^s^>- \ r')\ £' i* m^ -m *^1| i^ W/'- '.^ 4odXZ(y2J SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. confused and irregular multitude, like bees* alarmed and arming in their hives, seemed to possess all the pliability of movement fitted to execute military manoemTCs; their motions appeared spontaneous and confused, but the result was order and regularity r a ijeneral must have praised the conclusion, though a martinet might have ridiculed the method by which it was attained. While getting into order, they exhibited a changing, fluctuating, confused appearance of waving tartans and floating plumes, and of banners displaying the proud gathering-word of each clan. At length the mixed and wavering multitude arranged themselves into a narrow and dusky column of great length, stretching through the whole extent of the vale." The leading men of each clan were armed with broadsword, target, and fusee, to which all added the dirk, and most the steel pistol ; but while the leaders, and the van in general, were well armed, the rear resembled actual banditti : — " here was a pole-axe ; there, a sword without a scab- bard : here, a gun without a lock ; there, a scythe set straight upon a pole : some had only their dirks and bludgeons, or stakes pulled out of hedges." While the column remained stationary in the streets of Edinburgh, ghttering in arms and thirsting for the Saxons' blood, an iron gun, the only piece of artillery possessed by an army that meditated such an important revolution, was discharged as the signal of march. The voice of " Musket's-Mother," as the Highlanders uniformly called a great gun, was instantly obeyed, and communicated motion to the entire line. A wild cry of joy from the advancing battaUons rent the air, and was then lost in the shrill clangour of the bagpipes, as the sound of these in their turn was partially drowned by the heavy tread of so many men put at once into motion. 'Die banners ghttered and shook as they moved forward — " Each leader now his scattered force conjoins In close array, and forms the deepening lines.'' " The horse hastened to occupy their station as the advanced guard, and push on reconnoitring parties, to ascertain and report the motions of the enemy. They vanished fi-om Waverleys eye as they wheeled round the base of Arthur's Seat, under the remark- able ridge of basaltic rocks which fronts the httle village of Duddington." No drawing can be more correct, no filling-up more perfect, no colouring more warm or deep : the calm scene of nature is exquisitely touched ; the continuous motion of the legions advancing solemnly towards the field of battle powerfully narrated ; the sound of the departing feet seems to vibrate on the ear. The painter, finding his art incom- petent to convey ideas of sound, has devoted his attention to those of sight with greater assiduity, borrowing the prudent practice from the deaf and blind. WTiatever • " As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees, Clust'ring in heaps on heaps, the driving bees,' Rolling and black'ning, swarms succeeding swarms, With deeper murmurs and more hoarse alarms; Dusky they spread, a close embodied crowd, And o'er the vale descends the living cloud." IIomkr. SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVEUEV NOVELS. |8 graces the high and castle-cvowaied rock of the ancient town, the (hm and distant and ever-hving hills, the tapering towers, the gorgeous palaces, the noble \iaducts of modern times, can lend to the illustration of the historic page, have here been all most happily united: beneath, and surrounded by these stately monuments of civic pride, that seem wrapped in air, the multitudinous array is seen, not breaking the calm and perfect arrangement of the composition, but rather contributing to its integrity. Note. — The military phalanx in the historic design of " The March of the Highlanders," represents the army of Prince Charles Stuart marching to the battle of Preston, or rather Tranent, fought on the 24th of September, 1745, between two thousand of the king's troops, under Sir John Cope, and two thousand four hundred Highlanders, led by the Chevalier ; in which the former, although supported by artillery and cavalry, were totally defeated. Cope fled with his dragoons through Preston village, while the infantry were almost all killed or taken prisoners. Amongst the slain was Colonel Gardiner, whose life has been written with so much feeling by Dr. Doddridge. Tranent is situated ten miles east from Edinburgh ; and near it, in a space called Mill-burn Meadow, stands the only survivor of the ill- contested field of Preston — an aged thorn : of this solitary and conspicuous object, Cope availed himself as a point d'appui ; here, at this precise spot. Colonel Gardiner fell, and around the trunk of this still abiding trophy, numbers of the slain lie buried. CARLISLE CASTLE. Execution of Fergus M.\c-Iv<)r and Evan-Dhu. " Tliere was a momentary stop at the gateway, while the governor of the castle and the high sheriff went through a short ceremony, the raihtary officer there delivering over the persons of the criminals to the civil power. ' God save King George,' said the high sheriff. \\Tien the formality concluded, Fergus stood erect in the sledge, and, with a fii-m and steady voice, replied, ' God save King James ! ' These were the last words which Waverley heard him speak." After this brief but solemn pause, which is repre- sented in the accompanj-ing illustration, " the procession resumed its march, and the sledge vanished from beneath the portal. Tlie dead march was then heard; and its melancholy sounds were mingled with those of a muffled peal, tolled from the neigh- bouring cathedral. The sound of the miUtary music died away as the procession moved on : the suUen clang of the bells was soon heard to sound alone." The execution of Fergus Mac-Ivor is one of those closing scenes in which the author of Waverley is perhaps without a rival : these he seems always to sketch with a firm, yet delicate hand ; and they are, as Fergus laughingly described his own, " well got up." The melancholy procession was arranged within the court-yard of the castle, where the sledge was prepared on which the prisoners were to be draw n to the place of execution, about one mile from Carhsle. " The sledge was painted black, and drawn by a white horse. At one end of the vehicle sat the executioner, a horrid-looking 14 SCOTLAND. AND I'HK WAVERLEY NOVELS. fellow, as beseemed his trade, with the broad axe in his hand. At the other end, next the horse, was a seat for two persons. ITirough the deep and Gothic archway, that opened on the drawbridge, were seen, on horseback, the high sheriif and his attendants, whom the etiquette between the civil and military powers did not permit to come farther." Such was the first act of this miserable tragedy ; of the last, the novelist was too accomplished an artist to give a palpable representation. The ancient city of Carlisle is situated in the ward and countj- of Cumberland, and nearly encircled by the rivers Eden, Pettrell, and Caldew; 301 miles from London, and 13 from the Scottish border. It was called Caerleyl, or Caer Leol, (or, perhaps, Caer lua-ail, the city on the beautiful waters,) by the Britons, and Lugewalleom by the Romans, i. e. the citj^ near the wall. In the reign of the emperor Nero, the Scotch fired the place, and in the time of Agricola it was fortified by the Romans, as a frontier town, against the violence of the Picts and Scots. So durable are the works, that notwith- standing the recorded desolation of the city by the Danes, and very many sieges, much Roman masonry remained, particularly on the east side, until within a few 3-ears back. In 685 the citizens accompanied St. Cuthbert to view the walls, and visit a well of curious workmanship that had been enclosed by the Romans. From the destruction of the city by the Danes in 875, it lay prostrate until after the Norman conquest ; but in 1072 it was again strongly fortified. The castle was founded by William Rufus, who \isited the city in 1092, and colonized it from the south of England; but David, king of the Scots, enlarged and strengthened the defences, and heightened the walls, in 1136. In 1344 the great hall, turrets, kernels, and gates were repaired at an expense of £800. In the reign of Elizabeth the walls of the dungeon tower, (1-2 feet thick,) were rebuilt, and in the middle of the following century the castle was strong enough to stand a siege of several months.