumphantly, "the +minister /did/ say that he thought he knew something of the features of +the birkie that spoke to him in the Park, though he could not charge his +memory where or when he had seen them." + +"It's evident, then, your honour will be right," said Ratcliffe. + +"Then, Rat, you and I will go with the party oursells this night, and see +him in grips or we are done wi' him." + +"I seena muckle use I can be o' to your honour," said Ratcliffe, +reluctantly. + +"Use?" answered Sharpitlaw--"You can guide the party--you ken the ground. +Besides, I do not intend to quit sight o' you, my good friend, till I +have him in hand." + +"Weel, sir," said Ratcliffe, but in no joyful tone of acquiescence; "Ye +maun hae it your ain way--but mind he's a desperate man." + +"We shall have that with us," answered Sharpitlaw, "that will settle him, +if it is necessary." + +"But, sir," answered Ratcliffe, "I am sure I couldna undertake to guide +you to Muschat's Cairn in the night-time; I ken the place as mony does, +in fair day-light, but how to find it by moonshine, amang sae mony crags +and stanes, as like to each other as the collier to the deil, is mair +than I can tell. I might as soon seek moonshine in water." + +"What's the meaning o' this, Ratcliffe?" said Sharpitlaw, while he fixed +his eye on the recusant, with a fatal and ominous expression,--"Have you +forgotten that you are still under sentence of death?" + +"No, sir," said Ratcliffe, "that's a thing no easily put out o' memory; +and if my presence be judged necessary, nae doubt I maun gang wi' your +honour. But I was gaun to tell your honour of ane that has mair skeel o' +the gate than me, and that's e'en Madge Wildfire." + +"The devil she has!--Do you think me as mad as she, is, to trust to her +guidance on such an occasion?" + +"Your honour is the best judge," answered Ratcliffe; "but I ken I can +keep her in tune, and garr her haud the straight path--she often sleeps +out, or rambles about amang thae hills the haill simmer night, the daft +limmer." + +"Weel, Ratcliffe," replied the procurator-fiscal, "if you think she can +guide us the right way--but take heed to what you are about--your life +depends on your behaviour." + +"It's a sair judgment on a man," said Ratcliffe, "when he has ance gane +sae far wrang as I hae done, that deil a bit he can be honest, try't +whilk way he will." + +Such was the reflection of Ratcliffe, when he was left for a few minutes +to himself, while the retainer of justice went to procure a proper +warrant, and give the necessary directions. + +The rising moon saw the whole party free from the walls of the city, and +entering upon the open ground. Arthur's Seat, like a couchant lion of +immense size--Salisbury Crags, like a huge belt or girdle of granite, +were dimly visible. Holding their path along the southern side of the +Canongate, they gained the Abbey of Holyrood House, and from thence found +their way by step and stile into the King's Park. They were at first four +in number--an officer of justice and Sharpitlaw, who were well armed with +pistols and cutlasses; Ratcliffe, who was not trusted with weapons, lest, +he might, peradventure, have used them on the wrong side; and the female. +But at the last stile, when they entered the Chase, they were joined by +other two officers, whom Sharpitlaw, desirous to secure sufficient force +for his purpose, and at the same time to avoid observation, had directed +to wait for him at this place. Ratcliffe saw this accession of strength +with some disquietude, for he had hitherto thought it likely that +Robertson, who was a bold, stout, and active young fellow, might have +made his escape from Sharpitlaw and the single officer, by force or +agility, without his being implicated in the matter. But the present +strength of the followers of justice was overpowering, and the only mode +of saving Robertson (which the old sinner was well disposed to do, +providing always he could accomplish his purpose without compromising his +own safety), must be by contriving that he should have some signal of +their approach. It was probably with this view that Ratcliffe had +requested the addition of Madge to the party, having considerable +confidence in her propensity to exert her lungs. Indeed, she had already +given them so many specimens of her clamorous loquacity, that Sharpitlaw +half determined to send her back with one of the officers, rather than +carry forward in his company a person so extremely ill qualified to be a +guide in a secret expedition. It seemed, too, as if the open air, the +approach to the hills, and the ascent of the moon, supposed to be so +portentous over those whose brain is infirm, made her spirits rise in a +degree tenfold more loquacious than she had hitherto exhibited. To +silence her by fair means seemed impossible; authoritative commands and +coaxing entreaties she set alike at defiance, and threats only made her +sulky and altogether intractable. + +"Is there no one of you," said Sharpitlaw, impatiently, "that knows the +way to this accursed place--this Nichol Muschat's Cairn--excepting this +mad clavering idiot?" + +"Deil ane o' them kens it except mysell," exclaimed Madge; "how suld +they, the puir fule cowards! But I hae sat on the grave frae batfleeing +time till cook-crow, and had mony a fine crack wi' Muschat and Ailie +Muschat, that are lying sleeping below." + +"The devil take your crazy brain," said Sharpitlaw; "will you not allow +the men to answer a question?" + +The officers obtaining a moment's audience while Ratcliffe diverted +Madge's attention, declared that, though they had a general knowledge of +the spot, they could not undertake to guide the party to it by the +uncertain light of the moon, with such accuracy as to insure success to +their expedition. + +"What shall we do, Ratcliffe?" said Sharpitlaw, "if he sees us before we +see him,--and that's what he is certain to do, if we go strolling about, +without keeping the straight road,--we may bid gude day to the job, and I +would rather lose one hundred pounds, baith for the credit of the police, +and because the provost says somebody maun be hanged for this job o' +Porteous, come o't what likes." + +"I think," said Ratcliffe, "we maun just try Madge; and I'll see if I can +get her keepit in ony better order. And at ony rate, if he suld hear her +skirting her auld ends o' sangs, he's no to ken for that that there's +onybody wi' her." + +"That's true," said Sharpitlaw; "and if he thinks her alone, he's as like +to come towards her as to rin frae her. So set forward--we hae lost ower +muckle time already--see to get her to keep the right road." + +"And what sort o' house does Nichol Muschat and his wife keep now?" said +Ratcliffe to the mad woman, by way of humouring her vein of folly; "they +were but thrawn folk lang syne, an a' tales be true." + +"Ou, ay, ay, ay--but a's forgotten now," replied Madge, in the +confidential tone of a gossip giving the history of her next-door +neighbour--"Ye see, I spoke to them mysell, and tauld them byganes suld +be byganes--her throat's sair misguggled and mashackered though; she +wears her corpse-sheet drawn weel up to hide it, but that canna hinder +the bluid seiping through, ye ken. I wussed her to wash it in St. +Anthony's Well, and that will cleanse if onything can--But they say bluid +never bleaches out o' linen claith--Deacon Sanders's new cleansing draps +winna do't--I tried them mysell on a bit rag we hae at hame that was +mailed wi' the bluid of a bit skirting wean that was hurt some gate, but +out it winna come--Weel, yell say that's queer; but I will bring it out +to St. Anthony's blessed Well some braw night just like this, and I'll +cry up Ailie Muschat, and she and I will hae a grand bouking-washing, and +bleach our claes in the beams of the bonny Lady Moon, that's far +pleasanter to me than the sun--the sun's ower het, and ken ye, cummers, +my brains are het eneugh already. But the moon, and the dew, and the +night-wind, they are just like a caller kail-blade laid on my brow; and +whiles I think the moon just shines on purpose to pleasure me, when +naebody sees her but mysell." + +This raving discourse she continued with prodigious volubility, walking +on at a great pace, and dragging Ratcliffe along with her, while he +endeavoured, in appearance at least, if not in reality, to induce her to +moderate her voice. + +All at once she stopped short upon the top of a little hillock, gazed +upward fixedly, and said not one word for the space of five minutes. +"What the devil is the matter with her now?" said Sharpitlaw to +Ratcliffe--"Can you not get her forward?" + +"Ye maun just take a grain o' patience wi' her, sir," said Ratcliffe. +"She'll no gae a foot faster than she likes herself." + +"D--n her," said Sharpitlaw, "I'll take care she has her time in Bedlam +or Bridewell, or both, for she's both mad and mischievous." + +In the meanwhile, Madge, who had looked very pensive when she first +stopped, suddenly burst into a vehement fit of laughter, then paused and +sighed bitterly,--then was seized with a second fit of laughter--then, +fixing her eyes on the moon, lifted up her voice and sung,-- + + "Good even, good fair moon, good even to thee; + I prithee, dear moon, now show to me + The form and the features, the speech and degree, + Of the man that true lover of mine shall be. + +But I need not ask that of the bonny Lady Moon--I ken that weel eneugh +mysell--/true/-love though he wasna--But naebody shall sae that I ever +tauld a word about the matter--But whiles I wish the bairn had lived-- +Weel, God guide us, there's a heaven aboon us a',"--(here she sighed +bitterly), "and a bonny moon, and sterns in it forby" (and here she +laughed once more). + +"Are we to stand, here all night!" said Sharpitlaw, very impatiently. +"Drag her forward." + +"Ay, sir," said Ratcliffe, "if we kend whilk way to drag her, that would +settle it at ance.--Come, Madge, hinny," addressing her, "we'll no be in +time to see Nichol and his wife, unless ye show us the road." + +"In troth and that I will, Ratton," said she, seizing him by the arm, and +resuming her route with huge strides, considering it was a female who +took them. "And I'll tell ye, Ratton, blithe will Nichol Muschat be to +see ye, for he says he kens weel there isna sic a villain out o' hell as +ye are, and he wad be ravished to hae a crack wi' you--like to like ye +ken--it's a proverb never fails--and ye are baith a pair o' the deevil's +peats I trow--hard to ken whilk deserves the hettest corner o' his +ingle-side." + +Ratcliffe was conscience-struck, and could not forbear making an +involuntary protest against this classification. "I never shed blood," he +replied. + +"But ye hae sauld it, Ratton--ye hae sauld blood mony a time. Folk kill +wi' the tongue as weel as wi' the hand--wi' the word as weel as wi' the +gulley!-- + + It is the 'bonny butcher lad, + That wears the sleeves of blue, + He sells the flesh on Saturday, + On Friday that he slew." + +"And what is that I ain doing now?" thought Ratcliffe. "But I'll hae nae +wyte of Robertson's young bluid, if I can help it;" then speaking apart +to Madge, he asked her, "Whether she did not remember ony o' her auld +Sangs?" + +"Mony a dainty ane," said Madge; "and blithely can I sing them, for +lightsome sangs make merry gate." And she sang,-- + + + "When the glede's in the blue cloud, + The lavrock lies still; + When the hound's in the greenwood. + The hind keeps the hill." + +"Silence her cursed noise, if you should throttle her," said Sharpitlaw; +"I see somebody yonder.--Keep close, my boys, and creep round the +shoulder of the height. George Poinder, stay you with Ratcliffe and tha +mad yelling bitch; and you other two, come with me round under the shadow +of the brae." + +And he crept forward with the stealthy pace of an Indian savage, who +leads his band to surprise an unsuspecting party of some hostile tribe. +Ratcliffe saw them glide of, avoiding the moonlight, and keeping as much +in: the shade as possible. + +"Robertson's done up," said he to himself; "thae young lads are aye sae +thoughtless. What deevil could he hae to say to Jeanie Deans, or to ony +woman on earth, that he suld gang awa and get his neck raxed for her? And +this mad quean, after cracking like a pen-gun, and skirling like a +pea-hen for the haill night, behoves just to hae hadden her tongue when +her clavers might have dune some gude! But it's aye the way wi' women; if +they ever hand their tongues ava', ye may swear it's for mischief. I wish +I could set her on again without this blood-sucker kenning what I am +doing. But he's as gleg as MacKeachan's elshin,* that ran through sax +plies of bendleather and half-an-inch into the king's heel." + +* [/Elshin,/ a shoemaker's awl.] + +He then began to hum, but in a very low and suppressed tone, the first +stanza of a favourite ballad of Wildfire's, the words of which bore some +distant analogy with the situation of Robertson, trusting that the power +of association would not fail to bring the rest to her mind:-- + + "There's a bloodhound ranging Tinwald wood, + There's harness glancing sheen: + There's a maiden sits on Tinwald brae, + And she sings loud between." + +Madge had no sooner received the catch-word, than she vindicated +Ratcliffe's sagacity by setting off at score with the song:-- + + "O sleep ye sound, Sir James, she said, + When ye suld rise and ride? + There's twenty men, wi' bow and blade, + Are seeking where ye hide." + +Though Ratcliffe was at a considerable distance from the spot called +Muschat's Cairn, yet his eyes, practised like those of a cat to penetrate +darkness, could mark that Robertson had caught the alarm. George Poinder, +less keen of sight, or less attentive, was not aware of his flight any +more than Sharpitlaw and his assistants, whose view, though they were +considerably nearer to the cairn, was intercepted by the broken nature of +the ground under which they were screening themselves. At length, +however, after the interval of five or six minutes, they also perceived +that Robertson had fled, and rushed hastily towards the place, while +Sharpitlaw called out aloud, in the harshest tones of a voice which +resembled a saw-mill at work, "Chase, lads--chase--haud the brae--I see +him on the edge of the hill!" Then hollowing back to the rear-guard of +his detachment, he issued his farther orders: "Ratcliffe, come here, and +detain the woman--George, run and kepp the stile at the Duke's Walk-- +Ratcliffe, come here directly--but first knock out that mad bitch's +brains!" + +"Ye had better rin for it, Madge," said Ratcliffe, "for it's ill dealing +wi' an angry man." + +Madge Wildfire was not so absolutely void of common sense as not to +understand this innuendo; and while Ratcliffe, in seemingly anxious haste +of obedience, hastened to the spot where Sharpitlaw waited to deliver up +Jeanie Deans to his custody, she fled with all the despatch she could +exert in an opposite direction. Thus the whole party were separated, and +in rapid motion of flight or pursuit, excepting Ratcliffe and Jeanie, +whom, although making no attempt to escape, he held fast by the cloak, +and who remained standing by Muschat's Cairn. + + + + + CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. + + + You have paid the heavens your function, + and the prisoner the very debt of your calling. + Measure for Measure. + +Jeanie Deans,--for here our story unites itself with that part of the +narrative which broke off at the end of the fourteenth chapter,--while +she waited, in terror and amazement, the hasty advance of three or four +men towards her, was yet more startled at their suddenly breaking +asunder, and giving chase in different directions to the late object of +her terror, who became at that moment, though she could not well assign a +reasonable cause, rather the cause of her interest. One of the party (it +was Sharpitlaw) came straight up to her, and saying, "Your name is Jeanie +Deans, and you are my prisoner," immediately added, "But if you will tell +me which way he ran I will let you go." + +"I dinna ken, sir," was all the poor girl could utter; and, indeed, it is +the phrase which rises most readily to the lips of any person in her +rank, as the readiest reply to any embarrassing question. + +"But," said Sharpitlaw, "ye /ken/ wha it was ye were speaking wi', my +leddy, on the hill side, and midnight sae near; ye surely ken /that,/ my +bonny woman?" + +"I dinna ken, sir," again iterated Jeanie, who really did not comprehend +in her terror the nature of the questions which were so hastily put to +her in this moment of surprise. + +"We will try to mend your memory by and by, hinny," said Sharpitlaw, and +shouted, as we have already told the reader, to Ratcliffe, to come up and +take charge of her, while he himself directed the chase after Robertson, +which he still hoped might be successful. As Ratcliffe approached, +Sharpitlaw pushed the young woman towards him with some rudeness, and +betaking himself to the more important object of his quest, began to +scale crags and scramble up steep banks, with an agility of which his +profession and his general gravity of demeanour would previously have +argued him incapable. In a few minutes there was no one within sight, and +only a distant halloo from one of the pursuers to the other, faintly +heard on the side of the hill, argued that there was any one within +hearing. Jeanie Deans was left in the clear moonlight, standing under the +guard of a person of whom she knew nothing, and, what was worse, +concerning whom, as the reader is well aware, she could have learned +nothing that would not have increased her terror. + +When all in the distance was silent, Ratcliffe for the first time +addressed her, and it was in that cold sarcastic indifferent tone +familiar to habitual depravity, whose crimes are instigated by custom +rather than by passion. "This is a braw night for ye, dearie," he said, +attempting to pass his arm across her shoulder, "to be on the green hill +wi' your jo." Jeanie extricated herself from his grasp, but did not make +any reply. + +"I think lads and lasses," continued the ruffian, "dinna meet at +Muschat's Cairn at midnight to crack nuts," and he again attempted to +take hold of her. + +"If ye are an officer of justice, sir," said Jeanie, again eluding his +attempt to seize her, "ye deserve to have your coat stripped from your +back." + +"Very true, hinny," said he, succeeding forcibly in his attempt to get +hold of her, "but suppose I should strip your cloak off first?" + +"Ye are more a man, I am sure, than to hurt me, sir," said Jeanie; "for +God's sake have pity on a half-distracted creature!" + +"Come, come," said Ratcliffe, "you're a good-looking wench, and should +not be cross-grained. I was going to be an honest man--but the devil has +this very day flung first a lawyer, and then a woman, in my gate. I'll +tell you what, Jeanie, they are out on the hill-side--if you'll be guided +by me, I'll carry you to a wee bit corner in the Pleasance, that I ken o' +in an auld wife's, that a' the prokitors o' Scotland wot naething o', and +we'll send Robertson word to meet us in Yorkshire, for there is a set o' +braw lads about the midland counties, that I hae dune business wi' before +now, and sae we'll leave Mr. Sharpitlaw to whistle on his thumb." + +It was fortunate for Jeanie, in an emergency like the present, that she +possessed presence of mind and courage, so soon as the first hurry of +surprise had enabled her to rally her recollection. She saw the risk she +was in from a ruffian, who not only was such by profession, but had that +evening been stupifying, by means of strong liquors, the internal +aversion which he felt at the business on which Sharpitlaw had resolved +to employ him. + +"Dinna speak sae loud," said she, in a low voice; "he's up yonder." + +"Who?--Robertson?" said Ratcliffe, eagerly. + +"Ay," replied Jeanie; "up yonder;" and she pointed to the ruins of the +hermitage and chapel. + +"By G--d, then," said Ratcliffe, "I'll make my ain of him, either one way +or other--wait for me here." + +But no sooner had he set off as fast as he could run, towards the chapel, +than Jeanie started in an opposite direction, over high and low, on the +nearest path homeward. Her juvenile exercise as a herdswoman had put +"life and mettle" in her heels, and never had she followed Dustiefoot, +when the cows were in the corn, with half so much speed as she now +cleared the distance betwixt Muschat's Cairn and her father's cottage at +St. Leonard's. To lift the latch--to enter--to shut, bolt, and double +bolt the door--to draw against it a heavy article of furniture (which she +could not have moved in a moment of less energy), so as to make yet +farther provision against violence, was almost the work of a moment, yet +done with such silence as equalled the celerity. + +Her next anxiety was upon her father's account, and she drew silently to +the door of his apartment, in order to satisfy herself whether he had +been disturbed by her return. He was awake,--probably had slept but +little; but the constant presence of his own sorrows, the distance of his +apartment from the outer door of the house, and the precautions which +Jeanie had taken to conceal her departure and return, had prevented him +from being sensible of either. He was engaged in his devotions, and +Jeanie could distinctly hear him use these words:--"And for the other +child thou hast given me to be a comfort and stay to my old age, may her +days be long in the land, according to the promise thou hast given to +those who shall honour father and mother; may all her purchased and +promised blessings be multiplied upon her; keep her in the watches of the +night, and in the uprising of the morning, that all in this land may know +that thou hast not utterly hid thy face from those that seek thee in +truth and in sincerity." He was silent, but probably continued his +petition in the strong fervency of mental devotion. + +His daughter retired to her apartment, comforted, that while she was +exposed to danger, her head had been covered by the prayers of the just +as by an helmet, and under the strong confidence, that while she walked +worthy of the protection of Heaven, she would experience its countenance. +It was in that moment that a vague idea first darted across her mind, +that something might yet be achieved for her sister's safety, conscious +as she now was of her innocence of the unnatural murder with which she +stood charged. It came, as she described it, on her mind, like a +sun-blink on a stormy sea; and although it instantly vanished, yet she +felt a degree of composure which she had not experienced for many days, +and could not help being strongly persuaded that, by some means or other, +she would be called upon, and directed, to work out her sister's +deliverance. She went to bed, not forgetting her usual devotions, the +more fervently made on account of her late deliverance, and she slept +soundly in spite of her agitation. + +We must return to Ratcliffe, who had started, like a greyhound from the +slips when the sportsman cries halloo, as soon as Jeanie had pointed to +the ruins. Whether he meant to aid Robertson's escape, or to assist his +pursuers, may be very doubtful; perhaps he did not himself know but had +resolved to be guided by circumstances. He had no opportunity, however, +of doing either; for he had no sooner surmounted the steep ascent, and +entered under the broken arches of the rains, than a pistol was presented +at his head, and a harsh voice commanded him, in the king's name, to +surrender himself prisoner. "Mr. Sharpitlaw!" said Ratcliffe, surprised, +"is this your honour?" + +"Is it only you, and be d--d to you?" answered the fiscal, still more +disappointed--"what made you leave the woman?" + +"She told me she saw Robertson go into the ruins, so I made what haste I +could to cleek the callant." + +"It's all over now," said Sharpitlaw; "we shall see no more of him +to-night; but he shall hide himself in a bean-hool, if he remains on +Scottish ground without my finding him. Call back the people, Ratcliffe." + +Ratcliffe hollowed to the dispersed officers, who willingly obeyed the +signal; for probably there was no individual among them who would have +been much desirous of a rencontre, hand to hand, and at a distance from +his comrades, with such an active and desperate fellow as Robertson. + +"And where are the two women?" said Sharpitlaw. + +"Both made their heels serve them, I suspect," replied Ratcliffe, and he +hummed the end of the old song-- + + "Then hey play up the rin-awa bride, + For she has taen the gee." + +"One woman," said Sharpitlaw,--for, like all rogues, he was a great +calumniator of the fair sex,*--"one woman is enough to dark the fairest +ploy that was ever planned; and how could I be such an ass as to expect +to carry through a job that had two in it? + +* Note L. Calumniator of the Fair Sex. + +But we know how to come by them both, if they are wanted, that's one good +thing." + +Accordingly, like a defeated general, sad and sulky, he led back his +discomfited forces to the metropolis, and dismissed them for the night. + +The next morning early, he was under the necessity of making his report +to the sitting magistrate of the day. The gentleman who occupied the +chair of office on this occasion (for the bailies, /Anglice',/ aldermen, +take it by rotation) chanced to be the same by whom Butler was committed, +a person very generally respected among his fellow-citizens. Something he +was of a humorist, and rather deficient in general education; but acute, +patient, and upright, possessed of a fortune acquired by honest industry +which made him perfectly independent; and, in short, very happily +qualified to support the respectability of the office, which he held. + +Mr. Middleburgh had just taken his seat, and was debating in an animated +manner, with one of his colleagues, the doubtful chances of a game at +golf which they had played the day before, when a letter was delivered to +him, addressed "For Bailie Middleburgh; These: to be forwarded with +speed." It contained these words:-- + +"Sir,--I know you to be a sensible and a considerate magistrate, and one +who, as such, will be content to worship God, though the devil bid you. I +therefore expect that, notwithstanding the signature of this letter +acknowledges my share in an action, which, in a proper time and place, I +would not fear either to avow or to justify, you will not on that account +reject what evidence I place before you. The clergyman, Butler, is +innocent of all but involuntary presence at an action which he wanted +spirit to approve of, and from which he endeavoured, with his best set +phrases, to dissuade us. But it was not for him that it is my hint to +speak. There is a woman in your jail, fallen under the edge of a law so +cruel, that it has hung by the wall like unsecured armour, for twenty +years, and is now brought down and whetted to spill the blood of the most +beautiful and most innocent creature whom the walls of a prison ever +girdled in. Her sister knows of her innocence, as she communicated to her +that she was betrayed by a villain.--O that high Heaven + + Would put in every honest hand a whip, + To scourge me such a villain through the world! + +"I write distractedly--But this girl--this Jeanie Deans, is a peevish +puritan, superstitious and scrupulous after the manner of her sect; and I +pray your honour, for so my phrase must go, to press upon her, that her +sister's life depends upon her testimony. But though she should remain +silent, do not dare to think that the young woman is guilty--far less to +permit her execution. Remember the death of Wilson was fearfully avenged; +and those yet live who can compel you to drink the dregs of your poisoned +chalice.--I say, remember Porteous, and say that you had good counsel +from + "One of his Slayers." + +The magistrate read over this extraordinary letter twice or thrice. At +first he was tempted to throw it aside as the production of a madman, so +little did "the scraps from play-books," as he termed the poetical +quotation, resemble the correspondence of a rational being. On a +re-perusal, however, he thought that, amid its incoherence, he could +discover something like a tone of awakened passion, though expressed in a +manner quaint and unusual. + +"It is a cruelly severe statute," said the magistrate to his assistant, +"and I wish the girl could be taken from under the letter of it. A child +may have been born, and it may have been conveyed away while the mother +was insensible, or it may have perished for want of that relief which the +poor creature herself--helpless, terrified, distracted, despairing, and +exhausted--may have been unable to afford to it. And yet it is certain, +if the woman is found guilty under the statute, execution will follow. +The crime has been too common, and examples are necessary." + +"But if this other wench," said the city-clerk, "can speak to her sister +communicating her situation, it will take the case from under the +statute." + +"Very true," replied the Bailie; "and I will walk out one of these days +to St. Leonard's, and examine the girl myself. I know something of their +father Deans--an old true-blue Cameronian, who would see house and family +go to wreck ere he would disgrace his testimony by a sinful complying +with the defections of the times; and such he will probably uphold the +taking an oath before a civil magistrate. If they are to go on and +flourish with their bull-headed obstinacy, the legislature must pass an +act to take their affirmations, as in the case of Quakers. But surely +neither a father nor a sister will scruple in a case of this kind. As I +said before, I will go speak with them myself, when the hurry of this +Porteous investigation is somewhat over; their pride and spirit of +contradiction will be far less alarmed, than if they were called into a +court of justice at once." + +"And I suppose Butler is to remain incarcerated?" said the city-clerk. + +"For the present, certainly," said the magistrate. "But I hope soon to +set him at liberty upon bail." + +"Do you rest upon the testimony of that light-headed letter?" asked the +clerk. + +"Not very much," answered the Bailie; "and yet there is something +striking about it too--it seems the letter of a man beside himself, +either from great agitation, or some great sense of guilt." + +"Yes," said the town-clerk, "it is very like the letter of a mad +strolling play-actor, who deserves to be hanged with all the rest of his +gang, as your honour justly observes." + +"I was not quite so bloodthirsty," continued the magistrate. "But to the +point, Butler's private character is excellent; and I am given to +understand, by some inquiries I have been making this morning, that he +did actually arrive in town only the day before yesterday, so that it was +impossible he could have been concerned in any previous machinations of +these unhappy rioters, and it is not likely that he should have joined +them on a suddenty." + +"There's no saying anent that--zeal catches fire at a slight spark as +fast as a brunstane match," observed the secretary. "I hae kend a +minister wad be fair gude-day and fair gude-e'en wi' ilka man in the +parochine, and hing just as quiet as a rocket on a stick, till ye +mentioned the word abjuration-oath, or patronage, or siclike, and then, +whiz, he was off, and up in the air an hundred miles beyond common +manners, common sense, and common comprehension." + +"I do not understand," answered the burgher-magistrate, "that the young +man Butler's zeal is of so inflammable a character. But I will make +farther investigation. What other business is there before us?" + +And they proceeded to minute investigations concerning the affair of +Porteous's death, and other affairs through which this history has no +occasion to trace them. + +In the course of their business they were interrupted by an old woman of +the lower rank, extremely haggard in look, and wretched in her +appearance, who thrust herself into the council room. + +"What do you want, gudewife?--Who are you?" said Bailie Middleburgh. + +"What do I want!" replied she, in a sulky tone--"I want my bairn, or I +want naething frae nane o' ye, for as grand's ye are." And she went on +muttering to herself with the wayward spitefulness of age--"They maun hae +lordships and honours, nae doubt--set them up, the gutter-bloods! and +deil a gentleman amang them."--Then again addressing the sitting +magistrate, "Will /your honour/ gie me back my puir crazy bairn?--/His/ +honour!--I hae kend the day when less wad ser'd him, the oe of a Campvere +skipper." + +"Good woman," said the magistrate to this shrewish supplicant--"tell us +what it is you want, and do not interrupt the court." + +"That's as muckle as till say, Bark, Bawtie, and be dune wi't!--I tell +ye," raising her termagant voice, "I want my bairn! is na that braid +Scots?" + +"Who /are/ you?--who is your bairn?" demanded the magistrate. + +"Wha am I?--wha suld I be, but Meg Murdockson, and wha suld my bairn be +but Magdalen Murdockson?--Your guard soldiers, and your constables, and +your officers, ken us weel eneugh when they rive the bits o' duds aff our +backs, and take what penny o' siller we hae, and harle us to the +Correctionhouse in Leith Wynd, and pettle us up wi' bread and water and +siclike sunkets." + +"Who is she?" said the magistrate, looking round to some of his people. + +"Other than a gude ane, sir," said one of the city officers, shrugging +his shoulders and smiling. + +"Will ye say sae?" said the termagant, her eye gleaming with impotent +fury; "an I had ye amang the Figgat-Whins,* wadna I set my ten talents in +your wuzzent face for that very word?" and she suited the word to the +action, by spreading out a set of claws resembling those of St. George's +dragon on a country sign-post. + +* [This was a name given to a tract of sand hillocks extending along the +sea-shore from Leith to Portobello, and which at this time were covered +with /whin/-bushes or furze.] + +"What does she want here?" said the impatient magistrate--"Can she not +tell her business, or go away?" + +"It's my bairn!--it's Magdalen Murdockson I'm wantin'," answered the +beldam, screaming at the highest pitch of her cracked and mistuned voice +--"havena I been telling ye sae this half-hour? And if ye are deaf, what +needs ye sit cockit up there, and keep folk scraughin' t'ye this gate?" + +"She wants her daughter, sir," said the same officer whose interference +had given the hag such offence before--"her daughter, who was taken up +last night--Madge Wildfire, as they ca' her." + +"Madge Hellfire, as they ca' her!" echoed the beldam "and what business +has a blackguard like you to ca' an honest woman's bairn out o' her ain +name?" + +"An /honest/ woman's bairn, Maggie?" answered the peace-officer, smiling +and shaking his head with an ironical emphasis on the adjective, and a +calmness calculated to provoke to madness the furious old shrew. + +"If I am no honest now, I was honest ance," she replied; "and that's mair +than ye can say, ye born and bred thief, that never kend ither folks' +gear frae your ain since the day ye was cleckit. Honest, say ye?--ye +pykit your mother's pouch o' twalpennies Scots when ye were five years +auld, just as she was taking leave o' your father at the fit o' the +gallows." + +"She has you there, George," said the assistants, and there was a general +laugh; for the wit was fitted for the meridian of the place where it was +uttered. This general applause somewhat gratified the passions of the old +hag; the "grim feature" smiled and even laughed--but it was a laugh of +bitter scorn. She condescended, however, as if appeased by the success of +her sally, to explain her business more distinctly, when the magistrate, +commanding silence, again desired her either to speak out her errand, or +to leave the place. + +"Her bairn," she said, "/was/ her bairn, and she came to fetch her out of +ill haft and waur guiding. If she wasna sae wise as ither folk, few ither +folk had suffered as muckle as she had done; forby that she could fend +the waur for hersell within the four wa's of a jail. She could prove by +fifty witnesses, and fifty to that, that her daughter had never seen Jock +Porteous, alive or dead, since he had gien her a laundering wi' his cane, +the neger that he was! for driving a dead cat at the provost's wig on the +Elector of Hanover's birthday." + +Notwithstanding the wretched appearance and violent demeanour of this +woman, the magistrate felt the justice of her argument, that her child +might be as dear to her as to a more fortunate and more amiable mother. +He proceeded to investigate the circumstances which had led to Madge +Murdockson's (or Wildfire's) arrest, and as it was clearly shown that she +had not been engaged in the riot, he contented himself with directing +that an eye should be kept upon her by the police, but that for the +present she should be allowed to return home with her mother. During the +interval of fetching Madge from the jail, the magistrate endeavoured to +discover whether her mother had been privy to the change of dress betwixt +that young woman and Robertson. But on this point he could obtain no +light. She persisted in declaring, that she had never seen Robertson +since his remarkable escape during service-time; and that, if her +daughter had changed clothes with him, it must have been during her +absence at a hamlet about two miles out of town, called Duddingstone, +where she could prove that she passed that eventful night. And, in fact, +one of the town-officers, who had been searching for stolen linen at the +cottage of a washer-woman in that village, gave his evidence, that he had +seen Maggie Murdockson there, whose presence had considerably increased +his suspicion of the house in which she was a visitor, in respect that he +considered her as a person of no good reputation. + +"I tauld ye sae," said the hag; "see now what it is to hae a character, +gude or bad!--Now, maybe, after a', I could tell ye something about +Porteous that you council-chamber bodies never could find out, for as +muckle stir as ye mak." + +All eyes were turned towards her--all ears were alert. "Speak out!" said +the magistrate. + +"It will be for your ain gude," insinuated the town-clerk. + +"Dinna keep the Bailie waiting," urged the assistants. + +She remained doggedly silent for two or three minutes, casting around a +malignant and sulky glance, that seemed to enjoy the anxious suspense +with which they waited her answer. And then she broke forth at once,--"A' +that I ken about him is, that he was neither soldier nor gentleman, but +just a thief and a blackguard, like maist o' yoursells, dears--What will +ye gie me for that news, now?--He wad hae served the gude town lang or +provost or bailie wad hae fund that out, my jo!" + +While these matters were in discussion, Madge Wildfire entered, and her +first exclamation was, "Eh! see if there isna our auld ne'er-do-weel +deevil's-buckie o' a mither--Hegh, sirs! but we are a hopeful family, to +be twa o' us in the Guard at ance--But there were better days wi' us +ance--were there na, mither?" + +Old Maggie's eyes had glistened with something like an expression of +pleasure when she saw her daughter set at liberty. But either her natural +affection, like that of the tigress, could not be displayed without a +strain of ferocity, or there was something in the ideas which Madge's +speech awakened, that again stirred her cross and savage temper. "What +signifies what we, were, ye street-raking limmer!" she exclaimed, pushing +her daughter before her to the door, with no gentle degree of violence. +"I'se tell thee what thou is now--thou's a crazed hellicat Bess o' +Bedlam, that sall taste naething but bread and water for a fortnight, to +serve ye for the plague ye hae gien me--and ower gude for ye, ye idle +taupie!" + +Madge, however, escaped from her mother at the door, ran back to the foot +of the table, dropped a very low and fantastic courtesy to the judge, and +said, with a giggling laugh,--"Our minnie's sair mis-set, after her +ordinar, sir--She'll hae had some quarrel wi' her auld gudeman--that's +Satan, ye ken, sirs." This explanatory note she gave in a low +confidential tone, and the spectators of that credulous generation did +not hear it without an involuntary shudder. "The gudeman and her disna +aye gree weel, and then I maun pay the piper; but my back's broad eneugh +to bear't a'--an' if she hae nae havings, that's nae reason why wiser +folk shouldna hae some." Here another deep courtesy, when the ungracious +voice of her mother was heard. + +"Madge, ye limmer! If I come to fetch ye!" + +"Hear till her," said Madge. "But I'll wun out a gliff the night for a' +that, to dance in the moonlight, when her and the gudeman will be +whirrying through the blue lift on a broom-shank, to see Jean Jap, that +they hae putten intill the Kirkcaldy Tolbooth--ay, they will hae a merry +sail ower Inchkeith, and ower a' the bits o' bonny waves that are +poppling and plashing against the rocks in the gowden glimmer o' the +moon, ye ken.--I'm coming, mother--I'm coming," she concluded, on hearing +a scuffle at the door betwixt the beldam and the officers, who were +endeavouring to prevent her re-entrance. Madge then waved her hand wildly +towards the ceiling, and sung, at the topmost pitch of her voice, + + "Up in the air, + On my bonny grey mare, + And I see, and I see, and I see her yet;" + +and with a hop, skip, and jump, sprung out of the room, as the witches of +Macbeth used, in less refined days, to seem to fly upwards from the +stage. + +Some weeks intervened before Mr. Middleburgh, agreeably to his benevolent +resolution, found an opportunity of taking a walk towards St. Leonard's, +in order to discover whether it might be possible to obtain the evidence +hinted at in the anonymous letter respecting Effie Deans. + +In fact, the anxious perquisitions made to discover the murderers of +Porteous occupied the attention of all concerned with the administration +of justice. + +In the course of these inquiries, two circumstances happened material to +our story. Butler, after a close investigation of his conduct, was +declared innocent of accession to the death of Porteous; but, as having +been present during the whole transaction, was obliged to find bail not +to quit his usual residence at Liberton, that he might appear as a +witness when called upon. The other incident regarded the disappearance +of Madge Wildfire and her mother from Edinburgh. When they were sought, +with the purpose of subjecting them to some farther interrogatories, it +was discovered by Mr. Sharpitlaw that they had eluded the observation of +the police, and left the city so soon as dismissed from the +council-chamber. No efforts could trace the place of their retreat. + +In the meanwhile the excessive indignation of the Council of Regency, at +the slight put upon their authority by the murder of Porteous, had +dictated measures, in which their own extreme desire of detecting the +actors in that conspiracy were consulted in preference to the temper of +the people and the character of their churchmen. An act of Parliament was +hastily passed, offering two hundred pounds reward to those who should +inform against any person concerned in the deed, and the penalty of +death, by a very unusual and severe enactment, was denounced against +those who should harbour the guilty. But what was chiefly accounted +exceptionable, was a clause, appointing the act to be read in churches by +the officiating clergyman, on the first Sunday of every month, for a +certain period, immediately before the sermon. The ministers who should +refuse to comply with this injunction were declared, for the first +offence, incapable of sitting or voting in any church judicature, and for +the second, incapable of holding any ecclesiastical preferment in +Scotland. + +This last order united in a common cause those who might privately +rejoice in Porteous's death, though they dared not vindicate the manner +of it, with the more scrupulous Presbyterians, who held that even the +pronouncing the name of the "Lords Spiritual" in a Scottish pulpit was, +/quodammodo,/ an acknowledgment of prelacy, and that the injunction of +the legislature was an interference of the civil government with the /jus +divinum/ of Presbytery, since to the General Assembly alone, as +representing the invisible head of the kirk, belonged the sole and +exclusive right of regulating whatever pertained to public worship. Very +many also, of different political or religious sentiments, and therefore +not much moved by these considerations, thought they saw, in so violent +an act of parliament, a more vindictive spirit than became the +legislature of a great country, and something like an attempt to trample +upon the rights and independence of Scotland. The various steps adopted +for punishing the city of Edinburgh, by taking away her charter and +liberties, for what a violent and overmastering mob had done within her +walls, were resented by many, who thought a pretext was too hastily taken +for degrading the ancient metropolis of Scotland. In short, there was +much heart-burning, discontent, and disaffection, occasioned by these +ill-considered measures.