* This ancient and massive structure stands at the north-west angle of the citj-, and is singularly designed. It consists of two wards ; the outer of which is in the form of a square ; the inner in that of a triangle, and containing the keep or dungeon tower, a squai-e building, part of the original edifice built by William Rufus. The other parts of the castle are more modern, the result of additions made in the reigns of Richard the Third, Henry ^TII., and Queen Elizabeth. In the British Museum a drawing is preserved, * Carlisle was besieged and harassed in 113S, by David, king of Scots — in 1173, by William, king of Scots, and, in 1216, by Alexander— conceded to the English, in 1217 — attacked by the Earls of Buchan and Monteitli, in 1296— summoned by William Wallace, in 1297 — besieged by Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, in 1315— by the Scots, in 1337, 1345, 1380, 1385— the suburbs were burned by the Scotch adherents of Henry VI., in 14C1— it was attacked by Nicholas Musgrave, in 1527 — by W. Scott, Lord of Buccleugh, in 1596, in order to release William Arm- strong, a noted borderer, celebrated in ballad poetry by the name of " Kinmont Willie" — during the civil wars, it was besieged in 1644 — by Leslie and the Scotch, in 1645, when the garrison endured hardships, sufferings, and pri- vations, resembling those recorded of the siege of Derry — surprised by Sir Philip Musgrave, for the royal cause, in 1648, and surrendered to Cromwell in the same year — received the Pretender in 1745, and was surrendered by the rebels again in the same year to the Duke of Cumberland. SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. representing this fine specimen of military architecture precisely as it appeared in the reign of the last of these monarchs ; while the accompanying view exhibits its rude aspect in 1836, with the exception of the drawbridge, which, however, is a faithful copy from an original elsewhere. The ancient gothic portal still survives, as well as the vast keep that towers above it: and even in the imaginative part of the illustration, — armour, costume, &c. — historic truth has been respected ; the description of bill-axe with which the sheriff's band is armed, still continuing to be borne by the civil power, at executions, here and in the border districts. The situation of Carhsle rendered it at an early period, and continued it to a late one, an object of contention between the neighbouring kingdoms. Its military history, there- fore, presents events, greater in importance and number, than are recorded of any other fortress in Britain ; and no city in the kingdom can reckon so many illustrious and emi- nent men amongst its visiters, benefactors, and masters. DIRK HATTERAICK PURSUED BY THE SLOOP-OF-WAR. ' How gloriously her gallant course she goes, Her white wings flying — never from her foes. She walks the waters like a thing of life, And seems to dare the elements to strife : Who would not brave the battle-fire— the wreck - To move the monarch of her peopled deck." " On gaining that part of the ruins which commanded the most extensive look-out, they saw a lugger, with all her canvass crowded, standing across the bay, closely pursued by a sloop-of-war, that kept firing upon the chase from her bows, which the lugger returned with her stern-chasers. 'They're but at long bowls yet,' cried Kennedy, in great exultation, ' but they will be closer by and by, — he's starting his cargo ! I see the good Nantz pitching overboard, keg after keg ! — that's an ungenteel thing of Mr. Hatteraick, as I shall let him know by and by. — Now, now ! they've got the wind of him ! that's it, that's it ! — Hark to him ! hark to him !, now, my dogs ! now, my dogs ! — hark to Ranger, hark !' " The chase is supposed to continue during this spirited apostrophe to the kegs of Nantz. " The lugger being piloted with great abilit}-, and using every nautical shift to make her escape, had now reached, and was about to double, the headland which formed tlie extreme point of land on the left side of the bay, when a ball having hit the yard in the slings, the mainsail fell upon the deck. The sloop-of-war crowded all sail to pursue, but she had stood too close upon the cape, so that they were obliged to wear the vessel, for fear of going ashore, and to make a large tack back into the bay, in order to 16 SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. recover sea-room enough to double the headland." The lugger being able to keep closer in-shore than the majestic object that pursued her, doubled the cape even after the accident, — " Already doubled is the cape, — our bay Receives that prow which proudly spurns the spray," but, losing steerage, fell out of sight behind the promontory. The chase here described with so much animation, is represented as having occurred in Solway Firth, a na\-igable estuary that indents the western coast of Great Britain, and separates the stewartry of Kircudbright and shires of Dumfries and Wigton (in Scotland) from the county of Cumberland (in England). It extends about fifty miles in length, and thirty in breadth at its embouchure, that is, between Burrow Head in Wigtonshire, and St. Bees' Head in Cumberland. Its waters are deeper on the Scotch than near the Enghsh border ; and the counties of Galloway and Dumfries are indebted to its navigable qualities, for the commercial prosperity they have so long enjoyed. The Esk, the Sark, and many other streams, whose beauties and irregularities are celebrated in border ballad and legendary lore, throw themselves into the bosom of the Solway Firth. Spring-tides here rise twenty feet, while ordinary tides reach but twelve; a fact, however, less remarkable than the exceeding impetuosity of the waters at ebb and flow, especiaUy during the prevalence of south-west wnds — " I long woo'd your daughter, — my suit you denied ; Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide." Lady Heron's Song. The borderers are in the habit of crossing the sands of the Firth, from shore to shore, at low water; a perilous undertaking, and not unfi-equently attended ^\'ith fatal conse- quences. The most experienced have sometimes been overtaken by the " rushing of many waters," which always send a fearful sound before them, " as of waters falling down ;" a warning voice, too late, alas ! for the hapless being they are about to engulf. An active horseman and courageous traveller, who happened to be surprised by the tide in crossing from the Cumberland shore, owed the preservation of his life to his gallant steed, which carried him safely to their usual place of exit from tlie sands, swimming almost the whole breadth of the estuary. Above the chifs that enclose the waters of the Firth, and on the northern shore, rises the headland here called the Point of Warroch, from whose summit the luckless Kennedy was hurled, and which has ever since been called the " Ganger's Loup." The littorale of the Solway, and the districts that retire a httle from it, have often been described by the Author of Waverley, and adopted as originals for some of his best pictures. Annan, Caerlaverock Castle, Cannobie, and Strong Caerlisle, are not far removed from its wave-beaten shores : and " Solway Moss," situated within the " Debateable Land," hes only a few miles from its eastern extremity. This great morass, or collection of liquid turf, began to move from its absolute place on the 17th of November, 1771, and rolled in a dark deluge over lands and houses, pol- luting an area exceeding four hundred acres : nor did the black eruption cease to flow, charged with fragments and pieces of wreck, until its impetuosity was checked in the SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 17 river or the sea. In the vicinity of this moss it was (in 1513) that the Scottish nobility, led on by Ohver Sinclair, sustained a defeat dishonourable to their arms, the news of which hurried the sensitive and youthful king of Scotland fi-om the jiroud elevation of a throne to the lowest chamber of a monument. THE SPIRITED NAG. ■' On, on they hastened — and tliey drew My gaze of wonder as they flew." " 'De'il a fear, man,' answered the proprietor (Dandle Dinmont), ' Dumple could carry six folk, if his back was lang eneugh ; but, God's sake, haste ye, get on, for I see some folk coming through the slack yonder, that it may be just as weel no to wait for.' Brown (Harry Bertram) was of opinion that this apparition of five or six men, vnth whom the other villains seemed to join company, coming across the moss towards them, should abridge ceremony : he therefore mounted Dumple en croupe, and the little spirited nag cantered away with two men of great size and strength, as if they had been children of six years old. The rider, to whom tlie paths of these wilds seemed intimately known, pushed on at a rapid pace, managing with much dexterity to choose the safest route, in which he was aided by the sagacity of the galloway, who never failed to take the difficult passes exactly at the particular spot, and in the special manner, by which they could be most safely crossed." The reader of Guy Mannering will recollect the congress that was held, at the little inn of Mumps' Ha', between some of the principal actors in the fiction. As each cha- racter in that group had an original portrait, so the alehouse and the surrounding moors were sketched from nature. The Waste of Cumberland, or, more correctly, of Bewcastle, is situated in the ancient district of Gilsland, and in the Ward of Eskdale, about eleven miles from Brampton, and twenty from Carlisle. Being part of what was termed " the debateable land," the inhabitants of which were liable to lose their substance by occasional incursions of bordering enemies, their morality became as questionable or " debateable" as their territory. Cattle constituted their chief property, and robbery, from familiarity, amongst them assumed the character of fair reprisal : "they were gentle- men of tlie night— minions of the moon." Their cheerless land, sometimes styled, " Spade-adam Waste," occupied the north-eastern