* + +* The magistrates were closely interrogated before the House of Peers, +concerning the particulars of the Porteous Mob, and the /patois/ in which +these functionaries made their answers, sounded strange in the ears of +the Southern nobles. The Duke of Newcastle having demanded to know with +what kind of shot the guard which Porteous commanded had loaded their +muskets, was answered, naively, "Ow, just sic as ane shoots /dukes and +fools/ with." This reply was considered as a contempt of the House of +Lords, and the Provost would have suffered accordingly, but that the Duke +of Argyle explained, that the expression, properly rendered into English, +meant /ducks and waterfowls./ + + Amidst these heats and dissensions, the trial of Effie Deans, after she +had been many weeks imprisoned, was at length about to be brought +forward, and Mr. Middleburgh found leisure to inquire into the evidence +concerning her. For this purpose, he chose a fine day for his walk +towards her father's house. + +The excursion into the country was somewhat distant, in the opinion of a +burgess of those days, although many of the present inhabit suburban +villas considerably beyond the spot to which we allude. Three-quarters of +an hour's walk, however, even at a pace of magisterial gravity, conducted +our benevolent office-bearer to the Crags of St. Leonard's, and the +humble mansion of David Deans. + +The old man was seated on the deas, or turf-seat, at the end of his +cottage, busied in mending his cart-harness with his own hands; for in +those days any sort of labour which required a little more skill than +usual fell to the share of the goodman himself, and that even when he was +well to pass in the world. With stern and austere gravity he persevered +in his task, afterhaving just raised his head to notice the advance of +the stranger. It would have been impossible to have discovered, from his +countenance and manner, the internal feelings of agony with which he +contended. Mr. Middleburgh waited an instant, expecting Deans would in +some measure acknowledge his presence, and lead into conversation; but, +as he seemed determined to remain silent, he was himself obliged to speak +first. + +"My name is Middleburgh--Mr. James Middleburgh, one of the present +magistrates of the city of Edinburgh." + +"It may be sae," answered Deans laconically, and without interrupting his +labour. + +"You must understand," he continued, "that the duty of a magistrate is +sometimes an unpleasant one." + +"It may be sae," replied David; "I hae naething to say in the contrair;" +and he was again doggedly silent. + +"You must be aware," pursued the magistrate, "that persons in my +situation are often obliged to make painful and disagreeable inquiries of +individuals, merely because it is their bounden duty." + +"It may be sae," again replied Deans; "I hae naething to say anent it, +either the tae way or the t'other. But I do ken there was ance in a day a +just and God-fearing magistracy in yon town o' Edinburgh, that did not +bear the sword in vain, but were a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to +such as kept the path. In the glorious days of auld worthy faithfu' +Provost Dick,* when there was a true and faithfu' General Assembly of + +* Note M. Sir William Dick of Braid. + +the Kirk, walking hand in hand with the real noble Scottish-hearted +barons, and with the magistrates of this and other towns, gentles, +burgesses, and commons of all ranks, seeing with one eye, hearing with +one ear, and upholding the ark with their united strength--And then folk +might see men deliver up their silver to the state's use, as if it had +been as muckle sclate stanes. My father saw them toom the sacks of +dollars out o' Provost Dick's window intill the carts that carried them +to the army at Dunse Law; and if ye winna believe his testimony, there is +the window itsell still standing in the Luckenbooths--I think it's a +claith-merchant's booth the day*--at the airn stanchells, five doors +abune Gossford's Close. + +* I think so too--But if the reader be curious, he may consult Mr. +Chambers's Traditions of Edinburgh. + +--But now we haena sic spirit amang us; we think mair about the warst +wallydraigle in our ain byre, than about the blessing which the angel of +the covenant gave to the Patriarch even at Peniel and Mahanaim, or the +binding obligation of our national vows; and we wad rather gie a pund +Scots to buy an unguent to clear out auld rannell-trees and our beds o' +the English bugs as they ca' them, than we wad gie a plack to rid the +land of the swarm of Arminian caterpillars, Socinian pismires, and +deistical Miss Katies, that have ascended out of the bottomless pit, to +plague this perverse, insidious, and lukewarm generation." + +It happened to Davie Deans on this occasion, as it has done to many other +habitual orators; when once he became embarked on his favourite subject, +the stream of his own enthusiasm carried him forward in spite of his +mental distress, while his well-exercised memory supplied him amply with +all the types and tropes of rhetoric peculiar to his sect and cause. + +Mr. Middleburgh contented himself with answering--"All this may be very +true, my friend; but, as you said just now, I have nothing to say to it +at present, either one way or other.--You have two daughters, I think, +Mr. Deans?" + +The old man winced, as one whose smarting sore is suddenly galled; but +instantly composed himself, resumed the work which, in the heat of his +declamation, he had laid down, and answered with sullen resolution, "Ae +daughter, sir--only /ane./" + +"I understand you," said Mr. Middleburgh; "you have only one daughter +here at home with you--but this unfortunate girl who is a prisoner--she +is, I think, your youngest daughter?" + +The Presbyterian sternly raised his eyes. "After the world, and according +to the flesh, she /is/ my daughter; but when she became a child of +Belial, and a company-keeper, and a trader in guilt and iniquity, she +ceased to be a bairn of mine." + +"Alas, Mr. Deans," said Middleburgh, sitting down by him, and +endeavouring to take his hand, which the old man proudly withdrew, "we +are ourselves all sinners; and the errors of our offspring, as they ought +not to surprise us, being the portion which they derive of a common +portion of corruption inherited through us, so they do not entitle us to +cast them off because they have lost themselves." + +"Sir," said Deans impatiently, "I ken a' that as weel as--I mean to say," +he resumed, checking the irritation he felt at being schooled--a +discipline of the mind which those most ready to bestow it on others do +themselves most reluctantly submit to receive--"I mean to say, that what +ye o serve may be just and reasonable--But I hae nae freedom to enter +into my ain private affairs wi' strangers--And now, in this great +national emergency, When there's the Porteous' Act has come doun frae +London, that is a deeper blow to this poor sinfu' kingdom and suffering +kirk than ony that has been heard of since the foul and fatal Test--at a +time like this" + +"But, goodman," interrupted Mr. Middleburgh, "you must think of your own +household first, or else you are worse even than the infidels." + +"I tell ye, Bailie Middleburgh," retorted David Deans, "if ye be a +bailie, as there is little honour in being ane in these evil days--I tell +ye, I heard the gracious Saunders Peden--I wotna whan it was; but it was +in killing time, when the plowers were drawing alang their furrows on the +back of the Kirk of Scotland--I heard him tell his hearers, gude and +waled Christians they were too, that some o' them wad greet mair for a +bit drowned calf or stirk than for a' the defections and oppressions of +the day; and that they were some o' them thinking o' ae thing, some o' +anither, and there was Lady Hundleslope thinking o' greeting Jock at the +fireside! And the lady confessed in my hearing that a drow of anxiety had +come ower her for her son that she had left at hame weak of a decay*--And +what wad he hae said of me if I had ceased to think of the gude cause for +a castaway--a--It kills me to think of what she is!" + +* See /Life of Peden,/ p. 14. + +"But the life of your child, goodman--think of that--if her life could be +saved," said Middleburgh. + +"Her life!" exclaimed David--"I wadna gie ane o' my grey hairs for her +life, if her gude name be gane--And yet," said he, relenting and +retracting as he spoke, "I wad make the niffer, Mr. Middleburgh--I wad +gie a' these grey hairs that she has brought to shame and sorrow--I wad +gie the auld head they grow on for her life, and that she might hae time +to amend and return, for what hae the wicked beyond the breath of their +nosthrils?--but I'll never see her mair--No!--that--that I am determined +in--I'll never see her mair!" His lips continued to move for a minute +after his voice ceased to be heard, as if he were repeating the same vow +internally. + +"Well, sir," said Mr. Middleburgh, "I speak to you as a man of sense; if +you would save your daughter's life, you must use human means." + +"I understand what you mean; but Mr. Novit, who is the procurator and +doer of an honourable person, the Laird of Dumbiedikes, is to do what +carnal wisdom can do for her in the circumstances. Mysell am not clear to +trinquet and traffic wi' courts o' justice as they are now constituted; I +have a tenderness and scruple in my mind anent them." + +"That is to say," said Middleburgh, "that you are a Cameronian, and do +not acknowledge the authority of our courts of judicature, or present +government?" + +"Sir, under your favour," replied David, who was too proud of his own +polemical knowledge to call himself the follower of any one, "ye take me +up before I fall down. I canna see why I suld be termed a Cameronian, +especially now that ye hae given the name of that famous and savoury +sufferer, not only until a regimental band of souldiers, [H. M. 26th +Foot] whereof I am told many can now curse, swear, and use profane +language, as fast as ever Richard Cameron could preach or pray, but also +because ye have, in as far as it is in your power, rendered that martyr's +name vain and contemptible, by pipes, drums, and fifes, playing the vain +carnal spring called the Cameronian Rant, which too many professors of +religion dance to--a practice maist unbecoming a professor to dance to +any tune whatsoever, more especially promiscuously, that is, with the +female sex.* A brutish fashion it is, whilk is the beginning of defection +with many, as I may hae as muckle cause as maist folk to testify." + +* See Note F. Peter Walker. + +"Well, but, Mr. Deans," replied Mr. Middleburgh, "I only meant to say +that you were a Cameronian, or MacMillanite, one of the society people, +in short, who think it inconsistent to take oaths under a government +where the Covenant is not ratified." + +"Sir," replied the controversialist, who forgot even his present distress +in such discussions as these, "you cannot fickle me sae easily as you do +opine. I am /not/ a MacMillanite, or a Russelite, or a Hamiltonian, or a +Harleyite, or a Howdenite*--I will be led by the nose by none--I take my +name as a Christian from no vessel of clay. I have my own principles and +practice to answer for, and am an humble pleader for the gude auld cause +in a legal way." + +* All various species of the great genus Cameronian. + +"That is to say, Mr. Deans," said Middleburgh, "that you are a /Deanite,/ +and have opinions peculiar to yourself." + +"It may please you to say sae," said David Deans; "but I have maintained +my testimony before as great folk, and in sharper times; and though I +will neither exalt myself nor pull down others, I wish every man and +woman in this land had kept the true testimony, and the middle and +straight path, as it were, on the ridge of a hill, where wind and water +shears, avoiding right-hand snares and extremes, and left-hand +way-slidings, as weel as Johnny Dodds of Farthing's Acre, and ae man mair +that shall be nameless." + +"I suppose," replied the magistrate, "that is as much as to say, that +Johnny Dodds of Farthing's Acre, and David Deans of St. Leonard's, +constitute the only members of the true, real, unsophisticated Kirk of +Scotland?" + +"God forbid that I suld make sic a vain-glorious speech, when there are +sae mony professing Christians!" answered David; "but this I maun say, +that all men act according to their gifts and their grace, 'sae that it +is nae marvel that" + +"This is all very fine," interrupted Mr. Middleburgh; "but I have no time +to spend in hearing it. The matter in hand is this--I have directed a +citation to be lodged in your daughter's hands--If she appears on the day +of trial and gives evidence, there is reason to hope she may save her +sister's life--if, from any constrained scruples about the legality of +her performing the office of an affectionate sister and a good subject, +by appearing in a court held under the authority of the law and +government, you become the means of deterring her from the discharge of +this duty, I must say, though the truth may sound harsh in your ears, +that you, who gave life to this unhappy girl, will become the means of +her losing it by a premature and violent death." + +So saying, Mr. Middleburgh turned to leave him. + +"Bide awee--bide awee, Mr. Middleburgh," said Deans, in great perplexity +and distress of mind; but the Bailie, who was probably sensible that +protracted discussion might diminish the effect of his best and most +forcible argument, took a hasty leave, and declined entering farther into +the controversy. + +Deans sunk down upon his seat, stunned with a variety of conflicting +emotions. It had been a great source of controversy among those holding +his opinions in religious matters how far the government which succeeded +the Revolution could be, without sin, acknowledged by true Presbyterians, +seeing that it did not recognise the great national testimony of the +Solemn League and Covenant? And latterly, those agreeing in this general +doctrine, and assuming the sounding title of "The anti-Popish, +anti-Prelatic, anti-Erastian, anti-Sectarian, true Presbyterian remnant," +were divided into many petty sects among themselves, even as to the +extent of submission to the existing laws and rulers, which constituted +such an acknowledgment as amounted to sin. + +At a very stormy and tumultuous meeting, held in 1682, to discuss these +important and delicate points, the testimonies of the faithful few were +found utterly inconsistent with each other.* + +* This remarkable convocation took place upon 15th June 1682, and an +account of its confused and divisive proceedings may be found in Michael +Shield's /Faithful Contendings Displayed/ (first printed at Glasgow, +1780, p. 21). It affords a singular and melancholy example how much a +metaphysical and polemical spirit had crept in amongst these unhappy +sufferers, since amid so many real injuries which they had to sustain, +they were disposed to add disagreement and disunion concerning the +character and extent of such as were only imaginary. + +The place where this conference took place was remarkably well adapted +for such an assembly. It was a wild and very sequestered dell in +Tweeddale, surrounded by high hills, and far remote from human +habitation. A small river, or rather a mountain torrent, called the +Talla, breaks down the glen with great fury, dashing successively over a +number of small cascades, which has procured the spot the name of Talla +Linns. Here the leaders among the scattered adherents to the Covenant, +men who, in their banishment from human society, and in the recollection +of the seventies to which they had been exposed, had become at once +sullen in their tempers, and fantastic in their religious opinions, met +with arms in their hands, and by the side of the torrent discussed, with +a turbulence which the noise of the stream could not drown, points of +controversy as empty and unsubstantial as its foam. + +It was the fixed judgment of most of the meeting, that all payment of +cess or tribute to the existing government was utterly unlawful, and a +sacrificing to idols. About other impositions and degrees of submission +there were various opinions; and perhaps it is the best illustration of +the spirit of those military fathers of the church to say, that while all +allowed it was impious to pay the cess employed for maintaining the +standing army and militia, there was a fierce controversy on the +lawfulness of paying the duties levied at ports and bridges, for +maintaining roads and other necessary purposes; that there were some who, +repugnant to these imposts for turnpikes and pontages, were nevertheless +free in conscience to make payment of the usual freight at public +ferries, and that a person of exceeding and punctilious zeal, James +Russel, one of the slayers of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, had given +his testimony with great warmth even against this last faint shade of +subjection to constituted authority. This ardent and enlightened person +and his followers had also great scruples about the lawfulness of +bestowing the ordinary names upon the days of the week and the months of +the year, which savoured in their nostrils so strongly of paganism, that +at length they arrived at the conclusion that they who owned such names +as Monday, Tuesday, January, February, and so forth, "served themselves +heirs to the same, if not greater punishment, than had been denounced +against the idolaters of old." + +David Deans had been present on this memorable occasion, although too +young to be a speaker among the polemical combatants. His brain, however, +had been thoroughly heated by the noise, clamour, and metaphysical +ingenuity of the discussion, and it was a controversy to which his mind +had often returned; and though he carefully disguised his vacillation +from others, and, perhaps from himself, he had never been able to come to +any precise line of decision on the subject. In fact, his natural sense +had acted as a counterpoise to his controversial zeal. He was by no means +pleased with the quiet and indifferent manner in which King William's +government slurred over the errors of the times, when, far from restoring +the Presbyterian kirk to its former supremacy, they passed an act of +oblivion even to those who had been its persecutors, and bestowed on many +of them titles, favours, and employments. When, in the first General +Assembly which succeeded the Revolution, an overture was made for the +revival of the League and Covenant, it was with horror that Douce David +heard the proposal eluded by the men of carnal wit and policy, as he +called them, as being inapplicable to the present times, and not falling +under the modern model of the church. The reign of Queen Anne had +increased his conviction, that the Revolution government was not one of +the true Presbyterian complexion. But then, more sensible than the bigots +of his sect, he did not confound the moderation and tolerance of these +two reigns with the active tyranny and oppression exercised in those of +Charles II. and James II. The Presbyterian form of religion, though +deprived of the weight formerly attached to its sentences of +excommunication, and compelled to tolerate the coexistence of Episcopacy, +and of sects of various descriptions, was still the National Church; and +though the glory of the second temple was far inferior to that which had +flourished from 1639 till the battle of Dunbar, still it was a structure +that, wanting the strength and the terrors, retained at least the form +and symmetry, of the original model. Then came the insurrection in 1715, +and David Deans's horror for the revival of the Popish and prelatical +faction reconciled him greatly to the government of King George, although +he grieved that that monarch might be suspected of a leaning unto +Erastianism. In short, moved by so many different considerations, he had +shifted his ground at different times concerning the degree of freedom +which he felt in adopting any act of immediate acknowledgment or +submission to the present government, which, however mild and paternal, +was still uncovenanted, and now he felt himself called upon, by the most +powerful motive conceivable, to authorise his daughter's giving testimony +in a court of justice, which all who have been since called Cameronians +accounted a step of lamentable and direct defection. The voice of nature, +however, exclaimed loud in his bosom against the dictates of fanaticism; +and his imagination, fertile in the solution of polemical difficulties, +devised an expedient for extricating himself from the fearful dilemma, in +which he saw, on the one side, a falling off from principle, and, on the +other, a scene from which a father's thoughts could not but turn in +shuddering horror. + +"I have been constant and unchanged in my testimony," said David Deans; +"but then who has said it of me, that I have judged my neighbour over +closely, because he hath had more freedom in his walk than I have found +in mine? I never was a separatist, nor for quarrelling with tender souls +about mint, cummin, or other the lesser tithes. My daughter Jean may have +a light in this subject that is hid frae my auld een--it is laid on her +conscience, and not on mine--If she hath freedom to gang before this +judicatory, and hold up her hand for this poor castaway, surely I will +not say she steppeth over her bounds; and if not"--He paused in his +mental argument, while a pang of unutterable anguish convulsed his +features, yet, shaking it off, he firmly resumed the strain of his +reasoning--"And if not--God forbid that she should go into defection at +bidding of mine! I wunna fret the tender conscience of one bairn--no, not +to save the life of the other." + +A Roman would have devoted his daughter to death from different feelings +and motives, but not upon a more heroic principle of duty. + + + + + + CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. + + + To man, in this his trial state, + The privilege is given, + When tost by tides of human fate, + To anchor fast on heaven. + Watts's /Hymns./ + +It was with a firm step that Deans sought his daughter's apartment, +determined to leave her to the light of her own conscience in the dubious +point of casuistry in which he supposed her to be placed. + +The little room had been the sleeping apartment of both sisters, and +there still stood there a small occasional bed which had been made for +Effie's accommodation, when, complaining of illness, she had declined to +share, as in happier times, her sister's pillow. The eyes of Deans rested +involuntarily, on entering the room, upon this little couch, with its +dark-green coarse curtains, and the ideas connected with it rose so thick +upon his soul as almost to incapacitate him from opening his errand to +his daughter. Her occupation broke the ice. He found her gazing on a slip +of paper, which contained a citation to her to appear as a witness upon +her sister's trial in behalf of the accused. For the worthy magistrate, +determined to omit no chance of doing Effie justice, and to leave her +sister no apology for not giving the evidence which she was supposed to +possess, had caused the ordinary citation, or /subpoena,/ of the Scottish +criminal court, to be served upon her by an officer during his conference +with David. + +This precaution was so far favourable to Deans, that it saved him the +pain of entering upon a formal explanation with his daughter; he only +said, with a hollow and tremulous voice, "I perceive ye are aware of the +matter." + +"O father, we are cruelly sted between God's laws and man's laws--What +shall we do?