angle of the county, and was anciently included in the manor of Bewcastle. Brown is supposed to have taken the road across the heath in preference to one more pubUc, in order to visit the Roman wall, the paved cause- way, and the numerous traces of military architecture which adorn and give interest to the vicinity of Bewcastle. Mumps' Ha' (Beggar's Hotel), stood near to the Gilsland Spa of modem times ; and the adventure of Dandie Dinmont with the footpads, on the Waste of Bewcastle, with only an alteration of names, formed a real scene in the life, or in the character enacted by a stout border yeoman, whose soubriquet was " Fighting Charlie of 18 SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVEKLEY NOVELS. Liddesdale," but true discriminative appellation, " Armstrong." The other peculiarities in the generous disposition of Dandie Dinmont, of Charlie's Hope, and the accompanying circumstance of his possessing a breed of terriers, whose generations he distinguished merely by a prefix little distinctive, "Auld Pepper, Auld Mustard — Young Pepper, Young Mustard — Little Pepper, Little Mustard," and so on through succeeding descendants, have contributed to the selection of Mr. Davison, of Hindlee, as the actual prototype of the noveUst. So wide had the reputation of this gentleman, or rather of his terriers, spread, after the publication of Guy Mannering, that an Enghsh lady of rank was not only desirous of obtaining a couple of the Mustard and Pepper family, but was resolved upon imagining that their owner must be a real personage, and accordingly addressed her request (by post) to Mr. Dandie Dinmont, of Liddesdale. Mr. Davison acknow- ledged the fidelity of the portrait, and returned a brace of his favourite attendants. The death of this blunt, honest, country gentleman took place in the year 1820. The possession of Bewcastle fortress, like that of Smailholm tower, with which the readers of Sir Walter Scott's ballads are familiar, was an object of jealousy to all border garrisons, time immemorial. The Romans fixed a station on the spot afterwards occupied by the castle-keep : and at the period of the Norman conquest, Both or Beuth Castle was the lordship of the chief whose name it bears. Henry H. granted the manor to Hubert de Vaux (Vaulx or Vallibus), which, after several lapses, forfeitures, and restorations, was conferred by Charles I. upon the Grahams of Netherby, in which family the pro- prietorship still continues. The outworks of the castle were razed during the civil or parhamentarian wars : the keep alone is perfect. At an early period this desolate tract participated in the neglect of all " debateable" lands ; and the son-in-law of Hubert de Vaux, Thomas de INIulton, lord of Burgh, his own domains being in a state of perfect culti- vation, " suffered his tenants and vassals there to go with their cattle, in the summer season, into the large waste and mountainous part of Bewcastle." * The eastern district of the ward of Eskdale was formerly called Gilsland, from Gils-Bueth, a claimant of the lordship, who was treacherously slain by Bueth, at an interview to which he had invited liim for the purpose of adjusting their dispute about boundaries. Across this ancient territory, the Roman causeway, called " The Maiden Way," passes. Some parts of tiiis venerable work are perfect, and highly instructive to the scientific or practical inquirer; its mode of construction, by three strata of different-sized stones, being perfectly obvious. Rugged as the surface of such a worn and weather-beaten causeway must have been, Dandie Dinmont congratulated both his nag and its burden upon their safe arrival on the classic ground. " I am glad we are out o' that moss, where ther's mair stables for horses than change-houses for men ; we have the Maiden-way to help us now, at any rate." It is uncertain how long this relic of that powerful people may have enjoyed its present appellation, " Maiden," which is, most probably, only a corruption of the Saxon compound, " Maj-Dun," the Great HiU, or Fort. * Vide Nicholson and Burn's History of Cumberland and Westmorland. tf-^,*' (I. J^^^ ^ 1 SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. "EH, SIRS!" ^averley, Vol. " The pleasure-grounds * were laid out in terraces, which descended rank by rank from the western wall to a brook, that served as a boundary to the garden ; after which assuming a rapid and fierce character, it escaped from the eye down a deep and wooded delL The margin of the brook, opposite to the garden, displayed a narrow meadow, or huugh, as it is called, which formed a small washing-green ; the bank which retired behind it, was covered by ancient trees." " The scene, though pleasing, was not quite equal to the Gardens of Alcina ; yet wanted not the 'due donzellette garrule' of that enchanted paradise: for upon the green aforesaid, two bare-legged damsels, each standing in a spacious tub, performed with their feet the office of a patent washing-machine. These did not, however, like the maidens of Armida, remain to greet with their harmony the approaching guest, but, alarmed at the appearance of a handsome stranger, (Waverley,) dropped their garments (I should say garment, to be quite correct) over their limbs, which their occupation exposed somewhat too freely, and with a shrill exclamation of ' Eh, Sirs !' uttered with an accent between modesty and coquetry, sprang off like deer in different directions." " LADY WAVERLEY !— TEN THOUSAND A YEAR !" 1 Waverley, Vol. II. p. 355. " Convinced he might trust this man, as he could make it his interest to be faithful, Edward (Waverley) communicated his present situation and future schemes to (Bailie) Macwheeble. The wily agent listened with apprehension when he found Waverley was still in a state of proscription^was somewhat comforted by learning that he had a pass- port — rubbed his hands with glee when he mentioned the amount of his present fortune — opened his huge eyes when he heard the . brilliancy of his future expectations ; — but when he expressed his intention to share them with Miss Rose Bradwardine, ecstacy had almost deprived the honest man of his senses. The Bailie started from his three-footed stool, like the Pythoness from her tripod ; flung his best wig out of the window, because the block on which it was placed stood in the way of his career ; chucked his cap to the ceiling, caught it as it fell ; whistled TuUochgorum, danced a Highland Fling with inimitable grace and agihty, and then threw himself, exhausted into a chair, exclaiming, 'Lady Waver- ley ! Ten thousand a year, the least penny ! Lord preserve my poor understanding !' " "The performer in this humorous chmax is Mr. Duncan Macwheeble, who had escaped proscription by an early secession (desertion) from his party, as well as by his insignificance. Waverley found him in his office : before him was a large bicker of oat- meal porridge, and at the side thereof a horn spoon and a bottle of twopenny : a pot- bellied Dutch bottle of brandy, which stood by, intimated either that this honest limb of the law had taken his morning already, or that he meant to season his porridge with such digestive. His face was daubed with snuff up to the eyes — his fingers with ink up to the knuckles." ■ * The ta-ste of the North Britons for landscape gardening, was precisely what is here represented ; and such a garden may yet be seen at Ravelston, the seat of Sir Alexander Keith. SCOTLAND, AXD THE VVAVERLEY NOVELS. PRO-DI-GI-OUS !" [Gay MaDDeriog. Vol. I. p. 74, Mrs. Bertram " prayed Dominie Sampson to undertake the task of watching little Harry in his rambles : the Dominie loved his young charge, and was enraptured with his own success in having already brought him so far in his learning as to spell words of three syllables. The idea of this early prodigy of erudition being carried oif by the g}^sies, like a second Adam Smith, was not to be tolerated : and accordingly, though the charge was contrary to all his habits of life, he readily undertook it, and might be seen stalking about with a mathematical problem in his head, and his eye upon a child of five years old, whose rambles led him into a hundred awkward situations. Twice was the Dominie chased by a cross-grained cow — once he fell into the brook crossing at the stepping stones — and another time was bogged up to the middle in the slough of Loch- end, in attempting to gather a water-Uly for the young laird. It was the opinion of the village matrons who reUeved Sampson on the latter occasion, ' that the laird might as weel trust the care of his bairn to a potatoe bogle.' But the good Dominie bore all his disasters with gravity and serenity equally imperturbable, and the only ejaculation ever extorted from this much-enduring man, ' cum plaeidum caput extulit undis,' was, ' Pro-di-gi-ous !' " "GAPE, SINNER, AND SWALLOW." [Gay Mannering. Vol. II. p 2121. " Sit down there," said Meg Merrihes, pushing the half-throttled preacher against a broken chair, and gather your wind and your senses, ye black barrow-tram o' the kirk, that ye are ! — are you fou, or fasting? " " Fasting from all but sin," answered the Dominie. Meg meanwhile went to a great black cauldron that was boiling on a fire on the floor, and, lifting the lid, an odour was difliised through the vault (the kaim of Derncleugh) which, if the vapours of a witch's cauldron could in aught be trusted, promised better things than the hell-broth which such vessels are usually supposed to contain. It was the savour of a goodly stew, composed of fowls, hares, partridges, and moor-game, boiled in a large mess with potatoes, onions, and leeks, and, from the size of the cauldron, appeared to be prepared for half a dozen of people at least. " So ye hae eat naething a' day ?" said Meg, heaving a large portion of this mess into a brown dish, and strewing it savourily with salt and pepper. "Nothing," answered the Dominie, '^ Scele.stissiniul that is, gudewife." " Hae then," said she, placing the dish before him, " there's what will warm your heart." " I do not hunger — Malefica — that is to say, Mrs. Merrilies : " for he said unto himself, the savour is sweet, but it hath been cooked by a Canidia or an Ericthae. "If ye dinna cat instantly, and put some saul in ye, by the bread and the salt I'll put it down your throat wi' the cutty-spoon, scaulding as it is, and whether ye will or no. Gape, sinner, and swallow." A savoury stew, or pofage a la Meg 3Ierrilies de Derncleugh, has been added to the Almanack des Gourmands by Monsieur Florence, cook to Henry and Charles, late Dukes of Buccleugh. t4' CD TFIE WAVEKLEY NOV] COL'' MANNERING, HAZLEWOOD, AND THE SMUGGLERS. iGuy Manoering, Vol. II. p. 9- " Colonel Mannering observed them getting hatchets and crows to assail the hall-door, and called aloud, ' Let none fire but Hazlewood and me ; Hazlewood, mark the ambas- sador.' He himself aimed at the man on the grey horse, who fell on receiving his shot. Hazlewood was equally successful. He shot the spokesman, who had dismounted, and was advancing with an axe in his hand. Their fall discouraged the rest, who began to turn round their horses : and a few shots fired at them soon sent them off, bearing along with them their slain or wounded companions." The field of battle is the lawn of Woodburne, a seat which Colonel Mannering, by the mediation of ]\Ir. Mc-]Morlan, had been able to hire for a season. It was a large comfortable mansion, snugly seated beneath a hill covered with wood, which shrouded the house upon the north and east: the front looked across a plateau adorned with geraniums and rare plants, upon a httle lawn bordered by a grove of old trees : beyond were some arable fields extending down to the river, which was seen from the windows of the house. An old-fashioned garden, a well-stocked dove-cote, and a moderate quantity of land, rendered the place suitable, as the advertisements have it, "for the accommodation of a genteel family ;" Which sloping hills around enclose, Where many a beach and brown oak grows ; Beneath whose dark and branching bowers, Its tide a far-fam'd river pours; By n;iture's beauties taught to please, .Sweet Tusculan of rural ease! Wakton. "The vicinity of Woodburne was favourable to the illicit commerce of a set of desperate men, from the Isle of Man, which was nearly opposite ; they were numerous, resolute, and formidable, and became the dread of the neighbourhood when any one interfered with their contraband trade. The revenue officers had seized some of their packages, and escaped with them to Woodburne, the nearest as well as the most probable place to find an asylum and protection ; but the smugglers procui-ing reinforcements, pursued them, and made a desperate but unavailing attack upon the Colonel and his little garrison, for the recovery of the goods." Such horrid \\Tetches, such savage ruffians, as the band of smugglers, were then but rarely seen : notwithstanding the severity of the season, they were most of them stripped to their shirts and trousers, with silk handkerchiefs knotted about their heads, and all well armed with carbines, pistols, and cutlasses. Their horses were reeking with the speed at which they had ridden ; and their furious exclamation of rage and disappointment, when balked of their prey, would have shocked any but the intrepid and experienced. The gentleman on the grey horse, with the red handkerchief bound about his brow, assumed the title of Lieutenant; and a fellow with his face blackened with gunpowder, and having a white handkerchief on the end of his carbine, undertook the office of niediator. and demanded a parley ; — with what success, we have already seen. SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. CAERLAVEROCK CASTLE.— COMMON OF ELLANGOWAN. [Guy ManneriDg, Vol. II. p. 312. " ' What keeps you here?' said Meg, (Merrilies,) exalting the harsh and rough tones of her hollow voice : " Why do you not follow ? Must your hour call you twice ? Do you remember your oath ? — were it at kirk or market, wedding or burial :" and she held high her shining forefinger in a menacing attitude. Bertram turned round to his terrified companions, " Excuse me for a moment, I am engaged by a promise to follow this woman." "Engaged to a madwoman?" said Julia, (Mannering;) "or to a gipsy, who has her band in the wood ready to murder you!" said Lucy, (Bertram.) "That was not spoken like a bairn of EUangowan," said Meg, fi-owning upon IMiss Bertram. " It is the ill-doers are ill-dreaders." " In short, I must go," said Bertram : it is absolutely necessary : wait for me five minutes on this spot." " Five minutes," said the gipsy, " five hours may not bring you here again." " Do you hear that," said Julia, " do not go !" "I must, I must — Mr. Dinmont will protect you back to the house." " No," said Meg, " he must come with you, it is for that he is here. He maun take part wi' hand and heart : and weel his part it is, for redding his quarrel might have cost you dear." Bertram pressed his sister's hand, and took a yet more afiiectionate farewell of Julia with his eyes. Almost stupified with surprise and fear, the young ladies watched with anxious looks the course of Bertram, his companion, and their extra- ordinary guide. Her tall figure moved across the wintry heath witli steps so swift, so long, and so steady, that she appeared rather to glide than walk. Bertram and Dinmont, both tall men, apparently scarce equalled her in height, owing to her long dress and high head-gear. She proceeded straight across the common, without turning aside to the winding path by which passengers avoided the inequalities and Httle rills that traversed it in different directions, and at length reached those thickets of natural wood which extended from the skirts of the common towards the glades and brook of Derncleugh." Caerlaverock Castle,* the original of EUangowan, in the parish of Caerlaverock and shire of Dumfries, stands on a tongue or prong of land, the natural boundaries of which are the Solway Frith, Lochar Water, and the river Nith, about eight miles from the town of Dumfries, and a less distance from the little ports of Kelton and Glencaple. " How lovely, Nith, thy fruitful vales, Where spreading hawthorns gaily bloom ; How sweetly wind thy sloping vales. Where lambkins wanton through the broom." BuKN,s. The ruins, which are still massive and picturesque, stand on a level plain, overhung by a conical mountain, and on the eastern bank of the dehouche of the Nith. It was originally the chief scat of the Maxwells, an influential and powerful family of Dumfries, who were also wardens of the Western Marches. In the year 1300, Edward I. in * The name Caerlaverock signifies either tlie Castle of liie Lark, (Caer Laverock,) or " the castle with swelling buttresses," or " the castle on the prong or fork " of the rivers. SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVTULEY NOVELS. 23 person conducted the siege of this important place, and, liaving obtained possession, appointed three great barons to be its keepers. A very remarkable murder was committed here in the year 1357. James Lindsay was hospitably entertained and feasted in the Castle of Caerlaverock, by its proprietor, Roger Kirkpatrick: in the dead of night, urged by jealousy at the successful rivalship of his host in marriage, Lindsay arose, and poniarded the unsuspecting laird as he slept. " lie louted down — her lips he pvest — Oh ! kiss foreboding woe ! Then struck on young Kirkpatrick's breast A deep and deadly blow. " Sair, sair, and raeikle did he bleed; llis lady slept till day; But dreamt the Firth flowed o'er her head, In bride bed as she lay." Lindsay mounted his horse, and rode off at full speed from the ruin his hand had wTOUght ; but guilt, remorse, and fear so bewildered him, that, after riding all night, he was arrested at early dawn, not three miles fi-om the castle gate, and executed soon after by order of king David. This tragic tale is said to have been connected (prophetically) with the murder of the Red Cumine, regent of Scotland, by Robert Bruce, in the Dominican church of Dumfi-ies, in the year 1-305. Bruce, attended by two barons (Lindsay and Kirk- patrick) devoted to his cause, entered the church, plunged his dagger into the victim of his hatred, and, rushing out with the point still dropping blood, exclaimed, " I douht I have slain the Red Cumine." "Doubtest thou?" said Kirkpatrick, " I mak sicker ; " and accordingly the two barons and their adherents, forcing a passage into the sanctuary, completed the work of blood. The body of the murdered chieftain was watched all night by the