--What can we do?" + +Jeanie, it must be observed, had no hesitation whatever about the mere +act of appearing in a court of justice. She might have heard the point +discussed by her father more than once; but we have already noticed that +she was accustomed to listen with reverence to much which she was +incapable of understanding, and that subtle argunents of casuistry found +her a patient, but unedified hearer. Upon receiving the citation, +therefore, her thoughts did not turn upon the chimerical scruples which +alarmed her father's mind, but to the language which had been held to her +by the stranger at Muschat's Cairn. In a word, she never doubted but she +was to be dragged forward into the court of justice, in order to place +her in the cruel position of either sacrificing her sister by telling the +truth, or committing perjury in order to save her life. And so strongly +did her thoughts run in this channel, that she applied her father's +words, "Ye are aware of the matter," to his acquaintance with the advice +that had been so fearfully enforced upon her. She looked up with anxious +surprise, not unmingled with a cast of horror, which his next words, as +she interpreted and applied them, were not qualified to remove. + +"Daughter," said David, "it has ever been my mind, that in things of ane +doubtful and controversial nature, ilk Christian's conscience suld be his +ain guide--Wherefore descend into yourself, try your ain mind with +sufficiency of soul exercise, and as you sall finally find yourself clear +to do in this matter--even so be it." + +"But, father," said Jeanie, whose mind revolted at the construction which +she naturally put upon his language, "can this-this be a doubtful or +controversial matter?--Mind, father, the ninth command--'Thou shalt not +bear false witness against thy neighbour.'" + +David Deans paused; for, still applying her speech to his preconceived +difficulties, it seemed to him as if /she,/ a woman, and a sister, was +scarce entitled to be scrupulous upon this occasion, where he, a man, +exercised in the testimonies of that testifying period, had given +indirect countenance to her following what must have been the natural +dictates of her own feelings. But he kept firm his purpose, until his +eyes involuntarily rested upon the little settle-bed, and recalled the +form of the child of his old age, as she sate upon it, pale, emaciated, +and broken-hearted. His mind, as the picture arose before him, +involuntarily conceived, and his tongue involuntarily uttered--but in a +tone how different from his usual dogmatical precision!--arguments for +the course of conduct likely to ensure his child's safety. + +"Daughter," he said, "I did not say that your path was free from +stumbling--and, questionless, this act may be in the opinion of some a +transgression, since he who beareth witness unlawfully, and against his +conscience, doth in some sort bear false witness against his neighbour. +Yet in matters of compliance, the guilt lieth not in the compliance sae +muckle, as in the mind and conscience of him that doth comply; and, +therefore, although my testimony hath not been spared upon public +defections, I haena felt freedom to separate mysell from the communion of +many who have been clear to hear those ministers who have taken the fatal +indulgence because they might get good of them, though I could not." + +When David had proceeded thus far, his conscience reproved him, that he +might be indirectly undermining the purity of his daughter's faith, and +smoothing the way for her falling off from strictness of principle. He, +therefore, suddenly stopped, and changed his tone:--"Jeanie, I perceive +that our vile affections,--so I call them in respect of doing the will of +our Father,--cling too heavily to me in this hour of trying sorrow, to +permit me to keep sight of my ain duty, or to airt you to yours. I will +speak nae mair anent this overtrying matter--Jeanie, if ye can, wi' God +and gude conscience, speak in favour of this puir unhappy"--(here his +voice faltered)--"She is your sister in the flesh--worthless and castaway +as she is, she is the daughter of a saint in heaven, that was a mother to +you, Jeanie, in place of your ain--but if ye arena free in conscience to +speak for her in the court of judicature, follow your conscience, Jeanie, +and let God's will be done." After this adjuration he left the apartment, +and his daughter remained in a state of great distress and perplexity. + +It would have been no small addition to the sorrows of David Deans, even +in this extremity of suffering, had he known that his daughter was +applying the casuistical arguments which he had been using, not in the +sense of a permission to follow her own opinion on a dubious and disputed +point of controversy, but rather as an encouragement to transgress one of +those divine commandments which Christians of all sects and denominations +unite in holding most sacred. + +"Can this be?" said Jeanie, as the door closed on her father--"Can these +be his words that I have heard, or has the Enemy taken his voice and +features to give weight unto the counsel which causeth to perish?--a +sister's life, and a father pointing out how to save it!--O God, deliver +me!--this is a fearfu' temptation." + +Roaming from thought to thought, she at one time imagined her father +understood the ninth commandment literally, as prohibiting false witness +/against/ our neighbour, without extending the denunciation against +falsehood uttered /in favour/ of the criminal. But her clear and +unsophisticated power of discriminating between good and evil, instantly +rejected an interpretation so limited, and so unworthy of the Author of +the law. She remained in a state of the most agitating terror and +uncertainty--afraid to communicate her thoughts freely to her father, +lest she should draw forth an opinion with which she could not comply,-- +wrung with distress on her sister's account, rendered the more acute by +reflecting that the means of saving her were in her power, but were such +as her conscience prohibited her from using,--tossed, in short, like a +vessel in an open roadstead during a storm, and, like that vessel, +resting on one only sure cable and anchor,--faith in Providence, and a +resolution to discharge her duty. + +Butler's affection and strong sense of religion would have been her +principal support in these distressing circumstances, but he was still +under restraint, which did not permit him to come to St. Leonard's Crags; +and her distresses were of a nature, which, with her indifferent habits +of scholarship, she found it impossible to express in writing. She was +therefore compelled to trust for guidance to her own unassisted sense of +what was right or wrong. It was not the least of Jeanie's distresses, +that, although she hoped and believed her sister to be innocent, she had +not the means of receiving that assurance from her own mouth. + +The double-dealing of Ratcliffe in the matter of Robertson had not +prevented his being rewarded, as double-dealers frequently have been, +with favour and preferment. Sharpitlaw, who found in him something of a +kindred genius, had been intercessor in his behalf with the magistrates, +and the circumstance of his having voluntarily remained in the prison, +when the doors were forced by the mob, would have made it a hard measure +to take the life which he had such easy means of saving. He received a +full pardon; and soon afterwards, James Ratcliffe, the greatest thief and +housebreaker in Scotland, was, upon the faith, perhaps, of an ancient +proverb, selected as a person to be entrusted with the custody of other +delinquents. + +When Ratcliffe was thus placed in a confidential situation, he was +repeatedly applied to by the sapient Saddletree and others, who took some +interest in the Deans family, to procure an interview between the +sisters; but the magistrates, who were extremely anxious for the +apprehension of Robertson, had given strict orders to the contrary, +hoping that, by keeping them separate, they might, from the one or the +other, extract some information respecting that fugitive. On this subject +Jeanie had nothing to tell them. She informed Mr. Middleburgh, that she +knew nothing of Robertson, except having met him that night by +appointment to give her some advice respecting her sister's concern, the +purport of which, she said, was betwixt God and her conscience. Of his +motions, purposes, or plans, past, present, or future, she knew nothing, +and so had nothing to communicate. + +Effie was equally silent, though from a different cause. It was in vain +that they offered a commutation and alleviation of her punishment, and +even a free pardon, if she would confess what she knew of her lover. She +answered only with tears; unless, when at times driven into pettish +sulkiness by the persecution of the interrogators, she made them abrupt +and disrespectful answers. + +At length, after her trial had been delayed for many weeks, in hopes she +might be induced to speak out on a subject infinitely more interesting to +the magistracy than her own guilt or innocence, their patience was worn +out, and even Mr. Middleburgh finding no ear lent to farther intercession +in her behalf, the day was fixed for the trial to proceed. + +It was now, and not sooner, that Sharpitlaw, recollecting his promise to +Effie Deans, or rather being dinned into compliance by the unceasing +remonstrances of Mrs. Saddletree, who was his next-door neighbour, and +who declared it was heathen cruelty to keep the twa brokenhearted +creatures separate, issued the important mandate, permitting them to see +each other. + +On the evening which preceded the eventful day of trial, Jeanie was +permitted to see her sister--an awful interview, and occurring at a most +distressing crisis. This, however, formed a part of the bitter cup which +she was doomed to drink, to atone for crimes and follies to which she had +no accession; and at twelve o'clock noon, being the time appointed for +admission to the jail, she went to meet, for the first time for several +months, her guilty, erring, and most miserable sister, in that abode of +guilt, error, and utter misery. + + + + + CHAPTER NINETEENTH. + + + Sweet sister, let me live! + What sin you do to save a brother's life, + Nature dispenses with the deed so far, + That it becomes a virtue. + Measure for Measure. + +Jeanie Deans was admitted into the jail by Ratcliffe. This fellow, as +void of shame as of honesty, as he opened the now trebly secured door, +asked her, with a leer which made her shudder, "whether she remembered +him?" + +A half-pronounced and timid "No," was her answer. + +"What! not remember moonlight, and Muschat's Cairn, and Rob and Rat?" +said he, with the same sneer;--"Your memory needs redding up, my jo." + +If Jeanie's distresses had admitted of aggravation, it must have been to +find her sister under the charge of such a profligate as this man. He was +not, indeed, without something of good to balance so much that was evil +in his character and habits. In his misdemeanours he had never been +bloodthirsty or cruel; and in his present occupation, he had shown +himself, in a certain degree, accessible to touches of humanity. But +these good qualities were unknown to Jeanie, who, remembering the scene +at Muschat's Cairn, could scarce find voice to acquaint him, that she had +an order from Bailie Middleburgh, permitting her to see her sister. + +"I ken that fa' weel, my bonny doo; mair by token, I have a special +charge to stay in the ward with you a' the time ye are thegither." + +"Must that be sae?" asked Jeanie, with an imploring voice. + +"Hout, ay, hinny," replied the turnkey; "and what the waur will you and +your tittie be of Jim Ratcliffe hearing what ye hae to say to ilk other? +--Deil a word ye'll say that will gar him ken your kittle sex better than +he kens them already; and another thing is, that if ye dinna speak o' +breaking the Tolbooth, deil a word will I tell ower, either to do ye good +or ill." + +Thus saying, Ratcliffe marshalled her the way to the apartment where +Effie was confined. + +Shame, fear, and grief, had contended for mastery in the poor prisoner's +bosom during the whole morning, while she had looked forward to this +meeting; but when the door opened, all gave way to a confused and strange +feeling that had a tinge of joy in it, as, throwing herself on her +sister's neck, she ejaculated, "My dear Jeanie!--my dear Jeanie! it's +lang since I hae seen ye." Jeanie returned the embrace with an +earnestness that partook almost of rapture, but it was only a flitting +emotion, like a sunbeam unexpectedly penetrating betwixt the clouds of a +tempest, and obscured almost as soon as visible. The sisters walked +together to the side of the pallet bed, and sate down side by side, took +hold of each other's hands, and looked each other in the face, but +without speaking a word. In this posture they remained for a minute, +while the gleam of joy gradually faded from their features, and gave way +to the most intense expression, first of melancholy, and then of agony, +till, throwing themselves again into each other's arms, they, to use the +language of Scripture, lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly. + +Even the hardhearted turnkey, who had spent his life in scenes calculated +to stifle both conscience and feeling, could not witness this scene +without a touch of human sympathy. It was shown in a trifling action, but +which had more delicacy in it than seemed to belong to Ratcliffe's +character and station. The unglazed window of the miserable chamber was +open, and the beams of a bright sun fell right upon the bed where the +sufferers were seated. With a gentleness that had something of reverence +in it, Ratcliffe partly closed the shutter, and seemed thus to throw a +veil over a scene so sorrowful. + +"Ye are ill, Effie," were the first words Jeanie could utter; "ye are +very ill." + +"O, what wad I gie to be ten times waur, Jeanie!" was the reply--"what +wad I gie to be cauld dead afore the ten o'clock bell the morn! And our +father--but I am his bairn nae langer now--O, I hae nae friend left in +the warld!--O, that I were lying dead at my mother's side, in Newbattle +kirkyard!" + +"Hout, lassie," said Ratcliffe, willing to show the interest which he +absolutely felt, "dinna be sae dooms doon-hearted as a' that; there's +mony a tod hunted that's no killed. Advocate Langtale has brought folk +through waur snappers than a' this, and there's no a cleverer agent than +Nichil Novit e'er drew a bill of suspension. Hanged or unhanged, they are +weel aff has sic an agent and counsel; ane's sure o' fair play. Ye are a +bonny lass, too, an ye wad busk up your cockernony a bit; and a bonny +lass will find favour wi' judge and jury, when they would strap up a +grewsome carle like me for the fifteenth part of a flea's hide and +tallow, d--n them." + +To this homely strain of consolation the mourners returned no answer; +indeed, they were so much lost in their own sorrows as to have become +insensible of Ratcliffe's presence. "O Effie," said her elder sister, +"how could you conceal your situation from me? O woman, had I deserved +this at your hand?--had ye spoke but ae word--sorry we might hae been, +and shamed we might hae been, but this awfu' dispensation had never come +ower us." + +"And what gude wad that hae dune?" answered the prisoner. "Na, na, +Jeanie, a' was ower when ance I forgot what I promised when I faulded +down the leaf of my Bible. See," she said, producing the sacred volume, +"the book opens aye at the place o' itsell. O see, Jeanie, what a fearfu' +Scripture!" + +Jeanie took her sister's Bible, and found that the fatal mark was made at +this impressive text in the book of Job: "He hath stripped me of my +glory, and taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every +side, and I am gone. And mine hope hath he removed like a tree." + +"Isna that ower true a doctrine?" said the prisoner "Isna my crown, my +honour, removed? And what am I but a poor, wasted, wan-thriven tree, dug +up by the roots, and flung out to waste in the highway, that man and +beast may tread it under foot? I thought o' the bonny bit them that our +father rooted out o' the yard last May, when it had a' the flush o' +blossoms on it; and then it lay in the court till the beasts had trod +them a' to pieces wi' their feet. I little thought, when I was wae for +the bit silly green bush and its flowers, that I was to gang the same +gate mysell." + +"O, if ye had spoken ae word," again sobbed Jeanie,--"if I were free to +swear that ye had said but ae word of how it stude wi' ye, they couldna +hae touched your life this day." + +"Could they na?" said Effie, with something like awakened interest--for +life is dear even to those who feel it is a burden--"Wha tauld ye that, +Jeanie?" + +"It was ane that kend what he was saying weel eneugh," replied Jeanie, +who had a natural reluctance at mentioning even the name of her sister's +seducer. + +"Wha was it?--I conjure you to tell me," said Effie, seating herself +upright.--"Wha could tak interest in sic a cast-by as I am now?--Was it-- +was it /him?/" + +"Hout," said Ratcliffe, "what signifies keeping the poor lassie in a +swither? I'se uphaud it's been Robertson that learned ye that doctrine +when ye saw him at Muschat's Cairn." + +"Was it him?" said Effie, catching eagerly at his words--"was it him, +Jeanie, indeed?--O, I see it was him--poor lad, and I was thinking his +heart was as hard as the nether millstane--and him in sic danger on his +ain part--poor George!" + +Somewhat indignant at this burst of tender feeling towards the author of +her misery, Jeanie could not help exclaiming--"O Effie, how can ye speak +that gate of sic a man as that?" + +"We maun forgie our enemies, ye ken," said poor Effie, with a timid look +and a subdued voice; for her conscience told her what a different +character the feelings with which she regarded her seducer bore, compared +with the Christian charity under which she attempted to veil it. + +"And ye hae suffered a' this for him, and ye can think of loving him +still?" said her sister, in a voice betwixt pity and blame. + +"Love him!" answered Effie--"If I hadna loved as woman seldom loves, I +hadna been within these wa's this day; and trow ye, that love sic as mine +is lightly forgotten?--Na, na--ye may hew down the tree, but ye canna +change its bend--And, O Jeanie, if ye wad do good to me at this moment, +tell me every word that he said, and whether he was sorry for poor Effie +or no!" + +"What needs I tell ye onything about it?" said Jeanie. "Ye may be sure he +had ower muckle to do to save himsell, to speak lang or muckle about ony +body beside." + +"That's no true, Jeanie, though a saunt had said it," replied Effie, with +a sparkle of her former lively and irritable temper. "But ye dinna ken, +though I do, how far he pat his life in venture to save mine." And +looking at Ratcliffe, she checked herself and was silent. + +"I fancy," said Ratcliffe, with one of his familiar sneers, "the lassie +thinks that naebody has een but hersell--Didna I see when Gentle Geordie +was seeking to get other folk out of the Tolbooth forby Jock Porteous?-- +but ye are of my mind, hinny--better sit and rue, than flit and rue--ye +needna look in my face sae amazed. I ken mair things than that, maybe." + +"O my God! my God!" said Effie, springing up and throwing herself down on +her knees before him--"D'ye ken where they hae putten my bairn?--O my +bairn! my bairn! the poor sackless innocent new-born wee ane--bone of my +bone, and flesh of my flesh!--O man, if ye wad e'er deserve a portion in +Heaven, or a brokenhearted creature's blessing upon earth, tell me where +they hae put my bairn--the sign of my shame, and the partner of my +suffering! tell me wha has taen't away, or what they hae dune wi't?" + +"Hout tout," said the turnkey, endeavouring to extricate himself from the +firm grasp with which she held him, "that's taking me at my word wi' a +witness--Bairn, quo' she? How the deil suld I ken onything of your bairn, +huzzy? Ye maun ask that of auld Meg Murdockson, if ye dinna ken ower +muckle about it yoursell." + +As his answer destroyed the wild and vague hope which had suddenly +gleamed upon her, the unhappy prisoner let go her hold of his coat, and +fell with her face on the pavement of the apartment in a strong +convulsion fit. + +Jeanie Deans possessed, with her excellently clear understanding, the +concomitant advantage of promptitude of spirit, even in the extremity of +distress. + +She did not suffer herself to be overcome by her own feelings of +exquisite sorrow, but instantly applied herself to her sister's relief, +with the readiest remedies which circumstances afforded; and which, to do +Ratcliffe justice, he showed himself anxious to suggest, and alert in +procuring. He had even the delicacy to withdraw to the farthest corner of +the room, so as to render his official attendance upon them as little +intrusive as possible, when Effie was composed enough again to resume her +conference with her sister. + +The prisoner once more, in the most earnest and broken tones, conjured +Jeanie to tell her the particulars of the conference with Robertson, and +Jeanie felt it was impossible to refuse her this gratification. + +"Do ye mind," she said, "Effie, when ye were in the fever before we left +Woodend, and how angry your mother, that's now in a better place, was wi' +me for gieing ye milk and water to drink, because ye grat for it? Ye were +a bairn then, and ye are a woman now, and should ken better than ask what +canna but hurt you--But come weal or woe, I canna refuse ye onything that +ye ask me wi' the tear in your ee." + +Again Effie threw herself into her arms, and kissed her cheek and +forehead, murmuring, "O, if ye kend how lang it is since I heard his name +mentioned?--if ye but kend how muckle good it does me but to ken onything +o' him, that's like goodness or kindness, ye wadna wonder that I wish to +hear o' him!" + +Jeanie sighed, and commenced her narrative of all that had passed betwixt +Robertson and her, making it as brief as possible. Effie listened in +breathless anxiety, holding her sister's hand in hers, and keeping her +eye fixed upon her face, as if devouring every word she uttered. The +interjections of "Poor fellow,"--"Poor George," which escaped in +whispers, and betwixt sighs, were the only sounds with which she +interrupted the story. When it was finished she made a long pause. + +"And this was his advice?" were the first words she uttered. + +"Just sic as I hae tell'd ye," replied her sister. + +"And he wanted you to say something to yon folks, that wad save my young +life?" + +"He wanted," answered Jeanie, "that I suld be man-sworn." + +"And you tauld him," said Effie, "that ye wadna hear o' coming between me +and the death that I am to die, and me no aughten year auld yet?" + +"I told him," replied Jeanie, who now trembled at the turn which her +sister's reflection seemed about to take, "that I daured na swear to an +untruth." + +"And what d'ye ca' an untruth?" said Effie, again showing a touch of her +former spirit--"Ye are muckle to blame, lass, if ye think a mother would, +or could, murder her ain bairn--Murder!--I wad hae laid down my life just +to see a blink o' its ee!" + +"I do believe," said Jeanie, "that ye are as innocent of sic a purpose as +the new-born babe itsell." + +"I am glad ye do me that justice," said Effie, haughtily; "ifs whiles the +faut of very good folk like you, Jeanie, that, they think a' the rest of +the warld are as bad as the warst temptations can make them." + +"I didna deserve this frae ye, Effie," said her sister, sobbing, and +feeling at once the injustice of the reproach, and compassion for the +state of mind which dictated it. + +"Maybe no, sister," said Effie. "But ye are angry because I love +Robertson--How can I help loving him, that loves me better than body and +soul baith?--Here he put his life in a niffer, to break the prison to let +me out; and sure am I, had it stude wi' him as it stands wi' you"--Here +she paused and was silent. + +"O, if it stude wi' me to save ye wi' risk of my life!" said Jeanie. + +"Ay, lass," said her sister, "that's lightly said, but no sae lightly +credited, frae ane that winna ware a word for me; and if it be a wrang +word, ye'll hae time eneugh to repent o't." + +"But that word is a grievous sin, and it's a deeper offence when it's a +sin wilfully and presumptuously committed." + +"Weel, weel, Jeanie," said Effie, "I mind a' about the sins o' +presumption in the questions--we'll speak nae mair about this matter, and +ye may save your breath to say your carritch and for me, I'll soon hae +nae breath to waste on onybody." + +"I must needs say," interposed Ratcliffe, "that it's d--d hard, when +three words of your mouth would give the girl the chance to nick Moll +Blood,* that you make such scrupling about rapping** to them. D--n me, if +they would take me, if I would not rap to all what d'ye callums--Hyssop's +Fables, for her life--I am us'd to't, b--t me, for less matters. Why, I +have smacked calf-skin*** fifty times in England for a keg of brandy." + +* The gallows. +** Swearing. +*** Kissed the book. + +"Never speak mair o't," said the prisoner. "It's just as weel as it is-- +and gude-day, sister; ye keep Mr. Ratcliffe waiting on--Ye'll come back +and see me, I reckon, before"--here she stopped and became deadly pale. + +"And are we to part in this way," said Jeanie, "and you in sic deadly +peril? O Effie, look but up, and say what ye wad hae me to do, and I +could find in my heart amaist to say that I wad do't." + +"No, Jeanie," replied her sister after an effort, "I am better minded +now. At my best, I was never half sae gude as ye were, and what for suld +you begin to mak yoursell waur to save me, now that I am no worth saving? +God knows, that in my sober mind, I wadna wuss ony living creature to do +a wrang thing to save my life. I might have fled frae this Tolbooth on +that awfu' night wi' ane wad hae carried me through the warld, and +friended me, and fended for me. But I said to them, let life gang when +gude fame is gane before it. But this lang imprisonment has broken my +spirit, and I am whiles sair left to mysell, and then I wad gie the +Indian mines of gold and diamonds, just for life and breath--for I think, +Jeanie, I have such roving fits as I used to hae in the fever; but, +instead of the fiery een and wolves, and Widow Butler's bullseg, that I +used to see spieling upon my bed, I am thinking now about a high, black +gibbet, and me standing up, and such seas of faces all looking up at poor +Effie Deans, and asking if it be her that George Robertson used to call +the Lily of St. Leonard's. And then they stretch out their faces, and +make mouths, and girn at me, and whichever way I look, I see a face +laughing like Meg Murdockson, when she tauld me I had seen the last of my +wean. God preserve us, Jeanie, that carline has a fearsome face!" + +She clapped her hands before her eyes as she uttered this exclamation, as +if to secure herself against seeing the fearful object she had alluded +to. + +Jeanie Deans remained with her sister for two hours, during which she +endeavoured, if possible, to extract something from her that might be +serviceable in her exculpation. But she had nothing to say beyond what +she had declared on her first examination, with the purport of which the +reader will be made acquainted in proper time and place. "They wadna +believe her," she said, "and she had naething mair to tell them." + +At length, Ratcliffe, though reluctantly, informed the sisters that there +was a necessity that they should part. "Mr. Novit," he said, "was to see +the prisoner, and maybe Mr. Langtale too. Langtale likes to look at a +bonny lass, whether in prison or out o' prison." + +Reluctantly, therefore, and slowly, after many a tear, and many an +embrace, Jeanie retired from the apartment, and heard its jarring bolts +turned upon the dear being from whom she was separated. Somewhat +familiarised now even with her rude conductor, she offered him a small +present in money, with a request he would do what he could for her +sister's accommodation. To her surprise, Ratcliffe declined the fee. "I +wasna bloody when I was on the pad," he said, "and I winna be greedy-- +that is, beyond what's right and reasonable--now that I am in the lock.-- +Keep the siller; and for civility, your sister sall hae sic as I can +bestow; but I hope you'll think better on it, and rap an oath for her-- +deil a hair ill there is in it, if ye are rapping again the crown. I kend +a worthy minister, as gude a man, bating the deed they deposed him for, +as ever ye heard claver in a pu'pit, that rapped to a hogshead of pigtail +tobacco, just for as muckle as filled his spleuchan.* + +* Tobacco-pouch. + +But maybe ye are keeping your ain counsel--weel, weel, there's nae harm +in that. As for your sister, I'se see that she gets her meat clean and +warm, and I'll try to gar her lie down and take a sleep after dinner, for +deil a ee she'll close the night. I hae gude experience of these matters. +The first night is aye the warst o't. I hae never heard o' ane that +sleepit the night afore trial, but of mony a ane that sleepit as sound as +a tap the night before their necks were straughted. And it's nae wonder-- +the warst may be tholed when it's kend--Better a finger aff as aye +wagging." + + + + CHAPTER TWENTIETH. + + + Yet though thou mayst be dragg'd in scorn + To yonder ignominious tree, + Thou shalt not want one faithful friend + To share the cruel fates' decree. + Jemmy Dawson. + +After spending the greater part of the morning in his devotions (for his +benevolent neighbours had kindly insisted upon discharging his task of +ordinary labour), David Deans entered the apartment when the breakfast +meal was prepared. His eyes were involuntarily cast down, for he was +afraid to look at Jeanie, uncertain as he was whether she might feel +herself at liberty, with a good conscience, to attend the Court of +Justiciary that day, to give the evidence which he understood that she +possessed, in order to her sister's exculpation. At length, after a +minute of apprehensive hesitation, he looked at her dress to discover +whether it seemed to be in her contemplation to go abroad that morning. +Her apparel was neat and plain, but such as conveyed no exact intimation +of her intentions to go abroad. She had exchanged her usual garb for +morning labour, for one something inferior to that with which, as her +best, she was wont to dress herself for church, or any more rare occasion +of going into society. Her sense taught her, that it was respectful to be +decent in her apparel on such an occasion, while her feelings induced her +to lay aside the use of the very few and simple personal ornaments, +which, on other occasions, she permitted herself to wear. So that there +occurred nothing in her external appearance which could mark out to her +father, with anything like certainty, her intentions on this occasion. + +The preparations for their humble meal were that morning made in vain. +The father and daughter sat, each assuming the appearance of eating, when +the other's eyes were turned to them, and desisting from the effort with +disgust, when the affectionate imposture seemed no longer necessary. + +At length these moments of constraint were removed. The sound of St. +Giles's heavy toll announced the hour previous to the commencement of the +trial; Jeanie arose, and with a degree of composure for which she herself +could not account, assumed her plaid, and made her other preparations for +a distant walking. It was a strange contrast between the firmness of her +demeanour, and the vacillation and cruel uncertainty of purpose indicated +in all her father's motions; and one unacquainted with both could +scarcely have supposed that the former was, in her ordinary habits of +life, a docile, quiet, gentle, and even timid country maiden, while her +father, with a mind naturally proud and strong, and supported by +religious opinions of a stern, stoical, and unyielding character, had in +his time undergone and withstood the most severe hardships, and the most +imminent peril, without depression of spirit, or subjugation of his +constancy. The secret of this difference was, that Jeanie's mind had +already anticipated the line of conduct which she must adopt, with all +its natural and necessary consequences; while her father, ignorant of +every other circumstance, tormented himself with imagining what the one +sister might say or swear, or what effect her testimony might have upon +the awful event of the trial. + +He watched his daughter, with a faltering and indecisive look, until she +looked back upon him, with a look of unutterable anguish, as she was +about to leave the apartment. + +"My dear lassie," said he, "I will." His action, hastily and confusedly +searching for his worsted mittans* and staff, showed his purpose of +accompanying her, though his tongue failed distinctly to announce it. + +* A kind of worsted gloves, used by the lower orders. + +"Father," said Jeanie, replying rather to his action than his words, "ye +had better not." + +"In the strength of my God," answered Deans, assuming firmness, "I will +go forth." + +And, taking his daughter's arm under his, he began to walk from the door +with a step so hasty, that she was almost unable to keep up with him. A +trifling circumstance, but which marked the perturbed state of his mind, +checked his course. + +"Your bonnet, father?" said Jeanie, who observed he had come out with his +grey hairs uncovered. He turned back with a slight blush on his cheek, +being ashamed to have been detected in an omission which indicated so +much mental confusion, assumed his large blue Scottish bonnet, and with a +step slower, but more composed, as if the circumstance, had obliged him +to summon up his resolution, and collect his scattered ideas, again +placed his daughter's arm under his, and resumed the way to Edinburgh. + +The courts of justice were then, and are still, held in what is called +the Parliament Close, or, according to modern phrase, Parliament Square, +and occupied the buildings intended for the accommodation of the Scottish +Estates. This edifice, though in an imperfect and corrupted style of +architecture, had then a grave, decent, and, as it were, a judicial +aspect, which was at least entitled to respect from its antiquity. For +which venerable front, I observed, on my last occasional visit to the +metropolis, that modern taste had substituted, at great apparent expense, +a pile so utterly inconsistent with every monument of antiquity around, +and in itself so clumsy at the same time and fantastic, that it may be +likened to the decorations of Tom Errand the porter, in the /Trip to the +Jubilee,/ when he appears bedizened with the tawdry finery of Beau +Clincher. /Sed transeat cum caeteris erroribus./ + +The small quadrangle, or Close, if we may presume still to give it that +appropriate, though antiquated title, which at Lichfield, Salisbury, and +elsewhere, is properly applied to designate the enclosure adjacent to a +cathedral, already evinced tokens of the fatal scene which was that day +to be acted. The soldiers of the City Guard were on their posts, now +enduring, and now rudely repelling with the butts of their muskets, the +motley crew who thrust each other forward, to catch a glance at the +unfortunate object of trial, as she should pass from the adjacent prison +to the Court in which her fate was to be determined. All must have +occasionally observed, with disgust, the apathy with which the vulgar +gaze on scenes of this nature, and how seldom, unless when their +sympathies are called forth by some striking and extraordinary +circumstance, the crowd evince any interest deeper than that of callous, +unthinking bustle, and brutal curiosity. They laugh, jest, quarrel, and +push each other to and fro, with the same unfeeling indifference as if +they were assembled for some holiday sport, or to see an idle procession. +Occasionally, however, this demeanour, so natural to the degraded +populace of a large town, is exchanged for a temporary touch of human +affections; and so it chanced on the present occasion. + +When Deans and his daughter presented themselves in the Close, and +endeavoured to make their way forward to the door of the Court-house, +they became involved in the mob, and subject, of course, to their +insolence. As Deans repelled with some force the rude pushes which he +received on all sides, his figure and antiquated dress caught the +attention of the rabble, who often show an intuitive sharpness in +ascribing the proper character from external appearance,-- + + "Ye're welcome, whigs, + Frae Bothwell briggs," + +sung one fellow (for the mob of Edinburgh were at that time jacobitically +disposed, probably because that was the line of sentiment most +diametrically opposite to existing authority). + + "Mess David Williamson, + Chosen of twenty, + Ran up the pu'pit stair, + And sang Killiecrankie," + +chanted a siren, whose profession might be guessed by her appearance. A +tattered caidie, or errand-porter, whom David Deans had jostled in his +attempt to extricate himself from the vicinity of these scorners, +exclaimed in a strong north-country tone, "Ta deil ding out her +Cameronian een--what gies her titles to dunch gentlemans about?" + +"Make room for the ruling elder," said yet another; "he comes to see a +precious sister glorify God in the Grassmarket!" + +"Whisht; shame's in ye, sirs," said the voice of a man very loudly, +which, as quickly sinking, said in a low but distinct tone, "It's her +father and sister." + +All fell back to make way for the sufferers; and all, even the very +rudest and most profligate, were struck with shame and silence. In the +space thus abandoned to them by the mob, Deans stood, holding his +daughter by the hand, and said to her, with a countenance strongly and +sternly expressive of his internal emotion, "Ye hear with your ears, and +ye see with your eyes, where and to whom the backslidings and defections +of professors are ascribed by the scoffers. Not to themselves alone, but +to the kirk of which they are members, and to its blessed and invisible +Head. Then, weel may we take wi' patience our share and portion of this +outspreading reproach." + +The man who had spoken, no other than our old friend, Dumbiedikes, whose +mouth, like that of the prophet's ass, had been opened by the emergency +of the case, now joined them, and, with his usual taciturnity, escorted +them into the Court-house. No opposition was offered to their entrance +either by the guards or doorkeepers; and it is even said that one of the +latter refused a shilling of civility-money tendered him by the Laird of +Dumbiedikes, who was of opinion that "siller wad make a' easy." But this +last incident wants confirmation. + +Admitted within the precincts of the Court-house, they found the usual +number of busy office-bearers, and idle loiterers, who attend on these +scenes by choice, or from duty. Burghers gaped and stared; young lawyers +sauntered, sneered, and laughed, as in the pit of the theatre; while +others apart sat on a bench retired, and reasoned highly, /inter apices +juris,/ on the doctrines of constructive crime, and the true import of +the statute. The bench was prepared for the arrival of the judges. The +jurors were in attendance. The crown-counsel, employed in looking over +their briefs and notes of evidence, looked grave, and whispered with each +other. They occupied one side of a large table placed beneath the bench; +on the other sat the advocates, whom the humanity of the Scottish law (in +this particular more liberal than that of the sister-country) not only +permits, but enjoins, to appear and assist with their advice and skill +all persons under trial. Mr. Nichil Novit was seen actively instructing +the counsel for the panel (so the prisoner is called in Scottish +law-phraseology), busy, bustling, and important. When they entered the +Court-room, Deans asked the Laird, in a tremulous whisper, "Where will +/she/ sit?" + +Dumbiedikes whispered Novit, who pointed to a vacant space at the bar, +fronting the judges, and was about to conduct Deans towards it. + +"No!" he said; "I cannot sit by her--I cannot own her--not as yet, at +least--I will keep out of her sight, and turn mine own eyes elsewhere-- +better for us baith." + +Saddletree, whose repeated interference with the counsel had procured him +one or two rebuffs, and a special request that he would concern himself +with his own matters, now saw with pleasure an opportunity of playing the +person of importance. He bustled up to the poor old man, and proceeded to +exhibit his consequence, by securing, through his interest with the +bar-keepers and macers, a seat for Deans, in a situation where he was +hidden from the general eye by the projecting corner of the bench. + +"It's gude to have a friend at court," he said, continuing his heartless +harangues to the passive auditor, who neither heard nor replied to them; +"few folk but mysell could hae sorted ye out a seat like this--the Lords +will be here incontinent, and proceed /instanter/ to trial. They wunna +fence the Court as they do at the Circuit--the High Court of Justiciary +is aye fenced.--But, Lord's sake, what's this o't--Jeanie, ye are a cited +witness--Macer, this lass is a witness--she maun be enclosed--she maun on +nae account be at large.--Mr. Novit, suldna Jeanie Deans be enclosed?" + +Novit answered in the affirmative, and offered to conduct Jeanie to the +apartment, where, according to the scrupulous practice of the Scottish +Court, the witnesses remain in readiness to be called into Court to give +evidence; and separated, at the same time, from all who might influence +their testimony, or give them information concerning that which was +passing upon the trial. + +"Is this necessary?" said Jeanie, still reluctant to quit her father's +hand. + +"A matter of absolute needcessity," said Saddletree, "wha ever heard of +witnesses no being enclosed?" + +"It is really a matter of necessity," said the younger counsellor, +retained for her sister; and Jeanie reluctantly followed the macer of the +Court to the place appointed. + +"This, Mr. Deans," said Saddletree, "is ca'd sequestering a witness; but +it's clean different (whilk maybe ye wadna fund out o' yoursell) frae +sequestering ane's estate or effects, as in cases of bankruptcy. I hae +aften been sequestered as a witness, for the Sheriff is in the use whiles +to cry me in to witness the declarations at precognitions, and so is Mr. +Sharpitlaw; but I was ne'er like to be sequestered o' land and gudes but +ance, and that was lang syne, afore I was married. But whisht, whisht! +here's the Court coming." + +As he spoke, the five Lords of Justiciary, in their long robes of +scarlet, faced with white, and preceded by their mace-bearer, entered +with the usual formalities, and took their places upon the bench of +judgment. + +The audience rose to receive them; and the bustle occasioned by their +entrance was hardly composed, when a great noise and confusion of persons +struggling, and forcibly endeavouring to enter at the doors of the +Court-room, and of the galleries, announced that the prisoner was about +to be placed at the bar. This tumult takes place when the doors, at first +only opened to those either having right to be present, or to the better +and more qualified ranks, are at length laid open to all whose curiosity +induces them to be present on the occasion. With inflamed countenances +and dishevelled dresses, struggling with, and sometimes tumbling over +each other, in rushed the rude multitude, while a few soldiers, forming, +as it were, the centre of the tide, could scarce, with all their efforts, +clear a passage for the prisoner to the place which she was to occupy. By +the authority of the Court, and the exertions of its officers, the tumult +among the spectators was at length appeased, and the unhappy girl brought +forward, and placed betwixt two sentinels with drawn bayonets, as a +prisoner at the bar, where she was to abide her deliverance for good or +evil, according to the issue of her trial. + + + + + + CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. + + + We have strict statutes, and most biting laws-- + The needful bits and curbs for headstrong steeds-- + Which, for these fourteen years, we have let sleep, + Like to an o'ergrown lion in a cave, + That goes not out to prey. + Measure for Measure. + +"Euphemia Deans," said the presiding Judge, in an accent in which pity +was blended with dignity, "stand up and listen to the criminal indictment +now to be preferred against you." + +The unhappy girl, who had been stupified by the confusion through which +the guards had forced a passage, cast a bewildered look on the multitude +of faces around her, which seemed to tapestry, as it were, the walls, in +one broad slope from the ceiling to the floor, with human countenances, +and instinctively obeyed a command, which rung in her ears like the +trumpet of the judgment-day. + +"Put back your hair, Effie," said one of the macers. For her beautiful +and abundant tresses of long fair hair, which, according to the costume +of the country, unmarried women were not allowed to cover with any sort +of cap, and which, alas! Effie dared no longer confine with the snood or +riband, which implied purity of maiden-fame, now hung unbound and +dishevelled over her face, and almost concealed her features. On +receiving this hint from the attendant, the unfortunate young woman, with +a hasty, trembling, and apparently mechanical compliance, shaded back +from her face her luxuriant locks, and showed to the whole court, +excepting one individual, a countenance, which, though pale and +emaciated, was so lovely amid its agony, that it called forth a universal +murmur of compassion and sympathy. Apparently the expressive sound of +human feeling recalled the poor girl from the stupor of fear, which +predominated at first over every other