friars, and the solemn rites and deep requiem usual in those ages of superstition celebrated over it : as midnight approached, however, their vigilance forsook the whole brotherhood, one aged father excepted, who heard a voice, weak yet clear, resembling that of a wailing infant, exclaim, " How long. Lord, shall thy vengeance be delayed ?" to which a low and awful tone rephed, '' Endure with patience until the anniversary of this day shall return for the fifty-second time." That was the very day on which Lindsay slew Kirkpatrick in Caerlaverock Castle, and the slayer and the slain were the sons of the two barons whose respective names they bore, and who had aided in the death of the Red Cumine. Caerlaverock was subjected to as many \-icissitudes as usually befell the well-stored border castles, previous to the union of the cro^vns of North and South Britain. At length (1651) it was captured by Oliver Cromwell; and at that period, according to the inventory and receipt of furniture taken and acknowledged to his master by one Finch, the castle contained, amongst other articles of furniture, eighty beds. After this period it is no longer spoken of as a tenable fortahce ; its treasures and furniture were speedily removed, and its unroofed but massive walls left to contend with the elements. .lean Gordon, a sort of gipsy queen, has been discovered by the inquisitive, and acknowledged by the author, as the prototype of his Meg INIerrilies. The traits and 24 SCOTLAKD, AND THE VVAVERLEY NOVELS. propensities of the original, and of the fictitious character, establish an identity. They both possessed the virtue of fidelity, spoke in the same vehement didactic manner, assumed similar attitudes in addressing superiors, and both wore the gipsy costume. Jean Gordon was born at Kirkyetholm, in Roxburghshire, the metropolis of Scottish gipsies, about the year 1670, and was married to Patrick Faa, a gipsy chief, by whom she had twelve children. In the year 1714, one of her sons was murdered by a gipsy, named Robert Johnson, who had eluded the grasp of justice for ten years. Jean pursued the murderer, and, with a keenness more resembling the scent of a bloodhound than the acuteness of humanity, traced him first to Holland, and from thence to Ireland, where she caused him to be seized, and conveyed back to Jedburgh. There her vengeance was satisfied by seeing the murderer of her child executed on the Gallows-hill. Jean's earthly toils were not yet ended ; a more bitter draught of misery was still preparing for her. It is said that all her sons were condemned to die at Jedburgh on the same day ; the jury were equally divided, but a friend to justice, who had slept during the discussion, waking suddenly, exclaimed, " Hang them a'." Jean, who was present, only uttered these words, " The Lord help the innocent in a day like this !" Her o%to death was accompanied with circumstances of unusual brutality and unmanliness. Happening to be present at a fair in Carlisle, after the year 174G, when poUtical partisanship was at the highest, she there confessed her Jacobite partiahties in language loud and strong, to the unpardonable offence of the zealous rabble of that city, who, seizing poor Jean, inflicted on her the penalty of ducking her to death in the river Eden. During the performance of this dastardly deed, the hapless victim, though old yet stout, struggled desperately with her murderers, and, when at intervals she succeeded in getting her head above water, continued to exclaim, " Charlie yet ! Charlie yet !" BALLYBURGH-NESS. " There is a cliff, whose higli and benditig liead Looks fearfully on the confined deep." Shakspcare. [The Antiguary. Vol. 1. p. M. Oy. " The sun was now resting his huge disk upon the edge of the level ocean, and gilded the accumulation of towering clouds through which he had travelled the hvelong day, and which now assembled on all sides, hke misfortunes and disasters around a sink- ing empire and a falUng monarch. Still, however, his dying splendour gave a sombre magnificence to the massive congregation of vapours, forming, out of their unsubstantial gloom, the show of pyramids and towers, some touched with gold, some with purple, some with a hue of deep and dark red. The distant sea, stretched beneath this varied and gor- geous canopy, lay almost portentously still, reflecting back the dazzhng and level beams of the descending luminary, and the splendid colouring of the clouds amidst which he was setting." With a mind employed in admiration of this romantic scene. Miss Wardour advanced in silence by her father's side. Following the windings of the beach, they passed one rocky promontory after another, and found themselves under a huge and continued extent of the precipices that defend, in most places, that iron-bound coast. SCOTLAND, AND THE HAVERLEV NOVELS. 25 when suddenly t'ne disk of the sun became ahnost totally obscured ere he had sunk below the horizon, and a lurid shade of darkness blotted the serene twilight : the moaning sound of the rising storm was heard for some time before its effects on the bosom of the ocean became visible. The dark and threatening mass of waters began to Uft itself in longer ridges, and sink in deeper furrows, forming waves that rose high in foam upon the breakers, or burst upon the beach with a sound resembling distant thunder. While the raging waters were thus advancing, and claiming from Sir Arthur and his daughter the narrow space of beach that jet remained, Edie Ochiltree arrived, almost too late to guide them round tbe Halket Head, and save them fi-om a death, the approach of which would have been, most probably, painfully prolonged; and without the guidance and encouragement of the sturdy mendicant, it would have been impossible for them to have found their way along these shelves. Edie himself acknow- ledged, that, although familiar with suffering and danger, he had never witnessed "sae awsome a night." " It was indeed a dreadful evening : the howling of the storm, mingled with the shrieks of the seafowl, sounded like the dirge of the three devoted beings, who, pent up between two of the most magnificent, yet most dreadful objects of nature — a raging sea and an insurmountable precipice — toiled along their painful and dangerous path, often lashed by the spray of some giant billow, which threw itself higher on the beach than those that had preceded it. Each moment did their enemy gain ground perceptibly upon them : still, however, loath to reUnquish the last hopes of life, they bent their eyes towards the black rock pointed out by Ochiltree. The signal of safety was lost amongst a thousand white breakers, which, dashing upon the point of the promontory, rose in prodigious sheets of snowy foam as high as the mast of a first-rate man-of-war, against the dark brow of the precipice. . . . The countenance of the old man fell. Isabella gave a faint shriek ; and ' God have mercy upon us !' which her guide solemnly uttered, was piteously echoed by Sir Arthur : ' My child ! my child ! — to die such a death !' " Amongst the characters introduced in this scene, the most interesting, as well as the most real, is Edie Ochiltree. His prototype, Andrew Gemmels, had been a soldier in his youth, and recounted the dangers he had undergone in a manner so agreeable as to ensure him a cordial welcome at every shepherd's cot or farm-shading that lay in the range of his extensive wanderings. He was usually borne on a high-bred steed, pre- ferred sleeping in an out-house, stable, or byre, returned regularly once or twice in each year to the same house ; and, although hung round with rags, used to attend the country fairs and race-courses, where he was seen to bet and dispute with the lairds and gentry with independence and pertinacity. He allowed that begging had been a good trade, but that it had sadly declined in his latter days. He was supposed to have saved and concealed some treasure ; but, with the exception of a farm which he stocked for his nephew, no substantial proof of his wealth was ever afforded. He died at Newton in the year 179-3, having attained the advanced age of 105 years, and vas interred in Roxburgh kirk-yard. SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. THE ANTIQUARY AND LOVEL. " ' Come, let us jog on to the yellow sands, where the sea, like a repulsed enemy, is now retreating from the ground on which he gave us battle last night.' Thus saying, he (tlie Antiquary) led the way to the sands. Upon the links, or downs, close to them, were seen four or five huts inhabited by fishers, whose boats, drawn high up on the beach, lent the odoriferous vapours of pitch, melting under a burning sun, to contend with those of the offals of fish, and other nuisances usually collected round Scottish cottages. Undisturbed by these complicated steams of abomination, a middle-aged woman, with a face which had defied a thousand storms, sat mending a net at the door of one of the cottages. A handkerchief close bound about her head, and a coat which had formerly been that of a man, gave her a masculine air, which was increased by her strength, uncommon stature, and harsh voice. ' What are you for the day, your honour?' she said, or rather screamed, to Oldbuck ; ' Caller haddocks and whitings ; a bannock-fluke and a cock-paddle.' 