sensation, and awakened her to the +no less painful sense of shame and exposure attached to her present +situation. Her eye, which had at first glanced wildly around, was turned +on the ground; her cheek, at first so deadly pale, began gradually to be +overspread with a faint blush, which increased so fast, that, when in +agony of shame she strove to conceal her face, her temples, her brow, her +neck, and all that her slender fingers and small palms could not cover, +became of the deepest crimson. + +All marked and were moved by these changes, excepting one. It was old +Deans, who, motionless in his seat, and concealed, as we have said, by +the corner of the bench, from seeing or being seen, did nevertheless keep +his eyes firmly fixed on the ground, as if determined that, by no +possibility whatever, would he be an ocular witness of the shame of his +house. + +"Ichabod!" he said to himself--"Ichabod! my glory is departed!" + +While these reflections were passing through his mind, the indictment, +which set forth in technical form the crime of which the panel stood +accused, was read as usual, and the prisoner was asked if she was Guilty, +or Not Guilty. + +"Not guilty of my poor bairn's death," said Effie Deans, in an accent +corresponding in plaintive softness of tone to the beauty of her +features, and which was not heard by the audience without emotion. + +The presiding Judge next directed the counsel to plead to the relevancy; +that is, to state on either part the arguments in point of law, and +evidence in point of fact, against and in favour of the criminal; after +which it is the form of the Court to pronounce a preliminary judgment, +sending the cause to the cognisance of the jury, or assize. + +The counsel for the crown briefly stated the frequency of the crime of +infanticide, which had given rise to the special statute under which the +panel stood indicted. He mentioned the various instances, many of them +marked with circumstances of atrocity, which had at length induced the +King's Advocate, though with great reluctance, to make the experiment, +whether, by strictly enforcing the Act of Parliament which had been made +to prevent such enormities, their occurrence might be prevented. "He +expected," he said, "to be able to establish by witnesses, as well as by +the declaration of the panel herself, that she was in the state described +by the statute. According to his information, the panel had communicated +her pregnancy to no one, nor did she allege in her own declaration that +she had done so. This secrecy was the first requisite in support of the +indictment. The same declaration admitted, that she had borne a male +child, in circumstances which gave but too much reason to believe it had +died by the hands, or at least with the knowledge or consent, of the +unhappy mother. It was not, however, necessary for him to bring positive +proof that the panel was accessory to the murder, nay, nor even to prove, +that the child was murdered at all. It was sufficient to support the +indictment, that it could not be found. According to the stern, but +necessary severity of this statute, she who should conceal her pregnancy, +who should omit to call that assistance which is most necessary on such +occasions, was held already to have meditated the death of her offspring, +as an event most likely to be the consequence of her culpable and cruel +concealment. And if, under such circumstances, she could not +alternatively show by proof that the infant had died a natural death, or +produce it still in life, she must, under the construction of the law, be +held to have murdered it, and suffer death accordingly." + +The counsel for the prisoner, Mr. Fairbrother, a man of considerable fame +in his profession, did not pretend directly to combat the arguments of +the King's Advocate. He began by lamenting that his senior at the bar, +Mr. Langtale, had been suddenly called to the county of which he was +sheriff, and that he had been applied to, on short warning, to give the +panel his assistance in this interesting case. He had had little time, he +said, to make up for his inferiority to his learned brother by long and +minute research; and he was afraid he might give a specimen of his +incapacity, by being compelled to admit the accuracy of the indictment +under the statute. "It was enough for their Lordships," he observed, "to +know that such was the law, and he admitted the advocate had a right to +call for the usual interlocutor of relevancy." But he stated, "that when +he came to establish his case by proof, he trusted to make out +circumstances which would satisfactorily elide the charge in the libel. +His client's story was a short, but most melancholy one. She was bred up +in the strictest tenets of religion and virtue, the daughter of a worthy +and conscientious person, who, in evil times, had established a character +for courage and religion, by becoming a sufferer for conscience' sake." + +David Deans gave a convulsive start at hearing himself thus mentioned, +and then resumed the situation, in which, with his face stooped against +his hands, and both resting against the corner of the elevated bench on +which the Judges sate, he had hitherto listened to the procedure in the +trial. The Whig lawyers seemed to be interested; the Tories put up their +lip. + +"Whatever may be our difference of opinion," resumed the lawyer, whose +business it was to carry his whole audience with him if possible, +"concerning the peculiar tenets of these people" (here Deans groaned +deeply), "it is impossible to deny them the praise of sound, and even +rigid morals, or the merit of training up their children in the fear of +God; and yet it was the daughter of such a person whom a jury would +shortly be called upon, in the absence of evidence, and upon mere +presumptions, to convict of a crime more properly belonging to a heathen, +or a savage, than to a Christian and civilised country. It was true," he +admitted, "that the excellent nurture and early instruction which the +poor girl had received, had not been sufficient to preserve her from +guilt and error. She had fallen a sacrifice to an inconsiderate affection +for a young man of prepossessing manners, as he had been informed, but of +a very dangerous and desperate character. She was seduced under promise +of marriage--a promise, which the fellow might have, perhaps, done her +justice by keeping, had he not at that time been called upon by the law +to atone for a crime, violent and desperate in itself, but which became +the preface to another eventful history, every step of which was marked +by blood and guilt, and the final termination of which had not even yet +arrived. He believed that no one would hear him without surprise, when he +stated that the father of this infant now amissing, and said by the +learned Advocate to have been murdered, was no other than the notorious +George Robertson, the accomplice of Wilson, the hero of the memorable +escape from the Tolbooth Church, and as no one knew better than his +learned friend the Advocate, the principal actor in the Porteous +conspiracy" + +"I am sorry to interrupt a counsel in such a case as the present," said, +the presiding Judge; "but I must remind the learned gentleman that he is +travelling out of the case before us." + +The counsel bowed and resumed. "He only judged it necessary," he said, +"to mention the name and situation of Robertson, because the circumstance +in which that character was placed, went a great way in accounting for +the silence on which his Majesty's counsel had laid so much weight, as +affording proof that his client proposed to allow no fair play for its +life to the helpless being whom she was about to bring into the world. +She had not announced to her friends that she had been seduced from the +path of honour--and why had she not done so?--Because she expected daily +to be restored to character, by her seducer doing her that justice which +she knew to be in his power, and believed to be in his inclination. Was +it natural--was it reasonable--was it fair, to expect that she should in +the interim, become /felo de se/ of her own character, and proclaim her +frailty to the world, when she had every reason to expect, that, by +concealing it for a season, it might be veiled for ever? Was it not, on +the contrary, pardonable, that, in such an emergency, a young woman, in +such a situation, should be found far from disposed to make a confidant +of every prying gossip, who, with sharp eyes, and eager ears, pressed +upon her for an explanation of suspicious circumstances, which females in +the lower--he might say which females of all ranks, are so alert in +noticing, that they sometimes discover them where they do not exist? Was +it strange or was it criminal, that she should have repelled their +inquisitive impertinence with petulant denials? The sense and feeling of +all who heard him would answer directly in the negative. But although his +client had thus remained silent towards those to whom she was not called +upon to communicate her situation,--to whom," said the learned gentleman, +"I will add, it would have been unadvised and improper in her to have +done so; yet, I trust, I shall remove this case most triumphantly from +under the statute, and obtain the unfortunate young woman an honourable +dismission from your Lordships' bar, by showing that she did, in due time +and place, and to a person most fit for such confidence, mention the +calamitous circumstances in which she found herself. This occurred after +Robertson's conviction, and when he was lying in prison in expectation of +the fate which his comrade Wilson afterwards suffered, and from which he +himself so strangely escaped. It was then, when all hopes of having her +honour repaired by wedlock vanished from her eyes,--when an union with +one in Robertson's situation, if still practicable, might, perhaps, have +been regarded rather as an addition to her disgrace,--it was /then,/ that +I trust to be able to prove that the prisoner communicated and consulted +with her sister, a young woman several years older than herself, the +daughter of her father, if I mistake not, by a former marriage, upon the +perils and distress of her unhappy situation." + +"If, indeed, you are able to instruct /that/ point, Mr. Fairbrother," +said the presiding Judge. + +"If I am indeed able to instruct that point, my Lord," resumed Mr. +Fairbrother, "I trust not only to serve my client, but to relieve your +Lordships from that which I know you feel the most painful duty of your +high office; and to give all who now hear me the exquisite pleasure of +beholding a creature, so young, so ingenuous, and so beautiful, as she +that is now at the bar of your Lordships' Court, dismissed from thence in +safety and in honour." + +This address seemed to affect many of the audience, and was followed by a +slight murmur of applause. Deans, as he heard his daughter's beauty and +innocent appearance appealed to, was involuntarily about to turn his eyes +towards her; but, recollecting himself, he bent them again on the ground +with stubborn resolution. + +"Will not my learned brother, on the other side of the bar," continued +the advocate, after a short pause, "share in this general joy, since, I +know, while he discharges his duty in bringing an accused person here, no +one rejoices more in their being freely and honourably sent hence? My +learned brother shakes his head doubtfully, and lays his hand on the +panel's declaration. I understand him perfectly--he would insinuate that +the facts now stated to your Lordships are inconsistent with the +confession of Euphemia Deans herself. I need not remind your Lordships, +that her present defence is no whit to be narrowed within the bounds of +her former confession; and that it is not by any account which she may +formerly have given of herself, but by what is now to be proved for or +against her, that she must ultimately stand or fall. I am not under the +necessity of accounting for her choosing to drop out of her declaration +the circumstances of her confession to her sister. She might not be aware +of its importance; she might be afraid of implicating her sister; she +might even have forgotten the circumstance entirely, in the terror and +distress of mind incidental to the arrest of so young a creature on a +charge so heinous. Any of these reasons are sufficient to account for her +having suppressed the truth in this instance, at whatever risk to +herself; and I incline most to her erroneous fear of criminating her +sister, because I observe she has had a similar tenderness towards her +lover (however undeserved on his part), and has never once mentioned +Robertson's name from beginning to end of her declaration. + +"But, my Lords," continued Fairbrother, "I am aware the King's Advocate +will expect me to show, that the proof I offer is consistent with other +circumstances of the, case, which I do not and cannot deny. He will +demand of me how Effie Deans's confession to her sister, previous to her +delivery, is reconcilable with the mystery of the birth,--with the +disappearance, perhaps the murder (for I will not deny a possibility +which I cannot disprove) of the infant. My Lords, the explanation of this +is to be found in the placability, perchance, I may say, in the facility +and pliability, of the female sex. The /dulcis Amaryllidis irae,/ as your +Lordships well know, are easily appeased; nor is it possible to conceive +a woman so atrociously offended by the man whom she has loved, but that +she will retain a fund of forgiveness, upon which his penitence, whether +real or affected, may draw largely, with a certainty that his bills will +be answered. We can prove, by a letter produced in evidence, that this +villain Robertson, from the bottom of the dungeon whence he already +probably meditated the escape, which he afterwards accomplished by the +assistance of his comrade, contrived to exercise authority over the mind, +and to direct the motions, of this unhappy girl. It was in compliance +with his injunctions, expressed in that letter, that the panel was +prevailed upon to alter the line of conduct which her own better thoughts +had suggested; and, instead of resorting, when her time of travail +approached, to the protection of her own family, was induced to confide +herself to the charge of some vile agent of this nefarious seducer, and +by her conducted to one of those solitary and secret purlieus of villany, +which, to the shame of our police, still are suffered to exist in the +suburbs of this city, where, with the assistance, and under the charge, +of a person of her own sex, she bore a male child, under circumstances +which added treble bitterness to the woe denounced against our original +mother. What purpose Robertson had in all this, it is hard to tell, or +even to guess. He may have meant to marry the girl, for her father is a +man of substance. But, for the termination of the story, and the conduct +of the woman whom he had placed about the person of Euphemia Deans, it is +still more difficult to account. The unfortunate young woman was visited +by the fever incidental to her situation. In this fever she appears to +have been deceived by the person that waited on her, and, on recovering +her senses, she found that she was childless in that abode of misery. Her +infant had been carried off, perhaps for the worst purposes, by the +wretch that waited on her. It may have been murdered, for what I can +tell." + +He was here interrupted by a piercing shriek, uttered by the unfortunate +prisoner. She was with difficulty brought to compose herself. Her counsel +availed himself of the tragical interruption, to close his pleading with +effect. + +"My Lords," said he, "in that piteous cry you heard the eloquence of +maternal affection, far surpassing the force of my poor words--Rachel +weeping for her children! Nature herself bears testimony in favour of the +tenderness and acuteness of the prisoner's parental feelings. I will not +dishonour her plea by adding a word more." + +"Heard ye ever the like o' that, Laird?" said Saddletree to Dumbiedikes, +when the counsel had ended his speech. "There's a chield can spin a +muckle pirn out of a wee tait of tow! Deil haet he kens mair about it +than what's in the declaration, and a surmise that Jeanie Deans suld hae +been able to say something about her sister's situation, whilk surmise, +Mr. Crossmyloof says, rests on sma' authority. And he's cleckit this +great muckle bird out o' this wee egg! He could wile the very flounders +out o' the Firth.--What garr'd my father no send me to Utrecht?--But +whisht, the Court is gaun to pronounce the interlocutor of relevancy." + +And accordingly the Judges, after a few words, recorded their judgment, +which bore, that the indictment, if proved, was relevant to infer the +pains of law: And that the defence, that the panel had communicated her +situation to her sister, was a relevant defence: And, finally, appointed +the said indictment and defence to be submitted to the judgment of an +assize. + + + + + CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. + + + Most righteous judge! a sentence.--Come, prepare. + Merchant of Venice. + +It is by no means my intention to describe minutely the forms of a +Scottish criminal trial, nor am I sure that I could draw up an account so +intelligible and accurate as to abide the criticism of the gentlemen of +the long robe. It is enough to say that the jury was impanelled, and the +case proceeded. The prisoner was again required to plead to the charge, +and she again replied, "Not Guilty," in the same heart-thrilling tone as +before. + +The crown counsel then called two or three female witnesses, by whose +testimony it was established, that Effie's situation had been remarked by +them, that they had taxed her with the fact, and that her answers had +amounted to an angry and petulant denial of what they charged her with. +But, as very frequently happens, the declaration of the panel or accused +party herself was the evidence which bore hardest upon her case. + +In the event of these tales ever finding their way across the Border, it +may be proper to apprise the southern reader that it is the practice in +Scotland, on apprehending a suspected person, to subject him to a +judicial examination before a magistrate. He is not compelled to answer +any of the questions asked of him, but may remain silent if he sees it +his interest to do so. But whatever answers he chooses to give are +formally written down, and being subscribed by himself and the +magistrate, are produced against the accused in case of his being brought +to trial. It is true, that these declarations are not produced as being +in themselves evidence properly so called, but only as adminicles of +testimony, tending to corroborate what is considered as legal and proper +evidence. Notwithstanding this nice distinction, however, introduced by +lawyers to reconcile this procedure to their own general rule, that a man +cannot be required to bear witness against himself, it nevertheless +usually happens that these declarations become the means of condemning +the accused, as it were, out of their own mouths. The prisoner, upon +these previous examinations, has indeed the privilege of remaining silent +if he pleases; but every man necessarily feels that a refusal to answer +natural and pertinent interrogatories, put by judicial authority, is in +itself a strong proof of guilt, and will certainly lead to his being +committed to prison; and few can renounce the hope of obtaining liberty +by giving some specious account of themselves, and showing apparent +frankness in explaining their motives and accounting for their conduct. +It, therefore, seldom happens that the prisoner refuses to give a +judicial declaration, in which, nevertheless, either by letting out too +much of the truth, or by endeavouring to substitute a fictitious story, +he almost always exposes himself to suspicion and to contradictions, +which weigh heavily in the minds of the jury. + +The declaration of Effie Deans was uttered on other principles, and the +following is a sketch of its contents, given in the judicial form, in +which they may still be found in the Books of Adjournal. + +The declarant admitted a criminal intrigue with an individual whose name +she desired to conceal. "Being interrogated, what her reason was for +secrecy on this point? She declared, that she had no right to blame that +person's conduct more than she did her own, and that she was willing to +confess her own faults, but not to say anything which might criminate the +absent. Interrogated, if she confessed her situation to any one, or made +any preparation for her confinement? Declares, she did not. And being +interrogated, why she forbore to take steps which her situation so +peremptorily required? Declares, she was ashamed to tell her friends, and +she trusted the person she has mentioned would provide for her and the +infant. Interrogated if he did so? Declares, that he did not do so +personally; but that it was not his fault, for that the declarant is +convinced he would have laid down his life sooner than the bairn or she +had come to harm. Interrogated, what prevented him from keeping his +promise? Declares, that it was impossible for him to do so, he being +under trouble at the time, and declines farther answer to this question. +Interrogated, where she was from the period she left her master, Mr. +Saddletree's family, until her appearance at her father's, at St. +Leonard's, the day before she was apprehended? Declares, she does not +remember. And, on the interrogatory being repeated, declares, she does +not mind muckle about it, for she was very ill. On the question being +again repeated, she declares, she will tell the truth, if it should be +the undoing of her, so long as she is not asked to tell on other folk; +and admits, that she passed that interval of time in the lodging of a +woman, an acquaintance of that person who had wished her to that place to +be delivered, and that she was there delivered accordingly of a male +child. Interrogated, what was the name of that person? Declares and +refuses to answer this question. Interrogated, where she lives? Declares, +she has no certainty, for that she was taken to the lodging aforesaid +under cloud of night. Interrogated, if the lodging was in the city or +suburbs? Declares and refuses to answer that question. Interrogated, +whether, when she left the house of Mr. Saddletree, she went up or down +the street? Declares and refuses to answer the question. Interrogated, +whether she had ever seen the woman before she was wished to her, as she +termed it, by the person whose name she refuses to answer? Declares and +replies, not to her knowledge. Interrogated, whether this woman was +introduced to her by the said person verbally, or by word of mouth? +Declares, she has no freedom to answer this question. Interrogated, if +the child was alive when it was born? Declares, that--God help her and +it!