'How much for the bannock-fluke and cock-paddle?' demanded the Antiquary. ' Four white shillings and sax pence,' answered the Naiad. ' Do you think I am mad, Maggie?' ' And div ye think,' rejoined the virago, setting her arms a-kimbo, • that my man and my sons are to gae to sea in weather like yestreen and the day, and get naething for the fish, and be misca'd into the bargain, Monkbams? It's no fish ye're buying — it's men's lives.' • Well, carry your fish up to Monkbams, and see what my sister will give you for them.' '• Na, na, Monkbams, de'il a fit. I'll rather deal wi' yoursell ; for though you're near enough, jet Miss Grizel has an unco close grip. I'll irie ye them (in a softened tone) for three and saxpence.' ' Half a crown, then, Maggie, and a dram.' ' Aweel, your honour maun hae't your ain gate, nae doubt; but a dram's worth siller, now the distilleries is no working.' ' And I hope they'll never work again in my time,' said Oldbuck. -Ay, ay, it's easy for your honour, and the like of you LHMitlefolks, to say sae, that hae stouth and routh, and fire and fending, and meat and claith, and sit dry and canny by the fire-side ; but an ye wanted fire, and meat, and dry claise, and were deeing o'cauld, and had a sair heart, whilk is warst ava', wi' just tip- pence in your pouch, wadna ye be glad to buy a dram wi't, to be eliding and claise, and a supper and heart's ease into the bargain, till the mom's morning ?' " Our readers are presented with a sketch from the romantic coast of Aberdeen, in the vicinity of the supposed site of Monkbams, thereby imparting to the illustration as much reality as it is susceptible of. Whether Oldbuck himself had any original beyond the gi-aphic sketch of the novehst, is doubtful, although he has often been compared with Mr. Davy Wilson, of snufi'-taking and book-collecting propensities. This gentleman purchased the "Game of Chess, 1474," the first book ever printed in England, at a stall in Holland, for two-pence, and sold it to Osborne for about £40, who resold it to Dr. Askew for (iO guineas; after the Doctor's decease, this rare volume was disposed of to Royalty itself for no less a price than £1701! ^.^^ T- :i K: ' <' ■^^x"^ ^^•#i^^ia. { »; €1$'^ I J SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. MRS. HEUKBANE AND MRS. SHORTCAKE. A letter fr( Of such contents as you will wonder at." Old 1'i.av. [The Auliquary, Vol. I. p. -Zot:. '• ' Show me ! show me !' quotli the wives of the chief hutcher and chief baker ; and threw themselves on the supposed love-letter, like the weird sisters, in Macbeth, upon the pilot's thumb, with curiosity as eager, and scarcely less malignant. Mrs. Heukbaue was a tall woman ; she held the precious epistle up between her eyes and the window. Mrs. Shortcake, a little squat personage, strained and stood on tiptoe, to have her share of the investigation. ' It's frae him, sure eneugh,' said the butcher's lady ; ' I can read Richard Taflrail on the corner ; and it's written, like John Thomson's wallet, frae end to end.' ' Haud it lower down, madam,' exclaimed ilrs. Shortcake, in a tone above the prudential whisper which their occupation required ; ' haud it lower down : div ye think naebody can read hand-o'wTit but yoursell ?' ' Whisht, whisht,' said Mrs. Mail-letter, ' there's somebody in tiie shop :' then aloud — ' Look to the customers. Baby I' Baby answered, in a shrill tone, ' It's naebody but Jenny Caxon, ma'am, to see if there's ony letter to her.' ' Tell her,' said the faithful post-mistress, winking to her compeers, ' to come back the morn at ten o'clock, and I'll let her ken ; we have na had time to sort out the mail letters yet : she's ay in sic a hurry, as if her letters were o' mair consequenct^ than the best merchant's o' the town.' " Poor Jenny, a girl of uncommon beauty and modest) , could only draw her cloak about her to hide the sigh of disappointment, and return meekly home to endiue for another night the sickness of the heart occasioned by hope deferred." «MY GOOD FRIENDS— ' FAVETE LINGLTS.'" [The Anticiuary.Vol.il. p. C'.^. " ' God save the king !' exclaimed the Antiquary, at the first glance of the contents of his packet; and, surprised at once out of decorum, philosophy, and phlegm, he skimmed his cocked hat in the air, from which it descended not again, being caught in the fall by a branch of the chandelier. He next, looking joyously round, laid a grasp on his wig, which he perhaps would have sent after the beaver, had not Edie stopped his hand, exclaiming, ' Lord's sake, he's gone gyte — mind, Caxtm's no here to repair the damage.' " Every person now assailed tiie Antiquary, clamouring to know the cause of s(. sudden a transport, when, somewhat ashamed of his rapture, he fairly turned tail, like a fox at the cry of a pack of hounds, and, ascending the stairs by two steps at a time, gained the upper landing-place, where, turning round, he addressed the astonished audience as follows : ' My good friends, favete Unguis — to give you infonnation, I must first, according to logicians, be possessed of it myself; and therefore, with your leaves, I will retire into the library to examine these papers ; but be of good cheer till my return, which will be instiuttvr." .AND, AND THE WAVLRLEY NOVELS. THE PRIORY OF ST. RUTH. " But now the sacred sound is lieard no more, No music floats the dreary aisles along ; Xe'er from its chancel soars the midnight prayer, The stillness broken by no earthly thing, Save when the night-bird wakes the echoes there, Or the bat flutters its unfeathered wing." Anonvmol-s. i'rhe Autiquary, Vol. II. p. 63. •• ^\'hen they were clear of the priory, and had gained the Uttle meadow on which it stands, Dousterswivel could perceive the torches which had caused him so much alarm issuing in regular procession fi-om the ruins, and gleaming their light, like that of the tgnis fafuHS, on the banks of the lake. After moving along the path for some short space, with a fluctuating and irregular motion, the lights were at once extinguished. ' We aye put out the torches at the Hahe-cross Well on sic occasions,' said the forester to his guest ; and accordingly no farther visible sign of the procession off'ered itself to Dousterswivel, although his ear could catch the distant and decreasing echo of horses' hoofs in the direction towards which the mourners had bent their course." During the fraud of Dousterswivel (which has its original in the case of a silver mine attempted to be set on foot near Innerleithen, by the Earl of T — — ,) the funeral of the Countess of Glenallan arrived at the priory, accompanied by ceremonies with which those ancient walls were once familiar, but now rarely practised in Protestant countries, and almost never in Scotland. The remains were laid out in the sacristy, when Dousterswivel peeped through the grate-work, " where was an open grave, with four tall flambeaux, each about six feet high, placed at the four corners ; a bier, having a corpse in its shroud, the arms folded upon the breast, rested upon tressels at one side of the grave, as if ready to be interred. A priest, dressed in his cope and stole, held open the service-book ; another churchman, in his vestments, bore a holy-water spi-inkler ; and two boys, in white surplices, held censers with incense. A man, of a figure once tall and commanding, but now bent with age or infirmity, stood alone and nearest to the coffin, attired in deep mourning : others, in lugubrious dresses, stood around the walls of the vault, ranged in motionless order, each bearing in his hand a huge torch of black wax. The priest recited, with a loud, clear, and sonorous voice, the solemn words which the ritual of the Catholic church has consecrated to the rendering of dust to dust; and a loud Alleluia, which pealed through the deserted arches of St. Rutb, closed the mourn- ful ceremony. Arbroath, or Abcrbrothock Abbey, the original of St. Ruth Priory, is situated close by the village of the same name in Forfarshire. It was founded by WilUam the Lion, in 1 1 78, and the building was consecrated to the memory of Thomas a Becket. It was furnished with Tyronensian monks from the abbey of Kelso, who observed the rule of St. Benedict, file abbot wore a mitre and other pontificals, and was permitted to grant minor orders to the clergy of the convent. The monks of this venerable institution erected and SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 29 maintained a pier or jetty on the sea-shore, and erected a bell on Inchcape Rock, which was rung by the lashing of the waves at high-water, and in this way warned the mariner of his danger. The ingenuity and science of modern times have placed on this site, now called the Bell Rock, one of the most valuable hght-houses on the eastern coast of Scotland. It is related in the vicinity, that a Dutch pirate stole away the bell for the value of the metal, and that on a stormy night, not long after, his vessel struck on the Bell Rock, where he and his crew, as a retribution for their crime, perished in the waves. *' Tlie pious Abbot of Aberbrothock, Had placed the bell on the Inch-Cape Rock. On the waves of the storm it floated and sw ung, And louder and louder its warning rung: When the rock was hid by the tempest swell, The mariner heard the warning bell ; And then they knew the perilous rock, And blessed the Abbot of Aberbrothock." A convention of the Scottish nobility was held in Arbroath Abbey in 1220, at which a remonstrance was drawn up against the pretensions of Edward II. and forwarded to Rome by one of the monks of the abbey. Until the Reformation, few ecclesiastical structures in Scotland exceeded that of Arbroath (St. Ruth) in beauty, extent, or riches; but the zeal, the enthusiasm, the rage of the reformers, spared not even what time had consecrated ; and an infuriated mob fired the interior, and pulled dowTi as much of the substantial part of the building as they were able, during the continuance of the frenzy. OLDBUCK AT ELSPETH'S HUT. ** Life ebbs from such old age, unmark'd and silent. As the slow neap-tide leaves yon stranded galley." Old Play. [The Antiquary, Vol. IT. p. S57. " ' No, wretched Beldam,' exclaimed Oldbuck, who could keep silence no longer, ' they drank the poison that you and your wretched mistress prepared for them.' " ' Ha, ha ! ' she rephed, ' I aye thought it would come to this ; its but sitting silent when they examine, — there's nae torture in our days ; and if there is, let them rend me ! Its ill o' the vassal's mouth that betrays the bread it cats.' " ' Speak to her, Edie,' said the Antiquary, ' she knows your voice, and answers to it most readily.' " ' We shall mak naething mair out o' her,' said Ochiltree ; ' when she has clinkit herself down that way, and faulded her arms, she winna speak a word, they say, for weeks thegither. And besides, to my thinking, her face is sair changed since we came in. However, I'll try her once mair, to satisfy your honour. So you canna keep in mind, cummer, that your auld mistress, the Countess Joscehn, has been removed.'" " ' Removed ! ' she exclaimed, for that name never failed to produce its usual effect upon her, ' then we maun a' follow. A' maun ride when she is in the saddle : tell them 30 SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEV NOVELS. to let Lord Geraldin know we're on before them. — Bring my hood and scarf — ye wadna hae me gang in the carriage wi' my leddy, and my hair in this fashion ? " She raised her shrivelled arms, and seemed busied like a woman who puts on her cloak to go abroad, then dropped them slowly and stiffly : and the same idea of a journey still floating apparently through her head, she proceeded in a hurried and interrupted manner, ' Call Miss Neville. What do you mean by Lady Geraldin ? I said Eveline Neville — not Lady Geraldin — there's no Lady Geraldin; — tell her that, and bid her change her wet gown, and no' look sae pale. Teresa — Teresa, — my lady calls us ! — Bring a candle, the grand staircase is as mirk as a yule midnight. — We are coming, my lady !' With these words she sunk back on the settle, and from thence sidelong to the floor. Edie ran to support her, but hardly got her in his arms, before he said, ' Its a' ower, she has passed away even with that last word.' Nothing was more certain, she had expired with the last hurried word that left her lips ; and all that remained before them were the mortal relics of the creature who had so long struggled with an internal sense of concealed guilt, joined to all the distresses of age and poverty. The object of Oldbuck's visit to Elspeth's hut, was to inquire into the mysteries connected with the house of Glenallan, mysteries in which Elspeth was known to have been initiated, and crimes in which she had participated. Edie Ochiltree was neces- sary as a familiar medium of conversing with the obstinate old woman, as well as from his having on one occasion been despatched by her with a message to the Earl of Glenallan ; and the reason Oldbuck assigned to his nephew for bringing him along with him was, " I would willingly have a sensible witness with me — so, for fault of a better. Hector, I must be contented with you." The circumstance and manner of Elspeth's death have their original in an incident that happened at the funeral of John, Duke of Roxburghe. The only assistant his grace employed for many years, in taking down or replacing the volumes of his library, was a livery servant, named Archie, who knew the position and exterior of every book, as the shepherd does the individuals of his flock, by a species of head-mark. To secure Archie's attendance, a bell was hung in his room, which was not used on any occasion, except to summon him individually to the Duke's study. In 1804 his grace died, at his residence in St. James's-Square, London ; and his remains being removed to Scotland, were deposited in the family vault at Bowden, after having lain in state at his mansion of Fleurs. Archie, at this period in the last stage of a fatal liver complaint, resolved on accompanying the body of the master whom he had so long and so faithfully attended. Contrary to the advice of his physician, the poor invalid attended the mournful procession to Fleurs, where he became so totally exhausted, that he was obhged to remain in bed, in a stupor that announced speedy dissolution. On the morning of the day fixed on for the removal of the Duke's remains to the place of burial, the bell, which had never been used except to summon Archie, rang violently ; and Archie, roused by the well-known sounds, rose up in bed, faltered in broken accents, " Yes, my lord duke- yes, I will wait on your grace instantly;" and with these words on his lips fell back and expired. SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. BRAES OF BALQUHIDDER. " The Braes ascend like lofty wa's, The foaming stream deep roaring fa's, O'erhung \vi' fragrant spreading shaws.*' [Rob Roy, ChitrodiictioD.) Vol. I. p.B'J- " In the last years of Rob Roy's life, his clan was involved in a dispute with one more powerful than themselves. Stewart of Appin, a chief of the tribe so named, was proprietor of a hill-farm in the Braes of Balquhidder, called Invernenty. The Mac- gregors of Rob Roy's tribe claimed a right to it by ancient occupancy, and declared they would oppose to the uttermost the settlement of any person upon the farm, not being of their own name. The Stewarts came down, with two hundred men, well armed, to do themselves justice by main force. The Macgregors took the field, but were unable to muster an equal strength. Rob Roy, finding himself the weaker party, asked a parlev, in which he represented that both clans were friends to the king, and that he was unwilling they should be weakened by mutual conflict, and thus made a merit of surrendering to Appin the disputed territory of Invernenty. Appin, accordinglj, settled as tenants there, at an easy quit-rent, the Mae Larens, a family dependent on the Stewarts, and from whose character for strength and bravery it was expected that they would make their right good, if annoyed by the Macgregors. When all this bail been amicably adjusted, in presence of the two clans, drawn up in arms near the kirk of Balquhidder, Rob Roy, apparently fearing his tribe might be thought to have conceded too much upon the occasion, stepped forward and said, that where so many gallant men were met in arms, it would be shameful to part without a trial of skill, and therefore he took the freedom to invite any gentleman of the Stewiirts present, to exchange a few blows with him for the honour of their respective clans. The brother- in-law of Appin, and second chieftain of the clan, Alaster Stewart of Invernahyle, accepted the challenge, and they encountered with broad- sword and target before their respective kinsmen. The combat lasted till Rob received a slight wound in the arm, which was the usual termination of such a combat when fought for honour only, and not with a mortal purpose. Rob Roy dropped his point, and congratulated his adversary on having been the first man who ever drew blood from him. The victor generously acknowledged, that without the advantage of youth, and the agility accompanying it, he probably could not have come off with advantage. " This was probably one of Rob Roy's last exploits in arms. The precise date of his death is not known, but he is generally acknowledged to have survived tlie }car 1738, and to have died ' full of years.' When he found himself drawing to his final change, he expressed contrition for particular acts of his life. Helen, his wife, laughed at his scruples of conscience, and exhorted him to die like a man, as he had hved ; but he rebuked her for her violent passions, and the counsels she had given him. 32 SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. " You have put strife," he said, " betwixt me and the best men of the country, and now you would place enmity between me and my God." While hiid on the bed of sickness and of death, he was informed that a person with whom he had long been at variance, proposed to visit him : " Raise me fi'om my bed," said he, " throw my plaid around me, and bring me my claymore, dirk, and pistols — it shall never be said that a foeman saw Rob Roy Mac Gregor defenceless and unarmed." The foeman (one of the Mac Larens) having paid his comphments, during the maintenance of a cold aud haughty civihty on the chieftain's part, retired from the house. As soon as he was gone, Rob Roy calmly observed, " Now, all is over; lay me again in my bed, and tell the piper to play Cha teil mi tuile te, i. e. I shall never return, — and not to cease until