--it certainly was alive. Interrogated, if it died a natural death +after birth? Declares, not to her knowledge. Interrogated, where it now +is? Declares, she would give her right hand to ken, but that she never +hopes to see mair than the banes of it. And being interrogated, why she +supposes it is now dead? the declarant wept bitterly and made no answer. +Interrogated, if the woman, in whose lodging she was, seemed to be a fit +person to be with her in that situation? Declares, she might be fit +enough for skill, but that she was an hard-hearted bad woman. +Interrogated, if there was any other person in the lodging excepting +themselves two? Declares, that she thinks there was another woman; but +her head was so carried with pain of body and trouble of mind, that she +minded her very little. Interrogated, when the child was taken away from +her? Declared that she fell in a fever, and was light-headed, and when +she came to her own mind, the woman told her the bairn was dead; and that +the declarant answered, if it was dead it had had foul play. That, +thereupon, the woman was very sair on her, and gave her much ill +language; and that the deponent was frightened, and crawled out of the +house when her back was turned, and went home to Saint Leonard's Crags, +as well as a woman in her condition dought.* + +* i.e. Was able to do. + +Interrogated, why she did not tell her story to her sister and father, +and get force to search the house for her child, dead or alive? Declares, +it was her purpose to do so, but she had not time. Interrogated, why she +now conceals the name of the woman, and the place of her abode? The +declarant remained silent for a time, and then said, that to do so could +not repair the skaith that was done, but might be the occasion of more. +Interrogated, whether she had herself, at any time, had any purpose of +putting away the child by violence? Declares, never; so might God be +merciful to her--and then again declares, never, when she was in her +perfect senses; but what bad thoughts the Enemy might put into her brain +when she was out of herself, she cannot answer. And again solemnly +interrogated, declares, that she would have been drawn with wild horses, +rather than have touched the bairn with an unmotherly hand. Interrogated, +declares, that among the ill-language the woman gave her, she did say +sure enough that the declarant had hurt the bairn when she was in the +brain fever; but that the declarant does not believe that she said this +from any other cause than to frighten her, and make her be silent. +Interrogated, what else the woman said to her? Declares, that when the +declarant cried loud for her bairn, and was like to raise the neighbours, +the woman threatened her, that they that could stop the wean's skirling +would stop hers, if she did not keep a' the founder.* + +* i.e. The quieter. + +And that this threat, with the manner of the woman, made the declarant +conclude, that the bairn's life was gone, and her own in danger, for that +the woman was a desperate bad woman, as the declarant judged from the +language she used. Interrogated, declares, that the fever and delirium +were brought on her by hearing bad news, suddenly told to her, but +refuses to say what the said news related to. Interrogated, why she does +not now communicate these particulars, which might, perhaps, enable the +magistrate to ascertain whether the child is living or dead; and +requested to observe, that her refusing to do so, exposes her own life, +and leaves the child in bad hands; as also that her present refusal to +answer on such points is inconsistent with her alleged intention to make +a clean breast to her sister? Declares, that she kens the bairn is now +dead, or, if living, there is one that will look after it; that for her +own living or dying, she is in God's hands, who knows her innocence of +harming her bairn with her will or knowledge; and that she has altered +her resolution of speaking out, which she entertained when she left the +woman's lodging, on account of a matter which she has since learned. And +declares, in general, that she is wearied, and will answer no more +questions at this time." + +Upon a subsequent examination, Euphemia Deans adhered to the declaration +she had formerly made, with this addition, that a paper found in her +trunk being shown to her, she admitted that it contained the credentials, +in consequence of which she resigned herself to the conduct of the woman +at whose lodgings she was delivered of the child. Its tenor ran thus:-- + +"Dearest Effie,--I have gotten the means to send to you by a woman who is +well qualified to assist you in your approaching streight; she is not +what I could wish her, but I cannot do better for you in my present +condition. I am obliged to trust to her in this present calamity, for +myself and you too. I hope for the best, though I am now in a sore pinch; +yet thought is free--I think Handie Dandie and I may queer the stifler* +for all that is come and gone. + +* Avoid the gallows. + +You will be angry for me writing this to my little Cameronian Lily; but +if I can but live to be a comfort to you, and a father to your babie, you +will have plenty of time to scold.--Once more, let none knew your +counsel--my life depends on this hag, d--n her--she is both deep and +dangerous, but she has more wiles and wit than ever were in a beldam's +head, and has cause to be true to me. Farewell, my Lily--Do not droop on +my account--in a week I will be yours or no more my own." + +Then followed a postscript. "If they must truss me, I will repent of +nothing so much, even at the last hard pinch, as of the injury I have +done my Lily." + +Effie refused to say from whom she had received this letter, but enough +of the story was now known, to ascertain that it came from Robertson; and +from the date, it appeared to have been written about the time when +Andrew Wilson (called for a nickname Handie Dandie) and he were +meditating their first abortive attempt to escape, which miscarried in +the manner mentioned in the beginning of this history. + +The evidence of the Crown being concluded, the counsel for the prisoner +began to lead a proof in her defence. The first witnesses were examined +upon the girl's character. All gave her an excellent one, but none with +more feeling than worthy Mrs. Saddletree, who, with the tears on her +cheeks, declared, that she could not have had a higher opinion of Effie +Deans, nor a more sincere regard for her, if she had been her own +daughter. All present gave the honest woman credit for her goodness of +heart, excepting her husband, who whispered to Dumbiedikes, "That Nichil +Novit of yours is but a raw hand at leading evidence, I'm thinking. What +signified his bringing a woman here to snotter and snivel, and bather +their Lordships? He should hae ceeted me, sir, and I should hae gien them +sic a screed o' testimony, they shauldna hae touched a hair o' her head." + +"Hadna ye better get up and tryt yet?" said the Laird. "I'll mak a sign +to Novit." + +"Na, na," said Saddletree, "thank ye for naething, neighbour--that would +be ultroneous evidence, and I ken what belangs to that; but Nichil Novit +suld hae had me ceeted /debito tempore./" And wiping his mouth with his +silk handkerchief with great importance, he resumed the port and manner +of an edified and intelligent auditor. + +Mr. Fairbrother now premised, in a few words, "that he meant to bring +forward his most important witness, upon whose evidence the cause must in +a great measure depend. What his client was, they had learned from the +preceding witnesses; and so far as general character, given in the most +forcible terms, and even with tears, could interest every one in her +fate, she had already gained that advantage. It was necessary, he +admitted, that he should produce more positive testimony of her innocence +than what arose out of general character, and this he undertook to do by +the mouth of the person to whom she had communicated her situation--by +the mouth of her natural counsellor and guardian--her sister.--Macer, +call into court, Jean, or Jeanie Deans, daughter of David Deans, +cowfeeder, at Saint Leonard's Crags!" + +When he uttered these words, the poor prisoner instantly started up, and +stretched herself half-way over the bar, towards the side at which her +sister was to enter. And when, slowly following the officer, the witness +advanced to the foot of the table, Effie, with the whole expression of +her countenance altered, from that of confused shame and dismay, to an +eager, imploring, and almost ecstatic earnestness of entreaty, with +outstretched hands, hair streaming back, eyes raised eagerly to her +sister's face, and glistening through tears, exclaimed in a tone which +went through the heart of all who heard her,--"O Jeanie, Jeanie, save me, +save me!" + +With a different feeling, yet equally appropriated to his proud and +self-dependent character, old Deans drew himself back still farther under +the cover of the bench; so that when Jeanie, as she entered the court, +cast a timid glance towards the place at which she had left him seated, +his venerable figure was no longer visible. He sate down on the other +side of Dumbiedikes, wrung his hand hard, and whispered, "Ah, Laird, this +is warst of a'--if I can but win ower this part--I feel my head unco +dizzy; but my Master is strong in his servant's weakness." After a +moment's mental prayer, he again started up, as if impatient of +continuing in any one posture, and gradually edged himself forward +towards the place he had just quitted. + +Jeanie in the meantime had advanced to the bottom of the table, when, +unable to resist the impulse of affections she suddenly extended her hand +to her sister. Effie was just within the distance that she could seize it +with both hers, press it to her mouth, cover it with kisses, and bathe it +in tears, with the fond devotion that a Catholic would pay to a guardian +saint descended for his safety; while Jeanie, hiding her own face with +her other hand, wept bitterly. The sight would have moved a heart of +stone, much more of flesh and blood. Many of the spectators shed tears, +and it was some time before the presiding Judge himself could so far +subdue his emotion as to request the witness to compose herself, and the +prisoner to forbear those marks of eager affection, which, however +natural, could not be permitted at that time, and in that presence. + +The solemn oath,--"the truth to tell, and no truth to conceal, as far as +she knew or should be asked," was then administered by the Judge "in the +name of God, and as the witness should answer to God at the great day of +judgment;" an awful adjuration, which seldom fails to make impression +even on the most hardened characters, and to strike with fear even the +most upright. Jeanie, educated in deep and devout reverence for the name +and attributes of the Deity, was, by the solemnity of a direct appeal to +hisperson and justice, awed, but at the same time elevated above all +considerations, save those which she could, with a clear conscience, call +Him to witness. She repeated the form in a low and reverent, but distinct +tone of voice, after the Judge, to whom, and not to any inferior officer +of the Court, the task is assigned in Scotland of directing the witness +in that solemn appeal which is the sanction of his testimony. + +When the Judge had finished the established form, he added in a feeling, +but yet a monitory tone, an advice, which the circumstances appeared to +him to call for. + +"Young woman," these were his words, "you come before this Court in +circumstances, which it would be worse than cruel not to pity and to +sympathise with. Yet it is my duty to tell you, that the truth, whatever +its consequences may be, the truth is what you owe to your country, and +to that God whose word is truth, and whose name you have now invoked. Use +your own time in answering the questions that gentleman" (pointing to the +counsel) "shall put to you.--But remember, that what you may be tempted +to say beyond what is the actual truth, you must answer both here and +hereafter." + +The usual questions were then put to her:--Whether any one had instructed +her what evidence she had to deliver? Whether any one had given or +promised her any good deed, hire, or reward, for her testimony? Whether +she had any malice or ill-will at his Majesty's Advocate, being the party +against whom she was cited as a witness? To which questions she +successively answered by a quiet negative. But their tenor gave great +scandal and offence to her father, who was not aware that they are put to +every witness as a matter of form. + +"Na, na," he exclaimed, loud enough to be heard, "my bairn is no like the +Widow of Tekoah--nae man has putten words into her mouth." + +One of the judges, better acquainted, perhaps, with the Books of +Adjournal than with the Book of Samuel, was disposed to make some instant +inquiry after this Widow of Tekoah, who, as he construed the matter, had +been tampering with the evidence. But the presiding Judge, better versed +in Scripture history, whispered to his learned brother the necessary +explanation; and the pause occasioned by this mistake had the good effect +of giving Jeanie Deans time to collect her spirits for the painful task +she had to perform. + +Fairbrother, whose practice and intelligence were considerable, saw the +necessity of letting the witness compose herself. In his heart he +suspected that she came to bear false witness in her sister's cause. + +"But that is her own affair," thought Fairbrother; "and it is my business +to see that she has plenty of time to regain composure, and to deliver +her evidence, be it true, or be it false--/valeat quantum./" + +Accordingly, he commenced his interrogatories with uninteresting +questions, which admitted of instant reply. + +"You are, I think, the sister of the prisoner?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Not the full sister, however?" + +"No, sir--we are by different mothers." + +"True; and you are, I think, several years older than your sister?" + +"Yes, sir," etc. + +After the advocate had conceived that, by these preliminary and +unimportant questions, he had familiarised the witness with the situation +in which she stood, he asked, "whether she had not remarked her sister's +state of health to be altered, during the latter part of the term when +she had lived with Mrs. Saddletree?" + +Jeanie answered in the affirmative. + +"And she told you the cause of it, my dear, I suppose?" said Fairbrother, +in an easy, and, as one may say, an inductive sort of tone. + +"I am sorry to interrupt my brother," said the Crown Counsel, rising; +"but I am in your Lordships' judgment, whether this be not a leading +question?" + +"If this point is to be debated," said the presiding Judge, "the witness +must be removed." + +For the Scottish lawyers regard with a sacred and scrupulous horror every +question so shaped by the counsel examining, as to convey to a witness +the least intimation of the nature of the answer which is desired from +him. These scruples, though founded on an excellent principle, are +sometimes carried to an absurd pitch of nicety, especially as it is +generally easy for a lawyer who has his wits about him to elude the +objection. Fairbrother did so in the present case. + +"It is not necessary to waste the time of the Court, my Lord since the +King's Counsel thinks it worth while to object to the form of my +question, I will shape it otherwise.--Pray, young woman, did you ask your +sister any question when you observed her looking unwell?--take courage-- +speak out." + +"I asked her," replied Jeanie, "what ailed her." + +"Very well--take your own time--and what was the answer she made?" +continued Mr. Fairbrother. + +Jeanie was silent, and looked deadly pale. It was not that she at any one +instant entertained an idea of the possibility of prevarication--it was +the natural hesitation to extinguish the last spark of hope that remained +for her sister. + +"Take courage, young woman," said Fairbrother.--"I asked what your sister +said ailed her when you inquired?" + +"Nothing," answered Jeanie, with a faint voice, which was yet heard +distinctly in the most distant corner of the Court-room,--such an awful +and profound silence had been preserved during the anxious interval, +which had interposed betwixt the lawyer's question and the answer of the +witness. + +Fairbrother's countenance fell; but with that ready presence of mind, +which is as useful in civil as in military emergencies, he immediately +rallied.--"Nothing? True; you mean nothing at /first/--but when you asked +her again, did she not tell you what ailed her?" + +The question was put in a tone meant to make her comprehend the +importance of her answer, had she not been already aware of it. The ice +was broken, however, and with less pause than at first, she now replied, +--"Alack! alack! she never breathed word to me about it." + +A deep groan passed through the Court. It was echoed by one deeper and +more agonised from the unfortunate father. The hope to which +unconsciously, and in spite of himself, he had still secretly clung, had +now dissolved, and the venerable old man fell forward senseless on the +floor of the Court-house, with his head at the foot of his terrified +daughter. The unfortunate prisoner, with impotent passion, strove with +the guards betwixt whom she was placed. "Let me gang to my father!--I +/will/ gang to him--I /will/ gang to him--he is dead--he is killed--I hae +killed him!"--she repeated, in frenzied tones of grief, which those who +heard them did not speedily forget. + +Even in this moment of agony and general confusion, Jeanie did not lose +that superiority, which a deep and firm mind assures to its possessor +under the most trying circumstances. + +"He is my father--he is our father," she mildly repeated to those who +endeavoured to separate them, as she stooped,--shaded aside his grey +hairs, and began assiduously to chafe his temples. + +The Judge, after repeatedly wiping his eyes, gave directions that they +should be conducted into a neighbouring apartment, and carefully +attended. The prisoner, as her father was borne from the Court, and her +sister slowly followed, pursued them with her eyes so earnestly fixed, as +if they would have started from their sockets. But when they were no +longer visible, she seemed to find, in her despairing and deserted state, +a courage which she had not yet exhibited. + +"The bitterness of it is now past," she said, and then boldly, addressed +the Court. "My Lords, if it is your pleasure to gang on wi' this matter, +the weariest day will hae its end at last." + +The Judge, who, much to his honour, had shared deeply in the general +sympathy, was surprised at being recalled to his duty by the prisoner. He +collected himself, and requested to know if the panel's counsel had more +evidence to produce. Fairbrother replied, with an air of dejection, that +his proof was concluded. + +The King's Counsel addressed the jury for the crown. He said in a few +words, that no one could be more concerned than he was for the +distressing scene which they had just witnessed. But it was the necessary +consequence of great crimes to bring distress and ruin upon all connected +with the perpetrators. He briefly reviewed the proof, in which he showed +that all the circumstances of the case concurred with those required by +the act under which the unfortunate prisoner was tried: That the counsel +for the panel had totally failed in proving, that Euphemia Deans had +communicated her situation to her sister: That, respecting her previous +good character, he was sorry to observe, that it was females who +possessed the world's good report, and to whom it was justly valuable, +who were most strongly tempted, by shame and fear of the world's censure, +to the crime of infanticide: That the child was murdered, he professed to +entertain no doubt. The vacillating and inconsistent declaration of the +prisoner herself, marked as it was by numerous refusals to speak the +truth on subjects, when, according to her own story, it would have been +natural, as well as advantageous, to have been candid; even this +imperfect declaration left no doubt in his mind as to the fate of the +unhappy infant. Neither could he doubt that the panel was a partner in +this guilt. Who else had an interest in a deed so inhuman? Surely neither +Robertson, nor Robertson's agent, in whose house she was delivered, +hadthe least temptation to commit such a crime, unless upon her account, +with her connivance, and for the sake of saying her reputation. But it +was not required of him, by the law, that he should bring precise proof +of the murder, or of the prisoner's accession to it. It was the very +purpose of the statute to substitute a certain chain of presumptive +evidence in place of a probation, which, in such cases, it was peculiarly +difficult to obtain. The jury might peruse the statute itself, and they +had also the libel and interlocutor of relevancy to direct them in point +of law. He put it to the conscience of the jury, that under both he was +entitled to a verdict of Guilty. + +The charge of Fairbrother was much cramped by his having failed in the +proof which he expected to lead. But he fought his losing cause with +courage and constancy. He ventured to arraign the severity of the statute +under which the young woman was tried. "In all other cases," he said, +"the first thing required of the criminal prosecutor was to prove +unequivocally that the crime libelled had actually been committed, which +lawyers called proving the /corpus delicti./ But this statute, made +doubtless with the best intentions, and under the impulse of a just +horror for the unnatural crime of infanticide, ran the risk of itself +occasioning the worst of murders, the death of an innocent person, to +atone for a supposed crime which may never have been committed by anyone. +He was so far from acknowledging the alleged probability of the child's +violent death, that he could not even allow that there was evidence of +its having ever lived." + +The King's Counsel pointed to the woman's declaration; to which the +counsel replied--"A production concocted in a moment of terror and agony, +and which approached to insanity," he said, "his learned brother well +knew was no sound evidence against the party who emitted it. It was true, +that a judicial confession, in presence of the Justices themselves, was +the strongest of all proof, insomuch that it is said in law, that '/in +confitentem nullae sunt partes judicis./' But this was true of judicial +confession only, by which law meant that which is made in presence of the +justices, and the sworn inquest. Of extrajudicial confession, all +authorities held with the illustrious Farinaceus and Matthaeus, +'/confessio extrajudicialis in se nulla est; et quod nullum est, non +potest adminiculari./' It was totally inept, and void of all strength and +effect from the beginning; incapable, therefore, of being bolstered up or +supported, or, according to the law phrase, adminiculated, by other +presumptive circumstances. In the present case, therefore, letting the +extrajudicial confession go, as it ought to go, for nothing," he +contended, "the prosecutor had not made out the second quality of the +statute, that a live child had been born; and /that,/ at least, ought to +be established before presumptions were received that it had been +murdered. If any of the assize," he said, "should be of opinion that this +was dealing rather narrowly with the statute, they ought to consider that +it was in its nature highly penal, and therefore entitled to no +favourable construction." + +He concluded a learned speech, with an eloquent peroration on the scene +they had just witnessed, during which Saddletree fell fast asleep. + +It was now the presiding Judge's turn to address the jury. He did so +briefly and distinctly. + +"It was for the jury," he said, "to consider whether the prosecutor had +made out his plea. For himself, he sincerely grieved to say, that a +shadow of doubt remained not upon his mind concerning the verdict which +the inquest had to bring in. He would not follow the prisoner's counsel +through the impeachment which he had brought against the statute of King +William and Queen Mary. He and the jury were sworn to judge according to +the laws as they stood, not to criticise, or evade, or even to justify +them. In no civil case would a counsel have been permitted to plead his +client's case in the teeth of the law; but in the hard situation in which +counsel were often placed in the Criminal Court, as well as out of favour +to all presumptions of innocence, he had not inclined to interrupt the +learned gentleman, or narrow his plea. The present law, as it now stood, +had been instituted by the wisdom of their fathers, to check the alarming +progress of a dreadful crime; when it was found too severe for its +purpose it would doubtless be altered by the wisdom of the Legislature; +at present it was the law of the land, the rule of the Court, and, +according to the oath which they had taken, it must be that of the jury. +This unhappy girl's situation could not be doubted; that she had borne a +child, and that the child had disappeared, were certain facts. The +learned counsel had failed to show that she had communicated her +situation. All the requisites of the case required by the statute were +therefore before the jury. The learned gentleman had, indeed, desired +them to throw out of consideration the panel's own confession, which was +the plea usually urged, in penury of all others, by counsel in his +situation, who usually felt that the declarations of their clients bore +hard on them. But that the Scottish law designed that a certain weight +should be laid on these declarations, which, he admitted, were +/quodammodo/ extrajudicial, was evident from the universal practice by +which they were always produced and read, as part of the prosecutor's +probation. In the present case, no person who had heard the witnesses +describe the appearance of the young woman before she left Saddletree's +house, and contrasted it with that of her state and condition at her +return to her father's, could have any doubt that the fact of delivery +had taken place, as set forth in her own declaration, which was, +therefore, not a solitary piece of testimony, but adminiculated and +supported by the strongest circumstantial proof. + +"He did not," he said, "state the impression upon his own mind with the +purpose of biassing theirs. He had felt no less than they had done from +the scene of domestic misery which had been exhibited before them; and if +they, having God and a good conscience, the sanctity of their oath, and +the regard due to the law of the country, before their eyes, could come +to a conclusion favourable to this unhappy prisoner, he should rejoice as +much as anyone in Court; for never had he found his duty more distressing +than in discharging it that day, and glad he would be to be relieved from +the still more painful task which would otherwise remain for him." + +The jury, having heard the Judge's address, bowed and retired, preceded +by a macer of Court, to the apartment destined for their deliberation. + + + + CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. + + + Law, take thy victim--May she find the mercy + In yon mild heaven, which this hard world denies her! + +It was an hour ere the jurors returned, and as they traversed the crowd +with slow steps, as men about to discharge themselves of a heavy and +painful responsibility, the audience was hushed into profound, earnest, +and awful silence. + +"Have you agreed on your chancellor, gentlemen?" was the first question +of the Judge. + +The foreman, called in Scotland the chancellor of the jury, usually the +man of best rank and estimation among the assizers, stepped forward, and +with a low reverence, delivered to the Court a sealed paper, containing +the verdict, which, until of late years, that verbal returns are in some +instances permitted, was always couched in writing. The jury remained +standing while the Judge broke the seals, and having perused the paper, +handed it with an air of mournful gravity down to the clerk of Court, who +proceeded to engross in the record the yet unknown verdict, of which, +however, all omened the tragical contents. A form still remained, +trifling and unimportant in itself, but to which imagination adds a sort +of solemnity, from the awful occasion upon which it is used. A lighted +candle was placed on the table, the original paper containing the verdict +was enclosed in a sheet of paper, and, sealed with the Judge's own +signet, was transmitted to the Crown Office, to be preserved among other +records of the same kind. As all this is transacted in profound silence, +the producing and extinguishing the candle seems a type of the human +spark which is shortly afterwards doomed to be quenched, and excites in +the spectators something of the same effect which in England is obtained +by the Judge assuming the fatal cap of judgment. When these preliminary +forms had been gone through, the Judge required Euphemia Deans to attend +to the verdict to be read. + +After the usual words of style, the verdict set forth, that the Jury +having made choice of John Kirk, Esq., to be their chancellor, and Thomas +Moore, merchant, to be their clerk, did, by a plurality of voices, find +the said Euphemia Deans Guilty of the crime libelled; but, in +consideration of her extreme youth, and the cruel circumstances of her +case, did earnestly entreat that the Judge would recommend her to the +mercy of the Crown. + +"Gentlemen," said the Judge, "you have done your duty--and a painful one +it must have been to men of humanity like you. I will undoubtedly +transmit your recommendation to the throne. But it is my duty to tell all +who now hear me, but especially to inform that unhappy young woman, in +order that her mind may be settled accordingly, that I have not the least +hope of a pardon being granted in the present case. You know the crime +has been increasing in this land, and I know farther, that this has been +ascribed to the lenity in which the laws have been exercised, and that +there is therefore no hope whatever of obtaining a remission for this +offence." The jury bowed again, and, released from their painful office, +dispersed themselves among the mass of bystanders. + +The Court then asked Mr. Fairbrother whether he had anything to say, why +judgment should not follow on the verdict? The counsel had spent some +time in persuing and reperusing the verdict, counting the letters in each +juror's name, and weighing every phrase, nay, every syllable, in the +nicest scales of legal criticism. But the clerk of the jury had +understood his business too well. No flaw was to be found, and +Fairbrother mournfully intimated, that he had nothing to say in arrest of +judgment. + +The presiding Judge then addressed the unhappy prisoner:--"Euphemia +Deans, attend to the sentence of the Court now to be pronounced against +you." + +She rose from her seat, and with a composure far greater than could have +been augured from her demeanour during some parts of the trial, abode the +conclusion of the awful scene. So nearly does the mental portion of our +feelings resemble those which are corporeal, that the first severe blows +which we receive bring with them a stunning apathy, which renders us +indifferent to those that follow them. Thus said Mandrin, when he was +undergoing the punishment of the wheel; and so have all felt, upon whom +successive inflictions have descended with continuous and reiterated +violence.* + +* [The notorious Mandrin was known as the Captain-General of French & +smugglers. See a Tract on his exploits, printed 1753.] + +"Young woman," said the Judge, "it is my painful duty to tell you, that +your life is forfeited under a law, which, if it may seem in some degree +severe, is yet wisely so, to render those of your unhappy situation aware +what risk they run, by concealing, out of pride or false shame, their +lapse from virtue, and making no preparation to save the lives of the +unfortunate infants whom they are to bring into the world. When you +concealed your situation from your mistress, your sister, and other +worthy and compassionate persons of your own sex, in whose favour your +former conduct had given you a fair place, you seem to me to have had in +your contemplation, at least, the death of the helpless creature, for +whose life you neglected to provide. How the child was disposed of-- +whether it was dealt upon by another, or by yourself--whether the +extraordinary story you have told is partly false, or altogether so, is +between God and your own conscience. I will not aggravate your distress +by pressing on that topic, but I do most solemnly adjure you to employ +the remaining space of your time in making your peace with God, for which +purpose such reverend clergymen, as you yourself may name, shall have +access to you. Notwithstanding the humane recommendation of the jury, I +cannot afford to you, in the present circumstances of the country, the +slightest hope that your life will be prolonged beyond the period +assigned for the execution of your sentence. Forsaking, therefore, the +thoughts of this world, let your mind be prepared by repentance for those +of more awful moments--for death, judgment, and eternity.--Doomster, read +the sentence."* + +* Note N. Doomster, or Dempster, of Court. + +When the Doomster showed himself, a tall haggard figure, arrayed in a +fantastic garment of black and grey, passmented with silver lace, all +fell back with a sort of instinctive horror, and made wide way for him to +approach the foot of the table. As this office was held by the common +executioner, men shouldered each other backward to avoid even the touch +of his garment, and some were seen to brush their own clothes, which had +accidentally become subject to such contamination. A sound went through +the Court, produced by each person drawing in their breath hard, as men +do when they expect or witness what is frightful, and at the same time +affecting. The caitiff villain yet seemed, amid his hardened brutality, +to have some sense of his being the object of public detestation, which +made him impatient of being in public, as birds of evil omen are anxious +to escape from daylight, and from pure air. + +Repeating after the Clerk of Court, he gabbled over the words of the +sentence, which condemned Euphemia Deans to be conducted back to the +Tolbooth of Edinburgh, and detained there until Wednesday the day of ---; +and upon that day, betwixt the hours of two and four o'clock afternoon, +to be conveyed to the common place of execution, and there hanged by the +neck upon a gibbet. "And this," said the Doomster, aggravating his harsh +voice, "I pronounce for /doom./" + +He vanished when he had spoken the last emphatic word, like a foul fiend +after the purpose of his visitation had been accomplished; but the +impression of horror excited by his presence and his errand, remained +upon the crowd of spectators. + +The unfortunate criminal,--for so she must now be termed,--with more +susceptibility, and more irritable feelings than her father and sister, +was found, in this emergence, to possess a considerable share of their +courage. She had remained standing motionless at the bar while the +sentence was pronounced, and was observed to shut her eyes when the +Doomster appeared. But she was the first to break silence when that evil +form had left his place. + +"God forgive ye, my Lords," she said, "and dinna be angry wi' me for +wishing it--we a' need forgiveness.--As for myself, I canna blame ye, for +ye act up to your lights; and if I havena killed my poor infant, ye may +witness a' that hae seen it this day, that I hae been the means of +killing my greyheaded father--I deserve the warst frae man, and frae God +too--But God is mair mercifu' to us than we are to each other." + +With these words the trial concluded. The crowd rushed, bearing forward +and shouldering each other, out of the Court, in the same tumultuary mode +in which they had entered; and, in excitation of animal motion and animal +spirits, soon forgot whatever they had felt as impressive in the scene +which they had witnessed. The professional spectators, whom habit and +theory had rendered as callous to the distress of the scene as medical +men are to those of a surgical operation, walked homeward in groups, +discussing the general principle of the statute under which the young +woman was condemned, the nature of the evidence, and the arguments of the +counsel, without considering even that of the Judge as exempt from their +criticism. + +The female spectators, more compassionate, were loud in exclamation +against that part of the Judge's speech which seemed to cut off the hope +of pardon. + +"Set him up, indeed," said Mrs. Howden, "to tell us that the poor lassie +behoved to die, when Mr. John Kirk, as civil a gentleman as is within the +ports of the town, took the pains to prigg for her himsell." + +"Ay, but, neighbour," said Miss Damahoy, drawing up her thin maidenly +form to its full height of prim dignity--"I really think this unnatural +business of having bastard-bairns should be putten a stop to.--There isna +a hussy now on this side of thirty that you can bring within your doors, +but there will be chields--writer-lads, prentice-lads, and what not-- +coming traiking after them for their destruction, and discrediting ane's +honest house into the bargain--I hae nae patience wi' them." + +"Hout, neighbour," said Mrs. Howden, "we suld live and let live--we hae +been young oursells, and we are no aye to judge the warst when lads and +lasses forgather." + +"Young oursells! and judge the warst!" said Miss Damahoy. "I am no sae +auld as that comes to, Mrs. Howden; and as for what ye ca' the warst, I +ken neither good nor bad about the matter, I thank my stars!" + +"Ye are thankfu' for sma' mercies, then," said Mrs. Howden with a toss of +her head; "and as for you and young--I trow ye were doing for yoursell at +the last riding of the Scots Parliament, and that was in the gracious +year seven, sae ye can be nae sic chicken at ony rate." + +Plumdamas, who acted as squire of the body to the two contending dames, +instantly saw the hazard of entering into such delicate points of +chronology, and being a lover of peace and good neighbourhood, lost no +time in bringing back the conversation to its original subject. + +"The Judge didna tell us a' he could hae tell'd us, if he had liked, +about the application for pardon, neighbours," said he "there is aye a +wimple in a lawyer's clew; but it's a wee bit of a secret." + +"And what is't--what is't, neighbour Plumdamas?" said Mrs. Howden and +Miss Damahoy at once, the acid fermentation of their dispute being at +once neutralised by the powerful alkali implied in the word secret. + +"Here's Mr. Saddletree can tell ye that better than me, for it was him +that tauld me," said Plumdamas as Saddletree came up, with his wife +hanging on his arm, and looking very disconsolate. + +When the question was put to Saddletree, he looked very scornful. "They +speak about stopping the frequency of child-murder," said he, in a +contemptuous tone; "do ye think our auld enemies of England, as Glendook +aye ca's them in his printed Statute-book, care a boddle whether we didna +kill ane anither, skin and birn, horse and foot, man, woman, and bairns, +all and sindry, /omnes et singulos,/ as Mr. Crossmyloof says? Na, na, +it's no /that/ hinders them frae pardoning the bit lassie. But here is +the pinch of the plea. The king and queen are sae ill pleased wi' that +mistak about Porteous, that deil a kindly Scot will they pardon again, +either by reprieve or remission, if the haill town o' Edinburgh should be +a' hanged on ae tow." + +"Deil that they were back at their German kale-yard then, as my neighbour +MacCroskie ca's it," said Mrs. Howden, "an that's the way they're gaun to +guide us!" + +"They say for certain," said Miss Damahoy, "that King George flang his +periwig in the fire when he heard o' the Porteous mob." + +"He has done that, they say," replied Saddletree, "for less thing." + +"Aweel," said Miss Damahoy, "he might keep mair wit in his anger--but +it's a' the better for his wigmaker, I'se warrant." + +"The queen tore her biggonets for perfect anger,--ye'll hae heard o' that +too?" said Plumdamas. "And the king, they say, kickit Sir Robert Walpole +for no keeping down the mob of Edinburgh; but I dinna believe he wad +behave sae ungenteel." + +"It's dooms truth, though," said Saddletree; "and he was for kickin' the +Duke of Argyle* too." + +* Note O. John Duke of Argyle and Greenwich. + +"Kickin' the Duke of Argyle!" exclaimed the hearers at once, in all the +various combined keys of utter astonishment. + +"Ay, but MacCallummore's blood wadna sit down wi' that; there was risk of +Andro Ferrara coming in thirdsman." + +"The duke is a real Scotsman--a true friend to the country," answered +Saddletree's hearers. + +"Ay, troth is he, to king and country baith, as ye sall hear," continued +the orator, "if ye will come in bye to our house, for it's safest +speaking of sic things /inter parietes./" + +When they entered his shop, he thrust his prentice boy out of it, and, +unlocking his desk, took out, with an air of grave and complacent +importance, a dirty and crumpled piece of printed paper; he observed, +"This is new corn--it's no every body could show you the like o' this. +It's the duke's speech about the Porteous mob, just promulgated by the +hawkers. Ye shall hear what Ian Roy Cean* says for himsell. + +* Red John the warrior, a name personal and proper in the Highlands to +John Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, as MacCummin was that of his race or +dignity. + +My correspondent bought it in the Palace-yard, that's like just under the +king's nose--I think he claws up their mittans!--It came in a letter +about a foolish bill of exchange that the man wanted me to renew for him. +I wish ye wad see about it, Mrs. Saddletree." + +Honest Mrs. Saddletree had hitherto been so sincerely distressed about +the situation of her unfortunate prote'ge'e, that she had suffered her +husband to proceed in his own way, without attending to what he was +saying. The words bills and renew had, however, an awakening sound in +them; and she snatched the letter which her husband held towards her, and +wiping her eyes, and putting on her spectacles, endeavoured, as fast as +the dew which collected on her glasses would permit, to get at the +meaning of the needful part of the epistle; while her husband, with +pompous elevation, read an extract from the speech. + +"I am no minister, I never was a minister, and I never will be one" + +"I didna ken his Grace was ever designed for the ministry," interrupted +Mrs. Howden. + +"He disna mean a minister of the gospel, Mrs. Howden, but a minister of +state," said Saddletree, with condescending goodness, and then proceeded: +"The time was when I might have been a piece of a minister, but I was too +sensible of my own incapacity to engage in any state affair. And I thank +God that I had always too great a value for those few abilities which +Nature has given me, to employ them in doing any drudgery, or any job of +what kind soever. I have, ever since I set out in the world (and I +believe few have set out more early), served my prince with my tongue; I +have served him with any little interest I had, and I have served him +with my sword, and in my profession of arms. I have held employments +which I have lost, and were I to be to-morrow deprived of those which +still remain to me, and which I have endeavoured honestly to deserve, I +would still serve him to the last acre of my inheritance, and to the last +drop of my blood" + +Mrs. Saddletree here broke in upon the orator:--"Mr. Saddletree, what +/is/ the meaning of a' this? Here are ye clavering about the Duke of +Argyle, and this man Martingale gaun to break on our hands, and lose us +gude sixty pounds--I wonder what duke will pay that, quotha--I wish the +Duke of Argyle would pay his ain accounts--He is in a thousand punds +Scots on thae very books when he was last at Roystoun--I'm no saying but +he's a just nobleman, and that it's gude siller--but it wad drive ane +daft to be confused wi' deukes and drakes, and thae distressed folk +up-stairs, that's Jeanie Deans and her father. And then, putting the very +callant that was sewing the curpel out o' the shop, to play wi' +blackguards in the close--Sit still, neighbours, it's no that I mean to +disturb /you;/ but what between courts o' law and courts o' state, and +upper and under parliaments, and parliament houses, here and in London, +the gudeman's gane clean gyte, I think." + +The gossips understood civility, and the rule of doing as they would be +done by, too well, to tarry upon the slight invitation implied in the +conclusion of this speech, and therefore made their farewells and +departure as fast as possible, Saddletree whispering to Plundamas that he +would "meet him at MacCroskie's" (the low-browed shop in the +Luckenbooths, already mentioned), "in the hour of cause, and put +MacCallummore's speech in his pocket, for a' the gudewife's din." + +When Mrs. Saddletree saw the house freed of her importunate visitors, and +the little boy reclaimed from the pastimes of the wynd to the exercise of +the awl, she went to visit her unhappy relative, David Deans, and his +elder daughter, who had found in her house the nearest place of friendly +refuge. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN, BY SCOTT, V1 *** + +*********** This file should be named mid1w10.txt or mid1w10.zip ************ + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, mid1w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mid1w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger, widger@cecomet.net + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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