Ufe shall be extinct" Being immediately and punc- tually obeyed, he expired before the song of war was concluded. Rob Roy was rather below the middle size, but displayed an appearance of strength and muscular power, that made an impression as of one much taller and more robust. His arms were so long, that when dropped down, his fingers touched his garter below the knee ; and they were so strong, that he could seize and hold a deer by the horns : nor could any man wrench whatever he determined on retaining in his grasp. His complexion was a dark red; his features large and handsome, expressive of magna- nimity. His eye was stern, his lip contemptuous, and the contour betrajdng a con- tinued subjection to injuries of lesser minds, and an unceasing habit of revenging them. He combined in a remarkable degree the calm steady sagacity of the Caledonian, with the intrepid hardihood of the mountaineer. Rob Roy left five sons, concerning three of whom there remains nothing remarkable to record, but James seemed to inherit his father's martial spirit, and Robin Oig was pubhcly executed on the 14th of February, 1754, for the forcible abduction of Miss Jean Wright fi'om her own dwelling. The parish-village of Balquhidder, that is, the village in the centre of five glens, is in the parish of the same name and shire of Perth, not far from King's-House and Callander. It is seated at the east end of Loch Voil, and, in addition to the picturesque character of its accompanying braes, is remarkable as the last residence of Rob Roy, who was interred in the kirk-yard of the parish, where his tombstone is only distinguished by a rude attempt at the figure of a broadsword graven upon it. The grave of the Highland cliieftain, and the romantic scenery of what are termed the Braes, appear to form powerful attractions to the Southron, who visit this wild district in numbers periodically. The parish of Balquhidder lies in the very centre of the Grampian hills, is altogether mountainous and pastoral, and includes the beautiful lakes called lochs Dome, Voil, Lubnaig, Earn, and others inferior in picturcsqucness and aqueous surface. 'A J SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVEULEY NOVELS. OSBALDISTONE HALL. How melts my bearing heart, as I behold Each lovely nymph, our island's boast and pride, Push on the generous steed, that sweeps along O'er rough, o'er smooth, nor heeds the steepy hil Nor falters in the extended vale below." [Rob Roy, Vol. I. p. 65. " One of the young men (Thorncliff Osbaldistone) whom we had seen, approached us, waving the brush of a fox in triiunph, as if to upbraid my fair companion. ' I see, she (Diana Vernon) replied, I see ; but make no noise about it : if Phoebe,' she said, patting the neck of the beautiful animal on which she rode, ' had not got amongst the chffs, you would have had little cause for boasting.' "They met as she spoke, and I observed them both look at me, and converse a moment in an under tone, the j oung lady apparently pressing the sportsman to do something, which he declined, shily, and with a sort of sheepish sullenness. She instantly turned her horse's head towards me, saying, ' Well, well, Thornie, if you wont, I must, that's all — Sir,' she continued, addressing me, ' I have been endeavouring to persuade this cultivated young gentleman to make inquiry of you, whether, in the course of your travels in these parts, you have heard anything of a fi-iend of ours, one Mr. Francis Osbaldistone, who has been for some days expected at Osbaldistone Hall?" The noble seat of his ancestors, which Frank Osbalchstone had now approached, and where the first interview occurred between Miss Vernon and himself, was at the base of the Cheviot hills, which rose in frowning majesty above it ; not with that sublime variety of cliff and rock which characterises primitive mountains, but huge, round- headed, and clothed with a dark i-obe of russet, gaining by their extent and desolate appearance an influence upon the imagination, as a desert district possessing a character of its own. The hall of Sir Hildcbrand Osbaldistone was situated in a glen or narrow valley, which ran up among the hills ; and although the vast estates which once belonged to the family had been dissipated by the misfortunes or misconduct of the proprietors, enough was still attached to the old mansion to give the occupier the title of a man 34 SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. of property. The Hall itself, a large antiquated edifice, peeped out from a druidical grove of huge oaks, just rose in the distant prospect of the young visitor of the house of his forefathers, and occasioned a desire to reach it more speedily than was agreeable to his tired steed, when a vision passed, that interrupted Ms reflections. This was a young lady,* the loveliness of whose very striking features was enhanced by the animation of the chase and the glow of the exercise — mounted on a beautiful horse, jet black, unless where he was flecked by spots of the snow-white foam which embossed his bridle. She wore a coat, vest, and hat, resembling those of a man, which fashion has since called a riding-habit : her long black hair streamed in the breeze, having in the hurry of the chase escaped from the ribbon that bound it. Some broken ground, through which she guided her horse with the most admirable address and presence of mind, retarded her course, and served as an apology to Frank Osbaldistone for riding up to the fair Amazon, and making a tender of his assistance ; a proposal acknowledged by a smile, that encouraged him to put his horse to the same pace, and keep in the immediate neighbourhood of the fair huntress, until she was able to recover her com- panions in the chase. They crossed the stream which divided the little valley, when the headmost hounds, followed by the rest of the pack in full cry, burst from the coppice, followed by the huntsman, and three or four riders. The dogs pursued the trace of reynard with unerring instinct ; and the hunters followed with reckless haste, regardless of the broken and difficult nature of the ground. They were tall, stout young men, well-mounted, and dressed in green and red, the uniform of a sporting association formed under the auspices of old Su- Hildebrand Osbaldistone. My cousins, thought Frank, as they swept past. His next reflection was, what kind of recreation he was likely to find amongst these sons of Nimrod ? and how improbable it was, that he, knowing nothing of rural sports, should find himself at ease, or happy in his uncle's family. These sombre reflections were interrupted by the appearance of Miss ^'ernon, whose con- clusion as to the place in society to which his cousins were entitled, may be ascertained from her character of Thornie. " There he goes, the prince of grooms and cock- fighters, and blackguard horse-coursers." • The Miss Vernon of real life, whose animated portrait our autlior has painted in this novel, was a scion of the noble house of Cranstoun, and sister of one of the most eminent of the lords of the session. She married the Austrian Count Purgshall, and never revisited her native country after, though she seems up to the last moment of her exist- ence to have been impressed with the strongest attachment for the land of her fathers, as well as for the circle of early friends she left behind. p t l^lff SCOTLAND, AND THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. FRANK OSBALDISTOXE'S UNEXPECTED VISIT TO SQLTKE INGLE WOOD. [Uob Roy, Vol. I. p. in. " Tired of waiting for some one to announce me, and finding my situation as a listener rather awkward, I (Frank Osbaldistone) presented mj'self to the company just as my friend ^Nlr. INIorris, for such it seems was his name, was uplifting the fifth stave of his doleful ballad. The high tone, with which the tune started, died away in a quaver of consternation, on finding himself so near one whose character he supposed to be little less suspicious than that of the hero of his madrigal, and he remained silent, witli a mouth gaping, as if I had brought the Gorgon's head in my hand. The justice. (Squire Inglewood,) whose eyes had closed under the influence of the somniferous lullaby of the song, started up in his chair as it suddenly ceased, and stared with wonder at the unexpected addition which the company had received while his organs of sight were in abeyance. Mr. Jobson was also commoved, for, sitting opposite to Mr. Morris, that honest gentleman's tenor communicated itself to him, though he wotted not why." FRAY IN JEANIE MAC ALPINE'S PUBLIC -HOUSE. [Rob Roy. Vol. II. p. IJo. " I (Frank Osbaldistone) put myself in a posture of defence, and, aware of the superiority of my weapon, a rapier or small sword, was little afraid of the issue of the contest. The BaiUe behaved with unexpected mettle: as he saw the gigantic Highlander about to confront him with his weapon drawn, he tugged for a second or two at the hilt of his shahble, as he called it ; but finding it loth to quit the sheath, to which it had lonj.- been secured by rust and disuse, he seized, as a substitute, on the red-hot coulter of a plough, which had been employed in arranging the fire by way of a poker, and bran- dished it with such effect, that at the first pass he set the Highlander's plaid on fire, an